Edison's Conquest of Mars Read online

  CHAPTER THREE

  _THE CONGRESS OF NATIONS_

  The day appointed for the assembling of the nations in Washington openedbright and beautiful. Arrangements had been made for the reception ofthe distinguished guests at the Capitol. No time was to be wasted, andhaving assembled in the Senate Chamber, the business that had calledthem together was to be immediately begun. The scene in PennsylvaniaAvenue, when the procession of dignitaries and royalties passed uptoward the Capitol was one never to be forgotten. Bands were playing,magnificent equipages flashed in the morning sunlight, the flags ofevery nation on the earth fluttered in the breeze. Queen Victoria, withthe Prince of Wales escorting her, and riding in an open carriage, wasgreeted with roars of cheers; the emperor William, following in anothercarriage with empress Victoria at his side, condescended to bow andsmile in response to the greetings of a free people. Each of the othermonarchs was received in a similar manner. The Czar of Russia proved tobe an especial favorite with the multitude on account of the ancientfriendship of his house for America. But the greatest applause of allcame when the President of France, followed by the President ofSwitzerland and the First Syndic of the little republic of Andorra, madetheir appearance. Equally warm were the greetings extended to therepresentatives of Mexico and the South American States.

  The crowd apparently hardly knew at first how to receive the Sultan ofTurkey, but the universal good feeling was in his favor, and finallyrounds of hand clapping and cheers greeted his progress along thesplendid avenue.

  A happy idea had apparently occurred to the Emperor of China and theMikado of Japan, for, attended by their intermingled suites, they rodetogether in a single carriage. This object lesson in the unity ofinternational feeling immensely pleased the spectators.

  The scene in the Senate Chamber stirred everyone profoundly. That it wasbrilliant and magnificent goes without saying, but there was aseriousness, an intense feeling of expectancy, pervading both those wholooked on and those who were to do the work for which these magnates ofthe earth had assembled, which produced an ineradicable impression. ThePresident of the United States, of course, presided. Representatives ofthe greater powers occupied the front seats, and some of them werehonored with special chairs near the President.

  No time was wasted in preliminaries. The President made a brief speech.

  "We have come together," he said, "to consider a question that equallyinterests the whole earth. I need not remind you that unexpectedly andwithout provocation on our part the people--the monsters, I shouldrather say--of Mars, recently came down upon the earth, attacked us inour homes and spread desolation around them. Having the advantage ofages of evolution, which for us are yet in the future, they brought withthem engines of death and destruction against which we found itimpossible to contend. It is within the memory of every one within reachof my voice that it was through the entirely unexpected succor whichProvidence sent us that we were suddenly and effectually freed from theinvaders. By our own efforts we could have done nothing.

  "But, as you all know, the first feeling of relief which followed thedeath of our foes was quickly succeeded by the fearful news which cameto us from the observatories, that the Martians were undoubtedlypreparing for a second invasion of our planet. Against this we shouldhave had no recourse and no hope but for the genius of one of mycountrymen, who, as you are all aware, has perfected means which mayenable us not only to withstand the attack of those awful enemies, butto meet them, and, let us hope, to conquer them on their own ground.

  "Mr. Edison is here to explain to you what those means are. But we havealso another object. Whether we send a fleet of interplanetary ships toinvade Mars or whether we simply confine our attention to works ofdefense, in either case it will be necessary to raise a very large sumof money. None of us has yet recovered from the effects of the recentinvasion. The earth is poor today compared to its position a few yearsago; yet we can not allow our poverty to stand in the way. The money,the means, must be had. It will be part of our business here to raise agigantic war fund by the aid of which we can construct the equipment andmachinery that we shall require. This, I think, is all I need to say.Let us proceed to business."

  "Where is Mr. Edison?" cried a voice.

  "Will Mr. Edison please step forward?" said the President.

  There was a stir in the assembly, and the iron-grey head of the greatinventor was seen moving through the crowd. In his hand he carried oneof his marvelous disintegrators. He was requested to explain andillustrate its operation. Mr. Edison smiled.

  "I can explain its details," he said, "to Lord Kelvin, for instance, butif Their Majesties will excuse me, I doubt whether I can make it plainto the Crown Heads."

  The Emperor William smiled superciliously. Apparently he thought thatanother assault had been committed upon the divine right of kings. Butthe Czar Nicholas appeared to be amused, and the Emperor of China, whohad been studying English, laughed in his sleeve, as if he suspectedthat a joke had been perpetrated.

  "I think," said one of the deputies, "that a simple exhibition of thepowers of the instrument, without a technical explanation of its methodof working, will suffice for our purpose."

