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The Ifs of History By: Joseph Edgar Chamberlin |
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Note: Images of the original pages are available through
Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries. See
http://www.archive.org/details/ifsofhistory00chamuoft THE IFS OF HISTORY by JOSEPH EDGAR CHAMBERLIN Philadelphia
Henry Altemus Company Copyright, 1907,
by
Howard E. Altemus
CONTENTS
I. IF THEMISTOCLES HAD NOT BEATEN
ARISTIDES IN AN ATHENIAN ELECTION 13 II. IF THE MOORS HAD WON THE
BATTLE OF TOURS 21 III. IF KING ETHELRED OF ENGLAND
HAD NOT MARRIED THE NORMAN
EMMA 30 IV. IF COLUMBUS HAD KEPT HIS
STRAIGHT COURSE WESTWARD 37 V. IF QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND
HAD LEFT A SON OR DAUGHTER 47 VI. IF THE PHILARMONIA HAD NOT
GIVEN CONCERTS AT VICENZA 56 VII. IF THE SPANISH ARMADA HAD
SAILED AT ITS APPOINTED TIME 64 VIII. IF CHAMPLAIN HAD TARRIED IN
PLYMOUTH BAY 71 IX. IF CHARLES II HAD ACCEPTED THE
KINGSHIP OF VIRGINIA 79 X. IF ADMIRAL PENN HAD PERSISTED IN
DISOWNING HIS SON WILLIAM 91 XI. IF THE BOY GEORGE WASHINGTON
HAD BECOME A BRITISH MIDSHIPMAN 99 XII. IF ALEXANDER HAMILTON HAD NOT
WRITTEN ABOUT THE HURRICANE 107 XIII. IF LAFAYETTE HAD HELD THE
FRENCH REIGN OF TERROR IN
CHECK 114 XIV. IF GILBERT LIVINGSTON HAD NOT
VOTED NEW YORK INTO THE
UNION 121 XV. IF THE PIRATE JEAN LAFITTE HAD
JOINED THE BRITISH AT NEW
ORLEANS 129 XVI. IF JAMES MACDONNEL HAD NOT
CLOSED THE GATES OF HUGOMONT
CASTLE 138 XVII. IF ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S FATHER
HAD MOVED SOUTHWARD, NOT
NORTHWARD 150 XVIII. IF SKIPPER JENNINGS HAD NOT RESCUED
CERTAIN SHIPWRECKED
JAPANESE 160 XIX. IF ORSINI'S BOMB HAD NOT FAILED
TO DESTROY NAPOLEON III 170 XX. IF PRESIDENT JAMES BUCHANAN HAD
ENFORCED THE LAW IN NOVEMBER,
1860 176 XXI. IF THE CONFEDERATES HAD MARCHED
ON WASHINGTON AFTER BULL
RUN 185 XXII. IF THE CONFEDERATE STATES HAD
PURCHASED THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S
FLEET IN 1861 194
PREFACE
Whether or not we believe that events are consciously ordered before
their occurrence, we are compelled to admit the importance of
Contingency in human affairs. If we believe in such an orderly and predetermined arrangement, the
small circumstance upon which a great event may hinge becomes, in our
view, but the instrumentality by means of which the great plan is
operated. It by no means sets aside the vital influence of chance to
assume that "all chance is but direction which we cannot see." For instance, the believer in special providences regards as clearly
providential the flight of the flocks of birds which diverted the
course of Columbus from our shores to those of the West Indies; but it
is none the less true that this trivial circumstance caused the great
navigator to turn his prow. Those who, on the other hand, reject the idea of special providences,
and treat history as a sequence of occurrences emerging mechanically
from the relations of men with one another, must admit that causes
forever contend with causes, and that the nice balance of action and
reaction may sometimes be influenced radically by even so small a
circumstance as the cackling of the geese of Rome... Continue reading book >>
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