MICHAEL HEILPRIN AND HIS SONS BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR FRANZ GRILLPARZEB AND THE AUSTRIAN DRAMA THE HYGIENE OP THE SOUL: THE MEMOIR OP A PHYSICIAN AND PHILOSOPHER MICHAEL HEILPRIN MICHAEL HEILPRIN AND HIS SONS A BIOGRAPHY BY GUSTAY POLLAK NEW YORK DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 1912 COPYRIGHT, 1912 BY GUSTAV POLLAK Published September 1912 THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. TO THE YOUNGER GENERATIONS AND ESPECIALLY MY DEAR GRANDCHILDREN WHOSE FUTURE I FONDLY HOPE WILL BEAR THE IMPRESS OF THE PAST DESCRIBED IN THESE PAGES G. P. 2067967 PEEFACE SHORTLY after the death of Michael Heilprin, in 1888, I planned, with the cordial appoval of Mr. W. P. Garrison, then editor of the New York Nation, to collect into a volume some of the articles contributed to that journal by Mr. Heilprin. The plan was not carried out, and fate has de- creed that I should now, in writing of the father, commem- orate also the lives of his sons, Louis and Angelo. Time, I am convinced, has detracted nothing from the value of what, in this volume, has been included from the contribu- tions of Michael Heilprin to the columns of the Nation and the Evening Post. The proprietors of these journals have kindly permitted the full use of their files. I acknowledge also, With thanks, the permission given me by Messrs. D. Appleton & Co. to reprint extracts from the " American Cyclopaedia," the " Historical Reference Book," "Alaska and the Klondike," and from Appleton's Popular Science Monthly ; and by J. B. Lippincott Co. to quote certain passages from "Mont Pele'e and the Tragedy of Martinique." I am under similar obligations to Messrs. G. P. Putnam's Sons for permission to reprint the article on " The Geographical Conquests of the Century " (pub- lished by them in their volume on " The Century's Progress," by arrangement with the proprietors of the Evening Post) ; and to the publishers of The Forum and The Engineering Magazine for the use of the articles quoted from these periodicals in this book. GUSTAV POLLAK. CONTENTS PART I MICHAEL HEILPRIN I PAGES John W. Chadwick's sketch, in the Unitarian Review, of Michael Heilprin's life 3-12 II Political and critical' articles in the Nation "The Crisis in Austria " De Tocqueville's " French Revolution " An article on Persia Reviews of encyclopaedic works Cole's " Biograph- ical Dictionary " Thomas's " Dictionary of Biography and My- thology " An absurd " Cyclopaedia of Biography " Life of General Paez An article on Poland The reform movement among the Jews Charles the Bold An estimate of Napo- leon Panslavism Renan's " St. Paul " Articles on the Franco-German War " Some of the Causes of the War " "Will the Miracle of 1792' repeat itself ?" Articles on military affairs 13-78 III ' "The Historical Poetry of the Ancient Hebrews" A review of Mr. Heilprin 's book in the Nation Foreign notices of the work 79-90 IV An essay on " Foreign Names " Confusion as to spelling of foreign names Journals and encyclopaedias at sea The English and the Roman alphabet Rules of transliterating names from Eastern and modern languages 91106 Comments on the Russo-Turkish war Semi-military contributions to the Nation Familiarity with Eastern battlefields. . . .107-111 VI Metternich's Memoirs "County Names" 112-119 x CONTENTS VII PAGES Contributions to both the Nation and the Evening Post Miscel- laneous editorials on foreign politics Important book reviews Russia and the Russians The site of Paradise Freeman's " English Towns " Stade's " Ancient Israel " Renan's "History of Israel" Mr. Heilprin's last article: Sayce's " Hibbert Lectures " 120-162 VIII Recollections of Hungary and Poland Revolutionary poems Translations from Petb'fi A meeting with the poet Scenes of Mr. Heilprin's childhood Early education Study of Hebrew Removal to Hungary Acquaintance with Kossuth and Szemere Activity during the revolution Travels in France 163-168 IX First years in America Early interest in American politics An incident at an anti-slavery meeting in Philadelphia A contro- versy with a Jewish rabbi Removal to Brooklyn Acquaint- ance with 1 the Manning family Kossuth's sisters and other Hungarian patriots A poem in honor of Hungarian supporters of Garibaldi 169-171 X Contributions to the American Cyclopaedia A partial list of his articles The article "Hebrews" A striking article on Hungary 172-191 XI Life in Washington Acquaintance with Spofford, Seward, Sum- ner, Dana, Count Gurowski, and Prof. Henry Contributions to the Boston Continental Monthly and the Washington Chronicle Edits the Balance " A Voice from the Springfield Tomb" 192-194 XII Letters to his children and his brother-in-law Removal to Yonkers His views of President Johnson's policy Contributes to the Round Table Disapproval of a planned an ti- Austrian rising in this country A historical glance at various revolutions . 195-199 XIII A suggestion from Mr. Garrison to Charles Eliot Norton as to Mr. Heilprin's lecturing at the Lowell Institute Mr. Norton's answer Mr. Heilprin's attitude toward the new Hungary CONTENTS xi PAGES His admiration of Francis Deak His views as to France and Germany His estimate of various historians Revision of Appleton's Cyclopaedia O. B. Frothingham's characterization of Mr. Heilprin His work on the Cyclopaedia His children as his assistants His relations with Ripley, Dana, Robert Carter and Francis E. Teall The Condensed Cyclopaedia Interruption of work on the Nation Mr. Godkin's suggestion to President Eliot as to a Harvard professorship for Mr. Heil- prin A meeting with Mr. Eliot A letter from George Bancroft 200-204 XIV Mr. Heilprin 's work for the Russian refugees Dr. Julius Gold- man's cooperation Founding of the Montefiore Agricultural Aid Society Self-sacrificing work during a trying summer List of colonies founded An appeal to the Jews Fate of the Russian-Jewish colonies Mr. Heilprin's removal to Summit, New Jersey A great service to the Jewish cause Mr. Heil- prin's letter to Oscar S. Straus The establishment of the Baron de Hirsch Fund in America A consequence of Mr. Heilprin's letter Present status of Jewish farmers in America 205-220 XV Illness and death The funeral A letter from W. P. Garrison . 221-222 XVI Home life and personal characteristics Intimate traits Love of nature Favorite novelists Enjoyment of life Henrietta Heilprin Educational methods in the home How the chil- dren were taught Excursions and other simple pleasures Mr. Heilprin's phenomenal powers of conversation His modesty and helpfulness The life in Summit Mr. Heilprin as a neighbor His manner of working Love of Hungarian music Friends and acquaintances : Prof. E. L. Youmans, Samuel Longfellow, Horace Greeley, Goldwin Smith, Prof. William C. Russel, Prof. Child, Carl Schurz, Hugo Wesen- donck, Friedrick Kapp, Dr. Samuel Adler, Dr. B. Szold The " Namenloser Verein " The posthumous " Bibelkritische Noti- zen " Favorite authors Mr. Heilprin's attitude toward pub- lic men His admiration for President Cleveland His tolerant liberalism The lesson of his life . . .223-229 xii CONTENTS PART II ANGELO HEILPRIN I PAGES His early life First studies in natural history Early interest in art Copies paintings in Capitol Talent for music Work on the American Cyclopaedia An article on Tyndall A re- view of Huxley's " Elementary Biology " Studies in Europe Award of Forbes medal Foreign travel Ascent of Car- pathian peaks Return to America Professor and curator in the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences 233-240 II Various books by Angelo Heilprin, based on his connection with the Academy of Natural Sciences " Contributions to the Tertiary Geology and Paleontology of the United States " " Town Geology : The Lessons of the Philadelphia Rocks " Chair in the Wagner Free Institute of Science Explorations in Florida " The Geographical and Geological Distribution of Animals " " The Geological Evidences of Evolution " " The Animal Life of Our Sea-Shore " "Principles of Geology " Explora- tions in Mexico An ascent of Orizaba A narrow escape 241-263 III Arctic explorations Relations with Robert E. Peary Commands West Greenland expedition Leads the Peary Relief Expedi- tion to Greenland " The Arctic Problem and Narrative of the Peary Relief Expedition " A dramatic meeting with Peary on the ice-cap 264-268 IV A journey to Alaska" Alaska and the Klondike" The physical history and geology of Alaska 269-276 The daring ascent of Mount Pelee " Mount Pelee and the Tragedy of Martinique" Experiences on the summit of Pele"e during the eruption Three other investigators George Kennan'a tribute to Heilprin's bravery A newspaper's estimate of the achievement A second visit to Martinique Account of the destruction of Morne Rouge Cut off from communication with the outer world A newspaper interview after his return from Martinique 277-305 CONTENTS xiii VI PAGES The catastrophes of Martinique and their bearing on the Panama Canal Conclusions concerning the geological character of the Antilles The region of weakness and instability Influence of Heilprin's views on the debates in the U. S. Senate . . . 306-316 VII The Tower of Pel^e A study of the phenomenon on the spot Saint Pierre revisited The shattered obelisk Heilprin's con- clusions concerning its formation 317-328 vm Volcanic and seismic disturbances " The Eruption of Pelee: A Summary" 329-333 IX A journey to British Guiana "Impressions of a Naturalist " The exuberance of animal life in Guiana The mighty rivers A primeval forest Life in the wilderness The exploitation of the interior . . 334-350 A paper on " The Progress of Discovery " Problems in the inter- continental tract uniting North America with Asia The West Central African region a fruitful field for exploration Geolog- ical problems awaiting solution The unknown extreme south of South America 351-356 XI Heilprin's " Recollections of Huxley " The Royal School of Mines Huxley in the class-room His criticism and his praise Huxley's skill as a draughtsman His methods in lecturing . 357-368 XII Heilprin's proposal of an " International University " Educational ignorance ' ' Earth Knowledge ' ' needed Universities should be international rather than national Suggestion of a " trav- elling system " - 4 ; 369-377 XIII His death and tributes to his memory Last paper from his pen The funeral Meeting of the Geographical Society of Phila- delphia in his honor Addresses by Dr. E. J. Nolan, Prof. Russell H. Chittenden, Henry G. Bryant, Herbert L. Bridgman, Prof. William Libbey, Frank B. Greene, and Dr. Theodore Le Boutillier Telegram from Commander Peary 378-387 xiv CONTENTS XIV PAGES Personal Traits A letter to his mother Elected Member of the Royal Geographical Society of London Various honors : becomes President of the American Geological Society and President of the Association of American Geographers Ob- tains patents for mechanical devices Is awarded medal of the Franklin Institute His paintings of the eruption of Mont Pelee Opinion of art critics as to his work A map of Green- land made by him at the age of six 388-392 XV Angelo Heilprin as lecturer Speaks at the Cooper Institute and elsewhere Address on " The Geological Evidences of Evolu- tion" 393-427 XVI The variety and methods of his work Addresses the Peabody Insti- tute and the Johns Hopkins Club Becomes lecturer at the Sheffield Scientific School Organizes free public lectures in New Haven Personal appearance Edits Lippincott's "New Gazetteer " A letter to George F. Parker A description of him in the Philadelphia Press His bearing during his last illness His scientific ideals 428-431 XVII Heilprin's views on the coral reef problem He upholds Darwin's subsidence theory Reference to his views in Francis Darwin's " Life" of his father Quotation from Professor Judd's " Criti- cal Introduction " An estimate of Angelo Heilprin's life and work 432-457 PART III LOUIS HEILPRIN I A brief sketch of his life An obituary in the New York Evening Post Early close communion with his brother Attends pub- lic schools in Brooklyn and Yonkers Artistic and mechanical skill Acquisition of languages Assists his father in revising the American Cyclopaedia Article on the Thirty Years' War . 461-471 II The " Historical Reference Book " Difficulties in doing literary work on account of defective eyesight The labor of verifying conflicting statements 472-476 CONTENTS xv III PAGES Louis Heilprin's views on Rapid Transit His work in connection with Vdmbery's " Story of Hungary " Revises the Century " Cyclopaedia of Names " Gives private instructions in lan- guages and teaches at a school in Summit, N. J. Delivers some lectures His interest in engineering matters Letters to the New York Evening Post A prophetic article on Rapid Transit in the Engineering Magazine 477-486 IV " The Geographical Conquests of the Century" Occasional con- tributions to the Nation and Evening Post His familiarity with geographical subjects Contributes to the Post an ency- clopsedic account of the nineeteenth century's achievement in exploration 487^99 V The encyclopaedic expert Is asked to cooperate in the " New In- ternational Encyclopaedia " President Gilman's opinion of his ability His task of revision His marvellous memory His work on Lippincott's " Gazetteer " Three remarkable articles on the Encyclopaedia Britanuica 500-522 VI Last contribution to the Evening Post An article on " The Tena- cious Ottoman Empire " 523-526 VII Louis Heilprin, the man His illness and death The life-long weakness of his eyes An inward vision His crayon sketches Extraordinary methods of study His stoicism His im- pression on strangers His duty to his f ellowmen His idea of charity His interest in civic matters Vegetarian in prac- tice rather than in theory Plans visit to Western cities Viewed as a relative and friend His modesty His intellec- tual predilections His interest in mechanical and mathemat- ical problems 527-529 PART IV ANCESTRY AND THE FAMILY Michael Heilprin's father A sketch of his life Michael Heilprin's mother Sarah Franklin, Michael Heilprin's sister Louis Heilprin's address at the funeral of Sarah Franklin Other members of the Heilprin family 533-540 ILLUSTRATIONS Michael Heilprin Frontispiece FACING PAGE Henrietta Heilprin 224 Angelo Heilprin 233 The Tower of Pel&j 317 Reproduced from a painting by Angelo Heilprin loaned to the American Museum of Natural History, New York Angelo and Louis Heilprin as young boys 389 From a photograph taken in the early 'sixties Exact reproduction of a pencil drawing of a Map of Greenland made by Angelo Heilprin at the age of six years 391 Louis Heilprin 461 A crayon sketch by Louis Heilprin 527 Phineas Mendel Heilprin 531 PABT I MICHAEL HEILPRIST MICHAEL HEILPRIN A BRIEF SKETCH OF HIS LIFE On the tenth of May, 1888, there died at Summit, N". J., a man little known to the world at large, but of unique reputa- tion among the learned few. His character and his achieve- ments called forth glowing encomiums from those best qualified to appreciate him. The fullest of these tributes was from the pen of John W. Chadwick, a distinguished Unitarian clergy- man and an author of note. The article appeared in the Uni- tarian Review for September, 1888, and is here reprinted, with the correction of a few errors in date. " Michael Heilprin : a noble scholar. It was my privilege to call this man my friend, to receive from him an esteem and af- fection which I could never understand, but which made me worthier of them than I should otherwise have been. Therefore, I come to speak his praises now that he is dead. It is always fit and pleasant to give honor where it is due. It is never more so than when the good we celebrate was cloistered from the world, or when the work was known and held in due respect while still the workman was withdrawn from public view. With Mr. Heilprin it was so to a very great extent. His literary la- bors were for the most part anonymous. The only exception was his Historical Poetry of the Ancient Hebrews. His terrible toil on Appleton's Cyclopaedia was justly prized by the publishers and editors of that admirable work ; but its amount and character were known to few, only to his immediate coadjutors and per- sonal friends. The same is true of his critical work upon the Nation, which began with its fourth number and continued for more than twenty years. Many thousands have read his articles 4 MICHAEL HEILPRIN with admiration who had not the faintest idea of the personality of their benefactor. It is not often that so much of intellectual power is exercised in this impersonal way. He was well satisfied to have it so. Not that he was indifferent to the good opinion of his friends and those who were well qualified to judge his work, but to do it honestly and well was ever his main source of satisfaction. For general fame or reputation he had little care. This disposition is ever an encouragement to our praises of the men of parts and character whom it adorns. Though I knew Mr. Heilprin well for many years, he was ever slow to talk about himself ; and I must rely upon a friendly hand, incapable of erring in such matters, for the particulars of his earlier life. He was born in Piotrkow, in Russian Poland, in 1823, inheriting the aptitude of a long line of Hebrew schol- ars, the earliest upon the list in the catalogue of the British Museum writing in 1558. His father, Phineas Mendel Heil- prin, who, sharing the fortunes of his son, died in Washington, D. C., in 1863, was a merchant-scholar in the manufacturing town of Tomaszow, where Mr. Heilprin spent his youth. The father, engaging in the business of the place, was a Hebrew scholar of high rank and an ardent student of Maimonides, yet not less of Kant and Fichte and other philosophers of the Gentile schools. Michael began the study of Hebrew, as did his play- mates generally among the Polish Jews, at the age of four or five. He never at any time was sent to school or had any teacher except his father. German was his mother tongue ; but, when still a boy, he obtained a perfect mastery of the Polish language. He studied simultaneously Latin, Greek, and French, rising regularly every morning at two o'clock and settling down im- mediately to his books. From an early period, the grandeur of Hebrew poetry and the difficulties of Hebrew grammar had much more attraction for him than Talmudic subtleties. In his own unconventional way, he became the instructor of his brother and a sister, and when about fifteen collected around him a number of equally youthful disciples. To ' take and give not on again ' was never satisfactory to him ; but, if ever at any time his manner was didactic or pedagogical, it had ceased to be so in his full maturity. While still a boy, his mental outlook was en- larged by visits to Prussia with his father; and his linguistic A BRIEF SKETCH OF HIS LIFE 5 attainments began to attract the attention of distinguished He- braists. Already he had begun the study of comparative philol- ogy, making careful notes of his own observations. In after life, he retained lively recollections of the Polish insurrection of 1830-31, and of his growing sense of the oppression of the Rus- sian yoke. This came at length to be so unbearable that in 1842 his parents sought a refuge from it in Hungary, and he went with them and his young wife ; for, though but twenty years of age, he was already married. For two years after his arrival in Hungary he devoted himself to the study of the language, history, and institutions of his new home. The great national liberal movement, under the leader- ship of Szechenyi, Eotvos, Deak, and Kossuth, was then well under way ; and Mr. Heilprin was pledged by his experience in Poland and by his recent studies to unite himself with this. He established a bookstore in Miskolcz (which is still flourishing) ; and, coming much in contact with the Hungarian gentry, he soon enjoyed their merited esteem so much that, though he was still wearing the peculiar costume of a Polish Jew, he was re- ceived into the local club of nobles. When the revolution of 1848 broke out, his reputation as a writer was established, and his revolutionary poems were widely popular. He was offered and accepted the position of secretary to the literary bureau at- tached to the department of the interior. After the proclamation of Hungarian independence in 1849, he followed the government to Debreczin, and back to Pesth and to Szegedin, when the exi- gencies of war necessitated these removals of head-quarters from place to place. The revolution soon collapsed, inherent weakness co-operating with the basest treachery to this end; and Mr. Heilprin barely escaped capture by the Austrians. After re- maining in concealment for some months, he succeeded in mak- ing his escape, and went to Paris. There began that failure of his eyesight which obliged him finally to rely very largely upon others' reading for the acquisition of his stores of information. This great misfortune had its compensations. It made the studies, which might otherwise have isolated him, a bond of union between him and the members of his family. Unable to obtain in France the means of livelihood, especially with fail- ing sight, the rigor of the Austrian authorities having some- 6 MICHAEL HEILPRIN what relaxed, he resolved to run the risk of returning to Hun- gary. His six months in France were not wholly lost. He made a long pedestrian excursion, following the river Loire. It was one of many that renewed his youth from year to year. No sturdier walker could be found, nor one who more enjoyed perambulation. Another pleasure which he had in France was in attending the lectures at the Sorbonne of Michelet, Jules Simon, and others. Even before returning to Hungary, Mr. Heilprin had resolved to seek a home in England or the United States; and, while teaching school in Ujhely, he addressed himself ardently to the study of the English language, so that when he finally left Hun- gary, in 1856, he had thoroughly mastered it. His principal text-book was Gibbon's Decline and Fall. He scrupulously fixed the pronunciation of every doubtful word, and identified on the map every locality mentioned in the work. Going to England, he again met Kossuth, who gave him a letter of introduction to Mr. Seward, which he never used. It was the advice of Rev. Wil- liam Henry Channing that determined him to come to America ; and it was among his friends in Brooklyn, N. Y., that he ulti- mately found some of the most kind and faithful of his own, Mr. R. H. Manning, his wife, and sister Elizabeth, with whom Margaret Fuller had spent a happy season of some months' dura- tion just before starting on that journey which had no return. When Mr. Heilprin came to this country, other Hungarian exiles were already here, among them two sisters of Kossuth, and one of these, Madame Zulavski, had tender nursing under Mr. Manning's roof until her death, when, at her burial, Mr. Heil- prin spoke the gratitude of the exiles to the Manning household, ever a fountain-head of kindly offices to those in need of them. It was a precarious living that he earned by teaching until 1858, when his connection began with Appleton's New American Cyclopaedia. It was then in its third volume ; and at his first meeting with the editors, Messrs. Ripley and Dana, he so im- pressed them with the extent and accuracy of his scholarship that he was at once intrusted with the revision of all the geo- graphical, historical, and biographical articles. He himself wrote many of these articles, that on * Hebrews ' being one of the most notable. His contributions generally were such as gave A BKIEF SKETCH OF HIS LIFE 7 attention to subjects which, but for him, would have been over- looked. But his greatest service to this work, for which he cher- ished an affectionate interest only equalled by his interest in the Nation, was on the lines of verification and unification. It is safe to say, as has been said already, that ' no other similar work of collaboration published in the English language has ever had this merit in so high a degree, in which, for example, there was a uniform spelling of proper names, a uniform date for the same event, however often mentioned, a uniform system of tran- scribing words (especially proper names) from foreign languages not using the Roman alphabet.' His work on the first edition ended in 1863 ; and began on the second, much revised, in 1871 and ended in 1876. Other work of a similar character engaged him further on, and close akin to it were his articles in the Trib- une or the Nation reviewing works of an encyclopedic character. Reviewing in the Tribune * a certain biographical dictionary, complete in one volume, he ventured the statement that it could be convicted of five thousand errors ; and he never would have ventured it if he had not been sure that he could make it good. His reviews of the Encyclopaedia Britannica in the Nation, as volume after volume came out, revealed at once the breadth and accuracy of his own knowledge and the surprising carelessness of the editing under consideration. Mr. Heilprin's connection with the Nation began in 1865, and hardly ended with his death ; for it may be assumed that in more than one careful article in that journal we shall yet be able to detect the impress of his hand. His work for it was not only of the kind which has been specified, but ranged through a wide field of critical and historical subjects. He had hardly been a month in America when Sumner was struck down by Brooks; and the anti-slavery conflict, in full career, convinced him that human rights had not all been fully established in America. He recognized but one great battle here and in Hungary, and his sympathies with the anti-slavery party from the first were keen and strong. In 1860, he wrote an elaborate article in the Trib- une, demolishing a Jewish rabbi, who had come to the rescue of slavery with an army of Bible texts. But, while always deeply interested in our politics and reforms, his writing for the Nation 1 This is an error. For Tribune read Nation. 8 MICHAEL HEUPKItf was mainly upon European literature and politics or in review of American works that dealt with these. He was especially at home in all the ins and outs of the Eastern question, and prob- ably did more to diffuse sound information and create just opinion on the Bulgarian and kindred complications than any other writer in this country. His affection for the Nation was remarkable; so was his jealousy for its good name. Writing for it anonymously, its reputation for accuracy was to him a constant inspiration; and an error in any part of it hurt him almost as if it were his own. It was well for it that he was sympathetic with its principles; for he would never write for any journal, even on literary subjects, with whose principles he disagreed. From 1858 to 1863, Mr. Heilprin resided in Brooklyn, in close association with the exiled members of Kossuth's family. From 1863 to 1865, he was in Washington, following the for- tunes of the war with intense interest, and acquiring a knowl- edge of its details that was afterwards of incalculable benefit to him in the revision of the Cyclopaedia. The restoration of the political liberties of Hungary, which failed to satisfy Kossuth, was to him a source of great encouragement and joy. Francis Deak, who had brought about the new order of things in Austria- Hungary, ever remained his ideal statesman. He was not unlike him in his absolute integrity, his simplicity and fairness, and the convincing logic of his argument Had he chosen to return to Hungary, as did many of his fellow-exiles after 1867, he would undoubtedly have achieved distinction in the political history of the United Empire. But, if Hungary was his first adopted country, America was his second; and his work here had now become so happy and assured that he did not care to break it off. Through all his editorial and journalistic work, Mr. Heilprin had kept a roomy corner in his mind the corner next his heart for his Old Testament studies ; and, when the revision of the Cyclopaedia was completed in 1876, he began to put his studies into literary form, and in 1879 published the first, and in 1880 the second, volume of his Historical Poetry of the An- cient Hebrews. At an early age, he had made himself familiar with the course to date of modern criticism of the Old Testa- A BRIEF SKETCH OF HIS LIFE 9 ment ; and of every subsequent stage lie had kept himself thor- oughly informed. He had accepted, not grudgingly, but with enthusiasm and delight, those views of the Old Testament which have been developed by Graf and Kuenen and Wellhausen and Reuss (central to which is the assignment of the Levitical por- tions of the Pentateuch to the fifth century B. c.) ; and his sym- pathetic criticisms of their studies in the Nation from time to time have been an important factor in familiarizing American scholars and readers with them. But he was a slavish follower of none of these distinguished men. In his Historical Poetry of the Ancient Hebrews there are many novel points of view, many original constructions of the text and of the tendency of various documents. His translations of the poems and fragments at- tested equally his familiarity with Hebrew and English. For vigor and for beauty, they are alike remarkable, so that it is not difficult to appreciate the fact that, as a poet, he first won his literary reputation. A third volume, interrupted by his death, contains, we have reason to believe from his confidential com- munications, matter of uncommon interest. Its completion was retarded by his interest in the Jewish refugees who were driven by Russian persecution to our shores a few years ago. His inter- est in these was not that of a Jewish sectary, which he had long ceased to be, but was partly inspired by loyalty to his own race, partly and mainly by his sensibility to every outrage and in- dignity offered to his fellow-men. But, in spite of his untiring zeal and self-sacrificing devotion, the attempt to establish colo- nies in Oregon, Dakota, and New Jersey was very disappointing, mainly because of inadequate financial support. Mr. Heilprin's knowledge of history was nothing less than an epitome of its universal course. His stomach for facts was some- thing wonderful. His command of dates was by tens of thou- sands. His accuracy was equal to his range. He would run his eye along the pages of a dictionary of dates, and make correc- tions by the half-dozen or the dozen upon every page. The time and place of the six hundred battles and engagements of our Civil War were all at his tongue's end. Even Macaulay could not ' say his popes/ fearing he might be slaughtered with the Innocents ; but it may well be doubted if Mr. Heilprin would have failed in the attempt. His confidence in his memory was 10 MICHAEL HEILPRIX very great, and he wrote the most elaborate historical reviews without a particle of special preparation. This is an easy thing to do where one gets all his knowledge from the book in hand. But this Mr. Heilprin never did. For example, I recall a re- view of the voluminous memoirs of Metternich. It was written from the stand-point of a much wider knowledge than the book involved. It checked and challenged many statements. I asked him how much special preparation it required, and he said, ' None whatever.' So much knowledge of details is generally fatal to the broader view. It was not so with him. His appre- hension of the philosophy of history was not less vivid than his apprehension of the concreter elements. He was satisfied with no ' disconnection dull and spiritless/ He was enamoured of the broadest generalizations and the remotest causes of events. Those who knew Mr. Heilprin only in his writings did not half know him. There was nothing specially attractive in his style. It was simple and transparent, and never faulty in its grammar. But his conversation was phenomenal. His speech was hardly adequate to express the crowd of his ideas. The appearance of a slight impediment arose (so he explained) from his thinking with equal ease in several different languages, while to make choice in which to speak was sometimes difficult. Those who have read his Historical Poetry of the Ancient Hebrews and who have heard him talk on the same subject will bear me witness that the book is nothing to the talk. His intellectual enthusiasm was immense, and swept along his hearers in a tu- multuous flood. He had a reading knowledge of eighteen differ- ent languages, having acquired Roumanian in the last weeks of his life. He could speak eight, if I remember rightly, with sufficient ease. Withal, he was extremely modest. For all his vast acquirements there was never any assumption of extensive knowledge, never, apparently, any consciousness of it. He made it easy for those who knew but little to talk with him. He never reminded them of their ignorance, but gave them credit for much wider knowledge than they had. The heats of scholarship did not exhaust in him the natural juices of the man. ' Learned in books,' he was not ' little in himself.' The face of nature always had for him delight. He was a man who A BRIEF SKETCH OF HIS LIFE 11 ' set his face, In many a solitary place, Against the wind and open sky.' For much that he would blot in this article, he would insert that he was a vegetarian from 1850 ; but he kept the faith in silence, without urging it upon his friends. Perhaps his death at sixty-five argues against the habit of his life. The vigor of his intellect was not at the expense of his affections. His heart was as a little child's. He had great faculty for friendship, was ever loyal and kind, and faithful in the observance of those little offices which the student life may easily obscure ; while for his immediate family he seemed to have a heart as free, a care as gentle and deliberate, as if he had no life but that of his own fireside joys. His domestic circle was remarkable for its mutual helpfulness, for its intellectual sympathy, for the delight with which its members encouraged each other in the pursuit of knowledge. Mr. Heilprin lived to see two of his children arriv- ing at distinction in the fields of literature and science ; and this was not the least of many satisfactions which rendered his se- verely simple life one of the most beautiful and enviable that I have ever known." Such, in brief and substantially correct outlines, was the life of Michael Heilprin. It was my privilege and happiness to be close to him and his sons as a member of the family. They were all three men of rare worth and remarkable en- dowments. Angelo Heilprin, the younger son, impressed him- self upon the scientific world in striking ways, and it is still my hope that some day a memoir worthy of his achievements may be written by a competent hand. For such a memoir, the present volume may furnish material. It is likewise my purpose to dwell on the unique traits of character which distinguished both the father and his sons. Above all, I wish to call attention to the importance of Michael Heilprin's critical writings, which, fully appreciated by chosen scholars, and enjoyed, at the time of their appearance, by a wide circle of readers, are now hidden from the general public. Of Mr. Heilprin's single work in book form, The Historical Poetry of the Ancient Hebrews, and other of his writings, mention will be made later on. His literary life-work 12 MICHAEL his contributions to the !N"ew York Nation, during a period of more than twenty years was, it is safe to say, not surpassed by any similar body of critical work in the English language. The editors of that journal, in their obituary tribute to him, justly said: "How great is the loss sustained by American scholarship through the death of Mr. Michael Heilprin, the general public, owing to the man's invincible modesty, cannot know. To this journal and its readers it may fairly be pronounced irreparable, so largely has he contributed during the past twenty years to whatever reputation the Nation may have acquired for literary accuracy or breadth of information." II ME. HEILPRIN'S POLITICAL AND CEITICAL ARTICLES IN THE NATION The very first of Mr. Heilprin's contributions to the Nation, on " The Crisis in Austria," which appeared in the fourth num- ber of that journal, in July, 1865, convinced the editors that they had found a writer of remarkable insight into foreign poli- tics. The article was a summary, apropos of the fall of the Schmerling ministry in Vienna, of the changes in the Hapsburg monarchy since the revolution of 1848. Persons and events were sketched with a master's hand. The Emperor Ferdinand, Met- ternich, Bach, Schwarzenberg, Napoleon III., Francis Joseph, the Archduchess Sophia, Bismarck, Count Szechenyi, Francis Deak, Count Teleky, Kossuth; the subjugation of Hungary, the policy of centralization in Austria, the tentative constitu- tional efforts of Schmerling in Vienna, the antagonism between Magyars and Slavs in Hungary, the opposition of Poles and Bo- hemians to the Germans, the Schleswig-Holstein imbroglio, the disasters of Magenta and Solferino, the Polish insurrection of 1863-64, the inevitable approach of a dualistic experiment for the empire all this was touched upon with the fullest knowl- edge and with statesmanlike comprehension. This article was followed by equally learned reviews of sev- eral important French works, the correspondence between Prince Adam Czartoryski and Alexander I. of Russia, Monta- lembert's The Victory of the North in the United States, and De Tocqueville's eighth volume, dealing with the French Revo- lution. An extract from the review last named will serve to illustrate Mr. Heilprin's power of graphic condensation: DE TOCQUEVILLE " The new political faith, preached by the Revolution, fol- lowed in the wake of the emigration, if it did not precede it. It 14 MICHAEL HEILPRItf is wonderful to observe how easily most of the European nations were persuaded to make those novel ideas, apparently French, their own. General causes had prepared them for it But the terror which reigned in France was a peculiar off- spring of its time and place. It could nowhere else have the character it there bore. It was the product, it is true, of general causes, but which local causes forced beyond all limits ; it was the product of the French manners, character, and habits, of French centralization, of the sudden destruction of all hierarchy. Its force lay in powerful organization, in its crushing unity. It could nowhere be imitated with success. To have set a perni- cious example to other times and nations is an evil done to pos- terity by the Convention, which by its ravings did so much evil to the men of its time. Its triumph was made possible by par- ticular domestic and foreign circumstances, which are generally overlooked. It will not always be enough to attempt with violence and temerity what appears impossible. ' The Con- vention created the policy of the impossible, the theory of rav- ing madness, the worship of blind temerity.' Neither could the wars of the French Revolution be imitated and victory organized accordingly. The circumstance will find no parallel. Democratic armies fought kings, when a demo- cratic revolution was sweeping over Europe. The new world fought the old. Victory was carried by surprise; everything was novel. The spirit of the revolution marched before its martial banners. Devastated Europe aided its ravagers. The new faith, as once Islamism, swept on, ravaging and converting at the same time. Imbecile princes were broken before they knew what was passing around them. A stupefied, servile diplomacy, without unity or harmony, made futile attempts to oppose an unparalleled centralization. An equally servile strategy could as little cope with democratic boldness and im- petuosity, which were, besides, revolutionary and French. The defects as well as the good qualities of the French co-operated alike in making them triumphant. . . . The Revolution continued to advance, to complete its course, after the fall of Robespierre, in spite of reaction, of the suc- ceeding vanishing of illusions, of the exhaustion of the assem- blies, and of the drooping of the spirit of freedom, amidst the ESTIMATE OF DE TOCQUEVILLE 15 growing preponderance of military character. The armies re- mained energetic when the nation ceased to be so. The war power of France survived the decline and degradation of the civil government, even when the latter had fallen into the con- temptible hands of the Directory." Of De Tocqueville himself Mr. Heilprin drew, in a later article, based on the concluding volume of his collected works, the following portrait: " It presents to us De Tocqueville, entire, as he was in the period of his maturity and vigor, from the time when he had, as the author of Democracy in America, occupied so high a place among the foremost thinkers and writers of the age, almost down to the fatal day the second of December, 1851 which sent some of the most active minds of France into an involun- tary retirement, in which our philosophic statesman found no rest, but sufficient otium cum dignitate to write his Ancien Regime. In academical and parliamentary speeches or short addresses, in literary and legislative reports (as for instance on Cherbuliez's Democratic en Suisse, on the abolition of slavery in the French colonies, on prison reform, on the affairs of Algeria, and on the revision of the constitution), and in inde- pendent elaborations on penal colonies, on emancipation, on the history of Cherbourg, this volume re-introduces us to De Tocqueville, the writer and orator, philosopher, legislator, and minister of state ; the independent enquirer so full of modera- tion; the aristocrat by birth, habits, and tastes, whose task of life it is to study the laws, and to co-operate in smoothing the ways of political equality; the friend of democracy in the New World who trembles at its advent under different auspices in the Old; the son of legitimists, but republican by con- viction, who sincerely defends the constitutional throne of Louis Philippe; the staunch partisan of liberty and opponent of centralization who above all abhors demagogism ; the zealous advocate of the rights of the poor who sees in socialism the worst kind of servitude; the ardent religionist with whom unlimited freedom of conscience and the separation of church and state are the dearest of political tenets; the Catholic by 16 MICHAEL HEILPKIN education to whom England and the United States are models of a religious society; the man of the minority who is always charitable and gentle in judging the leaders of the majority; the writer and speaker who charms us by his diction without ever sacrificing simplicity or lucidity to flowery ornaments. But it is, we believe, the parliamentary part of the speeches con- tained in this volume, scanty as it is, which shows him, as a man of active thought, in best relief." AN ARTICLE ON PERSIA The next review, an article on "Persian Characteristics," showed Mr. Heilprin's familiarity with Oriental subjects. He could always present, with rare skill, the essence of the author's work, while letting the light of his own information play upon it. "Modern Persian literature is decidedly inferior in its products to that of former centuries. There are numberless versifiers, but few poets, and the standard models of the golden age are not even well imitated. Poetry is either a trade or a pastime, never a vocation. The shahs are beset by beggar bards, have their poet-laureates, and make verses themselves. Nasser-ed-din is both a poet and a patron of literature. Chil- dren are taught Saadi's Gulistan, learning its most striking epigrams by heart. Poems form the principal basis of edu- cation. Every respectable conversation must have its rich ad- mixture of spirited or pointed quotations. The precepts of the Koran are studied with less reverence than the teachings of Saadi or Hafiz; its legends are not as well known as the fabulous tales of Firdousi. A good elocution and a fine florid style is what every man of culture tries to acquire; a lucid and chaste diction is rarely to be met with. Caligraphy is the constant study of everybody, from childhood to old age. Letters and notes are written with the utmost care and neatness. Mirzas carry a collection of writing materials attached to their girdle. For fine manuscripts or exquisite writing-samples high, sometimes fabulous, prices are paid. Printed books, in which the peculiar way of writing the Arabic letters cannot well be AN ARTICLE ON PERSIA IT imitated, are less valued than well-executed lithographic works. Geography is generally taught according to the old Ptolemaic system; few scholars know its modern developments. Asia is tolerably well known 1 from historical traditions and the ex- periences of travelling merchants, roving dervishes, and pious pilgrims. Of Europe, only the principal countries are known. History is a most favorite study, though acquired not less superficially. It generally begins with the conquests of Islam. Mirkhond's renowned historical work, Eutzet es Safe, is to be found in every respectable house. A continuation to our times has lately been elaborated. Histories of Napoleon, after Scott ; of Peter the Great and Charles XII., after Voltaire; and of Czar Nicholas, after Baron Korff, lately issued, are widely and closely studied, sometimes to the perplexity of Europeans, who are surprised to find themselves comparatively ignorant on those topics. Works on mathematical and other scientific sub- jects also circulate in manuscripts or lithographs. But instruc- tion, in general, is still in a primitive stage, though private schools abound, and almost everybody learns a little, women not excepted." REVIEWS OF ENCYCLOPEDIC WORKS In the fifteenth number of the Nation, that of October 12, 1865, appeared the first of Mr. Heilprin's remarkable series of reviews of encyclopedic works. The wonder at his erudition is enhanced if we remember, as Mr. Chadwick and others have pointed out, that these reviews were always written from a single reading of the contents sometimes after a rapid glanc- ing at the pages and that Mr. Heilprin hardly ever found it necessary to refresh his memory by comparing his corrections with standard authorities or books of reference. His accuracy was infallible. In other contributions he had shown a philos- opher's grasp of large historic movements; in these was dis- played the minute and diversified knowledge of the encyclo- paedist. The following may serve as a specimen of his reviews of this class: 18 MICHAEL HEILPKHST COLE'S " BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONAKY " l This neatly and correctly printed little volume will be found a very useful hand-book, affording " ready information of the births and deaths of deceased persons, more or less noteworthy, of all countries and periods." The author modestly hopes and we trust his hope will not be deceived that it will " lie upon the desk, an unobtrusive companion of other books of many sorts, to give a reader its rapid answer whenever he is tempted to pause at a name, and ask no more than ' When did he live ? ' ' ' This curiosity he satisfies in the plainest and short- est way, generally in a line to a query. The additions attached to the names and dates, which also answer the question " Who was he ? " or " What has he done ? " are not intended to furnish a condensed biography, but chiefly to identify the individuals. The italics within brackets indicate some production of the pen or some work of art whenever possible, a chef d'ceuvrej the italics without brackets indicate a second, an assumed, or an original name. Biographies of the subject are referred to thus : " Life by ..." or " L. by ... " When we add that this biographical dictionary contains no less than eighteen thousand names, and that the author has labored with conscientious zeal and rare diligence in verifying his dates, the reader will at once perceive how much benefit he may derive from such a companion of his literary occupations. On the other hand, we cannot but regret that the author has not also bestowed on his work the attention and labor necessary to make it complete, uniform, and as correct in everything else as it is in dates. His acquaintance with English, French, and classical history and literature, and the use of a number of standard guides to biographical knowledge, have enabled him to perform parts of his task thoroughly and accurately ; in others he has been less successful, chiefly from want of discrimination in making the choice of his subjects. While thousands of names given might be eliminated without detriment to the plan of the book, other thousands, of real historical value, are wanted to 1 " A Brief Biographical Dictionary. Compiled and Arranged by the Rev. Charles Cole, B.A., Trinity College, Cambridge." London and Cambridge: McMillan & Co. 1865. COLE'S " BIOGEAPHICAL DICTIONARY" 19 make it complete. Of this an American reader will easily be convinced, when, after finding on its first page a list of such names as C. C. H. vander Aa, P. vander Aa, N". Aagard, C. Aagard, E. Aalst, W. Aalst, A. Aaron, Aaron Acharon, P. Aarsens, F. van Aarsens, Aartgens, Abano, Abascal, Abate, Abati, Abatini, Abauzit, Abbadie, etc., he will in vain look for the date of birth or death of such Americans of former or recent times as Hancock, Otis, Montgomery, Arnold, Sumpter, Marion, Mercer, Randolph, Benton, Douglas, Perry, John Brown, Foote, Kearney, or Reno. A Pole must be equally surprised not to find the names of such chief representatives of his country's ancient military or literary glory as Chodkiewicz, Zolkiewski, Czarnecki, and Kochanowski, or the names of the (now de- ceased) principal leaders in the memorable revolution of 1831 Wysocki, Chlopicki, Dwernicki, Skrzynecki, and Dembinski, whom not even a fifth-rate general history or biographical cyclopaedia will pass over in silence. A Hungarian will not only miss the equally renowned heroes and martyrs of his late struggle, Damjanics, Nagy Sandor, Csanyi, and Sze- chenyi, but also such old historical names as King John Zapolya, Bocskai, and the elder Zrinyi the Leonidas of mod- ern times though he may discover his Hunyady, Tokolyi, and Rakoczy, if he knows that the English persist in calling them Hunniades, Tekeli, and Ragotski. Hardly less grievous is the omission of such modern historical or literary names Italian, German, Greek, and Servian as Leopardi, Colletta, Bandiera, and Ruggiero; Schill, Sand, Hebel, Immermann, and Lenau; Odysseus and Miaulis; Czerny George and Milosh. But even of modern French names, in spite of the author's diligent use of both the " Biographic Universelle " and " ISTouvelle Bio- graphie Generale," we find such as the following missing: Generals J. B. Cavaignac, M. Dumas, and Dampierre ; Gregoire, Decazes, Godefroy Cavaignac, and Proudhon ; and the regicides, Louvel, Alibaud, and Fieschi. Jewish history and literature, ancient as well as modern, are altogether very poorly repre- sented. ISTot only are the non-royal biblical names, as Moses, Joshua, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezra, and Nehemiah, as it appears, consistently omitted for reasons neither stated nor obvious but also some of the most distinguished post-biblical names 20 MICHAEL HEILPRItf of Hebrew literature, as the Rabbis Solomon Isaaki, !N"ach- manides, and Solomon-ben-Meir, or the poets, Moses-ben-Ezra, M. H. Luzzato, and Wessely, are not to be found, while others incomparably less important are given. Ignorance of the Hebrew language on the part of the author, and, probably, also, of his authorities, is the source of several errors. Thus Hillel the Elder is designated Hassa Ken, which stands for Ha-Zaken or Haz-Zaken (Heb., ha, the, and zaken, old) ; R. Albe's Sepher ha-ikkarim (" Book of Principles "), is called Sepher Hikkarim; the surname of one Rabbi Juda is given in this way, Hakkadosh, and that of another thus, Ha- Levi, though ha is the same definite article in both. German words and titles are rarely given, but not without errors. The French and Italian are well handled, still we find Literaire (one i, p. 208), Memoirs sur Napoleon (without accents, p. 3), Ercole de (not di or da) Ferrara (p. 205), and similar slight mistakes. The names of the subjects, probably for typo- graphical reasons, are all given without accents, which makes many look very awkward, as D'Estrees, Fenelon, Stael, Cam- baceres, Arpad, Kolcsey, Blucher, Muller, etc. The Russian broad v, preceded by o, in the termination of family names, is represented in all possible ways, as in Ivano/, Volko/f, Nakhi- mov, and Kracheninnikow;. " DerscTiawin, or Derzftavine/' which is a mixture of German, English, and French, is another exemplification of our careless way of spelling names of nations whose alphabet is not the Roman. From the author's general rule of giving all common Christian names only in English, the Hungarian names, as attached to Katona, Kazinczy, Petoefi, and others, seem to form the only exception. The Vladislases of Hungary are erroneously mixed up with the Ladislases. King Stephen II., of the same nation, the emperor of the East, Michael II., and the Lewises of Germany receive their surnames in French, as given in the author's principal authorities for non- English biography, thus: Le Foudre, Le Begue, Le Jeune, L'Aveugle, U Enfant while the surnames of the French Charleses are given in English, the Bold, the Fat, the Fair, the Wise, etc. We find, also, some inaccurate dates of reigns, as 1204 for 1205, 1826 for 1825, and 1857 for 1858, under Andrew II., Nicholas, and Frederic William IV. COLE'S "BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY" 21 Repetitions, instead of references, are frequent, being mostly intentional, and caused by differences of names or spelling, or by such additional syllables as de, di, da, del, etc., but, we must confess, in their discrepancies they often reveal an uncommon degree of haste in compiling or copying, to say the least. A few examples will suffice as illustrations : " Cosmo II. de Medici. Grand Duke of Tuscany. Life by Aldus Manutius, Jun., 1585. Born 1519 died Apr. 21, 1574." "Medici, Cosmo de. The Great. 1st Grand-duke of Tuscany, Life by Baldini. Born 1519 died Apr. 21, 1574." " De Gerando, Joseph Mary, Baron. Fr. Statesman." " Gerando, Joseph Mary, Baron de. Fr. Philosoph. Writer." " D. Herbelot, Bartholomew. Orientalist." " Herbelot, Barthol. d'. Fr. Orient. (BittiotJi. Orientate.) " " Fabius Maximus, Q. Cunctator. Opponent of Hannibal." " Maximus, Q. Fabius. Cunctator. Roman General against Hannibal." " Leonardo da Vinci. Painter. Life by Amaretti; J. W. Brown, 1828." " Da Vinci, Leonardo. Painter. L. by J. W. Brown, 1828." " Maccabseus, Judas. Jewish Patriot." " Judas Maccabaeus. Jewish Patriot (166-160)." " Mathias Corvinus. King of Hungary and Bohemia." "Matthias Corvinus. King of Hungary (1458-90)." That of the titles attached to the eighteen thousand names many are inaccurate, will surprise nobody. Thus, Bolivar, the deliverer of half a continent, is called the "Liberator of Bolivia " ; Benyowsky, who was born in Hungary, and roamed all over the world, a " Polish Adventurer " ; and Solomon ben Virga, a " Spanish Rabbi " of the " 16th cent," in which there were no Jews in Spain. Such and similar errors or inaccuracies, we trust, the diligent author will eliminate by scores from his valuable work, " in revising each successive edition that may be called for." In the next, we hope to find the date of President Lincoln's birth added to that of his death, which is given. 22 MICHAEL HEILPKIST Mr. Heilprin found full scope for the exercise of his critical powers in the reviews of such works as Lippincott's Pronouncing Dictionary and Haydn's Dictionary of Dates. He was severe in his judgments only where he considered it his duty to expose shallow pretense and deliberate carelessness ; but no one could praise more warmly than he did where praise was deserved, as witness his review of Dr. J. Thomas's admirable Dictionary of Biography and Mythology, of which he said (Nation, May 19, 1870) : " Dr. Thomas's great production, to which long years of con- scientious and painstaking labor have obviously been devoted, affords us the rare pleasure of bestowing almost unstinted praise on an American publication of large dimensions, and not re- stricted to a specialty for universal biography, like universal history, can certainly not be classified among specialties. In fact, we must declare it the best, as well as the most compre- hensive book of its description, emanating from the pen of one writer in any language which has come under our notice. In stating this, however, we mean also distinctly to qualify our approbation. What the comprehensive scholarship, persever- ance, energy, and critical accuracy of one man may fairly be expected to do in this field, our author has amply done; but whether a task of this magnitude, to be well executed, is not above the powers of any single scholar whatever his attain- ments may be is to us a matter of grave doubt. The best uni- versal history planned on a large scale, if written by one author, can be nothing more than an ably executed abridgment of a num- ber of special histories; an all-comprehending cyclopaedia of biography, if not done by a number of scholars, each elaborating his special branch, can at the best be an excellent compilation." In pointing out certain minor blemishes in Dr. Thomas's work Mr. Heilprin again evinced his extraordinary familiarity with American history, and especially with the events of the Civil War, which were as fresh in his mind as when he fol- lowed them, with the keenest patriotic interest, during our military and political struggles. He said, of this part of Dr. Thomas's Dictionary: THOMAS'S BIOGEAPHICAL WORK 23 " We unhesitatingly range ourselves on the side of the critics whom our author, as he expresses it in his preface, expected to ' admit that, on the whole, the space allotted to each notice has been apportioned with a fair measure of justice and im- partiality.' And we must add that his endeavor to deal justly and impartially with his subjects, in this respect, is perhaps most evident there where a contrary inclination might most naturally be expected. Of this a comparison of articles like those on John Adams, John Quincy Adams, or Cooper, with the brief notices of Buchanan, Anna Dickinson, and similar celebrities of our day and country, will easily convince the critical examiner. The brevity of the notice of Jefferson Davis, and the judgment passed on him as leader of the Confederacy, show more than all how little the author is inclined to magnify or to criticise in accordance with newspaper talk. He seems, however, less free from a kind of patriotic Union bias in deal- ing with the generals of the civil war, as evinced in the notices of Banks, Butler, and others. Too great brevity in some of these notices also makes us regret a slight deviation, in the treatment of the events of that great struggle, from the ' prin- ciples of perspective ' so well established for the whole work. Thus, neither the notice of Butler nor that of Beauregard has any mention of the fact of those generals facing and fighting each other on the James ; the latter article has hardly an allu- sion to that series of events; the notice of Breckenridge con- tains no mention of his appearing, with Early, before Wash- ington, in July, 1864, only the defeat of their army by Sheridan being stated. In the notice of Burnside we also discover some slight inaccuracies in date very slight ones, it is true : ' Sept. 16,' instead of Sept. 16-17, being given as the date of the battle of Antietam ; ' the 13th of December ' as the day on which ' he crossed the Rappahannock and attacked Lee's army ' at Fredericksburg which is correct only as regards the at- tack; and 'May 9-11,' with the omission of the 12th the hottest day as the date of the battle of Spottsylvania Court- House. But even errors so slight as these are exceedingly rare, which is saying a great deal, if we consider that the eight hun- dred pages before us the whole will likely embrace about four times as many contain myriads of dates. Omissions of 24: MICHAEL HEUPBIK facts and defective descriptions are much more frequent. Of this the notices of Alexander II. of Russia and of the Duchesse de Berry may serve as examples. Many heads, too, are wanting, such as, of the mythological, Dice ; of the historical, Dellius ; and of the literary, Biichner names much more important than Bryczynski, Bube, or Du Buc, which we find on one page." I must refrain from referring to other articles of this nature, but I cannot resist the temptation to quote from a review of a certain Cyclopaedia of Biography a passage which shows Mr. Heilprin's telling way of pointing out absurd incongruities : " Our cyclopaedia is comprehensive enough to give the lives of such men of genius as Aromatri, Arpino, Arriazzi, Arrighetti, Arrighetto, Arrighetti, Arsilla, and Artalis, and of such mon- archs as Augustulus, Charles the Simple, Dagobert, Galerius, Gratian, Juba, and Numerian. On the other hand, it is too compact and brief to mention Troy, the Iliad, or the Odyssey, in ' Homer ' ; the wars against the Greeks, the Scythians, and Babylon, in ' Darius ' ; the Peloponnesian war, in ' Thucydi- des ' ; tyranny or cruelty in ' Dionysius ' ; the Thirty Years' War in ' Ferdinand II.' ; the wars against Napoleon in ' Fred- eric William III./ or in ' Schwartzenberg ' ; the deposition and banishment of Gustavus IV. in the life of this king ; or Brescia or Italy, in i Haynau.' It intentionally and consistently omits all the biblical names, but with them also all the post-biblical Jewish Abrahams, Davids, Samuels, and Solomons, not except- ing the greatest mediaeval philosophers, poets, or scholars of that nation. Of monarchs, it gives all the Artaxerxeses, but no Xerxes ; all the German Conrads, but none of the Othbs, Maxi- milians, or Leopolds; all the English Henrys, but neither William the Conqueror nor William of Orange ; all the French Charleses, but none of the Philips, not excepting Philip Augus- tus ; a number of Spanish Alphonsos, but no Philip, not even the Second; all the Turkish Achmets, but no Mohammed (Sul- tan), Solyman, or Selim; no Attains, Herod, Ptolemy, or Seleucus; no Stephen, Ladislas, Vladimir, Ivan, Waldemar, Matthias, or Pedro; nor Attila, Genseric, Theodoric, Rurik, Piast, or Arpad. It has only one Darius, one Demosthenes, and GENERAL PAEZ 25 one Pompey; no Timoleon, no Metellus, no Masaniello, no Savonarola, no Sixtus, and but one Clement; no Hunniades, no Zrinyi, no Aureng-Zebe, no Tippoo-Saib, no Chlopicki, no Niemcewicz, no Pushkin, no Petofi. The whole letter X, though including Xavier, Xenocrates, Xenophon, and Ximenes, fills only half a page, owing, in part, to what is styled ' compactness,' and in part to the omission of Xanthippus, Xerxes, etc. Less space is devoted to Robespierre than to Rob Roy ; to John Huss than to Giles Hussey; to Kant than to Kean; to Spinoza than to Spontini ; to Alexander Hamilton than to Aaron Burr ; to George Washington than to Benedict Arnold." PAEZ Not many literary critics unite with the ability of marshalling minute details the gift of throwing on the canvas the outlines of a single commanding figure. How well Mr. Heilprin suc- ceeded in historical portraiture of this kind may be seen from his sketch of the Venezuelan dictator, General Paez (published in the Nation of April 9, 1868). Mr. Heilprin met Paez per- sonally, conversing with him in fluent Spanish. In the article he said : " Few lives recorded in history, of warriors or statesmen, have been as eventful and checkered as the life of the Venezuelan warrior and statesman, Jose Antonio Paez. Of that eventful career, which embraces half a century of military or political activity, interrupted only by about a decade of exile, he now, for a third time an exile among us, publishes a detailed account, which is not only, as it could hardly fail to be, an interesting narrative of memorable events, but also a valuable contribution to the history of the great struggles of this continent. The introduction to the first volume of this Autobiography, which is now before us, and which embraces the earlier half of the author's life (1790-1829), is dated (New York) the 19th of April, 1867, the fifty-seventh anniversary of the rising of the capital of Venezuela to strike for liberty and self-rule. Paez, then an illiterate llanero of the plain of Apure, the overseer of a cattle-farm, became one of the earliest, most undaunted, and 26 MICHAEL HEILPRHS" most successful champions of the popular cause. Of aboriginal descent, but trained to hard service by a cruel negro slave; early inured to brave with stoic heroism the wild beasts, the scorching heat, the alternate droughts and floods of his tropical llano; a perfect master of the horse, the lasso, and the lance ; followed with enthusiasm by men similar in birth, habits, and character, but accustomed to yield to his superior mind and will ; alternately chasing and fleeing the Spaniards across the im- mense wilds to the west of the Orinoco he soon became the foe most feared by the Spanish tyrants; remained constantly in the field when terror or despair had disarmed all around; joined Bolivar in the liberating campaign of 1813 ; fought and conquered when ' the Liberator* fled (1814); placed himself under his banners on his return (181T) ; saved the shattered remnants of his forces in 1818 ; refused to supplant him at the demand of the army; guarded the plain when Bolivar crossed the Andes (1819) ; was by him, on the battle-field, proclaimed the hero of Carabobo a victory which sealed the independence of Colombia (1821) ; received the chief command of the de- partment of Venezuela; besieged and reduced Puerto Cabello (1823) ; and, after a period of peace not undisturbed by plots and attempts of various kinds, during which he zealously ex- erted himself to cultivate both his mind and his state, he finally rose to the highest dignity in the gift of his countrymen, at the moment when the Colombian confederation was dissolved and Venezuela proclaimed an independent republic (1830). This consummation is to open the narrative of the second volume, which, if completing the work, must bring us the history of Paez's first and second presidential terms, ending respectively in 1835 and 1843 ; his first dictatorship in 1846, during the civil war of that year; his flight before Monagas (1848), and subse- quent attempt to overthrow the arbitrary sway of that presi- dent; his surrender at Coro (1849), imprisonment and banish- ment (1850) ; his first return from exile on the fall of the younger Monagas, in 1858; his speedy return to the United States; his recall to Venezuela by President Tovar, who en- trusted him with the chief command of the army (1861) ; the military insurrection in his favor, against Tovar's successor, Gual; and, finally, his second dictatorship and his death- "FINIS POLONLE" 27 grapple with the revolted Federalists under Falcon, which ended, in 1863, with the victory of the latter chief, and closed, perhaps not finally, the long political career of Paez." AN ARTICLE ON POLAND When America, in April, 1868, received the news of the final absorption of the Polish provinces of Russia within the body politic of the empire, Mr. Heilprin contributed to the Nation an editorial article entitled "Finis Polonise," in which he reviewed events of the past, as was his custom in writing at an important political juncture. It would be difficult to find elsewhere an equally clear and concise account of the various dismemberments of Poland, and of the conditions surrounding both the severed parts and their spoliators. " By the first partition of Poland, executed in 1772-73 by Catharine, Frederic the Great, and Maria Theresa, or rather her son, Joseph II., Russia received some territories of the Grand- Duchy of Lithuania situated on both sides of the upper Diina and Dnieper, and now included in the governments of Vitepsk and Mohilev; Frederic annexed the bulk of Royal or West Prussia and some adjoining parts; Austria took the extensive territories now forming its province of Galicia, besides some minor ones. The second partition, in 1793, gave Catharine the Lithuanian, Volhynian, Podolian, and Ukrainian territories, now forming or embraced in the governments of Minsk, Zhito- mir, Podolsk, and Kiev ; Frederic William II. took Posen and other parts of Great Poland, Dantzic, and Thorn; Austria re- ceived no share. In the final dismemberment of 1795, which' followed the insurrection under Kosciuszko, Catharine took the remainder of Lithuania and Yolhynia (Wilna, Grodno, etc.) ; Francis of Austria the districts lying between the Bug, the Vistula, and the Pilica ; and Prussia all the rest, with Warsaw, the capital. For twelve years the name of Poland remained effaced from the map of Europe. A partial restoration took place in 1807, when Napoleon, having vanquished Prussia by the battles of Jena and Friedland, and compelled her to accept the humili- 28 MICHAEL HEILPRItf ating terms of the treaty of Tilsit, transformed the larger part of her share of Poland into a Duchy of Warsaw, at the head of which he placed Frederic Augustus of Saxony. This new Polish state, enlarged in 1809 by parts of Austrian Poland, fell on the retreat of its founder from the disastrous campaign of 1812 in Russia, and was held during the deliberations of the Congress of Vienna by the armies of Czar Alexander I. By the final decision of that assembly Prussia received back a part of her share, including the present Grand-Duchy of Posen, while the bulk of the Duchy of Warsaw was annexed to Russia, as a semi-autonomous constitutional state, under the name of the Kingdom of Poland, the river boundaries of which were the Niemen, the Bug, and the Prosna. Only the town of Cracow, with its surrounding territory, was constituted a nominally in- dependent Polish state, under a republican form of government. The arrangements of the Congress of Vienna, to which some of the powers gave their adhesion only with reluctance, thus contemplated and stipulated the continued existence of the Polish nationality, but only on the ruins of Poland. The aim and hope of the quartered nation, however, continued to be the recovery of its national life and independence through- out the vast domain of its ancient fatherland. This natural tendency, which constantly manifested itself in agitations and demonstrations of a more or less threatening character, soon led to reactionary and repressive measures on the part of the dividing powers, in violation of promises, constitutional pledges, and treaty stipulations. The total or partial denationalization of the Polish provinces gradually became the object of the rulers, conspiracy the weapon of the oppressed. Bloody insur- rections and cruel chastisements were everywhere the result. The Russian Kingdom of Poland had its grand revolutionary tragedy of 1830-31, which cost it its national army and its constitution, in spite of marvels of heroism; Galicia, its out- break in February, 1846, immediately stifled in the blood of its nobility, victims of a terrible jacquerie; Cracow, its short revolutionary drama of the same month, which terminated with the annihilation of the republic and the annexation of its terri- tory to Galicia, in open violation of the treaties of Vienna and in spite of protests from France and England; Posen, its "FINIS POLONLE" 29 wild fight of 1848, under the lead of Mieroslawski, after which it remained, bleeding and exhausted, a helpless prey of the Ger- manizing power; Kussian Poland, again, its desperate insur- rection of 1863-64, which drenched its soil with blood hope- lessly shed, filled Siberia with victims, and in some provinces almost entirely broke the Polish element. The territories occupied by Russia on occasion of the first dismemberment became denationalized almost as soon as de- tached from their former connection, this, too, having been based on the right of conquest, and the bulk of the population being more Russian than Polish. Nearly the same was the case with the provinces annexed by Catharine in 1793. Neither was the predominant religion in these two divisions the Greek United Church an obstacle in the way of Russification. Descend- ants of Orthodox Greeks more or less violently converted by Polish masters or Jesuits, a part of the inhabitants were easily persuaded or compelled to return to the creed of their fore- fathers, wholesale conversions taking place chiefly during the reign of Czar Nicholas. It was also this monarch who made the first efforts for denationalizing the Lithuanian and Volhynian provinces occupied in the third partition, efforts contrary to the policy of his milder predecessor, Alexander, and stimulated by the dangers with which the widespread rising of 1830-31 threat- ened the integrity of the Russian empire. These efforts were successful among the mixed rural population, but less so in the towns, in which the pure Polish element prevails. But deter- mined, as he was, to crush any new attempt at insurrection with the iron hand, Nicholas never endeavored to destroy or impair the Polish nationality in the Kingdom of Poland, created by the. Congress of Vienna, though he arbitrarily abrogated its con- stitution. He left it its separate existence, under a viceroy, with a separate administration, separate finances, and a tariff of its own, protective even against the competition of the other provinces of the Russian empire. The language of the adminis- tration, of the courts, of the schools remained the Polish, the rights of the Catholic clergy remained almost unimpaired. The early years of the reign of his successor, Alexander L, were characterized by still greater mildness in the government of the Kingdom. But when the stimulus given to patriotic en- 30 MICHAEL HEILPRIK thusiasm by the inspiration of a reviving press, and still more by the events of 1859 and 1860 in Italy, followed, as they were, by liberal movements in Hungary and Galicia, brought about a series of national demonstrations in favor of a reunion of all Polish provinces under a free government ; when the exertions of Marquis Wielopolski to win over his countrymen to the cause of Panslavism under the lead of the Czar not only proved a failure, but led to outbreaks of repugnance, the Russian Gov- ernment soon again returned to measures of vigorous repression. The most violent of the latter, the wholesale conscription of the patriotic youths of the cities, finally led perhaps not unin- tentionally to the internecine struggle of 1863-64. Of small beginnings, this desperate strife soon assumed vast proportions, and when transient threats of interference by France, England, and even Austria added to its magnitude, the existence of Russia as the great empire of Eastern Europe seemed for a moment to be again in question. This unwonted hostile interference, the religious character which the struggle assumed in some parts, its extent and duration, the appeals of an otherwise liberal prince, of a frantic priesthood, and a no less frantic press, lately unshackled all combined to exasperate the Russian people to a degree never experienced before. Aristocrats and freedmen, serviles and radicals, vied with each other in sacrifices for their empire, religion, and Czar ; the threats of foreign powers were spurned, and the insurrection was crushed. But this time the mere crushing out of rebellion was not deemed sufficient. The Polish nationality altogether was now doomed, by the demands of the Russian people as well as by the undisguised policy of the Government, to total and final destruction. The gibbet, Siberia, confiscation, conscription, and all the means of refined despotism aided by popular fanaticism, were to do the work and it is now being executed without mercy, without regard for treaties, for national, religious, or private rights, or for the opinion of the world. In Lithuania and Volhynia this work of expatriation, dis- possession, and denationalization is nearly complete. It was executed by a few bold, rapid, and deadly strokes. In the Kingdom of Poland, however, where the task is immensely vaster and the difficulties immeasurably greater, no less sweep- "FINIS POLONLE" 31 ing but milder measures, more numerous and subtler means, had to be used for the achievement of the same object. Land- mark after landmark was removed. The Catholic clergy were deprived of a large part of their institutions, and subjected to a rigorous surveillance; the nobility were deprived of all in- fluence in public affairs; all higher offices were filled with Russians; the Russian language replaced the Polish in the bureaus, the courts, and the schools; the Polish press was gagged; every branch of the administration was remodelled after the Russian pattern; the government and district divisions were repeatedly altered and received new names; the internal tariff lines were abolished ; the financial system was assimilated to the Russian; the separate existence of the Kingdom was made first entirely illusory, and then altogether nominal; and now, we are informed, even the shadow of its existence has been swept away, even the name has been effaced; Russia contains no Poland any more, no Polish provinces, but among her gov- ernments some hewn out of Polish ruins. This final step Russia, we believe, would have delayed longer, from her wonted prudence and slowness, and perhaps also from regard for public opinion abroad, had not recent changes in the political complexion of Eastern Europe, consequent on the war of 1866, quickened her impulses and actions. It is true the late increase of Prussia's power has not altered the attitude of that monarchy towards Russia, and least of all, perhaps, in the Polish question; and Bismarck, with his well-known cynicism a la Frederic the Great, has but lately declared Poland to be a phantom living only in heated brains. It is true the national position of the Poles in Prussia has become but more difficult and more untenable for the enlargement of that kingdom and the creation of the North German Union. But the sudden, thorough, and vital metamorphosis of Austria after its late defeat; the total change of system in that empire, which has placed its new foundations chiefly on the sympathies and needs of the Hungarian and Polish elements, but late so hostile to its existence; the reorganization of Galicia on a Polish national basis, simultaneously with the restoration of the Hungarian con- stitution; the security of the permanence of this new system which lies in the common peril to those nationalities and Austria 32 MICHAEL HEILPRIN in Russia's no-longer-hidden Panslavistic tendencies; the hos- tile attitude of Austria in the Turkish question, backed, as she is, by the sympathies of both France and England; the ap- proaching crisis on the Danube; the danger of a general con- flagration ; and, finally, the reviving hopes of the Poles these considerations urge Russia to finish her work in her Polish provinces thoroughly and speedily ; and to the song, ' Poland is not yet lost,' already resounding anew on her border, she hastens to answer, ' Finis Polonise ' I To prove the correctness of these words, she must conquer Galicia." THE REFORM MOVEMENT AMONG THE JEWS Mr. Heilprin's article on " The Reform Movement among the Jews," in the Nation of June 18, 1868, affords a clear in- sight into his intellectual relations to Judaism, whose every manifestation of progressive broadening he followed with keen interest : " Judaism, which, in spite of its original separatism, could not withstand the influence of Chaldean civilization during the Babylonish captivity, and of Hellenic philosophy in the times of the Ptolemies; which, having developed its austere tal- mudical shape simultaneously with the growth of Christianity, again assumed milder and more philosophical forms when the Caliphs from burners of libraries became collectors of literary treasures; which, following this new course, kept pace with Arabic culture from the Tigris to the Guadalquivir; which flourished in Provence and in the land of Dante when the vernacular Romanic tongues commenced blossoming in new literatures Judaism had no revival in the times of the Renaissance and the Reformation. Those times, the centuries that preceded them, and the centuries that followed, belong in many respects to the darkest in the history of the Jews. Their bloody persecution during the Crusades and in the time of the black plague, their banishment from England and France in the reigns of Edward I. and Charles VI., their still more bar- barous expulsion from Spain and Sicily in the year of the discovery of America, and from Portugal a few years later, THE JEWISH REFORM MOVEMENT 33 were not only destructive to their prosperity, but also to their culture, which then, in Western Europe, was approaching a regenerating crisis; while their numbers were continually in- creasing in the more hospitable and tolerant, but still less civil- ized, Polish and Turkish provinces. Their condition grew still worse when both Poland and Turkey commenced decaying, and Germany became the bloody theatre of desolating wars between Catholicism and Protestantism. The Christian sects seemed to vie with each other in oppressing them. And the complicated system of petty tyranny of extortion, exclusion, and humilia- ation under which the Jews now groaned for centuries was more destructive to their intellectual development than had been their more sanguinary, but less constant and systematic, perse- cutions in the Middle Ages. Even about the middle of the last century the Jews lived as strangers, and were treated as enemies, in almost all the Euro- pean countries the air of which they were allowed to breathe. The land of their birth was to them a land of captivity or exile (galuth), as Babylonia had been in ancient times. Its language was to them the language of unholy oppressors, unworthy to be used as a medium for sacred rites and literature. The ver- nacular which they used in profane things or in translating Hebrew texts was a jargon, mostly German, mixed up with Semitic and other foreign words and forms. Spurned and hooted at for their wretchedness, and slandered as enemies of Christ and his followers, they, in their turn, despised the Chris- tians as cruel and profligate idol-worshippers, and withdrew from their communion as contaminating. Modern literature was approached by them only with fear and suspicion. The sciences, which, with the exception of medicine, offered no re- ward, neither distinction nor position, to their Jewish votaries, were regarded as humble ancillw of the holy science of the law (torah). The latter study, in all its scriptural, talmudical, and rabbinical vastness, was cultivated, with unparalleled zeal and perseverance, as the only source of true mental culture, spiritual felicity, and worldly honors. The study of the law and the observance of its numberless rites and obligations consumed a considerable portion of every educated or half-educated Jew's life. The wretchedness and bitterness of that life were borne 34 MICHAEL HEILPRIK with resignation as well-deserved chastisements for sins and transgressions, and softened by the recollections of a marvellous national past and the expectation of a Messianic future. There were exceptions of every kind, but they were rare. Those exceptions, however, became more and more numerous with the general progress of enlightenment and of the spirit of toleration in the age of Voltaire and Rousseau, Hume and Gibbon, Frederic the Great and Joseph II., Lessing and Men- delssohn. But it is the latter period of the last-named philos- opher's life with which the modern era in the intellectual and religious history of the Jews begins. What Luther was to Christian Germany and Europe in the sixteenth century, Men- delssohn became to his co-religionists in the eighteenth. What Luther's translation of the Bible worked among Christians, Mendelssohn's German Pentateuch, in Hebrew letters, with commentaries and an introduction, achieved among the Jews. ]$Tot that the Jewish philosopher advocated or intended a reform of the synagogue. Both his modesty and his principles opposed such an enterprise. The immense influence he exercised upon his people was due to his eminence as a writer and thinker, which attracted the admiration of all and the emulation of many; to the Socratic charms of his conversation, which made his circle in Berlin a focus of enlightenment ; to his liberal views on church and state and on freedom of thought, as enunciated in his ' Jerusalem ' ; to his theory, expounded in the same work and so welcome in an age of rationalism, that Judaism, which was a national religion, inculcated only practices leading to ideas, but promulgated no dogmas; to the revival among his oo-religionists, through his Hebrew writings and German trans- lations, of the taste for Biblical criticism, for exact and pure diction, for the beautiful and aesthetic in connection with the sacred, which had adorned the golden age of their forefathers in Spain and Provence; to the powerful co-operation, in this literary revival, of his Jewish friends or disciples, the great Hebraists Wessely, Euchel, and others, in whom the kindled imagination of the younger Hebrew students saw new Hallevis and Kimhis side by side with a new Maimonides; to the no less powerful co-operation of his numerous Christian co-laborers on the field of German literature, and especially of Lessing, THE JEWISH REFORM MOVEMENT 35 in dispelling anti-Jewish prejudices, and thus making it possible to the Jews to issue from their isolation and occupy a place among the enlightened of other nations; and, finally, to the Jewish and moral purity of his life, which taught