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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/10128-0.txt b/10128-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9ea1eb5 --- /dev/null +++ b/10128-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14841 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10128 *** + +VOL. XVII + +THE GREAT EVENTS BY FAMOUS HISTORIANS + +A comprehensive and readable account of the world's history, +emphasizing the more important events, and presenting these as +complete narratives in the master-words of the most eminent +historians. + +Non-sectarian, non-partisan and non-sectional. + +On the plan evolved from a consensus of opinions gathered from the +most distinguished scholars of America and Europe, including brief +introductions by specialists to connect and explain the celebrated +narratives, arranged chronologically, with thorough indices, +bibliographies, chronologies, and courses of reading. + +Editor-in-Chief: Rossiter Johnson, LL.D. + +Associate Editors: Charles F. Horne, Ph.D. and John Rudd, LL.D. + +With a staff of specialists + + + + +CONTENTS of VOLUME XVII + + +AN OUTLINE NARRATIVE OF THE GREAT EVENTS, Charles F. Horne + +(1844) THE INVENTION OF THE TELEGRAPH, Alonzo B. Cornell + +(1846) REPEAL OF THE ENGLISH CORN LAWS, Justin McCarthy + +(1846) THE DISCOVERY OF NEPTUNE, Sir Oliver Lodge + +(1846) THE ACQUISITION OF CALIFORNIA, Henry B. Dawson + +(1847) THE FALL OF ABD-EL-KADER, Edgar Sanderson + +(1847) THE MEXICAN WAR, John Bonner + +(1847) FAMINE IN IRELAND, Sir Charles Gavan Duffy + +(1848) MIGRATIONS OF THE MORMONS, Thomas L. Kane + +(1848) THE REFORMS OF PIUS IX; HIS FLIGHT FROM ROME, Francis Bowen + +(1848) THE REVOLUTION OF FEBRUARY IN FRANCE, François P.G. Guizot and + Mme. Guizot de Witt + +(1848) REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS IN GERMAN, C. Edmund Maurice + +(1848) THE REVOLT IN HUNGARY, Arminius Vembery + +(1848) THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN CALIFORNIA, John S. Hittell + +(1849) THE RISE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC, Jessie White Mario + +(1849) LIVINGSTONE'S AFRICAN DISCOVERIES, David Livingstone and Thomas + Hughes + +(1851) THE COUP D'ETAT OF LOUIS NAPOLEON, Alexis de Tocqueville + +(1851) THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN AUSTRALIA, Edward Jenks + +(1854) THE RISE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, Abraham Lincoln + +(1854) THE OPENING OF JAPAN, Matthew C. Perry + +(1855) THE CAPTURE OF SEBASTOPOL, Sir Edward B. Hamley and Sir Evelyn + Wood + +(1857) THE INDIAN MUTINY, J. Talboys Wheeler + +(1859) THE BATTLES OF MAGENTA and SOLFERINO, Pietro Orsi + +(1859) DARWIN PUBLISHES HIS ORIGIN OF SPECIES, Charles Robert Darwin + +(1860) THE KINGDOM OF ITALY ESTABLISHED, Giuseppe Garibaldi and John + Webb Probyn + +(1861) THE EMANCIPATION OF RUSSIAN SERFS, Andrew D. White and Nikolai + Turgenieff + +(1844-1861) UNIVERSAL CHRONOLOGY, Daniel Edwin Wheeler + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS: + + +The mutinous Sepoys blown from the mouths of cannon by the English at +Cawnpore, Painting by Basil Verestchagin. + +Charge of the Six Hundred at Balaklava, Painting by Stanley Berkeley. + + + + +AN OUTLINE NARRATIVE (Tracing briefly the causes, connections, and +consequences of the great events.) + + +THE TRIUMPH OF DEMOCRACY, Charles F. Horne + +In the year 1844 electricity, last and mightiest of the servants of man, +was seized and harnessed and made to do practical work. A telegraph line +was erected between Washington and Baltimore. [Footnote: See _Invention +of the Telegraph_.] In 1846 mathematics achieved perhaps the greatest +triumph of abstract science. It pointed out where in the heavens there +should be a planet, never before known by man. Strong telescopes were +directed to the spot and the planet was discovered. [Footnote: See _The +Discovery of Neptune_.] Man had found guides more subtle and more +accurate than his own five ancient senses. The age of figures, the age +of electricity, began. + +The changes were symbolic, perhaps, of the more rapid rate at which the +forces of society were soon to move. Over all Europe and America great +events were shaping themselves with lightning speed. Tremendous changes +political and economic, social and scientific, were hurrying to an +issue. + + +THE MEXICAN WAR + +In America the Mexican War, vast in its territorial results, still more +so in its effect upon society, broke out in 1846 over the admission of +Texas to the United States. The superior fighting strength of the more +northern race was at once made evident. Small bodies of United States +troops repeatedly defeated far larger numbers of the Mexican militia. +The entire northern half of Mexico was soon occupied by the enemy. +Expeditions, half of conquest, half of exploration, seized New Mexico, +California, and all the vast region which now composes the southwestern +quarter of the United States. [Footnote: See _The Acquisition of +California_.] + +Farther south, however, the more populous region wherein lay the chief +Mexican cities remained resolute in its defiance; and the Washington +Government despatched against it that truly marvellous expedition under +General Scott. The heroisms and the triumphs of Scott's spectacular +campaign deserve to be sung in epic form. The dubious justice of the war +was forgotten in its overwhelming success. From the captured Mexican +capital the conquerors dictated such peace terms as added to the United +States almost half the territory of her helpless neighbor. Europe at +last awoke to the fact that there was but one Power on the American +continent, a power with which even the mightiest monarch could ill +afford to quarrel. [Footnote: See _The Mexican War_.] The very year in +which the final treaty of peace was signed (1848) the Mormons, a +religious sect, finding themselves unwelcome and out of place in +Illinois, moved westward in a body. Enduring every hardship, every +privation, perishing by hundreds in the trackless deserts, captured and +put to torture by the Indians, they still persevered in their migration, +and, halting at last in the valleys of Utah, began the settlement of the +Central West. [Footnote: See _Migrations of the Mormons_.] + +Also in that same year, gold was discovered in California. Thousands of +eager adventurers flocked thither, and thus the vast wilderness that +Mexico had lightly surrendered had hardly become United States territory +ere it was filled with people, not listless semi-savages, but eager, +energetic men, resolute and resourceful. The West joined the march of +progress; it doubled the wealth and prowess of the East. [Footnote: See +_Discovery of Gold in California_.] + + +THE UPRISING OF THE PEOPLES + +Important indeed was that year of 1848, noteworthy above most in the +story of mankind. In Europe it witnessed the greatest of all the +outbursts of democracy. The common people, easily suppressed by the +armies of the Holy Alliance in 1820, had been subdued with difficulty in +1830. Now in 1848 they rose again. Their gradual accumulation of power +and passion would soon be irresistible. Even the petted armies of +autocracy became possessed with the new belief in mankind's brotherhood. + +This time the outburst began in Italy. Mazzini, the celebrated founder +of the political society "Young Italy," inspired his countrymen with +something of his own ardent devotion to the cause of liberty and Italian +union. Then in 1846 Pius IX, last of the heads of the Roman Church to +possess a temporal authority as well, ascended the throne of the Papal +dominions. The new Pope was in sympathy with the democratic spirit of +the times, and he established in his own States a constitutional +government, granting to his people more and more of power as he judged +them fitted for it. Soon, however, the most radical elements asserted +themselves in the new Government. All that the Pope could find it in his +heart to grant, seemed to them not half enough. The mighty spirit which +he had let loose broke from his control. Before the close of 1848 there +were riots, fighting in the streets; the Pope's chief counsellor was +murdered, and he himself had to flee by night in secrecy, a fugitive +from Rome. [Footnote: See _The Reforms of Pius IX: His Flight from +Rome_.] + +Ere matters had reached this pass, the sudden impulse given by Rome to +democratic government had spread like wildfire over the whole of Europe. +Thrones everywhere seemed crumbling to the dust. In January, 1848, the +people of Sicily revolted against their tyrant king and formed a +republic. Southern Italy, which had been part of the same kingdom, +compelled the sovereign to grant a constitution. Other Italian States +followed the example of rebellion. All Europe apparently had been but +waiting for the spark. In France, dissatisfaction with the +"tradesman-King," Louis Philippe, had long been bitter. In February, +1848, there was an open rebellion, Louis abdicated, and a provisional +government was formed, which proclaimed the land a republic. [Footnote: +See _The Revolution of February in France_.] + +There was no fear now lest the other Powers interfere. Each Continental +monarch was over-busy at home. Rebellion was everywhere. Every one of +the lesser German States secured a constitution; and the inhabitants +summoned those of Prussia and Austria to join them in establishing a +single central government, either republic or empire, a "United +Germany." On March 18th the Prussian capital, Berlin, was the seat of a +savage street battle between citizens and the royal troops. Not until it +had raged all day and upward of two hundred persons had been slain did +the Prussian monarch, Frederick William IV, weaken and proclaim a +constitution. [Footnote: See _Revolutionary Movements in Germany_.] + +Austria, the stronghold of autocracy, the land of Prince Metternich, +high-priest of repression, had proven as little ready as her neighbors +to withstand the sudden storm. On March 13th the people of Vienna rose +in most unexpected revolt, and Metternich, escaping from the city in a +washerwoman's cart, fled to England. "We were prepared for everything," +he lamented, "but a democratic pope." + +The whole heterogeneous empire of Austria seemed to fall apart at once. +The Hungarians rose in arms to fight for independence. The Bohemians +expelled the Austrian troops from Prague. In Italy the Northern +Provinces followed the example set them in the South. The people of +Milan attacked the Austrian garrison and expelled it after four days of +fighting. Venice reasserted her ancient independence. The King of +Piedmont and Sardinia, declaring himself the champion of Italian unity, +ordered the Austrian armies to leave the country, and marched his forces +against them. The other little States hastened to accept his leadership +and add their troops to his. + +Yet against all these difficulties the military power of the Austrian +Government began to make determined headway. The Bohemians were crushed +by force of arms. In Italy the Austrian general-in-chief withdrew slowly +before his many foes, until his Government could reënforce him. Then he +turned on them, completely defeated the Sardinian King at Custozza and +the next year at Novara, and therby restored Austrian supremacy in +Northern Italy. + +Meanwhile Rome, from which Pius IX had fled in horror, proclaimed itself +a republic. Mazzini, the earliest hero of Italian unity, and Garibaldi, +its greatest champion, were both members of the Government. The +Austrians marched against them; but French troops had also been +despatched to defend the Pope, and it was the French who, first reaching +Rome, stormed and captured it. The republic was overthrown by a +republic. [Footnote: See _Rise and Fall of the Roman Republic_.] Venice +was the last Italian city to hold out, and surrendered to the Austrians +only after a siege of many months had reduced it to starvation. + +The Austrian revolution had also collapsed at home. In October, 1848, +Government troops stormed the city of Vienna as if it had been a foreign +capital, and defeated the students and citizens, who fought the soldiers +from street to street. + +Only in Hungary were the royal armies baffled. There a regular +republican government was established under Louis Kossuth. Hungarian +armies were raised, and, defeating the Austrians in pitched battles, +drove them from the land. The Austrian Emperor in despair appealed to +Russia for aid; and the Czar having just trampled out an incipient +Polish rebellion of his own, came willingly to the aid of his brother +autocrat. Just as Austrian troops had so often done in Italy, so now a +huge Russian horde poured over Hungary, beat down all resistance, and +having reduced the land to helplessness returned it to the angry grip of +its insulted sovereign. [Footnote: See _The Revolt of Hungary_.] + +Yet Hungary did not wholly fail of her revenge. She had brought about +the downfall of Austria as a great political Power. The once haughty +empire had been compelled to cry for help, to be protected, even as were +Italy and Spain, against her own people. Her weakness was made manifest +to the world. Never again could she pose as the leader of European +councils. + +Thus it was only in France and Germany that the results of the upheaval +of 1848-1849 remained evident upon the surface. Prussia and the lesser +German States became and continued constitutional kingdoms. Germany was +united in a closer though still vague union, in which Austria and +Prussia struggled for a dominant influence. But democracy had in many +places committed such excesses that the huge body of the middle classes +feared it and turned against it. Such citizens as had property to +preserve concluded that, after all, their ancient kings had been less +tyrannic than King Mob. + +In France, too, this reaction was strongly felt. The revolution of 1848 +had not been accomplished without an outburst from socialism or +communism, which raised its red flag in the streets of Paris and was put +down only after days of bloody battle with the more moderate elements. +So the French middle classes wanted peace, and they elected as president +of the republic Louis Napoleon, nephew of their once famous Emperor. In +1851 the President by a sudden _coup d'etat_ overturned his own +Government. He declared the land an empire under himself as Napoleon +III. Enthusiastic patriots protested in burning words, but most of +France appeared content. Property-owners welcomed the return of any +government that was strong enough to govern. [Footnote: See _The Coup +d'Etat_.] + +Despite temporary setbacks, however, the advance of the power of the +people in 1848 had been enormous. The dullest tyrant could hardly +believe longer in the permanence of personal despotism. Even England, +the stronghold of conservatism as well as of personal independence, was +shifting her aristocratic institutions slowly toward democracy. + +The Reform Bill of 1832 had been only a small step in the direction of +popular government; but it opened the way for further reform. Almost +immediately upon its granting, began what was known as the Chartist +movement, an agitation kept up among the lower classes for a "charter" +or more liberal constitution. This soon became associated with a demand +for freer trade. The importation into England of bread-stuffs, +especially corn, was heavily taxed, and thus the poorer classes were +driven almost to the point of famine. The failure of the potato crop did +at last produce actual and awful famine in Ireland. Her peasants still +speak of 1847 as "the black year" of death. [Footnote: See _Famine in +Ireland_.] + +Hundreds of thousands of the poorer classes starved. Then began a stream +of emigration to America. Under pressure of such facts as these, the +English "Corn Laws" were repealed, and gradually Great Britain assumed +more and more positively the attitude of "free trade." [Footnote: See +_Repeal of the English Corn Laws_.] + + +EXPANSION OF EUROPEAN INFLUENCE + +Yet despite all the internal difficulties that thus convulsed Europe in +the middle of the nineteenth century, the period is also notable for the +rapid expansion of European influence over the other continents of the +Eastern Hemisphere. "Earth-hunger," the same passion that had swayed the +United States in its Mexican contest, plunged the Powers of Europe also +into repeated war. France extended her authority over the nearer African +States of the Mediterranean. Indeed, one of the main causes for the +rebellion of 1848 against Louis Philippe was the enormous cost in men +and money of these African campaigns, undertaken against the truly +remarkable Mahometan leader and patriot Abd-el-Kader. [Footnote: See +_The Fall of Abd-el-Kader_.] + +England tightened her grip on India, and extended her authority over the +broader lands around it. The hopelessness of Asiatic resistance to +European aggressiveness and military force was once more made evident in +the widespread rebellion of the Indian natives in 1857. In quick +succession, over vast and populous regions, both the people and the +rajas rose against British rule. In the triumph of their first momentary +victories they committed savage excesses which made pardon hopeless. Yet +neither their numbers nor the desperation to which they were driven +enabled them to hold their own against the mere handfuls of resolute +Englishmen, who soon subdued them. [Footnote: See _The Indian Mutiny_.] + +England's influence was also extended over Afghanistan and Southern +Africa. Livingstone, most famous of missionaries and explorers, crossed +the "dark continent" from coast to coast in 1851. [Footnote: See +_Livingstone's African Discoveries_.] In that same year gold was +discovered in Australia, and English adventurers flocked thither. The +world grew small to European eyes. [Footnote: See _Discovery of Gold in +Australia_.] + +Even the extremest East was brought in contact with the West. As a +result of the Opium War of 1840, China was compelled to open her doors +to foreign trade. She was also compelled to surrender territory to +England. Japan, which for more than two centuries had jealously excluded +Europeans from her shores, received her memorable awakening from the +friendly American expedition of Commodore Perry. [Footnote: See _The +Opening of Japan_.] + + +THE CRIMEAN WAR + +Russia sought to have her share also in the appropriation of territory +and "spheres of influence." She and England were the only two European +Powers which had not been seriously shaken by the upheavals of 1848. It +seemed that they might almost divide between them the helpless Eastern +world. England having already begun operations, Russia assumed a sort of +protectorate over the Christians in Turkish lands, and proposed to +England that the entire Turkish Empire should be divided between the two +despoilers. The British Government refused the plan, mainly because it +would give Russia a broad highway to the sea and make her a dangerous +commercial rival. So Russia attempted to carry out her scheme +single-handed, and began seizing Turkish provinces. She destroyed the +Turkish fleet. Once before in 1828 the threat of a general European +alliance had checked the Russian bear at this same game; but Europe was +weaker now, the Czar stronger, and England far off and undecided. + +Thus perhaps the Czar might have had his way but for Napoleon III. This +new Emperor had been permitted by Frenchmen to usurp his power largely +because of the military repute of his great namesake; and he felt that +to hold his place he must justify his reputation. Frenchmen resented +exceedingly the Czar's haughty assumption that only England was able to +oppose Russia; and Napoleon III promptly asserted himself in the _role_ +of the former Napoleon as "dictator of Europe." The title so pleased the +insulted pride of his people that they followed him eagerly, and +remained blind to many failings through more wars than one. The +self-constituted dictator insisted that his whole desire was for peace +and the artistic beautifying of his country; yet if Russia persisted in +extending her power and ignoring France--. In 1854 he joined England in +the war of the Crimea against Russia. + +It cannot be said that the allies achieved any great success against +their huge antagonist. Their fleets bombarded the Baltic fortresses with +small result. Their armies, hastening to protect Turkey, attacked the +Russians in the Crimea, gained the Battle of the Alma, and then for an +entire year besieged the fortifications of Sebastopol. [Footnote: See +_The Capture of Sebastopol_.] But distance and changeful climate proved +Russia's aids as they had in 1812. The allies' commissary and sanitary +departments could hardly be managed at all; their troops died by +thousands, and, though they finally stormed and captured Sebastopol, it +was a barren victory. Russia, not so much overcome as convinced of the +practical lack of profit in persistency, made terms of peace by which +she once more drew back from her feeble prey. English statesmen were +satisfied with the check administered to their great rival; and the +French were delighted at the successful interference of their "dictator +of Europe." He had rehabilitated the nation in its own eyes. + + +UNION OF ITALY + +Ambition grows by what it feeds on. Napoleon determined to assert +himself again. The bitterness of Italy against its Austrian masters +offered an excellent opportunity, and in 1859 he encouraged the King of +Sardinia to try once more the contest which had proved so disastrous +eleven years before. The King, Victor Emmanuel II, prepared for war +against Austria. The French joined him, so did the little North Italian +States, and their combined forces were victorious at Magenta and +Solferino. [Footnote: See _Battles of Magenta and Solferino_.] + +Napoleon had declared that the combat should not cease until the +Austrians were driven entirely out of Italy. As the price of his +alliance he secured Nice and Savoy from Sardinia; and then, immediately +after the bloody Battle of Solferino he suddenly changed front and +declared that the war must cease. Austria yielded Lombardy, but kept +Venice, the last of the possessions for which during more than three +hundred years she had been battling in Italy. The Kingdom of Sardinia +became the Kingdom of Northern Italy. + +The next year (1860) Garibaldi, the lion-like fighter, the enthusiastic +lover of Italy, gathering round him a thousand followers, made an +unexpected attack on Sicily, which was held by the tyrant King of +Naples. With his celebrated "Thousand" he won two remarkable victories. +The Sicilians joined him; the Neapolitans were driven from the island. +Not giving them time to recover, Garibaldi followed to the mainland, +defeated them again, and was master of all Southern Italy. Meanwhile +Victor Emmanuel, marching his troops southward, seized what was left of +the States of the Church. The two conquerors met midway in Italy, and +Garibaldi, grasping his sovereign by the hand, saluted him as King at +last of a united Italy. Only Rome and Venice remained outside the pale, +Rome protected by being in actual possession of the Pope, and, since +France was still Catholic, guarded by French troops from the eager +Italians. The year 1860 had been second only to 1848 in its importance +in changing the outlines of modern Europe. [Footnote: See _The Kingdom +of Italy Established_.] + +Another change, immeasurably vast and still unmeasured in its +consequences, may be dated from 1859, when Charles Darwin gave to the +world his book, the _Origin of Species_. In this he proclaimed the +doctrine of the evolution of all the more complicated forms of life from +simpler forms. The idea, at first resolutely combated on religious +grounds, has gradually received more or less acceptance into the entire +religious fabric, even as were the discoveries of Galileo. [Footnote: +See _Darwin Publishes His Origin of Species_.] + + +DISUNION IN AMERICA + +Yet each and all of these events, important as they were, grew little in +men's minds as the year 1860 drew to its close and revealed in America +the coming of a mightier quarrel. The slavery question, once supposed to +have been settled by the Missouri Compromise, had proved itself +incapable of such settlement. The forward march of democracy had in fact +made slavery an anachronism, outgrown and impossible. Even the Emperor +of Russia saw that, and in 1861 liberated all the serfs within his +territories. [Footnote: See _Emancipation of Russian Serfs_.] In the +United States alone among the great Powers of the world, did slavery +persist. + +In 1854 a new political party, calling itself the Republican, was +formed, having for its main principle opposition to the extension of +slavery into the Territories. [Footnote: See _The Rise of the Republican +Party_.] Other issues might and did complicate the central question, but +it was the slavery issue that inflamed men's minds, made Kansas a +"battle-ground" between settlers from North and South, and sent John +Brown upon his reckless raid. Watching the increasing success of the +Republicans, Southern leaders began to reassert the doctrine of the +right of secession. They said openly that if a Republican president were +elected they would leave the Union. + +And in 1860 a Republican president was elected. Was the long-predicted, +and to most of Europe eagerly desired, disruption of the United States +at hand? Was the break to be accomplished peacefully or in flame and +wrath? The fading year of 1860 left the advancing world of democracy in +panic over the danger to what had been its most successful stronghold. + + +[For the next section of this general survey, see volume XVIII.] + + + + +(1844) INVENTION OF THE TELEGRAPH, Alonzo B. Cornell + + +After the experiments of Franklin that did so much to advance the study +of electrical phenomena, and to suggest practical applications of +electricity, physicists in all countries occupied themselves with +investigations along lines marked out by the American philosopher. In +1749 Franklin devised the lightning-rod. But notwithstanding the labors +of many investigators, it was more than fifty years before any other +practical discovery or invention in electricity was brought into general +use. The first great achievement of the kind was Morse's improvement of +the electric telegraph. That Morse's fellow-countryman, Joseph Henry, +chiefly prepared the way for that triumph, the following account, with +just emphasis, demonstrates. + +Among the European scientists and inventors to whom both Henry and Morse +were indebted was the French electrician, André Marie Ampère +(1775-1836), whose name (ampère) has been given to the practical unit of +electric-current strength. Ampère was the first and is the most famous +investigator in electrodynamics. He also invented a telegraphic +arrangement in which he used the magnetic needle and coil and the +galvanic battery. Others, in the latter part of the eighteenth century +and the earlier years of the nineteenth, devised similar arrangements. +But no strictly electromagnetic apparatus for telegraphic signalling was +put to successful use until 1836, when, in England, Charles Wheatstone, +who is commonly regarded as the first inventor of practical electric +telegraphy, constructed an apparatus whereby thirty signals were +transmitted through nearly four miles of wire. From 1837 to 1843 he had +as an associate William Fothergill Cooke, and the two worked together to +develop the electric telegraph. They afterward quarrelled over their +respective claims to credit, but in 1838-1841 telegraph lines secured by +their patents were set up on the Great Western and two other English +railways. + +Meanwhile other inventors were still working for the same results, in +many parts of the world, and it has been significantly said that "the +electric telegraph had, properly speaking, no inventor; it grew up +little by little." Nevertheless with respect to the distinctive +character of Morse's improvements, and his title to a peculiar place +among those through whose labors the electric telegraph "grew," there +can be no question. + +Alonzo B. Cornell, son of the founder of Cornell University, at one time +Governor of New York, was intimately connected with electrical and +telegraphic affairs for many years; therefore on the subject here +presented he speaks with professional authority. His father was the +first builder of the Morse telegraphs. + + * * * * * + +During the early years of the nineteenth century but slight advance was +made in the development of electrical science, although there were many +persons both here and abroad engaged in experimental work, and there was +considerable increase of literature bearing upon the subject. It was +reserved for another illustrious American to accomplish the next +important and decisive step in the pathway of progress. In 1828 Joseph +Henry, then professor of physics at the Albany Academy, afterward a +professor at Princeton, and subsequently for many years secretary of the +Smithsonian Institution at Washington, made the highly important +discovery that by winding a plain iron core with many layers of +insulated wire, through which the electric current was passed, he could +at pleasure charge and discharge the iron core with magnetic power. Thus +Henry produced the electromagnet which was the beginning of the mastery +by man of the subtle fluid. He also discovered that the intensity and +power of the electric current were materially augmented by increasing +the number of the series of battery plates without increasing the +quantity of metal used in their construction. + +These discoveries of Henry were, beyond all question, the most important +in real and intrinsic value ever made in the progress of electric +science, as they form the solid basis upon which all subsequent +inventors have been enabled to accomplish successful results in their +various fields of endeavor. It is conceded by all familiar with the +history of electrical progress that the name of Professor Joseph Henry +is to be honored and cherished as one of the very foremost of scientific +discoverers of any age or country, and it must remain a cause of sincere +and permanent regret that of all the fabulous wealth that has resulted +from the advancement of electrical science, this modest and unselfish +inventor should have passed hence without ever having realized any +substantial reward for his great work. Not only so, but he was never +awarded the appropriate acknowledgment to which he was so eminently +entitled for the inestimable benefits his discoveries conferred upon his +countrymen and upon the world at large. + +The possibility of utilizing Professor Henry's electromagnet for the +purpose of transmitting intelligence to a distant point was conceived by +still another American, Professor Samuel Finley Breese Morse, of New +York, [Footnote: He was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, April 27, +1791.--ED.] during his passage on board the packet-ship Sully, from +Havre to New York, in the winter of 1832. Incidental discussions between +himself and Doctor Jackson, a fellow-passenger, in reference to recent +electrical improvements on both sides of the Atlantic, led Morse to the +conclusion that intelligence might be instantaneously transmitted over a +metallic circuit to a distant point, and he thereupon determined to +devote himself to the solution of the problem involved. The following +day he exhibited a rough sketch of a plan for recording electric +impulses necessary to convey and express intelligence. He pursued the +subject with great devotion during the remainder of the voyage, and +after arrival in New York began the construction of the necessary +apparatus to accomplish his purpose. + +Morse was by profession a portrait painter of more than ordinary merit, +and was obliged to continue his artistic labors for a livelihood. He was +a graduate of Yale College, where his attention had first been attracted +to electrical experiments. He was thus, in a measure, prepared for +carrying forward the important work he had undertaken, and pursued his +labors with great assiduity. Devoting every spare moment to the pursuit +of his object, which was attained but slowly by reason of his lack of +mechanical skill and ingenuity, not until 1837 had he so far succeeded +in his efforts as to be prepared to make application for letters-patent +to enable him to secure and protect his rights of invention in the +electromagnetic telegraph. + +In explanation of the slow progress of his experimental work, Professor +Morse, in writing to a friend, said: "Up to the autumn of 1837 my +telegraphic apparatus existed in so rude a form that I felt reluctance +to have it seen. My means were very limited, so limited as to preclude +the possibility of constructing an apparatus of such mechanical finish +as to warrant my success in venturing upon its public exhibition. I had +no wish to expose to ridicule the representative of so many hours of +laborious thought. Prior to the summer of 1837 I depended upon my pencil +for subsistence. Indeed, so straitened were my circumstances that in +order to save time to carry out my invention and to economize my scanty +means I had for months lodged and eaten in my studio, procuring food in +small quantities from some grocery, and preparing it myself. To conceal +from my friends the stinted manner in which I lived, I was in the habit +of bringing food to my room in the evenings; and this was my mode of +life for many years." + +After the continuance of this heroic struggle for more than five years, +Morse found himself compelled to seek the aid of more accomplished +mechanical skill than he possessed, to perfect his apparatus, and was +obliged to surrender a quarter interest in his invention in order to +obtain pecuniary aid for this purpose. + +Having thus succeeded in obtaining, at such serious sacrifice, the +requisite financial assistance to enable him to perfect the mechanism +necessary to demonstrate his invention, Professor Morse lost no time in +completing his apparatus and presenting it for public inspection. On +January 6, 1838, he first operated his system successfully, over a wire +three miles long, in the presence of a number of personal friends, at +Morristown, New Jersey. In the following month he made a similar +exhibition before the faculty of the New York University, which was an +occasion of much interest among the scientists of the metropolis. + +Shortly thereafter the apparatus was taken to Philadelphia and exhibited +at the Franklin Institute, where he received the highest commendation +from the committee of science and arts, with a strong expression in +favor of government aid for the purpose of demonstrating the practical +usefulness of the system. + +From Philadelphia, Morse removed his apparatus to Washington, where he +was permitted to demonstrate its operation before President Van Buren +and his Cabinet. Foreign ministers and members of both Houses of +Congress, as well, also, as prominent citizens, were invited to attend +the exhibition, and manifested much interest in the novelty of the +invention. A bill was introduced in Congress making an appropriation of +thirty thousand dollars for the purpose of providing for the erection of +an experimental line of telegraph between Washington and Baltimore, to +illustrate, by practical use, its general utility. The bill was in good +time favorably reported from the committee on commerce, but made no +further progress in that Congress. Similar bills were subsequently +introduced and diligently supported in each succeeding Congress, but it +was not until the very closing hour of the expiring session of 1843 that +the necessary enactment was effected and the appropriation secured. + +The plan of construction devised by Professor Morse for the experimental +line of telegraph to be erected between Washington and Baltimore, under +the Congressional appropriation, provided for placing insulated wires in +a lead pipe underground. This was to be accomplished by the use of a +specially devised plough of peculiar construction, to be drawn by a +powerful team, by which means the pipe containing the electric +conductors was to be automatically deposited in the earth. This +apparatus was entirely successful in operation, and the pipe was thus +buried to the complete satisfaction of all concerned, at a cost very +much lower than the work could have been accomplished in any other +manner. Two wires were to be used to form a complete metallic circuit, +for at that time it was not known, as was shortly afterward discovered, +that the earth could be used to form one-half of the circuit. For +purposes of insulation the wires were neatly covered with cotton-yarn +and then saturated in a bath of hot gum-shellac, but this treatment +proved defective in insulating properties, for when ten miles of line +had been completed the wires were found to be wholly useless for +electric conduction. + +No mode had been devised for the treatment of india-rubber to make it +available for purposes of insulation, and gutta-percha was wholly +unknown as an article of use or commerce in this country. Twenty-three +thousand dollars of the Government appropriation had been expended, and +the work thus far accomplished was an acknowledged failure. Only seven +thousand dollars of the available fund remained unexpended, and this was +regarded as inadequate to complete the undertaking under any other plan. +The friends of the enterprise were in despair, and for some time saw no +other alternative than to apply to Congress for an additional +appropriation. This, however, was regarded as almost hopeless, and the +difficulty of the situation was extremely embarrassing. + +An amusing incident was related of the means used to keep from public +knowledge the desperate situation. Professor Morse finally visited the +scene of activity where the pipe-laying was proceeding, and, calling the +superintendent aside, confided to him the fact that the work must be +stopped without the newspapers finding out the true reason of its +suspension. The quick-witted superintendent was equal to the occasion, +and, starting the ponderous machine, soon managed to run foul of a +protruding rock and break the plough. The newspapers published +sensational accounts of the accident and announced that it would require +several weeks to repair damages. Thus the real trouble was kept from the +public until new plans could be determined upon. + +After long and careful consideration, Professor Morse very reluctantly +decided to erect the wires on poles. This plan was, at first, considered +wholly objectionable, under the apprehension that the structure would be +disturbed by evil-minded persons. It had, however, become manifest that +this was the only mode of construction that could be accomplished within +the remainder of the appropriation, and, finally, upon ascertaining that +pole lines had already been adopted in England, it was determined to +proceed in this manner. The line was thus completed between Washington +and Baltimore about May 1, 1844, and proved to be successful and in +every way satisfactory in its operation. + +Shortly after the completion of the line the National Democratic +Convention, which nominated Polk and Dallas for President and +Vice-President, assembled in Baltimore [May, 1844]. Reports of the +convention proceedings were promptly telegraphed to the capital city, +where the telegraph office was thronged with Members of Congress +interested in the news. These reports created an immense sensation in +Washington and speedily removed all doubts as to the practical success +of the new system of communication. A despatch from the Honorable Silas +Wright, then United States Senator from New York, refusing to accept the +nomination for Vice-President, was read in the National Convention and +produced an extraordinary interest from the fact that very few of the +delegates had ever heard of the telegraph, and it required much +explanation to satisfy them of the genuineness of the alleged +communication. + +Having thus established beyond all reasonable question the practical +utility of the telegraph as a superior means of public and private +communication, Professor Morse and his associates offered their patents +to the United States Government for the very moderate price of one +hundred thousand dollars, with a view of having the system adopted for +general use in connection with the postal establishment. This +proposition was referred to the Postmaster-General for consideration and +report. After due deliberation that officer reported that "Although the +invention is an agent vastly superior to any other ever devised by the +genius of man, yet the operation between Washington and Baltimore has +not satisfied me that, under any rate of postage that can be adopted, +its revenues can be made to cover its expenditures." Under the influence +of this report Congress very naturally declined the offer of the +patentees, and the telegraph was thereupon relegated to the domain of +private enterprise. The result was that the patentees finally realized +for their interests many times the amount of their offer to the +Government. + +During the autumn of 1844 short exhibition lines were erected in Boston +and New York, for the purpose of familiarizing business men of those +cities with the characteristics of the new invention, but they attracted +little attention and the promoters had much cause of discouragement on +account of public indifference. For the purpose of arousing more +attention to the system, appeals were made to the public press for +favorable notice, which were also generally declined. The proprietor of +one of the most prominent and enterprising of the New York daily papers +distinctly refused to encourage the establishment of telegraph lines, +for the reason, as he freely acknowledged, that if the new method of +transmitting intelligence were to come into general use his competitors +could use it as well as himself, and he would therefore be deprived of +his present advantage over them for procuring early news by the use of +an expensive system of special despatch then maintained by his paper. +Two years later he refused to join other papers in receiving the +Governor's message by telegraph from Albany, and was so badly beaten by +his rivals in this instance that his paper was thenceforward one of the +most generous patrons of the telegraph. + +Early in the year 1845 a corporate organization was effected for the +extension of the telegraph from Baltimore to Philadelphia and New York, +under the name of the Magnetic Telegraph Company, for which a special +act of incorporation was obtained from the Legislature of the State of +Maryland. Nearly all of the capital of this company was subscribed by +Washington people. Baltimore and Philadelphia furnished only a few +hundred dollars, while New York contributed nothing. Slow progress was +made toward the construction of the line on account of the difficulty of +obtaining the right of way either upon railways or highways, and it was +not until January, 1846, that the line was completed to the west side of +the Hudson River, which formed an impassable barrier to further progress +for a considerable period. + +No method of insulation had yet been devised that would permit the +operation of an electric conductor under water, and it was doubted +whether a wire could be maintained for a span sufficient to cross the +river overhead. Finally however high masts were erected on the Palisades +near Fort Lee, and on the heights at Fort Washington on the New York +side, and a steel wire was suspended upon them. This plan was +successful, except that occasionally the wire was broken by an +extraordinary burden of sleet in the winter season. This method of +crossing the lower Hudson was continued for more than ten years, when it +was superseded by submarine cables. + +During the year 1846 incorporated companies were formed, under which +telegraph lines were extended from New York to Boston, Buffalo, and +Pittsburg, and within the next three years nearly every important town +in the United States and Canada, from St. Louis and New Orleans to +Montreal and Halifax, was brought into telegraphic communication. Thus, +after fifteen years of struggle with all the pains of poverty, often +lacking even the common necessaries of life, Professor Morse and his +faithful colaborers had the supreme satisfaction, in 1847, of knowing +and realizing that the telegraph system had finally achieved, not only +scientific success, for this had been proven years before, but that +financial success, ample and complete, had come to pay them richly for +all the dark days and wearisome years through which they had passed. + +Once generally established, the telegraph won its way to popular +appreciation very rapidly. It was in harmony with the spirit of the age, +and it was not long before every town of any considerable importance +regarded telegraphic facilities as an indispensable necessity. The small +cost soon induced the construction of rival lines, regardless of the +rights of the patentees, and within a very few years unwise competition +began to bring many lines to a condition of bankruptcy. The weaker +concerns soon passed through the sheriff's hands and found purchasers +only at an extreme sacrifice, at the bidding of the more provident and +conservative proprietors of competing lines. Instead of inducing a more +prudent course, these disastrous results only served to feed the spirit +of rivalry, and general insolvency seemed to threaten the permanent +prosperity of the telegraph business, in consequence of the wild and +reckless competition which appeared to be inherent in its nature. + +This extremely unsatisfactory condition of telegraph rivalry drifted on +from bad to worse until 1854, when, from dire necessity of +self-preservation, a few of the more prudent and far-sighted proprietors +of telegraph property were induced to combine their interests with some +of their competitors and thus avoid the ruinous policy which had been so +rapidly exhausting their vitality. Accordingly the principal telegraph +lines in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and some of the neighboring States +were brought into fraternal relations and formed the nucleus of the +Western Union Telegraph Company. + +The new policy soon brought prosperity in place of waste and +improvidence. Profits were devoted to the purchase of additional lines, +thus enlarging their domain and strengthening their position. Prosperity +increased with rapid strides; and the beneficial effects of extirpating +wasteful rivalry and building up a substantial system with superior +facilities and provident management gave the new organization a +dominating influence among the telegraph companies of America. The same +general policy has been pursued to the present time [1894], and has +resulted in the establishment of a prosperous corporation of magnificent +proportions, carrying on a useful and beneficent business under a +greater number of governmental jurisdictions, great and small, than any +other corporate organization in existence. + +For the development of the telegraph enterprise in America no thanks are +due to the wealthy capitalists. As a rule they would not listen to +suggestions of investing their money in what was contemptuously termed +rotten poles and rusty wires. They wanted something more substantial and +conservative as the basis of their investments. An early pioneer and +builder of telegraph lines, whose name is now held in grateful memory +for deeds of philanthropic beneficence visited the city of Chicago in +1847 to solicit subscriptions to the capital stock of a company then +engaged in construction of the first line of telegraph between that +place and the city of Buffalo. He presented a carefully prepared +prospectus showing an estimated earning capacity of the projected line +of one hundred dollars per day. The merits of the contemplated +enterprise were freely canvassed at a meeting of bankers, at which one +of the most prominent declared that any man who ever expected to see one +hundred dollars per day paid for telegraphing west of Buffalo must be +crazy and unworthy of belief. This oracular declaration prevailed, and +the project was ignominiously rejected by the wise men of Chicago. +Fortunately, citizens of smaller towns, like Ypsilanti, Kalamazoo, South +Bend, Kenosha, and Racine, took a more sensible view of the proposed +enterprise, and the line was built despite the contempt of Chicago +capitalists. Now, however, the men of Chicago pay more than five +thousand dollars a day for telegraphing at rates far lower than would +have been thought possible in that early day. + +The true spirit of enterprise, which has so grandly developed the +resources of our imperial domain, has generally been found to prevail +among people of modest means. Thus, nearly every dollar of capital +contributed toward the establishment of telegraph lines in this country +came from the offerings of people in very moderate circumstances. In +this connection, therefore, it is extremely gratifying to state that +very few enterprises of any kind have returned such generous recompense +for the amount of capital invested as the telegraph and telephone lines +in America. Considering the apparently temporary and short-lived +character of the structures erected for these purposes, it seems +difficult to comprehend the truth of this statement. + +The method of telegraphic communication devised by Professor Morse has +been continued in general use in this country, but instead of requiring +separate wire for each circuit as formerly, six independent circuits are +now operated simultaneously over a single wire by the use of the +sextuplex apparatus. + + + + +(1846) REPEAL OF THE ENGLISH CORN LAWS, Justin McCarthy + + +After the repeal of the corn laws the tariff legislation of Great +Britain was guided by a new policy, that of free trade, and it has been +followed ever since. The reactionary tendencies of Continental Europe +after the fall of Napoleon reached also to England, where they +controlled the conduct of political affairs until Canning, in 1822, +became Secretary for Foreign Affairs. His policy was liberal and did +much in forming the public opinion that at length found voice in +Catholic emancipation (1829), in the Reform Bill (1832), and in the +abolition of slavery in the English colonies (1833). Then followed +important amendments of the poor-laws, extension of local governmental +powers in the towns, improvement of popular education, and other +reforms. + +Through all this gradual progress in liberal government and public +amelioration, the need of another reform had been pointed out by some +thinkers and statesmen, and at last the condition of the country favored +the views of its advocates. The corn laws protected the English +producers by imposing heavy duties on imported grain. At one time these +duties practically prohibited such importation. McCarthy shows how the +laws operated upon the people, and his story of the memorable agitation +for their repeal and of the accomplishment of that object could not have +been better told. + +In 1815 the celebrated Corn Law was passed, which was itself moulded on +the Corn Law of 1670. By the Act of 1815 wheat might be exported upon a +payment of one shilling per quarter customs duty, but the importation of +foreign grain was practically prohibited until the price of wheat in +England had reached eighty shillings a quarter, that is to say, until a +certain price had been secured for the grower of grain at the expense of +all the consumers in this country. It was not permitted to Englishmen to +obtain their supplies from any foreign land, unless on conditions that +suited the English corn-grower's pocket. + +We may perhaps make this principle a little more clear, if it be +necessary, by illustrating its working on a small scale and within +narrow limits. In a particular street in London, let us say, a law is +passed declaring that no one must buy a loaf of bread out of that +street, or even round the corner, until the price of bread has risen so +high in the street itself as to secure to its two or three bakers a +certain enormous scale of profit on their loaves. When the price of +bread has been forced up so high as to pass this scale of profit, then +it would be permissible for those who stood in need of bread to go round +the corner and buy their loaves of the baker in the next street; but the +moment that their continuing to do this caused the price of the baker's +bread in their own street to fall below the prescribed limit, they must +instantly take to buying bread within their own bounds and of their own +bakers again. This is a fair illustration of the principle on which the +corn laws were moulded. The Corn Law of 1815 was passed in order to +enable the landowners and farmers to recover from the depression caused +by the long era of foreign war. It was "rushed through" Parliament, if +we may use an American expression; petitions of the most urgent nature +poured in against it from all the commercial and manufacturing classes, +and in vain. Popular disturbances broke out in many places. The poor +everywhere saw the bread of their family threatened, saw the food of +their children almost taken out of their mouths, and they naturally +broke into wild extremes of anger. In London there were serious riots, +and the houses of some of the most prominent supporters of the bill were +attacked. The incendiary went to work in many parts of the country. At +that time it was still the way in England, as it is now in Russia and +other countries, for popular indignation to express itself in the +frequent incendiary fire. At one place near London a riot lasted for two +days and nights; the soldiers had to be called out to put it down, and +five men were hanged for taking part in it. + +After the passing of the Corn Law of 1815, and when it had worked for +some time, there were sliding-scale acts introduced, which established a +varying system of duty, so that when the price of home-grown grain rose +above a certain figure, the duty on imported wheat was to sink in +proportion. The principle of all these measures was the same. How, it +may be asked, could any sane legislator adopt such measures? As well +might it be asked, How can any civilized nation still, as some still do, +believe in such a principle? The truth is that the principle is one +which has a strong fascination for most persons, the charm of which it +is difficult for any class in its turn wholly to shake off. The idea is +that if our typical baker be paid more than the market price for a loaf, +he will be able in turn to pay more to the butcher than the fair price +for his beef; the butcher thus benefited will be enabled to deal on more +liberal terms with the tailor; the tailor so favored by legislation will +be able in his turn to order a better kind of beer from the publican and +pay a higher price for it. Thus, by some extraordinary process, +everybody pays too much for everything, and nevertheless all are +enriched in turn. The absurdity of this is easily kept out of sight +where the protective duties affect a number of varying and complicated +interests, manufacturing, commercial, and productive. + +In the United States, for example, where the manufacturers are benefited +in one place and the producers are benefited in another, and where the +country always produces food abundant to supply its own wants, men are +not brought so directly face to face with the fallacy of the principle +as they were in England at the time of the Anti-Corn Law League. In +America "protection" affects manufacturers for the most part, and there +is no such popular craving for cheap manufactures as to bring the +protective principle into collision with the daily wants of the people. +But in England, during the reign of the Corn Law, the food which the +people put into their mouths was the article mainly taxed, and made +cruelly costly by the working of protection. + +Nevertheless, the country put up with this system down to the close of +the year 1836. At that time there was a stagnation of trade and a +general depression of business. Severe poverty prevailed in many +districts. Inevitably, therefore, the question arose in the minds of +most men, in distressed or depressed places, whether it could be a good +thing for the country in general to have the price of bread kept high by +factitious means when wages had sunk and work become scarce. An +Anti-Corn-Law association was formed in London, It began pretentiously +enough, but it brought about no result. London is not a place where +popular agitation finds a fitting centre. In 1838, however, Bolton, in +Lancashire, suffered from a serious commercial crisis. Three-fifths of +its manufacturing activity became paralyzed at once. Many houses of +business were actually closed and abandoned, and thousands of workmen +were left without the means of life. Lancashire suddenly roused itself +into the resolve to agitate against the corn laws, and Manchester became +the headquarters of the movement which afterward accomplished so much. + +The Anti-Corn-Law League was formed, and a Free-Trade Hall was built in +Manchester on the scene of that disturbance which was called the +"massacre of Peterloo." The leaders of the Anti-Corn-Law movement were +Richard Cobden, John Bright, and Charles Villiers. Cobden was not a +Manchester man. He was the son of a Sussex farmer. After the death of +his father he was taken by his uncle and employed in his wholesale +warehouse in the city of London. He afterward became a partner in a +Manchester cotton-factory, and sometimes travelled on the commercial +business of the establishment. He became what would then have been +considered a great traveller, distinct, of course, from the class of +explorers; that is, he made himself thoroughly familiar with most or all +of the countries of Europe, with various parts of the East, and with the +United States and Canada. He had had a fair, homely education, and he +improved it wherever he went by experience, by observation, and by +conversation with all manner of men. He became one of the most effective +and persuasive popular speakers ever known in English agitation. He was +not an orator in the highest sense. He had no imagination and little +poetic feeling, nor did genuine passion ever inflame into fervor of +declamation his quiet, argumentative style. But he had humor; he spoke +simple, clear, strong English; he used no unnecessary words. He always +made his meaning plain and intelligible, and he had an admirable faculty +for illustrating every argument by something drawn from reading or from +observation or from experience. He was, in fact, the very perfection of +a common-sense talker, a man fit to deal with men by fair, +straightforward argument, to expose complicated sophistries, and to make +clear the most perplexed parts of an intricate question. He was exactly +the man for that time, for that question, and for the persuasive and +argumentative part of the great controversy which he had undertaken. + +Cobden's chief companion in the struggle was John Bright, whose name has +been completely identified with that of Cobden in the repeal of the Corn +Laws. Bright was an orator of the highest order. He had all the +qualifications that make a master of eloquence. His presence was +commanding; his voice was singularly strong and clear, and had peculiar +tones and shades in it which gave indescribable meaning to passages of +anger, of pity, or of contempt. His manner was quiet, composed, serene. +He indulged in little or no gesticulation, he had a rich gift of genuine +Saxon humor. These two men, one belonging to the middle class of the +North, one sprung from the yeomanry of Southern England, had as a +colleague Charles Villiers, a man of high aristocratic family, of marked +ability, and of indomitable loyalty to any cause he undertook. Villiers +for some years represented the free-trade cause in Parliament, and +Bright and Cobden did its work on the platform. Cobden first, and Bright +after him, became members of the House of Commons, and they were further +assisted there by Milner Gibson, a man of position and family, an +effective debater, who had been at first a Conservative, but who passed +over to the ranks of the Free Traders, and through them to the ranks of +the Liberals or Radicals. + +Every year Villiers brought on a motion in the House in favor of free +trade. For a long time this motion was only one of the annual +performances which, by an apparently inevitable necessity, have to +prelude for many years the practical movement of any great parliamentary +question. Villiers might have brought on his annual motion all his life, +without getting much nearer to his object, if Manchester, Birmingham, +Sheffield, Leeds, and other great northern towns had not taken the +matter vigorously in hand; if Cobden and Bright had not stirred up the +energies of the whole country, and brought clearly home to the mind of +every man the plain fact that reason, argument, and arithmetic, as well +as freedom and justice, were distinctly on their side. + +The Anti-Corn-Law League showered pamphlets, tracts, letters, +newspapers, all over the country. They sent lecturers into every town, +preaching the same doctrine, and proving by scientific facts the justice +of the cause they advocated. These lecturers were enjoined to avoid as +much as possible any appeals to sentiment or to passion. The cause they +had in hand was one which could best be served by the clear statement of +rigorous facts, by the simple explanation of economical truths which no +sophism could darken, and which no opposing eloquence could charm away. +The Melbourne Ministry fell in 1841. It died of inanition: its force was +spent. Sir Robert Peel came into office. Cobden, who then entered the +House of Commons for the first time, seemed to have good hope that even +Peel, strong Conservative though he was, might prove to be a man from +whom the Free Traders could expect substantial assistance. Sir Robert +Peel had, in fact, in those later years expressed again and again his +conviction as to the general truth of the principles of free trade. "All +agree," he said in 1842, "in the general rule that we should buy in the +cheapest and sell in the dearest market." But he contended that while +such was the general rule, yet various economical and social conditions +made it necessary that there should be some distinct exceptions, and he +regarded the corn laws and sugar duties as such exceptions. It may be +mentioned, perhaps, that the corn laws had, in fact, been treated as a +necessary exception by many of the leading exponents of the principles +of free trade. Thus we have to notice the curious fact that while Sir +Robert Peel's own party looked upon his accession to power as a certain +guarantee against any concession to the Free Traders, the Free Traders +themselves were, for the most part, convinced that their cause had +better hope from him than from a Whig Ministry. + +The Free Traders went on debating and dividing in the House, agitating +and lecturing all over the country, for some years without any marked +Parliamentary success following their endeavors. An immense and +overwhelming majority always voted against them in the House of Commons. +They were making progress, and very great progress, but it was not that +kind of advance which had yet come to be decided by a Parliamentary +vote. Probably a keen and experienced eye might have noted clearly +enough the progress they were making. The Whig party were coming more +and more round to the principles of free trade. Day after day some Whig +leader was admitting that the theories of the past would not do for the +present, and, as we have said, the Tory leader had himself gone so far +as to admit the justice of the general principles of free trade. At one +point the main difference between Sir Robert Peel, the leader of the +House of Commons, and Lord John Russell, the leader of the opposition, +seems to have been nothing more than this, that Peel still regarded +grain as a necessary exception to the principle of free trade, and Lord +John Russell was not clear that the time had come when it could be +treated otherwise than as an exception. + +An event, however, over which no parties and no leaders had any control, +suddenly intervened to hasten the action and spur the convictions of the +leaders on both sides, and especially of the Prime Minister. This was +the great famine which broke out in Ireland in the autumn of 1845. The +vast majority of the Irish people had long depended for their food on +the potato alone. The summer of 1845 had been a long season of wet and +cold and sunlessness. In the autumn the news went abroad that the whole +potato crop of Ireland was in danger of destruction, if not already +actually destroyed. Before attention had well been awakened to the +crisis, it was officially announced that more than one-third of the +entire potato crop had been swept away by the disease, and that it had +not ceased its ravages, but, on the contrary, was spreading more and +more every day. + +The general impression of those who could form an opinion was that the +whole of the crop must perish. The Anti-Corn-Law League cried out for +the opening of the ports and the admission of grain and food from all +places. Sir Robert Peel was decidedly in favor of such a course. The +Duke of Wellington and Lord Stanley opposed the idea, and the +proposition was given up. Only three members of the Cabinet supported +Sir Robert Peel's proposals--Lord Aberdeen, Sir James Graham, Mr. Sidney +Herbert. All the others objected, some because they opposed the +principle of the measure, and were convinced that if the ports were once +opened they would never be closed again, which indeed was probably +Peel's own conviction; and others on the ground that no sufficient proof +had yet been given that such a measure was necessary. Lord John Russell, +almost immediately after, wrote a letter from Edinburgh to his +constituents, the electors of the city of London, in which he declared +that something must immediately be done, that it was "no longer worth +while to contend for a fixed duty," and that an end must be put to the +whole system of protection, as "the blight of commerce, the bane of +agriculture, the source of bitter division among classes, the cause of +penury, fever, and crime among the people." This letter produced a +decisive effect on Peel. He saw that the Whigs were prepared to unite +with the Anti-Corn-Law League in agitating for the total repeal of the +corn laws, and he therefore made up his mind to recommend to the Cabinet +an early meeting of Parliament, with the view to anticipate the +agitation which he saw must succeed in the end, and to bring forward, as +a Government measure, some scheme which should at least prepare the way +for the speedy repeal of the corn laws. + +A Cabinet council was held almost immediately after the publication of +Lord John Russell's letter, and Peel recommended the summoning of +Parliament in order to take instant measures to cope with the distress +in Ireland, and also to introduce legislation distinctly intended to +prepare the way for the repeal of the corn laws. Lord Stanley could not +accept the proposition. The Duke of Wellington was himself of opinion +that the corn laws ought to be maintained, but at the same time he +declared that he considered good government for the country more +important than corn laws or any other considerations, and that he was +therefore ready to support Sir Robert Peel's Administration through +thick and thin. Lord Stanley and the Duke of Buccleuch, however, +declared that they could not be parties to any legislation which tended +toward the repeal of the corn-laws. Sir Robert Peel did not feel himself +strong enough to carry out his project in the face of such opposition in +the Cabinet itself, and he tendered his resignation to the Queen. The +Queen sent for Lord John Russell, but Russell's party were not very +strong in the country and they had not a majority in the House of +Commons. Lord John tried, however, to form a ministry without a +Parliamentary majority, and even although Sir Robert Peel would not give +any pledge to support a measure for the immediate and complete repeal of +the corn laws, Lord John Russell was not successful. + +Lord Grey, son of the Lord Grey of the Reform Bill, objected to the +foreign policy of Lord Palmerston, and thought a seat in the Cabinet +ought to be offered to Cobden. Lord John Russell had nothing to do but +to announce to the Queen that he found it impossible to form a ministry. +The Queen sent for Sir Robert Peel again and asked him to withdraw his +resignation. Peel complied, and almost immediately resumed the functions +of First Minister of the Crown. The Duke of Buccleuch consented to go on +with him, but Lord Stanley held to his resolution and had no place in +the Ministry. His position as Secretary of State for the Colonies was +taken by William E. Gladstone. Gladstone, however, did not sit in +Parliament during the eventful session when the corn laws were repealed. +He had sat for the borough of Newark, which was under the influence of +the Duke of Newcastle; and as the Duke of Newcastle had withdrawn his +support from the Ministry, Gladstone did not seek re-election for +Newark, and remained without a seat in the House of Commons for some +months. + +Parliament met on January 22, 1846. The "speech from the throne," +delivered by the Queen in person, recommended the legislature to take +into consideration the necessity of still further applying the principle +on which it had formerly acted, when measures were presented "to extend +commerce and to stimulate domestic skill and industry, by the repeal of +prohibitive and the relaxation of protective duties." In the debate on +the "address" Sir Robert Peel rose, after the mover and seconder had +spoken and the question had been put from the Chair, and at once +proceeded to explain the policy which he intended to adopt. His speech +was long and labored, and somewhat wearied the audience by the elaborate +manner in which he explained how his opinions had been brought into +gradual change with regard to free trade and protection. He made it, +however, perfectly clear that he was now a convert to Cobden's opinions, +and that he intended to introduce some measure which should practically +amount to the abolition of protection. + +It was in this debate, and immediately after Peel had spoken, that +Benjamin Disraeli made his first great impression on Parliament. He had +been in the House for many years, and had made many attempts, had +sometimes been laughed at, had sometimes been disliked, and occasionally +for a moment admired. But it was when he rose immediately after Sir +Robert Peel, and denounced Peel as one who had betrayed his party and +his principles, that he made the first deep impression on the House of +Commons, and came to be considered as a serious and influential +Parliamentary personage. "I am not one of the converts," Disraeli said, +"I am perhaps a member of a fallen party." A new Protection party was +formed almost immediately under the leadership of George Lord Bentinck, +a man of great energy and tenacity of purpose, who had hitherto spent +his life almost altogether on the turf, who had had almost no previous +preparation for leadership or even for debate, but who certainly, when +he did accept the responsible position offered to him, showed a +considerable capacity for leadership and an unwearying attention to his +duties. + +On January 27th Sir Robert Peel explained his financial policy. His +intention was to abandon the sliding scale altogether, to impose for the +present a duty of ten shillings a quarter on corn when the price of it +was under forty-eight shillings a quarter, to reduce that duty by one +shilling for every shilling of rise in price until it reached +fifty-three shillings a quarter, when the duty should fall to four +shillings. This, however, was to be only a temporary arrangement. It was +to last but three years, and at the end of that time protective duties +on grain were to be wholly abandoned. We need not go at any length into +the history of the long debates on Peel's propositions. The discussion +of one amendment, which was in substance a motion to reject the scheme +altogether, lasted for twelve nights. The third reading of the bill +passed the House of Commons on May 15th, by a majority of ninety-eight. + +The bill went up at once to the House of Lords, and at the urgent +pressure of the Duke of Wellington was carried through that House +without any serious opposition. The Duke made no secret of his own +opinions. He assured many of his brother peers that he disliked the +measure just as much as anyone could do, but he insisted that they had +all better vote for it nevertheless. Sir Robert Peel had triumphed, but +he found himself deserted by a large and influential section of the +party he once had led. Most of the great landowners and country +gentlemen of the Conservative party abandoned him. Some of them felt the +bitterest resentment toward him. They believed he had betrayed them, +although nothing could be more clear than that for years he had +distinctly been making it known to the House that his principles +inclined him toward free trade, and thereby leaving it to be understood +that, if opportunity or emergency should compel him, he would be glad to +declare himself a Free Trader, even in the matter of grain. + +Strange to say, the day when the bill was read in the House of Lords for +the third time saw the fall of Peel's Ministry. The fall was due to the +state of Ireland. The Government had been bringing in a coercion bill +for Ireland. It was introduced while the Corn Bill was yet passing +through the House of Commons. The situation was critical. All the Irish +followers of Daniel O'Connell would be sure to oppose the Coercion Bill. +The Liberal party, at least when out of office, had usually made it +their principle to oppose coercion bills if they were not attended with +some promises of legislative reform. The English Radical members, led by +Cobden and Bright, were certain to oppose coercion. If the +Protectionists should join with these other opponents of the Coercion +Bill the fate of the measure was assured, and with it the fate of the +Government. This was exactly what happened. Eighty Protectionists +followed Lord George Bentinck into the lobby against the bill, in +combination with the Free Traders, the Whigs, and the Irish Catholic and +national members. The division took place on the second reading of the +bill on Thursday, June 25th, and there was a majority of seventy-three +against the Ministry. + +The moment after Sir Robert Peel succeeded in passing his great measure +of free trade he himself fell from power. His political epitaph, +perhaps, could not be better written than in the words with which he +closed the speech that just preceded his fall: "It may be that I shall +leave a name sometimes remembered with expressions of good-will in those +places which are the abode of men whose lot it is to labor and to earn +their daily bread by the sweat of their brow--a name remembered with +expressions of good-will when they shall recreate their exhausted +strength with abundant and untaxed food, the sweeter because it is no +longer leavened with a sense of injustice." + +With the fall of the principle of the protection in corn may be said to +have practically fallen the principle of protection in that country +altogether. That principle was a little complicated in regard to the +sugar duties and to the navigation laws. The sugar produced in the West +Indian colonies was allowed to enter that country at rates of duty much +lower than those imposed upon the sugar grown in foreign lands. The +abolition of slavery in the colonies had made labor there somewhat +costly and difficult to obtain continuously, and the impression was that +if the duties on foreign sugar were reduced it would tend to enable +those countries which still maintained the slave trade to compete at +great advantage with the sugar grown in the colonies by that free labor +to establish which England had but just paid so large a pecuniary fine. +Therefore the question of free trade became involved with that of free +labor; at least, so it seemed to the eyes of many a man who was not +inclined to support the protective principle in itself. When it was put +to him, whether he was willing to push the free-trade principle so far +as to allow countries growing sugar by slave labor to drive our +free-grown sugar out of the market, he was often inclined to give way +before this mode of putting the question, and to imagine that there +really was a collision between free trade and free labor. Therefore a +certain sentimental plea came in to aid the Protectionists in regard to +the sugar duties. + +Many of the old Antislavery party found themselves deceived by this +fallacy, and inclined to join the agitation against the reduction of the +duty on foreign sugar. On the other hand, it was made tolerably clear +that the labor was not so scarce or so dear in the colonies as had been +represented, and that colonial sugar grown by free labor really suffered +from no inconvenience except the fact that it was still manufactured on +the most crude, old-fashioned, and uneconomical methods. Besides, the +time had gone by when the majority of the English people could be +convinced that a lesson on the beauty of freedom was to be conveyed to +foreign sugar-growers and slave-owners by the means of a tax upon the +products of their plantations. Therefore, after a long and somewhat +eager struggle, the principle of free trade was allowed to prevail in +regard to sugar. The duties on sugar were made equal. The growth of the +sugar plantations was admitted on the same terms into that country, +without any reference either to the soil from which it had sprung or to +the conditions under which it was grown. + +It had for a long time been stoutly proclaimed that the abolition of +slavery must be the destruction of our West Indian colonies. Years had +elapsed and the West Indian colonies still survived. Now the cry of +alarm was taken up again, and it was prophesied that although they had +got over the abolition of slavery they never could survive the +equalization of the sugar duties. Jamaica certainly had fallen greatly +away from her period of temporary and factitious prosperity. Jamaica was +owned and managed by a class of proprietors who resembled in many ways +some of the planters of the States of America farthest south--of the +States toward the mouth of the Mississippi. They lived in a kind of +careless luxury, mortgaging their estates as deeply as they possibly +could, throwing over to the coming year the superabundant debts of the +last, and only managing to keep their heads above water so long as the +people of England, by favoring them with a highly protective system, +enabled them still to compete against those who grew sugar on better and +more economical plans. The whole island was given over to neglect and +mismanagement. The emancipated negroes took but little trouble to +cultivate the plots of ground they had obtained, and were quite content +if they could scratch enough from the soil to enable them barely to +live. Therefore Jamaica did at a certain time fall far below the level +of her former seeming prosperity. + +The other islands had been better managed. Their estates were less +encumbered by debt, and they passed through each successive crisis +without sustaining any noticeable injury. In most of these islands the +product increased steadily after the emancipation of the slaves. The +negroes then began to work earnestly, and education grew not greatly but +distinctly among all classes. Jamaica, the most unfortunate among the +islands, has been constantly the scene of little outbursts of more or +less serious rebellion. As the late Lord Chief Justice of England +observed in a charge on a famous occasion, "The soil of the island might +seem to have been drenched in blood." But these disturbances, or +insurrections, or whatever they may be called, did not increase in +number after the abolition of slavery and after the equalization of the +sugar duties, but, on the contrary, decreased. During our time only one +considerable disturbance has taken place in Jamaica, and in former years +such tumult was of frequent recurrence. In the West Indies we have, +therefore, the most severe test to which the principle of free trade +could well be subjected. It is not too much to say that in the more +fortunate of these islands it has established its claim, and that even +in the least fortunate no evidence whatever has been given that the +people would have been in any way the better off if the old system had +been retained. + +The navigation laws had, too, a certain external attraction about them +which induced many men, not actually Protectionists, to believe in their +necessity. The principle of the navigation laws was to impose such +restrictions of tariff and otherwise as to exclude foreign vessels from +taking any considerable part in our carrying trade. The law was first +enacted in Oliver Cromwell's day, at a time when the Dutch were rivals +on the sea, and when it was thought desirable to repress, by protective +legislation, the energy of such experienced seamen and pushing traders. +The navigation law was modified by Mr. Huskisson in 1823, but only so +far as to establish that which we now know so well as the principle of +reciprocity. Any nation which removed restrictions from British merchant +marine was favored with a similar concession. The idea also was that +these navigation laws, keeping foreigners out of England's carrying +trade, enabled her to maintain always a supply of sailors who could at +any time be transferred from the merchant marine to the royal navy, and +thus be made to assist in the defence of the country. + +Of course, the ship-owners themselves upheld the navigation laws, on the +plea that, if the trade were thrown open by the withdrawal of +protection, their chances would be gone; that they could not contend +against the foreigners upon equal terms; that their interests must +suffer, and that Great Britain would in the end be a still severer +sufferer, because, from the lack of encouragement given to the native +traders and the sailors, England would one day or another be left at the +mercy of some strong power which, with wiser regulations, would keep up +her protective system and with it her naval strength. + +Nevertheless, the ship-owners and the Protectionists and those who +raised the alarm-cry about England's naval defences were unable to +maintain their sophisms in the face of growing education and of the +impulse given by the adoption of free trade. In 1849 the navigation laws +were abolished. We believe there are very few ship-owners who will not +now admit that the prosperity of their trade has grown immensely, in +place of suffering, from the introduction of the free-trade principle in +navigation as well as in com and sugar. + + + + +(1846) THE DISCOVERY OF NEPTUNE, Sir Oliver Lodge + + +Among modern astronomical discoveries none has been regarded as more +important than that of Neptune, the outermost known planet of the solar +system. It was a rich reward to the watchers of the sky when this new +planet swam into their ken. This discovery was hailed by astronomers as +"the most conspicuous triumph of the theory of gravitation." Long after +Copernicus even, the genius of philosophers was slow to grasp the full +conception of a spherical earth and its relations with the heavenly +bodies as presented by him. So it was also with the final acceptance of +Newton's demonstration of the universal law of gravitation (1685), +whereby he showed that "the motions of the solar system were due to the +action of a central force directed to the body at the centre of the +system, and varying inversely with the square of the distance from it." +After making this discovery, Newton himself, with the aid of others, +especially of the French mathematician Picard, labored for years to +verify it, and still further verification was necessary before it could +be fully comprehended and accepted by the scientific world. The +discovery of the asteroids or small planets revolving in orbits between +those of Mars and Jupiter, aided in confirming the Newtonian theory, +which the discovery of Uranus, by Sir William Herschel (1781), had done +much to establish. + +From the time of Sir William Herschel the science of stellar astronomy, +revealing the enormous distances of the stars--none of them really +fixed, but all having real or apparent motions--was rapidly developed. +The discovery of stellar planets, at almost incalculable distances, +still further changed the aspect of the heavens as viewed by +astronomers, and when the capital discovery of Neptune was made those +men of science were well prepared for studying its nature and +importance. These matters, as well as the simultaneous calculation of +the place of Neptune by Adams and Leverrier, and its actual discovery by +Galle, are set forth by Sir Oliver Lodge in a manner as charming for +simplicity as it is valuable in its summary of scientific learning. + +The explanation by Newton of the observed facts of the motion of the +moon, the way he accounted for precession and nutation and for the +tides; the way in which Laplace explained every detail of the planetary +motions--these achievements may seem to the professional astronomer +equally, if not more, striking and wonderful; but of the facts to be +explained in these cases the general public is necessarily more or less +ignorant, and so no beauty or thoroughness of treatment appeals to it or +excites its imagination. But to predict in the solitude of the study, +with no weapons other than pen, ink, and paper, an unknown and +enormously distant world, to calculate its orbit when as yet it had +never been seen, and to be able to say to a practical astronomer, "Point +your telescope in such a direction at such a time, and you will see a +new planet hitherto unknown to man"--this must always appeal to the +imagination with dramatic intensity, and must awaken some interest in +the dullest. + +Prediction is no novelty in science; and in astronomy least of all is it +a novelty. Thousands of years ago Thales, and others whose very names we +have forgotten, could predict eclipses, but not without a certain degree +of inaccuracy. And many other phenomena were capable of prediction by +accumulated experience. A gap between Mars and Jupiter caused a missing +planet to be suspected and looked for, and to be found in a hundred +pieces. The abnormal proper-motion of Sirius suggested to Bessel the +existence of an unseen companion. And these last instances seem to +approach very near the same class of prediction as that of the discovery +of Neptune. Wherein, then, lies the difference? How comes it that some +classes of prediction--such as that if you put your finger in fire it +will be burned--are childishly easy and commonplace, while others excite +in the keenest intellects the highest feelings of admiration? Mainly, +the difference lies, first, in the grounds on which the prediction is +based; second, in the difficulty of the investigation whereby it is +accomplished; third, in the completeness and the accuracy with which it +can be verified. In all these points, the discovery of Neptune stands +out as one among the many verified predictions of science, and the +circumstances surrounding it are of singular interest. + +Three distinct observations suffice to determine the orbit of a planet +completely, but it is well to have the three observations as far apart +as possible so as to minimize the effects of minute but necessary errors +of observation. When Uranus was found old records of stellar +observations were ransacked with the object of discovering whether it +had ever been unwittingly seen before. If seen, it had been thought, of +course, to be a star--for it shines like a star of the sixth magnitude, +and can therefore be just seen without a telescope if one knows +precisely where to look for it and if one has good sight--but if it had +been seen and catalogued as a star it would have moved from its place, +and the catalogue would by that entry be wrong. The thing to do, +therefore, was to examine all the catalogues for errors, to see whether +the stars entered there actually existed, or whether any were missing. +If a wrong entry were discovered, it might of course have been due to +some clerical error, though that is hardly probable considering the care +spent in making these records, or it might have been a tailless comet, +or possibly the newly found planet. + +The next thing to do was to calculate backward, to see whether by any +possibility the planet could have been in that place at that time. +Examined in this way the tabulated observations of Flamsteed showed that +he had unwittingly observed Uranus five distinct times; the first time +in 1690, nearly a century before Herschel discovered its true nature. +But more remarkable still, Le Monnier, of Paris, had observed it eight +times in one month, cataloguing it each time as a different star. If +only he had reduced and compared his observations, he would have +anticipated Herschel by twelve years. As it was, he missed it. It was +seen once by Bradley also. Altogether it had been seen twenty times. + +These old observations of Flamsteed and those of Le Monnier, combined +with those made after Herschel's discovery, were very useful in +determining an exact orbit for the new planet, and its motion was +considered thoroughly known. For a time Uranus seemed to travel +regularly, and as expected, in the orbit which had been calculated for +it; but early in the present century it began to be slightly refractory, +and by 1820 its actual place showed quite a distinct discrepancy from +its position as calculated with the aid of the old observations. It was +thought at first that this discrepancy must be due to inaccuracies in +the older observations, and they were accordingly rejected, and tables +prepared for the planet based on the newer and more accurate +observations only. But by 1830 it became apparent that it did not +coincide with even these. The error amounted to about 20". By 1840 it +was as much as 90", or a minute and a half. This discrepancy is quite +distinct, but still it is very small; and had two objects been in the +heavens at once, the actual Uranus and the theoretical Uranus, no +unaided eye could possibly have distinguished them or detected that they +were other than a single star. + +The errors of Uranus, though small, were enormously greater than other +things which had certainly been observed; there was an unmistakable +discrepancy between theory and observation. Some cause was evidently at +work on this distant planet, causing it to disagree with its motion as +calculated according to the law of gravitation. If the law of +gravitation held exactly at so great a distance from the sun, there must +be some perturbing force acting on it besides all the known forces that +had been fully taken into account. Could it be an outer planet? The +question occurred to several, and one or two tried to solve the problem, +but were soon stopped by the tremendous difficulties of calculation. + +The ordinary problem of perturbation is difficult enough: Given a +disturbing planet in such and such a position, to find the perturbations +it produces. This was the problem that Laplace worked out in the +_Mécanique Céleste_. + +But the inverse problem--given the perturbations, to find the planet +that causes them--such a problem had never yet been attacked, and by +only a few had its possibility been conceived. Friedrich Bessel made +preparations for solving this mystery in 1840, but he was prevented by +fatal illness. + +In 1841 the difficulties of the problem presented by these residual +perturbations of Uranus excited the imagination of a young student, an +undergraduate of Cambridge--John Couch Adams by name--and he determined +to make a study of them as soon as he was through his _tripos_. In +January, 1843, he was graduated as senior wrangler, and shortly +afterward he set to work. In less than two years he reached a definite +conclusion; and in October, 1845, he wrote to the astronomer-royal, at +Greenwich, Professor Airy, saying that the perturbations of Uranus could +be explained by assuming the existence of an outer planet, which he +reckoned was now situated in a specified latitude and longitude. + +We know now that had the astronomer-royal put sufficient faith in this +result to point his big telescope at the spot indicated and begin +sweeping for a planet, he would have detected it within 1-3/4º of the +place assigned to it by Adams. But anyone in the situation of the +astronomer-royal knows that almost every post brings absurd letters from +ambitious correspondents, some of them having just discovered perpetual +motion, or squared the circle, or proved the earth flat, or discovered +the constitution of the moon or of ether or of electricity; and in this +mass of rubbish it requires great skill and patience to detect such gems +of value as may exist. + +Now this letter of Adams's was indeed a jewel of the first water, and no +doubt bore on its face a very different appearance from the chaff of +which I have spoken; but still Adams was unknown: he had been graduated +as senior wrangler, it is true, but somebody must be graduated as senior +wrangler every year, and a first-rate mathematician is not produced +every year. Those behind the scenes--as Professor Airy of course was, +having been a senior wrangler himself--knew perfectly well that the +labeling of a young man on his taking his degree is much more worthless +as a testimony to his genius and ability than the general public is apt +to suppose. + +Was it likely that a young and unknown man should have solved so +extremely difficult a problem? It was altogether unlikely. Still, he +should be tested: he should be asked for explanations concerning some of +the perturbations which Professor Airy had noticed, and see whether he +could explain these also by his hypothesis. If he could, there might be +something in his theory. If he failed--well, there was an end of it. The +questions were not difficult. They concerned the error of the radius +vector. Adams could have answered them with perfect ease; but sad to +say, though a brilliant mathematician, he was not a man of business. He +did not answer Professor Airy's letter. + +It may seem a pity to many that the Greenwich equatorial was not pointed +at the place, just to see whether any foreign object did happen to be in +that neighborhood; but it is no light matter to derange the work of an +observatory, and alter the plans laid out for the staff, into a sudden +sweep for a new planet on the strength of a mathematical investigation +just received by post. If observatories were conducted on these +unsystematic and spasmodic principles they would not be the calm, +accurate, satisfactory places they are. + +Of course, if anyone had known that a new planet was to be found for the +looking, _any_ course would have been justified; but no one could know +this. I do not suppose that Adams himself felt an absolute confidence in +his attempted prediction. So there the matter dropped. Adams's +communication was pigeonholed, and remained in seclusion eight or nine +months. + +Meanwhile, and quite independently, something of the same sort was going +on in France. A brilliant young mathematician, Urban Jean Joseph +Leverrier, born in Normandy in 1811, held the post of astronomical +professor at the École Polytechnique, founded by Napoleon. His first +published papers directed attention to his wonderful powers; and the +official head of astronomy in France, the famous Arago, suggested to him +the unexplained perturbations of Uranus as a worthy object for his fresh +and well-armed vigor. At once he set to work in a thorough and +systematic way. He first considered whether the discrepancies could be +due to errors in the tables or errors in the old observations. He +discussed them with minute care, and came to the conclusion that they +were not thus to be explained away. This part of the work he published +in November, 1845. + +He then set to work to consider the perturbations produced by Jupiter +and Saturn to see whether they had been accurately allowed for, or +whether some minute improvements could be made sufficient to destroy the +irregularities. He introduced several fresh terms into these +calculations, but none of them of sufficient importance to do more than +partly explain the mysterious perturbations. He next examined the +various hypotheses that had been suggested to account for them. Were +they caused by a failure in the law of gravitation or by the presence of +a resisting medium? Were they due to some large but unseen satellite or +to a collision with some comet? + +All these theories he examined and dismissed for various reasons. The +perturbations were due to some continuous cause--for instance, some +unknown planet. Could this planet be inside the orbit of Uranus? No, for +then it would perturb Saturn and Jupiter also, and they were not +perturbed by it. It must, therefore, be some planet outside the orbit of +Uranus, and in all probability, according to Bode's empirical law, at +nearly double the distance from the sun that Uranus is. Finally he +proceeded to determine where this planet was, and what its orbit must be +to produce the observed disturbances. + +Not without failures and disheartening complications was this part of +the process completed. This was, after all, the real tug of war. Many +unknown quantities existed: its mass, its distance, its eccentricity, +the obliquity of its orbit, its position--nothing was known, in fact, +about the planet except the microscopic disturbance it caused in Uranus, +several thousand million miles away from it. Without going into further +detail, suffice it to say that in June, 1846, he published his last +paper, and in it announced to the world his theory as to the situation +of the planet. + +Professor Airy received a copy of this paper before the end of the +month, and was astonished to find that Leverrier's theoretical place for +the planet was within 1° of the place Adams had assigned to it eight +months before. So striking a coincidence seemed sufficient to justify a +Herschelian sweep for a week or two. But a sweep for so distant a planet +would be no easy matter. When seen through a large telescope it would +still only look like a star, and it would require considerable labor and +watching to sift it out from the other stars surrounding it. We know +that Uranus had been seen twenty times, and thought to be a star, before +its true nature was discovered by Herschel; and Uranus is only about +half as far away as Neptune. + +Neither at Paris nor at Greenwich was any optical search undertaken; but +Professor Airy wrote to ask M. Leverrier the same old question that he +had fruitlessly put to Adams: Did the new theory explain the errors of +the radius vector or not? The reply of Leverrier was both prompt and +satisfactory--these errors were explained, as well as all the others. +The existence of the object was then for the first time officially +believed in. The British Association met that year at Southampton, and +Sir John Herschel was one of its sectional presidents. In his inaugural +address, on September 10, 1846, he called attention to the researches of +Leverrier and Adams in these memorable words: + +"The past year has given to us the new [minor] planet Astræa; it has +done more--it has given us the probable prospect of another. We see it +as Columbus saw America from the shores of Spain. Its movements have +been felt trembling along the far-reaching line of our analysis with a +certainty hardly inferior to ocular demonstration." + +It was nearly time to begin to look for it. So the astronomer-royal +thought on reading Leverrier's paper. But as the national telescope at +Greenwich was otherwise occupied, he wrote to Professor Challis, at +Cambridge, to know whether he would permit a search to be made for it +with the Northumberland equatorial, the large telescope at Cambridge +University, presented to it by one of the Dukes of Northumberland. + +Professor Challis said he would conduct the search himself, and shortly +began a leisurely and dignified series of sweeps around the place +designated by theory, cataloguing all the stars he observed, intending +afterward to sort out his observations, compare one with another, and +find out whether any one star had changed its position; because if it +had it must be the planet. Thus, without giving an excessive time to the +business, he accumulated a host of observations. + +Professor Challis thus actually saw the planet twice--on August 4 and +August 12, 1846--without knowing it. If he had had a map of the heavens +containing telescopic stars down to the tenth magnitude, and if he had +compared his observations with this map as they were made, the process +would have been easy and the discovery quick. But he had no such map. +Nevertheless one was in existence. It had just been completed in that +country of enlightened method and industry--Germany. Doctor Bremiker had +not indeed completed his great work--a chart of the whole zodiac down to +stars of the tenth magnitude--but portions of it were completed, and the +special region where the new planet was expected to appear happened to +be among the portions finished. But in England this was not known. + +Meanwhile Adams wrote to the astronomer-royal several additional +communications, making improvements in his theory, and giving what he +considered nearer and nearer approximations for the place of the planet. +He also now answered quite satisfactorily, but too late, the question +about the radius vector sent to him months before. + +Leverrier was likewise engaged in improving this theory and in +considering how best the optical search could be conducted. Actuated +probably by the knowledge that in such matters as cataloguing and +mapping Germany was then, as now, far ahead of all the other nations, he +wrote in September (the same year that Sir John Herschel delivered his +eloquent address at Southampton) to Berlin. Leverrier wrote to Doctor +Galle, head of the observatory at Berlin, saying to him, clearly and +decidedly, that the new planet was now in or close to such and such a +position, and that if he would point his telescope to that part of the +heavens he would see it; and moreover that he would be able to tell it +from a star by its having a sensible magnitude, or disk, instead of +being a mere point. + +Galle got the letter on September 23, 1846. That same evening he pointed +his telescope to the place Leverrier told him, and saw the planet. He +recognized it first by its appearance. To his practised eye it did seem +to have a small disk, and not quite the same aspect as an ordinary star. +He then consulted Bremiker's great star-chart, the part just engraved +and finished, and, sure enough, no such star was there. Undoubtedly it +was the planet. + +The news flashed over Europe at the maximum speed with which news could +travel at that date (which was not very fast); and by October 1st +Professor Challis and Mr. Adams heard it at Cambridge, and realized that +in so far as there was competition in such a matter England was out of +the race. + +It was an unconscious race to all concerned, however. The French +scientists knew nothing of the search in England. Adams's papers had +never been published; and very annoyed the French were when a claim was +set up in his behalf to a share in this magnificent discovery. As for +Adams himself, we are told that by no word did he show resentment at the +loss of the practical consummation of his discovery. His part in any +controversy that arose was calm and dignified; but for a time his +friends fought a public battle for his fame. It so happened that the +public took a keener interest than it usually takes in scientific +predictions; but the discussion has now settled down. All the world +honors the bright genius and mathematical skill of John Couch Adams, and +recognizes that he first solved the problem by calculation. All the +world, too, perceives clearly the no less eminent mathematical talents +of M. Leverrier, but it recognizes in him something more than the mere +mathematician--the man of energy, decision, and character. + + + + +(1846) THE ACQUISITION OF CALIFORNIA, Henry B. Dawson + + +In the history of the United States, the acquisition of California, +carrying with it that of New Mexico, was a peculiar and unusual event, +and one of immense significance in the expansion and development of the +Republic. Together with the annexation of Texas, it was the most +important result of the Mexican War. The California country, formerly an +indeterminate territory of vast extent, was settled by Spanish +missionaries in the seventeenth century. Their settlements within the +present limits of the State of California date from the first foundation +of San Diego in 1769. In 1822 the entire region called California became +a part of the Mexican Republic, and it remained a possession of Mexico +until the time of the transfer described below. + +At the beginning of 1846 the population of California included, with +about two hundred thousand Indians, six thousand Mexicans and perhaps +two hundred Americans. War against Mexico had been declared in May, +1845, and already General Taylor had won the battles of Palo Alto and +Resaca de la Palma, and had compelled the surrender of Monterey. While +these operations were leading the United States forces to the rapid +accomplishment of their work in Mexico proper, other movements were +undertaken, the execution and outcome of which form the subject of Mr. +Dawson's narrative. In 1848 California and New Mexico were ceded to the +United States. + +Immediately after the opening of hostilities in the valley of the Rio +Grande (March, 1846), among the expeditions which were organized by the +Federal authorities was one to move against and take possession of +California and New Mexico, two provinces in the northern part of the +enemy's country. The command of this expedition had been vested in +General Stephen W. Kearney, and the force under his command had +rendezvoused at Fort Leavenworth; and the most energetic measures had +been adopted to insure its early departure and its ultimate success. + +Having completed all the arrangements, on June 26th the main body of +this expedition had moved from the fort; and after a rapid but +interesting march of eight hundred seventy-three miles, on August 18th +it entered and took possession of Santa Fé, the capital of New Mexico, +the Mexican forces, numbering four thousand, which had been collected to +defend the town, having dispersed, without offering the least +opposition, as it approached. + +While these operations in New Mexico and on the western frontier of the +United States were taking place, Brevet-Captain John C. Frémont, who had +been engaged in explorations on the western slope of the Rocky +Mountains, had also revolutionized the Province of California, and, to +some extent at least, had anticipated the movements of the expedition +commanded by General Kearney. The character of his mission being +scientific and peaceful rather than warlike, he had not had an officer +or soldier of the regular army in his company; and his whole force had +consisted of sixty-two men employed by himself for security against the +Indians and for procuring subsistence in the wilderness and desert +country through which he had passed. For the purpose of obtaining game +for his men and grass for his horses, in an uninhabited part of +California, he had, during the winter of 1845-1846, solicited and +obtained permission from the Mexican authorities to winter in the Valley +of San Joaquin; but he had scarcely established himself before he +received advices that the Mexican commander was preparing to attack him +under the pretext that under the cover of a scientific mission he was +exciting the American settlers in that vicinity to revolt. + +In view of this threatened attack, and for the purpose of repelling it, +Lieutenant Frémont immediately occupied a mountain which overlooked +Monterey--although it was thirty miles from that city--and having +intrenched it and raised the flag of the United States he waited the +approach of the enemy. After remaining there until March 10, 1846, he +retired to the northward, intending to march, by way of Oregon, to the +United States; but about the middle of May, after he had quietly passed +into Oregon, he had received information through Samuel Neal and Levi +Sigler, two hunters who had been sent after him from Lassen's _rancho_, +that the Mexican Governor of California was pursuing him, while the +Indians, by whom he was surrounded, instigated by the enemy, had shown +signs of hostility, and had killed or wounded five of his men. + +Under these circumstances, on June 6, 1846, Lieutenant Frémont had +resolved to turn on his pursuers with the little party under his +command, and to seek safety, not merely in the overthrow of his +pursuers, but in that of the entire Government of Mexico in the Province +of California. Accordingly, on June 11th, Lieutenant Frémont, assisted +by Captain Merritt and fourteen of the settlers, had attacked and +captured an escort of horses destined for General Castro's +troops--Lieutenant Arce, fourteen men, and two hundred horses remaining +in his hands as the trophies of his victory. On the 15th the military +post of Sonoma was surprised, and General Vallejo, Captain Vallejo, +Colonel Greuxdon and several other officers, nine pieces of brass +cannon, two hundred fifty stands of muskets, and other stores and arms +were taken; and on the 25th the military commandant of the Province, who +had moved toward the post with a heavy force to retake it, was attacked +by Lieutenant Frémont and twenty men, and completely routed. Having thus +cleared that part of the Province north of the Bay of San Francisco of +the enemy, it is said that on July 5th Captain Frémont had assembled the +American settlers at Sonoma, addressed them upon the dangers of their +situation, and recommended a declaration of independence and war on +Mexico as the only remedy; and that the hardy frontiersmen promptly +accepted the proposal and raised the flag of independent California--a +bear and a star on a red ground. + +While these revolutionary movements were destroying the power of Mexico +in the interior of the Province of California, and the expedition under +General Kearney--ignorant of the fact that the work had been done +already--was approaching its eastern borders for the same purpose, the +naval force of the United States in the Pacific, under Commodore Sloat, +had been assisting in the work of conquest. Having heard of the opening +of hostilities on the Rio Grande, the Commodore--then at +Mazatlan--hastened with the Savannah to Monterey in California, where he +arrived on July 2d, and on the 7th he took possession of the town +without opposition; the custom-house was seized, the American flag +raised, and California declared to be "henceforward a part of the United +States." + +Within a few days intelligence of the action of Commodore Sloat was +received by the revolutionary leaders at Sonoma; and a battalion of +mounted riflemen which had been organized among them was immediately +moved to Monterey, the flag of the United States was substituted for the +"bear and star," and the authority of the Commodore was immediately +recognized. This battalion of mounted riflemen on its arrival at +Monterey, July 23, 1846, was mustered into the service of the United +States by Commodore Stockton, who had succeeded Commodore Sloat in +command of the squadron--Captain Frémont being appointed its commandant, +and Lieutenant A. H. Gillespie, of the Marines, its second officer--and +it was immediately despatched on the sloop-of-war Cyane to San Diego for +the purpose of cutting off the retreat of General Castro, of the Mexican +service, who had encamped and fortified his position near Ciudad de los +Angeles, while the Commodore with his sailors--who landed from the +Congress at San Pedro--moved against him in front. The expedition was +eminently successful, as the Mexicans on the approach of the Commodore +immediately evacuated their camp and fled in the greatest +confusion--although most of the principal officers were subsequently +captured--and, on August 13th, the Ciudad de los Angeles was occupied, +again without opposition, by the American troops and seamen, and the +conquest of California was apparently completed. + +A short time afterward Commodore Stockton appointed Captain Frémont +Governor of the Territory into which, by the proclamation of Commodore +Sloat, the Province had been transformed; while Captain Gillespie was +left, with nineteen men, in possession of Los Angeles; Lieutenant +Talbot, of the Topographical Engineers, with nine men, was left at Santa +Barbara; and, with his squadron, Commodore Stockton proceeded to San +Francisco; while Governor Frémont, on September 8th, also moved to +Monterey. + +The main body had no sooner left Los Angeles than the Californians--who +before the departure of the Commodore and the Governor had held secret +meetings for the purpose--rose in arms for the expulsion of the invaders +of their country. Indeed an attempt appears to have been intended before +the Governor left the city; but, by timely precautions, it had been +prevented; although the purpose and determination still continued and +were called into requisition at a more convenient season. The necessary +preparations having been made for that purpose under the directions of +José Antonio Carrillo, a professed conspirator of that vicinity, at an +early hour on the morning of September 23d, the quarters of Captain +Gillespie were attacked by Cerbulo Varela--a metamorphosed captain under +Governor Frémont--at the head of sixty-five men, under cover of a thick +fog. The morning was auspicious for such purposes, yet the Captain was +not surprised; and the twenty-one rifles which he controlled were +quickly brought to bear on the assailants, who retired soon afterward +with three of their number killed and several wounded; and at daylight +the remainder were driven from the town, with the loss of several taken +prisoners, by a few men under Lieutenant Hensley, and Doctor Gilchrist, +of the navy. + +The insurgents who were thus expelled from the city formed a nucleus +around which the disaffected gathered; and as the party gained strength +day by day, it harassed the little garrison and killed one of its +number. There was but little concert of action in its ranks, however; +and as the rival aspirants to power struggled for authority, while the +numbers rapidly increased, the efficiency of the insurgents was but +slightly increased. At length, in a spirit of compromise, Captain +Antonio Flores was urged to take the command of the party, and +reluctantly accepted it; and he soon found himself at the head of six +hundred men armed with lances, _escopetas_, and a brass six-pounder, +light and well mounted. + +In the mean time the little garrison had found an old honeycombed iron +six-pounder, and had drilled out the spike, cleaned and mounted it, and +by melting the lead pipes of a distillery had provided--unknown to the +insurgents--thirty rounds of ball and grape for it. Two other pieces +having been added to this, on the following day, the little garrison and +its gallant commander resolved to die rather than surrender, +notwithstanding the extreme efforts which had been made to strengthen +its position, and the great fatigue which was incident thereto. To +render his little party still more secure, however, on September 27th +Captain Gillespie withdrew his command from his quarters in the city and +occupied a height which commanded it, when he strengthened his position +and prepared for an obstinate defence. + +No sooner had this movement been effected than Captain Flores sent Don +Eulogeo Celis to inquire "on what terms Captain Gillespie would +surrender the city"; and that officer, after consulting with his +subordinates, answered that if the enemy would consent that he should +march out of the city with the honors of war, colors flying and drums +beating; that he should take everything with him; that he should be +furnished with means for transporting his baggage and provisions, at his +own expense; and that the enemy should not come within a league of his +party while on its line of march to San Pedro, he would accept those +terms, and no others would be considered; and Captain Flores should be +held responsible for any damage which might ensue, in case they were +rejected. After some negotiations these terms were offered by Captain +Flores and accepted by Captain Gillespie; and, on September 29th, the +garrison began its march; reached San Pedro on the same evening, and on +October 4th embarked on the Vandalia, after spiking its three old +guns--an exploit which, when the circumstances under which Captain +Gillespie's force, the strength of his opponent, and the temper of the +people among whom he moved are taken into consideration, may well be +ranked as one of the most brilliant feats of that remarkable campaign. + +While these difficulties were surrounding Captain Gillespie at Los +Angeles, Lieutenant Talbot, at Santa Barbara with his nine men, was not +less dangerously situated; and when the former had made terms with the +insurgents, Manuel Garpio with two hundred men moved against Lieutenant +Talbot, surrounded the town, and demanded his surrender, offering two +hours for his deliberation. As the men had resolved that they would not +give up their arms, and as the barracks were untenable with so small a +force, the Lieutenant resolved to abandon the town and push for the +hills; and, strange to say, he marshalled his men and marched out of the +town without opposition--"those who lay on the road retreated to the +main force, which was on the lower side of the town." + +Having reached the hills, he encamped, and remained there eight days, +when the Californians endeavored to rout him out, but were repulsed with +the loss of a horse. The insurgents then offered him his arms and +freedom if he would engage to remain neutral in the anticipated +hostilities, but "he sent word back that he preferred to fight." They +next built fires about him and burned him out; but in doing so they did +not capture or injure him, and he pushed through the mountains for +Monterey; and after a month's travel, in which he endured unheard-of +hardships and suffering, he reached that place in safety. + +Intelligence of the insurrection having reached Commodore Stockton at +San Francisco and Lieutenant-Colonel Frémont at Sacramento, both took +immediate steps to check its progress and to punish the offenders. In +conformity with the Commodore's orders Lieutenant-Colonel Fremont +hastened to San Francisco, whence he embarked, with one hundred sixty +men, on the ship Sterling, for Santa Barbara, to which port the frigate +Savannah (Captain Mervine) had previously been ordered; while, on the +same day, the Commodore in person sailed for the same port in the +Congress. + +The latter vessel reached San Pedro on October 6th, and at sunrise on +the 7th Captain Mervine landed with his seamen and marines; and after +being joined by Captain Gillespie and his brave-hearted little party, he +found himself at the head of three hundred ten men, "as brave and as +valiant as ever were led to battle upon any field." At eight o'clock the +party commenced its march toward Los Angeles, Captain Gillespie being in +advance, and when the column reached the hills of Palo Verde the +insurgents showed themselves and opened a fire with their _escopetas_. +The march was rapid; and the jolly tars, unused to such extended +journeys, appear to have suffered from its effects; in consequence of +which, although the enemy gradually fell back before the advancing +column, between one and two o'clock, when near the Rancho de los +Domingos, fourteen miles from San Pedro, it became necessary to halt and +encamp for the night. + +As may have been expected, the sailors and marines were ashore, and the +strict discipline which "the deck" had inculcated appears to have been +left on board the frigate. As a necessary consequence the camp displayed +but little of the order which such a locality should have insured; and +many and marvellous were the adventures of that night; while, on the +other hand, the enemy profited by the delay, by the moral effect of the +disorder with which the march had been conducted, and by the entire +absence of any artillery. + +On the following morning at daylight the column was again put in motion; +and with Captain Gillespie's men in front, in still greater disorder +than on the preceding day, it moved toward Los Angeles, twelve miles +distant. It had marched only three miles, when, posted behind a small +stream which intersected the line of march, the advance of the +insurgents--seventy-six men, with a small fieldpiece, under José Antonio +Carrillo--was discovered in front; and, as the column approached, a fire +was opened on it, which was answered with a characteristic shout. The +volunteers--Captain Gillespie's command--pressed forward; and by taking +advantage of the neighboring shelter they drove the enemy and compelled +him to abandon his fieldpiece; but before it could be reached and taken +possession of, Captain Mervine gave orders to withdraw. With great +indignation, therefore, the volunteers discontinued the action, and +after picking up his killed and wounded--harassed by the enemy who +pressed after the column, and covered by the volunteers and sixteen +marines, under Captain Gillespie--Captain Mervine slowly and sadly fell +back to San Pedro, where he arrived about dark on the same day, +"Thirteen noble tars were buried on the island in front of San Pedro," +the victims of this badly managed expedition. + +On October 23d the Commodore reached San Pedro--Lieutenant-Colonel +Frémont meanwhile having returned to Monterey--and on the 31st he sailed +for San Diego, which had been invested by the insurgents and needed +assistance. He reached that port a few days afterward; and, with the +assistance of Captain Gillespie's command, the besiegers were repelled, +and a fort was erected to protect the town from similar troubles in +future. + +Strenuous efforts were made to obtain horses for the use of the troops, +with some degree of success; and Commodore Stockton sailed toward San +Pedro again. During this temporary absence of the Commodore the +insurgents appear (on November 18, 1846) to have moved against San Diego +a second time, and were again driven back by Captain Gillespie and the +volunteers and marines under his command; and on December 3d a messenger +came into the town bearing a letter from General Kearney, apprising the +Commodore of his approach, and expressing a wish that a communication +might be opened with him that he might be informed of the state of +affairs in California. + +It appeared that after the General had taken Santa Fé (on October 1st) +he had moved from that city with the regular cavalry which he had +brought there. Soon afterward (October 7th) he had reduced his force to +one hundred men--sending the remainder back to Santa Fé--and after an +interesting march overland, on December 3, 1846, he had reached Warner's +_rancheria_, the outpost of civilization in California. From there a +letter had been despatched to San Diego by Mr. Stokes, an Englishman who +lived in a neighboring _rancheria_; and on the 4th the command had moved +fifteen miles nearer to the city. + +On the receipt of General Kearney's letter, Commodore Stockton +despatched Captain Gillespie to meet him, with a letter of welcome. The +Captain was accompanied by Lieutenant Beale, Midshipman Duncan, ten +seamen, Captain Gibson's company of riflemen (twenty-five men), and a +fieldpiece; and on the 5th he reached the General's camp; when, having +learned on his way that the insurgents were encamped at San Pasqual, +nine miles from the camp, Lieutenant Hammond was sent out by General +Kearney to reconnoitre the enemy's position. + +At a very early hour on the 6th the troops were put in motion, Captain +Johnston, with twelve dragoons, forming the advance-guard; the main body +of the General's party, under Captain Moore, following next; after which +moved Captain Gillespie, with Captain Gibson and his small company; and +Lieutenant Davidson, with the General's howitzers brought up the rear. +When the column had reached a hill which overlooked the valley of the +San Pasqual, the insurgents' encampment, it was halted, and the General +gave the final orders to his command: "One thrust of the sabre is worth +a dozen cuts; and depend upon them more than upon the carbines and +rifles." Without further delay the column advanced down the hill; and as +soon as Captain Johnston had struck the plain with his twelve dragoons, +having mistaken the purport of an order from the General, he uttered a +yell, and, without waiting for the support of the main body, dashed on +the heavy ranks of the enemy, falling a victim of his own indiscretion. + +The main body hastened, by a flank movement down the hill, to support +the charge of the advance, and received the enemy's fire from an Indian +village on its right flank; but the enemy waited to do no further +mischief, and fled from the charge of the advance before the line could +be formed. Perceiving the defection of the enemy, Captain Moore, with a +portion of his command, pursued the fugitives down the right of the +valley, while Captain Gillespie, with his volunteers, did the same on +the left side--the latter taking prisoner Pablo Beja, the insurgents' +second officer. In this pursuit, however, the ranks of the Americans +were greatly broken; and as the Mexicans far outnumbered them, they soon +afterward made a stand, using their lances with good effect. Captain +Moore fell, pierced in the breast by nine lances; the General was +severely wounded, and his life was saved, from an attack on his rear, by +a ball from Lieutenant Emory. Captain Gillespie was attacked by seven +Californians, received three wounds, and saved himself with great +difficulty; Captain Gibson received two wounds; Lieutenant Hammond +received nine lance wounds in the breast, and many others were severely +injured. For five minutes the enemy held the ground; when, the main body +of the Americans having come up, he again turned and fled. + +In this spirited affair about eighty Americans were engaged; while of +the Californians there is said to have been one hundred sixty, under +Andreas Pico. Of the former, Captains Moore and Johnston, Lieutenant +Hammond, and sixteen men were killed; and General Kearney, Captains +Gillespie and Gibson, Lieutenant Warner, and eleven men were wounded; +while of the latter it is said twenty-eight were killed and wounded. + +The dead were buried as soon as night closed in; the wounded were +properly attended to by the single surgeon who was with the party; and +ambulances were prepared for their conveyance to San Diego, thirty-nine +miles distant; and on the morning of the 7th the order to march was +given--the column taking the right-hand road over the hills, and leaving +the River San Bernardo to the left--the enemy retiring as it advanced. A +proper regard for the comfort of the wounded compelled the column to +move slowly, and it was afternoon before it reached the San Bernardo +_rancheria_ (Mr. Snook's). After a short halt at that place the column +moved down into the valley; and immediately afterward the hills on the +rear of the column (around the _rancheria_) were covered with +Californian horsemen, a portion of whom dashed at full speed past the +Americans to occupy a hill which commanded the route of the latter, +while the remainder of the party threatened the rear of the column. +Thirty or forty of the enemy quickly occupied the hill referred to; and +as the column came up six or eight Americans filed off to the left, and, +under Lieutenant Emory, charged up the hill, when the Californians +delivered their fire and fled, five of their number having been killed +or wounded by the rifles of the assailants. + +The wounded having been removed with great difficulty, the cattle having +been lost, and the danger of losing the sick and the packs being great, +the General determined to halt at that place and await the arrival of +reinforcements, for which messengers had been sent to San Diego on the +morning of the 6th. Accordingly the Americans occupied the high ground +on which the action had been fought, bored holes for water, killed their +fattest mules for meat, and awaited the arrival of their friends, until +the morning of the 11th, when they were joined by one hundred seamen and +eighty marines, under Lieutenant Gray, who had been sent out to meet +them by Commodore Stockton; and, on the afternoon of the 12th, the +combined parties entered the town in safety. + +At this time commenced that memorable conflict between the two +commanders--General Kearney and Commodore Stockton--respecting the chief +command, which subsequently created so much trouble in the American +ranks and throughout the country. Commodore Stockton appears, however, +to have retained the authority; and, having organized a force +sufficiently strong to warrant the undertaking, and General Kearney +having accepted an invitation to accompany the expedition, on December +29th he marched from San Diego, with two officers and fifty-five +privates (dragoons, two officers and forty-five seamen acting as +artillerymen; eighteen officers and three hundred seventy-nine seamen +and marines acting as infantry; six officers, and fifty-four privates), +volunteers, and six pieces of artillery, against the main body of the +insurgents, near Los Angeles. The command appears to have been given, at +his own request, to General Kearney; and as the wagon train was heavily +laden, the progress of the column was very slow--the expedition reaching +the Rio San Gabriel on January 8, 1847--although the enemy had offered +no opposition to its progress even in passes where a small force could +have effectively kept it back. At this place, however, he had made a +stand to dispute the passage of the river; and here the second action +was fought between the Americans and the Californians. + +The Rio San Gabriel, at the spot where this action was fought, is about +one hundred yards wide, the current about knee-deep, flowing over a +quicksand bottom. The left bank, by which the Americans approached, is +level; that on the right is also level for a short distance back, but +beyond this narrow plain a bank fifty feet in height commands the ford +and the intervening flat, while both banks are fringed with a thick +undergrowth. On this bank, directly in front of the ford, four pieces of +artillery were posted, supported on either flank by strong bodies of +cavalry, while on the slope of the hill and the flat in front were +posted the sharpshooters. + +Against this position the American column moved; the second division in +front, with the first and third divisions on the right and left flanks; +the cattle and the wagon train moved next; the volunteer riflemen and +the fourth division brought up the rear. As the head of the column +approached the bank of the river the enemy's sharpshooters opened a +scattering fire; and the second division was ordered to deploy as +skirmishers, cross the river, and drive the former from the thicket; +while the first and third divisions covered the flanks of the train, +and, with it, followed in the rear. When this line of skirmishers had +reached the middle of the stream and was pressing forward toward the +opposite bank, the enemy brought his artillery to bear, "and made the +water fly with grape and round shot"; and the American fieldpieces were +immediately dragged across the river and placed in counter-battery on +the right bank in opposition to those of the enemy. The fire of the +Americans appears to have caused considerable confusion in the ranks of +the insurgents; and under its cover the wagon train and cattle, with +their guard, passed the river, during which time the enemy attacked its +rear and was repelled. + +Having safely crossed the river the American column appears to have +deployed under cover of the high ground--the Californian grape and round +shot rattling over the heads of the men--and the enemy immediately +charged on both its flanks simultaneously, dashing down the slope with +great spirit. With great coolness the second division was thrown into +squares, and after a round or two drove off the enemy from the left +flank; the first division received a similar order, but as the +assailants on the right hesitated and did not come down as far as their +associates on the opposite flank, the order was countermanded, and the +division was ordered to charge up the hill, where the enemy's main body +was supposed to be posted. With great coolness this movement was +executed and the heights were gained, but there was no enemy in sight. +He had abandoned his position, and although he pitched his camp on the +hills in view of the Americans, when morning came he had moved still +farther back. + +The strength of the Americans in this action (the action of the Rio San +Gabriel) had been shown already; that of the Californians was about six +hundred, with four pieces of artillery. The loss of the former was one +man killed and nine men wounded; that of the enemy is not known. + +On the following morning (January 9, 1847) the American column resumed +its march over the Mesa--a wide plain which extends from the Rio San +Gabriel to the Rio San Fernando--surrounded by reconnoitring parties +from the enemy; and when about four miles from Los Angeles the enemy was +discovered on the right of the line of march, awaiting its approach. +When the column had come abreast of the enemy the latter opened fire +from his artillery on its right flank, and soon afterward deployed his +force, making a horseshoe in front of the American column, and opening +with two pieces of artillery on its front while two nine-pounders +continued their fire on the right. + +After stopping about fifteen minutes to silence the enemy's +nine-pounders the column again moved forward; when, by a movement +similar to that employed on the Rio San Gabriel the day before, two +charges were made simultaneously on its left flank and on its right and +rear. Contrary to the positive instructions of the officers, in the +former of these charges the enemy was met with a fire at long distance; +yet, although he had not come within a hundred yards of the column, +several of his men were knocked out of their saddles, and a round of +grape, which was immediately sent after him, completely scattered his +right wing. The charge on the right and the rear of the column fared +little better; and the entire force of the insurgents was withdrawn. + +The strength of both parties was probably as on the preceding day at the +Rio San Gabriel; the loss of the Californians is not known; that of the +Americans was Captain Gillespie, Lieutenant Rowan, and three men +wounded. The troops encamped near the field of battle; and on the +following morning (January 10, 1847), the enemy surrendered, when the +city of Los Angeles was occupied by the Americans without further +opposition. + +"This was the last exertion made by the sons of California for the +liberty and independence of their country," say the Mexican historians, +"and its defence will always do them honor; since, without supplies, +without means or instructions, they rushed into an unequal contest, in +which they more than once taught the invaders what a people can do who +fight in defence of their rights. The city of Los Angeles was occupied +by the American forces on January 10th, and the loss of that rich, vast, +and precious part of the Mexican territory was consummated." + + + + +(1847) THE FALL OF ABD-EL-KADER, Edgar Sanderson + + +This great Mahometan was an Arab chief whose heroic conduct as leader of +the Arabs in their wars against the French in Algeria (1832-1847) gave +him a place among the eminent patriot-soldiers and statesmen of the +nineteenth century. In 1843 Marshal Soult declared that Abd-el-Kader was +one of the three great men then living; the two others also being +Mahometans. The final course and fall of this man, whose name means +"Servant of the Mighty God," is itself an important concern of history, +without regard to its effect upon the relations of empire. After the +French, provoked by the conduct of Hasan, Dey of Algeria, had occupied +Algiers, his capital, in 1830, a new government was set up in France, +Louis Philippe ascending the throne in place of the expelled Charles X. +At the time of this revolution in France the soldiers of Charles had +already overrun a great part of Algeria; but they had not subdued the +country, and their absolute dominion extended only a little beyond the +capital itself. The French commander fortified his territory, but had to +recruit his garrisons from among the natives. In 1833 Abd-el-Kader +raised the standard of the Prophet, the Arabs rallied to his call, and +for several years he carried on a stubborn war against the French, whom +in 1835 he signally defeated. + +In 1836 the Arab leader, now Sultan, again fought the invaders in +several severe engagements on the Tafna River. In these affairs the +advantage lay with the Arab. In June, 1836, General Bugeaud was sent to +command the French forces, and he proved to be the strongest opponent +that Abd-el-Kader had met. There was more fighting on the Tafna; it was +indecisive, and in May, 1837, a treaty, known as the Treaty of the +Tafna, was concluded, General Bugeaud having received instructions +either to make peace with Abd-el-Kader or to subdue him. + +The story of the Arab hero from this point in his career is told by +Sanderson, the faithful commemorator of great nineteenth-century +patriots, a high authority on modern Africa. + +The famous Treaty of the Tafna, concluded between Abd-el-Kader and +Bugeaud, was a triumph for the Arab Sultan. With the consent of all the +great sheiks, the leaders of cavalry contingents, the venerable +Marabouts, and the most distinguished warriors of the Province of Oran, +the Sultan, not acknowledging the sovereignty of France, but ceding to +her a limited portion of the Provinces of Oran and Algiers, reserved the +free exercise of their religion for all Arabs dwelling on French +territory. He undertook to supply the French army with a large quantity +of corn and oxen and to confine the commerce of the Regency to French +ports. In return he received the administration of the larger part of +the Provinces of Oran and Algiers, and the whole of Tittery; the +important right of buying powder, sulphur, and weapons in France; and +freedom of trade between the Arabs and the French. In ceding the +Province of Tittery, Bugeaud had violated the strict orders of the +French Government, alleging in excuse to the Minister of War that any +other arrangement was "impossible." The treaty, in fact, confined the +French to a few towns on the seacoast, with small adjacent territories. +All the fortresses and strongholds in the interior were left in the +hands of Abd-el-Kader. He was the possessor of two-thirds of Algeria, +and he appeared before the world as the friend and ally of France. + +The treaty was held by the French Government to be a high stroke of +policy, converting an enemy into an ally. The French people regarded it +as a humiliating surrender of French territory to a rival power. It was +the culminating point of Abd-el-Kader's career. + +During the year 1839 the Sultan was engaged in the work of a statesman, +legislator, administrator, and reformer, displaying wonderful activity, +enterprise, vigor, and intellectual power as the founder of an empire +which, for the happiness of Algeria, was to be too short-lived. After +the Tafna Treaty he had received a magnificent present of arms from +Louis Philippe, King of the French, and, as a man who had subdued, +either by arms or by persuasive eloquence, the hardy, high-spirited +Kabyles he stood high in the estimation of his Moslem fellow-rulers in +Morocco and Egypt, Tripoli and Tunis, and of the _ulemas_, or bodies of +learned doctors in divinity and law, at Alexandria and Mecca, who +watched with joy, and with ardent expectation of yet higher things, the +career of one who seemed destined to revive the pristine glories of +Islam. The great Sultan, in order to consolidate his power both against +the French and over the Arabs, constructed a number of forts on the +limits of the Tell at Sebdou, on the west; at Saida, south of Tlemsen; +at Tekedemt, south of Mascara; at Boghar, south of Miliana; to the south +of Medea, and to the southeast of Algiers. Tekedemt, an old Roman town +about sixty miles southeast of Oran, was designed to be the capital, as +a great centre of commerce between the Tell and the Sahara. + +The first stone of the new city and fortress had been laid by the Sultan +in May, 1836; and as the place grew, a population of settlers from +Mascara, Mostaganem, and other towns poured in. Large stores of warlike +munitions were formed, and a factory, worked by mechanics from Paris on +liberal wages, turned out eight new muskets a day. A mint of silver and +copper coins was established. The defences carried twelve cannon and six +mortars. A French observer, who was a prisoner at the time when the +Sultan was personally directing the works at Tekedemt, describes his +simple costume, like that of a laborer; his large tall hat, plaited with +palm-leaves; his "incomparable grace" and "fascinating smile" as he +saluted the man who was rather a guest than a captive. + +The reforms of Abd-el-Kader included a regular police, schools, and +local tribunals of justice. All the chief towns had factories conducted +by Europeans, working in brass and iron, cotton and wool. The army +contained the finest irregular cavalry in the world, amounting, with all +the contingents from the tribes, to about sixty thousand men, only a +third of whom, however, were ever assembled for any single military +operation. His regular force comprised eight thousand infantry, two +thousand cavalry, twenty field-guns, and two hundred forty artillerymen. +His great ideal embraced the making the Arabs into one nation; the +recall of the whole people to a strict observance of religious duties; +the inspiring them with true patriotism; the calling forth of all their +capabilities for war, for commerce, for agriculture, and for mental +improvement; and the crowning of the whole by the impress of European +civilization. In laying the foundation for this mighty work, he had +already overcome vast difficulties by means of wonderful enterprise, +activity, and vigor. His intellectual greatness had caused him to shine +as a warrior, diplomatist, orator, and statesman. The Provinces of Oran +and Tittery and the plains of the Northern Sahara had been won by his +military prowess. + +A still nobler triumph in the exhibition of moral power was beheld in +his dealings with the region called Great Kabylia, the superb range of +the Djurjura Mountains extending eastward from Algiers. The hardy +Kabyles of that territory had remained unsubdued amid the changing +governments which had risen and fallen around them. As independent +little republics, bound together by the most exalted spirit of freedom, +they had ever preserved their usages, customs, and laws. In September, +1839, Abd-el-Kader, attended by only fifty horsemen, suddenly appeared +among them. Thousands gathered around his tent from the valleys and +fastnesses. He addressed them in a stirring and argumentative harangue, +pointing out union under his standard as the only safeguard against +French conquest. With loud shouts they accepted his faithful caliph, Ben +Salem, as their chief in war, and agreed to pay the regular imposts and +to go forth to the Djehad. For thirty days the Sultan made a progress +through the country, everywhere received with joy and enthusiasm as a +venerated _hadji_ and marabout, as a teacher of the law, as a man of +pious life, as a renowned warrior and an eloquent preacher. We cannot +dwell here on his educational and moral reforms, his earnest efforts to +enforce the teaching of the _Koran_, which was his guide in his public +and private life. His beneficent intentions were all to be frustrated by +the ambition of a European nation which was to signally fail, not in the +work of conquering Abd-el-Kader, but in turning her conquest to good +account. + +Hastily drawn treaties are a prolific source of war. The Treaty of the +Tafna was a flagrant example of this class of diplomatic documents. +There were two drafts: one in Arabic, with the Sultan's seal; the other +in French, with Bugeaud's. The drafts were not carefully compared. The +limits of territory assigned to each of the parties were not made clear. +One instance of the lack of identity in the two forms of the instrument +will suffice. The French form declared that Abd-el-Kader acknowledged +the sovereignty of France. The Sultan had never dreamed of making an +admission which, in its effect on the tribes, would have cost him his +throne. What he had written, in Arabic, in the article which he +subscribed, was, properly translated, "The Emir Abd-el-Kader +acknowledges that there is a French Sultan, and that he is great." + +A new Governor-General, Marshal Valée, had assumed his functions at +Algiers in November, 1837. Disputes arose as to the territorial rights +of the Sultan under the Tafna Treaty, and after vain negotiations and +missions to and fro matters were brought to a head by Marshal Valée in +the despatch of an expedition to march over some disputed ground as a +demonstration of French power and an assertion of French rights. A +column under the Duc d'Orléans started from Milah, in the Province of +Constantine, lately conquered by the French, to march across the +disputed territory and thence onward. A way was gained through a +formidable pass called the "Iron Gates," in October, 1839, by a simple +process. The defile was one which a few hundred men could have held +against any force, but the Kabyle sheiks were shown passports bearing +Abd-el-Kader's seal and authorizing the passage of French troops. The +seal of the Sultan had been forged. On November 1st Valée and the French +Prince made a triumphant entry into Algiers, after this despicable piece +of treachery, and were saluted as the heroes of the "Iron Gates." + +The news reached Abd-el-Kader at Tekedemt. He sprang on his horse, and +in forty-eight hours, riding night and day, was at Medea, whence he +despatched a reproachful and defiant letter to the French Governor. He +called the tribesmen to arms, formally declared war, swept down on the +plains, destroyed the French cantonments, agricultural establishments, +and outposts; slew many colonists, burned the villages and drove +panic-stricken fugitives headlong into the city of Algiers. The French +Government then ostentatiously declared the adoption of a firm policy +and announced Algeria to be "henceforth and forever a French province." +Reënforcements were rapidly sent to Algiers, and the effective army of +Valée was soon raised to thirty thousand men. The Sultan headed about +the same number of cavalry, regular and irregular, and six thousand +regular infantry. A fair trial of strength, Frenchman against Arab, was +now to be made. + +Concentrating his army at Blidah, at the foot of the lesser Atlas range, +the French Marshal marched on Medea and Millana. The river Chiffa was +passed on April 27, 1840. The Sultan's cavalry appeared in large numbers. +By a feigned movement, Abd-el-Kader induced his enemy to enter the +mountains by the gorges of the Monzaia, which he had spent months in +fortifying. Every eminence useful for the purpose was cut into +intrenchments. A redoubt with heavy batteries crowned the highest peak. +Near this were placed his regular infantry, officered by French +deserters. Arabs and Kabyles swarmed in all directions, and, crouching +in nooks, were ready to open fire on the French army as it wound its way +with steady march along the narrow causeway which hung midway on the +mountain slopes. + +Valée had divided his force into three columns, one of which was led by +Lamoricière, a man to become famous in Algerian warfare. The Sultan was +now to see the value of French infantry. To the astonishment of the +Arabs, the enemy, leaving the road, came darting over the steeps. +Ravines, woods, and rocks were all mastered in the rush. Slowly but +surely they were reaching the intrenchments, when a thick veil came over +the scene from the smoke of incessant fire. The mist rolled away before +the breeze sweeping through the pass, and the combatants met and fought +hand to hand. The Arabs and Kabyles clung desperately to their places of +shelter, but the French clambered up, grasping at shrubs and branches, +ever winning their way. Abd-el-Kader made a last stand in person at the +great redoubt, while his regulars and masses of Kabyles gathered round +him. The converging columns of the French came creeping on amid the roll +of drums and the blare of trumpets. The Arabs, bewildered by foes +attacking them both in front and rear, wavered, broke, and fled. +Lamoricière and his Zouaves, Changarnier and the Second Light Infantry, +burst over the intrenchments, and the tricolor waved on the summit of +the Atlas. + +Abd-el-Kader retreated on Miliana, while the conqueror, entering Medea, +found it abandoned and half burned. The Sultan had made his last attempt +to fight the French on the principles of European warfare. His caliphs +and chiefs were ordered never again to meet the enemy in masses, but to +harass them in hanging on their flanks and rear, cutting their +communications, attacking baggage and transports, and waging a contest +of feigned retreats, ambuscades, and sudden sallies in order to bewilder +and weary the foe. Miliana was evacuated by Abd-el-Kader on Valée's +approach, but the chance of Arab warfare came when the French entered +the mountain passes. Unceasing attacks, day and night, caused severe +loss to the lately victorious French, with the capture of baggage and +the abandonment of all wounded men. The French garrisons in Medea and +Miliana were soon reduced to want by blockade of the surrounding +country, and by October, 1840, the garrison of Miliana had almost +disappeared, from the effects of fever and famine. Out of fifteen +hundred men, the half had perished; five hundred were in hospital and +the remainder were haggard wretches who could hardly hold their muskets. +Such was the warfare in the mountains of the Province of Tittery, and +Abd-el-Kader by his swift movements kept the enemy ever on the alert, +and often in trouble, from the frontiers of Morocco to those of Tunis. + +The real and decisive struggle began early in 1841. The right man was at +last found by the French to deal with the hitherto indomitable Sultan of +Tittery and Oran. The Government at Paris had begun in some sort to +understand the power of their formidable adversary, and a serious effort +was to be made. On February 22, 1841, General Bugeaud assumed office as +Governor-General of Algeria. He had now come, not in the mood and with +the policy of the day when he concluded the Treaty of the Tafna, but as +one whose task it was to crush every rival power in Algeria. For this +end, eighty-five thousand men were placed under his command. Thomas +Bugeaud was a man of great ability, and he has the credit of devising +the only method by which such an antagonist as Abd-el-Kader, in such a +country, could be subdued. + +Against an adversary so mobile, so full of expedients and resource, +mobility and incessantly offensive movements offered the only chance of +success. The French Commander knew that it was no mere army, but a +people in arms, that he was to encounter. His forces were at once +organized in many small, compact columns, each composed of a few +infantry battalions and two squadrons of horse, with a little transport +train of mules and camels and two mountain howitzers. Picked men alone, +acclimatized and used to toil, were employed, and they carried nothing +but their muskets and ammunition, with a little food. These columns were +placed under the command of such energetic leaders as Changarnier and +Cavaignac, Canrobert and Pélissier, Bedeau and Lamoricière, St. Arnaud +and the Duc d'Aumale. + +The campaign opened with the revictualling of Medea and Miliana, with +great losses to the French, as Abd-el-Kader disputed every inch of the +ground. Bugeaud, personally operating in Oran, reached Tekedemt on May +25th, and found it deserted and in flames. Boghar, Saida, and other +fortresses were successively destroyed. The enemies of the Sultan were +paying a heavy price for success. At the end of 1841 Bugeaud, out of +sixty thousand men in the field, had only four thousand fit for duty. +The rest had perished or were invalided for the time, from the toil of +marches, incessant fighting, and the heat of the climate. The French +Government's proposals of peace, on certain terms, only confirmed +Abd-el-Kader in his resolve to try the extremities of war. + +Bugeaud's main object was to establish permanent centres of action in +the very heart of the Arab confederation of tribes, and, by rapidly +consecutive expeditions radiating from these centres, to give his troops +the ubiquity of Abd-el-Kader's forces. The chief seat of the Sultan's +power was the Province of Oran, and this was made the principal scene of +operations. Mascara was held by Lamoricière, Tlemsen by Bedeau. +Changarnier was in observation on the western frontier of the plain of +Algiers; Tittery was menaced by D'Aumale. From Oran and Mostaganem three +columns were sent forth against the tribes occupying the large expanse +of territory lying between the Atlas Mountains and the Mediterranean, +and the tribes extending toward the Sahara. The first force, headed by +Bugeaud in person, marched along the valley of the Chéliff, and then +joined the second column under Changarnier, coming from Blida. The third +body, under Lamoricière, aimed at pushing Abd-el-Kader back to the south +in order to separate him from the tribes assailed by Changarnier and +Bugeaud. + +The plan of campaign was formidable for the Arabs, but it was +encountered by the Sultan with wonderful skill and daring in a struggle +which involved some thrilling episodes, Lamoricière, in his efforts to +overtake the foe, was constantly baffled. Hearing that Abd-el-Kader was +before Mascara, he hurried thither by forced marches, only to find that +his enemy had passed by his rear and was raiding a tribe friendly to the +French. Pursuing in the new direction, the French leader was outmaneuvre +by the Sultan's bold and rapid dash across the Chéliff, placing his +Arabs between Bugeaud and the sea, and recovering his ascendency over +the tribes in that region. Abd-el-Kader then swept in a _razzia_ to the +south of Miliana, and soon appeared in full force in the Sahara as the +bewildered French pursuers returned to their cantonments in despair of +reaching him. This is a sample of the evolutions by which genius made +amends for inferiority of force. The ablest military combinations were +rendered abortive by an enemy that was ever slipping between columns, +flitting in the front, hovering on the flanks, assailing the rear, and, +with perfect knowledge of the country, was sometimes in the mountains +and again in the plains, ubiquitous, unattainable for serious conflict. + +Abd-el-Kader, leaving his caliphs to maintain this exasperating species +of warfare in the Province of Oran, made for the frontiers of Morocco. +There many tribes had submitted under the influence of Bedeau's military +and diplomatic skill. The Sultan's communications with the country +whence he drew his weapons, clothing, and ammunition were seriously +threatened. His appearance at once brought back the Kabyles of Nedrouma +to their allegiance, and their example was followed by other tribes, +with the result that his army was increased to the number of three +thousand cavalry and five thousand infantry. Able now to confront the +enemy, Abd-el-Kader during the months of March and April, 1842, had +frequent encounters with Bedeau, The issue was yet indecisive when the +Sultan was called away to Mascara to deal with Lamoricière, who had been +gaining ground and winning over tribes, including even a large part of +Abd-el-Kader's own people, the Hashems. Lamoricière, believing the +Sultan to be still engaged with Bedeau, had marched toward the Sahara, +and Abd-el-Kader, by a mingling of severe punishment and mild treatment, +regained most of his old authority. + +Lamoricière, on receiving the news of his presence, hastened back to +find his recent work undone and to be assailed by the tribes who had so +lately joined him. Fighting his way bravely on to an encounter with the +great leader of the Arabs, the French general heard of him as in force +at Tekedemt. When he reached that place he found that Abd-el-Kader had +fallen on Changarnier toward Miliana. That general, knowing nothing of +the Sultan's approach, found himself enveloped by a vast force of Arabs +and Kabyles, regulars and irregulars, horse and foot, led on by +Abd-el-Kader in person and charging furiously on all sides. + +After two days and nights of incessant battle, in which men closed +fiercely with pistols, swords, bayonets, and yataghans, the Sultan +vanished with his force, leaving the French too exhausted and crippled +by their losses for pursuit. Two days later tidings reached them that he +was in the Metidja, ravaging the plain and carrying terror to the very +gates of Algiers. Abd-el-Kader then bore away to the Atlas, ascended the +mountains, penetrated beyond Tittery and reached the Sahara, everywhere +inspiriting the tribes and raising fresh forces. After sweeping over +three hundred leagues of ground he returned, in recruited strength and +new energy, to press upon Lamoricière and his garrison at Mascara with +all the rigors of a winter blockade. + +In spite of his wonderful efforts, the Sultan could not but feel that he +was struggling with adverse fortune. The enemy by the seizure of his +fixed establishments had gained possession of a large part of his +territory and of the strongholds that had contained his stores of war. +His regular army had almost disappeared, and much of his credit among +the Arabs had departed. The _ketna_, which was his ancestral abode, had +been laid waste. He could not protect the families of his most faithful +adherents from constant exposure, in spite of his vigilant activity, to +the outrages of the detested infidels. In this position, he resolved to +remove from the scene of warfare those whom it was impossible for him to +desert with any regard to feelings of religion and humanity. He formed +his famous _smala_, a new and remarkable organization consisting of a +gathering of private families. To this moving asylum of refuge and +safety the Arab tribes sent their treasure, their herds, their women and +children, their sick and aged persons. + +The smala was a great travelling capital, containing at first more than +twenty thousand souls, following the Sultan's movements; sometimes in +advance to the more cultivated regions, or in retreat to the Sahara, +according to the fluctuations of the contest which he was so bravely +waging. In the Sahara, the tents of the smala spread to the distant +horizon. In the Tell, they filled the valley and rose up the slopes of +the hills. All the arrangements were of military regularity. The +different _deiras_, or households, with tents varying in number with +their dwellers, were distributed into four great encampments. Each deira +knew its appointed place. Each chief had his station marked and his +special duties assigned. Four tribes were set apart to protect and guide +the smala in its wanderings, and the guard was composed of regular +troops. The existence of this organization, ever growing in extent, +became a powerful check on the disaffection of the tribes. When the +French leaders tempted them with fair promises, the warriors bethought +them of the pledges: the women, the children, the flocks and herds, +which were in the Sultan's hands. The genius of Abd-el-Kader had created +a new and widely extended political engine. + +When the French leaders had learned to appreciate the importance of the +smala its capture or dispersal became a chief object with all officers +from the generals of corps to the colonels in charge of detachments. The +campaign of 1843 was opened by Lamoricière, who occupied Tekedemt. +Abd-el-Kader with about fifteen hundred horsemen watched his movements +from some neighboring woods. He knew that the French commander's object +was the smala, and he remained in ambush for twenty days. He and his men +lived on acorns; the horses were fed on leaves. One day a stray sheep +was found. The Sultan would have none of it, and said, "Take it to my +starving soldiers," as he turned to his meal of acorns. Twice was +Lamoricière repulsed in his search, and then a traitor revealed the +exact place of the smala encampment. + +Lamoricière remained to occupy the attention of Abd-el-Kader, and the +French column stationed at Medea was selected for the attack. The +leadership was intrusted to the Duc d'Aumale, and on May 10, 1843, he +started from Boghar with thirteen hundred infantry, six hundred horse, +and two field-guns. + +The indicated place of encampment was found empty, and the French column +wandered about in uncertain fashion. + +At break of day on May 16th the traitor made known the new spot of the +smala's halt, and D'Aumale at once daringly advanced with his cavalry +alone. The surprise created a panic among the people. The guard of five +hundred regulars fired a volley and fled. A handful of the Hashem tribe +bravely strove to stem the torrent, but they were swept away in the +rout, and in an hour all was over. The smala was broken up amid scenes +of terrible confusion and despair, including the extraordinary sight of +a promiscuous mass of camels, dromedaries, horses, mules, oxen, and +sheep careering and plunging on the plain. There was little bloodshed, +but the French victors were in possession of hostages of the utmost +value in the families of Abd-el-Ka-der's most influential chiefs. His +own family had escaped. The booty taken was immense, comprising +thousands of animals; the Sultan's valuable library of rare Arabic +manuscripts; the military chest containing some millions of francs, and +the chests of his caliphs and other high officers, filled with gold and +silver coins and costly jewellery. The French soldiers baled out dollars +and doubloons in their shakos, and helped themselves to diamonds and +pearls. + +This dreadful blow, when the news reached him in the woods where he +watched near Lamoricière's command, almost overwhelmed, for a time, even +the exalted and undaunted spirit of the Sultan. He spent some hours +alone in his tent, in meditation and prayer. He came forth with a smile +and addressed his chiefs, his officers, and men as they stood outside in +groups, some downcast and silent, some bitterly cursing their foe and +fate. He reminded them that the dear objects now lost had impeded the +movements of the holy war against the infidels, and that those who had +fallen were now in paradise. The next day he wrote to his caliphs, +bidding them not to be discouraged; they would thenceforth be lighter +and in better order for war. In fact at the time of the Duc d'Aumale's +attack, the population of the smala amounted to not less than sixty +thousand. Not more than three thousand prisoners were taken; the rest of +the Arabs were dispersed in all directions. Some fell among Arab tribes +who plundered them; others were overtaken by Lamoricière. + +The blow was, on the whole, irreparable in its effects upon the +influence of the Sultan. Every day brought tidings of the defection of +some great tribe. The ranks of his enemies were swelled by large +contingents of Arabs. + +Worse things were in store for the brave man contending with +ill-fortune. His ablest caliphs were removed by captivity or death in +action; the distant provinces fell a prey to the foe. The Province of +Oran became the scene of a desperate struggle. With a chosen and devoted +band of five thousand men Abd-el-Kader made his presence felt at all +points. Now he fell on recreant tribes; now he made head against the +French columns. Ever in the van, leading on the charge, plunging into +the thickest of the fight, by his example he encouraged and inspired his +followers. His bravest warriors fell around him; his horses were slain +under him; his burnoose was torn with bullets; but still he fought on. +The world's record can show no more brilliant instance of almost +superhuman heroism. + +Once he was taken unawares. On September 23, 1843, he was encamped near +Sidi Yusuf with a battalion of infantry and five hundred irregular +horse. A spy made known his position to Lamoricière, who was at a +distance of six leagues. The French General at once led out in person +the Second Chasseurs d'Afrique. A night's march covered the intervening +space and the spot was reached in the gray of dawn. The Sultan was +aroused from sleep by cries of "The French! the French!" He had barely +time to mount. He might have escaped, but he preferred the risk of death +to the double stain of surprise and flight. His infantry seized their +arms and fired a volley; his cavalry rallied at his voice. Then as the +smoke slowly rolled away he dashed into the French chasseurs, dispersed +them by the sudden shock, and after a few minutes' hard fighting drew +off his whole force in perfect order. + +The Beni-Amers, the men whose four thousand sabres had waved in +exultation around the young leader of the Djehad; the men whose splendid +courage had opened before him the path of glory and of empire, had gone +over to the French. Abd-el-Kader resolved to attack them. Suddenly +descending upon them he swept through their encampments, slew numbers, +and carried off a great booty. A French battalion stationed among them +vainly strove to arrest his progress. An Arab chief, one of his old +followers, boldly singled him out, rode up, and fired at him +point-blank. The ball missed, and Abd-el-Kader shot the traitor dead +with his pistol. + +The Sultan knew that all was lost unless he could obtain external aid. +The smala was now reduced to his own deira, a bare thousand souls, +wandering about in miserable fashion. After another desperate engagement +with Lamoricière during which the Arab women cheered on the warriors, +and Abd-el-Kader and his men fighting in the presence of their wives and +children performed new prodigies of valor, he succeeded in safely +establishing the noncombatants on the territory of Morocco. + +Bugeaud, now become a marshal, wrote to his Government declaring that +all serious warfare was finished. In the summer of 1844, the violation +of Abderrahman's territory by French troops under Lamoricière and Bedeau +led to some warfare, in which the Moroccan troops were twice defeated. +The people of the country were strongly in favor of Abd-el-Kader; and +when their Sultan, after a French bombardment of Tangiers and Mogador, +made a treaty with France by which the Algerian hero was "placed beyond +the pale of the law throughout the Empire of Morocco, as well as in +Algeria," and was to be "pursued by main force by the Moroccans on their +own territory," the Moorish population was filled with resentment. +Letters reached Abd-el-Kader from Fez, the capital, dictated and signed +by the first grandees in the State, both civil and military, and from +the commercial classes, inviting him to ascend the throne of his +ancestors. Had he been a mere adventurer or usurper he might have lived +henceforth, and died, Emperor of Morocco, But his whole soul was +patriotically bent on one object, the freedom and independence of +Algeria. He disdained to wear a borrowed crown. As he afterward +declared, "His religion forbade him to injure a sovereign chosen and +appointed by God." + +During the year 1844 the Sultan had made a rapid incursion into the +Tell, everywhere appealing to the tribes; but he found the national +spirit overawed by the presence of French detachments in all directions, +and he returned to his deira in despondent spirit. He now received +appeals from some of his devoted caliphs to undertake a fresh campaign, +especially from the loyal and chivalrous Ben Salem, who dwelt in the +gorges of the Djur jura Mountains. To him Abd-el-Kader replied, +promising to come "as soon as affairs in the west were settled." + +Months passed away and the Arab tribes who had submitted began to feel +the pressure of French domination and to resent the supercilious conduct +of French officials. In the spring of 1845 their former Sultan +reappeared. He swept down into the valley of the Tafna and routed and +cut to pieces a French detachment. In this action the lower part of his +right ear was carried away by a musket-ball, the only wound which he +ever received. Another detachment of six hundred men laid down their +arms without firing a shot. Some stir was made among the Arabs by these +successes, and the French commanders took alarm. Lamoricière, Cavaignac, +and Bedeau wrote pressing letters for reinforcements, and urged the +return of Bugeaud. The most formidable foe of Abd-el-Kader reached the +scene of action in October, 1845, bringing fresh forces, and in a week +he took the field at the head of a hundred twenty thousand men. This +fact is the highest eulogy that can be accorded to the military prowess +of a man who so long defied the power of France. + +The end of the great career was rapidly coming. After another vain +appeal to the Moorish ruler even Abd-el-Kader felt that all was lost. A +French writer in the _Biographie générale_ truly declares: + +"The greatness of the man was strikingly displayed in the very hour of +his downfall. Destitute of resources, surrounded by foes, at open enmity +with the Emperor of Morocco, wandering like a hunted lion, with hardly +any comrade but his horse, no shelter except his tent, Abd-el-Kader +still inspired a terror which forced his enemies to keep a great army on +foot in Algeria for protection against possible attacks at his hand." + +In his deira, at this time, all was despondency and grief. His own +brothers had abandoned him. Ben Salem, the faithful, long-tried, devoted +friend and follower, was a voluntary prisoner in the French camp. +Abd-el-Kader's whole force was fewer than two thousand men, but among +these were twelve hundred horsemen, the flower of the Algerian cavalry. +Most of them had been his inseparable comrades, partakers in all his +hardships and dangers, throughout his career. During a short period of +rest he summoned them daily around him and aroused new enthusiasm among +the bronzed veterans by his eloquent words. + +On December 9, 1847, the deira was stationed on Moorish territory, at +Agueddin, on the left bank of the Melouia. It comprised in all about +five thousand souls. The next day news arrived that a great Moorish host +under the Sultan's two sons was only three hours' march away. On January +11th, Abd-el-Kader gathered his armed force, marched at dead of night +and fell furiously on the first division of the Moors and Arabs. The +slumbering foe awoke to see the thick darkness illumined by flashes of +light from muskets. Seized with panic, the men rushed away in all +directions, abandoning arms, tents, and baggage. In the mean time +Abd-el-Kader and his men swept onward and attacked the second division, +which was also defeated and dispersed. In half an hour the third +division was reached. This force had time to prepare for defence, and +the assailants withdrew before a steady fire of infantry and artillery +to an adjacent hill. At midday five thousand Moorish cavalry moved out +against Abd-el-Kader's little army. At charging distance he led on his +men, swept through the foe, and by a skilful combination of assault and +retreat regained his deira by the river Melouia, before sunset. The +deira had nearly effected its passage across the river, with the baggage +and the spoils taken from the enemy, when the Moorish army was seen +cautiously advancing. + +The situation was full of peril. The deira had never been so exposed. +The ammunition was expended and the infantry was thus counted out of the +fight. Abd-el-Kader could only depend on his "Old Guard"--his matchless +cavalry. At length the Melouia was passed, and, although the foe was +pressing on, he would not leave its bank until the noncombatants had +gained a full hour in advance. Then the deira crossed another stream and +reached a place of safety, for the time, on French territory. Not a life +had been lost nor a beast of burden of all that crowd of men, women, +children, and animals. Coolness, intrepidity, and skill had been their +protectors. Of the fighting men, however, more than two hundred had been +slain, and nearly all the rest were suffering from wounds. + +Abd-el-Kader now turned toward the hills inhabited by a tribe which +still, in part, adhered to him. His horsemen followed him in anxious +silence, suffering and exhausted. The rain fell in torrents. Their chief +was tormented by conflicting thoughts. A French camp was visible in the +distance, three hours' march away, occupying a pass. He and his cavalry +might yet escape by narrow defiles into the Sahara. But what of his aged +mother, his wife and children, his helpless followers in the deira? All +would become captives to the foe. He called his men around him and +reminded them of the oath which, eight years before on the renewal of +the war, they had taken at Medea that they would never forsake him in +any danger or suffering. All declared themselves ready still to adhere +to it. He set before them the peril of the people in the deira and +suggested submission. All the warriors cried: "Perish women and children +so long as you are safe and able to renew the battles of God. You are +our head, our Sultan; fight or surrender, as you will, we will follow +you wherever you choose to lead." After a few moments' pause +Abd-el-Kader declared that the struggle was over. The tribes were tired +of the war and there was nothing left but submission. He would ask the +French for a safe-conduct for himself and his family, and for all who +chose to follow him, to another Mussulman country. The universal answer +was, "Sultan, let your will be done!" + +The incessant rain rendered it impossible to write down any terms. +Abd-el-Kader therefore affixed his seal to a piece of paper, and +despatched it in charge of two horsemen to the French general as a sign +of authorization on his part for demands to be verbally made. It was +Lamoricière who received the two emissaries; and he sent a verbal reply, +acceding to all proposals. Abd-el-Kader then sent a letter, and received +in reply a written promise and stipulation that the Sultan and his +family should be conducted to St. Jean d'Acre or Alexandria. The new +Governor-General, the Duc d'Aumale, was close at hand, and on the +evening of December 23, 1847, the fallen hero, attended by some of his +chiefs and men, escorted by five hundred French cavalry, who showed +great respect and sympathy for the captives, arrived at headquarters. +Abd-el-Kader, attended by Lamoricière and Cavaignac, was presented to +the son of Louis Philippe. The Prince pledged himself that Lamoricière's +promise and stipulation should be strictly observed. He knew little that +his father's throne was about to fall, and that the decision as to +Abd-el-Kader's fate would, within a few weeks, rest in far different +hands. The ex-Sultan then withdrew to his deira, which had now joined +the French encampment. + +On the next morning, December 24th, the Governor-General held a review. +His honored prisoner and guest, riding a splendid black charger of the +purest Arab breed, and surrounded by his chiefs, awaited his return from +the field. When the Prince approached, Abd-el-Kader dismounted and +offered his steed as a present in testimony of his gratitude, and +expressed the hope that he might always bear his new master in safety +and happiness. The Duc d'Aumale replied, "I accept it as a homage +rendered to France, the protection of which country will henceforth be +ever extended toward you, and as a sign that the past is forgotten." + +On December 25th the Algerian hero embarked with his family and +followers in a French frigate for Toulon. He had seen the last of his +native land. Lamoricière accompanied him on board and supplemented his +poor resources with a present of four thousand francs, receiving +Abd-el-Kader's sword in return. The _Moniteur_ of January 3, 1848, paid +a high tribute to the genius and ascendency of the captive in these +words: "The subjugation of Abd-el-Kader is an event of immense +importance to France. It assures the tranquillity of our conquest. +To-day France can, if necessary, transport to other quarters the hundred +thousand men who hold the conquered populations under her yoke." + + + + +(1847) THE MEXICAN WAR, John Bonner + + +When President Polk began his Administration, the United States +Government had become involved in two boundary disputes--one relating to +Oregon, the other to Texas and Mexico. Out of the latter came the +Mexican War, concerning the political causes and merits of which there +were then and ever since have been wide differences of opinion among the +American people. Polk's election by the Democrats in 1844 had turned +mainly upon the question of annexing Texas. Just before he came into +office the annexation was made. + +Texas claimed as her western boundary the Rio Grande. Mexico held that +the western limit was the Nueces. Between the two rivers there was a +large area of disputed territory. The Texan claim was opposed by many +American statesmen and publicists, and by some was denounced--as the +annexation of Texas had been--as an aggressive move against Mexico. But +the United States Government supported the cause of Texas. General +Zachary Taylor, who had served in the War of 1812, and afterward in +several Indian wars, took command of the army in Texas in 1845. In +January, 1846, he was ordered to occupy positions on or near the left +bank of the Rio Grande del Norte. This order and its execution have been +held by some writers to constitute an act of war, but war was not +formally declared by the United States till May 11th. Taylor, with a +small force, had several slight encounters with Mexican troops, after +which he won the battle of Palo Alto (May 8, 1846), near the southern +extremity of Texas; and that of Resaca de la Palma (May 9th), also in +Texas, four miles north of Matamoros, Mexico. He took possession of +Matamoros May 18th. With six thousand men, against about ten thousand +Mexicans under Ampudia, Taylor captured Monterey, Mexico (September +24th), and at Buena Vista, February 22-23, 1847, with five thousand +troops, he defeated fifteen thousand Mexicans under Santa Anna, then +President of Mexico and commander of her army. + +The war was now transferred to the district between Vera Cruz and the +City of Mexico, the capital, and was henceforth conducted for the United +States by General Winfield Scott, whose previous military career had +been much the same as General Taylor's. Scott had been made +Major-General and Commander-in-Chief of the Army in 1841. His first +operation in Mexico was the taking of Vera Cruz, the principal Mexican +seaport, on the Gulf of Mexico. With the aid of a fleet he besieged the +city in March, 1847, and on the 27th received its surrender. At Cerro +Gordo (April 17th and 18th) he won an important victory that opened his +way through the mountains toward his objective, the city of Mexico. +Reënforcements gradually reached him, and by the first of August he was +ready to move on the valley of Mexico with about eleven thousand men. +From this stage to the fall of the capital, completing the conquest of +the country, Bonner's account gives a graphic recital of events. The +city was held by Americans from September 14, 1847, the day they entered +it, until the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo (February 2, +1848), which ended the war. + +With the energy that characterized Santa Anna throughout the Mexican +War, he had prepared for a desperate defence. Civil strife had been +silenced, funds raised, an army of twenty-five thousand men mustered, +and every precaution taken which genius could suggest or science +indicate. Nature had done much for him. Directly in front of the +invading army lay the large lakes of Xochimilco and Chalco. These +turned, vast marshes, intersected by ditches and for the most part +impassable, surrounded the city on the east and the south--on which side +Scott was advancing--for several miles. The only approaches were by +causeways; and these Santa Anna had taken prodigious pains to guard. The +national road to Vera Cruz--which Scott must have taken had he marched +on the north side of the lakes--was commanded by a fort mounting +fifty-one guns on an impregnable hill called El Peñon. Should he turn +the southern side of the lakes, a field of lava, deemed almost +impassable for troops, interposed a primary obstacle; and fortified +positions at San Antonio, San Angel, and Churubusco, with an intrenched +camp at Contreras, were likewise to be surmounted before the southern +causeways could be reached. Beyond these there yet remained the +formidable castle of Chapultepec and the strong enclosure of Molino del +Rey, to be stormed before the city gates could be reached. Powerful +batteries had been mounted at all these points, and ample garrisons +detailed to serve them. The bone and muscle of Mexico were there. + +Goaded by defeat, Santa Anna never showed so much vigor; ambition fired +Valencia; patriotism stirred the soul of Alvarez; Canalizo, maddened by +the odium into which he had fallen, was boiling to regain his soubriquet +of the "Lion of Mexico." With a constancy equal to anything recorded of +the Roman Senate, the Mexican Congress, on learning of the defeat at +Cerro Gordo, had voted unanimously that anyone opening negotiations with +the enemy should be deemed a traitor; and the citizens with one accord +had ratified the vote. Within six months Mexico had lost two splendid +armies in two pitched battles against the troops now advancing against +the capital; but she never lost heart, and her spirit quailed not. + +The engineers reporting that the fortress on El Peñon could not be +carried without a loss of one-third the army, Scott decided to move by +the south of the lakes; and Worth accordingly advanced, leading the van, +as far as San Augustin, nine miles from the city of Mexico. There a +large field of lava, known as the Pedregal, barred the way. On the one +side, two miles from San Augustin, the fortified works at San Antonio +commanded the passage between the field and the lake; on the other, the +ground was so much broken that infantry alone could advance, and General +Valencia occupied an intrenched camp, with a heavy battery, near the +village of Contreras, three miles distant. Scott determined to attack on +both sides, and sent forward General William J. Worth on the east, and +General Gideon J. Pillow and General David E. Twiggs on the west. The +latter advanced as fast as possible over the masses of lava on the +morning of the 19th, and by 2 P.M. a couple of light batteries were +placed in position and opened fire on the Mexican camp. + +At the same time General Persifor Smith conceived the plan of turning +Valencia's left, and hastened along the path through the Pedregal in the +direction of a village called San Jeronimo. Colonel Riley followed. +Pillow sent Cadwallader's brigade on the same line, and later in the day +Morgan's regiment was likewise despatched toward that point. They drove +in the Mexican pickets and skirmishers, dispersed a few parties of +lancers, and occupied the village without loss. Seeing the movement, +Santa Anna hastened to Valencia's support with twelve thousand men. He +was discovered by Cadwallader just as the latter gained the village +road; and appreciating the vast importance of preventing a junction +between the two Mexican generals, that gallant officer did not hesitate +to draw up his brigade in order of battle. So broken was the ground that +Santa Anna could not see the amount of force opposed to him, and +declined the combat. This was all Cadwallader wanted. Shields's brigade +was advancing through the Pedregal, and the troops which had already +crossed were rapidly moving to the rear of Valencia's camp. Night too +was close at hand. When it fell, Smith's, Riley's, and Cadwallader's +commands had gained the point they sought. Shields joined them at ten +o'clock; and at midnight Captain Lee crossed the Pedregal, with a +message from General Smith to General Scott, to say that he would begin +the attack at daybreak next morning. + +It rained all night and the men lay in the mud without fires. At three +in the morning (August 20th) the word was passed to march. Such pitchy +darkness covered the face of the plain that Smith ordered every man to +touch his front file as he marched. Now and then a flash of lightning +lighted the narrow ravine; occasionally a straggling moonbeam pierced +the clouds and shed an uncertain glimmer on the heights; but these +flitting guides served only to make the darkness seem darker. The +soldiers groped their way, stumbling over stones and brushwood, and did +not gain the rear of the camp till day broke. Then Riley bade his men +look to the priming of their guns, and reload those which the rain had +wet. With the first ray of daylight the firing had begun again between +the Mexican camp and Ransom's corps stationed in front and Shields's +brigade at San Jeronimo. Almost at the same moment Riley began to ascend +the height in the rear. Before he reached the crest, his engineers, who +had gone forward to reconnoitre, came running back to say that his +advance had been detected, that two guns were being pointed against him, +and a body of infantry were sallying from the camp, The news braced the +men's nerves. They gained the ridge, and stood a tremendous volley from +the Mexicans without flinching. Hanson of the Seventh--a gallant officer +and an excellent man--was shot down with many others; but the Mexicans +had done their worst. + +With steady aim the volley was returned; and ere the smoke rose a cheer +rang through the ravine, and Riley fell with a swoop on the +intrenchments. With bayonet and butt of musket, the Second and Seventh +drove the enemy from his guns, leaping into his camp and slaughtering +all before them. Up rushed Smith's own brigade on the left, driving a +party of Mexicans before them, and charging with the bayonet straight at +Torrejon's cavalry, which was drawn up in order of battle. Defeat was +marked on their faces. Valencia was nowhere to be found. Salas strove +vainly to rouse his men to defend themselves with energy; Torrejon's +horse, smitten with panic, broke and fled at the advance of our +infantry. Riley hurled the Mexicans from their camp after a struggle of +a quarter of an hour; and as they rushed down the ravine, their own +cavalry rode over them, trampling down more men than the bayonet and +ball had laid low. On the right, as they fled, Cadwallader's brigade +poured in a destructive volley; and Shields, throwing his party across +the road, obstructed their retreat and compelled the fugitives to yield +themselves prisoners of war. The only fight of any moment had taken +place within the camp. There, for a few minutes, the Mexicans had fought +desperately; two of our regimental colors had been shot down, but +finally Anglo-Saxon bone and sinew had triumphed. To the exquisite +delight of the assailants, the first prize of victory was the guns +O'Brien had abandoned at Buena Vista, which were regained by his own +regiment. Twenty other guns and more than a thousand prisoners, +including eighty-eight officers and four generals, were likewise +captured, and about fifteen hundred Mexicans killed and wounded. The +American loss in killed, wounded, and missing was about one hundred men. + +Barely taking time to breathe his troops, Smith followed in pursuit +toward the city. By ten o'clock in the morning he reached San Angel, +which Santa Anna evacuated as he approached. The General-in-Chief and +the generals of division had by this time relieved Smith of his command. +Scott rode to the front, and in a few brief words told the men there was +more work to be done that day. A loud cheer from the ranks was the +reply. The whole force then advanced to Coyacan, within a mile of +Churubusco, and prepared to assault the place. + +Santa Anna considered it the key to the city, and awaited the attack in +perfect confidence with thirty thousand men. The defences were simple. +On the west, in the direction of Coyacan, stood the large stone convent +of San Pablo, which, as well as the wall and breastworks in front, was +filled with infantry, and which contained seven heavy guns. A breastwork +connected San Pablo with the _tête de pont_ over the Churubusco River, +four hundred yards distant. This was the easternmost point of defence, +and formed part of the San Antonio causeway leading to the city. It was +a work constructed with the greatest skill--bastions, curtain, and wet +ditch, everything was complete and perfect--four guns were mounted in +embrasure and barbette, and as many men as the place would hold were +stationed there. The reserves occupied the causeway behind Churubusco. +Independently of his defences, Santa Anna's numbers--nearly five to +one--should have insured the repulse of the assailants. + +By eleven--hardly seven hours having elapsed since the Contreras camp +had been stormed, five miles away--Twiggs and Pillow were in motion +toward the San Antonio causeway. Nothing had been heard of Worth, who +had been directed to move along the east side of the Pedregal on San +Antonio, but it was taken for granted he had carried the point, and +Scott wished to cut off the retreat of the garrison. Twiggs was +advancing cautiously toward the convent when a heavy firing was heard in +advance. Supposing that a reconnoitring party had been attacked, he +hastily sent forward the First Artillery, under Dimmick, through a field +of tall corn, to support them. No sooner had they separated from the +main body than a terrific discharge of grape, canister, and musketry +assailed them from the convent. In the teeth of the storm they advanced +to within one hundred yards of that building, and a light battery under +Taylor was brought up on their right, and opened on the convent. + +More than an hour the gunners stood firm to their pieces under afire as +terrible as troops ever endured; one-third of the command had fallen +before they were withdrawn. Colonel Riley meanwhile, with the stormers +of Contreras, had been despatched to assail San Pablo on the west, and, +like Dimmick, was met by a murderous rain of shot. Whole heads of +companies were mowed down at once. Thus Captain Smith fell, twice +wounded, with every man beside him; and a single discharge from the +Mexican guns swept down Lieutenant Easley and the division he led. It +was the second time that day the gallant Second had served as targets +for the Mexicans, but not a man fell back. General Smith ordered up the +Third in support, and these, protecting themselves as best they could +behind a few huts, kept up a steady fire on the convent. Sallies from +the works were continually made, and as continually repelled, but not a +step could the assailants make in advance. + +By this time the battle was raging at three different points. Worth had +marched on San Antonio that morning, found it evacuated, and given chase +to the Mexicans with the Fifth and Sixth Infantry. The causeway leading +from San Antonio to the _tête de pont_ of Churubusco was thronged with +flying horse and foot; our troops dashed headlong after them, never +halting till the advance corps--the Sixth--were within short range of +the Mexican batteries. A tremendous volley from the _tête de pont_ in +front, and the convent on the flank, then forced them to await the +arrival of the rest of the division. This was the fire which Twiggs +heard when he sent Dimmick against the convent. + +Worth came up almost immediately; and directing the Sixth to advance as +best they could along the causeway in the teeth of the _tête de pont_, +despatched Garland's and Clarke's brigades through the fields on the +right to attack it in flank. Every gun was instantly directed against +the assailants; and though the day was bright and clear, the clouds of +smoke actually darkened the air. Hoffman, waving his sword, cheered on +the Sixth; but the shot tore and ripped up their ranks to such a degree +that in a few minutes they had lost ninety-seven men. The brigades on +the right suffered as severely. One hundred men fell within the space of +an acre. Still they pressed on, till the Eighth (of Clarke's brigade) +reached the ditch. In they plunged, Lieutenant Longstreet bearing the +colors in advance; he scrambled out on the other side, dashed at the +walls without ladders or scaling implements, and bayoneted the defenders +as they took aim. At last, officers and men mixed pell-mell, some +through the embrasures, some over the walls, rushed or leaped in and +drove the garrison helter-skelter upon their reserves. + +The _tête de pont_ gained, its guns were turned on the convent, whence +the Mexicans were still slaughtering our gallant Second and Third. +Duncan's battery, too, hitherto in reserve, was brought up and opened +with such rapidity that a bystander estimated the intervals between the +reports at three seconds! Stunned by this novel attack, the garrison of +San Pablo slackened fire. In an instant the Third, followed by Dimmick's +artillery, dashed forward with the bayonet to storm the nearest bastion. +With a run they carried it, the artillery bursting over the curtain; but +at that moment a dozen white flags waved in their faces. The whole +fortified position of Churubusco was taken. + +Meantime, however, a conflict as deadly as either of these was raging +behind the Mexican fortifications. Soon after the battle commenced, +Scott sent Pierce's and Shields's brigades by the left, through the +fields, to attack the enemy in the rear. On the causeway, opposed to +them, were planted Santa Anna's reserves--four thousand foot and three +thousand horse--in a measure protected by a dense growth of maguey. +Shields advanced intrepidly with his force of sixteen hundred. The +ground was marshy, and for a long distance--having vainly endeavored to +outflank the enemy--his advance was exposed to their whole fire. Morgan, +of the Fifteenth, fell wounded. The New York regiment suffered +fearfully, and their leader, Colonel Burnett, was disabled. The +Palmettos of South Carolina, and the Ninth under Ransom, were as +severely cut up; and after a while all sought shelter in and about a +large barn near the causeway. Shields, in an agony at the failure of his +movement, cried imploringly for volunteers to follow him. + +The appeal was instantly answered by Colonel Butler, of the Palmettos: +"Every South Carolinian will follow you to the death!" The cry was +contagious, and most of the New Yorkers took it up. Forming at angles to +the causeway, Shields led these brave men, under an incessant hail of +shot, against the village of Portales, where the Mexican reserves were +posted. Not a trigger was pulled till they stood at a hundred fifty +yards from the enemy. Then the little band poured in their volley, +fatally answered by the Mexican host. Butler, already wounded, was shot +through the head and died instantly. Calling to the Palmettos to avenge +his death, Shields gives the word to charge. They charge--not four +hundred in all--over the plain and down upon four thousand Mexicans +securely posted under cover. At every step their ranks are thinned. +Dickenson, who succeeded Butler in command of the Palmettos, seizes the +colors as the bearer falls dead; the next moment he is down himself, +mortally wounded, and Major Gladden snatches them from his hand. + +Adams, Moragne, and nearly half the gallant band are prostrate. A very +few minutes more and there will be no one left to bear the glorious +flag. + +But at this very moment a deafening roar is heard in the direction of +the _tête de pont_. Round shot and grape, rifle-balls and canister, come +crashing down the causeway into the Mexican ranks from their own +battery. Worth is there, the gallant fellow, just in time. Down the road +and over the ditch, through the field and hedge and swamp, in tumult and +panic the Mexicans are flying from the bayonets of the Sixth and +Garland's brigade. A shout, louder than the cannon's peal; Worth is on +their heels with his men. Before Shields reaches the causeway he is by +his side driving the Mexican horse into their infantry, and Ayres is +galloping up with a captured Mexican gun. Captain Kearny, with a few +dragoons, dashes past, rides straight into the flying host, scatters +them right and left, sabres all he can reach, and halts before the gate +of Mexico. Not till then does he perceive that he is alone with his +little party, nearly all of whom are wounded; but, despite the hundreds +of _escopetas_ that are levelled at him, he gallops back in safety to +headquarters. + +The sun, which rose that morning on a proud army and a defiant +metropolis, set at even on a shattered, haggard band, and a city full of +woe-stricken wretches who did nothing all night but quake with terror, +and cry, at every noise, "_Aqui viene los Yanquies_!" ("Here come the +Yankees!") All along the causeway, and in the fields and swamps on +either side, heaps of dead men and cattle intermingled with broken +ammunition-carts, marked where the American shot had told. A gory track +leading to the _tête de pont_, groups of dead in the fields on the west +of Churubusco, over whose pale faces some stalks of tattered corn still +waved; red blotches in the marsh next the causeway, where the rich blood +of Carolina and New York soaked the earth, showed where the fire of the +heavy Mexican guns and the countless _escopetas_ of the infantry had +been most murderous. Scott had lost, in that day's work, more than a +thousand men in killed and wounded, seventy-nine of whom were officers. +The Mexican loss, according to Santa Anna, was one-third of his army, +equal probably to ten thousand men, one-fourth of whom were prisoners, +the rest killed and wounded. As the sun went down the troops were +recalled to headquarters; but all night long the battlefield swarmed +with straggling parties seeking some lost comrade in the cold and rain, +and surgeons hurrying from place to place and offering succor to the +wounded. + +It would have been easy for Scott to march on the city that night, or +next morning, and seize it before the Mexicans recovered from the shock +of their defeat. Anxious to shorten the war, and assured that Santa Anna +was desirous of negotiating; warned, moreover, by neutrals and others, +that the hostile occupation of the capital would destroy the last chance +of peaceable accommodation and rouse the Mexican spirit to resistance +all over the country, the American general consented, too generously +perhaps, to offer an armistice to his vanquished foe. It was eagerly +accepted, and negotiations were commenced which lasted over a fortnight. +In the mean time General Scott had the satisfaction of hanging several +of the Irishmen who had deserted to the Mexicans, and, serving as the +battalion of San Patricio, had shot down so many of their old comrades +at Buena Vista and Churubusco. This act of justice was approved by the +army and the nation. Early in September the treachery of the Mexicans +became apparent. No progress had been made in the negotiations; and, in +defiance of the armistice, an American wagon, proceeding to the city for +provisions, had been attacked by the mob and one man killed and others +wounded. Scott wrote to Santa Anna, demanding an apology, and +threatening to terminate the armistice on the 7th if it were not +tendered. The reply was insulting in the extreme; Santa Anna had +repaired his losses and was ready for another fight. + +On the evening of September 7th Worth and his officers were gathered in +his quarters at Tacubaya. On a table lay a hastily sketched map showing +the position of the fortified works at Molino del Rey, with the Casa +Mata on one side and the castle of Chapultepec on the other. The Molino +was occupied by the enemy; there was reason to believe it contained a +foundry in full operation, and Worth had been directed to storm it next +morning. Over that table bent Garland and Clarke, eager to repeat the +glorious deeds of August 20th at the _tête de pont_ of Churubusco; +Duncan and Smith, already veterans; Wright, the leader of the forlorn +hope, joyfully thinking of the morrow; famous Martin Scott, and +dauntless Graham, little dreaming that a few hours would see their livid +corpses stretched upon the plain; fierce old M'Intosh, covered with +scars; Worth himself, his manly brow clouded, and his cheek paled by +sickness and anxiety. Each officer had his place assigned to him in the +conflict; and they parted to seek a few hours' rest. + +At half-past two on the morning of the 8th the division was astir. 'Twas +a bright starlight night whose silence was unbroken as the troops moved +thoughtfully toward the battlefield. In front, on the right, about a +mile from the encampment, the hewn-stone walls of the Molino del Rey--a +range of buildings five hundred yards long, and well adapted for +defence--were distinctly visible, with drowsy lights twinkling through +the windows. A little farther off, on the left, stood the black pile of +the Casa Mata, the arsenal, crenelled for musketry, and surrounded by a +quadrangular field work. Beyond the Casa Mata lay a ravine, and from +this a ditch and hedge ran, passing in front of both works, to the +Tacubaya road. Far on the right the grim old castle of Chapultepec +loomed up darkly against the sky. Sleep wrapped the whole Mexican line, +and but few words were spoken in the American ranks as the troops took +up their respective positions: Garland, with Dunn's battery and Huger's +24-pounders, on the right, against the Molino; Wright, at the head of +the stormers, and followed by the light division under Captain Kirby +Smith, in the centre; M'Intosh, with Duncan's battery, on the left, near +the ravine looking toward the Casa Mata; and Cadwallader, with his +brigade, in reserve. + +Night still overhung the east when the Mexicans were roused from their +slumbers by the roar of Huger's 24-pounders, and the crashing of the +balls through the roof and walls of the Molino. A shout arose within +their lines, spreading from the ravine to the castle; lights flashed in +every direction, bugles sounded, the clank of arms rang from right to +left, and every man girded himself for the fray. With the first ray of +daylight Major Wright advanced with the forlorn hope down the slope. A +few seconds elapsed; then a sheet of flame burst from the batteries, and +round shot, canister, and grape hurtled through the air. "Charge!" +shouted the leader, and down they went, with double-quick step, over the +ditch and hedge, and into the line, sweeping everything before them. The +Mexicans fell from their guns, but soon, seeing the smallness of the +force opposed to them and reassured by the galling fire poured from the +_azoteas_ and Molino on the stormers, they rallied, charged furiously, +and drove our men back into the plain. Here eleven out of the fourteen +officers of Wright's party, and the bulk of his men, fell killed or +wounded. All of the latter who could not fly were bayoneted where they +lay by the Mexicans. + +Captain Walker, of the Sixth, badly shot, was left for dead; he saw the +enemy murdering every man who showed signs of life, but the agony of +thirst was so insupportable that he could not resist raising his canteen +to his lips. A dozen balls instantly tore up the ground around him; +several Mexicans rushed at him with the bayonet, but at that moment the +light division, under Kirby Smith, came charging over the ditch into the +Mexican line and diverted their attention. + +Garland meanwhile moved down rapidly on the right with Dunn's guns, +which were drawn by hand, all the horses having been wounded and become +unmanageable. These soon opened an enfilading fire on the Mexican +battery; and some of the gunners flying, the light division charged, +under a hot fire, and carried the guns for the second time. Their +gallant leader was shot dead in the charge. But the enemy could afford +to lose the battery. From the tops of the _azoteas_, from the Casa Mata +and the Molino, a deadly shower of balls was rained crosswise upon the +assailants. Part of the reserve was brought up; and Dunn's guns and the +Mexican battery were served upon the buildings without much effect at +first. Lieutenant-Colonel Graham led a party of the Eleventh against the +latter; when within pistol-shot a terrific volley assailed him, wounding +him in ten places. The gallant soldier quietly dismounted, pointed with +his sword to the building, cried "Charge!" and sank dead on the field. + +As fiercely raged the battle at the other wing where Duncan and M'Intosh +had driven in the enemy's right toward the Casa Mata. M'Intosh started +to storm that fort, and, in the teeth of a tremendous hail of musketry, +advanced to the ditch, only twenty-five yards from the work. There a +ball knocked him down; it was his luck to be shot or bayoneted in every +battle. Martin Scott took the command, but as he ordered the men forward +he rolled lifeless into the ditch. Major Waite, the next in rank, had +hardly seen him fall before he too was disabled. By whole companies the +men were mowed down by the Mexican shot; but they stood their ground. At +length some one gave the word to fall back, and the remnants of the +brigade obeyed. Many wounded were left on the ground; among others +Lieutenant Burnell, shot in the leg, whom the Mexicans murdered when his +comrades abandoned him. After the battle his body was found, and beside +it his dog, moaning piteously and licking his dead master's face. + +At the head of four thousand cavalry, Alvarez now menaced our left. +Duncan watched them come, driving a cloud of dust before them, till they +were within close range; then opening with his wonderful rapidity, he +shattered whole platoons at a discharge. Worth sent him word to be sure +to keep the lancers in check. "Tell General Worth," was his reply, "to +make himself perfectly easy; I can whip twenty thousand of them." So far +as Alvarez was concerned, he kept his word. + +On the American right the fight had reached a crisis. Mixed confusedly +together, men of all arms furiously attacked the Molino, firing into +every aperture, climbing to the roof, and striving to batter in the +doors and gates with their muskets. The garrison never slackened their +terrible fire for an instant. At length Major Buchanan, of the Fourth, +succeeded in bursting open the southern gate; and almost at the same +moment Anderson and Ayres, of the artillery, forced their way into the +buildings at the northwestern angle. Ayres leaped down alone into a +crowd of Mexicans--he had done the same at Monterey--and fell covered +with wounds. Our men rushed in on both sides, stabbing, firing, and +felling the Mexicans with their muskets. From room to room and house to +house a hand-to-hand encounter was kept up. Here a stalwart Mexican +hurled down man after man as they advanced; there Buchanan and the +Fourth levelled all before them. But the Mexicans never withstood the +cold steel. One by one the defenders escaped by the rear toward +Chapultepec, and those who remained hung out a white flag. Under +Duncan's fire the Casa Mata had been evacuated, and the enemy was +everywhere in full retreat. Twice he rallied and charged the Molino; but +each time the artillery drove him back toward Chapultepec, and parties +of the light infantry pursued him down the road. Before ten in the +morning the whole field was won; and, having blown up the Casa Mata, +Worth, by Scott's order, fell back to Tacubaya. + +With gloomy face and averted eye the gallant soldier received the thanks +of his chief for the exploits of the morning. His heart was with the +brave men he had lost--nearly eight hundred out of less than thirty-five +hundred and among them fifty-eight officers, many of whom were his +dearest friends. All had fallen in advance of their men, with sword in +hand and noble words on their lips. 'Twas a poor price for these to have +stormed Molino del Rey, and cut down nearly a fifth of Santa Anna's +fourteen thousand men. Sadly the General returned to his quarters. + +The end was now close at hand. Reconnoissances were carefully made, and, +the enemy's strength being gathered on the southern front of the city, +General Scott determined to assail Chapultepec on the west. By the +morning of the 12th the batteries were completed, and opened a brisk +fire on the castle, without, however, doing any more serious damage than +annoying the garrison and killing a few men. The fire was kept up all +day; and at night preparations were made for the assault, which was +ordered to be made next morning. + +At daybreak on the 13th the cannonade began again, as well from the +batteries planted against Chapultepec as from Steptoe's guns, which were +served against the southern defences of the city in order to divert the +attention of the enemy. At 8 A.M. the firing from the former ceased, and +the attack commenced. Quitman advanced along the Tacubaya road, Pillow +from the Molino del Rey, which he had occupied on the evening before. +Between the Molino and the castle lay first an open space, then a grove +thickly planted with trees; in the latter, Mexican sharpshooters had +been posted, protected by an intrenchment on the border of the grove. +Pillow sent Lieutenant-Colonel Johnston with a party of _voltigeurs_ to +turn this work by a flank movement; it was handsomely accomplished; and +just as the _voltigeurs_ broke through the redan, Pillow, with the main +body, charged it in front and drove back the Mexicans. The grove gained, +Pillow pressed forward to the front of the rock; for the Mexican shot +from the castle batteries, crashing through the trees, seemed even more +terrible than it really was, and the troops were becoming restless. + +The Mexicans had retreated to a redoubt half way up the hill; the +_voltigeurs_ sprang up from rock to rock, firing as they advanced, and +followed by Hooker, Chase, and others, with parties of infantry. In a +very few minutes the redoubt was gained, the garrison driven up the +hill, and the _voltigeurs_, Ninth, and Fifteenth were in hot pursuit +after them. The firing from the castle was very severe. Colonel Ransom, +of the Ninth, was killed, and Pillow himself was wounded. Still the +troops pressed on till the crest of the hill was gained. There some +moments were lost owing to the delay in the arrival of scaling-ladders, +during which two of Quitman's regiments and Clarke's brigade reenforced +the storming party. When the ladders came, numbers of men rushed forward +with them, leaped into the ditch, and planted them for the assault. + +Lieutenant Selden was the first man to mount. But the Mexicans collected +all their energies for this last moment. A tremendous fire dashed the +foremost of the stormers into the ditch, killing Lieutenants Rogers and +Smith and clearing the ladders. Fresh men instantly manned them, and, +after a brief struggle, Captain Howard, of the _voltigeurs_, gained a +foothold on the parapet. M'Kenzie, of the forlorn hope, followed; and a +crowd of _voltigeurs_ and infantry, shouting and cheering, pressed after +him, and swept down upon the garrison with the bayonet. Almost at the +same moment, Johnston, of the _voltigeurs_, who had led a small party +round to the gate of the castle, broke it open and effected an entrance +in spite of a fierce fire from the southern walls. The two parties +uniting, a deadly conflict ensued within the building. + +Maddened by the recollection of the murder of their wounded comrades at +Molino del Rey, the stormers at first showed no quarter. On every side +the Mexicans were stabbed or shot down without mercy. Many flung +themselves over the parapet and down the hillside and were dashed in +pieces against the rocks. More fought like fiends, expending their +breath in a malediction, and expiring in the act of aiming a treacherous +blow as they lay on the ground. Streams of blood flowed through the +doors of the college, and every room and passage was the theatre of some +deadly struggle. At length the officers succeeded in putting an end to +the carnage; and the remaining Mexicans having surrendered, the Stars +and Stripes were hoisted over the castle of Chapultepec by Major +Seymour. + +Meanwhile Quitman had stormed the batteries on the causeway to the east +of the castle, after a desperate struggle in which Major Twiggs, who +commanded the stormers, was shot dead at the head of his men. The +Mexicans fell back toward the city. General Scott, coming up at this +moment, ordered a simultaneous advance to be made on the city, along the +two roads leading from Chapultepec to the gates of San Cosme and Belen, +respectively. Worth was to command that on San Cosme, Quitman that on +Belen. Both were prepared for defence by barricades, behind which the +enemy were posted in great numbers. Fortunately for the assailants an +aqueduct, supported by arches of solid masonry, ran along the centre of +each causeway. By keeping under cover of these arches, and springing +rapidly from one to another, Smith's rifles and the South Carolina +regiment were enabled to advance close to the first barricade on the +Belen road, and pour in a destructive fire on the gunners. A flank +discharge from Duncan's guns completed the work; the barricade was +carried; and without a moment's rest Quitman advanced in the same manner +on the _garita_ San Belen, which was held by General Torres with a +strong garrison. + +It too was stormed, though under a fearful hail of grape and canister; +and the rifles moved forward toward the citadel. But at this moment +Santa Anna rode furiously down to the point of attack. Boiling with rage +at the success of the invaders, he smote General Torres in the face, +threw a host of infantry into the houses commanding the _garita_ and the +road, ordered the batteries in the citadel to open fire, planted fresh +guns on the Paseo, and infused such spirit into the Mexicans that +Quitman's advance was stopped at once. A terrific storm of shot, shell, +and grape assailed the _garita_, where Captain Dunn had planted an +8-pounder. Twice the gunners were shot down, and fresh men sent to take +their places. Then Dunn himself fell, and immediately afterward +Lieutenant Benjamin and his first sergeant met the same fate. The +riflemen in the arches repelled sallies; but Quitman's position was +precarious, till night terminated the conflict. + +Worth meanwhile had advanced in like manner along the San Cosme +causeway, driving the Mexicans from barricade to barricade, till within +two hundred fifty yards of the _garita_ of San Cosme. There he +encountered as severe a fire as that which stopped Quitman. But Scott +had ordered him to take the _garita_, and take it he would. Throwing +Garland's brigade out to the right and Clarke's to the left, he ordered +them to break into the houses, burst through the walls, and bore their +way to the flanks of the _garita_. The plan had succeeded perfectly at +Monterey, nor did it fail here. Slowly but surely the sappers passed +from house to house, until at sunset they reached the point desired. +Then Worth ordered the attack. Lieutenant Hunt brought up a light gun at +a gallop, and fired it through the embrasure of the enemy's battery, +almost muzzle to muzzle; the infantry at the same moment opened a most +deadly and unexpected fire from the roofs of the houses, and M'Kenzie, +at the head of the stormers, dashed at the battery and carried it almost +without loss. The Mexicans fled precipitately into the city. + +At one that night two parties left the citadel and issued forth from the +city. One was the remnant of the Mexican army, which slunk silently and +noiselessly through the northern gate, and fled to Guadalupe-Hidalgo; +the other was a body of officers who came under a white flag, to propose +terms of capitulation. + +The sun shone brightly on the morning of September 14th. Scores of +neutral flags float from the windows on the Calle de Plateros, and in +their shade beautiful women gaze curiously on the scene beneath. Gayly +dressed groups throng the balconies, and at the street-corners +dark-faced men scowl, mutter deep curses, and clutch their knives. The +street resounds with the heavy tramp of infantry, the rattle of +gun-carriages, and the clatter of horses' hoofs. "_Los Yanquies_!" is +the cry, and every neck is stretched to obtain a glimpse of the six +thousand bemired and begrimed soldiers who are marching proudly to the +Grand Plaza. On him especially is every eye intently fixed, whose +martial form is half concealed by a splendid staff and a squadron of +dragoons, as he rides, with flashing eye and beating heart, to the +National Palace of Mexico. But six months before, Winfield Scott had +landed on the Mexican coast; since then he had stormed the two strongest +places in the country, won four battles in the field against armies +double, treble, and quadruple his own, and marched without reverse from +Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico; losing fewer men, making fewer +mistakes, and creating less devastation, in proportion to his victories, +than any invading general of former times. Well might the Mexicans gaze +upon his face! + + + + +(1847) FAMINE IN IRELAND, Sir Charles Gavan Duffy + + +From the fact that its immediate cause was the almost complete failure +of the potato crop, due to the rot, the great Irish famine is known as +the "potato famine." The crop that suffered so was that of 1845, and the +famine began in the following year and reached its climax in 1847. It is +estimated that by this calamity two hundred thousand persons perished. +Many compensating features in connection with this appalling distress +have been pointed out. Some writers friendly toward Ireland have +declared that the famine proved one of the greatest blessings to the +country; that it hastened free trade, better drainage of the island, and +the passage of the Land Improvement Act; that it relieved the +overcrowded labor market, led to more scientific farming, and in other +ways produced changes that have been of lasting benefit. But though all +this be true, the misfortune itself gave to modern history one of its +most harrowing chapters. + +The population of Ireland in 1845 is supposed to have been nearly nine +millions. The manufactures were small, and the people depended on the +potato crop, and had no other resource in time of scarcity. For several +years the potato yield had been abundant, the country was comparatively +prosperous, and the temperance movement led by Father Mathew promised a +happier future. A great harvest was expected in 1845, but almost at a +single stroke this expectation was blasted; for although the crop was +large the greater part of it was destroyed in the ground, and the +potatoes that were gathered "rotted in pit and storehouse." The farmers +taxed all their means and energies to secure even a larger crop in 1846, +but the blight of that year was even more fatal than the last. To +pinching want was added discouragement, and the people sat in the shadow +of a frightful catastrophe. In vain the British Government was called +upon to give relief through Parliament, until, in the autumn of 1846, +parliamentary authority was obtained to grant baronial loans. But these +and every local endeavor to mitigate the suffering failed, and the +destructive work of the famine continued, the number of victims +increasing, to the end of that fatal year. The horrors of 1846 were more +than equalled by those of the year that followed, and the woful picture +presented by Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, the distinguished Irish patriot, +statesman, and historian, is but too amply justified by the accepted +records of the time. + +The condition of Ireland at the opening of the year 1847 is one of the +most painful chapters in the annals of mankind. An industrious and +hospitable race were in the pangs of a devouring famine. Deaths of +individuals, of husband and wife, of entire families, were becoming +common. The potato-blight had spread from the Atlantic to the Caspian; +but there was more suffering in one parish of Mayo than in all the rest +of Europe. From Connaught, where distress was greatest, came batches of +inquests with the horrible verdict "died of starvation." In some +instances the victims were buried "wrapped in a coarse coverlet," a +coffin being too costly a luxury. The living awaited death with a +listlessness that was at once tragic and revolting. Women with dead +children in their arms were seen begging for a coffin to bury them. + +Béranger has touched a thousand hearts by the picture of _Pauvre +Jacques_, who, when the tax-gatherer came in the King's name, was +discovered dead on his miserable pallet. But at Skibbereen, in the +fruitful County Cork whose seaports were thronged with vessels laden +with corn, cattle, and butter for England, the rate collector told a +more tragic tale. Some houses he found deserted; the owners had been +carried to their graves. In one cabin there was no other occupant than +three corpses; in a once prosperous home a woman and her children had +lain dead and unburied for a week; in the fields a man was discovered so +fearfully mangled by dogs that identification was impossible. The relief +committee of the Society of Friends described the state of the town in +language which it was hard to read with dry eyes. The people were dying +of the unaccustomed food which mocked their prayer for daily bread, and +were carried to the graveyard in a coffin from which the benevolent +strangers who had come to their relief had to drop them, like dead dogs, +that there might be a covering for the next corpse in its turn. + +"This place is one mass of famine, disease, and death. The poor +creatures, hitherto trying to exist on one meal a day, are now sinking +under fever and bowel complaints, unable to come for their soup, which +is not fit for them. Rice is what their whole cry is for, but we cannot +manage this well, nor can we get the food carried to the houses, from +dread of infection. I have got a coffin constructed with movable sides, +to convey the bodies to the churchyard, in calico bags prepared, in +which the remains are wrapped up. I have just sent it to bring the +remains of a poor creature to the grave, who having been turned out of +the only shelter she had, a miserable hut, perished the night before +last in a quarry." + +The people saw the harvest they had reared carried away to another +country without an effort, for the most part, to retain it. The sole +food of the distressed class was Indian-meal, which had paid freight and +storage in England, and had been obtained in exchange for English +manufactures. Under a recent law a peasant who accepted public relief +forfeited his holding, and thousands were ejected under this cruel +provision. But landowners were not content with one process alone; they +closed on the people with ejectments, turned them out on the roads, and +plucked down their rooftrees. In more than one county rents falling due +in November for land that no longer yielded food to the cultivator, were +enforced in January. In the southwest the peasantry had made some +frantic efforts to clutch their harvest and to retaliate for their +sufferings in blind vengeance, but the law carried a sharp sword. Eight +counties, or parts of counties, were proclaimed, and a special +commission, after a brief sitting in Clare and Limerick, left eleven +peasants for the gallows. Chief Justice Blackburn took occasion to note +that "The state of things in 1847 was exactly that described by an act +passed in 1776." The disease was permanent, so were the symptoms. One +well-head of Irish discontent was English prejudice, which refuses to +listen to any complaint till it threatens to become dangerous. + +It was a fearful time for men who loved their country, not only with +deep affection, but with a wise and forecasting interest. A revolution +of the worst type was in progress. Not the present alone, but the +future, was being laid waste. The marvellous reform accomplished by +Father Mathew, the self-reliance which had grown up in the era of +monster meetings, and the moral teachings of Davis and his friends were +being fast swallowed up by this calamity. The youth and manhood of the +middle classes were scrambling for pauper places from the Board of +Works, and the peasants were being transformed into mendicants by +process of law. These calamities, related of a distant and savage tribe, +would move a generous heart; but seeing them befall our own people, the +children of the same mother, and foreseeing all the black, unfathomable +misery they foreshadowed, it was hard to preserve the sober rule of +reason. + +The gentry, who were responsible in the first place for the protection +of the people from whom they drew their income, insisted that the +calamity was an imperial one and ought to be borne out of the exchequer +of the empire. It was an equitable claim. If there was no irresistible +title of brotherhood, at lowest the stronger nation had snatched away +from the weaker the power of helping itself, and still drew away during +this terrible era half a million pounds every month in the shape of +absentee rents. The demand was put aside contemptuously. The claim of +the Nationalists to reënter on the management of their own affairs, +since it was plain England could not manage them successfully, was +treated as sedition. We were proffered, instead of our own resources, +which were ample-- + + "Alms from scornful hands, to hands in chains, + Bitterer to taste than death." + +All the nations of the earth were appealed to and they gave generously; +but the result was far from being proportionate to the need. During the +year 1846 the contributions fell short of two thousand pounds a week. +And it was not forgotten that after the great fire of London, when the +citizens were in deep distress, the Irish contributed twenty thousand +fat cattle for their relief, which at their present value would amount +to a sum greater than England and Europe sent to the aid of Ireland in +1846. + +To lie down and die, like cattle in a murrain, was base. No people are +bound to starve while their soil produces food cultivated by their own +hands. No other people in Europe would have submitted to such a fate. +But the leader whom they were accustomed to follow had involved himself +in a tangle of false doctrines by his unhappy "Peace Resolutions," and +he exhorted them to endure all with patience and submission. His son had +the amazing assurance to add that if they starved with complete +resignation the repeal of the union was near at hand. + +On the relief committees, doctors, clergymen, and country gentlemen bore +the burden of the work, but a multitude of the gentry stood apart as if +the transaction did not concern them. They were busy in transferring the +harvest to England or clearing the population off their estates. The +English officials in Ireland accused them of jobbing in public works, or +quartering their relations and dependents on the Relief Fund, as +overseers, and, in some extreme cases, of obtaining grants for their own +families of money designed for the suffering poor on their estates. The +benevolence of the minority could not counterbalance these odious +offences, and deadly hatred was sown, which has since borne an abundant +harvest. + +The state of the country grew worse from day to day. It is difficult now +to realize the condition of the western population in the autumn of +1847; but a witness of unexceptionable impartiality has painted it in +permanent colors. A young Englishman representing the Society of +Friends, who in that tragic time did work worthy of the Good Samaritan, +reported what he saw in Mayo and Galway in language which for plain +vigor rivals the narratives of Defoe. This is what he saw in Westport: + +"The town of Westport was in itself a strange and fearful sight, like +what we read of in beleaguered cities; its streets crowded with gaunt +wanderers, sauntering to and fro with hopeless air and hunger-stricken +look; a mob of starved, almost naked women around the poorhouse +clamoring for soup tickets; our inn, the headquarters of the +road-engineer and pay-clerks, beset by a crowd begging for work." + +As he approached Galway, the rural population were found to be in a more +miserable condition: "Some of the women and children that we saw on the +road were abject cases of poverty and almost naked. The few rags they +had on were with the greatest difficulty held together, and in a few +weeks, as they are utterly unable to provide themselves with fresh +clothes unless they be given them, they must become absolutely naked." +And in another district: "As we went along our wonder was not that the +people died, but that they lived; and I have no doubt whatever that in +any other country the mortality would have been far greater; that many +lives have been prolonged, perhaps saved, by the long apprenticeship to +want in which the Irish peasant has been trained, and by that lovely, +touching charity which prompts him to share his scanty meal with his +starving neighbor." + +The fishermen of the Cladagh, who were induced to send the Whig +Attorney-General to Parliament a few months before, had to pledge the +implements of their calling for a little daily bread. "Even the very +nets and tackle of these poor fishermen, I heard, were pawned, and, +unless they be assisted to redeem them, they will be unable to take +advantage of the herring shoals, even when they approach their coast. In +order to ascertain the truth of this statement, I went into two or three +of the largest pawnshops, the owners of which fully confirmed it and +said they had in pledge at least a thousand pounds' worth of such +property and saw no likelihood of its being redeemed." + +In a rural district which he revisited after an interval, he paints a +scene which can scarcely be matched in the annals of a mediaeval plague: +"One poor woman whose cabin I visited said, 'There will be nothing for +us but to lie down and die.' I tried to give her hope of English aid, +but alas! her prophecy has been too true. Out of a population of two +hundred forty I found thirteen already dead from want. The survivors +were like walking skeletons; the men gaunt and haggard, stamped with the +livid mark of hunger; the children crying with pain; the women in some +of the cabins too weak to stand. When there before I had seen cows at +almost every cabin, and there were besides many sheep and pigs owned in +the village. But now all the sheep were gone, all the cows, all the +poultry killed, only one pig left; the very dogs which had barked at me +before had disappeared; no potatoes; no oats." + +The young man pointed the moral, which these horrible spectacles +suggested, with laudable courage: "I would not now discuss the causes of +this condition, nor attempt to apportion blame to its authors; but of +this one fact there can be no question: that the result of our social +system is that vast numbers of our fellow-countrymen--of the peasantry +of one of the richest nations the world ever knew--have not leave to +live. Surely such a social result as this is not only a national +misfortune but a national sin crying loudly to every Christian citizen +to do his utmost to remove it. No one of us can have a right to enjoy +either riches or repose until to the extent of his ability he strive to +wash himself of all share in the guilt of this fearful inequality, which +will be a blot in the history of our country and make her a byword among +the nations." + +The weekly returns of the dead were like the bulletins of a fierce +campaign. As the end of the year approached, villages and rural +districts, which had been prosperous and populous a year before, were +desolate. In some places the loss amounted to half the resident +population. Even the poorhouses shut up, and paupers did not escape. +More than one in six perished of the unaccustomed food. The people did +not everywhere consent to die patiently. In Armagh and Down groups of +men went from house to house in the rural districts and insisted on +being fed. In Tipperary and Waterford corn stores and bakers' shops were +sacked. In Donegal the people seized upon a flour-mill and pillaged it. +In Limerick five thousand men assembled on Tory Hill and declared that +they would not starve. A local clergyman restrained them by the promise +of speedy relief. "If the Government did not act promptly, he himself +would show them where food could be had." In a few cases crops were +carried away from farms. + +The offences which spring from suffering and fear were heard of in many +districts, but they were encountered with instant resistance. There were +thirty thousand men in red jackets, carefully fed, clothed, and lodged, +ready to maintain the law. Four prisoners were convicted at the Galway +assizes of stealing a filly, which they killed and ate to preserve their +own lives. In Enniskillen two boys under twelve years of age were +convicted of stealing one pint of Indian-meal cooked into "stirabout," +and Chief Justice Blackburn vindicated the outraged law by transporting +them for seven years. Other children committed larcenies that they might +be sent to jail where there was still daily bread to be had. In Mayo the +people were eating carrion wherever it could be procured, and the +coroner could not keep pace with the inquests; for the law sometimes +spent more to ascertain the cause of a pauper's death than would suffice +to preserve his life. + +The social disorganization was a spectacle as afflicting as the waste of +life; it was the waste of whatever makes life worth possessing. All the +institutions which civilize and elevate the people were disappearing, +one after another. The churches were half empty; the temperance +reading-rooms were shut up; the Mechanics' Institute no longer got +support; only the jails and the poorhouses were crowded. A new +generation, born in disease and reared in destitution, pitiless and +imbecile, threatened to drag down the nation to hopeless slavery. Trade +was paralyzed; no one bought anything which was not indispensable at the +hour. The loss of the farmers in potatoes was estimated at more than +twenty millions sterling; and with the potatoes the pigs, which fed on +them, disappeared. The seed, procured at a high price in spring, again +failed; time, money, and labor were lost, and another year of famine was +certain. All who depended on the farmer had sunk with him; shopkeepers +were beggared; tradesmen were starving; the priests living on voluntary +offerings were sometimes in fearful distress when the people had no +longer anything to offer. + +The poor-rate was quite inadequate to support the burden thrown upon it +by the suspension of public works, but there was another claim upon it +which could not wait. When the elections were over and the Government +majority secure, the Treasury called on the poor-law guardians to levy +immediately a special rate for the repayment of a million and a quarter +lent by the State in a previous year. They were warned that, if they +refused, their boards would be dissolved and the rates levied by the +authority of the Commissioners. The guardians in many districts declared +that an additional rate could not be collected. All that could be got +would be too little to support the distressed class. But the Treasury +would listen to no excuse, and a dozen boards were dissolved and paid +guardians put in their place. The Treasury had lent seven millions +sterling in 1846; five millions of it had been spent in making roads +which were not needed nor desired, and one million was diverted from the +wages fund to purchase land for this experiment. The aid which the +stronger country proposed to give to the weaker, from the Treasury to +which both contributed, was the remission of one-third of this debt. A +blunder in foreign policy, the escapade of an ambitious minister in +India or Africa, has cost the British taxpayer more in a month than he +spent to save millions of fellow-subjects beyond the Irish Sea. + +When the increased mortality was pressed on the attention of the +Government, Lord John Russell replied that the owners of property in +Ireland ought to support the poor born on their estates. It was a +perfectly just proposition if the ratepayers were empowered to determine +the object and method of the expenditure; but prohibiting productive +work, and forcing them to turn strong men into paupers and keep them +sweltering in workhouses instead of laboring to reclaim the waste +lands--this was not justice. The _Times_, commenting on the new policy, +declared that Ireland was as well able to help herself as France or +Belgium, and that the whole earth was doing duty for inhuman Irish +landlords. An unanswerable case, if Ireland, like France and Belgium, +had the power of collecting and applying her own revenue; otherwise not +difficult to answer. + +The people fled before the famine to England, America, and the British +colonies. They carried with them the seed of disease and death. In +England a bishop and more than twenty priests died of typhus, caught in +attendance on the sick and dying. The English people clamored against +such an infliction, which it cannot be denied would be altogether +intolerable if these fugitives were not made exiles and paupers by +English law. They were ordered home again, that they might be supported +on the resources of their own country; for though we had no country for +the purpose of self-government and self-protection, we were acknowledged +to have a country when the necessity of bearing burdens arose. + +More than a hundred thousand souls fled to the United States and Canada. +The United States maintained sanitary regulations on shipboard which +were effectual to a certain extent. But the emigration to Canada was +left to the individual greed of shipowners, and the emigrant-ships +rivalled the cabins of Mayo or the fever-sheds of Skibbereen. Crowded +and filthy, carrying double the legal number of passengers, who were +ill-fed and imperfectly clothed, and having no doctor on board, the +holds, says an eyewitness, were like the Black Hole of Calcutta, and +deaths occurred in myriads. The survivors, on their arrival in the new +country, continued to die and to scatter death around them. + +At Montreal, during nine weeks, eight hundred emigrants perished, and +over nine hundred residents died of diseases caught from emigrants. +During six months the deaths of the new arrivals exceeded three +thousand. No preparations were made by the British Government for the +reception or the employment of these helpless multitudes. The _Times_ +pronounced the neglect to be an eternal disgrace to the British name. +Ships carrying German emigrants and English emigrants arrived in Canada +at the same time in a perfectly healthy state. The Chief Secretary for +Ireland was able to inform the House of Commons that of a hundred +thousand Irishmen who fled to Canada in a year, six thousand one hundred +perished on the voyage, four thousand one hundred on their arrival, five +thousand two hundred in the hospitals, and one thousand nine hundred in +the towns to which they repaired. The Emigrant Society of Montreal +paints the result during the whole period of the famine in language not +easily to be forgotten: + +"From Grosse Island up to Port Sarnia, along the borders of our great +river, on the shores of Lakes Ontario and Erie, wherever the tide of +immigration has extended are to be found one unbroken chain of graves +where repose fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, in a commingled +heap--no stone marking the spot. Twenty thousand and upward have gone +down to their graves!" + +This was the fate which was befalling our race at home and abroad as the +year 1847 closed. There were not many of us who would not have given our +lives cheerfully to arrest this ruin, if we could only see a possible +way--but no way was visible. + + + + +(1848) MIGRATIONS OF THE MORMONS, Thomas L. Kane + + +Among the numerous religious bodies that have grown up in the United +States, the sect of Mormons, officially called "The Church of Jesus +Christ of Latter-day Saints," is perhaps the most unique in its origin +and organization, and the most singular in its history. The sect was +founded in 1830 by Joseph Smith, of Vermont. He declared that he had +discovered one of its authoritative writings, the _Book of Mormon_, at +Cumorah, New York. This book, he said, was found by him buried in the +earth at a place revealed to him by an angel. According to the Mormons, +the book, written in mystic characters on golden plates, is a record of +certain ancient people---"the long-lost tribes of Israel," Smith +declared--inhabiting North America. This book is said to have been +abridged by the prophet Mormon, and translated by Smith. By anti-Mormons +it is supposed to be based on a manuscript romance written by Solomon +Spaulding. + +The Mormon Church is governed by a hierarchy with two orders of +priesthood, a president, two counsellors, twelve apostles, and elders +and other officers. Peculiar as their polity appears, it has proved +remarkably successful in the development of their church and community, +notwithstanding stern hostility and widespread disapproval. They present +an impressive example of shrewdness, thrift, and administrative skill, +resulting in great material prosperity. Besides their separate books, +they accept the Bible as authoritative, and many of their doctrines and +rites resemble those common to the Christian sects. More than anything +else, their teaching and their practice of polygamy have brought them +into collision with "Gentiles" and with the United States Government. + +The first Mormon settlement was at Kirtland, Ohio, the next was in +Missouri. From those States they were expelled, and in 1840 they founded +Nauvoo in Illinois. Their later experience, up to their permanent +establishment in Utah, is recounted in the following narrative of the +hardships endured and surmounted by this extraordinary people. But it +should be added that the cause of the exodus was not, as is generally +supposed, religious persecution. The leaders of the sect at Nauvoo had +set up a bank without capital and passed thousands of its worthless +notes upon the unsuspecting farmers and traders; and it was this and +other crimes that exasperated the inhabitants of that region to the +point of driving away the whole community of Mormons. + +Once, while ascending the upper Mississippi in the autumn, when its +waters were low, I was compelled to travel by land past the region of +the rapids. My road lay through the "Half-Breed Tract," a fine section +of Iowa, which the unsettled state of its land titles had appropriated +as a sanctuary for coiners, horse thieves, and other outlaws. I had left +my steamer at Keokuk, at the foot of the Lower Fall, to hire a carriage, +and to contend for some fragments of a dirty meal with the swarming +flies, the only scavengers of the locality. From this place to where the +deep water of the river returns, my eye wearied to see everywhere +sordid, vagabond, and idle settlers, and a country marred, without being +improved, by their careless hands. + +I was descending the last hillside upon my journey, when a landscape in +delightful contrast broke upon my view. Half encircled by a bend of the +river, a beautiful city lay glittering in the fresh morning sun; its +bright new dwellings set in cool green gardens ranging up around a +stately dome-shaped hill which was crowned by a noble marble edifice +whose high tapering spire was radiant with white and gold. The city +appeared to cover several miles; and beyond it, in the background, +spread a fair rolling country, checkered by symmetrical lines of +fruitful husbandry. The unmistakable evidences of industry, enterprise, +and educated wealth, everywhere, made the scene one of singular and most +striking beauty. + +It was a natural impulse to visit this inviting region. I procured a +skiff and rowing across the river landed at the principal wharf of the +city. No one met me there. I looked, and saw no one: I heard no +movement: though the stillness everywhere was such that I heard the +flies buzz, and the ripples break against the shallows of the beach. I +walked through the solitary streets. The town lay as in a dream, under +some deadening spell of loneliness from which I almost feared to wake +it. Plainly it had not slept long. There was no grass growing in the +paved ways and rain had not washed away the prints of footsteps in the +dust. Yet I went about unchecked. I went into empty ropewalks, +workshops, and smithies. The spinner's wheel was idle; the carpenter had +gone from his workbench and left his sash and casing unfinished. Fresh +bark was in the tanner's vat, and the fresh chopped lightwood stood +piled against the baker's oven. The blacksmith's shop was cold; but his +coal-heap and ladling-pool and crooked water-horn were all there, as if +he had just gone off for a holiday. No workpeople, anywhere, looked to +know my errand. If I went into the gardens, clinking the wicket latch +loudly after me, to pull the marigolds, heartsease, and lady's-slippers, +and draw a drink with the water-sodden well-bucket and its noisy chain; +or, knocking off with my stick the tall, heavy-headed dahlias and +sunflowers, hunting among the beds for cucumbers and love-apples--no one +called out to me from any opened window; no dog sprang forward to bark +an alarm. I could have supposed the people hidden in the houses, but the +doors were unfastened; and when at last I timidly entered, I found dead +ashes cold upon the hearth, and had to tread on tiptoe, as if walking +down the aisle of a country church, to avoid rousing irreverent echoes +from the naked floors. + +On the outskirts of the town was the city graveyard. But there was no +record of plague there, nor did it in any wise differ much from other +Protestant American cemeteries. Some of the mounds were not long sodded; +some of the stones were newly set, their dates recent, and their black +inscriptions glossy in the hardly dried lettering-ink. Beyond the +graveyard, out in the fields, I saw, in one spot hard by where the +fruited boughs of a young orchard had been torn down, the still +smoldering embers of a barbecue fire that had been constructed of rails +from the fencing around it. It was the latest sign of life there. Fields +upon fields of heavy-headed grain lay rotting ungathered upon the +ground. No one was at hand to take in their rich harvest. As far as the +eye could reach, they stretched away--they, sleeping too in the hazy air +of autumn. + +Only two portions of the city seemed to suggest the import of this +mysterious solitude. In the southern suburb the houses looking out upon +the country showed, by their splintered woodwork and walls battered to +the foundation, that they had lately been the mark of a destructive +cannonade. And in and around the splendid temple, which had been the +chief object of my admiration, armed men were barracked, surrounded by +their stacks of musketry and pieces of heavy ordnance. These challenged +me to render an account of myself, and to tell the reason why I had had +the temerity to cross the water without a written permit from a leader +of their band. + +Though these men were generally more or less under the influence of +ardent spirits, after I had explained myself as a passing stranger they +seemed anxious to gain my good opinion. They told me the story of the +"dead city": that it had been a notable manufacturing and commercial +mart, sheltering over twenty thousand persons; that they had waged war +with its inhabitants for several years, and had been finally successful +only a few days before my visit, in an action fought in the ruined +suburb; after which, they had driven them forth at the point of the +sword. The defence, they said, had been obstinate, but gave way on the +third day's bombardment. + +They also conducted me inside the massive sculptured walls of the +curious temple, in which they said the banished inhabitants were +accustomed to celebrate the mystic rites of an unhallowed worship. They +particularly pointed out to me certain features of the building, which, +having been the peculiar objects of a former superstitious regard, they +had as matter of duty sedulously defiled and defaced. The reputed sites +of certain shrines they had thus particularly noticed, and various +sheltered chambers, in one of which was a deep well constructed, they +believed, with a dreadful design. Besides these, they led me to see a +large and deeply chiselled marble vase, or basin, supported upon twelve +oxen, also of marble and of life size, and of which they told some +romantic stories. They said the deluded persons, most of whom were +emigrants from a great distance, believed their deity countenanced their +reception here of a baptism of regeneration as proxies for whomsoever +they held in warm affection in the countries from which they had come: +that here parents "went into the water" for their lost children, +children for their parents, widows for their spouses, and young persons +for their lovers: that thus the great vase came to be associated with +all their most cherished memories, and was therefore the chief object of +all others in the building, upon which they bestowed the greatest degree +of their idolatrous affection. On this account, the victors had so +diligently desecrated it as to render the apartment in which it was +contained too noisome to abide in. + +They permitted me also to ascend into the steeple to see where it had +been struck by lightning on the Sabbath before; and to look out, east +and south, on wasted farms--like those I had seen near the +city--extending till they were lost in the distance. Close to the scar +left by the thunderbolt were fragments of food, cruses of liquor and +broken drinking-vessels, with a bass-drum and a steamboat signal-bell, +of which, with pain, I learned the use. + +It was after nightfall when I was ready to cross the river on my return. +The wind had freshened since sunset and, the water beating roughly into +my little boat, I headed higher up the stream than the point I had left +in the morning, and landed where a faint glimmering light invited me to +steer. Among the rushes--sheltered only by the darkness, without roof +between them and the sky--I came upon a crowd of several hundred human +creatures whom my movements roused from uneasy slumber. + +Dreadful indeed was the suffering of these forsaken beings. Cowed and +cramped by cold and sunburn alternating as each weary day and night +dragged on, they were, almost all of them, the crippled victims of +disease. They were there because they had no homes, nor hospital, nor +poorhouse, nor friends to offer them any. They could not minister to the +needs of their sick; they had no bread to quiet the fractious, hungry +cries of their children. Mothers and babes, daughters and grandparents, +all alike were clothed in tatters, lacking even sufficient covering for +the fever-stricken sufferers. + +These were the Mormons, famishing, in Lee County, Iowa, in the fourth +week of the month of September, 1846. The deserted city was Nauvoo, +Illinois. The Mormons were the owners of that city and the smiling +country around it. And those who had stopped their ploughs, who had +silenced their hammers, their axes, their shuttles and the wheels of +their workshops; those who had put out their fires, who had eaten their +food, spoiled their orchards, and trampled under foot their thousands of +acres of unharvested grain--these were the keepers of their dwellings, +the carousers in their temple, the noise of whose drunken rioting +insulted the ears of the dying. + +They were, all told, not more than six hundred forty persons who were +thus lying on the river-flats. But the Mormons in Nauvoo and its +environs had been numbered the year before at over twenty thousand. +Where were they? They had last been seen, carrying in mournful trains +their sick and wounded, halt and blind, to disappear behind the western +horizon, pursuing the phantom of another home. Hardly anything else was +known of them; and people asked with curiosity, "What had been their +fate--what their fortunes?" + +The party encountered by me at the river shore were the last of the +Mormons that left the city. They had all of them engaged the year before +that they would vacate their homes and seek some other place of refuge. +It had been the condition of a truce between them and their assailants; +and, as an earnest of their good faith, the chief elders, and some +others of obnoxious standing, with their families, were to set out for +the West in the spring of 1846. It had been stipulated in return that +the rest of the Mormons might remain behind, in the peaceful enjoyment +of their Illinois abode, until their leaders, with their exploring +party, could, with all diligence, select for them a new place of +settlement beyond the Rocky Mountains, in California, or elsewhere, and +until they had opportunity to dispose to the best advantage of the +property which they were then to leave. + +Some renewed symptoms of hostile feeling had however determined the +pioneer party to begin their work before the spring. It was of course +anticipated that this would be a perilous service; but it was regarded +as a matter of self-denying duty. The ardor and emulation of many, +particularly the devout and the young, were stimulated by the +difficulties it involved; and the ranks of the party were therefore +filled up with volunteers from among the most effective and responsible +members of the sect. They began their march in midwinter; and by the +beginning of February nearly all of them were on the road, many of their +wagons having crossed the Mississippi on the ice. + +Under the most favoring circumstances, an expedition of this sort, +undertaken at such a season of the year, could scarcely fail to be +disastrous. But the pioneer company had to set out in haste, and were +very imperfectly supplied with necessaries. The cold was intense. They +moved in the teeth of keen-edged northwest winds, such as sweep down the +Iowa peninsula from the icebound regions of the timber-shaded Slave Lake +and Lake of the Woods. Along the scattered watercourses, where they +broke the thick ice to give their cattle drink, the annual autumn fires +had left but little firewood. To men, insufficiently furnished with +tents and other appliances of shelter, wood was almost a necessary of +life. After days of fatigue their nights were often passed in restless +efforts to prevent themselves from freezing. Their stock of food also +proved inadequate; and as their constitutions became more debilitated +their suffering from cold increased. Afflicted with catarrhal +affections, manacled by the fetters of dreadfully acute rheumatism, some +contrived for a while to get over the shortening day's march and drag +along some others. But the sign of an impaired circulation soon began to +show itself in the liability of all to be dreadfully frost-bitten. The +hardiest and strongest became helplessly crippled. About the same time +the strength of their draught animals began to fail. The small supply of +provender they could carry with them had given out. The winter-bleached +prairie straw proved devoid of nourishment; and they could only keep +them from starving by seeking for the "browse," as it is called, this +being the green bark and tender buds and branches of the cottonwood and +other stunted growths in the hollows. + +To return to Nauvoo was apparently the only escape; but this would have +been to give occasion for fresh mistrust and so to bring new trouble to +those they had left there behind them. They resolved at least to hold +their ground, and to advance as they might, were it only by limping +through the deep snows a few slow miles a day. They found a sort of +comfort in comparing themselves to the exiles of Siberia, and sought +consolation in earnest prayers for the spring. + +The spring came at last. It overtook them in the Sac and Fox country, +still on the naked prairie, not yet half way over the trail they were +following between the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. But it brought +its own share of troubles with it. The months with which it opened +proved nearly as trying as the worst of winter. + +The snow and sleet and rain which fell, as it appeared to them, without +intermission, made the road over the rich prairie soil as impassable as +one vast bog of heavy black mud. Sometimes they would fasten the horses +and oxen of four or five wagons to one, and attempt to get ahead in this +way, taking turns; but at the close of a day of hard toil for themselves +and their cattle, they would find themselves a quarter or a half a mile +from the place they left in the morning. The heavy rains raised all the +watercourses; the most trifling streams were impassable. Wood, fit for +bridging, was often not to be had, and in such cases the only resource +was to halt for the freshets to subside--a matter in the case of the +headwaters of the Chariton, for instance, of over three weeks' delay. + +These were dreary waitings upon Providence. The most spirited and sturdy +murmured most at their forced inactivity. And even the women, whose +heroic spirits had been proof against the severest cold, confessed their +tempers fluctuated with the ceaseless variations of the barometer. They +complained too that the health of their children suffered more. It was +the fact that the damp winds of March and April brought with them more +mortal sickness than the sharpest freezing weather. + +The frequent burials discouraged and depressed the hardiest spirits; but +the general hopefulness of human nature was well illustrated by the fact +that even the most provident were found unfurnished with burial +necessaries, and as a result they were often driven to the most +melancholy makeshifts. + +The usual expedient adopted was to cut a log of some eight or nine feet +long, and slitting the bark longitudinally, strip it off in two +half-cylinders. These, placed around the body of the deceased and bound +firmly together with withs made of alburnum, formed a rough sort of +tubular coffin, which surviving relatives and friends, with a little +show of black crape, could follow to the hole or bit of ditch dug to +receive it in the wet ground of the prairie. The name of the deceased, +his age, the date of his death, and the surrounding landmarks were all +registered with care. His party was then ready to move on. Such graves +mark all the line of the first years of Mormon travel--dispiriting +milestones to failing stragglers in the rear. + +The hardships and trials which they had suffered developed a spirit of +self-sacrifice among these indomitable people. Hale young men gave up +their own food and shelter to the old and helpless, and worked their way +back to parts of the frontier States, chiefly Missouri and Iowa where +they were not recognized, and hired themselves out for wages, to +purchase more. Others were sent there to exchange for meal and flour, or +wheat and corn, the table-and bed-furniture and other remaining articles +of personal property which a few had still retained. + +In a kindred spirit of fraternity, others laid out great farms in the +wilds and planted the grain saved for their own bread; that there might +be harvests for those who should follow them. Two of these, in the Sac +and Fox country and beyond it, Garden Grove and Mount Pisgah, included +within their fences about two miles of land each, carefully planted with +grain, with a hamlet of comfortable log cabins in the neighborhood of +each. + +Through all this the pioneers found comfort in the thought that their +own suffering was the price of immunity from similar hardships their +friends at home, in following their trail, would otherwise have had to +pay. But the arrival of spring proved this a delusion. Before the warm +weather had made the earth dry enough for easy travel, messengers came +in from Nauvoo to overtake the party with fear-exaggerated tales of +outrage, and to urge the chief men to hurry back to the city that they +might give counsel and assistance there. The enemy had only waited until +the emigrants were supposed to be gone on their road too far to return +to interfere with them, and then renewed their aggressions. + +The Mormons outside Nauvoo were indeed hard pressed, but inside the city +they maintained themselves very well for two or three months longer. +Strange to say, the chief part of this respite was devoted to completing +the structure of their quaintly devised but beautiful temple. Since the +dispersion of Jewry, probably, history affords us no parallel to the +attachment of the Mormons for this edifice. Every architectural element, +every most fantastic emblem it embodied, was associated, for them, with +some cherished feature of their religion. Its erection had been enjoined +upon them as a most sacred duty: they were proud of the honor it +conferred upon their city, when it grew up in its splendor to become the +chief object of the admiration of strangers upon the upper Mississippi. +Besides, they had built it as a labor of love; they could count up to +half a million the value of their tithings and freewill offerings laid +upon it. Hardly a Mormon woman had not given up to it some trinket or +pin-money; the poorest Mormon man had at least served the tenth part of +his year on its walls; and the coarsest artisan could turn to it with +something of the ennobling attachment an artist has for his own +creation. + +Therefore, though their enemies drove on them ruthlessly, they succeeded +in parrying the last sword-thrust, till they had completed even the +gilding of the angel and trumpet on the summit of its lofty spire. As a +closing work, they placed on the entablature of the front, like a +baptismal mark on the forehead, these words: + + THE HOUSE OF THE LORD: + + BUILT BY THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS. + + HOLINESS TO THE LORD! + +Then, at high noon, under the bright sunshine of May, the next after its +completion, they consecrated it to divine service. There was a carefully +studied ceremonial for the occasion. It was said the high elders of the +sect travelled furtively from the camp of Israel in the wilderness, and, +throwing off ingenious disguises, appeared in their own robes of office +to give it splendor. + +For that one day the temple stood resplendent in all its typical glories +of sun, moon and stars, and other abounding figured and lettered signs, +hieroglyphs, and symbols; but that day only. The sacred rites of +consecration ended, the work of removing the _sacrosancta_ proceeded +with the rapidity of magic. It went on through the night, and when the +morning of the next day dawned all the ornaments and furniture, +everything that could provoke a sneer, had been carried off; and except +some fixtures that would not bear removal, the building was dismantled. + +This day saw the departure of the last of the elders, and the largest +band that moved in one company together. The people of Iowa have told me +that from morning to night they passed westward like an endless +procession. They did not seem greatly out of heart, they said; but, at +the top of every hill, before they disappeared, they were to be seen +looking back, like banished Moors, on their abandoned homes and the +distant temple and its glittering spire. + +After this consecration, which was construed to indicate an insincerity +on the part of the Mormons as to their stipulated departure, or at least +a hope of return, their foes set upon them with renewed bitterness. As +many fled as were at all prepared; but by the very fact of their so +decreasing the already diminished forces of the city's defenders, they +encouraged the enemy to greater boldness. It soon became apparent that +nothing short of an immediate emigration could save the remnant. + +From this time onward the energies of those already on the road were +engrossed by the duty of providing for the fugitives who came crowding +in after them. At a last general meeting of the sect in Nauvoo, there +had been passed a unanimous resolution that they would sustain one +another, whatever their circumstances, upon the march; and this, though +made in view of no such appalling exigency, they now with one accord set +themselves together to carry out. + +The host again moved on. The tents which had gathered on the hill +summits, like white birds hesitating to venture on the long flight over +the river, were struck one after another, and the dwellers in them and +their wagons and their cattle hastened down to cross it at a ferry in +the valley, which they made by night and day. A little beyond the +landing they formed their companies and made their preparations for the +last and longest stage of their journey. + +Though the season was late, when they first crossed the Missouri, some +of them moved forward with great hopefulness, full of the notion of +viewing and choosing their new homes that year. But the van had only +reached Grand Island and the Pawnee villages, when they were overtaken +by more ill news from Nauvoo. Before the summer closed, their enemies +set upon the last remnant of those who were left behind in Illinois. +They were a few lingerers, who could not be persuaded but there might +yet be time for them to gather up their worldly goods before removing. +Some weakly mothers and their infants, a few delicate young girls, and +many cripples and bereaved and sick people--these had remained under +shelter, according to the Mormon statement at least, by virtue of an +express covenant in their behalf. If there was such a covenant, it was +broken. A vindictive war was waged upon them, from which the weakest +fled in scattered parties, leaving the rest to make a reluctant and +almost ludicrously unavailing defence, till September 17th, when one +thousand six hundred twenty-five troops entered Nauvoo and drove all +forth who had not retreated before that time. + +Like the wounded birds of a flock fired into toward nightfall, they came +straggling on with faltering steps, many of them without bag or baggage, +beast or barrow, all asking shelter or burial, and forcing a fresh +repartition of the already divided rations of their friends. It was +plain now that every energy must be taxed to prevent the entire +expedition from perishing. Further emigration for the time was out of +the question, and the whole people prepared themselves for encountering +another winter on the prairie. + +Happily for the main body, they found themselves at this juncture among +Indians who were amicably disposed. The lands on both sides of the +Missouri in particular were owned by the Pottawottomis and Omahas, two +tribes whom unjust treatment by our United States Government had the +effect of rendering most hospitable to strangers whom they regarded as +persecuted like themselves. + +They were pleased with the Mormons. They would have been pleased with +any whites who would not cheat them, nor sell them whiskey, nor whip +them for their poor gypsy habits, nor conduct themselves indecently +toward their women, many of whom among the Pottawottomis--especially +those of nearly unmixed French descent--are singularly comely, and some +of them educated. But all Indians have something like a sentiment of +reverence for the insane, and admire those who sacrifice, without +apparent motive, their worldly welfare to the triumph of an idea. They +understand the meaning of what they call a great vow, and think it the +duty of the right-minded to lighten the votary's penance under it. To +this feeling they united the sympathy of fellow-sufferers for those who +could talk to them of their own Illinois, and tell the story of how they +also had been ruthlessly expelled from it. + +Their hospitality was sincere, almost delicate. Fanny le Clerc, the +spoiled child of the great brave Pied Riche, interpreter of the nation, +would have the paleface Miss Devine learn duets with her on the guitar; +and the daughter of substantial Joseph la Framboise, the United States +interpreter for the tribe (she died of the fever that summer) welcomed +all the nicest young Mormon women to a party at her father's house, +which was probably the best cabin in that village. They made the Mormons +at home, there and elsewhere. Upon all their lands they formally gave +them leave to remain as long as suited their own good pleasure. + +The affair, of course, furnished material for a solemn council. Under +the auspices of an officer of the United States their chiefs were +summoned, in the form befitting great occasions, to meet in the yard of +a Mr. P.A. Sarpy's log trading-house. They came in grand costume, moving +in their fantastic attire with so much _aplomb_ and genteel measure that +the stranger found it difficult not to believe them high-born gentlemen, +attending a fancy-dress ball. Their aristocratically thin legs, of which +they displayed fully the usual Indian proportion, aided this illusion. +There is something too at all times very mock-Indian in the theatrical +French millinery tie of the Pottawottomi turban; while it is next to +impossible for a sober white man, at first sight, to believe that the +red, green, black, blue, and yellow cosmetics, with which he sees such +grave personages so variously dotted, diapered, cancelled, and +arabesqued are worn by them in any mood but one of the deepest and most +desperate quizzing. From the time of their first squat upon the ground +to the final breaking up of the council circle they sustained their +characters with equal self-possession and address. + +I will not take it upon myself to describe their order of ceremonies; +indeed, I ought not, since I have never been able to view the habits and +customs of our aborigines in any other light than that of a sorrowful +subject of jest. Besides, in this instance, the powwow and the expected +flow of turgid eloquence were both moderated probably by the conduct of +the entire transaction on temperance principles. I therefore content +myself with observing generally that the proceedings were such as in +every way became the dignity of the parties interested, and the +magnitude of the interests involved. When the red men had indulged to +satiety in tobacco-smoke from their peace-pipes, and in what they love +still better--their peculiar metaphoric rhodomontade, which, beginning +with the celestial bodies, and coursing downward over the grandest +sublunary objects, always managed to alight at last on their "Great +Father," Polk, and the tenderness with which his affectionate red +children regarded him. All the solemn funny fellows present, who played +the part of chiefs, signed formal articles of convention with their +unpronounceable names. + +The renowned chief Pied Riche--he was surnamed Le Clerc on account of +his remarkable scholarship--then rose and said: "My Mormon brethren, the +Pottawottomi came, sad and tired, into this unhealthy Missouri bottom, +not many years back, when he was taken from his beautiful country, +beyond the Mississippi, which had abundant game and timber and clear +water everywhere. Now you are driven away, the same, from your lodges +and lands and the graves of your people. So we have both suffered. We +must help one another, and the Great Spirit will help us both. You are +now free to cut and use all the wood you may wish. You can make all your +improvements, and live on any part of our actual land not occupied by +us. Because one suffers, and does not deserve it, is no reason he shall +suffer always: I say, we may live to see all right yet. However, if we +do not, our children will. _Bon jour!_" + +And thus ended the powwow. I give this speech as a morsel of real +Indian. It was recited to me after the treaty by the Pottawottomi orator +in French, which language he spoke with elegance. _Bon jour_ ["good +day"] is the French, Indian, and English hail, and farewell of the +Pottawottomis. + +Upon the Pottawotomi lands, scattered through the border regions of +Missouri and Iowa, in the Sac and Fox country, a few among the Ioways, +among the Poncas, in a great company upon the banks of the l'Eau qui +Coulée (or Running Water) River, and at the Omaha winter quarters, the +Mormons sustained themselves through the heavy winter of 1846-1847. It +was the severest of their trials. This winter was the turning-point of +the Mormon fortunes. Those who lived through it were spared to witness +the gradual return of better times; and they now liken it to the passing +of a dreary night, since which they have watched the coming of a +steadily brightening day. + +In the spring of 1847, a body of one hundred forty-three picked men, +with seventy wagons, drawn by their best horses, left the Omaha +quarters, under the command of the members of the high council who had +wintered there. They carried with them little but seed and farming +implements, their aim being to plant spring crops at their ultimate +destination. They relied on their rifles to give them food, but rarely +left their road in search of game. They made long marches, and moved as +rapidly as possible. + +Against the season when ordinary emigration passes the Missouri, they +were already through the South Pass, and after a couple of short days' +travel beyond it entered upon the more arduous part of their journey, +which now lay through the Rocky Mountains. They passed Fremont's Peak, +Long's Peak, The Twins, and other summits, but had great difficulties to +overcome in forcing their way over other mountains of the rugged Utah +range, sometimes following the stony bed of torrents, the headwaters of +some of the mightiest rivers of our continent, and sometimes literally +cutting their road through heavy and ragged timber. They arrived at the +grand basin of the Great Salt Lake, much exhausted, but without losing a +man, and in time to plant for a partial autumn harvest. Another party +started after these pioneers from the Omaha winter quarters, in the +summer. They had five hundred sixty-six wagons, and carried large +quantities of grain, which they were able to sow before it froze. + +The same season these were joined by a part of the battalion and other +members of the Church who came eastward from California and the Sandwich +Islands. Together they fortified themselves strongly with sun-dried +brick walls and blockhouses, and, living safely through the winter, were +able to reap crops that yielded ample provision for the ensuing year. + +In 1848, nearly all the remaining members of the Church left the +Missouri country in a succession of powerful bands, invigorated and +enriched by their abundant harvests there; and that year saw fully +established their commonwealth of the "New Covenant," the future State +of "Deseret." [Footnote: The Mormons repeatedly tried to secure the +admission of Deseret into the Union as a State under that name--said to +mean "virtue and industry."] + +When Utah was organized as a Territory (1850), the Mormon leader, +Brigham Young, was made governor. In 1857 President Buchanan appointed a +non-Mormon to succeed Young. This act led the Mormons to rebel, but +after a display of military force by the Government they acknowledged +allegiance. In 1896, polygamy having been prohibited by Congress, Utah +was admitted to the Union. Since the settlement of the Mormons upon the +Great Salt Lake there has been a large immigration into Utah. [The +Mormons have spread beyond that State into Arizona, Idaho, Wyoming, and +other parts of the West and Southwest--ED.] + + + + +(1848) THE REFORMS OF PIUS IX, Francis Bowen + + +In the long roll of pontiffs the name of Pius IX stands conspicuous +among those of popes, who have greatly exerted their power for effect +upon the papacy itself. But the influence of Pius IX was not less marked +in Italian and European politics. An account of the reforms which he +undertook and of the obstacles he had to confront, cannot fail to +convey, directly or by implication, matters of much importance in modern +history. That a pope who signalized the beginning of his official career +by a series of liberal reforms should soon have been driven from his see +by revolutionists is one of the historical paradoxes for which even the +"philosophy of history" finds it difficult to account. But, as one +writer tells us, "The revolutionary fever of 1848 spread too fast for a +reforming pope, and his refusal to make war upon the Austrians finally +cost him the affections of the Romans." + +Pope Pius IX (Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti) who at the age of +fifty-four brought the power of his papal throne to advance the cause of +Young Italy--led by Mazzini and other patriots--was born at Sinigaglia +May 13, 1792. He was descended from a noble family, and his early +education was received at the College of Volterra. Throughout the years +of his youth he suffered from infirm health, but before reaching thirty +he gained much in strength, and in 1827 became Archbishop of Spoleto. In +1840 he was made cardinal by Pope Gregory XVI. Gregory died June 1, +1846, and after being two days in conclave the cardinals elected their +colleague Ferretti to succeed him. The cardinals felt the advisability +of choosing for pope a native of the Papal States, a man not too far +advanced in years, and one "who would see the necessity of correcting +abuses and making some reforms." + +Francis Bowen, whose review of Pope Pius's career, from his entrance +upon the papal office until his temporary withdrawal from Rome, is here +presented, is a well-known authority in this as also in other fields of +history, and his recital is based upon the best contemporary accounts. + +When Pius IX was elected Pope his course did not long remain doubtful. +He limited the expenses of the court at once, dispensed alms in +abundance, set aside one day of each week for giving audiences, and +commanded that political inquisitions should be stopped immediately. +These few steps, taken before he had had time to consult with others, +afford perhaps a better indication of the mild and kind character of the +new pontiff than the grave political acts which were subsequently +performed. These show us the man, the others reveal only the sovereign. +Just one month after his election, a manifesto of amnesty for all +political offenders was published at Rome, including the exiles, those +awaiting trial, and those undergoing sentence. The only conditions +imposed were that the individuals pardoned should give their word of +honor never to abuse the indulgence, and would fulfil every duty of a +good citizen. + +The news of this act flew like the wind through the Papal States, and +caused everywhere a burst of exultation and gratitude toward the new +sovereign. It carried joy to thousands of households, bringing back to +them the long-separated brother or parent, and it was a token of future +peace and contentment. In the city, says Farini, [Footnote: Luigi Carlo +Farini, who is freely quoted by Bowen, was an Italian historian and +statesman. His principal work is _Storia dello stato Romano dall' anno +1814 al 1830_.--ED.] the hosannas were countless; each citizen embraced +his neighbor like a brother; thousands of torches blazed in the evening; +the multitude ran to the palace of the Pope, called for him, threw +themselves prostrate on the earth before him, and received his blessing +in devout silence. Many of the pardoned offenders were still more +extravagant in their demonstrations of joy and thankfulness. Among them +was Galletti, of Bologna, afterward one of the Pope's ministers, and +most active in those measures which ended in the assassination of Rossi +and in driving Pius into exile. He had been sentenced to imprisonment +for life, and was kept in the castle of Sant' Angelo. When released, he +threw himself at the Pope's feet, and swore, by his own heart's blood +and that of his children, that he would be grateful and faithful. Some +of the exiles, however, among whom was Mamiani, refused to subscribe the +proposed engagement, simple as it was; but they returned after a time to +their homes, merely promising allegiance. Every time that the Pope left +his palace he was surrounded by a sort of triumphal procession. The +whole length of the Corso was decorated when he passed through it, and +hundreds of likenesses of him, and of panegyrical compositions, covered +the walls. Foremost in getting up these popular celebrations was Angelo +Brunetti, afterward so well known by his nickname of "Ciceruacchio." "He +was a person of single mind, rustic in manners, proud and at the same +time generous, as is common with Romans of the lower class." By his +industry he had acquired considerable property, and by his liberal use +of it had become a leader of the populace, whom he now fired with his +own enthusiasm for Pius IX. + +The Pope would have been more than man if his head had not been a little +turned with all this adulation, which came to him from many foreign +lands as well as from Italy. But his simple and modest character bore +the trial well; he manifested no undue elation, and formed his plans +tranquilly and without hurry for the improvement of his people. Cardinal +Gizzi, well known as a friend to reform, and much attached to the Pope, +was named Secretary of State; and he wrote letters to the presidents of +the provinces, inviting them, the municipal magistrates, ecclesiastics, +and all respectable citizens, to prepare and offer schemes for promoting +popular education, and especially for the moral, religious, and +industrial instruction of the children of the poor. Commissions were +appointed to deliberate and advise upon many subjects of proposed +reform. Great, indeed, was the need of change in the institutions of the +Pontifical States; but the Government had a delicate part to play in +amending them, and it wisely determined not to be precipitate in its +measures. "Already the Liberals had conceived boundless desires, and the +Retrogradists were haunted with unreasonable fears. The Government had, +to-day, to moderate on the left, circulate despatches, wellnigh to scold +men for hoping too much." + +But the friends of change, says Farini, were for the most part measured +in their wishes and cautious in their proceedings; for all prudent men +were exerting themselves strenuously to keep the impatient in hand, with +excellent effect. + +We cannot follow in detail the Pope's measures down to March, 1848, till +which period the movement may be considered as all his own, emanating +from his free choice and not from the pressure of outward circumstances +or from revolutions in foreign States. He did enough during these twenty +months to establish his character as a wise, humane, and liberal +sovereign, eager to promote the temporal and religious interests of his +people, and prompt to give political power into their hands as fast as +they showed themselves capable of using, and not abusing, it. He +instituted a civic guard throughout his dominions, modelled on the +French National Guard, and disbanded the Gregorian Centurions and +volunteers. All his court was opposed to this measure as premature and +dangerous; and even Cardinal Gizzi resigned his place in consequence of +it. But the Pope persevered, and Cardinal Ferretti, still more inclined +to liberalism, was appointed in his place. + +He conceived the idea of an Italian customs league, after the model of +the German one, and pressed it with so much earnestness that in +November, 1847, it was instituted for the Roman, Tuscan, and Sardinian +dominions, and every effort was made to render it acceptable to the +other powers of Italy. He established a municipal government for the +city of Rome, which had hitherto remained without one; and he created a +Council of State for all his dominions, to consist chiefly of the laity, +one person being chosen for each Province by the sovereign, out of a +list of three, nominated by the provincial authorities. This Council was +to sit in Rome, and aid the Government with its advice in putting the +various departments in order, in constituting municipalities, and in +other public concerns. He created, also, a Council of Ministers, which +Farini calls the most important act of his reign, "As being that by +which the executive power acquired an organization worthy of a civilized +state, and altogether novel in that of Rome." There were to be nine +departments, and, with the exception of the president of the Council and +its secretary, the ministers need not be cardinals. All those first +appointed, however, were cardinals or prelates. + +A body of _Uditori_ was attached to this Council, consisting of twelve +ecclesiastics and twelve laymen, all appointed by the sovereign. The +laws respecting the censorship of the press were much relaxed, and +numerous political journals were established at Rome, which before had +nothing that deserved the name of a newspaper. "Our infant journalism," +says Farini, "had its infant passions and caprices; instead of +meditating, it gambolled, and every day it smashed its toys of the day +before, as children do; it instituted a school of declamation, not of +political knowledge; it ran and plunged about, blindfold; it made boast +of an independent spirit, and was a mean slave to out-of-doors +influence." + +These measures of reform, and the enthusiasm which they created, were +not without effect on surrounding nations. Considering the place whence +they came, and the sovereign who conducted them, they were adapted to +have a vast influence. Rome, the "Eternal City," was regenerated, and a +new life bounded through her old limbs; and the August head of the +Catholic Church, the greatest religious potentate of the civilized +world, the infallible, the object of veneration to half Christendom, and +hitherto the most despotic and conservative sovereign in Europe, was now +the daring innovator, the radical, the idol of the populace. Austria +looked on with distrust and dismay, and tried to pick a quarrel and thus +find a pretext for invasion by ordering its troops, who had as yet only +garrisoned the fortress, to occupy the city of Ferrara and patrol its +streets--a measure almost sure to lead to a collision with its citizens. + +The Pope protested in a firm but temperate tone, and his indignant +people would fain have hurried him into a war; but he bridled their +impatience and the matter ended in a compromise. Tuscany caught the +generous flame of freedom; and though there was not so much to be +accomplished there, as the Government had long been mild and discreet, +the good Archduke [Leopold II] professed the utmost admiration for Pius, +and began to imitate his measures. + +The King of Sardinia was moved to enthusiasm; during the difficulty with +Austria about Ferrara he offered the Pope whatever succor of ships or +men he might need, and an asylum in his dominions if he should be +compelled to leave Rome. He did more; he relaxed the bonds of the press, +improved the administration of justice, deprived the police of their +discretionary power, enlarged and amended the Council of State, +emancipated the communes, and allowed their officers to be chosen by +popular vote. The character and example of Pius seemed likely to effect +as great and as beneficial changes out of his dominions as within them. +Those of the Italian sovereigns who were not willing to follow his lead +of their own accord, were obliged to yield in dismay before the spirit +which he had awakened in their subjects. + +The silly Duke of Lucca, a fanatic, a prodigal, and a despot, after +attempting in vain to cudgel his people into submission, fled in terror +from their aroused wrath, and consented to the annexation of his +dominions to Tuscany, whereby they shared in the reforms instituted by +Leopold. + +But in Sicily and Naples were developed the most striking results of the +fire which had been kindled by a reforming pope. The cruel and imbecile +Bourbon who reigned there became only more harsh and obstinate, while +the other princes of Italy deemed it necessary to reform their +institutions and conciliate their people. His subjects petitioned him, +and shouted for Pius in the streets; but the soldiery were turned +against them, and the King showed himself alike inaccessible to their +caresses and their prayers. "One king only," said Thiers from the +tribune, speaking of Italy, "he of Naples, presented the sword's point +to the people who were flocking around him, and that people fell on it." +The impulsive Sicilians fixed January 12, 1848, as the day beyond which +their patience would not extend. The King made no concessions, the day +came, and the island was revolutionized, the troops everywhere giving +way before the excited populace. Within a fortnight the inhabitants of +Naples followed their example; and before the fight began, the King's +heart failed him, and he granted all that they asked. The Ministry was +changed, a constitution was resolved upon, and its fundamental +principles were announced on January 29th, while the Administration +pledged themselves to publish it complete within twelve days. The King +came out to meet the crowd, who were cheering him, and intimated his +purpose to surpass the other sovereigns of Italy in the magnitude of his +concessions. How sincere his promises were, the lapse of a few months +fully showed; but at present everything wore a cheerful aspect. + +The Pope had now reached the climax of his fortunes, the furthest limit +of the good which he was permitted to accomplish by his own free will, +and the sky began to be overcast. The enthusiasm of his people became +unmanageable, and the volcanic force of another French revolution was +soon to burst and to prostrate half the governments in Europe by the +explosion. Constant excitement for twenty months had made Rome noisy and +turbulent, and the populace had been gratified so often that they now +expected everything to succumb to their wishes. Busy agitators were in +the midst of them, intent upon prosecuting the plans of Mazzini and +Young Italy, and turning reform into revolution. The people were mad for +a declaration of war against Austria, though the military strength of +the Roman States was grossly inadequate for such a conflict, and the +head of the Catholic Church was naturally reluctant to come to +extremities with a Catholic power which had long been the firmest +support of the papacy. Then a cry was raised to exclude all +ecclesiastics from office, or at least to admit so large a portion of +the laity into the Administration that Rome would be secularized and +lose its distinctive character as an appanage for the head of the +Church. The people would not consider, or were reckless of the fact, +that Pius was a devout Catholic as well as a liberal sovereign, and +could not be expected to lend his aid to a project for stripping the +papacy of all temporal power, if not for razing it to its foundations. +The cries of expulsion and death to the Jesuits were also raised; and as +that body, however obnoxious elsewhere, had given no offence at Rome, +the Pope's sense of justice inclined him to protect them and to resist +the clamor of the mob. + +The news from Sicily and Naples caused a great popular demonstration at +Rome, the aspect of which was so threatening that Pius issued a +proclamation, on February 10th, announcing that he had taken measures +for reorganizing and enlarging the army, and for augmenting the lay +portion of the Council of Ministers; but appealing to his people in +affecting terms, by the proofs already given of his solicitude in their +behalf, that they should cease from agitation and not make demands which +could not be granted consistently with his duty and their own +well-being. This paper caused another effusion of popular gratitude; an +immense multitude collected in the Piazza del Papolo, and, accompanied +by the Civic Guard and bearing banners, they set out for the Pope's +palace. When they came to the Quirinal Pius showed himself at the +balcony and made signs that he wished to speak. "There was a profound +silence, not broken even by the trickling of the fountains, which had +been stopped some days before." The Pope said: + +"'Before the benediction of God descends upon you, on the rest of my +people, and, I say it again, on all Italy, I pray you to be of one mind, +and to keep the faith which you have sworn to me, the Pontiff.' + +"At these words the silence of deep feeling was broken by a sudden +thunder of acclamation, 'Yes, I swear,' and Pius proceeded: + +"'I warn you, however, against the raising of certain cries, that are +not of the people, but of a few individuals, and against making any such +requests to me as are incompatible with the sanctity of the Church; for +these I cannot, I may not, and I will not grant. This being understood, +with my whole soul, I bless you.'" + +Deeds followed words; the Ministry was changed; five laymen were +admitted into it, and it was intimated that a constitution would be +granted resembling those in other States. Then came the news of the +disasters at Paris, and everything was precipitated. On March 10th the +Ministry was again changed, only three ecclesiastics being now admitted +into it; and on the 14th the new constitution, or "Fundamental Statute," +was proclaimed. It instituted a Legislature in two branches, the High +Council and the Council of Deputies, the members of the former being +appointed by the Pope, and those of the latter being chosen by popular +vote in the ratio, as nearly as might be, of one to every thirty +thousand souls. All citizens were voters who paid twelve crowns a year +in direct taxes or had property amounting to three hundred crowns; to +these were added all members of colleges and honorary graduates, and all +persons holding office in the communes and municipalities. The +Legislature was to be convoked every year, both Councils were to choose +their own officers, and their sessions were to be public, except on +extraordinary occasions when they might of their own accord prefer +secrecy. Freedom of debate and vote was guaranteed, and the members of +both Houses were protected from arrest, even for notoriously criminal +acts, during the session, except by consent of the Council to which they +belonged. + +They were to have authority to make laws on all subjects, excepting +ecclesiastical matters and the canons and discipline of the Church, but +including the imposition of taxes; the Pope, however, like most +monarchs, reserved to himself the right of negativing a law. All +discussions, also, of the diplomatico-religious relations of the Holy +See with foreign powers were forbidden. Money bills were to originate in +the lower house, and direct taxes could be granted for only a year. The +Deputies had a right to impeach ministers, who, if they were laymen, +were to be tried by the High Council; if ecclesiastics, by the Sacred +College. The unlimited right of petition to the lower house was assured +and ministers were responsible for every ministerial act; they had the +right of sitting and debating, but not of voting, in both Councils. A +portion of the revenue of the State, for the support of the cardinals, +the ecclesiastical congregations, and generally for the transaction of +purely ecclesiastical business, was to be secured to the Pope, and to be +borne on the estimates every year. + +The judges were to be irremovable after they had held office for three +years; and all persons were declared equal in the sight of the law. +Extraordinary commissions or tribunals for the trial of offences were +abolished. All property, whether of individuals or corporations, whether +civil or ecclesiastical, was to be held subject to its equal part of the +burdens of the State; and to all bills imposing taxes, the Pope would +annex, of his own authority, a special waiver of the ecclesiastical +exemption. The administrations of the Provinces and the communes were +placed in the hands of their respective inhabitants. The Government (or +political) censorship was abolished, but the ecclesiastical censorship +was retained. + +Such is a general outline of the Roman Constitution spontaneously +granted to his subjects by Pius IX. Its merits, in all civil or +political matters, are certainly equal, if not superior, to those of the +English Constitution, from which in great part it was borrowed; its +faults are precisely those which resulted necessarily from the Pope's +double character, as temporal sovereign of the Roman States and as head +of the Catholic Church throughout the world. It was not within the +province or at the discretion of Pius to alter the tenure by which he +held his throne, to change the fundamental principles of the Church or +to abolish his ecclesiastical dominion. He granted to his subjects all +that was in his power to grant as their temporal sovereign. His purely +ecclesiastical relations and duties did not concern them, or concerned +them only so far as they were members of the great body of Catholic +believers in all lands. The College of Cardinals _must_ choose the Pope, +and _must_ choose one of their own number; this is not a law of the +Roman States, but a law of the Catholic Church. Pius could not abrogate +it; and if he had been inclined to grant everything to his people by +divesting himself of the last rag of his sovereignty, the only +consequence would have been that the cardinals must have chosen another +pope in his place, who might undo all that Pius had accomplished. + +These are obvious and necessary considerations; and the Pope expressly +recognizes them in the ordinance accompanying the grant of the +constitution. "We intend," he says, "to maintain intact our authority in +matters that by their nature are related to the Catholic religion and +its rule of morals. And this is due from us as a guaranty to the whole +of Christendom, that, in the States of the Church reorganized in this +new form, nothing shall be derogated from the liberties and rights of +the Church herself, and of the Holy See, nor any precedent be +established for violating the sacredness of the religion which it is our +duty and mission to preach to the whole world, as the only scheme of +covenant between God and man, the only pledge of that heavenly +benediction by which states subsist and nations flourish." + +Now, it is worthy of note that neither this constitution nor any of the +acts of Pius under it was ever complained of by any party among the +Pope's subjects except in regard to these ecclesiastical reservations +which were forced from him by the very nature of the office that he +held. The constitutionalists, indeed the moderate reformers, the party +of Balbo and Gioberti and D'Azeglio, which comprised most of the +educated and reflecting persons in the State, seem to have been entirely +satisfied with it as a whole, or as it was. So also were the unthinking +populace, who received it with shouts of exultation, so long as they +were not moved by the arts of a party who would not be satisfied with +having a good pope, but were bent upon having no pope at all. This was +the party of Mazzini, the revolutionists as distinguished from the +reformers--not strong at first either in numbers or credit, as we have +seen, but who made up for all deficiencies by their zeal and +activity--who were determined to establish a republic, and who cared +nothing for the embarrassments of the Pope's situation as head of the +Church, of indeed for the Church itself. They complained--and with +reason, too, upon their principles--of these ecclesiastical +reservations; and they made out of them their chief weapon of attack +upon the Pope's government, though they did not profit so much by the +use of it as by the evident unwillingness of Pius to rush into a war +with Austria for the purpose of giving the sovereignty of Lombardy to +Charles Albert, a measure to which he was averse, because he thought +such a conflict would be detrimental to the interests of the Church over +which he presided. + +The world's future judgment of Pius will depend upon its belief of the +sincerity with which he acted in thus allowing nothing but his religious +duties and his position as the head of the Church to limit his +concessions of political privileges to his subjects. On this point, it +is well to hear the opinion of Farini, who, as one of the Mamiani +Ministry and as employed to mediate between them and the Pope, because +much loved and trusted by him, seems peculiarly qualified to form one +without undue bias on either side: + +"Pius IX had applied himself to political reform, not so much for the +reason that his conscience as an honorable man and a most pious +sovereign enjoined it, as because his high view of the papal office +prompted him to employ the temporal power for the benefit of his +spiritual authority. A meek man and a benevolent prince, Pius IX was, as +a pontiff, lofty even to sternness. With a soul not only devout, but +mystical, he referred everything to God, and respected and venerated his +own person as standing in God's place. He thought it his duty to guard +with jealousy the temporal sovereignty of the Church, because he thought +it essential to the safe-keeping and the apostleship of the faith. + +"Aware of the numerous vices of that temporal government, and hostile to +all vice and all its agents, he had sought, on mounting the throne, to +effect those reforms which justice, public opinion, and the times +required. He hoped to give lustre to the papacy by their means, and so +to extend and to consolidate the faith. He hoped to acquire for the +clergy that credit, which is a great part of the decorum of religion and +an efficient cause of reverence and devotion in the people. His first +efforts were successful in such a degree that no pontiff ever got +greater praise. + +"By this he was greatly stimulated and encouraged, and perhaps he gave in +to the seduction of applause and the temptations of popularity more than +is fitting for a man of decision or for a prudent prince. But when, +after a little, Europe was shaken by universal revolution, the work he +had commenced was, in his view, marred; he then retired within himself +and took alarm. + +"In his heart, the pontiff always came before the prince, the priest +before the citizen; in the secret struggles of his mind, pontifical and +priestly conference always outweighed the conscience of the prince and +citizen. And as his conscience was a very timid one, it followed that +his inward conflicts were frequent; that hesitation was a matter of +course, and that he often took resolutions even about temporal affairs, +more from religious intuition or impulse than from his judgment as a +man. Added to this, his health was weak and susceptible of nervous +excitement--the dregs of his old complaint. From this he suffered most +when his mind was most troubled and uneasy; another cause of wavering +and changefulness. + +"Under the pressure of the extraordinary occurrences throughout Europe +early in the spring of 1848, the Pope's new Ministry under the +constitution proceeded vigorously and rapidly to give full development +and efficiency to that instrument. They also expressed the wish for a +firm union of the constitutional thrones of Italy with one another with +a view to insuring her independence; and they ordered the papal banners +to be decorated with pennons of the Italian tricolor. On March 21st the +news of the revolution at Vienna, much magnified by report, arrived, and +the excitement of the Roman populace knew no bounds. + +"Every bell in the city pealed for joy; from palace and from hovel, from +magazine and workshop, the townspeople poured in throngs into the +streets and squares; some took to letting off firearms, some to strewing +flowers; some hoisted flags on the towers, some decked with them their +balconies; everybody was shouting '_Italia! Italia!