  This suggestion was immediately approved. In response to it, Mr. Edison,by a few simple experiments, showed how he could quickly and certainlyshatter into its constituent atoms any object upon which the vibratoryforce of the disintegrator should be directed. In this manner he causedan inkstand to disappear under the very nose of the Emperor Williamwithout a spot of ink being scattered upon his sacred person, butevidently the odor of the disunited atoms was not agreeable to thenostrils of the Kaiser.

  Mr. Edison also explained in general terms the principle on which theinstrument worked. He was greeted with round after round of applause,and the spirit of the assembly rose high.

  Next the workings of the electrical ship were explained, and it wasannounced that after the meeting had adjourned an exhibition of theflying powers of the ship would be given in the open air.

  These experiments, together with the accompanying explanations, added towhat had already been disseminated through the public press, were quitesufficient to convince all the representatives who had assembled inWashington that the problem of how to conquer the Martians had beensolved. The means were plainly at hand. It only remained to apply them.For this purpose, as the President had pointed out, it would benecessary to raise a very large sum of money.

  "How much will be needed?" asked one of the English representatives.

  "At least ten thousand millions of dollars," replied the President.

  "It would be safer," said a Senator from the Pacific Coast, "to make ittwenty five thousand millions."

  "I suggest," said the King of Italy, "that the nations be called inalphabetical order, and that the representatives of each name a sumwhich he is ready and able to contribute."

  "We want the cash or its equivalent," shouted the Pacific Coast Senator.

  "I shall not follow the alphabet strictly," said the President, "butshall begin with the larger nations first. Perhaps, under thecircumstances, it is proper that the United States should lead the way.Mr. Secretary," he continued, turning to the Secretary of the Treasury,"how much can we stand?"

  "At least a thousand millions," replied the Secretary of the Treasury.

  A roar of applause that shook the room burst from the assembly. Evensome of the monarchs threw up their hats. The Emperor Tsait'ien smiledfrom ear to ear. One of the Roko Tuis, or native chiefs, from Fiji,sprang up and brandished a war club.

  The President then proceeded to call the other nations, beginning withAustria-Hungary and ending with Zanzibar, whose Sultan, Hamoud binMahomed, had come to the congress in the escort of Queen Victoria. Eachcontributed liberally.

  Germany, coming in alphabetical order just before Great Britain, hadnamed, through its chancellor, the sum of $500,000,000, but when theFirst Lord of the British Treasury, not wishing to be behind the UnitedStates, named double that sum as the contribution of t
he British Empire,the Emperor William looked displeased. He spoke a word in the ear of theChancellor who immediately raised his hand.

  "We will give a thousand million dollars," said the Chancellor.

  Queen Victoria seemed surprised, though not displeased. The First Lordof the Treasury met her eye, and then, rising in his place, said:

  "Make it fifteen hundred million for Great Britain."

  Emperor William consulted again with his Chancellor, but evidentlyconcluded not to increase his bid.

  But, at any rate, the fund had benefited to the amount of a thousandmillions by this little outburst of imperial rivalry.

  The greatest surprise of all, however, came when the King of Siam wascalled upon for his contribution. He had not been given a foremost placein the Congress, but when the name of his country was pronounced he roseby his chair, dressed in a gorgeous specimen of the peculiar attire ofhis country, then slowly pushed his way to the front, stepped up to thePresident's desk and deposited upon it a small box.

  "This is our contribution," he said in broken English.

  The cover was lifted, and there darted, shimmering in the half-gloom ofthe Chamber, a burst of iridescence from the box.

  "My friends of the Western world," continued the King of Siam, "will beinterested in seeing this gem. Only once before has the eye of aEuropean been blessed with the sight of it. Your books will tell youthat in the seventeenth century a traveller, Tavernier, saw in India anunmatched diamond which afterward disappeared like a meteor, and wasthought to have been lost from the earth. You all know the name of thatdiamond and its history. It is the Great Mogul, and it lies before you.How it came into my possession I shall not explain. At any rate, it ishonestly mine, and I freely contribute it here to aid in protecting mynative planet against those enemies who appear determined to destroyit."

  When the excitement which the appearance of this long lost treasure,that had been the subject of so many romances and of such long andfruitless search, had subsided, the President continued calling thelist, until he had completed it.

  Upon taking the sum of the contributions (the Great Mogul was reckonedat three millions) it was found to be still one thousand millions shortof the required amount.

  The secretary of the Treasury was instantly on his feet.

  "Mr. President," he said, "I think we can stand that addition. Let it beadded to the contribution of the United States of America."

  When the cheers that greeted the conclusion of the business were over,the President announced that the next affair of the Congress was toselect a director who should have entire charge of the preparations forthe war. It was the universal sentiment that no man could be so wellsuited for this post as Mr. Edison himself. He was accordingly selectedby the unanimous and enthusiastic choice of the great assembly.

  "How long a time do you require to put everything in readiness?" askedthe President.

