EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, The. Car lyle made the 18th century for readers who accepted his ideas, and they were legion, a period of extreme decadence and even deg radation of interest in all that was best for humanity. He called it the age of prose, of lying sham, the fraudulent bankrupt century, the reign of Beelzebub, the peculiar era of Cant?' Frederic Harrison came in defense of the period with the suggestion that °invectives against a century are more unprofitable than indictments against a nation?) and pointed out that almost all of Carlyle's heroes of the modern times apart from Oliver Cromwell are °chil dren and representatives of that unspeakable from Frederick of Prussia, Mirabeau, Danton and George Washington to Samuel Johnson, Burns, Watt, Arkwright and others. The century was so low in its interest in ar chitecture that it is not surprising that Ruskin thundered against it that °Satan must have had a hand in the designing of the churches of the Georgian era?' and there is no doubt that its art and education were far below the standards of preceding centuries, but on the other hand it is the greatest of musical centuries, the pioneer in physical science development, and its sad history of utter neglect for the poor is redeemed to a great extent by the upward movements which made themselves felt very widely at the end of the century in politics, economics and social welfare, especially as re gards the insane, prisoners and the defectives.
The last 25 years brought about more social Changes than any other corresponding- period in human history. Perhaps the reason for this was, as has often been suggested, that about the middle of the 18th century a great many of the highest and best human interests, especially those concerning fellow-men who needed sym pathy and aid, were lower than th had ever been before. Humanity had reached a nadir in social life from which there had to be an ascent and fortimately the reaction against the lamentable conditions which existed was strong enough to set up a humanitarian countermove ment toward the end of the century which made itself felt during the course of the 19th cen tury and has not been lost even yet. This makes the 18th century a pivotal period in modern history and therefore of ever so much more interest than many another century that represents greater immediate achievetnents.
What is particularly notable in the history of the 18th century is its wars in almost un broken succession dictated by royal ambition or for dynastic reasons, while during much of the time king's mistresses or licentious women monarchs ruled the internal affairs of king doms. The war of the Spanish succession (1701-14) began with the century. The same first year of the new century saw the active carrying on of what was called the Northern War, lasting from 1700 to 1721. In 1718 war broke out between Spain and Austria, in the inidst of which there was a formal declaration of war by England against Spain, and peace was not made until 1720. In the meantime the rebellion in favor of the Pretender, as he was called, the heir of the Stuarts who assumed the name of James III, came in Scotland in 1715 and was not suppressed until the following year. The Treaty of Utrecht (1714), which
concluded the War of the Spanish Succession, changed the map of Europe as no previous treaty, not even that of Westphalia at the end of the Thirty Years War (1648), had done, but instead of settling the politics of Europe es tablished a number of foci cif irritation emi nently calculated to unsettle them. Naples and Milan were given to Austria and the Austrian rule in Italy thus begun was to continue for a century and a half, always the subject of serious disturbance from within and without. Austria received the Spanish Netherlands, now to be called the Austrian Netherlands and to be a similar focus of disturbance. The Bourbon Philip V was allowed to rule in Spain on condi tion that the French. and Spanish possessions should never be under the rule of a single in dividual. Great Britain received Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and the Hudson Bay region, thus preluding the expulsion of French from North America, and Gibraltar which brought with it the command of the Straits but has been a frequent subject of political irritation ever since. These wars of the first quarter of the century were only typical of the period. There was scarcely a year during the century when two important European powers were not at war; there were long series of years when a number of the states were embroiled with each other. The War of the Spanish Succession had its counterpart in what is known as the War of the Polish Succession (1733), between Austria, Russia and Denmark, with France, Spain and Sardinia becoming involved. When the Emperor Charles VI of Austria died (1740), he left no sons, but had negotiated a treaty; the Pragmatic Sanction (1731), to secure the succession of his daughter Maria Theresa. The very year of his death saw the War of the Austnan Succession. In 1739 England and Spain were at war and in 1745 Charles Edward Stuart, the Young Pretender as he was called, encouraged by France, led an insurrection of the Highlanders. 'Phis was terminated by the bloody battle of Culloden under °the butcher>) Cumberland. In 1748 the peace of Aix-la Chapelle was signed and the various countries of Europe made mutual restitution of their conguests so as to assure future peace, only Spain and Prussia being the gainers. It was to no purpose, for France and England became embroiled in war in the early fifties; in 1756 came the Seven Years War involving most of the important countries of Europe; in 1775 the American Revolution broke out, Spain and France becoming involved in it before the end, and in 1792 the French Revoludonary wars began and for more than 20 years France was practically always at war, and over and over again the various nations of Europe were drawn into the Napoleonic wars. This by no means tells the tale of all the wars of the century, but at least it will serve to give an idea of the ever recurring vain recourse to arms.