_' and cursing the +Empire. In an access of fury, the Austrian arms were torn down, dashed +to pieces, and befouled amid the applause of the crowd in spite of the +dissuasion of the public functionaries and of prudent persons." + +The hostility to the Jesuits now threatened to break out into violence; +and for the double purpose of protecting them and appeasing the passions +of the mob the Pope consented that the schools which they had +superintended should be given into other hands, that their associations +should be disbanded and they should be exiled. + +"The Government perhaps had no choice, so swiftly and impetuously did +the torrent of popular commotion roll. I will not affirm that the Pope +and the Government ought to have exposed to the last hazard the security +of the State for an ineffectual defence of the fraternity. What I wish +to observe is that if there were among the Jesuits men stained with +guilt, and mischievous plotters, they ought to have been watched and +punished as bad citizens; but it was incompatible with propriety or +justice to condemn and punish a religious association, as such, in a +place where the Pope held both his own seat and the supreme authority of +the Church. None but the Pope had the power to condemn the society as a +whole, and no condemnation but his could be just or valid in the opinion +and conscience of the Catholics, or produce the desired political +effects." On the same day that the Jesuits were expelled, the Pope +issued a noble proclamation, breathing the best spirit of religion. The +following excerpt is a portion of it: + +"_Pius Papa IX to the People of the States of Italy--Health and +Apostolic Benediction_: + +"The events which the last two months have witnessed, following and +thronging one another in such rapid succession, are no work of man. Woe +to him that does not discern the Lord's voice in this blast that +agitates, uproots, and rends the cedar and the oak. Woe to the pride of +man if he shall refer, these marvellous changes to any human merit or +any human fault; if instead of adoring the hidden designs of Providence, +whether manifested in the paths of his justice or of his mercy, or of +that Providence in whose hands are all the ends of the earth. And we, +who are endowed with speech in order to interpret the dumb eloquence of +the works of God--we cannot be mute amid the longings, the fears, and +the hopes which agitate the minds of our children. + +"And first, it is our duty to make known to you that if our hearts had +been moved at hearing how, in a part of Italy, the consolations of +religion have preceded the perils of battle, and nobleness of mind has +been displayed in works of charity, we nevertheless could not and cannot +but greatly grieve over the injuries which, in other places, have been +done to the ministers of that same religion--injuries, even if contrary +to our duty we were silent concerning them, our silence could not hinder +from impairing the efficacy of our benedictions. + +"Neither can we refrain from telling you that to use victory well is a +greater and more difficult achievement than to be victorious. If the +present day recalls to you any other period of your history, let the +children profit by the errors of their forefathers. Remember that all +stability and all prosperity has its main earthly ground in concord; +that it is God alone who maketh of one mind them that dwell in a house; +that he grants this reward only to the humble and the meek, to those who +respect his laws, in the liberty of his church, in the order of society, +in charity toward all mankind." + + * * * * * + +Shortly afterward another measure, emanating entirely from the Pope, and +opposed by the prejudices of the mob, showed that his humane and liberal +disposition and enlightened understanding waited for no impulse from +without, and for no hope of increased popularity, before doing justice +to a long oppressed race. "The friends of social progress were highly +gratified by the decision of Pius IX to raze in Rome the walls and gates +which shut up the Jews in the Ghetto. He had already, at the +commencement of his pontificate, softened some of the rigors with which +they were afflicted, and had directed that they might spread beyond that +ignominious precinct; nor, however great was the outcry about it among +the mob, did he forego the idea of bettering the condition of the +followers of the Mosaic law." He was disposed to give them civil rights; +and if he did not think of extending his concessions even to political +privileges, yet he would give this as the main reason for it, that, in a +constitutional country, everyone who enjoys them may rise to the highest +stages of power; whereas a pope could not have any save Catholic +ministers. In the mean time he raised them out of the abjectness of +their isolation, although the Roman vulgar censured him for it bitterly, +most of all because it took effect in Holy Week. When it was known in +the city that the walls and fastenings of the Ghetto were to be pulled +down at night, by order of the Cardinal Vicar, Ciceruacchio hastened +with his companions, or subjects, to share in the work; and they shared +in it so largely that it seemed as though the thing were effected more +as their boon than by the will of the Pope. Pius IX was vexed at this; +whether because noise had been made about what he wanted done quietly, +or because it was brought about in such a manner that it might seem the +popular party had had more to say to it than the authority of the head +of religion. Rome fully shared the enthusiasm which was awakened +throughout Italy by the entrance of the Piedmontese troops into +Lombardy, and by the announcement by Charles Albert that he had drawn +the sword in the sacred cause of Italian independence. His proclamation, +in the stilted phrase common to such state papers, declared that he +relied upon "the assistance of that God who is visibly with us; of that +God who has given Pius IX to Italy; of that God who, by such wondrous +impulses, has placed her in a condition to act for herself." And if she +acted for herself, if her deeds had been commensurate with her glorious +words, the Austrian would never again have trodden any portion of the +peninsula with the step of a master. But the zeal of the Italians for +independence seemed all to evaporate in high-sounding manifestoes, and +in a few excesses of the populace in the great cities. The inactivity of +the Italian sovereigns may be explained by their imputed treachery or +lukewarmness in the cause. But what prevented the people themselves from +crowding the camp of Charles Albert with volunteers at a time when not a +crowned head in Italy dared offer the least open opposition to such a +movement? The King of Naples, sorely against his will, sent his regular +army, consisting of about fourteen thousand men, to fight for the cause, +and withdrew them in about six weeks, as soon as a base act of treachery +had given him the victory at home. General Pepe, their commander, wished +to disobey the order and move forward; but "nearly the whole army turned +its back on the Po and on him, and moved backward in the direction of +the Neapolitan Kingdom." Two hundred volunteers had previously set out +from Naples for Upper Italy, under the guidance and at the expense of an +enthusiastic woman, the Princess Belgioioso. "She had lived as an exile +in France, and was at first enthusiastic for the _Giovine Italia_; she +afterward became averse to it, and sided with Guizot, Duchâtel, and +Mignet, her intimate friend. She was well versed--or mixed herself +much--in literature, politics, the study of theology, and journalism; a +woman that had some of the feelings and anxieties of men, together with +all those of her own sex, and who was now travelling through Italy +intent upon manly business, but after woman's fashion. Other volunteers +afterward started, and a vessel set sail for Leghorn, which carried +them, along with the Tenth Regiment of the line." The Sicilians at the +same time determined to separate entirely from Naples and the rest of +the peninsula; "and thus all the ability and spirit, the arms and +wealth, of that powerful island were applied to the effort for insular +independence, and drawn off from that for the independence of the +nation." From Tuscany there went to this national war "about three +thousand volunteers, and perhaps as many more regulars"--a number so +small that Farini apologizes for it, and endeavors to prove that it +ought "not to be imputed to any lukewarmness in the affection for +Italy." The army from the Roman States, which the Pope had set on foot, +but hoped to retain as a defensive force within the northern boundary of +his dominions, numbered about sixteen thousand, of whom more than half +were volunteers. The conduct of the people of Lombardy, who though the +conflict raged on their own soil, and their own freedom was immediately +at stake, wasted their strength in quarrelling with one another instead +of succoring Charles Albert, has long been a topic of wonder and +censure. In short, all Italy did not furnish for this sacred war, so +long the object of her aspirations and her prayers, a body of volunteers +one-fourth as large as the army which the King of Sardinia brought into +the field, though it was probable that he was moved from the first only +by the hope of personal aggrandizement. He invaded Lombardy with an army +of fifty-five thousand men, expecting thereby to win, with the aid of +the national enthusiasm, the sceptre of all Italy for himself and his +descendants. A terrible disappointment awaited him; instead of glory, +shame and defeat were his portion; and having abdicated his paternal +throne in despair he died in exile, literally of a broken heart. Pius IX +was hardly more fortunate; to him also this fatal war brought dishonor +and exile, the loss of the affection of his subjects, and of the +admiration of the civilized world. The reluctance of the Pope to engage, +when unprovoked, in a war with Austria is no cause for wonder. He +earnestly desired the welfare of his people and the independence of his +native land; but all his desires were subject to the interests of the +Church, of which he was the recognized head throughout Christendom. The +republicans in his dominions, including Mazzini and his party, were +aware of this reluctance, and determined to make use of it and of the +passions of the people in order to get rid of him altogether. No +opportunity was lost to compromise him in the war, both in his temporal +and ecclesiastical character; and the misfortune of his twofold position +did not allow him to resist these machinations with success. General +Durando, the commander of the papal forces, issued a flaming +proclamation to his army when they passed the Po, announcing to them +that their swords were blessed by the venerable head of the Church, and +that they should all wear the cross on their bosoms, as beseemed those +who were engaged in a holy war. This act naturally gave great uneasiness +to the Pope, and Farini censures it as an unwise attempt to obtain the +sanctions of religion for merely political objects--the very conduct +which the Liberal party had previously censured in their opponents. If +Italian minds, he argues, "were not capable of warming with the simple +fire of patriotism for the noble and even holy enterprise of liberating +Italy from the stranger, it was vain to hope that hearts so frozen up in +indifference could kindle with religious faith." In the mean time the +Germans, who were speculating about the unity of their own stock and +nation and were straining every nerve in that difficult enterprise, +could not excuse the desire of independence in the Italians, and +contended for the boasted rights of Austria and Germany over the lands +and the coasts of Italy, with the people that inhabited them. When it +became known in Germany that the pontifical troops were hastening to the +legitimate defence of Italy it affected the public feeling generally, +and the name of Pius IX was branded with censure, not by laymen only, +but by some bishops and high ecclesiastics. Monsignor Viale, nuncio at +Vienna, and Monsignor Sacconi, nuncio at Munich, were assiduous and +eager in detailing the sinister reports touching Rome and the Pope, and +colored them in such a way as to create an apprehension of schism, the +most serious one that could rise for a pope--and that pope, too, Pius +IX. He had before this been greatly troubled by the proclamation of +General Durando; still he had hoped that the Italian League would be +shortly concluded, and that, when he had furnished the quota of troops +that might be due from him as a temporal sovereign, he would then have +been able, in the capacity of pontiff, to use those good offices which +he considered requisite to assure the consciences of Catholics. + +Even the news of some reverses to the Italian arms in Lombardy failed to +awaken a proper feeling among the inhabitants of Central and Southern +Italy, and Farini thus censures the slothfulness and vanity of his +countrymen: "Few gave credit or importance at the time to this and other +sinister intelligence; the greater part of those who beheld the first +marvellous smiles of fortune relied upon the star of Italy, and thought +the Empire was dismembered. We Italians are too susceptible to the +impulses of passion, and of heat in the imagination; with a small matter +we are drunken and think to leap over the moon. Deadly intoxication, +most deadly fault, that of undervaluing an enemy, which lets our +enthusiasm too easily evaporate, and gives him every facility for +showing that he is as gallant as we are, and more resolute; that he has +much of perseverance and of discipline--qualities more effectual and +valuable than simple courage. It comes to this; we must either send +about their business the dreams of poets, and educate ourselves in +severe and masculine virtues, or must yet remain long in a position to +chant many more elegies, to assuage our sorrow, than hymns of triumph; +we must either rest assured that with the tenacious, the disciplined, +and the resolute only the tenacious, disciplined, and resolute can cope, +and must therefore leave off despising the Austrians, and imitate them +in their steadiness and their attention to the military spirit; or else +we must be doomed to the disgrace of seeing them masters of our country. +A stern truth; but the only one that an Italian freeman can utter to +Italians free in mind. He who wants compliments and adulation may fling +these warning words from him." + +The Ministry at Rome, driven onward by the popular clamor, represented +to the Pope in strong terms the necessity of sending orders to his army +to take an active part in the war; for they had not yet commenced +hostilities with the Austrians. A consistory of the cardinals was to be +held on April 29th; and it was feared that Pius would take that occasion +for declaring that he was averse to the war, thus pacifying the minds of +the Catholics in Germany. The allocution of the Pope realized these +fears, though it expressed only his wish to remain neutral, "and to +embrace all kindreds, peoples, and nations with equal solicitude of +paternal affection." But the Ministry resigned in consequence, and great +disturbances arose in the city; the populace were not willing themselves +to volunteer for the war, but they were determined that the Pope should +not continue a man of peace. The Civic Guard was placed under arms, but +it was soon found that the soldiers shared the feelings of the people, +and no reliance could be placed upon them. Threats were uttered of +assassinating the cardinals, and others cried out "to make short +work--as they called it--with the government of the priests, those +traitors to Italy, and to place Rome under popular sway." To avert +bloodshed, the Pope consented to a compromise; he gave up the entire +direction of his troops to Charles Albert, and published, of his own +accord, and without the knowledge of his ministers, an affecting +remonstrance to his people. + +Pius also wrote an earnest letter to the Emperor of Austria, entreating +him to put a stop to the war by acknowledging the independence of +Venetia and Lombardy. "Let not the generous German nation take it ill," +he said, "if we invite them to lay resentment aside, and to convert into +the beneficial relations of friendly neighborhood a domination which +could never be prosperous or noble while it depended solely on the +sword." But the prayers of the Pope had now little influence either with +the Emperor or with his own subjects; he had long ago forfeited the +favor of the Absolutists by his political reforms, and he had now lost +the love of his people by his reluctance to gratify their passion for +sway. + +Yet if he had basely yielded to their wishes, against his judgment and +his conscience, he would have injured only the cause of the papacy in +foreign lands, and the issue of the war would not have been changed. As +it was, his troops were actively engaged in the contest till the time of +their capture at Vicenza by the Austrians. The fatal blow was given to +the hopes of Italy by the King of Naples withdrawing his troops at a +critical moment, when their loss could not be replaced. + +Their departure, and the consequent capture of the papal army under +Durando at Vicenza, enabled the Austrians to turn their whole force +against the Piedmontese, who were then defeated and driven back. The +disgraceful capitulation at Milan followed, and the cause of United +Italy was lost forever. Brilliant as its promise had been at the outset, +the Revolution of 1848 terminated as pitifully as did those of 1820 and +1831; and for its disastrous issue the Italians have none to blame but +themselves. + +Misfortunes and defeat had their usual effect in inflaming the rage of +parties. The personal influence of the Pope could no longer keep the +passions of the citizens in check, and the clubs now governed Rome with +absolute sway. The party of Mazzini, bent on trying the experiment of a +republic at all hazards, began to show its head after a long period of +inefficiency and discouragement, and every day acquired new adherents +and stronger influence. One Ministry after another tried in vain to +steer the ship of state on an even course, between the opposite perils +of the domination of a mob and the rigorous enforcement of the laws. The +Pope tried for some months the experiment of a popular administration, +under Mamiani, of whom our author says, "He seemed to play the part of a +tribune of the people more than of the Pope's minister." Still he was an +honest man, opposed to violence, to tumult, and to all excesses, though +he paid too much deference to the clubs, which were now as turbulent and +mischievous as their Parisian prototypes. The acts of his Ministry were +not numerous, Farini says, for the character of the times would not +admit of dispassionate inquiries and solid reforms. In truth, the +energies of Government were exhausted in a vain attempt to keep the +peace in the city, which was now a constant scene of turbulence and +disorder. Bologna also, having successfully repelled an unauthorized +attack made upon it by the Austrians under Welden, had become a prey to +the wildest confusion, owing to the continuance there of the irregular +bands of armed men who had contributed to its defence. At the urgent +request of the Bolognese Deputies, the Ministry determined to send +thither one of their own number to aid in restoring order; and Farini +was deputed for this purpose. The following is a portion of his account +of what he saw there and what he accomplished: + +"In the streets and open places of the city, for two days, the brigands +had been slaughtering every man his enemy among the Government officers, +some of them indeed disreputable and sorry fellows, others respectable. +They killed with musket-shot, and if the fallen gave signs of life they +reloaded their arms in the sight of the people and the soldiers and +fired them afresh, or else put an end to their victims with their +knives. They hunted men down like wild beasts, entered their houses, and +dragged them forth to slaughter. One Bianchi, an inspector of police, +was lying in bed, reduced to agony by consumption; they came in, set +upon him and cut his throat in the presence of his wife and children; +the corpse, a frightful spectacle, remained in the public streets. I saw +it, saw death dealt about, and the abominable chase. Cardinal Amat, who +had given notice of his arrival, came the day after; and the armed +commons escorted him to the palace at the very time when the villains +were perpetrating their murders. + +"There were no longer any judges, or any officers of the police; those +who had escaped death either had fled or had hidden themselves; the +Civic Guard was disarmed, the citizens killed, the few soldiers of the +line either mixed with the insurgents or were wholly without spirit; the +carbineers and dragoons in hesitation, the volunteer legions and free +corps a support to the rioters, not to the authority of Government. We +sent to Rome for leave to declare Bologna in a state of siege; but the +answer was that the Ministry having taken the opinion of the Council of +State considered that order might be restored without recourse to this +extreme measure. + +"All our best exertions were made to draw to the side of Government the +carbineers and dragoons, as also Bellezzi and the honest leaders of the +people, but with little success. It was reported that Bellezzi himself +had given leave to kill those whom they called the spies; one Masina +came before us, proposing by way of compromise to banish those whose +lives were threatened; armed men were in the very palace of government, +and we ourselves at their mercy. Accident, however, effected at a stroke +what we could have done only slowly and with difficulty. An assassin +attempted the life of a carbineer; his companions, inflamed with anger, +pursued him and caught him in a church. They then volunteered their most +resolute efforts at repression. They were ordered to sally forth, arrest +and disarm the ruffians. The dragoons seconded them; young Pepoli, +commandant of the Civic Guard, mustered a few companies; Bianchetti and +the respected citizens of the Committee of Public Safety drew close +around us, and we hurried in the Swiss from Forli. The population began +to regain its courage and to applaud the carbineers as they arrested the +assassins; the Swiss entered amid cheers." + +The disturbances at Bologna were quelled; but the bonds of law and order +throughout the Papal States were now loosened, and it became evident +that a more determined minister must be placed at the helm, or the +experiment of the existing form of government must be abandoned in +despair. A republic or a return to the old principles of despotism would +then be inevitable. In this emergency the eyes of the Pope and of all +prudent persons at Rome were turned to Rossi, who, since the fall of +Louis Philippe's Government, from which he had been ambassador to the +Roman States, had resided there as a private citizen, taking no active +share in politics, but often consulted by both parties, owing to his +high reputation for sagacity and firmness. Exiled on account of his +liberal opinions by Gregory, he had laid the foundation of his fame at +Paris, where he successively became professor, peer, and ambassador, and +was highly esteemed by all parties as a writer and a statesman. Once +before, Pius had solicited him to form a ministry; but he had declined, +because conscious that the affections of the populace were not with him, +and he judged that the minds even of the better portion of the citizens +were not yet prepared for a resolute attempt to carry on a +constitutional government by firm measures. + +He suggested to the Pope that he was probably odious to the court on +account of his previous employments and his writings; that some would +perhaps look very coldly on a minister who had married a Protestant +wife; and that the French Republic might be displeased if he should hold +a high post at Rome. But in the middle of September the solicitations of +the Pope and of many respectable persons in the State became so urgent +that Rossi consented to serve; the opinion was universal that no other +person possessed the requisite abilities, character, and experience to +carry on the Government at this perilous crisis; and that, if he failed, +all indeed was lost. He selected for his colleagues men of liberal +politics, but temperate in their opinions. He announced his intention to +carry into effect the Fundamental Statute, in all its parts, according +to constitutional usage; to counteract and repress both parties opposed +to that instrument; to abolish exemptions, restore the finances, and +reorganize the army; to conclude a league with Piedmont and Tuscany, +even if it should be impossible with Naples; and to fix the contingent +of troops which the Pope was to supply, so that he need not in any way +mingle in the war. + +The turbulent and the presumptuous, "the magistrates accustomed to +fatten upon abuses, the Sanfedists who made a livelihood of disorder, +and the clergy, greedy of gold and honors, could ill bear that +Pellegrino Rossi should have the authority of a minister." But those who +knew the real condition of affairs, and that, unless the finances were +improved and public discipline and order restored, all would go to +wreck, counted it great gain that he should take charge of the +debilitated State. "The dissatisfied were more numerous and noisy in the +capital; the contented stronger in the Provinces, especially at Bologna, +where an educated community wished for a liberal system, with a +government strong in the strength of the law; where the recent terrible +events had filled every mind with horror; and where Rossi, the +proscribed of 1815, was dear to memory, and rooted in public esteem." + +The Roman Legislature was to meet again in the middle of November, so +that the new minister was chiefly occupied with maturing the measures +which were to be laid before it for adoption. His public acts therefore +were few; but they were enough to show that new wisdom and vigor +directed the course of affairs. He obtained the Pope's consent that the +clergy should make a new contribution of two millions of crowns to the +State, on the strength of which he obtained a new loan and punctually +paid the interest on the public debt. He invited General Zucchi home +from Switzerland to take the command of the army, which rapidly improved +in discipline under his energetic guidance. He distributed medals to +those who had been wounded and to the families of the slain at Vicenza. +He established two lines of telegraph, one to Ferrara by the way of +Bologna, and another to Civita Vecchia. The negotiations with Sardinia +and Tuscany for an Italian league were advanced nearly to completion. +Chairs of political economy and commercial law were founded in the +universities at Rome and Bologna. Toward the close of October the mob +rose in Rome, on occasion of a squabble between a Jew and a Catholic, +and threatened to sack the Ghetto and maltreat its inhabitants. Rossi +hurried the Civic Guard and the carbineers to the spot, allayed the +tumult, arrested and imprisoned some of its ringleaders, and published +an energetic proclamation to warn the turbulent that the laws would be +enforced. + +"All these proceedings excited the anger of Rossi's enemies, the +journalists, the captains of the people, and the Roman clubs." There was +no opprobrium that was not heaped upon him, no charge that was not +levelled at the Government. But these declamations seemed to have little +effect on the body of the people. On the morning of November 15th, when +the Legislature was to commence its session, though knots of persons +were seen talking in the streets with excited countenances, there was no +outbreak or popular tumult. Rossi had received many anonymous letters in +which his life was threatened, but he scorned to take any notice of +them. This morning one came which directly affirmed that he would be +assassinated in the course of the day; and he threw it into the fire. +The regulation of the police, now that the day of the session had +arrived, belonged to the President of the Council of Deputies; and +Rossi, punctilious in the observance of the constitution, refused to +give them any orders. + +Several of his friends came and remonstrated with him against such an +exposure of his life. "To all this he answered that he had taken the +measures which he thought suitable for keeping the seditious in order, +and that he could not, on account of risk that he might personally run, +forego repairing to the Council according to his duty; that perhaps +these were idle menaces; but if anyone thirsted for his blood, he would +have the means of shedding it elsewhere on some other day, even if, on +that day, he should lose his opportunity. He would therefore go." He was +elated by the confidence which the Pope had in him, and expected both +trust and aid from the Parliament, to which he was so soon to explain +his ideas and intentions. + +"When the ordinary hour of the parliamentary sitting, which was about +noon, arrived, the people began to gather in the square of the +Cancellaria, and by degrees in the courtyard and then in the public +galleries of the hall. Soon these were all full. A battalion of the +Civic Guard was drawn up in the square; in the court and hall there was +no guard greater than ordinary. There were, however, not a few +individuals, armed with their daggers, in the dress of the volunteers +returned from Vicenza, and wearing the medals with which the +municipality of Rome had decorated them. They stood together and formed +a line from the gate up to the staircase of the palace. Sullen visages +were to be seen and ferocious imprecations heard among them. During the +time when the Deputies were slowly assembling, and business could not +commence because there was not yet a quorum present, a cry for help +suddenly proceeded from the extremity of the public gallery, on which +everyone turned thither a curious eye; but nothing more was heard or +seen, and those who went to get some explanation of the circumstances +returned without success. + +"In the mean time Rossi's carriage entered the court of the palace. He +sat on the right, and Righetti, Deputy Minister of Finance, on the left. +A howl was raised in the court and yard, which echoed even into the hall +of the Council. Rossi got out first, and moved briskly, as was his habit +in walking, across the short space which leads from the centre of the +court to the staircase on the left hand. Righetti, who descended after +him, remained behind, because the persons were in the way who caused the +outcry, and who, brandishing their cutlasses, had surrounded Rossi and +were loading him with opprobrium. At this moment there was seen amid the +throng the flash of a poniard, and then Rossi losing his feet and +sinking to the ground. Alas! he was spouting blood from a broad gash in +the neck. He was raised by Righetti, but could hardly hold himself up, +and did not articulate a syllable; his eyes grew clouded, and his blood +spurted forth in a copious jet. Some of those, whom I named as clad in +military uniform, were above upon the stairs; they came down, and formed +a ring about the unhappy man; and when they saw him shedding blood and +half lifeless, they all turned and rejoined their companions. He was +borne, amid his death-struggle, into the apartments of Cardinal Gazzoli, +at the head of the stairs on the left side; and there, after a few +moments, he breathed his last. + +"In leaving the palace of the Cancellaria, one met some faces gleaming +with a hellish joy, others pallid with alarm; many townspeople standing +as if petrified; agitators, running this way and that, carbineers the +same; one kind of men might be heard muttering imprecations on the +assassin, but the generality faltered in broken and doubtful accents; +some, horrible to relate, cursed the murdered man. Yes, I have still +before my eyes the livid countenance of one who, as he saw me, shouted, +'So fare the betrayers of the people!' But the city was in the depths of +gloom, as under the hand of calamity and the scourge of God; and +wherever there were respectable persons, though of liberal and Italian +principles, they were horror-struck, and called for the resolute +exertions of the authorities." + +When the terrible news came to the Pope, he was struck with horror and +dismay, but yet strove to rally the other members of the Government +around him and preserve the State from anarchy. But his efforts were +miserably seconded; one person after another declined taking office or +continuing in it; and even when the presidents of the two Councils were +summoned, they had little advice to give. On the morrow the tidings came +that a mob was on its way toward the Quirinal, some of the carbineers +having fraternized with them, to enforce the appointment of a democratic +ministry, and a declaration in favor of a constituent assembly for all +Italy. Only a few Swiss, the ordinary guard of honor, were on duty; but +they shut the gates of the palace, and nobly declared that their own +bodies should be piled up behind them before the rioters should enter. +Galletti, the former minister of police, acted as spokesman of the mob, +and when admitted to an audience he stated their demands. The Pope +indignantly declared that he would not yield to violence, but must +deliberate in freedom. This answer only inspired the insurgents with +fresh fury, so that they pressed forward to the gates, set one of them +on fire, and, mounting upon the roofs of the neighboring houses, opened +a fire upon the walls and windows of the Quirinal. The few Swiss fired +in return; and then the cry ran through the city that the Pope's guards +were butchering the people, and already there were many slain. Within +the palace many advised Pius to yield, a few still spoke of resistance, +and the foreign ministers, who were collected there, had no scheme to +offer. "The scuffle continues; the worthy prelate, Monsignor Palma, +falls dead by the window of his own apartment; balls reach the +ante-chamber of the Pope." At last Pius turned to the diplomatic body +who stood around him, and said: "There is no further hope in resistance. +Already a prelate is slain in my very palace, shots are aimed at it, +artillery levelled. To avoid fruitless bloodshed and increased +enormities, we give way; but it is, as you see, only to force. Therefore +we protest; let the courts, let your governments, know it. We give way +to violence alone, and all we concede is null and void." + +Galletti was then asked to propose his list of ministers, from which the +Pope indignantly struck out the name of the Neapolitan Salicetti, but +admitted without a word the names of Sterbini, Lunati, and Galletti. +Their appointment was signed on the spot, and the news being told to the +insurgents "they fired muskets in token of joy, and went off with hymns +for Italy and cheers for the Italian Constituent Assembly and the +democratic Ministry." + +The next day the club desired that the Swiss should be deprived of their +arms and dismissed from the Quirinal; the Pope complied. The club then +asked that Galletti should be named general of the carbineers; and he +was appointed. "Such was the poltroonery or such the depravity of +consciences that no journal would or dared denounce the murder. But why +do I speak of denouncing? The murder was honored with illuminations and +festivities in numerous cities, and not in these States only, but beyond +them, especially at Leghorn." The Councils met on the 18th and 20th, but +not a word was said of the murder, and even a proposition for giving +assurance to the Pope "of the devotion and unalterable affection of the +Deputies" was voted down. Three of the Bolognese Deputies and a few +others then indignantly resigned their seats, and assigned their reasons +for this step in addresses to their constituents. + +Early on the night of the 25th the Pope secretly left the Quirinal, +entered a carriage prepared for him by the wife of the Bavarian +ambassador, and went into exile from that city which, within two years +and a half, had worshipped, scorned, and assailed him. + + + + +(1848) THE REVOLUTION OF FEBRUARY IN FRANCE, François P.G. Guizot and + Mme. Guizot de Witt + + +This outbreak marked one of the many transitions in French history, +leading to the establishment of the short-lived Second Republic, so soon +to be followed by the _coup d'état_ of Louis Napoleon and the setting up +of the Second Empire. When France passed from the rule of the Bourbons, +represented by Charles X, to that of the Orleanists, in the hands of +Louis Philippe, the "Citizen King" (July, 1830), great hopes were +entertained by the constitutional party that this renewal of the +monarchy through the "July Revolution" would result in permanent +benefits. At first the new King enjoyed great popularity. In some +respects his government, compared with that of Charles X, was liberal, +and one of its early acts was an extension of the suffrage by decreasing +the amount of the property qualification for voters. The demand for +still further enlargement of popular rights became emphatic. The people +were divided mainly into three parties, and the difficulties confronting +the King were formidable. The Conservatives, who had placed him in +power, wished to prevent further changes in the State; the Moderates +asked for new reforms, especially for a still more extended suffrage; +the Radical party desired a republic. + +The attitude of the Radicals caused Louis Philippe to halt in his +progressive policy. More than once his life was attempted, and in +consequence of such acts the liberty of the press and other privileges +were restricted. The greater part of the French people wished to have +the King intervene in behalf of Poland--which at that period was in a +state of almost chronic insurrection--as he had aided the Belgians +against Holland. In her Eastern policy France was defeated by the +Quadruple Alliance, formed by England, Prussia, Austria, and Russia, and +in consequence of this failure the King's prestige suffered. But the +question of extending the suffrage was kept always before the people, +and when the King refused to go further with that reform its advocates +urged their demands more strongly than ever. Lamartine founded a journal +in which he agitated for universal suffrage, and in this agitation many +other newspapers joined. Even Thiers, the leading statesman of the +Moderate party, asked for suffrage reform. Failing to control the +Legislative Assembly, the reformers at last appealed to the people. The +King, relying on his majority in the Assembly, was undisturbed by the +popular ferment. + +Guizot, whose account of the "February Revolution" is here given, was +the chief minister of Louis Philippe; and however partisan the author's +narrative may seem, it rests upon an intimate knowledge of the events +recorded. + +I come with profound repugnance and sorrow to those painful days by the +faults and misfortunes of which France was launched into dangerous +enterprises, such that men of the greatest foresight could not discern +their end. Our country has paid very dearly for the fatal error which +overthrew the throne of the King who had for eighteen years governed it +with a wisdom, prudence, and moderation acknowledged even by his enemies +when attacking him. + +"The Cabinet of October 29, 1847, and its political friends, had a +clearly defined idea and purpose. They aspired to bring to a close the +French era of revolutions by establishing the free government which +France had in 1789 promised herself as the consequence and political +guarantee of the social revolution which she was completing." This +policy, formerly the object of their youthful hopes, had become theirs, +whether in power or in the opposition. "It was in fact both liberal and +antirevolutionary--antirevolutionary both in home and foreign affairs, +since it wished to maintain the peace of Europe abroad, and the +constitutional monarchy at home; liberal, since it fully accepted and +respected the essential conditions of free government; the decisive +intervention of the country in its affairs, with a constant and +well-sustained discussion, in public as well as in the Chambers, of the +ideas and acts of the Government. In fact, this twofold object was +attained from 1830 to 1848. + +"Abroad, peace was maintained without any loss to the influence or +reputation of France in Europe. At home, from 1830 to 1848, political +liberty was great and powerful; from 1840 to 1848, in particular, it was +displayed without any new legal limit being imposed. It was this policy +that the opposition--all the oppositions, monarchical and dynastic as +well as republican--blindly or knowingly attacked, and tried to change. +It was to change it that they demanded electoral and parliamentary +reforms. In principle, the Government had no absolute or permanent +objections whatever to such reforms; the extension of the right of +suffrage, and the incompatibility of certain functions with the office +of Deputy, might and must be the natural and legitimate consequences of +the upward movement of society and political liberty. They did not think +the reforms necessary or well-timed, and were therefore justified in +delaying them as much as possible, provided they should one day allow to +be accomplished by others what they thought themselves still strong +enough to refuse." "We have too much and too long maintained a good +policy," said Guizot afterward. + +A frequent and formidable sign that men's minds are secretly agitated is +the anxiety by which they are seized with reference to intrigues and +vices which they suppose around them. It would be a serious error to see +always a symptom of moral improvement in the clamors against electoral +or parliamentary corruption. Immediately after the ministerial success +in the general elections of 1846, this precursory indication of storms +appeared on the horizon. Guizot raised the question to its proper point +of view. "Leave to countries which are not free," said he, "leave to +absolute governments, that explanation of great results by small, +feeble, or dishonorable human acts. In free countries, when great +results are produced it is from great causes that they spring. A great +fact has been shown in the elections just completed; the country has +given its adhesion, its earnest and free adhesion, to the policy +presented before it. Do not attribute this fact to several pretended +electoral manoeuvres. You have no right to come to explain, or qualify +by wretched suppositions, a grand idea of the country thus grandly and +freely manifested." The rumors of electoral corruptions were soon +followed by rumors of parliamentary corruptions; but the majority of the +Chamber declared themselves "content" with the ministerial explanations. +The "Contents" figured in the opposition attacks by the side of the +"Pritchardists." + +Several improper abuses of long standing existed in certain branches of +the Administration; some posts in the Treasury had been the object of +pecuniary transactions between those who held the posts and were +resigning, and the candidates who presented themselves to replace them. +A bill proposed on January 20, 1848, by Hébert, who had become keeper of +the seals, formally forbade any such transaction, under assigned +penalties. Several months previously (June, 1847) M. Teste, formerly +Minister of Public Works, and then president of the Cour de Cassation, +was seriously compromised in the scandalous trial of General Cubières +and Pellapra. Convicted of having received a large sum of money in +connection with the mining concession, he was brought before the Peers, +and being led from question to question and from discussion to +discussion, soon made a confession of his crime. He, as well as his +accomplices, underwent the just penalty. + +"It was, on the part of the Cabinet, one of those acts the merit of +which is only perceived afterward, and in which the Government bears the +weight of the evil at the moment when it is trying most sincerely and +courageously to repress it. There were several deplorable incidents--the +shocking murder of the Duchess of Praslin, some scandalous trials and +violent deaths following hard one upon another, and aggravating the +momentary depression and the excited state of the popular imagination. +The air seemed infected with moral disorder and unlooked-for +misfortunes, coming to join in party attacks and the false accusations +which the Cabinet were subjected to. It was one of those unhealthy +hurricanes often met in the lives of governments." It was certainly +culpable on the part of the opposition to try to take advantage of this +disturbed state of men's minds to gain the end they were pursuing. Seven +times was parliamentary reform, and three times was electoral reform, +refused by the Chambers, from February 20, 1841, to April 8, 1847; the +question being then displaced, it changed its ground. The opposition +made an appeal to popular passion; and parliamentary discussions were +succeeded by the banquets. + +From the close of the session of 1847 to the opening of that of 1848 +they kept France in a state of constant fever--an artificial and +deceptive fever in this sense, that it was not the natural and +spontaneous result of the actual wishes and wants of the country; but +true and serious in this sense, that the political parties who took the +initiative in it found among some of the middle classes and the lower +orders a prompt and keen adhesion to their proposals. The first banquet +took place in Paris at the Château-Rouge Hôtel on July 9, 1847. +Garnier-Pagès has himself told how the Royalist opposition and the +Republican opposition concluded their alliance for that purpose. On +leaving the house of Odilon Barrot, the Radical members of the meeting +walked together for some time. On reaching that part of the Boulevard +opposite the Foreign Office, at the moment they were about to separate, +Pagnerre said: "Well, really, I did not expect for our proposals so +speedy and complete success. Do those gentlemen see what that may lead +to? For my part, I confess I do not see it clearly; but it is not for us +Radicals to be alarmed about it." + +"You see that tree," replied Garnier-Pagès; "engrave on its bark a mark +in memory of this day, for what we have just decided upon is a +revolution." Garnier-Pagès did not foresee that the Republic of 1848, as +well as the monarchy of 1830, should in its turn speedily perish in that +revolution, so long big with so many storms. + +For six months banquets were renewed in most of the departments--at +Colmar, Strasburg, St. Quentin, Lille, Avesnes, Cosne, Châlons, Mâcon, +Lyons, Montpellier, Rouen, etc. In many parts there was a great display +of feelings and intentions most hostile to royalty and the dynasty. On +several occasions--at Lille, for example--the keenest members of the +parliamentary opposition, Odilon Barrot and his friends, withdrew, soon +after taking their places at table, because the others absolutely +refused to dissemble their hostility to the Crown and the King. At other +banquets, notably at Dijon, the ideas and passions of 1793 unblushingly +reappeared. They defended Robespierre and the Reign of Terror. The "Red +Republic" openly flaunted its colors and hopes. The attack upon monarchy +and the dynasty ranged itself, it is true, behind the parliamentary +opposition, but like Galatea running away: + + "_Et se cupit ante videri_." + +It had succeeded well enough in making itself seen. The Government could +no longer shut their eyes. They had tolerated the banquets so long as +they could believe, or seem to believe, that the parliamentary +opposition directed, or at least ruled, the movement. When it became +evident that the anarchical impulse was more and more gaining upon the +parliamentary opposition, and that the latter was becoming the +instrument instead of remaining the master, then only they forbade the +banquets. It was their duty. + +It was also their right, in the opinion of the most competent legal +authorities, as well as according to the recent practice of other free +governments, in presence of a situation full of certain danger. This +right, however, was disputed by the opposition. The Government, pushing +the principle of legality to its furthest limit, arranged with several +leading men of the opposition for the purpose of enabling the question +of right to be brought speedily and methodically before competent +tribunals. Just before the opening of the new session, in order to close +the campaign, a new and formal banquet was being prepared in Paris, to +which all the Deputies and Peers who had taken part in any of the +preceding banquets were to be invited. This manifestation was to take +place in the Twelfth Arrondissement of Paris. It was therefore agreed +between the opposition delegates and those of the ministerial majority +that the Deputies invited should go to the place appointed for the +meeting and take their places, so as to avoid any disturbance in the +streets or the hall, and that on the police commissary declaring that +there was an order against it the guests should protest and withdraw, to +lay the question before the tribunals. The agreement thus concluded was +communicated by Duchâtel to the council, which approved of it. + +Meanwhile the Chamber met, the session was opened, and from the very +first the Government could perceive a wavering in the majority. Even +among those who blamed and feared the agitation out-of-doors, several +believed in the urgent necessity of a concession to remove all pretext +for clamors and intrigues. On the ministers being informed of it Guizot +said: "Withdraw the question from the hands of those who now hold it, +and let it be brought back to the Chamber. Let the majority take a step +in the direction of the concessions indicated; however small it be, I am +certain it will be understood, and that you will have a new Cabinet, +which will do what you think necessary." It was in the same spirit that +the Ministry, during the discussion on the address, rejected an +amendment tending to impose upon them immediate engagements with +reference to reform. + +"The maintenance of the unity of the Conservative party," said Guizot, +"the maintenance of conservative policy and power, will be the fixed +idea and rule of conduct in the Cabinet. They will make sincere efforts +to maintain or restore the unity of the Conservative party upon that +question, in order that it may be the Conservative party itself in its +entirety that undertakes and gives to the country its solution. If such +an operation in the midst of the Conservative party is possible, it will +take place. If that is not possible--if by the question of reforms the +Conservative party cannot succeed in making a common arrangement and +maintaining the power of the Conservative policy, the Cabinet will leave +to others the sad task of presiding over the disorganization of the +Conservative party and the ruin of its policy." + +The question was not destined to be taken up again by the Chambers, +having escaped from the weak hands that aspired to direct it. The +courtesy of the Conservative reformers had no result except disquieting +the Government, a sort of precursory sign of the tempest. Even the +parliamentary opposition found themselves baffled in their prudent +efforts. A manifesto published in the _National_ newspaper organized a +noisy demonstration in the streets, though forbidden in the +banquet-hall, the National Guard being called to arms by the +insurrection, and their services arranged beforehand. The convention was +clearly violated, and the legal appeal to the tribunals therefore +abandoned: the Revolution itself declared it would decide the question. +In such a situation, sorrowfully admitted by those who had negotiated +the evening before, the Government officially forbade the banquet. The +evening papers announced that the Deputies of the opposition had given +up the intention of being present, and therefore the proposed +manifestation was deprived of all importance. The revolutionary leaders +in their turn declared that the banquet would not take place. + +Disappointment increasing their irritation, the parliamentary +opposition, in a momentary resistance, employed the remainder of their +strength. On February 22d fifty-two Deputies of the Left laid before the +Chamber a bill of impeachment against the Ministry, on account of their +home and foreign policy during the whole course of their Administration. +"What would you have them do?" said to Guizot an old member of the +opposition who had no share whatever in this act. "They have just +rendered the banquet abortive by declaring they would not attend it, and +felt compelled to do something to compensate for and to some extent +redeem that refusal." + +Weakness has a constraining power difficult to understand, which is not +foreseen even by those who give way to it; and of this the history of +the Revolution of 1848 offers an eloquent and melancholy example. + +The King, as well as his ministers, still hoped that the crisis had +passed, and that the disorder avoided on the occasion of the banquet +should not reappear under any pretext. The display of military forces +which had been agreed upon and prepared was ordered to be suspended; +instructions to arrest the Republican leaders were issued slowly and in +but few instances. Yet a secret agitation was indicated in several parts +of the capital; there were numerous crowds; on the morning of the 23rd +several _corps-de-garde_ were attacked. As the fermentation increased, +the streets were crowded with idle workmen; people collected in knots +from curiosity, or stood at their doors. The storm was in the air, +evident both to those who dreaded it and those who were preparing to +make use of it. + +Meanwhile the appeal of the revolutionary leaders to the National Guard +had been listened to. Many of the Parisian shopkeepers took part in the +"reform movement," without well understanding it, and marched under the +orders of their dangerous allies. Several detachments of the Seventh, +Third, Second, and Tenth Legions appeared in the streets, some in the +Faubourg St. Antoine, others marching to the Palais Royal, or the office +of the _National_ in the Rue le Peletier, and others in the students' +quarter shouting "Long live reform!" in every street. When General +Jacqueminot, the Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard, ordered a +general muster of the legions, a large number of the guards, respectable +and law-abiding men, did not answer to the summons. They had no desire +for a revolution or reform forced from the legal powers by insurrection, +but they shrunk from entering upon a struggle with soldiers wearing +their own uniform and influenced apparently by reasonable motives. They +remained in their homes dejected and anxious. + +The King was as dejected as the Parisian citizens, and still more +anxious. For several months he had frequently fallen into very low +spirits, which was attributed to his grief at the death of his only +sister, Madame Adelaide of Orleans, whose life had been always +intimately associated with his, and who had just expired (December, +1847). His most intimate friends urged him to charm away the crisis by +changing his Ministry. He still resisted, but every hour less +vigorously. The Cabinet was not even informed of his perplexities. +"Concessions forced by violence from all the legal powers are not a +means of safety," said Duchâtel; "one defeat would quickly bring a +second. In the Revolution there was not much time between that of June +20th and August 10th, and to-day things advance more quickly than in +those times. Events, like travellers, now go by steam." + +The truth, however, was now becoming manifest, both in the King's mind +as to the tendency of his ideas, and in the eyes of his ministers as to +the determination now being formed in the palace. By the very statement +of the question it was resolved upon. Guizot and Duchâtel thus expressed +it to the King: "It is for your Majesty to decide. The Cabinet is ready +either to defend to the last the King and conservative policy which we +profess, or to accept without a murmur the King's determination to call +other men to power. At present, more than ever, in order to continue the +struggle successfully, the Cabinet has need of the King's decided +support. As soon as the public should learn, as they inevitably must, +that the King hesitates, the Cabinet would lose all moral influence and +be unable to accomplish their task." The King seemed still in +perplexity, and said he should prefer to abdicate. "You cannot say that, +my dear," replied the Queen, who was present at the interview with the +Dukes of Nemours and Montpensier; "you belong to France, and not to +yourself." + +"That is true," said the King, as Louis XVI had formerly said to +Malesherbes; "I am more unfortunate than the ministers, I cannot +resign." The ministers then in King Louis Philippe's Cabinet had not +resigned. The King, having made his decision, said, "It is with the +keenest regret that I separate myself from you, but necessity and the +safety of the monarchy demand this sacrifice. My will gives way; much +time will be needed to regain the ground I am about to lose." There were +tears in many eyes. The King sent for Molé, and Guizot himself announced +to the Chamber of Deputies the change of the Ministry. + +There was much of astonishment and sorrow in the parliamentary majority, +always strongly attached to the leaders they had so long followed in +spite of occasional vagaries and good-natured weakness. The imminence of +a great danger engrossed their minds, together with the consciousness of +a great defeat. The anxiety of the Chambers was reechoed in the +Tuileries; and for the last time the ministers assembled there, anxious +at that last moment of their power to maintain order, now everywhere +threatened. Count Molé was laboriously occupied in the formation of a +cabinet. "To think that this resolution was formed in a quarter of an +hour!" exclaimed the King when engaged with Jayr in some administrative +details. + +The excitement was great in the palace, but still greater in the +streets, being skilfully kept up by several insurrectionist leaders, and +spontaneously arising among the reckless portion of the populace, who +are easily influenced by revolutionary clamors. Increased by those +assembling from curiosity or idleness, the crowds in the squares and +boulevards assumed alarming proportions. All at once, opposite the +Foreign Office, there was heard, about nine o'clock in the evening, one +of those fatal explosions, whether accidental or premeditated, which +history often records as the origin of great popular risings. + +The soldiers, who till then had remained motionless and patient, thought +they were attacked, and fired in their turn. Several persons fell, some +dead, others wounded, and some were knocked down and trodden under foot. +The greatest disorder, caused both by alarm and indignation, broke out +in the whole neighborhood. Then was the moment of action for the keen +and determined insurgents. A cart which happened to be there was +immediately loaded with the corpses and drawn through the streets, from +one newspaper office to another, in the most populous quarters, with +shouts of "Vengeance! To arms! Down with Guizot! The head of Guizot!" By +daybreak Paris was covered with barricades. + +Molé having failed in his efforts to form a Cabinet, the King sent for +Thiers. For the last time he claimed the devotion of his old ministers. +"I must have immediately a military chief--an experienced chief," he +said. "I have sent for Bugeaud, but I wish M. Thiers to find him +appointed. Will you grant me this further service?" Duchâtel, and +General Trézel, on the previous evening still Minister of War, signed +without hesitation Marshal Bugeaud's appointment as Commander-in-Chief +of the National Guard and the Army. It was three o'clock in the morning. +"It is somewhat late to set to work," said the Marshal; "but I have +never been beaten, and shall not make a beginning to-morrow. Let me act, +and fire the cannon; there will be some bloodshed, but to-morrow evening +the strength will be on the side of law, and the factious will have had +their account settled." + +The day had not yet dawned when the Marshal was reviewing his forces. He +found them demoralized, having for sixty hours remained motionless +before the mob, with their feet in the mud, and their knapsacks on their +backs, allowing the rioters to attack the Municipal Guard, burn the +sentry-boxes, cut down the trees, break the street-lamps, and harangue +the soldiers. They were moreover badly supplied with provisions and +ammunition. The energetic language of their new commander, and the +precise orders which he gave for the march of the columns, inspired the +soldiers with fresh life and courage. The movements indicated had +already begun to be executed, and the troops were taking position; but +the crowds again filled the streets, and at several points the soldiers +were prevented from marching. One of the generals at the head of a +column sent to tell Bugeaud that he was face to face with an enormous +body of men, badly armed, who made no attack upon him, but only shouted, +"Long live reform! Long live the army! Down with Guizot!" "Order them to +disperse," replied the Marshal; "if they do not obey, use force, and act +with resolution." + +There was no fighting on either side. The staff were besieged by the +entreaties of a crowd of respectable men, who in terror and +consternation conjured Bugeaud to withdraw the troops because they +excited the anger of the populace, and leave to the National Guard the +duty of appeasing the insurrection. The danger of such counsel was +obvious, and the Marshal paid no attention to it, till Thiers and Odilon +Barrot, who had just accepted office, came to the staff with the same +advice, and it therefore became an order. The Marshal at first refused +the ministers as he had done the citizens, and then the same order was +sent by the King. "I must have a government," the Marshal had recently +said; and, as he was now without the government, which thus relaxed the +resistance agreed upon, he in his turn gave way. His instructions for +retreat were thus given to his officers: "By order of the King and +ministers, you will fall back upon the Tuileries. Make your retreat with +an imposing attitude, and if you are attacked, turn round, take the +offensive, and act according to my instructions given this morning." + +Meanwhile the formation of the Ministry was posted up everywhere. A +mixed crowd carried Odilon Barrot in triumph to the Home Office, which +Guizot and Duchâtel had just left. Those round him shouted, "Long live +the father of the people!" but most of the notices posted up were torn. +At the moment when the new ministers were about to leave Bugeaud's staff +on horseback in order to pass through the city, Horace Vernet, the +artist, arrived out of breath. "Don't let M. Thiers go," said he to the +Marshal. "I have just passed through the mob, and they are so furious +against him that I am certain they would cut him in pieces!" Odilon +Barrot presented himself alone to the crowd, but was powerless to calm +the fury he had assisted in unchaining. "Thiers is no longer possible, +and I am scarcely so," said he on his return to the staff. The King on +one occasion showed himself in the court of the Tuileries, when +reviewing several battalions of the National Guard. There were some +shouts of "Long live the King!" but the most numerous were "Long live +reform! Down with Guizot!" + +"You have the reform; and M. Guizot is no longer a minister!" said the +King; and on the shouts being again repeated, he returned to the palace. +The palace also was thronged with a confused crowd, animated by various +feelings and agitated by evident fears or secret hopes. Some urged the +King to abdicate in favor of the Comte de Paris; others vigorously +opposed such a relinquishment of power in presence of the insurrection. +The great mind of Queen Marie-Amélie was displayed in all the simplicity +of its heroism. "Mount on horseback, sire," said she, "and I shall give +you my blessing." She had recently urged the King to change his Cabinet; +a very kind message, intrusted for Guizot to one of his most intimate +friends, at the same time proved her regret. + +The King sat at his writing-table, agitated and perplexed. He had begun +to write his abdication, when Marshal Bugeaud entered, having just +learned what was taking place in the Tuileries, and excited by the sound +of some shooting which had already begun. "It is too late, sire," said +he; "your abdication would complete the demoralization of the troops. +Your Majesty can hear the shooting. There is nothing left but to fight." +The Queen seconded this advice, and Piscatory and several others were of +the same opinion. The King rose without finishing his writing, and then +other voices were raised to insist upon the King's promise. He sat down +again, wrote and signed his abdication. By this time the troops had +received orders to fall back, and Marshal Gérard took the place of +Bugeaud as commandant-general. The columns were marched toward the +barracks, and there was no detachment around the Palais-Bourbon, where +the same disorder reigned, and the same efforts were made in vain. + +The Duchesse d'Orléans presented herself before the Chamber of Deputies +as soon as the abdication of the King was known. The Duc de Nemours +accompanied her, leading the Comte de Paris by the hand; and the Duc de +Chartres, who was weak and ill, was wrapped up in a mantle and leaned on +Ary Scheffer's arm. Before joining the Princess at the gate of the +Chamber the Duc de Nemours had, with his brother the Duc de Montpensier, +seen the King, their father, take his melancholy departure, to escape +the insurrection, against which he could not make up his mind to use +force. + +The Duchesse d'Orléans already knew that depriving the King of the crown +was not giving it to her son. Her natural courage, however, and her +maternal affection induced her to make every effort to secure the throne +for the prince of nine years whom the nation had already intrusted to +her keeping. She had seen the Tuileries invaded before leaving that hall +where her husband's portrait by Ingres seemed to preside over her son's +destinies. "It is here one ought to die," she said, when Dupin and +Grammont came to conduct her to the Chamber. Odilon Barret had gone to +bring her, and succeeded in finding her in the Palais-Bourbon. The crowd +showed sympathy for her, and made room respectfully, though she and her +small retinue had difficulty in getting within the palace, every passage +being crowded. The Duchess stood near the tribune holding her two boys +close to her. After Dupin announced the King's abdication, Barrot, after +presenting the legal instrument, asked the Chamber to proclaim at once +the young King and the regency of Madame la Duchesse d'Orléans. + +Shouts of protest were heard on several benches. "It is too late!" +exclaimed Lamartine, as he went to the tribune, eager to urge this +difficulty, reject the regency, and demand a provisional government so +that the bloodshed might be stopped. Some others were already mentioning +the word "Republic." The crowd were gradually pouring into the Chamber +from the corriders, and Sauzet, the President, requested strangers to +withdraw, and made a special appeal to the Duchess herself. "Sir, this +is a royal sitting!" she replied; and when her friends urged her, "If I +leave this Chamber, my son will no more return to it." A few minutes +before her arrival, Thiers had entered the Chamber in the greatest +agitation. "The tide is rising, rising, rising!" he said to those who +crowded round him, and then disappeared. Several voices were heard +together in confusion; among the speakers were La Rochejacquelein, +Ledru-Rollin, Marie, and Berryer. + +The Duchess had been conducted to a gallery, on account of the threats +of the insurgent battalions, who burst open the doors after General +Gourgaud had in vain tried to stop them. Armand Marrast, one of the +editors of the _National_, after looking at the invaders, said: "These +are the sham public; I shall call the real!" A few minutes afterward +shots were heard in the court of the palace; the posts in the hands of +the National Guard opened before the triumphant mob, who, after sacking +the Tuileries, hurried up against the expiring remnants of the monarchy. +The Duchesse d'Orléans had already twice offered to speak, but her voice +was drowned in the tumult. The newcomers, stained with blood and +blackened with gunpowder, with dishevelled hair and bare arms, climbed +on the benches, stairs, and galleries; and in every part were shouts of +"Down with the regency! Long live the Republic! Turn out the +'Contents'!" Sauzet put on his hat, but a workman knocked it off, and +then the President disappeared. + +Several of the Deputies rushed to the gallery, where the Duchess was +still exposed to the looks and threats of the insurgents. "There is +nothing more to be done here, madam," they urged: "we must go to the +President's house, to form a new chamber." She took the arm of Jules de +Lasteyrie; and on her sons being separated from her in the narrow +passages, she showed the greatest anxiety, crying, "My boys! my boys!" +At one time the Comte de Paris was seized by a workman in a blouse; but +one of the National Guard took him out of his hands, and the child was +passed from one to another till he rejoined his mother. No one knew what +had become of the Duc de Chartres; but he was brought to the Invalides, +where the Princess went for refuge; and in the evening, after nightfall, +the mother and sons withdrew from Paris, and soon after from France. +"To-morrow, or ten years hence," said the Duchesse d'Orléans as she left +the Invalides, "a word, a sign will bring me back." Afterward in exile +she frequently said, "When the thought crosses my mind that I may never +again see France, I feel my heart breaking." + +Wanderers and fugitives across their kingdom, after kneeling for the +last time beside the tomb of their children at Dreux, and asking the +hospitality of some friends who were still faithful, and without a +single attempt to recover the crown they had lost, King Louis Philippe +and Queen Marie-Amélie at last reached the seacoast, and set sail toward +England, that safe and well-known refuge of unfortunate princes. + +Thunderstruck like them, and at their wits' end, the most faithful of +their servants and partisans waited for some sign authorizing them to +protest against the unparalleled surprise to which France had been +subjected. The fugitive King made no protest. His sons quietly followed +him into exile. Those who were serving France abroad learned at the same +time the news of their fall and the rise of a new power, and thought it +their duty to bow to the national will, resolving that not a single drop +of French blood should be shed in their cause. + + + + +(1848) REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS IN GERMANY, C. Edmund Maurice + + +Popular demonstrations in various parts of Germany in the great +revolutionary year 1848 were no doubt partly due to the outbreaks in +France and elsewhere, but it is also apparent that discontent at home +had been long turning the people toward revolt. The agitation that began +in March--the month following the "February Revolution" and the +declaration of a republic in France--was the work of a patriotic party +that cherished not only aspirations for extending popular rights in the +several States, but also a prophetic desire for German unity. + +The Congress of Vienna (1815) attempted to adjust the balance of power +in Europe. Some sort of union for the States was imperatively required +by the general situation, but there was fear of making Germany too +strong. The Congress created the German Confederation, constituted by a +union of independent States, under the hegemony or political headship of +Austria. This confederation (_bund_) lacked strength in the Central +Government, and although it reduced the number of States from more than +three hundred to thirty-nine, it still perpetuated elements of +unwieldiness and discord. At the head of the Austrian Government, as +chief minister of the Emperor Ferdinand I, was Metternich, who for many +years had been the great reactionary leader of Europe. He was compelled +now to face conditions such as, in his long and varied career of +statecraft and diplomacy, he never had confronted. Ferdinand himself, +always a weak ruler, succumbed to the revolution provoked by his +minister, whose downfall was followed by the Emperor's abdication +(December 2, 1848) in favor of his nephew, Francis Joseph, the present +ruler of Austria. + +The most interesting of the German struggles of 1848 was that in Saxony. +Robert Blum [Footnote: Blum, born at Cologne in 1807, was a writer and +an agitator, leader of the Liberal party in Saxony. He was executed in +November, 1848.--ED.] was present at a ball in Leipsic when the news +arrived of the French revolution. He at once hastened to consult his +friends; and they agreed to act through the Town Council of Leipsic, and +sketched out the demands that they desired should be laid before the +King. These were: "A reorganization of the constitution of the German +Bund in the spirit and in accordance with the needs of the times, for +which the way is to be prepared by the unfettering of the press, and the +summoning of representatives of all German peoples to the Assembly of +the Bund." The Town Council adopted this address on March 1st, and sent +a deputation with it to Dresden; and, on the 3d, the people gathered to +meet the deputation on its return. The following is the account given by +the son of Robert Blum: + +"By anonymous placards on the wall the population of Leipsic was +summoned on the evening of March 3d to meet at the railway station the +deputation returning from Dresden. Since the space was too narrow in +this place, the innumerable mass marched to the market-place, which, as +well as the neighboring streets, they completely filled. In perfect +silence the thousands awaited here the arrival of the deputation, which, +at last, toward nine o'clock, arrived and was greeted with unceasing +applause. Town Councillor Seeburg spoke first of the deep emotion of the +King; after him spoke Biedermann. But the crowd uproariously demanded +Robert Blum. + +"At last Blum appeared on the balcony of the Town Council House. His +voice alone controlled the whole market-place, and was even heard in the +neighboring streets. He too sought, by trying to quiet them, to turn +them away from the subject of the address and of the King's answer. But +the people broke uproariously into his speech with the demand, 'The +answer! The answer!' It could no longer be concealed that the petitions +of the town had received harsh rejection. Then came a loud and +passionate murmur. The masses had firmly hoped that the deputation would +bring with them from Dresden the news of the dismissal of the hated +ministers. + +"But Blum continued his speech, and they renewed their attention to him. +'In constitutional countries,' said he, 'it is not the King, but the +ministers who are responsible. They, too, bear the responsibility of the +rejection of the Leipsic proposals. The people must press for their +removal.' He added that he would bring forward in the next meeting of +the town representatives the proposal that the King should dismiss the +Ministry, 'which does not possess the confidence of the people.' Amid +shouts of exultation and applause, the appeased assembly dispersed." + +Blum was as successful with his colleagues as with the crowd; and the +Town Council now demanded from the King the dismissal of his ministers, +the meeting of the Assembly, and freedom of the press. The King tried to +resist the last of these three proposals, pleading his duty to the Bund. +But even the Bundestag had felt the spirit of the times, and on March +1st had passed a resolution giving leave to every government to abolish +the censorship of the press. The King seemed to yield, and promised to +fulfil all that was wished; but the reactionary party in Dresden had +become alarmed at the action of the men of Leipsic; and so, on March +11th, when the men of Leipsic supposed that all was granted, General von +Carlowitz entered their city at the head of a strong force, and demanded +that the Town Council should abstain from exciting speeches; that the +Elocution Union should give up all political discussion; that the +processions of people should cease; and above all, that the march from +Leipsic to Dresden, which was believed to be then intended, should be +given up. + +These demands were met by Blum with an indignant protest. "Five men," +said he, "who manage the army cannot understand that, though their +bullets may kill men, they cannot make a single hole in the idea that +rules the world." The town councillors of Leipsic were equally firm. +Carlowitz abandoned his attempt as hopeless; and on March 13th the King +summoned a Liberal Ministry which abolished press censorship, granted +publicity of legal proceedings, trial by jury, and a wider basis for the +Saxon Parliament, and promised to assist in the reform of the Bund. + +In the mean time the success of the French revolution had awakened new +hopes in Vienna. Soon after the arrival of the news, a placard appeared +on one of the city gates bearing the words: "In a month Prince +Metternich will be overthrown! Long live Constitutional Austria!" +Metternich himself was greatly alarmed, and began to listen to proposals +for extending the power of the Lower Austrian Estates. Yet he still +hoped by talking over and discussing these matters to delay the +execution of reforms till a more favorable turn in affairs should render +them either harmless or unnecessary. + +But great as was the alarm caused by the South German risings, and great +as were the hopes which they kindled in the Viennese, the word that was +to give definiteness and importance to the impulses that were stirring +in Vienna could not come from Bavaria or Saxony. Much as they might wish +to connect themselves with a German movement, the Viennese could not get +rid of the fact that they were, for the present, bound up with a +different political system. Nor was it wholly clear that the German +movement was as yet completely successful. The King of Prussia seemed to +be meditating a reactionary policy and had even threatened to despatch +troops to put down the Saxon Liberals; and the King of Hanover also was +disposed to resist the movement for a German Parliament. It was from a +country more closely bound up with the Viennese Government, and yet +enjoying traditions of more deeply rooted liberty, that the utterance +was to come which was eventually to rouse the Viennese to action. + +The readiness of the nobles to accept the purely verbal concession +offered by Metternich in the matter of the "Administrators" had shown +Kossuth [Footnote: Louis Kossuth, the famous leader of the Hungarian +insurrection of 1848, was at this time about forty-six years of age. The +sovereignty of Hungary had been in the hands of the Hapsburgs since +1687.--ED.] that there could be no further peace. But he still knew how +and when to strike the blow; and it was not by armed insurrection so +much as by the declaration of a policy that he shook the rule of +Metternich. On March 3d a Conservative member of the Presburg Assembly +brought forward a motion for inquiry into the Austrian bank-notes. +Kossuth answered that the confusion in the affairs of Austrian commerce +produced an evil effect on Hungarian finances; and he showed the need of +an independent Finance Ministry for Hungary. Then he went on to point +out that this same confusion extended to other parts of the monarchy. + +"The actual cause of the breaking up of peace in the monarchy, and of +all the evils which may possibly follow from it, lies in the system of +government." He admitted that it was hard for those who had been brought +up under this system to consent to its destruction. "But," he went on, +"the people lasts forever, and we wish also that the country of the +people should last forever. Forever too should last the splendor of that +dynasty whose representatives we reckon as our rulers. In a few days the +men of the past will descend into their graves; but for that scion of +the House of Hapsburg who excites such great hopes, for the Archduke +Francis Joseph, who at his first coming forward earned the love of the +nation--for him there waits the inheritance of a splendid throne which +derives its strength from freedom. Toward a dynasty which bases itself +on the freedoms of its people's enthusiasm will always be roused; for it +is only the freeman who can be faithful from his heart; for a +bureaucracy there can be no enthusiasm." + +He then urged that the future of the dynasty depended on the hearty +union between the nations which lived under it. "This union," he said, +"can be brought about only by respecting the nationalities, and by that +bond of constitutionalism which can produce a kindred feeling. The +bureau and the bayonet are miserable bonds." He then went on to +apologize for not examining the difficulties between Hungary and +Croatia. The solution of the difficulties of the empire would, he held, +solve the Croatian question too. If it did not, he promised to consider +that question with sympathy, and examine it in all its details. He +concluded by proposing an address to the Emperor which should point out +that it was the want of constitutional life in the whole empire which +hindered the progress of Hungary; and that, while an independent +government and a separate responsible ministry were absolutely essential +to Hungary, it was also necessary that the Emperor should surround his +throne, in all matters of the Government, with such constitutional +arrangements as were indispensably demanded by the needs of the time. + +This utterance has been called the "Baptismal Speech of the Revolution." +Coming as it did directly after the news of the French revolution, it +gave a definiteness to the growing demands for freedom; but it did more +than this. Metternich had cherished a growing hope that the demand for +constitutional government in Vienna might be gradually used to crush out +the independent position of Hungary, by absorbing the Hungarians in a +common Austrian parliament; and he had looked upon a Croatian question +as a means for still further weakening the power of the Hungarian Diet. +Kossuth's speech struck a blow at these hopes by declaring that freedom +for any part of the empire could be obtained only by working for the +freedom of the whole; he swept aside for the moment those national and +provincial jealousies which were the great strength of the Austrian +despotism, and appealed to all the Liberals of the empire to unite +against the system which was oppressing them all. Had Kossuth remained +true to the faith which he proclaimed in this speech, it is within the +limits of probability that the whole Revolution of 1848-1849 might have +had a different result. + +The Hungarian chancellor, Mailath, was so alarmed at Kossuth's speech +that he hindered the setting out of the deputation which was to have +presented the address to the Emperor. But he could not prevent the +speech from producing its effect. Although Presburg was only six hours' +journey from Vienna, the route had been made so difficult that the news +of anything done in the Hungarian Diet had hitherto reached Vienna in a +roundabout manner, and had sometimes been a week on its way. + +The news of this speech, however, arrived on the very next day; and +Kossuth's friend Pulszky immediately translated it into German and +circulated it among the Viennese. A rumor of its contents had spread +before the actual speech. It was said that Kossuth had declared war +against the system of government, and that he had said state bankruptcy +was inevitable. But as the news became more definite the minds of the +Viennese fixed upon two points--the denunciation of the men of the past, +and the demand for a constitution for Austria. So alarmed did the +Government become at the effect of this speech that they undertook to +answer it in an official paper. + +The writer of this answer called attention to the terrible scenes which +he said were being enacted in Paris, which proved according to him that +the only safety for the governed was in rallying round the government. +This utterance naturally excited only contempt and disgust; and the +ever-arriving news of new constitutions granted in Germany swelled the +enthusiasm which had been roused by Kossuth's speech. + +The movement still centred in the professors of the University. On March +1st Doctor Loehner had proposed, at one of the meetings of the Reading +and Debating Society, that negotiations should be opened with the +Estates, and that they should be urged to declare their Assembly +permanent, the country in danger, and Metternich a public enemy. This +proposal marked a definite step in constitutional progress. The Estates +of Lower Austria, which met in Vienna, had indeed from time to time +expressed their opinions on certain public grievances; but these +opinions had been generally disregarded by Francis and Metternich; and, +though the latter had of late talked of enlarging the powers of the +Estates, he had evidently intended such words partly as mere talk in +order to delay any efficient action, and partly as a bid against the +concessions which had been made by the King of Prussia. That the leaders +of a popular movement should suggest an appeal to the Estates of Lower +Austria was therefore an unexpected sign of a desire to find any legal +centre for action, however weak in power, and however aristocratic that +centre might be. + +Doctor Loehner's proposal, however, does not seem to have been generally +adopted; and, instead of the suggested appeal to the Estates, a +programme of eleven points was circulated by the debating society. When +we consider that the revolution broke out in less than a fortnight after +this petition, we cannot but be struck with the extreme moderation of +the demands now made. Most of the eleven points were concerned with +proposals for the removal either of forms of corruption, or of +restraints on personal liberty, and they were directed chiefly against +those interferences with the life and teaching of the universities which +were causing so much bitterness in Vienna. Such demands for +constitutional reforms as were contained in this programme were +certainly not of an alarming character. The petitioners asked that the +right of election to the Assembly of Estates should be extended to +citizens and peasants; that the deliberative powers of the Estates +should be enlarged; and that the whole empire should be represented in +an assembly, for which, however, the petitioners asked only a +consultative power. Perhaps the three demands in this petition which +would have excited the widest sympathy were those in favor of the +universal arming of the people, the universal right of petition, and the +abolition of the censorship. + +The expression of desire for reform now became much more general and +even some members of the Estates prepared an appeal to their colleagues +against the bureaucratic system. But the character and tone of the +utterances of these new reformers somewhat weakened the effect which had +been produced by the bolder complaints of the earlier leaders of the +movement, for while the students of the University and some of their +professors still showed a desire for bold and independent action, the +merchants caught eagerly at the sympathy of the Archduke Francis +Charles, while the booksellers addressed to the Emperor a petition in +which servility passes into blasphemy. + +These signs of weakness were no doubt observed by the Government; and it +was not wonderful that, under these circumstances, Metternich and +Kolowrat should have been able to persuade themselves that they could +still play with the Viennese, and put them off with promises which need +never be fulfilled. Archduke Louis alone seems to have foreseen the +coming storm, but was unable to persuade his colleagues to make military +preparations to meet it. In the mean time the movement among the +students was assuming more decided proportions; and their demands +related as usual to the great questions of freedom of speech, freedom of +the press, and freedom of teaching; and to these were added the demand +for popular representation, the justifications for which they drew from +Kossuth's speech of March 3d. + +But, while Hungary supplied the model of constitutional government, the +hope for a wider national life connected itself more and more with the +idea of a united Germany. Two days after the delivery of Kossuth's +speech an impulse had been given to this latter feeling by the meeting +at Heidelberg of the leading supporters of German unity; and they had +elected a committee of seven to prepare the way for a constituent +assembly at Frankfort. Of these seven, two came from Baden, one from +Wurtemberg, one from Hesse-Darmstadt, one from Prussia, one from +Bavaria, and one from Frankfort. Thus it will be seen that South Germany +still kept the lead in the movement for German unity; and the president +of the committee was that Izstein, of Baden, who had been known to +Germany chiefly by his ill-timed expulsion from Berlin. But, though this +distribution of power augured ill for the relations between the leaders +of the German movement and the King of Prussia, the meeting at +Heidelberg was not prepared to adopt the complete programme of the Baden +leaders, nor to commit itself to that Republican movement which would +probably have repelled the North German Liberals. + +The chief leader of the more moderate party in the meeting was Heinrich +von Gagern, the representative of Hesse-Darmstadt. + +Gagern was the son of a former minister of the Grand Duke of Nassau, who +had left that State to take service in Austria, and who had acted with +the Archduke John in planning a popular rising in the Tyrol in 1813. +Heinrich had been trained at a military school in Munich. He had +steadily opposed the policy of Metternich, had done his best to induce +the universities to co-operate in a common German movement, and had +tried to secure internal liberties for Hesse-Darmstadt, while he had +urged his countrymen to look for the model of a free constitution rather +to England and Hungary than to France. During the constitutional +movement of 1848 he had become Prime Minister of Hesse-Darmstadt; and he +seems to have had considerable power of winning popular confidence. +Although he was not able to commit the meeting to a definitely +monarchical policy, he had influence enough to counteract the attempts +of Struve and Hecker to carry a proposal for the proclamation of a +republic; and his influence increased during the later phases of the +movement. + +It was obvious that, in the state of Viennese feeling, a movement in +favor of German unity, at once so determined and so moderate in its +character, would give new impulse to the hopes for freedom already +excited by Kossuth's speech; and the action of the reformers now became +more vigorous because the students rather than the professors were +guiding the movement. Some of the latter, and particularly Professor +Hye, were beginning to be alarmed, and were attempting to hold their +pupils in check. This roused the distrust and suspicion of the students; +and it was with great difficulty that Professors Hye and Endlicher could +prevail on the younger leaders of the movement to abstain from action +until the professors had laid before the Emperor the desire of the +university for the removal of Metternich. This deputation waited on the +Emperor on March 12th, but it proved of little avail; and when the +professors returned with the answer that the Emperor would consider +their wishes, the students received them with laughter and resolved to +take the matter into their own hands. The next day was to be the opening +of the Assembly of the Estates of Lower Austria; and the students of +Vienna resolved to march from the University to the Landhaus. + +In the great hall of the University, now hidden away in an obscure part +of Vienna but still retaining traces of the paintings which then +decorated it, the students gathered in large numbers on March 13th. +Various rumors of a discouraging kind had been circulated; this and that +leading citizen were mentioned as having been arrested; nay, it was even +said that members of the Estates had themselves been seized, and that +the sitting of the Assembly would not be allowed to take place. To these +rumors were added the warnings of the professors. + +Fuester, who had recently preached on the duty of devotion to the cause +of the country, now endeavored, by praises of the Emperor, to check the +desire of the students for immediate action; but he was shouted down. + +Hye then appealed to them to wait a few days, in hopes of a further +answer from the Emperor. They answered with a shout that they would not +wait an hour; and then they raised the cry of "Landhaus!" Breaking loose +from all further restraint they set out on their march, and as they went +numbers gathered round them. The people of Vienna had already been +appealed to, by a placard on St. Stephen's Church, to free the good +Emperor Ferdinand from his enemies; and the placard further declared +that he who wished for the rise of Austria must wish for the fall of the +present ministers of state. + +The appeal produced its effect; and the crowd grew dense as the students +marched into the narrow Herren Gasse. They passed under the archway +which led into the courtyard of the Landhaus; there, in front of the +very building where the Assembly was sitting, they came to a dead halt; +and, with the strange hesitation which sometimes comes over crowds, no +man seemed to know what was next to be done. Suddenly in the pause which +followed, the words "_Meine Herren_" were heard from a corner of the +crowd. It was evident that some one was trying to address them; and the +students nearest to the speaker hoisted him upon their shoulders. Then +the crowd saw a quiet-looking man, with a round, strong head, +short-cropped hair, and a thick beard. Each man eagerly asked his +neighbor who this could be; and, as the speech proceeded, the news went +round that this was Doctor Fischhof, a man who had been very little +known beyond medical circles and hitherto looked upon as quite outside +political movements. Such was the speaker who now uttered what is still +remembered as the "first free word" in Vienna. + +He began by dwelling on the importance of the day and on the need of +"encouraging the men who sit there," pointing to the Landhaus, "by our +appeal to them, of strengthening them by our adherence, and leading them +to the desired end by our coöperation in action. He," exclaimed +Fischhof, "who has no courage on such a day as this is only fit for the +nursery." He then proceeded to dwell at some length on the need for +freedom of the press and trial by jury. Then, catching, as it were, the +note of Kossuth's speech of March 3d, he went on to speak of the +greatness which Austria might attain by combining together "the idealist +Germans, the steady, industrious, and persevering Slavs, the knightly +and enthusiastic Magyars, the clever and sharp-sighted Italians." +Finally he called upon them to demand freedom of the press, freedom of +religion, freedom of teaching and learning, a responsible ministry, +representation of the people, arming of the people, and connection with +Germany. + +In the mean time the Estates were sitting within. They had gathered in +unusually large numbers, being persuaded by their President that they +were bound to resist the stream of opinion. Representatives as they were +of the privileged classes, they had little sympathy with the movement +that was going on in Vienna. Nor does it appear that there was anyone +among them who was disposed to play the part of a Confalonieri or +Szechenyi, much less of a Mirabeau or a Lafayette. Many of them had +heard rumors of the coming deputation; but Montecuccoli, their +President, refused to begin the proceedings before the regular hour. +While they were still debating this point they heard the rush of the +crowd outside; then the sudden silence, and then Fischhof's voice. +Several members were seized with a panic and desired to adjourn. Again +Montecuccoli refused to yield, and one of their Liberal members urged +them to take courage from the fact of this deputation to make stronger +demands on the Government. + +But before the Assembly could decide to act the crowd outside had taken +sterner measures. The speakers who immediately followed Fischhof had +made little impression; then another doctor, named Goldmark, sprang up +and urged the people to break into the Landhaus. So, before the leaders +of the Estates had decided what action to take, the doors were suddenly +burst open, and Fischhof entered at the head of the crowd. He announced +that he had come to encourage the Estates in their deliberations, and to +ask them to sanction the demands embodied in the petition of the people. +Montecuccoli assured the deputation that the Emperor had already +promised to summon the Provincial Assemblies to Vienna, and that, for +their part, the Estates of Lower Austria were in favor of progress. +"But," he added, "they must have room and opportunity to deliberate." +Fischhof assented to this suggestion, and persuaded his followers to +withdraw to the courtyard. But those who had remained behind had been +seized with a fear of treachery, and a cry arose that Fischhof had been +arrested. Thereupon Fischhof showed himself, with Montecuccoli, on the +balcony; and the President promised that the Estates would send a +deputation of their own to the Emperor to express to him the wishes of +the people. He therefore invited the crowd to choose twelve men, to be +present at the deliberations of the Estates during the drawing up of the +petition. While the election of these twelve was still going on, a +Hungarian student appeared with the German translation of Kossuth's +speech. The Hungarian's voice being too weak to make itself heard, he +handed the speech to a Tyrolese student, who read it to the crowd. The +allusion to the need of a constitution was received with loud applause, +and so also was the expression of the hopes for good from the Archduke +Francis Joseph. + +But however much the reading of the speech had encouraged the hopes of +the crowd, it had also given time for the Estates to decide on a course +without waiting for the twelve representatives of the people; and, +before the crowd had heard the end of Kossuth's speech the reading was +interrupted by a message from the Estates announcing the contents of +their proposed petition. The petition had shrunk to the meagre demand +that a report on the condition of the state bank should be laid before +the Estates, and that a committee should be chosen from Provincial +Assemblies to consider timely reforms and to take a share in +legislation. + +The feeble character of the proposed compromise roused a storm of scorn +and rage; and a Moravian student tore the message of the Estates into +pieces. The conclusion of Kossuth's speech roused the people to still +further excitement; and, with cries for a free constitution, for union +with Germany, and against alliance with Russia, the crowd once more +broke into the Assembly. + +One of the leading students then demanded of Montecuccoli whether this +was the whole of the petition they intended to send to the Emperor. +Montecuccoli answered that the Estates had been so disturbed in their +deliberations that they had not been able to come to a final decision. +But he declared that they desired to lay before the Emperor all the +wishes of the people. + +Again the leaders of the crowd repeated, in slightly altered form, the +demands originally formulated by Fischhof. At last, after considerable +discussion, Montecuccoli was preparing to start for the Castle at the +head of the Estates when a regiment of soldiers arrived, but they were +unable to make their way through the crowd, and were even pressed back +out of the Herren Gasse. + +The desire now arose for better protection for the people; and a +deputation tried to persuade the burgomaster of Vienna to call out the +City Guard. Czapka, the burgomaster, was, however, a mere tool of the +Government; and he declared that the Archduke Albert, as +Commander-in-Chief of the Army, had alone the power of calling out the +guard. The Archduke Albert was, perhaps next to Louis, the most +unpopular of the royal house. He indignantly refused to listen to any +demands of the people, and, hastening to the spot, rallied the soldiers +and led them to the open space at the corner of the Herren Gasse, which +is known as the "Freyung." The inner circle of Vienna was at this time +surrounded with walls, outside of which were the large suburbs in which +chiefly workmen lived. + +The students seem already to have gained some sympathy with the workmen; +and for the previous two years the discontent caused by the sufferings +of the poorer classes had been taking a more directly political turn. +Several of the workmen had pressed in with the students in the morning +into the inner town, and some big men, with rough darned coats and dirty +caps over their ears, were seen clenching their fists for the fight. The +news quickly spread to the suburbs that the soldiers were about to +attack the people. Seizing long poles and any iron tools which came to +hand, the workmen rushed forward to the gates of the inner town. In one +district they found the town gates closed against them, and cannon +placed on the bastion near; but in others the authorities were +unprepared; and the workmen burst into the inner town, tearing down +stones and plaster to throw at the soldiers. + +In the mean time the representatives of the Estates had reached the +Castle, and were trying to persuade the authorities to yield to the +demands of the people. Metternich persisted in believing that the whole +affair was moved by foreign influence, and particularly by Italians and +Swiss; and he desired that the soldiers should gather in the Castle, and +that Prince Windischgraetz should be appointed commandant of the city. +Alfred Windischgraetz was a Bohemian nobleman who had previously been +known chiefly for his strong aristocratic feeling, which he was said to +have embodied in the expression "Human beings begin at barons." But he +had been marked out by Metternich as a man of vigor and decision who +might be trusted to act in an emergency. + +Latour, who had been the previous commandant of the Castle in Vienna, +showed signs of hesitation at this crisis; and this gave Metternich the +excuse for dismissing Latour and appointing Windischgraetz in his place. +To this arrangement all the ruling council consented; but, when Archduke +Louis and Metternich proposed to make Windischgraetz military dictator +of the city, and to allow him to bring out cannon for firing on the +people, great opposition arose. The Archduke John was perhaps one of the +few councillors who really sympathized with Liberal ideas; but several +of the Archdukes, and particularly Francis Charles, heartily desired the +fall of Metternich; and Kolowrat shared their wish. This combined +opposition of sincere reformers and jealous courtiers hindered +Metternich's policy; and it was decided that the City Guard should first +be called out, and that the dictatorship of Windischgraetz should be +kept in reserve as a last resource. + +In the mean time the struggle on the streets was raging fiercely. +Archduke Albert had found to his cost that the insurrection was not, as +he had supposed, the work of a few discontented men. The students fought +gallantly; but a still fiercer element was contributed to the +insurrection by the workmen who had come in from the suburbs. One +workman was wounded in his head, his arm, and his foot; but he continued +to encourage his friends, and cried out that he cared nothing for life; +either he would die that day, or else "the high gentlemen should be +overthrown." Another who had had no food since the morning entreated for +a little refreshment that he might be able to fight the better; and he +quickly returned to the struggle. In those suburbs from which the +workmen had not been able to break into the inner town, the insurrection +threatened to assume the form of an attack on the employers. Machines +were destroyed, and the houses of those employers who had lowered wages +were set on fire. + +It was this aspect of the insurrection which encouraged the nobles to +believe that, by calling out the guard, they would induce the richer +citizens to take arms against the workmen; and this policy was carried +still further when, on the application of the rector of the University, +the students also were allowed the privilege of bearing arms. But the +ruse entirely failed; the people recognized the City Guard as their +friends, and refused to attack them; and the rumor soon spread that the +police had fired on the City Guard. It was now evident that the citizen +soldiers were on the side of the people; and the richer citizens sent a +deputation to entreat that Metternich should be dismissed. + +But the Archduke Maximilian was resolved that, as the first expedient +proposed by the Council had failed, he would now apply some of those +more violent remedies which had been postponed at first. He therefore +ordered that the cannon should be brought down from the Castle to the +Michaelerplatz. From this point the cannon would have commanded, on the +one side the Herren Gasse, where the crowd had gathered in the morning, +and in front the Kohlmarkt, which led to the wide street of Amgraben. +Had the cannon been fired then and there, the course of the insurrection +must, in one way or other, have been changed. That change might have +been as Maximilian hoped, the complete collapse of the insurrection; or, +as Latour held, the cannon might have swept away the last vestige of +loyalty to the Emperor, and the republic might have been instantly +proclaimed. But in any case the result must have been most disastrous to +the cause both of order and liberty; for the passions which had already +been roused, especially among the workmen, could hardly have failed to +produce one of those savage struggles which may overthrow one tyranny, +but which usually end in the establishment of another. Fortunately, +however, the Archduke Maximilian seems to have had no official authority +in this matter; and, when he gave the order to fire, the master-gunner, +a Bohemian named Pollett, declared that he would not obey the order, +unless it was given by the commander of the forces or the commander of +the town. The Archduke then appealed to the subordinates to fire, in +spite of this opposition; but Pollett placed himself in front of the +cannon and exclaimed: "The cannon are under my command; until there +comes an order from my commander, and until necessity obliges it, let no +one fire on friendly unarmed citizens. Only over my body shall you +fire." The Archduke retired in despair. + +In the mean time the deputation of citizens had reached the Castle. At +first the officials were disposed to treat them angrily, and even tried +to detain them by force; but the news of the concession of arms to the +students, the urgent pressure of Archduke John, and the accounts of the +growing fury of the people finally decided Metternich to yield; and, +advancing into the room where the civic deputation was assembled, he +declared that as they had said his resignation would bring peace to +Austria he now resigned his office, and wished good luck to the new +government. Many of the royal family and of the other members of the +Council flattered themselves that they had got rid of a formidable enemy +without making any definite concession to the people. Windischgraetz +alone protested against the abandonment of Metternich by the rulers of +Austria. + +Metternich had hoped to retire quietly to his own villa, but it had been +already burned in the insurrection; and he soon found that it was safer +to fly from Vienna and eventually to take refuge in England. He had, +however, one consolation in all his misfortunes. In the memoir written +four years later he expressed his certainty that he at least had done no +wrong, and that if he had to begin his career again, he would follow the +same course he took before, and would not deviate from it for an +instant. + +When, at half-past eight in the evening of March 13th, men went through +the streets of Vienna, crying out "Metternich is fallen!" it seemed as +if the march of the students and the petition of Fischhof had produced +in one day all the results desired. But neither the suspicions of the +people nor the violent intentions of the princes were at an end. The +archdukes still talked of making Windischgraetz dictator of Vienna. The +workmen still raged in the suburbs; and the students refused to leave +the University for fear an attack should be made upon it. But in spite +of the violence of the workmen the leaders of the richer citizens were +more and more determined to make common cause with reformers. Indeed +both they and the students hoped to check the violence of the riots, +while they prevented any reactionary movement. The Emperor also was on +the side of concession. He refused to let the people be fired on, and +announced on the 14th the freedom of the press. But unfortunately he was +seized with one of his epileptic fits; and the intriguers, who were +already consolidating themselves into the secret council known as the +"Camarilla," published the news of Windischgraetz's dictatorship, and +resolved to place Vienna under a state of siege while the Emperor was +incapable of giving directions. + +The news of Windischgraetz's accession to power so alarmed the people +that they at once decided to march upon the Castle; but one of the +leading citizens, named Arthaber, persuaded them to abandon their +intention, and instead to send him and another friend to ask for a +constitution from the Emperor. A struggle was evidently going on between +Ferdinand and his courtiers. Whenever he was strong and able to hold his +own, he was ready to make concessions. Whenever he was either ill or +still suffering from the mental effects of his illness, the Government +fell into the hands of Windischgraetz and the archdukes, and violent +measures were proposed. + +Thus, though Arthaber and his friends were received courteously and +assured of the constitutional intentions of the Emperor, at eleven +o'clock on the same night there appeared a public notice declaring +Vienna in a state of siege. But even Windischgraetz seems to have been +somewhat frightened by the undaunted attitude of the people; and when he +found that his notice was torn down from the walls, and that a new +insurrection was about to break out, he sent for Professor Hye and +entreated him to preserve order. In the mean time the Emperor had to +some extent recovered his senses; and he speedily issued a promise to +summon the Estates of the German and Slavonic Provinces and the +congregations of Lombardo-Venetia. + +But the people had had enough of sham constitutions; and the Emperor's +proclamation was torn down. This act, however, did not imply any +personal hostility to Ferdinand; for the belief that the Austrian +ministers were thwarting the good intentions of their master was as +deeply rooted at this time in the minds of the Viennese as was a similar +belief with regard to Pius IX and his cardinals in the minds of the +Romans; and when the Emperor drove out on March 15th, he was received +with loud cheers. + +But as Ferdinand listened to these cheers he must have noticed that, +louder than the "_Es lebe der Kaiser_" of his German subjects and the +"_Slawa_" of the Bohemians, rose the sound of the Hungarian "_Eljen_." +For mingling in the crowd with the ordinary inhabitants of Vienna was +the Hungarian deputation, which had at last been permitted by the Count +Palatine to leave Presburg, and which had arrived in Vienna to demand +both freedoms that had been granted to the Germans and also a separate +responsible ministry for Hungary. They arrived in the full glory of +recent successes in the Presburg Diet; for, strengthened by the news of +the Viennese rising, Kossuth had carried, in one day, many of the +reforms for which his party had so long been contending. The last +remnants of the dependent condition of the peasantry had been swept +away; taxation had been made universal; and freedom of the press and +universal military service had been promised. Szechenyi alone had +ventured to raise a note of warning, and it had fallen unheeded. + +In Vienna Kossuth was welcomed almost as cordially as in Presburg; for +the German movement in Vienna had tended to produce in its supporters a +willingness to lose the eastern half of the empire in order to obtain +the union of the western half with Germany. So the notes of Arndt's +"_Deutsches Vaterland_" were mingled with the cry of "_Batthyanyi Lajos, +Minister Praesident!_" Before such a combination as this, Ferdinand had +no desire, Windischgraetz no power, to maintain an obstinate resistance; +and, on March 16th, Sedlnitzky, the hated head of the police, was +dismissed from office. On the 18th a responsible ministry was appointed; +and on the 22d Windischgraetz announced that national affairs would now +be guided on the path of progress. + +In the mean time that German movement from which the Viennese derived so +much of their impulse had been gaining a new accession of force in the +north of Germany. In Berlin the order of the Viennese movements had been +to some extent reversed. There the artisans, instead of taking their +tone from the students, had given the first impulse to reform. The King +indeed had begun his concessions by granting freedom of the press on +March 7th; but it seemed very unlikely that this concession would be +accompanied by any securities that would make it a reality. The King +even refused to fulfil his promise of summoning the Assembly; and it was +in consequence of this refusal that the artisans presented to the Town +Council of Berlin a petition for the redress of their special +grievances. The same kind of misery which prevailed in Vienna had shown +itself, though in less degree, in Berlin; and committees had been formed +for the relief of the poor. The Town Council refused to present the +petition of the workmen, and, in order to take the movement out of their +hands, presented a petition of their own in favor of freedom of the +press, trial by jury, representation of the German people in the +Bundestag, and the summoning of all the Provincial Assemblies of the +kingdom. This petition was rejected by the King; and thereupon, on March +13th, the people gathered in large numbers in the streets. General Pfuel +fired on them; but instead of yielding, they threw up barricades, and a +fierce struggle ensued. + +On the 14th the cry for complete freedom of the press became louder and +more prominent; and the insurgents were encouraged by the first news of +the Vienna rising. The other parts of the kingdom now joined in the +movement. On the 14th came deputations from the Rhine Province, who +demanded in a threatening manner the extension of popular liberties. On +the 16th came the more important news that Posen and Silesia were in +revolt. Mieroslawsky, who had been one of the leaders of the Polish +movement of 1846, had gained much popularity in Berlin; and he seemed +fully disposed to combine the movement for the independence of Posen +with that for the freedom of Prussia, much in the same way as Kossuth +had combined the cause of Hungarian liberty with the demand for an +Austrian constitution. In Silesia, no doubt, the terrible famine of the +previous year, and the remains of feudal oppression, had sharpened the +desire for liberty; and closely following on the news of these two +revolts came clearer accounts of the Viennese rising and the happy +tidings of the fall of Metternich. + +The King of Prussia promised, on the arrival of this news, to summon the +Assembly for April 2d; and two days later he appeared on the balcony of +his palace and declared his desire to change Germany from an alliance of +states into a federal state. + +But the suspicions of the people had now been thoroughly aroused; and on +March 18th, the very day on which the King made this declaration, fresh +deputations came to demand liberties from him; and when he appealed to +them to go home his request was not complied with. The threatening +attitude of the soldiers, and the recollection of their violence on the +preceding days, had convinced the people that until part at least of the +military force was removed they could have no security for liberty. + +The events of the day justified their belief; for, while some one was +reading aloud to the people the account of the concessions recently made +by the King, the soldiers suddenly fired upon them, and the crowd fled +in every direction. They fled, however, soon to rally again; barricades +were once more thrown up; the Poles of Posen flocked in to help their +friends, and the black, red, and gold flag of Germany was displayed. +Women joined the fight at the barricades; and on the 19th some of the +riflemen whom the King had brought from Neuchâtel refused to fire upon +the people. Then the King suddenly yielded, dismissed his ministers, and +promised to withdraw the troops and allow the arming of the people. + +The victory of the popular cause seemed now complete; but the bitterness +which still remained in the hearts of the citizens was shown by a public +funeral procession through Berlin in honor of those who had fallen in +the struggle. The King stood bare-headed on the balcony as the +procession passed the palace; and on March 21st he came forward in +public waving the black, red, and gold flag of Germany. + + + + +(1848) THE REVOLT OF HUNGARY, Arminius Vambery + + +Deep interest throughout the civilized world was aroused by the +unavailing struggle of Hungary, in 1848, for national independence. The +name of Louis Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot and famous orator, became +celebrated in many lands; and in the various countries where he +sojourned as an exile from his own--especially in the United States +(1851-1852) and in England--his eloquent appeals awakened profound +sympathy for his people's cause. Vambery, however, regards Kossuth's +compatriot, Count Stephen Szechenyi (born in 1791) as "the greatest +Hungarian of the nineteenth century." He was descended from a +distinguished family, which had given to its country many champions of +liberty. The great aim of his life was to revive the drooping energies +of the nation. As a youth he served in the army. Entering the famous +Diet of 1825, in which, by right of birth, he took his seat in the Upper +House, he distinguished himself by his liberal leadership, and as a +writer and an advocate of public endowments accomplished much for the +education of his people. + +Up to the time at which Vambery, the celebrated historian of Hungary, +begins the present narrative, the growth of the national spirit had been +more and more evident each year since the end of the Napoleonic wars. +For more than two centuries Hungary had been under the oppressive rule +of Austria. Hungary had furnished soldiers to Austria in her struggle +against Bonaparte, and the Austrian Emperor had repeatedly promised to +redress Hungarian grievances; but after the fall of Napoleon these +promises were repudiated. Hungary so emphatically showed her indignation +that the Emperor was compelled to convoke the Diet in which Szechenyi +distinguished himself. The subsequent career of this leader, the +character and aims of Kossuth, and the insurrection they did so much to +incite are powerfully described by Vambery, who writes not only as an +author fully versed in his country's annals, but also as a patriot +jealous of her liberties, proud of her heroic sons, and loyal to her +fame. + +For fifteen years, up to 1840, the popularity of Szechenyi extended over +Hungary, and his name was cherished by every patriot in the land. About +this time, however, the great statesman was destined to come into +collision with a man who was his peer in genius and abilities. The two +patriots were representatives of different methods, and in the contest +produced by the shock of antagonistic tendencies Szechenyi was compelled +to yield to Louis Kossuth, his younger rival. Although there was no +material difference between their aims--for both wished to see their +country great, free, constitutionally governed, prosperous, and advanced +in civilization--yet in the ways and means employed by them to attain +that aim they were diametrically opposed to each other. + +Szechenyi, who descended from a family of ancient and aristocratic +lineage, and presented himself to the nation with connections reaching +up into the highest circles of the court, with the lustre of his ancient +name, and with his immense fortune, wished to secure the happiness of +his country by quite different methods from those adopted by Louis +Kossuth, a child of the people, who, although he was a nobleman by +birth, yet belonged to that poorer class of gentry who support +themselves by their own exertions, and who, in Hungary, are destined to +fulfil the mission of the citizen-classes of other countries. It is from +this class of the gentry, for the most part, that are recruited the +trades-people, the smaller landowners, professional men, writers, +subordinate officials, lawyers, physicians, clergymen, teachers, and +professors. By virtue of their nobility, it is true, they belonged to +the privileged class of the country, and were not subjected to the +humiliations of the oppressed peasantry, yet they had to earn a living +by their own work, and were therefore not only accessible to, but were +ready enthusiastically to receive, the lofty message of liberty and +equality which the French Revolution of 1830 began to proclaim anew +throughout Europe. + +These doctrines formed a sharp contrast to the views of Count Stephen +Szechenyi, views which, owing to the social position of the man who held +them, were not devoid of a certain aristocratic tinge, and according to +which the most important part in the regeneration of the Hungarian +nation was assigned to the aristocracy. It was a part, however, which +the Hungarian aristocracy was itself by no means disposed to assume. +Among its younger members, indeed, could be found, here and there, +enthusiastic men who were devotedly attached to the person of the lordly +reformer, but the great majority of his class were hostilely arrayed +against Szechenyi's aims, and, obstructing the granting of even the most +inoffensive demands of the nation, supported the Viennese Government; +which was rigidly opposed to political reforms and to any changes in the +public institutions of the country. This attitude of the aristocracy +compelled Szechenyi to avoid as much as possible all questions +concerning constitutionality and liberty, and to confine the work of +reform chiefly to the sphere of internal improvements. + +The only way in which he could hope to obtain the support of the court +of Vienna and of the majority of the Upper House for his +politico-economical measures, was to remain as neutral as possible in +politics. The idea which chiefly governed his actions was that the +country should be first strengthened internally, and that afterward it +would be easy for the nation to bring about the triumph of her national +and political aspirations. + +After 1840, however, the bulk of the nation, and especially the small +gentry whose preponderating influence was making itself continually +felt, were unwilling to follow Szechenyi in his one-sided policy. The +reformatory work of Szechenyi during the preceding fifteen years had +educated public opinion up to new and great ideas, but the leaders of +that public opinion were now to be found in the House of Representatives +in the persons of Francis Deak and Louis Kossuth. They wished to obtain +for their country both political liberty and material prosperity. They +knew the effect of political institutions upon the material well-being +and civilization of a nation, and they no longer deemed it possible to +attain these objects without a modern constitutional government. + +Louis Kossuth, who was born in 1802, was the very incarnation of the +great democratic ideas of his age. He was entirely a man of work and +entered the legal profession, after he had completed his studies with +great distinction, for the purpose of supporting himself by it. Kossuth +was present at the Diet of 1832, when the Government, which conducted +itself most brutally and arbitrarily toward the press, refused to allow +the newspapers to print reports of the deliberations of the Diet in +spite of the repeated urgings by the Deputies for such an authorization, +and it was owing to his ingenuity that this prohibition was evaded. The +censorship was exercised on printed matter only and did not extend to +manuscripts. Kossuth wrote out the reports of the Diet himself, had +numerous copies made of them in writing, and circulated them, for a +slight fee, in every part of the country, where they were looked for +with feverish expectation, and, owing to the spirit of opposition with +which they were colored, were read with the greatest eagerness. + +This manuscript newspaper produced quite a revolutionary movement among +the people, frightening even the Austrian Government. The latter now +attempted to silence Kossuth by gentle means, promising him high offices +and a pension, but he refused the enticing offers and continued his work +for the benefit of the nation. Foiled in the attempt to lure Kossuth +from his duty, the Government resorted to violence, seized the +lithographic apparatus by means of which Kossuth planned to multiply his +manuscript newspaper, and gave directions to the postmasters to detain +and open all those sealed packages which were supposed to contain the +reports. But these arbitrary proceedings of the Government could not put +an end to the circulation of the newspaper; the country gentlemen, by +their own servants, continued to send each other single copies, and the +matter was given up only when the Diet ceased to be in session. + +Then Kossuth, at the urgent request of his friends and, one might say, +of the whole country, started a new manuscript newspaper at Budapest, +which reported the deliberations of the county assemblies. The effect +produced by this new paper was fraught with even greater consequences +than the first had created, for it was instrumental in bringing the +counties into contact with one another, thus giving them an opportunity +to combine against the Government. The latter, however, soon prohibited +its publication, but the prohibition gave rise to a storm of indignation +throughout the whole country. The counties in solid array addressed +protests to the Government against the illegal act and in behalf of +Kossuth, who continued to publish the paper in spite of the inhibition. +The Government at last resorted to the most barefaced brutality. +Kossuth, the brave champion of liberty, its eloquent pen and herald, was +dragged to a damp and dark subterranean prison-cell in the castle of +Buda, and detained there, while his father and mother and his family, +who were looking to him solely for their support, were robbed of the aid +of their natural protector. + +Although at that period lawlessness was the order of the day, yet this +last cruel and illegal act of the Government greatly exasperated the +public mind, which was already in a ferment of excitement. But while the +excited passions raged throughout the country, the Government, nothing +loth, caused Kossuth to be prosecuted for high treason, and, having +obtained his conviction, had him sentenced to an imprisonment of three +years. Kossuth applied himself during his detention to serious studies, +and acquired also, while in prison, the English language to such an +extent that he was enabled to address in that language, during his +exile, with great effect and impressiveness, large audiences both in +England and in the United States of America. His imprisonment lasted two +long years, after the lapse of which he obtained, in 1840, a pardon in +consequence of the repeated and urgent representations of the Diet. + +Kossuth returned to the scene of his former activity as the martyr of +free speech and the victim to the cause of the nation. He very soon +found a new field in which to labor. The Government perceived at last +that violence was of little avail, and that those questions which were +occupying the minds to such a degree could no longer be kept from being +publicly discussed by the press. Kossuth now obtained permission to edit +a political daily paper. Its publication was commenced under the title +of _Pesti Hirlap_ ("Newspaper of Pest") in 1841, and may be said to have +created the political daily press of Hungary. It disseminated new ideas +among the masses, stirred up the indifferent to feel an interest in the +affairs of the country, and gave a purpose to the national aspirations. +It proclaimed democratic reforms in every department; the abolition of +the privileges of the nobility and of their exemption from taxation, +equal rights and equal burdens for all the citizens of the State, and +the extension of public instruction, and it endeavored to restore the +Hungarian nationality to the place it was entitled to claim in the +organism of the State. + +The wealth of ideas thus daily communicated to the country appeared in +the most attractive garb, for Kossuth possessed a masterly style, and +his leaders and shorter articles showed off to advantage so many +unexpected beauties of the Hungarian language that his readers were +fairly enchanted and carried away by them. His articles were a happy +compound of poetical elevation and oratorical power, gratifying +common-sense and the imagination at the same time, appealing by their +lucid exposition to the reader's intelligence, and exciting and warming +his fancy by their fervor. Kossuth always rightly guessed what questions +most interested the nation, and the daily press became, in his hands, a +power in Hungary, electrifying the masses, who were always ready to give +their unconditional support to his bold and far-reaching schemes. + +The extraordinary influence obtained by Kossuth through his paper +frightened Szechenyi, and, to even a greater degree, those whose +prejudices were shocked or ancient privileges and interests were +endangered by the democratic agitations for reform. Kossuth was attacked +in books, pamphlets, and newspapers, but he came out victorious from all +contests. In vain did Szechenyi himself, backed by his great authority +in the land, assail him, declaring that he did not object to Kossuth's +ideas, but that his manner and his tactics were reprehensible, and that +the latter were sure to lead to a revolution. The great mass of the +people felt instinctively that revolution had become a necessity and was +unavoidable if Hungary was to pass from the old mediaeval order to the +establishment of modern institutions and was to become a state where +equality before the law should be the ruling standard. The masses were +strengthened in this conviction by the unreasonable, short-sighted, and +violent policy pursued by the Government of Vienna, which obstructed the +slightest reforms in the ancient institutions and opposed every national +aspiration, and under whose protecting wing the reactionary elements of +the Upper House were constantly paralyzing the noblest and best efforts +made by the Lower House for the public weal, while the same Government +arbitrarily supported claims of the Catholic clergy, in flat +contradiction to the rights and liberties of the various denominations +inhabiting the country. + +The Government, in its antipathy to the national movement, went even +further. It secretly incited the other nationalities, especially the +Croats, against the Hungarians, and thus planted the seeds from which +sprang the subsequent great civil war. In observing the dangerous +symptoms preceding the last-mentioned movement, and the bloody scenes +and fights provoked at every election by the hirelings of the +Government, in order to intimidate the adherents of reform, the friends +of progress became more and more convinced that the period of +moderation, such as preached by Szechenyi, had passed by, and must give +way to that resolute policy, advocated by Kossuth, which recoiled from +no consequences. Numerous magnates, all the chief leaders of the gentry +boasting of enlightenment and patriotism, and imbued with European +culture, rallied around Kossuth, until finally the public opinion of the +country and the enthusiasm of which he was the centre caused him to be +returned, in 1847, together with Count Louis Batthyanyi, as Deputy from +the foremost county of the country, the county of Pest. + +During the first months of the Diet of 1847-1848, which was to raise +Hungary to the rank of those countries that proclaimed equal rights and +possessed a responsible parliamentary government, it differed very +little from the one preceding it. The opposition initiated great +reforms, as before, but there was no one who believed that their +realization was near at hand. Kossuth repeatedly addressed the House, +and soon convinced his audience that he was as irresistible an orator as +he had proved powerful as a writer. But there was nothing to indicate +that the country was on the eve of a great transformation. + +The revolution of February, 1848, which broke out in Paris, changed, as +if by magic, the relative positions of Austria and Hungary. Metternich's +system of government, which was opposed to granting liberty to the +people, collapsed at once. The storm of popular indignation swept it +away like a house built of cards. At the first news of the occurrences +in Paris, Kossuth asked in the Lower House for the creation of a +responsible ministry. The motion was favorably received, but in the +Upper House it was rejected, the Government not being yet alive to the +real state of affairs, and still hoping by a system of negation to +frustrate the wishes of the people. But very soon the revolution reared +its head in Vienna itself, and the wishes of the Hungarian people, +uttered at Budapest, received thereby a new and powerful advocate. + +At that time the Hungarian Diet still met at Presburg, but the two +sister-cities of Buda and Pest formed the real capital of the country +and were the centre of commerce, industry, science, and literature. +Michael Vorosmarty, the poet laureate of the nation, lived in Pest, and +there the twin stars of literature, Alexander Petofi and Maurice Jokai, +shone on the national horizon. Jokai, who is still living (1886) and +enjoys a world-wide fame as a novelist, and Petofi, the eminent poet, +who was destined to become the Tyrtaeus of his nation, were then both +young men, full of enthusiasm and intrepid energy, and teeming with +great ideas. + +About these two gathered the other writers and youth of the University, +and all of them, helping one another, contrived, on hearing the news of +the sudden revolutions in Paris and Vienna, to enact in Budapest the +bloodless revolution of March 15, 1848, which obtained the liberty of +the press for the nation, and at the same time, in a solemn manifesto, +gave expression to the wishes of the Hungarians in the matter of reform. +The only act of violence these revolutionary heroes were guilty of was +the entering of a printing establishment, whose proprietor, afraid of +the Government, had refused to print the admirable poem of Petofi +entitled _Talpra Magyar_ ("Up, Magyar"), and doing the printing there +themselves. The first stanza of this poem, later the war-song of the +national movement, runs, in a literal translation, thus: + + "Arise, O Magyar! thy country calls. + Here is the time, now or never. + Shall we be slaves or free? + That is the question--choose! + We swear by the God of the Magyars, + We swear, to be slaves no longer!" + +This soul-stirring poem was improvised by Petofi under the inspiration +of the moment, and at the same establishment where it was first printed +was also printed a proclamation which contained twelve articles setting +forth the wishes of the people. + +While the capital was resounding with the rejoicings and triumphant +shouts of her exulting inhabitants, the proper department of the +Government for the carrying through of these movements, the Diet, +assembled at Presburg, lost no time, and set to work with great energy +to reform the institutions of Hungary, constitutionally, and to put into +the form of law the ideas of liberty, equality, and fraternity. The +salutary legislation met now with no opposition, either from the Upper +House or from the court at Vienna, and in a short time the Diet passed +the celebrated acts of 1848, which, having received the royal sanction, +were proclaimed as laws on April 11th, at Presburg, amid the wildest +enthusiasm, in the presence of King Ferdinand V. + +By these laws Hungary became a modern state, possessing a constitutional +government. The Government was vested in a ministry responsible to the +Parliament, all the inhabitants of the country were declared equal +before the law, the privileges of the nobility were abolished, the soil +was declared free, and the right of free worship accorded to all. The +institution of national guards was introduced, the utmost liberty of the +press was secured, Transylvania became a part of the mother-country--in +a word, the national and political condition of the country was +reorganized, in every particular, in harmony with the spirit, the +demands, and aspirations of our age. At the same time the men placed at +the head of the Government were such as possessed the fullest confidence +of the people. The first ministry was composed of the most distinguished +patriots. Count Louis Batthyanyi was the President; and acting in +conjunction with him were Francis Deak, as Minister of Justice; Count +Stephen Szechenyi, as Minister of Home Affairs; and Louis Kossuth, as +Minister of Finance. + +The great mass of the people hailed with boundless enthusiasm the new +Government and the magnificent reforms. The transformation, however, had +been so sudden and unexpected, and the old aristocratic world, with all +its institutions and its ancient organization, had been swept away with +such vehement precipitation that even under ordinary circumstances, in +the absence of all opposition, the new ideas and tendencies could have +hardly entered into the political life of the nation without causing +some confusion and disorder. But, in addition to these natural +drawbacks, the new order of things had to contend with certain national +elements in the population, which, feeling themselves injured in their +real or imaginary interests, were bent on mischief, hoping to be able to +rob the nation, in the midst of the ensuing troubles, of the great +political prize she had won. Certain circles of the court and classes of +the people strove equally hard to surround with difficulties the +practical introduction of the Constitution of 1848. + +The court and the standing army, the party of the soldier class, feared +that their commanding position would be impaired by the predominating +influence of the people. The non-Hungarian portion of the inhabitants, +choosing to ignore the fact that the new laws secured, without +distinction of nationality, equal rights to every citizen of the State, +were apprehensive lest the liberal constitution would benefit chiefly +the Hungarian element of the nation. They, therefore, encouraged by the +secret machinations of the Government of Vienna, took up arms, in order +to drag the country, which was preparing to take possession of her new +liberties, into a civil war. The Croatians, under the lead of Ban +Jellachich, and the Wallachs and Serbs, led by other imperial officers, +and yielding to their persuasions, rose in rebellion against Hungary, +and began to persecute, plunder, and murder the Hungarians living among +them. + +Dreadful atrocities were committed in the southern and eastern portions +of Hungary, hundreds and hundreds of families were massacred in cold +blood, and entire villages and cities were deserted by their +inhabitants, just as had previously happened at the approach of the +Turks, and thousands were compelled to abandon their all to the rebels, +in order to escape with their bare lives. In the course of a few weeks, +the flames of rebellion had spread over a large part of the country, and +the Hungarian element, instead of enjoying the liberties won for the +whole nation after a bitter struggle of many decades, was under the sad +necessity of resorting to armed force in order to reëstablish the +internal peace. The Hungarians now had to prove on the battlefield and +in bloody engagements that they were worthy of liberty and capable of +defending it. + +The Government, which, by virtue of the new laws, had meanwhile +transferred its seat to Budapest, displayed extraordinary energy in the +face of the sad difficulties besetting it. As it was impossible to rely +upon the Austrian soldiers who were still in the country, it exerted +itself to create and to organize a national army. A portion of the +National Guard entered the national army under the name of _honveds_ +("defenders of the country"), a name which became before long famous +throughout the civilized world for the brilliant military achievements +connected with it. The Hungarian soldiers garrisoning the Austrian +principalities hastened home, braving the greatest dangers, partly +accompanied by their officers and partly without them. The famous +Hungarian hussars, especially, returned in great number to offer their +services to their imperilled country. But all this proved insufficient, +and as soon as the National Assembly, elected under the new +constitution, met, Kossuth, who had been the life and soul of the +Government during this trying and critical period, called upon the +nation to raise large armies for the defence of the country. + +The session of July 11th, during which Kossuth introduced in the House +of Representatives his motions relating to the subject, presented a +scene which beggars all description. Kossuth ascended the tribune pale +and haggard with illness, but the long-continued applause that greeted +him after the first few sentences soon gave him back his strength and +his marvellous oratorical power. When he had concluded his speech and +submitted to the House his request for two hundred thousand soldiers and +the necessary money, a momentary pause of deep silence ensued. Suddenly +Paul Nyary, the leader of the opposition, arose, and lifting his right +arm toward heaven, exclaimed: "We grant it!" The House was in a fever of +patriotic excitement; all the Deputies rose from their seats, shouting, +"We grant it; we grant it!" Kossuth, with tears in his eyes, bowed to +the representatives of the people and said, "You have risen like one +man, and I bow down before the greatness of the nation." + +These sacrifices on the part of the country had become a matter of +urgent necessity. The Serb and Wallach insurrection assumed every day +larger proportions, while the Croats, under the leadership of +Jellachich, entered Hungarian territory with the fixed determination of +depriving the nation of her constitutional liberties. But the Hungarian +Government was already able to send an army against the Croatians, who +were marching on Budapest, plundering and laying waste everything before +them. They were surrounded by the Hungarian forces, and a part of their +army, nine thousand men strong, was compelled to lay down its arms, +while Jellachich, with his remaining forces, precipitately fled from the +country. The young Hungarian army had thus proved itself equal to the +task of repelling the attack of the Croats, but the recent events were +nevertheless fraught with the gravest consequences. + +The news of the Croatian invasion filled the Hungarians with deep +anxiety, and the extraordinary excitement caused by it cast a permanent +cloud over the soul of that great and noble man, Count Szechenyi. The +mind of the great patriot who had initiated the national movement gave +way under the strain of the frightful rumors coming from the Croatian +frontier. He had been ailing for some time, and his nervousness +increased so greatly under the pressure of the great events following +one another in rapid succession, that when the news came that the enemy +had invaded the country he thought Hungary was lost. His despair +darkened his mind and he sought death in the waves of the Danube. His +family removed him to a private asylum near Vienna, where he recovered +his mental faculties, and even wrote several books. But he was never +entirely cured of his hallucination, and, exasperated by the vexations +he was subjected to by the Viennese Government, even in the asylum, the +great patriot put an end to his own life on April 8, 1860, by a +pistol-shot. + +Jellachich's incursion had other important political consequences. The +attack on Hungary had been made by Jellachich in the name of the +Viennese Government, and the intimate connection between the domestic +disorders and the court of Vienna became more and more apparent. This +state of things rendered inevitable a struggle between Hungary and the +unconstitutional action of the court. The Austrian forces were arming +against Hungary on every side. Vienna, too, rose in rebellion against +the court, and now the Hungarians hastened to assist the revolutionists +in the Austrian capital. Unfortunately the young national army was not +ripe yet for so great a military enterprise, and Prince Windischgraetz, +having crushed the revolution in Vienna, invaded Hungary. + +A last attempt was now made by the Hungarians to negotiate peace with +the court, but it failed, Windischgraetz being so elated with his +success that nothing short of unconditional submission on the part of +the country would satisfy him. To accept such terms would have been both +cowardly and suicidal, and the nation, therefore, driven to the sad +alternative of war, determined rather to perish gloriously than +pusillanimously to submit to be enslaved by the court. They followed the +lead of Kossuth, who was now at the head of the Government, while Gorgei +was the Commander-in-Chief of the Hungarian Army. The two names of +Kossuth and Gorgei soon constituted the glory of the nation. While these +two acted in harmony they achieved brilliant triumphs, but their +personal antagonism greatly contributed, at a subsequent period, to the +calamities of the country. + +Windischgraetz took possession of Buda in January, 1849, thus compelling +Kossuth to transfer the seat of Government to Debreczin, while Gorgei +withdrew with his army to the northern part of Hungary; but the national +army fought victoriously against the Serbs and Wallachs, and the +situation of the Hungarians had, in the course of the winter, become +more favorable all over the country. The genius of Kossuth brought again +and again, as if by magic, fresh armies into the field, and he was +indefatigable in organizing the defence of the country. Distinguished +generals like Gorgei, Klapka, Damjanics, and Bem transformed the raw +recruits, in a wonderfully short time, into properly disciplined troops, +who were able to hold their own and bravely contend against the old and +tried imperial forces whom they put to flight at every point. + +The fortunes of war changed in favor of the Hungarians in the latter +part of January, 1849. Klapka achieved the first triumph, which was +followed by the brilliant victory won by one of Gorgei's divisions +commanded by Guyon in the Battle of Branyiszko, and very soon the +Hungarian armies acted on the offensive at all points. In the course of +a few weeks they achieved, chiefly under Gorgei's leadership, great and +complete victories over the enemy near Szolnok, Hatvan, Bicske, Waitzen, +Isaszegh, Nagy Sarlo, and Komarom. Windischgraetz lost both the campaign +and his office as commander-in-chief. + +Toward the close of the spring of 1849, after besieged Komorn had been +relieved by the Hungarians, and Bem had driven from Transylvania not +only the Austrians, but the Russians who had come to their assistance, +the country was almost freed from her enemies, and only two cities, Buda +and Temesvar, remained in the hands of the Austrians. The glorious +efforts made by the nation were attended at last by splendid successes, +and the civilized world spoke with sympathy and respect of the Hungarian +people, who had signally shown their ability to defend their liberties, +constitution, and national existence. + +It should have been the mission of diplomacy, at this conjuncture, to +turn to advantage the recent military successes by negotiating an +honorable peace with the humbled dynasty, as had been done before in the +history of the country, after similar military achievements by the +ancient national leaders, Bocskay and Bethlen. Gorgei, at the head of +the army, was disposed to conclude peace. But the Hungarian Parliament +sitting in Debreczin, led by Kossuth and under the influence of the +recent victories, was determined to pursue a different course. The royal +house at Hapsburg, whose dynasty had ruled over Hungary for three +centuries, was declared to have forfeited its right to the throne by +instigating and bringing upon the country the calamities of a great war. +This act had a bad effect, especially on the army, tending also to +heighten the personal antagonism between Kossuth and Gorgei. But its +worst consequence was that it gave Russia a pretext for armed +intervention. The Emperor Francis Joseph entered into an alliance with +the Czar of Russia, the purpose of which was to reconquer seceded +Hungary and ultimately to crush her liberty. + +One more brilliant victory was achieved by the Hungarian arms before the +fatal blow was aimed at the country. The fortress of Buda was taken +after a gallant assault, in the course of which the Austrian commandant +bombarded the defenceless city of Pest on the opposite bank of the +Danube, and thus the capital, too, was restored to the country. Yet +after this last glorious feat of war, good fortune deserted the national +banners. The grand heroic epoch was hastening to its tragic end. Two +hundred thousand Russians crossed the borders of Hungary, and were there +reënforced by sixty thousand to seventy thousand Austrians, whom the +Viennese Government had succeeded in collecting for a last great effort. + +It was easy to foresee that the exhausted Hungarian army could not long +resist the superior numbers opposed to them. For months they continued +the gallant fight, and in one of these fierce engagements Petofi, the +beloved poet of the nation, lost his life; but in the month of August +the Russians had already succeeded in surrounding Gorgei's army. Gorgei, +who was now invested with the supreme power, perceiving that all further +effusion of blood was useless, surrendered, in the sight of the Russian +army, the sword he had so gloriously worn in many a battle, near +Vilagos, on August 13, 1849. The remaining Hungarian armies followed his +example, and either capitulated or disbanded. The brave army of the +_honveds_ was no more, and the gallant struggle for liberty was put an +end to by the Russian forces. Kossuth and many other Hungarians sought +refuge in Turkey. + +Above Komorn, the largest fortress in the country, alone the Hungarian +colors were still floating. General Klapka, its commandant, bravely +defended it, and continued to hold it for six weeks after the sad +catastrophe of Vilagos. The brave defender, seeing at last that further +resistance served no purpose, as the Hungarian army had ceased to exist, +and the whole country had passed into the hands of the Austrians, +capitulated upon the most honorable terms. This was the concluding act +of the heroic struggle of the Hungarian people, the brave attitude of +the garrison and their commander adding another bright page to the +honorable record of the military achievements of 1848 and 1849. + +As soon as the Imperialists had obtained possession of Komorn, their +commander-in-chief, Baron Haynau, began to persecute the patriots, and +to commit the most cruel atrocities against them. Those who had taken +part in the national war were brought before a court-martial and +summarily executed. The bloody work of the executioner began on October +6th. Count Louis Batthyanyi was shot at Pest, and thirteen gallant +generals, belonging to Gorgei's army, met their deaths at Arad. +Wholesale massacres were committed throughout the country, until at last +the conscience of Europe rose up against these cruel butcheries, and the +court itself removed the sanguinary Baron from the scene of his inhuman +exploits. The best men in the country were thrown into prison, and +thousands of families had to mourn for dear ones who had fallen victims +to the implacable vindictiveness of the Austrian Government. Once more +the gloom of oppression settled upon the unhappy country. + +Many of the patriots had accompanied Kossuth to Turkey or found a refuge +in other foreign countries, and for ten years a great number of +distinguished Hungarians were compelled to taste the bitterness of +exile. Kossuth himself went subsequently to England, and visited also +the United States. In the latter country he was enthusiastically +received by the great and free American people, who took delight in his +lofty eloquence. During the Crimean War, and the War of 1859 in Italy, +Kossuth and the Hungarian exiles were zealously laboring to free their +country, by foreign aid, from the thraldom of oppression. At last, +however, the Hungarian nation succeeded in reconquering, without any aid +from abroad, by her own exertions, her national and political rights, +and made her peace with the ruling dynasty. But the Hungarian exiles had +their full share in the work of reconciliation, for it was owing to +their exertions that the nations of Europe remembered that, in spite of +Vilagos, Hungary still existed, and that again, at home, the people of +Hungary were not permitted to lose their faith in a better and brighter +future. + +Kossuth, the Nestor of the struggle for liberty, lives at present [1886] +in retirement in Turin, [Footnote: Kossuth died at Turin, Italy, March +20, 1894.--ED.] and, although separated from his people by diverging +political theories, his countrymen will forever cherish in him the great +genius who gave liberty to millions of the oppressed peasantry, and who +inscribed indelibly on the pages of the national legislation the +immortal principles of liberty and equality of rights. + + + + +(1848) DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN CALIFORNIA, John S. Hittell + + +Before the time of the great gold discovery of 1848, the metal had been +found in California, but the mines from which it was taken were poor and +yielded small returns for years of working. The discovery in 1848 +influenced the whole world, giving new life to trade and industry +everywhere. The first published report of gold in California appeared in +Hakluyt's account of Sir Francis Drake's visit to the coast in 1579. The +observations of Drake's men are supposed by some to have been made at a +point not far from San Francisco. The Hakluyt statement, however, is +disbelieved by many historians. The Spaniards and Mexicans who later +visited the coast are known to have found gold at many places, and +especially near the Colorado River, but they discovered no mines worth +working. Reports of great mineral wealth in California were repeated up +to the time of the American conquest, but they commanded little +confidence among mining experts. + +Although gold was found in what is now San Diego County in 1828, +Alexander Forbes, the historian of California, wrote in 1835 that no +minerals of particular importance had been discovered in Upper +California, nor any ores of metals. About 1838 a gold placer was +discovered in the ca±on of San Francisquito, forty-five miles northwest +of Los Angeles, and this was the first California mine that produced any +considerable amount of metal. It was worked for ten years and then +abandoned for richer diggings in the Sacramento Valley. The average +yield for the ten years was probably about six thousand dollars. After +the return of the Wilkes exploring expedition of 1842, James D. Dana, +its mineralogist, mentioned places in California at which he had +observed or inferred the existence of gold. But his report led to no +gold-hunting, and had only a scientific interest. + +The great discovery of 1848, and its world-wide effects, are described +in the following account by Hittell, which forms a part of Hubert H. +Bancroft's voluminous _History of the Pacific States_. + +As Edmund Hammond Hargraves is the hero of the Australian, so is James +W. Marshall of the Californian, gold discovery. Before giving the +account of his discovery, however, I will quote the following passage +from a letter written on May 4, 1846, by Thomas O. Larkin, then United +States consul at Monterey, California, to James Buchanan, Secretary of +State: + +"There is said to be black lead in the country of San Fernando, near San +Pedro [now Los Angeles County]. By washing the sand in a plate, any +person can obtain from one dollar to five dollars per day of gold that +brings seventeen dollars per ounce in Boston; the gold has been gathered +for two or three years, though but few have the patience to look for it. +On the southeast end of the island of Catalina there is a silver mine +from which silver has been extracted. There is no doubt but that gold, +silver, quick-silver, copper, lead, sulphur, and coal mines are to be +found all over California, and it is equally doubtful whether, under +their present owners, they will ever be worked." + +James W. Marshall, in a letter dated January 28, 1856, and addressed to +Charles E. Pickett, gave the following account of the gold discovery: +"Toward the end of August, 1847, Captain Sutter and I formed a +copartnership to build and run a sawmill upon a site selected by myself +(since known as Coloma). We employed P.L. Weimer and family to remove +from the Fort (Sutter's Fort) to the mill-site, to cook and labor for +us. Nearly the first work done was the building of a double log cabin, +about half a mile from the mill-site. We commenced the mill about +Christmas. Some of the mill-hands wanted a cabin near the mill. This was +built, and I went to the Fort to superintend the construction of the +mill-irons, leaving orders to cut a narrow ditch where the race was to +be made. Upon my return, in January, 1848, I found the ditch cut as +directed, and those who were working on the same were doing so at a +great disadvantage, expending their labor upon the head of the race +instead of the foot. + +"I immediately changed the course of things, and upon the 19th of the +same month of January discovered the gold near the lower end of the +race, about two hundred yards below the mill. William Scott was the +second man to see the metal. He was at work at a carpenter's bench near +the mill. I showed the gold to him. Alexander Stephens, James Brown, +Henry Bigler, and William Johnston were likewise working in front of the +mill, framing the upper story. They were called up next, and, of course, +saw the precious metal. P.L. Weimer and Charles Bennett were at the old +double log cabin (where Hastings and Company afterward kept a store). + +"In the mean time we put in some wheat and peas, nearly five acres, +across the river. In February the Captain (Captain Sutter) came to the +mountains for the first time. Then we consummated a treaty with the +Indians, which had been previously negotiated. The tenor of this was +that we were to pay them two hundred dollars yearly in goods, at Yerba +Buena prices, for the joint possession and occupation of the land with +them; they agreeing not to kill our stock, viz., horses, cattle, hogs, +or sheep, nor burn the grass within the limits fixed by the treaty. At +the same time Captain Sutter, myself, and Isaac Humphrey entered into a +copartnership to dig gold. A short time afterward, P.L. Weimer moved +away from the mill, and was away two or three months, when he returned. +With all the events that subsequently occurred, you and the public are +well informed." + +This is the most precise and is generally considered to be the most +correct account of the gold discovery. Other versions of the story have +been published, however, and the following, from an article published in +the Coloma _Argus_, in the latter part of the year 1855, is one of them. +The statement was evidently derived from Weimer, who lives at Coloma: + +"That James W. Marshall picked up the first piece of gold is beyond +doubt. Peter L. Weimer, who resides in this place, states positively +that Marshall picked up the gold in his presence; they both saw it and +each spoke at the same time, 'What's that yellow stuff?' Marshall, being +a step in advance, picked it up. This first piece of gold is now in the +possession of Mrs. Weimer, and weighs six pennyweights eleven grains. +The piece was given to her by Marshall himself. The dam was finished +early in January, the frame for the mill also erected, and the flume and +bulkhead completed. It was at this time that Marshall and Weimer adopted +the plan of raising the gate during the night to wash out sand from the +mill-race, closing it during the day, when work would be continued with +shovels, etc. + +"Early in February--the exact day is not remembered--in the morning, +after shutting off the water, Marshall and Weimer walked down the race +together to see what the water had accomplished during the night. Having +gone about twenty yards below the mill, they both saw the piece of gold +before mentioned, and Marshall picked it up. After an examination, the +gold was taken to the cabin of Weimer, and Mrs. Weimer instructed to +boil it in saleratus-water; but she, being engaged in making soap, +pitched the piece into the soap-kettle, where it was boiled all day and +all night. The following morning the strange piece of stuff was fished +out of the soap, all the brighter for the boiling. + +"Discussion now commenced, and all expressed the opinion that perhaps +the yellow substance might be gold. Little was said on the subject; but +everyone each morning searched in the race for more, and every day found +several small scales. The Indians also picked up many small thin pieces, +and carried them always to Mrs. Weimer. About three weeks after the +first piece was obtained, Marshall took the fine gold, amounting to +between two and three ounces, and went to San Francisco to have the +strange metal tested. On his return he informed Weimer that the stuff +was gold. + +"All hands now began to search for the 'root of all evil.' Shortly +after, Captain Sutter came to Coloma, and he and Marshall assembled the +Indians and bought of them a large tract of country about Coloma, in +exchange for a lot of beads and a few cotton handkerchiefs. They, under +color of this Indian title, required one-third of all the gold dug on +their domain, and collected at this rate until the fall of 1848, when a +mining party from Oregon declined paying 'tithes' as they called it. + +"During February, 1848, Marshall and Weimer went down the river to +Mormon Island, and there found scales of gold on the rocks. Some weeks +later they sent Mr. Henderson, Sydney Willis and Mr. Fifield, Mormons, +down there to dig, telling them that that place was better than Coloma. +These were the first miners at Mormon Island." + +Marshall was a man of an active, enthusiastic mind, and he at once +attached great importance to his discovery. His ideas, however, were +vague; he knew nothing about gold-mining; he did not know how to take +advantage of what he had found. Only an experienced gold-miner could +understand the importance of the discovery and make it of practical +value to all the world. That gold-miner, fortunately, was near at hand; +his name was Isaac Humphrey. He was residing in the town of San +Francisco, in the month of February, when a Mr. Bennett, one of the +party employed at Marshall's mill, went down to that place with some of +the dust to have it tested; for it was still a matter of doubt whether +this yellow metal really was gold. Bennett told his errand to a friend +whom he met in San Francisco, and this friend introduced him to +Humphrey, who had been a gold-miner in Georgia, and was therefore +competent to pass an opinion. + +Humphrey looked at the dust, pronounced it gold at the first glance, and +expressed a belief that the diggings must be rich. He made inquiries +about the place where the gold was found, and subsequent inquiries about +the trustworthiness of Mr. Bennett, and on March 7th he was at the mill. +He tried to induce several of his friends in San Francisco to go with +him; they all thought his expedition a foolish one, and he had to go +alone. He found that there was some talk about the gold, and persons +would occasionally go about looking for pieces of it; but no one was +engaged in mining, and the work of the mill was going on as usual. On +the 8th he went out prospecting with a pan, and satisfied himself that +the country in that vicinity was rich in gold. He then made a rocker and +commenced the business of washing gold, and thus began the business of +mining in California. + +Others saw how he did it, followed his example, found that the work was +profitable, and abandoned all other occupations. The news of their +success spread; people flocked to the place, learned how to use the +rocker, discovered new diggings, and in the course of a few months the +country had been overturned by a social and industrial revolution. + +Mr. Humphrey had not been at work more than three or four days before a +Frenchman, called Baptiste, who had been a gold-miner in Mexico for many +years, came to the mill, and he agreed with Humphrey that California was +very rich in gold. He, too, went to work, and, being an excellent +prospector, he was of great service in teaching the newcomers the +principles of prospecting and mining for gold--principles not abstruse, +yet not likely to suggest themselves at first thought to men entirely +ignorant of the business. Baptiste had been employed by Captain Sutter +to saw lumber with a whipsaw, and had been at work for two years at a +place, since called Weber, about ten miles eastward from Coloma. When he +saw the diggings at the latter place, he at once said there were rich +mines where he had been sawing, and he expressed surprise that it had +never occurred to him before, so experienced in gold-mining as he was; +but he afterward said it had been so ordered by Providence, that the +gold might not be discovered until California should be in the hands of +the Americans. + +About the middle of March, P.B. Reading, an American, now a prominent +and wealthy citizen of the State, then the owner of a large ranch on the +western bank of the Sacramento River, near where it issues from the +mountains, came to Coloma, and after looking about at the diggings, said +that if similarity in the appearance of the country could be taken as a +guide there must be gold in the hills near his ranch; and he went off, +declaring his intention to go back and make an examination of them. John +Bidwell, another American, now a wealthy and influential citizen, then +residing on his ranch on the bank of Feather River, came to Coloma about +a week later, and he said there must be gold near his ranch, and he went +off with expressions similar to those used by Reading. In a few weeks +news came that Reading had found diggings near Clear Creek, at the head +of the Sacramento Valley, and was at work there with his Indians; and +not long after, it was reported that Bidwell was at work with his +Indians on a rich bar of Feather River, since called "Bidwell's Bar." + +Although Bennett had arrived at San Francisco in February with some of +the dust, the editors of the town--for two papers were published in the +place at the time--did not hear of the discovery till some weeks later. +The first published notice of the gold appeared in the _Californian_ +(published in San Francisco) on March 15th, as follows: "In the newly +made raceway of the sawmill recently erected by Captain Sutter, on the +American Fork, gold has been found in considerable quantities. One +person brought thirty dollars' worth to New Helvetia, gathered there in +a short time. California, no doubt, is rich in mineral wealth; great +chances here for scientific capitalists. Gold has been found in almost +every part of the country." + +Three days later the _California Star_, the rival paper, gave the +following account of the discovery: "We were informed a few days since +that a very valuable silver-mine was situated in the vicinity of this +place, and, again, that its locality was known. Mines of quicksilver are +being found all over the country. Gold has been discovered in the +northern Sacramento districts, about forty miles above Sutter's Fort. +Rich mines of copper are said to exist north of these bays." + +Although these articles were written two months after the discovery, it +is evident that the editors had heard only vague rumors, and attached +little importance to them. The _Star_ of March 25th says: "So great is +the quantity of gold taken from the new mine recently found at New +Helvetia that it has become an article of traffic in that vicinity." + +None of the gold had been seen in San Francisco; but at Sutter's Fort +men had begun to buy and sell with it. + +The next number of the _Star_, bearing date April 1, 1848, contained an +article several columns long, written by Doctor V.J. Fourgeaud, on the +resources of California. He devoted about a column to the minerals, and +in the course of his remarks said: "It would be utterly impossible at +present to make a correct estimate of the mineral wealth of California. +Popular attention has been but lately directed to it. But the +discoveries that have already been made will warrant us in the assertion +that California is one of the richest mineral countries in the world. +Gold, silver, quicksilver, iron, copper, lead, sulphur, saltpetre, and +other mines of great value have already been found. We saw a few days +ago a beautiful specimen of gold from the mine newly discovered on the +American Fork. From all accounts the mine is immensely rich, and already +we learn the gold from it collected at random and without any trouble +has become an article of trade at the upper settlements. This precious +metal abounds in this country. We have heard of several other newly +discovered mines of gold, but as these reports are not yet authenticated +we shall pass over them. However, it is well known that there is a +placer of gold a few miles from Los Angeles, and another on the San +Joaquin." + +It was not until more than three months after Marshall's discovery that +the San Francisco papers stated that gold-mining had become a regular +and profitable business in the new placers. The _Californian_ of April +26th said: "From a gentleman just from the gold region we learn that +many new discoveries of gold have very recently been made, and it is +fully ascertained that a large extent of country abounds with that +precious mineral. Seven men, with picks and spades, gathered one +thousand six hundred dollars worth in fifteen days. Many persons are +settling on the lands with the view of holding preëmptions, but as yet +every person takes the right to gather all he can without any regard to +claims. The largest piece yet found is worth six dollars." + +The news spread, men came from all the settled parts of the territory, +and as they came they went to work mining, and gradually they moved +farther and farther from Coloma, and before the rainy reason had +commenced (in December) miners were washing rich auriferous dirt all +along the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, from the Feather to the +Tuolumne River, a distance of one hundred fifty miles; and also over a +space of about fifteen miles square, near the place now known as the +town of Shasta, in the Coast Mountains, at the head of the Sacramento +Valley. The whole country had been turned topsy-turvy; towns had been +deserted, or left only to the women and children; fields had been left +unreaped; herds of cattle went without anyone to care for them. But +gold-mining, which had become the great interest of the country, was not +neglected. The people learned rapidly and worked hard. + +In the latter part of 1848 adventurers began to arrive from Oregon, the +Sandwich Islands, and Mexico. The winter found the miners with very +little preparation, but most of them were accustomed to a rough manner +of life in the Western wilds, and they considered their large profits an +abundant compensation for their privations and hardships. The weather +was so mild in December and January that they could work almost as well +as in the summer, and the rain gave them facilities for washing such as +they could not have in the dry season. + +In September, 1848, the first rumors of the gold discovery began to +reach New York; in October they attracted attention; in November people +looked with interest for new reports; in December the news gained +general credence and a great excitement arose. Preparations were made +for a migration to California by somebody in nearly every town in the +United States. The great body of the emigrants went either across the +plains with ox or mule teams or round Cape Horn in sailing-vessels. A +few took passage in the steamer by way of Panama. + +Not fewer than one hundred thousand men, representing in their nativity +every State in the Union, went to California that year. Of these, twenty +thousand crossed the continent by way of the South Pass; and nearly all +of them started from the Missouri River between Independence and St. +Joseph, in the month of May. They formed an army; in daytime their +trains filled up the roads for miles, and at night their camp-fires +glittered in every direction about the places blessed with grass and +water. The excitement continued from 1850 to 1853; emigrants continued +to come by land and sea, from Europe and America, and in the last named +year from China also. In 1854 the migration fell off, and since that +time until the completion of the Union Pacific Railroad California +received the chief accessions to her white population by the Panama +steamers. + +The whole world felt a beneficent influence from the great gold yield of +the Sacramento Basin. Labor rose in value, and industry was stimulated +from St. Louis to Constantinople. The news, however, was not welcome to +all classes. Many of the capitalists feared that gold would soon be so +abundant as to be worthless, and European statesmen feared the power to +be gained by the arrogant and turbulent democracy of the New World. + +The author of a book entitled _Notes on the Gold District_, published in +London in 1853, thus speaks of the fears excited in Europe on the first +great influx of gold from the Californian mines: "Among the many +extraordinary incidents connected with the Californian discoveries was +the alarm communicated to many classes and which was not confined to +individuals but invaded governments. The first announcement spread +alarm; but as the cargoes of gold rose from one hundred thousand dollars +to one million dollars, bankers and financiers began seriously to +prepare for an expected crisis. In England and the United States the +panic was confined to a few; but on the Continent of Europe every +government, rich or poor, thought it needful to make provision against +the threatened evils. An immediate alteration in prices was looked for; +money was to become so abundant that all ordinary commodities were to +rise, but more especially the proportion between gold and silver was to +be disturbed, some thinking that the latter might become the dearer +metal. The Governments of France, Holland, and Russia, in particular, +turned their attention to the monetary question, and in 1850 the +Government of Holland availed themselves of a law, which had not before +been put in operation, to take immediate steps for selling off the gold +in the Bank of Amsterdam, at what they supposed to be the highest +prices, and to stock themselves with silver. + +"Palladium, which is likewise a superior white metal, was held more +firmly, and expectations were entertained that it would become available +for plating. The stock, however, was small. The silver operation was +carried on concurrent with a supply of bullion to Russia for a loan, a +demand for silver in Austria, and for shipment to India, and it did +really produce an effect on the silver market, which many mistook for +the influence of Californian gold. The particular way in which the +Netherlands operations were carried on was especially calculated to +produce the greatest disturbance of prices. The ten-florin pieces were +sent to Paris, coined there into Napoleons, and silver five-franc pieces +drawn out in their place. + +"At Paris the premium on gold in a few months fell from nearly 2 per +cent. to a discount, and at Hamburg a like fall took place. In London, +the great silver market, silver rose, between the autumn and the new +year, from five shillings per ounce to five shillings one and +five-eighths pence per ounce, and Mexican dollars from four shillings +ten and one-half pence to four shillings eleven and five-eighths pence +per ounce; nor did prices recover until toward the end of the year 1851, +when the fall was as sudden as the rise." + +In the spring of 1849 Reading crossed the Coast Range with a party of +his Indians, and discovered rich diggings in the valley of the Trinity. +In the summer of the same year Colonel Frémont discovered the mines on +his ranch, in the valley of the Mariposa. + + + + +(1849) RISE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC, Jessie White Mario + + +When "Young Italy," the association of republican agitators led by +Giuseppe Mazzini, began its activities (about 1834), hatred of the +Austrian government, which ruled in several of the Italian States, was +kept alive through this determined organization. Aspirations for liberty +and self-government were requickened. The endeavors of the reforming +Pope, Pius IX (1846), to harmonize his policy with the aims of this +party, in order to promote a confederation of the Italian States under +papal supremacy, at first seemed to promise the dawn of a new era. Soon +after the outbreak of the revolution of 1848 in France, revolt against +the Austrian power began in various parts of Italy. The Austrian troops +were driven out of Lombardy; Venice compelled the Austrian forces in her +territory to surrender, and became a free republic; in a short time +Italy appeared to have delivered herself from the rule of Austria; but +almost immediately the foreign power began to regain its ascendency, and +this, through the events here related, was fully recovered. + +After the flight of Pius IX from Rome (November, 1848), Mazzini and his +followers pursued their own course. A constituent assembly was summoned, +and on February 5, 1849, it declared the temporal power of the Pope +abolished. The Italian soldier who now becomes the chief figure of this +movement has enjoyed a popular renown unsurpassed by that of any of his +countrymen. Giuseppe Garibaldi, a sailor's son, was born in Nice, July +4, 1807. In youth he went to sea. In 1834 he took part with Mazzini in +the Young Italy demonstrations, and for aiding in an attempt to seize +Genoa he was condemned to death. Escaping to South America, he won +distinction as a guerilla leader and a privateer in the service of the +Rio Grande rebels against Brazil. After further military adventures in +South America, he returned to Italy, and in 1847 offered his services to +Pope Pius IX, but they were not accepted. In 1848 he received +indifferent treatment at the hands of Charles Albert of Sardinia, who +was besieging the Austrians in Mantua. After the failure of Charles +Albert, Garibaldi collected his own followers and acted against the +Austrians with such effect as to bring him into prominence in the ranks +of Italian patriots. The following account of the siege and defence of +Rome, which admiringly presents him to view, is from the author's +supplement to Garibaldi's _Autobiography_, and is a valuable +contribution to the history of the events in which he was so +conspicuous. + +Of the many sublime pages traced in the blood of Italian patriots, the +sublimest in our eyes is that of the defence of Rome. No writer of +genius has yet been inspired to narrate the heroic deeds enacted, the +pain, privation, anguish, borne joyfully to save "that city of the +Italian soul" from desecration by the foreigner. Mazzini's beloved +disciple, Mameli, the soldier-poet, died with the flower of the student +youth; the survivors, exiled, dispersed, heartbroken, or intent only on +preparing for the next campaign, have left us but fugitive records, +partial episodes, or dull military chronicles. Margaret Fuller Ossoli, +competent by love and genius to be the historian and who had collected +the materials day by day, lived the life of the combatants hour by hour, +was wrecked with "Ossoli, Angelo" and her manuscript, in sight of her +native shore. + +From details that reached him Garibaldi always maintained that there was +a priest among the wreckers who secured and destroyed the treasure! +Guerrazzi's _Siege of Rome_ is inferior to all his other writings. The +entry of the Italian army into Rome by the breach in Porta Pia has cast +the grand defence of 1849 into the background of rash attempts and +futile failures. In these brief pages we give merely the outline of the +drama in which Garibaldi was one of the leading actors. The men who +desired a republic did not exist as a party in Rome previous to the +flight of the Pope. But there existed a strong national anti-Austrian +party, who, as they had worshipped Pio Nono (Pius IX) when he "blessed +Italy" and the banners that the Romans bore upward to the "Holy War," +now execrated him inasmuch as he had withdrawn his sanction to that war +and had blessed the Croats and the Austrians who were butchering the +Italians in the north. Convinced of the impossibility of favoring the +independence and unity of Italy, and remaining at the same time the +supreme head of the Universal Church, Pio Nono fled for protection to +the King of Naples; there he declined to accept from the King of +Piedmont his repeated offers of protection or mediation, and appealed to +Austria alone to restore him pope-king absolute in Rome. Very soon +afterward the Archduke of Tuscany revoked the Constituent Assembly which +he had granted, and followed the saintly example of the Holy Father, so +that Tuscany and Rome were alike left sheep without a shepherd. + +In the Roman States an appeal was made to universal suffrage, and the +people sent up deputies, known chiefly for their honesty and bravery, to +decide on the form of government, to assist Piedmont in her second war +against Austria. When the Constituent Assembly met to decide on the form +of government, Mamiani warned them that only two rulers were possible in +Rome--the Pope or Cola di Rienzi; the Papacy or the Republic. + +Garibaldi, who had organized his legion at Rieti, was elected member of +the Constituent Assembly, and on February 7th put in his appearance and +in language more soldierlike than parliamentary urged the immediate +proclamation of the republic. But the debate was carried on with all due +respect for the "rights of the minority." + +Finally, on February 9th, of the one hundred fifty-four Deputies +present, all but five voted for the downfall of the temporal power of +the Pope, all but eleven for the proclamation of the republic. These, +with the exception of General Garibaldi and General Ferrari, were all +Romans. G. Filopanti, who undertook to explain the state of affairs to +the Roman people, won shouts of applause by his concluding words, "We +are no longer mere Romans, but Italians." + +This sentence sums up the sentiments of all: of Garibaldi, who, after +recording his vote, returned to his troops at Rieti and drew up an +admirable plan for attacking the Austrians bent on subjugating the Roman +Provinces and for carrying revolution into the Kingdom of Naples; of +Mazzini, who, so far from having imposed on the Romans a republic by the +force of his tyrannical will, was--during its proclamation--in Tuscany, +striving to induce Guerrazzi and his fellow-triumvirs to unite with Rome +and organize a strong army for the renewal of the Lombard War. + +True, the Romans, mindful of all they owed to the great apostle of +Italian unity and independence, proclaimed him Roman citizen on February +12th, and on the 25th of the same month the Roman people, with nine +thousand votes, elected him member of the Constituent Assembly; but it +was not until March 5th that he entered Rome, when, in one of his most +splendid speeches, rising above parties and politics, he called upon the +"Rome of the People" to send up combatants against Austria, the only +enemy that then menaced Italy. + +Suiting the action to the word, he induced the Assembly to nominate a +commission for the thorough organization of the army; and ten thousand +men had quitted Rome and were marching up to the frontier to place +themselves at the orders of Piedmont, when, alas! their march was +arrested by the news of the total defeat at Novara, of the abdication of +Charles Albert and the reinauguration of Austrian rule in Lombardy. +Genoa, whose generous inhabitants arose in protest against the +disastrous but inevitable treaty of peace, was bombarded and reduced to +submission by La Marmora; and now, while to Rome and to Venice flocked +all the volunteers who preferred death to submission, the new Holy +Alliance of Continental Europe took for its watchword: "The restoration +of the Pope; the extinction of the two Republics of Venice and of Rome." + +Austria crossed the Po and occupied Ferrara, marching thence on Bologna; +the Neapolitan troops from the south marched upward to the Roman +frontier; even Spain sent her contingent to Fiumicino. But only when it +was known that the French Republic had voted an expedition, with the +specious object of guaranteeing the independence of the supreme Pontiff, +did the Romans and their rulers realize that the existence of Rome and +her newborn liberties was seriously menaced. Garibaldi wrote from Rieti, +in April, an enthusiastic letter worth recording here: + +"BROTHER MAZZINI: I feel that I must write you one line with my own +hand. May Providence sustain you in your brilliant but arduous career +[Mazzini had just been elected, with Armellini and Saffi, Triumvir of +Rome], and may you be enabled to carry out all the noble designs in your +mind for the welfare of our country. Remember that Rieti is full of your +brethren in the faith, and that immutably yours is + + "JOSEPH GARIBALDI." + +At the same time he sent a plan, proposing to march along the Via +Emilia, to collect arms and volunteers, proclaim the levy in mass, and +with a division stationed in the Bolognese territory, operate in the +duchies, unite Tuscan, Ligurian, and Piedmontese forces, and once more +assail the Austrians. But the news of Piedmont defeated, Genoa bombarded +and vanquished, convinced him that it would be difficult to re-arouse +the disheartened population of Northern Italy. Hence he next proposed to +cross the Neapolitan frontier, fling himself upon the royal troops, and +seize the Abruzzi. A sensible project this, to take the offensive +against the Pope's defenders. But before the Triumvirate could come to a +definite decision, it was known that the French troops, by a disgraceful +stratagem, had landed and taken possession of Civita Vecchia, General +Oudinot entwining the French flag with the Roman tricolor and assuring +the Romans that they only came to secure perfect freedom for the people +to effect a reconciliation with Pius IX. + +But the people had no desire for such reconciliation; the Assembly +decreed that Rome should have no garrison but the National Roman Guard: +that if the Republic were invaded by force, the invaders by force should +be repelled. A commission of barricades established, the people flocked +to erect and remained to man them. The National Guard summoned by +Mazzini all answered, "Present," and served enthusiastically throughout +the siege; all the troops dispersed in the Provinces were summoned to +the capital, and Garibaldi and his volunteers marched into the city amid +the acclamations of the populace, too thankful to welcome them to demur +at the strange appearance they presented. + +Now that Garibaldi's military and naval genius is fully recognized, and +the extraordinary fascination he exercised over officers and men, the +enthusiasm with which he filled whole populations whom others failed to +stir, are undisputed, many historians and critics have expressed their +astonishment that he was not made at once commander-in-chief of the +Roman forces, and have blamed the Triumvirate for having failed to +recognize in the hero of Montevideo the good genius of Rome. Such +critics must be simply ignorant of the actual condition of Rome and her +Government. There existed, in the first place, the regular Roman army, +which would have served under none save regular generals; then there was +the Lombard battalion under Manara, whose members, after fifteen months +of regular campaigning, were thoroughly drilled and disciplined, who +insisted on retaining the cross of Savoy on their belts, and, until +their prowess made them the idols of the Romans, were nicknamed the +"corps of aristocrats." + +Little did they imagine, when they kept aloof from the legion, that +before three months were over their young hero chief would resign his +command of them to assume the delicate post of head of Garibaldi's +staff. Carlo Pisacane--educated in the military college of the +Nunziatella, who had served as captain in the foreign legion in Algiers, +destined later to become the pioneer of Garibaldi and his "Thousand" and +to lose his life in the attempt--while recognizing Garibaldi's prowess +and talents as a guerilla chief, in his military history of 1849, +severely criticises his tactics, and blames his sending up "a handful of +boys against masses of the enemy" and censures, unhesitatingly, "his +indiscipline at Velletri." One of the Deputies of the Roman Constituent +wrote to the Triumvirate begging them to "Send Garibaldi with his motley +crew to a terrible spot, called For del Diavolo, between Civita Vecchia +and Rome; on no account to allow them to enter the city, as they are +quite too disorderly." + +Now, they had committed no "disorders" save that of carrying off the +mules and horses of the convents; but when we think of the wild, free, +peril-scorning life led in the backwoods of America, of how they +recognized no law save their commander's orders, how little used he had +been to receive command from any, it will be easily understood how this +wild, tanned, quaintly dressed band filled the inhabitants of the towns +through which they passed with terror and dismay. Garibaldi's violent +tirades against priests and priestcraft; the liberation of a gang of +miscreants arrested by order of the Roman Government, had not +prepossessed men of order and of discipline in his favor; and although +personal contact dispelled all unfavorable prepossessions, one sees how +impossible it was for Mazzini to place him in the position which he +would himself have assigned to him. + +Garibaldi altered in nothing his South American modes of warfare. He and +his staff, in red shirts and ponchos, with hats of every form and color, +no distinctions of rank or military accoutrements, rode on their +American saddles, which when unrolled served each as a small tent. When +their troops halted and the soldiers piled their arms, the General and +all his staff attended each to the wants of his own horse, then to +securing provisions for their men. When these were not at hand, the +officers, springing on their barebacked horses, lasso on wrists, dashed +full speed along the Campagna, till oxen, sheep, pigs, kids, or poultry +in sufficient quantities were secured and paid for; then, dividing their +spoil among the companies, officers and men fell to killing, quartering, +and roasting before huge fires in the open air. + +Garibaldi, when no battle was raging or danger near--if in the city, +selected some lofty belfry-tower; if in the country, climbed the +loftiest peak; and, with brief minutes of repose under his saddle-tent, +literally lived on horseback, posting his own pickets, making his own +observations, sometimes passing hours in perfect silence, scanning the +most distant and minute objects through his telescope. Ever a man of the +fewest words, a look, a gesture, a brief sentence sufficed to convey his +orders to his officers. When his trumpet signalled departure, the lassos +served to catch the horses grazing in the fields, the men fell into +order and marched, none knowing nor caring whither, save to follow their +chief. Councils of war he never held; he ordered, and was implicitly +obeyed. To his original legion were added some of the finest and bravest +of the Lombard volunteers, who had learned his worth "after the +armistice"; while boys from ten to fourteen, who were his pride and +delight, formed his "band of hope." + +To-day for an act of courage a man would be raised from the ranks, and, +sword in hand, command his company; but woe to him if he failed in +shouldering a musket or brandishing a bayonet at need. To onlookers this +legion, composed at first of but one thousand men, seemed a wild, unruly +set; but this was not the case. Drunkenness and insubordination were +unknown among the ranks. Woe to a soldier who wronged a civilian. Three +were shot for petty theft during the brief Roman campaign. Still, while +Garibaldi felt within himself his own superiority to those around, +Mazzini, who also felt it, might as well have proposed an Indian chief +to command the Roman Army as this man, whom, in later years, no soldier +in Europe but would have been proud to call _dux_. + +Again, it must not be forgotten that the grounds on which France +explained her interference was the imposition by "foreigners" of a +republic on the Roman people, desirous only to receive the Pope with +open arms; that Austria, Piedmont, and the Ultramontane faction in +England represented the Roman States as handed over to the demagogues, +to the riffraff of European revolutionists. Hence the absolute necessity +that presented itself to the minds of the Triumvirs for filling the +civil and military offices as far as possible with citizens of Rome or +the Roman States. Unfortunately, no capable Roman commander-in-chief +existed. Rosselli was chosen as the least incapable; but throughout, +Garibaldi was regarded as the soul, the genius of the defence. + +A very short time had sufficed for Mazzini and the Romans to come to so +perfect an understanding that no exercise of authority, no police force, +was necessary to keep order in the city, as the French, English, and +American residents, and as the respective consuls repeatedly affirmed in +public and in private letters. Oudinot too had warning from his own +consul, from his own friends within the city, of all the preparations, +of the resolute determination of the inhabitants, of the known valor of +many of the combatants in past campaigns; yet to all such remonstrances +he answered with French impertinence, "_Les Italiens ne se battent +pas_," and clearly he had imbued his officers with this belief. At dawn +on April 30th, starting from Castel di Guido, leaving their knapsacks at +Magnianella, the officers in white gloves and sheathed swords advanced +on Rome, taking the road to Porta Cavallaggieri, sending sharpshooters +through the woodlands on the right, the Chasseurs de Vincennes on the +heights to the left. Avezzana, war minister, from the top of the cupola +of San Pietro in Montori, on seeing the first sentinel advance, gave the +signal for the ringing of the tocsin, which brought the entire populace +to the walls, the Roman matrons clustering there to encourage their +husbands, sons, and brothers to the fight. + +When the army arrived within a hundred seventy yards from the wall, the +artillerymen from the bastions of San Marto fired their first salute, to +which the Chasseurs de Vincennes responded so well that the Roman +Narducci, Major Pallini, and several of his men fell mortally wounded at +their guns. Finding themselves under a cross-fire from the walls and +from the Vatican, the enemy placed a counter-battery, which did deadly +mischief to the besieged, who lost at once six officers, numerous +soldiers, and had a cannon dismounted to boot. Not the slightest +confusion occurred; women and boys carried off the wounded; fresh +soldiers took the place of the fallen; compelling Oudinot to summon both +his brigades and plant two other pieces of cannon. But he now had to +cope with an enemy whom Frenchmen in Montevideo envied and calumniated; +who to himself and his followers was as yet an unknown quantity. + +Garibaldi, who had had but two days to organize his men and take up +position, had at once perceived the importance of the scattered +buildings outside the gates, and occupied them all--villas, woods, and +the walls surrounding them. As the enemy fell back from the first +assault, he flung his men upon them as stones from a sling. At the head +of the first company was Captain Montaldi, who in a short time was +crippled with nineteen bullets, yet still fought on his knees with his +broken sword; and only when the French retreated did his men carry him +dead from the field. As fought his company, so fought all under the eyes +of Garibaldi, who directed the fight from Villa Pamphilli. Then +summoning his reserve, himself heading the students who had never seen +fire but who had given each to the other the consign, "If I attempt to +run away, shoot me through the head," he led them into the open field, +and there gave them their first lesson to the cry of, "To the bayonet! +to the bayonet!"--a lesson oft repeated since, a cry never after raised +in vain. Numbers of his best officers and soldiers fell, but never a +halt or panic made a pause in that eventful charge, until in full open +fight the French were compelled to retreat, leaving Garibaldi absolute +master of the field. + +Numbers of the French were killed and wounded, others hid themselves in +the woods and vineyards round; a general retreat ensued, while a portion +continued the fire to protect it. The guns had to be carried off by +hand, as four horses had been killed; and at this retreat up to Castel +di Guido, General Oudinot was forced to assist in person. Summing up his +losses, he found that he had left four hundred dead upon the field; five +hundred thirty wounded, and two hundred sixty prisoners. He had, +besides, the glory of depriving the Roman Republic of two hundred +fourteen killed and wounded, twenty-five officers among them, and of +carrying off one prisoner, Ugo Bassi, the chaplain, who had remained +behind to assist a dying man, his only weapon being the cross, of which +the French were the knightly protectors. + +Garibaldi's first thought was naturally to pursue the fugitives to +Castel di Guido, to Pali, and Civita Vecchia; "To drive them," in his +own forcible language, "back to their ships or into the sea." For this +he demanded strong reënforcements of fresh troops. But the Government of +Rome--believing that it sufficed for Republican France to know that +Republican Rome did not desire the return of the Pope; that it was not +governed by a faction--was resolved unanimously to resist all invasion; +decided against pursuit; sent back the French prisoners to the French +camp; accorded Oudinot's demand for an armistice, and entered into +negotiations with the French plenipotentiary, Ferdinand de Lesseps, for +the evacuation of the Roman territory. + +The refusal was never forgotten, never forgiven by Garibaldi, and has +always been a "burning question" between the exclusive partisans of +Mazzini and Garibaldi, in whose eyes to scotch and not to kill the snake +was the essence of unwisdom. It is also maintained by many Garibaldians +that an out-and-out victory could not have been concealed from the +French Assembly as the President and his accomplices did manage to +conceal the affair of April 30th, and that had the people and the army +in France known what a humiliation had been inflicted on their comrades +they would have insisted on the recall of Oudinot, and that thus the +President's own position would have been endangered. On the other hand, +Mazzini's partisans say, granting--what remains unproven--that Garibaldi +could have succeeded in driving every Frenchman back to his ships or +into the sea, there can be no doubt that Louis Napoleon, bent on +restoring the Pope and thus gaining the clergy to his side, would have +sent reënforcements upon reënforcements, until Rome should be +vanquished. + +The disputants must agree to differ on this point, though all surely +must allow that it was necessary that the small forces at the disposal +of the Republic should be husbanded for the repulse of others besides +France, who claimed to be defenders of the Pope--Austria, the King of +Naples, and even Spain! And, in fact, a Neapolitan army, with the King +at their head, had crossed the Roman frontier, and had taken up +positions at Albano and Frascati, whence Garibaldi was sent to oust +them, the Lombard brigade being added to his legion. This Neapolitan +king-hunt formed one of the characteristic episodes of the Roman +campaign. Garibaldi usually lodged his men in convents, to the terror +and horror of their inmates, sending them thence to reconnoitre the +enemy's positions, and harass them by deeds of daredevil courage. + +The King was indeed at Albano, whence from Palestrina Garibaldi marched +to the attack; which would probably have been successful had he not been +suddenly summoned back to Rome, as the movements of the French were by +no means reassuring. However, a fresh truce being proclaimed, General +Rosselli, with Garibaldi under his orders, was sent out again in full +force against the Neapolitans. Not a wise arrangement this, as the +volunteers and the regulars--unless at different posts within the +city--had not yet united in harmonious action. Garibaldi, sent by +Rosselli merely to explore the enemy's movements, finding that they were +retreating from Albano, gave battle to a strong column about two miles +from Velletri without giving time to Rosselli to come up with the main +body. + +So the Neapolitans got into Velletri, barricaded themselves there, and, +escaping during the night by the southern gate, recrossed the Neapolitan +frontier, the King foremost in the van. Rosselli and the regulars +complained loudly that this disobedience to orders had prevented them +from making the King of Naples prisoner, the Garibaldians maintaining on +their side that this would have been effected had the regulars thought +less about their rations and come to the rescue when first they heard +the distant shots. Messengers sent by the generals to the Triumvirate +bore the complaints of each. Rosselli was recalled, and Garibaldi left +with full liberty of action. But when the French Government disavowed +their envoy-extraordinary--the patriotic, able, straightforward De +Lesseps--instructing Oudinot to enter Rome by fair means or by foul, +sending enormous reënforcements, promising to follow up with the entire +French army if necessary, what could they do but recall Garibaldi with +all possible despatch? Was it not a proof of their confidence in him? +Moreover, on Garibaldi's return to Rome, Mazzini made a last effort to +induce him to unburden his mind, at least to himself, by asking him in +writing to tell him frankly what were his wishes. Here is the laconic +answer, characteristic of the writer; frank and unabashed as the round, +clear handwriting of the original, from which we copy: + + "ROME, June 2d, 1849. + +"MAZZINI: Since you ask me what I wish, I will tell you. Here I cannot +avail anything for the good of the Republic, save in two ways: as +dictator with unlimited plenary powers, or as a simple soldier. Choose! + + "Unchangingly yours, + + "GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI." + +Again, Garibaldi disapproved the conduct of Mazzini and the Triumvirate +because they refused to allow any acts of violence against religion or +the professors of religion. They had abolished the Inquisition, and used +the edifice to house the people driven from their homes by the siege; +had invited and aided monks and nuns to return to their homes and to +lead the life of citizens. But they had not allowed the confessionals to +be burned in the public market-place. A wretch named Zambianchi, who +ill-treated some inoffending priests, was severely punished "for thus +dishonoring the Republic and humanity." Moreover, the Easter ceremonies +were celebrated as usual; the Triumvirate and the Assembly stood among +the people in the church and in the square to receive the blessing from +the outer balcony of St. Peter's. + +All this gave umbrage to Garibaldi, but no hypocrisy and much wisdom +inspired these acts. In the first place, the Triumvirate, and especially +Mazzini, the most religious man we have ever known, were well aware +that, while the temporal power of the papacy might be destroyed by fire +and sword, the spiritual power of the Roman Catholic hierarchy could be +extinguished only in the name of a moral law recognized and accepted as +being higher and more authoritative than any other intermediary between +God and the people--they knew that ideas can be vanquished only by +ideas. Again, as the responsible heads of the Roman Republic, the +Triumvirs were wisely careful not to offend the hearts and consciences +of Catholics abroad. Finally, the very fact that, with four armies at +their gates, life, its feasts and fasts, its workdays and holidays, +could go on as usual, was one highly calculated to strengthen the +Romans' faith in and affection for the new Government. No crimes were +committed; the people came to the Triumvirs as children to their +fathers, and--for Italians a very remarkable thing--they not only paid +down current taxes, but they paid up arrears. + +From Garibaldi's brief account, it would almost seem that the +Triumvirate and the Assembly surrendered Rome before absolute necessity +constrained them so to do. He does not tell us how, when the French had +actually entered Rome by the breach, he alone of all the civil and +military commanders refused to head the troops to attack the invaders in +possession. He gave his own reasons, very wise ones it seems to us, in +writing many years later, but in his _Memoirs_ he seems to have +forgotten them. The terrible tidings that the seventh bastion and the +curtain uniting it to the sixth had fallen into the hands of the French +spread through the city. The Triumvirate had the tocsins rung. All the +houses were opened at that sound; in the twinkling of an eye all the +inhabitants were in the streets. General Rosselli and the Minister of +War, all the officers of the staff, Mazzini himself, came to the +Janiculum. + +"The people in arms massed around us," writes Garibaldi in a short +record of the siege of Rome, "clamored to drive the French off the +walls. General Rosselli and the Minister of War consented. I opposed the +attempt. I feared the confusion into which our troops would have been +thrown by those new combatants and their irregular movements, the panic +that would be likely by night to seize on troops unaccustomed to fire, +and which actually had assailed our bravest ones on the night of the +16th. I insisted on waiting for the daylight." + +He here narrates the daring but unsuccessful attempt of the Lombard +students, who flung themselves on the assailants, and who had gained the +terrace of Casa Barberini, and continues: "But at daylight I had counted +the forces with which we had to contend. I realized that another June 3d +would bereave me of half of the youths left to me, whom I loved as my +sons. I had not the least hope of dislodging the French from their +positions, hence only a useless butchery could have ensued. Rome was +doomed, but after a marvellous and a splendid defence. The fall of Rome, +after such a siege, was the triumph of democracy in Europe. The idea of +preserving four or five thousand devoted combatants who knew me, who +would answer at any time to my call, prevailed. I ordered the retreat, +promising that at five in the evening they should again advance; but I +resolved that no assault should be made." + +From this and other writings of Garibaldi it is clear that from the +night of June 21st he considered any further attempt to prevent the +French from entering Rome as worse than useless--that hence he refused +to lead the remnants of his army "to butchery" on the breach. How, then, +was it possible for Mazzini to have retarded the catastrophe +indefinitely, and reserved to Rome "the glory of falling last," _i.e._, +after Venice and Hungary? + +Mazzini, beside himself with grief that the armed people had not been +allowed to rush on to the bastions and drive the French from the walls, +wrote a reproachful letter to Manara, then chief of Garibaldi's staff, +and this patriot here seems to have kept the peace, as on the 25th we +find a friendly letter from Garibaldi to the Triumvirate in which he +proposes to leave Manara in Rome, and to conduct, himself, a +considerable number of his men out of Rome to take up position between +the French and Civita Vecchia, to harass them in the rear. And on the +same day, evidently after a meeting and the acceptance by Mazzini of +Garibaldi's project, the latter writes: + + "June 26th, 8 P.M. + +"MAZZINI: I propose, therefore (_dunque_), to go out to-morrow evening. +Send me to-morrow morning the chief who is to assume the command here. +Order the general-in-chief to prepare one hundred fifty mounted +dragoons, who, with the fifty lancers, will make up two hundred horse. I +shall take eight hundred of the legion, and to-morrow shall send them to +change their shirts [_i.e._, doff their 'red' for 'gray']. Answer at +once, and keep the plan a profound secret." + +The attempt was not made, probably because it was impossible to march +out secretly from any gate, and Manara writes from Villa Spada, 1 P.M. +on the same day: + +"CITIZEN TRIUMVIR: I have received your letter. I am somewhat better and +at my post. I have spoken with Pisacane [chief of Rosselli's staff]; we +are perfectly agreed. Both animated by the same spirit, it is impossible +for petty jealousies to come between us. Be assured of this. I have +begged General Garibaldi to return to San Pancrazio, so as not to +deprive that post at this moment of his legion and his efficacious +power. He promises me that before dawn all will be here. Everything is +quiet. + + "MANARA." + +This was Manara's last letter to Mazzini; at that same Villa Spada the +yearned-for bullet pierced his heroic heart. Manara died as the +barbarians entered Rome. + +And here, to all appearances, is Garibaldi's last letter written in Rome +to Mazzini: + +"We have retaken our positions outside San Pancrazio. Let General +Rosselli send me orders; this is now no time for change. Yours, + + "G. GARIBALDI." + +No time for anything but one last desperate onslaught at the point of +the bayonet, Garibaldi in the foremost ranks with sword unsheathed, +while Medici from Villa Savorelli renewed the wonders of the Vascello. +Twice the assailants were driven back to their second lines; thrice they +returned in overpowering numbers; but, gaining the gate, they were +received with volleys of musketry from the barricades at the ingress to +Villa Spada and Savorelli. There fell the flower of the Lombards; boys +of the "band of hope"; Garibaldi's giant negro, faithful, brave Anghiar; +six hundred added to the three thousand four hundred corpses on which +the soldiers of _La Grande Nation_ reconstructed the throne of the +supreme Pontiff, and guarded it with their bayonets until the sword of +their self-chosen master fell from his trembling hands at Sedan. + + + + +(1849) LIVINGSTONE'S AFRICAN DISCOVERIES, David Livinstone and Thomas + Hughes + + +Although Africa, the second largest grand division of the earth, has +figured in history from ancient times, still it has been rightly named, +and until recently was called with good reason, the "Dark Continent." +But though it has been thus designated, as the least known of the +world's grand divisions, the progress of discovery and settlement is +rapidly dispelling the ignorance and mystery to which the designation +was due. The ancient seats of African civilization were confined to the +northern parts of the continent. The Phoenicians are said to have +circumnavigated Africa as early as the seventh century before Christ. In +the middle of the fifteenth century of the present era the Portuguese +explored much of the coastline, and in 1497 Vasco da Gama doubled the +Cape of Good Hope. But no modern explorations of the interior are known +to have been made until the latter part of the eighteenth century. Since +James Bruce, the Scottish traveller, explored the Nile Valley in 1768, +more than thirty others have distinguished themselves by their +discoveries on the African continent. + +None of Livingstone's predecessors equalled the achievements of this +Scottish missionary and explorer, who combined with his zeal in the +cause of religion and humanity a spirit of investigation and adventure +that made him also the servant of science, the "advance-agent" of +discovery, settlement, and civilization. These are at last bringing the +"Dark Continent" into the light of a new day that begins to dawn in the +remotest corners of the earth. + +David Livingstone was born near Glasgow, Scotland, March 19, 1813, and +he died in Central Africa April 30, 1873. After he had been admitted to +the medical profession and had studied theology, he decided to join +Robert Moffat, the celebrated missionary, in Africa. Livingstone arrived +at Cape Town in 1840, and soon moved toward the interior. He spent +sixteen years in Africa, engaged in medical and missionary labors and in +making his famous and most useful explorations of the country. His own +account of the beginnings of his work, taken from his _Missionary +Travels_, shows the sincere and simple spirit of the man, and his +natural powers of observation and description are seen in his own story +of his first important discovery, that of Lake Ngami. The narrative of +Thomas Hughes, the well-known English author, whose favorite subjects +were manly men and their characteristic deeds, follows the explorer on +the first of his famous journeys in the Zambesi Basin. + + +DAVID LIVINGSTONE + +I embarked for Africa in 1840, and, after a voyage of three months, +reached Cape Town. Spending but a short time there, I started for the +interior by going round to Algoa Bay, and soon proceeded inland, and +spent the following sixteen years of my life, namely, from 1840 to 1856, +in medical and missionary labors there without cost to the inhabitants. + +The general instructions I received from the directors of the London +Missionary Society led me, as soon as I reached Kuruman or Lattakoo, +then their farthest inland station from the Cape, to turn my attention +to the north. Without waiting longer at Kuruman than was necessary to +recruit the oxen, which were pretty well tired by the long journey from +Algoa Bay, I proceeded, in company with another missionary, to the +Bechuana or Bakwain country, and found Sechele, with his tribe, located +at Shokuane. We shortly afterward retraced our steps to Kuruman; but as +the objects in view were by no means to be attained by a temporary +excursion of this sort, I determined to make a fresh start into the +interior as soon as possible. Accordingly, after resting three months at +Kuruman, which is a kind of head station in the country, I returned to a +spot about fifteen miles south of Shokuane, called Lepelole (now +Litubaruba). Here, in order to obtain an accurate knowledge of the +language, I cut myself off from all European society for about six +months, and gained by this ordeal an insight into the habits, ways of +thinking, laws, and language of that section of the Bechuanas called +Bakwains, which has proved of incalculable advantage in my intercourse +with them ever since. + +In this second journey to Lepelole--so called from a cavern of that +name--I began preparations for a settlement by making a canal to +irrigate gardens from a stream, then flowing copiously, but now quite +dry. When these preparations were well advanced I went northward to +visit the Bakaa and Bamangwato, and the Makalaka, living between 22° and +23° south latitude. The Bakaa Mountains had been visited before by a +trader, who, with his people, all perished from fever. In going round +the northern part of these basaltic hills, near Letloche, I was only ten +days distant from the lower part of the Zouga, which passed by the same +name as Lake Ngami; and I might then (in 1842) have discovered that +lake, had discovery alone been my object. Most of this journey beyond +Shokuane was performed on foot, in consequence of the draught oxen +having become sick. Some of my companions who had recently joined us, +and did not know that I understood a little of their speech, were +overheard by me discussing my appearance and powers: "He is not strong; +he is quite slim, and only appears stout because he puts himself into +those bags [trousers]; he will soon knock up." This caused my Highland +blood to rise, and made me despise the fatigue of keeping them all at +the top of their speed for days together, till I heard them expressing +proper opinions of my pedestrian powers. + +Returning to Kuruman, in order to bring my luggage to our proposed +settlement, I was followed by the news that the tribe of Bakwains, who +had shown themselves so friendly toward me, had been driven from +Lepelole by the Barolongs, so that my prospects for the time of forming +a settlement there were at an end. One of those periodical outbreaks of +war, which seem to have occurred from time immemorial, for the +possession of cattle, had burst forth in the land, and had so changed +the relations of the tribes to each other that I was obliged to set out +anew to look for a suitable locality for a mission-station. + +In going north again a comet blazed on our sight, exciting the wonder of +every tribe we visited. That of 1816 had been followed by an irruption +of the Matabele, the most cruel enemies the Bechuanas ever knew, and +this they thought might portend something as bad, or it might only +foreshadow the death of some great chief. On this subject of comets I +knew little more than they did themselves, but I had that confidence in +a kind overruling Providence which makes such a difference between +Christians and both the ancient and modern heathen. + +As some of the Bamangwato people had accompanied me to Kuruman, I was +obliged to restore them and their goods to their chief Sekomi. This made +a journey to the residence of that chief again necessary, and, for the +first time, I performed a distance of some hundred miles on oxback. + +Returning toward Kuruman, I selected the beautiful valley of Mabotsa +(latitude 25° 14' south, longitude 26° 30') as the site of a +missionary-station, and thither I removed in 1843. Here an occurrence +took place concerning which I have frequently been questioned in +England, and which, but for the importunities of friends, I meant to +have kept in store to tell my children when in my dotage. The Bakatla of +the village Mabotsa were much troubled by lions, which leaped into the +cattle-pens by night and destroyed their cows. They even attacked the +herds in open day. This was so unusual an occurrence that the people +believed they were bewitched--"given," as they said, "into the power of +the lions by a neighboring tribe." They went at once to attack the +animals, but, being rather a cowardly people compared to Bechuanas in +general on such occasions, they returned without killing any. + +It is well known that if one of a troop of lions is killed, the others +take the hint and leave that part of the country. So the next time the +herds were attacked I went with the people in order to encourage them to +rid themselves of the annoyance by destroying one of the marauders. We +found the lions on a small hill about a quarter of a mile in length and +covered with trees. A circle of men was formed round it, and they +gradually closed up, ascending pretty near to each other. Being down +below on the plain with a native schoolmaster, named Mebalwe, a most +excellent man, I saw one of the lions sitting on a piece of rock within +the now closed circle of men. Mebalwe fired at him before I could, and +the ball struck the rock on which the animal was sitting. He bit at the +spot struck, as a dog does at a stick or stone thrown at him; then +leaping away, broke through the opening circle and escaped unhurt. The +men were afraid to attack him, perhaps on account of their belief in +witchcraft. + +When the circle was re-formed we saw two other lions in it; but we were +afraid to fire lest we should strike the men, and they allowed the +beasts to burst through also. If the Bakatla had acted according to the +custom of the country, they would have speared the lions in their +attempt to get out. Seeing we could not get them to kill one of the +lions, we bent our footsteps toward the village; in going round the end +of the hill, however, I saw one of the beasts sitting on a piece of rock +as before, but this time he had a little bush in front. Being about +thirty yards off, I took a good aim at his body through the bush, and +fired both barrels into it. The men then called out, "He is shot! He is +shot!" + +Others cried: "He has been shot by another man too; let us go to him!" I +did not see anyone else shoot at him, but I saw the lion's tail erected +in anger behind the bush, and, turning to the people said, "Stop a +little, till I load again." When in the act of ramming down the bullets +I heard a shout. Starting, and looking half round, I saw the lion just +in the act of springing upon me. I was upon a little height; he caught +my shoulder as he sprang, and we both came to the ground below together. +Growling horribly close to my ear, he shook me as a terrier dog does a +rat. The shock produced a stupor similar to that which seems to be felt +by a mouse after the first shake of the cat. It caused a sort of +dreaminess, in which there was no sense of pain nor feeling of terror, +though quite conscious of all that was happening. It was like what +patients partially under the influence of chloroform describe, who see +all the operation, but feel not the knife. + +This singular condition was not the result of any mental process. The +shake annihilated fear, and allowed no sense of horror in looking round +at the beast. This peculiar state is probably produced in all animals +killed by the carnivora; and if so, is a merciful provision by our +benevolent Creator for lessening the pain of death. Turning round to +relieve myself of the weight, as he had one paw on the back of my head, +I saw his eyes directed to Mabalwe, who was trying to shoot him at a +distance of ten or fifteen yards. His gun, a flint one, missed fire in +both barrels; the lion immediately left me, and, attacking Mebalwe, bit +his thigh. Another man--whose life I had saved before, after he had been +tossed by a buffalo--attempted to spear the lion while he was biting +Mebalwe. He left Mebalwe and caught this man by the shoulder, but at +that moment the bullets he had received took effect, and he fell down +dead. The whole was the work of a few moments, and must have been his +paroxysms of dying rage. In order to take out the charm from him, the +Bakatla on the following day made a huge bonfire over the carcass, which +was declared to be that of the largest lion they had ever seen. Besides +crunching the bone into splinters, he left eleven teeth wounds on the +upper part of my arm. It was a long time in healing. + +The exact position of Lake Ngami had, for half a century at least, been +correctly pointed out by the natives, who had visited it when rains were +more copious in the desert than in more recent times, and many attempts +had been made to reach it by passing through the desert in the direction +indicated; but it was found impossible, even for Griquas, who, having +some Bushman blood in them, may be supposed more capable of enduring +thirst than Europeans. It was clear, then, that our only chance of +success was by going round, instead of through, the desert. + +On July 4, 1849, we went forward on horseback toward what we supposed to +be the lake, and again and again did we seem to see it; but at last we +came to the veritable water of the Zouga, and found it to be a river +running to the northeast. A village of Bakurutse lay on the opposite +bank; these live among Batletli, a tribe having a click in their +language, and who were found by Sebituane to possess large herds of the +great horned cattle. They seem allied to the Hottentot family. Mr. +Oswell, in trying to cross the river, got his horse bogged in the swampy +bank. Two Bakwains and I managed to get over by wading beside a +fishing-weir. The people were friendly, and informed us that this water +came out of the Ngami. This news gladdened all our hearts, for we now +felt certain of reaching our goal. We might, they said, be a moon on the +way; but we had the River Zouga at our feet, and by following it we +should at last reach the broad water. + +When we had gone up the bank of this beautiful river about ninety-six +miles from the point where we first struck it, and understood that we +were still a considerable distance from the Ngami, we left all the oxen +and wagons, except Mr. Oswell's, which was the smallest, and one team, +at Ngabisane, in the hope that they would be recruited for the home +journey, while we made a push for the lake. + +Twelve days after our departure from the wagons at Ngabisane we came to +the northeast end of Lake Ngami; and on August 1, 1849, we went down +together to the broad part, and for the first time this fine-looking +sheet of water was beheld by Europeans. The direction of the lake seemed +to be north-northeast and south-southwest by compass. The southern +portion is said to bend round to the west, and to receive the Teoughe +from the north at its northwest extremity. We could detect no horizon +where we stood looking south-south west, nor could we form any idea of +the extent of the lake, except from the reports of the inhabitants of +the district; and, as they professed to go round it in three days, +allowing twenty-five miles a day would make it seventy-five, or less +than seventy geographical miles in circumference. + +Other guesses have been made since as to its circumference, ranging +between seventy and one hundred miles. It is shallow, for I subsequently +saw a native punting his canoe over seven or eight miles of the +northeast end; it can never therefore be of much value as a commercial +highway. In fact, during the months preceding the annual supply of water +from the north, the lake is so shallow that it is with difficulty cattle +can approach the water through the boggy, reedy banks. These are low on +all sides, but on the west there is a space devoid of trees, showing +that the waters have retired thence at no very ancient date. This is +another of the proofs of desiccation met with so abundantly throughout +the whole country. A number of dead trees lie on this space, some of +them imbedded in the mud right in the water. We were informed by the +Bayeiye, who live on the lake, that when the annual inundation begins, +not only trees of great size, but antelopes, as the springbuck and +_tsessebe_ (_Acronotus lunata_,) are swept down by its rushing waters; +the trees are gradually driven by the winds to the opposite side, and +become imbedded in mud. + +When the lake is full, the water is perfectly fresh, but brackish when +low; and that coming down the Tamunak'le we found to be so clear, cold, +and soft, the higher we ascended, that the idea of melting snow was +suggested to our minds. We found this region, with regard to that from +which we had come, to be clearly a hollow, the lowest point being Lake +Kumadau; the point of the ebullition of water as shown by one of +Newman's barometric thermometers, was only between 207-1/2° and 206°, +giving an elevation of not much more than two thousand feet above the +level of the sea. We had descended above two thousand feet in coming to +it from Kolobeng. It is the southern and lowest part of the great river +system beyond, in which large tracts of country are inundated annually +by tropical rains. A little of that water, which in the countries +farther north produces inundation, comes as far south as 20° 20', the +latitude of the upper end of the lake, and instead of flooding the +country, falls into the lake as into a reservoir. It begins to flow down +the Embarrah, which divides into the Rivers Tzo and Teoughe. The Tzo +divides into the Tamunak'le and Mababe; the Tamunak'le discharges itself +into the Zouga, and the Teoughe into the lake. The flow begins in either +March or April, and the descending waters find the channels of all these +rivers dried out, except in certain pools in their beds, which have long +dry spaces between them. The lake itself is very low. The Zouga is but a +prolongation of the Tamunak'le, and an arm of the lake reaches up to the +point where the one ends and the other begins. The last is narrow and +shallow, while the Zouga is broad and deep. The narrow arm of the lake, +which on the map looks like a continuation of the Zouga, has never been +observed to flow either way. + + +THOMAS HUGHES + +Before the middle of 1852 Livingstone was ready to start on the journey +which resulted in the opening of routes from Central Africa to the West +and East coasts; but the way was still beset with difficulties. The +missionary societies were regarded as "unpatriotic" by the authorities +at the Cape; and he, as the most outspoken of critics, and the most +uncompromising denouncer of the slave-trade and champion of the natives, +came in for a double share of their suspicion. On the other hand, his +brethren gave him only a half-hearted support and doubted his orthodoxy. +He found great difficulty even in procuring ammunition. A country +postmaster whom he had accused of overcharging, threatened an action at +the last moment, which he compromised rather than be detained. As it +was, he had anticipated his meagre salary by more than a year, and had +to be content with very inferior oxen, and a wagon which required +constant mending throughout the journey. On June 8, 1852, he at last got +away, taking with him a Mr. Fleming, the agent of his friend Mr. +Rutherford, a Cape merchant, in the hope of by degrees substituting +legitimate traffic for that in slaves. + +The heavy Cape wagon with its ten poor oxen dragged heavily onward. +Livingstone had so loaded himself with parcels for stations up-country, +and his wagon and team were so inferior, that he did not reach Kuruman +until September. Here he was detained by the breaking of a wheel. + +The journey to Linyanti by the new route was very trying. Part of the +country was flooded, and they were wading all day, and forcing their way +through reeds with sharp edges "with hands all raw and bloody." "On +emerging from the swamps," says Livingstone, "when walking before the +wagon in the morning twilight, I observed a lioness about fifty yards +from me in the squatting way they walk when going to spring. She was +followed by a very large lion, but seeing the wagon she turned back." + +It required all his tact to prevent guides and servants from deserting. +Everyone but himself was attacked by fever. "I would like," says his +journal, "to devote a portion of my life to the discovery of a remedy +for that terrible disease, the African fever. I would go into the parts +where it prevails most and try to discover if the natives have a remedy +for it. I must make many inquiries of the river people in this quarter." +Again in another key: "Am I on my way to die in Sebituane's country? +Have I seen the last of my wife and children, leaving this fair world +and knowing so little of it?" + +February 4, 1853: "I am spared in health while all the company have been +attacked by fever. If God has accepted my service, my life is charmed +till my work is done. When that is finished, some simple thing will give +me my quietus. Death is a glorious event to one going to Jesus." + +Their progress was tedious beyond all precedent. "We dug out several +wells, and each time had to wait a day or two till enough water flowed +in for our cattle to quench their thirst." + +At last, however, at the end of May, he reached the Chobe River and was +again among his favorite Makololo. "He has dropped from the clouds," the +first of them said. They took the wagon to pieces and carried it across +on canoes lashed together, while they themselves swam and dived among +the oxen "more like alligators than men." Sekeletu, son of Sebituane, +was now chief, his elder sister Mamochishane having resigned in disgust +at the number of husbands she had to maintain as chieftainess. Poor +Mamochishane! After a short reign of a few months she had risen in the +assembly and "addressed her brother with a womanly gush of tears. 'I +have been a chief only because my father wished it. I would always have +preferred to be married and have a family like other women. You, +Sekeletu, must be chief, and build up our father's house.'" + +On November 11, 1853, he left Linyanti, and arrived at Loanda on May 31, +1854. The first stages of the journey were to be by water, and Sekeletu +accompanied him to the Chobe, where he was to embark. They crossed five +branches before reaching the main stream, a wide and deep river full of +hippopotami. "The chief lent me his own canoe, and as it was broader +than usual I could turn about in it with ease. I had three muskets for +my people, and a rifle and double-barrelled shotgun for myself. My +ammunition was distributed through the luggage, that we might not be +left without a supply. Our chief hopes for food were in our guns. I +carried twenty pounds of beads worth forty shillings, a few biscuits, a +few pounds of tea and sugar, and about twenty pounds of coffee. One +small tin canister, about fifteen inches square, was filled with spare +shirts, trousers, and shoes, to be used when we reached civilized life, +another of the same size was stored with medicines, a third with books, +and a fourth with a magic lantern, which we found of much service. The +sextant and other instruments were carried apart. A bag contained the +clothes we expected to wear out in the journey, which, with a small tent +just sufficient to sleep in, a sheepskin mantle as a blanket, and a +horse rug as a bed, completed my equipment. An array of baggage would +have probably excited the cupidity of the tribes through whose country +we wished to pass." + +The voyage up the Chobe, and the Zambesi after the junction of those +rivers, was prosperous but slow, in consequence of stoppages opposite +villages. "My man Pitsane knew of the generous orders of Sekeletu, and +was not disposed to allow them remain a dead letter." In the rapids, +"the men leaped into the water without the least hesitation to save the +canoes from being dashed against the obstructions or caught in eddies. +They must never be allowed to come broadside to the stream, for being +flat-bottomed they would at once be capsized and everything in them +lost." When free from fever he was delighted to note the numbers of +birds, several of them unknown, which swarmed on the river and its +banks, all carefully noted in his journal. One extract must suffice +here: "Whenever we step on shore a species of plover, a plaguy sort of +public-spirited individual, follows, flying overhead, and is most +persevering in its attempts to give warning to all animals to flee from +the approaching danger." + +But he was already weak with fever; was seized with giddiness whenever +he looked up quickly, and, if he could not catch hold of some support, +fell heavily--a bad omen for his chance of passing through the unknown +country ahead--but his purpose never faltered for a moment. On January +1, 1854, he was still on the river, but getting beyond Sekeletu's +territory and allies, to a region of dense forest, in the open glades of +which dwelt the Balonda, a powerful tribe, whose relations with the +Makololo were precarious. Each was inclined to raid on the other since +the Mambari and Portuguese half-castes had appeared with Manchester +goods. These excited the intense wonder and cupidity of both nations. +They listened to the story of cotton-mills as fairy dreams, exclaiming: +"How can iron spin, weave, and print? Truly ye are gods!" and were +already inclined to steal their neighbors' children--those of their own +tribe they never sold at this time--to obtain these wonders out of the +sea. + +Happily Livingstone had brought back with him several Balonda children +who had been carried off by the Makololo. This, and his speeches to +Manenko, the chieftainess of the district and niece of Shinte, the head +chief of the Balonda, gained them a welcome. This Amazon was a strapping +young woman of twenty, who led their party through the forest at a pace +which tried the best walkers. She seems to have been the only native +whose will ever prevailed against Livingstone's. + +He intended to proceed up to her uncle Shinte's town in canoes: she +insisted that they should march by land, and ordered her people to +shoulder his baggage in spite of him. "My men succumbed, and left me +powerless. I was moving off in high dudgeon to the canoes, when she +kindly placed her hand on my shoulder, and with a motherly look said, +'Now, my little man, just do as the rest have done.' My feeling of +annoyance of course vanished, and I went out to try for some meat. My +men, in admiration of her pedestrian powers, kept remarking, 'Manenko is +a soldier,' and we were all glad when she proposed a halt for the +night." + +Shinte received them in his town, the largest and best laid out that +Livingstone had seen in Central Africa, on a sort of throne covered with +leopard-skin. The _kotla_, or place of audience, was one hundred yards +square. Though in the sweating stage of an intermittent fever, +Livingstone held his own with the chief, gave him an ox as "his mouth +was bitter from want of flesh," advised him to open a trade in cattle +with the Makololo, and to put down the slave-trade; and, after spending +more than a week with him, left amid the warmest professions of +friendship. Shinte found him a guide of his tribe, Intemese by name, who +was to stay by them till they reached the sea, and at a last interview +hung round his neck a conical shell of such value that two of them, so +his men assured him, would purchase a slave. + +Soon they were out of Shinte's territory, and Intemese became the plague +of the party, though unluckily they could not dispense with him +altogether in crossing the great flooded plains of Lebala. They camped +at night on mounds, where they had to trench round each hut and use the +earth to raise their sleeping places. "My men turned out to work most +willingly, and I could not but contrast their conduct with that of +Intemese, who was thoroughly imbued with the slave spirit, and lied on +all occasions to save himself trouble." He lost the pontoon, too, +thereby adding greatly to their troubles. + +They now came to the territory of another great chief, Katema, who +received them hospitably, sending food and giving them solemn audience +in his kotla surrounded by his tribe. A tall man of forty, dressed in a +snuff-brown coat with a broad band of tinsel down the arms, and a helmet +of beads and feathers. He carried a large fan with charms attached, +which he waved constantly during the audience, often laughing +heartily--"a good sign, for a man who shakes his sides with mirth is +seldom difficult to deal with." + +"I am the great Moene Katema!" was his address; "I and my fathers have +always lived here, and there is my father's house. I never killed any of +the traders; they all come to me. I am the great Moene Katema, of whom +you have heard." On hearing Livingstone's object, he gave him three +guides, who would take him by a northern route, along which no traders +had passed, to avoid the plains, impassable from the floods. He accepted +Livingstone's present of a shawl, a razor, some beads and buttons, and a +powder-horn graciously, laughing at his apologies for its smallness, and +asking him to bring a coat from Loanda, as the one he was wearing was +old. + +From this point troubles multiplied, and they began to be seriously +pressed for food. The big game had disappeared, and they were glad to +catch moles and mice. Every chief demanded a present for allowing them +to pass, and the people of the villages charged exorbitantly for all +supplies. On they floundered, however, through flooded forests. In +crossing the river Loka, Livingstone's ox got away from him, and he had +to strike out for the farther bank. "My poor fellows were dreadfully +alarmed, and about twenty of them made a simultaneous rush into the +water for my rescue, and just as I reached the opposite bank one seized +me by the arms and another clasped me round the body. When I stood up it +was most gratifying to see them all struggling toward me. Part of my +goods were brought up from the bottom when I was safe. Great was their +pleasure when they found I could swim like themselves, and I felt most +grateful to those poor heathens for the promptitude with which they +dashed in to my rescue." Farther on, the people tried to frighten them +with the account of the deep rivers they had yet to cross, but his men +laughed. "'We can all swim,' they said; 'who carried the white man +across the river but himself?' I felt proud of their praise." + +On March 4th they reached the country of the Chiboques, a tribe in +constant contact with the slave-dealers. Next day their camp was +surrounded by the nearest chief and his warriors, evidently bent on +plunder. They paused when they saw Livingstone seated on his camp-stool, +with his double-barrelled gun across his knees, and his Makololos ready +with their javelins. The chief and his principal men sat down in front +at Livingstone's invitation to talk over the matter, and a palaver began +as to the fine claimed by the Chiboque. "The more I yielded, the more +unreasonable they became, and at every fresh demand a shout was raised, +and a rush made round us with brandished weapons. One young man even +made a charge at my head from behind, but I quickly brought round the +muzzle of my gun to his mouth and he retreated. My men behaved with +admirable coolness. The chief and his counsellors, by accepting my +invitation to be seated, had placed themselves in a trap, for my men had +quietly surrounded them and made them feel that there was no chance of +escaping their spears. I then said that as everything had failed to +satisfy them they evidently meant to fight; and if so, they must begin, +and bear the blame before God. I then sat silent for some time. It was +certainly rather trying, but I was careful not to seem flurried, and, +having four barrels ready for instant action, looked quietly at the +savage scene around." The palaver began again, and ended in the exchange +of an ox for a promise of food, in which he was wofully cheated. "It was +impossible to help laughing, but I was truly thankful that we had so far +gained our point as to be allowed to pass without shedding blood." + +He now struck north to avoid the Chiboque, and made for the Portuguese +settlement of Cassange through dense forest and constant wet. Here +another fever fit came on, so violent that "I could scarcely, after some +hours' trial, get a lunar observation in which I could repose +confidence. Those who know the difficulties of making observations and +committing them all to paper will sympathize with me in this and many +similar instances." + +At this crisis, when the goal was all but at hand, obstacles multiplied +till it seemed that after all it would never be reached. First his +riding ox, Sindbad--a beast "blessed with a most intractable temper," +and a habit of bolting into the bush to get his rider combed off by a +climber, and then kicking at him--achieved a triumph in his weak state, +"when the bridle broke, and down I came backward on the crown of my +head, receiving as I fell a kick on the thigh. This last attack of fever +reduced me almost to a skeleton. The blanket which I used as a saddle, +being pretty constantly wet, caused extensive abrasion of the skin, +which was continually healing and getting sore again." + +Then the guides missed their way and led them back into Chiboque +territory, where the demands of the chief of every village for "a man, +an ox, or a tusk," for permission to pass, began again. Worst of all, +signs of mutiny began to show themselves among the Batoka men of his +party, who threatened to turn back. He appeased them by giving them a +tired ox to be killed at the Sunday's halt. "Having thus, as I thought, +silenced their murmurs, I sank into a state of torpor, and was oblivious +of all their noise. On Sunday the mutineers were making a terrible din +in preparing the skin. I requested them twice to be more quiet as the +noise pained me, but, as they paid no attention to this civil request, I +put out my head and, repeating it, was answered by an impudent laugh. +Knowing that discipline would be at an end if this mutiny was not +quelled, and that our lives depended on vigorously upholding authority, +I seized a double-barrelled pistol and darted out with such a savage +aspect as to put them to precipitate flight. They gave no further +trouble." Every night now they had to build a stockade, and by day to +march in a compact body, knowing the forest to be full of enemies +dogging their path, for now they had nothing to give as presents, the +men having even divested themselves of all their copper ornaments to +appease the Chiboque harpies. "Nothing, however, disturbed us, and for +my part I was too ill to care much whether we were attacked or not." +They struggled on, the Chiboque natives, now joined by bodies of +traders, opposing at every ford, Livingstone no longer wondering why +expeditions from the interior failed to reach the coast. "Some of my men +proposed to return home, and the prospect of being obliged to turn back +from the threshold of the Portuguese settlements distressed me +exceedingly. After using all my powers of persuasion, I declared that if +they now returned, I should go on alone, and returning into my little +tent, I lifted up my heart to Him who hears the sighing of the soul. +Presently the head man came in. 'Do not be disheartened,' he said, 'we +will never leave you. Wherever you lead, we will follow. Our remarks +were only made on account of the injustice of these people.' Others +followed, and with the most artless simplicity of manner told me to be +comforted. 'They were all my children; they knew no one but Sekeletu and +me, and would die for me: they had spoken in bitterness of spirit, +feeling they could do nothing.'" + +On April 1st they gained the ridge which overlooks the valley of the +Quango and the Portuguese settlements on the farther bank. "The descent +is so steep that I was obliged to dismount, though so weak that I had to +be supported. Below us, at a depth of one thousand feet, lay the +magnificent valley of the Quango. The view of the Vale of Clyde, from +the spot where Mary witnessed the Battle of Langside, resembles in +miniature the glorious sight which was here presented to our view." + +On the 4th they were close to the Quango, here one hundred fifty yards +broad, when they were stopped for the last time by a village chief and +surrounded by his men. The usual altercation ensued; Livingstone +refusing to give up his blanket--the last article he possessed except +his watch and instruments and Sekeletu's tusks, which had been +faithfully guarded--until on board the canoes in which they were to +cross. "I was trying to persuade my people to move on to the bank in +spite of them, when a young half-caste Portuguese sergeant of militia, +Cypriano di Abren, who had come across in search of beeswax, made his +appearance and gave the same advice." They marched to the bank--the +chief's men opening fire on them, but without doing any damage--made +terms with the ferrymen, with Cypriano's help, crossed the Quango, and +were at the end of their troubles. + +Four days they stopped with Cypriano, who treated them royally, killing +an ox and stripping his garden to feast them, and sending them on to +Cassange with provisions of meal ground by his mother and her maids. "I +carried letters from the Chevalier du Prat of Cape Town, but I am +inclined to believe that my friend Cypriano was influenced by feelings +of genuine kindness excited by my wretched appearance." + +At Cassange they were again most hospitably treated, and here, before +starting for Loanda, three hundred miles, they disposed of Sekeletu's +tusks, which sold for much higher prices than those given by Cape +traders. "Two muskets, three small barrels of powder, and English calico +and baize enough to clothe my whole party, with large bunches of beads, +were given for one tusk, to the great delight of my Makololos, who had +been used to get only one gun for two tusks. With another tusk we +purchased calico--the chief currency here--to pay our way to the coast. +The remaining two were sold for money to purchase a horse for Sekeletu +at Loanda." Livingstone was much struck both by the country he passed +through and the terms on which the Portuguese lived with the natives. +Most of them had families by native women, who were treated as European +children and provided for by their fathers. Half-caste clerks sat at +table with the whites, and he came to the conclusion that "nowhere in +Africa is there so much good-will between Europeans and natives as +here." + +The dizziness produced by his twenty-seven attacks of fever on the road +made it all he could do to stick on Sindbad, who managed to give him a +last ducking in the Lombe. "The weakening effects of the fever were most +extraordinary. For instance, in attempting to take lunar observations I +could not avoid confusion of time and distance, neither could I hold the +instrument steady, nor perform a simple calculation." He rallied a +little in crossing a mountain range. As they drew near Loanda the hearts +of his men began to fail, and they hinted their doubts to him. "If you +suspect me you can return," he told them, "for I am as ignorant of +Loanda as you; but nothing will happen to you but what happens to me. We +have stood by one another hitherto, and will do so till the last." + +The first view of the sea staggered the Makololo. "We were marching +along with our father," they said, "believing what the ancients had told +us, that the world had no end; but all at once the world said to us: 'I +am finished; there is no more for me.'" + +The fever had produced chronic dysentery, which was so depressing that +Livingstone entered Loanda in deep melancholy, doubting the reception he +might get from the one English gentleman, Mr. Gabriel, the commissioner +for the suppression of the slave-trade. He was soon undeceived. Mr. +Gabriel received him most kindly, and, seeing the condition he was in, +gave up to him his own bed. "Never shall I forget the luxurious pleasure +I enjoyed in feeling myself again on a good English bed after six +months' sleeping on the ground. I was soon asleep; and Mr. Gabriel +coming in almost immediately after, rejoiced in the soundness of my +repose." + + + + +(1851) THE COUP D'ÉTAT OF LOUIS NAPOLEON, Alexis de Tocqueville + + +By his astounding act of December 2, 1851, known as the _coup d'état_, +Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, commonly called Louis Napoleon, +practically assumed imperial power, and on the first anniversary of that +_coup d'état_ he was officially proclaimed Emperor of the French under +the title of Napoleon III. He was the son of Louis Bonaparte, King of +Holland--a brother of Napoleon I--and was born in Paris, April 20, 1808. +From 1815 to 1830 he lived in exile. In 1836 he made an unsuccessful +attempt to organize a revolution among the French soldiers at Strasburg. +Four years later he tried to seize the throne of France; but failing in +this attempt, he was imprisoned in the fortress of Ham until 1846, when +he escaped to England. During his confinement he continued in his +writings a Bonapartist propaganda. He had addressed himself particularly +to the workingmen, and this class won a victory in the Revolution of +February, 1848. After the fall of Louis Philippe in that year, Napoleon +was elected to the National Assembly, largely by the votes of the +working classes, and on June 13, 1848, took his seat. In December he was +elected President of the Republic by an immense majority. + +Although he was regarded as possessing a rather dull intellect, and as +being, partly for that reason, a "safe" man for the presidential office, +Napoleon soon proved his capacity for intrigue and for cajoling the +people. By intervening in behalf of Pope Pius IX, whom revolutionists +had driven from Rome, he gained the support of the clergy. Napoleon's +troops restored Pius IX (1850) to the papal throne. The President's aims +at supremacy were approved by the French monarchists, and he used all +means to increase his popularity, placing only his adherents in office. + +When the Assembly, composed of seven hundred sixty members, undertook to +restrict the suffrage, which was "universal," Napoleon opposed the +change. He thus appeared to be the champion of the people against the +legislative body. As his term was to expire on May 2, 1852, and as he +was ineligible for a second term, although he knew that a majority of +the people favored his continuance in office, he saw no way to +accomplish that except by force. He therefore determined to use force, +and the method he adopted was that of the _coup d'état_. The success of +that stroke insured all that he aimed at. In December, 1851, by an +almost unanimous vote he was elected President for ten years. All his +"ideas" and purposes were embodied in a new constitution, and before the +end of 1852 the question of restoring the empire was submitted to the +people; and by the plebiscite of November, in that year, an enormous +majority of the voters elected him Emperor. + +No account of the _coup d'état_,--the most striking and effective in +this series of dramatic events--surpasses in authenticity or interest +that of De Tocqueville. The famous author of _Democracy in America_, and +of equally celebrated works of French history, became Vice-President of +the National Assembly in 1849. As a member of that body he was justified +in saying of his story of the _coup d'état_, "I merely relate, as an +actual witness, the things I saw with my eyes and heard with my ears." +The first step taken by Napoleon in this affair was the arrest of the +opposition leaders of the Assembly in their beds, on the pretext of a +conspiracy against him in that body. De Tocqueville describes what +followed. + +When the representatives of the people learned on the morning of +December 2, 1851, that several of their colleagues were arrested, they +ran to the Assembly. The doors were guarded by the Chasseurs de +Vincennes, a corps of troops recently returned from Africa and long +accustomed to the violence of Algerine dominion, and, moreover, +stimulated by a donation of five francs distributed to every soldier who +was in Paris that day. The Representatives, nevertheless, presented +themselves to go in, having at their head one of their Vice-Presidents, +M. Daru. This gentleman was violently struck by the soldiers, and the +Representatives who accompanied him were driven back at the point of the +bayonet. Three of them, M. de Talhouet, Étienne, and Duparc, were +slightly wounded. Several others had their clothes pierced. Such was the +beginning. + +Driven from the doors of the Assembly, the Deputies retired to the +_mairie_ of the Tenth Arrondissement. They were already assembled to the +number of about three hundred when the troops arrived, blocked up the +approaches, and prevented a greater number of Representatives from +entering the apartment, though no one at that time was prevented from +leaving it. + +Who then were those Representatives assembled at the _mairie_ of the +Tenth Arrondissement, and what did they do there? Every shade of opinion +was represented in this extemporaneous Assembly. But four-fifths of its +members belonged to the different conservative parties which had +constituted the majority. This Assembly was presided over by two of its +Vice-Presidents, M. Vitet and M. Benoist d'Azy. M. Daru was arrested in +his own house; the Fourth Vice-President, the illustrious General +Bedeau, had been seized that morning in his bed, and handcuffed like a +robber. As for the President, M. Dupin, he was absent, which surprised +no one. Besides its Vice-Presidents, the Assembly was accompanied by its +secretaries, its ushers, and even its phonographer who preserved for +posterity the records of this last and memorable sitting. The Assembly, +thus constituted, began by voting a decree in the following terms: + +"In pursuance of article sixty-eight of the constitution, viz., the +President of the Republic, the ministers, the agents, and depositaries +of public authority are responsible, each in what concerns himself +respectively, for all the acts of the Government and the Administration: +any measure by which the President of the Republic dissolves the +National Assembly, prorogues it, or places obstacles in the exercise of +its powers is a crime of high treason. + +"By this act alone, the President is deprived of all authority; the +citizens are bound to withhold their obedience, the executive power +passes in full right to the National Assembly. The judges of the High +Court of Justice will meet immediately, under pain of forfeiture; they +will convoke the juries in the place which they will select to proceed +to the judgment of the President and his accomplices; they will nominate +the magistrates charged to fulfil the duties of public ministers. + +"And seeing that the National Assembly is prevented by violence from +exercising its powers, it decrees as follows, viz.: Louis Napoleon +Bonaparte is deprived of all authority as President of the Republic. The +citizens are enjoined to withhold their obedience. The executive power +has passed in full right to the National Assembly. The judges of the +High Court of Justice are enjoined to meet immediately, under pain of +forfeiture, to proceed to the judgment of the President and his +accomplices; consequently, all the officers and functionaries of power +and of public authority are bound to obey all requisitions made in the +name of the National Assembly, under pain of forfeiture and of high +treason. + +"Done and decreed unanimously in public sitting, this second day of +December, 1851." + +After this first decree was voted, another was unanimously passed, +naming General Oudinot commander of the public forces, and M. Tamisier +was joined with him as chief of the staff. The choice of these two +officers, each having distinct shades of political opinion, showed that +the Assembly was animated by one common spirit. + +These decrees had hardly been signed by all the members present, and +deposited in a place of safety, when a band of soldiers, headed by their +officers, sword in hand, appeared at the door, without, however, daring +to enter the apartment. The Assembly awaited them in perfect silence. +The President alone raised his voice, read the decrees which had just +been passed to the soldiers, and ordered them to retire. The poor +fellows, ashamed of the part they were compelled to play, hesitated. The +officers, pale and undecided, declared that they should go for further +orders. They retired, contenting themselves with blockading the passages +leading to the apartment. The Assembly, not being able to go out, +ordered the windows to be opened, and caused the decrees to be read to +the people and the troops in the street below, especially that decree +which, in pursuance of the sixty-eighth article of the constitution, +declared the deposition and impeachment of Louis Napoleon. + +Soon, however, the soldiers reappeared at the door, preceded this time +by two _commissaires de police_. These men entered the room and, amid +the unbroken silence and total immobility of the Assembly, summoned the +Representatives to disperse. The President ordered them to retire +themselves. One of the _commissaires_ was agitated and faltered; the +other broke out in invectives. The President said to him: "Sir, we are +here the lawful authority and sole representatives of law and of right. +We know that we cannot oppose to you material force, but we will leave +this chamber only under constraint. We will not disperse. Seize us and +convey us to prison." + +"All, all!" exclaimed the members of the Assembly. After much hesitation +the _commissaires de police_ decided to act. They caused each of the two +Presidents to be seized by the collar. The whole body then rose, and, +arm in arm, two and two, they followed the Presidents, who were led off. +In this order they reached the street, and were marched across the city, +without knowing whither they were going. + +Care had been taken to circulate a report among the crowd and the troops +that a meeting of Socialist and Red Republican Deputies had been +arrested. But when the people beheld among those who were thus dragged +through the mud of Paris on foot, like a gang of malefactors, men the +most illustrious by their talents and their virtues--ex-ministers, +ex-ambassadors, generals, admirals, great orators, great writers, +surrounded by the bayonets of the line--a shout was raised, "_Vive +l'Assemblée nationale!_" The Representatives were attended by these +shouts until they reached the barracks of the Quai d'Orsay, where they +were shut up. + +Night was coming on, and it was wet and cold. Yet the Assembly was left +two hours in the open air, as if the Government did not deign to +remember its existence. The Representatives here made their last +roll-call in presence of their phonographer, who had followed them. The +number present was two hundred eighteen, to whom were added about twenty +more in the course of the evening, consisting of members who had +voluntarily caused themselves to be arrested. Almost all the men known +to France and to Europe, who formed the majority of the Legislative +Assembly, were gathered in this place. Few were wanting, except those +who, like M. Molé, had not been suffered to reach their colleagues. + +There were present, among others, the Duc de Broglie, who had come, +though ill; the father of the House, the venerable Kératry, whose +physical strength was inferior to his moral courage, and whom it was +necessary to seat in a straw chair in the barrack yard; Odilon Barrot, +Dufaure, Berryer, Rémusat, Duvergier de Hauranne, Gustave de Beaumont, +De Tocqueville, De Falloux, Lanjuinais, Admiral Lainé and Admiral +Cécille, Generals Oudinot and Lauriston, the Due de Luynes, the Due de +Montebello; twelve ex-ministers, nine of whom had served under Louis +Napoleon himself; eight members of the Institute--all men who had +struggled for three years to defend society and to resist the demagogic +faction. + +When two hours had elapsed this assemblage was driven into barrack-rooms +upstairs, where most of them spent the night, without fire and almost +without food, stretched upon the boards. It only remained to carry off +to prison these honorable men, guilty of no crime but the defence of the +laws of their country. For this purpose the most distressing and +ignominious means were selected. The cellular vans, in which convicts +are conveyed to prison, were brought up. In these vehicles were shut up +the men who had served and honored their country, and they were conveyed +like three bands of criminals, some to the fortress of Mont Valerien, +some to the prison Mazas in Paris, and the remainder to Vincennes. The +indignation of the public compelled the Government two days afterward to +release the greater number of them; some remained in confinement, unable +to obtain either their liberty or a trial. + +The treatment inflicted upon the generals arrested in the morning of +December 2d was still more disgraceful. Cavaignac, Lamoricière, Bedeau, +Changarnier, the conquerors of Africa, were shut up in these infamous +cellular vans, which are always inconvenient and become almost +intolerable on a lengthened journey. In this manner they were conveyed +to Ham--that is, they were made to perform more than a day's journey. +Cavaignac, who had saved Paris and France in the days of +June--Cavaignac, the competitor of Louis Napoleon at the last elections, +shut up for a day and a night in the cell of a felon! I leave it to +every honest man and every generous heart to comment on such facts. Such +were the indignities offered to eminent men. + +Let me now review the series of general crimes. The liberty of the press +is destroyed to an extent unheard of even in the time of the empire. +Most of the journals are suppressed, those which appear cannot say a +word on politics or even publish any news. But this is by no means all. +The Government has stuck up a list of persons who are formed into a +"consultative commission." Its object is to induce France to believe +that the Executive is not abandoned by every man of respectability and +consideration among us. More than half the persons on this list have +refused to belong to the commission; most of them regard the insertion +of their names as dishonor. I may quote, among others, M. Léon Faucher, +M. Portalis, First President of the Court of Cassation, and the Duc de +Albuféra, as those best known. Not only does the Government decline to +publish the letters in which these gentlemen refuse their consent, but +even their names are not withdrawn from the list which dishonors them. +The names are still retained in spite of their repeated remonstrances. A +day or two ago, one of them, M. Joseph Perier, driven to desperation by +this excess of tyranny, rushed into the street to strike out his own +name, with his own hands, from the public placards, taking the +passers-by to witness that it had been placed there by a lie. + +Such is the state of the public journals. Let us now see the condition +of personal liberty. I say again that personal liberty is more trampled +on than ever it was in the time of the empire. A decree of the new power +gives the _préfets_ the right to arrest, in their respective +departments, whomsoever they please; and the _préfets_, in their turn, +send blank warrants of arrest, which are literally _lettres de cachet_, +to the _sobs-préfets_ under their orders. The Provisional Government of +the Republic never went so far. Human life is as little respected as +human liberty. I know that war has its dreadful necessities, but the +disturbances which have recently occurred in Paris have been put down +with a barbarity unprecedented in our civil contests; and when we +remember that this torrent of blood has been shed to consummate the +violation of all law, we cannot but think that sooner or later it will +fall back upon the heads of those who shed it. As for the appeal of the +people, to whom Louis Napoleon affects to submit his claims, never was a +more odious mockery offered to a nation. The people is called upon to +express its opinion, yet not only is public discussion suppressed, but +even the knowledge of facts. The people is asked its opinion, but the +first measure taken to obtain it is to establish military terrorism +throughout the country, and to threaten with deprivation every public +agent that does not approve in writing what has been done. + +Such is the condition in which we stand. Force overturning law, +trampling on the liberty of the press and of the person, deriding the +popular will, in whose name the Government pretends to act. France torn +from the alliance of free nations to be classed with the despotic +monarchies of the Continent--such is the result of this _coup d'état_. + +The army refused to submit to the decree of the captive Assembly +impeaching the President of the Republic; but the High Court of Justice +obeyed it. The five judges composing it, sitting in the midst of Paris +enslaved and in the face of martial law, dared to assemble at the Palace +of Justice, and to issue a process beginning criminal proceedings +against Louis Napoleon, charged with high treason by the law, though +already triumphant in the streets. I subjoin the text of this memorable +edict: + +"The High Court of Justice, considering the sixty-eighth article of the +constitution, considering that printed placards, beginning with the +words 'The President of the Republic,' and bearing at the end the +signatures of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte and De Moony, Minister of the +Interior, which placards announce among other things, the dissolution of +the National Assembly, have this day been affixed to the walls of Paris; +that this fact of the dissolution of the Assembly by the President of +the Republic would fall under the case provided for by the sixty-eighth +article of the constitution, and render the convocation of the High +Court of Justice imperative, by the terms of that article declares that +the High Court is constituted, and names M. Renouard, counsellor of the +Court of Cassation, to fill the duties of public accuser; and to fill +those of _greffier_, M. Bernard, _Greffier-en-chef_ of the Court of +Cassation; and, to proceed further in pursuance of the terms of the said +sixty-eighth article of the constitution, adjourns until to-morrow, +December 3d, at the hour of noon. + +"Done and deliberated in the Council Chamber. Present, M. Hardouin, +President; M. Pataille, M. Moreau, M. de la Palme, and M. Cauchy, +judges, this second day of December, 1851." + +After this textual extract from the minutes of the High Court of Justice +there is the following entry: "(1) A _procès-verbal_ announcing the +arrival of a _commissaire de police_, who called upon the High Court to +separate. (2) A _procès-verbal_ of a second sitting held on the morrow, +the third day of December (when the Assembly was in prison), at which M. +Renouard accepts the functions of public prosecutor, charged to proceed +against Louis Napoleon, after which the High Court, being no longer able +to sit, adjourned to a day to be fixed hereafter." + + + + +(1851) DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN AUSTRALIA, Edward Jenks + + +EDWARD JENKS + +It was a remarkable sequence in successful enterprise that brought to +light and developed the vast gold deposits in Australia within three +years after the great discovery in California. This event "was to +change, if not the entire character, at least the rate, of Australian +progress." The date of Captain James Cook's exploration of the eastern +coast (1770) marks the beginning of a new era in the history of +Australia. Cook took possession of the country for Great Britain. From +the resemblance of its coasts to the southern shores of Wales, he called +it New South Wales, and this name is still retained by one of the States +of the Commonwealth of Australia (inaugurated January 1, 1901). The +first English settlement (1788) was a convict colony at Port Jackson +(Sydney). From the establishment of this colony the development of +Australia as a British possession was gradual, but progressive, up to +the discovery of the gold-fields, by which it was so greatly +accelerated. At first a few pastoral groups occupied the lands near the +coast. Many of the newcomers were mere squatters, bent on making money +and then returning to England. But gradually small towns and settled +industries grew up. Increasing numbers of farmers immigrated, squatters +were pushed toward the interior, and a state of social organization +began. Up to 1850, however, this nucleus of a new commonwealth had +reached no great development. + +As in the case of California, long before the great discovery of gold in +Australia there had been rumors of its existence in that country. Most +of the early stories told by persons said to have found specimens of the +metal were scouted. In 1844 the distinguished geologist, Sir Roderick +Impey Murchison, having compared specimens of Australian rocks brought +to him with other specimens from gold-bearing lands, declared that he +found in the former no trace of gold. Two years later, however, Sir +Roderick declared his belief in the existence of gold in Australia, and +in 1848 he announced that he had seen specimens of gold from New South +Wales, and recommended a government mineral survey there. Little +attention might have been given to the matter then but for the discovery +of gold in California. From the excitement caused by that the "gold +fever" spread over the world. Nothing was done in the way of discovery +of the metal in Australia until many months had elapsed; but finally +results of the utmost importance were obtained. + +The story of the great Australian gold discovery is here told in an +authentic and highly interesting manner by the historian of the +Australasian colonies. + +In the year 1851 Edmund Hammond Hargraves, an old settler in New South +Wales, returned thither from California, where he had spent about +eighteen months in the search for gold. His efforts in California +resulted in no immediate prosperity, but he gained much useful practical +experience. More than this, as he looked at the natural features of the +California gold-fields, a great idea grew up in his mind. Though not a +geologist, he appears to have had a quick eye for stratiform +resemblances; and the more he studied the peculiarities of rocks and +soil in California, the more he became convinced that he knew, in his +own colony, a district which presented the same features and which, +therefore, might be expected to produce the same results. + +Remaining in California only long enough to verify his observations, he +returned to Sydney at the beginning of the year 1851. Seldom has such +absolute confidence in unverified observation proved so completely +justified. According to Hargraves's own account he went without +hesitation to a spot on the banks of a little stream known as Lewes Pond +Creek, a tributary of Summer Hill Creek, itself a tributary of the +Macquarie River, and there at once, on February 12, 1851, found alluvial +gold. In April he had so far advanced as to be able to write to the +Government offering to disclose his treasures for five hundred pounds. +But he subsequently decided to trust to the liberality of the +Government, and offered at once to show his workings to the government +geologist, an official recently sent out from England to report upon +gold prospects. On May 19th Mr. Stutchbury officially reported the +discovery of gold in workable quantities at Summer Hill Creek, and by +the end of the same month the immigration to the diggings had begun. +Hargraves himself took no part in the digging, merely pointing out to +others, without reserve, the places in which his experience led him to +predict discovery, and instructing them in the processes of washing and +cleaning. He was soon made a commissioner of Crown lands, and received a +reward of ten thousand pounds. + +Now began a period which can have no complete parallel in earlier +history, save the almost contemporaneous parallel of California. + +For in days when news travelled slowly, and travelling for ordinary men +was still slower, in days when governments jealously prohibited the +expatriation of their subjects, and only allowed the immigration of +aliens under strict limitations, nothing like the Australian gold-rush +could have taken place. As it was, everything favored the stampede. The +Australian colonies themselves were anxious for immigrants. The European +disturbances of 1848 had led many Continental rulers to the conclusion +that it was wiser to allow turbulent spirits to go than to attempt to +keep them. The new era of industry had completely unsettled the old +relationships and awakened a spirit of restlessness. Finally, the recent +application of steam to sea-going ships had rendered a rapid decrease in +the length of the voyage from Europe a practical certainty. From the +moment that the genuineness of Hargraves's discoveries was placed beyond +doubt a swarm of pilgrims from all parts of the world set their faces +toward the diggings. Many, perhaps the majority, of the arrivals were +totally unsuited for the actual work of mining. Some of these turned to +other pursuits in the neighborhood, and, in no small number of cases, +did far better than the diggers whose gold they received. But thousands +turned back in despair after a few days' experience of the hardships of +the life; so that, almost from the first, there was an enormous traffic +to and fro, and strong division of parties upon the gold question. An +extreme view of the effect upon population may be obtained from a +comparison of the statistics of Victoria at the close of the years 1850 +and 1855 respectively. At the former date the population was under +seventy thousand; at the latter, it was upward of three hundred +thousand. But no other colony increased to anything like this extent +during the gold rush. + +The first care of the Government at Sydney, on receiving the official +report of the existence of gold, was to decide upon the attitude to be +assumed toward the diggers. It was abundantly clear that the +establishment of mining industries would mean a great increase of +expense to the Government. It was equally clear that, as the law had +been declared over and over again in the colony, unauthorized digging on +Crown land constituted a trespass, for which the digger was legally +responsible. But the Governor was wise enough to see that no threats of +prosecution would deter men bent on digging in unoccupied lands, even if +it were possible to preserve the lands of private owners from forcible +intrusion. The "squatting" question had demonstrated that, beyond a +certain point, the theory of Crown occupation of waste lands was liable +to break down. + +So the government advisers suggested a compromise. Falling back on a +still older feudal doctrine, they asserted the indefeasible right of the +Crown to all gold found either on private or public lands, but +recommended that licenses to dig should be granted on easy terms, which +would have the double effect of providing a revenue and of preserving an +acknowledgment of the Crown's title. + +Acting on this advice, Governor Fitzroy, on May 22, 1851, issued a +proclamation forbidding all persons to dig for gold on any lands without +license, but expressing the willingness of the Government to grant +licenses at a fee of thirty shillings a month to diggers on Crown lands. +For the present, the Governor refused to allow digging on private lands +without the owner's consent. The proclamation also announced that no +license would be given to any laborer or servant unless he could produce +a certificate of discharge from his last service. At the same time the +Governor established the practice of appointing special commissioners +for the gold-fields, charged with the administration of the licensing +system and the general maintenance of order in their respective +districts. He also strengthened the police force by every means in his +power, and then awaited developments. + +He had not long to wait. Almost immediately after the issue of the +proclamation another gold-field was discovered on the Turon River, also +a feeder of the Macquarie, only a few miles from Lewes Pond; and shortly +afterward a third was opened up on the Abercrombie, a tributary of the +Murrumbidgee, which takes its rise in the Cordillera, south of Bathurst. +By the beginning of June, gold began to pour into Bathurst; but Mr. +Hardy, the chief commissioner, was able to report an almost idyllic +peace and plenty at the diggings. + +In the middle of July an event occurred which at once produced a violent +attack of gold fever. This was the discovery of an enormous mass of +virgin gold, weighing upward of one hundred pounds, by Doctor Kerr, a +squatter on the Meroo Creek. Doctor Kerr had been guided to the spot by +an aboriginal who had been in his service several years; and, in his +excitement, he broke the matrix in which the nugget was imbedded, and +thus spoiled what would have been the most magnificent specimen of gold +quartz hitherto discovered. Even as it was, the display in Bathurst of a +single find of gold worth four thousand pounds was enough to excite the +feelings of the inhabitants to a pitch inconsistent with steady +industry. + +But Doctor Kerr's find raised a point of some interest to the +Government. In framing the licensing regulations, the advisers of the +Crown had thought only of the possibilities of alluvial mining. Had they +even directed their thoughts toward rock gold, they would probably have +considered it highly improbable that any explorer should be able to +extract the metal without an amount of preparation which he would hardly +undertake upon the security of a bare license. But, as it happened, +Doctor Kerr had not even a license when he discovered the gold, though +he took one out as soon as possible afterward. To strengthen its +position, the Government seized the gold in the hands of a firm of +shippers who were about to send it to England; but, on the firm's +representation, it was released, security being given for the payment of +a royalty of 10 per cent, if the Crown should see fit to demand it. + +Early in August, 1851, the Governor announced that, for the future, +licenses would be held to cover only alluvial gold, and that for rock +gold found on Crown land the Government would demand a royalty of 10 per +cent., half that amount if the working was on private land. A fortnight +later the Government undertook the escort of gold from the diggings to +Sydney, thereby adding considerably to the Crown revenue and at the same +time obtaining additional power over the gold districts. By the end of +August, gold to the value of seventy thousand pounds had been exported +from the colony. But these figures were soon eclipsed by those which +followed. + +The news of the gold discoveries near Bathurst had soon spread through +the Australian colonies. The more adventurous of the colonists started +at once for the diggings. Others, often encouraged by their governments, +who foresaw a constant drain of population in favor of the gold colony, +endeavored to find gold within their own limits. Rumors of discoveries +were constantly arising. Gold was found at Echuca in South Australia, in +the Fingal district of Tasmania, and in the Curumandel ranges of New +Zealand. But none of these discoveries could compare for a moment with +those which took place within the newly constituted colony of Victoria. +Even so early as August, 1851, gold had been worked at a place called +"Deep Creek" (or "Anderson's Creek"), not far from Melbourne, but this +was soon abandoned in favor of the diggings at Clunes, on the headwaters +of the streams which flow north from the great dividing range to the +Murray River. A month later, these again were temporarily deserted in +favor of the rich Buninyong district, just south of the range, whose +chief centre was Ballarat. Finally, at the beginning of October, 1851, +the wonderful finds at Mount Alexander, a spur of the Macedon range to +the north of Melbourne, were eclipsing all previous discoveries. + +Before the end of the year the export of gold from Victoria alone had +very nearly reached half a million in value. In two years the population +of the Victorian gold-fields almost equalled the whole population of the +colony at the close of 1850. Most of the diggers lived in tents, and had +absolutely no interest in the colony beyond the mere hope of profit from +the diggings. If a more profitable field had opened elsewhere, they +would have left at once. By the end of the year 1851 the probable area +of future discoveries was pretty well recognized. The gold-fields, with +few exceptions, were found to lie on one side or the other of the +eastern Cordillera or chain of mountains which, beginning with Mount +Elliot in Northern Queensland, follows the coast with remarkable +precision till it reaches Port Phillip Bay. But all the more northerly +part of this chain was unexplored in 1851, and of course there was room +for almost any development within such wide limits. + +Warned by events in New South Wales, the governments of the other +Australian colonies had made preparations for the crisis. Western +Australia was too remote to be much affected; and her newly arrived +supply of convict labor rendered her contented. But South Australia and +Tasmania suffered severely from the drain of population, which set in +toward the diggings. + +In South Australia, the effect was in some districts almost as if a +pestilence had swept away the men, leaving the women and children +untouched. Some of the emigrants really deserted their families, but the +bulk were honorable men, and remittances of gold soon began to find +their way to Adelaide for distribution among relatives in the colony. + +After the comparative failure of the gold-diggings in South Australia, +the Government had wisely set itself to secure some part of the +prosperity of the gold discoveries for its colony by establishing both +land and river traffic routes. In these efforts it was highly +successful. Many South Australians made handsome fortunes by sending +provisions to the Buninyong and Mount Alexander districts, and the new +steamers on the Murray proved a source of profit to the colony which +lasted until the development of the railroad system. Unfortunately, this +prosperity could hardly be realized at the time, owing to the great +scarcity of coined money in the colony. In 1851 the privilege of coining +was still jealously monopolized by the mint in London; while the rapid +expansion of business in the latter part of that year had rendered the +supply of coin in Australia totally inadequate to the demand. + +Very soon after the discoveries, Governor Fitzroy had sent home a +memorial from the Legislative Council at Sydney, praying for the +establishment of a branch mint in that city, and similar applications +soon followed from the other colonies. On March 22, 1853, a Treasury +minute sanctioned the applications, and colonial mints were shortly +afterward established by order in council. But in the mean while the +South Australians had got over their difficulty by passing a colonial +act authorizing the issue by the Colonial Government of gold ingots, of +slightly higher intrinsic value than the coins they were supposed to +represent, stamped with an authentic mark. These ingots were not made +legal tender, and the only object of the government mark was to +guarantee quality and weight. But they were generally accepted in +official and commercial transactions, they tided over the crisis of +scarcity, and the Home Government, though with due official caution, +approved the action of Governor Young. + +In Tasmania, the main difficulty arose from the drain of emigrants. In +August, 1851, Sir William Denison wrote home urging the transportation +of more convicts or "probationers," on the ground that there would be a +great demand for foodstuffs by the neighboring colonies, while the +supply of agricultural laborers would be shorter than ever. Both +Tasmania and South Australia united in deciding upon the continuance of +the system by which free emigrants were sent out at the expense of the +land fund of each colony, notwithstanding that such emigrants would +probably leave for Victoria immediately after their arrival. Of the +existence of this contingency there could be little doubt. On January +16, 1852, the Governor of Tasmania wrote: "I have a number of men who +have come back from Mount Alexander after an absence from this colony of +not more than eight weeks, with gold to the value of one hundred twenty +pounds to one thousand pounds." During the five months which followed +the writing of this letter, four thousand persons (most of them +wage-earners in the prime of life) left Tasmania for Victoria. As the +whole population of Tasmania was at this time only about fifty thousand, +the matter was serious. Nevertheless, Tasmania tided safely over the +difficulties of the gold period, and even was able to help her sorely +tried sister. + +For it was upon the newly established Government at Melbourne that the +strain of the new era most severely fell. The Government at Sydney was +an old and tried institution, with traditions of more than half a +century, and a staff of experienced officials under an exceptionally +able chief. When Hargraves made his discoveries in 1851, the population +of the mother-colony was nearly a quarter of a million, exclusive of the +Port Phillip district, and such a population meant a government +organization of corresponding magnitude. Moreover, the people of New +South Wales had always, from circumstances, been accustomed to much +governmental control, and did not resent it; while Victoria had been +started as a colony whose people were too prosperous and contented to +require more than a minimum of guidance. When the gold discoveries +suddenly drew into the colony, not merely the most turbulent characters +of Australia, but the crews of deserted ships and the general +offscourings of the civilized world, and when, overcome by the +contagion, the government officials threw up their posts, one and all, +and started for the diggings, it became evident that the +Lieutenant-Governor had his hands full. Even so early as November, 1851, +he began to anticipate trouble from the preemptive clauses of the Crown +Lands Leasing Act of 1847, by which the squatters had a right to +purchase land in the neighborhood of the gold-fields. The claims of the +squatters barred the way, and the squatters themselves looked with small +favor upon a class of men whom they regarded as troublesome intruders, +and whose proceedings rendered it almost impossible for the pastoralists +to procure sufficient labor to carry on their operations. The squatters +chose to overlook two important facts; viz., that they had themselves +originally acquired their position precisely as the digger acquired his, +and that the presence of the digger, if it raised the price of labor, +also enormously increased the prices of the squatter's produce. + +But more immediate financial troubles began to press upon the +Government. It had been necessary, not merely to add largely to the +number of the official staff--to provide additional police, +commissioners, magistrates, customs officers, etc.--but also to increase +their pay in some proportion to the greatly increased cost of living. +Even with an increase in their salaries of 50 or 100 per cent, the +subordinate officials would not stay. The sight of the reckless and +prosperous diggers who came down to Melbourne to spend the Christmas of +1851, and who flung their gold about recklessly, was too much for the +feelings of the civilians. They deserted in troops. + +On January 12, 1852, Lieutenant-Governor Latrobe wrote: "The police in +town and country have almost entirely abandoned duty," and he begged of +the Secretary of State to send military aid. In May, 1852, Sir John +Pakington replied, promising six companies of the Fifty-ninth Regiment +from China, but subsequently decided to send a whole regiment direct +from England. A man-of-war was also to be stationed in Australian +waters. A still more welcome assistance came in the early part of the +year from the Governor of Tasmania, who sent, at Latrobe's earnest +request, a body of two hundred pensioners, who had been serving as +convict guards, and who might be expected to resist those temptations +which, if yielded to, would result in the loss of their pensions. But +all this assistance meant money, and the Government soon fell into sore +straits. + +It is true that at first the revenue rose substantially. Comparing the +income for the quarters ending December 31, 1850, and December 31, 1851, +respectively, we find, on general account, an increase of eleven +thousand pounds, or about 30 per cent., and, on the Territorial account, +or Land Fund, an increase of seventy-three thousand pounds, about 100 +per cent. Three months later the increase was about 200 per cent. on the +general revenue, while the Territorial revenue was about the same. But +the latter fact may be accounted for by the transferrence of the fees +for gold licenses to the general revenue. It is more important, however, +to notice that, though the revenue was rising, expenses were increasing +still faster. Not only had the staff to be doubled, or trebled, at a +very large increase of pay, but government contracts for public +buildings, printing, stores, fittings, and other necessaries could be +placed, if at all, only at extravagantly high prices. "No tenders can be +obtained for supplies of boots and shoes; orders have been sent to +neighboring colonies for them. Old furniture sells at about 75 per cent. +advance on the former prices of new; scarcely any mechanics will work." +Latrobe estimated the deficit in the revenue of the year 1853 as nearly +four hundred thousand pounds, notwithstanding that he reckoned the whole +gold revenue of six hundred thousand pounds as available for general +expenses. + +In his anxiety the Lieutenant-Governor had at first (December, 1851) +proposed to double the license fee of thirty shillings a month; but the +proposal had provoked such a storm of opposition that he withdrew it. +The revenue from licenses was the source of much contention. The +Government alleged that it was not taxation, but rent, of Crown lands, +and at first devoted it exclusively to the service of the gold-fields. +The diggers denounced it as taxation without representation; and the +Legislative Council, almost necessarily in opposition to the Government +while the latter was administered by nominees of the Colonial Office, +refused to make up deficiencies out of the general revenue. Thus the +Lieutenant-Governor was placed between two fires. If he enforced the +license fees he angered what was rapidly becoming the largest part of +the population; if he relinquished them, he left himself without means +to carry on the government of the gold-fields. + +From this dilemma he was saved by the receipt of a general permission +from the Colonial Office, toward the close of 1852, to deal with the +gold revenue in the same manner as ordinary revenue. By placing this +fund at the disposal of the Colonial Legislature, the Home Government +not only removed a great grievance and relieved the hands of the +Lieutenant-Governor from the shackles previously laid upon them by the +Colonial Office, but it took a substantial step toward the end that was +now acknowledged on all sides to be the ultimate outcome of the new +discoveries; viz., the introduction of responsible government. The same +despatch contained a still more important concession, authorizing the +Lieutenant-Governor to devote the remaining part of the land +revenue--viz., that arising from sales and pastoral licenses--"to the +purposes rendered urgent by the present crisis." As this fund was +jealously reserved by the existing constitutions of the Australian +colonies, and devoted, under the provisions of the Crown Land Sales Act, +exclusively to the purposes of emigration and public works, it will be +seen that the Colonial Office took a strong step in sanctioning its +diversion. But it must be observed that the expenditure of this +additional fund was placed exclusively in the hands of the +Lieutenant-Governor and his Executive Council, acting independently of +the Colonial Legislature. + +With this assistance, the Lieutenant-Governor struggled on amid +increasing difficulties till the spring of the year 1853. By this time +the agitation against the license fee had reached an alarming height, +for the first successes of the new discoveries had passed away, and, +although the export of gold continued to increase, it was by no means at +its former rate nor in proportion to the increase of population. At the +beginning of September, 1853, there were said to be nearly seventy +thousand persons living at the Victorian gold-fields, and many of these, +in all probability, earned very little more than mechanics employed in +settled work. Hence there was a fair ground for an orderly agitation +against the amount of the fee; but, unfortunately, the diggers preferred +violent measures. There was some excuse for them. They were not +represented in the Legislative Council, for they had sprung into +existence as a body since the passing of the Act of 1850, and, though a +measure had been introduced with a view to giving them the franchise, it +had not yet received the assent of the Home Government. In the mean +time, therefore, they could not, through their representatives in the +Council, effectively criticise either the existing law or its +administration. With regard to the latter, there was obviously room for +complaint, for the immense increase of business had compelled the +Government to appoint an inferior class of officials, and some of these, +at least, succumbed to the strong temptations of their positions. + +At the beginning of August, 1853, a petition had been presented by the +Bendigo diggers, in which they urged the reduction of the license fee +and the grant of representation to the diggers. The Lieutenant-Governor +returned a pacific reply, but the delegates in charge of the petition +were evidently bent on arousing strong feelings, and they held meetings +in Melbourne which went the extreme length permissible to loyal +subjects. Still, the Lieutenant-Governor shrank from strong measures, +and endeavored to remove one ground of complaint by appointing, as a +nominee member of the Legislative Council, a gentleman who was believed +to possess the confidence of the diggers. The nomination was at once +repudiated by the delegates of the latter, and at the end of August an +organized attempt was made to resist the renewal of licenses on the old +terms. Hundreds of diggers pledged themselves to pay no more than a +third of the sum previously demanded, and those who were inclined to +yield to the Government's demands were warned that the agitators would +not "be responsible for their safety" if they remained at the diggings. +The license system had by this time extended, beyond the diggers, to the +storekeepers and other tradesmen at the gold-fields, who were making +enormous profits out of the diggers, and these, for the most part, +unhesitatingly complied with the demands of the agitators, willing +rather to pay the fines for breach of the government regulations than to +offend their customers. A daring attack on a private escort of gold near +Bendigo, which occurred about this time, showed that the colony was on +the verge of civil war. + +Just at this moment an event occurred which rendered it impossible for +the Government to maintain its position unimpaired with the scanty +forces at its disposal. In the middle of September, 1853, the total +abolition of the license fee was seriously proposed in the Legislative +Council of New South Wales. The news flew like wildfire to Victoria, +where the diggers had hitherto looked upon the colonial legislatures--in +which, it will be remembered, they were not yet represented--as their +natural enemies. It seemed to them now that they had everything in their +own hands, and it became clearly impossible for the Government, in the +existing temper of the diggers, to exact the full amount of the license +fee. A proclamation, hastily published with a view to allay excitement, +by an unfortunate omission in the printed copies led the public to +believe that the total abolition of the license system was contemplated +by the Victorian Government. A select committee of the Legislative +Council reported unfavorably upon the system. The Government made the +best of a bad bargain, and accepted a fee of forty shillings for the +three months ending November 30, 1853; and, on the following day, the +Legislative Council passed a new Gold-fields Act, which greatly reduced +the fees for diggers' licenses, while it substantially increased those +demanded for permission to open stores at the gold-fields. It also +provided for the grant of leases of auriferous lands, at a royalty of +not less than 5 per cent., and gave legal sanction to the customs +regarding the "claims" of diggers, which had gradually grown up to +regulate the rival interests of neighboring miners. Offences against the +act were to be decided upon by the magistrates; but the accused might +demand a court of at least two members, and there was to be an appeal to +General Sessions. + +These measures were partly successful in restoring order, but it was +obvious that the gold-fields contained men who were averse to a +peaceable settlement. Notwithstanding that the number of the elective +members of the Legislative Council was more than once increased; that, +with the full consent of the Home Government, a bill was being prepared +for the introduction of responsible government; and that the material +condition of the diggers was being rapidly improved, the +Lieutenant-Governor had, in January, 1854, to report the formation of a +"diggers' congress," which obviously had for its object the supersession +of the ordinary government. + +Latrobe retired from office in May of the same year, and one of the +first points noticed by his successor, Sir Charles Hotham, was the +existence of an agitation against the Chinese at the Bendigo diggings. +Notwithstanding the enthusiastic character of his reception in his +progress through the gold-fields in September, the new Governor soon had +to face serious disturbances. + +The events of the next few months formed a crisis in the history, not +only of Victoria, but of Australia. Naturally there is much dispute +concerning them, and, as the following account is taken chiefly from Sir +Charles Hotham's reports, it is possible that the acts of his opponents +may not obtain strict justice. But it is admitted on all sides that Sir +Charles acted with the most perfect good faith; and the accounts given +by the insurgents are far too contradictory and prejudiced to receive +much credit. + +On the night of October 16, 1854, a miner named Scobie was murdered, or +at least killed, at the Eureka Hotel, near Ballarat. The Eureka Hotel +was a place of no good repute, kept by a man named Bentley, who, as well +as his wife, was (it is said) an ex-convict from Tasmania. Suspicion +fell upon the couple, and they, with a second man (named Farrell), were +arrested by the magistrates, but almost immediately released for alleged +default of evidence. The dismissal of the charge excited a storm of +indignation in the camp, and a body of diggers at once proceeded to +wreck the hotel and lynch the accused. In the latter object they, +fortunately, did not succeed, and so rendered themselves liable only to +charges of riot and arson, instead of the more serious charge of murder. +Four of the ringleaders were, through the prompt measures of Sir Charles +Hotham, shortly afterward arrested, and committed for trial. But the +accusations of partiality against the officials were too strong to be +resisted, and a board of inquiry hastily instituted by the Governor +disclosed the ugly facts that Dewes, the magistrate who presided at the +hearing of the charge against the Bentleys, had been in the habit of +borrowing money from residents, and that Sergeant-Major Milne, of the +police force, had been guilty of receiving bribes. The officials +implicated were at once dismissed, and the Bentleys and Farrell +rearrested and convicted. But the Governor very properly declined to +release the arrested rioters, who, shortly before Christmas, 1854, were +convicted and sentenced to short terms of imprisonment. + +Meanwhile, more disturbances had occurred. Though a commission upon the +general condition of the gold-fields was holding its inquiries, in +November many diggers again refused to pay the reduced license fees, +and, on the 30th of the month, a serious riot took place. The military +were called out, the Riot Act was read, and there was some shooting. +Eight captures were made, but the lesson had not been severe enough, and +a state of open war ensued. The diggers intrenched themselves in a +fortified camp known as the "Eureka Stockade," openly drilled their +forces in the presence of the authorities, and levied horses and rations +from unwilling miners in the name of a "commander-in-chief." At the same +time they issued a long political manifesto, which, while it did not +avowedly disclaim allegiance to the Crown, contained proposals to which +no regularly constituted government could ever have assented. + +The Governor at once ordered all the available military force to +Ballarat; but, before reinforcements arrived, the coolness and +promptitude of Captain Thomas--the officer in command of the troops on +the Ballarat gold-field when the riot of November 30th took place--had +nipped the insurrection in the bud. Captain Thomas saw that, while the +Eureka Stockade threatened to become a serious obstacle to the +Government if its completion were allowed, in its uncompleted state it +was really a source of weakness to the insurgents. By collecting their +forces in one spot, and thus rendering them more exposed to a crushing +attack, and by drawing off the men who threatened the government camp, +it really left the commander of the troops free to act with decision. +Accordingly, Captain Thomas at once determined to attack the position. +Assembling his forces (somewhat fewer than two hundred men) at three +o'clock on the morning of December 3d, he moved toward the stockade. + +At about one hundred fifty yards from the intrenchments he was perceived +by the scouts of the insurgents, who promptly fired on the advancing +troops. Thomas himself, Pasley (his aide-de-camp), Rede (the resident +commissioner), and Racket (the stipendiary magistrate), all of whom were +present at the attack, positively assert that the insurgents fired +before a shot was discharged by the troops. Upon this reception Captain +Thomas gave the order to fire, and the intrenchments were carried with a +rush after about ten minutes of sharp fighting. Captain Wise was fatally +wounded, and three privates were killed outright; one officer and eleven +privates were wounded. Of the insurgents, about thirty were known to +have been killed, and many more wounded. Nearly one hundred twenty +prisoners were taken. The effect of the victory was, so far as local +disturbances were concerned, instantaneous. Even before the +reinforcements under General Nickle appeared, all resistance to the +authorities had died away; and, though the Governor at once proclaimed a +state of martial law, he was able to recall the proclamation in less +than a week. + +In other districts of the colony the effect was, for a while, doubtful. +The extreme reluctance of Englishmen to admit the necessity for military +interference by the Government told strongly in favor of the rioters. +There was some danger that Melbourne and Geelong, left almost entirely +unprotected by the concentration of troops and police at Ballarat, would +be taken possession of by rioters from the country districts, and Sir +Charles Hotham made hasty application to Sir William Denison, the +Governor of Tasmania, for military assistance. Very soon, however, the +feelings of orderly citizens asserted themselves. Special constables +were sworn in at Melbourne and Geelong, marines from two men-of-war +stationed at Port Phillip guarded the prisons and the powder stores, +wealthy men volunteered to serve as mounted police, and the arrival of +the Ninety-ninth Regiment from Tasmania on December 10th dealt a final +blow to the hopes of the insurgents. Even before this event, all the +respectable classes in the community had rallied round the Governor, and +he felt himself in a position to defy further outbreaks. + +But the ugliest feature of the whole affair was yet to be revealed. Out +of the large number of prisoners taken at the capture of the stockade, +only thirteen were committed for trial, the magistrates being instructed +to commit only when the evidence was of the clearest nature. It being +considered impossible to obtain an impartial trial by a local jury, the +prisoners were brought down to Melbourne, and, after various delays, the +charges were proceeded with on February 20, 1855. A Boston negro, named +John Joseph, and a reporter for the Ballarat _Times_, named Manning, +were first tried. The latter may have been merely led away by +professional ardor in the pursuit of "copy," though the fact that he had +been openly drilled and instructed in the use of a pike by the +insurgents would seem to show that his zeal was somewhat excessive. + +In the case of Joseph, the evidence was overwhelming; he had actually +been seen to fire upon the troops, and he was captured in a tent which +had been used as a guard-room by the insurgents. No counter-evidence was +offered, the prisoners' counsel relying entirely on the alleged absence +of treasonable intention. Nevertheless both prisoners were speedily +acquitted, and, although the Government wisely withdrew the remaining +cases for the time, subsequent trials produced similar results. +Ultimately, however, the difficulties of the situation were allayed by +the reforms introduced on the recommendation of the commission appointed +to consider the whole subject of the gold-fields. This body presented, +on March 27, 1855, an extremely able report, in which it recommended the +abolition of the license fee and the substitution therefor of a "miners' +right" or Crown permission, lasting for a year, and granted for a +nominal fee of one pound, to occupy for mining purposes a specific piece +of Crown land. The deficiency in revenue anticipated from the abolition +of license fees was to be met by the imposition of an export duty upon +gold at the rate of a half-crown an ounce. + +The commission strongly recommended the granting of the political +franchise to holders of "miners' rights," and the provision of liberal +facilities for the acquisition of land by the miners. It also advocated +the simplification of the existing complex system of government in the +mining districts, whereby commissioners, police authorities, +commissariat officials, and magistrates all worked independently of each +other, and suggested the substitution therefor of experienced "wardens" +at the head of elective boards, who should not only dispose, with the +aid of skilled assessors, of disputes specially connected with mining +operations, but who should have power to issue by-laws adapted to the +special requirements of each district. + +These recommendations were for the most part carried out by legislation +of the same year (1855), and, before his lamented death in December, +1855, Sir Charles Hotham had the happiness being able to report to the +Home Government the almost perfect tranquillity of the gold-fields. +Moreover, the revenue had not suffered by the substitution of the export +duty for the license fees; but the collector of customs was of opinion +that the result of the change had been to throw the entire burden of the +tax upon the importers of the colony instead of upon the mining +population. The Government was not, however, disposed to concern itself +with considerations of abstract justice so long as it could collect a +sufficient revenue without serious opposition. + + + + +(1854) THE RISE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, Abraham Lincoln + + +The election of 1852 virtually destroyed the Whig party, and Franklin +Pierce, the candidate of the Democratic party, was elected by great +majorities. If the Whig party had perished because it had no distinct +position upon the one overshadowing question of the day, so neither did +the new President comprehend the nature and condition of that issue. In +his first message he complacently congratulated the country that the +slavery question had been settled peacefully and forever by the +compromise measures of 1850. He little knew how ineffective were those +compromises; he never dreamed that it was a question that no compromise +could settle permanently, and probably had no conception of the new +force that was to be given to it during his own term of office. Stephen +A. Douglas, an acknowledged aspirant to the Presidency, being Chairman +of the Senate Committee on Territories, introduced and carried through +Congress a measure called the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, which, in providing +for the admission of those Territories as States, embodied his doctrine +of "Popular Sovereignty" in that it permitted the inhabitants to +determine by popular vote whether they should come into the Union as +free States or as slave States, and abolished the Missouri Compromise, +which for thirty-four years had forbidden the acquisition of any slave +territory north of the parallel of 36° 30'. + +The abrogation of this compromise, which had been looked upon as a +sacred compact, convinced a majority of the Northern people that the +system of slavery was filled with the spirit of aggressiveness and +determined to spread itself into all the Territories. Consequently there +arose for the first time a powerful anti-slavery party, which, while +denying that it had any purpose of meddling with that institution in the +States where it already existed, declared that it should never be +extended into any more of the national domain. At the same time this was +a stronger party in favor of the protective tariff than had ever before +existed. This organization, which gave itself the name "Republican +party," came into existence in 1854, the same year in which Senator +Douglas's bill abrogated the Missouri Compromise. There are several +claimants for the honor of first proposing it; but as a fact, it sprang +into existence with virtual simultaneousness in several of the Northern +States. If there was a priority, it was in Massachusetts, where Robert +Carter acted as Secretary of the Convention and wrote the resolutions. +Two years later this party entered the Presidential contest with John C. +Frémont as its candidate. It cast an enormous vote, but was not +successful, mainly for the reason that the short-lived American (or +Know-Nothing) party was then at its best, and had its own ticket, headed +by Millard Fillmore. Four years later still, it nominated and elected +Abraham Lincoln as President, and the clearest argument for its +existence that ever has been put forth is in Lincoln's first speech in +his famous debate with Senator Douglas, which was delivered in +Springfield, Illinois, June 17, 1858. The full text of that speech +follows herewith. + +If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we +could better judge what to do, and how to do it. We are now far into the +fifth year since a policy was initiated with the avowed object and +confident promise of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the +operation of that policy, that agitation has not only not ceased, but +has constantly augmented. In my opinion, it will not cease until a +crisis shall have been reached and passed. "A house divided against +itself cannot stand." I believe this Government cannot endure +permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be +dissolved; I do not expect the house to fall; but I do expect it will +cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. +Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, +and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is +in the course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates will push it +forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well +as new, North as well as South. + +Have we no tendency to the latter condition? Let anyone who doubts, +carefully contemplate that now almost complete legal combination--piece +of machinery, so to speak--compounded of the Nebraska doctrine and the +Dred Scott decision. Let him consider, not only what work the machinery +is adapted to do, and how well adapted, but also let him study the +history of its construction, and trace, if he can, or rather fail, if he +can, to trace the evidences of design, and concert of action, among its +chief architects, from the beginning. + +The new year of 1854 found slavery excluded from more than half the +States by State constitutions, and from most of the national territory +by Congressional prohibition. Four days later commenced the struggle +which ended in repealing that Congressional prohibition. This opened all +the national territory to slavery, and was the first point gained. But, +so far, Congress only had acted, and an indorsement by the people, real +or apparent, was indispensable to save the point already gained, and +give chance for more. + +This necessity had not been overlooked, but had been provided for, as +well as might be, in the notable argument of "squatter sovereignty," +otherwise called "sacred right of self-government," which latter phrase, +though expressive of the only rightful basis of any government, was so +perverted in this attempted use of it as to amount to just this: That if +any _one_ man choose to enslave _another_, no _third_ man shall be +allowed to object. That argument was incorporated into the Nebraska Bill +itself, in the language which follows: "It being the true intent and +meaning of this act not to legislate slavery into any Territory or +State, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof +perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their +own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States." Then +opened the roar of loose declamation in favor of "squatter sovereignty" +and "sacred right of self-government." "But," said opposition members, +"let us amend the bill so as to expressly declare that the people of the +Territory may exclude slavery." "Not we," said the friends of the +measure; and down they voted the amendment. + +While the Nebraska Bill was passing through Congress, a _law case,_ +involving the question of a negro's freedom, by reason of his owner +having voluntarily taken him first into a free State, and then into a +Territory covered by the Congressional prohibition, and held him as a +slave for a long time in each, was passing through the United States +Circuit Court for the District of Missouri; and both Nebraska Bill and +lawsuit were brought to a decision in the same month of May, 1854. The +negro's name was "Dred Scott," which name now designates the decision +finally made in the case. Before the then next Presidential election, +the law case came to and was argued in the Supreme Court of the United +States; but the decision of it was deferred until after the election. +Still, before the election, Senator Trumbull, on the floor of the +Senate, requested the leading advocate of the Nebraska Bill to state +_his opinion_ whether the people of a Territory can constitutionally +exclude slavery from their limits; and the latter answers, "That is a +question for the Supreme Court." + +The election came. Buchanan was elected, and the indorsement, such as it +was, secured. That was the second point gained. The indorsement, +however, fell short of a clear popular majority by nearly four hundred +thousand votes, and so, perhaps, was not overwhelmingly reliable and +satisfactory. The outgoing President, in his last annual message, as +impressively as possible echoed back upon the people the weight and +authority of the indorsement. The Supreme Court met again, did not +announce their decision, but ordered a reargument. The Presidential +inauguration came, and still no decision of the court; but the incoming +President, in his inaugural address, fervently exhorted the people to +abide by the forthcoming decision, whatever it might be. Then, in a few +days, came the decision. + +The reputed author of the Nebraska Bill finds an early occasion to make +a speech at this capital indorsing the Dred Scott decision, and +vehemently denouncing all opposition to it. The new President, too, +seizes the early occasion of the Silliman letter to indorse and strongly +construe that decision, and to express his astonishment that any +different view had ever been entertained! + +At length a squabble springs up between the President and the author of +the Nebraska Bill, on the mere question of _fact_, whether the Lecompton +Constitution was or was not in any just sense made by the people of +Kansas; and in that quarrel the latter declares that all he wants is a +fair vote for the people, and that he cares not whether slavery be voted +_down_ or voted _up_. I do not understand his declaration, that he cares +not whether slavery be voted down or voted up, to be intended by him +other than as an apt definition of the policy he would impress upon the +public mind--the principle for which he declares he has suffered so +much, and is ready to suffer to the end. And well may he cling to that +principle! If he has any parental feeling, well may he cling to it. That +principle is the only shred left of his original Nebraska doctrine. +Under the Dred Scott decision "squatter sovereignty" squatted out of +existence, tumbled down like temporary scaffolding; like the mould at +the foundry, served through one blast, and fell back into loose sand; +helped to carry an election, and then was kicked to the winds. His late +joint struggle with the Republicans, against the Lecompton Constitution, +involves nothing of the original Nebraska doctrine. That struggle was +made on a point--the right of a people to make their own +constitution--upon which he and the Republicans have never differed. + +The several points of the Dred Scott decision, in connection with +Senator Douglas's "care not" policy, constitute the piece of machinery, +in its present state of advancement. This was the third point gained. +The points of that machinery are: + +Firstly. That no negro slave, imported as such from Africa, and no +descendant of such slave, can ever be a citizen of any State, in the +sense of that term as used in the Constitution of the United States. +This point is made in order to deprive the negro, in every possible +event, of the benefit of that provision of the United States +Constitution which declares that "The citizens of each State shall be +entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several +States." + +Secondly. That, "subject to the Constitution of the United States," +neither Congress nor a Territorial Legislature can exclude slavery from +any United States Territory. This point is made in order that individual +men may fill up the Territories with slaves, without danger of losing +them as property, and thus to enhance the chances of permanency to the +institution through all the future. + +Thirdly. That whether the holding a negro in actual slavery in a free +State makes him free, as against the holder, the United States courts +will not decide, but will leave to be decided by the courts of any slave +State the negro may be forced into by the master. This point is made, +not to be pressed immediately; but, if acquiesced in for a while, and +apparently indorsed by the people at an election, then to sustain the +logical conclusion that what Dred Scott's master might lawfully do with +Dred Scott in the free State of Illinois, every other master may +lawfully do with any other one, or one thousand slaves, in Illinois, or +in any other free State. + +Auxiliary to all this, and working hand in hand with it, the Nebraska +doctrine, or what is left of it, is to educate and mould public opinion, +at least Northern public opinion, not to care whether slavery is voted +down or voted up. This shows exactly where we now are, and partially, +also, whither we are tending. + +It will throw additional light on the latter to go back and run the mind +over the string of historical facts already stated. Several things will +now appear less dark and mysterious than they did when they were +transpiring. The people were to be left "perfectly free," "subject only +to the Constitution." What the Constitution had to do with it outsiders +could not then see. Plainly enough now, it was an exactly fitted niche +for the Dred Scott decision to come in afterward, and declare the +perfect freedom of the people to be just no freedom at all. Why was the +amendment, expressly declaring the right of the people, voted down? +Plainly enough now, the adoption of it would have spoiled the niche for +the Dred Scott decision. Why was the court decision held up? Why even a +Senator's individual opinion withheld, till after the Presidential +election? Plainly enough now, the speaking out then would have damaged +the perfectly free argument upon which the election was to be carried. +Why the outgoing President's felicitation on the indorsement? Why the +delay of a reargument? Why the incoming President's advance exhortation +in favor of the decision? These things look like the cautious patting +and petting of a spirited horse preparatory to mounting him, when it is +dreaded that he may give the rider a fall. And why the hasty +after-indorsement of the decision by the President and others? + +We cannot absolutely know that all these exact adaptations are the +result of preconcert. But when we see a lot of framed timbers, different +portions of which we know have been gotten out at different times and +places and by different workmen--Stephen, Franklin, Roger, and James, +for instance--and when we see these timbers joined together, and see +they exactly make the frame of a house or a mill, all the tenons and +mortises exactly fitting, and all the lengths and proportions of the +different pieces exactly adapted to their respective places, and not a +piece too many or too few--not omitting even scaffolding--or, if a +single piece be lacking, we see the place in the frame exactly fitted +and prepared yet to bring such piece in--in such a case we find it +impossible not to believe that Stephen and Franklin and Roger and James +all understood one another from the beginning, and all worked upon a +common plan or draft drawn up before the first blow was struck. + +It should not be overlooked that by the Nebraska Bill the people of a +_State_ as well as Territory were to be left "perfectly free," "subject +only to the Constitution." Why mention a State? They were legislating +for Territories, and not for or about States. Certainly the people of a +State are and ought to be subject to the Constitution of the United +States; but why is mention of this lugged into this merely Territorial +law? Why are the people of a Territory and the people of a State therein +lumped together, and their relation to the Constitution therein treated +as being precisely the same? While the opinion of the court, by Chief +Justice Taney, in the Dred Scott case, and the separate opinions of all +the concurring judges expressly declare that the Constitution of the +United States neither permits Congress nor a Territorial Legislature to +exclude slavery from any United States Territory, they all omit to +declare whether or not the same Constitution permits a State, or the +people of a State, to exclude it. _Possibly_, this is a mere omission; +but who can be quite sure, if McLean or Curtis had sought to get into +the opinion a declaration of unlimited power in the people of a State to +exclude slavery from their limits, just as Chase and Mace sought to get +such declaration, in behalf of the people of a Territory, into the +Nebraska Bill--I ask, who can be quite sure that it would not have been +voted down in the one case as it had been in the other? + +The nearest approach to the point of declaring the power of a State over +slavery, is made by Judge Nelson. He approaches it more than once, using +the precise idea, and almost the language, too, of the Nebraska Act. On +one occasion, his exact language is, "Except in cases where the power is +restrained by the Constitution of the United States, the law of the +State is supreme over the subject of slavery within its jurisdiction." +In what cases the power of the States is so restrained by the United +States Constitution is left an open question, precisely as the same +question, as to the restraint on the power of the Territories, was left +open in the Nebraska Act. Put this and that together, and we have +another nice little niche, which we may, ere long, see filled with +another Supreme Court decision, declaring that the Constitution of the +United States does not permit a _State_ to exclude slavery from its +limits. And this may especially be expected if the doctrine of "care not +whether slavery be voted down or voted up" shall gain upon the public +mind sufficiently to give promise that such a decision can be maintained +when made. + +Such a decision is all that slavery now lacks of being alike lawful in +all the States. Welcome or unwelcome, such decision is probably coming, +and will soon be upon us, unless the power of the present political +dynasty shall be met and overthrown. We shall lie down pleasantly +dreaming that the people of Missouri are on the verge of making their +State free, and we shall awake to the reality instead that the Supreme +Court has made Illinois a slave State. To meet and overthrow the power +of that dynasty is the work now before all who would prevent that +consummation. That is what we have to do. How can we best do it? + +There are those who denounce us openly to their own friends, and yet +whisper us softly that Senator Douglas is the aptest instrument there is +with which to effect that object. They wish us to _infer_ all, from the +fact that he now has a little quarrel with the present head of the +dynasty, and that he has regularly voted with us on a single point, upon +which he and we have never differed. They remind us that he is a great +man, and that the largest of us are very small ones. Let this be +granted. But "a living dog is better than a dead lion." Judge Douglas, +if not a dead lion, for this work is at least a caged and toothless one. +How can he oppose the advances of slavery? He don't care anything about +it. His avowed mission is impressing the "public heart" to _care nothing +about it_. A leading Douglas Democratic newspaper thinks Douglas's +superior talent will be needed to resist the revival of the African +slave-trade. Does Douglas believe an effort to revive that trade is +approaching? He has not said so. Does he really think so? But if it is, +how can he resist it? For years he has labored to prove it a sacred +right of white men to take negro slaves into the new Territories. Can he +possibly show that it is less a sacred right to buy them where they can +be bought cheapest? And unquestionably they can be bought cheaper in +Africa than in Virginia. He has done all in his power to reduce the +whole question of slavery to one of a mere right of property; and, as +such, how can he oppose the foreign slave-trade--how can he refuse that +trade in that "property" shall be "perfectly free"--unless he does it as +a protection to the home production? And as the home producers will +probably not ask the protection, he will be wholly without a ground of +opposition. + +Senator Douglas holds, we know, that a man may rightfully be wiser +to-day than he was yesterday; that he may rightfully change when he +finds himself wrong. But can we, for that reason, run ahead, and infer +that he will make any particular change, of which he himself has given +no intimation? Can we safely base our action upon any such vague +inference? Now, as ever, I wish not to misrepresent Judge Douglas's +position, question his motives, or do aught that can be personally +offensive to him. Whenever, if ever, he and we can come together on +principle so that our cause may have assistance from his great ability, +I hope to have interposed no adventitious obstacle. But clearly he is +not now with us; he does not pretend to be--he does not promise ever to +be. + +Our cause, then, must be intrusted to and conducted by its own undoubted +friends--those whose hands are free, whose hearts are in the work, who +_do care_ for the result. Two years ago the Republicans of the nation +mustered over thirteen hundred thousand strong. We did this under the +single impulse of resistance to a common danger, with every external +circumstance against us. Of strange, discordant, and even hostile +elements we gathered from the four winds, and formed and fought the +battle through, under the constant hot fire of a disciplined, proud, and +pampered enemy. Did we brave all then, to falter now---now, when that +same enemy is wavering, dissevered, and belligerent? The result is not +doubtful. We shall not fail; if we stand firm, we _shall not fail_. Wise +counsels may accelerate or mistakes delay it, but sooner or later the +victory is sure to come. + + + + +(1854) THE OPENING OF JAPAN, Matthew C. Perry + + +In view of the events that have followed, the ending of Japan's +self-isolation and the opening of that country, first to American +commerce, and later to world-wide intercourse, must now be regarded as +an achievement of momentous consequence, far exceeding in importance all +that even the most prophetic statesmanship of the time could foresee. + +Under the shoguns (or military chiefs) who after the seventh century +overshadowed the hereditary rulers, the Mikados, there grew up in Japan +a feudal system whereby the generals, recognized as overlords, increased +and perpetuated their power. The attempts in the sixteenth and +seventeenth centuries to introduce Christianity were met with resistance +and persecution, and ended in failure. In the same centuries Japan +traded with the Portuguese, but excluded them in 1638. After this the +Japanese isolation was complete, except for restricted trade with the +Dutch, until the conclusion of Commodore Perry's treaty. + +About the middle of the nineteenth century a large amount of American +capital was invested in the whaling industry in Japanese and Chinese +waters, and one motive for the sending of Perry's expedition to Japan +was the protection of the whalers. Other things leading to that step +were: the discovery of gold in California; the growth of industrial and +commercial centres on the Pacific Coast of the United States; increasing +trade with China; and the development of steam-navigation, necessitating +coaling-stations and ports for shelter in the Orient. At the same time +progressive minds in Japan were advancing in knowledge of Western +science and political affairs; thus the East and the West were almost +prepared for a change in their mutual relations. + +In 1851 the United States Government empowered Commodore John H. Aulick +to negotiate and sign commercial treaties with Japan. On the eve of his +intended departure he was prevented from sailing, and in the following +year Commodore Matthew C. Perry, brother of Oliver Hazard Perry, the +hero of Lake Erie, succeeded to his mission. He was invested with +extraordinary naval and diplomatic powers, his immediate object being to +establish a coaling-station in Japan. On November 24, 1852, he sailed +from Norfolk with the Mississippi, leaving other ships to follow as soon +as ready. With his squadron he entered the Bay of Tokio (then called +Yedo) in July, 1853, causing great commotion among the inhabitants of +the Japanese capital, who mistook his appearance for a hostile approach. +It required both firmness and tact on Perry's part to open friendly +communication and present his proposals; but he succeeded in doing so +much, and then, saying that in the following spring he would come for an +answer, he withdrew to China. In February, 1854, he returned to Tokio +with a fleet of eight vessels. After some parley, the Japanese +authorities agreed to a conference at Kanagawa, a seaport adjoining +Yokohama. Of the negotiations that followed and the treaty in which they +resulted, the following pages tell, and Commodore Perry's own account is +the best record of his distinguished service not only to his own country +and Japan, but likewise to the civilized world. + +After concessions made by the Japanese, the greatest good feeling +prevailed on both sides, and there seemed every prospect of establishing +those national relations which had been the purpose of Commodore Perry's +mission. In accordance with the harmony and friendship that existed, +there was an interchange of those courtesies by which mutual good +feeling seeks an outward expression. The Japanese had acknowledged with +courtly thanks the presents that had been bestowed in behalf of the +Government, and now, on March 24th, invited the Commodore to receive the +various gifts that had been ordered by the Emperor in return, as a +public recognition of the courtesy of the United States. + +The Commodore, accordingly, landed at Yokohama, with a suite of officers +and his interpreters, and was received at the treaty-house with the +usual ceremonies by the high commissioners. The large reception-room was +crowded with the presents. The objects were of Japanese manufacture, and +consisted of specimens of rich brocades and silks; of their famous +lacquered ware, such as _chow-chow_ boxes, tables, trays, and goblets, +all skilfully wrought and finished with an exquisite polish; of +porcelain cups of wonderful lightness and transparency, adorned with +figures and flowers in gold and variegated colors, and exhibiting a +workmanship that surpassed even that of the ware for which the Chinese +are remarkable. Fans, pipe-cases, and articles of apparel in ordinary +use, of no great value but of exceeding interest, were scattered among +the more luxurious and costly objects. + +With the usual order and neatness that seem almost instinctive with the +Japanese, the various presents had been arranged in lots, and classified +in accordance with the rank of those for whom they were respectively +intended. The commissioners took their positions at the farther end of +the room, and when the Commodore and his suite entered, the ordinary +compliments having been interchanged, the Prince Hayashi read aloud, in +Japanese, the list of presents and the names of the persons to whom they +were to be given. This was then translated by Yenoske into Dutch, and by +Mr. Portman into English. This ceremony being over, the Commodore was +invited by the commissioners into the inner room, where he was presented +with two complete sets of Japanese coins, three matchlocks, and two +swords. These gifts, though of no great intrinsic value, were +significant evidences of the desire of the Japanese to express their +respect for the representative of the United States. The mere bestowal +of the coins, in direct opposition to the Japanese laws which absolutely +forbid all issue of their money beyond the Kingdom, was an act of marked +favor. + +As the Commodore prepared to depart, the commissioners said there was +one article intended for the President, which had not yet been +exhibited. They accordingly conducted the Commodore and his officers to +the beach, where one or two hundred sacks of rice were pointed out, +heaped up in readiness to be sent on board the ships. As that immense +supply of substantial food seemed to excite some wonder on the part of +the Americans, Yenoske the interpreter remarked that it was always +customary with the Japanese, when bestowing royal presents, to include a +certain quantity of rice, although he did not say whether the quantity +always amounted, as on the present occasion, to hundreds of sacks. + +While contemplating these substantial evidences of Japanese generosity, +the attention of all was suddenly riveted upon twenty-five monstrous +fellows who tramped down the beach like so many huge elephants. They +were professional wrestlers and formed part of the retinue of the +princes, who kept them for their private amusement and for public +entertainment. They were enormously tall, and tremendously heavy. Their +scant costume, which was merely a colored cloth about the loins, adorned +with fringes and emblazoned with the armorial bearings of the prince to +whom each belonged, revealed their gigantic proportions in all the +bloated fulness of fat and extent of muscle. + +Two or three of these huge monsters were the most famous wrestlers in +Japan and ranked as the champion Tom Cribbs and Sayers of the country. +Koyanagi, the reputed bully of the capital, was one of them, and paraded +himself with the conscious pride of superior size and strength. He was +especially brought to the Commodore that he might examine his massive +form. The commissioners insisted that the monstrous fellow should be +minutely inspected, that the hardness of his well-rounded muscle should +be felt, and that the fatness of his cushioned frame should be tested by +the touch. The Commodore accordingly attempted to grasp his arm, which +he found as solid as it was huge, and then passed his hand over the +monstrous neck, which fell in folds of massive flesh, like the dewlap of +a prize ox. As some surprise was naturally expressed at this wondrous +exhibition of animal development the monster himself gave a grunt +expressive of his flattered vanity. + +They were so enormously big that they appeared to have lost their +distinctive features, and seemed to be only twenty-five masses of fat. +Their eyes were barely visible through a long perspective of socket, the +prominence of their noses was lost in the puffiness of their bloated +cheeks, and their heads were set almost directly on their bodies with +merely folds of flesh where the neck and chin are usually found. Their +great size, however, was more owing to development of muscle than to +deposition of fat; for, although they were evidently well fed, they were +not less well exercised, and capable of great feats of strength. + +As a preliminary exhibition of the power of these men, the princes set +them to removing the sacks of rice to a convenient place on the shore +for shipping. Each of the sacks weighed not less than one hundred +twenty-five pounds, and there were only two of the wrestlers who did not +carry each two sacks at a time. They bore the sacks on the right +shoulder, lifting the first from the ground and adjusting it without +help, but obtaining aid for the raising of the second. One man carried a +sack suspended by his teeth, and another, taking one in his arms, turned +repeated somersaults as he held it, apparently with as much ease as if +his weight of flesh had been only so much gossamer and his load a +feather. + +After this preliminary display, the commissioners proposed that the +Commodore and his party should retire to the treaty-house, where they +would have an opportunity of seeing the wrestlers exhibit their +professional feats. From the brutal performance of these wrestlers, the +Americans turned with pride to the exhibition--to which the Japanese +commissioners were now in their turn invited--of the telegraph and the +railroad. It was a happy contrast, which a higher civilization +presented, to the disgusting display on the part of the Japanese +officials. In place of the show of brute animal force there was a +triumphant revelation, to a partially enlightened people, of the success +of science and enterprise. + +The Japanese took great delight in seeing the rapid movement of the +Liliputian locomotive; and one of the scribes of the commissioners took +his seat upon the car, while the engineer stood upon the tender, feeding +the furnace with one hand, and directing the diminutive engine with the +other. Crowds of the Japanese gathered round and looked on the repeated +circlings of the train with unabated pleasure and surprise, unable to +repress a shout of delight at each blast of the steam-whistle. The +telegraph, with its wonders, though before witnessed, still created +renewed interest, and all the beholders were unceasing in their +expressions of curiosity and astonishment. The agricultural instruments +having been explained to the commissioners by Doctor Morrow, a formal +delivery of the telegraph, the railway, and other articles, which made +up the list of American presents, ensued. + +The Prince of Mamasaki had been delegated by his coadjutors +ceremoniously to accept, and Captain Adams was appointed by the +Commodore to deliver, the gifts; and each performed his functions by an +interchange of compliments and a half-dozen stately bows. + +After this, a detachment of marines from the squadron were put through +their various evolutions, while the bands furnished martial music. The +Japanese commissioners seemed to take a very great interest in this +military display, and expressed themselves much gratified at the +soldierly air and excellent discipline of the men. This closed the +performances of the day. + +The next day (March 25th), Yenoske, accompanied by Kenzeiro, his +fellow-interpreter, came on board the Powhatan to acknowledge formally, +in behalf of the commissioners, their gratitude for the exhibition of +the marines, the locomotive, and the telegraph, with all which they +declared themselves highly delighted. Yenoske and his coadjutor were +invited to seat themselves in the cabin of the Commodore, and, after +some expressions of courtesy which the Japanese officials were careful +never to intermit, proposed to talk over some points in connection with +the projected treaty. The Commodore said he had no objections to the +discussion of the matters informally; but he protested against +considering the interpreters as the official representatives of the +commissioners, with the latter of whom only, he declared, could he treat +authoritatively. + +Monday, March 27th, was the day appointed for the entertainment to which +the Commodore had invited the commissioners and their attendants. +Accordingly, great arrangements were made in the flagship preparatory to +the occasion. The quarterdeck was adorned with a great variety of flags, +and all parts of the steamer were in perfect order, while the officers, +marines, and men dressed themselves in their uniforms and prepared to do +honor in every respect to their expected visitors. As it was known that +the strictness of Japanese etiquette would not allow the high +commissioners to sit at the same table with their subordinates, the +Commodore ordered two banquets, one to be spread in his cabin for the +chief dignitaries, and another on the quarter-deck. + +Previous to coming on board the Powhatan, the commissioners visited the +sloop-of-war Macedonian, being saluted as they stepped on her deck by +seventeen guns from the Mississippi lying near. The great guns and +boarders having been exercised for their entertainment, the +commissioners, with their numerous attendants, left for the Powhatan, +the Macedonian firing a salvo in their honor as they took their +departure. On arriving on board the flagship, they were first conducted +through the different departments of the steamer, and examined with +minute interest the guns and the machinery. A boat was lowered, with a +howitzer in its bows, and this was repeatedly discharged, much to their +amusement, for they evidently had a great fondness for martial exercise +and display. The engines were next put in motion, and they evinced the +usual intelligence of the higher class of Japanese in their inquiries +and remarks. + +The Commodore had invited the four captains of the squadron, his +interpreter, Mr. Williams, and his secretary, to join the commissioners +at his table. Yenoske, the Japanese interpreter, was allowed the +privilege, as a special condescension on the part of his superiors, to +sit at a side-table in the cabin, where his humble position did not seem +to disturb either his equanimity or his appetite. Hayashi, who always +preserved his grave and dignified bearing, ate and drank sparingly, but +tasted of every dish, and sipped of every kind of wine. He was the only +one, in fact, whose sobriety was proof against the unrestrained +conviviality that prevailed among his bacchanalian coadjutors. + +The Japanese party upon deck, who were entertained by a large body of +officers from the various ships, became quite uproarious under the +influence of overflowing supplies of champagne, Madeira, and punch, +which they seemed greatly to relish. The Japanese took the lead in +proposing healths and toasts, and were by no means the most backward in +drinking them. They kept shouting at the top of their voices, and were +heard far above the music of the bands that enlivened the entertainment +by a succession of brisk and cheerful tunes. In the eagerness of the +Japanese appetite there was but little discrimination in the choice of +dishes and in the order of courses, and the most startling heterodoxy +was exhibited in the confused commingling of fish, flesh, and fowl, +soups and syrups, fruits, fricassees, roast and boiled, pickles and +preserves. As a most generous supply had been provided, there were still +some remnants of the feast left after the guests had satisfied their +voracity, which most of these Japanese, in accordance with their custom, +stowed away about their persons to carry off. The Japanese always have +an abundant supply of paper within the left bosom of their loose robes, +in a capacious pocket. This is used for various purposes; one species, +as soft as our cotton cloth, and withal exceedingly tough, is used for a +handkerchief; another furnishes the material for taking notes, or for +wrapping up what is left after a feast. On the present occasion, when +the dinner was over, all the Japanese guests simultaneously spread out +their long folds of paper, and gathering what scraps they could lay +their hands on, without regard to the kind of food, made up an envelope +of conglomerate eatables in which there was such a confusion of the sour +and sweet, the albuminous, oleaginous, and saccharine, that the +chemistry of Liebig or the practised taste of the Commodore's Parisian +cook would never have reached a satisfactory analysis. They not only +always followed this practice themselves, but insisted that their +American guests, when entertained at a Japanese feast, should adopt it +also. + +Whenever the Commodore and his officers were feasted on shore, paper +parcels of the remnants were thrust into their