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Outline of Universal History

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Transcriber's Comment

In the original text, the author sought, "by the use of different sorts
of type, ... to introduced a considerable amount of detail without
breaking the main current of the narrative, or making it too long". In
the text below, paragraphs in the smallest type have been indented.



OUTLINES OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY

Designed as a Text-book and for Private Reading

By

George Park Fisher, D.D., LL.D.
Professor in Yale University

Inscribed by the author as a token of love and thankfulness to his
daughter

C. R. F.




PREFACE.


In writing this work I have endeavored to provide a text-book suited to
more advanced pupils. My idea of such a work was, that it should
present the essential facts of history in due order, and in conformity
to the best and latest researches; that it should point out clearly the
connection of events and of successive eras with one another; that
through the interest awakened by the natural, unforced view gained of
this unity of history, and by such illustrative incidents as the
brevity of the narrative would allow to be wrought into it, the dryness
of a mere summary should be, as far as possible, relieved; and that,
finally, being a book intended for pupils and readers of all classes,
it should be free from sectarian partiality, and should limit itself to
well-established judgments and conclusions on all matters subject to
party contention. Respecting one of the points just referred to, I can
say that, in composing this work, I have myself been more than ever
impressed with _the unity of history_, and affected by this great
and deeply moving drama that is still advancing into a future that is
hidden from view. I can not but hope that this feeling, spontaneous and
vivid in my own mind, may communicate itself to the reader in his
progress through these pages.

The most interesting object in the study of history is, to quote Dr.
Arnold's words, "that which most nearly touches the inner life of
civilized man, namely, the vicissitudes of institutions, social,
political, and religious." But, as the same scholar adds, "a knowledge
of the external is needed before we arrive at that which is within. We
want to get a sort of frame for our picture....And thus we want to know
clearly the geographical boundaries of different countries, and their
external revolutions. This leads us in the first instance to geography
and military history, even if our ultimate object lies beyond."
Something more is aimed at in the present work than the construction of
this "frame," without which, to be sure, a student wanders about
"vaguely, like an ignorant man in an ill-arranged museum." By the use
of different sorts of type, it has been practicable to introduce a
considerable amount of detail without breaking the main current of the
narrative, or making it too long. By means of these additional
passages, and by appending lists of books at the close of the several
periods, the attempt has been made to aid younger students in carrying
forward the study of history beyond the usual requirements of the
class-room. I make no apology for the sketches presented of the history
of science, literature, art, and of moral and material decline or
improvement. Professor Seeley, in his interesting book on _The
Expansion of England_, is disposed to confine history to the civil
community, and to the part of human well-being which depends on
that. "That a man in England," he tells us, "makes a scientific
discovery or paints a picture, is not in itself an event in the history
of England." But, of course, as this able writer himself remarks,
"history may assume a larger or a narrower function;" and I am
persuaded that to shut up history within so narrow bounds, is not
expedient in a work designed in part to stimulate readers to wide and
continued studies.

One who has long been engaged in historical study and teaching, if he
undertakes to prepare such a work as the present, has occasion to
traverse certain periods where previous investigations have made him
feel more or less at home. Elsewhere at least his course must be to
collate authorities, follow such as he deems best entitled to credit,
and, on points of uncertainty, satisfy himself by recurrence to the
original sources of evidence. Among the numerous works from which I
have derived assistance, the largest debt is due, especially in the
ancient and mediæval periods, to Weber's _Lehrbuch der
Weltgeschichte_, which (in its nineteenth edition, 1883) contains
2328 large octavo pages of well-digested matter. Duruy's _Histoire
du Moyen Age_ (eleventh edition, 1882), and also his _Histoire
des Temps Modernes_ (ninth edition), have yielded to me important
aid. From the writings of Mr. E. A. Freeman I have constantly derived
instruction. In particular, I have made use of his _General Sketch
of European History_ (which is published in this country, under the
title, _Outlines of History_), and of his lucid, compact, and
thorough _History of European Geography_. The other writings,
however, of this able and learned historian, have been very
helpful. Mr. Tillinghast's edition of Ploetz's _Epitome_ I have
found to be a highly valuable storehouse of historical facts, and have
frequently consulted it with advantage. The superior accuracy of
George's _Genealogical Tables_ is the reason why I have freely
availed myself of the aid afforded by them. Professor (now President)
C. K. Adams's excellent _Manual of Historical Literature_, to
which reference is repeatedly made in the following pages, has been of
service in preparing the lists of works to be read or consulted. Those
lists, it hardly need be said, aim at nothing like a complete
bibliography. No doubt to each of them other valuable works might
easily be added. As a rule, no mention is made of more technical or
abstruse writings, collections of documents, and so forth. The titles
of but few historical novels are given. Useful as the best of these
are, works of this class are often inaccurate and misleading; so that
a living master in historical authorship has said even of Walter
Scott, who is so strong when he stands on Scottish soil, that in his
Ivanhoe "there is a mistake in every line." With regard, however, to
historical fiction, including poems, as well as novels and tales, the
student will find in Mr. Justin Winsor's very learned and elaborate
monograph (forming a distinct section of the catalogue of the Boston
Public Library), the most full information up to the date of its
publication. Most of the historical maps, to illustrate the text of
the present work, have been engraved from drawings after Spruner,
Putzger, Freeman, etc. Of the ancient maps, several have been adopted
(in a revised form) from a General Atlas. That the maps contain more
places than are referred to in the text, is not a disadvantage.