the Jews that, even after Spinoza, Judaism and philosophy were not irreconcilable, and the Christians, that a faithful disciple of the rabbis could serve as a model for a ' Nathan the Wise.' It is true bigotry and prejudice on both sides but slowly yielded the ground; some rabbis fulminated against him whom others revered as the third Moses the lawgiver being the first, and Maimonides the second and even the Voltairean Frederic crossed out his name on a list of proposed members of the Berlin Academy ; but when that monarch and his Schutzjude died both in 1786 freedom of thought and free thought had made immense strides. The ' inalienable rights of man ' had been proclaimed in the New World; they were going to be promul- gated, in a more terrific revelation, to the Old. The Abbe Gregoire carried the equality of the Jews in the French Constituent Assembly. The armies of France carried it into the Austrian Netherlands, into Holland long a refuge to persecuted Jews and across the Rhine and the Alps. Even where equality was not granted, the condition of the Jews was gradually ameliorated. They ceased to be considered as strangers, and, what was more important, they gradually ceased to consider themselves as such. A desire for political and social disenthralment added fuel to the already kindled desire for mental self-regeneration. This double movement among the Jews, which from the fatherland of Mendelssohn radiated into the adjoining countries, was not only effective in ripening a vast number of individual talents and capacities, soon to be distinguished in various fields of literature, science, and art, but also productive of public reforms in congregational life, schools, and synagogues. Wessely and his friends, the learned and brilliant writers of the Measseph (' Gatherer '), gave a powerful impulse to educational reform, and met with the hearty co-operation of Friedlander, Herz, and Jacobson, Jews distinguished by wealth, refinement, and social position, who carried the agitation also into other fields. The question of religious reform was the highest, the gravest, 36 MICHAEL HEILPRIN and the hardest of solution. The want of it began to be seri- ously felt, but on what principle, in what spirit, and how far it was to be carried, were questions in answering which opinions differed widely. The bulk of the Jews at that time as is still now the case in Poland consisted of strict believers, to whom the least and last rabbinical injunction was equally divine with the Decalogue, and whose faith in a future Messianic restora- tion was no less firm than their belief in monotheism; others were more or less strict conformists from habit, from love for the more essential parts of Judaism, or from repugnance to the trinitarian and similar dogmas of Christianity; still others, whose number was daily increasing, were only nominal Jews, having given up all religious practice from conviction, indiffer- entism, or light-mindedness; and finally, not a few, yielding to outer pressure, and despairing of the future of their people, were daily abandoning the faith of Israel to seek repose or emoluments in the shade of the cross. Mendelssohn seemed to have expected a remedy for this condition of affairs only from the influence of enlightenment upon the individual Jews, each of whom was to save, first, his freedom of thought, and then his conscience as well as he could. Wessely, an enlightened but zealous rabbinist, demanded the purification of Judaism on the strictest orthodox principles, chiefly by means of education. Others, like Jacobson, a man of the younger generation and of the world, agitated for a thorough-going reform of the ritual. The Kantian philosopher, Bendavid, proposed the total aban- donment of all ceremonial parts of Judaism, which, under en- tirely altered circumstances, he argued, had lost their efficiency for good, and were only a dead weight on pure Mosaic mono- theism. And, driven on by a still more violent current of ration- alistic opinion, Friedlander even went so far as to ask in an 'Epistle' to a distinguished Christian theologian, Teller, for reasonable terms under which conscientious liberal Jews could join the Church. Most of these early attempts, however, meet- ing with no encouragement on the part of the Jewish people as well as of the governments, hardly led to any immediate result. The time, too that of the Napoleonic wars was decidedly adverse to movements of this kind, though by its crushing power it worked wonders in transforming the formerly THE JEWISH KEFOKM MOVEMENT 37 so-despised Jews of Central Europe into active, energetic, and often leading member of modern society. When peace re- turned, and literature and science, art and commerce, revived, single Jews soon became conspicuous everywhere, some, it is true, only Jews by name, like the composers, Moscheles, Meyer- beer, and Halevy, and others even nominal Christians, like Heine, Borne, and Gans. Jewish congregational life, too, as- sumed a new aspect. Sermons in pure living idioms, vocal music of a modern style, and here and there an organ, were heard in the synagogues; catechisms and other manuals elabo- rated on modern principles were introduced in the schools. A kind of general reform had taken place in France, consisting mainly of a declaration of radical Jewish principles by a so- called French Sanhedrim, in accordance with the wishes of Napoleon, but also involving a systematic congregational organ- ization with a leading central consistory for the whole of France. Jewish literature, in the stricter sense of the term, now took a fresh start. Of the vast number of writers, chiefly in German and Hebrew, who flourished during the first two decades after the Napoleonic era, we can mention here only a few of the most conspicuous: Jost, the author of various comprehensive his- tories of the Jews and of Judaism; the Galician, Eapoport, whose biographico-critical masterpieces, contributed to the Bik- Icurey Haittim (' First-Fruits of the Times'), may be said to have created a new literature ; Zunz, who in his l Gottesdienst- liche Vortrage der Juden ' showed himself a worthy disciple, if not a rival, of Rapoport ; Eeggio, the author of ' Hattorah veha- Philosophia ' (' The Law and Philosophy '), and of some more valuable minor works ; and S. D. Luzzatto, of the Padua Rab- binical College, chiefly renowned as Biblical critic and Aramaic scholar. These were closely followed by a new generation of literati, to the most eminent of whom belong Geiger, Sachs, Frankel, Philippson, Fiirst, Munk, Franck, and Gratz, all Germans by birth. Independent criticism searched and ran- sacked every corner and remnant of the Jewish past. Numer- ous important periodicals were started. The Kerem Hemed (' Lovely Vineyard ') took the place of the Bikkurey Haittim, to be succeeded in its turn by the more radical Halutz (' Van- guard'), published chiefly by Galician writers, and by the 38 MICHAEL HEILPRItf Carmel, an organ of the Russian Jews; Riesser published his Jude; Geiger, his Zeitschrift fur jiidische Theologie, and simi- lar periodicals ; Philippson, his Allgemeine Zeitung des Juden- thums; Fiirst, his Orient; Cahen, the Archives Israelites de France; Frankel, his Monatschrift not to mention a multi- tude of other, mostly short-lived, journals in Hebrew and various living tongues. While this progress in literature was going on, partly pro- moting and partly following the progress of Jewish political emancipation, the cause of religious reform, too, was advanced, first feebly, but afterwards more powerfully by Geiger, who in 1835 took the lead in a movement for the regeneration of rabbinical Judaism through a rational and liberal development of its own spirit. In this he was aided by Philippson, by powerful synagogue orators like Salomon and Mannheimer, and by numerous rabbis, of whom Holdheim soon outstripped his master. This movement culminated in the three rabbinical synods of Braunschweig, Frankfort, and Breslau in 1844, 1845, and 1846, which adopted, among others, resolutions confirming those of the Napoleonic Sanhedrim, and advocating considerable changes in the liturgy, in sacramental and marriage rites, and in the observance of the holidays, all tending to harmonize the religious life of the Jew with his civil life and with the ideas of the age. This agitation met with a storm of opposition from various quarters. Some assailed it as heretical, and in spirit or tendency subversive of all Judaism ; others, as a slow, timid, and double-faced movement, which, while pretending to be both rabbinical and rational, was neither the one nor the other. Hirsch and other orthodox scholars attacked it with the weapons both of erudition and sarcasm, while reform associations in Frankfort, Berlin, and elsewhere just as loudly declared their disapproval on opposite grounds, and, under the lead of men like Creizenach, Holdheim, Bernstein, and Stern, openly re- nounced all allegiance to the Talmud, repudiated all hope of Jewish national restoration, rejected almost all the ceremonies as dead, and generally made the Sunday, instead of the Satur- day, their day of worship. Revelation, if not ignored as purely dogmatical, was by most reformers accepted only in a rational- istic sense. Behind Geiger and his associates, though still in- KIRK'S "CHARLES THE BOLD" 39 clined towards reform, remained Frankel, while other enlight- ened theologians, like Rapoport, seemed still to occupy the stand- point of Mendelssohn, and cautiously avoided the arena. Gen- erally, however, the discussions were animated and often violent, leading to dissensions and splits in the congregations, and not rarely, also, to interference by the government. The great political events of 1848-1850 for a time quieted the animosities and considerably diminished the interest in these struggles, but they have since been resumed, though with abated vigor. The questions, the tendencies, the differences of opinion are still the same ; a harmonious solution is still far remote. Germany has remained to this day the central theatre of the movement, which is felt, with more or less force, from Odessa to San Francisco, and from Stockholm to Algiers. In France discussions on reform, representing all shades of opinion, have been participated in, among others, by Terquem, Cahen, Cerf- beer, Cremieux, Munk, Franck, and Rodrigues, but with little effect, owing to the religious indifference or ignorance of the mass of French Jews. In all other countries, England and the United States not excepted, the religious as well as literary movements of the Jews are but reflections of those going on in Germany." CHARLES THE BOLD In a noteworthy review of John Foster Kirk's History of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy (Nation, June 25, 1868), we find a remark concerning American historians to which Mr. Heilprin, in conversation, occasionally returned: "American historiography," he said, "like American his- tory, has its starting point in the discovery of this continent. Its first productions be the cause rational choice, predilection, or accident cluster around that natural base as if around a fountain-head, from which its streams are to flow through radiating channels in various directions. Irving takes us to Andalusia to witness the great departure from Palos, and after carrying us across the sea with his hero, ' Christopher Colum- bus/ and across the new continent with the ' Companions of 40 MICHAEL HEILPRIN Columbus,' he returns to the Hispano-Moorish province, studies and sketches the ' Conquest of Granada,' the Moslem stronghold, and in after life reaches both ends of his double course in his ' History of Mahomet and his Successors ' and in his ' Life of Washington.' The downward western course is more amply 'developed by Sparks, Bancroft, and Palfrey, but Prescott takes us back to Spain and the times of ' Ferdinand and Isabella,' to descend to those of their grandson, Charles V., in his ' Con- quest of Mexico ' and ' Conquest of Peru,' and finally to those of their great-grandson, ' Philip the Second.' Motley takes up this line, going over from Charles V. and Philip of Spain to their revolted subjects in the Low Countries, and in his ' Rise of the Dutch Republic ' and the ' History of the United Nether- lands,' describes the grandest and purest struggles of Protestant- ism, the further grapplings of which with the power of the house of Austria he intends to sketch if the report be true in a history of the Thirty Years' War. Kirk, another and more intentional continuator of Prescott, goes a step further back- ward, ascending to an earlier period of the history of the Nether- lands, which the daughter of his hero, ' Charles the Bold,' Mary of Burgundy the grandmother of Charles V. was to bring over, as her dowry, to the house of Austria." NAPOLEOIT I. We have an interesting glimpse of Mr. Heilprin's estimate of Napoleon I. in his article on " Bonaparte in Italy " 1 (Nation, December 10, 1868). " The Imperial author of the Vie de Cesar has published no .work on the life of the modern Ca3sar, his uncle. But no elaboration of his on that subject could be as meritorious as the grand collection of Napoleon's correspondence political, mili- tary, and administrative now appearing under the auspices of an Imperial commission, and of which twenty-five volumes ihave been published, containing about twenty thousand pieces letters, reports, proclamations, notes, etc. The archives not 1 " Ausgewahlte Correspondenz Napoleons I. Aus dem FranzSsischen fibersetzt von Heinrich Kurz." Vol. I. Hildburghausen. 1868. AN ESTIMATE- OF NAPOLEON 41 only of Trance, but also of Germany, Russia, Sweden, Italy, and other countries, and numberless private collections, have been ransacked for the benefit of that extraordinary publication, from which, however, all private letters of the founder of the French Empire and probably also a number of other papers have been excluded. On the other hand, all papers com- municated are given entire, without omission or alteration. The value of such a collection for the historian is obvious. The gen- eral reader of history, however, must naturally find it too vast, and both on account of its details, especially in military matters, and of its numberless repetitions, not a little tedious. To bring its contents, free of these defects, within the reach of the general reader, Heinrich Kurz has begun the elaboration of an abridg- ment, based on critical selection, of which the first volume is now before us, embracing, besides some introductory and some supplementary letters, four hundred pages relating to the his- tory of the Italian campaigns of 1796 and 1797, the most bril- liant period, perhaps, in the eventful career of the great conqueror. It is almost needless to state that four hundred selected letters and public writings of Napoleon, illustrative of such a period, form an intensely interesting and highly instructive volume. Most of them are addressed to the Directory; some, confiden- tially, to Carnot; some to French generals and diplomats; some to the princes of Italy, the Pope, and the Emperor Francis ; some to men of science and art ; others, in the form of proclamations, to the army. The youthful warrior and diplomat, the future emperor and conqueror of Europe, is almost completely depicted in them. We see him working, organizing, marching, and conquering ; we watch him planning, scheming, and brooding; we hear him advising, commanding, menacing, negotiating, and cheating. We admire his military genius, his courage and energy; the keenness of his intellect, the maturity of his ideas, and the wonderful vigor of his words ; his consummate diplomatic skill, which seems almost marvellous in a man of twenty-seven ; his prudence and patience, of which a long run of good luck and the unrestrained habit of command- ing divested him in after-life. We are astounded by his suc- cess; we are shocked by his heartlessness. From the foot of 42 MICHAEL HEILPRIN the Alps, where he assumes command over a ragged, famished, and demoralized army, we follow him to Montenotte, Millesimo, Dego, Ceva, Mondovi, and Lodi ; to Milan, which he liberates ; to Lonato, Castiglione, and Bassano; to Arcola and Rivoli; to Mantua, which he forces to surrender; through Modena, Bologna, and the Romagna, to Tolentino, where Pius VI. is compelled to purchase peace; across the Alps, through Gorz and Klagenfurt, to Leoben, where the Emperor, trembling for Vienna, finally agrees to preliminaries of peace with the French Republic ; back to Milan, where he lords it over Italy ; and finally to Campo Formio, where the definitive treaty of peace is concluded which terminates this period, a treaty by which Francis treacherously sacrifices parts of Germany, and Napoleon Venice. And all this belongs to the history of one year and a few days of victory. Even before starting on his march into Germany Kapoleon could thus address his soldiers : " You have conquered in fourteen pitched battles and in seventy engagements; you have captured more than one hundred thousand prisoners, five hundred field-guns, two thousand heavy cannon, and four pontoon trains. " The contributions imposed upon the countries conquered by you have fed and paid the army during the whole campaign. Besides this, you have sent the minister of finance thirty millions for the relief of the public treasury. " You have enriched the Paris Museum by upward of three hun- dred works of art, masterpieces of ancient and modern Italy, to pro- duce which thirty centuries were needed. "You have conquered for the Eepublic the finest regions of Europe; the Lombard and Cispadane Republics owe you their free- dom ; the French banners for the first time wave over the shores of the Adriatic, in face of old Macedon, to which you can sail in twenty-four hours; the Kings of Sardinia and Naples, the Pope, the Duke of Parma, have abandoned the coalition of our foes and sued for our friendship ; you have driven the English from Leghorn, from Genoa, and from Corsica." These words, which tell what were the res gestce, also tell us how the nervus rerum gerendarum was obtained. War was made to support war by a system of merciless extortion which differed AN ESTIMATE OF NAPOLEON 43 from the plunderings of ancient and mediaeval invaders per- haps only in the manner of its execution. Poor Italy, whom Bonaparte pretended to free, while he was ready to barter away her lands and people ; whose past he glorified in his proclama- tions while, in his reports, he spoke of her living sons in words of intense and boundless contempt Italy was made to bleed from every pore. Contributions, paid, being paid, or to be paid, are a constant theme of our young conqueror's lucubrations. He eagerly grasps every opportunity of extorting money. He is inventive in creating opportunities. He plans pretexts. But he does it all in a very polite way; he bleeds with polished instruments. He certainly is no Vandal conqueror; he de- stroys no works of art; he only carries off the best ones. He evinces a taste not only for statues and pictures, but also for manuscripts and anatomical collections, of which he sends off a part. He burns no temples; he only empties some of their treasures. He respects the superstitions of the conquered, and sends the Madonna of Loreto unmutilated, and with all her precious ornaments, to Paris. He sends her privately to the Directory, some of the members of which may have particular regard for piously decorated Madonnas, while the attention of others or of the same is directed to the merits of ' a hun- dred carriage horses, the finest that could be discovered in Lombardy.' Besides all this, which is done decently and syste- matically, by order of Napoleon, an immense deal of extortion is done by a swarm of authorized and unauthorized commis- sioners and agents of the Directory, who infest every corner of Northern Italy, and whose robberies, peculations, and shame- lessness the general hardly finds words to stigmatize. The soldiers, too, in spite of most rigorous regulations and frequent shootings, manage to plunder and rob on their own account. At an early stage of the campaign these liberators are desig- nated by their leader himself ' an army of brigands.' While contributions feed the army and gorge the Directory and Paris with plunder, a military reign of terror keeps Italy with all its hostile elements princes, priests, nobles, and a monk-ridden peasantry in awe and subjection. What that terrorism is, a few quotations may show. An outbreak having taken place in some villages of the Milanese, and an order to 44 MICHAEL HEILPRIN lay down arms having been disobeyed, a proclamation announces that 'the generals will march the necessary forces to subject them, burn them, and have every man found in arms shot. All priests and all nobles who remain in the rebellious communities will be arrested as hostages and sent to France.' The fate of Binasco and Pavia soon after proves that such are not empty threats. Some Frenchmen having been killed at Bosco, General Berthier is directed to throw the council of the place into prison, and to declare that if they refuse to name the guilty, ' and do not, on the spot, make out a list of at least twelve persons,' they will be immediately shot. The people of the vicinity of Tortono are guilty of a similar crime, and Napoleon reports : ' I have had fifteen of the ringleaders arrested, tried by a military com- mission, and shot ' the names having been obtained in the way indicated to Berthier. On entering the Papal dominion, Na- poleon proclaims : ' Art. 1. Every village or town in which alarm-bells are sounded at the approach of the French army is immediately to be burnt down, and the council thereof to be shot. Art. 2. Every community in whose territory a French- man shall be murdered shall be placed under martial law; a mobile column shall be sent there, hostages taken, and an ex- traordinary contribution levied. . . .' And yet all this is mild and humane when compared with the orders issued on the eve of a march into the Tyrol, orders, however, which we believe to have received no practical application. And yet Bonaparte was neither greedy nor cruel. Nor was he by nature hypocritical or false, though his Macchiavellism appears no less great than his heartlessness, when required as a means. ' All the fortified places of the Venetian Republic on the Adige,' he writes to the Directory as early as July, 1796, ( are now in my hands. You may find it suitable to begin, even now, a slight quarrel with the Venetian minister at Paris, so that, after the capture of Mantua and the driving of the Austrians from the Brenta, I may find a greater willingness to listen to the demand for a few millions which you intend me to make/ ' Is it your desire,' he writes on another occasion, ' to revolutionize Piedmont and to annex it to the Cispadane Republic ? The means to do this without war, without violating either treaty or propriety, is to blend a corps of ten thousand AN ESTIMATE OF NAPOLEON 45 Piedmontese, who must needs be the kernel of the nation, with our army, and to make them partake in our victories. After six months the King of Piedmont shall be dethroned. It is the spectacle of a giant embracing a dwarf and pressing him to his bosom ; he suffocates him, but he cannot be accused of a crime. The result is owing to the extraordinary difference in their or- ganizations/ He natters both the Pope and the Emperor, though he heartily hates the one with all his empire, and heartily de- spises the other, ' the old fox,' with all his clergy. He speaks ' of the religion of our fathers ' to Cardinal Mattei, and assures the French minister of foreign affairs that he could easily man- age Egypt with armies like his, to whom ' all religions, Moham- medans, Copts, Arabs, idolaters, etc., are alike/ Hating anarchy and Jacobinism no less, or even more, than emigres and royalist conspirators, he yet hesitates not to stir up revolutionary pas- sions against clerical influences, to inspire the Italians with ' fanaticism against fanaticism.' He vaunts the conservatism of the army, and incites Barras to commit a coup d'etat. Of course, all this is done in the interest of the French Republic, of ' the greatest of nations/ and of the Constitution of the year III., and, if we believe his repeated assertions, from the purest of motives and without personal ambition, as he longs to retire into private life, preferring peace to glory, and looking for reward in his ' conscience and the opinion of posterity/ But although no glimmer of conscience or moral feeling, in the stricter meaning of the word, is to be found in all these hundreds of letters, a strong sense of the noble, the decorous, and even the virtuous, is almost everywhere perceptible, no less than an intense contempt for everything sordid, and meanly selfish. He admires patriotism no less than heroism. He speaks of the self-sacrifice of a poor washerwoman with the same warmth of feeling with which he claims acknowledgment for the brilliant services of Berthier, Augereau, Joubert, Victor, Lannes, Marmont, or Junot. He writes to every member of the government, separately, to procure relief for the widow of one of his heroes. Terrible to the enemies of France, he is yet free from personal vindictiveness. He neither belittles the deeds of possible rivals though he betrays his dislike for Moreau nor speaks boastingly of his own achievements. He honors 46 MICHAEL HEILPRIX the devotion of his military antagonists, and never ridicules them when fallen. Though born to command, his tone is unas- suming, respectful to superiors, and almost austerely modest. He is dignified even when flattering, and not entirely untruth- ful when deceiving. Men of science or literary genius he treats with great distinction. Altogether, we find it natural that many who knew him at that time, finding in him the talents without the vices of Casar, were inclined to exclaim, ' Hie erit Scipio ! ' And yet his ambition even then was soaring over all Europe and beyond it. He was planning the conquest of Egypt, of Malta, and of England. He offered his mediation to the Swiss Cantons, received Hellenic deputations, formed Polish legions, and exerted himself to gain the favor of ' the brave Hungarian nation.' Beyond conquered Corfu, he follows in his thought the shining track of the Macedonian; he will penetrate to the Nile, like Alexander; he will cross the Alps, like Hannibal he will cross the Rubicon, like Ceesar." Between 1868 and 18TO Mr. Heilprin wrote a number of his- torical and critical articles for the Nation, the most important among which were a review of Kenan's St. Paul and two papers on Panslavism. These articles embodied the results of profound studies, and their value has remained unimpaired by the lapse of time. The march of events since the essay on "Panslav- ism" was published (Nation, May 14 and 28, 1868) has strikingly verified some of the forecasts made therein. It is only necessary to refer to the growing importance of the Polish question and to the renewed interest in Panslavism evoked by the recent annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the part of Austria. Both the articles on Panslavism and that on Kenan's St. Paul are here reproduced. PAWSLAVISM I Three families of nations, all belonging to the Indo European grand-division of mankind, the Slavic, the Teutonic, and the Romanic, can be said to rule the globe in our times. PANSLAVISM 47 They may be designated as the eastern, the north-western, and south-western branches of that grand stem, into which countless centuries of growth have ramified it, and around which cluster numerous minor offshoots of the same, as well as some detached from different trunks. All the north of Asia, from Behring's Straits and the mouth of the Amoor to the Ural, and almost all Europe east of the Baltic and the Adriatic, and of a wind- ing line connecting these two seas, belong to the Slavic race, which has absorbed or entirely overpowered the Finns, Lithu- anians, Crimean Tartars, Circassians, Bashkirs, and numerous other tribes, and closely encircles the Magyars, Roumans, Albanians, and others. The rest of Europe and almost the whole of America, unequally divided into northern and southern halves, Australia, parts of Africa and Southern Asia, and almost all the islands of the seas, are held by the Teutonic and Romanic nations, who have absorbed, exterminated, or subjected, among others, the Basques, the Celts, the aborigines of this continent, the Hindoos, and the Malays. Their flags float triumphantly over all the oceans. The Sultans of Turkey and Morocco, the formerly impenetrable empires of Cathay and Japan, yield to their dictates; the Arab and the Egyptian construct their canals; the Kabyl and the Abyssinian vainly oppose their arms. Of these three dominant families of nations, the Teutonic is throughout in a flourishing condition. It embraces the most en- lightened and progressive, the most industrious and active, the freest and richest nations of the earth. Each of its members is independent and sovereign in the land it inhabits. All enjoy self-rule and constitutional freedom, though under manifold forms : republican democracy in the United States and Switzer- land ; democracy combined with monarchy in Norway and Den- mark ; liberal aristocracy in England ; and mixed constitutional- ism in Holland, Sweden, and Germany. Although some of these nations, like Holland and Sweden, have already played more conspicuous parts in history than they do now, none is in a con- dition of internal . decay ; only their external relations are changed. Almost all are advancing with the hope of a still brighter future. Their religion, with few exceptions, is the Protestant. 48 MICHAEL HEILPRIJST The Romanic family consists mainly of nations that have passed the zenith of their glory. Some of them show evident marks of decay, if not of incurable rottenness. Such are Spain and Portugal, which, after centuries of world-wide fame and power, have nearly succumbed to the internal infection of bigotry, pride, and luxury, combining to produce an unparal- leled system of royal and clerical despotism. Their former colonies, now independent states, founded on a substratum of an inferior race, seem to be decrepit in their very infancy. Italy and Roumania struggle hard, and not without foreign aid, for regeneration after ages of degeneracy. France alone, the leading Romanic state, stands erect and powerful in the fore- most rank of civilized nations, though, as many believe, on the very verge of decadence, the forecast shadow of which is already traceable in the character and spirit of her people. Most of the members of this family are convulsed by frequent revolutions, which seem only to displace tyranny, and but rarely inaugurate a normal rule of freedom. Their movements are unsteady, their aims indefinite and vague, their culture superficial. Progress and reaction alternate, each running into excess. Every nation, however, is independent, except the Roumanian, which is auton- omous but tributary. The Catholic religion prevails in all, with the same exception. More peculiar still is the general aspect of the Slavic family. It consists not of nations uniformly free and advancing, nor of nations decayed, decaying, or in the throes of regeneration, but of one great overshadowing empire, and of a large number of minor peoples and tribes whose political life has been cut short by external violence before internal decay set in. That empire is Russia, which contains the only independent Slavic nation. The western and southern Slavi, who, during the great migra- tion of nations, had spread as far as the lower Elbe, the head- waters of the Danube and the Drave, and beyond the Balkan, the Isthmus of Corinth, and even the Hellespont, early in the Middle Ages founded independent kingdoms and principalities near the shores of the Baltic, the Adriatic, and the Euxine, on the Vistula, the Elbe, and the Danube, and on both sides of the Carpathians ; but, disunited among themselves, often fight- ing one another, and feebly organized, they gradually receded PANSLAVISM 49 before mightier neighbors, and finally succumbed to the superior culture and discipline of the Germans, or to the impetuous valor of the Hungarians and Turks, Poland alone falling under the strokes, chiefly, of a Slavic people, the Russian. The too far advanced Slavic populations almost entirely disappeared; those established between the Oder, the Elbe, and the Saale, with the exception of the Wends in Lusatia, were Germanized after long struggles ; those on the upper Save, Drave, and Mur shared nearly the same fate; the Great-Moravian empire, founded by Svatopluk, east and west of the Carpathians, fell, about the year 900, under the sword of the Magyars, who had then for the first time entered and occupied Hungary; Croatia was annexed to the latter country about the beginning, and Slavonia about the middle, of the twelfth century ; Serbia waa conquered on the battle-field of Kosovo, in 1389, by Sultan Amurath I. ; Bulgaria was subdued soon after by his son Bajazet, and Bosnia, after various vicissitudes, by Solyman the Magnificent, in 1528 ; Bohemia, the oldest Slavic kingdom, vir- tually lost its independence on the death of King Louis in the battle of Mohacs (1526), fought against the last-named Sultan, when for a second time it reverted to the house of Austria, and it lost its freedom when, after the battle of the White Mountain (1620), the Emperor Ferdinand II. tore its charter of liberty, as forfeited; last of all, Poland, having flourished for eight hundred years as an independent and mighty kingdom, was divided by three neighboring powers, Russia, Austria, and Prussia, toward the close of the last century, and all its subse- quent attempts to recover its independence have proved futile and self-destructive. When Poland fell, all national pulsation seemed long to have ceased among all other Slavic populations of the west and south. The Bulgarians, Servians, Bosnians, and Montenegrins the latter with some intervals had so long groaned Under the Turkish yoke; the Croats and Slavonians, the Slovacks in north-western, the Ruthenians in north-eastern, and the Rascians in southern, Hungary, had so long been ruled, led, or oppressed by the Magyars ; Dalmatia had become so much Italianized by Venetian influences; the nobility and urban populations of Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, Styria, and Illyria so much Ger- 50 MICHAEL HEILPRIST manized under the house of Austria, that the remembrance of the free national past seemed to live among the Slavi of all these countries only like " an ancient lay." Any lingering hope of resurrection appeared to most observers an idle dream. But when Polish liberty succumbed, French liberty became trium- phant over all its enemies, and commenced convulsing Europe with the ideas of popular rights, independence, and national regeneration. Shock followed shock. From the Seine and the Tagus to the Pruth and the Niemen the existing order of things was shaken to its foundations. The people everywhere became conscious of their rights and power. The new gigantic struc- tures raised by victorious France, in their turn, crumbled under the pressure of popular enthusiasm. The people fought against Napoleon in Spain and in Tyrol ; the people were appealed to against him by Czar Alexander and by Frederic William in 1812 and 1813. On the fall of the great conqueror, the people almost everywhere demanded their rights. Spain, Naples, and Pied- mont rose to strike for liberty in 1820, though in vain. A Greek hetairia raised the standard of Hellenic freedom in Moldo-Wallachia ; the Peloponnesus and the islands followed, and Hellas revived. Poles and Eussians conspired, separately and jointly, for the overthrow of despotism. Another regener- ating movement, though of a different character, begun simul- taneously with the fall of Poland, took place in Hungary. Roused from a long slumber by the centralizing and Germaniz- ing attempts of Joseph II. (1780-1790), the Magyars not only reasserted their national autonomy on the accession of his brother and successor, Leopold II., but also began with equal enthusiasm, ability, and success to revive, cultivate, and spread their own Turanian tongue, and to revindicate for it the place which the Latin had occupied as a parliamentary, scientific, and international medium in their assemblies and public institutions. All these movements could not but react upon the Slavic race, and rekindle the latent sparks of national consciousness even in the most oppressed and most neglected of its members. Where religion aided to set those sparks ablaze, the first move- ments immediately assumed the shape of insurrectionary out- breaks. The Servians and Montenegrins, aided or instigated by Russia, were the first to strike for independence the former PANSLAVISM 51 under the lead of Czerny George and then of Milosh Obreno- vitch, the latter under their Vladika, Peter Petrovitch I. and, fighting long and bravely, conquered a partial national autonomy even before the outbreak in Greece an autonomy which Servia, under the sons of those two kneses, has not only succeeded in defending, but also in considerably enlarging. Next followed a general literary movement, aiming at a revival of all the Slavic tongues and the development of Slavic litera- ture throughout the Austrian empire and on its Turkish! bor- ders. Of this movement Pesth, Agram, Vienna, Prague, and Moscow became the centres. Journals, schools, libraries, and archives were founded. Eminent writers, like the Serb Kara- jitch, the Slovacks Kollar and Schafarik, the Moravian Palacky, subsequently historiographer of Bohemia, and the Croat Gaj, writing in various Slavic dialects and in German, not only roused the spirit of their compatriots to a consciousness of their own genius and the knowledge of their past, but also attracted the attention of Europe. But the respective spheres of these and similar writers were too narrow, the population speaking their dialects too poor and too ignorant, to support so many literatures and institutions. This circumstance was, perhaps, what mainly suggested to Kollar the idea of a union, for literary purposes at first, of all the Slavi. In a German work on "Literary Eeciprocity between all the Tribes and Dialects of the Slavic Nation" (Pesth, 1831), he endeavored to prove to the Slavi of all countries that their various idioms, of which the Russian, the Polish, the Bohemian (or Czechic), and the Servian are the principal, differed no more from each other than did the Attic, the Ionian, the ^olian, and the Dorian dialects of the ancient Hellenic, the differences of which did not prevent the Greeks from developing one grand literature or from essentially form- ing one grand nation. The same path of glory, he argued with fervor and eloquence, was open to the Slavi. The institutions, the literary products, the idioms, the thoughts, the genius of all the Slavi had only to become the common property of all, and they would excel the rest of the modern world as the Hellenes excelled all other nations of antiquity. This dazzling idea was received with acclamation by all the Slavi, except the 52 MICHAEL HEILPRItf Poles, who, having risen in insurrection against Kussia in 1830, were just bleeding away under the sword of the only inde- pendent Slavic people. But when the struggle was over, some of their exiles, and among them their great poet, Mickiewicz, joined in the general chorus. Literary union and linguistic fusion became watchwords, and were carried into effect to a certain degree, chiefly among the Slavi on the Save and lower Danube and on both sides of the western Carpathians. Alpha- bets being assimilated, slight grammatical distinctions dropped, and words exchanged, the dialects of Servia, Croatia, Slavonia, and Dalmatia were nearly melted into one Illyrian language, and the Czechic became the common tongue of the Bohemians, Moravians, and Slovacks. II The idea of Kollar, thus put into practice, was the first germ of Panslavism. From a literary union of all the Slavi there was, in thought, only one step to a political union. This slight salto was soon made by the Slavic agitators, who were secretly, and for obvious reasons, aided by Russian agents and subsidies, and here and there also by Austrian agencies, desirous to counteract the growing power of the Hungarian nationality. It was easy to prove from history that it was weakness arising from disunion among the Slavi which had subjected them and kept them subject to the sway of the Germans, the Hungarians, and the Turks; that it was through union alone that they could revindicate the prominent position due them by right of numbers and by right of history among the great races of the European world. Germany and Italy, too, after similar experiences, were striving for union. But as in Germany and Italy two opposite courses were pursued, by vari- ous political factions, toward the same aim an agitation for democratic union through revolution, and an agitation for monarchical union through the houses of Hohenzollern and Savoy respectively so the Panslavistic world soon split into a democratic party, aiming at a republican confederation the result of a general revolution and a Russian party, aiming at a union created and headed by the Czar. The democratic PANSLAVISM 53 scheme, which.' could be achieved only by the total or partial breaking up of Austria, Prussia, Russia, and Turkey, and against the opposition of both Germans and Magyars, was ad- venturous and perilous in the extreme, and almost chimerical. The other was decidedly more practical, but it lacked the con- currence of all true liberals and Poles, who dreaded in the event of its success the final absorption of Poland and all other Slavic nationalities in Russia, the victory of Czarism over all its enemies, a centralism worse than that of the Roman emperors, and the triumph of Eastern barbarism over European civi- lization. But as long as the question remained, so to say, a theoretical one, the Panslavistic movement proceeded almost in harmony, the anonymous author of the "Pentarchy" (Leipsic, 1839) an agent of Russia the above-named Slavic writers, and a host of others, among whom we find the Poles Mieroslawski, Libelt, Wielopolski, and the late Count Adam Gurowski, contributing to its advance from various stand-points. But powerful events soon made this Slavic movement one of the highest importance. The revolutions of February and March, 1848, convulsed the west and centre of Europe, shook the thrones of Austria and Prussia, and gave all power into the hands of the people. In Austria the Hungarians were the first to profit by this change, turning it to the advantage both of liberty and of the Magyar nationality. This led to violent anti-demonstrations on the part of the Croats, Slavonians, and Rascians, who demanded constitutional changes incompatible with the integrity of Hungary. The Austrian government, or rather the court of Vienna, not at all surprised by these dis- sensions and wranglings, secretly fanned them into a flame which kindled an internecine war of races, in which the Romanic Wallachs, too, took part against the Hungarians. In the mean- while the Poles of Posen had risen against the Prussians, and had been defeated. Galicia, exhausted by the massacre of her nobles in 1846, remained inactive. The Bohemians now hastened to take the lead in the Slavic movement. A general Slavic congress, convoked by Palacky and others, assembled in Prague. The tendency of the time made it a democratic and revolutionary gathering; no Russians, except exiles, appeared. 54 MICHAEL HEILPRIN But before any important resolutions could be formed a collision between some Czech youths and the Austrian troops, under Prince Windischgratz, led to a bombardment of the city, the disarmament of the Czechs, and the dispersion of the congress. Emboldened by this victory and by others in Italy, the Austrian government now threw down the gauntlet to Hungary, and ordered the Ban of Croatia, Jellachich, to invade that country at the head of a Slavic army. The Hungarian constitution, the only sheet-anchor of liberty in Austria, was to be put down by semi-barbarous Slavic hordes. At this critical juncture the chasm which separated the two Panslavic camps became ap- parent. The Czechs, deeming it possible to establish the pre- dominance of the Slavi in Austria, declared in favor of the government, defended by the Croats and Rascians ; the Poles, burning to revenge the wrongs of 1846 and to destroy one of their three oppressors, flocked to the banners of Hungary and freedom. And thus, throughout the Hungarian war of 1848 and 1849, Slavi fought against Slavi. The first practical at- tempt at Panslavism ended in smoke in the smoke of bloody battle-fields. Russia finally decided against Bern, Dembinski, and Kossuth, and victorious Austria deceived the Croats, Rascians, and Czechs. When the victory was complete, Aus- tria's last word was Germanization without liberty. But Magenta and Solferino, in 1859, revenged Temesvar and Vilagos. Hungary was to be conciliated, or the empire would perish. The House of Hapsburg vacillated and hesitated, until Koniggratz, in 1866, put an end to vacillation. Both Hungary and Galicia were conciliated, the Magyar and Polish elements, united with the German, forming the basis of the liberal system inaugurated under the lead of Deak and Beust; the Czechs and the South-Austrian Slavi were spurned. The Czechs, who even during the Polish insurrection of 186364 partly sympa- thized with Russia, and their southern allies, who had been long dreaming of a South-Slavic empire, to consist of parts of Austria and parts of Turkey, have now turned their eyes towards Moscow and St. Petersburg as the Mecca and Medina of the Slavic world. On their part, the Russian people and government, exasperated by their defeats and humiliations in the Crimean war, by the ingratitude of Austria, and still more PANSLAVISM . 55 by the threats of Western interference in favor of Poland which became loud in 1863, have now, almost without reserve, espoused the cause of Panslavism, in its Czaric form, expecting through it to revenge past insults, to extinguish the last vestige of Polish nationality, to extend the limits of Kussia to the Adriatic and the Bosphorus, to rule, and even to regenerate, Europe. A grand Panslavic gathering, convoked and feted last year at Moscow, at which even Palacky and Kieger, formerly leading liberal members of the Austrian Parliament, appeared as repre- sentatives of Bohemia, and at which high imperial dignitaries spoke in the name of Eussia, has made it manifest to the world how far things have gone on both sides. The absence of the Poles, however only Ruthenians representing, or rather mis- representing, the Polish provinces and some later demon- strations of even Czechic opposition, like the recent brilliant pamphlet of Trie, have made it equally clear that the Pan- slavo-Czaric coalition is far from being acquiesced in by all concerned. But so much is certain, Panslavism has long ceased to be a chimera. It has become a live idea, agitating eighty millions of people we exclude the Poles and perhaps destined soon to shake the world as terribly as Islamism did in the seventh, and again in the fifteenth, century. Of those eighty millions of Slavi, two-thirds, united under the sceptre of the Czar and the emblem of the Greek cross, backed by twenty million fellow- subjects of different race but mostly of the same creed, and aided by ten million Roumanian and Greek co-religionists in Turkey and Austria, are to call to arms if not to regenerate and an- nex almost all the rest of the Slavi (embracing nearly as many Greeks as Catholics), leading them to a deadly strife against Turks, Hungarians, Germans, and Poles. This strug- gle, if successful, whether ultimately resulting in the regenera- tion and independence of the south-western Slavi, or, which is more likely, in their subjugation by Russia, would in any case bring about the total ruin of the Moslems in Europe, the fall of Hungarian liberty and supremacy, the extinction of the Polish nationality, the breaking up of Austria, and the destruc- tion of German civilization in the East; it would replace the crescent by the Greek cross on the dome of St. Sophia, would 56 MICHAEL HEILPRItf convert the Euxine into a Russian lake, and make the Czar, whose Cossacks even now guard the banks of the Amoor, the Araxes, the Jaxartes, and the Tornea, the most powerful ruler that ever wielded a sceptre. Victorious Panslavism, therefore, means not only death to Turkey, Hungary, Poland, and Austria; it also means the domination of Russia and her Church, without a rival able to cope with them, in both Asia and Europe ; it means Russian sway over the Aral and the Caspian, the Euxine and the Archi- pelago, the Baltic and the Adriatic ; it means the pressing back of the eastern boundaries of Germany and a menace to her independence. Hence the constant dread of Turkey; hence the opposition of Austria to every step taken by Russia, openly or covertly, in the direction of the Danube ; hence the alacrity of the Hungarians and Poles to meet the liberal, and this time sincere, advances of the house of Hapsburg; hence the jealous alarms of France and England, and their readiness to stand by Austria and Turkey; hence the activity of the Catholic clergy in opposing and baffling the intrigues and plots of Russian emissaries in Galicia, Bulgaria, and Hungary; hence the hesi- tation of Prussia though she might at first gain by the fall of Austria and the extinction of Poland to conclude a de- fensive and offensive alliance with her powerful eastern neigh- bor, a hesitation which may also keep the new Prince of Rou- mania a Hohenzollern prince from throwing himself into the arms of the Czar. Will all these opposing forces, coupled with the financial weakness of the Russian empire, long prevent the Czar from crossing the Rubicon, and casting the die of war, urged on, as he is, by vistas of glory, the sting of opposition, and the fanaticism of his people? Will those opposing forces long re- main in harmony, or will awakening mutual jealousies paralyze their action? Will an accident bring about the long-delayed fatal collision? Into which of the scales is Prussia likely to throw her weight? Into which is victory likely to thrqw hers ? All these and many similar questions involuntarily pre- sent themselves, but it is beyond our powers, as it is beyond our province, to answer them. A KEVIEW OF KENAN'S "ST. PAUL" 57 KENAN'S "ST. PAUL" " The third volume of M. Kenan's Histoire des Origines du Christianisme embraces the period of the first great missions to the Gentiles, of which St. Paul is the hero. It opens with the departure of Paul and Barnabas from Antioch in the year 45, and closes with the arrival of the apostle as captive at Rome, in 61. This period of sixteen years the author justly considers the historically best known in ' the embryonic age of Christian- ity.' Before them lie the shadowy ' images of a remote para- dise, lost in a haze of mystery,' which he has reproduced in the pages of the * Vie de Jesus ' and ' Les Apotres ' ; after them fol- lows a long night of profound darkness, through which only ' the bloody shine of Nero's savage feasts,' ' the thunderbolt of the Apocalypse,' and the torch which destroyed the temple of Jerusalem, dart their lurid light. These few visible traits, to- gether with the dimly transparent features of the last years of the apostles, are to form the main subjects of the fourth part of the ' Origines,' which the author hopes to complete in a fifth volume, closing with ' the definitive establishment of dogmatic orthodoxy.' As a work of literary art whether we consider the compo- sition of the whole, the elaboration of parts, or the coloring ' St. Paul ' could but with difficulty obtain the distinction of surpassing its two predecessors, for the sole reason that, as works of art, these could hardly be surpassed; and yet we have no hesitation in saying even that distinction must be awarded it. We forbear, however, specifying the grounds on which we base our judgment. The consummate mastership in planning, ar- ranging, and delineating, these charms of diction, can be felt, but can hardly be described, except, indeed, by expressing the impression they produce on the reader. And yet it is chiefly as a product of historical criticism that we must declare the ' St. Paul ' decidedly superior to both the ' Jesus ' and the ' Apotres.' And here we can specify our reasons. First, M. Kenan has, during the elaboration of these volumes, considerably augmented the vast stock of knowledge with which he entered upon this field; secondly, he has in the same proportion chastened his 58 MICHAEL HEILPRIX critical fancy ; thirdly, lie has left behind him that part of his ground in which the adoring believer may find rich materials for the adornment of his temples, and the iconoclastic critic equally abundant fragments to exercise his irreverent art upon, but which offers no material out of which historical monuments both true and unhallowed by faith could be shaped by a process, however, ingenious, of reconstructive art. As idyls accompanied by erudite notes and critical intro- ductions, as fanciful pictures of a ' pastorale delicieuse ' as M. Renan designates the life of the earliest followers of the Son of Man the ' Jesus ' and the ' Apotres ' are really charm- ing productions. It matters nothing that the idyl sometimes almost loses its character, and is, almost imperceptibly, changed into an epic. Idyllic and epic elements are not incompatible in poetry; the picture of the origins of an Utopia must be both epic and idyllic. But Utopias are, unfortunately, only cre- ations of poets or visions of prophets. The Golden Age, the commonwealth of Plato, the ' last days ' of Isaiah none of these belongs to the domain of history. And no * grande epopee ' of human history, from Moses to Napoleon, has been idyllic; least of all the French Revolution, with which M. Renan so much likes to compare the revolution he depicts. And yet it is for history critical history that he endeavors to palm upon us those delicious pastorals. As history, they are far from being delicious if in fact they are not quite the contrary. The in- genious processes by which our author transforms rugged, rude, and ignorant Galilee the Galilee of the procurators, the sicarii, and exorcists into an earthly paradise, full of love and joy and sunshine, numberless miracles into natural facts, and all kinds of psychological or historical incongruities into apparently logical developments those processes are equalled in uncriticalness only by the method he applies in examining ecclesiastico-traditional testimony, and which makes him so often enter as historical a small part of an evidence the bulk of which he rejects as forged, falsified, based on superstition, or alto- gether incredible. M. Renan, without any qualification, rejects as incredible everything supernatural; but the shadows that accompany the delineations of supernatural things he saves, and quite as artfully as artistically works them into new A REVIEW OF KENAN'S "ST. PAUL" 59 images. His new images are often excellent imitations of the sacred ones he tears ; but while orthodoxy must spurn them as devoid of all sacred substance, mere unimpassioned criticism, too, can see in them little more than shadows. The age of Jesus is a fit subject for the pen of sceptical historians; his life can be written only by a believer, for all we have about him comes from unconditional believers. It is different with the life or, rather, the career of Paul. The main and most historical part of it that which has exercised so vast an influence upon the development of Christendom and the world can probably well be traced. The earlier part that embracing his Jewish life, his miracu- lous conversion on the road to Damascus, and his Christian activity in Syria furnishes, in M. Kenan's elaboration, some of the epic tableaux of the ' Apotres ' with the change, of course, of the grand miracle into a natural, though a very strange, occurrence. The mystery-covered close of the apostle's career is wisely left to take its place among the dim appearances of Christian life in the following period. The volume before us sketches after tolerably authentic documents M. Kenan re- jects only the Epistles to Timothy and Titus as entirely spurious the period of Paul's missionary wanderings through Cyprus, Pamphylia, Pisidia, Lycaonia, Cilicia, Phrygia, Mysia, Thrace, Macedon, Greece, Ionia, Lydia, and Syria countries through which, with few exceptions, the biographer expressly followed the footsteps of his hero before writing this book; the period which witnessed the foundation, among others, of the primitive Christian communities of Philippi and Thessalonica, of Athens and Corinth, of Ephesus, Colossse, and Laodicea cities to the description of some of which charming pages are devoted ; the period which gradually developed and matured that anti-Mosaic and anti-Judaic form of Christianity, of which, according to M. Kenan, Paul, and not Jesus, was the father, basing it on grace and justification by faith, preaching it to the Gentiles, and passionately defending it against the authority and hostility of the original apostles the strict but ' narrow-minded ' fol- lowers of both Jesus and Moses. In this period there are but few miracles to be rejected, transformed, or ignored; there is no divine image to be painted over into that of an angelic man ; 60 MICHAEL HEILPRENT the scene is no Arcadian Galilee ; there is no Mary of Magdala ; the hero is a very unamiable rabbi. The reader of the ' Apotres ' will remember the portrait there given of the short, somewhat crook-backed, broad-shouldered, small-headed, thick-bearded, and bald Jew of Tarsus, who, as Saul, gloated over the agonies, promoted by himself, of the first Christian martyrs, but, as Paul, was destined to become the dis- seminator, the great light, of Christianity the teacher, in dis- tant ages, of Wyckliffe, Huss, Luther, and Calvin. His charac- ter, as developed chiefly in the book before us, is far from being the exact counterpart of that unattractive exterior. Paul has changed his religion, but he has not given up his fanaticism. He does not persecute, for the powers that be are against him ; but he is passionate, impetuous, vehement, rude, and not inca- pable of violence. He preaches love and charity, and preaches them in words that alone ' can be compared to the discourses of Jesus ' ; but he seems himself to be inaccessible to all tender emotions. He boasts, and justly so, of grand sacrifices and end- less sufferings for the cause to which he has devoted his life ; but he is egotistic, jealous, obstinate, contentious. He combats the exclusiveness of Judaism, but without giving up its prejudices. He believes salvation possible only under his own formulas, inveighs against the yoke of the law, and yet often makes con- cessions, breaks his own rules, and compromises with supersti- tion and untruth. He exorcises, heals, and does apparent mir- acles. Nor are his convictions and beliefs such as could appear particularly attractive under the pen of a Renan. His theories of sin, indulgence, faith, justification, grace, and redemption; his ideas of marriage, celibacy, and temptation; his belief in miracles, demons, angels, the bodily resurrection of Christ, and the approaching end of the world all these are little to the taste of unbelieving philosophy, and M. Renan hides neither hia tastes nor his philosophy. And yet, thanks to the wonderful skill with which he handles his pen as if it were a magic balancing wand, capable of carrying one safely over the double abyss of decided belief and decided unbelief and thanks, also, to some indisputably grand mental qualities of his hero, he succeeds in representing him to his readers in a rather brilliant light. He almost passionately A REVIEW OF RENAN'S "ST. PAUL" 61 sides with him who ' never saw Jesus, nor heard his word/ 1 scarcely knew his parables ' ; who preached revelations of a Christ who ' was his own phantom/ and * heard himself while believing he heard Jesus ' in his great contest with Peter, James, and other true Apostles, the pillars of the Church of Jerusalem. He even goes to the length of suspecting the bigotry of that Judaizing circle of complicity in the surrender of Paul to the Roman authorities. Altogether, the Apostles of Jerusa- lem cut a rather pitiable figure in the new volume of the ' Ori- gines,' and, contrasted with them, Paul easily appears not only the liberator of Christianity, but its very genius. Looking at the situation from M. Renan's critical standpoint, we must say, however, that he does the Apostles of Jerusalem injustice, and unduly extols their antagonist. We cannot per- ceive what should have induced them, who lived in the still un- destroyed state of Judea, under the law, which was both reli- gious and civil, and which they had seen Jesus observe to his death what should have induced them to desert the divine institutions of their country and people, that had been binding from times immemorial, for the sake of a new-fangled reform, the fruits of which the world could not enjoy, as it was inconti- nently to come to a terrific end. Nor can we see what rational ground might have led Paul to use much violence or, on the other hand, to make so many concessions in carrying through that reform, while fervently admonishing his converts to live a provisional life, without attempting any change of condition be it even through marriage for the time was short, and the world as it was, was passing away. The truth is, the great fault of M. Renan in judging men and ideas of that time is his in- voluntary viewing them from the standpoint of a philosophical observer who has eighteen centuries of Christianity behind him. Looking upon a Christianized world, he eulogizes him who sacri- ficed everything to the universalization of the liberating faith, and casts stones at those who, from narrow-minded piety, laid obstacles in his way forgetting that, according to his own statement, the number of all the Gentiles converted by Paul probably amounted to little more than a thousand, and that these converts mostly belonged to the lowest and most powerless stratum of society. And there is nothing in M. Renan's narra- / > / 62 MICHAEL HEILPRItf tive which could explain how without prophetic gifts, in which he does not believe either ' the twelve * or the great missionary could have dreamed of what the philosopher knows ; and that, too, while they were momentarily waiting for the end of the world. Want of space prevents us from calling attention to the num- berless beautiful descriptions and generalizations interwoven with the narrative, as well as from exposing the glittering shal- lowness of others. M. Kenan's knowledge is more extensive and exact than profound. He draws his materials from stores both vast and varied ; but certainly he is not always conscientious in selecting and sifting them. The ease with which he creates almost perfect forms induces him to be lavish in multiplying striking traits. He likes to dwell on the beautiful, and is almost entirely devoid of humor; but there is something like hidden irony in some of his delineations though his religious scepti- cism is most remote from that of Voltaire or Gibbon. We might call him a Rousseau writing sacred history." With the outbreak of the Franco-German war of 1870-71 Mr. Heilprin's contributions to the Nation assumed an even more important character. He wrote many of the leading articles concerning the political aspects of the struggle, and these attracted considerable attention. The first of these, re- printed herewith, appeared, in a German translation, in the Berlin Vossische Zeitung: SOME OF THE CAUSES OF THE WAR y In his " Idee Napoleonienne," Louis Napoleon quotes from his favorite history of the First Empire, Bignon's, the follow- ing: " One day people will ask, Why did Napoleon, in the last six years of his reign, show himself so pitiless towards Prussia ? The reason is: Prussia was the power that harmed him most, for she compelled him to fight and destroy her, while his de- sire was to extend, to strengthen, and to aggrandize her." We do not know whether the author of the " Idee Napoleonienne," who has now with so much vehemence drawn the sword against Prussia old, infirm, and generally passionless as he is has CAUSES OF THE FRANCO-GEKMAN WAR 63 either the desire or the ability to treat her pitilessly and to destroy her ; but granting Bignon's view to be correct we cannot fail to notice the analogy between the Prussian wars of the two imperial reigns arising from the fact that Napoleon III., too, sees himself compelled to fight Prussia after some endeavors " to extend, to strengthen, and to aggrandize her." The object of Napoleon I. in giving Hanover to Prussia, after Austerlitz, was, as Bignon expresses it, " to ensure, by her aid, the immobility of Russia and Austria, to give to the Conti- nental system an irresistible development, and thus to force England to make peace." Besides, Napoleon received some territorial compensations for what he took from the King of England and gave to Prussia. The object of Napoleon III: in conspiring with Bismarck for the aggrandizement of Prus- sia by the absorption, among other territories, of the same Hanover, as chiefly required for her consolidation was to bring about a final disruption of Germany, which would render her powerless to resist the natural expansion of France as the French call Cisrhenan conquests whether at the expense of Belgium or of Prussia herself, should a protracted war have crippled her resources equally with those of Austria. And, low though our opinion be of the unselfishness of the liv- ing Napoleon, we cannot refrain from acknowledging that his intentions concerning Prussia were more sincere than those of the great conqueror. For the latter aimed at universal empire over Europe, and could therefore tolerate no respectable power besides his own, while the former would be fully satisfied to be acknowledged mightiest among the mighty. Prussia compelled Napoleon I. to fight her by refusing to be his abject slave. She has compelled Napoleon III. to fight her by her victory at Sadowa. This victory by its suddenness has frustrated the schemes of French expansion, and made Prussia almost the equal of France in power. It has eclipsed Sevastopol, Magenta, and Solferino which were the dearly bought com- pensations in gloire for endless sacrifices of liberte and partly effaced even the remembrances of Jena and Wagram. It has aroused the vanity of the French to a degree which makes them both restless and restive. The trophies of Miltiades will not allow Themistocles to sleep j from the day of Sadowa France 64 MICHAEL HEILPRIK has enjoyed no rest. She has actually begun to doubt whether she is after all la grande nation. A great revolution and great victories long ago procured her that glorious title; she sees it now rapidly becoming vain-glorious merely. She must have new victories or else a new revolution. Napoleon has not been slow in comprehending the changed situation, the changed tem- per of France. And where revolution or war is the alternative, he cannot hesitate in his choice. While playing or struggling with an incipient revolution, he has prepared for war and Europe will be drenched in blood. It is idle to speculate how far, in throwing down the gauntlet to the rival of France, he is actuated by motives of personal interest, looking to the preserva- tion of his dynasty, and how far by feelings inspired by the interests of the nation whose ruler he is. Whether equally im- perative or not, regard for the safety of his throne and regard for " the honor of France " command him to fight. Among the personal considerations looking to the preservation / of both throne and fame, we may mention the advantage, so obvious under the actual circumstances of the Second Empire, of breaking by a powerful series of warlike deeds the chain of historical remembrances now uppermost in the mind of the French people. The seventeen or eighteen years of the personal rule of Napoleon, beginning with the coup d'etat of Dec. 2, 1851, form a connected period of usurpation and hypocrisy, preceded by three years of wire-pulling and presidential be- trayal of trust. This period is that which the generation that knew the reign of Louis Philippe and the Eevolution of 1848 is constantly contemplating and meditating about as the worst part of their country's history in this century; as a long- stretched inglorious present to which the late imperial con- cessions, crowned by a plebiscitum of a strangely dubious char- acter, seem to form a continuation rather than a concluding and reconciling epilogue. Nothing would be more apt to impress upon the recent constitutional change in France the character of such an epilogue than the suddenly following opening of a new series of events, sufficiently dramatic and heroically tragic to strike the imagination of the people with the idea of entirely novel, grand performances, with the impression of a new era opening in the history of their country. Should speedy victory , / / CAUSES OF THE FRANCO-GEBMAN WAR, 65 perch upon the imperial eagles, the new era would be hailed, as such, with all the rapture of national vanity ; should a long war with varying success ensue, the multiplicity and intensity of the new impressions would the more easily cast the late past into comparative oblivion. In either case, Napoleon would appear in the new light of a champion of France in a grand contest with an envied rival. Nor have the provocations to hostility, on the part of Prussia, been slight in the eyes of Napoleon. Not only has she dared to conquer beyond all measure compatible with " the honor of France " ; not only has she used and abused her victory ex- clusively for her own benefit and without any regard to the claims and remonstrances of the monarch who at first aided her by his council and connivance; but she has also crossed and baffled some of his most favorite schemes in an almost atrocious way. It was he who proclaimed himself the protector and re- generator of the decayed Latin race, from the Pontus to the Pacific. It was he who brought about the union of Moldavia and Wallachia in the shape of an all but independent Eoumania. It was he who worked with Cavour and fought with Garibaldi for the freedom of Italy, " from the Alps to the Adriatic." It was he who encouraged O'Donnell to revive the ancient glory of Spain on the soil of the Moors and to restore her sway in the Antilles. It was he who erected and defended, as a shield of the Latin race against the Anglo-Saxon, the imperial throne of Maximilian in Mexico. Surely it was a great dream, this universal Latin protectorate of France. And how has it van- ished ? Excepting Mexico, where it ended in a tragedy, Prussia has turned it into a mockery everywhere. She has placed a prince of her royal house, Charles of Hohenzollern, on the throne of Roumania. She has conquered at Sadowa the Italian quadrilateral of fortresses, which her arming in 1859 prevented Napoleon from assaulting, and has surrendered it and Venice to Italy through his own hands. And now she has arranged to set another Hohenzollern prince on the throne even of Spain. Are not all these provocations, put together, too destructive of the prestige, too insulting to the pride of a Napoleon to be submitted to calmly, to be borne without an attempt at revenge? We presume they have weighed heavily 66 MICHAEL HEILPRIN in the scales in which the Emperor of the Erench lately weighed peace and war. The article which follows is a striking presentation of a subject of permanent interest. Mr. Heilprin masses, with tell- ing effect, the lessons of history and geography in support of his thesis that mountains, not rivers, form natural barriers between countries. NATURAL BOUNDARIES When the power of Napoleon I. was rapidly crumbling away after the crushing defeat at Leipzig, the allies, halting at Erankfort before entering upon the last campaign, offered him, for peace, the undisturbed possession of France, with her limits extended east to the banks of the Rhine. The Erance thus offered him would have been almost coextensive with ancient Gaul, which was bounded by the Rhine, the Alps, and the Pyrenees, and would have embraced, besides the French Em- pire as it now is, the whole of Belgium, portions of the Nether- lands, Luxemburg, and Rhenish Prussia, Hesse, and Bavaria. Napoleon, in his unreasonable pride, spurned these terms of peace, and when, a few months later, he presented them as his own to the Peace Conference at Chatillon, they were rejected by the allies. Napoleon fell, and the kingdom of the Bourbons was ultimately reconstructed as it had been before the wars of the Revolution. But since that time France has not ceased dreaming and talking of her natural boundaries the Pyrenees, the Alps, and the Rhine. And this has not been the idle dream and idle talk of popular vanity and demagogism merely ; states- men, historians, publicists, and poets have vied with each other in making France believe that she had a natural right to all the lands west of the Rhine, and the dire consequence of that fondly cherished delusion is the present war. We call it a delusion, for the Rhine is not a natural boun- dary of France in a rational sense of the word. Nor are rivers, in general, the natural boundaries of countries. Rivers, it is true, form excellent geographical lines of demarcation between provinces or other divisions of one and the same empire, king- NATURAL BOUNDARIES 67 dom, or confederation, such as are the lines of the Ohio and the Mississippi, which bound some of our non^original States. But they are no more real lines of separation than are the meridians of longitude or parallels of latitude which have been selected to bound other States of our Union. For rivers, and especially navigable rivers, far from being separating barriers, are natural channels of intercourse and intermingling, of coales- cence and union, the world over. Comparative geography, a science of rather recent development, has fully established this axiom. If used as real barriers, as the Rhine and Danube were by the Eomans against the barbarians, and the Ticino and Po by the Austrians against Italy, they form unnatural barriers that is to say, unnatural boundaries kept up and guarded by the sword of the conqueror, occasionally long enough to become, or at least to appear, natural. Watersheds, not rivers, form natural boundaries. Mountain ranges separate nation- alities. The same nationality almost everywhere flourishes on both banks of every navigable river. Every basin, or at least every section of a basin, has its character. The inhabitants of the slopes that hem it in will fuse with the dwellers in the bottom. People living on the opposite slopes of a mountain range will tend in opposite directions. The whole of history and geography, studied together, proves it. The Nile has never nourished two different nationalities on its opposite banks; it has never been the boundary of an empire. Babylonia flourished on both sides of the Euphrates; Assyria on both sides of the Tigris. The Hebrews occupied both banks of the Jordan. Neither the Oxus nor the Jaxartes, neither the Indus nor the Ganges, neither the Yan-tse-kiang nor the Ho-ang-ho, has ever formed a boundary between differ- ent nationalities, or separated different civilizations. It was not the river Eurotas, the Alpheus, the Cephissus, or the Peneus, but mountain ranges like the Taygetus, the Pindus, and the (Eta, that formed, by bounding, the wonderful system of Gre- cian autonomies. The various sections and branches of the Apennines mainly separated the ancient national divisions of Italy. Rome developed its power on both banks of the Tiber; the Po, in forming Cispadane and Transpadane Gaul, bounded provinces but separated no nationalities; the little rivulet 68 MICHAEL HEILPRIET Rubicon only marked the end of a frontier line formed by the Apennines, just as the little Tweed in the Middle Ages served to complete the natural boundary line of the Cheviot range between England and Scotland. Mountain ranges, not rivers, formed, in the Middle Ages, the grand divisions of the Iberian Peninsula. The Ebro flows not on the confines but through the midlands of Aragon; the Guadalquivir does not bound but traverses Andalusia; Castil- ians live on both sides of the upper Douro and Tagus, Portu- guese on both sides of the lower. The countries of Eastern and Central Europe show striking parallel examples. Russians inhabit both banks of the Volga and the Don, Poles both banks of the Vistula; Germans both banks of the Oder, the Elbe, the Weser, and the Rhine. The Danube flows through the very centres of Wurtemberg, Bavaria, Austria, and Hungary. The last-named polyglot country owes its national unity mainly to the encircling wall of the Carpathians; all its rivers flow towards or through its central bottom lands, and thus keep up a union even of the most heterogeneous elements. Bohemia is a mountain quadrilateral. The mountain and river systems of the rest of Europe con- firm the rule, with hardly a single exception. Neither do those of America invalidate it. That the Father of Rivers is a mighty bond of union instead of a barrier of separation, is acknowledged on all hands. The same is the case with the Missouri. A glance at the map will show that the St. Lawrence is only a figurative boundary line between the United States and the British Provinces, and that it flows through the latter. The Rio Grande is a frontier line dictated by recent conquest, and Indian tribes continue to roam on both its banks. Rivers selected as State lines are too feeble even as barriers between communities. The lower western bank of the Hudson is lined with suburbs of New York City. Camden is a suburb of Phila- delphia; Covington, of Cincinnati. In South America, the Amazon and the Orinoco offer parallel instances to the Missis- sippi and the St. Lawrence. Some branches of the La Plata alone can be said to form exceptions, but recent events indicate that even these are not to last. To return to the natural boundary between France and Ger- NATURAL BOUNDARIES 69 many. It is clear that the Rhine is far from forming it, either geographically or historically. The natural geographical boun- dary line, irrespective of the now existing nationalities is the watershed between the Meuse and the Aisne and Marne, and its easterly continuation between the head-waters of the Saone and Doubs, on one side, and those of the Moselle and 111, on the other. All of France that lies east and north-east of this watershed the main parts of Lorraine and the whole of Alsace belongs to the water system of the Rhine, a river both banks of which, from its source to its mouth, are inhabited exclusively by Teutonic people Swiss, Germans proper, and Dutch. Historically, the lands watered by those western afflu- ents of the Rhine formed, after the downfall of the Roman rule in Gaul, parts of the FrankisK realm of Clovis, and subse- quently of its eastern and purely German division, Austrasia, while the valleys of the Seine and of its numerous affluents formed the much more Gallic western division, Neustria. The Carlo vingian Empire embraced both divisions, but after its final disruption during the period of partitions inaugurated by the Treaty of Verdun, Austrasia was merged in Germany, while out of Neustria gradually grew up the modern Kingdom of France. And both Alsace and Lorraine the latter in its main parts continued to belong to Germany down to the time when French centralization, developed by Louis XI. and per- fected by Richelieu, proved itself decidedly superior to the more and more loosening machinery of the Empire the final an- nexation of the two provinces to France taking place under Louis XIV. and Louis XV. respectively. The inner territories of Lorraine have since become almost entirely Gallicized; Alsace is French in sentiment, though not in language, and the section of the Rhine which bounds it on the east has assumed the semblance of a natural boundary, but the semblance only. The possession of the western bank of this river section has stimu- lated the desire of making the Rhine the eastern boundary of France. The constant threatening to achieve this conquest as an act based on a natural postulate has awakened, even in the more moderate portions of the German people, the thought of re-establishing, on an opportune occasion, the natural boun- daries between Germany and France as they were before the 70 MICHAEL HEILPRIN Peace of Westphalia. It is beyond the sphere of this article to discuss the questions whether the present is the opportune moment to do it, and whether it would at any time be just or expedient to do it against the will of the populations concerned. One of the most notable of Mr. Heilprin's editorials on the war was the following : WILL " THE MIEACLE OF 1792 " REPEAT ITSELF ? In the summer of 1792, France was partly invaded and partly threatened by armies of an extensive coalition. Prussia and Austria were marching against her; the Empire and the King of Sardinia were ready to join them ; Spain, Rome, and Xaples were expected to follow suit; Russia promised aid to the in- vaders; the English Parliament rang with thundering appeals against the invaded. In one word, the whole of Europe seemed to enter upon a crusade against an isolated state, and that a state convulsed and shaken to its very foundations by an unparalleled revolution, a state whose ruler was a captive in his own blood- deluged capital, whose army was demoralized and half-dis- banded, and whose legislature was dictated to by frenzied mobs. Revolutionary Erance seemed to be lost, her leaders doomed to terrible vengeance. But revolutionary Erance, instead of sink- ing upon her knees before Europe in arms, only redoubled the inner fury which seemed to consume her, and by dint of that fury drove the foe beyond the frontier, and carried war, con- vulsion, and freedom into the lands of the invaders. The world was astounded by this extraordinary phenomenon, and even pos- terity calls it still " the miracle of 1792." And at the time of our writing, seeing France again invaded, convulsed, and men- aced in her integrity and with but slight chances of an ordinary escape from the terrible consequences of folly and disaster, the observer, led by a more or less sympathetic curiosity, anxiously asks himself and history, Is there much probability of the miracle of 1792 repeating itself? Can France, the ensnared giant, once more arise like a Samson, and by one grand exertion shake off the foes ? The answer of history, if studied with candor in connection with the present, is we must state it sadly dis- couraging to the friend of France, and that on various grounds. THE "MIKACLE OF 1792" 71 First, the invasion of 1792, compared with the one which last month laid low the armies of Napoleon III., was far from being in any degree powerful, in spite of the vast dimensions it ap- parently assumed. The armies sent against France were neither numerous nor brought up in the school of victory; their move- ments were slow and vacillating ; their commanders pedantic or imbecile followers of an old traditional strategy, which became entirely worthless when the genius of revolution created its own in the French camps ; the monarchies which sent them were as hostile to each other as they were to the common enemy. The stupid intermeddling of the French refugees, who were so in- fluential in bringing about the coalition, the intrigues of the wretched statesmen Thugut, Haugwitz, Lucchesini, and others who at that time managed affairs at the courts of Vienna and Berlin, the secret plottings of the allies against each other, and the rivalries of the respective commanders, made all harmonious action by the Prussian and Austrian armies im- possible. The mere resistance of Kellerman to the cannonade at Valmy sufficed to cause the retreat of the Prussians under the Duke of Brunswick; and Dumouriez's indecisive fight at Je- mappes, to throw the Austrians, under Clairfait, upon the de- fensive. The first endangered minor members of the Empire the clerical electors of Mentz and Treves, and the Palatine afraid of their own plundered and outraged subjects no less than of the French republicans, abandoned their territories without daring to strike a blow. The troops of the Sardinian despot were driven from Savoy by his own revolted subjects. Spain en- gaged in the war only when victory had declared in favor of the Republic, and then under the auspices of Godoy, a queen's fa- vorite, of whom it was believed Lord Holland relates it that, as Minister of Foreign Affairs, he did not know the differ- ence between Russia and Prussia. Rome and Naples hesitated, as became their impotence, and, when Spain was beaten, wisely preferred to do nothing. Catharine was too much engaged in fighting and dismembering Poland to keep her promise on West- ern battle-fields ; and England, when she resolved on war, could do little more than waste her treasures on worthless allies, who finally betrayed and deserted each other. And is it necessary, in order to show the vast difference between the invasion of 1792 I 72 MICHAEL HEILPRIN and that of 1870, to draw parallels between that tool of char- latans and mistresses, Frederic William II., and William I.; between the Prince of Coburg and Moltke ; between Lucchesini and Bismarck ; or between Valmy and Jemappes and Gravelotte and Sedan? And then, in fighting the ill-commanded, scattered, and