hands on leaving. After +the banquet the Japanese were entertained by an exhibition of negro +minstrelsy, got up by some of the sailors. The gravity of the saturnine +Hayashi was not proof against the grotesque exhibition, and even he +joined in the general hilarity. It was now sunset and the Japanese +prepared to depart, with quite as much wine in them as they could well +bear. The jovial Matsusaki threw his arms about the Commodore's neck, +crushing in his tipsy embrace a pair of new epaulettes, and repeating, +in Japanese, with maudlin affection, these words, as interpreted into +English: "Nippon and America, all the same heart." He then went toddling +into his boat, supported by some of his more steady companions, and soon +all the happy party had left the ships and were making rapidly for the +shore. The Saratoga fired the salute of seventeen guns as the last boat +pulled off from the Powhatan, and the squadron was once more left in the +usual quiet of ordinary ship's duty. + +The following day the Commodore landed to have a conference in regard to +the remaining points of the treaty, previous to signing. He was met at +the treaty-house by the commissioners. As soon as the Commodore had +taken his seat, a letter was handed to him, which the Japanese said they +had just received from Simoda. It was from Commander Pope, and had been +transmitted through the authorities overland. Its contents gave a +satisfactory report of Simoda, and the Commodore at once said he +accepted that port, but declared that it must be opened without delay. +Hakodate, he added, would do for the other, and Napha, in Riu Kiu [Loo +Choo Islands], could be retained for the third. In regard to the other +two he was willing, he said, to postpone their consideration to some +other time. + +The Commodore now proposed to sign the agreement in regard to the three +ports, and directed his interpreter to read it in Dutch. When the +document had been thus read and afterward carefully perused by the +Japanese, they said they were prepared to concur in everything except as +to the _immediate_ opening of Simoda. After discussion, it was finally +settled that, though the port might be opened, the Japanese would +address a note to the Commodore, saying that not everything which might +be wanting by ships would be furnished there before the expiration of +ten months, but that wood and water and whatever else the place +possessed would be supplied immediately; and to this note the Commodore +promised to reply and express his satisfaction with such an arrangement. + +The question now came up with respect to the extent of privileges to be +granted to Americans who might visit Simoda, in the discussion of which +it was plain that the Japanese meant to be distinctly understood as +prohibiting absolutely, at least for the present, the permanent +residence of Americans, with their families, in Japan. The distance, +also, to which Americans might extend their excursions into the country +around the ports of Simoda and Hakodate was settled; and it is +observable that, at the special request of the Japanese, the Commodore +named the distance, they assenting at once to that which he mentioned. + +The proposition to have consular agents residing in Japan evidently gave +great anxiety to the commissioners. The Commodore was firm in saying +there must be such agents, for the sake of the Japanese themselves as +well as for that of his own countrymen, and it was finally conceded that +there should be one, to live at Simoda, and that he should not be +appointed until a year and eighteen months from the date of the treaty. + +Two more articles, including the new points that had been discussed, +were now added to the transcript of the proposed treaty; the Japanese +promised to bring on board the Powhatan next day a copy in Dutch of +their understanding of the agreement as far as concurred in, and the +Commodore departed. + +In the next two days several notes passed between the Commodore and the +Japanese commissioners, in the course of which various questions that +had been already considered were definitely settled; and the American +interpreters were occupied, in cooperation with the Japanese, in drawing +up the treaty in the Chinese, Dutch, and Japanese languages. On the 29th +the ships Vandalia and Southampton arrived from Simoda with the +confirmation of what Commander Pope had already said in his +despatch--which had been transmitted by the Japanese authorities, +overland, to the Commodore--namely, that the harbor and town of Simoda +had been found, on examination, suitable in every respect for the +purposes of the Americans. All was now in readiness for the final +signing of the treaty. + +Accordingly, on Friday, March 31, 1854, the Commodore went to the +treaty-house with his usual attendants, and immediately on his arrival +signed three several drafts of the treaty written in the English +language, and delivered them to the commissioners, together with three +copies of the same in the Dutch and Chinese languages, certified by the +interpreters, Messrs. Williams and Portman, for the United States. At +the same time the Japanese commissioners, in behalf of their Government, +handed to the Commodore three drafts of the treaty written respectively +in the Japanese, Chinese, and Dutch languages, and signed by the four of +their body delegated by the Emperor for that purpose. + +Immediately on the signing and exchange of the copies of the treaty, the +Commodore presented the first commissioner, Prince Hayashi, with an +American flag, remarking that he considered it the highest expression of +national courtesy and friendship he could offer. The Prince was +evidently deeply impressed with this significant mark of amity, and +returned his thanks for it with indications of great feeling. The +Commodore then presented the other dignitaries with the various gifts he +had especially reserved for them. All formal business being now +concluded, to the satisfaction of both parties, the Japanese +commissioners invited the Commodore and his officers to partake of an +entertainment prepared for the occasion. + +The tables were spread in the large reception hall. These were wide +divans, such as were used for seats, and of the same height. They were +covered with a red-colored crape, and arranged in order according to the +rank of the guests and their hosts, an upper table raised somewhat above +the rest being appropriated to the Commodore, his superior officers, and +the commissioners. When all were seated the servitors brought in a rapid +succession of courses, consisting chiefly of thick soups, or rather +stews, in most of which fresh fish was a component part. These were +served in small earthen bowls or cups, and were brought in upon +lacquered stands, about fourteen inches square and ten inches high, and +placed, one before each guest, upon the tables. Together with each dish +was a supply of soy or some other condiment, while throughout there was +an abundant quantity, served in peculiar vessels, of the Japanese +national liquor, the _sake_, a sort of whiskey distilled from rice. +Various sweetened confections and a multiplicity of cakes were liberally +interspersed among the other articles on the tables. Toward the close of +the feast, a plate containing a broiled crawfish, a piece of fried fish +of some kind, two or three boiled shrimps, and a small square pudding +with something of the consistence of blancmange, was placed before each, +with a hint that they were to follow the guests on their return to the +ships, and they were accordingly sent and duly received afterward. + +After the feast, which passed pleasantly and convivially, compliments +being freely exchanged, and healths drunk in Liliputian cups of sake, +the commissioners expressed great anxiety about the proposed visit of +the Commodore to Yedo. They earnestly urged him not to take his ships +any farther up the bay, as they said it would lead to trouble by which +the populace might be disturbed and their own lives perhaps jeoparded. +The Commodore argued the matter with them for some time, and, as they +still pertinaciously urged their objections to his visit to the capital, +it was agreed that the subject should be further discussed by an +interchange of notes. The meeting then broke up. + +When it was determined by our Government to send an expedition to Japan, +those in authority were not unmindful of the peculiar characteristics of +that singular nation. Unlike all other civilized peoples, it was in a +state of voluntary, long-continued, and determined isolation. It neither +desired nor sought communication with the rest of the world, but, on the +contrary, strove to the uttermost to prevent it. It was comparatively an +easy task to propose, to any Power the ports of which were freely +visited by ships from every part of the world, the terms of a commercial +treaty. But not so when, by any Power, commerce itself was interdicted. +Before general conditions of commerce could be proposed to such a Power, +it was necessary to settle the great preliminary that commerce would be +allowed at all. Again, if that preliminary was settled affirmatively, a +second point of great moment remained to be discussed, viz., to what +degree shall intercourse for trading be extended? Among nations +accustomed to the usages of Christendom, the principles and extent of +national comity in the interchanges of commercial transactions have been +so long and so well defined and understood that, as between them, the +term "commercial treaty" needs no explanation; its meaning is +comprehended alike by all, and in its stipulations it may cover the very +broad extent that includes everything involved in the operations of +commerce between two maritime nations. But in a kingdom which, in its +polity, expressly ignored commerce and repudiated it as an evil instead +of a good, it was necessary to lay the very foundation as well as to +adjust the terms. + +Hence the instructions to Commodore Perry covered broad ground, and his +letters of credence conformed to his instructions. If he found the +Japanese disposed to abandon, at once and forever, their deliberately +adopted plan of non-intercourse with foreigners (an event most +unlikely), his powers were ample to make with them a commercial treaty +as wide and general as any we have with the nations of Europe. If they +were disposed to relax but in part their jealous and suspicious system, +formally to profess relations of friendship, and, opening some only of +their ports to our vessels, to allow a trade in those ports between +their people and ours, he was authorized to negotiate for this purpose, +and secure for his country such privileges as he could, not inconsistent +with the self-respect which, as a nation, we owed to ourselves. It must +not be forgotten, in the contemplation of what was accomplished, that +our representative went to a people who, at the time of his arrival +among them, had, both by positive law and usage of more than two hundred +years, allowed but one of their harbors, Nagasaki, to be opened to +foreigners at all; had permitted no trade with such foreigners when they +did come, except, under stringent regulations, with the Dutch and the +Chinese; were in the habit of communicating with the world outside of +them at second-hand only, through the medium of the Dutch who were +imprisoned at Dezima; and a people who, as far as we know, never made a +formal treaty with a civilized nation in the whole course of their +history. + +There were but two points on which the Commodore's instructions did not +allow him a large discretion to be exercised according to circumstances. +These were, first, that if happily any arrangements for trade, either +general or special, were made, it was to be distinctly stipulated that, +under no circumstances and in no degree, would the Americans submit to +the humiliating treatment so long borne by the Dutch in carrying on +their trade. The citizens of our country must be dealt with as freemen, +or there should be no dealings at all. The second point was that, in the +event of any of our countrymen being cast, in God's providence, as +shipwrecked men on the coast of Japan, they should not be treated as +prisoners, confined in cages, or subjected to inhuman treatment, but +should be received with kindness and hospitably cared for until they +could leave the country. + +The nearest approach to a precedent was to be found in our treaty with +China, made in 1844. This therefore was carefully studied by the +Commodore. Its purport was "a treaty or general convention of peace, +amity, and commerce," and to settle the rules to "be mutually observed +in the intercourse of the respective countries." So far as "commerce" is +concerned, it permitted "the citizens of the United States to frequent" +five ports in China "and to reside with their families and trade there, +and to proceed at pleasure with their vessels and merchandise to or from +any foreign port, and from either of the said five ports to enter any +other of them." As to duties on articles imported, they were to pay +according to a tariff that was made part of the treaty, and in no case +were to be subjected to higher duties than those paid, under similar +circumstances, by the people of other nations. Consuls were provided +for, to reside at the five open ports, and those trading there were +"permitted to import from their own or any other ports into China, and +sell there and purchase therein, and export to their own or any other +ports, all manner of merchandise of which the importation or exportation +was not prohibited by the treaty." In short, so far as the five ports +were concerned, there existed between us and China a general treaty of +commerce. + +The Commodore caused to be prepared, in the Chinese characters, a +transcript of the treaty, with such verbal alterations as would make it +applicable to Japan, with the view of exhibiting it to the Imperial +commissioners of that country should he be so successful as to open +negotiations. He was not sanguine enough to hope that he could procure +an entire adoption of the Chinese treaty by the Japanese. He was not +ignorant of the difference in national characteristics between the +inhabitants of China and the more independent, self-reliant, and sturdy +natives of the Japanese islands. He knew that the latter held the former +in some degree of contempt and treated them in the matter of trade very +much as they treated the Dutch. He was also aware that the Chinese, when +they made their treaty, did know something of the advantages that might +result from intercourse with the rest of the world; while as to the +Japanese, in their long-continued isolation, either they neither knew +nor desired such advantages, or, if they knew them, feared they might be +purchased at too high a price in the introduction of foreigners, who, as +in the case of the Portuguese, centuries before, might seek to overturn +the empire. It was too much, therefore, to expect that the Japanese +would in all the particulars of a treaty imitate the Chinese. + +Of the difficulties encountered, even after the Japanese had consented +to negotiate, the best account may be given from the conferences and +discussions between the negotiators, of all which most accurate reports +were kept on both sides, in the form of dialogue. At the first meeting +of the Commodore with the Imperial commissioners, on March 8th, he acted +on the plan he had proposed to himself with respect to the treaty with +China, and thus addressed them: + +_Commodore Perry_. I think it would be better for the two nations that a +treaty similar to the one between my country and the Chinese should be +made between us. I have prepared the draft of one almost identical with +our treaty with China. I have been sent here by my Government to make a +treaty with yours; if I do not succeed now, my Government will probably +send more ships here; but I hope we shall soon settle matters amicably. + +_Japanese_. We wish for time to have the document translated into the +Japanese language. + +This was but one among a hundred proofs of their extreme suspicion and +caution; for there was not one of the Imperial commissioners, probably, +who could not have read, without the least difficulty, the document as +furnished by the Commodore; and certain it is that their interpreters +could have read it off into Japanese at once. + +The Commodore, who wished to do as far as possible everything that might +conciliate, of course made no objection to a request so seemingly +reasonable, though he knew it to be needless, and was content to wait +patiently for their reply. In one week that reply came in writing, and +was very explicit: "As to opening a trade, such as is now carried on by +China with your country, we certainly cannot yet bring it about. The +feelings and manners of our people are very unlike those of other +nations, and it will be exceedingly difficult, even if you wish it, to +change immediately the old regulations for those of other countries. +Moreover, the Chinese have long had intercourse with Western nations, +while we have had dealings at Nagasaki with only the people of Holland +and China." + +This answer was not entirely unexpected, and put an end to all prospect +of negotiating a "commercial treaty" in the European sense of that +phrase. It only remained therefore to secure, for the present, admission +into the kingdom, and so much of trade as Japanese jealousy could be +brought to concede. At length, after much and oft-repeated discussion, +the point was yielded that certain ports might be opened to our vessels; +and then, in the interview of March 25th, came up the subject of +consuls. + +_Japanese_. About the appointment of consuls or agents, the +commissioners desire a delay of four or five years, to see how the +intercourse works. The governor of the town and the official interpreter +will be able to carry on all the business of supplying provisions, coal, +and needed articles, with the captain, without the intervention of a +consul. + +_Perry_. The duties of a consul are to report all difficulties that +arise between American citizens and Japanese to his Government in an +authentic manner, assist the Japanese in carrying out their laws and the +provisions of the treaty and recovering debts made by the Americans; and +also communicating to the Government at Washington whatever the Japanese +wish, as no letters can be received after this through the Dutch; and if +no consuls are received, then a ship-of-war must remain in Japan +constantly, and her captain must do the duties of a consul. + +_Japanese_. If we had not felt great confidence in you, we should not +have consented to open our ports at all. Consuls may be accepted by and +by, after experience has shown their need; and we hope that all American +citizens obey the laws of their country and behave properly. + +_Perry_. True, and I hope no difficulty will arise; and this appointment +of consuls in Japan, as they are in China, Hawaii, and everywhere else, +is to prevent and provide for difficulties. No American will report his +own misdeeds to his own Government, nor can the Japanese bring them to +our notice except through a government agent. This provision must be in +the treaty, though I will stipulate for only one, to reside at Simoda, +and he will not be sent probably for a year or two from this time. + +And thus it was that the Commodore had to explain everything and feel +his way, step by step, in the progress of the whole negotiation. + +_Japanese_. The commissioners wish every point desired by the Admiral to +be stated clearly, for the Japanese are not equal to the Americans, and +have not much to give in exchange. + +_Perry_. I have already stated all my views as regards our intercourse, +in the draft of the treaty you have. [This was one prepared by the +Commodore after the rejection of the transcript of the Chinese treaty.] +Let the commissioners state their objections to it. This treaty now to +be made is only a beginning; and as the nations know each other, the +Japanese will permit Americans to go anywhere, to Fujiyama--all over the +country. + +_Japanese_. We have found restrictions necessary against the Portuguese +and the English. + +Then followed observations by the Japanese on Pellew's entry into +Nagasaki harbor, which showed how much dislike of the English that event +had occasioned. A strong proof of their remarkable caution was furnished +by the Japanese at the conference held on March 28th when most of the +terms of the treaty had been agreed upon. + +_Perry_. I am prepared now to sign the treaty about these three harbors. + +Mr. Portman, interpreter, then read in Dutch that portion of the treaty +which contained such points as had been already agreed upon. + +_Japanese_. It is all correct except that we have objection to opening +the port of Simoda immediately; if any vessels were to go there in +distress, we should be glad to furnish them with provisions, wood, and +water. + +_Perry_. You have already consented, in one of your letters to me, to +open that port immediately. I am very desirous of settling that matter +now, as I wish to despatch the Saratoga home to inform the Government, +before Congress adjourns, how matters are advancing; that will take some +time, and there is no probability that any ships will come here before +ten or twelve months have expired; so that it will make no difference to +you whether you put it in the treaty to be opened now or in ten months. + +_Japanese_. We are willing to put it in the treaty "to be opened now," +if you will give us a letter or promise that no ships will come here +before the President gives his permission. + +_Perry_. I cannot do that very well, but I am willing to put it off +ninety days; that will be about the time I shall return from Hakodate; +it was your own proposition, yesterday, to open that port immediately. I +consent to this, however, to show you how desirous I am to do what I can +to please you. I cannot consent to a longer time. + +_Japanese_. If we put it in the treaty to be opened now, we would like +you to give us an order that no ships shall enter that port before ten +months. + +_Perry_. I cannot do that. But there is no probability that any ships +will come here before that time, as I shall not leave here for three +months, and they will not hear of it before that time; and when they do +hear of it, it will take several months for ships to make the voyage +here. If you choose I will keep one of the ships at Simoda for several +months. + +_Japanese_. If ships go there before that time we shall not be able to +give them other than provisions, wood, and water. + +_Perry_. The ships that may go there will want such things only as you +may have; if you have them not, of course you cannot and will not be +expected to furnish them; but, as I said before, there is no probability +that ships will go there before the expiration of ten months. + +_Japanese_. When you come back from Matsumai, we shall have plenty of +provisions at Simoda for the whole squadron; but to other ships we +cannot furnish more than wood, water, etc. + +_Perry_. When we return from Matsumai we shall not want many provisions, +as we shall be going to a place where we shall get plenty. It is only +the principle I wish settled now. I have come here as a peacemaker, and +I desire to settle everything now, and thus prevent trouble hereafter; I +wish to write home to my Government that the Japanese are friends. + +_Japanese_. We will write you a letter stating that we cannot furnish +you anything before ten months, but that we can furnish wood and water +immediately, and that we will furnish such other things as we possibly +can. This letter we should like you to answer. + +_Perry_. Very well; I will. + +_Japanese_. [Entering on another part of the terms agreed on.] We will +not confine Americans, or prevent them from walking around; but we +should like to place a limit to the distance they may walk. + +_Perry_. I am prepared to settle that matter now, but they must not be +confined to any particular house or street. Suppose we make the distance +they may walk, the same distance that a man can go and come in a day. +Or, if you choose, the number of _lis_ or _ris_ may be agreed upon. + +_Japanese_. We are willing that they shall walk as far as they can go +and come in a day. + +_Perry_. There is no probability that sailors would wish to go on shore +more than once from curiosity; besides, they will have their daily +duties to attend to on board ship and will not be able to go on shore. + +_Japanese_. We do not wish any women to come and remain at Simoda. + +_Perry_. The probability is that few women will go there, and they only +the wives of the officers of the ships. + +_Japanese_. When you come back from Matsumai we should like _you_ to +settle the distance that Americans are to walk. It is difficult for _us_ +to settle the distance. + +_Perry_. Say the distance of seven Japanese miles in any direction from +the centre of the city of Simoda. + +_Japanese_. Very well. A few miles will make no difference. You are +requested not to leave agents until after you have experienced that it +is necessary. + +_Perry_. I am willing to defer the appointment of a consul or an agent +one year or eighteen months from the date of the signing the treaty; and +then, if my Government think it necessary, it will send one. + +In fact, not an article of the treaty was made without the most serious +deliberation by the Japanese. In answer to a question from Captain +Adams, in the very first stages of the negotiation, they replied: "The +Japanese are unlike the Chinese; they are adverse to change; and when +they make a compact of any kind they intend that it shall endure for a +thousand years. For this reason it will be best to deliberate and +examine well the facilities for trade and the suitableness of the port +before any one is determined on." Probably nothing but the exercise of +the most perfect truthfulness and patience would ever have succeeded in +making a treaty with them at all; and from the language of one of their +communications, it is obvious that, with characteristic caution, they +meant that their present action should be but a beginning of +intercourse, which might or might not be afterward made more extensive, +according to the results of what they deemed the experiment. + +This, it must be remembered, was the first formal treaty they ever made +on the subject of foreign trade, at least since the expulsion of the +Portuguese, and they evidently meant to proceed cautiously by single +steps. + +There is observable throughout the negotiations the predominating +influence of the national prejudice against the permanent introduction +of foreigners among them. The word "reside" is but once used in the +whole treaty, and that in the article relative to consuls. The details +of conferences, already given, show how anxiously they sought to avoid +having consuls at all. Indeed, Commodore Perry says, "I could only +induce the commissioners to agree to this article, by endeavoring to +convince them that it would save the Japanese Government much trouble if +an American agent were to reside at one or both of the ports opened by +the treaty, to whom complaints might be made of any malpractice of the +United States citizens who might visit the Japanese dominions." They +wanted no permanent foreign residents among them, official or +unofficial. This was shown most unequivocally in the remark already +recorded in one of the conferences--"We do not wish any women to come +and remain at Simoda." + +Simoda was one of the ports open for trade with us; they knew that our +people had wives and daughters, and that a man's family were ordinarily +resident with him in his permanent abode, and that if the head of the +family lived in Simoda as a Japanese would live, there would certainly +be women who would "come and remain at Simoda." But more than this. It +will be remembered that the Commodore had submitted to them our treaty +with China, and they had held it under consideration for a week, at the +end of which time they said: "As to opening a trade, such as is now +carried on by China with your country, we certainly cannot yet bring it +about. The Chinese have long had intercourse with Western nations, while +we have had dealings at Nagasaki with only the people of Holland and +China." Now what was "such a trade" as we carried on with China? The +Japanese read in our treaty that five ports were open to us, that +permission was given "to the citizens of the United States to frequent" +them; and further, "to reside with their families and trade there." This +they deliberately declined assenting to when they refused to make a +treaty similar to that with China. They surely would not afterward +knowingly insert it in any treaty they might make with us. + +The only permanent residence to which they gave assent, and that most +reluctantly, was the residence of a consul. Temporary residence was +allowed to our shipwrecked citizens, as well as to those who went to +Simoda or Hakodate on commercial business. They are allowed to land, to +walk where they please within certain limits, to enter shops and temples +without restriction, to purchase in the shops, and have the articles +sent to the proper public office duly marked, where they will pay for +them, to resort to public-houses or inns that are to be built for their +refreshment "when on shore" at Simoda and Hakodate; and until built, a +temple, at each place, is assigned "as a resting-place for persons in +their walks." They may accept invitations to partake of the hospitality +of any of the Japanese; but they are not permitted to enter "military +establishments or private houses without leave." Without leave, our +citizens cannot enter them within the territories of any nation with +which we have a treaty. In short, the whole treaty shows that the +purpose of the Japanese was to make the experiment of intercourse with +us before they made it as extensive or as intimate as it was between us +and the Chinese. It was all they could do at the time, and much, very +much, was obtained on the part of our negotiator in procuring a +concession even to this extent. + +But, as he knew that our success would be but the forerunner of that of +other powers, and as he believed that new relations of trade once +commenced, not only with ourselves, but with England, France, Holland, +and Russia, could not fail, in the progress of events, to break up the +old restrictive policy, effectually and forever, and open Japan to the +world; and must also lead gradually to liberal commercial treaties, he +wisely, in the ninth article, secured to the United States and their +citizens, without "consultation or delay," all privileges and advantages +which Japan might hereafter "grant to any other nation or nations." And +the Commodore's comments on this article conclusively show that _he_, at +least, did not suppose he had made a "commercial treaty": + +"Article IX. This is a most important article, as there can be little +doubt that, on hearing of the success of this mission, the English, +French, and Russians will follow our example; and it may be reasonable +to suppose that each will gain some additional advantage, until a +commercial treaty is accomplished. Article IX will give to Americans, +without further consultation, all these advantages." + +All other powers were forced to be content in obtaining just what we, as +pioneers, obtained. Their treaties were like ours. That of Russia was +copied from ours, with no change but that of the substitution of the +port of Nagasaki for Napha in Riu Kiu. We respectfully submit, +therefore, that all, and indeed more than all, under the circumstances, +that could have been reasonably expected has been accomplished. + + + + +(1855) THE CAPTURE OF SEBASTOPOL, Sir Edward B. Hamely and Sir Evelyn + Wood + + +This is the most famous event of the Crimean War, in which Russian power +was pitted against the allied forces of Turkey, France, Great Britain, +and Sardinia. The war grew out of rival demands concerning a +protectorate in Turkey. In 1852 Napoleon III asked for the restoration +of the protectorate of the Holy Places in the Ottoman Empire to the +Latin Church. Supported by Russia, the Greek Church had virtually +supplanted the Latin Church in Turkish dominions, and Russia now put +forward a demand for a protectorate over the Greek subjects of the +Sultan. Turkey had no interest in the religious questions at issue, and +she pursued a wavering course between the disputing powers, fearing to +offend either of them. Russia at last began openly to threaten Turkey, +and, finding vacillation and diplomacy no longer availing for a +postponement of the conflict, the Sultan declared war, October 4, 1853. + +In the early engagements of the war the Turks gained some successes over +Russian troops, but the first important event was the destruction of a +part of the Turkish fleet at Sinope, November 30, 1853. This, being +regarded by England as an act of treachery on the part of Russia, +brought Great Britain into the conflict. The Russians occupied the +Danubian principalities, and the Battle of the Alma, in which the allies +first confronted Russia, was won by the former, with greatly superior +numbers, September 20, 1854. + +The siege of Sebastopol began in October, and during its progress +important battles occurred--that of Balaklava, that of Inkerman, +November 5th, in which the Russians were defeated by the English and the +French; that of Tchernaya, August 16, 1855, a victory for the Russians; +and the storming of the Malakoff, described below. The capture of +Sebastopol was followed by the taking of Kars by the Russians, November +28, 1855, and the war ended. In accordance with the Treaty of Paris, +March 30, 1856, Russia abandoned her claim to a protectorate over +Christians in Turkey, and the Sultan agreed to grant them more favorable +terms. + +Sir Edward Bruce Hamley and Sir Henry Evelyn Wood, British generals who +served in the Crimean War, give us the best accounts of the siege and +capture of Sebastopol, in which they were active participants. The siege +had continued through many weeks without decisive developments, when on +June 18, 1855, the French made a strong but unsuccessful assault on the +Malakoff, which, like the Redan, formed one of the main defences. The +following narratives describe the British assault on the Redan and the +final storming of the Malakoff by the French. + + +SIR EDWARD BRUCE HAMLEY + +Seeing how desperate was the condition of the fortress, Prince +Gortschakoff had resolved, after the Battle of the Tchernaya, to abandon +Sebastopol. In letters to the Minister of War, of August 18 and 24, +1855, he expressed this intention, saying there was not a man in the +army who would not call it folly to continue the defence longer. With a +view to conducting a retreat he pressed forward rapidly the construction +of the bridge across the harbor, which was to have a roadway of sixteen +feet and to bear heavy vehicles. He also conferred with Todleben on +other measures to protect the withdrawal, and accordingly barricades +were built across the streets and formed into armed and defensible works +which were intended, as a last resort, to hold in check the assailants. +Preparations were also made for blowing up the principal forts and +magazines. + +Another great cannonade had begun on August 17th. The French lines had +now approached so close to the place that new additions to them were +immediately destroyed or rendered untenable by the fire from the +Malakoff and Little Redan; and the shower of small shells, easily cast +into the trenches from the ramparts, and called by the French +"bouquets," greatly increased their losses. For the silencing of the +artillery, which thus hindered the French sappers, the allied batteries +opened in full force against the part of the enemy's lines from the +Redan to the great harbor. But the town front was not included, and the +English batteries suffered greatly from want of support by the works on +their left. + +On August 20th Gortschakoff entered the fortress, and went round the +lines of defence, upon which the fire of the allies was just then at its +height. What he saw might well confirm him in his resolution to retreat. +There was no longer either a city or a suburb to defend, for both were +heaps of rubbish and cinders. The parapets of the works, dried in the +heats of summer and split in huge fragments by the shot, were crumbling +into the ditches. The interior space was honeycombed with holes made by +the shells. Gabions and sandbags could not be procured to repair the +embrasures, which remained in ruins. Many of the dismounted guns could +no longer be replaced, not because there were not plenty in the +arsenals, but because to mount them by night, under the deadly fire of +the mortars, entailed such frightful sacrifices of men. + +The defenders of the works were packed in caves under the parapets; the +gunners lay dead in heaps on the batteries; the wounded could not be +removed by day, because the communications with the rear were now +searched throughout by the fire of the allies, and so lay where they +fell, in torment in the sun beside the more fortunate slain. On landing, +the Prince had passed the hospitals, full to overflowing, and the +ambulances with the wounded crowding what had been the squares. There +was nothing to relieve the horrible monotony of destruction and +devastation except the bridge, which promised retreat from this misery, +and which was approaching completion. + +Yet it was after this visit that the Russian General changed his mind in +the direction of what he had before termed folly. "I am resolved," he +wrote to the Minister of War, on September 1st, "to defend the south +side to the last extremity, for it is the only honorable course which +remains to us." Calculating that the daily loss of the garrison was from +eight hundred to nine hundred, and that he could bring twenty-five +thousand men from the army outside to reenforce it, by leaving only +twenty thousand to guard the Mackenzie Heights, he considered he might +still prolong the defence for a month. Everything was against such a +cruel determination; but he proceeded to execute it so far as in him +lay. Yet it did not rest with him to determine the end. + +The cannonade once more reduced the Malakoff, its dependencies and +neighbors, to absolute silence, and enabled the French to push their +works yet closer. The soil between the Mamelon and Malakoff could be cut +into like a cheese, and the trenches were more easily made and better +constructed here than elsewhere. The English trenches before the Redan +had been stopped by solid rock; the French approaches to the Little +Redan, now only forty yards from it, had also got into soil so stony as +no longer to afford cover. The most advanced approach to the Malakoff +was separated from it by only twenty-five yards; in the soft soil the +trenches might have been pushed to the very edge of the ditch, but only +with great loss, and, besides, the facility of mining below them would +increase as the distance lessened. It was therefore deemed that the time +for assault had come, and it only remained to determine the details. + +Accordingly, a council of war considered the matter. After the members +had delivered their opinions, Pélissier expressed himself thus: "I too +have my plan, but I will not breathe it to my pillow." There is, +however, no need to be so reticent with the reader. The French commander +had learned that the relief of the troops in the works before him took +place at noon, and that in order to avoid the great additional loss +which would be caused by introducing the new garrisons before the old +ones moved out, the contrary course was followed of marching out most of +the occupants before replacing them. Thus noon was the time when the +Malakoff would be found most destitute of defenders, and noon was to be +the hour of the assault. Also another advantage was offered to the +French. The salient of the Malakoff had been adapted to the form of the +tower which it covered, and was therefore circular; consequently there +was a space in it which could not be seen or fired on from the flanks; +that was the space upon which the troops were to be directed. + +Roadways twenty yards wide were made through the trenches, and then +masked by gabions, easily thrown down, by which the reserves could be +brought up in the shortest time. The Malakoff, the curtain, and the +Little Redan were each to be attacked by a division, supported by a +brigade; and four divisions, with other troops, were destined to attack +the central bastion and works near it, and break thence by the rear, +into the flagstaff bastion. But first the cannonade was to be renewed. +It began on September 5th, and this time it encircled the whole +fortress, the French batteries before the town opening no less +vigorously than the rest. At night a frigate in the harbor was set on +fire by a shell, and the conflagration for hours lighted up the +surrounding scenery. On the 6th and 7th the _feu d'enfer_ went on, the +Russians replying but feebly; on the night of the 7th a line-of-battle +ship was set on fire by a mortar, and burned nearly all night; it +contained a large supply of spirits, the blue flames from which cast a +lugubrious light on the ramparts from the harbor to the Malakoff, +producing, says Todleben, "a painful impression on the souls of the +defenders of Sebastopol." + +Daylight on the 8th found the Russian defences completely manned, the +guns loaded with grape, and the reserves brought close up. But the +assault was not yet begun, and the result of these preparations to +receive it was increased havoc in the exposed ranks of the defenders. + +The attack on the Redan was to be directed by General Codrington. His +division, and the Second, under General Markham, were to supply the +column of attack, of which the covering party, the ladder party, the +working party (to fill up the ditch and convert what works we might gain +to our own purpose), and the main body were to number seventeen hundred, +and the supports fifteen hundred. The remainder of these two divisions, +numbering three thousand, was to be in reserve in the third parallel. +Also, in the last reserve, were the Third and Fourth Divisions. + +No attack on the Redan would have been undertaken by the English as an +isolated operation. Our compulsory distance from that work, the want of +a place of arms (that is to say, a covered space in the advanced +trenches of sufficient extent to harbor large bodies of troops), the +construction of which was forbidden by the rocky soil, and the still +unsubdued fire from the ramparts, all condemned an assault. But it was +deemed necessary as a distraction in aid of the French, and it fulfilled +the purpose. + +The portion of Codrington's troops destined to head the attack on the +Redan moved rapidly and steadily across the open space, though suffering +much loss from the heavy fire of round-shot, grape, case, and musketry +now directed on them from every available point, and those in front +passed with ease over the battered rampart and entered the work. But the +rest, with too strong a reminiscence of their mode of action in the +trenches, lay down at the edge of the ditch and began firing, alongside +of the covering troops, who alone should have performed this duty. The +supports also reached the ditch, and some of them entered the work. But +the great reserves, in moving through the inches toward the point of +issue, were obstructed and discouraged by meeting the numbers of wounded +men and their bearers, who were of necessity brought back by the same +narrow route, a difficulty which also hindered some of the French +attacks. Colonel Windham, the leader of the attacking troops, finding +that his messages for support produced no result, took the ill-advised +step of going back himself to procure reënforcements. It was not +surprising that before he returned his men also had withdrawn. It is +probably in reference to this that the _Engineer Journal_ said, in +excusing the troops, that "they retired when they found themselves +without any officer of rank." + +They had been overwhelmed by the numbers which the Russians brought into +the open work; and as they hurried back they suffered not less heavily +than in their advance. It was unfortunate for them that the French had +spiked the guns in the Malakoff instead of turning them on the enemy +moving into the Redan, as they ought to have done. With the immense +increase of difficulties in making way through the crowded trenches, and +renewing the attack against works now fully armed and manned, the +attempt was postponed till next day, when fresh troops, headed by the +Highlanders, were to renew it. + + +SIR HENRY EVELYN WOOD + +It may render my narrative of the final assault more readily +comprehensible if I begin by saying that, the Malakoff being now +considered the key of the Russian position, it was determined that all +other attacks should be considered subsidiary to that which was to be +directed against it. + +General Bosquet had command of all the French troops employed on the +right of the English attack. MacMahon's division was to assault the +Malakoff itself, having De Wimpffen's brigade with Camou's division in +reserve, and with it two battalions of Zouaves of the Guard. On +MacMahon's right La Motterouge's division, composed of the brigades of +Bourbaki and Picard, was to attack the curtain. It was supported by four +regiments, two of grenadiers and two of Voltigeurs of the Guard. Still +farther north was Dulac's division, supported by Marolle's brigade of +Camou's division and one battalion of Chasseurs of the Guard. These were +to attack the Little Redan. Pélissier himself took up his position in +the Mamelon, and to avoid giving warning to the enemy by any system of a +general signal, the watches of the staff and the generals were carefully +compared in order that the assault might be begun at twelve o'clock. +This hour was chosen by Pélissier in consequence of his having +ascertained that the troops on duty in the Russian trenches were +relieved at that hour, and owing to the works being cramped from the +number of traverses and blindages erected to cover their garrisons from +fire, it had become the habit for the old guard of the works to march +out before the relief marched in, and it was thus anticipated that at +twelve o'clock the works would be nearly empty. This surmise proved to +be accurate. + +The French had taken great trouble to screen the concentration of their +troops from the sight of the enemy. Each division had a separate access +to the advanced trenches in which the storming parties were to assemble. +In places where the parapets, having sunk, might have disclosed to the +view of the enemy the troops moving into position, they had been +carefully raised. Cuts had been made through parapets to admit of the +supports moving forward in bodies, and to allow field-artillery +batteries, which were stationed at the Victoria redoubt and the old +Lancaster battery, to pass through to the front. These apertures had +been filled up with gabions, and carefully concealed, so that their +position remained unknown to the enemy. + +General Herbillon, still encamped on the Tchernaya, was directed to +cause his force (less Camou's division called up to support La +Motterouge, and Dulac) to stand to arms at twelve o'clock, and his +command was reenforced by a brigade of cuirassiers under General De +Forton. The morning was dull and gloomy, with a cold wind which drove +clouds of dust into the air. A little before twelve o'clock all the +French storming parties were crouching ready for the order. + +Bosquet himself was in the sixth parallel; MacMahon, surrounded by his +staff, was standing in the front trench with his watch in his hand. No +one spoke in this group, in which the calm faces showed no sign of the +excitement visible in the zouaves on either side of them, who, though +silent, were trembling with impatience. Close at hand there was a +corporal holding a little tricolor. Two minutes before twelve o'clock +the word was passed in an undertone, "Ready," and as the hands indicated +it was twelve o'clock, on a command from MacMahon a shout arose of +"_Vive l'Empereur_!" bugles and drums sounded the charge, and the +zouaves dashed straight at the Malakoff. + +MacMahon allowed two sections to pass him, and then, followed by his +staff, climbed over the parapet, following the advanced guard. It placed +one ladder, by which the General descended into the ditch, and was, it +is said, the first up the escarp of the work. A friend of mine described +to me how he watched the tricolor on the parapet being carried slowly +along, thus indicating exactly how our allies in the body of the work +were gaining ground. The zouaves who crossed the ditch on the proper +left of the Malakoff had some difficulty in climbing up, from the height +and steepness of the escarp. + +MacMahon's leading brigade crossed the short intervening space without a +shot being fired. The enemy's working parties and gunners who were +repairing damages fought bravely with picks, shovels, and hand-spikes, +but were eventually driven back. The very few Russians in the salient +were completely surprised, so much so that some of the superior officers +were found at dinner in an underground chamber of the Malakoff, and the +French without difficulty obtained absolute possession of the south end +of the work. Although the enclosure covered an area of about four +hundred yards by one hundred fifty, there was but very little open space +within it, for behind the remnants of the stone tower were rows of +traverses stretching from side to side of the work. Behind these the +Russians took post as they came up from their bombproof shelters. Every +separate parapet was fought for, hand to hand, and it was not till +Vinoy's brigade, which, entering by the Gervais battery, got behind the +traverses, turning out the regiment Grand Duke Michel, that the enemy +was finally driven from this part of the work. + +The leading brigades of Motterouge's and Dulac's divisions, headed by +their chiefs, seized the curtain and the Little Redan, the latter +falling first, as St. Pol's brigade was nearer to it than Bourbaki's +brigade was to the curtain. Once inside these works from which the +Russians were easily driven, the French pressed on to the intrenchment +then being built across the rear. General PÉLISSIER now gave General +Simpson the signal to attack the Redan. At the same time the French +attacked the Malakoff, and there the fate of Sebastopol was really +decided. + +The possession of this fort was strongly contested, the Russians +bringing up field-batteries; the French were also fired on heavily by +three steamers, which, circling round, fired broadsides into them, and +batteries sent shells from the north side of the harbor into the French +support. Eventually after a prolonged struggle, in which the French +captured four field-guns, St. Pol's brigade was beaten back, losing its +brigadier, and with him fell the chief staff officer of the division and +two colonels. The Russians followed up closely, and Bisson's brigade, +which for want of space in the trenches had been stationed in the +Careenage Ravine, was too far behind to afford effective aid. Bourbaki's +right being thus uncovered, he also was driven back, although supported +by Motterouge's other brigade. + +After Bourbaki and St. Pol had been repulsed, the Voltigeurs and +Grenadiers of the Guard and Marolle's brigade were sent against the +curtain and Redan respectively. These they carried, but were once more +expelled from the Little Redan, Marolle and De Pontevès falling dead at +the head of their brigades, and Mellinet, Bisson, and Bourbaki being +wounded. The French still held the curtain, and Bosquet now ordered up +the two field-batteries then standing behind the Victoria redoubt. They +descended the ridge at the trot, unlimbered in front of the sixth +parallel, and, coming into action, fired with great effect on the +Russian infantry, which offered a broad target. Yet the batteries +suffered terribly; the commanding officer (Souty) was killed, and out of +the one hundred fifty men he brought down, only fifty-five returned when +the guns were dragged back by hand because they lost all their horses +except nineteen. + +Bosquet, surrounded by several Russian officers, who were prisoners, and +their guards, was interrogating the captives when a shell burst over +them, killing or wounding both them and the guard--the General only +escaping. Later, when leaning on the parapet watching the progress of +the fight, he was struck in the face by a fragment of a shell. He had +just strength to send word to General Dulac to take his place, when he +fainted. + +The struggle in and around the Malakoff was continued till three +o'clock, when Gortschakoff withdrew his troops from the work which they +had defended with such marvellous endurance for eleven months. The prize +was now won, but at heavy cost. + +MacMahon's division, which assaulted with forty-five hundred bayonets +and two hundred officers, lost in killed and wounded just half its +strength. + +Soon after the Russians had been driven from the salient of the +Malakoff, the French troops occupying it were fired on from the lower +part of the old masonry tower, which was loopholed, and inside which +five officers and sixty Russian soldiers had taken refuge. It was +impossible to dislodge them, as the only entrance was strongly blocked +on the inside. After a time some gabions were collected, and having been +placed in position close to the loopholes, were lighted, but before the +defenders could be smoked out, a mortar fired against the door blew it +away, and the Russians surrendered. The gabions burning fiercely, the +officers became alarmed lest the fire should be communicated to some of +the surrounding magazines, and an attempt was made to extinguish the +blazing fragments. As this was difficult, sappers were set to work to +dig a trench and throw the excavated earth on the fire. While the men +were digging, four wires, communicating with mines, were found and cut. + +While the Russian officers were surrendering, a desperate struggle was +carried on at the far end of the Malakoff enclosure, the Russians coming +over the parapets in three heavy columns. Khrouleff, the "fighting +general," being wounded, had been replaced by General Martinau. The +combatants fought hand to hand till, Martinau, losing an arm, and his +men being out of ammunition, Gortschakoff ordered them to give up the +struggle and fall back. + +Between three and four o'clock a magazine blew up near the point where +the curtain joined the Malakoff, and the division at once ran back to +the French advanced trenches. This occurred at a moment when General La +Motterouge was wounded, but his men were rallied and got back into +position ere the smoke and dust of the explosion cleared away. The flag +of the Ninety-first Regiment was buried so deep that it was not found +till next day, when it was recovered still grasped tightly in the hands +of the lifeless officer who was carrying it when the explosion took +place. + +When the Russians withdrew, General MacMahon, contemplating the +possibility of further explosions from undiscovered mines, in order to +minimize possible loss of life, sent back the brigade under Colonel +Decaen, whom he ordered to hold himself in readiness, and, if Vinoy's +brigade should be blown into the air, to come forward immediately and +replace it. Then, turning to General Vinoy, MacMahon observed, "It is +possible, General, that your brigade will be blown up, but Decaen will +replace you immediately, so we shall still hold our position." MacMahon +himself remained in the Malakoff with Vinoy's brigade. + +During the afternoon it was reported to General Pélissier that large +numbers of Russian troops were crossing by the floating bridge to the +north side of the harbor, but the allies did not yet feel confident that +the end had quite come. About midnight one of the maritime forts was +blown up, and explosions continued at intervals throughout the night, +fires bursting out wherever any inflammable substance remained. + +At 3 A.M. on the 9th Corporal Ross, Royal Engineers, who was employed in +the advanced sap, being struck by the unusual silence within the Redan, +crept across the ditch, and, climbing over the parapet, found that the +enemy had evacuated the work. + +At daylight all the Russian fleet except the Vladimir had disappeared +under water, and the last of this heroic garrison was seen forming up on +the north side of the floating bridge, which was then cut, leaving on +the southern side two hundred or three hundred men, who had remained +behind, setting fire to the houses. This was the last of the active +operations. Gortschakoff withdrew his troops, and, placing the cavalry +on the Belbeck, extended the infantry along the Mackenzie Farm heights +position, which he proceeded to fortify. + +The allies were now in possession of the bloodstained ruins of +Sebastopol, and the last of the Black Sea fleet was at the bottom of the +harbor. Perhaps it was well that peace ensued. Although we might have +dislodged the Russians from their position on the heights, it would have +been difficult to obtain any further material advantage in the Crimea. + + + + +(1857) THE INDIAN MUTINY, J. Talboys Wheeler + + +From the time when Warren Hastings, the first English Governor-General +of India, was sent to rule there (1774), the British power in that +country grew steadily, and many annexations were made to the territory +under its control. There were frequent wars with the French, England's +rivals in India, and with the natives in different Provinces that one +after another were absorbed into the British possessions. The first +serious menace against this growing power appeared in a native movement, +the culmination of which is known as the Indian or Sepoy Mutiny. + +The causes of this rising are traced to distrust and hatred of the +British rulers--feelings that caused a ferment among the Hindus and +Mahometans of India, who suspected a design for suppressing their +religions. The natives also became alarmed at the introduction of +Western ideas and improvements--new methods of education, the +steam-engine, the telegraph, etc.--portending to the Indian peoples the +substitution of a foreign civilization for their own. The truth is that +in attempting to abolish suttee and other ancient native customs, and to +introduce more enlightened practices, the British Government was acting +in the interest of general humanity. + +The immediate provocation of the great mutiny among the sepoys or native +troops in the British East-Indian service is well shown, and the entire +story of the revolt is equally well told, by Mr. Wheeler. This author, +while a secretary to the Government of India in the latter part of the +nineteenth century, enjoyed peculiar advantages for study and research. +These advantages he turned to account by writing an authoritative and +interesting history of the land of his official residence. + +Early in the year 1857, it is said, there were rumors of a coming danger +to British rule in India. In some parts of the country _chupatties_, or +cakes, were circulated in a mysterious manner from village to village. +[Footnote: The form of the cake conveyed information that an +insurrection was in preparation--an old custom--understood by the +natives.--ED.] Prophecies were also rife that in 1857 the East India +Company's _raj_ [rule] would come to an end. Lord Canning has been +blamed for not taking alarm at these proceedings; but something of the +kind always had been going on in India. Cakes of cocoanuts are given +away in solemn fashion; and as the villagers were afraid to keep them or +eat them, the circulation went on to the end of the chapter. Then, +again, holy men and prophets have always been common in India. They +foretell pestilence and famine: the downfall of British rule, or the +destruction of the whole world. They are often supposed to be endowed +with supernatural powers and to be impervious to bullets; but these +phenomena invariably disappear whenever they come in contact with +Europeans, especially as all such characters are liable to be treated as +vagrants without visible means of subsistence. + +One dangerous story, however, got abroad in the early part of 1857, +which ought to have been stopped at once, and for which the military +authorities were wholly and solely to blame. The Enfield rifle was being +introduced; it required new cartridges, which in England were greased +with the fat of beef or pork. The military authorities in India, with +strange indifference to the prejudices of sepoys, ordered the cartridges +to be prepared at Calcutta in like manner; forgetting that the fat of +pigs was hateful to the Mahometans, while the fat of cows was still more +horrible in the eyes of the Hindus. + +The excitement began at Barrackpur, sixteen miles from Calcutta. At this +station there were four regiments of sepoys, and no Europeans except the +regimental officers. One day a low-caste native, known as a lascar, +asked a Brahmin sepoy for a drink of water from his brass pot. The +Brahmin refused, as it would defile his pot. The lascar retorted that +the Brahmin was already defiled by biting cartridges which had been +greased with cow's fat. This vindictive taunt was based on truth. +Lascars had been employed at Calcutta in preparing the new cartridges, +and the man was possibly one of them. The taunt created a wild panic at +Barrackpur. Strange to say, however, none of the new cartridges had been +issued to the sepoys; and had this been promptly explained to the men, +and the sepoys left to grease their own cartridges, the alarm might have +died out. But the explanation was delayed until the whole of the Bengal +army was smitten with the groundless fear; and then, when it was too +late, the authorities protested too much, and the terror-stricken sepoys +refused to believe them. + +The sepoys had proved themselves brave under fire, and loyal to their +salt in sharp extremities; but they are the most credulous and excitable +soldiery in the world. They regarded steam and electricity as so much +magic; and they fully believed that the British Government was binding +India with chains, when it was only laying down railway lines and +telegraph wires. The Enfield rifle was a new mystery; and the busy +brains of the sepoys were soon at work to divine the motive of the +English in greasing cartridges with cow's fat. They had always taken to +themselves the sole credit of having conquered India for the company; +and they now imagined that the English wanted them to conquer Persia and +China. Accordingly, they suspected that Lord Canning was going to make +them as strong as Europeans by destroying caste, forcing them to become +Christians, and making them eat beef and drink beer. + +The story of the greased cartridges, with all its absurd embellishments, +ran up the Ganges and Jumna to Benares, Allahabad, Agra, Delhi, and the +great cantonment at Meerut; while another current of lies ran back again +from Meerut to Barrackpur. It was noised abroad that the bones of cows +and pigs had been ground into powder, and thrown into wells and mingled +with flour and butter, in order to destroy the caste of the masses and +convert them to Christianity. + +For a brief interval it was hoped that the disaffection was suppressed. +Excitement manifested itself in various ways at different stations +throughout the length of Hindustan and the Punjab--at Benares, Lucknow, +Agra, Ambala, and Sealkote. In some stations there were incendiary +fires; in others the sepoys were wanting in their usual respect to their +European officers. But it was believed that the storm was spending +itself, and that the dark clouds were passing away. + +Suddenly on May 3d there was an explosion at Lucknow. A regiment of Oudh +Irregular Infantry, previously in the service of the Mogul, broke out in +mutiny and began to threaten their European officers. Sir Henry +Lawrence, the new Chief Commissioner, had a European regiment at his +disposal, namely the Thirty-second Foot. That same evening he ordered +out the regiment, and a battery of eight guns manned by Europeans, +together with four sepoy regiments, three of infantry and one of +cavalry. With this force he proceeded to the lines of the mutineers, +about seven miles off. The Oudh Irregulars were taken by surprise; they +saw infantry and cavalry on either side, and the European guns in front. +They were ordered to lay down their arms, and they obeyed. At this +moment the artillery lighted their port fires. The mutineers were seized +with a panic, and rushed away in the darkness; but the leaders and most +of their followers were pursued and arrested by the native infantry and +cavalry, and confined pending trial. Subsequently it transpired that the +native regiments sympathized with the mutineers, and would have shown it +but for their dread of Sir Henry Lawrence and the Europeans. The +energetic action of Lawrence sufficed to maintain order for another +month in Oudh. Meanwhile the Thirty-fourth Native Infantry was disbanded +at Barrackpur, and again it was hoped that the disaffection was stayed. + +The demon of mutiny was only scotched. Within a week of the outbreak at +Lucknow, the great military station of Meerut was in a blaze. Meerut was +only forty miles from Delhi, and the largest cantonment in India. There +were three regiments of sepoys, two of infantry and one of cavalry; but +there were enough Europeans to scatter four times the number; namely, a +battalion of the Sixtieth Rifles, a regiment of Dragoon Guards known as +the "Carabineers," two troops of horse-artillery, and a light +field-battery. + +In spite of the presence of Europeans there were more indications of +excitement at Meerut than at any other station in the northwest. At +Meerut the story of the greased cartridges had been capped by the story +of the bonedust; and there were the same kind of incendiary fires, the +same lack of respect toward European officers, and the same whispered +resolve not to touch the cartridges, as at Barrackpur. The station was +commanded by General Hewitt, whose advancing years unfitted him to cope +with the storm which was bursting upon Hindustan. + +The regiment of sepoy cavalry at Meerut was strongly suspected of +disaffection; accordingly it was resolved to put the men to the test. On +May 6th it was paraded in the presence of the European force, and +cartridges were served out; not the greased abominations from Calcutta, +but the old ones which had been used times innumerable by the sepoys and +their fathers. + +But the men were terrified and obstinate, and eighty-five stood out and +refused to take the cartridges. The offenders were at once arrested, and +tried by a court-martial of native officers; they were found guilty, and +sentenced to various periods of imprisonment, but recommended for mercy. +General Hewitt saw no grounds for mercy, excepting in the case of eleven +young troopers; and on Saturday, May 9th, the sentences were carried +out. The men were brought on parade, stripped of their uniforms, and +loaded with irons. They implored the General for mercy, and, finding it +hopeless, began to reproach their comrades; but no one dared to strike a +blow in the presence of loaded cannon and rifles. At last the prisoners +were carried off and placed in a jail, not under European soldiers, but +a native guard. + +The military authorities at Meerut seem to have been under a spell. The +next day was Sunday, May 10th, and the hot sun rose with its usual glare +in the Indian sky. The European barracks were at a considerable distance +from the native lines, and the intervening space was covered with shops +and houses surrounded by trees and gardens. Consequently the Europeans +in the barracks knew nothing of what was going on in the native quarter. +Meanwhile there were commotions in the sepoy lines and neighboring +bazaars. The sepoys were taunted by the loose women of the place with +permitting their comrades to be imprisoned and fettered. At the same +time they were smitten with a mad fear that the European soldiers were +to be let loose upon them. The Europeans at Meerut saw and heard +nothing. + +Nothing was noted on that Sunday morning except the absence of native +servants from many of the houses, and that was supposed to be +accidental. Morning service was followed by the midday heats, and at +five o'clock in the afternoon the Europeans were again preparing for +church. Suddenly there was an alarm of fire, followed by a volley of +musketry, discordant yells, the clattering of cavalry, and the bugle +sounding an alarm. The sepoys had worked themselves up to a frenzy of +excitement; the prisoners were released with a host of jailbirds; the +native infantry joined the native cavalry, and the colonel of one of the +regiments was shot by the sepoys of the other. Inspired by a wild fear +and fury, the sepoys ran about murdering or wounding every European they +met, and setting houses on fire, amid deafening shouts and uproar. + +Meanwhile there were fatal delays in turning out the Europeans. The +Rifles were paraded for church, and time was lost in getting arms and +serving out ball cartridges. The Carabineers were absurdly put through a +roll-call, and then lost their way among the shops and gardens. +Meanwhile European officers were being butchered by the infuriated +sepoys. Men and women were fired at or sabred while hurrying back in a +panic from church. Flaming houses and crashing timbers were filling all +hearts with terror, and the shades of evening were falling upon the +general havoc and turmoil, when the Europeans reached the native lines +and found that the sepoys had gone, no one knew whither. + +The truth was soon told. The mutiny had become a revolt; the sepoys were +on the way to Delhi to proclaim the old Mogul as sovereign of Hindustan; +and there was no Gillespie to gallop after them and crush the revolt at +its outset, as had been done at Vellore half a century before. One +thing, however, was done. There were no European regiments at Delhi; +nothing but three regiments of sepoy infantry and a battery of native +artillery. The station was commanded by Brigadier Graves; and there were +no Europeans under his orders excepting the officers and sergeants +attached to the three native corps. Accordingly telegrams were sent to +Brigadier Graves to tell him that the mutineers were on their way to +Delhi. + +Monday at Delhi was worse than the Sunday at Meerut. The British +cantonment was situated on a rising ground about two miles from the +city, which was known as the "Ridge." The great magazine, containing +immense stores of ammunition, was situated in the heart of the city. One +of the three sepoy regiments was on duty in the city; the other two +remained in the cantonment on the Ridge. + +The approach to Delhi from Meerut was defended by the little river +Hindun, which was spanned by a small bridge. It was proposed to procure +two cannon from the magazine and place them on the bridge; but before +this could be done the rebel cavalry from Meerut were seen crossing the +river, and were subsequently followed by the rebel infantry. The +magazine remained in charge of Lieutenant Willoughby of the Bengal +Artillery. He was associated with two other officers and six conductors +and sergeants; the rest of the establishment was composed entirely of +natives. + +Brigadier Graves did his best to protect the city and cantonment until +the arrival of the expected Europeans from Meerut. Indeed, throughout +the morning and greater part of the afternoon everyone in Delhi was +expecting the arrival of the Europeans. Brigadier Graves ordered all the +non-military residents, including women and children, to repair to +Flagstaff Tower--a round building of solid brickwork at some distance +from the city. Late detachments of sepoys were sent from the Ridge to +the Cashmere gate, under the command of their European officers, to help +the sepoys on duty to maintain order in the city. + +Presently the rebel troops from Meerut came up, accompanied by the +insurgent rabble of Delhi. The English officers prepared to charge them, +and gave the order to fire, but some of the sepoys refused to obey or +only fired into the air. The English officers held on, expecting the +European soldiers from Meerut. The sepoys hesitated to join the rebels, +out of dread of the coming Europeans. At last the Delhi sepoys threw in +their lot with the rebels and shot down their own officers. The revolt +spread throughout the whole city; and the suspense of the English on the +Ridge and at Flagstaff Tower began to give way to the agony of despair. + +Suddenly, at four o'clock in the afternoon, a column of white smoke +arose from the city, and an explosion was heard far and wide. Willoughby +and his eight associates had held out to the last, waiting and hoping +for the coming of the Europeans. They had closed and barricaded the +gates of the magazine; and they had posted six-pounders at the gates, +loaded with double charges of grape, and laid a train to the +powder-magazine. Messengers came in the name of Bahadur Shah to demand +the surrender of the magazine, but no answer was returned. The enemy +approached and raised ladders against the walls; while the native +establishment escaped over some sheds and joined the rebels. At this +crisis the guns opened fire. Round after round of grape made fearful +havoc on the mass of humanity that was heaving and surging round the +gates. At last the ammunition was exhausted. No one could leave the guns +to bring up more shot. The mutineers were pouring in on all sides. +Lieutenant Willoughby gave the signal. Conductor Scully fired the train; +and with one tremendous upheaval the magazine was blown into the air, +together with fifteen hundred rebels. Not one of the gallant nine had +expected to escape. Willoughby and three others got away, scorched, +maimed, bruised, and nearly insensible; but Scully and his comrades were +never seen again. Willoughby died of his injuries six weeks afterward, +while India and Europe were ringing with his name. + +Still more terrible and treacherous were the tragedies enacted at +Cawnpore, a city situated on the Ganges about fifty-five miles to the +southwest of Lucknow. Cawnpore had been in the possession of the English +ever since the beginning of the century, and for many years was one of +the most important military stations in India; but the extension of the +British Empire over the Punjab had diminished the importance of +Cawnpore; and the last European regiment quartered there had been +removed to the northwest at the close of the previous year. + +In May, 1857, there were four native regiments at Cawnpore, numbering +thirty-five hundred sepoys. There were no Europeans whatever, excepting +the regimental officers and sixty-one artillerymen. To these were added +small detachments of European soldiers, which had been sent in the hour +of peril from Lucknow and Benares during the month of May. + +The station of Cawnpore was commanded by Sir Hugh Wheeler, a +distinguished general in the company's service, who was verging on his +seventieth year. He had spent fifty-four years in India, and had served +only with native troops. He must have known the sepoys better than any +other European in India. He had led them against their own countrymen +under Lord Lake; against foreigners during the Afghan War, and against +Sikhs during both campaigns in the Punjab. + +The news of the revolt at Meerut threw the sepoys into a ferment at +every military station in Hindustan. Rumors of mutiny or coming mutiny +formed almost the only topic of conversation; yet in nearly every sepoy +regiment the European officers put faith in their men, and fondly +believed that, though the rest of the army might revolt, yet their own +corps would prove faithful. + +Such was eminently the case at Cawnpore, yet General Wheeler seems to +have known better. While the European officers continued to sleep every +night in the sepoy lines, the veteran made his preparations for meeting +the coming storm. + +European combatants were very few at Cawnpore, but European +_impedimenta_ were very heavy. Besides the wives and families of the +regimental officers of the sepoy regiments, there was a large European +mercantile community. Moreover, while the Thirty-second Foot was +quartered at Lucknow, the wives, families, and invalids of the regiment +were living at Cawnpore. It was thus necessary to secure a place of +refuge for this miscellaneous multitude of Europeans in the event of a +rising of the sepoys. Accordingly General Wheeler pitched upon some old +barracks which had once belonged to a European regiment; and he ordered +earthworks to be thrown up, and supplies of all kinds to be stored, in +order to stand a siege. Unfortunately there was fatal neglect somewhere; +for when the crisis came the defences were found to be worthless, while +the supplies were insufficient for the besieged. + +All this while the adopted son of the former _peshwa_ [Footnote: Formerly +a chief of the Mahrattas.--Ed.] was living at Bithoor, about six miles +from Cawnpore. His real name was Dandhu Panth, but he is better known as +Nana Sahib. The British Government had refused to award him the absurd +life pension of eighty thousand pounds sterling, which had been granted +to his nominal father; but he had inherited at least half a million from +the ex-peshwa; and he was allowed to keep six guns, to entertain as many +followers as he pleased, and to live in half royal state in a +castellated palace at Bithoor. He continued to nurse his grievance with +all the pertinacity of a Mahratta; but at the same time he professed a +great love for European society, and was profuse in his hospitalities to +English officers. He was popularly known as the Raja of Bithoor. + +When the news arrived of the revolt at Meerut on May 10th, Nana was loud +in his professions of attachment to the English. He engaged to organize +fifteen hundred fighting men to act against the sepoys in the event of +an outbreak. On May 21st there was an alarm. European women and +families, with all European non-combatants, were removed into the +barracks, and General Wheeler actually accepted from Nana the help of +two hundred Mahrattas and two guns to guard the treasury. The alarm, +however, soon blew over, and Nana took up his abode at the civil station +of Cawnpore, as a proof of the sincerity of his professions. + +At last, on the night of June 4th, the sepoy regiments at Cawnpore broke +out in mutiny. They were driven to action by the same mad terror which +had been manifested elsewhere. They cared nothing for the Mogul, nothing +for the pageant King at Delhi; but they had been panic-stricken by +extravagant stories of coming destruction. It was whispered among them +that the parade-ground was undermined with powder, and that Hindus and +Mahometans were to be assembled on a given day and blown into the air. +Intoxicated with fear and _bhang_, they rushed out in the darkness, +yelling, shooting, and burning according to their wont; and when their +excitement was somewhat spent, they marched off toward Delhi. + +Sir Hugh Wheeler could do nothing. He might have retreated with the +whole body of Europeans from Cawnpore to Allahabad; but there had been a +mutiny at Allahabad, and, moreover, he had no means of transport. +Subsequently he heard that the mutineers had reached the first stage on +the road to Delhi, and consequently he saw no ground for alarm. + +Meanwhile the brain of Nana Sahib had been turned by wild dreams of +vengeance and sovereignty. He thought not only to wreak his malice upon +the English, but to restore the extinct Mahratta Empire, and reign over +Hindustan as the representative of the forgotten peshwas. The stampede +of the sepoys to Delhi was fatal to his mad ambition. He overtook the +mutineers, dazzled them with fables of the treasures in Wheeler's +intrenchment, and brought them back to Cawnpore to carry out his +vindictive and visionary schemes. + +At early morning on Saturday, June 6th, General Wheeler received from +Nana a letter announcing that he was about to attack the intrenchment. +The veteran was taken by surprise, but at once ordered all the European +officers to join the party in the barracks and prepare for the defence. +But the mutineers were in no hurry for the advance. They preferred booty +to battle, and turned aside to plunder the cantonment and city, +murdering every Christian that came in their way, not sparing the houses +of their own countrymen. They appropriated all the cannon and ammunition +in the magazine by way of preparation for the siege; but some were wise +enough to desert the rebel army and steal to their homes with their +ill-gotten spoil. + +About noon the main body of the mutineers, swelled by the numerous +retainers of Nana, got their guns into position, and opened fire on the +intrenchment. For nineteen days--from June 6th to the 25th--the garrison +struggled manfully against a raking fire and fearful odds, amid scenes +of suffering and bloodshed that cannot be recalled without a shudder. + +It was the height of the hot weather in Hindustan. A blazing sun was +burning over the heads of the besieged; and to add to their misery, one +of the barracks containing the sick and wounded was destroyed by fire. +The besiegers, however, in spite of their overwhelming numbers, were +utterly unable to carry the intrenchment by storm, but continued to pour +in a raking fire. Meanwhile the garrison was starving from want of +provisions, and hampered by a multitude of helpless women and children. +Indeed, but for the latter contingency, the gallant band would have +rushed out of the intrenchment and cut a way through the mob of sepoys +or perished in the attempt. As it was, they could only fight on, waiting +for reinforcements that never came, until fever, sunstroke, hunger, +madness, or the enemy's fire delivered them from their suffering and +despair. + +On June 25th a woman brought a slip of writing from Nana, promising to +give a safe passage to Allahabad to all who were willing to lay down +their arms. Had there been no women or children, the garrison would +never have dreamed of surrender. The massacre at Patna a century before +had taught a lesson to Englishmen which ought never to have been +forgotten. As it was, there were some who wished to fight on till the +bitter end. But the majority saw that there was no hope for the women or +the children, the sick or the wounded, except by accepting the proffered +terms. Accordingly the pride of Englishmen gave way, and an armistice +was proclaimed. + +Next morning the terms were negotiated. The English garrison were to +surrender their position, their guns, and their treasure, but to march +out with their arms, and with sixty rounds of ammunition in the pouch of +every man. Nana Sahib on his part was to afford a safe-conduct to the +river-bank, about a mile off; to provide carriage for the conveyance of +the women and children, the sick and the wounded; and to furnish boats +for carrying the whole party, numbering some four hundred fifty +individuals, down the river Ganges to Allahabad. Nana accepted the +terms, but demanded the evacuation of the intrenchment that very night. +General Wheeler protested against this proviso. Nana began to bully and +to threaten that he would open fire. He was told that he might carry the +intrenchment if he could, but that the English had enough powder left to +blow both armies into the air. Accordingly Nana agreed to wait until the +morrow. + +At early morning on June 27th the garrison began to move from the +intrenchment to the place of embarkation. The men marched on foot; the +women and children were carried on elephants and in bullock-carts, while +the wounded were mostly conveyed in palanquins. Forty boats with +thatched roofs, known as _budgerows_, were moored in shallow water at a +little distance from the bank; and the crowd of fugitives were forced to +wade through the river to the boats. By nine o'clock the whole four +hundred fifty were huddled on board, and the boats prepared to leave +Cawnpore. + +Suddenly a bugle was sounded, and a murderous fire of grape-shot and +musketry was opened upon the wretched passengers from both sides of the +river. At the same time the thatching of many of the budgerows was found +to be on fire, and the flames began to spread from boat to boat. Numbers +were murdered in the river, but at last the firing ceased. A few escaped +down the river, but only four men survived to tell the story of the +massacre. A mass of fugitives were dragged ashore; the women and +children, to the number of a hundred twenty-five, were carried off and +lodged in a house near the headquarters of Nana. The men were ordered to +immediate execution. One of them had preserved a prayer-book, and was +permitted to read a few sentences of the liturgy to his doomed +companions. Then the fatal order was given; the sepoys poured in a +volley of musketry, and all was over. + +On July 1st Nana Sahib went off to his palace at Bithoor and was +proclaimed peshwa. He took his seat upon the throne, and was installed +with all the ceremonies of sovereignty, while the cannon roared out a +salute in his honor. At night the whole place was illuminated, and the +hours of darkness were wiled away with feasting and fireworks. But his +triumph was short-lived. The Mahometans were plotting against him at +Cawnpore. The people were leaving the city to escape the coming storm, +and were taking refuge in the villages. English reënforcements were at +last coming up from Allahabad, while the greedy sepoys were clamoring +for money and gold bangles. Accordingly Nana hastened back to Cawnpore +and scattered wealth with a lavish hand; and sought to hide his fears by +boastful proclamations, and to drown his anxieties in drink and +debauchery. + +Within a few days more the number of helpless prisoners was increased to +two hundred. There had been a mutiny at Fathigarh, higher up the river, +and the fugitives had fled in boats to Cawnpore, a distance of eighty +miles. They knew nothing of what had happened, and were all taken +prisoners by the rebels, and brought on shore. The men were all +butchered in the presence of Nana; the women and children, eighty in +number, were sent to join the wretched sufferers in the house near +Nana's headquarters. + +Meanwhile Colonel Neill, commanding the Madras Fusiliers, was pushing up +from Calcutta. He was bent on the relief of Cawnpore and Lucknow, but +was delayed on the way by the mutinies at Benares and Allahabad. In July +he was joined at Allahabad by a column under General Havelock, who was +destined within a few weeks to win a lasting name in history. + +General Havelock was a Queen's officer of forty years' standing; but he +had seen more service in India than perhaps any other officer in Her +Majesty's Army. He had fought in the first Burma War, the Kabul War, the +Gwalior campaign of 1843, and the Punjab campaign of 1845-1846. He was a +pale, thin, thoughtful man; small in stature, but burning with the +aspirations of a Puritan hero. Religion was the ruling principle of his +life, and military glory was his master passion. He had just returned to +India after commanding a division in the Persian War. Abstemious to a +fault, he was able, in spite of his advancing years, to bear up against +the heat and rain of Hindustan during the deadliest season of the year. + +On July 7th General Havelock left Allahabad for Cawnpore. The force at +his disposal did not exceed two thousand men, Europeans and Sikhs. He +had heard of the massacre at Cawnpore on June 27th, and burned to avenge +it. On July 12th he defeated a large force of mutineers and Mahrattas at +Fathipur. On the 15th he inflicted two more defeats on the enemy. +Havelock was now within twenty-two miles of Cawnpore, and he halted his +men to rest for the night. But news arrived that the women and children +were still alive at Cawnpore, and that Nana had taken the field with a +large force to oppose his advance. Accordingly Havelock marched fourteen +miles that same night, and on the following morning, within eight miles +of Cawnpore, the troops bivouacked beneath some trees. + +On that same night, July 15th, the crowning atrocity was committed at +Cawnpore. The rebels, who had been defeated by Havelock, returned to +Nana with the tidings of their disaster. In revenge Nana ordered the +slaughter of the two hundred women and children. The poor victims were +literally hacked to death, or almost to death, with swords, bayonets, +knives, and axús. Next morning the bleeding remains of dead and dying +were dragged to a neighboring well and thrown in. + +At two o'clock in the afternoon after the massacre the force under +Havelock was again upon the march for Cawnpore. The heat was fearful; +many of the troops were struck down by the sun, and the cries for water +were continuous. But for two miles the column toiled on, and then came +in sight of the enemy. Havelock had only one thousand Europeans and +three hundred Sikhs; he had no cavalry, and his artillery was inferior. +The enemy numbered five thousand men, armed and trained by British +officers, strongly intrenched, with two batteries of guns of heavy +calibre. Havelock's artillery failed to silence the batteries, and he +ordered the Europeans to charge with the bayonet. On they went in the +face of a shower of grape, but the bayonet charge was as irresistible at +Cawnpore as at Assaye. The enemy fought for a while like men in a death +struggle. Nana Sahib was with them, but nothing is known of his +exploits. At last they fled, and there was no cavalry to pursue them. + +As yet nothing was known of the butchery of the women and children. +Havelock halted for the night, and next morning marched his force into +the station at Cawnpore. The men beheld the scene of the massacre, and +saw the bleeding remains in the well. But the murderers had vanished, no +one knew whither. Havelock advanced to Bithoor, and destroyed the palace +of the Mahratta. Subsequently he was joined by General Neill, with +reinforcements from Allahabad; and on July 20th he set on for the relief +of Lucknow, leaving Cawnpore in charge of General Neill. + +The defence of Lucknow against fifty-two thousand rebels was, next to +the siege of Delhi, the greatest event in the mutiny. The whole Province +of Oudh was in a blaze of insurrection. The _talukdars_ were exasperated +at the hard measure dealt out to them before the appointment of Sir +Henry Lawrence as Chief Commissioner. Disbanded sepoys, returning to +their homes in Oudh, swelled the tide of disaffection. Bandits that had +been suppressed under British administration returned to their old work +of robbery and brigandage. All classes took advantage of the anarchy to +murder the money-lenders. Meanwhile the country was bristling with the +fortresses of the talukdars; and the cultivators, deprived of the +protection of the English, naturally flocked for refuge to the +strongholds of their old masters. + +The English, who had been lords of Hindustan ever since the beginning of +the century, had been closely besieged in the residency at Lucknow ever +since the final outbreak of May 30th. For nearly two months the garrison +had held out with a dauntless intrepidity, while confidently waiting for +reinforcements that seemed never to come. "Never surrender" had been +from the first the passionate conviction of Sir Henry Lawrence; and the +massacre at Cawnpore on June 27th impressed every soldier in the +garrison with a like resolution. On July 2d the Muchi Bawen was +abandoned, and the garrison and stores were removed to the residency. On +July 4th Sir Henry Lawrence was killed by the bursting of a shell in a +room where he lay wounded; and his dying counsel to those around him +was, "Never surrender!" + +On July 20th the rebel force round Lucknow heard of the advance of +General Havelock to Cawnpore, and attacked the residency in overwhelming +force. They kept up a continual fire of musketry while pounding away +with their heavy guns; but the garrison held their ground against shot +and shell, and before the day was over the dense masses of assailants +were forced to retire from the walls. + +Between July 20th and 25th General Havelock began to cross the Ganges +and make his way into Oudh territory; but he was unable to relieve +Lucknow. His small force was weakened by heat and fever and reduced by +cholera and dysentery; while the enemy occupied strong positions on both +flanks. In the middle of August he fell back upon Cawnpore. + +During the four months that followed the revolt at Delhi on May 11th, +all political interest was centred at the ancient capital of the +sovereigns of Hindustan. The public mind was occasionally distracted by +the current of events at Cawnpore and Lucknow, as well as at other +stations which need not be particularized; but so long as Delhi remained +in the hands of the rebels the native princes were bewildered and +alarmed; and its prompt recapture was deemed of vital importance to the +prestige of the British Government and the reestablishment of British +sovereignty in Hindustan. The Great Mogul had been little better than a +mummy for more than half a century; and Bahadur Shah was a mere tool and +puppet in the hands of rebel sepoys; nevertheless the British Government +had to deal with the astounding fact that the rebels were fighting under +his name and standard, just as Afghans and Mahrattas had done in the +days of Ahmed Shah Durani and Mahadaji Sindhia. To make matters worse, +the roads to Delhi were open from the south and east; and nearly every +outbreak in Hindustan was followed by a stampede of mutineers to the old +capital of the Moguls. + +Meanwhile, in the absence of railways, there were unfortunate delays in +bringing up troops and guns to stamp out the fires of rebellion at the +head centre. The highway from Calcutta to Delhi was blocked up by mutiny +and insurrection; and every European soldier sent up from Calcutta was +stopped for the relief of Benares, Allahabad, Cawnpore, or Lucknow. But +the possession of the Punjab at this crisis proved to be the salvation +of the empire. Sir John Lawrence, Chief Commissioner in the Punjab, was +called upon for almost superhuman work; to maintain order in a conquered +province; to suppress mutiny and disaffection among the very sepoy +regiments from Bengal that were supposed to garrison the country; and to +send reënforcements of troops and guns, and supplies of all +descriptions, to the siege of Delhi. Fortunately the Sikhs had been only +a few short years under British administration; they had not forgotten +the miseries that prevailed under the native Government, and could +appreciate the many blessings they enjoyed under British rule. They were +stanch to the British Government, and eager to be led against the +rebels. In some cases terrible punishment was meted out to mutinous +Bengal sepoys within the Punjab, but the Imperial interests at stake +were sufficient to justify every severity, although all must regret the +painful necessity that called for such extreme measures. + +On June 8th, about a month after the revolt at Delhi, Sir Henry Barnard +took the field at Alipur, about ten miles from the rebel capital. He +defeated an advance division of the enemy, and then marched to the Ridge +and reoccupied the old cantonment which had been abandoned on May 11th. +So far it was clear that the rebels were unable to do anything in the +open field, although they might fight bravely under cover. They numbered +about thirty thousand strong; they had a very powerful artillery and +ample stores of ammunition, while there was an abundance of provisions +within the city throughout the siege. + +In the middle of August, Brigadier John Nicholson, one of the most +distinguished officers of the time, came up from the Punjab with a +brigade and siege-train. On September 4th a heavy train of artillery was +brought in from Firozpur. The British force on the Ridge now exceeded +eight thousand men. Hitherto the artillery had been too weak to attempt +to breach the city walls; but now fifty-four heavy guns were brought +into position and the siege began in earnest. From September 8th to 12th +four batteries poured in a constant storm of shot and shell; number one +was directed against the Cashmere bastion, number two against the right +flank of the Cashmere bastion, number three against the Water bastion, +and number four against the Cashmere and Water gates and bastions. On +September 13th the breaches were declared to be practicable, and the +following morning was fixed for the final assault upon the doomed city. + +At three o'clock in the morning of September 14th three assaulting +columns were formed in the trenches, while a fourth was kept in reserve. +The first column was led by Brigadier Nicholson; the second by Brigadier +Jones; the third by Colonel Campbell; and the fourth, or reserve, by +Brigadier Longfield. + +The powder-bags were laid at the Cashmere gate by Lieutenants Home and +Salkeld. The explosion followed, and the third column rushed in, and +pushed toward the Jumna Musjid. Meanwhile the first column under +Nicholson escaladed the breaches near the Cashmere gate, and pushed +along the ramparts toward the Kabul gate, carrying the several bastions +in the way. Here it was met by the second column under Brigadier Jones, +who had escaladed the breach at the Water bastion. + +The advancing columns were met by a ceaseless fire from terraced houses, +mosques, and other buildings; and John Nicholson, the hero of the day, +while attempting to storm a narrow street near the Kabul gate, was +struck down by a shot and mortally wounded. Then followed six days of +desperate warfare. No quarter was given to men with arms in their hands; +but women and children were spared, and only a few of the peaceable +inhabitants were sacrificed during the storm. + +On September 20th the gates of the old fortified palace of the Moguls +were broken open, but the royal inmates had fled. No one was left but a +few wounded sepoys and fugitive fanatics. The old King, Bahadur Shah, +had gone off to the great mausoleum without the city, known as the tomb +of Humayun. It was a vast quadrangle raised on terraces and enclosed +with walls. It contained towers, buildings, and monumental marbles in +memory of different members of the once distinguished family, as well as +extensive gardens, surrounded with cloistered cells for the +accommodation of pilgrims. + +On September 21st Captain Hodson rode to the tomb, arrested the King, +and brought him back to Delhi with other members of the family, and +lodged them in the palace. The next day he went again, with one hundred +horsemen, and arrested two sons of the King in the midst of a crowd of +armed retainers, and brought them away in a native carriage. Near the +city the carriage was surrounded by a tumultuous crowd; and Hodson, who +was afraid of a rescue, shot both princes with his pistol, and placed +their bodies in a public place for all men to see. + +Thus fell the imperial city; captured by the army under Brigadier Wilson +before the arrival of any of the reënforcements from England. The losses +were heavy. From the beginning of the siege to the close, the British +army at Delhi had nearly four thousand killed and wounded. The +casualties on the side of the rebels were never estimated. Two bodies of +sepoys broke away from the city and fled down the valleys of the Jumna +and Ganges, followed by two flying columns under Brigadiers Greathed and +Showers. But the great mutiny and revolt at Delhi had been stamped out, +and the flag of England waved triumphantly over the capital of +Hindustan. + +The capture of Delhi, in September, 1857, was the turning-point in the +sepoy mutinies. The revolt was crushed beyond redemption; the rebels +were deprived of their head centre; and the Mogul King was a prisoner at +the mercy of the power whom he had defied. But there were still troubles +in India. Lucknow was still beleaguered by a rebel army, and +insurrections still ran riot in Oudh and Rohilkhand. + +In the middle of August General Havelock had fallen back on Cawnpore, +after the failure of his first campaign for the relief of Lucknow. Five +weeks afterward Havelock made a second attempt under better auspices. +Sir Colin Campbell had arrived at Calcutta as Commander-in-Chief. Sir +James Outram had come up to Allahabad. On September 16th, while the +British troops were storming the streets of Delhi, Outram joined +Havelock and Neill at Cawnpore with fourteen hundred men. As senior +officer he might have assumed the command; but with generous chivalry +the "Bayard of India" waived his rank in honor of Havelock. + +On September 20th General Havelock crossed the Ganges into Oudh at the +head of twenty-five hundred men. The next day he defeated a rebel army +and put it to flight, while four of the enemy's guns were captured by +Outram at the head of a body of volunteer cavalry. On the 23d Havelock +routed a still larger rebel force which was strongly posted at a garden +in the suburbs of Lucknow, known as the "Alumbagh." He then halted to +give his soldiers a day's rest. On the 25th he was cutting his way +through the streets and lanes of the city of Lucknow--running the +gauntlet of a deadly and unremitting fire from the houses en both sides +of the streets, and also from guns which commanded them. On the evening +of the same day he entered the British intrenchments; but in the moment +of victory a chance shot carried off the gallant Neill. + +The defence of the British residency at Lucknow is a glorious episode in +the national annals. The fortitude of the beleaguered garrison was the +admiration of the world. The women nursed the wounded and performed +every womanly duty with self-sacrificing heroism; and when the fight was +over they received the well-merited thanks of Her Majesty Queen +Victoria. + +During four long months the garrison had known nothing of what was going +on in the outer world. They were aware of the advance and retreat of +Havelock, and that was all. At last, on September 23d, they heard the +booming of the guns at the Alumbagh. On the morning of the 25th they +could see something of the growing excitement in the city; the people +abandoning their houses and flying across the river. Still the guns of +the rebels kept up a heavy cannonade upon the residency, and volleys of +musketry continued to pour upon the besieged from the loopholes of the +besiegers. But soon the firing was heard from the city; the welcome +sounds came nearer and nearer. The excitement of the garrison grew +beyond control. Presently the relieving force was seen fighting its way +toward the residency. Then the pent-up feelings of the garrison burst +forth in deafening cheers; and wounded men in hospital crawled out to +join in the chorus of welcome. Then followed personal greetings as +officers and men came pouring in. Hands were frantically shaken on all +sides. Rough-bearded soldiers took the children from their mothers' +arms, kissed them with tears rolling down their cheeks, and thanked God +that they had come in time to save them from the fate of the sufferers +at Cawnpore. + +Thus after a siege of nearly four months Havelock succeeded in relieving +Lucknow. But it was a reenforcement rather than a relief, and was +confined to the British residency. The siege was not raised; and the +city of Lucknow remained two months longer in the hands of the rebels. +Sir James Outram assumed the command, but was compelled to keep on the +defensive. Meanwhile reinforcements were arriving from England. In +November Sir Colin Campbell reached Cawnpore at the head of a +considerable army. He left General Windham with two thousand men to take +charge of the intrenchment at Cawnpore, and then advanced against +Lucknow with five thousand men and thirty guns. He carried several of +the enemy's positions, cut his way to the residency, and at last brought +away the beleaguered garrison, with all the women and children. But not +even then could he disperse the rebels and reoccupy the city. +Accordingly he left Outram at the head of four thousand men in the +neighborhood of Lucknow, and then returned to Cawnpore. + +On November 24th, the day after leaving Lucknow, General Havelock was +carried off by dysentery, and buried in the Alumbagh. His death spread a +gloom over India, but by this time his name had become a household word +wherever the English language was spoken. In the hour of surprise and +panic, as successive stories of mutiny and rebellion reached England, +and culminated in the revolt at Delhi and massacre at Cawnpore, the +victories of Havelock revived the drooping spirits of the British +nation, and stirred up all hearts to glorify the hero who had stemmed +the tide of disaffection and disaster. The death of Havelock, following +the story of the capture of Delhi, and told with the same breath that +proclaimed the deliverance at Lucknow, was received in England with a +universal sorrow that will never be forgotten so long as men are living +who can recall the memory of the "Mutiny of Fifty-seven." + +The subsequent history of the sepoy revolt is little more than a detail +of the military operations of British troops for the dispersion of the +rebels and restoration of order and law. Sir Colin Campbell [Footnote: +Died at Chatham, England, August 14, 1863.--ED.]--later made Baron Clyde +of Clydesdale--undertook a general campaign against the rebels in Oudh +and Rohilkhand, and restored order and law in those disaffected +Provinces; while Sir James Outram drove the rebels out of Lucknow, and +reëstablished British sovereignty in the capital of Oudh. + + + + +(1859) BATTLES OF MAGENTA AND SOLFERINO, Pietro Orsi + + +During the Crimean War (1853-1856) Austria remained neutral, while the +Italian Kingdom of Sardinia joined Great Britain, France, and Turkey +against Russia. The power of Austria still kept despotic sway over the +States of Italy, and it was the aim of Victor Emmanuel, King of +Sardinia, to throw off this hinderance to Italian liberty and union. It +was the opinion of Count Cavour, Victor Emmanuel's minister, that, by +acting with the allies against Russia, Sardinia would increase her +prestige with the European Powers, and thereby promote the movement for +independence. The success of the allies in the Crimean War confirmed the +prescience of Cavour. + +Napoleon III wished to secure for France supremacy in southern Europe. +In 1855 he inquired of the Sardinian minister, "What can I do for +Italy?" The Crimean War ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1856. At the +congress which concluded that peace Cavour presented the case of Italy +against Austria. Not long after this it became evident that Napoleon was +prepared to espouse the Italian cause. In 1858 it was agreed that he +should do this. + +Sardinia now prepared for war. Austria sent an ultimatum demanding a +reduction of the Sardinian army to a peace footing, This demand was +refused. In January, 1859, Austria mobilized fresh troops on the Italian +frontier, and Cavour requested Garibaldi to organize a volunteer corps +to be called _Cacciatori delle Alpi_ ("Hunters of the Alps"). Still +Cavour disclaimed a warlike policy, denying that the hostile initiative +was taken by Sardinia, although in this position he was opposed by some +members of his own Parliament. Nevertheless Cavour declared: "I believe +I am justified in proclaiming aloud, in the presence of Parliament, of +the nation, and of Europe, that if there has been provocation it was +offered by Austria." As shown by Orsi, the Italian historian, the great +minister maintained this attitude as long as it was possible to hold +back from the actual conflict. + +Cavour insisted that Austria must be the aggressive party, for in the +treaty with Napoleon III it had been stipulated that France would come +to the help of Sardinia only in case of the latter being attacked by +Austria. Hence Cavour was obliged to seek every means of putting his +country into the attitude of the provoked party. How many +disappointments, uncertainties, and anxieties crowded those days, from +February to the end of April, 1859! In order to understand the enormous +difficulties overcome by Cavour it would be necessary to follow +literally, day by day, the history of that period. In March he repaired +to Paris to ascertain Napoleon's action: it was too evident, however, +that French public opinion was unfavorable to war, and the Emperor was +wavering. Russia and England suggested that the question should be +solved by a congress, to which proposal Napoleon III acceded: Cavour now +believed all was lost, since Sardinia could not refuse without putting +herself in the wrong. Fortunately, the difficulty was solved by Austria +boldly insisting that Sardinia should disarm before being represented at +the congress, and on April 23d this demand was enforced by an ultimatum, +to be answered within three days. + +Now ensued a genuine declaration of hostilities, and most joyfully did +Victor Emmanuel make the following announcement to his troops: +"Soldiers! Austria, who masses her armies on our frontiers and threatens +to invade our country because liberty and order rule there; because +concord and affection between sovereign and people--and not force--sway +the State; because there the anguished cry of oppressed Italy is +listened to--Austria dares to tell us, who are armed only in our own +defence, to lay down those arms and put ourselves in her power. Such an +outrageous suggestion surely merits a condign response, and I have +indignantly refused her request. I announce this to you in the certainty +that you will make the wrong done to your King and to your nation your +own. Hence mine is a proclamation of war: arm yourselves therefore in +readiness for it! + +"You will be confronted by an ancient enemy who is both valiant and +disciplined, but against whom you need not fear to measure your +strength, for you may remember with pride Goito, Pastrengo, Santa Lucia, +Sommacampagna, and, above all, Custozza, where four brigades fought for +three days against the enemy's five _corps d'armée_. I will be your +leader. Your prowess in action has already been tested in the past, and +when fighting under my magnanimous father I myself proudly recognized +your valor. I am convinced that on the field of honor and glory you will +know how to justify, as well as to augment, your military renown. + +"You will have as comrades those intrepid French troops--the conquerors +in so many distinguished campaigns--with whom you fought side by side at +Tchernaya, whom Napoleon III, always prompt to further the defence of a +righteous cause and the victory of civilization, generously sends in +great numbers to our aid. March then, confident of success, and wreathe +with fresh laurels that standard which, rallying from all quarters the +flower of Italian youth to its threefold colors, points out your task of +accomplishing that righteous and sacred enterprise--the independence of +Italy, wherein we find our war-cry." + +The Austrian army to the number of one hundred seventy thousand +men--besides those remaining in the Lombardo-Venetian fortresses--was +commanded by General Gyulai, the successor of Radetzky, who had died the +year before, at the age of ninety-one. Gyulai meant to attack and rout +the Sardinian army before it could join its French allies. On April 29th +he crossed the Ticino; then spreading out his forces along the Sesia, he +reconnoitred as far as Chivasso. These districts abound in cultivated +rice-fields and are intersected by many canals: it was therefore easy, +by flooding the ground, to hinder the march of the Austrian troops on +Turin. + +Meanwhile, the Sardinian army, composed of sixty thousand men, awaited +the arrival of the French forces on the right bank of the Po. On May +12th Napoleon III, already preceded into Italy by one hundred twenty +thousand of his men, debarked at Genoa, and on the 14th was at +Alessandria, where, near the mouth of the Tanaro, the allied armies met. +The Austrian troops covered a long tract, from Novara to Vercelli, then +extended down the line of the Sesia as far as the Po, and thence reached +the mouth of the Tanaro. Gyulai, seeing the enemy concentrated on the +right bank of the Po, believed that Napoleon. III intended crossing that +river in the direction of Piacenza--as Napoleon I had crossed in +1796--and so massed his troops to the south. At this juncture a portion +of his army encountered the French and Sardinians at Montebello, where +the extreme right wing of the allies was posted. The Austrian General +met with such a determined resistance that he imagined this must be the +centre of the enemy, and felt convinced that he had guessed the latter's +intention; he therefore caused his army to pursue its march southward. + +By this movement Vercelli was abandoned by the Austrians and it was +immediately reoccupied by the Sardinians. + +Napoleon now prepared a bold flank movement, by leaving the Po for the +Ticino, and to mask this manoeuvre ordered the Sardinians to make an +advance. Thus, while Victor Emmanuel, at the head of his men, flung +himself from Vercelli on Palestro--meriting, by the skill of his +military tactics, the acclamations of a regiment of zouaves whom he +headed as corporal--the French, taking ad vantage of the Alessandria, +Casale, and Novara Railway, made for the bridge of Buffalora over the +Ticino. Only then did Gyulai perceive this clever stratagem which threw +Lombardy open to the allies, and he was consequently obliged to cross +the Ticino to block the enemy's way to Milan. + +On June 4th, at Magenta, nearly the whole of the Austrian army engaged +the French forces; the battle, which was most desperate, lasted all day, +and was remarkable for the prodigies of valor performed. The Austrians, +driven back into Magenta itself, maintained, even in that village, such +a stout resistance that they had to be dislodged by house-to-house +fighting. + +On June 8th Victor Emmanuel and Napoleon III made their triumphal entry +into Milan--now freed from the Austrian yoke. On the same day a French +corps repulsed the Austrians at Melegnano, while Garibaldi entered +Bergamo from the other side. Garibaldi, who had been the last to leave +Lombardy in 1848, was now the first to set foot in its territory in +1859. Since May 23d he had led his own Cacciatori to the Lombard shores +of Lake Maggiore, had defeated the Austrians at Varese, entered Como, +routed the enemy afresh at San Fermo, and was now proceeding to Bergamo +and Brescia, with the intention of reaching the Trentine Alps, to cut +off the enemy's retreat. + +After the Battle of Magenta, Gyulai had been dismissed from the command, +and his post was assumed by the Emperor Francis Joseph himself, assisted +by the aged Marshal Hess. On the night of June 23d the retreating +Austrians crossed the Mincio, but a few hours after retraced their steps +and took up their position on the hills to the south of the Lake of +Garda. On the morning of the 24th the Franco-Sardinian army began their +march at dawn, and shortly afterward, to their great amazement, +encountered the Austrians, who they imagined had crossed the Mincio the +night before. The struggle was terrible; in fact, the line covered by +the fighting extended a distance of five leagues. + +A series of hills, dominated by Solferino and San Martino, formed the +positions the Franco-Sardinian army had to assail. The French contested +Solferino with the Austrians, and, after a hotly disputed battle of more +than twelve hours, succeeded in occupying it. The Sardinians, led by +Victor Emmanuel, made a violent assault on San Martino; four times in +succession did they take it, only to lose it again, but the fifth time +they made themselves masters of it for good and all. By six o'clock in +the evening the strength of the Austrian army was everywhere broken. +Just then a frightful hurricane, heralded by clouds of dust and +accompanied by torrents of rain, burst over the two armies and thus +favored the flight of the Austrian battalions. Napoleon III now fixed +his headquarters at Cavriana, in the same house that Francis Joseph had +tenanted during the action. On that vast battlefield the combatants had +numbered three hundred thousand men--one hundred sixty thousand +Austrians and one hundred forty thousand French and Sardinians--of all +these, after that sanguinary struggle, twenty-five thousand were left +dead or wounded. + +After a few days' rest the Franco-Sardinian army crossed the Mincio and +besieged Peschiera. Now there seemed a chance of the Italians fulfilling +the hope they had so long cherished, of expelling the foreigners. They +confidently awaited news of fresh feats of arms in the Quadrilateral and +of the success of the fleet sent by France and Sardinia into Adriatic +waters, but instead came the most unexpected tidings imaginable. + +On July 8th Napoleon III had met Francis Joseph, and three days later +the preliminaries of peace were signed at Villafranca. By this treaty +Austria was to cede Lombardy to Napoleon, who was to relegate it to +Sardinia; the Italian States were to be amalgamated into a +confederation, under the Presidency of the Pope, but Venice, though +forming part of this same confederation, was to remain under Austrian +rule. Great indeed was the mortification of all Italy on hearing such +terms of peace announced. Cavour, who had devoted all his marvellous +talents to realizing the ideal of national redemption and had believed +his ends so nearly attained, hastened to his Prince, and, in a +melancholy interview, advised him not to accept such conditions. But +Victor Emmanuel, although it caused his very heart to bleed, signed the +treaty, adding these words: "I approve as far as I myself am concerned," +whereupon Cavour sent in his resignation. + +What was the motive that had induced Napoleon to break his lately made +promise of freeing Italy from the Alps to the Adriatic? There were many +reasons which influenced him: the sight of that immense battlefield, +strewn with the bodies of the slain, the determined resistance of the +Austrian soldiers, the difficulties which would have to be faced in the +Quadrilateral, the hostile attitude of Prussia, were all motives which +combined to sway the French Emperor's mind. But there was also another +reason which counted for much. Napoleon had been drawn into this +campaign without really knowing the state of Italian public opinion; he +wished Italy to be free "from the Alps to the Adriatic," but did not +want Italian unity; rather did he desire the formation of a confederacy +wherein France could always make her own predominance felt in the +peninsula. Scarcely had he arrived in Italy when he was forced to see +that Italian ideals were very different from what he had imagined them +to be. Trials had but ripened the virtues of prudence and wisdom in +men's minds: in 1859 the people were little likely to repeat the +blunders of 1848 or 1849, and there were now no longer discussions over +forms of government, but everywhere a unanimous resolve to rally round +the liberal monarchy of Savoy. + +On the first proclamation of the war the Grand Duke of Tuscany had been +compelled to fly from his States (April 27th). Napoleon had imagined +that in this Province--the ancient stronghold of Italian +municipalism--it would be easy to form a new kingdom with a Bonaparte to +wear its crown. With this aim in view the fifth French army corps, +commanded by Prince Jerome Napoleon, had debarked at Leghorn, under the +pretext of organizing the military forces of Central Italy and harassing +the Austrians on the extreme left. But the Tuscans soon divined the real +intention of the French, and the Provisional Government in Florence, +previously instituted under Bettino Ricasoli, suddenly avowed its +intention of uniting Tuscany to Sardinia, whereupon Prince Napoleon, +seeing the true attitude of the country, found it advisable to affect to +promote the annexation. + +The duchies of Parma and Modena had also been deserted by their dukes, +and the papal legates had to quit Romagna, whose inhabitants now +suddenly announced their fusion with Sardinia. Indeed this impulse for +annexation now began to spread, and to the cry of "Victor Emmanuel" the +Marches and Umbria revolted against the Pontiff, but in these regions +the movement was sanguinarily suppressed by the Swiss troops. + +Napoleon III was displeased to note how all Italian aspirations tended +to unity, and thus it was that he had signed the Treaty of Villafranca. +Peace was concluded at Zurich in the November following, and there the +idea of an Italian confederation was mooted afresh. + +The fugitive princes ought to have returned to their States, but how was +it possible? They certainly could not hope to be recalled by their +subjects, for the latter had expelled them; occupying their kingdoms +with troops of their own was out of the question, because they had none; +foreign aid, moreover, was not to be looked for, since Napoleon III had +established the principle of non-intervention. Then the people of +Central Italy showed themselves capable of a bold political _coup:_ +under the leadership of Bettino Ricasoli, dictator in Tuscany, and Luigi +Carlo Farini--who held a similar office in Emilia and Romagna--they +declared, by means of their assembled Deputies, their earnest desire to +be incorporated with Sardinia. + +The new Ministry formed at Turin, after Cavour's resignation, had +pursued its way timidly, fearing to rouse the suspicion and displeasure +of the European Powers, but at this momentous and difficult juncture +Cavour again accepted the premiership (January 20, 1860). He immediately +gave a bolder impetus to King Victor Emmanuel's policy by sending a note +to all the Powers, in which he asserted it to be now impossible for +Sardinia to offer any resistance to the inevitable course of events. +Cavour imagined that since Napoleon III had obtained the imperial throne +by a plebiscite, he would not deny the validity of such a claim in +Italy, and forthwith submitted this idea to the Emperor, who was bound +to approve of it. But the French nation was discontented, imagining that +the blood it had shed for Italy had profited nothing, and was, moreover, +very averse to the formation of a powerful kingdom beyond the Alps. + +Now it was that Cavour determined on a great sacrifice. In the +convention of Plombières it had been agreed that, in the event of a +kingdom of eleven million inhabitants being established from the Alps to +the Adriatic, Sardinia would cede Savoy to France. As, however, by the +Treaty of Villafranca, Venetia had remained under the Austrian yoke, no +more had been said about cession of territory, but by the annexation of +Central Italy the number of Victor Emmanuel's subjects was now augmented +to eleven millions. In order to induce Napoleon III to approve of such +an annexation Cavour offered him Savoy, but the Emperor claimed Nice as +well, and the Minister was obliged to accede to his demands. On March +24, 1860, Savoy, the cradle of the reigning dynasty, and Nice, +Garibaldi's native Province, were ceded to France. Garibaldi, deeply +wounded in his tenderest feelings, violently abused Cavour in +Parliament, but the Chamber, although it respected the hero's emotion, +ratified the treaty which was at this crisis a necessary concession. + +At the same time Parma, Modena, Romagna, and Tuscany expressed by +universal suffrage their cordial desire for union with Sardinia, and a +few days later the fusion of these provinces with the dominions of the +house of Savoy was an accomplished fact. On April 2, 1860, at the +opening of the new Parliament, Victor Emmanuel could thus sum up the +results already obtained by the nationalist party: "In a very short +space of time an invasion repulsed, Lombardy liberated by valiant feats +of arms, Central Italy freed by her people's wonderful strength, and +to-day, assembled around me here, the representatives of the rights and +hopes of the nation." + + + + +(1859) DARWIN PUBLISHES HIS ORIGIN OF SPECIES, Charles Robert Darwin + + +Whatever may be said of the credit due to other scientists for +investigation or discovery in natural selection, the preeminence of +Darwin in this field is undisputed. If of any scientific book it can be +said that its appearance was "epoch-making" it is true of Darwin's work +_On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the +Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life_. Not only did it +command the earnest attention of the scientific and literary world, but +it awakened the interest of thoughtful persons everywhere. Later +research and criticism have modified the effect of his conclusions and +led to new results, but the "Darwinian theory" or "Darwinism" still +holds and seems likely long to maintain a central place in the history +of modern scientific development. + +Charles Robert Darwin was born at Shrewsbury, England, February 12, +1809. He was the grandson of Erasmus Darwin, an eminent physician, +naturalist, and poet, who in 1794-1796 published an important work +entitled _Zoönomia, or the Laws of Organic Life_. Charles Darwin was +heir to a fortune, and in youth the possession of ample means prevented +him from taking any deep interest in studying for a profession, although +he did study medicine and, later, for the church. But before reaching +his majority he turned to natural history. At Cambridge he enjoyed an +intimacy with the distinguished botanist Professor John S. Henslow, who +quickened the young man's enthusiasm for scientific investigation. + +In his twenty-third year Darwin went as naturalist with a government +expedition to Patagonia. The voyage, in the Beagle (1831-1836), was +continued round the world. Darwin's journals of the expedition served +him in his later work, and also furnished much material for popular +information. From 1842, when he went to reside at Down, in Kent, he +devoted himself wholly to a life of scientific research and writing. + +Since it is not an uncommon error to confound natural selection with +evolution, it may be well to point out that, while based on evolution, +Darwinism is distinct from it. Evolution is the development of new +organisms through heredity, variation, and adaptation. Darwinism, or the +doctrine of natural selection, as best defined in these pages by Darwin +himself, is seen to involve quite different factors from those of +evolution as thus restricted. For candor and childlike simplicity, the +writings of Darwin are especially noteworthy among the modest utterances +of great men, and nowhere are these qualities more strikingly revealed +than in the following account of the production of his principal work. + +From September, 1854, I devoted my whole time to arranging my huge pile +of notes, to observing, and to experimenting in relation to the +transmutation of species. During the voyage of the Beagle I had been +deeply impressed by discovering in the pampean formation great fossil +animals covered with armor like that on the existing armadillos; +secondly, by the manner in which closely allied animals replace one +another in proceeding southward over the continent; and thirdly, by the +South American character of most of the productions of the Galapagos +Archipelago, and more especially by the manner in which they differ +slightly on each island of the group, none of the islands appearing to +be very ancient, in a geological sense. + +It was evident that such facts as these, as well as many others, could +be explained only on the supposition that species gradually become +modified; and the subject haunted me. But it was equally evident that +neither the action of the surrounding conditions nor the will of the +organisms (especially in the case of plants) could account for the +innumerable cases in which organisms of every kind are beautifully +adapted to their habits of life--for instance, a woodpecker or a +tree-frog to climb trees, or a seed for dispersal by hooks or plumes. I +had always been much struck by such adaptations, and until these could +be explained it seemed to me almost useless to endeavor to prove by +indirect evidence that species have been modified. + +After my return to England it appeared to me that by following the +example of Lyell in geology, and by collecting all facts which bore in +any way on the variation of animals and plants under domestication and +nature, some light might perhaps be thrown on the whole subject. My +first note-book was opened in July, 1837. I worked on true Baconian +principles, and without any theory collected facts on a wholesale scale, +more especially with respect to domesticated productions, by printed +inquiries, by conversation with skilful breeders and gardeners, and by +extensive reading. When I see the list of books of all kinds which I +read and abstracted, including whole series of journals and +transactions, I am surprised at my industry. I soon perceived that +selection was the keystone of man's success in making useful races of +animals and plants. But how selection could be applied to organisms +living in a state of nature remained for some time a mystery to me. + +In October, 1838, that is, fifteen months after I had begun my +systematic inquiry, I happened to read for amusement Malthus's _Essay on +the Principle of Population_, and being well prepared to appreciate the +struggle for existence which everywhere goes on, from long-continued +observation of the habits of animals and plants, it at once struck me +that under these circumstances favorable variations would tend to be +preserved, and unfavorable ones to be destroyed. The result of this +would be the formation of new species. Here then I had at last got a +theory by which to work; but I was so anxious to avoid prejudice that I +determined not for some time to write even the briefest sketch of it. In +June, 1842, I first allowed myself the satisfaction of writing a very +brief abstract of my theory in pencil in thirty-five pages; and this was +enlarged during the summer of 1844 into one of two hundred thirty pages, +which I had fairly copied out and still possess. + +But at that time I overlooked one problem of great importance; and it is +astonishing to me, except on the principle of Columbus and his egg, how +I could have overlooked it and its solution. This problem is the +tendency in organic beings descended from the same stock to diverge in +character as they become modified. That they have diverged greatly is +obvious from the manner in which species of all kinds can be classed +under genera, genera under families, families under sub-orders and so +on; and I can remember the very spot in the road, while riding in my +carriage, that, to my joy, the solution occurred to me; and this was +long after I had come to Down. The solution, as I believe, is that the +modified offspring of all dominant and increasing forms tend to become +adapted to many and highly diversified places in the economy of nature. + +Early in 1856 Lyell advised me to write out my views fully, and I began +at once to do so on a scale three or four times as extensive as that +which was afterward followed in my _Origin of Species_; yet it was only +an abstract of the materials which I had collected, and I got through +about half the work on this scale. But my plans were overthrown, for +early in the summer of 1858 Alfred Russel Wallace, who was then in the +Malay Archipelago, sent me an essay _On the Tendency of Varieties to +Depart Indefinitely from the Original Type_, and this essay contained +exactly the same theory as mine. Mr. Wallace expressed the wish that if +I thought well of his essay, I should send it to Lyell for perusal. + +The circumstances under which I consented, at the request of Lyell and +Hooker, to allow of an abstract from my manuscript, together with a +letter to Asa Gray, dated September 5, 1857, to be published at the same +time with Wallace's essay, are given in the _Journal of the Proceedings +of the Linnean Society_, 1858. I was at first very unwilling to consent, +as I thought Mr. Wallace might consider my doing so unjustifiable, for I +did not then know how generous and noble was his disposition. Neither +the extract from my manuscript nor the letter to Gray had been intended +for publication, and they were badly written. Mr. Wallace's essay, on +the other hand, was admirably expressed and quite clear. Nevertheless, +our joint productions excited very little attention, and the only +published notice of them which I can remember was by Professor Haughton, +of Dublin, whose verdict was that all that was new in them was false, +and what was true was old. This shows how necessary it is that any new +view should be explained at considerable length in order to arouse +public attention. + +In September, 1858, I set to work by the strong advice of Lyell and +Hooker to prepare a volume on the transmutation of species, but was +often interrupted by ill-health and short visits to Doctor Lane's +delightful hydropathic establishment at Moor Park. I abstracted the +manuscript begun on a much larger scale in 1856, and completed the +volume on the same reduced scale. It cost me thirteen months and ten +days' hard labor. It was published under the title of the _Origin of +Species_, in November, 1859. Though considerably added to and corrected +in the later editions, it has remained substantially the same book. + +It is no doubt the chief work of my life. It was from the first highly +successful. The first small edition of twelve hundred fifty copies was +sold on the day of publication, and a second edition of three thousand +copies soon afterward. Sixteen thousand copies have now (1876) been sold +in England; and considering how stiff a book it is, this is a large +number. It has been translated into almost every European tongue, even +into such languages as Spanish, Bohemian, Polish, and Russian. It has +also, according to Miss Bird, been translated into Japanese, and is much +studied in that country. Even an essay on it has appeared in Hebrew, +showing that the theory is contained in the Old Testament! The reviews +were very numerous; for some time I collected all that appeared on the +_Origin_ and on my related books, and these amount (excluding newspaper +reviews) to two hundred sixty-five; but after a time I gave up the +attempt in despair. Many separate essays and books on the subject have +appeared; and in Germany a catalogue, or bibliography, on "Darwinismus" +has appeared every year or two. + +The success of the _Origin_ may, I think, be attributed in large part to +my having long before written two condensed sketches, and to my having +finally abstracted a much larger manuscript, which was itself an +abstract. By this means I was enabled to select the more striking facts +and conclusions. I had also during many years followed a golden rule, +namely, whenever a published fact, a new observation or thought, came +across me which was opposed to my general results, to make a memorandum +of it without fail and at once; for I had found by experience that such +facts and thoughts were far more apt to escape from the memory than +favorable ones. Owing to this habit, very few objections were raised +against my views which I had not at least noticed and attempted to +answer. + +It has sometimes been said that the success of the _Origin_ proved "that +the subject was in the air," or "that men's minds were prepared for it." +I do not think that this is strictly true, for I occasionally sounded +not a few naturalists, and never happened to come across a single one +who seemed to doubt about the permanence of species. Even Lyell and +Hooker, though they would listen with interest to me, never seemed to +agree. I tried once or twice to explain to able men what I meant by +"natural selection," but signally failed. What I believe was strictly +true is that innumerable well-observed facts were stored in the minds of +naturalists ready to take their proper places as soon as any theory that +would receive them was sufficiently explained. Another element in the +success of the book was its moderate size; and this I owe to the +appearance of Mr. Wallace's essay; had I published on the scale in which +I began to write in 1856, the book would have been four or five times as +large as the _Origin_, and very few would have had the patience to read +it. I gained much by my delay in publishing from about 1839, when the +theory was clearly conceived, to 1859; and I lost nothing by it, for I +cared very little whether men attributed more originality to me or to +Wallace; and his essay no doubt aided in the reception of the theory. I +was forestalled in only one important point, which my vanity has always +made me regret, namely, the explanation, by means of the Glacial period, +of the presence of the same species of plants and of some few animals on +distant mountain summits and in the arctic regions. This view pleased me +so much that I wrote it out _in extenso_, and I believe that it was read +by Hooker some years before Edward Forbes published his celebrated +memoir on the subject. In the very few points in which we differed I +still think that I was in the right. I have never, of course, alluded in +print to my having independently worked out this view. + +Hardly any point gave me so much satisfaction, when I was at work on the +_Origin_, as the explanation of the wide difference in many classes +between the embryo and the adult animal, and of the close resemblance of +the embryos within the same class. No notice of this point was taken, as +far as I remember, in the early reviews of the _Origin_, and I recollect +expressing my surprise on this head in a letter to Asa Gray. Within late +years several reviewers have given the whole credit to Fritz Mueller and +Haeckel, who undoubtedly have worked it out much more fully and in some +respects more correctly than I did. I had materials for a whole chapter +on the subject, and I ought to have made the discussion longer; for it +is clear that I failed to impress my readers; and he who succeeds in +doing so deserves, in my opinion, all the credit. + +This leads me to remark that I have almost without exception been +treated honestly by my reviewers, passing over those without scientific +knowledge as not worthy of notice. My views have often been grossly +misrepresented, bitterly opposed and ridiculed, but this has been +generally done, as I believe, in good faith. On the whole I do not doubt +that my works have been repeatedly and greatly overpraised. I rejoice +that I have avoided controversies, and this I owe to Lyell, who many +years ago, in reference to my geological works, strongly advised me +never to get entangled in a controversy, as it rarely did any good and +caused a miserable loss of time and temper. + +Whenever I have found out that I have blundered, or that my work has +been imperfect, and when I have been contemptuously criticised, and even +when I have been overpraised, so that I have felt mortified, it has been +my greatest comfort to say hundreds of times to myself that "I have +worked as hard and as well as I could, and no man can do more than +this." I remember when in Good Success Bay, in Terra del Fuego, thinking +(and I believe that I wrote home to that effect) that I could not employ +my life better than in adding a little to natural science. This I have +done to the best of my abilities, and critics may say what they like, +but they cannot destroy this conviction. + +During the last two months of 1859 I was fully occupied in preparing a +second edition of the _Origin_, and by an enormous correspondence. On +January 1, 1860, I began arranging my notes for my work on the +_Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication,_ but it was not +published until the beginning of 1868, the delay having been caused +partly by frequent periods of illness, one of which lasted seven months, +and partly by being tempted to publish on other subjects which at the +time interested me more. + +My _Descent of Man_ was published in February, 1871. As soon as I had +become, in the year 1837 or 1838, convinced that species were mutable +productions, I could not avoid the belief that man must come under the +same law. Accordingly I collected notes on the subject for my own +satisfaction, but not, for a long time, with any intention of +publishing. Although in the _Origin of Species_ the derivation of any +particular species is never discussed, yet I thought it best, in order +that no honorable man should accuse me of concealing my views, to add +that by the work "light would be thrown on the origin of man and his +history." It would have been useless and injurious to the success of the +book to parade, without giving any evidence, my conviction with respect +to his origin. + +But when I found that many naturalists fully accepted the doctrine of +the evolution of species, it seemed to me advisable to work up such +notes as I possessed, and to publish a special treatise on the origin of +man. I was the more glad to do so as it gave me an opportunity of fully +discussing sexual selection--a subject which had always greatly +interested me. This subject, and that of the variation of our domestic +productions, together with the causes and laws of variation, +inheritance, and the intercrossing of plants, are the sole subjects +which I have been able to write about in full, so as to use all the +materials which I have collected. The _Descent of Man_ took me three +years to write, but then, as usual, some of this time was lost by +ill-health and some was consumed by preparing new editions and other +minor works. A second and largely corrected edition of the _Descent_ +appeared in 1874. + + + + +(1860) THE KINGDOM OF ITALY ESTABLISHED, Giuseppe Garibaldi and John + Webb Probyn + + +After the suppression of the Italian Revolution, by Austria, in 1849, +and the restoration of Austrian power in Italy, Charles Albert, King of +Sardinia, who had headed the movement for Italian independence and had +been defeated, abdicated in favor of his son, Victor Emmanuel. The new +King, as Victor Emmanuel II, succeeded to the throne March 23, 1849, the +day of his father's defeat at Novara. He was a liberal sovereign and +zealous for the cause of his country. With the aid of his great +minister, Count Cavour, he proceeded with the work of securing the unity +and freedom of Italy. In 1859 Sardinia and France, in alliance, defeated +Austria. In this war were made the substantial beginnings from which a +new Italian nationality was to be realized. Italian unity was not the +object of Napoleon III in his alliance with Italy against Austria, but +he did much to advance its prospects. He even promised the complete +liberation of Italy, but this promise he failed to fulfil, to the great +disappointment of Italian statesmen. Napoleon wished to see an Italian +confederation, with the Pope at its head, but this plan was rejected. + +Sicily and Naples, in Southern Italy, were still governed by a Bourbon +prince. It was necessary to get rid of him, but Victor Emmanuel did not +desire another war. The matter was decided through the action of +Garibaldi, whose first step toward ending the last remnant of Bourbon +rule in Italy was a bold descend upon Sicily. This movement he made +against the wishes of Cavour and in furtherance of the plans of "Young +Italy." His own account of his landing at Marsala and of the Battle of +Calatafimi--regarded by him as one of the most memorable in his military +experience--is as characteristic of Garibaldi the man and writer as were +his exploits characteristic of Garibaldi the soldier. + +The events that quickly followed Garibaldi's descent upon Sicily marked +the beginning of a new era in Italian history. After his victory at +Calatafimi Garibaldi moved toward Palermo, the capital. On May 24th the +Bourbon troops of Francis II, king of the Two Sicilies, marched out of +the city to meet him. By shrewd tactics Garibaldi outmaneuvre them. On +the 26th he marched on Palermo with about three thousand men, and +attacked the city on the 27th. The battle was a confused struggle of +military and civilians, many citizens of Palermo, armed with "daggers, +knives, spits, and iron instruments of any kind," taking part, in favor +of Garibaldi, in the street-fighting that accompanied the more regular +conflict. The city fell through revolt of the people and defection of +the King's troops rather than by the assaults of Garibaldi's men, +"twenty thousand soldiers of despotism" capitulating "before a handful +of citizens" self-devoted in the cause of freedom. + +By June 6th Garibaldi had complete possession of Palermo; other +successes in his famous campaign of liberation followed rapidly; and his +final triumph was achieved in the later events so eloquently described +by Probyn, the historian of Italy's progress through her most important +transformations in the nineteenth century. + + +GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI + +As we approached the western coast of Sicily we began to discover +sailing-vessels and steamers. On the roadstead of Marsala two men-of-war +were anchored, which turned out to be English. Having decided on landing +at Marsala, we approached that port, and reached it about noon. On +entering the harbor we found it full of merchant-vessels of different +nations. Fortune had indeed favored us and so guided our expedition that +we could not have arrived at a more propitious moment. The Bourbon +cruisers had left the harbor of Marsala that morning, sailing eastward, +while we were arriving from the west; indeed, they were still in sight +toward Cape San Marco as we entered, so that by the time they came +within cannon-shot we had already landed all the men out of the Piemonte +and were beginning to debark those on board the Lombardo. + +The presence of the two English men-of-war in some degree influenced the +determination of the Bourbon commanders, who were naturally impatient to +open fire on us, and this circumstance gave us time to get our whole +force on shore. The noble English flag once more helped to prevent +bloodshed, and I, the Benjamin of these lords of the ocean, was for the +hundredth time protected by them. The assertion, however, made by our +enemies, that the English had directly favored and assisted our landing +at Marsala, was inaccurate. The British colors, flying from the two +men-of-war and the English consulate, made the Bourbon mercenaries +hesitate, and, I might even say, impressed them with a sense of shame at +pouring the fire of their imposing batteries into a handful of men armed +only with the kind of muskets usually supplied by the Government to +Italian volunteers. + +Notwithstanding this, three-fourths of the volunteers were still on the +quay when the Bourbons began firing on them with shells and +grape-shot--happily, without injury to anyone. The Piemonte, abandoned +by us, was carried off by the enemy, who left the Lombardo, which had +grounded on a sand-bank. + +The population of Marsala, thunderstruck at this unexpected event, +received us pretty well, all things considered. The common people, +indeed, were delighted; the magnates welcomed us under protest. I +thought all this very natural. Those who are accustomed to calculate +everything at so much per cent, are not likely to be reassured by the +sight of a few desperadoes, who wish to ameliorate a corrupt society by +eradicating from it the cancer of privilege and falsehood, especially +when these desperadoes, few as they are, and with neither +three-hundred-pounders nor ironclads, fling themselves against a power +believed to be gigantic, like that of the Bourbon. + +Men of high rank--that is, the privileged class--before risking anything +in an enterprise wish to assure themselves which way the wind of fortune +blows and where the large battalions are; and then the victorious force +may be certain of finding them compliant, cordial, and even enthusiastic +if need be. Is not this the history of human selfishness in every +country? The poor people, on the other hand, welcomed us with applause +and with unmistakable tokens of affection. They thought of nothing but +the sacredness of the sacrifice, the difficult and noble task undertaken +by that handful of gallant young fellows, who had come from such a +distance to the succor of their brethren. + +We passed the remainder of the day and the following night at Marsala, +where I began to profit by the services of Crispi, an honest and capable +Sicilian, who was of the greatest use to me in government business, and +in making all necessary arrangements which my want of local knowledge +prevented my doing myself. A dictatorship was spoken of, and I accepted +it without hesitation, having always believed it the plank of safety in +urgent cases, amid the breakers in which nations often find themselves. + +On the morning of the 12th the "Thousand" [Footnote: Garibaldi landed +with a force of one thousand volunteers.--Ed.] left for Salemi, but, the +distance being too great for one _étape_, we stopped at the farm of +Mistretta, where we passed the night. We did not find the proprietor at +home, but a young man, his brother, did the honors with kindly and +liberal hospitality. At Mistretta we formed a new company under +Griziotti. On the 13th we marched to Salemi, where we were well received +by the people and were joined by the companies of Sant' Anna d'Alcamo +and some other volunteers of the island. + +On the 14th we occupied Vita, or San Vito, and on the 15th came in sight +of the enemy, who, occupying Calatafimi and knowing of our approach in +that direction, had spread out the great part of their forces on the +heights called _Il Pianto dei Romani_. + +The dawn of May 15th found us in good order on the heights of Vita; and +a little later the enemy, whom I knew to be at Calatafimi, left the city +in column, marching toward us. The hills of Vita are confronted by the +heights of the Pianto dei Romani, where the enemy deployed his columns. +On the Calatafimi side these heights have a gentle slope, easily +ascended by the enemy, who covered all the highest points, while on the +Vita side they are steep and precipitous. + +Occupying the opposite and southern heights, I had been able to perceive +exactly all the positions held by the Bourbonists, while the latter +could scarcely see the line of sharpshooters formed by the Genoese +carbineers under Mosto, who covered our front, all the other companies +being drawn up _en échelon_ behind them. Our scanty artillery was +stationed on our left, on the highroad, under Orsini, who succeeded, in +spite of the poverty of his resources, in making a few good shots. In +this way both we and the enemy occupied strong positions, fronting each +other, and separated by a wide space of undulating ground, broken by a +few farmsteadings. Our advantage therefore clearly lay in awaiting the +enemy in our own position. The Bourbon forces, to the number of about +two thousand, with some cannon, discovering a few of our men without +distinguishing uniform and mingled with peasants, boldly advanced a few +lines of bersaglieri, with sufficient support and two guns. Arrived +within firing distance, they opened with carbines and cannon while +advancing on us. + +The order given to the Thousand was to wait without firing for the enemy +to come up, though the gallant Ligurians already had one man killed and +several wounded. The blare of the bugles, sounding an American +_reveille_, brought the enemy to a halt as if by magic. They understood +that it was not the Picciotti alone they had to deal with, and their +lines, with the artillery, gave the signal for a retrograde movement. +This was the first time that the soldiers of despotism had quailed +before the filibusters--for such was the title with which our enemies +honored us. + +The Thousand then sounded a charge--the Genoese carbineers in the van, +followed by a chosen band of youths impatient to come to close quarters. + +The intention of the charge was to put to flight the enemy's vanguard +and get possession of the two guns--a manoeuvre that was executed with a +spirit worthy of the champions of Italian liberty; but I had no +intention of a front attack on a formidable position occupied by a +strong force of Bourbon troops. But who could stop those fiery and +impetuous volunteers in their rush on the foe? In vain the trumpets +sounded a halt; our men did not hear, or imitated Nelson's conduct at +the Battle of Copenhagen. They turned a deaf ear to the order to halt +sounded by the trumpets, and with their bayonets drove the enemy's van +back on their main body. + +There was not a moment to be lost, or that gallant handful would have +perished. Immediately a general charge was sounded, and the entire corps +of the Thousand, accompanied by some courageous Sicilians and Calabrese, +marched at a quick pace to the rescue. + +The enemy had abandoned the plain, but, falling back on the heights +where their reserve was, held firm and defended their position with a +dogged valor worthy of a better cause. The most dangerous part of the +ground we had to cross was the level valley separating us from the +enemy, where we had to face a storm of cannon- and musket-balls which +wounded a good many of our men. Arrived at the foot of Monte Romano, we +were almost sheltered from attack; and at this point the Thousand, +somewhat diminished in number, closed up to the vanguard. + +The situation was supreme; we were bound to win. In this determination +we began to ascend the first ledge of the mountain, under a hail of +bullets. I do not remember how many, but there were certainly several +terraces to be gained before reaching the crest of the heights, and +every time we climbed from one terrace to the next--during which +operation we were totally unprotected--we were under a tremendous fire. +The orders given to our men to fire but few shots were well adapted to +the wretched weapons presented to us by the Sardinian Government, which +nearly always missed fire. On this occasion, too, great service was +rendered by the gallant Genoese, who, being excellent shots and armed +with good carbines, sustained the honor of our cause. This ought to be +an encouragement to all young Italians to exercise themselves in the use +of arms, in the conviction that valor alone is not enough on modern +battlefields; great dexterity in the use of weapons is also necessary. + +Calatafimi! The survivor of a hundred battles, if in my last moments my +friends see me smile once more with pride, it will be at the +recollection of that fight--for I remember none more glorious. The +Thousand, attired just as at home, worthy representatives of their +people, attacked--with heroic coolness, fighting their way from one +formidable position to another--the soldiers of tyranny, brilliant in +gaudily trimmed uniforms, gold lace, and epaulettes, and completely +routed them. How can I forget that knot of youths who, fearing to see me +wounded, surrounded me, pressing themselves closely together and +sheltering me with their bodies? If, while I write, I am deeply touched +at the recollection, I have good reason. Is it not my duty at least to +remind Italy of those brave sons of hers who fell there?--Montanari, +Schiaffino, Sertorio, Nullo, Vigo, Tukery, Taddei, and many more whose +names I grieve to say I cannot remember. + +As I have already said, the southern slope of Monte Romano, which we had +to ascend, was formed of those ledges or narrow terraces used by the +cultivators of the soil in mountainous countries. We made all possible +haste to reach the bank of each terrace, driving the enemy before us, +and then halting under cover of the bank to take breath and prepare for +the attack. Proceeding thus, we gained one ledge after another, till we +reached the top, where the Bourbon troops made a last effort, defending +their position with great intrepidity; many of their chasseurs, who had +come to the end of their ammunition, even throwing down stones on us. At +last we gave the final charge. The bravest of the Thousand, massed +together under the last bank, after taking breath and measuring with +their eye the space yet to be traversed before crossing swords with the +enemy, rushed on like lions, confident of victory and trusting in their +sacred cause. The Bourbon force could not resist the terrible onset of +men fighting for freedom; they fled, and never stopped till they reached +the town of Calatafimi, several miles from the battlefield. We ceased +our pursuit a short distance from the entrance to the town, which is +very strongly situated. If one gives battle, one ought to be sure of +victory; this axiom is very true under all circumstances, but especially +at the beginning of a campaign. + +The victory of Calatafimi, though of slight importance as regards +acquisitions--for we took only one cannon, a few rifles, and a few +prisoners--had an immeasurable moral result in encouraging the +population and demoralizing the hostile army. The handful of +filibusters, without gold lace or epaulettes, who were spoken of with +such solemn contempt, had routed several thousand of the Bourbon's best +troops, artillery and all, commanded by one of those generals who, like +Lucullus, are ready to spend the revenue of a province on one night's +supper. One corps of citizens--not to say filibusters--animated by love +of their country, can therefore gain a victory unaided by all this +needless splendor. + +The first important result was the enemy's retreat from Calatafimi, +which town we occupied on the following morning, May 16, 1860. The +second result, and one abundantly noteworthy, was the attack made by the +population of Partinicio, Borgetto, Montelepre, and other places, on the +retreating army. In every place volunteer companies were formed which +speedily joined us, and the enthusiasm in the surrounding villages +reached its height. The disbanded troops of the enemy did not stop till +they reached Palermo, where they brought terror to the Bourbon party and +confidence to the patriots. Our wounded, and those of the enemy, were +brought in to Vita and Calatafimi. Among ours were some men who could +ill be spared. + +Montanari, my comrade at Rome and in Lombardy, was dangerously wounded +and died a few days after. He was one of those whom doctrinaires call +demagogues, because they are impatient of servitude, love their country, +and refuse to bow the knee to the caprices and vices of the great. +Montanari was a Modenese. Schiaffino, a young Ligurian from Camogli, who +had also served in the Cacciatori delle Alpi and in the Guides, was +among the first to fall on the field, bereaving Italy of one of her +bravest soldiers. He worked hard on the night of our start from Genoa, +and greatly assisted Bixio in that delicate undertaking. De Amici, also +of the Cacciatori and Guides, was another who fell at the beginning of +the battle. Not a few of the chosen band of the Thousand fell at +Calatafimi as our Roman forefathers fell--rushing on the enemy with cold +steel, cut down in front without a complaint, without a cry, except that +of _"Viva L'Italia!"_ I may have seen battles more desperate and more +obstinately contested, but in none have I seen finer soldiers than my +citizen filibusters of Calatafimi. + +The victory of Calatafimi was indisputably the decisive battle in the +brilliant campaign of 1860. It was absolutely necessary to begin the +expedition with some striking engagement such as this, which so +demoralized the enemy that their fervent southern imaginations even +exaggerated the valor of the Thousand. There were some among them who +declared they had seen the bullets of their carbines rebound from the +breasts of the soldiers of liberty as if from a plate of bronze. Far +more men were killed and wounded at Palermo, Milazzo, and the Volturno, +but still I believe Calatafimi to have been the decisive battle. After a +fight like that, our men knew they were bound to win; and the gallant +Sicilians, whose courage had been previously shaken by the imposing +numbers and superior equipment of the Bourbon force, were encouraged. +When a battle begins with such prestige, with omens drawn from such a +precedent, victory is sure. + + +JOHN WEBB PROBYN + +On June 27, 1860, about three weeks after Garibaldi had taken possession +of Palermo, Francis II solemnly announced his intention to give a +constitution to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, adopt the Italian flag, +and ally himself with Sardinia. These promises only provoked the cry of +"Too late!" They did but recall how often the Neapolitan Bourbons had +promised in the hour of danger, and proved faithless to every promise +when the danger was passed. Victor Emmanuel and his Government were now +both unable and unwilling to agree to any such terms with a sovereign +who had rejected similar offers at the beginning of his reign when such +a settlement was possible. Every friend of freedom felt that the time +had gone by for any common action between the houses of Savoy and +Bourbon. Each had taken its own line of action, and each was now to +abide by the result. + +Garibaldi had overthrown the Neapolitan rule in Sicily, and raised the +cry of "Italy and Victor Emmanuel!" which found a hearty response. +Having been so successful he now determined, despite the warnings of +friendly advisers and the hostility of enemies, to carry his forces from +Sicily to the mainland, and take possession of Naples itself. He was at +the head of about twenty thousand men under the command of Generals +Medici, Bixio, Cosenz, and Turr. He had also the prestige of victory +mingled with a kind of legendary fame which continually increased. These +were formidable aids to further success, especially when brought to bear +on the fervid feelings and imagination of a southern people. Francis of +Naples still possessed an army of eighty thousand men, of which he +despatched more than twenty thousand to arrest, if possible, the +progress of his formidable opponent. + +Victor Emmanuel sought to dissuade Garibaldi from an enterprise so full +of danger as that of marching upon Naples against the wishes of the +united cabinets of Continental Europe. The King desired that matters +should proceed by negotiation, the basis of which should be that +Neapolitans and Sicilians should be allowed to decide their future +destinies for themselves. Garibaldi, who loved and trusted the honest +King, replied that the actual state of Italy compelled him to disobey +his majesty. "When," said the noble-hearted patriot, "I shall have +delivered the populations from the yoke that weighs them down, I will +throw my sword at your feet, and will then obey you for the rest of my +life." In truth, Italians of all ranks were now so roused that neither +Victor Emmanuel, Cavour, nor even Garibaldi himself could have stayed +the movement. + +The overpowering strength of foreign armies could alone have put it +down. Circumstances, however, happily prevented so gross an abuse of +mere force. For once Italians were allowed to do as they wished in their +own country instead of being compelled by foreign powers to do as those +powers commanded. Many things concurred to bring about this result. The +French Emperor had just received Savoy and Nice; he had been spending +the blood and treasure of France in giving the first blow to the old +despotisms of Italy; how could he now fly in the face of his own +principle of the national will in order to save the worst of those +despotisms? He could not declare that Sicilians and Neapolitans should +not dare have the opportunity of doing what he had at last permitted in +Central Italy and profited by in Nice and Savoy. To have allowed Austria +to do so would be to stultify himself in the eyes of Europe, to enrage +Italians, and to lead France to ask what was the use of calling on her +to make sacrifices for the overthrow of Austrian domination in the +Peninsula if within a few months that domination was to be in a large +measure restored. + +Austria too had her own difficulties to encounter, and they were both +numerous and complicated. Her military and priestly despotism had +suffered defeat; her people disliked its rule and desired freer +institutions; her finances were terribly disordered. + +The Emperor was beginning to see the necessity of a change of system--a +change by no means easy to effect--for the Hungarians were demanding the +restoration of their ancient constitutional rights. Russia and Prussia +contented themselves with protests which had, it may be, some diplomatic +value, but were wholly without practical effect. England was favorable +to the extension of Italian liberties, and France was her ally in Syria +and in China. So it was that Garibaldi, having only to encounter the +naval and military forces of Francis II, crossed the Straits of Messina, +landed in Calabria, and marched on Reggio. On August 21st the town was +occupied, and the citadel, with its commander and soldiers, capitulated. +Another victory was gained on the 23d, dispersing the forces of the +Neapolitan Generals Melendez and Briganti. Some of their soldiers joined +Garibaldi; the rest returned to their homes and increased both his real +and his legendary fame by their account of his victories. The +insurrection against the Bourbon dynasty was now rapidly spreading. + +At Cosenza in Calabria, and at Potenza in the Basilicata, provisional +governments were proclaimed and were hailing with delight the progress +of Garibaldi. The forces of Francis were disappearing from those +provinces and leaving the road to Naples unprotected. The fleet was as +little to be counted on as the army. + +In Naples itself all was confusion and contradiction in the Government. +None of its members trusted the others or believed in the duration of +the Bourbon dynasty. Years of corruption, tyranny, falsehood, and +cruelty had undermined the whole system, and it fell before the storm as +if by magic. Francis II determined to leave his capital. When he ordered +the troops which still remained faithful to him to retreat upon Capua +and Gaeta, two-thirds of the staff sent in their resignation, as did +many of the officers of the Neapolitan fleet. The King addressed a +protest to the foreign powers in which he declared he only quitted his +capital to save it from the horrors of a siege. He issued a proclamation +to his people in which he expressed his wishes for their happiness, and +declared that when restored to his throne it would be all the more +splendid from the institutions he had now irrevocably given. On +September 6, 1860, he left the capital on board a steamer accompanied by +two Spanish frigates, and was taken to Gaeta. On September 7th Garibaldi +entered Naples at midday in an open carriage, accompanied by some of his +staff. For long hours he received a welcome such as has seldom if ever +been given to any other man. Again and again he had to appear on the +balcony of the Palazzo d'Angri, where he had taken up his quarters, to +receive the applause of the multitude. At eight o'clock that evening it +was at length announced that, worn out with fatigue and emotion, he had +retired to rest. A sudden quiet fell upon the vast crowds, and repeating +to one another "Our father sleeps," they dispersed to their homes, their +right hands raised above their heads, with the first finger alone +extended, a sign expressive of the cry reiterated again and again that +day, "_Italia Una_!" ("One Italy"). + +On September 10th Garibaldi issued a proclamation to his soldiers, +headed "Italy and Victor Emmanuel." In it the General called upon them +to aid him in carrying to a successful termination the work so well +begun. Nor did he hesitate to declare that Rome must be Italian, and the +line of the Alps the frontier of Italy. He addressed another +proclamation to the people in which he especially called on them to be +united: "The first need of Italy is concord in order to realize the +union of the great Italian family; to-day Providence has given us this +concord, since all the provinces are unanimous and labor with +magnanimous zeal at the national reconstruction. As to unity, Providence +has further given us Victor Emmanuel--a model sovereign who will +inculcate in his descendants the duties which they should fulfil for the +happiness of a people who have chosen him as their chief with +enthusiastic homage." The proclamation went on to speak with kindly +warmth of those Italian priests who had sided with the national cause, +and declared that such conduct was a sure means of gaining respect for +their mission and work. Repeating again the demand for concord, the +concluding words justly protested against all foreign interference: +"Finally (be it known) we respect the houses of others; but we insist +upon being masters in our own whether it please or displease the rulers +of the earth." + +Garibaldi united the Neapolitan to the Sardinian fleet, so forming an +Italian naval force. He appointed a ministry comprising Liborio Romano +(who had served under Francis II), Scialoia, Cosenz, and Pisanelli; he +then proceeded to promulgate the Sardinian Constitution throughout the +Neapolitan Provinces. But the Bourbon forces were still in possession of +Capua and Gaeta. It became necessary, therefore, to undertake military +operations against them. + +Meanwhile the agitation in the Papal Provinces was increasing. The +Pope's Government had refused to modify its policy or agree to any +reduction of its territory. It accepted the protection of France in Rome +and its immediate neighborhood, but declined further aid, as it was +raising forces of its own under a French general, Lamoricière. These +soldiers were men of various European nationalities belonging to that +Roman Catholic party which was determined to maintain intact the +temporal rule of the Pope as against the wishes of the vast majority of +Italians, themselves Roman Catholics, who desired to substitute for that +rule the constitutional sovereignty of King Victor Emmanuel. The +Italians were willing enough to remain under the spiritual headship of +the Roman Pontiff, but they would not have a temporal power upheld by +foreign soldiers. The moment was, like many others, a very critical one +in the history of Italy. Garibaldi was victorious in Naples. The Papal +forces, composed chiefly of Germans and French, under Lamoricière, were +holding the inhabitants of Umbria and the Marches who were longing to +join the national movement. Indeed, some of the most influential men of +those provinces, among others Marquis Filippo Gualterio of Orvieto, had +already come to Turin to obtain the intervention of its Government and +protection from the Papal troops, whose foreign extraction rendered them +odious to the people. + +On September 7th Count Delia Minerva was sent to Rome to demand, on the +part of Victor Emmanuel, the disbandment of the foreign troops which the +Papal Government had got together under the command of General +Lamoricière. The demand was refused. This refusal the Papal Government +was quite competent to give, but whether its policy in upholding its +temporal power by the aid of foreign mercenaries was wise or not was +another matter. It was hardly to be expected that Italians, any more +than Frenchmen, Germans, or English, would endure such a state of things +if they could prevent it. The Government of Turin now ordered its troops +to enter the Papal Provinces of Umbria and the Marches. On September **nth +General Fanti crossed the frontier, easily took possession of Perugia +with the aid of the inhabitants, and obliged Colonel Schmidt, the Papal +commander, to capitulate. The General advanced with equal success +against Spoleto, and in a few days was master of all the upper valley of +the Tiber. At the same time General Cialdini, operating on the eastern +side of the Apennines, marched rapidly to meet General Lamoricière's +forces, which he encountered and defeated completely at Castelfidardo, +compelling the French General to fly to Ancona, which he entered in +company with only a few horsemen who had escaped with him from the rout +of the Papal army. The Italian fleet was off Ancona, before which +General Cialdini's troops now appeared, thus completely preventing the +escape of Lamoricière, who was obliged to surrender. In less than three +weeks the campaign was over. The Sardinian troops having thus occupied +Umbria and the Marches, proceeded to cross into the Neapolitan Provinces +and march upon Capua and Gaeta. + +Austria, Prussia, and Russia protested against the course thus pursued by +the Government of Victor Emmanuel. The Pope excommunicated all who had +participated in the invasion of his territory. Francis II protested with +no less earnestness. The Emperor of the French withdrew his minister from +Turin and blamed the proceedings of Victor Emmanuel's Government; but in +other respects Napoleon remained a passive spectator of all that occurred, +and maintained the principle of non-intervention--at least as regarded +Umbria and the Marches, Sicily and Naples--excepting at Gaeta, where his +fleet prevented for a time any attack being made against that fortress +from the sea. He also raised the number of his troops in Rome and the +province in which it is situated, called the Patrimony of St. Peter, to +twenty-two thousand men. This was now all the territory left to the +temporal power of the Pope. Napoleon determined to preserve that much to +the Roman See, defending it from the attacks of Garibaldi, and forbidding +its annexation to the kingdom of Italy. + +The English Government, however, decidedly vindicated the course taken +under the circumstances by Victor Emmanuel and his advisers. Lord +Russell, who was Secretary of Foreign Affairs under Lord Palmerston, +wrote, on October 27, 1860, an admirable despatch to Sir James Hudson, +the English minister at Turin, who was allowed to give a copy of it to +Count Cavour. In that despatch Lord Russell gives good reasons for +dissenting from the views expressed by the Governments of Austria, +Prussia, Russia, and France; he justifies the action of the Government +of Turin, admits that Italians themselves are the best judges of their +own interests, shows how in times past they vainly attempted regularly +and temperately to reform their governments, says such attempts were put +down by foreign powers, and concludes by declaring that "Her Majesty's +Government will turn their eyes rather to the gratifying prospect of a +people building up the edifice of their liberties and consolidating the +work of their independence amid the sympathies and good wishes of +Europe." + +It is gratifying to remember that at this very critical juncture in the +cause of Italian unity and independence, the English Government gave its +very cordial support to that cause, and ably defended the course pursued +by King Victor Emmanuel, his ministers, and his people. + +The cause of Italian unity and independence had indeed made prodigious +strides, due not only to the marvellous victories of Garibaldi, which +had brought him in four months from Marsala to Naples, but also to the +skilful campaigns of Generals Fanti and Cialdini in Umbria and the +Marches. Cavour now followed up these successes by advising a course +calculated to give them consistency and endurance. He counselled the +immediate assembling of Parliament, the acceptance by Victor Emmanuel of +the sovereignty of the Papal, Neapolitan, and Sicilian Provinces, if +such were the will of their inhabitants, and the departure of the King +from Turin to take the command of his troops now advancing toward Capua. +Victor Emmanuel entirely agreed with his minister's advice. On October +2, 1860, Cavour asked Parliament for full powers to annex all the new +provinces of Central and Southern Italy if they desired it. He contended +that the events which had taken place were due to the initiative of the +people, the noble audacity of General Garibaldi, and the constitutional +rule of Victor Emmanuel, united to his devotion to the cause of Italian +freedom. + +Even those deputies who represented the views of the extreme Left, some +of whose members avowed a preference for Republicanism--in theory at any +rate--supported the Government. One of them, Signor Bertani, declared he +would not now raise any point of difference, and frankly acknowledged +that in reality all Italians wished the same thing--"Italy one and free, +under Victor Emmanuel." Cavour further satisfied the Chamber by saying +that Rome and Venice must in the end be united to the mother country, +though the questions involved in such union must, out of deference to +Europe and France, be postponed for the present. A vote of two hundred +ninety against six confirmed the policy of the Government and gave full +expression to the wishes of the country. + +Garibaldi had in the mean time pushed on his forces from Naples toward +Capua and the line of the River Volturno. On September 19th his troops +took Caiazzo, from which, however, they were dislodged on the 23d of the +month. After this success Francis II determined to take the offensive +and attack in force the Garibaldian lines with the object of driving +them back to Naples or cutting them off from that city. This attempt was +well planned and conducted on October 1, 1860. The struggle was hotly +maintained on both sides throughout the day. Some companies of +bersaglieri arrived from Naples and united in resisting the attacks of +the Bourbon troops, who were in the end repelled and compelled to +retire. But though beaten they had fought well and still held the +fortresses of Gaeta and Capua, to which they had retreated. The army of +Victor Emmanuel, however, led by the King in person, was now rapidly +advancing, easily overcoming whatever resistance the Bourbon troops were +able to offer. Francis II, unable to prevent the junction of the King's +forces with those of Garibaldi, withdrew with the bulk of his soldiers +to Gaeta, leaving four thousand men in Capua, who were soon obliged to +capitulate. + +On October 26th Victor Emmanuel and Garibaldi met near the little town +of Teano. They greeted each other with great cordiality, for though +Garibaldi had little faith in ministers or diplomatists, and could not +forgive their cession of Nice to France, he felt the utmost confidence +in the King himself. Victor Emmanuel on his part had the greatest regard +for the heroic patriot who had ever been so devoted to his country's +cause and whose marvellous exploits had now given freedom to Sicily and +Naples. As they grasped each other's hands Garibaldi cried, "Behold the +King of Italy! Long live the King!" The soldiers of both leaders +shouted, "Long live Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy!" + +On November 7th the King entered Naples with Garibaldi at his side. The +reception was enthusiastic in the extreme; it reached its culminating +point as Victor Emmanuel entered the royal palace. Long had it been the +abode of those who hated and betrayed both constitutional liberty and +national freedom; now it was taken possession of by one who had risked +life and crown in their cause. The King issued a proclamation, in which +he called to mind the increased responsibilities which fell henceforth +upon himself and his people alike; nor did he fail to remind them of the +necessity for union and abnegation: "All parties must bow before the +majesty of Italy which God has raised up. We must establish a government +which gives guarantees of liberty to the people and of severe probity to +the public at large." In the succeeding days his majesty received the +deputations of the newly acquired Provinces of Umbria, the Marches, +Naples, and Sicily, which came to present to him officially the result +of the plebiscite by which the inhabitants of those provinces declared +their wish to be united to the rest of the King's dominions and so form +a single Kingdom of Italy. + +Many other receptions there were of societies belonging to several ranks +and classes of men. Particularly impressive was the welcome given to the +deputation which came from the Senate and Chamber at Turin in honor of +so great an event as the union of Southern with Northern Italy under the +constitutional rule of one sovereign. On December 1st Victor Emmanuel +embarked for Palermo, where he was received with an enthusiasm at least +as great as that which marked his arrival in Naples. In the capital of +Sicily all orders of citizens pressed forward to pay him their willing +homage. + +These great results were not, however, achieved without difficulty, for +there was considerable diversity of opinion and not a little jealousy +between those that surrounded Garibaldi and those that followed the lead +of Cavour in Parliament and in the country. Nor can it be denied that +faults and mistakes may fairly be laid to the charge of both those +parties, despite their sincere attachment to the cause of their common +fatherland. A mistake was made by Garibaldi himself when he wished to +postpone the immediate annexation of the Southern Provinces to the +Northern Kingdom, and asked to be named Dictator of Naples for two years +by Victor Emmanuel, whom he further requested to dismiss Cavour and his +actual advisers. + +The King rightly refused to agree to a course so subversive of all +constitutional proceedings and liberties. He could not even entertain +the idea of dismissing ministers at the request of any citizen, however +illustrious, or however great the services he had rendered his country. +It was for the national representatives alone to decide to what minister +the King should give his confidence, and what course should be taken as +to the annexation of Naples and Sicily. Garibaldi's good sense and +honesty of purpose led him to give in to the King's judgment. Victor +Emmanuel took the right view of the course to be pursued in this matter, +just as he had taken the right view of the course to be pursued at the +moment of the Peace of Villafranca. In the one case he showed himself +wiser than Cavour, and in the other wiser than Garibaldi. The +single-minded patriotism of the latter, and the statesmanship of the +former, combined with the remarkably sure judgment and unfailing honesty +of the King, gradually overcame all the difficulties of the situation. +Victor Emmanuel ever kept aloof from political coteries, while deferring +to the advice of his responsible ministers so long as they had the +confidence of Parliament. He ever showed himself to be the head of the +nation, not the head of a party. + +His unswerving determination to be guided by the nation's will as +expressed by the nation's chosen representatives, though nothing new in +his career, won for him the absolute confidence of all Italians, not one +of whom avowed it more frankly than Garibaldi himself. But what shall be +said of the popular hero, sprung from the ranks of the people, who had +given a kingdom to his sovereign? Rarely, if ever, has history recorded +nobler conduct than that of the conqueror of Sicily and Naples when, +having liberated those provinces, he laid down all power, refused all +honors, turned away alike wealth and titles, to betake himself to his +island home of Caprera, there to work with his own hands, to rejoice as +he thought of how greatly he had advanced the independence of Italy, and +to pray for the hour of its completion. Whatever defects may be found in +the character or judgment of this heroic patriot, his name will +assuredly be held in grateful remembrance wherever men are found who +love freedom and rejoice as they see its blessings spread more and more +among the nations of the earth. As Garibaldi retired to his quiet abode +in Caprera, Victor Emmanuel returned to his duties in Turin. But neither +the one nor the other forgot Rome and Venice. + +The siege of Gaeta was now being carried forward with great +determination. The place was defended with courage and endurance by +Francis II and his Queen. For a time the French fleet prevented the +Italians from attacking Gaeta by sea, but when Napoleon withdrew his +ships further resistance became hopeless. On February 13, 1861, Gaeta +surrendered after a defence of which those who took part in it had a +right to be proud. The garrison marched out with the honors of war, the +officers retained their rank. Francis and his wife embarked for +Terracina, and went thence to Rome, where they were received by the Pope +and lodged in the Quirinal palace. The citadels of Messina and of +Civitella del Tronto surrendered soon after, and so passed away forever +the rule of the Neapolitan Bourbons over the Kingdom of the Two +Sicilies. + +No less than twenty-two million of Italians were now united under the +sceptre of Victor Emmanuel, who, in accordance with the advice of his +Prime Minister, Count Cavour, dissolved the Parliament. The new election +took place at the end of January, 1861. The constitution as established +in Sardinia was put in force from Turin to Palermo. At the same time the +King nominated, as suggested by his responsible advisers, sixty new +Senators or Members of the Upper House. They were selected chiefly among +the most prominent and influential men of the Provinces of Central and +Southern Italy. The elections were everywhere favorable to the new order +of things; namely, the formation of the single Kingdom of Italy under +the constitutional rule of Victor Emmanuel. The majority of the new +Chamber gave a hearty support to Count Cavour. + +On February 18, 1861, the first Italian Parliament, representing all the +Provinces of Italy--Venetia and the Roman patrimony alone +excepted--assembled in the Palazzo Carignano at Turin. The title assumed +by the King in concert with his ministers and Parliament was "Victor +Emmanuel II, by the grace of God and the will of the nation, King of +Italy." [Footnote: It was almost ten years later--when Victor Emmanuel +entered Rome, September 20, 1870--that the emancipation and union of +Italy were made complete.--ED.] + + + + +(1861) EMANCIPATION OF RUSSIAN SERFS, Andrew D. White and Nikolai + Turgenieff + + +By the act that freed the serfs in Russia, Alexander II, to whom it was +in great measure due, obtained a place of unusual honor among the +sovereigns that have ruled his nation. It was the grand achievement of +Alexander's reign, and caused him to be hailed as one of the world's +liberators. The importance of this event in Russian history is not +diminished by the fact that its practical benefits have not as yet been +realized to the full extent anticipated. In 1888 Stepniak, the Russian +author and reformer, declared that emancipation had utterly failed to +realize the ardent expectations of its advocates and promoters, had +failed to improve the material condition of the former serfs, who on the +whole were worse off than before emancipation. The same assertion has +been made with respect to the emancipation of slaves in the United +States, but in neither case does the objection invalidate the historical +significance of an act that formally liberated millions of human beings +from hereditary and legalized bondage. + +In the two views here presented, the subject of the emancipation in +Russia is considered in various aspects. Andrew D. White's account, +being that of an American scholar and diplomatist familiar with the +history and people of Russia through his residence at St. Petersburg, is +of peculiar value, embodying the most intelligent foreign judgment. +White's synopsis covers the entire subject of the serf system from its +beginning to its overthrow. Nikolai Turgenieff, the Russian historian, +writing while the emancipation act was bearing its first fruits, +describes its workings and effects as observed by one intimately +connected with the serfs and the movement that resulted in their +freedom. + + +ANDREW D. WHITE + +Close upon the end of the fifteenth century the Muscovite ideas of right +were subjected to the strong mind of Ivan the Great and compressed into +a code. Therein were embodied the best processes known to his land and +time: for discovering crime, torture and trial by battle; for punishing +crime, the knout and death. + +But hidden in this tough mass was one law of greater import than others. +Thereby were all peasants forbidden to leave the lands they were then +tilling, except during the eight days before and after St. George's Day. +This provision sprang from Ivan's highest views of justice and broadest +views of political economy; the nobles received it with plaudits, which +have found echoes even in these days; the peasants received it with no +murmurs which history has found any trouble in drowning. + +Just one hundred years later upon the Muscovite throne, as nominal Czar, +sat the weakling Feodor I; but behind the throne stood, as real Czar, +hard, strong Boris Godunoff. Looking forward to Feodor's death, Boris +made ready to mount the throne; and he saw--what all other "Mayors of +the Palace" climbing into the places of _faineant_ kings have seen--that +he must link to his fortunes the fortunes of some strong body in the +nation; he broke, however, from the general rule among usurpers--bribing +the church--and determined to bribe the nobility. + +The greatest grief of the Muscovite nobles seemed to be that the +peasants could escape from their oppression by the emigration allowed on +St. George's Day. Boris saw his opportunity: he cut off the privilege of +St. George's Day, and the peasant was fixed to the soil forever. No +Russian law ever directly enslaved the peasantry, but, through this +decree of Boris, the lord who owned the soil came to own the peasants, +just as he owned its immovable boulders and ledges. To this the peasants +submitted; but history has not been able to drown their sighs over this +wrong; their proverbs and ballads make St. George's Day representative +of all ill-luck and disappointment. + +A few years later Boris made another bid for oligarchic favor. He issued +a rigorous fugitive-serf law, and even wrenched liberty from certain +free peasants who had entered service for wages before his edicts. This +completed the work, and Russia, which never had had the benefits of +feudalism, had now fastened upon her feudalism's worst curse, a serf +caste, bound to the glebe. + +The great good things done by Peter the world knows by heart. The world +knows well how he tore his way out of the fetichism of his time; how, +despite ignorance and unreason, he dragged his nation after him; how he +dowered the nation with things and thoughts that transformed it from a +petty Asiatic horde to a great European Power. + +We were present a few years since when one of those lesser triumphs of +his genius was first unfolded. It was in that room at the +Hermitage--adjoining the Winter Palace--set apart for the relics of +Peter. Our companions were two men noted as leaders in American +industry--one famed as an inventor, the other famed as a champion of +inventors' rights. + +Suddenly from the inventor, pulling over some old dust-covered machines +in a corner, came loud cries of surprise. The cries were natural indeed. +In that heap of rubbish he had found a lathe for turning irregular +forms, and a screw-cutting engine once used by Peter himself: specimens +of his unfinished work were still in them. They had lain there unheeded +a hundred fifty years; their principle had died with Peter and his +workmen; and not many years since, they were reinvented in America, and +gave their inventors fame and fortune. At the late Paris Universal +Exposition crowds flocked about an American lathe for copying statuary; +and that lathe was, in principle, identical with this old, forgotten +machine of Peter's. + +Yet, though Peter fought so well and thought so well, he made some +mistakes which hang to this day over his country as bitter curses. For +in all his plan and work to advance the mass of men was one supreme +lack--lack of any account of the worth and right of the individual man. +Lesser examples of this are seen in his grim jest at Westminster +Hall--"What use of so many lawyers? I have but two lawyers in Russia, +and one of those I mean to hang as soon as I return;" or when at Berlin, +having been shown a new gibbet, he ordered one of his servants to be +hanged in order to test it; or in his review of parade fights, when he +ordered his men to use ball, and to take the buttons off their bayonets. + +Greater examples are seen in his Battle of Narva, when he threw away an +army to learn his opponent's game; in his building of St. Petersburg, +where, in draining marshes, he sacrificed a hundred thousand men the +first year. But the greatest proof of this great lack was shown in his +dealings with the serf system. Serfage was already recognized in Peter's +time as an evil. Peter himself once stormed forth in protestations and +invectives against what he stigmatized as "selling men like beasts; +separating parents from children, husbands from wives; which takes place +nowhere else in the world, and which causes many tears to flow." He +declared that a law should be made against it. Yet it was by his +misguided hand that serfage was compacted into its final black mass of +foulness. + +For Peter saw other nations spinning and weaving, and he determined that +Russia should at once spin and weave; he saw other nations forging iron, +and he determined that Russia should at once forge iron. He never +stopped to consider that what might cost little in other lands as a +natural growth, might cost far too much in Russia as a forced growth. In +lack, then, of quick brain and sturdy spine and strong arm of paid +workmen, he forced into his manufactories the flaccid muscle of serfs. +These, thus lifted from the earth, lost even the little force in the +State they had before; great bodies of serfs thus became slaves; worse +than that, the idea of a serf developed toward the idea of a slave. + +And Peter, misguided, dealt one blow more. Cold-blooded officials were +set at taking the census. These adopted easy classifications; free +peasants, serfs, and slaves were often huddled into the lists under a +single denomination. So serfage became still more difficult to be +distinguished from slavery. As this base of hideous wrong was thus +widened and deepened the nobles built higher and stronger their +superstructure of arrogance and pretension. Not many years after Peter's +death, they so overawed the Empress Anne that she thrust into the codes +of the empire statutes which allowed the nobles to sell serfs apart from +the soil. So did serfage bloom fully into slavery. + +But in the latter half of the eighteenth century Russia gained a ruler +from whom the world came to expect much. To mount the throne, Catharine +II had murdered her husband; to keep the throne she had murdered two +claimants whose title was better than her own. She then became, with her +agents in these horrors, a second Messalina. To set herself right in the +eyes of Europe, she paid eager court to that hierarchy of scepticism +which in that age made or marred European reputations. She flattered the +fierce deists by owning fealty to "_Le Roi_" Voltaire; she flattered the +mild deists by calling in La Harpe as the tutor of her grandson; she +flattered the atheists by calling in Diderot as a tutor for herself. + +Her murders and orgies were soon forgotten in the new hopes for Russian +regeneration. Her dealings with Russia strengthened these hopes. The +official style required that all persons presenting petitions should +subscribe themselves "Your Majesty's humble serf." This formula she +abolished, and boasted that she had cast out the word serf from the +Russian language. Poets and philosophers echoed this boast over +Europe--and the serfs waited. + +The great Empress spurred hope by another movement. She proposed to an +academy the question of serf emancipation as a subject for their prize +essay. The essay was written and crowned. It was filled with beautiful +things about liberty, practical things about moderation, flattering +things about the "Great Catharine"--and the serfs waited. + +Again she aroused hope. It was given out that her most intense delight +came from the sight of happy serfs and prosperous villages. Accordingly, +in her journey to the Crimea, Potemkin squandered millions on millions +in rearing pasteboard villages, in dragging forth thousands of wretched +peasants to fill them, in costuming them to look thrifty, in training +them to look happy. Catharine was rejoiced, Europe sang paeans--the +serfs waited. + +She seemed to go further: she issued a decree prohibiting the +enslavement of serfs. But unfortunately the palace intrigues, and the +correspondence with the philosophers, and the destruction of Polish +nationality left her no time to see the edict carried out. But Europe +applauded--and the serfs waited. Two years after this came a deed which +put an end to all this uncertainty. An edict was prepared ordering the +peasants of Little Russia to remain forever on the estates where the day +of publication should find them. This was vile; but what followed was +diabolic. Court pets were let into the secret. These, by good promises, +enticed hosts of peasants to their estates. The edict was now sprung; in +an hour the courtiers were made rich, the peasants were made serfs, and +Catharine II was made infamous forever. So, about a century after Peter, +a wave of wrong rolled over Russia that not only drowned honor in the +nobility, but drowned hope in the people. + +As Russia entered the nineteenth century, the hearts of earnest men must +have sunk within them. For Paul I, Catharine's son and successor, was +infinitely more despotic than Catharine, and infinitely less restrained +by public opinion. He had been born with savage instincts, and educated +into ferocity. Tyranny was written on his features in his childhood. If +he remained in Russia his mother sneered and showed hatred of him; if he +journeyed in Western Europe crowds gathered about his coach to jeer at +his ugliness. Most of those who have seen Gillray's caricature of him, +issued in the height of English spite at Paul's homage to Bonaparte, +have thought it hideously overdrawn; but those who have seen the +portrait of Paul in the Cadet-Corps of St. Petersburg know well that +Gillray did not exaggerate Paul's ugliness, for he could not. + +And Paul's face was but a mirror of his character. Tyranny was wrought +into his every fibre. He demanded an oriental homage. As his carriage +whirled by, it was held the duty of all others in carriages to stop, +descend into the mud, and bow themselves. Himself threw his despotism +into this formula: "Know, Sir Ambassador, that in Russia there is no one +noble or powerful except the man to whom I speak, and while I speak." + +And yet within that hideous mass glowed sparks of reverence for right. +When the nobles tried to get Paul's assent to more open arrangements for +selling serfs apart from the soil, he utterly refused; and when they +overtasked their human chattels Paul made a law that no serf should be +required to give more than three days in the week to the tillage of his +master's domain. But, within five years after his accession, Paul had +developed into such a ravenous wild beast that it became necessary to +murder him. This duty done, there came a change in the spirit of Russian +sovereignty as from March to May; but, sadly for humanity, there came at +the same time a change in the spirit of European politics, as from May +to March. + +For, although the new Czar, Alexander I, was mild and liberal, the storm +of French ideas and armies had generally destroyed in monarchs' minds +any poor germs of philanthropy which had ever found lodgement there. +Still Alexander breasted this storm; found time to plan for his serfs, +and in 1803 put his hand to the work of helping them toward freedom. His +first edict was for the creation of the class of "free laborers." By +this, masters and serfs were encouraged to enter into an arrangement +which was to put the serf into immediate possession of himself, of a +homestead and of a few acres, giving him time to indemnify his master by +a series of payments. Alexander threw his heart into this scheme; and in +his kindliness he supposed that the pretended willingness of the nobles +meant something; but the serf-owning caste, without openly opposing, +twisted up bad consequences with good, braided impossibilities into +possibilities; the whole plan became a tangle, and was thrown aside. + +The Czar now sought to foster other good efforts, especially those made +by some earnest nobles to free their serfs by will. But this plan also +the serf-owning caste entangled and thwarted. At last the storm of war +set in with such fury that all internal reforms must be lost sight of. +Russia had to make ready for those campaigns in which Napoleon gained +every battle. Then came that peaceful meeting on the raft at +Tilsit--worse for Russia than any warlike meeting; for thereby Napoleon +seduced Alexander, for years, from plans of bettering his empire into +dreams of extending it. + +Coming out of these dreams, Alexander had to deal with such realities as +the burning of Moscow, the Battle of Leipsic, and the occupation of +France; yet, in the midst of those fearful times--when the grapple of +the emperors was at the fiercest; in the very year of the burning of +Moscow--Alexander rose in calm statesmanship, and admitted Bessarabia +into the empire under a proviso which excluded serfage forever. Hardly +was the great European tragedy ended, when Alexander again turned +sorrowfully toward the wronged millions of his empire. He found that +progress in civilization had but made the condition of the serfs worse. +The newly ennobled _parvenus_ were worse than the old _boyars_; they +hugged the serf system more lovingly and the serfs more hatefully. The +sight of these wrongs roused him. He seized a cross, and swore that the +serf system should be abolished. + +Straightway a great and good plan was prepared. Its main features were: +a period of transition from serfage to personal liberty, extending +through twelve or fourteen years; the arrival of the serf at personal +freedom, with ownership of his cabin and the bit of land attached to it; +the gradual reimbursement of masters by serfs; and after this advance to +personal liberty, an advance by easy steps to a sort of political +liberty. Favorable as was this plan to the serf-owners, they attacked it +in various ways; but they could not kill it utterly. Esthonia, Livonia, +and Courland became free. Having failed to arrest the growth of freedom, +the serf-holding caste made every effort to blast the good fruits of +freedom. In Courland they were thwarted; in Esthonia and Livonia they +succeeded during many years; but the eternal laws were too strong for +them, and the fruitage of liberty had grown richer and better. + +After these good efforts, Alexander stopped, discouraged. A few +patriotic nobles stood apart from their caste, and strengthened his +hands, as Lafayette and Lincourt strengthened Louis XVI. They even drew +up a plan of voluntary emancipation; formed an association for the +purpose and gained many signatures; but the great weight of that +besotted serf-owning caste was thrown against them, and all came to +naught. Alexander was at last walled in from the great object of his +ambition. Pretended theologians built, between him and emancipation, +walls of Scriptural interpretation; pretended philosophers built walls +of false political economy; pretended statesmen built walls of sham +common-sense. If the Czar could but have mustered courage to cut the +knot! Alas for Russia and for him, he wasted himself in efforts to untie +it. His heart sickened at it; he welcomed death, which alone could +remove him from it. + +Alexander's successor, Nicholas I, had been known before his accession +as a mere martinet, a good colonel for parade days, wonderful in +detecting soiled uniforms, terrible in administering petty punishments. +It seems like the story of stupid Brutus over again. Altered +circumstances made a new man of him; and few things are more strange +than the change wrought in his whole bearing and look by that week of +energy in climbing his brother's throne. The great article in Nicholas's +creed was a complete, downright faith in despotism, and in himself as +despotism's apostle. Hence he hated, above all things, a limited +monarchy. He told De Custine that a pure monarchy or pure republic he +could understand; but that anything between these he could not +understand. Of his former rule of Poland, as constitutional monarch, he +spoke with loathing. + +Of this hate which Nicholas felt for liberal forms of government there +yet remain monuments in the great museum of the Kremlin. That museum +holds an immense number of interesting things, and masses of jewels and +plate which make all other European collections mean. The visitor +wanders among clumps of diamonds and sacks of pearls and a nauseating +wealth of rubies and sapphires and emeralds. There rise rows upon rows +of jewelled cimeters, and vases and salvers of gold, and old saddles +studded with diamonds and with stirrups of gold--presents of frightened +Asiatic satraps or fawning European allies. There too are the crowns of +Muscovy, of Russia, of Kazan, of Astrakhan, of Siberia, of the Crimea, +and, pity to say it, of Poland. And next this is an index of despotic +hate--for the Polish sceptre is broken and flung aside. Near this stands +the full-length portrait of Alexander I, and at his feet are grouped +captured flags of Hungary and Poland--some with blood-marks still upon +them. But below all, far beneath the feet of the Emperor, in dust and +ignominy and on the floor, is flung the _very_ Constitution of +Poland--parchment for parchment, ink for ink, good promise for good +promise--which Alexander gave with so many smiles, and which Nicholas +took away with so much bloodshed. + +And not far from this monument of the deathless hate Nicholas bore that +liberty he had stung to death stands a monument of his admiration for +straightforward tyranny, even in the most dreaded enemy his house ever +knew. Standing there is a statue in the purest of marble, the only +statue in those vast halls. It has the place of honor. It looks proudly +over all that glory and keeps ward over all that treasure; and that +statue, in full majesty of imperial robes, and bees, and diadem, and +face, is of the First Napoleon. Admiration of his tyrannic will has at +last made him peaceful sovereign of the Kremlin. + +This spirit of absolutism took its most offensive form in Nicholas's +attitude toward Europe. He was the very incarnation of reaction against +revolution, and he became the demigod of that horde of petty despots who +infest Central Europe. Whenever, then, any tyrant's lie was to be +baptized, he stood its godfather; whenever any God's truth was to be +crucified, he led on those who passed by, reviling and wagging their +heads. Whenever these oppressors revived some old feudal wrong, Nicholas +backed them in the name of religion; whenever their nations struggled to +preserve some great right, Nicholas crushed them in the name of law and +order. With these pauper princes his children intermarried, and he fed +them with his crumbs and clothed them with scraps of his purple. The +visitor can see today, in every one of their dwarf palaces, some of his +malachite vases or porcelain bowls or porphyry columns. + +But the people of Western Europe distrusted him as much as their rulers +worshipped; and some of these same presents to their rulers have become +trifle-monuments of no mean value in showing that popular idea of +Russian policy. Foremost among these stand those two bronze masses of +statuary in front of the Royal Palace at Berlin, representing fiery +horses restrained by strong men. Pompous inscriptions proclaim these +presents from Nicholas; but the people, knowing the man and his +measures, have fastened upon one of these curbed steeds the name of +"Progress Checked," and on the other "Retrogression Encouraged." + +A few days before Nicholas's self-will brought him to his deathbed we +saw him ride through the St. Petersburg streets with no pomp and no +attendants, yet in as great pride as ever despotism gave a man. At his +approach, nobles uncovered and looked docile, soldiers faced about and +became statues, long-bearded peasants bowed to the ground with the air +of men on whose vision a miracle flashes. For there was one who could +make or mar all fortunes--the absolute owner of street and houses and +passers-by--one who owned the patent and dispensed the right to tread +that soil, to breathe that air, to be glorified in that sunlight and +amid those snow crystals. And he looked it all. Though at that moment +his army was entrapped by military stratagem, and he himself was +entrapped by diplomatic stratagem, that face and form were proud and +confident as ever. + +There was in this attitude toward Europe--in this standing forth as the +representative man of absolutism, and breasting the nineteenth +century--something of greatness; but in his attitude toward Russia this +greatness was wretchedly diminished. For, as Alexander I was a good man +enticed out of goodness by the baits of Napoleon, Nicholas was a great +man scared out of greatness by the ever-recurring phantom of the French +Revolution. + +In those first days of his reign, when he enforced loyalty with +grape-shot and halter, Nicholas dared much and stood firm; but his +character soon showed another side. Fearless as he was before bright +bayonets, he was an utter coward before bright ideas. He laughed at the +flash of cannon, but he trembled at the flash of a new living thought. +Whenever, then, he attempted a great thing for his nation, he was sure +to be scared back from its completion by fear of revolution. And so, +today, he who looks through Russia for Nicholas's works finds a number +of great things he had done, but each is single, insulated, not preceded +logically, not followed effectively. Take, as an example of this, his +railway-building. + +His own pride and Russian interest demanded railways. He scanned the +world with that keen eye of his, saw that American energy was the best +supplement to Russian capital; his will darted quickly, struck afar, and +Americans came to build his road from St. Petersburg to Moscow. Nothing +can be more complete. It is an air-line road, and so perfect that the +traveller finds few places where the rails do not meet, before and +behind him, in the horizon. The track is double, the rails very heavy +and admirably ballasted; station-houses and engine-houses are splendid +in build, perfect in arrangement, and surrounded by neat gardens. The +whole work is worthy of the Pyramid builders. The traveller is whirled +by culverts, abutments, and walls of dressed granite, through cuttings +where the earth on either side is carefully paved or turfed to the +summit. Ranges of Greek columns are reared as crossings in the midst of +broad marshes, lions' heads in bronzed iron stare out upon vast wastes +where never rose even the smoke from a serf's kennel. + +All this seems good; and a ride of four hundred miles through such +glories rarely fails to set the traveller at chanting the praises of the +Emperor who conceived them. But when the traveller notes that complete +isolation of the work from all conditions necessary to its success, his +praises grow fainter. He sees that Nicholas held back from continuing +the road to Odessa, though half the money spent in making the road an +imperial plaything would have built a good, solid extension to that most +important seaport; he sees that Nicholas dared not untie police +regulations, and that commerce is wretchedly meagre. Contrary to what +would obtain under a free system, this great public work found the +country wretched and left it wretched. The traveller flies by no ranges +of trim palings and tidy cottages; he sees the same dingy groups of huts +here as elsewhere, the same cultivation looking for no morrow, the same +tokens that the laborer is not thought worthy of his hire. This same +tendency to great single works, this same fear of great connected +systems, this same timid isolation of great creations from principles +essential to their growth, is seen, too, in Nicholas's church-building. + +Foremost of all the edifices on which Nicholas lavished the wealth of +the empire stands the Isak Church in St. Petersburg. It is one of the +largest and certainly the richest cathedral in Christendom. All is +polished pink granite and marble and bronze. On all sides are double +rows of Titanic columns, each a single block of polished granite with +bronze capital. Colossal masses of bronze statuary are grouped over each +front; high above the roof and surrounding the great drums of the domes +are lines of giant columns in granite bearing giant statues in bronze; +and crowning all rises the vast central dome, flanked by its four +smaller domes, all heavily plated with gold. + +The church within is one gorgeous mass of precious marbles and mosaics +and silver and gold and jewels. On the tabernacle of the altar, in gold +and malachite, on the screen of the altar, with its pilasters of lapis +lazuli and its range of malachite columns fifty feet high, were lavished +millions on millions. Bulging from the ceilings are massy bosses of +Siberian porphyry and jasper. To decorate the walls with unfading +pictures, Nicholas founded an establishment for mosaic work, where sixty +pictures were commanded, each demanding, after all artistic labor, the +mechanical labor of two men for four years. + +Yet this vast work is not so striking a monument of Nicholas's luxury as +of his timidity. For this cathedral and some others almost as grand +were, in part at least, results of the deep wish of Nicholas to wean his +people from their semi-idolatrous love for dark, confined, filthy +sanctuaries, like those of Moscow; but here again is a timid purpose and +half result; Nicholas dared set no adequate enginery working at the +popular religious training or moral training. There had been such an +organization, the Russian Bible Society, favored by Alexander I; but +Nicholas swept it away at one stroke of the pen. Evidently, he feared +lest Scriptural denunciations of certain sins in ancient politics might +be popularly interpreted against certain sins in modern politics. The +corruption system in Russia is old, organized, and respectable. Stories +told of Russian bribes and thefts exceed belief only until one has been +on the ground. + +Nicholas began well. He made an imperial progress to Odessa, was +welcomed in the morning by the governor in full pomp and robes and flow +of smooth words; and at noon the same governor was working in the +streets with ball and chain as a convict. But against such a chronic +moral evil no government is so weak as your so-called "strong" +government. Nicholas set out one day for the Kronstadt arsenals to look +into the accounts there; but before he reached them, stores, +storehouses, and account-books were in ashes. So at last Nicholas folded +his arms and wrestled no more. For, apart from the trouble, there came +ever in his dealings with thieves that old timid thought of his, that, +if he examined too closely their chief tenure, they might examine too +closely his despot tenure. + +We have shown this vague fear in Nicholas's mind thus at length and in +different workings, because thereby alone can be grasped the master-key +to his dealings with the serf system. Toward his toiling millions +Nicholas always showed sympathy. Let news of a single wrong to a serf +get through the hedges about the Russian majesty, and woe to the guilty +master! Many of these wrongs came to Nicholas's notice; and he came to +hate the system, and tried to undermine it. Opposition met him, of +course; not so much the ponderous laziness of Peter's time as an +opposition, polite and elastic, which never ranted and never stood +up--for then Nicholas would have throttled it and stamped upon it. But +it did its best to entangle his reason and thwart his action. He was +told that the serfs were well-fed, well-housed, well-clothed, +well-provided with religion; were contented, and had no wish to leave +their owners. + +Now Nicholas was not strong at spinning sham reasons nor subtle at +weaving false conscience; but, to his mind, the very fact that the +system had so degraded a man that he could laugh and dance and sing, +while other men took his wages, his wife, and homestead, was the +crowning argument against the system. Then the political economists +beset him, proving that without forced labor Russia must sink into sloth +and poverty. + +Yet all this could not shut out from Nicholas's sight the great black +fact in the case. He saw, and winced as he saw, that, while other +European nations, even under despots, were comparatively active and +energetic, his own people were sluggish and stagnant; that, although +great thoughts and great acts were towering in the West, there were in +Russia, after all his galvanizing, no great authors, or scholars, or +builders, or inventors, but only two main products of Russian +civilization, dissolute lords and abject serfs. + +Nearly twenty years went by in this timid dropping of grains of salt +into a putrid sea. But at last, in 1842, Nicholas issued his ukase +creating the class of "contracting peasants." Masters and serfs were +empowered to enter into contracts, the serf receiving freedom, the +master receiving payment in instalments. It was a moderate innovation, +very moderate--nothing more than the first failure of the First +Alexander. Yet even here that old timidity of Nicholas nearly spoiled +what little good was hidden in the ukase. Notice after notice was given +to the serf-owners that they were not to be molested, that no +emancipation was contemplated, and that the ukase contained "nothing +new." The result was as feeble as the policy. A few serfs were +emancipated, and Nicholas halted. The revolutions of 1848 increased his +fear of innovation; and finally the war in the Crimea took from him the +power of innovation. + +The great man died. We saw his cold dead face, in the midst of crowns +and crosses, very pale then, very powerless then. One might stare at +him, then, as at a serf's corpse; for he who had scared Europe during +thirty years lay before us that day as a poor lump of chilled brain and +withered muscle. And we stood by, when, amid chanting and flare of +torches and roll of cannon, his sons wrapped him in his shroud of gold +thread, and lowered him into the tomb of his fathers. + +But there was shown in those days far greater tribute than the prayers +of bishops or the reverence of ambassadors. Massed about the Winter +Palace and the Fortress of Peter and Paul, stood thousands on thousands +who, in far-distant serf-huts, had put on their best, had toiled wearily +to the capital to give their last mute thanks to one who for years had +stood between their welfare and their owners' greed. Sad that he had not +done more. Yet they knew that he had wished their freedom and loathed +their wrongs; for that came up the tribute of millions. + +The new Emperor, Alexander II, had never been hoped for as one who could +light the nation from his brain; the only hope was that he might warm +the nation somewhat from his heart. He was said to be of a weak, silken +fibre. The strength of the family was said to be concentrated in his +younger brother, Constantine. But soon came a day when the young Czar +revealed to Europe not merely kindliness, but strength. While his +father's corpse was still lying within his palace, he received the +diplomatic body. As the Emperor entered the audience-room he seemed +feeble, indeed, for such a crisis. That fearful legacy of war seemed to +weigh upon his heart; marks of plenteous tears were upon his face; +Nesselrode, though old and bent and shrunk in stature, seemed stronger +than his young master. + +But as he began his speech it was seen that a strong man had mounted the +throne. With earnestness he declared that he sorrowed over the existing +war; but that, if the Holy Alliance had been broken, it was not through +the fault of Russia. With bitterness he turned toward the Austrian +minister, Esterhazy, and hinted at Russian services in 1848, and +Austrian ingratitude. Calmly then, not as one who spoke a part but as +one who announced a determination, he declared: "I am anxious for peace; +but if the terms at the approaching congress are incompatible with the +honor of my nation, I will put myself at the head of my faithful Russia +and die sooner than yield." + +Strong as Alexander showed himself by these words, he showed himself +stronger by acts. A policy properly mingling firmness and conciliation +brought peace to Europe and showed him equal to his father; a policy +mingling love of liberty with love of order brought the dawn of +prosperity to Russia and showed him the superior of his father. The +reforms now begun were not stinted as of old, but free and hearty. In +rapid succession were swept away restrictions on telegraphic +communication, on printing, on the use of the Imperial Library, on +strangers entering the country, on Russians leaving the country. A +policy in public works was adopted which made Nicholas's greatest +efforts seem petty; a vast network of railways was begun. A policy in +commercial dealings with Western Europe was adopted, in which Alexander, +though not apparently so imposing as Nicholas, was really far greater; +he dared advance toward freedom of trade. + +But soon rose again that great problem of old--that problem ever rising +to meet a new autocrat, and, at each appearance, more dire than +before--the serf question. The serfs in private hands now numbered more +than twenty millions; above them stood more than a hundred thousand +owners. The princely strength of the largest owners was best represented +by a few men possessing over a hundred thousand serfs each, and, above +all, by Count Scheremetieff, who boasted three hundred thousand. The +luxury of the large owners was best represented by about four thousand +men possessing more than a thousand serfs each. The pinching +propensities of the small owners were best represented by fifty thousand +men possessing fewer than twenty serfs each. + +The serfs might be divided into two great classes. The first comprised +those working under the old or _corvée_ system, giving usually three +days in the week to the tillage of the owner's domain; the second +comprised those working under the new or _obrok_ system, receiving a +payment fixed by the owner and assessed by the community to which the +serfs belonged. The character of the serfs had been moulded by the serf +system. They had a simple shrewdness, which, under a better system, had +made them enterprising; but this quality soon degenerated into cunning +and cheatery--the weapons which the hopelessly oppressed always use. +They had a reverence for things sacred, which under a better system +might have given the nation a strengthening religion; but they now stood +among the most religious peoples on earth and among the least moral. To +the picture of Our Lady of Kazan they were ever ready to burn wax and +oil; to truth and justice they constantly omitted the tribute of mere +common honesty. They kept the Church fasts like saints; they kept the +Church feasts like satyrs. + +They had curiosity, which under a better system would have made them +inventive; but their plough, in common use, was behind the plough +described by Vergil. They had a love of gain, which under a better +system would have made them hardworking; but it took ten serfs to do, +languidly and poorly, what two free men in America would do quickly and +well. They were naturally a kind people; but let one example show how +serfage can transmute kindness. It is a rule, well known in Russia, that +when an accident occurs, interference is to be left to the police. Hence +you would see a man lying in a fit, and the bystanders giving no aid, +but waiting for the authorities. Some years ago, as all the world +remembers, a theatre took fire in St. Petersburg, and crowds of people +were burned or stifled. The whole story is not so well known. The +theatre was but a great temporary wooden shed--such as is run up every +year at the holidays, in the public squares. When the fire burst forth, +crowds of peasants hurried to the spot; but though they heard the +shrieks of the dying, separated from them only by a thin planking, only +one man in that multitude dared cut through and rescue some of the +sufferers. + +The serfs, when standing for great ideas, would die rather than yield. +Napoleon I learned this at Eylau; Napoleon III learned it at Sebastopol; +yet in daily life they were slavish beyond belief. On a certain day, in +the year 1855, the most embarrassed man in all Russia was doubtless our +excellent American minister. The serf coachman employed at wages was +called up to receive his discharge for drunkenness. Coming into the +presence of a sound-hearted American democrat, who never had dreamed of +one mortal kneeling to another, Ivan throws himself on his knees, +presses his forehead to the minister's feet, fawns like a tamed beast, +and refuses to move until the minister relieves himself from this +nightmare of servility by a full pardon. + +Time after time we have entered the serf field and serf hut; have seen +the simple round of serf toils and sports; have heard the simple +chronicles of self joys and sorrows: but whether his livery were filthy +sheepskin or gold-laced caftan; whether he lay on carpets at the door of +his master, or in filth on the floor of his cabin; whether he gave us +cold, stupid stories of his wrongs, or flippant details of his joys; +whether he blessed his master or cursed him--we have wondered at the +power which a serf system has to degrade and imbrute the image of God. + +But astonishment was increased a thousand-fold at study of the reflex +influence for evil upon the serf-owners themselves, upon the whole free +community, upon the very soil of the whole country. On all those broad +plains of Russia, on the daily life of that serf-owning aristocracy, on +the whole class which was neither of serfs nor serf-owners, the curse of +God was written in letters so big and so black that all mankind might +read them. Farms were untilled, enterprise deadened, invention crippled, +education neglected; life was of little value; labor was the badge of +servility, laziness the very badge and passport of gentility. Despite +the most specious half-measures, despite all efforts to galvanize it, to +coax life into it, to sting life into it, the nation remained stagnant. +Not one traveller who does not know that the evils brought on that land +by the despotism of the autocrat were as nothing compared to that dark +network of curses spread over it by a serf-owning aristocracy. Into the +conflict with this evil Alexander II entered manfully. Having been two +years upon the throne, having made a plan, having stirred some thought +through certain authorized journals, he inspired the nobility in three +of the northwestern provinces to memorialize him in regard to +emancipation. + +Straightway an answer was sent conveying the outlines of the Emperor's +plan. The period of transition from serfage to freedom was set at twelve +years; at the end of that time the serf was to be fully free and +possessor of his cabin, with an adjoining piece of land. The provincial +nobles were convoked to fill out these outlines with details as to the +working out by the serfs of a fair indemnity to their masters. The whole +world was stirred; but that province in which the Czar hoped most +eagerly for a movement to meet him--the province where beat the old +Muscovite heart, Moscow--was stirred least of all. Every earnest throb +seemed stifled there by that strong aristocracy. + +Yet Moscow moved at last. Some nobles who had not yet arrived at the +callous period; some professors in the University who had not yet +arrived at the heavy period, breathed life into the mass, dragged on the +timid, fought off the malignant. The movement had soon a force which the +retrograde party at Moscow dared not openly resist. So they sent answers +to St. Petersburg, apparently favorable; but wrapped in their phrases +were hints of difficulties, reservations, impossibilities. All this +studied suggestion of difficulties profited the reactionists nothing. +They were immediately informed that the imperial mind was made up, that +the business of the Muscovite nobility was now to arrange that the serf +be freed in twelve years, and put in possession of homestead and +enclosure. + +The next movement of the retrograde party was to misunderstand +everything. The plainest things were found to need a world of debate; +the simplest things became entangled; the noble assemblies played +solemnly a ludicrous game of cross-purposes. Straightway came a notice +from the Emperor which, stripped of official verbiage, said that they +must understand. This set all in motion again. Imperial notices were +sent to province after province, explanatory documents were issued, good +men and strong were set to talk and work. + +The nobility of Moscow made another move. To scare back the advancing +forces of emancipation, they elected, as provincial leaders, three +nobles bearing the greatest names of old Russia and haters of the new +ideas. To defeat these came a successor of St. Gregory and St. Bavon, +one who accepted the thought that when God advances great ideas the +Church must marshal them. Philarete, Metropolitan of Moscow, upheld +emancipation and condemned its foes; his earnest eloquence carried all. +The work progressed unevenly--nobles in different governments differed +in plan and aim--an assembly of delegates was brought together at St. +Petersburg to combine and perfect a resultant plan under the eye of the +Emperor. The Grand Council of the Empire, too, was set at the work. It +was a most unpromising body, yet the Emperor's will stirred it. + +The opposition now made the most brilliant stroke of its campaign. Just +as James II of England prated of toleration and planned the enslavement +of all thought, so now the bigoted plotters against emancipation began +to prate of constitutional liberty. But Alexander held right on. It was +even hinted that visions of a constitutional monarchy pleased him. But +then came tests of Alexander's strength far more trying. Masses of +peasants, hearing vague news of emancipation--learning, doubtless, from +their masters' own spiteful lips that the Emperor was endeavoring to +tear away property in serfs--took the masters at their word, and +determined to help the Emperor. They rose in insurrection. To the +bigoted serf-owners this was a godsend. They paraded it in all lights; +therewith they threw life into all the old commonplaces on the French +Revolution; timid men of good intentions wavered. The Czar would surely +now be scared back. + +Not so. Alexander now hurled his greatest weapon, and stunned reaction +in a moment. He freed all the serfs on the Imperial estates without +reserve. Now it was seen that he was in earnest; the opponents were +disheartened; once more the plan moved and dragged them on. But there +came other things to dishearten the Emperor; and not least of these was +the attitude of those who moulded popular thought in England. Be it said +here, to the credit of France, that from her came constant encouragement +in the great work. Wolowski, Mazade, and other true-hearted men sent +forth from leading reviews and journals words of sympathy, words of +help, words of cheer. + +Not so England. Just as in the French Revolution of 1789, while yet that +Revolution was noble and good, while yet Lafayette and Bailly held it, +leaders in English thought, who had quickened the opinions which had +caused the Revolution, sent malignant prophecies and prompted foul +blows, so in this battle of Alexander against a foul wrong they seized +this time of all times to show all the wrongs and absurdities of which +Russia ever had been or ever might be guilty--criticised, carped, sent +much haughty advice, depressing sympathy, and malignant prophecy. Review +articles, based on no real knowledge of Russia, announced a desire for +serf-emancipation, and then, in the modern English way, with plentiful +pyrotechnics of antithesis and paradox, threw a gloomy light into the +skilfully pictured depths of imperial despotism, official corruption, +and national bankruptcy. + +They revived Old World objections, which, to one acquainted with the +most every-day workings of serfage, were ridiculous. It was said that if +the serfs lost the protection of their owners they might fall a prey to +rapacious officials. As well might it have been argued that a mother +should never loose her son from her apron-strings. It was said that +"Serfism excludes pauperism"--that, if the serf owes work to his owner +in the prime of life, the owner owes support to his serf in the decline +of life. No lie could be more absurd to one who had seen Russian life. +We were first greeted, on entering Russia, by a beggar who knelt in the +mud; at Kovno eighteen beggars besieged the coach, and Kovno was hardly +worse than scores of other towns; within a day's ride from St. +Petersburg a woman begged piteously for means to keep soul and body +together, and finished the refutation of that sonorous English theory, +for she had been discharged from her master's service in the metropolis +as too feeble, and had been sent back to his domain, afar in the +country, on foot and without money. + +It was said that freed peasants would not work. But, despite volleys of +predictions that they would not work if freed, despite volleys of +assertions that they could not work if freed, the peasants when set +free, and not crushed by regulations, have sprung to their work with an +earnestness and continued it with a vigor at which the philosophers of +the old system stand aghast. The freed peasants of Wologda compare +favorably with any in Europe. And when the old tirades had grown stale, +English writers drew copiously from a new source--from _La Vérité sur la +Russie_--pleasingly indifferent to the fact that the author's praise in +a previous work had notoriously been a thing of bargain and sale, and +that there was in full process of development a train of facts which led +the Parisian courts to find him guilty of demanding in one case a +blackmail of fifty thousand rubles. + +All this argument outside the empire helped the foes of emancipation +inside the empire. But the Emperor met the whole body of his opponents +with an argument overwhelming. On March 5, 1861, he issued his manifesto +making the serfs free! He had struggled long to make some satisfactory +previous arrangement; his motto now became: Emancipation first, +arrangement afterward. Thus was the result of the great struggle +decided. + + +NIKOLAI TURGENIEFF + +In 1857 the Emperor Alexander II first raised the question of +emancipation, and declared it was time for it to be accomplished. As +might have been expected, the idea of emancipation met with great +opposition from different sides. Yet the opposition was directed not so +much against the personal emancipation of the serfs as against the +appropriation to them, when liberated, of the land they held. The +proprietors, assembled in different committees which were established +all over the empire to discuss the matter, ended even by giving up their +right of possession in the person of the serf, and, mentioning only +their right to the land occupied by the peasants, claimed pecuniary +indemnities if that land were delivered to them. The honorable gentlemen +whom the Emperor intrusted with this important task, forming a committee +_ad hoc_, declared from the first as a principle that the emancipated +peasants must have land, about in the same quantity as they had hitherto +occupied, on condition of a pecuniary indemnity to be paid to the +proprietors. That principle prevailed, thanks to the Emperor's firmness. + +During the discussion of that question in Russia, I published several +writings on the matter. My chief purpose and warmest desire being to +secure to the peasants as soon as possible their personal freedom and +complete liberty of labor, I proposed a method of emancipation, claiming +the entire property of their homes; that is to say, cottages and +orchards and a small quantity of arable land, and that without the +slightest indemnity from them to their masters, which was to be left to +the Government. A sum of about two hundred million dollars, according to +my calculation, would have been sufficient for it. + +Meanwhile I inherited a small landed property, inhabited by about four +hundred persons of both sexes. I hastened to put in practice my method. +I abandoned one-third of the land, including their houses, to the +peasants, and let them the two remaining thirds for a certain sum of +money. In my agreement with them it was settled that, if the +emancipation which the Government was preparing (1859) turned out more +advantageous to them, they were to accept it in preference to mine. It +is needless to add that, when the official emancipation was proclaimed, +the peasants and I found it more advantageous and adopted it. If I were +to compare the two methods, I should say that mine tended chiefly to the +liberty of the peasants' person and labor, and that of the Government to +give them a quantity of land sufficient for their subsistence. + +The great inconvenience of this last method was that it obliged the +peasants to pay a heavy rent to redeem their land, and that during +forty-nine years! Nevertheless, their passion to possess land was so +strong that they cheerfully submitted to such hard conditions. The +redeeming rent _(rente de rachat_) was to be paid by the peasants, +either in money, according to an estimate fixed by law, or by work done +for the proprietor, _i.e.,_ by _corvies_. This last mode of payment, +sanctioned by law only for a short period, disappeared more and more +every day, so that the majority of the peasants no longer worked for the +proprietors, but paid their rent in money. + +I can say more: About two millions of peasants were entirely liberated +with regard to the proprietors, thanks to an immediate payment of the +redeeming rent. In such cases their annual rent (_redevance_) was +capitalized, and the Government gave the proprietor an obligation for +the amount of the capital, which bore five per cent, interest, and was +to be redeemed in the course of forty-nine years by annual drawings +(_tirages_); the peasants then to pay their redeeming rent to +Government, and thus become free and independent proprietors. For some +time both peasants and proprietors seemed to find this proceeding the +most profitable, and agreements of this kind became more and more +frequent every day. + +I can hardly say how happy I was when I saw for the first time my dear, +beloved, and deeply respected Russian peasants free at last, and +proprietors of the land they had till then cultivated as serfs! What a +change! The same creatures, serfs yesterday, became men, conscious of +their human dignity; their aspect, their language, are those of free +men. In the mean while, in getting rid of their serfdom, they preserved +their usual good sense, wisdom, and _bonhomie_; no impertinence, no +arrogance whatever can be detected in them; they are full of +self-respect, yet polite. I saw them discussing with the authorities +some business of theirs. They maintained their new rights, and, when +wrong, never hesitated to acknowledge it. + +Every district and every _chef-lieu_ had every year an assembly of +deputies who named a permanent committee for three years. This committee +was charged with the municipal administration, under the control of the +assembly. Everyone was called by law to the election of the deputies. It +happened in many places that the peasants were the more numerous and +could therefore dispose of all the places in the administrative +committee. They were so informed. "No," was their answer; "we want one +or two members of the committee taken from among ourselves; they will +watch over our interests. As for defending them, as for action, the +nobles we name will do it better than we, for they are more learned than +we are." In one of the assemblies the nobles, moved by the tact and +moderation of the peasants, insisted and almost forced a peasant to +become president of the administrative committee of the district. When +the salary of the members of the committee had to be decided, the +peasants usually considered it too high for them, and, letting the +nobles and the merchants have it, got it diminished by one-half for +themselves. + +All the district assemblies, after voting for the formation of the +administrative committee, named the deputies for the larger assembly in +the chief town in the province, which in its turn chose among its own +members the members for the provincial administrative committee. The +central committee seemed to interest the peasants less than those of the +districts, and this too is owing to their modesty and moderation. + +Another field was offered by the new law to the activity of the peasants +in the local or municipal tribunals. The law united several rural +communes in one canton _(volost)._ Each canton, each commune, chose an +_ancient_, assisted by a _conseil_ In every canton was a tribunal to +judge the peasants' affairs. Ancients and judges were elected by +peasants; noblemen were not submitted to these tribunals, but it has +happened that some of them preferred having their difficulties with +peasants settled by municipal judges rather than by the usual tribunals. +This jurisdiction, established merely for peasants, had great +importance, owing chiefly to the privilege of deciding not only +according to general law, but also according to local customs. +Opportunities were not wanting for the good sense of the peasants to +show itself in these municipal tribunals and councils, and the success +of the institution was clear to everyone. + + + + +(1844-1861) CHRONOLOGY OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY, Embracing the period + covered in this volume, Daniel Edwin Wheeler + + +Events treated at length are here indicated in large type; the numerals +following give volume and page. + +Separate chronologies or the various nations, and of the careers of +famous persons, will be found in the INDEX VOLUME, with references +showing where the several events are fully treated. + + + 1844 - "INVENTION OF THE TELEGRAPH." + + 1845 - Florida and Texas admitted to the United States; beginning of + President Folk's Administration. + + - Sir John Franklin sails on his last search for the Northwest + Passage. + + - England and France war on the Argentine Confederation. + + 1846 - War between the United States and Mexico; General Taylor + captures Monterey; California and New Mexico occupied by United + States troops. See "THE ACQUISITION OF CALIFORNIA." + + - Treaty with England arranges the Oregon boundary. + + - Elias Howe patents the sewing-machine. + + - "THE DISCOVERY OF NEPTUNE." + + - Great Famine begins in Ireland. Corn-Law agitation at its + height in England, "REPEAL OF THE ENGLISH CORN LAWS." + + - Unsuccessful uprising of the Poles. Cracow annexed to Austria. + Election of Pope Pius IX; his reforms. See "THE REFORMS OF Pius + IX." + + 1847 - General Taylor conquers Northern Mexico; Battle of Buena Vista. + General Scott captures Vera Cruz, marches on the city of + Mexico, wins repeated battles, and enters the capital in + triumph, September 14th. See "THE MEXICAN WAR." + + - "FAMINE IN IRELAND." + + - Tumult occasioned in Italy by the papal reforms; civil war of + the _Sonderbund_ in Switzerland; France finally subjugates + Morocco. See "THE FALL OF ABD-EL-KADER." + + 1848 - Peace signed between Mexico and the United States; cession of + large territory by Mexico. + + - "DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN CALIFORNIA." + + - The Mormons settle in Utah. See "MIGRATIONS OF THE MORMONS." + + - Italian uprisings in Milan and Sicily; Sardinia grants a + constitution to its subjects. See "THE REVOLUTION OF FEBRUARY + IN FRANCE." Gathering of a workingmen's convention in Paris. + + - Outbreak of revolution in Vienna (March 13th) and in Berlin + (March 18th). See "REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS IN GERMANY." + + - Meeting of the German Parliament at Frankfort. + + - Venice declares itself a republic. Sardinia begins war for the + "liberation of Italy"; Battle of Custozza. Bloody outbreak of + communists in Paris. Unsuccessful revolts in Poland and + Bohemia. + + - "THE REVOLT OF HUNGARY." + + - Storming of Vienna by government troops. Flight of Pius IX from + Rome. Louis Napoleon elected President of France. + + - The English crowd back the Boers in Southern Africa; the Boers + migrate and form the Transvaal Republic. + + 1849 - Zachary Taylor inaugurated as President of the United States. + + - Rome declared a republic. The Sardinian troops defeated by the + Austrians at Novara, and the Sardinian King resigns his throne + to his son, Victor Emmanuel II. Austria again dominant in + Italy. Rome stormed by French troops. See "RISE AND FALL OF THE + ROMAN REPUBLIC." + + - Venice surrenders to the Austrians after nearly a year of + siege. Hungary declared a republic; her forces crushed by the + + + - Russians in aid of Austria. + + - Denmark and Schleswig-Holstein at war. A German confederation + established. + + - "LIVINGSTONE'S AFRICAN DISCOVERIES." + + - The Punjab annexed to British India. + + 1850 - Death of President Taylor. + + - Congress passes the Clay compromise measures admitting + California as a free State, but compelling the return of + fugitive slaves by the North. + + - Tai-ping rebellion begins in China. + + 1851 - First great world's fair in the Crystal Palace, London. + + - "DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN AUSTRALIA." + + - "THE COUP D'ÉTAT OF LOUIS NAPOLEON." Napoleon dismisses the + Assembly, and is elected President of France for ten years. + + 1852 - Napoleon III proclaimed Emperor of France. + + 1853 - Franklin Pierce inaugurated as President of the United States. + + - The Gadsden Purchase made from Mexico, including Southern + Arizona and New Mexico. Surveys begin for a transcontinental + railroad. + + - Dr. Kane sets out on his arctic explorations. + + - Russia quarrels with Turkey, claims a protectorate over all + Christians in Turkish dominions; war begun, a Turkish fleet + destroyed at Sinope. England and France interfere. + + - Great successes of the Tai-pings in China. + + 1854 - Passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill intensifies the slavery + agitation in the United States; formation of the Republican + party. See "THE RISE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY." + + - France and England declare war against Russia; bombardment of + + Bomarsund; the allies land in the Crimea; battles of the Alma, + of Balaklava, of Inkerman, siege of Sebastopol. + + - "THE OPENING OF JAPAN." + + 1855 - "THE CAPTURE OF SEBASTOPOL." + + - Russian successes against the Turks in Asia. + + - Overthrow of Santa Ana, Dictator of Mexico. + + - Opening of a railway across the Isthmus of Panama. + 1856 - Tumult and bloodshed in Kansas. + + - Walker, the filibuster, seizes temporary control of Nicaragua. + + - End of the Crimean War; Russia withdraws from the Danubian + Provinces. + + - Second war between England and China; Persians attack + Afghanistan. + + 1857 - James Buchanan inaugurated as President of the United States. + + The decision in the Dred Scott case extends slavery into the + Territories. + + - Mormon Revolt in Utah. + + - "THE INDIAN MUTINY." Nana Sahib heads the insurgents; recapture + of Delhi and Cawnpore; relief of Lucknow. + + - England ends the Persian War. France joins England against + China. + + - The first Atlantic cable laid and broken. + + 1858 - Jews admitted to share in the government of England. + + - End of the Indian Mutiny; the East Indian Company transfers its + authority to the Crown. + + 1859 - John Brown's Raid. + + - Charles Darwin announces the doctrine of evolution. See "DARWIN + PUBLISHES His ORIGIN OF SPECIES." + + - Russia captures Shamyl, and subdues the entire region of the + Caucasus. + + - Cavour, the chief statesman of Sardinia, arranges an alliance + with France and begins a war with Austria to establish "United + Italy." + + - "BATTLES OF MAGENTA AND SOLFERINO." + + - Lombardy added to the Italian Kingdom; Venice remains Austrian. + + 1860 - Garibaldi and his "Thousand" attack the Neapolitans in + + Sicily; they capture Naples. Victor Emmanuel seizes the States + of the Church. See "THE KINGDOM OF ITALY ESTABLISHED." + + 1860 - French and English troops seize Peking and dictate peace terms. + + - Election of Abraham Lincoln, the Republican candidate, as + President of the United States. South Carolina secedes from the + Union. + + 1861 - "EMANCIPATION OF RUSSIAN SERFS." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Events by Famous Historians, +Vol. 17, by Charles Francis Horne + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10128 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6be212f --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #10128 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10128) diff --git a/old/10128-8.txt b/old/10128-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..db0cb27 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10128-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15264 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol. +17, by Charles Francis Horne + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol. 17 + +Author: Charles Francis Horne + +Release Date: November 19, 2003 [EBook #10128] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREAT EVENTS 17 *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Keith M. Eckrich, Tom Allen and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + +VOL. XVII + +THE GREAT EVENTS BY FAMOUS HISTORIANS + +A comprehensive and readable account of the world's history, +emphasizing the more important events, and presenting these as +complete narratives in the master-words of the most eminent +historians. + +Non-sectarian, non-partisan and non-sectional. + +On the plan evolved from a consensus of opinions gathered from the +most distinguished scholars of America and Europe, including brief +introductions by specialists to connect and explain the celebrated +narratives, arranged chronologically, with thorough indices, +bibliographies, chronologies, and courses of reading. + +Editor-in-Chief: Rossiter Johnson, LL.D. + +Associate Editors: Charles F. Horne, Ph.D. and John Rudd, LL.D. + +With a staff of specialists + + + + +CONTENTS of VOLUME XVII + + +AN OUTLINE NARRATIVE OF THE GREAT EVENTS, Charles F. Horne + +(1844) THE INVENTION OF THE TELEGRAPH, Alonzo B. Cornell + +(1846) REPEAL OF THE ENGLISH CORN LAWS, Justin McCarthy + +(1846) THE DISCOVERY OF NEPTUNE, Sir Oliver Lodge + +(1846) THE ACQUISITION OF CALIFORNIA, Henry B. Dawson + +(1847) THE FALL OF ABD-EL-KADER, Edgar Sanderson + +(1847) THE MEXICAN WAR, John Bonner + +(1847) FAMINE IN IRELAND, Sir Charles Gavan Duffy + +(1848) MIGRATIONS OF THE MORMONS, Thomas L. Kane + +(1848) THE REFORMS OF PIUS IX; HIS FLIGHT FROM ROME, Francis Bowen + +(1848) THE REVOLUTION OF FEBRUARY IN FRANCE, François P.G. Guizot and + Mme. Guizot de Witt + +(1848) REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS IN GERMAN, C. Edmund Maurice + +(1848) THE REVOLT IN HUNGARY, Arminius Vembery + +(1848) THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN CALIFORNIA, John S. Hittell + +(1849) THE RISE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC, Jessie White Mario + +(1849) LIVINGSTONE'S AFRICAN DISCOVERIES, David Livingstone and Thomas + Hughes + +(1851) THE COUP D'ETAT OF LOUIS NAPOLEON, Alexis de Tocqueville + +(1851) THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN AUSTRALIA, Edward Jenks + +(1854) THE RISE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, Abraham Lincoln + +(1854) THE OPENING OF JAPAN, Matthew C. Perry + +(1855) THE CAPTURE OF SEBASTOPOL, Sir Edward B. Hamley and Sir Evelyn + Wood + +(1857) THE INDIAN MUTINY, J. Talboys Wheeler + +(1859) THE BATTLES OF MAGENTA and SOLFERINO, Pietro Orsi + +(1859) DARWIN PUBLISHES HIS ORIGIN OF SPECIES, Charles Robert Darwin + +(1860) THE KINGDOM OF ITALY ESTABLISHED, Giuseppe Garibaldi and John + Webb Probyn + +(1861) THE EMANCIPATION OF RUSSIAN SERFS, Andrew D. White and Nikolai + Turgenieff + +(1844-1861) UNIVERSAL CHRONOLOGY, Daniel Edwin Wheeler + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS: + + +The mutinous Sepoys blown from the mouths of cannon by the English at +Cawnpore, Painting by Basil Verestchagin. + +Charge of the Six Hundred at Balaklava, Painting by Stanley Berkeley. + + + + +AN OUTLINE NARRATIVE (Tracing briefly the causes, connections, and +consequences of the great events.) + + +THE TRIUMPH OF DEMOCRACY, Charles F. Horne + +In the year 1844 electricity, last and mightiest of the servants of man, +was seized and harnessed and made to do practical work. A telegraph line +was erected between Washington and Baltimore. [Footnote: See _Invention +of the Telegraph_.] In 1846 mathematics achieved perhaps the greatest +triumph of abstract science. It pointed out where in the heavens there +should be a planet, never before known by man. Strong telescopes were +directed to the spot and the planet was discovered. [Footnote: See _The +Discovery of Neptune_.] Man had found guides more subtle and more +accurate than his own five ancient senses. The age of figures, the age +of electricity, began. + +The changes were symbolic, perhaps, of the more rapid rate at which the +forces of society were soon to move. Over all Europe and America great +events were shaping themselves with lightning speed. Tremendous changes +political and economic, social and scientific, were hurrying to an +issue. + + +THE MEXICAN WAR + +In America the Mexican War, vast in its territorial results, still more +so in its effect upon society, broke out in 1846 over the admission of +Texas to the United States. The superior fighting strength of the more +northern race was at once made evident. Small bodies of United States +troops repeatedly defeated far larger numbers of the Mexican militia. +The entire northern half of Mexico was soon occupied by the enemy. +Expeditions, half of conquest, half of exploration, seized New Mexico, +California, and all the vast region which now composes the southwestern +quarter of the United States. [Footnote: See _The Acquisition of +California_.] + +Farther south, however, the more populous region wherein lay the chief +Mexican cities remained resolute in its defiance; and the Washington +Government despatched against it that truly marvellous expedition under +General Scott. The heroisms and the triumphs of Scott's spectacular +campaign deserve to be sung in epic form. The dubious justice of the war +was forgotten in its overwhelming success. From the captured Mexican +capital the conquerors dictated such peace terms as added to the United +States almost half the territory of her helpless neighbor. Europe at +last awoke to the fact that there was but one Power on the American +continent, a power with which even the mightiest monarch could ill +afford to quarrel. [Footnote: See _The Mexican War_.] The very year in +which the final treaty of peace was signed (1848) the Mormons, a +religious sect, finding themselves unwelcome and out of place in +Illinois, moved westward in a body. Enduring every hardship, every +privation, perishing by hundreds in the trackless deserts, captured and +put to torture by the Indians, they still persevered in their migration, +and, halting at last in the valleys of Utah, began the settlement of the +Central West. [Footnote: See _Migrations of the Mormons_.] + +Also in that same year, gold was discovered in California. Thousands of +eager adventurers flocked thither, and thus the vast wilderness that +Mexico had lightly surrendered had hardly become United States territory +ere it was filled with people, not listless semi-savages, but eager, +energetic men, resolute and resourceful. The West joined the march of +progress; it doubled the wealth and prowess of the East. [Footnote: See +_Discovery of Gold in California_.] + + +THE UPRISING OF THE PEOPLES + +Important indeed was that year of 1848, noteworthy above most in the +story of mankind. In Europe it witnessed the greatest of all the +outbursts of democracy. The common people, easily suppressed by the +armies of the Holy Alliance in 1820, had been subdued with difficulty in +1830. Now in 1848 they rose again. Their gradual accumulation of power +and passion would soon be irresistible. Even the petted armies of +autocracy became possessed with the new belief in mankind's brotherhood. + +This time the outburst began in Italy. Mazzini, the celebrated founder +of the political society "Young Italy," inspired his countrymen with +something of his own ardent devotion to the cause of liberty and Italian +union. Then in 1846 Pius IX, last of the heads of the Roman Church to +possess a temporal authority as well, ascended the throne of the Papal +dominions. The new Pope was in sympathy with the democratic spirit of +the times, and he established in his own States a constitutional +government, granting to his people more and more of power as he judged +them fitted for it. Soon, however, the most radical elements asserted +themselves in the new Government. All that the Pope could find it in his +heart to grant, seemed to them not half enough. The mighty spirit which +he had let loose broke from his control. Before the close of 1848 there +were riots, fighting in the streets; the Pope's chief counsellor was +murdered, and he himself had to flee by night in secrecy, a fugitive +from Rome. [Footnote: See _The Reforms of Pius IX: His Flight from +Rome_.] + +Ere matters had reached this pass, the sudden impulse given by Rome to +democratic government had spread like wildfire over the whole of Europe. +Thrones everywhere seemed crumbling to the dust. In January, 1848, the +people of Sicily revolted against their tyrant king and formed a +republic. Southern Italy, which had been part of the same kingdom, +compelled the sovereign to grant a constitution. Other Italian States +followed the example of rebellion. All Europe apparently had been but +waiting for the spark. In France, dissatisfaction with the +"tradesman-King," Louis Philippe, had long been bitter. In February, +1848, there was an open rebellion, Louis abdicated, and a provisional +government was formed, which proclaimed the land a republic. [Footnote: +See _The Revolution of February in France_.] + +There was no fear now lest the other Powers interfere. Each Continental +monarch was over-busy at home. Rebellion was everywhere. Every one of +the lesser German States secured a constitution; and the inhabitants +summoned those of Prussia and Austria to join them in establishing a +single central government, either republic or empire, a "United +Germany." On March 18th the Prussian capital, Berlin, was the seat of a +savage street battle between citizens and the royal troops. Not until it +had raged all day and upward of two hundred persons had been slain did +the Prussian monarch, Frederick William IV, weaken and proclaim a +constitution. [Footnote: See _Revolutionary Movements in Germany_.] + +Austria, the stronghold of autocracy, the land of Prince Metternich, +high-priest of repression, had proven as little ready as her neighbors +to withstand the sudden storm. On March 13th the people of Vienna rose +in most unexpected revolt, and Metternich, escaping from the city in a +washerwoman's cart, fled to England. "We were prepared for everything," +he lamented, "but a democratic pope." + +The whole heterogeneous empire of Austria seemed to fall apart at once. +The Hungarians rose in arms to fight for independence. The Bohemians +expelled the Austrian troops from Prague. In Italy the Northern +Provinces followed the example set them in the South. The people of +Milan attacked the Austrian garrison and expelled it after four days of +fighting. Venice reasserted her ancient independence. The King of +Piedmont and Sardinia, declaring himself the champion of Italian unity, +ordered the Austrian armies to leave the country, and marched his forces +against them. The other little States hastened to accept his leadership +and add their troops to his. + +Yet against all these difficulties the military power of the Austrian +Government began to make determined headway. The Bohemians were crushed +by force of arms. In Italy the Austrian general-in-chief withdrew slowly +before his many foes, until his Government could reënforce him. Then he +turned on them, completely defeated the Sardinian King at Custozza and +the next year at Novara, and therby restored Austrian supremacy in +Northern Italy. + +Meanwhile Rome, from which Pius IX had fled in horror, proclaimed itself +a republic. Mazzini, the earliest hero of Italian unity, and Garibaldi, +its greatest champion, were both members of the Government. The +Austrians marched against them; but French troops had also been +despatched to defend the Pope, and it was the French who, first reaching +Rome, stormed and captured it. The republic was overthrown by a +republic. [Footnote: See _Rise and Fall of the Roman Republic_.] Venice +was the last Italian city to hold out, and surrendered to the Austrians +only after a siege of many months had reduced it to starvation. + +The Austrian revolution had also collapsed at home. In October, 1848, +Government troops stormed the city of Vienna as if it had been a foreign +capital, and defeated the students and citizens, who fought the soldiers +from street to street. + +Only in Hungary were the royal armies baffled. There a regular +republican government was established under Louis Kossuth. Hungarian +armies were raised, and, defeating the Austrians in pitched battles, +drove them from the land. The Austrian Emperor in despair appealed to +Russia for aid; and the Czar having just trampled out an incipient +Polish rebellion of his own, came willingly to the aid of his brother +autocrat. Just as Austrian troops had so often done in Italy, so now a +huge Russian horde poured over Hungary, beat down all resistance, and +having reduced the land to helplessness returned it to the angry grip of +its insulted sovereign. [Footnote: See _The Revolt of Hungary_.] + +Yet Hungary did not wholly fail of her revenge. She had brought about +the downfall of Austria as a great political Power. The once haughty +empire had been compelled to cry for help, to be protected, even as were +Italy and Spain, against her own people. Her weakness was made manifest +to the world. Never again could she pose as the leader of European +councils. + +Thus it was only in France and Germany that the results of the upheaval +of 1848-1849 remained evident upon the surface. Prussia and the lesser +German States became and continued constitutional kingdoms. Germany was +united in a closer though still vague union, in which Austria and +Prussia struggled for a dominant influence. But democracy had in many +places committed such excesses that the huge body of the middle classes +feared it and turned against it. Such citizens as had property to +preserve concluded that, after all, their ancient kings had been less +tyrannic than King Mob. + +In France, too, this reaction was strongly felt. The revolution of 1848 +had not been accomplished without an outburst from socialism or +communism, which raised its red flag in the streets of Paris and was put +down only after days of bloody battle with the more moderate elements. +So the French middle classes wanted peace, and they elected as president +of the republic Louis Napoleon, nephew of their once famous Emperor. In +1851 the President by a sudden _coup d'etat_ overturned his own +Government. He declared the land an empire under himself as Napoleon +III. Enthusiastic patriots protested in burning words, but most of +France appeared content. Property-owners welcomed the return of any +government that was strong enough to govern. [Footnote: See _The Coup +d'Etat_.] + +Despite temporary setbacks, however, the advance of the power of the +people in 1848 had been enormous. The dullest tyrant could hardly +believe longer in the permanence of personal despotism. Even England, +the stronghold of conservatism as well as of personal independence, was +shifting her aristocratic institutions slowly toward democracy. + +The Reform Bill of 1832 had been only a small step in the direction of +popular government; but it opened the way for further reform. Almost +immediately upon its granting, began what was known as the Chartist +movement, an agitation kept up among the lower classes for a "charter" +or more liberal constitution. This soon became associated with a demand +for freer trade. The importation into England of bread-stuffs, +especially corn, was heavily taxed, and thus the poorer classes were +driven almost to the point of famine. The failure of the potato crop did +at last produce actual and awful famine in Ireland. Her peasants still +speak of 1847 as "the black year" of death. [Footnote: See _Famine in +Ireland_.] + +Hundreds of thousands of the poorer classes starved. Then began a stream +of emigration to America. Under pressure of such facts as these, the +English "Corn Laws" were repealed, and gradually Great Britain assumed +more and more positively the attitude of "free trade." [Footnote: See +_Repeal of the English Corn Laws_.] + + +EXPANSION OF EUROPEAN INFLUENCE + +Yet despite all the internal difficulties that thus convulsed Europe in +the middle of the nineteenth century, the period is also notable for the +rapid expansion of European influence over the other continents of the +Eastern Hemisphere. "Earth-hunger," the same passion that had swayed the +United States in its Mexican contest, plunged the Powers of Europe also +into repeated war. France extended her authority over the nearer African +States of the Mediterranean. Indeed, one of the main causes for the +rebellion of 1848 against Louis Philippe was the enormous cost in men +and money of these African campaigns, undertaken against the truly +remarkable Mahometan leader and patriot Abd-el-Kader. [Footnote: See +_The Fall of Abd-el-Kader_.] + +England tightened her grip on India, and extended her authority over the +broader lands around it. The hopelessness of Asiatic resistance to +European aggressiveness and military force was once more made evident in +the widespread rebellion of the Indian natives in 1857. In quick +succession, over vast and populous regions, both the people and the +rajas rose against British rule. In the triumph of their first momentary +victories they committed savage excesses which made pardon hopeless. Yet +neither their numbers nor the desperation to which they were driven +enabled them to hold their own against the mere handfuls of resolute +Englishmen, who soon subdued them. [Footnote: See _The Indian Mutiny_.] + +England's influence was also extended over Afghanistan and Southern +Africa. Livingstone, most famous of missionaries and explorers, crossed +the "dark continent" from coast to coast in 1851. [Footnote: See +_Livingstone's African Discoveries_.] In that same year gold was +discovered in Australia, and English adventurers flocked thither. The +world grew small to European eyes. [Footnote: See _Discovery of Gold in +Australia_.] + +Even the extremest East was brought in contact with the West. As a +result of the Opium War of 1840, China was compelled to open her doors +to foreign trade. She was also compelled to surrender territory to +England. Japan, which for more than two centuries had jealously excluded +Europeans from her shores, received her memorable awakening from the +friendly American expedition of Commodore Perry. [Footnote: See _The +Opening of Japan_.] + + +THE CRIMEAN WAR + +Russia sought to have her share also in the appropriation of territory +and "spheres of influence." She and England were the only two European +Powers which had not been seriously shaken by the upheavals of 1848. It +seemed that they might almost divide between them the helpless Eastern +world. England having already begun operations, Russia assumed a sort of +protectorate over the Christians in Turkish lands, and proposed to +England that the entire Turkish Empire should be divided between the two +despoilers. The British Government refused the plan, mainly because it +would give Russia a broad highway to the sea and make her a dangerous +commercial rival. So Russia attempted to carry out her scheme +single-handed, and began seizing Turkish provinces. She destroyed the +Turkish fleet. Once before in 1828 the threat of a general European +alliance had checked the Russian bear at this same game; but Europe was +weaker now, the Czar stronger, and England far off and undecided. + +Thus perhaps the Czar might have had his way but for Napoleon III. This +new Emperor had been permitted by Frenchmen to usurp his power largely +because of the military repute of his great namesake; and he felt that +to hold his place he must justify his reputation. Frenchmen resented +exceedingly the Czar's haughty assumption that only England was able to +oppose Russia; and Napoleon III promptly asserted himself in the _role_ +of the former Napoleon as "dictator of Europe." The title so pleased the +insulted pride of his people that they followed him eagerly, and +remained blind to many failings through more wars than one. The +self-constituted dictator insisted that his whole desire was for peace +and the artistic beautifying of his country; yet if Russia persisted in +extending her power and ignoring France--. In 1854 he joined England in +the war of the Crimea against Russia. + +It cannot be said that the allies achieved any great success against +their huge antagonist. Their fleets bombarded the Baltic fortresses with +small result. Their armies, hastening to protect Turkey, attacked the +Russians in the Crimea, gained the Battle of the Alma, and then for an +entire year besieged the fortifications of Sebastopol. [Footnote: See +_The Capture of Sebastopol_.] But distance and changeful climate proved +Russia's aids as they had in 1812. The allies' commissary and sanitary +departments could hardly be managed at all; their troops died by +thousands, and, though they finally stormed and captured Sebastopol, it +was a barren victory. Russia, not so much overcome as convinced of the +practical lack of profit in persistency, made terms of peace by which +she once more drew back from her feeble prey. English statesmen were +satisfied with the check administered to their great rival; and the +French were delighted at the successful interference of their "dictator +of Europe." He had rehabilitated the nation in its own eyes. + + +UNION OF ITALY + +Ambition grows by what it feeds on. Napoleon determined to assert +himself again. The bitterness of Italy against its Austrian masters +offered an excellent opportunity, and in 1859 he encouraged the King of +Sardinia to try once more the contest which had proved so disastrous +eleven years before. The King, Victor Emmanuel II, prepared for war +against Austria. The French joined him, so did the little North Italian +States, and their combined forces were victorious at Magenta and +Solferino. [Footnote: See _Battles of Magenta and Solferino_.] + +Napoleon had declared that the combat should not cease until the +Austrians were driven entirely out of Italy. As the price of his +alliance he secured Nice and Savoy from Sardinia; and then, immediately +after the bloody Battle of Solferino he suddenly changed front and +declared that the war must cease. Austria yielded Lombardy, but kept +Venice, the last of the possessions for which during more than three +hundred years she had been battling in Italy. The Kingdom of Sardinia +became the Kingdom of Northern Italy. + +The next year (1860) Garibaldi, the lion-like fighter, the enthusiastic +lover of Italy, gathering round him a thousand followers, made an +unexpected attack on Sicily, which was held by the tyrant King of +Naples. With his celebrated "Thousand" he won two remarkable victories. +The Sicilians joined him; the Neapolitans were driven from the island. +Not giving them time to recover, Garibaldi followed to the mainland, +defeated them again, and was master of all Southern Italy. Meanwhile +Victor Emmanuel, marching his troops southward, seized what was left of +the States of the Church. The two conquerors met midway in Italy, and +Garibaldi, grasping his sovereign by the hand, saluted him as King at +last of a united Italy. Only Rome and Venice remained outside the pale, +Rome protected by being in actual possession of the Pope, and, since +France was still Catholic, guarded by French troops from the eager +Italians. The year 1860 had been second only to 1848 in its importance +in changing the outlines of modern Europe. [Footnote: See _The Kingdom +of Italy Established_.] + +Another change, immeasurably vast and still unmeasured in its +consequences, may be dated from 1859, when Charles Darwin gave to the +world his book, the _Origin of Species_. In this he proclaimed the +doctrine of the evolution of all the more complicated forms of life from +simpler forms. The idea, at first resolutely combated on religious +grounds, has gradually received more or less acceptance into the entire +religious fabric, even as were the discoveries of Galileo. [Footnote: +See _Darwin Publishes His Origin of Species_.] + + +DISUNION IN AMERICA + +Yet each and all of these events, important as they were, grew little in +men's minds as the year 1860 drew to its close and revealed in America +the coming of a mightier quarrel. The slavery question, once supposed to +have been settled by the Missouri Compromise, had proved itself +incapable of such settlement. The forward march of democracy had in fact +made slavery an anachronism, outgrown and impossible. Even the Emperor +of Russia saw that, and in 1861 liberated all the serfs within his +territories. [Footnote: See _Emancipation of Russian Serfs_.] In the +United States alone among the great Powers of the world, did slavery +persist. + +In 1854 a new political party, calling itself the Republican, was +formed, having for its main principle opposition to the extension of +slavery into the Territories. [Footnote: See _The Rise of the Republican +Party_.] Other issues might and did complicate the central question, but +it was the slavery issue that inflamed men's minds, made Kansas a +"battle-ground" between settlers from North and South, and sent John +Brown upon his reckless raid. Watching the increasing success of the +Republicans, Southern leaders began to reassert the doctrine of the +right of secession. They said openly that if a Republican president were +elected they would leave the Union. + +And in 1860 a Republican president was elected. Was the long-predicted, +and to most of Europe eagerly desired, disruption of the United States +at hand? Was the break to be accomplished peacefully or in flame and +wrath? The fading year of 1860 left the advancing world of democracy in +panic over the danger to what had been its most successful stronghold. + + +[For the next section of this general survey, see volume XVIII.] + + + + +(1844) INVENTION OF THE TELEGRAPH, Alonzo B. Cornell + + +After the experiments of Franklin that did so much to advance the study +of electrical phenomena, and to suggest practical applications of +electricity, physicists in all countries occupied themselves with +investigations along lines marked out by the American philosopher. In +1749 Franklin devised the lightning-rod. But notwithstanding the labors +of many investigators, it was more than fifty years before any other +practical discovery or invention in electricity was brought into general +use. The first great achievement of the kind was Morse's improvement of +the electric telegraph. That Morse's fellow-countryman, Joseph Henry, +chiefly prepared the way for that triumph, the following account, with +just emphasis, demonstrates. + +Among the European scientists and inventors to whom both Henry and Morse +were indebted was the French electrician, André Marie Ampère +(1775-1836), whose name (ampère) has been given to the practical unit of +electric-current strength. Ampère was the first and is the most famous +investigator in electrodynamics. He also invented a telegraphic +arrangement in which he used the magnetic needle and coil and the +galvanic battery. Others, in the latter part of the eighteenth century +and the earlier years of the nineteenth, devised similar arrangements. +But no strictly electromagnetic apparatus for telegraphic signalling was +put to successful use until 1836, when, in England, Charles Wheatstone, +who is commonly regarded as the first inventor of practical electric +telegraphy, constructed an apparatus whereby thirty signals were +transmitted through nearly four miles of wire. From 1837 to 1843 he had +as an associate William Fothergill Cooke, and the two worked together to +develop the electric telegraph. They afterward quarrelled over their +respective claims to credit, but in 1838-1841 telegraph lines secured by +their patents were set up on the Great Western and two other English +railways. + +Meanwhile other inventors were still working for the same results, in +many parts of the world, and it has been significantly said that "the +electric telegraph had, properly speaking, no inventor; it grew up +little by little." Nevertheless with respect to the distinctive +character of Morse's improvements, and his title to a peculiar place +among those through whose labors the electric telegraph "grew," there +can be no question. + +Alonzo B. Cornell, son of the founder of Cornell University, at one time +Governor of New York, was intimately connected with electrical and +telegraphic affairs for many years; therefore on the subject here +presented he speaks with professional authority. His father was the +first builder of the Morse telegraphs. + + * * * * * + +During the early years of the nineteenth century but slight advance was +made in the development of electrical science, although there were many +persons both here and abroad engaged in experimental work, and there was +considerable increase of literature bearing upon the subject. It was +reserved for another illustrious American to accomplish the next +important and decisive step in the pathway of progress. In 1828 Joseph +Henry, then professor of physics at the Albany Academy, afterward a +professor at Princeton, and subsequently for many years secretary of the +Smithsonian Institution at Washington, made the highly important +discovery that by winding a plain iron core with many layers of +insulated wire, through which the electric current was passed, he could +at pleasure charge and discharge the iron core with magnetic power. Thus +Henry produced the electromagnet which was the beginning of the mastery +by man of the subtle fluid. He also discovered that the intensity and +power of the electric current were materially augmented by increasing +the number of the series of battery plates without increasing the +quantity of metal used in their construction. + +These discoveries of Henry were, beyond all question, the most important +in real and intrinsic value ever made in the progress of electric +science, as they form the solid basis upon which all subsequent +inventors have been enabled to accomplish successful results in their +various fields of endeavor. It is conceded by all familiar with the +history of electrical progress that the name of Professor Joseph Henry +is to be honored and cherished as one of the very foremost of scientific +discoverers of any age or country, and it must remain a cause of sincere +and permanent regret that of all the fabulous wealth that has resulted +from the advancement of electrical science, this modest and unselfish +inventor should have passed hence without ever having realized any +substantial reward for his great work. Not only so, but he was never +awarded the appropriate acknowledgment to which he was so eminently +entitled for the inestimable benefits his discoveries conferred upon his +countrymen and upon the world at large. + +The possibility of utilizing Professor Henry's electromagnet for the +purpose of transmitting intelligence to a distant point was conceived by +still another American, Professor Samuel Finley Breese Morse, of New +York, [Footnote: He was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, April 27, +1791.