Comparison of the Images of Early Modern Europe Given by de Lafayette and Defoe - Assignment Example

1. How does Defoe’s novel reflect the developing “Atlantic System” discussed in the textbook on pg. 519? Having seen how machinery was introduced into England in the latter part of the eighteenth century and how steam came to be utilized as a motive power, we have now to consider the important results of these inventions in changing the conditions under which people lived and worked. Up to this time, the term "manufacture" still meant, as it did in the original Latin (manu facere), "to make by hand." Artisans carried on a trade with their own tools in their own homes or in small shops, as the cobbler does to-day. Instead of working with hundreds of others in great factories and being entirely dependent upon his wages, the artisan, in England at least, was often able to give some attention to a small garden plot, from which he derived a part of his support. This "domestic system," as it is called, is graphically described by the journalist, Defoe as he observed it in Yorkshire during a journey through England in 1724-1726 (Hobson, 1990). "The land was divided into small enclosures of from two acres to six or seven acres each, seldom more, every three or four pieces having a house belonging to them; hardly a house standing out of speaking distance from another. We could see at every house a tenter and on almost every tenter a piece of cloth, or kersie, or shalloon. At every considerable house there was a manufactory. Every clothier keeps one horse at least to carry his manufactures to market, and every one generally keeps a cow or two, or more, for his family. By this means the small pieces of enclosed land about each house are occupied, for they scarce sow corn [i.e. grain] enough to feed their poultry. The houses are full of lusty fellows, some at their dye vat, some at their looms, others dressing the cloth; the women and children carding or spinning, all being employed from the youngest to the eldest." (Thurston, 1978). As the Industrial Revolution progressed, these hand workers found themselves unable to compete with the swift and tireless machines. Manufacturing on a small scale with the simple old tools and appliances became increasingly unprofitable. The workers had to leave their cottages and spend their days in great factories established by capitalists who had enough money to erect the huge buildings, and install in them the elaborate and costly machinery and the engines to run it. As an English writer has concisely put it, "The typical unit of production is no longer a single family or group of persons working with a few cheap, simple tools upon small quantities of raw material, but a compact and closely organized mass of labor composed of hundreds or thousands of individuals cooperating with large quantities of expensive and intricate machinery through which passes a continuous and mighty volume of raw material on its way to the consuming public."(Thurston, 1978). One of the principal results of the factory system is that it makes possible a minute division of labor. This made the “Atlantic system” possible as well. Instead of giving his time and thought to the whole process, each worker concentrates his attention upon a single stage of it, and by repeating a simple set of motions over and over again acquires wonderful dexterity. At the same time the period of necessary apprenticeship is shortened, because each separate task is comparatively simple. Moreover the invention of new machinery is increased, because the very subdivision of the process into simple steps often suggests some way of substituting mechanical action for that of the human hand. 2. How do voyages, the scientific revolution, and slavery relate to each other? An example of the greatly increased output rendered possible by the use of machinery and the division of labor is given by the distinguished Scotch economist, Adam Smith, whose great work, The Wealth of Nations, appeared in 1776. Speaking of the manufacture of a pin in his own time, Adam Smith says: "To make the head requires two or three distinct operations; to put it on is a peculiar business, to whiten the pin is another. It is even a trade by itself to put them into the paper, and the important business of making a pin is, in this manner, divided into about eighteen distinct operations." By this division, he adds, ten persons can make upwards of forty-eight thousand pins in a day. This was when machinery was in its infancy. A recent writer reports that an English machine now makes one hundred and eighty pins a minute, cutting the wire, flattening the heads, sharpening the points, and dropping the pin into its proper place. In a single factory which he visited seven million pins were made in a day, and three men were all that were required to manage the mechanism. (Watt, 2001) But how does this relate to slavery? The output of production meant that many cheap, unskilled individuals (including women and children) were hired in order to complete these processes. In many ways, the factory ruled their lives, and their employment status was almost like that of slaves. However, this is not to say that slavery did not participate in the Industrial Revolution itself; it certainly did. Slaves could be used and not paid, and therefore, they were a focus of