dis- united forces of the then degenerate, womanish, and generally priest-ridden courts of Vienna, Berlin, Turin, and Madrid, rev- olutionary France drew her courage, inspiration, and boldness not only from her first, almost unexpected military successes, but from deeper and mightier sources. These were the neces- sity of conquering or perishing, of destroying or being destroyed ; the fanaticism of new ideas, more powerful than any that had ever agitated Europe, ideas which acted with the magic of a world-regenerating revelation; the intoxication with which the recent victories, in the name of equality and fraternity, over caste, the throne, and the altar had filled the masses of the self- disfranchised people ; the concentrated power of volcanic forces which an all-crushing terrorism knew how to elicit from the scattered members of a nation suddenly aroused to terrible self- consciousness ; and, finally, the certainty of meeting with allies burning with equal passions wherever a breach could be made in the ramparts of effete tyranny. At the moment when Ferdi- nand of Brunswick began his retreat, retiring like a lamb after having roared like a lion, the Convention met, and decreed a new era for France and the world. France believed in it, and her hosts carried their faith triumphantly far beyond her bor- ders, as the followers of Islam had carried theirs from Mecca to the Pyrenees. Now, all these sources of inspiration and success are wanting to the menaced France of to-day. She has not only to fight well- organized and well-led armies, flushed with patriotic enthusi- asm and the pride of wonted victory ; she has not only met with crushing and humbling reverses at the very opening of the con- test ; but, what is worse, she is devoid of even a spark of that fanaticism which saved her in 1792, and made Paris a world- shaking volcano in the following years. She entered the lists with a bad conscience, and debauched and enervated by twenty years of the most degrading of tyrannies, and that a tyranny THE "MIKACLE OF 1792" 73 based on mere materialism, and accepted from political apathy and cynical unbelief in ideas ; and she has now, in this supreme crisis, no other moral resource to fall back upon but ordinary patriotism, a sentiment capable of great sacrifices, but not of miracles. The grand ideas which by turns inspired or agitated France after 1789 have all sadly spent their force. The repub- lic, instead of founding fraternity and freedom, led, in the first instance, through the massacres of Paris, the noyades of Nantes, the mitraillades of Lyons, and the like, to the 18th Brumaire; in the second, through the 10th of December, 1848, and the 2d of December, 1851, to the ignominious self-abdication of the sovereign people in 1852. Bonapartism that is, " la Gloire " ended, in the first instance, after the sacrifice by France of millions of her sons to that idol, with the surrender of Paris and the captivity at St. Helena; and, in the second, with the more humiliating surrender at Sedan and the farcical captivity at Wilhelmshohe. Revived Bourbon legitimism killed itself, in July, 1830, by its own stupidity. Orleanism, which replaced it, showed its inherent want of vitality by being swept away by a slight revolutionary blast, in February, 1848. Socialism made itself hateful by leading to the carnage of June, 1848, in which it was stifled ; and universal suffrage lost all its sanctity by sanctioning every act and demand of triumphant usurpation. And, to make the case worse, while France is without faith and without enthusiasm, the enthusiasm of her foes, the Germans, and their proud belief in their own intellectual and military superiority, have risen to a pitch never before reached, and are productive of astounding displays of energy. At the moment, too, when France has to make her supreme effort, her organism, as of late constituted, finds itself almost fatally deranged, not to say destroyed. Paris, which has become both her head and heart, is, so to say, severed from the trunk of the country, and its other disjointed members, from which the effort is expected, are left palpitating, but without sufficient life of their own. This condition is owing to the stupendous centralization which the Eevolution created, the First Empire developed, and all subsequent reigns strengthened, and which, radically transforming the organism of the nation, has finally almost entirely drained the provinces of brains, impulse, and 74 MICHAEL HEILPRIN self-directing power. All authority military, judicial, or ad- ministrative all political or intellectual leadership all higher talent, in whatever branch of mental activity has been turned into that one grand reservoir, Paris. All French men of eminence in the ruling spheres of national life are Parisians by education or in consequence of their public career. The country is accustomed to receive from that all-directing centre its administration, its guidance, its convictions, its intelligence, its impulses, its very life-blood. All this, again, was vastly dif- ferent at the time when revolutionary France was invaded and menaced. There was life, independent vitality, and animation in all her limbs, and the common focus, Paris, served to unite and regulate the national forces without anywhere exhausting them. Nay, Paris at that time received its inspiration, its greatest intelligence, its violent impulses, in main part, from the country, which teemed with talent and passion. The first armed resistance to the absolutism of Louis XVI. came from Dauphine and Bretagne. Provence sent to Paris the most powerful orator of the time, Mirabeau, and the almost equally eloquent Girondists, ' Isnard and Barbaroux. Vergniaud, Guadet, and Gensonne, the foremost leaders of the Girondist party, came from the department from which it derived its name ; their able and noble-hearted associate, Lanjuinais, from Rennes; Buzot, from Evreux; Petion, from Chartres; Ro- land, from Lyons. Bretons formed the club out of which that of the Jacobins was developed, and the most terrible of terror- ists, Barere, Merlin de Thionville, Billaud-Varennes, Fabre d'Eglantine, and Robespierre himself, with his two nearest asso- ciates, St. Just and Couthon, were provincials, as were also the most conspicuous clerical revolutionists men widely different in character the Abbe Gregoire, Bishop Talleyrand, and the capuchin Chabot. Mme. Roland and Charlotte Corday came from the provinces, and so also " the organizer of victory," Car- not, and its great promoter, the Marseillaise. For such abilities and passions it is vain to look to the country districts of the France of to-day, while Paris is isolated, paralyzed, and per- haps on the eve of a surrender. Patriotic endurance, blunders on the part of Prussia, and the intervention of disease or of foreign powers, may still restore France in her integrity; but AETICLES ON MILITAKY AFFAIRS 75 salvation through a repetition of " the miracle of 1792 " seems to us as little possible as salvation through the appearance of another Joan d'Arc. ARTICLES ON MILITARY AFFAIRS In addition to his leading articles during the war and many book reviews, Mr. Heilprin contributed to the Nation every week editorial notes which, closely following the military move- ments of the great armies, formed unquestionably the most ac- curate comment on them which appeared in any American paper. His extraordinary geographical knowledge and a predi- lection for strategic studies previously acquired stamped these contributions as altogether unique, and they were widely noticed. I remember that a prominent West Point official, who himself during that time contributed a series of valuable " Notes on the War " to the Nation, over the signature of " D. H. M.," while in the office of that journal one day, asked Mr. Garrison who the strategist was that wrote those remarkable military comments on the progress of hostilities. Mr. Garrison pointed to Mr. Heilprin, who stood next to him, and introduced the two writers to each other. I quote at random a few of these edi- torial notes, from the issue of September 22, 1870 : " The war is vigorously carried on by the Prussians, but merely by marches, investments, and sieges ; for no battles take place, the French forces in the field, wherever and whatever they may be, being still paralyzed by the stunning effects of the dis- asters which terminated the Empire. No Army of the Loire, no Army of Lyons, has as yet made its appearance in the neigh- borhood of the Prussian camps. No flying detachments, no partisan bodies, have anywhere attempted to pierce the enemy's extended lines of communication, or even to harass his flanks. Even the isolated German army corps which carries on the siege of Strasbourg is left entirely unmolested by any attempt at a rescue or a diversion, which the gallant defenders of that for- tress would so well deserve; and the most important cities of the Upper Ehine, Colmar, Mulhouse, and Belfort, have been abandoned without a blow to an insignificant force of Baden 76 MICHAEL HEILPKItf troops. Thus almost the whole of Alsace is now in the hands of the Germans. Of the towns mentioned, Belfort is the most strategically important, forming, as it does, a kind of gate to the province, from the side of Besangon and Vesoul. The reports about Schletstadt are conflicting. The siege of Strasbourg seems to be pushed forward with the utmost vigor, which renders its obstinate defence the more worthy of praise. Metz, too, withstands with gallant firmness, though the hostile circle around it is tightening from day to day, and gradual exhaustion within must be getting no less alarming. Sickness thins the ranks of both besieged and be- siegers. The Prussian grip appears to be the strongest on the south-west and south, on both sides of the Moselle, from Grave- lotte, by Ars, to Courcelles ; which is quite natural, as a break- ing through of French forces on the north could only lead to their surrender on this side or the other of the Belgian fron- tier, while an escape south, were it possible, might prove both ultimately successful and destructive to the Prussian position between Toul and Strasbourg. "No attempt of this kind, how- ever, has been made by Bazaine since his repulse at the close of last month, and the reported escape of Canrobert, with six thou- sand men, marching straight on Paris, was but a foolish piece of fiction. A small balloon with soldiers' letters from Metz is announced in Paris to have been caught near Neufchatel (sic, probably for Neuf chateau, in the Department of Vosges), con- veying among encouraging expressions the surest evidence of the complete investment of that fortress. The Prussians are also making great efforts to reduce Toul, in spite of which this little stronghold continues its brave resistance. Its example is imi- tated by Soissons, which the Prussians seem to have completely invested. Against Verdun no new attempt has been made. Were there any active French forces left in the field, the position of the invading armies would be greatly endangered by the garri- sons in their flank and rear. But the only considerable force of combatants besides Ba- zaine's, in Metz, which is still to be encountered in the northern ARTICLES ON MILITARY AFFAIRS 77 half of France the southern is now a kind of terra incognita, much fabled about is now enclosed within the fortifications of the capital, and almost entirely surrounded by the main forces of the invasion ; for the Associated Press telegram from Paris, of the 16th, according to which ' all the regular troops, as well as the Francs-Tireurs, have left ' the city, to fight in the field, seems as little deserving of credit as the statements accompany- ing it that ' all non-combatants ' have been ordered to leave ; that ' the forests around the city have been entirely consumed ' ; that a number of vagrants, lately expelled, ' endeavored forcibly to re-enter Paris, but were driven away by the troops ' ; and that Trochu received ' the advance-guard of a corps of 10,000 Ameri- can volunteers.' And the coil of the Prussian armies which is to encircle those fortifications of course, not without consider- able gaps, which might prove fatal to the enterprise were Tro- chu's troops of the right mettle and to menace their weak sides, is hourly drawing closer and closer. Fighting on a small scale, it is true is already going on in the very suburbs of the city, to which nearly all approaches by rail have been cut by the enemy, the bridges around being blown up by the French themselves. Cannonading and skirmishing have taken place around Villeneuve, Ablon, Athis-Mons, and Juvisy, on both sides of the Seine, the Prussians evidently endeavoring to occupy the hills south of Paris, on which batteries can be planted against the forts of Bicetre, Ivry, and Charenton. They have also ap- peared in force at Creteil, near the Marne, about three miles to the south-east from the last-named fort, while the fort of Vin- cennes, to the north-east of Charenton, is reported blown up as untenable. The gap thus created between the forts on the south- east and the forts on the east Rosny, Romainville, and Noisy Trochu seems to intend to defend by the strongest portion of his army, while other portions will have to be detached to the opposite side, where the fortifications between Forts Issy and Mt. Valerien have, from the beginning, been defective. Nor can the woods of Clamart and Meudon, adjoining Forts Issy and Vanves, which heavy rains prevented from being burned, defi- nitively be abandoned, for they would offer a shelter to the enemy, whose advance-guard has already appeared in that vicin- ity, as well as at Versailles and various adjoining places. The 78 MICHAEL HEILPRItf northern line of fortifications is regarded as the safest. Trochu, in public, speaks with confidence of his ability to hold Paris, and his hands are strengthened by the orderly, tranquil behavior of the inhabitants, though there are indications of a Eed Republi- can undercurrent of sentiment, which threatens fatal conse- quences. Red Republicanism is said to be rampant at Lyons in defiance of the new Government." I can only allude to other weighty political articles written by Mr. Heilprin during that time, such as those on "How the Great Change Affects the Nations," " Alsace and Lorraine," " Trochu on the French Army," " The New German Empire," and " Dynastic Fusion in France." Among his notable book re- views were those of Washburn's " Paraguay," Laveleye's " Prus- sia and Austria," and Patterson's " Magyars." Ill THE HISTOKICAL POETRY OF THE ANCIENT HEBREWS Eor a number of years following the war Mr. Heilprin found little time for contributions to the Nation. He was engaged in his arduous labor of revising Appleton's Cyclopaedia, and after the completion of that task he at last found it possible to carry out a plan that had long occupied his thought. The Historical Poetry of the Ancient Hebrews, embodying his life-long studies in Biblical literature, was the fruit of the comparative leisure of the next years. It is not my purpose to speak at length of a work which has made a name for itself, but it will not be inap- propriate to reprint from the columns of the Nation the two critical notices, from a competent hand, of Mr. Heilprin's volumes. They appeared in the issues of July 24, 1879, and July 22, 1880. HEILPRIN'S HEBREW POETRY Those who are best able to judge of Mr. Heilprin's scholar- ship and general force of mind will not go far in these pages without being convinced that he is completely at home in this department of research. Everywhere there is unmistakable evidence that he is speaking out of the fulness of his knowl- edge. His name has not, we believe, appeared upon the title- page of any book before, though he has already reached " the arm-chair period of life." So much the better; we have here the ripe result of a whole lifetime's careful and enthusiastic study and investigation. But Mr. Heilprin has long been known among our metropolitan scholars as one of the most learned of their company; a man whose encyclopaedic knowl- edge, especially in the field of history, has amply provided him with that historical sense without which studies like the present are apt to be almost entirely vain. 80 MICHAEL HEILPRItf Any one at all well informed in Biblical studies is not de- ceived as to the tendency of modern Jewish scholarship, but to many others it will be a surprise to find a " Hebrew of the He- brews " maintaining the most radical convictions concerning the Old Testament writings. They have probably imagined that such convictions were the special property of Protestant Christians or ex-Christians. But no, " The current sweeps the Old World, The current sweeps the New." Be it a good or evil sign, modern Judaism, equally with mod- ern Christianity, is affected by the scientific tendency, and ap- plies the scientific method to the Old Testament writings with equal if not greater boldness. Mr. Heilprin has the advantage, which many scholars have not, of being equally at home in Jewish and in Christian studies of the Old Testament litera- ture. He is entirely catholic. The Jewish critics, Graetz and Zunz, are no more authoritative with him than the Protestant Christians Oort and Kuenen. In Protestant circles the latter are commonly esteemed, so far as known, as our least conserva- tive critics; but they are somewhat more conservative than the former. Judaism has never had the same logical necessity for an infallible scripture with Christian Protestantism, and so it has been easier for Jewish scholars to apply a scientific method to their sacred books. It has been lately urged against certain attempts to subject the Bible to a scientific method of investigation, that without an exact knowledge of the Hebrew tongue no one is competent to sit in judgment on these things. An exact knowledge of Hebrew has been proclaimed to be an effectual antidote to the Dutch schcol of critics, albeit the members of that school are perhaps quite as well up in their Hebrew as their conservative critics. But in Mr. Heilprin we have a scholar whose study of Hebrew began in his infancy and has continued ever since; who has the Hebrew Bible at his finger ends ; who nevertheless has not been preserved in this way from conclusions very much at variance with the popular conception of the Old Testament writings. In one other particular, too, Mr. Heilprin's book is exceedingly instructive. The notion has somehow got abroad HISTOEICAL POETKY OF ANCIENT HEBREWS 81 that the scientific study of the Bible is inconsistent with the most tender reverence for its contents or with their persistent fascination. But the reverence of Mr. Heilprin for the subject- matter of his criticism could hardly be surpassed, and that it has not lost its power to interest and charm, his book itself is ample evidence, which will be reinforced by the experience of every intelligent reader of its too brief contents. The present volume is only the first of a series which must inevitably contain two or three more to bring it to a natural completion. The poetry of the prophets, as yet untouched, is almost exclusively historical, and, treated with as much ampli- tude as the fragments to which the present volume is devoted, will demand no inconsiderable amount of space. Mr. Heilprin plunges immediately into his subject without any preface or introduction, and leaves the reader to discover his method from his book. The first section is, therefore, somewhat misleading. It treats of the address of Lamech to his two wives, Adah and Zillah. The passage containing this address being the first poetical passage in the Bible, the reader is led to expect that the poetical passages are to be taken up in the order of their occur- rence. But Mr. Heilprin's method proves to be quite different. He takes the accepted order of Hebrew history and brings to its illustration the poetical passages that are concerned with it wherever they occur. Thus it happens that his second section deals with Psalm cv. : " It is, if not surprising, worthy of no- tice," Mr. Heilprin remarks, " that not a single piece of Hebrew poetry has been preserved in the Scriptures of which the sub- ject is either Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, or Joseph, all of whom are heroes of extensive prose narratives, and all of whom were re- vered by the Hebrews as national patriarchs." The author of Psalm cv., however, does late and scanty justice to these heroes by introducing them into a poetical summary of the history of Israel from the earliest times down to those subsequent to the captivity in Babylon. This summary includes the two follow- ing psalms. The three, argues Mr. Heilprin, belong to the same period. Mr. Heilprin's translation of the first is full of force and beauty, and is a new evidence for the necessity of a revised translation of the Bible, if we really care to know the thoughts expressed in the original. It has been acutely argued 82 MICHAEL HEILPRItf that the religion of modern Protestantism has been founded upon the King James translation, not on the original, and that to change the translation is to change the religion of the English- Protestant world. It may be so, but the argument comes with an ill grace from those who accept the original Hebrew as peculiarly the word of God. By way of introduction to the so-called " Blessing of Jacob," Mr. Heilprin discusses at some length the patriarchal legends, quoting with undisguised approval the monograph of A. Bern- stein, the central idea of which is that there were originally three centres of patriarchal legend, and that the ultimate shape which the different legends assumed resulted from the clumsy harmonizing of much that was antagonistic and incongruous. The different centres corresponded to the tribes Judah, Simeon, and Ephraim, and were deeply colored by their rivalries and hostilities. We cannot follow out this scheme into its details, but many of them are exceedingly interesting. Abraham was the favorite patriarch of Judah, Isaac of Simeon, and Jacob of Ephraim. The story of Judah and Tamar, according to Bernstein, was originally a lampoon on David and his house. The marriage of Judah with a Canaanitess corresponds to David's with the Hittitess, Uriah's wife. There are other points of correspondence. David's line is made to originate in the dis- graceful connection of Judah with Tamar. But such was the naivete of the harmonists that this lampoon was ultimately in- cluded in the Davidic legend as if it were the simple truth, " The Blessing of Jacob," to which we are introduced by this discussion, is regarded by Mr. Heilprin, who in this instance also has the acute criticism of Bernstein to support him, as an Ephraimic retrospect of a time subsequent to the disruption of the kingdom. To this disruption is referred the famous text, " Until Shiloh come," commonly spoken of as a Messianic prophecy. Mr. Heilprin translates " Until he [Judah, the tribe] come to Shiloh and there is a gathering of tribes around him." This, of course, makes it a prophecy post eventum. Mr. Heilprin's translation of Miriam's Red Sea song is full of spirit. He is disposed to consider it of later origin than the corresponding narrative, finding allusions in it to the temple. But some of its verses have " the ring of great antiquity." The HISTOEICAL POETEY OF ANCIENT HEBREWS 83 story of Balak and Balaam given in the Book of Numbers has long been one of the most fascinating for the critics, conserva- tive and radical alike. It is as fascinating for Mr. Heilprin as for any of his predecessors. The episode of the ass and the angel he considers an interpolation of a later writer. The Ba- laam of this story is a noble figure ; but the Hebrews had an- other Balaam in their legends who was very different a vul- gar soothsayer. Which of these legends is the older it is diffi- cult to determine. The latter has the advantage of being em- bedded in a dry historical narrative. Mr. Heilprin apparently sympathizes with the almost startling suggestion of Seinecke that the Macedonian power was already in the ascendant when the concluding lines of this superb fragment of Scripture were composed. " The Blessing of Moses " (Deut. xxxiii.) is carefully com- pared with " The Blessing of Jacob." It breathes a much more amicable and gentle spirit, and belongs to a later period, when the animosities of Judah and Israel were somewhat softened. The omission of Simeon from this blessing is a notable fact, on which the commentators have spent, not to say wasted, an immense amount of ingenuity. Mr. Heilprin, following Graetz, who in his turn follows the Talmudist Rabbi Eliezer, argues that we should read, " Hear, O Jehovah, Simeon's voice," and not " Judah's," and gives plausible reasons for such a change. " The Song of Deborah," Kuenen's readers will remember, is regarded by him as a document more nearly contemporary with the event recorded than almost any other in the early Hebrew history. But Mr. Heilprin, while admiring this splendid frag- ment as heartily as possible, is inclined to assign it to a much later period than that of the Judges, and to be exceedingly doubtful of its historic value. He discovers Aramaisms in it which point to the Babylonian period of Hebrew literature. Instead of a spontaneous outburst, we have here a finished work of art. The victory of Thothmes III. on the battle-field of Megiddo is perhaps the most considerable element of fact in this fascinating mixture of Israelitish and Egyptian war reminiscences. In treating the legend of Samson Mr. Heilprin does not 84 MICHAEL HEILPRIST depart widely from the interpretations of Goldziher and Oort and Steinthal, all of whom, with many others, regard the story as a solar myth, and Samson as a sort of Hebrew Hercules. Whether there was, as Oort supposes, some Danite hero of her- culean strength and prowess who furnished a point of attach- ment for the solar myth, is not easily determined. There can be little doubt, however, without going the length of Goldziher, that personal and solar myths had strong attractions for each other; that the attributes of solar heroes were often borrowed from the fame of actual persons of great popular renown, and that the converse of this process was equally natural. David's lament for Jonathan opens up to Mr. Heilprin the whole question of David's character, and his relation to the ex- tensive literature in the Old Testament which has always been associated with his name. The conclusions at which he arrives are decidedly adverse to David's literary claims. Of the sev- enty-three psalms ascribed to David in the Old Testament Ewald admitted the genuineness of fifteen only. Professor Robertson Smith, in the " Encyclopaedia Britannica," contends for the un- doubted genuineness of two. Mr. Heilprin prefers to either of these judgments that of Kuenen and Oort, to the effect that no- where in the Psalms have we the workmanship of David, and that the lament for Jonathan must go the way of all the rest that is ascribed to him. The grounds on which he bases this conclusion will not of course be generally satisfactory, but they are not trivial and deserve careful consideration. It is to be hoped that this volume will meet with such a reception as will encourage Mr. Heilprin to publish the comple- mentary volumes at an early day. When the whole is com- pleted there should be an index, the lack of which in the pres- ent volume is a matter of regret, especially as there is not even a table of contents. II The general characteristics of Mr. Heilprin's second volume of translations and critical notices of Old Testament poetry are the same as those of his first volume, which appeared about a year ago, and which was noticed by us at the time of its ap- HISTORICAL POETEY OF ANCIENT HEBREWS 85 pearance with considerable fulness. The favorable opinion which we then expressed of the merits of Mr. Heilprin's work has since been supported by the opinion of many competent critics. Especially noteworthy is the welcome accorded to the book by Dr. Abram Kuenen, the acknowledged head of the Dutch school of Biblical criticism, whose " Religion of Israel " and " Prophets and Prophecy in Israel " are the most important Biblical studies that have appeared since Strauss's " Leben Jesu," and the most worthy of that so lightly-used designation, " epoch-making books." Mr. Heilprin's desire to advance cer- tain critical ideas rather than his own reputation for novelty or originality, led him in his former volume to fall back in many in- stances on the expressions of other scholars even when his own enquiries had anticipated their results ; and this modesty on his part argued to some of his more careless readers that his book was largely a compilation of the results of other critics. The more careful could not have been so mistaken. At every turn there was for such the evidence of a mind as easily at home in Old Testament studies, their broader aspects and their nicest verbal intricacies, as any of the most famous critics of our time. Dr. Kuenen has amply recognized this fact in his review of Mr. Heilprin's first volume. Mr. Heilprin is, in fact, so little servile, so freely speculative, so daringly original, that not the least of his merits is his ability to refrain from the sug- gestion of theories which have not yet arrived at definite scien- tific confirmation. In the second volume we have the same unconventional treatment of the general subject as in the first, the same willingness to subject the most cherished theories to the tests of scientific study, and, consequently, the same wide departure from those opinions of the Old Testament literature which are commonly held among us. Even the translations sound the knell of many a fond illusion, resolving words that have long been used as theological weapons into the nothingness of total misinterpretation ; and this, too, without the appearance anywhere of any dogmatic impulse whatsoever. Intent only on a correct translation of the ancient Hebrew, Mr. Heilprin never shows the least desire to rob a theologian of some cherished text The translations in this volume engross much more space and 86 MICHAEL HEILPKItf deal with texts of much greater interest than in the former. The gain in intelligibility over our common version is no greater than the well-instructed would anticipate, but to the unin- structed it must seem immense, and we can imagine the mingled feelings of distress and pleasure with which the average Bible- reader would find the cabalistic phrases which he has read so often without attaching to them any definite meaning suddenly becoming apprehensible to his understanding. But with all this there is not much if any loss of poetic charm. This is the more remarkable to an English reader, because Mr. Heilprin was not to the manner born of our common version, and apparently he has made no attempt, as many of our translators very properly do, to conform to this as nearly as possible. His success is simply that of a man who has a nice feeling for words, who likes them homely and strong, and knows that only such are a fit vehicle for the transmission of the ideas and sentiments of ancient Hebrew poetry. The present volume begins with David, and, like the former, follows the chronological order of events and not that of the literary matter. Having shown already how little reason there is to suspect David of literary authorship, it is now shown that he is only incidentally the subject of his nation's poetry. The most considerable mention of him is in Psalms Ixxxix. and cxxxii., and here it is the late echo of popular traditions already formed, and is entirely at variance with the comparatively trust- worthy accounts of the historic books. Solomon, who figures so magnificently in the prose histories, " besides figuring as an author in spurious superscriptions," is not honored by either prophet or psalmist with so much as the briefest mention. To the " Song of Songs " Mr. Heilprin accords no historical relation to Solomon, either subjective or objective; hence it does not here fall within the scope of his criticism. Yet in one of his longer notes he is led to declare with emphasis in favor of the theory, defended by Graetz, which considers the " Song " a product of the age of the Ptolemies. The twenty-third section of Mr. Heilprin's studies is one of the most interesting in his series, and reveals as well as any the acuteness of his critical perceptions. It deals with the successors of Zimri, Omri, and Ahab, the objects of the prophet HISTOKICAL POETKY OF ANCIENT HEBREWS 87 Micah's severest animadversion in the book of prophecy ascribed to him. In the Book of Kings elaborate mention is made of Ahab; and a prophet Micaiah, the son of Imlah, figures conspicuously. The narrative has many points of con- tact with the prophecies of Micah of Moresheth. These are variously explained. Mr. Heilprin, accepting as the most plausible hypothesis that Micah introduced into his book frag- ments of the older prophet, applying them to the events of his own time, rescues a number of passages which he conceives to be of the more ancient date, and assigns to them a definite historical importance. Hardly less interesting here than the critical result is the side-light which it throws upon the literary methods of the prophetic period. Evidently the right of prop- erty in ideas was then but little understood, and there were no conceptions corresponding to the words plagiarism and forgery. The next following section introduces us to the famous Moa- bite stone discovered at Diban in 1868. Mr. Heilprin gives a translation of so much of the decipherment as the ablest ex- pounders Schlottmann, Noldeke, Kaempf, and M. A. Levy are fully agreed upon, following it with an account from Kings of the subsequent course of events. The poetic frag- ment corresponding to this is found in Isaiah xv. and xvi., which have been fully established to be not Isaiah's, abounding as they do in peculiar and archaic forms of expression. Nothing else in the Old Testament, says Knobel, can be the production of the same author. The next five sections of Mr. Heilprin's book, from the twenty-fifth to the thirtieth, deal exclusively with the prophecies of Amos of Tekoa, who, about 800 B. c., came from Judah to preach righteousness in Israel. "We can almost image to ourselves," he says, "the plain, poor man from Tekoa for he was one of the shepherds of that little town who tended their flocks on the borders of the wilderness of Judah standing before a concourse of people at the public place of Beth-El or Samaria, reading from a scroll brought with him the last of a string of direful prophetic utterances, and suddenly breaking off at the fresh remembrance of shocking experiences, and wildly pouring forth against his hearers accusations, reproaches, and im- precations. It was heartless oppression of the poor by the rich and 88 MICHAEL the guardians of justice, and shameless licentiousness fed by extor- tion, which wrung from him this outburst of wrath." The translation which is thus introduced is full of energy. The translator has put his heart into it as well as his head, and the sentences clash and ring in primitive Oriental fashion. Following up this translation with others bearing on the his- torical events of Amos's time, he comes in the twenty-seventh section to the passage on Assyria, the nation in which Amos saw the future chastiser of Israel. The black obelisk inscrip- tion discovered by Layard at Kimrud is parallel with Amos to some extent, and so, too, is the monolith inscription found at Kurkh, and Shalmaneser's "bull inscription"; or, rather, these various inscriptions indicate the state of things which was imminent in the time of Amos, and which he might well an- ticipate with terror. The last three chapters of Amos have a visionary character which distinguishes them sharply from the chapters that precede them. These chapters Mr. Heilprin as- signs to a period some years later than the preceding. The concluding verses of Amos, which are of a much more optimistic and consolatory character than the body of the work, bear a strong resemblance to the concluding passages of Joel and Zephaniah. They were probably added, Mr. Heilprin thinks, by some one of the redactors of the minor prophets in order to wind up the book with predictions of lasting prosperity and peace. A chapter on the general characteristics of Amos and of the prophetic office is appended to the translations and criticisms of the prophet's book. It is introduced by an exposition of the passage in 1 Kings xii. 32-xiii. 6, in which the actual Amos is made over into a mythical person as different from him as the prophets of the historical books generally are different from the prophets whose writings have been preserved for our instruction. In the histories, miracle-working and miraculously precise reve- lations of the future form the staple of the narrative. In the writings of the prophets, the conspicuous thing is moral ex- hortation, based upon the natural relationships of cause and effect. To some it will no doubt appear that the prophets of the histories are much more exalted personages than those of the HISTOKICAL POETRY OF ANCIENT HEBREWS 89 canonical prophetic books. To Mr. Heilprin it does not so appear. What impresses him in Amos and the rest of his great company is a certain moral grandeur. This he fully recognizes and to this he pays due reverence, and the concluding passages of his treatment of Amos rise with his honest enthusiasm to a height of eloquent expression which, if not anticipated in a dis- cussion naturally somewhat dry and bare, is none the less wel- come, certain as we are of its unqualified sincerity. The thirtieth and concluding section of the present volume deals exclusively with the book of the prophet Hosea. An in- teresting problem meets us at the very threshold of this book in the astonishing parabolic utterances with which it begins. That these utterances are parabolic has strangely enough been doubted by a critic so reasonable in his conclusions generally as Dean Stanley. To suppose them narrations of literal fact is to credit Hosea with carrying symbolic action to a disgusting extent. The conclusion of Mr. Heilprin, who is by no means solitary here, that these utterances are purely parabolical, is a conclusion as much more pleasing as it is more rational than the other. The differences between Amos and Hosea are clearly indicated. In the latter with an equal earnestness there is an added strain of tenderness. The translations from Hosea are copious; the critical remarks are few and still sufficient. The translations are very spirited, and make many dark sayings of our common version clear as day. Some fifty pages of critical and explanatory notes at the end of the book appeal to those who are versed in the niceties of scholarship rather than to the general reader, but they will be appreciated by those for whom they are intended. We are obliged to lament, as in the former volume, the absence of any index or table of contents, an absence the more noticeable as in other particulars the book- maker has seconded the author in the most creditable and even luxurious manner. The concluding volume will, no doubt, re- pair this deficiency. Mr. Heilprin's Historical Poetry attracted the attention of the learned, both here and abroad. Professor Kuenen, in speak- ing of the work in the Leyden Theologisch Tijdschrift, hailed the author as an intellectual kinsman (" In Michael Heilprin 90 MICHAEL HEILPRIST mogen wij en geesvterwant begroeten ") ; among other Euro- pean authorities who reviewed the volumes in detail and ap- preciatively were Professor W. Baudissin (Leipzig TUeologische Literaturzeitung) and Dr. E. Nestle (Leipzig Literarisches Centralblatt fur Deutschland'). IV AN ESSAY ON FOREIGN NAMES As a direct result of his editorial revision of the American Cyclopaedia, Mr. Heilprin published in the Nation, October 18 and 25 and November 1, 1877, three articles on the translitera- tion of foreign names, a subject of considerable interest to Eng- lish writers dealing with foreign countries. The value of these articles to the newspaper world in particular was generally recognized, and they have to this day served as a guide to more than one perplexed editor. The essay is reproduced in its entirety. It was foolish on the part of a certain Englishman to ex- press his astonishment at the fluency with which little children speak French in Paris. But it would be unjust to laugh at a foreigner admiring the consummate ease with which boys and girls of ten or twelve years read and write English in London or Boston. He may never have heard of children's spending hundreds, nay thousands, of hours in learning to spell. Persons whose native language, be it Germanic or Slavic, Semitic or Finnic, possesses an orthography based on a* more or less strictly uniform representation by written signs of the sounds produced in speaking, may behold with wonderment how easily native readers of English recognize the changing value or the value- lessness of their w, o, g, or h f in such words as how and hew and who, wrought and taught and draught, brow and brought and borough; how the better-instructed distinguish in reading be- tween the Thames that traverses London and the Thames that flows past New London, and discriminatingly give the syllable Beau the sound of bo in Beauregard, of bu in Beaufort, and of be in Beauchamp; how some do not forget to read " Ciren- 92 MICHAEL HEILPKIN cester " sisester, and " Pontefract " pomfret, and even know how to pronounce the name of Sir Patrick McChombaich de Colquhoun, who lately told us all about Osman Pasha's origin and appearance; and how nimbly, in reproducing sounds on paper, almost all choose, according to the meaning, between you and yew, hew and Hugh, so and sow and sew. And yet, in spite of all the irregularities of English spelling, which are the stumbling-block of the foreign student of the language, and the torment of many an English-speaking learner, Matthew Arnold is probably right when he tells us in his late report as one of her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools, that the British nation will not be induced to take to writing, " Leed uz not into temtaishon." Nor will the American nation very soon either, though a grand innovation of this character might be a worthy object of ambition for a young and progressive republic. Anglo-Saxons on both sides of the Atlantic are gen- erally taught to read and write correctly, though at an enormous sacrifice of time, and they are either satisfied with their early- acquired knowledge, or gradually improve it. With slight ex- ceptions all English words are written and printed in one form by all educated people, and when that form is especially hard to remember, cheap dictionaries, which can everywhere be found, help the doubting writer; the author and journalist often rely upon the tried experience of their compositor and proof-reader. This knowledge, however, and the common aids to it, are with Anglo-Saxons limited to what is generally taught, spoken of, and read, and but a little more. The common stock of the English vocabulary, scientific terms, Biblical names, names con- spicuous in history, geography, and literature, can all be learned in their correct form, if there is no lack of will, opportunity, and time. For rarer foreign names bulky dictionaries of biog- raphy and geography or voluminous cyclopaedias are required, and the incompleteness of all of them, and the inexactness and inconsistency of most of them, are soon discovered. Then, en- tirely new names appear from day to day in the newspapers, and the reader is bewildered by the variety of forms in which they appear, not only in different publications but often in the same. What causes the confusion is plain: one English cor- AST ESSAY ON FOREIGN NAMES 93 respondent adopts the spelling of his German paper or in- formant; another writes the name as he finds it in French; still another tries a transliteration of his own ; and most editors have too little knowledge and time to examine and rectify. Here the barbarism of the English indifference to the value of letters shows itself in its fulness. Eeaders look at the names without pronouncing them, and writers spell at random. Here is an example of present occurrence: All our news- papers report the movements of " Chefket " Pasha. This name once figured in the Bulgarian massacres. It is now connected with the defense of Plevna. It will probably be remembered in history, it matters not how ingloriously. But how have we to pronounce it ? According to Turkish rules ? Why, the Turks use the Arabic alphabet, and not the Roman. Is the ch to be pronounced as in English chaff? Our newspapers, in their war reports, constantly use tch as an equivalent for this sound in Turkish or Russian names, such as Rustchuk, Tultcha, Tcher- kasski, or Gortchakoff. Is the ch the equivalent of our sh, as in the French chef, of a guttural kh as in the German forms Chosrew, Churschid, etc., or of Ic, as in our rendering of classical or Biblical names, such as Chephren, Cheops, Chephirah, or Chemosh? To recapitulate, is the Pasha's name Tchefket, Shefket, Khefket, or Kefket ? There is absolutely nothing in the rules and ways of English journals, British or American, to indicate it. The confusion arises from the indiscriminate use of foreign combinations of letters, though they may be to us indefinite, meaningless, or barbarous, and though plain and distinct English equivalents may be at hand. Of course, journals of the better class would soon adopt some tolerably rational rules for spelling foreign names, if such were observed by authors of travels and history, translators of foreign works, map-makers, and especially by writers for cyclopaedias. But this is far from being generally the case. To give an instance: Suppose a journalist interested in the doings and brewings of that bellicose little state, Servia, looks for precise information in Ranke's history of that country, as republished in English in the Bohn collection. The names of the author and the publisher are certainly both good. He relies on the correctness of the geographical and historical names and terms 94 MICHAEL HEILPRIK contained in the book, and on occasion reproduces them as he finds them, thus: Schabaz (p. 72), tfvornik (74), Kragu/evaz (77), Uschize (89), Nisch (98), Poscfcarevaz (127) all German names of places well known to English gazetteers as Shabatz, Zvornik, Kraguyevatz, Uzhitze, Nish, and Pozharevatz Milosch (163), Scheik (237) ; and he may not recoil from copying Dschemasit and Krdsc/ialies (69), forgetting, as Bonn's translator did, that the dsch of Ranke's original is our short and plain ;*. Or suppose our journalist to be anxious to obtain fresh information about the Caucasus, the easternmost border of the present theatre of war, and to look for it in the article assigned to it in the new " Encyclopaedia Britannica " (vol. v., 1876). He reads of " Dych '." Tau, 16,925 feet high, and asks himself, Is the name of that lofty mountain Dytch, Dysh, or Dykh ? There is no presumption in favor of the common Eng- lish pronunciation as in rich or which, for he finds in the same article " Tc/ierek," " Tchegen," etc., and there is nobody to tell whether the writer copied an English, French, or German traveller. A similar question arises when he reads of the river " Lachwa " ; is it Latch-, Lash-, or Lakh- ? The following w, apparently English, is no evidence in favor of ch, for there is " Krestowa/a " near by, a Russian adjective which ought to have, but has not, been converted into Krestovai/a. And there he finds also " Schach Dagh," and " Uruc h," and " Tschechnia, or the country of the Tchetchens " which shows that there is no difference in the same name between ch, tch, and tsch and also " Schwxu." for Shumi and " Dschufa." for Jufa. He turns to his English atlases. They may not be better, though some are, than the two before us. We open the map of Russia, which contains the Caucasus. The first word that strikes us in one atlas, published in England, is " Vladi- Caucas " half Russian, half what ? for Vladikavkaz. We glance at the other, published in America, and find north of that locality to the left Cubane, and to the right Couma, perfect French names of the rivers which English geographers call Kuban and Kuma. We turn to a higher latitude, and find in the former atlas, in a line, " Jaroslav," " Jurievitz," and " Jaransk," slightly imperfect German names of the towns which Russians and English call Yaroslav or Yaroslavl, Yurie- AN ESSAY ON FOREIGN NAMES 95 vetz, and Yaransk, and in the latter, in the same line continued, " Ourjoum," " Doubrovsko," and " Koungour," which is all French again, while extra-English " Vetlooga," near " Yar- ansk," "Looki," etc., remind us that our map is not bodily taken from a French atlas. Shall we speak of war-maps ? The latest of the great London Times is before us. We look for the now memorable Yantra River and its chief affluent, the Zlatar, and find them marked " Jantra," " Slatar," after German maps. A prominent American daily, in maps and text, for months printed " Ardaban " instead of Ardahan, though its rivals and English models had the correct name. And yet, what should we say on constantly finding in European accounts of our Vir- ginian campaigns instead of Rappahannock " Rappabannock " ? And here is one of the latest books of travel and statistics in English, Baker's "Turkey" (1877). Its contents every- where display the author's great familiarity with the localities and things described, yet he misspells names and terms in the regular polyglot way of English tourists and guides. His work, though the result of close observation, may have been somewhat hastily brought out as a companion book to Wallace's " Russia," which preceded it only by a few months and, by the bye, is generally correct in the minutest particulars but that circum- stance cannot serve to excuse such un-English spellings, con- sidering the real names, as " Milosc/i " (repeated over and over again), " Jantra," "Jenikoi," " Vo/utza," " Karlowa," " .Dzftami," "Ztyumaa," and " Jenedscfre." His transliteration of Turkish vowels is equally careless and capricious. In his appendix, " Glossary of a few Turkish Terms, etc.," we find "dwnwm," " gumrwk," " nmfti," " nmsselim," and " wokalwt " side by side with " Anadooloo/' " koorban," and " timettoo/' as well as with " mcmktar," " tapow/' and " vacemf." During a six years' editorial connection with two American cyclopaedic publications, embracing twenty volumes, it has been the writer's duty to apply a strict system of rational orthog- raphy, uniform in respect to the spelling of foreign names and words. That system is neither too elaborate nor too learnedly profound for common use, nor does it require the application of signs not employed in printing popular English works. Com- bining uniformity with regard for more or less uncontested 96 MICHAEL HEILPRIST usage, the rules observed are far from being the most systematic and consistent that could be invented, and may admit of consider- able improvement as Anglo-Saxon writers go on learning foreign things and acquiring orthographic habits; but for that very reason they may be found acceptable to writers and editors who, though desirous to be accurate and free from literary barbarism, can yet stand such inconsistency as calling certain towns to return to the Turkish theatre of war Nicopolis, Adrianople, Etropol, and Yamboli, without regard to the fact that the Greek polls was originally alike in all of these names, and, when rendering the Hebrew name of the place from which Nahum sprang, dare to write in plain English Elkosh, and not 'Elqosh, though this is good in Clark's " Keil on the Minor Prophets." Mainly for the benefit of such men of the press we propose to elucidate these rules in the following articles. II In establishing rules for the spelling of foreign names a dividing line must first of all be drawn between names be- longing to languages which, like the English, use the Roman alphabet and those belonging to languages whose alphabets are different. The German is included in the first class of lan- guages, since, besides its modified form of the Gothic, it also uses the Roman letters. The principal rule for the whole first division is : Write every word as you find it in the respective language, using every letter and sign commonly or frequently used in English works on foreign topics, and, whenever practicable, also substitutes for letters and signs peculiar to certain languages, and not gen- erally understood by educated English readers. To give ex- amples, write, without regard to pronunciation, Alenqon, Angovleme, Mezieres; Cid, Salva, Maranon; Minho, Maran- hdo; Cantu, Civita Vecchia; Gotz, Kuckert; Mickiewicz, Czarioryski; Deak, Eotvos, etc. All these names are exactly so written by writers in the respective languages, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, Polish, and Hungarian, and the peculiar signs which mark some of them are understood by many English readers and already widely used in English AN ESSAY ON FOKEIGN NAMES 97 literature. To write, according to the sound, Tchartoryski, instead of Czartoryski, would be as absurd as writing Tchal- deenee for Cialdini. On the other hand, it would be equally useless and troublesome to write, according to the strict Polish usage, C zQstochowa, instead of the common substitute Czensto- chowa, or Kosciuszko, with a softened s; as the value of or s is hardly known to one out of ten thousand English readers. The mark above the s may safely be ignored, and en is a good substitute for ?. Such is also o for the Danish f, as in J0rgen, and for the Hungarian 5, as in Petofi; and we justly write Abo, instead of Abo, as the Swedes have it, and call the great rivers of Sweden Tornea, Lulea, Pitea, etc., always ignoring the circular mark above the a, although it changes the sound. Of course, all this refers only to the general use of forms, when we apply our own names to men or places; when, in an ex- planatory way, the original rendering is to be fully stated, the strictest reproduction is required. An important exception to the general rule is this: When- ever there is a well-established English form for a foreign name, that is to be preferred to the stricter national form. Hardly anybody writes Venezia for Venice, Napoli for Naples, Kjoben- havn for Copenhagen, Warszawa for Warsaw, Trento or Trient for Trent, Praha for Prague, or Wien for Vienna; few write Koln for Cologne, Milnchen for Munich, or Livorno for Leg- horn; and the best English usage still prefers Lyons, Mar- seilles, Brussels, Ghent, Mentz, Leipsic, Cleves, and Treves, to the national names Lyon, Marseille, Bruxelles, Gand, Mainz, Leipzig, Kleve, and Trier. The time is surely not far off when writers of eminence will inaugurate sounder literary usages, but it will be the task of new Macaulays, Carlyles, and Pres- cotts to lead in the reform; writers for cyclopaedias, gazet- teers, and journals can do no better than slowly follow. In the same way in which English history speaks of the treaty of Ghent, of the battle of Leipsic, of the council of Trent, or of the capture of Warsaw, giving preference to its own estab- lished forms above similar and more correct foreign ones, it has also arbitrarily decided between the rival claims of nationalities as to names of places, and there can be no appeal from its decision. We must still state, following our German guides in 98 MICHAEL HEILPRItf history, that Wallenstein was assassinated at Eger in Bohemia, though we have learned that the Bohemian name of that town is Cheb; that Maria Theresa appeared before the Hungarian diet at Presburg, though Hungarians correctly tell us that their diet was then held at Pozsony; that the capital of Austrian Poland is Lemberg, though the Poles call it Lwow, and the capital of Croatia, Agram, though called Zagreb by the Croats. This historical usage, however, must be confined within narrow limits. Wherever the proper national form is similar to the historical, and the latter not exclusively used, the former is to be selected. Thus, Poltava is to be preferred to Pultowa, Kalisz to Kalisch, Breisach to Brisach, Muhlhausen to Mulhouse, Basel to Basle or Bale, Bern to Berne, Zurich to Zurich, while, on the other hand, Komdrom is not to be substituted for Comorn, Torun for Thorn, or Gdansk for Dantzic. As a rule it can be stated that the English usage decidedly prefers the German names to the Polish in Posen and other Prussian provinces, and to the Czechic in Bohemia and Moravia, but more rarely to the Magyar and Slavic in the countries of the Hungarian crown; the Polish, with few exceptions, to the German or Russian in the so-called Kingdom of Poland and in Galicia; the Russian always to the Polish in Lithuania, Volhynia, Podolia, and Ukraine; and the French sometimes to the Ger- man on or near the Rhine. Such exceptional French names, however, as Aix-la-Chapelle for Aachen, Coire for Chur, Lucerne for Luzem, are becoming rare, and Soleure may now safely be given up for Solothurn, Deux-Ponts for Zweibriicken, and Juliers for Julich. Mayence is probably as often used as Mentz, and Mainz may be equally good; but the writer must make his choice, in this as in similar cases, and cling to it, refraining from giving us a sing-song like this (in Murray's " Continent ") : " Mayence, the Moguntiacum of the Romans. . . . The most remarkable objects in Mainz, ... St. Boniface. . . . first archbishop of Mayence. . . . The Elector of Mainz. ... Its tower commands the best view of Mayence. . . . Mainz was the cradle of the art of printing. . . . Mayence car- ries on a great trade. A bridge . . . unites Mainz to Cassel, or Castel. . . . Station in Mayence," etc. Classical Greek names must be exceptionally grouped with AN ESSAY ON FOREIGN NAMES 99 those originally written in Roman letters. The English have taken them all not from the original texts but from Latin transcribers, and only such independent specialists as Grote can afford to call Hellenic men and places by their proper Hellenic names, such as Alkibiades, Kleisthenes, Kyrene, and Pheidon, for which English writers have learned from Cicero, Nepos, and other Romans to substitute Alcibiades, Clisthenes, Cyrene, and Phidon. Those ancient Persian, Median, Lydian, and Egyptian names, too, which we have learned from the Greeks and Romans, must remain in popular works as the Latin texts have them: Cyrus, Cyaxares, Croasus, Amasis, etc. The Latin terminations are often dropped or altered, and the popular English names which arise from the change are universally adopted. Thus, even Grote knows only King Philip, Athens, and Thebes, not Philippus, Athense, or Thebse. Where our knowledge is derived from sources discovered in modern times, such as hieroglyphs or cuneiform inscriptions, strict trans- literation is required. We then say, with George Rawlinson, Sheshonk, Osorkon, etc., or, after Brugsch, Sebek-hotep, Shasu, etc., omitting the latter's dot under the h in " hotep," as proper only in scholarly dissertations, and substituting in " Shasu " for his s the plain English equivalent sh. Our Teh and k are good equivalents for his X and q. The Egyptologist's or As- syriologist's way of spelling must, of course, be closely studied before transliteration is attempted. The ch alone, as found in various applications in Brugsch, Ebers, Rouge, Chabas, Mari- ette, and others, has caused a great deal of confusion in English books. Hence it. probably is, e.g., that the classical Cheops appears as Shuf u in Rawlinson's ' Manual of Ancient History ' and in the * American Cyclopaedia,' and as Khufu in the Eng- lish edition of Lenormant's * Ancient History of the East,' in the new ' Britannica,' and in the ' Condensed American Cyclo- paedia,' which, on better information, dropped the form used by its predecessor. Philip Smith, in his ' Ancient History of the East,' avoiding a difficulty, writes Chufu. But here again the question arises, How is the word to be pronounced? Was the name of the pyramid-builder Tchufu, Shufu, Khufu, or Kufu? Corresponding to the difference between classical and modern 100 MICHAEL HEILPRItf Greek names is the difference between Biblical and post-Biblical Hebrew names. For the Biblical, which the English have not taken from the Hebrew or Greek originals, but from the Vul- gate and the patristic writers, we have a plain rule: They are to be written as we find them in the English Bible. To call (in popular writing, we repeat) the great Hebrew prophets by their original names, Mosheh, Yeshayahu, and Yirmeyahu, in- stead of Moses, Isaiah, and Jeremiah, or the first and last Evangelists Matthaeus or Mattithyahu and Yohannes or Yo- hanan, would not be quite as absurd as to speak of Yitzhak Newton or Yaakob Astor, but, to say the least, unnecessarily strange. The names of all post-Biblical Jews, too, if derived from the Scriptures, must retain their Anglicized form, and it matters not whether the bearers of them were Talmudists, mediaeval rabbis, or modern celebrities. We thus speak alike of Moses (not Mosheh) Maimonides and Moses Mendelssohn, of Solomon (not Shelomoh) ben Gabirol and Solomon Judah Rappaport, of Judah (not Yehudah) the Holy and Judah Touro. On the other hand, a strict transliteration is demanded of rabbinical and other more or less pure Hebrew names which! are not taken from Scriptures, and therefore have no popular English forms. And in this field, he who writes on Jewish sub- jects, if he is not himself possessed of sound Hebrew knowledge, will have to look for trustworthy English guides, and examine closely his German or French authorities before adopting their spellings. Unfortunately, careless imitations, even by writers of extensive knowledge, are frequent, and cyclopaedias swarm with such names as Nac/iman, $akkai, and Z'ebi, in which ch, s, and z (all correct in a German authority) improperly stand for the Hebrew letters of which the English equivalents are h (or '&), z, and tz (or is). How far this carelessness is carried may be illustrated by one striking example. Samuel Davidson, " D.D. of the University of Halle, and LL.D., London," has translated Fiirst's ' Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon,' inclusive of his introductory " Contri- bution to the History of Hebrew Lexicography." In the lexicon proper the translator fortunately followed good English models, such as Robinson's Gesenius, and, deviating from his author, wrote Rashi, Mishna, etc., not Raschi, Mischna. But for the AN ESSAY ON EOKEIGN NAMES 101 introductory essay on lexicography lie had no English model before him, and he therefore blindly copied " Asche " (for Ashe), "Ha/a" (for Haya or add, Ldhor, Multdn, Hugli, Nasir Uddin, Jaldl Uddin, Sirdj Ud Dauld, instead of Cashmere, Eajpootana, Bootan, Punjaub, 102 MICHAEL HEILPRIN Sutlej, Nerbudda, Lahore, Moolian, Hoogly, Nasireddin or Nasir ed-Din, Jelaleddin, Surajah Dowlah. Names belonging to the independent countries of the East whose recent history is closely connected with that of the British advance in that part of the world, such as Afghanistan, Beloo- chistan, Burmah, Siam, and China, follow the rule applying to British India. It is by British travellers and merchants, gen- erals and governors, that the names have been introduced or made popular among English-speaking people, and the forms introduced have become established and historically traditional. It is therefore proper to write Cabool, Candahar, Ghuzni, Pe- shawer, Hindoo Koosh, Belooches, Kelat, Rangoon, Irrawaddy, Foochow, Chingchoo, instead of the literarily more accurate Kabul, Kandahar, Ghazni, Peshawar, Hindu Kush, Baluches, Khelat, Rangun, Irawadi, Futchau, Tchingtchu. Names be- longing to all other parts of Asia, excepting a number popularly figuring in history or travels, such as Samarcand, Mecca, Moc/ia, or Genghis, are subject to transliteration from the orig- inal languages. And so are also all African names, excepting those belonging to countries ruled by European nations, whose spellings French in Algeria, Portuguese, Spanish, English, or Dutch in other parts must be observed. Well-established historical names, such as Cairo, Tripoli, or Algiers, will nat- urally form exceptions. We now come to the principal part of our subject, the rules of transliteration, such as are to be applied, with the restric- tions above alluded to, to names belonging to the Russian, Serb, Bulgarian, Turkish, Persian, Hebrew, Arabic, and all other languages which use an alphabet different from the Roman. Among these is to be included the Wallach or Ruman language, which uses two alphabets, of which the Roman is changed from our forms by a number of peculiar marks. The general rule is this: Use the consonants in the English, and the vowels in the Continental acceptation of their sounds, the former in an unmistakable way. Let us specify. Use tch, not the dubious ch, nor the German tsch, nor the Polish cz, for expressing the terminal consonantal sound con- tained in hatch, hitch, couch; thus: Kamtchatka, Tchad, Tcher- navoda, and not Kamchatka, Chad, or Czernavoda, which are AN ESSAY ON FOREIGN NAMES 103 all liable to mispronunciation. The imitation of German ren- derings is here productive of the strangest and most unpro- nounceable combinations. It is bad enough that we have to employ five consonants in order to render one with which the Russian begins the names Shtcherbatoff, Shtchukin: is it not absurd to add two others, which are needed in German, but just deprive our English combination of any meaning, and to write thus: Schtscherbatoff, Schtschukin? One of the commonest, and the least pardonable, mistakes in English is the rendering in various forms, by the same writers, of the Russian terminal syllable vitch, always corresponding to our son in Johnson, Rob- ertson, etc. Thus, even so excellent a work as the " Encyclo- paedia of Chronology,' 7 by Woodward and Gates (1872), has " Lermontov . . . Ivaxiovich," " Dolgorouki . . . Fedoro?nc7&," " Bogdanowifc . . . Fedorow'cz," and many similarly contra- dictory patronymics. In Polish names, like Mickiewicz, Niemcewicz, only wicz is correct, that being the Poles' own spelling in Roman letters. Use ; as the common equivalent of the German dsch and Er. dj in Slavic, Asiatic, and African names, writing Tunja, Eski Juma, Bazar jik, Kainarji, Jiddah, Jebel el-Jowf, Abulfaraj, Jezireh, and dj only between vowels, as in Dobrudja, Khodja Balkan, Aladja Dagh, Nedjed, Hedjaz, in order to indicate clearly the shortness of the first vowel. Kustendje, however, seems to be too firmly established in English usage to be changed into Kustenje. Palgrave, in his " Central and Eastern Arabia," often strangely reverses the rule, writing Djowf, Djobbah, Hejaz, Nejed. In the same class of names sh is the equivalent of the Hebrew shin, German sch, and French ch. Write Shammai, Shemtob, Hashem, Pushkin, Milosh, Shuvaloff, Shumla, Pelishat, Radi- shevo, Shefket; not Schammai, etc., Radichevo, Chefket. Zh is our best equivalent for the French j, for which the Ger- mans in maps and books now frequently use sh (or z as they also use c for our tch, and s for sh~). Write Nizhni Novgorod, Zhito- mir, Voronezh, Derzhavin, Pozharski, Zhukovski; not Nijni, Jitomir, Voronej, as the French write, and after them many English geographers, including A. Keith Johnston. Tz and ts are equally good for the transliteration of the cor- 104 MICHAEL HEILPRIN responding sound in Hebrew, Russian, and other languages; yet we prefer the former, which agrees with the German, in Semitic, Slavic, and other names, such as Tzarphati, Tzana, Vorontzoff, Olonetz, Tzaritzyn, and the now so often mentioned Grivitza, Lovatz, and Vratza, and ts in Japanese names, such as Satsuma, Matsumae, or Butsu, which follow the usage estab- lished by the English in Chinese names (Yangtse, Tientsin, Tsinan, etc.). Great caution must be observed in transliterating after German maps, some geographers applying West-Slavic spellings to South-Slavic countries. Thus, Kanitz's latest map of Bulgaria has Grivica, Lovec, Vraca. Y is the general equivalent for the Semitic yod, as well as for the German j, the copying of which must be strictly avoided. Write Yarhi, Yomtob, Ydkub, Yusuf, Yezid, Yermdk, Tcher- nayeff, Yeni Zaghra, Yenikdi, not Jarhi, etc. Among the few exceptions founded on usage is Bajazet; Jassy and Janina it is perhaps time to abandon for Yassy and Yanina. After a con- sonant in the same syllable i is properly substituted, as in Biela (for Byela = Ger. Bjela), and ai, ei, oi, ui are used instead of the stricter forms ay, ey (=Ger. aj, ej), etc., as in Turtukai, Alexei, Tolstoi, Shuiski. After i the y, corresponding to the German ; in similar positions, is dropped, as in Dolni Monastyr, Gorni Dubnilc, Dolgoruki, Baratynski. For a discriminating use of v and w a few important rules can be established. W prevails in Arabic names, such as Moawiyah, Merwan, Walid, Abul-Wefa, Massowah, or Asswan, and v is exclusively to be used in Russian, South-Slavic, and Wallach names. The Russian, Serb, Bulgarian, and Wallach contain no such sound or letter as w (while the Polish has only the letter, which is equivalent to our v). To write, as is but too often done, Paskewiich, Wasili, Wolhynia, Wladimir, or Wologda, is, therefore, just as improper as to write, in Hebrew or Greek history, Lewi for Levi, Washti for Vashti, or Ewagoras for Evagoras. Wilna (derived from the Polish Wilno~) and Widdin are exceptions founded on historical usage. In the ter- minal syllables of Russian names of places, such as Azov, Tam- bov, Kozlov, Saratov, Tchernigov, Pskov, Ostrov, Kishinev, Kiev, ov and ev are properly used where the Russians have the corresponding letters, but pronounce off, eff, yet not in the AN ESSAY ON FOREIGN NAMES 105 oblique cases. In similarly-ending family names, such as Ro- manoff, Orloff, Lermontoff, Melikoff, Ignatieff, Skobeleff, and Lazareff, the sound is followed instead of the letter, owing to the habit of the Russians of so signing their own names, as pro- nounced in the nominative, whenever they use the Roman alpha- bet in correspondence with Englishmen or Frenchmen. Eugene Schuyler (" Turkistan," 1876) and D. Mackenzie Wallace use in both classes of names of and ef, which, if consistently done, can, of course, not be objected to. Kh answers to the full guttural sound (Ger. ch, Sp. /) in Slavic, Turkish, Tartar, Persian, and other Eastern names, such as Kherson, Kharkov, Astrakhan, Kiakhta, Akhaltzikh, Khiva, Khorasan, Khuzistan, Nakhimoff, Mukhtar, Khurshid; h an- swers to softer gutturals in Eastern tongues, as in the names Hariri (Ger. CTiariri), Harizi, Hefetz, Ahmed (as in the Bibli- cal Hebron, Heshbon, Hiddekel, Hiram), as well as to the Hebrew lie (Ger. h} ; Te (in non-Biblical names) to both the Semitic Jcaph and Jcoph, as in Zakkai, Akiba, Koreish, Sakkara. CJi, though good in classical and Biblical names, has no place whatever in strict English transliteration. G is to be used only in its hard acceptation, j replacing the soft sound. Gh occurs, but rarely, in Eastern names. Little specification is required as to the vowels. Concurrent or single authoritative spellings by German, Italian, and other Continental writers may generally be followed without hesita- tion. The French alone of the leading Continental languages forms an exception. Write, therefore, Selim, Ibrahim, Aziz, Hamid, Kasim, Katif, and not Seleem, Ibraheem, Azeez, Ha- meed, etc., as Palgrave (in " Arabia ") does after Lane (in " Modern Egyptians "), using also his special diacritical marks; Rashid, Ghadir, Hcibib, Ahin, as in Burton's " Unexplored Syria " (1872), not Rasheed, etc. ; All, Raghib, Ratib, Sherif, as in McCoan's "Egypt" (1877), not Alee, etc. ; Yusuf, Mustapha, Murad, Kurdistan, Turkistan, Stambul, Sukhum, Batum, Er- zerum, Urumiah, Burumtchuk, not Yoosoof or Yousouf, etc. Such spellings as Ooroomidh or Booroomtchook are fortunately becoming rare. Two exceptions, however, must here be stated: The French form ou is still frequently preferred to u (in its Italian and 106 MICHAEL HEILPRIK German value) in historically established names, such as Ha- roun, Mahmoud, Aboukir, Roum, Roumelia, though even Gib- bon writes Harun and Mahmud; and oo is still more generally used in names belonging to parts of Africa the exploration of which is mainly or in great part due to early English travellers, whose spellings have naturally become popular. Such names are Borgoo, Bornoo, Timbuctoo, Gaboon, Darfoor, Ehartoom, Bambook, Moorzook. More recent English explorers write Ukerewe, Lulua, Lualaba, etc. We conclude our remarks by briefly adding that the German diphthongs do not always correspond to ours au, e. g., answer- ing to ow; that o and u may be borrowed from the German and Hungarian for the transliteration of Turkish names, such as Kadikoi, Baluklii ; and that our a is to be used indiscriminately (in popular writing) both for the Semitic aleph and ayin, just as the Authorized version of the Bible used it in Adoniram and Adullarrij Amaziah and Amasa. V COMMENTS ON THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR During the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-78 Mr. Heilprin resumed his semi-military contributions to the Nation, following from week to week the operations in the field with the same exactitude and fulness of knowledge he had previously shown in his notes on the Franco-German war. He was quite as famil- iar with localities in the East as in the West of Europe, or with our own battlefields during the Civil War. It has been said, and I believe truly, that he could, down to his last years, locate from memory the position of both the Northern and Southern armies on any given day of the struggle. I select, again at ran- dom, a few of these weekly comments on the progress of the Russo-Turkish war. Nation, October 25, 1877: " Whether the report from Tiflis that Mukhtar Pasha's total loss in the battle of October 15 was about sixteen thousand, be nearer the truth than that other report from Karajal that he lost eighteen thousand in prisoners alone, it is certain that he suf- fered a crushing defeat. It may be doubted whether he suc- ceeded in entering the fortifications of Kars with three-fifths of his army, which seems to have consisted of not fully forty thousand men. Great as may have been his folly in so long exposing himself to the sudden attacks of an overwhelming force while he could safely rest under the shelter of his. fortress, due credit must be given to the Russian commanders for the skilful execution of the probably long-meditated blow. Of these Gen. Heiman, who carried the Turkish centre, Olya Tepe, seems to have borne the brunt of the fighting. What the ultimate fruits of this great victory will be to the Russians, it is too early to express an opinion upon. Much will depend upon the weather, which may or may not prevent an advance upon Erzerum, and 108 MICHAEL HEILPRIK much also on the amount of supplies accumulated in Kars, which will probably be blockaded, and can hardly count on the speedy approach of a relieving force, though reinforcements for Erze- rum are already hurried on from Constantinople, via Trebizond, and from Batum. Among the immediate fruits is the evacuation of Russian Armenia by Ismail Pasha, who has recrossed the fron- tier near Zor, followed by Tergukassoff. Lazareff, who is re- ported to have turned against him, is too far off and separated by too powerful barriers to intercept his retreat towards Erze- rum by the Diadin and Karakilissa road. The Russians' loss in the battle is not yet fully known; in carrying Aladja Dagh they lost fourteen hundred and forty killed and wounded. Active hostilities have been resumed before Plevna, commenc- ing with a heavy cannonade upon single points of the Turkish positions. This was considered by the Russians as very effec- tive, and the Turks were believed to have more or less fully evacuated the second Grivitza redoubt. On Wednesday, Octo- ber 17, the Czar, apparently on receiving the congratulations of his staff on the victory of his army in Asia, solemnly declared that he and all the members of the Imperial family would remain with the troops to share in their labors and witness their deeds, adding that, ' if necessary, all Russia will, as once before, take up arms.' The first labors in the new contest for Plevna, how- ever, were assigned, surprisingly enough, not to the Russian troops, so strongly reinforced by the Guard, but to the Rumanian allies. On Friday they assaulted the Grivitza redoubt, but were repulsed before gaining it. They made another attempt, and the three foremost battalions leaped into the trenches, but, the Turks concentrating against them, they were forced to withdraw, after an hour's sanguinary struggle. The total loss, according to the Russian official bulletin, was upwards of nine hundred killed and wounded. About the beginning of the contest the Russians seem to have made a feeble show of fighting on the opposite side, in order to divert Osman Pasha's attention from the real point of attack. The Turks in Plevna are reported to be constructing a new interior line of defences. Their condi- tion as to health and provisions is variously talked of. It is COMMENTS ON THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR 109 very bad, if deserters are ' reliable gentlemen ' ; it is very good, if the London Standard's correspondence from Plevna is trust- worthy. According to this source ' six thousand provision-carts are now on the road to Plevna ' a piece of information which may possibly compensate the Russians for what they lately suf- fered through a similar feat of reporting enterprise, for which another Standard correspondent has been expelled by them from Rumania. The Standard's impartiality is thus vindicated. Suleiman Pasha, active and daring as he is, has found the Russians too strong and the roads too bad for an aggressive move- ment on his part, and after reconnoitring the enemy's positions west of the lower Lorn, has fallen back on the Rustchuk-Rasgrad line, retaining advanced posts at Kadikoi, north of the Ak (White) Lorn, and at Solenik, south of it, between Torlak and Katzelevo. This withdrawal relieves the Russian Crown Prince's forces from a long-sustained and severe pressure, and may dispose him to give up some of his fresh reinforcements for the benefit of the army before Plevna. To judge by movements in the Dobrudja, where Gen. Zimmermann's forces have recently been active all around, detachments of them appearing in the neighborhood of Silistria, around Bazarjik, and near Kavarna, an advance of the Crown Prince against Suleiman, in co-opera- tion with Zimmermann in the rear of the Turkish commander- in-chief's extensive positions, seems to be contemplated, and an attack by the Russians on Solenik on Monday is reported from Shumla. Bad weather and worse roads, however, appear to be a check on all movements requiring days' marching. The Rus- sian communications on both sides of the Danube are described as frightfully wretched. To remedy the evil, according to late reports, the Russians have contracted for the construction of rail- ways which are to connect Simnitza with Giurgevo, and Sistova with Plevna and Tirnova ; across the Danube, between Simnitza and Sistova, the cars are to be carried on ferry-boats, on the American plan. Shipka is left out of the scheme. No fighting is reported from that quarter, and none from beyond the Vid. The Prince of Montenegro has dismissed the bulk of his troops ' to sow the crops,' and Milan of Servia continues to negotiate. 