--ED.] during his passage on board the packet-ship Sully, from +Havre to New York, in the winter of 1832. Incidental discussions between +himself and Doctor Jackson, a fellow-passenger, in reference to recent +electrical improvements on both sides of the Atlantic, led Morse to the +conclusion that intelligence might be instantaneously transmitted over a +metallic circuit to a distant point, and he thereupon determined to +devote himself to the solution of the problem involved. The following +day he exhibited a rough sketch of a plan for recording electric +impulses necessary to convey and express intelligence. He pursued the +subject with great devotion during the remainder of the voyage, and +after arrival in New York began the construction of the necessary +apparatus to accomplish his purpose. + +Morse was by profession a portrait painter of more than ordinary merit, +and was obliged to continue his artistic labors for a livelihood. He was +a graduate of Yale College, where his attention had first been attracted +to electrical experiments. He was thus, in a measure, prepared for +carrying forward the important work he had undertaken, and pursued his +labors with great assiduity. Devoting every spare moment to the pursuit +of his object, which was attained but slowly by reason of his lack of +mechanical skill and ingenuity, not until 1837 had he so far succeeded +in his efforts as to be prepared to make application for letters-patent +to enable him to secure and protect his rights of invention in the +electromagnetic telegraph. + +In explanation of the slow progress of his experimental work, Professor +Morse, in writing to a friend, said: "Up to the autumn of 1837 my +telegraphic apparatus existed in so rude a form that I felt reluctance +to have it seen. My means were very limited, so limited as to preclude +the possibility of constructing an apparatus of such mechanical finish +as to warrant my success in venturing upon its public exhibition. I had +no wish to expose to ridicule the representative of so many hours of +laborious thought. Prior to the summer of 1837 I depended upon my pencil +for subsistence. Indeed, so straitened were my circumstances that in +order to save time to carry out my invention and to economize my scanty +means I had for months lodged and eaten in my studio, procuring food in +small quantities from some grocery, and preparing it myself. To conceal +from my friends the stinted manner in which I lived, I was in the habit +of bringing food to my room in the evenings; and this was my mode of +life for many years." + +After the continuance of this heroic struggle for more than five years, +Morse found himself compelled to seek the aid of more accomplished +mechanical skill than he possessed, to perfect his apparatus, and was +obliged to surrender a quarter interest in his invention in order to +obtain pecuniary aid for this purpose. + +Having thus succeeded in obtaining, at such serious sacrifice, the +requisite financial assistance to enable him to perfect the mechanism +necessary to demonstrate his invention, Professor Morse lost no time in +completing his apparatus and presenting it for public inspection. On +January 6, 1838, he first operated his system successfully, over a wire +three miles long, in the presence of a number of personal friends, at +Morristown, New Jersey. In the following month he made a similar +exhibition before the faculty of the New York University, which was an +occasion of much interest among the scientists of the metropolis. + +Shortly thereafter the apparatus was taken to Philadelphia and exhibited +at the Franklin Institute, where he received the highest commendation +from the committee of science and arts, with a strong expression in +favor of government aid for the purpose of demonstrating the practical +usefulness of the system. + +From Philadelphia, Morse removed his apparatus to Washington, where he +was permitted to demonstrate its operation before President Van Buren +and his Cabinet. Foreign ministers and members of both Houses of +Congress, as well, also, as prominent citizens, were invited to attend +the exhibition, and manifested much interest in the novelty of the +invention. A bill was introduced in Congress making an appropriation of +thirty thousand dollars for the purpose of providing for the erection of +an experimental line of telegraph between Washington and Baltimore, to +illustrate, by practical use, its general utility. The bill was in good +time favorably reported from the committee on commerce, but made no +further progress in that Congress. Similar bills were subsequently +introduced and diligently supported in each succeeding Congress, but it +was not until the very closing hour of the expiring session of 1843 that +the necessary enactment was effected and the appropriation secured. + +The plan of construction devised by Professor Morse for the experimental +line of telegraph to be erected between Washington and Baltimore, under +the Congressional appropriation, provided for placing insulated wires in +a lead pipe underground. This was to be accomplished by the use of a +specially devised plough of peculiar construction, to be drawn by a +powerful team, by which means the pipe containing the electric +conductors was to be automatically deposited in the earth. This +apparatus was entirely successful in operation, and the pipe was thus +buried to the complete satisfaction of all concerned, at a cost very +much lower than the work could have been accomplished in any other +manner. Two wires were to be used to form a complete metallic circuit, +for at that time it was not known, as was shortly afterward discovered, +that the earth could be used to form one-half of the circuit. For +purposes of insulation the wires were neatly covered with cotton-yarn +and then saturated in a bath of hot gum-shellac, but this treatment +proved defective in insulating properties, for when ten miles of line +had been completed the wires were found to be wholly useless for +electric conduction. + +No mode had been devised for the treatment of india-rubber to make it +available for purposes of insulation, and gutta-percha was wholly +unknown as an article of use or commerce in this country. Twenty-three +thousand dollars of the Government appropriation had been expended, and +the work thus far accomplished was an acknowledged failure. Only seven +thousand dollars of the available fund remained unexpended, and this was +regarded as inadequate to complete the undertaking under any other plan. +The friends of the enterprise were in despair, and for some time saw no +other alternative than to apply to Congress for an additional +appropriation. This, however, was regarded as almost hopeless, and the +difficulty of the situation was extremely embarrassing. + +An amusing incident was related of the means used to keep from public +knowledge the desperate situation. Professor Morse finally visited the +scene of activity where the pipe-laying was proceeding, and, calling the +superintendent aside, confided to him the fact that the work must be +stopped without the newspapers finding out the true reason of its +suspension. The quick-witted superintendent was equal to the occasion, +and, starting the ponderous machine, soon managed to run foul of a +protruding rock and break the plough. The newspapers published +sensational accounts of the accident and announced that it would require +several weeks to repair damages. Thus the real trouble was kept from the +public until new plans could be determined upon. + +After long and careful consideration, Professor Morse very reluctantly +decided to erect the wires on poles. This plan was, at first, considered +wholly objectionable, under the apprehension that the structure would be +disturbed by evil-minded persons. It had, however, become manifest that +this was the only mode of construction that could be accomplished within +the remainder of the appropriation, and, finally, upon ascertaining that +pole lines had already been adopted in England, it was determined to +proceed in this manner. The line was thus completed between Washington +and Baltimore about May 1, 1844, and proved to be successful and in +every way satisfactory in its operation. + +Shortly after the completion of the line the National Democratic +Convention, which nominated Polk and Dallas for President and +Vice-President, assembled in Baltimore [May, 1844]. Reports of the +convention proceedings were promptly telegraphed to the capital city, +where the telegraph office was thronged with Members of Congress +interested in the news. These reports created an immense sensation in +Washington and speedily removed all doubts as to the practical success +of the new system of communication. A despatch from the Honorable Silas +Wright, then United States Senator from New York, refusing to accept the +nomination for Vice-President, was read in the National Convention and +produced an extraordinary interest from the fact that very few of the +delegates had ever heard of the telegraph, and it required much +explanation to satisfy them of the genuineness of the alleged +communication. + +Having thus established beyond all reasonable question the practical +utility of the telegraph as a superior means of public and private +communication, Professor Morse and his associates offered their patents +to the United States Government for the very moderate price of one +hundred thousand dollars, with a view of having the system adopted for +general use in connection with the postal establishment. This +proposition was referred to the Postmaster-General for consideration and +report. After due deliberation that officer reported that "Although the +invention is an agent vastly superior to any other ever devised by the +genius of man, yet the operation between Washington and Baltimore has +not satisfied me that, under any rate of postage that can be adopted, +its revenues can be made to cover its expenditures." Under the influence +of this report Congress very naturally declined the offer of the +patentees, and the telegraph was thereupon relegated to the domain of +private enterprise. The result was that the patentees finally realized +for their interests many times the amount of their offer to the +Government. + +During the autumn of 1844 short exhibition lines were erected in Boston +and New York, for the purpose of familiarizing business men of those +cities with the characteristics of the new invention, but they attracted +little attention and the promoters had much cause of discouragement on +account of public indifference. For the purpose of arousing more +attention to the system, appeals were made to the public press for +favorable notice, which were also generally declined. The proprietor of +one of the most prominent and enterprising of the New York daily papers +distinctly refused to encourage the establishment of telegraph lines, +for the reason, as he freely acknowledged, that if the new method of +transmitting intelligence were to come into general use his competitors +could use it as well as himself, and he would therefore be deprived of +his present advantage over them for procuring early news by the use of +an expensive system of special despatch then maintained by his paper. +Two years later he refused to join other papers in receiving the +Governor's message by telegraph from Albany, and was so badly beaten by +his rivals in this instance that his paper was thenceforward one of the +most generous patrons of the telegraph. + +Early in the year 1845 a corporate organization was effected for the +extension of the telegraph from Baltimore to Philadelphia and New York, +under the name of the Magnetic Telegraph Company, for which a special +act of incorporation was obtained from the Legislature of the State of +Maryland. Nearly all of the capital of this company was subscribed by +Washington people. Baltimore and Philadelphia furnished only a few +hundred dollars, while New York contributed nothing. Slow progress was +made toward the construction of the line on account of the difficulty of +obtaining the right of way either upon railways or highways, and it was +not until January, 1846, that the line was completed to the west side of +the Hudson River, which formed an impassable barrier to further progress +for a considerable period. + +No method of insulation had yet been devised that would permit the +operation of an electric conductor under water, and it was doubted +whether a wire could be maintained for a span sufficient to cross the +river overhead. Finally however high masts were erected on the Palisades +near Fort Lee, and on the heights at Fort Washington on the New York +side, and a steel wire was suspended upon them. This plan was +successful, except that occasionally the wire was broken by an +extraordinary burden of sleet in the winter season. This method of +crossing the lower Hudson was continued for more than ten years, when it +was superseded by submarine cables. + +During the year 1846 incorporated companies were formed, under which +telegraph lines were extended from New York to Boston, Buffalo, and +Pittsburg, and within the next three years nearly every important town +in the United States and Canada, from St. Louis and New Orleans to +Montreal and Halifax, was brought into telegraphic communication. Thus, +after fifteen years of struggle with all the pains of poverty, often +lacking even the common necessaries of life, Professor Morse and his +faithful colaborers had the supreme satisfaction, in 1847, of knowing +and realizing that the telegraph system had finally achieved, not only +scientific success, for this had been proven years before, but that +financial success, ample and complete, had come to pay them richly for +all the dark days and wearisome years through which they had passed. + +Once generally established, the telegraph won its way to popular +appreciation very rapidly. It was in harmony with the spirit of the age, +and it was not long before every town of any considerable importance +regarded telegraphic facilities as an indispensable necessity. The small +cost soon induced the construction of rival lines, regardless of the +rights of the patentees, and within a very few years unwise competition +began to bring many lines to a condition of bankruptcy. The weaker +concerns soon passed through the sheriff's hands and found purchasers +only at an extreme sacrifice, at the bidding of the more provident and +conservative proprietors of competing lines. Instead of inducing a more +prudent course, these disastrous results only served to feed the spirit +of rivalry, and general insolvency seemed to threaten the permanent +prosperity of the telegraph business, in consequence of the wild and +reckless competition which appeared to be inherent in its nature. + +This extremely unsatisfactory condition of telegraph rivalry drifted on +from bad to worse until 1854, when, from dire necessity of +self-preservation, a few of the more prudent and far-sighted proprietors +of telegraph property were induced to combine their interests with some +of their competitors and thus avoid the ruinous policy which had been so +rapidly exhausting their vitality. Accordingly the principal telegraph +lines in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and some of the neighboring States +were brought into fraternal relations and formed the nucleus of the +Western Union Telegraph Company. + +The new policy soon brought prosperity in place of waste and +improvidence. Profits were devoted to the purchase of additional lines, +thus enlarging their domain and strengthening their position. Prosperity +increased with rapid strides; and the beneficial effects of extirpating +wasteful rivalry and building up a substantial system with superior +facilities and provident management gave the new organization a +dominating influence among the telegraph companies of America. The same +general policy has been pursued to the present time [1894], and has +resulted in the establishment of a prosperous corporation of magnificent +proportions, carrying on a useful and beneficent business under a +greater number of governmental jurisdictions, great and small, than any +other corporate organization in existence. + +For the development of the telegraph enterprise in America no thanks are +due to the wealthy capitalists. As a rule they would not listen to +suggestions of investing their money in what was contemptuously termed +rotten poles and rusty wires. They wanted something more substantial and +conservative as the basis of their investments. An early pioneer and +builder of telegraph lines, whose name is now held in grateful memory +for deeds of philanthropic beneficence visited the city of Chicago in +1847 to solicit subscriptions to the capital stock of a company then +engaged in construction of the first line of telegraph between that +place and the city of Buffalo. He presented a carefully prepared +prospectus showing an estimated earning capacity of the projected line +of one hundred dollars per day. The merits of the contemplated +enterprise were freely canvassed at a meeting of bankers, at which one +of the most prominent declared that any man who ever expected to see one +hundred dollars per day paid for telegraphing west of Buffalo must be +crazy and unworthy of belief. This oracular declaration prevailed, and +the project was ignominiously rejected by the wise men of Chicago. +Fortunately, citizens of smaller towns, like Ypsilanti, Kalamazoo, South +Bend, Kenosha, and Racine, took a more sensible view of the proposed +enterprise, and the line was built despite the contempt of Chicago +capitalists. Now, however, the men of Chicago pay more than five +thousand dollars a day for telegraphing at rates far lower than would +have been thought possible in that early day. + +The true spirit of enterprise, which has so grandly developed the +resources of our imperial domain, has generally been found to prevail +among people of modest means. Thus, nearly every dollar of capital +contributed toward the establishment of telegraph lines in this country +came from the offerings of people in very moderate circumstances. In +this connection, therefore, it is extremely gratifying to state that +very few enterprises of any kind have returned such generous recompense +for the amount of capital invested as the telegraph and telephone lines +in America. Considering the apparently temporary and short-lived +character of the structures erected for these purposes, it seems +difficult to comprehend the truth of this statement. + +The method of telegraphic communication devised by Professor Morse has +been continued in general use in this country, but instead of requiring +separate wire for each circuit as formerly, six independent circuits are +now operated simultaneously over a single wire by the use of the +sextuplex apparatus. + + + + +(1846) REPEAL OF THE ENGLISH CORN LAWS, Justin McCarthy + + +After the repeal of the corn laws the tariff legislation of Great +Britain was guided by a new policy, that of free trade, and it has been +followed ever since. The reactionary tendencies of Continental Europe +after the fall of Napoleon reached also to England, where they +controlled the conduct of political affairs until Canning, in 1822, +became Secretary for Foreign Affairs. His policy was liberal and did +much in forming the public opinion that at length found voice in +Catholic emancipation (1829), in the Reform Bill (1832), and in the +abolition of slavery in the English colonies (1833). Then followed +important amendments of the poor-laws, extension of local governmental +powers in the towns, improvement of popular education, and other +reforms. + +Through all this gradual progress in liberal government and public +amelioration, the need of another reform had been pointed out by some +thinkers and statesmen, and at last the condition of the country favored +the views of its advocates. The corn laws protected the English +producers by imposing heavy duties on imported grain. At one time these +duties practically prohibited such importation. McCarthy shows how the +laws operated upon the people, and his story of the memorable agitation +for their repeal and of the accomplishment of that object could not have +been better told. + +In 1815 the celebrated Corn Law was passed, which was itself moulded on +the Corn Law of 1670. By the Act of 1815 wheat might be exported upon a +payment of one shilling per quarter customs duty, but the importation of +foreign grain was practically prohibited until the price of wheat in +England had reached eighty shillings a quarter, that is to say, until a +certain price had been secured for the grower of grain at the expense of +all the consumers in this country. It was not permitted to Englishmen to +obtain their supplies from any foreign land, unless on conditions that +suited the English corn-grower's pocket. + +We may perhaps make this principle a little more clear, if it be +necessary, by illustrating its working on a small scale and within +narrow limits. In a particular street in London, let us say, a law is +passed declaring that no one must buy a loaf of bread out of that +street, or even round the corner, until the price of bread has risen so +high in the street itself as to secure to its two or three bakers a +certain enormous scale of profit on their loaves. When the price of +bread has been forced up so high as to pass this scale of profit, then +it would be permissible for those who stood in need of bread to go round +the corner and buy their loaves of the baker in the next street; but the +moment that their continuing to do this caused the price of the baker's +bread in their own street to fall below the prescribed limit, they must +instantly take to buying bread within their own bounds and of their own +bakers again. This is a fair illustration of the principle on which the +corn laws were moulded. The Corn Law of 1815 was passed in order to +enable the landowners and farmers to recover from the depression caused +by the long era of foreign war. It was "rushed through" Parliament, if +we may use an American expression; petitions of the most urgent nature +poured in against it from all the commercial and manufacturing classes, +and in vain. Popular disturbances broke out in many places. The poor +everywhere saw the bread of their family threatened, saw the food of +their children almost taken out of their mouths, and they naturally +broke into wild extremes of anger. In London there were serious riots, +and the houses of some of the most prominent supporters of the bill were +attacked. The incendiary went to work in many parts of the country. At +that time it was still the way in England, as it is now in Russia and +other countries, for popular indignation to express itself in the +frequent incendiary fire. At one place near London a riot lasted for two +days and nights; the soldiers had to be called out to put it down, and +five men were hanged for taking part in it. + +After the passing of the Corn Law of 1815, and when it had worked for +some time, there were sliding-scale acts introduced, which established a +varying system of duty, so that when the price of home-grown grain rose +above a certain figure, the duty on imported wheat was to sink in +proportion. The principle of all these measures was the same. How, it +may be asked, could any sane legislator adopt such measures? As well +might it be asked, How can any civilized nation still, as some still do, +believe in such a principle? The truth is that the principle is one +which has a strong fascination for most persons, the charm of which it +is difficult for any class in its turn wholly to shake off. The idea is +that if our typical baker be paid more than the market price for a loaf, +he will be able in turn to pay more to the butcher than the fair price +for his beef; the butcher thus benefited will be enabled to deal on more +liberal terms with the tailor; the tailor so favored by legislation will +be able in his turn to order a better kind of beer from the publican and +pay a higher price for it. Thus, by some extraordinary process, +everybody pays too much for everything, and nevertheless all are +enriched in turn. The absurdity of this is easily kept out of sight +where the protective duties affect a number of varying and complicated +interests, manufacturing, commercial, and productive. + +In the United States, for example, where the manufacturers are benefited +in one place and the producers are benefited in another, and where the +country always produces food abundant to supply its own wants, men are +not brought so directly face to face with the fallacy of the principle +as they were in England at the time of the Anti-Corn Law League. In +America "protection" affects manufacturers for the most part, and there +is no such popular craving for cheap manufactures as to bring the +protective principle into collision with the daily wants of the people. +But in England, during the reign of the Corn Law, the food which the +people put into their mouths was the article mainly taxed, and made +cruelly costly by the working of protection. + +Nevertheless, the country put up with this system down to the close of +the year 1836. At that time there was a stagnation of trade and a +general depression of business. Severe poverty prevailed in many +districts. Inevitably, therefore, the question arose in the minds of +most men, in distressed or depressed places, whether it could be a good +thing for the country in general to have the price of bread kept high by +factitious means when wages had sunk and work become scarce. An +Anti-Corn-Law association was formed in London, It began pretentiously +enough, but it brought about no result. London is not a place where +popular agitation finds a fitting centre. In 1838, however, Bolton, in +Lancashire, suffered from a serious commercial crisis. Three-fifths of +its manufacturing activity became paralyzed at once. Many houses of +business were actually closed and abandoned, and thousands of workmen +were left without the means of life. Lancashire suddenly roused itself +into the resolve to agitate against the corn laws, and Manchester became +the headquarters of the movement which afterward accomplished so much. + +The Anti-Corn-Law League was formed, and a Free-Trade Hall was built in +Manchester on the scene of that disturbance which was called the +"massacre of Peterloo." The leaders of the Anti-Corn-Law movement were +Richard Cobden, John Bright, and Charles Villiers. Cobden was not a +Manchester man. He was the son of a Sussex farmer. After the death of +his father he was taken by his uncle and employed in his wholesale +warehouse in the city of London. He afterward became a partner in a +Manchester cotton-factory, and sometimes travelled on the commercial +business of the establishment. He became what would then have been +considered a great traveller, distinct, of course, from the class of +explorers; that is, he made himself thoroughly familiar with most or all +of the countries of Europe, with various parts of the East, and with the +United States and Canada. He had had a fair, homely education, and he +improved it wherever he went by experience, by observation, and by +conversation with all manner of men. He became one of the most effective +and persuasive popular speakers ever known in English agitation. He was +not an orator in the highest sense. He had no imagination and little +poetic feeling, nor did genuine passion ever inflame into fervor of +declamation his quiet, argumentative style. But he had humor; he spoke +simple, clear, strong English; he used no unnecessary words. He always +made his meaning plain and intelligible, and he had an admirable faculty +for illustrating every argument by something drawn from reading or from +observation or from experience. He was, in fact, the very perfection of +a common-sense talker, a man fit to deal with men by fair, +straightforward argument, to expose complicated sophistries, and to make +clear the most perplexed parts of an intricate question. He was exactly +the man for that time, for that question, and for the persuasive and +argumentative part of the great controversy which he had undertaken. + +Cobden's chief companion in the struggle was John Bright, whose name has +been completely identified with that of Cobden in the repeal of the Corn +Laws. Bright was an orator of the highest order. He had all the +qualifications that make a master of eloquence. His presence was +commanding; his voice was singularly strong and clear, and had peculiar +tones and shades in it which gave indescribable meaning to passages of +anger, of pity, or of contempt. His manner was quiet, composed, serene. +He indulged in little or no gesticulation, he had a rich gift of genuine +Saxon humor. These two men, one belonging to the middle class of the +North, one sprung from the yeomanry of Southern England, had as a +colleague Charles Villiers, a man of high aristocratic family, of marked +ability, and of indomitable loyalty to any cause he undertook. Villiers +for some years represented the free-trade cause in Parliament, and +Bright and Cobden did its work on the platform. Cobden first, and Bright +after him, became members of the House of Commons, and they were further +assisted there by Milner Gibson, a man of position and family, an +effective debater, who had been at first a Conservative, but who passed +over to the ranks of the Free Traders, and through them to the ranks of +the Liberals or Radicals. + +Every year Villiers brought on a motion in the House in favor of free +trade. For a long time this motion was only one of the annual +performances which, by an apparently inevitable necessity, have to +prelude for many years the practical movement of any great parliamentary +question. Villiers might have brought on his annual motion all his life, +without getting much nearer to his object, if Manchester, Birmingham, +Sheffield, Leeds, and other great northern towns had not taken the +matter vigorously in hand; if Cobden and Bright had not stirred up the +energies of the whole country, and brought clearly home to the mind of +every man the plain fact that reason, argument, and arithmetic, as well +as freedom and justice, were distinctly on their side. + +The Anti-Corn-Law League showered pamphlets, tracts, letters, +newspapers, all over the country. They sent lecturers into every town, +preaching the same doctrine, and proving by scientific facts the justice +of the cause they advocated. These lecturers were enjoined to avoid as +much as possible any appeals to sentiment or to passion. The cause they +had in hand was one which could best be served by the clear statement of +rigorous facts, by the simple explanation of economical truths which no +sophism could darken, and which no opposing eloquence could charm away. +The Melbourne Ministry fell in 1841. It died of inanition: its force was +spent. Sir Robert Peel came into office. Cobden, who then entered the +House of Commons for the first time, seemed to have good hope that even +Peel, strong Conservative though he was, might prove to be a man from +whom the Free Traders could expect substantial assistance. Sir Robert +Peel had, in fact, in those later years expressed again and again his +conviction as to the general truth of the principles of free trade. "All +agree," he said in 1842, "in the general rule that we should buy in the +cheapest and sell in the dearest market." But he contended that while +such was the general rule, yet various economical and social conditions +made it necessary that there should be some distinct exceptions, and he +regarded the corn laws and sugar duties as such exceptions. It may be +mentioned, perhaps, that the corn laws had, in fact, been treated as a +necessary exception by many of the leading exponents of the principles +of free trade. Thus we have to notice the curious fact that while Sir +Robert Peel's own party looked upon his accession to power as a certain +guarantee against any concession to the Free Traders, the Free Traders +themselves were, for the most part, convinced that their cause had +better hope from him than from a Whig Ministry. + +The Free Traders went on debating and dividing in the House, agitating +and lecturing all over the country, for some years without any marked +Parliamentary success following their endeavors. An immense and +overwhelming majority always voted against them in the House of Commons. +They were making progress, and very great progress, but it was not that +kind of advance which had yet come to be decided by a Parliamentary +vote. Probably a keen and experienced eye might have noted clearly +enough the progress they were making. The Whig party were coming more +and more round to the principles of free trade. Day after day some Whig +leader was admitting that the theories of the past would not do for the +present, and, as we have said, the Tory leader had himself gone so far +as to admit the justice of the general principles of free trade. At one +point the main difference between Sir Robert Peel, the leader of the +House of Commons, and Lord John Russell, the leader of the opposition, +seems to have been nothing more than this, that Peel still regarded +grain as a necessary exception to the principle of free trade, and Lord +John Russell was not clear that the time had come when it could be +treated otherwise than as an exception. + +An event, however, over which no parties and no leaders had any control, +suddenly intervened to hasten the action and spur the convictions of the +leaders on both sides, and especially of the Prime Minister. This was +the great famine which broke out in Ireland in the autumn of 1845. The +vast majority of the Irish people had long depended for their food on +the potato alone. The summer of 1845 had been a long season of wet and +cold and sunlessness. In the autumn the news went abroad that the whole +potato crop of Ireland was in danger of destruction, if not already +actually destroyed. Before attention had well been awakened to the +crisis, it was officially announced that more than one-third of the +entire potato crop had been swept away by the disease, and that it had +not ceased its ravages, but, on the contrary, was spreading more and +more every day. + +The general impression of those who could form an opinion was that the +whole of the crop must perish. The Anti-Corn-Law League cried out for +the opening of the ports and the admission of grain and food from all +places. Sir Robert Peel was decidedly in favor of such a course. The +Duke of Wellington and Lord Stanley opposed the idea, and the +proposition was given up. Only three members of the Cabinet supported +Sir Robert Peel's proposals--Lord Aberdeen, Sir James Graham, Mr. Sidney +Herbert. All the others objected, some because they opposed the +principle of the measure, and were convinced that if the ports were once +opened they would never be closed again, which indeed was probably +Peel's own conviction; and others on the ground that no sufficient proof +had yet been given that such a measure was necessary. Lord John Russell, +almost immediately after, wrote a letter from Edinburgh to his +constituents, the electors of the city of London, in which he declared +that something must immediately be done, that it was "no longer worth +while to contend for a fixed duty," and that an end must be put to the +whole system of protection, as "the blight of commerce, the bane of +agriculture, the source of bitter division among classes, the cause of +penury, fever, and crime among the people." This letter produced a +decisive effect on Peel. He saw that the Whigs were prepared to unite +with the Anti-Corn-Law League in agitating for the total repeal of the +corn laws, and he therefore made up his mind to recommend to the Cabinet +an early meeting of Parliament, with the view to anticipate the +agitation which he saw must succeed in the end, and to bring forward, as +a Government measure, some scheme which should at least prepare the way +for the speedy repeal of the corn laws. + +A Cabinet council was held almost immediately after the publication of +Lord John Russell's letter, and Peel recommended the summoning of +Parliament in order to take instant measures to cope with the distress +in Ireland, and also to introduce legislation distinctly intended to +prepare the way for the repeal of the corn laws. Lord Stanley could not +accept the proposition. The Duke of Wellington was himself of opinion +that the corn laws ought to be maintained, but at the same time he +declared that he considered good government for the country more +important than corn laws or any other considerations, and that he was +therefore ready to support Sir Robert Peel's Administration through +thick and thin. Lord Stanley and the Duke of Buccleuch, however, +declared that they could not be parties to any legislation which tended +toward the repeal of the corn-laws. Sir Robert Peel did not feel himself +strong enough to carry out his project in the face of such opposition in +the Cabinet itself, and he tendered his resignation to the Queen. The +Queen sent for Lord John Russell, but Russell's party were not very +strong in the country and they had not a majority in the House of +Commons. Lord John tried, however, to form a ministry without a +Parliamentary majority, and even although Sir Robert Peel would not give +any pledge to support a measure for the immediate and complete repeal of +the corn laws, Lord John Russell was not successful. + +Lord Grey, son of the Lord Grey of the Reform Bill, objected to the +foreign policy of Lord Palmerston, and thought a seat in the Cabinet +ought to be offered to Cobden. Lord John Russell had nothing to do but +to announce to the Queen that he found it impossible to form a ministry. +The Queen sent for Sir Robert Peel again and asked him to withdraw his +resignation. Peel complied, and almost immediately resumed the functions +of First Minister of the Crown. The Duke of Buccleuch consented to go on +with him, but Lord Stanley held to his resolution and had no place in +the Ministry. His position as Secretary of State for the Colonies was +taken by William E. Gladstone. Gladstone, however, did not sit in +Parliament during the eventful session when the corn laws were repealed. +He had sat for the borough of Newark, which was under the influence of +the Duke of Newcastle; and as the Duke of Newcastle had withdrawn his +support from the Ministry, Gladstone did not seek re-election for +Newark, and remained without a seat in the House of Commons for some +months. + +Parliament met on January 22, 1846. The "speech from the throne," +delivered by the Queen in person, recommended the legislature to take +into consideration the necessity of still further applying the principle +on which it had formerly acted, when measures were presented "to extend +commerce and to stimulate domestic skill and industry, by the repeal of +prohibitive and the relaxation of protective duties." In the debate on +the "address" Sir Robert Peel rose, after the mover and seconder had +spoken and the question had been put from the Chair, and at once +proceeded to explain the policy which he intended to adopt. His speech +was long and labored, and somewhat wearied the audience by the elaborate +manner in which he explained how his opinions had been brought into +gradual change with regard to free trade and protection. He made it, +however, perfectly clear that he was now a convert to Cobden's opinions, +and that he intended to introduce some measure which should practically +amount to the abolition of protection. + +It was in this debate, and immediately after Peel had spoken, that +Benjamin Disraeli made his first great impression on Parliament. He had +been in the House for many years, and had made many attempts, had +sometimes been laughed at, had sometimes been disliked, and occasionally +for a moment admired. But it was when he rose immediately after Sir +Robert Peel, and denounced Peel as one who had betrayed his party and +his principles, that he made the first deep impression on the House of +Commons, and came to be considered as a serious and influential +Parliamentary personage. "I am not one of the converts," Disraeli said, +"I am perhaps a member of a fallen party." A new Protection party was +formed almost immediately under the leadership of George Lord Bentinck, +a man of great energy and tenacity of purpose, who had hitherto spent +his life almost altogether on the turf, who had had almost no previous +preparation for leadership or even for debate, but who certainly, when +he did accept the responsible position offered to him, showed a +considerable capacity for leadership and an unwearying attention to his +duties. + +On January 27th Sir Robert Peel explained his financial policy. His +intention was to abandon the sliding scale altogether, to impose for the +present a duty of ten shillings a quarter on corn when the price of it +was under forty-eight shillings a quarter, to reduce that duty by one +shilling for every shilling of rise in price until it reached +fifty-three shillings a quarter, when the duty should fall to four +shillings. This, however, was to be only a temporary arrangement. It was +to last but three years, and at the end of that time protective duties +on grain were to be wholly abandoned. We need not go at any length into +the history of the long debates on Peel's propositions. The discussion +of one amendment, which was in substance a motion to reject the scheme +altogether, lasted for twelve nights. The third reading of the bill +passed the House of Commons on May 15th, by a majority of ninety-eight. + +The bill went up at once to the House of Lords, and at the urgent +pressure of the Duke of Wellington was carried through that House +without any serious opposition. The Duke made no secret of his own +opinions. He assured many of his brother peers that he disliked the +measure just as much as anyone could do, but he insisted that they had +all better vote for it nevertheless. Sir Robert Peel had triumphed, but +he found himself deserted by a large and influential section of the +party he once had led. Most of the great landowners and country +gentlemen of the Conservative party abandoned him. Some of them felt the +bitterest resentment toward him. They believed he had betrayed them, +although nothing could be more clear than that for years he had +distinctly been making it known to the House that his principles +inclined him toward free trade, and thereby leaving it to be understood +that, if opportunity or emergency should compel him, he would be glad to +declare himself a Free Trader, even in the matter of grain. + +Strange to say, the day when the bill was read in the House of Lords for +the third time saw the fall of Peel's Ministry. The fall was due to the +state of Ireland. The Government had been bringing in a coercion bill +for Ireland. It was introduced while the Corn Bill was yet passing +through the House of Commons. The situation was critical. All the Irish +followers of Daniel O'Connell would be sure to oppose the Coercion Bill. +The Liberal party, at least when out of office, had usually made it +their principle to oppose coercion bills if they were not attended with +some promises of legislative reform. The English Radical members, led by +Cobden and Bright, were certain to oppose coercion. If the +Protectionists should join with these other opponents of the Coercion +Bill the fate of the measure was assured, and with it the fate of the +Government. This was exactly what happened. Eighty Protectionists +followed Lord George Bentinck into the lobby against the bill, in +combination with the Free Traders, the Whigs, and the Irish Catholic and +national members. The division took place on the second reading of the +bill on Thursday, June 25th, and there was a majority of seventy-three +against the Ministry. + +The moment after Sir Robert Peel succeeded in passing his great measure +of free trade he himself fell from power. His political epitaph, +perhaps, could not be better written than in the words with which he +closed the speech that just preceded his fall: "It may be that I shall +leave a name sometimes remembered with expressions of good-will in those +places which are the abode of men whose lot it is to labor and to earn +their daily bread by the sweat of their brow--a name remembered with +expressions of good-will when they shall recreate their exhausted +strength with abundant and untaxed food, the sweeter because it is no +longer leavened with a sense of injustice." + +With the fall of the principle of the protection in corn may be said to +have practically fallen the principle of protection in that country +altogether. That principle was a little complicated in regard to the +sugar duties and to the navigation laws. The sugar produced in the West +Indian colonies was allowed to enter that country at rates of duty much +lower than those imposed upon the sugar grown in foreign lands. The +abolition of slavery in the colonies had made labor there somewhat +costly and difficult to obtain continuously, and the impression was that +if the duties on foreign sugar were reduced it would tend to enable +those countries which still maintained the slave trade to compete at +great advantage with the sugar grown in the colonies by that free labor +to establish which England had but just paid so large a pecuniary fine. +Therefore the question of free trade became involved with that of free +labor; at least, so it seemed to the eyes of many a man who was not +inclined to support the protective principle in itself. When it was put +to him, whether he was willing to push the free-trade principle so far +as to allow countries growing sugar by slave labor to drive our +free-grown sugar out of the market, he was often inclined to give way +before this mode of putting the question, and to imagine that there +really was a collision between free trade and free labor. Therefore a +certain sentimental plea came in to aid the Protectionists in regard to +the sugar duties. + +Many of the old Antislavery party found themselves deceived by this +fallacy, and inclined to join the agitation against the reduction of the +duty on foreign sugar. On the other hand, it was made tolerably clear +that the labor was not so scarce or so dear in the colonies as had been +represented, and that colonial sugar grown by free labor really suffered +from no inconvenience except the fact that it was still manufactured on +the most crude, old-fashioned, and uneconomical methods. Besides, the +time had gone by when the majority of the English people could be +convinced that a lesson on the beauty of freedom was to be conveyed to +foreign sugar-growers and slave-owners by the means of a tax upon the +products of their plantations. Therefore, after a long and somewhat +eager struggle, the principle of free trade was allowed to prevail in +regard to sugar. The duties on sugar were made equal. The growth of the +sugar plantations was admitted on the same terms into that country, +without any reference either to the soil from which it had sprung or to +the conditions under which it was grown. + +It had for a long time been stoutly proclaimed that the abolition of +slavery must be the destruction of our West Indian colonies. Years had +elapsed and the West Indian colonies still survived. Now the cry of +alarm was taken up again, and it was prophesied that although they had +got over the abolition of slavery they never could survive the +equalization of the sugar duties. Jamaica certainly had fallen greatly +away from her period of temporary and factitious prosperity. Jamaica was +owned and managed by a class of proprietors who resembled in many ways +some of the planters of the States of America farthest south--of the +States toward the mouth of the Mississippi. They lived in a kind of +careless luxury, mortgaging their estates as deeply as they possibly +could, throwing over to the coming year the superabundant debts of the +last, and only managing to keep their heads above water so long as the +people of England, by favoring them with a highly protective system, +enabled them still to compete against those who grew sugar on better and +more economical plans. The whole island was given over to neglect and +mismanagement. The emancipated negroes took but little trouble to +cultivate the plots of ground they had obtained, and were quite content +if they could scratch enough from the soil to enable them barely to +live. Therefore Jamaica did at a certain time fall far below the level +of her former seeming prosperity. + +The other islands had been better managed. Their estates were less +encumbered by debt, and they passed through each successive crisis +without sustaining any noticeable injury. In most of these islands the +product increased steadily after the emancipation of the slaves. The +negroes then began to work earnestly, and education grew not greatly but +distinctly among all classes. Jamaica, the most unfortunate among the +islands, has been constantly the scene of little outbursts of more or +less serious rebellion. As the late Lord Chief Justice of England +observed in a charge on a famous occasion, "The soil of the island might +seem to have been drenched in blood." But these disturbances, or +insurrections, or whatever they may be called, did not increase in +number after the abolition of slavery and after the equalization of the +sugar duties, but, on the contrary, decreased. During our time only one +considerable disturbance has taken place in Jamaica, and in former years +such tumult was of frequent recurrence. In the West Indies we have, +therefore, the most severe test to which the principle of free trade +could well be subjected. It is not too much to say that in the more +fortunate of these islands it has established its claim, and that even +in the least fortunate no evidence whatever has been given that the +people would have been in any way the better off if the old system had +been retained. + +The navigation laws had, too, a certain external attraction about them +which induced many men, not actually Protectionists, to believe in their +necessity. The principle of the navigation laws was to impose such +restrictions of tariff and otherwise as to exclude foreign vessels from +taking any considerable part in our carrying trade. The law was first +enacted in Oliver Cromwell's day, at a time when the Dutch were rivals +on the sea, and when it was thought desirable to repress, by protective +legislation, the energy of such experienced seamen and pushing traders. +The navigation law was modified by Mr. Huskisson in 1823, but only so +far as to establish that which we now know so well as the principle of +reciprocity. Any nation which removed restrictions from British merchant +marine was favored with a similar concession. The idea also was that +these navigation laws, keeping foreigners out of England's carrying +trade, enabled her to maintain always a supply of sailors who could at +any time be transferred from the merchant marine to the royal navy, and +thus be made to assist in the defence of the country. + +Of course, the ship-owners themselves upheld the navigation laws, on the +plea that, if the trade were thrown open by the withdrawal of +protection, their chances would be gone; that they could not contend +against the foreigners upon equal terms; that their interests must +suffer, and that Great Britain would in the end be a still severer +sufferer, because, from the lack of encouragement given to the native +traders and the sailors, England would one day or another be left at the +mercy of some strong power which, with wiser regulations, would keep up +her protective system and with it her naval strength. + +Nevertheless, the ship-owners and the Protectionists and those who +raised the alarm-cry about England's naval defences were unable to +maintain their sophisms in the face of growing education and of the +impulse given by the adoption of free trade. In 1849 the navigation laws +were abolished. We believe there are very few ship-owners who will not +now admit that the prosperity of their trade has grown immensely, in +place of suffering, from the introduction of the free-trade principle in +navigation as well as in com and sugar. + + + + +(1846) THE DISCOVERY OF NEPTUNE, Sir Oliver Lodge + + +Among modern astronomical discoveries none has been regarded as more +important than that of Neptune, the outermost known planet of the solar +system. It was a rich reward to the watchers of the sky when this new +planet swam into their ken. This discovery was hailed by astronomers as +"the most conspicuous triumph of the theory of gravitation." Long after +Copernicus even, the genius of philosophers was slow to grasp the full +conception of a spherical earth and its relations with the heavenly +bodies as presented by him. So it was also with the final acceptance of +Newton's demonstration of the universal law of gravitation (1685), +whereby he showed that "the motions of the solar system were due to the +action of a central force directed to the body at the centre of the +system, and varying inversely with the square of the distance from it." +After making this discovery, Newton himself, with the aid of others, +especially of the French mathematician Picard, labored for years to +verify it, and still further verification was necessary before it could +be fully comprehended and accepted by the scientific world. The +discovery of the asteroids or small planets revolving in orbits between +those of Mars and Jupiter, aided in confirming the Newtonian theory, +which the discovery of Uranus, by Sir William Herschel (1781), had done +much to establish. + +From the time of Sir William Herschel the science of stellar astronomy, +revealing the enormous distances of the stars--none of them really +fixed, but all having real or apparent motions--was rapidly developed. +The discovery of stellar planets, at almost incalculable distances, +still further changed the aspect of the heavens as viewed by +astronomers, and when the capital discovery of Neptune was made those +men of science were well prepared for studying its nature and +importance. These matters, as well as the simultaneous calculation of +the place of Neptune by Adams and Leverrier, and its actual discovery by +Galle, are set forth by Sir Oliver Lodge in a manner as charming for +simplicity as it is valuable in its summary of scientific learning. + +The explanation by Newton of the observed facts of the motion of the +moon, the way he accounted for precession and nutation and for the +tides; the way in which Laplace explained every detail of the planetary +motions--these achievements may seem to the professional astronomer +equally, if not more, striking and wonderful; but of the facts to be +explained in these cases the general public is necessarily more or less +ignorant, and so no beauty or thoroughness of treatment appeals to it or +excites its imagination. But to predict in the solitude of the study, +with no weapons other than pen, ink, and paper, an unknown and +enormously distant world, to calculate its orbit when as yet it had +never been seen, and to be able to say to a practical astronomer, "Point +your telescope in such a direction at such a time, and you will see a +new planet hitherto unknown to man"--this must always appeal to the +imagination with dramatic intensity, and must awaken some interest in +the dullest. + +Prediction is no novelty in science; and in astronomy least of all is it +a novelty. Thousands of years ago Thales, and others whose very names we +have forgotten, could predict eclipses, but not without a certain degree +of inaccuracy. And many other phenomena were capable of prediction by +accumulated experience. A gap between Mars and Jupiter caused a missing +planet to be suspected and looked for, and to be found in a hundred +pieces. The abnormal proper-motion of Sirius suggested to Bessel the +existence of an unseen companion. And these last instances seem to +approach very near the same class of prediction as that of the discovery +of Neptune. Wherein, then, lies the difference? How comes it that some +classes of prediction--such as that if you put your finger in fire it +will be burned--are childishly easy and commonplace, while others excite +in the keenest intellects the highest feelings of admiration? Mainly, +the difference lies, first, in the grounds on which the prediction is +based; second, in the difficulty of the investigation whereby it is +accomplished; third, in the completeness and the accuracy with which it +can be verified. In all these points, the discovery of Neptune stands +out as one among the many verified predictions of science, and the +circumstances surrounding it are of singular interest. + +Three distinct observations suffice to determine the orbit of a planet +completely, but it is well to have the three observations as far apart +as possible so as to minimize the effects of minute but necessary errors +of observation. When Uranus was found old records of stellar +observations were ransacked with the object of discovering whether it +had ever been unwittingly seen before. If seen, it had been thought, of +course, to be a star--for it shines like a star of the sixth magnitude, +and can therefore be just seen without a telescope if one knows +precisely where to look for it and if one has good sight--but if it had +been seen and catalogued as a star it would have moved from its place, +and the catalogue would by that entry be wrong. The thing to do, +therefore, was to examine all the catalogues for errors, to see whether +the stars entered there actually existed, or whether any were missing. +If a wrong entry were discovered, it might of course have been due to +some clerical error, though that is hardly probable considering the care +spent in making these records, or it might have been a tailless comet, +or possibly the newly found planet. + +The next thing to do was to calculate backward, to see whether by any +possibility the planet could have been in that place at that time. +Examined in this way the tabulated observations of Flamsteed showed that +he had unwittingly observed Uranus five distinct times; the first time +in 1690, nearly a century before Herschel discovered its true nature. +But more remarkable still, Le Monnier, of Paris, had observed it eight +times in one month, cataloguing it each time as a different star. If +only he had reduced and compared his observations, he would have +anticipated Herschel by twelve years. As it was, he missed it. It was +seen once by Bradley also. Altogether it had been seen twenty times. + +These old observations of Flamsteed and those of Le Monnier, combined +with those made after Herschel's discovery, were very useful in +determining an exact orbit for the new planet, and its motion was +considered thoroughly known. For a time Uranus seemed to travel +regularly, and as expected, in the orbit which had been calculated for +it; but early in the present century it began to be slightly refractory, +and by 1820 its actual place showed quite a distinct discrepancy from +its position as calculated with the aid of the old observations. It was +thought at first that this discrepancy must be due to inaccuracies in +the older observations, and they were accordingly rejected, and tables +prepared for the planet based on the newer and more accurate +observations only. But by 1830 it became apparent that it did not +coincide with even these. The error amounted to about 20". By 1840 it +was as much as 90", or a minute and a half. This discrepancy is quite +distinct, but still it is very small; and had two objects been in the +heavens at once, the actual Uranus and the theoretical Uranus, no +unaided eye could possibly have distinguished them or detected that they +were other than a single star. + +The errors of Uranus, though small, were enormously greater than other +things which had certainly been observed; there was an unmistakable +discrepancy between theory and observation. Some cause was evidently at +work on this distant planet, causing it to disagree with its motion as +calculated according to the law of gravitation. If the law of +gravitation held exactly at so great a distance from the sun, there must +be some perturbing force acting on it besides all the known forces that +had been fully taken into account. Could it be an outer planet? The +question occurred to several, and one or two tried to solve the problem, +but were soon stopped by the tremendous difficulties of calculation. + +The ordinary problem of perturbation is difficult enough: Given a +disturbing planet in such and such a position, to find the perturbations +it produces. This was the problem that Laplace worked out in the +_Mécanique Céleste_. + +But the inverse problem--given the perturbations, to find the planet +that causes them--such a problem had never yet been attacked, and by +only a few had its possibility been conceived. Friedrich Bessel made +preparations for solving this mystery in 1840, but he was prevented by +fatal illness. + +In 1841 the difficulties of the problem presented by these residual +perturbations of Uranus excited the imagination of a young student, an +undergraduate of Cambridge--John Couch Adams by name--and he determined +to make a study of them as soon as he was through his _tripos_. In +January, 1843, he was graduated as senior wrangler, and shortly +afterward he set to work. In less than two years he reached a definite +conclusion; and in October, 1845, he wrote to the astronomer-royal, at +Greenwich, Professor Airy, saying that the perturbations of Uranus could +be explained by assuming the existence of an outer planet, which he +reckoned was now situated in a specified latitude and longitude. + +We know now that had the astronomer-royal put sufficient faith in this +result to point his big telescope at the spot indicated and begin +sweeping for a planet, he would have detected it within 1-3/4º of the +place assigned to it by Adams. But anyone in the situation of the +astronomer-royal knows that almost every post brings absurd letters from +ambitious correspondents, some of them having just discovered perpetual +motion, or squared the circle, or proved the earth flat, or discovered +the constitution of the moon or of ether or of electricity; and in this +mass of rubbish it requires great skill and patience to detect such gems +of value as may exist. + +Now this letter of Adams's was indeed a jewel of the first water, and no +doubt bore on its face a very different appearance from the chaff of +which I have spoken; but still Adams was unknown: he had been graduated +as senior wrangler, it is true, but somebody must be graduated as senior +wrangler every year, and a first-rate mathematician is not produced +every year. Those behind the scenes--as Professor Airy of course was, +having been a senior wrangler himself--knew perfectly well that the +labeling of a young man on his taking his degree is much more worthless +as a testimony to his genius and ability than the general public is apt +to suppose. + +Was it likely that a young and unknown man should have solved so +extremely difficult a problem? It was altogether unlikely. Still, he +should be tested: he should be asked for explanations concerning some of +the perturbations which Professor Airy had noticed, and see whether he +could explain these also by his hypothesis. If he could, there might be +something in his theory. If he failed--well, there was an end of it. The +questions were not difficult. They concerned the error of the radius +vector. Adams could have answered them with perfect ease; but sad to +say, though a brilliant mathematician, he was not a man of business. He +did not answer Professor Airy's letter. + +It may seem a pity to many that the Greenwich equatorial was not pointed +at the place, just to see whether any foreign object did happen to be in +that neighborhood; but it is no light matter to derange the work of an +observatory, and alter the plans laid out for the staff, into a sudden +sweep for a new planet on the strength of a mathematical investigation +just received by post. If observatories were conducted on these +unsystematic and spasmodic principles they would not be the calm, +accurate, satisfactory places they are. + +Of course, if anyone had known that a new planet was to be found for the +looking, _any_ course would have been justified; but no one could know +this. I do not suppose that Adams himself felt an absolute confidence in +his attempted prediction. So there the matter dropped. Adams's +communication was pigeonholed, and remained in seclusion eight or nine +months. + +Meanwhile, and quite independently, something of the same sort was going +on in France. A brilliant young mathematician, Urban Jean Joseph +Leverrier, born in Normandy in 1811, held the post of astronomical +professor at the École Polytechnique, founded by Napoleon. His first +published papers directed attention to his wonderful powers; and the +official head of astronomy in France, the famous Arago, suggested to him +the unexplained perturbations of Uranus as a worthy object for his fresh +and well-armed vigor. At once he set to work in a thorough and +systematic way. He first considered whether the discrepancies could be +due to errors in the tables or errors in the old observations. He +discussed them with minute care, and came to the conclusion that they +were not thus to be explained away. This part of the work he published +in November, 1845. + +He then set to work to consider the perturbations produced by Jupiter +and Saturn to see whether they had been accurately allowed for, or +whether some minute improvements could be made sufficient to destroy the +irregularities. He introduced several fresh terms into these +calculations, but none of them of sufficient importance to do more than +partly explain the mysterious perturbations. He next examined the +various hypotheses that had been suggested to account for them. Were +they caused by a failure in the law of gravitation or by the presence of +a resisting medium? Were they due to some large but unseen satellite or +to a collision with some comet? + +All these theories he examined and dismissed for various reasons. The +perturbations were due to some continuous cause--for instance, some +unknown planet. Could this planet be inside the orbit of Uranus? No, for +then it would perturb Saturn and Jupiter also, and they were not +perturbed by it. It must, therefore, be some planet outside the orbit of +Uranus, and in all probability, according to Bode's empirical law, at +nearly double the distance from the sun that Uranus is. Finally he +proceeded to determine where this planet was, and what its orbit must be +to produce the observed disturbances. + +Not without failures and disheartening complications was this part of +the process completed. This was, after all, the real tug of war. Many +unknown quantities existed: its mass, its distance, its eccentricity, +the obliquity of its orbit, its position--nothing was known, in fact, +about the planet except the microscopic disturbance it caused in Uranus, +several thousand million miles away from it. Without going into further +detail, suffice it to say that in June, 1846, he published his last +paper, and in it announced to the world his theory as to the situation +of the planet. + +Professor Airy received a copy of this paper before the end of the +month, and was astonished to find that Leverrier's theoretical place for +the planet was within 1° of the place Adams had assigned to it eight +months before. So striking a coincidence seemed sufficient to justify a +Herschelian sweep for a week or two. But a sweep for so distant a planet +would be no easy matter. When seen through a large telescope it would +still only look like a star, and it would require considerable labor and +watching to sift it out from the other stars surrounding it. We know +that Uranus had been seen twenty times, and thought to be a star, before +its true nature was discovered by Herschel; and Uranus is only about +half as far away as Neptune. + +Neither at Paris nor at Greenwich was any optical search undertaken; but +Professor Airy wrote to ask M. Leverrier the same old question that he +had fruitlessly put to Adams: Did the new theory explain the errors of +the radius vector or not? The reply of Leverrier was both prompt and +satisfactory--these errors were explained, as well as all the others. +The existence of the object was then for the first time officially +believed in. The British Association met that year at Southampton, and +Sir John Herschel was one of its sectional presidents. In his inaugural +address, on September 10, 1846, he called attention to the researches of +Leverrier and Adams in these memorable words: + +"The past year has given to us the new [minor] planet Astræa; it has +done more--it has given us the probable prospect of another. We see it +as Columbus saw America from the shores of Spain. Its movements have +been felt trembling along the far-reaching line of our analysis with a +certainty hardly inferior to ocular demonstration." + +It was nearly time to begin to look for it. So the astronomer-royal +thought on reading Leverrier's paper. But as the national telescope at +Greenwich was otherwise occupied, he wrote to Professor Challis, at +Cambridge, to know whether he would permit a search to be made for it +with the Northumberland equatorial, the large telescope at Cambridge +University, presented to it by one of the Dukes of Northumberland. + +Professor Challis said he would conduct the search himself, and shortly +began a leisurely and dignified series of sweeps around the place +designated by theory, cataloguing all the stars he observed, intending +afterward to sort out his observations, compare one with another, and +find out whether any one star had changed its position; because if it +had it must be the planet. Thus, without giving an excessive time to the +business, he accumulated a host of observations. + +Professor Challis thus actually saw the planet twice--on August 4 and +August 12, 1846--without knowing it. If he had had a map of the heavens +containing telescopic stars down to the tenth magnitude, and if he had +compared his observations with this map as they were made, the process +would have been easy and the discovery quick. But he had no such map. +Nevertheless one was in existence. It had just been completed in that +country of enlightened method and industry--Germany. Doctor Bremiker had +not indeed completed his great work--a chart of the whole zodiac down to +stars of the tenth magnitude--but portions of it were completed, and the +special region where the new planet was expected to appear happened to +be among the portions finished. But in England this was not known. + +Meanwhile Adams wrote to the astronomer-royal several additional +communications, making improvements in his theory, and giving what he +considered nearer and nearer approximations for the place of the planet. +He also now answered quite satisfactorily, but too late, the question +about the radius vector sent to him months before. + +Leverrier was likewise engaged in improving this theory and in +considering how best the optical search could be conducted. Actuated +probably by the knowledge that in such matters as cataloguing and +mapping Germany was then, as now, far ahead of all the other nations, he +wrote in September (the same year that Sir John Herschel delivered his +eloquent address at Southampton) to Berlin. Leverrier wrote to Doctor +Galle, head of the observatory at Berlin, saying to him, clearly and +decidedly, that the new planet was now in or close to such and such a +position, and that if he would point his telescope to that part of the +heavens he would see it; and moreover that he would be able to tell it +from a star by its having a sensible magnitude, or disk, instead of +being a mere point. + +Galle got the letter on September 23, 1846. That same evening he pointed +his telescope to the place Leverrier told him, and saw the planet. He +recognized it first by its appearance. To his practised eye it did seem +to have a small disk, and not quite the same aspect as an ordinary star. +He then consulted Bremiker's great star-chart, the part just engraved +and finished, and, sure enough, no such star was there. Undoubtedly it +was the planet. + +The news flashed over Europe at the maximum speed with which news could +travel at that date (which was not very fast); and by October 1st +Professor Challis and Mr. Adams heard it at Cambridge, and realized that +in so far as there was competition in such a matter England was out of +the race. + +It was an unconscious race to all concerned, however. The French +scientists knew nothing of the search in England. Adams's papers had +never been published; and very annoyed the French were when a claim was +set up in his behalf to a share in this magnificent discovery. As for +Adams himself, we are told that by no word did he show resentment at the +loss of the practical consummation of his discovery. His part in any +controversy that arose was calm and dignified; but for a time his +friends fought a public battle for his fame. It so happened that the +public took a keener interest than it usually takes in scientific +predictions; but the discussion has now settled down. All the world +honors the bright genius and mathematical skill of John Couch Adams, and +recognizes that he first solved the problem by calculation. All the +world, too, perceives clearly the no less eminent mathematical talents +of M. Leverrier, but it recognizes in him something more than the mere +mathematician--the man of energy, decision, and character. + + + + +(1846) THE ACQUISITION OF CALIFORNIA, Henry B. Dawson + + +In the history of the United States, the acquisition of California, +carrying with it that of New Mexico, was a peculiar and unusual event, +and one of immense significance in the expansion and development of the +Republic. Together with the annexation of Texas, it was the most +important result of the Mexican War. The California country, formerly an +indeterminate territory of vast extent, was settled by Spanish +missionaries in the seventeenth century. Their settlements within the +present limits of the State of California date from the first foundation +of San Diego in 1769. In 1822 the entire region called California became +a part of the Mexican Republic, and it remained a possession of Mexico +until the time of the transfer described below. + +At the beginning of 1846 the population of California included, with +about two hundred thousand Indians, six thousand Mexicans and perhaps +two hundred Americans. War against Mexico had been declared in May, +1845, and already General Taylor had won the battles of Palo Alto and +Resaca de la Palma, and had compelled the surrender of Monterey. While +these operations were leading the United States forces to the rapid +accomplishment of their work in Mexico proper, other movements were +undertaken, the execution and outcome of which form the subject of Mr. +Dawson's narrative. In 1848 California and New Mexico were ceded to the +United States. + +Immediately after the opening of hostilities in the valley of the Rio +Grande (March, 1846), among the expeditions which were organized by the +Federal authorities was one to move against and take possession of +California and New Mexico, two provinces in the northern part of the +enemy's country. The command of this expedition had been vested in +General Stephen W. Kearney, and the force under his command had +rendezvoused at Fort Leavenworth; and the most energetic measures had +been adopted to insure its early departure and its ultimate success. + +Having completed all the arrangements, on June 26th the main body of +this expedition had moved from the fort; and after a rapid but +interesting march of eight hundred seventy-three miles, on August 18th +it entered and took possession of Santa Fé, the capital of New Mexico, +the Mexican forces, numbering four thousand, which had been collected to +defend the town, having dispersed, without offering the least +opposition, as it approached. + +While these operations in New Mexico and on the western frontier of the +United States were taking place, Brevet-Captain John C. Frémont, who had +been engaged in explorations on the western slope of the Rocky +Mountains, had also revolutionized the Province of California, and, to +some extent at least, had anticipated the movements of the expedition +commanded by General Kearney. The character of his mission being +scientific and peaceful rather than warlike, he had not had an officer +or soldier of the regular army in his company; and his whole force had +consisted of sixty-two men employed by himself for security against the +Indians and for procuring subsistence in the wilderness and desert +country through which he had passed. For the purpose of obtaining game +for his men and grass for his horses, in an uninhabited part of +California, he had, during the winter of 1845-1846, solicited and +obtained permission from the Mexican authorities to winter in the Valley +of San Joaquin; but he had scarcely established himself before he +received advices that the Mexican commander was preparing to attack him +under the pretext that under the cover of a scientific mission he was +exciting the American settlers in that vicinity to revolt. + +In view of this threatened attack, and for the purpose of repelling it, +Lieutenant Frémont immediately occupied a mountain which overlooked +Monterey--although it was thirty miles from that city--and having +intrenched it and raised the flag of the United States he waited the +approach of the enemy. After remaining there until March 10, 1846, he +retired to the northward, intending to march, by way of Oregon, to the +United States; but about the middle of May, after he had quietly passed +into Oregon, he had received information through Samuel Neal and Levi +Sigler, two hunters who had been sent after him from Lassen's _rancho_, +that the Mexican Governor of California was pursuing him, while the +Indians, by whom he was surrounded, instigated by the enemy, had shown +signs of hostility, and had killed or wounded five of his men. + +Under these circumstances, on June 6, 1846, Lieutenant Frémont had +resolved to turn on his pursuers with the little party under his +command, and to seek safety, not merely in the overthrow of his +pursuers, but in that of the entire Government of Mexico in the Province +of California. Accordingly, on June 11th, Lieutenant Frémont, assisted +by Captain Merritt and fourteen of the settlers, had attacked and +captured an escort of horses destined for General Castro's +troops--Lieutenant Arce, fourteen men, and two hundred horses remaining +in his hands as the trophies of his victory. On the 15th the military +post of Sonoma was surprised, and General Vallejo, Captain Vallejo, +Colonel Greuxdon and several other officers, nine pieces of brass +cannon, two hundred fifty stands of muskets, and other stores and arms +were taken; and on the 25th the military commandant of the Province, who +had moved toward the post with a heavy force to retake it, was attacked +by Lieutenant Frémont and twenty men, and completely routed. Having thus +cleared that part of the Province north of the Bay of San Francisco of +the enemy, it is said that on July 5th Captain Frémont had assembled the +American settlers at Sonoma, addressed them upon the dangers of their +situation, and recommended a declaration of independence and war on +Mexico as the only remedy; and that the hardy frontiersmen promptly +accepted the proposal and raised the flag of independent California--a +bear and a star on a red ground. + +While these revolutionary movements were destroying the power of Mexico +in the interior of the Province of California, and the expedition under +General Kearney--ignorant of the fact that the work had been done +already--was approaching its eastern borders for the same purpose, the +naval force of the United States in the Pacific, under Commodore Sloat, +had been assisting in the work of conquest. Having heard of the opening +of hostilities on the Rio Grande, the Commodore--then at +Mazatlan--hastened with the Savannah to Monterey in California, where he +arrived on July 2d, and on the 7th he took possession of the town +without opposition; the custom-house was seized, the American flag +raised, and California declared to be "henceforward a part of the United +States." + +Within a few days intelligence of the action of Commodore Sloat was +received by the revolutionary leaders at Sonoma; and a battalion of +mounted riflemen which had been organized among them was immediately +moved to Monterey, the flag of the United States was substituted for the +"bear and star," and the authority of the Commodore was immediately +recognized. This battalion of mounted riflemen on its arrival at +Monterey, July 23, 1846, was mustered into the service of the United +States by Commodore Stockton, who had succeeded Commodore Sloat in +command of the squadron--Captain Frémont being appointed its commandant, +and Lieutenant A. H. Gillespie, of the Marines, its second officer--and +it was immediately despatched on the sloop-of-war Cyane to San Diego for +the purpose of cutting off the retreat of General Castro, of the Mexican +service, who had encamped and fortified his position near Ciudad de los +Angeles, while the Commodore with his sailors--who landed from the +Congress at San Pedro--moved against him in front. The expedition was +eminently successful, as the Mexicans on the approach of the Commodore +immediately evacuated their camp and fled in the greatest +confusion--although most of the principal officers were subsequently +captured--and, on August 13th, the Ciudad de los Angeles was occupied, +again without opposition, by the American troops and seamen, and the +conquest of California was apparently completed. + +A short time afterward Commodore Stockton appointed Captain Frémont +Governor of the Territory into which, by the proclamation of Commodore +Sloat, the Province had been transformed; while Captain Gillespie was +left, with nineteen men, in possession of Los Angeles; Lieutenant +Talbot, of the Topographical Engineers, with nine men, was left at Santa +Barbara; and, with his squadron, Commodore Stockton proceeded to San +Francisco; while Governor Frémont, on September 8th, also moved to +Monterey. + +The main body had no sooner left Los Angeles than the Californians--who +before the departure of the Commodore and the Governor had held secret +meetings for the purpose--rose in arms for the expulsion of the invaders +of their country. Indeed an attempt appears to have been intended before +the Governor left the city; but, by timely precautions, it had been +prevented; although the purpose and determination still continued and +were called into requisition at a more convenient season. The necessary +preparations having been made for that purpose under the directions of +José Antonio Carrillo, a professed conspirator of that vicinity, at an +early hour on the morning of September 23d, the quarters of Captain +Gillespie were attacked by Cerbulo Varela--a metamorphosed captain under +Governor Frémont--at the head of sixty-five men, under cover of a thick +fog. The morning was auspicious for such purposes, yet the Captain was +not surprised; and the twenty-one rifles which he controlled were +quickly brought to bear on the assailants, who retired soon afterward +with three of their number killed and several wounded; and at daylight +the remainder were driven from the town, with the loss of several taken +prisoners, by a few men under Lieutenant Hensley, and Doctor Gilchrist, +of the navy. + +The insurgents who were thus expelled from the city formed a nucleus +around which the disaffected gathered; and as the party gained strength +day by day, it harassed the little garrison and killed one of its +number. There was but little concert of action in its ranks, however; +and as the rival aspirants to power struggled for authority, while the +numbers rapidly increased, the efficiency of the insurgents was but +slightly increased. At length, in a spirit of compromise, Captain +Antonio Flores was urged to take the command of the party, and +reluctantly accepted it; and he soon found himself at the head of six +hundred men armed with lances, _escopetas_, and a brass six-pounder, +light and well mounted. + +In the mean time the little garrison had found an old honeycombed iron +six-pounder, and had drilled out the spike, cleaned and mounted it, and +by melting the lead pipes of a distillery had provided--unknown to the +insurgents--thirty rounds of ball and grape for it. Two other pieces +having been added to this, on the following day, the little garrison and +its gallant commander resolved to die rather than surrender, +notwithstanding the extreme efforts which had been made to strengthen +its position, and the great fatigue which was incident thereto. To +render his little party still more secure, however, on September 27th +Captain Gillespie withdrew his command from his quarters in the city and +occupied a height which commanded it, when he strengthened his position +and prepared for an obstinate defence. + +No sooner had this movement been effected than Captain Flores sent Don +Eulogeo Celis to inquire "on what terms Captain Gillespie would +surrender the city"; and that officer, after consulting with his +subordinates, answered that if the enemy would consent that he should +march out of the city with the honors of war, colors flying and drums +beating; that he should take everything with him; that he should be +furnished with means for transporting his baggage and provisions, at his +own expense; and that the enemy should not come within a league of his +party while on its line of march to San Pedro, he would accept those +terms, and no others would be considered; and Captain Flores should be +held responsible for any damage which might ensue, in case they were +rejected. After some negotiations these terms were offered by Captain +Flores and accepted by Captain Gillespie; and, on September 29th, the +garrison began its march; reached San Pedro on the same evening, and on +October 4th embarked on the Vandalia, after spiking its three old +guns--an exploit which, when the circumstances under which Captain +Gillespie's force, the strength of his opponent, and the temper of the +people among whom he moved are taken into consideration, may well be +ranked as one of the most brilliant feats of that remarkable campaign. + +While these difficulties were surrounding Captain Gillespie at Los +Angeles, Lieutenant Talbot, at Santa Barbara with his nine men, was not +less dangerously situated; and when the former had made terms with the +insurgents, Manuel Garpio with two hundred men moved against Lieutenant +Talbot, surrounded the town, and demanded his surrender, offering two +hours for his deliberation. As the men had resolved that they would not +give up their arms, and as the barracks were untenable with so small a +force, the Lieutenant resolved to abandon the town and push for the +hills; and, strange to say, he marshalled his men and marched out of the +town without opposition--"those who lay on the road retreated to the +main force, which was on the lower side of the town." + +Having reached the hills, he encamped, and remained there eight days, +when the Californians endeavored to rout him out, but were repulsed with +the loss of a horse. The insurgents then offered him his arms and +freedom if he would engage to remain neutral in the anticipated +hostilities, but "he sent word back that he preferred to fight." They +next built fires about him and burned him out; but in doing so they did +not capture or injure him, and he pushed through the mountains for +Monterey; and after a month's travel, in which he endured unheard-of +hardships and suffering, he reached that place in safety. + +Intelligence of the insurrection having reached Commodore Stockton at +San Francisco and Lieutenant-Colonel Frémont at Sacramento, both took +immediate steps to check its progress and to punish the offenders. In +conformity with the Commodore's orders Lieutenant-Colonel Fremont +hastened to San Francisco, whence he embarked, with one hundred sixty +men, on the ship Sterling, for Santa Barbara, to which port the frigate +Savannah (Captain Mervine) had previously been ordered; while, on the +same day, the Commodore in person sailed for the same port in the +Congress. + +The latter vessel reached San Pedro on October 6th, and at sunrise on +the 7th Captain Mervine landed with his seamen and marines; and after +being joined by Captain Gillespie and his brave-hearted little party, he +found himself at the head of three hundred ten men, "as brave and as +valiant as ever were led to battle upon any field." At eight o'clock the +party commenced its march toward Los Angeles, Captain Gillespie being in +advance, and when the column reached the hills of Palo Verde the +insurgents showed themselves and opened a fire with their _escopetas_. +The march was rapid; and the jolly tars, unused to such extended +journeys, appear to have suffered from its effects; in consequence of +which, although the enemy gradually fell back before the advancing +column, between one and two o'clock, when near the Rancho de los +Domingos, fourteen miles from San Pedro, it became necessary to halt and +encamp for the night. + +As may have been expected, the sailors and marines were ashore, and the +strict discipline which "the deck" had inculcated appears to have been +left on board the frigate. As a necessary consequence the camp displayed +but little of the order which such a locality should have insured; and +many and marvellous were the adventures of that night; while, on the +other hand, the enemy profited by the delay, by the moral effect of the +disorder with which the march had been conducted, and by the entire +absence of any artillery. + +On the following morning at daylight the column was again put in motion; +and with Captain Gillespie's men in front, in still greater disorder +than on the preceding day, it moved toward Los Angeles, twelve miles +distant. It had marched only three miles, when, posted behind a small +stream which intersected the line of march, the advance of the +insurgents--seventy-six men, with a small fieldpiece, under José Antonio +Carrillo--was discovered in front; and, as the column approached, a fire +was opened on it, which was answered with a characteristic shout. The +volunteers--Captain Gillespie's command--pressed forward; and by taking +advantage of the neighboring shelter they drove the enemy and compelled +him to abandon his fieldpiece; but before it could be reached and taken +possession of, Captain Mervine gave orders to withdraw. With great +indignation, therefore, the volunteers discontinued the action, and +after picking up his killed and wounded--harassed by the enemy who +pressed after the column, and covered by the volunteers and sixteen +marines, under Captain Gillespie--Captain Mervine slowly and sadly fell +back to San Pedro, where he arrived about dark on the same day, +"Thirteen noble tars were buried on the island in front of San Pedro," +the victims of this badly managed expedition. + +On October 23d the Commodore reached San Pedro--Lieutenant-Colonel +Frémont meanwhile having returned to Monterey--and on the 31st he sailed +for San Diego, which had been invested by the insurgents and needed +assistance. He reached that port a few days afterward; and, with the +assistance of Captain Gillespie's command, the besiegers were repelled, +and a fort was erected to protect the town from similar troubles in +future. + +Strenuous efforts were made to obtain horses for the use of the troops, +with some degree of success; and Commodore Stockton sailed toward San +Pedro again. During this temporary absence of the Commodore the +insurgents appear (on November 18, 1846) to have moved against San Diego +a second time, and were again driven back by Captain Gillespie and the +volunteers and marines under his command; and on December 3d a messenger +came into the town bearing a letter from General Kearney, apprising the +Commodore of his approach, and expressing a wish that a communication +might be opened with him that he might be informed of the state of +affairs in California. + +It appeared that after the General had taken Santa Fé (on October 1st) +he had moved from that city with the regular cavalry which he had +brought there. Soon afterward (October 7th) he had reduced his force to +one hundred men--sending the remainder back to Santa Fé--and after an +interesting march overland, on December 3, 1846, he had reached Warner's +_rancheria_, the outpost of civilization in California. From there a +letter had been despatched to San Diego by Mr. Stokes, an Englishman who +lived in a neighboring _rancheria_; and on the 4th the command had moved +fifteen miles nearer to the city. + +On the receipt of General Kearney's letter, Commodore Stockton +despatched Captain Gillespie to meet him, with a letter of welcome. The +Captain was accompanied by Lieutenant Beale, Midshipman Duncan, ten +seamen, Captain Gibson's company of riflemen (twenty-five men), and a +fieldpiece; and on the 5th he reached the General's camp; when, having +learned on his way that the insurgents were encamped at San Pasqual, +nine miles from the camp, Lieutenant Hammond was sent out by General +Kearney to reconnoitre the enemy's position. + +At a very early hour on the 6th the troops were put in motion, Captain +Johnston, with twelve dragoons, forming the advance-guard; the main body +of the General's party, under Captain Moore, following next; after which +moved Captain Gillespie, with Captain Gibson and his small company; and +Lieutenant Davidson, with the General's howitzers brought up the rear. +When the column had reached a hill which overlooked the valley of the +San Pasqual, the insurgents' encampment, it was halted, and the General +gave the final orders to his command: "One thrust of the sabre is worth +a dozen cuts; and depend upon them more than upon the carbines and +rifles." Without further delay the column advanced down the hill; and as +soon as Captain Johnston had struck the plain with his twelve dragoons, +having mistaken the purport of an order from the General, he uttered a +yell, and, without waiting for the support of the main body, dashed on +the heavy ranks of the enemy, falling a victim of his own indiscretion. + +The main body hastened, by a flank movement down the hill, to support +the charge of the advance, and received the enemy's fire from an Indian +village on its right flank; but the enemy waited to do no further +mischief, and fled from the charge of the advance before the line could +be formed. Perceiving the defection of the enemy, Captain Moore, with a +portion of his command, pursued the fugitives down the right of the +valley, while Captain Gillespie, with his volunteers, did the same on +the left side--the latter taking prisoner Pablo Beja, the insurgents' +second officer. In this pursuit, however, the ranks of the Americans +were greatly broken; and as the Mexicans far outnumbered them, they soon +afterward made a stand, using their lances with good effect. Captain +Moore fell, pierced in the breast by nine lances; the General was +severely wounded, and his life was saved, from an attack on his rear, by +a ball from Lieutenant Emory. Captain Gillespie was attacked by seven +Californians, received three wounds, and saved himself with great +difficulty; Captain Gibson received two wounds; Lieutenant Hammond +received nine lance wounds in the breast, and many others were severely +injured. For five minutes the enemy held the ground; when, the main body +of the Americans having come up, he again turned and fled. + +In this spirited affair about eighty Americans were engaged; while of +the Californians there is said to have been one hundred sixty, under +Andreas Pico. Of the former, Captains Moore and Johnston, Lieutenant +Hammond, and sixteen men were killed; and General Kearney, Captains +Gillespie and Gibson, Lieutenant Warner, and eleven men were wounded; +while of the latter it is said twenty-eight were killed and wounded. + +The dead were buried as soon as night closed in; the wounded were +properly attended to by the single surgeon who was with the party; and +ambulances were prepared for their conveyance to San Diego, thirty-nine +miles distant; and on the morning of the 7th the order to march was +given--the column taking the right-hand road over the hills, and leaving +the River San Bernardo to the left--the enemy retiring as it advanced. A +proper regard for the comfort of the wounded compelled the column to +move slowly, and it was afternoon before it reached the San Bernardo +_rancheria_ (Mr. Snook's). After a short halt at that place the column +moved down into the valley; and immediately afterward the hills on the +rear of the column (around the _rancheria_) were covered with +Californian horsemen, a portion of whom dashed at full speed past the +Americans to occupy a hill which commanded the route of the latter, +while the remainder of the party threatened the rear of the column. +Thirty or forty of the enemy quickly occupied the hill referred to; and +as the column came up six or eight Americans filed off to the left, and, +under Lieutenant Emory, charged up the hill, when the Californians +delivered their fire and fled, five of their number having been killed +or wounded by the rifles of the assailants. + +The wounded having been removed with great difficulty, the cattle having +been lost, and the danger of losing the sick and the packs being great, +the General determined to halt at that place and await the arrival of +reinforcements, for which messengers had been sent to San Diego on the +morning of the 6th. Accordingly the Americans occupied the high ground +on which the action had been fought, bored holes for water, killed their +fattest mules for meat, and awaited the arrival of their friends, until +the morning of the 11th, when they were joined by one hundred seamen and +eighty marines, under Lieutenant Gray, who had been sent out to meet +them by Commodore Stockton; and, on the afternoon of the 12th, the +combined parties entered the town in safety. + +At this time commenced that memorable conflict between the two +commanders--General Kearney and Commodore Stockton--respecting the chief +command, which subsequently created so much trouble in the American +ranks and throughout the country. Commodore Stockton appears, however, +to have retained the authority; and, having organized a force +sufficiently strong to warrant the undertaking, and General Kearney +having accepted an invitation to accompany the expedition, on December +29th he marched from San Diego, with two officers and fifty-five +privates (dragoons, two officers and forty-five seamen acting as +artillerymen; eighteen officers and three hundred seventy-nine seamen +and marines acting as infantry; six officers, and fifty-four privates), +volunteers, and six pieces of artillery, against the main body of the +insurgents, near Los Angeles. The command appears to have been given, at +his own request, to General Kearney; and as the wagon train was heavily +laden, the progress of the column was very slow--the expedition reaching +the Rio San Gabriel on January 8, 1847--although the enemy had offered +no opposition to its progress even in passes where a small force could +have effectively kept it back. At this place, however, he had made a +stand to dispute the passage of the river; and here the second action +was fought between the Americans and the Californians. + +The Rio San Gabriel, at the spot where this action was fought, is about +one hundred yards wide, the current about knee-deep, flowing over a +quicksand bottom. The left bank, by which the Americans approached, is +level; that on the right is also level for a short distance back, but +beyond this narrow plain a bank fifty feet in height commands the ford +and the intervening flat, while both banks are fringed with a thick +undergrowth. On this bank, directly in front of the ford, four pieces of +artillery were posted, supported on either flank by strong bodies of +cavalry, while on the slope of the hill and the flat in front were +posted the sharpshooters. + +Against this position the American column moved; the second division in +front, with the first and third divisions on the right and left flanks; +the cattle and the wagon train moved next; the volunteer riflemen and +the fourth division brought up the rear. As the head of the column +approached the bank of the river the enemy's sharpshooters opened a +scattering fire; and the second division was ordered to deploy as +skirmishers, cross the river, and drive the former from the thicket; +while the first and third divisions covered the flanks of the train, +and, with it, followed in the rear. When this line of skirmishers had +reached the middle of the stream and was pressing forward toward the +opposite bank, the enemy brought his artillery to bear, "and made the +water fly with grape and round shot"; and the American fieldpieces were +immediately dragged across the river and placed in counter-battery on +the right bank in opposition to those of the enemy. The fire of the +Americans appears to have caused considerable confusion in the ranks of +the insurgents; and under its cover the wagon train and cattle, with +their guard, passed the river, during which time the enemy attacked its +rear and was repelled. + +Having safely crossed the river the American column appears to have +deployed under cover of the high ground--the Californian grape and round +shot rattling over the heads of the men--and the enemy immediately +charged on both its flanks simultaneously, dashing down the slope with +great spirit. With great coolness the second division was thrown into +squares, and after a round or two drove off the enemy from the left +flank; the first division received a similar order, but as the +assailants on the right hesitated and did not come down as far as their +associates on the opposite flank, the order was countermanded, and the +division was ordered to charge up the hill, where the enemy's main body +was supposed to be posted. With great coolness this movement was +executed and the heights were gained, but there was no enemy in sight. +He had abandoned his position, and although he pitched his camp on the +hills in view of the Americans, when morning came he had moved still +farther back. + +The strength of the Americans in this action (the action of the Rio San +Gabriel) had been shown already; that of the Californians was about six +hundred, with four pieces of artillery. The loss of the former was one +man killed and nine men wounded; that of the enemy is not known. + +On the following morning (January 9, 1847) the American column resumed +its march over the Mesa--a wide plain which extends from the Rio San +Gabriel to the Rio San Fernando--surrounded by reconnoitring parties +from the enemy; and when about four miles from Los Angeles the enemy was +discovered on the right of the line of march, awaiting its approach. +When the column had come abreast of the enemy the latter opened fire +from his artillery on its right flank, and soon afterward deployed his +force, making a horseshoe in front of the American column, and opening +with two pieces of artillery on its front while two nine-pounders +continued their fire on the right. + +After stopping about fifteen minutes to silence the enemy's +nine-pounders the column again moved forward; when, by a movement +similar to that employed on the Rio San Gabriel the day before, two +charges were made simultaneously on its left flank and on its right and +rear. Contrary to the positive instructions of the officers, in the +former of these charges the enemy was met with a fire at long distance; +yet, although he had not come within a hundred yards of the column, +several of his men were knocked out of their saddles, and a round of +grape, which was immediately sent after him, completely scattered his +right wing. The charge on the right and the rear of the column fared +little better; and the entire force of the insurgents was withdrawn. + +The strength of both parties was probably as on the preceding day at the +Rio San Gabriel; the loss of the Californians is not known; that of the +Americans was Captain Gillespie, Lieutenant Rowan, and three men +wounded. The troops encamped near the field of battle; and on the +following morning (January 10, 1847), the enemy surrendered, when the +city of Los Angeles was occupied by the Americans without further +opposition. + +"This was the last exertion made by the sons of California for the +liberty and independence of their country," say the Mexican historians, +"and its defence will always do them honor; since, without supplies, +without means or instructions, they rushed into an unequal contest, in +which they more than once taught the invaders what a people can do who +fight in defence of their rights. The city of Los Angeles was occupied +by the American forces on January 10th, and the loss of that rich, vast, +and precious part of the Mexican territory was consummated." + + + + +(1847) THE FALL OF ABD-EL-KADER, Edgar Sanderson + + +This great Mahometan was an Arab chief whose heroic conduct as leader of +the Arabs in their wars against the French in Algeria (1832-1847) gave +him a place among the eminent patriot-soldiers and statesmen of the +nineteenth century. In 1843 Marshal Soult declared that Abd-el-Kader was +one of the three great men then living; the two others also being +Mahometans. The final course and fall of this man, whose name means +"Servant of the Mighty God," is itself an important concern of history, +without regard to its effect upon the relations of empire. After the +French, provoked by the conduct of Hasan, Dey of Algeria, had occupied +Algiers, his capital, in 1830, a new government was set up in France, +Louis Philippe ascending the throne in place of the expelled Charles X. +At the time of this revolution in France the soldiers of Charles had +already overrun a great part of Algeria; but they had not subdued the +country, and their absolute dominion extended only a little beyond the +capital itself. The French commander fortified his territory, but had to +recruit his garrisons from among the natives. In 1833 Abd-el-Kader +raised the standard of the Prophet, the Arabs rallied to his call, and +for several years he carried on a stubborn war against the French, whom +in 1835 he signally defeated. + +In 1836 the Arab leader, now Sultan, again fought the invaders in +several severe engagements on the Tafna River. In these affairs the +advantage lay with the Arab. In June, 1836, General Bugeaud was sent to +command the French forces, and he proved to be the strongest opponent +that Abd-el-Kader had met. There was more fighting on the Tafna; it was +indecisive, and in May, 1837, a treaty, known as the Treaty of the +Tafna, was concluded, General Bugeaud having received instructions +either to make peace with Abd-el-Kader or to subdue him. + +The story of the Arab hero from this point in his career is told by +Sanderson, the faithful commemorator of great nineteenth-century +patriots, a high authority on modern Africa. + +The famous Treaty of the Tafna, concluded between Abd-el-Kader and +Bugeaud, was a triumph for the Arab Sultan. With the consent of all the +great sheiks, the leaders of cavalry contingents, the venerable +Marabouts, and the most distinguished warriors of the Province of Oran, +the Sultan, not acknowledging the sovereignty of France, but ceding to +her a limited portion of the Provinces of Oran and Algiers, reserved the +free exercise of their religion for all Arabs dwelling on French +territory. He undertook to supply the French army with a large quantity +of corn and oxen and to confine the commerce of the Regency to French +ports. In return he received the administration of the larger part of +the Provinces of Oran and Algiers, and the whole of Tittery; the +important right of buying powder, sulphur, and weapons in France; and +freedom of trade between the Arabs and the French. In ceding the +Province of Tittery, Bugeaud had violated the strict orders of the +French Government, alleging in excuse to the Minister of War that any +other arrangement was "impossible." The treaty, in fact, confined the +French to a few towns on the seacoast, with small adjacent territories. +All the fortresses and strongholds in the interior were left in the +hands of Abd-el-Kader. He was the possessor of two-thirds of Algeria, +and he appeared before the world as the friend and ally of France. + +The treaty was held by the French Government to be a high stroke of +policy, converting an enemy into an ally. The French people regarded it +as a humiliating surrender of French territory to a rival power. It was +the culminating point of Abd-el-Kader's career. + +During the year 1839 the Sultan was engaged in the work of a statesman, +legislator, administrator, and reformer, displaying wonderful activity, +enterprise, vigor, and intellectual power as the founder of an empire +which, for the happiness of Algeria, was to be too short-lived. After +the Tafna Treaty he had received a magnificent present of arms from +Louis Philippe, King of the French, and, as a man who had subdued, +either by arms or by persuasive eloquence, the hardy, high-spirited +Kabyles he stood high in the estimation of his Moslem fellow-rulers in +Morocco and Egypt, Tripoli and Tunis, and of the _ulemas_, or bodies of +learned doctors in divinity and law, at Alexandria and Mecca, who +watched with joy, and with ardent expectation of yet higher things, the +career of one who seemed destined to revive the pristine glories of +Islam. The great Sultan, in order to consolidate his power both against +the French and over the Arabs, constructed a number of forts on the +limits of the Tell at Sebdou, on the west; at Saida, south of Tlemsen; +at Tekedemt, south of Mascara; at Boghar, south of Miliana; to the south +of Medea, and to the southeast of Algiers. Tekedemt, an old Roman town +about sixty miles southeast of Oran, was designed to be the capital, as +a great centre of commerce between the Tell and the Sahara. + +The first stone of the new city and fortress had been laid by the Sultan +in May, 1836; and as the place grew, a population of settlers from +Mascara, Mostaganem, and other towns poured in. Large stores of warlike +munitions were formed, and a factory, worked by mechanics from Paris on +liberal wages, turned out eight new muskets a day. A mint of silver and +copper coins was established. The defences carried twelve cannon and six +mortars. A French observer, who was a prisoner at the time when the +Sultan was personally directing the works at Tekedemt, describes his +simple costume, like that of a laborer; his large tall hat, plaited with +palm-leaves; his "incomparable grace" and "fascinating smile" as he +saluted the man who was rather a guest than a captive. + +The reforms of Abd-el-Kader included a regular police, schools, and +local tribunals of justice. All the chief towns had factories conducted +by Europeans, working in brass and iron, cotton and wool. The army +contained the finest irregular cavalry in the world, amounting, with all +the contingents from the tribes, to about sixty thousand men, only a +third of whom, however, were ever assembled for any single military +operation. His regular force comprised eight thousand infantry, two +thousand cavalry, twenty field-guns, and two hundred forty artillerymen. +His great ideal embraced the making the Arabs into one nation; the +recall of the whole people to a strict observance of religious duties; +the inspiring them with true patriotism; the calling forth of all their +capabilities for war, for commerce, for agriculture, and for mental +improvement; and the crowning of the whole by the impress of European +civilization. In laying the foundation for this mighty work, he had +already overcome vast difficulties by means of wonderful enterprise, +activity, and vigor. His intellectual greatness had caused him to shine +as a warrior, diplomatist, orator, and statesman. The Provinces of Oran +and Tittery and the plains of the Northern Sahara had been won by his +military prowess. + +A still nobler triumph in the exhibition of moral power was beheld in +his dealings with the region called Great Kabylia, the superb range of +the Djurjura Mountains extending eastward from Algiers. The hardy +Kabyles of that territory had remained unsubdued amid the changing +governments which had risen and fallen around them. As independent +little republics, bound together by the most exalted spirit of freedom, +they had ever preserved their usages, customs, and laws. In September, +1839, Abd-el-Kader, attended by only fifty horsemen, suddenly appeared +among them. Thousands gathered around his tent from the valleys and +fastnesses. He addressed them in a stirring and argumentative harangue, +pointing out union under his standard as the only safeguard against +French conquest. With loud shouts they accepted his faithful caliph, Ben +Salem, as their chief in war, and agreed to pay the regular imposts and +to go forth to the Djehad. For thirty days the Sultan made a progress +through the country, everywhere received with joy and enthusiasm as a +venerated _hadji_ and marabout, as a teacher of the law, as a man of +pious life, as a renowned warrior and an eloquent preacher. We cannot +dwell here on his educational and moral reforms, his earnest efforts to +enforce the teaching of the _Koran_, which was his guide in his public +and private life. His beneficent intentions were all to be frustrated by +the ambition of a European nation which was to signally fail, not in the +work of conquering Abd-el-Kader, but in turning her conquest to good +account. + +Hastily drawn treaties are a prolific source of war. The Treaty of the +Tafna was a flagrant example of this class of diplomatic documents. +There were two drafts: one in Arabic, with the Sultan's seal; the other +in French, with Bugeaud's. The drafts were not carefully compared. The +limits of territory assigned to each of the parties were not made clear. +One instance of the lack of identity in the two forms of the instrument +will suffice. The French form declared that Abd-el-Kader acknowledged +the sovereignty of France. The Sultan had never dreamed of making an +admission which, in its effect on the tribes, would have cost him his +throne. What he had written, in Arabic, in the article which he +subscribed, was, properly translated, "The Emir Abd-el-Kader +acknowledges that there is a French Sultan, and that he is great." + +A new Governor-General, Marshal Valée, had assumed his functions at +Algiers in November, 1837. Disputes arose as to the territorial rights +of the Sultan under the Tafna Treaty, and after vain negotiations and +missions to and fro matters were brought to a head by Marshal Valée in +the despatch of an expedition to march over some disputed ground as a +demonstration of French power and an assertion of French rights. A +column under the Duc d'Orléans started from Milah, in the Province of +Constantine, lately conquered by the French, to march across the +disputed territory and thence onward. A way was gained through a +formidable pass called the "Iron Gates," in October, 1839, by a simple +process. The defile was one which a few hundred men could have held +against any force, but the Kabyle sheiks were shown passports bearing +Abd-el-Kader's seal and authorizing the passage of French troops. The +seal of the Sultan had been forged. On November 1st Valée and the French +Prince made a triumphant entry into Algiers, after this despicable piece +of treachery, and were saluted as the heroes of the "Iron Gates." + +The news reached Abd-el-Kader at Tekedemt. He sprang on his horse, and +in forty-eight hours, riding night and day, was at Medea, whence he +despatched a reproachful and defiant letter to the French Governor. He +called the tribesmen to arms, formally declared war, swept down on the +plains, destroyed the French cantonments, agricultural establishments, +and outposts; slew many colonists, burned the villages and drove +panic-stricken fugitives headlong into the city of Algiers. The French +Government then ostentatiously declared the adoption of a firm policy +and announced Algeria to be "henceforth and forever a French province." +Reënforcements were rapidly sent to Algiers, and the effective army of +Valée was soon raised to thirty thousand men. The Sultan headed about +the same number of cavalry, regular and irregular, and six thousand +regular infantry. A fair trial of strength, Frenchman against Arab, was +now to be made. + +Concentrating his army at Blidah, at the foot of the lesser Atlas range, +the French Marshal marched on Medea and Millana. The river Chiffa was +passed on April 27, 1840. The Sultan's cavalry appeared in large numbers. +By a feigned movement, Abd-el-Kader induced his enemy to enter the +mountains by the gorges of the Monzaia, which he had spent months in +fortifying. Every eminence useful for the purpose was cut into +intrenchments. A redoubt with heavy batteries crowned the highest peak. +Near this were placed his regular infantry, officered by French +deserters. Arabs and Kabyles swarmed in all directions, and, crouching +in nooks, were ready to open fire on the French army as it wound its way +with steady march along the narrow causeway which hung midway on the +mountain slopes. + +Valée had divided his force into three columns, one of which was led by +Lamoricière, a man to become famous in Algerian warfare. The Sultan was +now to see the value of French infantry. To the astonishment of the +Arabs, the enemy, leaving the road, came darting over the steeps. +Ravines, woods, and rocks were all mastered in the rush. Slowly but +surely they were reaching the intrenchments, when a thick veil came over +the scene from the smoke of incessant fire. The mist rolled away before +the breeze sweeping through the pass, and the combatants met and fought +hand to hand. The Arabs and Kabyles clung desperately to their places of +shelter, but the French clambered up, grasping at shrubs and branches, +ever winning their way. Abd-el-Kader made a last stand in person at the +great redoubt, while his regulars and masses of Kabyles gathered round +him. The converging columns of the French came creeping on amid the roll +of drums and the blare of trumpets. The Arabs, bewildered by foes +attacking them both in front and rear, wavered, broke, and fled. +Lamoricière and his Zouaves, Changarnier and the Second Light Infantry, +burst over the intrenchments, and the tricolor waved on the summit of +the Atlas. + +Abd-el-Kader retreated on Miliana, while the conqueror, entering Medea, +found it abandoned and half burned. The Sultan had made his last attempt +to fight the French on the principles of European warfare. His caliphs +and chiefs were ordered never again to meet the enemy in masses, but to +harass them in hanging on their flanks and rear, cutting their +communications, attacking baggage and transports, and waging a contest +of feigned retreats, ambuscades, and sudden sallies in order to bewilder +and weary the foe. Miliana was evacuated by Abd-el-Kader on Valée's +approach, but the chance of Arab warfare came when the French entered +the mountain passes. Unceasing attacks, day and night, caused severe +loss to the lately victorious French, with the capture of baggage and +the abandonment of all wounded men. The French garrisons in Medea and +Miliana were soon reduced to want by blockade of the surrounding +country, and by October, 1840, the garrison of Miliana had almost +disappeared, from the effects of fever and famine. Out of fifteen +hundred men, the half had perished; five hundred were in hospital and +the remainder were haggard wretches who could hardly hold their muskets. +Such was the warfare in the mountains of the Province of Tittery, and +Abd-el-Kader by his swift movements kept the enemy ever on the alert, +and often in trouble, from the frontiers of Morocco to those of Tunis. + +The real and decisive struggle began early in 1841. The right man was at +last found by the French to deal with the hitherto indomitable Sultan of +Tittery and Oran. The Government at Paris had begun in some sort to +understand the power of their formidable adversary, and a serious effort +was to be made. On February 22, 1841, General Bugeaud assumed office as +Governor-General of Algeria. He had now come, not in the mood and with +the policy of the day when he concluded the Treaty of the Tafna, but as +one whose task it was to crush every rival power in Algeria. For this +end, eighty-five thousand men were placed under his command. Thomas +Bugeaud was a man of great ability, and he has the credit of devising +the only method by which such an antagonist as Abd-el-Kader, in such a +country, could be subdued. + +Against an adversary so mobile, so full of expedients and resource, +mobility and incessantly offensive movements offered the only chance of +success. The French Commander knew that it was no mere army, but a +people in arms, that he was to encounter. His forces were at once +organized in many small, compact columns, each composed of a few +infantry battalions and two squadrons of horse, with a little transport +train of mules and camels and two mountain howitzers. Picked men alone, +acclimatized and used to toil, were employed, and they carried nothing +but their muskets and ammunition, with a little food. These columns were +placed under the command of such energetic leaders as Changarnier and +Cavaignac, Canrobert and Pélissier, Bedeau and Lamoricière, St. Arnaud +and the Duc d'Aumale. + +The campaign opened with the revictualling of Medea and Miliana, with +great losses to the French, as Abd-el-Kader disputed every inch of the +ground. Bugeaud, personally operating in Oran, reached Tekedemt on May +25th, and found it deserted and in flames. Boghar, Saida, and other +fortresses were successively destroyed. The enemies of the Sultan were +paying a heavy price for success. At the end of 1841 Bugeaud, out of +sixty thousand men in the field, had only four thousand fit for duty. +The rest had perished or were invalided for the time, from the toil of +marches, incessant fighting, and the heat of the climate. The French +Government's proposals of peace, on certain terms, only confirmed +Abd-el-Kader in his resolve to try the extremities of war. + +Bugeaud's main object was to establish permanent centres of action in +the very heart of the Arab confederation of tribes, and, by rapidly +consecutive expeditions radiating from these centres, to give his troops +the ubiquity of Abd-el-Kader's forces. The chief seat of the Sultan's +power was the Province of Oran, and this was made the principal scene of +operations. Mascara was held by Lamoricière, Tlemsen by Bedeau. +Changarnier was in observation on the western frontier of the plain of +Algiers; Tittery was menaced by D'Aumale. From Oran and Mostaganem three +columns were sent forth against the tribes occupying the large expanse +of territory lying between the Atlas Mountains and the Mediterranean, +and the tribes extending toward the Sahara. The first force, headed by +Bugeaud in person, marched along the valley of the Chéliff, and then +joined the second column under Changarnier, coming from Blida. The third +body, under Lamoricière, aimed at pushing Abd-el-Kader back to the south +in order to separate him from the tribes assailed by Changarnier and +Bugeaud. + +The plan of campaign was formidable for the Arabs, but it was +encountered by the Sultan with wonderful skill and daring in a struggle +which involved some thrilling episodes, Lamoricière, in his efforts to +overtake the foe, was constantly baffled. Hearing that Abd-el-Kader was +before Mascara, he hurried thither by forced marches, only to find that +his enemy had passed by his rear and was raiding a tribe friendly to the +French. Pursuing in the new direction, the French leader was outmaneuvre +by the Sultan's bold and rapid dash across the Chéliff, placing his +Arabs between Bugeaud and the sea, and recovering his ascendency over +the tribes in that region. Abd-el-Kader then swept in a _razzia_ to the +south of Miliana, and soon appeared in full force in the Sahara as the +bewildered French pursuers returned to their cantonments in despair of +reaching him. This is a sample of the evolutions by which genius made +amends for inferiority of force. The ablest military combinations were +rendered abortive by an enemy that was ever slipping between columns, +flitting in the front, hovering on the flanks, assailing the rear, and, +with perfect knowledge of the country, was sometimes in the mountains +and again in the plains, ubiquitous, unattainable for serious conflict. + +Abd-el-Kader, leaving his caliphs to maintain this exasperating species +of warfare in the Province of Oran, made for the frontiers of Morocco. +There many tribes had submitted under the influence of Bedeau's military +and diplomatic skill. The Sultan's communications with the country +whence he drew his weapons, clothing, and ammunition were seriously +threatened. His appearance at once brought back the Kabyles of Nedrouma +to their allegiance, and their example was followed by other tribes, +with the result that his army was increased to the number of three +thousand cavalry and five thousand infantry. Able now to confront the +enemy, Abd-el-Kader during the months of March and April, 1842, had +frequent encounters with Bedeau, The issue was yet indecisive when the +Sultan was called away to Mascara to deal with Lamoricière, who had been +gaining ground and winning over tribes, including even a large part of +Abd-el-Kader's own people, the Hashems. Lamoricière, believing the +Sultan to be still engaged with Bedeau, had marched toward the Sahara, +and Abd-el-Kader, by a mingling of severe punishment and mild treatment, +regained most of his old authority. + +Lamoricière, on receiving the news of his presence, hastened back to +find his recent work undone and to be assailed by the tribes who had so +lately joined him. Fighting his way bravely on to an encounter with the +great leader of the Arabs, the French general heard of him as in force +at Tekedemt. When he reached that place he found that Abd-el-Kader had +fallen on Changarnier toward Miliana. That general, knowing nothing of +the Sultan's approach, found himself enveloped by a vast force of Arabs +and Kabyles, regulars and irregulars, horse and foot, led on by +Abd-el-Kader in person and charging furiously on all sides. + +After two days and nights of incessant battle, in which men closed +fiercely with pistols, swords, bayonets, and yataghans, the Sultan +vanished with his force, leaving the French too exhausted and crippled +by their losses for pursuit. Two days later tidings reached them that he +was in the Metidja, ravaging the plain and carrying terror to the very +gates of Algiers. Abd-el-Kader then bore away to the Atlas, ascended the +mountains, penetrated beyond Tittery and reached the Sahara, everywhere +inspiriting the tribes and raising fresh forces. After sweeping over +three hundred leagues of ground he returned, in recruited strength and +new energy, to press upon Lamoricière and his garrison at Mascara with +all the rigors of a winter blockade. + +In spite of his wonderful efforts, the Sultan could not but feel that he +was struggling with adverse fortune. The enemy by the seizure of his +fixed establishments had gained possession of a large part of his +territory and of the strongholds that had contained his stores of war. +His regular army had almost disappeared, and much of his credit among +the Arabs had departed. The _ketna_, which was his ancestral abode, had +been laid waste. He could not protect the families of his most faithful +adherents from constant exposure, in spite of his vigilant activity, to +the outrages of the detested infidels. In this position, he resolved to +remove from the scene of warfare those whom it was impossible for him to +desert with any regard to feelings of religion and humanity. He formed +his famous _smala_, a new and remarkable organization consisting of a +gathering of private families. To this moving asylum of refuge and +safety the Arab tribes sent their treasure, their herds, their women and +children, their sick and aged persons. + +The smala was a great travelling capital, containing at first more than +twenty thousand souls, following the Sultan's movements; sometimes in +advance to the more cultivated regions, or in retreat to the Sahara, +according to the fluctuations of the contest which he was so bravely +waging. In the Sahara, the tents of the smala spread to the distant +horizon. In the Tell, they filled the valley and rose up the slopes of +the hills. All the arrangements were of military regularity. The +different _deiras_, or households, with tents varying in number with +their dwellers, were distributed into four great encampments. Each deira +knew its appointed place. Each chief had his station marked and his +special duties assigned. Four tribes were set apart to protect and guide +the smala in its wanderings, and the guard was composed of regular +troops. The existence of this organization, ever growing in extent, +became a powerful check on the disaffection of the tribes. When the +French leaders tempted them with fair promises, the warriors bethought +them of the pledges: the women, the children, the flocks and herds, +which were in the Sultan's hands. The genius of Abd-el-Kader had created +a new and widely extended political engine. + +When the French leaders had learned to appreciate the importance of the +smala its capture or dispersal became a chief object with all officers +from the generals of corps to the colonels in charge of detachments. The +campaign of 1843 was opened by Lamoricière, who occupied Tekedemt. +Abd-el-Kader with about fifteen hundred horsemen watched his movements +from some neighboring woods. He knew that the French commander's object +was the smala, and he remained in ambush for twenty days. He and his men +lived on acorns; the horses were fed on leaves. One day a stray sheep +was found. The Sultan would have none of it, and said, "Take it to my +starving soldiers," as he turned to his meal of acorns. Twice was +Lamoricière repulsed in his search, and then a traitor revealed the +exact place of the smala encampment. + +Lamoricière remained to occupy the attention of Abd-el-Kader, and the +French column stationed at Medea was selected for the attack. The +leadership was intrusted to the Duc d'Aumale, and on May 10, 1843, he +started from Boghar with thirteen hundred infantry, six hundred horse, +and two field-guns. + +The indicated place of encampment was found empty, and the French column +wandered about in uncertain fashion. + +At break of day on May 16th the traitor made known the new spot of the +smala's halt, and D'Aumale at once daringly advanced with his cavalry +alone. The surprise created a panic among the people. The guard of five +hundred regulars fired a volley and fled. A handful of the Hashem tribe +bravely strove to stem the torrent, but they were swept away in the +rout, and in an hour all was over. The smala was broken up amid scenes +of terrible confusion and despair, including the extraordinary sight of +a promiscuous mass of camels, dromedaries, horses, mules, oxen, and +sheep careering and plunging on the plain. There was little bloodshed, +but the French victors were in possession of hostages of the utmost +value in the families of Abd-el-Ka-der's most influential chiefs. His +own family had escaped. The booty taken was immense, comprising +thousands of animals; the Sultan's valuable library of rare Arabic +manuscripts; the military chest containing some millions of francs, and +the chests of his caliphs and other high officers, filled with gold and +silver coins and costly jewellery. The French soldiers baled out dollars +and doubloons in their shakos, and helped themselves to diamonds and +pearls. + +This dreadful blow, when the news reached him in the woods where he +watched near Lamoricière's command, almost overwhelmed, for a time, even +the exalted and undaunted spirit of the Sultan. He spent some hours +alone in his tent, in meditation and prayer. He came forth with a smile +and addressed his chiefs, his officers, and men as they stood outside in +groups, some downcast and silent, some bitterly cursing their foe and +fate. He reminded them that the dear objects now lost had impeded the +movements of the holy war against the infidels, and that those who had +fallen were now in paradise. The next day he wrote to his caliphs, +bidding them not to be discouraged; they would thenceforth be lighter +and in better order for war. In fact at the time of the Duc d'Aumale's +attack, the population of the smala amounted to not less than sixty +thousand. Not more than three thousand prisoners were taken; the rest of +the Arabs were dispersed in all directions. Some fell among Arab tribes +who plundered them; others were overtaken by Lamoricière. + +The blow was, on the whole, irreparable in its effects upon the +influence of the Sultan. Every day brought tidings of the defection of +some great tribe. The ranks of his enemies were swelled by large +contingents of Arabs. + +Worse things were in store for the brave man contending with +ill-fortune. His ablest caliphs were removed by captivity or death in +action; the distant provinces fell a prey to the foe. The Province of +Oran became the scene of a desperate struggle. With a chosen and devoted +band of five thousand men Abd-el-Kader made his presence felt at all +points. Now he fell on recreant tribes; now he made head against the +French columns. Ever in the van, leading on the charge, plunging into +the thickest of the fight, by his example he encouraged and inspired his +followers. His bravest warriors fell around him; his horses were slain +under him; his burnoose was torn with bullets; but still he fought on. +The world's record can show no more brilliant instance of almost +superhuman heroism. + +Once he was taken unawares. On September 23, 1843, he was encamped near +Sidi Yusuf with a battalion of infantry and five hundred irregular +horse. A spy made known his position to Lamoricière, who was at a +distance of six leagues. The French General at once led out in person +the Second Chasseurs d'Afrique. A night's march covered the intervening +space and the spot was reached in the gray of dawn. The Sultan was +aroused from sleep by cries of "The French! the French!" He had barely +time to mount. He might have escaped, but he preferred the risk of death +to the double stain of surprise and flight. His infantry seized their +arms and fired a volley; his cavalry rallied at his voice. Then as the +smoke slowly rolled away he dashed into the French chasseurs, dispersed +them by the sudden shock, and after a few minutes' hard fighting drew +off his whole force in perfect order. + +The Beni-Amers, the men whose four thousand sabres had waved in +exultation around the young leader of the Djehad; the men whose splendid +courage had opened before him the path of glory and of empire, had gone +over to the French. Abd-el-Kader resolved to attack them. Suddenly +descending upon them he swept through their encampments, slew numbers, +and carried off a great booty. A French battalion stationed among them +vainly strove to arrest his progress. An Arab chief, one of his old +followers, boldly singled him out, rode up, and fired at him +point-blank. The ball missed, and Abd-el-Kader shot the traitor dead +with his pistol. + +The Sultan knew that all was lost unless he could obtain external aid. +The smala was now reduced to his own deira, a bare thousand souls, +wandering about in miserable fashion. After another desperate engagement +with Lamoricière during which the Arab women cheered on the warriors, +and Abd-el-Kader and his men fighting in the presence of their wives and +children performed new prodigies of valor, he succeeded in safely +establishing the noncombatants on the territory of Morocco. + +Bugeaud, now become a marshal, wrote to his Government declaring that +all serious warfare was finished. In the summer of 1844, the violation +of Abderrahman's territory by French troops under Lamoricière and Bedeau +led to some warfare, in which the Moroccan troops were twice defeated. +The people of the country were strongly in favor of Abd-el-Kader; and +when their Sultan, after a French bombardment of Tangiers and Mogador, +made a treaty with France by which the Algerian hero was "placed beyond +the pale of the law throughout the Empire of Morocco, as well as in +Algeria," and was to be "pursued by main force by the Moroccans on their +own territory," the Moorish population was filled with resentment. +Letters reached Abd-el-Kader from Fez, the capital, dictated and signed +by the first grandees in the State, both civil and military, and from +the commercial classes, inviting him to ascend the throne of his +ancestors. Had he been a mere adventurer or usurper he might have lived +henceforth, and died, Emperor of Morocco, But his whole soul was +patriotically bent on one object, the freedom and independence of +Algeria. He disdained to wear a borrowed crown. As he afterward +declared, "His religion forbade him to injure a sovereign chosen and +appointed by God." + +During the year 1844 the Sultan had made a rapid incursion into the +Tell, everywhere appealing to the tribes; but he found the national +spirit overawed by the presence of French detachments in all directions, +and he returned to his deira in despondent spirit. He now received +appeals from some of his devoted caliphs to undertake a fresh campaign, +especially from the loyal and chivalrous Ben Salem, who dwelt in the +gorges of the Djur jura Mountains. To him Abd-el-Kader replied, +promising to come "as soon as affairs in the west were settled." + +Months passed away and the Arab tribes who had submitted began to feel +the pressure of French domination and to resent the supercilious conduct +of French officials. In the spring of 1845 their former Sultan +reappeared. He swept down into the valley of the Tafna and routed and +cut to pieces a French detachment. In this action the lower part of his +right ear was carried away by a musket-ball, the only wound which he +ever received. Another detachment of six hundred men laid down their +arms without firing a shot. Some stir was made among the Arabs by these +successes, and the French commanders took alarm. Lamoricière, Cavaignac, +and Bedeau wrote pressing letters for reinforcements, and urged the +return of Bugeaud. The most formidable foe of Abd-el-Kader reached the +scene of action in October, 1845, bringing fresh forces, and in a week +he took the field at the head of a hundred twenty thousand men. This +fact is the highest eulogy that can be accorded to the military prowess +of a man who so long defied the power of France. + +The end of the great career was rapidly coming. After another vain +appeal to the Moorish ruler even Abd-el-Kader felt that all was lost. A +French writer in the _Biographie générale_ truly declares: + +"The greatness of the man was strikingly displayed in the very hour of +his downfall. Destitute of resources, surrounded by foes, at open enmity +with the Emperor of Morocco, wandering like a hunted lion, with hardly +any comrade but his horse, no shelter except his tent, Abd-el-Kader +still inspired a terror which forced his enemies to keep a great army on +foot in Algeria for protection against possible attacks at his hand." + +In his deira, at this time, all was despondency and grief. His own +brothers had abandoned him. Ben Salem, the faithful, long-tried, devoted +friend and follower, was a voluntary prisoner in the French camp. +Abd-el-Kader's whole force was fewer than two thousand men, but among +these were twelve hundred horsemen, the flower of the Algerian cavalry. +Most of them had been his inseparable comrades, partakers in all his +hardships and dangers, throughout his career. During a short period of +rest he summoned them daily around him and aroused new enthusiasm among +the bronzed veterans by his eloquent words. + +On December 9, 1847, the deira was stationed on Moorish territory, at +Agueddin, on the left bank of the Melouia. It comprised in all about +five thousand souls. The next day news arrived that a great Moorish host +under the Sultan's two sons was only three hours' march away. On January +11th, Abd-el-Kader gathered his armed force, marched at dead of night +and fell furiously on the first division of the Moors and Arabs. The +slumbering foe awoke to see the thick darkness illumined by flashes of +light from muskets. Seized with panic, the men rushed away in all +directions, abandoning arms, tents, and baggage. In the mean time +Abd-el-Kader and his men swept onward and attacked the second division, +which was also defeated and dispersed. In half an hour the third +division was reached. This force had time to prepare for defence, and +the assailants withdrew before a steady fire of infantry and artillery +to an adjacent hill. At midday five thousand Moorish cavalry moved out +against Abd-el-Kader's little army. At charging distance he led on his +men, swept through the foe, and by a skilful combination of assault and +retreat regained his deira by the river Melouia, before sunset. The +deira had nearly effected its passage across the river, with the baggage +and the spoils taken from the enemy, when the Moorish army was seen +cautiously advancing. + +The situation was full of peril. The deira had never been so exposed. +The ammunition was expended and the infantry was thus counted out of the +fight. Abd-el-Kader could only depend on his "Old Guard"--his matchless +cavalry. At length the Melouia was passed, and, although the foe was +pressing on, he would not leave its bank until the noncombatants had +gained a full hour in advance. Then the deira crossed another stream and +reached a place of safety, for the time, on French territory. Not a life +had been lost nor a beast of burden of all that crowd of men, women, +children, and animals. Coolness, intrepidity, and skill had been their +protectors. Of the fighting men, however, more than two hundred had been +slain, and nearly all the rest were suffering from wounds. + +Abd-el-Kader now turned toward the hills inhabited by a tribe which +still, in part, adhered to him. His horsemen followed him in anxious +silence, suffering and exhausted. The rain fell in torrents. Their chief +was tormented by conflicting thoughts. A French camp was visible in the +distance, three hours' march away, occupying a pass. He and his cavalry +might yet escape by narrow defiles into the Sahara. But what of his aged +mother, his wife and children, his helpless followers in the deira? All +would become captives to the foe. He called his men around him and +reminded them of the oath which, eight years before on the renewal of +the war, they had taken at Medea that they would never forsake him in +any danger or suffering. All declared themselves ready still to adhere +to it. He set before them the peril of the people in the deira and +suggested submission. All the warriors cried: "Perish women and children +so long as you are safe and able to renew the battles of God. You are +our head, our Sultan; fight or surrender, as you will, we will follow +you wherever you choose to lead." After a few moments' pause +Abd-el-Kader declared that the struggle was over. The tribes were tired +of the war and there was nothing left but submission. He would ask the +French for a safe-conduct for himself and his family, and for all who +chose to follow him, to another Mussulman country. The universal answer +was, "Sultan, let your will be done!" + +The incessant rain rendered it impossible to write down any terms. +Abd-el-Kader therefore affixed his seal to a piece of paper, and +despatched it in charge of two horsemen to the French general as a sign +of authorization on his part for demands to be verbally made. It was +Lamoricière who received the two emissaries; and he sent a verbal reply, +acceding to all proposals. Abd-el-Kader then sent a letter, and received +in reply a written promise and stipulation that the Sultan and his +family should be conducted to St. Jean d'Acre or Alexandria. The new +Governor-General, the Duc d'Aumale, was close at hand, and on the +evening of December 23, 1847, the fallen hero, attended by some of his +chiefs and men, escorted by five hundred French cavalry, who showed +great respect and sympathy for the captives, arrived at headquarters. +Abd-el-Kader, attended by Lamoricière and Cavaignac, was presented to +the son of Louis Philippe. The Prince pledged himself that Lamoricière's +promise and stipulation should be strictly observed. He knew little that +his father's throne was about to fall, and that the decision as to +Abd-el-Kader's fate would, within a few weeks, rest in far different +hands. The ex-Sultan then withdrew to his deira, which had now joined +the French encampment. + +On the next morning, December 24th, the Governor-General held a review. +His honored prisoner and guest, riding a splendid black charger of the +purest Arab breed, and surrounded by his chiefs, awaited his return from +the field. When the Prince approached, Abd-el-Kader dismounted and +offered his steed as a present in testimony of his gratitude, and +expressed the hope that he might always bear his new master in safety +and happiness. The Duc d'Aumale replied, "I accept it as a homage +rendered to France, the protection of which country will henceforth be +ever extended toward you, and as a sign that the past is forgotten." + +On December 25th the Algerian hero embarked with his family and +followers in a French frigate for Toulon. He had seen the last of his +native land. Lamoricière accompanied him on board and supplemented his +poor resources with a present of four thousand francs, receiving +Abd-el-Kader's sword in return. The _Moniteur_ of January 3, 1848, paid +a high tribute to the genius and ascendency of the captive in these +words: "The subjugation of Abd-el-Kader is an event of immense +importance to France. It assures the tranquillity of our conquest. +To-day France can, if necessary, transport to other quarters the hundred +thousand men who hold the conquered populations under her yoke." + + + + +(1847) THE MEXICAN WAR, John Bonner + + +When President Polk began his Administration, the United States +Government had become involved in two boundary disputes--one relating to +Oregon, the other to Texas and Mexico. Out of the latter came the +Mexican War, concerning the political causes and merits of which there +were then and ever since have been wide differences of opinion among the +American people. Polk's election by the Democrats in 1844 had turned +mainly upon the question of annexing Texas. Just before he came into +office the annexation was made. + +Texas claimed as her western boundary the Rio Grande. Mexico held that +the western limit was the Nueces. Between the two rivers there was a +large area of disputed territory. The Texan claim was opposed by many +American statesmen and publicists, and by some was denounced--as the +annexation of Texas had been--as an aggressive move against Mexico. But +the United States Government supported the cause of Texas. General +Zachary Taylor, who had served in the War of 1812, and afterward in +several Indian wars, took command of the army in Texas in 1845. In +January, 1846, he was ordered to occupy positions on or near the left +bank of the Rio Grande del Norte. This order and its execution have been +held by some writers to constitute an act of war, but war was not +formally declared by the United States till May 11th. Taylor, with a +small force, had several slight encounters with Mexican troops, after +which he won the battle of Palo Alto (May 8, 1846), near the southern +extremity of Texas; and that of Resaca de la Palma (May 9th), also in +Texas, four miles north of Matamoros, Mexico. He took possession of +Matamoros May 18th. With six thousand men, against about ten thousand +Mexicans under Ampudia, Taylor captured Monterey, Mexico (September +24th), and at Buena Vista, February 22-23, 1847, with five thousand +troops, he defeated fifteen thousand Mexicans under Santa Anna, then +President of Mexico and commander of her army. + +The war was now transferred to the district between Vera Cruz and the +City of Mexico, the capital, and was henceforth conducted for the United +States by General Winfield Scott, whose previous military career had +been much the same as General Taylor's. Scott had been made +Major-General and Commander-in-Chief of the Army in 1841. His first +operation in Mexico was the taking of Vera Cruz, the principal Mexican +seaport, on the Gulf of Mexico. With the aid of a fleet he besieged the +city in March, 1847, and on the 27th received its surrender. At Cerro +Gordo (April 17th and 18th) he won an important victory that opened his +way through the mountains toward his objective, the city of Mexico. +Reënforcements gradually reached him, and by the first of August he was +ready to move on the valley of Mexico with about eleven thousand men. +From this stage to the fall of the capital, completing the conquest of +the country, Bonner's account gives a graphic recital of events. The +city was held by Americans from September 14, 1847, the day they entered +it, until the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo (February 2, +1848), which ended the war. + +With the energy that characterized Santa Anna throughout the Mexican +War, he had prepared for a desperate defence. Civil strife had been +silenced, funds raised, an army of twenty-five thousand men mustered, +and every precaution taken which genius could suggest or science +indicate. Nature had done much for him. Directly in front of the +invading army lay the large lakes of Xochimilco and Chalco. These +turned, vast marshes, intersected by ditches and for the most part +impassable, surrounded the city on the east and the south--on which side +Scott was advancing--for several miles. The only approaches were by +causeways; and these Santa Anna had taken prodigious pains to guard. The +national road to Vera Cruz--which Scott must have taken had he marched +on the north side of the lakes--was commanded by a fort mounting +fifty-one guns on an impregnable hill called El Peñon. Should he turn +the southern side of the lakes, a field of lava, deemed almost +impassable for troops, interposed a primary obstacle; and fortified +positions at San Antonio, San Angel, and Churubusco, with an intrenched +camp at Contreras, were likewise to be surmounted before the southern +causeways could be reached. Beyond these there yet remained the +formidable castle of Chapultepec and the strong enclosure of Molino del +Rey, to be stormed before the city gates could be reached. Powerful +batteries had been mounted at all these points, and ample garrisons +detailed to serve them. The bone and muscle of Mexico were there. + +Goaded by defeat, Santa Anna never showed so much vigor; ambition fired +Valencia; patriotism stirred the soul of Alvarez; Canalizo, maddened by +the odium into which he had fallen, was boiling to regain his soubriquet +of the "Lion of Mexico." With a constancy equal to anything recorded of +the Roman Senate, the Mexican Congress, on learning of the defeat at +Cerro Gordo, had voted unanimously that anyone opening negotiations with +the enemy should be deemed a traitor; and the citizens with one accord +had ratified the vote. Within six months Mexico had lost two splendid +armies in two pitched battles against the troops now advancing against +the capital; but she never lost heart, and her spirit quailed not. + +The engineers reporting that the fortress on El Peñon could not be +carried without a loss of one-third the army, Scott decided to move by +the south of the lakes; and Worth accordingly advanced, leading the van, +as far as San Augustin, nine miles from the city of Mexico. There a +large field of lava, known as the Pedregal, barred the way. On the one +side, two miles from San Augustin, the fortified works at San Antonio +commanded the passage between the field and the lake; on the other, the +ground was so much broken that infantry alone could advance, and General +Valencia occupied an intrenched camp, with a heavy battery, near the +village of Contreras, three miles distant. Scott determined to attack on +both sides, and sent forward General William J. Worth on the east, and +General Gideon J. Pillow and General David E. Twiggs on the west. The +latter advanced as fast as possible over the masses of lava on the +morning of the 19th, and by 2 P.M. a couple of light batteries were +placed in position and opened fire on the Mexican camp. + +At the same time General Persifor Smith conceived the plan of turning +Valencia's left, and hastened along the path through the Pedregal in the +direction of a village called San Jeronimo. Colonel Riley followed. +Pillow sent Cadwallader's brigade on the same line, and later in the day +Morgan's regiment was likewise despatched toward that point. They drove +in the Mexican pickets and skirmishers, dispersed a few parties of +lancers, and occupied the village without loss. Seeing the movement, +Santa Anna hastened to Valencia's support with twelve thousand men. He +was discovered by Cadwallader just as the latter gained the village +road; and appreciating the vast importance of preventing a junction +between the two Mexican generals, that gallant officer did not hesitate +to draw up his brigade in order of battle. So broken was the ground that +Santa Anna could not see the amount of force opposed to him, and +declined the combat. This was all Cadwallader wanted. Shields's brigade +was advancing through the Pedregal, and the troops which had already +crossed were rapidly moving to the rear of Valencia's camp. Night too +was close at hand. When it fell, Smith's, Riley's, and Cadwallader's +commands had gained the point they sought. Shields joined them at ten +o'clock; and at midnight Captain Lee crossed the Pedregal, with a +message from General Smith to General Scott, to say that he would begin +the attack at daybreak next morning. + +It rained all night and the men lay in the mud without fires. At three +in the morning (August 20th) the word was passed to march. Such pitchy +darkness covered the face of the plain that Smith ordered every man to +touch his front file as he marched. Now and then a flash of lightning +lighted the narrow ravine; occasionally a straggling moonbeam pierced +the clouds and shed an uncertain glimmer on the heights; but these +flitting guides served only to make the darkness seem darker. The +soldiers groped their way, stumbling over stones and brushwood, and did +not gain the rear of the camp till day broke. Then Riley bade his men +look to the priming of their guns, and reload those which the rain had +wet. With the first ray of daylight the firing had begun again between +the Mexican camp and Ransom's corps stationed in front and Shields's +brigade at San Jeronimo. Almost at the same moment Riley began to ascend +the height in the rear. Before he reached the crest, his engineers, who +had gone forward to reconnoitre, came running back to say that his +advance had been detected, that two guns were being pointed against him, +and a body of infantry were sallying from the camp, The news braced the +men's nerves. They gained the ridge, and stood a tremendous volley from +the Mexicans without flinching. Hanson of the Seventh--a gallant officer +and an excellent man--was shot down with many others; but the Mexicans +had done their worst. + +With steady aim the volley was returned; and ere the smoke rose a cheer +rang through the ravine, and Riley fell with a swoop on the +intrenchments. With bayonet and butt of musket, the Second and Seventh +drove the enemy from his guns, leaping into his camp and slaughtering +all before them. Up rushed Smith's own brigade on the left, driving a +party of Mexicans before them, and charging with the bayonet straight at +Torrejon's cavalry, which was drawn up in order of battle. Defeat was +marked on their faces. Valencia was nowhere to be found. Salas strove +vainly to rouse his men to defend themselves with energy; Torrejon's +horse, smitten with panic, broke and fled at the advance of our +infantry. Riley hurled the Mexicans from their camp after a struggle of +a quarter of an hour; and as they rushed down the ravine, their own +cavalry rode over them, trampling down more men than the bayonet and +ball had laid low. On the right, as they fled, Cadwallader's brigade +poured in a destructive volley; and Shields, throwing his party across +the road, obstructed their retreat and compelled the fugitives to yield +themselves prisoners of war. The only fight of any moment had taken +place within the camp. There, for a few minutes, the Mexicans had fought +desperately; two of our regimental colors had been shot down, but +finally Anglo-Saxon bone and sinew had triumphed. To the exquisite +delight of the assailants, the first prize of victory was the guns +O'Brien had abandoned at Buena Vista, which were regained by his own +regiment. Twenty other guns and more than a thousand prisoners, +including eighty-eight officers and four generals, were likewise +captured, and about fifteen hundred Mexicans killed and wounded. The +American loss in killed, wounded, and missing was about one hundred men. + +Barely taking time to breathe his troops, Smith followed in pursuit +toward the city. By ten o'clock in the morning he reached San Angel, +which Santa Anna evacuated as he approached. The General-in-Chief and +the generals of division had by this time relieved Smith of his command. +Scott rode to the front, and in a few brief words told the men there was +more work to be done that day. A loud cheer from the ranks was the +reply. The whole force then advanced to Coyacan, within a mile of +Churubusco, and prepared to assault the place. + +Santa Anna considered it the key to the city, and awaited the attack in +perfect confidence with thirty thousand men. The defences were simple. +On the west, in the direction of Coyacan, stood the large stone convent +of San Pablo, which, as well as the wall and breastworks in front, was +filled with infantry, and which contained seven heavy guns. A breastwork +connected San Pablo with the _tête de pont_ over the Churubusco River, +four hundred yards distant. This was the easternmost point of defence, +and formed part of the San Antonio causeway leading to the city. It was +a work constructed with the greatest skill--bastions, curtain, and wet +ditch, everything was complete and perfect--four guns were mounted in +embrasure and barbette, and as many men as the place would hold were +stationed there. The reserves occupied the causeway behind Churubusco. +Independently of his defences, Santa Anna's numbers--nearly five to +one--should have insured the repulse of the assailants. + +By eleven--hardly seven hours having elapsed since the Contreras camp +had been stormed, five miles away--Twiggs and Pillow were in motion +toward the San Antonio causeway. Nothing had been heard of Worth, who +had been directed to move along the east side of the Pedregal on San +Antonio, but it was taken for granted he had carried the point, and +Scott wished to cut off the retreat of the garrison. Twiggs was +advancing cautiously toward the convent when a heavy firing was heard in +advance. Supposing that a reconnoitring party had been attacked, he +hastily sent forward the First Artillery, under Dimmick, through a field +of tall corn, to support them. No sooner had they separated from the +main body than a terrific discharge of grape, canister, and musketry +assailed them from the convent. In the teeth of the storm they advanced +to within one hundred yards of that building, and a light battery under +Taylor was brought up on their right, and opened on the convent. + +More than an hour the gunners stood firm to their pieces under afire as +terrible as troops ever endured; one-third of the command had fallen +before they were withdrawn. Colonel Riley meanwhile, with the stormers +of Contreras, had been despatched to assail San Pablo on the west, and, +like Dimmick, was met by a murderous rain of shot. Whole heads of +companies were mowed down at once. Thus Captain Smith fell, twice +wounded, with every man beside him; and a single discharge from the +Mexican guns swept down Lieutenant Easley and the division he led. It +was the second time that day the gallant Second had served as targets +for the Mexicans, but not a man fell back. General Smith ordered up the +Third in support, and these, protecting themselves as best they could +behind a few huts, kept up a steady fire on the convent. Sallies from +the works were continually made, and as continually repelled, but not a +step could the assailants make in advance. + +By this time the battle was raging at three different points. Worth had +marched on San Antonio that morning, found it evacuated, and given chase +to the Mexicans with the Fifth and Sixth Infantry. The causeway leading +from San Antonio to the _tête de pont_ of Churubusco was thronged with +flying horse and foot; our troops dashed headlong after them, never +halting till the advance corps--the Sixth--were within short range of +the Mexican batteries. A tremendous volley from the _tête de pont_ in +front, and the convent on the flank, then forced them to await the +arrival of the rest of the division. This was the fire which Twiggs +heard when he sent Dimmick against the convent. + +Worth came up almost immediately; and directing the Sixth to advance as +best they could along the causeway in the teeth of the _tête de pont_, +despatched Garland's and Clarke's brigades through the fields on the +right to attack it in flank. Every gun was instantly directed against +the assailants; and though the day was bright and clear, the clouds of +smoke actually darkened the air. Hoffman, waving his sword, cheered on +the Sixth; but the shot tore and ripped up their ranks to such a degree +that in a few minutes they had lost ninety-seven men. The brigades on +the right suffered as severely. One hundred men fell within the space of +an acre. Still they pressed on, till the Eighth (of Clarke's brigade) +reached the ditch. In they plunged, Lieutenant Longstreet bearing the +colors in advance; he scrambled out on the other side, dashed at the +walls without ladders or scaling implements, and bayoneted the defenders +as they took aim. At last, officers and men mixed pell-mell, some +through the embrasures, some over the walls, rushed or leaped in and +drove the garrison helter-skelter upon their reserves. + +The _tête de pont_ gained, its guns were turned on the convent, whence +the Mexicans were still slaughtering our gallant Second and Third. +Duncan's battery, too, hitherto in reserve, was brought up and opened +with such rapidity that a bystander estimated the intervals between the +reports at three seconds! Stunned by this novel attack, the garrison of +San Pablo slackened fire. In an instant the Third, followed by Dimmick's +artillery, dashed forward with the bayonet to storm the nearest bastion. +With a run they carried it, the artillery bursting over the curtain; but +at that moment a dozen white flags waved in their faces. The whole +fortified position of Churubusco was taken. + +Meantime, however, a conflict as deadly as either of these was raging +behind the Mexican fortifications. Soon after the battle commenced, +Scott sent Pierce's and Shields's brigades by the left, through the +fields, to attack the enemy in the rear. On the causeway, opposed to +them, were planted Santa Anna's reserves--four thousand foot and three +thousand horse--in a measure protected by a dense growth of maguey. +Shields advanced intrepidly with his force of sixteen hundred. The +ground was marshy, and for a long distance--having vainly endeavored to +outflank the enemy--his advance was exposed to their whole fire. Morgan, +of the Fifteenth, fell wounded. The New York regiment suffered +fearfully, and their leader, Colonel Burnett, was disabled. The +Palmettos of South Carolina, and the Ninth under Ransom, were as +severely cut up; and after a while all sought shelter in and about a +large barn near the causeway. Shields, in an agony at the failure of his +movement, cried imploringly for volunteers to follow him. + +The appeal was instantly answered by Colonel Butler, of the Palmettos: +"Every South Carolinian will follow you to the death!" The cry was +contagious, and most of the New Yorkers took it up. Forming at angles to +the causeway, Shields led these brave men, under an incessant hail of +shot, against the village of Portales, where the Mexican reserves were +posted. Not a trigger was pulled till they stood at a hundred fifty +yards from the enemy. Then the little band poured in their volley, +fatally answered by the Mexican host. Butler, already wounded, was shot +through the head and died instantly. Calling to the Palmettos to avenge +his death, Shields gives the word to charge. They charge--not four +hundred in all--over the plain and down upon four thousand Mexicans +securely posted under cover. At every step their ranks are thinned. +Dickenson, who succeeded Butler in command of the Palmettos, seizes the +colors as the bearer falls dead; the next moment he is down himself, +mortally wounded, and Major Gladden snatches them from his hand. + +Adams, Moragne, and nearly half the gallant band are prostrate. A very +few minutes more and there will be no one left to bear the glorious +flag. + +But at this very moment a deafening roar is heard in the direction of +the _tête de pont_. Round shot and grape, rifle-balls and canister, come +crashing down the causeway into the Mexican ranks from their own +battery. Worth is there, the gallant fellow, just in time. Down the road +and over the ditch, through the field and hedge and swamp, in tumult and +panic the Mexicans are flying from the bayonets of the Sixth and +Garland's brigade. A shout, louder than the cannon's peal; Worth is on +their heels with his men. Before Shields reaches the causeway he is by +his side driving the Mexican horse into their infantry, and Ayres is +galloping up with a captured Mexican gun. Captain Kearny, with a few +dragoons, dashes past, rides straight into the flying host, scatters +them right and left, sabres all he can reach, and halts before the gate +of Mexico. Not till then does he perceive that he is alone with his +little party, nearly all of whom are wounded; but, despite the hundreds +of _escopetas_ that are levelled at him, he gallops back in safety to +headquarters. + +The sun, which rose that morning on a proud army and a defiant +metropolis, set at even on a shattered, haggard band, and a city full of +woe-stricken wretches who did nothing all night but quake with terror, +and cry, at every noise, "_Aqui viene los Yanquies_!" ("Here come the +Yankees!") All along the causeway, and in the fields and swamps on +either side, heaps of dead men and cattle intermingled with broken +ammunition-carts, marked where the American shot had told. A gory track +leading to the _tête de pont_, groups of dead in the fields on the west +of Churubusco, over whose pale faces some stalks of tattered corn still +waved; red blotches in the marsh next the causeway, where the rich blood +of Carolina and New York soaked the earth, showed where the fire of the +heavy Mexican guns and the countless _escopetas_ of the infantry had +been most murderous. Scott had lost, in that day's work, more than a +thousand men in killed and wounded, seventy-nine of whom were officers. +The Mexican loss, according to Santa Anna, was one-third of his army, +equal probably to ten thousand men, one-fourth of whom were prisoners, +the rest killed and wounded. As the sun went down the troops were +recalled to headquarters; but all night long the battlefield swarmed +with straggling parties seeking some lost comrade in the cold and rain, +and surgeons hurrying from place to place and offering succor to the +wounded. + +It would have been easy for Scott to march on the city that night, or +next morning, and seize it before the Mexicans recovered from the shock +of their defeat. Anxious to shorten the war, and assured that Santa Anna +was desirous of negotiating; warned, moreover, by neutrals and others, +that the hostile occupation of the capital would destroy the last chance +of peaceable accommodation and rouse the Mexican spirit to resistance +all over the country, the American general consented, too generously +perhaps, to offer an armistice to his vanquished foe. It was eagerly +accepted, and negotiations were commenced which lasted over a fortnight. +In the mean time General Scott had the satisfaction of hanging several +of the Irishmen who had deserted to the Mexicans, and, serving as the +battalion of San Patricio, had shot down so many of their old comrades +at Buena Vista and Churubusco. This act of justice was approved by the +army and the nation. Early in September the treachery of the Mexicans +became apparent. No progress had been made in the negotiations; and, in +defiance of the armistice, an American wagon, proceeding to the city for +provisions, had been attacked by the mob and one man killed and others +wounded. Scott wrote to Santa Anna, demanding an apology, and +threatening to terminate the armistice on the 7th if it were not +tendered. The reply was insulting in the extreme; Santa Anna had +repaired his losses and was ready for another fight. + +On the evening of September 7th Worth and his officers were gathered in +his quarters at Tacubaya. On a table lay a hastily sketched map showing +the position of the fortified works at Molino del Rey, with the Casa +Mata on one side and the castle of Chapultepec on the other. The Molino +was occupied by the enemy; there was reason to believe it contained a +foundry in full operation, and Worth had been directed to storm it next +morning. Over that table bent Garland and Clarke, eager to repeat the +glorious deeds of August 20th at the _tête de pont_ of Churubusco; +Duncan and Smith, already veterans; Wright, the leader of the forlorn +hope, joyfully thinking of the morrow; famous Martin Scott, and +dauntless Graham, little dreaming that a few hours would see their livid +corpses stretched upon the plain; fierce old M'Intosh, covered with +scars; Worth himself, his manly brow clouded, and his cheek paled by +sickness and anxiety. Each officer had his place assigned to him in the +conflict; and they parted to seek a few hours' rest. + +At half-past two on the morning of the 8th the division was astir. 'Twas +a bright starlight night whose silence was unbroken as the troops moved +thoughtfully toward the battlefield. In front, on the right, about a +mile from the encampment, the hewn-stone walls of the Molino del Rey--a +range of buildings five hundred yards long, and well adapted for +defence--were distinctly visible, with drowsy lights twinkling through +the windows. A little farther off, on the left, stood the black pile of +the Casa Mata, the arsenal, crenelled for musketry, and surrounded by a +quadrangular field work. Beyond the Casa Mata lay a ravine, and from +this a ditch and hedge ran, passing in front of both works, to the +Tacubaya road. Far on the right the grim old castle of Chapultepec +loomed up darkly against the sky. Sleep wrapped the whole Mexican line, +and but few words were spoken in the American ranks as the troops took +up their respective positions: Garland, with Dunn's battery and Huger's +24-pounders, on the right, against the Molino; Wright, at the head of +the stormers, and followed by the light division under Captain Kirby +Smith, in the centre; M'Intosh, with Duncan's battery, on the left, near +the ravine looking toward the Casa Mata; and Cadwallader, with his +brigade, in reserve. + +Night still overhung the east when the Mexicans were roused from their +slumbers by the roar of Huger's 24-pounders, and the crashing of the +balls through the roof and walls of the Molino. A shout arose within +their lines, spreading from the ravine to the castle; lights flashed in +every direction, bugles sounded, the clank of arms rang from right to +left, and every man girded himself for the fray. With the first ray of +daylight Major Wright advanced with the forlorn hope down the slope. A +few seconds elapsed; then a sheet of flame burst from the batteries, and +round shot, canister, and grape hurtled through the air. "Charge!" +shouted the leader, and down they went, with double-quick step, over the +ditch and hedge, and into the line, sweeping everything before them. The +Mexicans fell from their guns, but soon, seeing the smallness of the +force opposed to them and reassured by the galling fire poured from the +_azoteas_ and Molino on the stormers, they rallied, charged furiously, +and drove our men back into the plain. Here eleven out of the fourteen +officers of Wright's party, and the bulk of his men, fell killed or +wounded. All of the latter who could not fly were bayoneted where they +lay by the Mexicans. + +Captain Walker, of the Sixth, badly shot, was left for dead; he saw the +enemy murdering every man who showed signs of life, but the agony of +thirst was so insupportable that he could not resist raising his canteen +to his lips. A dozen balls instantly tore up the ground around him; +several Mexicans rushed at him with the bayonet, but at that moment the +light division, under Kirby Smith, came charging over the ditch into the +Mexican line and diverted their attention. + +Garland meanwhile moved down rapidly on the right with Dunn's guns, +which were drawn by hand, all the horses having been wounded and become +unmanageable. These soon opened an enfilading fire on the Mexican +battery; and some of the gunners flying, the light division charged, +under a hot fire, and carried the guns for the second time. Their +gallant leader was shot dead in the charge. But the enemy could afford +to lose the battery. From the tops of the _azoteas_, from the Casa Mata +and the Molino, a deadly shower of balls was rained crosswise upon the +assailants. Part of the reserve was brought up; and Dunn's guns and the +Mexican battery were served upon the buildings without much effect at +first. Lieutenant-Colonel Graham led a party of the Eleventh against the +latter; when within pistol-shot a terrific volley assailed him, wounding +him in ten places. The gallant soldier quietly dismounted, pointed with +his sword to the building, cried "Charge!" and sank dead on the field. + +As fiercely raged the battle at the other wing where Duncan and M'Intosh +had driven in the enemy's right toward the Casa Mata. M'Intosh started +to storm that fort, and, in the teeth of a tremendous hail of musketry, +advanced to the ditch, only twenty-five yards from the work. There a +ball knocked him down; it was his luck to be shot or bayoneted in every +battle. Martin Scott took the command, but as he ordered the men forward +he rolled lifeless into the ditch. Major Waite, the next in rank, had +hardly seen him fall before he too was disabled. By whole companies the +men were mowed down by the Mexican shot; but they stood their ground. At +length some one gave the word to fall back, and the remnants of the +brigade obeyed. Many wounded were left on the ground; among others +Lieutenant Burnell, shot in the leg, whom the Mexicans murdered when his +comrades abandoned him. After the battle his body was found, and beside +it his dog, moaning piteously and licking his dead master's face. + +At the head of four thousand cavalry, Alvarez now menaced our left. +Duncan watched them come, driving a cloud of dust before them, till they +were within close range; then opening with his wonderful rapidity, he +shattered whole platoons at a discharge. Worth sent him word to be sure +to keep the lancers in check. "Tell General Worth," was his reply, "to +make himself perfectly easy; I can whip twenty thousand of them." So far +as Alvarez was concerned, he kept his word. + +On the American right the fight had reached a crisis. Mixed confusedly +together, men of all arms furiously attacked the Molino, firing into +every aperture, climbing to the roof, and striving to batter in the +doors and gates with their muskets. The garrison never slackened their +terrible fire for an instant. At length Major Buchanan, of the Fourth, +succeeded in bursting open the southern gate; and almost at the same +moment Anderson and Ayres, of the artillery, forced their way into the +buildings at the northwestern angle. Ayres leaped down alone into a +crowd of Mexicans--he had done the same at Monterey--and fell covered +with wounds. Our men rushed in on both sides, stabbing, firing, and +felling the Mexicans with their muskets. From room to room and house to +house a hand-to-hand encounter was kept up. Here a stalwart Mexican +hurled down man after man as they advanced; there Buchanan and the +Fourth levelled all before them. But the Mexicans never withstood the +cold steel. One by one the defenders escaped by the rear toward +Chapultepec, and those who remained hung out a white flag. Under +Duncan's fire the Casa Mata had been evacuated, and the enemy was +everywhere in full retreat. Twice he rallied and charged the Molino; but +each time the artillery drove him back toward Chapultepec, and parties +of the light infantry pursued him down the road. Before ten in the +morning the whole field was won; and, having blown up the Casa Mata, +Worth, by Scott's order, fell back to Tacubaya. + +With gloomy face and averted eye the gallant soldier received the thanks +of his chief for the exploits of the morning. His heart was with the +brave men he had lost--nearly eight hundred out of less than thirty-five +hundred and among them fifty-eight officers, many of whom were his +dearest friends. All had fallen in advance of their men, with sword in +hand and noble words on their lips. 'Twas a poor price for these to have +stormed Molino del Rey, and cut down nearly a fifth of Santa Anna's +fourteen thousand men. Sadly the General returned to his quarters. + +The end was now close at hand. Reconnoissances were carefully made, and, +the enemy's strength being gathered on the southern front of the city, +General Scott determined to assail Chapultepec on the west. By the +morning of the 12th the batteries were completed, and opened a brisk +fire on the castle, without, however, doing any more serious damage than +annoying the garrison and killing a few men. The fire was kept up all +day; and at night preparations were made for the assault, which was +ordered to be made next morning. + +At daybreak on the 13th the cannonade began again, as well from the +batteries planted against Chapultepec as from Steptoe's guns, which were +served against the southern defences of the city in order to divert the +attention of the enemy. At 8 A.M. the firing from the former ceased, and +the attack commenced. Quitman advanced along the Tacubaya road, Pillow +from the Molino del Rey, which he had occupied on the evening before. +Between the Molino and the castle lay first an open space, then a grove +thickly planted with trees; in the latter, Mexican sharpshooters had +been posted, protected by an intrenchment on the border of the grove. +Pillow sent Lieutenant-Colonel Johnston with a party of _voltigeurs_ to +turn this work by a flank movement; it was handsomely accomplished; and +just as the _voltigeurs_ broke through the redan, Pillow, with the main +body, charged it in front and drove back the Mexicans. The grove gained, +Pillow pressed forward to the front of the rock; for the Mexican shot +from the castle batteries, crashing through the trees, seemed even more +terrible than it really was, and the troops were becoming restless. + +The Mexicans had retreated to a redoubt half way up the hill; the +_voltigeurs_ sprang up from rock to rock, firing as they advanced, and +followed by Hooker, Chase, and others, with parties of infantry. In a +very few minutes the redoubt was gained, the garrison driven up the +hill, and the _voltigeurs_, Ninth, and Fifteenth were in hot pursuit +after them. The firing from the castle was very severe. Colonel Ransom, +of the Ninth, was killed, and Pillow himself was wounded. Still the +troops pressed on till the crest of the hill was gained. There some +moments were lost owing to the delay in the arrival of scaling-ladders, +during which two of Quitman's regiments and Clarke's brigade reenforced +the storming party. When the ladders came, numbers of men rushed forward +with them, leaped into the ditch, and planted them for the assault. + +Lieutenant Selden was the first man to mount. But the Mexicans collected +all their energies for this last moment. A tremendous fire dashed the +foremost of the stormers into the ditch, killing Lieutenants Rogers and +Smith and clearing the ladders. Fresh men instantly manned them, and, +after a brief struggle, Captain Howard, of the _voltigeurs_, gained a +foothold on the parapet. M'Kenzie, of the forlorn hope, followed; and a +crowd of _voltigeurs_ and infantry, shouting and cheering, pressed after +him, and swept down upon the garrison with the bayonet. Almost at the +same moment, Johnston, of the _voltigeurs_, who had led a small party +round to the gate of the castle, broke it open and effected an entrance +in spite of a fierce fire from the southern walls. The two parties +uniting, a deadly conflict ensued within the building. + +Maddened by the recollection of the murder of their wounded comrades at +Molino del Rey, the stormers at first showed no quarter. On every side +the Mexicans were stabbed or shot down without mercy. Many flung +themselves over the parapet and down the hillside and were dashed in +pieces against the rocks. More fought like fiends, expending their +breath in a malediction, and expiring in the act of aiming a treacherous +blow as they lay on the ground. Streams of blood flowed through the +doors of the college, and every room and passage was the theatre of some +deadly struggle. At length the officers succeeded in putting an end to +the carnage; and the remaining Mexicans having surrendered, the Stars +and Stripes were hoisted over the castle of Chapultepec by Major +Seymour. + +Meanwhile Quitman had stormed the batteries on the causeway to the east +of the castle, after a desperate struggle in which Major Twiggs, who +commanded the stormers, was shot dead at the head of his men. The +Mexicans fell back toward the city. General Scott, coming up at this +moment, ordered a simultaneous advance to be made on the city, along the +two roads leading from Chapultepec to the gates of San Cosme and Belen, +respectively. Worth was to command that on San Cosme, Quitman that on +Belen. Both were prepared for defence by barricades, behind which the +enemy were posted in great numbers. Fortunately for the assailants an +aqueduct, supported by arches of solid masonry, ran along the centre of +each causeway. By keeping under cover of these arches, and springing +rapidly from one to another, Smith's rifles and the South Carolina +regiment were enabled to advance close to the first barricade on the +Belen road, and pour in a destructive fire on the gunners. A flank +discharge from Duncan's guns completed the work; the barricade was +carried; and without a moment's rest Quitman advanced in the same manner +on the _garita_ San Belen, which was held by General Torres with a +strong garrison. + +It too was stormed, though under a fearful hail of grape and canister; +and the rifles moved forward toward the citadel. But at this moment +Santa Anna rode furiously down to the point of attack. Boiling with rage +at the success of the invaders, he smote General Torres in the face, +threw a host of infantry into the houses commanding the _garita_ and the +road, ordered the batteries in the citadel to open fire, planted fresh +guns on the Paseo, and infused such spirit into the Mexicans that +Quitman's advance was stopped at once. A terrific storm of shot, shell, +and grape assailed the _garita_, where Captain Dunn had planted an +8-pounder. Twice the gunners were shot down, and fresh men sent to take +their places. Then Dunn himself fell, and immediately afterward +Lieutenant Benjamin and his first sergeant met the same fate. The +riflemen in the arches repelled sallies; but Quitman's position was +precarious, till night terminated the conflict. + +Worth meanwhile had advanced in like manner along the San Cosme +causeway, driving the Mexicans from barricade to barricade, till within +two hundred fifty yards of the _garita_ of San Cosme. There he +encountered as severe a fire as that which stopped Quitman. But Scott +had ordered him to take the _garita_, and take it he would. Throwing +Garland's brigade out to the right and Clarke's to the left, he ordered +them to break into the houses, burst through the walls, and bore their +way to the flanks of the _garita_. The plan had succeeded perfectly at +Monterey, nor did it fail here. Slowly but surely the sappers passed +from house to house, until at sunset they reached the point desired. +Then Worth ordered the attack. Lieutenant Hunt brought up a light gun at +a gallop, and fired it through the embrasure of the enemy's battery, +almost muzzle to muzzle; the infantry at the same moment opened a most +deadly and unexpected fire from the roofs of the houses, and M'Kenzie, +at the head of the stormers, dashed at the battery and carried it almost +without loss. The Mexicans fled precipitately into the city. + +At one that night two parties left the citadel and issued forth from the +city. One was the remnant of the Mexican army, which slunk silently and +noiselessly through the northern gate, and fled to Guadalupe-Hidalgo; +the other was a body of officers who came under a white flag, to propose +terms of capitulation. + +The sun shone brightly on the morning of September 14th. Scores of +neutral flags float from the windows on the Calle de Plateros, and in +their shade beautiful women gaze curiously on the scene beneath. Gayly +dressed groups throng the balconies, and at the street-corners +dark-faced men scowl, mutter deep curses, and clutch their knives. The +street resounds with the heavy tramp of infantry, the rattle of +gun-carriages, and the clatter of horses' hoofs. "_Los Yanquies_!" is +the cry, and every neck is stretched to obtain a glimpse of the six +thousand bemired and begrimed soldiers who are marching proudly to the +Grand Plaza. On him especially is every eye intently fixed, whose +martial form is half concealed by a splendid staff and a squadron of +dragoons, as he rides, with flashing eye and beating heart, to the +National Palace of Mexico. But six months before, Winfield Scott had +landed on the Mexican coast; since then he had stormed the two strongest +places in the country, won four battles in the field against armies +double, treble, and quadruple his own, and marched without reverse from +Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico; losing fewer men, making fewer +mistakes, and creating less devastation, in proportion to his victories, +than any invading general of former times. Well might the Mexicans gaze +upon his face! + + + + +(1847) FAMINE IN IRELAND, Sir Charles Gavan Duffy + + +From the fact that its immediate cause was the almost complete failure +of the potato crop, due to the rot, the great Irish famine is known as +the "potato famine." The crop that suffered so was that of 1845, and the +famine began in the following year and reached its climax in 1847. It is +estimated that by this calamity two hundred thousand persons perished. +Many compensating features in connection with this appalling distress +have been pointed out. Some writers friendly toward Ireland have +declared that the famine proved one of the greatest blessings to the +country; that it hastened free trade, better drainage of the island, and +the passage of the Land Improvement Act; that it relieved the +overcrowded labor market, led to more scientific farming, and in other +ways produced changes that have been of lasting benefit. But though all +this be true, the misfortune itself gave to modern history one of its +most harrowing chapters. + +The population of Ireland in 1845 is supposed to have been nearly nine +millions. The manufactures were small, and the people depended on the +potato crop, and had no other resource in time of scarcity. For several +years the potato yield had been abundant, the country was comparatively +prosperous, and the temperance movement led by Father Mathew promised a +happier future. A great harvest was expected in 1845, but almost at a +single stroke this expectation was blasted; for although the crop was +large the greater part of it was destroyed in the ground, and the +potatoes that were gathered "rotted in pit and storehouse." The farmers +taxed all their means and energies to secure even a larger crop in 1846, +but the blight of that year was even more fatal than the last. To +pinching want was added discouragement, and the people sat in the shadow +of a frightful catastrophe. In vain the British Government was called +upon to give relief through Parliament, until, in the autumn of 1846, +parliamentary authority was obtained to grant baronial loans. But these +and every local endeavor to mitigate the suffering failed, and the +destructive work of the famine continued, the number of victims +increasing, to the end of that fatal year. The horrors of 1846 were more +than equalled by those of the year that followed, and the woful picture +presented by Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, the distinguished Irish patriot, +statesman, and historian, is but too amply justified by the accepted +records of the time. + +The condition of Ireland at the opening of the year 1847 is one of the +most painful chapters in the annals of mankind. An industrious and +hospitable race were in the pangs of a devouring famine. Deaths of +individuals, of husband and wife, of entire families, were becoming +common. The potato-blight had spread from the Atlantic to the Caspian; +but there was more suffering in one parish of Mayo than in all the rest +of Europe. From Connaught, where distress was greatest, came batches of +inquests with the horrible verdict "died of starvation." In some +instances the victims were buried "wrapped in a coarse coverlet," a +coffin being too costly a luxury. The living awaited death with a +listlessness that was at once tragic and revolting. Women with dead +children in their arms were seen begging for a coffin to bury them. + +Béranger has touched a thousand hearts by the picture of _Pauvre +Jacques_, who, when the tax-gatherer came in the King's name, was +discovered dead on his miserable pallet. But at Skibbereen, in the +fruitful County Cork whose seaports were thronged with vessels laden +with corn, cattle, and butter for England, the rate collector told a +more tragic tale. Some houses he found deserted; the owners had been +carried to their graves. In one cabin there was no other occupant than +three corpses; in a once prosperous home a woman and her children had +lain dead and unburied for a week; in the fields a man was discovered so +fearfully mangled by dogs that identification was impossible. The relief +committee of the Society of Friends described the state of the town in +language which it was hard to read with dry eyes. The people were dying +of the unaccustomed food which mocked their prayer for daily bread, and +were carried to the graveyard in a coffin from which the benevolent +strangers who had come to their relief had to drop them, like dead dogs, +that there might be a covering for the next corpse in its turn. + +"This place is one mass of famine, disease, and death. The poor +creatures, hitherto trying to exist on one meal a day, are now sinking +under fever and bowel complaints, unable to come for their soup, which +is not fit for them. Rice is what their whole cry is for, but we cannot +manage this well, nor can we get the food carried to the houses, from +dread of infection. I have got a coffin constructed with movable sides, +to convey the bodies to the churchyard, in calico bags prepared, in +which the remains are wrapped up. I have just sent it to bring the +remains of a poor creature to the grave, who having been turned out of +the only shelter she had, a miserable hut, perished the night before +last in a quarry." + +The people saw the harvest they had reared carried away to another +country without an effort, for the most part, to retain it. The sole +food of the distressed class was Indian-meal, which had paid freight and +storage in England, and had been obtained in exchange for English +manufactures. Under a recent law a peasant who accepted public relief +forfeited his holding, and thousands were ejected under this cruel +provision. But landowners were not content with one process alone; they +closed on the people with ejectments, turned them out on the roads, and +plucked down their rooftrees. In more than one county rents falling due +in November for land that no longer yielded food to the cultivator, were +enforced in January. In the southwest the peasantry had made some +frantic efforts to clutch their harvest and to retaliate for their +sufferings in blind vengeance, but the law carried a sharp sword. Eight +counties, or parts of counties, were proclaimed, and a special +commission, after a brief sitting in Clare and Limerick, left eleven +peasants for the gallows. Chief Justice Blackburn took occasion to note +that "The state of things in 1847 was exactly that described by an act +passed in 1776." The disease was permanent, so were the symptoms. One +well-head of Irish discontent was English prejudice, which refuses to +listen to any complaint till it threatens to become dangerous. + +It was a fearful time for men who loved their country, not only with +deep affection, but with a wise and forecasting interest. A revolution +of the worst type was in progress. Not the present alone, but the +future, was being laid waste. The marvellous reform accomplished by +Father Mathew, the self-reliance which had grown up in the era of +monster meetings, and the moral teachings of Davis and his friends were +being fast swallowed up by this calamity. The youth and manhood of the +middle classes were scrambling for pauper places from the Board of +Works, and the peasants were being transformed into mendicants by +process of law. These calamities, related of a distant and savage tribe, +would move a generous heart; but seeing them befall our own people, the +children of the same mother, and foreseeing all the black, unfathomable +misery they foreshadowed, it was hard to preserve the sober rule of +reason. + +The gentry, who were responsible in the first place for the protection +of the people from whom they drew their income, insisted that the +calamity was an imperial one and ought to be borne out of the exchequer +of the empire. It was an equitable claim. If there was no irresistible +title of brotherhood, at lowest the stronger nation had snatched away +from the weaker the power of helping itself, and still drew away during +this terrible era half a million pounds every month in the shape of +absentee rents. The demand was put aside contemptuously. The claim of +the Nationalists to reënter on the management of their own affairs, +since it was plain England could not manage them successfully, was +treated as sedition. We were proffered, instead of our own resources, +which were ample-- + + "Alms from scornful hands, to hands in chains, + Bitterer to taste than death." + +All the nations of the earth were appealed to and they gave generously; +but the result was far from being proportionate to the need. During the +year 1846 the contributions fell short of two thousand pounds a week. +And it was not forgotten that after the great fire of London, when the +citizens were in deep distress, the Irish contributed twenty thousand +fat cattle for their relief, which at their present value would amount +to a sum greater than England and Europe sent to the aid of Ireland in +1846. + +To lie down and die, like cattle in a murrain, was base. No people are +bound to starve while their soil produces food cultivated by their own +hands. No other people in Europe would have submitted to such a fate. +But the leader whom they were accustomed to follow had involved himself +in a tangle of false doctrines by his unhappy "Peace Resolutions," and +he exhorted them to endure all with patience and submission. His son had +the amazing assurance to add that if they starved with complete +resignation the repeal of the union was near at hand. + +On the relief committees, doctors, clergymen, and country gentlemen bore +the burden of the work, but a multitude of the gentry stood apart as if +the transaction did not concern them. They were busy in transferring the +harvest to England or clearing the population off their estates. The +English officials in Ireland accused them of jobbing in public works, or +quartering their relations and dependents on the Relief Fund, as +overseers, and, in some extreme cases, of obtaining grants for their own +families of money designed for the suffering poor on their estates. The +benevolence of the minority could not counterbalance these odious +offences, and deadly hatred was sown, which has since borne an abundant +harvest. + +The state of the country grew worse from day to day. It is difficult now +to realize the condition of the western population in the autumn of +1847; but a witness of unexceptionable impartiality has painted it in +permanent colors. A young Englishman representing the Society of +Friends, who in that tragic time did work worthy of the Good Samaritan, +reported what he saw in Mayo and Galway in language which for plain +vigor rivals the narratives of Defoe. This is what he saw in Westport: + +"The town of Westport was in itself a strange and fearful sight, like +what we read of in beleaguered cities; its streets crowded with gaunt +wanderers, sauntering to and fro with hopeless air and hunger-stricken +look; a mob of starved, almost naked women around the poorhouse +clamoring for soup tickets; our inn, the headquarters of the +road-engineer and pay-clerks, beset by a crowd begging for work." + +As he approached Galway, the rural population were found to be in a more +miserable condition: "Some of the women and children that we saw on the +road were abject cases of poverty and almost naked. The few rags they +had on were with the greatest difficulty held together, and in a few +weeks, as they are utterly unable to provide themselves with fresh +clothes unless they be given them, they must become absolutely naked." +And in another district: "As we went along our wonder was not that the +people died, but that they lived; and I have no doubt whatever that in +any other country the mortality would have been far greater; that many +lives have been prolonged, perhaps saved, by the long apprenticeship to +want in which the Irish peasant has been trained, and by that lovely, +touching charity which prompts him to share his scanty meal with his +starving neighbor." + +The fishermen of the Cladagh, who were induced to send the Whig +Attorney-General to Parliament a few months before, had to pledge the +implements of their calling for a little daily bread. "Even the very +nets and tackle of these poor fishermen, I heard, were pawned, and, +unless they be assisted to redeem them, they will be unable to take +advantage of the herring shoals, even when they approach their coast. In +order to ascertain the truth of this statement, I went into two or three +of the largest pawnshops, the owners of which fully confirmed it and +said they had in pledge at least a thousand pounds' worth of such +property and saw no likelihood of its being redeemed." + +In a rural district which he revisited after an interval, he paints a +scene which can scarcely be matched in the annals of a mediaeval plague: +"One poor woman whose cabin I visited said, 'There will be nothing for +us but to lie down and die.' I tried to give her hope of English aid, +but alas! her prophecy has been too true. Out of a population of two +hundred forty I found thirteen already dead from want. The survivors +were like walking skeletons; the men gaunt and haggard, stamped with the +livid mark of hunger; the children crying with pain; the women in some +of the cabins too weak to stand. When there before I had seen cows at +almost every cabin, and there were besides many sheep and pigs owned in +the village. But now all the sheep were gone, all the cows, all the +poultry killed, only one pig left; the very dogs which had barked at me +before had disappeared; no potatoes; no oats." + +The young man pointed the moral, which these horrible spectacles +suggested, with laudable courage: "I would not now discuss the causes of +this condition, nor attempt to apportion blame to its authors; but of +this one fact there can be no question: that the result of our social +system is that vast numbers of our fellow-countrymen--of the peasantry +of one of the richest nations the world ever knew--have not leave to +live. Surely such a social result as this is not only a national +misfortune but a national sin crying loudly to every Christian citizen +to do his utmost to remove it. No one of us can have a right to enjoy +either riches or repose until to the extent of his ability he strive to +wash himself of all share in the guilt of this fearful inequality, which +will be a blot in the history of our country and make her a byword among +the nations." + +The weekly returns of the dead were like the bulletins of a fierce +campaign. As the end of the year approached, villages and rural +districts, which had been prosperous and populous a year before, were +desolate. In some places the loss amounted to half the resident +population. Even the poorhouses shut up, and paupers did not escape. +More than one in six perished of the unaccustomed food. The people did +not everywhere consent to die patiently. In Armagh and Down groups of +men went from house to house in the rural districts and insisted on +being fed. In Tipperary and Waterford corn stores and bakers' shops were +sacked. In Donegal the people seized upon a flour-mill and pillaged it. +In Limerick five thousand men assembled on Tory Hill and declared that +they would not starve. A local clergyman restrained them by the promise +of speedy relief. "If the Government did not act promptly, he himself +would show them where food could be had." In a few cases crops were +carried away from farms. + +The offences which spring from suffering and fear were heard of in many +districts, but they were encountered with instant resistance. There were +thirty thousand men in red jackets, carefully fed, clothed, and lodged, +ready to maintain the law. Four prisoners were convicted at the Galway +assizes of stealing a filly, which they killed and ate to preserve their +own lives. In Enniskillen two boys under twelve years of age were +convicted of stealing one pint of Indian-meal cooked into "stirabout," +and Chief Justice Blackburn vindicated the outraged law by transporting +them for seven years. Other children committed larcenies that they might +be sent to jail where there was still daily bread to be had. In Mayo the +people were eating carrion wherever it could be procured, and the +coroner could not keep pace with the inquests; for the law sometimes +spent more to ascertain the cause of a pauper's death than would suffice +to preserve his life. + +The social disorganization was a spectacle as afflicting as the waste of +life; it was the waste of whatever makes life worth possessing. All the +institutions which civilize and elevate the people were disappearing, +one after another. The churches were half empty; the temperance +reading-rooms were shut up; the Mechanics' Institute no longer got +support; only the jails and the poorhouses were crowded. A new +generation, born in disease and reared in destitution, pitiless and +imbecile, threatened to drag down the nation to hopeless slavery. Trade +was paralyzed; no one bought anything which was not indispensable at the +hour. The loss of the farmers in potatoes was estimated at more than +twenty millions sterling; and with the potatoes the pigs, which fed on +them, disappeared. The seed, procured at a high price in spring, again +failed; time, money, and labor were lost, and another year of famine was +certain. All who depended on the farmer had sunk with him; shopkeepers +were beggared; tradesmen were starving; the priests living on voluntary +offerings were sometimes in fearful distress when the people had no +longer anything to offer. + +The poor-rate was quite inadequate to support the burden thrown upon it +by the suspension of public works, but there was another claim upon it +which could not wait. When the elections were over and the Government +majority secure, the Treasury called on the poor-law guardians to levy +immediately a special rate for the repayment of a million and a quarter +lent by the State in a previous year. They were warned that, if they +refused, their boards would be dissolved and the rates levied by the +authority of the Commissioners. The guardians in many districts declared +that an additional rate could not be collected. All that could be got +would be too little to support the distressed class. But the Treasury +would listen to no excuse, and a dozen boards were dissolved and paid +guardians put in their place. The Treasury had lent seven millions +sterling in 1846; five millions of it had been spent in making roads +which were not needed nor desired, and one million was diverted from the +wages fund to purchase land for this experiment. The aid which the +stronger country proposed to give to the weaker, from the Treasury to +which both contributed, was the remission of one-third of this debt. A +blunder in foreign policy, the escapade of an ambitious minister in +India or Africa, has cost the British taxpayer more in a month than he +spent to save millions of fellow-subjects beyond the Irish Sea. + +When the increased mortality was pressed on the attention of the +Government, Lord John Russell replied that the owners of property in +Ireland ought to support the poor born on their estates. It was a +perfectly just proposition if the ratepayers were empowered to determine +the object and method of the expenditure; but prohibiting productive +work, and forcing them to turn strong men into paupers and keep them +sweltering in workhouses instead of laboring to reclaim the waste +lands--this was not justice. The _Times_, commenting on the new policy, +declared that Ireland was as well able to help herself as France or +Belgium, and that the whole earth was doing duty for inhuman Irish +landlords. An unanswerable case, if Ireland, like France and Belgium, +had the power of collecting and applying her own revenue; otherwise not +difficult to answer. + +The people fled before the famine to England, America, and the British +colonies. They carried with them the seed of disease and death. In +England a bishop and more than twenty priests died of typhus, caught in +attendance on the sick and dying. The English people clamored against +such an infliction, which it cannot be denied would be altogether +intolerable if these fugitives were not made exiles and paupers by +English law. They were ordered home again, that they might be supported +on the resources of their own country; for though we had no country for +the purpose of self-government and self-protection, we were acknowledged +to have a country when the necessity of bearing burdens arose. + +More than a hundred thousand souls fled to the United States and Canada. +The United States maintained sanitary regulations on shipboard which +were effectual to a certain extent. But the emigration to Canada was +left to the individual greed of shipowners, and the emigrant-ships +rivalled the cabins of Mayo or the fever-sheds of Skibbereen. Crowded +and filthy, carrying double the legal number of passengers, who were +ill-fed and imperfectly clothed, and having no doctor on board, the +holds, says an eyewitness, were like the Black Hole of Calcutta, and +deaths occurred in myriads. The survivors, on their arrival in the new +country, continued to die and to scatter death around them. + +At Montreal, during nine weeks, eight hundred emigrants perished, and +over nine hundred residents died of diseases caught from emigrants. +During six months the deaths of the new arrivals exceeded three +thousand. No preparations were made by the British Government for the +reception or the employment of these helpless multitudes. The _Times_ +pronounced the neglect to be an eternal disgrace to the British name. +Ships carrying German emigrants and English emigrants arrived in Canada +at the same time in a perfectly healthy state. The Chief Secretary for +Ireland was able to inform the House of Commons that of a hundred +thousand Irishmen who fled to Canada in a year, six thousand one hundred +perished on the voyage, four thousand one hundred on their arrival, five +thousand two hundred in the hospitals, and one thousand nine hundred in +the towns to which they repaired. The Emigrant Society of Montreal +paints the result during the whole period of the famine in language not +easily to be forgotten: + +"From Grosse Island up to Port Sarnia, along the borders of our great +river, on the shores of Lakes Ontario and Erie, wherever the tide of +immigration has extended are to be found one unbroken chain of graves +where repose fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, in a commingled +heap--no stone marking the spot. Twenty thousand and upward have gone +down to their graves!" + +This was the fate which was befalling our race at home and abroad as the +year 1847 closed. There were not many of us who would not have given our +lives cheerfully to arrest this ruin, if we could only see a possible +way--but no way was visible. + + + + +(1848) MIGRATIONS OF THE MORMONS, Thomas L. Kane + + +Among the numerous religious bodies that have grown up in the United +States, the sect of Mormons, officially called "The Church of Jesus +Christ of Latter-day Saints," is perhaps the most unique in its origin +and organization, and the most singular in its history. The sect was +founded in 1830 by Joseph Smith, of Vermont. He declared that he had +discovered one of its authoritative writings, the _Book of Mormon_, at +Cumorah, New York. This book, he said, was found by him buried in the +earth at a place revealed to him by an angel. According to the Mormons, +the book, written in mystic characters on golden plates, is a record of +certain ancient people---"the long-lost tribes of Israel," Smith +declared--inhabiting North America. This book is said to have been +abridged by the prophet Mormon, and translated by Smith. By anti-Mormons +it is supposed to be based on a manuscript romance written by Solomon +Spaulding. + +The Mormon Church is governed by a hierarchy with two orders of +priesthood, a president, two counsellors, twelve apostles, and elders +and other officers. Peculiar as their polity appears, it has proved +remarkably successful in the development of their church and community, +notwithstanding stern hostility and widespread disapproval. They present +an impressive example of shrewdness, thrift, and administrative skill, +resulting in great material prosperity. Besides their separate books, +they accept the Bible as authoritative, and many of their doctrines and +rites resemble those common to the Christian sects. More than anything +else, their teaching and their practice of polygamy have brought them +into collision with "Gentiles" and with the United States Government. + +The first Mormon settlement was at Kirtland, Ohio, the next was in +Missouri. From those States they were expelled, and in 1840 they founded +Nauvoo in Illinois. Their later experience, up to their permanent +establishment in Utah, is recounted in the following narrative of the +hardships endured and surmounted by this extraordinary people. But it +should be added that the cause of the exodus was not, as is generally +supposed, religious persecution. The leaders of the sect at Nauvoo had +set up a bank without capital and passed thousands of its worthless +notes upon the unsuspecting farmers and traders; and it was this and +other crimes that exasperated the inhabitants of that region to the +point of driving away the whole community of Mormons. + +Once, while ascending the upper Mississippi in the autumn, when its +waters were low, I was compelled to travel by land past the region of +the rapids. My road lay through the "Half-Breed Tract," a fine section +of Iowa, which the unsettled state of its land titles had appropriated +as a sanctuary for coiners, horse thieves, and other outlaws. I had left +my steamer at Keokuk, at the foot of the Lower Fall, to hire a carriage, +and to contend for some fragments of a dirty meal with the swarming +flies, the only scavengers of the locality. From this place to where the +deep water of the river returns, my eye wearied to see everywhere +sordid, vagabond, and idle settlers, and a country marred, without being +improved, by their careless hands. + +I was descending the last hillside upon my journey, when a landscape in +delightful contrast broke upon my view. Half encircled by a bend of the +river, a beautiful city lay glittering in the fresh morning sun; its +bright new dwellings set in cool green gardens ranging up around a +stately dome-shaped hill which was crowned by a noble marble edifice +whose high tapering spire was radiant with white and gold. The city +appeared to cover several miles; and beyond it, in the background, +spread a fair rolling country, checkered by symmetrical lines of +fruitful husbandry. The unmistakable evidences of industry, enterprise, +and educated wealth, everywhere, made the scene one of singular and most +striking beauty. + +It was a natural impulse to visit this inviting region. I procured a +skiff and rowing across the river landed at the principal wharf of the +city. No one met me there. I looked, and saw no one: I heard no +movement: though the stillness everywhere was such that I heard the +flies buzz, and the ripples break against the shallows of the beach. I +walked through the solitary streets. The town lay as in a dream, under +some deadening spell of loneliness from which I almost feared to wake +it. Plainly it had not slept long. There was no grass growing in the +paved ways and rain had not washed away the prints of footsteps in the +dust. Yet I went about unchecked. I went into empty ropewalks, +workshops, and smithies. The spinner's wheel was idle; the carpenter had +gone from his workbench and left his sash and casing unfinished. Fresh +bark was in the tanner's vat, and the fresh chopped lightwood stood +piled against the baker's oven. The blacksmith's shop was cold; but his +coal-heap and ladling-pool and crooked water-horn were all there, as if +he had just gone off for a holiday. No workpeople, anywhere, looked to +know my errand. If I went into the gardens, clinking the wicket latch +loudly after me, to pull the marigolds, heartsease, and lady's-slippers, +and draw a drink with the water-sodden well-bucket and its noisy chain; +or, knocking off with my stick the tall, heavy-headed dahlias and +sunflowers, hunting among the beds for cucumbers and love-apples--no one +called out to me from any opened window; no dog sprang forward to bark +an alarm. I could have supposed the people hidden in the houses, but the +doors were unfastened; and when at last I timidly entered, I found dead +ashes cold upon the hearth, and had to tread on tiptoe, as if walking +down the aisle of a country church, to avoid rousing irreverent echoes +from the naked floors. + +On the outskirts of the town was the city graveyard. But there was no +record of plague there, nor did it in any wise differ much from other +Protestant American cemeteries. Some of the mounds were not long sodded; +some of the stones were newly set, their dates recent, and their black +inscriptions glossy in the hardly dried lettering-ink. Beyond the +graveyard, out in the fields, I saw, in one spot hard by where the +fruited boughs of a young orchard had been torn down, the still +smoldering embers of a barbecue fire that had been constructed of rails +from the fencing around it. It was the latest sign of life there. Fields +upon fields of heavy-headed grain lay rotting ungathered upon the +ground. No one was at hand to take in their rich harvest. As far as the +eye could reach, they stretched away--they, sleeping too in the hazy air +of autumn. + +Only two portions of the city seemed to suggest the import of this +mysterious solitude. In the southern suburb the houses looking out upon +the country showed, by their splintered woodwork and walls battered to +the foundation, that they had lately been the mark of a destructive +cannonade. And in and around the splendid temple, which had been the +chief object of my admiration, armed men were barracked, surrounded by +their stacks of musketry and pieces of heavy ordnance. These challenged +me to render an account of myself, and to tell the reason why I had had +the temerity to cross the water without a written permit from a leader +of their band. + +Though these men were generally more or less under the influence of +ardent spirits, after I had explained myself as a passing stranger they +seemed anxious to gain my good opinion. They told me the story of the +"dead city": that it had been a notable manufacturing and commercial +mart, sheltering over twenty thousand persons; that they had waged war +with its inhabitants for several years, and had been finally successful +only a few days before my visit, in an action fought in the ruined +suburb; after which, they had driven them forth at the point of the +sword. The defence, they said, had been obstinate, but gave way on the +third day's bombardment. + +They also conducted me inside the massive sculptured walls of the +curious temple, in which they said the banished inhabitants were +accustomed to celebrate the mystic rites of an unhallowed worship. They +particularly pointed out to me certain features of the building, which, +having been the peculiar objects of a former superstitious regard, they +had as matter of duty sedulously defiled and defaced. The reputed sites +of certain shrines they had thus particularly noticed, and various +sheltered chambers, in one of which was a deep well constructed, they +believed, with a dreadful design. Besides these, they led me to see a +large and deeply chiselled marble vase, or basin, supported upon twelve +oxen, also of marble and of life size, and of which they told some +romantic stories. They said the deluded persons, most of whom were +emigrants from a great distance, believed their deity countenanced their +reception here of a baptism of regeneration as proxies for whomsoever +they held in warm affection in the countries from which they had come: +that here parents "went into the water" for their lost children, +children for their parents, widows for their spouses, and young persons +for their lovers: that thus the great vase came to be associated with +all their most cherished memories, and was therefore the chief object of +all others in the building, upon which they bestowed the greatest degree +of their idolatrous affection. On this account, the victors had so +diligently desecrated it as to render the apartment in which it was +contained too noisome to abide in. + +They permitted me also to ascend into the steeple to see where it had +been struck by lightning on the Sabbath before; and to look out, east +and south, on wasted farms--like those I had seen near the +city--extending till they were lost in the distance. Close to the scar +left by the thunderbolt were fragments of food, cruses of liquor and +broken drinking-vessels, with a bass-drum and a steamboat signal-bell, +of which, with pain, I learned the use. + +It was after nightfall when I was ready to cross the river on my return. +The wind had freshened since sunset and, the water beating roughly into +my little boat, I headed higher up the stream than the point I had left +in the morning, and landed where a faint glimmering light invited me to +steer. Among the rushes--sheltered only by the darkness, without roof +between them and the sky--I came upon a crowd of several hundred human +creatures whom my movements roused from uneasy slumber. + +Dreadful indeed was the suffering of these forsaken beings. Cowed and +cramped by cold and sunburn alternating as each weary day and night +dragged on, they were, almost all of them, the crippled victims of +disease. They were there because they had no homes, nor hospital, nor +poorhouse, nor friends to offer them any. They could not minister to the +needs of their sick; they had no bread to quiet the fractious, hungry +cries of their children. Mothers and babes, daughters and grandparents, +all alike were clothed in tatters, lacking even sufficient covering for +the fever-stricken sufferers. + +These were the Mormons, famishing, in Lee County, Iowa, in the fourth +week of the month of September, 1846. The deserted city was Nauvoo, +Illinois. The Mormons were the owners of that city and the smiling +country around it. And those who had stopped their ploughs, who had +silenced their hammers, their axes, their shuttles and the wheels of +their workshops; those who had put out their fires, who had eaten their +food, spoiled their orchards, and trampled under foot their thousands of +acres of unharvested grain--these were the keepers of their dwellings, +the carousers in their temple, the noise of whose drunken rioting +insulted the ears of the dying. + +They were, all told, not more than six hundred forty persons who were +thus lying on the river-flats. But the Mormons in Nauvoo and its +environs had been numbered the year before at over twenty thousand. +Where were they? They had last been seen, carrying in mournful trains +their sick and wounded, halt and blind, to disappear behind the western +horizon, pursuing the phantom of another home. Hardly anything else was +known of them; and people asked with curiosity, "What had been their +fate--what their fortunes?" + +The party encountered by me at the river shore were the last of the +Mormons that left the city. They had all of them engaged the year before +that they would vacate their homes and seek some other place of refuge. +It had been the condition of a truce between them and their assailants; +and, as an earnest of their good faith, the chief elders, and some +others of obnoxious standing, with their families, were to set out for +the West in the spring of 1846. It had been stipulated in return that +the rest of the Mormons might remain behind, in the peaceful enjoyment +of their Illinois abode, until their leaders, with their exploring +party, could, with all diligence, select for them a new place of +settlement beyond the Rocky Mountains, in California, or elsewhere, and +until they had opportunity to dispose to the best advantage of the +property which they were then to leave. + +Some renewed symptoms of hostile feeling had however determined the +pioneer party to begin their work before the spring. It was of course +anticipated that this would be a perilous service; but it was regarded +as a matter of self-denying duty. The ardor and emulation of many, +particularly the devout and the young, were stimulated by the +difficulties it involved; and the ranks of the party were therefore +filled up with volunteers from among the most effective and responsible +members of the sect. They began their march in midwinter; and by the +beginning of February nearly all of them were on the road, many of their +wagons having crossed the Mississippi on the ice. + +Under the most favoring circumstances, an expedition of this sort, +undertaken at such a season of the year, could scarcely fail to be +disastrous. But the pioneer company had to set out in haste, and were +very imperfectly supplied with necessaries. The cold was intense. They +moved in the teeth of keen-edged northwest winds, such as sweep down the +Iowa peninsula from the icebound regions of the timber-shaded Slave Lake +and Lake of the Woods. Along the scattered watercourses, where they +broke the thick ice to give their cattle drink, the annual autumn fires +had left but little firewood. To men, insufficiently furnished with +tents and other appliances of shelter, wood was almost a necessary of +life. After days of fatigue their nights were often passed in restless +efforts to prevent themselves from freezing. Their stock of food also +proved inadequate; and as their constitutions became more debilitated +their suffering from cold increased. Afflicted with catarrhal +affections, manacled by the fetters of dreadfully acute rheumatism, some +contrived for a while to get over the shortening day's march and drag +along some others. But the sign of an impaired circulation soon began to +show itself in the liability of all to be dreadfully frost-bitten. The +hardiest and strongest became helplessly crippled. About the same time +the strength of their draught animals began to fail. The small supply of +provender they could carry with them had given out. The winter-bleached +prairie straw proved devoid of nourishment; and they could only keep +them from starving by seeking for the "browse," as it is called, this +being the green bark and tender buds and branches of the cottonwood and +other stunted growths in the hollows. + +To return to Nauvoo was apparently the only escape; but this would have +been to give occasion for fresh mistrust and so to bring new trouble to +those they had left there behind them. They resolved at least to hold +their ground, and to advance as they might, were it only by limping +through the deep snows a few slow miles a day. They found a sort of +comfort in comparing themselves to the exiles of Siberia, and sought +consolation in earnest prayers for the spring. + +The spring came at last. It overtook them in the Sac and Fox country, +still on the naked prairie, not yet half way over the trail they were +following between the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. But it brought +its own share of troubles with it. The months with which it opened +proved nearly as trying as the worst of winter. + +The snow and sleet and rain which fell, as it appeared to them, without +intermission, made the road over the rich prairie soil as impassable as +one vast bog of heavy black mud. Sometimes they would fasten the horses +and oxen of four or five wagons to one, and attempt to get ahead in this +way, taking turns; but at the close of a day of hard toil for themselves +and their cattle, they would find themselves a quarter or a half a mile +from the place they left in the morning. The heavy rains raised all the +watercourses; the most trifling streams were impassable. Wood, fit for +bridging, was often not to be had, and in such cases the only resource +was to halt for the freshets to subside--a matter in the case of the +headwaters of the Chariton, for instance, of over three weeks' delay. + +These were dreary waitings upon Providence. The most spirited and sturdy +murmured most at their forced inactivity. And even the women, whose +heroic spirits had been proof against the severest cold, confessed their +tempers fluctuated with the ceaseless variations of the barometer. They +complained too that the health of their children suffered more. It was +the fact that the damp winds of March and April brought with them more +mortal sickness than the sharpest freezing weather. + +The frequent burials discouraged and depressed the hardiest spirits; but +the general hopefulness of human nature was well illustrated by the fact +that even the most provident were found unfurnished with burial +necessaries, and as a result they were often driven to the most +melancholy makeshifts. + +The usual expedient adopted was to cut a log of some eight or nine feet +long, and slitting the bark longitudinally, strip it off in two +half-cylinders. These, placed around the body of the deceased and bound +firmly together with withs made of alburnum, formed a rough sort of +tubular coffin, which surviving relatives and friends, with a little +show of black crape, could follow to the hole or bit of ditch dug to +receive it in the wet ground of the prairie. The name of the deceased, +his age, the date of his death, and the surrounding landmarks were all +registered with care. His party was then ready to move on. Such graves +mark all the line of the first years of Mormon travel--dispiriting +milestones to failing stragglers in the rear. + +The hardships and trials which they had suffered developed a spirit of +self-sacrifice among these indomitable people. Hale young men gave up +their own food and shelter to the old and helpless, and worked their way +back to parts of the frontier States, chiefly Missouri and Iowa where +they were not recognized, and hired themselves out for wages, to +purchase more. Others were sent there to exchange for meal and flour, or +wheat and corn, the table-and bed-furniture and other remaining articles +of personal property which a few had still retained. + +In a kindred spirit of fraternity, others laid out great farms in the +wilds and planted the grain saved for their own bread; that there might +be harvests for those who should follow them. Two of these, in the Sac +and Fox country and beyond it, Garden Grove and Mount Pisgah, included +within their fences about two miles of land each, carefully planted with +grain, with a hamlet of comfortable log cabins in the neighborhood of +each. + +Through all this the pioneers found comfort in the thought that their +own suffering was the price of immunity from similar hardships their +friends at home, in following their trail, would otherwise have had to +pay. But the arrival of spring proved this a delusion. Before the warm +weather had made the earth dry enough for easy travel, messengers came +in from Nauvoo to overtake the party with fear-exaggerated tales of +outrage, and to urge the chief men to hurry back to the city that they +might give counsel and assistance there. The enemy had only waited until +the emigrants were supposed to be gone on their road too far to return +to interfere with them, and then renewed their aggressions. + +The Mormons outside Nauvoo were indeed hard pressed, but inside the city +they maintained themselves very well for two or three months longer. +Strange to say, the chief part of this respite was devoted to completing +the structure of their quaintly devised but beautiful temple. Since the +dispersion of Jewry, probably, history affords us no parallel to the +attachment of the Mormons for this edifice. Every architectural element, +every most fantastic emblem it embodied, was associated, for them, with +some cherished feature of their religion. Its erection had been enjoined +upon them as a most sacred duty: they were proud of the honor it +conferred upon their city, when it grew up in its splendor to become the +chief object of the admiration of strangers upon the upper Mississippi. +Besides, they had built it as a labor of love; they could count up to +half a million the value of their tithings and freewill offerings laid +upon it. Hardly a Mormon woman had not given up to it some trinket or +pin-money; the poorest Mormon man had at least served the tenth part of +his year on its walls; and the coarsest artisan could turn to it with +something of the ennobling attachment an artist has for his own +creation. + +Therefore, though their enemies drove on them ruthlessly, they succeeded +in parrying the last sword-thrust, till they had completed even the +gilding of the angel and trumpet on the summit of its lofty spire. As a +closing work, they placed on the entablature of the front, like a +baptismal mark on the forehead, these words: + + THE HOUSE OF THE LORD: + + BUILT BY THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS. + + HOLINESS TO THE LORD! + +Then, at high noon, under the bright sunshine of May, the next after its +completion, they consecrated it to divine service. There was a carefully +studied ceremonial for the occasion. It was said the high elders of the +sect travelled furtively from the camp of Israel in the wilderness, and, +throwing off ingenious disguises, appeared in their own robes of office +to give it splendor. + +For that one day the temple stood resplendent in all its typical glories +of sun, moon and stars, and other abounding figured and lettered signs, +hieroglyphs, and symbols; but that day only. The sacred rites of +consecration ended, the work of removing the _sacrosancta_ proceeded +with the rapidity of magic. It went on through the night, and when the +morning of the next day dawned all the ornaments and furniture, +everything that could provoke a sneer, had been carried off; and except +some fixtures that would not bear removal, the building was dismantled. + +This day saw the departure of the last of the elders, and the largest +band that moved in one company together. The people of Iowa have told me +that from morning to night they passed westward like an endless +procession. They did not seem greatly out of heart, they said; but, at +the top of every hill, before they disappeared, they were to be seen +looking back, like banished Moors, on their abandoned homes and the +distant temple and its glittering spire. + +After this consecration, which was construed to indicate an insincerity +on the part of the Mormons as to their stipulated departure, or at least +a hope of return, their foes set upon them with renewed bitterness. As +many fled as were at all prepared; but by the very fact of their so +decreasing the already diminished forces of the city's defenders, they +encouraged the enemy to greater boldness. It soon became apparent that +nothing short of an immediate emigration could save the remnant. + +From this time onward the energies of those already on the road were +engrossed by the duty of providing for the fugitives who came crowding +in after them. At a last general meeting of the sect in Nauvoo, there +had been passed a unanimous resolution that they would sustain one +another, whatever their circumstances, upon the march; and this, though +made in view of no such appalling exigency, they now with one accord set +themselves together to carry out. + +The host again moved on. The tents which had gathered on the hill +summits, like white birds hesitating to venture on the long flight over +the river, were struck one after another, and the dwellers in them and +their wagons and their cattle hastened down to cross it at a ferry in +the valley, which they made by night and day. A little beyond the +landing they formed their companies and made their preparations for the +last and longest stage of their journey. + +Though the season was late, when they first crossed the Missouri, some +of them moved forward with great hopefulness, full of the notion of +viewing and choosing their new homes that year. But the van had only +reached Grand Island and the Pawnee villages, when they were overtaken +by more ill news from Nauvoo. Before the summer closed, their enemies +set upon the last remnant of those who were left behind in Illinois. +They were a few lingerers, who could not be persuaded but there might +yet be time for them to gather up their worldly goods before removing. +Some weakly mothers and their infants, a few delicate young girls, and +many cripples and bereaved and sick people--these had remained under +shelter, according to the Mormon statement at least, by virtue of an +express covenant in their behalf. If there was such a covenant, it was +broken. A vindictive war was waged upon them, from which the weakest +fled in scattered parties, leaving the rest to make a reluctant and +almost ludicrously unavailing defence, till September 17th, when one +thousand six hundred twenty-five troops entered Nauvoo and drove all +forth who had not retreated before that time. + +Like the wounded birds of a flock fired into toward nightfall, they came +straggling on with faltering steps, many of them without bag or baggage, +beast or barrow, all asking shelter or burial, and forcing a fresh +repartition of the already divided rations of their friends. It was +plain now that every energy must be taxed to prevent the entire +expedition from perishing. Further emigration for the time was out of +the question, and the whole people prepared themselves for encountering +another winter on the prairie. + +Happily for the main body, they found themselves at this juncture among +Indians who were amicably disposed. The lands on both sides of the +Missouri in particular were owned by the Pottawottomis and Omahas, two +tribes whom unjust treatment by our United States Government had the +effect of rendering most hospitable to strangers whom they regarded as +persecuted like themselves. + +They were pleased with the Mormons. They would have been pleased with +any whites who would not cheat them, nor sell them whiskey, nor whip +them for their poor gypsy habits, nor conduct themselves indecently +toward their women, many of whom among the Pottawottomis--especially +those of nearly unmixed French descent--are singularly comely, and some +of them educated. But all Indians have something like a sentiment of +reverence for the insane, and admire those who sacrifice, without +apparent motive, their worldly welfare to the triumph of an idea. They +understand the meaning of what they call a great vow, and think it the +duty of the right-minded to lighten the votary's penance under it. To +this feeling they united the sympathy of fellow-sufferers for those who +could talk to them of their own Illinois, and tell the story of how they +also had been ruthlessly expelled from it. + +Their hospitality was sincere, almost delicate. Fanny le Clerc, the +spoiled child of the great brave Pied Riche, interpreter of the nation, +would have the paleface Miss Devine learn duets with her on the guitar; +and the daughter of substantial Joseph la Framboise, the United States +interpreter for the tribe (she died of the fever that summer) welcomed +all the nicest young Mormon women to a party at her father's house, +which was probably the best cabin in that village. They made the Mormons +at home, there and elsewhere. Upon all their lands they formally gave +them leave to remain as long as suited their own good pleasure. + +The affair, of course, furnished material for a solemn council. Under +the auspices of an officer of the United States their chiefs were +summoned, in the form befitting great occasions, to meet in the yard of +a Mr. P.A. Sarpy's log trading-house. They came in grand costume, moving +in their fantastic attire with so much _aplomb_ and genteel measure that +the stranger found it difficult not to believe them high-born gentlemen, +attending a fancy-dress ball. Their aristocratically thin legs, of which +they displayed fully the usual Indian proportion, aided this illusion. +There is something too at all times very mock-Indian in the theatrical +French millinery tie of the Pottawottomi turban; while it is next to +impossible for a sober white man, at first sight, to believe that the +red, green, black, blue, and yellow cosmetics, with which he sees such +grave personages so variously dotted, diapered, cancelled, and +arabesqued are worn by them in any mood but one of the deepest and most +desperate quizzing. From the time of their first squat upon the ground +to the final breaking up of the council circle they sustained their +characters with equal self-possession and address. + +I will not take it upon myself to describe their order of ceremonies; +indeed, I ought not, since I have never been able to view the habits and +customs of our aborigines in any other light than that of a sorrowful +subject of jest. Besides, in this instance, the powwow and the expected +flow of turgid eloquence were both moderated probably by the conduct of +the entire transaction on temperance principles. I therefore content +myself with observing generally that the proceedings were such as in +every way became the dignity of the parties interested, and the +magnitude of the interests involved. When the red men had indulged to +satiety in tobacco-smoke from their peace-pipes, and in what they love +still better--their peculiar metaphoric rhodomontade, which, beginning +with the celestial bodies, and coursing downward over the grandest +sublunary objects, always managed to alight at last on their "Great +Father," Polk, and the tenderness with which his affectionate red +children regarded him. All the solemn funny fellows present, who played +the part of chiefs, signed formal articles of convention with their +unpronounceable names. + +The renowned chief Pied Riche--he was surnamed Le Clerc on account of +his remarkable scholarship--then rose and said: "My Mormon brethren, the +Pottawottomi came, sad and tired, into this unhealthy Missouri bottom, +not many years back, when he was taken from his beautiful country, +beyond the Mississippi, which had abundant game and timber and clear +water everywhere. Now you are driven away, the same, from your lodges +and lands and the graves of your people. So we have both suffered. We +must help one another, and the Great Spirit will help us both. You are +now free to cut and use all the wood you may wish. You can make all your +improvements, and live on any part of our actual land not occupied by +us. Because one suffers, and does not deserve it, is no reason he shall +suffer always: I say, we may live to see all right yet. However, if we +do not, our children will. _Bon jour!_" + +And thus ended the powwow. I give this speech as a morsel of real +Indian. It was recited to me after the treaty by the Pottawottomi orator +in French, which language he spoke with elegance. _Bon jour_ ["good +day"] is the French, Indian, and English hail, and farewell of the +Pottawottomis. + +Upon the Pottawotomi lands, scattered through the border regions of +Missouri and Iowa, in the Sac and Fox country, a few among the Ioways, +among the Poncas, in a great company upon the banks of the l'Eau qui +Coulée (or Running Water) River, and at the Omaha winter quarters, the +Mormons sustained themselves through the heavy winter of 1846-1847. It +was the severest of their trials. This winter was the turning-point of +the Mormon fortunes. Those who lived through it were spared to witness +the gradual return of better times; and they now liken it to the passing +of a dreary night, since which they have watched the coming of a +steadily brightening day. + +In the spring of 1847, a body of one hundred forty-three picked men, +with seventy wagons, drawn by their best horses, left the Omaha +quarters, under the command of the members of the high council who had +wintered there. They carried with them little but seed and farming +implements, their aim being to plant spring crops at their ultimate +destination. They relied on their rifles to give them food, but rarely +left their road in search of game. They made long marches, and moved as +rapidly as possible. + +Against the season when ordinary emigration passes the Missouri, they +were already through the South Pass, and after a couple of short days' +travel beyond it entered upon the more arduous part of their journey, +which now lay through the Rocky Mountains. They passed Fremont's Peak, +Long's Peak, The Twins, and other summits, but had great difficulties to +overcome in forcing their way over other mountains of the rugged Utah +range, sometimes following the stony bed of torrents, the headwaters of +some of the mightiest rivers of our continent, and sometimes literally +cutting their road through heavy and ragged timber. They arrived at the +grand basin of the Great Salt Lake, much exhausted, but without losing a +man, and in time to plant for a partial autumn harvest. Another party +started after these pioneers from the Omaha winter quarters, in the +summer. They had five hundred sixty-six wagons, and carried large +quantities of grain, which they were able to sow before it froze. + +The same season these were joined by a part of the battalion and other +members of the Church who came eastward from California and the Sandwich +Islands. Together they fortified themselves strongly with sun-dried +brick walls and blockhouses, and, living safely through the winter, were +able to reap crops that yielded ample provision for the ensuing year. + +In 1848, nearly all the remaining members of the Church left the +Missouri country in a succession of powerful bands, invigorated and +enriched by their abundant harvests there; and that year saw fully +established their commonwealth of the "New Covenant," the future State +of "Deseret." [Footnote: The Mormons repeatedly tried to secure the +admission of Deseret into the Union as a State under that name--said to +mean "virtue and industry."] + +When Utah was organized as a Territory (1850), the Mormon leader, +Brigham Young, was made governor. In 1857 President Buchanan appointed a +non-Mormon to succeed Young. This act led the Mormons to rebel, but +after a display of military force by the Government they acknowledged +allegiance. In 1896, polygamy having been prohibited by Congress, Utah +was admitted to the Union. Since the settlement of the Mormons upon the +Great Salt Lake there has been a large immigration into Utah. [The +Mormons have spread beyond that State into Arizona, Idaho, Wyoming, and +other parts of the West and Southwest--ED.] + + + + +(1848) THE REFORMS OF PIUS IX, Francis Bowen + + +In the long roll of pontiffs the name of Pius IX stands conspicuous +among those of popes, who have greatly exerted their power for effect +upon the papacy itself. But the influence of Pius IX was not less marked +in Italian and European politics. An account of the reforms which he +undertook and of the obstacles he had to confront, cannot fail to +convey, directly or by implication, matters of much importance in modern +history. That a pope who signalized the beginning of his official career +by a series of liberal reforms should soon have been driven from his see +by revolutionists is one of the historical paradoxes for which even the +"philosophy of history" finds it difficult to account. But, as one +writer tells us, "The revolutionary fever of 1848 spread too fast for a +reforming pope, and his refusal to make war upon the Austrians finally +cost him the affections of the Romans." + +Pope Pius IX (Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti) who at the age of +fifty-four brought the power of his papal throne to advance the cause of +Young Italy--led by Mazzini and other patriots--was born at Sinigaglia +May 13, 1792. He was descended from a noble family, and his early +education was received at the College of Volterra. Throughout the years +of his youth he suffered from infirm health, but before reaching thirty +he gained much in strength, and in 1827 became Archbishop of Spoleto. In +1840 he was made cardinal by Pope Gregory XVI. Gregory died June 1, +1846, and after being two days in conclave the cardinals elected their +colleague Ferretti to succeed him. The cardinals felt the advisability +of choosing for pope a native of the Papal States, a man not too far +advanced in years, and one "who would see the necessity of correcting +abuses and making some reforms." + +Francis Bowen, whose review of Pope Pius's career, from his entrance +upon the papal office until his temporary withdrawal from Rome, is here +presented, is a well-known authority in this as also in other fields of +history, and his recital is based upon the best contemporary accounts. + +When Pius IX was elected Pope his course did not long remain doubtful. +He limited the expenses of the court at once, dispensed alms in +abundance, set aside one day of each week for giving audiences, and +commanded that political inquisitions should be stopped immediately. +These few steps, taken before he had had time to consult with others, +afford perhaps a better indication of the mild and kind character of the +new pontiff than the grave political acts which were subsequently +performed. These show us the man, the others reveal only the sovereign. +Just one month after his election, a manifesto of amnesty for all +political offenders was published at Rome, including the exiles, those +awaiting trial, and those undergoing sentence. The only conditions +imposed were that the individuals pardoned should give their word of +honor never to abuse the indulgence, and would fulfil every duty of a +good citizen. + +The news of this act flew like the wind through the Papal States, and +caused everywhere a burst of exultation and gratitude toward the new +sovereign. It carried joy to thousands of households, bringing back to +them the long-separated brother or parent, and it was a token of future +peace and contentment. In the city, says Farini, [Footnote: Luigi Carlo +Farini, who is freely quoted by Bowen, was an Italian historian and +statesman. His principal work is _Storia dello stato Romano dall' anno +1814 al 1830_.--ED.] the hosannas were countless; each citizen embraced +his neighbor like a brother; thousands of torches blazed in the evening; +the multitude ran to the palace of the Pope, called for him, threw +themselves prostrate on the earth before him, and received his blessing +in devout silence. Many of the pardoned offenders were still more +extravagant in their demonstrations of joy and thankfulness. Among them +was Galletti, of Bologna, afterward one of the Pope's ministers, and +most active in those measures which ended in the assassination of Rossi +and in driving Pius into exile. He had been sentenced to imprisonment +for life, and was kept in the castle of Sant' Angelo. When released, he +threw himself at the Pope's feet, and swore, by his own heart's blood +and that of his children, that he would be grateful and faithful. Some +of the exiles, however, among whom was Mamiani, refused to subscribe the +proposed engagement, simple as it was; but they returned after a time to +their homes, merely promising allegiance. Every time that the Pope left +his palace he was surrounded by a sort of triumphal procession. The +whole length of the Corso was decorated when he passed through it, and +hundreds of likenesses of him, and of panegyrical compositions, covered +the walls. Foremost in getting up these popular celebrations was Angelo +Brunetti, afterward so well known by his nickname of "Ciceruacchio." "He +was a person of single mind, rustic in manners, proud and at the same +time generous, as is common with Romans of the lower class." By his +industry he had acquired considerable property, and by his liberal use +of it had become a leader of the populace, whom he now fired with his +own enthusiasm for Pius IX. + +The Pope would have been more than man if his head had not been a little +turned with all this adulation, which came to him from many foreign +lands as well as from Italy. But his simple and modest character bore +the trial well; he manifested no undue elation, and formed his plans +tranquilly and without hurry for the improvement of his people. Cardinal +Gizzi, well known as a friend to reform, and much attached to the Pope, +was named Secretary of State; and he wrote letters to the presidents of +the provinces, inviting them, the municipal magistrates, ecclesiastics, +and all respectable citizens, to prepare and offer schemes for promoting +popular education, and especially for the moral, religious, and +industrial instruction of the children of the poor. Commissions were +appointed to deliberate and advise upon many subjects of proposed +reform. Great, indeed, was the need of change in the institutions of the +Pontifical States; but the Government had a delicate part to play in +amending them, and it wisely determined not to be precipitate in its +measures. "Already the Liberals had conceived boundless desires, and the +Retrogradists were haunted with unreasonable fears. The Government had, +to-day, to moderate on the left, circulate despatches, wellnigh to scold +men for hoping too much." + +But the friends of change, says Farini, were for the most part measured +in their wishes and cautious in their proceedings; for all prudent men +were exerting themselves strenuously to keep the impatient in hand, with +excellent effect. + +We cannot follow in detail the Pope's measures down to March, 1848, till +which period the movement may be considered as all his own, emanating +from his free choice and not from the pressure of outward circumstances +or from revolutions in foreign States. He did enough during these twenty +months to establish his character as a wise, humane, and liberal +sovereign, eager to promote the temporal and religious interests of his +people, and prompt to give political power into their hands as fast as +they showed themselves capable of using, and not abusing, it. He +instituted a civic guard throughout his dominions, modelled on the +French National Guard, and disbanded the Gregorian Centurions and +volunteers. All his court was opposed to this measure as premature and +dangerous; and even Cardinal Gizzi resigned his place in consequence of +it. But the Pope persevered, and Cardinal Ferretti, still more inclined +to liberalism, was appointed in his place. + +He conceived the idea of an Italian customs league, after the model of +the German one, and pressed it with so much earnestness that in +November, 1847, it was instituted for the Roman, Tuscan, and Sardinian +dominions, and every effort was made to render it acceptable to the +other powers of Italy. He established a municipal government for the +city of Rome, which had hitherto remained without one; and he created a +Council of State for all his dominions, to consist chiefly of the laity, +one person being chosen for each Province by the sovereign, out of a +list of three, nominated by the provincial authorities. This Council was +to sit in Rome, and aid the Government with its advice in putting the +various departments in order, in constituting municipalities, and in +other public concerns. He created, also, a Council of Ministers, which +Farini calls the most important act of his reign, "As being that by +which the executive power acquired an organization worthy of a civilized +state, and altogether novel in that of Rome." There were to be nine +departments, and, with the exception of the president of the Council and +its secretary, the ministers need not be cardinals. All those first +appointed, however, were cardinals or prelates. + +A body of _Uditori_ was attached to this Council, consisting of twelve +ecclesiastics and twelve laymen, all appointed by the sovereign. The +laws respecting the censorship of the press were much relaxed, and +numerous political journals were established at Rome, which before had +nothing that deserved the name of a newspaper. "Our infant journalism," +says Farini, "had its infant passions and caprices; instead of +meditating, it gambolled, and every day it smashed its toys of the day +before, as children do; it instituted a school of declamation, not of +political knowledge; it ran and plunged about, blindfold; it made boast +of an independent spirit, and was a mean slave to out-of-doors +influence." + +These measures of reform, and the enthusiasm which they created, were +not without effect on surrounding nations. Considering the place whence +they came, and the sovereign who conducted them, they were adapted to +have a vast influence. Rome, the "Eternal City," was regenerated, and a +new life bounded through her old limbs; and the August head of the +Catholic Church, the greatest religious potentate of the civilized +world, the infallible, the object of veneration to half Christendom, and +hitherto the most despotic and conservative sovereign in Europe, was now +the daring innovator, the radical, the idol of the populace. Austria +looked on with distrust and dismay, and tried to pick a quarrel and thus +find a pretext for invasion by ordering its troops, who had as yet only +garrisoned the fortress, to occupy the city of Ferrara and patrol its +streets--a measure almost sure to lead to a collision with its citizens. + +The Pope protested in a firm but temperate tone, and his indignant +people would fain have hurried him into a war; but he bridled their +impatience and the matter ended in a compromise. Tuscany caught the +generous flame of freedom; and though there was not so much to be +accomplished there, as the Government had long been mild and discreet, +the good Archduke [Leopold II] professed the utmost admiration for Pius, +and began to imitate his measures. + +The King of Sardinia was moved to enthusiasm; during the difficulty with +Austria about Ferrara he offered the Pope whatever succor of ships or +men he might need, and an asylum in his dominions if he should be +compelled to leave Rome. He did more; he relaxed the bonds of the press, +improved the administration of justice, deprived the police of their +discretionary power, enlarged and amended the Council of State, +emancipated the communes, and allowed their officers to be chosen by +popular vote. The character and example of Pius seemed likely to effect +as great and as beneficial changes out of his dominions as within them. +Those of the Italian sovereigns who were not willing to follow his lead +of their own accord, were obliged to yield in dismay before the spirit +which he had awakened in their subjects. + +The silly Duke of Lucca, a fanatic, a prodigal, and a despot, after +attempting in vain to cudgel his people into submission, fled in terror +from their aroused wrath, and consented to the annexation of his +dominions to Tuscany, whereby they shared in the reforms instituted by +Leopold. + +But in Sicily and Naples were developed the most striking results of the +fire which had been kindled by a reforming pope. The cruel and imbecile +Bourbon who reigned there became only more harsh and obstinate, while +the other princes of Italy deemed it necessary to reform their +institutions and conciliate their people. His subjects petitioned him, +and shouted for Pius in the streets; but the soldiery were turned +against them, and the King showed himself alike inaccessible to their +caresses and their prayers. "One king only," said Thiers from the +tribune, speaking of Italy, "he of Naples, presented the sword's point +to the people who were flocking around him, and that people fell on it." +The impulsive Sicilians fixed January 12, 1848, as the day beyond which +their patience would not extend. The King made no concessions, the day +came, and the island was revolutionized, the troops everywhere giving +way before the excited populace. Within a fortnight the inhabitants of +Naples followed their example; and before the fight began, the King's +heart failed him, and he granted all that they asked. The Ministry was +changed, a constitution was resolved upon, and its fundamental +principles were announced on January 29th, while the Administration +pledged themselves to publish it complete within twelve days. The King +came out to meet the crowd, who were cheering him, and intimated his +purpose to surpass the other sovereigns of Italy in the magnitude of his +concessions. How sincere his promises were, the lapse of a few months +fully showed; but at present everything wore a cheerful aspect. + +The Pope had now reached the climax of his fortunes, the furthest limit +of the good which he was permitted to accomplish by his own free will, +and the sky began to be overcast. The enthusiasm of his people became +unmanageable, and the volcanic force of another French revolution was +soon to burst and to prostrate half the governments in Europe by the +explosion. Constant excitement for twenty months had made Rome noisy and +turbulent, and the populace had been gratified so often that they now +expected everything to succumb to their wishes. Busy agitators were in +the midst of them, intent upon prosecuting the plans of Mazzini and +Young Italy, and turning reform into revolution. The people were mad for +a declaration of war against Austria, though the military strength of +the Roman States was grossly inadequate for such a conflict, and the +head of the Catholic Church was naturally reluctant to come to +extremities with a Catholic power which had long been the firmest +support of the papacy. Then a cry was raised to exclude all +ecclesiastics from office, or at least to admit so large a portion of +the laity into the Administration that Rome would be secularized and +lose its distinctive character as an appanage for the head of the +Church. The people would not consider, or were reckless of the fact, +that Pius was a devout Catholic as well as a liberal sovereign, and +could not be expected to lend his aid to a project for stripping the +papacy of all temporal power, if not for razing it to its foundations. +The cries of expulsion and death to the Jesuits were also raised; and as +that body, however obnoxious elsewhere, had given no offence at Rome, +the Pope's sense of justice inclined him to protect them and to resist +the clamor of the mob. + +The news from Sicily and Naples caused a great popular demonstration at +Rome, the aspect of which was so threatening that Pius issued a +proclamation, on February 10th, announcing that he had taken measures +for reorganizing and enlarging the army, and for augmenting the lay +portion of the Council of Ministers; but appealing to his people in +affecting terms, by the proofs already given of his solicitude in their +behalf, that they should cease from agitation and not make demands which +could not be granted consistently with his duty and their own +well-being. This paper caused another effusion of popular gratitude; an +immense multitude collected in the Piazza del Papolo, and, accompanied +by the Civic Guard and bearing banners, they set out for the Pope's +palace. When they came to the Quirinal Pius showed himself at the +balcony and made signs that he wished to speak. "There was a profound +silence, not broken even by the trickling of the fountains, which had +been stopped some days before." The Pope said: + +"'Before the benediction of God descends upon you, on the rest of my +people, and, I say it again, on all Italy, I pray you to be of one mind, +and to keep the faith which you have sworn to me, the Pontiff.' + +"At these words the silence of deep feeling was broken by a sudden +thunder of acclamation, 'Yes, I swear,' and Pius proceeded: + +"'I warn you, however, against the raising of certain cries, that are +not of the people, but of a few individuals, and against making any such +requests to me as are incompatible with the sanctity of the Church; for +these I cannot, I may not, and I will not grant. This being understood, +with my whole soul, I bless you.'" + +Deeds followed words; the Ministry was changed; five laymen were +admitted into it, and it was intimated that a constitution would be +granted resembling those in other States. Then came the news of the +disasters at Paris, and everything was precipitated. On March 10th the +Ministry was again changed, only three ecclesiastics being now admitted +into it; and on the 14th the new constitution, or "Fundamental Statute," +was proclaimed. It instituted a Legislature in two branches, the High +Council and the Council of Deputies, the members of the former being +appointed by the Pope, and those of the latter being chosen by popular +vote in the ratio, as nearly as might be, of one to every thirty +thousand souls. All citizens were voters who paid twelve crowns a year +in direct taxes or had property amounting to three hundred crowns; to +these were added all members of colleges and honorary graduates, and all +persons holding office in the communes and municipalities. The +Legislature was to be convoked every year, both Councils were to choose +their own officers, and their sessions were to be public, except on +extraordinary occasions when they might of their own accord prefer +secrecy. Freedom of debate and vote was guaranteed, and the members of +both Houses were protected from arrest, even for notoriously criminal +acts, during the session, except by consent of the Council to which they +belonged. + +They were to have authority to make laws on all subjects, excepting +ecclesiastical matters and the canons and discipline of the Church, but +including the imposition of taxes; the Pope, however, like most +monarchs, reserved to himself the right of negativing a law. All +discussions, also, of the diplomatico-religious relations of the Holy +See with foreign powers were forbidden. Money bills were to originate in +the lower house, and direct taxes could be granted for only a year. The +Deputies had a right to impeach ministers, who, if they were laymen, +were to be tried by the High Council; if ecclesiastics, by the Sacred +College. The unlimited right of petition to the lower house was assured +and ministers were responsible for every ministerial act; they had the +right of sitting and debating, but not of voting, in both Councils. A +portion of the revenue of the State, for the support of the cardinals, +the ecclesiastical congregations, and generally for the transaction of +purely ecclesiastical business, was to be secured to the Pope, and to be +borne on the estimates every year. + +The judges were to be irremovable after they had held office for three +years; and all persons were declared equal in the sight of the law. +Extraordinary commissions or tribunals for the trial of offences were +abolished. All property, whether of individuals or corporations, whether +civil or ecclesiastical, was to be held subject to its equal part of the +burdens of the State; and to all bills imposing taxes, the Pope would +annex, of his own authority, a special waiver of the ecclesiastical +exemption. The administrations of the Provinces and the communes were +placed in the hands of their respective inhabitants. The Government (or +political) censorship was abolished, but the ecclesiastical censorship +was retained. + +Such is a general outline of the Roman Constitution spontaneously +granted to his subjects by Pius IX. Its merits, in all civil or +political matters, are certainly equal, if not superior, to those of the +English Constitution, from which in great part it was borrowed; its +faults are precisely those which resulted necessarily from the Pope's +double character, as temporal sovereign of the Roman States and as head +of the Catholic Church throughout the world. It was not within the +province or at the discretion of Pius to alter the tenure by which he +held his throne, to change the fundamental principles of the Church or +to abolish his ecclesiastical dominion. He granted to his subjects all +that was in his power to grant as their temporal sovereign. His purely +ecclesiastical relations and duties did not concern them, or concerned +them only so far as they were members of the great body of Catholic +believers in all lands. The College of Cardinals _must_ choose the Pope, +and _must_ choose one of their own number; this is not a law of the +Roman States, but a law of the Catholic Church. Pius could not abrogate +it; and if he had been inclined to grant everything to his people by +divesting himself of the last rag of his sovereignty, the only +consequence would have been that the cardinals must have chosen another +pope in his place, who might undo all that Pius had accomplished. + +These are obvious and necessary considerations; and the Pope expressly +recognizes them in the ordinance accompanying the grant of the +constitution. "We intend," he says, "to maintain intact our authority in +matters that by their nature are related to the Catholic religion and +its rule of morals. And this is due from us as a guaranty to the whole +of Christendom, that, in the States of the Church reorganized in this +new form, nothing shall be derogated from the liberties and rights of +the Church herself, and of the Holy See, nor any precedent be +established for violating the sacredness of the religion which it is our +duty and mission to preach to the whole world, as the only scheme of +covenant between God and man, the only pledge of that heavenly +benediction by which states subsist and nations flourish." + +Now, it is worthy of note that neither this constitution nor any of the +acts of Pius under it was ever complained of by any party among the +Pope's subjects except in regard to these ecclesiastical reservations +which were forced from him by the very nature of the office that he +held. The constitutionalists, indeed the moderate reformers, the party +of Balbo and Gioberti and D'Azeglio, which comprised most of the +educated and reflecting persons in the State, seem to have been entirely +satisfied with it as a whole, or as it was. So also were the unthinking +populace, who received it with shouts of exultation, so long as they +were not moved by the arts of a party who would not be satisfied with +having a good pope, but were bent upon having no pope at all. This was +the party of Mazzini, the revolutionists as distinguished from the +reformers--not strong at first either in numbers or credit, as we have +seen, but who made up for all deficiencies by their zeal and +activity--who were determined to establish a republic, and who cared +nothing for the embarrassments of the Pope's situation as head of the +Church, of indeed for the Church itself. They complained--and with +reason, too, upon their principles--of these ecclesiastical +reservations; and they made out of them their chief weapon of attack +upon the Pope's government, though they did not profit so much by the +use of it as by the evident unwillingness of Pius to rush into a war +with Austria for the purpose of giving the sovereignty of Lombardy to +Charles Albert, a measure to which he was averse, because he thought +such a conflict would be detrimental to the interests of the Church over +which he presided. + +The world's future judgment of Pius will depend upon its belief of the +sincerity with which he acted in thus allowing nothing but his religious +duties and his position as the head of the Church to limit his +concessions of political privileges to his subjects. On this point, it +is well to hear the opinion of Farini, who, as one of the Mamiani +Ministry and as employed to mediate between them and the Pope, because +much loved and trusted by him, seems peculiarly qualified to form one +without undue bias on either side: + +"Pius IX had applied himself to political reform, not so much for the +reason that his conscience as an honorable man and a most pious +sovereign enjoined it, as because his high view of the papal office +prompted him to employ the temporal power for the benefit of his +spiritual authority. A meek man and a benevolent prince, Pius IX was, as +a pontiff, lofty even to sternness. With a soul not only devout, but +mystical, he referred everything to God, and respected and venerated his +own person as standing in God's place. He thought it his duty to guard +with jealousy the temporal sovereignty of the Church, because he thought +it essential to the safe-keeping and the apostleship of the faith. + +"Aware of the numerous vices of that temporal government, and hostile to +all vice and all its agents, he had sought, on mounting the throne, to +effect those reforms which justice, public opinion, and the times +required. He hoped to give lustre to the papacy by their means, and so +to extend and to consolidate the faith. He hoped to acquire for the +clergy that credit, which is a great part of the decorum of religion and +an efficient cause of reverence and devotion in the people. His first +efforts were successful in such a degree that no pontiff ever got +greater praise. + +"By this he was greatly stimulated and encouraged, and perhaps he gave in +to the seduction of applause and the temptations of popularity more than +is fitting for a man of decision or for a prudent prince. But when, +after a little, Europe was shaken by universal revolution, the work he +had commenced was, in his view, marred; he then retired within himself +and took alarm. + +"In his heart, the pontiff always came before the prince, the priest +before the citizen; in the secret struggles of his mind, pontifical and +priestly conference always outweighed the conscience of the prince and +citizen. And as his conscience was a very timid one, it followed that +his inward conflicts were frequent; that hesitation was a matter of +course, and that he often took resolutions even about temporal affairs, +more from religious intuition or impulse than from his judgment as a +man. Added to this, his health was weak and susceptible of nervous +excitement--the dregs of his old complaint. From this he suffered most +when his mind was most troubled and uneasy; another cause of wavering +and changefulness. + +"Under the pressure of the extraordinary occurrences throughout Europe +early in the spring of 1848, the Pope's new Ministry under the +constitution proceeded vigorously and rapidly to give full development +and efficiency to that instrument. They also expressed the wish for a +firm union of the constitutional thrones of Italy with one another with +a view to insuring her independence; and they ordered the papal banners +to be decorated with pennons of the Italian tricolor. On March 21st the +news of the revolution at Vienna, much magnified by report, arrived, and +the excitement of the Roman populace knew no bounds. + +"Every bell in the city pealed for joy; from palace and from hovel, from +magazine and workshop, the townspeople poured in throngs into the +streets and squares; some took to letting off firearms, some to strewing +flowers; some hoisted flags on the towers, some decked with them their +balconies; everybody was shouting '_Italia! Italia!_' and cursing the +Empire. In an access of fury, the Austrian arms were torn down, dashed +to pieces, and befouled amid the applause of the crowd in spite of the +dissuasion of the public functionaries and of prudent persons." + +The hostility to the Jesuits now threatened to break out into violence; +and for the double purpose of protecting them and appeasing the passions +of the mob the Pope consented that the schools which they had +superintended should be given into other hands, that their associations +should be disbanded and they should be exiled. + +"The Government perhaps had no choice, so swiftly and impetuously did +the torrent of popular commotion roll. I will not affirm that the Pope +and the Government ought to have exposed to the last hazard the security +of the State for an ineffectual defence of the fraternity. What I wish +to observe is that if there were among the Jesuits men stained with +guilt, and mischievous plotters, they ought to have been watched and +punished as bad citizens; but it was incompatible with propriety or +justice to condemn and punish a religious association, as such, in a +place where the Pope held both his own seat and the supreme authority of +the Church. None but the Pope had the power to condemn the society as a +whole, and no condemnation but his could be just or valid in the opinion +and conscience of the Catholics, or produce the desired political +effects." On the same day that the Jesuits were expelled, the Pope +issued a noble proclamation, breathing the best spirit of religion. The +following excerpt is a portion of it: + +"_Pius Papa IX to the People of the States of Italy--Health and +Apostolic Benediction_: + +"The events which the last two months have witnessed, following and +thronging one another in such rapid succession, are no work of man. Woe +to him that does not discern the Lord's voice in this blast that +agitates, uproots, and rends the cedar and the oak. Woe to the pride of +man if he shall refer, these marvellous changes to any human merit or +any human fault; if instead of adoring the hidden designs of Providence, +whether manifested in the paths of his justice or of his mercy, or of +that Providence in whose hands are all the ends of the earth. And we, +who are endowed with speech in order to interpret the dumb eloquence of +the works of God--we cannot be mute amid the longings, the fears, and +the hopes which agitate the minds of our children. + +"And first, it is our duty to make known to you that if our hearts had +been moved at hearing how, in a part of Italy, the consolations of +religion have preceded the perils of battle, and nobleness of mind has +been displayed in works of charity, we nevertheless could not and cannot +but greatly grieve over the injuries which, in other places, have been +done to the ministers of that same religion--injuries, even if contrary +to our duty we were silent concerning them, our silence could not hinder +from impairing the efficacy of our benedictions. + +"Neither can we refrain from telling you that to use victory well is a +greater and more difficult achievement than to be victorious. If the +present day recalls to you any other period of your history, let the +children profit by the errors of their forefathers. Remember that all +stability and all prosperity has its main earthly ground in concord; +that it is God alone who maketh of one mind them that dwell in a house; +that he grants this reward only to the humble and the meek, to those who +respect his laws, in the liberty of his church, in the order of society, +in charity toward all mankind." + + * * * * * + +Shortly afterward another measure, emanating entirely from the Pope, and +opposed by the prejudices of the mob, showed that his humane and liberal +disposition and enlightened understanding waited for no impulse from +without, and for no hope of increased popularity, before doing justice +to a long oppressed race. "The friends of social progress were highly +gratified by the decision of Pius IX to raze in Rome the walls and gates +which shut up the Jews in the Ghetto. He had already, at the +commencement of his pontificate, softened some of the rigors with which +they were afflicted, and had directed that they might spread beyond that +ignominious precinct; nor, however great was the outcry about it among +the mob, did he forego the idea of bettering the condition of the +followers of the Mosaic law." He was disposed to give them civil rights; +and if he did not think of extending his concessions even to political +privileges, yet he would give this as the main reason for it, that, in a +constitutional country, everyone who enjoys them may rise to the highest +stages of power; whereas a pope could not have any save Catholic +ministers. In the mean time he raised them out of the abjectness of +their isolation, although the Roman vulgar censured him for it bitterly, +most of all because it took effect in Holy Week. When it was known in +the city that the walls and fastenings of the Ghetto were to be pulled +down at night, by order of the Cardinal Vicar, Ciceruacchio hastened +with his companions, or subjects, to share in the work; and they shared +in it so largely that it seemed as though the thing were effected more +as their boon than by the will of the Pope. Pius IX was vexed at this; +whether because noise had been made about what he wanted done quietly, +or because it was brought about in such a manner that it might seem the +popular party had had more to say to it than the authority of the head +of religion. Rome fully shared the enthusiasm which was awakened +throughout Italy by the entrance of the Piedmontese troops into +Lombardy, and by the announcement by Charles Albert that he had drawn +the sword in the sacred cause of Italian independence. His proclamation, +in the stilted phrase common to such state papers, declared that he +relied upon "the assistance of that God who is visibly with us; of that +God who has given Pius IX to Italy; of that God who, by such wondrous +impulses, has placed her in a condition to act for herself." And if she +acted for herself, if her deeds had been commensurate with her glorious +words, the Austrian would never again have trodden any portion of the +peninsula with the step of a master. But the zeal of the Italians for +independence seemed all to evaporate in high-sounding manifestoes, and +in a few excesses of the populace in the great cities. The inactivity of +the Italian sovereigns may be explained by their imputed treachery or +lukewarmness in the cause. But what prevented the people themselves from +crowding the camp of Charles Albert with volunteers at a time when not a +crowned head in Italy dared offer the least open opposition to such a +movement? The King of Naples, sorely against his will, sent his regular +army, consisting of about fourteen thousand men, to fight for the cause, +and withdrew them in about six weeks, as soon as a base act of treachery +had given him the victory at home. General Pepe, their commander, wished +to disobey the order and move forward; but "nearly the whole army turned +its back on the Po and on him, and moved backward in the direction of +the Neapolitan Kingdom." Two hundred volunteers had previously set out +from Naples for Upper Italy, under the guidance and at the expense of an +enthusiastic woman, the Princess Belgioioso. "She had lived as an exile +in France, and was at first enthusiastic for the _Giovine Italia_; she +afterward became averse to it, and sided with Guizot, Duchâtel, and +Mignet, her intimate friend. She was well versed--or mixed herself +much--in literature, politics, the study of theology, and journalism; a +woman that had some of the feelings and anxieties of men, together with +all those of her own sex, and who was now travelling through Italy +intent upon manly business, but after woman's fashion. Other volunteers +afterward started, and a vessel set sail for Leghorn, which carried +them, along with the Tenth Regiment of the line." The Sicilians at the +same time determined to separate entirely from Naples and the rest of +the peninsula; "and thus all the ability and spirit, the arms and +wealth, of that powerful island were applied to the effort for insular +independence, and drawn off from that for the independence of the +nation." From Tuscany there went to this national war "about three +thousand volunteers, and perhaps as many more regulars"--a number so +small that Farini apologizes for it, and endeavors to prove that it +ought "not to be imputed to any lukewarmness in the affection for +Italy." The army from the Roman States, which the Pope had set on foot, +but hoped to retain as a defensive force within the northern boundary of +his dominions, numbered about sixteen thousand, of whom more than half +were volunteers. The conduct of the people of Lombardy, who though the +conflict raged on their own soil, and their own freedom was immediately +at stake, wasted their strength in quarrelling with one another instead +of succoring Charles Albert, has long been a topic of wonder and +censure. In short, all Italy did not furnish for this sacred war, so +long the object of her aspirations and her prayers, a body of volunteers +one-fourth as large as the army which the King of Sardinia brought into +the field, though it was probable that he was moved from the first only +by the hope of personal aggrandizement. He invaded Lombardy with an army +of fifty-five thousand men, expecting thereby to win, with the aid of +the national enthusiasm, the sceptre of all Italy for himself and his +descendants. A terrible disappointment awaited him; instead of glory, +shame and defeat were his portion; and having abdicated his paternal +throne in despair he died in exile, literally of a broken heart. Pius IX +was hardly more fortunate; to him also this fatal war brought dishonor +and exile, the loss of the affection of his subjects, and of the +admiration of the civilized world. The reluctance of the Pope to engage, +when unprovoked, in a war with Austria is no cause for wonder. He +earnestly desired the welfare of his people and the independence of his +native land; but all his desires were subject to the interests of the +Church, of which he was the recognized head throughout Christendom. The +republicans in his dominions, including Mazzini and his party, were +aware of this reluctance, and determined to make use of it and of the +passions of the people in order to get rid of him altogether. No +opportunity was lost to compromise him in the war, both in his temporal +and ecclesiastical character; and the misfortune of his twofold position +did not allow him to resist these machinations with success. General +Durando, the commander of the papal forces, issued a flaming +proclamation to his army when they passed the Po, announcing to them +that their swords were blessed by the venerable head of the Church, and +that they should all wear the cross on their bosoms, as beseemed those +who were engaged in a holy war. This act naturally gave great uneasiness +to the Pope, and Farini censures it as an unwise attempt to obtain the +sanctions of religion for merely political objects--the very conduct +which the Liberal party had previously censured in their opponents. If +Italian minds, he argues, "were not capable of warming with the simple +fire of patriotism for the noble and even holy enterprise of liberating +Italy from the stranger, it was vain to hope that hearts so frozen up in +indifference could kindle with religious faith." In the mean time the +Germans, who were speculating about the unity of their own stock and +nation and were straining every nerve in that difficult enterprise, +could not excuse the desire of independence in the Italians, and +contended for the boasted rights of Austria and Germany over the lands +and the coasts of Italy, with the people that inhabited them. When it +became known in Germany that the pontifical troops were hastening to the +legitimate defence of Italy it affected the public feeling generally, +and the name of Pius IX was branded with censure, not by laymen only, +but by some bishops and high ecclesiastics. Monsignor Viale, nuncio at +Vienna, and Monsignor Sacconi, nuncio at Munich, were assiduous and +eager in detailing the sinister reports touching Rome and the Pope, and +colored them in such a way as to create an apprehension of schism, the +most serious one that could rise for a pope--and that pope, too, Pius +IX. He had before this been greatly troubled by the proclamation of +General Durando; still he had hoped that the Italian League would be +shortly concluded, and that, when he had furnished the quota of troops +that might be due from him as a temporal sovereign, he would then have +been able, in the capacity of pontiff, to use those good offices which +he considered requisite to assure the consciences of Catholics. + +Even the news of some reverses to the Italian arms in Lombardy failed to +awaken a proper feeling among the inhabitants of Central and Southern +Italy, and Farini thus censures the slothfulness and vanity of his +countrymen: "Few gave credit or importance at the time to this and other +sinister intelligence; the greater part of those who beheld the first +marvellous smiles of fortune relied upon the star of Italy, and thought +the Empire was dismembered. We Italians are too susceptible to the +impulses of passion, and of heat in the imagination; with a small matter +we are drunken and think to leap over the moon. Deadly intoxication, +most deadly fault, that of undervaluing an enemy, which lets our +enthusiasm too easily evaporate, and gives him every facility for +showing that he is as gallant as we are, and more resolute; that he has +much of perseverance and of discipline--qualities more effectual and +valuable than simple courage. It comes to this; we must either send +about their business the dreams of poets, and educate ourselves in +severe and masculine virtues, or must yet remain long in a position to +chant many more elegies, to assuage our sorrow, than hymns of triumph; +we must either rest assured that with the tenacious, the disciplined, +and the resolute only the tenacious, disciplined, and resolute can cope, +and must therefore leave off despising the Austrians, and imitate them +in their steadiness and their attention to the military spirit; or else +we must be doomed to the disgrace of seeing them masters of our country. +A stern truth; but the only one that an Italian freeman can utter to +Italians free in mind. He who wants compliments and adulation may fling +these warning words from him." + +The Ministry at Rome, driven onward by the popular clamor, represented +to the Pope in strong terms the necessity of sending orders to his army +to take an active part in the war; for they had not yet commenced +hostilities with the Austrians. A consistory of the cardinals was to be +held on April 29th; and it was feared that Pius would take that occasion +for declaring that he was averse to the war, thus pacifying the minds of +the Catholics in Germany. The allocution of the Pope realized these +fears, though it expressed only his wish to remain neutral, "and to +embrace all kindreds, peoples, and nations with equal solicitude of +paternal affection." But the Ministry resigned in consequence, and great +disturbances arose in the city; the populace were not willing themselves +to volunteer for the war, but they were determined that the Pope should +not continue a man of peace. The Civic Guard was placed under arms, but +it was soon found that the soldiers shared the feelings of the people, +and no reliance could be placed upon them. Threats were uttered of +assassinating the cardinals, and others cried out "to make short +work--as they called it--with the government of the priests, those +traitors to Italy, and to place Rome under popular sway." To avert +bloodshed, the Pope consented to a compromise; he gave up the entire +direction of his troops to Charles Albert, and published, of his own +accord, and without the knowledge of his ministers, an affecting +remonstrance to his people. + +Pius also wrote an earnest letter to the Emperor of Austria, entreating +him to put a stop to the war by acknowledging the independence of +Venetia and Lombardy. "Let not the generous German nation take it ill," +he said, "if we invite them to lay resentment aside, and to convert into +the beneficial relations of friendly neighborhood a domination which +could never be prosperous or noble while it depended solely on the +sword." But the prayers of the Pope had now little influence either with +the Emperor or with his own subjects; he had long ago forfeited the +favor of the Absolutists by his political reforms, and he had now lost +the love of his people by his reluctance to gratify their passion for +sway. + +Yet if he had basely yielded to their wishes, against his judgment and +his conscience, he would have injured only the cause of the papacy in +foreign lands, and the issue of the war would not have been changed. As +it was, his troops were actively engaged in the contest till the time of +their capture at Vicenza by the Austrians. The fatal blow was given to +the hopes of Italy by the King of Naples withdrawing his troops at a +critical moment, when their loss could not be replaced. + +Their departure, and the consequent capture of the papal army under +Durando at Vicenza, enabled the Austrians to turn their whole force +against the Piedmontese, who were then defeated and driven back. The +disgraceful capitulation at Milan followed, and the cause of United +Italy was lost forever. Brilliant as its promise had been at the outset, +the Revolution of 1848 terminated as pitifully as did those of 1820 and +1831; and for its disastrous issue the Italians have none to blame but +themselves. + +Misfortunes and defeat had their usual effect in inflaming the rage of +parties. The personal influence of the Pope could no longer keep the +passions of the citizens in check, and the clubs now governed Rome with +absolute sway. The party of Mazzini, bent on trying the experiment of a +republic at all hazards, began to show its head after a long period of +inefficiency and discouragement, and every day acquired new adherents +and stronger influence. One Ministry after another tried in vain to +steer the ship of state on an even course, between the opposite perils +of the domination of a mob and the rigorous enforcement of the laws. The +Pope tried for some months the experiment of a popular administration, +under Mamiani, of whom our author says, "He seemed to play the part of a +tribune of the people more than of the Pope's minister." Still he was an +honest man, opposed to violence, to tumult, and to all excesses, though +he paid too much deference to the clubs, which were now as turbulent and +mischievous as their Parisian prototypes. The acts of his Ministry were +not numerous, Farini says, for the character of the times would not +admit of dispassionate inquiries and solid reforms. In truth, the +energies of Government were exhausted in a vain attempt to keep the +peace in the city, which was now a constant scene of turbulence and +disorder. Bologna also, having successfully repelled an unauthorized +attack made upon it by the Austrians under Welden, had become a prey to +the wildest confusion, owing to the continuance there of the irregular +bands of armed men who had contributed to its defence. At the urgent +request of the Bolognese Deputies, the Ministry determined to send +thither one of their own number to aid in restoring order; and Farini +was deputed for this purpose. The following is a portion of his account +of what he saw there and what he accomplished: + +"In the streets and open places of the city, for two days, the brigands +had been slaughtering every man his enemy among the Government officers, +some of them indeed disreputable and sorry fellows, others respectable. +They killed with musket-shot, and if the fallen gave signs of life they +reloaded their arms in the sight of the people and the soldiers and +fired them afresh, or else put an end to their victims with their +knives. They hunted men down like wild beasts, entered their houses, and +dragged them forth to slaughter. One Bianchi, an inspector of police, +was lying in bed, reduced to agony by consumption; they came in, set +upon him and cut his throat in the presence of his wife and children; +the corpse, a frightful spectacle, remained in the public streets. I saw +it, saw death dealt about, and the abominable chase. Cardinal Amat, who +had given notice of his arrival, came the day after; and the armed +commons escorted him to the palace at the very time when the villains +were perpetrating their murders. + +"There were no longer any judges, or any officers of the police; those +who had escaped death either had fled or had hidden themselves; the +Civic Guard was disarmed, the citizens killed, the few soldiers of the +line either mixed with the insurgents or were wholly without spirit; the +carbineers and dragoons in hesitation, the volunteer legions and free +corps a support to the rioters, not to the authority of Government. We +sent to Rome for leave to declare Bologna in a state of siege; but the +answer was that the Ministry having taken the opinion of the Council of +State considered that order might be restored without recourse to this +extreme measure. + +"All our best exertions were made to draw to the side of Government the +carbineers and dragoons, as also Bellezzi and the honest leaders of the +people, but with little success. It was reported that Bellezzi himself +had given leave to kill those whom they called the spies; one Masina +came before us, proposing by way of compromise to banish those whose +lives were threatened; armed men were in the very palace of government, +and we ourselves at their mercy. Accident, however, effected at a stroke +what we could have done only slowly and with difficulty. An assassin +attempted the life of a carbineer; his companions, inflamed with anger, +pursued him and caught him in a church. They then volunteered their most +resolute efforts at repression. They were ordered to sally forth, arrest +and disarm the ruffians. The dragoons seconded them; young Pepoli, +commandant of the Civic Guard, mustered a few companies; Bianchetti and +the respected citizens of the Committee of Public Safety drew close +around us, and we hurried in the Swiss from Forli. The population began +to regain its courage and to applaud the carbineers as they arrested the +assassins; the Swiss entered amid cheers." + +The disturbances at Bologna were quelled; but the bonds of law and order +throughout the Papal States were now loosened, and it became evident +that a more determined minister must be placed at the helm, or the +experiment of the existing form of government must be abandoned in +despair. A republic or a return to the old principles of despotism would +then be inevitable. In this emergency the eyes of the Pope and of all +prudent persons at Rome were turned to Rossi, who, since the fall of +Louis Philippe's Government, from which he had been ambassador to the +Roman States, had resided there as a private citizen, taking no active +share in politics, but often consulted by both parties, owing to his +high reputation for sagacity and firmness. Exiled on account of his +liberal opinions by Gregory, he had laid the foundation of his fame at +Paris, where he successively became professor, peer, and ambassador, and +was highly esteemed by all parties as a writer and a statesman. Once +before, Pius had solicited him to form a ministry; but he had declined, +because conscious that the affections of the populace were not with him, +and he judged that the minds even of the better portion of the citizens +were not yet prepared for a resolute attempt to carry on a +constitutional government by firm measures. + +He suggested to the Pope that he was probably odious to the court on +account of his previous employments and his writings; that some would +perhaps look very coldly on a minister who had married a Protestant +wife; and that the French Republic might be displeased if he should hold +a high post at Rome. But in the middle of September the solicitations of +the Pope and of many respectable persons in the State became so urgent +that Rossi consented to serve; the opinion was universal that no other +person possessed the requisite abilities, character, and experience to +carry on the Government at this perilous crisis; and that, if he failed, +all indeed was lost. He selected for his colleagues men of liberal +politics, but temperate in their opinions. He announced his intention to +carry into effect the Fundamental Statute, in all its parts, according +to constitutional usage; to counteract and repress both parties opposed +to that instrument; to abolish exemptions, restore the finances, and +reorganize the army; to conclude a league with Piedmont and Tuscany, +even if it should be impossible with Naples; and to fix the contingent +of troops which the Pope was to supply, so that he need not in any way +mingle in the war. + +The turbulent and the presumptuous, "the magistrates accustomed to +fatten upon abuses, the Sanfedists who made a livelihood of disorder, +and the clergy, greedy of gold and honors, could ill bear that +Pellegrino Rossi should have the authority of a minister." But those who +knew the real condition of affairs, and that, unless the finances were +improved and public discipline and order restored, all would go to +wreck, counted it great gain that he should take charge of the +debilitated State. "The dissatisfied were more numerous and noisy in the +capital; the contented stronger in the Provinces, especially at Bologna, +where an educated community wished for a liberal system, with a +government strong in the strength of the law; where the recent terrible +events had filled every mind with horror; and where Rossi, the +proscribed of 1815, was dear to memory, and rooted in public esteem." + +The Roman Legislature was to meet again in the middle of November, so +that the new minister was chiefly occupied with maturing the measures +which were to be laid before it for adoption. His public acts therefore +were few; but they were enough to show that new wisdom and vigor +directed the course of affairs. He obtained the Pope's consent that the +clergy should make a new contribution of two millions of crowns to the +State, on the strength of which he obtained a new loan and punctually +paid the interest on the public debt. He invited General Zucchi home +from Switzerland to take the command of the army, which rapidly improved +in discipline under his energetic guidance. He distributed medals to +those who had been wounded and to the families of the slain at Vicenza. +He established two lines of telegraph, one to Ferrara by the way of +Bologna, and another to Civita Vecchia. The negotiations with Sardinia +and Tuscany for an Italian league were advanced nearly to completion. +Chairs of political economy and commercial law were founded in the +universities at Rome and Bologna. Toward the close of October the mob +rose in Rome, on occasion of a squabble between a Jew and a Catholic, +and threatened to sack the Ghetto and maltreat its inhabitants. Rossi +hurried the Civic Guard and the carbineers to the spot, allayed the +tumult, arrested and imprisoned some of its ringleaders, and published +an energetic proclamation to warn the turbulent that the laws would be +enforced. + +"All these proceedings excited the anger of Rossi's enemies, the +journalists, the captains of the people, and the Roman clubs." There was +no opprobrium that was not heaped upon him, no charge that was not +levelled at the Government. But these declamations seemed to have little +effect on the body of the people. On the morning of November 15th, when +the Legislature was to commence its session, though knots of persons +were seen talking in the streets with excited countenances, there was no +outbreak or popular tumult. Rossi had received many anonymous letters in +which his life was threatened, but he scorned to take any notice of +them. This morning one came which directly affirmed that he would be +assassinated in the course of the day; and he threw it into the fire. +The regulation of the police, now that the day of the session had +arrived, belonged to the President of the Council of Deputies; and +Rossi, punctilious in the observance of the constitution, refused to +give them any orders. + +Several of his friends came and remonstrated with him against such an +exposure of his life. "To all this he answered that he had taken the +measures which he thought suitable for keeping the seditious in order, +and that he could not, on account of risk that he might personally run, +forego repairing to the Council according to his duty; that perhaps +these were idle menaces; but if anyone thirsted for his blood, he would +have the means of shedding it elsewhere on some other day, even if, on +that day, he should lose his opportunity. He would therefore go." He was +elated by the confidence which the Pope had in him, and expected both +trust and aid from the Parliament, to which he was so soon to explain +his ideas and intentions. + +"When the ordinary hour of the parliamentary sitting, which was about +noon, arrived, the people began to gather in the square of the +Cancellaria, and by degrees in the courtyard and then in the public +galleries of the hall. Soon these were all full. A battalion of the +Civic Guard was drawn up in the square; in the court and hall there was +no guard greater than ordinary. There were, however, not a few +individuals, armed with their daggers, in the dress of the volunteers +returned from Vicenza, and wearing the medals with which the +municipality of Rome had decorated them. They stood together and formed +a line from the gate up to the staircase of the palace. Sullen visages +were to be seen and ferocious imprecations heard among them. During the +time when the Deputies were slowly assembling, and business could not +commence because there was not yet a quorum present, a cry for help +suddenly proceeded from the extremity of the public gallery, on which +everyone turned thither a curious eye; but nothing more was heard or +seen, and those who went to get some explanation of the circumstances +returned without success. + +"In the mean time Rossi's carriage entered the court of the palace. He +sat on the right, and Righetti, Deputy Minister of Finance, on the left. +A howl was raised in the court and yard, which echoed even into the hall +of the Council. Rossi got out first, and moved briskly, as was his habit +in walking, across the short space which leads from the centre of the +court to the staircase on the left hand. Righetti, who descended after +him, remained behind, because the persons were in the way who caused the +outcry, and who, brandishing their cutlasses, had surrounded Rossi and +were loading him with opprobrium. At this moment there was seen amid the +throng the flash of a poniard, and then Rossi losing his feet and +sinking to the ground. Alas! he was spouting blood from a broad gash in +the neck. He was raised by Righetti, but could hardly hold himself up, +and did not articulate a syllable; his eyes grew clouded, and his blood +spurted forth in a copious jet. Some of those, whom I named as clad in +military uniform, were above upon the stairs; they came down, and formed +a ring about the unhappy man; and when they saw him shedding blood and +half lifeless, they all turned and rejoined their companions. He was +borne, amid his death-struggle, into the apartments of Cardinal Gazzoli, +at the head of the stairs on the left side; and there, after a few +moments, he breathed his last. + +"In leaving the palace of the Cancellaria, one met some faces gleaming +with a hellish joy, others pallid with alarm; many townspeople standing +as if petrified; agitators, running this way and that, carbineers the +same; one kind of men might be heard muttering imprecations on the +assassin, but the generality faltered in broken and doubtful accents; +some, horrible to relate, cursed the murdered man. Yes, I have still +before my eyes the livid countenance of one who, as he saw me, shouted, +'So fare the betrayers of the people!' But the city was in the depths of +gloom, as under the hand of calamity and the scourge of God; and +wherever there were respectable persons, though of liberal and Italian +principles, they were horror-struck, and called for the resolute +exertions of the authorities." + +When the terrible news came to the Pope, he was struck with horror and +dismay, but yet strove to rally the other members of the Government +around him and preserve the State from anarchy. But his efforts were +miserably seconded; one person after another declined taking office or +continuing in it; and even when the presidents of the two Councils were +summoned, they had little advice to give. On the morrow the tidings came +that a mob was on its way toward the Quirinal, some of the carbineers +having fraternized with them, to enforce the appointment of a democratic +ministry, and a declaration in favor of a constituent assembly for all +Italy. Only a few Swiss, the ordinary guard of honor, were on duty; but +they shut the gates of the palace, and nobly declared that their own +bodies should be piled up behind them before the rioters should enter. +Galletti, the former minister of police, acted as spokesman of the mob, +and when admitted to an audience he stated their demands. The Pope +indignantly declared that he would not yield to violence, but must +deliberate in freedom. This answer only inspired the insurgents with +fresh fury, so that they pressed forward to the gates, set one of them +on fire, and, mounting upon the roofs of the neighboring houses, opened +a fire upon the walls and windows of the Quirinal. The few Swiss fired +in return; and then the cry ran through the city that the Pope's guards +were butchering the people, and already there were many slain. Within +the palace many advised Pius to yield, a few still spoke of resistance, +and the foreign ministers, who were collected there, had no scheme to +offer. "The scuffle continues; the worthy prelate, Monsignor Palma, +falls dead by the window of his own apartment; balls reach the +ante-chamber of the Pope." At last Pius turned to the diplomatic body +who stood around him, and said: "There is no further hope in resistance. +Already a prelate is slain in my very palace, shots are aimed at it, +artillery levelled. To avoid fruitless bloodshed and increased +enormities, we give way; but it is, as you see, only to force. Therefore +we protest; let the courts, let your governments, know it. We give way +to violence alone, and all we concede is null and void." + +Galletti was then asked to propose his list of ministers, from which the +Pope indignantly struck out the name of the Neapolitan Salicetti, but +admitted without a word the names of Sterbini, Lunati, and Galletti. +Their appointment was signed on the spot, and the news being told to the +insurgents "they fired muskets in token of joy, and went off with hymns +for Italy and cheers for the Italian Constituent Assembly and the +democratic Ministry." + +The next day the club desired that the Swiss should be deprived of their +arms and dismissed from the Quirinal; the Pope complied. The club then +asked that Galletti should be named general of the carbineers; and he +was appointed. "Such was the poltroonery or such the depravity of +consciences that no journal would or dared denounce the murder. But why +do I speak of denouncing? The murder was honored with illuminations and +festivities in numerous cities, and not in these States only, but beyond +them, especially at Leghorn." The Councils met on the 18th and 20th, but +not a word was said of the murder, and even a proposition for giving +assurance to the Pope "of the devotion and unalterable affection of the +Deputies" was voted down. Three of the Bolognese Deputies and a few +others then indignantly resigned their seats, and assigned their reasons +for this step in addresses to their constituents. + +Early on the night of the 25th the Pope secretly left the Quirinal, +entered a carriage prepared for him by the wife of the Bavarian +ambassador, and went into exile from that city which, within two years +and a half, had worshipped, scorned, and assailed him. + + + + +(1848) THE REVOLUTION OF FEBRUARY IN FRANCE, François P.G. Guizot and + Mme. Guizot de Witt + + +This outbreak marked one of the many transitions in French history, +leading to the establishment of the short-lived Second Republic, so soon +to be followed by the _coup d'état_ of Louis Napoleon and the setting up +of the Second Empire. When France passed from the rule of the Bourbons, +represented by Charles X, to that of the Orleanists, in the hands of +Louis Philippe, the "Citizen King" (July, 1830), great hopes were +entertained by the constitutional party that this renewal of the +monarchy through the "July Revolution" would result in permanent +benefits. At first the new King enjoyed great popularity. In some +respects his government, compared with that of Charles X, was liberal, +and one of its early acts was an extension of the suffrage by decreasing +the amount of the property qualification for voters. The demand for +still further enlargement of popular rights became emphatic. The people +were divided mainly into three parties, and the difficulties confronting +the King were formidable. The Conservatives, who had placed him in +power, wished to prevent further changes in the State; the Moderates +asked for new reforms, especially for a still more extended suffrage; +the Radical party desired a republic. + +The attitude of the Radicals caused Louis Philippe to halt in his +progressive policy. More than once his life was attempted, and in +consequence of such acts the liberty of the press and other privileges +were restricted. The greater part of the French people wished to have +the King intervene in behalf of Poland--which at that period was in a +state of almost chronic insurrection--as he had aided the Belgians +against Holland. In her Eastern policy France was defeated by the +Quadruple Alliance, formed by England, Prussia, Austria, and Russia, and +in consequence of this failure the King's prestige suffered. But the +question of extending the suffrage was kept always before the people, +and when the King refused to go further with that reform its advocates +urged their demands more strongly than ever. Lamartine founded a journal +in which he agitated for universal suffrage, and in this agitation many +other newspapers joined. Even Thiers, the leading statesman of the +Moderate party, asked for suffrage reform. Failing to control the +Legislative Assembly, the reformers at last appealed to the people. The +King, relying on his majority in the Assembly, was undisturbed by the +popular ferment. + +Guizot, whose account of the "February Revolution" is here given, was +the chief minister of Louis Philippe; and however partisan the author's +narrative may seem, it rests upon an intimate knowledge of the events +recorded. + +I come with profound repugnance and sorrow to those painful days by the +faults and misfortunes of which France was launched into dangerous +enterprises, such that men of the greatest foresight could not discern +their end. Our country has paid very dearly for the fatal error which +overthrew the throne of the King who had for eighteen years governed it +with a wisdom, prudence, and moderation acknowledged even by his enemies +when attacking him. + +"The Cabinet of October 29, 1847, and its political friends, had a +clearly defined idea and purpose. They aspired to bring to a close the +French era of revolutions by establishing the free government which +France had in 1789 promised herself as the consequence and political +guarantee of the social revolution which she was completing." This +policy, formerly the object of their youthful hopes, had become theirs, +whether in power or in the opposition. "It was in fact both liberal and +antirevolutionary--antirevolutionary both in home and foreign affairs, +since it wished to maintain the peace of Europe abroad, and the +constitutional monarchy at home; liberal, since it fully accepted and +respected the essential conditions of free government; the decisive +intervention of the country in its affairs, with a constant and +well-sustained discussion, in public as well as in the Chambers, of the +ideas and acts of the Government. In fact, this twofold object was +attained from 1830 to 1848. + +"Abroad, peace was maintained without any loss to the influence or +reputation of France in Europe. At home, from 1830 to 1848, political +liberty was great and powerful; from 1840 to 1848, in particular, it was +displayed without any new legal limit being imposed. It was this policy +that the opposition--all the oppositions, monarchical and dynastic as +well as republican--blindly or knowingly attacked, and tried to change. +It was to change it that they demanded electoral and parliamentary +reforms. In principle, the Government had no absolute or permanent +objections whatever to such reforms; the extension of the right of +suffrage, and the incompatibility of certain functions with the office +of Deputy, might and must be the natural and legitimate consequences of +the upward movement of society and political liberty. They did not think +the reforms necessary or well-timed, and were therefore justified in +delaying them as much as possible, provided they should one day allow to +be accomplished by others what they thought themselves still strong +enough to refuse." "We have too much and too long maintained a good +policy," said Guizot afterward. + +A frequent and formidable sign that men's minds are secretly agitated is +the anxiety by which they are seized with reference to intrigues and +vices which they suppose around them. It would be a serious error to see +always a symptom of moral improvement in the clamors against electoral +or parliamentary corruption. Immediately after the ministerial success +in the general elections of 1846, this precursory indication of storms +appeared on the horizon. Guizot raised the question to its proper point +of view. "Leave to countries which are not free," said he, "leave to +absolute governments, that explanation of great results by small, +feeble, or dishonorable human acts. In free countries, when great +results are produced it is from great causes that they spring. A great +fact has been shown in the elections just completed; the country has +given its adhesion, its earnest and free adhesion, to the policy +presented before it. Do not attribute this fact to several pretended +electoral manoeuvres. You have no right to come to explain, or qualify +by wretched suppositions, a grand idea of the country thus grandly and +freely manifested." The rumors of electoral corruptions were soon +followed by rumors of parliamentary corruptions; but the majority of the +Chamber declared themselves "content" with the ministerial explanations. +The "Contents" figured in the opposition attacks by the side of the +"Pritchardists." + +Several improper abuses of long standing existed in certain branches of +the Administration; some posts in the Treasury had been the object of +pecuniary transactions between those who held the posts and were +resigning, and the candidates who presented themselves to replace them. +A bill proposed on January 20, 1848, by Hébert, who had become keeper of +the seals, formally forbade any such transaction, under assigned +penalties. Several months previously (June, 1847) M. Teste, formerly +Minister of Public Works, and then president of the Cour de Cassation, +was seriously compromised in the scandalous trial of General Cubières +and Pellapra. Convicted of having received a large sum of money in +connection with the mining concession, he was brought before the Peers, +and being led from question to question and from discussion to +discussion, soon made a confession of his crime. He, as well as his +accomplices, underwent the just penalty. + +"It was, on the part of the Cabinet, one of those acts the merit of +which is only perceived afterward, and in which the Government bears the +weight of the evil at the moment when it is trying most sincerely and +courageously to repress it. There were several deplorable incidents--the +shocking murder of the Duchess of Praslin, some scandalous trials and +violent deaths following hard one upon another, and aggravating the +momentary depression and the excited state of the popular imagination. +The air seemed infected with moral disorder and unlooked-for +misfortunes, coming to join in party attacks and the false accusations +which the Cabinet were subjected to. It was one of those unhealthy +hurricanes often met in the lives of governments." It was certainly +culpable on the part of the opposition to try to take advantage of this +disturbed state of men's minds to gain the end they were pursuing. Seven +times was parliamentary reform, and three times was electoral reform, +refused by the Chambers, from February 20, 1841, to April 8, 1847; the +question being then displaced, it changed its ground. The opposition +made an appeal to popular passion; and parliamentary discussions were +succeeded by the banquets. + +From the close of the session of 1847 to the opening of that of 1848 +they kept France in a state of constant fever--an artificial and +deceptive fever in this sense, that it was not the natural and +spontaneous result of the actual wishes and wants of the country; but +true and serious in this sense, that the political parties who took the +initiative in it found among some of the middle classes and the lower +orders a prompt and keen adhesion to their proposals. The first banquet +took place in Paris at the Château-Rouge Hôtel on July 9, 1847. +Garnier-Pagès has himself told how the Royalist opposition and the +Republican opposition concluded their alliance for that purpose. On +leaving the house of Odilon Barrot, the Radical members of the meeting +walked together for some time. On reaching that part of the Boulevard +opposite the Foreign Office, at the moment they were about to separate, +Pagnerre said: "Well, really, I did not expect for our proposals so +speedy and complete success. Do those gentlemen see what that may lead +to? For my part, I confess I do not see it clearly; but it is not for us +Radicals to be alarmed about it." + +"You see that tree," replied Garnier-Pagès; "engrave on its bark a mark +in memory of this day, for what we have just decided upon is a +revolution." Garnier-Pagès did not foresee that the Republic of 1848, as +well as the monarchy of 1830, should in its turn speedily perish in that +revolution, so long big with so many storms. + +For six months banquets were renewed in most of the departments--at +Colmar, Strasburg, St. Quentin, Lille, Avesnes, Cosne, Châlons, Mâcon, +Lyons, Montpellier, Rouen, etc. In many parts there was a great display +of feelings and intentions most hostile to royalty and the dynasty. On +several occasions--at Lille, for example--the keenest members of the +parliamentary opposition, Odilon Barrot and his friends, withdrew, soon +after taking their places at table, because the others absolutely +refused to dissemble their hostility to the Crown and the King. At other +banquets, notably at Dijon, the ideas and passions of 1793 unblushingly +reappeared. They defended Robespierre and the Reign of Terror. The "Red +Republic" openly flaunted its colors and hopes. The attack upon monarchy +and the dynasty ranged itself, it is true, behind the parliamentary +opposition, but like Galatea running away: + + "_Et se cupit ante videri_." + +It had succeeded well enough in making itself seen. The Government could +no longer shut their eyes. They had tolerated the banquets so long as +they could believe, or seem to believe, that the parliamentary +opposition directed, or at least ruled, the movement. When it became +evident that the anarchical impulse was more and more gaining upon the +parliamentary opposition, and that the latter was becoming the +instrument instead of remaining the master, then only they forbade the +banquets. It was their duty. + +It was also their right, in the opinion of the most competent legal +authorities, as well as according to the recent practice of other free +governments, in presence of a situation full of certain danger. This +right, however, was disputed by the opposition. The Government, pushing +the principle of legality to its furthest limit, arranged with several +leading men of the opposition for the purpose of enabling the question +of right to be brought speedily and methodically before competent +tribunals. Just before the opening of the new session, in order to close +the campaign, a new and formal banquet was being prepared in Paris, to +which all the Deputies and Peers who had taken part in any of the +preceding banquets were to be invited. This manifestation was to take +place in the Twelfth Arrondissement of Paris. It was therefore agreed +between the opposition delegates and those of the ministerial majority +that the Deputies invited should go to the place appointed for the +meeting and take their places, so as to avoid any disturbance in the +streets or the hall, and that on the police commissary declaring that +there was an order against it the guests should protest and withdraw, to +lay the question before the tribunals. The agreement thus concluded was +communicated by Duchâtel to the council, which approved of it. + +Meanwhile the Chamber met, the session was opened, and from the very +first the Government could perceive a wavering in the majority. Even +among those who blamed and feared the agitation out-of-doors, several +believed in the urgent necessity of a concession to remove all pretext +for clamors and intrigues. On the ministers being informed of it Guizot +said: "Withdraw the question from the hands of those who now hold it, +and let it be brought back to the Chamber. Let the majority take a step +in the direction of the concessions indicated; however small it be, I am +certain it will be understood, and that you will have a new Cabinet, +which will do what you think necessary." It was in the same spirit that +the Ministry, during the discussion on the address, rejected an +amendment tending to impose upon them immediate engagements with +reference to reform. + +"The maintenance of the unity of the Conservative party," said Guizot, +"the maintenance of conservative policy and power, will be the fixed +idea and rule of conduct in the Cabinet. They will make sincere efforts +to maintain or restore the unity of the Conservative party upon that +question, in order that it may be the Conservative party itself in its +entirety that undertakes and gives to the country its solution. If such +an operation in the midst of the Conservative party is possible, it will +take place. If that is not possible--if by the question of reforms the +Conservative party cannot succeed in making a common arrangement and +maintaining the power of the Conservative policy, the Cabinet will leave +to others the sad task of presiding over the disorganization of the +Conservative party and the ruin of its policy." + +The question was not destined to be taken up again by the Chambers, +having escaped from the weak hands that aspired to direct it. The +courtesy of the Conservative reformers had no result except disquieting +the Government, a sort of precursory sign of the tempest. Even the +parliamentary opposition found themselves baffled in their prudent +efforts. A manifesto published in the _National_ newspaper organized a +noisy demonstration in the streets, though forbidden in the +banquet-hall, the National Guard being called to arms by the +insurrection, and their services arranged beforehand. The convention was +clearly violated, and the legal appeal to the tribunals therefore +abandoned: the Revolution itself declared it would decide the question. +In such a situation, sorrowfully admitted by those who had negotiated +the evening before, the Government officially forbade the banquet. The +evening papers announced that the Deputies of the opposition had given +up the intention of being present, and therefore the proposed +manifestation was deprived of all importance. The revolutionary leaders +in their turn declared that the banquet would not take place. + +Disappointment increasing their irritation, the parliamentary +opposition, in a momentary resistance, employed the remainder of their +strength. On February 22d fifty-two Deputies of the Left laid before the +Chamber a bill of impeachment against the Ministry, on account of their +home and foreign policy during the whole course of their Administration. +"What would you have them do?" said to Guizot an old member of the +opposition who had no share whatever in this act. "They have just +rendered the banquet abortive by declaring they would not attend it, and +felt compelled to do something to compensate for and to some extent +redeem that refusal." + +Weakness has a constraining power difficult to understand, which is not +foreseen even by those who give way to it; and of this the history of +the Revolution of 1848 offers an eloquent and melancholy example. + +The King, as well as his ministers, still hoped that the crisis had +passed, and that the disorder avoided on the occasion of the banquet +should not reappear under any pretext. The display of military forces +which had been agreed upon and prepared was ordered to be suspended; +instructions to arrest the Republican leaders were issued slowly and in +but few instances. Yet a secret agitation was indicated in several parts +of the capital; there were numerous crowds; on the morning of the 23rd +several _corps-de-garde_ were attacked. As the fermentation increased, +the streets were crowded with idle workmen; people collected in knots +from curiosity, or stood at their doors. The storm was in the air, +evident both to those who dreaded it and those who were preparing to +make use of it. + +Meanwhile the appeal of the revolutionary leaders to the National Guard +had been listened to. Many of the Parisian shopkeepers took part in the +"reform movement," without well understanding it, and marched under the +orders of their dangerous allies. Several detachments of the Seventh, +Third, Second, and Tenth Legions appeared in the streets, some in the +Faubourg St. Antoine, others marching to the Palais Royal, or the office +of the _National_ in the Rue le Peletier, and others in the students' +quarter shouting "Long live reform!" in every street. When General +Jacqueminot, the Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard, ordered a +general muster of the legions, a large number of the guards, respectable +and law-abiding men, did not answer to the summons. They had no desire +for a revolution or reform forced from the legal powers by insurrection, +but they shrunk from entering upon a struggle with soldiers wearing +their own uniform and influenced apparently by reasonable motives. They +remained in their homes dejected and anxious. + +The King was as dejected as the Parisian citizens, and still more +anxious. For several months he had frequently fallen into very low +spirits, which was attributed to his grief at the death of his only +sister, Madame Adelaide of Orleans, whose life had been always +intimately associated with his, and who had just expired (December, +1847). His most intimate friends urged him to charm away the crisis by +changing his Ministry. He still resisted, but every hour less +vigorously. The Cabinet was not even informed of his perplexities. +"Concessions forced by violence from all the legal powers are not a +means of safety," said Duchâtel; "one defeat would quickly bring a +second. In the Revolution there was not much time between that of June +20th and August 10th, and to-day things advance more quickly than in +those times. Events, like travellers, now go by steam." + +The truth, however, was now becoming manifest, both in the King's mind +as to the tendency of his ideas, and in the eyes of his ministers as to +the determination now being formed in the palace. By the very statement +of the question it was resolved upon. Guizot and Duchâtel thus expressed +it to the King: "It is for your Majesty to decide. The Cabinet is ready +either to defend to the last the King and conservative policy which we +profess, or to accept without a murmur the King's determination to call +other men to power. At present, more than ever, in order to continue the +struggle successfully, the Cabinet has need of the King's decided +support. As soon as the public should learn, as they inevitably must, +that the King hesitates, the Cabinet would lose all moral influence and +be unable to accomplish their task." The King seemed still in +perplexity, and said he should prefer to abdicate. "You cannot say that, +my dear," replied the Queen, who was present at the interview with the +Dukes of Nemours and Montpensier; "you belong to France, and not to +yourself." + +"That is true," said the King, as Louis XVI had formerly said to +Malesherbes; "I am more unfortunate than the ministers, I cannot +resign." The ministers then in King Louis Philippe's Cabinet had not +resigned. The King, having made his decision, said, "It is with the +keenest regret that I separate myself from you, but necessity and the +safety of the monarchy demand this sacrifice. My will gives way; much +time will be needed to regain the ground I am about to lose." There were +tears in many eyes. The King sent for Molé, and Guizot himself announced +to the Chamber of Deputies the change of the Ministry. + +There was much of astonishment and sorrow in the parliamentary majority, +always strongly attached to the leaders they had so long followed in +spite of occasional vagaries and good-natured weakness. The imminence of +a great danger engrossed their minds, together with the consciousness of +a great defeat. The anxiety of the Chambers was reechoed in the +Tuileries; and for the last time the ministers assembled there, anxious +at that last moment of their power to maintain order, now everywhere +threatened. Count Molé was laboriously occupied in the formation of a +cabinet. "To think that this resolution was formed in a quarter of an +hour!" exclaimed the King when engaged with Jayr in some administrative +details. + +The excitement was great in the palace, but still greater in the +streets, being skilfully kept up by several insurrectionist leaders, and +spontaneously arising among the reckless portion of the populace, who +are easily influenced by revolutionary clamors. Increased by those +assembling from curiosity or idleness, the crowds in the squares and +boulevards assumed alarming proportions. All at once, opposite the +Foreign Office, there was heard, about nine o'clock in the evening, one +of those fatal explosions, whether accidental or premeditated, which +history often records as the origin of great popular risings. + +The soldiers, who till then had remained motionless and patient, thought +they were attacked, and fired in their turn. Several persons fell, some +dead, others wounded, and some were knocked down and trodden under foot. +The greatest disorder, caused both by alarm and indignation, broke out +in the whole neighborhood. Then was the moment of action for the keen +and determined insurgents. A cart which happened to be there was +immediately loaded with the corpses and drawn through the streets, from +one newspaper office to another, in the most populous quarters, with +shouts of "Vengeance! To arms! Down with Guizot! The head of Guizot!" By +daybreak Paris was covered with barricades. + +Molé having failed in his efforts to form a Cabinet, the King sent for +Thiers. For the last time he claimed the devotion of his old ministers. +"I must have immediately a military chief--an experienced chief," he +said. "I have sent for Bugeaud, but I wish M. Thiers to find him +appointed. Will you grant me this further service?" Duchâtel, and +General Trézel, on the previous evening still Minister of War, signed +without hesitation Marshal Bugeaud's appointment as Commander-in-Chief +of the National Guard and the Army. It was three o'clock in the morning. +"It is somewhat late to set to work," said the Marshal; "but I have +never been beaten, and shall not make a beginning to-morrow. Let me act, +and fire the cannon; there will be some bloodshed, but to-morrow evening +the strength will be on the side of law, and the factious will have had +their account settled." + +The day had not yet dawned when the Marshal was reviewing his forces. He +found them demoralized, having for sixty hours remained motionless +before the mob, with their feet in the mud, and their knapsacks on their +backs, allowing the rioters to attack the Municipal Guard, burn the +sentry-boxes, cut down the trees, break the street-lamps, and harangue +the soldiers. They were moreover badly supplied with provisions and +ammunition. The energetic language of their new commander, and the +precise orders which he gave for the march of the columns, inspired the +soldiers with fresh life and courage. The movements indicated had +already begun to be executed, and the troops were taking position; but +the crowds again filled the streets, and at several points the soldiers +were prevented from marching. One of the generals at the head of a +column sent to tell Bugeaud that he was face to face with an enormous +body of men, badly armed, who made no attack upon him, but only shouted, +"Long live reform! Long live the army! Down with Guizot!" "Order them to +disperse," replied the Marshal; "if they do not obey, use force, and act +with resolution." + +There was no fighting on either side. The staff were besieged by the +entreaties of a crowd of respectable men, who in terror and +consternation conjured Bugeaud to withdraw the troops because they +excited the anger of the populace, and leave to the National Guard the +duty of appeasing the insurrection. The danger of such counsel was +obvious, and the Marshal paid no attention to it, till Thiers and Odilon +Barrot, who had just accepted office, came to the staff with the same +advice, and it therefore became an order. The Marshal at first refused +the ministers as he had done the citizens, and then the same order was +sent by the King. "I must have a government," the Marshal had recently +said; and, as he was now without the government, which thus relaxed the +resistance agreed upon, he in his turn gave way. His instructions for +retreat were thus given to his officers: "By order of the King and +ministers, you will fall back upon the Tuileries. Make your retreat with +an imposing attitude, and if you are attacked, turn round, take the +offensive, and act according to my instructions given this morning." + +Meanwhile the formation of the Ministry was posted up everywhere. A +mixed crowd carried Odilon Barrot in triumph to the Home Office, which +Guizot and Duchâtel had just left. Those round him shouted, "Long live +the father of the people!" but most of the notices posted up were torn. +At the moment when the new ministers were about to leave Bugeaud's staff +on horseback in order to pass through the city, Horace Vernet, the +artist, arrived out of breath. "Don't let M. Thiers go," said he to the +Marshal. "I have just passed through the mob, and they are so furious +against him that I am certain they would cut him in pieces!" Odilon +Barrot presented himself alone to the crowd, but was powerless to calm +the fury he had assisted in unchaining. "Thiers is no longer possible, +and I am scarcely so," said he on his return to the staff. The King on +one occasion showed himself in the court of the Tuileries, when +reviewing several battalions of the National Guard. There were some +shouts of "Long live the King!" but the most numerous were "Long live +reform! Down with Guizot!" + +"You have the reform; and M. Guizot is no longer a minister!" said the +King; and on the shouts being again repeated, he returned to the palace. +The palace also was thronged with a confused crowd, animated by various +feelings and agitated by evident fears or secret hopes. Some urged the +King to abdicate in favor of the Comte de Paris; others vigorously +opposed such a relinquishment of power in presence of the insurrection. +The great mind of Queen Marie-Amélie was displayed in all the simplicity +of its heroism. "Mount on horseback, sire," said she, "and I shall give +you my blessing." She had recently urged the King to change his Cabinet; +a very kind message, intrusted for Guizot to one of his most intimate +friends, at the same time proved her regret. + +The King sat at his writing-table, agitated and perplexed. He had begun +to write his abdication, when Marshal Bugeaud entered, having just +learned what was taking place in the Tuileries, and excited by the sound +of some shooting which had already begun. "It is too late, sire," said +he; "your abdication would complete the demoralization of the troops. +Your Majesty can hear the shooting. There is nothing left but to fight." +The Queen seconded this advice, and Piscatory and several others were of +the same opinion. The King rose without finishing his writing, and then +other voices were raised to insist upon the King's promise. He sat down +again, wrote and signed his abdication. By this time the troops had +received orders to fall back, and Marshal Gérard took the place of +Bugeaud as commandant-general. The columns were marched toward the +barracks, and there was no detachment around the Palais-Bourbon, where +the same disorder reigned, and the same efforts were made in vain. + +The Duchesse d'Orléans presented herself before the Chamber of Deputies +as soon as the abdication of the King was known. The Duc de Nemours +accompanied her, leading the Comte de Paris by the hand; and the Duc de +Chartres, who was weak and ill, was wrapped up in a mantle and leaned on +Ary Scheffer's arm. Before joining the Princess at the gate of the +Chamber the Duc de Nemours had, with his brother the Duc de Montpensier, +seen the King, their father, take his melancholy departure, to escape +the insurrection, against which he could not make up his mind to use +force. + +The Duchesse d'Orléans already knew that depriving the King of the crown +was not giving it to her son. Her natural courage, however, and her +maternal affection induced her to make every effort to secure the throne +for the prince of nine years whom the nation had already intrusted to +her keeping. She had seen the Tuileries invaded before leaving that hall +where her husband's portrait by Ingres seemed to preside over her son's +destinies. "It is here one ought to die," she said, when Dupin and +Grammont came to conduct her to the Chamber. Odilon Barret had gone to +bring her, and succeeded in finding her in the Palais-Bourbon. The crowd +showed sympathy for her, and made room respectfully, though she and her +small retinue had difficulty in getting within the palace, every passage +being crowded. The Duchess stood near the tribune holding her two boys +close to her. After Dupin announced the King's abdication, Barrot, after +presenting the legal instrument, asked the Chamber to proclaim at once +the young King and the regency of Madame la Duchesse d'Orléans. + +Shouts of protest were heard on several benches. "It is too late!" +exclaimed Lamartine, as he went to the tribune, eager to urge this +difficulty, reject the regency, and demand a provisional government so +that the bloodshed might be stopped. Some others were already mentioning +the word "Republic." The crowd were gradually pouring into the Chamber +from the corriders, and Sauzet, the President, requested strangers to +withdraw, and made a special appeal to the Duchess herself. "Sir, this +is a royal sitting!" she replied; and when her friends urged her, "If I +leave this Chamber, my son will no more return to it." A few minutes +before her arrival, Thiers had entered the Chamber in the greatest +agitation. "The tide is rising, rising, rising!" he said to those who +crowded round him, and then disappeared. Several voices were heard +together in confusion; among the speakers were La Rochejacquelein, +Ledru-Rollin, Marie, and Berryer. + +The Duchess had been conducted to a gallery, on account of the threats +of the insurgent battalions, who burst open the doors after General +Gourgaud had in vain tried to stop them. Armand Marrast, one of the +editors of the _National_, after looking at the invaders, said: "These +are the sham public; I shall call the real!" A few minutes afterward +shots were heard in the court of the palace; the posts in the hands of +the National Guard opened before the triumphant mob, who, after sacking +the Tuileries, hurried up against the expiring remnants of the monarchy. +The Duchesse d'Orléans had already twice offered to speak, but her voice +was drowned in the tumult. The newcomers, stained with blood and +blackened with gunpowder, with dishevelled hair and bare arms, climbed +on the benches, stairs, and galleries; and in every part were shouts of +"Down with the regency! Long live the Republic! Turn out the +'Contents'!" Sauzet put on his hat, but a workman knocked it off, and +then the President disappeared. + +Several of the Deputies rushed to the gallery, where the Duchess was +still exposed to the looks and threats of the insurgents. "There is +nothing more to be done here, madam," they urged: "we must go to the +President's house, to form a new chamber." She took the arm of Jules de +Lasteyrie; and on her sons being separated from her in the narrow +passages, she showed the greatest anxiety, crying, "My boys! my boys!" +At one time the Comte de Paris was seized by a workman in a blouse; but +one of the National Guard took him out of his hands, and the child was +passed from one to another till he rejoined his mother. No one knew what +had become of the Duc de Chartres; but he was brought to the Invalides, +where the Princess went for refuge; and in the evening, after nightfall, +the mother and sons withdrew from Paris, and soon after from France. +"To-morrow, or ten years hence," said the Duchesse d'Orléans as she left +the Invalides, "a word, a sign will bring me back." Afterward in exile +she frequently said, "When the thought crosses my mind that I may never +again see France, I feel my heart breaking." + +Wanderers and fugitives across their kingdom, after kneeling for the +last time beside the tomb of their children at Dreux, and asking the +hospitality of some friends who were still faithful, and without a +single attempt to recover the crown they had lost, King Louis Philippe +and Queen Marie-Amélie at last reached the seacoast, and set sail toward +England, that safe and well-known refuge of unfortunate princes. + +Thunderstruck like them, and at their wits' end, the most faithful of +their servants and partisans waited for some sign authorizing them to +protest against the unparalleled surprise to which France had been +subjected. The fugitive King made no protest. His sons quietly followed +him into exile. Those who were serving France abroad learned at the same +time the news of their fall and the rise of a new power, and thought it +their duty to bow to the national will, resolving that not a single drop +of French blood should be shed in their cause. + + + + +(1848) REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS IN GERMANY, C. Edmund Maurice + + +Popular demonstrations in various parts of Germany in the great +revolutionary year 1848 were no doubt partly due to the outbreaks in +France and elsewhere, but it is also apparent that discontent at home +had been long turning the people toward revolt. The agitation that began +in March--the month following the "February Revolution" and the +declaration of a republic in France--was the work of a patriotic party +that cherished not only aspirations for extending popular rights in the +several States, but also a prophetic desire for German unity. + +The Congress of Vienna (1815) attempted to adjust the balance of power +in Europe. Some sort of union for the States was imperatively required +by the general situation, but there was fear of making Germany too +strong. The Congress created the German Confederation, constituted by a +union of independent States, under the hegemony or political headship of +Austria. This confederation (_bund_) lacked strength in the Central +Government, and although it reduced the number of States from more than +three hundred to thirty-nine, it still perpetuated elements of +unwieldiness and discord. At the head of the Austrian Government, as +chief minister of the Emperor Ferdinand I, was Metternich, who for many +years had been the great reactionary leader of Europe. He was compelled +now to face conditions such as, in his long and varied career of +statecraft and diplomacy, he never had confronted. Ferdinand himself, +always a weak ruler, succumbed to the revolution provoked by his +minister, whose downfall was followed by the Emperor's abdication +(December 2, 1848) in favor of his nephew, Francis Joseph, the present +ruler of Austria. + +The most interesting of the German struggles of 1848 was that in Saxony. +Robert Blum [Footnote: Blum, born at Cologne in 1807, was a writer and +an agitator, leader of the Liberal party in Saxony. He was executed in +November, 1848.--ED.] was present at a ball in Leipsic when the news +arrived of the French revolution. He at once hastened to consult his +friends; and they agreed to act through the Town Council of Leipsic, and +sketched out the demands that they desired should be laid before the +King. These were: "A reorganization of the constitution of the German +Bund in the spirit and in accordance with the needs of the times, for +which the way is to be prepared by the unfettering of the press, and the +summoning of representatives of all German peoples to the Assembly of +the Bund." The Town Council adopted this address on March 1st, and sent +a deputation with it to Dresden; and, on the 3d, the people gathered to +meet the deputation on its return. The following is the account given by +the son of Robert Blum: + +"By anonymous placards on the wall the population of Leipsic was +summoned on the evening of March 3d to meet at the railway station the +deputation returning from Dresden. Since the space was too narrow in +this place, the innumerable mass marched to the market-place, which, as +well as the neighboring streets, they completely filled. In perfect +silence the thousands awaited here the arrival of the deputation, which, +at last, toward nine o'clock, arrived and was greeted with unceasing +applause. Town Councillor Seeburg spoke first of the deep emotion of the +King; after him spoke Biedermann. But the crowd uproariously demanded +Robert Blum. + +"At last Blum appeared on the balcony of the Town Council House. His +voice alone controlled the whole market-place, and was even heard in the +neighboring streets. He too sought, by trying to quiet them, to turn +them away from the subject of the address and of the King's answer. But +the people broke uproariously into his speech with the demand, 'The +answer! The answer!' It could no longer be concealed that the petitions +of the town had received harsh rejection. Then came a loud and +passionate murmur. The masses had firmly hoped that the deputation would +bring with them from Dresden the news of the dismissal of the hated +ministers. + +"But Blum continued his speech, and they renewed their attention to him. +'In constitutional countries,' said he, 'it is not the King, but the +ministers who are responsible. They, too, bear the responsibility of the +rejection of the Leipsic proposals. The people must press for their +removal.' He added that he would bring forward in the next meeting of +the town representatives the proposal that the King should dismiss the +Ministry, 'which does not possess the confidence of the people.' Amid +shouts of exultation and applause, the appeased assembly dispersed." + +Blum was as successful with his colleagues as with the crowd; and the +Town Council now demanded from the King the dismissal of his ministers, +the meeting of the Assembly, and freedom of the press. The King tried to +resist the last of these three proposals, pleading his duty to the Bund. +But even the Bundestag had felt the spirit of the times, and on March +1st had passed a resolution giving leave to every government to abolish +the censorship of the press. The King seemed to yield, and promised to +fulfil all that was wished; but the reactionary party in Dresden had +become alarmed at the action of the men of Leipsic; and so, on March +11th, when the men of Leipsic supposed that all was granted, General von +Carlowitz entered their city at the head of a strong force, and demanded +that the Town Council should abstain from exciting speeches; that the +Elocution Union should give up all political discussion; that the +processions of people should cease; and above all, that the march from +Leipsic to Dresden, which was believed to be then intended, should be +given up. + +These demands were met by Blum with an indignant protest. "Five men," +said he, "who manage the army cannot understand that, though their +bullets may kill men, they cannot make a single hole in the idea that +rules the world." The town councillors of Leipsic were equally firm. +Carlowitz abandoned his attempt as hopeless; and on March 13th the King +summoned a Liberal Ministry which abolished press censorship, granted +publicity of legal proceedings, trial by jury, and a wider basis for the +Saxon Parliament, and promised to assist in the reform of the Bund. + +In the mean time the success of the French revolution had awakened new +hopes in Vienna. Soon after the arrival of the news, a placard appeared +on one of the city gates bearing the words: "In a month Prince +Metternich will be overthrown! Long live Constitutional Austria!" +Metternich himself was greatly alarmed, and began to listen to proposals +for extending the power of the Lower Austrian Estates. Yet he still +hoped by talking over and discussing these matters to delay the +execution of reforms till a more favorable turn in affairs should render +them either harmless or unnecessary. + +But great as was the alarm caused by the South German risings, and great +as were the hopes which they kindled in the Viennese, the word that was +to give definiteness and importance to the impulses that were stirring +in Vienna could not come from Bavaria or Saxony. Much as they might wish +to connect themselves with a German movement, the Viennese could not get +rid of the fact that they were, for the present, bound up with a +different political system. Nor was it wholly clear that the German +movement was as yet completely successful. The King of Prussia seemed to +be meditating a reactionary policy and had even threatened to despatch +troops to put down the Saxon Liberals; and the King of Hanover also was +disposed to resist the movement for a German Parliament. It was from a +country more closely bound up with the Viennese Government, and yet +enjoying traditions of more deeply rooted liberty, that the utterance +was to come which was eventually to rouse the Viennese to action. + +The readiness of the nobles to accept the purely verbal concession +offered by Metternich in the matter of the "Administrators" had shown +Kossuth [Footnote: Louis Kossuth, the famous leader of the Hungarian +insurrection of 1848, was at this time about forty-six years of age. The +sovereignty of Hungary had been in the hands of the Hapsburgs since +1687.--ED.] that there could be no further peace. But he still knew how +and when to strike the blow; and it was not by armed insurrection so +much as by the declaration of a policy that he shook the rule of +Metternich. On March 3d a Conservative member of the Presburg Assembly +brought forward a motion for inquiry into the Austrian bank-notes. +Kossuth answered that the confusion in the affairs of Austrian commerce +produced an evil effect on Hungarian finances; and he showed the need of +an independent Finance Ministry for Hungary. Then he went on to point +out that this same confusion extended to other parts of the monarchy. + +"The actual cause of the breaking up of peace in the monarchy, and of +all the evils which may possibly follow from it, lies in the system of +government." He admitted that it was hard for those who had been brought +up under this system to consent to its destruction. "But," he went on, +"the people lasts forever, and we wish also that the country of the +people should last forever. Forever too should last the splendor of that +dynasty whose representatives we reckon as our rulers. In a few days the +men of the past will descend into their graves; but for that scion of +the House of Hapsburg who excites such great hopes, for the Archduke +Francis Joseph, who at his first coming forward earned the love of the +nation--for him there waits the inheritance of a splendid throne which +derives its strength from freedom. Toward a dynasty which bases itself +on the freedoms of its people's enthusiasm will always be roused; for it +is only the freeman who can be faithful from his heart; for a +bureaucracy there can be no enthusiasm." + +He then urged that the future of the dynasty depended on the hearty +union between the nations which lived under it. "This union," he said, +"can be brought about only by respecting the nationalities, and by that +bond of constitutionalism which can produce a kindred feeling. The +bureau and the bayonet are miserable bonds." He then went on to +apologize for not examining the difficulties between Hungary and +Croatia. The solution of the difficulties of the empire would, he held, +solve the Croatian question too. If it did not, he promised to consider +that question with sympathy, and examine it in all its details. He +concluded by proposing an address to the Emperor which should point out +that it was the want of constitutional life in the whole empire which +hindered the progress of Hungary; and that, while an independent +government and a separate responsible ministry were absolutely essential +to Hungary, it was also necessary that the Emperor should surround his +throne, in all matters of the Government, with such constitutional +arrangements as were indispensably demanded by the needs of the time. + +This utterance has been called the "Baptismal Speech of the Revolution." +Coming as it did directly after the news of the French revolution, it +gave a definiteness to the growing demands for freedom; but it did more +than this. Metternich had cherished a growing hope that the demand for +constitutional government in Vienna might be gradually used to crush out +the independent position of Hungary, by absorbing the Hungarians in a +common Austrian parliament; and he had looked upon a Croatian question +as a means for still further weakening the power of the Hungarian Diet. +Kossuth's speech struck a blow at these hopes by declaring that freedom +for any part of the empire could be obtained only by working for the +freedom of the whole; he swept aside for the moment those national and +provincial jealousies which were the great strength of the Austrian +despotism, and appealed to all the Liberals of the empire to unite +against the system which was oppressing them all. Had Kossuth remained +true to the faith which he proclaimed in this speech, it is within the +limits of probability that the whole Revolution of 1848-1849 might have +had a different result. + +The Hungarian chancellor, Mailath, was so alarmed at Kossuth's speech +that he hindered the setting out of the deputation which was to have +presented the address to the Emperor. But he could not prevent the +speech from producing its effect. Although Presburg was only six hours' +journey from Vienna, the route had been made so difficult that the news +of anything done in the Hungarian Diet had hitherto reached Vienna in a +roundabout manner, and had sometimes been a week on its way. + +The news of this speech, however, arrived on the very next day; and +Kossuth's friend Pulszky immediately translated it into German and +circulated it among the Viennese. A rumor of its contents had spread +before the actual speech. It was said that Kossuth had declared war +against the system of government, and that he had said state bankruptcy +was inevitable. But as the news became more definite the minds of the +Viennese fixed upon two points--the denunciation of the men of the past, +and the demand for a constitution for Austria. So alarmed did the +Government become at the effect of this speech that they undertook to +answer it in an official paper. + +The writer of this answer called attention to the terrible scenes which +he said were being enacted in Paris, which proved according to him that +the only safety for the governed was in rallying round the government. +This utterance naturally excited only contempt and disgust; and the +ever-arriving news of new constitutions granted in Germany swelled the +enthusiasm which had been roused by Kossuth's speech. + +The movement still centred in the professors of the University. On March +1st Doctor Loehner had proposed, at one of the meetings of the Reading +and Debating Society, that negotiations should be opened with the +Estates, and that they should be urged to declare their Assembly +permanent, the country in danger, and Metternich a public enemy. This +proposal marked a definite step in constitutional progress. The Estates +of Lower Austria, which met in Vienna, had indeed from time to time +expressed their opinions on certain public grievances; but these +opinions had been generally disregarded by Francis and Metternich; and, +though the latter had of late talked of enlarging the powers of the +Estates, he had evidently intended such words partly as mere talk in +order to delay any efficient action, and partly as a bid against the +concessions which had been made by the King of Prussia. That the leaders +of a popular movement should suggest an appeal to the Estates of Lower +Austria was therefore an unexpected sign of a desire to find any legal +centre for action, however weak in power, and however aristocratic that +centre might be. + +Doctor Loehner's proposal, however, does not seem to have been generally +adopted; and, instead of the suggested appeal to the Estates, a +programme of eleven points was circulated by the debating society. When +we consider that the revolution broke out in less than a fortnight after +this petition, we cannot but be struck with the extreme moderation of +the demands now made. Most of the eleven points were concerned with +proposals for the removal either of forms of corruption, or of +restraints on personal liberty, and they were directed chiefly against +those interferences with the life and teaching of the universities which +were causing so much bitterness in Vienna. Such demands for +constitutional reforms as were contained in this programme were +certainly not of an alarming character. The petitioners asked that the +right of election to the Assembly of Estates should be extended to +citizens and peasants; that the deliberative powers of the Estates +should be enlarged; and that the whole empire should be represented in +an assembly, for which, however, the petitioners asked only a +consultative power. Perhaps the three demands in this petition which +would have excited the widest sympathy were those in favor of the +universal arming of the people, the universal right of petition, and the +abolition of the censorship. + +The expression of desire for reform now became much more general and +even some members of the Estates prepared an appeal to their colleagues +against the bureaucratic system. But the character and tone of the +utterances of these new reformers somewhat weakened the effect which had +been produced by the bolder complaints of the earlier leaders of the +movement, for while the students of the University and some of their +professors still showed a desire for bold and independent action, the +merchants caught eagerly at the sympathy of the Archduke Francis +Charles, while the booksellers addressed to the Emperor a petition in +which servility passes into blasphemy. + +These signs of weakness were no doubt observed by the Government; and it +was not wonderful that, under these circumstances, Metternich and +Kolowrat should have been able to persuade themselves that they could +still play with the Viennese, and put them off with promises which need +never be fulfilled. Archduke Louis alone seems to have foreseen the +coming storm, but was unable to persuade his colleagues to make military +preparations to meet it. In the mean time the movement among the +students was assuming more decided proportions; and their demands +related as usual to the great questions of freedom of speech, freedom of +the press, and freedom of teaching; and to these were added the demand +for popular representation, the justifications for which they drew from +Kossuth's speech of March 3d. + +But, while Hungary supplied the model of constitutional government, the +hope for a wider national life connected itself more and more with the +idea of a united Germany. Two days after the delivery of Kossuth's +speech an impulse had been given to this latter feeling by the meeting +at Heidelberg of the leading supporters of German unity; and they had +elected a committee of seven to prepare the way for a constituent +assembly at Frankfort. Of these seven, two came from Baden, one from +Wurtemberg, one from Hesse-Darmstadt, one from Prussia, one from +Bavaria, and one from Frankfort. Thus it will be seen that South Germany +still kept the lead in the movement for German unity; and the president +of the committee was that Izstein, of Baden, who had been known to +Germany chiefly by his ill-timed expulsion from Berlin. But, though this +distribution of power augured ill for the relations between the leaders +of the German movement and the King of Prussia, the meeting at +Heidelberg was not prepared to adopt the complete programme of the Baden +leaders, nor to commit itself to that Republican movement which would +probably have repelled the North German Liberals. + +The chief leader of the more moderate party in the meeting was Heinrich +von Gagern, the representative of Hesse-Darmstadt. + +Gagern was the son of a former minister of the Grand Duke of Nassau, who +had left that State to take service in Austria, and who had acted with +the Archduke John in planning a popular rising in the Tyrol in 1813. +Heinrich had been trained at a military school in Munich. He had +steadily opposed the policy of Metternich, had done his best to induce +the universities to co-operate in a common German movement, and had +tried to secure internal liberties for Hesse-Darmstadt, while he had +urged his countrymen to look for the model of a free constitution rather +to England and Hungary than to France. During the constitutional +movement of 1848 he had become Prime Minister of Hesse-Darmstadt; and he +seems to have had considerable power of winning popular confidence. +Although he was not able to commit the meeting to a definitely +monarchical policy, he had influence enough to counteract the attempts +of Struve and Hecker to carry a proposal for the proclamation of a +republic; and his influence increased during the later phases of the +movement. + +It was obvious that, in the state of Viennese feeling, a movement in +favor of German unity, at once so determined and so moderate in its +character, would give new impulse to the hopes for freedom already +excited by Kossuth's speech; and the action of the reformers now became +more vigorous because the students rather than the professors were +guiding the movement. Some of the latter, and particularly Professor +Hye, were beginning to be alarmed, and were attempting to hold their +pupils in check. This roused the distrust and suspicion of the students; +and it was with great difficulty that Professors Hye and Endlicher could +prevail on the younger leaders of the movement to abstain from action +until the professors had laid before the Emperor the desire of the +university for the removal of Metternich. This deputation waited on the +Emperor on March 12th, but it proved of little avail; and when the +professors returned with the answer that the Emperor would consider +their wishes, the students received them with laughter and resolved to +take the matter into their own hands. The next day was to be the opening +of the Assembly of the Estates of Lower Austria; and the students of +Vienna resolved to march from the University to the Landhaus. + +In the great hall of the University, now hidden away in an obscure part +of Vienna but still retaining traces of the paintings which then +decorated it, the students gathered in large numbers on March 13th. +Various rumors of a discouraging kind had been circulated; this and that +leading citizen were mentioned as having been arrested; nay, it was even +said that members of the Estates had themselves been seized, and that +the sitting of the Assembly would not be allowed to take place. To these +rumors were added the warnings of the professors. + +Fuester, who had recently preached on the duty of devotion to the cause +of the country, now endeavored, by praises of the Emperor, to check the +desire of the students for immediate action; but he was shouted down. + +Hye then appealed to them to wait a few days, in hopes of a further +answer from the Emperor. They answered with a shout that they would not +wait an hour; and then they raised the cry of "Landhaus!" Breaking loose +from all further restraint they set out on their march, and as they went +numbers gathered round them. The people of Vienna had already been +appealed to, by a placard on St. Stephen's Church, to free the good +Emperor Ferdinand from his enemies; and the placard further declared +that he who wished for the rise of Austria must wish for the fall of the +present ministers of state. + +The appeal produced its effect; and the crowd grew dense as the students +marched into the narrow Herren Gasse. They passed under the archway +which led into the courtyard of the Landhaus; there, in front of the +very building where the Assembly was sitting, they came to a dead halt; +and, with the strange hesitation which sometimes comes over crowds, no +man seemed to know what was next to be done. Suddenly in the pause which +followed, the words "_Meine Herren_" were heard from a corner of the +crowd. It was evident that some one was trying to address them; and the +students nearest to the speaker hoisted him upon their shoulders. Then +the crowd saw a quiet-looking man, with a round, strong head, +short-cropped hair, and a thick beard. Each man eagerly asked his +neighbor who this could be; and, as the speech proceeded, the news went +round that this was Doctor Fischhof, a man who had been very little +known beyond medical circles and hitherto looked upon as quite outside +political movements. Such was the speaker who now uttered what is still +remembered as the "first free word" in Vienna. + +He began by dwelling on the importance of the day and on the need of +"encouraging the men who sit there," pointing to the Landhaus, "by our +appeal to them, of strengthening them by our adherence, and leading them +to the desired end by our coöperation in action. He," exclaimed +Fischhof, "who has no courage on such a day as this is only fit for the +nursery." He then proceeded to dwell at some length on the need for +freedom of the press and trial by jury. Then, catching, as it were, the +note of Kossuth's speech of March 3d, he went on to speak of the +greatness which Austria might attain by combining together "the idealist +Germans, the steady, industrious, and persevering Slavs, the knightly +and enthusiastic Magyars, the clever and sharp-sighted Italians." +Finally he called upon them to demand freedom of the press, freedom of +religion, freedom of teaching and learning, a responsible ministry, +representation of the people, arming of the people, and connection with +Germany. + +In the mean time the Estates were sitting within. They had gathered in +unusually large numbers, being persuaded by their President that they +were bound to resist the stream of opinion. Representatives as they were +of the privileged classes, they had little sympathy with the movement +that was going on in Vienna. Nor does it appear that there was anyone +among them who was disposed to play the part of a Confalonieri or +Szechenyi, much less of a Mirabeau or a Lafayette. Many of them had +heard rumors of the coming deputation; but Montecuccoli, their +President, refused to begin the proceedings before the regular hour. +While they were still debating this point they heard the rush of the +crowd outside; then the sudden silence, and then Fischhof's voice. +Several members were seized with a panic and desired to adjourn. Again +Montecuccoli refused to yield, and one of their Liberal members urged +them to take courage from the fact of this deputation to make stronger +demands on the Government. + +But before the Assembly could decide to act the crowd outside had taken +sterner measures. The speakers who immediately followed Fischhof had +made little impression; then another doctor, named Goldmark, sprang up +and urged the people to break into the Landhaus. So, before the leaders +of the Estates had decided what action to take, the doors were suddenly +burst open, and Fischhof entered at the head of the crowd. He announced +that he had come to encourage the Estates in their deliberations, and to +ask them to sanction the demands embodied in the petition of the people. +Montecuccoli assured the deputation that the Emperor had already +promised to summon the Provincial Assemblies to Vienna, and that, for +their part, the Estates of Lower Austria were in favor of progress. +"But," he added, "they must have room and opportunity to deliberate." +Fischhof assented to this suggestion, and persuaded his followers to +withdraw to the courtyard. But those who had remained behind had been +seized with a fear of treachery, and a cry arose that Fischhof had been +arrested. Thereupon Fischhof showed himself, with Montecuccoli, on the +balcony; and the President promised that the Estates would send a +deputation of their own to the Emperor to express to him the wishes of +the people. He therefore invited the crowd to choose twelve men, to be +present at the deliberations of the Estates during the drawing up of the +petition. While the election of these twelve was still going on, a +Hungarian student appeared with the German translation of Kossuth's +speech. The Hungarian's voice being too weak to make itself heard, he +handed the speech to a Tyrolese student, who read it to the crowd. The +allusion to the need of a constitution was received with loud applause, +and so also was the expression of the hopes for good from the Archduke +Francis Joseph. + +But however much the reading of the speech had encouraged the hopes of +the crowd, it had also given time for the Estates to decide on a course +without waiting for the twelve representatives of the people; and, +before the crowd had heard the end of Kossuth's speech the reading was +interrupted by a message from the Estates announcing the contents of +their proposed petition. The petition had shrunk to the meagre demand +that a report on the condition of the state bank should be laid before +the Estates, and that a committee should be chosen from Provincial +Assemblies to consider timely reforms and to take a share in +legislation. + +The feeble character of the proposed compromise roused a storm of scorn +and rage; and a Moravian student tore the message of the Estates into +pieces. The conclusion of Kossuth's speech roused the people to still +further excitement; and, with cries for a free constitution, for union +with Germany, and against alliance with Russia, the crowd once more +broke into the Assembly. + +One of the leading students then demanded of Montecuccoli whether this +was the whole of the petition they intended to send to the Emperor. +Montecuccoli answered that the Estates had been so disturbed in their +deliberations that they had not been able to come to a final decision. +But he declared that they desired to lay before the Emperor all the +wishes of the people. + +Again the leaders of the crowd repeated, in slightly altered form, the +demands originally formulated by Fischhof. At last, after considerable +discussion, Montecuccoli was preparing to start for the Castle at the +head of the Estates when a regiment of soldiers arrived, but they were +unable to make their way through the crowd, and were even pressed back +out of the Herren Gasse. + +The desire now arose for better protection for the people; and a +deputation tried to persuade the burgomaster of Vienna to call out the +City Guard. Czapka, the burgomaster, was, however, a mere tool of the +Government; and he declared that the Archduke Albert, as +Commander-in-Chief of the Army, had alone the power of calling out the +guard. The Archduke Albert was, perhaps next to Louis, the most +unpopular of the royal house. He indignantly refused to listen to any +demands of the people, and, hastening to the spot, rallied the soldiers +and led them to the open space at the corner of the Herren Gasse, which +is known as the "Freyung." The inner circle of Vienna was at this time +surrounded with walls, outside of which were the large suburbs in which +chiefly workmen lived. + +The students seem already to have gained some sympathy with the workmen; +and for the previous two years the discontent caused by the sufferings +of the poorer classes had been taking a more directly political turn. +Several of the workmen had pressed in with the students in the morning +into the inner town, and some big men, with rough darned coats and dirty +caps over their ears, were seen clenching their fists for the fight. The +news quickly spread to the suburbs that the soldiers were about to +attack the people. Seizing long poles and any iron tools which came to +hand, the workmen rushed forward to the gates of the inner town. In one +district they found the town gates closed against them, and cannon +placed on the bastion near; but in others the authorities were +unprepared; and the workmen burst into the inner town, tearing down +stones and plaster to throw at the soldiers. + +In the mean time the representatives of the Estates had reached the +Castle, and were trying to persuade the authorities to yield to the +demands of the people. Metternich persisted in believing that the whole +affair was moved by foreign influence, and particularly by Italians and +Swiss; and he desired that the soldiers should gather in the Castle, and +that Prince Windischgraetz should be appointed commandant of the city. +Alfred Windischgraetz was a Bohemian nobleman who had previously been +known chiefly for his strong aristocratic feeling, which he was said to +have embodied in the expression "Human beings begin at barons." But he +had been marked out by Metternich as a man of vigor and decision who +might be trusted to act in an emergency. + +Latour, who had been the previous commandant of the Castle in Vienna, +showed signs of hesitation at this crisis; and this gave Metternich the +excuse for dismissing Latour and appointing Windischgraetz in his place. +To this arrangement all the ruling council consented; but, when Archduke +Louis and Metternich proposed to make Windischgraetz military dictator +of the city, and to allow him to bring out cannon for firing on the +people, great opposition arose. The Archduke John was perhaps one of the +few councillors who really sympathized with Liberal ideas; but several +of the Archdukes, and particularly Francis Charles, heartily desired the +fall of Metternich; and Kolowrat shared their wish. This combined +opposition of sincere reformers and jealous courtiers hindered +Metternich's policy; and it was decided that the City Guard should first +be called out, and that the dictatorship of Windischgraetz should be +kept in reserve as a last resource. + +In the mean time the struggle on the streets was raging fiercely. +Archduke Albert had found to his cost that the insurrection was not, as +he had supposed, the work of a few discontented men. The students fought +gallantly; but a still fiercer element was contributed to the +insurrection by the workmen who had come in from the suburbs. One +workman was wounded in his head, his arm, and his foot; but he continued +to encourage his friends, and cried out that he cared nothing for life; +either he would die that day, or else "the high gentlemen should be +overthrown." Another who had had no food since the morning entreated for +a little refreshment that he might be able to fight the better; and he +quickly returned to the struggle. In those suburbs from which the +workmen had not been able to break into the inner town, the insurrection +threatened to assume the form of an attack on the employers. Machines +were destroyed, and the houses of those employers who had lowered wages +were set on fire. + +It was this aspect of the insurrection which encouraged the nobles to +believe that, by calling out the guard, they would induce the richer +citizens to take arms against the workmen; and this policy was carried +still further when, on the application of the rector of the University, +the students also were allowed the privilege of bearing arms. But the +ruse entirely failed; the people recognized the City Guard as their +friends, and refused to attack them; and the rumor soon spread that the +police had fired on the City Guard. It was now evident that the citizen +soldiers were on the side of the people; and the richer citizens sent a +deputation to entreat that Metternich should be dismissed. + +But the Archduke Maximilian was resolved that, as the first expedient +proposed by the Council had failed, he would now apply some of those +more violent remedies which had been postponed at first. He therefore +ordered that the cannon should be brought down from the Castle to the +Michaelerplatz. From this point the cannon would have commanded, on the +one side the Herren Gasse, where the crowd had gathered in the morning, +and in front the Kohlmarkt, which led to the wide street of Amgraben. +Had the cannon been fired then and there, the course of the insurrection +must, in one way or other, have been changed. That change might have +been as Maximilian hoped, the complete collapse of the insurrection; or, +as Latour held, the cannon might have swept away the last vestige of +loyalty to the Emperor, and the republic might have been instantly +proclaimed. But in any case the result must have been most disastrous to +the cause both of order and liberty; for the passions which had already +been roused, especially among the workmen, could hardly have failed to +produce one of those savage struggles which may overthrow one tyranny, +but which usually end in the establishment of another. Fortunately, +however, the Archduke Maximilian seems to have had no official authority +in this matter; and, when he gave the order to fire, the master-gunner, +a Bohemian named Pollett, declared that he would not obey the order, +unless it was given by the commander of the forces or the commander of +the town. The Archduke then appealed to the subordinates to fire, in +spite of this opposition; but Pollett placed himself in front of the +cannon and exclaimed: "The cannon are under my command; until there +comes an order from my commander, and until necessity obliges it, let no +one fire on friendly unarmed citizens. Only over my body shall you +fire." The Archduke retired in despair. + +In the mean time the deputation of citizens had reached the Castle. At +first the officials were disposed to treat them angrily, and even tried +to detain them by force; but the news of the concession of arms to the +students, the urgent pressure of Archduke John, and the accounts of the +growing fury of the people finally decided Metternich to yield; and, +advancing into the room where the civic deputation was assembled, he +declared that as they had said his resignation would bring peace to +Austria he now resigned his office, and wished good luck to the new +government. Many of the royal family and of the other members of the +Council flattered themselves that they had got rid of a formidable enemy +without making any definite concession to the people. Windischgraetz +alone protested against the abandonment of Metternich by the rulers of +Austria. + +Metternich had hoped to retire quietly to his own villa, but it had been +already burned in the insurrection; and he soon found that it was safer +to fly from Vienna and eventually to take refuge in England. He had, +however, one consolation in all his misfortunes. In the memoir written +four years later he expressed his certainty that he at least had done no +wrong, and that if he had to begin his career again, he would follow the +same course he took before, and would not deviate from it for an +instant. + +When, at half-past eight in the evening of March 13th, men went through +the streets of Vienna, crying out "Metternich is fallen!" it seemed as +if the march of the students and the petition of Fischhof had produced +in one day all the results desired. But neither the suspicions of the +people nor the violent intentions of the princes were at an end. The +archdukes still talked of making Windischgraetz dictator of Vienna. The +workmen still raged in the suburbs; and the students refused to leave +the University for fear an attack should be made upon it. But in spite +of the violence of the workmen the leaders of the richer citizens were +more and more determined to make common cause with reformers. Indeed +both they and the students hoped to check the violence of the riots, +while they prevented any reactionary movement. The Emperor also was on +the side of concession. He refused to let the people be fired on, and +announced on the 14th the freedom of the press. But unfortunately he was +seized with one of his epileptic fits; and the intriguers, who were +already consolidating themselves into the secret council known as the +"Camarilla," published the news of Windischgraetz's dictatorship, and +resolved to place Vienna under a state of siege while the Emperor was +incapable of giving directions. + +The news of Windischgraetz's accession to power so alarmed the people +that they at once decided to march upon the Castle; but one of the +leading citizens, named Arthaber, persuaded them to abandon their +intention, and instead to send him and another friend to ask for a +constitution from the Emperor. A struggle was evidently going on between +Ferdinand and his courtiers. Whenever he was strong and able to hold his +own, he was ready to make concessions. Whenever he was either ill or +still suffering from the mental effects of his illness, the Government +fell into the hands of Windischgraetz and the archdukes, and violent +measures were proposed. + +Thus, though Arthaber and his friends were received courteously and +assured of the constitutional intentions of the Emperor, at eleven +o'clock on the same night there appeared a public notice declaring +Vienna in a state of siege. But even Windischgraetz seems to have been +somewhat frightened by the undaunted attitude of the people; and when he +found that his notice was torn down from the walls, and that a new +insurrection was about to break out, he sent for Professor Hye and +entreated him to preserve order. In the mean time the Emperor had to +some extent recovered his senses; and he speedily issued a promise to +summon the Estates of the German and Slavonic Provinces and the +congregations of Lombardo-Venetia. + +But the people had had enough of sham constitutions; and the Emperor's +proclamation was torn down. This act, however, did not imply any +personal hostility to Ferdinand; for the belief that the Austrian +ministers were thwarting the good intentions of their master was as +deeply rooted at this time in the minds of the Viennese as was a similar +belief with regard to Pius IX and his cardinals in the minds of the +Romans; and when the Emperor drove out on March 15th, he was received +with loud cheers. + +But as Ferdinand listened to these cheers he must have noticed that, +louder than the "_Es lebe der Kaiser_" of his German subjects and the +"_Slawa_" of the Bohemians, rose the sound of the Hungarian "_Eljen_." +For mingling in the crowd with the ordinary inhabitants of Vienna was +the Hungarian deputation, which had at last been permitted by the Count +Palatine to leave Presburg, and which had arrived in Vienna to demand +both freedoms that had been granted to the Germans and also a separate +responsible ministry for Hungary. They arrived in the full glory of +recent successes in the Presburg Diet; for, strengthened by the news of +the Viennese rising, Kossuth had carried, in one day, many of the +reforms for which his party had so long been contending. The last +remnants of the dependent condition of the peasantry had been swept +away; taxation had been made universal; and freedom of the press and +universal military service had been promised. Szechenyi alone had +ventured to raise a note of warning, and it had fallen unheeded. + +In Vienna Kossuth was welcomed almost as cordially as in Presburg; for +the German movement in Vienna had tended to produce in its supporters a +willingness to lose the eastern half of the empire in order to obtain +the union of the western half with Germany. So the notes of Arndt's +"_Deutsches Vaterland_" were mingled with the cry of "_Batthyanyi Lajos, +Minister Praesident!