I wish to express my obligation to a number of friends who have kindly
lent me aid in the revisal of particular portions of the proof-sheets
of this volume. My special thanks are due, on account of this service,
to Professor Francis Brown of the Union Theological School; to
Professors W. D. Whitney, Tracy Peck, T. D. Seymour, W. H. Brewer, and
T. R. Lounsbury, of Yale College; to Mr. A. Van Name, librarian of
Yale College; and to Mr. W. L. Kingsley, to whose historical knowledge
and unfailing kindness I have, on previous occasions, been indebted
for like assistance. To other friends besides those just named, I am
indebted for information on points made familiar to them by their
special studies.

G. P. F.



PREFACE TO REVISED EDITION.

The characteristics of this work are stated in the Preface to the
First Edition, which may be read on page v and the next following
pages of the present volume.

The work has been subjected to a careful revision. The aim has been to
make whatever amendments are called for by historical investigations
in the interval since it was published. Besides corrections, brief
statements have been woven here and there into the text. The revision
has embraced the bibliography connected with the successive periods or
chapters. Titles of books which are no longer of service have been
erased. Titles of select recent publications, as well as of
meritorious writings of a remoter past, have been inserted.

In preparing this edition for the press I have not been without the
advantage of aid from friends versed in historical studies. Professor
Henry E. Bourne, of Western Reserve University, besides particular
annotations, has prolonged the history so far as to include in its
compass, in Chapter VII, the last decade of the nineteenth century and
events as recent as the close of the South African War and the
accession of President Roosevelt. Professor Charles C. Torrey, Ph.D.,
of Yale University, has placed in my hands notes of his own on
Oriental History, a portion of history with which, as well as with the
Semitic languages, he is conversant. It will not be for lack of
painstaking if any part of the new edition fails, within the limits of
its plan, to correspond to the present state of historical knowledge.

G. P. F.
Yale University, January, 1904.



CONTENTS.


INTRODUCTION


PART I. ANCIENT HISTORY.

_From the Beginning of Authentic History to the Migrations of the
Teutonic Tribes (A.D. 375)_

DIVISION I. ORIENTAL HISTORY.

INTRODUCTION

SECTION I. CHINA AND INDIA.

CHAPTER I.--CHINA

CHAPTER II.--INDIA


SECTION II. THE EARLIEST GROUP OF NATIONS.

CHAPTER I.--EGYPT

CHAPTER II.--ASSYRIA AND BABYLON

CHAPTER III.--THE PHOENICIANS AND CARTHAGINIANS

CHAPTER IV.--THE HEBREWS

CHAPTER V.--THE PERSIANS


DIVISION II. EUROPE.

INTRODUCTION


SECTION I. GRECIAN HISTORY.

INTRODUCTION


PERIOD I. GREECE PRIOR TO THE PERSIAN WARS.

CHAPTER I.--THE PREHISTORIC AGE

CHAPTER II.--THE FORMATION OF THE PRINCIPAL STATES


PERIOD II. THE FLOURISHING ERA OF GREECE.

CHAPTER I.--THE PERSIAN WARS

CHAPTER II.--THE ASCENDENCY OF ATHENS

CHAPTER III.--THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR

CHAPTER IV.--RELATIONS WITH PERSIA: THE SPARTAN AND THEBAN HEGEMONY


PERIOD III. THE MACEDONIAN ERA.