110 MICHAEL HEILPRIN Nation, January 3, 1878 : The carrying off of the military bridge at Braila by drifting ice was followed by the destruction of the bridges at JSTicopolis and Petroshani, and the removal of those connecting Sistova with Simnitza. All communication between the Russo-Ru- manian armies in Bulgaria, both east and west of the Turkish quadrilateral, and their base of supplies in Eumania is thus broken off for a time, which must give an entirely new turn to the operations, or completely suspend them, unless new and speedy changes in the weather render the restoration of a bridge or two possible, or cause the Danube to freeze. The occurrence of the interruption was months ago predicted as probable, and yet it seems to have taken the Russian commanders by surprise, since reports from various quarters represent the camps of the invading armies as inadequately supplied with food for men and beasts, fuel, and other necessaries, even before the interrup- tion of communication has made itself felt. Numbers of Turk- ish prisoners were left to die of cold at Plevna, it being ' im- possible,' as a Russian official despatch stated it, { to afford them any aid ' ; scores of prisoners transported to Bucharest, ex- hausted by want of provisions, were left by their guards to freeze to death on the roadsides, as there were no vehicles to carry them, ' though the absence of wagons was not due to de- liberate cruelty.' On the line of the Lorn the Moslem inhabit' ants retire to the woods after burning their villages, the Turkish troops having withdrawn from their advanced positions; and, deprived of his supports, General Todleben, now the virtual commander of the Tzesarevitch's army, will hardly be in a con- dition to push operations against either Rustchuk or Rasgrad in the middle of winter. The renewal of hostilities by the Servians and their successful advance in the direction of Sophia must thus be considered no less advantageous to the Russians than was the co-operation of the Rumanians in the Plevna campaign. The southern army of Servia, after the capture of Ak Palanka, occupied Leskovatz, COMMENTS ON THE RUSSO-TTJRKISH WAR 111 south of Nissa, and Kurshumlie, west of the latter town ; soon after reduced Pirot, on the road to Sophia, taking a number of guns and a few prisoners, and began the investment of Nissa. Turkish troops sent to reinforce Pirot arrived too late, and the garrison of Nissa will probably have to give up all hope of relief from without, since the advance of a Russian force which threatens Sophia must compel the withdrawal of the scattered Ottoman detachments now in Turkish Servia towards that city, or beyond it, if it is to be abandoned. The vanguard of the Russians operating against Ahmed Eyub Pasha has succeeded in occupying some Balkan defiles near Sophia, surprising the Turks by a march over snow-covered mountains and frozen foot- paths, and opening the road to the city. The Turks are expected to evacuate it, and to concentrate for the defense of the passes near Ikhtiman, leading from southwestern Bulgaria into Ru- melia. The entrance of the Servians into Bosnia is reported from Belgrade to have been precluded by an effective protest of Austria; but it is only a strenuous resistance of Mssa which may prevent them from invading the region of Prishtina. The Montenegrins have achieved a success between the river Boyana and the town of Dulcigno, and recommenced the bombardment of Antivari. On the Black Sea, too, the Turks have suffered a loss in the capture of a transport steamer, with seven hundred men on board, by a Russian cruiser from Sebastopol. The oper- ations against Erzerum have again been suspended on account of heavy snow. Mukhtar Pasha has left that city, surrendering the command to Ismail Pasha, apparently in order to place him- self at the head of a small force in the field, which is to defend Baiburt and operate on the flank of the Russians. The Porte has asked for peace through the mediation of England; but Russia seems to be inclined to treat only with Turkey directly, and, before answering England's overtures, calls out fresh re- serves, orders cannon, and buys rifles, while Russian organs resent the uncalled-for mediatory offers of the British Govern- ment by expressions of defiance. Somewhat oracular utterances of the French and Austrian Cabinets are reported, and there is a great deal of ' sounding ' done all around, and much telegraph- ing about an armistice." VI METTERNICH'S MEMOIRS AND OTHER ARTICLES Mr. Heilprin's review of Metternich's Memoirs, consisting of three articles in the Nation, early in 1880, gave him an op- portunity of putting on record his own estimate of that states- man. Referring to the first two volumes of the Memoirs he said: " The Ahitophel of the Emperor Francis and Mentor of the Emperor Ferdinand, who guided the destinies of Austria from the days that followed the disaster at Wagram in July, 1809, to the day of his own downfall, March 13, 1848 ; the man who coped with Haugwitz, Stein, and Canning, and more than once led Hardenberg, Nesselrode, and Talleyrand ; who dazzled and irritated Alexander I. by his sagacity, subdued Frederic Wil- liam III. by his consistency, and won the admiration of Napo- leon by the astute use of his tongue ; who, after surrendering hia master's daughter to his French conqueror, sealed the latter's doom by joining his foes on the eve of the battle of Leipzig ; who was the leading genius, the great wire-puller, of the Congress of Vienna, and the dictator of reaction at Carlsbad, Troppau, Laybach, and Verona; who guarded the equilibrium and peace of Europe against Russia under Nicholas and against France under Louis-Philippe ; who supported the bloody absolutism of Ferdinand of Naples, of Ferdinand of Spain, of Dom Miguel, and of Sultan Mahmoud ; who, always eager to stifle every popu- lar movement within his reach, kept Silvio Pellico, Ypsilanti, and Kossuth prisoners in his fortresses ; whose systematic con- servatism and cunningly procrastinating policy preserved the prestige of Austria abroad, but made her glide toward dissolu- tion from within Prince Metternich has revealed himself in autobiographical sketches, reports, and notes, selected and pub- lished by his son : who should not hasten to read them ? Two METTERNICH'S MEMOIRS 113 volumes from the pen of a man who made so much history, who held all the threads of European diplomacy in his hands through half a century, ought to be a mine of historical information, of political wisdom of some sort or other, of piquant revelations. For our part we feel greatly disappointed. We have read and digested Metternich's posthumous history of his time down to 1815, with his contemporary communications, and our gain for the general knowledge of that extraordinary period is com- pared to what we were entitled to expect exceedingly slight. The two volumes before us hardly contain a fact that was not known a great many years ago, hardly a reflection that is seri- ously worth pondering, hardly a personal sketch that has not been better and more faithfully executed by many a writer of less exalted standing. These papers the reports especially are certainly worth reading, but, to those familiar with the his- tory of the period, merely for the sake of refreshing impres- sions obtained from other and more copious sources. Hundreds of striking events are touched upon, and scores of historical characters lightly drawn, by Metternich, and yet hardly an event or a character is modified in its aspect from what we long ago learned it to be. The writer himself, though he labors hard to paint himself for posterity, and, besides, betrays himself by many an unguarded stroke of the pen, remains the Metternich whom Europe knew when he guided Francis and covered Ferdi- nand. The principal satisfaction which these memoirs give us is the knowledge that so great an authority has so little to teach us. ... Napoleon is never lost sight of in these Memoirs, but the great historical page in them, in the writer's estimation, is that which describes Metternich's meeting with Napoleon at Dres- den, in June, 1813, when the decision between Europe and the French Empire was to be rendered by the oracle of Austria. This page of history, were it new, would suffice to make the book valuable ; but Metternich made it known in 1820, Thiers reproduced it mutatis mutandis in his ' History of the Consulate and the Empire,' and Helfert gave it entire in his ' Marie Louise.' After the destruction of 'the grand army* on the frozen plains of Russia, Metternich had strenuously prepared Austria 114: MICHAEL HEILPRIN for the role of armed mediator between Napoleon and northern Europe. Napoleon had as strenuously armed anew for main- taining his hold on Germany and recovering his military pres- tige. But his resources were crippled and his armies were raw levies, while the forces of Austria had strongly recuperated since Wagram, and were now gathering in Bohemia on the flank of the French. The respective positions were well known to both Napoleon and Metternich, when they met and conversed for nine hours at the Marcolini palace; but the conqueror, elated by advantages gained over the Russians and Prussians at Liitzen and Bautzen, was again inclined to deceive himself, and tried by turns to cow and coax the representative of his father-in-law, while Metternich was fully prepared both for his Jovelike men- aces and almost cringing appeals, and cruelly bent on wounding and humbling him. He certainly achieved the one and the other, but it is hard to say cui bono. If a rupture was the foregone conclusion, what use was there for him in the prolonga- tion of the armistice between the French and the allies, which was the small result of the great scene ? If the real aim was the forcing of Napoleon into accepting the armed mediation, which would have at once raised Austria to the position of arbiter of Europe, a less vindictively arrogant, less venomously provoking way of treating was certainly demanded. The whole affair seems to have been the great pride of Metternich, but it strikes us that it is in reality the great blot on his well-merited reputation for cold shrewdness; that Thiers is right when he ascribes the advantage gained to the opposite side ; that Napo- leon, with all his passion, feigned and real, succeeded in over- matching his adversary, who this time was satisfied with a sen- timental gain. Fortune, it is true, had already abandoned Napoleon, and his gain was illusory. The die was soon cast, and Kulm and Leipzig followed. Great, indeed, must have been Metternich's proud excite- ment when he came out of the Marcolini palace, leaving Napo- leon impotently raging behind him,. But this feeling is not described or alluded to. Nor can we discover any other per- sonal feeling of his own expressed in Metternich's autobio- graphical narratives. He writes of Austria's defeats and suc- cesses, of her deepest disgrace or sudden recovery, with the METTERNICH'S MEMOIRS 115 coolness of a diplomatic machine. He writes so of himself in 1829, in 1844, in 1853. His own fortunes were closely bound up with those of Austria, and he zealously, assiduously, cleverly labored for the promotion of her interests, as he understood them; and in so doing he seems to have sincerely believed he was also working for the general good of Europe. His reports reflect both his sincere zeal and great ability. The restoration of the preponderance of Austria in the centre of the continent ; the establishment of a universal equilibrium of power through the curbing of France and Prussia as disturbing elements ; the subsequent preservation of peace at any cost; the guarding of all states against democratic movements; the prevention of all shocks from within or without these were his public aims, and no sentimentalism we were almost inclined to say, no sentiment of any kind obstructed his way towards his goal. What were to him the national aspirations of Germany, Italy, Hungary, or Poland ? He knew no nations, no peoples ; only states, or rather empires." COUNTY A novel suggestion, that was well worth heeding at a time when there were still counties to be named, was conveyed in Mr. Heilprin's article on " County Names," in the Nation of August 5, 1880: "Fires are raging in Franklin County, Maine." In what part of the State is Franklin County? The answer is easily found in a gazetteer, if we possess one, or, after some search, in an atlas, if the children have not taken it to school: it is a western county, bordering on Canada. " Franklin County, Missouri, has suffered heavily by the late floods." Where is that county situated ? It is an eastern county, bounded partly by the Missouri River. " Franklin County, Kentucky, promises abundant crops." Is that situated west, or east? No, it is a northern county, intersected by the Kentucky River. Frank- lin County, Tennessee, which " is infested by locusts," is a southern county. Franklin County, Ohio, which "has been completely cleared of tramps," is in the centre of the State; 116 MICHAEL HEILPRIN and Franklin County, Iowa, where "the inhabitants are pre- paring to celebrate a grand anniversary," is north-central. Some people all over Maine, Missouri, Kentucky, etc., when reading a piece of news concerning their own Franklin County, may know where that division of their State is situated; outside the respective State not one in a thousand inhabitants of the United States has the faintest idea of the location of the county referred to in the report. How could it be otherwise ? Were the State divisions named Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, etc., and were a certain order of symmetry preserved in the geographical application of the names of our immortals, there would perhaps be a possibility of learning how to locate in each State its Washington County or Franklin County. But this is not the case. Geographically, as we have seen, the greatest disorder prevails, and the number of our immortals is endless. In Southern Illinois, for instance, the names are thus placed in tiers: Madison, Bond, Fayette, Effingham, Jas- per, Crawford, St. Clair, Clinton, Marion, Clay; and in South Indiana thus: Daviess, Martin, Orange, Washington, Clark, Gibson, Pike, Dubois, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd. No amount of reading will familiarize one with a twentieth part of the counties of the United States, as to their location, outside of one's own State. Nor will any amount of travelling. Any Westerner who has travelled repeatedly, and by various roads, between Chicago and the Atlantic seaboard will remember a considerable number of towns, rivers, natural sites, and even unimportant stations. He will never forget Toledo, Cleveland, or Buffalo; Pittsburg, Altoona, or Harrisburg ; Trenton, New Brunswick, or Newark ; Syracuse, Utica, or Albany; the Juniata, the Susquehanna, or the Delaware; the sight of the Alleghanies, the Highlands, or the Catskills. He will remember places where he noticed a picturesque hill or cascade, a beautiful sunrise or sunset, or particular signs of prosperity; places where he drank abomi- nable coffee after a sleepless night, where he was cheated by the waiter, or stopped for hours on account of an accident. His recollections will be checkered and variously instructive. But he may in ten lengthy journeys never have learned the name of a single county. No sign, no mark of a boundary, no call COUNTY NAMES 117 of a conductor ever indicated such a name. He never learned that it was on the border of Cambria and Blair Counties that he crossed the ridges of the Alleghanies; that it was the hills of Mifflin County which charmed him so much on the banks of the Juniata; that it was in Dauphin that the train was de- layed on the Susquehanna ; that the Delaware, where he crossed it, flowed between Bucks and Mercer; that the beautiful sur- roundings of West Point formed a part of Orange ; or that the peaks of the Catskills towered above each other in Greene. Nor does he, while reading of things and events in Cambria, Blair, Mifflin, Dauphin, and so forth, suspect that he has traversed or skirted those counties ; and he thus never connects the subjects read about with what he has seen with his own eyes. Only a few names form exceptions: Juniata County he will naturally connect with the river of the same name, and Albany County with the capital of New York. In the same way we involuntarily connect, in reading, Appomattox County with Appomattox Court-House, where Lee surrendered to Grant, and Spottsylvania County with Spottsylvania Court-House, where the armies of those generals so desperately grappled with each other a year earlier ; and we locate in our mind fol- lowing our historical associations the former county some- where beyond Kichmond, and the latter beyond the Rappahan- nock. But how many of us have learned to associate Henrico County with the siege of Richmond, or Dinwiddie County with the siege of Petersburg ? The exceptions stated above Juniata, Albany show two rational ways of naming territorial divisions, and, in fact, we doubt whether there are any other. The French adopted the one when, shortly after the outbreak of the Revolution, they replaced the historical divisions of their country Burgundy, Languedoc, Touraine, Berry, etc., which had become obsolete or inadequate by new ones, known as departments. These they named after their main geographical features, in a man- ner equally systematic and instructive. Some received their names from mountains : Ardennes, Vosges, Puy-de-D6me, Jura, Hautes-Pyrenees, Basses-Pyrenees, etc. ; most others like our Juniata County from rivers: Somme, Seine, Oise, Seine- et-Oise, Marne, Rhone, Loire, Loire-Inferieure, Gironde, Haute- 118 MICHAEL HEILPRIN Garonne, Bouches-du-Rhone, etc. Had the naming-committee followed our patriotic plan, their departmental nomenclature would probably have consisted of such names as Montaigne, Corneille, Racine, Moliere, Pascal, Voltaire, and possibly Conde and Turenne, or even Mirabeau and Lafayette these two to be changed by subsequent revolutions into Guillotin and Marat, Lsetitia and Josephine, Saint-Louis and Jeanne d'Arc, and, after new changes, into Victor-Noir and Rochefort, and so forth. And had our State-dividers, from Kentucky downward, fol- lowed the example of the French, Franklin County, Maine, would be called Mount Blue; Franklin County, Missouri, Lower Maramec; Franklin County, Kentucky, Kentucky-and- Elkhorn; Franklin County, Tennessee, Upper Elk; Franklin County, Ohio, Scioto; and Franklin County, Iowa, lowa-and- Otter. On this plan the names of the northeastern divisions of the State of New York would be instead of Clinton, Essex, Warren, Franklin, Hamilton Saranac, Adirondack, Upper Hudson, Mount Seward, Long Lake. There would be mean- ing, instruction, and pleasant variety in the names all of which we miss in our twenty-eight (or more) Washingtons, twenty-three Jeffersons, twenty-two Franklins, etc. The nam- ing, however, would have required geographical knowledge, dis- crimination, and an inclination to agree more of all these qualifications than our State committees generally give evi- dence of. Easier of execution is the other rational way of naming territorial divisions the way alluded to above in the mention of Albany County. The practice of calling a division after its chief town prevails, with some exceptions of which France is the principal all over Europe. Of course we do not refer to the historical main divisions, nearly corresponding to our States, such as Aragon, Catalonia, Brabant, Flanders, Branden- burg, Silesia, Lombardy, Venetia, Tyrol, Styria, Croatia, Tran- sylvania, Lithuania, South-Russia, etc. The administrative divisions of Spain, Italy, Prussia, and Russia, for instance variously designated as provinces, administrative districts, and governments are named after their capitals, thus : Madrid, Toledo, Guadalajara, Cuenca; Alessandria, Coni, Novara, Turin; Konigsberg, Gumbinnen, Dantzic, Marienwerder ; St. COUNTY NAMES 119 Petersburg, Novgorod, Tver, Moscow. Only a few of the Rus- sian governments, such as happen to coincide with historical divisions like Bessarabia, Courland, and Esthonia form exceptions. Nor are the exceptions numerous in Scotland or Ireland, while in England a mixed nomenclature prevails the counties of the centre bearing mostly names of towns, like Lincoln, Nottingham, Derby, Stafford, Leicester, Warwick, Worcester; and those of the southeast, southwest, and extreme north historical names, like Essex, Kent, Sussex, Devon, Corn- wall, Northumberland, Cumberland. The general European plan has been in the main adopted by California, and the sea- farer who sails along her shores from Oregon to the border of Mexico, and is shown the coast towns of Klamath, Humboldt, Mendocino, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and San Diego, will also have learned where the counties of the same names are situated. These sonorous names, it is true, immortalize none of our Revolu- tionary or post-Revolutionary heroes; but California, if led by hero-worship, might also have inscribed on her soil the name of an earlier Kalloch, De Young, or Kearney. Our youngest State, Colorado, has in its counties a mixture, without system, of all kinds of words, Indian, Spanish, and English from Arapahoe, through La Plata and Las Animas, to Summit and Weld. May the States to be admitted be wiser in their county nomenclatures, and while hallowing no more ground with patristic appellations, save us also from such names of dubious sound as are Indiana's Dubois and Floyd! It is too much to hope that there is any possibility of transforming the thousands of names we have more meaningless than would be A, B, C, or X, Y, Z into others indicative of natural features or administrative connections, and thus easily learned and better remembered." VII CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOTH THE NATION AND THE EVENING POST After the amalgamation of the Nation with the Evening Post, in 1881, Mr. Heilprin's opportunities of writing on political topics widened. Some of his editorials on foreign affairs appeared in the latter paper only, but the majority were published in both journals. He wrote, to mention only a few, on " The First Year of Alexander III.," " The Oldest of Emperors" (William I.), on Herzegovina, 'on Marshal Serrano's Coup in 1882, on " The State of Affairs in Eussia " (1883), "Nationality Strifes in Austria-Hungary" (1883), " The Crisis in Norway " (1883), " Croatia versus Hungary " (1883), "The Vienna Anniversary" (1883), "Bismarck's Coalition" (1883), "Bismarck and the Reichstag" (1884), " The Succession in Holland and Luxemburg " (1884), " Span- ish Affairs" (1884), "France as a Colonizer" (1885), "The Pan-Bulgarian Revolution" (1885), "War in the Balkans" (1885), " Parliamentary Anarchy in Germany " (1886), " The Troubles in Galicia" (1886), "The Czar and His People" (1886), "Rumania in the Eastern Conflict" (1886), and "Does Germany Anticipate War?" (1886). In addition to these editorial contributions, there were published in the Post and Nation during this period, and down to the day of his death, many reviews from Mr. Heilprin's indefatigable pen. From the mass of his critical articles I can select only a few. Considerations of space prevent me from including some of the most important, such as the three on " The Revised Old Testament," which appeared in 1885. RUSSIA AND THE RUSSIANS. 1 I There is hardly an exaggeration in saying that the number of books on Russia is increasing from day to day, but good works 1 L'Empire des Tsars et les Russes. Par Anatole Leroy-Beaulieu. Tome i. Le pays et les habitants. Paris: Librairie Hachotte et Cie. LEKOY-BEAULIEU'S "KUSSIA" 121 on that empire are yet as rare as, say, sound and impartial works on the United States. Mackenzie Wallace's " Russia," a production of incomparably lighter calibre than Tocqueville's " Democracy in America," is still equally exceptional. Leroy- Beaulieu's " L'Empire des Tsars " is evidently destined to be- come for a time the book on the subject. Among studies of countries by foreigners it cannot fail to take place in the very foremost rank, owing to unbiassed observation on the spot, diligent research among the best authorities in the national literature and press, a vast corrective correspondence with well- informed natives, and a minute sifting of results by a mind conscientiously critical. It is too extensive, and presupposes too much preliminary knowledge on the part of its public, to become as popular as Wallace's pleasing composition, and it nowhere equals that original play of genius with problems ap- parently novel which charms us in Tocqueville's " Democracy " ; but it surpasses the latter in breadth, and the former both in breadth and depth, and, if less attractive than either, it not only enlightens the reader by its slow but lucid demonstrations, but delights him by its felicitous illustrations and a diction worthy of the best periods of French literature. In a word, it is a great work. It disarms the reviewer's critical propensity, and allows him only to follow the author closely in some of his salient generalizations and summings-up. It is to consist of three, or possibly four, large volumes, but only the first is as yet before us. The author considers the shape and extent of European Russia, and asks himself: Does it really form a part of Europe, differing from the rest only in proportions, in the scale of dimensions ? or does its prodigious widening fully dis- tinguish and separate it from Occidental Europe ? Are not the conditions of civilization modified by the vastness of the area ? Are Russia's geographical structure, its soil and climate, Euro- pean? Entire Europe forms a peninsular triangle, the broad base of which rests completely on Asia and is bodily joined to it. Thus joined to Asia, Russia preserves that continent's con- figuration. Europe proper is distinguished from all other por- tions of the globe by two main traits, which have rendered it the natural seat of civilization: it is cut into parts by seas, 122 MICHAEL HEILPRIN peninsular, articulated to speak with Humboldt and it has, for its latitude, a surpassingly temperate climate. Eussia, on the contrary, is one of the most compact, the most continental, countries of the globe. She has none of Europe's maritime climate ; hers is continental extremely cold in winter and excessively hot in summer, and almost untempered by seasons of transition. The Gulf Stream does not reach her; the seas lave only her flanks, so remote from each other ; arctic ice and winds hold her in bondage through most of the year ; the flat- ness of the soil keeps her open to blasts both from the Polar circle and the parched deserts of Central Asia ; she has no shel- tering mountain ranges the broken Ural hardly forms an ex- ception no sheltered valleys. Russia is horizontal and uni- form not only geographically, but also geologically ; the flatness of the surface is the result of the regular parallelism of the subterranean strata. Without seas and without mountains, she sadly lacks humidity, especially in her eastern parts. All these conditions place her in complete physical opposition to Occi- dental Europe; or, rather, naturally considered, Europe, rest- ing on Russia as an Asiatic base, begins only where the continent becomes contracted by the Black Sea and the Baltic. Is Russia, therefore, Asiatic? Is she to be classed among the sleeping or stationary nations of the remote East? By no means. She is no more Asiatic than European. By the en- semble of her natural conditions she differs from historic Asia just as much as from Europe proper. It was not an accident which prevented her from developing an Asian civilization. On both sides of the Ural, Russia forms a particular region, with special physical features, embracing all the northern plains of the old continent, all its colossal depression the Lower Europe and Lower Asia of Humboldt. Rather than to either Occi- dental Europe or old Asia, she is to be compared to North America, which she adjoins in Siberia. Russia is one of those terrestrial regions which boundless extent and asperity of climate disqualify from becoming cradles of civilization. In- capable of nourishing civilization in its first days, she is ad- mirably adapted to receive it and raise it. Like North America, she offers to Europe, outside of her extreme belts, an immense field for the development of human activity on a vaster scale. LEROY-BEAULIEU'S "KUSSIA" 123 Her climate is inclement, her forests are meagre, her steppes treeless; but what man needs is less richness of the soil than the facility of subduing and using it. Russia's fauna is poor, her flora is poor ; there is no variety, no display of power, noth- ing grand except the vastness of the land ; but neither has her living nature, in its debility in its lack of fecundity and robustness any strength to oppose to man. The soil is tame and docile. Unlike Brazil or Hindostan, where man becomes the petty slave of a luxuriant, glowing, wondrous, and uncon- querable nature, the vast territory of Russia is made for free labor; it needs no African negro, no Chinese cooly. The Rus- sian soil does not use up its cultivator; it does not threaten his race with degeneracy ; it bears no Creoles. The Russian people, the muzhik, is the main colonizer, almost the sole colonizer, of the Russian lands. This fact, apparently so simple, hides difficulties and inferiorities of all kinds. In- stead of the most enterprising men of the most advanced coun- tries of Europe, such as are colonizing the United States and Australia, we find here a people kept back by nature and his- tory a people of peasants, who yesterday were serfs ; instead of freedom, independence, and individual sovereignty, we see an autocratic government, a pestering administration, communal bonds tying man to man and the tiller to the ground. Russia's colonizing expansion is crippled by standing armies, a long mili- tary service, a narrow centralization, an omnipotent bureau- cracy. These galling drawbacks have repelled European immi- gration, and will continue to repel it. Russia will in vain offer to the immigrant admirable lands waiting for the plough her very next neighbors of Scandinavia prefer to wander beyond the ocean to the northwest of the United States. And Russia is a country in process of colonization. Th&ugh old, she is still forming. She is at the same time an empire of a thousand years and a colony of a century or two. She may be likened to the United States and also to Turkey. She is a country both new and old; a semi-Asiatic monarchy and young European colony; a Janus with one face old and worn out and the other adolescent, almost infantile. This duality is the source of striking contrasts whithersoever we turn in Russia: contrasts in private life, in character, in the state; 124 MICHAEL HEILPRItf contrasts so frequent that they form the rule, a law of contra- dictions. Everything has contributed to produce them : a posi- tion between Asia and Europe so to say, astride of both ; a blending of races Slavic, Finnic, Tartaric far from com- plete; a historical past formed by the contests of two worlds, by violently alternating phases. Erom these contrasts spring the different judgments passed on Kussia, the falsity of which lies very often in exhibiting only one side. The law of contra- dictions is further discoverable in society, whose classes, high and low, are divided by a wide chasm; in the political field, where liberalism is often attempted, but generally weighted down by inveterate inertia ; even in the individual, in his ideas, sentiments, and manners. The contrast is both in form and in essence, in the single man as well as in the nation. The state, a military monarchy and young colony at the same time, has the weakness of either, and the full force of neither. With deserts to people and clear, Russia is doomed by her contact with Europe to bear military and financial burdens like the oldest and most civilized of nations. Her tasks are those of both Europe and America, while her instruments are inferior to those of either. She resembles an actor forced to play before having learned his part a man trying to acquire his first education amid the toils and struggles of mature age. The least Slavic of all the Slavs, the Great-Russian, has been the Slavic colonizer par excellence. Treated by his enemies as a Turanian, a Mongolian, an Asiatic, his national origins are found in the West: on the Dnieper, between the Dnieper and the Diina, at Novgorod. His march has been from Europe to Asia; from White Russia to beyond the Ural, the Caspian, and the Caucasus. His destinies are imaged in the great river, the course of which he has followed from its source to its delta : like the Volga, he has run his course from Europe to Asia. When, under Ivan III. and Ivan IV., and later under Peter the Great, he turned as a foe toward the Baltic and the West, he only retraced his steps toward his European base. His his- tory is the history of a struggle with Asia. The centuries of Tartar domination never made him forget his European origin. Victorious over Asia, he yet, during his advance from the Dnieper to the Ural, became both morally and LEEOY-BEAULIEU'S "RUSSIA" 125 physically changed by his contact with the populations sub- dued and absorbed. There is in the Russian more heaviness, both of body and mind, than in Slavs of less mixed blood; Aryan beauty is there more rare. The Great-Russian often betrays Finnic descent by his flat face, small eyes, and promi- nent cheek-bones. To Finnic influence and Tartar oppression he owes greater harshness, but also greater robustness, than marks other Slavs. He has less independence and individuality ; he has more patience and consistency. He has not that mobility which has been the bane of the Pole. The extreme ductility of the Slav has in him been tempered by foreign, chiefly Finnic, alloy ; the loss of purity is compensated for by a gain in solidity. The fusion of race, as elsewhere, has been productive of vigor at the expense of refinement. But Finnic and Tartar blood has not transformed the Great-Russians into Finns or Tartars. They are not Aryans and Slavs merely by language and his- torical development. They are much more properly Slavs than the French or Spaniards are Latins. A considerable portion of their blood is Caucasian, Slavic. The proportion can hardly be determined ; it varies according to region and class. In the bulk of the nation Slavic blood probably preponderates. II Nature in Russia presents two opposite aspects vastness and vacuity. Her enormous territories are devoid of variety of form and variety of color. Animate as well as inanimate nature lacks grandeur and power. The picturesque is almost imperceptible. Travel through the Russian plains produces a feeling of satiety almost like a sea-voyage. You open your eyes after a night's sleep in a steamer or a railway-train, and perceive no change of place. The grandeur of the rivers diminishes their beauty: the finest banks are lowered into insignificance by dis- tance. Everywhere you see the same animals, the same plants, the same trees. The cultivated fields vie in monotony with the forest and the steppe. There are no hamlets, no isolated farms. The Russian seems to dread solitude in the boundless space which surrounds him. The community of property which pre- vails among the peasants adds to the defect of nature. Here 126 MICHAEL HEILPRIN none of those capriciously multiform hedges are seen which em- bellish the rural landscapes of England or Normandy ; the land is level, featureless, sombre. The Russian's fondness for prop- erty in common and association in labor is probably owing less to race instinct than to the immensity of space, under a rigorous climate, in which man in isolation feels himself powerless and as if lost. From the same sources springs an inclination in the opposite direction : the taste for adventure, travel, and vagabondage an intense migratory propensity. It is easy to explain the peas- ant's lack of fondness for agriculture, of attachment to the un- grateful and almost mournful soil of old Muscovy; but this disposition has in great part been nurtured by the institutions, by serfdom and the modes of possession. The northern nations have in general less attachment to the soil than the nations of the south, and rural Russia is, besides from the hut of the peasant to the church and seigneurial manor a country of pine habitations, " a Europe of timber," again and again visited by the destructive and dispersive scourge of conflagration. Every dwelling becomes sooner or later a prey to fire: why should one cling to so fragile an abode ? why embellish it so as to love it? Many a Russian leaves his village for parts un- known as soon as " the red cock " has crowed on his roof. To this fondness for going ahead in a venturesome way cor- responds a moral tendency the readiness of the Russian mind to plunge into the most reckless speculations; a disregard of obstacles which fears no temerity, philosophical, social, or re- ligious; an astonishing indulgence for temerity in every field. The Russian's thought, like his rural horizon, knows no bounds it loves the unlimited; it pushes right ahead toward the extreme, at the risk of reaching the absurd. And side by side with this propensity we discover an almost general lack of in- dividuality, of originality, of creative power. A backward civilization is partly responsible for this defect, but its main source is the want of variety and power in the surrounding nature. To the poverty of the latter is owing in great part the sterility of Russian thought. This country offers no images to the poet, no color to the painter, no freshness to impressions or ideas. Hence the vigorlessness and lifelessness of the ancient LEROY-BEAULIEU'S "KUSSIA" 127 mythology of the Russian Slavs, as compared with the myths of the Greeks or the Scandinavians. It was amid the grand scenery of the Caucasus, at the very extremity of European Russia whither a suspicious police has exiled so many literary talents that Pushkin and Lennontoff found poetical inspira- tion and a lofty romanticism. What there is of diversity, picturesqueness, and beauty in rural Russia is derived more from time than from space, from the alternation of seasons rather than from scenery. In the south, especially in tropical lands, the earth glows with tints, but the seasons are hardly distinguishable. In a northern con- tinental country like Great Russia the seasons are strikingly unlike each other ; they robe the earth in markedly new colors. The thus varying aspects of nature restore to the Russian the variety of impressions and sentiments which the soil refuses him. Without leaving his village, he sees alternations of cli- mate and aspect such as others witness in passing and repassing through thirty degrees of latitude between the pole and the equator. These alternations act upon character and tempera- ment, upon the imagination and the mind. In Russia every season has its labors, its holidays, its pleasures, different songs, and even different dances. To the violent alternations of the seasons, which temper him for all climates, the Russian owes a peculiar flexibility and elasticity of organs a facility of pass- ing from one sentiment or idea to another. To the same cause may be attributed much that in the Russian appears unbridled, eccentric, rough. If he has little intellectual originality and a poorly-developed inventive faculty, he is very often original in his tastes, manners, and expressions. He sometimes evinces a lizarrerie closely bordering on insanity. Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, and Paul are examples of it among his sov- ereigns. Like his climate, he easily goes from one extreme to the other : his changes of mood, thought, or feeling are striking ; the oscillations of his intellect and heart embrace a wide range. He rapidly passes from activity to torpor, from tenderness to rage, from joviality to moroseness, from enthusiasm to apathy, from submission and resignation to revolt; he displays in rapid turns all the variations of heat and cold, calm and tempest. In the individual, in society, in the Government, this propensity 128 MICHAEL HEILPRIN to move and act by fits and starts is equally perceptible. Periods of inertia, languor, and despondency are abruptly succeeded by periods of ardor, energy, and confidence. Doubt and conviction, indifference and fanaticism, strangely relieve and almost blend with each other. The climate, by its rigor and exigencies, renders the Russian inclined to realism, to practical common sense; the grandeur, monotony, and poverty of his boundless plain create in him a disposition to mysticism and sadness. This conflict or alliance of tendencies is illustrated by various striking phenomena among them by Nihilism. Like most theories which move the Russian mind, Nihilism is an importation from the West. From Europe, chiefly from the philosophical nurseries of Germany, came the first seeds of that spirit of negation and revolt which we see thrive so amazingly in the shade of absolute autocracy. The radical epigoni of Kant and Hegel were the masters of Hertzen and Bakunin. French revolutionists and socialists have done their part in developing Nihilism, which is but the Russian form of the destructive spirit of the age. That this general disease has become endemic in the lowlands of the Neva and "Volga ; that it is there more virulent, and accompanied by spe- cial symptoms, is owing to the mental constitution and diet of the people. Nihilism is not a growth of a decade; it existed many years ago, and it has assumed various shapes. There is an active and violent Nihilism, which conspires and assassi- nates ; an older variety theoretic, vague, and unconscious permeates the schools and society, penetrating into the very salons and chanceries. Nihilism breathed everywhere, was the fashion, was the creed of students and of all short-haired school- maidens, long before the murderous attempts and deeds of 1878, 1879, and 1880 (and, let us add, the catastrophe of 1881) un- veiled it to the world in all its destructive power. But though an offspring of Occidental metaphysical specula- tion, Nihilism is not a system, like Schopenhauer's pessimism or Comte's positivism, or a new form of ancient scepticism or nat- uralism. As a philosophical theory, it is an unscientific, coarse materialism; as a political doctrine, it is a socialistic radical- ism, bent less on improving the moral and material condition of the masses than on annihilating the social and political order LEROY-BEAULIEU'S "RUSSIA" 129 now existing. Nihilism constitutes no party. Its name, by which we generally designate the doctrines of Russian revolu- tionists of all shades federalists, terrorists, anarchists, com- munists, etc. is rejected by most of them. But Russian radi- calism deserves it both by its scientific nullity and its destruc- tively negative attitude toward civilization toward Christian and classical culture, as developed by the Germano-Latin races. The Russian, half a century ago, adored that culture with the ardor of a neophyte ; he swore by the liberal principles it had proclaimed since 1789 ; he has discovered its shallowness and hollowness, and, with the mobility which carries him from one extreme to the other, with the bitterness of a cruelly deceived and undeceived believer, he blasphemes the object of his former worship ; he vows to destroy the proud temple erected to those modern idols which, under the usurped names of liberty, equal- ity, and fraternity, give sanction to error, discord, and the sordid bondage of poverty. This is, indeed, a sad self -emanci- pation of the Russian conscience; a violent reaction against the intellectual, social, and scientific supremacy of Europe. The part of initiator and savior is henceforth to be acted by the people till now left in ignorance; light is to come from the dweller in darkness. Having lost his faith in Europe, the Rus- sian has again begun to believe in Muscovy. He finds his de- spised country superior to others on account of its very inferior- ity. This is logical. Modern civilization being once con- demned, that country is best adapted for future creations in which the past has left the freest field to the present; where modern culture and art have built so little and have penetrated so slightly beneath the surface that the necessary clearing and uprooting are most easy. The Russian people, having the least to lose by destruction, thus becomes the chosen people of radical revolution. And thus, through the negations of nationality and fatherland, the Russian revolutionist returns to the glorification of country and people, which are exalted in his eyes by their nudity and poverty. Nation, May and June, 1882. 130 MICHAEL HEILPRIN THE SITE OP PABADISE * Where lay Adam and Eve's Paradise ? or, Where is the Gar- den of Eden? was during former ages a question of profound religious curiosity. Where did the legends of the Hebrews place the first abode of man ? is in our days still a question of consider- able interest among Biblical critics. To the one and the other most diverse answers have been rendered by scholars. The diffi- culty consists in identifying two of the four streams (or " rivers ") into which, according to the story of Genesis (ii. 8-14), was parted the stream that came out of Eden to water the garden. There is no dispute concerning the two named last : they are the Tigris (in Hebrew, Hiddekel) and Euphrates ; but where is the Pison, which compasses the whole land of Havilah, where excellent gold is found, and also bdellium and the sJioham- stone? And where is the Gihon, which compasses the whole land of Gush ? Our author examines one after another the solu- tions propounded by the various commentators, and states his own, with an array of learning which, in the old field of Biblical inquiry, shows him a worthy disciple of his father, Franz Delitzsch, and in the new domain of Assyriology a compeer of Oppert, Schrader, and other famous students. It is needless to follow him here in his survey, in which he has been preceded by so many expounders of Genesis, or in his refutations, which are not novel either; but we may be allowed, for the sake of such of our readers as are not familiar with this curious chapter of laborious exegesis and fanciful speculation, to convey an idea of the maze of conflicting opinions by an abridged statement of a recent German commentator : "The exegetical views respecting the passage divide themselves into the historical, the allegorical, and the mythical. The historical views, again, fall into two classes: those that maintain the possi- bility of yet determining the region of Paradise, and such as sup- pose the configuration of the earth to have been so changed by the flood that the place of union of the four rivers cannot now be pointed out. . . . Calvin, Huetius, Bochart, and others : Paradise lay in 1 Wo lag das Parodies t Eine biblisch-assyriologische Studie. Mit zahl- reichen assyriologischen Beitragen zur biblischen Lander- und Volkerkunde und einer Karte Babyloniens. Von Dr. Friedrich Delitzsch, Professor der Assyriologie an der Universitat Leipzig. Leipzig. 1881. THE SITE OF PAKADISE 131 the district in which the Euphrates and Tigris unite ; the Pison and the Gihon are the two principal mouths of the Shat-al-Arab. . . . Hopkinson : Paradise was the region of Babylon ; the two canals of the Euphrates form half the number of the four rivers. . . . Harduin : In Galilee. . . . Hasse : Paradise lay in East Prus- sia. . . . Clericus and others: Paradise lay in Syria. . . . The my thico -theological, or strictly mythological, view makes it the story of the four world-rivers that come from the hills of heaven and wander over the earth. . . . According to the historical view of Reland and Calmet, Pison denotes the Phasis, which rises in the Moschian mountains, is connected with the gold-land of Colchis so famed in antiquity (Colchis = Havilah), and flows into the Black Sea ; Gihon is the Aras, or Araxes, which likewise rises in Armenia, and flows into the Caspian Sea; Gush is the land of the Cossseans, which Strabo and Diodorus place in the neighborhood of Media and the Caspian Sea. According to this, Armenia would be the terri- tory of the ancient Paradise. . . . Finally, according to [Franz] Delitzsch, the Pison must refer to the Indus, and its river territory to India, while the Gihon is the Nile." To complete the picture, let us add that the first stream, Pison, has been identified not only with the Phasis and the Indus, but also with the Nile, the Blue Nile, the Ganges, the Hyphasis, the Hydaspes, the Araxes, the Chrysorrhoas, the Besynga of Further India, the Danube, etc. ; and that among the various identifications of the Gihon there is also this, Gihon = Oceanus linguistically thus explained by the late Tayler Lewis: 6 Ti-ov o Tecav o e Koi> 6 Keaz> l-fceav-o<;, or, the Gihon, the Kehan, the Kean, the Ocean-river. Professor Friedrich Delitzsch's critical speculations which, as to the main point, are a restatement, with important modifications, of the old view of J. Hopkinson, in his Descriptio Paradisi (1594) carry us back to the land and language of Babylonia. Every- thing in the earliest history of mankind, as told in the first chap- ters of Genesis, points toward that country. Noah's ark was uplifted on the first day of the deluge: the land where it was built must have been a lowland, argues our author. No allusion is made to vast expanses traversed by the ark before it reached Mount Ararat: the lowland must, therefore, have been at no great distance from eastern Armenia ; Babylonia is a lowland thus situated. Postdiluvian mankind builds its world-tower on 132 MICHAEL HEILPKIN the plain of Babylonia. Eden itself is distinctly connected with, the Tigris and Euphrates, rivers stated to have flowed out of it. That well-watered garden-land cannot have been in Assyria, for there the Tigris and Euphrates could not be imagined issuing from it as branches of one stream: it must be sought in the Babylonian plain. This plain, bordered by the Tigris and Euphrates, has, it is true, no room for two other rivers; but must we, asks Professor Delitzsch, following Hopkinson, recog- nize in the Pison and Gihon two streams resembling in charac- ter the Tigris and Euphrates? Is not the word rialiar (which the Authorized Version renders by river} used in Hebrew, as it is in Arabic and Babylonian, also of canals ? Is not the riaJuir Chebar, on the banks of which Ezekiel saw his vision, clearly and repeatedly stated to have been " in the land of the Chal- deans " that is, in Babylonia and not in Mesopotamia, where it has been erroneously sought ? The cuneiform inscrip- tions have lists of narati, or streams, placing canals side by side with the Tigris and Euphrates. The parting of the stream of Paradise into several branches obviously refers to irrigation. But here a difficulty arises : Should canals constructed by the hand of man have entered into the description of Paradise, pre- pared for an abode of the first of the species ? Professor De- litzsch, who has very little reverence for the legend he treats of, and believes it to be derived from a Babylonian source, has no hesitation in discarding this objection. There was hardly any difference perceptible, he thinks, between the two great rivers and the canals of Babylonia. The canals were broad and navi- gable like the rivers, gave like these rise to other smaller water courses, and were of so exceedingly ancient an origin that the narrator could, without committing a flagrant anachronism, con- nect them with the very planting of the divine garden. Arrian, in describing the Pallacopas canal, found it necessary to remark that it was an artificial channel, and not a river derived from springs. Moreover, it is certain that a part of the Babylonian canals are not of originally artificial construction, but ancient river beds or branches of the Euphrates and Tigris, converted into navigable or irrigating channels when those two rivers had carved out their permanent beds. The canals Pison and Gihon may have been known as such branches of the main streams. THE SITE OF PARADISE 133 Now, -where lay the lands Havilah and Gush, around which those water-courses wound ? Havilah, answers Delitzsch, is the east-north-easterly portion of the Syrian Desert, bordering on the lower Euphrates, a tract of which is designated by the Arabs as Ard-el-Halat, land of dunes. The Hebrew name ('havllah, or ha-'hdvilah, the sandy, from 'hoi, sand) has the same meaning. Gold is proved by cuneiform inscriptions to have been a prod- uct of the adjoining territory of Bit-Yakin, northeast of the mouth of the Euphrates. Bdellium, according to the testimony of Pliny, was a native product of Babylonia. The stone shoham is the samtu (fern, of sdmu) of the inscriptions, a famous min- eral product of Meluha, a Babylonian district rich in precious stones. Thus everything connected with Havilah leads us back to the vicinity of the lower Euphrates. The Gush of the story of Paradise is surely not the African Gush, Gush in the narrower sense, or Ethiopia. It is the land of the Kassu of the inscrip- tions, who had separated from their kindred in the mountain ranges north of Susiana, the Cossseans of the classical writers, and established themselves as rulers of central Babylonia a people, perhaps, identical with the Gasdim, or Chaldeans, of the Scriptures. The Pison of Havilah is the Pallacopas of the Greeks (pallaco Heb. peleg, Ass. palgu, canal), that great canal west of the Euphrates, extending from the neighborhood of Babylonia to far below the present mouth of the river in the Persian Gulf, of which Eitter surmised that it presented the most ancient and most direct bed of the great stream, in its east- ward-trending course to the gulf. The stream compassing the land of Gush is the canal Shat en-Nil, forming an opposite curve east of the Euphrates to that of the Pallacopas on the west, and identical with the Arahtu of the Assyrian inscriptions, men- tioned as nar (river or canal) immediately after the Tigris and Euphrates, and also designated by a non-Semitic name which can be deciphered as Guhana that is, Gihon. Thus the four water courses into which the stream of Eden was parted on coming out of it were the Pallacopas, the Shat en-Nil, and the lower Euphrates and Tigris, the former three branching off from the middle Euphrates near Babylon, and the Tigris communicating with it through a network of canals and little channels. The middle Euphrates is the main river, 134 MICHAEL HEILPKDT watering with its numberless branches the country around and north of Babylon, which is Eden. The Euphrates alone waters it, for the Tigris, flowing through a lower bed, only receives water, and imparts none, through the connecting channels. The character of this country, as described by Herodotus, Xenophon, Strabo, and Ammianus Marcellinus, was in antiquity such as fully to deserve the appellation bestowed upon it. It was charm- ing beyond comparison by its luxuriant vegetation, variety of excellent products, and marvellous cultivation. The Babylo- nians and Assyrians called it Kar-Dunias, grove of the God Dunias, in the non-Semitic equivalent of which name the syl- lable Kar is replaced by Gin, corresponding to the Hebrew gan in gan eden, garden of Eden. The most ancient non-Semitic name of the city and district of Babylon was Tintira, meaning grove of life, which reminds one of the tree of life in the narra- tive of Genesis. The Hebrew word eden, delight, may, in this combination, be a phonetic imitation of the non-Semitic edin of the inscriptions, which means plain. Unfortunately for the theory so powerfully advanced, almost all the linguistic evidences by which it is supported are still of doubtful value, the etymology of the Babylonian names in most cases, and the reading in some, being disputed by high authori- ties in this obscure field of inquiry. Were the linguistic points proved, it would be hard to resist the power of the argument, in spite of various difficulties arising from the scanty text of Genesis itself. As it is, although all other solutions of the knotty Biblical problem may be subject to still graver objec- tions, the following questions militate too strongly against Pro- fessor Delitzsch's solution : Why, if the stream of Eden be the middle Euphrates, is it left unnamed in the narrative, though it is certain that the Hebrews were perfectly familiar both with the middle and the upper course of that river? Why, if the Pison and Gihon designate the canals Pallacopas and Shat en-Nil, are they said to compass lands which the canals only traverse ? If the lower Tigris be meant by the Hiddekel, why is this river described as flowing in front of Assyria, which lay above the central Mesopotamian lowland asserted to be Eden? How should a writer familiar with the whole course of the Tigris deem its lower part a branch of the Euphrates? Why FKEEMAN'S "ENGLISH TOWNS" 135 should Gush, a name which commonly designated Ethiopia, have been used by the narrator in a sense in which it nowhere else occurs in the Scriptures, without the least further defini- tion? Why, on the other hand, is Havilah, if the Arabian borderland so well known to the Hebrews be meant, so fully described by its products? Who tells us that the gold, the bdellium, and the shohana of Babylonia were also characteristic of the adjoining Havilah? But whether these objections, in the present stage of Assyriological studies, be fatal to the theory of Professor Delitzsch or not, we have no hesitation in saying that his dissertation, amplified as it is by supplementary trea- tises on the ancient geography and ethnology of the Mesopo- tamian and neighboring countries, of Canaan, Egypt, and Elam, is a perfect treasury of knowledge made most ac- cessible by excellent indexes and probably the most brilliant production in all Biblico-Assyriological literature. Nation, March 15, 1883. FREEMAN'S "ENGLISH TOWNS "* This collection contains papers of two kinds : short sketches, reprinted from the Saturday Review, of the same character as the author's " Historical and Architectural Sketches, chiefly Italian," and his " Sketches from the Subject and Neighbor- Lands of Venice," and longer ones, resembling those on cities and countries in the third series of his " Historical Essays," and originally composed and published as addresses to various so- cieties, several of them as presidential opening addresses to the Historical Section of the Archaeological Institute. In both kinds of papers the author has, " in revising them for the re- print, made any changes that seemed to be called for, whether by adding, leaving out, or any other form of improvement." The illustrations are in the same style and made by the same artists as those in the " Subject and Neighbor-Lands of Venice." The essays thirty-one in number, grouped not in the chrono- logical order of composition, but according to geographical divi- 1 English Towns and Districts; a Series of Addresses and Sketches. By Edward A. Freeman, M.A. With illustrations and map. London and New York: Macmillan & Co. 1883. 136 MICHAEL HEILPRItf sions are mainly devoted to the pointing out of historical and architectural features, not to detailed description, anti- quarian or other. Each town is looked on and presented as a whole, with a kind of personal history, and put in its fitting place, as part of the history of England. " The city itself and its history are something greater than any particular object in the city." A quarter of a century lies between the composition of the oldest and that of the latest of these sketches, but they are all probably owing in part to the thorough revision, with its various "forms of improvement" almost equally marked by the intense peculiarities of Mr. Freeman's historical and antiqua- rian pen. There is constant dissection, analysis, definition of terms, marking of limits, illustration by analogy, elucidation by contrast, presentation of likeness and unlikeness, repetition for the sake of clearness or inculcation much beautiful work, some that is tedious; here flashes of genius, there almost pe- dantic hair-splitting ; a vast display of knowledge and research, and some of prejudice and conceit. That the book is another rich contribution of the author to English history though offering only strings of bits of information, and nothing com- plete in itself need hardly be said at this stage of Mr. Free- man's fame; nor, on the other hand, that the same knowledge and acumen, with less mannerism, might have made it incom- parably more charming. In " Cardiff and Glamorgan," the first sketch, the historian asks himself these questions: Who were the first inhabitants of the country ? " Were the Britons the earliest wave of Aryan migration in these lands, or were they preceded by an earlier Aryan and Celtic race that, namely, which consists of the Scots, both of Britain and Ire- land? . . . That is to say, is the wide distinction between the two branches of the Celtic race in these islands, between the Scots or Gael, and the Welsh or Britons, a distinction which arose in these islands, or do they represent two successive waves of Aryan migra- tion ? . . . And, again, can either branch of the Celtic race, Gael or Britain, claim to be the first inhabitants of the land? Were the Celts preceded by races kindred to the primitive non-Aryan dwell- ers in Europe, of whom the Finns of the North and the Basques of FKEEMAN'S "ENGLISH TOWNS" 137 the Pyrenees are remnants? Were the Silurians, whose descend- ants form a main element of the population in South Wales and the neighboring districts, a people closely akin to the non- Aryan Ibe- rians of Spain, as * has been held by two writers, both of great name, but with a long interval of ages between them by Tacitus and by Professor Huxley ' ? " Mr. Freeman, unlike other recent authorities (see " Celtic Britain," in the Nation of July 19) leaves the questions un- answered, remarking only in regard to the latter points : " I know not whether Britons will be ready to give up Caradoc as a British brother; I should certainly be unwilling to give him np as an Aryan cousin. . . . One thing is plain, that if the people of South Wales are really of a non-Aryan stock, the process of Aryan assimilation has been very thoroughly carried out." The British tongue is still living in these parts; if Basque or any other non- Aryan speech ever lived here, it long ago became extinct in vale and mountain. That it should have become extinct through assimilation must appear to Mr. Free- man very improbable, as he remarks in another essay, " Anglia Transwalliana " : " English has not assimilated, though it has largely displaced, the Welsh and Gaelic tongues, with which it has no connection beyond the remotest Aryan kindred," while " the tongues of the Dane and the Fleming, as well as those of the Angle and the Saxon, have all been drawn together- by the attraction of a single type of standard English " which teaches us the lesson, " how easily a standard form of any lan- guage assimilates all the kindred dialects of a country, but how little effect it has on dialects which are not kindred." What the type of standard English was that attracted and absorbed all other dialects Mr. Freeman tells us in his very elaborate paper on Lincoln (" Lindum Colonia," " an heathen " city on " an hill ") : " The tongue which we call English, while it is neither the Northumbrian of York nor the Saxon of Win- chester, is the intermediate Anglian speech of Eastern Mercia. ... It was a Lincolnshire man, a Bourne man, who gave the English language its present shape. . . . We do not speak the tongue of Alfred; we do not speak the tongue of Waltheof; but we do speak the tongue of Hereward, the tongue in which the chronicler of Peterborough kept on our native annals, till 138 MICHAEL HEILPRDT the pen dropped from his hand as he set down the coming . . . of the King who wore his crown in Coles wegen's church of Wigford." The birth of English learning, however, is traced further back in time, and further north, in " Points in Early Northumbrian History," one of the most interesting, if not the most interesting, of the thirty-one essays of the collection : " Do not forget that the English tongue, that the earliest compo- sitions in the English tongue, are more ancient than the migration which brought Englishmen to the shores of Britain. The first poets of the English race belonged, not to this our island England, but to the older England on the mainland. Had their tongue been Greek instead of English, their fame would have sounded from one end of heaven to the other. But the poets of our Homeric epic and of our Homeric catalogue, the gleemen who sang the tale of Beowulf and the song of the Traveller, being English, are nameless. But of the first Christian English minstrelsy, of the first recorded English minstrelsy on British ground, the land of Northumberland, the land of Deira, is the parent. Yours [Northumbria's] is Csedmon, the bard of the Creation, the bard of the battles of the patriarchs he who, a thousand years before Milton wrote, had forestalled Milton, alike in his daring subject and in his majestic treatment." Here as often elsewhere we have Mr. Freeman with all his passionate, almost superstitious, sympathy for everybody and everything in the remote past that promoted the rise, the " making," and " welding," the greatness and literary bloom of England, of English England. He never forgets to teach his hearers or readers to see a blessing in every event, however hor- rible and shocking, which tended directly or indirectly to " make England England." He graphically describes, under " Exeter," the heroic but vain resistance of that city to the Norman Con- queror, and immediately adds : " But we see none the less that it was for the good of England that Exeter should fall. A question was there decided greater than the question whether England should be ruled by Harold, Eadgar, or William, the question whether England should be one." Northumberland's resistance was equally stout and vain, but "the Norman con- quest was, in very truth, a Saxon conquest. It ruled that Eng- land should be forever an united kingdom." Going further back, we find Silchester of whose greatness in Eoman times, FREEMAN'S "ENGLISH TOWNS" 139 as attested by recently dtig-up remains, we read a wonderful tale ruthlessly swept away by the conquering English ; but mourn not : " It is because Silchester and places like Silchester were left waste without inhabitants because those who dwelt in them were cut off by the sword or driven to save their lives in remote corners of Britain or Gaul because for a hundred years the faith of Christ was wiped out before the faith of Woden it is because of all this that Britain has not been as Gaul and Spain, and that we still keep the laws and the tongue which we brought from the mouths of the Elbe and the Eider." " Had it been otherwise," we are told under " Carisbrooke," " had the slaughter and havoc by our fathers been less complete, Englishmen would not have remained Englishmen, and Britain would never have become England." The following is, per- haps, the best specimen of the 'brutal pitch to which Mr. Free- man carries his philosophy of history: " We were the Turks, and worse than the Turks, of those days ; the sword was our only argument; the persecuted Briton had not even the chance of Koran or tribute. But simply because we carried slaughter and havoc to a more fearful pitch than any Turk ever carried them, for that very reason our conquest carried with it the hopes of better things. We stood on the ground which we made without inhabitants, to grow up, not as a mere conquering caste, but as a new people of the land. We stood ready to receive a new faith and a higher civilization, . . . from the Eoman and the Scot. . . . We may weep for the monks of Bangor, but the day of their mas- sacre was none the less one of the great days in the growth of the English nation. . . . Deva was the last city which was taken only to be left desolate. When JEthelfrith slew the British monks, part of England was already Christian. . . . And before that same seventh century had passed, Northumberland had become ... the special home of learning and holiness, the cradle of the history of our people, the cradle of the poetry of our tongue." Of course our historian does not mean to say that the English exterminators of the Christian Britons acted righteously in their heathen blindness and barbarous ignorance of historic pragmatism; he only delights in the strength and irresistible- ness of the English sword and will. Thus speaks the historian of England. Freeman, the antiquarian and student of towers, 140 MICHAEL HEILPRItf gates, and steeples, bows before the same " ruling " of history. He cannot compare Exeter, the English city, as an architec- tural conglomeration of historical interest, with any of the Continental towns of a class even one degree lower than Venice or Florence, Treves or Ravenna. England has few spots so rich at once in history and art as to rival " the last home of Caro- lingian kingship on the rock of Laon " or the walls of successive ages " spreading each round another, like the circles of Ecbatana" which envelop the minster and the castles of Le Mans; "the Bern of Theodoric by the Adige" or "the Bern of Berchthold by the Aar " ; the council-house of Liibeck or Ghent, of Padua or Piacenza ; the episcopal palace of Liege or the ducal palace of Dijon; the castled steep of Marburg or the hill of Marburg, with its many-towered church, walls, and gateways. " Yet we need not grieve," he patriotically tells his fellow-patriots, " that we are in this matter poorer than other nations. . . . Why is the history of Nurnberg greater than the history of Exeter? Simply because the history of England is greater than the history of Germany. Why have not our cities such mighty senate-houses, such gorgeous palaces, as the seats of republican freedom or of princely rule among the Italian and Teutonic cities ? It is because England was one, while Italy and Germany and Gaul were still divided." England's nobles and prelates were not allowed to grow into sovereign princes, nor her cities and boroughs to grow into sovereign commonwealths. In observations like these the antiquarian Freeman to whom we are unable to do full justice again merges in the historian. Nation, September 6, 1883. ANCIENT ISEAEL * I Half a century ago, ancient Israelitish history was generally written as Roman history was before Niebuhr. It began with 1 Geschichte des Volkes Israel. Von Dr. Bernhard Stade, Professor an der Universitat Giessen. Mit Illustrationen und Karten. Vol. I. Berlin. 1887. New York: Weatermann. ['Oncken's Weltgeschichte in Einzeldar- stellungen.'] ANCIENT ISKAEL 141 Ur of the Chaldees and the stories of the patriarchs, just as the history of Rome began with Alba Longa, its kings, and Romulus and Remus. The narratives of Genesis, Exodus, Joshua, or Judges were repeated like the legends of Livy, as traditions con- taining much that is naturally impossible, but on the whole historical. The story of Sarah's maternity might be left untold, like that of Rhea Silvia's, but the wonderful escape of the infant Moses appeared more natural than that of Romulus, the capture of Jericho was recorded like that of Veii, and the regicide of Ehud like the deed of Mucius Scsevola. The miraculous was reverently separated from the naturally possible, and this pre- sented as history. Jacob migrated with his family through Canaan, though he may not have wrestled with God or an angel ; Moses gave to his people laws at Sinai, no matter whether the mountain smoked or not; Joshua routed the Canaanites at Gibeon, the sun standing or moving; Samson again and again smote the Philistines, though never, perhaps, with the jaw bone of an ass. This manner of writing the early history of Israel has now become almost obsolete, though not through the powerful efforts of any single Niebuhr in this field. Israelitish history has been slowly but completely revolution- ized by the steady and progressive labor of many eminent schol- ars, mostly German. The discoveries of Egyptology and Assyri- ology have had their share in the work. Biblical criticism, an evolution of very old growth, has paved the way for critical his- tory, which, after emancipating itself from the bondage of orthodoxy about the close of the last century, has in our time succeeded in throwing off also the shackles of literary tradition. Ewald's " Geschichte des Yolkes Israel," which made its ap- pearance more than forty years ago, marks the first great ad- vance. But Ewald was more bold than free, more suggestive than sound; he stimulated to further work without laying foundations. Hitzig, whose smaller history with the same title (1869) followed Ewald's last edition, was freer, almost reck- less, in the treatment of details, but not more independent of the traditional views concerning the composition and compara- tive documentary value of the Pentateuch narratives. But almost simultaneously with Hitzig's book appeared, in Holland, Kuenen's " Godsdienst van Israel," which, clearly developing 142 MICHAEL HEILPRItf the results successively matured by Vatke, Reuss, and Graf as to the growth of Israelitish religion and legislation, presented a wholly transformed aspect of both the history and historical literature of the people. Wellhausen, in his " Geschichte Israels" (vol. i, 1878) and other writings, has carried out in grand style, and firmly established, the "Graf and Kuenen theory." Stade, in the volume before us, stands on the same basis, but goes a little beyond Wellhausen in historical and literary iconoclasm, and evinces sufficient independent research and original ingenuity to take a place among the successive leading writers on the subject. To define his standpoint is to sketch the latest stage at which Israelitish historiography, led by the strings of Biblical text criticism and archaeology, has arrived in Germany and Holland. Let us hear him first as to the narrative sources of his history. The Pentateuch was composed of original documents of widely different character. It embraces two works presenting the early legends of the people, written with the object of glori- fying the national worship; two law books; and a work com- prising both legend and law. Its Hebrew name, Torah (law), is derived from the book of laws discovered during the reign of King Josiah, in 621 B. c., which forms now a part of the so- called fifth book of Moses, or Deuteronomy. Its oldest original document is the historical writing of a Judsean narrator, now distinguished as the Jehovist, from the constant use of the name Jehovah. This document contains mainly mythical accounts referring to the patriarchs, Moses, and the sacred spots in Canaan. It was probably composed in the latter half of the ninth century B. c. The next in age is the work of the Ephraim- itish Elohist, often called the second Elohist, from whom we have the Decalogue, and whose images of God (whom in his recitals of pre-Mosaic events he calls Elohim) are less anthro- pomorphic than those of the older narrator. It was written about 750 B. c. These two works were loosely woven into one, about a century and a quarter later, by a writer imbued with the spirit of the prophetic productions of the preceding periods, who may be designated as the first or pre-Deuteronomic re- dactor. The same (or else the later Deuteronomistic) redactor may have inserted the third component part, the so-called Book ANCIENT ISRAEL 143 of the Covenant (contained in Ex. xx-xxiv), a codified collec- tion of ancient law usages, probably executed about 690 B. c. A more important component part is the Torah discovered and promulgated in 621, the Deuteronomy proper with an his- torical introduction and exhortative supplements in the spirit of which some of the older narratives were redactor] ally modi- fied. The youngest part is the Priestly Codex, or the Ground- work, composed in Babylonian exile. It consists of legal enact- ments and narrative portions. The former, though ascribed to Mosaic revelation, were elaborated for use in the restored Jew- ish state and temple; the latter gave a post-exilian coloring to the patriarchal history of Israel. A later redactor Ezra or a man of his time, about 460 B. c. joined the Groundwork to the older historical parts, adapted the latter to the chronological plan of the former, and completed the Pentateuchal compilation. Very similar in composition is the book of Joshua, which, in fact, forms with the Pentateuch a larger whole, now frequently designated as the Hexateuch. It contains little of the narrative of the Jehovist, has ample extracts from the (second) Elohist, shows the same Deuteronomistic varnishing, and comprises por- tions of the Groundwork. The Jehovist knew no Joshua as con- queror of the land west of the Jordan; the Elohist recounted this conquest under Joshua originally an Ephraimitish hero in imitation of the legends of Moses's conquest of the Trans- jordanic lands; the Groundwork fully transformed Joshua into a second Moses. A redactor later than Ezra combined all these component parts into the present book, when the Pentateuch had already obtained its canonical sanction as the Torah. The Torah alone was accepted by the Samaritans as canonical. Even additions of a later period, which are wanting in the Septuagint version, are discoverable in Joshua. The book of Judges is a still freer, unauthentic compilation. Its heroes are almost all unhistorical ; they are heroes eponymi, legendary representa- tives of clans. Thus Jephthah is designated as the son of Gilead, and Gilead, like Gad, designates a tribe and its territory. What is related of his fight with the Ephraimites is an imitation of the story of Gideon. His fight with the Ammonites is told with- out any tangible features. The names of the Judges Ehud, Elon, Tola, and Jair appear elsewhere in lists of towns and 144 MICHAEL HEILPRIN clans. That Ibzan and Abdon are eponymi representing clans is evident from the fact that only their places and the numbers of their children are stated. " These remarks will have proved that a period of judges preceding the period of kings cannot be spoken of seriously." There were kings, or chiefs of clans, like Gideon or Shamgar, but no judges of Israel. There was no united Israel then, and still less an Israel theoretically organ- ized, such as the story of the struggle with Benjamin at Gibeah presents to us. This story is a Tendenzroman, " contradicting everything we know of Hebrew antiquities." Ruth is a post- exilian idyl, also composed for a purpose. The picture of Sam- uel, in the first book of that name, shows most clearly "the character of Hebrew historical tradition by its transformation of the traditional matter." In the oldest traditional form Samuel is a seer and priest of the Ephraimitish town of Ramah. Later he is brought into connection with the ancient sanctuary of Shiloh, as the true heir to the priesthood of the house of Eli. Still later he is transformed into a prophet in the style of Amos or Isaiah, who fearlessly steps before the king and declares that God likes obedience better than sacrifice. The second book of Samuel and the books of Kings contain, of course, more genu- inely historical matter, but even the contents of the last-named work are " partly worthless and almost everywhere deficient." Entirely untrustworthy is Chronicles, in whatever it does not directly draw from the other books of the canon, although here and there valuable threads are woven into its tissues. All these books, as we now have them, are thus very decep- tive guides as to the earlier periods. And yet they contain a vast amount of information. To make their accounts valuable a constant application of critical operations is needed, in which the historian is guided by the light derived from Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, and other prophets, whose writings not only are true mirrors of their own times, but also clearly reflect the conditions of things in preceding ages. A few poetical fragments of older date, imbedded in the historical relations, can also be turned to good account. Every historical book, every narrative, must be analyzed and dissected into its component parts; the original text and its age, if possible, discovered ; every addition, inser- tion, interpolation and they are numberless found out, ANCIENT ISKAEL 145 examined, and reduced to its proper value ; concurrent, explana- tory, or contradictory testimony compared and weighed ; every- thing spurious fearlessly rejected. Out of the saved residue the tissue of genuine history must be rewoven. The analytical work of free criticism has been carried on with unremitting zeal, and often with corresponding ingenuity and success, for more than a century; the reconstructing process is of our own age. The minor results obtained are very numerous, much rests on plausi- ble conjecture, and much is still covered with obscurity. The general aspect of history is changed, as we shall see. II The legends of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, our author em- phatically asserts, embody no historical facts. They were local legends, separately clustering around sanctuaries of the ancient Canaanitish inhabitants of Palestine : the sanctuary of Hebron, the sacred well of Beer-sheba, and the sacred stone of Bethel. These spots were sacred before the arrival of the Israelites in the land. With the changes of the religious notions of the dwellers around, the character of the legends varied ; they were modified and remodified. The Israelites this appears almost certain did not dwell under patriarchs in Palestine west of the Jor- dan, before their settlement in the lands east of that river. That they migrated into Egypt is equally improbable. Joseph is a Palestinian heros eponymus, the legendary representative of a tribe ; his transformation into a ruler of Egypt is a work of late fiction. Even the poetical fancy which made the Israelites enter the Nile land as a family and leave it as a nation, left all the intervening time an absolute blank; the monuments know nothing whatever of the whole affair. Searching, as some Egyp- tologists still do, for the Pharaoh of the oppression or the traces of the exodus, is a childish amusement: nothing is to be dis- covered in Egypt in reference to Israelitish history. The Israel- ites possessed no distinct and positive historical recollections reaching back beyond the time of the settlement in western Pal- estine. All that was earlier recollection centred dimly in the two names Moses and Sinai. Moses had taught them at Sinai to worship Jehovah. This worship had made them a people dis- 146 MICHAEL HEILPRIN tinguishable from other members of the Hebrew race, such as the Moabites, Ammonites, and Edomites. The Hebrew race was kindred to the Arabs on the one side and to the Aramaeans on the other. Closely akin to Israel were the Canaanites west of the Jordan and the Lebanon, including the Phoanicians. The Israelites were descended neither from a shem nor from an Eber. They were called Hebrews ('ibrlm} by their western Canaanitish neighbors, as dwellers beyond ('eber} the Jordan not the Euphrates, as former explanations had it. They called themselves sons of Shem when they had become masters of the land west of the Jordan, as the nobles of the land (shem meaning name, glory, or distinction). They appear to have been originally a clan established east of the Jordan, on both sides of the Jabbok. Their heros eponymus was Israel, the legend of whom was subsequently blended, west of the Jordan, with the legend of Jacob, the seat of which was Bethel. The name of the clan was extended to others confeder- ated with it, in the same way in which the appellations Latins, Alemanni, and Teutons have gained their widely comprehen- sive significations. The Hebrew clans which in later times con- stituted the nation of Israel, came into the Transjordanic region mainly from the Sinaitic peninsula; some immigration may possibly have taken place from regions bordering on the Eu- phrates, whence the legend of Abraham derives the whole race. 