Clay Lane

The Copy Book

A Library of History and Literature in English

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97

Shock and Awe

Fame found Abraham Lincoln before he was ready for the scrutiny of the camera.

The Republican Party convention in Chicago, Illinois, on May 16th-18th, 1860, nominated lawyer Abraham Lincoln as candidate for the President of the USA, with Hannibal Hamlin of Maine as his running-mate. Some three years earlier, Lincoln (who had previously represented the city in Congress) had sat for photographer Alexander Hesler in his Chicago studio.

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Picture: By Alexander Hesler (1823-1895). Public domain.. Source.

98

As I Came Through Sandgate

... I heard John Wesley sing. A visitor on the quayside on Sunday May 30th, 1742, would have stumbled into a crowd agape and a determined clergyman singing psalms.

In 1742, John Wesley extended his northern preaching tour to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, a large, cramped city by the North Sea, founded on coal mining and the coal-trade of England’s east coast. Many areas were grindingly poor, and over time ignorance and want had so tightened their grip that violence and addiction kept areas such as Sandgate, down on the Quayside, utterly wretched. Naturally, it was to Sandgate that Wesley at once demanded to go.

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Picture: From the Tyne and Wear Archives. Public domain.. Source.

99

The Causes of the Great War

John Buchan, who was as close as anyone to the events, gave his assessment of how all Europe was plunged into war in 1914.

The Great War of 1914-18 was triggered by the assassination of the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, Franz Ferdinand. But as John Buchan explains here, the war had been coming for some time. Germany was ambitious for empire, and that meant taking empire from her neighbours. She was also anxious, sensing military threats and economic competitors on all sides. Her wisdom was to strike first, hoping that if she did she would not have to strike again.

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Picture: By W. Trier, via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.. Source.

100

The Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand

Governor Pitiorek assured the heir to the Austrian Empire that Bosnians rarely tried to murder the same man twice in one day.

In 1878, Serbia broke free from the Ottoman Empire, but thirty years later, Austria seized Bosnia from Serbia. The snatch was bitterly resented, and on June 28th, 1914, Bosnian Serbs could be found on the streets of Sarajevo celebrating the first anniversary of Serbia’s recovery of Kosovo from Turkish rule. It was amidst this swelling of Serbian national pride that Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary, chose to make an official visit.

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Picture: By Achille Beltrame (1871-1945), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.. Source.

101

Square Pegs in Round Holes

Many problems in life and society would be eased if we were better at reading characters — especially our own.

In 1804-06, the Revd Sydney Smith gave a series of lectures to the Royal Institution, later published as Sketches on Moral Philosophy. The lectures were aimed at a wide audience (much like Michael Faraday’s Christmas lectures there), and encouraged Smith’s naturally easy style. It was in one of these lectures that Smith gave us what is now an indispensable analogy for a misfit employee.

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Picture: © Nigelj, Wikimedia Coommons. CC BY-SA 3.0.. Source.

102

The Wisdom of Solon

The words of the ancient Athenian lawmaker, on the limits of legislation, sucking up to dictators, and the crime of lounging about.

In about 594-593 BC, Solon was tasked with ending civil strife in Athens. He abolished serfdom, placing the poor on a secure footing against wealthy oppressors. He facilitated inter-city trade and welcomed immigrant craftsmen, revitalising the economy. Finally, he overhauled the constitution, revoking the infamous laws of Draco and establishing a legacy that became the patrimony of classical Athens. Diogenes Laertius, writing in the early AD 200s, looked back on Solon’s career.

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Picture: © Sailko, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.. Source.