CHAPTER I.--PHILIP AND ALEXANDER

CHAPTER II.--THE SUCCESSORS OF ALEXANDER


SECTION II. ROMAN HISTORY.

INTRODUCTION


PERIOD I. ROME UNDER THE KINGS AND THE PATRICIANS (753-304 B.C.).

CHAPTER I.--ROME UNDER THE KINGS (753-509 B.C.)

CHAPTER II.--ROME UNDER THE PATRICIANS (509-304 B.C.)


PERIOD II. TO THE UNION OF ITALY (304-264 B.C.).

CHAPTER I.--CONQUEST OF THE LATINS AND ITALIANS (304-282 B.C.)

CHAPTER II.--WAR WITH PYRRHUS AND UNION WITH ITALY (282-264 B.C.)


PERIOD III. THE PUNIC WARS.

To the Conquest of Carthage and of the Greek States (264-146 B.C.)

CHAPTER I.--THE FIRST AND SECOND PUNIC WARS (264-202 B.C.)

CHAPTER II.--CONQUEST OF MACEDONIA: THE THIRD PUNIC WAR: THE DESTRUCTION
OF CORINTH (202-146 B.C.)


PERIOD IV. THE ERA OF REVOLUTION AND OF THE CIVIL WARS (146-3l B.C.).

CHAPTER I.--THE GRACCHI: THE FIRST MITHRIDATIC WAR: MARIUS AND SULLA
(146-78 B.C.)

CHAPTER II.--POMPEIUS AND THE EAST: TO THE DEATH OF CRASSUS (78-53 B.C.)

CHAPTER III.--POMPEIUS AND CAESAR: THE SECOND TRIUMVIRATE.


PERIOD V. THE IMPERIAL MONARCHY.

To the Migrations of the Teutonic Tribes (375 A.D.)

CHAPTER I.--THE REIGN OF AUGUSTUS

CHAPTER II.--THE EMPERORS OF THE AUGUSTAN HOUSE

CHAPTER III.--THE FLAVIANS AND THE ANTONINES

CHAPTER IV.--THE EMPERORS MADE BY THE SOLDIERS: THE ABSOLUTE MONARCHY:
THE TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY



PART II. MEDIAEVAL HISTORY.

_From the Migrations of the Teutonic Tribes to the Fall of
Constantinople (A.D. 375-1453)._

INTRODUCTION


PERIOD I. TO THE CARLOVINGIAN LINE OF FRANK RULERS (A.D. 375-751).

CHAPTER I.--CAUSES OF THE FALL OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE: THE TEUTONIC
CONFEDERACIES

CHAPTER II.--THE TEUTONIC MIGRATIONS AND KINGDOMS

CHAPTER III.--THE EASTERN EMPIRE

CHAPTER IV.--MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE ARABIC CONQUESTS


PERIOD II. FROM THE CARLOVINGIAN LINE OF FRANK KINGS TO THE
ROMANO-GERMANIC EMPIRE (A.D. 751-962).

CHAPTER I.--THE CARLOVINGIAN EMPIRE TO THE DEATH OF CHARLEMAGNE
(A.D. 814)

CHAPTER II.--DISSOLUTION OF CHARLEMAGNE'S EMPIRE: RISE OF THE KINGDOMS
OF FRANCE, GERMANY, AND ITALY

CHAPTER III.--INVASIONS OF THE NORTHMEN AND OTHERS: THE FEUDAL SYSTEM


PERIOD III. FROM THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ROMANO-GERMANIC EMPIRE TO THE
END OF THE CRUSADES (A.D. 962-1270).

CHAPTER I.--THE CHURCH AND THE EMPIRE: PREDOMINANCE OF THE EMPIRE: TO
THE CRUSADES (A.D. 1096)

CHAPTER II.--THE CHURCH AND THE EMPIRE: PREDOMINANCE OF THE CHURCH: TO
THE END OF THE CRUSADES (A.D. 1270)

CHAPTER III.--ENGLAND AND FRANCE: THE FIRST PERIOD OF THEIR RIVALSHIP
(A.D. 1066-1217)

CHAPTER IV.--RISE OF THE BURGHER CLASS: SOCIETY IN THE ERA OF THE
CRUSADES


PERIOD IV. FROM THE END OF THE CRUSADES TO THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE
(A.D. 1270-1453): THE DECLINE OF ECCLESIASTICAL AUTHORITY:
THE GROWTH OF THE NATIONAL SPIRIT AND OF MONARCHY.