'As nomads of the peninsula they lived in peaceful relations with the probably Arabic tribe of the Kenites and from them who were perhaps allies of the Midianites they seem to have re- ceived through Moses the religion of Jehovah. It was not the religion of their ancestors, but entirely new to them. A slow migration carried them into Gilead and the adjoining districts, the Judaic clan alone probably wandering northward, with the Kenites and the Arabic Calebites, into the region west of the Dead Sea. When these migrations took place, and how long they lasted, it is impossible to tell. In Gilead the nomads, hemmed in between the Jordan and the desert, by the kindred Moabites and Ammonites on the south, and by Aramaic tribes on the north, gradually turned tillers of the soil, built cities Mahanaim, Succoth, Jabesh, Penuel, etc. and grew too popu- lous for their territory. The stories of the conquest and distri- ANCIENT ISRAEL 147 bution of the country by Moses, of the Amorite Sihon, of Balak, and Balaam are fictions. As the Midianites and Amalekites did in later times, the Israelites, in their nomadic state, must have made frequent plun- dering incursions into Western Palestine, the many fords of the upper Jordan offering easy opportunities for crossing. Peace- able transmigrations came afterward, the Israelites wedging themselves in between Canaanitish settlements, steadily gaining ground, and gradually absorbing the neighboring population. The whole history, in its more authentic features, clearly shows that there was no sudden conquest or invasion, no extermination of the natives, no deadly feud between them and the Israelites. The Hebrews, or Transjordanians, lived mostly in peace with the kindred Canaanites during the time which is generally, though erroneously, designated as the period of the judges that is, before the union of all the tribes was effected under the monarchy. The figure of the great conqueror, Joshua, as we have seen, is the production of a late age. That no general con- quest took place, and consequently no division of the conquered country, is shown by the earlier relation in the first chapter of Judges, according to which the separate tribes attempted sepa- rate conquests. That chapter, now falsely attached, as a con- tinuation, to the book of Joshua by the words " After the death of Joshua," is evidently an extract from an extensive narrative, running parallel with that book and refuting it, which may have begun with " After the death of Moses " or " After the crossing of the Jordan." The warlike exploits spoken of in the earlier relation are, however, also far from being contemporaneous or authentic history. No such exploits, no such simultaneous move- ments, ever took place. The Canaanites generally held their cities, plains, and valleys, and here and there also a plateau or mountain; the Israelites mostly occupied first the intervening forest lands, which they cleared. Their peaceful advance did not exclude exceptional conquests with the sword, sudden in- roads from beyond the Jordan, surprises and sacks. But these rarely effected permanent results. A part of the tribe of Dan succeeded in capturing an isolated town, Laish, in the extreme north, and establishing themselves there; Levi and Simeon treacherously surprised the Bene-Hamor of Shechem, but were 148 MICHAEL HEILPRIN driven away and scattered by the Canaanites, and Israel, instead of helping, execrated their treachery. Israel was the first Transjordanic Hebrew clan which gained possessions west of the river. Clan after clan followed. Living among the Canaanites, they partly blended with them. Inter- marriages prevailed. The sacred places of Canaan became sanctuaries of Israel. In all other matters of culture the Israel- ites learned from the cities of Canaan; in the worship of Je- hovah they remained faithful to their own traditions and cus- toms. Inferior in the arts of industry, they were superior to their neighbors in religious conceptions and ethical spirit. This superiority decided the product of international blending in favor of Israel. The Israelitish element began to predominate. Moral leadership led to material rule. The rural districts were won first; the towns much later, partly by Israelitish intrusion and peaceful commingling, and partly by treaty and conquest. Severe contests for possession and sharpened religious antago- nism finally created permanent animosities, and the Israelite looked down upon the Canaanite as vile and fit only to be a serf to the Sons of Shem. And yet many an Israelitish gens had more Canaanitish blood in it than Shemitic. The absorption of much of the native element so strengthened some of the clans, especially those which obtained much clearable land, that they grew into separate tribes. A regular division of the people into twelve tribes, however, never existed. The country was never distributed, nor did the Israelites ever possess the whole of it. The warlike tribe of Gad was powerful in the land east of the Jordan, and, west of the river, in the earliest times, the cen- tral tribe of Joseph. The latter, after extending its possessions in a southerly direction, was divided into Benjamin, Manasseh, and Ephraim. The tribe of Judah, in the south, arose much later, forming itself out of Israelitish, Edomitish, Canaanitish, and Arabic elements. Enveloped by it were the remnants of Simeon, which, after the discomfiture at Shechem, never rose to the dignity of a tribe. The dispersion of Levi was more com- plete still, but its boasting of Moses as its member united its families into a kind of priestly caste, to whom the managing of the sanctuaries was generally intrusted. The priesthood was not derived originally from Aaron, who is unknown to the ANCIENT ISKAEL 149 earlier traditions, but from Moses, whose descendants we find figuring as priests at the northern sanctuary of the Danites. Reuben never had any political significance, almost disappearing between Gad and the powerful state of Moab, its constant enemy. Issachar, Zebulun, Naphtali, and Asher, in the north, formed a group of tribes living in small clans, closely surrounded by the Canaanitish natives, whom they were unable to assimilate or to conquer. At one time only (during the struggle with Sisera) Zebulun and Naphtali appear conspicuous in Israelitish his- tory; Issachar and Asher never acted a noticeable part in it. That portion of Dan which remained between Judah and the Philistines was almost as powerless as Reuben between Gad and Moab. The extermination of the tribe of Benjamin is unhis- torical. The chronology of the pre-monarchical times is a sys- tematic creation of late redactors, and entirely valueless. The first attempt at founding a royalty more comprehensive than clan chief ship was made by the house of Jerubbaal in Manasseh. It proved a failure, though based on Gideon's deserts as deliverer from Midian. The greater merits of Saul as deliverer from a more general and more lasting oppression led to the establish- ment of the Benjamite throne, and to the union of the tribes. Samuel who, like Eli, was a priest, and not a judge pro- moted, instead of opposing, this transition from tribal anarchy to monarchical unity. With it real Israelitish history begins. We have made no attempt to acquaint our readers with any of the critical processes which have led to the construction of the foregoing scheme of the earliest history of Israel. Those familiar to a degree with Biblical inquiry in its recent stages, even if as yet ignorant of the advances made on the basis of the Graf and Kuenen theory, which has completely changed the relative value of the main Old-Testament narratives, will neither be surprised by the results stated nor ask for explanations, which must needs transcend the bounds of a review in a journal like this. Readers who know only their Bible and apologetic com- mentaries, and perhaps an apologetic Bible dictionary, will, we have no doubt, be amazed at statements so often flagrantly at variance with the best-remembered texts of the Scriptures, and not a little inclined to attribute some of the assertions to defec- tive knowledge, wrong judgment, or evil propensity on the part 150 MICHAEL HEILPRIN of the critical innovators. Such, suspicions we are unable to disarm here by evidences to the contrary, but we owe our general public the assurance that the work itself completely refutes them. Never has the minute examination and dissection of historical tradition been carried out with more painstaking earnestness, sounder knowledge, and greater freedom from reli- gious or anti-religious prepossessions, than in the histories of Wellhausen and Stade. In the work of the latter author, which in its analysis of the traditional accounts is firmly grounded on the writings of the former, the destructive analytical labor is so convincingly justified by intrinsic evidence from the respec- tive texts the Hebrew as well as the Greek of the Septuagint that only he who shuts his eyes to all evidence conflicting with cherished notions can gainsay it. Of course, we are far from saying that no point of detail can be contested. The con- structive labor of the author, in which more originality is evinced, is naturally based in part on conjecture, and his con- jectural facts are, we confess, often propounded with too much positiveness. It is, perhaps, owing to the frequency of instances in which hypothesis must do duty for knowledge a fre- quency demanding a reiteration of acknowledged doubt too tedious to carry out that much appears presented with an assurance not warranted by the saved remnant of dissected tra- dition. The plausibility of the facts or conditions construc- tively elicited here from a mass of conflicting testimony is gen- erally very strong, though a most plausible guess but too often proves a mistaken guese when verification is possible. Nation, March 10 and 17, 1887. KENAN'S "HISTORY OF ISRAEL"* In order to complete the " History of the Origins of Christi- anity," which he initiated a quarter of a century ago with his "Vie de Jesus," and continued in "Lea Apotres," "Saint- Paul," " L'Antechrist," " Les Evangiles," " L'Eglise Chreti- enne," and " Marc-Aurele," M. Renan goes back to the early history of the nation to which the founders of the Christian 1 Histoire du Peuple d'lsrael. Par Ernest Renan, membre de 1'Institut, professeur au College de France. Vol. I. KENAN'S "HISTORY OF ISRAEL" 151 religion belonged, tracing the origins to their remote springs, " the great prophets who introduced morality into religion about 850 years before Jesus Christ." But then, " prophetism itself has its root in the antique ideal of patriarchal life, an ideal created partly by fancy, but which had been a reality in a re- mote part of the Israelitish tribe." Consequently Renan must begin the beginnings with the history of Hebrew patriarchal times. But is there such a history? Have any records of it been preserved ? Are the Biblical Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, his- torical personalities? M. Renan has not the least hesitation in answering these questions with a bold negative. Abraham ia a transformed recollection of a mythical Babylonian King the good Orham, or " father Orham," Ab-Orham. Jacob and Joseph are abridged names of nomad clans, Jacob-El and Joseph- El, devoted to the worship of El, like Ishma-El and other Arab Elites. The stories told about them in Genesis are child- ish tales, full of miraculous traits, which readers of our time cannot but find absurd in the highest degree. Yet such is the vast learning, Biblical and Semitic in general, at the disposal of our writer, and such the magic power of his poetic fancy and descriptive diction, that he can venture to reconstruct Israel's earliest history, partly out of general observations on Arab nomad life and primitive institutions, and partly out of scanty historical threads woven by the ancient Hebrews into their myths and tales. As we remarked on a much earlier occasion (see Nation, No. 213), " M. Renan, without any qualification, rejects as incredi- ble everything supernatural; but the shadows that accompany the delineations of supernatural things he saves, and quite as artfully as artistically works them into new images. His new images are often excellent imitations of the sacred ones he tears ; but while orthodoxy must spurn them as devoid of all sacred substance, mere unimpassioned criticism, too, can see in them little more than shadows." Thus he created his Jesus and his Apostles, and painted their Galilee and the cradle-time of Christianity, and thus he reconstructs and paints, with admir- able skill, Israel in his infancy and childhood. We use this personal (and Scriptural) form of expression, for under the poetic pencil of our author the nation becomes a hero, and its 152 MICHAEL HEILPEIN history a biographical epic. He follows Israel in his wander- ings as a child from Arabia, along the western banks of the Euphrates, to Padan-Aram, to Canaan, into Egypt. For this period of his hero's life he has nothing but fond sympathy. Israel walks, or might have walked, in perfect simplicity and innocence; his God, then, was the homeless nomad's El, or Elohim, a benevolent, impartially just, unnational, universal god. The pictures of this life, of this faith, are impressive and beguiling from apparent naturalness of delineation and color- ing. And everything is chastely done, almost to the exclusion of ornamentation, which saves the idyllically sublime from be- coming ridiculous. Nor is the necessary support from varied stores of antiquarian and Oriental lore wanting to the tableau. The reader must not hastily form the conclusion that M. Renan's epopee of Israel will be as unmixed in features as that of Jesus or St. Paul. Far from it. His Israel will be- come a nation in Egypt, and " alas ! since the beginning of the world no amiable nation has yet been seen." Elohim will be exchanged for Yahveh (Jehovah), a special national god, a god- protector of Israel. The national idea will demand a god caring only for his nation, to the detriment, the abasement, the woe, of all its opponents and rivals. The theology of Israel, in Shiloh and Shechem, Jerusalem and Samaria, will be as black (the author does not spare the color) as it was pure and amiable under the starry skies and in the healthy air of the desert. The Jehovah of the time of the judges and early kings is not just and kind like El, " the Elyon or the Shaddai of the patriarchs." He is " shockingly partial " to Israel, " frightfully hard " to other nations. " II tue, il ment, il trompe, il vole pour le plus grand bien d'Israel." Fortunately for the world, the develop- ment of Hebrew theology does not end there. " It will be the work of the prophets " of the ninth century B. c., and of their successors "to recreate the Elohism of old by dint of reflection," to perfect it, to bring their people back to it, to make it the perennial stream from which all nations will finally draw waters of bliss. " Elohim is the universal God, the God of mankind. In reality, it is to Elohim, not to Yahveh, that the world has been converted. The world has become theistic that is, Elohistic, not Yahvistic. It has forgotten how Yah- KENAN'S "HISTORY OF ISRAEL" 153 veh's name was pronounced ; every one, to eternity, will furnish it with vowels as he fancies. Neither Christianity nor Islam knows Yahveh." This is, in fact, the keynote of the volume. These are surely radical notions for an historian of the chosen people, a student of the origins of Christianity, who began his work, and continues it, with a kind of religious ardor. But radical and bold as all this is, the history, as such, must be pronounced far from destructively critical compared with re- cent German works on the same subject. Wellhausen, in his well-known sketch of the history of Israel (published in the "Britannica") wastes not a paragraph on the patriarchal period to which our author devotes 150 pages evidently deeming all the traditions concerning it completely valueless as a sub- stratum for history. Stade, in his extensive work (see Nation, ~Nos. 1132 and 1133), barely alludes to them in a few lines, distinctly declaring : " Irgend eine historische Gewissheit ist bei dem bruchstiickartigen dieser Ueberlieferungen und ihrer durch- gangigen Versetzung mit mythologischen Elementen nicht zu gewinnen." He not only ignores all that is told about the migrations from Ur of the Chaldees to Haran through Canaan, but also the sojourn of the Israelites in Egypt, and their march under the lead of Moses to Sinai, and thence to Gilead. M. Renan has chapters on " The Beni-Israel in Egypt," on " Egypt's Influence on Israel," on " Israel's Exodus," on " Israel in the Desert of Pharan," on " Sinai," and on " The March toward Canaan," devoting much learning, some original criticism, and animated diction to particulars which the more consistent German critics reject as completely fictitious. M. Renan's inconsistency in rejecting the bulk of the Penta- teuchal narratives all that has real historical importance as legendary and rather idle tradition, and picking out some few slender threads, presumed to be of older texture, to weave them into a fanciful work of historical reconstruction, is fla- grant. He knows no Joseph (barring the clan Joseph-El), no clearly historical Moses " quoique son existence soit tres pro- bable " no Aaron, no Levites, and doubts the existence of a Joshua ; and yet he enters upon speculations on the route taken by the Israelites at the exodus from Egypt, imagines a substitute for the crossing of the Red Sea, speaks of Marah, Elim, Rephi- 154 MICHAEL HEILPRIK dim, Meribah, etc., and introduces Sinai in the highest strains of descriptive rhetoric. When we examine his fascinating nar- ratives, we find them hollow. Israel is said to have become a people in Egypt " Israel n'est plus une tribu, c'est deja une nation " but a little brackish water, sweetened by the in- fusion of " certains branchages," keeps up this people at Marah, and seventy palm trees and some tamarisks give it shade at Elim. Of course, M. Renan reduces the millions of the fugitive Israelites to a comparatively very small number, and their forty years' wandering in the desert to a very rapid march through it though with a senseless deviation " toward the awful wilder- ness " of Sinai ; but in order to explain away an unavoidable residue of the miraculous, he must still resort to remarks like the following : " The fugitives might have taken along grain and provisions from Egypt. By means of the precious things which they had appropriated to themselves, if the narratives be credible, they could have procured something from the Ishmaelitish or Midianitish merchants, or form a herd for them- selves. Possibly the [Sinaitic] Peninsula was not so denuded three thousand years ago as it is at present." " Might," " if," and " possibly " are poor substitutes for the wand of Moses, a surfeit of quails, and plenty of manna from heaven. The fact is, M. Renan is a much more radical unbeliever now than he was when he wrote his " Vie de Jesus," and he is still as Bible-loving, imaginative, and artistically ambitious as he was then. Purposing to write a history of Israel without the least admixture of the supernatural, he cannot resign himself to presenting it incomplete, with gaps, and devoid of its exceptional embellishments. A disciple of the prophets and Bossuet, a critical follower of Kuenen and Wellhausen, and always poeti- cal, he turns what he cannot accept as a sacred account and is un- willing to reject as an historical romance, into a romantic his- tory. He begins with dissecting legend, and ends with reha- bilitating it, forgetting his own maxim, " II y a du danger a chercher trop d'histoire dans de vieux reves ou les spectres no se distinguent pas des hommes." From the scanty footprints of the infant Israel and to him we must limit our remarks here a whole image of him is drawn, with the magic help of Semitic philology, Arabian archaeology, Babylonian and Egyp- KENAN'S "HISTORY OF ISRAEL" 155 tian lore, and philosophy and poetry. The interspersed re- marks, learned or other partly drawn from the author's numerous previous works and dissertations are generally sug- gestive and seductively plausible. The critical details may be too numerous for the general public, but they enhance the value of the book for students. Some of the generalizations, whether sound or specious and glittering, are most forcibly presented. The following extract is, in more than one way, characteristic of the work : " Far from advancing the religious development of Israel, Egypt only strewed obstacles and perils upon the road which God's people had to wander over. Egypt contributed the ' golden calf,' that eternal stumbling-block of the multitude ; the brazen serpent, which the puritans detested ; the lying oracles [TJrim and Tummim] ; the Levite [' ark- tender'], who became Israel's leprosy; perhaps also circumcision, the people's greatest mistake, which for a time threat- ened to defeat its destiny. Excepting the ark, Egypt introduced into Israel only perturbing elements, which had to be eliminated, sometimes not without a crisis. It was not thus with the notions borrowed from Chaldea. These were all fruitful, and, excepting perhaps the unpronounceable name [of the Divinity], have remained strong supports of religion. Believing mankind still lives on them, it owes to those old fables a prehistoric antiquity in which it de- lights, and a cosmogony of which it is proud. Israel's genius did not spring from Chaldea; but Chaldea furnished it the first ten pages of the book which has made its unparalleled success. Egypt, on the contrary, supplied it with few fruitful germs. And how many exquisite things it killed ! The beautiful Jacobelite life is gone. Those noble types of [patriarchal] aristocrats, proud, honorable, and religiously serious, have passed away. Authority rests, no longer in the hands of the tribal chief. The multitude has now a voice, and this voice will not at all be in favor of religious puritanism. The Elohim-worship will soon appear dull. On every occasion the people will longingly regret the vulgarities of Egypt, and, in order to satisfy it, it will be necessary to erect for it Apis figures with gilded horns." Nation, January 5, 1888. The last article from Mr. Heilprin's pen appeared post- humously, in the Nation of May 31, 1888. It was as follows: 156 MICHAEL HEILPRIl? SAYCE'S HIBBEBT The Preface to this work one of its author's most ex- tensive and most elaborate productions opens with " a word of apology ... for the numerous repetitions in the following chapters, which are due to the fact that the chapters were written and delivered in the form of lectures." The explanation is in- adequate, for there are also repetitions in single divisions. In the first chapter, for instance, we read in a note to page 72 : " The name of Sin, the Moon-god, is met with in an Himyaritic inscription, and a god who thus found his way to southern Arabia would be equally likely to find his way to northern Arabia " ; and again (p. 50) : " Sin was the Babylonian name of the Moon-god. We learn from a Himyaritic inscription that his name had been carried into south- ern Arabia, and there is therefore no reason why it should not have been imported into northern Arabia as well." On page 45: " Josephos has preserved an extract from the Egyptian historian, Manetho. ... In this it is stated that the earlier name of Moses was Osarsiph, and that he had been priest of Heliopolis, or On. Here it is evident that Moses and Joseph have been confounded to- gether. The name of Joseph, who married the daughter of the priest of On, has been decomposed into two elements, the first of which is the divine name Jeho, and this has been changed into its supposed Egyptian equivalent, Osar, or Osiris." And in a note to page 51: "Manetho (ap. Joseph. . . .) states that the original name of Moses was Osarsiph, and that he had been a priest of Heliopolis, or On. Osar-siph is simply Joseph, Osar or Osiris being substituted for Jeho (Jo) or Jehovah. Joseph, it will be remembered, married the daughter of the priest of On." 1 Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion, as illustrated by the Religion of the Ancient Babylonians. By A. H. Sayce. [The Hibbert Lec- tures, 1887.] SAYCE'S HIBBEKT LECTUEES 157 Besides, another word of apology ought to have been inserted for the extensive repetitions in these " Lectures " and the ap- pendices to them of expositions made by the author in various previous publications. We are far from inclined to make it appear that Professor Sayce is apt to repeat himself from lack of fresh matter for new lectures or dissertations. His learning and fame shield him against such an imputation. No other archseologist is more often before the public with discoveries, or observations on dis- coveries, in his fields of study. And what he has to say always betokens ample familiarity with the latest research, and often ingenuity. What we object to in him, as in some of his fellow- laborers in Assyriology, is an excessive propagandist zeal in the interest of that science, from which springs an irresistible habit of inculcation. In the " Lectures " before us, everything picked out of the monumental rubbish of Babylonia and Assyria which can throw the least flicker of light, however evanescent and calculated to deceive, upon the gods and goddesses of Babylon, Borsippa, JSTipur, Larsam, Eridu, etc., is pressed upon the reader with as much persuasive effort as if the salvation of Christian souls depended on a true recognition of Ea, Mullil, and ISTinip, Zarpanit, Davkina, and Ninkigal, and their like. And a very large part of what is thus offered as knowledge of a high order though not without reservations as to entire accuracy, made in view of daily fresh light rests, in reality, on a frail network of conjecture. The conjectures are surely of interest to the scholar, and worth the trouble of examination as are the problems of Etruscan or Basque etymology but they should be dealt with as topics for the learned, without missionary ardor. The subject, on the whole, is not worthy of enthusiasm ; for Chaldean mythology, as revealed to us by the pedant scribblers on clay tablets, is as completely devoid of poetic charm and primitive naivete as the Assyro-Babylonian history of the monuments is devoid of all traits of nobility or naturalness. A study of " the religion of the ancient Babylonians " is, it is true, not without interest in regard to Biblical inquiry. It imparts to us, for instance, information about Nebo, Merodach, Bel, Babylonian divinities mentioned in the Old Testament 158 MICHAEL HEILPRItf the first in Isaiah, the second in Jeremiah, and the third in both. But how much does that new information amount to ? Before cuneiform decipherments had been made, we believed with Gesenius that the gods mentioned were divine embodiments of the planets Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter, respectively. Now we have learned that " Kebo must have once been an elemental god," that " Babylonian astronomy made him the presiding deity of the planet Mercury, just as it made Merodach the pre- siding deity of Jupiter," and that " the Merodach of the histori- cal age " was " the great Bel or Baal of Babylon," though dif- ferent from " the older Bel of Nipur." According to this, Gesenius was right when he identified Xebo with Mercury, and Bel with Jupiter, and mistaken in regard to Merodach, in not identifying him with the great Bel of Babylon, but deriving his name, which, in Jeremiah (1, 2), is coupled with Bel's, as !Kebo's is in Isaiah (xlvi, 1), "a stirpe Mord, Hort, quse et mortem et ccedem significat," just as " Mars, Mavors, et mors ejusdem originis esse videntur " (" Thesaurus," s. v.}. And the gain is a different meaning, without a new rendering, for a line in Jeremiah. Whether King Merodach-Baladan or King Evil- Merodach bore the name of Jupiter or Mars, is, of course, wholly indifferent. Incomparably more important to Biblical students would be the remarks concerning the names of Joseph, Moses, Saul, David, and Solomon, if they were sufficiently substantiated. Collectively they would greatly impair the value of the Scrip- tural narratives of all early Hebrew history, even if considered merely as reflections of popular tradition. The story of Joseph would cease to be a recollection of Egyptian life, and become something like a Babylonian myth because it appears " prob- able that the name of Joseph was originally identical with the Babylonian asipu" which may be the designation of " the god of the oracle," especially as among the names of the cities cap- tured by Thothmes III., in Palestine, there is one which is read Iseph-el, and may be translated " Joseph, the God." The name Moses would be a reminiscence of the Babylonian masu, " the hero " or " leader," " an epithet applied to more than one divinity," but " in a peculiar sense associated with the sun- god " the character which represented the idea of hero also SAYCE'S HIBBEKT LECTUKES 159 representing " the idea of a ' collection of books/ . . . ' a scribe ' or ' librarian/ " terms so appropriate to the lawgiver " to whom Hebrew tradition referred the collection of its earliest documents, and the compilation of its legal code." Besides, Moses was said to have died on Mount Nebo, which bore the name of " the prophet-god of Babylon, . . . the patron of writing and literature," as a star " accounted one of the seven 'heroes' or mdsu"; and in the story of him we also meet with the name Sin, which was that of another Babylonian god, and " Sinai itself," which Moses reached after traversing the wilderness of Sin, " can scarcely signify anything else than the mountain sacred to the Moon-god." Saul and Solomon also bear the names of Assyro-Babylonian gods, popularly be- stowed on them instead of their original names. For the former, " the one asked for" (Heb. Shaul), the people wisely discovered the " singularly appropriate " mythological name Savul, or Sawul, by which the sun-god was known at Babylon, whence if " Kehoboth of the river" designates that city, the Edomites also received a King Saul (Gen. xxxvi). The suc- cessor of David they named after Sallimanu, " the god of peace," probably a fish-god, " honored particularly in Assyria," in a list of whose gods " mention is made of ' Sallimanu the fish, the god of the city of Temen-Sallim (the foundation of peace)'" so strikingly reminding one of Solomon of Jerusalem. The argument as to the name of the son of Jesse is fuller. Condensed, it runs thus : " That David's first name was Elhanan (or Baal-hanan) has long been suspected, since it is stated in one passage that Elhanan, the son of a Bethlehemite, 'slew Goliah the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam/ while the feat is elsewhere ascribed to David; and at the head of the thirty mighty men of David is placed Elhanan, the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, where we should probably read ' Elhanan, who is Dodo/ or David." This name is identical with that of the Syrian supreme Baal, or Sun-god, Hadad. In an abbreviated form, Shalmaneser speaks of the god Dada of Khalman, or Aleppo. Be-dad, or Ben-dad, " the son of Dad," was the father of the Edomite, Hadad. David, " or Dod, as the word ought to be read," or Dodo " the beloved one " 160 MICHAEL HEILPRIN ^ :; is the male corresponding to the Phoenician goddess and presid- ing deity of Carthage, called Dido by the writers of Rome. And a recent thorough examination of the squeeze of the Moabite stone by Professors Socin and Smend, which resulted in some new readings, shows that King Mesha "tells us that he had carried away from Ataroth 'the arel (or altar) of Dodo and dragged it before Chemoth,' and from Nebo ' the arels (or altars) of Yahveh,' which he likewise ' dragged before Cha- moth.' " From this parallelism " it is quite clear " " that the Israelites of the northern kingdom worshipped a Dodo or Dod by the side of Yahveh, or, rather, that they adored the supreme God under the name of Dodo as well as under that of Yahveh." It is even " suggested that Dod, or Dodo, was an old title of the supreme God in the Jebusite Jerusalem, and that hence Isaiah, when describing Jerusalem as the tower of the vineyard the Lord had planted in Israel, calls him D6d-i, ' my beloved.' " To us " it is quite clear " that all these identifications, how- ever specious some of them may appear, are extravagantly forced. Let us examine them briefly. Professor Sayce himself evidently knows only an epithet asipu, but no such name of a god, for a mention of which we have in vain searched the books (on our shelves) of Schrader, Delitzsch, Hommel, George Smith, Lenormant, the Oxford professor himself, and other Assyriolo- gists. The city name read by our author Iseph-el, and translated " Joseph, the God," is read by Brugsch, the best authority on the subject, Ishpar, and identified with Micah's Shaphir. Nor have we been able to discover a trace of a god M5su, into which the epithet masu is twisted, or of Savul, or Sawul. Now we should have to believe that the Hebrews of those olden times were wonderfully learned in the mythological lore of Babylon and Nineveh, with which, as the Bible and the monuments con- currently show, they had not the least connection in those periods, if we were to assume that such recondite and obscure designations could have any popular meaning for them, as sub- stitute names for their heroes. If surnames like " the one asked for," " the beloved one," or " the peaceable " were assumed, or bestowed on kings as the Egyptian Ptolemies were called Soter, Philadelphus, Euergetes, etc. the purely Hebrew ap- pellations Shaul, David (or, say Dod), Sh'lomoh, were excel- SAYCE'S HIBBERT LECTURES 161 lently chosen, and there was surely no need for the names of foreign idols. Nor were the Israelites in the habit of bestow- ing on a man the simple name of a divinity. They would couple with that name Jah (or Jehovah), El, Baal a verb or a common noun, thus: Jedediah, Jehovah's favorite; Elkanah, God-made; Jerubbaal, Baal-fighter. The list of the thirty mighty men of David which is cited to prove the identity of that King's name with Hadad and Dada, contains nine such compound names Asael, Elhanan, Elika, Eliahba, Jonathan, Eliphalet, Eliam, Uriah (besides the incidentally mentioned Joab and Zeruiah) and no name of a foreign god. " That David's first name was Elhanan has long been suspected," is true, but the conjecture has just as long been considered easily refutable by the texts (II. Sam. xxi and xxiii) on which it was grounded. Thenius ("Die Biicher Samuels") showed its hol- lowness, Wellhausen (" Der Text der Biicher Samuelis ") com- pletely ignored it. And the supposition that "the Israelites of the northern kingdom worshipped a Dodo or Dod " not the least allusion to which can be found in the Bible is extremely far from being made "quite clear" by Socin and Smend's examination of the squeeze of Mesha's inscription. These professors themselves, in their joint monograph on the subject (" Die Inschrift des Konigs Mesa von Moab fur aka- demische Vorlesungen," 1886), say: "Allerdings kb'nnte man in Dodo . . . vielleicht ebenso gut den Namen des Stifters wie den einer Gottheit (Liebesgottheit ?) suchen." That is to say, Mesha's " Dodo " if correctly read may designate a man, and, if a divinity, a goddess of love the Dido of the Phoeni- cians. (What an appropriate name for King David ! ) Besides, the arel in question was " deutlich Moabitischen Ursprungs," carried as " spolia opima " to the border-town Ataroth, and back to Moab by Mesha. On so frail a basis is reared the hypothesis that the Israelites " adored the supreme God under the name of Dodo, as well as under that of Yahveh," and that even Isaiah spoke of the Lord as Dod ! After all this evidence of the learned author's fondness for bold conjectures, it is hardly necessary to state that his faith in the extravagant speculations of "the brilliant and gifted Frangois Lenormant," of " Dr. Fritz Hommel, one of the ablest 162 MICHAEL HEILPKItf of the younger band of Assyrian students," and others, as to the relations of Accado-Sumerian to Semitic Babylonian and of Accadian and Sumerian to each other, has not been shaken in the least by the more than half accomplished desertion of Friedrich Delitzsch to the side of Halevy, who knows only Semitic-Babylonian inscriptions. We will conclude our notice of the " Lectures " with an extract showing the author's offen- sive-defensive attitude in this question: " Far be it from me to disparage . . . the work which has been accomplished by Professor Delitzsch and his pupils. We owe it in great measure to him that the decipherment of Assyrian stands at its present level of scholarship. . . . But the Leipzig school has, with one or two striking exceptions, been far too one-sided. Archae- ology, history, religion, mythology, have been neglected in favor of the almost exclusive study of words : words, too, not as bound to- gether in the sentences of untranslated texts, but isolated and apart. . . . This excessive devotion to vocabularies has been too often ac- companied by a misconception or forgetfulness of the real nature of the 'bilingual lists.' They are for the most part commentaries upon older texts, made we know not when, and intended to explain the meaning of rare or obsolete words, ideographs, and expressions. The original text was sometimes in Accado-Sumerian, sometimes in an older form of Semitic Babylonian, while at other times texts in both languages were commented on together by the scribe. In the so-called non-Semitic column of the ' bilingual lists/ accord- ingly, we must expect to find not only Accado-Sumerian, but also Semitic words as well as ideographs, which may be either of Sume- rian or of Semitic origin. . . . The mythological lists, which con- tain a medley of divine names and epithets drawn from sources of all kinds and ages, partly Accado-Sumerian, partly Assyrian, partly purely ideographic, partly even Elamite or Kossaean, afford a good example of the difficulty and danger of trusting implicitly to such guides. It is from this cause that Assyrian has been taken for Acca- dian, Accadian for Assyrian; while ideographs have been read pho- netically, and phonetic characters as if they were ideographs." VIII RECOLLECTIONS OF HUNGARY AND POLAND Many hundred pages might have been added to the foregoing extracts from the Nation without heightening the wonder at such varied and profound scholarship. Whatever Mr. Helprin wrote was characteristic of him. His ideal truthfulness was stamped upon every line. " He wished to be absolutely just," the editors of the Nation wrote of him, and to this striving for accuracy he was quite willing to sacrifice, at times, a literary effectiveness well within his grasp. In reviewing a book, or writing an editorial on men and measures, he would often qualify an opinion just expressed, raise a doubt concerning seem- ing facts, ask a series of questions to which he himself had no answer all of which occasionally impaired the force of his diction ; but when its flow was unimpeded it carried the reader with it by its pure literary charm. Were it possible to follow all the incidents of this life, from childhood to old age, we should have before us a picture of a singularly harmonious and consistently winning personality. There was not a flaw in Michael Heilprin's character, not a single trait one could have wished different. From the time I first met him, in the winter of 1866, to the day of his death, in May, 1888, I had daily opportunity of knowing and admiring the loveliness of his nature. He was ever stimulating and en- nobling to all who came in contact with him. It is not possible to construct, from the scanty material at my disposal, even if supplemented by the recollections of his still surviving daughters, a consecutive story of Mr. Heilprin's life. He sometimes spoke, in his last years, of writing down his rem- iniscences, but it would not have been easy for him to do justice to his career. His modesty in speaking of his own achievements and the absence of letters from those, in various countries, who had known and written to him, would I think have interfered with his plan. Though of methodical and orderly habits, he 164: MICHAEL HEILPRIN rarely preserved a letter, and for the last twenty years kept no record of what he wrote. Only a few of his articles in the Nation (and these only from among the earliest) were found in the two meagre scrap books which contain some of his literary records. It was a pleasant surprise to me to find a thin little volume of 62 pages bearing on the cover the dedication Kedves Nomnek. Budavdr viszavetele napjdn (To my dear wife. On the anniversary of the recapture of Buda), which contains the poems he wrote during the Hungarian revolution, including a few translations and adaptations from the German and French. The fly-leaf shows the written date " 1849." Other- wise there is no indication of the author or the time and place of publication. In all likelihood the poems were surreptitiously printed, and it would have been, at that time, a matter of the greatest personal danger to disclose the name of the author. One of these poems, " Kaszahoz ki magyar," (To the Scythe, Hungarians!) credited to " H. M." (Heilprin Mihaly, as the name is written in Hungarian) is found in an anthology of revolutionary poems in the possession of the family, likewise without date or place of publication or name of editor. The collection bears the title of Hangok a Multbol (Echoes from the Past). Hungarian poetry had a firm place in Mr. Heilprin's heart. Perhaps no poet in any language was as dear to him as Alex- ander Petofi, the greatest of Magyar bards, some of whose lyrics he translated into English. I quote two of these translations, which were printed in Graham's Magazine, in 1857. MY CABJB One care torments my heart should I One day in bed, on cushions die ! Die drooping, like a faded flower, Whose roots the gnawing worms devour ; Or slow consumed in growing gloom, A candle left in empty room ! Oh God ! not such a death may be, Not such, the end of life to me ! I 'd die a tree that lightnings break, Or tempests wild, when forests shake ; TRANSLATIONS FKOM PETOFI 165 A rock, by crushing thunder's might Dashed to the vale from craggy height. When once the nations, tired to bear, To break the yoke of slavery dare, And rise at once with brandished swords, And banners red, and with these words Upon the banners all unfurled : " Freedom forever to the world ! " That sound from east to western ends And tyranny to fight descends, There flow my blood In battle dread Fresh out of my exulting breast. May there my dying voice supprest By weapons' clink, unheard expire 'Mid trumpets' sounds and cannons' fire And o'er my corse The snorting horse May dashing run to victory, And leave unburied, trampled, me. My scattered bones they '11 gather there When burial's day comes grand and fair ; When with the mournful music's sound, And under banners furled around, They lay in one grave, side by side, AU who for thee, World's Freedom! died. MY SONGS In musing thoughts I often stray : I dream what ? I could hardly say, And thus throughout my home I fly, All o'er the earth and through the sky. The little songs I then unroll Are moonbeams of my dreaming soul. While thus I rove in realms of air, I ought perhaps for wants to care, To think oh, that 's too serious ! There is a God who thinks for us. The little songs I then enroll Are butterflies of my light soul. 166 MICHAEL HEILPKIN Oh, when I meet a maiden fair, To deeper grave must sink my care ; In maiden's eyes I dive as far As in a lake's calm depths the star. The little songs I then unroll Are roses of my loving soul. If love I win, I drink of glee, If not, wine must my comfort be, And where a glass and wine I find, Full-colored mirth comes o'er my mind. The little songs I then unroll Are rainbows of my tipsy soul. While glasses fill our hands around, The nation's hands with chains are bound; Well-clinking glasses charm the ear, But sad 't is clanking chains to hear. The little songs I then unroll Are clouds of my regretful soul. And will the world in bonds remain ? Will people never break the chain, But wait until, through heav'n, it must Drop from the hand, destroyed by rust ? The little songs I then unroll Are lightnings of my angry soul. During the Revolution Petofi one day entered Mr. Heilprin's bookstore. He pointed to a volume of his songs, and laughingly asked whether the book was selling well. The poet's wish to die on the battle-field, and lie there unknown, was literally ful- filled. He fought in the battle of Segesvar (Schassburg), July 31, 1849, and was never heard of afterwards. It is thought that he fell by a Cossack's lance, and that his body, mangled beyond recognition, was buried in an unknown grave. Mr. Heilprin left no records bearing on his early life in Poland. He had perfect command of the Polish language, but I believe never published anything in it Though he loved to speak of the scenes of his childhood, of the woods near his native town, and, occasionally, of some favorite book he read in RECOLLECTIONS OF HUNGARY AND POLAND 167 his young days, he was comparatively reticent concerning his experiences in Poland. Of his father, whose life will be sketched at the close of this volume, he always spoke in terms of veneration. From him he derived his first scholarly impulses. The language of the home in Poland was German as well as Polish. Latin and Greek he acquired early, though the study of Hebrew was paramount to everything else. When little more than a child, he began to write down critical remarks on certain passages of the Old Testament. Of the value of these random annotations, partly linguistic, partly historical, I shall speak later on. He accompanied his father on some journeys to Prussia and Austria, in the course of which he came in contact with interesting persons. He repeatedly saw, among other Hebraists, the great rabbinical critic Rapoport. Abra- ham Geiger, the distinguished liberal theologian, he met later on, as he did the eminent botanist, Pringsheim. Though the family enjoyed in their home the esteem alike of Christians and Jews, the political conditions of Poland rested heavily on them, and they were glad to breathe the freer air of Hungary, to which country they emigrated in 1842. A few re- marks may be added to Mr. Chadwick's statements concerning their life in Hungary. Michael Heilprin's speedily acquired mastery of the Hungarian language and his general accomplish- ments procured him the acquaintance of men prominent in na- tional life. Kossuth, I believe, he did not meet until after the Revolution, but he became attached to Szemere, the Minister of the Interior in 1848, from whom he accepted a place in the literary bureau of that department. He also became well ac- quainted with the statesman Csengery, known for his historical writings and his translation of Macaulay's History of England. After the struggles of 1848 Mr. Heilprin thought it prudent to leave Miskolcz, where the family had settled on coming from Poland, and betake himself with his family to Pesth, and he was present with them at the siege of Buda, in the spring of 1849. The final collapse of the revolutionary movement ren- dered his stay in Hungary insecure, and he repaired, in 1850, to Paris, where he spent a few months, troubled by his failing eyesight and anxiety for his family, who had remained in Hungary. He found, however, wholesome diversion in rambles 168 MICHAEL HEILPKIN along the Loire, in the company of a prominent Hungarian refugee, Mr. Ludvigh, whose son subsequently became much attached to the Heilprin family in New York. While in France he formed the resolution to become a vegetarian, to which he adhered to the end of his life. IX ME. HEILPRIN'S FIRST YEARS IN AMERICA Mr. Chadwick's sketch omits mention of Philadelphia, as the first home of the family in America. They arrived in that city in May, 1856. Mr. Heilprin gained there a precarious liveli- hood by teaching until, two years later, he secured work on Appleton's Cyclopaedia. His interest in American politics began with the day of his arrival on American soil, as is shown by a striking incident which occurred a few months after. A well-informed writer, in an essay on Mr. Heilprin, published in the Jewish Exponent of October 27, 1899, described this incident as follows: " Toward the end of the fifties, when public opinion was crys- tallizing on the impending war issue, Philadelphia was the scene of a conflict whose bitterness can better be imagined than described. Party feelings had reached the boiling-point when, one evening, Carpenter's Hall was appropriated for the use of the anti-slavery Democrats. The speaker on this occasion, all enthusiastic, was convincing his audience of the justice of their cause when he was suddenly interrupted by the hoots and jeers of a crowd of hoodlums representing the ' Copperheads,' who entirely unobserved had entered the meeting. Quick as a flash, in this moment of uproar, an unknown man rose from one of the first rows in the audience. Every eye was upon him. In breathless excitement he mounted his chair, and in vigorous German, reinforced by a remarkable eloquence, delivered such a bitter tirade against the methods of the opposition as to make him at once the object of the mob's resentment. He was imme- diately surrounded . . . and was about to be rushed bodily out of the hall when Dr. Edward Morwitz organized his friends upon the platform . . . and succeeded in tearing him away from the clutches of the angry mob. That man, that hero in the conflict for truth and justice, was Michael Heilprin." 170 MICHAEL HEILPRIN Four years later, in a burning denunciation of the pro-slavery arguments of a well-known Jewish rabbi, published in the New York Tribune, Mr. Heilprin showed himself as fully at home in the intricacies of American politics as in biblical lore. Re- ferring to his antagonist's preference for the translation "slave" of the Hebrew word, ebed, instead of " servant " as used in the English version, he wrote : " It would certainly be no less a task to make the great lights of biblical criticism and theology agree upon a harmonious trans- lation of it in all passages, than to bring about a similar harmony regarding the construction of the United States Constitution in all its parts, between Senators Seward and Bigler, Wade and Iverson, Sumner and Davis, Wilson and Toombs," etc. Mr. Heilprin found it inconvenient to remain in Philadelphia, owing to his work on the Cyclopaedia, and the family moved to Brooklyn in August, 1858. It was there that the acquaintance with the Manning family ripened into the warmest friendship. Mr. and Mrs. Manning had long cherished the greatest admiration for Mr. Heilprin. Mrs. Manning, who was during the war prominently connected with the Sanitary Commission, awakened in President Lincoln a desire (as she related it) to meet her " remarkable friend." In Brooklyn, as later on in New York, there lived quite a number of Hungarian patriots of the year 1848, who found their way naturally to Mr. Heilprin's house. The members of the Kossuth family, who had found a refuge in America, his sisters, Mme. Kossuth-Zulavsky, and Mme. Ruttkay, and their children were often welcome guests under the Heilprin roof, and the friendship lasted until and beyond Mme. Rutt- kay's final return to Hungary. From Mme. Ruttkay, who, like most of the members of the family, had something of Kossuth's fiery eloquence, Mr. Heilprin had occasional re- ports concerning her distinguished brother. Among other Hun- garians who visited the house was Mr. Zagonyi, who afterwards became a colonel in the Union army and achieved distinction as a cavalry officer under Fremont, at the battle of Springfield. Mr. Heilprin met also Generals Stahel and Asboth, both Hungarians by birth, and knew Ujhazy, a resident of Texas, who bore the title of Governor, from having been in A GARIBALDIAN LEGION IN AMERICA 171 command of one of the Hungarian fortresses during the Revolution. The friendship of the Heilprins for Mme. Zulavsky, who was tenderly cared for by the Mannings, brightened many hours of her last illness, and when she died Mr. Heilprin spoke feelingly at her grave in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, July 1, 1860. It was at that time, in July, 1860, that a number of Hun- garian patriots in America, among them Ladislas Zulavski, organized a legion to join Garibaldi in his rising against Sicily. At a banquet on the eve of their departure Mr. Heil- prin bade them godspeed in a stirring poem, three stanzas of which read: And when the roaring tempest shakes Your vessel's mast and rib and keel, Then sing ye loud through storm and waves Your Vb'rosmarty's grand " Appeal " 1 That ocean's waves, reechoing, May thunder it to ev'ry shore That Arpad's nation is not dead, That Hungary will live once more ! For Europe's Freedom now revives She struggles now to burst her tomb ; Behold her martyrs' spectres rise ! They come to tell the despots' doom. And ancient glories are renewed, And Spartan, Roman deeds are done; Behold, alive the sacred band, Camillus, and Timoleon! 'T is he, 't is he, Timoleon ! His galleys boldly part the waves The Pasan sounds, the tempest yields Now rise, young Dionysius' slaves! The west cape hails, Panormus shouts, At .^Etna's foot Catania shakes ; The island's tyrant trembling sits Upon his throne, the while it breaks. CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE AMERICAN CYCLOPEDIA Mr. Heilprin's connection with the Cyclopaedia, begun in 1858, lasted until its completion, at the end of 1862. In addi- tion to his critical revision of the writings of others, he con- tributed a vast number of articles himself. I find among his papers, in his own handwriting, a " Partial List of M. Heil- prin's contributions to the New American Cyclopaedia." The list is as follows : Greece Epirus, Macedonia, Delphi, Delos, Laconia, Messenia, Epaminondas, Cleomenes, Demetrius Phalereus, Demetrius Polior- cetes, Canaris, Mavrocordato. Italy, Roman Empire Etruria, Genoa, Coriolanus, Catiline, Cassius, Domitian, Justinian, Dictator, Emperor, Freedmen, Fasti, Circus. France Gaul, Franks, Merovingians, Fronde, Directory, Fran- cis II., Crillon, Gourgaud, Louis XVIII. Germany Moravia, Hohenstaufen, Hapsburg, Hohenzollern, Frederic II., Louis IV., Frederic III., Maximilian I., Leopold I., Joseph I., Charles VII., Maria Theresa, Joseph II., Leopold II., Francis II., Francis Joseph of Austria, Frederic I. of Prussia, Frederic William II., Frederic William III., Frederic William IV., Frederic III of Saxony, Frederic Augustus I., Frederic Augustus II., Frederic I. of Wiirtemberg, Kaunitz, Gneisenau, Gyulai. Holland Maurice of Nassau. Hungary Hungary (including language and literature), Pan- nonia, Military Frontier, Pesth, Debreczin, Hunyady, Kossuth, Gor- gey, Klapka, Guyon, Kmety, Perczel, Kazinczky, Kisfaludy, Petofi, Csoma, Kollar. Poland Poland (including language and literature), Lithu- ania, Galicia, Cracow, Casimir the Great, John Sobieski, Chmiel- nicki, Czarniecki, Czartoryski, Lelewel, Chlopicki, Chlapowski, Chrzanowski, Dembinski, Mickiewicz, Mieroslawski. ARTICLES IN AMERICAN CYCLOPAEDIA 173 Russia Cronstadt, Kiev, Dnieper, Dniester, Fedor L, Deme- trius, Catharine I., Catharine II., Elizabeth, Constantine Pavlovitch, Constantino Nicolaevitch Diebitsch, Paskevitch, Dolgoruki, Demi- doff, Mentchikoff, Gallitzin, Gortchakoff, Karamsin, Czar, Cossacks. Servia Czerny George, Obrenovitch, Kara j itch. Danubian Principalities Moldavia. Asia Hebrews (including language and literature), Judaaa, Chaldea, Media, Gilead, Gaza, Canticles, Esdras, Books of, Ezra, Esther, Hillel, (Maimonides) Cyrus, Darius, Chosroes, Genghis- Khan, Hariri, Lydia, Lycia. Africa Gush, Elephantine, Cyrensea, Cyrene, Ethiopia, Ethi- opian Language, Numidia, Hamilcar, Hasdrubal, Hannibal, Masi- nissa, Genseric. Many of these articles were retained, wholly or in part, in the subsequent edition of the Cyclopaedia. The most notable of these, " Hebrews," covers twenty pages of the Cyclopaedia, It is a brilliant production, and as an epi- tome of the history and the achievements of the Jewish race can hardly be surpassed. The article embodies Mr. Heilprin's de- liberate judgment in choosing for mention names of those Jews who most worthily illustrated the achievements of the race, and the lists, interspersed throughout the article, are probably more nearly representative than any others that have ever appeared in any encyclopaedia. It must be remembered that the article was written about 1859. As a specimen of its wealth of learning and of the general treatment of the subject I quote from the article the following: "The political and intellectual condition of the Jews was worse in the Byzantine empire and in the feudal states which arose on the ruins of the western. Deprived of most civil rights, they were now and then bloodily persecuted, as by the Franks and Visigoths in the 6th and 7th centuries, by the Byzantines in the 8th, when many of them fled and even spread their religion among the Khazars about the Caspian sea, and again in the llth, about which time they appear in Russia, though only for a short time, and in Hungary. More tolerable, how- ever, was their situation in Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia, where they often found protection through the influence of the popes. Bari and Otranto became the principal seats of Jewish learning. 174 MICHAEL HEILPKIX The renowned Eleazer ben Kalir and other writers of piyutim (liturgical songs in Hebrew rhymed verse), the historian Josipon, and the astronomer Shabthay Donolo, flourished in Italy in the 9th and 10th centuries, and the lexicographer Nathan in the llth. From Italy science spread to the cities on the Rhine, to Lorraine and France. In the llth and 12th centuries we find in Germany Simeon, the author of the tal- mudical Yalkut (' Gleaning Bag '), the poet Samuel the Pious, and the writer of travels Petahiah ; in northern France, Gerson, surnamed the ' light of the exiled/ the liturgical poet Joseph Tob Elem, the renowned commentators Solomon Isaaki and his grandson Solomon ben Meir, and the authors of the talmudical Tosafoth (' Additions '), Isaac ben Asher, Jacob ben Meir, &c, Spain, after the conquest by the Saracens, who carried thither culture, science, and poetry, was destined to develop the most prosperous and flourishing condition which the Jews enjoyed in the Middle Ages. Persecutions became rare and ex- ceptional. The Jews enjoyed civil rights and rose to high dignities in the state under the Moorish princes, and were almost as well treated by the Christian monarchs, and their culture and progress in science not only kept pace with their prosperity, but also outlived occasional adversity. In the 10th century we see there the lexicographer Menahem, the astrono- mer Hassan, and the rich, liberal, and scientific Hasdai, the friend and physician of the caliph Abderrahman III., at Cor- dova; in the llth the talmudical scholars Samuel Hallevi and Isaac Alfasi (of Fez), the grammarian Abulwalid, the philos- opher David Mokamez, the ethical writer Behay, and Solomon ben Gabirol, equally celebrated as Hebrew poet and Arabic philosopher; in the 12th the theologian Abraham ben David, the astronomer and geographer Abraham ben Hiya, the poet Moses ben Ezra, the traveller Benjamin of Tudela, the scientific poet Jehudah Hallevi, whose glowing songs rival the beauties and purity of the Psalms, the great critic, philosopher, and poet Aben Ezra, and finally Moses Maimonides, who as phil- osopher, as well as writer on the law, by far surpassed all his contemporaries. The diffusion of science among the Jews now attained its height in Europe, as well as in Egypt, whither Maimonides fled after a persecution at Cordova (1157), and THE HISTOKY OF THE HEBREWS 175 where lie and his son Abraham officiated as physicians to the court of the sultan. Spain numbered among its vast number of scholars in the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries, the poets Charizi, the Hebrew imitator of the Arabian Hariri, and Sahola ; the astronomers Aben Sid, the author of the Alfonsine tables, leraeli, and Alhadev; the philosophical theologians Palquera, Lattef , Caspi, Hasdai, Albo, and Shemtob ; the celebrated com- mentators Nahmanides, Addereth, Gerundi, Behay, Yomtob, and Nissim; the cabalists Todros, Gecatilia, Abelafia, and De Leon. In Provence and Languedoc, where high schools flour- ished in Lunel, Nimes, Narbonne, Montpellier, and Marseilles, from the 12th to the 15th century, we find the three gram- marians Kimhi and their follower Ephodi; the poets Ezobi, Jedaiah, and Calonymus; the commentators Zerahiah Hallevi, Abraham ben David, and Menahem ben Solomon; the philos- ophers Levi ben Abraham, Levi ben Gerson, and Vidal; the four Tibbons, all translators from Arabic into Hebrew, and the lexicographer Isaac Nathan. Italy had in the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries the poets Immanuel, an imitator of Dante, Moses de Kieti, and Messir Leon; the talmudists Trani and Colon; the cabalist Recanate; the astronomer Immanuel; various grammarians and translators from Arabic and Latin; and finally the philosopher Elias del Medigo. Germany had in the same period the talmudists Meir, Mordecai, Asher and his son Jacob, and Isserlin, the cabalist Eleazar, and others. The Caraites, too, had a number of scholars, as Hadassi, the two Aarons, and others. During the early part of this long period of literary activity in the West the Jews enjoyed peace and prosperity, with various interruptions, in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, the islands of the Mediterranean, in Hungary, especially under the national kings, and in Poland, which hos- pitably received the numerous exiles from all neighboring coun- tries, under the Piasts, particularly the last of them, Casimir the Great ; but there were none in Muscovy and in the Scandi- navian states; and in England, where they appear before the time of Alfred, in France, where only the early Carlovingians, and especially Charlemagne, favored them, and throughout Germany, their condition was in the last degree deplorable. Circumscribed in their rights by decrees and laws of the ecclesi- 176 MICHAEL HEILPRIN astical as well as civil power, excluded from all honorable occu- pations, driven from place to place, from province to province, compelled to subsist almost exclusively by mercantile occupa- tions and usury, overtaxed and degraded in the cities, kept in narrow quarters and marked in their dress with signs of con- tempt, plundered by lawless barons and penniless princes, an easy prey to all parties during the civil feuds, again and again robbed of their pecuniary claims, owned and sold as serfs (Eammerknechte) by the emperors, butchered by mobs and revolted peasants, chased by the monks, burned in thousands by the crusaders, who also burned their brethren of Jerusalem in their synagogue, tormented by ridicule, abusive sermons, mon- strous accusations and trials, threats and experiments of con- version, the Jews of those countries offer in their mediaeval history a frightful picture of horrors and gloom. In England they had their worst days in the reigns of Richard I., at whose coronation they were frightfully massacred at York (1189), John, Henry III., and Edward I., who expelled them alto- gether from the realm (1290). From France they were for the last time banished under Charles VI. (1395). Germany, where the greatest anarchy prevailed, was the scene of their bloodiest persecutions, the most frightful of which took place in the cities on the Rhine during the great desolation by the black plague, which depopulated Europe from the Volga to the At- lantic (1348-'50). Pointed out to the ignorant people as hav- ing caused the pestilence by poisoning the wells, the Jews were burned by the thousands on the public squares, or burned them- selves with their families in the synagogues. Almost every im- perial city had a general persecution of the Jews. The Swiss towns imitated their neighbors, almost all banishing their Jews. With the growing influence of the inquisition the Jews of Southern Europe, too, suffered the same fate. The pro- tection of the popes being gradually withdrawn, they were banished from the cities of Italy into separate quarters (ghetti), and obliged to wear distinctive badges; persecutions became more frequent; in 1493 all the Jews of Sicily, about 20,000 families, were banished. In Spain, during a long drought in 1391-'92, the Jewish inhabitants were massacred in many cities. The condition of the Jews grew worse in the following century, THE HISTORY OF THE HEBREWS 177 until their extirpation from the whole country was determined upon, and, after repeated but fruitless attempts at conversion by the stake, finally carried into effect by Ferdinand and Isabella (1492). More than 70,000 families sought refuge in Portugal, where for a large sum of money the fugitives were allowed to remain for a few months, in Africa, Italy, Turkey, and other countries. Not the fifth part of them survived the horrors of compulsory expatriation, shipwreck, and subsequent famine. The feeling observer may find a compensation in the fact that while these events happened propitious winds carried three small caravels across the Atlantic to a new world, whose enervating treasures were destined to assist the inquisition in undermining the power of the oppressors, and whose future institutions were to inaugurate an era of freedom to the descendants of the oppressed. The Jews of Portugal were banished soon after (1495) by King Emmanuel, being robbed of their children under fourteen years of age, who were sent to distant islands to be brought up as Christians. The numerous converted Jews of the peninsula and their descendants were still persecuted for more than two centuries by governments, inquisitors, and mobs. These persecutions, which eventually carried the bulk of the Eu- ropean Jewish population into the province of Poland and Tur- key, similar events in the East during the crusades, a long series of persecutions in Germany, and in central and southern Italy in the 16th century, and bloody massacres by the revolted Cos- sacks under Chmielnicki in the S. E. regions of Poland, together with a general and minutely developed system of petty oppression, extortion, and degradation, to which the Jews were subjected in most parts of Europe during the 250 years following their expulsion from the Iberian peninsula, could not but exercise a disastrous influence upon the culture and literature of the people. The spirit of cheerful inquiry, study, and poetry which distinguished the Spanish-Provengal period, was gone. The critical knowledge and use of the Hebrew was neglected, the study of the Talmud and its com- mentaries became the almost exclusive occupation of the literary youth, and cabalistic speculations replaced philosophy, produc- ing in Poland various schools of religious enthusiasts called, Hasidim (pietists). A bold Turkish Jew, Shabthay Tzebi, 178 , MICHAEL HEILPRIN who, like the Persian Aldaud or Alroy in the 12th century, was proclaimed by his cabalistic followers the expected Messiah of Israel, found numerous adherents in various parts of Europe (1666), whose delusion was destroyed only by his compulsory conversion to Mohammedanism. Literature and science, how- ever, still found scattered votaries, especially in northern Italy, Turkey, and Holland; and besides the great talmudists, theo- logians, or commentators of this period, Don I. Abarbanel, I. Arama, J. and L. Habib, Mizrahi, O. Bartenura, O. Sforno, I. Luria, T. Karo, the author of the talmudical abridgment or code Shulhan arulch, E. Ashkenazi, Alsheikh, S. Luria, M. Isserels, M. Jafeh, Sirks, S. Cohen, Lion of Prague, E. Lent- shitz, J. Trani, J. Hurwitz, H. Vital, S. Edels, Y. Heller, Shabthay Cohen, A. Able, D. Oppenheimer, the collector of the best Hebrew library (now in Oxford), Tzebi Ashkenazi, H. Silva, J. Eosanis, D. Erankel, J. Eybeschiitz, J. Emden, H. Landau, Elias of Wilna, &c., we find the philosophers and men of science Bibago, S. Cohen, Amatus, Almosnino, De Castro, iA. Zacchuto, J. del Medigo, M. Hef etz, and Meto ; and among the poets, grammarians, critics, lexicographers, and historical writers, De Balmes, Elias Levita, A. Farissol, Solomon ben Melekh, Jacob ben Hayim, Gedaliah Jahiah, A. de Eossi, De'Pomi, D. Gans, S. Arkevolte, Lonsano, Manasseh ben Israel, the defender of the Jews before Cromwell, S. Norzi, S. Luz- zato, Leo de Modena, S. Mortera, J. Orobio, Shabthay ben Joseph, B. Mussaphia, De Lara, J. Cardoso, J. Abendana, S. Hanau, M. H. Luzzato, J. Heilprin, Azulia, and others. Be- yond the limits of the Turkish empire there was scarcely any trace of Jewish literature in the East, though there were and are still numerous Jewish communities in Persia, northern Arabia, Independent Tartary, and Afghanistan, as well as scat- tered colonies, mostly of more or less mixed race and religion, in India, China, Cochin China, Yemen, Abyssinia, and other parts of Africa, partly of very ancient date, partly founded by escaped Portuguese and Spanish New Christians, some of whom also settled in parts of Brazil and Guiana during the occupation by the Dutch. In Europe the last of the three great religious struggles, against paganism, against Mohammedanism, and be- tween the contending Christian sects, all of which were de- THE HISTOKY OF THE HEBKEWS 179 struetive to the Jews, was terminated by the peace of West- phalia (1648). Catholicism was triumphant in the south and in France, Protestantism in the north and north-west. The greater persecutions of the Jews now ceased. They became flourishing in the republics of Holland and Venice and their dependencies, were readmitted into England by Cromwell (hav- ing also entered Denmark and returned into France), spread with the Dutch and English to various parts of America, re- entered Eussia under Peter the Great (to be expelled after- ward), were admitted in Sweden, and were protected and often employed in high stations by the Sultans of Turkey and Morocco. In Germany and Switzerland, where the struggle was not termi- nated by any decisive triumphs, the mediaeval treatment of the Jews continued longest, its worst features being maintained and developed in Austria (excepting in the reign of Joseph II.), where down to the revolution of 1848 the Jews were excluded from all civil rights, numerous professions, and various prov- inces, districts, towns, villages, and streets, paying beside a tax for toleration in Hungary, in spite of the remonstrances of the legislatures, a tax upon their sabbath lights in Galicia, and a residence tax when visiting Vienna; while their houses in Moravia were often searched in the night of the sabbath for the purpose of surprising the returned Jewish peddlers who had been secretly married before the extinction of all older brothers, which was prohibited by a Pharaonic law. The general progress of freedom was promoted in the age of philosophy by the ap- pearance of Spinoza and Mendelssohn (1729 '86) among this long despised people. The influence of the latter upon the Jews and Christians through his works, example, fame, and friends (the great Hebrew poet Wessely, Euchel, Lowe, Fried- lander, &c., among Jews, and Lessing, Dohm, Abt, Mcolai, Engel, Ramler, &c., among Christians), was immense; and his admirers could say: ' Between Moses (the lawgiver) and Moses (Mendelssohn) there was only one Moses (Maimonides).' Progress now became general among the Jews, and the noble philosopher lived to see the first dawn of freedom in the land of Franklin and Jefferson. The great revolution in that of Voltaire and Rousseau came next, and the triumphs of republi- can and imperial France destroyed the mediaeval institutions on 180 MICHAEL HEILPRIN the Rhine and Po. Liberty, crushed in Poland by the Russians, when 500 of Kosciuszko's Jewish volunteers fell fighting to the last on the ramparts of Praga (1794), was successively victorious in the West. Proclaimed in the United States and France, the rights of the Jews were recognized in Holland, Belgium, Denmark, parts of Germany, Canada, and Jamaica; in 1848 '49 throughout Germany, Italy, and Hungary; and finally in Norway and England. Among the most zealous de- fenders of the rights of the Jews were the Frenchman Gregoire, the Pole Czacki, the German Welcker, the Irishman O'Connell, the Englishman Lord John Russell, the Italian D'Azeglio, and the Hungarian Eotvos, all Christians; the Jews by descent Borne and Disraeli, and the professing Jews Jacobssohn, Tugendhold, Riesser, Philipssohn, Montefiore, and Cremieux. The revolutionary movement of 1848 '9 proved the immense progress of the Jews as well as of public opinion since Mendels- sohn and Lessing. The Jews Cremieux, Goudchaux, and Fould (now minister of state) were among the ministers of the French republic; Pincherle was a member of the provisional govern- ment in Venice; Jacobi of Kb'nigsberg was the leader of the opposition in the Berlin parliament; Riesser was vice-president of that of Frankfort ; Dr. Fischhof stood at the head of affairs in Vienna after the flight of the court; Meisels, the rabbi of Cracow, was elected to the Austrian diet by Polish patriots; and Hungarian barons and counts willingly fought under Jew- ish officers of higher rank, of whom the adjutant of Gen. Nagy-Sandor, Freund, afterward became Mahmoud Pasha dur- ing the war in Turkey." A 1 STEIKINO ARTICLE ON HUNGABY The article " Hungary," in spite of its extreme condensation, vividly characterizes events and personages, and exhibits that extraordinary familiarity with strategic movements which stood Mr. Heilprin in such good stead, in his comments on the Franco-German and Russo-Turkish wars. Want of space for- bids my quoting more than a brief portion of the article. "The peace of Passarovitz (1718), the result of Eugene's new victories, enlarged the kingdom with the Banat, the last A CONDENSED STOEY OF HUNGAKY 181 province of the Turks in Hungary; but after another war Belgrade was ceded to the Turks by the treaty concluded in that city in 1739. Charles's mild reign disposed the nation to defend the disputed rights of his daughter Maria Theresa (1740-'80), who appeared in person before the diet of Pres- burg, and was greeted with lively acclamations by the chivalric nobles. Their Moriamur pro rege nostro Maria Theresa was no vain promise, for Hungarian blood was shed profusely in her wars against Frederic the Great and other enemies. She re- warded the fidelity of the people by mildness, and various ameliorations of the condition of the peasantry (the Urbarium) are among the merits of her reign; but she too was far from strictly observing the constitution, which her son Joseph II. (1780 '90), in his immoderate zeal for reforms and centraliza- tion, was eager to destroy. To avoid binding himself by the constitutional oath, he refused to be crowned in Hungary, auto- cratically dictated his liberal reforms, and imposed upon the country foreign officials, a foreign language, the German, and foreign official costumes. But his violent though well meant measures were opposed everywhere, and the rising in his Belgic provinces, the unfavorable issue of his war against Turkey, and finally the threatening events in France, compelled the philanthropic despot to revoke his decrees shortly before his death. His mild and dissolute brother Leopold II. (1790-'92), afraid of the growing storm in the West, hastened to appease the Hungarian nation, which had been aroused by ignominious treatment and the spectacle of its perishing neighbor Poland to a general desire of national regeneration. The diet of 1791 again sanctioned the most essential constitutional rights of the kingdom in general, and of the Protestants in particular, and for a series of years Francis, the son and successor of Leopold (17921835), was satisfied during his long wars against re- publican and imperial France with the continual subsidies of Hungary in money and men, including the hussars, whom even Napoleon acknowledged to be the bravest in the ranks of his enemies. The rare manifestations of democratic convictions he stifled in the dungeons of his fortresses, or, as in the case of the priest Martinovics (1795), in the blood of the offenders. The magnates were flattered and remained faithful. Thus 182 MICHAEL HEILPRIN Napoleon in vain called upon the Hungarians to rise for national independence. The last ' general rising ' of the no- bility was the answer (1809), but proved at the same time how incapable the old spirit was of being revived. Scarcely, how- ever, had the dangers passed which so long threatened the crowns of Francis, when his minister Metternich made it one of his principal tasks for the restoration of the shaken and bank- rupt Austrian empire to undermine the constitution of Hun- gary, the only check on the unlimited sway of the rulers. Every means, secret or open, was resorted to, but in vain. The progress of enlightenment, the warning example of Galicia, that withering limb of Poland torn from its body by Austria, and the spirit of nationality, rekindled by the activity of Francis Kazinczy and others, had prepared the nation for a struggle for constitutionalism and liberal reforms, which Metternich, both under Francis and his imbecile son Ferdinand V. (I. as emperor of Austria, 1835-'4r8), was unable effectively to resist. The Hungarian constitution had during the last few centuries undergone numerous modifications, without having at any period of its existence lost its vitality. As it was now, it was at the same time a charter of freedom, which shielded the people at large against the tyrannical sway of the princes and their min- isters, against oppressive taxes and levies, and especially the Protestants and Jews against the prescriptive system which prevailed in Austria, and secured to the numerous nobility the greatest degree of personal liberty and immunity enjoyed by any class in Europe, and on the other hand an instrument of oppression in the hands of the nobility against all plebeian in- habitants of the country, especially the peasantry, which was degraded by numerous feudal burdens. The nobles were free from every tax and personal service, except in case of a hostile attack on the country itself, when they were obliged to rise in a body at their own expense; they enjoyed all the privileges of the right of habeas corpus, governed the countries by their regular assemblies ('congregations') and court sessions, elect- ing the vice-counts, administrative judges, court assessors, etc., and exercised the right of legislation by their deputies to the lower house of the diet, two from each county, who in impor- tant questions were bound by the instructions of their con- A CONDENSED STOKY OF HUNGARY 183 stituents. The higher nobility, or magnates, dukes, counts, and barons, together with the chief dignitaries of the crown, the Catholic and Greek bishops and some other prelates, and the county presidents or lord lieutenants, formed the upper house of the diet under the presidency of the palatine. The absent magnates were represented in the lower house by proxies, who, however, like some other minor members, had only a de- liberative vote ; while the deputies of all free royal towns, which had their own separate domestic administration, could cast only one decisive vote. The diet, which in the earliest times had been held at Stuhlweissenburg or on the plain of Rakos before Pesth, and during the Turkish and civil wars in various cities, was now regularly convoked by the monarch at Presburg, at intervals not exceeding three years. Its duration was un- limited. Beside general legislation, it voted the various non- domestic contributions of the country, the refusal of which was the most effective weapon against the Vienna government. The chief royal organs of general administration were the Hungarian aulic chancery at Vienna, and the royal council at Buda, whose decisions, however, very often met with opposition or delay in the county assemblies. This vis inertias of the latter was the principal check on all despotic or unconstitutional attempts of the ministers, while their publicity and jealously guarded free- dom of debate were the chief elements of progress and political enlightenment. Gradually to abolish the immunities of the nobles and the feudal burdens of the peasantry, to endow the great bulk of the people with political rights, and at the same time to fortify the old bulwarks of the constitution, now be- came the task of the patriots ; and the great movement offered the rare spectacle of an aristocracy contending for the abolition of privileges and the equality of the people. Paul Nagy and Count Stephen Szechenyi were the champions of nationality at the diet of 1825, which inaugurated a long period of moderate but gradual reforms, the most important of which were car- ried through at the diets of 1832-'6, 1839-'40, and 1843-'4. The rights of the non-noble citizens, peasantry, and Jews, the equality of the Christian confessions, the official use of the Hungarian language, and the freedom of speech were extended, the majority of the educated lower nobility and a minority 184 MICHAEL HEILPRIN of the higher ardently contending against old abuses and aristocratic immunities, against bureaucratic despotism and religious intolerance. Among the chief leaders of the ' lib- eral opposition' under Ferdinand were the members of the upper house Count Louis Batthyanyi and Baron Eotvos; the deputies Deak of Zala, Bezeredy of Tolna, Beothy of Bihar, Klauzal of Csongrad, Paloczy and Szemere of Borsod, Szent- kiralyi and Eaday of Pesth, Balogh of Bars, and Kubinyi of Nograd; the great Transylvanian agitator Baron Wesselenyi, and the publicist Kossuth. The cabinet of Vienna chose the last five as its victims, prosecuting them for treason, and im- prisoning Wesselenyi and Kossuth for years. The old palatine Joseph, the uncle of the emperor, and the conservatives under the lead of Counts Aurel and Emil Dessewffy, as well as of the moderate Szechenyi, in vain strove to check the agitation. It reached its culminating point when Kossuth, after a lively struggle, was elected as representative of Pesth to the diet of 1847. Europe was agitated; the last rising of Poland (1846) had been suppressed by a massacre of the nobles in Galicia, and the republic of Cracow annihilated; the Swiss confederation was convulsed by a civil war; Pius IX. had given the signal for constitutional movements in Italy; Sardinia was arming against Austria, and France preparing for a new struggle. Kossuth proposed extensive reforms, and was ardently sup- ported by the house of deputies and the nation. A conflict with the government seemed imminent, when the general shock which followed the French revolution of February overthrew the rule of Metternich (March 13, 1848). Kossuth was greeted as liberator by the people of Vienna, and together with L. Batthyanyi intrusted with the formation of an independent Hungarian ministry by Ferdinand. The people of Pesth, under the lead of the youthful poet Petofi, delivered in triumph the plebeian martyr for freedom Stancsics, proclaimed the liberty of the press, and the radical ' wishes of the nation ' (March 15). The new ministry embraced its favorites ; Batthyanyi was president, Kossuth was minister of finance, Szechenyi of public works, Deak of justice, Eotvos of public worship and education, Szemere of home affairs, Klauzal of commerce, and Meszaros of war, beside Prince Paul Esterhazy as quasi minister of A CONDENSED STOKY OF HUNGARY 185 foreign affairs in Vienna. Having enacted the abolition of feudality, a new election law, and various other radical changes in the constitution, the last diet of Presburg dissolved, the new national assembly being appointed to meet in July at Pesth. The national government, however, whose animating spirit was Kossuth, was from the beginning surrounded by open and secret enemies, and endless difficulties and embarrassments. The cabinet of Vienna commenced its intrigues against the new order of things on the very day it sanctioned it. Jellachich and others were sent openly or secretly to organize an insur- rection of the southern Slavic tribes, which had long been worked upon by a threefold national agitation, by the tools of the Austrian government against the Magyars, by popular en- thusiasts in the interest of a democratic Pan-Slavic union, and by Russian emissaries in the interest of a similar union under the rule of the czar. Secret agents prepared a rising of the Wallachs in Transylvania, the diet of which proclaimed its reunion with Hungary. Dangerous tumults broke out in various German cities and among the Slovaks of the Waag. The for- tresses and the foreign soldiery in the country were commanded by Austrian officers, and the Hungarian regiments were re- tained in Italy and Galicia. There were no national finances, no arms nor arm foundries. Every new measure met with opposition or delay through the Vienna government or its tools. Negotiations had no result. The whole south of the country was soon in a flame. The Rascians rose in the Military Fron- tier, in the Banat and Bacs, and the Wallachs in Transylvania, the Saxons also declaring for Austria; Croatia and Slavonia proclaimed their independence of Hungary, and Ban Jellachich occupied the Littorale, and threatened to cross the Drave. Against all these contingencies the only resource of the govern- ment was its own zeal and the enthusiasm of the people. Vol- unteer troops (honveds, defenders of the land) were raised in the counties, rich contributions toward a national treasury were collected, and the militia was organized. The diet assembled in July, and voted extensive levies and ample means for defence, but Ferdinand refused to sanction its resolutions. The Austrian troops which were still sent against the insurgents were led by traitors. Even Meszaros was repulsed from Szent Tamas by 186 MICHAEL HEILPRIN the Rascians in August ; the new troops were slowly gathering. Jellachieh finally crossed the Drave, and the Vienna govern- ment, having reconquered Lombardy, threw off its mask in September, and sent Count Lamberg to disperse the diet by force. The Batthyanyi ministry now resigned, and a committee of defence was formed under the presidency of Kossuth. The revolution began. The old troops were transformed and blended with the new. Kossuth's ardent eloquence brought the people of the central plains under arms. Single detachments of Hun- garian troops returned with or without their officers from abroad. Comorn was secured. Archduke Stephen, the new palatine, fled the country. Lamberg was massacred on the bridge of Pesth by a mob. Jellachieh was defeated at Pakozd near Buda by the motley national army under Moga (Sept. 29) and fled toward Vienna, which rose in revolution (Oct. 6). Perczel and Gorgey surrounded and disarmed at Ozora the isolated Croatian corps under Roth and Philippovics (Oct. 7). The fortresses, Comorn, Eszek, Peterwardein, Leopoldstadt, and Munkacs, hoisted the national flag. On the other hand, Rukavina in Temesvar and Berger in Arad hoisted that of Austria, and made common cause with the Rascians, who committed fright- ful massacres. The war of races raged with terrible fury and varying success. Transylvania was entirely lost. The pur- suit of Jellachieh was executed with hesitation by Moga, a late Austrian general, the frontier river Leitha was crossed too late, and the hastily collected volunteers fled after a short fight at Schwechat (Oct. 30) against Windischgratz and Jella- chieh, who thus became masters of Vienna. Katona, sent to reconquer Transylvania, was routed at Dees (Nov.). The Polish volunteers under Wysocki made unsuccessful attempts to capture Arad. Count Schlick entered Hungary from the north, dispersed the Hungarian militia on the mountain before Kaschau, and occupied that city (Dec. 11). The Rascian Damjanics alone led his valiant honveds to victory at Lagerndorf (Nov. 9), and Alibunar (Dec. 17) on the S. E. frontier, while Perczel successfully defended the line of the Drave on the S. W. Unable to defend the W. frontier against Windischgratz, Simunich, and Nugent, Gorgey, the new com- mander of the army of the upper Danube, retreated on the A CONDENSED STORY OF HUNGARY 187 right bank of that river, evacuating Presburg, Raab, and after the rout of the equally retreating Perczel at Moor (Dec. 29), and the engagement at Teteny (Jan. 3, 1849), the capital Buda-Pesth itself (Jan. 5). The day before, Schlick dis- persed the undisciplined army of the north under Meszaros, the minister of war. Thus the government and diet, which transferred their seat to Debreczin, would have had little pros- pect of security if the Polish general Bern had not begun in the latter half of December a new Transylvanian campaign, which cheered the patriots with a nearly unbroken series of signal successes over the imperialists under Urban and Puchner. Gorgey, too, who according to a new plan of operations returned westward on the left bank of the Danube, leaving part of his troops with Perczel on the middle Theiss, succeeded in divert- ing the Austrian main army under Windischgratz from a march toward the latter river, though not in rescuing Leopoldstadt, which surrendered. Then turning northward, he skilfully fought his way through the rugged region of the ore mountains, amid continual perils, and, after a signal victory of his van- guard under Guyon, who had already proved his heroism in many a previous battle, over Schlick's corps on Mount Brany- iszko (Feb. 5), finally effected a junction with the army of the upper Theiss, which under Klapka had been successful against that Austrian general (Jan. 22, 23, and 31). Dam- janics was recalled with his troops from the south, Perczel de- fended the middle Theiss, and Asztalos repulsed the Rascians on the Maros (Feb. 10). The activity of Kossuth and his associates in supplying all these bodies of troops with men, ammunition, money, and officers, while almost all parts of the country were alternately crossed by imperial and national armies, was admirable. The zeal of the committee of defence, however, was worthily responded to by the confidence of the people, who, even when two thirds of the country were in the hands of the enemy, almost as willingly accepted ' Kossuth's bills ' as specie, and by the general bravery of the troops, old and new, hussars, honveds, and artillerists. Order reigned in the midst of war; the prisons were empty. But new dangers arose with the invasion of the Russians from the Danubian principalities into Transylvania, where Bern, after a triumphant 188 MICHAEL HEILPRItf march (January) was suddenly checked before Hermannstadt, repulsed, threatened in the rear by Saxons, Wallachs, and the garrison of Carlsburg, and could save his position at Piski (Feb. 9, 10) only after the loss of a part of his heroic troops; and within the national camp by the stubborn disobedience and intrigues of Gorgey, almost bordering on treason, which caused the escape of Schlick from Kaschau, the unfavorable issue of the great battle of Kapolna (Feb. 26, 27), the retreat of the united main army beyond the Theiss, the deposition of its commander, the Pole Dembinski, at Fiired, and a considerable loss of time. Another heavy loss was that of the isolated fortress Eszek, which was surrendered with immense stores by its cowardly commanders. Elated by the dispatches of Prince Windischgratz, the young emperor Francis Joseph, who had succeeded his uncle at Olmiitz (Dec. 2, 1848), now promul- gated a new constitution (March 4), which with one stroke annihilated the constitution and national independence of Hun- gary, making it, with narrowed limits, a crownland of Austria. But the next few days brought a new series of Hungarian vic- tories. Crossing the Theiss in the night, Damjanics surprised and totally routed the Austrians at Szolnok (March 5). Bern by a sudden assault took Hermannstadt (llth), and on the anniversary of the 'day of Pesth ' (15th) drove the Russians and Puchner through the Red Tower pass into Wallachia. After the occupation of Cronstadt (20th), all Transylvania, except Carlsburg, was in the hands of the Polish general, under whom Magyars and Szeklers, Poles and Viennese students fought with equal bravery. Perczel swept over the Rascian Vendee, and stormed the ramparts of Sz. Tamas (March, April). The temporary chief commander of the main army, Vetter, having fallen ill, Gorgey finally received the command, and the offensive against Windischgratz was resumed. Com- manded under him by Damjanics, Klapka, Aulich, Wysocki, &c., the army crossed the Theiss at various points, and, ad- vancing toward the capital, defeated the enemy at Hatvan (April 2), Bicske (4th), and Izsaszeg (6th), and, leaving a corps under Aulich before Pesth to cover the main body, sud- denly turned toward Waitzen, took it by assault (10th), routed the Austrians at ISTagy Sarlo (19th), rescued Comorn, which A CONDENSED STOEY OF HUNGARY 189 had withstood a long siege