obtainment for many factories that could actually use them legally. It appears that the scientific revolution opened up the ability to enslave more individuals to that technology. Another example of modern mechanical work is found in printing. For several centuries after Gutenberg printed his first book, the type was set by hand, inked by hand, each sheet of paper was laid by hand upon the type and then printed by means of a press operated by a hand lever. Nowadays our newspapers, in the great cities at least, are printed almost altogether by machinery, from the setting up of the type until they are dropped, complete, and counted out by hundreds, at the bottom of a rotary press. The paper is fed into the press from a great roll and is printed on both sides and folded at the rate of five hundred or more newspapers a minute. (Hobson, 2001) Review Figure 17.2 to see context of Defoe’s novel. What was happening when it was published in 1719? Before the coming of machinery industry was not concentrated in a few great cities in 1719, but was scattered more or less evenly over the country in the hands of small masters, or independent workmen, who combined manufacturing with agriculture on a small scale. For example, the metal workers of West Bromwich and the cutlers of Sheffield (already famous in Chaucers day) lived in cottages with small plots of land around them, and in dull seasons, or to change their occupation, engaged in gardening. The factory system put an end to all this. The workmen now had to live near their work; long rows of houses, without gardens or even grass plots, were hastily built around the factory buildings, and thus the ugly tenement districts of our cities came into existence. (Watts, 2002) This great revolution in the methods of manufacturing produced also a sharp distinction between two classes of men involved. There were, on the one hand, the capitalists who owned the buildings and all the mechanism, and, on the other, the workmen whom they hired to operate the machines. Previous to the eighteenth century, those who owned large estates had been, on the whole, the most important class in political and social life. But, alongside of the landed aristocracy, a powerful mercantile class had arisen, whose wealth, gained by commerce and trade, gave them influence in the affairs of the nation. With the improvements in machinery there was added the new class of modern capitalists, who amassed fortunes by establishing great manufacturing industries. (Watts, 2002) The worsuccekingman necessarily became dependent upon the few who were rich enough to set up factories. He could no longer earn a livelihood in the old way by conducting a small shop to suit himself. The capitalist owned and controlled the necessary machinery, and so long as there were plenty of workmen seeking employment in order to earn their daily bread, the owner could fix a low wage and long hours. While an individual employee of special ability might himself become a capitalist, the ordinary workman would have to remain a workman. The question of the proportion of the product which should go to the workers, and that which may properly be taken by the capitalist, or manager, who makes a successful business possible, lies at the basis of the great problem of capital and labor (Hobson, 2001). The destruction of the domestic system of industry had also a revolutionary effect upon the work and the lives of women and children. In all except the heaviest of the mechanical industries, such as iron working or ship building, the introduction of simple machines tended greatly to increase the number of women and children employed compared with the men. For example, in the textile industry in England during the fifty years from 1841 to 1891, the number of males employed increased fifty-three per cent, and the number of females two hundred and twenty-one per cent. Before the invention of the steam engine, when the simple machines were worked by hand, children could be employed only in some of the minor processes, such as preparing the cotton for spinning. But in the modern factory, labor is largely confined to watching machines, piecing broken threads, and working levers, so that both women and children can be utilized as effectively as men, and much more cheaply (Watts, 2002). Doubtless the women were by no means idle under the old system of domestic industry, but their tasks were varied and performed at home, whereas under the new system they must flock to the factory at the call of the whistle, and labor monotonously at a speed set by the foreman. This led to many grave abuses which, as we shall see, the State has been called upon to remedy by factory legislation, which has served to save the women and children from some of the worst hardships, although a great deal still remains to be done. On the other hand, thousands of women belonging to the more fortunate classes have been relieved of many of the duties which devolved upon the housewife in the eighteenth century when many things were made at home which can now be better and more cheaply produced on a large scale (Hobson, 2001) Before the Industrial Revolution there had been no sudden change in the life and habits of the people, since the same tools had been used in the same way, often by the same family, from generation to generation. When invention began change began, and