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I.--ENGLAND AND FRANCE: SECOND PERIOD OF RIVALSHIP: THE HUNDRED
YEARS' WAR (A.D. 1339-1453)

CHAPTER II.--GERMANY: ITALY: SPAIN: THE SCANDINAVIAN COUNTRIES: POLAND
AND RUSSIA: HUNGARY: OTTOMAN TURKS: THE GREEK EMPIRE

CHAPTER III.--THE COUNTRIES OF EASTERN ASIA



PART III. MODERN HISTORY.

_From the Fall of Constantinople_ (1453) _to the Present Time_

INTRODUCTION


PERIOD I. FROM THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE TO THE REFORMATION
(1453-1517).

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I.--FRANCE: ENGLAND: SPAIN: GERMANY: ITALY: THE OTTOMAN TURKS:
RUSSIA: THE INVASIONS OF ITALY

CHAPTER II.--INVENTION AND DISCOVERY: THE RENAISSANCE


PERIOD II. THE ERA OF THE REFORMATION (1517-1648).

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I.--THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY: TO THE TREATY OF NUREMBERG
(1517-1532)

CHAPTER II.--THE REFORMATION IN TEUTONIC COUNTRIES: SWITZERLAND,
DENMARK, SWEDEN, ENGLAND

CHAPTER III.--THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY, FROM THE PEACE OF NUREMBERG TO
THE PEACE OF AUGSBURG (1532-1555)

CHAPTER IV.--CALVINISM IN GENEVA: BEGINNING OF THE CATHOLIC
COUNTER-REFORMATION

CHAPTER V.--PHILIP II., AND THE REVOLT OF THE NETHERLANDS

CHAPTER VI.--THE CIVIL WARS IN FRANCE, TO THE DEATH OF HENRY IV. (1610)

CHAPTER VII.--THE THIRTY-YEARS' WAR, TO THE PEACE OF WESTPHALIA
(1618-1648)

CHAPTER VIII.--SECOND STAGE OF THE REFORMATION IN ENGLAND: TO THE DEATH
OF ELIZABETH (1547-1603)

CHAPTER IX.--THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION AND THE COMMONWEALTH (1603-1658)

CHAPTER X.--COLONIZATION IN AMERICA: ASIATIC NATIONS: CULTURE AND
LITERATURE (1517-1648)


PERIOD III. FROM THE PEACE OF WESTPHALIA TO THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
(1648-1789).

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I.--THE PREPONDERANCE OF FRANCE: FIRST PART OF THE REIGN OF
LOUIS XIV. (TO THE PEACE OF RYSWICK, 1697): THE
RESTORATION OF THE STUARTS: THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION OF 1688

CHAPTER II.--WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION (TO THE PEACE OF UTRECHT,
1713): DECLINE OF THE POWER OF FRANCE: POWER AND MARITIME SUPREMACY OF
ENGLAND

CHAPTER III.--THE GREAT NORTHERN WAR: THE FALL OF SWEDEN: GROWTH OF THE
POWER OF RUSSIA

CHAPTER IV.--WAR OF THE AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION: GROWTH OF THE POWER OF
PRUSSIA: THE DESTRUCTION OF POLAND

CHAPTER V.--CONTEST OF ENGLAND AND FRANCE IN AMERICA: WAR OF AMERICAN
INDEPENDENCE: THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES

CHAPTER VI.--LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND RELIGION


PERIOD IV. THE ERA OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION (1789-1815).

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I.--FROM THE ASSEMBLING OF THE STATES-GENERAL TO THE EXECUTION
OF LOUIS XVI. (1789-1793)

CHAPTER II.--FROM THE EXECUTION OF LOUIS XVI. TO THE FALL OF ROBESPIERRE
(JAN. 21, 1793-JULY 27, 1794)

CHAPTER III.--FROM THE FALL OF ROBESPIERRE TO THE EMPIRE OF NAPOLEON
(1794-1804)

CHAPTER IV.--FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE EMPIRE TO THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN
(1804-1812)

CHAPTER V.--FROM THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN (1812) TO THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA
(1814-15)

CHAPTER VI.--AMERICAN HISTORY IN THIS PERIOD (1789-1815)

CHAPTER VII.--LITERATURE, ART, AND SCIENCE (1789-1815)


PERIOD V. FROM THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA (1815) TO THE PRESENT TIME.