and bombardment, and crossing the Danube, gained a victory at Acs (26th). Schlick, Windisch- gratz, Jellachich, Gb'tz, who fell at Waitzen, Wohlgemuth, and Welden were thus successively defeated in this short campaign, during which the diet at Debreczin proclaimed the independence of the country (April 14), appointing Kossuth its governor, and Aulich entered Pesth. Benyiczky and a younger brother of Gorgey cleared the mountain region of the N. W. In- stead, however, of continuing his victorious march to the capital of the enemy, Gorgey returned with the bulk of his army to the siege of Buda, which had been strongly fortified and was strenuously defended under Henzi, while a new and extensive Russian invasion was approaching. Buda was finally stormed (May 21), Henzi being mortally wounded, the gov- ernment and the diet returned to the capital, and Gorgey again took the field; but, bent on intrigues against Kossuth, the new presiding minister Szemere, Dembinski, who commanded in the north, and his own generals, he chose the N. bank of the Danube for his new campaign, which suited his political schemes, and, without profiting by Kmetty's victory at Csorna, S. of that river (June 13), wasted the blood of his army on the Waag. The Russian armies and fresh Austrian troops under Haynau were in the meanwhile pouring into the country from various quarters. Wysocki, the successor of Dembinski in command, retreated before Paskevitch; Temesvar was un- successfully besieged by Vecsey ; Bern was paralyzed by a new and more terrible rising of the Wallachs, while his province, too, was invaded by the Russians. After various unsuccessful struggles on the line of the Waag (June 16, 17", 20, 21), the loss of Raab (28th), and the great battle of Szb'ny (July 2), Gorgey, leaving Klapka in Comorn, finally retreated toward the middle Theiss; but after a bloody fight against Paskevitch at Waitzen (15th), he turned northward, again and again re- pulsing the Russians, and crossed the Theiss at Tokaj. The Russians crossed it at Fiired, while the central Hungarian forces under the chief command of Dembinski retreated toward Szegedin, where they were joined by Guyon, who had routed Jellachich at Kis Hegyes (14th). The government leaving the former place, where the last session of the diet had been held, 190 MICHAEL HEILPKItf retired to Arad, which, having recently surrendered, was made the last point of general concentration, after the rout of Bern at Schassburg by the Russians under Liiders (29th), of one of Gorgey's divisions under Nagy-Sandor before Debreczin by the army of Paskevitch (Aug. 2), and of Dembinski at Szoreg by Haynau (5th). Dembinski, however, retreated toward Temes- var, where his army suffered a terrible defeat (9th). Gorgey, who now arrived at Arad, summoned Kossuth to resign, and received from him the supreme civil and military command (llth), Klapka's sally from Comorn and signal victory over the besieging Austrian army (3d) being unknown at Arad. Two days later Gorgey surrendered his army at discretion to the generals of the czar at Vilagos (13th). Damjanics fol- lowed his example, and surrendered Arad (17th). Kossuth, the late ministers Szemere and Casimir Batthyanyi, the gen- erals Bern, Dembinski, Meszaros, Vetter, Perczel, Guyon, Kmetty, Wysocki, and others, fled into Turkey. Munkacs, Peterwardein, and Comorn capitulated. But scarcely had the tricolor disappeared from the ramparts of the last named fortress (Oct. 4), when the work of revenge commenced on the side of the victors. Count Louis Batthyanyi, who had been made captive on a mission of peaceful mediation, was executed at Pesth (6th), and the generals Kis, Aulich, Damjanics, Nagy- Sandor, Tb'rok, Lahner, Vecsey, Knezich, Poltenberg, Leinin- gen, Schweidel, Dessewffy, and Lazar, all of whom had sur- rendered at discretion, were executed on the same day at Arad. The old president of the upper house at Debreczin, Baron Perenyi, Szacsvay, Csernyus, Giron, Abancourt, the young Polish prince Woroniecki, the revolutionary minister Csanyi, and Baron Jessenak were executed at Pesth a few days later, like most of the preceding, on the gallows. Col. Kazinczy was shot at Arad. Other executions followed. The dungeons of the empire were filled with prisoners for life or a long term of years, including priests, officers, and government officials of every confession, rank, and age. Gorgey was confined at Klagenfurth. The remnants of the Hungarian troops were impressed into the Austrian army, and the estates of the rich patriots confiscated. The country remained under martial law, receiving new divisions, authorities, and tax regulations, and A CONDENSED STORY OF HUNGARY 191 foreign officials. The German was made the language of the recognized higher courts, offices, and schools. New contribu- tions, military levies, and so called voluntary loans, followed each other. A conspiracy and an attempt on the emperor's life led to the resumption of wholesale executions in 1853. The Protestants and Jews were subjected to particular restrictions. Thus in spite of various scanty amnesties, and two journeys of the emperor through the country, the feelings of the nation re- mained hostile to Austria, and the attack on the latter by France and Sardinia in the spring of 1859 became the signal for national agitations abroad (under Kossuth, Count Ladislas Teleky, Klapka, and others) as well as at home, which, after the sudden discomfiture of all sanguine hopes by the agreement of Villafranca, concentrated themselves in a moderate but steady opposition to the new religious, financial, and municipal meas- ures of the Vienna ministry, chiefly under the lead of the ' old conservatives,' and in peaceful but general demonstrations of the people. Of the latter the centennial celebration of the birth- day of Francis Kazinczy (Oct. 27, 1859), in commemoration of his literary activity, his martyrdom for freedom being under- stood, was the most significant. Soon after numerous arrests took place throughout the country, and the 5th Austrian army corps was recalled from Italy to be placed at the disposal of the governor, Archduke Albert (Dec. 1859)." To those familiar with encyclopaedic requirements and stand- ards, it is scarcely necessary to point out the extraordinary comprehensiveness and lucidity, the unerring scholarship and closely-knit texture of these historical essays. XI LIFE IN WASHINGTON The completion of the Cyclopsedia left Mr. Heilprin once more without adequate means of subsistence, and he resolved to return to an experiment which had proved fairly successful in Hungary, but which is generally attended with far greater difficulties in this country that of establishing a bookstore. He chose Washington as the most suitable place for such a purpose, and from 1863 to 1865 the family resided there. If the experiment proved financially disappointing, it at least brought Mr. Heilprin into contact with congenial spirits, such as Mr. Spofford, the Librarian of Congress, and it was not long before men prominent in the political world of the Capital sought and enjoyed the company of the learned bookseller. Mr. Heilprin had interesting conversations with Secretary Seward and Senator Sumner, and became particularly well acquainted with Charles A. Dana, then Assistant Secretary of War, and Count Gurowski, a former Polish revolutionist and voluminous author in several languages, whose eccentricities of temper alienated from him not a few friends who had learned to value his solid endowments. Mr. Heilprin enjoyed also his contact with the physicist, Professor Joseph Henry, whom he often visited at the Smithsonian Institution and at his house. Even while engaged in the book business, Mr. Heilprin con- tinued his journalistic labors. In 1864 he contributed a paper entitled " Nos Amis les Cosaques " to the Boston Continental Monthly, a periodical founded by the poet Charles G. Leland, whose acquaintance he had made in Philadelphia. In July of that year he became an editorial contributor to Col. Forney's Washington Chronicle, which was considered during the War the inspired organ of Lincoln's administration. Mr. Heilprin's articles in the Chronicle showed his usual wide range of sub- jects. He wrote on " Transatlantic Affairs," " Moldo-Walla- chia," " Eastern Europe," " The Dano-German War," " The "A VOICE FROM THE SPRINGFIELD TOMB" 193 Slavic World," "The Trial of the Thirteen in France," "Mexico," "The Belgian Elections," "The Disturbances in Geneva," "South-American Affairs," "The Polish Emigra- tion," "Italy," "Austria," etc. After he was compelled to close the doors of his bookshop, Mr. Heilprin ventured upon an even more hazardous experi- ment. He started a political weekly, The Balance, becoming his own editor and publisher. "Not a single copy of the journal has remained in the possession of the family, but, judging from the character of the editorials saved in Mr. Heilprin's scrapbook, the enterprise deserved a longer career than was vouchsafed to it. The clippings cover only the two months May and June, 1865 which comprised the life of the maga- zine. The articles concerning domestic subjects are mainly in the nature of solemn warnings to the American people to be just and moderate in their dealings with the South. Par- ticularly impressive are " The Clamor for Blood " and " A Voice from the Springfield Tomb." In the latter article Lincoln is represented as saying: " Already I feel the earth teeming with fresh vigor, inspired by reviving labor. And the sword is to be forged into a plow- share, and the bayonet into a pruning hook; and the metal of the cannon will, from peaceful steeples, call the people to labor or prayer, and no more thunder desolation over blood- deluged lands. Already I hear the tramp of returning armies ; the men of the North going north, and the men of the South going south, all towards their homes, no more against foes; to resume the work of production, after years of devastation. Yes, I hear them coming north, my brave boys, returning as veterans and citizens! Oh! that I cannot see them return- ing, and press their victorious hands, as I pressed them on the gloomy days when they started to brave a thousand perils and to fight a thousand battles ; the hand of each, from that modest man who led them all to victory, and is the chief of all ; from him who on the fields of Pennsylvania saved my capital and the North ; from him who near the banks of the Chickamauga, when heroes fled, stood like a rock, and stemmed the tide of disaster; from him, who, marching and remarching over vast extents, made war history almost read like a tale; and from 194 MICHAEL HEILPRIST him who, in the Valley, was an army himself, and down South! was the last victor; from all these down to the humblest of my boys! . . . Tramp, tramp, tramp; they are approaching. March on, march on! towards peace, towards lasting peace, among our- selves, among ourselves and with others. May the canker of warlike ambition never prey on your hearts; may it never infect my people. Or should passion and vanity, and the voice of the people's flatterers, poison and destroy all our fathers built and we de- fended? Will these men, so long victorious in the cause of right, be deluded into fighting for conquest and plunder, de- luded by specious appeals in the name of their country's great- ness and glory? O, delusive words, full of idolatrous venom! Was Rome great when it trampled Athens and burned Jerusalem? It was great when Cincinnatus left the plow to save it, and then returned to the plow. Was Babylon great? or is Switzerland little? My boys, my generals, my people, beware of that venomous chameleon called love of glory ! " XII LETTERS TO HIS CHILDREN AND HIS BROTHER-IN-LAW If Washington proved an unprofitable field in other ways, it offered compensations as the centre of political interests. Mr. Heilprin and the entire family followed the march of events with the keenest anxiety, and this interest was not lessened after the family, in the spring of 1866, had removed to Yonkers, !N". Y. It was his habit to comment, with ani- mation and in an informing way, upon public affairs, but in his letters to his children he rarely touched upon events of the day. The necessity of sparing his eyes imposed brevity. There has, however, been preserved a letter by him written in 1866 to his two youngest daughters, Susan and Celia, then on a visit in Washington, commenting at length upon a speech of President Johnson's which had aroused extraordinary interest. The first annual message referred to was at that time supposed to have been written by Secretary Seward. It has since been ascribed to Bancroft. The letter is undated. "As to your perplexity concerning President Johnson's speech and policy, I am not able fully to satisfy your desire for enlightenment, remote as I am from the seats of the develop- ment which must determine political action, as well as from the circles in which our rulers deliberate. But I think that I can, without bias or haste in judgment, condemn, on the one side the speech its tone, in general and particularly some of its phrases without, however, finding it half as atrocious or abominable as many declare it to be, and, on the other, assert his policy, as expounded in the annual message, in the veto message, and in Gov. Cox's letter (in to-day's papers) to be the genuine Seward-Lincolnian, thoroughly consistent in itself, as loyal if not as philanthropic as any, not at all deserv- 196 MICHAEL HEILPRItf ing of objurgations, and as much entitled to a careful examina- tion and friendly consideration as any other scheme of recon- struction or regeneration. Whether it be the right way to choose is a different question. I believe the President was too harsh on Sumner, less so on Phillips, who declared him a traitor first, with plenty of other epithets, and perfectly correct in reference to Forney. Stevens he was certainly wrong in classifying with Sumner ; neither is the name ' traitor ' ap- plicable to him, who is only unscrupulous and foolish as a legislator. The great misfortunte of the President, or rather Mr. Seward, who is the documentary president, is that their policy is supported by the vilest of demagogues and the lowest political rabble the world ever produced. But to make in- ferences from the applauders on the public speaker or actor is a dangerous thing, especially in times when party spirit runs so high that moderate men will not dare to form a centre, and extremes rule the hour. But to call Johnson or Seward a Copperhead is just what Ujhazy lately did in regard to Deak and the Hungarian diet. Ten years ago U. would have been generally applauded. Years hence, such a way of talking of J. and S., as is now followed by the Tribune, f. i., will be treated with as much scorn as U.'s letter was. In times of wild agitation either Louis XVI. or Lafayette, Czartoryski or Lelewel, etc. etc. must appear as monsters to the bewildered spectators. Thus now nobody takes into consideration that Johnson, the proud Anglo-Saxon Southerner, never thought of fighting the South and risking his all in order to see his state disfranchised after victory, himself and his fellow-citizens ruled by military intervention from abroad, and his section of the country threatened with Africanization ; and everybody hastens to forget that Seward has barely escaped death at the hands of those of whom he is represented as so very fond. All this, dear children, I wrote only for yourselves, to con- tinue, in part, the hints I used to give you, in regard to the man- ner I approve of of judging public men. Policies I hardly venture to judge myself, whenever the question is vast and com- plicated. In this case I believe a great part of what is said by the better men of either party, and that whichever policy will prevail is doomed to be, in future, almost generally condemned, TWO STRIKING LETTERS 197 the evil being so extraordinary that no such transient and limited rulers or statesmen as ours can even as much as hope to succeed. Events will march, and the laws of nature will decide, but not the wisdom of politicians. The settlement of the great question of races on the continent, begun by the sword, will not be car- ried through, I believe, by platforms, speeches, and editorials. The ' wrath of man ' must be changed, or the ' wrath of man ' will finish the work. Let us, however, hope for the best. And when not much good can immediately be expected, let us amuso ourselves, and enlarge our views, by the spectacle of warring factions, contending opinions, and more or less useful or bril- liant exertions of the mind. This spectacle, dear children, I wish you to enjoy as much as circumstances allow, calmly, with ' charity for all, malice towards none/ " While still in Washington, and shortly after his connection with the Nation had begun, Mr. Heilprin wrote one or two articles for the short-lived Round Table. The editorial on " Otto von Bismarck " bears the general characteristics of his contributions to the Nation. The poet in Mr. Heilprin's nature, who had so sympatheti- cally hailed Garibaldi's rising of 1860, was contradicted by the statesman and historian, who, six years later, about two months after the battle of Sadowa, discountenanced the idea, then broached by some Hungarians in this country, of instigating an anti-Austrian rising in Hungary. He expressed himself as follows in a letter to his brother-in-law, M. J. Franklin (the first page of the closely-written letter is in Hungarian ; what is quoted is the English continuation) : " As regards our dear Hungary, I am sorry to find so great a difference of opinion between W. [Washington] and N. Y. circles. However, in matters of expediency, to which the time- liness of an insurrection undoubtedly belongs, people will always differ, according to the degrees of their experience, caution, boldness, determination, or rashness, which must necessarily vary. On my part, I must confess, dear Franklin, that my own experience, historical studies, and individual temper have led me to the following conclusions. 1. Out of twenty risings, for independence or republican 198 MICHAEL HEILPRIN freedom, but unaided or unprepared, one succeeds, witness Poland under Kosciuszko, Chlopicki, etc., Microslawski (1846 and 1848), or Langiewicz; Italy in 1820, 1821, 1847 (Sicily), 1848 and 1849 (under most auspicious circumstances) ; Spain from 1820 to 1865; Ireland in 1798 and 1848; Schleswig- Holstein; the Sonderbund; Bohemia, Vienna, Saxony, Baden, etc., in 1848-9; the Secession rebellion (and what a rebel- lion!), and numberless other outbreaks from the Volga to the Tagus. 2. Hungary, since the princes of Transylvania have suc- cumbed, has failed in every insurrection from Tb'kb'lyi and Rakoczy down to Kossuth, and has had only ' bloodless vic- tories,' as in 1790 and 1823; threatened as she is by hostile Croats, Rascians, Serbs, Wallachs, Saxons, etc., within, and by Russia without, she cannot afford to risk experiments, which might not only lead to defeats and sufferings, as in Italy or Spain, but to the swamping of her whole nationality, as in Poland. Bismarck, Victor Emanuel, and Napoleon can no more be trusted than perfidious Hapsburg, who would un- doubtedly have yielded to any terms in order to suppress a revolution (a revolution without a fortress, without arms, with- out a legal head). . . . 3. Neither Prussia (as yet) nor Italy desires the final de- struction of Austria, the former dreading a revolutionary Hun- gary and Galicia, the latter an all-powerful Germany, while Russia and France dislike the one as well as the other. 4. Successful insurrections are mainly the sudden outbursts of the people in the capitals of consolidated states, where a few determined squads or even individuals can change, in a day, a dynasty or form of government, as in Rome, Constantinople, or Paris, or they owe their consummation to foreign interven- tion, as in Greece or Belgium. 5. A so-called revolutionary doctrine or systematic revolu- tionism is justifiable only when universal, as in 1848 ; in other times it is no more than fanatical madness or recklessness, the offspring of despair, historical ignorance, or selfish, designing 6. Hungary owes her national existence and long periods of constitutional freedom to her avoiding the perils into which VIEWS ON POPULAK RISINGS 199 Poland, for instance, so often plunges herself from ungovern- able despair, and to the wonderful spirit of unity which makes her rise like one man, and, if necessary, bide her time with the same unanimity; hence her great leaders, made great by a disciplined nation, each in his time, Rakoczy, Szechenyi, Kos- suth, or Deak. 7. Revolutions cannot be improvised by proclamations from abroad, and must have a base of operations within, or be car- ried in by invading armies. 8. Italy owes her deliverance both to that internal base, Piedmont, and the armies of France (in 1859) and Prussia (in 1866); with 400,000 men, a navy, and 25 millions of people she proved unable to wrest Venetia from Austria, whose main armies were far away in the north. 9. Kossuth was driven to his last failure by his situation in Italy and connections with her statesmen ; the result shows how terribly he miscalculated the position." xin A LETTEK FKOM CHARLES ELIOT NORTON MR. HEILPRIN'S ASSOCIATES OF THE AMERI- CAN" CYCLOPAEDIA RELATIONS WITH W. P. GARRISON AND E. L. GODKIN From the first, Mr. Heilprin's contributions to the Nation and his personality greatly impressed the editors. In August, 1866, Mr. Garrison wrote to Mr. Charles Eliot Norton, sug- gesting that Mr. Heilprin be invited to deliver a course of lec- tures at the Lowell Institute. To this Mr. Norton replied in a letter, dated Ashfield, August 19, 1866, which Mr. Garrison sent to Mr. Heilprin, and which is among those preserved by him : " I am much interested by what you write me of Mr. Heil- prin. His articles in the Nation have given evidence of varied and uncommon learning. He is just the man to be invited to lecture at the Lowell Institute, if his abilities fit him for the lecturer's desk. It is difficult, however, always to get the right appointments made. ... I will see that Mr. Heilprin's name and qualifications are brought to his (Mr. John A. Lowell's, then sole Trustee of the Institute) knowledge, and that such influence as may be used in Mr. Heilprin's favor is exerted. But, I am quite confident that there is no chance for obtain- ing an invitation for Mr. Heilprin for the next winter. The courses were long ago arranged for, as I happen to know, having been interested early last spring in securing a course for Mr. Squier. At that time I saw Mr. Lowell, and under- stood from him that Mr. Squier's name filled his list for 1867. Suppose as a preparatory step Mr. Heilprin were to write for the North American a paper on the Hebrew Literature of the present century, or on some other literary subject with which he feels himself familiar. I would gladly publish it, were it as SYMPATHY WITH FRANCE 201 well done as I have little doubt it would be, and it might be an effective instrument in obtaining for Mr. Heilprin a course of lectures in the winter of 1867-8." Mr. Heilprin did not act upon Mr. Norton's suggestion. Among the reasons which prevented his doing so was doubtless a certain abiding disinclination to undertake anything, however innocent and proper in itself, which might seem like a design or merely a means to an end. He would, of course, have been glad to write for the North American Review had a suitable subject then naturally suggested itself to him. As a matter of fact, he wrote many years afterwards I think in the eighties a review of some book or books on Oriental subjects. The course of time modified Mr. Heilprin's views concerning the relations between Austria and Hungary. He welcomed most cordially the Compromise of 1867 the work of Francis Deak, whom he revered as he did no other statesman of modern times. With what enthusiasm he spoke of the new Hungary and its future! There was, on such occasions, in his speech perhaps a shade of longing to take a part in the reorganization of the country whose fortunes he had shared and followed so affectionately, but his affection for the country in which he and his children had taken such firm root was still greater, and he never seriously discussed the idea of returning to Hun- gary. Had he gone back, there can be no doubt that he would have made for himself a place in the Hungarian Parliament for which his wonderful rhetorical abilities and his statesman- like grasp of historical questions so preeminently fitted him. , It has been seen, from the tenor of Mr. Heilprin's editorial articles on the war of 1870-1, how fully he espoused the cause of Germany, but this feeling did not proceed from lack of sym- pathy with France herself, for whose misfortunes he held the government of Napoleon III. mainly responsible. Mr. Heil- prin had an intellectual kinship with German scholarliness and solidity, but he appreciated none the less the world's debt to French liberalism and French literature. Like many enlight- ened minds, who in the revolutionary spirit of 1848 saw but the triumph of the ideas of 1789, Mr. Heilprin always acknowl- how deep and permanent had been the impress on him 202 MICHAEL HEILPKDT of the French writers who glorified the heroes of the Revo- lution. I remember hearing Mrs. Heilprin relate that, on the appearance of Lamartine's Histoire des Girondins, in 1847, her husband, in the company of some equally enthusiastic Hungarian friends, sat up all night reading and discussing its eloquent pages. But he was too sound a historical scholar to surrender himself to mere charm of style, and his reading was always marked by great catholicity of taste. The sober narrative of Guizot interested him as much as the picturesque, if one- sided, presentment of Thiers or the fervid rhetoric of Louis Blanc's Histoire de Dix Ans; Macaulay he enjoyed as much as Grote or Michelet. He had a particular liking for Gervinus, as he had for Ranke and for Gibbon. Among American his- torians he ranked Prescott as by far the greatest. Of the ancients, he admired Thucydides equally with Tacitus. When, in 1872, the revision of Appleton's Cyclopaedia, under the title of " The American Cyclopaedia," was projected, the editors-in-chief, George Ripley and Charles A. Dana, once more sought the services of Mr. Heilprin. Their estimate of him may be gathered from the characterization of Mr. Heilprin, in O. B. Frothingham's Life of George Ripley, as " the omnis- cient, a man of boundless erudition, master of all languages, Eastern and Western." Mr. Heilprin was, as one of the four associate editors originally selected, entrusted with the final revision of the work, after the proof-sheets had passed the scrutiny of everyone else. He was privileged to make any cor- rections he saw fit and to reject, or to rewrite, parts of any article or even an entire article, and make direct suggestions to the writers of such articles. On not a few occasions some of the prominent contributors sought the benefit of Mr. Heilprin's suggestions or criticism at his own house, for as a special con- cession to him, and in view of the fact that he was there within reach of his own ample library, he carried on his work at home. Throughout the years of revision, he was in his working room surrounded by his children, both daughters and sons, his faithful and efficient assistants, who had become fa- miliar at an early age with various languages and the details of editorial revision. Numerous indeed were the occasions when both publishers and editors-in-chief expressed their high RELATIONS WITH W. P. GARRISON 203 appreciation of the value of Mr. Heilprin's services. Although.' usually such direct communications as he had to make to Messrs. Ripley and Dana were by letter, he was in frequent personal contact with them. His relations with them were at all times most cordial. He was particularly intimate with Mr. Dana, who generally preferred to converse with him in German. Of the Associate Editors he was closest to the genial Robert Carter, a man of varied attainments and the early and intimate friend of James Russell Lowell, and to Francis E. Teall, whose extraordinary accuracy and thoroughness in criti- cal proof-reading, which went far beyond the ordinary require- ments, Mr. Heilprin had learned to admire in his first con- nection with the Cyclopaedia. He gave the same careful revision to the Condensed Cyclo- paedia, in four volumes, begun after the completion of the larger work and finished in September, 1877. A new edition of the entire Cyclopaedia was planned in 1880, but after some pre- liminary work, in which Mr. Heilprin shared, the idea was abandoned. Lrf " " The Nation, during all the years when Mr. Heilprin was kept by his encyclopaedic toil from sending more than an occa- sional contribution to its columns, was eager for the resumption of his connection with it. More than once Mr. Garrison wrote or spoke to him, good-humoredly expressing his impatience for articles from his pen, as he did in the following letter : New York, January llth, 1875. DEAR ME. HEILPRIN : I have just received your son's [Angelo's] notice of the " Encyclopaedia Britannica," and shall be glad to use it next week. Let me also improve this opportunity to say that his notice of Huxley, somewhat abbreviated, will be inserted as soon as I can make a place for it. We were never in such distress for room; and yet I am looking forward to the time of your " emancipation " and the beginning of your Cyclopaedia series. With heartiest wishes for the New Year, Sincerely yours, W, P. GARRISON. 204 MICHAEL HEILPRIN Both Mr. Godkin and Mr. Garrison were, however, too sincere admirers of their valued contributor not to wish for him, after his connection with the Cyclopaedia had ceased, a sphere wider and more remunerative than that which they could offer him. He had, as he could not but know himself, unusual qualifica- tions for a professor's chair although he felt that the want of a college degree might stand in his way and at one time it seemed as though that of biblical literature at Harvard were within his reach. Mr. Godkin had suggested to President Eliot Mr. Heilprin's name when, in 1879, that chair became vacant, and upon Mr. Eliot's invitation, Mr. Heilprin met him and Dr. H. W. Bellows one evening at the latter's house, in New York, where a tentative discussion of matters bearing on the purpose of the interview took place. For reasons unknown to me the appointment was not made, but I may say that Mr. Heilprin considered President Eliot's final choice, that of Professor C. H. Toy, a very excellent one. In one way or another, Mr. Heilprin's name was more than once on the lips of men in want of just such co-operation or advice as he, per- haps better than anyone else, was able to give. Under date of May 26, 1881, Mr. George Bancroft wrote to him from Washington : MY DEAR SIB: Two years ago our friend, Mr. Ripley, wrote me a note inclosing a note which you addressed him. I hope in the course of this season to go upon a final revision of my his- tory, which I wish to purge as far as possible of error. Is your time now so at your own disposal that you could give me your aid as suggested in your letter to Mr. Eipley of March 24th, 1879 ? I shall remain at Washington until the first day of June. After that time my address will be at Newport, R. I. Yours very respectfully and truly, GEO. BANCROFT. It is my impression that some further correspondence took place between Mr. Bancroft and Mr. Heilprin, in the course of which Mr. Heilprin's son, Louis, was mentioned for the work Mr. Bancroft had in view. In any case nothing came of the matter. XIV ME. HEILPRIN'S WOKK FOR THE RUSSIAN REFUGEES The year 1881 marked an important change in Mr. Heilprin's hitherto peaceful life. In that year the fury of barbarous atrocities drove the first Jewish refugees from Russia to these shores. Mr. Heilprin's soul was stirred to its depths. No one foresaw more clearly than he the probable extent of the perse- cution then begun and the need of wise measures for the relief of its victims. There was here much sympathetic talk on the part of Jews and Christians, some willingness to assist the newcomers, but there was also a vague dread of an over- whelming influx of foreign hordes ill-fitted for American con- ditions. The task before the Jewish community of New York was indeed one to call for the wisest philanthropy and for patriotic and practical measures. Mr. Heilprin had for many years had little in common with purely Jewish affairs. He was not a professing Jew in the strict sense of the word. He was not a member of any synagogue, and he had for many years conformed in his home life to none of the ceremonies pre- scribed by the Jewish faith. But he had retained all his old- time interest in the race, gloried in its achievements, and deeply felt any wrong and humiliation which Jews anywhere suffered for their faith or race. Among the early refugees, many of whom sought his house, there were young men full of an enthusiastic determination to show to the world that the persecuted Jews of Russia needed but the air of a free country to become successful tillers of the soil. Mr. Heilprin shared this belief and, fully realizing what such a step meant to him, he resolved to throw himself, heart and soul, into the cause of Jewish agricultural coloniza- tion. He found a few kindred spirits who shared his enthusi- 206 MICHAEL HEILPRIN asm and readiness for self-sacrifice, foremost among whom was Dr. Julius Goldman, a young lawyer, who throughout the anxious years in store for Mr. Heilprin was his devoted and efficient colahorer. In March, 1882, after much arduous preliminary work, the Montefiore Agricultural Aid Society began its operation. Michael Heilprin was its secretary, ex-Judge M. S. Isaacs the treasurer, Julius Goldman the controller. Mr. Heilprin devoted all his time to the cause of the refugees. The collecting of funds, most of which came as the result of Mr. Heilprin's personal solicitation, formed but a small part of his efforts. In addition to planning and caring for the colonists, Mr. Heilprin was the leading spirit in the organization which was hurriedly created to take charge of the incoming flood of Jewish immigrants of whatever kind. For months he spent many hours of the day in the dingy basement office in State Street which served as the headquarters of the Aid Society, devising measures for the housing of the rapidly increasing number of arrivals, for the immediate relief of the needy, and for the transportation to other places of those willing and able to leave the city. Nor was this all. The situation had to be explained, in their own language and dialect, to the bewildered immigrants. More than once, during the hot days of the sum- mer of 1882, and in the stifling atmosphere of the State Street office, Mr. Heilprin had to point out to the hapless mothers of young children the need of the' most elementary sanitary rules; not infrequently he was compelled to argue earnestly with the more impatient and obstreperous of the immigrants, who could not or would not always understand that the land of liberty was, like the countries of the old world, subject to laws and restrictions which must be obeyed. Perhaps more trying than all, he had to overcome, as far as lay in his power, the prejudice of those of his race who could see only the uncouth aspects of the refugees and failed to recognize the idealism, the intellectual alertness, and the various latent abilities which have since, in so many cases, asserted themselves among them and their descendants. I recall an instance when, at a meeting of promi- nent Hebrews, after some inconsiderate talk about Polish and Russian Jews, Mr. Heilprin arose and quietly said : " I am a JEWISH COLONIES FOUNDED 207 Polish Jew, I belong to that despised race." An impassioned appeal to the better feelings of the audience followed, and the effect was extraordinary. I have before me, as I write, the memorandum book which bears, in Mr. Heilprin's beautiful handwriting, the names of all the colonies, " founded or aided by the Montefiore Agri- cultural Aid Society (formerly New-Odessa Fund)." They were as follows: New Odessa, in Douglas Co., Oregon. Cremieux, in Aurora Co., Dakota. Bethlehem-Judah, in Davison Co., Dakota. Carmel, in Cumberland Co., New Jersey. Montefiore, in Pratt Co., Kansas. Lasker, in Ford Co., Kansas. Hebron, in Barber Co., Kansas. Gilead, in Comanche Co., Kansas. Touro, in Finney Co., Kansas. Leeser, in Finney Co., Kansas. AN APPEAL TO THE JEWS Many were the disappointments that awaited these colonists, but Mr. Heilprin and his associates kept up a stout heart. In November, 1883, they issued a stirring appeal, from Mr. Heilprin's pen, to the Jews of the United States, in which they set forth the rise, scope, and aims of the Montefiore Agri- cultural Aid Society and thus described the conditions of the colonies established: " Very shortly after the arrival of a large number of Russian refugees in this country, some twenty months ago, we became cognizant of the fact, that, among the many whose misfortune and misery appealed to the benevolence of their more fortunate brethren, there were not a few whose firm determination or ardent desire to devote themselves to agricultural pursuits, in the land which was to become their new home, deserved special attention. There were elderly men who had tasted all the wretchedness, and had felt the shame, of Jewish trading life in Russia ; but side by side with them, strenuous youths whom a suddenly awakened Jewish enthusiasm had led to the fixed 208 MICHAEL HEILPRItf purpose of becoming the pioneers of their down-trodden and decried people in a field of natural, useful, and redeeming activity. Some of these men were enthusiastic dreamers, others were equally clear-sighted and resolute; some had nothing to lose, others were ready to sacrifice to their ideal alluring per- sonal chances and lucrative careers formerly entered upon. Their determination, the end in view, appealed to our sym- pathy, and we did not refuse our help. We devoted our first attention to an organized association of capable and well educated young men from South Eussia, chiefly from Odessa and its environs. We formed a small Com- mittee for the foundation of a colony to be called New Odessa. It was no light task to collect means for this object, at a time when every day brought into our port vessels thronged with refugees, whose hunger and want of shelter pressed every other claim upon public charity into the background. We had also to contend with an anti-Russian prejudice, an outgrowth of ignorance and self-over-estimation kindred to anti-Semitism. But few understood the language, the sentiments, the aims and inclinations of the strangers. But few would believe that among the wrecks of distant communities which a storm of persecution had driven to our shores, there was material for construction which might became an honor to this country, and to all Israel. The misery which made its appearance in our thoroughfares offered an aspect far from attractive. Its cries of impatience were disturbing sounds. The resignation and self-helping efforts of the most modest and patient sufferers escaped attention. The offences of the few were charged upon the multitude. Prejudice bred prejudice ; an unbrotherly treat- ment produced rancor and spite, together with despondency. Many a small gift was offered with rudeness, some generous help was requited with ingratitude. The first attempts to found an agricultural colony (in Louisiana) failed in consequence of hasty action and an improper choice of the locality. Public benevolence limited itself to offering sustenance and occasional aid, which required immense sums. Only when dire necessity demanded the removal of many of the unfortunates from the overcrowded city districts, were colonizing attempts on a larger scale made by the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society in the AN APPEAL TO THE JEWS 209 States of New Jersey and Colorado partly with means ob- tained from Europe. A great deal was sacrificed, with little faith. Notwithstanding these difficulties we succeeded thanks to the enlightened generosity of single sympathizers in carrying out the colonization of the Society to whom we had offered our aid. Travels of exploration and various other efforts were re- quired, but the strenuous perseverance of our proteges lightened the execution, and a year had hardly elapsed since the begin- ning of the undertaking when a goodly number of Russian- Jewish youths completed the foundation of New Odessa Colony in the State of Oregon, near its southern border and the Pacific Ocean. The money which we collected for the purpose we used for transportation and the purchase of a farm of seven hundred and sixty acres, of horses, implements, etc., but the maintenance of the Association has to this day entailed upon us no expense whatever. The young men have done a great deal of hard work, their zeal has not abated, and the future of the colony is prom- ising. It is able to maintain itself in spite of trying privation and scantiness of means even if no further aid whatever is afforded it ; generous assistance could rapidly make it flourish- ing, and promote its expansion. It now furnishes the Oregon and California Railroad which traverses it with wood for fuel from its woodlands, and, if possessed of the necessary steam-saw machinery, could also supply that railroad with the sleepers required for its extension. Even before this colony was called into life in the remotest Northwest of the Union, we succeeded in establishing a few other refugees in the wonderfully prosperous northern Territory of Dakota. Here, in the neighborhood of Mitchell and Mount Vernon in the southeast of the Territory two families returned from the wrecked Louisiana Colony, with some friends who followed them from Russia, had settled, unaided, on * homestead ' lands. These men, who devoted to their work an indomitable energy and the remnant of their fortune, were joined by a number of others, and soon two colonies arose near each other; Cremieux and Bethlehem- Judah. Some aid was obtained from the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society, as well as from European Associations. Further to the northwest, a col- 210 MICHAEL HEILPRIN ony was founded in the same Territory, near Bismarck, by Jew- ish sympathizers in the City of St. Paul ; another was founded in the State of Kansas, by Cincinnatians ; another, by Balti- moreans, on the Rappahannock, in Virginia. Hard was the beginning everywhere, as was the winter in which the settlers, poorly clad and poorly housed as they were, spent the first months of their farming life on uncultivated soil. Worse still was the situation of such scattered agriculturalists as had gone to remote parts without a plan and without aid. When the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society dissolved, in the spring of this year, the Louisiana Colony had long disappeared; that of Co- topaxi, in Colorado, was breaking up ; and Alliance (near Vine- land) and Estelleville, in New Jersey, were in a chaotic condition. The situation, in general, was then a greatly disheartening one. Only from Oregon and Dakota came some rays of hope. But we had had too many occasions to admire the firmness and enthusiasm of many of the refugees who devoted themselves to agriculture, now to give up all hope of a turn for the better and abandon our efforts. We, therefore, resolved to keep up our little organization, and, having accomplished our task in Ore- gon, to bestow the little help we could afford on particularly hard struggling settlers in southeastern Dakota and New Jersey. The ex-President of the Hebrew Emigrant Aid So- ciety and some of his former associates continued to be active for the benefit of Alliance (the ' Vineland colony ') and Estelle- ville; the colonies in northern Dakota, in Kansas, and Vir- ginia were maintained by their respective founders and pro- tectors. The colony in Cotopaxi, however, broke up entirely. Nor could that of Estelleville be saved. But a smaller settle- ment in the same region, at Beaver Dam in southern New Jersey, was preserved by our efforts, and we also found means of providing for some young men who were anxious to share the agricultural toils of the colonists in southeastern Dakota. Others flocked thither without any assistance. The most mu- nificent protector of the refugees in this city planted a large family on the same soil. The late spring was succeeded by a delightful, bounteous summer. Hope revived, and with it came fresh energy. The value of the homesteads obtained from the AN APPEAL TO THE JEWS 211 American Government for a nominal price rose beyond all ex- pectation. The willingness and capacity for labor of the Rus- sian colonists met with general acknowledgment ; the misery of their brethren in the cities had been diminished or partly van- ished out of sight; ability and steadiness had found their reward; a better sentiment began to prevail everywhere, the helpers felt happier, the helped became more grateful. New collections for Alliance, with the object of propagating manu- facturing industry there, proved an increased readiness to assist the toilers. A decidedly friendly and humane disposition WEB everywhere evinced by the non-Jewish neighbors of these vic- tims of persecution. The hardships of their present have not ceased to be severe, but the future has ceased to appear hope- less and dark. The general situation of the Russian colonies has, indeed, improved beyond all our expectations within the last few months. The thought is highly gratifying that Jewish agricultural colo- nies have taken root in the most diverse parts of this vast coun- try; that the settlers of New Odessa, in Oregon, have main- tained themselves by their own labor alone for more than a year; that several Slavic Russians, prompted by an enlightened feeling of patriotic sympathy, have followed them from the At- lantic shore to their distant Pacific home an incident which forms one of the brightest pages in the annals of the Jewish exodus from Russia; that the Alliance (or Vineland) colony already embraces seventy families ; that in the southeastern dis- trict of Dakota which includes Cremieux and Bethlehem- Jud ah the Russian-Jewish settlers are in possession of more than nine thousand acres of excellent farming land ; and that hundreds of other refugees are anxiously looking forward to the moment when they might be able to join their friends on the farms, among them men reared in easy circumstances and now pursu- ing remunerative occupations in cities. Should the colonies continue to advance on the road to prosperity, thousands of others would be induced to strive for the same object. We have enabled many a struggling refugee to attain this ardently de- sided end, and we are still ready to devote a portion of our limited time and strength to this cause, which is so dear to the hearts of the best of the Jewish immigrants; but the means 212 MICHAEL HEILPRIN which are here at our disposal are far from being adequate to the task before us. Too many charitable sacrifices are still de- manded here daily for the Kussian poor, aged, and sick, widows and orphans; nor has the public fully learned to appreciate the importance of preserving, expanding, and multiplying the Jewish agricultural colonies in this land of unlimited religious freedom and boundless activity. We, therefore, address ourselves to you with a petition for help and co-operation. We know there is no lack of sympathy for this cause in the circles in which you move and your philan- thropy acts; but the position of affairs here, the difficulties under which the Russian refugees labor in this country, the noble efforts of some of them, and the expectations for the com- mon weal of the Jewish people which can be based on such at- tempts cannot be sufficiently known in your country, and we deem it our duty to contribute toward a clear elucidation of them. The whole of this movement for self-regeneration, to which old degradation, disappointed hope of deliverance through freedom in the fatherland, and a barbarous persecution have given rise, is an entirely novel, a magnificent, phenomenon in the history of modern Judaism. By strengthening and foment- ing this movement grand results can yet be achieved. And is it not a duty, is it not commanded by the said circumstances of the time, which has witnessed such a terrible revival of medise- valism, to make a vigorous effort to foster the good which so un- expectedly springs from a source of evil ? And does not our Republic offer the best and broadest field for such efforts of Jewish philanthropy and foresight ? " RUSSIAN-JEWISH COLONIES A year later, October 25, 1884, the New York Evening Post, in an article on the Montefiore Agricultural Aid Society, com- mented upon the surprising fact that the scanty means of the Society proved sufficient, and that none of its colonizing enter- prises had failed up to that time, while others, undertaken with ampler resources, had proved abortive. This favorable result, as the article justly pointed out, was mainly due to the freedom in the choice of the personnel which the smaller volunteer so- FATE OF THE COLONIES 213 ciety enjoyed, while the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society was op- pressed by the weight of its daily duties and the care of a motley mass of refugees clamoring for bread. The rule of the Monte- fiore Society was to select for agriculturists only earnest young men and small families, and to help only those able to help themselves. It will be of interest to recall some of the charac- teristics of these colonies. The Montefiore Aid Society never endeavored to make converts for any religious or social doc- trine. Its object was to foster agricultural pursuits among Jewish immigrants ; but it left the choice of place and the in- ternal organization of each colony to the settlers. It held no lien upon the property furnished to the colonists, relying for its reimbursement only on the honor of the colonists, if success crowned their efforts. Every settler was at liberty to leave his post without explanation or notice. New Odessa was the only colony based on communistic principles. There was a great variety of religious views among the colonists. Mutual tolera- tion existed everywhere, in spite of the diverse elements that made up some of the colonies. Orthodoxy prevailed at Carmel, and a glowing racial spirit animated the colony at Montefiore. The first of all the Russian-Jewish colonies had been started independently of the Montefiore Aid Society. Its leader was Herman Rosenthal, one of the most prominent of the men who left Russia in 1881. The ill-chosen site of this colony, in Cata- houla Parish, Louisiana, on the Washita River, made its failure inevitable. Mr. Rosenthal, who later became a highly valued colaborer of Mr. Heilprin in colonization matters, was, after returning from Louisiana, the leader of the colonies in south- eastern Dakota; these, after two or three years of relative prosperity, presented, in the winter of 1885-86, a gloomy picture. Failure of crops, and insufficiency of means, had done their fatal work, and the number of colonists had dwindled to a handful. In vain had Mr. Heilprin tried to infuse new life into the discouraged colonists; himself in impaired health, as the result of his superhuman efforts, he was compelled, in the spring of 1884, to leave New York and seek comparative rest and retirement in the village of Summit, New Jersey, in a region whose natural beauty had long attracted him. But even there he was pursued by anxiety for the fate of those in whom he 214 MICHAEL HEILPRIN had taken such a deep interest. Equally with him, Dr. Julius Goldman retained his zeal in the cause during all the years when every nerve had to be strained to provide for the needs of the newcomers, as well as of those who, heartsick, returned from the colonies, and cast about for new means of subsistence. During the early days of the immigration, when bright hope animated the choicest spirits among the Russian Jews, and when Mr. Heilprin's own enthusiasm was at its height, Emma Lazarus, a gifted poet and noble woman, was an untiring advocate, in pen and person, of the cause of colonization. Mr. Jacob H. Schiff, among other prominent Hebrews, actively aided Mr. Heilprin's labors. Among those of another faith, Mr. Henry Villard, whom Mr. Heilprin had long known, furthered the cause of the refugees by securing for them cheap transporta- tion to Oregon. A GBEAT SERVICE TO THE JEWISH CAUSE Only four years more were vouchsafed to Mr. Heilprin in his rural abode. He had never cherished any illusion as to the price he had to pay for his share in the interest of his unfortunate kinsmen. His health was shattered, and in spite of his habitual cheerfulness, his spirit saddened. But he was able to render a last and permanent service to the cause of Judaism. The American Minister to Turkey, Mr. Oscar S. Straus, wrote to Mr. Heilprin, in the winter of 1887, suggesting that a full statement from him concerning the condition of the Russian- Jewish immigrants in the United States might influence Baron de Hirsch in extending to them his wide benefactions. Mr. Heilprin's reply, written in January, 1888, four months be- fore his death, was as follows : " Everyone interested in the fate of our race will rejoice at the thought that the noble enthusiasm which so recently inspired the grandest act of benevolence recorded in the annals of history is animating the benefactor, after spreading his blessings over the East, to look for a new field of blissful activity beyond the western sea. America is rich in resources, wealth, energy, and freedom, A GREAT SERVICE TO THE JEWISH CAUSE 215 which is creative and fertilizing. Those Israelites who have found here their place require no help from abroad, no foreign direction, nor encouragement. But a score of thousands of their brethren are wafted every year to the shores of this country, mostly in a helpless condition, and many of them have to pass through an ordeal of misery and despondency before they find their place. There aid, encouragement, and direction are needed, but very scantily forthcoming. The new immigrants are not greeted with open-hearted sympathy by those who pre- ceded them, but looked upon with more or less aversion, as in- truders, likely to add to the unwholesome elements of the population. Nor are the suspicions unfounded. The mass of the new im- migrants came from countries in which the Jews are cramped in their development by mediaeval restrictions and superstitions, internal as well as external; they bring along a load of igno- rance, uncouth habits, and crude notions partly obsolete and partly most modernly destructive which apparently unfits them to become useful and successful members of society. The large fund of intelligence and ardor for good which many of them carry with them is generally overlooked, or rather remains long unperceived. The stream of immigration is constant, and there is fear of its ultimately swamping the goodly earlier settle- ments of Israel in the New World. The prejudice and the fear are both exaggerated. The Ameri- can Union could harbor all the seven or eight million Jews that there are in the world, and absorb them all in a harmless way. But not only does the selfish or patriotic susceptibility of the already established Jews revolt at the thought of such a con- summation, but the most philanthropic and enlightened observer must desire that the influx of Jews from Europe be moderated instead of accelerated. Only thus could the boundless amount of suffering to which immigrants en masse fall a prey be obvi- ated, and the necessary process of assimilation, after healthy distribution, take place. But, unfortunately, the only natural check to ptecipitate immigration is that very suffering, the news of which is carried by letters or by returning emigrants to the countries from which the flood springs. To establish large institutions promising to 216 MICHAEL HEILPRIN afford guidance and help to the strenuous, and shelter and care to the luckless, would be adding to the evil, instead of diminish- ing it. However richly endowed such institutions might be and the Israelitish benefactor above alluded to Has taught us to believe in benevolence on a gigantic scale their alleviating power would be out of proportion to the increase in the demand for help which the very fact of their existence would create. For every hundred immigrants successfully aided, a thousand others would arrive, deluded by a deceptive hope of help, which they would believe was vouchsafed to the least fit to struggle for their own existence. Let it be known, for instance, that work- shops have been opened specially for Jews from Russia, Galicia, or Roumania, and for every strong and energetic young man who would thus be saved from peddling or despair, a score of poor people, devoid alike of experience and ability, would wend their way from Kovno, Brody or Botusharry to Hamburg and New York. Let it be believed that land and implements are given gratis to Jewish agriculturists, and there will be a new exodus from southern Russia, resulting, after a multitude of efforts and experiments in the right direction but without the needed aptness, in a vast addition to the peddling population of our large cities. Jewish charity has always justly been praised perhaps slightly beyond its merits. Even Antisemites would hardly dare to deny it. It is constantly doing a great deal of good. But it has also been productive of evil consequences. It has fostered a habit of relying upon individuals and congregational insti- tutions, and in proportion weakened the instincts of manliness, self-reliance, and honor. It is time to moderate this deleterious influence of a noble sentiment and practice. Jewish institutions ought to be founded on the principle of aiding those who aid themselves, of promoting and rewarding independent efforts and successful energy not by gifts and distinctions, but by afford- ing means for enlarging the scope of honorable efforts and the field of manly energy. I do not mean the widening of the sphere of ambition that is but too wide already among us. We have too many artists, scholars, politicians, ' doctors ' of every description, lawyers, writers. I mean the promoting of the efforts of those whose object is to achieve a livelihood and A GEEAT SERVICE TO THE JEWISH CAUSE 217 respectable position among honest fellowmen by the diligent and useful labor of their hands. Let such aid be granted to me- chanics and especially agriculturists as would enable them to extend the scope of their labor, and ultimately serve as en- couraging examples to beginners in the same lines. A bank of credit which would advance to men established by their own efforts, and able to prove a tolerable advance in their occupa- tions, sums sufficient for the purchase of better tools, imple- ments, machines, teams, cattle, etc., than those with which they work on good mortgage and at the lowest rate of interest appears to me the most important desideratum. Numberless families now relying on labor which is but a drudgery without a prospect for the future, and constantly tempted to look for a more profitable though less honorable employment, would by such help be strengthened, encouraged and finally made pros- perous. The prosperity of the thus assisted would lead others to follow in the same paths of manly activity. Agriculture is the field of labor for which the Jew is least well prepared, or rather fitted by education and example. It is needless to state the reasons why this is the case. The whole history of the people in its dispersion proclaims them. But nothing is more desirable than that a large number of Jews should be, not induced, but helped to follow agricultural pur- suits. Inducing to do it by promises or direct pecuniary aid would be but multiplying victims of delusion and cruel failures. There are, however, numerous immigrants in this country who can hardly be kept by warnings from making risky attempts at farming with their own scanty means. It is especially the Eus- sian portion of the Jewish immigration which contains really available material for agricultural colonies. There are thou- sands of Eussian immigrants who loathe peddling and all kin- dred occupations, and nourish even an exaggerated view of the excellence of farming labor and farming life. Of the various colonies founded by such Eussian volunteers, a few have suc- ceeded, and these ought to be extended by advancements of means to their best deserving members in the shape of well- secured loans. They are even now expanding by constant acces- sion of unaided volunteers, but the natural inner development is retarded by scantiness of means. In the neighborhood of 218 MICHAEL HEILPRItf these colonies and especially of Alliance and Carmel in New Jersey, whose proximity to Philadelphia and "New York renders them particularly important considerable tracts of land ought to be acquired by the institution above referred to, or by a sepa- rate kindred establishment, in order to secure land, at the low present price, to the relatives, friends, or other imitators of the successful settler. Nobody should be encouraged to come and settle, but those who do come both with means and a fixed deter- mination should be helped along, without becoming recipients of gratuities. All gifts to individuals, because engaged in the occupation which is to be fostered and propagated, ought to be strictly ex- cluded from the programme of the benevolent institutions here contemplated, in order that the Jewish agriculturist should be made to feel and consider himself a self-sustaining cultivator of the soil, and unsupported member of society. There are, however, common possessions of a settlement which, without impairing the self-respect of its members, may be fostered and enlarged by contributions from without. Such are the school, a library, a hospital, or a benevolent institution in aid of widows and orphans. The settlers ought to create all these themselves, but their creations will unavoidably be slow and insignificant, and the sooner they are developed by donations of sympathizers, the more attractive will the settlements become to their Jewish neighbors or occasional visitors, who may be inclined to ex- change the garret or basement of the city for the log-dwelling of an agricultural colony. The appointment of teachers and phy- sicians, and the spreading through them in the colonies, and through pamphlets and periodicals among the immigrants gen- erally, of the most useful knowledge and information (espe- cially as to agriculture) would also be an important task. Experience has shown that only such Jewish immigrants can subsist on farming alone who begin with ample means and are armed with uncommon energy and patience. Such are, how- ever, rare exceptions. The others who have succeeded owe their better luck to assistance or industrial labor in the house. Suc- cess by assistance, as I have stated, can no longer be our object To help the agriculturist by making it easy for him to employ profitably the days or hours in the family which are not em- A GEEAT SERVICE TO THE JEWISH CAUSE 219 ployed in the field is, probably, the best that can be done for him. Sewing on machines for factories or stores is diligently practiced in Alliance and Cannel, and the latter colony which has grown up completely in the shade in fact mainly relies on this resource. Let in every settlement one or two factories be established, capable of employing one third of the hands available for work including women and boys and almost general prosperity will be insured. Such establishments, how- ever, must exist and be kept up completely on business prin- ciples, free from all interference by the settlers, and bound to them by no kind of promises. Successful settlers might, by advances of capital, be aided in creating minor establishments themselves. Their activity and enterprise ought to be spurred on in various ways. The industries that could be introduced in colonies not remote from large, and especially manufacturing, cities are very numerous. It would, in fact, be the greatest boon for such centres of industry, harboring large numbers of .Tews, to have a Jewish agricultural-industrial settlement in their neighborhood. But these must grow up by independent effort. To develop, not to create them, would be the task. This, at least, ought to be the rule. Experience might possibly sug- gest deviations from it, and teach different methods. If we could imagine a small homogeneous committee of per- fectly responsible, well-intentioned, and energetic men to be formed for a lengthy period of time, and supplied with ample means for carrying out, by successive attempts, the best enter- prises that would suggest themselves for the lasting benefit of Jewish immigrants in this country with due regard to the interest of the country itself, and particularly also of its general Jewish population the conclusion would be natural that such a body ought not to be hampered by regulations and schemes laid out in advance, and that its own experience and the wisdom it would teach ought to be its only guides. But is such a creation possible while the most responsible among us have no time, and the best-intentioned no experience, and energy in this field is without the stimulus of success already achieved ? Woe is me ! The older I grow, and the more I see and think and read, and try to act, the more depressing becomes my pessimism in Jewish matters. But the worse the conditions are the more urgent is 220 MICHAEL HEILPKIN the need of effort, and the more glory will redound to him to whose initiative great exceptional good will be due." The establishment of the Baron de Hirsch Fund in America, with an original endowment of two and a half million dollars, later on increased to four millions, and its vast agencies for benefiting the Eussian Jews who have since poured into this country, was the direct result of Mr. Heilprin's letter to Mr. Straus. Of the details of this work, which is being carried on to this day, this is not the place to speak. It is, however, worthy of record that at least one of the colonies whose in- ception was due to Mr. Heilprin, that of Carmel, in New Jersey, is still flourishing. To it may be added the allied three sister colonies in that State Woodbine, Alliance, and Kosenhayn. And throughout the land thousands of Jewish farmers are living proof that Mr. Heilprin's faith in the ability of Jews to become successful agriculturists was fully justified. The report of the Jewish Agricultural and Industrial Aid So- ciety of New York for 1911 shows that the members of the 45 Jewish Farmers' Associations in the States of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, North Da- kota, and Washington, number 2428. There exists, besides, an active " Federation of Jewish Farmers of America." The Society referred to has since its organization appropriated for loans to farmers the sum of $1,256,000, and these loans are dis- tributed over 27 States, besides Canada. XV ILLNESS AND DEATH In the middle of April, 1888, Mr. Heilprin fell ill with an attack of pneumonia, which his weakened constitution was un- able to withstand. He realized that the end was approaching, and faced it with philosophic resignation. On the 10th of May he breathed his last. The funeral was as simple as he would have wished it. There were no religious exercises, but Dr. Gold- man and Mr. Garrison spoke of their friend in fitting words. Several years later Mrs. Manning gave the family a letter from Mr. Garrison to her daughter, Mrs. Sarah Sage, which de- scribes the funeral. It is dated " The Park [Llewellyn Park, Orange], May 13, 1888." " You will have learned from other sources of the death of our old friend Heilprin on Thursday last at his home in Sum- mit, N". J., some ten miles from here. He had been losing ground visibly for a number of years, ever since his excessive exertions on behalf of the Russian Jews, expelled by persecution, who came to this country with expectations of free farms and other milk-and-honey gifts from the Government. He had hardly extricated himself from this self-imposed burden at the time of your father's death, and the tone of his system was so much impaired that he could not resist the attack of pleurisy to which he finally succumbed. It was very gratifying to me to be asked by the family to come and speak at his funeral. They were desirous to have neither a Jewish nor an anti-Jewish service, so did not call in cither Dr. Adler or Mr. Chadwick. They allotted to me some remarks on Mr. Heilprin's learning and literary life ; to a Dr. Goldman (if I caught the name right), a brother-in-law of Dr. Adler, a general discourse on his moral qualities, and in par- 222 MICHAEL HEILPEIN ticular some account of his self-sacrifice for the Russian Jews. This programme was carried out yesterday to the letter, with- out the aid of music or any formality whatever, but I believe to the general acceptance. The Heilprins, including the married daughter Mrs. Pollak and her family, live comfortably but plainly in a house sur- rounded by grounds in the heart of the village, which, though on high ground, as its name implies, is here a plain. There was a large concourse of friends and relatives. Mrs. Heilprin was greatly overcome, . . . indeed the intellectual partnership be- tween herself and her husband she reading aloud to him through all the years when he was forbidden to use his eyes was as close ... as can very rarely subsist between man and wife. Professor Angelo Heilprin was there from Philadelphia. The Franklins from Baltimore were unable to attend. It was wisely decided to bury Mr. Heilprin where he fell, and the body was taken to a country cemetery near by, on the side of a hill commanding a lovely prospect over the valley of the Passaic. The air was full of moisture, and a haze hung over everything, partly heightening the charm, but rather, I fancy, concealing the best features of the landscape, which was quite new to me. No words were spoken at the grave, but a Jew- ish (and German) custom was observed of the relatives them- selves throwing each a spadeful of earth upon the coffin. Though every acquaintance of mine not formed before I left Boston seems new to me, Mr. Heilprin and I have been friends for nearly half my life; and if I feel bereft on the spiritual side, I also deeply feel the loss of one on whose scholarship I so much depended when out of my depth, and whose devotion to the Nation was the warmest I have ever known. We shall at- tempt to pay a just tribute to him in the Nation of next week." XVI HOME LIFE AND PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS It has not been possible, in the narrative so far given, to enumerate the intimate traits which alone reveal the inner man and endear him to those with whom he passes his days. Rare it is, indeed, to think of one who has left us, without having the cherished presence momentarily clouded by the recollection of something in his life we would have wished undone or unsaid. No such shadow rests upon Mr. Heilprin's life. It was, to those around him, always serene and reposeful. An atmosphere of stimulating cheerfulness went with him wherever he was. Few men enjoyed the simple pleasures of life more than he did. The beauties of Nature lay ever outspread before him. A fine sunset, a pleasing landscape, thrilled his heart in his old age, as they had done in his youth, and they were his solace in the hours of trial and sorrow. And were there not, daily, the pleasures of home life? Was there not the cheery- talk with wife and children, the community of interests with them all in the great and little concerns of the world? Were there not, after the day's work was over, the favorite novelists Cooper, Scott, Dickens, and others, read aloud by one of the children, while all the others of the family listened and shared his enjoyment ? And, lastly, were there not the unfailing feasts of the table, which he enjoyed with such keen relish and such appreciative laudation, though others might have looked askance at the uniformly recurring eggs at the noon and evening meal ? He was no Puritan, and though there was rarely wine at hia own board, he could, on occasion, grow enthusiastic over a glass of good wine, especially Hungarian wine, at a friend's house. Tobacco he never used, and cards, in the years I knew him, he never touched, but he enjoyed sometimes a game of chess, which he played more than fairly well. He loved to see 224: MICHAEL HEILPKIST visitors at his house and was merry with the young. In talking with little children not only his children's children, to whom he was the most devoted of grandfathers a quivering of the lower lip betrayed his deep affection. On Sundays, as long as he lived in the city, there were often many visitors at the house, and any friend, young or old, was made welcome at the simple supper, without preparation or notice. Such a home life would not have been possible without a wife who met all his requirements. Henrietta Heilprin, though not a strictly learned woman, had something of her husband's aptitude for languages and was keenly interested in all his literary pur- suits. She spoke four languages English, German, Hun- garian, and Polish fluently, though not absolutely faultlessly, and read also French. She was a woman of native grace and dignity, and in her youth very beautiful. Her management in matters of domestic economy was wonderful. There was never any appearance of straitened means in any department, and there were always flowers and bright bits of ornament in the home. Mrs. Heilprin retained her serenity and her in- terest in the world's doings until old age. She died July 1, 1899, in her seventy-ninth year. Mr. Heilprin's educational methods partook of the sim- plicity of all the ways of the household. Gently led, the chil- dren responded to the suggestions of their parents with cheerful alacrity. There was practically no direct teaching. The near- est approach to systematic instruction given them was, for a brief time, a little Hebrew, imparted by means of a blank book, in which the father wrote simple words and phrases in Hebrew, German, French, and Hungarian. Girls and boys alike picked up languages very much as their father had done in his youth (though they never began, as he generally did throughout his life, the study of a new tongue by reading the Bible in it), but they had the advantage of frequent practice, in reading to him who rarely used his own eyes now a French book, now a German, now a Spanish or Italian one. One bit of informa- tion led to another, and the gaps were filled without visible effort. When his sons had reached the age of sixteen and fourteen re- spectively, he found, on a certain occasion, their knowledge of some parts of European geography rather defective. A Jiint HENRIETTA HEILPRIN HOME LIFE, PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 225 was sufficient From that day on geography became that seri- ous study to them which bore fruit, in the case of both, in an encyclopaedic knowledge of the earth's surface. There were no rewards, as there were no punishments, in this plan of education, but there were often great treats for the children. Besides little excursions into the country with them, there were a few trips, on a larger scale, carefully planned weeks beforehand and enjoyed in recollection years afterwards such as a journey with the boys, largely on foot, through New England. There was, often and often, barely money enough for the necessities, but for the luxuries books, excursions, lectures of unusual attractiveness and, above all, for charity, funds were always forthcoming. Mr. Chadwick has spoken of Mr. Heilprin's phenomenal powers of conversation. But nothing was further from his mind than an ostentatious display of knowledge. He simply; could not help being eloquent, and he was naturally communi- cative; but the social or intellectual standing of those with whom he conversed made not a particle of difference in his attitude. He was as amiable to a needy stranger (and there were many who found their way to his home, both in New York and in Summit) as he was to a learned professor. More than once he left an unfinished article, to hurry away with some Polish or Hungarian laborer, unable to speak a word of English, who was in some trouble, and had appealed to him to straighten out matters with his employer. The life in Summit he grew to be very fond of. He was a good neighbor, as he had always been everywhere, and he con- sidered it his duty to identify himself with the place in which he lived. He attended public meetings and took an interest in all the concerns of village life. The good name of Summit as an orderly and cleanly place was a matter of importance to him, and he warmly seconded all the efforts of the Village Im- provement Society. I remember seeing him on one occasion, when one of the paths was littered with stray paper, pick up each bit and deposit the lot in the proper receptacle. All this was done without ostentation. Respect for authority and strict obedience to law were part of his nature, but he could make every allowance for thr, weaknesses of others, and never im- 226 MICHAEL HEILPRIN posed upon them his own stricter notions of propriety. He had a good deal of worldly shrewdness in dealing with men of all sorts and conditions, and his advice in practical matters some- times proved very sound. Though he spent a portion of every day at the writing table, he rarely overworked, and he never worked feverishly. He had an unfailing resource against mental fatigue in his ability to command, almost at will, brief naps. He would lean back in his chair, just after writing an article, and doze off in an in- stant. When meditating he would walk up and down in his room, humming his favorite lines, from Childe Harold: Yon sun that sets upon the sea We follow in his flight: Farewell awhile to him and thee, My native land good-night ! Perhaps the verse recalled distant scenes in his own life, pos- sibly the lines expressed an occasional longing for Poland and Hungary, which he was destined never to see again. Though not musical, he was very responsive to simple melodies, and Hungarian music fired his heart even in old age. It is not strange that his closest friends should have been those with whom he had in common the love for Hungary, but he endeared himself to a wide circle of friends in his adopted country. Mr. Chadwick he met first at Mr. Manning's house, where there was an occasional gathering of choice spirits. Through the Mannings Mr. Heilprin became also acquainted with Professor E. L. Youmans, and with Samuel Longfellow brother of the poet Mr. Chadwick's predecessor in the Unitarian pulpit in Brooklyn. He knew Horace Greeley, as he did Goldwin Smith, Professor William C. Russel, Vice-Presi- dent of Cornell, and Professor Child, of Harvard, with whom he once spent a day at Cambridge, in order to give him the ben- efit of his information in matters connected with Slavic folk- lore. Among the prominent Germans who, after 1848, found a refuge in this country, Mr. Heilprin knew well Carl Schurz and Hugo Wesendonck. He came into pleasant contact with a num- ber of these through his connection with the " Namenloser HOME LIFE, PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 227 Verein," an informal club of chosen men which met, in the sixties, in New York. Carl Schurz occasionally attended the meetings of thfe club ; other members were Friedrich Kapp and Dr. Lowe-Kalbe, both of whom later achieved distinction in the parliamentary life of united Germany. Though not a willing letter-writer, Mr. Heilprin kept up an occasional correspondence with a few old friends on the other side of the ocean, among them Fabius Mieses of Leipzig a name of considerable repute in Jewish literature. Throughout his life he retained his interest in the doings of such notable rep- resentatives of Jewish learning as Graetz, Geiger (whom he had known personally), and especially Zunz, the Nestor of Jewish scholars, whose attainments and methods he greatly admired. Of the learned Hebraists of this city Mr. Heilprin knew longest and best Dr. Samuel Adler. Another warm friend was Dr. B. Szold of Baltimore. He undertook, after Mr. Heilprin's death, to edit the Biblical Notes, dating from his earliest youth, which were found among his papers. They were privately printed, in Hebrew throughout, as Bibelkritische Notizen, with a preface in German by Dr. Szold, in which, addressing himself to Biblical scholars, he expressed his hope that, " in a skilful hand, what is offered here may develop into a complete and im- portant work, and that even in their present shape these notes would prove most stimulating to scholars in this field." With all of Mr. Heilprin's fondness for congenial compan- ionship his most constant friends were his books. In reading for pure pleasure he often turned to some favorite of his youth end early manhood. " Anastasius Griin " (Count Anton Auers- perg), the liberal singer of Austrian Germany, was one of these. In prose and poetry alike he looked for simplicity and clearness. The mocking spirit in literature, however allied to genius, he disliked, and he abhorred, like Goethe, caricature in any form. His reverence for the Humanists, in the broadest sense, remained undimmed. Among German classics, he was most familiar with Lessing, Mendelssohn, and Herder. Men- delssohn's Phddon (On the Immortality of the Soul) he placed more than once in the hands of friends called upon to confront a sudden bereavement. But he did not mean to convey thereby his own faith. What that was he never made the subject of 228 MICHAEL HEILPKIST conversation, but all who knew him knew also that creed meant as little to him as race or nationality when the claims of a com- mon brotherhood in suffering asserted themselves. Though most tolerant, in the broadest sense of the word, his mild blue eyes could flash indignation against flagrant public or private wrongdoing. He would never forgive the offences of Grant the President, however much he admired the deeds of the Gen- eral. Of all men in our recent public life, Cleveland most fully won his heart. The memory of Lincoln he worshipped. Of his standards in matters of belief we sometimes catch glimpses in his writings, as in the following passage from a re- view of " Contemporary Portraits " by E. de Pressense, the eminent representative of conservative French Protestantism. " Like Vinet, M. de Pressense is ' as impatient of the yoke of intolerant orthodoxy as of that of the hierarchy/ and does ' not find the truth embodied in the form of a systematic creed even in the Bible itself, which speaks with supreme authority on matters of faith/ It is perhaps needless to add that he con- demns Bismarck's Culturkampf almost as much as the dog- matic enunciations of Pius IX. M. de Pressense is thus a zealous champion both of faith and freedom ; and his champion- ship is marked by the best moral qualities of a leader: ardor tempered by toleration, partisanship restrained by charitable- ness. The last-named virtue, however, is perhaps too far stretched in some of his biographical sketches. His ' Thiers ' is all but a panegyric, although the founder of the French re- public was never a model of a Christian, and only in his last years an advocate of republican liberty; and Voltaire and Du- panloup men of the most antagonistic tendencies, though of tendencies equally repugnant to the author are judged with a mildness which the mere admiration of genius and esprit does not sufficiently justify. Strauss alone, the assailant both of Christianity and France of the latter in 1870 may be said to be treated without favor, though also sine ira. The spirit that pervades the whole book is noble, the style is beautiful throughout, and the light thrown upon the evangelical move- ments of our age especially in France, Switzerland, and Eng- land must be welcome to thoughtful readers of every shade THE LESSON" OF ME. HEILPKIIST'S LIFE 229 of religious opinion. The philosophy, however, which under- lies the Christian speculations of the author must be said to be merely a philosophy of sentiment. His dogmas are based neither on logical nor on historical deductions ; they grow sub- jectively out of his conscience and pious reverence." We have in this extract the reflection of Michael Heilprin's own character with his tolerant liberalism and his insistence on truth, logic, and accuracy. His entire life was the best expo- sition of his religion and philosophy. He lives in the fond recollection of those who knew and loved him, who daily admired the loftiness of his motives and the unvarying sweetness of his disposition, who were under the spell of his fiery eloquence, who beheld in him the pure patriot of two continents, the scholar of unrivaled attainments, with a heart for the humblest fellow- man, whatever his race or faith. PAET II ANGELO HEILPEIN ANGELO HEILPRIN ANGELO HEILPRIN HIS EAKLY LIFE Angelo Heilprin was bom at SatoraljVCTjhely, Hungary, March 31, 1853, and came to this country with his parents in 1856. He received his first schooling in Philadelphia and Brooklyn, and attended for a year a grammar school in Yonkers. His early interest in nature was stimulated by a Hungarian book on animals, Kaff's Termeszet-Historidja, a gift of the Kossuth family, which his parents had brought with them to this country. From their earliest years Angelo and his brother Louis were inseparable, and they shared alike their Studies and their pleasures. Drawing