Edisons Conquest of Mars | Page 7

King Oscar and Queen Sophia, of Sweden and Norway; King Humbert and
Queen Margherita, of Italy; King George and Queen Olga, of Greece; Abdul Hamid, of
Turkey; Tsait'ien, Emperor of China; Mutsuhito, the Japanese Mikado, with his beautiful
Princess Haruko; the President of France, the President of Switzerland, the First Syndic
of the little republic of Andorra, perched on the crest of the Pyrenees, and the heads of all
the Central and South American republics, were coming to Washington to take part in the
deliberations, which, it was felt, were to settle the fate of earth and Mars.
One day, after this announcement had been received, and the additional news had come
that nearly all the visiting monarchs had set out, attended by brilliant suites and convoyed
by fleets of warships, for their destination, some coming across the Atlantic to the port of
New York, others across the Pacific to San Francisco, Mr. Edison said to me:
"This will be a fine spectacle. Would you like to watch it?"
"Certainly," I replied.
A Grand Spectacle.
The Ship of Space was immediately at our disposal. I think I have not yet mentioned the
fact that the inventor's control over the electrical generator carried in the car was so
perfect that by varying the potential or changing the polarity he could cause it slowly or
swiftly, as might be desired, to approach or recede from any object. The only practical
difficulty was presented when the polarity of the electrical charge upon an object in the
neighborhood of the car was unknown to those in the car, and happened to be opposite to
that of the charge which the car, at that particular moment, was bearing. In such a case, of
course, the car would fly toward the object, whatever it might be, like a pith ball or a
feather, attracted to the knob of an electrical machine. In this way, considerable danger
was occasionally encountered, and a few accidents could not be avoided. Fortunately,
however, such cases were rare. It was only now and then that, owing to some local cause,
electrical polarities unknown to or unexpected by the navigators, endangered the safety of
the car. As I shall have occasion to relate, however, in the course of the narrative, this
danger became more acute and assumed at times a most formidable phase, when we had
ventured outside the sphere of the earth and were moving through the unexplored regions
beyond.
On this occasion, having embarked, we rose rapidly to a height of some thousands of feet
and directed our course over the Atlantic. When half way to Ireland, we beheld, in the
distance, steaming westward, the smoke of several fleets. As we drew nearer a
marvellous spectacle unfolded itself to our eyes. From the northeast, their great guns

flashing in the sunlight and their huge funnels belching black volumes that rested like
thunder clouds upon the sea, came the mighty warships of England, with her meteor flag
streaming red in the breeze, while the royal insignia, indicating the presence of the ruler
of the British Empire, was conspicuously displayed upon the flagship of the squadron.
Following a course more directly westward appeared, under another black cloud of
smoke, the hulls and guns and burgeons of another great fleet, carrying the tri-color of
France, and bearing in its midst the head of the magnificent republic of western Europe.
Further south, beating up against the northerly winds, came a third fleet with the gold and
red of Spain fluttering from its masthead. This, too, was carrying its King westward,
where now, indeed, the star of empire had taken its way.
Universal Brotherhood.
Rising a little higher, so as to extend our horizon, we saw coming down the English
channel, behind the British fleet, the black ships of Russia. Side by side, or following one
another's lead, these war fleets were on a peaceful voyage that belied their threatening
appearance. There had been no thought of danger to or from the forts and ports of rival
nations which they had passed. There was no enmity, and no fear between them when the
throats of their ponderous guns yawned at one another across the waves. They were now,
in spirit, all one fleet, having one object, bearing against one enemy, ready to defend but
one country, and that country was the entire earth.
It was some time before we caught sight of the Emperor William's fleet. It seems that the
Kaiser, although at first consenting to the arrangement by which Washington had been
selected as the assembling place for the nations, afterwards objected to it.
Kaiser Wilhelm's Jealousy.
"I ought to do this thing myself," he had said. "My glorious ancestors would never have
consented to allow these upstart Republicans to lead in a warlike enterprise