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I.--EUROPE, FROM THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA (1815) TO THE FRENCH
REVOLUTION OF 1830

CHAPTER II.--EUROPE, FROM THE REVOLUTION OF 1830 TO THE REVOLUTIONARY
EPOCH OF 1848

CHAPTER III.--EUROPE, FROM THE REVOLUTIONS OF 1848 TO THE
AUSTRO-PRUSSIAN WAR (1866)

CHAPTER IV.--EUROPE, FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE AUSTRO-PRUSSIAN WAR TO
THE END OF THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR (1866-1871)

CHAPTER V.--EUROPE, FROM THE THIRD FRENCH REPUBLIC, AND
THE UNION OF ITALY (1871)

CHAPTER VI.--THE UNITED STATES SINCE 1815: THE SOUTH AMERICAN STATES:
EASTERN ASIA

CHAPTER VII.--THE LAST DECADE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

CHAPTER VIII.--DISCOVERY AND INVENTION: SCIENCE AND LITERATURE: PROGRESS
OF HUMANE SENTIMENT: PROGRESS TOWARDS THE UNITY OF MANKIND



LIST OF MAPS.

THE WORLD AS KNOWN TO THE ANCIENTS

PHYSICAL FEATURES OF ASIA

ANCIENT EGYPT

ANCIENT PALESTINE

PHYSICAL FEATURES OF EUROPE

ANCIENT GREECE AND THE AEGEAN ISLANDS

GREEK AND PHOENICIAN COLONIES

EMPIRE OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT

KINGDOMS OF THE SUCCESSORS OF ALEXANDER

ANCIENT ITALY (NORTHERN PART)

ANCIENT ITALY (SOUTHERN PART)

ANCIENT ROMAN EMPIRE

THE NEW NATIONS AFTER THE GREAT MIGRATIONS (ABOUT A.D. 500)

EMPIRE OF THE SARACENS (ABOUT A.D. 750)

EMPIRE OF CHARLEMAGNE

EMPIRE OF CHARLEMAGNE A.D. 843

EMPIRE OF CHARLEMAGNE A.D. 887

CENTRAL EUROPE ABOUT A.D. 980

MEDITERRANEAN LANDS AT THE TIME OF THE CRUSADES

FRANCE AND ENGLAND, A.D. 1154-1189

CENTRAL EUROPE, A.D. 1360

CENTRAL EUROPE, A.D. 1660

ITALY ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF IHE SIXTEENTH CENTURY

EUROPE AT THE TIME OF NAPOLEON'S GREATEST POWER (ABOUT A.D. 1810)

CENTRAL EUROPE IN 1815

EUROPE AFTER 1878

AUSTRO-HUNGARY SINCE 1878

FRANCE SINCE 1871

GERMAN EMPIRE SINCE 1871

TURKISH EMPIRE, GREECE, ETC., SINCE 1878

TERRITORIAL GROWTH OF THE UNITED STATES

ASIA AT THE PRESENT TIME




UNIVERSAL HISTORY.


INTRODUCTION.

DEFINITION OF HISTORY.--The subject of history is man. History has for
its object to record his doings and experiences. It may then be
concisely defined as a narrative of past events in which men have been
concerned. To describe the earth, the abode of man, to delineate the
different kingdoms of nature, and to inquire into the origin of them,
or to explain the physical or mental constitution of human beings, is
no part of the office of history. All this belongs to the departments
of natural and intellectual science.

But history, as we now understand the term, is more than a bare record
of what men have done and suffered. It aims to point out the
connection of events with one another. It seeks to explain the causes
and the consequences of things that occur. It would trace the steps
that mark the progress of the race, and of the different portions of
it, through extended periods. It brings to light the thread which
unites each particular stage in the career of a people, or of mankind
as a whole, with what went before, and with what came after.

NATIONS.--History has been called "the biography of a society."
Biography has to do with the career of an individual. History is
concerned with the successive actions and fortunes of a community; in
its broadest extent, with the experiences of the human family. It is
only when men are connected by the social bond, and remain so united
for a greater or less period, that there is room for history. It is,
therefore, with nations, in their internal progress and in their
mutual relations, that history especially deals. Of mere clans, or
loosely organized tribes, it can have little to say. History can go no
farther than to explore their genealogy, and state what were their
journeyings and habits. The nation is a form of society that rests on
the same basis--a basis at once natural and part of a divine
system--as the family. By a nation is meant a people dwelling in a
definite territory, living under the same government, and bound
together by such ties as a common language, a common religion, the
same institutions and customs. The elements that enter into that
national spirit which is the bond of unity, are multiple. They vary to
a degree in different peoples. As individuals are not alike, and as
the history of any particular community is modified and molded by
these individual differences, so the course of the history of mankind
is shaped by the peculiar characteristics of the various nations, and
by their interaction upon one another. In like manner, groups of
nations, each characterized by distinctive traits derived from
affinities of race or of religion, or from other sources, act on each
other, and thus help to determine the course of the historic stream.

