VAfVf 9 IfA^o u ,^^ /^fe^' V..^'' _*^.c^Wa^o u.<^^ /^fe\ v./ - '^^^^ -^^ -^^ .^^ "^. AMERICA'S PLACE IN HISTORY BY WILLIAM R. LIVERMORE AMERICA'S PLACE IN HISTORY BY WILLIAM R. LIVERMORE Rephinted from the Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society Volume XIX WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS THE DAVIS PRESS 1908 "^ -» AMERICA'S PLACE IN HISTORY. BY WILLIAM R. LIVERMORE Colonel U. S. Army (retired). The time that has been spent in writing history would be poorly repaid if no other use could be made of the material than to file it away for occasional reference. History to-day has a broader meaning, and one of its aims should be to discover laws that will be useful in guiding the conduct of individuals or nations and perhaps ultimately in predicting future events with some degree of probability. To this end the facts must first be reduced to a form in which they can be handled. There can be no induction without reduction by classification and comparison. If we can classify history as we classify plants in botany, we can compare like with like and learn more than if we compared objects or events that had no resemblance. History is a science, and this principle applies to all sciences. In natural history, comparison has led to the discovery of the law of natural selection; in chemistry, to the periodic law ; in philology, it has thrown light on the early history of mankind. The rules of grammar also are based upon it. A rule that has one exception in ten, points to the cause of the rule and to the cause of the exception, and reduces the work of analysis and even of memory by ninety percent. The principle applies also to algebra. When a school boy tried to reduce a polynomial by taking 9a from 15b, my honored professor would advise him that he could not sub- tract from sugar an old shoe. Without vouching for the rigid truth of the aphorism, it illustrates the principle that comparison should be based upon a similarity in one of the properties, factors or phases of the objects compared. A comparison of like phases of history is useful in analys- ing the laws of development and in studying the effect of organic growth on the one hand, and of environment on the other; and the greater the similarity, the more signifi- cant also is the difference. The classification here proposed is based upon political history in the broadest sense. Civil- ization has, of course, followed the trade routes which have been studied so profitably by modern economists; and a classification might be based upon these routes; but it is better to follow the usual course, and compare the history of religion, of commerce, and of the arts and sciences, etc., with political history, than to make any other subject the basis of the general classification. Much more has been written about Europe and America than about all the rest of the world. It is with the group of nations that grew out of the conquest of the old inhab- itants of Europe by the Aryan invaders that Americans are most concerned, because all the civilizations and all the political systems from which ours has come, have been directed or controlled by these nations. The history of the East is not so closely related to our own. It began earlier, for, about four thousand years before Christ, the little city communities in Egypt and in Baby- lonia coalesced into larger states, and afterwards into powerful empires; but meanwhile in Crete and on the shores and islands of the iEgean, the Mediterranean or Iberian race had developed a state and a civilization of its own. Between one and two thousand years before Cluist, the Aryans first appeared. We know from their languages that they had been associated in government or in trade, and we infer from their skulls that they were a mixture of the Asiatic and European races. They came as conquerors from the region about the Black and Caspian Seas and spread over Central and Southern Europe and Western Asia. The Indians and Persians spread out to the East. The Greeks and Thracians occupied Greece and Asia Minor. The Italians entered Italy. The Celts and other Aryan nations were for a long time outside the region of the ancient civilization, but they all kept slowly pushing on to the West. This civilization which started in the iEgean Sea has been constantly expanding and has passed through similar phases in ancient and modern times. The civilized world was first broken up into rival states in Greece. When it reached Italy it expanded with a steady growth into a large nation that in turn was broken up into a number of rival states in modern Europe. When it reached America it expanded again to form a large nation. As civilization spread, larger nations were gradually developed and the accidental resemblance in the shape of Greece and Italy on one hand, to Europe and America on the other, has given to the history of these countries a periodical course which affords a convenient basis for its classification; as the periodic law does for the classification of the chemical elenients. When the