  "Give me _carte blanche_," replied Mr. Edison, "and I believe I can havea hundred electric ships and three thousand disintegrators ready withinsix months."

  A tremendous cheer greeted this announcement.

  "Your powers are unlimited," said the President, "draw on the fund foras much money as you need," whereupon the Treasurer of the United Stateswas made the disbursing officer of the fund, and the meeting adjourned.

  Not less than 5,000,000 people had assembled at Washington from allparts of the world. Every one of this immense multitude had been able tolisten to the speeches and the cheers in the Senate Chamber, althoughnot personally present there. Wires had been run all over the city, andhundreds of improved telephonic receivers provided, so that everyonecould hear. Even those who were unable to visit Washington, peopleliving in Baltimore, New York, Boston, and as far away as New Orleans,St. Louis and Chicago, had also listened to the proceedings with the aidof these receivers. Upon the whole, probably not less than 50,000,000people had heard the deliberations of the great congress of the nations.

  The telegraph and the cable had sent the news across the oceans to allthe capitols of the earth. The exultation was so great that the peopleseemed mad with joy.

  The promised exhibition of the electrical ship took place the next day.Enormous multitudes witnessed the experiment, and there was a strugglefor places in the car. Even Queen Victoria, accompanied by the Prince ofWales, ventured to take a ride in it, and they enjoyed it so much thatMr. Edison prolonged the journey as far as Boston and the Bunker Hillmonument.

  Most of the other monarchs also took a high ride, but when the turn ofthe Emperor of China came he repeated a fable which he said had comedown from the time of Confucius:

  "Once upon a time there was a Chinaman living in the valley of theHoang-Ho River, who was accustomed frequently to lie on his back, gazingat, and envying, the birds that he saw flying away in the sky. One dayhe saw a black speck which rapidly grew larger and larger, until as itgot near he perceived that it was an enormous bird, which overshadowedthe earth with its wings. It was the elephant of birds, the roc. 'Comewith me,' said the roc, 'and I will show you the wonders of the kingdomof the birds.' The man caught hold of its claw and nestled among itsfeathers, and they rapidly rose high in the air, and sailed away to theKuen-Lun Mountains. Here, as they passed near the top of the peaks,another roc made its appearance. The wings of the two great birdsbrushed together, and immediately they fell to fighting. In the midst ofthe melee the man lost his hold and tumbled into the top of a tree,where his pigtail caught on a branch, and he remained suspended. Therethe unfortunate man hung helpless, until a rat, which had its home inthe rocks at the foot of the tree, took compassion upon him, and,climbing up, gnawed off the branch. As the man slowly and painfullywended his weary way homeward, he said: 'This teaches me that creaturesto whom nature has given neither feathers nor wings should leave thekingdom of the birds to those who are fitted to inhabit it.'"

  Having told this story, Tsait'ien turned his back on the electricalship.

  After the exhibition was finished, and amid the fresh outburst ofenthusiasm that followed, it was suggested that a proper way to wind upthe Congress and give suitable expression to the festive mood which nowpossessed mankind would be to have a grand ball. This suggestion metwith immediate and universal approval.

  But for so gigantic an affair it was, of course, necessary to makespecial preparations. A convenient place was selected on the Virginiaside of the Potomac; a space of ten acres was carefully levelled andcovered with a polished floor, rows of columns one hundred feet apartwere run across it in every direction, and these were decorated withelectric lights, displaying every color of the spectrum.

  Above this immense space, rising in the center to a height of more thana thousand feet, was anchored a vast number of balloons, all aglow withlights, and forming a tremendous dome, in which brilliant lamps werearranged in such a manner as to exhibit, in an endless succession ofcombinations, all the national colors, ensigns and insignia of thevarious countries represented at the Congress. Blazing eagles, lions,unicorns, dragons and other imaginary creatures that the differentnations had chosen for their symbols appeared to hover high above thedancers, shedding a brilliant light upon the scene.

  Circles of magnificent thrones were placed upon the floor in convenientlocations for seeing. A thousand bands of music played, and tens ofthousands of couples, gayly dressed and flashing with gems, whirledtogether upon the polished floor.

  The Queen of England led the dance, on the arm of the President of theUnited States.

  The Prince of Wales led forth the fair daughter of the President,universally admired as the most beautiful woman on the great ballroomfloor.

  The Emperor William, in his military dress, danced with the beauteousPrincess Masaco, the daughter of the Mikado, who wore for the occasionthe ancient costume of the women of her country, sparkling with jewels,and glowing with quaint combinations of color like a gorgeous butterfly.

  The Chinese Emperor, with his pigtail flying high as he spun, dancedwith the Empress of Russia.

&
nbsp; The King of Siam essayed a waltz with the Queen Ranavalona ofMadagascar, while the Sultan of Turkey basked in the smiles of a Chicagoheiress to a hundred millions.