SCOPE OF HISTORY.--The rise and progress of _culture_ and
_civilization_ in their various constituents is the theme of
history. It does not limit its attention to a particular fraction of a
people, to the exclusion of the rest. Governments and rulers, and the
public doings of states,--such as foreign wars, and the struggles of
rival dynasties,--naturally form a prominent topic in historical
writings. But this is only one department in the records of the
past. More and more history interests itself in the character of
society at large, and in the phases through which it has passed. How
men lived from day to day, what their occupations were, their comforts
and discomforts, their ideas, sentiments, and modes of intercourse,
their state as regards art, letters, invention, religious
enlightenment,--these are points on which history, as at present
studied and written, undertakes to shed light.

POINTS OF VIEW.--An eminent German philosopher of our day, _Hermann
Lotze_, intimates that there are five phases of human development,
and hence five points of view from which the course of history is to
be surveyed. These are the _intellectual_ (embracing the progress
of truth and knowledge), the _industrial_, the _aesthetic_
(including art in all its higher ramifications), the _religious_,
and the political. An able English scholar, _Goldwin Smith_,
resolves the elements of human progress, and thus the most general
topics of history, into three, "the moral, the intellectual, and the
productive; or, _virtue_, _knowledge_, and _industry_."
"But these three elements," he adds, "though distinct, are not
separate, but closely connected with each other."

THE PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY.--That there is, in some sense, a "reign of
law" in the succession of human events, is a conviction warranted by
observed facts, as well as inspired by religion. Events do not spring
into being, disjoined from antecedents leading to them. Even
turning-points in history, which seem, at the first glance, abrupt,
are found to be dependent on previous conditions. They are perceived
to be the natural issue of the times that have gone before. Preceding
events have foreshadowed them. There are laws of historical progress
which have their root in the characteristics of human nature. Ends are
wrought out, which bear on them evident marks of design. History, as a
whole, is the carrying out of a plan:

"... through the ages one increasing purpose runs."

_Augustine_ long ago argued, that he who has not left "even the
entrails of the smallest and most insignificant animal, or the
feather of a bird, or the little flower of a plant, or the leaf of a
tree, without a harmony, and, as it were, a mutual peace among all
its parts,--that God can never be believed to have left the kingdoms
of men, their dominations and servitudes, outside of the laws of his
providence."

To discern the plan of history, and the causes or laws through which
it is accomplished, as far as our limited capacity will allow, is the
object of what is called the philosophy of history.

FREEDOM AND LAW.--It must not be forgotten, however, that man is a
free agent. History, although it is not an aimless process, is,
nevertheless, not subject to the forces and laws which govern in the
realm of matter. Physical analogies are not a literal image of what
takes place in the sphere of intelligence and freedom. Moral evil,
wherever it is a factor in history, has its origin in the will of
man. In respect to it, the agency of God is permissive and
overruling. Through his providence, order is made to emerge, a worthy
goal is at last reached, despite the elements of disorder introduced
by human perversity.

Nor is progress continuous and unbroken. It is often, as one has said,
a spiral rather than a straight line. It is not an unceasing advance:
there are backward movements, or what appear to be such. Of particular
nations it is frequently evident, that, intellectually and morally, as
well as in power and thrift, they have sunk below a level once
attained.

Of the inscrutable blending of human freedom with a pre-ordained
design, GUIZOT says: "Man advances in the execution of a plan which
he has not conceived, and of which he is not even aware. He is the
free and intelligent artificer of a work which is not his own."
"Conceive a great machine, the design of which is centered in a
single mind, though its various parts are intrusted to different
workmen, separated from, and strangers to, each other. No one of
them understands the work as a whole, nor the general result which
he concurs in producing; but every one executes with intelligence
and freedom, by rational and voluntary acts, the particular task
assigned to him." (_Lectures on the History of Civilization_,
Lect. xi.)

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