Aryans first invaded the Greek peninsula, all the islands and shores of the -^gean were, perhaps, united under the kings of Crete; but how far inland this dominion or influence extended, is unknown. The conquest broke up the region into a number of small communities, in most of which, the Aryans formed the governing class. The shape of the ground, cut up by bays and mountain ranges, did not favor the formation of large states. The northern part of the Balkan peninsula, although mountainous, is not as diversified as Southern Greece, and is not cut up by the sea. The flux of population kept on longer, and civilization was slower in penetrating ; but Mace- donia, an Aryan state, half Greek, partly Illyrian and Thracian, gradually sprang up in the valleys north of Mount Olympus. The Italian peninsula is not, like the Grecian, cut up by bays and mountains. The Greek civilization was brought there by the Etruscans and Greeks, and about 500 B. C., when it was well advanced in Greece, it did not extend far from the seacoast in Italy, but under its influence, strong confederations were formed by the Italians in the central part of the peninsula that were eventually united to form the Roman Republic. The Greeks fought each other until the balance of power was destroyed, and then under the leadership of the Mace- 6 donians they poured into Asia, conquered the Persian Empire and divided it up. Then all Italy was united under the Romans, and then Greece, Western Asia, Northern Africa and Western Europe were added to it, and Greek and Roman civilization spread over all this area. Then another migration from the East and North broke up this civilization of the Mediterranean, just as the former had broken up that of the ^gean. The empire could not hold together in the hands of the new population that resulted from these great migrations, but while the political power of Rome was broken, its civilization kept spreading, even against the tide of migration. Europe, like Greece, cut up by bays and mountain ranges, was divided into a number of rival states. After more than a thousand years, European civilization made its appearance in America. Central and South America were colonized from the south of Europe and Northern America from the North. The American continent is not, like the European, cut up by bays and mountain ranges. The nation that has been formed in North America by the immigrants from Northern Europe, but in which all Euro- pean states are more or less represented, is now the dominant power on this continent. The history of the East has perhaps been as much affected by the shape of the continents as that of the West, and its development has also been periodic; but this paper is only so far concerned with the East as to note that the periodic time of violent contact with the West has chanced to coincide so nearly with the periodic time of Western development that it has not materially perturbed its regular course. The scheme of classification proposed does not differ in its general outline from that in ordinary use. Universal History is divided into Eastern and Western — Ancient and Modern. The Ancient history of the civilized West is divided into that of Greece and Rome, and the Modern history into that of Europe and America. For further classification it is proposed to compare Greek history with European and Roman with American. Plates I and II show the outlines of the Greek and Italian peninsulas. la and Ila show the ancient names mentioned in the text, and 16 and 116 the names of modern countries whose positions on the European and American continents correspond with those of the ancient countries on the Greek and Italian peninsulas. The little tables on these sketches are scales of time to aid in comparing ancient with modern history. At the southern end of Greece (Plate I) and the western end of Europe, the southern half of the Peloponnesus, and the British Islands were protected by their position. Sparta and England developed on their own lines. The ruling class was Doric in Sparta and Norman in England. The old population was Achaean in Sparta and Anglo-Saxon in England. Messenia and Ireland were conquered, and Arcadia and Scotland were after a while united with Sparta and England. The region about the isthmus of Corinth lies between the iEgean and the Ionian Seas, as Spain lies between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. In the Greek states near the isthmus, the ruling class was Doric, but the population was mostly Ionic and Achgean. There are evidences of Phoenician influence at Corinth. In Spain the ruling class was Visigothic but the population mainly Latin, (in the popular sense of the word) and in the south, partly Saracenic and Moorish. The history of Corinth^ Sicyon, Argos and Megara has some points of resemblance to that of Castile, Leon, Aragon and Portugal. Attica lies between the isthmus and central Greece. France lies between Spain and central Europe. The popu- lation in Attica was mainly Ionic, in France mainly Latin. The arts and sciences flourished