Invention: The Master-key to Progress

by Bradley A. Fiske

While the period from 1800 to 1850 was alive with inventions of many sorts, it was alive also with the economic changes which the inventions caused and with political changes also. It was in the United States of America that the greatest changes of all kinds came. This was to be expected from the fact that before 1800 the United States were considerably behind the countries of Europe from which their own civilization had been derived; whereas in 1850, they had been able to get abreast of them, by reason of the quickness of transportation and communication that ocean steamers gave, and the energy and enterprise of the new American nation. During the period from 1800 till 1850, the United States went through three successful wars; one with Great Britain, one with Algiers and one with Mexico. They expanded also over a considerably greater territory, acquired a much greater population, added new states, and showed such aptitude in scientific discovery and invention as to achieve a place in the first rank of nations in this particular.

The Constitution of the United States may be characterized as a great invention, in the meaning of the word which is used in this book; and until 1850, it had worked with a success that surprised many of the statesmen and scholars of Europe. The problems placed before the nation had been many, various and difficult; but all had been solved with a sufficient degree of success for practical purposes; and the resulting situations had, on the whole, been met with courage, energy and intelligence. The Monroe Doctrine had been treated with respect, if not with entire acquiescence; the conduct of the Navy in the War of 1812 had demonstrated to Europe the fighting ability of our people; our scientific men, such as Franklin and Henry, ranked as high as any who had ever lived in any country; certain of our statesmen such as Franklin, held equal rank with statesmen anywhere; and the invention and first use of the electric telegraph had put America ahead of every other country in inventions of a basic kind.

When we realize the rapid growth of the United States in the half century 1800–1850, and realize also that it was a growth almost ab initio, and note that the engineering materials of all kinds and all the knowledge of science in the country had come from Europe, we must admit that it is to the influence of invention, more than to any other one thing, that we owe the rapid progress of our country. As is the case with individuals, nations are prone to extol their own successes, and to take the entire credit for them. Americans are apt to thank themselves only for their amazing progress; but, in fairness, they should admit that without the inventions made in Europe and by Europeans, they would have had no means for even starting. The first locomotive used in the United States was brought from England.

In Great Britain, the wars with France were under full headway in 1800, and her statesmen knew that she was faced with a danger so great that only the most strenuous exertions, and the utmost naval and military skill could overcome it. This danger was not overcome till the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Thereafter, the progress of the nation was fairly quiet and assured, the main difficulties centering in the deplorable condition of the working classes, serious disturbances in Ireland and the mutiny in India.

In few matters has the influence of invention been greater than in the relations between Great Britain and India. In 1564 a company called the Merchant Adventurers had been formed for competing with the merchants of Spain, Venice, Holland and other countries. A company coming into existence shortly afterward was the East India Company, formed for trading with India, Persia, Arabia and the islands in the Indian Ocean. The company was chartered by the Crown and had a monopoly of a certain territory. The object was that the company should not only make money for itself, but promote the welfare of Great Britain and her subjects, by taking out manufactured goods, and bringing back raw materials and coin. During the seventeenth century, naval wars took place with Holland, and in the eighteenth century with France; both originating in commercial and colonial rivalry—especially in regard to India. Both wars were won by Great Britain. The Seven Years' War in particular ended to the advantage of Great Britain, as regards India; for France was left with only a few trading stations. By 1773, the East India Company was in virtual control of India; but in 1784 William Pitt secured political control of it by the Government. Napoleon realized the importance of India and sent an army there to recover control, but without success. The Crimean War that began in 1853 between Russia and Turkey was joined by Great Britain in 1854 because she feared that Russia would flank the British route to India through the projected Suez Canal. This war ended to the advantage of Great Britain, and the danger to India was removed.

Now the whole area of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland is only about 121,000 square miles, while that of India is about 1,803,000, nearly fifteen times as great. The population of the United Kingdom in 1917 was about 45,370,000, while that of India was about 315,156,000, or nearly seven times as great. Yet Great Britain has secured the complete mastery of India! How has she been able to do it? The easiest answer would be that the British are a "superior" people. Even if they are, such an answer would explain nothing, unless the means be indicated by which the superiority was made effective in conquering India. The superiority evidently did not consist in courage or physical strength, which were obvious factors in achieving the victories in the field that were necessary, for those qualities were shown equally by the Indians. But if we should answer that the British succeeded for the reason that they could bring to bear superior weapons, equipments, means of transportation, means of communication, methods of organization and methods of operation, we evidently would explain what happened adequately and convincingly. Now all these facilities the British had available; they had been invented and were ready.

One of the important influences of invention on history therefore, has been to give Great Britain control of India.

In France, the changes in economic and political conditions rivaled the changes that one sees take place in Sir David Brewster's kaleidoscope. In 1800 Napoleon had been First Consul, in 1804 emperor, in 1814 an emperor and then an exile, in 1815 an emperor and then an exile. France was a kingdom from then until 1848, and then a republic till 1852, when she again became an empire, under Napoleon III. The virtual anarchy following the Revolution had been crushed out and replaced with order; and the menace to republican institutions had been removed by the genius of Napoleon I, who then established an autocracy of a kind that, though arbitrary, was so wise and broad-viewed as to be beneficent on the whole. The result of all was that in 1850, France was in a condition of civilization and prosperity that was amazing to one who remembered the conditions of 1800.

When we analyze the causes of the evolution of order and prosperity out of the conditions of 1793, and the later conditions of 1800, we can hardly fail to realize the greatest single cause was the same cause as that of Napoleon's victories. It was the mind that conceived and developed and brought forth; the mind that invented so amazingly.

That many other causes may be named need hardly be pointed out. In the complex affairs of human life, every result is the resultant of many causes; but in most of those affairs, most of those causes are always present; so that we have to find an unusual cause to explain an unusual condition or event. It would be easy to say that the cause of France's return to a condition of law and order was that the condition of anarchy was abnormal; and that France simply returned to her normal state, as a wave does after it has risen above or fallen below the level of the sea. But would this be true? Is the condition of anarchy more abnormal than the condition of law and order? Which was the condition of primitive man? Which is an artificial product of man's invention? Is it not logical to conclude from the record of invention's influence that it was man's inventions that brought into existence the artificial condition of law and order which existed in France prior to 1793, and that it was also man's inventions that restored it afterward? Three ideas were conceived in France and developed into the Revolution: these ideas were the principles of equality, of the sovereignty of the people and of nationality. After the overthrow of Napoleon, the Congress of Vienna met to readjust the affairs of Europe. The Congress seems to have conceived the idea of preventing the carrying out of those principles as their first starting point, and to have developed that idea with fixed determination. The Commissioners endeavored to restore everything to its condition before the Revolution, and to discredit the principles conceived and developed in France. They succeeded in accomplishing their intent, so far as remaking political boundaries, etc., was concerned; but they did not succeed in discrediting the principles. A great picture had been made in the minds of men, and the Commissioners could not wipe it out. As a result, three revolutions took place in 1820, 1830 and 1848, of which the second was more important than the first, and the third was more important than the second.