  The Czar chose for his partner a dark-eyed beauty from Peru, but KingMalietoa, of Samoa, was suspicious of civilized charmers and, avoidingall of their allurements, expressed his joy and gave vent to hisenthusiasm in a _pas seul_. In this he was quickly joined by a band ofSioux Indian chiefs, whose whoops and yells so startled the leader of aGerman band on their part of the floor that he dropped his baton, andfollowed by the musicians, took to his heels.

  This incident amused the good-natured Emperor of China more thananything else that had occurred.

  "Make muchee noisee," he said, indicating the fleeing musicians with histhumb. "Allee samee muchee flaid noisee," and then his round facedimpled into another laugh.

  The scene from the outside was even more imposing than that whichgreeted the eye within the brilliantly lighted enclosure. Far away inthe night, rising high among the stars, the vast dome of illuminatedballoons seemed, like some supernatural creation, too grand and gloriousto have been constructed by the inhabitants of the earth.

  All around it, and from some of the balloons themselves, rose jets andfountains of fire, ceasingly playing, and blotting out theconstellations of the heavens by their splendor.

  The dance was followed by a grand banquet, at which the Prince of Walesproposed a toast to Mr. Edison:

  "It gives me much pleasure," he said, "to offer, in the name of thenations of the Old World, this tribute of our admiration for, and ourconfidence in, the genius of the New World. Perhaps on such an occasionas this, when all racial differences and prejudices ought to be, andare, buried and forgotten, I should not recall anything that mightrevive them; yet I cannot refrain from expressing my happiness inknowing that the champion who is to achieve the salvation of the earthhas come forth from the bosom of the Anglo-Saxon race."

  Several of the great potentates looked grave upon hearing the Prince ofWales' words, and the Czar and the Kaiser exchanged glances; but therewas no interruption to the cheers that followed. Mr. Edison, whosemodesty and dislike to display and to speechmaking were well known,simply said:

  "I think we have got the machine that can whip them. But we ought not tobe wasting any time. Probably they are not dancing on Mars, but aregetting ready to make us dance."

  These words instantly turned the current of feeling in the vastassembly. There was no longer any disposition to expend time in vainboastings and rejoicings. Everywhere the cry now became, "Let us makehaste! Let us get ready at once! Who knows but the Martians have alreadyembarked, and are now on their way to destroy us?"

  Under the impulse of this new feeling, which, it must be admitted, wasvery largely inspired by terror, the vast ballroom was quickly deserted.The lights were suddenly put out in the great dome of balloons, forsomeone had whispered:

  "Suppose they should see that from Mars? Would they not guess what wewere about, and redouble their preparations to finish us?"

  Upon the suggestion of the President of the United States, an executivecommittee, representing all the principal nations, was appointed, andwithout delay a meeting of this committee was assembled at the WhiteHouse. Mr. Edison was summoned before it, and asked to sketch brieflythe plan upon which he proposed to work.

  I need not enter into the details of what was done at this meeting. Letit suffice to say that when it broke up, in the small hours of themorning, it had been unanimously resolved that as many thousands of menas Mr. Edison might require should be immediately placed at hisdisposal; that as far as possible all the great manufacturingestablishments of the country should be instantly transformed intofactories where electrical ships and disintegrators could be built, andupon the suggestion of Professor Sylvanus P. Thompson, the celebratedEnglish electrical expert, seconded by Lord Kelvin, it was resolved thatall the leading men of science in the world should place their servicesat the disposal of Mr. Edison in any capacity in which, in hisjudgement, they might be useful to him.

  The members of this committee were disposed to congratulate one anotheron the good work which they had so promptly accomplished, when at themoment of their adjournment, a telegraphic dispatch was handed to thePresident from Professor George E. Hale, the director of the greatYerkes Observatory, in Wisconsin. The telegram read:

  "Professor Barnard, watching Mars tonight with the forty-inch telescope,saw a sudden outburst of reddish light, which we think indicates thatsomething has been shot from the planet. Spectroscopic observations ofthis moving light indicated that it was coming earthward, while visible,at the rate of not less than one hundred miles a second."

  Hardly had the excitement caused by the reading of this dispatchsubsided, when others of a similar import came from the LickObservatory, in California; from the branch of the Harvard Observatoryat Arequipa, in Peru, and from the Royal Observatory, at Potsdam.

  When the telegram from this last named place was read the EmperorWilliam turned to his Chancellor and said:

  "I want to go home. If I am to die I prefer to leave my bones amongthose of my imperial ancestors and not in this vulgar country, where noking has ever ruled. I don't like this atmosphere. It makes me limp."

  And now, whipped on by the lash of alternate hope and fear, the earthsprang to its work of preparation.