in both. Thessaly and Central Greece appear to have played a part in Greek history like that of Scandinavia and Germany in European. Of course, no detailed correspondence could be expected. The population was Doric, .Eolian and Achaan in Greece, and Scandinavian, Saxon, Frank, etc. in Europe. The island of Euboea is near Central Greece, as Italy is near Central Europe. The population of Euboea was 8 Ionic, that of Italy, Latin. Chalcis and Eretria had a mari- time history Hke that of Venice and Genoa. The Delphic oracle, however, was on the main land, whereas the Holy See was in the centre of Italy. The northwest of Greece did not come into the pale of Greek civilization until the Macedonian period. The position of Macedonia corresponds to that of Russia, but it faced to the east, whereas Russia faced to the west. In classifying nations according to maritime and com- mercial supremacy England might be compared with Athens rather than with Sparta. In their intellectual development, England and Germany would probably prefer to be compared with Athens; but in a classification according to political and territorial relations England corresponds to Sparta, France to Athens, and Germany to Central Greece. The resemblance of the earliest history of Rome and America is not as obvious as that of Greece and Europe. The western side of Greece faces the southern ends of Italy. The eastern side of America faces the western ends of Europe. The shores of Southern Italy (Plate Ha) were colonized by Greeks descended in part from the Aryan conquerors but in the main from the old Iberian inhabitants of Greece. They came in comparatively small numbers and mingled with the native Iberian population. Northern and Central Italy, however, were occupied by the Italians who came in from the north without passing through the civilized part of Greece. They came in large numbers and crowded most of the old population down to the south. Central and South America were colonized by the Span- iards and others from the Mediterranean, and from south- western Europe. Northern America, however, was colonized from Europe in small numbers by the French, whose ancestors had been under the influence of Roman civilization, and in large numbers by the English and others from Northern Europe, who were descended from those who had taken part in the migrations that had destroyed the Roman Empire. They drove back the old population. From the standpoint of 9 ethnology the present inhabitants of Northern America may be compared with those of Central and Northern Italy; and those of Central and South America with those of Southern Italy and Sicily and other parts of the Mediterranean. The Greeks in Italy brought their civilization with them; whereas the Italians received it from the Greeks after they arrived in Italy. In America all the immigrants brought the European civilization with them. Accordingly we cannot expect to find in early Roman and American history as close a resemblance as we find in Greek and European. In comparing Greek with European history, the Greek colonies in Italy should be compared with all the European colonies in America; but it is not worth while to discuss these relations in this paper. In comparing American with Roman history the Greeks in Italy and Sicily are compared with the Spanish, and the Italians with the English in America. The broken and dotted lines on Plate Ila show the extreme limit of the Greek possessions. Civilization came to the western coast of central Italy and to the eastern coast of North America; and the Tyr- rhenian Sea is compared with the Atlantic Ocean and the Adriatic Sea with the Pacific Ocean. The position of the thirteen original colonies is compared with that of Latium ; the territory of Rome with that of the northern colonies and that of the other Latin towns with that of the southern. The population in Etruria as elsewhere in northern Italy was partly Aryan and partly Iberian. Its position corre- sponds to that of Canada where the population was partly English and partly French. No special comparison is made excepting that the Etruscans were the northern neighbors of the Romans. Apulia on the Adriatic corresponds with California on the Pacific. The Adriatic coast north of Apulia corresponds to the Pacific coast north of California. For convenience of comparison, Greek and European histoiy are divided into epochs of about 150 years each for Greece, and 200 years for Europe. The sub-divisions are arbitrary and not intended for a final classification, but to show that a useful classification la. CRAECIA RVSSth Ik. QkECee tUKOPE S.e. A-o. /OOO 1000 tro ....-■... fteo jeo ... """> ffo . •. . lioo 440 ...-.