_" Before such a combination as this, Ferdinand had +no desire, Windischgraetz no power, to maintain an obstinate resistance; +and, on March 16th, Sedlnitzky, the hated head of the police, was +dismissed from office. On the 18th a responsible ministry was appointed; +and on the 22d Windischgraetz announced that national affairs would now +be guided on the path of progress. + +In the mean time that German movement from which the Viennese derived so +much of their impulse had been gaining a new accession of force in the +north of Germany. In Berlin the order of the Viennese movements had been +to some extent reversed. There the artisans, instead of taking their +tone from the students, had given the first impulse to reform. The King +indeed had begun his concessions by granting freedom of the press on +March 7th; but it seemed very unlikely that this concession would be +accompanied by any securities that would make it a reality. The King +even refused to fulfil his promise of summoning the Assembly; and it was +in consequence of this refusal that the artisans presented to the Town +Council of Berlin a petition for the redress of their special +grievances. The same kind of misery which prevailed in Vienna had shown +itself, though in less degree, in Berlin; and committees had been formed +for the relief of the poor. The Town Council refused to present the +petition of the workmen, and, in order to take the movement out of their +hands, presented a petition of their own in favor of freedom of the +press, trial by jury, representation of the German people in the +Bundestag, and the summoning of all the Provincial Assemblies of the +kingdom. This petition was rejected by the King; and thereupon, on March +13th, the people gathered in large numbers in the streets. General Pfuel +fired on them; but instead of yielding, they threw up barricades, and a +fierce struggle ensued. + +On the 14th the cry for complete freedom of the press became louder and +more prominent; and the insurgents were encouraged by the first news of +the Vienna rising. The other parts of the kingdom now joined in the +movement. On the 14th came deputations from the Rhine Province, who +demanded in a threatening manner the extension of popular liberties. On +the 16th came the more important news that Posen and Silesia were in +revolt. Mieroslawsky, who had been one of the leaders of the Polish +movement of 1846, had gained much popularity in Berlin; and he seemed +fully disposed to combine the movement for the independence of Posen +with that for the freedom of Prussia, much in the same way as Kossuth +had combined the cause of Hungarian liberty with the demand for an +Austrian constitution. In Silesia, no doubt, the terrible famine of the +previous year, and the remains of feudal oppression, had sharpened the +desire for liberty; and closely following on the news of these two +revolts came clearer accounts of the Viennese rising and the happy +tidings of the fall of Metternich. + +The King of Prussia promised, on the arrival of this news, to summon the +Assembly for April 2d; and two days later he appeared on the balcony of +his palace and declared his desire to change Germany from an alliance of +states into a federal state. + +But the suspicions of the people had now been thoroughly aroused; and on +March 18th, the very day on which the King made this declaration, fresh +deputations came to demand liberties from him; and when he appealed to +them to go home his request was not complied with. The threatening +attitude of the soldiers, and the recollection of their violence on the +preceding days, had convinced the people that until part at least of the +military force was removed they could have no security for liberty. + +The events of the day justified their belief; for, while some one was +reading aloud to the people the account of the concessions recently made +by the King, the soldiers suddenly fired upon them, and the crowd fled +in every direction. They fled, however, soon to rally again; barricades +were once more thrown up; the Poles of Posen flocked in to help their +friends, and the black, red, and gold flag of Germany was displayed. +Women joined the fight at the barricades; and on the 19th some of the +riflemen whom the King had brought from Neuchâtel refused to fire upon +the people. Then the King suddenly yielded, dismissed his ministers, and +promised to withdraw the troops and allow the arming of the people. + +The victory of the popular cause seemed now complete; but the bitterness +which still remained in the hearts of the citizens was shown by a public +funeral procession through Berlin in honor of those who had fallen in +the struggle. The King stood bare-headed on the balcony as the +procession passed the palace; and on March 21st he came forward in +public waving the black, red, and gold flag of Germany. + + + + +(1848) THE REVOLT OF HUNGARY, Arminius Vambery + + +Deep interest throughout the civilized world was aroused by the +unavailing struggle of Hungary, in 1848, for national independence. The +name of Louis Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot and famous orator, became +celebrated in many lands; and in the various countries where he +sojourned as an exile from his own--especially in the United States +(1851-1852) and in England--his eloquent appeals awakened profound +sympathy for his people's cause. Vambery, however, regards Kossuth's +compatriot, Count Stephen Szechenyi (born in 1791) as "the greatest +Hungarian of the nineteenth century." He was descended from a +distinguished family, which had given to its country many champions of +liberty. The great aim of his life was to revive the drooping energies +of the nation. As a youth he served in the army. Entering the famous +Diet of 1825, in which, by right of birth, he took his seat in the Upper +House, he distinguished himself by his liberal leadership, and as a +writer and an advocate of public endowments accomplished much for the +education of his people. + +Up to the time at which Vambery, the celebrated historian of Hungary, +begins the present narrative, the growth of the national spirit had been +more and more evident each year since the end of the Napoleonic wars. +For more than two centuries Hungary had been under the oppressive rule +of Austria. Hungary had furnished soldiers to Austria in her struggle +against Bonaparte, and the Austrian Emperor had repeatedly promised to +redress Hungarian grievances; but after the fall of Napoleon these +promises were repudiated. Hungary so emphatically showed her indignation +that the Emperor was compelled to convoke the Diet in which Szechenyi +distinguished himself. The subsequent career of this leader, the +character and aims of Kossuth, and the insurrection they did so much to +incite are powerfully described by Vambery, who writes not only as an +author fully versed in his country's annals, but also as a patriot +jealous of her liberties, proud of her heroic sons, and loyal to her +fame. + +For fifteen years, up to 1840, the popularity of Szechenyi extended over +Hungary, and his name was cherished by every patriot in the land. About +this time, however, the great statesman was destined to come into +collision with a man who was his peer in genius and abilities. The two +patriots were representatives of different methods, and in the contest +produced by the shock of antagonistic tendencies Szechenyi was compelled +to yield to Louis Kossuth, his younger rival. Although there was no +material difference between their aims--for both wished to see their +country great, free, constitutionally governed, prosperous, and advanced +in civilization--yet in the ways and means employed by them to attain +that aim they were diametrically opposed to each other. + +Szechenyi, who descended from a family of ancient and aristocratic +lineage, and presented himself to the nation with connections reaching +up into the highest circles of the court, with the lustre of his ancient +name, and with his immense fortune, wished to secure the happiness of +his country by quite different methods from those adopted by Louis +Kossuth, a child of the people, who, although he was a nobleman by +birth, yet belonged to that poorer class of gentry who support +themselves by their own exertions, and who, in Hungary, are destined to +fulfil the mission of the citizen-classes of other countries. It is from +this class of the gentry, for the most part, that are recruited the +trades-people, the smaller landowners, professional men, writers, +subordinate officials, lawyers, physicians, clergymen, teachers, and +professors. By virtue of their nobility, it is true, they belonged to +the privileged class of the country, and were not subjected to the +humiliations of the oppressed peasantry, yet they had to earn a living +by their own work, and were therefore not only accessible to, but were +ready enthusiastically to receive, the lofty message of liberty and +equality which the French Revolution of 1830 began to proclaim anew +throughout Europe. + +These doctrines formed a sharp contrast to the views of Count Stephen +Szechenyi, views which, owing to the social position of the man who held +them, were not devoid of a certain aristocratic tinge, and according to +which the most important part in the regeneration of the Hungarian +nation was assigned to the aristocracy. It was a part, however, which +the Hungarian aristocracy was itself by no means disposed to assume. +Among its younger members, indeed, could be found, here and there, +enthusiastic men who were devotedly attached to the person of the lordly +reformer, but the great majority of his class were hostilely arrayed +against Szechenyi's aims, and, obstructing the granting of even the most +inoffensive demands of the nation, supported the Viennese Government; +which was rigidly opposed to political reforms and to any changes in the +public institutions of the country. This attitude of the aristocracy +compelled Szechenyi to avoid as much as possible all questions +concerning constitutionality and liberty, and to confine the work of +reform chiefly to the sphere of internal improvements. + +The only way in which he could hope to obtain the support of the court +of Vienna and of the majority of the Upper House for his +politico-economical measures, was to remain as neutral as possible in +politics. The idea which chiefly governed his actions was that the +country should be first strengthened internally, and that afterward it +would be easy for the nation to bring about the triumph of her national +and political aspirations. + +After 1840, however, the bulk of the nation, and especially the small +gentry whose preponderating influence was making itself continually +felt, were unwilling to follow Szechenyi in his one-sided policy. The +reformatory work of Szechenyi during the preceding fifteen years had +educated public opinion up to new and great ideas, but the leaders of +that public opinion were now to be found in the House of Representatives +in the persons of Francis Deak and Louis Kossuth. They wished to obtain +for their country both political liberty and material prosperity. They +knew the effect of political institutions upon the material well-being +and civilization of a nation, and they no longer deemed it possible to +attain these objects without a modern constitutional government. + +Louis Kossuth, who was born in 1802, was the very incarnation of the +great democratic ideas of his age. He was entirely a man of work and +entered the legal profession, after he had completed his studies with +great distinction, for the purpose of supporting himself by it. Kossuth +was present at the Diet of 1832, when the Government, which conducted +itself most brutally and arbitrarily toward the press, refused to allow +the newspapers to print reports of the deliberations of the Diet in +spite of the repeated urgings by the Deputies for such an authorization, +and it was owing to his ingenuity that this prohibition was evaded. The +censorship was exercised on printed matter only and did not extend to +manuscripts. Kossuth wrote out the reports of the Diet himself, had +numerous copies made of them in writing, and circulated them, for a +slight fee, in every part of the country, where they were looked for +with feverish expectation, and, owing to the spirit of opposition with +which they were colored, were read with the greatest eagerness. + +This manuscript newspaper produced quite a revolutionary movement among +the people, frightening even the Austrian Government. The latter now +attempted to silence Kossuth by gentle means, promising him high offices +and a pension, but he refused the enticing offers and continued his work +for the benefit of the nation. Foiled in the attempt to lure Kossuth +from his duty, the Government resorted to violence, seized the +lithographic apparatus by means of which Kossuth planned to multiply his +manuscript newspaper, and gave directions to the postmasters to detain +and open all those sealed packages which were supposed to contain the +reports. But these arbitrary proceedings of the Government could not put +an end to the circulation of the newspaper; the country gentlemen, by +their own servants, continued to send each other single copies, and the +matter was given up only when the Diet ceased to be in session. + +Then Kossuth, at the urgent request of his friends and, one might say, +of the whole country, started a new manuscript newspaper at Budapest, +which reported the deliberations of the county assemblies. The effect +produced by this new paper was fraught with even greater consequences +than the first had created, for it was instrumental in bringing the +counties into contact with one another, thus giving them an opportunity +to combine against the Government. The latter, however, soon prohibited +its publication, but the prohibition gave rise to a storm of indignation +throughout the whole country. The counties in solid array addressed +protests to the Government against the illegal act and in behalf of +Kossuth, who continued to publish the paper in spite of the inhibition. +The Government at last resorted to the most barefaced brutality. +Kossuth, the brave champion of liberty, its eloquent pen and herald, was +dragged to a damp and dark subterranean prison-cell in the castle of +Buda, and detained there, while his father and mother and his family, +who were looking to him solely for their support, were robbed of the aid +of their natural protector. + +Although at that period lawlessness was the order of the day, yet this +last cruel and illegal act of the Government greatly exasperated the +public mind, which was already in a ferment of excitement. But while the +excited passions raged throughout the country, the Government, nothing +loth, caused Kossuth to be prosecuted for high treason, and, having +obtained his conviction, had him sentenced to an imprisonment of three +years. Kossuth applied himself during his detention to serious studies, +and acquired also, while in prison, the English language to such an +extent that he was enabled to address in that language, during his +exile, with great effect and impressiveness, large audiences both in +England and in the United States of America. His imprisonment lasted two +long years, after the lapse of which he obtained, in 1840, a pardon in +consequence of the repeated and urgent representations of the Diet. + +Kossuth returned to the scene of his former activity as the martyr of +free speech and the victim to the cause of the nation. He very soon +found a new field in which to labor. The Government perceived at last +that violence was of little avail, and that those questions which were +occupying the minds to such a degree could no longer be kept from being +publicly discussed by the press. Kossuth now obtained permission to edit +a political daily paper. Its publication was commenced under the title +of _Pesti Hirlap_ ("Newspaper of Pest") in 1841, and may be said to have +created the political daily press of Hungary. It disseminated new ideas +among the masses, stirred up the indifferent to feel an interest in the +affairs of the country, and gave a purpose to the national aspirations. +It proclaimed democratic reforms in every department; the abolition of +the privileges of the nobility and of their exemption from taxation, +equal rights and equal burdens for all the citizens of the State, and +the extension of public instruction, and it endeavored to restore the +Hungarian nationality to the place it was entitled to claim in the +organism of the State. + +The wealth of ideas thus daily communicated to the country appeared in +the most attractive garb, for Kossuth possessed a masterly style, and +his leaders and shorter articles showed off to advantage so many +unexpected beauties of the Hungarian language that his readers were +fairly enchanted and carried away by them. His articles were a happy +compound of poetical elevation and oratorical power, gratifying +common-sense and the imagination at the same time, appealing by their +lucid exposition to the reader's intelligence, and exciting and warming +his fancy by their fervor. Kossuth always rightly guessed what questions +most interested the nation, and the daily press became, in his hands, a +power in Hungary, electrifying the masses, who were always ready to give +their unconditional support to his bold and far-reaching schemes. + +The extraordinary influence obtained by Kossuth through his paper +frightened Szechenyi, and, to even a greater degree, those whose +prejudices were shocked or ancient privileges and interests were +endangered by the democratic agitations for reform. Kossuth was attacked +in books, pamphlets, and newspapers, but he came out victorious from all +contests. In vain did Szechenyi himself, backed by his great authority +in the land, assail him, declaring that he did not object to Kossuth's +ideas, but that his manner and his tactics were reprehensible, and that +the latter were sure to lead to a revolution. The great mass of the +people felt instinctively that revolution had become a necessity and was +unavoidable if Hungary was to pass from the old mediaeval order to the +establishment of modern institutions and was to become a state where +equality before the law should be the ruling standard. The masses were +strengthened in this conviction by the unreasonable, short-sighted, and +violent policy pursued by the Government of Vienna, which obstructed the +slightest reforms in the ancient institutions and opposed every national +aspiration, and under whose protecting wing the reactionary elements of +the Upper House were constantly paralyzing the noblest and best efforts +made by the Lower House for the public weal, while the same Government +arbitrarily supported claims of the Catholic clergy, in flat +contradiction to the rights and liberties of the various denominations +inhabiting the country. + +The Government, in its antipathy to the national movement, went even +further. It secretly incited the other nationalities, especially the +Croats, against the Hungarians, and thus planted the seeds from which +sprang the subsequent great civil war. In observing the dangerous +symptoms preceding the last-mentioned movement, and the bloody scenes +and fights provoked at every election by the hirelings of the +Government, in order to intimidate the adherents of reform, the friends +of progress became more and more convinced that the period of +moderation, such as preached by Szechenyi, had passed by, and must give +way to that resolute policy, advocated by Kossuth, which recoiled from +no consequences. Numerous magnates, all the chief leaders of the gentry +boasting of enlightenment and patriotism, and imbued with European +culture, rallied around Kossuth, until finally the public opinion of the +country and the enthusiasm of which he was the centre caused him to be +returned, in 1847, together with Count Louis Batthyanyi, as Deputy from +the foremost county of the country, the county of Pest. + +During the first months of the Diet of 1847-1848, which was to raise +Hungary to the rank of those countries that proclaimed equal rights and +possessed a responsible parliamentary government, it differed very +little from the one preceding it. The opposition initiated great +reforms, as before, but there was no one who believed that their +realization was near at hand. Kossuth repeatedly addressed the House, +and soon convinced his audience that he was as irresistible an orator as +he had proved powerful as a writer. But there was nothing to indicate +that the country was on the eve of a great transformation. + +The revolution of February, 1848, which broke out in Paris, changed, as +if by magic, the relative positions of Austria and Hungary. Metternich's +system of government, which was opposed to granting liberty to the +people, collapsed at once. The storm of popular indignation swept it +away like a house built of cards. At the first news of the occurrences +in Paris, Kossuth asked in the Lower House for the creation of a +responsible ministry. The motion was favorably received, but in the +Upper House it was rejected, the Government not being yet alive to the +real state of affairs, and still hoping by a system of negation to +frustrate the wishes of the people. But very soon the revolution reared +its head in Vienna itself, and the wishes of the Hungarian people, +uttered at Budapest, received thereby a new and powerful advocate. + +At that time the Hungarian Diet still met at Presburg, but the two +sister-cities of Buda and Pest formed the real capital of the country +and were the centre of commerce, industry, science, and literature. +Michael Vorosmarty, the poet laureate of the nation, lived in Pest, and +there the twin stars of literature, Alexander Petofi and Maurice Jokai, +shone on the national horizon. Jokai, who is still living (1886) and +enjoys a world-wide fame as a novelist, and Petofi, the eminent poet, +who was destined to become the Tyrtaeus of his nation, were then both +young men, full of enthusiasm and intrepid energy, and teeming with +great ideas. + +About these two gathered the other writers and youth of the University, +and all of them, helping one another, contrived, on hearing the news of +the sudden revolutions in Paris and Vienna, to enact in Budapest the +bloodless revolution of March 15, 1848, which obtained the liberty of +the press for the nation, and at the same time, in a solemn manifesto, +gave expression to the wishes of the Hungarians in the matter of reform. +The only act of violence these revolutionary heroes were guilty of was +the entering of a printing establishment, whose proprietor, afraid of +the Government, had refused to print the admirable poem of Petofi +entitled _Talpra Magyar_ ("Up, Magyar"), and doing the printing there +themselves. The first stanza of this poem, later the war-song of the +national movement, runs, in a literal translation, thus: + + "Arise, O Magyar! thy country calls. + Here is the time, now or never. + Shall we be slaves or free? + That is the question--choose! + We swear by the God of the Magyars, + We swear, to be slaves no longer!" + +This soul-stirring poem was improvised by Petofi under the inspiration +of the moment, and at the same establishment where it was first printed +was also printed a proclamation which contained twelve articles setting +forth the wishes of the people. + +While the capital was resounding with the rejoicings and triumphant +shouts of her exulting inhabitants, the proper department of the +Government for the carrying through of these movements, the Diet, +assembled at Presburg, lost no time, and set to work with great energy +to reform the institutions of Hungary, constitutionally, and to put into +the form of law the ideas of liberty, equality, and fraternity. The +salutary legislation met now with no opposition, either from the Upper +House or from the court at Vienna, and in a short time the Diet passed +the celebrated acts of 1848, which, having received the royal sanction, +were proclaimed as laws on April 11th, at Presburg, amid the wildest +enthusiasm, in the presence of King Ferdinand V. + +By these laws Hungary became a modern state, possessing a constitutional +government. The Government was vested in a ministry responsible to the +Parliament, all the inhabitants of the country were declared equal +before the law, the privileges of the nobility were abolished, the soil +was declared free, and the right of free worship accorded to all. The +institution of national guards was introduced, the utmost liberty of the +press was secured, Transylvania became a part of the mother-country--in +a word, the national and political condition of the country was +reorganized, in every particular, in harmony with the spirit, the +demands, and aspirations of our age. At the same time the men placed at +the head of the Government were such as possessed the fullest confidence +of the people. The first ministry was composed of the most distinguished +patriots. Count Louis Batthyanyi was the President; and acting in +conjunction with him were Francis Deak, as Minister of Justice; Count +Stephen Szechenyi, as Minister of Home Affairs; and Louis Kossuth, as +Minister of Finance. + +The great mass of the people hailed with boundless enthusiasm the new +Government and the magnificent reforms. The transformation, however, had +been so sudden and unexpected, and the old aristocratic world, with all +its institutions and its ancient organization, had been swept away with +such vehement precipitation that even under ordinary circumstances, in +the absence of all opposition, the new ideas and tendencies could have +hardly entered into the political life of the nation without causing +some confusion and disorder. But, in addition to these natural +drawbacks, the new order of things had to contend with certain national +elements in the population, which, feeling themselves injured in their +real or imaginary interests, were bent on mischief, hoping to be able to +rob the nation, in the midst of the ensuing troubles, of the great +political prize she had won. Certain circles of the court and classes of +the people strove equally hard to surround with difficulties the +practical introduction of the Constitution of 1848. + +The court and the standing army, the party of the soldier class, feared +that their commanding position would be impaired by the predominating +influence of the people. The non-Hungarian portion of the inhabitants, +choosing to ignore the fact that the new laws secured, without +distinction of nationality, equal rights to every citizen of the State, +were apprehensive lest the liberal constitution would benefit chiefly +the Hungarian element of the nation. They, therefore, encouraged by the +secret machinations of the Government of Vienna, took up arms, in order +to drag the country, which was preparing to take possession of her new +liberties, into a civil war. The Croatians, under the lead of Ban +Jellachich, and the Wallachs and Serbs, led by other imperial officers, +and yielding to their persuasions, rose in rebellion against Hungary, +and began to persecute, plunder, and murder the Hungarians living among +them. + +Dreadful atrocities were committed in the southern and eastern portions +of Hungary, hundreds and hundreds of families were massacred in cold +blood, and entire villages and cities were deserted by their +inhabitants, just as had previously happened at the approach of the +Turks, and thousands were compelled to abandon their all to the rebels, +in order to escape with their bare lives. In the course of a few weeks, +the flames of rebellion had spread over a large part of the country, and +the Hungarian element, instead of enjoying the liberties won for the +whole nation after a bitter struggle of many decades, was under the sad +necessity of resorting to armed force in order to reëstablish the +internal peace. The Hungarians now had to prove on the battlefield and +in bloody engagements that they were worthy of liberty and capable of +defending it. + +The Government, which, by virtue of the new laws, had meanwhile +transferred its seat to Budapest, displayed extraordinary energy in the +face of the sad difficulties besetting it. As it was impossible to rely +upon the Austrian soldiers who were still in the country, it exerted +itself to create and to organize a national army. A portion of the +National Guard entered the national army under the name of _honveds_ +("defenders of the country"), a name which became before long famous +throughout the civilized world for the brilliant military achievements +connected with it. The Hungarian soldiers garrisoning the Austrian +principalities hastened home, braving the greatest dangers, partly +accompanied by their officers and partly without them. The famous +Hungarian hussars, especially, returned in great number to offer their +services to their imperilled country. But all this proved insufficient, +and as soon as the National Assembly, elected under the new +constitution, met, Kossuth, who had been the life and soul of the +Government during this trying and critical period, called upon the +nation to raise large armies for the defence of the country. + +The session of July 11th, during which Kossuth introduced in the House +of Representatives his motions relating to the subject, presented a +scene which beggars all description. Kossuth ascended the tribune pale +and haggard with illness, but the long-continued applause that greeted +him after the first few sentences soon gave him back his strength and +his marvellous oratorical power. When he had concluded his speech and +submitted to the House his request for two hundred thousand soldiers and +the necessary money, a momentary pause of deep silence ensued. Suddenly +Paul Nyary, the leader of the opposition, arose, and lifting his right +arm toward heaven, exclaimed: "We grant it!" The House was in a fever of +patriotic excitement; all the Deputies rose from their seats, shouting, +"We grant it; we grant it!" Kossuth, with tears in his eyes, bowed to +the representatives of the people and said, "You have risen like one +man, and I bow down before the greatness of the nation." + +These sacrifices on the part of the country had become a matter of +urgent necessity. The Serb and Wallach insurrection assumed every day +larger proportions, while the Croats, under the leadership of +Jellachich, entered Hungarian territory with the fixed determination of +depriving the nation of her constitutional liberties. But the Hungarian +Government was already able to send an army against the Croatians, who +were marching on Budapest, plundering and laying waste everything before +them. They were surrounded by the Hungarian forces, and a part of their +army, nine thousand men strong, was compelled to lay down its arms, +while Jellachich, with his remaining forces, precipitately fled from the +country. The young Hungarian army had thus proved itself equal to the +task of repelling the attack of the Croats, but the recent events were +nevertheless fraught with the gravest consequences. + +The news of the Croatian invasion filled the Hungarians with deep +anxiety, and the extraordinary excitement caused by it cast a permanent +cloud over the soul of that great and noble man, Count Szechenyi. The +mind of the great patriot who had initiated the national movement gave +way under the strain of the frightful rumors coming from the Croatian +frontier. He had been ailing for some time, and his nervousness +increased so greatly under the pressure of the great events following +one another in rapid succession, that when the news came that the enemy +had invaded the country he thought Hungary was lost. His despair +darkened his mind and he sought death in the waves of the Danube. His +family removed him to a private asylum near Vienna, where he recovered +his mental faculties, and even wrote several books. But he was never +entirely cured of his hallucination, and, exasperated by the vexations +he was subjected to by the Viennese Government, even in the asylum, the +great patriot put an end to his own life on April 8, 1860, by a +pistol-shot. + +Jellachich's incursion had other important political consequences. The +attack on Hungary had been made by Jellachich in the name of the +Viennese Government, and the intimate connection between the domestic +disorders and the court of Vienna became more and more apparent. This +state of things rendered inevitable a struggle between Hungary and the +unconstitutional action of the court. The Austrian forces were arming +against Hungary on every side. Vienna, too, rose in rebellion against +the court, and now the Hungarians hastened to assist the revolutionists +in the Austrian capital. Unfortunately the young national army was not +ripe yet for so great a military enterprise, and Prince Windischgraetz, +having crushed the revolution in Vienna, invaded Hungary. + +A last attempt was now made by the Hungarians to negotiate peace with +the court, but it failed, Windischgraetz being so elated with his +success that nothing short of unconditional submission on the part of +the country would satisfy him. To accept such terms would have been both +cowardly and suicidal, and the nation, therefore, driven to the sad +alternative of war, determined rather to perish gloriously than +pusillanimously to submit to be enslaved by the court. They followed the +lead of Kossuth, who was now at the head of the Government, while Gorgei +was the Commander-in-Chief of the Hungarian Army. The two names of +Kossuth and Gorgei soon constituted the glory of the nation. While these +two acted in harmony they achieved brilliant triumphs, but their +personal antagonism greatly contributed, at a subsequent period, to the +calamities of the country. + +Windischgraetz took possession of Buda in January, 1849, thus compelling +Kossuth to transfer the seat of Government to Debreczin, while Gorgei +withdrew with his army to the northern part of Hungary; but the national +army fought victoriously against the Serbs and Wallachs, and the +situation of the Hungarians had, in the course of the winter, become +more favorable all over the country. The genius of Kossuth brought again +and again, as if by magic, fresh armies into the field, and he was +indefatigable in organizing the defence of the country. Distinguished +generals like Gorgei, Klapka, Damjanics, and Bem transformed the raw +recruits, in a wonderfully short time, into properly disciplined troops, +who were able to hold their own and bravely contend against the old and +tried imperial forces whom they put to flight at every point. + +The fortunes of war changed in favor of the Hungarians in the latter +part of January, 1849. Klapka achieved the first triumph, which was +followed by the brilliant victory won by one of Gorgei's divisions +commanded by Guyon in the Battle of Branyiszko, and very soon the +Hungarian armies acted on the offensive at all points. In the course of +a few weeks they achieved, chiefly under Gorgei's leadership, great and +complete victories over the enemy near Szolnok, Hatvan, Bicske, Waitzen, +Isaszegh, Nagy Sarlo, and Komarom. Windischgraetz lost both the campaign +and his office as commander-in-chief. + +Toward the close of the spring of 1849, after besieged Komorn had been +relieved by the Hungarians, and Bem had driven from Transylvania not +only the Austrians, but the Russians who had come to their assistance, +the country was almost freed from her enemies, and only two cities, Buda +and Temesvar, remained in the hands of the Austrians. The glorious +efforts made by the nation were attended at last by splendid successes, +and the civilized world spoke with sympathy and respect of the Hungarian +people, who had signally shown their ability to defend their liberties, +constitution, and national existence. + +It should have been the mission of diplomacy, at this conjuncture, to +turn to advantage the recent military successes by negotiating an +honorable peace with the humbled dynasty, as had been done before in the +history of the country, after similar military achievements by the +ancient national leaders, Bocskay and Bethlen. Gorgei, at the head of +the army, was disposed to conclude peace. But the Hungarian Parliament +sitting in Debreczin, led by Kossuth and under the influence of the +recent victories, was determined to pursue a different course. The royal +house at Hapsburg, whose dynasty had ruled over Hungary for three +centuries, was declared to have forfeited its right to the throne by +instigating and bringing upon the country the calamities of a great war. +This act had a bad effect, especially on the army, tending also to +heighten the personal antagonism between Kossuth and Gorgei. But its +worst consequence was that it gave Russia a pretext for armed +intervention. The Emperor Francis Joseph entered into an alliance with +the Czar of Russia, the purpose of which was to reconquer seceded +Hungary and ultimately to crush her liberty. + +One more brilliant victory was achieved by the Hungarian arms before the +fatal blow was aimed at the country. The fortress of Buda was taken +after a gallant assault, in the course of which the Austrian commandant +bombarded the defenceless city of Pest on the opposite bank of the +Danube, and thus the capital, too, was restored to the country. Yet +after this last glorious feat of war, good fortune deserted the national +banners. The grand heroic epoch was hastening to its tragic end. Two +hundred thousand Russians crossed the borders of Hungary, and were there +reënforced by sixty thousand to seventy thousand Austrians, whom the +Viennese Government had succeeded in collecting for a last great effort. + +It was easy to foresee that the exhausted Hungarian army could not long +resist the superior numbers opposed to them. For months they continued +the gallant fight, and in one of these fierce engagements Petofi, the +beloved poet of the nation, lost his life; but in the month of August +the Russians had already succeeded in surrounding Gorgei's army. Gorgei, +who was now invested with the supreme power, perceiving that all further +effusion of blood was useless, surrendered, in the sight of the Russian +army, the sword he had so gloriously worn in many a battle, near +Vilagos, on August 13, 1849. The remaining Hungarian armies followed his +example, and either capitulated or disbanded. The brave army of the +_honveds_ was no more, and the gallant struggle for liberty was put an +end to by the Russian forces. Kossuth and many other Hungarians sought +refuge in Turkey. + +Above Komorn, the largest fortress in the country, alone the Hungarian +colors were still floating. General Klapka, its commandant, bravely +defended it, and continued to hold it for six weeks after the sad +catastrophe of Vilagos. The brave defender, seeing at last that further +resistance served no purpose, as the Hungarian army had ceased to exist, +and the whole country had passed into the hands of the Austrians, +capitulated upon the most honorable terms. This was the concluding act +of the heroic struggle of the Hungarian people, the brave attitude of +the garrison and their commander adding another bright page to the +honorable record of the military achievements of 1848 and 1849. + +As soon as the Imperialists had obtained possession of Komorn, their +commander-in-chief, Baron Haynau, began to persecute the patriots, and +to commit the most cruel atrocities against them. Those who had taken +part in the national war were brought before a court-martial and +summarily executed. The bloody work of the executioner began on October +6th. Count Louis Batthyanyi was shot at Pest, and thirteen gallant +generals, belonging to Gorgei's army, met their deaths at Arad. +Wholesale massacres were committed throughout the country, until at last +the conscience of Europe rose up against these cruel butcheries, and the +court itself removed the sanguinary Baron from the scene of his inhuman +exploits. The best men in the country were thrown into prison, and +thousands of families had to mourn for dear ones who had fallen victims +to the implacable vindictiveness of the Austrian Government. Once more +the gloom of oppression settled upon the unhappy country. + +Many of the patriots had accompanied Kossuth to Turkey or found a refuge +in other foreign countries, and for ten years a great number of +distinguished Hungarians were compelled to taste the bitterness of +exile. Kossuth himself went subsequently to England, and visited also +the United States. In the latter country he was enthusiastically +received by the great and free American people, who took delight in his +lofty eloquence. During the Crimean War, and the War of 1859 in Italy, +Kossuth and the Hungarian exiles were zealously laboring to free their +country, by foreign aid, from the thraldom of oppression. At last, +however, the Hungarian nation succeeded in reconquering, without any aid +from abroad, by her own exertions, her national and political rights, +and made her peace with the ruling dynasty. But the Hungarian exiles had +their full share in the work of reconciliation, for it was owing to +their exertions that the nations of Europe remembered that, in spite of +Vilagos, Hungary still existed, and that again, at home, the people of +Hungary were not permitted to lose their faith in a better and brighter +future. + +Kossuth, the Nestor of the struggle for liberty, lives at present [1886] +in retirement in Turin, [Footnote: Kossuth died at Turin, Italy, March +20, 1894.--ED.] and, although separated from his people by diverging +political theories, his countrymen will forever cherish in him the great +genius who gave liberty to millions of the oppressed peasantry, and who +inscribed indelibly on the pages of the national legislation the +immortal principles of liberty and equality of rights. + + + + +(1848) DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN CALIFORNIA, John S. Hittell + + +Before the time of the great gold discovery of 1848, the metal had been +found in California, but the mines from which it was taken were poor and +yielded small returns for years of working. The discovery in 1848 +influenced the whole world, giving new life to trade and industry +everywhere. The first published report of gold in California appeared in +Hakluyt's account of Sir Francis Drake's visit to the coast in 1579. The +observations of Drake's men are supposed by some to have been made at a +point not far from San Francisco. The Hakluyt statement, however, is +disbelieved by many historians. The Spaniards and Mexicans who later +visited the coast are known to have found gold at many places, and +especially near the Colorado River, but they discovered no mines worth +working. Reports of great mineral wealth in California were repeated up +to the time of the American conquest, but they commanded little +confidence among mining experts. + +Although gold was found in what is now San Diego County in 1828, +Alexander Forbes, the historian of California, wrote in 1835 that no +minerals of particular importance had been discovered in Upper +California, nor any ores of metals. About 1838 a gold placer was +discovered in the ca±on of San Francisquito, forty-five miles northwest +of Los Angeles, and this was the first California mine that produced any +considerable amount of metal. It was worked for ten years and then +abandoned for richer diggings in the Sacramento Valley. The average +yield for the ten years was probably about six thousand dollars. After +the return of the Wilkes exploring expedition of 1842, James D. Dana, +its mineralogist, mentioned places in California at which he had +observed or inferred the existence of gold. But his report led to no +gold-hunting, and had only a scientific interest. + +The great discovery of 1848, and its world-wide effects, are described +in the following account by Hittell, which forms a part of Hubert H. +Bancroft's voluminous _History of the Pacific States_. + +As Edmund Hammond Hargraves is the hero of the Australian, so is James +W. Marshall of the Californian, gold discovery. Before giving the +account of his discovery, however, I will quote the following passage +from a letter written on May 4, 1846, by Thomas O. Larkin, then United +States consul at Monterey, California, to James Buchanan, Secretary of +State: + +"There is said to be black lead in the country of San Fernando, near San +Pedro [now Los Angeles County]. By washing the sand in a plate, any +person can obtain from one dollar to five dollars per day of gold that +brings seventeen dollars per ounce in Boston; the gold has been gathered +for two or three years, though but few have the patience to look for it. +On the southeast end of the island of Catalina there is a silver mine +from which silver has been extracted. There is no doubt but that gold, +silver, quick-silver, copper, lead, sulphur, and coal mines are to be +found all over California, and it is equally doubtful whether, under +their present owners, they will ever be worked." + +James W. Marshall, in a letter dated January 28, 1856, and addressed to +Charles E. Pickett, gave the following account of the gold discovery: +"Toward the end of August, 1847, Captain Sutter and I formed a +copartnership to build and run a sawmill upon a site selected by myself +(since known as Coloma). We employed P.L. Weimer and family to remove +from the Fort (Sutter's Fort) to the mill-site, to cook and labor for +us. Nearly the first work done was the building of a double log cabin, +about half a mile from the mill-site. We commenced the mill about +Christmas. Some of the mill-hands wanted a cabin near the mill. This was +built, and I went to the Fort to superintend the construction of the +mill-irons, leaving orders to cut a narrow ditch where the race was to +be made. Upon my return, in January, 1848, I found the ditch cut as +directed, and those who were working on the same were doing so at a +great disadvantage, expending their labor upon the head of the race +instead of the foot. + +"I immediately changed the course of things, and upon the 19th of the +same month of January discovered the gold near the lower end of the +race, about two hundred yards below the mill. William Scott was the +second man to see the metal. He was at work at a carpenter's bench near +the mill. I showed the gold to him. Alexander Stephens, James Brown, +Henry Bigler, and William Johnston were likewise working in front of the +mill, framing the upper story. They were called up next, and, of course, +saw the precious metal. P.L. Weimer and Charles Bennett were at the old +double log cabin (where Hastings and Company afterward kept a store). + +"In the mean time we put in some wheat and peas, nearly five acres, +across the river. In February the Captain (Captain Sutter) came to the +mountains for the first time. Then we consummated a treaty with the +Indians, which had been previously negotiated. The tenor of this was +that we were to pay them two hundred dollars yearly in goods, at Yerba +Buena prices, for the joint possession and occupation of the land with +them; they agreeing not to kill our stock, viz., horses, cattle, hogs, +or sheep, nor burn the grass within the limits fixed by the treaty. At +the same time Captain Sutter, myself, and Isaac Humphrey entered into a +copartnership to dig gold. A short time afterward, P.L. Weimer moved +away from the mill, and was away two or three months, when he returned. +With all the events that subsequently occurred, you and the public are +well informed." + +This is the most precise and is generally considered to be the most +correct account of the gold discovery. Other versions of the story have +been published, however, and the following, from an article published in +the Coloma _Argus_, in the latter part of the year 1855, is one of them. +The statement was evidently derived from Weimer, who lives at Coloma: + +"That James W. Marshall picked up the first piece of gold is beyond +doubt. Peter L. Weimer, who resides in this place, states positively +that Marshall picked up the gold in his presence; they both saw it and +each spoke at the same time, 'What's that yellow stuff?' Marshall, being +a step in advance, picked it up. This first piece of gold is now in the +possession of Mrs. Weimer, and weighs six pennyweights eleven grains. +The piece was given to her by Marshall himself. The dam was finished +early in January, the frame for the mill also erected, and the flume and +bulkhead completed. It was at this time that Marshall and Weimer adopted +the plan of raising the gate during the night to wash out sand from the +mill-race, closing it during the day, when work would be continued with +shovels, etc. + +"Early in February--the exact day is not remembered--in the morning, +after shutting off the water, Marshall and Weimer walked down the race +together to see what the water had accomplished during the night. Having +gone about twenty yards below the mill, they both saw the piece of gold +before mentioned, and Marshall picked it up. After an examination, the +gold was taken to the cabin of Weimer, and Mrs. Weimer instructed to +boil it in saleratus-water; but she, being engaged in making soap, +pitched the piece into the soap-kettle, where it was boiled all day and +all night. The following morning the strange piece of stuff was fished +out of the soap, all the brighter for the boiling. + +"Discussion now commenced, and all expressed the opinion that perhaps +the yellow substance might be gold. Little was said on the subject; but +everyone each morning searched in the race for more, and every day found +several small scales. The Indians also picked up many small thin pieces, +and carried them always to Mrs. Weimer. About three weeks after the +first piece was obtained, Marshall took the fine gold, amounting to +between two and three ounces, and went to San Francisco to have the +strange metal tested. On his return he informed Weimer that the stuff +was gold. + +"All hands now began to search for the 'root of all evil.' Shortly +after, Captain Sutter came to Coloma, and he and Marshall assembled the +Indians and bought of them a large tract of country about Coloma, in +exchange for a lot of beads and a few cotton handkerchiefs. They, under +color of this Indian title, required one-third of all the gold dug on +their domain, and collected at this rate until the fall of 1848, when a +mining party from Oregon declined paying 'tithes' as they called it. + +"During February, 1848, Marshall and Weimer went down the river to +Mormon Island, and there found scales of gold on the rocks. Some weeks +later they sent Mr. Henderson, Sydney Willis and Mr. Fifield, Mormons, +down there to dig, telling them that that place was better than Coloma. +These were the first miners at Mormon Island." + +Marshall was a man of an active, enthusiastic mind, and he at once +attached great importance to his discovery. His ideas, however, were +vague; he knew nothing about gold-mining; he did not know how to take +advantage of what he had found. Only an experienced gold-miner could +understand the importance of the discovery and make it of practical +value to all the world. That gold-miner, fortunately, was near at hand; +his name was Isaac Humphrey. He was residing in the town of San +Francisco, in the month of February, when a Mr. Bennett, one of the +party employed at Marshall's mill, went down to that place with some of +the dust to have it tested; for it was still a matter of doubt whether +this yellow metal really was gold. Bennett told his errand to a friend +whom he met in San Francisco, and this friend introduced him to +Humphrey, who had been a gold-miner in Georgia, and was therefore +competent to pass an opinion. + +Humphrey looked at the dust, pronounced it gold at the first glance, and +expressed a belief that the diggings must be rich. He made inquiries +about the place where the gold was found, and subsequent inquiries about +the trustworthiness of Mr. Bennett, and on March 7th he was at the mill. +He tried to induce several of his friends in San Francisco to go with +him; they all thought his expedition a foolish one, and he had to go +alone. He found that there was some talk about the gold, and persons +would occasionally go about looking for pieces of it; but no one was +engaged in mining, and the work of the mill was going on as usual. On +the 8th he went out prospecting with a pan, and satisfied himself that +the country in that vicinity was rich in gold. He then made a rocker and +commenced the business of washing gold, and thus began the business of +mining in California. + +Others saw how he did it, followed his example, found that the work was +profitable, and abandoned all other occupations. The news of their +success spread; people flocked to the place, learned how to use the +rocker, discovered new diggings, and in the course of a few months the +country had been overturned by a social and industrial revolution. + +Mr. Humphrey had not been at work more than three or four days before a +Frenchman, called Baptiste, who had been a gold-miner in Mexico for many +years, came to the mill, and he agreed with Humphrey that California was +very rich in gold. He, too, went to work, and, being an excellent +prospector, he was of great service in teaching the newcomers the +principles of prospecting and mining for gold--principles not abstruse, +yet not likely to suggest themselves at first thought to men entirely +ignorant of the business. Baptiste had been employed by Captain Sutter +to saw lumber with a whipsaw, and had been at work for two years at a +place, since called Weber, about ten miles eastward from Coloma. When he +saw the diggings at the latter place, he at once said there were rich +mines where he had been sawing, and he expressed surprise that it had +never occurred to him before, so experienced in gold-mining as he was; +but he afterward said it had been so ordered by Providence, that the +gold might not be discovered until California should be in the hands of +the Americans. + +About the middle of March, P.B. Reading, an American, now a prominent +and wealthy citizen of the State, then the owner of a large ranch on the +western bank of the Sacramento River, near where it issues from the +mountains, came to Coloma, and after looking about at the diggings, said +that if similarity in the appearance of the country could be taken as a +guide there must be gold in the hills near his ranch; and he went off, +declaring his intention to go back and make an examination of them. John +Bidwell, another American, now a wealthy and influential citizen, then +residing on his ranch on the bank of Feather River, came to Coloma about +a week later, and he said there must be gold near his ranch, and he went +off with expressions similar to those used by Reading. In a few weeks +news came that Reading had found diggings near Clear Creek, at the head +of the Sacramento Valley, and was at work there with his Indians; and +not long after, it was reported that Bidwell was at work with his +Indians on a rich bar of Feather River, since called "Bidwell's Bar." + +Although Bennett had arrived at San Francisco in February with some of +the dust, the editors of the town--for two papers were published in the +place at the time--did not hear of the discovery till some weeks later. +The first published notice of the gold appeared in the _Californian_ +(published in San Francisco) on March 15th, as follows: "In the newly +made raceway of the sawmill recently erected by Captain Sutter, on the +American Fork, gold has been found in considerable quantities. One +person brought thirty dollars' worth to New Helvetia, gathered there in +a short time. California, no doubt, is rich in mineral wealth; great +chances here for scientific capitalists. Gold has been found in almost +every part of the country." + +Three days later the _California Star_, the rival paper, gave the +following account of the discovery: "We were informed a few days since +that a very valuable silver-mine was situated in the vicinity of this +place, and, again, that its locality was known. Mines of quicksilver are +being found all over the country. Gold has been discovered in the +northern Sacramento districts, about forty miles above Sutter's Fort. +Rich mines of copper are said to exist north of these bays." + +Although these articles were written two months after the discovery, it +is evident that the editors had heard only vague rumors, and attached +little importance to them. The _Star_ of March 25th says: "So great is +the quantity of gold taken from the new mine recently found at New +Helvetia that it has become an article of traffic in that vicinity." + +None of the gold had been seen in San Francisco; but at Sutter's Fort +men had begun to buy and sell with it. + +The next number of the _Star_, bearing date April 1, 1848, contained an +article several columns long, written by Doctor V.J. Fourgeaud, on the +resources of California. He devoted about a column to the minerals, and +in the course of his remarks said: "It would be utterly impossible at +present to make a correct estimate of the mineral wealth of California. +Popular attention has been but lately directed to it. But the +discoveries that have already been made will warrant us in the assertion +that California is one of the richest mineral countries in the world. +Gold, silver, quicksilver, iron, copper, lead, sulphur, saltpetre, and +other mines of great value have already been found. We saw a few days +ago a beautiful specimen of gold from the mine newly discovered on the +American Fork. From all accounts the mine is immensely rich, and already +we learn the gold from it collected at random and without any trouble +has become an article of trade at the upper settlements. This precious +metal abounds in this country. We have heard of several other newly +discovered mines of gold, but as these reports are not yet authenticated +we shall pass over them. However, it is well known that there is a +placer of gold a few miles from Los Angeles, and another on the San +Joaquin." + +It was not until more than three months after Marshall's discovery that +the San Francisco papers stated that gold-mining had become a regular +and profitable business in the new placers. The _Californian_ of April +26th said: "From a gentleman just from the gold region we learn that +many new discoveries of gold have very recently been made, and it is +fully ascertained that a large extent of country abounds with that +precious mineral. Seven men, with picks and spades, gathered one +thousand six hundred dollars worth in fifteen days. Many persons are +settling on the lands with the view of holding preëmptions, but as yet +every person takes the right to gather all he can without any regard to +claims. The largest piece yet found is worth six dollars." + +The news spread, men came from all the settled parts of the territory, +and as they came they went to work mining, and gradually they moved +farther and farther from Coloma, and before the rainy reason had +commenced (in December) miners were washing rich auriferous dirt all +along the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, from the Feather to the +Tuolumne River, a distance of one hundred fifty miles; and also over a +space of about fifteen miles square, near the place now known as the +town of Shasta, in the Coast Mountains, at the head of the Sacramento +Valley. The whole country had been turned topsy-turvy; towns had been +deserted, or left only to the women and children; fields had been left +unreaped; herds of cattle went without anyone to care for them. But +gold-mining, which had become the great interest of the country, was not +neglected. The people learned rapidly and worked hard. + +In the latter part of 1848 adventurers began to arrive from Oregon, the +Sandwich Islands, and Mexico. The winter found the miners with very +little preparation, but most of them were accustomed to a rough manner +of life in the Western wilds, and they considered their large profits an +abundant compensation for their privations and hardships. The weather +was so mild in December and January that they could work almost as well +as in the summer, and the rain gave them facilities for washing such as +they could not have in the dry season. + +In September, 1848, the first rumors of the gold discovery began to +reach New York; in October they attracted attention; in November people +looked with interest for new reports; in December the news gained +general credence and a great excitement arose. Preparations were made +for a migration to California by somebody in nearly every town in the +United States. The great body of the emigrants went either across the +plains with ox or mule teams or round Cape Horn in sailing-vessels. A +few took passage in the steamer by way of Panama. + +Not fewer than one hundred thousand men, representing in their nativity +every State in the Union, went to California that year. Of these, twenty +thousand crossed the continent by way of the South Pass; and nearly all +of them started from the Missouri River between Independence and St. +Joseph, in the month of May. They formed an army; in daytime their +trains filled up the roads for miles, and at night their camp-fires +glittered in every direction about the places blessed with grass and +water. The excitement continued from 1850 to 1853; emigrants continued +to come by land and sea, from Europe and America, and in the last named +year from China also. In 1854 the migration fell off, and since that +time until the completion of the Union Pacific Railroad California +received the chief accessions to her white population by the Panama +steamers. + +The whole world felt a beneficent influence from the great gold yield of +the Sacramento Basin. Labor rose in value, and industry was stimulated +from St. Louis to Constantinople. The news, however, was not welcome to +all classes. Many of the capitalists feared that gold would soon be so +abundant as to be worthless, and European statesmen feared the power to +be gained by the arrogant and turbulent democracy of the New World. + +The author of a book entitled _Notes on the Gold District_, published in +London in 1853, thus speaks of the fears excited in Europe on the first +great influx of gold from the Californian mines: "Among the many +extraordinary incidents connected with the Californian discoveries was +the alarm communicated to many classes and which was not confined to +individuals but invaded governments. The first announcement spread +alarm; but as the cargoes of gold rose from one hundred thousand dollars +to one million dollars, bankers and financiers began seriously to +prepare for an expected crisis. In England and the United States the +panic was confined to a few; but on the Continent of Europe every +government, rich or poor, thought it needful to make provision against +the threatened evils. An immediate alteration in prices was looked for; +money was to become so abundant that all ordinary commodities were to +rise, but more especially the proportion between gold and silver was to +be disturbed, some thinking that the latter might become the dearer +metal. The Governments of France, Holland, and Russia, in particular, +turned their attention to the monetary question, and in 1850 the +Government of Holland availed themselves of a law, which had not before +been put in operation, to take immediate steps for selling off the gold +in the Bank of Amsterdam, at what they supposed to be the highest +prices, and to stock themselves with silver. + +"Palladium, which is likewise a superior white metal, was held more +firmly, and expectations were entertained that it would become available +for plating. The stock, however, was small. The silver operation was +carried on concurrent with a supply of bullion to Russia for a loan, a +demand for silver in Austria, and for shipment to India, and it did +really produce an effect on the silver market, which many mistook for +the influence of Californian gold. The particular way in which the +Netherlands operations were carried on was especially calculated to +produce the greatest disturbance of prices. The ten-florin pieces were +sent to Paris, coined there into Napoleons, and silver five-franc pieces +drawn out in their place. + +"At Paris the premium on gold in a few months fell from nearly 2 per +cent. to a discount, and at Hamburg a like fall took place. In London, +the great silver market, silver rose, between the autumn and the new +year, from five shillings per ounce to five shillings one and +five-eighths pence per ounce, and Mexican dollars from four shillings +ten and one-half pence to four shillings eleven and five-eighths pence +per ounce; nor did prices recover until toward the end of the year 1851, +when the fall was as sudden as the rise." + +In the spring of 1849 Reading crossed the Coast Range with a party of +his Indians, and discovered rich diggings in the valley of the Trinity. +In the summer of the same year Colonel Frémont discovered the mines on +his ranch, in the valley of the Mariposa. + + + + +(1849) RISE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC, Jessie White Mario + + +When "Young Italy," the association of republican agitators led by +Giuseppe Mazzini, began its activities (about 1834), hatred of the +Austrian government, which ruled in several of the Italian States, was +kept alive through this determined organization. Aspirations for liberty +and self-government were requickened. The endeavors of the reforming +Pope, Pius IX (1846), to harmonize his policy with the aims of this +party, in order to promote a confederation of the Italian States under +papal supremacy, at first seemed to promise the dawn of a new era. Soon +after the outbreak of the revolution of 1848 in France, revolt against +the Austrian power began in various parts of Italy. The Austrian troops +were driven out of Lombardy; Venice compelled the Austrian forces in her +territory to surrender, and became a free republic; in a short time +Italy appeared to have delivered herself from the rule of Austria; but +almost immediately the foreign power began to regain its ascendency, and +this, through the events here related, was fully recovered. + +After the flight of Pius IX from Rome (November, 1848), Mazzini and his +followers pursued their own course. A constituent assembly was summoned, +and on February 5, 1849, it declared the temporal power of the Pope +abolished. The Italian soldier who now becomes the chief figure of this +movement has enjoyed a popular renown unsurpassed by that of any of his +countrymen. Giuseppe Garibaldi, a sailor's son, was born in Nice, July +4, 1807. In youth he went to sea. In 1834 he took part with Mazzini in +the Young Italy demonstrations, and for aiding in an attempt to seize +Genoa he was condemned to death. Escaping to South America, he won +distinction as a guerilla leader and a privateer in the service of the +Rio Grande rebels against Brazil. After further military adventures in +South America, he returned to Italy, and in 1847 offered his services to +Pope Pius IX, but they were not accepted. In 1848 he received +indifferent treatment at the hands of Charles Albert of Sardinia, who +was besieging the Austrians in Mantua. After the failure of Charles +Albert, Garibaldi collected his own followers and acted against the +Austrians with such effect as to bring him into prominence in the ranks +of Italian patriots. The following account of the siege and defence of +Rome, which admiringly presents him to view, is from the author's +supplement to Garibaldi's _Autobiography_, and is a valuable +contribution to the history of the events in which he was so +conspicuous. + +Of the many sublime pages traced in the blood of Italian patriots, the +sublimest in our eyes is that of the defence of Rome. No writer of +genius has yet been inspired to narrate the heroic deeds enacted, the +pain, privation, anguish, borne joyfully to save "that city of the +Italian soul" from desecration by the foreigner. Mazzini's beloved +disciple, Mameli, the soldier-poet, died with the flower of the student +youth; the survivors, exiled, dispersed, heartbroken, or intent only on +preparing for the next campaign, have left us but fugitive records, +partial episodes, or dull military chronicles. Margaret Fuller Ossoli, +competent by love and genius to be the historian and who had collected +the materials day by day, lived the life of the combatants hour by hour, +was wrecked with "Ossoli, Angelo" and her manuscript, in sight of her +native shore. + +From details that reached him Garibaldi always maintained that there was +a priest among the wreckers who secured and destroyed the treasure! +Guerrazzi's _Siege of Rome_ is inferior to all his other writings. The +entry of the Italian army into Rome by the breach in Porta Pia has cast +the grand defence of 1849 into the background of rash attempts and +futile failures. In these brief pages we give merely the outline of the +drama in which Garibaldi was one of the leading actors. The men who +desired a republic did not exist as a party in Rome previous to the +flight of the Pope. But there existed a strong national anti-Austrian +party, who, as they had worshipped Pio Nono (Pius IX) when he "blessed +Italy" and the banners that the Romans bore upward to the "Holy War," +now execrated him inasmuch as he had withdrawn his sanction to that war +and had blessed the Croats and the Austrians who were butchering the +Italians in the north. Convinced of the impossibility of favoring the +independence and unity of Italy, and remaining at the same time the +supreme head of the Universal Church, Pio Nono fled for protection to +the King of Naples; there he declined to accept from the King of +Piedmont his repeated offers of protection or mediation, and appealed to +Austria alone to restore him pope-king absolute in Rome. Very soon +afterward the Archduke of Tuscany revoked the Constituent Assembly which +he had granted, and followed the saintly example of the Holy Father, so +that Tuscany and Rome were alike left sheep without a shepherd. + +In the Roman States an appeal was made to universal suffrage, and the +people sent up deputies, known chiefly for their honesty and bravery, to +decide on the form of government, to assist Piedmont in her second war +against Austria. When the Constituent Assembly met to decide on the form +of government, Mamiani warned them that only two rulers were possible in +Rome--the Pope or Cola di Rienzi; the Papacy or the Republic. + +Garibaldi, who had organized his legion at Rieti, was elected member of +the Constituent Assembly, and on February 7th put in his appearance and +in language more soldierlike than parliamentary urged the immediate +proclamation of the republic. But the debate was carried on with all due +respect for the "rights of the minority." + +Finally, on February 9th, of the one hundred fifty-four Deputies +present, all but five voted for the downfall of the temporal power of +the Pope, all but eleven for the proclamation of the republic. These, +with the exception of General Garibaldi and General Ferrari, were all +Romans. G. Filopanti, who undertook to explain the state of affairs to +the Roman people, won shouts of applause by his concluding words, "We +are no longer mere Romans, but Italians." + +This sentence sums up the sentiments of all: of Garibaldi, who, after +recording his vote, returned to his troops at Rieti and drew up an +admirable plan for attacking the Austrians bent on subjugating the Roman +Provinces and for carrying revolution into the Kingdom of Naples; of +Mazzini, who, so far from having imposed on the Romans a republic by the +force of his tyrannical will, was--during its proclamation--in Tuscany, +striving to induce Guerrazzi and his fellow-triumvirs to unite with Rome +and organize a strong army for the renewal of the Lombard War. + +True, the Romans, mindful of all they owed to the great apostle of +Italian unity and independence, proclaimed him Roman citizen on February +12th, and on the 25th of the same month the Roman people, with nine +thousand votes, elected him member of the Constituent Assembly; but it +was not until March 5th that he entered Rome, when, in one of his most +splendid speeches, rising above parties and politics, he called upon the +"Rome of the People" to send up combatants against Austria, the only +enemy that then menaced Italy. + +Suiting the action to the word, he induced the Assembly to nominate a +commission for the thorough organization of the army; and ten thousand +men had quitted Rome and were marching up to the frontier to place +themselves at the orders of Piedmont, when, alas! their march was +arrested by the news of the total defeat at Novara, of the abdication of +Charles Albert and the reinauguration of Austrian rule in Lombardy. +Genoa, whose generous inhabitants arose in protest against the +disastrous but inevitable treaty of peace, was bombarded and reduced to +submission by La Marmora; and now, while to Rome and to Venice flocked +all the volunteers who preferred death to submission, the new Holy +Alliance of Continental Europe took for its watchword: "The restoration +of the Pope; the extinction of the two Republics of Venice and of Rome." + +Austria crossed the Po and occupied Ferrara, marching thence on Bologna; +the Neapolitan troops from the south marched upward to the Roman +frontier; even Spain sent her contingent to Fiumicino. But only when it +was known that the French Republic had voted an expedition, with the +specious object of guaranteeing the independence of the supreme Pontiff, +did the Romans and their rulers realize that the existence of Rome and +her newborn liberties was seriously menaced. Garibaldi wrote from Rieti, +in April, an enthusiastic letter worth recording here: + +"BROTHER MAZZINI: I feel that I must write you one line with my own +hand. May Providence sustain you in your brilliant but arduous career +[Mazzini had just been elected, with Armellini and Saffi, Triumvir of +Rome], and may you be enabled to carry out all the noble designs in your +mind for the welfare of our country. Remember that Rieti is full of your +brethren in the faith, and that immutably yours is + + "JOSEPH GARIBALDI." + +At the same time he sent a plan, proposing to march along the Via +Emilia, to collect arms and volunteers, proclaim the levy in mass, and +with a division stationed in the Bolognese territory, operate in the +duchies, unite Tuscan, Ligurian, and Piedmontese forces, and once more +assail the Austrians. But the news of Piedmont defeated, Genoa bombarded +and vanquished, convinced him that it would be difficult to re-arouse +the disheartened population of Northern Italy. Hence he next proposed to +cross the Neapolitan frontier, fling himself upon the royal troops, and +seize the Abruzzi. A sensible project this, to take the offensive +against the Pope's defenders. But before the Triumvirate could come to a +definite decision, it was known that the French troops, by a disgraceful +stratagem, had landed and taken possession of Civita Vecchia, General +Oudinot entwining the French flag with the Roman tricolor and assuring +the Romans that they only came to secure perfect freedom for the people +to effect a reconciliation with Pius IX. + +But the people had no desire for such reconciliation; the Assembly +decreed that Rome should have no garrison but the National Roman Guard: +that if the Republic were invaded by force, the invaders by force should +be repelled. A commission of barricades established, the people flocked +to erect and remained to man them. The National Guard summoned by +Mazzini all answered, "Present," and served enthusiastically throughout +the siege; all the troops dispersed in the Provinces were summoned to +the capital, and Garibaldi and his volunteers marched into the city amid +the acclamations of the populace, too thankful to welcome them to demur +at the strange appearance they presented. + +Now that Garibaldi's military and naval genius is fully recognized, and +the extraordinary fascination he exercised over officers and men, the +enthusiasm with which he filled whole populations whom others failed to +stir, are undisputed, many historians and critics have expressed their +astonishment that he was not made at once commander-in-chief of the +Roman forces, and have blamed the Triumvirate for having failed to +recognize in the hero of Montevideo the good genius of Rome. Such +critics must be simply ignorant of the actual condition of Rome and her +Government. There existed, in the first place, the regular Roman army, +which would have served under none save regular generals; then there was +the Lombard battalion under Manara, whose members, after fifteen months +of regular campaigning, were thoroughly drilled and disciplined, who +insisted on retaining the cross of Savoy on their belts, and, until +their prowess made them the idols of the Romans, were nicknamed the +"corps of aristocrats." + +Little did they imagine, when they kept aloof from the legion, that +before three months were over their young hero chief would resign his +command of them to assume the delicate post of head of Garibaldi's +staff. Carlo Pisacane--educated in the military college of the +Nunziatella, who had served as captain in the foreign legion in Algiers, +destined later to become the pioneer of Garibaldi and his "Thousand" and +to lose his life in the attempt--while recognizing Garibaldi's prowess +and talents as a guerilla chief, in his military history of 1849, +severely criticises his tactics, and blames his sending up "a handful of +boys against masses of the enemy" and censures, unhesitatingly, "his +indiscipline at Velletri." One of the Deputies of the Roman Constituent +wrote to the Triumvirate begging them to "Send Garibaldi with his motley +crew to a terrible spot, called For del Diavolo, between Civita Vecchia +and Rome; on no account to allow them to enter the city, as they are +quite too disorderly." + +Now, they had committed no "disorders" save that of carrying off the +mules and horses of the convents; but when we think of the wild, free, +peril-scorning life led in the backwoods of America, of how they +recognized no law save their commander's orders, how little used he had +been to receive command from any, it will be easily understood how this +wild, tanned, quaintly dressed band filled the inhabitants of the towns +through which they passed with terror and dismay. Garibaldi's violent +tirades against priests and priestcraft; the liberation of a gang of +miscreants arrested by order of the Roman Government, had not +prepossessed men of order and of discipline in his favor; and although +personal contact dispelled all unfavorable prepossessions, one sees how +impossible it was for Mazzini to place him in the position which he +would himself have assigned to him. + +Garibaldi altered in nothing his South American modes of warfare. He and +his staff, in red shirts and ponchos, with hats of every form and color, +no distinctions of rank or military accoutrements, rode on their +American saddles, which when unrolled served each as a small tent. When +their troops halted and the soldiers piled their arms, the General and +all his staff attended each to the wants of his own horse, then to +securing provisions for their men. When these were not at hand, the +officers, springing on their barebacked horses, lasso on wrists, dashed +full speed along the Campagna, till oxen, sheep, pigs, kids, or poultry +in sufficient quantities were secured and paid for; then, dividing their +spoil among the companies, officers and men fell to killing, quartering, +and roasting before huge fires in the open air. + +Garibaldi, when no battle was raging or danger near--if in the city, +selected some lofty belfry-tower; if in the country, climbed the +loftiest peak; and, with brief minutes of repose under his saddle-tent, +literally lived on horseback, posting his own pickets, making his own +observations, sometimes passing hours in perfect silence, scanning the +most distant and minute objects through his telescope. Ever a man of the +fewest words, a look, a gesture, a brief sentence sufficed to convey his +orders to his officers. When his trumpet signalled departure, the lassos +served to catch the horses grazing in the fields, the men fell into +order and marched, none knowing nor caring whither, save to follow their +chief. Councils of war he never held; he ordered, and was implicitly +obeyed. To his original legion were added some of the finest and bravest +of the Lombard volunteers, who had learned his worth "after the +armistice"; while boys from ten to fourteen, who were his pride and +delight, formed his "band of hope." + +To-day for an act of courage a man would be raised from the ranks, and, +sword in hand, command his company; but woe to him if he failed in +shouldering a musket or brandishing a bayonet at need. To onlookers this +legion, composed at first of but one thousand men, seemed a wild, unruly +set; but this was not the case. Drunkenness and insubordination were +unknown among the ranks. Woe to a soldier who wronged a civilian. Three +were shot for petty theft during the brief Roman campaign. Still, while +Garibaldi felt within himself his own superiority to those around, +Mazzini, who also felt it, might as well have proposed an Indian chief +to command the Roman Army as this man, whom, in later years, no soldier +in Europe but would have been proud to call _dux_. + +Again, it must not be forgotten that the grounds on which France +explained her interference was the imposition by "foreigners" of a +republic on the Roman people, desirous only to receive the Pope with +open arms; that Austria, Piedmont, and the Ultramontane faction in +England represented the Roman States as handed over to the demagogues, +to the riffraff of European revolutionists. Hence the absolute necessity +that presented itself to the minds of the Triumvirs for filling the +civil and military offices as far as possible with citizens of Rome or +the Roman States. Unfortunately, no capable Roman commander-in-chief +existed. Rosselli was chosen as the least incapable; but throughout, +Garibaldi was regarded as the soul, the genius of the defence. + +A very short time had sufficed for Mazzini and the Romans to come to so +perfect an understanding that no exercise of authority, no police force, +was necessary to keep order in the city, as the French, English, and +American residents, and as the respective consuls repeatedly affirmed in +public and in private letters. Oudinot too had warning from his own +consul, from his own friends within the city, of all the preparations, +of the resolute determination of the inhabitants, of the known valor of +many of the combatants in past campaigns; yet to all such remonstrances +he answered with French impertinence, "_Les Italiens ne se battent +pas_," and clearly he had imbued his officers with this belief. At dawn +on April 30th, starting from Castel di Guido, leaving their knapsacks at +Magnianella, the officers in white gloves and sheathed swords advanced +on Rome, taking the road to Porta Cavallaggieri, sending sharpshooters +through the woodlands on the right, the Chasseurs de Vincennes on the +heights to the left. Avezzana, war minister, from the top of the cupola +of San Pietro in Montori, on seeing the first sentinel advance, gave the +signal for the ringing of the tocsin, which brought the entire populace +to the walls, the Roman matrons clustering there to encourage their +husbands, sons, and brothers to the fight. + +When the army arrived within a hundred seventy yards from the wall, the +artillerymen from the bastions of San Marto fired their first salute, to +which the Chasseurs de Vincennes responded so well that the Roman +Narducci, Major Pallini, and several of his men fell mortally wounded at +their guns. Finding themselves under a cross-fire from the walls and +from the Vatican, the enemy placed a counter-battery, which did deadly +mischief to the besieged, who lost at once six officers, numerous +soldiers, and had a cannon dismounted to boot. Not the slightest +confusion occurred; women and boys carried off the wounded; fresh +soldiers took the place of the fallen; compelling Oudinot to summon both +his brigades and plant two other pieces of cannon. But he now had to +cope with an enemy whom Frenchmen in Montevideo envied and calumniated; +who to himself and his followers was as yet an unknown quantity. + +Garibaldi, who had had but two days to organize his men and take up +position, had at once perceived the importance of the scattered +buildings outside the gates, and occupied them all--villas, woods, and +the walls surrounding them. As the enemy fell back from the first +assault, he flung his men upon them as stones from a sling. At the head +of the first company was Captain Montaldi, who in a short time was +crippled with nineteen bullets, yet still fought on his knees with his +broken sword; and only when the French retreated did his men carry him +dead from the field. As fought his company, so fought all under the eyes +of Garibaldi, who directed the fight from Villa Pamphilli. Then +summoning his reserve, himself heading the students who had never seen +fire but who had given each to the other the consign, "If I attempt to +run away, shoot me through the head," he led them into the open field, +and there gave them their first lesson to the cry of, "To the bayonet! +to the bayonet!"--a lesson oft repeated since, a cry never after raised +in vain. Numbers of his best officers and soldiers fell, but never a +halt or panic made a pause in that eventful charge, until in full open +fight the French were compelled to retreat, leaving Garibaldi absolute +master of the field. + +Numbers of the French were killed and wounded, others hid themselves in +the woods and vineyards round; a general retreat ensued, while a portion +continued the fire to protect it. The guns had to be carried off by +hand, as four horses had been killed; and at this retreat up to Castel +di Guido, General Oudinot was forced to assist in person. Summing up his +losses, he found that he had left four hundred dead upon the field; five +hundred thirty wounded, and two hundred sixty prisoners. He had, +besides, the glory of depriving the Roman Republic of two hundred +fourteen killed and wounded, twenty-five officers among them, and of +carrying off one prisoner, Ugo Bassi, the chaplain, who had remained +behind to assist a dying man, his only weapon being the cross, of which +the French were the knightly protectors. + +Garibaldi's first thought was naturally to pursue the fugitives to +Castel di Guido, to Pali, and Civita Vecchia; "To drive them," in his +own forcible language, "back to their ships or into the sea." For this +he demanded strong reënforcements of fresh troops. But the Government of +Rome--believing that it sufficed for Republican France to know that +Republican Rome did not desire the return of the Pope; that it was not +governed by a faction--was resolved unanimously to resist all invasion; +decided against pursuit; sent back the French prisoners to the French +camp; accorded Oudinot's demand for an armistice, and entered into +negotiations with the French plenipotentiary, Ferdinand de Lesseps, for +the evacuation of the Roman territory. + +The refusal was never forgotten, never forgiven by Garibaldi, and has +always been a "burning question" between the exclusive partisans of +Mazzini and Garibaldi, in whose eyes to scotch and not to kill the snake +was the essence of unwisdom. It is also maintained by many Garibaldians +that an out-and-out victory could not have been concealed from the +French Assembly as the President and his accomplices did manage to +conceal the affair of April 30th, and that had the people and the army +in France known what a humiliation had been inflicted on their comrades +they would have insisted on the recall of Oudinot, and that thus the +President's own position would have been endangered. On the other hand, +Mazzini's partisans say, granting--what remains unproven--that Garibaldi +could have succeeded in driving every Frenchman back to his ships or +into the sea, there can be no doubt that Louis Napoleon, bent on +restoring the Pope and thus gaining the clergy to his side, would have +sent reënforcements upon reënforcements, until Rome should be +vanquished. + +The disputants must agree to differ on this point, though all surely +must allow that it was necessary that the small forces at the disposal +of the Republic should be husbanded for the repulse of others besides +France, who claimed to be defenders of the Pope--Austria, the King of +Naples, and even Spain! And, in fact, a Neapolitan army, with the King +at their head, had crossed the Roman frontier, and had taken up +positions at Albano and Frascati, whence Garibaldi was sent to oust +them, the Lombard brigade being added to his legion. This Neapolitan +king-hunt formed one of the characteristic episodes of the Roman +campaign. Garibaldi usually lodged his men in convents, to the terror +and horror of their inmates, sending them thence to reconnoitre the +enemy's positions, and harass them by deeds of daredevil courage. + +The King was indeed at Albano, whence from Palestrina Garibaldi marched +to the attack; which would probably have been successful had he not been +suddenly summoned back to Rome, as the movements of the French were by +no means reassuring. However, a fresh truce being proclaimed, General +Rosselli, with Garibaldi under his orders, was sent out again in full +force against the Neapolitans. Not a wise arrangement this, as the +volunteers and the regulars--unless at different posts within the +city--had not yet united in harmonious action. Garibaldi, sent by +Rosselli merely to explore the enemy's movements, finding that they were +retreating from Albano, gave battle to a strong column about two miles +from Velletri without giving time to Rosselli to come up with the main +body. + +So the Neapolitans got into Velletri, barricaded themselves there, and, +escaping during the night by the southern gate, recrossed the Neapolitan +frontier, the King foremost in the van. Rosselli and the regulars +complained loudly that this disobedience to orders had prevented them +from making the King of Naples prisoner, the Garibaldians maintaining on +their side that this would have been effected had the regulars thought +less about their rations and come to the rescue when first they heard +the distant shots. Messengers sent by the generals to the Triumvirate +bore the complaints of each. Rosselli was recalled, and Garibaldi left +with full liberty of action. But when the French Government disavowed +their envoy-extraordinary--the patriotic, able, straightforward De +Lesseps--instructing Oudinot to enter Rome by fair means or by foul, +sending enormous reënforcements, promising to follow up with the entire +French army if necessary, what could they do but recall Garibaldi with +all possible despatch? Was it not a proof of their confidence in him? +Moreover, on Garibaldi's return to Rome, Mazzini made a last effort to +induce him to unburden his mind, at least to himself, by asking him in +writing to tell him frankly what were his wishes. Here is the laconic +answer, characteristic of the writer; frank and unabashed as the round, +clear handwriting of the original, from which we copy: + + "ROME, June 2d, 1849. + +"MAZZINI: Since you ask me what I wish, I will tell you. Here I cannot +avail anything for the good of the Republic, save in two ways: as +dictator with unlimited plenary powers, or as a simple soldier. Choose! + + "Unchangingly yours, + + "GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI." + +Again, Garibaldi disapproved the conduct of Mazzini and the Triumvirate +because they refused to allow any acts of violence against religion or +the professors of religion. They had abolished the Inquisition, and used +the edifice to house the people driven from their homes by the siege; +had invited and aided monks and nuns to return to their homes and to +lead the life of citizens. But they had not allowed the confessionals to +be burned in the public market-place. A wretch named Zambianchi, who +ill-treated some inoffending priests, was severely punished "for thus +dishonoring the Republic and humanity." Moreover, the Easter ceremonies +were celebrated as usual; the Triumvirate and the Assembly stood among +the people in the church and in the square to receive the blessing from +the outer balcony of St. Peter's. + +All this gave umbrage to Garibaldi, but no hypocrisy and much wisdom +inspired these acts. In the first place, the Triumvirate, and especially +Mazzini, the most religious man we have ever known, were well aware +that, while the temporal power of the papacy might be destroyed by fire +and sword, the spiritual power of the Roman Catholic hierarchy could be +extinguished only in the name of a moral law recognized and accepted as +being higher and more authoritative than any other intermediary between +God and the people--they knew that ideas can be vanquished only by +ideas. Again, as the responsible heads of the Roman Republic, the +Triumvirs were wisely careful not to offend the hearts and consciences +of Catholics abroad. Finally, the very fact that, with four armies at +their gates, life, its feasts and fasts, its workdays and holidays, +could go on as usual, was one highly calculated to strengthen the +Romans' faith in and affection for the new Government. No crimes were +committed; the people came to the Triumvirs as children to their +fathers, and--for Italians a very remarkable thing--they not only paid +down current taxes, but they paid up arrears. + +From Garibaldi's brief account, it would almost seem that the +Triumvirate and the Assembly surrendered Rome before absolute necessity +constrained them so to do. He does not tell us how, when the French had +actually entered Rome by the breach, he alone of all the civil and +military commanders refused to head the troops to attack the invaders in +possession. He gave his own reasons, very wise ones it seems to us, in +writing many years later, but in his _Memoirs_ he seems to have +forgotten them. The terrible tidings that the seventh bastion and the +curtain uniting it to the sixth had fallen into the hands of the French +spread through the city. The Triumvirate had the tocsins rung. All the +houses were opened at that sound; in the twinkling of an eye all the +inhabitants were in the streets. General Rosselli and the Minister of +War, all the officers of the staff, Mazzini himself, came to the +Janiculum. + +"The people in arms massed around us," writes Garibaldi in a short +record of the siege of Rome, "clamored to drive the French off the +walls. General Rosselli and the Minister of War consented. I opposed the +attempt. I feared the confusion into which our troops would have been +thrown by those new combatants and their irregular movements, the panic +that would be likely by night to seize on troops unaccustomed to fire, +and which actually had assailed our bravest ones on the night of the +16th. I insisted on waiting for the daylight." + +He here narrates the daring but unsuccessful attempt of the Lombard +students, who flung themselves on the assailants, and who had gained the +terrace of Casa Barberini, and continues: "But at daylight I had counted +the forces with which we had to contend. I realized that another June 3d +would bereave me of half of the youths left to me, whom I loved as my +sons. I had not the least hope of dislodging the French from their +positions, hence only a useless butchery could have ensued. Rome was +doomed, but after a marvellous and a splendid defence. The fall of Rome, +after such a siege, was the triumph of democracy in Europe. The idea of +preserving four or five thousand devoted combatants who knew me, who +would answer at any time to my call, prevailed. I ordered the retreat, +promising that at five in the evening they should again advance; but I +resolved that no assault should be made." + +From this and other writings of Garibaldi it is clear that from the +night of June 21st he considered any further attempt to prevent the +French from entering Rome as worse than useless--that hence he refused +to lead the remnants of his army "to butchery" on the breach. How, then, +was it possible for Mazzini to have retarded the catastrophe +indefinitely, and reserved to Rome "the glory of falling last," _i.e._, +after Venice and Hungary? + +Mazzini, beside himself with grief that the armed people had not been +allowed to rush on to the bastions and drive the French from the walls, +wrote a reproachful letter to Manara, then chief of Garibaldi's staff, +and this patriot here seems to have kept the peace, as on the 25th we +find a friendly letter from Garibaldi to the Triumvirate in which he +proposes to leave Manara in Rome, and to conduct, himself, a +considerable number of his men out of Rome to take up position between +the French and Civita Vecchia, to harass them in the rear. And on the +same day, evidently after a meeting and the acceptance by Mazzini of +Garibaldi's project, the latter writes: + + "June 26th, 8 P.M. + +"MAZZINI: I propose, therefore (_dunque_), to go out to-morrow evening. +Send me to-morrow morning the chief who is to assume the command here. +Order the general-in-chief to prepare one hundred fifty mounted +dragoons, who, with the fifty lancers, will make up two hundred horse. I +shall take eight hundred of the legion, and to-morrow shall send them to +change their shirts [_i.e._, doff their 'red' for 'gray']. Answer at +once, and keep the plan a profound secret." + +The attempt was not made, probably because it was impossible to march +out secretly from any gate, and Manara writes from Villa Spada, 1 P.M. +on the same day: + +"CITIZEN TRIUMVIR: I have received your letter. I am somewhat better and +at my post. I have spoken with Pisacane [chief of Rosselli's staff]; we +are perfectly agreed. Both animated by the same spirit, it is impossible +for petty jealousies to come between us. Be assured of this. I have +begged General Garibaldi to return to San Pancrazio, so as not to +deprive that post at this moment of his legion and his efficacious +power. He promises me that before dawn all will be here. Everything is +quiet. + + "MANARA." + +This was Manara's last letter to Mazzini; at that same Villa Spada the +yearned-for bullet pierced his heroic heart. Manara died as the +barbarians entered Rome. + +And here, to all appearances, is Garibaldi's last letter written in Rome +to Mazzini: + +"We have retaken our positions outside San Pancrazio. Let General +Rosselli send me orders; this is now no time for change. Yours, + + "G. GARIBALDI." + +No time for anything but one last desperate onslaught at the point of +the bayonet, Garibaldi in the foremost ranks with sword unsheathed, +while Medici from Villa Savorelli renewed the wonders of the Vascello. +Twice the assailants were driven back to their second lines; thrice they +returned in overpowering numbers; but, gaining the gate, they were +received with volleys of musketry from the barricades at the ingress to +Villa Spada and Savorelli. There fell the flower of the Lombards; boys +of the "band of hope"; Garibaldi's giant negro, faithful, brave Anghiar; +six hundred added to the three thousand four hundred corpses on which +the soldiers of _La Grande Nation_ reconstructed the throne of the +supreme Pontiff, and guarded it with their bayonets until the sword of +their self-chosen master fell from his trembling hands at Sedan. + + + + +(1849) LIVINGSTONE'S AFRICAN DISCOVERIES, David Livinstone and Thomas + Hughes + + +Although Africa, the second largest grand division of the earth, has +figured in history from ancient times, still it has been rightly named, +and until recently was called with good reason, the "Dark Continent." +But though it has been thus designated, as the least known of the +world's grand divisions, the progress of discovery and settlement is +rapidly dispelling the ignorance and mystery to which the designation +was due. The ancient seats of African civilization were confined to the +northern parts of the continent. The Phoenicians are said to have +circumnavigated Africa as early as the seventh century before Christ. In +the middle of the fifteenth century of the present era the Portuguese +explored much of the coastline, and in 1497 Vasco da Gama doubled the +Cape of Good Hope. But no modern explorations of the interior are known +to have been made until the latter part of the eighteenth century. Since +James Bruce, the Scottish traveller, explored the Nile Valley in 1768, +more than thirty others have distinguished themselves by their +discoveries on the African continent. + +None of Livingstone's predecessors equalled the achievements of this +Scottish missionary and explorer, who combined with his zeal in the +cause of religion and humanity a spirit of investigation and adventure +that made him also the servant of science, the "advance-agent" of +discovery, settlement, and civilization. These are at last bringing the +"Dark Continent" into the light of a new day that begins to dawn in the +remotest corners of the earth. + +David Livingstone was born near Glasgow, Scotland, March 19, 1813, and +he died in Central Africa April 30, 1873. After he had been admitted to +the medical profession and had studied theology, he decided to join +Robert Moffat, the celebrated missionary, in Africa. Livingstone arrived +at Cape Town in 1840, and soon moved toward the interior. He spent +sixteen years in Africa, engaged in medical and missionary labors and in +making his famous and most useful explorations of the country. His own +account of the beginnings of his work, taken from his _Missionary +Travels_, shows the sincere and simple spirit of the man, and his +natural powers of observation and description are seen in his own story +of his first important discovery, that of Lake Ngami. The narrative of +Thomas Hughes, the well-known English author, whose favorite subjects +were manly men and their characteristic deeds, follows the explorer on +the first of his famous journeys in the Zambesi Basin. + + +DAVID LIVINGSTONE + +I embarked for Africa in 1840, and, after a voyage of three months, +reached Cape Town. Spending but a short time there, I started for the +interior by going round to Algoa Bay, and soon proceeded inland, and +spent the following sixteen years of my life, namely, from 1840 to 1856, +in medical and missionary labors there without cost to the inhabitants. + +The general instructions I received from the directors of the London +Missionary Society led me, as soon as I reached Kuruman or Lattakoo, +then their farthest inland station from the Cape, to turn my attention +to the north. Without waiting longer at Kuruman than was necessary to +recruit the oxen, which were pretty well tired by the long journey from +Algoa Bay, I proceeded, in company with another missionary, to the +Bechuana or Bakwain country, and found Sechele, with his tribe, located +at Shokuane. We shortly afterward retraced our steps to Kuruman; but as +the objects in view were by no means to be attained by a temporary +excursion of this sort, I determined to make a fresh start into the +interior as soon as possible. Accordingly, after resting three months at +Kuruman, which is a kind of head station in the country, I returned to a +spot about fifteen miles south of Shokuane, called Lepelole (now +Litubaruba). Here, in order to obtain an accurate knowledge of the +language, I cut myself off from all European society for about six +months, and gained by this ordeal an insight into the habits, ways of +thinking, laws, and language of that section of the Bechuanas called +Bakwains, which has proved of incalculable advantage in my intercourse +with them ever since. + +In this second journey to Lepelole--so called from a cavern of that +name--I began preparations for a settlement by making a canal to +irrigate gardens from a stream, then flowing copiously, but now quite +dry. When these preparations were well advanced I went northward to +visit the Bakaa and Bamangwato, and the Makalaka, living between 22° and +23° south latitude. The Bakaa Mountains had been visited before by a +trader, who, with his people, all perished from fever. In going round +the northern part of these basaltic hills, near Letloche, I was only ten +days distant from the lower part of the Zouga, which passed by the same +name as Lake Ngami; and I might then (in 1842) have discovered that +lake, had discovery alone been my object. Most of this journey beyond +Shokuane was performed on foot, in consequence of the draught oxen +having become sick. Some of my companions who had recently joined us, +and did not know that I understood a little of their speech, were +overheard by me discussing my appearance and powers: "He is not strong; +he is quite slim, and only appears stout because he puts himself into +those bags [trousers]; he will soon knock up." This caused my Highland +blood to rise, and made me despise the fatigue of keeping them all at +the top of their speed for days together, till I heard them expressing +proper opinions of my pedestrian powers. + +Returning to Kuruman, in order to bring my luggage to our proposed +settlement, I was followed by the news that the tribe of Bakwains, who +had shown themselves so friendly toward me, had been driven from +Lepelole by the Barolongs, so that my prospects for the time of forming +a settlement there were at an end. One of those periodical outbreaks of +war, which seem to have occurred from time immemorial, for the +possession of cattle, had burst forth in the land, and had so changed +the relations of the tribes to each other that I was obliged to set out +anew to look for a suitable locality for a mission-station. + +In going north again a comet blazed on our sight, exciting the wonder of +every tribe we visited. That of 1816 had been followed by an irruption +of the Matabele, the most cruel enemies the Bechuanas ever knew, and +this they thought might portend something as bad, or it might only +foreshadow the death of some great chief. On this subject of comets I +knew little more than they did themselves, but I had that confidence in +a kind overruling Providence which makes such a difference between +Christians and both the ancient and modern heathen. + +As some of the Bamangwato people had accompanied me to Kuruman, I was +obliged to restore them and their goods to their chief Sekomi. This made +a journey to the residence of that chief again necessary, and, for the +first time, I performed a distance of some hundred miles on oxback. + +Returning toward Kuruman, I selected the beautiful valley of Mabotsa +(latitude 25° 14' south, longitude 26° 30') as the site of a +missionary-station, and thither I removed in 1843. Here an occurrence +took place concerning which I have frequently been questioned in +England, and which, but for the importunities of friends, I meant to +have kept in store to tell my children when in my dotage. The Bakatla of +the village Mabotsa were much troubled by lions, which leaped into the +cattle-pens by night and destroyed their cows. They even attacked the +herds in open day. This was so unusual an occurrence that the people +believed they were bewitched--"given," as they said, "into the power of +the lions by a neighboring tribe." They went at once to attack the +animals, but, being rather a cowardly people compared to Bechuanas in +general on such occasions, they returned without killing any. + +It is well known that if one of a troop of lions is killed, the others +take the hint and leave that part of the country. So the next time the +herds were attacked I went with the people in order to encourage them to +rid themselves of the annoyance by destroying one of the marauders. We +found the lions on a small hill about a quarter of a mile in length and +covered with trees. A circle of men was formed round it, and they +gradually closed up, ascending pretty near to each other. Being down +below on the plain with a native schoolmaster, named Mebalwe, a most +excellent man, I saw one of the lions sitting on a piece of rock within +the now closed circle of men. Mebalwe fired at him before I could, and +the ball struck the rock on which the animal was sitting. He bit at the +spot struck, as a dog does at a stick or stone thrown at him; then +leaping away, broke through the opening circle and escaped unhurt. The +men were afraid to attack him, perhaps on account of their belief in +witchcraft. + +When the circle was re-formed we saw two other lions in it; but we were +afraid to fire lest we should strike the men, and they allowed the +beasts to burst through also. If the Bakatla had acted according to the +custom of the country, they would have speared the lions in their +attempt to get out. Seeing we could not get them to kill one of the +lions, we bent our footsteps toward the village; in going round the end +of the hill, however, I saw one of the beasts sitting on a piece of rock +as before, but this time he had a little bush in front. Being about +thirty yards off, I took a good aim at his body through the bush, and +fired both barrels into it. The men then called out, "He is shot! He is +shot!" + +Others cried: "He has been shot by another man too; let us go to him!" I +did not see anyone else shoot at him, but I saw the lion's tail erected +in anger behind the bush, and, turning to the people said, "Stop a +little, till I load again." When in the act of ramming down the bullets +I heard a shout. Starting, and looking half round, I saw the lion just +in the act of springing upon me. I was upon a little height; he caught +my shoulder as he sprang, and we both came to the ground below together. +Growling horribly close to my ear, he shook me as a terrier dog does a +rat. The shock produced a stupor similar to that which seems to be felt +by a mouse after the first shake of the cat. It caused a sort of +dreaminess, in which there was no sense of pain nor feeling of terror, +though quite conscious of all that was happening. It was like what +patients partially under the influence of chloroform describe, who see +all the operation, but feel not the knife. + +This singular condition was not the result of any mental process. The +shake annihilated fear, and allowed no sense of horror in looking round +at the beast. This peculiar state is probably produced in all animals +killed by the carnivora; and if so, is a merciful provision by our +benevolent Creator for lessening the pain of death. Turning round to +relieve myself of the weight, as he had one paw on the back of my head, +I saw his eyes directed to Mabalwe, who was trying to shoot him at a +distance of ten or fifteen yards. His gun, a flint one, missed fire in +both barrels; the lion immediately left me, and, attacking Mebalwe, bit +his thigh. Another man--whose life I had saved before, after he had been +tossed by a buffalo--attempted to spear the lion while he was biting +Mebalwe. He left Mebalwe and caught this man by the shoulder, but at +that moment the bullets he had received took effect, and he fell down +dead. The whole was the work of a few moments, and must have been his +paroxysms of dying rage. In order to take out the charm from him, the +Bakatla on the following day made a huge bonfire over the carcass, which +was declared to be that of the largest lion they had ever seen. Besides +crunching the bone into splinters, he left eleven teeth wounds on the +upper part of my arm. It was a long time in healing. + +The exact position of Lake Ngami had, for half a century at least, been +correctly pointed out by the natives, who had visited it when rains were +more copious in the desert than in more recent times, and many attempts +had been made to reach it by passing through the desert in the direction +indicated; but it was found impossible, even for Griquas, who, having +some Bushman blood in them, may be supposed more capable of enduring +thirst than Europeans. It was clear, then, that our only chance of +success was by going round, instead of through, the desert. + +On July 4, 1849, we went forward on horseback toward what we supposed to +be the lake, and again and again did we seem to see it; but at last we +came to the veritable water of the Zouga, and found it to be a river +running to the northeast. A village of Bakurutse lay on the opposite +bank; these live among Batletli, a tribe having a click in their +language, and who were found by Sebituane to possess large herds of the +great horned cattle. They seem allied to the Hottentot family. Mr. +Oswell, in trying to cross the river, got his horse bogged in the swampy +bank. Two Bakwains and I managed to get over by wading beside a +fishing-weir. The people were friendly, and informed us that this water +came out of the Ngami. This news gladdened all our hearts, for we now +felt certain of reaching our goal. We might, they said, be a moon on the +way; but we had the River Zouga at our feet, and by following it we +should at last reach the broad water. + +When we had gone up the bank of this beautiful river about ninety-six +miles from the point where we first struck it, and understood that we +were still a considerable distance from the Ngami, we left all the oxen +and wagons, except Mr. Oswell's, which was the smallest, and one team, +at Ngabisane, in the hope that they would be recruited for the home +journey, while we made a push for the lake. + +Twelve days after our departure from the wagons at Ngabisane we came to +the northeast end of Lake Ngami; and on August 1, 1849, we went down +together to the broad part, and for the first time this fine-looking +sheet of water was beheld by Europeans. The direction of the lake seemed +to be north-northeast and south-southwest by compass. The southern +portion is said to bend round to the west, and to receive the Teoughe +from the north at its northwest extremity. We could detect no horizon +where we stood looking south-south west, nor could we form any idea of +the extent of the lake, except from the reports of the inhabitants of +the district; and, as they professed to go round it in three days, +allowing twenty-five miles a day would make it seventy-five, or less +than seventy geographical miles in circumference. + +Other guesses have been made since as to its circumference, ranging +between seventy and one hundred miles. It is shallow, for I subsequently +saw a native punting his canoe over seven or eight miles of the +northeast end; it can never therefore be of much value as a commercial +highway. In fact, during the months preceding the annual supply of water +from the north, the lake is so shallow that it is with difficulty cattle +can approach the water through the boggy, reedy banks. These are low on +all sides, but on the west there is a space devoid of trees, showing +that the waters have retired thence at no very ancient date. This is +another of the proofs of desiccation met with so abundantly throughout +the whole country. A number of dead trees lie on this space, some of +them imbedded in the mud right in the water. We were informed by the +Bayeiye, who live on the lake, that when the annual inundation begins, +not only trees of great size, but antelopes, as the springbuck and +_tsessebe_ (_Acronotus lunata_,) are swept down by its rushing waters; +the trees are gradually driven by the winds to the opposite side, and +become imbedded in mud. + +When the lake is full, the water is perfectly fresh, but brackish when +low; and that coming down the Tamunak'le we found to be so clear, cold, +and soft, the higher we ascended, that the idea of melting snow was +suggested to our minds. We found this region, with regard to that from +which we had come, to be clearly a hollow, the lowest point being Lake +Kumadau; the point of the ebullition of water as shown by one of +Newman's barometric thermometers, was only between 207-1/2° and 206°, +giving an elevation of not much more than two thousand feet above the +level of the sea. We had descended above two thousand feet in coming to +it from Kolobeng. It is the southern and lowest part of the great river +system beyond, in which large tracts of country are inundated annually +by tropical rains. A little of that water, which in the countries +farther north produces inundation, comes as far south as 20° 20', the +latitude of the upper end of the lake, and instead of flooding the +country, falls into the lake as into a reservoir. It begins to flow down +the Embarrah, which divides into the Rivers Tzo and Teoughe. The Tzo +divides into the Tamunak'le and Mababe; the Tamunak'le discharges itself +into the Zouga, and the Teoughe into the lake. The flow begins in either +March or April, and the descending waters find the channels of all these +rivers dried out, except in certain pools in their beds, which have long +dry spaces between them. The lake itself is very low. The Zouga is but a +prolongation of the Tamunak'le, and an arm of the lake reaches up to the +point where the one ends and the other begins. The last is narrow and +shallow, while the Zouga is broad and deep. The narrow arm of the lake, +which on the map looks like a continuation of the Zouga, has never been +observed to flow either way. + + +THOMAS HUGHES + +Before the middle of 1852 Livingstone was ready to start on the journey +which resulted in the opening of routes from Central Africa to the West +and East coasts; but the way was still beset with difficulties. The +missionary societies were regarded as "unpatriotic" by the authorities +at the Cape; and he, as the most outspoken of critics, and the most +uncompromising denouncer of the slave-trade and champion of the natives, +came in for a double share of their suspicion. On the other hand, his +brethren gave him only a half-hearted support and doubted his orthodoxy. +He found great difficulty even in procuring ammunition. A country +postmaster whom he had accused of overcharging, threatened an action at +the last moment, which he compromised rather than be detained. As it +was, he had anticipated his meagre salary by more than a year, and had +to be content with very inferior oxen, and a wagon which required +constant mending throughout the journey. On June 8, 1852, he at last got +away, taking with him a Mr. Fleming, the agent of his friend Mr. +Rutherford, a Cape merchant, in the hope of by degrees substituting +legitimate traffic for that in slaves. + +The heavy Cape wagon with its ten poor oxen dragged heavily onward. +Livingstone had so loaded himself with parcels for stations up-country, +and his wagon and team were so inferior, that he did not reach Kuruman +until September. Here he was detained by the breaking of a wheel. + +The journey to Linyanti by the new route was very trying. Part of the +country was flooded, and they were wading all day, and forcing their way +through reeds with sharp edges "with hands all raw and bloody." "On +emerging from the swamps," says Livingstone, "when walking before the +wagon in the morning twilight, I observed a lioness about fifty yards +from me in the squatting way they walk when going to spring. She was +followed by a very large lion, but seeing the wagon she turned back." + +It required all his tact to prevent guides and servants from deserting. +Everyone but himself was attacked by fever. "I would like," says his +journal, "to devote a portion of my life to the discovery of a remedy +for that terrible disease, the African fever. I would go into the parts +where it prevails most and try to discover if the natives have a remedy +for it. I must make many inquiries of the river people in this quarter." +Again in another key: "Am I on my way to die in Sebituane's country? +Have I seen the last of my wife and children, leaving this fair world +and knowing so little of it?" + +February 4, 1853: "I am spared in health while all the company have been +attacked by fever. If God has accepted my service, my life is charmed +till my work is done. When that is finished, some simple thing will give +me my quietus. Death is a glorious event to one going to Jesus." + +Their progress was tedious beyond all precedent. "We dug out several +wells, and each time had to wait a day or two till enough water flowed +in for our cattle to quench their thirst." + +At last, however, at the end of May, he reached the Chobe River and was +again among his favorite Makololo. "He has dropped from the clouds," the +first of them said. They took the wagon to pieces and carried it across +on canoes lashed together, while they themselves swam and dived among +the oxen "more like alligators than men." Sekeletu, son of Sebituane, +was now chief, his elder sister Mamochishane having resigned in disgust +at the number of husbands she had to maintain as chieftainess. Poor +Mamochishane! After a short reign of a few months she had risen in the +assembly and "addressed her brother with a womanly gush of tears. 'I +have been a chief only because my father wished it. I would always have +preferred to be married and have a family like other women. You, +Sekeletu, must be chief, and build up our father's house.'" + +On November 11, 1853, he left Linyanti, and arrived at Loanda on May 31, +1854. The first stages of the journey were to be by water, and Sekeletu +accompanied him to the Chobe, where he was to embark. They crossed five +branches before reaching the main stream, a wide and deep river full of +hippopotami. "The chief lent me his own canoe, and as it was broader +than usual I could turn about in it with ease. I had three muskets for +my people, and a rifle and double-barrelled shotgun for myself. My +ammunition was distributed through the luggage, that we might not be +left without a supply. Our chief hopes for food were in our guns. I +carried twenty pounds of beads worth forty shillings, a few biscuits, a +few pounds of tea and sugar, and about twenty pounds of coffee. One +small tin canister, about fifteen inches square, was filled with spare +shirts, trousers, and shoes, to be used when we reached civilized life, +another of the same size was stored with medicines, a third with books, +and a fourth with a magic lantern, which we found of much service. The +sextant and other instruments were carried apart. A bag contained the +clothes we expected to wear out in the journey, which, with a small tent +just sufficient to sleep in, a sheepskin mantle as a blanket, and a +horse rug as a bed, completed my equipment. An array of baggage would +have probably excited the cupidity of the tribes through whose country +we wished to pass." + +The voyage up the Chobe, and the Zambesi after the junction of those +rivers, was prosperous but slow, in consequence of stoppages opposite +villages. "My man Pitsane knew of the generous orders of Sekeletu, and +was not disposed to allow them remain a dead letter." In the rapids, +"the men leaped into the water without the least hesitation to save the +canoes from being dashed against the obstructions or caught in eddies. +They must never be allowed to come broadside to the stream, for being +flat-bottomed they would at once be capsized and everything in them +lost." When free from fever he was delighted to note the numbers of +birds, several of them unknown, which swarmed on the river and its +banks, all carefully noted in his journal. One extract must suffice +here: "Whenever we step on shore a species of plover, a plaguy sort of +public-spirited individual, follows, flying overhead, and is most +persevering in its attempts to give warning to all animals to flee from +the approaching danger." + +But he was already weak with fever; was seized with giddiness whenever +he looked up quickly, and, if he could not catch hold of some support, +fell heavily--a bad omen for his chance of passing through the unknown +country ahead--but his purpose never faltered for a moment. On January +1, 1854, he was still on the river, but getting beyond Sekeletu's +territory and allies, to a region of dense forest, in the open glades of +which dwelt the Balonda, a powerful tribe, whose relations with the +Makololo were precarious. Each was inclined to raid on the other since +the Mambari and Portuguese half-castes had appeared with Manchester +goods. These excited the intense wonder and cupidity of both nations. +They listened to the story of cotton-mills as fairy dreams, exclaiming: +"How can iron spin, weave, and print? Truly ye are gods!" and were +already inclined to steal their neighbors' children--those of their own +tribe they never sold at this time--to obtain these wonders out of the +sea. + +Happily Livingstone had brought back with him several Balonda children +who had been carried off by the Makololo. This, and his speeches to +Manenko, the chieftainess of the district and niece of Shinte, the head +chief of the Balonda, gained them a welcome. This Amazon was a strapping +young woman of twenty, who led their party through the forest at a pace +which tried the best walkers. She seems to have been the only native +whose will ever prevailed against Livingstone's. + +He intended to proceed up to her uncle Shinte's town in canoes: she +insisted that they should march by land, and ordered her people to +shoulder his baggage in spite of him. "My men succumbed, and left me +powerless. I was moving off in high dudgeon to the canoes, when she +kindly placed her hand on my shoulder, and with a motherly look said, +'Now, my little man, just do as the rest have done.' My feeling of +annoyance of course vanished, and I went out to try for some meat. My +men, in admiration of her pedestrian powers, kept remarking, 'Manenko is +a soldier,' and we were all glad when she proposed a halt for the +night." + +Shinte received them in his town, the largest and best laid out that +Livingstone had seen in Central Africa, on a sort of throne covered with +leopard-skin. The _kotla_, or place of audience, was one hundred yards +square. Though in the sweating stage of an intermittent fever, +Livingstone held his own with the chief, gave him an ox as "his mouth +was bitter from want of flesh," advised him to open a trade in cattle +with the Makololo, and to put down the slave-trade; and, after spending +more than a week with him, left amid the warmest professions of +friendship. Shinte found him a guide of his tribe, Intemese by name, who +was to stay by them till they reached the sea, and at a last interview +hung round his neck a conical shell of such value that two of them, so +his men assured him, would purchase a slave. + +Soon they were out of Shinte's territory, and Intemese became the plague +of the party, though unluckily they could not dispense with him +altogether in crossing the great flooded plains of Lebala. They camped +at night on mounds, where they had to trench round each hut and use the +earth to raise their sleeping places. "My men turned out to work most +willingly, and I could not but contrast their conduct with that of +Intemese, who was thoroughly imbued with the slave spirit, and lied on +all occasions to save himself trouble." He lost the pontoon, too, +thereby adding greatly to their troubles. + +They now came to the territory of another great chief, Katema, who +received them hospitably, sending food and giving them solemn audience +in his kotla surrounded by his tribe. A tall man of forty, dressed in a +snuff-brown coat with a broad band of tinsel down the arms, and a helmet +of beads and feathers. He carried a large fan with charms attached, +which he waved constantly during the audience, often laughing +heartily--"a good sign, for a man who shakes his sides with mirth is +seldom difficult to deal with." + +"I am the great Moene Katema!" was his address; "I and my fathers have +always lived here, and there is my father's house. I never killed any of +the traders; they all come to me. I am the great Moene Katema, of whom +you have heard." On hearing Livingstone's object, he gave him three +guides, who would take him by a northern route, along which no traders +had passed, to avoid the plains, impassable from the floods. He accepted +Livingstone's present of a shawl, a razor, some beads and buttons, and a +powder-horn graciously, laughing at his apologies for its smallness, and +asking him to bring a coat from Loanda, as the one he was wearing was +old. + +From this point troubles multiplied, and they began to be seriously +pressed for food. The big game had disappeared, and they were glad to +catch moles and mice. Every chief demanded a present for allowing them +to pass, and the people of the villages charged exorbitantly for all +supplies. On they floundered, however, through flooded forests. In +crossing the river Loka, Livingstone's ox got away from him, and he had +to strike out for the farther bank. "My poor fellows were dreadfully +alarmed, and about twenty of them made a simultaneous rush into the +water for my rescue, and just as I reached the opposite bank one seized +me by the arms and another clasped me round the body. When I stood up it +was most gratifying to see them all struggling toward me. Part of my +goods were brought up from the bottom when I was safe. Great was their +pleasure when they found I could swim like themselves, and I felt most +grateful to those poor heathens for the promptitude with which they +dashed in to my rescue." Farther on, the people tried to frighten them +with the account of the deep rivers they had yet to cross, but his men +laughed. "'We can all swim,' they said; 'who carried the white man +across the river but himself?' I felt proud of their praise." + +On March 4th they reached the country of the Chiboques, a tribe in +constant contact with the slave-dealers. Next day their camp was +surrounded by the nearest chief and his warriors, evidently bent on +plunder. They paused when they saw Livingstone seated on his camp-stool, +with his double-barrelled gun across his knees, and his Makololos ready +with their javelins. The chief and his principal men sat down in front +at Livingstone's invitation to talk over the matter, and a palaver began +as to the fine claimed by the Chiboque. "The more I yielded, the more +unreasonable they became, and at every fresh demand a shout was raised, +and a rush made round us with brandished weapons. One young man even +made a charge at my head from behind, but I quickly brought round the +muzzle of my gun to his mouth and he retreated. My men behaved with +admirable coolness. The chief and his counsellors, by accepting my +invitation to be seated, had placed themselves in a trap, for my men had +quietly surrounded them and made them feel that there was no chance of +escaping their spears. I then said that as everything had failed to +satisfy them they evidently meant to fight; and if so, they must begin, +and bear the blame before God. I then sat silent for some time. It was +certainly rather trying, but I was careful not to seem flurried, and, +having four barrels ready for instant action, looked quietly at the +savage scene around." The palaver began again, and ended in the exchange +of an ox for a promise of food, in which he was wofully cheated. "It was +impossible to help laughing, but I was truly thankful that we had so far +gained our point as to be allowed to pass without shedding blood." + +He now struck north to avoid the Chiboque, and made for the Portuguese +settlement of Cassange through dense forest and constant wet. Here +another fever fit came on, so violent that "I could scarcely, after some +hours' trial, get a lunar observation in which I could repose +confidence. Those who know the difficulties of making observations and +committing them all to paper will sympathize with me in this and many +similar instances." + +At this crisis, when the goal was all but at hand, obstacles multiplied +till it seemed that after all it would never be reached. First his +riding ox, Sindbad--a beast "blessed with a most intractable temper," +and a habit of bolting into the bush to get his rider combed off by a +climber, and then kicking at him--achieved a triumph in his weak state, +"when the bridle broke, and down I came backward on the crown of my +head, receiving as I fell a kick on the thigh. This last attack of fever +reduced me almost to a skeleton. The blanket which I used as a saddle, +being pretty constantly wet, caused extensive abrasion of the skin, +which was continually healing and getting sore again." + +Then the guides missed their way and led them back into Chiboque +territory, where the demands of the chief of every village for "a man, +an ox, or a tusk," for permission to pass, began again. Worst of all, +signs of mutiny began to show themselves among the Batoka men of his +party, who threatened to turn back. He appeased them by giving them a +tired ox to be killed at the Sunday's halt. "Having thus, as I thought, +silenced their murmurs, I sank into a state of torpor, and was oblivious +of all their noise. On Sunday the mutineers were making a terrible din +in preparing the skin. I requested them twice to be more quiet as the +noise pained me, but, as they paid no attention to this civil request, I +put out my head and, repeating it, was answered by an impudent laugh. +Knowing that discipline would be at an end if this mutiny was not +quelled, and that our lives depended on vigorously upholding authority, +I seized a double-barrelled pistol and darted out with such a savage +aspect as to put them to precipitate flight. They gave no further +trouble." Every night now they had to build a stockade, and by day to +march in a compact body, knowing the forest to be full of enemies +dogging their path, for now they had nothing to give as presents, the +men having even divested themselves of all their copper ornaments to +appease the Chiboque harpies. "Nothing, however, disturbed us, and for +my part I was too ill to care much whether we were attacked or not." +They struggled on, the Chiboque natives, now joined by bodies of +traders, opposing at every ford, Livingstone no longer wondering why +expeditions from the interior failed to reach the coast. "Some of my men +proposed to return home, and the prospect of being obliged to turn back +from the threshold of the Portuguese settlements distressed me +exceedingly. After using all my powers of persuasion, I declared that if +they now returned, I should go on alone, and returning into my little +tent, I lifted up my heart to Him who hears the sighing of the soul. +Presently the head man came in. 'Do not be disheartened,' he said, 'we +will never leave you. Wherever you lead, we will follow. Our remarks +were only made on account of the injustice of these people.' Others +followed, and with the most artless simplicity of manner told me to be +comforted. 'They were all my children; they knew no one but Sekeletu and +me, and would die for me: they had spoken in bitterness of spirit, +feeling they could do nothing.'" + +On April 1st they gained the ridge which overlooks the valley of the +Quango and the Portuguese settlements on the farther bank. "The descent +is so steep that I was obliged to dismount, though so weak that I had to +be supported. Below us, at a depth of one thousand feet, lay the +magnificent valley of the Quango. The view of the Vale of Clyde, from +the spot where Mary witnessed the Battle of Langside, resembles in +miniature the glorious sight which was here presented to our view." + +On the 4th they were close to the Quango, here one hundred fifty yards +broad, when they were stopped for the last time by a village chief and +surrounded by his men. The usual altercation ensued; Livingstone +refusing to give up his blanket--the last article he possessed except +his watch and instruments and Sekeletu's tusks, which had been +faithfully guarded--until on board the canoes in which they were to +cross. "I was trying to persuade my people to move on to the bank in +spite of them, when a young half-caste Portuguese sergeant of militia, +Cypriano di Abren, who had come across in search of beeswax, made his +appearance and gave the same advice." They marched to the bank--the +chief's men opening fire on them, but without doing any damage--made +terms with the ferrymen, with Cypriano's help, crossed the Quango, and +were at the end of their troubles. + +Four days they stopped with Cypriano, who treated them royally, killing +an ox and stripping his garden to feast them, and sending them on to +Cassange with provisions of meal ground by his mother and her maids. "I +carried letters from the Chevalier du Prat of Cape Town, but I am +inclined to believe that my friend Cypriano was influenced by feelings +of genuine kindness excited by my wretched appearance." + +At Cassange they were again most hospitably treated, and here, before +starting for Loanda, three hundred miles, they disposed of Sekeletu's +tusks, which sold for much higher prices than those given by Cape +traders. "Two muskets, three small barrels of powder, and English calico +and baize enough to clothe my whole party, with large bunches of beads, +were given for one tusk, to the great delight of my Makololos, who had +been used to get only one gun for two tusks. With another tusk we +purchased calico--the chief currency here--to pay our way to the coast. +The remaining two were sold for money to purchase a horse for Sekeletu +at Loanda." Livingstone was much struck both by the country he passed +through and the terms on which the Portuguese lived with the natives. +Most of them had families by native women, who were treated as European +children and provided for by their fathers. Half-caste clerks sat at +table with the whites, and he came to the conclusion that "nowhere in +Africa is there so much good-will between Europeans and natives as +here." + +The dizziness produced by his twenty-seven attacks of fever on the road +made it all he could do to stick on Sindbad, who managed to give him a +last ducking in the Lombe. "The weakening effects of the fever were most +extraordinary. For instance, in attempting to take lunar observations I +could not avoid confusion of time and distance, neither could I hold the +instrument steady, nor perform a simple calculation." He rallied a +little in crossing a mountain range. As they drew near Loanda the hearts +of his men began to fail, and they hinted their doubts to him. "If you +suspect me you can return," he told them, "for I am as ignorant of +Loanda as you; but nothing will happen to you but what happens to me. We +have stood by one another hitherto, and will do so till the last." + +The first view of the sea staggered the Makololo. "We were marching +along with our father," they said, "believing what the ancients had told +us, that the world had no end; but all at once the world said to us: 'I +am finished; there is no more for me.'" + +The fever had produced chronic dysentery, which was so depressing that +Livingstone entered Loanda in deep melancholy, doubting the reception he +might get from the one English gentleman, Mr. Gabriel, the commissioner +for the suppression of the slave-trade. He was soon undeceived. Mr. +Gabriel received him most kindly, and, seeing the condition he was in, +gave up to him his own bed. "Never shall I forget the luxurious pleasure +I enjoyed in feeling myself again on a good English bed after six +months' sleeping on the ground. I was soon asleep; and Mr. Gabriel +coming in almost immediately after, rejoiced in the soundness of my +repose." + + + + +(1851) THE COUP D'ÉTAT OF LOUIS NAPOLEON, Alexis de Tocqueville + + +By his astounding act of December 2, 1851, known as the _coup d'état_, +Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, commonly called Louis Napoleon, +practically assumed imperial power, and on the first anniversary of that +_coup d'état_ he was officially proclaimed Emperor of the French under +the title of Napoleon III. He was the son of Louis Bonaparte, King of +Holland--a brother of Napoleon I--and was born in Paris, April 20, 1808. +From 1815 to 1830 he lived in exile. In 1836 he made an unsuccessful +attempt to organize a revolution among the French soldiers at Strasburg. +Four years later he tried to seize the throne of France; but failing in +this attempt, he was imprisoned in the fortress of Ham until 1846, when +he escaped to England. During his confinement he continued in his +writings a Bonapartist propaganda. He had addressed himself particularly +to the workingmen, and this class won a victory in the Revolution of +February, 1848. After the fall of Louis Philippe in that year, Napoleon +was elected to the National Assembly, largely by the votes of the +working classes, and on June 13, 1848, took his seat. In December he was +elected President of the Republic by an immense majority. + +Although he was regarded as possessing a rather dull intellect, and as +being, partly for that reason, a "safe" man for the presidential office, +Napoleon soon proved his capacity for intrigue and for cajoling the +people. By intervening in behalf of Pope Pius IX, whom revolutionists +had driven from Rome, he gained the support of the clergy. Napoleon's +troops restored Pius IX (1850) to the papal throne. The President's aims +at supremacy were approved by the French monarchists, and he used all +means to increase his popularity, placing only his adherents in office. + +When the Assembly, composed of seven hundred sixty members, undertook to +restrict the suffrage, which was "universal," Napoleon opposed the +change. He thus appeared to be the champion of the people against the +legislative body. As his term was to expire on May 2, 1852, and as he +was ineligible for a second term, although he knew that a majority of +the people favored his continuance in office, he saw no way to +accomplish that except by force. He therefore determined to use force, +and the method he adopted was that of the _coup d'état_. The success of +that stroke insured all that he aimed at. In December, 1851, by an +almost unanimous vote he was elected President for ten years. All his +"ideas" and purposes were embodied in a new constitution, and before the +end of 1852 the question of restoring the empire was submitted to the +people; and by the plebiscite of November, in that year, an enormous +majority of the voters elected him Emperor. + +No account of the _coup d'état_,--the most striking and effective in +this series of dramatic events--surpasses in authenticity or interest +that of De Tocqueville. The famous author of _Democracy in America_, and +of equally celebrated works of French history, became Vice-President of +the National Assembly in 1849. As a member of that body he was justified +in saying of his story of the _coup d'état_, "I merely relate, as an +actual witness, the things I saw with my eyes and heard with my ears." +The first step taken by Napoleon in this affair was the arrest of the +opposition leaders of the Assembly in their beds, on the pretext of a +conspiracy against him in that body. De Tocqueville describes what +followed. + +When the representatives of the people learned on the morning of +December 2, 1851, that several of their colleagues were arrested, they +ran to the Assembly. The doors were guarded by the Chasseurs de +Vincennes, a corps of troops recently returned from Africa and long +accustomed to the violence of Algerine dominion, and, moreover, +stimulated by a donation of five francs distributed to every soldier who +was in Paris that day. The Representatives, nevertheless, presented +themselves to go in, having at their head one of their Vice-Presidents, +M. Daru. This gentleman was violently struck by the soldiers, and the +Representatives who accompanied him were driven back at the point of the +bayonet. Three of them, M. de Talhouet, Étienne, and Duparc, were +slightly wounded. Several others had their clothes pierced. Such was the +beginning. + +Driven from the doors of the Assembly, the Deputies retired to the +_mairie_ of the Tenth Arrondissement. They were already assembled to the +number of about three hundred when the troops arrived, blocked up the +approaches, and prevented a greater number of Representatives from +entering the apartment, though no one at that time was prevented from +leaving it. + +Who then were those Representatives assembled at the _mairie_ of the +Tenth Arrondissement, and what did they do there? Every shade of opinion +was represented in this extemporaneous Assembly. But four-fifths of its +members belonged to the different conservative parties which had +constituted the majority. This Assembly was presided over by two of its +Vice-Presidents, M. Vitet and M. Benoist d'Azy. M. Daru was arrested in +his own house; the Fourth Vice-President, the illustrious General +Bedeau, had been seized that morning in his bed, and handcuffed like a +robber. As for the President, M. Dupin, he was absent, which surprised +no one. Besides its Vice-Presidents, the Assembly was accompanied by its +secretaries, its ushers, and even its phonographer who preserved for +posterity the records of this last and memorable sitting. The Assembly, +thus constituted, began by voting a decree in the following terms: + +"In pursuance of article sixty-eight of the constitution, viz., the +President of the Republic, the ministers, the agents, and depositaries +of public authority are responsible, each in what concerns himself +respectively, for all the acts of the Government and the Administration: +any measure by which the President of the Republic dissolves the +National Assembly, prorogues it, or places obstacles in the exercise of +its powers is a crime of high treason. + +"By this act alone, the President is deprived of all authority; the +citizens are bound to withhold their obedience, the executive power +passes in full right to the National Assembly. The judges of the High +Court of Justice will meet immediately, under pain of forfeiture; they +will convoke the juries in the place which they will select to proceed +to the judgment of the President and his accomplices; they will nominate +the magistrates charged to fulfil the duties of public ministers. + +"And seeing that the National Assembly is prevented by violence from +exercising its powers, it decrees as follows, viz.: Louis Napoleon +Bonaparte is deprived of all authority as President of the Republic. The +citizens are enjoined to withhold their obedience. The executive power +has passed in full right to the National Assembly. The judges of the +High Court of Justice are enjoined to meet immediately, under pain of +forfeiture, to proceed to the judgment of the President and his +accomplices; consequently, all the officers and functionaries of power +and of public authority are bound to obey all requisitions made in the +name of the National Assembly, under pain of forfeiture and of high +treason. + +"Done and decreed unanimously in public sitting, this second day of +December, 1851." + +After this first decree was voted, another was unanimously passed, +naming General Oudinot commander of the public forces, and M. Tamisier +was joined with him as chief of the staff. The choice of these two +officers, each having distinct shades of political opinion, showed that +the Assembly was animated by one common spirit. + +These decrees had hardly been signed by all the members present, and +deposited in a place of safety, when a band of soldiers, headed by their +officers, sword in hand, appeared at the door, without, however, daring +to enter the apartment. The Assembly awaited them in perfect silence. +The President alone raised his voice, read the decrees which had just +been passed to the soldiers, and ordered them to retire. The poor +fellows, ashamed of the part they were compelled to play, hesitated. The +officers, pale and undecided, declared that they should go for further +orders. They retired, contenting themselves with blockading the passages +leading to the apartment. The Assembly, not being able to go out, +ordered the windows to be opened, and caused the decrees to be read to +the people and the troops in the street below, especially that decree +which, in pursuance of the sixty-eighth article of the constitution, +declared the deposition and impeachment of Louis Napoleon. + +Soon, however, the soldiers reappeared at the door, preceded this time +by two _commissaires de police_. These men entered the room and, amid +the unbroken silence and total immobility of the Assembly, summoned the +Representatives to disperse. The President ordered them to retire +themselves. One of the _commissaires_ was agitated and faltered; the +other broke out in invectives. The President said to him: "Sir, we are +here the lawful authority and sole representatives of law and of right. +We know that we cannot oppose to you material force, but we will leave +this chamber only under constraint. We will not disperse. Seize us and +convey us to prison." + +"All, all!" exclaimed the members of the Assembly. After much hesitation +the _commissaires de police_ decided to act. They caused each of the two +Presidents to be seized by the collar. The whole body then rose, and, +arm in arm, two and two, they followed the Presidents, who were led off. +In this order they reached the street, and were marched across the city, +without knowing whither they were going. + +Care had been taken to circulate a report among the crowd and the troops +that a meeting of Socialist and Red Republican Deputies had been +arrested. But when the people beheld among those who were thus dragged +through the mud of Paris on foot, like a gang of malefactors, men the +most illustrious by their talents and their virtues--ex-ministers, +ex-ambassadors, generals, admirals, great orators, great writers, +surrounded by the bayonets of the line--a shout was raised, "_Vive +l'Assemblée nationale!_" The Representatives were attended by these +shouts until they reached the barracks of the Quai d'Orsay, where they +were shut up. + +Night was coming on, and it was wet and cold. Yet the Assembly was left +two hours in the open air, as if the Government did not deign to +remember its existence. The Representatives here made their last +roll-call in presence of their phonographer, who had followed them. The +number present was two hundred eighteen, to whom were added about twenty +more in the course of the evening, consisting of members who had +voluntarily caused themselves to be arrested. Almost all the men known +to France and to Europe, who formed the majority of the Legislative +Assembly, were gathered in this place. Few were wanting, except those +who, like M. Molé, had not been suffered to reach their colleagues. + +There were present, among others, the Duc de Broglie, who had come, +though ill; the father of the House, the venerable Kératry, whose +physical strength was inferior to his moral courage, and whom it was +necessary to seat in a straw chair in the barrack yard; Odilon Barrot, +Dufaure, Berryer, Rémusat, Duvergier de Hauranne, Gustave de Beaumont, +De Tocqueville, De Falloux, Lanjuinais, Admiral Lainé and Admiral +Cécille, Generals Oudinot and Lauriston, the Due de Luynes, the Due de +Montebello; twelve ex-ministers, nine of whom had served under Louis +Napoleon himself; eight members of the Institute--all men who had +struggled for three years to defend society and to resist the demagogic +faction. + +When two hours had elapsed this assemblage was driven into barrack-rooms +upstairs, where most of them spent the night, without fire and almost +without food, stretched upon the boards. It only remained to carry off +to prison these honorable men, guilty of no crime but the defence of the +laws of their country. For this purpose the most distressing and +ignominious means were selected. The cellular vans, in which convicts +are conveyed to prison, were brought up. In these vehicles were shut up +the men who had served and honored their country, and they were conveyed +like three bands of criminals, some to the fortress of Mont Valerien, +some to the prison Mazas in Paris, and the remainder to Vincennes. The +indignation of the public compelled the Government two days afterward to +release the greater number of them; some remained in confinement, unable +to obtain either their liberty or a trial. + +The treatment inflicted upon the generals arrested in the morning of +December 2d was still more disgraceful. Cavaignac, Lamoricière, Bedeau, +Changarnier, the conquerors of Africa, were shut up in these infamous +cellular vans, which are always inconvenient and become almost +intolerable on a lengthened journey. In this manner they were conveyed +to Ham--that is, they were made to perform more than a day's journey. +Cavaignac, who had saved Paris and France in the days of +June--Cavaignac, the competitor of Louis Napoleon at the last elections, +shut up for a day and a night in the cell of a felon! I leave it to +every honest man and every generous heart to comment on such facts. Such +were the indignities offered to eminent men. + +Let me now review the series of general crimes. The liberty of the press +is destroyed to an extent unheard of even in the time of the empire. +Most of the journals are suppressed, those which appear cannot say a +word on politics or even publish any news. But this is by no means all. +The Government has stuck up a list of persons who are formed into a +"consultative commission." Its object is to induce France to believe +that the Executive is not abandoned by every man of respectability and +consideration among us. More than half the persons on this list have +refused to belong to the commission; most of them regard the insertion +of their names as dishonor. I may quote, among others, M. Léon Faucher, +M. Portalis, First President of the Court of Cassation, and the Duc de +Albuféra, as those best known. Not only does the Government decline to +publish the letters in which these gentlemen refuse their consent, but +even their names are not withdrawn from the list which dishonors them. +The names are still retained in spite of their repeated remonstrances. A +day or two ago, one of them, M. Joseph Perier, driven to desperation by +this excess of tyranny, rushed into the street to strike out his own +name, with his own hands, from the public placards, taking the +passers-by to witness that it had been placed there by a lie. + +Such is the state of the public journals. Let us now see the condition +of personal liberty. I say again that personal liberty is more trampled +on than ever it was in the time of the empire. A decree of the new power +gives the _préfets_ the right to arrest, in their respective +departments, whomsoever they please; and the _préfets_, in their turn, +send blank warrants of arrest, which are literally _lettres de cachet_, +to the _sobs-préfets_ under their orders. The Provisional Government of +the Republic never went so far. Human life is as little respected as +human liberty. I know that war has its dreadful necessities, but the +disturbances which have recently occurred in Paris have been put down +with a barbarity unprecedented in our civil contests; and when we +remember that this torrent of blood has been shed to consummate the +violation of all law, we cannot but think that sooner or later it will +fall back upon the heads of those who shed it. As for the appeal of the +people, to whom Louis Napoleon affects to submit his claims, never was a +more odious mockery offered to a nation. The people is called upon to +express its opinion, yet not only is public discussion suppressed, but +even the knowledge of facts. The people is asked its opinion, but the +first measure taken to obtain it is to establish military terrorism +throughout the country, and to threaten with deprivation every public +agent that does not approve in writing what has been done. + +Such is the condition in which we stand. Force overturning law, +trampling on the liberty of the press and of the person, deriding the +popular will, in whose name the Government pretends to act. France torn +from the alliance of free nations to be classed with the despotic +monarchies of the Continent--such is the result of this _coup d'état_. + +The army refused to submit to the decree of the captive Assembly +impeaching the President of the Republic; but the High Court of Justice +obeyed it. The five judges composing it, sitting in the midst of Paris +enslaved and in the face of martial law, dared to assemble at the Palace +of Justice, and to issue a process beginning criminal proceedings +against Louis Napoleon, charged with high treason by the law, though +already triumphant in the streets. I subjoin the text of this memorable +edict: + +"The High Court of Justice, considering the sixty-eighth article of the +constitution, considering that printed placards, beginning with the +words 'The President of the Republic,' and bearing at the end the +signatures of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte and De Moony, Minister of the +Interior, which placards announce among other things, the dissolution of +the National Assembly, have this day been affixed to the walls of Paris; +that this fact of the dissolution of the Assembly by the President of +the Republic would fall under the case provided for by the sixty-eighth +article of the constitution, and render the convocation of the High +Court of Justice imperative, by the terms of that article declares that +the High Court is constituted, and names M. Renouard, counsellor of the +Court of Cassation, to fill the duties of public accuser; and to fill +those of _greffier_, M. Bernard, _Greffier-en-chef_ of the Court of +Cassation; and, to proceed further in pursuance of the terms of the said +sixty-eighth article of the constitution, adjourns until to-morrow, +December 3d, at the hour of noon. + +"Done and deliberated in the Council Chamber. Present, M. Hardouin, +President; M. Pataille, M. Moreau, M. de la Palme, and M. Cauchy, +judges, this second day of December, 1851." + +After this textual extract from the minutes of the High Court of Justice +there is the following entry: "(1) A _procès-verbal_ announcing the +arrival of a _commissaire de police_, who called upon the High Court to +separate. (2) A _procès-verbal_ of a second sitting held on the morrow, +the third day of December (when the Assembly was in prison), at which M. +Renouard accepts the functions of public prosecutor, charged to proceed +against Louis Napoleon, after which the High Court, being no longer able +to sit, adjourned to a day to be fixed hereafter." + + + + +(1851) DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN AUSTRALIA, Edward Jenks + + +EDWARD JENKS + +It was a remarkable sequence in successful enterprise that brought to +light and developed the vast gold deposits in Australia within three +years after the great discovery in California. This event "was to +change, if not the entire character, at least the rate, of Australian +progress." The date of Captain James Cook's exploration of the eastern +coast (1770) marks the beginning of a new era in the history of +Australia. Cook took possession of the country for Great Britain. From +the resemblance of its coasts to the southern shores of Wales, he called +it New South Wales, and this name is still retained by one of the States +of the Commonwealth of Australia (inaugurated January 1, 1901). The +first English settlement (1788) was a convict colony at Port Jackson +(Sydney). From the establishment of this colony the development of +Australia as a British possession was gradual, but progressive, up to +the discovery of the gold-fields, by which it was so greatly +accelerated. At first a few pastoral groups occupied the lands near the +coast. Many of the newcomers were mere squatters, bent on making money +and then returning to England. But gradually small towns and settled +industries grew up. Increasing numbers of farmers immigrated, squatters +were pushed toward the interior, and a state of social organization +began. Up to 1850, however, this nucleus of a new commonwealth had +reached no great development. + +As in the case of California, long before the great discovery of gold in +Australia there had been rumors of its existence in that country. Most +of the early stories told by persons said to have found specimens of the +metal were scouted. In 1844 the distinguished geologist, Sir Roderick +Impey Murchison, having compared specimens of Australian rocks brought +to him with other specimens from gold-bearing lands, declared that he +found in the former no trace of gold. Two years later, however, Sir +Roderick declared his belief in the existence of gold in Australia, and +in 1848 he announced that he had seen specimens of gold from New South +Wales, and recommended a government mineral survey there. Little +attention might have been given to the matter then but for the discovery +of gold in California. From the excitement caused by that the "gold +fever" spread over the world. Nothing was done in the way of discovery +of the metal in Australia until many months had elapsed; but finally +results of the utmost importance were obtained. + +The story of the great Australian gold discovery is here told in an +authentic and highly interesting manner by the historian of the +Australasian colonies. + +In the year 1851 Edmund Hammond Hargraves, an old settler in New South +Wales, returned thither from California, where he had spent about +eighteen months in the search for gold. His efforts in California +resulted in no immediate prosperity, but he gained much useful practical +experience. More than this, as he looked at the natural features of the +California gold-fields, a great idea grew up in his mind. Though not a +geologist, he appears to have had a quick eye for stratiform +resemblances; and the more he studied the peculiarities of rocks and +soil in California, the more he became convinced that he knew, in his +own colony, a district which presented the same features and which, +therefore, might be expected to produce the same results. + +Remaining in California only long enough to verify his observations, he +returned to Sydney at the beginning of the year 1851. Seldom has such +absolute confidence in unverified observation proved so completely +justified. According to Hargraves's own account he went without +hesitation to a spot on the banks of a little stream known as Lewes Pond +Creek, a tributary of Summer Hill Creek, itself a tributary of the +Macquarie River, and there at once, on February 12, 1851, found alluvial +gold. In April he had so far advanced as to be able to write to the +Government offering to disclose his treasures for five hundred pounds. +But he subsequently decided to trust to the liberality of the +Government, and offered at once to show his workings to the government +geologist, an official recently sent out from England to report upon +gold prospects. On May 19th Mr. Stutchbury officially reported the +discovery of gold in workable quantities at Summer Hill Creek, and by +the end of the same month the immigration to the diggings had begun. +Hargraves himself took no part in the digging, merely pointing out to +others, without reserve, the places in which his experience led him to +predict discovery, and instructing them in the processes of washing and +cleaning. He was soon made a commissioner of Crown lands, and received a +reward of ten thousand pounds. + +Now began a period which can have no complete parallel in earlier +history, save the almost contemporaneous parallel of California. + +For in days when news travelled slowly, and travelling for ordinary men +was still slower, in days when governments jealously prohibited the +expatriation of their subjects, and only allowed the immigration of +aliens under strict limitations, nothing like the Australian gold-rush +could have taken place. As it was, everything favored the stampede. The +Australian colonies themselves were anxious for immigrants. The European +disturbances of 1848 had led many Continental rulers to the conclusion +that it was wiser to allow turbulent spirits to go than to attempt to +keep them. The new era of industry had completely unsettled the old +relationships and awakened a spirit of restlessness. Finally, the recent +application of steam to sea-going ships had rendered a rapid decrease in +the length of the voyage from Europe a practical certainty. From the +moment that the genuineness of Hargraves's discoveries was placed beyond +doubt a swarm of pilgrims from all parts of the world set their faces +toward the diggings. Many, perhaps the majority, of the arrivals were +totally unsuited for the actual work of mining. Some of these turned to +other pursuits in the neighborhood, and, in no small number of cases, +did far better than the diggers whose gold they received. But thousands +turned back in despair after a few days' experience of the hardships of +the life; so that, almost from the first, there was an enormous traffic +to and fro, and strong division of parties upon the gold question. An +extreme view of the effect upon population may be obtained from a +comparison of the statistics of Victoria at the close of the years 1850 +and 1855 respectively. At the former date the population was under +seventy thousand; at the latter, it was upward of three hundred +thousand. But no other colony increased to anything like this extent +during the gold rush. + +The first care of the Government at Sydney, on receiving the official +report of the existence of gold, was to decide upon the attitude to be +assumed toward the diggers. It was abundantly clear that the +establishment of mining industries would mean a great increase of +expense to the Government. It was equally clear that, as the law had +been declared over and over again in the colony, unauthorized digging on +Crown land constituted a trespass, for which the digger was legally +responsible. But the Governor was wise enough to see that no threats of +prosecution would deter men bent on digging in unoccupied lands, even if +it were possible to preserve the lands of private owners from forcible +intrusion. The "squatting" question had demonstrated that, beyond a +certain point, the theory of Crown occupation of waste lands was liable +to break down. + +So the government advisers suggested a compromise. Falling back on a +still older feudal doctrine, they asserted the indefeasible right of the +Crown to all gold found either on private or public lands, but +recommended that licenses to dig should be granted on easy terms, which +would have the double effect of providing a revenue and of preserving an +acknowledgment of the Crown's title. + +Acting on this advice, Governor Fitzroy, on May 22, 1851, issued a +proclamation forbidding all persons to dig for gold on any lands without +license, but expressing the willingness of the Government to grant +licenses at a fee of thirty shillings a month to diggers on Crown lands. +For the present, the Governor refused to allow digging on private lands +without the owner's consent. The proclamation also announced that no +license would be given to any laborer or servant unless he could produce +a certificate of discharge from his last service. At the same time the +Governor established the practice of appointing special commissioners +for the gold-fields, charged with the administration of the licensing +system and the general maintenance of order in their respective +districts. He also strengthened the police force by every means in his +power, and then awaited developments. + +He had not long to wait. Almost immediately after the issue of the +proclamation another gold-field was discovered on the Turon River, also +a feeder of the Macquarie, only a few miles from Lewes Pond; and shortly +afterward a third was opened up on the Abercrombie, a tributary of the +Murrumbidgee, which takes its rise in the Cordillera, south of Bathurst. +By the beginning of June, gold began to pour into Bathurst; but Mr. +Hardy, the chief commissioner, was able to report an almost idyllic +peace and plenty at the diggings. + +In the middle of July an event occurred which at once produced a violent +attack of gold fever. This was the discovery of an enormous mass of +virgin gold, weighing upward of one hundred pounds, by Doctor Kerr, a +squatter on the Meroo Creek. Doctor Kerr had been guided to the spot by +an aboriginal who had been in his service several years; and, in his +excitement, he broke the matrix in which the nugget was imbedded, and +thus spoiled what would have been the most magnificent specimen of gold +quartz hitherto discovered. Even as it was, the display in Bathurst of a +single find of gold worth four thousand pounds was enough to excite the +feelings of the inhabitants to a pitch inconsistent with steady +industry. + +But Doctor Kerr's find raised a point of some interest to the +Government. In framing the licensing regulations, the advisers of the +Crown had thought only of the possibilities of alluvial mining. Had they +even directed their thoughts toward rock gold, they would probably have +considered it highly improbable that any explorer should be able to +extract the metal without an amount of preparation which he would hardly +undertake upon the security of a bare license. But, as it happened, +Doctor Kerr had not even a license when he discovered the gold, though +he took one out as soon as possible afterward. To strengthen its +position, the Government seized the gold in the hands of a firm of +shippers who were about to send it to England; but, on the firm's +representation, it was released, security being given for the payment of +a royalty of 10 per cent, if the Crown should see fit to demand it. + +Early in August, 1851, the Governor announced that, for the future, +licenses would be held to cover only alluvial gold, and that for rock +gold found on Crown land the Government would demand a royalty of 10 per +cent., half that amount if the working was on private land. A fortnight +later the Government undertook the escort of gold from the diggings to +Sydney, thereby adding considerably to the Crown revenue and at the same +time obtaining additional power over the gold districts. By the end of +August, gold to the value of seventy thousand pounds had been exported +from the colony. But these figures were soon eclipsed by those which +followed. + +The news of the gold discoveries near Bathurst had soon spread through +the Australian colonies. The more adventurous of the colonists started +at once for the diggings. Others, often encouraged by their governments, +who foresaw a constant drain of population in favor of the gold colony, +endeavored to find gold within their own limits. Rumors of discoveries +were constantly arising. Gold was found at Echuca in South Australia, in +the Fingal district of Tasmania, and in the Curumandel ranges of New +Zealand. But none of these discoveries could compare for a moment with +those which took place within the newly constituted colony of Victoria. +Even so early as August, 1851, gold had been worked at a place called +"Deep Creek" (or "Anderson's Creek"), not far from Melbourne, but this +was soon abandoned in favor of the diggings at Clunes, on the headwaters +of the streams which flow north from the great dividing range to the +Murray River. A month later, these again were temporarily deserted in +favor of the rich Buninyong district, just south of the range, whose +chief centre was Ballarat. Finally, at the beginning of October, 1851, +the wonderful finds at Mount Alexander, a spur of the Macedon range to +the north of Melbourne, were eclipsing all previous discoveries. + +Before the end of the year the export of gold from Victoria alone had +very nearly reached half a million in value. In two years the population +of the Victorian gold-fields almost equalled the whole population of the +colony at the close of 1850. Most of the diggers lived in tents, and had +absolutely no interest in the colony beyond the mere hope of profit from +the diggings. If a more profitable field had opened elsewhere, they +would have left at once. By the end of the year 1851 the probable area +of future discoveries was pretty well recognized. The gold-fields, with +few exceptions, were found to lie on one side or the other of the +eastern Cordillera or chain of mountains which, beginning with Mount +Elliot in Northern Queensland, follows the coast with remarkable +precision till it reaches Port Phillip Bay. But all the more northerly +part of this chain was unexplored in 1851, and of course there was room +for almost any development within such wide limits. + +Warned by events in New South Wales, the governments of the other +Australian colonies had made preparations for the crisis. Western +Australia was too remote to be much affected; and her newly arrived +supply of convict labor rendered her contented. But South Australia and +Tasmania suffered severely from the drain of population, which set in +toward the diggings. + +In South Australia, the effect was in some districts almost as if a +pestilence had swept away the men, leaving the women and children +untouched. Some of the emigrants really deserted their families, but the +bulk were honorable men, and remittances of gold soon began to find +their way to Adelaide for distribution among relatives in the colony. + +After the comparative failure of the gold-diggings in South Australia, +the Government had wisely set itself to secure some part of the +prosperity of the gold discoveries for its colony by establishing both +land and river traffic routes. In these efforts it was highly +successful. Many South Australians made handsome fortunes by sending +provisions to the Buninyong and Mount Alexander districts, and the new +steamers on the Murray proved a source of profit to the colony which +lasted until the development of the railroad system. Unfortunately, this +prosperity could hardly be realized at the time, owing to the great +scarcity of coined money in the colony. In 1851 the privilege of coining +was still jealously monopolized by the mint in London; while the rapid +expansion of business in the latter part of that year had rendered the +supply of coin in Australia totally inadequate to the demand. + +Very soon after the discoveries, Governor Fitzroy had sent home a +memorial from the Legislative Council at Sydney, praying for the +establishment of a branch mint in that city, and similar applications +soon followed from the other colonies. On March 22, 1853, a Treasury +minute sanctioned the applications, and colonial mints were shortly +afterward established by order in council. But in the mean while the +South Australians had got over their difficulty by passing a colonial +act authorizing the issue by the Colonial Government of gold ingots, of +slightly higher intrinsic value than the coins they were supposed to +represent, stamped with an authentic mark. These ingots were not made +legal tender, and the only object of the government mark was to +guarantee quality and weight. But they were generally accepted in +official and commercial transactions, they tided over the crisis of +scarcity, and the Home Government, though with due official caution, +approved the action of Governor Young. + +In Tasmania, the main difficulty arose from the drain of emigrants. In +August, 1851, Sir William Denison wrote home urging the transportation +of more convicts or "probationers," on the ground that there would be a +great demand for foodstuffs by the neighboring colonies, while the +supply of agricultural laborers would be shorter than ever. Both +Tasmania and South Australia united in deciding upon the continuance of +the system by which free emigrants were sent out at the expense of the +land fund of each colony, notwithstanding that such emigrants would +probably leave for Victoria immediately after their arrival. Of the +existence of this contingency there could be little doubt. On January +16, 1852, the Governor of Tasmania wrote: "I have a number of men who +have come back from Mount Alexander after an absence from this colony of +not more than eight weeks, with gold to the value of one hundred twenty +pounds to one thousand pounds." During the five months which followed +the writing of this letter, four thousand persons (most of them +wage-earners in the prime of life) left Tasmania for Victoria. As the +whole population of Tasmania was at this time only about fifty thousand, +the matter was serious. Nevertheless, Tasmania tided safely over the +difficulties of the gold period, and even was able to help her sorely +tried sister. + +For it was upon the newly established Government at Melbourne that the +strain of the new era most severely fell. The Government at Sydney was +an old and tried institution, with traditions of more than half a +century, and a staff of experienced officials under an exceptionally +able chief. When Hargraves made his discoveries in 1851, the population +of the mother-colony was nearly a quarter of a million, exclusive of the +Port Phillip district, and such a population meant a government +organization of corresponding magnitude. Moreover, the people of New +South Wales had always, from circumstances, been accustomed to much +governmental control, and did not resent it; while Victoria had been +started as a colony whose people were too prosperous and contented to +require more than a minimum of guidance. When the gold discoveries +suddenly drew into the colony, not merely the most turbulent characters +of Australia, but the crews of deserted ships and the general +offscourings of the civilized world, and when, overcome by the +contagion, the government officials threw up their posts, one and all, +and started for the diggings, it became evident that the +Lieutenant-Governor had his hands full. Even so early as November, 1851, +he began to anticipate trouble from the preemptive clauses of the Crown +Lands Leasing Act of 1847, by which the squatters had a right to +purchase land in the neighborhood of the gold-fields. The claims of the +squatters barred the way, and the squatters themselves looked with small +favor upon a class of men whom they regarded as troublesome intruders, +and whose proceedings rendered it almost impossible for the pastoralists +to procure sufficient labor to carry on their operations. The squatters +chose to overlook two important facts; viz., that they had themselves +originally acquired their position precisely as the digger acquired his, +and that the presence of the digger, if it raised the price of labor, +also enormously increased the prices of the squatter's produce. + +But more immediate financial troubles began to press upon the +Government. It had been necessary, not merely to add largely to the +number of the official staff--to provide additional police, +commissioners, magistrates, customs officers, etc.--but also to increase +their pay in some proportion to the greatly increased cost of living. +Even with an increase in their salaries of 50 or 100 per cent, the +subordinate officials would not stay. The sight of the reckless and +prosperous diggers who came down to Melbourne to spend the Christmas of +1851, and who flung their gold about recklessly, was too much for the +feelings of the civilians. They deserted in troops. + +On January 12, 1852, Lieutenant-Governor Latrobe wrote: "The police in +town and country have almost entirely abandoned duty," and he begged of +the Secretary of State to send military aid. In May, 1852, Sir John +Pakington replied, promising six companies of the Fifty-ninth Regiment +from China, but subsequently decided to send a whole regiment direct +from England. A man-of-war was also to be stationed in Australian +waters. A still more welcome assistance came in the early part of the +year from the Governor of Tasmania, who sent, at Latrobe's earnest +request, a body of two hundred pensioners, who had been serving as +convict guards, and who might be expected to resist those temptations +which, if yielded to, would result in the loss of their pensions. But +all this assistance meant money, and the Government soon fell into sore +straits. + +It is true that at first the revenue rose substantially. Comparing the +income for the quarters ending December 31, 1850, and December 31, 1851, +respectively, we find, on general account, an increase of eleven +thousand pounds, or about 30 per cent., and, on the Territorial account, +or Land Fund, an increase of seventy-three thousand pounds, about 100 +per cent. Three months later the increase was about 200 per cent. on the +general revenue, while the Territorial revenue was about the same. But +the latter fact may be accounted for by the transferrence of the fees +for gold licenses to the general revenue. It is more important, however, +to notice that, though the revenue was rising, expenses were increasing +still faster. Not only had the staff to be doubled, or trebled, at a +very large increase of pay, but government contracts for public +buildings, printing, stores, fittings, and other necessaries could be +placed, if at all, only at extravagantly high prices. "No tenders can be +obtained for supplies of boots and shoes; orders have been sent to +neighboring colonies for them. Old furniture sells at about 75 per cent. +advance on the former prices of new; scarcely any mechanics will work." +Latrobe estimated the deficit in the revenue of the year 1853 as nearly +four hundred thousand pounds, notwithstanding that he reckoned the whole +gold revenue of six hundred thousand pounds as available for general +expenses. + +In his anxiety the Lieutenant-Governor had at first (December, 1851) +proposed to double the license fee of thirty shillings a month; but the +proposal had provoked such a storm of opposition that he withdrew it. +The revenue from licenses was the source of much contention. The +Government alleged that it was not taxation, but rent, of Crown lands, +and at first devoted it exclusively to the service of the gold-fields. +The diggers denounced it as taxation without representation; and the +Legislative Council, almost necessarily in opposition to the Government +while the latter was administered by nominees of the Colonial Office, +refused to make up deficiencies out of the general revenue. Thus the +Lieutenant-Governor was placed between two fires. If he enforced the +license fees he angered what was rapidly becoming the largest part of +the population; if he relinquished them, he left himself without means +to carry on the government of the gold-fields. + +From this dilemma he was saved by the receipt of a general permission +from the Colonial Office, toward the close of 1852, to deal with the +gold revenue in the same manner as ordinary revenue. By placing this +fund at the disposal of the Colonial Legislature, the Home Government +not only removed a great grievance and relieved the hands of the +Lieutenant-Governor from the shackles previously laid upon them by the +Colonial Office, but it took a substantial step toward the end that was +now acknowledged on all sides to be the ultimate outcome of the new +discoveries; viz., the introduction of responsible government. The same +despatch contained a still more important concession, authorizing the +Lieutenant-Governor to devote the remaining part of the land +revenue--viz., that arising from sales and pastoral licenses--"to the +purposes rendered urgent by the present crisis." As this fund was +jealously reserved by the existing constitutions of the Australian +colonies, and devoted, under the provisions of the Crown Land Sales Act, +exclusively to the purposes of emigration and public works, it will be +seen that the Colonial Office took a strong step in sanctioning its +diversion. But it must be observed that the expenditure of this +additional fund was placed exclusively in the hands of the +Lieutenant-Governor and his Executive Council, acting independently of +the Colonial Legislature. + +With this assistance, the Lieutenant-Governor struggled on amid +increasing difficulties till the spring of the year 1853. By this time +the agitation against the license fee had reached an alarming height, +for the first successes of the new discoveries had passed away, and, +although the export of gold continued to increase, it was by no means at +its former rate nor in proportion to the increase of population. At the +beginning of September, 1853, there were said to be nearly seventy +thousand persons living at the Victorian gold-fields, and many of these, +in all probability, earned very little more than mechanics employed in +settled work. Hence there was a fair ground for an orderly agitation +against the amount of the fee; but, unfortunately, the diggers preferred +violent measures. There was some excuse for them. They were not +represented in the Legislative Council, for they had sprung into +existence as a body since the passing of the Act of 1850, and, though a +measure had been introduced with a view to giving them the franchise, it +had not yet received the assent of the Home Government. In the mean +time, therefore, they could not, through their representatives in the +Council, effectively criticise either the existing law or its +administration. With regard to the latter, there was obviously room for +complaint, for the immense increase of business had compelled the +Government to appoint an inferior class of officials, and some of these, +at least, succumbed to the strong temptations of their positions. + +At the beginning of August, 1853, a petition had been presented by the +Bendigo diggers, in which they urged the reduction of the license fee +and the grant of representation to the diggers. The Lieutenant-Governor +returned a pacific reply, but the delegates in charge of the petition +were evidently bent on arousing strong feelings, and they held meetings +in Melbourne which went the extreme length permissible to loyal +subjects. Still, the Lieutenant-Governor shrank from strong measures, +and endeavored to remove one ground of complaint by appointing, as a +nominee member of the Legislative Council, a gentleman who was believed +to possess the confidence of the diggers. The nomination was at once +repudiated by the delegates of the latter, and at the end of August an +organized attempt was made to resist the renewal of licenses on the old +terms. Hundreds of diggers pledged themselves to pay no more than a +third of the sum previously demanded, and those who were inclined to +yield to the Government's demands were warned that the agitators would +not "be responsible for their safety" if they remained at the diggings. +The license system had by this time extended, beyond the diggers, to the +storekeepers and other tradesmen at the gold-fields, who were making +enormous profits out of the diggers, and these, for the most part, +unhesitatingly complied with the demands of the agitators, willing +rather to pay the fines for breach of the government regulations than to +offend their customers. A daring attack on a private escort of gold near +Bendigo, which occurred about this time, showed that the colony was on +the verge of civil war. + +Just at this moment an event occurred which rendered it impossible for +the Government to maintain its position unimpaired with the scanty +forces at its disposal. In the middle of September, 1853, the total +abolition of the license fee was seriously proposed in the Legislative +Council of New South Wales. The news flew like wildfire to Victoria, +where the diggers had hitherto looked upon the colonial legislatures--in +which, it will be remembered, they were not yet represented--as their +natural enemies. It seemed to them now that they had everything in their +own hands, and it became clearly impossible for the Government, in the +existing temper of the diggers, to exact the full amount of the license +fee. A proclamation, hastily published with a view to allay excitement, +by an unfortunate omission in the printed copies led the public to +believe that the total abolition of the license system was contemplated +by the Victorian Government. A select committee of the Legislative +Council reported unfavorably upon the system. The Government made the +best of a bad bargain, and accepted a fee of forty shillings for the +three months ending November 30, 1853; and, on the following day, the +Legislative Council passed a new Gold-fields Act, which greatly reduced +the fees for diggers' licenses, while it substantially increased those +demanded for permission to open stores at the gold-fields. It also +provided for the grant of leases of auriferous lands, at a royalty of +not less than 5 per cent., and gave legal sanction to the customs +regarding the "claims" of diggers, which had gradually grown up to +regulate the rival interests of neighboring miners. Offences against the +act were to be decided upon by the magistrates; but the accused might +demand a court of at least two members, and there was to be an appeal to +General Sessions. + +These measures were partly successful in restoring order, but it was +obvious that the gold-fields contained men who were averse to a +peaceable settlement. Notwithstanding that the number of the elective +members of the Legislative Council was more than once increased; that, +with the full consent of the Home Government, a bill was being prepared +for the introduction of responsible government; and that the material +condition of the diggers was being rapidly improved, the +Lieutenant-Governor had, in January, 1854, to report the formation of a +"diggers' congress," which obviously had for its object the supersession +of the ordinary government. + +Latrobe retired from office in May of the same year, and one of the +first points noticed by his successor, Sir Charles Hotham, was the +existence of an agitation against the Chinese at the Bendigo diggings. +Notwithstanding the enthusiastic character of his reception in his +progress through the gold-fields in September, the new Governor soon had +to face serious disturbances. + +The events of the next few months formed a crisis in the history, not +only of Victoria, but of Australia. Naturally there is much dispute +concerning them, and, as the following account is taken chiefly from Sir +Charles Hotham's reports, it is possible that the acts of his opponents +may not obtain strict justice. But it is admitted on all sides that Sir +Charles acted with the most perfect good faith; and the accounts given +by the insurgents are far too contradictory and prejudiced to receive +much credit. + +On the night of October 16, 1854, a miner named Scobie was murdered, or +at least killed, at the Eureka Hotel, near Ballarat. The Eureka Hotel +was a place of no good repute, kept by a man named Bentley, who, as well +as his wife, was (it is said) an ex-convict from Tasmania. Suspicion +fell upon the couple, and they, with a second man (named Farrell), were +arrested by the magistrates, but almost immediately released for alleged +default of evidence. The dismissal of the charge excited a storm of +indignation in the camp, and a body of diggers at once proceeded to +wreck the hotel and lynch the accused. In the latter object they, +fortunately, did not succeed, and so rendered themselves liable only to +charges of riot and arson, instead of the more serious charge of murder. +Four of the ringleaders were, through the prompt measures of Sir Charles +Hotham, shortly afterward arrested, and committed for trial. But the +accusations of partiality against the officials were too strong to be +resisted, and a board of inquiry hastily instituted by the Governor +disclosed the ugly facts that Dewes, the magistrate who presided at the +hearing of the charge against the Bentleys, had been in the habit of +borrowing money from residents, and that Sergeant-Major Milne, of the +police force, had been guilty of receiving bribes. The officials +implicated were at once dismissed, and the Bentleys and Farrell +rearrested and convicted. But the Governor very properly declined to +release the arrested rioters, who, shortly before Christmas, 1854, were +convicted and sentenced to short terms of imprisonment. + +Meanwhile, more disturbances had occurred. Though a commission upon the +general condition of the gold-fields was holding its inquiries, in +November many diggers again refused to pay the reduced license fees, +and, on the 30th of the month, a serious riot took place. The military +were called out, the Riot Act was read, and there was some shooting. +Eight captures were made, but the lesson had not been severe enough, and +a state of open war ensued. The diggers intrenched themselves in a +fortified camp known as the "Eureka Stockade," openly drilled their +forces in the presence of the authorities, and levied horses and rations +from unwilling miners in the name of a "commander-in-chief." At the same +time they issued a long political manifesto, which, while it did not +avowedly disclaim allegiance to the Crown, contained proposals to which +no regularly constituted government could ever have assented. + +The Governor at once ordered all the available military force to +Ballarat; but, before reinforcements arrived, the coolness and +promptitude of Captain Thomas--the officer in command of the troops on +the Ballarat gold-field when the riot of November 30th took place--had +nipped the insurrection in the bud. Captain Thomas saw that, while the +Eureka Stockade threatened to become a serious obstacle to the +Government if its completion were allowed, in its uncompleted state it +was really a source of weakness to the insurgents. By collecting their +forces in one spot, and thus rendering them more exposed to a crushing +attack, and by drawing off the men who threatened the government camp, +it really left the commander of the troops free to act with decision. +Accordingly, Captain Thomas at once determined to attack the position. +Assembling his forces (somewhat fewer than two hundred men) at three +o'clock on the morning of December 3d, he moved toward the stockade. + +At about one hundred fifty yards from the intrenchments he was perceived +by the scouts of the insurgents, who promptly fired on the advancing +troops. Thomas himself, Pasley (his aide-de-camp), Rede (the resident +commissioner), and Racket (the stipendiary magistrate), all of whom were +present at the attack, positively assert that the insurgents fired +before a shot was discharged by the troops. Upon this reception Captain +Thomas gave the order to fire, and the intrenchments were carried with a +rush after about ten minutes of sharp fighting. Captain Wise was fatally +wounded, and three privates were killed outright; one officer and eleven +privates were wounded. Of the insurgents, about thirty were known to +have been killed, and many more wounded. Nearly one hundred twenty +prisoners were taken. The effect of the victory was, so far as local +disturbances were concerned, instantaneous. Even before the +reinforcements under General Nickle appeared, all resistance to the +authorities had died away; and, though the Governor at once proclaimed a +state of martial law, he was able to recall the proclamation in less +than a week. + +In other districts of the colony the effect was, for a while, doubtful. +The extreme reluctance of Englishmen to admit the necessity for military +interference by the Government told strongly in favor of the rioters. +There was some danger that Melbourne and Geelong, left almost entirely +unprotected by the concentration of troops and police at Ballarat, would +be taken possession of by rioters from the country districts, and Sir +Charles Hotham made hasty application to Sir William Denison, the +Governor of Tasmania, for military assistance. Very soon, however, the +feelings of orderly citizens asserted themselves. Special constables +were sworn in at Melbourne and Geelong, marines from two men-of-war +stationed at Port Phillip guarded the prisons and the powder stores, +wealthy men volunteered to serve as mounted police, and the arrival of +the Ninety-ninth Regiment from Tasmania on December 10th dealt a final +blow to the hopes of the insurgents. Even before this event, all the +respectable classes in the community had rallied round the Governor, and +he felt himself in a position to defy further outbreaks. + +But the ugliest feature of the whole affair was yet to be revealed. Out +of the large number of prisoners taken at the capture of the stockade, +only thirteen were committed for trial, the magistrates being instructed +to commit only when the evidence was of the clearest nature. It being +considered impossible to obtain an impartial trial by a local jury, the +prisoners were brought down to Melbourne, and, after various delays, the +charges were proceeded with on February 20, 1855. A Boston negro, named +John Joseph, and a reporter for the Ballarat _Times_, named Manning, +were first tried. The latter may have been merely led away by +professional ardor in the pursuit of "copy," though the fact that he had +been openly drilled and instructed in the use of a pike by the +insurgents would seem to show that his zeal was somewhat excessive. + +In the case of Joseph, the evidence was overwhelming; he had actually +been seen to fire upon the troops, and he was captured in a tent which +had been used as a guard-room by the insurgents. No counter-evidence was +offered, the prisoners' counsel relying entirely on the alleged absence +of treasonable intention. Nevertheless both prisoners were speedily +acquitted, and, although the Government wisely withdrew the remaining +cases for the time, subsequent trials produced similar results. +Ultimately, however, the difficulties of the situation were allayed by +the reforms introduced on the recommendation of the commission appointed +to consider the whole subject of the gold-fields. This body presented, +on March 27, 1855, an extremely able report, in which it recommended the +abolition of the license fee and the substitution therefor of a "miners' +right" or Crown permission, lasting for a year, and granted for a +nominal fee of one pound, to occupy for mining purposes a specific piece +of Crown land. The deficiency in revenue anticipated from the abolition +of license fees was to be met by the imposition of an export duty upon +gold at the rate of a half-crown an ounce. + +The commission strongly recommended the granting of the political +franchise to holders of "miners' rights," and the provision of liberal +facilities for the acquisition of land by the miners. It also advocated +the simplification of the existing complex system of government in the +mining districts, whereby commissioners, police authorities, +commissariat officials, and magistrates all worked independently of each +other, and suggested the substitution therefor of experienced "wardens" +at the head of elective boards, who should not only dispose, with the +aid of skilled assessors, of disputes specially connected with mining +operations, but who should have power to issue by-laws adapted to the +special requirements of each district. + +These recommendations were for the most part carried out by legislation +of the same year (1855), and, before his lamented death in December, +1855, Sir Charles Hotham had the happiness being able to report to the +Home Government the almost perfect tranquillity of the gold-fields. +Moreover, the revenue had not suffered by the substitution of the export +duty for the license fees; but the collector of customs was of opinion +that the result of the change had been to throw the entire burden of the +tax upon the importers of the colony instead of upon the mining +population. The Government was not, however, disposed to concern itself +with considerations of abstract justice so long as it could collect a +sufficient revenue without serious opposition. + + + + +(1854) THE RISE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, Abraham Lincoln + + +The election of 1852 virtually destroyed the Whig party, and Franklin +Pierce, the candidate of the Democratic party, was elected by great +majorities. If the Whig party had perished because it had no distinct +position upon the one overshadowing question of the day, so neither did +the new President comprehend the nature and condition of that issue. In +his first message he complacently congratulated the country that the +slavery question had been settled peacefully and forever by the +compromise measures of 1850. He little knew how ineffective were those +compromises; he never dreamed that it was a question that no compromise +could settle permanently, and probably had no conception of the new +force that was to be given to it during his own term of office. Stephen +A. Douglas, an acknowledged aspirant to the Presidency, being Chairman +of the Senate Committee on Territories, introduced and carried through +Congress a measure called the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, which, in providing +for the admission of those Territories as States, embodied his doctrine +of "Popular Sovereignty" in that it permitted the inhabitants to +determine by popular vote whether they should come into the Union as +free States or as slave States, and abolished the Missouri Compromise, +which for thirty-four years had forbidden the acquisition of any slave +territory north of the parallel of 36° 30'. + +The abrogation of this compromise, which had been looked upon as a +sacred compact, convinced a majority of the Northern people that the +system of slavery was filled with the spirit of aggressiveness and +determined to spread itself into all the Territories. Consequently there +arose for the first time a powerful anti-slavery party, which, while +denying that it had any purpose of meddling with that institution in the +States where it already existed, declared that it should never be +extended into any more of the national domain. At the same time this was +a stronger party in favor of the protective tariff than had ever before +existed. This organization, which gave itself the name "Republican +party," came into existence in 1854, the same year in which Senator +Douglas's bill abrogated the Missouri Compromise. There are several +claimants for the honor of first proposing it; but as a fact, it sprang +into existence with virtual simultaneousness in several of the Northern +States. If there was a priority, it was in Massachusetts, where Robert +Carter acted as Secretary of the Convention and wrote the resolutions. +Two years later this party entered the Presidential contest with John C. +Frémont as its candidate. It cast an enormous vote, but was not +successful, mainly for the reason that the short-lived American (or +Know-Nothing) party was then at its best, and had its own ticket, headed +by Millard Fillmore. Four years later still, it nominated and elected +Abraham Lincoln as President, and the clearest argument for its +existence that ever has been put forth is in Lincoln's first speech in +his famous debate with Senator Douglas, which was delivered in +Springfield, Illinois, June 17, 1858. The full text of that speech +follows herewith. + +If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we +could better judge what to do, and how to do it. We are now far into the +fifth year since a policy was initiated with the avowed object and +confident promise of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the +operation of that policy, that agitation has not only not ceased, but +has constantly augmented. In my opinion, it will not cease until a +crisis shall have been reached and passed. "A house divided against +itself cannot stand." I believe this Government cannot endure +permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be +dissolved; I do not expect the house to fall; but I do expect it will +cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. +Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, +and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is +in the course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates will push it +forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well +as new, North as well as South. + +Have we no tendency to the latter condition? Let anyone who doubts, +carefully contemplate that now almost complete legal combination--piece +of machinery, so to speak--compounded of the Nebraska doctrine and the +Dred Scott decision. Let him consider, not only what work the machinery +is adapted to do, and how well adapted, but also let him study the +history of its construction, and trace, if he can, or rather fail, if he +can, to trace the evidences of design, and concert of action, among its +chief architects, from the beginning. + +The new year of 1854 found slavery excluded from more than half the +States by State constitutions, and from most of the national territory +by Congressional prohibition. Four days later commenced the struggle +which ended in repealing that Congressional prohibition. This opened all +the national territory to slavery, and was the first point gained. But, +so far, Congress only had acted, and an indorsement by the people, real +or apparent, was indispensable to save the point already gained, and +give chance for more. + +This necessity had not been overlooked, but had been provided for, as +well as might be, in the notable argument of "squatter sovereignty," +otherwise called "sacred right of self-government," which latter phrase, +though expressive of the only rightful basis of any government, was so +perverted in this attempted use of it as to amount to just this: That if +any _one_ man choose to enslave _another_, no _third_ man shall be +allowed to object. That argument was incorporated into the Nebraska Bill +itself, in the language which follows: "It being the true intent and +meaning of this act not to legislate slavery into any Territory or +State, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof +perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their +own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States." Then +opened the roar of loose declamation in favor of "squatter sovereignty" +and "sacred right of self-government." "But," said opposition members, +"let us amend the bill so as to expressly declare that the people of the +Territory may exclude slavery." "Not we," said the friends of the +measure; and down they voted the amendment. + +While the Nebraska Bill was passing through Congress, a _law case,_ +involving the question of a negro's freedom, by reason of his owner +having voluntarily taken him first into a free State, and then into a +Territory covered by the Congressional prohibition, and held him as a +slave for a long time in each, was passing through the United States +Circuit Court for the District of Missouri; and both Nebraska Bill and +lawsuit were brought to a decision in the same month of May, 1854. The +negro's name was "Dred Scott," which name now designates the decision +finally made in the case. Before the then next Presidential election, +the law case came to and was argued in the Supreme Court of the United +States; but the decision of it was deferred until after the election. +Still, before the election, Senator Trumbull, on the floor of the +Senate, requested the leading advocate of the Nebraska Bill to state +_his opinion_ whether the people of a Territory can constitutionally +exclude slavery from their limits; and the latter answers, "That is a +question for the Supreme Court." + +The election came. Buchanan was elected, and the indorsement, such as it +was, secured. That was the second point gained. The indorsement, +however, fell short of a clear popular majority by nearly four hundred +thousand votes, and so, perhaps, was not overwhelmingly reliable and +satisfactory. The outgoing President, in his last annual message, as +impressively as possible echoed back upon the people the weight and +authority of the indorsement. The Supreme Court met again, did not +announce their decision, but ordered a reargument. The Presidential +inauguration came, and still no decision of the court; but the incoming +President, in his inaugural address, fervently exhorted the people to +abide by the forthcoming decision, whatever it might be. Then, in a few +days, came the decision. + +The reputed author of the Nebraska Bill finds an early occasion to make +a speech at this capital indorsing the Dred Scott decision, and +vehemently denouncing all opposition to it. The new President, too, +seizes the early occasion of the Silliman letter to indorse and strongly +construe that decision, and to express his astonishment that any +different view had ever been entertained! + +At length a squabble springs up between the President and the author of +the Nebraska Bill, on the mere question of _fact_, whether the Lecompton +Constitution was or was not in any just sense made by the people of +Kansas; and in that quarrel the latter declares that all he wants is a +fair vote for the people, and that he cares not whether slavery be voted +_down_ or voted _up_. I do not understand his declaration, that he cares +not whether slavery be voted down or voted up, to be intended by him +other than as an apt definition of the policy he would impress upon the +public mind--the principle for which he declares he has suffered so +much, and is ready to suffer to the end. And well may he cling to that +principle! If he has any parental feeling, well may he cling to it. That +principle is the only shred left of his original Nebraska doctrine. +Under the Dred Scott decision "squatter sovereignty" squatted out of +existence, tumbled down like temporary scaffolding; like the mould at +the foundry, served through one blast, and fell back into loose sand; +helped to carry an election, and then was kicked to the winds. His late +joint struggle with the Republicans, against the Lecompton Constitution, +involves nothing of the original Nebraska doctrine. That struggle was +made on a point--the right of a people to make their own +constitution--upon which he and the Republicans have never differed. + +The several points of the Dred Scott decision, in connection with +Senator Douglas's "care not" policy, constitute the piece of machinery, +in its present state of advancement. This was the third point gained. +The points of that machinery are: + +Firstly. That no negro slave, imported as such from Africa, and no +descendant of such slave, can ever be a citizen of any State, in the +sense of that term as used in the Constitution of the United States. +This point is made in order to deprive the negro, in every possible +event, of the benefit of that provision of the United States +Constitution which declares that "The citizens of each State shall be +entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several +States." + +Secondly. That, "subject to the Constitution of the United States," +neither Congress nor a Territorial Legislature can exclude slavery from +any United States Territory. This point is made in order that individual +men may fill up the Territories with slaves, without danger of losing +them as property, and thus to enhance the chances of permanency to the +institution through all the future. + +Thirdly. That whether the holding a negro in actual slavery in a free +State makes him free, as against the holder, the United States courts +will not decide, but will leave to be decided by the courts of any slave +State the negro may be forced into by the master. This point is made, +not to be pressed immediately; but, if acquiesced in for a while, and +apparently indorsed by the people at an election, then to sustain the +logical conclusion that what Dred Scott's master might lawfully do with +Dred Scott in the free State of Illinois, every other master may +lawfully do with any other one, or one thousand slaves, in Illinois, or +in any other free State. + +Auxiliary to all this, and working hand in hand with it, the Nebraska +doctrine, or what is left of it, is to educate and mould public opinion, +at least Northern public opinion, not to care whether slavery is voted +down or voted up. This shows exactly where we now are, and partially, +also, whither we are tending. + +It will throw additional light on the latter to go back and run the mind +over the string of historical facts already stated. Several things will +now appear less dark and mysterious than they did when they were +transpiring. The people were to be left "perfectly free," "subject only +to the Constitution." What the Constitution had to do with it outsiders +could not then see. Plainly enough now, it was an exactly fitted niche +for the Dred Scott decision to come in afterward, and declare the +perfect freedom of the people to be just no freedom at all. Why was the +amendment, expressly declaring the right of the people, voted down? +Plainly enough now, the adoption of it would have spoiled the niche for +the Dred Scott decision. Why was the court decision held up? Why even a +Senator's individual opinion withheld, till after the Presidential +election? Plainly enough now, the speaking out then would have damaged +the perfectly free argument upon which the election was to be carried. +Why the outgoing President's felicitation on the indorsement? Why the +delay of a reargument? Why the incoming President's advance exhortation +in favor of the decision? These things look like the cautious patting +and petting of a spirited horse preparatory to mounting him, when it is +dreaded that he may give the rider a fall. And why the hasty +after-indorsement of the decision by the President and others? + +We cannot absolutely know that all these exact adaptations are the +result of preconcert. But when we see a lot of framed timbers, different +portions of which we know have been gotten out at different times and +places and by different workmen--Stephen, Franklin, Roger, and James, +for instance--and when we see these timbers joined together, and see +they exactly make the frame of a house or a mill, all the tenons and +mortises exactly fitting, and all the lengths and proportions of the +different pieces exactly adapted to their respective places, and not a +piece too many or too few--not omitting even scaffolding--or, if a +single piece be lacking, we see the place in the frame exactly fitted +and prepared yet to bring such piece in--in such a case we find it +impossible not to believe that Stephen and Franklin and Roger and James +all understood one another from the beginning, and all worked upon a +common plan or draft drawn up before the first blow was struck. + +It should not be overlooked that by the Nebraska Bill the people of a +_State_ as well as Territory were to be left "perfectly free," "subject +only to the Constitution." Why mention a State? They were legislating +for Territories, and not for or about States. Certainly the people of a +State are and ought to be subject to the Constitution of the United +States; but why is mention of this lugged into this merely Territorial +law? Why are the people of a Territory and the people of a State therein +lumped together, and their relation to the Constitution therein treated +as being precisely the same? While the opinion of the court, by Chief +Justice Taney, in the Dred Scott case, and the separate opinions of all +the concurring judges expressly declare that the Constitution of the +United States neither permits Congress nor a Territorial Legislature to +exclude slavery from any United States Territory, they all omit to +declare whether or not the same Constitution permits a State, or the +people of a State, to exclude it. _Possibly_, this is a mere omission; +but who can be quite sure, if McLean or Curtis had sought to get into +the opinion a declaration of unlimited power in the people of a State to +exclude slavery from their limits, just as Chase and Mace sought to get +such declaration, in behalf of the people of a Territory, into the +Nebraska Bill--I ask, who can be quite sure that it would not have been +voted down in the one case as it had been in the other? + +The nearest approach to the point of declaring the power of a State over +slavery, is made by Judge Nelson. He approaches it more than once, using +the precise idea, and almost the language, too, of the Nebraska Act. On +one occasion, his exact language is, "Except in cases where the power is +restrained by the Constitution of the United States, the law of the +State is supreme over the subject of slavery within its jurisdiction." +In what cases the power of the States is so restrained by the United +States Constitution is left an open question, precisely as the same +question, as to the restraint on the power of the Territories, was left +open in the Nebraska Act. Put this and that together, and we have +another nice little niche, which we may, ere long, see filled with +another Supreme Court decision, declaring that the Constitution of the +United States does not permit a _State_ to exclude slavery from its +limits. And this may especially be expected if the doctrine of "care not +whether slavery be voted down or voted up" shall gain upon the public +mind sufficiently to give promise that such a decision can be maintained +when made. + +Such a decision is all that slavery now lacks of being alike lawful in +all the States. Welcome or unwelcome, such decision is probably coming, +and will soon be upon us, unless the power of the present political +dynasty shall be met and overthrown. We shall lie down pleasantly +dreaming that the people of Missouri are on the verge of making their +State free, and we shall awake to the reality instead that the Supreme +Court has made Illinois a slave State. To meet and overthrow the power +of that dynasty is the work now before all who would prevent that +consummation. That is what we have to do. How can we best do it? + +There are those who denounce us openly to their own friends, and yet +whisper us softly that Senator Douglas is the aptest instrument there is +with which to effect that object. They wish us to _infer_ all, from the +fact that he now has a little quarrel with the present head of the +dynasty, and that he has regularly voted with us on a single point, upon +which he and we have never differed. They remind us that he is a great +man, and that the largest of us are very small ones. Let this be +granted. But "a living dog is better than a dead lion." Judge Douglas, +if not a dead lion, for this work is at least a caged and toothless one. +How can he oppose the advances of slavery? He don't care anything about +it. His avowed mission is impressing the "public heart" to _care nothing +about it_. A leading Douglas Democratic newspaper thinks Douglas's +superior talent will be needed to resist the revival of the African +slave-trade. Does Douglas believe an effort to revive that trade is +approaching? He has not said so. Does he really think so? But if it is, +how can he resist it? For years he has labored to prove it a sacred +right of white men to take negro slaves into the new Territories. Can he +possibly show that it is less a sacred right to buy them where they can +be bought cheapest? And unquestionably they can be bought cheaper in +Africa than in Virginia. He has done all in his power to reduce the +whole question of slavery to one of a mere right of property; and, as +such, how can he oppose the foreign slave-trade--how can he refuse that +trade in that "property" shall be "perfectly free"--unless he does it as +a protection to the home production? And as the home producers will +probably not ask the protection, he will be wholly without a ground of +opposition. + +Senator Douglas holds, we know, that a man may rightfully be wiser +to-day than he was yesterday; that he may rightfully change when he +finds himself wrong. But can we, for that reason, run ahead, and infer +that he will make any particular change, of which he himself has given +no intimation? Can we safely base our action upon any such vague +inference? Now, as ever, I wish not to misrepresent Judge Douglas's +position, question his motives, or do aught that can be personally +offensive to him. Whenever, if ever, he and we can come together on +principle so that our cause may have assistance from his great ability, +I hope to have interposed no adventitious obstacle. But clearly he is +not now with us; he does not pretend to be--he does not promise ever to +be. + +Our cause, then, must be intrusted to and conducted by its own undoubted +friends--those whose hands are free, whose hearts are in the work, who +_do care_ for the result. Two years ago the Republicans of the nation +mustered over thirteen hundred thousand strong. We did this under the +single impulse of resistance to a common danger, with every external +circumstance against us. Of strange, discordant, and even hostile +elements we gathered from the four winds, and formed and fought the +battle through, under the constant hot fire of a disciplined, proud, and +pampered enemy. Did we brave all then, to falter now---now, when that +same enemy is wavering, dissevered, and belligerent? The result is not +doubtful. We shall not fail; if we stand firm, we _shall not fail_. Wise +counsels may accelerate or mistakes delay it, but sooner or later the +victory is sure to come. + + + + +(1854) THE OPENING OF JAPAN, Matthew C. Perry + + +In view of the events that have followed, the ending of Japan's +self-isolation and the opening of that country, first to American +commerce, and later to world-wide intercourse, must now be regarded as +an achievement of momentous consequence, far exceeding in importance all +that even the most prophetic statesmanship of the time could foresee. + +Under the shoguns (or military chiefs) who after the seventh century +overshadowed the hereditary rulers, the Mikados, there grew up in Japan +a feudal system whereby the generals, recognized as overlords, increased +and perpetuated their power. The attempts in the sixteenth and +seventeenth centuries to introduce Christianity were met with resistance +and persecution, and ended in failure. In the same centuries Japan +traded with the Portuguese, but excluded them in 1638. After this the +Japanese isolation was complete, except for restricted trade with the +Dutch, until the conclusion of Commodore Perry's treaty. + +About the middle of the nineteenth century a large amount of American +capital was invested in the whaling industry in Japanese and Chinese +waters, and one motive for the sending of Perry's expedition to Japan +was the protection of the whalers. Other things leading to that step +were: the discovery of gold in California; the growth of industrial and +commercial centres on the Pacific Coast of the United States; increasing +trade with China; and the development of steam-navigation, necessitating +coaling-stations and ports for shelter in the Orient. At the same time +progressive minds in Japan were advancing in knowledge of Western +science and political affairs; thus the East and the West were almost +prepared for a change in their mutual relations. + +In 1851 the United States Government empowered Commodore John H. Aulick +to negotiate and sign commercial treaties with Japan. On the eve of his +intended departure he was prevented from sailing, and in the following +year Commodore Matthew C. Perry, brother of Oliver Hazard Perry, the +hero of Lake Erie, succeeded to his mission. He was invested with +extraordinary naval and diplomatic powers, his immediate object being to +establish a coaling-station in Japan. On November 24, 1852, he sailed +from Norfolk with the Mississippi, leaving other ships to follow as soon +as ready. With his squadron he entered the Bay of Tokio (then called +Yedo) in July, 1853, causing great commotion among the inhabitants of +the Japanese capital, who mistook his appearance for a hostile approach. +It required both firmness and tact on Perry's part to open friendly +communication and present his proposals; but he succeeded in doing so +much, and then, saying that in the following spring he would come for an +answer, he withdrew to China. In February, 1854, he returned to Tokio +with a fleet of eight vessels. After some parley, the Japanese +authorities agreed to a conference at Kanagawa, a seaport adjoining +Yokohama. Of the negotiations that followed and the treaty in which they +resulted, the following pages tell, and Commodore Perry's own account is +the best record of his distinguished service not only to his own country +and Japan, but likewise to the civilized world. + +After concessions made by the Japanese, the greatest good feeling +prevailed on both sides, and there seemed every prospect of establishing +those national relations which had been the purpose of Commodore Perry's +mission. In accordance with the harmony and friendship that existed, +there was an interchange of those courtesies by which mutual good +feeling seeks an outward expression. The Japanese had acknowledged with +courtly thanks the presents that had been bestowed in behalf of the +Government, and now, on March 24th, invited the Commodore to receive the +various gifts that had been ordered by the Emperor in return, as a +public recognition of the courtesy of the United States. + +The Commodore, accordingly, landed at Yokohama, with a suite of officers +and his interpreters, and was received at the treaty-house with the +usual ceremonies by the high commissioners. The large reception-room was +crowded with the presents. The objects were of Japanese manufacture, and +consisted of specimens of rich brocades and silks; of their famous +lacquered ware, such as _chow-chow_ boxes, tables, trays, and goblets, +all skilfully wrought and finished with an exquisite polish; of +porcelain cups of wonderful lightness and transparency, adorned with +figures and flowers in gold and variegated colors, and exhibiting a +workmanship that surpassed even that of the ware for which the Chinese +are remarkable. Fans, pipe-cases, and articles of apparel in ordinary +use, of no great value but of exceeding interest, were scattered among +the more luxurious and costly objects. + +With the usual order and neatness that seem almost instinctive with the +Japanese, the various presents had been arranged in lots, and classified +in accordance with the rank of those for whom they were respectively +intended. The commissioners took their positions at the farther end of +the room, and when the Commodore and his suite entered, the ordinary +compliments having been interchanged, the Prince Hayashi read aloud, in +Japanese, the list of presents and the names of the persons to whom they +were to be given. This was then translated by Yenoske into Dutch, and by +Mr. Portman into English. This ceremony being over, the Commodore was +invited by the commissioners into the inner room, where he was presented +with two complete sets of Japanese coins, three matchlocks, and two +swords. These gifts, though of no great intrinsic value, were +significant evidences of the desire of the Japanese to express their +respect for the representative of the United States. The mere bestowal +of the coins, in direct opposition to the Japanese laws which absolutely +forbid all issue of their money beyond the Kingdom, was an act of marked +favor. + +As the Commodore prepared to depart, the commissioners said there was +one article intended for the President, which had not yet been +exhibited. They accordingly conducted the Commodore and his officers to +the beach, where one or two hundred sacks of rice were pointed out, +heaped up in readiness to be sent on board the ships. As that immense +supply of substantial food seemed to excite some wonder on the part of +the Americans, Yenoske the interpreter remarked that it was always +customary with the Japanese, when bestowing royal presents, to include a +certain quantity of rice, although he did not say whether the quantity +always amounted, as on the present occasion, to hundreds of sacks. + +While contemplating these substantial evidences of Japanese generosity, +the attention of all was suddenly riveted upon twenty-five monstrous +fellows who tramped down the beach like so many huge elephants. They +were professional wrestlers and formed part of the retinue of the +princes, who kept them for their private amusement and for public +entertainment. They were enormously tall, and tremendously heavy. Their +scant costume, which was merely a colored cloth about the loins, adorned +with fringes and emblazoned with the armorial bearings of the prince to +whom each belonged, revealed their gigantic proportions in all the +bloated fulness of fat and extent of muscle. + +Two or three of these huge monsters were the most famous wrestlers in +Japan and ranked as the champion Tom Cribbs and Sayers of the country. +Koyanagi, the reputed bully of the capital, was one of them, and paraded +himself with the conscious pride of superior size and strength. He was +especially brought to the Commodore that he might examine his massive +form. The commissioners insisted that the monstrous fellow should be +minutely inspected, that the hardness of his well-rounded muscle should +be felt, and that the fatness of his cushioned frame should be tested by +the touch. The Commodore accordingly attempted to grasp his arm, which +he found as solid as it was huge, and then passed his hand over the +monstrous neck, which fell in folds of massive flesh, like the dewlap of +a prize ox. As some surprise was naturally expressed at this wondrous +exhibition of animal development the monster himself gave a grunt +expressive of his flattered vanity. + +They were so enormously big that they appeared to have lost their +distinctive features, and seemed to be only twenty-five masses of fat. +Their eyes were barely visible through a long perspective of socket, the +prominence of their noses was lost in the puffiness of their bloated +cheeks, and their heads were set almost directly on their bodies with +merely folds of flesh where the neck and chin are usually found. Their +great size, however, was more owing to development of muscle than to +deposition of fat; for, although they were evidently well fed, they were +not less well exercised, and capable of great feats of strength. + +As a preliminary exhibition of the power of these men, the princes set +them to removing the sacks of rice to a convenient place on the shore +for shipping. Each of the sacks weighed not less than one hundred +twenty-five pounds, and there were only two of the wrestlers who did not +carry each two sacks at a time. They bore the sacks on the right +shoulder, lifting the first from the ground and adjusting it without +help, but obtaining aid for the raising of the second. One man carried a +sack suspended by his teeth, and another, taking one in his arms, turned +repeated somersaults as he held it, apparently with as much ease as if +his weight of flesh had been only so much gossamer and his load a +feather. + +After this preliminary display, the commissioners proposed that the +Commodore and his party should retire to the treaty-house, where they +would have an opportunity of seeing the wrestlers exhibit their +professional feats. From the brutal performance of these wrestlers, the +Americans turned with pride to the exhibition--to which the Japanese +commissioners were now in their turn invited--of the telegraph and the +railroad. It was a happy contrast, which a higher civilization +presented, to the disgusting display on the part of the Japanese +officials. In place of the show of brute animal force there was a +triumphant revelation, to a partially enlightened people, of the success +of science and enterprise. + +The Japanese took great delight in seeing the rapid movement of the +Liliputian locomotive; and one of the scribes of the commissioners took +his seat upon the car, while the engineer stood upon the tender, feeding +the furnace with one hand, and directing the diminutive engine with the +other. Crowds of the Japanese gathered round and looked on the repeated +circlings of the train with unabated pleasure and surprise, unable to +repress a shout of delight at each blast of the steam-whistle. The +telegraph, with its wonders, though before witnessed, still created +renewed interest, and all the beholders were unceasing in their +expressions of curiosity and astonishment. The agricultural instruments +having been explained to the commissioners by Doctor Morrow, a formal +delivery of the telegraph, the railway, and other articles, which made +up the list of American presents, ensued. + +The Prince of Mamasaki had been delegated by his coadjutors +ceremoniously to accept, and Captain Adams was appointed by the +Commodore to deliver, the gifts; and each performed his functions by an +interchange of compliments and a half-dozen stately bows. + +After this, a detachment of marines from the squadron were put through +their various evolutions, while the bands furnished martial music. The +Japanese commissioners seemed to take a very great interest in this +military display, and expressed themselves much gratified at the +soldierly air and excellent discipline of the men. This closed the +performances of the day. + +The next day (March 25th), Yenoske, accompanied by Kenzeiro, his +fellow-interpreter, came on board the Powhatan to acknowledge formally, +in behalf of the commissioners, their gratitude for the exhibition of +the marines, the locomotive, and the telegraph, with all which they +declared themselves highly delighted. Yenoske and his coadjutor were +invited to seat themselves in the cabin of the Commodore, and, after +some expressions of courtesy which the Japanese officials were careful +never to intermit, proposed to talk over some points in connection with +the projected treaty. The Commodore said he had no objections to the +discussion of the matters informally; but he protested against +considering the interpreters as the official representatives of the +commissioners, with the latter of whom only, he declared, could he treat +authoritatively. + +Monday, March 27th, was the day appointed for the entertainment to which +the Commodore had invited the commissioners and their attendants. +Accordingly, great arrangements were made in the flagship preparatory to +the occasion. The quarterdeck was adorned with a great variety of flags, +and all parts of the steamer were in perfect order, while the officers, +marines, and men dressed themselves in their uniforms and prepared to do +honor in every respect to their expected visitors. As it was known that +the strictness of Japanese etiquette would not allow the high +commissioners to sit at the same table with their subordinates, the +Commodore ordered two banquets, one to be spread in his cabin for the +chief dignitaries, and another on the quarter-deck. + +Previous to coming on board the Powhatan, the commissioners visited the +sloop-of-war Macedonian, being saluted as they stepped on her deck by +seventeen guns from the Mississippi lying near. The great guns and +boarders having been exercised for their entertainment, the +commissioners, with their numerous attendants, left for the Powhatan, +the Macedonian firing a salvo in their honor as they took their +departure. On arriving on board the flagship, they were first conducted +through the different departments of the steamer, and examined with +minute interest the guns and the machinery. A boat was lowered, with a +howitzer in its bows, and this was repeatedly discharged, much to their +amusement, for they evidently had a great fondness for martial exercise +and display. The engines were next put in motion, and they evinced the +usual intelligence of the higher class of Japanese in their inquiries +and remarks. + +The Commodore had invited the four captains of the squadron, his +interpreter, Mr. Williams, and his secretary, to join the commissioners +at his table. Yenoske, the Japanese interpreter, was allowed the +privilege, as a special condescension on the part of his superiors, to +sit at a side-table in the cabin, where his humble position did not seem +to disturb either his equanimity or his appetite. Hayashi, who always +preserved his grave and dignified bearing, ate and drank sparingly, but +tasted of every dish, and sipped of every kind of wine. He was the only +one, in fact, whose sobriety was proof against the unrestrained +conviviality that prevailed among his bacchanalian coadjutors. + +The Japanese party upon deck, who were entertained by a large body of +officers from the various ships, became quite uproarious under the +influence of overflowing supplies of champagne, Madeira, and punch, +which they seemed greatly to relish. The Japanese took the lead in +proposing healths and toasts, and were by no means the most backward in +drinking them. They kept shouting at the top of their voices, and were +heard far above the music of the bands that enlivened the entertainment +by a succession of brisk and cheerful tunes. In the eagerness of the +Japanese appetite there was but little discrimination in the choice of +dishes and in the order of courses, and the most startling heterodoxy +was exhibited in the confused commingling of fish, flesh, and fowl, +soups and syrups, fruits, fricassees, roast and boiled, pickles and +preserves. As a most generous supply had been provided, there were still +some remnants of the feast left after the guests had satisfied their +voracity, which most of these Japanese, in accordance with their custom, +stowed away about their persons to carry off. The Japanese always have +an abundant supply of paper within the left bosom of their loose robes, +in a capacious pocket. This is used for various purposes; one species, +as soft as our cotton cloth, and withal exceedingly tough, is used for a +handkerchief; another furnishes the material for taking notes, or for +wrapping up what is left after a feast. On the present occasion, when +the dinner was over, all the Japanese guests simultaneously spread out +their long folds of paper, and gathering what scraps they could lay +their hands on, without regard to the kind of food, made up an envelope +of conglomerate eatables in which there was such a confusion of the sour +and sweet, the albuminous, oleaginous, and saccharine, that the +chemistry of Liebig or the practised taste of the Commodore's Parisian +cook would never have reached a satisfactory analysis. They not only +always followed this practice themselves, but insisted that their +American guests, when entertained at a Japanese feast, should adopt it +also. + +Whenever the Commodore and his officers were feasted on shore, paper +parcels of the remnants were thrust into their hands on leaving. After +the banquet the Japanese were entertained by an exhibition of negro +minstrelsy, got up by some of the sailors. The gravity of the saturnine +Hayashi was not proof against the grotesque exhibition, and even he +joined in the general hilarity. It was now sunset and the Japanese +prepared to depart, with quite as much wine in them as they could well +bear. The jovial Matsusaki threw his arms about the Commodore's neck, +crushing in his tipsy embrace a pair of new epaulettes, and repeating, +in Japanese, with maudlin affection, these words, as interpreted into +English: "Nippon and America, all the same heart." He then went toddling +into his boat, supported by some of his more steady companions, and soon +all the happy party had left the ships and were making rapidly for the +shore. The Saratoga fired the salute of seventeen guns as the last boat +pulled off from the Powhatan, and the squadron was once more left in the +usual quiet of ordinary ship's duty. + +The following day the Commodore landed to have a conference in regard to +the remaining points of the treaty, previous to signing. He was met at +the treaty-house by the commissioners. As soon as the Commodore had +taken his seat, a letter was handed to him, which the Japanese said they +had just received from Simoda. It was from Commander Pope, and had been +transmitted through the authorities overland. Its contents gave a +satisfactory report of Simoda, and the Commodore at once said he +accepted that port, but declared that it must be opened without delay. +Hakodate, he added, would do for the other, and Napha, in Riu Kiu [Loo +Choo Islands], could be retained for the third. In regard to the other +two he was willing, he said, to postpone their consideration to some +other time. + +The Commodore now proposed to sign the agreement in regard to the three +ports, and directed his interpreter to read it in Dutch. When the +document had been thus read and afterward carefully perused by the +Japanese, they said they were prepared to concur in everything except as +to the _immediate_ opening of Simoda. After discussion, it was finally +settled that, though the port might be opened, the Japanese would +address a note to the Commodore, saying that not everything which might +be wanting by ships would be furnished there before the expiration of +ten months, but that wood and water and whatever else the place +possessed would be supplied immediately; and to this note the Commodore +promised to reply and express his satisfaction with such an arrangement. + +The question now came up with respect to the extent of privileges to be +granted to Americans who might visit Simoda, in the discussion of which +it was plain that the Japanese meant to be distinctly understood as +prohibiting absolutely, at least for the present, the permanent +residence of Americans, with their families, in Japan. The distance, +also, to which Americans might extend their excursions into the country +around the ports of Simoda and Hakodate was settled; and it is +observable that, at the special request of the Japanese, the Commodore +named the distance, they assenting at once to that which he mentioned. + +The proposition to have consular agents residing in Japan evidently gave +great anxiety to the commissioners. The Commodore was firm in saying +there must be such agents, for the sake of the Japanese themselves as +well as for that of his own countrymen, and it was finally conceded that +there should be one, to live at Simoda, and that he should not be +appointed until a year and eighteen months from the date of the treaty. + +Two more articles, including the new points that had been discussed, +were now added to the transcript of the proposed treaty; the Japanese +promised to bring on board the Powhatan next day a copy in Dutch of +their understanding of the agreement as far as concurred in, and the +Commodore departed. + +In the next two days several notes passed between the Commodore and the +Japanese commissioners, in the course of which various questions that +had been already considered were definitely settled; and the American +interpreters were occupied, in cooperation with the Japanese, in drawing +up the treaty in the Chinese, Dutch, and Japanese languages. On the 29th +the ships Vandalia and Southampton arrived from Simoda with the +confirmation of what Commander Pope had already said in his +despatch--which had been transmitted by the Japanese authorities, +overland, to the Commodore--namely, that the harbor and town of Simoda +had been found, on examination, suitable in every respect for the +purposes of the Americans. All was now in readiness for the final +signing of the treaty. + +Accordingly, on Friday, March 31, 1854, the Commodore went to the +treaty-house with his usual attendants, and immediately on his arrival +signed three several drafts of the treaty written in the English +language, and delivered them to the commissioners, together with three +copies of the same in the Dutch and Chinese languages, certified by the +interpreters, Messrs. Williams and Portman, for the United States. At +the same time the Japanese commissioners, in behalf of their Government, +handed to the Commodore three drafts of the treaty written respectively +in the Japanese, Chinese, and Dutch languages, and signed by the four of +their body delegated by the Emperor for that purpose. + +Immediately on the signing and exchange of the copies of the treaty, the +Commodore presented the first commissioner, Prince Hayashi, with an +American flag, remarking that he considered it the highest expression of +national courtesy and friendship he could offer. The Prince was +evidently deeply impressed with this significant mark of amity, and +returned his thanks for it with indications of great feeling. The +Commodore then presented the other dignitaries with the various gifts he +had especially reserved for them. All formal business being now +concluded, to the satisfaction of both parties, the Japanese +commissioners invited the Commodore and his officers to partake of an +entertainment prepared for the occasion. + +The tables were spread in the large reception hall. These were wide +divans, such as were used for seats, and of the same height. They were +covered with a red-colored crape, and arranged in order according to the +rank of the guests and their hosts, an upper table raised somewhat above +the rest being appropriated to the Commodore, his superior officers, and +the commissioners. When all were seated the servitors brought in a rapid +succession of courses, consisting chiefly of thick soups, or rather +stews, in most of which fresh fish was a component part. These were +served in small earthen bowls or cups, and were brought in upon +lacquered stands, about fourteen inches square and ten inches high, and +placed, one before each guest, upon the tables. Together with each dish +was a supply of soy or some other condiment, while throughout there was +an abundant quantity, served in peculiar vessels, of the Japanese +national liquor, the _sake_, a sort of whiskey distilled from rice. +Various sweetened confections and a multiplicity of cakes were liberally +interspersed among the other articles on the tables. Toward the close of +the feast, a plate containing a broiled crawfish, a piece of fried fish +of some kind, two or three boiled shrimps, and a small square pudding +with something of the consistence of blancmange, was placed before each, +with a hint that they were to follow the guests on their return to the +ships, and they were accordingly sent and duly received afterward. + +After the feast, which passed pleasantly and convivially, compliments +being freely exchanged, and healths drunk in Liliputian cups of sake, +the commissioners expressed great anxiety about the proposed visit of +the Commodore to Yedo. They earnestly urged him not to take his ships +any farther up the bay, as they said it would lead to trouble by which +the populace might be disturbed and their own lives perhaps jeoparded. +The Commodore argued the matter with them for some time, and, as they +still pertinaciously urged their objections to his visit to the capital, +it was agreed that the subject should be further discussed by an +interchange of notes. The meeting then broke up. + +When it was determined by our Government to send an expedition to Japan, +those in authority were not unmindful of the peculiar characteristics of +that singular nation. Unlike all other civilized peoples, it was in a +state of voluntary, long-continued, and determined isolation. It neither +desired nor sought communication with the rest of the world, but, on the +contrary, strove to the uttermost to prevent it. It was comparatively an +easy task to propose, to any Power the ports of which were freely +visited by ships from every part of the world, the terms of a commercial +treaty. But not so when, by any Power, commerce itself was interdicted. +Before general conditions of commerce could be proposed to such a Power, +it was necessary to settle the great preliminary that commerce would be +allowed at all. Again, if that preliminary was settled affirmatively, a +second point of great moment remained to be discussed, viz., to what +degree shall intercourse for trading be extended? Among nations +accustomed to the usages of Christendom, the principles and extent of +national comity in the interchanges of commercial transactions have been +so long and so well defined and understood that, as between them, the +term "commercial treaty" needs no explanation; its meaning is +comprehended alike by all, and in its stipulations it may cover the very +broad extent that includes everything involved in the operations of +commerce between two maritime nations. But in a kingdom which, in its +polity, expressly ignored commerce and repudiated it as an evil instead +of a good, it was necessary to lay the very foundation as well as to +adjust the terms. + +Hence the instructions to Commodore Perry covered broad ground, and his +letters of credence conformed to his instructions. If he found the +Japanese disposed to abandon, at once and forever, their deliberately +adopted plan of non-intercourse with foreigners (an event most +unlikely), his powers were ample to make with them a commercial treaty +as wide and general as any we have with the nations of Europe. If they +were disposed to relax but in part their jealous and suspicious system, +formally to profess relations of friendship, and, opening some only of +their ports to our vessels, to allow a trade in those ports between +their people and ours, he was authorized to negotiate for this purpose, +and secure for his country such privileges as he could, not inconsistent +with the self-respect which, as a nation, we owed to ourselves. It must +not be forgotten, in the contemplation of what was accomplished, that +our representative went to a people who, at the time of his arrival +among them, had, both by positive law and usage of more than two hundred +years, allowed but one of their harbors, Nagasaki, to be opened to +foreigners at all; had permitted no trade with such foreigners when they +did come, except, under stringent regulations, with the Dutch and the +Chinese; were in the habit of communicating with the world outside of +them at second-hand only, through the medium of the Dutch who were +imprisoned at Dezima; and a people who, as far as we know, never made a +formal treaty with a civilized nation in the whole course of their +history. + +There were but two points on which the Commodore's instructions did not +allow him a large discretion to be exercised according to circumstances. +These were, first, that if happily any arrangements for trade, either +general or special, were made, it was to be distinctly stipulated that, +under no circumstances and in no degree, would the Americans submit to +the humiliating treatment so long borne by the Dutch in carrying on +their trade. The citizens of our country must be dealt with as freemen, +or there should be no dealings at all. The second point was that, in the +event of any of our countrymen being cast, in God's providence, as +shipwrecked men on the coast of Japan, they should not be treated as +prisoners, confined in cages, or subjected to inhuman treatment, but +should be received with kindness and hospitably cared for until they +could leave the country. + +The nearest approach to a precedent was to be found in our treaty with +China, made in 1844. This therefore was carefully studied by the +Commodore. Its purport was "a treaty or general convention of peace, +amity, and commerce," and to settle the rules to "be mutually observed +in the intercourse of the respective countries." So far as "commerce" is +concerned, it permitted "the citizens of the United States to frequent" +five ports in China "and to reside with their families and trade there, +and to proceed at pleasure with their vessels and merchandise to or from +any foreign port, and from either of the said five ports to enter any +other of them." As to duties on articles imported, they were to pay +according to a tariff that was made part of the treaty, and in no case +were to be subjected to higher duties than those paid, under similar +circumstances, by the people of other nations. Consuls were provided +for, to reside at the five open ports, and those trading there were +"permitted to import from their own or any other ports into China, and +sell there and purchase therein, and export to their own or any other +ports, all manner of merchandise of which the importation or exportation +was not prohibited by the treaty." In short, so far as the five ports +were concerned, there existed between us and China a general treaty of +commerce. + +The Commodore caused to be prepared, in the Chinese characters, a +transcript of the treaty, with such verbal alterations as would make it +applicable to Japan, with the view of exhibiting it to the Imperial +commissioners of that country should he be so successful as to open +negotiations. He was not sanguine enough to hope that he could procure +an entire adoption of the Chinese treaty by the Japanese. He was not +ignorant of the difference in national characteristics between the +inhabitants of China and the more independent, self-reliant, and sturdy +natives of the Japanese islands. He knew that the latter held the former +in some degree of contempt and treated them in the matter of trade very +much as they treated the Dutch. He was also aware that the Chinese, when +they made their treaty, did know something of the advantages that might +result from intercourse with the rest of the world; while as to the +Japanese, in their long-continued isolation, either they neither knew +nor desired such advantages, or, if they knew them, feared they might be +purchased at too high a price in the introduction of foreigners, who, as +in the case of the Portuguese, centuries before, might seek to overturn +the empire. It was too much, therefore, to expect that the Japanese +would in all the particulars of a treaty imitate the Chinese. + +Of the difficulties encountered, even after the Japanese had consented +to negotiate, the best account may be given from the conferences and +discussions between the negotiators, of all which most accurate reports +were kept on both sides, in the form of dialogue. At the first meeting +of the Commodore with the Imperial commissioners, on March 8th, he acted +on the plan he had proposed to himself with respect to the treaty with +China, and thus addressed them: + +_Commodore Perry_. I think it would be better for the two nations that a +treaty similar to the one between my country and the Chinese should be +made between us. I have prepared the draft of one almost identical with +our treaty with China. I have been sent here by my Government to make a +treaty with yours; if I do not succeed now, my Government will probably +send more ships here; but I hope we shall soon settle matters amicably. + +_Japanese_. We wish for time to have the document translated into the +Japanese language. + +This was but one among a hundred proofs of their extreme suspicion and +caution; for there was not one of the Imperial commissioners, probably, +who could not have read, without the least difficulty, the document as +furnished by the Commodore; and certain it is that their interpreters +could have read it off into Japanese at once. + +The Commodore, who wished to do as far as possible everything that might +conciliate, of course made no objection to a request so seemingly +reasonable, though he knew it to be needless, and was content to wait +patiently for their reply. In one week that reply came in writing, and +was very explicit: "As to opening a trade, such as is now carried on by +China with your country, we certainly cannot yet bring it about. The +feelings and manners of our people are very unlike those of other +nations, and it will be exceedingly difficult, even if you wish it, to +change immediately the old regulations for those of other countries. +Moreover, the Chinese have long had intercourse with Western nations, +while we have had dealings at Nagasaki with only the people of Holland +and China." + +This answer was not entirely unexpected, and put an end to all prospect +of negotiating a "commercial treaty" in the European sense of that +phrase. It only remained therefore to secure, for the present, admission +into the kingdom, and so much of trade as Japanese jealousy could be +brought to concede. At length, after much and oft-repeated discussion, +the point was yielded that certain ports might be opened to our vessels; +and then, in the interview of March 25th, came up the subject of +consuls. + +_Japanese_. About the appointment of consuls or agents, the +commissioners desire a delay of four or five years, to see how the +intercourse works. The governor of the town and the official interpreter +will be able to carry on all the business of supplying provisions, coal, +and needed articles, with the captain, without the intervention of a +consul. + +_Perry_. The duties of a consul are to report all difficulties that +arise between American citizens and Japanese to his Government in an +authentic manner, assist the Japanese in carrying out their laws and the +provisions of the treaty and recovering debts made by the Americans; and +also communicating to the Government at Washington whatever the Japanese +wish, as no letters can be received after this through the Dutch; and if +no consuls are received, then a ship-of-war must remain in Japan +constantly, and her captain must do the duties of a consul. + +_Japanese_. If we had not felt great confidence in you, we should not +have consented to open our ports at all. Consuls may be accepted by and +by, after experience has shown their need; and we hope that all American +citizens obey the laws of their country and behave properly. + +_Perry_. True, and I hope no difficulty will arise; and this appointment +of consuls in Japan, as they are in China, Hawaii, and everywhere else, +is to prevent and provide for difficulties. No American will report his +own misdeeds to his own Government, nor can the Japanese bring them to +our notice except through a government agent. This provision must be in +the treaty, though I will stipulate for only one, to reside at Simoda, +and he will not be sent probably for a year or two from this time. + +And thus it was that the Commodore had to explain everything and feel +his way, step by step, in the progress of the whole negotiation. + +_Japanese_. The commissioners wish every point desired by the Admiral to +be stated clearly, for the Japanese are not equal to the Americans, and +have not much to give in exchange. + +_Perry_. I have already stated all my views as regards our intercourse, +in the draft of the treaty you have. [This was one prepared by the +Commodore after the rejection of the transcript of the Chinese treaty.] +Let the commissioners state their objections to it. This treaty now to +be made is only a beginning; and as the nations know each other, the +Japanese will permit Americans to go anywhere, to Fujiyama--all over the +country. + +_Japanese_. We have found restrictions necessary against the Portuguese +and the English. + +Then followed observations by the Japanese on Pellew's entry into +Nagasaki harbor, which showed how much dislike of the English that event +had occasioned. A strong proof of their remarkable caution was furnished +by the Japanese at the conference held on March 28th when most of the +terms of the treaty had been agreed upon. + +_Perry_. I am prepared now to sign the treaty about these three harbors. + +Mr. Portman, interpreter, then read in Dutch that portion of the treaty +which contained such points as had been already agreed upon. + +_Japanese_. It is all correct except that we have objection to opening +the port of Simoda immediately; if any vessels were to go there in +distress, we should be glad to furnish them with provisions, wood, and +water. + +_Perry_. You have already consented, in one of your letters to me, to +open that port immediately. I am very desirous of settling that matter +now, as I wish to despatch the Saratoga home to inform the Government, +before Congress adjourns, how matters are advancing; that will take some +time, and there is no probability that any ships will come here before +ten or twelve months have expired; so that it will make no difference to +you whether you put it in the treaty to be opened now or in ten months. + +_Japanese_. We are willing to put it in the treaty "to be opened now," +if you will give us a letter or promise that no ships will come here +before the President gives his permission. + +_Perry_. I cannot do that very well, but I am willing to put it off +ninety days; that will be about the time I shall return from Hakodate; +it was your own proposition, yesterday, to open that port immediately. I +consent to this, however, to show you how desirous I am to do what I can +to please you. I cannot consent to a longer time. + +_Japanese_. If we put it in the treaty to be opened now, we would like +you to give us an order that no ships shall enter that port before ten +months. + +_Perry_. I cannot do that. But there is no probability that any ships +will come here before that time, as I shall not leave here for three +months, and they will not hear of it before that time; and when they do +hear of it, it will take several months for ships to make the voyage +here. If you choose I will keep one of the ships at Simoda for several +months. + +_Japanese_. If ships go there before that time we shall not be able to +give them other than provisions, wood, and water. + +_Perry_. The ships that may go there will want such things only as you +may have; if you have them not, of course you cannot and will not be +expected to furnish them; but, as I said before, there is no probability +that ships will go there before the expiration of ten months. + +_Japanese_. When you come back from Matsumai, we shall have plenty of +provisions at Simoda for the whole squadron; but to other ships we +cannot furnish more than wood, water, etc. + +_Perry_. When we return from Matsumai we shall not want many provisions, +as we shall be going to a place where we shall get plenty. It is only +the principle I wish settled now. I have come here as a peacemaker, and +I desire to settle everything now, and thus prevent trouble hereafter; I +wish to write home to my Government that the Japanese are friends. + +_Japanese_. We will write you a letter stating that we cannot furnish +you anything before ten months, but that we can furnish wood and water +immediately, and that we will furnish such other things as we possibly +can. This letter we should like you to answer. + +_Perry_. Very well; I will. + +_Japanese_. [Entering on another part of the terms agreed on.] We will +not confine Americans, or prevent them from walking around; but we +should like to place a limit to the distance they may walk. + +_Perry_. I am prepared to settle that matter now, but they must not be +confined to any particular house or street. Suppose we make the distance +they may walk, the same distance that a man can go and come in a day. +Or, if you choose, the number of _lis_ or _ris_ may be agreed upon. + +_Japanese_. We are willing that they shall walk as far as they can go +and come in a day. + +_Perry_. There is no probability that sailors would wish to go on shore +more than once from curiosity; besides, they will have their daily +duties to attend to on board ship and will not be able to go on shore. + +_Japanese_. We do not wish any women to come and remain at Simoda. + +_Perry_. The probability is that few women will go there, and they only +the wives of the officers of the ships. + +_Japanese_. When you come back from Matsumai we should like _you_ to +settle the distance that Americans are to walk. It is difficult for _us_ +to settle the distance. + +_Perry_. Say the distance of seven Japanese miles in any direction from +the centre of the city of Simoda. + +_Japanese_. Very well. A few miles will make no difference. You are +requested not to leave agents until after you have experienced that it +is necessary. + +_Perry_. I am willing to defer the appointment of a consul or an agent +one year or eighteen months from the date of the signing the treaty; and +then, if my Government think it necessary, it will send one. + +In fact, not an article of the treaty was made without the most serious +deliberation by the Japanese. In answer to a question from Captain +Adams, in the very first stages of the negotiation, they replied: "The +Japanese are unlike the Chinese; they are adverse to change; and when +they make a compact of any kind they intend that it shall endure for a +thousand years. For this reason it will be best to deliberate and +examine well the facilities for trade and the suitableness of the port +before any one is determined on." Probably nothing but the exercise of +the most perfect truthfulness and patience would ever have succeeded in +making a treaty with them at all; and from the language of one of their +communications, it is obvious that, with characteristic caution, they +meant that their present action should be but a beginning of +intercourse, which might or might not be afterward made more extensive, +according to the results of what they deemed the experiment. + +This, it must be remembered, was the first formal treaty they ever made +on the subject of foreign trade, at least since the expulsion of the +Portuguese, and they evidently meant to proceed cautiously by single +steps. + +There is observable throughout the negotiations the predominating +influence of the national prejudice against the permanent introduction +of foreigners among them. The word "reside" is but once used in the +whole treaty, and that in the article relative to consuls. The details +of conferences, already given, show how anxiously they sought to avoid +having consuls at all. Indeed, Commodore Perry says, "I could only +induce the commissioners to agree to this article, by endeavoring to +convince them that it would save the Japanese Government much trouble if +an American agent were to reside at one or both of the ports opened by +the treaty, to whom complaints might be made of any malpractice of the +United States citizens who might visit the Japanese dominions." They +wanted no permanent foreign residents among them, official or +unofficial. This was shown most unequivocally in the remark already +recorded in one of the conferences--"We do not wish any women to come +and remain at Simoda." + +Simoda was one of the ports open for trade with us; they knew that our +people had wives and daughters, and that a man's family were ordinarily +resident with him in his permanent abode, and that if the head of the +family lived in Simoda as a Japanese would live, there would certainly +be women who would "come and remain at Simoda." But more than this. It +will be remembered that the Commodore had submitted to them our treaty +with China, and they had held it under consideration for a week, at the +end of which time they said: "As to opening a trade, such as is now +carried on by China with your country, we certainly cannot yet bring it +about. The Chinese have long had intercourse with Western nations, while +we have had dealings at Nagasaki with only the people of Holland and +China." Now what was "such a trade" as we carried on with China? The +Japanese read in our treaty that five ports were open to us, that +permission was given "to the citizens of the United States to frequent" +them; and further, "to reside with their families and trade there." This +they deliberately declined assenting to when they refused to make a +treaty similar to that with China. They surely would not afterward +knowingly insert it in any treaty they might make with us. + +The only permanent residence to which they gave assent, and that most +reluctantly, was the residence of a consul. Temporary residence was +allowed to our shipwrecked citizens, as well as to those who went to +Simoda or Hakodate on commercial business. They are allowed to land, to +walk where they please within certain limits, to enter shops and temples +without restriction, to purchase in the shops, and have the articles +sent to the proper public office duly marked, where they will pay for +them, to resort to public-houses or inns that are to be built for their +refreshment "when on shore" at Simoda and Hakodate; and until built, a +temple, at each place, is assigned "as a resting-place for persons in +their walks." They may accept invitations to partake of the hospitality +of any of the Japanese; but they are not permitted to enter "military +establishments or private houses without leave." Without leave, our +citizens cannot enter them within the territories of any nation with +which we have a treaty. In short, the whole treaty shows that the +purpose of the Japanese was to make the experiment of intercourse with +us before they made it as extensive or as intimate as it was between us +and the Chinese. It was all they could do at the time, and much, very +much, was obtained on the part of our negotiator in procuring a +concession even to this extent. + +But, as he knew that our success would be but the forerunner of that of +other powers, and as he believed that new relations of trade once +commenced, not only with ourselves, but with England, France, Holland, +and Russia, could not fail, in the progress of events, to break up the +old restrictive policy, effectually and forever, and open Japan to the +world; and must also lead gradually to liberal commercial treaties, he +wisely, in the ninth article, secured to the United States and their +citizens, without "consultation or delay," all privileges and advantages +which Japan might hereafter "grant to any other nation or nations." And +the Commodore's comments on this article conclusively show that _he_, at +least, did not suppose he had made a "commercial treaty": + +"Article IX. This is a most important article, as there can be little +doubt that, on hearing of the success of this mission, the English, +French, and Russians will follow our example; and it may be reasonable +to suppose that each will gain some additional advantage, until a +commercial treaty is accomplished. Article IX will give to Americans, +without further consultation, all these advantages." + +All other powers were forced to be content in obtaining just what we, as +pioneers, obtained. Their treaties were like ours. That of Russia was +copied from ours, with no change but that of the substitution of the +port of Nagasaki for Napha in Riu Kiu. We respectfully submit, +therefore, that all, and indeed more than all, under the circumstances, +that could have been reasonably expected has been accomplished. + + + + +(1855) THE CAPTURE OF SEBASTOPOL, Sir Edward B. Hamely and Sir Evelyn + Wood + + +This is the most famous event of the Crimean War, in which Russian power +was pitted against the allied forces of Turkey, France, Great Britain, +and Sardinia. The war grew out of rival demands concerning a +protectorate in Turkey. In 1852 Napoleon III asked for the restoration +of the protectorate of the Holy Places in the Ottoman Empire to the +Latin Church. Supported by Russia, the Greek Church had virtually +supplanted the Latin Church in Turkish dominions, and Russia now put +forward a demand for a protectorate over the Greek subjects of the +Sultan. Turkey had no interest in the religious questions at issue, and +she pursued a wavering course between the disputing powers, fearing to +offend either of them. Russia at last began openly to threaten Turkey, +and, finding vacillation and diplomacy no longer availing for a +postponement of the conflict, the Sultan declared war, October 4, 1853. + +In the early engagements of the war the Turks gained some successes over +Russian troops, but the first important event was the destruction of a +part of the Turkish fleet at Sinope, November 30, 1853. This, being +regarded by England as an act of treachery on the part of Russia, +brought Great Britain into the conflict. The Russians occupied the +Danubian principalities, and the Battle of the Alma, in which the allies +first confronted Russia, was won by the former, with greatly superior +numbers, September 20, 1854. + +The siege of Sebastopol began in October, and during its progress +important battles occurred--that of Balaklava, that of Inkerman, +November 5th, in which the Russians were defeated by the English and the +French; that of Tchernaya, August 16, 1855, a victory for the Russians; +and the storming of the Malakoff, described below. The capture of +Sebastopol was followed by the taking of Kars by the Russians, November +28, 1855, and the war ended. In accordance with the Treaty of Paris, +March 30, 1856, Russia abandoned her claim to a protectorate over +Christians in Turkey, and the Sultan agreed to grant them more favorable +terms. + +Sir Edward Bruce Hamley and Sir Henry Evelyn Wood, British generals who +served in the Crimean War, give us the best accounts of the siege and +capture of Sebastopol, in which they were active participants. The siege +had continued through many weeks without decisive developments, when on +June 18, 1855, the French made a strong but unsuccessful assault on the +Malakoff, which, like the Redan, formed one of the main defences. The +following narratives describe the British assault on the Redan and the +final storming of the Malakoff by the French. + + +SIR EDWARD BRUCE HAMLEY + +Seeing how desperate was the condition of the fortress, Prince +Gortschakoff had resolved, after the Battle of the Tchernaya, to abandon +Sebastopol. In letters to the Minister of War, of August 18 and 24, +1855, he expressed this intention, saying there was not a man in the +army who would not call it folly to continue the defence longer. With a +view to conducting a retreat he pressed forward rapidly the construction +of the bridge across the harbor, which was to have a roadway of sixteen +feet and to bear heavy vehicles. He also conferred with Todleben on +other measures to protect the withdrawal, and accordingly barricades +were built across the streets and formed into armed and defensible works +which were intended, as a last resort, to hold in check the assailants. +Preparations were also made for blowing up the principal forts and +magazines. + +Another great cannonade had begun on August 17th. The French lines had +now approached so close to the place that new additions to them were +immediately destroyed or rendered untenable by the fire from the +Malakoff and Little Redan; and the shower of small shells, easily cast +into the trenches from the ramparts, and called by the French +"bouquets," greatly increased their losses. For the silencing of the +artillery, which thus hindered the French sappers, the allied batteries +opened in full force against the part of the enemy's lines from the +Redan to the great harbor. But the town front was not included, and the +English batteries suffered greatly from want of support by the works on +their left. + +On August 20th Gortschakoff entered the fortress, and went round the +lines of defence, upon which the fire of the allies was just then at its +height. What he saw might well confirm him in his resolution to retreat. +There was no longer either a city or a suburb to defend, for both were +heaps of rubbish and cinders. The parapets of the works, dried in the +heats of summer and split in huge fragments by the shot, were crumbling +into the ditches. The interior space was honeycombed with holes made by +the shells. Gabions and sandbags could not be procured to repair the +embrasures, which remained in ruins. Many of the dismounted guns could +no longer be replaced, not because there were not plenty in the +arsenals, but because to mount them by night, under the deadly fire of +the mortars, entailed such frightful sacrifices of men. + +The defenders of the works were packed in caves under the parapets; the +gunners lay dead in heaps on the batteries; the wounded could not be +removed by day, because the communications with the rear were now +searched throughout by the fire of the allies, and so lay where they +fell, in torment in the sun beside the more fortunate slain. On landing, +the Prince had passed the hospitals, full to overflowing, and the +ambulances with the wounded crowding what had been the squares. There +was nothing to relieve the horrible monotony of destruction and +devastation except the bridge, which promised retreat from this misery, +and which was approaching completion. + +Yet it was after this visit that the Russian General changed his mind in +the direction of what he had before termed folly. "I am resolved," he +wrote to the Minister of War, on September 1st, "to defend the south +side to the last extremity, for it is the only honorable course which +remains to us." Calculating that the daily loss of the garrison was from +eight hundred to nine hundred, and that he could bring twenty-five +thousand men from the army outside to reenforce it, by leaving only +twenty thousand to guard the Mackenzie Heights, he considered he might +still prolong the defence for a month. Everything was against such a +cruel determination; but he proceeded to execute it so far as in him +lay. Yet it did not rest with him to determine the end. + +The cannonade once more reduced the Malakoff, its dependencies and +neighbors, to absolute silence, and enabled the French to push their +works yet closer. The soil between the Mamelon and Malakoff could be cut +into like a cheese, and the trenches were more easily made and better +constructed here than elsewhere. The English trenches before the Redan +had been stopped by solid rock; the French approaches to the Little +Redan, now only forty yards from it, had also got into soil so stony as +no longer to afford cover. The most advanced approach to the Malakoff +was separated from it by only twenty-five yards; in the soft soil the +trenches might have been pushed to the very edge of the ditch, but only +with great loss, and, besides, the facility of mining below them would +increase as the distance lessened. It was therefore deemed that the time +for assault had come, and it only remained to determine the details. + +Accordingly, a council of war considered the matter. After the members +had delivered their opinions, Pélissier expressed himself thus: "I too +have my plan, but I will not breathe it to my pillow." There is, +however, no need to be so reticent with the reader. The French commander +had learned that the relief of the troops in the works before him took +place at noon, and that in order to avoid the great additional loss +which would be caused by introducing the new garrisons before the old +ones moved out, the contrary course was followed of marching out most of +the occupants before replacing them. Thus noon was the time when the +Malakoff would be found most destitute of defenders, and noon was to be +the hour of the assault. Also another advantage was offered to the +French. The salient of the Malakoff had been adapted to the form of the +tower which it covered, and was therefore circular; consequently there +was a space in it which could not be seen or fired on from the flanks; +that was the space upon which the troops were to be directed. + +Roadways twenty yards wide were made through the trenches, and then +masked by gabions, easily thrown down, by which the reserves could be +brought up in the shortest time. The Malakoff, the curtain, and the +Little Redan were each to be attacked by a division, supported by a +brigade; and four divisions, with other troops, were destined to attack +the central bastion and works near it, and break thence by the rear, +into the flagstaff bastion. But first the cannonade was to be renewed. +It began on September 5th, and this time it encircled the whole +fortress, the French batteries before the town opening no less +vigorously than the rest. At night a frigate in the harbor was set on +fire by a shell, and the conflagration for hours lighted up the +surrounding scenery. On the 6th and 7th the _feu d'enfer_ went on, the +Russians replying but feebly; on the night of the 7th a line-of-battle +ship was set on fire by a mortar, and burned nearly all night; it +contained a large supply of spirits, the blue flames from which cast a +lugubrious light on the ramparts from the harbor to the Malakoff, +producing, says Todleben, "a painful impression on the souls of the +defenders of Sebastopol." + +Daylight on the 8th found the Russian defences completely manned, the +guns loaded with grape, and the reserves brought close up. But the +assault was not yet begun, and the result of these preparations to +receive it was increased havoc in the exposed ranks of the defenders. + +The attack on the Redan was to be directed by General Codrington. His +division, and the Second, under General Markham, were to supply the +column of attack, of which the covering party, the ladder party, the +working party (to fill up the ditch and convert what works we might gain +to our own purpose), and the main body were to number seventeen hundred, +and the supports fifteen hundred. The remainder of these two divisions, +numbering three thousand, was to be in reserve in the third parallel. +Also, in the last reserve, were the Third and Fourth Divisions. + +No attack on the Redan would have been undertaken by the English as an +isolated operation. Our compulsory distance from that work, the want of +a place of arms (that is to say, a covered space in the advanced +trenches of sufficient extent to harbor large bodies of troops), the +construction of which was forbidden by the rocky soil, and the still +unsubdued fire from the ramparts, all condemned an assault. But it was +deemed necessary as a distraction in aid of the French, and it fulfilled +the purpose. + +The portion of Codrington's troops destined to head the attack on the +Redan moved rapidly and steadily across the open space, though suffering +much loss from the heavy fire of round-shot, grape, case, and musketry +now directed on them from every available point, and those in front +passed with ease over the battered rampart and entered the work. But the +rest, with too strong a reminiscence of their mode of action in the +trenches, lay down at the edge of the ditch and began firing, alongside +of the covering troops, who alone should have performed this duty. The +supports also reached the ditch, and some of them entered the work. But +the great reserves, in moving through the inches toward the point of +issue, were obstructed and discouraged by meeting the numbers of wounded +men and their bearers, who were of necessity brought back by the same +narrow route, a difficulty which also hindered some of the French +attacks. Colonel Windham, the leader of the attacking troops, finding +that his messages for support produced no result, took the ill-advised +step of going back himself to procure reënforcements. It was not +surprising that before he returned his men also had withdrawn. It is +probably in reference to this that the _Engineer Journal_ said, in +excusing the troops, that "they retired when they found themselves +without any officer of rank." + +They had been overwhelmed by the numbers which the Russians brought into +the open work; and as they hurried back they suffered not less heavily +than in their advance. It was unfortunate for them that the French had +spiked the guns in the Malakoff instead of turning them on the enemy +moving into the Redan, as they ought to have done. With the immense +increase of difficulties in making way through the crowded trenches, and +renewing the attack against works now fully armed and manned, the +attempt was postponed till next day, when fresh troops, headed by the +Highlanders, were to renew it. + + +SIR HENRY EVELYN WOOD + +It may render my narrative of the final assault more readily +comprehensible if I begin by saying that, the Malakoff being now +considered the key of the Russian position, it was determined that all +other attacks should be considered subsidiary to that which was to be +directed against it. + +General Bosquet had command of all the French troops employed on the +right of the English attack. MacMahon's division was to assault the +Malakoff itself, having De Wimpffen's brigade with Camou's division in +reserve, and with it two battalions of Zouaves of the Guard. On +MacMahon's right La Motterouge's division, composed of the brigades of +Bourbaki and Picard, was to attack the curtain. It was supported by four +regiments, two of grenadiers and two of Voltigeurs of the Guard. Still +farther north was Dulac's division, supported by Marolle's brigade of +Camou's division and one battalion of Chasseurs of the Guard. These were +to attack the Little Redan. Pélissier himself took up his position in +the Mamelon, and to avoid giving warning to the enemy by any system of a +general signal, the watches of the staff and the generals were carefully +compared in order that the assault might be begun at twelve o'clock. +This hour was chosen by Pélissier in consequence of his having +ascertained that the troops on duty in the Russian trenches were +relieved at that hour, and owing to the works being cramped from the +number of traverses and blindages erected to cover their garrisons from +fire, it had become the habit for the old guard of the works to march +out before the relief marched in, and it was thus anticipated that at +twelve o'clock the works would be nearly empty. This surmise proved to +be accurate. + +The French had taken great trouble to screen the concentration of their +troops from the sight of the enemy. Each division had a separate access +to the advanced trenches in which the storming parties were to assemble. +In places where the parapets, having sunk, might have disclosed to the +view of the enemy the troops moving into position, they had been +carefully raised. Cuts had been made through parapets to admit of the +supports moving forward in bodies, and to allow field-artillery +batteries, which were stationed at the Victoria redoubt and the old +Lancaster battery, to pass through to the front. These apertures had +been filled up with gabions, and carefully concealed, so that their +position remained unknown to the enemy. + +General Herbillon, still encamped on the Tchernaya, was directed to +cause his force (less Camou's division called up to support La +Motterouge, and Dulac) to stand to arms at twelve o'clock, and his +command was reenforced by a brigade of cuirassiers under General De +Forton. The morning was dull and gloomy, with a cold wind which drove +clouds of dust into the air. A little before twelve o'clock all the +French storming parties were crouching ready for the order. + +Bosquet himself was in the sixth parallel; MacMahon, surrounded by his +staff, was standing in the front trench with his watch in his hand. No +one spoke in this group, in which the calm faces showed no sign of the +excitement visible in the zouaves on either side of them, who, though +silent, were trembling with impatience. Close at hand there was a +corporal holding a little tricolor. Two minutes before twelve o'clock +the word was passed in an undertone, "Ready," and as the hands indicated +it was twelve o'clock, on a command from MacMahon a shout arose of +"_Vive l'Empereur_!" bugles and drums sounded the charge, and the +zouaves dashed straight at the Malakoff. + +MacMahon allowed two sections to pass him, and then, followed by his +staff, climbed over the parapet, following the advanced guard. It placed +one ladder, by which the General descended into the ditch, and was, it +is said, the first up the escarp of the work. A friend of mine described +to me how he watched the tricolor on the parapet being carried slowly +along, thus indicating exactly how our allies in the body of the work +were gaining ground. The zouaves who crossed the ditch on the proper +left of the Malakoff had some difficulty in climbing up, from the height +and steepness of the escarp. + +MacMahon's leading brigade crossed the short intervening space without a +shot being fired. The enemy's working parties and gunners who were +repairing damages fought bravely with picks, shovels, and hand-spikes, +but were eventually driven back. The very few Russians in the salient +were completely surprised, so much so that some of the superior officers +were found at dinner in an underground chamber of the Malakoff, and the +French without difficulty obtained absolute possession of the south end +of the work. Although the enclosure covered an area of about four +hundred yards by one hundred fifty, there was but very little open space +within it, for behind the remnants of the stone tower were rows of +traverses stretching from side to side of the work. Behind these the +Russians took post as they came up from their bombproof shelters. Every +separate parapet was fought for, hand to hand, and it was not till +Vinoy's brigade, which, entering by the Gervais battery, got behind the +traverses, turning out the regiment Grand Duke Michel, that the enemy +was finally driven from this part of the work. + +The leading brigades of Motterouge's and Dulac's divisions, headed by +their chiefs, seized the curtain and the Little Redan, the latter +falling first, as St. Pol's brigade was nearer to it than Bourbaki's +brigade was to the curtain. Once inside these works from which the +Russians were easily driven, the French pressed on to the intrenchment +then being built across the rear. General PÉLISSIER now gave General +Simpson the signal to attack the Redan. At the same time the French +attacked the Malakoff, and there the fate of Sebastopol was really +decided. + +The possession of this fort was strongly contested, the Russians +bringing up field-batteries; the French were also fired on heavily by +three steamers, which, circling round, fired broadsides into them, and +batteries sent shells from the north side of the harbor into the French +support. Eventually after a prolonged struggle, in which the French +captured four field-guns, St. Pol's brigade was beaten back, losing its +brigadier, and with him fell the chief staff officer of the division and +two colonels. The Russians followed up closely, and Bisson's brigade, +which for want of space in the trenches had been stationed in the +Careenage Ravine, was too far behind to afford effective aid. Bourbaki's +right being thus uncovered, he also was driven back, although supported +by Motterouge's other brigade. + +After Bourbaki and St. Pol had been repulsed, the Voltigeurs and +Grenadiers of the Guard and Marolle's brigade were sent against the +curtain and Redan respectively. These they carried, but were once more +expelled from the Little Redan, Marolle and De Pontevès falling dead at +the head of their brigades, and Mellinet, Bisson, and Bourbaki being +wounded. The French still held the curtain, and Bosquet now ordered up +the two field-batteries then standing behind the Victoria redoubt. They +descended the ridge at the trot, unlimbered in front of the sixth +parallel, and, coming into action, fired with great effect on the +Russian infantry, which offered a broad target. Yet the batteries +suffered terribly; the commanding officer (Souty) was killed, and out of +the one hundred fifty men he brought down, only fifty-five returned when +the guns were dragged back by hand because they lost all their horses +except nineteen. + +Bosquet, surrounded by several Russian officers, who were prisoners, and +their guards, was interrogating the captives when a shell burst over +them, killing or wounding both them and the guard--the General only +escaping. Later, when leaning on the parapet watching the progress of +the fight, he was struck in the face by a fragment of a shell. He had +just strength to send word to General Dulac to take his place, when he +fainted. + +The struggle in and around the Malakoff was continued till three +o'clock, when Gortschakoff withdrew his troops from the work which they +had defended with such marvellous endurance for eleven months. The prize +was now won, but at heavy cost. + +MacMahon's division, which assaulted with forty-five hundred bayonets +and two hundred officers, lost in killed and wounded just half its +strength. + +Soon after the Russians had been driven from the salient of the +Malakoff, the French troops occupying it were fired on from the lower +part of the old masonry tower, which was loopholed, and inside which +five officers and sixty Russian soldiers had taken refuge. It was +impossible to dislodge them, as the only entrance was strongly blocked +on the inside. After a time some gabions were collected, and having been +placed in position close to the loopholes, were lighted, but before the +defenders could be smoked out, a mortar fired against the door blew it +away, and the Russians surrendered. The gabions burning fiercely, the +officers became alarmed lest the fire should be communicated to some of +the surrounding magazines, and an attempt was made to extinguish the +blazing fragments. As this was difficult, sappers were set to work to +dig a trench and throw the excavated earth on the fire. While the men +were digging, four wires, communicating with mines, were found and cut. + +While the Russian officers were surrendering, a desperate struggle was +carried on at the far end of the Malakoff enclosure, the Russians coming +over the parapets in three heavy columns. Khrouleff, the "fighting +general," being wounded, had been replaced by General Martinau. The +combatants fought hand to hand till, Martinau, losing an arm, and his +men being out of ammunition, Gortschakoff ordered them to give up the +struggle and fall back. + +Between three and four o'clock a magazine blew up near the point where +the curtain joined the Malakoff, and the division at once ran back to +the French advanced trenches. This occurred at a moment when General La +Motterouge was wounded, but his men were rallied and got back into +position ere the smoke and dust of the explosion cleared away. The flag +of the Ninety-first Regiment was buried so deep that it was not found +till next day, when it was recovered still grasped tightly in the hands +of the lifeless officer who was carrying it when the explosion took +place. + +When the Russians withdrew, General MacMahon, contemplating the +possibility of further explosions from undiscovered mines, in order to +minimize possible loss of life, sent back the brigade under Colonel +Decaen, whom he ordered to hold himself in readiness, and, if Vinoy's +brigade should be blown into the air, to come forward immediately and +replace it. Then, turning to General Vinoy, MacMahon observed, "It is +possible, General, that your brigade will be blown up, but Decaen will +replace you immediately, so we shall still hold our position." MacMahon +himself remained in the Malakoff with Vinoy's brigade. + +During the afternoon it was reported to General Pélissier that large +numbers of Russian troops were crossing by the floating bridge to the +north side of the harbor, but the allies did not yet feel confident that +the end had quite come. About midnight one of the maritime forts was +blown up, and explosions continued at intervals throughout the night, +fires bursting out wherever any inflammable substance remained. + +At 3 A.M. on the 9th Corporal Ross, Royal Engineers, who was employed in +the advanced sap, being struck by the unusual silence within the Redan, +crept across the ditch, and, climbing over the parapet, found that the +enemy had evacuated the work. + +At daylight all the Russian fleet except the Vladimir had disappeared +under water, and the last of this heroic garrison was seen forming up on +the north side of the floating bridge, which was then cut, leaving on +the southern side two hundred or three hundred men, who had remained +behind, setting fire to the houses. This was the last of the active +operations. Gortschakoff withdrew his troops, and, placing the cavalry +on the Belbeck, extended the infantry along the Mackenzie Farm heights +position, which he proceeded to fortify. + +The allies were now in possession of the bloodstained ruins of +Sebastopol, and the last of the Black Sea fleet was at the bottom of the +harbor. Perhaps it was well that peace ensued. Although we might have +dislodged the Russians from their position on the heights, it would have +been difficult to obtain any further material advantage in the Crimea. + + + + +(1857) THE INDIAN MUTINY, J. Talboys Wheeler + + +From the time when Warren Hastings, the first English Governor-General +of India, was sent to rule there (1774), the British power in that +country grew steadily, and many annexations were made to the territory +under its control. There were frequent wars with the French, England's +rivals in India, and with the natives in different Provinces that one +after another were absorbed into the British possessions. The first +serious menace against this growing power appeared in a native movement, +the culmination of which is known as the Indian or Sepoy Mutiny. + +The causes of this rising are traced to distrust and hatred of the +British rulers--feelings that caused a ferment among the Hindus and +Mahometans of India, who suspected a design for suppressing their +religions. The natives also became alarmed at the introduction of +Western ideas and improvements--new methods of education, the +steam-engine, the telegraph, etc.--portending to the Indian peoples the +substitution of a foreign civilization for their own. The truth is that +in attempting to abolish suttee and other ancient native customs, and to +introduce more enlightened practices, the British Government was acting +in the interest of general humanity. + +The immediate provocation of the great mutiny among the sepoys or native +troops in the British East-Indian service is well shown, and the entire +story of the revolt is equally well told, by Mr. Wheeler. This author, +while a secretary to the Government of India in the latter part of the +nineteenth century, enjoyed peculiar advantages for study and research. +These advantages he turned to account by writing an authoritative and +interesting history of the land of his official residence. + +Early in the year 1857, it is said, there were rumors of a coming danger +to British rule in India. In some parts of the country _chupatties_, or +cakes, were circulated in a mysterious manner from village to village. +[Footnote: The form of the cake conveyed information that an +insurrection was in preparation--an old custom--understood by the +natives.--ED.] Prophecies were also rife that in 1857 the East India +Company's _raj_ [rule] would come to an end. Lord Canning has been +blamed for not taking alarm at these proceedings; but something of the +kind always had been going on in India. Cakes of cocoanuts are given +away in solemn fashion; and as the villagers were afraid to keep them or +eat them, the circulation went on to the end of the chapter. Then, +again, holy men and prophets have always been common in India. They +foretell pestilence and famine: the downfall of British rule, or the +destruction of the whole world. They are often supposed to be endowed +with supernatural powers and to be impervious to bullets; but these +phenomena invariably disappear whenever they come in contact with +Europeans, especially as all such characters are liable to be treated as +vagrants without visible means of subsistence. + +One dangerous story, however, got abroad in the early part of 1857, +which ought to have been stopped at once, and for which the military +authorities were wholly and solely to blame. The Enfield rifle was being +introduced; it required new cartridges, which in England were greased +with the fat of beef or pork. The military authorities in India, with +strange indifference to the prejudices of sepoys, ordered the cartridges +to be prepared at Calcutta in like manner; forgetting that the fat of +pigs was hateful to the Mahometans, while the fat of cows was still more +horrible in the eyes of the Hindus. + +The excitement began at Barrackpur, sixteen miles from Calcutta. At this +station there were four regiments of sepoys, and no Europeans except the +regimental officers. One day a low-caste native, known as a lascar, +asked a Brahmin sepoy for a drink of water from his brass pot. The +Brahmin refused, as it would defile his pot. The lascar retorted that +the Brahmin was already defiled by biting cartridges which had been +greased with cow's fat. This vindictive taunt was based on truth. +Lascars had been employed at Calcutta in preparing the new cartridges, +and the man was possibly one of them. The taunt created a wild panic at +Barrackpur. Strange to say, however, none of the new cartridges had been +issued to the sepoys; and had this been promptly explained to the men, +and the sepoys left to grease their own cartridges, the alarm might have +died out. But the explanation was delayed until the whole of the Bengal +army was smitten with the groundless fear; and then, when it was too +late, the authorities protested too much, and the terror-stricken sepoys +refused to believe them. + +The sepoys had proved themselves brave under fire, and loyal to their +salt in sharp extremities; but they are the most credulous and excitable +soldiery in the world. They regarded steam and electricity as so much +magic; and they fully believed that the British Government was binding +India with chains, when it was only laying down railway lines and +telegraph wires. The Enfield rifle was a new mystery; and the busy +brains of the sepoys were soon at work to divine the motive of the +English in greasing cartridges with cow's fat. They had always taken to +themselves the sole credit of having conquered India for the company; +and they now imagined that the English wanted them to conquer Persia and +China. Accordingly, they suspected that Lord Canning was going to make +them as strong as Europeans by destroying caste, forcing them to become +Christians, and making them eat beef and drink beer. + +The story of the greased cartridges, with all its absurd embellishments, +ran up the Ganges and Jumna to Benares, Allahabad, Agra, Delhi, and the +great cantonment at Meerut; while another current of lies ran back again +from Meerut to Barrackpur. It was noised abroad that the bones of cows +and pigs had been ground into powder, and thrown into wells and mingled +with flour and butter, in order to destroy the caste of the masses and +convert them to Christianity. + +For a brief interval it was hoped that the disaffection was suppressed. +Excitement manifested itself in various ways at different stations +throughout the length of Hindustan and the Punjab--at Benares, Lucknow, +Agra, Ambala, and Sealkote. In some stations there were incendiary +fires; in others the sepoys were wanting in their usual respect to their +European officers. But it was believed that the storm was spending +itself, and that the dark clouds were passing away. + +Suddenly on May 3d there was an explosion at Lucknow. A regiment of Oudh +Irregular Infantry, previously in the service of the Mogul, broke out in +mutiny and began to threaten their European officers. Sir Henry +Lawrence, the new Chief Commissioner, had a European regiment at his +disposal, namely the Thirty-second Foot. That same evening he ordered +out the regiment, and a battery of eight guns manned by Europeans, +together with four sepoy regiments, three of infantry and one of +cavalry. With this force he proceeded to the lines of the mutineers, +about seven miles off. The Oudh Irregulars were taken by surprise; they +saw infantry and cavalry on either side, and the European guns in front. +They were ordered to lay down their arms, and they obeyed. At this +moment the artillery lighted their port fires. The mutineers were seized +with a panic, and rushed away in the darkness; but the leaders and most +of their followers were pursued and arrested by the native infantry and +cavalry, and confined pending trial. Subsequently it transpired that the +native regiments sympathized with the mutineers, and would have shown it +but for their dread of Sir Henry Lawrence and the Europeans. The +energetic action of Lawrence sufficed to maintain order for another +month in Oudh. Meanwhile the Thirty-fourth Native Infantry was disbanded +at Barrackpur, and again it was hoped that the disaffection was stayed. + +The demon of mutiny was only scotched. Within a week of the outbreak at +Lucknow, the great military station of Meerut was in a blaze. Meerut was +only forty miles from Delhi, and the largest cantonment in India. There +were three regiments of sepoys, two of infantry and one of cavalry; but +there were enough Europeans to scatter four times the number; namely, a +battalion of the Sixtieth Rifles, a regiment of Dragoon Guards known as +the "Carabineers," two troops of horse-artillery, and a light +field-battery. + +In spite of the presence of Europeans there were more indications of +excitement at Meerut than at any other station in the northwest. At +Meerut the story of the greased cartridges had been capped by the story +of the bonedust; and there were the same kind of incendiary fires, the +same lack of respect toward European officers, and the same whispered +resolve not to touch the cartridges, as at Barrackpur. The station was +commanded by General Hewitt, whose advancing years unfitted him to cope +with the storm which was bursting upon Hindustan. + +The regiment of sepoy cavalry at Meerut was strongly suspected of +disaffection; accordingly it was resolved to put the men to the test. On +May 6th it was paraded in the presence of the European force, and +cartridges were served out; not the greased abominations from Calcutta, +but the old ones which had been used times innumerable by the sepoys and +their fathers. + +But the men were terrified and obstinate, and eighty-five stood out and +refused to take the cartridges. The offenders were at once arrested, and +tried by a court-martial of native officers; they were found guilty, and +sentenced to various periods of imprisonment, but recommended for mercy. +General Hewitt saw no grounds for mercy, excepting in the case of eleven +young troopers; and on Saturday, May 9th, the sentences were carried +out. The men were brought on parade, stripped of their uniforms, and +loaded with irons. They implored the General for mercy, and, finding it +hopeless, began to reproach their comrades; but no one dared to strike a +blow in the presence of loaded cannon and rifles. At last the prisoners +were carried off and placed in a jail, not under European soldiers, but +a native guard. + +The military authorities at Meerut seem to have been under a spell. The +next day was Sunday, May 10th, and the hot sun rose with its usual glare +in the Indian sky. The European barracks were at a considerable distance +from the native lines, and the intervening space was covered with shops +and houses surrounded by trees and gardens. Consequently the Europeans +in the barracks knew nothing of what was going on in the native quarter. +Meanwhile there were commotions in the sepoy lines and neighboring +bazaars. The sepoys were taunted by the loose women of the place with +permitting their comrades to be imprisoned and fettered. At the same +time they were smitten with a mad fear that the European soldiers were +to be let loose upon them. The Europeans at Meerut saw and heard +nothing. + +Nothing was noted on that Sunday morning except the absence of native +servants from many of the houses, and that was supposed to be +accidental. Morning service was followed by the midday heats, and at +five o'clock in the afternoon the Europeans were again preparing for +church. Suddenly there was an alarm of fire, followed by a volley of +musketry, discordant yells, the clattering of cavalry, and the bugle +sounding an alarm. The sepoys had worked themselves up to a frenzy of +excitement; the prisoners were released with a host of jailbirds; the +native infantry joined the native cavalry, and the colonel of one of the +regiments was shot by the sepoys of the other. Inspired by a wild fear +and fury, the sepoys ran about murdering or wounding every European they +met, and setting houses on fire, amid deafening shouts and uproar. + +Meanwhile there were fatal delays in turning out the Europeans. The +Rifles were paraded for church, and time was lost in getting arms and +serving out ball cartridges. The Carabineers were absurdly put through a +roll-call, and then lost their way among the shops and gardens. +Meanwhile European officers were being butchered by the infuriated +sepoys. Men and women were fired at or sabred while hurrying back in a +panic from church. Flaming houses and crashing timbers were filling all +hearts with terror, and the shades of evening were falling upon the +general havoc and turmoil, when the Europeans reached the native lines +and found that the sepoys had gone, no one knew whither. + +The truth was soon told. The mutiny had become a revolt; the sepoys were +on the way to Delhi to proclaim the old Mogul as sovereign of Hindustan; +and there was no Gillespie to gallop after them and crush the revolt at +its outset, as had been done at Vellore half a century before. One +thing, however, was done. There were no European regiments at Delhi; +nothing but three regiments of sepoy infantry and a battery of native +artillery. The station was commanded by Brigadier Graves; and there were +no Europeans under his orders excepting the officers and sergeants +attached to the three native corps. Accordingly telegrams were sent to +Brigadier Graves to tell him that the mutineers were on their way to +Delhi. + +Monday at Delhi was worse than the Sunday at Meerut. The British +cantonment was situated on a rising ground about two miles from the +city, which was known as the "Ridge." The great magazine, containing +immense stores of ammunition, was situated in the heart of the city. One +of the three sepoy regiments was on duty in the city; the other two +remained in the cantonment on the Ridge. + +The approach to Delhi from Meerut was defended by the little river +Hindun, which was spanned by a small bridge. It was proposed to procure +two cannon from the magazine and place them on the bridge; but before +this could be done the rebel cavalry from Meerut were seen crossing the +river, and were subsequently followed by the rebel infantry. The +magazine remained in charge of Lieutenant Willoughby of the Bengal +Artillery. He was associated with two other officers and six conductors +and sergeants; the rest of the establishment was composed entirely of +natives. + +Brigadier Graves did his best to protect the city and cantonment until +the arrival of the expected Europeans from Meerut. Indeed, throughout +the morning and greater part of the afternoon everyone in Delhi was +expecting the arrival of the Europeans. Brigadier Graves ordered all the +non-military residents, including women and children, to repair to +Flagstaff Tower--a round building of solid brickwork at some distance +from the city. Late detachments of sepoys were sent from the Ridge to +the Cashmere gate, under the command of their European officers, to help +the sepoys on duty to maintain order in the city. + +Presently the rebel troops from Meerut came up, accompanied by the +insurgent rabble of Delhi. The English officers prepared to charge them, +and gave the order to fire, but some of the sepoys refused to obey or +only fired into the air. The English officers held on, expecting the +European soldiers from Meerut. The sepoys hesitated to join the rebels, +out of dread of the coming Europeans. At last the Delhi sepoys threw in +their lot with the rebels and shot down their own officers. The revolt +spread throughout the whole city; and the suspense of the English on the +Ridge and at Flagstaff Tower began to give way to the agony of despair. + +Suddenly, at four o'clock in the afternoon, a column of white smoke +arose from the city, and an explosion was heard far and wide. Willoughby +and his eight associates had held out to the last, waiting and hoping +for the coming of the Europeans. They had closed and barricaded the +gates of the magazine; and they had posted six-pounders at the gates, +loaded with double charges of grape, and laid a train to the +powder-magazine. Messengers came in the name of Bahadur Shah to demand +the surrender of the magazine, but no answer was returned. The enemy +approached and raised ladders against the walls; while the native +establishment escaped over some sheds and joined the rebels. At this +crisis the guns opened fire. Round after round of grape made fearful +havoc on the mass of humanity that was heaving and surging round the +gates. At last the ammunition was exhausted. No one could leave the guns +to bring up more shot. The mutineers were pouring in on all sides. +Lieutenant Willoughby gave the signal. Conductor Scully fired the train; +and with one tremendous upheaval the magazine was blown into the air, +together with fifteen hundred rebels. Not one of the gallant nine had +expected to escape. Willoughby and three others got away, scorched, +maimed, bruised, and nearly insensible; but Scully and his comrades were +never seen again. Willoughby died of his injuries six weeks afterward, +while India and Europe were ringing with his name. + +Still more terrible and treacherous were the tragedies enacted at +Cawnpore, a city situated on the Ganges about fifty-five miles to the +southwest of Lucknow. Cawnpore had been in the possession of the English +ever since the beginning of the century, and for many years was one of +the most important military stations in India; but the extension of the +British Empire over the Punjab had diminished the importance of +Cawnpore; and the last European regiment quartered there had been +removed to the northwest at the close of the previous year. + +In May, 1857, there were four native regiments at Cawnpore, numbering +thirty-five hundred sepoys. There were no Europeans whatever, excepting +the regimental officers and sixty-one artillerymen. To these were added +small detachments of European soldiers, which had been sent in the hour +of peril from Lucknow and Benares during the month of May. + +The station of Cawnpore was commanded by Sir Hugh Wheeler, a +distinguished general in the company's service, who was verging on his +seventieth year. He had spent fifty-four years in India, and had served +only with native troops. He must have known the sepoys better than any +other European in India. He had led them against their own countrymen +under Lord Lake; against foreigners during the Afghan War, and against +Sikhs during both campaigns in the Punjab. + +The news of the revolt at Meerut threw the sepoys into a ferment at +every military station in Hindustan. Rumors of mutiny or coming mutiny +formed almost the only topic of conversation; yet in nearly every sepoy +regiment the European officers put faith in their men, and fondly +believed that, though the rest of the army might revolt, yet their own +corps would prove faithful. + +Such was eminently the case at Cawnpore, yet General Wheeler seems to +have known better. While the European officers continued to sleep every +night in the sepoy lines, the veteran made his preparations for meeting +the coming storm. + +European combatants were very few at Cawnpore, but European +_impedimenta_ were very heavy. Besides the wives and families of the +regimental officers of the sepoy regiments, there was a large European +mercantile community. Moreover, while the Thirty-second Foot was +quartered at Lucknow, the wives, families, and invalids of the regiment +were living at Cawnpore. It was thus necessary to secure a place of +refuge for this miscellaneous multitude of Europeans in the event of a +rising of the sepoys. Accordingly General Wheeler pitched upon some old +barracks which had once belonged to a European regiment; and he ordered +earthworks to be thrown up, and supplies of all kinds to be stored, in +order to stand a siege. Unfortunately there was fatal neglect somewhere; +for when the crisis came the defences were found to be worthless, while +the supplies were insufficient for the besieged. + +All this while the adopted son of the former _peshwa_ [Footnote: Formerly +a chief of the Mahrattas.