and painting with simple water colors was one of their favorite pastimes. Angelo turned to a much more ambitious artistic task when the family moved to Washington. It was nothing less than the copying of some of the paintings in the Capitol, among others the " Marriage of Pocahontas." The boy of ten sought and obtained permission to sit in the rotunda for this purpose, and often attracted attention by his patient work amid such surroundings. In his own room at home he adorned the walls with frescoes from his sketches. Nothing, of course, is left of these youthful efforts, but they linger in the memory of those who saw them as quite remarkable. In Yonkers, at the age of twelve, and during the following year, Angelo received some instruction in piano playing, for which he developed a great liking. Though a most obedient child, he early showed that spirit of independence of which he was later to give so many striking proofs. When, at the age of thirteen, he was told by the family physician that, on account of a temporary weakness, he ought to desist from 234 ANGELO HEILPBIX skating, he wrote, without the knowledge of his parents, to the doctor, pleading earnestly for a little freedom in the matter, and gained his point. At the age of fourteen, when the family moved to !New York, he, together with his brother, entered a hardware concern, where they used every leisure hour, with the consent of their amiable employer, in studying geography. The early mornings and the evening hours at home were given to books on various subjects, history, travels, botany, physics, etc. Nor was the study of foreign languages neglected. In spite of his pronounced bent toward the acquisi- tion of knowledge, Angelo attended faithfully to his office duties, and he rose to an important position in a larger mer- cantile house, which he had entered in 1871. He was offered an interest in the firm in the following year, but he had long decided to follow the life of a naturalist. The evening hours were still spent in the study of serious works on scientific subjects, including chemistry, geology, and biology. Some of these books his mother read to him, while he was suffering from a slight affection of the eyes. The revision of the Ameri- can Cyclopaedia, begun by his father in 1873, gave him the longed-for opportunity of abandoning mercantile pursuits, and from that time until the autumn of 1876 he assisted his father in this work, together with his brother and sisters. During these years he pursued his study of the natural sciences with even greater ardor, occasionally dissected a fowl, collected mineralogical specimens, and in his excursions had an eye on plants, trees, and other natural objects. Nor was his in- terest in art allowed to slumber. One day a block of marble was brought to the house, out of which he proceeded, with partly self-made tools, to fashion a lion, for which he had made sketches from a living model in Central Park. If not a finished work of art, this first and only attempt at sculpture gave another proof of the young man's versatility and his skill in accomplishing whatever he set out to do. ARTICLE ON TYNDALI, FOR THE AMERICAN CYCLOPEDIA While assisting his father he modestly asked to be allowed to try his hand at writing a few articles on scientific subjects. AN ARTICLE ON TYNDALL 235 Being given permission by the editors-in-chief, he produced several striking biographies, of which the one on Tyndall is the most important. It was a summing up, from a careful read- ing of Tyndall's works, of his achievements in physics. The article was submitted, in proof, to Professor Tyndall himself, who expressed to the editors his great satisfaction with it. In this biography, the young writer said: " The labors of Professor Tyndall, though more particularly directed toward the examination of the molecular constitution of matter, have not been confined to any special branch of physics. Between 1849 and 1856 he was mainly occupied with the prosecution of his experiments in magnetism and electricity, in the course of which he conclusively settled the question of diamagnetic or reversed polarity, the existence of which, origi- nally asserted by Faraday, and reaffirmed by Weber in 1848, had been subsequently denied by the former. In 1859 he initiated a remarkable series of researches in radiant heat, which were extended over a period of more than ten years. The diathermancy of simple and compound gases, as well as of various vapors and liquids, was experimentally tested, and the degrees of their opacity to radiant heat determined with great precision. Dry atmospheric air, which had hitherto af- forded but negative results to Melloni, was ascertained to have an absorptive power about equal to that of its main elementary components, and but a mere fraction of that of aqueous vapor ; a discovery which, in its bearings on terrestrial and solar radi- ation, has exerted a marked influence on the progress of meteor- ology. The principle of the physical connection of the emis- sion and absorption of undulations (first enunciated by Euler), which formed the basis of Angstrom's experiments on the radiation and absorption of incandescent solids, and which laid the foundation for the science of spectrum analysis, was applied by Tyndall to gases and vapors some time previous to the publication of Kirchhoff's more specialized generalizations respecting refrangibility. Tyndall's investigations on obscure and luminous radiations, and on the nature of calorescence, on the transmutation of heat rays, form some of the most note- worthy of his contributions to molecular physics. By means 236 ANGELO HEILPRIN of a filter composed of a solution of iodine and the bisulphide of carbon, so constituted as to intercept all but the ultra-red rays of any luminous source of heat, he has ascertained that the visible thermal rays emanating from any particular body bear but a small ratio to the total number of thermal rays emitted by that body. He has also shown, by experiments on his own eyes, that the calorific energy of a concentrated electric beam, capable of raising platinized platinum foil to vivid redness, and of instantaneously exploding gunpowder at an absolute dark focus, is incompetent to excite the sense of vision in the human retina. The subject of gaseous conductivity (which led to views antagonistic to those entertained by Magnus), the action of odors and colors on radiant heat, and the various laws gov- erning acoustic and optical phenomena, have also engaged his attention. To him is due the beautiful interpretation of the azure color of the firmament, as well as of the changing tints accompanying the morning and evening twilight. (See Light.) Since 1873 his labors have been more generally related to those of the Trinity house, in connection with inquiries made into the causes which affect the acoustic transparency of the atmosphere." A REVIEW OF HUXLEY'S " ELEMENTABY BIOLOGY " In addition to his work on the Cyclopaedia, the young student found time for contributions to the Nation, among which were a notice of a new volume of the Encyclopedia Britannica and the following review of Huxley's Course of Practical Instruction in Elementary Biology: "The lack of a suitable series of elementary text-books on zoology, designed to lead the student step by step from the study of the simpler forms of animal life to the more complex, and calculated at the same time not merely to furnish what may be vaguely termed a descriptive survey of the animal king- dom, but to impart a clear and specific knowledge of the struc- ture, physiology, and affinities of the various objects brought under observation, has been long felt by the scientific public. Professor Huxley's treatise is of an essentially practical but at the same time decidedly popular nature. Written in that f amil- A EEVIEW OF HUXLEY'S "BIOLOGY" 23Y iar and vigorous style so characteristic of most of the author's writings, concise in statement and accurate in definition, it leaves little in the scope of the work to be desired. Though not sufficiently elementary in certain portions, and perhaps a little too abstruse in others, it is, on the whole, clear enough to be handled by anyone pretending to but a slight knowledge of the first principles of the science. Taking the common yeast- plant (torula) and proiococcus, as forms exemplifying the sim- plest stage of vegetable existence, and amoeba as equally illus- trative of the lowest type of animal organism, we follow the professor in a minute examination of the microscopic cell and cell-contents, observe their mode of growth, reproduction, and decay, and note the interesting changes which they undergo under the direct influence of heat and light, or through the action of chemical agents. From the investigation of these primitive particles of organized matter matter which may be almost said to be leading a passive or rather mechanical existence we proceed to the consideration of the more highly constituted moulds (penicillium and mucor), plants consisting of an aggre- gation of homogeneous cells, and which, though showing a true differentiation into organs, still bear a strong affinity to iorula. CTiara and the bracken fern (pteris aquilina) illustrate a bi-sexual mode of reproduction among the thallogens and acrogens respectively, while the bean affords a familiar ex- ample of an exogenous phsenogam. Appended to the brief but well-sifted descriptive text which forms the reading matter of the work is a course of instructions intended to carry the student through a series of microscopical researches into the anatomy and physiology of each subject, and which will, in the words of Professor Huxley, enable him 'to know of his own knowledge the chief facts mentioned in the account of the animal or plant.' The section devoted to zoology is treated in pretty much the same manner as that on botany. A number of well-known objects, easily obtainable in most localities (such as the fresh-water polyp, mussel, and frog), serve to typify some of the leading modifications of animal structure, and to represent at the same time the several principal classes into which the animal kingdom has been divided. Great space is allotted to the description of the frog, the details about that 238 ANGELO HEILPRIN worthy subject occupying no less than one-third of the entire volume, or more than 100 pages. What is especially noticeable in the character of the present work is the complete absence of anything approaching a ten- dency to speculative theorizing, a remarkable circumstance in view of the number of important questions with which the author's name has been prominently connected. In one in- stance only do we find an allusion that may be regarded as having any bearing on one or other of the great biological prob- lems of the day namely, under bacteria, where a direct refu- tation is given to the experiments frequently brought forward in support of the theory of spontaneous generation. Objection might be made to the summary and positive manner in which this interesting question is disposed of, but the author had already fully stated his views on that point in his presidential address before the British Association in 1870. In the chapter on the bean, we are surprised to find no mention of that fact of primary signification in vegetable morphology, the correla- tion of the different organs of the plant in other words, the intimate relation which the various parts constituting the flower and fruit bear to the leaf." STUDIES IN EUROPE After the completion of the American Cyclopaedia, in 1876, Angelo Heilprin, then in his twenty-fourth year, was able to carry out a long-cherished plan. He went to Europe to study the natural sciences under eminent teachers. Entering what was then known as the Royal School of Mines (now the Normal School of Science) he studied biology under Huxley, geology under Judd, and palaeontology under Etheridge. His con- spicuous ability won for him, after a year, the Forbes medal for proficiency in biology and palaeontology. He then went to Paris and Switzerland, journeying through the Alps and studying glaciers, and, in the fall of 1877, settled for the winter in Geneva, where he attended the lectures of Carl Vogt. A journey to Italy followed, where he found varied inspiration. In Florence he attended, for a few weeks, a course in painting the only instruction in the technique of art he ever received. HIS WORK IN PHILADELPHIA 239 He then crossed the Alps on his way to Austria and studied for a short time at the Imperial Geological Institute of Vienna. Going thence to Hungary, he ascended some of the Carpathian peaks, and finally went to Russian Poland, where he spent six months with relatives. Even before his return to America, in June, 1879, Professor Huxley had written to both President Gilman and Professor Martin, of Johns Hopkins, recommend- ing his young pupil in the warmest terms for a fellowship in the University. To Professor Martin Huxley wrote : " He was longo intervallo the best man in my class." A letter from a friend in the University urging young Heil- prin to apply for a fellowship failed to reach him, and he missed the opportunity. WORK IN PHILADELPHIA On his return to America he decided to settle in Philadelphia, and there began his fruitful connection with the Academy of Natural Sciences. Of his work in that institution, its secre- tary, Dr. Edward J. Nolan, said: "Without loss of time he took up the study of his chosen branch, Invertebrate Palaeontology. His bearing was that of a modest, retiring and industrious student. He presented his first paper for publication in the Proceedings, October 21, 1879, under the title, ' On Some New Eocene Fossils from the Glair- borne Marine Formation of Alabama.' He offered two others the same year, and the papers and reports of verbal communi- cations published by him during his active connection with the Academy, from then until 1891, when his work began to take another shape, number forty-six in all, in addition to annual reports. " He was elected a Correspondent of the Academy January 27, 1880, he then being regarded as a resident of New York, but deciding to remove permanently to Philadelphia, he was transferred to the membership list. He served as a Jessup Fund student during the latter third of the year, resigning that posi- tion on his appointment by the Council, December 27th, to the Professorship of Invertebrate Palaeontology. He occupied this 240 ANGELO HEILPRIIT t position until 1895, when he was transferred to the Chair of Geology, which he resigned in 1899. . " He was elected a Curator October 2, 1883, to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Charles F. Parker, and was at once appointed Curator-in-Charge by the Council. He served the Academy in this capacity until the end of 1892. " He at once began important changes in the arrangement of the Museum, and started the formation of a collection illus- trating the natural history of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He made a number of admirable suggestions, which it was im- possible at that time to carry out because of the slender financial resources of the Academy. He advocated opening the Museum on Sundays, urged the formation of a Museum Endowment Fund and the erection of a lecture room. He organized a popu- lar course of lectures in addition to those delivered by the pro- fessors. He prepared a hand-book to the Museum and gave most effective assistance in securing appropriations from the legislature in 1889 and 1891. [Referring in the report of the Curators for 1892 to the operations of the Trustees and the Building Fund, and the progress made in the erection of an addition to the Academy, Dr. Ruschenberger says, ' for a large part of the means to enable the Trustees of the Building Fund to do this work, it seems proper to mention here, that the Academy is very much indebted to the ability and steadiness of purpose of Professor Heilprin, who several times visited Harris- burg and by his representation to members thereof, greatly con- tributed to satisfy the Legislature of Pennsylvania of the worth- iness of the Academy to receive pecuniary assistance from the state. Possibly without the influence of his intervention, appro- priations might not have been granted at that time.' " II VARIOUS BOOKS BY ANGELO HEILPRIN, BASED ON HIS CONNECTION WITH THE ACADEMY OF NATUKAL SCIENCES In 1884 Professor Heilprin published a volume containing a number of papers which had originally been printed in the Proceedings of the Academy. The book, which was entitled Contributions to the Tertiary Geology and Palaeontology of th& United States, ,vf as recognized as a valuable contribution to science. In the following year appeared the Town Geology: The Lesson of the Philadelphia Rocks, which contained the sub- stance of the author's field-lectures to his classes. In simple and picturesque language he illustrated such fa- miliar texts as " The Rocks of the Schuylkill and Wissahickon," "White Marble Steps and Window Facings," " Brownstone Fronts and Jersey Mud," and " Philadelphia Brick and Cobble-Stone," interpreting by their aid the workings of Na- ture in the remote past. I quote from the chapter on " White Marble Steps and Window-Facings." " If we take a chip of such marble and drop it into a vial con- taining one of the stronger acids, as nitric or sulphuric acid, for example, it will be observed that almost immediately a pecu- liar boiling or effervescence in the acid takes place, and that there is a simultaneous wasting away of our chip. The effer- vescence is due to the elimination by the marble of innumerable tiny bubbles of gas, which when collected and analyzed proves to be carbonic acid, the same that produces the familiar ebullition in soda-water. Evidently the marble has parted with some portion of its substance, but its final disappearance has not all been brought about in this manner, for we know that marble is more than simple gas. The rest of it has been taken up by the acid, and held there in solution, just as salt, dipped into water, is held by it in solution. But how do we determine what the 242 AKGELO HEILPEIN residual substance may be ? The process is a very simple one. Take another chip of marble, and subject it by means of a mouth blow-pipe to a degree of heat sufficient to bring about incandes- cence. In a short time you will have completely driven out the gas, and your fragment will fall in the form of a white powder. Analyzed, this powder is found to be lime, oxide of calcium, the substance which is frequently seen slaking, in the process of mortar manufacture, in the neighborhood of building houses. Marble is, therefore, a compound of carbonic acid and lime, or, as it is technically termed, a carbonate of lime. This is also the composition of limestone, of the minerals known as CALCITE and ABAGOtfiTE, of the shells of shell-fish, the skeleton or ' poly- pary ' of the coral animal, and of true chalk, although much of the chalk of commerce is an artificial compound. This prop- erty of effervescing in minerals is possessed by most carbonates, and in our experiment the result proves that the avidity of the stronger acids for the lime was greater than that possessed by the carbonic acid, which had consequently been driven out. The test is a simple one, and serves as a ready means for distinguish- ing limestones and marbles from rocks of an entirely different composition, which in some cases closely resemble them. THE NATURE OP !MABBLE Very distinct though coral, chalk, and marble may appear, they have, nevertheless, in most cases, a common origin; they are the product of organic forces. This is self-evident in the first case, but not quite so in the remaining two. When, how- ever, we take a quantity of finely powdered chalk, and place the particles in a drop of water under the microscope, it will be readily perceived that some of these particles possess definite shapes, the organic nature of which cannot for a moment be doubted. They are true shells, some globular, some spiral, and others elongated, belonging in most cases to the order of ani- mals known as the FORAMINIFERA, about the lowest of the animal creation. And where the complete form is not always recogniz- able the numerous fragments scattered about indicate that the organisms were exceedingly abundant, and that, as a matter of fact, they actually made up the great bulk of the chalk itself. "LESSONS OF THE PHILADELPHIA KOCKS " 243 Having determined this much, and reflecting that the deposits of chalk extend over an area of hundreds of miles in length, and measure in places hundreds of feet in thickness, it is no longer very surprising that marble, which in a general way re- sembles chalk, hardened through pressure, and which shows much the same chemical and physical reactions, should have a similar structure. It is true that most pieces of marble powdered and placed under the microscope present no such appearance as we have seen in the chalk; there are neither perfect nor im- perfect animal parts to be determined, and, therefore, nothing to suggest an organic origin. On the contrary, even the naked eye will make out on the broken surface of a piece of marble the crystallographic faces of the mineral calcite, showing the whole mass to be distinctly crystalline in its formation. But it is now well known that marble is nothing but altered limestone common limestone, in which, through the influence of heat and pressure, a true crystalline structure has been brought about. This being the case, it might be inferred that lime- stones which had undergone no material alteration in their parts would, when carefully examined, show distinct organic traces; the supposition is a correct one, for in almost every block of such limestone (at least when of marine origin) the microscope has revealed a sufficiency of more or less perfect shells, or other fragments of animal remains. It is concluded from this fact that all limestones, except such as may be de- posited by fresh-waters, are of organic origin, and where, as in marble, no determinable organic traces are visible, this cir- cumstance must be taken as an expression of the obliteration of parts rather than of their absence. And were any further proof of this position needed, it might be said that in many cases a distinctly fossiliferous, or non-altered, limestone can be directly traced into the crystalline, or non-fossiliferous, marble. Lime- stones occur in all grades of structure, from the coarse shell- rock, ' Coquina ' such as we now find forming along the Florida coast, where the component shells, or their fragments, are well marked out in size and character to the fine-grained or compact varieties, in which, for the most part, the unassisted eye fails to distinguish individual forms. But few, if any, fos- sils have thus far been detected in the true limestones about 244 ANGELO HEILPRIK Philadelphia, a circumstance, doubtless, in great part due to the metamorphism to which the rock was subjected during the process of lateral crushing. It is by no means impossible, how- ever, that in the less altered deposits the outlines of some lowly types of organisms may yet be revealed by the microscope. LIMESTONE VALLEYS Perhaps the most striking physiographical feature in the region about Philadelphia is the long and narrow depression occupied by the limestones, known as Montgomery and Chester Valleys. Looking north from an eminence, like Chestnut Hill, the eye sees stretched before it a somewhat undulating monoto- nous plain, extending east and west to about the limits of vision, and across for a distance of some three or four miles. On either side rise elevations of moderate height, the rocks composing which are gneisses and sandstones, both on the north and on the afcuth ; the first rock to meet the limestone is the Cambrian sand- stone, which dips beneath it along both boundaries, and con- sequently underlies the floor of the valley. The limestone rests on top, and is thereby proved to be of newer date. Although now occupying a comparatively narrow area there is every in- dication that at a former geological period it had a vast extent, and not improbably the sea depositing it stretched hence half across the continent Being a rock readily soluble in water, it has suffered greatly through erosion, and has left to the geolo- gist only a mere indication of its former development. How far it rose above its present surface it is impossible to conjec- ture, but there can be little or no question that it at one time covered the sandstone ridge both north and south of it, from which it has since been removed through the time-wearing action of water. The relation of rock structure to the configuration of the land surface, or what is the same thing, scenery, is here beautifully exhibited. The rock (limestone) most readily yielding to the disintegrating forces has suffered more waste than the rock (sandstone) which by its compactness and insolu- bility has been better able to resist the action of water ; the one has weathered ' low,' whereas the other has weathered ' high.' These differences in the behavior of rocks, which underlie the "LESSONS OF THE PHILADELPHIA EOCKS " 245 manifold aspects under which the landscape presents itself to our eyes, are a guide-line to the geologist, fixing for him the positions of rocks possibly far beyond the limits of his own per- sonal examination. The generally flat appearance of the lime- stone valley, as seen from the hill-top, may lead one to suppose that the rocks composing it were disposed horizontally, and that little or no disturbance had affected the positions which they had normally assumed when first laid down. That such is not the case, however, can be proved in almost every locality where the limestone is exposed in mass ; the strata dip at a steep angle. MAEBLE QUAEEIES About a mile due north of Spring Mill, and reached by the main road connecting Spring Mill with Plymouth, are Potts' marble quarries, where one of the finest exposures of rock in the entire valley is to be had. Almost immediately after leaving the station, just outside the mill, the road skirts for a short distance a stream of transcendent purity, whose presence has given the name to the locality which it feeds. In the meadows lying about a quarter of a mile from here on the left of the road, opposite to where a branch road leads off to Marble Hall, are located the ' Springs of Spring Mill,' whose inspection will well repay a detour of a few minutes. At numerous points here in the meadow springs, as clear as crystal, rise from clefts in the underlying rock, evidently forced up by pressure exerted from some higher ground. Observe the dancing mounds of sand and earth, thrown up by the force of liberated bubbles of com- pressed air, whose intermittent action recalls the work of minia- ture geysers and volcanoes. Rounded masses of ' trap ' rock, derived from a volcanic dyke that runs to near, and beyond this point due east from Conshohocken, lie scattered about between the line of the main stream and the bounding fence of the meadow. Continuing on the high-road, which runs for a short distance over a region of micaceous slates (HYDEO-MICA SCHISTS), whose relations to the surrounding rocks have not yet, perhaps, been very clearly determined, we reach almost imme- diately the line of the trap-dyke itself which here crosses the road as a prominent swell, and whose debris (boulders) are scat- 246 ANGELO HEILPRIN tered about along the hill-slopes and in the hollows beyond which the white surface of the suddenly rising ground indicates the limestone country. At Potts' quarry the limestone, or rather marble, rises to a height of some 45 or 50 feet above the base line, forming a picturesque bluff on the west side of the excava- tion. The strata, which dip at a steep angle to the south, are alternately interbedded in white and blue layers, varying from several inches to feet in thickness. On the opposite side of the quarry, i. e. on the east, the wall of rock shows distinct lines of separation running at right-angles to the lines of bedding, probably brought about by a contraction of the rock. These are known to the geologist as lines of JOINTING, whose existence, as might naturally be inferred, materially facilitates the work of quarrying. Limestone deposits are especially favored by such transverse jointing. The operation of marble-splitting as here practiced is a very simple one. Holes of considerable depth, and disposed in a linear series, are first drilled into the rock; these are then filled with wooden wedges, and these in turn forced apart by means of iron bars being driven into them. The rock, not being able to withstand the steadily applied pres- sure, is compelled to yield, and a split along the line of least resistance, or along the bedding planes, results. AN ABANDONED MARBLE OPENING A branch road starting from the cluster of houses situated just outside the marble cuttings leads off to the Ridge Road, follow- ing which (to the right) for a distance of about a mile and a half, we come to the largest and most imposing marble opening in the region. The locality, Marble Hall, derives its name from the circumstance that the marble in the vicinity is exposed in a long channel or ' hall,' which has been quarried vertically from the surface, and which extends downward to a depth of 200 feet or more. There are no true surface diggings. The strata here dip vertically, or nearly so, and the horizontally disposed lines which appear when looking into the hall, and which look like lines of bedding, are in reality jointing planes. The ' breasts ' of marble which unite the opposite lateral walls have been left standing in order to prevent a possible cave of the wall on either "LESSONS OF THE PHILADELPHIA ROCKS " 247 side. Owing to the great expense necessarily attendant on the hauling of rock from such a great depth, the works have been for some years practically abandoned, and large quantities of water allowed to accumulate in the bottom of the trough. The effect of deep clear water (150 feet) in absorbing the rays of light is beautifully shown in the dark, nearly black, color, under which the surface appears, a condition analogous to that which distinguishes many small deep lakes of elevated mountain regions. The most extensive of the excavations about here is situated a short piece back of the country store; another, considerably smaller, and containing more of the bluestone, may be seen a little lower down on the Barren Hill road. THE ROCKS OF THE WISSAHICKON Just south of Marble Hall, forming the boundary between the limestone and an adjoining narrow belt of slates (hydro-mica schists), is the line of the trap-dyke, which may be traced by its outcrop and a long line of boulders from beyond Mechanicsville, through Conshohocken, to this point, a distance of several miles. Following these boulders beyond Marble Hall for about two miles through the wooded slopes and over the open meadow we reach the Wissahickon, whose southerly course from Valley Green is deflected by the resisting barrier of trap, along whose northern face it flows for some distance, and then breaks through at a point shortly after crossing the Chestnut Hill-Lancasterville pike. The hard rock is seen to cross the channel of the water, and to continue beyond in a serial line of boulders of singular regularity. Observe the elevated rampart-like undulation of the meadow leading hence to the high-road, which marks the trap- ridge whence the boulders were originally derived, but which now lies buried beneath a capping of soil. This most picturesque spot in the centre of the valley, whose air of quietude is only broken by the babbling of the brook, and the garrulous cawing of the crows in the tree-tops overhead, may be reached in about three-quarters of an hour from the toll-gate at the foot of Chestnut Hill by following the line of the Lan- casterville pike. Immediately after leaving the gate we traverse 248 AKGELO HEILPRItf a narrow tract where there are no exposures, and where, conse- quently, the rock formation is not indicated. But from our knowledge of the positions occupied by the Laurentian series both east and west of us, it is more than likely that it underlies the soil at this point also. The gentle swell ahead, with its distinctively white road-crossing, marks the narrow belt of quartz rock which we have already learned to recognize as Cambrian, and which, a short piece to our left (Convent), we had found dipping in the direction of the valley. At the foot of the hill we set foot upon the limestone. Where the limestone is ex- posed it can be seen to conform more or less closely in position to the sandstone ; in other words, the beds decline or dip away from you, or in the direction of north. This disposition holds continuously until a short distance beyond the crossing of the trap-dyke (or Wissahickon), where the strata suddenly reverse their position, pitching steeply to the south. The extensive limestone openings situated on either side of the road a little this side of Williams' station, on the Plymouth Railroad, dis- tinctly exhibit this arrangement of the strata. The rise imme- diately back of Williams' is formed by an arch or roll (anti- clinal) of the underlying Cambrian quartz rock, which cuts off the limestone at this point, but permits it to reappear in a de- pression or trough (synclinal) on its further side, where it is again cut off by a second elevation of the older quartzite. This last is beautifully shown in the wooded hill to the left, opposite to where, as marked by a sign-post, a crossroad leads off to Flour- town. The rock, which inclines at an angle of some 60-70 de- grees, is a tough reddish quartzite, ringing when struck with the hammer. The individual particles of sand of which it was originally made up for when formed the rock was a true sand- stone have through the influence of pressure and heat been compacted into a homogeneous substance, along whose surface a granular structure is but barely, if at all, observable. A NEW FORMATION The elevated wooded ridge which runs for some miles almost due east from this point, and which, as the northern boundary of the limestone valley, forms such a prominent feature in the "LESSONS OF THE PHILADELPHIA KOCKS" 249 landscape, marks the outcrop of the Cambrian quartzite. Here, therefore, as on the south side, we have the same distinctive separation of the rock of the valley from that of its boundaries. Continuing in the direction of Blue Bell we note a sudden and interesting change in the physiognomy of the country. The road we are travelling upon has assumed a reddish tint, which in- creases in intensity the further we proceed. Examined carefully it is seen that this red color is due to the powdering up of frag- ments of a shaly rock, quite distinct from the rock which we had last left. Evidently, we have struck a new formation, whose presence is indicated by the character of the superficial soil. For fully twenty-five miles across the country, and in a north- east and southwest line cutting completely across the corner of Pennsylvania and through the States of Maryland and New Jersey, this red-rock, known to geologists as the TEIASSIC shales and sandstones, extends uninterruptedly. Norristown is situ- ated on it, and so are Bridgeport, Valley Forge, and Phcenix- ville. At almost every locality of its occurrence the strata dip uniformly to the northwest, and in many places they can be seen to rest upon either the Cambrian sandstone, or the valley lime- stone (Silurian), proving it to be of more recent origin. Putting together the notes that we have taken in the field bear- ing upon the structure of the valley say at about its middle part and a little way beyond on either side, let us see what we can make of them. In the first place we have, beginning at the Chestnut Hill slope, the oldest of the rocks known in the region namely, the Laurentian gneiss or syenite which stand up nearly vertically, or decline somewhat in the direction of the valley. Following these, and resting on their northern flank, is the Edge Hill rock, or Cambrian sandstone, which dips beneath the limestone forming the floor of the valley. Just back of Wil- liams' station this sandstone rises up in the form of a roll or arch (anticlinal), which separates the large basin-like depres- sion, forming the valley proper, on the south from a similar, but much smaller, depression on the north. Over this roll the limestone strata of the valley were at one time carried in a con- tinuous sheet, but the waste which the rocks have suffered through mechanical disintegration and chemical solution has actually lowered their surface beneath that of the much more re- 250 ANGELO HEILPRIN sisting underlying sandstone. The further boundary of the valley is formed by another rise of the Cambrian rock, which, doubtless, is the continuation of the rock which forms the roll back of Williams'. Finally, resting on top of this rock, and dip- ping at a moderate angle towards the northwest, we have Triassic red-shales and sandstone, and under them again, the Laurentian syenite. Evidently, judging from the position which the rock masses now occupy, they must have at one time risen to heights very much greater than what they now represent. The present outline of the land surface is due to the ceaseless wearing action of water and the atmosphere. A CAMBRIAN BEACH The history of the formation of the region is approximately as follows : On top, and not unlikely in a trough, of the ancient Laurentian gneisses were deposited the sediments of the Cam- brian and Silurian seas, the former first, then the latter on top of these. How long a period of time intervened between the two depositions it is impossible even to conjecture, but it was, doubt- less, vast, and long enough to permit of very extensive altera- tions taking place on the land surface. We have stood upon the Cambrian beach at Willow Grove, and found it to be largely made up of blue-quartz pebbles, proving that the Cambrian bil- lows swept the shores of Laurentian syenite, as the modern bil- lows still do in the more northerly parts of the continent. The beach line does not, however, necessarily indicate that the sea stopped here. A submergence of the land may have carried the water still higher over its surface, burying deep the beach that was primarily formed ; and not impossibly this is what actually took place. It is more than probable that the sea was a com- paratively shallow one, but that it gradually deepened with the approach of the Silurian period, permitting of those vast accu- mulations of the remains of deeper-sea organisms which we rec- ognize in the limestones and marbles of the valley. How far, and how continuously, this sea may have stretched toward the west it is impossible to say, but it may have been a thousand miles, or considerably more. Shell-fish, most of them of forms unknown at the present day, but, again, others very closely re- " LESSORS OF THE PHILADELPHIA ROCKS " 251 lated to, and barely distinguishable from, types still living, had already attained a profuse development during this period ; the coral-animals built up gigantic walls of rock, true reefs; and microscopic one-celled animals encased in shells, the Forami- nifera, swarmed in countless multitudes within the ancient waters. But of all these varied forms of life, which are abun- dant elsewhere, not a recognizable trace is to be discovered about Philadelphia; their remains have been merged into the solid rock of the valley. An incipient vegetation had already in some parts begun to cover the land-surface, and lowly forms of insects, doubtless, tenanted the air. The singular trilobite, precursor of the modern king-crab, burrowed in the soft mud of the oceanic littoral, while various shrimp-like creatures darted through the tangles of the gracefully-tufted stone-lily (crinoid). But of the higher forms of animal life, the fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals, we as yet know nothing; they appear later on the scene, the fishes first, the amphibians next, and the reptiles third, or in the direct order of their development. AN ANCIENT DYKE The Cambrian and Silurian sediments were at first horizontal, or nearly so, but through a contraction of the crust, resulting in the upheaval of the entire mass, we had brought about that crumpling and folding whose effects are witnessed in the more or less vertical disposition of the strata, and in the alternation of anticlinal elevations and synclinal depressions, which are no- ticeable at Williams', and in the two valleys on either side. At a much later period, the period when the highest class of ani- mals, the Mammalia, first broke upon the light of day, an estuary of the sea from the north, or possibly a river flowing from the south, deposited the red-shale and sandstone, but not before the land-surface upon which they were laid down had been very greatly worn; and probably about the same time, or a little later, a long line of volcanic or trap rock was forced through the crust, cutting the limestone in the form of a more or less con- tinuous dyke. This dyke is still clearly marked out in a low, well-defined, rampart-like ridge, which traverses the valley longi- tudinally, and in a linear series of dissociated boulders which 252 ASTGELO HEILPKIN effect its continuation. From that time to this the region has probably been out of water, and has been undergoing those grad- ual modifications in outline which have resulted in producing its present features. A " FAULT " IN THE KOCK The exposures of limestone along the river front are numer- ous, and can be studied to advantage in the few miles that inter- vene between Norristown and Conshohocken. In the first cut south of Norristown, Mogee's, the strata, which alternate in beds of various degrees of coarseness, and in shades of blue, white, drab, and red, dip steeply to the south, measuring an angle of about 40. Immediately on entering the cut we notice on the right a vertical split in the rock, the strata on the opposite sides of which are not absolutely continuous with each other. There has evidently been a displacement, by which one side was dropped a piece below the other. Just what caused this FAULT in the rock it is impossible to determine, but it is, doubtless, due to an exist- ing tension in the mass. Although the amount of displacement, or ' throw,' of the fault is here very insignificant, indeed but barely appreciable, it is of the same kind as that which in many districts has elevated strata thousands of feet above their normal positions, or, as the case may have been, dropped them to the same extent. A more pronounced fault occurs in the red rock just beyond the further end of the cut, where the line of fault- ing, or ' hade,' runs diagonally across the beds. Observe that on the north side of the fracture the beds that have dropped are turned or ' brushed ' up against the line of the fault. BEDS OF " BLUE-STONE " Continuing southward the beds become more and more com- pact, and are deficient in the sandy layers which are met with above. They evidently belong to deeper water than that which deposited the more northerly, or underlying, beds, and bear tes- timony to being deposited further from the shore-line. From a favorable point on the water a fine view may be had of the suc- cessive exposures following each other in the direction of Con- "LESSONS OF THE PHILADELPHIA ROCKS" 253 shohbcken, the strata in all cases dipping much the same way. The inclination of dip steadily increases, however, until at Con- shohocken, where the limestone alternates with slaty layers, the angle measured is 60. Back of the town, and directly opposite on the west bank of the river, a number of quarries have been opened, which furnish the well-known Conshohocken ' blue- stone,' so extensively used for building purposes, curb-stones, etc. Much of the marble of our city that we see in door-steps, and otherwise, is obtained from the valley deposits, although not a little, especially that used in window-facings, is imported from deposits of nearly equivalent age occurring in Vermont and else- where. It is a singular fact that the limestone of the valley has been converted into marble principally on the south side, whereas on the north it has been more or less impregnated with magnesia, forming a magnesian limestone, or DOLOMITE." In another chapter, that on " Our Oldest Patch of Land," Professor Heilprin said : " North of the line of the Philadelphia schists and gneisses, and extending from Trenton on the Delaware to West Chester and beyond, there runs a comparatively narrow belt of rock bearing in many points of structure a striking resemblance to the rocks which we have just been studying, but which, again, in many respects departs widely from them. The granites, syenites, and gneisses of this region, usually classed with the Laurentian series, are the oldest rocks of the neighborhood of Philadelphia, and represent practically the foundation rock of the continent. Throughout the greater part of their extent they define a prominent ridge, readily distinguishable in places as forming the southern boundary of the limestone valley lying to the north. The toughness of the rock and its resistance to ero- sion have combined to preserve it for a much greater length of time than the limestone, which, though of much newer date, yielding readily to the solvent action of water, has been reduced to a comparatively low level. We say that the limestone has * weathered low,' whereas the Laurentian rocks have ' weathered high ' ; and it is this comparative weathering, depending upon the relative resisting powers of the rock-masses, which so mani- festly controls the physiognomic aspects of the landscape. Were 254 AKGELO HEILPRDsf it not that some rocks yield more readily to the disintegrating influences than others, the landscape would be devoid of those manifold charms which are lent to it by the sudden alternations of hill and dale, mountain and valley. GEANITIC ROCKS A fine exposure of the Laurentian rocks is had on the new Schuylkill Railroad, beginning about one-half mile north of La- fayette station, and extending to Spring Mill. After passing the first road crossing beyond Lafayette, which approximately marks the boundary between the older and newer formations, the railway skirts the base of a hill along whose slope the rocks are well exposed. Almost immediately beyond the broad band of white granite which meets the eye on the right, we enter a region of blue or blackish rocks, whose peculiar color is due to the prevailing (bluish) tint of the quartz and to numerous dark- colored crystals or grains of hornblende. We note here, in fact, that the mica scales of the Philadelphia series of rocks have in large part been replaced by hornblende; and further, that the rock-masses have pretty much lost that foliated structure dis- tinctive of typical gneiss and mica-schist, and that they are in a general way more decidedly granitic in appearance. They are the rock commonly designated SYENITE, differing from granite in the substitution of hornblende for mica, and from gneiss in the absence of the foliated structure. But insensible grada- tional shades unite the one with the other, as can be seen by the boulders lying on the left of the road, where in some cases the hornblende has completely disappeared, leaving the rock a coarse-grained granite, composed of quartz and flesh-colored feldspar; and, again, where this same granite shows a tendency to foliation, passing off into gneiss. Under what appears to be the highest point of the hill the beds lie nearly vertically, although it is not a little difficult from the nature of the exposure to determine just exactly what posi- tions they do occupy. At about the point where the strata first show a decided declination toward the north the rocks assume what might be considered to be the typical Laurentian facies; fresh fractures clearly exhibit the distinctive blue quartz and an "LESSONS OF THE PHILADELPHIA ROCKS" 255 abundance of the black hornblende crystals. Old surfaces, on the other hand, are largely yellowish or brownish, due to the oxi- dation of the contained iron. Passing northward the inclination of the strata becomes less and less pronounced ; through a series of gentle undulations they gradually assume the horizontal posi- tion, until, about 300 yards this side of Spring Mill station, they suddenly become highly plicated and contorted, recalling in their convolutions and general appearance the gneisses along the Wis- sahickon. Two or three rolls of rock, sharply defined by the curves of plication, stand out in prominent relief from the wall of which they form a part. From this point to Spring Mill, where the formation disappears, the dip is uniformly to the north. ROCKS OF UNCEETAIN DETEEMINATION The Laurentian rocks may be traced eastward from Spring Mill by following the line of the ridge a little below the crest, which is formed by the gneisses of the Philadelphia series. Over a considerable extent, however, their determination is made difficult or impossible from the scarcity of outcrops, and from the circumstance that in many places they are overlaid by the sandstones of a newer formation, the Cambrian, lying on the north flank. On the heights between Lafayette and Matawna and Barren Hill the nature of the underlying rock is indicated by the hornblendic boulders which everywhere lie scattered about, and by occasional outcrops of the rock itself. An outcrop of the blue beds occurs on the right bank of the Wissahickon, just where that stream enters the hilly country from the White Marsh Valley, not far above the last bridge which carries the road over to Chestnut Hill, and just beyond the now largely overgrown granite quarry. LAUBENTIAN Km Forming part of the northern declivity of Chestnut Hill, where, however, the formation is almost entirely hid from view beneath the capping of soil, the Laurentian reappears to the east as a rather prominent ridge flanking Edge Hill on the south. Passing north from Jenkintown, on the Abington road, the 256 ANGELO HEILPRIN traveller soon leaves the Philadelphia gneisses behind him, and mounting by easy stages a long eastwardly trending hill finds himself in the midst of rocks where decomposition has made severe havoc, but where certain characters still betray the rela- tionship with the Laurentian series. Opposite Mooretown the strata stand on their edges, inclining slightly toward the south; the character of the gneiss has here so far changed through de- composition as to render it difficult at first sight to determine to just which of a particular group of rocks it may belong. But the more compact boulders that here and there lie scattered over the road on to Abington, and to the heights of Hillside, with their masses of blue quartz and dark crystals of hornblende, leave no room for doubt in the matter, and clearly point to the rocks which we recognized on the Schuylkill as Laurentian to be their nearest of kin. WHITE SANDSTONE Looking up the long straight road which leads off to the left from Abington crossing, with the rays of the sun falling on the line of heights which shuts in the landscape in this direction, the observer will not fail to notice a sudden alternation in the character of the road-bed ahead. The distant white, contrasting sharply with the more sombre gray of the foreground, indicates the existence of a new formation. The rocks there are no longer gneisses or syenites, but sandstones (Cambrian), whose light color gives the peculiar white which is so eminently marked out against the mass of sky and foliage. Thus, by the character of the soil alone, we frequently determine the bounding line of a formation. The gentle swell of country eastward, picturesquely dotted with villages and country residences, marks the outline of the same resisting gneisses and syenites in their trend (strike) to the Delaware River. The hard rock everywhere asserts its su- premacy over the rock of weaker constitution, standing out prominently where the latter has been washed away. Landscape conforms to physical laws, and is thus made a powerful instru- ment in the hands of the geologist. West of the Schuylkill the Laurentian area steadily widens, "LESSONS OF THE PHILADELPHIA KOCKS" 257 and overspreads a large part of Delaware and Chester Counties ; in its general aspect it presents the same features as the region to the east, and therefore requires no special consideration. The prominent wooded ridge, whose reflection is cast into the river opposite Spring Mill, and whose noble outline seems worthy of a more picturesque foreground than is constituted by the red roofs and black chimneys of busy Conshohocken, marks the pas- sage of the belt across the Schuylkill. EVIDENCES OF THE EXISTENCE OF EARLY LIFE The Laurentian being the basement or foundation rock of the region about i. e. } the oldest we would naturally look for its fragments in rocks of newer date, or such as must have derived their materials primarily from the destruction of this series. All mechanically formed rocks, whether they be gneisses, schists, shales, clays, or sandstones, are built up from the materials of previously existing rock-masses, and must hence contain in their own substance the substance of the parental rock, or that from which they were born. And where no special alteration has taken place the derivative ingredients of the one can frequently be traced to the other. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to prove from lithological considerations alone that the materials of the Philadelphia gneisses and mica-schists have been derived from the somewhat similar rocks of the Laurentian series, inas- much as the former have evidently suffered to such an extent from metamorphism as to leave it doubtful whether the rocks as we now see them are in any way like what they were when origi- nally deposited. But in the formation next succeeding the Lauren- tian, the Cambrian, where in many parts no metamorphic action has retroacted upon the rock structure, distinct evidences of deri- vation and transference of material are strikingly manifest. As far as we know no unequivocal traces of organic life have ever been discovered in deposits of Laurentian age; that life did exist at this early period, however, there can be no reasonable doubt, seeing how abundant are the animal forms that suddenly appear in the Cambrian deposits. This conclusion is further sustained by the presence of large deposits of limestone and graphite, both of which probably represent organic structures." 258 ANGELO HEILPRIN Upon the reorganization of the Wagner Eree Institute of Science, in 1885, Professor Heilprin received from it a call to the chair of geology then established, and three years later he also accepted the position of curator of its museum. Under the joint auspices of the Academy of Natural Sciences and the Wagner Institute he organized, in 1886, an expedition to the wilds of Florida a region concerning which there existed little information scientifically corroborated. Thus was in- augurated the series of explorations connected with Angelo Heilprin's name. The results of the expedition, as laid down in the volume entitled Explorations on the West Coast of Florida and in the Olceecho'bee 'Wilderness, were the determination, based on palseontological evidence, for the first time in the United States, of the existence of a marine Pliocene formation and the description of the characteristic fossils. Professor Heilprin termed the formation the Floridian Stage of the Pliocene, a designation which has been permanently retained in the nomen- clature of American geology. In his introduction to the volume Dr. Joseph Leidy said, " the well-observed facts of the report must greatly modify the opinions which have generally been held in regard to the geological construction of the Peninsula of Elorida, and altogether Professor Heilprin's researches must be considered as an important contribution to science." In 1887 Heilprin published The Geographical and Geological 'Distribution of Animals, a work which, as one of the Inter- national Scientific Series, took its place as a standard treatise on the subject, both in this country and in England. It is the product of stupendous erudition, and has been linked with Alfred Russel Wallace's similar work (The Geographical Dis- tribution of Animals). In the following year appeared The Geological Evidences of Evolution, a lucid summary of the collective geological and palseontological evidences in support of organic transmutation, based on an evening discourse at the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. The Animal Life of Our Sea-Shore, also published in 1887, is a popular hand-book on the local fauna of Philadelphia and the animal life of the New Jersey coast. It has passed through several editions. EXPLORATIONS IN MEXICO 259 In the spring of the same year Professor Heilprin took several members of his classes to the Bermuda Islands, for the pur- pose of studying the coral reefs and examining the current theories of their formation. He embodied the results of his investigations in a volume published in 1889, entitled " The Bermuda Islands: A Contribution to the Physical History and Geology of the Somers Archipelago, with an Examination of the Structure of Coral Reefs." The work was notable for the strong arguments advanced in favor of Darwin's subsidence theory. The chapter on " The Coral Reef Problem " will be found elsewhere in this volume. In 1890 Professor Heilprin published an exhaustive geo- logical treatise, his Principles of Geology, which appeared as the seventh volume of the " Iconographic Encyclopaedia." In this volume the author elucidated his subject by means of photo- graphic half-tone reproductions taken directly from nature a form of illustration then still in its infancy. Addressing himself in this work mainly to the general reader, he hoped, by life-like representations, to elicit " a primary interest in the subject that is rarely developed by a diagram or even by a dia- gram and accompanying text." As in all his works intended for popular use, Professor Heilprin was quick to seize the latest aids in attracting the attention of the reader. EXPLOBATIONS IN MEXICO An expedition to Mexico, undertaken in the same year, yielded important results. Professor Heilprin explored the caves and ruins of the Peninsula of Yucatan, securing valuable collections, and ascended the peaks of Orizaba, Popocatepetl, Nevado de Toluca and Ixtaccihuatl, determining the altitudes of all. He also cleared up hitherto obscure points concerning the geology of Yucatan and the coral reefs of the western part of the Gulf of Mexico, and studied the geology of the great central plateau of the mainland. These observations are embodied in the Proceedings of the Academy. It was Professor Heilprin's intention to speak of these and other results of this visit to Mexico and of a subsequent one undertaken in 1906, in a volume addressed to general readers, but, although considerable 260 ANGELO HEILPKIN material for such a book was found among his papers, the work had not progressed sufficiently for publication. A few extracts from his notes will, however, be found of interest: TERMITE NESTS " We first came upon these singular habitations in the open scrub of northern Yucatan, where they were found perched among the axils of low trees, some eight or ten feet above the ground. Their gray color and ' papery ' appearance, so sug- gestive of the nests of the social Hymenoptera, threw out that caution which is ordinarily exercised in approaching the habi- tations of bees and wasps, but which in this instance was wholly unnecessary. The puncture of the walls disclosed a busy com- munity of almost infinite life restless and seemingly ever active. In the great mangrove forest which occupies much of the northern coast, the termite nests find their greatest develop- ment, and by their singular presence construct a picture hardly to be matched elsewhere. Like great excrescences of the trees themselves, chocolate brown or almost black in color, they occupy positions forty, fifty or even sixty feet above the eye of the spectator. Individual trees may have as many as three or four of these giant nests resting in their axils, while others occupy low positions on the strangled trunks and cable-roots of the foresters, overlooking the oceanic waters which here and there find their way into the solitude. The greater number of the habitations were irregularly balloon-shaped, and some of them measured not less than four or five feet, or even more, in greatest diameter. On all the tree-trunks thus adorned, long and more or less tortuous tunnels, constructed of the same salivary paper, and measuring perhaps two-thirds of an inch across, could be followed by the eye meandering upward to their terminations in the great nests, to which they form the avenue of approach. Wherever tapped they disclosed the same busy life an army of travelling ants as did the interior of the nest itself." AN ASCENT OF ORIZABA 261 AN ASCENT OF OEIZABA " At noon we had reached an elevation of about 16,000 feet. We had for some time before left the sand for a ridge of lava boulders, over which we had hoped to materially lessen the labor of climbing. The snow-field now descended far below us on one side, but along our course we met with only stray cakes or patches of snow and with the layer of ice which remained permanently buried beneath a capping of volcanic debris. I took barometric observations at intervals of about every half hour, and found that -we were making 300-400 feet per hour. At this rate we were still removed several hours from the summit. We found the last traces of terrestrial animal life at about 15,000 feet, where we picked up a solitary lizard from one of the sun-warmed boulders. There were no insects at least we failed to find any traces of their existence at this altitude. But birds were still observed and heard above us; we thought we recognized the tit and the chickadee, and possibly a species of wren. There was no question as to the raven, whose ' caw ' was heard far o'ertop of us, or the sparrow-hawk. At about one o'clock we reached the ice-cap (elevation of 15,500 feet), which is here split by a ridge of rock and boulders entering far into its limits. It is difficult to describe the sensations of this high-mountain climbing. In its physical expression it may be said to be a continuous alternation between muscular ability and muscular inability. Mentally it was a constant contest between ' shall I go farther, or shall I desist ? ' With the great and increasing strain that was put upon us, we yet felt normal the moment we sat down to rest ; we caught new breath and everything seemed welL We were thus never in a position to definitely know our own condition, since we were constantly fluctuating between ' ups ' and * downs.' But it was patent that after every rest our ability to do work was getting less and less, and the periods of rest were following one another in a disagreeably rapid succes- sion. Our chances for success were becoming steadily less, and we had only just entered upon the snow-field. Up till now we had not passed over any dangerous places: 262 ANGELO HEILPRItf there were no steep precipices to climb, nor broad crevices to cross. It would have been all smooth sailing but for the fatigue attending muscular exercise. But now on the snow-field extra caution would be required, and we had but little of that mental strength left which was necessary to properly guide our actions. The snow-field, or more correctly ice-field, was of inconsiderable development, at no point where seen by us attaining a greater thickness than about 5-7 feet. Its surface was everywhere cut up into sharp pinnacles (seracs), two or three feet in height, which, while offering safe lodgment to the feet, rendered prog- ress exceedingly irksome. There was no soft snow, and the feet made but little impression on the crusty surface of the ice. I found the rubbers with which I had provided myself exceed- ingly useful, but for downhill work they were not as serviceable as the cotton swaths which the guides had fastened around their sandaled feet ; they were soon worn through by the sharp edges of the ice, and before my return to the camp that evening there was little left of the soles. Still, for a single ascent they can be used with advantage, and they are in one respect preferable to the native foot swaths they are less clumsy." In crossing the Porfirio Diaz Glacier Professor Heilprin and his guide came very near losing their lives. They slipped and were violently thrown on their backs. He writes : " The full realization of what in apparent certainty awaited us impelled to every effort to break our swift glissade. We thrust our poles as best we could into the crusted ice, bore down with both heels and elbows, but apparently to no purpose. The steep slope of the glacier and the swift journey prevented us from turning on our sides, and on our backs we were helpless. Below us yawned the great chasm which we were trying to cir- cumvent, and to it we were being carried with what might elsewhere have been considered refreshing velocity. No escape seemed possible. A few thoughts of home crowded into my mind, but there was no historical review of the incidents of a lifetime, such as Admiral Beaufort mentions as processioning in the vision of a rapidly drowning man. Down we swept over the first hundred feet, and then over the second, crossing the A 1STAKKOW ESCAPE 263 line of steps which we had so laboriously cut on our upward journey. I drew a heavy breath as we neared the impending wall of ice, for in the next instant I expected to see ourselves hurled over its face into the dreary chasm below. But it was not to be. There was, indeed, little between us and eternity, but yet sufficient to permit us to pull our quivering frames to- gether and catch one more leaf of life." Something, presumably a cushion of softer ice, stopped their descent on the very brink of the precipice. Ill ARCTIC EXPLORATIONS From the year 1891 dates the beginning of those intimate relations between Angelo Heilprin and Robert E. Peary which so largely influenced the career of that great explorer. No one has been more emphatic in acknowledging his indebtedness, in the early stages of his undertakings, to the support of Angelo Heilprin than Peary himself. From the very first day when Lieutenant Peary presented himself at the Academy of Natural Sciences, Heilprin was greatly impressed with his bearing and his evident ability, and he determined to further in every possible way Peary's projects, of whose entire feasibility he never entertained any doubt. " The Philadelphia Academy," says Peary in his work Northward over the Great Ice, " was the first institution to which my project was presented, and the first to endorse and commend it, which it did in warm and unequivocal terms. As an institution, however, the Academy never appropriated or contributed a dollar to the Expedition. Members of the Academy, in their private capacity, did con- tribute powerfully, both in work and money, towards its suc- cess. To the personal interest, friendship, and intense energy and push of Professor Angelo Heilprin, Curator of the Acad- emy, was I indebted, more than to any other one person, not only for the official action of the Academy, but for the un- official interest and efforts of its members, which assured the balance of the funds necessary to make the affair a success." Professor Heilprin accompanied Lieutenant Peary's North Greenland expedition, which sailed from Brooklyn, June 6, 1891, in the steamer Kite. Mr. Heilprin was in command of the West Greenland expedition, which had set out to do its own distinctive work. Associated with him were Professor ARCTIC EXPLORATIONS 265 Benjamin Sharp, zoologist in charge; Proefssor J. F. Holt, zoologist ; Dr. William E. Hughes, ornithologist ; Mr. Levi W. Mengel, entomologist; Dr. William H. Burk, botanist; Mr. Alexander C. Kenealy, a reporter for the New York Herald; Dr. Robert N". Keely, jr., surgeon; and Mr. Frazer Ashhurst. In the following year Professor Heilprin led the Peary Relief Expedition to Greenland. With him were Henry G. Bryant, the successful explorer of the Grand Falls of Labrador, second in command ; Dr. Jackson M. Mills, surgeon ; William E. Meehan, botanist; Charles E. Hite, zoological preparator; Samuel J. Entrikin; Frank W. Stokes, artist; and Albert White Vorse. The Kite was again chartered as the vessel of the expedition. The story of the meeting with Peary on the ice cap, one of the most dramatic chapters in the history of Polar exploration, is thus told by Professor Heilprin in his volume on The Arctic Problem and Narrative of the Peary Relief Expedition, pub- lished in 1893 : " On the day following our arrival at the head of the bay, a reconnaissance of the inland ice, with a view to locating signal posts to the returning explorers, was made by the members of the expedition. A tedious half-hour's march over boggy and bouldery talus brought us to the base of the cliffs, at an ele- vation of three hundred and fifty to four hundred feet, where the true ascent was to begin. The line of march is up a pre- cipitous water-channel, everywhere encompassed by boulders, on which, despite its steepness, progress is rapid. The virtual crest is reached about six hundred and fifty feet higher, and then the gradual uprise of the stream-valley begins. Endless rocks, rounded and angular the accumulation of former ground and lateral moraines spread out as a vast wilderness, rising to the ice-cap in superimposed benches or terraces. At an elevation slightly exceeding eighteen hundred feet we reached the first tongue of the ice. Rounding a few outlying ' nuna- taks ' uncovered hills of rock and boulders we bear east of northeast, heading as nearly as possible in the direction from which, so far as the lay of the land would permit us to deter- mine, the return would most likely be made. The ice-cap swells 266 ANGELO HEILPKIN up higher and higher in gentle rolls ahead of us, and with! every advance to a colder zone it would seem that the walking, or rather wading, becomes more and more difficult. One by one we plunge through the yielding mass, gasping for breath, and frequently only with difficulty extricating ourselves. The hard crust of winter had completely disappeared, and not even the comparatively cool sun of midnight was sufficient to bring about a degree of compactness adequate to sustain the weight of the human body. At times almost every step buried the members of the party up to the knee or waist, and occasionally even a plunge to the armpits was indulged in by the less fortu- nate, to whom perhaps a superfluity of avoirdupois was now for the first time brought home as a lesson of regret. We have attained an elevation of 2,200 feet ; at 4 p. M. the barometer registers 2,800 feet. The landscape of McCormick Bay has faded entirely out of sight; ahead of us is the grand and melancholy snow waste of the interior of Greenland. No grander representation of nature's quiet mood could be had than this picture of the endless sea of ice a picture of lonely desolation not matched in any other part of the earth's surface. A series of gentle rises carries the eye far into the interior, until in the dim distance, possibly three-quarters of a mile or a full mile above sea-level, it no longer distinguishes between the chalky sky and the gray-white mantle which locks in with it. No lofty mountain-peak rises out of the general surface, and but few deep valleys or gorges bight into it; but roll follows roll in gentle sequence, and in such a way as to annihi- late all conceptions of space and distance. This is the aspect of the great ' ice-blink.' It is not the picture of a wild and tempestuous nature, forbidding in all its details, but of a peaceful and long-continued slumber. At 5.45 P. M., when we took a first luncheon, the thermometer registered 42 F. ; the atmosphere was quiet and clear as a bell, although below us, westward to the islands guarding the entrance to Murchison Sound, and eastward to a blue corner of Inglefield Gulf, the landscape was deeply veiled in mist. Shortly after nine o'clock we had reached an elevation of 3,300 feet, and there, at a distance of about eight miles from the border of the ice-cap, we planted our first staff a lash of AKCTIC EXPLOKATIONS 267 two poles, rising about twelve feet and surmounted by cross- pieces and a red handkerchief. One of the cross-pieces read as follows : " To head of McCormick Bay Kite in port August 5, 1892." A position for a second staff was selected on an ice-dome about two and a half miles from the present one, probably a few hundred feet higher, and commanding a seemingly unin- terrupted view to all points of the compass. Solicitous over the condition of the feet of some of my associates, I ordered a division of the party, with a view of sparing unnecessary fatigue and the discomfort which further precipitation into soft snow entailed. Mr. Bryant, in command of an advanced sec- tion, was entrusted with the placing of the second staff, while the remaining members of the party were to effect a slow retreat, and await on dry ground the return of the entire ex- pedition. Scarcely had the separation been arranged before a shout burst upon the approaching midnight hour which made everybody's heart throb to its fullest. Far off to the north- eastward, over precisely the spot that had been selected for the placing of the second staff, Entrikin's clear vision had detected a black speck that was foreign to the Greenland ice. There was no need to conjecture what it meant: ' It is a man; it is moving,' broke out almost simultaneously from several lips, and it was immediately realized that the explorers of whom we were in quest were returning victoriously homeward. An in- stant later a second speck joined the first, and then a long black object, easily resolved by my field-glass into a sledge with dogs in harness, completed the strange vision of life upon the Green- land ice. Cheers and hurrahs followed in rapid succession the first that had ever been given in a solitude whose silence, before that memorable summer, had never been broken by the voice of man. The distance was as yet too great for the sound to be con- veyed to the approaching wanderers, but the relief party had already been detected, and their friends hastened to extend to them a hearty welcome. Like a veritable giant, clad in a suit of deer and dog-skin, and gracefully poised on Canadian snow- shoes, the conqueror from the far north plunged down the mountain-slope. Behind him followed his faithful companion, 268 ANGELO HEILPRDT young Astrup, barely more than a lad, yet a tower of strength and endurance; he was true to the traditions of his race and of his earlier conquests in the use of the Norwegian snow- skate or ' ski.' With him were the five surviving Eskimo dogs, seemingly as healthy and powerful as on the day of their departure. In less than an hour after Lieutenant Peary was first sighted, and still before the passage of the midnight hour of that memo- rable August 5th, culminated that incident on the inland ice which was the event of a lifetime. Words cannot describe the sensations of the moment which bore the joy of the first salutation. Mr. Peary extended a warm welcome to each mem- ber of my party, and received in return hearty congratulations upon the successful termination of his journey. Neither of the travellers looked the worse for their three months' toil in the interior, and both, with characteristic modesty, disclaimed hav- ing overcome more than ordinary hardships. Fatigue seemed to be entirely out of the question, and both Mr, Peary and Mr. Astrup bore the appearance of being as fresh and vigorous as though they had but just entered upon their great journey. After a brief recital of personal experiences, and the inter- change of American and Greenland news, the members of the combined expedition turned seaward, and thus terminated a most dramatic incident. A more direct meeting than this one on the bleak wilderness of Greenland's ice-cap could not have been had, even with all the possibilities of prearrangement." IY A JOURNEY TO ALASKA In 1896 Professor Heilprin attended the Mining and Geo- logical Congress at Budapest, as delegate of the Academy, and thence made a journey to the Atlas Mountains of Algeria and Morocco. As a result of his geological investigations, he estab- lished the fact of the non-existence of any trace of glacial phenomena in these regions. In the same year appeared his text-book on The Earth and its Story, which attained wide popularity in high-schools and colleges. He next turned his attention to Alaska, which he visited in the summer of 1898, embodying his experiences in a volume entitled "Alaska and the Klondike: A Journey to the New Eldorado, with Hints to the Traveller and Observations on the Physical History and Geology of the Gold Regions, the Con- dition of and Methods of Working the Klondike Placers, and the Laws Governing and Regulating Mining in the Northwest Territory of Canada." While thus mainly intended as a prac- tical hand-book, the volume possesses considerable scientific interest. The chapter on " Physical History and Geology " con- tains the following striking observations : " Through virtually the entire Klondike tract and far beyond it on all sides there are evidences of high water flows. No more perfect presentation of high-level terraces can be had than that which defines the first line of heights, of perhaps one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet, which so beautifully impress the landscape of the Yukon about Dawson. The observer, from a still loftier elevation, notes these flat-topped banks, having the regularity of railroad constructions, following the course of the river as far as the eye can reach, here perhaps interrupted by a too steeply washed buttress, elsewhere washed to low level by some stream which has taken a transverse direction. A some- 270 ANGELO HEILPKIN what higher line of benches curves around the still higher points of eminence, and defines the course of water across country such, at least, it is to-day. And all the way to the top, scat- tered evidences of the recent presence of water can still be found. I met with rolled or water-worn pebbles so near to the top (the actual summit and not the position of the signal flag) of the high peak overlooking Dawson that it may safely be assumed that they also occur on the very apex (about eleven hundred feet above the present level of the Yukon), a con- clusion which is more than strengthened by the finding of pebbles at even a greater elevation on the Erench- Adams Creek knob. While thus presenting the evidence of high water levels, I am far from convinced that this evidence points exclusively to river flows. Much more does it appear that, in one part of its history at least, we are dealing with the evidences of the past existence of large lakelike bodies of water, perhaps even of a vast inland sea. The contours of the country in a sort of ill-defined way suggest this interpretation an interpretation that is not, however, without evidence to support it, and which seems also to have been entertained before me by McConnell and by Israel Eussell. The latter investigator has, indeed, given the name of Lake Yukon to a former extensive body of water, of which the existing Lakes Lebarge, Marsh, Tagish, and Bennett, with the connecting Yukon, are only dissociated parts. This lake is assumed to have been about one hundred and fifty miles in length, with a surface elevated between twenty- five hundred and twenty-seven hundred feet above the sea. CONTOURS OP THE COUNTRY First in the line of evidence may perhaps be taken the uni- versality of wash gravel and of terrace debris and the great heights which they occupy. While I have not myself observed such evidences of water action on the very summit of the Dome, there is reason to believe that they do or at least did exist. Most of this summit, in its narrowed form and rapidly descend- ing slopes, has been, if one may use the expression, more than washed off, and could hardly be expected to retain for any great length of time accumulations of loose fragmental material. But at least its far-off continuation near the source (right A JOURNEY TO ALASKA 271 fork) of Eldorado Creek bears some of it on its shoulder, and I have also seen it in an excavation on the loftily located Claim 71 of that stream. Nearly abreast of the international boun- dary, the one hundred and forty-first meridian of west longi- tude (Greenwich), McConnell and Russell noted the terrace line of the Yukon River as high up as seven hundred and thirty feet, which is still about four hundred feet below the point where I obtained wash gravel on the peak back of Dawson; but Dr. George Dawson found the terraces on Dease Lake to rise to thirty-six hundred and sixty feet, and elsewhere he calls attention to having come across water-rolled gravel at an eleva- tion of forty-three hundred feet, which would probably exceed by about six hundred feet the culminating point of Dome Moun- tain. Such high water could, with the existing configuration of the land surface, hardly define any other feature than that of a large interior sea or of a series of lake basins ; and while it may be argued that there has been sufficient degradation of the land surface since the period of the height of water to permit us to reconstruct a contour that would be in harmony with altered and reduced river courses, and relieve us from the necessity of invoking the assistance of lacustrine bodies in a solution of the problem, it does not seem to me likely that this has been the case. The physiognomy of the upper Yukon valley supports this contention, and even to-day the river has not yet fully escaped from a lacustrine condition which is merely fragmental of a previous state. DEPOSITS OF VOLCANIC ASH On one point bearing upon the succession of events in the upper Yukon valley, and which has its connection with the history of the Klondike region, my conclusions differ somewhat from those that have been expressed by Dawson. This pertains to the deposit of volcanic ash which is so marked a feature of the accumulations of the river's banks. For nearly three hun- dred miles by the course of the river a stratum of pumiceous ash, ordinarily not more than four or six inches in thickness, constitutes almost without break the top layer but one of the banks on either side, and that which is above it is generally only the insignificant soil or subsoil which immediately supports the 272 ANGELO HEILPRIN vegetation. So persistent is this ash layer, and so uniformly does it hold to an even thickness and to its exact position be- neath the surface, that without further examination one would be tempted to believe from a little distance that it was merely the ordinary subsoil layer from which the color had been leached out by vegetable growths. Here and there, where there have been local disturbances or water washings have produced concentration, it may have acquired a development of a few feet, and occasionally it has accommodated itself to flexures or sag- gings of the deposits which it normally caps as a horizontal zone. Dr. Dawson, in commenting upon its occurrence, cor- rectly assumes that it represents one continuous volcanic erup- tion, the date of which might fall well within a period of a few hundred years, and he speculates as to its being possibly associated with an outbreak from Mount Wrangell or some active cone which is represented by the Indians to exist in the region of the upper White River. Beyond this, from the normality of its position, and the assumed fact that no fluviatile or aqueous deposits have been found overlying it, the same observer argues that the outbreak must have taken place subse- quent to the formation of the present river courses and their valleys, a conclusion in which I do not see my way to concur. The only satisfactory interpretation of this vast uniformly placed and uniformly layered deposit of ash is to me that which assumes a deposition in a widely extended lake basin, or in shallow lagoon waters which already in part occupied the present valley surfaces. In such waters precipitation from long-continued suspension would proceed gradually and evenly, to the end of shaping a deposit of nearly uniform development and of vast extent. Such depositions we find in the valleys lying north of the City of Mexico (Zumpango, Tequixquiac) and in the lacustrine area of Anahuac, also in the famous fossiliferous basin of Florissant, in Colorado. With the subse- quent formation or reformation of the river's course we should have this deposit cut through, with the result of presenting the even layer which is so persistent in its following. This method would also account for the anomalous position in which we find the ash deposits; while still holding the same relation to the top surface, it occasionally rises far above what might be as- A JOURNEY TO ALASKA 273 sumed to be its normal height or level above the water's surface from four to ten feet a condition that would hardly be in consonance with the assumption that the ash was deposited after the actual river channels had been cut. But other and more direct proof of aqueous occupation after the laying of the ash is had in the fact that in one place at least, and doubtless many more such will be found on closer investigation, lacustrine or fluviatile shells (subfossils) occur in the layer overlying the ash. A locality of this kind is found on the right bank not many miles above the Five Finger Rapids. Here, at a height of not more than four feet above the river, I had the pleasure of determining species of Limnea and Physa, associated singu- larly enough with Helix, in the layers immediately above and below the ash bed, and in both horizons the species were identical. This isolated fact speaks volumes for itself. Had this been the region of Helena, Ark., I should have been prompted to class the bed with a portion of the Mississippi loess. What interested me further in this connection was the fact that up to this time I had failed to bring to light one solitary mollusc from the upper Yukon, and to all inquiries regarding the existence of shellfish in this northern water invariably a negative reply was received. Only on that day did I again obtain success in my malacological effort, the almost icy waters rewarding my search with a single specimen unfortunately subsequently lost of a Byihinella, or some closely related type, so that even to-day my knowledge does not permit me to state if the subfossil species of the banks have their living representatives, either specific or generic, in the almost wholly noncalcareous waters of the existing river. The question from more points than one is interesting, and deserves more than passing attention. It may be remarked in this place that the only other fluviatile inverte- brate which I found in these waters was a white siliceous coat- ing sponge, whose statoblasts were well visible to the naked eye. Unfortunately, the loss of my specimens has prevented deter- mination, a circumstance the more to be deplored as these fresh- water sponges are the most northern in habit known to the zoologists. 