-.. /tit 3^0 /»«« 12 could be made by taking the periodic time in European history to be about four-thirds as great as in Greek. It must not be supposed for a moment that other com- parisons than the following could not be made with propriety. COMPARISON OF ANCIENT GREEK AND MODERN EUROPEAN HISTORY. There is not enough known of the history of Greece during the Mythical Age that followed the first invasion of the Aryans to serve as a basis for a detailed comparison with that of Europe during the Dark Age that followed the great migrations. So far as known the resemblance is as close as could be expected, and the results of new excavations tend to show that the correspondence is far reaching. During the First Epoch: from 1000 to 850 B. C. in Ancient Greece and from 1000 to 1200 A. D. IN Modern Europe. Ancient. The Dorians, the last arrivals, had come in comparatively small numbers from the north of Greece. They gradually conquered Laconia and other parts of the Peloponnesus and Crete, and penetrated as far as the southwest coast of Asia Minor. They probably settled among the Illyrians in the north where they are said to have laid the foundations of the Macedonian Empire. Modem. The Scandinavians, the last arrivals, had come in comparatively small numbers from the north of Europe. They gradually conquered England, Normandy, and Sicily and penetrated as far as Constantinople. They probably settled among the Slavonians in the northeast where they are said to have laid the foundations of the Russian Empire. Ancient. The Amphictyonic League was semi-religious and semi-pohtical. Many of the states, tribes, cities, etc., of Greece were nominally represented, 13 but the distribution of votes indicates that the centre of political power at this epoch was in Central Greece. All were pledged to support the Delphic Oracle. Modern. The Holy Roman Empire was semi-religious and semi-political. Many of the states, duke- doms, cities, etc., of Europe, nominally formed parts of this Empire. The bond of union was loose but the centre of political power was in Central Europe. The emperor was elective and pledged to support the Holy See. Ancient. The Phoenicians controlled the commerce of the iEgean and part of the population of Corinth was probably Phoenician. Modem. The Saracens were powerful on the Mediter- ranean and half of Spain was in their power. During the Second Epoch : from about 850 to 700 B. C. IN Ancient Greece and from 1200 to 1400 A. D. IN Modern Europe. Ancient. Most of the states were no longer governed by kings but by the oligarchical nobility. Modern. The Emperors and kings were generally retained, but in most of the states the political power was held by the feudal nobility. Ancient. The kings of Sparta retained their power under certain limitations, and, while Sparta was the champion of oligarchic principles, her own government was more stable than that of her neighbors. She overran Messenia and at times held military control over many of the states in the Peloponnesus. Modem. The kings of England retained their p6wer under certain limitations, and while England was the champion of feudal principles, her government was more stable than that of her neighbors. She overran Ireland and at times held military con- trol over many of the provinces of western France. 14 Ancient. The north-western shores of the -^gean Sea opposite Macedonia occupied by Thracian and Illyrian tribes were colonized from Euboea and the Isthmus. Modern. The southeastern shores of the Baltic, opposite Russia were colonized (not, however, from Spain and Italy, but mostly from Germany.) Ancient. The migrations of the Scythians in Asia stirred up the Cimmerians and Thracians in Europe. This retarded the progress of the Macedonians, but had little effect on the rest of Greece. Modem. The migrations of the Mongols, however, drove the Tartars into Europe. The Russians were subjected to tribute. Their progress was retarded about 300 years. During the Third Epoch: from 700 to 550 B. C. in Greece and from 1400 to 1600 A. D. in Europe. Ancient. In several states oligarchies were overthrown by despots. Modem. In several states the feudal power gave way to that of monarchs. Ancient. Attica, Eleusis and Salamis were united under Athens. Messenia revolted and was subjected to slavery. Modem. Most of France was restored to the royal domain. The Irish were repeatedly abandoned, mur- dered and enslaved. Ancient. Corinth, Megara, Chalcis, etc., were powerful at sea. Greek Colonies were established under sanction of the Delphic oracle on the Mediter- ranean and Black Seas. Modem. Spain, Portugal, Venice, Genoa, etc., were powerful at sea. European colonies were estab- lished under sanction of the Pope on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. 