--Ed.] was living at Bithoor, about six miles +from Cawnpore. His real name was Dandhu Panth, but he is better known as +Nana Sahib. The British Government had refused to award him the absurd +life pension of eighty thousand pounds sterling, which had been granted +to his nominal father; but he had inherited at least half a million from +the ex-peshwa; and he was allowed to keep six guns, to entertain as many +followers as he pleased, and to live in half royal state in a +castellated palace at Bithoor. He continued to nurse his grievance with +all the pertinacity of a Mahratta; but at the same time he professed a +great love for European society, and was profuse in his hospitalities to +English officers. He was popularly known as the Raja of Bithoor. + +When the news arrived of the revolt at Meerut on May 10th, Nana was loud +in his professions of attachment to the English. He engaged to organize +fifteen hundred fighting men to act against the sepoys in the event of +an outbreak. On May 21st there was an alarm. European women and +families, with all European non-combatants, were removed into the +barracks, and General Wheeler actually accepted from Nana the help of +two hundred Mahrattas and two guns to guard the treasury. The alarm, +however, soon blew over, and Nana took up his abode at the civil station +of Cawnpore, as a proof of the sincerity of his professions. + +At last, on the night of June 4th, the sepoy regiments at Cawnpore broke +out in mutiny. They were driven to action by the same mad terror which +had been manifested elsewhere. They cared nothing for the Mogul, nothing +for the pageant King at Delhi; but they had been panic-stricken by +extravagant stories of coming destruction. It was whispered among them +that the parade-ground was undermined with powder, and that Hindus and +Mahometans were to be assembled on a given day and blown into the air. +Intoxicated with fear and _bhang_, they rushed out in the darkness, +yelling, shooting, and burning according to their wont; and when their +excitement was somewhat spent, they marched off toward Delhi. + +Sir Hugh Wheeler could do nothing. He might have retreated with the +whole body of Europeans from Cawnpore to Allahabad; but there had been a +mutiny at Allahabad, and, moreover, he had no means of transport. +Subsequently he heard that the mutineers had reached the first stage on +the road to Delhi, and consequently he saw no ground for alarm. + +Meanwhile the brain of Nana Sahib had been turned by wild dreams of +vengeance and sovereignty. He thought not only to wreak his malice upon +the English, but to restore the extinct Mahratta Empire, and reign over +Hindustan as the representative of the forgotten peshwas. The stampede +of the sepoys to Delhi was fatal to his mad ambition. He overtook the +mutineers, dazzled them with fables of the treasures in Wheeler's +intrenchment, and brought them back to Cawnpore to carry out his +vindictive and visionary schemes. + +At early morning on Saturday, June 6th, General Wheeler received from +Nana a letter announcing that he was about to attack the intrenchment. +The veteran was taken by surprise, but at once ordered all the European +officers to join the party in the barracks and prepare for the defence. +But the mutineers were in no hurry for the advance. They preferred booty +to battle, and turned aside to plunder the cantonment and city, +murdering every Christian that came in their way, not sparing the houses +of their own countrymen. They appropriated all the cannon and ammunition +in the magazine by way of preparation for the siege; but some were wise +enough to desert the rebel army and steal to their homes with their +ill-gotten spoil. + +About noon the main body of the mutineers, swelled by the numerous +retainers of Nana, got their guns into position, and opened fire on the +intrenchment. For nineteen days--from June 6th to the 25th--the garrison +struggled manfully against a raking fire and fearful odds, amid scenes +of suffering and bloodshed that cannot be recalled without a shudder. + +It was the height of the hot weather in Hindustan. A blazing sun was +burning over the heads of the besieged; and to add to their misery, one +of the barracks containing the sick and wounded was destroyed by fire. +The besiegers, however, in spite of their overwhelming numbers, were +utterly unable to carry the intrenchment by storm, but continued to pour +in a raking fire. Meanwhile the garrison was starving from want of +provisions, and hampered by a multitude of helpless women and children. +Indeed, but for the latter contingency, the gallant band would have +rushed out of the intrenchment and cut a way through the mob of sepoys +or perished in the attempt. As it was, they could only fight on, waiting +for reinforcements that never came, until fever, sunstroke, hunger, +madness, or the enemy's fire delivered them from their suffering and +despair. + +On June 25th a woman brought a slip of writing from Nana, promising to +give a safe passage to Allahabad to all who were willing to lay down +their arms. Had there been no women or children, the garrison would +never have dreamed of surrender. The massacre at Patna a century before +had taught a lesson to Englishmen which ought never to have been +forgotten. As it was, there were some who wished to fight on till the +bitter end. But the majority saw that there was no hope for the women or +the children, the sick or the wounded, except by accepting the proffered +terms. Accordingly the pride of Englishmen gave way, and an armistice +was proclaimed. + +Next morning the terms were negotiated. The English garrison were to +surrender their position, their guns, and their treasure, but to march +out with their arms, and with sixty rounds of ammunition in the pouch of +every man. Nana Sahib on his part was to afford a safe-conduct to the +river-bank, about a mile off; to provide carriage for the conveyance of +the women and children, the sick and the wounded; and to furnish boats +for carrying the whole party, numbering some four hundred fifty +individuals, down the river Ganges to Allahabad. Nana accepted the +terms, but demanded the evacuation of the intrenchment that very night. +General Wheeler protested against this proviso. Nana began to bully and +to threaten that he would open fire. He was told that he might carry the +intrenchment if he could, but that the English had enough powder left to +blow both armies into the air. Accordingly Nana agreed to wait until the +morrow. + +At early morning on June 27th the garrison began to move from the +intrenchment to the place of embarkation. The men marched on foot; the +women and children were carried on elephants and in bullock-carts, while +the wounded were mostly conveyed in palanquins. Forty boats with +thatched roofs, known as _budgerows_, were moored in shallow water at a +little distance from the bank; and the crowd of fugitives were forced to +wade through the river to the boats. By nine o'clock the whole four +hundred fifty were huddled on board, and the boats prepared to leave +Cawnpore. + +Suddenly a bugle was sounded, and a murderous fire of grape-shot and +musketry was opened upon the wretched passengers from both sides of the +river. At the same time the thatching of many of the budgerows was found +to be on fire, and the flames began to spread from boat to boat. Numbers +were murdered in the river, but at last the firing ceased. A few escaped +down the river, but only four men survived to tell the story of the +massacre. A mass of fugitives were dragged ashore; the women and +children, to the number of a hundred twenty-five, were carried off and +lodged in a house near the headquarters of Nana. The men were ordered to +immediate execution. One of them had preserved a prayer-book, and was +permitted to read a few sentences of the liturgy to his doomed +companions. Then the fatal order was given; the sepoys poured in a +volley of musketry, and all was over. + +On July 1st Nana Sahib went off to his palace at Bithoor and was +proclaimed peshwa. He took his seat upon the throne, and was installed +with all the ceremonies of sovereignty, while the cannon roared out a +salute in his honor. At night the whole place was illuminated, and the +hours of darkness were wiled away with feasting and fireworks. But his +triumph was short-lived. The Mahometans were plotting against him at +Cawnpore. The people were leaving the city to escape the coming storm, +and were taking refuge in the villages. English reënforcements were at +last coming up from Allahabad, while the greedy sepoys were clamoring +for money and gold bangles. Accordingly Nana hastened back to Cawnpore +and scattered wealth with a lavish hand; and sought to hide his fears by +boastful proclamations, and to drown his anxieties in drink and +debauchery. + +Within a few days more the number of helpless prisoners was increased to +two hundred. There had been a mutiny at Fathigarh, higher up the river, +and the fugitives had fled in boats to Cawnpore, a distance of eighty +miles. They knew nothing of what had happened, and were all taken +prisoners by the rebels, and brought on shore. The men were all +butchered in the presence of Nana; the women and children, eighty in +number, were sent to join the wretched sufferers in the house near +Nana's headquarters. + +Meanwhile Colonel Neill, commanding the Madras Fusiliers, was pushing up +from Calcutta. He was bent on the relief of Cawnpore and Lucknow, but +was delayed on the way by the mutinies at Benares and Allahabad. In July +he was joined at Allahabad by a column under General Havelock, who was +destined within a few weeks to win a lasting name in history. + +General Havelock was a Queen's officer of forty years' standing; but he +had seen more service in India than perhaps any other officer in Her +Majesty's Army. He had fought in the first Burma War, the Kabul War, the +Gwalior campaign of 1843, and the Punjab campaign of 1845-1846. He was a +pale, thin, thoughtful man; small in stature, but burning with the +aspirations of a Puritan hero. Religion was the ruling principle of his +life, and military glory was his master passion. He had just returned to +India after commanding a division in the Persian War. Abstemious to a +fault, he was able, in spite of his advancing years, to bear up against +the heat and rain of Hindustan during the deadliest season of the year. + +On July 7th General Havelock left Allahabad for Cawnpore. The force at +his disposal did not exceed two thousand men, Europeans and Sikhs. He +had heard of the massacre at Cawnpore on June 27th, and burned to avenge +it. On July 12th he defeated a large force of mutineers and Mahrattas at +Fathipur. On the 15th he inflicted two more defeats on the enemy. +Havelock was now within twenty-two miles of Cawnpore, and he halted his +men to rest for the night. But news arrived that the women and children +were still alive at Cawnpore, and that Nana had taken the field with a +large force to oppose his advance. Accordingly Havelock marched fourteen +miles that same night, and on the following morning, within eight miles +of Cawnpore, the troops bivouacked beneath some trees. + +On that same night, July 15th, the crowning atrocity was committed at +Cawnpore. The rebels, who had been defeated by Havelock, returned to +Nana with the tidings of their disaster. In revenge Nana ordered the +slaughter of the two hundred women and children. The poor victims were +literally hacked to death, or almost to death, with swords, bayonets, +knives, and axús. Next morning the bleeding remains of dead and dying +were dragged to a neighboring well and thrown in. + +At two o'clock in the afternoon after the massacre the force under +Havelock was again upon the march for Cawnpore. The heat was fearful; +many of the troops were struck down by the sun, and the cries for water +were continuous. But for two miles the column toiled on, and then came +in sight of the enemy. Havelock had only one thousand Europeans and +three hundred Sikhs; he had no cavalry, and his artillery was inferior. +The enemy numbered five thousand men, armed and trained by British +officers, strongly intrenched, with two batteries of guns of heavy +calibre. Havelock's artillery failed to silence the batteries, and he +ordered the Europeans to charge with the bayonet. On they went in the +face of a shower of grape, but the bayonet charge was as irresistible at +Cawnpore as at Assaye. The enemy fought for a while like men in a death +struggle. Nana Sahib was with them, but nothing is known of his +exploits. At last they fled, and there was no cavalry to pursue them. + +As yet nothing was known of the butchery of the women and children. +Havelock halted for the night, and next morning marched his force into +the station at Cawnpore. The men beheld the scene of the massacre, and +saw the bleeding remains in the well. But the murderers had vanished, no +one knew whither. Havelock advanced to Bithoor, and destroyed the palace +of the Mahratta. Subsequently he was joined by General Neill, with +reinforcements from Allahabad; and on July 20th he set on for the relief +of Lucknow, leaving Cawnpore in charge of General Neill. + +The defence of Lucknow against fifty-two thousand rebels was, next to +the siege of Delhi, the greatest event in the mutiny. The whole Province +of Oudh was in a blaze of insurrection. The _talukdars_ were exasperated +at the hard measure dealt out to them before the appointment of Sir +Henry Lawrence as Chief Commissioner. Disbanded sepoys, returning to +their homes in Oudh, swelled the tide of disaffection. Bandits that had +been suppressed under British administration returned to their old work +of robbery and brigandage. All classes took advantage of the anarchy to +murder the money-lenders. Meanwhile the country was bristling with the +fortresses of the talukdars; and the cultivators, deprived of the +protection of the English, naturally flocked for refuge to the +strongholds of their old masters. + +The English, who had been lords of Hindustan ever since the beginning of +the century, had been closely besieged in the residency at Lucknow ever +since the final outbreak of May 30th. For nearly two months the garrison +had held out with a dauntless intrepidity, while confidently waiting for +reinforcements that seemed never to come. "Never surrender" had been +from the first the passionate conviction of Sir Henry Lawrence; and the +massacre at Cawnpore on June 27th impressed every soldier in the +garrison with a like resolution. On July 2d the Muchi Bawen was +abandoned, and the garrison and stores were removed to the residency. On +July 4th Sir Henry Lawrence was killed by the bursting of a shell in a +room where he lay wounded; and his dying counsel to those around him +was, "Never surrender!" + +On July 20th the rebel force round Lucknow heard of the advance of +General Havelock to Cawnpore, and attacked the residency in overwhelming +force. They kept up a continual fire of musketry while pounding away +with their heavy guns; but the garrison held their ground against shot +and shell, and before the day was over the dense masses of assailants +were forced to retire from the walls. + +Between July 20th and 25th General Havelock began to cross the Ganges +and make his way into Oudh territory; but he was unable to relieve +Lucknow. His small force was weakened by heat and fever and reduced by +cholera and dysentery; while the enemy occupied strong positions on both +flanks. In the middle of August he fell back upon Cawnpore. + +During the four months that followed the revolt at Delhi on May 11th, +all political interest was centred at the ancient capital of the +sovereigns of Hindustan. The public mind was occasionally distracted by +the current of events at Cawnpore and Lucknow, as well as at other +stations which need not be particularized; but so long as Delhi remained +in the hands of the rebels the native princes were bewildered and +alarmed; and its prompt recapture was deemed of vital importance to the +prestige of the British Government and the reestablishment of British +sovereignty in Hindustan. The Great Mogul had been little better than a +mummy for more than half a century; and Bahadur Shah was a mere tool and +puppet in the hands of rebel sepoys; nevertheless the British Government +had to deal with the astounding fact that the rebels were fighting under +his name and standard, just as Afghans and Mahrattas had done in the +days of Ahmed Shah Durani and Mahadaji Sindhia. To make matters worse, +the roads to Delhi were open from the south and east; and nearly every +outbreak in Hindustan was followed by a stampede of mutineers to the old +capital of the Moguls. + +Meanwhile, in the absence of railways, there were unfortunate delays in +bringing up troops and guns to stamp out the fires of rebellion at the +head centre. The highway from Calcutta to Delhi was blocked up by mutiny +and insurrection; and every European soldier sent up from Calcutta was +stopped for the relief of Benares, Allahabad, Cawnpore, or Lucknow. But +the possession of the Punjab at this crisis proved to be the salvation +of the empire. Sir John Lawrence, Chief Commissioner in the Punjab, was +called upon for almost superhuman work; to maintain order in a conquered +province; to suppress mutiny and disaffection among the very sepoy +regiments from Bengal that were supposed to garrison the country; and to +send reënforcements of troops and guns, and supplies of all +descriptions, to the siege of Delhi. Fortunately the Sikhs had been only +a few short years under British administration; they had not forgotten +the miseries that prevailed under the native Government, and could +appreciate the many blessings they enjoyed under British rule. They were +stanch to the British Government, and eager to be led against the +rebels. In some cases terrible punishment was meted out to mutinous +Bengal sepoys within the Punjab, but the Imperial interests at stake +were sufficient to justify every severity, although all must regret the +painful necessity that called for such extreme measures. + +On June 8th, about a month after the revolt at Delhi, Sir Henry Barnard +took the field at Alipur, about ten miles from the rebel capital. He +defeated an advance division of the enemy, and then marched to the Ridge +and reoccupied the old cantonment which had been abandoned on May 11th. +So far it was clear that the rebels were unable to do anything in the +open field, although they might fight bravely under cover. They numbered +about thirty thousand strong; they had a very powerful artillery and +ample stores of ammunition, while there was an abundance of provisions +within the city throughout the siege. + +In the middle of August, Brigadier John Nicholson, one of the most +distinguished officers of the time, came up from the Punjab with a +brigade and siege-train. On September 4th a heavy train of artillery was +brought in from Firozpur. The British force on the Ridge now exceeded +eight thousand men. Hitherto the artillery had been too weak to attempt +to breach the city walls; but now fifty-four heavy guns were brought +into position and the siege began in earnest. From September 8th to 12th +four batteries poured in a constant storm of shot and shell; number one +was directed against the Cashmere bastion, number two against the right +flank of the Cashmere bastion, number three against the Water bastion, +and number four against the Cashmere and Water gates and bastions. On +September 13th the breaches were declared to be practicable, and the +following morning was fixed for the final assault upon the doomed city. + +At three o'clock in the morning of September 14th three assaulting +columns were formed in the trenches, while a fourth was kept in reserve. +The first column was led by Brigadier Nicholson; the second by Brigadier +Jones; the third by Colonel Campbell; and the fourth, or reserve, by +Brigadier Longfield. + +The powder-bags were laid at the Cashmere gate by Lieutenants Home and +Salkeld. The explosion followed, and the third column rushed in, and +pushed toward the Jumna Musjid. Meanwhile the first column under +Nicholson escaladed the breaches near the Cashmere gate, and pushed +along the ramparts toward the Kabul gate, carrying the several bastions +in the way. Here it was met by the second column under Brigadier Jones, +who had escaladed the breach at the Water bastion. + +The advancing columns were met by a ceaseless fire from terraced houses, +mosques, and other buildings; and John Nicholson, the hero of the day, +while attempting to storm a narrow street near the Kabul gate, was +struck down by a shot and mortally wounded. Then followed six days of +desperate warfare. No quarter was given to men with arms in their hands; +but women and children were spared, and only a few of the peaceable +inhabitants were sacrificed during the storm. + +On September 20th the gates of the old fortified palace of the Moguls +were broken open, but the royal inmates had fled. No one was left but a +few wounded sepoys and fugitive fanatics. The old King, Bahadur Shah, +had gone off to the great mausoleum without the city, known as the tomb +of Humayun. It was a vast quadrangle raised on terraces and enclosed +with walls. It contained towers, buildings, and monumental marbles in +memory of different members of the once distinguished family, as well as +extensive gardens, surrounded with cloistered cells for the +accommodation of pilgrims. + +On September 21st Captain Hodson rode to the tomb, arrested the King, +and brought him back to Delhi with other members of the family, and +lodged them in the palace. The next day he went again, with one hundred +horsemen, and arrested two sons of the King in the midst of a crowd of +armed retainers, and brought them away in a native carriage. Near the +city the carriage was surrounded by a tumultuous crowd; and Hodson, who +was afraid of a rescue, shot both princes with his pistol, and placed +their bodies in a public place for all men to see. + +Thus fell the imperial city; captured by the army under Brigadier Wilson +before the arrival of any of the reënforcements from England. The losses +were heavy. From the beginning of the siege to the close, the British +army at Delhi had nearly four thousand killed and wounded. The +casualties on the side of the rebels were never estimated. Two bodies of +sepoys broke away from the city and fled down the valleys of the Jumna +and Ganges, followed by two flying columns under Brigadiers Greathed and +Showers. But the great mutiny and revolt at Delhi had been stamped out, +and the flag of England waved triumphantly over the capital of +Hindustan. + +The capture of Delhi, in September, 1857, was the turning-point in the +sepoy mutinies. The revolt was crushed beyond redemption; the rebels +were deprived of their head centre; and the Mogul King was a prisoner at +the mercy of the power whom he had defied. But there were still troubles +in India. Lucknow was still beleaguered by a rebel army, and +insurrections still ran riot in Oudh and Rohilkhand. + +In the middle of August General Havelock had fallen back on Cawnpore, +after the failure of his first campaign for the relief of Lucknow. Five +weeks afterward Havelock made a second attempt under better auspices. +Sir Colin Campbell had arrived at Calcutta as Commander-in-Chief. Sir +James Outram had come up to Allahabad. On September 16th, while the +British troops were storming the streets of Delhi, Outram joined +Havelock and Neill at Cawnpore with fourteen hundred men. As senior +officer he might have assumed the command; but with generous chivalry +the "Bayard of India" waived his rank in honor of Havelock. + +On September 20th General Havelock crossed the Ganges into Oudh at the +head of twenty-five hundred men. The next day he defeated a rebel army +and put it to flight, while four of the enemy's guns were captured by +Outram at the head of a body of volunteer cavalry. On the 23d Havelock +routed a still larger rebel force which was strongly posted at a garden +in the suburbs of Lucknow, known as the "Alumbagh." He then halted to +give his soldiers a day's rest. On the 25th he was cutting his way +through the streets and lanes of the city of Lucknow--running the +gauntlet of a deadly and unremitting fire from the houses en both sides +of the streets, and also from guns which commanded them. On the evening +of the same day he entered the British intrenchments; but in the moment +of victory a chance shot carried off the gallant Neill. + +The defence of the British residency at Lucknow is a glorious episode in +the national annals. The fortitude of the beleaguered garrison was the +admiration of the world. The women nursed the wounded and performed +every womanly duty with self-sacrificing heroism; and when the fight was +over they received the well-merited thanks of Her Majesty Queen +Victoria. + +During four long months the garrison had known nothing of what was going +on in the outer world. They were aware of the advance and retreat of +Havelock, and that was all. At last, on September 23d, they heard the +booming of the guns at the Alumbagh. On the morning of the 25th they +could see something of the growing excitement in the city; the people +abandoning their houses and flying across the river. Still the guns of +the rebels kept up a heavy cannonade upon the residency, and volleys of +musketry continued to pour upon the besieged from the loopholes of the +besiegers. But soon the firing was heard from the city; the welcome +sounds came nearer and nearer. The excitement of the garrison grew +beyond control. Presently the relieving force was seen fighting its way +toward the residency. Then the pent-up feelings of the garrison burst +forth in deafening cheers; and wounded men in hospital crawled out to +join in the chorus of welcome. Then followed personal greetings as +officers and men came pouring in. Hands were frantically shaken on all +sides. Rough-bearded soldiers took the children from their mothers' +arms, kissed them with tears rolling down their cheeks, and thanked God +that they had come in time to save them from the fate of the sufferers +at Cawnpore. + +Thus after a siege of nearly four months Havelock succeeded in relieving +Lucknow. But it was a reenforcement rather than a relief, and was +confined to the British residency. The siege was not raised; and the +city of Lucknow remained two months longer in the hands of the rebels. +Sir James Outram assumed the command, but was compelled to keep on the +defensive. Meanwhile reinforcements were arriving from England. In +November Sir Colin Campbell reached Cawnpore at the head of a +considerable army. He left General Windham with two thousand men to take +charge of the intrenchment at Cawnpore, and then advanced against +Lucknow with five thousand men and thirty guns. He carried several of +the enemy's positions, cut his way to the residency, and at last brought +away the beleaguered garrison, with all the women and children. But not +even then could he disperse the rebels and reoccupy the city. +Accordingly he left Outram at the head of four thousand men in the +neighborhood of Lucknow, and then returned to Cawnpore. + +On November 24th, the day after leaving Lucknow, General Havelock was +carried off by dysentery, and buried in the Alumbagh. His death spread a +gloom over India, but by this time his name had become a household word +wherever the English language was spoken. In the hour of surprise and +panic, as successive stories of mutiny and rebellion reached England, +and culminated in the revolt at Delhi and massacre at Cawnpore, the +victories of Havelock revived the drooping spirits of the British +nation, and stirred up all hearts to glorify the hero who had stemmed +the tide of disaffection and disaster. The death of Havelock, following +the story of the capture of Delhi, and told with the same breath that +proclaimed the deliverance at Lucknow, was received in England with a +universal sorrow that will never be forgotten so long as men are living +who can recall the memory of the "Mutiny of Fifty-seven." + +The subsequent history of the sepoy revolt is little more than a detail +of the military operations of British troops for the dispersion of the +rebels and restoration of order and law. Sir Colin Campbell [Footnote: +Died at Chatham, England, August 14, 1863.--ED.]--later made Baron Clyde +of Clydesdale--undertook a general campaign against the rebels in Oudh +and Rohilkhand, and restored order and law in those disaffected +Provinces; while Sir James Outram drove the rebels out of Lucknow, and +reëstablished British sovereignty in the capital of Oudh. + + + + +(1859) BATTLES OF MAGENTA AND SOLFERINO, Pietro Orsi + + +During the Crimean War (1853-1856) Austria remained neutral, while the +Italian Kingdom of Sardinia joined Great Britain, France, and Turkey +against Russia. The power of Austria still kept despotic sway over the +States of Italy, and it was the aim of Victor Emmanuel, King of +Sardinia, to throw off this hinderance to Italian liberty and union. It +was the opinion of Count Cavour, Victor Emmanuel's minister, that, by +acting with the allies against Russia, Sardinia would increase her +prestige with the European Powers, and thereby promote the movement for +independence. The success of the allies in the Crimean War confirmed the +prescience of Cavour. + +Napoleon III wished to secure for France supremacy in southern Europe. +In 1855 he inquired of the Sardinian minister, "What can I do for +Italy?" The Crimean War ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1856. At the +congress which concluded that peace Cavour presented the case of Italy +against Austria. Not long after this it became evident that Napoleon was +prepared to espouse the Italian cause. In 1858 it was agreed that he +should do this. + +Sardinia now prepared for war. Austria sent an ultimatum demanding a +reduction of the Sardinian army to a peace footing, This demand was +refused. In January, 1859, Austria mobilized fresh troops on the Italian +frontier, and Cavour requested Garibaldi to organize a volunteer corps +to be called _Cacciatori delle Alpi_ ("Hunters of the Alps"). Still +Cavour disclaimed a warlike policy, denying that the hostile initiative +was taken by Sardinia, although in this position he was opposed by some +members of his own Parliament. Nevertheless Cavour declared: "I believe +I am justified in proclaiming aloud, in the presence of Parliament, of +the nation, and of Europe, that if there has been provocation it was +offered by Austria." As shown by Orsi, the Italian historian, the great +minister maintained this attitude as long as it was possible to hold +back from the actual conflict. + +Cavour insisted that Austria must be the aggressive party, for in the +treaty with Napoleon III it had been stipulated that France would come +to the help of Sardinia only in case of the latter being attacked by +Austria. Hence Cavour was obliged to seek every means of putting his +country into the attitude of the provoked party. How many +disappointments, uncertainties, and anxieties crowded those days, from +February to the end of April, 1859! In order to understand the enormous +difficulties overcome by Cavour it would be necessary to follow +literally, day by day, the history of that period. In March he repaired +to Paris to ascertain Napoleon's action: it was too evident, however, +that French public opinion was unfavorable to war, and the Emperor was +wavering. Russia and England suggested that the question should be +solved by a congress, to which proposal Napoleon III acceded: Cavour now +believed all was lost, since Sardinia could not refuse without putting +herself in the wrong. Fortunately, the difficulty was solved by Austria +boldly insisting that Sardinia should disarm before being represented at +the congress, and on April 23d this demand was enforced by an ultimatum, +to be answered within three days. + +Now ensued a genuine declaration of hostilities, and most joyfully did +Victor Emmanuel make the following announcement to his troops: +"Soldiers! Austria, who masses her armies on our frontiers and threatens +to invade our country because liberty and order rule there; because +concord and affection between sovereign and people--and not force--sway +the State; because there the anguished cry of oppressed Italy is +listened to--Austria dares to tell us, who are armed only in our own +defence, to lay down those arms and put ourselves in her power. Such an +outrageous suggestion surely merits a condign response, and I have +indignantly refused her request. I announce this to you in the certainty +that you will make the wrong done to your King and to your nation your +own. Hence mine is a proclamation of war: arm yourselves therefore in +readiness for it! + +"You will be confronted by an ancient enemy who is both valiant and +disciplined, but against whom you need not fear to measure your +strength, for you may remember with pride Goito, Pastrengo, Santa Lucia, +Sommacampagna, and, above all, Custozza, where four brigades fought for +three days against the enemy's five _corps d'armée_. I will be your +leader. Your prowess in action has already been tested in the past, and +when fighting under my magnanimous father I myself proudly recognized +your valor. I am convinced that on the field of honor and glory you will +know how to justify, as well as to augment, your military renown. + +"You will have as comrades those intrepid French troops--the conquerors +in so many distinguished campaigns--with whom you fought side by side at +Tchernaya, whom Napoleon III, always prompt to further the defence of a +righteous cause and the victory of civilization, generously sends in +great numbers to our aid. March then, confident of success, and wreathe +with fresh laurels that standard which, rallying from all quarters the +flower of Italian youth to its threefold colors, points out your task of +accomplishing that righteous and sacred enterprise--the independence of +Italy, wherein we find our war-cry." + +The Austrian army to the number of one hundred seventy thousand +men--besides those remaining in the Lombardo-Venetian fortresses--was +commanded by General Gyulai, the successor of Radetzky, who had died the +year before, at the age of ninety-one. Gyulai meant to attack and rout +the Sardinian army before it could join its French allies. On April 29th +he crossed the Ticino; then spreading out his forces along the Sesia, he +reconnoitred as far as Chivasso. These districts abound in cultivated +rice-fields and are intersected by many canals: it was therefore easy, +by flooding the ground, to hinder the march of the Austrian troops on +Turin. + +Meanwhile, the Sardinian army, composed of sixty thousand men, awaited +the arrival of the French forces on the right bank of the Po. On May +12th Napoleon III, already preceded into Italy by one hundred twenty +thousand of his men, debarked at Genoa, and on the 14th was at +Alessandria, where, near the mouth of the Tanaro, the allied armies met. +The Austrian troops covered a long tract, from Novara to Vercelli, then +extended down the line of the Sesia as far as the Po, and thence reached +the mouth of the Tanaro. Gyulai, seeing the enemy concentrated on the +right bank of the Po, believed that Napoleon. III intended crossing that +river in the direction of Piacenza--as Napoleon I had crossed in +1796--and so massed his troops to the south. At this juncture a portion +of his army encountered the French and Sardinians at Montebello, where +the extreme right wing of the allies was posted. The Austrian General +met with such a determined resistance that he imagined this must be the +centre of the enemy, and felt convinced that he had guessed the latter's +intention; he therefore caused his army to pursue its march southward. + +By this movement Vercelli was abandoned by the Austrians and it was +immediately reoccupied by the Sardinians. + +Napoleon now prepared a bold flank movement, by leaving the Po for the +Ticino, and to mask this manoeuvre ordered the Sardinians to make an +advance. Thus, while Victor Emmanuel, at the head of his men, flung +himself from Vercelli on Palestro--meriting, by the skill of his +military tactics, the acclamations of a regiment of zouaves whom he +headed as corporal--the French, taking ad vantage of the Alessandria, +Casale, and Novara Railway, made for the bridge of Buffalora over the +Ticino. Only then did Gyulai perceive this clever stratagem which threw +Lombardy open to the allies, and he was consequently obliged to cross +the Ticino to block the enemy's way to Milan. + +On June 4th, at Magenta, nearly the whole of the Austrian army engaged +the French forces; the battle, which was most desperate, lasted all day, +and was remarkable for the prodigies of valor performed. The Austrians, +driven back into Magenta itself, maintained, even in that village, such +a stout resistance that they had to be dislodged by house-to-house +fighting. + +On June 8th Victor Emmanuel and Napoleon III made their triumphal entry +into Milan--now freed from the Austrian yoke. On the same day a French +corps repulsed the Austrians at Melegnano, while Garibaldi entered +Bergamo from the other side. Garibaldi, who had been the last to leave +Lombardy in 1848, was now the first to set foot in its territory in +1859. Since May 23d he had led his own Cacciatori to the Lombard shores +of Lake Maggiore, had defeated the Austrians at Varese, entered Como, +routed the enemy afresh at San Fermo, and was now proceeding to Bergamo +and Brescia, with the intention of reaching the Trentine Alps, to cut +off the enemy's retreat. + +After the Battle of Magenta, Gyulai had been dismissed from the command, +and his post was assumed by the Emperor Francis Joseph himself, assisted +by the aged Marshal Hess. On the night of June 23d the retreating +Austrians crossed the Mincio, but a few hours after retraced their steps +and took up their position on the hills to the south of the Lake of +Garda. On the morning of the 24th the Franco-Sardinian army began their +march at dawn, and shortly afterward, to their great amazement, +encountered the Austrians, who they imagined had crossed the Mincio the +night before. The struggle was terrible; in fact, the line covered by +the fighting extended a distance of five leagues. + +A series of hills, dominated by Solferino and San Martino, formed the +positions the Franco-Sardinian army had to assail. The French contested +Solferino with the Austrians, and, after a hotly disputed battle of more +than twelve hours, succeeded in occupying it. The Sardinians, led by +Victor Emmanuel, made a violent assault on San Martino; four times in +succession did they take it, only to lose it again, but the fifth time +they made themselves masters of it for good and all. By six o'clock in +the evening the strength of the Austrian army was everywhere broken. +Just then a frightful hurricane, heralded by clouds of dust and +accompanied by torrents of rain, burst over the two armies and thus +favored the flight of the Austrian battalions. Napoleon III now fixed +his headquarters at Cavriana, in the same house that Francis Joseph had +tenanted during the action. On that vast battlefield the combatants had +numbered three hundred thousand men--one hundred sixty thousand +Austrians and one hundred forty thousand French and Sardinians--of all +these, after that sanguinary struggle, twenty-five thousand were left +dead or wounded. + +After a few days' rest the Franco-Sardinian army crossed the Mincio and +besieged Peschiera. Now there seemed a chance of the Italians fulfilling +the hope they had so long cherished, of expelling the foreigners. They +confidently awaited news of fresh feats of arms in the Quadrilateral and +of the success of the fleet sent by France and Sardinia into Adriatic +waters, but instead came the most unexpected tidings imaginable. + +On July 8th Napoleon III had met Francis Joseph, and three days later +the preliminaries of peace were signed at Villafranca. By this treaty +Austria was to cede Lombardy to Napoleon, who was to relegate it to +Sardinia; the Italian States were to be amalgamated into a +confederation, under the Presidency of the Pope, but Venice, though +forming part of this same confederation, was to remain under Austrian +rule. Great indeed was the mortification of all Italy on hearing such +terms of peace announced. Cavour, who had devoted all his marvellous +talents to realizing the ideal of national redemption and had believed +his ends so nearly attained, hastened to his Prince, and, in a +melancholy interview, advised him not to accept such conditions. But +Victor Emmanuel, although it caused his very heart to bleed, signed the +treaty, adding these words: "I approve as far as I myself am concerned," +whereupon Cavour sent in his resignation. + +What was the motive that had induced Napoleon to break his lately made +promise of freeing Italy from the Alps to the Adriatic? There were many +reasons which influenced him: the sight of that immense battlefield, +strewn with the bodies of the slain, the determined resistance of the +Austrian soldiers, the difficulties which would have to be faced in the +Quadrilateral, the hostile attitude of Prussia, were all motives which +combined to sway the French Emperor's mind. But there was also another +reason which counted for much. Napoleon had been drawn into this +campaign without really knowing the state of Italian public opinion; he +wished Italy to be free "from the Alps to the Adriatic," but did not +want Italian unity; rather did he desire the formation of a confederacy +wherein France could always make her own predominance felt in the +peninsula. Scarcely had he arrived in Italy when he was forced to see +that Italian ideals were very different from what he had imagined them +to be. Trials had but ripened the virtues of prudence and wisdom in +men's minds: in 1859 the people were little likely to repeat the +blunders of 1848 or 1849, and there were now no longer discussions over +forms of government, but everywhere a unanimous resolve to rally round +the liberal monarchy of Savoy. + +On the first proclamation of the war the Grand Duke of Tuscany had been +compelled to fly from his States (April 27th). Napoleon had imagined +that in this Province--the ancient stronghold of Italian +municipalism--it would be easy to form a new kingdom with a Bonaparte to +wear its crown. With this aim in view the fifth French army corps, +commanded by Prince Jerome Napoleon, had debarked at Leghorn, under the +pretext of organizing the military forces of Central Italy and harassing +the Austrians on the extreme left. But the Tuscans soon divined the real +intention of the French, and the Provisional Government in Florence, +previously instituted under Bettino Ricasoli, suddenly avowed its +intention of uniting Tuscany to Sardinia, whereupon Prince Napoleon, +seeing the true attitude of the country, found it advisable to affect to +promote the annexation. + +The duchies of Parma and Modena had also been deserted by their dukes, +and the papal legates had to quit Romagna, whose inhabitants now +suddenly announced their fusion with Sardinia. Indeed this impulse for +annexation now began to spread, and to the cry of "Victor Emmanuel" the +Marches and Umbria revolted against the Pontiff, but in these regions +the movement was sanguinarily suppressed by the Swiss troops. + +Napoleon III was displeased to note how all Italian aspirations tended +to unity, and thus it was that he had signed the Treaty of Villafranca. +Peace was concluded at Zurich in the November following, and there the +idea of an Italian confederation was mooted afresh. + +The fugitive princes ought to have returned to their States, but how was +it possible? They certainly could not hope to be recalled by their +subjects, for the latter had expelled them; occupying their kingdoms +with troops of their own was out of the question, because they had none; +foreign aid, moreover, was not to be looked for, since Napoleon III had +established the principle of non-intervention. Then the people of +Central Italy showed themselves capable of a bold political _coup:_ +under the leadership of Bettino Ricasoli, dictator in Tuscany, and Luigi +Carlo Farini--who held a similar office in Emilia and Romagna--they +declared, by means of their assembled Deputies, their earnest desire to +be incorporated with Sardinia. + +The new Ministry formed at Turin, after Cavour's resignation, had +pursued its way timidly, fearing to rouse the suspicion and displeasure +of the European Powers, but at this momentous and difficult juncture +Cavour again accepted the premiership (January 20, 1860). He immediately +gave a bolder impetus to King Victor Emmanuel's policy by sending a note +to all the Powers, in which he asserted it to be now impossible for +Sardinia to offer any resistance to the inevitable course of events. +Cavour imagined that since Napoleon III had obtained the imperial throne +by a plebiscite, he would not deny the validity of such a claim in +Italy, and forthwith submitted this idea to the Emperor, who was bound +to approve of it. But the French nation was discontented, imagining that +the blood it had shed for Italy had profited nothing, and was, moreover, +very averse to the formation of a powerful kingdom beyond the Alps. + +Now it was that Cavour determined on a great sacrifice. In the +convention of Plombières it had been agreed that, in the event of a +kingdom of eleven million inhabitants being established from the Alps to +the Adriatic, Sardinia would cede Savoy to France. As, however, by the +Treaty of Villafranca, Venetia had remained under the Austrian yoke, no +more had been said about cession of territory, but by the annexation of +Central Italy the number of Victor Emmanuel's subjects was now augmented +to eleven millions. In order to induce Napoleon III to approve of such +an annexation Cavour offered him Savoy, but the Emperor claimed Nice as +well, and the Minister was obliged to accede to his demands. On March +24, 1860, Savoy, the cradle of the reigning dynasty, and Nice, +Garibaldi's native Province, were ceded to France. Garibaldi, deeply +wounded in his tenderest feelings, violently abused Cavour in +Parliament, but the Chamber, although it respected the hero's emotion, +ratified the treaty which was at this crisis a necessary concession. + +At the same time Parma, Modena, Romagna, and Tuscany expressed by +universal suffrage their cordial desire for union with Sardinia, and a +few days later the fusion of these provinces with the dominions of the +house of Savoy was an accomplished fact. On April 2, 1860, at the +opening of the new Parliament, Victor Emmanuel could thus sum up the +results already obtained by the nationalist party: "In a very short +space of time an invasion repulsed, Lombardy liberated by valiant feats +of arms, Central Italy freed by her people's wonderful strength, and +to-day, assembled around me here, the representatives of the rights and +hopes of the nation." + + + + +(1859) DARWIN PUBLISHES HIS ORIGIN OF SPECIES, Charles Robert Darwin + + +Whatever may be said of the credit due to other scientists for +investigation or discovery in natural selection, the preeminence of +Darwin in this field is undisputed. If of any scientific book it can be +said that its appearance was "epoch-making" it is true of Darwin's work +_On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the +Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life_. Not only did it +command the earnest attention of the scientific and literary world, but +it awakened the interest of thoughtful persons everywhere. Later +research and criticism have modified the effect of his conclusions and +led to new results, but the "Darwinian theory" or "Darwinism" still +holds and seems likely long to maintain a central place in the history +of modern scientific development. + +Charles Robert Darwin was born at Shrewsbury, England, February 12, +1809. He was the grandson of Erasmus Darwin, an eminent physician, +naturalist, and poet, who in 1794-1796 published an important work +entitled _Zoönomia, or the Laws of Organic Life_. Charles Darwin was +heir to a fortune, and in youth the possession of ample means prevented +him from taking any deep interest in studying for a profession, although +he did study medicine and, later, for the church. But before reaching +his majority he turned to natural history. At Cambridge he enjoyed an +intimacy with the distinguished botanist Professor John S. Henslow, who +quickened the young man's enthusiasm for scientific investigation. + +In his twenty-third year Darwin went as naturalist with a government +expedition to Patagonia. The voyage, in the Beagle (1831-1836), was +continued round the world. Darwin's journals of the expedition served +him in his later work, and also furnished much material for popular +information. From 1842, when he went to reside at Down, in Kent, he +devoted himself wholly to a life of scientific research and writing. + +Since it is not an uncommon error to confound natural selection with +evolution, it may be well to point out that, while based on evolution, +Darwinism is distinct from it. Evolution is the development of new +organisms through heredity, variation, and adaptation. Darwinism, or the +doctrine of natural selection, as best defined in these pages by Darwin +himself, is seen to involve quite different factors from those of +evolution as thus restricted. For candor and childlike simplicity, the +writings of Darwin are especially noteworthy among the modest utterances +of great men, and nowhere are these qualities more strikingly revealed +than in the following account of the production of his principal work. + +From September, 1854, I devoted my whole time to arranging my huge pile +of notes, to observing, and to experimenting in relation to the +transmutation of species. During the voyage of the Beagle I had been +deeply impressed by discovering in the pampean formation great fossil +animals covered with armor like that on the existing armadillos; +secondly, by the manner in which closely allied animals replace one +another in proceeding southward over the continent; and thirdly, by the +South American character of most of the productions of the Galapagos +Archipelago, and more especially by the manner in which they differ +slightly on each island of the group, none of the islands appearing to +be very ancient, in a geological sense. + +It was evident that such facts as these, as well as many others, could +be explained only on the supposition that species gradually become +modified; and the subject haunted me. But it was equally evident that +neither the action of the surrounding conditions nor the will of the +organisms (especially in the case of plants) could account for the +innumerable cases in which organisms of every kind are beautifully +adapted to their habits of life--for instance, a woodpecker or a +tree-frog to climb trees, or a seed for dispersal by hooks or plumes. I +had always been much struck by such adaptations, and until these could +be explained it seemed to me almost useless to endeavor to prove by +indirect evidence that species have been modified. + +After my return to England it appeared to me that by following the +example of Lyell in geology, and by collecting all facts which bore in +any way on the variation of animals and plants under domestication and +nature, some light might perhaps be thrown on the whole subject. My +first note-book was opened in July, 1837. I worked on true Baconian +principles, and without any theory collected facts on a wholesale scale, +more especially with respect to domesticated productions, by printed +inquiries, by conversation with skilful breeders and gardeners, and by +extensive reading. When I see the list of books of all kinds which I +read and abstracted, including whole series of journals and +transactions, I am surprised at my industry. I soon perceived that +selection was the keystone of man's success in making useful races of +animals and plants. But how selection could be applied to organisms +living in a state of nature remained for some time a mystery to me. + +In October, 1838, that is, fifteen months after I had begun my +systematic inquiry, I happened to read for amusement Malthus's _Essay on +the Principle of Population_, and being well prepared to appreciate the +struggle for existence which everywhere goes on, from long-continued +observation of the habits of animals and plants, it at once struck me +that under these circumstances favorable variations would tend to be +preserved, and unfavorable ones to be destroyed. The result of this +would be the formation of new species. Here then I had at last got a +theory by which to work; but I was so anxious to avoid prejudice that I +determined not for some time to write even the briefest sketch of it. In +June, 1842, I first allowed myself the satisfaction of writing a very +brief abstract of my theory in pencil in thirty-five pages; and this was +enlarged during the summer of 1844 into one of two hundred thirty pages, +which I had fairly copied out and still possess. + +But at that time I overlooked one problem of great importance; and it is +astonishing to me, except on the principle of Columbus and his egg, how +I could have overlooked it and its solution. This problem is the +tendency in organic beings descended from the same stock to diverge in +character as they become modified. That they have diverged greatly is +obvious from the manner in which species of all kinds can be classed +under genera, genera under families, families under sub-orders and so +on; and I can remember the very spot in the road, while riding in my +carriage, that, to my joy, the solution occurred to me; and this was +long after I had come to Down. The solution, as I believe, is that the +modified offspring of all dominant and increasing forms tend to become +adapted to many and highly diversified places in the economy of nature. + +Early in 1856 Lyell advised me to write out my views fully, and I began +at once to do so on a scale three or four times as extensive as that +which was afterward followed in my _Origin of Species_; yet it was only +an abstract of the materials which I had collected, and I got through +about half the work on this scale. But my plans were overthrown, for +early in the summer of 1858 Alfred Russel Wallace, who was then in the +Malay Archipelago, sent me an essay _On the Tendency of Varieties to +Depart Indefinitely from the Original Type_, and this essay contained +exactly the same theory as mine. Mr. Wallace expressed the wish that if +I thought well of his essay, I should send it to Lyell for perusal. + +The circumstances under which I consented, at the request of Lyell and +Hooker, to allow of an abstract from my manuscript, together with a +letter to Asa Gray, dated September 5, 1857, to be published at the same +time with Wallace's essay, are given in the _Journal of the Proceedings +of the Linnean Society_, 1858. I was at first very unwilling to consent, +as I thought Mr. Wallace might consider my doing so unjustifiable, for I +did not then know how generous and noble was his disposition. Neither +the extract from my manuscript nor the letter to Gray had been intended +for publication, and they were badly written. Mr. Wallace's essay, on +the other hand, was admirably expressed and quite clear. Nevertheless, +our joint productions excited very little attention, and the only +published notice of them which I can remember was by Professor Haughton, +of Dublin, whose verdict was that all that was new in them was false, +and what was true was old. This shows how necessary it is that any new +view should be explained at considerable length in order to arouse +public attention. + +In September, 1858, I set to work by the strong advice of Lyell and +Hooker to prepare a volume on the transmutation of species, but was +often interrupted by ill-health and short visits to Doctor Lane's +delightful hydropathic establishment at Moor Park. I abstracted the +manuscript begun on a much larger scale in 1856, and completed the +volume on the same reduced scale. It cost me thirteen months and ten +days' hard labor. It was published under the title of the _Origin of +Species_, in November, 1859. Though considerably added to and corrected +in the later editions, it has remained substantially the same book. + +It is no doubt the chief work of my life. It was from the first highly +successful. The first small edition of twelve hundred fifty copies was +sold on the day of publication, and a second edition of three thousand +copies soon afterward. Sixteen thousand copies have now (1876) been sold +in England; and considering how stiff a book it is, this is a large +number. It has been translated into almost every European tongue, even +into such languages as Spanish, Bohemian, Polish, and Russian. It has +also, according to Miss Bird, been translated into Japanese, and is much +studied in that country. Even an essay on it has appeared in Hebrew, +showing that the theory is contained in the Old Testament! The reviews +were very numerous; for some time I collected all that appeared on the +_Origin_ and on my related books, and these amount (excluding newspaper +reviews) to two hundred sixty-five; but after a time I gave up the +attempt in despair. Many separate essays and books on the subject have +appeared; and in Germany a catalogue, or bibliography, on "Darwinismus" +has appeared every year or two. + +The success of the _Origin_ may, I think, be attributed in large part to +my having long before written two condensed sketches, and to my having +finally abstracted a much larger manuscript, which was itself an +abstract. By this means I was enabled to select the more striking facts +and conclusions. I had also during many years followed a golden rule, +namely, whenever a published fact, a new observation or thought, came +across me which was opposed to my general results, to make a memorandum +of it without fail and at once; for I had found by experience that such +facts and thoughts were far more apt to escape from the memory than +favorable ones. Owing to this habit, very few objections were raised +against my views which I had not at least noticed and attempted to +answer. + +It has sometimes been said that the success of the _Origin_ proved "that +the subject was in the air," or "that men's minds were prepared for it." +I do not think that this is strictly true, for I occasionally sounded +not a few naturalists, and never happened to come across a single one +who seemed to doubt about the permanence of species. Even Lyell and +Hooker, though they would listen with interest to me, never seemed to +agree. I tried once or twice to explain to able men what I meant by +"natural selection," but signally failed. What I believe was strictly +true is that innumerable well-observed facts were stored in the minds of +naturalists ready to take their proper places as soon as any theory that +would receive them was sufficiently explained. Another element in the +success of the book was its moderate size; and this I owe to the +appearance of Mr. Wallace's essay; had I published on the scale in which +I began to write in 1856, the book would have been four or five times as +large as the _Origin_, and very few would have had the patience to read +it. I gained much by my delay in publishing from about 1839, when the +theory was clearly conceived, to 1859; and I lost nothing by it, for I +cared very little whether men attributed more originality to me or to +Wallace; and his essay no doubt aided in the reception of the theory. I +was forestalled in only one important point, which my vanity has always +made me regret, namely, the explanation, by means of the Glacial period, +of the presence of the same species of plants and of some few animals on +distant mountain summits and in the arctic regions. This view pleased me +so much that I wrote it out _in extenso_, and I believe that it was read +by Hooker some years before Edward Forbes published his celebrated +memoir on the subject. In the very few points in which we differed I +still think that I was in the right. I have never, of course, alluded in +print to my having independently worked out this view. + +Hardly any point gave me so much satisfaction, when I was at work on the +_Origin_, as the explanation of the wide difference in many classes +between the embryo and the adult animal, and of the close resemblance of +the embryos within the same class. No notice of this point was taken, as +far as I remember, in the early reviews of the _Origin_, and I recollect +expressing my surprise on this head in a letter to Asa Gray. Within late +years several reviewers have given the whole credit to Fritz Mueller and +Haeckel, who undoubtedly have worked it out much more fully and in some +respects more correctly than I did. I had materials for a whole chapter +on the subject, and I ought to have made the discussion longer; for it +is clear that I failed to impress my readers; and he who succeeds in +doing so deserves, in my opinion, all the credit. + +This leads me to remark that I have almost without exception been +treated honestly by my reviewers, passing over those without scientific +knowledge as not worthy of notice. My views have often been grossly +misrepresented, bitterly opposed and ridiculed, but this has been +generally done, as I believe, in good faith. On the whole I do not doubt +that my works have been repeatedly and greatly overpraised. I rejoice +that I have avoided controversies, and this I owe to Lyell, who many +years ago, in reference to my geological works, strongly advised me +never to get entangled in a controversy, as it rarely did any good and +caused a miserable loss of time and temper. + +Whenever I have found out that I have blundered, or that my work has +been imperfect, and when I have been contemptuously criticised, and even +when I have been overpraised, so that I have felt mortified, it has been +my greatest comfort to say hundreds of times to myself that "I have +worked as hard and as well as I could, and no man can do more than +this." I remember when in Good Success Bay, in Terra del Fuego, thinking +(and I believe that I wrote home to that effect) that I could not employ +my life better than in adding a little to natural science. This I have +done to the best of my abilities, and critics may say what they like, +but they cannot destroy this conviction. + +During the last two months of 1859 I was fully occupied in preparing a +second edition of the _Origin_, and by an enormous correspondence. On +January 1, 1860, I began arranging my notes for my work on the +_Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication,_ but it was not +published until the beginning of 1868, the delay having been caused +partly by frequent periods of illness, one of which lasted seven months, +and partly by being tempted to publish on other subjects which at the +time interested me more. + +My _Descent of Man_ was published in February, 1871. As soon as I had +become, in the year 1837 or 1838, convinced that species were mutable +productions, I could not avoid the belief that man must come under the +same law. Accordingly I collected notes on the subject for my own +satisfaction, but not, for a long time, with any intention of +publishing. Although in the _Origin of Species_ the derivation of any +particular species is never discussed, yet I thought it best, in order +that no honorable man should accuse me of concealing my views, to add +that by the work "light would be thrown on the origin of man and his +history." It would have been useless and injurious to the success of the +book to parade, without giving any evidence, my conviction with respect +to his origin. + +But when I found that many naturalists fully accepted the doctrine of +the evolution of species, it seemed to me advisable to work up such +notes as I possessed, and to publish a special treatise on the origin of +man. I was the more glad to do so as it gave me an opportunity of fully +discussing sexual selection--a subject which had always greatly +interested me. This subject, and that of the variation of our domestic +productions, together with the causes and laws of variation, +inheritance, and the intercrossing of plants, are the sole subjects +which I have been able to write about in full, so as to use all the +materials which I have collected. The _Descent of Man_ took me three +years to write, but then, as usual, some of this time was lost by +ill-health and some was consumed by preparing new editions and other +minor works. A second and largely corrected edition of the _Descent_ +appeared in 1874. + + + + +(1860) THE KINGDOM OF ITALY ESTABLISHED, Giuseppe Garibaldi and John + Webb Probyn + + +After the suppression of the Italian Revolution, by Austria, in 1849, +and the restoration of Austrian power in Italy, Charles Albert, King of +Sardinia, who had headed the movement for Italian independence and had +been defeated, abdicated in favor of his son, Victor Emmanuel. The new +King, as Victor Emmanuel II, succeeded to the throne March 23, 1849, the +day of his father's defeat at Novara. He was a liberal sovereign and +zealous for the cause of his country. With the aid of his great +minister, Count Cavour, he proceeded with the work of securing the unity +and freedom of Italy. In 1859 Sardinia and France, in alliance, defeated +Austria. In this war were made the substantial beginnings from which a +new Italian nationality was to be realized. Italian unity was not the +object of Napoleon III in his alliance with Italy against Austria, but +he did much to advance its prospects. He even promised the complete +liberation of Italy, but this promise he failed to fulfil, to the great +disappointment of Italian statesmen. Napoleon wished to see an Italian +confederation, with the Pope at its head, but this plan was rejected. + +Sicily and Naples, in Southern Italy, were still governed by a Bourbon +prince. It was necessary to get rid of him, but Victor Emmanuel did not +desire another war. The matter was decided through the action of +Garibaldi, whose first step toward ending the last remnant of Bourbon +rule in Italy was a bold descend upon Sicily. This movement he made +against the wishes of Cavour and in furtherance of the plans of "Young +Italy." His own account of his landing at Marsala and of the Battle of +Calatafimi--regarded by him as one of the most memorable in his military +experience--is as characteristic of Garibaldi the man and writer as were +his exploits characteristic of Garibaldi the soldier. + +The events that quickly followed Garibaldi's descent upon Sicily marked +the beginning of a new era in Italian history. After his victory at +Calatafimi Garibaldi moved toward Palermo, the capital. On May 24th the +Bourbon troops of Francis II, king of the Two Sicilies, marched out of +the city to meet him. By shrewd tactics Garibaldi outmaneuvre them. On +the 26th he marched on Palermo with about three thousand men, and +attacked the city on the 27th. The battle was a confused struggle of +military and civilians, many citizens of Palermo, armed with "daggers, +knives, spits, and iron instruments of any kind," taking part, in favor +of Garibaldi, in the street-fighting that accompanied the more regular +conflict. The city fell through revolt of the people and defection of +the King's troops rather than by the assaults of Garibaldi's men, +"twenty thousand soldiers of despotism" capitulating "before a handful +of citizens" self-devoted in the cause of freedom. + +By June 6th Garibaldi had complete possession of Palermo; other +successes in his famous campaign of liberation followed rapidly; and his +final triumph was achieved in the later events so eloquently described +by Probyn, the historian of Italy's progress through her most important +transformations in the nineteenth century. + + +GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI + +As we approached the western coast of Sicily we began to discover +sailing-vessels and steamers. On the roadstead of Marsala two men-of-war +were anchored, which turned out to be English. Having decided on landing +at Marsala, we approached that port, and reached it about noon. On +entering the harbor we found it full of merchant-vessels of different +nations. Fortune had indeed favored us and so guided our expedition that +we could not have arrived at a more propitious moment. The Bourbon +cruisers had left the harbor of Marsala that morning, sailing eastward, +while we were arriving from the west; indeed, they were still in sight +toward Cape San Marco as we entered, so that by the time they came +within cannon-shot we had already landed all the men out of the Piemonte +and were beginning to debark those on board the Lombardo. + +The presence of the two English men-of-war in some degree influenced the +determination of the Bourbon commanders, who were naturally impatient to +open fire on us, and this circumstance gave us time to get our whole +force on shore. The noble English flag once more helped to prevent +bloodshed, and I, the Benjamin of these lords of the ocean, was for the +hundredth time protected by them. The assertion, however, made by our +enemies, that the English had directly favored and assisted our landing +at Marsala, was inaccurate. The British colors, flying from the two +men-of-war and the English consulate, made the Bourbon mercenaries +hesitate, and, I might even say, impressed them with a sense of shame at +pouring the fire of their imposing batteries into a handful of men armed +only with the kind of muskets usually supplied by the Government to +Italian volunteers. + +Notwithstanding this, three-fourths of the volunteers were still on the +quay when the Bourbons began firing on them with shells and +grape-shot--happily, without injury to anyone. The Piemonte, abandoned +by us, was carried off by the enemy, who left the Lombardo, which had +grounded on a sand-bank. + +The population of Marsala, thunderstruck at this unexpected event, +received us pretty well, all things considered. The common people, +indeed, were delighted; the magnates welcomed us under protest. I +thought all this very natural. Those who are accustomed to calculate +everything at so much per cent, are not likely to be reassured by the +sight of a few desperadoes, who wish to ameliorate a corrupt society by +eradicating from it the cancer of privilege and falsehood, especially +when these desperadoes, few as they are, and with neither +three-hundred-pounders nor ironclads, fling themselves against a power +believed to be gigantic, like that of the Bourbon. + +Men of high rank--that is, the privileged class--before risking anything +in an enterprise wish to assure themselves which way the wind of fortune +blows and where the large battalions are; and then the victorious force +may be certain of finding them compliant, cordial, and even enthusiastic +if need be. Is not this the history of human selfishness in every +country? The poor people, on the other hand, welcomed us with applause +and with unmistakable tokens of affection. They thought of nothing but +the sacredness of the sacrifice, the difficult and noble task undertaken +by that handful of gallant young fellows, who had come from such a +distance to the succor of their brethren. + +We passed the remainder of the day and the following night at Marsala, +where I began to profit by the services of Crispi, an honest and capable +Sicilian, who was of the greatest use to me in government business, and +in making all necessary arrangements which my want of local knowledge +prevented my doing myself. A dictatorship was spoken of, and I accepted +it without hesitation, having always believed it the plank of safety in +urgent cases, amid the breakers in which nations often find themselves. + +On the morning of the 12th the "Thousand" [Footnote: Garibaldi landed +with a force of one thousand volunteers.--Ed.] left for Salemi, but, the +distance being too great for one _étape_, we stopped at the farm of +Mistretta, where we passed the night. We did not find the proprietor at +home, but a young man, his brother, did the honors with kindly and +liberal hospitality. At Mistretta we formed a new company under +Griziotti. On the 13th we marched to Salemi, where we were well received +by the people and were joined by the companies of Sant' Anna d'Alcamo +and some other volunteers of the island. + +On the 14th we occupied Vita, or San Vito, and on the 15th came in sight +of the enemy, who, occupying Calatafimi and knowing of our approach in +that direction, had spread out the great part of their forces on the +heights called _Il Pianto dei Romani_. + +The dawn of May 15th found us in good order on the heights of Vita; and +a little later the enemy, whom I knew to be at Calatafimi, left the city +in column, marching toward us. The hills of Vita are confronted by the +heights of the Pianto dei Romani, where the enemy deployed his columns. +On the Calatafimi side these heights have a gentle slope, easily +ascended by the enemy, who covered all the highest points, while on the +Vita side they are steep and precipitous. + +Occupying the opposite and southern heights, I had been able to perceive +exactly all the positions held by the Bourbonists, while the latter +could scarcely see the line of sharpshooters formed by the Genoese +carbineers under Mosto, who covered our front, all the other companies +being drawn up _en échelon_ behind them. Our scanty artillery was +stationed on our left, on the highroad, under Orsini, who succeeded, in +spite of the poverty of his resources, in making a few good shots. In +this way both we and the enemy occupied strong positions, fronting each +other, and separated by a wide space of undulating ground, broken by a +few farmsteadings. Our advantage therefore clearly lay in awaiting the +enemy in our own position. The Bourbon forces, to the number of about +two thousand, with some cannon, discovering a few of our men without +distinguishing uniform and mingled with peasants, boldly advanced a few +lines of bersaglieri, with sufficient support and two guns. Arrived +within firing distance, they opened with carbines and cannon while +advancing on us. + +The order given to the Thousand was to wait without firing for the enemy +to come up, though the gallant Ligurians already had one man killed and +several wounded. The blare of the bugles, sounding an American +_reveille_, brought the enemy to a halt as if by magic. They understood +that it was not the Picciotti alone they had to deal with, and their +lines, with the artillery, gave the signal for a retrograde movement. +This was the first time that the soldiers of despotism had quailed +before the filibusters--for such was the title with which our enemies +honored us. + +The Thousand then sounded a charge--the Genoese carbineers in the van, +followed by a chosen band of youths impatient to come to close quarters. + +The intention of the charge was to put to flight the enemy's vanguard +and get possession of the two guns--a manoeuvre that was executed with a +spirit worthy of the champions of Italian liberty; but I had no +intention of a front attack on a formidable position occupied by a +strong force of Bourbon troops. But who could stop those fiery and +impetuous volunteers in their rush on the foe? In vain the trumpets +sounded a halt; our men did not hear, or imitated Nelson's conduct at +the Battle of Copenhagen. They turned a deaf ear to the order to halt +sounded by the trumpets, and with their bayonets drove the enemy's van +back on their main body. + +There was not a moment to be lost, or that gallant handful would have +perished. Immediately a general charge was sounded, and the entire corps +of the Thousand, accompanied by some courageous Sicilians and Calabrese, +marched at a quick pace to the rescue. + +The enemy had abandoned the plain, but, falling back on the heights +where their reserve was, held firm and defended their position with a +dogged valor worthy of a better cause. The most dangerous part of the +ground we had to cross was the level valley separating us from the +enemy, where we had to face a storm of cannon- and musket-balls which +wounded a good many of our men. Arrived at the foot of Monte Romano, we +were almost sheltered from attack; and at this point the Thousand, +somewhat diminished in number, closed up to the vanguard. + +The situation was supreme; we were bound to win. In this determination +we began to ascend the first ledge of the mountain, under a hail of +bullets. I do not remember how many, but there were certainly several +terraces to be gained before reaching the crest of the heights, and +every time we climbed from one terrace to the next--during which +operation we were totally unprotected--we were under a tremendous fire. +The orders given to our men to fire but few shots were well adapted to +the wretched weapons presented to us by the Sardinian Government, which +nearly always missed fire. On this occasion, too, great service was +rendered by the gallant Genoese, who, being excellent shots and armed +with good carbines, sustained the honor of our cause. This ought to be +an encouragement to all young Italians to exercise themselves in the use +of arms, in the conviction that valor alone is not enough on modern +battlefields; great dexterity in the use of weapons is also necessary. + +Calatafimi! The survivor of a hundred battles, if in my last moments my +friends see me smile once more with pride, it will be at the +recollection of that fight--for I remember none more glorious. The +Thousand, attired just as at home, worthy representatives of their +people, attacked--with heroic coolness, fighting their way from one +formidable position to another--the soldiers of tyranny, brilliant in +gaudily trimmed uniforms, gold lace, and epaulettes, and completely +routed them. How can I forget that knot of youths who, fearing to see me +wounded, surrounded me, pressing themselves closely together and +sheltering me with their bodies? If, while I write, I am deeply touched +at the recollection, I have good reason. Is it not my duty at least to +remind Italy of those brave sons of hers who fell there?--Montanari, +Schiaffino, Sertorio, Nullo, Vigo, Tukery, Taddei, and many more whose +names I grieve to say I cannot remember. + +As I have already said, the southern slope of Monte Romano, which we had +to ascend, was formed of those ledges or narrow terraces used by the +cultivators of the soil in mountainous countries. We made all possible +haste to reach the bank of each terrace, driving the enemy before us, +and then halting under cover of the bank to take breath and prepare for +the attack. Proceeding thus, we gained one ledge after another, till we +reached the top, where the Bourbon troops made a last effort, defending +their position with great intrepidity; many of their chasseurs, who had +come to the end of their ammunition, even throwing down stones on us. At +last we gave the final charge. The bravest of the Thousand, massed +together under the last bank, after taking breath and measuring with +their eye the space yet to be traversed before crossing swords with the +enemy, rushed on like lions, confident of victory and trusting in their +sacred cause. The Bourbon force could not resist the terrible onset of +men fighting for freedom; they fled, and never stopped till they reached +the town of Calatafimi, several miles from the battlefield. We ceased +our pursuit a short distance from the entrance to the town, which is +very strongly situated. If one gives battle, one ought to be sure of +victory; this axiom is very true under all circumstances, but especially +at the beginning of a campaign. + +The victory of Calatafimi, though of slight importance as regards +acquisitions--for we took only one cannon, a few rifles, and a few +prisoners--had an immeasurable moral result in encouraging the +population and demoralizing the hostile army. The handful of +filibusters, without gold lace or epaulettes, who were spoken of with +such solemn contempt, had routed several thousand of the Bourbon's best +troops, artillery and all, commanded by one of those generals who, like +Lucullus, are ready to spend the revenue of a province on one night's +supper. One corps of citizens--not to say filibusters--animated by love +of their country, can therefore gain a victory unaided by all this +needless splendor. + +The first important result was the enemy's retreat from Calatafimi, +which town we occupied on the following morning, May 16, 1860. The +second result, and one abundantly noteworthy, was the attack made by the +population of Partinicio, Borgetto, Montelepre, and other places, on the +retreating army. In every place volunteer companies were formed which +speedily joined us, and the enthusiasm in the surrounding villages +reached its height. The disbanded troops of the enemy did not stop till +they reached Palermo, where they brought terror to the Bourbon party and +confidence to the patriots. Our wounded, and those of the enemy, were +brought in to Vita and Calatafimi. Among ours were some men who could +ill be spared. + +Montanari, my comrade at Rome and in Lombardy, was dangerously wounded +and died a few days after. He was one of those whom doctrinaires call +demagogues, because they are impatient of servitude, love their country, +and refuse to bow the knee to the caprices and vices of the great. +Montanari was a Modenese. Schiaffino, a young Ligurian from Camogli, who +had also served in the Cacciatori delle Alpi and in the Guides, was +among the first to fall on the field, bereaving Italy of one of her +bravest soldiers. He worked hard on the night of our start from Genoa, +and greatly assisted Bixio in that delicate undertaking. De Amici, also +of the Cacciatori and Guides, was another who fell at the beginning of +the battle. Not a few of the chosen band of the Thousand fell at +Calatafimi as our Roman forefathers fell--rushing on the enemy with cold +steel, cut down in front without a complaint, without a cry, except that +of _"Viva L'Italia!"_ I may have seen battles more desperate and more +obstinately contested, but in none have I seen finer soldiers than my +citizen filibusters of Calatafimi. + +The victory of Calatafimi was indisputably the decisive battle in the +brilliant campaign of 1860. It was absolutely necessary to begin the +expedition with some striking engagement such as this, which so +demoralized the enemy that their fervent southern imaginations even +exaggerated the valor of the Thousand. There were some among them who +declared they had seen the bullets of their carbines rebound from the +breasts of the soldiers of liberty as if from a plate of bronze. Far +more men were killed and wounded at Palermo, Milazzo, and the Volturno, +but still I believe Calatafimi to have been the decisive battle. After a +fight like that, our men knew they were bound to win; and the gallant +Sicilians, whose courage had been previously shaken by the imposing +numbers and superior equipment of the Bourbon force, were encouraged. +When a battle begins with such prestige, with omens drawn from such a +precedent, victory is sure. + + +JOHN WEBB PROBYN + +On June 27, 1860, about three weeks after Garibaldi had taken possession +of Palermo, Francis II solemnly announced his intention to give a +constitution to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, adopt the Italian flag, +and ally himself with Sardinia. These promises only provoked the cry of +"Too late!" They did but recall how often the Neapolitan Bourbons had +promised in the hour of danger, and proved faithless to every promise +when the danger was passed. Victor Emmanuel and his Government were now +both unable and unwilling to agree to any such terms with a sovereign +who had rejected similar offers at the beginning of his reign when such +a settlement was possible. Every friend of freedom felt that the time +had gone by for any common action between the houses of Savoy and +Bourbon. Each had taken its own line of action, and each was now to +abide by the result. + +Garibaldi had overthrown the Neapolitan rule in Sicily, and raised the +cry of "Italy and Victor Emmanuel!" which found a hearty response. +Having been so successful he now determined, despite the warnings of +friendly advisers and the hostility of enemies, to carry his forces from +Sicily to the mainland, and take possession of Naples itself. He was at +the head of about twenty thousand men under the command of Generals +Medici, Bixio, Cosenz, and Turr. He had also the prestige of victory +mingled with a kind of legendary fame which continually increased. These +were formidable aids to further success, especially when brought to bear +on the fervid feelings and imagination of a southern people. Francis of +Naples still possessed an army of eighty thousand men, of which he +despatched more than twenty thousand to arrest, if possible, the +progress of his formidable opponent. + +Victor Emmanuel sought to dissuade Garibaldi from an enterprise so full +of danger as that of marching upon Naples against the wishes of the +united cabinets of Continental Europe. The King desired that matters +should proceed by negotiation, the basis of which should be that +Neapolitans and Sicilians should be allowed to decide their future +destinies for themselves. Garibaldi, who loved and trusted the honest +King, replied that the actual state of Italy compelled him to disobey +his majesty. "When," said the noble-hearted patriot, "I shall have +delivered the populations from the yoke that weighs them down, I will +throw my sword at your feet, and will then obey you for the rest of my +life." In truth, Italians of all ranks were now so roused that neither +Victor Emmanuel, Cavour, nor even Garibaldi himself could have stayed +the movement. + +The overpowering strength of foreign armies could alone have put it +down. Circumstances, however, happily prevented so gross an abuse of +mere force. For once Italians were allowed to do as they wished in their +own country instead of being compelled by foreign powers to do as those +powers commanded. Many things concurred to bring about this result. The +French Emperor had just received Savoy and Nice; he had been spending +the blood and treasure of France in giving the first blow to the old +despotisms of Italy; how could he now fly in the face of his own +principle of the national will in order to save the worst of those +despotisms? He could not declare that Sicilians and Neapolitans should +not dare have the opportunity of doing what he had at last permitted in +Central Italy and profited by in Nice and Savoy. To have allowed Austria +to do so would be to stultify himself in the eyes of Europe, to enrage +Italians, and to lead France to ask what was the use of calling on her +to make sacrifices for the overthrow of Austrian domination in the +Peninsula if within a few months that domination was to be in a large +measure restored. + +Austria too had her own difficulties to encounter, and they were both +numerous and complicated. Her military and priestly despotism had +suffered defeat; her people disliked its rule and desired freer +institutions; her finances were terribly disordered. + +The Emperor was beginning to see the necessity of a change of system--a +change by no means easy to effect--for the Hungarians were demanding the +restoration of their ancient constitutional rights. Russia and Prussia +contented themselves with protests which had, it may be, some diplomatic +value, but were wholly without practical effect. England was favorable +to the extension of Italian liberties, and France was her ally in Syria +and in China. So it was that Garibaldi, having only to encounter the +naval and military forces of Francis II, crossed the Straits of Messina, +landed in Calabria, and marched on Reggio. On August 21st the town was +occupied, and the citadel, with its commander and soldiers, capitulated. +Another victory was gained on the 23d, dispersing the forces of the +Neapolitan Generals Melendez and Briganti. Some of their soldiers joined +Garibaldi; the rest returned to their homes and increased both his real +and his legendary fame by their account of his victories. The +insurrection against the Bourbon dynasty was now rapidly spreading. + +At Cosenza in Calabria, and at Potenza in the Basilicata, provisional +governments were proclaimed and were hailing with delight the progress +of Garibaldi. The forces of Francis were disappearing from those +provinces and leaving the road to Naples unprotected. The fleet was as +little to be counted on as the army. + +In Naples itself all was confusion and contradiction in the Government. +None of its members trusted the others or believed in the duration of +the Bourbon dynasty. Years of corruption, tyranny, falsehood, and +cruelty had undermined the whole system, and it fell before the storm as +if by magic. Francis II determined to leave his capital. When he ordered +the troops which still remained faithful to him to retreat upon Capua +and Gaeta, two-thirds of the staff sent in their resignation, as did +many of the officers of the Neapolitan fleet. The King addressed a +protest to the foreign powers in which he declared he only quitted his +capital to save it from the horrors of a siege. He issued a proclamation +to his people in which he expressed his wishes for their happiness, and +declared that when restored to his throne it would be all the more +splendid from the institutions he had now irrevocably given. On +September 6, 1860, he left the capital on board a steamer accompanied by +two Spanish frigates, and was taken to Gaeta. On September 7th Garibaldi +entered Naples at midday in an open carriage, accompanied by some of his +staff. For long hours he received a welcome such as has seldom if ever +been given to any other man. Again and again he had to appear on the +balcony of the Palazzo d'Angri, where he had taken up his quarters, to +receive the applause of the multitude. At eight o'clock that evening it +was at length announced that, worn out with fatigue and emotion, he had +retired to rest. A sudden quiet fell upon the vast crowds, and repeating +to one another "Our father sleeps," they dispersed to their homes, their +right hands raised above their heads, with the first finger alone +extended, a sign expressive of the cry reiterated again and again that +day, "_Italia Una_!" ("One Italy"). + +On September 10th Garibaldi issued a proclamation to his soldiers, +headed "Italy and Victor Emmanuel." In it the General called upon them +to aid him in carrying to a successful termination the work so well +begun. Nor did he hesitate to declare that Rome must be Italian, and the +line of the Alps the frontier of Italy. He addressed another +proclamation to the people in which he especially called on them to be +united: "The first need of Italy is concord in order to realize the +union of the great Italian family; to-day Providence has given us this +concord, since all the provinces are unanimous and labor with +magnanimous zeal at the national reconstruction. As to unity, Providence +has further given us Victor Emmanuel--a model sovereign who will +inculcate in his descendants the duties which they should fulfil for the +happiness of a people who have chosen him as their chief with +enthusiastic homage." The proclamation went on to speak with kindly +warmth of those Italian priests who had sided with the national cause, +and declared that such conduct was a sure means of gaining respect for +their mission and work. Repeating again the demand for concord, the +concluding words justly protested against all foreign interference: +"Finally (be it known) we respect the houses of others; but we insist +upon being masters in our own whether it please or displease the rulers +of the earth." + +Garibaldi united the Neapolitan to the Sardinian fleet, so forming an +Italian naval force. He appointed a ministry comprising Liborio Romano +(who had served under Francis II), Scialoia, Cosenz, and Pisanelli; he +then proceeded to promulgate the Sardinian Constitution throughout the +Neapolitan Provinces. But the Bourbon forces were still in possession of +Capua and Gaeta. It became necessary, therefore, to undertake military +operations against them. + +Meanwhile the agitation in the Papal Provinces was increasing. The +Pope's Government had refused to modify its policy or agree to any +reduction of its territory. It accepted the protection of France in Rome +and its immediate neighborhood, but declined further aid, as it was +raising forces of its own under a French general, Lamoricière. These +soldiers were men of various European nationalities belonging to that +Roman Catholic party which was determined to maintain intact the +temporal rule of the Pope as against the wishes of the vast majority of +Italians, themselves Roman Catholics, who desired to substitute for that +rule the constitutional sovereignty of King Victor Emmanuel. The +Italians were willing enough to remain under the spiritual headship of +the Roman Pontiff, but they would not have a temporal power upheld by +foreign soldiers. The moment was, like many others, a very critical one +in the history of Italy. Garibaldi was victorious in Naples. The Papal +forces, composed chiefly of Germans and French, under Lamoricière, were +holding the inhabitants of Umbria and the Marches who were longing to +join the national movement. Indeed, some of the most influential men of +those provinces, among others Marquis Filippo Gualterio of Orvieto, had +already come to Turin to obtain the intervention of its Government and +protection from the Papal troops, whose foreign extraction rendered them +odious to the people. + +On September 7th Count Delia Minerva was sent to Rome to demand, on the +part of Victor Emmanuel, the disbandment of the foreign troops which the +Papal Government had got together under the command of General +Lamoricière. The demand was refused. This refusal the Papal Government +was quite competent to give, but whether its policy in upholding its +temporal power by the aid of foreign mercenaries was wise or not was +another matter. It was hardly to be expected that Italians, any more +than Frenchmen, Germans, or English, would endure such a state of things +if they could prevent it. The Government of Turin now ordered its troops +to enter the Papal Provinces of Umbria and the Marches. On September **nth +General Fanti crossed the frontier, easily took possession of Perugia +with the aid of the inhabitants, and obliged Colonel Schmidt, the Papal +commander, to capitulate. The General advanced with equal success +against Spoleto, and in a few days was master of all the upper valley of +the Tiber. At the same time General Cialdini, operating on the eastern +side of the Apennines, marched rapidly to meet General Lamoricière's +forces, which he encountered and defeated completely at Castelfidardo, +compelling the French General to fly to Ancona, which he entered in +company with only a few horsemen who had escaped with him from the rout +of the Papal army. The Italian fleet was off Ancona, before which +General Cialdini's troops now appeared, thus completely preventing the +escape of Lamoricière, who was obliged to surrender. In less than three +weeks the campaign was over. The Sardinian troops having thus occupied +Umbria and the Marches, proceeded to cross into the Neapolitan Provinces +and march upon Capua and Gaeta. + +Austria, Prussia, and Russia protested against the course thus pursued by +the Government of Victor Emmanuel. The Pope excommunicated all who had +participated in the invasion of his territory. Francis II protested with +no less earnestness. The Emperor of the French withdrew his minister from +Turin and blamed the proceedings of Victor Emmanuel's Government; but in +other respects Napoleon remained a passive spectator of all that occurred, +and maintained the principle of non-intervention--at least as regarded +Umbria and the Marches, Sicily and Naples--excepting at Gaeta, where his +fleet prevented for a time any attack being made against that fortress +from the sea. He also raised the number of his troops in Rome and the +province in which it is situated, called the Patrimony of St. Peter, to +twenty-two thousand men. This was now all the territory left to the +temporal power of the Pope. Napoleon determined to preserve that much to +the Roman See, defending it from the attacks of Garibaldi, and forbidding +its annexation to the kingdom of Italy. + +The English Government, however, decidedly vindicated the course taken +under the circumstances by Victor Emmanuel and his advisers. Lord +Russell, who was Secretary of Foreign Affairs under Lord Palmerston, +wrote, on October 27, 1860, an admirable despatch to Sir James Hudson, +the English minister at Turin, who was allowed to give a copy of it to +Count Cavour. In that despatch Lord Russell gives good reasons for +dissenting from the views expressed by the Governments of Austria, +Prussia, Russia, and France; he justifies the action of the Government +of Turin, admits that Italians themselves are the best judges of their +own interests, shows how in times past they vainly attempted regularly +and temperately to reform their governments, says such attempts were put +down by foreign powers, and concludes by declaring that "Her Majesty's +Government will turn their eyes rather to the gratifying prospect of a +people building up the edifice of their liberties and consolidating the +work of their independence amid the sympathies and good wishes of +Europe." + +It is gratifying to remember that at this very critical juncture in the +cause of Italian unity and independence, the English Government gave its +very cordial support to that cause, and ably defended the course pursued +by King Victor Emmanuel, his ministers, and his people. + +The cause of Italian unity and independence had indeed made prodigious +strides, due not only to the marvellous victories of Garibaldi, which +had brought him in four months from Marsala to Naples, but also to the +skilful campaigns of Generals Fanti and Cialdini in Umbria and the +Marches. Cavour now followed up these successes by advising a course +calculated to give them consistency and endurance. He counselled the +immediate assembling of Parliament, the acceptance by Victor Emmanuel of +the sovereignty of the Papal, Neapolitan, and Sicilian Provinces, if +such were the will of their inhabitants, and the departure of the King +from Turin to take the command of his troops now advancing toward Capua. +Victor Emmanuel entirely agreed with his minister's advice. On October +2, 1860, Cavour asked Parliament for full powers to annex all the new +provinces of Central and Southern Italy if they desired it. He contended +that the events which had taken place were due to the initiative of the +people, the noble audacity of General Garibaldi, and the constitutional +rule of Victor Emmanuel, united to his devotion to the cause of Italian +freedom. + +Even those deputies who represented the views of the extreme Left, some +of whose members avowed a preference for Republicanism--in theory at any +rate--supported the Government. One of them, Signor Bertani, declared he +would not now raise any point of difference, and frankly acknowledged +that in reality all Italians wished the same thing--"Italy one and free, +under Victor Emmanuel." Cavour further satisfied the Chamber by saying +that Rome and Venice must in the end be united to the mother country, +though the questions involved in such union must, out of deference to +Europe and France, be postponed for the present. A vote of two hundred +ninety against six confirmed the policy of the Government and gave full +expression to the wishes of the country. + +Garibaldi had in the mean time pushed on his forces from Naples toward +Capua and the line of the River Volturno. On September 19th his troops +took Caiazzo, from which, however, they were dislodged on the 23d of the +month. After this success Francis II determined to take the offensive +and attack in force the Garibaldian lines with the object of driving +them back to Naples or cutting them off from that city. This attempt was +well planned and conducted on October 1, 1860. The struggle was hotly +maintained on both sides throughout the day. Some companies of +bersaglieri arrived from Naples and united in resisting the attacks of +the Bourbon troops, who were in the end repelled and compelled to +retire. But though beaten they had fought well and still held the +fortresses of Gaeta and Capua, to which they had retreated. The army of +Victor Emmanuel, however, led by the King in person, was now rapidly +advancing, easily overcoming whatever resistance the Bourbon troops were +able to offer. Francis II, unable to prevent the junction of the King's +forces with those of Garibaldi, withdrew with the bulk of his soldiers +to Gaeta, leaving four thousand men in Capua, who were soon obliged to +capitulate. + +On October 26th Victor Emmanuel and Garibaldi met near the little town +of Teano. They greeted each other with great cordiality, for though +Garibaldi had little faith in ministers or diplomatists, and could not +forgive their cession of Nice to France, he felt the utmost confidence +in the King himself. Victor Emmanuel on his part had the greatest regard +for the heroic patriot who had ever been so devoted to his country's +cause and whose marvellous exploits had now given freedom to Sicily and +Naples. As they grasped each other's hands Garibaldi cried, "Behold the +King of Italy! Long live the King!" The soldiers of both leaders +shouted, "Long live Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy!" + +On November 7th the King entered Naples with Garibaldi at his side. The +reception was enthusiastic in the extreme; it reached its culminating +point as Victor Emmanuel entered the royal palace. Long had it been the +abode of those who hated and betrayed both constitutional liberty and +national freedom; now it was taken possession of by one who had risked +life and crown in their cause. The King issued a proclamation, in which +he called to mind the increased responsibilities which fell henceforth +upon himself and his people alike; nor did he fail to remind them of the +necessity for union and abnegation: "All parties must bow before the +majesty of Italy which God has raised up. We must establish a government +which gives guarantees of liberty to the people and of severe probity to +the public at large." In the succeeding days his majesty received the +deputations of the newly acquired Provinces of Umbria, the Marches, +Naples, and Sicily, which came to present to him officially the result +of the plebiscite by which the inhabitants of those provinces declared +their wish to be united to the rest of the King's dominions and so form +a single Kingdom of Italy. + +Many other receptions there were of societies belonging to several ranks +and classes of men. Particularly impressive was the welcome given to the +deputation which came from the Senate and Chamber at Turin in honor of +so great an event as the union of Southern with Northern Italy under the +constitutional rule of one sovereign. On December 1st Victor Emmanuel +embarked for Palermo, where he was received with an enthusiasm at least +as great as that which marked his arrival in Naples. In the capital of +Sicily all orders of citizens pressed forward to pay him their willing +homage. + +These great results were not, however, achieved without difficulty, for +there was considerable diversity of opinion and not a little jealousy +between those that surrounded Garibaldi and those that followed the lead +of Cavour in Parliament and in the country. Nor can it be denied that +faults and mistakes may fairly be laid to the charge of both those +parties, despite their sincere attachment to the cause of their common +fatherland. A mistake was made by Garibaldi himself when he wished to +postpone the immediate annexation of the Southern Provinces to the +Northern Kingdom, and asked to be named Dictator of Naples for two years +by Victor Emmanuel, whom he further requested to dismiss Cavour and his +actual advisers. + +The King rightly refused to agree to a course so subversive of all +constitutional proceedings and liberties. He could not even entertain +the idea of dismissing ministers at the request of any citizen, however +illustrious, or however great the services he had rendered his country. +It was for the national representatives alone to decide to what minister +the King should give his confidence, and what course should be taken as +to the annexation of Naples and Sicily. Garibaldi's good sense and +honesty of purpose led him to give in to the King's judgment. Victor +Emmanuel took the right view of the course to be pursued in this matter, +just as he had taken the right view of the course to be pursued at the +moment of the Peace of Villafranca. In the one case he showed himself +wiser than Cavour, and in the other wiser than Garibaldi. The +single-minded patriotism of the latter, and the statesmanship of the +former, combined with the remarkably sure judgment and unfailing honesty +of the King, gradually overcame all the difficulties of the situation. +Victor Emmanuel ever kept aloof from political coteries, while deferring +to the advice of his responsible ministers so long as they had the +confidence of Parliament. He ever showed himself to be the head of the +nation, not the head of a party. + +His unswerving determination to be guided by the nation's will as +expressed by the nation's chosen representatives, though nothing new in +his career, won for him the absolute confidence of all Italians, not one +of whom avowed it more frankly than Garibaldi himself. But what shall be +said of the popular hero, sprung from the ranks of the people, who had +given a kingdom to his sovereign? Rarely, if ever, has history recorded +nobler conduct than that of the conqueror of Sicily and Naples when, +having liberated those provinces, he laid down all power, refused all +honors, turned away alike wealth and titles, to betake himself to his +island home of Caprera, there to work with his own hands, to rejoice as +he thought of how greatly he had advanced the independence of Italy, and +to pray for the hour of its completion. Whatever defects may be found in +the character or judgment of this heroic patriot, his name will +assuredly be held in grateful remembrance wherever men are found who +love freedom and rejoice as they see its blessings spread more and more +among the nations of the earth. As Garibaldi retired to his quiet abode +in Caprera, Victor Emmanuel returned to his duties in Turin. But neither +the one nor the other forgot Rome and Venice. + +The siege of Gaeta was now being carried forward with great +determination. The place was defended with courage and endurance by +Francis II and his Queen. For a time the French fleet prevented the +Italians from attacking Gaeta by sea, but when Napoleon withdrew his +ships further resistance became hopeless. On February 13, 1861, Gaeta +surrendered after a defence of which those who took part in it had a +right to be proud. The garrison marched out with the honors of war, the +officers retained their rank. Francis and his wife embarked for +Terracina, and went thence to Rome, where they were received by the Pope +and lodged in the Quirinal palace. The citadels of Messina and of +Civitella del Tronto surrendered soon after, and so passed away forever +the rule of the Neapolitan Bourbons over the Kingdom of the Two +Sicilies. + +No less than twenty-two million of Italians were now united under the +sceptre of Victor Emmanuel, who, in accordance with the advice of his +Prime Minister, Count Cavour, dissolved the Parliament. The new election +took place at the end of January, 1861. The constitution as established +in Sardinia was put in force from Turin to Palermo. At the same time the +King nominated, as suggested by his responsible advisers, sixty new +Senators or Members of the Upper House. They were selected chiefly among +the most prominent and influential men of the Provinces of Central and +Southern Italy. The elections were everywhere favorable to the new order +of things; namely, the formation of the single Kingdom of Italy under +the constitutional rule of Victor Emmanuel. The majority of the new +Chamber gave a hearty support to Count Cavour. + +On February 18, 1861, the first Italian Parliament, representing all the +Provinces of Italy--Venetia and the Roman patrimony alone +excepted--assembled in the Palazzo Carignano at Turin. The title assumed +by the King in concert with his ministers and Parliament was "Victor +Emmanuel II, by the grace of God and the will of the nation, King of +Italy." [Footnote: It was almost ten years later--when Victor Emmanuel +entered Rome, September 20, 1870--that the emancipation and union of +Italy were made complete.--ED.] + + + + +(1861) EMANCIPATION OF RUSSIAN SERFS, Andrew D. White and Nikolai + Turgenieff + + +By the act that freed the serfs in Russia, Alexander II, to whom it was +in great measure due, obtained a place of unusual honor among the +sovereigns that have ruled his nation. It was the grand achievement of +Alexander's reign, and caused him to be hailed as one of the world's +liberators. The importance of this event in Russian history is not +diminished by the fact that its practical benefits have not as yet been +realized to the full extent anticipated. In 1888 Stepniak, the Russian +author and reformer, declared that emancipation had utterly failed to +realize the ardent expectations of its advocates and promoters, had +failed to improve the material condition of the former serfs, who on the +whole were worse off than before emancipation. The same assertion has +been made with respect to the emancipation of slaves in the United +States, but in neither case does the objection invalidate the historical +significance of an act that formally liberated millions of human beings +from hereditary and legalized bondage. + +In the two views here presented, the subject of the emancipation in +Russia is considered in various aspects. Andrew D. White's account, +being that of an American scholar and diplomatist familiar with the +history and people of Russia through his residence at St. Petersburg, is +of peculiar value, embodying the most intelligent foreign judgment. +White's synopsis covers the entire subject of the serf system from its +beginning to its overthrow. Nikolai Turgenieff, the Russian historian, +writing while the emancipation act was bearing its first fruits, +describes its workings and effects as observed by one intimately +connected with the serfs and the movement that resulted in their +freedom. + + +ANDREW D. WHITE + +Close upon the end of the fifteenth century the Muscovite ideas of right +were subjected to the strong mind of Ivan the Great and compressed into +a code. Therein were embodied the best processes known to his land and +time: for discovering crime, torture and trial by battle; for punishing +crime, the knout and death. + +But hidden in this tough mass was one law of greater import than others. +Thereby were all peasants forbidden to leave the lands they were then +tilling, except during the eight days before and after St. George's Day. +This provision sprang from Ivan's highest views of justice and broadest +views of political economy; the nobles received it with plaudits, which +have found echoes even in these days; the peasants received it with no +murmurs which history has found any trouble in drowning. + +Just one hundred years later upon the Muscovite throne, as nominal Czar, +sat the weakling Feodor I; but behind the throne stood, as real Czar, +hard, strong Boris Godunoff. Looking forward to Feodor's death, Boris +made ready to mount the throne; and he saw--what all other "Mayors of +the Palace" climbing into the places of _faineant_ kings have seen--that +he must link to his fortunes the fortunes of some strong body in the +nation; he broke, however, from the general rule among usurpers--bribing +the church--and determined to bribe the nobility. + +The greatest grief of the Muscovite nobles seemed to be that the +peasants could escape from their oppression by the emigration allowed on +St. George's Day. Boris saw his opportunity: he cut off the privilege of +St. George's Day, and the peasant was fixed to the soil forever. No +Russian law ever directly enslaved the peasantry, but, through this +decree of Boris, the lord who owned the soil came to own the peasants, +just as he owned its immovable boulders and ledges. To this the peasants +submitted; but history has not been able to drown their sighs over this +wrong; their proverbs and ballads make St. George's Day representative +of all ill-luck and disappointment. + +A few years later Boris made another bid for oligarchic favor. He issued +a rigorous fugitive-serf law, and even wrenched liberty from certain +free peasants who had entered service for wages before his edicts. This +completed the work, and Russia, which never had had the benefits of +feudalism, had now fastened upon her feudalism's worst curse, a serf +caste, bound to the glebe. + +The great good things done by Peter the world knows by heart. The world +knows well how he tore his way out of the fetichism of his time; how, +despite ignorance and unreason, he dragged his nation after him; how he +dowered the nation with things and thoughts that transformed it from a +petty Asiatic horde to a great European Power. + +We were present a few years since when one of those lesser triumphs of +his genius was first unfolded. It was in that room at the +Hermitage--adjoining the Winter Palace--set apart for the relics of +Peter. Our companions were two men noted as leaders in American +industry--one famed as an inventor, the other famed as a champion of +inventors' rights. + +Suddenly from the inventor, pulling over some old dust-covered machines +in a corner, came loud cries of surprise. The cries were natural indeed. +In that heap of rubbish he had found a lathe for turning irregular +forms, and a screw-cutting engine once used by Peter himself: specimens +of his unfinished work were still in them. They had lain there unheeded +a hundred fifty years; their principle had died with Peter and his +workmen; and not many years since, they were reinvented in America, and +gave their inventors fame and fortune. At the late Paris Universal +Exposition crowds flocked about an American lathe for copying statuary; +and that lathe was, in principle, identical with this old, forgotten +machine of Peter's. + +Yet, though Peter fought so well and thought so well, he made some +mistakes which hang to this day over his country as bitter curses. For +in all his plan and work to advance the mass of men was one supreme +lack--lack of any account of the worth and right of the individual man. +Lesser examples of this are seen in his grim jest at Westminster +Hall--"What use of so many lawyers? I have but two lawyers in Russia, +and one of those I mean to hang as soon as I return;" or when at Berlin, +having been shown a new gibbet, he ordered one of his servants to be +hanged in order to test it; or in his review of parade fights, when he +ordered his men to use ball, and to take the buttons off their bayonets. + +Greater examples are seen in his Battle of Narva, when he threw away an +army to learn his opponent's game; in his building of St. Petersburg, +where, in draining marshes, he sacrificed a hundred thousand men the +first year. But the greatest proof of this great lack was shown in his +dealings with the serf system. Serfage was already recognized in Peter's +time as an evil. Peter himself once stormed forth in protestations and +invectives against what he stigmatized as "selling men like beasts; +separating parents from children, husbands from wives; which takes place +nowhere else in the world, and which causes many tears to flow." He +declared that a law should be made against it. Yet it was by his +misguided hand that serfage was compacted into its final black mass of +foulness. + +For Peter saw other nations spinning and weaving, and he determined that +Russia should at once spin and weave; he saw other nations forging iron, +and he determined that Russia should at once forge iron. He never +stopped to consider that what might cost little in other lands as a +natural growth, might cost far too much in Russia as a forced growth. In +lack, then, of quick brain and sturdy spine and strong arm of paid +workmen, he forced into his manufactories the flaccid muscle of serfs. +These, thus lifted from the earth, lost even the little force in the +State they had before; great bodies of serfs thus became slaves; worse +than that, the idea of a serf developed toward the idea of a slave. + +And Peter, misguided, dealt one blow more. Cold-blooded officials were +set at taking the census. These adopted easy classifications; free +peasants, serfs, and slaves were often huddled into the lists under a +single denomination. So serfage became still more difficult to be +distinguished from slavery. As this base of hideous wrong was thus +widened and deepened the nobles built higher and stronger their +superstructure of arrogance and pretension. Not many years after Peter's +death, they so overawed the Empress Anne that she thrust into the codes +of the empire statutes which allowed the nobles to sell serfs apart from +the soil. So did serfage bloom fully into slavery. + +But in the latter half of the eighteenth century Russia gained a ruler +from whom the world came to expect much. To mount the throne, Catharine +II had murdered her husband; to keep the throne she had murdered two +claimants whose title was better than her own. She then became, with her +agents in these horrors, a second Messalina. To set herself right in the +eyes of Europe, she paid eager court to that hierarchy of scepticism +which in that age made or marred European reputations. She flattered the +fierce deists by owning fealty to "_Le Roi_" Voltaire; she flattered the +mild deists by calling in La Harpe as the tutor of her grandson; she +flattered the atheists by calling in Diderot as a tutor for herself. + +Her murders and orgies were soon forgotten in the new hopes for Russian +regeneration. Her dealings with Russia strengthened these hopes. The +official style required that all persons presenting petitions should +subscribe themselves "Your Majesty's humble serf." This formula she +abolished, and boasted that she had cast out the word serf from the +Russian language. Poets and philosophers echoed this boast over +Europe--and the serfs waited. + +The great Empress spurred hope by another movement. She proposed to an +academy the question of serf emancipation as a subject for their prize +essay. The essay was written and crowned. It was filled with beautiful +things about liberty, practical things about moderation, flattering +things about the "Great Catharine"--and the serfs waited. + +Again she aroused hope. It was given out that her most intense delight +came from the sight of happy serfs and prosperous villages. Accordingly, +in her journey to the Crimea, Potemkin squandered millions on millions +in rearing pasteboard villages, in dragging forth thousands of wretched +peasants to fill them, in costuming them to look thrifty, in training +them to look happy. Catharine was rejoiced, Europe sang paeans--the +serfs waited. + +She seemed to go further: she issued a decree prohibiting the +enslavement of serfs. But unfortunately the palace intrigues, and the +correspondence with the philosophers, and the destruction of Polish +nationality left her no time to see the edict carried out. But Europe +applauded--and the serfs waited. Two years after this came a deed which +put an end to all this uncertainty. An edict was prepared ordering the +peasants of Little Russia to remain forever on the estates where the day +of publication should find them. This was vile; but what followed was +diabolic. Court pets were let into the secret. These, by good promises, +enticed hosts of peasants to their estates. The edict was now sprung; in +an hour the courtiers were made rich, the peasants were made serfs, and +Catharine II was made infamous forever. So, about a century after Peter, +a wave of wrong rolled over Russia that not only drowned honor in the +nobility, but drowned hope in the people. + +As Russia entered the nineteenth century, the hearts of earnest men must +have sunk within them. For Paul I, Catharine's son and successor, was +infinitely more despotic than Catharine, and infinitely less restrained +by public opinion. He had been born with savage instincts, and educated +into ferocity. Tyranny was written on his features in his childhood. If +he remained in Russia his mother sneered and showed hatred of him; if he +journeyed in Western Europe crowds gathered about his coach to jeer at +his ugliness. Most of those who have seen Gillray's caricature of him, +issued in the height of English spite at Paul's homage to Bonaparte, +have thought it hideously overdrawn; but those who have seen the +portrait of Paul in the Cadet-Corps of St. Petersburg know well that +Gillray did not exaggerate Paul's ugliness, for he could not. + +And Paul's face was but a mirror of his character. Tyranny was wrought +into his every fibre. He demanded an oriental homage. As his carriage +whirled by, it was held the duty of all others in carriages to stop, +descend into the mud, and bow themselves. Himself threw his despotism +into this formula: "Know, Sir Ambassador, that in Russia there is no one +noble or powerful except the man to whom I speak, and while I speak." + +And yet within that hideous mass glowed sparks of reverence for right. +When the nobles tried to get Paul's assent to more open arrangements for +selling serfs apart from the soil, he utterly refused; and when they +overtasked their human chattels Paul made a law that no serf should be +required to give more than three days in the week to the tillage of his +master's domain. But, within five years after his accession, Paul had +developed into such a ravenous wild beast that it became necessary to +murder him. This duty done, there came a change in the spirit of Russian +sovereignty as from March to May; but, sadly for humanity, there came at +the same time a change in the spirit of European politics, as from May +to March. + +For, although the new Czar, Alexander I, was mild and liberal, the storm +of French ideas and armies had generally destroyed in monarchs' minds +any poor germs of philanthropy which had ever found lodgement there. +Still Alexander breasted this storm; found time to plan for his serfs, +and in 1803 put his hand to the work of helping them toward freedom. His +first edict was for the creation of the class of "free laborers." By +this, masters and serfs were encouraged to enter into an arrangement +which was to put the serf into immediate possession of himself, of a +homestead and of a few acres, giving him time to indemnify his master by +a series of payments. Alexander threw his heart into this scheme; and in +his kindliness he supposed that the pretended willingness of the nobles +meant something; but the serf-owning caste, without openly opposing, +twisted up bad consequences with good, braided impossibilities into +possibilities; the whole plan became a tangle, and was thrown aside. + +The Czar now sought to foster other good efforts, especially those made +by some earnest nobles to free their serfs by will. But this plan also +the serf-owning caste entangled and thwarted. At last the storm of war +set in with such fury that all internal reforms must be lost sight of. +Russia had to make ready for those campaigns in which Napoleon gained +every battle. Then came that peaceful meeting on the raft at +Tilsit--worse for Russia than any warlike meeting; for thereby Napoleon +seduced Alexander, for years, from plans of bettering his empire into +dreams of extending it. + +Coming out of these dreams, Alexander had to deal with such realities as +the burning of Moscow, the Battle of Leipsic, and the occupation of +France; yet, in the midst of those fearful times--when the grapple of +the emperors was at the fiercest; in the very year of the burning of +Moscow--Alexander rose in calm statesmanship, and admitted Bessarabia +into the empire under a proviso which excluded serfage forever. Hardly +was the great European tragedy ended, when Alexander again turned +sorrowfully toward the wronged millions of his empire. He found that +progress in civilization had but made the condition of the serfs worse. +The newly ennobled _parvenus_ were worse than the old _boyars_; they +hugged the serf system more lovingly and the serfs more hatefully. The +sight of these wrongs roused him. He seized a cross, and swore that the +serf system should be abolished. + +Straightway a great and good plan was prepared. Its main features were: +a period of transition from serfage to personal liberty, extending +through twelve or fourteen years; the arrival of the serf at personal +freedom, with ownership of his cabin and the bit of land attached to it; +the gradual reimbursement of masters by serfs; and after this advance to +personal liberty, an advance by easy steps to a sort of political +liberty. Favorable as was this plan to the serf-owners, they attacked it +in various ways; but they could not kill it utterly. Esthonia, Livonia, +and Courland became free. Having failed to arrest the growth of freedom, +the serf-holding caste made every effort to blast the good fruits of +freedom. In Courland they were thwarted; in Esthonia and Livonia they +succeeded during many years; but the eternal laws were too strong for +them, and the fruitage of liberty had grown richer and better. + +After these good efforts, Alexander stopped, discouraged. A few +patriotic nobles stood apart from their caste, and strengthened his +hands, as Lafayette and Lincourt strengthened Louis XVI. They even drew +up a plan of voluntary emancipation; formed an association for the +purpose and gained many signatures; but the great weight of that +besotted serf-owning caste was thrown against them, and all came to +naught. Alexander was at last walled in from the great object of his +ambition. Pretended theologians built, between him and emancipation, +walls of Scriptural interpretation; pretended philosophers built walls +of false political economy; pretended statesmen built walls of sham +common-sense. If the Czar could but have mustered courage to cut the +knot! Alas for Russia and for him, he wasted himself in efforts to untie +it. His heart sickened at it; he welcomed death, which alone could +remove him from it. + +Alexander's successor, Nicholas I, had been known before his accession +as a mere martinet, a good colonel for parade days, wonderful in +detecting soiled uniforms, terrible in administering petty punishments. +It seems like the story of stupid Brutus over again. Altered +circumstances made a new man of him; and few things are more strange +than the change wrought in his whole bearing and look by that week of +energy in climbing his brother's throne. The great article in Nicholas's +creed was a complete, downright faith in despotism, and in himself as +despotism's apostle. Hence he hated, above all things, a limited +monarchy. He told De Custine that a pure monarchy or pure republic he +could understand; but that anything between these he could not +understand. Of his former rule of Poland, as constitutional monarch, he +spoke with loathing. + +Of this hate which Nicholas felt for liberal forms of government there +yet remain monuments in the great museum of the Kremlin. That museum +holds an immense number of interesting things, and masses of jewels and +plate which make all other European collections mean. The visitor +wanders among clumps of diamonds and sacks of pearls and a nauseating +wealth of rubies and sapphires and emeralds. There rise rows upon rows +of jewelled cimeters, and vases and salvers of gold, and old saddles +studded with diamonds and with stirrups of gold--presents of frightened +Asiatic satraps or fawning European allies. There too are the crowns of +Muscovy, of Russia, of Kazan, of Astrakhan, of Siberia, of the Crimea, +and, pity to say it, of Poland. And next this is an index of despotic +hate--for the Polish sceptre is broken and flung aside. Near this stands +the full-length portrait of Alexander I, and at his feet are grouped +captured flags of Hungary and Poland--some with blood-marks still upon +them. But below all, far beneath the feet of the Emperor, in dust and +ignominy and on the floor, is flung the _very_ Constitution of +Poland--parchment for parchment, ink for ink, good promise for good +promise--which Alexander gave with so many smiles, and which Nicholas +took away with so much bloodshed. + +And not far from this monument of the deathless hate Nicholas bore that +liberty he had stung to death stands a monument of his admiration for +straightforward tyranny, even in the most dreaded enemy his house ever +knew. Standing there is a statue in the purest of marble, the only +statue in those vast halls. It has the place of honor. It looks proudly +over all that glory and keeps ward over all that treasure; and that +statue, in full majesty of imperial robes, and bees, and diadem, and +face, is of the First Napoleon. Admiration of his tyrannic will has at +last made him peaceful sovereign of the Kremlin. + +This spirit of absolutism took its most offensive form in Nicholas's +attitude toward Europe. He was the very incarnation of reaction against +revolution, and he became the demigod of that horde of petty despots who +infest Central Europe. Whenever, then, any tyrant's lie was to be +baptized, he stood its godfather; whenever any God's truth was to be +crucified, he led on those who passed by, reviling and wagging their +heads. Whenever these oppressors revived some old feudal wrong, Nicholas +backed them in the name of religion; whenever their nations struggled to +preserve some great right, Nicholas crushed them in the name of law and +order. With these pauper princes his children intermarried, and he fed +them with his crumbs and clothed them with scraps of his purple. The +visitor can see today, in every one of their dwarf palaces, some of his +malachite vases or porcelain bowls or porphyry columns. + +But the people of Western Europe distrusted him as much as their rulers +worshipped; and some of these same presents to their rulers have become +trifle-monuments of no mean value in showing that popular idea of +Russian policy. Foremost among these stand those two bronze masses of +statuary in front of the Royal Palace at Berlin, representing fiery +horses restrained by strong men. Pompous inscriptions proclaim these +presents from Nicholas; but the people, knowing the man and his +measures, have fastened upon one of these curbed steeds the name of +"Progress Checked," and on the other "Retrogression Encouraged." + +A few days before Nicholas's self-will brought him to his deathbed we +saw him ride through the St. Petersburg streets with no pomp and no +attendants, yet in as great pride as ever despotism gave a man. At his +approach, nobles uncovered and looked docile, soldiers faced about and +became statues, long-bearded peasants bowed to the ground with the air +of men on whose vision a miracle flashes. For there was one who could +make or mar all fortunes--the absolute owner of street and houses and +passers-by--one who owned the patent and dispensed the right to tread +that soil, to breathe that air, to be glorified in that sunlight and +amid those snow crystals. And he looked it all. Though at that moment +his army was entrapped by military stratagem, and he himself was +entrapped by diplomatic stratagem, that face and form were proud and +confident as ever. + +There was in this attitude toward Europe--in this standing forth as the +representative man of absolutism, and breasting the nineteenth +century--something of greatness; but in his attitude toward Russia this +greatness was wretchedly diminished. For, as Alexander I was a good man +enticed out of goodness by the baits of Napoleon, Nicholas was a great +man scared out of greatness by the ever-recurring phantom of the French +Revolution. + +In those first days of his reign, when he enforced loyalty with +grape-shot and halter, Nicholas dared much and stood firm; but his +character soon showed another side. Fearless as he was before bright +bayonets, he was an utter coward before bright ideas. He laughed at the +flash of cannon, but he trembled at the flash of a new living thought. +Whenever, then, he attempted a great thing for his nation, he was sure +to be scared back from its completion by fear of revolution. And so, +today, he who looks through Russia for Nicholas's works finds a number +of great things he had done, but each is single, insulated, not preceded +logically, not followed effectively. Take, as an example of this, his +railway-building. + +His own pride and Russian interest demanded railways. He scanned the +world with that keen eye of his, saw that American energy was the best +supplement to Russian capital; his will darted quickly, struck afar, and +Americans came to build his road from St. Petersburg to Moscow. Nothing +can be more complete. It is an air-line road, and so perfect that the +traveller finds few places where the rails do not meet, before and +behind him, in the horizon. The track is double, the rails very heavy +and admirably ballasted; station-houses and engine-houses are splendid +in build, perfect in arrangement, and surrounded by neat gardens. The +whole work is worthy of the Pyramid builders. The traveller is whirled +by culverts, abutments, and walls of dressed granite, through cuttings +where the earth on either side is carefully paved or turfed to the +summit. Ranges of Greek columns are reared as crossings in the midst of +broad marshes, lions' heads in bronzed iron stare out upon vast wastes +where never rose even the smoke from a serf's kennel. + +All this seems good; and a ride of four hundred miles through such +glories rarely fails to set the traveller at chanting the praises of the +Emperor who conceived them. But when the traveller notes that complete +isolation of the work from all conditions necessary to its success, his +praises grow fainter. He sees that Nicholas held back from continuing +the road to Odessa, though half the money spent in making the road an +imperial plaything would have built a good, solid extension to that most +important seaport; he sees that Nicholas dared not untie police +regulations, and that commerce is wretchedly meagre. Contrary to what +would obtain under a free system, this great public work found the +country wretched and left it wretched. The traveller flies by no ranges +of trim palings and tidy cottages; he sees the same dingy groups of huts +here as elsewhere, the same cultivation looking for no morrow, the same +tokens that the laborer is not thought worthy of his hire. This same +tendency to great single works, this same fear of great connected +systems, this same timid isolation of great creations from principles +essential to their growth, is seen, too, in Nicholas's church-building. + +Foremost of all the edifices on which Nicholas lavished the wealth of +the empire stands the Isak Church in St. Petersburg. It is one of the +largest and certainly the richest cathedral in Christendom. All is +polished pink granite and marble and bronze. On all sides are double +rows of Titanic columns, each a single block of polished granite with +bronze capital. Colossal masses of bronze statuary are grouped over each +front; high above the roof and surrounding the great drums of the domes +are lines of giant columns in granite bearing giant statues in bronze; +and crowning all rises the vast central dome, flanked by its four +smaller domes, all heavily plated with gold. + +The church within is one gorgeous mass of precious marbles and mosaics +and silver and gold and jewels. On the tabernacle of the altar, in gold +and malachite, on the screen of the altar, with its pilasters of lapis +lazuli and its range of malachite columns fifty feet high, were lavished +millions on millions. Bulging from the ceilings are massy bosses of +Siberian porphyry and jasper. To decorate the walls with unfading +pictures, Nicholas founded an establishment for mosaic work, where sixty +pictures were commanded, each demanding, after all artistic labor, the +mechanical labor of two men for four years. + +Yet this vast work is not so striking a monument of Nicholas's luxury as +of his timidity. For this cathedral and some others almost as grand +were, in part at least, results of the deep wish of Nicholas to wean his +people from their semi-idolatrous love for dark, confined, filthy +sanctuaries, like those of Moscow; but here again is a timid purpose and +half result; Nicholas dared set no adequate enginery working at the +popular religious training or moral training. There had been such an +organization, the Russian Bible Society, favored by Alexander I; but +Nicholas swept it away at one stroke of the pen. Evidently, he feared +lest Scriptural denunciations of certain sins in ancient politics might +be popularly interpreted against certain sins in modern politics. The +corruption system in Russia is old, organized, and respectable. Stories +told of Russian bribes and thefts exceed belief only until one has been +on the ground. + +Nicholas began well. He made an imperial progress to Odessa, was +welcomed in the morning by the governor in full pomp and robes and flow +of smooth words; and at noon the same governor was working in the +streets with ball and chain as a convict. But against such a chronic +moral evil no government is so weak as your so-called "strong" +government. Nicholas set out one day for the Kronstadt arsenals to look +into the accounts there; but before he reached them, stores, +storehouses, and account-books were in ashes. So at last Nicholas folded +his arms and wrestled no more. For, apart from the trouble, there came +ever in his dealings with thieves that old timid thought of his, that, +if he examined too closely their chief tenure, they might examine too +closely his despot tenure. + +We have shown this vague fear in Nicholas's mind thus at length and in +different workings, because thereby alone can be grasped the master-key +to his dealings with the serf system. Toward his toiling millions +Nicholas always showed sympathy. Let news of a single wrong to a serf +get through the hedges about the Russian majesty, and woe to the guilty +master! Many of these wrongs came to Nicholas's notice; and he came to +hate the system, and tried to undermine it. Opposition met him, of +course; not so much the ponderous laziness of Peter's time as an +opposition, polite and elastic, which never ranted and never stood +up--for then Nicholas would have throttled it and stamped upon it. But +it did its best to entangle his reason and thwart his action. He was +told that the serfs were well-fed, well-housed, well-clothed, +well-provided with religion; were contented, and had no wish to leave +their owners. + +Now Nicholas was not strong at spinning sham reasons nor subtle at +weaving false conscience; but, to his mind, the very fact that the +system had so degraded a man that he could laugh and dance and sing, +while other men took his wages, his wife, and homestead, was the +crowning argument against the system. Then the political economists +beset him, proving that without forced labor Russia must sink into sloth +and poverty. + +Yet all this could not shut out from Nicholas's sight the great black +fact in the case. He saw, and winced as he saw, that, while other +European nations, even under despots, were comparatively active and +energetic, his own people were sluggish and stagnant; that, although +great thoughts and great acts were towering in the West, there were in +Russia, after all his galvanizing, no great authors, or scholars, or +builders, or inventors, but only two main products of Russian +civilization, dissolute lords and abject serfs. + +Nearly twenty years went by in this timid dropping of grains of salt +into a putrid sea. But at last, in 1842, Nicholas issued his ukase +creating the class of "contracting peasants." Masters and serfs were +empowered to enter into contracts, the serf receiving freedom, the +master receiving payment in instalments. It was a moderate innovation, +very moderate--nothing more than the first failure of the First +Alexander. Yet even here that old timidity of Nicholas nearly spoiled +what little good was hidden in the ukase. Notice after notice was given +to the serf-owners that they were not to be molested, that no +emancipation was contemplated, and that the ukase contained "nothing +new." The result was as feeble as the policy. A few serfs were +emancipated, and Nicholas halted. The revolutions of 1848 increased his +fear of innovation; and finally the war in the Crimea took from him the +power of innovation. + +The great man died. We saw his cold dead face, in the midst of crowns +and crosses, very pale then, very powerless then. One might stare at +him, then, as at a serf's corpse; for he who had scared Europe during +thirty years lay before us that day as a poor lump of chilled brain and +withered muscle. And we stood by, when, amid chanting and flare of +torches and roll of cannon, his sons wrapped him in his shroud of gold +thread, and lowered him into the tomb of his fathers. + +But there was shown in those days far greater tribute than the prayers +of bishops or the reverence of ambassadors. Massed about the Winter +Palace and the Fortress of Peter and Paul, stood thousands on thousands +who, in far-distant serf-huts, had put on their best, had toiled wearily +to the capital to give their last mute thanks to one who for years had +stood between their welfare and their owners' greed. Sad that he had not +done more. Yet they knew that he had wished their freedom and loathed +their wrongs; for that came up the tribute of millions. + +The new Emperor, Alexander II, had never been hoped for as one who could +light the nation from his brain; the only hope was that he might warm +the nation somewhat from his heart. He was said to be of a weak, silken +fibre. The strength of the family was said to be concentrated in his +younger brother, Constantine. But soon came a day when the young Czar +revealed to Europe not merely kindliness, but strength. While his +father's corpse was still lying within his palace, he received the +diplomatic body. As the Emperor entered the audience-room he seemed +feeble, indeed, for such a crisis. That fearful legacy of war seemed to +weigh upon his heart; marks of plenteous tears were upon his face; +Nesselrode, though old and bent and shrunk in stature, seemed stronger +than his young master. + +But as he began his speech it was seen that a strong man had mounted the +throne. With earnestness he declared that he sorrowed over the existing +war; but that, if the Holy Alliance had been broken, it was not through +the fault of Russia. With bitterness he turned toward the Austrian +minister, Esterhazy, and hinted at Russian services in 1848, and +Austrian ingratitude. Calmly then, not as one who spoke a part but as +one who announced a determination, he declared: "I am anxious for peace; +but if the terms at the approaching congress are incompatible with the +honor of my nation, I will put myself at the head of my faithful Russia +and die sooner than yield." + +Strong as Alexander showed himself by these words, he showed himself +stronger by acts. A policy properly mingling firmness and conciliation +brought peace to Europe and showed him equal to his father; a policy +mingling love of liberty with love of order brought the dawn of +prosperity to Russia and showed him the superior of his father. The +reforms now begun were not stinted as of old, but free and hearty. In +rapid succession were swept away restrictions on telegraphic +communication, on printing, on the use of the Imperial Library, on +strangers entering the country, on Russians leaving the country. A +policy in public works was adopted which made Nicholas's greatest +efforts seem petty; a vast network of railways was begun. A policy in +commercial dealings with Western Europe was adopted, in which Alexander, +though not apparently so imposing as Nicholas, was really far greater; +he dared advance toward freedom of trade. + +But soon rose again that great problem of old--that problem ever rising +to meet a new autocrat, and, at each appearance, more dire than +before--the serf question. The serfs in private hands now numbered more +than twenty millions; above them stood more than a hundred thousand +owners. The princely strength of the largest owners was best represented +by a few men possessing over a hundred thousand serfs each, and, above +all, by Count Scheremetieff, who boasted three hundred thousand. The +luxury of the large owners was best represented by about four thousand +men possessing more than a thousand serfs each. The pinching +propensities of the small owners were best represented by fifty thousand +men possessing fewer than twenty serfs each. + +The serfs might be divided into two great classes. The first comprised +those working under the old or _corvée_ system, giving usually three +days in the week to the tillage of the owner's domain; the second +comprised those working under the new or _obrok_ system, receiving a +payment fixed by the owner and assessed by the community to which the +serfs belonged. The character of the serfs had been moulded by the serf +system. They had a simple shrewdness, which, under a better system, had +made them enterprising; but this quality soon degenerated into cunning +and cheatery--the weapons which the hopelessly oppressed always use. +They had a reverence for things sacred, which under a better system +might have given the nation a strengthening religion; but they now stood +among the most religious peoples on earth and among the least moral. To +the picture of Our Lady of Kazan they were ever ready to burn wax and +oil; to truth and justice they constantly omitted the tribute of mere +common honesty. They kept the Church fasts like saints; they kept the +Church feasts like satyrs. + +They had curiosity, which under a better system would have made them +inventive; but their plough, in common use, was behind the plough +described by Vergil. They had a love of gain, which under a better +system would have made them hardworking; but it took ten serfs to do, +languidly and poorly, what two free men in America would do quickly and +well. They were naturally a kind people; but let one example show how +serfage can transmute kindness. It is a rule, well known in Russia, that +when an accident occurs, interference is to be left to the police. Hence +you would see a man lying in a fit, and the bystanders giving no aid, +but waiting for the authorities. Some years ago, as all the world +remembers, a theatre took fire in St. Petersburg, and crowds of people +were burned or stifled. The whole story is not so well known. The +theatre was but a great temporary wooden shed--such as is run up every +year at the holidays, in the public squares. When the fire burst forth, +crowds of peasants hurried to the spot; but though they heard the +shrieks of the dying, separated from them only by a thin planking, only +one man in that multitude dared cut through and rescue some of the +sufferers. + +The serfs, when standing for great ideas, would die rather than yield. +Napoleon I learned this at Eylau; Napoleon III learned it at Sebastopol; +yet in daily life they were slavish beyond belief. On a certain day, in +the year 1855, the most embarrassed man in all Russia was doubtless our +excellent American minister. The serf coachman employed at wages was +called up to receive his discharge for drunkenness. Coming into the +presence of a sound-hearted American democrat, who never had dreamed of +one mortal kneeling to another, Ivan throws himself on his knees, +presses his forehead to the minister's feet, fawns like a tamed beast, +and refuses to move until the minister relieves himself from this +nightmare of servility by a full pardon. + +Time after time we have entered the serf field and serf hut; have seen +the simple round of serf toils and sports; have heard the simple +chronicles of self joys and sorrows: but whether his livery were filthy +sheepskin or gold-laced caftan; whether he lay on carpets at the door of +his master, or in filth on the floor of his cabin; whether he gave us +cold, stupid stories of his wrongs, or flippant details of his joys; +whether he blessed his master or cursed him--we have wondered at the +power which a serf system has to degrade and imbrute the image of God. + +But astonishment was increased a thousand-fold at study of the reflex +influence for evil upon the serf-owners themselves, upon the whole free +community, upon the very soil of the whole country. On all those broad +plains of Russia, on the daily life of that serf-owning aristocracy, on +the whole class which was neither of serfs nor serf-owners, the curse of +God was written in letters so big and so black that all mankind might +read them. Farms were untilled, enterprise deadened, invention crippled, +education neglected; life was of little value; labor was the badge of +servility, laziness the very badge and passport of gentility. Despite +the most specious half-measures, despite all efforts to galvanize it, to +coax life into it, to sting life into it, the nation remained stagnant. +Not one traveller who does not know that the evils brought on that land +by the despotism of the autocrat were as nothing compared to that dark +network of curses spread over it by a serf-owning aristocracy. Into the +conflict with this evil Alexander II entered manfully. Having been two +years upon the throne, having made a plan, having stirred some thought +through certain authorized journals, he inspired the nobility in three +of the northwestern provinces to memorialize him in regard to +emancipation. + +Straightway an answer was sent conveying the outlines of the Emperor's +plan. The period of transition from serfage to freedom was set at twelve +years; at the end of that time the serf was to be fully free and +possessor of his cabin, with an adjoining piece of land. The provincial +nobles were convoked to fill out these outlines with details as to the +working out by the serfs of a fair indemnity to their masters. The whole +world was stirred; but that province in which the Czar hoped most +eagerly for a movement to meet him--the province where beat the old +Muscovite heart, Moscow--was stirred least of all. Every earnest throb +seemed stifled there by that strong aristocracy. + +Yet Moscow moved at last. Some nobles who had not yet arrived at the +callous period; some professors in the University who had not yet +arrived at the heavy period, breathed life into the mass, dragged on the +timid, fought off the malignant. The movement had soon a force which the +retrograde party at Moscow dared not openly resist. So they sent answers +to St. Petersburg, apparently favorable; but wrapped in their phrases +were hints of difficulties, reservations, impossibilities. All this +studied suggestion of difficulties profited the reactionists nothing. +They were immediately informed that the imperial mind was made up, that +the business of the Muscovite nobility was now to arrange that the serf +be freed in twelve years, and put in possession of homestead and +enclosure. + +The next movement of the retrograde party was to misunderstand +everything. The plainest things were found to need a world of debate; +the simplest things became entangled; the noble assemblies played +solemnly a ludicrous game of cross-purposes. Straightway came a notice +from the Emperor which, stripped of official verbiage, said that they +must understand. This set all in motion again. Imperial notices were +sent to province after province, explanatory documents were issued, good +men and strong were set to talk and work. + +The nobility of Moscow made another move. To scare back the advancing +forces of emancipation, they elected, as provincial leaders, three +nobles bearing the greatest names of old Russia and haters of the new +ideas. To defeat these came a successor of St. Gregory and St. Bavon, +one who accepted the thought that when God advances great ideas the +Church must marshal them. Philarete, Metropolitan of Moscow, upheld +emancipation and condemned its foes; his earnest eloquence carried all. +The work progressed unevenly--nobles in different governments differed +in plan and aim--an assembly of delegates was brought together at St. +Petersburg to combine and perfect a resultant plan under the eye of the +Emperor. The Grand Council of the Empire, too, was set at the work. It +was a most unpromising body, yet the Emperor's will stirred it. + +The opposition now made the most brilliant stroke of its campaign. Just +as James II of England prated of toleration and planned the enslavement +of all thought, so now the bigoted plotters against emancipation began +to prate of constitutional liberty. But Alexander held right on. It was +even hinted that visions of a constitutional monarchy pleased him. But +then came tests of Alexander's strength far more trying. Masses of +peasants, hearing vague news of emancipation--learning, doubtless, from +their masters' own spiteful lips that the Emperor was endeavoring to +tear away property in serfs--took the masters at their word, and +determined to help the Emperor. They rose in insurrection. To the +bigoted serf-owners this was a godsend. They paraded it in all lights; +therewith they threw life into all the old commonplaces on the French +Revolution; timid men of good intentions wavered. The Czar would surely +now be scared back. + +Not so. Alexander now hurled his greatest weapon, and stunned reaction +in a moment. He freed all the serfs on the Imperial estates without +reserve. Now it was seen that he was in earnest; the opponents were +disheartened; once more the plan moved and dragged them on. But there +came other things to dishearten the Emperor; and not least of these was +the attitude of those who moulded popular thought in England. Be it said +here, to the credit of France, that from her came constant encouragement +in the great work. Wolowski, Mazade, and other true-hearted men sent +forth from leading reviews and journals words of sympathy, words of +help, words of cheer. + +Not so England. Just as in the French Revolution of 1789, while yet that +Revolution was noble and good, while yet Lafayette and Bailly held it, +leaders in English thought, who had quickened the opinions which had +caused the Revolution, sent malignant prophecies and prompted foul +blows, so in this battle of Alexander against a foul wrong they seized +this time of all times to show all the wrongs and absurdities of which +Russia ever had been or ever might be guilty--criticised, carped, sent +much haughty advice, depressing sympathy, and malignant prophecy. Review +articles, based on no real knowledge of Russia, announced a desire for +serf-emancipation, and then, in the modern English way, with plentiful +pyrotechnics of antithesis and paradox, threw a gloomy light into the +skilfully pictured depths of imperial despotism, official corruption, +and national bankruptcy. + +They revived Old World objections, which, to one acquainted with the +most every-day workings of serfage, were ridiculous. It was said that if +the serfs lost the protection of their owners they might fall a prey to +rapacious officials. As well might it have been argued that a mother +should never loose her son from her apron-strings. It was said that +"Serfism excludes pauperism"--that, if the serf owes work to his owner +in the prime of life, the owner owes support to his serf in the decline +of life. No lie could be more absurd to one who had seen Russian life. +We were first greeted, on entering Russia, by a beggar who knelt in the +mud; at Kovno eighteen beggars besieged the coach, and Kovno was hardly +worse than scores of other towns; within a day's ride from St. +Petersburg a woman begged piteously for means to keep soul and body +together, and finished the refutation of that sonorous English theory, +for she had been discharged from her master's service in the metropolis +as too feeble, and had been sent back to his domain, afar in the +country, on foot and without money. + +It was said that freed peasants would not work. But, despite volleys of +predictions that they would not work if freed, despite volleys of +assertions that they could not work if freed, the peasants when set +free, and not crushed by regulations, have sprung to their work with an +earnestness and continued it with a vigor at which the philosophers of +the old system stand aghast. The freed peasants of Wologda compare +favorably with any in Europe. And when the old tirades had grown stale, +English writers drew copiously from a new source--from _La Vérité sur la +Russie_--pleasingly indifferent to the fact that the author's praise in +a previous work had notoriously been a thing of bargain and sale, and +that there was in full process of development a train of facts which led +the Parisian courts to find him guilty of demanding in one case a +blackmail of fifty thousand rubles. + +All this argument outside the empire helped the foes of emancipation +inside the empire. But the Emperor met the whole body of his opponents +with an argument overwhelming. On March 5, 1861, he issued his manifesto +making the serfs free! He had struggled long to make some satisfactory +previous arrangement; his motto now became: Emancipation first, +arrangement afterward. Thus was the result of the great struggle +decided. + + +NIKOLAI TURGENIEFF + +In 1857 the Emperor Alexander II first raised the question of +emancipation, and declared it was time for it to be accomplished. As +might have been expected, the idea of emancipation met with great +opposition from different sides. Yet the opposition was directed not so +much against the personal emancipation of the serfs as against the +appropriation to them, when liberated, of the land they held. The +proprietors, assembled in different committees which were established +all over the empire to discuss the matter, ended even by giving up their +right of possession in the person of the serf, and, mentioning only +their right to the land occupied by the peasants, claimed pecuniary +indemnities if that land were delivered to them. The honorable gentlemen +whom the Emperor intrusted with this important task, forming a committee +_ad hoc_, declared from the first as a principle that the emancipated +peasants must have land, about in the same quantity as they had hitherto +occupied, on condition of a pecuniary indemnity to be paid to the +proprietors. That principle prevailed, thanks to the Emperor's firmness. + +During the discussion of that question in Russia, I published several +writings on the matter. My chief purpose and warmest desire being to +secure to the peasants as soon as possible their personal freedom and +complete liberty of labor, I proposed a method of emancipation, claiming +the entire property of their homes; that is to say, cottages and +orchards and a small quantity of arable land, and that without the +slightest indemnity from them to their masters, which was to be left to +the Government. A sum of about two hundred million dollars, according to +my calculation, would have been sufficient for it. + +Meanwhile I inherited a small landed property, inhabited by about four +hundred persons of both sexes. I hastened to put in practice my method. +I abandoned one-third of the land, including their houses, to the +peasants, and let them the two remaining thirds for a certain sum of +money. In my agreement with them it was settled that, if the +emancipation which the Government was preparing (1859) turned out more +advantageous to them, they were to accept it in preference to mine. It +is needless to add that, when the official emancipation was proclaimed, +the peasants and I found it more advantageous and adopted it. If I were +to compare the two methods, I should say that mine tended chiefly to the +liberty of the peasants' person and labor, and that of the Government to +give them a quantity of land sufficient for their subsistence. + +The great inconvenience of this last method was that it obliged the +peasants to pay a heavy rent to redeem their land, and that during +forty-nine years! Nevertheless, their passion to possess land was so +strong that they cheerfully submitted to such hard conditions. The +redeeming rent _(rente de rachat_) was to be paid by the peasants, +either in money, according to an estimate fixed by law, or by work done +for the proprietor, _i.e.,_ by _corvies_. This last mode of payment, +sanctioned by law only for a short period, disappeared more and more +every day, so that the majority of the peasants no longer worked for the +proprietors, but paid their rent in money. + +I can say more: About two millions of peasants were entirely liberated +with regard to the proprietors, thanks to an immediate payment of the +redeeming rent. In such cases their annual rent (_redevance_) was +capitalized, and the Government gave the proprietor an obligation for +the amount of the capital, which bore five per cent, interest, and was +to be redeemed in the course of forty-nine years by annual drawings +(_tirages_); the peasants then to pay their redeeming rent to +Government, and thus become free and independent proprietors. For some +time both peasants and proprietors seemed to find this proceeding the +most profitable, and agreements of this kind became more and more +frequent every day. + +I can hardly say how happy I was when I saw for the first time my dear, +beloved, and deeply respected Russian peasants free at last, and +proprietors of the land they had till then cultivated as serfs! What a +change! The same creatures, serfs yesterday, became men, conscious of +their human dignity; their aspect, their language, are those of free +men. In the mean while, in getting rid of their serfdom, they preserved +their usual good sense, wisdom, and _bonhomie_; no impertinence, no +arrogance whatever can be detected in them; they are full of +self-respect, yet polite. I saw them discussing with the authorities +some business of theirs. They maintained their new rights, and, when +wrong, never hesitated to acknowledge it. + +Every district and every _chef-lieu_ had every year an assembly of +deputies who named a permanent committee for three years. This committee +was charged with the municipal administration, under the control of the +assembly. Everyone was called by law to the election of the deputies. It +happened in many places that the peasants were the more numerous and +could therefore dispose of all the places in the administrative +committee. They were so informed. "No," was their answer; "we want one +or two members of the committee taken from among ourselves; they will +watch over our interests. As for defending them, as for action, the +nobles we name will do it better than we, for they are more learned than +we are." In one of the assemblies the nobles, moved by the tact and +moderation of the peasants, insisted and almost forced a peasant to +become president of the administrative committee of the district. When +the salary of the members of the committee had to be decided, the +peasants usually considered it too high for them, and, letting the +nobles and the merchants have it, got it diminished by one-half for +themselves. + +All the district assemblies, after voting for the formation of the +administrative committee, named the deputies for the larger assembly in +the chief town in the province, which in its turn chose among its own +members the members for the provincial administrative committee. The +central committee seemed to interest the peasants less than those of the +districts, and this too is owing to their modesty and moderation. + +Another field was offered by the new law to the activity of the peasants +in the local or municipal tribunals. The law united several rural +communes in one canton _(volost)._ Each canton, each commune, chose an +_ancient_, assisted by a _conseil_ In every canton was a tribunal to +judge the peasants' affairs. Ancients and judges were elected by +peasants; noblemen were not submitted to these tribunals, but it has +happened that some of them preferred having their difficulties with +peasants settled by municipal judges rather than by the usual tribunals. +This jurisdiction, established merely for peasants, had great +importance, owing chiefly to the privilege of deciding not only +according to general law, but also according to local customs. +Opportunities were not wanting for the good sense of the peasants to +show itself in these municipal tribunals and councils, and the success +of the institution was clear to everyone. + + + + +(1844-1861) CHRONOLOGY OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY, Embracing the period + covered in this volume, Daniel Edwin Wheeler + + +Events treated at length are here indicated in large type; the numerals +following give volume and page. + +Separate chronologies or the various nations, and of the careers of +famous persons, will be found in the INDEX VOLUME, with references +showing where the several events are fully treated. + + + 1844 - "INVENTION OF THE TELEGRAPH." + + 1845 - Florida and Texas admitted to the United States; beginning of + President Folk's Administration. + + - Sir John Franklin sails on his last search for the Northwest + Passage. + + - England and France war on the Argentine Confederation. + + 1846 - War between the United States and Mexico; General Taylor + captures Monterey; California and New Mexico occupied by United + States troops. See "THE ACQUISITION OF CALIFORNIA." + + - Treaty with England arranges the Oregon boundary. + + - Elias Howe patents the sewing-machine. + + - "THE DISCOVERY OF NEPTUNE." + + - Great Famine begins in Ireland. Corn-Law agitation at its + height in England, "REPEAL OF THE ENGLISH CORN LAWS." + + - Unsuccessful uprising of the Poles. Cracow annexed to Austria. + Election of Pope Pius IX; his reforms. See "THE REFORMS OF Pius + IX." + + 1847 - General Taylor conquers Northern Mexico; Battle of Buena Vista. + General Scott captures Vera Cruz, marches on the city of + Mexico, wins repeated battles, and enters the capital in + triumph, September 14th. See "THE MEXICAN WAR." + + - "FAMINE IN IRELAND." + + - Tumult occasioned in Italy by the papal reforms; civil war of + the _Sonderbund_ in Switzerland; France finally subjugates + Morocco. See "THE FALL OF ABD-EL-KADER." + + 1848 - Peace signed between Mexico and the United States; cession of + large territory by Mexico. + + - "DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN CALIFORNIA." + + - The Mormons settle in Utah. See "MIGRATIONS OF THE MORMONS." + + - Italian uprisings in Milan and Sicily; Sardinia grants a + constitution to its subjects. See "THE REVOLUTION OF FEBRUARY + IN FRANCE." Gathering of a workingmen's convention in Paris. + + - Outbreak of revolution in Vienna (March 13th) and in Berlin + (March 18th). See "REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS IN GERMANY." + + - Meeting of the German Parliament at Frankfort. + + - Venice declares itself a republic. Sardinia begins war for the + "liberation of Italy"; Battle of Custozza. Bloody outbreak of + communists in Paris. Unsuccessful revolts in Poland and + Bohemia. + + - "THE REVOLT OF HUNGARY." + + - Storming of Vienna by government troops. Flight of Pius IX from + Rome. Louis Napoleon elected President of France. + + - The English crowd back the Boers in Southern Africa; the Boers + migrate and form the Transvaal Republic. + + 1849 - Zachary Taylor inaugurated as President of the United States. + + - Rome declared a republic. The Sardinian troops defeated by the + Austrians at Novara, and the Sardinian King resigns his throne + to his son, Victor Emmanuel II. Austria again dominant in + Italy. Rome stormed by French troops. See "RISE AND FALL OF THE + ROMAN REPUBLIC." + + - Venice surrenders to the Austrians after nearly a year of + siege. Hungary declared a republic; her forces crushed by the + + + - Russians in aid of Austria. + + - Denmark and Schleswig-Holstein at war. A German confederation + established. + + - "LIVINGSTONE'S AFRICAN DISCOVERIES." + + - The Punjab annexed to British India. + + 1850 - Death of President Taylor. + + - Congress passes the Clay compromise measures admitting + California as a free State, but compelling the return of + fugitive slaves by the North. + + - Tai-ping rebellion begins in China. + + 1851 - First great world's fair in the Crystal Palace, London. + + - "DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN AUSTRALIA." + + - "THE COUP D'ÉTAT OF LOUIS NAPOLEON." Napoleon dismisses the + Assembly, and is elected President of France for ten years. + + 1852 - Napoleon III proclaimed Emperor of France. + + 1853 - Franklin Pierce inaugurated as President of the United States. + + - The Gadsden Purchase made from Mexico, including Southern + Arizona and New Mexico. Surveys begin for a transcontinental + railroad. + + - Dr. Kane sets out on his arctic explorations. + + - Russia quarrels with Turkey, claims a protectorate over all + Christians in Turkish dominions; war begun, a Turkish fleet + destroyed at Sinope. England and France interfere. + + - Great successes of the Tai-pings in China. + + 1854 - Passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill intensifies the slavery + agitation in the United States; formation of the Republican + party. See "THE RISE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY." + + - France and England declare war against Russia; bombardment of + + Bomarsund; the allies land in the Crimea; battles of the Alma, + of Balaklava, of Inkerman, siege of Sebastopol. + + - "THE OPENING OF JAPAN." + + 1855 - "THE CAPTURE OF SEBASTOPOL." + + - Russian successes against the Turks in Asia. + + - Overthrow of Santa Ana, Dictator of Mexico. + + - Opening of a railway across the Isthmus of Panama. + 1856 - Tumult and bloodshed in Kansas. + + - Walker, the filibuster, seizes temporary control of Nicaragua. + + - End of the Crimean War; Russia withdraws from the Danubian + Provinces. + + - Second war between England and China; Persians attack + Afghanistan. + + 1857 - James Buchanan inaugurated as President of the United States. + + The decision in the Dred Scott case extends slavery into the + Territories. + + - Mormon Revolt in Utah. + + - "THE INDIAN MUTINY." Nana Sahib heads the insurgents; recapture + of Delhi and Cawnpore; relief of Lucknow. + + - England ends the Persian War. France joins England against + China. + + - The first Atlantic cable laid and broken. + + 1858 - Jews admitted to share in the government of England. + + - End of the Indian Mutiny; the East Indian Company transfers its + authority to the Crown. + + 1859 - John Brown's Raid. + + - Charles Darwin announces the doctrine of evolution. See "DARWIN + PUBLISHES His ORIGIN OF SPECIES." + + - Russia captures Shamyl, and subdues the entire region of the + Caucasus. + + - Cavour, the chief statesman of Sardinia, arranges an alliance + with France and begins a war with Austria to establish "United + Italy." + + - "BATTLES OF MAGENTA AND SOLFERINO." + + - Lombardy added to the Italian Kingdom; Venice remains Austrian. + + 1860 - Garibaldi and his "Thousand" attack the Neapolitans in + + Sicily; they capture Naples. Victor Emmanuel seizes the States + of the Church. See "THE KINGDOM OF ITALY ESTABLISHED." + + 1860 - French and English troops seize Peking and dictate peace terms. + + - Election of Abraham Lincoln, the Republican candidate, as + President of the United States. South Carolina secedes from the + Union. + + 1861 - "EMANCIPATION OF RUSSIAN SERFS." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Events by Famous Historians, +Vol. 17, by Charles Francis Horne + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREAT EVENTS 17 *** + +***** This file should be named 10128-8.txt or 10128-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/1/2/10128/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Keith M. 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: + https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL + + diff --git a/old/10128-8.zip b/old/10128-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7c07d1e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10128-8.zip diff --git a/old/10128.txt b/old/10128.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..821286e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10128.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15264 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol. +17, by Charles Francis Horne + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol. 17 + +Author: Charles Francis Horne + +Release Date: November 19, 2003 [EBook #10128] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREAT EVENTS 17 *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Keith M. Eckrich, Tom Allen and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + +VOL. XVII + +THE GREAT EVENTS BY FAMOUS HISTORIANS + +A comprehensive and readable account of the world's history, +emphasizing the more important events, and presenting these as +complete narratives in the master-words of the most eminent +historians. + +Non-sectarian, non-partisan and non-sectional. + +On the plan evolved from a consensus of opinions gathered from the +most distinguished scholars of America and Europe, including brief +introductions by specialists to connect and explain the celebrated +narratives, arranged chronologically, with thorough indices, +bibliographies, chronologies, and courses of reading. + +Editor-in-Chief: Rossiter Johnson, LL.D. + +Associate Editors: Charles F. Horne, Ph.D. and John Rudd, LL.D. + +With a staff of specialists + + + + +CONTENTS of VOLUME XVII + + +AN OUTLINE NARRATIVE OF THE GREAT EVENTS, Charles F. Horne + +(1844) THE INVENTION OF THE TELEGRAPH, Alonzo B. Cornell + +(1846) REPEAL OF THE ENGLISH CORN LAWS, Justin McCarthy + +(1846) THE DISCOVERY OF NEPTUNE, Sir Oliver Lodge + +(1846) THE ACQUISITION OF CALIFORNIA, Henry B. Dawson + +(1847) THE FALL OF ABD-EL-KADER, Edgar Sanderson + +(1847) THE MEXICAN WAR, John Bonner + +(1847) FAMINE IN IRELAND, Sir Charles Gavan Duffy + +(1848) MIGRATIONS OF THE MORMONS, Thomas L. Kane + +(1848) THE REFORMS OF PIUS IX; HIS FLIGHT FROM ROME, Francis Bowen + +(1848) THE REVOLUTION OF FEBRUARY IN FRANCE, Francois P.G. Guizot and + Mme. Guizot de Witt + +(1848) REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS IN GERMAN, C. Edmund Maurice + +(1848) THE REVOLT IN HUNGARY, Arminius Vembery + +(1848) THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN CALIFORNIA, John S. Hittell + +(1849) THE RISE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC, Jessie White Mario + +(1849) LIVINGSTONE'S AFRICAN DISCOVERIES, David Livingstone and Thomas + Hughes + +(1851) THE COUP D'ETAT OF LOUIS NAPOLEON, Alexis de Tocqueville + +(1851) THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN AUSTRALIA, Edward Jenks + +(1854) THE RISE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, Abraham Lincoln + +(1854) THE OPENING OF JAPAN, Matthew C. Perry + +(1855) THE CAPTURE OF SEBASTOPOL, Sir Edward B. Hamley and Sir Evelyn + Wood + +(1857) THE INDIAN MUTINY, J. Talboys Wheeler + +(1859) THE BATTLES OF MAGENTA and SOLFERINO, Pietro Orsi + +(1859) DARWIN PUBLISHES HIS ORIGIN OF SPECIES, Charles Robert Darwin + +(1860) THE KINGDOM OF ITALY ESTABLISHED, Giuseppe Garibaldi and John + Webb Probyn + +(1861) THE EMANCIPATION OF RUSSIAN SERFS, Andrew D. White and Nikolai + Turgenieff + +(1844-1861) UNIVERSAL CHRONOLOGY, Daniel Edwin Wheeler + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS: + + +The mutinous Sepoys blown from the mouths of cannon by the English at +Cawnpore, Painting by Basil Verestchagin. + +Charge of the Six Hundred at Balaklava, Painting by Stanley Berkeley. + + + + +AN OUTLINE NARRATIVE (Tracing briefly the causes, connections, and +consequences of the great events.) + + +THE TRIUMPH OF DEMOCRACY, Charles F. Horne + +In the year 1844 electricity, last and mightiest of the servants of man, +was seized and harnessed and made to do practical work. A telegraph line +was erected between Washington and Baltimore. [Footnote: See _Invention +of the Telegraph_.] In 1846 mathematics achieved perhaps the greatest +triumph of abstract science. It pointed out where in the heavens there +should be a planet, never before known by man. Strong telescopes were +directed to the spot and the planet was discovered. [Footnote: See _The +Discovery of Neptune_.] Man had found guides more subtle and more +accurate than his own five ancient senses. The age of figures, the age +of electricity, began. + +The changes were symbolic, perhaps, of the more rapid rate at which the +forces of society were soon to move. Over all Europe and America great +events were shaping themselves with lightning speed. Tremendous changes +political and economic, social and scientific, were hurrying to an +issue. + + +THE MEXICAN WAR + +In America the Mexican War, vast in its territorial results, still more +so in its effect upon society, broke out in 1846 over the admission of +Texas to the United States. The superior fighting strength of the more +northern race was at once made evident. Small bodies of United States +troops repeatedly defeated far larger numbers of the Mexican militia. +The entire northern half of Mexico was soon occupied by the enemy. +Expeditions, half of conquest, half of exploration, seized New Mexico, +California, and all the vast region which now composes the southwestern +quarter of the United States. [Footnote: See _The Acquisition of +California_.] + +Farther south, however, the more populous region wherein lay the chief +Mexican cities remained resolute in its defiance; and the Washington +Government despatched against it that truly marvellous expedition under +General Scott. The heroisms and the triumphs of Scott's spectacular +campaign deserve to be sung in epic form. The dubious justice of the war +was forgotten in its overwhelming success. From the captured Mexican +capital the conquerors dictated such peace terms as added to the United +States almost half the territory of her helpless neighbor. Europe at +last awoke to the fact that there was but one Power on the American +continent, a power with which even the mightiest monarch could ill +afford to quarrel. [Footnote: See _The Mexican War_.] The very year in +which the final treaty of peace was signed (1848) the Mormons, a +religious sect, finding themselves unwelcome and out of place in +Illinois, moved westward in a body. Enduring every hardship, every +privation, perishing by hundreds in the trackless deserts, captured and +put to torture by the Indians, they still persevered in their migration, +and, halting at last in the valleys of Utah, began the settlement of the +Central West. [Footnote: See _Migrations of the Mormons_.] + +Also in that same year, gold was discovered in California. Thousands of +eager adventurers flocked thither, and thus the vast wilderness that +Mexico had lightly surrendered had hardly become United States territory +ere it was filled with people, not listless semi-savages, but eager, +energetic men, resolute and resourceful. The West joined the march of +progress; it doubled the wealth and prowess of the East. [Footnote: See +_Discovery of Gold in California_.] + + +THE UPRISING OF THE PEOPLES + +Important indeed was that year of 1848, noteworthy above most in the +story of mankind. In Europe it witnessed the greatest of all the +outbursts of democracy. The common people, easily suppressed by the +armies of the Holy Alliance in 1820, had been subdued with difficulty in +1830. Now in 1848 they rose again. Their gradual accumulation of power +and passion would soon be irresistible. Even the petted armies of +autocracy became possessed with the new belief in mankind's brotherhood. + +This time the outburst began in Italy. Mazzini, the celebrated founder +of the political society "Young Italy," inspired his countrymen with +something of his own ardent devotion to the cause of liberty and Italian +union. Then in 1846 Pius IX, last of the heads of the Roman Church to +possess a temporal authority as well, ascended the throne of the Papal +dominions. The new Pope was in sympathy with the democratic spirit of +the times, and he established in his own States a constitutional +government, granting to his people more and more of power as he judged +them fitted for it. Soon, however, the most radical elements asserted +themselves in the new Government. All that the Pope could find it in his +heart to grant, seemed to them not half enough. The mighty spirit which +he had let loose broke from his control. Before the close of 1848 there +were riots, fighting in the streets; the Pope's chief counsellor was +murdered, and he himself had to flee by night in secrecy, a fugitive +from Rome. [Footnote: See _The Reforms of Pius IX: His Flight from +Rome_.] + +Ere matters had reached this pass, the sudden impulse given by Rome to +democratic government had spread like wildfire over the whole of Europe. +Thrones everywhere seemed crumbling to the dust. In January, 1848, the +people of Sicily revolted against their tyrant king and formed a +republic. Southern Italy, which had been part of the same kingdom, +compelled the sovereign to grant a constitution. Other Italian States +followed the example of rebellion. All Europe apparently had been but +waiting for the spark. In France, dissatisfaction with the +"tradesman-King," Louis Philippe, had long been bitter. In February, +1848, there was an open rebellion, Louis abdicated, and a provisional +government was formed, which proclaimed the land a republic. [Footnote: +See _The Revolution of February in France_.] + +There was no fear now lest the other Powers interfere. Each Continental +monarch was over-busy at home. Rebellion was everywhere. Every one of +the lesser German States secured a constitution; and the inhabitants +summoned those of Prussia and Austria to join them in establishing a +single central government, either republic or empire, a "United +Germany." On March 18th the Prussian capital, Berlin, was the seat of a +savage street battle between citizens and the royal troops. Not until it +had raged all day and upward of two hundred persons had been slain did +the Prussian monarch, Frederick William IV, weaken and proclaim a +constitution. [Footnote: See _Revolutionary Movements in Germany_.] + +Austria, the stronghold of autocracy, the land of Prince Metternich, +high-priest of repression, had proven as little ready as her neighbors +to withstand the sudden storm. On March 13th the people of Vienna rose +in most unexpected revolt, and Metternich, escaping from the city in a +washerwoman's cart, fled to England. "We were prepared for everything," +he lamented, "but a democratic pope." + +The whole heterogeneous empire of Austria seemed to fall apart at once. +The Hungarians rose in arms to fight for independence. The Bohemians +expelled the Austrian troops from Prague. In Italy the Northern +Provinces followed the example set them in the South. The people of +Milan attacked the Austrian garrison and expelled it after four days of +fighting. Venice reasserted her ancient independence. The King of +Piedmont and Sardinia, declaring himself the champion of Italian unity, +ordered the Austrian armies to leave the country, and marched his forces +against them. The other little States hastened to accept his leadership +and add their troops to his. + +Yet against all these difficulties the military power of the Austrian +Government began to make determined headway. The Bohemians were crushed +by force of arms. In Italy the Austrian general-in-chief withdrew slowly +before his many foes, until his Government could reenforce him. Then he +turned on them, completely defeated the Sardinian King at Custozza and +the next year at Novara, and therby restored Austrian supremacy in +Northern Italy. + +Meanwhile Rome, from which Pius IX had fled in horror, proclaimed itself +a republic. Mazzini, the earliest hero of Italian unity, and Garibaldi, +its greatest champion, were both members of the Government. The +Austrians marched against them; but French troops had also been +despatched to defend the Pope, and it was the French who, first reaching +Rome, stormed and captured it. The republic was overthrown by a +republic. [Footnote: See _Rise and Fall of the Roman Republic_.] Venice +was the last Italian city to hold out, and surrendered to the Austrians +only after a siege of many months had reduced it to starvation. + +The Austrian revolution had also collapsed at home. In October, 1848, +Government troops stormed the city of Vienna as if it had been a foreign +capital, and defeated the students and citizens, who fought the soldiers +from street to street. + +Only in Hungary were the royal armies baffled. There a regular +republican government was established under Louis Kossuth. Hungarian +armies were raised, and, defeating the Austrians in pitched battles, +drove them from the land. The Austrian Emperor in despair appealed to +Russia for aid; and the Czar having just trampled out an incipient +Polish rebellion of his own, came willingly to the aid of his brother +autocrat. Just as Austrian troops had so often done in Italy, so now a +huge Russian horde poured over Hungary, beat down all resistance, and +having reduced the land to helplessness returned it to the angry grip of +its insulted sovereign. [Footnote: See _The Revolt of Hungary_.] + +Yet Hungary did not wholly fail of her revenge. She had brought about +the downfall of Austria as a great political Power. The once haughty +empire had been compelled to cry for help, to be protected, even as were +Italy and Spain, against her own people. Her weakness was made manifest +to the world. Never again could she pose as the leader of European +councils. + +Thus it was only in France and Germany that the results of the upheaval +of 1848-1849 remained evident upon the surface. Prussia and the lesser +German States became and continued constitutional kingdoms. Germany was +united in a closer though still vague union, in which Austria and +Prussia struggled for a dominant influence. But democracy had in many +places committed such excesses that the huge body of the middle classes +feared it and turned against it. Such citizens as had property to +preserve concluded that, after all, their ancient kings had been less +tyrannic than King Mob. + +In France, too, this reaction was strongly felt. The revolution of 1848 +had not been accomplished without an outburst from socialism or +communism, which raised its red flag in the streets of Paris and was put +down only after days of bloody battle with the more moderate elements. +So the French middle classes wanted peace, and they elected as president +of the republic Louis Napoleon, nephew of their once famous Emperor. In +1851 the President by a sudden _coup d'etat_ overturned his own +Government. He declared the land an empire under himself as Napoleon +III. Enthusiastic patriots protested in burning words, but most of +France appeared content. Property-owners welcomed the return of any +government that was strong enough to govern. [Footnote: See _The Coup +d'Etat_.] + +Despite temporary setbacks, however, the advance of the power of the +people in 1848 had been enormous. The dullest tyrant could hardly +believe longer in the permanence of personal despotism. Even England, +the stronghold of conservatism as well as of personal independence, was +shifting her aristocratic institutions slowly toward democracy. + +The Reform Bill of 1832 had been only a small step in the direction of +popular government; but it opened the way for further reform. Almost +immediately upon its granting, began what was known as the Chartist +movement, an agitation kept up among the lower classes for a "charter" +or more liberal constitution. This soon became associated with a demand +for freer trade. The importation into England of bread-stuffs, +especially corn, was heavily taxed, and thus the poorer classes were +driven almost to the point of famine. The failure of the potato crop did +at last produce actual and awful famine in Ireland. Her peasants still +speak of 1847 as "the black year" of death. [Footnote: See _Famine in +Ireland_.] + +Hundreds of thousands of the poorer classes starved. Then began a stream +of emigration to America. Under pressure of such facts as these, the +English "Corn Laws" were repealed, and gradually Great Britain assumed +more and more positively the attitude of "free trade." [Footnote: See +_Repeal of the English Corn Laws_.] + + +EXPANSION OF EUROPEAN INFLUENCE + +Yet despite all the internal difficulties that thus convulsed Europe in +the middle of the nineteenth century, the period is also notable for the +rapid expansion of European influence over the other continents of the +Eastern Hemisphere. "Earth-hunger," the same passion that had swayed the +United States in its Mexican contest, plunged the Powers of Europe also +into repeated war. France extended her authority over the nearer African +States of the Mediterranean. Indeed, one of the main causes for the +rebellion of 1848 against Louis Philippe was the enormous cost in men +and money of these African campaigns, undertaken against the truly +remarkable Mahometan leader and patriot Abd-el-Kader. [Footnote: See +_The Fall of Abd-el-Kader_.] + +England tightened her grip on India, and extended her authority over the +broader lands around it. The hopelessness of Asiatic resistance to +European aggressiveness and military force was once more made evident in +the widespread rebellion of the Indian natives in 1857. In quick +succession, over vast and populous regions, both the people and the +rajas rose against British rule. In the triumph of their first momentary +victories they committed savage excesses which made pardon hopeless. Yet +neither their numbers nor the desperation to which they were driven +enabled them to hold their own against the mere handfuls of resolute +Englishmen, who soon subdued them. [Footnote: See _The Indian Mutiny_.] + +England's influence was also extended over Afghanistan and Southern +Africa. Livingstone, most famous of missionaries and explorers, crossed +the "dark continent" from coast to coast in 1851. [Footnote: See +_Livingstone's African Discoveries_.] In that same year gold was +discovered in Australia, and English adventurers flocked thither. The +world grew small to European eyes. [Footnote: See _Discovery of Gold in +Australia_.] + +Even the extremest East was brought in contact with the West. As a +result of the Opium War of 1840, China was compelled to open her doors +to foreign trade. She was also compelled to surrender territory to +England. Japan, which for more than two centuries had jealously excluded +Europeans from her shores, received her memorable awakening from the +friendly American expedition of Commodore Perry. [Footnote: See _The +Opening of Japan_.] + + +THE CRIMEAN WAR + +Russia sought to have her share also in the appropriation of territory +and "spheres of influence." She and England were the only two European +Powers which had not been seriously shaken by the upheavals of 1848. It +seemed that they might almost divide between them the helpless Eastern +world. England having already begun operations, Russia assumed a sort of +protectorate over the Christians in Turkish lands, and proposed to +England that the entire Turkish Empire should be divided between the two +despoilers. The British Government refused the plan, mainly because it +would give Russia a broad highway to the sea and make her a dangerous +commercial rival. So Russia attempted to carry out her scheme +single-handed, and began seizing Turkish provinces. She destroyed the +Turkish fleet. Once before in 1828 the threat of a general European +alliance had checked the Russian bear at this same game; but Europe was +weaker now, the Czar stronger, and England far off and undecided. + +Thus perhaps the Czar might have had his way but for Napoleon III. This +new Emperor had been permitted by Frenchmen to usurp his power largely +because of the military repute of his great namesake; and he felt that +to hold his place he must justify his reputation. Frenchmen resented +exceedingly the Czar's haughty assumption that only England was able to +oppose Russia; and Napoleon III promptly asserted himself in the _role_ +of the former Napoleon as "dictator of Europe." The title so pleased the +insulted pride of his people that they followed him eagerly, and +remained blind to many failings through more wars than one. The +self-constituted dictator insisted that his whole desire was for peace +and the artistic beautifying of his country; yet if Russia persisted in +extending her power and ignoring France--. In 1854 he joined England in +the war of the Crimea against Russia. + +It cannot be said that the allies achieved any great success against +their huge antagonist. Their fleets bombarded the Baltic fortresses with +small result. Their armies, hastening to protect Turkey, attacked the +Russians in the Crimea, gained the Battle of the Alma, and then for an +entire year besieged the fortifications of Sebastopol. [Footnote: See +_The Capture of Sebastopol_.] But distance and changeful climate proved +Russia's aids as they had in 1812. The allies' commissary and sanitary +departments could hardly be managed at all; their troops died by +thousands, and, though they finally stormed and captured Sebastopol, it +was a barren victory. Russia, not so much overcome as convinced of the +practical lack of profit in persistency, made terms of peace by which +she once more drew back from her feeble prey. English statesmen were +satisfied with the check administered to their great rival; and the +French were delighted at the successful interference of their "dictator +of Europe." He had rehabilitated the nation in its own eyes. + + +UNION OF ITALY + +Ambition grows by what it feeds on. Napoleon determined to assert +himself again. The bitterness of Italy against its Austrian masters +offered an excellent opportunity, and in 1859 he encouraged the King of +Sardinia to try once more the contest which had proved so disastrous +eleven years before. The King, Victor Emmanuel II, prepared for war +against Austria. The French joined him, so did the little North Italian +States, and their combined forces were victorious at Magenta and +Solferino. [Footnote: See _Battles of Magenta and Solferino_.] + +Napoleon had declared that the combat should not cease until the +Austrians were driven entirely out of Italy. As the price of his +alliance he secured Nice and Savoy from Sardinia; and then, immediately +after the bloody Battle of Solferino he suddenly changed front and +declared that the war must cease. Austria yielded Lombardy, but kept +Venice, the last of the possessions for which during more than three +hundred years she had been battling in Italy. The Kingdom of Sardinia +became the Kingdom of Northern Italy. + +The next year (1860) Garibaldi, the lion-like fighter, the enthusiastic +lover of Italy, gathering round him a thousand followers, made an +unexpected attack on Sicily, which was held by the tyrant King of +Naples. With his celebrated "Thousand" he won two remarkable victories. +The Sicilians joined him; the Neapolitans were driven from the island. +Not giving them time to recover, Garibaldi followed to the mainland, +defeated them again, and was master of all Southern Italy. Meanwhile +Victor Emmanuel, marching his troops southward, seized what was left of +the States of the Church. The two conquerors met midway in Italy, and +Garibaldi, grasping his sovereign by the hand, saluted him as King at +last of a united Italy. Only Rome and Venice remained outside the pale, +Rome protected by being in actual possession of the Pope, and, since +France was still Catholic, guarded by French troops from the eager +Italians. The year 1860 had been second only to 1848 in its importance +in changing the outlines of modern Europe. [Footnote: See _The Kingdom +of Italy Established_.] + +Another change, immeasurably vast and still unmeasured in its +consequences, may be dated from 1859, when Charles Darwin gave to the +world his book, the _Origin of Species_. In this he proclaimed the +doctrine of the evolution of all the more complicated forms of life from +simpler forms. The idea, at first resolutely combated on religious +grounds, has gradually received more or less acceptance into the entire +religious fabric, even as were the discoveries of Galileo. [Footnote: +See _Darwin Publishes His Origin of Species_.] + + +DISUNION IN AMERICA + +Yet each and all of these events, important as they were, grew little in +men's minds as the year 1860 drew to its close and revealed in America +the coming of a mightier quarrel. The slavery question, once supposed to +have been settled by the Missouri Compromise, had proved itself +incapable of such settlement. The forward march of democracy had in fact +made slavery an anachronism, outgrown and impossible. Even the Emperor +of Russia saw that, and in 1861 liberated all the serfs within his +territories. [Footnote: See _Emancipation of Russian Serfs_.] In the +United States alone among the great Powers of the world, did slavery +persist. + +In 1854 a new political party, calling itself the Republican, was +formed, having for its main principle opposition to the extension of +slavery into the Territories. [Footnote: See _The Rise of the Republican +Party_.] Other issues might and did complicate the central question, but +it was the slavery issue that inflamed men's minds, made Kansas a +"battle-ground" between settlers from North and South, and sent John +Brown upon his reckless raid. Watching the increasing success of the +Republicans, Southern leaders began to reassert the doctrine of the +right of secession. They said openly that if a Republican president were +elected they would leave the Union. + +And in 1860 a Republican president was elected. Was the long-predicted, +and to most of Europe eagerly desired, disruption of the United States +at hand? Was the break to be accomplished peacefully or in flame and +wrath? The fading year of 1860 left the advancing world of democracy in +panic over the danger to what had been its most successful stronghold. + + +[For the next section of this general survey, see volume XVIII.] + + + + +(1844) INVENTION OF THE TELEGRAPH, Alonzo B. Cornell + + +After the experiments of Franklin that did so much to advance the study +of electrical phenomena, and to suggest practical applications of +electricity, physicists in all countries occupied themselves with +investigations along lines marked out by the American philosopher. In +1749 Franklin devised the lightning-rod. But notwithstanding the labors +of many investigators, it was more than fifty years before any other +practical discovery or invention in electricity was brought into general +use. The first great achievement of the kind was Morse's improvement of +the electric telegraph. That Morse's fellow-countryman, Joseph Henry, +chiefly prepared the way for that triumph, the following account, with +just emphasis, demonstrates. + +Among the European scientists and inventors to whom both Henry and Morse +were indebted was the French electrician, Andre Marie Ampere +(1775-1836), whose name (ampere) has been given to the practical unit of +electric-current strength. Ampere was the first and is the most famous +investigator in electrodynamics. He also invented a telegraphic +arrangement in which he used the magnetic needle and coil and the +galvanic battery. Others, in the latter part of the eighteenth century +and the earlier years of the nineteenth, devised similar arrangements. +But no strictly electromagnetic apparatus for telegraphic signalling was +put to successful use until 1836, when, in England, Charles Wheatstone, +who is commonly regarded as the first inventor of practical electric +telegraphy, constructed an apparatus whereby thirty signals were +transmitted through nearly four miles of wire. From 1837 to 1843 he had +as an associate William Fothergill Cooke, and the two worked together to +develop the electric telegraph. They afterward quarrelled over their +respective claims to credit, but in 1838-1841 telegraph lines secured by +their patents were set up on the Great Western and two other English +railways. + +Meanwhile other inventors were still working for the same results, in +many parts of the world, and it has been significantly said that "the +electric telegraph had, properly speaking, no inventor; it grew up +little by little." Nevertheless with respect to the distinctive +character of Morse's improvements, and his title to a peculiar place +among those through whose labors the electric telegraph "grew," there +can be no question. + +Alonzo B. Cornell, son of the founder of Cornell University, at one time +Governor of New York, was intimately connected with electrical and +telegraphic affairs for many years; therefore on the subject here +presented he speaks with professional authority. His father was the +first builder of the Morse telegraphs. + + * * * * * + +During the early years of the nineteenth century but slight advance was +made in the development of electrical science, although there were many +persons both here and abroad engaged in experimental work, and there was +considerable increase of literature bearing upon the subject. It was +reserved for another illustrious American to accomplish the next +important and decisive step in the pathway of progress. In 1828 Joseph +Henry, then professor of physics at the Albany Academy, afterward a +professor at Princeton, and subsequently for many years secretary of the +Smithsonian Institution at Washington, made the highly important +discovery that by winding a plain iron core with many layers of +insulated wire, through which the electric current was passed, he could +at pleasure charge and discharge the iron core with magnetic power. Thus +Henry produced the electromagnet which was the beginning of the mastery +by man of the subtle fluid. He also discovered that the intensity and +power of the electric current were materially augmented by increasing +the number of the series of battery plates without increasing the +quantity of metal used in their construction. + +These discoveries of Henry were, beyond all question, the most important +in real and intrinsic value ever made in the progress of electric +science, as they form the solid basis upon which all subsequent +inventors have been enabled to accomplish successful results in their +various fields of endeavor. It is conceded by all familiar with the +history of electrical progress that the name of Professor Joseph Henry +is to be honored and cherished as one of the very foremost of scientific +discoverers of any age or country, and it must remain a cause of sincere +and permanent regret that of all the fabulous wealth that has resulted +from the advancement of electrical science, this modest and unselfish +inventor should have passed hence without ever having realized any +substantial reward for his great work. Not only so, but he was never +awarded the appropriate acknowledgment to which he was so eminently +entitled for the inestimable benefits his discoveries conferred upon his +countrymen and upon the world at large. + +The possibility of utilizing Professor Henry's electromagnet for the +purpose of transmitting intelligence to a distant point was conceived by +still another American, Professor Samuel Finley Breese Morse, of New +York, [Footnote: He was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, April 27, +1791.--ED.] during his passage on board the packet-ship Sully, from +Havre to New York, in the winter of 1832. Incidental discussions between +himself and Doctor Jackson, a fellow-passenger, in reference to recent +electrical improvements on both sides of the Atlantic, led Morse to the +conclusion that intelligence might be instantaneously transmitted over a +metallic circuit to a distant point, and he thereupon determined to +devote himself to the solution of the problem involved. The following +day he exhibited a rough sketch of a plan for recording electric +impulses necessary to convey and express intelligence. He pursued the +subject with great devotion during the remainder of the voyage, and +after arrival in New York began the construction of the necessary +apparatus to accomplish his purpose. + +Morse was by profession a portrait painter of more than ordinary merit, +and was obliged to continue his artistic labors for a livelihood. He was +a graduate of Yale College, where his attention had first been attracted +to electrical experiments. He was thus, in a measure, prepared for +carrying forward the important work he had undertaken, and pursued his +labors with great assiduity. Devoting every spare moment to the pursuit +of his object, which was attained but slowly by reason of his lack of +mechanical skill and ingenuity, not until 1837 had he so far succeeded +in his efforts as to be prepared to make application for letters-patent +to enable him to secure and protect his rights of invention in the +electromagnetic telegraph. + +In explanation of the slow progress of his experimental work, Professor +Morse, in writing to a friend, said: "Up to the autumn of 1837 my +telegraphic apparatus existed in so rude a form that I felt reluctance +to have it seen. My means were very limited, so limited as to preclude +the possibility of constructing an apparatus of such mechanical finish +as to warrant my success in venturing upon its public exhibition. I had +no wish to expose to ridicule the representative of so many hours of +laborious thought. Prior to the summer of 1837 I depended upon my pencil +for subsistence. Indeed, so straitened were my circumstances that in +order to save time to carry out my invention and to economize my scanty +means I had for months lodged and eaten in my studio, procuring food in +small quantities from some grocery, and preparing it myself. To conceal +from my friends the stinted manner in which I lived, I was in the habit +of bringing food to my room in the evenings; and this was my mode of +life for many years." + +After the continuance of this heroic struggle for more than five years, +Morse found himself compelled to seek the aid of more accomplished +mechanical skill than he possessed, to perfect his apparatus, and was +obliged to surrender a quarter interest in his invention in order to +obtain pecuniary aid for this purpose. + +Having thus succeeded in obtaining, at such serious sacrifice, the +requisite financial assistance to enable him to perfect the mechanism +necessary to demonstrate his invention, Professor Morse lost no time in +completing his apparatus and presenting it for public inspection. On +January 6, 1838, he first operated his system successfully, over a wire +three miles long, in the presence of a number of personal friends, at +Morristown, New Jersey. In the following month he made a similar +exhibition before the faculty of the New York University, which was an +occasion of much interest among the scientists of the metropolis. + +Shortly thereafter the apparatus was taken to Philadelphia and exhibited +at the Franklin Institute, where he received the highest commendation +from the committee of science and arts, with a strong expression in +favor of government aid for the purpose of demonstrating the practical +usefulness of the system. + +From Philadelphia, Morse removed his apparatus to Washington, where he +was permitted to demonstrate its operation before President Van Buren +and his Cabinet. Foreign ministers and members of both Houses of +Congress, as well, also, as prominent citizens, were invited to attend +the exhibition, and manifested much interest in the novelty of the +invention. A bill was introduced in Congress making an appropriation of +thirty thousand dollars for the purpose of providing for the erection of +an experimental line of telegraph between Washington and Baltimore, to +illustrate, by practical use, its general utility. The bill was in good +time favorably reported from the committee on commerce, but made no +further progress in that Congress. Similar bills were subsequently +introduced and diligently supported in each succeeding Congress, but it +was not until the very closing hour of the expiring session of 1843 that +the necessary enactment was effected and the appropriation secured. + +The plan of construction devised by Professor Morse for the experimental +line of telegraph to be erected between Washington and Baltimore, under +the Congressional appropriation, provided for placing insulated wires in +a lead pipe underground. This was to be accomplished by the use of a +specially devised plough of peculiar construction, to be drawn by a +powerful team, by which means the pipe containing the electric +conductors was to be automatically deposited in the earth. This +apparatus was entirely successful in operation, and the pipe was thus +buried to the complete satisfaction of all concerned, at a cost very +much lower than the work could have been accomplished in any other +manner. Two wires were to be used to form a complete metallic circuit, +for at that time it was not known, as was shortly afterward discovered, +that the earth could be used to form one-half of the circuit. For +purposes of insulation the wires were neatly covered with cotton-yarn +and then saturated in a bath of hot gum-shellac, but this treatment +proved defective in insulating properties, for when ten miles of line +had been completed the wires were found to be wholly useless for +electric conduction. + +No mode had been devised for the treatment of india-rubber to make it +available for purposes of insulation, and gutta-percha was wholly +unknown as an article of use or commerce in this country. Twenty-three +thousand dollars of the Government appropriation had been expended, and +the work thus far accomplished was an acknowledged failure. Only seven +thousand dollars of the available fund remained unexpended, and this was +regarded as inadequate to complete the undertaking under any other plan. +The friends of the enterprise were in despair, and for some time saw no +other alternative than to apply to Congress for an additional +appropriation. This, however, was regarded as almost hopeless, and the +difficulty of the situation was extremely embarrassing. + +An amusing incident was related of the means used to keep from public +knowledge the desperate situation. Professor Morse finally visited the +scene of activity where the pipe-laying was proceeding, and, calling the +superintendent aside, confided to him the fact that the work must be +stopped without the newspapers finding out the true reason of its +suspension. The quick-witted superintendent was equal to the occasion, +and, starting the ponderous machine, soon managed to run foul of a +protruding rock and break the plough. The newspapers published +sensational accounts of the accident and announced that it would require +several weeks to repair damages. Thus the real trouble was kept from the +public until new plans could be determined upon. + +After long and careful consideration, Professor Morse very reluctantly +decided to erect the wires on poles. This plan was, at first, considered +wholly objectionable, under the apprehension that the structure would be +disturbed by evil-minded persons. It had, however, become manifest that +this was the only mode of construction that could be accomplished within +the remainder of the appropriation, and, finally, upon ascertaining that +pole lines had already been adopted in England, it was determined to +proceed in this manner. The line was thus completed between Washington +and Baltimore about May 1, 1844, and proved to be successful and in +every way satisfactory in its operation. + +Shortly after the completion of the line the National Democratic +Convention, which nominated Polk and Dallas for President and +Vice-President, assembled in Baltimore [May, 1844]. Reports of the +convention proceedings were promptly telegraphed to the capital city, +where the telegraph office was thronged with Members of Congress +interested in the news. These reports created an immense sensation in +Washington and speedily removed all doubts as to the practical success +of the new system of communication. A despatch from the Honorable Silas +Wright, then United States Senator from New York, refusing to accept the +nomination for Vice-President, was read in the National Convention and +produced an extraordinary interest from the fact that very few of the +delegates had ever heard of the telegraph, and it required much +explanation to satisfy them of the genuineness of the alleged +communication. + +Having thus established beyond all reasonable question the practical +utility of the telegraph as a superior means of public and private +communication, Professor Morse and his associates offered their patents +to the United States Government for the very moderate price of one +hundred thousand dollars, with a view of having the system adopted for +general use in connection with the postal establishment. This +proposition was referred to the Postmaster-General for consideration and +report. After due deliberation that officer reported that "Although the +invention is an agent vastly superior to any other ever devised by the +genius of man, yet the operation between Washington and Baltimore has +not satisfied me that, under any rate of postage that can be adopted, +its revenues can be made to cover its expenditures." Under the influence +of this report Congress very naturally declined the offer of the +patentees, and the telegraph was thereupon relegated to the domain of +private enterprise. The result was that the patentees finally realized +for their interests many times the amount of their offer to the +Government. + +During the autumn of 1844 short exhibition lines were erected in Boston +and New York, for the purpose of familiarizing business men of those +cities with the characteristics of the new invention, but they attracted +little attention and the promoters had much cause of discouragement on +account of public indifference. For the purpose of arousing more +attention to the system, appeals were made to the public press for +favorable notice, which were also generally declined. The proprietor of +one of the most prominent and enterprising of the New York daily papers +distinctly refused to encourage the establishment of telegraph lines, +for the reason, as he freely acknowledged, that if the new method of +transmitting intelligence were to come into general use his competitors +could use it as well as himself, and he would therefore be deprived of +his present advantage over them for procuring early news by the use of +an expensive system of special despatch then maintained by his paper. +Two years later he refused to join other papers in receiving the +Governor's message by telegraph from Albany, and was so badly beaten by +his rivals in this instance that his paper was thenceforward one of the +most generous patrons of the telegraph. + +Early in the year 1845 a corporate organization was effected for the +extension of the telegraph from Baltimore to Philadelphia and New York, +under the name of the Magnetic Telegraph Company, for which a special +act of incorporation was obtained from the Legislature of the State of +Maryland. Nearly all of the capital of this company was subscribed by +Washington people. Baltimore and Philadelphia furnished only a few +hundred dollars, while New York contributed nothing. Slow progress was +made toward the construction of the line on account of the difficulty of +obtaining the right of way either upon railways or highways, and it was +not until January, 1846, that the line was completed to the west side of +the Hudson River, which formed an impassable barrier to further progress +for a considerable period. + +No method of insulation had yet been devised that would permit the +operation of an electric conductor under water, and it was doubted +whether a wire could be maintained for a span sufficient to cross the +river overhead. Finally however high masts were erected on the Palisades +near Fort Lee, and on the heights at Fort Washington on the New York +side, and a steel wire was suspended upon them. This plan was +successful, except that occasionally the wire was broken by an +extraordinary burden of sleet in the winter season. This method of +crossing the lower Hudson was continued for more than ten years, when it +was superseded by submarine cables. + +During the year 1846 incorporated companies were formed, under which +telegraph lines were extended from New York to Boston, Buffalo, and +Pittsburg, and within the next three years nearly every important town +in the United States and Canada, from St. Louis and New Orleans to +Montreal and Halifax, was brought into telegraphic communication. Thus, +after fifteen years of struggle with all the pains of poverty, often +lacking even the common necessaries of life, Professor Morse and his +faithful colaborers had the supreme satisfaction, in 1847, of knowing +and realizing that the telegraph system had finally achieved, not only +scientific success, for this had been proven years before, but that +financial success, ample and complete, had come to pay them richly for +all the dark days and wearisome years through which they had passed. + +Once generally established, the telegraph won its way to popular +appreciation very rapidly. It was in harmony with the spirit of the age, +and it was not long before every town of any considerable importance +regarded telegraphic facilities as an indispensable necessity. The small +cost soon induced the construction of rival lines, regardless of the +rights of the patentees, and within a very few years unwise competition +began to bring many lines to a condition of bankruptcy. The weaker +concerns soon passed through the sheriff's hands and found purchasers +only at an extreme sacrifice, at the bidding of the more provident and +conservative proprietors of competing lines. Instead of inducing a more +prudent course, these disastrous results only served to feed the spirit +of rivalry, and general insolvency seemed to threaten the permanent +prosperity of the telegraph business, in consequence of the wild and +reckless competition which appeared to be inherent in its nature. + +This extremely unsatisfactory condition of telegraph rivalry drifted on +from bad to worse until 1854, when, from dire necessity of +self-preservation, a few of the more prudent and far-sighted proprietors +of telegraph property were induced to combine their interests with some +of their competitors and thus avoid the ruinous policy which had been so +rapidly exhausting their vitality. Accordingly the principal telegraph +lines in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and some of the neighboring States +were brought into fraternal relations and formed the nucleus of the +Western Union Telegraph Company. + +The new policy soon brought prosperity in place of waste and +improvidence. Profits were devoted to the purchase of additional lines, +thus enlarging their domain and strengthening their position. Prosperity +increased with rapid strides; and the beneficial effects of extirpating +wasteful rivalry and building up a substantial system with superior +facilities and provident management gave the new organization a +dominating influence among the telegraph companies of America. The same +general policy has been pursued to the present time [1894], and has +resulted in the establishment of a prosperous corporation of magnificent +proportions, carrying on a useful and beneficent business under a +greater number of governmental jurisdictions, great and small, than any +other corporate organization in existence. + +For the development of the telegraph enterprise in America no thanks are +due to the wealthy capitalists. As a rule they would not listen to +suggestions of investing their money in what was contemptuously termed +rotten poles and rusty wires. They wanted something more substantial and +conservative as the basis of their investments. An early pioneer and +builder of telegraph lines, whose name is now held in grateful memory +for deeds of philanthropic beneficence visited the city of Chicago in +1847 to solicit subscriptions to the capital stock of a company then +engaged in construction of the first line of telegraph between that +place and the city of Buffalo. He presented a carefully prepared +prospectus showing an estimated earning capacity of the projected line +of one hundred dollars per day. The merits of the contemplated +enterprise were freely canvassed at a meeting of bankers, at which one +of the most prominent declared that any man who ever expected to see one +hundred dollars per day paid for telegraphing west of Buffalo must be +crazy and unworthy of belief. This oracular declaration prevailed, and +the project was ignominiously rejected by the wise men of Chicago. +Fortunately, citizens of smaller towns, like Ypsilanti, Kalamazoo, South +Bend, Kenosha, and Racine, took a more sensible view of the proposed +enterprise, and the line was built despite the contempt of Chicago +capitalists. Now, however, the men of Chicago pay more than five +thousand dollars a day for telegraphing at rates far lower than would +have been thought possible in that early day. + +The true spirit of enterprise, which has so grandly developed the +resources of our imperial domain, has generally been found to prevail +among people of modest means. Thus, nearly every dollar of capital +contributed toward the establishment of telegraph lines in this country +came from the offerings of people in very moderate circumstances. In +this connection, therefore, it is extremely gratifying to state that +very few enterprises of any kind have returned such generous recompense +for the amount of capital invested as the telegraph and telephone lines +in America. Considering the apparently temporary and short-lived +character of the structures erected for these purposes, it seems +difficult to comprehend the truth of this statement. + +The method of telegraphic communication devised by Professor Morse has +been continued in general use in this country, but instead of requiring +separate wire for each circuit as formerly, six independent circuits are +now operated simultaneously over a single wire by the use of the +sextuplex apparatus. + + + + +(1846) REPEAL OF THE ENGLISH CORN LAWS, Justin McCarthy + + +After the repeal of the corn laws the tariff legislation of Great +Britain was guided by a new policy, that of free trade, and it has been +followed ever since. The reactionary tendencies of Continental Europe +after the fall of Napoleon reached also to England, where they +controlled the conduct of political affairs until Canning, in 1822, +became Secretary for Foreign Affairs. His policy was liberal and did +much in forming the public opinion that at length found voice in +Catholic emancipation (1829), in the Reform Bill (1832), and in the +abolition of slavery in the English colonies (1833). Then followed +important amendments of the poor-laws, extension of local governmental +powers in the towns, improvement of popular education, and other +reforms. + +Through all this gradual progress in liberal government and public +amelioration, the need of another reform had been pointed out by some +thinkers and statesmen, and at last the condition of the country favored +the views of its advocates. The corn laws protected the English +producers by imposing heavy duties on imported grain. At one time these +duties practically prohibited such importation. McCarthy shows how the +laws operated upon the people, and his story of the memorable agitation +for their repeal and of the accomplishment of that object could not have +been better told. + +In 1815 the celebrated Corn Law was passed, which was itself moulded on +the Corn Law of 1670. By the Act of 1815 wheat might be exported upon a +payment of one shilling per quarter customs duty, but the importation of +foreign grain was practically prohibited until the price of wheat in +England had reached eighty shillings a quarter, that is to say, until a +certain price had been secured for the grower of grain at the expense of +all the consumers in this country. It was not permitted to Englishmen to +obtain their supplies from any foreign land, unless on conditions that +suited the English corn-grower's pocket. + +We may perhaps make this principle a little more clear, if it be +necessary, by illustrating its working on a small scale and within +narrow limits. In a particular street in London, let us say, a law is +passed declaring that no one must buy a loaf of bread out of that +street, or even round the corner, until the price of bread has risen so +high in the street itself as to secure to its two or three bakers a +certain enormous scale of profit on their loaves. When the price of +bread has been forced up so high as to pass this scale of profit, then +it would be permissible for those who stood in need of bread to go round +the corner and buy their loaves of the baker in the next street; but the +moment that their continuing to do this caused the price of the baker's +bread in their own street to fall below the prescribed limit, they must +instantly take to buying bread within their own bounds and of their own +bakers again. This is a fair illustration of the principle on which the +corn laws were moulded. The Corn Law of 1815 was passed in order to +enable the landowners and farmers to recover from the depression caused +by the long era of foreign war. It was "rushed through" Parliament, if +we may use an American expression; petitions of the most urgent nature +poured in against it from all the commercial and manufacturing classes, +and in vain. Popular disturbances broke out in many places. The poor +everywhere saw the bread of their family threatened, saw the food of +their children almost taken out of their mouths, and they naturally +broke into wild extremes of anger. In London there were serious riots, +and the houses of some of the most prominent supporters of the bill were +attacked. The incendiary went to work in many parts of the country. At +that time it was still the way in England, as it is now in Russia and +other countries, for popular indignation to express itself in the +frequent incendiary fire. At one place near London a riot lasted for two +days and nights; the soldiers had to be called out to put it down, and +five men were hanged for taking part in it. + +After the passing of the Corn Law of 1815, and when it had worked for +some time, there were sliding-scale acts introduced, which established a +varying system of duty, so that when the price of home-grown grain rose +above a certain figure, the duty on imported wheat was to sink in +proportion. The principle of all these measures was the same. How, it +may be asked, could any sane legislator adopt such measures? As well +might it be asked, How can any civilized nation still, as some still do, +believe in such a principle? The truth is that the principle is one +which has a strong fascination for most persons, the charm of which it +is difficult for any class in its turn wholly to shake off. The idea is +that if our typical baker be paid more than the market price for a loaf, +he will be able in turn to pay more to the butcher than the fair price +for his beef; the butcher thus benefited will be enabled to deal on more +liberal terms with the tailor; the tailor so favored by legislation will +be able in his turn to order a better kind of beer from the publican and +pay a higher price for it. Thus, by some extraordinary process, +everybody pays too much for everything, and nevertheless all are +enriched in turn. The absurdity of this is easily kept out of sight +where the protective duties affect a number of varying and complicated +interests, manufacturing, commercial, and productive. + +In the United States, for example, where the manufacturers are benefited +in one place and the producers are benefited in another, and where the +country always produces food abundant to supply its own wants, men are +not brought so directly face to face with the fallacy of the principle +as they were in England at the time of the Anti-Corn Law League. In +America "protection" affects manufacturers for the most part, and there +is no such popular craving for cheap manufactures as to bring the +protective principle into collision with the daily wants of the people. +But in England, during the reign of the Corn Law, the food which the +people put into their mouths was the article mainly taxed, and made +cruelly costly by the working of protection. + +Nevertheless, the country put up with this system down to the close of +the year 1836. At that time there was a stagnation of trade and a +general depression of business. Severe poverty prevailed in many +districts. Inevitably, therefore, the question arose in the minds of +most men, in distressed or depressed places, whether it could be a good +thing for the country in general to have the price of bread kept high by +factitious means when wages had sunk and work become scarce. An +Anti-Corn-Law association was formed in London, It began pretentiously +enough, but it brought about no result. London is not a place where +popular agitation finds a fitting centre. In 1838, however, Bolton, in +Lancashire, suffered from a serious commercial crisis. Three-fifths of +its manufacturing activity became paralyzed at once. Many houses of +business were actually closed and abandoned, and thousands of workmen +were left without the means of life. Lancashire suddenly roused itself +into the resolve to agitate against the corn laws, and Manchester became +the headquarters of the movement which afterward accomplished so much. + +The Anti-Corn-Law League was formed, and a Free-Trade Hall was built in +Manchester on the scene of that disturbance which was called the +"massacre of Peterloo." The leaders of the Anti-Corn-Law movement were +Richard Cobden, John Bright, and Charles Villiers. Cobden was not a +Manchester man. He was the son of a Sussex farmer. After the death of +his father he was taken by his uncle and employed in his wholesale +warehouse in the city of London. He afterward became a partner in a +Manchester cotton-factory, and sometimes travelled on the commercial +business of the establishment. He became what would then have been +considered a great traveller, distinct, of course, from the class of +explorers; that is, he made himself thoroughly familiar with most or all +of the countries of Europe, with various parts of the East, and with the +United States and Canada. He had had a fair, homely education, and he +improved it wherever he went by experience, by observation, and by +conversation with all manner of men. He became one of the most effective +and persuasive popular speakers ever known in English agitation. He was +not an orator in the highest sense. He had no imagination and little +poetic feeling, nor did genuine passion ever inflame into fervor of +declamation his quiet, argumentative style. But he had humor; he spoke +simple, clear, strong English; he used no unnecessary words. He always +made his meaning plain and intelligible, and he had an admirable faculty +for illustrating every argument by something drawn from reading or from +observation or from experience. He was, in fact, the very perfection of +a common-sense talker, a man fit to deal with men by fair, +straightforward argument, to expose complicated sophistries, and to make +clear the most perplexed parts of an intricate question. He was exactly +the man for that time, for that question, and for the persuasive and +argumentative part of the great controversy which he had undertaken. + +Cobden's chief companion in the struggle was John Bright, whose name has +been completely identified with that of Cobden in the repeal of the Corn +Laws. Bright was an orator of the highest order. He had all the +qualifications that make a master of eloquence. His presence was +commanding; his voice was singularly strong and clear, and had peculiar +tones and shades in it which gave indescribable meaning to passages of +anger, of pity, or of contempt. His manner was quiet, composed, serene. +He indulged in little or no gesticulation, he had a rich gift of genuine +Saxon humor. These two men, one belonging to the middle class of the +North, one sprung from the yeomanry of Southern England, had as a +colleague Charles Villiers, a man of high aristocratic family, of marked +ability, and of indomitable loyalty to any cause he undertook. Villiers +for some years represented the free-trade cause in Parliament, and +Bright and Cobden did its work on the platform. Cobden first, and Bright +after him, became members of the House of Commons, and they were further +assisted there by Milner Gibson, a man of position and family, an +effective debater, who had been at first a Conservative, but who passed +over to the ranks of the Free Traders, and through them to the ranks of +the Liberals or Radicals. + +Every year Villiers brought on a motion in the House in favor of free +trade. For a long time this motion was only one of the annual +performances which, by an apparently inevitable necessity, have to +prelude for many years the practical movement of any great parliamentary +question. Villiers might have brought on his annual motion all his life, +without getting much nearer to his object, if Manchester, Birmingham, +Sheffield, Leeds, and other great northern towns had not taken the +matter vigorously in hand; if Cobden and Bright had not stirred up the +energies of the whole country, and brought clearly home to the mind of +every man the plain fact that reason, argument, and arithmetic, as well +as freedom and justice, were distinctly on their side. + +The Anti-Corn-Law League showered pamphlets, tracts, letters, +newspapers, all over the country. They sent lecturers into every town, +preaching the same doctrine, and proving by scientific facts the justice +of the cause they advocated. These lecturers were enjoined to avoid as +much as possible any appeals to sentiment or to passion. The cause they +had in hand was one which could best be served by the clear statement of +rigorous facts, by the simple explanation of economical truths which no +sophism could darken, and which no opposing eloquence could charm away. +The Melbourne Ministry fell in 1841. It died of inanition: its force was +spent. Sir Robert Peel came into office. Cobden, who then entered the +House of Commons for the first time, seemed to have good hope that even +Peel, strong Conservative though he was, might prove to be a man from +whom the Free Traders could expect substantial assistance. Sir Robert +Peel had, in fact, in those later years expressed again and again his +conviction as to the general truth of the principles of free trade. "All +agree," he said in 1842, "in the general rule that we should buy in the +cheapest and sell in the dearest market." But he contended that while +such was the general rule, yet various economical and social conditions +made it necessary that there should be some distinct exceptions, and he +regarded the corn laws and sugar duties as such exceptions. It may be +mentioned, perhaps, that the corn laws had, in fact, been treated as a +necessary exception by many of the leading exponents of the principles +of free trade. Thus we have to notice the curious fact that while Sir +Robert Peel's own party looked upon his accession to power as a certain +guarantee against any concession to the Free Traders, the Free Traders +themselves were, for the most part, convinced that their cause had +better hope from him than from a Whig Ministry. + +The Free Traders went on debating and dividing in the House, agitating +and lecturing all over the country, for some years without any marked +Parliamentary success following their endeavors. An immense and +overwhelming majority always voted against them in the House of Commons. +They were making progress, and very great progress, but it was not that +kind of advance which had yet come to be decided by a Parliamentary +vote. Probably a keen and experienced eye might have noted clearly +enough the progress they were making. The Whig party were coming more +and more round to the principles of free trade. Day after day some Whig +leader was admitting that the theories of the past would not do for the +present, and, as we have said, the Tory leader had himself gone so far +as to admit the justice of the general principles of free trade. At one +point the main difference between Sir Robert Peel, the leader of the +House of Commons, and Lord John Russell, the leader of the opposition, +seems to have been nothing more than this, that Peel still regarded +grain as a necessary exception to the principle of free trade, and Lord +John Russell was not clear that the time had come when it could be +treated otherwise than as an exception. + +An event, however, over which no parties and no leaders had any control, +suddenly intervened to hasten the action and spur the convictions of the +leaders on both sides, and especially of the Prime Minister. This was +the great famine which broke out in Ireland in the autumn of 1845. The +vast majority of the Irish people had long depended for their food on +the potato alone. The summer of 1845 had been a long season of wet and +cold and sunlessness. In the autumn the news went abroad that the whole +potato crop of Ireland was in danger of destruction, if not already +actually destroyed. Before attention had well been awakened to the +crisis, it was officially announced that more than one-third of the +entire potato crop had been swept away by the disease, and that it had +not ceased its ravages, but, on the contrary, was spreading more and +more every day. + +The general impression of those who could form an opinion was that the +whole of the crop must perish. The Anti-Corn-Law League cried out for +the opening of the ports and the admission of grain and food from all +places. Sir Robert Peel was decidedly in favor of such a course. The +Duke of Wellington and Lord Stanley opposed the idea, and the +proposition was given up. Only three members of the Cabinet supported +Sir Robert Peel's proposals--Lord Aberdeen, Sir James Graham, Mr. Sidney +Herbert. All the others objected, some because they opposed the +principle of the measure, and were convinced that if the ports were once +opened they would never be closed again, which indeed was probably +Peel's own conviction; and others on the ground that no sufficient proof +had yet been given that such a measure was necessary. Lord John Russell, +almost immediately after, wrote a letter from Edinburgh to his +constituents, the electors of the city of London, in which he declared +that something must immediately be done, that it was "no longer worth +while to contend for a fixed duty," and that an end must be put to the +whole system of protection, as "the blight of commerce, the bane of +agriculture, the source of bitter division among classes, the cause of +penury, fever, and crime among the people." This letter produced a +decisive effect on Peel. He saw that the Whigs were prepared to unite +with the Anti-Corn-Law League in agitating for the total repeal of the +corn laws, and he therefore made up his mind to recommend to the Cabinet +an early meeting of Parliament, with the view to anticipate the +agitation which he saw must succeed in the end, and to bring forward, as +a Government measure, some scheme which should at least prepare the way +for the speedy repeal of the corn laws. + +A Cabinet council was held almost immediately after the publication of +Lord John Russell's letter, and Peel recommended the summoning of +Parliament in order to take instant measures to cope with the distress +in Ireland, and also to introduce legislation distinctly intended to +prepare the way for the repeal of the corn laws. Lord Stanley could not +accept the proposition. The Duke of Wellington was himself of opinion +that the corn laws ought to be maintained, but at the same time he +declared that he considered good government for the country more +important than corn laws or any other considerations, and that he was +therefore ready to support Sir Robert Peel's Administration through +thick and thin. Lord Stanley and the Duke of Buccleuch, however, +declared that they could not be parties to any legislation which tended +toward the repeal of the corn-laws. Sir Robert Peel did not feel himself +strong enough to carry out his project in the face of such opposition in +the Cabinet itself, and he tendered his resignation to the Queen. The +Queen sent for Lord John Russell, but Russell's party were not very +strong in the country and they had not a majority in the House of +Commons. Lord John tried, however, to form a ministry without a +Parliamentary majority, and even although Sir Robert Peel would not give +any pledge to support a measure for the immediate and complete repeal of +the corn laws, Lord John Russell was not successful. + +Lord Grey, son of the Lord Grey of the Reform Bill, objected to the +foreign policy of Lord Palmerston, and thought a seat in the Cabinet +ought to be offered to Cobden. Lord John Russell had nothing to do but +to announce to the Queen that he found it impossible to form a ministry. +The Queen sent for Sir Robert Peel again and asked him to withdraw his +resignation. Peel complied, and almost immediately resumed the functions +of First Minister of the Crown. The Duke of Buccleuch consented to go on +with him, but Lord Stanley held to his resolution and had no place in +the Ministry. His position as Secretary of State for the Colonies was +taken by William E. Gladstone. Gladstone, however, did not sit in +Parliament during the eventful session when the corn laws were repealed. +He had sat for the borough of Newark, which was under the influence of +the Duke of Newcastle; and as the Duke of Newcastle had withdrawn his +support from the Ministry, Gladstone did not seek re-election for +Newark, and remained without a seat in the House of Commons for some +months. + +Parliament met on January 22, 1846. The "speech from the throne," +delivered by the Queen in person, recommended the legislature to take +into consideration the necessity of still further applying the principle +on which it had formerly acted, when measures were presented "to extend +commerce and to stimulate domestic skill and industry, by the repeal of +prohibitive and the relaxation of protective duties." In the debate on +the "address" Sir Robert Peel rose, after the mover and seconder had +spoken and the question had been put from the Chair, and at once +proceeded to explain the policy which he intended to adopt. His speech +was long and labored, and somewhat wearied the audience by the elaborate +manner in which he explained how his opinions had been brought into +gradual change with regard to free trade and protection. He made it, +however, perfectly clear that he was now a convert to Cobden's opinions, +and that he intended to introduce some measure which should practically +amount to the abolition of protection. + +It was in this debate, and immediately after Peel had spoken, that +Benjamin Disraeli made his first great impression on Parliament. He had +been in the House for many years, and had made many attempts, had +sometimes been laughed at, had sometimes been disliked, and occasionally +for a moment admired. But it was when he rose immediately after Sir +Robert Peel, and denounced Peel as one who had betrayed his party and +his principles, that he made the first deep impression on the House of +Commons, and came to be considered as a serious and influential +Parliamentary personage. "I am not one of the converts," Disraeli said, +"I am perhaps a member of a fallen party." A new Protection party was +formed almost immediately under the leadership of George Lord Bentinck, +a man of great energy and tenacity of purpose, who had hitherto spent +his life almost altogether on the turf, who had had almost no previous +preparation for leadership or even for debate, but who certainly, when +he did accept the responsible position offered to him, showed a +considerable capacity for leadership and an unwearying attention to his +duties. + +On January 27th Sir Robert Peel explained his financial policy. His +intention was to abandon the sliding scale altogether, to impose for the +present a duty of ten shillings a quarter on corn when the price of it +was under forty-eight shillings a quarter, to reduce that duty by one +shilling for every shilling of rise in price until it reached +fifty-three shillings a quarter, when the duty should fall to four +shillings. This, however, was to be only a temporary arrangement. It was +to last but three years, and at the end of that time protective duties +on grain were to be wholly abandoned. We need not go at any length into +the history of the long debates on Peel's propositions. The discussion +of one amendment, which was in substance a motion to reject the scheme +altogether, lasted for twelve nights. The third reading of the bill +passed the House of Commons on May 15th, by a majority of ninety-eight. + +The bill went up at once to the House of Lords, and at the urgent +pressure of the Duke of Wellington was carried through that House +without any serious opposition. The Duke made no secret of his own +opinions. He assured many of his brother peers that he disliked the +measure just as much as anyone could do, but he insisted that they had +all better vote for it nevertheless. Sir Robert Peel had triumphed, but +he found himself deserted by a large and influential section of the +party he once had led. Most of the great landowners and country +gentlemen of the Conservative party abandoned him. Some of them felt the +bitterest resentment toward him. They believed he had betrayed them, +although nothing could be more clear than that for years he had +distinctly been making it known to the House that his principles +inclined him toward free trade, and thereby leaving it to be understood +that, if opportunity or emergency should compel him, he would be glad to +declare himself a Free Trader, even in the matter of grain. + +Strange to say, the day when the bill was read in the House of Lords for +the third time saw the fall of Peel's Ministry. The fall was due to the +state of Ireland. The Government had been bringing in a coercion bill +for Ireland. It was introduced while the Corn Bill was yet passing +through the House of Commons. The situation was critical. All the Irish +followers of Daniel O'Connell would be sure to oppose the Coercion Bill. +The Liberal party, at least when out of office, had usually made it +their principle to oppose coercion bills if they were not attended with +some promises of legislative reform. The English Radical members, led by +Cobden and Bright, were certain to oppose coercion. If the +Protectionists should join with these other opponents of the Coercion +Bill the fate of the measure was assured, and with it the fate of the +Government. This was exactly what happened. Eighty Protectionists +followed Lord George Bentinck into the lobby against the bill, in +combination with the Free Traders, the Whigs, and the Irish Catholic and +national members. The division took place on the second reading of the +bill on Thursday, June 25th, and there was a majority of seventy-three +against the Ministry. + +The moment after Sir Robert Peel succeeded in passing his great measure +of free trade he himself fell from power. His political epitaph, +perhaps, could not be better written than in the words with which he +closed the speech that just preceded his fall: "It may be that I shall +leave a name sometimes remembered with expressions of good-will in those +places which are the abode of men whose lot it is to labor and to earn +their daily bread by the sweat of their brow--a name remembered with +expressions of good-will when they shall recreate their exhausted +strength with abundant and untaxed food, the sweeter because it is no +longer leavened with a sense of injustice." + +With the fall of the principle of the protection in corn may be said to +have practically fallen the principle of protection in that country +altogether. That principle was a little complicated in regard to the +sugar duties and to the navigation laws. The sugar produced in the West +Indian colonies was allowed to enter that country at rates of duty much +lower than those imposed upon the sugar grown in foreign lands. The +abolition of slavery in the colonies had made labor there somewhat +costly and difficult to obtain continuously, and the impression was that +if the duties on foreign sugar were reduced it would tend to enable +those countries which still maintained the slave trade to compete at +great advantage with the sugar grown in the colonies by that free labor +to establish which England had but just paid so large a pecuniary fine. +Therefore the question of free trade became involved with that of free +labor; at least, so it seemed to the eyes of many a man who was not +inclined to support the protective principle in itself. When it was put +to him, whether he was willing to push the free-trade principle so far +as to allow countries growing sugar by slave labor to drive our +free-grown sugar out of the market, he was often inclined to give way +before this mode of putting the question, and to imagine that there +really was a collision between free trade and free labor. Therefore a +certain sentimental plea came in to aid the Protectionists in regard to +the sugar duties. + +Many of the old Antislavery party found themselves deceived by this +fallacy, and inclined to join the agitation against the reduction of the +duty on foreign sugar. On the other hand, it was made tolerably clear +that the labor was not so scarce or so dear in the colonies as had been +represented, and that colonial sugar grown by free labor really suffered +from no inconvenience except the fact that it was still manufactured on +the most crude, old-fashioned, and uneconomical methods. Besides, the +time had gone by when the majority of the English people could be +convinced that a lesson on the beauty of freedom was to be conveyed to +foreign sugar-growers and slave-owners by the means of a tax upon the +products of their plantations. Therefore, after a long and somewhat +eager struggle, the principle of free trade was allowed to prevail in +regard to sugar. The duties on sugar were made equal. The growth of the +sugar plantations was admitted on the same terms into that country, +without any reference either to the soil from which it had sprung or to +the conditions under which it was grown. + +It had for a long time been stoutly proclaimed that the abolition of +slavery must be the destruction of our West Indian colonies. Years had +elapsed and the West Indian colonies still survived. Now the cry of +alarm was taken up again, and it was prophesied that although they had +got over the abolition of slavery they never could survive the +equalization of the sugar duties. Jamaica certainly had fallen greatly +away from her period of temporary and factitious prosperity. Jamaica was +owned and managed by a class of proprietors who resembled in many ways +some of the planters of the States of America farthest south--of the +States toward the mouth of the Mississippi. They lived in a kind of +careless luxury, mortgaging their estates as deeply as they possibly +could, throwing over to the coming year the superabundant debts of the +last, and only managing to keep their heads above water so long as the +people of England, by favoring them with a highly protective system, +enabled them still to compete against those who grew sugar on better and +more economical plans. The whole island was given over to neglect and +mismanagement. The emancipated negroes took but little trouble to +cultivate the plots of ground they had obtained, and were quite content +if they could scratch enough from the soil to enable them barely to +live. Therefore Jamaica did at a certain time fall far below the level +of her former seeming prosperity. + +The other islands had been better managed. Their estates were less +encumbered by debt, and they passed through each successive crisis +without sustaining any noticeable injury. In most of these islands the +product increased steadily after the emancipation of the slaves. The +negroes then began to work earnestly, and education grew not greatly but +distinctly among all classes. Jamaica, the most unfortunate among the +islands, has been constantly the scene of little outbursts of more or +less serious rebellion. As the late Lord Chief Justice of England +observed in a charge on a famous occasion, "The soil of the island might +seem to have been drenched in blood." But these disturbances, or +insurrections, or whatever they may be called, did not increase in +number after the abolition of slavery and after the equalization of the +sugar duties, but, on the contrary, decreased. During our time only one +considerable disturbance has taken place in Jamaica, and in former years +such tumult was of frequent recurrence. In the West Indies we have, +therefore, the most severe test to which the principle of free trade +could well be subjected. It is not too much to say that in the more +fortunate of these islands it has established its claim, and that even +in the least fortunate no evidence whatever has been given that the +people would have been in any way the better off if the old system had +been retained. + +The navigation laws had, too, a certain external attraction about them +which induced many men, not actually Protectionists, to believe in their +necessity. The principle of the navigation laws was to impose such +restrictions of tariff and otherwise as to exclude foreign vessels from +taking any considerable part in our carrying trade. The law was first +enacted in Oliver Cromwell's day, at a time when the Dutch were rivals +on the sea, and when it was thought desirable to repress, by protective +legislation, the energy of such experienced seamen and pushing traders. +The navigation law was modified by Mr. Huskisson in 1823, but only so +far as to establish that which we now know so well as the principle of +reciprocity. Any nation which removed restrictions from British merchant +marine was favored with a similar concession. The idea also was that +these navigation laws, keeping foreigners out of England's carrying +trade, enabled her to maintain always a supply of sailors who could at +any time be transferred from the merchant marine to the royal navy, and +thus be made to assist in the defence of the country. + +Of course, the ship-owners themselves upheld the navigation laws, on the +plea that, if the trade were thrown open by the withdrawal of +protection, their chances would be gone; that they could not contend +against the foreigners upon equal terms; that their interests must +suffer, and that Great Britain would in the end be a still severer +sufferer, because, from the lack of encouragement given to the native +traders and the sailors, England would one day or another be left at the +mercy of some strong power which, with wiser regulations, would keep up +her protective system and with it her naval strength. + +Nevertheless, the ship-owners and the Protectionists and those who +raised the alarm-cry about England's naval defences were unable to +maintain their sophisms in the face of growing education and of the +impulse given by the adoption of free trade. In 1849 the navigation laws +were abolished. We believe there are very few ship-owners who will not +now admit that the prosperity of their trade has grown immensely, in +place of suffering, from the introduction of the free-trade principle in +navigation as well as in com and sugar. + + + + +(1846) THE DISCOVERY OF NEPTUNE, Sir Oliver Lodge + + +Among modern astronomical discoveries none has been regarded as more +important than that of Neptune, the outermost known planet of the solar +system. It was a rich reward to the watchers of the sky when this new +planet swam into their ken. This discovery was hailed by astronomers as +"the most conspicuous triumph of the theory of gravitation." Long after +Copernicus even, the genius of philosophers was slow to grasp the full +conception of a spherical earth and its relations with the heavenly +bodies as presented by him. So it was also with the final acceptance of +Newton's demonstration of the universal law of gravitation (1685), +whereby he showed that "the motions of the solar system were due to the +action of a central force directed to the body at the centre of the +system, and varying inversely with the square of the distance from it." +After making this discovery, Newton himself, with the aid of others, +especially of the French mathematician Picard, labored for years to +verify it, and still further verification was necessary before it could +be fully comprehended and accepted by the scientific world. The +discovery of the asteroids or small planets revolving in orbits between +those of Mars and Jupiter, aided in confirming the Newtonian theory, +which the discovery of Uranus, by Sir William Herschel (1781), had done +much to establish. + +From the time of Sir William Herschel the science of stellar astronomy, +revealing the enormous distances of the stars--none of them really +fixed, but all having real or apparent motions--was rapidly developed. +The discovery of stellar planets, at almost incalculable distances, +still further changed the aspect of the heavens as viewed by +astronomers, and when the capital discovery of Neptune was made those +men of science were well prepared for studying its nature and +importance. These matters, as well as the simultaneous calculation of +the place of Neptune by Adams and Leverrier, and its actual discovery by +Galle, are set forth by Sir Oliver Lodge in a manner as charming for +simplicity as it is valuable in its summary of scientific learning. + +The explanation by Newton of the observed facts of the motion of the +moon, the way he accounted for precession and nutation and for the +tides; the way in which Laplace explained every detail of the planetary +motions--these achievements may seem to the professional astronomer +equally, if not more, striking and wonderful; but of the facts to be +explained in these cases the general public is necessarily more or less +ignorant, and so no beauty or thoroughness of treatment appeals to it or +excites its imagination. But to predict in the solitude of the study, +with no weapons other than pen, ink, and paper, an unknown and +enormously distant world, to calculate its orbit when as yet it had +never been seen, and to be able to say to a practical astronomer, "Point +your telescope in such a direction at such a time, and you will see a +new planet hitherto unknown to man"--this must always appeal to the +imagination with dramatic intensity, and must awaken some interest in +the dullest. + +Prediction is no novelty in science; and in astronomy least of all is it +a novelty. Thousands of years ago Thales, and others whose very names we +have forgotten, could predict eclipses, but not without a certain degree +of inaccuracy. And many other phenomena were capable of prediction by +accumulated experience. A gap between Mars and Jupiter caused a missing +planet to be suspected and looked for, and to be found in a hundred +pieces. The abnormal proper-motion of Sirius suggested to Bessel the +existence of an unseen companion. And these last instances seem to +approach very near the same class of prediction as that of the discovery +of Neptune. Wherein, then, lies the difference? How comes it that some +classes of prediction--such as that if you put your finger in fire it +will be burned--are childishly easy and commonplace, while others excite +in the keenest intellects the highest feelings of admiration? Mainly, +the difference lies, first, in the grounds on which the prediction is +based; second, in the difficulty of the investigation whereby it is +accomplished; third, in the completeness and the accuracy with which it +can be verified. In all these points, the discovery of Neptune stands +out as one among the many verified predictions of science, and the +circumstances surrounding it are of singular interest. + +Three distinct observations suffice to determine the orbit of a planet +completely, but it is well to have the three observations as far apart +as possible so as to minimize the effects of minute but necessary errors +of observation. When Uranus was found old records of stellar +observations were ransacked with the object of discovering whether it +had ever been unwittingly seen before. If seen, it had been thought, of +course, to be a star--for it shines like a star of the sixth magnitude, +and can therefore be just seen without a telescope if one knows +precisely where to look for it and if one has good sight--but if it had +been seen and catalogued as a star it would have moved from its place, +and the catalogue would by that entry be wrong. The thing to do, +therefore, was to examine all the catalogues for errors, to see whether +the stars entered there actually existed, or whether any were missing. +If a wrong entry were discovered, it might of course have been due to +some clerical error, though that is hardly probable considering the care +spent in making these records, or it might have been a tailless comet, +or possibly the newly found planet. + +The next thing to do was to calculate backward, to see whether by any +possibility the planet could have been in that place at that time. +Examined in this way the tabulated observations of Flamsteed showed that +he had unwittingly observed Uranus five distinct times; the first time +in 1690, nearly a century before Herschel discovered its true nature. +But more remarkable still, Le Monnier, of Paris, had observed it eight +times in one month, cataloguing it each time as a different star. If +only he had reduced and compared his observations, he would have +anticipated Herschel by twelve years. As it was, he missed it. It was +seen once by Bradley also. Altogether it had been seen twenty times. + +These old observations of Flamsteed and those of Le Monnier, combined +with those made after Herschel's discovery, were very useful in +determining an exact orbit for the new planet, and its motion was +considered thoroughly known. For a time Uranus seemed to travel +regularly, and as expected, in the orbit which had been calculated for +it; but early in the present century it began to be slightly refractory, +and by 1820 its actual place showed quite a distinct discrepancy from +its position as calculated with the aid of the old observations. It was +thought at first that this discrepancy must be due to inaccuracies in +the older observations, and they were accordingly rejected, and tables +prepared for the planet based on the newer and more accurate +observations only. But by 1830 it became apparent that it did not +coincide with even these. The error amounted to about 20". By 1840 it +was as much as 90", or a minute and a half. This discrepancy is quite +distinct, but still it is very small; and had two objects been in the +heavens at once, the actual Uranus and the theoretical Uranus, no +unaided eye could possibly have distinguished them or detected that they +were other than a single star. + +The errors of Uranus, though small, were enormously greater than other +things which had certainly been observed; there was an unmistakable +discrepancy between theory and observation. Some cause was evidently at +work on this distant planet, causing it to disagree with its motion as +calculated according to the law of gravitation. If the law of +gravitation held exactly at so great a distance from the sun, there must +be some perturbing force acting on it besides all the known forces that +had been fully taken into account. Could it be an outer planet? The +question occurred to several, and one or two tried to solve the problem, +but were soon stopped by the tremendous difficulties of calculation. + +The ordinary problem of perturbation is difficult enough: Given a +disturbing planet in such and such a position, to find the perturbations +it produces. This was the problem that Laplace worked out in the +_Mecanique Celeste_. + +But the inverse problem--given the perturbations, to find the planet +that causes them--such a problem had never yet been attacked, and by +only a few had its possibility been conceived. Friedrich Bessel made +preparations for solving this mystery in 1840, but he was prevented by +fatal illness. + +In 1841 the difficulties of the problem presented by these residual +perturbations of Uranus excited the imagination of a young student, an +undergraduate of Cambridge--John Couch Adams by name--and he determined +to make a study of them as soon as he was through his _tripos_. In +January, 1843, he was graduated as senior wrangler, and shortly +afterward he set to work. In less than two years he reached a definite +conclusion; and in October, 1845, he wrote to the astronomer-royal, at +Greenwich, Professor Airy, saying that the perturbations of Uranus could +be explained by assuming the existence of an outer planet, which he +reckoned was now situated in a specified latitude and longitude. + +We know now that had the astronomer-royal put sufficient faith in this +result to point his big telescope at the spot indicated and begin +sweeping for a planet, he would have detected it within 1-3/4 of the +place assigned to it by Adams. But anyone in the situation of the +astronomer-royal knows that almost every post brings absurd letters from +ambitious correspondents, some of them having just discovered perpetual +motion, or squared the circle, or proved the earth flat, or discovered +the constitution of the moon or of ether or of electricity; and in this +mass of rubbish it requires great skill and patience to detect such gems +of value as may exist. + +Now this letter of Adams's was indeed a jewel of the first water, and no +doubt bore on its face a very different appearance from the chaff of +which I have spoken; but still Adams was unknown: he had been graduated +as senior wrangler, it is true, but somebody must be graduated as senior +wrangler every year, and a first-rate mathematician is not produced +every year. Those behind the scenes--as Professor Airy of course was, +having been a senior wrangler himself--knew perfectly well that the +labeling of a young man on his taking his degree is much more worthless +as a testimony to his genius and ability than the general public is apt +to suppose. + +Was it likely that a young and unknown man should have solved so +extremely difficult a problem? It was altogether unlikely. Still, he +should be tested: he should be asked for explanations concerning some of +the perturbations which Professor Airy had noticed, and see whether he +could explain these also by his hypothesis. If he could, there might be +something in his theory. If he failed--well, there was an end of it. The +questions were not difficult. They concerned the error of the radius +vector. Adams could have answered them with perfect ease; but sad to +say, though a brilliant mathematician, he was not a man of business. He +did not answer Professor Airy's letter. + +It may seem a pity to many that the Greenwich equatorial was not pointed +at the place, just to see whether any foreign object did happen to be in +that neighborhood; but it is no light matter to derange the work of an +observatory, and alter the plans laid out for the staff, into a sudden +sweep for a new planet on the strength of a mathematical investigation +just received by post. If observatories were conducted on these +unsystematic and spasmodic principles they would not be the calm, +accurate, satisfactory places they are. + +Of course, if anyone had known that a new planet was to be found for the +looking, _any_ course would have been justified; but no one could know +this. I do not suppose that Adams himself felt an absolute confidence in +his attempted prediction. So there the matter dropped. Adams's +communication was pigeonholed, and remained in seclusion eight or nine +months. + +Meanwhile, and quite independently, something of the same sort was going +on in France. A brilliant young mathematician, Urban Jean Joseph +Leverrier, born in Normandy in 1811, held the post of astronomical +professor at the Ecole Polytechnique, founded by Napoleon. His first +published papers directed attention to his wonderful powers; and the +official head of astronomy in France, the famous Arago, suggested to him +the unexplained perturbations of Uranus as a worthy object for his fresh +and well-armed vigor. At once he set to work in a thorough and +systematic way. He first considered whether the discrepancies could be +due to errors in the tables or errors in the old observations. He +discussed them with minute care, and came to the conclusion that they +were not thus to be explained away. This part of the work he published +in November, 1845. + +He then set to work to consider the perturbations produced by Jupiter +and Saturn to see whether they had been accurately allowed for, or +whether some minute improvements could be made sufficient to destroy the +irregularities. He introduced several fresh terms into these +calculations, but none of them of sufficient importance to do more than +partly explain the mysterious perturbations. He next examined the +various hypotheses that had been suggested to account for them. Were +they caused by a failure in the law of gravitation or by the presence of +a resisting medium? Were they due to some large but unseen satellite or +to a collision with some comet? + +All these theories he examined and dismissed for various reasons. The +perturbations were due to some continuous cause--for instance, some +unknown planet. Could this planet be inside the orbit of Uranus? No, for +then it would perturb Saturn and Jupiter also, and they were not +perturbed by it. It must, therefore, be some planet outside the orbit of +Uranus, and in all probability, according to Bode's empirical law, at +nearly double the distance from the sun that Uranus is. Finally he +proceeded to determine where this planet was, and what its orbit must be +to produce the observed disturbances. + +Not without failures and disheartening complications was this part of +the process completed. This was, after all, the real tug of war. Many +unknown quantities existed: its mass, its distance, its eccentricity, +the obliquity of its orbit, its position--nothing was known, in fact, +about the planet except the microscopic disturbance it caused in Uranus, +several thousand million miles away from it. Without going into further +detail, suffice it to say that in June, 1846, he published his last +paper, and in it announced to the world his theory as to the situation +of the planet. + +Professor Airy received a copy of this paper before the end of the +month, and was astonished to find that Leverrier's theoretical place for +the planet was within 1 deg. of the place Adams had assigned to it eight +months before. So striking a coincidence seemed sufficient to justify a +Herschelian sweep for a week or two. But a sweep for so distant a planet +would be no easy matter. When seen through a large telescope it would +still only look like a star, and it would require considerable labor and +watching to sift it out from the other stars surrounding it. We know +that Uranus had been seen twenty times, and thought to be a star, before +its true nature was discovered by Herschel; and Uranus is only about +half as far away as Neptune. + +Neither at Paris nor at Greenwich was any optical search undertaken; but +Professor Airy wrote to ask M. Leverrier the same old question that he +had fruitlessly put to Adams: Did the new theory explain the errors of +the radius vector or not? The reply of Leverrier was both prompt and +satisfactory--these errors were explained, as well as all the others. +The existence of the object was then for the first time officially +believed in. The British Association met that year at Southampton, and +Sir John Herschel was one of its sectional presidents. In his inaugural +address, on September 10, 1846, he called attention to the researches of +Leverrier and Adams in these memorable words: + +"The past year has given to us the new [minor] planet Astraea; it has +done more--it has given us the probable prospect of another. We see it +as Columbus saw America from the shores of Spain. Its movements have +been felt trembling along the far-reaching line of our analysis with a +certainty hardly inferior to ocular demonstration." + +It was nearly time to begin to look for it. So the astronomer-royal +thought on reading Leverrier's paper. But as the national telescope at +Greenwich was otherwise occupied, he wrote to Professor Challis, at +Cambridge, to know whether he would permit a search to be made for it +with the Northumberland equatorial, the large telescope at Cambridge +University, presented to it by one of the Dukes of Northumberland. + +Professor Challis said he would conduct the search himself, and shortly +began a leisurely and dignified series of sweeps around the place +designated by theory, cataloguing all the stars he observed, intending +afterward to sort out his observations, compare one with another, and +find out whether any one star had changed its position; because if it +had it must be the planet. Thus, without giving an excessive time to the +business, he accumulated a host of observations. + +Professor Challis thus actually saw the planet twice--on August 4 and +August 12, 1846--without knowing it. If he had had a map of the heavens +containing telescopic stars down to the tenth magnitude, and if he had +compared his observations with this map as they were made, the process +would have been easy and the discovery quick. But he had no such map. +Nevertheless one was in existence. It had just been completed in that +country of enlightened method and industry--Germany. Doctor Bremiker had +not indeed completed his great work--a chart of the whole zodiac down to +stars of the tenth magnitude--but portions of it were completed, and the +special region where the new planet was expected to appear happened to +be among the portions finished. But in England this was not known. + +Meanwhile Adams wrote to the astronomer-royal several additional +communications, making improvements in his theory, and giving what he +considered nearer and nearer approximations for the place of the planet. +He also now answered quite satisfactorily, but too late, the question +about the radius vector sent to him months before. + +Leverrier was likewise engaged in improving this theory and in +considering how best the optical search could be conducted. Actuated +probably by the knowledge that in such matters as cataloguing and +mapping Germany was then, as now, far ahead of all the other nations, he +wrote in September (the same year that Sir John Herschel delivered his +eloquent address at Southampton) to Berlin. Leverrier wrote to Doctor +Galle, head of the observatory at Berlin, saying to him, clearly and +decidedly, that the new planet was now in or close to such and such a +position, and that if he would point his telescope to that part of the +heavens he would see it; and moreover that he would be able to tell it +from a star by its having a sensible magnitude, or disk, instead of +being a mere point. + +Galle got the letter on September 23, 1846. That same evening he pointed +his telescope to the place Leverrier told him, and saw the planet. He +recognized it first by its appearance. To his practised eye it did seem +to have a small disk, and not quite the same aspect as an ordinary star. +He then consulted Bremiker's great star-chart, the part just engraved +and finished, and, sure enough, no such star was there. Undoubtedly it +was the planet. + +The news flashed over Europe at the maximum speed with which news could +travel at that date (which was not very fast); and by October 1st +Professor Challis and Mr. Adams heard it at Cambridge, and realized that +in so far as there was competition in such a matter England was out of +the race. + +It was an unconscious race to all concerned, however. The French +scientists knew nothing of the search in England. Adams's papers had +never been published; and very annoyed the French were when a claim was +set up in his behalf to a share in this magnificent discovery. As for +Adams himself, we are told that by no word did he show resentment at the +loss of the practical consummation of his discovery. His part in any +controversy that arose was calm and dignified; but for a time his +friends fought a public battle for his fame. It so happened that the +public took a keener interest than it usually takes in scientific +predictions; but the discussion has now settled down. All the world +honors the bright genius and mathematical skill of John Couch Adams, and +recognizes that he first solved the problem by calculation. All the +world, too, perceives clearly the no less eminent mathematical talents +of M. Leverrier, but it recognizes in him something more than the mere +mathematician--the man of energy, decision, and character. + + + + +(1846) THE ACQUISITION OF CALIFORNIA, Henry B. Dawson + + +In the history of the United States, the acquisition of California, +carrying with it that of New Mexico, was a peculiar and unusual event, +and one of immense significance in the expansion and development of the +Republic. Together with the annexation of Texas, it was the most +important result of the Mexican War. The California country, formerly an +indeterminate territory of vast extent, was settled by Spanish +missionaries in the seventeenth century. Their settlements within the +present limits of the State of California date from the first foundation +of San Diego in 1769. In 1822 the entire region called California became +a part of the Mexican Republic, and it remained a possession of Mexico +until the time of the transfer described below. + +At the beginning of 1846 the population of California included, with +about two hundred thousand Indians, six thousand Mexicans and perhaps +two hundred Americans. War against Mexico had been declared in May, +1845, and already General Taylor had won the battles of Palo Alto and +Resaca de la Palma, and had compelled the surrender of Monterey. While +these operations were leading the United States forces to the rapid +accomplishment of their work in Mexico proper, other movements were +undertaken, the execution and outcome of which form the subject of Mr. +Dawson's narrative. In 1848 California and New Mexico were ceded to the +United States. + +Immediately after the opening of hostilities in the valley of the Rio +Grande (March, 1846), among the expeditions which were organized by the +Federal authorities was one to move against and take possession of +California and New Mexico, two provinces in the northern part of the +enemy's country. The command of this expedition had been vested in +General Stephen W. Kearney, and the force under his command had +rendezvoused at Fort Leavenworth; and the most energetic measures had +been adopted to insure its early departure and its ultimate success. + +Having completed all the arrangements, on June 26th the main body of +this expedition had moved from the fort; and after a rapid but +interesting march of eight hundred seventy-three miles, on August 18th +it entered and took possession of Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico, +the Mexican forces, numbering four thousand, which had been collected to +defend the town, having dispersed, without offering the least +opposition, as it approached. + +While these operations in New Mexico and on the western frontier of the +United States were taking place, Brevet-Captain John C. Fremont, who had +been engaged in explorations on the western slope of the Rocky +Mountains, had also revolutionized the Province of California, and, to +some extent at least, had anticipated the movements of the expedition +commanded by General Kearney. The character of his mission being +scientific and peaceful rather than warlike, he had not had an officer +or soldier of the regular army in his company; and his whole force had +consisted of sixty-two men employed by himself for security against the +Indians and for procuring subsistence in the wilderness and desert +country through which he had passed. For the purpose of obtaining game +for his men and grass for his horses, in an uninhabited part of +California, he had, during the winter of 1845-1846, solicited and +obtained permission from the Mexican authorities to winter in the Valley +of San Joaquin; but he had scarcely established himself before he +received advices that the Mexican commander was preparing to attack him +under the pretext that under the cover of a scientific mission he was +exciting the American settlers in that vicinity to revolt. + +In view of this threatened attack, and for the purpose of repelling it, +Lieutenant Fremont immediately occupied a mountain which overlooked +Monterey--although it was thirty miles from that city--and having +intrenched it and raised the flag of the United States he waited the +approach of the enemy. After remaining there until March 10, 1846, he +retired to the northward, intending to march, by way of Oregon, to the +United States; but about the middle of May, after he had quietly passed +into Oregon, he had received information through Samuel Neal and Levi +Sigler, two hunters who had been sent after him from Lassen's _rancho_, +that the Mexican Governor of California was pursuing him, while the +Indians, by whom he was surrounded, instigated by the enemy, had shown +signs of hostility, and had killed or wounded five of his men. + +Under these circumstances, on June 6, 1846, Lieutenant Fremont had +resolved to turn on his pursuers with the little party under his +command, and to seek safety, not merely in the overthrow of his +pursuers, but in that of the entire Government of Mexico in the Province +of California. Accordingly, on June 11th, Lieutenant Fremont, assisted +by Captain Merritt and fourteen of the settlers, had attacked and +captured an escort of horses destined for General Castro's +troops--Lieutenant Arce, fourteen men, and two hundred horses remaining +in his hands as the trophies of his victory. On the 15th the military +post of Sonoma was surprised, and General Vallejo, Captain Vallejo, +Colonel Greuxdon and several other officers, nine pieces of brass +cannon, two hundred fifty stands of muskets, and other stores and arms +were taken; and on the 25th the military commandant of the Province, who +had moved toward the post with a heavy force to retake it, was attacked +by Lieutenant Fremont and twenty men, and completely routed. Having thus +cleared that part of the Province north of the Bay of San Francisco of +the enemy, it is said that on July 5th Captain Fremont had assembled the +American settlers at Sonoma, addressed them upon the dangers of their +situation, and recommended a declaration of independence and war on +Mexico as the only remedy; and that the hardy frontiersmen promptly +accepted the proposal and raised the flag of independent California--a +bear and a star on a red ground. + +While these revolutionary movements were destroying the power of Mexico +in the interior of the Province of California, and the expedition under +General Kearney--ignorant of the fact that the work had been done +already--was approaching its eastern borders for the same purpose, the +naval force of the United States in the Pacific, under Commodore Sloat, +had been assisting in the work of conquest. Having heard of the opening +of hostilities on the Rio Grande, the Commodore--then at +Mazatlan--hastened with the Savannah to Monterey in California, where he +arrived on July 2d, and on the 7th he took possession of the town +without opposition; the custom-house was seized, the American flag +raised, and California declared to be "henceforward a part of the United +States." + +Within a few days intelligence of the action of Commodore Sloat was +received by the revolutionary leaders at Sonoma; and a battalion of +mounted riflemen which had been organized among them was immediately +moved to Monterey, the flag of the United States was substituted for the +"bear and star," and the authority of the Commodore was immediately +recognized. This battalion of mounted riflemen on its arrival at +Monterey, July 23, 1846, was mustered into the service of the United +States by Commodore Stockton, who had succeeded Commodore Sloat in +command of the squadron--Captain Fremont being appointed its commandant, +and Lieutenant A. H. Gillespie, of the Marines, its second officer--and +it was immediately despatched on the sloop-of-war Cyane to San Diego for +the purpose of cutting off the retreat of General Castro, of the Mexican +service, who had encamped and fortified his position near Ciudad de los +Angeles, while the Commodore with his sailors--who landed from the +Congress at San Pedro--moved against him in front. The expedition was +eminently successful, as the Mexicans on the approach of the Commodore +immediately evacuated their camp and fled in the greatest +confusion--although most of the principal officers were subsequently +captured--and, on August 13th, the Ciudad de los Angeles was occupied, +again without opposition, by the American troops and seamen, and the +conquest of California was apparently completed. + +A short time afterward Commodore Stockton appointed Captain Fremont +Governor of the Territory into which, by the proclamation of Commodore +Sloat, the Province had been transformed; while Captain Gillespie was +left, with nineteen men, in possession of Los Angeles; Lieutenant +Talbot, of the Topographical Engineers, with nine men, was left at Santa +Barbara; and, with his squadron, Commodore Stockton proceeded to San +Francisco; while Governor Fremont, on September 8th, also moved to +Monterey. + +The main body had no sooner left Los Angeles than the Californians--who +before the departure of the Commodore and the Governor had held secret +meetings for the purpose--rose in arms for the expulsion of the invaders +of their country. Indeed an attempt appears to have been intended before +the Governor left the city; but, by timely precautions, it had been +prevented; although the purpose and determination still continued and +were called into requisition at a more convenient season. The necessary +preparations having been made for that purpose under the directions of +Jose Antonio Carrillo, a professed conspirator of that vicinity, at an +early hour on the morning of September 23d, the quarters of Captain +Gillespie were attacked by Cerbulo Varela--a metamorphosed captain under +Governor Fremont--at the head of sixty-five men, under cover of a thick +fog. The morning was auspicious for such purposes, yet the Captain was +not surprised; and the twenty-one rifles which he controlled were +quickly brought to bear on the assailants, who retired soon afterward +with three of their number killed and several wounded; and at daylight +the remainder were driven from the town, with the loss of several taken +prisoners, by a few men under Lieutenant Hensley, and Doctor Gilchrist, +of the navy. + +The insurgents who were thus expelled from the city formed a nucleus +around which the disaffected gathered; and as the party gained strength +day by day, it harassed the little garrison and killed one of its +number. There was but little concert of action in its ranks, however; +and as the rival aspirants to power struggled for authority, while the +numbers rapidly increased, the efficiency of the insurgents was but +slightly increased. At length, in a spirit of compromise, Captain +Antonio Flores was urged to take the command of the party, and +reluctantly accepted it; and he soon found himself at the head of six +hundred men armed with lances, _escopetas_, and a brass six-pounder, +light and well mounted. + +In the mean time the little garrison had found an old honeycombed iron +six-pounder, and had drilled out the spike, cleaned and mounted it, and +by melting the lead pipes of a distillery had provided--unknown to the +insurgents--thirty rounds of ball and grape for it. Two other pieces +having been added to this, on the following day, the little garrison and +its gallant commander resolved to die rather than surrender, +notwithstanding the extreme efforts which had been made to strengthen +its position, and the great fatigue which was incident thereto. To +render his little party still more secure, however, on September 27th +Captain Gillespie withdrew his command from his quarters in the city and +occupied a height which commanded it, when he strengthened his position +and prepared for an obstinate defence. + +No sooner had this movement been effected than Captain Flores sent Don +Eulogeo Celis to inquire "on what terms Captain Gillespie would +surrender the city"; and that officer, after consulting with his +subordinates, answered that if the enemy would consent that he should +march out of the city with the honors of war, colors flying and drums +beating; that he should take everything with him; that he should be +furnished with means for transporting his baggage and provisions, at his +own expense; and that the enemy should not come within a league of his +party while on its line of march to San Pedro, he would accept those +terms, and no others would be considered; and Captain Flores should be +held responsible for any damage which might ensue, in case they were +rejected. After some negotiations these terms were offered by Captain +Flores and accepted by Captain Gillespie; and, on September 29th, the +garrison began its march; reached San Pedro on the same evening, and on +October 4th embarked on the Vandalia, after spiking its three old +guns--an exploit which, when the circumstances under which Captain +Gillespie's force, the strength of his opponent, and the temper of the +people among whom he moved are taken into consideration, may well be +ranked as one of the most brilliant feats of that remarkable campaign. + +While these difficulties were surrounding Captain Gillespie at Los +Angeles, Lieutenant Talbot, at Santa Barbara with his nine men, was not +less dangerously situated; and when the former had made terms with the +insurgents, Manuel Garpio with two hundred men moved against Lieutenant +Talbot, surrounded the town, and demanded his surrender, offering two +hours for his deliberation. As the men had resolved that they would not +give up their arms, and as the barracks were untenable with so small a +force, the Lieutenant resolved to abandon the town and push for the +hills; and, strange to say, he marshalled his men and marched out of the +town without opposition--"those who lay on the road retreated to the +main force, which was on the lower side of the town." + +Having reached the hills, he encamped, and remained there eight days, +when the Californians endeavored to rout him out, but were repulsed with +the loss of a horse. The insurgents then offered him his arms and +freedom if he would engage to remain neutral in the anticipated +hostilities, but "he sent word back that he preferred to fight." They +next built fires about him and burned him out; but in doing so they did +not capture or injure him, and he pushed through the mountains for +Monterey; and after a month's travel, in which he endured unheard-of +hardships and suffering, he reached that place in safety. + +Intelligence of the insurrection having reached Commodore Stockton at +San Francisco and Lieutenant-Colonel Fremont at Sacramento, both took +immediate steps to check its progress and to punish the offenders. In +conformity with the Commodore's orders Lieutenant-Colonel Fremont +hastened to San Francisco, whence he embarked, with one hundred sixty +men, on the ship Sterling, for Santa Barbara, to which port the frigate +Savannah (Captain Mervine) had previously been ordered; while, on the +same day, the Commodore in person sailed for the same port in the +Congress. + +The latter vessel reached San Pedro on October 6th, and at sunrise on +the 7th Captain Mervine landed with his seamen and marines; and after +being joined by Captain Gillespie and his brave-hearted little party, he +found himself at the head of three hundred ten men, "as brave and as +valiant as ever were led to battle upon any field." At eight o'clock the +party commenced its march toward Los Angeles, Captain Gillespie being in +advance, and when the column reached the hills of Palo Verde the +insurgents showed themselves and opened a fire with their _escopetas_. +The march was rapid; and the jolly tars, unused to such extended +journeys, appear to have suffered from its effects; in consequence of +which, although the enemy gradually fell back before the advancing +column, between one and two o'clock, when near the Rancho de los +Domingos, fourteen miles from San Pedro, it became necessary to halt and +encamp for the night. + +As may have been expected, the sailors and marines were ashore, and the +strict discipline which "the deck" had inculcated appears to have been +left on board the frigate. As a necessary consequence the camp displayed +but little of the order which such a locality should have insured; and +many and marvellous were the adventures of that night; while, on the +other hand, the enemy profited by the delay, by the moral effect of the +disorder with which the march had been conducted, and by the entire +absence of any artillery. + +On the following morning at daylight the column was again put in motion; +and with Captain Gillespie's men in front, in still greater disorder +than on the preceding day, it moved toward Los Angeles, twelve miles +distant. It had marched only three miles, when, posted behind a small +stream which intersected the line of march, the advance of the +insurgents--seventy-six men, with a small fieldpiece, under Jose Antonio +Carrillo--was discovered in front; and, as the column approached, a fire +was opened on it, which was answered with a characteristic shout. The +volunteers--Captain Gillespie's command--pressed forward; and by taking +advantage of the neighboring shelter they drove the enemy and compelled +him to abandon his fieldpiece; but before it could be reached and taken +possession of, Captain Mervine gave orders to withdraw. With great +indignation, therefore, the volunteers discontinued the action, and +after picking up his killed and wounded--harassed by the enemy who +pressed after the column, and covered by the volunteers and sixteen +marines, under Captain Gillespie--Captain Mervine slowly and sadly fell +back to San Pedro, where he arrived about dark on the same day, +"Thirteen noble tars were buried on the island in front of San Pedro," +the victims of this badly managed expedition. + +On October 23d the Commodore reached San Pedro--Lieutenant-Colonel +Fremont meanwhile having returned to Monterey--and on the 31st he sailed +for San Diego, which had been invested by the insurgents and needed +assistance. He reached that port a few days afterward; and, with the +assistance of Captain Gillespie's command, the besiegers were repelled, +and a fort was erected to protect the town from similar troubles in +future. + +Strenuous efforts were made to obtain horses for the use of the troops, +with some degree of success; and Commodore Stockton sailed toward San +Pedro again. During this temporary absence of the Commodore the +insurgents appear (on November 18, 1846) to have moved against San Diego +a second time, and were again driven back by Captain Gillespie and the +volunteers and marines under his command; and on December 3d a messenger +came into the town bearing a letter from General Kearney, apprising the +Commodore of his approach, and expressing a wish that a communication +might be opened with him that he might be informed of the state of +affairs in California. + +It appeared that after the General had taken Santa Fe (on October 1st) +he had moved from that city with the regular cavalry which he had +brought there. Soon afterward (October 7th) he had reduced his force to +one hundred men--sending the remainder back to Santa Fe--and after an +interesting march overland, on December 3, 1846, he had reached Warner's +_rancheria_, the outpost of civilization in California. From there a +letter had been despatched to San Diego by Mr. Stokes, an Englishman who +lived in a neighboring _rancheria_; and on the 4th the command had moved +fifteen miles nearer to the city. + +On the receipt of General Kearney's letter, Commodore Stockton +despatched Captain Gillespie to meet him, with a letter of welcome. The +Captain was accompanied by Lieutenant Beale, Midshipman Duncan, ten +seamen, Captain Gibson's company of riflemen (twenty-five men), and a +fieldpiece; and on the 5th he reached the General's camp; when, having +learned on his way that the insurgents were encamped at San Pasqual, +nine miles from the camp, Lieutenant Hammond was sent out by General +Kearney to reconnoitre the enemy's position. + +At a very early hour on the 6th the troops were put in motion, Captain +Johnston, with twelve dragoons, forming the advance-guard; the main body +of the General's party, under Captain Moore, following next; after which +moved Captain Gillespie, with Captain Gibson and his small company; and +Lieutenant Davidson, with the General's howitzers brought up the rear. +When the column had reached a hill which overlooked the valley of the +San Pasqual, the insurgents' encampment, it was halted, and the General +gave the final orders to his command: "One thrust of the sabre is worth +a dozen cuts; and depend upon them more than upon the carbines and +rifles." Without further delay the column advanced down the hill; and as +soon as Captain Johnston had struck the plain with his twelve dragoons, +having mistaken the purport of an order from the General, he uttered a +yell, and, without waiting for the support of the main body, dashed on +the heavy ranks of the enemy, falling a victim of his own indiscretion. + +The main body hastened, by a flank movement down the hill, to support +the charge of the advance, and received the enemy's fire from an Indian +village on its right flank; but the enemy waited to do no further +mischief, and fled from the charge of the advance before the line could +be formed. Perceiving the defection of the enemy, Captain Moore, with a +portion of his command, pursued the fugitives down the right of the +valley, while Captain Gillespie, with his volunteers, did the same on +the left side--the latter taking prisoner Pablo Beja, the insurgents' +second officer. In this pursuit, however, the ranks of the Americans +were greatly broken; and as the Mexicans far outnumbered them, they soon +afterward made a stand, using their lances with good effect. Captain +Moore fell, pierced in the breast by nine lances; the General was +severely wounded, and his life was saved, from an attack on his rear, by +a ball from Lieutenant Emory. Captain Gillespie was attacked by seven +Californians, received three wounds, and saved himself with great +difficulty; Captain Gibson received two wounds; Lieutenant Hammond +received nine lance wounds in the breast, and many others were severely +injured. For five minutes the enemy held the ground; when, the main body +of the Americans having come up, he again turned and fled. + +In this spirited affair about eighty Americans were engaged; while of +the Californians there is said to have been one hundred sixty, under +Andreas Pico. Of the former, Captains Moore and Johnston, Lieutenant +Hammond, and sixteen men were killed; and General Kearney, Captains +Gillespie and Gibson, Lieutenant Warner, and eleven men were wounded; +while of the latter it is said twenty-eight were killed and wounded. + +The dead were buried as soon as night closed in; the wounded were +properly attended to by the single surgeon who was with the party; and +ambulances were prepared for their conveyance to San Diego, thirty-nine +miles distant; and on the morning of the 7th the order to march was +given--the column taking the right-hand road over the hills, and leaving +the River San Bernardo to the left--the enemy retiring as it advanced. A +proper regard for the comfort of the wounded compelled the column to +move slowly, and it was afternoon before it reached the San Bernardo +_rancheria_ (Mr. Snook's). After a short halt at that place the column +moved down into the valley; and immediately afterward the hills on the +rear of the column (around the _rancheria_) were covered with +Californian horsemen, a portion of whom dashed at full speed past the +Americans to occupy a hill which commanded the route of the latter, +while the remainder of the party threatened the rear of the column. +Thirty or forty of the enemy quickly occupied the hill referred to; and +as the column came up six or eight Americans filed off to the left, and, +under Lieutenant Emory, charged up the hill, when the Californians +delivered their fire and fled, five of their number having been killed +or wounded by the rifles of the assailants. + +The wounded having been removed with great difficulty, the cattle having +been lost, and the danger of losing the sick and the packs being great, +the General determined to halt at that place and await the arrival of +reinforcements, for which messengers had been sent to San Diego on the +morning of the 6th. Accordingly the Americans occupied the high ground +on which the action had been fought, bored holes for water, killed their +fattest mules for meat, and awaited the arrival of their friends, until +the morning of the 11th, when they were joined by one hundred seamen and +eighty marines, under Lieutenant Gray, who had been sent out to meet +them by Commodore Stockton; and, on the afternoon of the 12th, the +combined parties entered the town in safety. + +At this time commenced that memorable conflict between the two +commanders--General Kearney and Commodore Stockton--respecting the chief +command, which subsequently created so much trouble in the American +ranks and throughout the country. Commodore Stockton appears, however, +to have retained the authority; and, having organized a force +sufficiently strong to warrant the undertaking, and General Kearney +having accepted an invitation to accompany the expedition, on December +29th he marched from San Diego, with two officers and fifty-five +privates (dragoons, two officers and forty-five seamen acting as +artillerymen; eighteen officers and three hundred seventy-nine seamen +and marines acting as infantry; six officers, and fifty-four privates), +volunteers, and six pieces of artillery, against the main body of the +insurgents, near Los Angeles. The command appears to have been given, at +his own request, to General Kearney; and as the wagon train was heavily +laden, the progress of the column was very slow--the expedition reaching +the Rio San Gabriel on January 8, 1847--although the enemy had offered +no opposition to its progress even in passes where a small force could +have effectively kept it back. At this place, however, he had made a +stand to dispute the passage of the river; and here the second action +was fought between the Americans and the Californians. + +The Rio San Gabriel, at the spot where this action was fought, is about +one hundred yards wide, the current about knee-deep, flowing over a +quicksand bottom. The left bank, by which the Americans approached, is +level; that on the right is also level for a short distance back, but +beyond this narrow plain a bank fifty feet in height commands the ford +and the intervening flat, while both banks are fringed with a thick +undergrowth. On this bank, directly in front of the ford, four pieces of +artillery were posted, supported on either flank by strong bodies of +cavalry, while on the slope of the hill and the flat in front were +posted the sharpshooters. + +Against this position the American column moved; the second division in +front, with the first and third divisions on the right and left flanks; +the cattle and the wagon train moved next; the volunteer riflemen and +the fourth division brought up the rear. As the head of the column +approached the bank of the river the enemy's sharpshooters opened a +scattering fire; and the second division was ordered to deploy as +skirmishers, cross the river, and drive the former from the thicket; +while the first and third divisions covered the flanks of the train, +and, with it, followed in the rear. When this line of skirmishers had +reached the middle of the stream and was pressing forward toward the +opposite bank, the enemy brought his artillery to bear, "and made the +water fly with grape and round shot"; and the American fieldpieces were +immediately dragged across the river and placed in counter-battery on +the right bank in opposition to those of the enemy. The fire of the +Americans appears to have caused considerable confusion in the ranks of +the insurgents; and under its cover the wagon train and cattle, with +their guard, passed the river, during which time the enemy attacked its +rear and was repelled. + +Having safely crossed the river the American column appears to have +deployed under cover of the high ground--the Californian grape and round +shot rattling over the heads of the men--and the enemy immediately +charged on both its flanks simultaneously, dashing down the slope with +great spirit. With great coolness the second division was thrown into +squares, and after a round or two drove off the enemy from the left +flank; the first division received a similar order, but as the +assailants on the right hesitated and did not come down as far as their +associates on the opposite flank, the order was countermanded, and the +division was ordered to charge up the hill, where the enemy's main body +was supposed to be posted. With great coolness this movement was +executed and the heights were gained, but there was no enemy in sight. +He had abandoned his position, and although he pitched his camp on the +hills in view of the Americans, when morning came he had moved still +farther back. + +The strength of the Americans in this action (the action of the Rio San +Gabriel) had been shown already; that of the Californians was about six +hundred, with four pieces of artillery. The loss of the former was one +man killed and nine men wounded; that of the enemy is not known. + +On the following morning (January 9, 1847) the American column resumed +its march over the Mesa--a wide plain which extends from the Rio San +Gabriel to the Rio San Fernando--surrounded by reconnoitring parties +from the enemy; and when about four miles from Los Angeles the enemy was +discovered on the right of the line of march, awaiting its approach. +When the column had come abreast of the enemy the latter opened fire +from his artillery on its right flank, and soon afterward deployed his +force, making a horseshoe in front of the American column, and opening +with two pieces of artillery on its front while two nine-pounders +continued their fire on the right. + +After stopping about fifteen minutes to silence the enemy's +nine-pounders the column again moved forward; when, by a movement +similar to that employed on the Rio San Gabriel the day before, two +charges were made simultaneously on its left flank and on its right and +rear. Contrary to the positive instructions of the officers, in the +former of these charges the enemy was met with a fire at long distance; +yet, although he had not come within a hundred yards of the column, +several of his men were knocked out of their saddles, and a round of +grape, which was immediately sent after him, completely scattered his +right wing. The charge on the right and the rear of the column fared +little better; and the entire force of the insurgents was withdrawn. + +The strength of both parties was probably as on the preceding day at the +Rio San Gabriel; the loss of the Californians is not known; that of the +Americans was Captain Gillespie, Lieutenant Rowan, and three men +wounded. The troops encamped near the field of battle; and on the +following morning (January 10, 1847), the enemy surrendered, when the +city of Los Angeles was occupied by the Americans without further +opposition. + +"This was the last exertion made by the sons of California for the +liberty and independence of their country," say the Mexican historians, +"and its defence will always do them honor; since, without supplies, +without means or instructions, they rushed into an unequal contest, in +which they more than once taught the invaders what a people can do who +fight in defence of their rights. The city of Los Angeles was occupied +by the American forces on January 10th, and the loss of that rich, vast, +and precious part of the Mexican territory was consummated." + + + + +(1847) THE FALL OF ABD-EL-KADER, Edgar Sanderson + + +This great Mahometan was an Arab chief whose heroic conduct as leader of +the Arabs in their wars against the French in Algeria (1832-1847) gave +him a place among the eminent patriot-soldiers and statesmen of the +nineteenth century. In 1843 Marshal Soult declared that Abd-el-Kader was +one of the three great men then living; the two others also being +Mahometans. The final course and fall of this man, whose name means +"Servant of the Mighty God," is itself an important concern of history, +without regard to its effect upon the relations of empire. After the +French, provoked by the conduct of Hasan, Dey of Algeria, had occupied +Algiers, his capital, in 1830, a new government was set up in France, +Louis Philippe ascending the throne in place of the expelled Charles X. +At the time of this revolution in France the soldiers of Charles had +already overrun a great part of Algeria; but they had not subdued the +country, and their absolute dominion extended only a little beyond the +capital itself. The French commander fortified his territory, but had to +recruit his garrisons from among the natives. In 1833 Abd-el-Kader +raised the standard of the Prophet, the Arabs rallied to his call, and +for several years he carried on a stubborn war against the French, whom +in 1835 he signally defeated. + +In 1836 the Arab leader, now Sultan, again fought the invaders in +several severe engagements on the Tafna River. In these affairs the +advantage lay with the Arab. In June, 1836, General Bugeaud was sent to +command the French forces, and he proved to be the strongest opponent +that Abd-el-Kader had met. There was more fighting on the Tafna; it was +indecisive, and in May, 1837, a treaty, known as the Treaty of the +Tafna, was concluded, General Bugeaud having received instructions +either to make peace with Abd-el-Kader or to subdue him. + +The story of the Arab hero from this point in his career is told by +Sanderson, the faithful commemorator of great nineteenth-century +patriots, a high authority on modern Africa. + +The famous Treaty of the Tafna, concluded between Abd-el-Kader and +Bugeaud, was a triumph for the Arab Sultan. With the consent of all the +great sheiks, the leaders of cavalry contingents, the venerable +Marabouts, and the most distinguished warriors of the Province of Oran, +the Sultan, not acknowledging the sovereignty of France, but ceding to +her a limited portion of the Provinces of Oran and Algiers, reserved the +free exercise of their religion for all Arabs dwelling on French +territory. He undertook to supply the French army with a large quantity +of corn and oxen and to confine the commerce of the Regency to French +ports. In return he received the administration of the larger part of +the Provinces of Oran and Algiers, and the whole of Tittery; the +important right of buying powder, sulphur, and weapons in France; and +freedom of trade between the Arabs and the French. In ceding the +Province of Tittery, Bugeaud had violated the strict orders of the +French Government, alleging in excuse to the Minister of War that any +other arrangement was "impossible." The treaty, in fact, confined the +French to a few towns on the seacoast, with small adjacent territories. +All the fortresses and strongholds in the interior were left in the +hands of Abd-el-Kader. He was the possessor of two-thirds of Algeria, +and he appeared before the world as the friend and ally of France. + +The treaty was held by the French Government to be a high stroke of +policy, converting an enemy into an ally. The French people regarded it +as a humiliating surrender of French territory to a rival power. It was +the culminating point of Abd-el-Kader's career. + +During the year 1839 the Sultan was engaged in the work of a statesman, +legislator, administrator, and reformer, displaying wonderful activity, +enterprise, vigor, and intellectual power as the founder of an empire +which, for the happiness of Algeria, was to be too short-lived. After +the Tafna Treaty he had received a magnificent present of arms from +Louis Philippe, King of the French, and, as a man who had subdued, +either by arms or by persuasive eloquence, the hardy, high-spirited +Kabyles he stood high in the estimation of his Moslem fellow-rulers in +Morocco and Egypt, Tripoli and Tunis, and of the _ulemas_, or bodies of +learned doctors in divinity and law, at Alexandria and Mecca, who +watched with joy, and with ardent expectation of yet higher things, the +career of one who seemed destined to revive the pristine glories of +Islam. The great Sultan, in order to consolidate his power both against +the French and over the Arabs, constructed a number of forts on the +limits of the Tell at Sebdou, on the west; at Saida, south of Tlemsen; +at Tekedemt, south of Mascara; at Boghar, south of Miliana; to the south +of Medea, and to the southeast of Algiers. Tekedemt, an old Roman town +about sixty miles southeast of Oran, was designed to be the capital, as +a great centre of commerce between the Tell and the Sahara. + +The first stone of the new city and fortress had been laid by the Sultan +in May, 1836; and as the place grew, a population of settlers from +Mascara, Mostaganem, and other towns poured in. Large stores of warlike +munitions were formed, and a factory, worked by mechanics from Paris on +liberal wages, turned out eight new muskets a day. A mint of silver and +copper coins was established. The defences carried twelve cannon and six +mortars. A French observer, who was a prisoner at the time when the +Sultan was personally directing the works at Tekedemt, describes his +simple costume, like that of a laborer; his large tall hat, plaited with +palm-leaves; his "incomparable grace" and "fascinating smile" as he +saluted the man who was rather a guest than a captive. + +The reforms of Abd-el-Kader included a regular police, schools, and +local tribunals of justice. All the chief towns had factories conducted +by Europeans, working in brass and iron, cotton and wool. The army +contained the finest irregular cavalry in the world, amounting, with all +the contingents from the tribes, to about sixty thousand men, only a +third of whom, however, were ever assembled for any single military +operation. His regular force comprised eight thousand infantry, two +thousand cavalry, twenty field-guns, and two hundred forty artillerymen. +His great ideal embraced the making the Arabs into one nation; the +recall of the whole people to a strict observance of religious duties; +the inspiring them with true patriotism; the calling forth of all their +capabilities for war, for commerce, for agriculture, and for mental +improvement; and the crowning of the whole by the impress of European +civilization. In laying the foundation for this mighty work, he had +already overcome vast difficulties by means of wonderful enterprise, +activity, and vigor. His intellectual greatness had caused him to shine +as a warrior, diplomatist, orator, and statesman. The Provinces of Oran +and Tittery and the plains of the Northern Sahara had been won by his +military prowess. + +A still nobler triumph in the exhibition of moral power was beheld in +his dealings with the region called Great Kabylia, the superb range of +the Djurjura Mountains extending eastward from Algiers. The hardy +Kabyles of that territory had remained unsubdued amid the changing +governments which had risen and fallen around them. As independent +little republics, bound together by the most exalted spirit of freedom, +they had ever preserved their usages, customs, and laws. In September, +1839, Abd-el-Kader, attended by only fifty horsemen, suddenly appeared +among them. Thousands gathered around his tent from the valleys and +fastnesses. He addressed them in a stirring and argumentative harangue, +pointing out union under his standard as the only safeguard against +French conquest. With loud shouts they accepted his faithful caliph, Ben +Salem, as their chief in war, and agreed to pay the regular imposts and +to go forth to the Djehad. For thirty days the Sultan made a progress +through the country, everywhere received with joy and enthusiasm as a +venerated _hadji_ and marabout, as a teacher of the law, as a man of +pious life, as a renowned warrior and an eloquent preacher. We cannot +dwell here on his educational and moral reforms, his earnest efforts to +enforce the teaching of the _Koran_, which was his guide in his public +and private life. His beneficent intentions were all to be frustrated by +the ambition of a European nation which was to signally fail, not in the +work of conquering Abd-el-Kader, but in turning her conquest to good +account. + +Hastily drawn treaties are a prolific source of war. The Treaty of the +Tafna was a flagrant example of this class of diplomatic documents. +There were two drafts: one in Arabic, with the Sultan's seal; the other +in French, with Bugeaud's. The drafts were not carefully compared. The +limits of territory assigned to each of the parties were not made clear. +One instance of the lack of identity in the two forms of the instrument +will suffice. The French form declared that Abd-el-Kader acknowledged +the sovereignty of France. The Sultan had never dreamed of making an +admission which, in its effect on the tribes, would have cost him his +throne. What he had written, in Arabic, in the article which he +subscribed, was, properly translated, "The Emir Abd-el-Kader +acknowledges that there is a French Sultan, and that he is great." + +A new Governor-General, Marshal Valee, had assumed his functions at +Algiers in November, 1837. Disputes arose as to the territorial rights +of the Sultan under the Tafna Treaty, and after vain negotiations and +missions to and fro matters were brought to a head by Marshal Valee in +the despatch of an expedition to march over some disputed ground as a +demonstration of French power and an assertion of French rights. A +column under the Duc d'Orleans started from Milah, in the Province of +Constantine, lately conquered by the French, to march across the +disputed territory and thence onward. A way was gained through a +formidable pass called the "Iron Gates," in October, 1839, by a simple +process. The defile was one which a few hundred men could have held +against any force, but the Kabyle sheiks were shown passports bearing +Abd-el-Kader's seal and authorizing the passage of French troops. The +seal of the Sultan had been forged. On November 1st Valee and the French +Prince made a triumphant entry into Algiers, after this despicable piece +of treachery, and were saluted as the heroes of the "Iron Gates." + +The news reached Abd-el-Kader at Tekedemt. He sprang on his horse, and +in forty-eight hours, riding night and day, was at Medea, whence he +despatched a reproachful and defiant letter to the French Governor. He +called the tribesmen to arms, formally declared war, swept down on the +plains, destroyed the French cantonments, agricultural establishments, +and outposts; slew many colonists, burned the villages and drove +panic-stricken fugitives headlong into the city of Algiers. The French +Government then ostentatiously declared the adoption of a firm policy +and announced Algeria to be "henceforth and forever a French province." +Reenforcements were rapidly sent to Algiers, and the effective army of +Valee was soon raised to thirty thousand men. The Sultan headed about +the same number of cavalry, regular and irregular, and six thousand +regular infantry. A fair trial of strength, Frenchman against Arab, was +now to be made. + +Concentrating his army at Blidah, at the foot of the lesser Atlas range, +the French Marshal marched on Medea and Millana. The river Chiffa was +passed on April 27, 1840. The Sultan's cavalry appeared in large numbers. +By a feigned movement, Abd-el-Kader induced his enemy to enter the +mountains by the gorges of the Monzaia, which he had spent months in +fortifying. Every eminence useful for the purpose was cut into +intrenchments. A redoubt with heavy batteries crowned the highest peak. +Near this were placed his regular infantry, officered by French +deserters. Arabs and Kabyles swarmed in all directions, and, crouching +in nooks, were ready to open fire on the French army as it wound its way +with steady march along the narrow causeway which hung midway on the +mountain slopes. + +Valee had divided his force into three columns, one of which was led by +Lamoriciere, a man to become famous in Algerian warfare. The Sultan was +now to see the value of French infantry. To the astonishment of the +Arabs, the enemy, leaving the road, came darting over the steeps. +Ravines, woods, and rocks were all mastered in the rush. Slowly but +surely they were reaching the intrenchments, when a thick veil came over +the scene from the smoke of incessant fire. The mist rolled away before +the breeze sweeping through the pass, and the combatants met and fought +hand to hand. The Arabs and Kabyles clung desperately to their places of +shelter, but the French clambered up, grasping at shrubs and branches, +ever winning their way. Abd-el-Kader made a last stand in person at the +great redoubt, while his regulars and masses of Kabyles gathered round +him. The converging columns of the French came creeping on amid the roll +of drums and the blare of trumpets. The Arabs, bewildered by foes +attacking them both in front and rear, wavered, broke, and fled. +Lamoriciere and his Zouaves, Changarnier and the Second Light Infantry, +burst over the intrenchments, and the tricolor waved on the summit of +the Atlas. + +Abd-el-Kader retreated on Miliana, while the conqueror, entering Medea, +found it abandoned and half burned. The Sultan had made his last attempt +to fight the French on the principles of European warfare. His caliphs +and chiefs were ordered never again to meet the enemy in masses, but to +harass them in hanging on their flanks and rear, cutting their +communications, attacking baggage and transports, and waging a contest +of feigned retreats, ambuscades, and sudden sallies in order to bewilder +and weary the foe. Miliana was evacuated by Abd-el-Kader on Valee's +approach, but the chance of Arab warfare came when the French entered +the mountain passes. Unceasing attacks, day and night, caused severe +loss to the lately victorious French, with the capture of baggage and +the abandonment of all wounded men. The French garrisons in Medea and +Miliana were soon reduced to want by blockade of the surrounding +country, and by October, 1840, the garrison of Miliana had almost +disappeared, from the effects of fever and famine. Out of fifteen +hundred men, the half had perished; five hundred were in hospital and +the remainder were haggard wretches who could hardly hold their muskets. +Such was the warfare in the mountains of the Province of Tittery, and +Abd-el-Kader by his swift movements kept the enemy ever on the alert, +and often in trouble, from the frontiers of Morocco to those of Tunis. + +The real and decisive struggle began early in 1841. The right man was at +last found by the French to deal with the hitherto indomitable Sultan of +Tittery and Oran. The Government at Paris had begun in some sort to +understand the power of their formidable adversary, and a serious effort +was to be made. On February 22, 1841, General Bugeaud assumed office as +Governor-General of Algeria. He had now come, not in the mood and with +the policy of the day when he concluded the Treaty of the Tafna, but as +one whose task it was to crush every rival power in Algeria. For this +end, eighty-five thousand men were placed under his command. Thomas +Bugeaud was a man of great ability, and he has the credit of devising +the only method by which such an antagonist as Abd-el-Kader, in such a +country, could be subdued. + +Against an adversary so mobile, so full of expedients and resource, +mobility and incessantly offensive movements offered the only chance of +success. The French Commander knew that it was no mere army, but a +people in arms, that he was to encounter. His forces were at once +organized in many small, compact columns, each composed of a few +infantry battalions and two squadrons of horse, with a little transport +train of mules and camels and two mountain howitzers. Picked men alone, +acclimatized and used to toil, were employed, and they carried nothing +but their muskets and ammunition, with a little food. These columns were +placed under the command of such energetic leaders as Changarnier and +Cavaignac, Canrobert and Pelissier, Bedeau and Lamoriciere, St. Arnaud +and the Duc d'Aumale. + +The campaign opened with the revictualling of Medea and Miliana, with +great losses to the French, as Abd-el-Kader disputed every inch of the +ground. Bugeaud, personally operating in Oran, reached Tekedemt on May +25th, and found it deserted and in flames. Boghar, Saida, and other +fortresses were successively destroyed. The enemies of the Sultan were +paying a heavy price for success. At the end of 1841 Bugeaud, out of +sixty thousand men in the field, had only four thousand fit for duty. +The rest had perished or were invalided for the time, from the toil of +marches, incessant fighting, and the heat of the climate. The French +Government's proposals of peace, on certain terms, only confirmed +Abd-el-Kader in his resolve to try the extremities of war. + +Bugeaud's main object was to establish permanent centres of action in +the very heart of the Arab confederation of tribes, and, by rapidly +consecutive expeditions radiating from these centres, to give his troops +the ubiquity of Abd-el-Kader's forces. The chief seat of the Sultan's +power was the Province of Oran, and this was made the principal scene of +operations. Mascara was held by Lamoriciere, Tlemsen by Bedeau. +Changarnier was in observation on the western frontier of the plain of +Algiers; Tittery was menaced by D'Aumale. From Oran and Mostaganem three +columns were sent forth against the tribes occupying the large expanse +of territory lying between the Atlas Mountains and the Mediterranean, +and the tribes extending toward the Sahara. The first force, headed by +Bugeaud in person, marched along the valley of the Cheliff, and then +joined the second column under Changarnier, coming from Blida. The third +body, under Lamoriciere, aimed at pushing Abd-el-Kader back to the south +in order to separate him from the tribes assailed by Changarnier and +Bugeaud. + +The plan of campaign was formidable for the Arabs, but it was +encountered by the Sultan with wonderful skill and daring in a struggle +which involved some thrilling episodes, Lamoriciere, in his efforts to +overtake the foe, was constantly baffled. Hearing that Abd-el-Kader was +before Mascara, he hurried thither by forced marches, only to find that +his enemy had passed by his rear and was raiding a tribe friendly to the +French. Pursuing in the new direction, the French leader was outmaneuvre +by the Sultan's bold and rapid dash across the Cheliff, placing his +Arabs between Bugeaud and the sea, and recovering his ascendency over +the tribes in that region. Abd-el-Kader then swept in a _razzia_ to the +south of Miliana, and soon appeared in full force in the Sahara as the +bewildered French pursuers returned to their cantonments in despair of +reaching him. This is a sample of the evolutions by which genius made +amends for inferiority of force. The ablest military combinations were +rendered abortive by an enemy that was ever slipping between columns, +flitting in the front, hovering on the flanks, assailing the rear, and, +with perfect knowledge of the country, was sometimes in the mountains +and again in the plains, ubiquitous, unattainable for serious conflict. + +Abd-el-Kader, leaving his caliphs to maintain this exasperating species +of warfare in the Province of Oran, made for the frontiers of Morocco. +There many tribes had submitted under the influence of Bedeau's military +and diplomatic skill. The Sultan's communications with the country +whence he drew his weapons, clothing, and ammunition were seriously +threatened. His appearance at once brought back the Kabyles of Nedrouma +to their allegiance, and their example was followed by other tribes, +with the result that his army was increased to the number of three +thousand cavalry and five thousand infantry. Able now to confront the +enemy, Abd-el-Kader during the months of March and April, 1842, had +frequent encounters with Bedeau, The issue was yet indecisive when the +Sultan was called away to Mascara to deal with Lamoriciere, who had been +gaining ground and winning over tribes, including even a large part of +Abd-el-Kader's own people, the Hashems. Lamoriciere, believing the +Sultan to be still engaged with Bedeau, had marched toward the Sahara, +and Abd-el-Kader, by a mingling of severe punishment and mild treatment, +regained most of his old authority. + +Lamoriciere, on receiving the news of his presence, hastened back to +find his recent work undone and to be assailed by the tribes who had so +lately joined him. Fighting his way bravely on to an encounter with the +great leader of the Arabs, the French general heard of him as in force +at Tekedemt. When he reached that place he found that Abd-el-Kader had +fallen on Changarnier toward Miliana. That general, knowing nothing of +the Sultan's approach, found himself enveloped by a vast force of Arabs +and Kabyles, regulars and irregulars, horse and foot, led on by +Abd-el-Kader in person and charging furiously on all sides. + +After two days and nights of incessant battle, in which men closed +fiercely with pistols, swords, bayonets, and yataghans, the Sultan +vanished with his force, leaving the French too exhausted and crippled +by their losses for pursuit. Two days later tidings reached them that he +was in the Metidja, ravaging the plain and carrying terror to the very +gates of Algiers. Abd-el-Kader then bore away to the Atlas, ascended the +mountains, penetrated beyond Tittery and reached the Sahara, everywhere +inspiriting the tribes and raising fresh forces. After sweeping over +three hundred leagues of ground he returned, in recruited strength and +new energy, to press upon Lamoriciere and his garrison at Mascara with +all the rigors of a winter blockade. + +In spite of his wonderful efforts, the Sultan could not but feel that he +was struggling with adverse fortune. The enemy by the seizure of his +fixed establishments had gained possession of a large part of his +territory and of the strongholds that had contained his stores of war. +His regular army had almost disappeared, and much of his credit among +the Arabs had departed. The _ketna_, which was his ancestral abode, had +been laid waste. He could not protect the families of his most faithful +adherents from constant exposure, in spite of his vigilant activity, to +the outrages of the detested infidels. In this position, he resolved to +remove from the scene of warfare those whom it was impossible for him to +desert with any regard to feelings of religion and humanity. He formed +his famous _smala_, a new and remarkable organization consisting of a +gathering of private families. To this moving asylum of refuge and +safety the Arab tribes sent their treasure, their herds, their women and +children, their sick and aged persons. + +The smala was a great travelling capital, containing at first more than +twenty thousand souls, following the Sultan's movements; sometimes in +advance to the more cultivated regions, or in retreat to the Sahara, +according to the fluctuations of the contest which he was so bravely +waging. In the Sahara, the tents of the smala spread to the distant +horizon. In the Tell, they filled the valley and rose up the slopes of +the hills. All the arrangements were of military regularity. The +different _deiras_, or households, with tents varying in number with +their dwellers, were distributed into four great encampments. Each deira +knew its appointed place. Each chief had his station marked and his +special duties assigned. Four tribes were set apart to protect and guide +the smala in its wanderings, and the guard was composed of regular +troops. The existence of this organization, ever growing in extent, +became a powerful check on the disaffection of the tribes. When the +French leaders tempted them with fair promises, the warriors bethought +them of the pledges: the women, the children, the flocks and herds, +which were in the Sultan's hands. The genius of Abd-el-Kader had created +a new and widely extended political engine. + +When the French leaders had learned to appreciate the importance of the +smala its capture or dispersal became a chief object with all officers +from the generals of corps to the colonels in charge of detachments. The +campaign of 1843 was opened by Lamoriciere, who occupied Tekedemt. +Abd-el-Kader with about fifteen hundred horsemen watched his movements +from some neighboring woods. He knew that the French commander's object +was the smala, and he remained in ambush for twenty days. He and his men +lived on acorns; the horses were fed on leaves. One day a stray sheep +was found. The Sultan would have none of it, and said, "Take it to my +starving soldiers," as he turned to his meal of acorns. Twice was +Lamoriciere repulsed in his search, and then a traitor revealed the +exact place of the smala encampment. + +Lamoriciere remained to occupy the attention of Abd-el-Kader, and the +French column stationed at Medea was selected for the attack. The +leadership was intrusted to the Duc d'Aumale, and on May 10, 1843, he +started from Boghar with thirteen hundred infantry, six hundred horse, +and two field-guns. + +The indicated place of encampment was found empty, and the French column +wandered about in uncertain fashion. + +At break of day on May 16th the traitor made known the new spot of the +smala's halt, and D'Aumale at once daringly advanced with his cavalry +alone. The surprise created a panic among the people. The guard of five +hundred regulars fired a volley and fled. A handful of the Hashem tribe +bravely strove to stem the torrent, but they were swept away in the +rout, and in an hour all was over. The smala was broken up amid scenes +of terrible confusion and despair, including the extraordinary sight of +a promiscuous mass of camels, dromedaries, horses, mules, oxen, and +sheep careering and plunging on the plain. There was little bloodshed, +but the French victors were in possession of hostages of the utmost +value in the families of Abd-el-Ka-der's most influential chiefs. His +own family had escaped. The booty taken was immense, comprising +thousands of animals; the Sultan's valuable library of rare Arabic +manuscripts; the military chest containing some millions of francs, and +the chests of his caliphs and other high officers, filled with gold and +silver coins and costly jewellery. The French soldiers baled out dollars +and doubloons in their shakos, and helped themselves to diamonds and +pearls. + +This dreadful blow, when the news reached him in the woods where he +watched near Lamoriciere's command, almost overwhelmed, for a time, even +the exalted and undaunted spirit of the Sultan. He spent some hours +alone in his tent, in meditation and prayer. He came forth with a smile +and addressed his chiefs, his officers, and men as they stood outside in +groups, some downcast and silent, some bitterly cursing their foe and +fate. He reminded them that the dear objects now lost had impeded the +movements of the holy war against the infidels, and that those who had +fallen were now in paradise. The next day he wrote to his caliphs, +bidding them not to be discouraged; they would thenceforth be lighter +and in better order for war. In fact at the time of the Duc d'Aumale's +attack, the population of the smala amounted to not less than sixty +thousand. Not more than three thousand prisoners were taken; the rest of +the Arabs were dispersed in all directions. Some fell among Arab tribes +who plundered them; others were overtaken by Lamoriciere. + +The blow was, on the whole, irreparable in its effects upon the +influence of the Sultan. Every day brought tidings of the defection of +some great tribe. The ranks of his enemies were swelled by large +contingents of Arabs. + +Worse things were in store for the brave man contending with +ill-fortune. His ablest caliphs were removed by captivity or death in +action; the distant provinces fell a prey to the foe. The Province of +Oran became the scene of a desperate struggle. With a chosen and devoted +band of five thousand men Abd-el-Kader made his presence felt at all +points. Now he fell on recreant tribes; now he made head against the +French columns. Ever in the van, leading on the charge, plunging into +the thickest of the fight, by his example he encouraged and inspired his +followers. His bravest warriors fell around him; his horses were slain +under him; his burnoose was torn with bullets; but still he fought on. +The world's record can show no more brilliant instance of almost +superhuman heroism. + +Once he was taken unawares. On September 23, 1843, he was encamped near +Sidi Yusuf with a battalion of infantry and five hundred irregular +horse. A spy made known his position to Lamoriciere, who was at a +distance of six leagues. The French General at once led out in person +the Second Chasseurs d'Afrique. A night's march covered the intervening +space and the spot was reached in the gray of dawn. The Sultan was +aroused from sleep by cries of "The French! the French!" He had barely +time to mount. He might have escaped, but he preferred the risk of death +to the double stain of surprise and flight. His infantry seized their +arms and fired a volley; his cavalry rallied at his voice. Then as the +smoke slowly rolled away he dashed into the French chasseurs, dispersed +them by the sudden shock, and after a few minutes' hard fighting drew +off his whole force in perfect order. + +The Beni-Amers, the men whose four thousand sabres had waved in +exultation around the young leader of the Djehad; the men whose splendid +courage had opened before him the path of glory and of empire, had gone +over to the French. Abd-el-Kader resolved to attack them. Suddenly +descending upon them he swept through their encampments, slew numbers, +and carried off a great booty. A French battalion stationed among them +vainly strove to arrest his progress. An Arab chief, one of his old +followers, boldly singled him out, rode up, and fired at him +point-blank. The ball missed, and Abd-el-Kader shot the traitor dead +with his pistol. + +The Sultan knew that all was lost unless he could obtain external aid. +The smala was now reduced to his own deira, a bare thousand souls, +wandering about in miserable fashion. After another desperate engagement +with Lamoriciere during which the Arab women cheered on the warriors, +and Abd-el-Kader and his men fighting in the presence of their wives and +children performed new prodigies of valor, he succeeded in safely +establishing the noncombatants on the territory of Morocco. + +Bugeaud, now become a marshal, wrote to his Government declaring that +all serious warfare was finished. In the summer of 1844, the violation +of Abderrahman's territory by French troops under Lamoriciere and Bedeau +led to some warfare, in which the Moroccan troops were twice defeated. +The people of the country were strongly in favor of Abd-el-Kader; and +when their Sultan, after a French bombardment of Tangiers and Mogador, +made a treaty with France by which the Algerian hero was "placed beyond +the pale of the law throughout the Empire of Morocco, as well as in +Algeria," and was to be "pursued by main force by the Moroccans on their +own territory," the Moorish population was filled with resentment. +Letters reached Abd-el-Kader from Fez, the capital, dictated and signed +by the first grandees in the State, both civil and military, and from +the commercial classes, inviting him to ascend the throne of his +ancestors. Had he been a mere adventurer or usurper he might have lived +henceforth, and died, Emperor of Morocco, But his whole soul was +patriotically bent on one object, the freedom and independence of +Algeria. He disdained to wear a borrowed crown. As he afterward +declared, "His religion forbade him to injure a sovereign chosen and +appointed by God." + +During the year 1844 the Sultan had made a rapid incursion into the +Tell, everywhere appealing to the tribes; but he found the national +spirit overawed by the presence of French detachments in all directions, +and he returned to his deira in despondent spirit. He now received +appeals from some of his devoted caliphs to undertake a fresh campaign, +especially from the loyal and chivalrous Ben Salem, who dwelt in the +gorges of the Djur jura Mountains. To him Abd-el-Kader replied, +promising to come "as soon as affairs in the west were settled." + +Months passed away and the Arab tribes who had submitted began to feel +the pressure of French domination and to resent the supercilious conduct +of French officials. In the spring of 1845 their former Sultan +reappeared. He swept down into the valley of the Tafna and routed and +cut to pieces a French detachment. In this action the lower part of his +right ear was carried away by a musket-ball, the only wound which he +ever received. Another detachment of six hundred men laid down their +arms without firing a shot. Some stir was made among the Arabs by these +successes, and the French commanders took alarm. Lamoriciere, Cavaignac, +and Bedeau wrote pressing letters for reinforcements, and urged the +return of Bugeaud. The most formidable foe of Abd-el-Kader reached the +scene of action in October, 1845, bringing fresh forces, and in a week +he took the field at the head of a hundred twenty thousand men. This +fact is the highest eulogy that can be accorded to the military prowess +of a man who so long defied the power of France. + +The end of the great career was rapidly coming. After another vain +appeal to the Moorish ruler even Abd-el-Kader felt that all was lost. A +French writer in the _Biographie generale_ truly declares: + +"The greatness of the man was strikingly displayed in the very hour of +his downfall. Destitute of resources, surrounded by foes, at open enmity +with the Emperor of Morocco, wandering like a hunted lion, with hardly +any comrade but his horse, no shelter except his tent, Abd-el-Kader +still inspired a terror which forced his enemies to keep a great army on +foot in Algeria for protection against possible attacks at his hand." + +In his deira, at this time, all was despondency and grief. His own +brothers had abandoned him. Ben Salem, the faithful, long-tried, devoted +friend and follower, was a voluntary prisoner in the French camp. +Abd-el-Kader's whole force was fewer than two thousand men, but among +these were twelve hundred horsemen, the flower of the Algerian cavalry. +Most of them had been his inseparable comrades, partakers in all his +hardships and dangers, throughout his career. During a short period of +rest he summoned them daily around him and aroused new enthusiasm among +the bronzed veterans by his eloquent words. + +On December 9, 1847, the deira was stationed on Moorish territory, at +Agueddin, on the left bank of the Melouia. It comprised in all about +five thousand souls. The next day news arrived that a great Moorish host +under the Sultan's two sons was only three hours' march away. On January +11th, Abd-el-Kader gathered his armed force, marched at dead of night +and fell furiously on the first division of the Moors and Arabs. The +slumbering foe awoke to see the thick darkness illumined by flashes of +light from muskets. Seized with panic, the men rushed away in all +directions, abandoning arms, tents, and baggage. In the mean time +Abd-el-Kader and his men swept onward and attacked the second division, +which was also defeated and dispersed. In half an hour the third +division was reached. This force had time to prepare for defence, and +the assailants withdrew before a steady fire of infantry and artillery +to an adjacent hill. At midday five thousand Moorish cavalry moved out +against Abd-el-Kader's little army. At charging distance he led on his +men, swept through the foe, and by a skilful combination of assault and +retreat regained his deira by the river Melouia, before sunset. The +deira had nearly effected its passage across the river, with the baggage +and the spoils taken from the enemy, when the Moorish army was seen +cautiously advancing. + +The situation was full of peril. The deira had never been so exposed. +The ammunition was expended and the infantry was thus counted out of the +fight. Abd-el-Kader could only depend on his "Old Guard"--his matchless +cavalry. At length the Melouia was passed, and, although the foe was +pressing on, he would not leave its bank until the noncombatants had +gained a full hour in advance. Then the deira crossed another stream and +reached a place of safety, for the time, on French territory. Not a life +had been lost nor a beast of burden of all that crowd of men, women, +children, and animals. Coolness, intrepidity, and skill had been their +protectors. Of the fighting men, however, more than two hundred had been +slain, and nearly all the rest were suffering from wounds. + +Abd-el-Kader now turned toward the hills inhabited by a tribe which +still, in part, adhered to him. His horsemen followed him in anxious +silence, suffering and exhausted. The rain fell in torrents. Their chief +was tormented by conflicting thoughts. A French camp was visible in the +distance, three hours' march away, occupying a pass. He and his cavalry +might yet escape by narrow defiles into the Sahara. But what of his aged +mother, his wife and children, his helpless followers in the deira? All +would become captives to the foe. He called his men around him and +reminded them of the oath which, eight years before on the renewal of +the war, they had taken at Medea that they would never forsake him in +any danger or suffering. All declared themselves ready still to adhere +to it. He set before them the peril of the people in the deira and +suggested submission. All the warriors cried: "Perish women and children +so long as you are safe and able to renew the battles of God. You are +our head, our Sultan; fight or surrender, as you will, we will follow +you wherever you choose to lead." After a few moments' pause +Abd-el-Kader declared that the struggle was over. The tribes were tired +of the war and there was nothing left but submission. He would ask the +French for a safe-conduct for himself and his family, and for all who +chose to follow him, to another Mussulman country. The universal answer +was, "Sultan, let your will be done!" + +The incessant rain rendered it impossible to write down any terms. +Abd-el-Kader therefore affixed his seal to a piece of paper, and +despatched it in charge of two horsemen to the French general as a sign +of authorization on his part for demands to be verbally made. It was +Lamoriciere who received the two emissaries; and he sent a verbal reply, +acceding to all proposals. Abd-el-Kader then sent a letter, and received +in reply a written promise and stipulation that the Sultan and his +family should be conducted to St. Jean d'Acre or Alexandria. The new +Governor-General, the Duc d'Aumale, was close at hand, and on the +evening of December 23, 1847, the fallen hero, attended by some of his +chiefs and men, escorted by five hundred French cavalry, who showed +great respect and sympathy for the captives, arrived at headquarters. +Abd-el-Kader, attended by Lamoriciere and Cavaignac, was presented to +the son of Louis Philippe. The Prince pledged himself that Lamoriciere's +promise and stipulation should be strictly observed. He knew little that +his father's throne was about to fall, and that the decision as to +Abd-el-Kader's fate would, within a few weeks, rest in far different +hands. The ex-Sultan then withdrew to his deira, which had now joined +the French encampment. + +On the next morning, December 24th, the Governor-General held a review. +His honored prisoner and guest, riding a splendid black charger of the +purest Arab breed, and surrounded by his chiefs, awaited his return from +the field. When the Prince approached, Abd-el-Kader dismounted and +offered his steed as a present in testimony of his gratitude, and +expressed the hope that he might always bear his new master in safety +and happiness. The Duc d'Aumale replied, "I accept it as a homage +rendered to France, the protection of which country will henceforth be +ever extended toward you, and as a sign that the past is forgotten." + +On December 25th the Algerian hero embarked with his family and +followers in a French frigate for Toulon. He had seen the last of his +native land. Lamoriciere accompanied him on board and supplemented his +poor resources with a present of four thousand francs, receiving +Abd-el-Kader's sword in return. The _Moniteur_ of January 3, 1848, paid +a high tribute to the genius and ascendency of the captive in these +words: "The subjugation of Abd-el-Kader is an event of immense +importance to France. It assures the tranquillity of our conquest. +To-day France can, if necessary, transport to other quarters the hundred +thousand men who hold the conquered populations under her yoke." + + + + +(1847) THE MEXICAN WAR, John Bonner + + +When President Polk began his Administration, the United States +Government had become involved in two boundary disputes--one relating to +Oregon, the other to Texas and Mexico. Out of the latter came the +Mexican War, concerning the political causes and merits of which there +were then and ever since have been wide differences of opinion among the +American people. Polk's election by the Democrats in 1844 had turned +mainly upon the question of annexing Texas. Just before he came into +office the annexation was made. + +Texas claimed as her western boundary the Rio Grande. Mexico held that +the western limit was the Nueces. Between the two rivers there was a +large area of disputed territory. The Texan claim was opposed by many +American statesmen and publicists, and by some was denounced--as the +annexation of Texas had been--as an aggressive move against Mexico. But +the United States Government supported the cause of Texas. General +Zachary Taylor, who had served in the War of 1812, and afterward in +several Indian wars, took command of the army in Texas in 1845. In +January, 1846, he was ordered to occupy positions on or near the left +bank of the Rio Grande del Norte. This order and its execution have been +held by some writers to constitute an act of war, but war was not +formally declared by the United States till May 11th. Taylor, with a +small force, had several slight encounters with Mexican troops, after +which he won the battle of Palo Alto (May 8, 1846), near the southern +extremity of Texas; and that of Resaca de la Palma (May 9th), also in +Texas, four miles north of Matamoros, Mexico. He took possession of +Matamoros May 18th. With six thousand men, against about ten thousand +Mexicans under Ampudia, Taylor captured Monterey, Mexico (September +24th), and at Buena Vista, February 22-23, 1847, with five thousand +troops, he defeated fifteen thousand Mexicans under Santa Anna, then +President of Mexico and commander of her army. + +The war was now transferred to the district between Vera Cruz and the +City of Mexico, the capital, and was henceforth conducted for the United +States by General Winfield Scott, whose previous military career had +been much the same as General Taylor's. Scott had been made +Major-General and Commander-in-Chief of the Army in 1841. His first +operation in Mexico was the taking of Vera Cruz, the principal Mexican +seaport, on the Gulf of Mexico. With the aid of a fleet he besieged the +city in March, 1847, and on the 27th received its surrender. At Cerro +Gordo (April 17th and 18th) he won an important victory that opened his +way through the mountains toward his objective, the city of Mexico. +Reenforcements gradually reached him, and by the first of August he was +ready to move on the valley of Mexico with about eleven thousand men. +From this stage to the fall of the capital, completing the conquest of +the country, Bonner's account gives a graphic recital of events. The +city was held by Americans from September 14, 1847, the day they entered +it, until the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo (February 2, +1848), which ended the war. + +With the energy that characterized Santa Anna throughout the Mexican +War, he had prepared for a desperate defence. Civil strife had been +silenced, funds raised, an army of twenty-five thousand men mustered, +and every precaution taken which genius could suggest or science +indicate. Nature had done much for him. Directly in front of the +invading army lay the large lakes of Xochimilco and Chalco. These +turned, vast marshes, intersected by ditches and for the most part +impassable, surrounded the city on the east and the south--on which side +Scott was advancing--for several miles. The only approaches were by +causeways; and these Santa Anna had taken prodigious pains to guard. The +national road to Vera Cruz--which Scott must have taken had he marched +on the north side of the lakes--was commanded by a fort mounting +fifty-one guns on an impregnable hill called El Penon. Should he turn +the southern side of the lakes, a field of lava, deemed almost +impassable for troops, interposed a primary obstacle; and fortified +positions at San Antonio, San Angel, and Churubusco, with an intrenched +camp at Contreras, were likewise to be surmounted before the southern +causeways could be reached. Beyond these there yet remained the +formidable castle of Chapultepec and the strong enclosure of Molino del +Rey, to be stormed before the city gates could be reached. Powerful +batteries had been mounted at all these points, and ample garrisons +detailed to serve them. The bone and muscle of Mexico were there. + +Goaded by defeat, Santa Anna never showed so much vigor; ambition fired +Valencia; patriotism stirred the soul of Alvarez; Canalizo, maddened by +the odium into which he had fallen, was boiling to regain his soubriquet +of the "Lion of Mexico." With a constancy equal to anything recorded of +the Roman Senate, the Mexican Congress, on learning of the defeat at +Cerro Gordo, had voted unanimously that anyone opening negotiations with +the enemy should be deemed a traitor; and the citizens with one accord +had ratified the vote. Within six months Mexico had lost two splendid +armies in two pitched battles against the troops now advancing against +the capital; but she never lost heart, and her spirit quailed not. + +The engineers reporting that the fortress on El Penon could not be +carried without a loss of one-third the army, Scott decided to move by +the south of the lakes; and Worth accordingly advanced, leading the van, +as far as San Augustin, nine miles from the city of Mexico. There a +large field of lava, known as the Pedregal, barred the way. On the one +side, two miles from San Augustin, the fortified works at San Antonio +commanded the passage between the field and the lake; on the other, the +ground was so much broken that infantry alone could advance, and General +Valencia occupied an intrenched camp, with a heavy battery, near the +village of Contreras, three miles distant. Scott determined to attack on +both sides, and sent forward General William J. Worth on the east, and +General Gideon J. Pillow and General David E. Twiggs on the west. The +latter advanced as fast as possible over the masses of lava on the +morning of the 19th, and by 2 P.M. a couple of light batteries were +placed in position and opened fire on the Mexican camp. + +At the same time General Persifor Smith conceived the plan of turning +Valencia's left, and hastened along the path through the Pedregal in the +direction of a village called San Jeronimo. Colonel Riley followed. +Pillow sent Cadwallader's brigade on the same line, and later in the day +Morgan's regiment was likewise despatched toward that point. They drove +in the Mexican pickets and skirmishers, dispersed a few parties of +lancers, and occupied the village without loss. Seeing the movement, +Santa Anna hastened to Valencia's support with twelve thousand men. He +was discovered by Cadwallader just as the latter gained the village +road; and appreciating the vast importance of preventing a junction +between the two Mexican generals, that gallant officer did not hesitate +to draw up his brigade in order of battle. So broken was the ground that +Santa Anna could not see the amount of force opposed to him, and +declined the combat. This was all Cadwallader wanted. Shields's brigade +was advancing through the Pedregal, and the troops which had already +crossed were rapidly moving to the rear of Valencia's camp. Night too +was close at hand. When it fell, Smith's, Riley's, and Cadwallader's +commands had gained the point they sought. Shields joined them at ten +o'clock; and at midnight Captain Lee crossed the Pedregal, with a +message from General Smith to General Scott, to say that he would begin +the attack at daybreak next morning. + +It rained all night and the men lay in the mud without fires. At three +in the morning (August 20th) the word was passed to march. Such pitchy +darkness covered the face of the plain that Smith ordered every man to +touch his front file as he marched. Now and then a flash of lightning +lighted the narrow ravine; occasionally a straggling moonbeam pierced +the clouds and shed an uncertain glimmer on the heights; but these +flitting guides served only to make the darkness seem darker. The +soldiers groped their way, stumbling over stones and brushwood, and did +not gain the rear of the camp till day broke. Then Riley bade his men +look to the priming of their guns, and reload those which the rain had +wet. With the first ray of daylight the firing had begun again between +the Mexican camp and Ransom's corps stationed in front and Shields's +brigade at San Jeronimo. Almost at the same moment Riley began to ascend +the height in the rear. Before he reached the crest, his engineers, who +had gone forward to reconnoitre, came running back to say that his +advance had been detected, that two guns were being pointed against him, +and a body of infantry were sallying from the camp, The news braced the +men's nerves. They gained the ridge, and stood a tremendous volley from +the Mexicans without flinching. Hanson of the Seventh--a gallant officer +and an excellent man--was shot down with many others; but the Mexicans +had done their worst. + +With steady aim the volley was returned; and ere the smoke rose a cheer +rang through the ravine, and Riley fell with a swoop on the +intrenchments. With bayonet and butt of musket, the Second and Seventh +drove the enemy from his guns, leaping into his camp and slaughtering +all before them. Up rushed Smith's own brigade on the left, driving a +party of Mexicans before them, and charging with the bayonet straight at +Torrejon's cavalry, which was drawn up in order of battle. Defeat was +marked on their faces. Valencia was nowhere to be found. Salas strove +vainly to rouse his men to defend themselves with energy; Torrejon's +horse, smitten with panic, broke and fled at the advance of our +infantry. Riley hurled the Mexicans from their camp after a struggle of +a quarter of an hour; and as they rushed down the ravine, their own +cavalry rode over them, trampling down more men than the bayonet and +ball had laid low. On the right, as they fled, Cadwallader's brigade +poured in a destructive volley; and Shields, throwing his party across +the road, obstructed their retreat and compelled the fugitives to yield +themselves prisoners of war. The only fight of any moment had taken +place within the camp. There, for a few minutes, the Mexicans had fought +desperately; two of our regimental colors had been shot down, but +finally Anglo-Saxon bone and sinew had triumphed. To the exquisite +delight of the assailants, the first prize of victory was the guns +O'Brien had abandoned at Buena Vista, which were regained by his own +regiment. Twenty other guns and more than a thousand prisoners, +including eighty-eight officers and four generals, were likewise +captured, and about fifteen hundred Mexicans killed and wounded. The +American loss in killed, wounded, and missing was about one hundred men. + +Barely taking time to breathe his troops, Smith followed in pursuit +toward the city. By ten o'clock in the morning he reached San Angel, +which Santa Anna evacuated as he approached. The General-in-Chief and +the generals of division had by this time relieved Smith of his command. +Scott rode to the front, and in a few brief words told the men there was +more work to be done that day. A loud cheer from the ranks was the +reply. The whole force then advanced to Coyacan, within a mile of +Churubusco, and prepared to assault the place. + +Santa Anna considered it the key to the city, and awaited the attack in +perfect confidence with thirty thousand men. The defences were simple. +On the west, in the direction of Coyacan, stood the large stone convent +of San Pablo, which, as well as the wall and breastworks in front, was +filled with infantry, and which contained seven heavy guns. A breastwork +connected San Pablo with the _tete de pont_ over the Churubusco River, +four hundred yards distant. This was the easternmost point of defence, +and formed part of the San Antonio causeway leading to the city. It was +a work constructed with the greatest skill--bastions, curtain, and wet +ditch, everything was complete and perfect--four guns were mounted in +embrasure and barbette, and as many men as the place would hold were +stationed there. The reserves occupied the causeway behind Churubusco. +Independently of his defences, Santa Anna's numbers--nearly five to +one--should have insured the repulse of the assailants. + +By eleven--hardly seven hours having elapsed since the Contreras camp +had been stormed, five miles away--Twiggs and Pillow were in motion +toward the San Antonio causeway. Nothing had been heard of Worth, who +had been directed to move along the east side of the Pedregal on San +Antonio, but it was taken for granted he had carried the point, and +Scott wished to cut off the retreat of the garrison. Twiggs was +advancing cautiously toward the convent when a heavy firing was heard in +advance. Supposing that a reconnoitring party had been attacked, he +hastily sent forward the First Artillery, under Dimmick, through a field +of tall corn, to support them. No sooner had they separated from the +main body than a terrific discharge of grape, canister, and musketry +assailed them from the convent. In the teeth of the storm they advanced +to within one hundred yards of that building, and a light battery under +Taylor was brought up on their right, and opened on the convent. + +More than an hour the gunners stood firm to their pieces under afire as +terrible as troops ever endured; one-third of the command had fallen +before they were withdrawn. Colonel Riley meanwhile, with the stormers +of Contreras, had been despatched to assail San Pablo on the west, and, +like Dimmick, was met by a murderous rain of shot. Whole heads of +companies were mowed down at once. Thus Captain Smith fell, twice +wounded, with every man beside him; and a single discharge from the +Mexican guns swept down Lieutenant Easley and the division he led. It +was the second time that day the gallant Second had served as targets +for the Mexicans, but not a man fell back. General Smith ordered up the +Third in support, and these, protecting themselves as best they could +behind a few huts, kept up a steady fire on the convent. Sallies from +the works were continually made, and as continually repelled, but not a +step could the assailants make in advance. + +By this time the battle was raging at three different points. Worth had +marched on San Antonio that morning, found it evacuated, and given chase +to the Mexicans with the Fifth and Sixth Infantry. The causeway leading +from San Antonio to the _tete de pont_ of Churubusco was thronged with +flying horse and foot; our troops dashed headlong after them, never +halting till the advance corps--the Sixth--were within short range of +the Mexican batteries. A tremendous volley from the _tete de pont_ in +front, and the convent on the flank, then forced them to await the +arrival of the rest of the division. This was the fire which Twiggs +heard when he sent Dimmick against the convent. + +Worth came up almost immediately; and directing the Sixth to advance as +best they could along the causeway in the teeth of the _tete de pont_, +despatched Garland's and Clarke's brigades through the fields on the +right to attack it in flank. Every gun was instantly directed against +the assailants; and though the day was bright and clear, the clouds of +smoke actually darkened the air. Hoffman, waving his sword, cheered on +the Sixth; but the shot tore and ripped up their ranks to such a degree +that in a few minutes they had lost ninety-seven men. The brigades on +the right suffered as severely. One hundred men fell within the space of +an acre. Still they pressed on, till the Eighth (of Clarke's brigade) +reached the ditch. In they plunged, Lieutenant Longstreet bearing the +colors in advance; he scrambled out on the other side, dashed at the +walls without ladders or scaling implements, and bayoneted the defenders +as they took aim. At last, officers and men mixed pell-mell, some +through the embrasures, some over the walls, rushed or leaped in and +drove the garrison helter-skelter upon their reserves. + +The _tete de pont_ gained, its guns were turned on the convent, whence +the Mexicans were still slaughtering our gallant Second and Third. +Duncan's battery, too, hitherto in reserve, was brought up and opened +with such rapidity that a bystander estimated the intervals between the +reports at three seconds! Stunned by this novel attack, the garrison of +San Pablo slackened fire. In an instant the Third, followed by Dimmick's +artillery, dashed forward with the bayonet to storm the nearest bastion. +With a run they carried it, the artillery bursting over the curtain; but +at that moment a dozen white flags waved in their faces. The whole +fortified position of Churubusco was taken. + +Meantime, however, a conflict as deadly as either of these was raging +behind the Mexican fortifications. Soon after the battle commenced, +Scott sent Pierce's and Shields's brigades by the left, through the +fields, to attack the enemy in the rear. On the causeway, opposed to +them, were planted Santa Anna's reserves--four thousand foot and three +thousand horse--in a measure protected by a dense growth of maguey. +Shields advanced intrepidly with his force of sixteen hundred. The +ground was marshy, and for a long distance--having vainly endeavored to +outflank the enemy--his advance was exposed to their whole fire. Morgan, +of the Fifteenth, fell wounded. The New York regiment suffered +fearfully, and their leader, Colonel Burnett, was disabled. The +Palmettos of South Carolina, and the Ninth under Ransom, were as +severely cut up; and after a while all sought shelter in and about a +large barn near the causeway. Shields, in an agony at the failure of his +movement, cried imploringly for volunteers to follow him. + +The appeal was instantly answered by Colonel Butler, of the Palmettos: +"Every South Carolinian will follow you to the death!" The cry was +contagious, and most of the New Yorkers took it up. Forming at angles to +the causeway, Shields led these brave men, under an incessant hail of +shot, against the village of Portales, where the Mexican reserves were +posted. Not a trigger was pulled till they stood at a hundred fifty +yards from the enemy. Then the little band poured in their volley, +fatally answered by the Mexican host. Butler, already wounded, was shot +through the head and died instantly. Calling to the Palmettos to avenge +his death, Shields gives the word to charge. They charge--not four +hundred in all--over the plain and down upon four thousand Mexicans +securely posted under cover. At every step their ranks are thinned. +Dickenson, who succeeded Butler in command of the Palmettos, seizes the +colors as the bearer falls dead; the next moment he is down himself, +mortally wounded, and Major Gladden snatches them from his hand. + +Adams, Moragne, and nearly half the gallant band are prostrate. A very +few minutes more and there will be no one left to bear the glorious +flag. + +But at this very moment a deafening roar is heard in the direction of +the _tete de pont_. Round shot and grape, rifle-balls and canister, come +crashing down the causeway into the Mexican ranks from their own +battery. Worth is there, the gallant fellow, just in time. Down the road +and over the ditch, through the field and hedge and swamp, in tumult and +panic the Mexicans are flying from the bayonets of the Sixth and +Garland's brigade. A shout, louder than the cannon's peal; Worth is on +their heels with his men. Before Shields reaches the causeway he is by +his side driving the Mexican horse into their infantry, and Ayres is +galloping up with a captured Mexican gun. Captain Kearny, with a few +dragoons, dashes past, rides straight into the flying host, scatters +them right and left, sabres all he can reach, and halts before the gate +of Mexico. Not till then does he perceive that he is alone with his +little party, nearly all of whom are wounded; but, despite the hundreds +of _escopetas_ that are levelled at him, he gallops back in safety to +headquarters. + +The sun, which rose that morning on a proud army and a defiant +metropolis, set at even on a shattered, haggard band, and a city full of +woe-stricken wretches who did nothing all night but quake with terror, +and cry, at every noise, "_Aqui viene los Yanquies_!" ("Here come the +Yankees!") All along the causeway, and in the fields and swamps on +either side, heaps of dead men and cattle intermingled with broken +ammunition-carts, marked where the American shot had told. A gory track +leading to the _tete de pont_, groups of dead in the fields on the west +of Churubusco, over whose pale faces some stalks of tattered corn still +waved; red blotches in the marsh next the causeway, where the rich blood +of Carolina and New York soaked the earth, showed where the fire of the +heavy Mexican guns and the countless _escopetas_ of the infantry had +been most murderous. Scott had lost, in that day's work, more than a +thousand men in killed and wounded, seventy-nine of whom were officers. +The Mexican loss, according to Santa Anna, was one-third of his army, +equal probably to ten thousand men, one-fourth of whom were prisoners, +the rest killed and wounded. As the sun went down the troops were +recalled to headquarters; but all night long the battlefield swarmed +with straggling parties seeking some lost comrade in the cold and rain, +and surgeons hurrying from place to place and offering succor to the +wounded. + +It would have been easy for Scott to march on the city that night, or +next morning, and seize it before the Mexicans recovered from the shock +of their defeat. Anxious to shorten the war, and assured that Santa Anna +was desirous of negotiating; warned, moreover, by neutrals and others, +that the hostile occupation of the capital would destroy the last chance +of peaceable accommodation and rouse the Mexican spirit to resistance +all over the country, the American general consented, too generously +perhaps, to offer an armistice to his vanquished foe. It was eagerly +accepted, and negotiations were commenced which lasted over a fortnight. +In the mean time General Scott had the satisfaction of hanging several +of the Irishmen who had deserted to the Mexicans, and, serving as the +battalion of San Patricio, had shot down so many of their old comrades +at Buena Vista and Churubusco. This act of justice was approved by the +army and the nation. Early in September the treachery of the Mexicans +became apparent. No progress had been made in the negotiations; and, in +defiance of the armistice, an American wagon, proceeding to the city for +provisions, had been attacked by the mob and one man killed and others +wounded. Scott wrote to Santa Anna, demanding an apology, and +threatening to terminate the armistice on the 7th if it were not +tendered. The reply was insulting in the extreme; Santa Anna had +repaired his losses and was ready for another fight. + +On the evening of September 7th Worth and his officers were gathered in +his quarters at Tacubaya. On a table lay a hastily sketched map showing +the position of the fortified works at Molino del Rey, with the Casa +Mata on one side and the castle of Chapultepec on the other. The Molino +was occupied by the enemy; there was reason to believe it contained a +foundry in full operation, and Worth had been directed to storm it next +morning. Over that table bent Garland and Clarke, eager to repeat the +glorious deeds of August 20th at the _tete de pont_ of Churubusco; +Duncan and Smith, already veterans; Wright, the leader of the forlorn +hope, joyfully thinking of the morrow; famous Martin Scott, and +dauntless Graham, little dreaming that a few hours would see their livid +corpses stretched upon the plain; fierce old M'Intosh, covered with +scars; Worth himself, his manly brow clouded, and his cheek paled by +sickness and anxiety. Each officer had his place assigned to him in the +conflict; and they parted to seek a few hours' rest. + +At half-past two on the morning of the 8th the division was astir. 