The Conservative. 11
ludod to by the English pnpor. If any
fcoliug of caste exists in times of peace ,
it is completely burued away by tbu
fierce flume of patriotism which blows
across the country iu time of war. The
dude fought splendidly by the side of
the cowboy in the ranks of the rough
riders and the butcher boy by the side
of college graduate in the storming of
the heights of San Juan. War is almost
worth making and suffering when it
teaches a lesson so effectively that "a
man's a man fora' that , " no matter
what kind of a coat ho wears.
Tbo Lust Chemical Discovery.
One never knows when now and in
teresting discoveries will bo scored by
scientific research. Neither can one bo
sure that any such discovery , at first
apparently of mere abstractor academic
interest , may not soon prove to bo of
great practical importance. Professor
Dowar in London about three years ago
amused audiences by his experiments
in the liquefaction of gases. It was
scarcely to be prophesied that it would
soon prove to be revolutionary in some
practical processes of great value , a
fact which now seems probable. Cooke's
"New Chemistry" in 1874 specified the
existence of 63 elementary substances ,
nud five new ones have been rapidly
added , the last three being heliou , argon
and metargon , gases which almost re
fuse to unite with any other substance ,
A few weeks ago the identification of
another elementary gas was made
known to the French Academy of
Sciences by three Italian physicists ,
MM. R. Nasini , F. Anderliui and E.
Salvador ! . The discovery came about
by the agency of spectrum analysis , that
all compelling tool of chemical and
physical research. For many years the
green line in the solar corona , known to
spectrum analysts as 1474 K , was at
tributed to the aurora , but it was finally
believed to represent some elementary
presence in the sun lighter than hydro
gen , but nonexistent in the earth. The
investigation , mentioned above , found
the same line in the spectrum of the
gases thrown off by the volcanic springs
of Pozzaoli , and the inference was that
it was the identical gas previously recog
nized in the sun. This , it is believed ,
will soon be isolated and prove to be
the lightest substance known to man.
Commerce and War.
It is customary to think of wars in
the past as having been in large degree
the fruit of lust of conquest , of greed
of territory , of religious hate , of wound
ed pride or of the ohivalrio desire to
match the power of ono nation against
that of a rival power. The modern war
is associated with the more prosaic and
practical origin. A little study , how
ever , shows that the commercial spiril
has been in the earlier ages of the
world not le'3 potent than in our own
us the radical inducement leading up
to great conflicts , , some of which have
shaken the world and molded succeed-
ng civilization. Scanning remote an
iquity , wo find the Ni'iovito kings , im
pelled by the energy 01 their Assyrian
subjects as active traders , to move for
ward in their most ferocious conquests.
Athens offended the Great King by its
attempts to protect the commercial in-
; erests of its kindred cities in Asia
ilinor , and so opened the way to the
Greco-Persian wars , in which the fate
of the world hung in the balance. The
death grapple between Carthage and
Rome was commercial in its inception.
As an example , in the feudal period , the
romantic and chivalrous epoch of civ
ilization , we note the Hundred Years'
war between France and England
springing from a trade quarrel. This
mid lamed struggle grow out of the
ouopoly of the London guilds in deal
ing with the woolen manufacturers oi
Ghoufc and Liege. So.when wo return
to our contemporary period and discov
er England and Russia on the verge ot
a great war over the issue of the larger
control of the Chinese trade wo merely
find the same old world's story in a
modern form. People as nations indeed
never went to war for the fun of killing
each other.
Curlism.
So much bas been said about Carlism
in Spain and its relations to the Spanish
monarchy that a clear exposition of
just what it means and its origin will
be of interest to many readers. When
Bourbonism was stamped on Spain by
the accession of the grandson of Louis
XIV of France , thus leading to what is
known as the" War of the Succession , "
the Salic law , as understood in France ,
was adopted. So the course of succes
sion remained till the reign of Ferdi
nand VII , who , for a long time child
less , permitted his brother , Don Curios ,
to look on himself as the heir. But a
daughter by a fourth wife was born ,
and the king induced the cortes to ap
prove a revocation of the Salic law and
restore the old pragmatic law of succes
sion , which recognized female heritage
of the crown. So the infant Isabella
became queen under the regency of th <
queen mother , the infamous Christina.
Don Carlos at once took up arms , claim
ing title by the double right of Salic-
law and the ancient hereditary law ol
Oastile , Aragou and Navarre , under
which a woman could inherit only in
default of a male heir. This iirst Carlist
war was a veritable pandemonium for
Spain , when the most terrible cruelties
wore exercised on both sides , and the
scenes of debauchery at Madrid were
such as rivaled those at Rome -under
Claudius and Nero , so striking lydepict
ed in "Quo Vadis. " The pretender ,
Carlos , was finally beaten , and ho slunk
out of the kingdom to die in disgrace nt
one who had shown himself a curious
compound of coward and imbecile.
With the growth of Isabella to mature
years and her marriage to Don Francis
1'Assissi , her cousin , the licentious at
mosphere of the Spanish court became
ven more rank than before , and high
ociety at Madrid was the scandal of
3urope.
Toward the end of Isabella's royal
lareer came the second Carlist war.
? he new pretender was the son of the
ecoud son of the first , known to his ad-
lorouts as Carlos VII. Ho secured the
upport of General Cabrera , who had
Use been the right arm of his grand-
athor and his uncle in their attempts
o secure the throne , one of the ablest
and the crudest soldiers of his time.
Cho war proceeded , with an apparently
oed chance of Carlist success , till
Cabrera , who was as corrupt us ho was
able , sold his patron and betrayed his
rust. So the accession of Alfonso XII
was ultimately assured after the short
ived experiments of an Italian king
and a republic. As the moral influence
of Europe is opposed to the present Cares -
os , as it was adverse to his grand
father , the first pretender , Queen Chris-
iina stands an excellent chance of keep-
.ng the monarchy safe for her eon.
The work before congress cut out by
recent events is more delicate and diffi
cult than any burden laid on legislation
since the reconstruction period. It has
the advantage , however , of being free
from that passion of exacerbated parti
sanship which made the debates of
that time so extreme in their energy of
expression. All parties can now join in
discussion , however variant in their
views , with a certainty of calm and
impartial treatment. In view , however ,
of the subject in its different phases
and the lack of accurate knowledge it
is the growing conviction at Washing
ton that it will be wiser to take more
time and leave the new issues for an
extra session. The forthcoming four
mouths' session , it is felt by many ,
would better be devoted to the Nicara
gua canal and ordinary business. The
canal bill , indeed , may justly be re
garded as an all important preliminary
to an adequate settlement of the things
beyond.
Mrs. Lynn Linton , the well known
English authoress , neb long dead , is the
victim of some reminiscences in The
British Weekly. In those she is said
to have asserted her secret knowledge
of unknown facts in the lives of Dickens
and Thackeray , and that these great
men could and did love deeply , passion
ately , madly. Both those great geniuses
lived so much in the light and blaze of
the world's eye that it seems hardly
possible that any great romance of their
jives could remain unknown.
The small worries of life wear out
the spirit more than the great misfor
tunes. Against the ono the mind re
bounds and often gathers now strength.
The attack of the other is the constant
friction of the drontriuc water.