15 Ancient. This age witnessed not only a social and political movement among the masses in various parts of Greece, but also an intellectual and spiritual stirring. Modem. This was the epoch of the Renaissance and of the Reformation. Ancient. A contest for control of the Sanctuary at Olympia, and the First Sacred War in defense of the oracle at Delphi, took place in this epoch in Greece. Modem. In Europe, the Wars of the Reformation. Ancient. The Greek colonies on the eastern coast of the iEgean were conquered by the Lydians. Modem. Constantinople was taken and the Balkan Peninsula conquered by the Turks. Fourth Epoch : 550 to 400 B. C. in Greece and 1600 TO 1815 A. D. IN Europe Ancient. At about the beginning of this epoch Hippias, tyrant of Athens, was murdered and a democracy was established. Democracies were established in other Greek states, but Sparta, although she gave great power to the representatives of the people, still preserved both her hereditary kings and the Council of her nobles. Modem. The monarchs of France retained their thrones nearly to the end of this epoch when Louis XVI. was executed and a democracy established. Reforms were introduced in the governments of other European states. In England, Charles I. was executed, a Commonwealth and Pro- tectorate were established and abolished, and the Monarchy restored, but eventually reforms were introduced in the government retaining, however, the hereditary king and the House of Lords. Ancient. At the beginning of this epoch the Persians, who had conquered the Lydians, crossed the 16 Hellespont and subjected Thrace and Mace- donia. The battle of Plataea, B. C. 479, put an end to their power in Europe. Modem. The Turks had crossed the Danube and subjected Hungary and Roumania before the beginning of this epoch. The battle at Vienna, A. D. 1683, drove them out of Hungary and put Europe out of danger. Ancient. Macedonia expanded to four times her former size and reached the Thermaic Gulf. Alexander I. moved his capital from iEgae to Pydna. Modem. Russia expanded to three times her former size and reached the Baltic. Peter I. moved ; his capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg. Ancient. Sparta upheld the supremacy of Thebes in Boeotia. Modem. England upheld the power of Pmssia under Frederick in Germany. Ancient. In the Peloponnesian War with which this epoch ends, the states in which liberal ideas of government prevailed were in general allied for a while with Athens, but as her power increased her imperial conduct became offensive. The states ruled by oligarchies and those in which conservative ideas prevailed were in general allied with Sparta. The result of the War was to make Sparta and the oligarchic party supreme in Greece. Modem. In the Wars of the French revolution and empire with which this epoch ends, the liberal states were in general for a while allied with France, but as her power increased her imperial conduct became offensive. The imperial, oli- garchical, and conservative states were allied with England. The result of the War was to make England and the aristocratic and imperial party supreme in Europe. 17 In the Last Epoch from 400 to 340 B. C. and 1815 to 1908 A. D. Ancient. Sparta placed thirty tyrants over Athens who were soon overthrown. The democratic government was restored. Modem. The EngHsh and Russians placed a Bour- bon on the throne of France. After several revolutions a republican government was established. Ancient. The Spartans lost their supremacy and Athens again became powerful in Greece. Modem. The English lost their supremacy and France again became powerful in Europe. Ancient. The Thebans under Pelopidas and Epaminon- das overthrew the power of Sparta and Athens, and had a short supremacy in Greece. Modem. The Pmssians under William I. and Bismarck overthrew the power of France, established the German Empire, and became the leading military state in Europe. Ancient. After passing through some revolutions of which little is known, Macedonia became the most powerful state in Greece. The balance of power was overthrown. The Persian Empire was conquered and divided. Modem. Before passing through constitutional reforms of which the necessity had been generally recognized, Russia became involved in a war with Japan, the result of which was to check for a while her advance in Asia. Of the states that sprang from Alexander's conquest, the Greeks in Bactria pushed on into India and held con- trol for many years. Powerful Greek states were founded in Egypt and Syria and small ones in Asia Minor. The Eastern half of the old Persian Empire was reconquered by the Asiatics, but all the rest of the old world was merged in the Roman Republic. 20 COMPARISON OF ROMAN AND AMERICAN HISTORY. Ancient. The early history of the Romans, relates to fights for territory with their neighbors, the Etruscans and Sabines; to the formation of the league for common protection and religious worship with the other Latin towns; and to their subjection by the Etruscans and Sabines in succession. Modern. The early history of the Americans relates to fights for territory with the French and Indians; to the formation of leagues for protection of their lives and religious worship; and to the oppressions of the British government. Ancient. The next important events of Roman History were the wars of independence from the rule of the Etruscans and Sabines in succession and the abolition of royalty. The latter was possibly gradual in Rome and the latest authorities suggest the year 450 B. C. as the probable date. Modem. The next important events in American history were the War of the Revolution and the Declaration of Independence. The dates of the abolition of royalty, 450 B. C, and of the Declaration of Independence, 1876 A. D., may be taken as the first definite points of contact between Roman and American History separating the Mythical and Colonial history from the National ; and the Regal from the Republican. Ancient. The next events in Roman history are the conquest of Veii and the extension of Roman territoiy across the Tiber in Southern Etruria, from 396 to 383 B. C. and the invasion of Italy by the Gauls who took Rome in 390 B. C. Modern. In American history the next events are the purchase of Louisiana in 1803 and the invasion of the United States by the British who took Washington in 1814. 