'Twas +a bright starlight night whose silence was unbroken as the troops moved +thoughtfully toward the battlefield. In front, on the right, about a +mile from the encampment, the hewn-stone walls of the Molino del Rey--a +range of buildings five hundred yards long, and well adapted for +defence--were distinctly visible, with drowsy lights twinkling through +the windows. A little farther off, on the left, stood the black pile of +the Casa Mata, the arsenal, crenelled for musketry, and surrounded by a +quadrangular field work. Beyond the Casa Mata lay a ravine, and from +this a ditch and hedge ran, passing in front of both works, to the +Tacubaya road. Far on the right the grim old castle of Chapultepec +loomed up darkly against the sky. Sleep wrapped the whole Mexican line, +and but few words were spoken in the American ranks as the troops took +up their respective positions: Garland, with Dunn's battery and Huger's +24-pounders, on the right, against the Molino; Wright, at the head of +the stormers, and followed by the light division under Captain Kirby +Smith, in the centre; M'Intosh, with Duncan's battery, on the left, near +the ravine looking toward the Casa Mata; and Cadwallader, with his +brigade, in reserve. + +Night still overhung the east when the Mexicans were roused from their +slumbers by the roar of Huger's 24-pounders, and the crashing of the +balls through the roof and walls of the Molino. A shout arose within +their lines, spreading from the ravine to the castle; lights flashed in +every direction, bugles sounded, the clank of arms rang from right to +left, and every man girded himself for the fray. With the first ray of +daylight Major Wright advanced with the forlorn hope down the slope. A +few seconds elapsed; then a sheet of flame burst from the batteries, and +round shot, canister, and grape hurtled through the air. "Charge!" +shouted the leader, and down they went, with double-quick step, over the +ditch and hedge, and into the line, sweeping everything before them. The +Mexicans fell from their guns, but soon, seeing the smallness of the +force opposed to them and reassured by the galling fire poured from the +_azoteas_ and Molino on the stormers, they rallied, charged furiously, +and drove our men back into the plain. Here eleven out of the fourteen +officers of Wright's party, and the bulk of his men, fell killed or +wounded. All of the latter who could not fly were bayoneted where they +lay by the Mexicans. + +Captain Walker, of the Sixth, badly shot, was left for dead; he saw the +enemy murdering every man who showed signs of life, but the agony of +thirst was so insupportable that he could not resist raising his canteen +to his lips. A dozen balls instantly tore up the ground around him; +several Mexicans rushed at him with the bayonet, but at that moment the +light division, under Kirby Smith, came charging over the ditch into the +Mexican line and diverted their attention. + +Garland meanwhile moved down rapidly on the right with Dunn's guns, +which were drawn by hand, all the horses having been wounded and become +unmanageable. These soon opened an enfilading fire on the Mexican +battery; and some of the gunners flying, the light division charged, +under a hot fire, and carried the guns for the second time. Their +gallant leader was shot dead in the charge. But the enemy could afford +to lose the battery. From the tops of the _azoteas_, from the Casa Mata +and the Molino, a deadly shower of balls was rained crosswise upon the +assailants. Part of the reserve was brought up; and Dunn's guns and the +Mexican battery were served upon the buildings without much effect at +first. Lieutenant-Colonel Graham led a party of the Eleventh against the +latter; when within pistol-shot a terrific volley assailed him, wounding +him in ten places. The gallant soldier quietly dismounted, pointed with +his sword to the building, cried "Charge!" and sank dead on the field. + +As fiercely raged the battle at the other wing where Duncan and M'Intosh +had driven in the enemy's right toward the Casa Mata. M'Intosh started +to storm that fort, and, in the teeth of a tremendous hail of musketry, +advanced to the ditch, only twenty-five yards from the work. There a +ball knocked him down; it was his luck to be shot or bayoneted in every +battle. Martin Scott took the command, but as he ordered the men forward +he rolled lifeless into the ditch. Major Waite, the next in rank, had +hardly seen him fall before he too was disabled. By whole companies the +men were mowed down by the Mexican shot; but they stood their ground. At +length some one gave the word to fall back, and the remnants of the +brigade obeyed. Many wounded were left on the ground; among others +Lieutenant Burnell, shot in the leg, whom the Mexicans murdered when his +comrades abandoned him. After the battle his body was found, and beside +it his dog, moaning piteously and licking his dead master's face. + +At the head of four thousand cavalry, Alvarez now menaced our left. +Duncan watched them come, driving a cloud of dust before them, till they +were within close range; then opening with his wonderful rapidity, he +shattered whole platoons at a discharge. Worth sent him word to be sure +to keep the lancers in check. "Tell General Worth," was his reply, "to +make himself perfectly easy; I can whip twenty thousand of them." So far +as Alvarez was concerned, he kept his word. + +On the American right the fight had reached a crisis. Mixed confusedly +together, men of all arms furiously attacked the Molino, firing into +every aperture, climbing to the roof, and striving to batter in the +doors and gates with their muskets. The garrison never slackened their +terrible fire for an instant. At length Major Buchanan, of the Fourth, +succeeded in bursting open the southern gate; and almost at the same +moment Anderson and Ayres, of the artillery, forced their way into the +buildings at the northwestern angle. Ayres leaped down alone into a +crowd of Mexicans--he had done the same at Monterey--and fell covered +with wounds. Our men rushed in on both sides, stabbing, firing, and +felling the Mexicans with their muskets. From room to room and house to +house a hand-to-hand encounter was kept up. Here a stalwart Mexican +hurled down man after man as they advanced; there Buchanan and the +Fourth levelled all before them. But the Mexicans never withstood the +cold steel. One by one the defenders escaped by the rear toward +Chapultepec, and those who remained hung out a white flag. Under +Duncan's fire the Casa Mata had been evacuated, and the enemy was +everywhere in full retreat. Twice he rallied and charged the Molino; but +each time the artillery drove him back toward Chapultepec, and parties +of the light infantry pursued him down the road. Before ten in the +morning the whole field was won; and, having blown up the Casa Mata, +Worth, by Scott's order, fell back to Tacubaya. + +With gloomy face and averted eye the gallant soldier received the thanks +of his chief for the exploits of the morning. His heart was with the +brave men he had lost--nearly eight hundred out of less than thirty-five +hundred and among them fifty-eight officers, many of whom were his +dearest friends. All had fallen in advance of their men, with sword in +hand and noble words on their lips. 'Twas a poor price for these to have +stormed Molino del Rey, and cut down nearly a fifth of Santa Anna's +fourteen thousand men. Sadly the General returned to his quarters. + +The end was now close at hand. Reconnoissances were carefully made, and, +the enemy's strength being gathered on the southern front of the city, +General Scott determined to assail Chapultepec on the west. By the +morning of the 12th the batteries were completed, and opened a brisk +fire on the castle, without, however, doing any more serious damage than +annoying the garrison and killing a few men. The fire was kept up all +day; and at night preparations were made for the assault, which was +ordered to be made next morning. + +At daybreak on the 13th the cannonade began again, as well from the +batteries planted against Chapultepec as from Steptoe's guns, which were +served against the southern defences of the city in order to divert the +attention of the enemy. At 8 A.M. the firing from the former ceased, and +the attack commenced. Quitman advanced along the Tacubaya road, Pillow +from the Molino del Rey, which he had occupied on the evening before. +Between the Molino and the castle lay first an open space, then a grove +thickly planted with trees; in the latter, Mexican sharpshooters had +been posted, protected by an intrenchment on the border of the grove. +Pillow sent Lieutenant-Colonel Johnston with a party of _voltigeurs_ to +turn this work by a flank movement; it was handsomely accomplished; and +just as the _voltigeurs_ broke through the redan, Pillow, with the main +body, charged it in front and drove back the Mexicans. The grove gained, +Pillow pressed forward to the front of the rock; for the Mexican shot +from the castle batteries, crashing through the trees, seemed even more +terrible than it really was, and the troops were becoming restless. + +The Mexicans had retreated to a redoubt half way up the hill; the +_voltigeurs_ sprang up from rock to rock, firing as they advanced, and +followed by Hooker, Chase, and others, with parties of infantry. In a +very few minutes the redoubt was gained, the garrison driven up the +hill, and the _voltigeurs_, Ninth, and Fifteenth were in hot pursuit +after them. The firing from the castle was very severe. Colonel Ransom, +of the Ninth, was killed, and Pillow himself was wounded. Still the +troops pressed on till the crest of the hill was gained. There some +moments were lost owing to the delay in the arrival of scaling-ladders, +during which two of Quitman's regiments and Clarke's brigade reenforced +the storming party. When the ladders came, numbers of men rushed forward +with them, leaped into the ditch, and planted them for the assault. + +Lieutenant Selden was the first man to mount. But the Mexicans collected +all their energies for this last moment. A tremendous fire dashed the +foremost of the stormers into the ditch, killing Lieutenants Rogers and +Smith and clearing the ladders. Fresh men instantly manned them, and, +after a brief struggle, Captain Howard, of the _voltigeurs_, gained a +foothold on the parapet. M'Kenzie, of the forlorn hope, followed; and a +crowd of _voltigeurs_ and infantry, shouting and cheering, pressed after +him, and swept down upon the garrison with the bayonet. Almost at the +same moment, Johnston, of the _voltigeurs_, who had led a small party +round to the gate of the castle, broke it open and effected an entrance +in spite of a fierce fire from the southern walls. The two parties +uniting, a deadly conflict ensued within the building. + +Maddened by the recollection of the murder of their wounded comrades at +Molino del Rey, the stormers at first showed no quarter. On every side +the Mexicans were stabbed or shot down without mercy. Many flung +themselves over the parapet and down the hillside and were dashed in +pieces against the rocks. More fought like fiends, expending their +breath in a malediction, and expiring in the act of aiming a treacherous +blow as they lay on the ground. Streams of blood flowed through the +doors of the college, and every room and passage was the theatre of some +deadly struggle. At length the officers succeeded in putting an end to +the carnage; and the remaining Mexicans having surrendered, the Stars +and Stripes were hoisted over the castle of Chapultepec by Major +Seymour. + +Meanwhile Quitman had stormed the batteries on the causeway to the east +of the castle, after a desperate struggle in which Major Twiggs, who +commanded the stormers, was shot dead at the head of his men. The +Mexicans fell back toward the city. General Scott, coming up at this +moment, ordered a simultaneous advance to be made on the city, along the +two roads leading from Chapultepec to the gates of San Cosme and Belen, +respectively. Worth was to command that on San Cosme, Quitman that on +Belen. Both were prepared for defence by barricades, behind which the +enemy were posted in great numbers. Fortunately for the assailants an +aqueduct, supported by arches of solid masonry, ran along the centre of +each causeway. By keeping under cover of these arches, and springing +rapidly from one to another, Smith's rifles and the South Carolina +regiment were enabled to advance close to the first barricade on the +Belen road, and pour in a destructive fire on the gunners. A flank +discharge from Duncan's guns completed the work; the barricade was +carried; and without a moment's rest Quitman advanced in the same manner +on the _garita_ San Belen, which was held by General Torres with a +strong garrison. + +It too was stormed, though under a fearful hail of grape and canister; +and the rifles moved forward toward the citadel. But at this moment +Santa Anna rode furiously down to the point of attack. Boiling with rage +at the success of the invaders, he smote General Torres in the face, +threw a host of infantry into the houses commanding the _garita_ and the +road, ordered the batteries in the citadel to open fire, planted fresh +guns on the Paseo, and infused such spirit into the Mexicans that +Quitman's advance was stopped at once. A terrific storm of shot, shell, +and grape assailed the _garita_, where Captain Dunn had planted an +8-pounder. Twice the gunners were shot down, and fresh men sent to take +their places. Then Dunn himself fell, and immediately afterward +Lieutenant Benjamin and his first sergeant met the same fate. The +riflemen in the arches repelled sallies; but Quitman's position was +precarious, till night terminated the conflict. + +Worth meanwhile had advanced in like manner along the San Cosme +causeway, driving the Mexicans from barricade to barricade, till within +two hundred fifty yards of the _garita_ of San Cosme. There he +encountered as severe a fire as that which stopped Quitman. But Scott +had ordered him to take the _garita_, and take it he would. Throwing +Garland's brigade out to the right and Clarke's to the left, he ordered +them to break into the houses, burst through the walls, and bore their +way to the flanks of the _garita_. The plan had succeeded perfectly at +Monterey, nor did it fail here. Slowly but surely the sappers passed +from house to house, until at sunset they reached the point desired. +Then Worth ordered the attack. Lieutenant Hunt brought up a light gun at +a gallop, and fired it through the embrasure of the enemy's battery, +almost muzzle to muzzle; the infantry at the same moment opened a most +deadly and unexpected fire from the roofs of the houses, and M'Kenzie, +at the head of the stormers, dashed at the battery and carried it almost +without loss. The Mexicans fled precipitately into the city. + +At one that night two parties left the citadel and issued forth from the +city. One was the remnant of the Mexican army, which slunk silently and +noiselessly through the northern gate, and fled to Guadalupe-Hidalgo; +the other was a body of officers who came under a white flag, to propose +terms of capitulation. + +The sun shone brightly on the morning of September 14th. Scores of +neutral flags float from the windows on the Calle de Plateros, and in +their shade beautiful women gaze curiously on the scene beneath. Gayly +dressed groups throng the balconies, and at the street-corners +dark-faced men scowl, mutter deep curses, and clutch their knives. The +street resounds with the heavy tramp of infantry, the rattle of +gun-carriages, and the clatter of horses' hoofs. "_Los Yanquies_!" is +the cry, and every neck is stretched to obtain a glimpse of the six +thousand bemired and begrimed soldiers who are marching proudly to the +Grand Plaza. On him especially is every eye intently fixed, whose +martial form is half concealed by a splendid staff and a squadron of +dragoons, as he rides, with flashing eye and beating heart, to the +National Palace of Mexico. But six months before, Winfield Scott had +landed on the Mexican coast; since then he had stormed the two strongest +places in the country, won four battles in the field against armies +double, treble, and quadruple his own, and marched without reverse from +Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico; losing fewer men, making fewer +mistakes, and creating less devastation, in proportion to his victories, +than any invading general of former times. Well might the Mexicans gaze +upon his face! + + + + +(1847) FAMINE IN IRELAND, Sir Charles Gavan Duffy + + +From the fact that its immediate cause was the almost complete failure +of the potato crop, due to the rot, the great Irish famine is known as +the "potato famine." The crop that suffered so was that of 1845, and the +famine began in the following year and reached its climax in 1847. It is +estimated that by this calamity two hundred thousand persons perished. +Many compensating features in connection with this appalling distress +have been pointed out. Some writers friendly toward Ireland have +declared that the famine proved one of the greatest blessings to the +country; that it hastened free trade, better drainage of the island, and +the passage of the Land Improvement Act; that it relieved the +overcrowded labor market, led to more scientific farming, and in other +ways produced changes that have been of lasting benefit. But though all +this be true, the misfortune itself gave to modern history one of its +most harrowing chapters. + +The population of Ireland in 1845 is supposed to have been nearly nine +millions. The manufactures were small, and the people depended on the +potato crop, and had no other resource in time of scarcity. For several +years the potato yield had been abundant, the country was comparatively +prosperous, and the temperance movement led by Father Mathew promised a +happier future. A great harvest was expected in 1845, but almost at a +single stroke this expectation was blasted; for although the crop was +large the greater part of it was destroyed in the ground, and the +potatoes that were gathered "rotted in pit and storehouse." The farmers +taxed all their means and energies to secure even a larger crop in 1846, +but the blight of that year was even more fatal than the last. To +pinching want was added discouragement, and the people sat in the shadow +of a frightful catastrophe. In vain the British Government was called +upon to give relief through Parliament, until, in the autumn of 1846, +parliamentary authority was obtained to grant baronial loans. But these +and every local endeavor to mitigate the suffering failed, and the +destructive work of the famine continued, the number of victims +increasing, to the end of that fatal year. The horrors of 1846 were more +than equalled by those of the year that followed, and the woful picture +presented by Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, the distinguished Irish patriot, +statesman, and historian, is but too amply justified by the accepted +records of the time. + +The condition of Ireland at the opening of the year 1847 is one of the +most painful chapters in the annals of mankind. An industrious and +hospitable race were in the pangs of a devouring famine. Deaths of +individuals, of husband and wife, of entire families, were becoming +common. The potato-blight had spread from the Atlantic to the Caspian; +but there was more suffering in one parish of Mayo than in all the rest +of Europe. From Connaught, where distress was greatest, came batches of +inquests with the horrible verdict "died of starvation." In some +instances the victims were buried "wrapped in a coarse coverlet," a +coffin being too costly a luxury. The living awaited death with a +listlessness that was at once tragic and revolting. Women with dead +children in their arms were seen begging for a coffin to bury them. + +Beranger has touched a thousand hearts by the picture of _Pauvre +Jacques_, who, when the tax-gatherer came in the King's name, was +discovered dead on his miserable pallet. But at Skibbereen, in the +fruitful County Cork whose seaports were thronged with vessels laden +with corn, cattle, and butter for England, the rate collector told a +more tragic tale. Some houses he found deserted; the owners had been +carried to their graves. In one cabin there was no other occupant than +three corpses; in a once prosperous home a woman and her children had +lain dead and unburied for a week; in the fields a man was discovered so +fearfully mangled by dogs that identification was impossible. The relief +committee of the Society of Friends described the state of the town in +language which it was hard to read with dry eyes. The people were dying +of the unaccustomed food which mocked their prayer for daily bread, and +were carried to the graveyard in a coffin from which the benevolent +strangers who had come to their relief had to drop them, like dead dogs, +that there might be a covering for the next corpse in its turn. + +"This place is one mass of famine, disease, and death. The poor +creatures, hitherto trying to exist on one meal a day, are now sinking +under fever and bowel complaints, unable to come for their soup, which +is not fit for them. Rice is what their whole cry is for, but we cannot +manage this well, nor can we get the food carried to the houses, from +dread of infection. I have got a coffin constructed with movable sides, +to convey the bodies to the churchyard, in calico bags prepared, in +which the remains are wrapped up. I have just sent it to bring the +remains of a poor creature to the grave, who having been turned out of +the only shelter she had, a miserable hut, perished the night before +last in a quarry." + +The people saw the harvest they had reared carried away to another +country without an effort, for the most part, to retain it. The sole +food of the distressed class was Indian-meal, which had paid freight and +storage in England, and had been obtained in exchange for English +manufactures. Under a recent law a peasant who accepted public relief +forfeited his holding, and thousands were ejected under this cruel +provision. But landowners were not content with one process alone; they +closed on the people with ejectments, turned them out on the roads, and +plucked down their rooftrees. In more than one county rents falling due +in November for land that no longer yielded food to the cultivator, were +enforced in January. In the southwest the peasantry had made some +frantic efforts to clutch their harvest and to retaliate for their +sufferings in blind vengeance, but the law carried a sharp sword. Eight +counties, or parts of counties, were proclaimed, and a special +commission, after a brief sitting in Clare and Limerick, left eleven +peasants for the gallows. Chief Justice Blackburn took occasion to note +that "The state of things in 1847 was exactly that described by an act +passed in 1776." The disease was permanent, so were the symptoms. One +well-head of Irish discontent was English prejudice, which refuses to +listen to any complaint till it threatens to become dangerous. + +It was a fearful time for men who loved their country, not only with +deep affection, but with a wise and forecasting interest. A revolution +of the worst type was in progress. Not the present alone, but the +future, was being laid waste. The marvellous reform accomplished by +Father Mathew, the self-reliance which had grown up in the era of +monster meetings, and the moral teachings of Davis and his friends were +being fast swallowed up by this calamity. The youth and manhood of the +middle classes were scrambling for pauper places from the Board of +Works, and the peasants were being transformed into mendicants by +process of law. These calamities, related of a distant and savage tribe, +would move a generous heart; but seeing them befall our own people, the +children of the same mother, and foreseeing all the black, unfathomable +misery they foreshadowed, it was hard to preserve the sober rule of +reason. + +The gentry, who were responsible in the first place for the protection +of the people from whom they drew their income, insisted that the +calamity was an imperial one and ought to be borne out of the exchequer +of the empire. It was an equitable claim. If there was no irresistible +title of brotherhood, at lowest the stronger nation had snatched away +from the weaker the power of helping itself, and still drew away during +this terrible era half a million pounds every month in the shape of +absentee rents. The demand was put aside contemptuously. The claim of +the Nationalists to reenter on the management of their own affairs, +since it was plain England could not manage them successfully, was +treated as sedition. We were proffered, instead of our own resources, +which were ample-- + + "Alms from scornful hands, to hands in chains, + Bitterer to taste than death." + +All the nations of the earth were appealed to and they gave generously; +but the result was far from being proportionate to the need. During the +year 1846 the contributions fell short of two thousand pounds a week. +And it was not forgotten that after the great fire of London, when the +citizens were in deep distress, the Irish contributed twenty thousand +fat cattle for their relief, which at their present value would amount +to a sum greater than England and Europe sent to the aid of Ireland in +1846. + +To lie down and die, like cattle in a murrain, was base. No people are +bound to starve while their soil produces food cultivated by their own +hands. No other people in Europe would have submitted to such a fate. +But the leader whom they were accustomed to follow had involved himself +in a tangle of false doctrines by his unhappy "Peace Resolutions," and +he exhorted them to endure all with patience and submission. His son had +the amazing assurance to add that if they starved with complete +resignation the repeal of the union was near at hand. + +On the relief committees, doctors, clergymen, and country gentlemen bore +the burden of the work, but a multitude of the gentry stood apart as if +the transaction did not concern them. They were busy in transferring the +harvest to England or clearing the population off their estates. The +English officials in Ireland accused them of jobbing in public works, or +quartering their relations and dependents on the Relief Fund, as +overseers, and, in some extreme cases, of obtaining grants for their own +families of money designed for the suffering poor on their estates. The +benevolence of the minority could not counterbalance these odious +offences, and deadly hatred was sown, which has since borne an abundant +harvest. + +The state of the country grew worse from day to day. It is difficult now +to realize the condition of the western population in the autumn of +1847; but a witness of unexceptionable impartiality has painted it in +permanent colors. A young Englishman representing the Society of +Friends, who in that tragic time did work worthy of the Good Samaritan, +reported what he saw in Mayo and Galway in language which for plain +vigor rivals the narratives of Defoe. This is what he saw in Westport: + +"The town of Westport was in itself a strange and fearful sight, like +what we read of in beleaguered cities; its streets crowded with gaunt +wanderers, sauntering to and fro with hopeless air and hunger-stricken +look; a mob of starved, almost naked women around the poorhouse +clamoring for soup tickets; our inn, the headquarters of the +road-engineer and pay-clerks, beset by a crowd begging for work." + +As he approached Galway, the rural population were found to be in a more +miserable condition: "Some of the women and children that we saw on the +road were abject cases of poverty and almost naked. The few rags they +had on were with the greatest difficulty held together, and in a few +weeks, as they are utterly unable to provide themselves with fresh +clothes unless they be given them, they must become absolutely naked." +And in another district: "As we went along our wonder was not that the +people died, but that they lived; and I have no doubt whatever that in +any other country the mortality would have been far greater; that many +lives have been prolonged, perhaps saved, by the long apprenticeship to +want in which the Irish peasant has been trained, and by that lovely, +touching charity which prompts him to share his scanty meal with his +starving neighbor." + +The fishermen of the Cladagh, who were induced to send the Whig +Attorney-General to Parliament a few months before, had to pledge the +implements of their calling for a little daily bread. "Even the very +nets and tackle of these poor fishermen, I heard, were pawned, and, +unless they be assisted to redeem them, they will be unable to take +advantage of the herring shoals, even when they approach their coast. In +order to ascertain the truth of this statement, I went into two or three +of the largest pawnshops, the owners of which fully confirmed it and +said they had in pledge at least a thousand pounds' worth of such +property and saw no likelihood of its being redeemed." + +In a rural district which he revisited after an interval, he paints a +scene which can scarcely be matched in the annals of a mediaeval plague: +"One poor woman whose cabin I visited said, 'There will be nothing for +us but to lie down and die.' I tried to give her hope of English aid, +but alas! her prophecy has been too true. Out of a population of two +hundred forty I found thirteen already dead from want. The survivors +were like walking skeletons; the men gaunt and haggard, stamped with the +livid mark of hunger; the children crying with pain; the women in some +of the cabins too weak to stand. When there before I had seen cows at +almost every cabin, and there were besides many sheep and pigs owned in +the village. But now all the sheep were gone, all the cows, all the +poultry killed, only one pig left; the very dogs which had barked at me +before had disappeared; no potatoes; no oats." + +The young man pointed the moral, which these horrible spectacles +suggested, with laudable courage: "I would not now discuss the causes of +this condition, nor attempt to apportion blame to its authors; but of +this one fact there can be no question: that the result of our social +system is that vast numbers of our fellow-countrymen--of the peasantry +of one of the richest nations the world ever knew--have not leave to +live. Surely such a social result as this is not only a national +misfortune but a national sin crying loudly to every Christian citizen +to do his utmost to remove it. No one of us can have a right to enjoy +either riches or repose until to the extent of his ability he strive to +wash himself of all share in the guilt of this fearful inequality, which +will be a blot in the history of our country and make her a byword among +the nations." + +The weekly returns of the dead were like the bulletins of a fierce +campaign. As the end of the year approached, villages and rural +districts, which had been prosperous and populous a year before, were +desolate. In some places the loss amounted to half the resident +population. Even the poorhouses shut up, and paupers did not escape. +More than one in six perished of the unaccustomed food. The people did +not everywhere consent to die patiently. In Armagh and Down groups of +men went from house to house in the rural districts and insisted on +being fed. In Tipperary and Waterford corn stores and bakers' shops were +sacked. In Donegal the people seized upon a flour-mill and pillaged it. +In Limerick five thousand men assembled on Tory Hill and declared that +they would not starve. A local clergyman restrained them by the promise +of speedy relief. "If the Government did not act promptly, he himself +would show them where food could be had." In a few cases crops were +carried away from farms. + +The offences which spring from suffering and fear were heard of in many +districts, but they were encountered with instant resistance. There were +thirty thousand men in red jackets, carefully fed, clothed, and lodged, +ready to maintain the law. Four prisoners were convicted at the Galway +assizes of stealing a filly, which they killed and ate to preserve their +own lives. In Enniskillen two boys under twelve years of age were +convicted of stealing one pint of Indian-meal cooked into "stirabout," +and Chief Justice Blackburn vindicated the outraged law by transporting +them for seven years. Other children committed larcenies that they might +be sent to jail where there was still daily bread to be had. In Mayo the +people were eating carrion wherever it could be procured, and the +coroner could not keep pace with the inquests; for the law sometimes +spent more to ascertain the cause of a pauper's death than would suffice +to preserve his life. + +The social disorganization was a spectacle as afflicting as the waste of +life; it was the waste of whatever makes life worth possessing. All the +institutions which civilize and elevate the people were disappearing, +one after another. The churches were half empty; the temperance +reading-rooms were shut up; the Mechanics' Institute no longer got +support; only the jails and the poorhouses were crowded. A new +generation, born in disease and reared in destitution, pitiless and +imbecile, threatened to drag down the nation to hopeless slavery. Trade +was paralyzed; no one bought anything which was not indispensable at the +hour. The loss of the farmers in potatoes was estimated at more than +twenty millions sterling; and with the potatoes the pigs, which fed on +them, disappeared. The seed, procured at a high price in spring, again +failed; time, money, and labor were lost, and another year of famine was +certain. All who depended on the farmer had sunk with him; shopkeepers +were beggared; tradesmen were starving; the priests living on voluntary +offerings were sometimes in fearful distress when the people had no +longer anything to offer. + +The poor-rate was quite inadequate to support the burden thrown upon it +by the suspension of public works, but there was another claim upon it +which could not wait. When the elections were over and the Government +majority secure, the Treasury called on the poor-law guardians to levy +immediately a special rate for the repayment of a million and a quarter +lent by the State in a previous year. They were warned that, if they +refused, their boards would be dissolved and the rates levied by the +authority of the Commissioners. The guardians in many districts declared +that an additional rate could not be collected. All that could be got +would be too little to support the distressed class. But the Treasury +would listen to no excuse, and a dozen boards were dissolved and paid +guardians put in their place. The Treasury had lent seven millions +sterling in 1846; five millions of it had been spent in making roads +which were not needed nor desired, and one million was diverted from the +wages fund to purchase land for this experiment. The aid which the +stronger country proposed to give to the weaker, from the Treasury to +which both contributed, was the remission of one-third of this debt. A +blunder in foreign policy, the escapade of an ambitious minister in +India or Africa, has cost the British taxpayer more in a month than he +spent to save millions of fellow-subjects beyond the Irish Sea. + +When the increased mortality was pressed on the attention of the +Government, Lord John Russell replied that the owners of property in +Ireland ought to support the poor born on their estates. It was a +perfectly just proposition if the ratepayers were empowered to determine +the object and method of the expenditure; but prohibiting productive +work, and forcing them to turn strong men into paupers and keep them +sweltering in workhouses instead of laboring to reclaim the waste +lands--this was not justice. The _Times_, commenting on the new policy, +declared that Ireland was as well able to help herself as France or +Belgium, and that the whole earth was doing duty for inhuman Irish +landlords. An unanswerable case, if Ireland, like France and Belgium, +had the power of collecting and applying her own revenue; otherwise not +difficult to answer. + +The people fled before the famine to England, America, and the British +colonies. They carried with them the seed of disease and death. In +England a bishop and more than twenty priests died of typhus, caught in +attendance on the sick and dying. The English people clamored against +such an infliction, which it cannot be denied would be altogether +intolerable if these fugitives were not made exiles and paupers by +English law. They were ordered home again, that they might be supported +on the resources of their own country; for though we had no country for +the purpose of self-government and self-protection, we were acknowledged +to have a country when the necessity of bearing burdens arose. + +More than a hundred thousand souls fled to the United States and Canada. +The United States maintained sanitary regulations on shipboard which +were effectual to a certain extent. But the emigration to Canada was +left to the individual greed of shipowners, and the emigrant-ships +rivalled the cabins of Mayo or the fever-sheds of Skibbereen. Crowded +and filthy, carrying double the legal number of passengers, who were +ill-fed and imperfectly clothed, and having no doctor on board, the +holds, says an eyewitness, were like the Black Hole of Calcutta, and +deaths occurred in myriads. The survivors, on their arrival in the new +country, continued to die and to scatter death around them. + +At Montreal, during nine weeks, eight hundred emigrants perished, and +over nine hundred residents died of diseases caught from emigrants. +During six months the deaths of the new arrivals exceeded three +thousand. No preparations were made by the British Government for the +reception or the employment of these helpless multitudes. The _Times_ +pronounced the neglect to be an eternal disgrace to the British name. +Ships carrying German emigrants and English emigrants arrived in Canada +at the same time in a perfectly healthy state. The Chief Secretary for +Ireland was able to inform the House of Commons that of a hundred +thousand Irishmen who fled to Canada in a year, six thousand one hundred +perished on the voyage, four thousand one hundred on their arrival, five +thousand two hundred in the hospitals, and one thousand nine hundred in +the towns to which they repaired. The Emigrant Society of Montreal +paints the result during the whole period of the famine in language not +easily to be forgotten: + +"From Grosse Island up to Port Sarnia, along the borders of our great +river, on the shores of Lakes Ontario and Erie, wherever the tide of +immigration has extended are to be found one unbroken chain of graves +where repose fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, in a commingled +heap--no stone marking the spot. Twenty thousand and upward have gone +down to their graves!" + +This was the fate which was befalling our race at home and abroad as the +year 1847 closed. There were not many of us who would not have given our +lives cheerfully to arrest this ruin, if we could only see a possible +way--but no way was visible. + + + + +(1848) MIGRATIONS OF THE MORMONS, Thomas L. Kane + + +Among the numerous religious bodies that have grown up in the United +States, the sect of Mormons, officially called "The Church of Jesus +Christ of Latter-day Saints," is perhaps the most unique in its origin +and organization, and the most singular in its history. The sect was +founded in 1830 by Joseph Smith, of Vermont. He declared that he had +discovered one of its authoritative writings, the _Book of Mormon_, at +Cumorah, New York. This book, he said, was found by him buried in the +earth at a place revealed to him by an angel. According to the Mormons, +the book, written in mystic characters on golden plates, is a record of +certain ancient people---"the long-lost tribes of Israel," Smith +declared--inhabiting North America. This book is said to have been +abridged by the prophet Mormon, and translated by Smith. By anti-Mormons +it is supposed to be based on a manuscript romance written by Solomon +Spaulding. + +The Mormon Church is governed by a hierarchy with two orders of +priesthood, a president, two counsellors, twelve apostles, and elders +and other officers. Peculiar as their polity appears, it has proved +remarkably successful in the development of their church and community, +notwithstanding stern hostility and widespread disapproval. They present +an impressive example of shrewdness, thrift, and administrative skill, +resulting in great material prosperity. Besides their separate books, +they accept the Bible as authoritative, and many of their doctrines and +rites resemble those common to the Christian sects. More than anything +else, their teaching and their practice of polygamy have brought them +into collision with "Gentiles" and with the United States Government. + +The first Mormon settlement was at Kirtland, Ohio, the next was in +Missouri. From those States they were expelled, and in 1840 they founded +Nauvoo in Illinois. Their later experience, up to their permanent +establishment in Utah, is recounted in the following narrative of the +hardships endured and surmounted by this extraordinary people. But it +should be added that the cause of the exodus was not, as is generally +supposed, religious persecution. The leaders of the sect at Nauvoo had +set up a bank without capital and passed thousands of its worthless +notes upon the unsuspecting farmers and traders; and it was this and +other crimes that exasperated the inhabitants of that region to the +point of driving away the whole community of Mormons. + +Once, while ascending the upper Mississippi in the autumn, when its +waters were low, I was compelled to travel by land past the region of +the rapids. My road lay through the "Half-Breed Tract," a fine section +of Iowa, which the unsettled state of its land titles had appropriated +as a sanctuary for coiners, horse thieves, and other outlaws. I had left +my steamer at Keokuk, at the foot of the Lower Fall, to hire a carriage, +and to contend for some fragments of a dirty meal with the swarming +flies, the only scavengers of the locality. From this place to where the +deep water of the river returns, my eye wearied to see everywhere +sordid, vagabond, and idle settlers, and a country marred, without being +improved, by their careless hands. + +I was descending the last hillside upon my journey, when a landscape in +delightful contrast broke upon my view. Half encircled by a bend of the +river, a beautiful city lay glittering in the fresh morning sun; its +bright new dwellings set in cool green gardens ranging up around a +stately dome-shaped hill which was crowned by a noble marble edifice +whose high tapering spire was radiant with white and gold. The city +appeared to cover several miles; and beyond it, in the background, +spread a fair rolling country, checkered by symmetrical lines of +fruitful husbandry. The unmistakable evidences of industry, enterprise, +and educated wealth, everywhere, made the scene one of singular and most +striking beauty. + +It was a natural impulse to visit this inviting region. I procured a +skiff and rowing across the river landed at the principal wharf of the +city. No one met me there. I looked, and saw no one: I heard no +movement: though the stillness everywhere was such that I heard the +flies buzz, and the ripples break against the shallows of the beach. I +walked through the solitary streets. The town lay as in a dream, under +some deadening spell of loneliness from which I almost feared to wake +it. Plainly it had not slept long. There was no grass growing in the +paved ways and rain had not washed away the prints of footsteps in the +dust. Yet I went about unchecked. I went into empty ropewalks, +workshops, and smithies. The spinner's wheel was idle; the carpenter had +gone from his workbench and left his sash and casing unfinished. Fresh +bark was in the tanner's vat, and the fresh chopped lightwood stood +piled against the baker's oven. The blacksmith's shop was cold; but his +coal-heap and ladling-pool and crooked water-horn were all there, as if +he had just gone off for a holiday. No workpeople, anywhere, looked to +know my errand. If I went into the gardens, clinking the wicket latch +loudly after me, to pull the marigolds, heartsease, and lady's-slippers, +and draw a drink with the water-sodden well-bucket and its noisy chain; +or, knocking off with my stick the tall, heavy-headed dahlias and +sunflowers, hunting among the beds for cucumbers and love-apples--no one +called out to me from any opened window; no dog sprang forward to bark +an alarm. I could have supposed the people hidden in the houses, but the +doors were unfastened; and when at last I timidly entered, I found dead +ashes cold upon the hearth, and had to tread on tiptoe, as if walking +down the aisle of a country church, to avoid rousing irreverent echoes +from the naked floors. + +On the outskirts of the town was the city graveyard. But there was no +record of plague there, nor did it in any wise differ much from other +Protestant American cemeteries. Some of the mounds were not long sodded; +some of the stones were newly set, their dates recent, and their black +inscriptions glossy in the hardly dried lettering-ink. Beyond the +graveyard, out in the fields, I saw, in one spot hard by where the +fruited boughs of a young orchard had been torn down, the still +smoldering embers of a barbecue fire that had been constructed of rails +from the fencing around it. It was the latest sign of life there. Fields +upon fields of heavy-headed grain lay rotting ungathered upon the +ground. No one was at hand to take in their rich harvest. As far as the +eye could reach, they stretched away--they, sleeping too in the hazy air +of autumn. + +Only two portions of the city seemed to suggest the import of this +mysterious solitude. In the southern suburb the houses looking out upon +the country showed, by their splintered woodwork and walls battered to +the foundation, that they had lately been the mark of a destructive +cannonade. And in and around the splendid temple, which had been the +chief object of my admiration, armed men were barracked, surrounded by +their stacks of musketry and pieces of heavy ordnance. These challenged +me to render an account of myself, and to tell the reason why I had had +the temerity to cross the water without a written permit from a leader +of their band. + +Though these men were generally more or less under the influence of +ardent spirits, after I had explained myself as a passing stranger they +seemed anxious to gain my good opinion. They told me the story of the +"dead city": that it had been a notable manufacturing and commercial +mart, sheltering over twenty thousand persons; that they had waged war +with its inhabitants for several years, and had been finally successful +only a few days before my visit, in an action fought in the ruined +suburb; after which, they had driven them forth at the point of the +sword. The defence, they said, had been obstinate, but gave way on the +third day's bombardment. + +They also conducted me inside the massive sculptured walls of the +curious temple, in which they said the banished inhabitants were +accustomed to celebrate the mystic rites of an unhallowed worship. They +particularly pointed out to me certain features of the building, which, +having been the peculiar objects of a former superstitious regard, they +had as matter of duty sedulously defiled and defaced. The reputed sites +of certain shrines they had thus particularly noticed, and various +sheltered chambers, in one of which was a deep well constructed, they +believed, with a dreadful design. Besides these, they led me to see a +large and deeply chiselled marble vase, or basin, supported upon twelve +oxen, also of marble and of life size, and of which they told some +romantic stories. They said the deluded persons, most of whom were +emigrants from a great distance, believed their deity countenanced their +reception here of a baptism of regeneration as proxies for whomsoever +they held in warm affection in the countries from which they had come: +that here parents "went into the water" for their lost children, +children for their parents, widows for their spouses, and young persons +for their lovers: that thus the great vase came to be associated with +all their most cherished memories, and was therefore the chief object of +all others in the building, upon which they bestowed the greatest degree +of their idolatrous affection. On this account, the victors had so +diligently desecrated it as to render the apartment in which it was +contained too noisome to abide in. + +They permitted me also to ascend into the steeple to see where it had +been struck by lightning on the Sabbath before; and to look out, east +and south, on wasted farms--like those I had seen near the +city--extending till they were lost in the distance. Close to the scar +left by the thunderbolt were fragments of food, cruses of liquor and +broken drinking-vessels, with a bass-drum and a steamboat signal-bell, +of which, with pain, I learned the use. + +It was after nightfall when I was ready to cross the river on my return. +The wind had freshened since sunset and, the water beating roughly into +my little boat, I headed higher up the stream than the point I had left +in the morning, and landed where a faint glimmering light invited me to +steer. Among the rushes--sheltered only by the darkness, without roof +between them and the sky--I came upon a crowd of several hundred human +creatures whom my movements roused from uneasy slumber. + +Dreadful indeed was the suffering of these forsaken beings. Cowed and +cramped by cold and sunburn alternating as each weary day and night +dragged on, they were, almost all of them, the crippled victims of +disease. They were there because they had no homes, nor hospital, nor +poorhouse, nor friends to offer them any. They could not minister to the +needs of their sick; they had no bread to quiet the fractious, hungry +cries of their children. Mothers and babes, daughters and grandparents, +all alike were clothed in tatters, lacking even sufficient covering for +the fever-stricken sufferers. + +These were the Mormons, famishing, in Lee County, Iowa, in the fourth +week of the month of September, 1846. The deserted city was Nauvoo, +Illinois. The Mormons were the owners of that city and the smiling +country around it. And those who had stopped their ploughs, who had +silenced their hammers, their axes, their shuttles and the wheels of +their workshops; those who had put out their fires, who had eaten their +food, spoiled their orchards, and trampled under foot their thousands of +acres of unharvested grain--these were the keepers of their dwellings, +the carousers in their temple, the noise of whose drunken rioting +insulted the ears of the dying. + +They were, all told, not more than six hundred forty persons who were +thus lying on the river-flats. But the Mormons in Nauvoo and its +environs had been numbered the year before at over twenty thousand. +Where were they? They had last been seen, carrying in mournful trains +their sick and wounded, halt and blind, to disappear behind the western +horizon, pursuing the phantom of another home. Hardly anything else was +known of them; and people asked with curiosity, "What had been their +fate--what their fortunes?" + +The party encountered by me at the river shore were the last of the +Mormons that left the city. They had all of them engaged the year before +that they would vacate their homes and seek some other place of refuge. +It had been the condition of a truce between them and their assailants; +and, as an earnest of their good faith, the chief elders, and some +others of obnoxious standing, with their families, were to set out for +the West in the spring of 1846. It had been stipulated in return that +the rest of the Mormons might remain behind, in the peaceful enjoyment +of their Illinois abode, until their leaders, with their exploring +party, could, with all diligence, select for them a new place of +settlement beyond the Rocky Mountains, in California, or elsewhere, and +until they had opportunity to dispose to the best advantage of the +property which they were then to leave. + +Some renewed symptoms of hostile feeling had however determined the +pioneer party to begin their work before the spring. It was of course +anticipated that this would be a perilous service; but it was regarded +as a matter of self-denying duty. The ardor and emulation of many, +particularly the devout and the young, were stimulated by the +difficulties it involved; and the ranks of the party were therefore +filled up with volunteers from among the most effective and responsible +members of the sect. They began their march in midwinter; and by the +beginning of February nearly all of them were on the road, many of their +wagons having crossed the Mississippi on the ice. + +Under the most favoring circumstances, an expedition of this sort, +undertaken at such a season of the year, could scarcely fail to be +disastrous. But the pioneer company had to set out in haste, and were +very imperfectly supplied with necessaries. The cold was intense. They +moved in the teeth of keen-edged northwest winds, such as sweep down the +Iowa peninsula from the icebound regions of the timber-shaded Slave Lake +and Lake of the Woods. Along the scattered watercourses, where they +broke the thick ice to give their cattle drink, the annual autumn fires +had left but little firewood. To men, insufficiently furnished with +tents and other appliances of shelter, wood was almost a necessary of +life. After days of fatigue their nights were often passed in restless +efforts to prevent themselves from freezing. Their stock of food also +proved inadequate; and as their constitutions became more debilitated +their suffering from cold increased. Afflicted with catarrhal +affections, manacled by the fetters of dreadfully acute rheumatism, some +contrived for a while to get over the shortening day's march and drag +along some others. But the sign of an impaired circulation soon began to +show itself in the liability of all to be dreadfully frost-bitten. The +hardiest and strongest became helplessly crippled. About the same time +the strength of their draught animals began to fail. The small supply of +provender they could carry with them had given out. The winter-bleached +prairie straw proved devoid of nourishment; and they could only keep +them from starving by seeking for the "browse," as it is called, this +being the green bark and tender buds and branches of the cottonwood and +other stunted growths in the hollows. + +To return to Nauvoo was apparently the only escape; but this would have +been to give occasion for fresh mistrust and so to bring new trouble to +those they had left there behind them. They resolved at least to hold +their ground, and to advance as they might, were it only by limping +through the deep snows a few slow miles a day. They found a sort of +comfort in comparing themselves to the exiles of Siberia, and sought +consolation in earnest prayers for the spring. + +The spring came at last. It overtook them in the Sac and Fox country, +still on the naked prairie, not yet half way over the trail they were +following between the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. But it brought +its own share of troubles with it. The months with which it opened +proved nearly as trying as the worst of winter. + +The snow and sleet and rain which fell, as it appeared to them, without +intermission, made the road over the rich prairie soil as impassable as +one vast bog of heavy black mud. Sometimes they would fasten the horses +and oxen of four or five wagons to one, and attempt to get ahead in this +way, taking turns; but at the close of a day of hard toil for themselves +and their cattle, they would find themselves a quarter or a half a mile +from the place they left in the morning. The heavy rains raised all the +watercourses; the most trifling streams were impassable. Wood, fit for +bridging, was often not to be had, and in such cases the only resource +was to halt for the freshets to subside--a matter in the case of the +headwaters of the Chariton, for instance, of over three weeks' delay. + +These were dreary waitings upon Providence. The most spirited and sturdy +murmured most at their forced inactivity. And even the women, whose +heroic spirits had been proof against the severest cold, confessed their +tempers fluctuated with the ceaseless variations of the barometer. They +complained too that the health of their children suffered more. It was +the fact that the damp winds of March and April brought with them more +mortal sickness than the sharpest freezing weather. + +The frequent burials discouraged and depressed the hardiest spirits; but +the general hopefulness of human nature was well illustrated by the fact +that even the most provident were found unfurnished with burial +necessaries, and as a result they were often driven to the most +melancholy makeshifts. + +The usual expedient adopted was to cut a log of some eight or nine feet +long, and slitting the bark longitudinally, strip it off in two +half-cylinders. These, placed around the body of the deceased and bound +firmly together with withs made of alburnum, formed a rough sort of +tubular coffin, which surviving relatives and friends, with a little +show of black crape, could follow to the hole or bit of ditch dug to +receive it in the wet ground of the prairie. The name of the deceased, +his age, the date of his death, and the surrounding landmarks were all +registered with care. His party was then ready to move on. Such graves +mark all the line of the first years of Mormon travel--dispiriting +milestones to failing stragglers in the rear. + +The hardships and trials which they had suffered developed a spirit of +self-sacrifice among these indomitable people. Hale young men gave up +their own food and shelter to the old and helpless, and worked their way +back to parts of the frontier States, chiefly Missouri and Iowa where +they were not recognized, and hired themselves out for wages, to +purchase more. Others were sent there to exchange for meal and flour, or +wheat and corn, the table-and bed-furniture and other remaining articles +of personal property which a few had still retained. + +In a kindred spirit of fraternity, others laid out great farms in the +wilds and planted the grain saved for their own bread; that there might +be harvests for those who should follow them. Two of these, in the Sac +and Fox country and beyond it, Garden Grove and Mount Pisgah, included +within their fences about two miles of land each, carefully planted with +grain, with a hamlet of comfortable log cabins in the neighborhood of +each. + +Through all this the pioneers found comfort in the thought that their +own suffering was the price of immunity from similar hardships their +friends at home, in following their trail, would otherwise have had to +pay. But the arrival of spring proved this a delusion. Before the warm +weather had made the earth dry enough for easy travel, messengers came +in from Nauvoo to overtake the party with fear-exaggerated tales of +outrage, and to urge the chief men to hurry back to the city that they +might give counsel and assistance there. The enemy had only waited until +the emigrants were supposed to be gone on their road too far to return +to interfere with them, and then renewed their aggressions. + +The Mormons outside Nauvoo were indeed hard pressed, but inside the city +they maintained themselves very well for two or three months longer. +Strange to say, the chief part of this respite was devoted to completing +the structure of their quaintly devised but beautiful temple. Since the +dispersion of Jewry, probably, history affords us no parallel to the +attachment of the Mormons for this edifice. Every architectural element, +every most fantastic emblem it embodied, was associated, for them, with +some cherished feature of their religion. Its erection had been enjoined +upon them as a most sacred duty: they were proud of the honor it +conferred upon their city, when it grew up in its splendor to become the +chief object of the admiration of strangers upon the upper Mississippi. +Besides, they had built it as a labor of love; they could count up to +half a million the value of their tithings and freewill offerings laid +upon it. Hardly a Mormon woman had not given up to it some trinket or +pin-money; the poorest Mormon man had at least served the tenth part of +his year on its walls; and the coarsest artisan could turn to it with +something of the ennobling attachment an artist has for his own +creation. + +Therefore, though their enemies drove on them ruthlessly, they succeeded +in parrying the last sword-thrust, till they had completed even the +gilding of the angel and trumpet on the summit of its lofty spire. As a +closing work, they placed on the entablature of the front, like a +baptismal mark on the forehead, these words: + + THE HOUSE OF THE LORD: + + BUILT BY THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS. + + HOLINESS TO THE LORD! + +Then, at high noon, under the bright sunshine of May, the next after its +completion, they consecrated it to divine service. There was a carefully +studied ceremonial for the occasion. It was said the high elders of the +sect travelled furtively from the camp of Israel in the wilderness, and, +throwing off ingenious disguises, appeared in their own robes of office +to give it splendor. + +For that one day the temple stood resplendent in all its typical glories +of sun, moon and stars, and other abounding figured and lettered signs, +hieroglyphs, and symbols; but that day only. The sacred rites of +consecration ended, the work of removing the _sacrosancta_ proceeded +with the rapidity of magic. It went on through the night, and when the +morning of the next day dawned all the ornaments and furniture, +everything that could provoke a sneer, had been carried off; and except +some fixtures that would not bear removal, the building was dismantled. + +This day saw the departure of the last of the elders, and the largest +band that moved in one company together. The people of Iowa have told me +that from morning to night they passed westward like an endless +procession. They did not seem greatly out of heart, they said; but, at +the top of every hill, before they disappeared, they were to be seen +looking back, like banished Moors, on their abandoned homes and the +distant temple and its glittering spire. + +After this consecration, which was construed to indicate an insincerity +on the part of the Mormons as to their stipulated departure, or at least +a hope of return, their foes set upon them with renewed bitterness. As +many fled as were at all prepared; but by the very fact of their so +decreasing the already diminished forces of the city's defenders, they +encouraged the enemy to greater boldness. It soon became apparent that +nothing short of an immediate emigration could save the remnant. + +From this time onward the energies of those already on the road were +engrossed by the duty of providing for the fugitives who came crowding +in after them. At a last general meeting of the sect in Nauvoo, there +had been passed a unanimous resolution that they would sustain one +another, whatever their circumstances, upon the march; and this, though +made in view of no such appalling exigency, they now with one accord set +themselves together to carry out. + +The host again moved on. The tents which had gathered on the hill +summits, like white birds hesitating to venture on the long flight over +the river, were struck one after another, and the dwellers in them and +their wagons and their cattle hastened down to cross it at a ferry in +the valley, which they made by night and day. A little beyond the +landing they formed their companies and made their preparations for the +last and longest stage of their journey. + +Though the season was late, when they first crossed the Missouri, some +of them moved forward with great hopefulness, full of the notion of +viewing and choosing their new homes that year. But the van had only +reached Grand Island and the Pawnee villages, when they were overtaken +by more ill news from Nauvoo. Before the summer closed, their enemies +set upon the last remnant of those who were left behind in Illinois. +They were a few lingerers, who could not be persuaded but there might +yet be time for them to gather up their worldly goods before removing. +Some weakly mothers and their infants, a few delicate young girls, and +many cripples and bereaved and sick people--these had remained under +shelter, according to the Mormon statement at least, by virtue of an +express covenant in their behalf. If there was such a covenant, it was +broken. A vindictive war was waged upon them, from which the weakest +fled in scattered parties, leaving the rest to make a reluctant and +almost ludicrously unavailing defence, till September 17th, when one +thousand six hundred twenty-five troops entered Nauvoo and drove all +forth who had not retreated before that time. + +Like the wounded birds of a flock fired into toward nightfall, they came +straggling on with faltering steps, many of them without bag or baggage, +beast or barrow, all asking shelter or burial, and forcing a fresh +repartition of the already divided rations of their friends. It was +plain now that every energy must be taxed to prevent the entire +expedition from perishing. Further emigration for the time was out of +the question, and the whole people prepared themselves for encountering +another winter on the prairie. + +Happily for the main body, they found themselves at this juncture among +Indians who were amicably disposed. The lands on both sides of the +Missouri in particular were owned by the Pottawottomis and Omahas, two +tribes whom unjust treatment by our United States Government had the +effect of rendering most hospitable to strangers whom they regarded as +persecuted like themselves. + +They were pleased with the Mormons. They would have been pleased with +any whites who would not cheat them, nor sell them whiskey, nor whip +them for their poor gypsy habits, nor conduct themselves indecently +toward their women, many of whom among the Pottawottomis--especially +those of nearly unmixed French descent--are singularly comely, and some +of them educated. But all Indians have something like a sentiment of +reverence for the insane, and admire those who sacrifice, without +apparent motive, their worldly welfare to the triumph of an idea. They +understand the meaning of what they call a great vow, and think it the +duty of the right-minded to lighten the votary's penance under it. To +this feeling they united the sympathy of fellow-sufferers for those who +could talk to them of their own Illinois, and tell the story of how they +also had been ruthlessly expelled from it. + +Their hospitality was sincere, almost delicate. Fanny le Clerc, the +spoiled child of the great brave Pied Riche, interpreter of the nation, +would have the paleface Miss Devine learn duets with her on the guitar; +and the daughter of substantial Joseph la Framboise, the United States +interpreter for the tribe (she died of the fever that summer) welcomed +all the nicest young Mormon women to a party at her father's house, +which was probably the best cabin in that village. They made the Mormons +at home, there and elsewhere. Upon all their lands they formally gave +them leave to remain as long as suited their own good pleasure. + +The affair, of course, furnished material for a solemn council. Under +the auspices of an officer of the United States their chiefs were +summoned, in the form befitting great occasions, to meet in the yard of +a Mr. P.A. Sarpy's log trading-house. They came in grand costume, moving +in their fantastic attire with so much _aplomb_ and genteel measure that +the stranger found it difficult not to believe them high-born gentlemen, +attending a fancy-dress ball. Their aristocratically thin legs, of which +they displayed fully the usual Indian proportion, aided this illusion. +There is something too at all times very mock-Indian in the theatrical +French millinery tie of the Pottawottomi turban; while it is next to +impossible for a sober white man, at first sight, to believe that the +red, green, black, blue, and yellow cosmetics, with which he sees such +grave personages so variously dotted, diapered, cancelled, and +arabesqued are worn by them in any mood but one of the deepest and most +desperate quizzing. From the time of their first squat upon the ground +to the final breaking up of the council circle they sustained their +characters with equal self-possession and address. + +I will not take it upon myself to describe their order of ceremonies; +indeed, I ought not, since I have never been able to view the habits and +customs of our aborigines in any other light than that of a sorrowful +subject of jest. Besides, in this instance, the powwow and the expected +flow of turgid eloquence were both moderated probably by the conduct of +the entire transaction on temperance principles. I therefore content +myself with observing generally that the proceedings were such as in +every way became the dignity of the parties interested, and the +magnitude of the interests involved. When the red men had indulged to +satiety in tobacco-smoke from their peace-pipes, and in what they love +still better--their peculiar metaphoric rhodomontade, which, beginning +with the celestial bodies, and coursing downward over the grandest +sublunary objects, always managed to alight at last on their "Great +Father," Polk, and the tenderness with which his affectionate red +children regarded him. All the solemn funny fellows present, who played +the part of chiefs, signed formal articles of convention with their +unpronounceable names. + +The renowned chief Pied Riche--he was surnamed Le Clerc on account of +his remarkable scholarship--then rose and said: "My Mormon brethren, the +Pottawottomi came, sad and tired, into this unhealthy Missouri bottom, +not many years back, when he was taken from his beautiful country, +beyond the Mississippi, which had abundant game and timber and clear +water everywhere. Now you are driven away, the same, from your lodges +and lands and the graves of your people. So we have both suffered. We +must help one another, and the Great Spirit will help us both. You are +now free to cut and use all the wood you may wish. You can make all your +improvements, and live on any part of our actual land not occupied by +us. Because one suffers, and does not deserve it, is no reason he shall +suffer always: I say, we may live to see all right yet. However, if we +do not, our children will. _Bon jour!_" + +And thus ended the powwow. I give this speech as a morsel of real +Indian. It was recited to me after the treaty by the Pottawottomi orator +in French, which language he spoke with elegance. _Bon jour_ ["good +day"] is the French, Indian, and English hail, and farewell of the +Pottawottomis. + +Upon the Pottawotomi lands, scattered through the border regions of +Missouri and Iowa, in the Sac and Fox country, a few among the Ioways, +among the Poncas, in a great company upon the banks of the l'Eau qui +Coulee (or Running Water) River, and at the Omaha winter quarters, the +Mormons sustained themselves through the heavy winter of 1846-1847. It +was the severest of their trials. This winter was the turning-point of +the Mormon fortunes. Those who lived through it were spared to witness +the gradual return of better times; and they now liken it to the passing +of a dreary night, since which they have watched the coming of a +steadily brightening day. + +In the spring of 1847, a body of one hundred forty-three picked men, +with seventy wagons, drawn by their best horses, left the Omaha +quarters, under the command of the members of the high council who had +wintered there. They carried with them little but seed and farming +implements, their aim being to plant spring crops at their ultimate +destination. They relied on their rifles to give them food, but rarely +left their road in search of game. They made long marches, and moved as +rapidly as possible. + +Against the season when ordinary emigration passes the Missouri, they +were already through the South Pass, and after a couple of short days' +travel beyond it entered upon the more arduous part of their journey, +which now lay through the Rocky Mountains. They passed Fremont's Peak, +Long's Peak, The Twins, and other summits, but had great difficulties to +overcome in forcing their way over other mountains of the rugged Utah +range, sometimes following the stony bed of torrents, the headwaters of +some of the mightiest rivers of our continent, and sometimes literally +cutting their road through heavy and ragged timber. They arrived at the +grand basin of the Great Salt Lake, much exhausted, but without losing a +man, and in time to plant for a partial autumn harvest. Another party +started after these pioneers from the Omaha winter quarters, in the +summer. They had five hundred sixty-six wagons, and carried large +quantities of grain, which they were able to sow before it froze. + +The same season these were joined by a part of the battalion and other +members of the Church who came eastward from California and the Sandwich +Islands. Together they fortified themselves strongly with sun-dried +brick walls and blockhouses, and, living safely through the winter, were +able to reap crops that yielded ample provision for the ensuing year. + +In 1848, nearly all the remaining members of the Church left the +Missouri country in a succession of powerful bands, invigorated and +enriched by their abundant harvests there; and that year saw fully +established their commonwealth of the "New Covenant," the future State +of "Deseret." [Footnote: The Mormons repeatedly tried to secure the +admission of Deseret into the Union as a State under that name--said to +mean "virtue and industry."] + +When Utah was organized as a Territory (1850), the Mormon leader, +Brigham Young, was made governor. In 1857 President Buchanan appointed a +non-Mormon to succeed Young. This act led the Mormons to rebel, but +after a display of military force by the Government they acknowledged +allegiance. In 1896, polygamy having been prohibited by Congress, Utah +was admitted to the Union. Since the settlement of the Mormons upon the +Great Salt Lake there has been a large immigration into Utah. [The +Mormons have spread beyond that State into Arizona, Idaho, Wyoming, and +other parts of the West and Southwest--ED.] + + + + +(1848) THE REFORMS OF PIUS IX, Francis Bowen + + +In the long roll of pontiffs the name of Pius IX stands conspicuous +among those of popes, who have greatly exerted their power for effect +upon the papacy itself. But the influence of Pius IX was not less marked +in Italian and European politics. An account of the reforms which he +undertook and of the obstacles he had to confront, cannot fail to +convey, directly or by implication, matters of much importance in modern +history. That a pope who signalized the beginning of his official career +by a series of liberal reforms should soon have been driven from his see +by revolutionists is one of the historical paradoxes for which even the +"philosophy of history" finds it difficult to account. But, as one +writer tells us, "The revolutionary fever of 1848 spread too fast for a +reforming pope, and his refusal to make war upon the Austrians finally +cost him the affections of the Romans." + +Pope Pius IX (Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti) who at the age of +fifty-four brought the power of his papal throne to advance the cause of +Young Italy--led by Mazzini and other patriots--was born at Sinigaglia +May 13, 1792. He was descended from a noble family, and his early +education was received at the College of Volterra. Throughout the years +of his youth he suffered from infirm health, but before reaching thirty +he gained much in strength, and in 1827 became Archbishop of Spoleto. In +1840 he was made cardinal by Pope Gregory XVI. Gregory died June 1, +1846, and after being two days in conclave the cardinals elected their +colleague Ferretti to succeed him. The cardinals felt the advisability +of choosing for pope a native of the Papal States, a man not too far +advanced in years, and one "who would see the necessity of correcting +abuses and making some reforms." + +Francis Bowen, whose review of Pope Pius's career, from his entrance +upon the papal office until his temporary withdrawal from Rome, is here +presented, is a well-known authority in this as also in other fields of +history, and his recital is based upon the best contemporary accounts. + +When Pius IX was elected Pope his course did not long remain doubtful. +He limited the expenses of the court at once, dispensed alms in +abundance, set aside one day of each week for giving audiences, and +commanded that political inquisitions should be stopped immediately. +These few steps, taken before he had had time to consult with others, +afford perhaps a better indication of the mild and kind character of the +new pontiff than the grave political acts which were subsequently +performed. These show us the man, the others reveal only the sovereign. +Just one month after his election, a manifesto of amnesty for all +political offenders was published at Rome, including the exiles, those +awaiting trial, and those undergoing sentence. The only conditions +imposed were that the individuals pardoned should give their word of +honor never to abuse the indulgence, and would fulfil every duty of a +good citizen. + +The news of this act flew like the wind through the Papal States, and +caused everywhere a burst of exultation and gratitude toward the new +sovereign. It carried joy to thousands of households, bringing back to +them the long-separated brother or parent, and it was a token of future +peace and contentment. In the city, says Farini, [Footnote: Luigi Carlo +Farini, who is freely quoted by Bowen, was an Italian historian and +statesman. His principal work is _Storia dello stato Romano dall' anno +1814 al 1830_.--ED.] the hosannas were countless; each citizen embraced +his neighbor like a brother; thousands of torches blazed in the evening; +the multitude ran to the palace of the Pope, called for him, threw +themselves prostrate on the earth before him, and received his blessing +in devout silence. Many of the pardoned offenders were still more +extravagant in their demonstrations of joy and thankfulness. Among them +was Galletti, of Bologna, afterward one of the Pope's ministers, and +most active in those measures which ended in the assassination of Rossi +and in driving Pius into exile. He had been sentenced to imprisonment +for life, and was kept in the castle of Sant' Angelo. When released, he +threw himself at the Pope's feet, and swore, by his own heart's blood +and that of his children, that he would be grateful and faithful. Some +of the exiles, however, among whom was Mamiani, refused to subscribe the +proposed engagement, simple as it was; but they returned after a time to +their homes, merely promising allegiance. Every time that the Pope left +his palace he was surrounded by a sort of triumphal procession. The +whole length of the Corso was decorated when he passed through it, and +hundreds of likenesses of him, and of panegyrical compositions, covered +the walls. Foremost in getting up these popular celebrations was Angelo +Brunetti, afterward so well known by his nickname of "Ciceruacchio." "He +was a person of single mind, rustic in manners, proud and at the same +time generous, as is common with Romans of the lower class." By his +industry he had acquired considerable property, and by his liberal use +of it had become a leader of the populace, whom he now fired with his +own enthusiasm for Pius IX. + +The Pope would have been more than man if his head had not been a little +turned with all this adulation, which came to him from many foreign +lands as well as from Italy. But his simple and modest character bore +the trial well; he manifested no undue elation, and formed his plans +tranquilly and without hurry for the improvement of his people. Cardinal +Gizzi, well known as a friend to reform, and much attached to the Pope, +was named Secretary of State; and he wrote letters to the presidents of +the provinces, inviting them, the municipal magistrates, ecclesiastics, +and all respectable citizens, to prepare and offer schemes for promoting +popular education, and especially for the moral, religious, and +industrial instruction of the children of the poor. Commissions were +appointed to deliberate and advise upon many subjects of proposed +reform. Great, indeed, was the need of change in the institutions of the +Pontifical States; but the Government had a delicate part to play in +amending them, and it wisely determined not to be precipitate in its +measures. "Already the Liberals had conceived boundless desires, and the +Retrogradists were haunted with unreasonable fears. The Government had, +to-day, to moderate on the left, circulate despatches, wellnigh to scold +men for hoping too much." + +But the friends of change, says Farini, were for the most part measured +in their wishes and cautious in their proceedings; for all prudent men +were exerting themselves strenuously to keep the impatient in hand, with +excellent effect. + +We cannot follow in detail the Pope's measures down to March, 1848, till +which period the movement may be considered as all his own, emanating +from his free choice and not from the pressure of outward circumstances +or from revolutions in foreign States. He did enough during these twenty +months to establish his character as a wise, humane, and liberal +sovereign, eager to promote the temporal and religious interests of his +people, and prompt to give political power into their hands as fast as +they showed themselves capable of using, and not abusing, it. He +instituted a civic guard throughout his dominions, modelled on the +French National Guard, and disbanded the Gregorian Centurions and +volunteers. All his court was opposed to this measure as premature and +dangerous; and even Cardinal Gizzi resigned his place in consequence of +it. But the Pope persevered, and Cardinal Ferretti, still more inclined +to liberalism, was appointed in his place. + +He conceived the idea of an Italian customs league, after the model of +the German one, and pressed it with so much earnestness that in +November, 1847, it was instituted for the Roman, Tuscan, and Sardinian +dominions, and every effort was made to render it acceptable to the +other powers of Italy. He established a municipal government for the +city of Rome, which had hitherto remained without one; and he created a +Council of State for all his dominions, to consist chiefly of the laity, +one person being chosen for each Province by the sovereign, out of a +list of three, nominated by the provincial authorities. This Council was +to sit in Rome, and aid the Government with its advice in putting the +various departments in order, in constituting municipalities, and in +other public concerns. He created, also, a Council of Ministers, which +Farini calls the most important act of his reign, "As being that by +which the executive power acquired an organization worthy of a civilized +state, and altogether novel in that of Rome." There were to be nine +departments, and, with the exception of the president of the Council and +its secretary, the ministers need not be cardinals. All those first +appointed, however, were cardinals or prelates. + +A body of _Uditori_ was attached to this Council, consisting of twelve +ecclesiastics and twelve laymen, all appointed by the sovereign. The +laws respecting the censorship of the press were much relaxed, and +numerous political journals were established at Rome, which before had +nothing that deserved the name of a newspaper. "Our infant journalism," +says Farini, "had its infant passions and caprices; instead of +meditating, it gambolled, and every day it smashed its toys of the day +before, as children do; it instituted a school of declamation, not of +political knowledge; it ran and plunged about, blindfold; it made boast +of an independent spirit, and was a mean slave to out-of-doors +influence." + +These measures of reform, and the enthusiasm which they created, were +not without effect on surrounding nations. Considering the place whence +they came, and the sovereign who conducted them, they were adapted to +have a vast influence. Rome, the "Eternal City," was regenerated, and a +new life bounded through her old limbs; and the August head of the +Catholic Church, the greatest religious potentate of the civilized +world, the infallible, the object of veneration to half Christendom, and +hitherto the most despotic and conservative sovereign in Europe, was now +the daring innovator, the radical, the idol of the populace. Austria +looked on with distrust and dismay, and tried to pick a quarrel and thus +find a pretext for invasion by ordering its troops, who had as yet only +garrisoned the fortress, to occupy the city of Ferrara and patrol its +streets--a measure almost sure to lead to a collision with its citizens. + +The Pope protested in a firm but temperate tone, and his indignant +people would fain have hurried him into a war; but he bridled their +impatience and the matter ended in a compromise. Tuscany caught the +generous flame of freedom; and though there was not so much to be +accomplished there, as the Government had long been mild and discreet, +the good Archduke [Leopold II] professed the utmost admiration for Pius, +and began to imitate his measures. + +The King of Sardinia was moved to enthusiasm; during the difficulty with +Austria about Ferrara he offered the Pope whatever succor of ships or +men he might need, and an asylum in his dominions if he should be +compelled to leave Rome. He did more; he relaxed the bonds of the press, +improved the administration of justice, deprived the police of their +discretionary power, enlarged and amended the Council of State, +emancipated the communes, and allowed their officers to be chosen by +popular vote. The character and example of Pius seemed likely to effect +as great and as beneficial changes out of his dominions as within them. +Those of the Italian sovereigns who were not willing to follow his lead +of their own accord, were obliged to yield in dismay before the spirit +which he had awakened in their subjects. + +The silly Duke of Lucca, a fanatic, a prodigal, and a despot, after +attempting in vain to cudgel his people into submission, fled in terror +from their aroused wrath, and consented to the annexation of his +dominions to Tuscany, whereby they shared in the reforms instituted by +Leopold. + +But in Sicily and Naples were developed the most striking results of the +fire which had been kindled by a reforming pope. The cruel and imbecile +Bourbon who reigned there became only more harsh and obstinate, while +the other princes of Italy deemed it necessary to reform their +institutions and conciliate their people. His subjects petitioned him, +and shouted for Pius in the streets; but the soldiery were turned +against them, and the King showed himself alike inaccessible to their +caresses and their prayers. "One king only," said Thiers from the +tribune, speaking of Italy, "he of Naples, presented the sword's point +to the people who were flocking around him, and that people fell on it." +The impulsive Sicilians fixed January 12, 1848, as the day beyond which +their patience would not extend. The King made no concessions, the day +came, and the island was revolutionized, the troops everywhere giving +way before the excited populace. Within a fortnight the inhabitants of +Naples followed their example; and before the fight began, the King's +heart failed him, and he granted all that they asked. The Ministry was +changed, a constitution was resolved upon, and its fundamental +principles were announced on January 29th, while the Administration +pledged themselves to publish it complete within twelve days. The King +came out to meet the crowd, who were cheering him, and intimated his +purpose to surpass the other sovereigns of Italy in the magnitude of his +concessions. How sincere his promises were, the lapse of a few months +fully showed; but at present everything wore a cheerful aspect. + +The Pope had now reached the climax of his fortunes, the furthest limit +of the good which he was permitted to accomplish by his own free will, +and the sky began to be overcast. The enthusiasm of his people became +unmanageable, and the volcanic force of another French revolution was +soon to burst and to prostrate half the governments in Europe by the +explosion. Constant excitement for twenty months had made Rome noisy and +turbulent, and the populace had been gratified so often that they now +expected everything to succumb to their wishes. Busy agitators were in +the midst of them, intent upon prosecuting the plans of Mazzini and +Young Italy, and turning reform into revolution. The people were mad for +a declaration of war against Austria, though the military strength of +the Roman States was grossly inadequate for such a conflict, and the +head of the Catholic Church was naturally reluctant to come to +extremities with a Catholic power which had long been the firmest +support of the papacy. Then a cry was raised to exclude all +ecclesiastics from office, or at least to admit so large a portion of +the laity into the Administration that Rome would be secularized and +lose its distinctive character as an appanage for the head of the +Church. The people would not consider, or were reckless of the fact, +that Pius was a devout Catholic as well as a liberal sovereign, and +could not be expected to lend his aid to a project for stripping the +papacy of all temporal power, if not for razing it to its foundations. +The cries of expulsion and death to the Jesuits were also raised; and as +that body, however obnoxious elsewhere, had given no offence at Rome, +the Pope's sense of justice inclined him to protect them and to resist +the clamor of the mob. + +The news from Sicily and Naples caused a great popular demonstration at +Rome, the aspect of which was so threatening that Pius issued a +proclamation, on February 10th, announcing that he had taken measures +for reorganizing and enlarging the army, and for augmenting the lay +portion of the Council of Ministers; but appealing to his people in +affecting terms, by the proofs already given of his solicitude in their +behalf, that they should cease from agitation and not make demands which +could not be granted consistently with his duty and their own +well-being. This paper caused another effusion of popular gratitude; an +immense multitude collected in the Piazza del Papolo, and, accompanied +by the Civic Guard and bearing banners, they set out for the Pope's +palace. When they came to the Quirinal Pius showed himself at the +balcony and made signs that he wished to speak. "There was a profound +silence, not broken even by the trickling of the fountains, which had +been stopped some days before." The Pope said: + +"'Before the benediction of God descends upon you, on the rest of my +people, and, I say it again, on all Italy, I pray you to be of one mind, +and to keep the faith which you have sworn to me, the Pontiff.' + +"At these words the silence of deep feeling was broken by a sudden +thunder of acclamation, 'Yes, I swear,' and Pius proceeded: + +"'I warn you, however, against the raising of certain cries, that are +not of the people, but of a few individuals, and against making any such +requests to me as are incompatible with the sanctity of the Church; for +these I cannot, I may not, and I will not grant. This being understood, +with my whole soul, I bless you.'" + +Deeds followed words; the Ministry was changed; five laymen were +admitted into it, and it was intimated that a constitution would be +granted resembling those in other States. Then came the news of the +disasters at Paris, and everything was precipitated. On March 10th the +Ministry was again changed, only three ecclesiastics being now admitted +into it; and on the 14th the new constitution, or "Fundamental Statute," +was proclaimed. It instituted a Legislature in two branches, the High +Council and the Council of Deputies, the members of the former being +appointed by the Pope, and those of the latter being chosen by popular +vote in the ratio, as nearly as might be, of one to every thirty +thousand souls. All citizens were voters who paid twelve crowns a year +in direct taxes or had property amounting to three hundred crowns; to +these were added all members of colleges and honorary graduates, and all +persons holding office in the communes and municipalities. The +Legislature was to be convoked every year, both Councils were to choose +their own officers, and their sessions were to be public, except on +extraordinary occasions when they might of their own accord prefer +secrecy. Freedom of debate and vote was guaranteed, and the members of +both Houses were protected from arrest, even for notoriously criminal +acts, during the session, except by consent of the Council to which they +belonged. + +They were to have authority to make laws on all subjects, excepting +ecclesiastical matters and the canons and discipline of the Church, but +including the imposition of taxes; the Pope, however, like most +monarchs, reserved to himself the right of negativing a law. All +discussions, also, of the diplomatico-religious relations of the Holy +See with foreign powers were forbidden. Money bills were to originate in +the lower house, and direct taxes could be granted for only a year. The +Deputies had a right to impeach ministers, who, if they were laymen, +were to be tried by the High Council; if ecclesiastics, by the Sacred +College. The unlimited right of petition to the lower house was assured +and ministers were responsible for every ministerial act; they had the +right of sitting and debating, but not of voting, in both Councils. A +portion of the revenue of the State, for the support of the cardinals, +the ecclesiastical congregations, and generally for the transaction of +purely ecclesiastical business, was to be secured to the Pope, and to be +borne on the estimates every year. + +The judges were to be irremovable after they had held office for three +years; and all persons were declared equal in the sight of the law. +Extraordinary commissions or tribunals for the trial of offences were +abolished. All property, whether of individuals or corporations, whether +civil or ecclesiastical, was to be held subject to its equal part of the +burdens of the State; and to all bills imposing taxes, the Pope would +annex, of his own authority, a special waiver of the ecclesiastical +exemption. The administrations of the Provinces and the communes were +placed in the hands of their respective inhabitants. The Government (or +political) censorship was abolished, but the ecclesiastical censorship +was retained. + +Such is a general outline of the Roman Constitution spontaneously +granted to his subjects by Pius IX. Its merits, in all civil or +political matters, are certainly equal, if not superior, to those of the +English Constitution, from which in great part it was borrowed; its +faults are precisely those which resulted necessarily from the Pope's +double character, as temporal sovereign of the Roman States and as head +of the Catholic Church throughout the world. It was not within the +province or at the discretion of Pius to alter the tenure by which he +held his throne, to change the fundamental principles of the Church or +to abolish his ecclesiastical dominion. He granted to his subjects all +that was in his power to grant as their temporal sovereign. His purely +ecclesiastical relations and duties did not concern them, or concerned +them only so far as they were members of the great body of Catholic +believers in all lands. The College of Cardinals _must_ choose the Pope, +and _must_ choose one of their own number; this is not a law of the +Roman States, but a law of the Catholic Church. Pius could not abrogate +it; and if he had been inclined to grant everything to his people by +divesting himself of the last rag of his sovereignty, the only +consequence would have been that the cardinals must have chosen another +pope in his place, who might undo all that Pius had accomplished. + +These are obvious and necessary considerations; and the Pope expressly +recognizes them in the ordinance accompanying the grant of the +constitution. "We intend," he says, "to maintain intact our authority in +matters that by their nature are related to the Catholic religion and +its rule of morals. And this is due from us as a guaranty to the whole +of Christendom, that, in the States of the Church reorganized in this +new form, nothing shall be derogated from the liberties and rights of +the Church herself, and of the Holy See, nor any precedent be +established for violating the sacredness of the religion which it is our +duty and mission to preach to the whole world, as the only scheme of +covenant between God and man, the only pledge of that heavenly +benediction by which states subsist and nations flourish." + +Now, it is worthy of note that neither this constitution nor any of the +acts of Pius under it was ever complained of by any party among the +Pope's subjects except in regard to these ecclesiastical reservations +which were forced from him by the very nature of the office that he +held. The constitutionalists, indeed the moderate reformers, the party +of Balbo and Gioberti and D'Azeglio, which comprised most of the +educated and reflecting persons in the State, seem to have been entirely +satisfied with it as a whole, or as it was. So also were the unthinking +populace, who received it with shouts of exultation, so long as they +were not moved by the arts of a party who would not be satisfied with +having a good pope, but were bent upon having no pope at all. This was +the party of Mazzini, the revolutionists as distinguished from the +reformers--not strong at first either in numbers or credit, as we have +seen, but who made up for all deficiencies by their zeal and +activity--who were determined to establish a republic, and who cared +nothing for the embarrassments of the Pope's situation as head of the +Church, of indeed for the Church itself. They complained--and with +reason, too, upon their principles--of these ecclesiastical +reservations; and they made out of them their chief weapon of attack +upon the Pope's government, though they did not profit so much by the +use of it as by the evident unwillingness of Pius to rush into a war +with Austria for the purpose of giving the sovereignty of Lombardy to +Charles Albert, a measure to which he was averse, because he thought +such a conflict would be detrimental to the interests of the Church over +which he presided. + +The world's future judgment of Pius will depend upon its belief of the +sincerity with which he acted in thus allowing nothing but his religious +duties and his position as the head of the Church to limit his +concessions of political privileges to his subjects. On this point, it +is well to hear the opinion of Farini, who, as one of the Mamiani +Ministry and as employed to mediate between them and the Pope, because +much loved and trusted by him, seems peculiarly qualified to form one +without undue bias on either side: + +"Pius IX had applied himself to political reform, not so much for the +reason that his conscience as an honorable man and a most pious +sovereign enjoined it, as because his high view of the papal office +prompted him to employ the temporal power for the benefit of his +spiritual authority. A meek man and a benevolent prince, Pius IX was, as +a pontiff, lofty even to sternness. With a soul not only devout, but +mystical, he referred everything to God, and respected and venerated his +own person as standing in God's place. He thought it his duty to guard +with jealousy the temporal sovereignty of the Church, because he thought +it essential to the safe-keeping and the apostleship of the faith. + +"Aware of the numerous vices of that temporal government, and hostile to +all vice and all its agents, he had sought, on mounting the throne, to +effect those reforms which justice, public opinion, and the times +required. He hoped to give lustre to the papacy by their means, and so +to extend and to consolidate the faith. He hoped to acquire for the +clergy that credit, which is a great part of the decorum of religion and +an efficient cause of reverence and devotion in the people. His first +efforts were successful in such a degree that no pontiff ever got +greater praise. + +"By this he was greatly stimulated and encouraged, and perhaps he gave in +to the seduction of applause and the temptations of popularity more than +is fitting for a man of decision or for a prudent prince. But when, +after a little, Europe was shaken by universal revolution, the work he +had commenced was, in his view, marred; he then retired within himself +and took alarm. + +"In his heart, the pontiff always came before the prince, the priest +before the citizen; in the secret struggles of his mind, pontifical and +priestly conference always outweighed the conscience of the prince and +citizen. And as his conscience was a very timid one, it followed that +his inward conflicts were frequent; that hesitation was a matter of +course, and that he often took resolutions even about temporal affairs, +more from religious intuition or impulse than from his judgment as a +man. Added to this, his health was weak and susceptible of nervous +excitement--the dregs of his old complaint. From this he suffered most +when his mind was most troubled and uneasy; another cause of wavering +and changefulness. + +"Under the pressure of the extraordinary occurrences throughout Europe +early in the spring of 1848, the Pope's new Ministry under the +constitution proceeded vigorously and rapidly to give full development +and efficiency to that instrument. They also expressed the wish for a +firm union of the constitutional thrones of Italy with one another with +a view to insuring her independence; and they ordered the papal banners +to be decorated with pennons of the Italian tricolor. On March 21st the +news of the revolution at Vienna, much magnified by report, arrived, and +the excitement of the Roman populace knew no bounds. + +"Every bell in the city pealed for joy; from palace and from hovel, from +magazine and workshop, the townspeople poured in throngs into the +streets and squares; some took to letting off firearms, some to strewing +flowers; some hoisted flags on the towers, some decked with them their +balconies; everybody was shouting '_Italia! Italia!_' and cursing the +Empire. In an access of fury, the Austrian arms were torn down, dashed +to pieces, and befouled amid the applause of the crowd in spite of the +dissuasion of the public functionaries and of prudent persons." + +The hostility to the Jesuits now threatened to break out into violence; +and for the double purpose of protecting them and appeasing the passions +of the mob the Pope consented that the schools which they had +superintended should be given into other hands, that their associations +should be disbanded and they should be exiled. + +"The Government perhaps had no choice, so swiftly and impetuously did +the torrent of popular commotion roll. I will not affirm that the Pope +and the Government ought to have exposed to the last hazard the security +of the State for an ineffectual defence of the fraternity. What I wish +to observe is that if there were among the Jesuits men stained with +guilt, and mischievous plotters, they ought to have been watched and +punished as bad citizens; but it was incompatible with propriety or +justice to condemn and punish a religious association, as such, in a +place where the Pope held both his own seat and the supreme authority of +the Church. None but the Pope had the power to condemn the society as a +whole, and no condemnation but his could be just or valid in the opinion +and conscience of the Catholics, or produce the desired political +effects." On the same day that the Jesuits were expelled, the Pope +issued a noble proclamation, breathing the best spirit of religion. The +following excerpt is a portion of it: + +"_Pius Papa IX to the People of the States of Italy--Health and +Apostolic Benediction_: + +"The events which the last two months have witnessed, following and +thronging one another in such rapid succession, are no work of man. Woe +to him that does not discern the Lord's voice in this blast that +agitates, uproots, and rends the cedar and the oak. Woe to the pride of +man if he shall refer, these marvellous changes to any human merit or +any human fault; if instead of adoring the hidden designs of Providence, +whether manifested in the paths of his justice or of his mercy, or of +that Providence in whose hands are all the ends of the earth. And we, +who are endowed with speech in order to interpret the dumb eloquence of +the works of God--we cannot be mute amid the longings, the fears, and +the hopes which agitate the minds of our children. + +"And first, it is our duty to make known to you that if our hearts had +been moved at hearing how, in a part of Italy, the consolations of +religion have preceded the perils of battle, and nobleness of mind has +been displayed in works of charity, we nevertheless could not and cannot +but greatly grieve over the injuries which, in other places, have been +done to the ministers of that same religion--injuries, even if contrary +to our duty we were silent concerning them, our silence could not hinder +from impairing the efficacy of our benedictions. + +"Neither can we refrain from telling you that to use victory well is a +greater and more difficult achievement than to be victorious. If the +present day recalls to you any other period of your history, let the +children profit by the errors of their forefathers. Remember that all +stability and all prosperity has its main earthly ground in concord; +that it is God alone who maketh of one mind them that dwell in a house; +that he grants this reward only to the humble and the meek, to those who +respect his laws, in the liberty of his church, in the order of society, +in charity toward all mankind." + + * * * * * + +Shortly afterward another measure, emanating entirely from the Pope, and +opposed by the prejudices of the mob, showed that his humane and liberal +disposition and enlightened understanding waited for no impulse from +without, and for no hope of increased popularity, before doing justice +to a long oppressed race. "The friends of social progress were highly +gratified by the decision of Pius IX to raze in Rome the walls and gates +which shut up the Jews in the Ghetto. He had already, at the +commencement of his pontificate, softened some of the rigors with which +they were afflicted, and had directed that they might spread beyond that +ignominious precinct; nor, however great was the outcry about it among +the mob, did he forego the idea of bettering the condition of the +followers of the Mosaic law." He was disposed to give them civil rights; +and if he did not think of extending his concessions even to political +privileges, yet he would give this as the main reason for it, that, in a +constitutional country, everyone who enjoys them may rise to the highest +stages of power; whereas a pope could not have any save Catholic +ministers. In the mean time he raised them out of the abjectness of +their isolation, although the Roman vulgar censured him for it bitterly, +most of all because it took effect in Holy Week. When it was known in +the city that the walls and fastenings of the Ghetto were to be pulled +down at night, by order of the Cardinal Vicar, Ciceruacchio hastened +with his companions, or subjects, to share in the work; and they shared +in it so largely that it seemed as though the thing were effected more +as their boon than by the will of the Pope. Pius IX was vexed at this; +whether because noise had been made about what he wanted done quietly, +or because it was brought about in such a manner that it might seem the +popular party had had more to say to it than the authority of the head +of religion. Rome fully shared the enthusiasm which was awakened +throughout Italy by the entrance of the Piedmontese troops into +Lombardy, and by the announcement by Charles Albert that he had drawn +the sword in the sacred cause of Italian independence. His proclamation, +in the stilted phrase common to such state papers, declared that he +relied upon "the assistance of that God who is visibly with us; of that +God who has given Pius IX to Italy; of that God who, by such wondrous +impulses, has placed her in a condition to act for herself." And if she +acted for herself, if her deeds had been commensurate with her glorious +words, the Austrian would never again have trodden any portion of the +peninsula with the step of a master. But the zeal of the Italians for +independence seemed all to evaporate in high-sounding manifestoes, and +in a few excesses of the populace in the great cities. The inactivity of +the Italian sovereigns may be explained by their imputed treachery or +lukewarmness in the cause. But what prevented the people themselves from +crowding the camp of Charles Albert with volunteers at a time when not a +crowned head in Italy dared offer the least open opposition to such a +movement? The King of Naples, sorely against his will, sent his regular +army, consisting of about fourteen thousand men, to fight for the cause, +and withdrew them in about six weeks, as soon as a base act of treachery +had given him the victory at home. General Pepe, their commander, wished +to disobey the order and move forward; but "nearly the whole army turned +its back on the Po and on him, and moved backward in the direction of +the Neapolitan Kingdom." Two hundred volunteers had previously set out +from Naples for Upper Italy, under the guidance and at the expense of an +enthusiastic woman, the Princess Belgioioso. "She had lived as an exile +in France, and was at first enthusiastic for the _Giovine Italia_; she +afterward became averse to it, and sided with Guizot, Duchatel, and +Mignet, her intimate friend. She was well versed--or mixed herself +much--in literature, politics, the study of theology, and journalism; a +woman that had some of the feelings and anxieties of men, together with +all those of her own sex, and who was now travelling through Italy +intent upon manly business, but after woman's fashion. Other volunteers +afterward started, and a vessel set sail for Leghorn, which carried +them, along with the Tenth Regiment of the line." The Sicilians at the +same time determined to separate entirely from Naples and the rest of +the peninsula; "and thus all the ability and spirit, the arms and +wealth, of that powerful island were applied to the effort for insular +independence, and drawn off from that for the independence of the +nation." From Tuscany there went to this national war "about three +thousand volunteers, and perhaps as many more regulars"--a number so +small that Farini apologizes for it, and endeavors to prove that it +ought "not to be imputed to any lukewarmness in the affection for +Italy." The army from the Roman States, which the Pope had set on foot, +but hoped to retain as a defensive force within the northern boundary of +his dominions, numbered about sixteen thousand, of whom more than half +were volunteers. The conduct of the people of Lombardy, who though the +conflict raged on their own soil, and their own freedom was immediately +at stake, wasted their strength in quarrelling with one another instead +of succoring Charles Albert, has long been a topic of wonder and +censure. In short, all Italy did not furnish for this sacred war, so +long the object of her aspirations and her prayers, a body of volunteers +one-fourth as large as the army which the King of Sardinia brought into +the field, though it was probable that he was moved from the first only +by the hope of personal aggrandizement. He invaded Lombardy with an army +of fifty-five thousand men, expecting thereby to win, with the aid of +the national enthusiasm, the sceptre of all Italy for himself and his +descendants. A terrible disappointment awaited him; instead of glory, +shame and defeat were his portion; and having abdicated his paternal +throne in despair he died in exile, literally of a broken heart. Pius IX +was hardly more fortunate; to him also this fatal war brought dishonor +and exile, the loss of the affection of his subjects, and of the +admiration of the civilized world. The reluctance of the Pope to engage, +when unprovoked, in a war with Austria is no cause for wonder. He +earnestly desired the welfare of his people and the independence of his +native land; but all his desires were subject to the interests of the +Church, of which he was the recognized head throughout Christendom. The +republicans in his dominions, including Mazzini and his party, were +aware of this reluctance, and determined to make use of it and of the +passions of the people in order to get rid of him altogether. No +opportunity was lost to compromise him in the war, both in his temporal +and ecclesiastical character; and the misfortune of his twofold position +did not allow him to resist these machinations with success. General +Durando, the commander of the papal forces, issued a flaming +proclamation to his army when they passed the Po, announcing to them +that their swords were blessed by the venerable head of the Church, and +that they should all wear the cross on their bosoms, as beseemed those +who were engaged in a holy war. This act naturally gave great uneasiness +to the Pope, and Farini censures it as an unwise attempt to obtain the +sanctions of religion for merely political objects--the very conduct +which the Liberal party had previously censured in their opponents. If +Italian minds, he argues, "were not capable of warming with the simple +fire of patriotism for the noble and even holy enterprise of liberating +Italy from the stranger, it was vain to hope that hearts so frozen up in +indifference could kindle with religious faith." In the mean time the +Germans, who were speculating about the unity of their own stock and +nation and were straining every nerve in that difficult enterprise, +could not excuse the desire of independence in the Italians, and +contended for the boasted rights of Austria and Germany over the lands +and the coasts of Italy, with the people that inhabited them. When it +became known in Germany that the pontifical troops were hastening to the +legitimate defence of Italy it affected the public feeling generally, +and the name of Pius IX was branded with censure, not by laymen only, +but by some bishops and high ecclesiastics. Monsignor Viale, nuncio at +Vienna, and Monsignor Sacconi, nuncio at Munich, were assiduous and +eager in detailing the sinister reports touching Rome and the Pope, and +colored them in such a way as to create an apprehension of schism, the +most serious one that could rise for a pope--and that pope, too, Pius +IX. He had before this been greatly troubled by the proclamation of +General Durando; still he had hoped that the Italian League would be +shortly concluded, and that, when he had furnished the quota of troops +that might be due from him as a temporal sovereign, he would then have +been able, in the capacity of pontiff, to use those good offices which +he considered requisite to assure the consciences of Catholics. + +Even the news of some reverses to the Italian arms in Lombardy failed to +awaken a proper feeling among the inhabitants of Central and Southern +Italy, and Farini thus censures the slothfulness and vanity of his +countrymen: "Few gave credit or importance at the time to this and other +sinister intelligence; the greater part of those who beheld the first +marvellous smiles of fortune relied upon the star of Italy, and thought +the Empire was dismembered. We Italians are too susceptible to the +impulses of passion, and of heat in the imagination; with a small matter +we are drunken and think to leap over the moon. Deadly intoxication, +most deadly fault, that of undervaluing an enemy, which lets our +enthusiasm too easily evaporate, and gives him every facility for +showing that he is as gallant as we are, and more resolute; that he has +much of perseverance and of discipline--qualities more effectual and +valuable than simple courage. It comes to this; we must either send +about their business the dreams of poets, and educate ourselves in +severe and masculine virtues, or must yet remain long in a position to +chant many more elegies, to assuage our sorrow, than hymns of triumph; +we must either rest assured that with the tenacious, the disciplined, +and the resolute only the tenacious, disciplined, and resolute can cope, +and must therefore leave off despising the Austrians, and imitate them +in their steadiness and their attention to the military spirit; or else +we must be doomed to the disgrace of seeing them masters of our country. +A stern truth; but the only one that an Italian freeman can utter to +Italians free in mind. He who wants compliments and adulation may fling +these warning words from him." + +The Ministry at Rome, driven onward by the popular clamor, represented +to the Pope in strong terms the necessity of sending orders to his army +to take an active part in the war; for they had not yet commenced +hostilities with the Austrians. A consistory of the cardinals was to be +held on April 29th; and it was feared that Pius would take that occasion +for declaring that he was averse to the war, thus pacifying the minds of +the Catholics in Germany. The allocution of the Pope realized these +fears, though it expressed only his wish to remain neutral, "and to +embrace all kindreds, peoples, and nations with equal solicitude of +paternal affection." But the Ministry resigned in consequence, and great +disturbances arose in the city; the populace were not willing themselves +to volunteer for the war, but they were determined that the Pope should +not continue a man of peace. The Civic Guard was placed under arms, but +it was soon found that the soldiers shared the feelings of the people, +and no reliance could be placed upon them. Threats were uttered of +assassinating the cardinals, and others cried out "to make short +work--as they called it--with the government of the priests, those +traitors to Italy, and to place Rome under popular sway." To avert +bloodshed, the Pope consented to a compromise; he gave up the entire +direction of his troops to Charles Albert, and published, of his own +accord, and without the knowledge of his ministers, an affecting +remonstrance to his people. + +Pius also wrote an earnest letter to the Emperor of Austria, entreating +him to put a stop to the war by acknowledging the independence of +Venetia and Lombardy. "Let not the generous German nation take it ill," +he said, "if we invite them to lay resentment aside, and to convert into +the beneficial relations of friendly neighborhood a domination which +could never be prosperous or noble while it depended solely on the +sword." But the prayers of the Pope had now little influence either with +the Emperor or with his own subjects; he had long ago forfeited the +favor of the Absolutists by his political reforms, and he had now lost +the love of his people by his reluctance to gratify their passion for +sway. + +Yet if he had basely yielded to their wishes, against his judgment and +his conscience, he would have injured only the cause of the papacy in +foreign lands, and the issue of the war would not have been changed. As +it was, his troops were actively engaged in the contest till the time of +their capture at Vicenza by the Austrians. The fatal blow was given to +the hopes of Italy by the King of Naples withdrawing his troops at a +critical moment, when their loss could not be replaced. + +Their departure, and the consequent capture of the papal army under +Durando at Vicenza, enabled the Austrians to turn their whole force +against the Piedmontese, who were then defeated and driven back. The +disgraceful capitulation at Milan followed, and the cause of United +Italy was lost forever. Brilliant as its promise had been at the outset, +the Revolution of 1848 terminated as pitifully as did those of 1820 and +1831; and for its disastrous issue the Italians have none to blame but +themselves. + +Misfortunes and defeat had their usual effect in inflaming the rage of +parties. The personal influence of the Pope could no longer keep the +passions of the citizens in check, and the clubs now governed Rome with +absolute sway. The party of Mazzini, bent on trying the experiment of a +republic at all hazards, began to show its head after a long period of +inefficiency and discouragement, and every day acquired new adherents +and stronger influence. One Ministry after another tried in vain to +steer the ship of state on an even course, between the opposite perils +of the domination of a mob and the rigorous enforcement of the laws. The +Pope tried for some months the experiment of a popular administration, +under Mamiani, of whom our author says, "He seemed to play the part of a +tribune of the people more than of the Pope's minister." Still he was an +honest man, opposed to violence, to tumult, and to all excesses, though +he paid too much deference to the clubs, which were now as turbulent and +mischievous as their Parisian prototypes. The acts of his Ministry were +not numerous, Farini says, for the character of the times would not +admit of dispassionate inquiries and solid reforms. In truth, the +energies of Government were exhausted in a vain attempt to keep the +peace in the city, which was now a constant scene of turbulence and +disorder. Bologna also, having successfully repelled an unauthorized +attack made upon it by the Austrians under Welden, had become a prey to +the wildest confusion, owing to the continuance there of the irregular +bands of armed men who had contributed to its defence. At the urgent +request of the Bolognese Deputies, the Ministry determined to send +thither one of their own number to aid in restoring order; and Farini +was deputed for this purpose. The following is a portion of his account +of what he saw there and what he accomplished: + +"In the streets and open places of the city, for two days, the brigands +had been slaughtering every man his enemy among the Government officers, +some of them indeed disreputable and sorry fellows, others respectable. +They killed with musket-shot, and if the fallen gave signs of life they +reloaded their arms in the sight of the people and the soldiers and +fired them afresh, or else put an end to their victims with their +knives. They hunted men down like wild beasts, entered their houses, and +dragged them forth to slaughter. One Bianchi, an inspector of police, +was lying in bed, reduced to agony by consumption; they came in, set +upon him and cut his throat in the presence of his wife and children; +the corpse, a frightful spectacle, remained in the public streets. I saw +it, saw death dealt about, and the abominable chase. Cardinal Amat, who +had given notice of his arrival, came the day after; and the armed +commons escorted him to the palace at the very time when the villains +were perpetrating their murders. + +"There were no longer any judges, or any officers of the police; those +who had escaped death either had fled or had hidden themselves; the +Civic Guard was disarmed, the citizens killed, the few soldiers of the +line either mixed with the insurgents or were wholly without spirit; the +carbineers and dragoons in hesitation, the volunteer legions and free +corps a support to the rioters, not to the authority of Government. We +sent to Rome for leave to declare Bologna in a state of siege; but the +answer was that the Ministry having taken the opinion of the Council of +State considered that order might be restored without recourse to this +extreme measure. + +"All our best exertions were made to draw to the side of Government the +carbineers and dragoons, as also Bellezzi and the honest leaders of the +people, but with little success. It was reported that Bellezzi himself +had given leave to kill those whom they called the spies; one Masina +came before us, proposing by way of compromise to banish those whose +lives were threatened; armed men were in the very palace of government, +and we ourselves at their mercy. Accident, however, effected at a stroke +what we could have done only slowly and with difficulty. An assassin +attempted the life of a carbineer; his companions, inflamed with anger, +pursued him and caught him in a church. They then volunteered their most +resolute efforts at repression. They were ordered to sally forth, arrest +and disarm the ruffians. The dragoons seconded them; young Pepoli, +commandant of the Civic Guard, mustered a few companies; Bianchetti and +the respected citizens of the Committee of Public Safety drew close +around us, and we hurried in the Swiss from Forli. The population began +to regain its courage and to applaud the carbineers as they arrested the +assassins; the Swiss entered amid cheers." + +The disturbances at Bologna were quelled; but the bonds of law and order +throughout the Papal States were now loosened, and it became evident +that a more determined minister must be placed at the helm, or the +experiment of the existing form of government must be abandoned in +despair. A republic or a return to the old principles of despotism would +then be inevitable. In this emergency the eyes of the Pope and of all +prudent persons at Rome were turned to Rossi, who, since the fall of +Louis Philippe's Government, from which he had been ambassador to the +Roman States, had resided there as a private citizen, taking no active +share in politics, but often consulted by both parties, owing to his +high reputation for sagacity and firmness. Exiled on account of his +liberal opinions by Gregory, he had laid the foundation of his fame at +Paris, where he successively became professor, peer, and ambassador, and +was highly esteemed by all parties as a writer and a statesman. Once +before, Pius had solicited him to form a ministry; but he had declined, +because conscious that the affections of the populace were not with him, +and he judged that the minds even of the better portion of the citizens +were not yet prepared for a resolute attempt to carry on a +constitutional government by firm measures. + +He suggested to the Pope that he was probably odious to the court on +account of his previous employments and his writings; that some would +perhaps look very coldly on a minister who had married a Protestant +wife; and that the French Republic might be displeased if he should hold +a high post at Rome. But in the middle of September the solicitations of +the Pope and of many respectable persons in the State became so urgent +that Rossi consented to serve; the opinion was universal that no other +person possessed the requisite abilities, character, and experience to +carry on the Government at this perilous crisis; and that, if he failed, +all indeed was lost. He selected for his colleagues men of liberal +politics, but temperate in their opinions. He announced his intention to +carry into effect the Fundamental Statute, in all its parts, according +to constitutional usage; to counteract and repress both parties opposed +to that instrument; to abolish exemptions, restore the finances, and +reorganize the army; to conclude a league with Piedmont and Tuscany, +even if it should be impossible with Naples; and to fix the contingent +of troops which the Pope was to supply, so that he need not in any way +mingle in the war. + +The turbulent and the presumptuous, "the magistrates accustomed to +fatten upon abuses, the Sanfedists who made a livelihood of disorder, +and the clergy, greedy of gold and honors, could ill bear that +Pellegrino Rossi should have the authority of a minister." But those who +knew the real condition of affairs, and that, unless the finances were +improved and public discipline and order restored, all would go to +wreck, counted it great gain that he should take charge of the +debilitated State. "The dissatisfied were more numerous and noisy in the +capital; the contented stronger in the Provinces, especially at Bologna, +where an educated community wished for a liberal system, with a +government strong in the strength of the law; where the recent terrible +events had filled every mind with horror; and where Rossi, the +proscribed of 1815, was dear to memory, and rooted in public esteem." + +The Roman Legislature was to meet again in the middle of November, so +that the new minister was chiefly occupied with maturing the measures +which were to be laid before it for adoption. His public acts therefore +were few; but they were enough to show that new wisdom and vigor +directed the course of affairs. He obtained the Pope's consent that the +clergy should make a new contribution of two millions of crowns to the +State, on the strength of which he obtained a new loan and punctually +paid the interest on the public debt. He invited General Zucchi home +from Switzerland to take the command of the army, which rapidly improved +in discipline under his energetic guidance. He distributed medals to +those who had been wounded and to the families of the slain at Vicenza. +He established two lines of telegraph, one to Ferrara by the way of +Bologna, and another to Civita Vecchia. The negotiations with Sardinia +and Tuscany for an Italian league were advanced nearly to completion. +Chairs of political economy and commercial law were founded in the +universities at Rome and Bologna. Toward the close of October the mob +rose in Rome, on occasion of a squabble between a Jew and a Catholic, +and threatened to sack the Ghetto and maltreat its inhabitants. Rossi +hurried the Civic Guard and the carbineers to the spot, allayed the +tumult, arrested and imprisoned some of its ringleaders, and published +an energetic proclamation to warn the turbulent that the laws would be +enforced. + +"All these proceedings excited the anger of Rossi's enemies, the +journalists, the captains of the people, and the Roman clubs." There was +no opprobrium that was not heaped upon him, no charge that was not +levelled at the Government. But these declamations seemed to have little +effect on the body of the people. On the morning of November 15th, when +the Legislature was to commence its session, though knots of persons +were seen talking in the streets with excited countenances, there was no +outbreak or popular tumult. Rossi had received many anonymous letters in +which his life was threatened, but he scorned to take any notice of +them. This morning one came which directly affirmed that he would be +assassinated in the course of the day; and he threw it into the fire. +The regulation of the police, now that the day of the session had +arrived, belonged to the President of the Council of Deputies; and +Rossi, punctilious in the observance of the constitution, refused to +give them any orders. + +Several of his friends came and remonstrated with him against such an +exposure of his life. "To all this he answered that he had taken the +measures which he thought suitable for keeping the seditious in order, +and that he could not, on account of risk that he might personally run, +forego repairing to the Council according to his duty; that perhaps +these were idle menaces; but if anyone thirsted for his blood, he would +have the means of shedding it elsewhere on some other day, even if, on +that day, he should lose his opportunity. He would therefore go." He was +elated by the confidence which the Pope had in him, and expected both +trust and aid from the Parliament, to which he was so soon to explain +his ideas and intentions. + +"When the ordinary hour of the parliamentary sitting, which was about +noon, arrived, the people began to gather in the square of the +Cancellaria, and by degrees in the courtyard and then in the public +galleries of the hall. Soon these were all full. A battalion of the +Civic Guard was drawn up in the square; in the court and hall there was +no guard greater than ordinary. There were, however, not a few +individuals, armed with their daggers, in the dress of the volunteers +returned from Vicenza, and wearing the medals with which the +municipality of Rome had decorated them. They stood together and formed +a line from the gate up to the staircase of the palace. Sullen visages +were to be seen and ferocious imprecations heard among them. During the +time when the Deputies were slowly assembling, and business could not +commence because there was not yet a quorum present, a cry for help +suddenly proceeded from the extremity of the public gallery, on which +everyone turned thither a curious eye; but nothing more was heard or +seen, and those who went to get some explanation of the circumstances +returned without success. + +"In the mean time Rossi's carriage entered the court of the palace. He +sat on the right, and Righetti, Deputy Minister of Finance, on the left. +A howl was raised in the court and yard, which echoed even into the hall +of the Council. Rossi got out first, and moved briskly, as was his habit +in walking, across the short space which leads from the centre of the +court to the staircase on the left hand. Righetti, who descended after +him, remained behind, because the persons were in the way who caused the +outcry, and who, brandishing their cutlasses, had surrounded Rossi and +were loading him with opprobrium. At this moment there was seen amid the +throng the flash of a poniard, and then Rossi losing his feet and +sinking to the ground. Alas! he was spouting blood from a broad gash in +the neck. He was raised by Righetti, but could hardly hold himself up, +and did not articulate a syllable; his eyes grew clouded, and his blood +spurted forth in a copious jet. Some of those, whom I named as clad in +military uniform, were above upon the stairs; they came down, and formed +a ring about the unhappy man; and when they saw him shedding blood and +half lifeless, they all turned and rejoined their companions. He was +borne, amid his death-struggle, into the apartments of Cardinal Gazzoli, +at the head of the stairs on the left side; and there, after a few +moments, he breathed his last. + +"In leaving the palace of the Cancellaria, one met some faces gleaming +with a hellish joy, others pallid with alarm; many townspeople standing +as if petrified; agitators, running this way and that, carbineers the +same; one kind of men might be heard muttering imprecations on the +assassin, but the generality faltered in broken and doubtful accents; +some, horrible to relate, cursed the murdered man. Yes, I have still +before my eyes the livid countenance of one who, as he saw me, shouted, +'So fare the betrayers of the people!' But the city was in the depths of +gloom, as under the hand of calamity and the scourge of God; and +wherever there were respectable persons, though of liberal and Italian +principles, they were horror-struck, and called for the resolute +exertions of the authorities." + +When the terrible news came to the Pope, he was struck with horror and +dismay, but yet strove to rally the other members of the Government +around him and preserve the State from anarchy. But his efforts were +miserably seconded; one person after another declined taking office or +continuing in it; and even when the presidents of the two Councils were +summoned, they had little advice to give. On the morrow the tidings came +that a mob was on its way toward the Quirinal, some of the carbineers +having fraternized with them, to enforce the appointment of a democratic +ministry, and a declaration in favor of a constituent assembly for all +Italy. Only a few Swiss, the ordinary guard of honor, were on duty; but +they shut the gates of the palace, and nobly declared that their own +bodies should be piled up behind them before the rioters should enter. +Galletti, the former minister of police, acted as spokesman of the mob, +and when admitted to an audience he stated their demands. The Pope +indignantly declared that he would not yield to violence, but must +deliberate in freedom. This answer only inspired the insurgents with +fresh fury, so that they pressed forward to the gates, set one of them +on fire, and, mounting upon the roofs of the neighboring houses, opened +a fire upon the walls and windows of the Quirinal. The few Swiss fired +in return; and then the cry ran through the city that the Pope's guards +were butchering the people, and already there were many slain. Within +the palace many advised Pius to yield, a few still spoke of resistance, +and the foreign ministers, who were collected there, had no scheme to +offer. "The scuffle continues; the worthy prelate, Monsignor Palma, +falls dead by the window of his own apartment; balls reach the +ante-chamber of the Pope." At last Pius turned to the diplomatic body +who stood around him, and said: "There is no further hope in resistance. +Already a prelate is slain in my very palace, shots are aimed at it, +artillery levelled. To avoid fruitless bloodshed and increased +enormities, we give way; but it is, as you see, only to force. Therefore +we protest; let the courts, let your governments, know it. We give way +to violence alone, and all we concede is null and void." + +Galletti was then asked to propose his list of ministers, from which the +Pope indignantly struck out the name of the Neapolitan Salicetti, but +admitted without a word the names of Sterbini, Lunati, and Galletti. +Their appointment was signed on the spot, and the news being told to the +insurgents "they fired muskets in token of joy, and went off with hymns +for Italy and cheers for the Italian Constituent Assembly and the +democratic Ministry." + +The next day the club desired that the Swiss should be deprived of their +arms and dismissed from the Quirinal; the Pope complied. The club then +asked that Galletti should be named general of the carbineers; and he +was appointed. "Such was the poltroonery or such the depravity of +consciences that no journal would or dared denounce the murder. But why +do I speak of denouncing? The murder was honored with illuminations and +festivities in numerous cities, and not in these States only, but beyond +them, especially at Leghorn." The Councils met on the 18th and 20th, but +not a word was said of the murder, and even a proposition for giving +assurance to the Pope "of the devotion and unalterable affection of the +Deputies" was voted down. Three of the Bolognese Deputies and a few +others then indignantly resigned their seats, and assigned their reasons +for this step in addresses to their constituents. + +Early on the night of the 25th the Pope secretly left the Quirinal, +entered a carriage prepared for him by the wife of the Bavarian +ambassador, and went into exile from that city which, within two years +and a half, had worshipped, scorned, and assailed him. + + + + +(1848) THE REVOLUTION OF FEBRUARY IN FRANCE, Francois P.G. Guizot and + Mme. Guizot de Witt + + +This outbreak marked one of the many transitions in French history, +leading to the establishment of the short-lived Second Republic, so soon +to be followed by the _coup d'etat_ of Louis Napoleon and the setting up +of the Second Empire. When France passed from the rule of the Bourbons, +represented by Charles X, to that of the Orleanists, in the hands of +Louis Philippe, the "Citizen King" (July, 1830), great hopes were +entertained by the constitutional party that this renewal of the +monarchy through the "July Revolution" would result in permanent +benefits. At first the new King enjoyed great popularity. In some +respects his government, compared with that of Charles X, was liberal, +and one of its early acts was an extension of the suffrage by decreasing +the amount of the property qualification for voters. The demand for +still further enlargement of popular rights became emphatic. The people +were divided mainly into three parties, and the difficulties confronting +the King were formidable. The Conservatives, who had placed him in +power, wished to prevent further changes in the State; the Moderates +asked for new reforms, especially for a still more extended suffrage; +the Radical party desired a republic. + +The attitude of the Radicals caused Louis Philippe to halt in his +progressive policy. More than once his life was attempted, and in +consequence of such acts the liberty of the press and other privileges +were restricted. The greater part of the French people wished to have +the King intervene in behalf of Poland--which at that period was in a +state of almost chronic insurrection--as he had aided the Belgians +against Holland. In her Eastern policy France was defeated by the +Quadruple Alliance, formed by England, Prussia, Austria, and Russia, and +in consequence of this failure the King's prestige suffered. But the +question of extending the suffrage was kept always before the people, +and when the King refused to go further with that reform its advocates +urged their demands more strongly than ever. Lamartine founded a journal +in which he agitated for universal suffrage, and in this agitation many +other newspapers joined. Even Thiers, the leading statesman of the +Moderate party, asked for suffrage reform. Failing to control the +Legislative Assembly, the reformers at last appealed to the people. The +King, relying on his majority in the Assembly, was undisturbed by the +popular ferment. + +Guizot, whose account of the "February Revolution" is here given, was +the chief minister of Louis Philippe; and however partisan the author's +narrative may seem, it rests upon an intimate knowledge of the events +recorded. + +I come with profound repugnance and sorrow to those painful days by the +faults and misfortunes of which France was launched into dangerous +enterprises, such that men of the greatest foresight could not discern +their end. Our country has paid very dearly for the fatal error which +overthrew the throne of the King who had for eighteen years governed it +with a wisdom, prudence, and moderation acknowledged even by his enemies +when attacking him. + +"The Cabinet of October 29, 1847, and its political friends, had a +clearly defined idea and purpose. They aspired to bring to a close the +French era of revolutions by establishing the free government which +France had in 1789 promised herself as the consequence and political +guarantee of the social revolution which she was completing." This +policy, formerly the object of their youthful hopes, had become theirs, +whether in power or in the opposition. "It was in fact both liberal and +antirevolutionary--antirevolutionary both in home and foreign affairs, +since it wished to maintain the peace of Europe abroad, and the +constitutional monarchy at home; liberal, since it fully accepted and +respected the essential conditions of free government; the decisive +intervention of the country in its affairs, with a constant and +well-sustained discussion, in public as well as in the Chambers, of the +ideas and acts of the Government. In fact, this twofold object was +attained from 1830 to 1848. + +"Abroad, peace was maintained without any loss to the influence or +reputation of France in Europe. At home, from 1830 to 1848, political +liberty was great and powerful; from 1840 to 1848, in particular, it was +displayed without any new legal limit being imposed. It was this policy +that the opposition--all the oppositions, monarchical and dynastic as +well as republican--blindly or knowingly attacked, and tried to change. +It was to change it that they demanded electoral and parliamentary +reforms. In principle, the Government had no absolute or permanent +objections whatever to such reforms; the extension of the right of +suffrage, and the incompatibility of certain functions with the office +of Deputy, might and must be the natural and legitimate consequences of +the upward movement of society and political liberty. They did not think +the reforms necessary or well-timed, and were therefore justified in +delaying them as much as possible, provided they should one day allow to +be accomplished by others what they thought themselves still strong +enough to refuse." "We have too much and too long maintained a good +policy," said Guizot afterward. + +A frequent and formidable sign that men's minds are secretly agitated is +the anxiety by which they are seized with reference to intrigues and +vices which they suppose around them. It would be a serious error to see +always a symptom of moral improvement in the clamors against electoral +or parliamentary corruption. Immediately after the ministerial success +in the general elections of 1846, this precursory indication of storms +appeared on the horizon. Guizot raised the question to its proper point +of view. "Leave to countries which are not free," said he, "leave to +absolute governments, that explanation of great results by small, +feeble, or dishonorable human acts. In free countries, when great +results are produced it is from great causes that they spring. A great +fact has been shown in the elections just completed; the country has +given its adhesion, its earnest and free adhesion, to the policy +presented before it. Do not attribute this fact to several pretended +electoral manoeuvres. You have no right to come to explain, or qualify +by wretched suppositions, a grand idea of the country thus grandly and +freely manifested." The rumors of electoral corruptions were soon +followed by rumors of parliamentary corruptions; but the majority of the +Chamber declared themselves "content" with the ministerial explanations. +The "Contents" figured in the opposition attacks by the side of the +"Pritchardists." + +Several improper abuses of long standing existed in certain branches of +the Administration; some posts in the Treasury had been the object of +pecuniary transactions between those who held the posts and were +resigning, and the candidates who presented themselves to replace them. +A bill proposed on January 20, 1848, by Hebert, who had become keeper of +the seals, formally forbade any such transaction, under assigned +penalties. Several months previously (June, 1847) M. Teste, formerly +Minister of Public Works, and then president of the Cour de Cassation, +was seriously compromised in the scandalous trial of General Cubieres +and Pellapra. Convicted of having received a large sum of money in +connection with the mining concession, he was brought before the Peers, +and being led from question to question and from discussion to +discussion, soon made a confession of his crime. He, as well as his +accomplices, underwent the just penalty. + +"It was, on the part of the Cabinet, one of those acts the merit of +which is only perceived afterward, and in which the Government bears the +weight of the evil at the moment when it is trying most sincerely and +courageously to repress it. There were several deplorable incidents--the +shocking murder of the Duchess of Praslin, some scandalous trials and +violent deaths following hard one upon another, and aggravating the +momentary depression and the excited state of the popular imagination. +The air seemed infected with moral disorder and unlooked-for +misfortunes, coming to join in party attacks and the false accusations +which the Cabinet were subjected to. It was one of those unhealthy +hurricanes often met in the lives of governments." It was certainly +culpable on the part of the opposition to try to take advantage of this +disturbed state of men's minds to gain the end they were pursuing. Seven +times was parliamentary reform, and three times was electoral reform, +refused by the Chambers, from February 20, 1841, to April 8, 1847; the +question being then displaced, it changed its ground. The opposition +made an appeal to popular passion; and parliamentary discussions were +succeeded by the banquets. + +From the close of the session of 1847 to the opening of that of 1848 +they kept France in a state of constant fever--an artificial and +deceptive fever in this sense, that it was not the natural and +spontaneous result of the actual wishes and wants of the country; but +true and serious in this sense, that the political parties who took the +initiative in it found among some of the middle classes and the lower +orders a prompt and keen adhesion to their proposals. The first banquet +took place in Paris at the Chateau-Rouge Hotel on July 9, 1847. +Garnier-Pages has himself told how the Royalist opposition and the +Republican opposition concluded their alliance for that purpose. On +leaving the house of Odilon Barrot, the Radical members of the meeting +walked together for some time. On reaching that part of the Boulevard +opposite the Foreign Office, at the moment they were about to separate, +Pagnerre said: "Well, really, I did not expect for our proposals so +speedy and complete success. Do those gentlemen see what that may lead +to? For my part, I confess I do not see it clearly; but it is not for us +Radicals to be alarmed about it." + +"You see that tree," replied Garnier-Pages; "engrave on its bark a mark +in memory of this day, for what we have just decided upon is a +revolution." Garnier-Pages did not foresee that the Republic of 1848, as +well as the monarchy of 1830, should in its turn speedily perish in that +revolution, so long big with so many storms. + +For six months banquets were renewed in most of the departments--at +Colmar, Strasburg, St. Quentin, Lille, Avesnes, Cosne, Chalons, Macon, +Lyons, Montpellier, Rouen, etc. In many parts there was a great display +of feelings and intentions most hostile to royalty and the dynasty. On +several occasions--at Lille, for example--the keenest members of the +parliamentary opposition, Odilon Barrot and his friends, withdrew, soon +after taking their places at table, because the others absolutely +refused to dissemble their hostility to the Crown and the King. At other +banquets, notably at Dijon, the ideas and passions of 1793 unblushingly +reappeared. They defended Robespierre and the Reign of Terror. The "Red +Republic" openly flaunted its colors and hopes. The attack upon monarchy +and the dynasty ranged itself, it is true, behind the parliamentary +opposition, but like Galatea running away: + + "_Et se cupit ante videri_." + +It had succeeded well enough in making itself seen. The Government could +no longer shut their eyes. They had tolerated the banquets so long as +they could believe, or seem to believe, that the parliamentary +opposition directed, or at least ruled, the movement. When it became +evident that the anarchical impulse was more and more gaining upon the +parliamentary opposition, and that the latter was becoming the +instrument instead of remaining the master, then only they forbade the +banquets. It was their duty. + +It was also their right, in the opinion of the most competent legal +authorities, as well as according to the recent practice of other free +governments, in presence of a situation full of certain danger. This +right, however, was disputed by the opposition. The Government, pushing +the principle of legality to its furthest limit, arranged with several +leading men of the opposition for the purpose of enabling the question +of right to be brought speedily and methodically before competent +tribunals. Just before the opening of the new session, in order to close +the campaign, a new and formal banquet was being prepared in Paris, to +which all the Deputies and Peers who had taken part in any of the +preceding banquets were to be invited. This manifestation was to take +place in the Twelfth Arrondissement of Paris. It was therefore agreed +between the opposition delegates and those of the ministerial majority +that the Deputies invited should go to the place appointed for the +meeting and take their places, so as to avoid any disturbance in the +streets or the hall, and that on the police commissary declaring that +there was an order against it the guests should protest and withdraw, to +lay the question before the tribunals. The agreement thus concluded was +communicated by Duchatel to the council, which approved of it. + +Meanwhile the Chamber met, the session was opened, and from the very +first the Government could perceive a wavering in the majority. Even +among those who blamed and feared the agitation out-of-doors, several +believed in the urgent necessity of a concession to remove all pretext +for clamors and intrigues. On the ministers being informed of it Guizot +said: "Withdraw the question from the hands of those who now hold it, +and let it be brought back to the Chamber. Let the majority take a step +in the direction of the concessions indicated; however small it be, I am +certain it will be understood, and that you will have a new Cabinet, +which will do what you think necessary." It was in the same spirit that +the Ministry, during the discussion on the address, rejected an +amendment tending to impose upon them immediate engagements with +reference to reform. + +"The maintenance of the unity of the Conservative party," said Guizot, +"the maintenance of conservative policy and power, will be the fixed +idea and rule of conduct in the Cabinet. They will make sincere efforts +to maintain or restore the unity of the Conservative party upon that +question, in order that it may be the Conservative party itself in its +entirety that undertakes and gives to the country its solution. If such +an operation in the midst of the Conservative party is possible, it will +take place. If that is not possible--if by the question of reforms the +Conservative party cannot succeed in making a common arrangement and +maintaining the power of the Conservative policy, the Cabinet will leave +to others the sad task of presiding over the disorganization of the +Conservative party and the ruin of its policy." + +The question was not destined to be taken up again by the Chambers, +having escaped from the weak hands that aspired to direct it. The +courtesy of the Conservative reformers had no result except disquieting +the Government, a sort of precursory sign of the tempest. Even the +parliamentary opposition found themselves baffled in their prudent +efforts. A manifesto published in the _National_ newspaper organized a +noisy demonstration in the streets, though forbidden in the +banquet-hall, the National Guard being called to arms by the +insurrection, and their services arranged beforehand. The convention was +clearly violated, and the legal appeal to the tribunals therefore +abandoned: the Revolution itself declared it would decide the question. +In such a situation, sorrowfully admitted by those who had negotiated +the evening before, the Government officially forbade the banquet. The +evening papers announced that the Deputies of the opposition had given +up the intention of being present, and therefore the proposed +manifestation was deprived of all importance. The revolutionary leaders +in their turn declared that the banquet would not take place. + +Disappointment increasing their irritation, the parliamentary +opposition, in a momentary resistance, employed the remainder of their +strength. On February 22d fifty-two Deputies of the Left laid before the +Chamber a bill of impeachment against the Ministry, on account of their +home and foreign policy during the whole course of their Administration. +"What would you have them do?" said to Guizot an old member of the +opposition who had no share whatever in this act. "They have just +rendered the banquet abortive by declaring they would not attend it, and +felt compelled to do something to compensate for and to some extent +redeem that refusal." + +Weakness has a constraining power difficult to understand, which is not +foreseen even by those who give way to it; and of this the history of +the Revolution of 1848 offers an eloquent and melancholy example. + +The King, as well as his ministers, still hoped that the crisis had +passed, and that the disorder avoided on the occasion of the banquet +should not reappear under any pretext. The display of military forces +which had been agreed upon and prepared was ordered to be suspended; +instructions to arrest the Republican leaders were issued slowly and in +but few instances. Yet a secret agitation was indicated in several parts +of the capital; there were numerous crowds; on the morning of the 23rd +several _corps-de-garde_ were attacked. As the fermentation increased, +the streets were crowded with idle workmen; people collected in knots +from curiosity, or stood at their doors. The storm was in the air, +evident both to those who dreaded it and those who were preparing to +make use of it. + +Meanwhile the appeal of the revolutionary leaders to the National Guard +had been listened to. Many of the Parisian shopkeepers took part in the +"reform movement," without well understanding it, and marched under the +orders of their dangerous allies. Several detachments of the Seventh, +Third, Second, and Tenth Legions appeared in the streets, some in the +Faubourg St. Antoine, others marching to the Palais Royal, or the office +of the _National_ in the Rue le Peletier, and others in the students' +quarter shouting "Long live reform!" in every street. When General +Jacqueminot, the Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard, ordered a +general muster of the legions, a large number of the guards, respectable +and law-abiding men, did not answer to the summons. They had no desire +for a revolution or reform forced from the legal powers by insurrection, +but they shrunk from entering upon a struggle with soldiers wearing +their own uniform and influenced apparently by reasonable motives. They +remained in their homes dejected and anxious. + +The King was as dejected as the Parisian citizens, and still more +anxious. For several months he had frequently fallen into very low +spirits, which was attributed to his grief at the death of his only +sister, Madame Adelaide of Orleans, whose life had been always +intimately associated with his, and who had just expired (December, +1847). His most intimate friends urged him to charm away the crisis by +changing his Ministry. He still resisted, but every hour less +vigorously. The Cabinet was not even informed of his perplexities. +"Concessions forced by violence from all the legal powers are not a +means of safety," said Duchatel; "one defeat would quickly bring a +second. In the Revolution there was not much time between that of June +20th and August 10th, and to-day things advance more quickly than in +those times. Events, like travellers, now go by steam." + +The truth, however, was now becoming manifest, both in the King's mind +as to the tendency of his ideas, and in the eyes of his ministers as to +the determination now being formed in the palace. By the very statement +of the question it was resolved upon. Guizot and Duchatel thus expressed +it to the King: "It is for your Majesty to decide. The Cabinet is ready +either to defend to the last the King and conservative policy which we +profess, or to accept without a murmur the King's determination to call +other men to power. At present, more than ever, in order to continue the +struggle successfully, the Cabinet has need of the King's decided +support. As soon as the public should learn, as they inevitably must, +that the King hesitates, the Cabinet would lose all moral influence and +be unable to accomplish their task." The King seemed still in +perplexity, and said he should prefer to abdicate. "You cannot say that, +my dear," replied the Queen, who was present at the interview with the +Dukes of Nemours and Montpensier; "you belong to France, and not to +yourself." + +"That is true," said the King, as Louis XVI had formerly said to +Malesherbes; "I am more unfortunate than the ministers, I cannot +resign." The ministers then in King Louis Philippe's Cabinet had not +resigned. The King, having made his decision, said, "It is with the +keenest regret that I separate myself from you, but necessity and the +safety of the monarchy demand this sacrifice. My will gives way; much +time will be needed to regain the ground I am about to lose." There were +tears in many eyes. The King sent for Mole, and Guizot himself announced +to the Chamber of Deputies the change of the Ministry. + +There was much of astonishment and sorrow in the parliamentary majority, +always strongly attached to the leaders they had so long followed in +spite of occasional vagaries and good-natured weakness. The imminence of +a great danger engrossed their minds, together with the consciousness of +a great defeat. The anxiety of the Chambers was reechoed in the +Tuileries; and for the last time the ministers assembled there, anxious +at that last moment of their power to maintain order, now everywhere +threatened. Count Mole was laboriously occupied in the formation of a +cabinet. "To think that this resolution was formed in a quarter of an +hour!" exclaimed the King when engaged with Jayr in some administrative +details. + +The excitement was great in the palace, but still greater in the +streets, being skilfully kept up by several insurrectionist leaders, and +spontaneously arising among the reckless portion of the populace, who +are easily influenced by revolutionary clamors. Increased by those +assembling from curiosity or idleness, the crowds in the squares and +boulevards assumed alarming proportions. All at once, opposite the +Foreign Office, there was heard, about nine o'clock in the evening, one +of those fatal explosions, whether accidental or premeditated, which +history often records as the origin of great popular risings. + +The soldiers, who till then had remained motionless and patient, thought +they were attacked, and fired in their turn. Several persons fell, some +dead, others wounded, and some were knocked down and trodden under foot. +The greatest disorder, caused both by alarm and indignation, broke out +in the whole neighborhood. Then was the moment of action for the keen +and determined insurgents. A cart which happened to be there was +immediately loaded with the corpses and drawn through the streets, from +one newspaper office to another, in the most populous quarters, with +shouts of "Vengeance! To arms! Down with Guizot! The head of Guizot!" By +daybreak Paris was covered with barricades. + +Mole having failed in his efforts to form a Cabinet, the King sent for +Thiers. For the last time he claimed the devotion of his old ministers. +"I must have immediately a military chief--an experienced chief," he +said. "I have sent for Bugeaud, but I wish M. Thiers to find him +appointed. Will you grant me this further service?" Duchatel, and +General Trezel, on the previous evening still Minister of War, signed +without hesitation Marshal Bugeaud's appointment as Commander-in-Chief +of the National Guard and the Army. It was three o'clock in the morning. +"It is somewhat late to set to work," said the Marshal; "but I have +never been beaten, and shall not make a beginning to-morrow. Let me act, +and fire the cannon; there will be some bloodshed, but to-morrow evening +the strength will be on the side of law, and the factious will have had +their account settled." + +The day had not yet dawned when the Marshal was reviewing his forces. He +found them demoralized, having for sixty hours remained motionless +before the mob, with their feet in the mud, and their knapsacks on their +backs, allowing the rioters to attack the Municipal Guard, burn the +sentry-boxes, cut down the trees, break the street-lamps, and harangue +the soldiers. They were moreover badly supplied with provisions and +ammunition. The energetic language of their new commander, and the +precise orders which he gave for the march of the columns, inspired the +soldiers with fresh life and courage. The movements indicated had +already begun to be executed, and the troops were taking position; but +the crowds again filled the streets, and at several points the soldiers +were prevented from marching. One of the generals at the head of a +column sent to tell Bugeaud that he was face to face with an enormous +body of men, badly armed, who made no attack upon him, but only shouted, +"Long live reform! Long live the army! Down with Guizot!" "Order them to +disperse," replied the Marshal; "if they do not obey, use force, and act +with resolution." + +There was no fighting on either side. The staff were besieged by the +entreaties of a crowd of respectable men, who in terror and +consternation conjured Bugeaud to withdraw the troops because they +excited the anger of the populace, and leave to the National Guard the +duty of appeasing the insurrection. The danger of such counsel was +obvious, and the Marshal paid no attention to it, till Thiers and Odilon +Barrot, who had just accepted office, came to the staff with the same +advice, and it therefore became an order. The Marshal at first refused +the ministers as he had done the citizens, and then the same order was +sent by the King. "I must have a government," the Marshal had recently +said; and, as he was now without the government, which thus relaxed the +resistance agreed upon, he in his turn gave way. His instructions for +retreat were thus given to his officers: "By order of the King and +ministers, you will fall back upon the Tuileries. Make your retreat with +an imposing attitude, and if you are attacked, turn round, take the +offensive, and act according to my instructions given this morning." + +Meanwhile the formation of the Ministry was posted up everywhere. A +mixed crowd carried Odilon Barrot in triumph to the Home Office, which +Guizot and Duchatel had just left. Those round him shouted, "Long live +the father of the people!" but most of the notices posted up were torn. +At the moment when the new ministers were about to leave Bugeaud's staff +on horseback in order to pass through the city, Horace Vernet, the +artist, arrived out of breath. "Don't let M. Thiers go," said he to the +Marshal. "I have just passed through the mob, and they are so furious +against him that I am certain they would cut him in pieces!" Odilon +Barrot presented himself alone to the crowd, but was powerless to calm +the fury he had assisted in unchaining. "Thiers is no longer possible, +and I am scarcely so," said he on his return to the staff. The King on +one occasion showed himself in the court of the Tuileries, when +reviewing several battalions of the National Guard. There were some +shouts of "Long live the King!" but the most numerous were "Long live +reform! Down with Guizot!" + +"You have the reform; and M. Guizot is no longer a minister!" said the +King; and on the shouts being again repeated, he returned to the palace. +The palace also was thronged with a confused crowd, animated by various +feelings and agitated by evident fears or secret hopes. Some urged the +King to abdicate in favor of the Comte de Paris; others vigorously +opposed such a relinquishment of power in presence of the insurrection. +The great mind of Queen Marie-Amelie was displayed in all the simplicity +of its heroism. "Mount on horseback, sire," said she, "and I shall give +you my blessing." She had recently urged the King to change his Cabinet; +a very kind message, intrusted for Guizot to one of his most intimate +friends, at the same time proved her regret. + +The King sat at his writing-table, agitated and perplexed. He had begun +to write his abdication, when Marshal Bugeaud entered, having just +learned what was taking place in the Tuileries, and excited by the sound +of some shooting which had already begun. "It is too late, sire," said +he; "your abdication would complete the demoralization of the troops. +Your Majesty can hear the shooting. There is nothing left but to fight." +The Queen seconded this advice, and Piscatory and several others were of +the same opinion. The King rose without finishing his writing, and then +other voices were raised to insist upon the King's promise. He sat down +again, wrote and signed his abdication. By this time the troops had +received orders to fall back, and Marshal Gerard took the place of +Bugeaud as commandant-general. The columns were marched toward the +barracks, and there was no detachment around the Palais-Bourbon, where +the same disorder reigned, and the same efforts were made in vain. + +The Duchesse d'Orleans presented herself before the Chamber of Deputies +as soon as the abdication of the King was known. The Duc de Nemours +accompanied her, leading the Comte de Paris by the hand; and the Duc de +Chartres, who was weak and ill, was wrapped up in a mantle and leaned on +Ary Scheffer's arm. Before joining the Princess at the gate of the +Chamber the Duc de Nemours had, with his brother the Duc de Montpensier, +seen the King, their father, take his melancholy departure, to escape +the insurrection, against which he could not make up his mind to use +force. + +The Duchesse d'Orleans already knew that depriving the King of the crown +was not giving it to her son. Her natural courage, however, and her +maternal affection induced her to make every effort to secure the throne +for the prince of nine years whom the nation had already intrusted to +her keeping. She had seen the Tuileries invaded before leaving that hall +where her husband's portrait by Ingres seemed to preside over her son's +destinies. "It is here one ought to die," she said, when Dupin and +Grammont came to conduct her to the Chamber. Odilon Barret had gone to +bring her, and succeeded in finding her in the Palais-Bourbon. The crowd +showed sympathy for her, and made room respectfully, though she and her +small retinue had difficulty in getting within the palace, every passage +being crowded. The Duchess stood near the tribune holding her two boys +close to her. After Dupin announced the King's abdication, Barrot, after +presenting the legal instrument, asked the Chamber to proclaim at once +the young King and the regency of Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans. + +Shouts of protest were heard on several benches. "It is too late!" +exclaimed Lamartine, as he went to the tribune, eager to urge this +difficulty, reject the regency, and demand a provisional government so +that the bloodshed might be stopped. Some others were already mentioning +the word "Republic." The crowd were gradually pouring into the Chamber +from the corriders, and Sauzet, the President, requested strangers to +withdraw, and made a special appeal to the Duchess herself. "Sir, this +is a royal sitting!" she replied; and when her friends urged her, "If I +leave this Chamber, my son will no more return to it." A few minutes +before her arrival, Thiers had entered the Chamber in the greatest +agitation. "The tide is rising, rising, rising!" he said to those who +crowded round him, and then disappeared. Several voices were heard +together in confusion; among the speakers were La Rochejacquelein, +Ledru-Rollin, Marie, and Berryer. + +The Duchess had been conducted to a gallery, on account of the threats +of the insurgent battalions, who burst open the doors after General +Gourgaud had in vain tried to stop them. Armand Marrast, one of the +editors of the _National_, after looking at the invaders, said: "These +are the sham public; I shall call the real!" A few minutes afterward +shots were heard in the court of the palace; the posts in the hands of +the National Guard opened before the triumphant mob, who, after sacking +the Tuileries, hurried up against the expiring remnants of the monarchy. +The Duchesse d'Orleans had already twice offered to speak, but her voice +was drowned in the tumult. The newcomers, stained with blood and +blackened with gunpowder, with dishevelled hair and bare arms, climbed +on the benches, stairs, and galleries; and in every part were shouts of +"Down with the regency! Long live the Republic! Turn out the +'Contents'!" Sauzet put on his hat, but a workman knocked it off, and +then the President disappeared. + +Several of the Deputies rushed to the gallery, where the Duchess was +still exposed to the looks and threats of the insurgents. "There is +nothing more to be done here, madam," they urged: "we must go to the +President's house, to form a new chamber." She took the arm of Jules de +Lasteyrie; and on her sons being separated from her in the narrow +passages, she showed the greatest anxiety, crying, "My boys! my boys!" +At one time the Comte de Paris was seized by a workman in a blouse; but +one of the National Guard took him out of his hands, and the child was +passed from one to another till he rejoined his mother. No one knew what +had become of the Duc de Chartres; but he was brought to the Invalides, +where the Princess went for refuge; and in the evening, after nightfall, +the mother and sons withdrew from Paris, and soon after from France. +"To-morrow, or ten years hence," said the Duchesse d'Orleans as she left +the Invalides, "a word, a sign will bring me back." Afterward in exile +she frequently said, "When the thought crosses my mind that I may never +again see France, I feel my heart breaking." + +Wanderers and fugitives across their kingdom, after kneeling for the +last time beside the tomb of their children at Dreux, and asking the +hospitality of some friends who were still faithful, and without a +single attempt to recover the crown they had lost, King Louis Philippe +and Queen Marie-Amelie at last reached the seacoast, and set sail toward +England, that safe and well-known refuge of unfortunate princes. + +Thunderstruck like them, and at their wits' end, the most faithful of +their servants and partisans waited for some sign authorizing them to +protest against the unparalleled surprise to which France had been +subjected. The fugitive King made no protest. His sons quietly followed +him into exile. Those who were serving France abroad learned at the same +time the news of their fall and the rise of a new power, and thought it +their duty to bow to the national will, resolving that not a single drop +of French blood should be shed in their cause. + + + + +(1848) REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS IN GERMANY, C. Edmund Maurice + + +Popular demonstrations in various parts of Germany in the great +revolutionary year 1848 were no doubt partly due to the outbreaks in +France and elsewhere, but it is also apparent that discontent at home +had been long turning the people toward revolt. The agitation that began +in March--the month following the "February Revolution" and the +declaration of a republic in France--was the work of a patriotic party +that cherished not only aspirations for extending popular rights in the +several States, but also a prophetic desire for German unity. + +The Congress of Vienna (1815) attempted to adjust the balance of power +in Europe. Some sort of union for the States was imperatively required +by the general situation, but there was fear of making Germany too +strong. The Congress created the German Confederation, constituted by a +union of independent States, under the hegemony or political headship of +Austria. This confederation (_bund_) lacked strength in the Central +Government, and although it reduced the number of States from more than +three hundred to thirty-nine, it still perpetuated elements of +unwieldiness and discord. At the head of the Austrian Government, as +chief minister of the Emperor Ferdinand I, was Metternich, who for many +years had been the great reactionary leader of Europe. He was compelled +now to face conditions such as, in his long and varied career of +statecraft and diplomacy, he never had confronted. Ferdinand himself, +always a weak ruler, succumbed to the revolution provoked by his +minister, whose downfall was followed by the Emperor's abdication +(December 2, 1848) in favor of his nephew, Francis Joseph, the present +ruler of Austria. + +The most interesting of the German struggles of 1848 was that in Saxony. +Robert Blum [Footnote: Blum, born at Cologne in 1807, was a writer and +an agitator, leader of the Liberal party in Saxony. He was executed in +November, 1848.--ED.] was present at a ball in Leipsic when the news +arrived of the French revolution. He at once hastened to consult his +friends; and they agreed to act through the Town Council of Leipsic, and +sketched out the demands that they desired should be laid before the +King. These were: "A reorganization of the constitution of the German +Bund in the spirit and in accordance with the needs of the times, for +which the way is to be prepared by the unfettering of the press, and the +summoning of representatives of all German peoples to the Assembly of +the Bund." The Town Council adopted this address on March 1st, and sent +a deputation with it to Dresden; and, on the 3d, the people gathered to +meet the deputation on its return. The following is the account given by +the son of Robert Blum: + +"By anonymous placards on the wall the population of Leipsic was +summoned on the evening of March 3d to meet at the railway station the +deputation returning from Dresden. Since the space was too narrow in +this place, the innumerable mass marched to the market-place, which, as +well as the neighboring streets, they completely filled. In perfect +silence the thousands awaited here the arrival of the deputation, which, +at last, toward nine o'clock, arrived and was greeted with unceasing +applause. Town Councillor Seeburg spoke first of the deep emotion of the +King; after him spoke Biedermann. But the crowd uproariously demanded +Robert Blum. + +"At last Blum appeared on the balcony of the Town Council House. His +voice alone controlled the whole market-place, and was even heard in the +neighboring streets. He too sought, by trying to quiet them, to turn +them away from the subject of the address and of the King's answer. But +the people broke uproariously into his speech with the demand, 'The +answer! The answer!' It could no longer be concealed that the petitions +of the town had received harsh rejection. Then came a loud and +passionate murmur. The masses had firmly hoped that the deputation would +bring with them from Dresden the news of the dismissal of the hated +ministers. + +"But Blum continued his speech, and they renewed their attention to him. +'In constitutional countries,' said he, 'it is not the King, but the +ministers who are responsible. They, too, bear the responsibility of the +rejection of the Leipsic proposals. The people must press for their +removal.' He added that he would bring forward in the next meeting of +the town representatives the proposal that the King should dismiss the +Ministry, 'which does not possess the confidence of the people.' Amid +shouts of exultation and applause, the appeased assembly dispersed." + +Blum was as successful with his colleagues as with the crowd; and the +Town Council now demanded from the King the dismissal of his ministers, +the meeting of the Assembly, and freedom of the press. The King tried to +resist the last of these three proposals, pleading his duty to the Bund. +But even the Bundestag had felt the spirit of the times, and on March +1st had passed a resolution giving leave to every government to abolish +the censorship of the press. The King seemed to yield, and promised to +fulfil all that was wished; but the reactionary party in Dresden had +become alarmed at the action of the men of Leipsic; and so, on March +11th, when the men of Leipsic supposed that all was granted, General von +Carlowitz entered their city at the head of a strong force, and demanded +that the Town Council should abstain from exciting speeches; that the +Elocution Union should give up all political discussion; that the +processions of people should cease; and above all, that the march from +Leipsic to Dresden, which was believed to be then intended, should be +given up. + +These demands were met by Blum with an indignant protest. "Five men," +said he, "who manage the army cannot understand that, though their +bullets may kill men, they cannot make a single hole in the idea that +rules the world." The town councillors of Leipsic were equally firm. +Carlowitz abandoned his attempt as hopeless; and on March 13th the King +summoned a Liberal Ministry which abolished press censorship, granted +publicity of legal proceedings, trial by jury, and a wider basis for the +Saxon Parliament, and promised to assist in the reform of the Bund. + +In the mean time the success of the French revolution had awakened new +hopes in Vienna. Soon after the arrival of the news, a placard appeared +on one of the city gates bearing the words: "In a month Prince +Metternich will be overthrown! Long live Constitutional Austria!" +Metternich himself was greatly alarmed, and began to listen to proposals +for extending the power of the Lower Austrian Estates. Yet he still +hoped by talking over and discussing these matters to delay the +execution of reforms till a more favorable turn in affairs should render +them either harmless or unnecessary. + +But great as was the alarm caused by the South German risings, and great +as were the hopes which they kindled in the Viennese, the word that was +to give definiteness and importance to the impulses that were stirring +in Vienna could not come from Bavaria or Saxony. Much as they might wish +to connect themselves with a German movement, the Viennese could not get +rid of the fact that they were, for the present, bound up with a +different political system. Nor was it wholly clear that the German +movement was as yet completely successful. The King of Prussia seemed to +be meditating a reactionary policy and had even threatened to despatch +troops to put down the Saxon Liberals; and the King of Hanover also was +disposed to resist the movement for a German Parliament. It was from a +country more closely bound up with the Viennese Government, and yet +enjoying traditions of more deeply rooted liberty, that the utterance +was to come which was eventually to rouse the Viennese to action. + +The readiness of the nobles to accept the purely verbal concession +offered by Metternich in the matter of the "Administrators" had shown +Kossuth [Footnote: Louis Kossuth, the famous leader of the Hungarian +insurrection of 1848, was at this time about forty-six years of age. The +sovereignty of Hungary had been in the hands of the Hapsburgs since +1687.--ED.] that there could be no further peace. But he still knew how +and when to strike the blow; and it was not by armed insurrection so +much as by the declaration of a policy that he shook the rule of +Metternich. On March 3d a Conservative member of the Presburg Assembly +brought forward a motion for inquiry into the Austrian bank-notes. +Kossuth answered that the confusion in the affairs of Austrian commerce +produced an evil effect on Hungarian finances; and he showed the need of +an independent Finance Ministry for Hungary. Then he went on to point +out that this same confusion extended to other parts of the monarchy. + +"The actual cause of the breaking up of peace in the monarchy, and of +all the evils which may possibly follow from it, lies in the system of +government." He admitted that it was hard for those who had been brought +up under this system to consent to its destruction. "But," he went on, +"the people lasts forever, and we wish also that the country of the +people should last forever. Forever too should last the splendor of that +dynasty whose representatives we reckon as our rulers. In a few days the +men of the past will descend into their graves; but for that scion of +the House of Hapsburg who excites such great hopes, for the Archduke +Francis Joseph, who at his first coming forward earned the love of the +nation--for him there waits the inheritance of a splendid throne which +derives its strength from freedom. Toward a dynasty which bases itself +on the freedoms of its people's enthusiasm will always be roused; for it +is only the freeman who can be faithful from his heart; for a +bureaucracy there can be no enthusiasm." + +He then urged that the future of the dynasty depended on the hearty +union between the nations which lived under it. "This union," he said, +"can be brought about only by respecting the nationalities, and by that +bond of constitutionalism which can produce a kindred feeling. The +bureau and the bayonet are miserable bonds." He then went on to +apologize for not examining the difficulties between Hungary and +Croatia. The solution of the difficulties of the empire would, he held, +solve the Croatian question too. If it did not, he promised to consider +that question with sympathy, and examine it in all its details. He +concluded by proposing an address to the Emperor which should point out +that it was the want of constitutional life in the whole empire which +hindered the progress of Hungary; and that, while an independent +government and a separate responsible ministry were absolutely essential +to Hungary, it was also necessary that the Emperor should surround his +throne, in all matters of the Government, with such constitutional +arrangements as were indispensably demanded by the needs of the time. + +This utterance has been called the "Baptismal Speech of the Revolution." +Coming as it did directly after the news of the French revolution, it +gave a definiteness to the growing demands for freedom; but it did more +than this. Metternich had cherished a growing hope that the demand for +constitutional government in Vienna might be gradually used to crush out +the independent position of Hungary, by absorbing the Hungarians in a +common Austrian parliament; and he had looked upon a Croatian question +as a means for still further weakening the power of the Hungarian Diet. +Kossuth's speech struck a blow at these hopes by declaring that freedom +for any part of the empire could be obtained only by working for the +freedom of the whole; he swept aside for the moment those national and +provincial jealousies which were the great strength of the Austrian +despotism, and appealed to all the Liberals of the empire to unite +against the system which was oppressing them all. Had Kossuth remained +true to the faith which he proclaimed in this speech, it is within the +limits of probability that the whole Revolution of 1848-1849 might have +had a different result. + +The Hungarian chancellor, Mailath, was so alarmed at Kossuth's speech +that he hindered the setting out of the deputation which was to have +presented the address to the Emperor. But he could not prevent the +speech from producing its effect. Although Presburg was only six hours' +journey from Vienna, the route had been made so difficult that the news +of anything done in the Hungarian Diet had hitherto reached Vienna in a +roundabout manner, and had sometimes been a week on its way. + +The news of this speech, however, arrived on the very next day; and +Kossuth's friend Pulszky immediately translated it into German and +circulated it among the Viennese. A rumor of its contents had spread +before the actual speech. It was said that Kossuth had declared war +against the system of government, and that he had said state bankruptcy +was inevitable. But as the news became more definite the minds of the +Viennese fixed upon two points--the denunciation of the men of the past, +and the demand for a constitution for Austria. So alarmed did the +Government become at the effect of this speech that they undertook to +answer it in an official paper. + +The writer of this answer called attention to the terrible scenes which +he said were being enacted in Paris, which proved according to him that +the only safety for the governed was in rallying round the government. +This utterance naturally excited only contempt and disgust; and the +ever-arriving news of new constitutions granted in Germany swelled the +enthusiasm which had been roused by Kossuth's speech. + +The movement still centred in the professors of the University. On March +1st Doctor Loehner had proposed, at one of the meetings of the Reading +and Debating Society, that negotiations should be opened with the +Estates, and that they should be urged to declare their Assembly +permanent, the country in danger, and Metternich a public enemy. This +proposal marked a definite step in constitutional progress. The Estates +of Lower Austria, which met in Vienna, had indeed from time to time +expressed their opinions on certain public grievances; but these +opinions had been generally disregarded by Francis and Metternich; and, +though the latter had of late talked of enlarging the powers of the +Estates, he had evidently intended such words partly as mere talk in +order to delay any efficient action, and partly as a bid against the +concessions which had been made by the King of Prussia. That the leaders +of a popular movement should suggest an appeal to the Estates of Lower +Austria was therefore an unexpected sign of a desire to find any legal +centre for action, however weak in power, and however aristocratic that +centre might be. + +Doctor Loehner's proposal, however, does not seem to have been generally +adopted; and, instead of the suggested appeal to the Estates, a +programme of eleven points was circulated by the debating society. When +we consider that the revolution broke out in less than a fortnight after +this petition, we cannot but be struck with the extreme moderation of +the demands now made. Most of the eleven points were concerned with +proposals for the removal either of forms of corruption, or of +restraints on personal liberty, and they were directed chiefly against +those interferences with the life and teaching of the universities which +were causing so much bitterness in Vienna. Such demands for +constitutional reforms as were contained in this programme were +certainly not of an alarming character. The petitioners asked that the +right of election to the Assembly of Estates should be extended to +citizens and peasants; that the deliberative powers of the Estates +should be enlarged; and that the whole empire should be represented in +an assembly, for which, however, the petitioners asked only a +consultative power. Perhaps the three demands in this petition which +would have excited the widest sympathy were those in favor of the +universal arming of the people, the universal right of petition, and the +abolition of the censorship. + +The expression of desire for reform now became much more general and +even some members of the Estates prepared an appeal to their colleagues +against the bureaucratic system. But the character and tone of the +utterances of these new reformers somewhat weakened the effect which had +been produced by the bolder complaints of the earlier leaders of the +movement, for while the students of the University and some of their +professors still showed a desire for bold and independent action, the +merchants caught eagerly at the sympathy of the Archduke Francis +Charles, while the booksellers addressed to the Emperor a petition in +which servility passes into blasphemy. + +These signs of weakness were no doubt observed by the Government; and it +was not wonderful that, under these circumstances, Metternich and +Kolowrat should have been able to persuade themselves that they could +still play with the Viennese, and put them off with promises which need +never be fulfilled. Archduke Louis alone seems to have foreseen the +coming storm, but was unable to persuade his colleagues to make military +preparations to meet it. In the mean time the movement among the +students was assuming more decided proportions; and their demands +related as usual to the great questions of freedom of speech, freedom of +the press, and freedom of teaching; and to these were added the demand +for popular representation, the justifications for which they drew from +Kossuth's speech of March 3d. + +But, while Hungary supplied the model of constitutional government, the +hope for a wider national life connected itself more and more with the +idea of a united Germany. Two days after the delivery of Kossuth's +speech an impulse had been given to this latter feeling by the meeting +at Heidelberg of the leading supporters of German unity; and they had +elected a committee of seven to prepare the way for a constituent +assembly at Frankfort. Of these seven, two came from Baden, one from +Wurtemberg, one from Hesse-Darmstadt, one from Prussia, one from +Bavaria, and one from Frankfort. Thus it will be seen that South Germany +still kept the lead in the movement for German unity; and the president +of the committee was that Izstein, of Baden, who had been known to +Germany chiefly by his ill-timed expulsion from Berlin. But, though this +distribution of power augured ill for the relations between the leaders +of the German movement and the King of Prussia, the meeting at +Heidelberg was not prepared to adopt the complete programme of the Baden +leaders, nor to commit itself to that Republican movement which would +probably have repelled the North German Liberals. + +The chief leader of the more moderate party in the meeting was Heinrich +von Gagern, the representative of Hesse-Darmstadt. + +Gagern was the son of a former minister of the Grand Duke of Nassau, who +had left that State to take service in Austria, and who had acted with +the Archduke John in planning a popular rising in the Tyrol in 1813. +Heinrich had been trained at a military school in Munich. He had +steadily opposed the policy of Metternich, had done his best to induce +the universities to co-operate in a common German movement, and had +tried to secure internal liberties for Hesse-Darmstadt, while he had +urged his countrymen to look for the model of a free constitution rather +to England and Hungary than to France. During the constitutional +movement of 1848 he had become Prime Minister of Hesse-Darmstadt; and he +seems to have had considerable power of winning popular confidence. +Although he was not able to commit the meeting to a definitely +monarchical policy, he had influence enough to counteract the attempts +of Struve and Hecker to carry a proposal for the proclamation of a +republic; and his influence increased during the later phases of the +movement. + +It was obvious that, in the state of Viennese feeling, a movement in +favor of German unity, at once so determined and so moderate in its +character, would give new impulse to the hopes for freedom already +excited by Kossuth's speech; and the action of the reformers now became +more vigorous because the students rather than the professors were +guiding the movement. Some of the latter, and particularly Professor +Hye, were beginning to be alarmed, and were attempting to hold their +pupils in check. This roused the distrust and suspicion of the students; +and it was with great difficulty that Professors Hye and Endlicher could +prevail on the younger leaders of the movement to abstain from action +until the professors had laid before the Emperor the desire of the +university for the removal of Metternich. This deputation waited on the +Emperor on March 12th, but it proved of little avail; and when the +professors returned with the answer that the Emperor would consider +their wishes, the students received them with laughter and resolved to +take the matter into their own hands. The next day was to be the opening +of the Assembly of the Estates of Lower Austria; and the students of +Vienna resolved to march from the University to the Landhaus. + +In the great hall of the University, now hidden away in an obscure part +of Vienna but still retaining traces of the paintings which then +decorated it, the students gathered in large numbers on March 13th. +Various rumors of a discouraging kind had been circulated; this and that +leading citizen were mentioned as having been arrested; nay, it was even +said that members of the Estates had themselves been seized, and that +the sitting of the Assembly would not be allowed to take place. To these +rumors were added the warnings of the professors. + +Fuester, who had recently preached on the duty of devotion to the cause +of the country, now endeavored, by praises of the Emperor, to check the +desire of the students for immediate action; but he was shouted down. + +Hye then appealed to them to wait a few days, in hopes of a further +answer from the Emperor. They answered with a shout that they would not +wait an hour; and then they raised the cry of "Landhaus!" Breaking loose +from all further restraint they set out on their march, and as they went +numbers gathered round them. The people of Vienna had already been +appealed to, by a placard on St. Stephen's Church, to free the good +Emperor Ferdinand from his enemies; and the placard further declared +that he who wished for the rise of Austria must wish for the fall of the +present ministers of state. + +The appeal produced its effect; and the crowd grew dense as the students +marched into the narrow Herren Gasse. They passed under the archway +which led into the courtyard of the Landhaus; there, in front of the +very building where the Assembly was sitting, they came to a dead halt; +and, with the strange hesitation which sometimes comes over crowds, no +man seemed to know what was next to be done. Suddenly in the pause which +followed, the words "_Meine Herren_" were heard from a corner of the +crowd. It was evident that some one was trying to address them; and the +students nearest to the speaker hoisted him upon their shoulders. Then +the crowd saw a quiet-looking man, with a round, strong head, +short-cropped hair, and a thick beard. Each man eagerly asked his +neighbor who this could be; and, as the speech proceeded, the news went +round that this was Doctor Fischhof, a man who had been very little +known beyond medical circles and hitherto looked upon as quite outside +political movements. Such was the speaker who now uttered what is still +remembered as the "first free word" in Vienna. + +He began by dwelling on the importance of the day and on the need of +"encouraging the men who sit there," pointing to the Landhaus, "by our +appeal to them, of strengthening them by our adherence, and leading them +to the desired end by our cooeperation in action. He," exclaimed +Fischhof, "who has no courage on such a day as this is only fit for the +nursery." He then proceeded to dwell at some length on the need for +freedom of the press and trial by jury. Then, catching, as it were, the +note of Kossuth's speech of March 3d, he went on to speak of the +greatness which Austria might attain by combining together "the idealist +Germans, the steady, industrious, and persevering Slavs, the knightly +and enthusiastic Magyars, the clever and sharp-sighted Italians." +Finally he called upon them to demand freedom of the press, freedom of +religion, freedom of teaching and learning, a responsible ministry, +representation of the people, arming of the people, and connection with +Germany. + +In the mean time the Estates were sitting within. They had gathered in +unusually large numbers, being persuaded by their President that they +were bound to resist the stream of opinion. Representatives as they were +of the privileged classes, they had little sympathy with the movement +that was going on in Vienna. Nor does it appear that there was anyone +among them who was disposed to play the part of a Confalonieri or +Szechenyi, much less of a Mirabeau or a Lafayette. Many of them had +heard rumors of the coming deputation; but Montecuccoli, their +President, refused to begin the proceedings before the regular hour. +While they were still debating this point they heard the rush of the +crowd outside; then the sudden silence, and then Fischhof's voice. +Several members were seized with a panic and desired to adjourn. Again +Montecuccoli refused to yield, and one of their Liberal members urged +them to take courage from the fact of this deputation to make stronger +demands on the Government. + +But before the Assembly could decide to act the crowd outside had taken +sterner measures. The speakers who immediately followed Fischhof had +made little impression; then another doctor, named Goldmark, sprang up +and urged the people to break into the Landhaus. So, before the leaders +of the Estates had decided what action to take, the doors were suddenly +burst open, and Fischhof entered at the head of the crowd. He announced +that he had come to encourage the Estates in their deliberations, and to +ask them to sanction the demands embodied in the petition of the people. +Montecuccoli assured the deputation that the Emperor had already +promised to summon the Provincial Assemblies to Vienna, and that, for +their part, the Estates of Lower Austria were in favor of progress. +"But," he added, "they must have room and opportunity to deliberate." +Fischhof assented to this suggestion, and persuaded his followers to +withdraw to the courtyard. But those who had remained behind had been +seized with a fear of treachery, and a cry arose that Fischhof had been +arrested. Thereupon Fischhof showed himself, with Montecuccoli, on the +balcony; and the President promised that the Estates would send a +deputation of their own to the Emperor to express to him the wishes of +the people. He therefore invited the crowd to choose twelve men, to be +present at the deliberations of the Estates during the drawing up of the +petition. While the election of these twelve was still going on, a +Hungarian student appeared with the German translation of Kossuth's +speech. The Hungarian's voice being too weak to make itself heard, he +handed the speech to a Tyrolese student, who read it to the crowd. The +allusion to the need of a constitution was received with loud applause, +and so also was the expression of the hopes for good from the Archduke +Francis Joseph. + +But however much the reading of the speech had encouraged the hopes of +the crowd, it had also given time for the Estates to decide on a course +without waiting for the twelve representatives of the people; and, +before the crowd had heard the end of Kossuth's speech the reading was +interrupted by a message from the Estates announcing the contents of +their proposed petition. The petition had shrunk to the meagre demand +that a report on the condition of the state bank should be laid before +the Estates, and that a committee should be chosen from Provincial +Assemblies to consider timely reforms and to take a share in +legislation. + +The feeble character of the proposed compromise roused a storm of scorn +and rage; and a Moravian student tore the message of the Estates into +pieces. The conclusion of Kossuth's speech roused the people to still +further excitement; and, with cries for a free constitution, for union +with Germany, and against alliance with Russia, the crowd once more +broke into the Assembly. + +One of the leading students then demanded of Montecuccoli whether this +was the whole of the petition they intended to send to the Emperor. +Montecuccoli answered that the Estates had been so disturbed in their +deliberations that they had not been able to come to a final decision. +But he declared that they desired to lay before the Emperor all the +wishes of the people. + +Again the leaders of the crowd repeated, in slightly altered form, the +demands originally formulated by Fischhof. At last, after considerable +discussion, Montecuccoli was preparing to start for the Castle at the +head of the Estates when a regiment of soldiers arrived, but they were +unable to make their way through the crowd, and were even pressed back +out of the Herren Gasse. + +The desire now arose for better protection for the people; and a +deputation tried to persuade the burgomaster of Vienna to call out the +City Guard. Czapka, the burgomaster, was, however, a mere tool of the +Government; and he declared that the Archduke Albert, as +Commander-in-Chief of the Army, had alone the power of calling out the +guard. The Archduke Albert was, perhaps next to Louis, the most +unpopular of the royal house. He indignantly refused to listen to any +demands of the people, and, hastening to the spot, rallied the soldiers +and led them to the open space at the corner of the Herren Gasse, which +is known as the "Freyung." The inner circle of Vienna was at this time +surrounded with walls, outside of which were the large suburbs in which +chiefly workmen lived. + +The students seem already to have gained some sympathy with the workmen; +and for the previous two years the discontent caused by the sufferings +of the poorer classes had been taking a more directly political turn. +Several of the workmen had pressed in with the students in the morning +into the inner town, and some big men, with rough darned coats and dirty +caps over their ears, were seen clenching their fists for the fight. The +news quickly spread to the suburbs that the soldiers were about to +attack the people. Seizing long poles and any iron tools which came to +hand, the workmen rushed forward to the gates of the inner town. In one +district they found the town gates closed against them, and cannon +placed on the bastion near; but in others the authorities were +unprepared; and the workmen burst into the inner town, tearing down +stones and plaster to throw at the soldiers. + +In the mean time the representatives of the Estates had reached the +Castle, and were trying to persuade the authorities to yield to the +demands of the people. Metternich persisted in believing that the whole +affair was moved by foreign influence, and particularly by Italians and +Swiss; and he desired that the soldiers should gather in the Castle, and +that Prince Windischgraetz should be appointed commandant of the city. +Alfred Windischgraetz was a Bohemian nobleman who had previously been +known chiefly for his strong aristocratic feeling, which he was said to +have embodied in the expression "Human beings begin at barons." But he +had been marked out by Metternich as a man of vigor and decision who +might be trusted to act in an emergency. + +Latour, who had been the previous commandant of the Castle in Vienna, +showed signs of hesitation at this crisis; and this gave Metternich the +excuse for dismissing Latour and appointing Windischgraetz in his place. +To this arrangement all the ruling council consented; but, when Archduke +Louis and Metternich proposed to make Windischgraetz military dictator +of the city, and to allow him to bring out cannon for firing on the +people, great opposition arose. The Archduke John was perhaps one of the +few councillors who really sympathized with Liberal ideas; but several +of the Archdukes, and particularly Francis Charles, heartily desired the +fall of Metternich; and Kolowrat shared their wish. This combined +opposition of sincere reformers and jealous courtiers hindered +Metternich's policy; and it was decided that the City Guard should first +be called out, and that the dictatorship of Windischgraetz should be +kept in reserve as a last resource. + +In the mean time the struggle on the streets was raging fiercely. +Archduke Albert had found to his cost that the insurrection was not, as +he had supposed, the work of a few discontented men. The students fought +gallantly; but a still fiercer element was contributed to the +insurrection by the workmen who had come in from the suburbs. One +workman was wounded in his head, his arm, and his foot; but he continued +to encourage his friends, and cried out that he cared nothing for life; +either he would die that day, or else "the high gentlemen should be +overthrown." Another who had had no food since the morning entreated for +a little refreshment that he might be able to fight the better; and he +quickly returned to the struggle. In those suburbs from which the +workmen had not been able to break into the inner town, the insurrection +threatened to assume the form of an attack on the employers. Machines +were destroyed, and the houses of those employers who had lowered wages +were set on fire. + +It was this aspect of the insurrection which encouraged the nobles to +believe that, by calling out the guard, they would induce the richer +citizens to take arms against the workmen; and this policy was carried +still further when, on the application of the rector of the University, +the students also were allowed the privilege of bearing arms. But the +ruse entirely failed; the people recognized the City Guard as their +friends, and refused to attack them; and the rumor soon spread that the +police had fired on the City Guard. It was now evident that the citizen +soldiers were on the side of the people; and the richer citizens sent a +deputation to entreat that Metternich should be dismissed. + +But the Archduke Maximilian was resolved that, as the first expedient +proposed by the Council had failed, he would now apply some of those +more violent remedies which had been postponed at first. He therefore +ordered that the cannon should be brought down from the Castle to the +Michaelerplatz. From this point the cannon would have commanded, on the +one side the Herren Gasse, where the crowd had gathered in the morning, +and in front the Kohlmarkt, which led to the wide street of Amgraben. +Had the cannon been fired then and there, the course of the insurrection +must, in one way or other, have been changed. That change might have +been as Maximilian hoped, the complete collapse of the insurrection; or, +as Latour held, the cannon might have swept away the last vestige of +loyalty to the Emperor, and the republic might have been instantly +proclaimed. But in any case the result must have been most disastrous to +the cause both of order and liberty; for the passions which had already +been roused, especially among the workmen, could hardly have failed to +produce one of those savage struggles which may overthrow one tyranny, +but which usually end in the establishment of another. Fortunately, +however, the Archduke Maximilian seems to have had no official authority +in this matter; and, when he gave the order to fire, the master-gunner, +a Bohemian named Pollett, declared that he would not obey the order, +unless it was given by the commander of the forces or the commander of +the town. The Archduke then appealed to the subordinates to fire, in +spite of this opposition; but Pollett placed himself in front of the +cannon and exclaimed: "The cannon are under my command; until there +comes an order from my commander, and until necessity obliges it, let no +one fire on friendly unarmed citizens. Only over my body shall you +fire." The Archduke retired in despair. + +In the mean time the deputation of citizens had reached the Castle. At +first the officials were disposed to treat them angrily, and even tried +to detain them by force; but the news of the concession of arms to the +students, the urgent pressure of Archduke John, and the accounts of the +growing fury of the people finally decided Metternich to yield; and, +advancing into the room where the civic deputation was assembled, he +declared that as they had said his resignation would bring peace to +Austria he now resigned his office, and wished good luck to the new +government. Many of the royal family and of the other members of the +Council flattered themselves that they had got rid of a formidable enemy +without making any definite concession to the people. Windischgraetz +alone protested against the abandonment of Metternich by the rulers of +Austria. + +Metternich had hoped to retire quietly to his own villa, but it had been +already burned in the insurrection; and he soon found that it was safer +to fly from Vienna and eventually to take refuge in England. He had, +however, one consolation in all his misfortunes. In the memoir written +four years later he expressed his certainty that he at least had done no +wrong, and that if he had to begin his career again, he would follow the +same course he took before, and would not deviate from it for an +instant. + +When, at half-past eight in the evening of March 13th, men went through +the streets of Vienna, crying out "Metternich is fallen!" it seemed as +if the march of the students and the petition of Fischhof had produced +in one day all the results desired. But neither the suspicions of the +people nor the violent intentions of the princes were at an end. The +archdukes still talked of making Windischgraetz dictator of Vienna. The +workmen still raged in the suburbs; and the students refused to leave +the University for fear an attack should be made upon it. But in spite +of the violence of the workmen the leaders of the richer citizens were +more and more determined to make common cause with reformers. Indeed +both they and the students hoped to check the violence of the riots, +while they prevented any reactionary movement. The Emperor also was on +the side of concession. He refused to let the people be fired on, and +announced on the 14th the freedom of the press. But unfortunately he was +seized with one of his epileptic fits; and the intriguers, who were +already consolidating themselves into the secret council known as the +"Camarilla," published the news of Windischgraetz's dictatorship, and +resolved to place Vienna under a state of siege while the Emperor was +incapable of giving directions. + +The news of Windischgraetz's accession to power so alarmed the people +that they at once decided to march upon the Castle; but one of the +leading citizens, named Arthaber, persuaded them to abandon their +intention, and instead to send him and another friend to ask for a +constitution from the Emperor. A struggle was evidently going on between +Ferdinand and his courtiers. Whenever he was strong and able to hold his +own, he was ready to make concessions. Whenever he was either ill or +still suffering from the mental effects of his illness, the Government +fell into the hands of Windischgraetz and the archdukes, and violent +measures were proposed. + +Thus, though Arthaber and his friends were received courteously and +assured of the constitutional intentions of the Emperor, at eleven +o'clock on the same night there appeared a public notice declaring +Vienna in a state of siege. But even Windischgraetz seems to have been +somewhat frightened by the undaunted attitude of the people; and when he +found that his notice was torn down from the walls, and that a new +insurrection was about to break out, he sent for Professor Hye and +entreated him to preserve order. In the mean time the Emperor had to +some extent recovered his senses; and he speedily issued a promise to +summon the Estates of the German and Slavonic Provinces and the +congregations of Lombardo-Venetia. + +But the people had had enough of sham constitutions; and the Emperor's +proclamation was torn down. This act, however, did not imply any +personal hostility to Ferdinand; for the belief that the Austrian +ministers were thwarting the good intentions of their master was as +deeply rooted at this time in the minds of the Viennese as was a similar +belief with regard to Pius IX and his cardinals in the minds of the +Romans; and when the Emperor drove out on March 15th, he was received +with loud cheers. + +But as Ferdinand listened to these cheers he must have noticed that, +louder than the "_Es lebe der Kaiser_" of his German subjects and the +"_Slawa_" of the Bohemians, rose the sound of the Hungarian "_Eljen_." +For mingling in the crowd with the ordinary inhabitants of Vienna was +the Hungarian deputation, which had at last been permitted by the Count +Palatine to leave Presburg, and which had arrived in Vienna to demand +both freedoms that had been granted to the Germans and also a separate +responsible ministry for Hungary. They arrived in the full glory of +recent successes in the Presburg Diet; for, strengthened by the news of +the Viennese rising, Kossuth had carried, in one day, many of the +reforms for which his party had so long been contending. The last +remnants of the dependent condition of the peasantry had been swept +away; taxation had been made universal; and freedom of the press and +universal military service had been promised. Szechenyi alone had +ventured to raise a note of warning, and it had fallen unheeded. + +In Vienna Kossuth was welcomed almost as cordially as in Presburg; for +the German movement in Vienna had tended to produce in its supporters a +willingness to lose the eastern half of the empire in order to obtain +the union of the western half with Germany. So the notes of Arndt's +"_Deutsches Vaterland_" were mingled with the cry of "_Batthyanyi Lajos, +Minister Praesident!_" Before such a combination as this, Ferdinand had +no desire, Windischgraetz no power, to maintain an obstinate resistance; +and, on March 16th, Sedlnitzky, the hated head of the police, was +dismissed from office. On the 18th a responsible ministry was appointed; +and on the 22d Windischgraetz announced that national affairs would now +be guided on the path of progress. + +In the mean time that German movement from which the Viennese derived so +much of their impulse had been gaining a new accession of force in the +north of Germany. In Berlin the order of the Viennese movements had been +to some extent reversed. There the artisans, instead of taking their +tone from the students, had given the first impulse to reform. The King +indeed had begun his concessions by granting freedom of the press on +March 7th; but it seemed very unlikely that this concession would be +accompanied by any securities that would make it a reality. The King +even refused to fulfil his promise of summoning the Assembly; and it was +in consequence of this refusal that the artisans presented to the Town +Council of Berlin a petition for the redress of their special +grievances. The same kind of misery which prevailed in Vienna had shown +itself, though in less degree, in Berlin; and committees had been formed +for the relief of the poor. The Town Council refused to present the +petition of the workmen, and, in order to take the movement out of their +hands, presented a petition of their own in favor of freedom of the +press, trial by jury, representation of the German people in the +Bundestag, and the summoning of all the Provincial Assemblies of the +kingdom. This petition was rejected by the King; and thereupon, on March +13th, the people gathered in large numbers in the streets. General Pfuel +fired on them; but instead of yielding, they threw up barricades, and a +fierce struggle ensued. + +On the 14th the cry for complete freedom of the press became louder and +more prominent; and the insurgents were encouraged by the first news of +the Vienna rising. The other parts of the kingdom now joined in the +movement. On the 14th came deputations from the Rhine Province, who +demanded in a threatening manner the extension of popular liberties. On +the 16th came the more important news that Posen and Silesia were in +revolt. Mieroslawsky, who had been one of the leaders of the Polish +movement of 1846, had gained much popularity in Berlin; and he seemed +fully disposed to combine the movement for the independence of Posen +with that for the freedom of Prussia, much in the same way as Kossuth +had combined the cause of Hungarian liberty with the demand for an +Austrian constitution. In Silesia, no doubt, the terrible famine of the +previous year, and the remains of feudal oppression, had sharpened the +desire for liberty; and closely following on the news of these two +revolts came clearer accounts of the Viennese rising and the happy +tidings of the fall of Metternich. + +The King of Prussia promised, on the arrival of this news, to summon the +Assembly for April 2d; and two days later he appeared on the balcony of +his palace and declared his desire to change Germany from an alliance of +states into a federal state. + +But the suspicions of the people had now been thoroughly aroused; and on +March 18th, the very day on which the King made this declaration, fresh +deputations came to demand liberties from him; and when he appealed to +them to go home his request was not complied with. The threatening +attitude of the soldiers, and the recollection of their violence on the +preceding days, had convinced the people that until part at least of the +military force was removed they could have no security for liberty. + +The events of the day justified their belief; for, while some one was +reading aloud to the people the account of the concessions recently made +by the King, the soldiers suddenly fired upon them, and the crowd fled +in every direction. They fled, however, soon to rally again; barricades +were once more thrown up; the Poles of Posen flocked in to help their +friends, and the black, red, and gold flag of Germany was displayed. +Women joined the fight at the barricades; and on the 19th some of the +riflemen whom the King had brought from Neuchatel refused to fire upon +the people. Then the King suddenly yielded, dismissed his ministers, and +promised to withdraw the troops and allow the arming of the people. + +The victory of the popular cause seemed now complete; but the bitterness +which still remained in the hearts of the citizens was shown by a public +funeral procession through Berlin in honor of those who had fallen in +the struggle. The King stood bare-headed on the balcony as the +procession passed the palace; and on March 21st he came forward in +public waving the black, red, and gold flag of Germany. + + + + +(1848) THE REVOLT OF HUNGARY, Arminius Vambery + + +Deep interest throughout the civilized world was aroused by the +unavailing struggle of Hungary, in 1848, for national independence. The +name of Louis Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot and famous orator, became +celebrated in many lands; and in the various countries where he +sojourned as an exile from his own--especially in the United States +(1851-1852) and in England--his eloquent appeals awakened profound +sympathy for his people's cause. Vambery, however, regards Kossuth's +compatriot, Count Stephen Szechenyi (born in 1791) as "the greatest +Hungarian of the nineteenth century." He was descended from a +distinguished family, which had given to its country many champions of +liberty. The great aim of his life was to revive the drooping energies +of the nation. As a youth he served in the army. Entering the famous +Diet of 1825, in which, by right of birth, he took his seat in the Upper +House, he distinguished himself by his liberal leadership, and as a +writer and an advocate of public endowments accomplished much for the +education of his people. + +Up to the time at which Vambery, the celebrated historian of Hungary, +begins the present narrative, the growth of the national spirit had been +more and more evident each year since the end of the Napoleonic wars. +For more than two centuries Hungary had been under the oppressive rule +of Austria. Hungary had furnished soldiers to Austria in her struggle +against Bonaparte, and the Austrian Emperor had repeatedly promised to +redress Hungarian grievances; but after the fall of Napoleon these +promises were repudiated. Hungary so emphatically showed her indignation +that the Emperor was compelled to convoke the Diet in which Szechenyi +distinguished himself. The subsequent career of this leader, the +character and aims of Kossuth, and the insurrection they did so much to +incite are powerfully described by Vambery, who writes not only as an +author fully versed in his country's annals, but also as a patriot +jealous of her liberties, proud of her heroic sons, and loyal to her +fame. + +For fifteen years, up to 1840, the popularity of Szechenyi extended over +Hungary, and his name was cherished by every patriot in the land. About +this time, however, the great statesman was destined to come into +collision with a man who was his peer in genius and abilities. The two +patriots were representatives of different methods, and in the contest +produced by the shock of antagonistic tendencies Szechenyi was compelled +to yield to Louis Kossuth, his younger rival. Although there was no +material difference between their aims--for both wished to see their +country great, free, constitutionally governed, prosperous, and advanced +in civilization--yet in the ways and means employed by them to attain +that aim they were diametrically opposed to each other. + +Szechenyi, who descended from a family of ancient and aristocratic +lineage, and presented himself to the nation with connections reaching +up into the highest circles of the court, with the lustre of his ancient +name, and with his immense fortune, wished to secure the happiness of +his country by quite different methods from those adopted by Louis +Kossuth, a child of the people, who, although he was a nobleman by +birth, yet belonged to that poorer class of gentry who support +themselves by their own exertions, and who, in Hungary, are destined to +fulfil the mission of the citizen-classes of other countries. It is from +this class of the gentry, for the most part, that are recruited the +trades-people, the smaller landowners, professional men, writers, +subordinate officials, lawyers, physicians, clergymen, teachers, and +professors. By virtue of their nobility, it is true, they belonged to +the privileged class of the country, and were not subjected to the +humiliations of the oppressed peasantry, yet they had to earn a living +by their own work, and were therefore not only accessible to, but were +ready enthusiastically to receive, the lofty message of liberty and +equality which the French Revolution of 1830 began to proclaim anew +throughout Europe. + +These doctrines formed a sharp contrast to the views of Count Stephen +Szechenyi, views which, owing to the social position of the man who held +them, were not devoid of a certain aristocratic tinge, and according to +which the most important part in the regeneration of the Hungarian +nation was assigned to the aristocracy. It was a part, however, which +the Hungarian aristocracy was itself by no means disposed to assume. +Among its younger members, indeed, could be found, here and there, +enthusiastic men who were devotedly attached to the person of the lordly +reformer, but the great majority of his class were hostilely arrayed +against Szechenyi's aims, and, obstructing the granting of even the most +inoffensive demands of the nation, supported the Viennese Government; +which was rigidly opposed to political reforms and to any changes in the +public institutions of the country. This attitude of the aristocracy +compelled Szechenyi to avoid as much as possible all questions +concerning constitutionality and liberty, and to confine the work of +reform chiefly to the sphere of internal improvements. + +The only way in which he could hope to obtain the support of the court +of Vienna and of the majority of the Upper House for his +politico-economical measures, was to remain as neutral as possible in +politics. The idea which chiefly governed his actions was that the +country should be first strengthened internally, and that afterward it +would be easy for the nation to bring about the triumph of her national +and political aspirations. + +After 1840, however, the bulk of the nation, and especially the small +gentry whose preponderating influence was making itself continually +felt, were unwilling to follow Szechenyi in his one-sided policy. The +reformatory work of Szechenyi during the preceding fifteen years had +educated public opinion up to new and great ideas, but the leaders of +that public opinion were now to be found in the House of Representatives +in the persons of Francis Deak and Louis Kossuth. They wished to obtain +for their country both political liberty and material prosperity. They +knew the effect of political institutions upon the material well-being +and civilization of a nation, and they no longer deemed it possible to +attain these objects without a modern constitutional government. + +Louis Kossuth, who was born in 1802, was the very incarnation of the +great democratic ideas of his age. He was entirely a man of work and +entered the legal profession, after he had completed his studies with +great distinction, for the purpose of supporting himself by it. Kossuth +was present at the Diet of 1832, when the Government, which conducted +itself most brutally and arbitrarily toward the press, refused to allow +the newspapers to print reports of the deliberations of the Diet in +spite of the repeated urgings by the Deputies for such an authorization, +and it was owing to his ingenuity that this prohibition was evaded. The +censorship was exercised on printed matter only and did not extend to +manuscripts. Kossuth wrote out the reports of the Diet himself, had +numerous copies made of them in writing, and circulated them, for a +slight fee, in every part of the country, where they were looked for +with feverish expectation, and, owing to the spirit of opposition with +which they were colored, were read with the greatest eagerness. + +This manuscript newspaper produced quite a revolutionary movement among +the people, frightening even the Austrian Government. The latter now +attempted to silence Kossuth by gentle means, promising him high offices +and a pension, but he refused the enticing offers and continued his work +for the benefit of the nation. Foiled in the attempt to lure Kossuth +from his duty, the Government resorted to violence, seized the +lithographic apparatus by means of which Kossuth planned to multiply his +manuscript newspaper, and gave directions to the postmasters to detain +and open all those sealed packages which were supposed to contain the +reports. But these arbitrary proceedings of the Government could not put +an end to the circulation of the newspaper; the country gentlemen, by +their own servants, continued to send each other single copies, and the +matter was given up only when the Diet ceased to be in session. + +Then Kossuth, at the urgent request of his friends and, one might say, +of the whole country, started a new manuscript newspaper at Budapest, +which reported the deliberations of the county assemblies. The effect +produced by this new paper was fraught with even greater consequences +than the first had created, for it was instrumental in bringing the +counties into contact with one another, thus giving them an opportunity +to combine against the Government. The latter, however, soon prohibited +its publication, but the prohibition gave rise to a storm of indignation +throughout the whole country. The counties in solid array addressed +protests to the Government against the illegal act and in behalf of +Kossuth, who continued to publish the paper in spite of the inhibition. +The Government at last resorted to the most barefaced brutality. +Kossuth, the brave champion of liberty, its eloquent pen and herald, was +dragged to a damp and dark subterranean prison-cell in the castle of +Buda, and detained there, while his father and mother and his family, +who were looking to him solely for their support, were robbed of the aid +of their natural protector. + +Although at that period lawlessness was the order of the day, yet this +last cruel and illegal act of the Government greatly exasperated the +public mind, which was already in a ferment of excitement. But while the +excited passions raged throughout the country, the Government, nothing +loth, caused Kossuth to be prosecuted for high treason, and, having +obtained his conviction, had him sentenced to an imprisonment of three +years. Kossuth applied himself during his detention to serious studies, +and acquired also, while in prison, the English language to such an +extent that he was enabled to address in that language, during his +exile, with great effect and impressiveness, large audiences both in +England and in the United States of America. His imprisonment lasted two +long years, after the lapse of which he obtained, in 1840, a pardon in +consequence of the repeated and urgent representations of the Diet. + +Kossuth returned to the scene of his former activity as the martyr of +free speech and the victim to the cause of the nation. He very soon +found a new field in which to labor. The Government perceived at last +that violence was of little avail, and that those questions which were +occupying the minds to such a degree could no longer be kept from being +publicly discussed by the press. Kossuth now obtained permission to edit +a political daily paper. Its publication was commenced under the title +of _Pesti Hirlap_ ("Newspaper of Pest") in 1841, and may be said to have +created the political daily press of Hungary. It disseminated new ideas +among the masses, stirred up the indifferent to feel an interest in the +affairs of the country, and gave a purpose to the national aspirations. +It proclaimed democratic reforms in every department; the abolition of +the privileges of the nobility and of their exemption from taxation, +equal rights and equal burdens for all the citizens of the State, and +the extension of public instruction, and it endeavored to restore the +Hungarian nationality to the place it was entitled to claim in the +organism of the State. + +The wealth of ideas thus daily communicated to the country appeared in +the most attractive garb, for Kossuth possessed a masterly style, and +his leaders and shorter articles showed off to advantage so many +unexpected beauties of the Hungarian language that his readers were +fairly enchanted and carried away by them. His articles were a happy +compound of poetical elevation and oratorical power, gratifying +common-sense and the imagination at the same time, appealing by their +lucid exposition to the reader's intelligence, and exciting and warming +his fancy by their fervor. Kossuth always rightly guessed what questions +most interested the nation, and the daily press became, in his hands, a +power in Hungary, electrifying the masses, who were always ready to give +their unconditional support to his bold and far-reaching schemes. + +The extraordinary influence obtained by Kossuth through his paper +frightened Szechenyi, and, to even a greater degree, those whose +prejudices were shocked or ancient privileges and interests were +endangered by the democratic agitations for reform. Kossuth was attacked +in books, pamphlets, and newspapers, but he came out victorious from all +contests. In vain did Szechenyi himself, backed by his great authority +in the land, assail him, declaring that he did not object to Kossuth's +ideas, but that his manner and his tactics were reprehensible, and that +the latter were sure to lead to a revolution. The great mass of the +people felt instinctively that revolution had become a necessity and was +unavoidable if Hungary was to pass from the old mediaeval order to the +establishment of modern institutions and was to become a state where +equality before the law should be the ruling standard. The masses were +strengthened in this conviction by the unreasonable, short-sighted, and +violent policy pursued by the Government of Vienna, which obstructed the +slightest reforms in the ancient institutions and opposed every national +aspiration, and under whose protecting wing the reactionary elements of +the Upper House were constantly paralyzing the noblest and best efforts +made by the Lower House for the public weal, while the same Government +arbitrarily supported claims of the Catholic clergy, in flat +contradiction to the rights and liberties of the various denominations +inhabiting the country. + +The Government, in its antipathy to the national movement, went even +further. It secretly incited the other nationalities, especially the +Croats, against the Hungarians, and thus planted the seeds from which +sprang the subsequent great civil war. In observing the dangerous +symptoms preceding the last-mentioned movement, and the bloody scenes +and fights provoked at every election by the hirelings of the +Government, in order to intimidate the adherents of reform, the friends +of progress became more and more convinced that the period of +moderation, such as preached by Szechenyi, had passed by, and must give +way to that resolute policy, advocated by Kossuth, which recoiled from +no consequences. Numerous magnates, all the chief leaders of the gentry +boasting of enlightenment and patriotism, and imbued with European +culture, rallied around Kossuth, until finally the public opinion of the +country and the enthusiasm of which he was the centre caused him to be +returned, in 1847, together with Count Louis Batthyanyi, as Deputy from +the foremost county of the country, the county of Pest. + +During the first months of the Diet of 1847-1848, which was to raise +Hungary to the rank of those countries that proclaimed equal rights and +possessed a responsible parliamentary government, it differed very +little from the one preceding it. The opposition initiated great +reforms, as before, but there was no one who believed that their +realization was near at hand. Kossuth repeatedly addressed the House, +and soon convinced his audience that he was as irresistible an orator as +he had proved powerful as a writer. But there was nothing to indicate +that the country was on the eve of a great transformation. + +The revolution of February, 1848, which broke out in Paris, changed, as +if by magic, the relative positions of Austria and Hungary. Metternich's +system of government, which was opposed to granting liberty to the +people, collapsed at once. The storm of popular indignation swept it +away like a house built of cards. At the first news of the occurrences +in Paris, Kossuth asked in the Lower House for the creation of a +responsible ministry. The motion was favorably received, but in the +Upper House it was rejected, the Government not being yet alive to the +real state of affairs, and still hoping by a system of negation to +frustrate the wishes of the people. But very soon the revolution reared +its head in Vienna itself, and the wishes of the Hungarian people, +uttered at Budapest, received thereby a new and powerful advocate. + +At that time the Hungarian Diet still met at Presburg, but the two +sister-cities of Buda and Pest formed the real capital of the country +and were the centre of commerce, industry, science, and literature. +Michael Vorosmarty, the poet laureate of the nation, lived in Pest, and +there the twin stars of literature, Alexander Petofi and Maurice Jokai, +shone on the national horizon. Jokai, who is still living (1886) and +enjoys a world-wide fame as a novelist, and Petofi, the eminent poet, +who was destined to become the Tyrtaeus of his nation, were then both +young men, full of enthusiasm and intrepid energy, and teeming with +great ideas. + +About these two gathered the other writers and youth of the University, +and all of them, helping one another, contrived, on hearing the news of +the sudden revolutions in Paris and Vienna, to enact in Budapest the +bloodless revolution of March 15, 1848, which obtained the liberty of +the press for the nation, and at the same time, in a solemn manifesto, +gave expression to the wishes of the Hungarians in the matter of reform. +The only act of violence these revolutionary heroes were guilty of was +the entering of a printing establishment, whose proprietor, afraid of +the Government, had refused to print the admirable poem of Petofi +entitled _Talpra Magyar_ ("Up, Magyar"), and doing the printing there +themselves. The first stanza of this poem, later the war-song of the +national movement, runs, in a literal translation, thus: + + "Arise, O Magyar! thy country calls. + Here is the time, now or never. + Shall we be slaves or free? + That is the question--choose! + We swear by the God of the Magyars, + We swear, to be slaves no longer!" + +This soul-stirring poem was improvised by Petofi under the inspiration +of the moment, and at the same establishment where it was first printed +was also printed a proclamation which contained twelve articles setting +forth the wishes of the people. + +While the capital was resounding with the rejoicings and triumphant +shouts of her exulting inhabitants, the proper department of the +Government for the carrying through of these movements, the Diet, +assembled at Presburg, lost no time, and set to work with great energy +to reform the institutions of Hungary, constitutionally, and to put into +the form of law the ideas of liberty, equality, and fraternity. The +salutary legislation met now with no opposition, either from the Upper +House or from the court at Vienna, and in a short time the Diet passed +the celebrated acts of 1848, which, having received the royal sanction, +were proclaimed as laws on April 11th, at Presburg, amid the wildest +enthusiasm, in the presence of King Ferdinand V. + +By these laws Hungary became a modern state, possessing a constitutional +government. The Government was vested in a ministry responsible to the +Parliament, all the inhabitants of the country were declared equal +before the law, the privileges of the nobility were abolished, the soil +was declared free, and the right of free worship accorded to all. The +institution of national guards was introduced, the utmost liberty of the +press was secured, Transylvania became a part of the mother-country--in +a word, the national and political condition of the country was +reorganized, in every particular, in harmony with the spirit, the +demands, and aspirations of our age. At the same time the men placed at +the head of the Government were such as possessed the fullest confidence +of the people. The first ministry was composed of the most distinguished +patriots. Count Louis Batthyanyi was the President; and acting in +conjunction with him were Francis Deak, as Minister of Justice; Count +Stephen Szechenyi, as Minister of Home Affairs; and Louis Kossuth, as +Minister of Finance. + +The great mass of the people hailed with boundless enthusiasm the new +Government and the magnificent reforms. The transformation, however, had +been so sudden and unexpected, and the old aristocratic world, with all +its institutions and its ancient organization, had been swept away with +such vehement precipitation that even under ordinary circumstances, in +the absence of all opposition, the new ideas and tendencies could have +hardly entered into the political life of the nation without causing +some confusion and disorder. But, in addition to these natural +drawbacks, the new order of things had to contend with certain national +elements in the population, which, feeling themselves injured in their +real or imaginary interests, were bent on mischief, hoping to be able to +rob the nation, in the midst of the ensuing troubles, of the great +political prize she had won. Certain circles of the court and classes of +the people strove equally hard to surround with difficulties the +practical introduction of the Constitution of 1848. + +The court and the standing army, the party of the soldier class, feared +that their commanding position would be impaired by the predominating +influence of the people. The non-Hungarian portion of the inhabitants, +choosing to ignore the fact that the new laws secured, without +distinction of nationality, equal rights to every citizen of the State, +were apprehensive lest the liberal constitution would benefit chiefly +the Hungarian element of the nation. They, therefore, encouraged by the +secret machinations of the Government of Vienna, took up arms, in order +to drag the country, which was preparing to take possession of her new +liberties, into a civil war. The Croatians, under the lead of Ban +Jellachich, and the Wallachs and Serbs, led by other imperial officers, +and yielding to their persuasions, rose in rebellion against Hungary, +and began to persecute, plunder, and murder the Hungarians living among +them. + +Dreadful atrocities were committed in the southern and eastern portions +of Hungary, hundreds and hundreds of families were massacred in cold +blood, and entire villages and cities were deserted by their +inhabitants, just as had previously happened at the approach of the +Turks, and thousands were compelled to abandon their all to the rebels, +in order to escape with their bare lives. In the course of a few weeks, +the flames of rebellion had spread over a large part of the country, and +the Hungarian element, instead of enjoying the liberties won for the +whole nation after a bitter struggle of many decades, was under the sad +necessity of resorting to armed force in order to reestablish the +internal peace. The Hungarians now had to prove on the battlefield and +in bloody engagements that they were worthy of liberty and capable of +defending it. + +The Government, which, by virtue of the new laws, had meanwhile +transferred its seat to Budapest, displayed extraordinary energy in the +face of the sad difficulties besetting it. As it was impossible to rely +upon the Austrian soldiers who were still in the country, it exerted +itself to create and to organize a national army. A portion of the +National Guard entered the national army under the name of _honveds_ +("defenders of the country"), a name which became before long famous +throughout the civilized world for the brilliant military achievements +connected with it. The Hungarian soldiers garrisoning the Austrian +principalities hastened home, braving the greatest dangers, partly +accompanied by their officers and partly without them. The famous +Hungarian hussars, especially, returned in great number to offer their +services to their imperilled country. But all this proved insufficient, +and as soon as the National Assembly, elected under the new +constitution, met, Kossuth, who had been the life and soul of the +Government during this trying and critical period, called upon the +nation to raise large armies for the defence of the country. + +The session of July 11th, during which Kossuth introduced in the House +of Representatives his motions relating to the subject, presented a +scene which beggars all description. Kossuth ascended the tribune pale +and haggard with illness, but the long-continued applause that greeted +him after the first few sentences soon gave him back his strength and +his marvellous oratorical power. When he had concluded his speech and +submitted to the House his request for two hundred thousand soldiers and +the necessary money, a momentary pause of deep silence ensued. Suddenly +Paul Nyary, the leader of the opposition, arose, and lifting his right +arm toward heaven, exclaimed: "We grant it!" The House was in a fever of +patriotic excitement; all the Deputies rose from their seats, shouting, +"We grant it; we grant it!" Kossuth, with tears in his eyes, bowed to +the representatives of the people and said, "You have risen like one +man, and I bow down before the greatness of the nation." + +These sacrifices on the part of the country had become a matter of +urgent necessity. The Serb and Wallach insurrection assumed every day +larger proportions, while the Croats, under the leadership of +Jellachich, entered Hungarian territory with the fixed determination of +depriving the nation of her constitutional liberties. But the Hungarian +Government was already able to send an army against the Croatians, who +were marching on Budapest, plundering and laying waste everything before +them. They were surrounded by the Hungarian forces, and a part of their +army, nine thousand men strong, was compelled to lay down its arms, +while Jellachich, with his remaining forces, precipitately fled from the +country. The young Hungarian army had thus proved itself equal to the +task of repelling the attack of the Croats, but the recent events were +nevertheless fraught with the gravest consequences. + +The news of the Croatian invasion filled the Hungarians with deep +anxiety, and the extraordinary excitement caused by it cast a permanent +cloud over the soul of that great and noble man, Count Szechenyi. The +mind of the great patriot who had initiated the national movement gave +way under the strain of the frightful rumors coming from the Croatian +frontier. He had been ailing for some time, and his nervousness +increased so greatly under the pressure of the great events following +one another in rapid succession, that when the news came that the enemy +had invaded the country he thought Hungary was lost. His despair +darkened his mind and he sought death in the waves of the Danube. His +family removed him to a private asylum near Vienna, where he recovered +his mental faculties, and even wrote several books. But he was never +entirely cured of his hallucination, and, exasperated by the vexations +he was subjected to by the Viennese Government, even in the asylum, the +great patriot put an end to his own life on April 8, 1860, by a +pistol-shot. + +Jellachich's incursion had other important political consequences. The +attack on Hungary had been made by Jellachich in the name of the +Viennese Government, and the intimate connection between the domestic +disorders and the court of Vienna became more and more apparent. This +state of things rendered inevitable a struggle between Hungary and the +unconstitutional action of the court. The Austrian forces were arming +against Hungary on every side. Vienna, too, rose in rebellion against +the court, and now the Hungarians hastened to assist the revolutionists +in the Austrian capital. Unfortunately the young national army was not +ripe yet for so great a military enterprise, and Prince Windischgraetz, +having crushed the revolution in Vienna, invaded Hungary. + +A last attempt was now made by the Hungarians to negotiate peace with +the court, but it failed, Windischgraetz being so elated with his +success that nothing short of unconditional submission on the part of +the country would satisfy him. To accept such terms would have been both +cowardly and suicidal, and the nation, therefore, driven to the sad +alternative of war, determined rather to perish gloriously than +pusillanimously to submit to be enslaved by the court. They followed the +lead of Kossuth, who was now at the head of the Government, while Gorgei +was the Commander-in-Chief of the Hungarian Army. The two names of +Kossuth and Gorgei soon constituted the glory of the nation. While these +two acted in harmony they achieved brilliant triumphs, but their +personal antagonism greatly contributed, at a subsequent period, to the +calamities of the country. + +Windischgraetz took possession of Buda in January, 1849, thus compelling +Kossuth to transfer the seat of Government to Debreczin, while Gorgei +withdrew with his army to the northern part of Hungary; but the national +army fought victoriously against the Serbs and Wallachs, and the +situation of the Hungarians had, in the course of the winter, become +more favorable all over the country. The genius of Kossuth brought again +and again, as if by magic, fresh armies into the field, and he was +indefatigable in organizing the defence of the country. Distinguished +generals like Gorgei, Klapka, Damjanics, and Bem transformed the raw +recruits, in a wonderfully short time, into properly disciplined troops, +who were able to hold their own and bravely contend against the old and +tried imperial forces whom they put to flight at every point. + +The fortunes of war changed in favor of the Hungarians in the latter +part of January, 1849. Klapka achieved the first triumph, which was +followed by the brilliant victory won by one of Gorgei's divisions +commanded by Guyon in the Battle of Branyiszko, and very soon the +Hungarian armies acted on the offensive at all points. In the course of +a few weeks they achieved, chiefly under Gorgei's leadership, great and +complete victories over the enemy near Szolnok, Hatvan, Bicske, Waitzen, +Isaszegh, Nagy Sarlo, and Komarom. Windischgraetz lost both the campaign +and his office as commander-in-chief. + +Toward the close of the spring of 1849, after besieged Komorn had been +relieved by the Hungarians, and Bem had driven from Transylvania not +only the Austrians, but the Russians who had come to their assistance, +the country was almost freed from her enemies, and only two cities, Buda +and Temesvar, remained in the hands of the Austrians. The glorious +efforts made by the nation were attended at last by splendid successes, +and the civilized world spoke with sympathy and respect of the Hungarian +people, who had signally shown their ability to defend their liberties, +constitution, and national existence. + +It should have been the mission of diplomacy, at this conjuncture, to +turn to advantage the recent military successes by negotiating an +honorable peace with the humbled dynasty, as had been done before in the +history of the country, after similar military achievements by the +ancient national leaders, Bocskay and Bethlen. Gorgei, at the head of +the army, was disposed to conclude peace. But the Hungarian Parliament +sitting in Debreczin, led by Kossuth and under the influence of the +recent victories, was determined to pursue a different course. The royal +house at Hapsburg, whose dynasty had ruled over Hungary for three +centuries, was declared to have forfeited its right to the throne by +instigating and bringing upon the country the calamities of a great war. +This act had a bad effect, especially on the army, tending also to +heighten the personal antagonism between Kossuth and Gorgei. But its +worst consequence was that it gave Russia a pretext for armed +intervention. The Emperor Francis Joseph entered into an alliance with +the Czar of Russia, the purpose of which was to reconquer seceded +Hungary and ultimately to crush her liberty. + +One more brilliant victory was achieved by the Hungarian arms before the +fatal blow was aimed at the country. The fortress of Buda was taken +after a gallant assault, in the course of which the Austrian commandant +bombarded the defenceless city of Pest on the opposite bank of the +Danube, and thus the capital, too, was restored to the country. Yet +after this last glorious feat of war, good fortune deserted the national +banners. The grand heroic epoch was hastening to its tragic end. Two +hundred thousand Russians crossed the borders of Hungary, and were there +reenforced by sixty thousand to seventy thousand Austrians, whom the +Viennese Government had succeeded in collecting for a last great effort. + +It was easy to foresee that the exhausted Hungarian army could not long +resist the superior numbers opposed to them. For months they continued +the gallant fight, and in one of these fierce engagements Petofi, the +beloved poet of the nation, lost his life; but in the month of August +the Russians had already succeeded in surrounding Gorgei's army. Gorgei, +who was now invested with the supreme power, perceiving that all further +effusion of blood was useless, surrendered, in the sight of the Russian +army, the sword he had so gloriously worn in many a battle, near +Vilagos, on August 13, 1849. The remaining Hungarian armies followed his +example, and either capitulated or disbanded. The brave army of the +_honveds_ was no more, and the gallant struggle for liberty was put an +end to by the Russian forces. Kossuth and many other Hungarians sought +refuge in Turkey. + +Above Komorn, the largest fortress in the country, alone the Hungarian +colors were still floating. General Klapka, its commandant, bravely +defended it, and continued to hold it for six weeks after the sad +catastrophe of Vilagos. The brave defender, seeing at last that further +resistance served no purpose, as the Hungarian army had ceased to exist, +and the whole country had passed into the hands of the Austrians, +capitulated upon the most honorable terms. This was the concluding act +of the heroic struggle of the Hungarian people, the brave attitude of +the garrison and their commander adding another bright page to the +honorable record of the military achievements of 1848 and 1849. + +As soon as the Imperialists had obtained possession of Komorn, their +commander-in-chief, Baron Haynau, began to persecute the patriots, and +to commit the most cruel atrocities against them. Those who had taken +part in the national war were brought before a court-martial and +summarily executed. The bloody work of the executioner began on October +6th. Count Louis Batthyanyi was shot at Pest, and thirteen gallant +generals, belonging to Gorgei's army, met their deaths at Arad. +Wholesale massacres were committed throughout the country, until at last +the conscience of Europe rose up against these cruel butcheries, and the +court itself removed the sanguinary Baron from the scene of his inhuman +exploits. The best men in the country were thrown into prison, and +thousands of families had to mourn for dear ones who had fallen victims +to the implacable vindictiveness of the Austrian Government. Once more +the gloom of oppression settled upon the unhappy country. + +Many of the patriots had accompanied Kossuth to Turkey or found a refuge +in other foreign countries, and for ten years a great number of +distinguished Hungarians were compelled to taste the bitterness of +exile. Kossuth himself went subsequently to England, and visited also +the United States. In the latter country he was enthusiastically +received by the great and free American people, who took delight in his +lofty eloquence. During the Crimean War, and the War of 1859 in Italy, +Kossuth and the Hungarian exiles were zealously laboring to free their +country, by foreign aid, from the thraldom of oppression. At last, +however, the Hungarian nation succeeded in reconquering, without any aid +from abroad, by her own exertions, her national and political rights, +and made her peace with the ruling dynasty. But the Hungarian exiles had +their full share in the work of reconciliation, for it was owing to +their exertions that the nations of Europe remembered that, in spite of +Vilagos, Hungary still existed, and that again, at home, the people of +Hungary were not permitted to lose their faith in a better and brighter +future. + +Kossuth, the Nestor of the struggle for liberty, lives at present [1886] +in retirement in Turin, [Footnote: Kossuth died at Turin, Italy, March +20, 1894.--ED.] and, although separated from his people by diverging +political theories, his countrymen will forever cherish in him the great +genius who gave liberty to millions of the oppressed peasantry, and who +inscribed indelibly on the pages of the national legislation the +immortal principles of liberty and equality of rights. + + + + +(1848) DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN CALIFORNIA, John S. Hittell + + +Before the time of the great gold discovery of 1848, the metal had been +found in California, but the mines from which it was taken were poor and +yielded small returns for years of working. The discovery in 1848 +influenced the whole world, giving new life to trade and industry +everywhere. The first published report of gold in California appeared in +Hakluyt's account of Sir Francis Drake's visit to the coast in 1579. The +observations of Drake's men are supposed by some to have been made at a +point not far from San Francisco. The Hakluyt statement, however, is +disbelieved by many historians. The Spaniards and Mexicans who later +visited the coast are known to have found gold at many places, and +especially near the Colorado River, but they discovered no mines worth +working. Reports of great mineral wealth in California were repeated up +to the time of the American conquest, but they commanded little +confidence among mining experts. + +Although gold was found in what is now San Diego County in 1828, +Alexander Forbes, the historian of California, wrote in 1835 that no +minerals of particular importance had been discovered in Upper +California, nor any ores of metals. About 1838 a gold placer was +discovered in the ca+-on of San Francisquito, forty-five miles northwest +of Los Angeles, and this was the first California mine that produced any +considerable amount of metal. It was worked for ten years and then +abandoned for richer diggings in the Sacramento Valley. The average +yield for the ten years was probably about six thousand dollars. After +the return of the Wilkes exploring expedition of 1842, James D. Dana, +its mineralogist, mentioned places in California at which he had +observed or inferred the existence of gold. But his report led to no +gold-hunting, and had only a scientific interest. + +The great discovery of 1848, and its world-wide effects, are described +in the following account by Hittell, which forms a part of Hubert H. +Bancroft's voluminous _History of the Pacific States_. + +As Edmund Hammond Hargraves is the hero of the Australian, so is James +W. Marshall of the Californian, gold discovery. Before giving the +account of his discovery, however, I will quote the following passage +from a letter written on May 4, 1846, by Thomas O. Larkin, then United +States consul at Monterey, California, to James Buchanan, Secretary of +State: + +"There is said to be black lead in the country of San Fernando, near San +Pedro [now Los Angeles County]. By washing the sand in a plate, any +person can obtain from one dollar to five dollars per day of gold that +brings seventeen dollars per ounce in Boston; the gold has been gathered +for two or three years, though but few have the patience to look for it. +On the southeast end of the island of Catalina there is a silver mine +from which silver has been extracted. There is no doubt but that gold, +silver, quick-silver, copper, lead, sulphur, and coal mines are to be +found all over California, and it is equally doubtful whether, under +their present owners, they will ever be worked." + +James W. Marshall, in a letter dated January 28, 1856, and addressed to +Charles E. Pickett, gave the following account of the gold discovery: +"Toward the end of August, 1847, Captain Sutter and I formed a +copartnership to build and run a sawmill upon a site selected by myself +(since known as Coloma). We employed P.L. Weimer and family to remove +from the Fort (Sutter's Fort) to the mill-site, to cook and labor for +us. Nearly the first work done was the building of a double log cabin, +about half a mile from the mill-site. We commenced the mill about +Christmas. Some of the mill-hands wanted a cabin near the mill. This was +built, and I went to the Fort to superintend the construction of the +mill-irons, leaving orders to cut a narrow ditch where the race was to +be made. Upon my return, in January, 1848, I found the ditch cut as +directed, and those who were working on the same were doing so at a +great disadvantage, expending their labor upon the head of the race +instead of the foot. + +"I immediately changed the course of things, and upon the 19th of the +same month of January discovered the gold near the lower end of the +race, about two hundred yards below the mill. William Scott was the +second man to see the metal. He was at work at a carpenter's bench near +the mill. I showed the gold to him. Alexander Stephens, James Brown, +Henry Bigler, and William Johnston were likewise working in front of the +mill, framing the upper story. They were called up next, and, of course, +saw the precious metal. P.L. Weimer and Charles Bennett were at the old +double log cabin (where Hastings and Company afterward kept a store). + +"In the mean time we put in some wheat and peas, nearly five acres, +across the river. In February the Captain (Captain Sutter) came to the +mountains for the first time. Then we consummated a treaty with the +Indians, which had been previously negotiated. The tenor of this was +that we were to pay them two hundred dollars yearly in goods, at Yerba +Buena prices, for the joint possession and occupation of the land with +them; they agreeing not to kill our stock, viz., horses, cattle, hogs, +or sheep, nor burn the grass within the limits fixed by the treaty. At +the same time Captain Sutter, myself, and Isaac Humphrey entered into a +copartnership to dig gold. A short time afterward, P.L. Weimer moved +away from the mill, and was away two or three months, when he returned. +With all the events that subsequently occurred, you and the public are +well informed." + +This is the most precise and is generally considered to be the most +correct account of the gold discovery. Other versions of the story have +been published, however, and the following, from an article published in +the Coloma _Argus_, in the latter part of the year 1855, is one of them. +The statement was evidently derived from Weimer, who lives at Coloma: + +"That James W. Marshall picked up the first piece of gold is beyond +doubt. Peter L. Weimer, who resides in this place, states positively +that Marshall picked up the gold in his presence; they both saw it and +each spoke at the same time, 'What's that yellow stuff?' Marshall, being +a step in advance, picked it up. This first piece of gold is now in the +possession of Mrs. Weimer, and weighs six pennyweights eleven grains. +The piece was given to her by Marshall himself. The dam was finished +early in January, the frame for the mill also erected, and the flume and +bulkhead completed. It was at this time that Marshall and Weimer adopted +the plan of raising the gate during the night to wash out sand from the +mill-race, closing it during the day, when work would be continued with +shovels, etc. + +"Early in February--the exact day is not remembered--in the morning, +after shutting off the water, Marshall and Weimer walked down the race +together to see what the water had accomplished during the night. Having +gone about twenty yards below the mill, they both saw the piece of gold +before mentioned, and Marshall picked it up. After an examination, the +gold was taken to the cabin of Weimer, and Mrs. Weimer instructed to +boil it in saleratus-water; but she, being engaged in making soap, +pitched the piece into the soap-kettle, where it was boiled all day and +all night. The following morning the strange piece of stuff was fished +out of the soap, all the brighter for the boiling. + +"Discussion now commenced, and all expressed the opinion that perhaps +the yellow substance might be gold. Little was said on the subject; but +everyone each morning searched in the race for more, and every day found +several small scales. The Indians also picked up many small thin pieces, +and carried them always to Mrs. Weimer. About three weeks after the +first piece was obtained, Marshall took the fine gold, amounting to +between two and three ounces, and went to San Francisco to have the +strange metal tested. On his return he informed Weimer that the stuff +was gold. + +"All hands now began to search for the 'root of all evil.' Shortly +after, Captain Sutter came to Coloma, and he and Marshall assembled the +Indians and bought of them a large tract of country about Coloma, in +exchange for a lot of beads and a few cotton handkerchiefs. They, under +color of this Indian title, required one-third of all the gold dug on +their domain, and collected at this rate until the fall of 1848, when a +mining party from Oregon declined paying 'tithes' as they called it. + +"During February, 1848, Marshall and Weimer went down the river to +Mormon Island, and there found scales of gold on the rocks. Some weeks +later they sent Mr. Henderson, Sydney Willis and Mr. Fifield, Mormons, +down there to dig, telling them that that place was better than Coloma. +These were the first miners at Mormon Island." + +Marshall was a man of an active, enthusiastic mind, and he at once +attached great importance to his discovery. His ideas, however, were +vague; he knew nothing about gold-mining; he did not know how to take +advantage of what he had found. Only an experienced gold-miner could +understand the importance of the discovery and make it of practical +value to all the world. That gold-miner, fortunately, was near at hand; +his name was Isaac Humphrey. He was residing in the town of San +Francisco, in the month of February, when a Mr. Bennett, one of the +party employed at Marshall's mill, went down to that place with some of +the dust to have it tested; for it was still a matter of doubt whether +this yellow metal really was gold. Bennett told his errand to a friend +whom he met in San Francisco, and this friend introduced him to +Humphrey, who had been a gold-miner in Georgia, and was therefore +competent to pass an opinion. + +Humphrey looked at the dust, pronounced it gold at the first glance, and +expressed a belief that the diggings must be rich. He made inquiries +about the place where the gold was found, and subsequent inquiries about +the trustworthiness of Mr. Bennett, and on March 7th he was at the mill. +He tried to induce several of his friends in San Francisco to go with +him; they all thought his expedition a foolish one, and he had to go +alone. He found that there was some talk about the gold, and persons +would occasionally go about looking for pieces of it; but no one was +engaged in mining, and the work of the mill was going on as usual. On +the 8th he went out prospecting with a pan, and satisfied himself that +the country in that vicinity was rich in gold. He then made a rocker and +commenced the business of washing gold, and thus began the business of +mining in California. + +Others saw how he did it, followed his example, found that the work was +profitable, and abandoned all other occupations. The news of their +success spread; people flocked to the place, learned how to use the +rocker, discovered new diggings, and in the course of a few months the +country had been overturned by a social and industrial revolution. + +Mr. Humphrey had not been at work more than three or four days before a +Frenchman, called Baptiste, who had been a gold-miner in Mexico for many +years, came to the mill, and he agreed with Humphrey that California was +very rich in gold. He, too, went to work, and, being an excellent +prospector, he was of great service in teaching the newcomers the +principles of prospecting and mining for gold--principles not abstruse, +yet not likely to suggest themselves at first thought to men entirely +ignorant of the business. Baptiste had been employed by Captain Sutter +to saw lumber with a whipsaw, and had been at work for two years at a +place, since called Weber, about ten miles eastward from Coloma. When he +saw the diggings at the latter place, he at once said there were rich +mines where he had been sawing, and he expressed surprise that it had +never occurred to him before, so experienced in gold-mining as he was; +but he afterward said it had been so ordered by Providence, that the +gold might not be discovered until California should be in the hands of +the Americans. + +About the middle of March, P.B. Reading, an American, now a prominent +and wealthy citizen of the State, then the owner of a large ranch on the +western bank of the Sacramento River, near where it issues from the +mountains, came to Coloma, and after looking about at the diggings, said +that if similarity in the appearance of the country could be taken as a +guide there must be gold in the hills near his ranch; and he went off, +declaring his intention to go back and make an examination of them. John +Bidwell, another American, now a wealthy and influential citizen, then +residing on his ranch on the bank of Feather River, came to Coloma about +a week later, and he said there must be gold near his ranch, and he went +off with expressions similar to those used by Reading. In a few weeks +news came that Reading had found diggings near Clear Creek, at the head +of the Sacramento Valley, and was at work there with his Indians; and +not long after, it was reported that Bidwell was at work with his +Indians on a rich bar of Feather River, since called "Bidwell's Bar." + +Although Bennett had arrived at San Francisco in February with some of +the dust, the editors of the town--for two papers were published in the +place at the time--did not hear of the discovery till some weeks later. +The first published notice of the gold appeared in the _Californian_ +(published in San Francisco) on March 15th, as follows: "In the newly +made raceway of the sawmill recently erected by Captain Sutter, on the +American Fork, gold has been found in considerable quantities. One +person brought thirty dollars' worth to New Helvetia, gathered there in +a short time. California, no doubt, is rich in mineral wealth; great +chances here for scientific capitalists. Gold has been found in almost +every part of the country." + +Three days later the _California Star_, the rival paper, gave the +following account of the discovery: "We were informed a few days since +that a very valuable silver-mine was situated in the vicinity of this +place, and, again, that its locality was known. Mines of quicksilver are +being found all over the country. Gold has been discovered in the +northern Sacramento districts, about forty miles above Sutter's Fort. +Rich mines of copper are said to exist north of these bays." + +Although these articles were written two months after the discovery, it +is evident that the editors had heard only vague rumors, and attached +little importance to them. The _Star_ of March 25th says: "So great is +the quantity of gold taken from the new mine recently found at New +Helvetia that it has become an article of traffic in that vicinity." + +None of the gold had been seen in San Francisco; but at Sutter's Fort +men had begun to buy and sell with it. + +The next number of the _Star_, bearing date April 1, 1848, contained an +article several columns long, written by Doctor V.J. Fourgeaud, on the +resources of California. He devoted about a column to the minerals, and +in the course of his remarks said: "It would be utterly impossible at +present to make a correct estimate of the mineral wealth of California. +Popular attention has been but lately directed to it. But the +discoveries that have already been made will warrant us in the assertion +that California is one of the richest mineral countries in the world. +Gold, silver, quicksilver, iron, copper, lead, sulphur, saltpetre, and +other mines of great value have already been found. We saw a few days +ago a beautiful specimen of gold from the mine newly discovered on the +American Fork. From all accounts the mine is immensely rich, and already +we learn the gold from it collected at random and without any trouble +has become an article of trade at the upper settlements. This precious +metal abounds in this country. We have heard of several other newly +discovered mines of gold, but as these reports are not yet authenticated +we shall pass over them. However, it is well known that there is a +placer of gold a few miles from Los Angeles, and another on the San +Joaquin." + +It was not until more than three months after Marshall's discovery that +the San Francisco papers stated that gold-mining had become a regular +and profitable business in the new placers. The _Californian_ of April +26th said: "From a gentleman just from the gold region we learn that +many new discoveries of gold have very recently been made, and it is +fully ascertained that a large extent of country abounds with that +precious mineral. Seven men, with picks and spades, gathered one +thousand six hundred dollars worth in fifteen days. Many persons are +settling on the lands with the view of holding preemptions, but as yet +every person takes the right to gather all he can without any regard to +claims. The largest piece yet found is worth six dollars." + +The news spread, men came from all the settled parts of the territory, +and as they came they went to work mining, and gradually they moved +farther and farther from Coloma, and before the rainy reason had +commenced (in December) miners were washing rich auriferous dirt all +along the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, from the Feather to the +Tuolumne River, a distance of one hundred fifty miles; and also over a +space of about fifteen miles square, near the place now known as the +town of Shasta, in the Coast Mountains, at the head of the Sacramento +Valley. The whole country had been turned topsy-turvy; towns had been +deserted, or left only to the women and children; fields had been left +unreaped; herds of cattle went without anyone to care for them. But +gold-mining, which had become the great interest of the country, was not +neglected. The people learned rapidly and worked hard. + +In the latter part of 1848 adventurers began to arrive from Oregon, the +Sandwich Islands, and Mexico. The winter found the miners with very +little preparation, but most of them were accustomed to a rough manner +of life in the Western wilds, and they considered their large profits an +abundant compensation for their privations and hardships. The weather +was so mild in December and January that they could work almost as well +as in the summer, and the rain gave them facilities for washing such as +they could not have in the dry season. + +In September, 1848, the first rumors of the gold discovery began to +reach New York; in October they attracted attention; in November people +looked with interest for new reports; in December the news gained +general credence and a great excitement arose. Preparations were made +for a migration to California by somebody in nearly every town in the +United States. The great body of the emigrants went either across the +plains with ox or mule teams or round Cape Horn in sailing-vessels. A +few took passage in the steamer by way of Panama. + +Not fewer than one hundred thousand men, representing in their nativity +every State in the Union, went to California that year. Of these, twenty +thousand crossed the continent by way of the South Pass; and nearly all +of them started from the Missouri River between Independence and St. +Joseph, in the month of May. They formed an army; in daytime their +trains filled up the roads for miles, and at night their camp-fires +glittered in every direction about the places blessed with grass and +water. The excitement continued from 1850 to 1853; emigrants continued +to come by land and sea, from Europe and America, and in the last named +year from China also. In 1854 the migration fell off, and since that +time until the completion of the Union Pacific Railroad California +received the chief accessions to her white population by the Panama +steamers. + +The whole world felt a beneficent influence from the great gold yield of +the Sacramento Basin. Labor rose in value, and industry was stimulated +from St. Louis to Constantinople. The news, however, was not welcome to +all classes. Many of the capitalists feared that gold would soon be so +abundant as to be worthless, and European statesmen feared the power to +be gained by the arrogant and turbulent democracy of the New World. + +The author of a book entitled _Notes on the Gold District_, published in +London in 1853, thus speaks of the fears excited in Europe on the first +great influx of gold from the Californian mines: "Among the many +extraordinary incidents connected with the Californian discoveries was +the alarm communicated to many classes and which was not confined to +individuals but invaded governments. The first announcement spread +alarm; but as the cargoes of gold rose from one hundred thousand dollars +to one million dollars, bankers and financiers began seriously to +prepare for an expected crisis. In England and the United States the +panic was confined to a few; but on the Continent of Europe every +government, rich or poor, thought it needful to make provision against +the threatened evils. An immediate alteration in prices was looked for; +money was to become so abundant that all ordinary commodities were to +rise, but more especially the proportion between gold and silver was to +be disturbed, some thinking that the latter might become the dearer +metal. The Governments of France, Holland, and Russia, in particular, +turned their attention to the monetary question, and in 1850 the +Government of Holland availed themselves of a law, which had not before +been put in operation, to take immediate steps for selling off the gold +in the Bank of Amsterdam, at what they supposed to be the highest +prices, and to stock themselves with silver. + +"Palladium, which is likewise a superior white metal, was held more +firmly, and expectations were entertained that it would become available +for plating. The stock, however, was small. The silver operation was +carried on concurrent with a supply of bullion to Russia for a loan, a +demand for silver in Austria, and for shipment to India, and it did +really produce an effect on the silver market, which many mistook for +the influence of Californian gold. The particular way in which the +Netherlands operations were carried on was especially calculated to +produce the greatest disturbance of prices. The ten-florin pieces were +sent to Paris, coined there into Napoleons, and silver five-franc pieces +drawn out in their place. + +"At Paris the premium on gold in a few months fell from nearly 2 per +cent. to a discount, and at Hamburg a like fall took place. In London, +the great silver market, silver rose, between the autumn and the new +year, from five shillings per ounce to five shillings one and +five-eighths pence per ounce, and Mexican dollars from four shillings +ten and one-half pence to four shillings eleven and five-eighths pence +per ounce; nor did prices recover until toward the end of the year 1851, +when the fall was as sudden as the rise." + +In the spring of 1849 Reading crossed the Coast Range with a party of +his Indians, and discovered rich diggings in the valley of the Trinity. +In the summer of the same year Colonel Fremont discovered the mines on +his ranch, in the valley of the Mariposa. + + + + +(1849) RISE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC, Jessie White Mario + + +When "Young Italy," the association of republican agitators led by +Giuseppe Mazzini, began its activities (about 1834), hatred of the +Austrian government, which ruled in several of the Italian States, was +kept alive through this determined organization. Aspirations for liberty +and self-government were requickened. The endeavors of the reforming +Pope, Pius IX (1846), to harmonize his policy with the aims of this +party, in order to promote a confederation of the Italian States under +papal supremacy, at first seemed to promise the dawn of a new era. Soon +after the outbreak of the revolution of 1848 in France, revolt against +the Austrian power began in various parts of Italy. The Austrian troops +were driven out of Lombardy; Venice compelled the Austrian forces in her +territory to surrender, and became a free republic; in a short time +Italy appeared to have delivered herself from the rule of Austria; but +almost immediately the foreign power began to regain its ascendency, and +this, through the events here related, was fully recovered. + +After the flight of Pius IX from Rome (November, 1848), Mazzini and his +followers pursued their own course. A constituent assembly was summoned, +and on February 5, 1849, it declared the temporal power of the Pope +abolished. The Italian soldier who now becomes the chief figure of this +movement has enjoyed a popular renown unsurpassed by that of any of his +countrymen. Giuseppe Garibaldi, a sailor's son, was born in Nice, July +4, 1807. In youth he went to sea. In 1834 he took part with Mazzini in +the Young Italy demonstrations, and for aiding in an attempt to seize +Genoa he was condemned to death. Escaping to South America, he won +distinction as a guerilla leader and a privateer in the service of the +Rio Grande rebels against Brazil. After further military adventures in +South America, he returned to Italy, and in 1847 offered his services to +Pope Pius IX, but they were not accepted. In 1848 he received +indifferent treatment at the hands of Charles Albert of Sardinia, who +was besieging the Austrians in Mantua. After the failure of Charles +Albert, Garibaldi collected his own followers and acted against the +Austrians with such effect as to bring him into prominence in the ranks +of Italian patriots. The following account of the siege and defence of +Rome, which admiringly presents him to view, is from the author's +supplement to Garibaldi's _Autobiography_, and is a valuable +contribution to the history of the events in which he was so +conspicuous. + +Of the many sublime pages traced in the blood of Italian patriots, the +sublimest in our eyes is that of the defence of Rome. No writer of +genius has yet been inspired to narrate the heroic deeds enacted, the +pain, privation, anguish, borne joyfully to save "that city of the +Italian soul" from desecration by the foreigner. Mazzini's beloved +disciple, Mameli, the soldier-poet, died with the flower of the student +youth; the survivors, exiled, dispersed, heartbroken, or intent only on +preparing for the next campaign, have left us but fugitive records, +partial episodes, or dull military chronicles. Margaret Fuller Ossoli, +competent by love and genius to be the historian and who had collected +the materials day by day, lived the life of the combatants hour by hour, +was wrecked with "Ossoli, Angelo" and her manuscript, in sight of her +native shore. + +From details that reached him Garibaldi always maintained that there was +a priest among the wreckers who secured and destroyed the treasure! +Guerrazzi's _Siege of Rome_ is inferior to all his other writings. The +entry of the Italian army into Rome by the breach in Porta Pia has cast +the grand defence of 1849 into the background of rash attempts and +futile failures. In these brief pages we give merely the outline of the +drama in which Garibaldi was one of the leading actors. The men who +desired a republic did not exist as a party in Rome previous to the +flight of the Pope. But there existed a strong national anti-Austrian +party, who, as they had worshipped Pio Nono (Pius IX) when he "blessed +Italy" and the banners that the Romans bore upward to the "Holy War," +now execrated him inasmuch as he had withdrawn his sanction to that war +and had blessed the Croats and the Austrians who were butchering the +Italians in the north. Convinced of the impossibility of favoring the +independence and unity of Italy, and remaining at the same time the +supreme head of the Universal Church, Pio Nono fled for protection to +the King of Naples; there he declined to accept from the King of +Piedmont his repeated offers of protection or mediation, and appealed to +Austria alone to restore him pope-king absolute in Rome. Very soon +afterward the Archduke of Tuscany revoked the Constituent Assembly which +he had granted, and followed the saintly example of the Holy Father, so +that Tuscany and Rome were alike left sheep without a shepherd. + +In the Roman States an appeal was made to universal suffrage, and the +people sent up deputies, known chiefly for their honesty and bravery, to +decide on the form of government, to assist Piedmont in her second war +against Austria. When the Constituent Assembly met to decide on the form +of government, Mamiani warned them that only two rulers were possible in +Rome--the Pope or Cola di Rienzi; the Papacy or the Republic. + +Garibaldi, who had organized his legion at Rieti, was elected member of +the Constituent Assembly, and on February 7th put in his appearance and +in language more soldierlike than parliamentary urged the immediate +proclamation of the republic. But the debate was carried on with all due +respect for the "rights of the minority." + +Finally, on February 9th, of the one hundred fifty-four Deputies +present, all but five voted for the downfall of the temporal power of +the Pope, all but eleven for the proclamation of the republic. These, +with the exception of General Garibaldi and General Ferrari, were all +Romans. G. Filopanti, who undertook to explain the state of affairs to +the Roman people, won shouts of applause by his concluding words, "We +are no longer mere Romans, but Italians." + +This sentence sums up the sentiments of all: of Garibaldi, who, after +recording his vote, returned to his troops at Rieti and drew up an +admirable plan for attacking the Austrians bent on subjugating the Roman +Provinces and for carrying revolution into the Kingdom of Naples; of +Mazzini, who, so far from having imposed on the Romans a republic by the +force of his tyrannical will, was--during its proclamation--in Tuscany, +striving to induce Guerrazzi and his fellow-triumvirs to unite with Rome +and organize a strong army for the renewal of the Lombard War. + +True, the Romans, mindful of all they owed to the great apostle of +Italian unity and independence, proclaimed him Roman citizen on February +12th, and on the 25th of the same month the Roman people, with nine +thousand votes, elected him member of the Constituent Assembly; but it +was not until March 5th that he entered Rome, when, in one of his most +splendid speeches, rising above parties and politics, he called upon the +"Rome of the People" to send up combatants against Austria, the only +enemy that then menaced Italy. + +Suiting the action to the word, he induced the Assembly to nominate a +commission for the thorough organization of the army; and ten thousand +men had quitted Rome and were marching up to the frontier to place +themselves at the orders of Piedmont, when, alas! their march was +arrested by the news of the total defeat at Novara, of the abdication of +Charles Albert and the reinauguration of Austrian rule in Lombardy. +Genoa, whose generous inhabitants arose in protest against the +disastrous but inevitable treaty of peace, was bombarded and reduced to +submission by La Marmora; and now, while to Rome and to Venice flocked +all the volunteers who preferred death to submission, the new Holy +Alliance of Continental Europe took for its watchword: "The restoration +of the Pope; the extinction of the two Republics of Venice and of Rome." + +Austria crossed the Po and occupied Ferrara, marching thence on Bologna; +the Neapolitan troops from the south marched upward to the Roman +frontier; even Spain sent her contingent to Fiumicino. But only when it +was known that the French Republic had voted an expedition, with the +specious object of guaranteeing the independence of the supreme Pontiff, +did the Romans and their rulers realize that the existence of Rome and +her newborn liberties was seriously menaced. Garibaldi wrote from Rieti, +in April, an enthusiastic letter worth recording here: + +"BROTHER MAZZINI: I feel that I must write you one line with my own +hand. May Providence sustain you in your brilliant but arduous career +[Mazzini had just been elected, with Armellini and Saffi, Triumvir of +Rome], and may you be enabled to carry out all the noble designs in your +mind for the welfare of our country. Remember that Rieti is full of your +brethren in the faith, and that immutably yours is + + "JOSEPH GARIBALDI." + +At the same time he sent a plan, proposing to march along the Via +Emilia, to collect arms and volunteers, proclaim the levy in mass, and +with a division stationed in the Bolognese territory, operate in the +duchies, unite Tuscan, Ligurian, and Piedmontese forces, and once more +assail the Austrians. But the news of Piedmont defeated, Genoa bombarded +and vanquished, convinced him that it would be difficult to re-arouse +the disheartened population of Northern Italy. Hence he next proposed to +cross the Neapolitan frontier, fling himself upon the royal troops, and +seize the Abruzzi. A sensible project this, to take the offensive +against the Pope's defenders. But before the Triumvirate could come to a +definite decision, it was known that the French troops, by a disgraceful +stratagem, had landed and taken possession of Civita Vecchia, General +Oudinot entwining the French flag with the Roman tricolor and assuring +the Romans that they only came to secure perfect freedom for the people +to effect a reconciliation with Pius IX. + +But the people had no desire for such reconciliation; the Assembly +decreed that Rome should have no garrison but the National Roman Guard: +that if the Republic were invaded by force, the invaders by force should +be repelled. A commission of barricades established, the people flocked +to erect and remained to man them. The National Guard summoned by +Mazzini all answered, "Present," and served enthusiastically throughout +the siege; all the troops dispersed in the Provinces were summoned to +the capital, and Garibaldi and his volunteers marched into the city amid +the acclamations of the populace, too thankful to welcome them to demur +at the strange appearance they presented. + +Now that Garibaldi's military and naval genius is fully recognized, and +the extraordinary fascination he exercised over officers and men, the +enthusiasm with which he filled whole populations whom others failed to +stir, are undisputed, many historians and critics have expressed their +astonishment that he was not made at once commander-in-chief of the +Roman forces, and have blamed the Triumvirate for having failed to +recognize in the hero of Montevideo the good genius of Rome. Such +critics must be simply ignorant of the actual condition of Rome and her +Government. There existed, in the first place, the regular Roman army, +which would have served under none save regular generals; then there was +the Lombard battalion under Manara, whose members, after fifteen months +of regular campaigning, were thoroughly drilled and disciplined, who +insisted on retaining the cross of Savoy on their belts, and, until +their prowess made them the idols of the Romans, were nicknamed the +"corps of aristocrats." + +Little did they imagine, when they kept aloof from the legion, that +before three months were over their young hero chief would resign his +command of them to assume the delicate post of head of Garibaldi's +staff. Carlo Pisacane--educated in the military college of the +Nunziatella, who had served as captain in the foreign legion in Algiers, +destined later to become the pioneer of Garibaldi and his "Thousand" and +to lose his life in the attempt--while recognizing Garibaldi's prowess +and talents as a guerilla chief, in his military history of 1849, +severely criticises his tactics, and blames his sending up "a handful of +boys against masses of the enemy" and censures, unhesitatingly, "his +indiscipline at Velletri." One of the Deputies of the Roman Constituent +wrote to the Triumvirate begging them to "Send Garibaldi with his motley +crew to a terrible spot, called For del Diavolo, between Civita Vecchia +and Rome; on no account to allow them to enter the city, as they are +quite too disorderly." + +Now, they had committed no "disorders" save that of carrying off the +mules and horses of the convents; but when we think of the wild, free, +peril-scorning life led in the backwoods of America, of how they +recognized no law save their commander's orders, how little used he had +been to receive command from any, it will be easily understood how this +wild, tanned, quaintly dressed band filled the inhabitants of the towns +through which they passed with terror and dismay. Garibaldi's violent +tirades against priests and priestcraft; the liberation of a gang of +miscreants arrested by order of the Roman Government, had not +prepossessed men of order and of discipline in his favor; and although +personal contact dispelled all unfavorable prepossessions, one sees how +impossible it was for Mazzini to place him in the position which he +would himself have assigned to him. + +Garibaldi altered in nothing his South American modes of warfare. He and +his staff, in red shirts and ponchos, with hats of every form and color, +no distinctions of rank or military accoutrements, rode on their +American saddles, which when unrolled served each as a small tent. When +their troops halted and the soldiers piled their arms, the General and +all his staff attended each to the wants of his own horse, then to +securing provisions for their men. When these were not at hand, the +officers, springing on their barebacked horses, lasso on wrists, dashed +full speed along the Campagna, till oxen, sheep, pigs, kids, or poultry +in sufficient quantities were secured and paid for; then, dividing their +spoil among the companies, officers and men fell to killing, quartering, +and roasting before huge fires in the open air. + +Garibaldi, when no battle was raging or danger near--if in the city, +selected some lofty belfry-tower; if in the country, climbed the +loftiest peak; and, with brief minutes of repose under his saddle-tent, +literally lived on horseback, posting his own pickets, making his own +observations, sometimes passing hours in perfect silence, scanning the +most distant and minute objects through his telescope. Ever a man of the +fewest words, a look, a gesture, a brief sentence sufficed to convey his +orders to his officers. When his trumpet signalled departure, the lassos +served to catch the horses grazing in the fields, the men fell into +order and marched, none knowing nor caring whither, save to follow their +chief. Councils of war he never held; he ordered, and was implicitly +obeyed. To his original legion were added some of the finest and bravest +of the Lombard volunteers, who had learned his worth "after the +armistice"; while boys from ten to fourteen, who were his pride and +delight, formed his "band of hope." + +To-day for an act of courage a man would be raised from the ranks, and, +sword in hand, command his company; but woe to him if he failed in +shouldering a musket or brandishing a bayonet at need. To onlookers this +legion, composed at first of but one thousand men, seemed a wild, unruly +set; but this was not the case. Drunkenness and insubordination were +unknown among the ranks. Woe to a soldier who wronged a civilian. Three +were shot for petty theft during the brief Roman campaign. Still, while +Garibaldi felt within himself his own superiority to those around, +Mazzini, who also felt it, might as well have proposed an Indian chief +to command the Roman Army as this man, whom, in later years, no soldier +in Europe but would have been proud to call _dux_. + +Again, it must not be forgotten that the grounds on which France +explained her interference was the imposition by "foreigners" of a +republic on the Roman people, desirous only to receive the Pope with +open arms; that Austria, Piedmont, and the Ultramontane faction in +England represented the Roman States as handed over to the demagogues, +to the riffraff of European revolutionists. Hence the absolute necessity +that presented itself to the minds of the Triumvirs for filling the +civil and military offices as far as possible with citizens of Rome or +the Roman States. Unfortunately, no capable Roman commander-in-chief +existed. Rosselli was chosen as the least incapable; but throughout, +Garibaldi was regarded as the soul, the genius of the defence. + +A very short time had sufficed for Mazzini and the Romans to come to so +perfect an understanding that no exercise of authority, no police force, +was necessary to keep order in the city, as the French, English, and +American residents, and as the respective consuls repeatedly affirmed in +public and in private letters. Oudinot too had warning from his own +consul, from his own friends within the city, of all the preparations, +of the resolute determination of the inhabitants, of the known valor of +many of the combatants in past campaigns; yet to all such remonstrances +he answered with French impertinence, "_Les Italiens ne se battent +pas_," and clearly he had imbued his officers with this belief. At dawn +on April 30th, starting from Castel di Guido, leaving their knapsacks at +Magnianella, the officers in white gloves and sheathed swords advanced +on Rome, taking the road to Porta Cavallaggieri, sending sharpshooters +through the woodlands on the right, the Chasseurs de Vincennes on the +heights to the left. Avezzana, war minister, from the top of the cupola +of San Pietro in Montori, on seeing the first sentinel advance, gave the +signal for the ringing of the tocsin, which brought the entire populace +to the walls, the Roman matrons clustering there to encourage their +husbands, sons, and brothers to the fight. + +When the army arrived within a hundred seventy yards from the wall, the +artillerymen from the bastions of San Marto fired their first salute, to +which the Chasseurs de Vincennes responded so well that the Roman +Narducci, Major Pallini, and several of his men fell mortally wounded at +their guns. Finding themselves under a cross-fire from the walls and +from the Vatican, the enemy placed a counter-battery, which did deadly +mischief to the besieged, who lost at once six officers, numerous +soldiers, and had a cannon dismounted to boot. Not the slightest +confusion occurred; women and boys carried off the wounded; fresh +soldiers took the place of the fallen; compelling Oudinot to summon both +his brigades and plant two other pieces of cannon. But he now had to +cope with an enemy whom Frenchmen in Montevideo envied and calumniated; +who to himself and his followers was as yet an unknown quantity. + +Garibaldi, who had had but two days to organize his men and take up +position, had at once perceived the importance of the scattered +buildings outside the gates, and occupied them all--villas, woods, and +the walls surrounding them. As the enemy fell back from the first +assault, he flung his men upon them as stones from a sling. At the head +of the first company was Captain Montaldi, who in a short time was +crippled with nineteen bullets, yet still fought on his knees with his +broken sword; and only when the French retreated did his men carry him +dead from the field. As fought his company, so fought all under the eyes +of Garibaldi, who directed the fight from Villa Pamphilli. Then +summoning his reserve, himself heading the students who had never seen +fire but who had given each to the other the consign, "If I attempt to +run away, shoot me through the head," he led them into the open field, +and there gave them their first lesson to the cry of, "To the bayonet! +to the bayonet!"