it seems likely to become more and more rapid, since new and better ways of doing things are discovered daily. Old methods give way to new ones, and the workman of to-day may successively engage in a considerable variety of occupations during his life as industries rise, are transformed, and decline under the stress of competition and invention. This serves to shake the workingman out of the old routine, encourages him to move from place to place as circumstances dictate, and so widens his experience and broadens his mind. He has also learned to combine with his fellows into national unions, and even international congresses of workingmen are held to consider their common interests (Watts, 2002). What types of images of non-Europeans are provided by Defoe? What does that tell one about how Europeans interacted with the rest of the world in the eighteenth century? How is Russia depicted? Defoe presents non-Europeans as almost barbaric. There was certainly a lot of pride in this new focus on science in Europe, and as such, the rest of the world appeared second-class, because it had not experienced the enlightenment of technology and science. Europeans interacted with the rest of the world in an almost elitist way; they felt they were the best, and therefore, acted like it. Even Russia suffered with image in Europe. Russia was never considered quite European enough, and many saw it as needing improvements in its civilizations overall. How does Defoe’s novel relate to the changing political situation of England discussed on pg. 538? Defoe’s novel relates to the changing political situation of England because he reflects on the way science and commerce interacted with the politics of the time. To these changes still another may be added, i.e. the expansion of commerce. In spite of the development of trade before the eighteenth century, a great part of the goods produced were destined to be consumed in the neighborhood, whereas, after the invention of machinery, it became customary to manufacture goods which might be sold in any part of the world; so that one would find the products of Manchester or Birmingham in Hongkong, Melbourne, or Bulawayo. According to official estimates, the exports of England, which amounted to less than fourteen million pounds sterling in 1783, exceeded twenty-nine millions thirteen years later. Although England had been the first to develop the modern industrial system, it was, of course, impossible for her to prevent the gradual introduction of the new inventions on the Continent. Napoleon, in his effort to ruin Englands commerce by excluding her from the European markets, was led to foster and protect French industries. He encouraged a society for the promotion of national industry, and called to the direction of the internal affairs of France, Chaptal, a manufacturer, inventor, and active administrator, who organized an exposition at Paris as early as 1801, and invited manufacturers to send their products for exhibition. Nevertheless, it can hardly be said that the Industrial Revolution began on the Continent until after Napoleons fall. It is true that steam engines from the works of Bolton and Watt in Birmingham had long been used for pumping water, but not until the year in which Napoleon suffered his terrible reverse in Russia was a small engine of ten horse power set up in a cotton factory at Mülhausen in Alsace. The backward state of French industry was due to the lack of capital and operatives, for Napoleons military enterprises drained the country of millions of francs and drafted hundreds of thousands of men into his armies who might otherwise have proved industrious and efficient workmen (Thurston, 1978). After the final establishment of peace in 1815 French industry rapidly underwent the revolution that had been accomplished in England half a century before. By 1847 there were in France nearly five thousand steam engines with a capacity of sixty thousand horse power. The consumption of raw cotton was multiplied fivefold in thirty years, and in 1847 there were over one hundred thousand spinning machines with three and a half million spindles at work. Cotton thread, which sold for nearly fifteen francs a kilogram when Louis XVIII came to the throne, fell to three francs by 1850. Compare the image of Louis XIV’s court given by de Lafayette with the one provided by Montesquieu Lafayette had his own focus and political agenda when describing the court of Louis XIV. He appears to see the court more as it is and reflects more on the realistic concepts of the court. In France during this time, Louis XIV had ruined his economy with his ruinous Spanish wars, and many people in France no matter viewed him as a “god like” figure. Furthermore, Louis was aging. Lafayette was able to see all of this as well as the flaws present in the court. Montesquieu, however, seems more charmed by the court overall. He still views Louis as a type of divine royalty, even a God, and the problems and bickering present at court are something he overlooks for the glamour of the time. REFERENCES Hobson, P. (2001). Introduction of Machinery into Textile and Iron Industries. New Jersey: Alpine press. Thurston, K. (1978). Ancient and Mediæval Experiments with Steam. New York: Holgood Press. Watts, T. (2001). Steam Engines before Watts Inventions. New Jersey: Dancey Press. Read More