21 Ancient. The distribution of the newly acquired land was a subject of constant contention between the Romans and the other members of the Latin league. The population of the Roman domain was commercial and urban as well as agricultural; that of the other Latin towns was almost entirely agricultural. The new territory was rapidly colonized both by the Romans and by the other Latins, but the power of the Romans made more rapid advances. Modern. The distribution of the land acquired by the Louisiana purchase became a subject of con- tention between the urban commercial and agricultural North, and the agricultural South. The new territory was rapidly colonized, but in greater numbers from the northern states than from the southern. The occupation of the centre of the American continent, however, took a different shape from that of the occupation of the centre of the Italian peninsula. The Americans acquired new land by migration, the Romans by con- quest ; but the Samnite Confederation which the Romans absorbed was similar in blood and in organization to the Federation that absorbed it. The population was agricultural and pastoral. Ancient. The first Samnite war in 343 B. C. ended in the defeat of the Samnites, who then became allies of the Romans. In 340 B. C. the Latin towns seceded from the league with the Romans. They were conquered by the Romans and Samnites. In the Second Samnite War, 326 to 305, the Samnites were finally conquered. In the Third War they seceded and were subdued. Modern. These wars between the Romans and the Latins and between the two Confederacies of Italian states may be compared with the Civil War in America, from 1861 to 1865 and the reconstruction which followed. 22 Ancient. Lucania and Apulia had been colonized and held by the Greeks. Lucania was afterwards conquered by Italians. Soon after the Samnite and Latin Wars (290 B. C.) both were conquered by the Romans, whose power then extended from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Adriatic and from the Gulf of Tarentum to Ancona. Etruria was independent but the mountain region of Umbria had just been conquered. Modern. Mexico and California had been colonized and held by the Spaniards. Texas afterwards seceded from Mexico and was occupied by American settlers. A short time before the Civil War (1846) this territory was conquered by the Americans whose power then extended from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific and from the Gulf of Mexico to Oregon. Soon after the Civil War Alaska was purchased from Russia. Ancient. In 282 B. C. the Romans went to war with the Tarentines who were aided by other Greek cities and by Pyrrhus, King of Epirus. The Romans were victorious and by 270 B. C. thirty- five years after the Second Samnite War, the Romans had conquered all the Greek colonies in Southern Itlay. Modern. In 1898 A. D. the Americans went to war with the Spaniards, who were not aided by other European powers. The Americans were vic- torious and in 1899 deprived the Spaniards of all their island possessions. This was thirty- three years after the Civil War.^ It appears then that the history of the United States of America has followed a similar course to that of Ancient Rome but on a much larger scale. 'it is an interesting coincidence that the immediate cause of the war was the same in each case. In 282 B. C, when a Roman fleet was at anchor in the harbor of Taren- tum, the inhabitants attacked it without provocation, took several of the ships and made a great slaughter. In 1898, A. D., when an American battleship was at anchor in the harbor of Havana, some one blew it up without provocation. 