1 1 Professor Russell, in discussing the flood-plain deposits of the Yukon about the mouth of the Porcupine River, says that " fresh-water sheila were 274 ANGELO HEILPKIK FURTHER CHARACTERISTICS OF THE YUKON TRACT There is evidence of another kind pointing to a comparative newness of much of the present course of the Yukon. The feature has been noticed alike by nongeographers and geog- raphers, and by geologists as well, that the arm which carries the greatest volume of water does not everywhere occupy the main orographic valley. Thus, as Dawson has well pointed out, in coming up the stream the valley of the Big Salmon appears to be more nearly the continuation of the main valley below than that which still (and properly) continues to be desig- nated the Lewes (Yukon) above; and this is still more mark- edly the case with the Hootalinqua (Teslin-too or dewberry River) at the confluence with the Thirty Mile. Even the valley of the Pelly at its junction with the Yukon, near Fort Selkirk, would perhaps to most persons suggest itself as the main chan- nel of erosion. There is no hardship to geological facts in in- voking the aid of great displacements to account for a condition which to my mind is well impressed upon the landscape ; for, even without the proper or fully satisfactory evidence in hand to support the view, I fully believe that the greater part of the upper Yukon tract only recently emerged from a lacustrine con- dition. !N^or is it to me by any means certain that this emer- gence or final reconstruction of the land surface into valley tracts need be more than a few hundred years old, or neces- sarily older than the deposition of the volcanic ash, which is hypothetically carried back by Dawson to a possible five hun- dred years or so. If it should be objected that we know of no such rapid change in the configuration of a land surface brought about by aqueous agencies, it might be answered that the mechanics of erosion in a pre-eminently drift-covered re- gion, under subarctic conditions and with the influence of a most powerful and energetic stream near by, have neither been studied nor observed. Let us examine the possibilities of the case. As an initiatory premise it might be assumed, without much chance of either frequently observed in the finer deposits." Unfortunately, no statement is made of tlie types which they represent. A JOUKKEY TO ALASKA 275 affirmation or denial, that the degradation of the land surface in the immediate valleys of the main streams is or has been in the past taking place at the rate of half a line per day; so far as the eye and ordinary instruments of measurement are concerned this is a quite inappreciable amount, and I see no reason why it may not be assumed as the working power of the Yukon. With this rate of erosion a valley trough or contour of about a foot and a third might be formed in the period of a single year, or of nearly seven hundred feet in five hundred years, and if we lessen the daily erosion to one quarter of the amount stated i. e., to an eighth of a line we should still have in this same period of five hundred years, speaking broadly, a trough of about one hundred and seventy-five feet depth, quite sufficient to have brought about most marked changes in the aspect of a drift-covered lagoon region, and perhaps ample to account for those physiognomic peculiarities which have been discovered. I am fully impressed with the magnitude of the distance which separates the amount of erosion which I have assumed an eighth of a line daily from the " one foot in six thousand years," which has been preached categorically from lectern and text-book for the better part of a quarter of a century and threatens to make dogma for still another period of equal length; but the conditions here are entirely different from those of average continental denudation in fact, have as nearly nothing in common as they can have. My observations in the tropics and subtropics have most impressively taught me the lesson of rapid changes, and with the conditions that are and have been associated with the Yukon, I am prepared for the lesson of equal change in the north. But, as a matter of fact, are we not taught of a removal in the west central United States of some twelve thousand feet of rock strata in a period not impossibly considerably less than two hundred thousand years ? The one foot in sixteen years has here likewise noth- ing in common with the ' prevailing ' rate of continental destruction. While stalled on a bar on the Yukon Eiver, about two miles above Fort Selkirk, I was much impressed with the mechanical work of the stream. The gravel and pebbles were being hur- ried along rapidly under the lash of a five to six mile current, 276 ANGELO HEILPRIN and their groans were audible frequently when they themselves were invisible. Every few minutes our steamer would swerve from her seemingly fixed position by the undercutting of the bar, and perhaps it would be not far from the truth in saying that we should be to-day in very nearly the same position that we were in then had it not been for this undermining action of the stream. Let it be remembered that the Yukon has a cur- rent ranging up to seven miles, or to eight, as some of the navi- gators say, and that in certain months it is swiftly ice-bound, both on top and at the bottom, and heavily charged with boulders, and one may well realize the work of which it is capable. That with which I have debited it is purely hypothetical or con- jectural, but it may serve a purpose in the elucidation of the main problem." THE BAKING ASCENT OF MONT PELEE The catastrophes of Martinique, in 1902, were to give Angelo Heilprin world-wide celebrity as an intrepid observer of the death-dealing phenomena on the spot. He left for the island two weeks after the cataclysm of May 8, and ascended Mont Pelee on June 1. His own account of the undertaking, as described in his volume on Mont Pelee and the Tragedy of Martinique, gives but a hint of the dangers he encountered : " We left our animals in charge of one of the Martinique boys at an elevation of about two thousand two hundred feet, and slowly pushed on to the summit. The ascent was an easy one, even if fatiguing at times to the heart and lungs, and pre- sented nothing more difficult than the long slopes of some of our own Appalachian peaks. The course was direct, without zigzags of any kind; and had it not been for the particular conditions which existed at the summit, the ' climb ' would have been without color-incident of any kind. As it was, we knew only inferentially what was taking place at the top, and were even in doubt as to whether the summit could be reached at all. Up to this time sky and weather had been most favor- able, but the battered volcano had begun to gather to its crown the island's mists, and its own clouds hung ominously over the summit. In a short half -hour the parting-line between the land and sky had been blotted out, and the balance of our ascent was made in doudland. A discomforting rain fell upon us, and when we finally reached the summit of the mountain, shortly before eleven o'clock, the weather was decidedly nasty. My aneroid indicated an elevation of three thousand nine hundred and seventy-five feet. We were standing on what had been assumed to be the rim of the old crater, on the rim of the basin that contained the Lac des Palmistes. Between shifts in the 278 ANGELO HEILPRIN clouds we obtained spectral glimpses of the opposing mornes or pitons, their ragged lines rising perhaps two hundred feet higher, and of the flat basin that stretched off to their bases. But of the lake there was nothing. So much of the basin as we could see was absolutely dry, its floor brought up to a nearly uniform level through the fragmental discharges from the volcano. At the point where we reached it there was a clearly marked border rising two to three feet above the floor. It was evident at a glance that the old ' crater/ contrary to general belief and scientific report, had not been blown out. It remained where picnic parties, seeking its beautiful waters, annually found it to be, where the blue lobelia adorned its banks, and where dwarf palms, succeeding to luxuriant forest, told the land of the tropical sun. To-day not a trace of vege- table growth remained, not even a lichen found attachment on the rough-surfaced rocks that broke out from the scoriated floor. This, at least, was what my observation told me. We sought in vain the position of the vent whence issued the miles of steam and ash that formed the spectacle of the morning, of the even- ing before, and of every day since the eruption of May 2. It should have been near to us, but where was it? We could clearly hear the rumbling in its interior, the grondement of continuing work, but the eye failed to penetrate the sea of clouds that enveloped us, and made our field of search neces- sarily limited. Ordinarily we could see but a score of yards ahead, and frequently not that far, and in the tempest that swept the mountain we dared not attempt the actual exploration of the summit. A crash of thunder, that seemed to rend the very heart of the mountain, broke the storm upon us, and silenced all other sounds. In an instant more a second crash, and the lightning cut frenzied zigzags across the blackened cloud-world of quiver- ing Pelee. Then a third and a fourth, and the pitons rolled the echoes to one another like artillery fire. There was no need to look at one another we knew that we were in a storm- world of our own. Whatever was taking place, was being acted immediately about us. It was a strange sensation this, sitting not knowing exactly where and having as an unseen neighbor one of the mightiest destroying engines of the globe. THE DARING ASCENT OF MONT PELEE 279 The rain descended in merciless torrents, and the lightning cut blinding flashes about us. We sat bowed over our instruments, to give them partial covering, but our clothing, so far as pro- tection to ourselves was concerned, might almost as well have been in the sea. We hoped for a change, but there was none. Our boys were unhappy and trembling in fear of the volcano, and silent tears appealed for a descent. They knew as well as we did that there could be but a short interval between us and the fiery caldron, and they knew, perhaps better than we did, that some of the detonations which we had preferably referred to thunder were in reality the warning notes of the volcano. Leadbeater and I were not yet ready for the descent. That for which we had climbed the mountain had eluded us, and yet could hardly be more than a stone's throw away. We knew not pre- cisely the condition, and dared not search ; but we thought that a favoring gust might lift the clouds, and permit us to see ahead. It did not come. My barometer had indicated no gathering storm, no more than did the barometer of Saint Pierre during the eruptions preceding the event of May 8, and indicated no change now. The compass on the crater rim showed, how- ever, a variation of from thirty degrees to forty degrees east- ward, the north needle being turned sharply in the direction of Vive. Three-quarters of an hour of Pelee's storm was sufficient. It was perhaps the most trying of any like period that I had, up to this time, experienced, and thinking it useless to remain longer on the summit, I decided upon a retreat. We were both storm-beaten and mind-beaten. A day's effort had yielded little beyond permitting us to say that we had reached the summit of the mountain. The descent was as rapid as the conditions of the atmosphere and mountain would permit, but it was not easy work. The deluge had graven uncomfortable hollows and fissures in the volcano's sides, and running streams of mud and water had taken the place of the hard slope of the early morning. There was no longer a secure foothold any- where, and it was with difficulty that we kept from sliding into the gorge that lay on both sides of us. By the time we reached our mules, which had been taken to a lower level by the frightened attendant, the storm had partially lifted, and 280 ANGELO HEILPEIN to our surprise, looking beneath the clouds, we found the Falaise, which had been running quietly on our up-journey, seething with steam, and threading its course to the Capot and to the sea in a long train of curling and puffing vapors. We followed with our eyes the circuit of the steaming river for miles across the still fairly green country, watching the vapor columns as they wildly tossed and bowed, but hearing no sounds beyond those of our immediate neighborhood. The scene was an extraordinary one, and one that could only be compared in its effect to a chain of locomotives steaming in line. At this time we thought that Pelee had broken out on the side turned to us, and was disengaging its mud directly into the trough of the Falaise. Our experience on the narrowed summit of Pelee during this first ascent was so novel and so personal in its sensations that it seems only natural to place here the impressions of my asso- ciate, Mr. Leadbeater, as he has recorded them elsewhere. !Nb apology is, therefore, necessary for introducing this portion of his graphic narrative: When we reached the edge of the old crater, at an elevation of about four thousand feet (the basin that had contained the Lac des Palmistes), it rained in torrents. We waited about fifteen minutes, hoping it would clear up and enable us to see something. Suddenly there crashed out of the very air above our heads a cannonading so terrific that the mountain seemed to quake and tremble before it. It took us some minutes to realize that it was a peal of thunder. Then it commenced to thunder and lighten incessantly, and the thunder followed so quickly after the lightning that they seemed to come simultaneously. The awful lightning flashes came in sheets and bolts of fire and were blinding rather than illuminating. In- deed, the thunder was so loud that we could feel the ground heave, as it were, under us, and the air about us vibrate. It rained so hard we could not see ten feet away, and so awed were we by the thunder and lightning, and so oppressed by the hot, sultry atmosphere, that we did not know but that we were being overwhelmed by another eruption. I placed my camera on the ground and lay upon it to keep it dry. But it rained through my clothes, and it must have penetrated even through my body, for the camera was soaked. Those frightful minutes when I lay on the ground shielding my camera, with the rain descending in perfect floods of water I THE BAKING ASCENT OF MONT PELEE 281 never knew it could rain as it did then with the appalling thunder-charged flashes playing incessantly about me and the very air quivering with the rapidity of the detonations, and but a few feet away the seething, sweltering crater of the most destructive volcano the world has ever seen, will always stand out in my memory as a weird and horrible dream. At last we could bear it no longer, and started to come down the mountain, following our tracks as best we could. While descending the mountain we found that the heavy rains had washed gorges in the mud-covering of the mountain two to three feet deep, and in the blinding rain we frequently stopped on the edge of one of these gullies, which, sud- denly giving way, caused us to slip and slide most of the way down. When we got to the end of the " hogback," where we left the mules, they and their keeper had gone. We found them later on farther down the mountain standing in the bright sunshine. Our day's work, while giving to us many novel and im- perishable sensations, had terminated unsuccessfully. We had been repulsed by the volcano, mudded and drenched in a way that severely cautioned us in any further effort not to inquire too closely into nature's hidden secrets. The great caldron of blowing steam and ash had not been reached, or even seen, although we could hardly have been more than a hundred yards from its border. The question still remained, where and how was it ? The evening wore off quietly as that of the preceding day, and Pelee once more presented itself in its form of grand and unconquered magnificence. I studied carefully its vast steam-cloud, with its ominous puffs of yellow and brown, and attempted to locate the precise position of its emergence; but what we saw this evening, we had seen the evening before, and also on the evening before that. The lesson still remained to be learned, and I determined upon another ascent for the follow- ing day. Kennan, Jaccaci and Varian, three other investigators of the phenomena of Mont Pelee, had by this time come in from Morne Rouge, and, inspired by the extraordinary workings of the volcano which they had witnessed there and at Vive, had also determined upon an ascent. We joined forces. As on the day before, the mounts were obtained at Vive, which also fur- nished the somewhat larger number of attendants and carriers 282 ANGELO HEILPEIN who were to do duty for us. We left the latter place shortly after seven-thirty. Our route, except in some narrowing curves, was virtually the same that we had travelled the day before. Once past Morne Balai, we followed the direct course to the eastern arete, up which we somewhat laboriously picked our way. The ascent, owing to the still soft and completely rifted condition of the surface brought about by the heavy rains, was considerably more fatiguing than on the previous day, but reaching the summit was merely ' a pulling away at it/ with plenty of stops to take breath and ease the heart's action. The heat of the open sunlight was, however, very trying, and it was intense on the exposed slope of cinder and ash. There was not even the whisper of a breeze. Mr. Jaccaci succumbed to an early attack of acute dizziness or vertigo, and was obliged to abandon the ascent. When we came up to the old-crater rim, the Lac des Palmistes, shortly before eleven o'clock, the weather and mountain conditions were desperately like those which ushered in the storm of the preceding day. The aged mountain had again buried its head in cloud and vapor, and growling thunder reverberations held out little hope that we should be able to accomplish more than we had already done. Of the distant lowland only parting patches could now be seen, and before long even these were blotted out by mist and rain. On the top it was all cloudland, and with squally rains coming and going in quick turns. We caught fleeting glimpses of the opposing mornes that rimmed in the basin at its farther side, but as yet saw nothing that gave more than a feeble indication as to where might be the line of the working crater. My aneroid reading, without correction for temperature, gave for our position the same that we had occupied the day before four thousand and twenty-five feet, which satisfied me that the old level of the mountain had been maintained, and that there had been, con- trary to what had been reported, no subsidence as the result of the catastrophic explosion of the 8th. It is true that the piton which bore the cross on the Morne de La Croix had tumbled as the result of a fracture, but this loss to the mountain of per- haps fifty to one hundred feet in no way disturbed the general aspect or mass of the volcano. The shallow trough of the former THE DARING ASCENT OF MONT PELEE 283 Lac is now floored with angular blocks and fragments of ancient volcanic debris, forming part of the former stock of the volcano, and with recently ejected scoriae, lapilli and mud-ash. These built up the outer face, for three hundred feet or more, of the top portion of the main cone. I took the temperature at several points on the lake-floor and over the rim of the basin and found it to be, at two or three inches below the surface, 124 to 130 F. ; at one point, at a greater depth, the mercury rose to 162. It was evident that this high temperature, about 60 above that of the air, was merely that of the ejected material which had not yet had the time to cool. Puffs of steam and sulphur vapor were issuing from a number of surface vents, and from beneath great boulder masses whose ragged and heated surfaces were scarred with yellow sulphur blotches, and gave evidence of having only recently been hurled to their places from the vol- cano's mouth. 4 We waited patiently for a lifting of the clouds, and it came at last. Below the mountain's clouds we could clearly mark out the ascending column of steam, with its flocculent whorls rolling in upon themselves and upward. The position of the crater had been located, but alas ! it was for hardly more than an instant. The scene had shifted and disappeared. We were once more in cloudland, waiting and hoping, with our Martinique boys impatient of their assumed trials. An angry cold wind was now swirling around both sides of the mountain, and with it came a seemingly hopeless rain. All of a sudden a gust cleared the summit, and a white sunlight illumined the near horizon. It seemed hardly more than three hundred feet from us. Across the steaming lake-bed, little mindful of its puffs of vapor and sulphur, we dashed to the line above which welled out the steam-cloud of the volcano, and almost in an instant stood upon the rim of the giant rift in whose interior the world was being made in miniature. We had reached our point. We were four feet, perhaps less, from a point whence a plummet could be dropped into the seething furnace, witnessing a scene of terrorizing grandeur which can be conceived only by the very few who have observed similar scenes elsewhere. Momentary flashes of light permitted us to see far into the tempest-tossed caldron, but at no time was the 284 ANGELO HEILPEIN T floor visible, for over it rolled the vapors that rose out to moun- tain heights. With almost lightning speed they were shot out into space, to be lost almost as soon as they had appeared. Facing us, at a distance of seemingly not more than two hun- dred and fifty feet, danced the walls of what appeared to be the opposing face of the crater, and somewhat nearer the ragged white rocks, burnt-out cinder masses, whose brilliant incan- descence flashed out like beacon-lights some days after the fatal 8th, and even at our later day illumined the night-crown of the volcano with a glow of fire. We could not tell at the time if they were part of a cinder-cone, or merely an accumulated heap that had been piled upon itself. The spectacle was a stu- pendous one, like a wild tempest raging everywhere. We stood silent, overawed in its presence. The ground trembled at times, but never with any degree of force. We felt no incon- venience from either gas or steam. A low rumbling detonation, broken at intervals by louder bursts, crept about the hidden floor of the interior, from which also issued the sounds of clink- ing, falling and sliding cinders, the hissing of the emerging steam sounds which one would fain describe were it possible to do so. I tried so far as it was possible to localize the issuing sounds, but the ' blanketing ' by the enormous masses of swirl- ing steam prevented this; everything seemed to come from everywhere, with no marked accentuation in any particular quarter. Occasional gusts of wind cleared the foreground, and displayed the giant smoke-column in grand magnificence. Our Martinique boys appeared to be as much impressed by the scene as we ourselves were, and for a time lost all fear of the awakening dragon. We found that we were standing on the edge of a vertical, perhaps even overhanging, cliff, and not feel- ing disposed to remain longer than was necessary to make note- book observations and take photographic views, left rather pre- cipitately for lower regions. I felt that finally I had stood over nature's great laboratory, and been permitted to study some of its workings. Many years before on Vesuvius I had gazed into the crater funnel, and watched the molten magma of the earth rise and fall, but the scene was one that could not compare with this, grand and in- spiring though it was. I attempted to locate the axis of the vent THE BAKING ASCENT OF MONT PELEE 285 as nearly as the direction of the largely-obscured walls and the position of the basin of the Lac des Palmistes permitted, which was north to south, slightly southwest. The magnetic needle, which showed such a marked deflection on the border of the lake- basin, was normal or nearly so. The form of the crater was at this time that of a caldron-rift, pitching steeply downward, and opening in a direction a little off from the line to Saint Pierre. The length could be only roughly approximated, and at no time could we positively ascertain the extreme boundaries. There can be no question that it traversed the position of the narrow rift known as the Fente, or the Terre Fendue, which had been a feature of the mountain since the eruption of 1851, perhaps considerably preceding that event in its existence. The fact that, standing on the rim of so active a crater, we were not inconvenienced by any marked excess of temperature seems rather remarkable, and might be thought to find its ex- planation in the very rapidly ascending masses of steam the condition of continuous atmospheric displacements which it brought about. But even these were little appreciable where we stood, which was more like a region of almost absolute calm, despite the storm that raged in its centre, than one of flickering disturbance." Mr. Heilprin's bearing during these trying hours made a deep impression upon his companions. Mr. George Kennan, in his report of the ascent, said : " I must pay the highest possible trib- ute to Heilprin. He is modest and brave, a superb mountaineer and the nerviest and pluckiest man I ever knew. The ascent was the most terrifying experience of my life." The press throughout the country hailed the achievement as an almost unparalleled display of scientific ardor. In its issue of June 2, the New York Evening Post said editorially : " Newspaper enterprise has to bow to scientific enthusiasm in the matter of the first ascent of still smoking Mt. Pelee. Pro- fessor Angelo Heilprin was already known as an intrepid ex- plorer, delighting equally in Sahara and Greenland, and climbing difficult Orizaba, whose height and pre-eminence among Mexican mountains he first correctly determined; but his calm rivaling of the elder Pliny and surpassing him in 286 ANGELO HEILPRIST good fortune by mounting to study, in situ, a volcano in eruption, will make his name famous throughout the world. Of that result, however, we may be sure that he never stopped to think. His preoccupation was entirely that of a scientist, bent on discovery of the truth, even at the hazard of his life. With intelligence to guard against every needless risk, and yet with constancy and professional zeal to make him face cheerfully all inevitable danger, he gave a fine example of the unconscious courage and heroism of the scientific spirit. No doubt he ex- perienced intense exhilaration, amid those showers of boiling mud and red hot cinders, as he went on quietly observing the phenomena which his trained eye could so well interpret." A SECOND VISIT TO MARTINIQUE Even greater were the dangers the fearless investigator en- countered during his second visit to Martinique, in August. His account of the destruction of Morne Rouge is as follows : " Throughout the whole of Friday, August 29, Pelee kept up a continuous growl. The sound came to us like the rumbling of wagons crossing a bridge, and at times like distant thunder. M. Louis des Grottes, our host at the Habitation Leyritz, where we had been installed the evening before, felt uneasy, and thought that many days might elapse before an ascent of the mountain could properly be attempted. On the evening of Monday preced- ing there had been a wonderful exhibition of volcanic pyrotech- nics, and everybody spoke of the great ' flames ' that were seen to shoot out from the crater, of the volcanic corona and of scin- tillant stars; and since then the volcano had been continually in unrest. Refugees were seeking the roads at all points, and the north of the island was once more in the condition that marked the early days of May. The Habitation Leyritz lies on the northeastern foot of Mont Pelee, at an elevation of about five hundred feet above the sea, and I had selected it, on the invita- tion of M. des Grottes, as a base of operations alternative to Ajoupa-Bouillon or Morne Balai, it being more closely ap- proached to the volcano than either Assier or Vive. Its position is delightfully in the path of the ocean breezes, and its stately cocoa-palms are only four miles distant, a vol d'oiseau, from the THE DESTRUCTION OF MORNE ROUGE 28T active crater of the volcano. When we arrived there shortly before sunset the hour of rest had already been proclaimed to the workers on the estate, and inquisitive groups of coolies and dark Creoles lingered and loitered about, some chanting the evening hymn. The little Martinique blackbirds whistled out their beau- tiful and mellow notes until late in the evening, and after that, except for the roar of the volcano, the ' silence of night ' was left to the minstrelsy of the tree-toads. We were up some time before the rising sun, and saw the day break fair, with a gentle breeze sweeping over the tops of the nodding cane. A few bad clouds were chasing after the eastern horizon, and others hung over the black peaks of Carbet, but they went the right way for us, and they augured well. The difficul- ties that attend starting in the tropics delayed our departure until after six o'clock, an hour that seemed early enough for the kind of day that promised. An hour before that time it was still dark. At Morne Balai, which we reached in half an hour, my little party, consisting of Julian Cochrane and myself, with three foot attendants, was joined by seven volunteers, who felt that the spirit of the volcano had been controlled by us, and be- lieved that they could courageously follow in our footsteps. One of these I had well known from my earlier ascents, and he stood as prophet and informant to the others, basing his superiority upon a very fragmentary knowledge of English. Our purpose to study the great cone that had so rapidly built itself up in the heart of the crater was perhaps unknown to the joining party, but they held their courage well throughout the greater part of the day. Alas ! poor souls, they little expected that the tongue of the fiery dragon would visit their homes ere night had fairly fallen, and bring sorrow and death to the heart of a peaceful and quiet-loving community. When I last rode through the garden- lanes of Morne Balai everything was deserted the gardens were empty and the doors of the thatched cottages closed. New ashes had fallen since the day of Saint Pierre, and the inhabit- ants lacked the courage to remain. Life had now come back to the village, and how beautiful this morning were the copses of banana, of palm and breadfruit, the hedge-rows, and the great blazing blossoms of the hibiscus! A more charming village scene could hardly be found. 288 ANGELO HEILPRIX Our course up Pelee was from this point the same that I had taken on my previous ascents, over the easy arete that forms the central eastern ray of the volcano, and lies a little northward of the ravine of the Falaise. The conditions of the ascent on this day were surprisingly favorable, and we were able to make use of our animals up to a height of nearly two thousand three hun- dred feet. A light growth of grass had begun to cover the arid slope of ash and cinder, and the blackened forest of the ravine slopes was also touched on the crown with green. The beautiful tree-ferns, more particularly, gave evidence of this new life, and they promised to restore in a short time to Mont Pelee that verdure for which the mountain had been dear to the Marti- niquians. It was evident that the burned forest was not abso- lutely dead, and its greens were already being picked by troops of blackbirds, fly-catchers, and the hirondelle-mouche. Myriads of green and green-and-black caterpillars were cropping the new vegetation. They had found a comfortable home in this newly regenerated upper world, and were making the best of their time. It was evident that the volcano had blown to them a good wind. Such sudden visitations of insects to recovering volcanic regions have been noted before, and have brought many problems to the entomologist which still await solution. We left our animals shortly after eight o'clock, and at that time the volcano was raging. The steam-cloud roared out of a seething furnace and swept the summit from our view. Back of us dark-blue shadows were checkering the receding landscape, but the ocean was the blue and green of the coral reef, and lovely Morne Eouge was bathed in warm sunshine. Nearer to us Ajoupa-Bouillon, slumbering in sunlight and shadow, lay almost at our feet. We picked our way leisurely up the cinder slope, but it was evident that ejected bombs had recently scarred its surface, for there were furrows and troughs and great boulders where none had been before. We also noted a number of the puzzling crater-like shallow pits or hollows which some have thought to associate with falling rocks, others with earthquake phenomena. In a few minutes more we were in the storm-cloud, with only bits of landscape to follow us as companions. The great knob of Morne Jacob appeared and disappeared, and at intervals we could glance into the deep gorges on either side of THE DESTRUCTION OF MORNE ROUGE 289 us, but of the summit of the mountain there was nothing. Our Martinique associates were uneasy, for from the invisible gray ahead came the terrific voice of the volcano. There were no accentuated detonations, but a continuous roar that was simply appalling. I thought on my previous ascent to have heard some- thing, but this time it was the old sound multiplied a hundred- fold. No words can describe it. Were it possible to unite all the furnaces of the globe into a single one, and to simultaneously let loose their blasts of steam, it does not seem to me that such a sound could be produced. It was not loud in the sense of a peal of thunder, but of fiery and tempestuous storm, that could best be compared with the blowing of the ocean's wind through the shrouds of a full-rigged ship, only ten times that. The moun- tain fairly quivered under its work, and it was perhaps not wholly discreditable that some of us should have felt anything but comfortable. Where was all this ? we asked ourselves. In front of us, but invisible. My aneroid gave for our elevation three thousand four hundred feet therefore we were only six hundred feet below the summit-level which marked the position of the Lac des Palmistes. There appeared to be no barometric disturbance, nor was the compass-needle affected. A whistling bomb flew past us at this time, but it left but a comet's train in our ears, for it could not be seen. We took it first for a flying bird, but its course was soon followed by another, and then came the dull thud of its explosion in air. Deep down the ravine we could hear the scattered parts tumbling, sliding and crackling. We could no longer deceive ourselves as to the character of the struggle into which we had entered. The ominous clicks in the air told us what we might at any moment expect. We moved up slowly, hardly more than a few paces at a time, but with hope given to us in the occasional rifting of the clouds. Time and time again the summit crest appeared beneath the rolling vapors, and it really seemed as if the cone, of which we were in search, would suddenly come to view. When we had reached about three thousand eight hundred feet the fusillade of bombs became overpoweringly strong, and we were obliged to retreat. We were in battle. The clouds had become lighter, and we could at times see the bombs and boulders coursing through 290 ANGELO HEILPRIN the air in parabolic curves and straight lines, driven and shot out as if from a giant catapult. They whistled past us on both sides, and our position became decidedly uncomfortable ; many of the fragments took almost direct paths, and must have been shot into their courses as a result of explosions taking place above the summit of the volcano. They flew by us at close range. De- scending perhaps one hundred feet lower on the slope, we took shelter under a somewhat rolling knob and waited for a possible cessation of the fusillade. A glance at my men showed that they were thoroughly frightened, and most of them were making quick tracks to a lower level. A lull favored a further effort. "Not wishing to incur any responsibility in a call for company in what appeared to be a rather hazardous enterprise, I made a second attempt by myself, keeping my body as close to the ground as was possible. The clouds soon separated me from my associates, and all of visible nature that was left to me was a patch of slope and the shifting vapors. Mr. Cochrane's figure was the last to disappear. The roar of the volcano was terrific awful beyond description. It felt as if the very earth were being sawed in two. In about a quarter of an hour I reached a point just below the summit the crest of the old lake basin which was being heavily raked by the fire of the volcano. I could see no more than before. Everything was as if in a surg- ing sea, and neither the cone nor what was left of the Morne de La Croix was visible. I crouched down to the ground, but to no purpose. It was useless to remain longer in the open fire, and I descended to join my associates. Mr. Cochrane was near at hand, working his camera and seemingly indifferent to the en- circling storm, but the negroes had gone far below, carrying our provisions with them. I was surprised, indeed, that they should have retained their courage for so long a time, for Pelee had been unusually active for a number of days, and if men ever feared anything, it was this grim monster of Martinique. But most of them had remembered my earlier ascents, and they child- ishly seemed to feel that there was shelter in my wake. Shortly before noon a sudden lifting of the clouds revealed the volcano in all its majestic fury. For the first time since we reached its slopes were we permitted to see its steam-column that furious, swirling mass ahead of us, towering miles above THE DESTRUCTION OF MORNE KOUGE 291 the summit, and sweeping up in curls and festoons of white, yellow and almost black. It boiled with ash. The majestic cauliflower clouds rose on all sides, joining with the central col- umn, and it was evident that the entire crater was working, bottom as well as summit, and with a vigor that it would be use- less to attempt to describe. Higher and higher they mount, until the whole is lost in the great leaden umbrella which seemed to overspread the whole earth. I estimated the diameter of the column as it left the crest of the mountain to be not less than fifteen hundred feet, and its rate of ascent from one and a half to two miles a minute, and considerably greater at the initial moment of every new eruption. Great exploding puffs were following one another in rapid succession, and they told the story of what was going on inside the volcano. Cochrane and I were not the only ones to be inspired by this extraordinary and bewildering spectacle. Our Martinique men seemed equally overcome by a grandeur of nature, terrifying as it was beautiful, which they had not before seen, and of their own accord initiated a new effort to reach the summit. We climbed back to our former position, but the bombardment was too strong for us, and we thought best to desist. The prospects for study were anything but promising, and it was thought un- necessary at this time to take further risks. Of our party of twelve there were now only four left on the upper slopes of the volcano, but we still hoped for one more chance. For a half hour or so we took refuge in a hollow sufficiently deep to about clear our heads, and waited. But even the pleasures of a mountain lunch did not quite make this place restful, for the bursting bombs, flew thick to one side, and we were too eager to watch the flying fragments to permit ourselves a free moment. Every scattering mass brought us to our feet, only to see and hear the fragments plunging into the abyss that lay to one side. Coch- rane and I moved a piece higher up, and then abandoned the effort. ' Where did this last block burst ? ' I asked of my asso- ciate, and before my question was answered we were spattered with mud from head to foot by a great boulder, hardly smaller than a flour-barrel, which fell within ten feet of us, or less. When we reached the lower slopes we were covered with ash and mud. For an hour or more we were nearly beneath the 292 ANGELO HEILPRItf centre of the great ash-cloud, whose murky masses hung at a dizzy height above us. Its mantle-sheet carried darkness to Macouba and Grande Riviere, and far over Dominica and Guadeloupe the black mass still swept out to sea. I believe that the ash-cloud must have been fully six miles above our heads. It rolled out a few peals of thunder, but we observed no flashes of lightning. The ash fell lightly, and coming mixed with water soon consolidated into a paste. It had the temperature of the surrounding air was not warm. There were no large particles. The coarser material fell miles from us, at positions situated more nearly under the periphery of the cloud. It is singular that even at the point where I was nearest to the issuing steam, a distance of probably less than four hundred feet, no marked atmospheric disturbance was perceptible, nothing to even remotely suggest a cyclonic or suctional whirl. One could readily have expected something of this kind to occur. Nor do I believe that there was any noticeable elevation in the temper- ature of the air. Unfortunately, the single thermometer that I had with me had broken earlier in the day, and, therefore, my note on this point rests solely on a personal impression. Cer- tainly there was no emphasized change in temperature. I could detect no gaseous emanations, except, perhaps, a very feeble taint of sulphur. When we again got on the level ground back of the Habita- tion Leyritz we were startled by a most violent eruption from Pelee, a great shaft of steam and ash being suddenly shot out to a most marvellous height, perhaps not less than five or six miles. It went up as a distinct column of its own, swiftly dis- tancing the other cloud-masses by which it was enveloped. It was a prelude to the incidents of the evening that followed. We arrived at our shelter a little before five o'clock, some- what to the relief of the household, who had become apprehen- sive regarding our safety. Early in the evening the big blaze from an incendiary fire announced the destruction of the case de bagasse of the Habitation Pecoul, but it gave us little con- cern, as our cane-fields were sufficiently removed to insure them from contact with the flames. Still, M. des Grottes thought it advisable to examine the premises, and he rode down with his brother, more, perhaps, as a pastime than as a necessity, re- THE DESTRUCTION OF MOENE KOUGE 293 turning for a late evening meal. While still seated at the table, a flash of lightning and a dull thud told us in an instant that something was happening. We were out at once. This was a few minutes, perhaps a quarter of an hour, after nine o'clock. The volcano was still distantly growling. The heavens were aglow with fire, electric flashes of blinding intensity traversing the recesses of black and purple clouds, and casting a lurid pallor over the darkness that shrouded the world. Scintil- lating stars burst forth like crackling fireworks, and ser- pent lines wound themselves in and out like travelling wave- crests. The spectacle was an extraordinary and terrifying one, and I confess that it left an impression of uncomfortable doubt in our minds as to what would be the issue. One could not biit feel that a tremendous destruction was impending. The number of forms in which the illumination appeared was bewildering, and I can only recall a few, the picture of which presented itself to my eyes with precision : short, straight, rod- like lines, wave-lines, spirals, long-armed stars, and circles with star-arms hanging off from the border like so many tails. In addition to these were the scintillant stars to which reference has already been made, and the blinding flashes of normal or zig- zag lightning. There were no peals of thunder, but a continuous roar swept through the heavens, mounting with crescendos and falling off with alternating, far-reaching diminuendos. Some pretend to have heard a feeble crackling, like that which is so often heard in association with an auroral display, but I am not sure that I could record this condition, which may easily have existed, among my own experiences. The flashes were bewilder- ingly numerous, and the singular forms interwoven with one another in such a way as to make localization difficult. The scin- tillant stars alone appeared to have a place of their own, nearer the border of the great cloud, and perhaps in the highest parts of it. Directly over the summit of Pelee there was little to be seen. Who is there to tell us what these peculiar flashes are? Are they electric, or are they the flashes of burning gases ? It would, probably, be easy to determine their nature by means of the spectroscope, but this form of examination has not yet been made. It is certain that most of them are not connective dis- charges, for they run through, or are contained in, individual 294 ANGELO HEILPRIN clouds of small dimensions. The phenomena appear to be iden- tical with those which were noted to accompany the great erup- tion of Tarawera, in New Zealand, in 1886. As our eyes feasted upon this scene of majestic grandeur, we almost lost sight of the fact that ashes were falling about us. A great pattering of pumice and lapilli had ushered in the storm, and for a while it sounded as if we were in a tropical hail-storm. Only the fragments first thrown were large, a few an inch or more in size, and those following were like peas and lentils, and then like sand. But even the smaller particles came down with much force, and the flesh stung as it was touched by them. They were all angular bits of andesite or trachyte, white and gray in color. We were out in our bared heads, but it was soon found necessary to protect them. The fall lasted somewhat over an hour, or to nearly half-past ten. All motion in the atmosphere ceased at this time, and for once the location Leyritz lost its usual refreshing coolness. The falling ash felt warm, but M. des Grottes's thermometer failed to indicate anything special. It was not given to us to close the night quietly. The flashing sky above and the falling ash had yet a complement. For over an hour the southwest was glowing fiery red, and patches of lurid light moved themselves into the black of the volcanic cloud. "No flame was visible, but it was only too evident that fire was devastating somewhere. Morne Rouge lay to the same point of the compass, and we intuitively asked ourselves if it could be that town aflame. Ajoupa-Bouillon lay a little to one side, al- most adjoining us, and if it were on fire we could easily have seen the flames. When we retired for the night, M. des Grottes had decided to desert the habitation. Pelee was too close to us, and too active to be sought for as the simple ornament which it had been designated by the Scientific Commission of 1851. Most of the working inhabitants of the plantation had betaken themselves to the coast immediately after the first storm of the evening, terror-stricken with the unceasing roar of the volcano and the flashing lightning, and my own men had joined them in their mad flight. All thoughts of a new exploration of the sum- mit of the volcano on the morrow had vanished. It was not without apprehension that the great door of the manse was closed that night. I did not quite share M. des Grottes's fears THE DESTRUCTION OF MORNE ROUGE- 295 that there might be no one in the morning to open it, but the hours for rest were spent mainly in thinking. The night-air was almost without breeze, so different from what we had had up till now. I tossed around until about one o'clock, sleeping in snatches, but hardly resting. At this time there was another sharp pattering of cinders, and I moved up to the window, only to see darkness. On another side the sky was flashing bright tongues of light, but I saw nothing of it, and knew not that it was taking place. Before retiring again I had to clear my bed of ashes, for the covers and pillows were being rapidly filled, and a new fall was only just beginning. The poor tree-toads, despite everything, were still chirping, and manifestly to them life was not a burden, nor even a piece of anxiety. I do not know to what extent it is true that before the eruption of May 8 the animals of the field and forest gave signs of uneasiness, and summarily left their homes in search of new quarters. Nothing of this kind appears to have been noted on this side, which is in itself not conclusive evidence denying the condition reported, and I know that on Sunday morning the blackbirds were, as usual, gambolling about the cocoanut crowns, and sending out their joyful notes to greet the rising sun. Before the morning had yet broken, news reached us that the fiery tongue of Pelee had carried death and desolation to Morne Balai. The flash of nine o'clock, when the heavens were glow- ing and scintillating with fire, was the lumen that showed the path to the pretty village which we had left hardly five hours before, and from which weeping messengers had now come to ask for aid. I immediately rode out with M. Edouard des Grottes to ascertain the extent of the casualties and what in fact had taken place. We had hardly a mile to go, even with the windings of the path, and were soon conducted to the scene of the disaster. In one of the low thatched cottages two bodies were stretched out stiff in death, and near by others were lying groan- ing in agony from the terrible burns they had received. Still others, which we did not see, were in the neighboring cases. We gave such comfort as reassuring words could offer, but, alas I of what value are they ? M. des Grottes arranged for the care and removal of the wounded, and we then left. One of those who had 296 ANGELO HEILPRIN been with me on the mountain in the afternoon was a victim to the volcano's wrath, and his body lay not far from the hut where we had halted for a few minutes for a friendly chat, and which was now flat with the ground. It had tumbled with the volcano's blast ; others like it had fallen under the weight of ash that had been showered upon them. My parting from Morne Balai was a sad one. It was hard to realize that this pretty little village, which appeared to me so joyful a few hours before, should now be clouded in the shadow of death death driven to it by the same force whose enigma I was attempting to penetrate. As we looked down upon it from the slopes of Pelee, it lay so peacefully embowered beneath its clumps of verdure, apparently so far from danger's door. Na- ture had turned her hand and heart, but this was only a part of the history of the night before. Ajoupa-Bouillon, Morne Eouge, Morne Capot, the heights of Bourdon, were wrecked, or had been entirely wiped out, and with them two thousand more of Martinique's inhabitants were sent to their graves. On all these sites we had gazed in the quieter afternoon ; we had noted the fleeting cloud-shadows passing over them, and seen the smil- ing fields and forests that bound them into one vast sea of green. Desolation had swept all this into gray and black. The very slope that we had travelled over was culled in the fiery blast, and wreck and ruin were everywhere. Our own escape was, indeed, a very narrow one, for the blast swept the land to both sides of us, and even descended to the rear of the Habitation. Good fortune much more than management gave to us our place of refuge. It was only when we reached Vive that the full extent of the catastrophe was made known to us. The great sugar estate had once more set her wheels moving, and from the lofty chimney curls of smoke were again peacefully flowing over the verdant fields of cane. The Riviere Capot, whose debordements had been so much feared and had caused so much damage, was no longer a dangerous stream, and confidence came to all who felt that the worst of Pelee was over. Its work was thought to be- long to the south and to the west, and few feared, even in the face of the magnificent pyrotechnic display of later days, that anything serious could happen on this side. Refugees had been THE DESTRUCTION OF MORNE ROUGE 297 returning by hundreds to their abandoned habitations, and the silence of desolation once more woke to the voice of the living. In front of the great TJsine, when we arrived there this time, crowds of refugees coming from Basse-Pointe, Macouba and Grande-Riviere, and from minor hamlets in the interior, had assembled, and travelling parties were all over the roadways. Afoot and on wagon, everybody was going, with no one having a good word for the country. Improvised ambulances were being sent in to Ajoupa-Bouillon, and since the earlier hours of morning the wounded were being brought out in scores and sent down to Grande- Anse to be placed under government treatment. The good people of the TJsine were doing everything that under the circumstances could be done to alleviate the sufferings of those who were still living, but, unfortunately, for many their work came too late, for they died on the roadway. And perhaps it was best that it was so, for death removed from the body an agony that cannot be conceived, while the chance for recovery was all but nil. Less than four months had elapsed since the catastrophe of May 8 overwhelmed Saint Pierre, and the trag- edy was being enacted over again. M. Joseph Clerc kindly invited me to join him in a survey of the situation at Ajoupa-Bouillon, and we rode out almost immediately after my return to Vive. The village of Ajoupa- Bouillon lies on the eastern foot of Mont Pelee, in a direct line not more than one mile from the more recognized slope of the volcano, and at elevations ranging from about eight hundred to thirteen hundred feet above the sea, some extreme parts rising possibly higher. It is connected on the inner side with Morne Rouge by one of the finest roads in the island, which before the catastrophe of this day was bordered by a woodland of singular beauty. Its houses were mainly of wood, but there were others of a more substantial construction, and nearly all had gardens of their own. A graceful church steeple, still standing, rises up from nearly the highest part of the village. Four days before this second visit I had come out with the acting Mayor of the village, M. Kloss, to look over his large cacao estates, and to join in an excursion to the Trianon, the site of a former hospital camp, situated directly above what had been assumed to be a new crater in the gorge of the Falaise. At that time Ajoupa- 298 ANGELO HEILPRIN Bouillon looked more attractive than I had ever seen it before. The vegetation was at its best, and seemed to have profited by the ash that had been thrown over it in the early days of May. ISTot here alone, but all over the north this extreme of ' push- ing ' fertility was noticeable, and everybody remarked upon the luxuriance of growth which distinguished field as well as forest To this end, at least, of adding fertility to the soil, the volcano may have contributed, and done something to redeem its bad name. To-day, alas ! much of this had gone. In place of field and forest there were desolate plains, gray-scarred, ash-covered, and bleak almost as the African desert We looked over to the mountain-heights and down into the valleys and gorges, and everywhere the eye fell upon ruin and desolation. Only back of us and in the farther distance was there enough of verdure left to remind us of the past The force of the destruction was extraordinary. Before we reached the main scene of the catastrophe the wreck was already fully indicated in a number of houses which were laid flat with the ground, and in overturned trees with buttressed roots lying to the side of the coming blast. Boards were found completely penetrated by others that had been shot through them. It was evident at a glance that it was the history of Saint Pierre over again. The zone of destruction began a short distance above and beyond the church, and extended almost without inter- ruption, so far as we could see from the heights, to Morne Rouge. Looking over to the site of that town, we saw before us nothing but a withered plain, with arid slopes on one side of it, and slightly green monies on the other. Cattle and horses were lying on their backs, with their legs rigidly extended into mid- air. A few more fortunate beasts, with raw flesh protruding from their tightened hides, were moving aimlessly about, as if dazed by the conditions that now surrounded them. Clear up to the low saddle between the Morne Jacob and the Calebasse the eye followed the bleak landscape, and it was plain to see that the tornadic blast had this time lined its course over this arete, instead of confining itself to the zone of the Riviere Blanche on the opposite side of the mountain. The first houses that we examined had simply collapsed. They occupied their own ground and were merely a mass of sticks and roof material, THE DESTRUCTION OF MOKN T E EOUGE 299 covering all that the houses contained inmates probably as well as their belongings. We put our ears to the ground and to the planking, but could hear no sound. Off on a side-lane we passed a little cottage apparently untouched on the exterior, and hearing deep moaning we entered. A poor woman, of perhaps thirty years, was rolling in agony in one corner of a dark room, her flesh terribly burned and hanging in places from the bone. She called incessantly for water to relieve her excoriated throat, but it could not be furnished. M. Clerc sent immediately for the gendarme, to have her removed where friendly care could be administered to her, but she died shortly after our leaving. We entered another case near by. A dim taper illumined a nearly black interior sufficiently to permit us to see a writhing figure being tended by the hand of one who was left, probably dearest to it. The cries of pain were heart-rending. Flies were swarming everywhere about the place and the odor was almost unbearable, as the precaution had been taken to keep the door closed. A body, relieved from anguish, lay stiff in another corner. We passed from this to another house and saw the same picture repeated. In reply to inquiries put to him by M. Clerc, one of the inmates, perhaps less terribly burned than some others, stated that he had been struck by the hot blast at the moment of opening the door of his case, which he had done as- suming that the storm had passed. Instantly the fiery air envel- oped him, and he felt the sensation of choking. There seemed to be no air to breathe. His flesh was as if baked and steamed, with raw red masses appearing where there was no longer skin. The clothing had remained untouched. I inquired if he had noted gas of any kind. He replied in the negative, except to the extent that a feeble sulphurous odor, already appreciable in the earlier part of the evening, could be detected. We obtained almost exactly the same history from an adjoining cottage. In some cases, perhaps even a large number, where the cottages had the doors and windows firmly closed, and were able to with- stand the force of the tornadic ferment, there was little or no injury done. In the greater number of cases, however, it is cer- tain that the fiery breath entered even where every opening avenue had been secured. This was also the case, as I ascer- tained later, at Morne Kouge. 300 ANGELO HEILPRLN" There was here, as at Saint Pierre, the same reference to the feu, or fire, but it was evident that only a heated or a luminous blast was conveyed by this designation, and nothing burning with a flame. It seems certain that in some instances the dark- ness of the interiors was actually illumined at the time of the entry of the hot blast, and some claim to have seen electric dis- charges traverse the room. I think this condition exceedingly likely, and have always believed that localized lightning must have played an important part in the destruction of life at Saint Pierre. There was no evidence at Ajoupa-Bouillon of anything having burned with a flame within the village itself nor in the surroundings. One-half or more of the settlement had been scorched or swept out of existence, but there had been no fire of any kind. The sticks and planking of the cottages showed no change to the eyes except that they had become gray, mainly, perhaps, as the result of the splattering with ash. Even the dry palm-thatching had remained intact, with no evidence of true burning of any kind. The trees and bushes that still stood in and out of the village had their leaves, clinging to the twigs and branches, shrivelled up and turned to gray and umber. Nothing had been carbonized, although the sap had been exter- minated and the smaller twigs broke fragile. I searched in vain for any indication of active terrestrial gases, and could detect no trace of any gaseous odor, not even that of sulphur. The destruction of Ajoupa-Bouillon took place almost im- mediately after nine o'clock of the previous evening. It was also the time of the destruction of Morne Rouge and the inva- sion of Home Capot, and there can be no question that all the havoc that had been wrought on this fatal August 30 was the result of one explosive blast, whatever may have been its exact nature, or of a series of such blasts following rapidly upon one another. It is singular that we, who were passing the evening at the absolute foot of the volcano, much closer to it than some points that had been destroyed, and remarking upon the mag- nificence of the electric display, absolutely above us, should barely, if at all, have noted the detonations which preceded, acompanied, or followed the explosions. At St. Kitts, two hun- dred and seventy miles northwestward, the booming of the vol- cano sounded at this time like the cannonading of a naval com- THE DESTRUCTION OF MORNE ROUGE 301 bat in which the largest guns were being used; and the same observation was made at Port-of -Spain and elsewhere in Trini- dad, at a somewhat farther distance in a direct line southward. In Fort-de-France hardly more than the continuous terrific roar of the volcano could be heard, and it was this, together with the illumined ash-cloud, which threw the inhabitants into conster- nation and initiated the new panic. I confess my inability to satisfactorily explain this singular disposition of the sound- waves, as every explanation that has suggested itself to me seems to meet with some objection. It is not the distance at which the detonations were noted which imposes the difficulty to the problem, but the fact that so transcendent a sound, origi- nated with explosive violence, should hardly have been noted in or near the epicentral region. Is it an extreme condition of sound-shadow ? Or has the cavernous and ' blanketed ' con- dition of the volcano something to do with this? Or are we forced to admit a series of paroxysmal deep-seated explosions occurring in the horizontal conduit of the volcano, and imme- diately antecedent to the vertical discharge? The latter con- dition, apart from any relation to the present inquiry, is, of course, well possible, and even very likely. The acoustical rela- tions of the May 8 eruption were similar to those of the later day, and it is interesting to note that Alexander von Humboldt, referring to the eruption of the Soufriere of St. Vincent in 1812, remarks upon the same peculiarity of sound-carriage the eruption being more distinctly audible at a distance from the island than near to it. The conditions of time did not permit me to visit Morne Rouge, and my only glimpse of the destroyed city was obtained in sailing out from the island. The sole structure visible was the stately church and its sharp steeple, always so prominent as seen from the site of the northern Saint Pierre. A part of the roof had been lifted, but this could not be seen nor the other remaining houses which told of the former existence of a city whose population ranged from three thousand to four thousand or more. Like its sister city, Saint Pierre, to whose wealthier inhabitants it ministered the cool of mountain breezes and the solace of verdant fields and forests, Morne Rouge was wiped out razed to the ground and in part burned 302 X AKXJELO HEILPRIST aflame. The glare of its fire was plainly visible to us at the Habitation Leyritz. The country on all sides of the town was desolated, and nothing remained of the beautiful greens which gave the charm to the location. The whole Calebasse slope was swept clear, and far off, on the heights of Fonds-Saint-Denis and over nearly to the Pitons de Carbet, could we see the en- tering-wedges of the scarred vegetation. Pelee had wonderfully increased its zone of force. There would appear to be at this time no way of closely approximating the casualties at Morne Rouge, although it is all but certain that at least twelve hundred perished. On the morning of the fatal day, as I was informed by one of the Brothers associated with the Vicar-General of Martinique, M. Parel, two thousand one hundred rations had been distributed by the government officials, the bulk of the population being still held on the list of the sinistres of May 8. It is thought that several hundreds must have sought more secure quarters (where ?) during the day, when the activity of the volcano be- came unbearable, and of this number probably the greater part was saved. The Vicar-General himself believed that from twelve hundred to fifteen hundred perished, excepting perhaps fifty or sixty, all who remained up to the hour of nine o'clock. Many of the corpses were swept far from the site of the catas- trophe, others remained buried under the debris that lies over them, and still others were burned to a crisp mass. Save the church and two or three other buildings, all the houses of the town were of wood. A particularly sad moment in the annihilation of Morne Rouge was the taking away of Pere Mary, the good curate of the church, whose faithful work in ministering to the wants of those who stayed during the storm of May 8 will long be remem- bered in the history of Martinique. He had only recently re- turned from Fort-de-France, and now perished with nearly all those who had returned with him, thinking that danger had passed. When the presbytery was on fire he sought the shelter of the church, but was struck by the hot blast before that build- ing could be reached. He succeeded, however, in dragging him- self into the interior, and, with terrible suffering, stretched him- self upon a bench. Here he was found at four o'clock of the THE DESTRUCTION OF MORKE KOUGE 303 following morning, still fully conscious and expressing anxiety for his flock. He was removed to Fonds-Saint-Denis, and thence to Fort-de-France, where he expired at eleven o'clock of the morning of September 1 a man honored by all. At the Hopital of Fort-de-France I had the advantage of an interview with a lovely French girl of perhaps seventeen years, Mile. Desiree Martin-d'Harcourt, who had been brought down as one of the wounded from Morne Rouge, and who gave me a very intelligent statement of her impressions of what had taken place on the evening of the 30th. Her mother, more burned than herself, and also her brother, were being cared for in the same room. The family had retired for the night, not being able to stand the strain which the roaring of the volcano im- posed upon them any longer, and firmly secured the house, clos- ing everything. Shortly after nine o'clock a dull detonation was heard, and the outer shutter (sous-le-vent) was released from its bar fastenings and swung open. Instantly the hot blast entered and commenced its terrible rasping work. Mile. Desiree was confident that it was luminous or electric in char- acter. Refuge was sought under the beds, and mattresses were hauled down to cover the protruding feet. At this time, think- ing that the storm had passed, Mme. Martin-d'Harcourt opened the door, only to admit a second and stronger blast, to which she nearly succumbed. All experienced extreme difficulty in breathing, but the sensation of choking was only momentary. Sulphurous odors were strongly perceptible. The Martin-d'Har- court home was one of the better properties of Morne Rouge, and doubtless owed its escape from destruction to superior con- struction, as it stood sufficiently exposed to the storm. Mme. Martin-d'Harcourt succumbed to her wounds the day following my visit." AFTER HIS RETURN FROM MARTINQTJE For a number of days following the destruction of Morne Rouge Mr. Heilprin was cut off from communication with the outer world, and there were reports in the papers that he had lost his life in the catastrophe. His relatives were in the great- est anxiety until, after days of suspense, a brief cable despatch 304 ANGELO HEILPRIN from him assured them of his safety. When he returned, his bravery was acclaimed throughout the land. The impression he produced upon those with whom he spoke of his adventures may be gathered from an account in the Philadelphia Press of September 15. " ' "Why some great painter has not ascended Mont Pelee to place upon canvas the awe-inspiring picture of a volcano in full blast I cannot understand. With all the opportunities that have been offered it seems that the artists have been negligent.' If you have wondered what manner of man is Professor An- gelo Heilprin, the Philadelphian who has observed a violently eruptive volcano at closer quarters than any scientist known to history, here is a remark which he made yesterday, that should convey to the mind a full appreciation of the motives which im- pel him in his lifework. He does not take fully into consideration the fact that his life was in awful danger when, on August 30, he stood within 400 feet of the crater of Mont Pelee, and, with the eye of the scientist, gazed at the terrifying masses of red-hot cinders and steam clouds that shot upward at the rate of a hundred miles an hour, then to descend with death-dealing force on those in the villages below. It was merely an opportunity, as he saw it, for him to do something which would add to the knowledge of his fellow- scientists throughout the world and settle many disputed vol- canological problems. Most men so near to a terrible death would come home to tell how narrowly they had escaped and to look to others to sym- pathize with them. It is different with Professor Heilprin. Frequently a smile illumines his face as he tells of the vivid impressions that were made upon his mind by the whistling bombs of nature that sailed past him. He takes his adventure as a matter of course and seems thankful that the magnificent but life-imperiling sights that he saw happened just as they did. ' Don't you think that your escape was miraculous?' a re- porter who interviewed him after his return on Saturday asked. ' Well, now, I would n't go so strong as that,' the professor AS INTERVIEW AFTER HIS RETURN" 305 replied, ' just say that it was a narrow escape that term is quite expressive enough ^ and say that I was rather fortunate/ In other words Professor Heilprin went to his danger dis- passionately, stood it calmly, and then forgot what peril he had undergone. He merely retained the impressions of what took place and dismissed all speculations of just how many inches he had been from death." VI THE CATASTROPHES OF MARTINIQUE AOT) THEIR BEARING GIST THE PANAMA CANAL Angelo Heilprin, as may be imagined, was greatly inter- ested in the scientific bearings of the catastrophes of Marti- nique, and his studies of the volcanic relations of the Caribbean Basin were destined to have an important influence on the policy of the United States with regard to the question of the Panama Canal then before the country. He came to the following con- clusions concerning the geological character of the Antilles: " Geographers owe to Karl von Seebach and to Professor Eduard Suess, especially the latter, the first clear statement re- garding the structural affinities of the islands composing the Greater and Lesser Antilles, and their relation to the two con- tinents lying on either side of them. In a masterly way Suess has drawn a parallel between the orographic lines of the Euro- pean and American Mediterranean basins, and shown how the features that are dominant in the one are made representative in the other. In both regions we recognize areas of marked and long-existing weakness in the earth's crust, and in which breakages have been progressively taking place and still con- tinue. Continental masses have broken sectionally into the.se areas, and their fragments lie in part scattered about as the islands of archipelagic seas. Mountain chains have been sun- dered, disrupted and drowned in the forming oceanic trough, but their pinnacles also rise at times as islets or ridges from the surface of the sea. The Eurafrica that was at one time a single continent is now Europe and Africa; the mountains of the Alps-Apennine system that swept continuously into Africa and Asia are now segmented and sectioned, and we know them in part as the mountains of Sicily, the isles of Greece, the Atlas MAKTINIQUE AND PANAMA CANAL 307 Mountains and the Sierra Konda of Spain. Around this vast region of weakness, of bodily subsidences, great ridges have been towered up, and it is these mountains which are now in part undergoing breakage. Professor Suess has shown, and in a way that cannot be easily contested, that where these great continental breakages are taking place they are associated with volcanic and seismic disturbances, as, indeed, one would be obliged to assume on any theory that connects volcanic outputs with pressure exerted by an outer crust or shell upon a molten interior lying a short distance below it, or holds that volcanic discharges take place along lines of weakness where escape of material from the earth's interior is made easy. We find in and about the Mediterranean basin the active vol- canic cones of Vesuvius, Etna, Stromboli and Santorin, and the extinct, but hardly less than modern, Castellfullit Moun- tains of Catalonia, Spain, the Euganean Hills of northern Italy, the Alban Mountains of central Italy, the Tokai and Sator Mountains of the northern Hungarian plain, and the loftier summits of the Caucasus, Elbruz and Kasbek, dominating a basin that is structurally a continuance of the Mediterranean. In all these cases it is found that the volcanoes, whether new or old, stand closely by the mountain range whose development or destruction brought them into existence, and usually they de- fine the inner or concave side of their trend. It was there that the greatest pressure was exerted and relief from pressure found. CHARACTERISTICS OF Two SEAS It is not now difficult to recognize a broad parallelism between the western included waters of the Atlantic basin, the Carib- bean and Mexican Seas which may properly be termed the American Mediterranean and the two basins of the Euraf- rican Mediterranean. Both seas lie between continents, the American less directly so than the European. In both the depth of water is strictly oceanic (upward of twelve thou- sand feet), and both have lofty mountains associated with them in some part of their periphery. Again, both have their island groups or lines, and the volcanoes that lie close 308 ANGELO HEILPRIN to their shores, whether on them or off them. It was a brilliant generalization in geology which assumed that the islands of the Antilles were, in the main, merely disrupted parts of a once continuous land area, whose orographic relief was constituted by one of the main lines of South American mountains ; that the Sierra Merida of Venezuela, itself a direct continuation of the eastern chain, or Cordillera Oriental of the Andes, was formerly continued through the peninsula of Cu- mana into Trinidad and the Lesser Antilles, and from there projected into Porto Rico, Hayti, Cuba and Jamaica. Since the making of these mountains the line has been sundered at dif- ferent points by breakages and subsidences, and elsewhere so ' drowned ' within itself as to leave no trace of a surface ex- istence. The fate of the mountain ridge beyond the Blue Mountains of Jamaica and the Sierra Maestra of Cuba is not known with full certainty, but the system may be assumed on fairly secure grounds as indeed the identity in lithologic construction almost proves to be projected in drowned ridges to the Central American coast, and thence continued into the lofty masses of Honduras and Guatemala as the southeastern expansion of the true continental Cordillera the chain that virgates at, or near, Zempoaltepec, in the State of Oaxaca, and continues northwestward as the Sierra Pacifico or Occidental of Mexico. PANAMA AND COSTA RICA Whatever may be the exact relations of the low line of heights of the Isthmus of Panama and of the higher elevations of Costa Rica, it is certain that they have little in common either with the main Andes in the south, or with the Rocky Moun- tains in the north, and seemingly they are only a secondary or insular ramification which has been forced up between bound- ing lines of pressure, or been left standing as a part of a broken arm of the Cordillera. The Antillean relations that have been sketched above assume as one of their expressions the not im- probable eastward extension of the ancient Pacific border, per- haps even to a position not far removed from the western con- tour of the Lesser Antillean islands as it exists to-day, and MARTINIQUE AND PANAMA CANAL 309 touching the southern confines of what are now Cuba, Hayti, Porto Rico, etc. Beyond this border may have stretched east- ward or northeastward, to a long distance, a continental area that was largely continuous with South America. And for any facts that geology has to show to the contrary, this eastward ex- tension of the southern continent may well have continued, as has been argued by some geologists, quite into the Old World, uniting at least with Africa ; for there is good reason to believe that the southern basin of the Atlantic Ocean came into ex- istence only at a later day. THE LESSEE ANTILLES The islands of the Lesser Antilles as we to-day recognize them are constituted of two groups, an easterly and a westerly, which in close position form a crescentic line extending from Trinidad to the eastern extremity of Porto Rico, or across seventeen de- grees of latitude. The outer or Atlantic islands, which occupy the convex side of the crescent, are fundamentally of limestone or conglomerate construction, joined to more ancient igneous and metamorphosed rocks, and are of a continental type, while those of the inner side are volcanic, and, counting from their principal members, Saba, St. Kitts, Nevis, St. Eustatius, Redonda, Montserrat, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Grenada, about a dozen in number. These volcanic islands, which all bear evidences of recent vol- canic activity and belong to a period of no great geological an- tiquity, perhaps nowhere more ancient than the Middle Tertiary, unquestionably define one of the lines of greatest weakness in the Caribbean or Antillean region, and they stand implanted upon or adjoined to the old continental basement, whose fragmented parts still appear in such remains at St. Thomas, St. Croix, Anguilla, Antigua, the eastern island of Guadeloupe, and part of Barbados, islands of sedimentary construction, and which after their subsidence have in part been built up by organic growth and volcanic discharges. No more extraordinary series of volcanoes is to be found anywhere than that of this inner line of islands, which have sometimes been designated the Caribbees, and nowhere is a volcanic disposition 310 ANGELO HEILPEIK to be found that is more beautifully identified with terrestrial movements, whether of subsidence or breakage. The Lesser Sunda Islands, Japan and the Aleutian Islands alone present parallels. Both on the east and the west, i. e., on the Atlantic and Caribbean sides, the islands rise rapidly from deep water more rapidly on the inner or western side and between each two placed north and south, although the interval may not be more than twenty or twenty-five miles, or even less, the separat- ing water has in most cases a depth of at least three thousand feet, and frequently much more. The islands, again, present the extraordinary peculiarity of having their highest summits brought to approximately equivalent heights, or at least to levels which have no marked preeminence ; thus, Saba, which is hardly more than a rock rising from a fairly deep sea, is 2000 feet high ; Mount Misery, on St. Kitts, is 4300 feet ; the Soufriere of Montserrat, 3000 feet; the Soufriere of Guadeloupe, 4070 feet ; Diablotin, on Dominica, 4740 feet ; Mont Pelee, on Mar- tinique, about 4300 feet ; the Soufriere of St. Lucia, 4000 feet ; and the Soufriere of St. Vincent, 4050 feet. It is not possible to say at this time to what extent these different volcanic masses may be united with one another in the trough of the sea, and there form a continuous volcanic ridge with elevations of seven thousand or eight thousand feet rising out from it. It would seem more likely that their connecting bond is the continental basin, on whose crest, or along whose fractured parts, the vol- canoes have been built up. This conception is seemingly more in harmony with what we know of the linear disposition of volcanoes elsewhere, as, for example, in the peninsular and insu- lar tracts of extreme Asia, the Aleutian Islands, etc. OF THE SUBSIDING ERAS In assuming in the Caribbean and Gulf basins two great sub- siding areas, one is not necessarily forced to the assumption that their origin as such dates from the same period of time, any more than we accept that the two basins of the Mediterranean were necessarily formed contemporaneously, or that the eastern basin is of the same age as the Black Sea. But they have become isochronic, so far as their present dynamics are concerned. They MAKTINTQUE AOT) PANAMA CANAL 311 break, squeeze and press, and as a resultant, lands are folded up and volcanic discharges brought to the surface. There are no facts in geology that are more difficult to establish than those that are associated with the first appearance or making of land- masses and the causes which have brought them into existence; and much room for doubt must always be permitted in the in- terpretations of the conditions that suggest themselves in in- quiries of this kind. In the case of the Antillean region, how- ever, it may be assumed as fairly well established that the singu- lar peninsular extension of the United States, the State of Florida, is the resultant of a lateral thrust, with upfolding, brought about by the subsidence or deepening of the Gulf Basin ; and one may accept with nearly equal certainty a like or cor- relative explanation for the existence of the peninsula of Yuca- tan. We may, indeed, assume with De Montessus the hypothe- sis that the comparatively recent upheaval of parts of the Lesser Antilles is in itself merely the expression of an upthrust be- tween two subsiding basins the Atlantic on one side and the Caribbean on the other. Were we to seek for an absolutely homologic equivalent of the American Mediterranean basins in the Mediterranean region of Eurafrica, it would be impossible to find it, since the continen- tal relations of the two regions are not wholly alike, nor are the mountain parts similarly placed. But it is immaterial how the individual parts are placed geographically or how they are interrelated their geologic aspect or Antlitz is fundamentally the same. M. Michel Levy has latterly made a comparison be- tween the two regions, and has assumed a homologic equivalent between the Caribbean and the Gulf basins on one side and the -