370 



FAIRBANKS, ERASTUS. 



short space of five years, and it is therefore 

 not surprising to learn that the prince is very 

 popular. (See TURKEY.) 



In Germany the Schleswig-Holstein war 

 considerably diminished for a time the interest 

 in the reform agitation ; but the proceedings 

 of the representative assemblies clearly showed 

 that the progressive party is fully as strong as 

 ever. In England a new effort was made to 

 organize a National Reform Union, which com- 

 menced its operations with great vigor. In 

 France the progressive party not only re- 

 mained as strong as it had shown itself at the 

 elections of 1863, but it seemed to make slow 

 progress. The progressive party of Spain met 

 with considerable success at the municipal 

 elections, but they were divided on the ques- 

 tion whether, under the present illiberal law, 

 they should take part in the election for the 

 Cortes or not. lu Belgium the liberal party 

 gained at the reelection of the Second Chamber 

 a complete triumph. 



A considerable sensation was produced in 

 Europe by a Papal encyclical of the 8th of 

 December, 1864, condemning the chief errors 

 of the present age, and among them some 

 opinions which have gradually received an 

 almost general adoption in Catholic as well as 

 Protestant countries, as the toleration of other 

 forms of worship than the Roman Catholic. 

 Nearly every Catholic Government of Europe 

 appeared to be more or less discontented 

 with the encyclical. (See ROMAN CATHOLIC 

 CHURCH.) 



The great wars of 1863 and 1864, as well as 

 most of the revolutions and disturbances which 

 have taken place in Europe since 1815, are no 

 isolated events, but can all be traced to two 

 sources the democratic aspirations of the 

 people for a larger amount of 'self-government, 

 and the comparatively new question of nation- 

 ality. The history of these two questions 

 constitutes an important portion of the history 

 of Europe. The nationality question, in par- 

 ticular, is obtaining every year a greater influ- 

 ence, and seems to be destined, ere long, to 

 charge the entire map of Europe. The years 

 1863 and 1864 have removed some of the 

 greatest obstacles to a reconstruction accord- 

 ing to the principles of nationality. The 

 Polish insurrection has opened the eyes of the 

 Russian Government as to the importance of 



this principle, and they are consequently mak- 

 ing use of it for assimilating the provinces of 

 Western Russia and the Grand Duchy of Fin- 

 land to the remainder of the empire. In the 

 former, the largest portion of the soil has 

 hitherto been in the hands of a small number 

 of noble Polish families, while the bulk of the 

 population belong to another Slavic race. As 

 long as the peasants were serfs the Polish no 

 bility found it easy to use their power in favor 

 of the agitation for reestablishing the inde- 

 pendence of Poland. But by the ordinance 

 of emancipation and by repressing the use of 

 the Polish language, the Russian Government 

 is now succeeding in destroying the influence 

 of the Polish nobility, in making these prov- 

 inces homogeneous portions of the Empire, 

 in drawing a marked line of frontier be- 

 tween the Russian and the Polish nation- 

 alities, and thus facilitating the ultimate so- 

 lution of the Polish question. In the Grand- 

 ducby of Finland the use of the Finnish lan- 

 guage rapidly extinguishes the Swedish, and 

 with the Swedish language all sympathies 

 with Sweden. The issue of the Schleswig- 

 Holstein war puts an end forever to the feud 

 between the German and Danish nationalities, 

 which would certainly have continued as long 

 as the German population in Holstein and 

 Schleswig remained subject to Danish rule. 

 That the Kingdom of Italy will soon be co- 

 extensive with the Italian nationality admits 

 hardly any longer of a doubt. In European 

 Turkey the great progress of the Christian 

 provinces of Serbia and the Danubian princi- 

 palities is hastening either the dissolution or 

 the temporary reconstruction of the Turkish 

 Empire on the basis of the nationality prin- 

 ciple. The existence of an Austrian Empire 

 remains the great obstacle to a reconstruction 

 of Europe in accordance with the national 

 aspirations of the several races, but even in 

 Austria these national aspirations obtain a 

 greater influence than ever before. Through- 

 out Europe there is a manifest tendency toward 

 giving to every state a national unity, and to 

 accomplish this either the remnants of weak 

 nationalities will soon disappear before the 

 prevailing one, or where there are, as in 

 Austria, a number of strong nationalities co- 

 existing, they will force the dissolution of the 

 empire. 



F 



FAIRBANKS, ERASTUS, an American man- 

 ufacturer and statesman, twice Governor of 

 Vermont, born at Brimfield, Mass., October 28, 

 1792, died at St. Johnsbury, Vermont, Novem- 

 ber 20, 1864. His early means of education 

 were confined wholly to the common school. 

 In the beginning of 1812, at the age of nine- 

 teen, he left his home in Brimfield, and entered 



as a student in the law office of his maternal 

 nncle, the late Judge Ephraim Paddock of St. 

 Johnsbury. A serious affection of the eyes 

 soon obliged him to abandon his studies and 

 engage in other pursuits. After several years, 

 variously employed in teaching school and 

 other pursuits in St. Johnsbury, he engaged iu 

 mercantile business in company with Frederick 