23 In this comparison, the year 270 B. C, 180 years after the birth of the Roman RepubUc, corresponds to the year 1899 A. D., 123 years after the birth of the American Repubhc. The time is too short to furnish an exact gauge for a detailed comparison. Conclusion. The comparison appears to show that America's place in Modern History is similar to that of Rome in Ancient History. European and American history have followed in the path of Greek and Roman, but on a much larger scale. Europe has moved a little slower than Greece, America a little faster than Rome. To infer from this resemblance that the history of the future will follow precisely the same course as the history of the past, would defeat the purpose of the comparison. If the course were due to subjective causes alone this might be more or less true, but so far as it is due to environment, it is impossible; for all continents have not the same shape. Moreover, the world is round and the streams of empire moving to the East and to the West may perhaps come into bristling contact before we are able to predict future events in history with the same precision that we can calculate the motions of the planets. The object in comparing the history of one nation with that of another is to ascertain the laws which control its development. When the laws are discovered they will throw some light on the future. In comparing ancient with modern history more useful results can be expected from a comparison of the same phases of ancient and modern than from the comparison of the history of one nation in its infancy with that of another in its decline, or that of one member of a cluster of states like those of Ancient Greece with that of an independent nation like America. A certain resemblance can, of course, be detected by almost any comparison, but not one as far reaching in its deductions as one made between two nations in the same stage of development and holding the same relations to their neighbors. 24 A comparison of the Federation of the United States of America with that of the Achaean towns, while quite interesting from one standpoint, has Uttle bearing on the future career of the American nation. The fact that the British Empire to-day covers more ground than the Roman Empire of old, has comparatively little meaning. With railroads, steam-boats and telegraphs, states are in general much larger than before. Bearing this in mind, a comparison of the same phases of the history of Athens, Sparta and Central Greece with that of France, England and Germany, that of Macedonia with Russia, or that of ancient Rome with that of modern America, can hardly fail to be profitable and to throw some light on the question of how much of the development in each case is due to organic growth, and how much to environment. After the Tarentine War the Romans were soon engaged in war with the Carthaginians. The shape of the continents is not such as to indicate precisely who will be our next antagonist. A war with Mexico now would not be as simple as it was in 1846. Some European power in league with the Argentine, or with all the Spanish Americans might perhaps give us as much trouble as Pyrrhus or Hannibal gave the Romans. Japan is a thoroughly Asiatic country and not Iberian like Carthage and Spanish America; but Japan holds a position in the Pacific hke that of Pontus in the Black Sea and that of Carthage in the Mediterranean, Although the shape of Sicily and North Africa does not resemble that of Central and South America, yet a glance at a chart of the world is sufficient to show that the American continent holds the same position with reference to the Atlantic and Pacific that Italy holds with reference to the Mediterranean, and has like advantages for becoming the political as well as the commercial centre of the World. Although political and territorial history cannot move with the same regularity as the planets, we are safe in assum- ing that under like conditions modern history will follow a like course to that of ancient history but on a much larger scale. How far its course will be changed in each instance is a problem for the historian and the economist to solve, and 25 the object of classification and comparison is to simplify this study by showing in what regions this study is required, and it is suggested here that Greek history in the Epoch between the Peloponnesian War and the Macedonian Supremacy in Greece may be compared with the contem- porary history of Europe. If anything can be learned about the political condition of Macedonia before the accession of Philip, it may throw Hght upon the effect of the present reforms in the government of Russia. The disintegration of the Persian Empire in the time of Xenophon and Agesilaus and the sudden rise of the military and maritime power of^ Caria under Mausolus and afterward of Pontus under Mithridates I. may be compared with the present situation in the far East. The history of the Greek states in Egypt, Syria, Bactria, etc., on the one hand, and of Parthia and Pontus on the other, may indicate the possible condition of Asia in case of a partition of the Chinese Empire. The histoiy of Rome from the Pyrrhic to the Carthaginian Wars will throw some light on the contemporary history of America and be very useful in its bearing upon our colonial policy. We have progressed half as fast again as the Romans, but Europe has not progressed quite as fast as Greece and it may be a little longer before her states are ready to cast their lot with us. The conquest, if any, need not be bloody, but blood may be spilt in wars with conservative nations who try to check our progress. u a i^ v<>^ hO - oj -^^ " » ly* ^^ ".O- ^^^ ^ °o V-o^ v/^*?' A'^ <> *'..«* C" * . . ■• • . ^ .^"^ •^. ^,x^ o*^fe\ \,^/ y^£^ %^^^ »'^fe*- ^^^/ •* • ^ r • * • o^