--a lesson oft repeated since, a cry never after raised +in vain. Numbers of his best officers and soldiers fell, but never a +halt or panic made a pause in that eventful charge, until in full open +fight the French were compelled to retreat, leaving Garibaldi absolute +master of the field. + +Numbers of the French were killed and wounded, others hid themselves in +the woods and vineyards round; a general retreat ensued, while a portion +continued the fire to protect it. The guns had to be carried off by +hand, as four horses had been killed; and at this retreat up to Castel +di Guido, General Oudinot was forced to assist in person. Summing up his +losses, he found that he had left four hundred dead upon the field; five +hundred thirty wounded, and two hundred sixty prisoners. He had, +besides, the glory of depriving the Roman Republic of two hundred +fourteen killed and wounded, twenty-five officers among them, and of +carrying off one prisoner, Ugo Bassi, the chaplain, who had remained +behind to assist a dying man, his only weapon being the cross, of which +the French were the knightly protectors. + +Garibaldi's first thought was naturally to pursue the fugitives to +Castel di Guido, to Pali, and Civita Vecchia; "To drive them," in his +own forcible language, "back to their ships or into the sea." For this +he demanded strong reenforcements of fresh troops. But the Government of +Rome--believing that it sufficed for Republican France to know that +Republican Rome did not desire the return of the Pope; that it was not +governed by a faction--was resolved unanimously to resist all invasion; +decided against pursuit; sent back the French prisoners to the French +camp; accorded Oudinot's demand for an armistice, and entered into +negotiations with the French plenipotentiary, Ferdinand de Lesseps, for +the evacuation of the Roman territory. + +The refusal was never forgotten, never forgiven by Garibaldi, and has +always been a "burning question" between the exclusive partisans of +Mazzini and Garibaldi, in whose eyes to scotch and not to kill the snake +was the essence of unwisdom. It is also maintained by many Garibaldians +that an out-and-out victory could not have been concealed from the +French Assembly as the President and his accomplices did manage to +conceal the affair of April 30th, and that had the people and the army +in France known what a humiliation had been inflicted on their comrades +they would have insisted on the recall of Oudinot, and that thus the +President's own position would have been endangered. On the other hand, +Mazzini's partisans say, granting--what remains unproven--that Garibaldi +could have succeeded in driving every Frenchman back to his ships or +into the sea, there can be no doubt that Louis Napoleon, bent on +restoring the Pope and thus gaining the clergy to his side, would have +sent reenforcements upon reenforcements, until Rome should be +vanquished. + +The disputants must agree to differ on this point, though all surely +must allow that it was necessary that the small forces at the disposal +of the Republic should be husbanded for the repulse of others besides +France, who claimed to be defenders of the Pope--Austria, the King of +Naples, and even Spain! And, in fact, a Neapolitan army, with the King +at their head, had crossed the Roman frontier, and had taken up +positions at Albano and Frascati, whence Garibaldi was sent to oust +them, the Lombard brigade being added to his legion. This Neapolitan +king-hunt formed one of the characteristic episodes of the Roman +campaign. Garibaldi usually lodged his men in convents, to the terror +and horror of their inmates, sending them thence to reconnoitre the +enemy's positions, and harass them by deeds of daredevil courage. + +The King was indeed at Albano, whence from Palestrina Garibaldi marched +to the attack; which would probably have been successful had he not been +suddenly summoned back to Rome, as the movements of the French were by +no means reassuring. However, a fresh truce being proclaimed, General +Rosselli, with Garibaldi under his orders, was sent out again in full +force against the Neapolitans. Not a wise arrangement this, as the +volunteers and the regulars--unless at different posts within the +city--had not yet united in harmonious action. Garibaldi, sent by +Rosselli merely to explore the enemy's movements, finding that they were +retreating from Albano, gave battle to a strong column about two miles +from Velletri without giving time to Rosselli to come up with the main +body. + +So the Neapolitans got into Velletri, barricaded themselves there, and, +escaping during the night by the southern gate, recrossed the Neapolitan +frontier, the King foremost in the van. Rosselli and the regulars +complained loudly that this disobedience to orders had prevented them +from making the King of Naples prisoner, the Garibaldians maintaining on +their side that this would have been effected had the regulars thought +less about their rations and come to the rescue when first they heard +the distant shots. Messengers sent by the generals to the Triumvirate +bore the complaints of each. Rosselli was recalled, and Garibaldi left +with full liberty of action. But when the French Government disavowed +their envoy-extraordinary--the patriotic, able, straightforward De +Lesseps--instructing Oudinot to enter Rome by fair means or by foul, +sending enormous reenforcements, promising to follow up with the entire +French army if necessary, what could they do but recall Garibaldi with +all possible despatch? Was it not a proof of their confidence in him? +Moreover, on Garibaldi's return to Rome, Mazzini made a last effort to +induce him to unburden his mind, at least to himself, by asking him in +writing to tell him frankly what were his wishes. Here is the laconic +answer, characteristic of the writer; frank and unabashed as the round, +clear handwriting of the original, from which we copy: + + "ROME, June 2d, 1849. + +"MAZZINI: Since you ask me what I wish, I will tell you. Here I cannot +avail anything for the good of the Republic, save in two ways: as +dictator with unlimited plenary powers, or as a simple soldier. Choose! + + "Unchangingly yours, + + "GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI." + +Again, Garibaldi disapproved the conduct of Mazzini and the Triumvirate +because they refused to allow any acts of violence against religion or +the professors of religion. They had abolished the Inquisition, and used +the edifice to house the people driven from their homes by the siege; +had invited and aided monks and nuns to return to their homes and to +lead the life of citizens. But they had not allowed the confessionals to +be burned in the public market-place. A wretch named Zambianchi, who +ill-treated some inoffending priests, was severely punished "for thus +dishonoring the Republic and humanity." Moreover, the Easter ceremonies +were celebrated as usual; the Triumvirate and the Assembly stood among +the people in the church and in the square to receive the blessing from +the outer balcony of St. Peter's. + +All this gave umbrage to Garibaldi, but no hypocrisy and much wisdom +inspired these acts. In the first place, the Triumvirate, and especially +Mazzini, the most religious man we have ever known, were well aware +that, while the temporal power of the papacy might be destroyed by fire +and sword, the spiritual power of the Roman Catholic hierarchy could be +extinguished only in the name of a moral law recognized and accepted as +being higher and more authoritative than any other intermediary between +God and the people--they knew that ideas can be vanquished only by +ideas. Again, as the responsible heads of the Roman Republic, the +Triumvirs were wisely careful not to offend the hearts and consciences +of Catholics abroad. Finally, the very fact that, with four armies at +their gates, life, its feasts and fasts, its workdays and holidays, +could go on as usual, was one highly calculated to strengthen the +Romans' faith in and affection for the new Government. No crimes were +committed; the people came to the Triumvirs as children to their +fathers, and--for Italians a very remarkable thing--they not only paid +down current taxes, but they paid up arrears. + +From Garibaldi's brief account, it would almost seem that the +Triumvirate and the Assembly surrendered Rome before absolute necessity +constrained them so to do. He does not tell us how, when the French had +actually entered Rome by the breach, he alone of all the civil and +military commanders refused to head the troops to attack the invaders in +possession. He gave his own reasons, very wise ones it seems to us, in +writing many years later, but in his _Memoirs_ he seems to have +forgotten them. The terrible tidings that the seventh bastion and the +curtain uniting it to the sixth had fallen into the hands of the French +spread through the city. The Triumvirate had the tocsins rung. All the +houses were opened at that sound; in the twinkling of an eye all the +inhabitants were in the streets. General Rosselli and the Minister of +War, all the officers of the staff, Mazzini himself, came to the +Janiculum. + +"The people in arms massed around us," writes Garibaldi in a short +record of the siege of Rome, "clamored to drive the French off the +walls. General Rosselli and the Minister of War consented. I opposed the +attempt. I feared the confusion into which our troops would have been +thrown by those new combatants and their irregular movements, the panic +that would be likely by night to seize on troops unaccustomed to fire, +and which actually had assailed our bravest ones on the night of the +16th. I insisted on waiting for the daylight." + +He here narrates the daring but unsuccessful attempt of the Lombard +students, who flung themselves on the assailants, and who had gained the +terrace of Casa Barberini, and continues: "But at daylight I had counted +the forces with which we had to contend. I realized that another June 3d +would bereave me of half of the youths left to me, whom I loved as my +sons. I had not the least hope of dislodging the French from their +positions, hence only a useless butchery could have ensued. Rome was +doomed, but after a marvellous and a splendid defence. The fall of Rome, +after such a siege, was the triumph of democracy in Europe. The idea of +preserving four or five thousand devoted combatants who knew me, who +would answer at any time to my call, prevailed. I ordered the retreat, +promising that at five in the evening they should again advance; but I +resolved that no assault should be made." + +From this and other writings of Garibaldi it is clear that from the +night of June 21st he considered any further attempt to prevent the +French from entering Rome as worse than useless--that hence he refused +to lead the remnants of his army "to butchery" on the breach. How, then, +was it possible for Mazzini to have retarded the catastrophe +indefinitely, and reserved to Rome "the glory of falling last," _i.e._, +after Venice and Hungary? + +Mazzini, beside himself with grief that the armed people had not been +allowed to rush on to the bastions and drive the French from the walls, +wrote a reproachful letter to Manara, then chief of Garibaldi's staff, +and this patriot here seems to have kept the peace, as on the 25th we +find a friendly letter from Garibaldi to the Triumvirate in which he +proposes to leave Manara in Rome, and to conduct, himself, a +considerable number of his men out of Rome to take up position between +the French and Civita Vecchia, to harass them in the rear. And on the +same day, evidently after a meeting and the acceptance by Mazzini of +Garibaldi's project, the latter writes: + + "June 26th, 8 P.M. + +"MAZZINI: I propose, therefore (_dunque_), to go out to-morrow evening. +Send me to-morrow morning the chief who is to assume the command here. +Order the general-in-chief to prepare one hundred fifty mounted +dragoons, who, with the fifty lancers, will make up two hundred horse. I +shall take eight hundred of the legion, and to-morrow shall send them to +change their shirts [_i.e._, doff their 'red' for 'gray']. Answer at +once, and keep the plan a profound secret." + +The attempt was not made, probably because it was impossible to march +out secretly from any gate, and Manara writes from Villa Spada, 1 P.M. +on the same day: + +"CITIZEN TRIUMVIR: I have received your letter. I am somewhat better and +at my post. I have spoken with Pisacane [chief of Rosselli's staff]; we +are perfectly agreed. Both animated by the same spirit, it is impossible +for petty jealousies to come between us. Be assured of this. I have +begged General Garibaldi to return to San Pancrazio, so as not to +deprive that post at this moment of his legion and his efficacious +power. He promises me that before dawn all will be here. Everything is +quiet. + + "MANARA." + +This was Manara's last letter to Mazzini; at that same Villa Spada the +yearned-for bullet pierced his heroic heart. Manara died as the +barbarians entered Rome. + +And here, to all appearances, is Garibaldi's last letter written in Rome +to Mazzini: + +"We have retaken our positions outside San Pancrazio. Let General +Rosselli send me orders; this is now no time for change. Yours, + + "G. GARIBALDI." + +No time for anything but one last desperate onslaught at the point of +the bayonet, Garibaldi in the foremost ranks with sword unsheathed, +while Medici from Villa Savorelli renewed the wonders of the Vascello. +Twice the assailants were driven back to their second lines; thrice they +returned in overpowering numbers; but, gaining the gate, they were +received with volleys of musketry from the barricades at the ingress to +Villa Spada and Savorelli. There fell the flower of the Lombards; boys +of the "band of hope"; Garibaldi's giant negro, faithful, brave Anghiar; +six hundred added to the three thousand four hundred corpses on which +the soldiers of _La Grande Nation_ reconstructed the throne of the +supreme Pontiff, and guarded it with their bayonets until the sword of +their self-chosen master fell from his trembling hands at Sedan. + + + + +(1849) LIVINGSTONE'S AFRICAN DISCOVERIES, David Livinstone and Thomas + Hughes + + +Although Africa, the second largest grand division of the earth, has +figured in history from ancient times, still it has been rightly named, +and until recently was called with good reason, the "Dark Continent." +But though it has been thus designated, as the least known of the +world's grand divisions, the progress of discovery and settlement is +rapidly dispelling the ignorance and mystery to which the designation +was due. The ancient seats of African civilization were confined to the +northern parts of the continent. The Phoenicians are said to have +circumnavigated Africa as early as the seventh century before Christ. In +the middle of the fifteenth century of the present era the Portuguese +explored much of the coastline, and in 1497 Vasco da Gama doubled the +Cape of Good Hope. But no modern explorations of the interior are known +to have been made until the latter part of the eighteenth century. Since +James Bruce, the Scottish traveller, explored the Nile Valley in 1768, +more than thirty others have distinguished themselves by their +discoveries on the African continent. + +None of Livingstone's predecessors equalled the achievements of this +Scottish missionary and explorer, who combined with his zeal in the +cause of religion and humanity a spirit of investigation and adventure +that made him also the servant of science, the "advance-agent" of +discovery, settlement, and civilization. These are at last bringing the +"Dark Continent" into the light of a new day that begins to dawn in the +remotest corners of the earth. + +David Livingstone was born near Glasgow, Scotland, March 19, 1813, and +he died in Central Africa April 30, 1873. After he had been admitted to +the medical profession and had studied theology, he decided to join +Robert Moffat, the celebrated missionary, in Africa. Livingstone arrived +at Cape Town in 1840, and soon moved toward the interior. He spent +sixteen years in Africa, engaged in medical and missionary labors and in +making his famous and most useful explorations of the country. His own +account of the beginnings of his work, taken from his _Missionary +Travels_, shows the sincere and simple spirit of the man, and his +natural powers of observation and description are seen in his own story +of his first important discovery, that of Lake Ngami. The narrative of +Thomas Hughes, the well-known English author, whose favorite subjects +were manly men and their characteristic deeds, follows the explorer on +the first of his famous journeys in the Zambesi Basin. + + +DAVID LIVINGSTONE + +I embarked for Africa in 1840, and, after a voyage of three months, +reached Cape Town. Spending but a short time there, I started for the +interior by going round to Algoa Bay, and soon proceeded inland, and +spent the following sixteen years of my life, namely, from 1840 to 1856, +in medical and missionary labors there without cost to the inhabitants. + +The general instructions I received from the directors of the London +Missionary Society led me, as soon as I reached Kuruman or Lattakoo, +then their farthest inland station from the Cape, to turn my attention +to the north. Without waiting longer at Kuruman than was necessary to +recruit the oxen, which were pretty well tired by the long journey from +Algoa Bay, I proceeded, in company with another missionary, to the +Bechuana or Bakwain country, and found Sechele, with his tribe, located +at Shokuane. We shortly afterward retraced our steps to Kuruman; but as +the objects in view were by no means to be attained by a temporary +excursion of this sort, I determined to make a fresh start into the +interior as soon as possible. Accordingly, after resting three months at +Kuruman, which is a kind of head station in the country, I returned to a +spot about fifteen miles south of Shokuane, called Lepelole (now +Litubaruba). Here, in order to obtain an accurate knowledge of the +language, I cut myself off from all European society for about six +months, and gained by this ordeal an insight into the habits, ways of +thinking, laws, and language of that section of the Bechuanas called +Bakwains, which has proved of incalculable advantage in my intercourse +with them ever since. + +In this second journey to Lepelole--so called from a cavern of that +name--I began preparations for a settlement by making a canal to +irrigate gardens from a stream, then flowing copiously, but now quite +dry. When these preparations were well advanced I went northward to +visit the Bakaa and Bamangwato, and the Makalaka, living between 22 deg. and +23 deg. south latitude. The Bakaa Mountains had been visited before by a +trader, who, with his people, all perished from fever. In going round +the northern part of these basaltic hills, near Letloche, I was only ten +days distant from the lower part of the Zouga, which passed by the same +name as Lake Ngami; and I might then (in 1842) have discovered that +lake, had discovery alone been my object. Most of this journey beyond +Shokuane was performed on foot, in consequence of the draught oxen +having become sick. Some of my companions who had recently joined us, +and did not know that I understood a little of their speech, were +overheard by me discussing my appearance and powers: "He is not strong; +he is quite slim, and only appears stout because he puts himself into +those bags [trousers]; he will soon knock up." This caused my Highland +blood to rise, and made me despise the fatigue of keeping them all at +the top of their speed for days together, till I heard them expressing +proper opinions of my pedestrian powers. + +Returning to Kuruman, in order to bring my luggage to our proposed +settlement, I was followed by the news that the tribe of Bakwains, who +had shown themselves so friendly toward me, had been driven from +Lepelole by the Barolongs, so that my prospects for the time of forming +a settlement there were at an end. One of those periodical outbreaks of +war, which seem to have occurred from time immemorial, for the +possession of cattle, had burst forth in the land, and had so changed +the relations of the tribes to each other that I was obliged to set out +anew to look for a suitable locality for a mission-station. + +In going north again a comet blazed on our sight, exciting the wonder of +every tribe we visited. That of 1816 had been followed by an irruption +of the Matabele, the most cruel enemies the Bechuanas ever knew, and +this they thought might portend something as bad, or it might only +foreshadow the death of some great chief. On this subject of comets I +knew little more than they did themselves, but I had that confidence in +a kind overruling Providence which makes such a difference between +Christians and both the ancient and modern heathen. + +As some of the Bamangwato people had accompanied me to Kuruman, I was +obliged to restore them and their goods to their chief Sekomi. This made +a journey to the residence of that chief again necessary, and, for the +first time, I performed a distance of some hundred miles on oxback. + +Returning toward Kuruman, I selected the beautiful valley of Mabotsa +(latitude 25 deg. 14' south, longitude 26 deg. 30') as the site of a +missionary-station, and thither I removed in 1843. Here an occurrence +took place concerning which I have frequently been questioned in +England, and which, but for the importunities of friends, I meant to +have kept in store to tell my children when in my dotage. The Bakatla of +the village Mabotsa were much troubled by lions, which leaped into the +cattle-pens by night and destroyed their cows. They even attacked the +herds in open day. This was so unusual an occurrence that the people +believed they were bewitched--"given," as they said, "into the power of +the lions by a neighboring tribe." They went at once to attack the +animals, but, being rather a cowardly people compared to Bechuanas in +general on such occasions, they returned without killing any. + +It is well known that if one of a troop of lions is killed, the others +take the hint and leave that part of the country. So the next time the +herds were attacked I went with the people in order to encourage them to +rid themselves of the annoyance by destroying one of the marauders. We +found the lions on a small hill about a quarter of a mile in length and +covered with trees. A circle of men was formed round it, and they +gradually closed up, ascending pretty near to each other. Being down +below on the plain with a native schoolmaster, named Mebalwe, a most +excellent man, I saw one of the lions sitting on a piece of rock within +the now closed circle of men. Mebalwe fired at him before I could, and +the ball struck the rock on which the animal was sitting. He bit at the +spot struck, as a dog does at a stick or stone thrown at him; then +leaping away, broke through the opening circle and escaped unhurt. The +men were afraid to attack him, perhaps on account of their belief in +witchcraft. + +When the circle was re-formed we saw two other lions in it; but we were +afraid to fire lest we should strike the men, and they allowed the +beasts to burst through also. If the Bakatla had acted according to the +custom of the country, they would have speared the lions in their +attempt to get out. Seeing we could not get them to kill one of the +lions, we bent our footsteps toward the village; in going round the end +of the hill, however, I saw one of the beasts sitting on a piece of rock +as before, but this time he had a little bush in front. Being about +thirty yards off, I took a good aim at his body through the bush, and +fired both barrels into it. The men then called out, "He is shot! He is +shot!" + +Others cried: "He has been shot by another man too; let us go to him!" I +did not see anyone else shoot at him, but I saw the lion's tail erected +in anger behind the bush, and, turning to the people said, "Stop a +little, till I load again." When in the act of ramming down the bullets +I heard a shout. Starting, and looking half round, I saw the lion just +in the act of springing upon me. I was upon a little height; he caught +my shoulder as he sprang, and we both came to the ground below together. +Growling horribly close to my ear, he shook me as a terrier dog does a +rat. The shock produced a stupor similar to that which seems to be felt +by a mouse after the first shake of the cat. It caused a sort of +dreaminess, in which there was no sense of pain nor feeling of terror, +though quite conscious of all that was happening. It was like what +patients partially under the influence of chloroform describe, who see +all the operation, but feel not the knife. + +This singular condition was not the result of any mental process. The +shake annihilated fear, and allowed no sense of horror in looking round +at the beast. This peculiar state is probably produced in all animals +killed by the carnivora; and if so, is a merciful provision by our +benevolent Creator for lessening the pain of death. Turning round to +relieve myself of the weight, as he had one paw on the back of my head, +I saw his eyes directed to Mabalwe, who was trying to shoot him at a +distance of ten or fifteen yards. His gun, a flint one, missed fire in +both barrels; the lion immediately left me, and, attacking Mebalwe, bit +his thigh. Another man--whose life I had saved before, after he had been +tossed by a buffalo--attempted to spear the lion while he was biting +Mebalwe. He left Mebalwe and caught this man by the shoulder, but at +that moment the bullets he had received took effect, and he fell down +dead. The whole was the work of a few moments, and must have been his +paroxysms of dying rage. In order to take out the charm from him, the +Bakatla on the following day made a huge bonfire over the carcass, which +was declared to be that of the largest lion they had ever seen. Besides +crunching the bone into splinters, he left eleven teeth wounds on the +upper part of my arm. It was a long time in healing. + +The exact position of Lake Ngami had, for half a century at least, been +correctly pointed out by the natives, who had visited it when rains were +more copious in the desert than in more recent times, and many attempts +had been made to reach it by passing through the desert in the direction +indicated; but it was found impossible, even for Griquas, who, having +some Bushman blood in them, may be supposed more capable of enduring +thirst than Europeans. It was clear, then, that our only chance of +success was by going round, instead of through, the desert. + +On July 4, 1849, we went forward on horseback toward what we supposed to +be the lake, and again and again did we seem to see it; but at last we +came to the veritable water of the Zouga, and found it to be a river +running to the northeast. A village of Bakurutse lay on the opposite +bank; these live among Batletli, a tribe having a click in their +language, and who were found by Sebituane to possess large herds of the +great horned cattle. They seem allied to the Hottentot family. Mr. +Oswell, in trying to cross the river, got his horse bogged in the swampy +bank. Two Bakwains and I managed to get over by wading beside a +fishing-weir. The people were friendly, and informed us that this water +came out of the Ngami. This news gladdened all our hearts, for we now +felt certain of reaching our goal. We might, they said, be a moon on the +way; but we had the River Zouga at our feet, and by following it we +should at last reach the broad water. + +When we had gone up the bank of this beautiful river about ninety-six +miles from the point where we first struck it, and understood that we +were still a considerable distance from the Ngami, we left all the oxen +and wagons, except Mr. Oswell's, which was the smallest, and one team, +at Ngabisane, in the hope that they would be recruited for the home +journey, while we made a push for the lake. + +Twelve days after our departure from the wagons at Ngabisane we came to +the northeast end of Lake Ngami; and on August 1, 1849, we went down +together to the broad part, and for the first time this fine-looking +sheet of water was beheld by Europeans. The direction of the lake seemed +to be north-northeast and south-southwest by compass. The southern +portion is said to bend round to the west, and to receive the Teoughe +from the north at its northwest extremity. We could detect no horizon +where we stood looking south-south west, nor could we form any idea of +the extent of the lake, except from the reports of the inhabitants of +the district; and, as they professed to go round it in three days, +allowing twenty-five miles a day would make it seventy-five, or less +than seventy geographical miles in circumference. + +Other guesses have been made since as to its circumference, ranging +between seventy and one hundred miles. It is shallow, for I subsequently +saw a native punting his canoe over seven or eight miles of the +northeast end; it can never therefore be of much value as a commercial +highway. In fact, during the months preceding the annual supply of water +from the north, the lake is so shallow that it is with difficulty cattle +can approach the water through the boggy, reedy banks. These are low on +all sides, but on the west there is a space devoid of trees, showing +that the waters have retired thence at no very ancient date. This is +another of the proofs of desiccation met with so abundantly throughout +the whole country. A number of dead trees lie on this space, some of +them imbedded in the mud right in the water. We were informed by the +Bayeiye, who live on the lake, that when the annual inundation begins, +not only trees of great size, but antelopes, as the springbuck and +_tsessebe_ (_Acronotus lunata_,) are swept down by its rushing waters; +the trees are gradually driven by the winds to the opposite side, and +become imbedded in mud. + +When the lake is full, the water is perfectly fresh, but brackish when +low; and that coming down the Tamunak'le we found to be so clear, cold, +and soft, the higher we ascended, that the idea of melting snow was +suggested to our minds. We found this region, with regard to that from +which we had come, to be clearly a hollow, the lowest point being Lake +Kumadau; the point of the ebullition of water as shown by one of +Newman's barometric thermometers, was only between 207-1/2 deg. and 206 deg., +giving an elevation of not much more than two thousand feet above the +level of the sea. We had descended above two thousand feet in coming to +it from Kolobeng. It is the southern and lowest part of the great river +system beyond, in which large tracts of country are inundated annually +by tropical rains. A little of that water, which in the countries +farther north produces inundation, comes as far south as 20 deg. 20', the +latitude of the upper end of the lake, and instead of flooding the +country, falls into the lake as into a reservoir. It begins to flow down +the Embarrah, which divides into the Rivers Tzo and Teoughe. The Tzo +divides into the Tamunak'le and Mababe; the Tamunak'le discharges itself +into the Zouga, and the Teoughe into the lake. The flow begins in either +March or April, and the descending waters find the channels of all these +rivers dried out, except in certain pools in their beds, which have long +dry spaces between them. The lake itself is very low. The Zouga is but a +prolongation of the Tamunak'le, and an arm of the lake reaches up to the +point where the one ends and the other begins. The last is narrow and +shallow, while the Zouga is broad and deep. The narrow arm of the lake, +which on the map looks like a continuation of the Zouga, has never been +observed to flow either way. + + +THOMAS HUGHES + +Before the middle of 1852 Livingstone was ready to start on the journey +which resulted in the opening of routes from Central Africa to the West +and East coasts; but the way was still beset with difficulties. The +missionary societies were regarded as "unpatriotic" by the authorities +at the Cape; and he, as the most outspoken of critics, and the most +uncompromising denouncer of the slave-trade and champion of the natives, +came in for a double share of their suspicion. On the other hand, his +brethren gave him only a half-hearted support and doubted his orthodoxy. +He found great difficulty even in procuring ammunition. A country +postmaster whom he had accused of overcharging, threatened an action at +the last moment, which he compromised rather than be detained. As it +was, he had anticipated his meagre salary by more than a year, and had +to be content with very inferior oxen, and a wagon which required +constant mending throughout the journey. On June 8, 1852, he at last got +away, taking with him a Mr. Fleming, the agent of his friend Mr. +Rutherford, a Cape merchant, in the hope of by degrees substituting +legitimate traffic for that in slaves. + +The heavy Cape wagon with its ten poor oxen dragged heavily onward. +Livingstone had so loaded himself with parcels for stations up-country, +and his wagon and team were so inferior, that he did not reach Kuruman +until September. Here he was detained by the breaking of a wheel. + +The journey to Linyanti by the new route was very trying. Part of the +country was flooded, and they were wading all day, and forcing their way +through reeds with sharp edges "with hands all raw and bloody." "On +emerging from the swamps," says Livingstone, "when walking before the +wagon in the morning twilight, I observed a lioness about fifty yards +from me in the squatting way they walk when going to spring. She was +followed by a very large lion, but seeing the wagon she turned back." + +It required all his tact to prevent guides and servants from deserting. +Everyone but himself was attacked by fever. "I would like," says his +journal, "to devote a portion of my life to the discovery of a remedy +for that terrible disease, the African fever. I would go into the parts +where it prevails most and try to discover if the natives have a remedy +for it. I must make many inquiries of the river people in this quarter." +Again in another key: "Am I on my way to die in Sebituane's country? +Have I seen the last of my wife and children, leaving this fair world +and knowing so little of it?" + +February 4, 1853: "I am spared in health while all the company have been +attacked by fever. If God has accepted my service, my life is charmed +till my work is done. When that is finished, some simple thing will give +me my quietus. Death is a glorious event to one going to Jesus." + +Their progress was tedious beyond all precedent. "We dug out several +wells, and each time had to wait a day or two till enough water flowed +in for our cattle to quench their thirst." + +At last, however, at the end of May, he reached the Chobe River and was +again among his favorite Makololo. "He has dropped from the clouds," the +first of them said. They took the wagon to pieces and carried it across +on canoes lashed together, while they themselves swam and dived among +the oxen "more like alligators than men." Sekeletu, son of Sebituane, +was now chief, his elder sister Mamochishane having resigned in disgust +at the number of husbands she had to maintain as chieftainess. Poor +Mamochishane! After a short reign of a few months she had risen in the +assembly and "addressed her brother with a womanly gush of tears. 'I +have been a chief only because my father wished it. I would always have +preferred to be married and have a family like other women. You, +Sekeletu, must be chief, and build up our father's house.'" + +On November 11, 1853, he left Linyanti, and arrived at Loanda on May 31, +1854. The first stages of the journey were to be by water, and Sekeletu +accompanied him to the Chobe, where he was to embark. They crossed five +branches before reaching the main stream, a wide and deep river full of +hippopotami. "The chief lent me his own canoe, and as it was broader +than usual I could turn about in it with ease. I had three muskets for +my people, and a rifle and double-barrelled shotgun for myself. My +ammunition was distributed through the luggage, that we might not be +left without a supply. Our chief hopes for food were in our guns. I +carried twenty pounds of beads worth forty shillings, a few biscuits, a +few pounds of tea and sugar, and about twenty pounds of coffee. One +small tin canister, about fifteen inches square, was filled with spare +shirts, trousers, and shoes, to be used when we reached civilized life, +another of the same size was stored with medicines, a third with books, +and a fourth with a magic lantern, which we found of much service. The +sextant and other instruments were carried apart. A bag contained the +clothes we expected to wear out in the journey, which, with a small tent +just sufficient to sleep in, a sheepskin mantle as a blanket, and a +horse rug as a bed, completed my equipment. An array of baggage would +have probably excited the cupidity of the tribes through whose country +we wished to pass." + +The voyage up the Chobe, and the Zambesi after the junction of those +rivers, was prosperous but slow, in consequence of stoppages opposite +villages. "My man Pitsane knew of the generous orders of Sekeletu, and +was not disposed to allow them remain a dead letter." In the rapids, +"the men leaped into the water without the least hesitation to save the +canoes from being dashed against the obstructions or caught in eddies. +They must never be allowed to come broadside to the stream, for being +flat-bottomed they would at once be capsized and everything in them +lost." When free from fever he was delighted to note the numbers of +birds, several of them unknown, which swarmed on the river and its +banks, all carefully noted in his journal. One extract must suffice +here: "Whenever we step on shore a species of plover, a plaguy sort of +public-spirited individual, follows, flying overhead, and is most +persevering in its attempts to give warning to all animals to flee from +the approaching danger." + +But he was already weak with fever; was seized with giddiness whenever +he looked up quickly, and, if he could not catch hold of some support, +fell heavily--a bad omen for his chance of passing through the unknown +country ahead--but his purpose never faltered for a moment. On January +1, 1854, he was still on the river, but getting beyond Sekeletu's +territory and allies, to a region of dense forest, in the open glades of +which dwelt the Balonda, a powerful tribe, whose relations with the +Makololo were precarious. Each was inclined to raid on the other since +the Mambari and Portuguese half-castes had appeared with Manchester +goods. These excited the intense wonder and cupidity of both nations. +They listened to the story of cotton-mills as fairy dreams, exclaiming: +"How can iron spin, weave, and print? Truly ye are gods!" and were +already inclined to steal their neighbors' children--those of their own +tribe they never sold at this time--to obtain these wonders out of the +sea. + +Happily Livingstone had brought back with him several Balonda children +who had been carried off by the Makololo. This, and his speeches to +Manenko, the chieftainess of the district and niece of Shinte, the head +chief of the Balonda, gained them a welcome. This Amazon was a strapping +young woman of twenty, who led their party through the forest at a pace +which tried the best walkers. She seems to have been the only native +whose will ever prevailed against Livingstone's. + +He intended to proceed up to her uncle Shinte's town in canoes: she +insisted that they should march by land, and ordered her people to +shoulder his baggage in spite of him. "My men succumbed, and left me +powerless. I was moving off in high dudgeon to the canoes, when she +kindly placed her hand on my shoulder, and with a motherly look said, +'Now, my little man, just do as the rest have done.' My feeling of +annoyance of course vanished, and I went out to try for some meat. My +men, in admiration of her pedestrian powers, kept remarking, 'Manenko is +a soldier,' and we were all glad when she proposed a halt for the +night." + +Shinte received them in his town, the largest and best laid out that +Livingstone had seen in Central Africa, on a sort of throne covered with +leopard-skin. The _kotla_, or place of audience, was one hundred yards +square. Though in the sweating stage of an intermittent fever, +Livingstone held his own with the chief, gave him an ox as "his mouth +was bitter from want of flesh," advised him to open a trade in cattle +with the Makololo, and to put down the slave-trade; and, after spending +more than a week with him, left amid the warmest professions of +friendship. Shinte found him a guide of his tribe, Intemese by name, who +was to stay by them till they reached the sea, and at a last interview +hung round his neck a conical shell of such value that two of them, so +his men assured him, would purchase a slave. + +Soon they were out of Shinte's territory, and Intemese became the plague +of the party, though unluckily they could not dispense with him +altogether in crossing the great flooded plains of Lebala. They camped +at night on mounds, where they had to trench round each hut and use the +earth to raise their sleeping places. "My men turned out to work most +willingly, and I could not but contrast their conduct with that of +Intemese, who was thoroughly imbued with the slave spirit, and lied on +all occasions to save himself trouble." He lost the pontoon, too, +thereby adding greatly to their troubles. + +They now came to the territory of another great chief, Katema, who +received them hospitably, sending food and giving them solemn audience +in his kotla surrounded by his tribe. A tall man of forty, dressed in a +snuff-brown coat with a broad band of tinsel down the arms, and a helmet +of beads and feathers. He carried a large fan with charms attached, +which he waved constantly during the audience, often laughing +heartily--"a good sign, for a man who shakes his sides with mirth is +seldom difficult to deal with." + +"I am the great Moene Katema!" was his address; "I and my fathers have +always lived here, and there is my father's house. I never killed any of +the traders; they all come to me. I am the great Moene Katema, of whom +you have heard." On hearing Livingstone's object, he gave him three +guides, who would take him by a northern route, along which no traders +had passed, to avoid the plains, impassable from the floods. He accepted +Livingstone's present of a shawl, a razor, some beads and buttons, and a +powder-horn graciously, laughing at his apologies for its smallness, and +asking him to bring a coat from Loanda, as the one he was wearing was +old. + +From this point troubles multiplied, and they began to be seriously +pressed for food. The big game had disappeared, and they were glad to +catch moles and mice. Every chief demanded a present for allowing them +to pass, and the people of the villages charged exorbitantly for all +supplies. On they floundered, however, through flooded forests. In +crossing the river Loka, Livingstone's ox got away from him, and he had +to strike out for the farther bank. "My poor fellows were dreadfully +alarmed, and about twenty of them made a simultaneous rush into the +water for my rescue, and just as I reached the opposite bank one seized +me by the arms and another clasped me round the body. When I stood up it +was most gratifying to see them all struggling toward me. Part of my +goods were brought up from the bottom when I was safe. Great was their +pleasure when they found I could swim like themselves, and I felt most +grateful to those poor heathens for the promptitude with which they +dashed in to my rescue." Farther on, the people tried to frighten them +with the account of the deep rivers they had yet to cross, but his men +laughed. "'We can all swim,' they said; 'who carried the white man +across the river but himself?' I felt proud of their praise." + +On March 4th they reached the country of the Chiboques, a tribe in +constant contact with the slave-dealers. Next day their camp was +surrounded by the nearest chief and his warriors, evidently bent on +plunder. They paused when they saw Livingstone seated on his camp-stool, +with his double-barrelled gun across his knees, and his Makololos ready +with their javelins. The chief and his principal men sat down in front +at Livingstone's invitation to talk over the matter, and a palaver began +as to the fine claimed by the Chiboque. "The more I yielded, the more +unreasonable they became, and at every fresh demand a shout was raised, +and a rush made round us with brandished weapons. One young man even +made a charge at my head from behind, but I quickly brought round the +muzzle of my gun to his mouth and he retreated. My men behaved with +admirable coolness. The chief and his counsellors, by accepting my +invitation to be seated, had placed themselves in a trap, for my men had +quietly surrounded them and made them feel that there was no chance of +escaping their spears. I then said that as everything had failed to +satisfy them they evidently meant to fight; and if so, they must begin, +and bear the blame before God. I then sat silent for some time. It was +certainly rather trying, but I was careful not to seem flurried, and, +having four barrels ready for instant action, looked quietly at the +savage scene around." The palaver began again, and ended in the exchange +of an ox for a promise of food, in which he was wofully cheated. "It was +impossible to help laughing, but I was truly thankful that we had so far +gained our point as to be allowed to pass without shedding blood." + +He now struck north to avoid the Chiboque, and made for the Portuguese +settlement of Cassange through dense forest and constant wet. Here +another fever fit came on, so violent that "I could scarcely, after some +hours' trial, get a lunar observation in which I could repose +confidence. Those who know the difficulties of making observations and +committing them all to paper will sympathize with me in this and many +similar instances." + +At this crisis, when the goal was all but at hand, obstacles multiplied +till it seemed that after all it would never be reached. First his +riding ox, Sindbad--a beast "blessed with a most intractable temper," +and a habit of bolting into the bush to get his rider combed off by a +climber, and then kicking at him--achieved a triumph in his weak state, +"when the bridle broke, and down I came backward on the crown of my +head, receiving as I fell a kick on the thigh. This last attack of fever +reduced me almost to a skeleton. The blanket which I used as a saddle, +being pretty constantly wet, caused extensive abrasion of the skin, +which was continually healing and getting sore again." + +Then the guides missed their way and led them back into Chiboque +territory, where the demands of the chief of every village for "a man, +an ox, or a tusk," for permission to pass, began again. Worst of all, +signs of mutiny began to show themselves among the Batoka men of his +party, who threatened to turn back. He appeased them by giving them a +tired ox to be killed at the Sunday's halt. "Having thus, as I thought, +silenced their murmurs, I sank into a state of torpor, and was oblivious +of all their noise. On Sunday the mutineers were making a terrible din +in preparing the skin. I requested them twice to be more quiet as the +noise pained me, but, as they paid no attention to this civil request, I +put out my head and, repeating it, was answered by an impudent laugh. +Knowing that discipline would be at an end if this mutiny was not +quelled, and that our lives depended on vigorously upholding authority, +I seized a double-barrelled pistol and darted out with such a savage +aspect as to put them to precipitate flight. They gave no further +trouble." Every night now they had to build a stockade, and by day to +march in a compact body, knowing the forest to be full of enemies +dogging their path, for now they had nothing to give as presents, the +men having even divested themselves of all their copper ornaments to +appease the Chiboque harpies. "Nothing, however, disturbed us, and for +my part I was too ill to care much whether we were attacked or not." +They struggled on, the Chiboque natives, now joined by bodies of +traders, opposing at every ford, Livingstone no longer wondering why +expeditions from the interior failed to reach the coast. "Some of my men +proposed to return home, and the prospect of being obliged to turn back +from the threshold of the Portuguese settlements distressed me +exceedingly. After using all my powers of persuasion, I declared that if +they now returned, I should go on alone, and returning into my little +tent, I lifted up my heart to Him who hears the sighing of the soul. +Presently the head man came in. 'Do not be disheartened,' he said, 'we +will never leave you. Wherever you lead, we will follow. Our remarks +were only made on account of the injustice of these people.' Others +followed, and with the most artless simplicity of manner told me to be +comforted. 'They were all my children; they knew no one but Sekeletu and +me, and would die for me: they had spoken in bitterness of spirit, +feeling they could do nothing.'" + +On April 1st they gained the ridge which overlooks the valley of the +Quango and the Portuguese settlements on the farther bank. "The descent +is so steep that I was obliged to dismount, though so weak that I had to +be supported. Below us, at a depth of one thousand feet, lay the +magnificent valley of the Quango. The view of the Vale of Clyde, from +the spot where Mary witnessed the Battle of Langside, resembles in +miniature the glorious sight which was here presented to our view." + +On the 4th they were close to the Quango, here one hundred fifty yards +broad, when they were stopped for the last time by a village chief and +surrounded by his men. The usual altercation ensued; Livingstone +refusing to give up his blanket--the last article he possessed except +his watch and instruments and Sekeletu's tusks, which had been +faithfully guarded--until on board the canoes in which they were to +cross. "I was trying to persuade my people to move on to the bank in +spite of them, when a young half-caste Portuguese sergeant of militia, +Cypriano di Abren, who had come across in search of beeswax, made his +appearance and gave the same advice." They marched to the bank--the +chief's men opening fire on them, but without doing any damage--made +terms with the ferrymen, with Cypriano's help, crossed the Quango, and +were at the end of their troubles. + +Four days they stopped with Cypriano, who treated them royally, killing +an ox and stripping his garden to feast them, and sending them on to +Cassange with provisions of meal ground by his mother and her maids. "I +carried letters from the Chevalier du Prat of Cape Town, but I am +inclined to believe that my friend Cypriano was influenced by feelings +of genuine kindness excited by my wretched appearance." + +At Cassange they were again most hospitably treated, and here, before +starting for Loanda, three hundred miles, they disposed of Sekeletu's +tusks, which sold for much higher prices than those given by Cape +traders. "Two muskets, three small barrels of powder, and English calico +and baize enough to clothe my whole party, with large bunches of beads, +were given for one tusk, to the great delight of my Makololos, who had +been used to get only one gun for two tusks. With another tusk we +purchased calico--the chief currency here--to pay our way to the coast. +The remaining two were sold for money to purchase a horse for Sekeletu +at Loanda." Livingstone was much struck both by the country he passed +through and the terms on which the Portuguese lived with the natives. +Most of them had families by native women, who were treated as European +children and provided for by their fathers. Half-caste clerks sat at +table with the whites, and he came to the conclusion that "nowhere in +Africa is there so much good-will between Europeans and natives as +here." + +The dizziness produced by his twenty-seven attacks of fever on the road +made it all he could do to stick on Sindbad, who managed to give him a +last ducking in the Lombe. "The weakening effects of the fever were most +extraordinary. For instance, in attempting to take lunar observations I +could not avoid confusion of time and distance, neither could I hold the +instrument steady, nor perform a simple calculation." He rallied a +little in crossing a mountain range. As they drew near Loanda the hearts +of his men began to fail, and they hinted their doubts to him. "If you +suspect me you can return," he told them, "for I am as ignorant of +Loanda as you; but nothing will happen to you but what happens to me. We +have stood by one another hitherto, and will do so till the last." + +The first view of the sea staggered the Makololo. "We were marching +along with our father," they said, "believing what the ancients had told +us, that the world had no end; but all at once the world said to us: 'I +am finished; there is no more for me.'" + +The fever had produced chronic dysentery, which was so depressing that +Livingstone entered Loanda in deep melancholy, doubting the reception he +might get from the one English gentleman, Mr. Gabriel, the commissioner +for the suppression of the slave-trade. He was soon undeceived. Mr. +Gabriel received him most kindly, and, seeing the condition he was in, +gave up to him his own bed. "Never shall I forget the luxurious pleasure +I enjoyed in feeling myself again on a good English bed after six +months' sleeping on the ground. I was soon asleep; and Mr. Gabriel +coming in almost immediately after, rejoiced in the soundness of my +repose." + + + + +(1851) THE COUP D'ETAT OF LOUIS NAPOLEON, Alexis de Tocqueville + + +By his astounding act of December 2, 1851, known as the _coup d'etat_, +Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, commonly called Louis Napoleon, +practically assumed imperial power, and on the first anniversary of that +_coup d'etat_ he was officially proclaimed Emperor of the French under +the title of Napoleon III. He was the son of Louis Bonaparte, King of +Holland--a brother of Napoleon I--and was born in Paris, April 20, 1808. +From 1815 to 1830 he lived in exile. In 1836 he made an unsuccessful +attempt to organize a revolution among the French soldiers at Strasburg. +Four years later he tried to seize the throne of France; but failing in +this attempt, he was imprisoned in the fortress of Ham until 1846, when +he escaped to England. During his confinement he continued in his +writings a Bonapartist propaganda. He had addressed himself particularly +to the workingmen, and this class won a victory in the Revolution of +February, 1848. After the fall of Louis Philippe in that year, Napoleon +was elected to the National Assembly, largely by the votes of the +working classes, and on June 13, 1848, took his seat. In December he was +elected President of the Republic by an immense majority. + +Although he was regarded as possessing a rather dull intellect, and as +being, partly for that reason, a "safe" man for the presidential office, +Napoleon soon proved his capacity for intrigue and for cajoling the +people. By intervening in behalf of Pope Pius IX, whom revolutionists +had driven from Rome, he gained the support of the clergy. Napoleon's +troops restored Pius IX (1850) to the papal throne. The President's aims +at supremacy were approved by the French monarchists, and he used all +means to increase his popularity, placing only his adherents in office. + +When the Assembly, composed of seven hundred sixty members, undertook to +restrict the suffrage, which was "universal," Napoleon opposed the +change. He thus appeared to be the champion of the people against the +legislative body. As his term was to expire on May 2, 1852, and as he +was ineligible for a second term, although he knew that a majority of +the people favored his continuance in office, he saw no way to +accomplish that except by force. He therefore determined to use force, +and the method he adopted was that of the _coup d'etat_. The success of +that stroke insured all that he aimed at. In December, 1851, by an +almost unanimous vote he was elected President for ten years. All his +"ideas" and purposes were embodied in a new constitution, and before the +end of 1852 the question of restoring the empire was submitted to the +people; and by the plebiscite of November, in that year, an enormous +majority of the voters elected him Emperor. + +No account of the _coup d'etat_,--the most striking and effective in +this series of dramatic events--surpasses in authenticity or interest +that of De Tocqueville. The famous author of _Democracy in America_, and +of equally celebrated works of French history, became Vice-President of +the National Assembly in 1849. As a member of that body he was justified +in saying of his story of the _coup d'etat_, "I merely relate, as an +actual witness, the things I saw with my eyes and heard with my ears." +The first step taken by Napoleon in this affair was the arrest of the +opposition leaders of the Assembly in their beds, on the pretext of a +conspiracy against him in that body. De Tocqueville describes what +followed. + +When the representatives of the people learned on the morning of +December 2, 1851, that several of their colleagues were arrested, they +ran to the Assembly. The doors were guarded by the Chasseurs de +Vincennes, a corps of troops recently returned from Africa and long +accustomed to the violence of Algerine dominion, and, moreover, +stimulated by a donation of five francs distributed to every soldier who +was in Paris that day. The Representatives, nevertheless, presented +themselves to go in, having at their head one of their Vice-Presidents, +M. Daru. This gentleman was violently struck by the soldiers, and the +Representatives who accompanied him were driven back at the point of the +bayonet. Three of them, M. de Talhouet, Etienne, and Duparc, were +slightly wounded. Several others had their clothes pierced. Such was the +beginning. + +Driven from the doors of the Assembly, the Deputies retired to the +_mairie_ of the Tenth Arrondissement. They were already assembled to the +number of about three hundred when the troops arrived, blocked up the +approaches, and prevented a greater number of Representatives from +entering the apartment, though no one at that time was prevented from +leaving it. + +Who then were those Representatives assembled at the _mairie_ of the +Tenth Arrondissement, and what did they do there? Every shade of opinion +was represented in this extemporaneous Assembly. But four-fifths of its +members belonged to the different conservative parties which had +constituted the majority. This Assembly was presided over by two of its +Vice-Presidents, M. Vitet and M. Benoist d'Azy. M. Daru was arrested in +his own house; the Fourth Vice-President, the illustrious General +Bedeau, had been seized that morning in his bed, and handcuffed like a +robber. As for the President, M. Dupin, he was absent, which surprised +no one. Besides its Vice-Presidents, the Assembly was accompanied by its +secretaries, its ushers, and even its phonographer who preserved for +posterity the records of this last and memorable sitting. The Assembly, +thus constituted, began by voting a decree in the following terms: + +"In pursuance of article sixty-eight of the constitution, viz., the +President of the Republic, the ministers, the agents, and depositaries +of public authority are responsible, each in what concerns himself +respectively, for all the acts of the Government and the Administration: +any measure by which the President of the Republic dissolves the +National Assembly, prorogues it, or places obstacles in the exercise of +its powers is a crime of high treason. + +"By this act alone, the President is deprived of all authority; the +citizens are bound to withhold their obedience, the executive power +passes in full right to the National Assembly. The judges of the High +Court of Justice will meet immediately, under pain of forfeiture; they +will convoke the juries in the place which they will select to proceed +to the judgment of the President and his accomplices; they will nominate +the magistrates charged to fulfil the duties of public ministers. + +"And seeing that the National Assembly is prevented by violence from +exercising its powers, it decrees as follows, viz.: Louis Napoleon +Bonaparte is deprived of all authority as President of the Republic. The +citizens are enjoined to withhold their obedience. The executive power +has passed in full right to the National Assembly. The judges of the +High Court of Justice are enjoined to meet immediately, under pain of +forfeiture, to proceed to the judgment of the President and his +accomplices; consequently, all the officers and functionaries of power +and of public authority are bound to obey all requisitions made in the +name of the National Assembly, under pain of forfeiture and of high +treason. + +"Done and decreed unanimously in public sitting, this second day of +December, 1851." + +After this first decree was voted, another was unanimously passed, +naming General Oudinot commander of the public forces, and M. Tamisier +was joined with him as chief of the staff. The choice of these two +officers, each having distinct shades of political opinion, showed that +the Assembly was animated by one common spirit. + +These decrees had hardly been signed by all the members present, and +deposited in a place of safety, when a band of soldiers, headed by their +officers, sword in hand, appeared at the door, without, however, daring +to enter the apartment. The Assembly awaited them in perfect silence. +The President alone raised his voice, read the decrees which had just +been passed to the soldiers, and ordered them to retire. The poor +fellows, ashamed of the part they were compelled to play, hesitated. The +officers, pale and undecided, declared that they should go for further +orders. They retired, contenting themselves with blockading the passages +leading to the apartment. The Assembly, not being able to go out, +ordered the windows to be opened, and caused the decrees to be read to +the people and the troops in the street below, especially that decree +which, in pursuance of the sixty-eighth article of the constitution, +declared the deposition and impeachment of Louis Napoleon. + +Soon, however, the soldiers reappeared at the door, preceded this time +by two _commissaires de police_. These men entered the room and, amid +the unbroken silence and total immobility of the Assembly, summoned the +Representatives to disperse. The President ordered them to retire +themselves. One of the _commissaires_ was agitated and faltered; the +other broke out in invectives. The President said to him: "Sir, we are +here the lawful authority and sole representatives of law and of right. +We know that we cannot oppose to you material force, but we will leave +this chamber only under constraint. We will not disperse. Seize us and +convey us to prison." + +"All, all!" exclaimed the members of the Assembly. After much hesitation +the _commissaires de police_ decided to act. They caused each of the two +Presidents to be seized by the collar. The whole body then rose, and, +arm in arm, two and two, they followed the Presidents, who were led off. +In this order they reached the street, and were marched across the city, +without knowing whither they were going. + +Care had been taken to circulate a report among the crowd and the troops +that a meeting of Socialist and Red Republican Deputies had been +arrested. But when the people beheld among those who were thus dragged +through the mud of Paris on foot, like a gang of malefactors, men the +most illustrious by their talents and their virtues--ex-ministers, +ex-ambassadors, generals, admirals, great orators, great writers, +surrounded by the bayonets of the line--a shout was raised, "_Vive +l'Assemblee nationale!_" The Representatives were attended by these +shouts until they reached the barracks of the Quai d'Orsay, where they +were shut up. + +Night was coming on, and it was wet and cold. Yet the Assembly was left +two hours in the open air, as if the Government did not deign to +remember its existence. The Representatives here made their last +roll-call in presence of their phonographer, who had followed them. The +number present was two hundred eighteen, to whom were added about twenty +more in the course of the evening, consisting of members who had +voluntarily caused themselves to be arrested. Almost all the men known +to France and to Europe, who formed the majority of the Legislative +Assembly, were gathered in this place. Few were wanting, except those +who, like M. Mole, had not been suffered to reach their colleagues. + +There were present, among others, the Duc de Broglie, who had come, +though ill; the father of the House, the venerable Keratry, whose +physical strength was inferior to his moral courage, and whom it was +necessary to seat in a straw chair in the barrack yard; Odilon Barrot, +Dufaure, Berryer, Remusat, Duvergier de Hauranne, Gustave de Beaumont, +De Tocqueville, De Falloux, Lanjuinais, Admiral Laine and Admiral +Cecille, Generals Oudinot and Lauriston, the Due de Luynes, the Due de +Montebello; twelve ex-ministers, nine of whom had served under Louis +Napoleon himself; eight members of the Institute--all men who had +struggled for three years to defend society and to resist the demagogic +faction. + +When two hours had elapsed this assemblage was driven into barrack-rooms +upstairs, where most of them spent the night, without fire and almost +without food, stretched upon the boards. It only remained to carry off +to prison these honorable men, guilty of no crime but the defence of the +laws of their country. For this purpose the most distressing and +ignominious means were selected. The cellular vans, in which convicts +are conveyed to prison, were brought up. In these vehicles were shut up +the men who had served and honored their country, and they were conveyed +like three bands of criminals, some to the fortress of Mont Valerien, +some to the prison Mazas in Paris, and the remainder to Vincennes. The +indignation of the public compelled the Government two days afterward to +release the greater number of them; some remained in confinement, unable +to obtain either their liberty or a trial. + +The treatment inflicted upon the generals arrested in the morning of +December 2d was still more disgraceful. Cavaignac, Lamoriciere, Bedeau, +Changarnier, the conquerors of Africa, were shut up in these infamous +cellular vans, which are always inconvenient and become almost +intolerable on a lengthened journey. In this manner they were conveyed +to Ham--that is, they were made to perform more than a day's journey. +Cavaignac, who had saved Paris and France in the days of +June--Cavaignac, the competitor of Louis Napoleon at the last elections, +shut up for a day and a night in the cell of a felon! I leave it to +every honest man and every generous heart to comment on such facts. Such +were the indignities offered to eminent men. + +Let me now review the series of general crimes. The liberty of the press +is destroyed to an extent unheard of even in the time of the empire. +Most of the journals are suppressed, those which appear cannot say a +word on politics or even publish any news. But this is by no means all. +The Government has stuck up a list of persons who are formed into a +"consultative commission." Its object is to induce France to believe +that the Executive is not abandoned by every man of respectability and +consideration among us. More than half the persons on this list have +refused to belong to the commission; most of them regard the insertion +of their names as dishonor. I may quote, among others, M. Leon Faucher, +M. Portalis, First President of the Court of Cassation, and the Duc de +Albufera, as those best known. Not only does the Government decline to +publish the letters in which these gentlemen refuse their consent, but +even their names are not withdrawn from the list which dishonors them. +The names are still retained in spite of their repeated remonstrances. A +day or two ago, one of them, M. Joseph Perier, driven to desperation by +this excess of tyranny, rushed into the street to strike out his own +name, with his own hands, from the public placards, taking the +passers-by to witness that it had been placed there by a lie. + +Such is the state of the public journals. Let us now see the condition +of personal liberty. I say again that personal liberty is more trampled +on than ever it was in the time of the empire. A decree of the new power +gives the _prefets_ the right to arrest, in their respective +departments, whomsoever they please; and the _prefets_, in their turn, +send blank warrants of arrest, which are literally _lettres de cachet_, +to the _sobs-prefets_ under their orders. The Provisional Government of +the Republic never went so far. Human life is as little respected as +human liberty. I know that war has its dreadful necessities, but the +disturbances which have recently occurred in Paris have been put down +with a barbarity unprecedented in our civil contests; and when we +remember that this torrent of blood has been shed to consummate the +violation of all law, we cannot but think that sooner or later it will +fall back upon the heads of those who shed it. As for the appeal of the +people, to whom Louis Napoleon affects to submit his claims, never was a +more odious mockery offered to a nation. The people is called upon to +express its opinion, yet not only is public discussion suppressed, but +even the knowledge of facts. The people is asked its opinion, but the +first measure taken to obtain it is to establish military terrorism +throughout the country, and to threaten with deprivation every public +agent that does not approve in writing what has been done. + +Such is the condition in which we stand. Force overturning law, +trampling on the liberty of the press and of the person, deriding the +popular will, in whose name the Government pretends to act. France torn +from the alliance of free nations to be classed with the despotic +monarchies of the Continent--such is the result of this _coup d'etat_. + +The army refused to submit to the decree of the captive Assembly +impeaching the President of the Republic; but the High Court of Justice +obeyed it. The five judges composing it, sitting in the midst of Paris +enslaved and in the face of martial law, dared to assemble at the Palace +of Justice, and to issue a process beginning criminal proceedings +against Louis Napoleon, charged with high treason by the law, though +already triumphant in the streets. I subjoin the text of this memorable +edict: + +"The High Court of Justice, considering the sixty-eighth article of the +constitution, considering that printed placards, beginning with the +words 'The President of the Republic,' and bearing at the end the +signatures of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte and De Moony, Minister of the +Interior, which placards announce among other things, the dissolution of +the National Assembly, have this day been affixed to the walls of Paris; +that this fact of the dissolution of the Assembly by the President of +the Republic would fall under the case provided for by the sixty-eighth +article of the constitution, and render the convocation of the High +Court of Justice imperative, by the terms of that article declares that +the High Court is constituted, and names M. Renouard, counsellor of the +Court of Cassation, to fill the duties of public accuser; and to fill +those of _greffier_, M. Bernard, _Greffier-en-chef_ of the Court of +Cassation; and, to proceed further in pursuance of the terms of the said +sixty-eighth article of the constitution, adjourns until to-morrow, +December 3d, at the hour of noon. + +"Done and deliberated in the Council Chamber. Present, M. Hardouin, +President; M. Pataille, M. Moreau, M. de la Palme, and M. Cauchy, +judges, this second day of December, 1851." + +After this textual extract from the minutes of the High Court of Justice +there is the following entry: "(1) A _proces-verbal_ announcing the +arrival of a _commissaire de police_, who called upon the High Court to +separate. (2) A _proces-verbal_ of a second sitting held on the morrow, +the third day of December (when the Assembly was in prison), at which M. +Renouard accepts the functions of public prosecutor, charged to proceed +against Louis Napoleon, after which the High Court, being no longer able +to sit, adjourned to a day to be fixed hereafter." + + + + +(1851) DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN AUSTRALIA, Edward Jenks + + +EDWARD JENKS + +It was a remarkable sequence in successful enterprise that brought to +light and developed the vast gold deposits in Australia within three +years after the great discovery in California. This event "was to +change, if not the entire character, at least the rate, of Australian +progress." The date of Captain James Cook's exploration of the eastern +coast (1770) marks the beginning of a new era in the history of +Australia. Cook took possession of the country for Great Britain. From +the resemblance of its coasts to the southern shores of Wales, he called +it New South Wales, and this name is still retained by one of the States +of the Commonwealth of Australia (inaugurated January 1, 1901). The +first English settlement (1788) was a convict colony at Port Jackson +(Sydney). From the establishment of this colony the development of +Australia as a British possession was gradual, but progressive, up to +the discovery of the gold-fields, by which it was so greatly +accelerated. At first a few pastoral groups occupied the lands near the +coast. Many of the newcomers were mere squatters, bent on making money +and then returning to England. But gradually small towns and settled +industries grew up. Increasing numbers of farmers immigrated, squatters +were pushed toward the interior, and a state of social organization +began. Up to 1850, however, this nucleus of a new commonwealth had +reached no great development. + +As in the case of California, long before the great discovery of gold in +Australia there had been rumors of its existence in that country. Most +of the early stories told by persons said to have found specimens of the +metal were scouted. In 1844 the distinguished geologist, Sir Roderick +Impey Murchison, having compared specimens of Australian rocks brought +to him with other specimens from gold-bearing lands, declared that he +found in the former no trace of gold. Two years later, however, Sir +Roderick declared his belief in the existence of gold in Australia, and +in 1848 he announced that he had seen specimens of gold from New South +Wales, and recommended a government mineral survey there. Little +attention might have been given to the matter then but for the discovery +of gold in California. From the excitement caused by that the "gold +fever" spread over the world. Nothing was done in the way of discovery +of the metal in Australia until many months had elapsed; but finally +results of the utmost importance were obtained. + +The story of the great Australian gold discovery is here told in an +authentic and highly interesting manner by the historian of the +Australasian colonies. + +In the year 1851 Edmund Hammond Hargraves, an old settler in New South +Wales, returned thither from California, where he had spent about +eighteen months in the search for gold. His efforts in California +resulted in no immediate prosperity, but he gained much useful practical +experience. More than this, as he looked at the natural features of the +California gold-fields, a great idea grew up in his mind. Though not a +geologist, he appears to have had a quick eye for stratiform +resemblances; and the more he studied the peculiarities of rocks and +soil in California, the more he became convinced that he knew, in his +own colony, a district which presented the same features and which, +therefore, might be expected to produce the same results. + +Remaining in California only long enough to verify his observations, he +returned to Sydney at the beginning of the year 1851. Seldom has such +absolute confidence in unverified observation proved so completely +justified. According to Hargraves's own account he went without +hesitation to a spot on the banks of a little stream known as Lewes Pond +Creek, a tributary of Summer Hill Creek, itself a tributary of the +Macquarie River, and there at once, on February 12, 1851, found alluvial +gold. In April he had so far advanced as to be able to write to the +Government offering to disclose his treasures for five hundred pounds. +But he subsequently decided to trust to the liberality of the +Government, and offered at once to show his workings to the government +geologist, an official recently sent out from England to report upon +gold prospects. On May 19th Mr. Stutchbury officially reported the +discovery of gold in workable quantities at Summer Hill Creek, and by +the end of the same month the immigration to the diggings had begun. +Hargraves himself took no part in the digging, merely pointing out to +others, without reserve, the places in which his experience led him to +predict discovery, and instructing them in the processes of washing and +cleaning. He was soon made a commissioner of Crown lands, and received a +reward of ten thousand pounds. + +Now began a period which can have no complete parallel in earlier +history, save the almost contemporaneous parallel of California. + +For in days when news travelled slowly, and travelling for ordinary men +was still slower, in days when governments jealously prohibited the +expatriation of their subjects, and only allowed the immigration of +aliens under strict limitations, nothing like the Australian gold-rush +could have taken place. As it was, everything favored the stampede. The +Australian colonies themselves were anxious for immigrants. The European +disturbances of 1848 had led many Continental rulers to the conclusion +that it was wiser to allow turbulent spirits to go than to attempt to +keep them. The new era of industry had completely unsettled the old +relationships and awakened a spirit of restlessness. Finally, the recent +application of steam to sea-going ships had rendered a rapid decrease in +the length of the voyage from Europe a practical certainty. From the +moment that the genuineness of Hargraves's discoveries was placed beyond +doubt a swarm of pilgrims from all parts of the world set their faces +toward the diggings. Many, perhaps the majority, of the arrivals were +totally unsuited for the actual work of mining. Some of these turned to +other pursuits in the neighborhood, and, in no small number of cases, +did far better than the diggers whose gold they received. But thousands +turned back in despair after a few days' experience of the hardships of +the life; so that, almost from the first, there was an enormous traffic +to and fro, and strong division of parties upon the gold question. An +extreme view of the effect upon population may be obtained from a +comparison of the statistics of Victoria at the close of the years 1850 +and 1855 respectively. At the former date the population was under +seventy thousand; at the latter, it was upward of three hundred +thousand. But no other colony increased to anything like this extent +during the gold rush. + +The first care of the Government at Sydney, on receiving the official +report of the existence of gold, was to decide upon the attitude to be +assumed toward the diggers. It was abundantly clear that the +establishment of mining industries would mean a great increase of +expense to the Government. It was equally clear that, as the law had +been declared over and over again in the colony, unauthorized digging on +Crown land constituted a trespass, for which the digger was legally +responsible. But the Governor was wise enough to see that no threats of +prosecution would deter men bent on digging in unoccupied lands, even if +it were possible to preserve the lands of private owners from forcible +intrusion. The "squatting" question had demonstrated that, beyond a +certain point, the theory of Crown occupation of waste lands was liable +to break down. + +So the government advisers suggested a compromise. Falling back on a +still older feudal doctrine, they asserted the indefeasible right of the +Crown to all gold found either on private or public lands, but +recommended that licenses to dig should be granted on easy terms, which +would have the double effect of providing a revenue and of preserving an +acknowledgment of the Crown's title. + +Acting on this advice, Governor Fitzroy, on May 22, 1851, issued a +proclamation forbidding all persons to dig for gold on any lands without +license, but expressing the willingness of the Government to grant +licenses at a fee of thirty shillings a month to diggers on Crown lands. +For the present, the Governor refused to allow digging on private lands +without the owner's consent. The proclamation also announced that no +license would be given to any laborer or servant unless he could produce +a certificate of discharge from his last service. At the same time the +Governor established the practice of appointing special commissioners +for the gold-fields, charged with the administration of the licensing +system and the general maintenance of order in their respective +districts. He also strengthened the police force by every means in his +power, and then awaited developments. + +He had not long to wait. Almost immediately after the issue of the +proclamation another gold-field was discovered on the Turon River, also +a feeder of the Macquarie, only a few miles from Lewes Pond; and shortly +afterward a third was opened up on the Abercrombie, a tributary of the +Murrumbidgee, which takes its rise in the Cordillera, south of Bathurst. +By the beginning of June, gold began to pour into Bathurst; but Mr. +Hardy, the chief commissioner, was able to report an almost idyllic +peace and plenty at the diggings. + +In the middle of July an event occurred which at once produced a violent +attack of gold fever. This was the discovery of an enormous mass of +virgin gold, weighing upward of one hundred pounds, by Doctor Kerr, a +squatter on the Meroo Creek. Doctor Kerr had been guided to the spot by +an aboriginal who had been in his service several years; and, in his +excitement, he broke the matrix in which the nugget was imbedded, and +thus spoiled what would have been the most magnificent specimen of gold +quartz hitherto discovered. Even as it was, the display in Bathurst of a +single find of gold worth four thousand pounds was enough to excite the +feelings of the inhabitants to a pitch inconsistent with steady +industry. + +But Doctor Kerr's find raised a point of some interest to the +Government. In framing the licensing regulations, the advisers of the +Crown had thought only of the possibilities of alluvial mining. Had they +even directed their thoughts toward rock gold, they would probably have +considered it highly improbable that any explorer should be able to +extract the metal without an amount of preparation which he would hardly +undertake upon the security of a bare license. But, as it happened, +Doctor Kerr had not even a license when he discovered the gold, though +he took one out as soon as possible afterward. To strengthen its +position, the Government seized the gold in the hands of a firm of +shippers who were about to send it to England; but, on the firm's +representation, it was released, security being given for the payment of +a royalty of 10 per cent, if the Crown should see fit to demand it. + +Early in August, 1851, the Governor announced that, for the future, +licenses would be held to cover only alluvial gold, and that for rock +gold found on Crown land the Government would demand a royalty of 10 per +cent., half that amount if the working was on private land. A fortnight +later the Government undertook the escort of gold from the diggings to +Sydney, thereby adding considerably to the Crown revenue and at the same +time obtaining additional power over the gold districts. By the end of +August, gold to the value of seventy thousand pounds had been exported +from the colony. But these figures were soon eclipsed by those which +followed. + +The news of the gold discoveries near Bathurst had soon spread through +the Australian colonies. The more adventurous of the colonists started +at once for the diggings. Others, often encouraged by their governments, +who foresaw a constant drain of population in favor of the gold colony, +endeavored to find gold within their own limits. Rumors of discoveries +were constantly arising. Gold was found at Echuca in South Australia, in +the Fingal district of Tasmania, and in the Curumandel ranges of New +Zealand. But none of these discoveries could compare for a moment with +those which took place within the newly constituted colony of Victoria. +Even so early as August, 1851, gold had been worked at a place called +"Deep Creek" (or "Anderson's Creek"), not far from Melbourne, but this +was soon abandoned in favor of the diggings at Clunes, on the headwaters +of the streams which flow north from the great dividing range to the +Murray River. A month later, these again were temporarily deserted in +favor of the rich Buninyong district, just south of the range, whose +chief centre was Ballarat. Finally, at the beginning of October, 1851, +the wonderful finds at Mount Alexander, a spur of the Macedon range to +the north of Melbourne, were eclipsing all previous discoveries. + +Before the end of the year the export of gold from Victoria alone had +very nearly reached half a million in value. In two years the population +of the Victorian gold-fields almost equalled the whole population of the +colony at the close of 1850. Most of the diggers lived in tents, and had +absolutely no interest in the colony beyond the mere hope of profit from +the diggings. If a more profitable field had opened elsewhere, they +would have left at once. By the end of the year 1851 the probable area +of future discoveries was pretty well recognized. The gold-fields, with +few exceptions, were found to lie on one side or the other of the +eastern Cordillera or chain of mountains which, beginning with Mount +Elliot in Northern Queensland, follows the coast with remarkable +precision till it reaches Port Phillip Bay. But all the more northerly +part of this chain was unexplored in 1851, and of course there was room +for almost any development within such wide limits. + +Warned by events in New South Wales, the governments of the other +Australian colonies had made preparations for the crisis. Western +Australia was too remote to be much affected; and her newly arrived +supply of convict labor rendered her contented. But South Australia and +Tasmania suffered severely from the drain of population, which set in +toward the diggings. + +In South Australia, the effect was in some districts almost as if a +pestilence had swept away the men, leaving the women and children +untouched. Some of the emigrants really deserted their families, but the +bulk were honorable men, and remittances of gold soon began to find +their way to Adelaide for distribution among relatives in the colony. + +After the comparative failure of the gold-diggings in South Australia, +the Government had wisely set itself to secure some part of the +prosperity of the gold discoveries for its colony by establishing both +land and river traffic routes. In these efforts it was highly +successful. Many South Australians made handsome fortunes by sending +provisions to the Buninyong and Mount Alexander districts, and the new +steamers on the Murray proved a source of profit to the colony which +lasted until the development of the railroad system. Unfortunately, this +prosperity could hardly be realized at the time, owing to the great +scarcity of coined money in the colony. In 1851 the privilege of coining +was still jealously monopolized by the mint in London; while the rapid +expansion of business in the latter part of that year had rendered the +supply of coin in Australia totally inadequate to the demand. + +Very soon after the discoveries, Governor Fitzroy had sent home a +memorial from the Legislative Council at Sydney, praying for the +establishment of a branch mint in that city, and similar applications +soon followed from the other colonies. On March 22, 1853, a Treasury +minute sanctioned the applications, and colonial mints were shortly +afterward established by order in council. But in the mean while the +South Australians had got over their difficulty by passing a colonial +act authorizing the issue by the Colonial Government of gold ingots, of +slightly higher intrinsic value than the coins they were supposed to +represent, stamped with an authentic mark. These ingots were not made +legal tender, and the only object of the government mark was to +guarantee quality and weight. But they were generally accepted in +official and commercial transactions, they tided over the crisis of +scarcity, and the Home Government, though with due official caution, +approved the action of Governor Young. + +In Tasmania, the main difficulty arose from the drain of emigrants. In +August, 1851, Sir William Denison wrote home urging the transportation +of more convicts or "probationers," on the ground that there would be a +great demand for foodstuffs by the neighboring colonies, while the +supply of agricultural laborers would be shorter than ever. Both +Tasmania and South Australia united in deciding upon the continuance of +the system by which free emigrants were sent out at the expense of the +land fund of each colony, notwithstanding that such emigrants would +probably leave for Victoria immediately after their arrival. Of the +existence of this contingency there could be little doubt. On January +16, 1852, the Governor of Tasmania wrote: "I have a number of men who +have come back from Mount Alexander after an absence from this colony of +not more than eight weeks, with gold to the value of one hundred twenty +pounds to one thousand pounds." During the five months which followed +the writing of this letter, four thousand persons (most of them +wage-earners in the prime of life) left Tasmania for Victoria. As the +whole population of Tasmania was at this time only about fifty thousand, +the matter was serious. Nevertheless, Tasmania tided safely over the +difficulties of the gold period, and even was able to help her sorely +tried sister. + +For it was upon the newly established Government at Melbourne that the +strain of the new era most severely fell. The Government at Sydney was +an old and tried institution, with traditions of more than half a +century, and a staff of experienced officials under an exceptionally +able chief. When Hargraves made his discoveries in 1851, the population +of the mother-colony was nearly a quarter of a million, exclusive of the +Port Phillip district, and such a population meant a government +organization of corresponding magnitude. Moreover, the people of New +South Wales had always, from circumstances, been accustomed to much +governmental control, and did not resent it; while Victoria had been +started as a colony whose people were too prosperous and contented to +require more than a minimum of guidance. When the gold discoveries +suddenly drew into the colony, not merely the most turbulent characters +of Australia, but the crews of deserted ships and the general +offscourings of the civilized world, and when, overcome by the +contagion, the government officials threw up their posts, one and all, +and started for the diggings, it became evident that the +Lieutenant-Governor had his hands full. Even so early as November, 1851, +he began to anticipate trouble from the preemptive clauses of the Crown +Lands Leasing Act of 1847, by which the squatters had a right to +purchase land in the neighborhood of the gold-fields. The claims of the +squatters barred the way, and the squatters themselves looked with small +favor upon a class of men whom they regarded as troublesome intruders, +and whose proceedings rendered it almost impossible for the pastoralists +to procure sufficient labor to carry on their operations. The squatters +chose to overlook two important facts; viz., that they had themselves +originally acquired their position precisely as the digger acquired his, +and that the presence of the digger, if it raised the price of labor, +also enormously increased the prices of the squatter's produce. + +But more immediate financial troubles began to press upon the +Government. It had been necessary, not merely to add largely to the +number of the official staff--to provide additional police, +commissioners, magistrates, customs officers, etc.--but also to increase +their pay in some proportion to the greatly increased cost of living. +Even with an increase in their salaries of 50 or 100 per cent, the +subordinate officials would not stay. The sight of the reckless and +prosperous diggers who came down to Melbourne to spend the Christmas of +1851, and who flung their gold about recklessly, was too much for the +feelings of the civilians. They deserted in troops. + +On January 12, 1852, Lieutenant-Governor Latrobe wrote: "The police in +town and country have almost entirely abandoned duty," and he begged of +the Secretary of State to send military aid. In May, 1852, Sir John +Pakington replied, promising six companies of the Fifty-ninth Regiment +from China, but subsequently decided to send a whole regiment direct +from England. A man-of-war was also to be stationed in Australian +waters. A still more welcome assistance came in the early part of the +year from the Governor of Tasmania, who sent, at Latrobe's earnest +request, a body of two hundred pensioners, who had been serving as +convict guards, and who might be expected to resist those temptations +which, if yielded to, would result in the loss of their pensions. But +all this assistance meant money, and the Government soon fell into sore +straits. + +It is true that at first the revenue rose substantially. Comparing the +income for the quarters ending December 31, 1850, and December 31, 1851, +respectively, we find, on general account, an increase of eleven +thousand pounds, or about 30 per cent., and, on the Territorial account, +or Land Fund, an increase of seventy-three thousand pounds, about 100 +per cent. Three months later the increase was about 200 per cent. on the +general revenue, while the Territorial revenue was about the same. But +the latter fact may be accounted for by the transferrence of the fees +for gold licenses to the general revenue. It is more important, however, +to notice that, though the revenue was rising, expenses were increasing +still faster. Not only had the staff to be doubled, or trebled, at a +very large increase of pay, but government contracts for public +buildings, printing, stores, fittings, and other necessaries could be +placed, if at all, only at extravagantly high prices. "No tenders can be +obtained for supplies of boots and shoes; orders have been sent to +neighboring colonies for them. Old furniture sells at about 75 per cent. +advance on the former prices of new; scarcely any mechanics will work." +Latrobe estimated the deficit in the revenue of the year 1853 as nearly +four hundred thousand pounds, notwithstanding that he reckoned the whole +gold revenue of six hundred thousand pounds as available for general +expenses. + +In his anxiety the Lieutenant-Governor had at first (December, 1851) +proposed to double the license fee of thirty shillings a month; but the +proposal had provoked such a storm of opposition that he withdrew it. +The revenue from licenses was the source of much contention. The +Government alleged that it was not taxation, but rent, of Crown lands, +and at first devoted it exclusively to the service of the gold-fields. +The diggers denounced it as taxation without representation; and the +Legislative Council, almost necessarily in opposition to the Government +while the latter was administered by nominees of the Colonial Office, +refused to make up deficiencies out of the general revenue. Thus the +Lieutenant-Governor was placed between two fires. If he enforced the +license fees he angered what was rapidly becoming the largest part of +the population; if he relinquished them, he left himself without means +to carry on the government of the gold-fields. + +From this dilemma he was saved by the receipt of a general permission +from the Colonial Office, toward the close of 1852, to deal with the +gold revenue in the same manner as ordinary revenue. By placing this +fund at the disposal of the Colonial Legislature, the Home Government +not only removed a great grievance and relieved the hands of the +Lieutenant-Governor from the shackles previously laid upon them by the +Colonial Office, but it took a substantial step toward the end that was +now acknowledged on all sides to be the ultimate outcome of the new +discoveries; viz., the introduction of responsible government. The same +despatch contained a still more important concession, authorizing the +Lieutenant-Governor to devote the remaining part of the land +revenue--viz., that arising from sales and pastoral licenses--"to the +purposes rendered urgent by the present crisis." As this fund was +jealously reserved by the existing constitutions of the Australian +colonies, and devoted, under the provisions of the Crown Land Sales Act, +exclusively to the purposes of emigration and public works, it will be +seen that the Colonial Office took a strong step in sanctioning its +diversion. But it must be observed that the expenditure of this +additional fund was placed exclusively in the hands of the +Lieutenant-Governor and his Executive Council, acting independently of +the Colonial Legislature. + +With this assistance, the Lieutenant-Governor struggled on amid +increasing difficulties till the spring of the year 1853. By this time +the agitation against the license fee had reached an alarming height, +for the first successes of the new discoveries had passed away, and, +although the export of gold continued to increase, it was by no means at +its former rate nor in proportion to the increase of population. At the +beginning of September, 1853, there were said to be nearly seventy +thousand persons living at the Victorian gold-fields, and many of these, +in all probability, earned very little more than mechanics employed in +settled work. Hence there was a fair ground for an orderly agitation +against the amount of the fee; but, unfortunately, the diggers preferred +violent measures. There was some excuse for them. They were not +represented in the Legislative Council, for they had sprung into +existence as a body since the passing of the Act of 1850, and, though a +measure had been introduced with a view to giving them the franchise, it +had not yet received the assent of the Home Government. In the mean +time, therefore, they could not, through their representatives in the +Council, effectively criticise either the existing law or its +administration. With regard to the latter, there was obviously room for +complaint, for the immense increase of business had compelled the +Government to appoint an inferior class of officials, and some of these, +at least, succumbed to the strong temptations of their positions. + +At the beginning of August, 1853, a petition had been presented by the +Bendigo diggers, in which they urged the reduction of the license fee +and the grant of representation to the diggers. The Lieutenant-Governor +returned a pacific reply, but the delegates in charge of the petition +were evidently bent on arousing strong feelings, and they held meetings +in Melbourne which went the extreme length permissible to loyal +subjects. Still, the Lieutenant-Governor shrank from strong measures, +and endeavored to remove one ground of complaint by appointing, as a +nominee member of the Legislative Council, a gentleman who was believed +to possess the confidence of the diggers. The nomination was at once +repudiated by the delegates of the latter, and at the end of August an +organized attempt was made to resist the renewal of licenses on the old +terms. Hundreds of diggers pledged themselves to pay no more than a +third of the sum previously demanded, and those who were inclined to +yield to the Government's demands were warned that the agitators would +not "be responsible for their safety" if they remained at the diggings. +The license system had by this time extended, beyond the diggers, to the +storekeepers and other tradesmen at the gold-fields, who were making +enormous profits out of the diggers, and these, for the most part, +unhesitatingly complied with the demands of the agitators, willing +rather to pay the fines for breach of the government regulations than to +offend their customers. A daring attack on a private escort of gold near +Bendigo, which occurred about this time, showed that the colony was on +the verge of civil war. + +Just at this moment an event occurred which rendered it impossible for +the Government to maintain its position unimpaired with the scanty +forces at its disposal. In the middle of September, 1853, the total +abolition of the license fee was seriously proposed in the Legislative +Council of New South Wales. The news flew like wildfire to Victoria, +where the diggers had hitherto looked upon the colonial legislatures--in +which, it will be remembered, they were not yet represented--as their +natural enemies. It seemed to them now that they had everything in their +own hands, and it became clearly impossible for the Government, in the +existing temper of the diggers, to exact the full amount of the license +fee. A proclamation, hastily published with a view to allay excitement, +by an unfortunate omission in the printed copies led the public to +believe that the total abolition of the license system was contemplated +by the Victorian Government. A select committee of the Legislative +Council reported unfavorably upon the system. The Government made the +best of a bad bargain, and accepted a fee of forty shillings for the +three months ending November 30, 1853; and, on the following day, the +Legislative Council passed a new Gold-fields Act, which greatly reduced +the fees for diggers' licenses, while it substantially increased those +demanded for permission to open stores at the gold-fields. It also +provided for the grant of leases of auriferous lands, at a royalty of +not less than 5 per cent., and gave legal sanction to the customs +regarding the "claims" of diggers, which had gradually grown up to +regulate the rival interests of neighboring miners. Offences against the +act were to be decided upon by the magistrates; but the accused might +demand a court of at least two members, and there was to be an appeal to +General Sessions. + +These measures were partly successful in restoring order, but it was +obvious that the gold-fields contained men who were averse to a +peaceable settlement. Notwithstanding that the number of the elective +members of the Legislative Council was more than once increased; that, +with the full consent of the Home Government, a bill was being prepared +for the introduction of responsible government; and that the material +condition of the diggers was being rapidly improved, the +Lieutenant-Governor had, in January, 1854, to report the formation of a +"diggers' congress," which obviously had for its object the supersession +of the ordinary government. + +Latrobe retired from office in May of the same year, and one of the +first points noticed by his successor, Sir Charles Hotham, was the +existence of an agitation against the Chinese at the Bendigo diggings. +Notwithstanding the enthusiastic character of his reception in his +progress through the gold-fields in September, the new Governor soon had +to face serious disturbances. + +The events of the next few months formed a crisis in the history, not +only of Victoria, but of Australia. Naturally there is much dispute +concerning them, and, as the following account is taken chiefly from Sir +Charles Hotham's reports, it is possible that the acts of his opponents +may not obtain strict justice. But it is admitted on all sides that Sir +Charles acted with the most perfect good faith; and the accounts given +by the insurgents are far too contradictory and prejudiced to receive +much credit. + +On the night of October 16, 1854, a miner named Scobie was murdered, or +at least killed, at the Eureka Hotel, near Ballarat. The Eureka Hotel +was a place of no good repute, kept by a man named Bentley, who, as well +as his wife, was (it is said) an ex-convict from Tasmania. Suspicion +fell upon the couple, and they, with a second man (named Farrell), were +arrested by the magistrates, but almost immediately released for alleged +default of evidence. The dismissal of the charge excited a storm of +indignation in the camp, and a body of diggers at once proceeded to +wreck the hotel and lynch the accused. In the latter object they, +fortunately, did not succeed, and so rendered themselves liable only to +charges of riot and arson, instead of the more serious charge of murder. +Four of the ringleaders were, through the prompt measures of Sir Charles +Hotham, shortly afterward arrested, and committed for trial. But the +accusations of partiality against the officials were too strong to be +resisted, and a board of inquiry hastily instituted by the Governor +disclosed the ugly facts that Dewes, the magistrate who presided at the +hearing of the charge against the Bentleys, had been in the habit of +borrowing money from residents, and that Sergeant-Major Milne, of the +police force, had been guilty of receiving bribes. The officials +implicated were at once dismissed, and the Bentleys and Farrell +rearrested and convicted. But the Governor very properly declined to +release the arrested rioters, who, shortly before Christmas, 1854, were +convicted and sentenced to short terms of imprisonment. + +Meanwhile, more disturbances had occurred. Though a commission upon the +general condition of the gold-fields was holding its inquiries, in +November many diggers again refused to pay the reduced license fees, +and, on the 30th of the month, a serious riot took place. The military +were called out, the Riot Act was read, and there was some shooting. +Eight captures were made, but the lesson had not been severe enough, and +a state of open war ensued. The diggers intrenched themselves in a +fortified camp known as the "Eureka Stockade," openly drilled their +forces in the presence of the authorities, and levied horses and rations +from unwilling miners in the name of a "commander-in-chief." At the same +time they issued a long political manifesto, which, while it did not +avowedly disclaim allegiance to the Crown, contained proposals to which +no regularly constituted government could ever have assented. + +The Governor at once ordered all the available military force to +Ballarat; but, before reinforcements arrived, the coolness and +promptitude of Captain Thomas--the officer in command of the troops on +the Ballarat gold-field when the riot of November 30th took place--had +nipped the insurrection in the bud. Captain Thomas saw that, while the +Eureka Stockade threatened to become a serious obstacle to the +Government if its completion were allowed, in its uncompleted state it +was really a source of weakness to the insurgents. By collecting their +forces in one spot, and thus rendering them more exposed to a crushing +attack, and by drawing off the men who threatened the government camp, +it really left the commander of the troops free to act with decision. +Accordingly, Captain Thomas at once determined to attack the position. +Assembling his forces (somewhat fewer than two hundred men) at three +o'clock on the morning of December 3d, he moved toward the stockade. + +At about one hundred fifty yards from the intrenchments he was perceived +by the scouts of the insurgents, who promptly fired on the advancing +troops. Thomas himself, Pasley (his aide-de-camp), Rede (the resident +commissioner), and Racket (the stipendiary magistrate), all of whom were +present at the attack, positively assert that the insurgents fired +before a shot was discharged by the troops. Upon this reception Captain +Thomas gave the order to fire, and the intrenchments were carried with a +rush after about ten minutes of sharp fighting. Captain Wise was fatally +wounded, and three privates were killed outright; one officer and eleven +privates were wounded. Of the insurgents, about thirty were known to +have been killed, and many more wounded. Nearly one hundred twenty +prisoners were taken. The effect of the victory was, so far as local +disturbances were concerned, instantaneous. Even before the +reinforcements under General Nickle appeared, all resistance to the +authorities had died away; and, though the Governor at once proclaimed a +state of martial law, he was able to recall the proclamation in less +than a week. + +In other districts of the colony the effect was, for a while, doubtful. +The extreme reluctance of Englishmen to admit the necessity for military +interference by the Government told strongly in favor of the rioters. +There was some danger that Melbourne and Geelong, left almost entirely +unprotected by the concentration of troops and police at Ballarat, would +be taken possession of by rioters from the country districts, and Sir +Charles Hotham made hasty application to Sir William Denison, the +Governor of Tasmania, for military assistance. Very soon, however, the +feelings of orderly citizens asserted themselves. Special constables +were sworn in at Melbourne and Geelong, marines from two men-of-war +stationed at Port Phillip guarded the prisons and the powder stores, +wealthy men volunteered to serve as mounted police, and the arrival of +the Ninety-ninth Regiment from Tasmania on December 10th dealt a final +blow to the hopes of the insurgents. Even before this event, all the +respectable classes in the community had rallied round the Governor, and +he felt himself in a position to defy further outbreaks. + +But the ugliest feature of the whole affair was yet to be revealed. Out +of the large number of prisoners taken at the capture of the stockade, +only thirteen were committed for trial, the magistrates being instructed +to commit only when the evidence was of the clearest nature. It being +considered impossible to obtain an impartial trial by a local jury, the +prisoners were brought down to Melbourne, and, after various delays, the +charges were proceeded with on February 20, 1855. A Boston negro, named +John Joseph, and a reporter for the Ballarat _Times_, named Manning, +were first tried. The latter may have been merely led away by +professional ardor in the pursuit of "copy," though the fact that he had +been openly drilled and instructed in the use of a pike by the +insurgents would seem to show that his zeal was somewhat excessive. + +In the case of Joseph, the evidence was overwhelming; he had actually +been seen to fire upon the troops, and he was captured in a tent which +had been used as a guard-room by the insurgents. No counter-evidence was +offered, the prisoners' counsel relying entirely on the alleged absence +of treasonable intention. Nevertheless both prisoners were speedily +acquitted, and, although the Government wisely withdrew the remaining +cases for the time, subsequent trials produced similar results. +Ultimately, however, the difficulties of the situation were allayed by +the reforms introduced on the recommendation of the commission appointed +to consider the whole subject of the gold-fields. This body presented, +on March 27, 1855, an extremely able report, in which it recommended the +abolition of the license fee and the substitution therefor of a "miners' +right" or Crown permission, lasting for a year, and granted for a +nominal fee of one pound, to occupy for mining purposes a specific piece +of Crown land. The deficiency in revenue anticipated from the abolition +of license fees was to be met by the imposition of an export duty upon +gold at the rate of a half-crown an ounce. + +The commission strongly recommended the granting of the political +franchise to holders of "miners' rights," and the provision of liberal +facilities for the acquisition of land by the miners. It also advocated +the simplification of the existing complex system of government in the +mining districts, whereby commissioners, police authorities, +commissariat officials, and magistrates all worked independently of each +other, and suggested the substitution therefor of experienced "wardens" +at the head of elective boards, who should not only dispose, with the +aid of skilled assessors, of disputes specially connected with mining +operations, but who should have power to issue by-laws adapted to the +special requirements of each district. + +These recommendations were for the most part carried out by legislation +of the same year (1855), and, before his lamented death in December, +1855, Sir Charles Hotham had the happiness being able to report to the +Home Government the almost perfect tranquillity of the gold-fields. +Moreover, the revenue had not suffered by the substitution of the export +duty for the license fees; but the collector of customs was of opinion +that the result of the change had been to throw the entire burden of the +tax upon the importers of the colony instead of upon the mining +population. The Government was not, however, disposed to concern itself +with considerations of abstract justice so long as it could collect a +sufficient revenue without serious opposition. + + + + +(1854) THE RISE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, Abraham Lincoln + + +The election of 1852 virtually destroyed the Whig party, and Franklin +Pierce, the candidate of the Democratic party, was elected by great +majorities. If the Whig party had perished because it had no distinct +position upon the one overshadowing question of the day, so neither did +the new President comprehend the nature and condition of that issue. In +his first message he complacently congratulated the country that the +slavery question had been settled peacefully and forever by the +compromise measures of 1850. He little knew how ineffective were those +compromises; he never dreamed that it was a question that no compromise +could settle permanently, and probably had no conception of the new +force that was to be given to it during his own term of office. Stephen +A. Douglas, an acknowledged aspirant to the Presidency, being Chairman +of the Senate Committee on Territories, introduced and carried through +Congress a measure called the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, which, in providing +for the admission of those Territories as States, embodied his doctrine +of "Popular Sovereignty" in that it permitted the inhabitants to +determine by popular vote whether they should come into the Union as +free States or as slave States, and abolished the Missouri Compromise, +which for thirty-four years had forbidden the acquisition of any slave +territory north of the parallel of 36 deg. 30'. + +The abrogation of this compromise, which had been looked upon as a +sacred compact, convinced a majority of the Northern people that the +system of slavery was filled with the spirit of aggressiveness and +determined to spread itself into all the Territories. Consequently there +arose for the first time a powerful anti-slavery party, which, while +denying that it had any purpose of meddling with that institution in the +States where it already existed, declared that it should never be +extended into any more of the national domain. At the same time this was +a stronger party in favor of the protective tariff than had ever before +existed. This organization, which gave itself the name "Republican +party," came into existence in 1854, the same year in which Senator +Douglas's bill abrogated the Missouri Compromise. There are several +claimants for the honor of first proposing it; but as a fact, it sprang +into existence with virtual simultaneousness in several of the Northern +States. If there was a priority, it was in Massachusetts, where Robert +Carter acted as Secretary of the Convention and wrote the resolutions. +Two years later this party entered the Presidential contest with John C. +Fremont as its candidate. It cast an enormous vote, but was not +successful, mainly for the reason that the short-lived American (or +Know-Nothing) party was then at its best, and had its own ticket, headed +by Millard Fillmore. Four years later still, it nominated and elected +Abraham Lincoln as President, and the clearest argument for its +existence that ever has been put forth is in Lincoln's first speech in +his famous debate with Senator Douglas, which was delivered in +Springfield, Illinois, June 17, 1858. The full text of that speech +follows herewith. + +If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we +could better judge what to do, and how to do it. We are now far into the +fifth year since a policy was initiated with the avowed object and +confident promise of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the +operation of that policy, that agitation has not only not ceased, but +has constantly augmented. In my opinion, it will not cease until a +crisis shall have been reached and passed. "A house divided against +itself cannot stand." I believe this Government cannot endure +permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be +dissolved; I do not expect the house to fall; but I do expect it will +cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. +Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, +and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is +in the course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates will push it +forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well +as new, North as well as South. + +Have we no tendency to the latter condition? Let anyone who doubts, +carefully contemplate that now almost complete legal combination--piece +of machinery, so to speak--compounded of the Nebraska doctrine and the +Dred Scott decision. Let him consider, not only what work the machinery +is adapted to do, and how well adapted, but also let him study the +history of its construction, and trace, if he can, or rather fail, if he +can, to trace the evidences of design, and concert of action, among its +chief architects, from the beginning. + +The new year of 1854 found slavery excluded from more than half the +States by State constitutions, and from most of the national territory +by Congressional prohibition. Four days later commenced the struggle +which ended in repealing that Congressional prohibition. This opened all +the national territory to slavery, and was the first point gained. But, +so far, Congress only had acted, and an indorsement by the people, real +or apparent, was indispensable to save the point already gained, and +give chance for more. + +This necessity had not been overlooked, but had been provided for, as +well as might be, in the notable argument of "squatter sovereignty," +otherwise called "sacred right of self-government," which latter phrase, +though expressive of the only rightful basis of any government, was so +perverted in this attempted use of it as to amount to just this: That if +any _one_ man choose to enslave _another_, no _third_ man shall be +allowed to object. That argument was incorporated into the Nebraska Bill +itself, in the language which follows: "It being the true intent and +meaning of this act not to legislate slavery into any Territory or +State, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof +perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their +own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States." Then +opened the roar of loose declamation in favor of "squatter sovereignty" +and "sacred right of self-government." "But," said opposition members, +"let us amend the bill so as to expressly declare that the people of the +Territory may exclude slavery." "Not we," said the friends of the +measure; and down they voted the amendment. + +While the Nebraska Bill was passing through Congress, a _law case,_ +involving the question of a negro's freedom, by reason of his owner +having voluntarily taken him first into a free State, and then into a +Territory covered by the Congressional prohibition, and held him as a +slave for a long time in each, was passing through the United States +Circuit Court for the District of Missouri; and both Nebraska Bill and +lawsuit were brought to a decision in the same month of May, 1854. The +negro's name was "Dred Scott," which name now designates the decision +finally made in the case. Before the then next Presidential election, +the law case came to and was argued in the Supreme Court of the United +States; but the decision of it was deferred until after the election. +Still, before the election, Senator Trumbull, on the floor of the +Senate, requested the leading advocate of the Nebraska Bill to state +_his opinion_ whether the people of a Territory can constitutionally +exclude slavery from their limits; and the latter answers, "That is a +question for the Supreme Court." + +The election came. Buchanan was elected, and the indorsement, such as it +was, secured. That was the second point gained. The indorsement, +however, fell short of a clear popular majority by nearly four hundred +thousand votes, and so, perhaps, was not overwhelmingly reliable and +satisfactory. The outgoing President, in his last annual message, as +impressively as possible echoed back upon the people the weight and +authority of the indorsement. The Supreme Court met again, did not +announce their decision, but ordered a reargument. The Presidential +inauguration came, and still no decision of the court; but the incoming +President, in his inaugural address, fervently exhorted the people to +abide by the forthcoming decision, whatever it might be. Then, in a few +days, came the decision. + +The reputed author of the Nebraska Bill finds an early occasion to make +a speech at this capital indorsing the Dred Scott decision, and +vehemently denouncing all opposition to it. The new President, too, +seizes the early occasion of the Silliman letter to indorse and strongly +construe that decision, and to express his astonishment that any +different view had ever been entertained! + +At length a squabble springs up between the President and the author of +the Nebraska Bill, on the mere question of _fact_, whether the Lecompton +Constitution was or was not in any just sense made by the people of +Kansas; and in that quarrel the latter declares that all he wants is a +fair vote for the people, and that he cares not whether slavery be voted +_down_ or voted _up_. I do not understand his declaration, that he cares +not whether slavery be voted down or voted up, to be intended by him +other than as an apt definition of the policy he would impress upon the +public mind--the principle for which he declares he has suffered so +much, and is ready to suffer to the end. And well may he cling to that +principle! If he has any parental feeling, well may he cling to it. That +principle is the only shred left of his original Nebraska doctrine. +Under the Dred Scott decision "squatter sovereignty" squatted out of +existence, tumbled down like temporary scaffolding; like the mould at +the foundry, served through one blast, and fell back into loose sand; +helped to carry an election, and then was kicked to the winds. His late +joint struggle with the Republicans, against the Lecompton Constitution, +involves nothing of the original Nebraska doctrine. That struggle was +made on a point--the right of a people to make their own +constitution--upon which he and the Republicans have never differed. + +The several points of the Dred Scott decision, in connection with +Senator Douglas's "care not" policy, constitute the piece of machinery, +in its present state of advancement. This was the third point gained. +The points of that machinery are: + +Firstly. That no negro slave, imported as such from Africa, and no +descendant of such slave, can ever be a citizen of any State, in the +sense of that term as used in the Constitution of the United States. +This point is made in order to deprive the negro, in every possible +event, of the benefit of that provision of the United States +Constitution which declares that "The citizens of each State shall be +entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several +States." + +Secondly. That, "subject to the Constitution of the United States," +neither Congress nor a Territorial Legislature can exclude slavery from +any United States Territory. This point is made in order that individual +men may fill up the Territories with slaves, without danger of losing +them as property, and thus to enhance the chances of permanency to the +institution through all the future. + +Thirdly. That whether the holding a negro in actual slavery in a free +State makes him free, as against the holder, the United States courts +will not decide, but will leave to be decided by the courts of any slave +State the negro may be forced into by the master. This point is made, +not to be pressed immediately; but, if acquiesced in for a while, and +apparently indorsed by the people at an election, then to sustain the +logical conclusion that what Dred Scott's master might lawfully do with +Dred Scott in the free State of Illinois, every other master may +lawfully do with any other one, or one thousand slaves, in Illinois, or +in any other free State. + +Auxiliary to all this, and working hand in hand with it, the Nebraska +doctrine, or what is left of it, is to educate and mould public opinion, +at least Northern public opinion, not to care whether slavery is voted +down or voted up. This shows exactly where we now are, and partially, +also, whither we are tending. + +It will throw additional light on the latter to go back and run the mind +over the string of historical facts already stated. Several things will +now appear less dark and mysterious than they did when they were +transpiring. The people were to be left "perfectly free," "subject only +to the Constitution." What the Constitution had to do with it outsiders +could not then see. Plainly enough now, it was an exactly fitted niche +for the Dred Scott decision to come in afterward, and declare the +perfect freedom of the people to be just no freedom at all. Why was the +amendment, expressly declaring the right of the people, voted down? +Plainly enough now, the adoption of it would have spoiled the niche for +the Dred Scott decision. Why was the court decision held up? Why even a +Senator's individual opinion withheld, till after the Presidential +election? Plainly enough now, the speaking out then would have damaged +the perfectly free argument upon which the election was to be carried. +Why the outgoing President's felicitation on the indorsement? Why the +delay of a reargument? Why the incoming President's advance exhortation +in favor of the decision? These things look like the cautious patting +and petting of a spirited horse preparatory to mounting him, when it is +dreaded that he may give the rider a fall. And why the hasty +after-indorsement of the decision by the President and others? + +We cannot absolutely know that all these exact adaptations are the +result of preconcert. But when we see a lot of framed timbers, different +portions of which we know have been gotten out at different times and +places and by different workmen--Stephen, Franklin, Roger, and James, +for instance--and when we see these timbers joined together, and see +they exactly make the frame of a house or a mill, all the tenons and +mortises exactly fitting, and all the lengths and proportions of the +different pieces exactly adapted to their respective places, and not a +piece too many or too few--not omitting even scaffolding--or, if a +single piece be lacking, we see the place in the frame exactly fitted +and prepared yet to bring such piece in--in such a case we find it +impossible not to believe that Stephen and Franklin and Roger and James +all understood one another from the beginning, and all worked upon a +common plan or draft drawn up before the first blow was struck. + +It should not be overlooked that by the Nebraska Bill the people of a +_State_ as well as Territory were to be left "perfectly free," "subject +only to the Constitution." Why mention a State? They were legislating +for Territories, and not for or about States. Certainly the people of a +State are and ought to be subject to the Constitution of the United +States; but why is mention of this lugged into this merely Territorial +law? Why are the people of a Territory and the people of a State therein +lumped together, and their relation to the Constitution therein treated +as being precisely the same? While the opinion of the court, by Chief +Justice Taney, in the Dred Scott case, and the separate opinions of all +the concurring judges expressly declare that the Constitution of the +United States neither permits Congress nor a Territorial Legislature to +exclude slavery from any United States Territory, they all omit to +declare whether or not the same Constitution permits a State, or the +people of a State, to exclude it. _Possibly_, this is a mere omission; +but who can be quite sure, if McLean or Curtis had sought to get into +the opinion a declaration of unlimited power in the people of a State to +exclude slavery from their limits, just as Chase and Mace sought to get +such declaration, in behalf of the people of a Territory, into the +Nebraska Bill--I ask, who can be quite sure that it would not have been +voted down in the one case as it had been in the other? + +The nearest approach to the point of declaring the power of a State over +slavery, is made by Judge Nelson. He approaches it more than once, using +the precise idea, and almost the language, too, of the Nebraska Act. On +one occasion, his exact language is, "Except in cases where the power is +restrained by the Constitution of the United States, the law of the +State is supreme over the subject of slavery within its jurisdiction." +In what cases the power of the States is so restrained by the United +States Constitution is left an open question, precisely as the same +question, as to the restraint on the power of the Territories, was left +open in the Nebraska Act. Put this and that together, and we have +another nice little niche, which we may, ere long, see filled with +another Supreme Court decision, declaring that the Constitution of the +United States does not permit a _State_ to exclude slavery from its +limits. And this may especially be expected if the doctrine of "care not +whether slavery be voted down or voted up" shall gain upon the public +mind sufficiently to give promise that such a decision can be maintained +when made. + +Such a decision is all that slavery now lacks of being alike lawful in +all the States. Welcome or unwelcome, such decision is probably coming, +and will soon be upon us, unless the power of the present political +dynasty shall be met and overthrown. We shall lie down pleasantly +dreaming that the people of Missouri are on the verge of making their +State free, and we shall awake to the reality instead that the Supreme +Court has made Illinois a slave State. To meet and overthrow the power +of that dynasty is the work now before all who would prevent that +consummation. That is what we have to do. How can we best do it? + +There are those who denounce us openly to their own friends, and yet +whisper us softly that Senator Douglas is the aptest instrument there is +with which to effect that object. They wish us to _infer_ all, from the +fact that he now has a little quarrel with the present head of the +dynasty, and that he has regularly voted with us on a single point, upon +which he and we have never differed. They remind us that he is a great +man, and that the largest of us are very small ones. Let this be +granted. But "a living dog is better than a dead lion." Judge Douglas, +if not a dead lion, for this work is at least a caged and toothless one. +How can he oppose the advances of slavery? He don't care anything about +it. His avowed mission is impressing the "public heart" to _care nothing +about it_. A leading Douglas Democratic newspaper thinks Douglas's +superior talent will be needed to resist the revival of the African +slave-trade. Does Douglas believe an effort to revive that trade is +approaching? He has not said so. Does he really think so? But if it is, +how can he resist it? For years he has labored to prove it a sacred +right of white men to take negro slaves into the new Territories. Can he +possibly show that it is less a sacred right to buy them where they can +be bought cheapest? And unquestionably they can be bought cheaper in +Africa than in Virginia. He has done all in his power to reduce the +whole question of slavery to one of a mere right of property; and, as +such, how can he oppose the foreign slave-trade--how can he refuse that +trade in that "property" shall be "perfectly free"--unless he does it as +a protection to the home production? And as the home producers will +probably not ask the protection, he will be wholly without a ground of +opposition. + +Senator Douglas holds, we know, that a man may rightfully be wiser +to-day than he was yesterday; that he may rightfully change when he +finds himself wrong. But can we, for that reason, run ahead, and infer +that he will make any particular change, of which he himself has given +no intimation? Can we safely base our action upon any such vague +inference? Now, as ever, I wish not to misrepresent Judge Douglas's +position, question his motives, or do aught that can be personally +offensive to him. Whenever, if ever, he and we can come together on +principle so that our cause may have assistance from his great ability, +I hope to have interposed no adventitious obstacle. But clearly he is +not now with us; he does not pretend to be--he does not promise ever to +be. + +Our cause, then, must be intrusted to and conducted by its own undoubted +friends--those whose hands are free, whose hearts are in the work, who +_do care_ for the result. Two years ago the Republicans of the nation +mustered over thirteen hundred thousand strong. We did this under the +single impulse of resistance to a common danger, with every external +circumstance against us. Of strange, discordant, and even hostile +elements we gathered from the four winds, and formed and fought the +battle through, under the constant hot fire of a disciplined, proud, and +pampered enemy. Did we brave all then, to falter now---now, when that +same enemy is wavering, dissevered, and belligerent? The result is not +doubtful. We shall not fail; if we stand firm, we _shall not fail_. Wise +counsels may accelerate or mistakes delay it, but sooner or later the +victory is sure to come. + + + + +(1854) THE OPENING OF JAPAN, Matthew C. Perry + + +In view of the events that have followed, the ending of Japan's +self-isolation and the opening of that country, first to American +commerce, and later to world-wide intercourse, must now be regarded as +an achievement of momentous consequence, far exceeding in importance all +that even the most prophetic statesmanship of the time could foresee. + +Under the shoguns (or military chiefs) who after the seventh century +overshadowed the hereditary rulers, the Mikados, there grew up in Japan +a feudal system whereby the generals, recognized as overlords, increased +and perpetuated their power. The attempts in the sixteenth and +seventeenth centuries to introduce Christianity were met with resistance +and persecution, and ended in failure. In the same centuries Japan +traded with the Portuguese, but excluded them in 1638. After this the +Japanese isolation was complete, except for restricted trade with the +Dutch, until the conclusion of Commodore Perry's treaty. + +About the middle of the nineteenth century a large amount of American +capital was invested in the whaling industry in Japanese and Chinese +waters, and one motive for the sending of Perry's expedition to Japan +was the protection of the whalers. Other things leading to that step +were: the discovery of gold in California; the growth of industrial and +commercial centres on the Pacific Coast of the United States; increasing +trade with China; and the development of steam-navigation, necessitating +coaling-stations and ports for shelter in the Orient. At the same time +progressive minds in Japan were advancing in knowledge of Western +science and political affairs; thus the East and the West were almost +prepared for a change in their mutual relations. + +In 1851 the United States Government empowered Commodore John H. Aulick +to negotiate and sign commercial treaties with Japan. On the eve of his +intended departure he was prevented from sailing, and in the following +year Commodore Matthew C. Perry, brother of Oliver Hazard Perry, the +hero of Lake Erie, succeeded to his mission. He was invested with +extraordinary naval and diplomatic powers, his immediate object being to +establish a coaling-station in Japan. On November 24, 1852, he sailed +from Norfolk with the Mississippi, leaving other ships to follow as soon +as ready. With his squadron he entered the Bay of Tokio (then called +Yedo) in July, 1853, causing great commotion among the inhabitants of +the Japanese capital, who mistook his appearance for a hostile approach. +It required both firmness and tact on Perry's part to open friendly +communication and present his proposals; but he succeeded in doing so +much, and then, saying that in the following spring he would come for an +answer, he withdrew to China. In February, 1854, he returned to Tokio +with a fleet of eight vessels. After some parley, the Japanese +authorities agreed to a conference at Kanagawa, a seaport adjoining +Yokohama. Of the negotiations that followed and the treaty in which they +resulted, the following pages tell, and Commodore Perry's own account is +the best record of his distinguished service not only to his own country +and Japan, but likewise to the civilized world. + +After concessions made by the Japanese, the greatest good feeling +prevailed on both sides, and there seemed every prospect of establishing +those national relations which had been the purpose of Commodore Perry's +mission. In accordance with the harmony and friendship that existed, +there was an interchange of those courtesies by which mutual good +feeling seeks an outward expression. The Japanese had acknowledged with +courtly thanks the presents that had been bestowed in behalf of the +Government, and now, on March 24th, invited the Commodore to receive the +various gifts that had been ordered by the Emperor in return, as a +public recognition of the courtesy of the United States. + +The Commodore, accordingly, landed at Yokohama, with a suite of officers +and his interpreters, and was received at the treaty-house with the +usual ceremonies by the high commissioners. The large reception-room was +crowded with the presents. The objects were of Japanese manufacture, and +consisted of specimens of rich brocades and silks; of their famous +lacquered ware, such as _chow-chow_ boxes, tables, trays, and goblets, +all skilfully wrought and finished with an exquisite polish; of +porcelain cups of wonderful lightness and transparency, adorned with +figures and flowers in gold and variegated colors, and exhibiting a +workmanship that surpassed even that of the ware for which the Chinese +are remarkable. Fans, pipe-cases, and articles of apparel in ordinary +use, of no great value but of exceeding interest, were scattered among +the more luxurious and costly objects. + +With the usual order and neatness that seem almost instinctive with the +Japanese, the various presents had been arranged in lots, and classified +in accordance with the rank of those for whom they were respectively +intended. The commissioners took their positions at the farther end of +the room, and when the Commodore and his suite entered, the ordinary +compliments having been interchanged, the Prince Hayashi read aloud, in +Japanese, the list of presents and the names of the persons to whom they +were to be given. This was then translated by Yenoske into Dutch, and by +Mr. Portman into English. This ceremony being over, the Commodore was +invited by the commissioners into the inner room, where he was presented +with two complete sets of Japanese coins, three matchlocks, and two +swords. These gifts, though of no great intrinsic value, were +significant evidences of the desire of the Japanese to express their +respect for the representative of the United States. The mere bestowal +of the coins, in direct opposition to the Japanese laws which absolutely +forbid all issue of their money beyond the Kingdom, was an act of marked +favor. + +As the Commodore prepared to depart, the commissioners said there was +one article intended for the President, which had not yet been +exhibited. They accordingly conducted the Commodore and his officers to +the beach, where one or two hundred sacks of rice were pointed out, +heaped up in readiness to be sent on board the ships. As that immense +supply of substantial food seemed to excite some wonder on the part of +the Americans, Yenoske the interpreter remarked that it was always +customary with the Japanese, when bestowing royal presents, to include a +certain quantity of rice, although he did not say whether the quantity +always amounted, as on the present occasion, to hundreds of sacks. + +While contemplating these substantial evidences of Japanese generosity, +the attention of all was suddenly riveted upon twenty-five monstrous +fellows who tramped down the beach like so many huge elephants. They +were professional wrestlers and formed part of the retinue of the +princes, who kept them for their private amusement and for public +entertainment. They were enormously tall, and tremendously heavy. Their +scant costume, which was merely a colored cloth about the loins, adorned +with fringes and emblazoned with the armorial bearings of the prince to +whom each belonged, revealed their gigantic proportions in all the +bloated fulness of fat and extent of muscle. + +Two or three of these huge monsters were the most famous wrestlers in +Japan and ranked as the champion Tom Cribbs and Sayers of the country. +Koyanagi, the reputed bully of the capital, was one of them, and paraded +himself with the conscious pride of superior size and strength. He was +especially brought to the Commodore that he might examine his massive +form. The commissioners insisted that the monstrous fellow should be +minutely inspected, that the hardness of his well-rounded muscle should +be felt, and that the fatness of his cushioned frame should be tested by +the touch. The Commodore accordingly attempted to grasp his arm, which +he found as solid as it was huge, and then passed his hand over the +monstrous neck, which fell in folds of massive flesh, like the dewlap of +a prize ox. As some surprise was naturally expressed at this wondrous +exhibition of animal development the monster himself gave a grunt +expressive of his flattered vanity. + +They were so enormously big that they appeared to have lost their +distinctive features, and seemed to be only twenty-five masses of fat. +Their eyes were barely visible through a long perspective of socket, the +prominence of their noses was lost in the puffiness of their bloated +cheeks, and their heads were set almost directly on their bodies with +merely folds of flesh where the neck and chin are usually found. Their +great size, however, was more owing to development of muscle than to +deposition of fat; for, although they were evidently well fed, they were +not less well exercised, and capable of great feats of strength. + +As a preliminary exhibition of the power of these men, the princes set +them to removing the sacks of rice to a convenient place on the shore +for shipping. Each of the sacks weighed not less than one hundred +twenty-five pounds, and there were only two of the wrestlers who did not +carry each two sacks at a time. They bore the sacks on the right +shoulder, lifting the first from the ground and adjusting it without +help, but obtaining aid for the raising of the second. One man carried a +sack suspended by his teeth, and another, taking one in his arms, turned +repeated somersaults as he held it, apparently with as much ease as if +his weight of flesh had been only so much gossamer and his load a +feather. + +After this preliminary display, the commissioners proposed that the +Commodore and his party should retire to the treaty-house, where they +would have an opportunity of seeing the wrestlers exhibit their +professional feats. From the brutal performance of these wrestlers, the +Americans turned with pride to the exhibition--to which the Japanese +commissioners were now in their turn invited--of the telegraph and the +railroad. It was a happy contrast, which a higher civilization +presented, to the disgusting display on the part of the Japanese +officials. In place of the show of brute animal force there was a +triumphant revelation, to a partially enlightened people, of the success +of science and enterprise. + +The Japanese took great delight in seeing the rapid movement of the +Liliputian locomotive; and one of the scribes of the commissioners took +his seat upon the car, while the engineer stood upon the tender, feeding +the furnace with one hand, and directing the diminutive engine with the +other. Crowds of the Japanese gathered round and looked on the repeated +circlings of the train with unabated pleasure and surprise, unable to +repress a shout of delight at each blast of the steam-whistle. The +telegraph, with its wonders, though before witnessed, still created +renewed interest, and all the beholders were unceasing in their +expressions of curiosity and astonishment. The agricultural instruments +having been explained to the commissioners by Doctor Morrow, a formal +delivery of the telegraph, the railway, and other articles, which made +up the list of American presents, ensued. + +The Prince of Mamasaki had been delegated by his coadjutors +ceremoniously to accept, and Captain Adams was appointed by the +Commodore to deliver, the gifts; and each performed his functions by an +interchange of compliments and a half-dozen stately bows. + +After this, a detachment of marines from the squadron were put through +their various evolutions, while the bands furnished martial music. The +Japanese commissioners seemed to take a very great interest in this +military display, and expressed themselves much gratified at the +soldierly air and excellent discipline of the men. This closed the +performances of the day. + +The next day (March 25th), Yenoske, accompanied by Kenzeiro, his +fellow-interpreter, came on board the Powhatan to acknowledge formally, +in behalf of the commissioners, their gratitude for the exhibition of +the marines, the locomotive, and the telegraph, with all which they +declared themselves highly delighted. Yenoske and his coadjutor were +invited to seat themselves in the cabin of the Commodore, and, after +some expressions of courtesy which the Japanese officials were careful +never to intermit, proposed to talk over some points in connection with +the projected treaty. The Commodore said he had no objections to the +discussion of the matters informally; but he protested against +considering the interpreters as the official representatives of the +commissioners, with the latter of whom only, he declared, could he treat +authoritatively. + +Monday, March 27th, was the day appointed for the entertainment to which +the Commodore had invited the commissioners and their attendants. +Accordingly, great arrangements were made in the flagship preparatory to +the occasion. The quarterdeck was adorned with a great variety of flags, +and all parts of the steamer were in perfect order, while the officers, +marines, and men dressed themselves in their uniforms and prepared to do +honor in every respect to their expected visitors. As it was known that +the strictness of Japanese etiquette would not allow the high +commissioners to sit at the same table with their subordinates, the +Commodore ordered two banquets, one to be spread in his cabin for the +chief dignitaries, and another on the quarter-deck. + +Previous to coming on board the Powhatan, the commissioners visited the +sloop-of-war Macedonian, being saluted as they stepped on her deck by +seventeen guns from the Mississippi lying near. The great guns and +boarders having been exercised for their entertainment, the +commissioners, with their numerous attendants, left for the Powhatan, +the Macedonian firing a salvo in their honor as they took their +departure. On arriving on board the flagship, they were first conducted +through the different departments of the steamer, and examined with +minute interest the guns and the machinery. A boat was lowered, with a +howitzer in its bows, and this was repeatedly discharged, much to their +amusement, for they evidently had a great fondness for martial exercise +and display. The engines were next put in motion, and they evinced the +usual intelligence of the higher class of Japanese in their inquiries +and remarks. + +The Commodore had invited the four captains of the squadron, his +interpreter, Mr. Williams, and his secretary, to join the commissioners +at his table. Yenoske, the Japanese interpreter, was allowed the +privilege, as a special condescension on the part of his superiors, to +sit at a side-table in the cabin, where his humble position did not seem +to disturb either his equanimity or his appetite. Hayashi, who always +preserved his grave and dignified bearing, ate and drank sparingly, but +tasted of every dish, and sipped of every kind of wine. He was the only +one, in fact, whose sobriety was proof against the unrestrained +conviviality that prevailed among his bacchanalian coadjutors. + +The Japanese party upon deck, who were entertained by a large body of +officers from the various ships, became quite uproarious under the +influence of overflowing supplies of champagne, Madeira, and punch, +which they seemed greatly to relish. The Japanese took the lead in +proposing healths and toasts, and were by no means the most backward in +drinking them. They kept shouting at the top of their voices, and were +heard far above the music of the bands that enlivened the entertainment +by a succession of brisk and cheerful tunes. In the eagerness of the +Japanese appetite there was but little discrimination in the choice of +dishes and in the order of courses, and the most startling heterodoxy +was exhibited in the confused commingling of fish, flesh, and fowl, +soups and syrups, fruits, fricassees, roast and boiled, pickles and +preserves. As a most generous supply had been provided, there were still +some remnants of the feast left after the guests had satisfied their +voracity, which most of these Japanese, in accordance with their custom, +stowed away about their persons to carry off. The Japanese always have +an abundant supply of paper within the left bosom of their loose robes, +in a capacious pocket. This is used for various purposes; one species, +as soft as our cotton cloth, and withal exceedingly tough, is used for a +handkerchief; another furnishes the material for taking notes, or for +wrapping up what is left after a feast. On the present occasion, when +the dinner was over, all the Japanese guests simultaneously spread out +their long folds of paper, and gathering what scraps they could lay +their hands on, without regard to the kind of food, made up an envelope +of conglomerate eatables in which there was such a confusion of the sour +and sweet, the albuminous, oleaginous, and saccharine, that the +chemistry of Liebig or the practised taste of the Commodore's Parisian +cook would never have reached a satisfactory analysis. They not only +always followed this practice themselves, but insisted that their +American guests, when entertained at a Japanese feast, should adopt it +also. + +Whenever the Commodore and his officers were feasted on shore, paper +parcels of the remnants were thrust into their hands on leaving. After +the banquet the Japanese were entertained by an exhibition of negro +minstrelsy, got up by some of the sailors. The gravity of the saturnine +Hayashi was not proof against the grotesque exhibition, and even he +joined in the general hilarity. It was now sunset and the Japanese +prepared to depart, with quite as much wine in them as they could well +bear. The jovial Matsusaki threw his arms about the Commodore's neck, +crushing in his tipsy embrace a pair of new epaulettes, and repeating, +in Japanese, with maudlin affection, these words, as interpreted into +English: "Nippon and America, all the same heart." He then went toddling +into his boat, supported by some of his more steady companions, and soon +all the happy party had left the ships and were making rapidly for the +shore. The Saratoga fired the salute of seventeen guns as the last boat +pulled off from the Powhatan, and the squadron was once more left in the +usual quiet of ordinary ship's duty. + +The following day the Commodore landed to have a conference in regard to +the remaining points of the treaty, previous to signing. He was met at +the treaty-house by the commissioners. As soon as the Commodore had +taken his seat, a letter was handed to him, which the Japanese said they +had just received from Simoda. It was from Commander Pope, and had been +transmitted through the authorities overland. Its contents gave a +satisfactory report of Simoda, and the Commodore at once said he +accepted that port, but declared that it must be opened without delay. +Hakodate, he added, would do for the other, and Napha, in Riu Kiu [Loo +Choo Islands], could be retained for the third. In regard to the other +two he was willing, he said, to postpone their consideration to some +other time. + +The Commodore now proposed to sign the agreement in regard to the three +ports, and directed his interpreter to read it in Dutch. When the +document had been thus read and afterward carefully perused by the +Japanese, they said they were prepared to concur in everything except as +to the _immediate_ opening of Simoda. After discussion, it was finally +settled that, though the port might be opened, the Japanese would +address a note to the Commodore, saying that not everything which might +be wanting by ships would be furnished there before the expiration of +ten months, but that wood and water and whatever else the place +possessed would be supplied immediately; and to this note the Commodore +promised to reply and express his satisfaction with such an arrangement. + +The question now came up with respect to the extent of privileges to be +granted to Americans who might visit Simoda, in the discussion of which +it was plain that the Japanese meant to be distinctly understood as +prohibiting absolutely, at least for the present, the permanent +residence of Americans, with their families, in Japan. The distance, +also, to which Americans might extend their excursions into the country +around the ports of Simoda and Hakodate was settled; and it is +observable that, at the special request of the Japanese, the Commodore +named the distance, they assenting at once to that which he mentioned. + +The proposition to have consular agents residing in Japan evidently gave +great anxiety to the commissioners. The Commodore was firm in saying +there must be such agents, for the sake of the Japanese themselves as +well as for that of his own countrymen, and it was finally conceded that +there should be one, to live at Simoda, and that he should not be +appointed until a year and eighteen months from the date of the treaty. + +Two more articles, including the new points that had been discussed, +were now added to the transcript of the proposed treaty; the Japanese +promised to bring on board the Powhatan next day a copy in Dutch of +their understanding of the agreement as far as concurred in, and the +Commodore departed. + +In the next two days several notes passed between the Commodore and the +Japanese commissioners, in the course of which various questions that +had been already considered were definitely settled; and the American +interpreters were occupied, in cooperation with the Japanese, in drawing +up the treaty in the Chinese, Dutch, and Japanese languages. On the 29th +the ships Vandalia and Southampton arrived from Simoda with the +confirmation of what Commander Pope had already said in his +despatch--which had been transmitted by the Japanese authorities, +overland, to the Commodore--namely, that the harbor and town of Simoda +had been found, on examination, suitable in every respect for the +purposes of the Americans. All was now in readiness for the final +signing of the treaty. + +Accordingly, on Friday, March 31, 1854, the Commodore went to the +treaty-house with his usual attendants, and immediately on his arrival +signed three several drafts of the treaty written in the English +language, and delivered them to the commissioners, together with three +copies of the same in the Dutch and Chinese languages, certified by the +interpreters, Messrs. Williams and Portman, for the United States. At +the same time the Japanese commissioners, in behalf of their Government, +handed to the Commodore three drafts of the treaty written respectively +in the Japanese, Chinese, and Dutch languages, and signed by the four of +their body delegated by the Emperor for that purpose. + +Immediately on the signing and exchange of the copies of the treaty, the +Commodore presented the first commissioner, Prince Hayashi, with an +American flag, remarking that he considered it the highest expression of +national courtesy and friendship he could offer. The Prince was +evidently deeply impressed with this significant mark of amity, and +returned his thanks for it with indications of great feeling. The +Commodore then presented the other dignitaries with the various gifts he +had especially reserved for them. All formal business being now +concluded, to the satisfaction of both parties, the Japanese +commissioners invited the Commodore and his officers to partake of an +entertainment prepared for the occasion. + +The tables were spread in the large reception hall. These were wide +divans, such as were used for seats, and of the same height. They were +covered with a red-colored crape, and arranged in order according to the +rank of the guests and their hosts, an upper table raised somewhat above +the rest being appropriated to the Commodore, his superior officers, and +the commissioners. When all were seated the servitors brought in a rapid +succession of courses, consisting chiefly of thick soups, or rather +stews, in most of which fresh fish was a component part. These were +served in small earthen bowls or cups, and were brought in upon +lacquered stands, about fourteen inches square and ten inches high, and +placed, one before each guest, upon the tables. Together with each dish +was a supply of soy or some other condiment, while throughout there was +an abundant quantity, served in peculiar vessels, of the Japanese +national liquor, the _sake_, a sort of whiskey distilled from rice. +Various sweetened confections and a multiplicity of cakes were liberally +interspersed among the other articles on the tables. Toward the close of +the feast, a plate containing a broiled crawfish, a piece of fried fish +of some kind, two or three boiled shrimps, and a small square pudding +with something of the consistence of blancmange, was placed before each, +with a hint that they were to follow the guests on their return to the +ships, and they were accordingly sent and duly received afterward. + +After the feast, which passed pleasantly and convivially, compliments +being freely exchanged, and healths drunk in Liliputian cups of sake, +the commissioners expressed great anxiety about the proposed visit of +the Commodore to Yedo. They earnestly urged him not to take his ships +any farther up the bay, as they said it would lead to trouble by which +the populace might be disturbed and their own lives perhaps jeoparded. +The Commodore argued the matter with them for some time, and, as they +still pertinaciously urged their objections to his visit to the capital, +it was agreed that the subject should be further discussed by an +interchange of notes. The meeting then broke up. + +When it was determined by our Government to send an expedition to Japan, +those in authority were not unmindful of the peculiar characteristics of +that singular nation. Unlike all other civilized peoples, it was in a +state of voluntary, long-continued, and determined isolation. It neither +desired nor sought communication with the rest of the world, but, on the +contrary, strove to the uttermost to prevent it. It was comparatively an +easy task to propose, to any Power the ports of which were freely +visited by ships from every part of the world, the terms of a commercial +treaty. But not so when, by any Power, commerce itself was interdicted. +Before general conditions of commerce could be proposed to such a Power, +it was necessary to settle the great preliminary that commerce would be +allowed at all. Again, if that preliminary was settled affirmatively, a +second point of great moment remained to be discussed, viz., to what +degree shall intercourse for trading be extended? Among nations +accustomed to the usages of Christendom, the principles and extent of +national comity in the interchanges of commercial transactions have been +so long and so well defined and understood that, as between them, the +term "commercial treaty" needs no explanation; its meaning is +comprehended alike by all, and in its stipulations it may cover the very +broad extent that includes everything involved in the operations of +commerce between two maritime nations. But in a kingdom which, in its +polity, expressly ignored commerce and repudiated it as an evil instead +of a good, it was necessary to lay the very foundation as well as to +adjust the terms. + +Hence the instructions to Commodore Perry covered broad ground, and his +letters of credence conformed to his instructions. If he found the +Japanese disposed to abandon, at once and forever, their deliberately +adopted plan of non-intercourse with foreigners (an event most +unlikely), his powers were ample to make with them a commercial treaty +as wide and general as any we have with the nations of Europe. If they +were disposed to relax but in part their jealous and suspicious system, +formally to profess relations of friendship, and, opening some only of +their ports to our vessels, to allow a trade in those ports between +their people and ours, he was authorized to negotiate for this purpose, +and secure for his country such privileges as he could, not inconsistent +with the self-respect which, as a nation, we owed to ourselves. It must +not be forgotten, in the contemplation of what was accomplished, that +our representative went to a people who, at the time of his arrival +among them, had, both by positive law and usage of more than two hundred +years, allowed but one of their harbors, Nagasaki, to be opened to +foreigners at all; had permitted no trade with such foreigners when they +did come, except, under stringent regulations, with the Dutch and the +Chinese; were in the habit of communicating with the world outside of +them at second-hand only, through the medium of the Dutch who were +imprisoned at Dezima; and a people who, as far as we know, never made a +formal treaty with a civilized nation in the whole course of their +history. + +There were but two points on which the Commodore's instructions did not +allow him a large discretion to be exercised according to circumstances. +These were, first, that if happily any arrangements for trade, either +general or special, were made, it was to be distinctly stipulated that, +under no circumstances and in no degree, would the Americans submit to +the humiliating treatment so long borne by the Dutch in carrying on +their trade. The citizens of our country must be dealt with as freemen, +or there should be no dealings at all. The second point was that, in the +event of any of our countrymen being cast, in God's providence, as +shipwrecked men on the coast of Japan, they should not be treated as +prisoners, confined in cages, or subjected to inhuman treatment, but +should be received with kindness and hospitably cared for until they +could leave the country. + +The nearest approach to a precedent was to be found in our treaty with +China, made in 1844. This therefore was carefully studied by the +Commodore. Its purport was "a treaty or general convention of peace, +amity, and commerce," and to settle the rules to "be mutually observed +in the intercourse of the respective countries." So far as "commerce" is +concerned, it permitted "the citizens of the United States to frequent" +five ports in China "and to reside with their families and trade there, +and to proceed at pleasure with their vessels and merchandise to or from +any foreign port, and from either of the said five ports to enter any +other of them." As to duties on articles imported, they were to pay +according to a tariff that was made part of the treaty, and in no case +were to be subjected to higher duties than those paid, under similar +circumstances, by the people of other nations. Consuls were provided +for, to reside at the five open ports, and those trading there were +"permitted to import from their own or any other ports into China, and +sell there and purchase therein, and export to their own or any other +ports, all manner of merchandise of which the importation or exportation +was not prohibited by the treaty." In short, so far as the five ports +were concerned, there existed between us and China a general treaty of +commerce. + +The Commodore caused to be prepared, in the Chinese characters, a +transcript of the treaty, with such verbal alterations as would make it +applicable to Japan, with the view of exhibiting it to the Imperial +commissioners of that country should he be so successful as to open +negotiations. He was not sanguine enough to hope that he could procure +an entire adoption of the Chinese treaty by the Japanese. He was not +ignorant of the difference in national characteristics between the +inhabitants of China and the more independent, self-reliant, and sturdy +natives of the Japanese islands. He knew that the latter held the former +in some degree of contempt and treated them in the matter of trade very +much as they treated the Dutch. He was also aware that the Chinese, when +they made their treaty, did know something of the advantages that might +result from intercourse with the rest of the world; while as to the +Japanese, in their long-continued isolation, either they neither knew +nor desired such advantages, or, if they knew them, feared they might be +purchased at too high a price in the introduction of foreigners, who, as +in the case of the Portuguese, centuries before, might seek to overturn +the empire. It was too much, therefore, to expect that the Japanese +would in all the particulars of a treaty imitate the Chinese. + +Of the difficulties encountered, even after the Japanese had consented +to negotiate, the best account may be given from the conferences and +discussions between the negotiators, of all which most accurate reports +were kept on both sides, in the form of dialogue. At the first meeting +of the Commodore with the Imperial commissioners, on March 8th, he acted +on the plan he had proposed to himself with respect to the treaty with +China, and thus addressed them: + +_Commodore Perry_. I think it would be better for the two nations that a +treaty similar to the one between my country and the Chinese should be +made between us. I have prepared the draft of one almost identical with +our treaty with China. I have been sent here by my Government to make a +treaty with yours; if I do not succeed now, my Government will probably +send more ships here; but I hope we shall soon settle matters amicably. + +_Japanese_. We wish for time to have the document translated into the +Japanese language. + +This was but one among a hundred proofs of their extreme suspicion and +caution; for there was not one of the Imperial commissioners, probably, +who could not have read, without the least difficulty, the document as +furnished by the Commodore; and certain it is that their interpreters +could have read it off into Japanese at once. + +The Commodore, who wished to do as far as possible everything that might +conciliate, of course made no objection to a request so seemingly +reasonable, though he knew it to be needless, and was content to wait +patiently for their reply. In one week that reply came in writing, and +was very explicit: "As to opening a trade, such as is now carried on by +China with your country, we certainly cannot yet bring it about. The +feelings and manners of our people are very unlike those of other +nations, and it will be exceedingly difficult, even if you wish it, to +change immediately the old regulations for those of other countries. +Moreover, the Chinese have long had intercourse with Western nations, +while we have had dealings at Nagasaki with only the people of Holland +and China." + +This answer was not entirely unexpected, and put an end to all prospect +of negotiating a "commercial treaty" in the European sense of that +phrase. It only remained therefore to secure, for the present, admission +into the kingdom, and so much of trade as Japanese jealousy could be +brought to concede. At length, after much and oft-repeated discussion, +the point was yielded that certain ports might be opened to our vessels; +and then, in the interview of March 25th, came up the subject of +consuls. + +_Japanese_. About the appointment of consuls or agents, the +commissioners desire a delay of four or five years, to see how the +intercourse works. The governor of the town and the official interpreter +will be able to carry on all the business of supplying provisions, coal, +and needed articles, with the captain, without the intervention of a +consul. + +_Perry_. The duties of a consul are to report all difficulties that +arise between American citizens and Japanese to his Government in an +authentic manner, assist the Japanese in carrying out their laws and the +provisions of the treaty and recovering debts made by the Americans; and +also communicating to the Government at Washington whatever the Japanese +wish, as no letters can be received after this through the Dutch; and if +no consuls are received, then a ship-of-war must remain in Japan +constantly, and her captain must do the duties of a consul. + +_Japanese_. If we had not felt great confidence in you, we should not +have consented to open our ports at all. Consuls may be accepted by and +by, after experience has shown their need; and we hope that all American +citizens obey the laws of their country and behave properly. + +_Perry_. True, and I hope no difficulty will arise; and this appointment +of consuls in Japan, as they are in China, Hawaii, and everywhere else, +is to prevent and provide for difficulties. No American will report his +own misdeeds to his own Government, nor can the Japanese bring them to +our notice except through a government agent. This provision must be in +the treaty, though I will stipulate for only one, to reside at Simoda, +and he will not be sent probably for a year or two from this time. + +And thus it was that the Commodore had to explain everything and feel +his way, step by step, in the progress of the whole negotiation. + +_Japanese_. The commissioners wish every point desired by the Admiral to +be stated clearly, for the Japanese are not equal to the Americans, and +have not much to give in exchange. + +_Perry_. I have already stated all my views as regards our intercourse, +in the draft of the treaty you have. [This was one prepared by the +Commodore after the rejection of the transcript of the Chinese treaty.] +Let the commissioners state their objections to it. This treaty now to +be made is only a beginning; and as the nations know each other, the +Japanese will permit Americans to go anywhere, to Fujiyama--all over the +country. + +_Japanese_. We have found restrictions necessary against the Portuguese +and the English. + +Then followed observations by the Japanese on Pellew's entry into +Nagasaki harbor, which showed how much dislike of the English that event +had occasioned. A strong proof of their remarkable caution was furnished +by the Japanese at the conference held on March 28th when most of the +terms of the treaty had been agreed upon. + +_Perry_. I am prepared now to sign the treaty about these three harbors. + +Mr. Portman, interpreter, then read in Dutch that portion of the treaty +which contained such points as had been already agreed upon. + +_Japanese_. It is all correct except that we have objection to opening +the port of Simoda immediately; if any vessels were to go there in +distress, we should be glad to furnish them with provisions, wood, and +water. + +_Perry_. You have already consented, in one of your letters to me, to +open that port immediately. I am very desirous of settling that matter +now, as I wish to despatch the Saratoga home to inform the Government, +before Congress adjourns, how matters are advancing; that will take some +time, and there is no probability that any ships will come here before +ten or twelve months have expired; so that it will make no difference to +you whether you put it in the treaty to be opened now or in ten months. + +_Japanese_. We are willing to put it in the treaty "to be opened now," +if you will give us a letter or promise that no ships will come here +before the President gives his permission. + +_Perry_. I cannot do that very well, but I am willing to put it off +ninety days; that will be about the time I shall return from Hakodate; +it was your own proposition, yesterday, to open that port immediately. I +consent to this, however, to show you how desirous I am to do what I can +to please you. I cannot consent to a longer time. + +_Japanese_. If we put it in the treaty to be opened now, we would like +you to give us an order that no ships shall enter that port before ten +months. + +_Perry_. I cannot do that. But there is no probability that any ships +will come here before that time, as I shall not leave here for three +months, and they will not hear of it before that time; and when they do +hear of it, it will take several months for ships to make the voyage +here. If you choose I will keep one of the ships at Simoda for several +months. + +_Japanese_. If ships go there before that time we shall not be able to +give them other than provisions, wood, and water. + +_Perry_. The ships that may go there will want such things only as you +may have; if you have them not, of course you cannot and will not be +expected to furnish them; but, as I said before, there is no probability +that ships will go there before the expiration of ten months. + +_Japanese_. When you come back from Matsumai, we shall have plenty of +provisions at Simoda for the whole squadron; but to other ships we +cannot furnish more than wood, water, etc. + +_Perry_. When we return from Matsumai we shall not want many provisions, +as we shall be going to a place where we shall get plenty. It is only +the principle I wish settled now. I have come here as a peacemaker, and +I desire to settle everything now, and thus prevent trouble hereafter; I +wish to write home to my Government that the Japanese are friends. + +_Japanese_. We will write you a letter stating that we cannot furnish +you anything before ten months, but that we can furnish wood and water +immediately, and that we will furnish such other things as we possibly +can. This letter we should like you to answer. + +_Perry_. Very well; I will. + +_Japanese_. [Entering on another part of the terms agreed on.] We will +not confine Americans, or prevent them from walking around; but we +should like to place a limit to the distance they may walk. + +_Perry_. I am prepared to settle that matter now, but they must not be +confined to any particular house or street. Suppose we make the distance +they may walk, the same distance that a man can go and come in a day. +Or, if you choose, the number of _lis_ or _ris_ may be agreed upon. + +_Japanese_. We are willing that they shall walk as far as they can go +and come in a day. + +_Perry_. There is no probability that sailors would wish to go on shore +more than once from curiosity; besides, they will have their daily +duties to attend to on board ship and will not be able to go on shore. + +_Japanese_. We do not wish any women to come and remain at Simoda. + +_Perry_. The probability is that few women will go there, and they only +the wives of the officers of the ships. + +_Japanese_. When you come back from Matsumai we should like _you_ to +settle the distance that Americans are to walk. It is difficult for _us_ +to settle the distance. + +_Perry_. Say the distance of seven Japanese miles in any direction from +the centre of the city of Simoda. + +_Japanese_. Very well. A few miles will make no difference. You are +requested not to leave agents until after you have experienced that it +is necessary. + +_Perry_. I am willing to defer the appointment of a consul or an agent +one year or eighteen months from the date of the signing the treaty; and +then, if my Government think it necessary, it will send one. + +In fact, not an article of the treaty was made without the most serious +deliberation by the Japanese. In answer to a question from Captain +Adams, in the very first stages of the negotiation, they replied: "The +Japanese are unlike the Chinese; they are adverse to change; and when +they make a compact of any kind they intend that it shall endure for a +thousand years. For this reason it will be best to deliberate and +examine well the facilities for trade and the suitableness of the port +before any one is determined on." Probably nothing but the exercise of +the most perfect truthfulness and patience would ever have succeeded in +making a treaty with them at all; and from the language of one of their +communications, it is obvious that, with characteristic caution, they +meant that their present action should be but a beginning of +intercourse, which might or might not be afterward made more extensive, +according to the results of what they deemed the experiment. + +This, it must be remembered, was the first formal treaty they ever made +on the subject of foreign trade, at least since the expulsion of the +Portuguese, and they evidently meant to proceed cautiously by single +steps. + +There is observable throughout the negotiations the predominating +influence of the national prejudice against the permanent introduction +of foreigners among them. The word "reside" is but once used in the +whole treaty, and that in the article relative to consuls. The details +of conferences, already given, show how anxiously they sought to avoid +having consuls at all. Indeed, Commodore Perry says, "I could only +induce the commissioners to agree to this article, by endeavoring to +convince them that it would save the Japanese Government much trouble if +an American agent were to reside at one or both of the ports opened by +the treaty, to whom complaints might be made of any malpractice of the +United States citizens who might visit the Japanese dominions." They +wanted no permanent foreign residents among them, official or +unofficial. This was shown most unequivocally in the remark already +recorded in one of the conferences--"We do not wish any women to come +and remain at Simoda." + +Simoda was one of the ports open for trade with us; they knew that our +people had wives and daughters, and that a man's family were ordinarily +resident with him in his permanent abode, and that if the head of the +family lived in Simoda as a Japanese would live, there would certainly +be women who would "come and remain at Simoda." But more than this. It +will be remembered that the Commodore had submitted to them our treaty +with China, and they had held it under consideration for a week, at the +end of which time they said: "As to opening a trade, such as is now +carried on by China with your country, we certainly cannot yet bring it +about. The Chinese have long had intercourse with Western nations, while +we have had dealings at Nagasaki with only the people of Holland and +China." Now what was "such a trade" as we carried on with China? The +Japanese read in our treaty that five ports were open to us, that +permission was given "to the citizens of the United States to frequent" +them; and further, "to reside with their families and trade there." This +they deliberately declined assenting to when they refused to make a +treaty similar to that with China. They surely would not afterward +knowingly insert it in any treaty they might make with us. + +The only permanent residence to which they gave assent, and that most +reluctantly, was the residence of a consul. Temporary residence was +allowed to our shipwrecked citizens, as well as to those who went to +Simoda or Hakodate on commercial business. They are allowed to land, to +walk where they please within certain limits, to enter shops and temples +without restriction, to purchase in the shops, and have the articles +sent to the proper public office duly marked, where they will pay for +them, to resort to public-houses or inns that are to be built for their +refreshment "when on shore" at Simoda and Hakodate; and until built, a +temple, at each place, is assigned "as a resting-place for persons in +their walks." They may accept invitations to partake of the hospitality +of any of the Japanese; but they are not permitted to enter "military +establishments or private houses without leave." Without leave, our +citizens cannot enter them within the territories of any nation with +which we have a treaty. In short, the whole treaty shows that the +purpose of the Japanese was to make the experiment of intercourse with +us before they made it as extensive or as intimate as it was between us +and the Chinese. It was all they could do at the time, and much, very +much, was obtained on the part of our negotiator in procuring a +concession even to this extent. + +But, as he knew that our success would be but the forerunner of that of +other powers, and as he believed that new relations of trade once +commenced, not only with ourselves, but with England, France, Holland, +and Russia, could not fail, in the progress of events, to break up the +old restrictive policy, effectually and forever, and open Japan to the +world; and must also lead gradually to liberal commercial treaties, he +wisely, in the ninth article, secured to the United States and their +citizens, without "consultation or delay," all privileges and advantages +which Japan might hereafter "grant to any other nation or nations." And +the Commodore's comments on this article conclusively show that _he_, at +least, did not suppose he had made a "commercial treaty": + +"Article IX. This is a most important article, as there can be little +doubt that, on hearing of the success of this mission, the English, +French, and Russians will follow our example; and it may be reasonable +to suppose that each will gain some additional advantage, until a +commercial treaty is accomplished. Article IX will give to Americans, +without further consultation, all these advantages." + +All other powers were forced to be content in obtaining just what we, as +pioneers, obtained. Their treaties were like ours. That of Russia was +copied from ours, with no change but that of the substitution of the +port of Nagasaki for Napha in Riu Kiu. We respectfully submit, +therefore, that all, and indeed more than all, under the circumstances, +that could have been reasonably expected has been accomplished. + + + + +(1855) THE CAPTURE OF SEBASTOPOL, Sir Edward B. Hamely and Sir Evelyn + Wood + + +This is the most famous event of the Crimean War, in which Russian power +was pitted against the allied forces of Turkey, France, Great Britain, +and Sardinia. The war grew out of rival demands concerning a +protectorate in Turkey. In 1852 Napoleon III asked for the restoration +of the protectorate of the Holy Places in the Ottoman Empire to the +Latin Church. Supported by Russia, the Greek Church had virtually +supplanted the Latin Church in Turkish dominions, and Russia now put +forward a demand for a protectorate over the Greek subjects of the +Sultan. Turkey had no interest in the religious questions at issue, and +she pursued a wavering course between the disputing powers, fearing to +offend either of them. Russia at last began openly to threaten Turkey, +and, finding vacillation and diplomacy no longer availing for a +postponement of the conflict, the Sultan declared war, October 4, 1853. + +In the early engagements of the war the Turks gained some successes over +Russian troops, but the first important event was the destruction of a +part of the Turkish fleet at Sinope, November 30, 1853. This, being +regarded by England as an act of treachery on the part of Russia, +brought Great Britain into the conflict. The Russians occupied the +Danubian principalities, and the Battle of the Alma, in which the allies +first confronted Russia, was won by the former, with greatly superior +numbers, September 20, 1854. + +The siege of Sebastopol began in October, and during its progress +important battles occurred--that of Balaklava, that of Inkerman, +November 5th, in which the Russians were defeated by the English and the +French; that of Tchernaya, August 16, 1855, a victory for the Russians; +and the storming of the Malakoff, described below. The capture of +Sebastopol was followed by the taking of Kars by the Russians, November +28, 1855, and the war ended. In accordance with the Treaty of Paris, +March 30, 1856, Russia abandoned her claim to a protectorate over +Christians in Turkey, and the Sultan agreed to grant them more favorable +terms. + +Sir Edward Bruce Hamley and Sir Henry Evelyn Wood, British generals who +served in the Crimean War, give us the best accounts of the siege and +capture of Sebastopol, in which they were active participants. The siege +had continued through many weeks without decisive developments, when on +June 18, 1855, the French made a strong but unsuccessful assault on the +Malakoff, which, like the Redan, formed one of the main defences. The +following narratives describe the British assault on the Redan and the +final storming of the Malakoff by the French. + + +SIR EDWARD BRUCE HAMLEY + +Seeing how desperate was the condition of the fortress, Prince +Gortschakoff had resolved, after the Battle of the Tchernaya, to abandon +Sebastopol. In letters to the Minister of War, of August 18 and 24, +1855, he expressed this intention, saying there was not a man in the +army who would not call it folly to continue the defence longer. With a +view to conducting a retreat he pressed forward rapidly the construction +of the bridge across the harbor, which was to have a roadway of sixteen +feet and to bear heavy vehicles. He also conferred with Todleben on +other measures to protect the withdrawal, and accordingly barricades +were built across the streets and formed into armed and defensible works +which were intended, as a last resort, to hold in check the assailants. +Preparations were also made for blowing up the principal forts and +magazines. + +Another great cannonade had begun on August 17th. The French lines had +now approached so close to the place that new additions to them were +immediately destroyed or rendered untenable by the fire from the +Malakoff and Little Redan; and the shower of small shells, easily cast +into the trenches from the ramparts, and called by the French +"bouquets," greatly increased their losses. For the silencing of the +artillery, which thus hindered the French sappers, the allied batteries +opened in full force against the part of the enemy's lines from the +Redan to the great harbor. But the town front was not included, and the +English batteries suffered greatly from want of support by the works on +their left. + +On August 20th Gortschakoff entered the fortress, and went round the +lines of defence, upon which the fire of the allies was just then at its +height. What he saw might well confirm him in his resolution to retreat. +There was no longer either a city or a suburb to defend, for both were +heaps of rubbish and cinders. The parapets of the works, dried in the +heats of summer and split in huge fragments by the shot, were crumbling +into the ditches. The interior space was honeycombed with holes made by +the shells. Gabions and sandbags could not be procured to repair the +embrasures, which remained in ruins. Many of the dismounted guns could +no longer be replaced, not because there were not plenty in the +arsenals, but because to mount them by night, under the deadly fire of +the mortars, entailed such frightful sacrifices of men. + +The defenders of the works were packed in caves under the parapets; the +gunners lay dead in heaps on the batteries; the wounded could not be +removed by day, because the communications with the rear were now +searched throughout by the fire of the allies, and so lay where they +fell, in torment in the sun beside the more fortunate slain. On landing, +the Prince had passed the hospitals, full to overflowing, and the +ambulances with the wounded crowding what had been the squares. There +was nothing to relieve the horrible monotony of destruction and +devastation except the bridge, which promised retreat from this misery, +and which was approaching completion. + +Yet it was after this visit that the Russian General changed his mind in +the direction of what he had before termed folly. "I am resolved," he +wrote to the Minister of War, on September 1st, "to defend the south +side to the last extremity, for it is the only honorable course which +remains to us." Calculating that the daily loss of the garrison was from +eight hundred to nine hundred, and that he could bring twenty-five +thousand men from the army outside to reenforce it, by leaving only +twenty thousand to guard the Mackenzie Heights, he considered he might +still prolong the defence for a month. Everything was against such a +cruel determination; but he proceeded to execute it so far as in him +lay. Yet it did not rest with him to determine the end. + +The cannonade once more reduced the Malakoff, its dependencies and +neighbors, to absolute silence, and enabled the French to push their +works yet closer. The soil between the Mamelon and Malakoff could be cut +into like a cheese, and the trenches were more easily made and better +constructed here than elsewhere. The English trenches before the Redan +had been stopped by solid rock; the French approaches to the Little +Redan, now only forty yards from it, had also got into soil so stony as +no longer to afford cover. The most advanced approach to the Malakoff +was separated from it by only twenty-five yards; in the soft soil the +trenches might have been pushed to the very edge of the ditch, but only +with great loss, and, besides, the facility of mining below them would +increase as the distance lessened. It was therefore deemed that the time +for assault had come, and it only remained to determine the details. + +Accordingly, a council of war considered the matter. After the members +had delivered their opinions, Pelissier expressed himself thus: "I too +have my plan, but I will not breathe it to my pillow." There is, +however, no need to be so reticent with the reader. The French commander +had learned that the relief of the troops in the works before him took +place at noon, and that in order to avoid the great additional loss +which would be caused by introducing the new garrisons before the old +ones moved out, the contrary course was followed of marching out most of +the occupants before replacing them. Thus noon was the time when the +Malakoff would be found most destitute of defenders, and noon was to be +the hour of the assault. Also another advantage was offered to the +French. The salient of the Malakoff had been adapted to the form of the +tower which it covered, and was therefore circular; consequently there +was a space in it which could not be seen or fired on from the flanks; +that was the space upon which the troops were to be directed. + +Roadways twenty yards wide were made through the trenches, and then +masked by gabions, easily thrown down, by which the reserves could be +brought up in the shortest time. The Malakoff, the curtain, and the +Little Redan were each to be attacked by a division, supported by a +brigade; and four divisions, with other troops, were destined to attack +the central bastion and works near it, and break thence by the rear, +into the flagstaff bastion. But first the cannonade was to be renewed. +It began on September 5th, and this time it encircled the whole +fortress, the French batteries before the town opening no less +vigorously than the rest. At night a frigate in the harbor was set on +fire by a shell, and the conflagration for hours lighted up the +surrounding scenery. On the 6th and 7th the _feu d'enfer_ went on, the +Russians replying but feebly; on the night of the 7th a line-of-battle +ship was set on fire by a mortar, and burned nearly all night; it +contained a large supply of spirits, the blue flames from which cast a +lugubrious light on the ramparts from the harbor to the Malakoff, +producing, says Todleben, "a painful impression on the souls of the +defenders of Sebastopol." + +Daylight on the 8th found the Russian defences completely manned, the +guns loaded with grape, and the reserves brought close up. But the +assault was not yet begun, and the result of these preparations to +receive it was increased havoc in the exposed ranks of the defenders. + +The attack on the Redan was to be directed by General Codrington. His +division, and the Second, under General Markham, were to supply the +column of attack, of which the covering party, the ladder party, the +working party (to fill up the ditch and convert what works we might gain +to our own purpose), and the main body were to number seventeen hundred, +and the supports fifteen hundred. The remainder of these two divisions, +numbering three thousand, was to be in reserve in the third parallel. +Also, in the last reserve, were the Third and Fourth Divisions. + +No attack on the Redan would have been undertaken by the English as an +isolated operation. Our compulsory distance from that work, the want of +a place of arms (that is to say, a covered space in the advanced +trenches of sufficient extent to harbor large bodies of troops), the +construction of which was forbidden by the rocky soil, and the still +unsubdued fire from the ramparts, all condemned an assault. But it was +deemed necessary as a distraction in aid of the French, and it fulfilled +the purpose. + +The portion of Codrington's troops destined to head the attack on the +Redan moved rapidly and steadily across the open space, though suffering +much loss from the heavy fire of round-shot, grape, case, and musketry +now directed on them from every available point, and those in front +passed with ease over the battered rampart and entered the work. But the +rest, with too strong a reminiscence of their mode of action in the +trenches, lay down at the edge of the ditch and began firing, alongside +of the covering troops, who alone should have performed this duty. The +supports also reached the ditch, and some of them entered the work. But +the great reserves, in moving through the inches toward the point of +issue, were obstructed and discouraged by meeting the numbers of wounded +men and their bearers, who were of necessity brought back by the same +narrow route, a difficulty which also hindered some of the French +attacks. Colonel Windham, the leader of the attacking troops, finding +that his messages for support produced no result, took the ill-advised +step of going back himself to procure reenforcements. It was not +surprising that before he returned his men also had withdrawn. It is +probably in reference to this that the _Engineer Journal_ said, in +excusing the troops, that "they retired when they found themselves +without any officer of rank." + +They had been overwhelmed by the numbers which the Russians brought into +the open work; and as they hurried back they suffered not less heavily +than in their advance. It was unfortunate for them that the French had +spiked the guns in the Malakoff instead of turning them on the enemy +moving into the Redan, as they ought to have done. With the immense +increase of difficulties in making way through the crowded trenches, and +renewing the attack against works now fully armed and manned, the +attempt was postponed till next day, when fresh troops, headed by the +Highlanders, were to renew it. + + +SIR HENRY EVELYN WOOD + +It may render my narrative of the final assault more readily +comprehensible if I begin by saying that, the Malakoff being now +considered the key of the Russian position, it was determined that all +other attacks should be considered subsidiary to that which was to be +directed against it. + +General Bosquet had command of all the French troops employed on the +right of the English attack. MacMahon's division was to assault the +Malakoff itself, having De Wimpffen's brigade with Camou's division in +reserve, and with it two battalions of Zouaves of the Guard. On +MacMahon's right La Motterouge's division, composed of the brigades of +Bourbaki and Picard, was to attack the curtain. It was supported by four +regiments, two of grenadiers and two of Voltigeurs of the Guard. Still +farther north was Dulac's division, supported by Marolle's brigade of +Camou's division and one battalion of Chasseurs of the Guard. These were +to attack the Little Redan. Pelissier himself took up his position in +the Mamelon, and to avoid giving warning to the enemy by any system of a +general signal, the watches of the staff and the generals were carefully +compared in order that the assault might be begun at twelve o'clock. +This hour was chosen by Pelissier in consequence of his having +ascertained that the troops on duty in the Russian trenches were +relieved at that hour, and owing to the works being cramped from the +number of traverses and blindages erected to cover their garrisons from +fire, it had become the habit for the old guard of the works to march +out before the relief marched in, and it was thus anticipated that at +twelve o'clock the works would be nearly empty. This surmise proved to +be accurate. + +The French had taken great trouble to screen the concentration of their +troops from the sight of the enemy. Each division had a separate access +to the advanced trenches in which the storming parties were to assemble. +In places where the parapets, having sunk, might have disclosed to the +view of the enemy the troops moving into position, they had been +carefully raised. Cuts had been made through parapets to admit of the +supports moving forward in bodies, and to allow field-artillery +batteries, which were stationed at the Victoria redoubt and the old +Lancaster battery, to pass through to the front. These apertures had +been filled up with gabions, and carefully concealed, so that their +position remained unknown to the enemy. + +General Herbillon, still encamped on the Tchernaya, was directed to +cause his force (less Camou's division called up to support La +Motterouge, and Dulac) to stand to arms at twelve o'clock, and his +command was reenforced by a brigade of cuirassiers under General De +Forton. The morning was dull and gloomy, with a cold wind which drove +clouds of dust into the air. A little before twelve o'clock all the +French storming parties were crouching ready for the order. + +Bosquet himself was in the sixth parallel; MacMahon, surrounded by his +staff, was standing in the front trench with his watch in his hand. No +one spoke in this group, in which the calm faces showed no sign of the +excitement visible in the zouaves on either side of them, who, though +silent, were trembling with impatience. Close at hand there was a +corporal holding a little tricolor. Two minutes before twelve o'clock +the word was passed in an undertone, "Ready," and as the hands indicated +it was twelve o'clock, on a command from MacMahon a shout arose of +"_Vive l'Empereur_!" bugles and drums sounded the charge, and the +zouaves dashed straight at the Malakoff. + +MacMahon allowed two sections to pass him, and then, followed by his +staff, climbed over the parapet, following the advanced guard. It placed +one ladder, by which the General descended into the ditch, and was, it +is said, the first up the escarp of the work. A friend of mine described +to me how he watched the tricolor on the parapet being carried slowly +along, thus indicating exactly how our allies in the body of the work +were gaining ground. The zouaves who crossed the ditch on the proper +left of the Malakoff had some difficulty in climbing up, from the height +and steepness of the escarp. + +MacMahon's leading brigade crossed the short intervening space without a +shot being fired. The enemy's working parties and gunners who were +repairing damages fought bravely with picks, shovels, and hand-spikes, +but were eventually driven back. The very few Russians in the salient +were completely surprised, so much so that some of the superior officers +were found at dinner in an underground chamber of the Malakoff, and the +French without difficulty obtained absolute possession of the south end +of the work. Although the enclosure covered an area of about four +hundred yards by one hundred fifty, there was but very little open space +within it, for behind the remnants of the stone tower were rows of +traverses stretching from side to side of the work. Behind these the +Russians took post as they came up from their bombproof shelters. Every +separate parapet was fought for, hand to hand, and it was not till +Vinoy's brigade, which, entering by the Gervais battery, got behind the +traverses, turning out the regiment Grand Duke Michel, that the enemy +was finally driven from this part of the work. + +The leading brigades of Motterouge's and Dulac's divisions, headed by +their chiefs, seized the curtain and the Little Redan, the latter +falling first, as St. Pol's brigade was nearer to it than Bourbaki's +brigade was to the curtain. Once inside these works from which the +Russians were easily driven, the French pressed on to the intrenchment +then being built across the rear. General PELISSIER now gave General +Simpson the signal to attack the Redan. At the same time the French +attacked the Malakoff, and there the fate of Sebastopol was really +decided. + +The possession of this fort was strongly contested, the Russians +bringing up field-batteries; the French were also fired on heavily by +three steamers, which, circling round, fired broadsides into them, and +batteries sent shells from the north side of the harbor into the French +support. Eventually after a prolonged struggle, in which the French +captured four field-guns, St. Pol's brigade was beaten back, losing its +brigadier, and with him fell the chief staff officer of the division and +two colonels. The Russians followed up closely, and Bisson's brigade, +which for want of space in the trenches had been stationed in the +Careenage Ravine, was too far behind to afford effective aid. Bourbaki's +right being thus uncovered, he also was driven back, although supported +by Motterouge's other brigade. + +After Bourbaki and St. Pol had been repulsed, the Voltigeurs and +Grenadiers of the Guard and Marolle's brigade were sent against the +curtain and Redan respectively. These they carried, but were once more +expelled from the Little Redan, Marolle and De Ponteves falling dead at +the head of their brigades, and Mellinet, Bisson, and Bourbaki being +wounded. The French still held the curtain, and Bosquet now ordered up +the two field-batteries then standing behind the Victoria redoubt. They +descended the ridge at the trot, unlimbered in front of the sixth +parallel, and, coming into action, fired with great effect on the +Russian infantry, which offered a broad target. Yet the batteries +suffered terribly; the commanding officer (Souty) was killed, and out of +the one hundred fifty men he brought down, only fifty-five returned when +the guns were dragged back by hand because they lost all their horses +except nineteen. + +Bosquet, surrounded by several Russian officers, who were prisoners, and +their guards, was interrogating the captives when a shell burst over +them, killing or wounding both them and the guard--the General only +escaping. Later, when leaning on the parapet watching the progress of +the fight, he was struck in the face by a fragment of a shell. He had +just strength to send word to General Dulac to take his place, when he +fainted. + +The struggle in and around the Malakoff was continued till three +o'clock, when Gortschakoff withdrew his troops from the work which they +had defended with such marvellous endurance for eleven months. The prize +was now won, but at heavy cost. + +MacMahon's division, which assaulted with forty-five hundred bayonets +and two hundred officers, lost in killed and wounded just half its +strength. + +Soon after the Russians had been driven from the salient of the +Malakoff, the French troops occupying it were fired on from the lower +part of the old masonry tower, which was loopholed, and inside which +five officers and sixty Russian soldiers had taken refuge. It was +impossible to dislodge them, as the only entrance was strongly blocked +on the inside. After a time some gabions were collected, and having been +placed in position close to the loopholes, were lighted, but before the +defenders could be smoked out, a mortar fired against the door blew it +away, and the Russians surrendered. The gabions burning fiercely, the +officers became alarmed lest the fire should be communicated to some of +the surrounding magazines, and an attempt was made to extinguish the +blazing fragments. As this was difficult, sappers were set to work to +dig a trench and throw the excavated earth on the fire. While the men +were digging, four wires, communicating with mines, were found and cut. + +While the Russian officers were surrendering, a desperate struggle was +carried on at the far end of the Malakoff enclosure, the Russians coming +over the parapets in three heavy columns. Khrouleff, the "fighting +general," being wounded, had been replaced by General Martinau. The +combatants fought hand to hand till, Martinau, losing an arm, and his +men being out of ammunition, Gortschakoff ordered them to give up the +struggle and fall back. + +Between three and four o'clock a magazine blew up near the point where +the curtain joined the Malakoff, and the division at once ran back to +the French advanced trenches. This occurred at a moment when General La +Motterouge was wounded, but his men were rallied and got back into +position ere the smoke and dust of the explosion cleared away. The flag +of the Ninety-first Regiment was buried so deep that it was not found +till next day, when it was recovered still grasped tightly in the hands +of the lifeless officer who was carrying it when the explosion took +place. + +When the Russians withdrew, General MacMahon, contemplating the +possibility of further explosions from undiscovered mines, in order to +minimize possible loss of life, sent back the brigade under Colonel +Decaen, whom he ordered to hold himself in readiness, and, if Vinoy's +brigade should be blown into the air, to come forward immediately and +replace it. Then, turning to General Vinoy, MacMahon observed, "It is +possible, General, that your brigade will be blown up, but Decaen will +replace you immediately, so we shall still hold our position." MacMahon +himself remained in the Malakoff with Vinoy's brigade. + +During the afternoon it was reported to General Pelissier that large +numbers of Russian troops were crossing by the floating bridge to the +north side of the harbor, but the allies did not yet feel confident that +the end had quite come. About midnight one of the maritime forts was +blown up, and explosions continued at intervals throughout the night, +fires bursting out wherever any inflammable substance remained. + +At 3 A.M. on the 9th Corporal Ross, Royal Engineers, who was employed in +the advanced sap, being struck by the unusual silence within the Redan, +crept across the ditch, and, climbing over the parapet, found that the +enemy had evacuated the work. + +At daylight all the Russian fleet except the Vladimir had disappeared +under water, and the last of this heroic garrison was seen forming up on +the north side of the floating bridge, which was then cut, leaving on +the southern side two hundred or three hundred men, who had remained +behind, setting fire to the houses. This was the last of the active +operations. Gortschakoff withdrew his troops, and, placing the cavalry +on the Belbeck, extended the infantry along the Mackenzie Farm heights +position, which he proceeded to fortify. + +The allies were now in possession of the bloodstained ruins of +Sebastopol, and the last of the Black Sea fleet was at the bottom of the +harbor. Perhaps it was well that peace ensued. Although we might have +dislodged the Russians from their position on the heights, it would have +been difficult to obtain any further material advantage in the Crimea. + + + + +(1857) THE INDIAN MUTINY, J. Talboys Wheeler + + +From the time when Warren Hastings, the first English Governor-General +of India, was sent to rule there (1774), the British power in that +country grew steadily, and many annexations were made to the territory +under its control. There were frequent wars with the French, England's +rivals in India, and with the natives in different Provinces that one +after another were absorbed into the British possessions. The first +serious menace against this growing power appeared in a native movement, +the culmination of which is known as the Indian or Sepoy Mutiny. + +The causes of this rising are traced to distrust and hatred of the +British rulers--feelings that caused a ferment among the Hindus and +Mahometans of India, who suspected a design for suppressing their +religions. The natives also became alarmed at the introduction of +Western ideas and improvements--new methods of education, the +steam-engine, the telegraph, etc.--portending to the Indian peoples the +substitution of a foreign civilization for their own. The truth is that +in attempting to abolish suttee and other ancient native customs, and to +introduce more enlightened practices, the British Government was acting +in the interest of general humanity. + +The immediate provocation of the great mutiny among the sepoys or native +troops in the British East-Indian service is well shown, and the entire +story of the revolt is equally well told, by Mr. Wheeler. This author, +while a secretary to the Government of India in the latter part of the +nineteenth century, enjoyed peculiar advantages for study and research. +These advantages he turned to account by writing an authoritative and +interesting history of the land of his official residence. + +Early in the year 1857, it is said, there were rumors of a coming danger +to British rule in India. In some parts of the country _chupatties_, or +cakes, were circulated in a mysterious manner from village to village. +[Footnote: The form of the cake conveyed information that an +insurrection was in preparation--an old custom--understood by the +natives.--ED.] Prophecies were also rife that in 1857 the East India +Company's _raj_ [rule] would come to an end. Lord Canning has been +blamed for not taking alarm at these proceedings; but something of the +kind always had been going on in India. Cakes of cocoanuts are given +away in solemn fashion; and as the villagers were afraid to keep them or +eat them, the circulation went on to the end of the chapter. Then, +again, holy men and prophets have always been common in India. They +foretell pestilence and famine: the downfall of British rule, or the +destruction of the whole world. They are often supposed to be endowed +with supernatural powers and to be impervious to bullets; but these +phenomena invariably disappear whenever they come in contact with +Europeans, especially as all such characters are liable to be treated as +vagrants without visible means of subsistence. + +One dangerous story, however, got abroad in the early part of 1857, +which ought to have been stopped at once, and for which the military +authorities were wholly and solely to blame. The Enfield rifle was being +introduced; it required new cartridges, which in England were greased +with the fat of beef or pork. The military authorities in India, with +strange indifference to the prejudices of sepoys, ordered the cartridges +to be prepared at Calcutta in like manner; forgetting that the fat of +pigs was hateful to the Mahometans, while the fat of cows was still more +horrible in the eyes of the Hindus. + +The excitement began at Barrackpur, sixteen miles from Calcutta. At this +station there were four regiments of sepoys, and no Europeans except the +regimental officers. One day a low-caste native, known as a lascar, +asked a Brahmin sepoy for a drink of water from his brass pot. The +Brahmin refused, as it would defile his pot. The lascar retorted that +the Brahmin was already defiled by biting cartridges which had been +greased with cow's fat. This vindictive taunt was based on truth. +Lascars had been employed at Calcutta in preparing the new cartridges, +and the man was possibly one of them. The taunt created a wild panic at +Barrackpur. Strange to say, however, none of the new cartridges had been +issued to the sepoys; and had this been promptly explained to the men, +and the sepoys left to grease their own cartridges, the alarm might have +died out. But the explanation was delayed until the whole of the Bengal +army was smitten with the groundless fear; and then, when it was too +late, the authorities protested too much, and the terror-stricken sepoys +refused to believe them. + +The sepoys had proved themselves brave under fire, and loyal to their +salt in sharp extremities; but they are the most credulous and excitable +soldiery in the world. They regarded steam and electricity as so much +magic; and they fully believed that the British Government was binding +India with chains, when it was only laying down railway lines and +telegraph wires. The Enfield rifle was a new mystery; and the busy +brains of the sepoys were soon at work to divine the motive of the +English in greasing cartridges with cow's fat. They had always taken to +themselves the sole credit of having conquered India for the company; +and they now imagined that the English wanted them to conquer Persia and +China. Accordingly, they suspected that Lord Canning was going to make +them as strong as Europeans by destroying caste, forcing them to become +Christians, and making them eat beef and drink beer. + +The story of the greased cartridges, with all its absurd embellishments, +ran up the Ganges and Jumna to Benares, Allahabad, Agra, Delhi, and the +great cantonment at Meerut; while another current of lies ran back again +from Meerut to Barrackpur. It was noised abroad that the bones of cows +and pigs had been ground into powder, and thrown into wells and mingled +with flour and butter, in order to destroy the caste of the masses and +convert them to Christianity. + +For a brief interval it was hoped that the disaffection was suppressed. +Excitement manifested itself in various ways at different stations +throughout the length of Hindustan and the Punjab--at Benares, Lucknow, +Agra, Ambala, and Sealkote. In some stations there were incendiary +fires; in others the sepoys were wanting in their usual respect to their +European officers. But it was believed that the storm was spending +itself, and that the dark clouds were passing away. + +Suddenly on May 3d there was an explosion at Lucknow. A regiment of Oudh +Irregular Infantry, previously in the service of the Mogul, broke out in +mutiny and began to threaten their European officers. Sir Henry +Lawrence, the new Chief Commissioner, had a European regiment at his +disposal, namely the Thirty-second Foot. That same evening he ordered +out the regiment, and a battery of eight guns manned by Europeans, +together with four sepoy regiments, three of infantry and one of +cavalry. With this force he proceeded to the lines of the mutineers, +about seven miles off. The Oudh Irregulars were taken by surprise; they +saw infantry and cavalry on either side, and the European guns in front. +They were ordered to lay down their arms, and they obeyed. At this +moment the artillery lighted their port fires. The mutineers were seized +with a panic, and rushed away in the darkness; but the leaders and most +of their followers were pursued and arrested by the native infantry and +cavalry, and confined pending trial. Subsequently it transpired that the +native regiments sympathized with the mutineers, and would have shown it +but for their dread of Sir Henry Lawrence and the Europeans. The +energetic action of Lawrence sufficed to maintain order for another +month in Oudh. Meanwhile the Thirty-fourth Native Infantry was disbanded +at Barrackpur, and again it was hoped that the disaffection was stayed. + +The demon of mutiny was only scotched. Within a week of the outbreak at +Lucknow, the great military station of Meerut was in a blaze. Meerut was +only forty miles from Delhi, and the largest cantonment in India. There +were three regiments of sepoys, two of infantry and one of cavalry; but +there were enough Europeans to scatter four times the number; namely, a +battalion of the Sixtieth Rifles, a regiment of Dragoon Guards known as +the "Carabineers," two troops of horse-artillery, and a light +field-battery. + +In spite of the presence of Europeans there were more indications of +excitement at Meerut than at any other station in the northwest. At +Meerut the story of the greased cartridges had been capped by the story +of the bonedust; and there were the same kind of incendiary fires, the +same lack of respect toward European officers, and the same whispered +resolve not to touch the cartridges, as at Barrackpur. The station was +commanded by General Hewitt, whose advancing years unfitted him to cope +with the storm which was bursting upon Hindustan. + +The regiment of sepoy cavalry at Meerut was strongly suspected of +disaffection; accordingly it was resolved to put the men to the test. On +May 6th it was paraded in the presence of the European force, and +cartridges were served out; not the greased abominations from Calcutta, +but the old ones which had been used times innumerable by the sepoys and +their fathers. + +But the men were terrified and obstinate, and eighty-five stood out and +refused to take the cartridges. The offenders were at once arrested, and +tried by a court-martial of native officers; they were found guilty, and +sentenced to various periods of imprisonment, but recommended for mercy. +General Hewitt saw no grounds for mercy, excepting in the case of eleven +young troopers; and on Saturday, May 9th, the sentences were carried +out. The men were brought on parade, stripped of their uniforms, and +loaded with irons. They implored the General for mercy, and, finding it +hopeless, began to reproach their comrades; but no one dared to strike a +blow in the presence of loaded cannon and rifles. At last the prisoners +were carried off and placed in a jail, not under European soldiers, but +a native guard. + +The military authorities at Meerut seem to have been under a spell. The +next day was Sunday, May 10th, and the hot sun rose with its usual glare +in the Indian sky. The European barracks were at a considerable distance +from the native lines, and the intervening space was covered with shops +and houses surrounded by trees and gardens. Consequently the Europeans +in the barracks knew nothing of what was going on in the native quarter. +Meanwhile there were commotions in the sepoy lines and neighboring +bazaars. The sepoys were taunted by the loose women of the place with +permitting their comrades to be imprisoned and fettered. At the same +time they were smitten with a mad fear that the European soldiers were +to be let loose upon them. The Europeans at Meerut saw and heard +nothing. + +Nothing was noted on that Sunday morning except the absence of native +servants from many of the houses, and that was supposed to be +accidental. Morning service was followed by the midday heats, and at +five o'clock in the afternoon the Europeans were again preparing for +church. Suddenly there was an alarm of fire, followed by a volley of +musketry, discordant yells, the clattering of cavalry, and the bugle +sounding an alarm. The sepoys had worked themselves up to a frenzy of +excitement; the prisoners were released with a host of jailbirds; the +native infantry joined the native cavalry, and the colonel of one of the +regiments was shot by the sepoys of the other. Inspired by a wild fear +and fury, the sepoys ran about murdering or wounding every European they +met, and setting houses on fire, amid deafening shouts and uproar. + +Meanwhile there were fatal delays in turning out the Europeans. The +Rifles were paraded for church, and time was lost in getting arms and +serving out ball cartridges. The Carabineers were absurdly put through a +roll-call, and then lost their way among the shops and gardens. +Meanwhile European officers were being butchered by the infuriated +sepoys. Men and women were fired at or sabred while hurrying back in a +panic from church. Flaming houses and crashing timbers were filling all +hearts with terror, and the shades of evening were falling upon the +general havoc and turmoil, when the Europeans reached the native lines +and found that the sepoys had gone, no one knew whither. + +The truth was soon told. The mutiny had become a revolt; the sepoys were +on the way to Delhi to proclaim the old Mogul as sovereign of Hindustan; +and there was no Gillespie to gallop after them and crush the revolt at +its outset, as had been done at Vellore half a century before. One +thing, however, was done. There were no European regiments at Delhi; +nothing but three regiments of sepoy infantry and a battery of native +artillery. The station was commanded by Brigadier Graves; and there were +no Europeans under his orders excepting the officers and sergeants +attached to the three native corps. Accordingly telegrams were sent to +Brigadier Graves to tell him that the mutineers were on their way to +Delhi. + +Monday at Delhi was worse than the Sunday at Meerut. The British +cantonment was situated on a rising ground about two miles from the +city, which was known as the "Ridge." The great magazine, containing +immense stores of ammunition, was situated in the heart of the city. One +of the three sepoy regiments was on duty in the city; the other two +remained in the cantonment on the Ridge. + +The approach to Delhi from Meerut was defended by the little river +Hindun, which was spanned by a small bridge. It was proposed to procure +two cannon from the magazine and place them on the bridge; but before +this could be done the rebel cavalry from Meerut were seen crossing the +river, and were subsequently followed by the rebel infantry. The +magazine remained in charge of Lieutenant Willoughby of the Bengal +Artillery. He was associated with two other officers and six conductors +and sergeants; the rest of the establishment was composed entirely of +natives. + +Brigadier Graves did his best to protect the city and cantonment until +the arrival of the expected Europeans from Meerut. Indeed, throughout +the morning and greater part of the afternoon everyone in Delhi was +expecting the arrival of the Europeans. Brigadier Graves ordered all the +non-military residents, including women and children, to repair to +Flagstaff Tower--a round building of solid brickwork at some distance +from the city. Late detachments of sepoys were sent from the Ridge to +the Cashmere gate, under the command of their European officers, to help +the sepoys on duty to maintain order in the city. + +Presently the rebel troops from Meerut came up, accompanied by the +insurgent rabble of Delhi. The English officers prepared to charge them, +and gave the order to fire, but some of the sepoys refused to obey or +only fired into the air. The English officers held on, expecting the +European soldiers from Meerut. The sepoys hesitated to join the rebels, +out of dread of the coming Europeans. At last the Delhi sepoys threw in +their lot with the rebels and shot down their own officers. The revolt +spread throughout the whole city; and the suspense of the English on the +Ridge and at Flagstaff Tower began to give way to the agony of despair. + +Suddenly, at four o'clock in the afternoon, a column of white smoke +arose from the city, and an explosion was heard far and wide. Willoughby +and his eight associates had held out to the last, waiting and hoping +for the coming of the Europeans. They had closed and barricaded the +gates of the magazine; and they had posted six-pounders at the gates, +loaded with double charges of grape, and laid a train to the +powder-magazine. Messengers came in the name of Bahadur Shah to demand +the surrender of the magazine, but no answer was returned. The enemy +approached and raised ladders against the walls; while the native +establishment escaped over some sheds and joined the rebels. At this +crisis the guns opened fire. Round after round of grape made fearful +havoc on the mass of humanity that was heaving and surging round the +gates. At last the ammunition was exhausted. No one could leave the guns +to bring up more shot. The mutineers were pouring in on all sides. +Lieutenant Willoughby gave the signal. Conductor Scully fired the train; +and with one tremendous upheaval the magazine was blown into the air, +together with fifteen hundred rebels. Not one of the gallant nine had +expected to escape. Willoughby and three others got away, scorched, +maimed, bruised, and nearly insensible; but Scully and his comrades were +never seen again. Willoughby died of his injuries six weeks afterward, +while India and Europe were ringing with his name. + +Still more terrible and treacherous were the tragedies enacted at +Cawnpore, a city situated on the Ganges about fifty-five miles to the +southwest of Lucknow. Cawnpore had been in the possession of the English +ever since the beginning of the century, and for many years was one of +the most important military stations in India; but the extension of the +British Empire over the Punjab had diminished the importance of +Cawnpore; and the last European regiment quartered there had been +removed to the northwest at the close of the previous year. + +In May, 1857, there were four native regiments at Cawnpore, numbering +thirty-five hundred sepoys. There were no Europeans whatever, excepting +the regimental officers and sixty-one artillerymen. To these were added +small detachments of European soldiers, which had been sent in the hour +of peril from Lucknow and Benares during the month of May. + +The station of Cawnpore was commanded by Sir Hugh Wheeler, a +distinguished general in the company's service, who was verging on his +seventieth year. He had spent fifty-four years in India, and had served +only with native troops. He must have known the sepoys better than any +other European in India. He had led them against their own countrymen +under Lord Lake; against foreigners during the Afghan War, and against +Sikhs during both campaigns in the Punjab. + +The news of the revolt at Meerut threw the sepoys into a ferment at +every military station in Hindustan. Rumors of mutiny or coming mutiny +formed almost the only topic of conversation; yet in nearly every sepoy +regiment the European officers put faith in their men, and fondly +believed that, though the rest of the army might revolt, yet their own +corps would prove faithful. + +Such was eminently the case at Cawnpore, yet General Wheeler seems to +have known better. While the European officers continued to sleep every +night in the sepoy lines, the veteran made his preparations for meeting +the coming storm. + +European combatants were very few at Cawnpore, but European +_impedimenta_ were very heavy. Besides the wives and families of the +regimental officers of the sepoy regiments, there was a large European +mercantile community. Moreover, while the Thirty-second Foot was +quartered at Lucknow, the wives, families, and invalids of the regiment +were living at Cawnpore. It was thus necessary to secure a place of +refuge for this miscellaneous multitude of Europeans in the event of a +rising of the sepoys. Accordingly General Wheeler pitched upon some old +barracks which had once belonged to a European regiment; and he ordered +earthworks to be thrown up, and supplies of all kinds to be stored, in +order to stand a siege. Unfortunately there was fatal neglect somewhere; +for when the crisis came the defences were found to be worthless, while +the supplies were insufficient for the besieged. + +All this while the adopted son of the former _peshwa_ [Footnote: Formerly +a chief of the Mahrattas.--Ed.] was living at Bithoor, about six miles +from Cawnpore. His real name was Dandhu Panth, but he is better known as +Nana Sahib. The British Government had refused to award him the absurd +life pension of eighty thousand pounds sterling, which had been granted +to his nominal father; but he had inherited at least half a million from +the ex-peshwa; and he was allowed to keep six guns, to entertain as many +followers as he pleased, and to live in half royal state in a +castellated palace at Bithoor. He continued to nurse his grievance with +all the pertinacity of a Mahratta; but at the same time he professed a +great love for European society, and was profuse in his hospitalities to +English officers. He was popularly known as the Raja of Bithoor. + +When the news arrived of the revolt at Meerut on May 10th, Nana was loud +in his professions of attachment to the English. He engaged to organize +fifteen hundred fighting men to act against the sepoys in the event of +an outbreak. On May 21st there was an alarm. European women and +families, with all European non-combatants, were removed into the +barracks, and General Wheeler actually accepted from Nana the help of +two hundred Mahrattas and two guns to guard the treasury. The alarm, +however, soon blew over, and Nana took up his abode at the civil station +of Cawnpore, as a proof of the sincerity of his professions. + +At last, on the night of June 4th, the sepoy regiments at Cawnpore broke +out in mutiny. They were driven to action by the same mad terror which +had been manifested elsewhere. They cared nothing for the Mogul, nothing +for the pageant King at Delhi; but they had been panic-stricken by +extravagant stories of coming destruction. It was whispered among them +that the parade-ground was undermined with powder, and that Hindus and +Mahometans were to be assembled on a given day and blown into the air. +Intoxicated with fear and _bhang_, they rushed out in the darkness, +yelling, shooting, and burning according to their wont; and when their +excitement was somewhat spent, they marched off toward Delhi. + +Sir Hugh Wheeler could do nothing. He might have retreated with the +whole body of Europeans from Cawnpore to Allahabad; but there had been a +mutiny at Allahabad, and, moreover, he had no means of transport. +Subsequently he heard that the mutineers had reached the first stage on +the road to Delhi, and consequently he saw no ground for alarm. + +Meanwhile the brain of Nana Sahib had been turned by wild dreams of +vengeance and sovereignty. He thought not only to wreak his malice upon +the English, but to restore the extinct Mahratta Empire, and reign over +Hindustan as the representative of the forgotten peshwas. The stampede +of the sepoys to Delhi was fatal to his mad ambition. He overtook the +mutineers, dazzled them with fables of the treasures in Wheeler's +intrenchment, and brought them back to Cawnpore to carry out his +vindictive and visionary schemes. + +At early morning on Saturday, June 6th, General Wheeler received from +Nana a letter announcing that he was about to attack the intrenchment. +The veteran was taken by surprise, but at once ordered all the European +officers to join the party in the barracks and prepare for the defence. +But the mutineers were in no hurry for the advance. They preferred booty +to battle, and turned aside to plunder the cantonment and city, +murdering every Christian that came in their way, not sparing the houses +of their own countrymen. They appropriated all the cannon and ammunition +in the magazine by way of preparation for the siege; but some were wise +enough to desert the rebel army and steal to their homes with their +ill-gotten spoil. + +About noon the main body of the mutineers, swelled by the numerous +retainers of Nana, got their guns into position, and opened fire on the +intrenchment. For nineteen days--from June 6th to the 25th--the garrison +struggled manfully against a raking fire and fearful odds, amid scenes +of suffering and bloodshed that cannot be recalled without a shudder. + +It was the height of the hot weather in Hindustan. A blazing sun was +burning over the heads of the besieged; and to add to their misery, one +of the barracks containing the sick and wounded was destroyed by fire. +The besiegers, however, in spite of their overwhelming numbers, were +utterly unable to carry the intrenchment by storm, but continued to pour +in a raking fire. Meanwhile the garrison was starving from want of +provisions, and hampered by a multitude of helpless women and children. +Indeed, but for the latter contingency, the gallant band would have +rushed out of the intrenchment and cut a way through the mob of sepoys +or perished in the attempt. As it was, they could only fight on, waiting +for reinforcements that never came, until fever, sunstroke, hunger, +madness, or the enemy's fire delivered them from their suffering and +despair. + +On June 25th a woman brought a slip of writing from Nana, promising to +give a safe passage to Allahabad to all who were willing to lay down +their arms. Had there been no women or children, the garrison would +never have dreamed of surrender. The massacre at Patna a century before +had taught a lesson to Englishmen which ought never to have been +forgotten. As it was, there were some who wished to fight on till the +bitter end. But the majority saw that there was no hope for the women or +the children, the sick or the wounded, except by accepting the proffered +terms. Accordingly the pride of Englishmen gave way, and an armistice +was proclaimed. + +Next morning the terms were negotiated. The English garrison were to +surrender their position, their guns, and their treasure, but to march +out with their arms, and with sixty rounds of ammunition in the pouch of +every man. Nana Sahib on his part was to afford a safe-conduct to the +river-bank, about a mile off; to provide carriage for the conveyance of +the women and children, the sick and the wounded; and to furnish boats +for carrying the whole party, numbering some four hundred fifty +individuals, down the river Ganges to Allahabad. Nana accepted the +terms, but demanded the evacuation of the intrenchment that very night. +General Wheeler protested against this proviso. Nana began to bully and +to threaten that he would open fire. He was told that he might carry the +intrenchment if he could, but that the English had enough powder left to +blow both armies into the air. Accordingly Nana agreed to wait until the +morrow. + +At early morning on June 27th the garrison began to move from the +intrenchment to the place of embarkation. The men marched on foot; the +women and children were carried on elephants and in bullock-carts, while +the wounded were mostly conveyed in palanquins. Forty boats with +thatched roofs, known as _budgerows_, were moored in shallow water at a +little distance from the bank; and the crowd of fugitives were forced to +wade through the river to the boats. By nine o'clock the whole four +hundred fifty were huddled on board, and the boats prepared to leave +Cawnpore. + +Suddenly a bugle was sounded, and a murderous fire of grape-shot and +musketry was opened upon the wretched passengers from both sides of the +river. At the same time the thatching of many of the budgerows was found +to be on fire, and the flames began to spread from boat to boat. Numbers +were murdered in the river, but at last the firing ceased. A few escaped +down the river, but only four men survived to tell the story of the +massacre. A mass of fugitives were dragged ashore; the women and +children, to the number of a hundred twenty-five, were carried off and +lodged in a house near the headquarters of Nana. The men were ordered to +immediate execution. One of them had preserved a prayer-book, and was +permitted to read a few sentences of the liturgy to his doomed +companions. Then the fatal order was given; the sepoys poured in a +volley of musketry, and all was over. + +On July 1st Nana Sahib went off to his palace at Bithoor and was +proclaimed peshwa. He took his seat upon the throne, and was installed +with all the ceremonies of sovereignty, while the cannon roared out a +salute in his honor. At night the whole place was illuminated, and the +hours of darkness were wiled away with feasting and fireworks. But his +triumph was short-lived. The Mahometans were plotting against him at +Cawnpore. The people were leaving the city to escape the coming storm, +and were taking refuge in the villages. English reenforcements were at +last coming up from Allahabad, while the greedy sepoys were clamoring +for money and gold bangles. Accordingly Nana hastened back to Cawnpore +and scattered wealth with a lavish hand; and sought to hide his fears by +boastful proclamations, and to drown his anxieties in drink and +debauchery. + +Within a few days more the number of helpless prisoners was increased to +two hundred. There had been a mutiny at Fathigarh, higher up the river, +and the fugitives had fled in boats to Cawnpore, a distance of eighty +miles. They knew nothing of what had happened, and were all taken +prisoners by the rebels, and brought on shore. The men were all +butchered in the presence of Nana; the women and children, eighty in +number, were sent to join the wretched sufferers in the house near +Nana's headquarters. + +Meanwhile Colonel Neill, commanding the Madras Fusiliers, was pushing up +from Calcutta. He was bent on the relief of Cawnpore and Lucknow, but +was delayed on the way by the mutinies at Benares and Allahabad. In July +he was joined at Allahabad by a column under General Havelock, who was +destined within a few weeks to win a lasting name in history. + +General Havelock was a Queen's officer of forty years' standing; but he +had seen more service in India than perhaps any other officer in Her +Majesty's Army. He had fought in the first Burma War, the Kabul War, the +Gwalior campaign of 1843, and the Punjab campaign of 1845-1846. He was a +pale, thin, thoughtful man; small in stature, but burning with the +aspirations of a Puritan hero. Religion was the ruling principle of his +life, and military glory was his master passion. He had just returned to +India after commanding a division in the Persian War. Abstemious to a +fault, he was able, in spite of his advancing years, to bear up against +the heat and rain of Hindustan during the deadliest season of the year. + +On July 7th General Havelock left Allahabad for Cawnpore. The force at +his disposal did not exceed two thousand men, Europeans and Sikhs. He +had heard of the massacre at Cawnpore on June 27th, and burned to avenge +it. On July 12th he defeated a large force of mutineers and Mahrattas at +Fathipur. On the 15th he inflicted two more defeats on the enemy. +Havelock was now within twenty-two miles of Cawnpore, and he halted his +men to rest for the night. But news arrived that the women and children +were still alive at Cawnpore, and that Nana had taken the field with a +large force to oppose his advance. Accordingly Havelock marched fourteen +miles that same night, and on the following morning, within eight miles +of Cawnpore, the troops bivouacked beneath some trees. + +On that same night, July 15th, the crowning atrocity was committed at +Cawnpore. The rebels, who had been defeated by Havelock, returned to +Nana with the tidings of their disaster. In revenge Nana ordered the +slaughter of the two hundred women and children. The poor victims were +literally hacked to death, or almost to death, with swords, bayonets, +knives, and axus. Next morning the bleeding remains of dead and dying +were dragged to a neighboring well and thrown in. + +At two o'clock in the afternoon after the massacre the force under +Havelock was again upon the march for Cawnpore. The heat was fearful; +many of the troops were struck down by the sun, and the cries for water +were continuous. But for two miles the column toiled on, and then came +in sight of the enemy. Havelock had only one thousand Europeans and +three hundred Sikhs; he had no cavalry, and his artillery was inferior. +The enemy numbered five thousand men, armed and trained by British +officers, strongly intrenched, with two batteries of guns of heavy +calibre. Havelock's artillery failed to silence the batteries, and he +ordered the Europeans to charge with the bayonet. On they went in the +face of a shower of grape, but the bayonet charge was as irresistible at +Cawnpore as at Assaye. The enemy fought for a while like men in a death +struggle. Nana Sahib was with them, but nothing is known of his +exploits. At last they fled, and there was no cavalry to pursue them. + +As yet nothing was known of the butchery of the women and children. +Havelock halted for the night, and next morning marched his force into +the station at Cawnpore. The men beheld the scene of the massacre, and +saw the bleeding remains in the well. But the murderers had vanished, no +one knew whither. Havelock advanced to Bithoor, and destroyed the palace +of the Mahratta. Subsequently he was joined by General Neill, with +reinforcements from Allahabad; and on July 20th he set on for the relief +of Lucknow, leaving Cawnpore in charge of General Neill. + +The defence of Lucknow against fifty-two thousand rebels was, next to +the siege of Delhi, the greatest event in the mutiny. The whole Province +of Oudh was in a blaze of insurrection. The _talukdars_ were exasperated +at the hard measure dealt out to them before the appointment of Sir +Henry Lawrence as Chief Commissioner. Disbanded sepoys, returning to +their homes in Oudh, swelled the tide of disaffection. Bandits that had +been suppressed under British administration returned to their old work +of robbery and brigandage. All classes took advantage of the anarchy to +murder the money-lenders. Meanwhile the country was bristling with the +fortresses of the talukdars; and the cultivators, deprived of the +protection of the English, naturally flocked for refuge to the +strongholds of their old masters. + +The English, who had been lords of Hindustan ever since the beginning of +the century, had been closely besieged in the residency at Lucknow ever +since the final outbreak of May 30th. For nearly two months the garrison +had held out with a dauntless intrepidity, while confidently waiting for +reinforcements that seemed never to come. "Never surrender" had been +from the first the passionate conviction of Sir Henry Lawrence; and the +massacre at Cawnpore on June 27th impressed every soldier in the +garrison with a like resolution. On July 2d the Muchi Bawen was +abandoned, and the garrison and stores were removed to the residency. On +July 4th Sir Henry Lawrence was killed by the bursting of a shell in a +room where he lay wounded; and his dying counsel to those around him +was, "Never surrender!" + +On July 20th the rebel force round Lucknow heard of the advance of +General Havelock to Cawnpore, and attacked the residency in overwhelming +force. They kept up a continual fire of musketry while pounding away +with their heavy guns; but the garrison held their ground against shot +and shell, and before the day was over the dense masses of assailants +were forced to retire from the walls. + +Between July 20th and 25th General Havelock began to cross the Ganges +and make his way into Oudh territory; but he was unable to relieve +Lucknow. His small force was weakened by heat and fever and reduced by +cholera and dysentery; while the enemy occupied strong positions on both +flanks. In the middle of August he fell back upon Cawnpore. + +During the four months that followed the revolt at Delhi on May 11th, +all political interest was centred at the ancient capital of the +sovereigns of Hindustan. The public mind was occasionally distracted by +the current of events at Cawnpore and Lucknow, as well as at other +stations which need not be particularized; but so long as Delhi remained +in the hands of the rebels the native princes were bewildered and +alarmed; and its prompt recapture was deemed of vital importance to the +prestige of the British Government and the reestablishment of British +sovereignty in Hindustan. The Great Mogul had been little better than a +mummy for more than half a century; and Bahadur Shah was a mere tool and +puppet in the hands of rebel sepoys; nevertheless the British Government +had to deal with the astounding fact that the rebels were fighting under +his name and standard, just as Afghans and Mahrattas had done in the +days of Ahmed Shah Durani and Mahadaji Sindhia. To make matters worse, +the roads to Delhi were open from the south and east; and nearly every +outbreak in Hindustan was followed by a stampede of mutineers to the old +capital of the Moguls. + +Meanwhile, in the absence of railways, there were unfortunate delays in +bringing up troops and guns to stamp out the fires of rebellion at the +head centre. The highway from Calcutta to Delhi was blocked up by mutiny +and insurrection; and every European soldier sent up from Calcutta was +stopped for the relief of Benares, Allahabad, Cawnpore, or Lucknow. But +the possession of the Punjab at this crisis proved to be the salvation +of the empire. Sir John Lawrence, Chief Commissioner in the Punjab, was +called upon for almost superhuman work; to maintain order in a conquered +province; to suppress mutiny and disaffection among the very sepoy +regiments from Bengal that were supposed to garrison the country; and to +send reenforcements of troops and guns, and supplies of all +descriptions, to the siege of Delhi. Fortunately the Sikhs had been only +a few short years under British administration; they had not forgotten +the miseries that prevailed under the native Government, and could +appreciate the many blessings they enjoyed under British rule. They were +stanch to the British Government, and eager to be led against the +rebels. In some cases terrible punishment was meted out to mutinous +Bengal sepoys within the Punjab, but the Imperial interests at stake +were sufficient to justify every severity, although all must regret the +painful necessity that called for such extreme measures. + +On June 8th, about a month after the revolt at Delhi, Sir Henry Barnard +took the field at Alipur, about ten miles from the rebel capital. He +defeated an advance division of the enemy, and then marched to the Ridge +and reoccupied the old cantonment which had been abandoned on May 11th. +So far it was clear that the rebels were unable to do anything in the +open field, although they might fight bravely under cover. They numbered +about thirty thousand strong; they had a very powerful artillery and +ample stores of ammunition, while there was an abundance of provisions +within the city throughout the siege. + +In the middle of August, Brigadier John Nicholson, one of the most +distinguished officers of the time, came up from the Punjab with a +brigade and siege-train. On September 4th a heavy train of artillery was +brought in from Firozpur. The British force on the Ridge now exceeded +eight thousand men. Hitherto the artillery had been too weak to attempt +to breach the city walls; but now fifty-four heavy guns were brought +into position and the siege began in earnest. From September 8th to 12th +four batteries poured in a constant storm of shot and shell; number one +was directed against the Cashmere bastion, number two against the right +flank of the Cashmere bastion, number three against the Water bastion, +and number four against the Cashmere and Water gates and bastions. On +September 13th the breaches were declared to be practicable, and the +following morning was fixed for the final assault upon the doomed city. + +At three o'clock in the morning of September 14th three assaulting +columns were formed in the trenches, while a fourth was kept in reserve. +The first column was led by Brigadier Nicholson; the second by Brigadier +Jones; the third by Colonel Campbell; and the fourth, or reserve, by +Brigadier Longfield. + +The powder-bags were laid at the Cashmere gate by Lieutenants Home and +Salkeld. The explosion followed, and the third column rushed in, and +pushed toward the Jumna Musjid. Meanwhile the first column under +Nicholson escaladed the breaches near the Cashmere gate, and pushed +along the ramparts toward the Kabul gate, carrying the several bastions +in the way. Here it was met by the second column under Brigadier Jones, +who had escaladed the breach at the Water bastion. + +The advancing columns were met by a ceaseless fire from terraced houses, +mosques, and other buildings; and John Nicholson, the hero of the day, +while attempting to storm a narrow street near the Kabul gate, was +struck down by a shot and mortally wounded. Then followed six days of +desperate warfare. No quarter was given to men with arms in their hands; +but women and children were spared, and only a few of the peaceable +inhabitants were sacrificed during the storm. + +On September 20th the gates of the old fortified palace of the Moguls +were broken open, but the royal inmates had fled. No one was left but a +few wounded sepoys and fugitive fanatics. The old King, Bahadur Shah, +had gone off to the great mausoleum without the city, known as the tomb +of Humayun. It was a vast quadrangle raised on terraces and enclosed +with walls. It contained towers, buildings, and monumental marbles in +memory of different members of the once distinguished family, as well as +extensive gardens, surrounded with cloistered cells for the +accommodation of pilgrims. + +On September 21st Captain Hodson rode to the tomb, arrested the King, +and brought him back to Delhi with other members of the family, and +lodged them in the palace. The next day he went again, with one hundred +horsemen, and arrested two sons of the King in the midst of a crowd of +armed retainers, and brought them away in a native carriage. Near the +city the carriage was surrounded by a tumultuous crowd; and Hodson, who +was afraid of a rescue, shot both princes with his pistol, and placed +their bodies in a public place for all men to see. + +Thus fell the imperial city; captured by the army under Brigadier Wilson +before the arrival of any of the reenforcements from England. The losses +were heavy. From the beginning of the siege to the close, the British +army at Delhi had nearly four thousand killed and wounded. The +casualties on the side of the rebels were never estimated. Two bodies of +sepoys broke away from the city and fled down the valleys of the Jumna +and Ganges, followed by two flying columns under Brigadiers Greathed and +Showers. But the great mutiny and revolt at Delhi had been stamped out, +and the flag of England waved triumphantly over the capital of +Hindustan. + +The capture of Delhi, in September, 1857, was the turning-point in the +sepoy mutinies. The revolt was crushed beyond redemption; the rebels +were deprived of their head centre; and the Mogul King was a prisoner at +the mercy of the power whom he had defied. But there were still troubles +in India. Lucknow was still beleaguered by a rebel army, and +insurrections still ran riot in Oudh and Rohilkhand. + +In the middle of August General Havelock had fallen back on Cawnpore, +after the failure of his first campaign for the relief of Lucknow. Five +weeks afterward Havelock made a second attempt under better auspices. +Sir Colin Campbell had arrived at Calcutta as Commander-in-Chief. Sir +James Outram had come up to Allahabad. On September 16th, while the +British troops were storming the streets of Delhi, Outram joined +Havelock and Neill at Cawnpore with fourteen hundred men. As senior +officer he might have assumed the command; but with generous chivalry +the "Bayard of India" waived his rank in honor of Havelock. + +On September 20th General Havelock crossed the Ganges into Oudh at the +head of twenty-five hundred men. The next day he defeated a rebel army +and put it to flight, while four of the enemy's guns were captured by +Outram at the head of a body of volunteer cavalry. On the 23d Havelock +routed a still larger rebel force which was strongly posted at a garden +in the suburbs of Lucknow, known as the "Alumbagh." He then halted to +give his soldiers a day's rest. On the 25th he was cutting his way +through the streets and lanes of the city of Lucknow--running the +gauntlet of a deadly and unremitting fire from the houses en both sides +of the streets, and also from guns which commanded them. On the evening +of the same day he entered the British intrenchments; but in the moment +of victory a chance shot carried off the gallant Neill. + +The defence of the British residency at Lucknow is a glorious episode in +the national annals. The fortitude of the beleaguered garrison was the +admiration of the world. The women nursed the wounded and performed +every womanly duty with self-sacrificing heroism; and when the fight was +over they received the well-merited thanks of Her Majesty Queen +Victoria. + +During four long months the garrison had known nothing of what was going +on in the outer world. They were aware of the advance and retreat of +Havelock, and that was all. At last, on September 23d, they heard the +booming of the guns at the Alumbagh. On the morning of the 25th they +could see something of the growing excitement in the city; the people +abandoning their houses and flying across the river. Still the guns of +the rebels kept up a heavy cannonade upon the residency, and volleys of +musketry continued to pour upon the besieged from the loopholes of the +besiegers. But soon the firing was heard from the city; the welcome +sounds came nearer and nearer. The excitement of the garrison grew +beyond control. Presently the relieving force was seen fighting its way +toward the residency. Then the pent-up feelings of the garrison burst +forth in deafening cheers; and wounded men in hospital crawled out to +join in the chorus of welcome. Then followed personal greetings as +officers and men came pouring in. Hands were frantically shaken on all +sides. Rough-bearded soldiers took the children from their mothers' +arms, kissed them with tears rolling down their cheeks, and thanked God +that they had come in time to save them from the fate of the sufferers +at Cawnpore. + +Thus after a siege of nearly four months Havelock succeeded in relieving +Lucknow. But it was a reenforcement rather than a relief, and was +confined to the British residency. The siege was not raised; and the +city of Lucknow remained two months longer in the hands of the rebels. +Sir James Outram assumed the command, but was compelled to keep on the +defensive. Meanwhile reinforcements were arriving from England. In +November Sir Colin Campbell reached Cawnpore at the head of a +considerable army. He left General Windham with two thousand men to take +charge of the intrenchment at Cawnpore, and then advanced against +Lucknow with five thousand men and thirty guns. He carried several of +the enemy's positions, cut his way to the residency, and at last brought +away the beleaguered garrison, with all the women and children. But not +even then could he disperse the rebels and reoccupy the city. +Accordingly he left Outram at the head of four thousand men in the +neighborhood of Lucknow, and then returned to Cawnpore. + +On November 24th, the day after leaving Lucknow, General Havelock was +carried off by dysentery, and buried in the Alumbagh. His death spread a +gloom over India, but by this time his name had become a household word +wherever the English language was spoken. In the hour of surprise and +panic, as successive stories of mutiny and rebellion reached England, +and culminated in the revolt at Delhi and massacre at Cawnpore, the +victories of Havelock revived the drooping spirits of the British +nation, and stirred up all hearts to glorify the hero who had stemmed +the tide of disaffection and disaster. The death of Havelock, following +the story of the capture of Delhi, and told with the same breath that +proclaimed the deliverance at Lucknow, was received in England with a +universal sorrow that will never be forgotten so long as men are living +who can recall the memory of the "Mutiny of Fifty-seven." + +The subsequent history of the sepoy revolt is little more than a detail +of the military operations of British troops for the dispersion of the +rebels and restoration of order and law. Sir Colin Campbell [Footnote: +Died at Chatham, England, August 14, 1863.--ED.]--later made Baron Clyde +of Clydesdale--undertook a general campaign against the rebels in Oudh +and Rohilkhand, and restored order and law in those disaffected +Provinces; while Sir James Outram drove the rebels out of Lucknow, and +reestablished British sovereignty in the capital of Oudh. + + + + +(1859) BATTLES OF MAGENTA AND SOLFERINO, Pietro Orsi + + +During the Crimean War (1853-1856) Austria remained neutral, while the +Italian Kingdom of Sardinia joined Great Britain, France, and Turkey +against Russia. The power of Austria still kept despotic sway over the +States of Italy, and it was the aim of Victor Emmanuel, King of +Sardinia, to throw off this hinderance to Italian liberty and union. It +was the opinion of Count Cavour, Victor Emmanuel's minister, that, by +acting with the allies against Russia, Sardinia would increase her +prestige with the European Powers, and thereby promote the movement for +independence. The success of the allies in the Crimean War confirmed the +prescience of Cavour. + +Napoleon III wished to secure for France supremacy in southern Europe. +In 1855 he inquired of the Sardinian minister, "What can I do for +Italy?" The Crimean War ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1856. At the +congress which concluded that peace Cavour presented the case of Italy +against Austria. Not long after this it became evident that Napoleon was +prepared to espouse the Italian cause. In 1858 it was agreed that he +should do this. + +Sardinia now prepared for war. Austria sent an ultimatum demanding a +reduction of the Sardinian army to a peace footing, This demand was +refused. In January, 1859, Austria mobilized fresh troops on the Italian +frontier, and Cavour requested Garibaldi to organize a volunteer corps +to be called _Cacciatori delle Alpi_ ("Hunters of the Alps"). Still +Cavour disclaimed a warlike policy, denying that the hostile initiative +was taken by Sardinia, although in this position he was opposed by some +members of his own Parliament. Nevertheless Cavour declared: "I believe +I am justified in proclaiming aloud, in the presence of Parliament, of +the nation, and of Europe, that if there has been provocation it was +offered by Austria." As shown by Orsi, the Italian historian, the great +minister maintained this attitude as long as it was possible to hold +back from the actual conflict. + +Cavour insisted that Austria must be the aggressive party, for in the +treaty with Napoleon III it had been stipulated that France would come +to the help of Sardinia only in case of the latter being attacked by +Austria. Hence Cavour was obliged to seek every means of putting his +country into the attitude of the provoked party. How many +disappointments, uncertainties, and anxieties crowded those days, from +February to the end of April, 1859! In order to understand the enormous +difficulties overcome by Cavour it would be necessary to follow +literally, day by day, the history of that period. In March he repaired +to Paris to ascertain Napoleon's action: it was too evident, however, +that French public opinion was unfavorable to war, and the Emperor was +wavering. Russia and England suggested that the question should be +solved by a congress, to which proposal Napoleon III acceded: Cavour now +believed all was lost, since Sardinia could not refuse without putting +herself in the wrong. Fortunately, the difficulty was solved by Austria +boldly insisting that Sardinia should disarm before being represented at +the congress, and on April 23d this demand was enforced by an ultimatum, +to be answered within three days. + +Now ensued a genuine declaration of hostilities, and most joyfully did +Victor Emmanuel make the following announcement to his troops: +"Soldiers! Austria, who masses her armies on our frontiers and threatens +to invade our country because liberty and order rule there; because +concord and affection between sovereign and people--and not force--sway +the State; because there the anguished cry of oppressed Italy is +listened to--Austria dares to tell us, who are armed only in our own +defence, to lay down those arms and put ourselves in her power. Such an +outrageous suggestion surely merits a condign response, and I have +indignantly refused her request. I announce this to you in the certainty +that you will make the wrong done to your King and to your nation your +own. Hence mine is a proclamation of war: arm yourselves therefore in +readiness for it! + +"You will be confronted by an ancient enemy who is both valiant and +disciplined, but against whom you need not fear to measure your +strength, for you may remember with pride Goito, Pastrengo, Santa Lucia, +Sommacampagna, and, above all, Custozza, where four brigades fought for +three days against the enemy's five _corps d'armee_. I will be your +leader. Your prowess in action has already been tested in the past, and +when fighting under my magnanimous father I myself proudly recognized +your valor. I am convinced that on the field of honor and glory you will +know how to justify, as well as to augment, your military renown. + +"You will have as comrades those intrepid French troops--the conquerors +in so many distinguished campaigns--with whom you fought side by side at +Tchernaya, whom Napoleon III, always prompt to further the defence of a +righteous cause and the victory of civilization, generously sends in +great numbers to our aid. March then, confident of success, and wreathe +with fresh laurels that standard which, rallying from all quarters the +flower of Italian youth to its threefold colors, points out your task of +accomplishing that righteous and sacred enterprise--the independence of +Italy, wherein we find our war-cry." + +The Austrian army to the number of one hundred seventy thousand +men--besides those remaining in the Lombardo-Venetian fortresses--was +commanded by General Gyulai, the successor of Radetzky, who had died the +year before, at the age of ninety-one. Gyulai meant to attack and rout +the Sardinian army before it could join its French allies. On April 29th +he crossed the Ticino; then spreading out his forces along the Sesia, he +reconnoitred as far as Chivasso. These districts abound in cultivated +rice-fields and are intersected by many canals: it was therefore easy, +by flooding the ground, to hinder the march of the Austrian troops on +Turin. + +Meanwhile, the Sardinian army, composed of sixty thousand men, awaited +the arrival of the French forces on the right bank of the Po. On May +12th Napoleon III, already preceded into Italy by one hundred twenty +thousand of his men, debarked at Genoa, and on the 14th was at +Alessandria, where, near the mouth of the Tanaro, the allied armies met. +The Austrian troops covered a long tract, from Novara to Vercelli, then +extended down the line of the Sesia as far as the Po, and thence reached +the mouth of the Tanaro. Gyulai, seeing the enemy concentrated on the +right bank of the Po, believed that Napoleon. III intended crossing that +river in the direction of Piacenza--as Napoleon I had crossed in +1796--and so massed his troops to the south. At this juncture a portion +of his army encountered the French and Sardinians at Montebello, where +the extreme right wing of the allies was posted. The Austrian General +met with such a determined resistance that he imagined this must be the +centre of the enemy, and felt convinced that he had guessed the latter's +intention; he therefore caused his army to pursue its march southward. + +By this movement Vercelli was abandoned by the Austrians and it was +immediately reoccupied by the Sardinians. + +Napoleon now prepared a bold flank movement, by leaving the Po for the +Ticino, and to mask this manoeuvre ordered the Sardinians to make an +advance. Thus, while Victor Emmanuel, at the head of his men, flung +himself from Vercelli on Palestro--meriting, by the skill of his +military tactics, the acclamations of a regiment of zouaves whom he +headed as corporal--the French, taking ad vantage of the Alessandria, +Casale, and Novara Railway, made for the bridge of Buffalora over the +Ticino. Only then did Gyulai perceive this clever stratagem which threw +Lombardy open to the allies, and he was consequently obliged to cross +the Ticino to block the enemy's way to Milan. + +On June 4th, at Magenta, nearly the whole of the Austrian army engaged +the French forces; the battle, which was most desperate, lasted all day, +and was remarkable for the prodigies of valor performed. The Austrians, +driven back into Magenta itself, maintained, even in that village, such +a stout resistance that they had to be dislodged by house-to-house +fighting. + +On June 8th Victor Emmanuel and Napoleon III made their triumphal entry +into Milan--now freed from the Austrian yoke. On the same day a French +corps repulsed the Austrians at Melegnano, while Garibaldi entered +Bergamo from the other side. Garibaldi, who had been the last to leave +Lombardy in 1848, was now the first to set foot in its territory in +1859. Since May 23d he had led his own Cacciatori to the Lombard shores +of Lake Maggiore, had defeated the Austrians at Varese, entered Como, +routed the enemy afresh at San Fermo, and was now proceeding to Bergamo +and Brescia, with the intention of reaching the Trentine Alps, to cut +off the enemy's retreat. + +After the Battle of Magenta, Gyulai had been dismissed from the command, +and his post was assumed by the Emperor Francis Joseph himself, assisted +by the aged Marshal Hess. On the night of June 23d the retreating +Austrians crossed the Mincio, but a few hours after retraced their steps +and took up their position on the hills to the south of the Lake of +Garda. On the morning of the 24th the Franco-Sardinian army began their +march at dawn, and shortly afterward, to their great amazement, +encountered the Austrians, who they imagined had crossed the Mincio the +night before. The struggle was terrible; in fact, the line covered by +the fighting extended a distance of five leagues. + +A series of hills, dominated by Solferino and San Martino, formed the +positions the Franco-Sardinian army had to assail. The French contested +Solferino with the Austrians, and, after a hotly disputed battle of more +than twelve hours, succeeded in occupying it. The Sardinians, led by +Victor Emmanuel, made a violent assault on San Martino; four times in +succession did they take it, only to lose it again, but the fifth time +they made themselves masters of it for good and all. By six o'clock in +the evening the strength of the Austrian army was everywhere broken. +Just then a frightful hurricane, heralded by clouds of dust and +accompanied by torrents of rain, burst over the two armies and thus +favored the flight of the Austrian battalions. Napoleon III now fixed +his headquarters at Cavriana, in the same house that Francis Joseph had +tenanted during the action. On that vast battlefield the combatants had +numbered three hundred thousand men--one hundred sixty thousand +Austrians and one hundred forty thousand French and Sardinians--of all +these, after that sanguinary struggle, twenty-five thousand were left +dead or wounded. + +After a few days' rest the Franco-Sardinian army crossed the Mincio and +besieged Peschiera. Now there seemed a chance of the Italians fulfilling +the hope they had so long cherished, of expelling the foreigners. They +confidently awaited news of fresh feats of arms in the Quadrilateral and +of the success of the fleet sent by France and Sardinia into Adriatic +waters, but instead came the most unexpected tidings imaginable. + +On July 8th Napoleon III had met Francis Joseph, and three days later +the preliminaries of peace were signed at Villafranca. By this treaty +Austria was to cede Lombardy to Napoleon, who was to relegate it to +Sardinia; the Italian States were to be amalgamated into a +confederation, under the Presidency of the Pope, but Venice, though +forming part of this same confederation, was to remain under Austrian +rule. Great indeed was the mortification of all Italy on hearing such +terms of peace announced. Cavour, who had devoted all his marvellous +talents to realizing the ideal of national redemption and had believed +his ends so nearly attained, hastened to his Prince, and, in a +melancholy interview, advised him not to accept such conditions. But +Victor Emmanuel, although it caused his very heart to bleed, signed the +treaty, adding these words: "I approve as far as I myself am concerned," +whereupon Cavour sent in his resignation. + +What was the motive that had induced Napoleon to break his lately made +promise of freeing Italy from the Alps to the Adriatic? There were many +reasons which influenced him: the sight of that immense battlefield, +strewn with the bodies of the slain, the determined resistance of the +Austrian soldiers, the difficulties which would have to be faced in the +Quadrilateral, the hostile attitude of Prussia, were all motives which +combined to sway the French Emperor's mind. But there was also another +reason which counted for much. Napoleon had been drawn into this +campaign without really knowing the state of Italian public opinion; he +wished Italy to be free "from the Alps to the Adriatic," but did not +want Italian unity; rather did he desire the formation of a confederacy +wherein France could always make her own predominance felt in the +peninsula. Scarcely had he arrived in Italy when he was forced to see +that Italian ideals were very different from what he had imagined them +to be. Trials had but ripened the virtues of prudence and wisdom in +men's minds: in 1859 the people were little likely to repeat the +blunders of 1848 or 1849, and there were now no longer discussions over +forms of government, but everywhere a unanimous resolve to rally round +the liberal monarchy of Savoy. + +On the first proclamation of the war the Grand Duke of Tuscany had been +compelled to fly from his States (April 27th). Napoleon had imagined +that in this Province--the ancient stronghold of Italian +municipalism--it would be easy to form a new kingdom with a Bonaparte to +wear its crown. With this aim in view the fifth French army corps, +commanded by Prince Jerome Napoleon, had debarked at Leghorn, under the +pretext of organizing the military forces of Central Italy and harassing +the Austrians on the extreme left. But the Tuscans soon divined the real +intention of the French, and the Provisional Government in Florence, +previously instituted under Bettino Ricasoli, suddenly avowed its +intention of uniting Tuscany to Sardinia, whereupon Prince Napoleon, +seeing the true attitude of the country, found it advisable to affect to +promote the annexation. + +The duchies of Parma and Modena had also been deserted by their dukes, +and the papal legates had to quit Romagna, whose inhabitants now +suddenly announced their fusion with Sardinia. Indeed this impulse for +annexation now began to spread, and to the cry of "Victor Emmanuel" the +Marches and Umbria revolted against the Pontiff, but in these regions +the movement was sanguinarily suppressed by the Swiss troops. + +Napoleon III was displeased to note how all Italian aspirations tended +to unity, and thus it was that he had signed the Treaty of Villafranca. +Peace was concluded at Zurich in the November following, and there the +idea of an Italian confederation was mooted afresh. + +The fugitive princes ought to have returned to their States, but how was +it possible? They certainly could not hope to be recalled by their +subjects, for the latter had expelled them; occupying their kingdoms +with troops of their own was out of the question, because they had none; +foreign aid, moreover, was not to be looked for, since Napoleon III had +established the principle of non-intervention. Then the people of +Central Italy showed themselves capable of a bold political _coup:_ +under the leadership of Bettino Ricasoli, dictator in Tuscany, and Luigi +Carlo Farini--who held a similar office in Emilia and Romagna--they +declared, by means of their assembled Deputies, their earnest desire to +be incorporated with Sardinia. + +The new Ministry formed at Turin, after Cavour's resignation, had +pursued its way timidly, fearing to rouse the suspicion and displeasure +of the European Powers, but at this momentous and difficult juncture +Cavour again accepted the premiership (January 20, 1860). He immediately +gave a bolder impetus to King Victor Emmanuel's policy by sending a note +to all the Powers, in which he asserted it to be now impossible for +Sardinia to offer any resistance to the inevitable course of events. +Cavour imagined that since Napoleon III had obtained the imperial throne +by a plebiscite, he would not deny the validity of such a claim in +Italy, and forthwith submitted this idea to the Emperor, who was bound +to approve of it. But the French nation was discontented, imagining that +the blood it had shed for Italy had profited nothing, and was, moreover, +very averse to the formation of a powerful kingdom beyond the Alps. + +Now it was that Cavour determined on a great sacrifice. In the +convention of Plombieres it had been agreed that, in the event of a +kingdom of eleven million inhabitants being established from the Alps to +the Adriatic, Sardinia would cede Savoy to France. As, however, by the +Treaty of Villafranca, Venetia had remained under the Austrian yoke, no +more had been said about cession of territory, but by the annexation of +Central Italy the number of Victor Emmanuel's subjects was now augmented +to eleven millions. In order to induce Napoleon III to approve of such +an annexation Cavour offered him Savoy, but the Emperor claimed Nice as +well, and the Minister was obliged to accede to his demands. On March +24, 1860, Savoy, the cradle of the reigning dynasty, and Nice, +Garibaldi's native Province, were ceded to France. Garibaldi, deeply +wounded in his tenderest feelings, violently abused Cavour in +Parliament, but the Chamber, although it respected the hero's emotion, +ratified the treaty which was at this crisis a necessary concession. + +At the same time Parma, Modena, Romagna, and Tuscany expressed by +universal suffrage their cordial desire for union with Sardinia, and a +few days later the fusion of these provinces with the dominions of the +house of Savoy was an accomplished fact. On April 2, 1860, at the +opening of the new Parliament, Victor Emmanuel could thus sum up the +results already obtained by the nationalist party: "In a very short +space of time an invasion repulsed, Lombardy liberated by valiant feats +of arms, Central Italy freed by her people's wonderful strength, and +to-day, assembled around me here, the representatives of the rights and +hopes of the nation." + + + + +(1859) DARWIN PUBLISHES HIS ORIGIN OF SPECIES, Charles Robert Darwin + + +Whatever may be said of the credit due to other scientists for +investigation or discovery in natural selection, the preeminence of +Darwin in this field is undisputed. If of any scientific book it can be +said that its appearance was "epoch-making" it is true of Darwin's work +_On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the +Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life_. Not only did it +command the earnest attention of the scientific and literary world, but +it awakened the interest of thoughtful persons everywhere. Later +research and criticism have modified the effect of his conclusions and +led to new results, but the "Darwinian theory" or "Darwinism" still +holds and seems likely long to maintain a central place in the history +of modern scientific development. + +Charles Robert Darwin was born at Shrewsbury, England, February 12, +1809. He was the grandson of Erasmus Darwin, an eminent physician, +naturalist, and poet, who in 1794-1796 published an important work +entitled _Zooenomia, or the Laws of Organic Life_. Charles Darwin was +heir to a fortune, and in youth the possession of ample means prevented +him from taking any deep interest in studying for a profession, although +he did study medicine and, later, for the church. But before reaching +his majority he turned to natural history. At Cambridge he enjoyed an +intimacy with the distinguished botanist Professor John S. Henslow, who +quickened the young man's enthusiasm for scientific investigation. + +In his twenty-third year Darwin went as naturalist with a government +expedition to Patagonia. The voyage, in the Beagle (1831-1836), was +continued round the world. Darwin's journals of the expedition served +him in his later work, and also furnished much material for popular +information. From 1842, when he went to reside at Down, in Kent, he +devoted himself wholly to a life of scientific research and writing. + +Since it is not an uncommon error to confound natural selection with +evolution, it may be well to point out that, while based on evolution, +Darwinism is distinct from it. Evolution is the development of new +organisms through heredity, variation, and adaptation. Darwinism, or the +doctrine of natural selection, as best defined in these pages by Darwin +himself, is seen to involve quite different factors from those of +evolution as thus restricted. For candor and childlike simplicity, the +writings of Darwin are especially noteworthy among the modest utterances +of great men, and nowhere are these qualities more strikingly revealed +than in the following account of the production of his principal work. + +From September, 1854, I devoted my whole time to arranging my huge pile +of notes, to observing, and to experimenting in relation to the +transmutation of species. During the voyage of the Beagle I had been +deeply impressed by discovering in the pampean formation great fossil +animals covered with armor like that on the existing armadillos; +secondly, by the manner in which closely allied animals replace one +another in proceeding southward over the continent; and thirdly, by the +South American character of most of the productions of the Galapagos +Archipelago, and more especially by the manner in which they differ +slightly on each island of the group, none of the islands appearing to +be very ancient, in a geological sense. + +It was evident that such facts as these, as well as many others, could +be explained only on the supposition that species gradually become +modified; and the subject haunted me. But it was equally evident that +neither the action of the surrounding conditions nor the will of the +organisms (especially in the case of plants) could account for the +innumerable cases in which organisms of every kind are beautifully +adapted to their habits of life--for instance, a woodpecker or a +tree-frog to climb trees, or a seed for dispersal by hooks or plumes. I +had always been much struck by such adaptations, and until these could +be explained it seemed to me almost useless to endeavor to prove by +indirect evidence that species have been modified. + +After my return to England it appeared to me that by following the +example of Lyell in geology, and by collecting all facts which bore in +any way on the variation of animals and plants under domestication and +nature, some light might perhaps be thrown on the whole subject. My +first note-book was opened in July, 1837. I worked on true Baconian +principles, and without any theory collected facts on a wholesale scale, +more especially with respect to domesticated productions, by printed +inquiries, by conversation with skilful breeders and gardeners, and by +extensive reading. When I see the list of books of all kinds which I +read and abstracted, including whole series of journals and +transactions, I am surprised at my industry. I soon perceived that +selection was the keystone of man's success in making useful races of +animals and plants. But how selection could be applied to organisms +living in a state of nature remained for some time a mystery to me. + +In October, 1838, that is, fifteen months after I had begun my +systematic inquiry, I happened to read for amusement Malthus's _Essay on +the Principle of Population_, and being well prepared to appreciate the +struggle for existence which everywhere goes on, from long-continued +observation of the habits of animals and plants, it at once struck me +that under these circumstances favorable variations would tend to be +preserved, and unfavorable ones to be destroyed. The result of this +would be the formation of new species. Here then I had at last got a +theory by which to work; but I was so anxious to avoid prejudice that I +determined not for some time to write even the briefest sketch of it. In +June, 1842, I first allowed myself the satisfaction of writing a very +brief abstract of my theory in pencil in thirty-five pages; and this was +enlarged during the summer of 1844 into one of two hundred thirty pages, +which I had fairly copied out and still possess. + +But at that time I overlooked one problem of great importance; and it is +astonishing to me, except on the principle of Columbus and his egg, how +I could have overlooked it and its solution. This problem is the +tendency in organic beings descended from the same stock to diverge in +character as they become modified. That they have diverged greatly is +obvious from the manner in which species of all kinds can be classed +under genera, genera under families, families under sub-orders and so +on; and I can remember the very spot in the road, while riding in my +carriage, that, to my joy, the solution occurred to me; and this was +long after I had come to Down. The solution, as I believe, is that the +modified offspring of all dominant and increasing forms tend to become +adapted to many and highly diversified places in the economy of nature. + +Early in 1856 Lyell advised me to write out my views fully, and I began +at once to do so on a scale three or four times as extensive as that +which was afterward followed in my _Origin of Species_; yet it was only +an abstract of the materials which I had collected, and I got through +about half the work on this scale. But my plans were overthrown, for +early in the summer of 1858 Alfred Russel Wallace, who was then in the +Malay Archipelago, sent me an essay _On the Tendency of Varieties to +Depart Indefinitely from the Original Type_, and this essay contained +exactly the same theory as mine. Mr. Wallace expressed the wish that if +I thought well of his essay, I should send it to Lyell for perusal. + +The circumstances under which I consented, at the request of Lyell and +Hooker, to allow of an abstract from my manuscript, together with a +letter to Asa Gray, dated September 5, 1857, to be published at the same +time with Wallace's essay, are given in the _Journal of the Proceedings +of the Linnean Society_, 1858. I was at first very unwilling to consent, +as I thought Mr. Wallace might consider my doing so unjustifiable, for I +did not then know how generous and noble was his disposition. Neither +the extract from my manuscript nor the letter to Gray had been intended +for publication, and they were badly written. Mr. Wallace's essay, on +the other hand, was admirably expressed and quite clear. Nevertheless, +our joint productions excited very little attention, and the only +published notice of them which I can remember was by Professor Haughton, +of Dublin, whose verdict was that all that was new in them was false, +and what was true was old. This shows how necessary it is that any new +view should be explained at considerable length in order to arouse +public attention. + +In September, 1858, I set to work by the strong advice of Lyell and +Hooker to prepare a volume on the transmutation of species, but was +often interrupted by ill-health and short visits to Doctor Lane's +delightful hydropathic establishment at Moor Park. I abstracted the +manuscript begun on a much larger scale in 1856, and completed the +volume on the same reduced scale. It cost me thirteen months and ten +days' hard labor. It was published under the title of the _Origin of +Species_, in November, 1859. Though considerably added to and corrected +in the later editions, it has remained substantially the same book. + +It is no doubt the chief work of my life. It was from the first highly +successful. The first small edition of twelve hundred fifty copies was +sold on the day of publication, and a second edition of three thousand +copies soon afterward. Sixteen thousand copies have now (1876) been sold +in England; and considering how stiff a book it is, this is a large +number. It has been translated into almost every European tongue, even +into such languages as Spanish, Bohemian, Polish, and Russian. It has +also, according to Miss Bird, been translated into Japanese, and is much +studied in that country. Even an essay on it has appeared in Hebrew, +showing that the theory is contained in the Old Testament! The reviews +were very numerous; for some time I collected all that appeared on the +_Origin_ and on my related books, and these amount (excluding newspaper +reviews) to two hundred sixty-five; but after a time I gave up the +attempt in despair. Many separate essays and books on the subject have +appeared; and in Germany a catalogue, or bibliography, on "Darwinismus" +has appeared every year or two. + +The success of the _Origin_ may, I think, be attributed in large part to +my having long before written two condensed sketches, and to my having +finally abstracted a much larger manuscript, which was itself an +abstract. By this means I was enabled to select the more striking facts +and conclusions. I had also during many years followed a golden rule, +namely, whenever a published fact, a new observation or thought, came +across me which was opposed to my general results, to make a memorandum +of it without fail and at once; for I had found by experience that such +facts and thoughts were far more apt to escape from the memory than +favorable ones. Owing to this habit, very few objections were raised +against my views which I had not at least noticed and attempted to +answer. + +It has sometimes been said that the success of the _Origin_ proved "that +the subject was in the air," or "that men's minds were prepared for it." +I do not think that this is strictly true, for I occasionally sounded +not a few naturalists, and never happened to come across a single one +who seemed to doubt about the permanence of species. Even Lyell and +Hooker, though they would listen with interest to me, never seemed to +agree. I tried once or twice to explain to able men what I meant by +"natural selection," but signally failed. What I believe was strictly +true is that innumerable well-observed facts were stored in the minds of +naturalists ready to take their proper places as soon as any theory that +would receive them was sufficiently explained. Another element in the +success of the book was its moderate size; and this I owe to the +appearance of Mr. Wallace's essay; had I published on the scale in which +I began to write in 1856, the book would have been four or five times as +large as the _Origin_, and very few would have had the patience to read +it. I gained much by my delay in publishing from about 1839, when the +theory was clearly conceived, to 1859; and I lost nothing by it, for I +cared very little whether men attributed more originality to me or to +Wallace; and his essay no doubt aided in the reception of the theory. I +was forestalled in only one important point, which my vanity has always +made me regret, namely, the explanation, by means of the Glacial period, +of the presence of the same species of plants and of some few animals on +distant mountain summits and in the arctic regions. This view pleased me +so much that I wrote it out _in extenso_, and I believe that it was read +by Hooker some years before Edward Forbes published his celebrated +memoir on the subject. In the very few points in which we differed I +still think that I was in the right. I have never, of course, alluded in +print to my having independently worked out this view. + +Hardly any point gave me so much satisfaction, when I was at work on the +_Origin_, as the explanation of the wide difference in many classes +between the embryo and the adult animal, and of the close resemblance of +the embryos within the same class. No notice of this point was taken, as +far as I remember, in the early reviews of the _Origin_, and I recollect +expressing my surprise on this head in a letter to Asa Gray. Within late +years several reviewers have given the whole credit to Fritz Mueller and +Haeckel, who undoubtedly have worked it out much more fully and in some +respects more correctly than I did. I had materials for a whole chapter +on the subject, and I ought to have made the discussion longer; for it +is clear that I failed to impress my readers; and he who succeeds in +doing so deserves, in my opinion, all the credit. + +This leads me to remark that I have almost without exception been +treated honestly by my reviewers, passing over those without scientific +knowledge as not worthy of notice. My views have often been grossly +misrepresented, bitterly opposed and ridiculed, but this has been +generally done, as I believe, in good faith. On the whole I do not doubt +that my works have been repeatedly and greatly overpraised. I rejoice +that I have avoided controversies, and this I owe to Lyell, who many +years ago, in reference to my geological works, strongly advised me +never to get entangled in a controversy, as it rarely did any good and +caused a miserable loss of time and temper. + +Whenever I have found out that I have blundered, or that my work has +been imperfect, and when I have been contemptuously criticised, and even +when I have been overpraised, so that I have felt mortified, it has been +my greatest comfort to say hundreds of times to myself that "I have +worked as hard and as well as I could, and no man can do more than +this." I remember when in Good Success Bay, in Terra del Fuego, thinking +(and I believe that I wrote home to that effect) that I could not employ +my life better than in adding a little to natural science. This I have +done to the best of my abilities, and critics may say what they like, +but they cannot destroy this conviction. + +During the last two months of 1859 I was fully occupied in preparing a +second edition of the _Origin_, and by an enormous correspondence. On +January 1, 1860, I began arranging my notes for my work on the +_Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication,_ but it was not +published until the beginning of 1868, the delay having been caused +partly by frequent periods of illness, one of which lasted seven months, +and partly by being tempted to publish on other subjects which at the +time interested me more. + +My _Descent of Man_ was published in February, 1871. As soon as I had +become, in the year 1837 or 1838, convinced that species were mutable +productions, I could not avoid the belief that man must come under the +same law. Accordingly I collected notes on the subject for my own +satisfaction, but not, for a long time, with any intention of +publishing. Although in the _Origin of Species_ the derivation of any +particular species is never discussed, yet I thought it best, in order +that no honorable man should accuse me of concealing my views, to add +that by the work "light would be thrown on the origin of man and his +history." It would have been useless and injurious to the success of the +book to parade, without giving any evidence, my conviction with respect +to his origin. + +But when I found that many naturalists fully accepted the doctrine of +the evolution of species, it seemed to me advisable to work up such +notes as I possessed, and to publish a special treatise on the origin of +man. I was the more glad to do so as it gave me an opportunity of fully +discussing sexual selection--a subject which had always greatly +interested me. This subject, and that of the variation of our domestic +productions, together with the causes and laws of variation, +inheritance, and the intercrossing of plants, are the sole subjects +which I have been able to write about in full, so as to use all the +materials which I have collected. The _Descent of Man_ took me three +years to write, but then, as usual, some of this time was lost by +ill-health and some was consumed by preparing new editions and other +minor works. A second and largely corrected edition of the _Descent_ +appeared in 1874. + + + + +(1860) THE KINGDOM OF ITALY ESTABLISHED, Giuseppe Garibaldi and John + Webb Probyn + + +After the suppression of the Italian Revolution, by Austria, in 1849, +and the restoration of Austrian power in Italy, Charles Albert, King of +Sardinia, who had headed the movement for Italian independence and had +been defeated, abdicated in favor of his son, Victor Emmanuel. The new +King, as Victor Emmanuel II, succeeded to the throne March 23, 1849, the +day of his father's defeat at Novara. He was a liberal sovereign and +zealous for the cause of his country. With the aid of his great +minister, Count Cavour, he proceeded with the work of securing the unity +and freedom of Italy. In 1859 Sardinia and France, in alliance, defeated +Austria. In this war were made the substantial beginnings from which a +new Italian nationality was to be realized. Italian unity was not the +object of Napoleon III in his alliance with Italy against Austria, but +he did much to advance its prospects. He even promised the complete +liberation of Italy, but this promise he failed to fulfil, to the great +disappointment of Italian statesmen. Napoleon wished to see an Italian +confederation, with the Pope at its head, but this plan was rejected. + +Sicily and Naples, in Southern Italy, were still governed by a Bourbon +prince. It was necessary to get rid of him, but Victor Emmanuel did not +desire another war. The matter was decided through the action of +Garibaldi, whose first step toward ending the last remnant of Bourbon +rule in Italy was a bold descend upon Sicily. This movement he made +against the wishes of Cavour and in furtherance of the plans of "Young +Italy." His own account of his landing at Marsala and of the Battle of +Calatafimi--regarded by him as one of the most memorable in his military +experience--is as characteristic of Garibaldi the man and writer as were +his exploits characteristic of Garibaldi the soldier. + +The events that quickly followed Garibaldi's descent upon Sicily marked +the beginning of a new era in Italian history. After his victory at +Calatafimi Garibaldi moved toward Palermo, the capital. On May 24th the +Bourbon troops of Francis II, king of the Two Sicilies, marched out of +the city to meet him. By shrewd tactics Garibaldi outmaneuvre them. On +the 26th he marched on Palermo with about three thousand men, and +attacked the city on the 27th. The battle was a confused struggle of +military and civilians, many citizens of Palermo, armed with "daggers, +knives, spits, and iron instruments of any kind," taking part, in favor +of Garibaldi, in the street-fighting that accompanied the more regular +conflict. The city fell through revolt of the people and defection of +the King's troops rather than by the assaults of Garibaldi's men, +"twenty thousand soldiers of despotism" capitulating "before a handful +of citizens" self-devoted in the cause of freedom. + +By June 6th Garibaldi had complete possession of Palermo; other +successes in his famous campaign of liberation followed rapidly; and his +final triumph was achieved in the later events so eloquently described +by Probyn, the historian of Italy's progress through her most important +transformations in the nineteenth century. + + +GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI + +As we approached the western coast of Sicily we began to discover +sailing-vessels and steamers. On the roadstead of Marsala two men-of-war +were anchored, which turned out to be English. Having decided on landing +at Marsala, we approached that port, and reached it about noon. On +entering the harbor we found it full of merchant-vessels of different +nations. Fortune had indeed favored us and so guided our expedition that +we could not have arrived at a more propitious moment. The Bourbon +cruisers had left the harbor of Marsala that morning, sailing eastward, +while we were arriving from the west; indeed, they were still in sight +toward Cape San Marco as we entered, so that by the time they came +within cannon-shot we had already landed all the men out of the Piemonte +and were beginning to debark those on board the Lombardo. + +The presence of the two English men-of-war in some degree influenced the +determination of the Bourbon commanders, who were naturally impatient to +open fire on us, and this circumstance gave us time to get our whole +force on shore. The noble English flag once more helped to prevent +bloodshed, and I, the Benjamin of these lords of the ocean, was for the +hundredth time protected by them. The assertion, however, made by our +enemies, that the English had directly favored and assisted our landing +at Marsala, was inaccurate. The British colors, flying from the two +men-of-war and the English consulate, made the Bourbon mercenaries +hesitate, and, I might even say, impressed them with a sense of shame at +pouring the fire of their imposing batteries into a handful of men armed +only with the kind of muskets usually supplied by the Government to +Italian volunteers. + +Notwithstanding this, three-fourths of the volunteers were still on the +quay when the Bourbons began firing on them with shells and +grape-shot--happily, without injury to anyone. The Piemonte, abandoned +by us, was carried off by the enemy, who left the Lombardo, which had +grounded on a sand-bank. + +The population of Marsala, thunderstruck at this unexpected event, +received us pretty well, all things considered. The common people, +indeed, were delighted; the magnates welcomed us under protest. I +thought all this very natural. Those who are accustomed to calculate +everything at so much per cent, are not likely to be reassured by the +sight of a few desperadoes, who wish to ameliorate a corrupt society by +eradicating from it the cancer of privilege and falsehood, especially +when these desperadoes, few as they are, and with neither +three-hundred-pounders nor ironclads, fling themselves against a power +believed to be gigantic, like that of the Bourbon. + +Men of high rank--that is, the privileged class--before risking anything +in an enterprise wish to assure themselves which way the wind of fortune +blows and where the large battalions are; and then the victorious force +may be certain of finding them compliant, cordial, and even enthusiastic +if need be. Is not this the history of human selfishness in every +country? The poor people, on the other hand, welcomed us with applause +and with unmistakable tokens of affection. They thought of nothing but +the sacredness of the sacrifice, the difficult and noble task undertaken +by that handful of gallant young fellows, who had come from such a +distance to the succor of their brethren. + +We passed the remainder of the day and the following night at Marsala, +where I began to profit by the services of Crispi, an honest and capable +Sicilian, who was of the greatest use to me in government business, and +in making all necessary arrangements which my want of local knowledge +prevented my doing myself. A dictatorship was spoken of, and I accepted +it without hesitation, having always believed it the plank of safety in +urgent cases, amid the breakers in which nations often find themselves. + +On the morning of the 12th the "Thousand" [Footnote: Garibaldi landed +with a force of one thousand volunteers.--Ed.] left for Salemi, but, the +distance being too great for one _etape_, we stopped at the farm of +Mistretta, where we passed the night. We did not find the proprietor at +home, but a young man, his brother, did the honors with kindly and +liberal hospitality. At Mistretta we formed a new company under +Griziotti. On the 13th we marched to Salemi, where we were well received +by the people and were joined by the companies of Sant' Anna d'Alcamo +and some other volunteers of the island. + +On the 14th we occupied Vita, or San Vito, and on the 15th came in sight +of the enemy, who, occupying Calatafimi and knowing of our approach in +that direction, had spread out the great part of their forces on the +heights called _Il Pianto dei Romani_. + +The dawn of May 15th found us in good order on the heights of Vita; and +a little later the enemy, whom I knew to be at Calatafimi, left the city +in column, marching toward us. The hills of Vita are confronted by the +heights of the Pianto dei Romani, where the enemy deployed his columns. +On the Calatafimi side these heights have a gentle slope, easily +ascended by the enemy, who covered all the highest points, while on the +Vita side they are steep and precipitous. + +Occupying the opposite and southern heights, I had been able to perceive +exactly all the positions held by the Bourbonists, while the latter +could scarcely see the line of sharpshooters formed by the Genoese +carbineers under Mosto, who covered our front, all the other companies +being drawn up _en echelon_ behind them. Our scanty artillery was +stationed on our left, on the highroad, under Orsini, who succeeded, in +spite of the poverty of his resources, in making a few good shots. In +this way both we and the enemy occupied strong positions, fronting each +other, and separated by a wide space of undulating ground, broken by a +few farmsteadings. Our advantage therefore clearly lay in awaiting the +enemy in our own position. The Bourbon forces, to the number of about +two thousand, with some cannon, discovering a few of our men without +distinguishing uniform and mingled with peasants, boldly advanced a few +lines of bersaglieri, with sufficient support and two guns. Arrived +within firing distance, they opened with carbines and cannon while +advancing on us. + +The order given to the Thousand was to wait without firing for the enemy +to come up, though the gallant Ligurians already had one man killed and +several wounded. The blare of the bugles, sounding an American +_reveille_, brought the enemy to a halt as if by magic. They understood +that it was not the Picciotti alone they had to deal with, and their +lines, with the artillery, gave the signal for a retrograde movement. +This was the first time that the soldiers of despotism had quailed +before the filibusters--for such was the title with which our enemies +honored us. + +The Thousand then sounded a charge--the Genoese carbineers in the van, +followed by a chosen band of youths impatient to come to close quarters. + +The intention of the charge was to put to flight the enemy's vanguard +and get possession of the two guns--a manoeuvre that was executed with a +spirit worthy of the champions of Italian liberty; but I had no +intention of a front attack on a formidable position occupied by a +strong force of Bourbon troops. But who could stop those fiery and +impetuous volunteers in their rush on the foe? In vain the trumpets +sounded a halt; our men did not hear, or imitated Nelson's conduct at +the Battle of Copenhagen. They turned a deaf ear to the order to halt +sounded by the trumpets, and with their bayonets drove the enemy's van +back on their main body. + +There was not a moment to be lost, or that gallant handful would have +perished. Immediately a general charge was sounded, and the entire corps +of the Thousand, accompanied by some courageous Sicilians and Calabrese, +marched at a quick pace to the rescue. + +The enemy had abandoned the plain, but, falling back on the heights +where their reserve was, held firm and defended their position with a +dogged valor worthy of a better cause. The most dangerous part of the +ground we had to cross was the level valley separating us from the +enemy, where we had to face a storm of cannon- and musket-balls which +wounded a good many of our men. Arrived at the foot of Monte Romano, we +were almost sheltered from attack; and at this point the Thousand, +somewhat diminished in number, closed up to the vanguard. + +The situation was supreme; we were bound to win. In this determination +we began to ascend the first ledge of the mountain, under a hail of +bullets. I do not remember how many, but there were certainly several +terraces to be gained before reaching the crest of the heights, and +every time we climbed from one terrace to the next--during which +operation we were totally unprotected--we were under a tremendous fire. +The orders given to our men to fire but few shots were well adapted to +the wretched weapons presented to us by the Sardinian Government, which +nearly always missed fire. On this occasion, too, great service was +rendered by the gallant Genoese, who, being excellent shots and armed +with good carbines, sustained the honor of our cause. This ought to be +an encouragement to all young Italians to exercise themselves in the use +of arms, in the conviction that valor alone is not enough on modern +battlefields; great dexterity in the use of weapons is also necessary. + +Calatafimi! The survivor of a hundred battles, if in my last moments my +friends see me smile once more with pride, it will be at the +recollection of that fight--for I remember none more glorious. The +Thousand, attired just as at home, worthy representatives of their +people, attacked--with heroic coolness, fighting their way from one +formidable position to another--the soldiers of tyranny, brilliant in +gaudily trimmed uniforms, gold lace, and epaulettes, and completely +routed them. How can I forget that knot of youths who, fearing to see me +wounded, surrounded me, pressing themselves closely together and +sheltering me with their bodies? If, while I write, I am deeply touched +at the recollection, I have good reason. Is it not my duty at least to +remind Italy of those brave sons of hers who fell there?--Montanari, +Schiaffino, Sertorio, Nullo, Vigo, Tukery, Taddei, and many more whose +names I grieve to say I cannot remember. + +As I have already said, the southern slope of Monte Romano, which we had +to ascend, was formed of those ledges or narrow terraces used by the +cultivators of the soil in mountainous countries. We made all possible +haste to reach the bank of each terrace, driving the enemy before us, +and then halting under cover of the bank to take breath and prepare for +the attack. Proceeding thus, we gained one ledge after another, till we +reached the top, where the Bourbon troops made a last effort, defending +their position with great intrepidity; many of their chasseurs, who had +come to the end of their ammunition, even throwing down stones on us. At +last we gave the final charge. The bravest of the Thousand, massed +together under the last bank, after taking breath and measuring with +their eye the space yet to be traversed before crossing swords with the +enemy, rushed on like lions, confident of victory and trusting in their +sacred cause. The Bourbon force could not resist the terrible onset of +men fighting for freedom; they fled, and never stopped till they reached +the town of Calatafimi, several miles from the battlefield. We ceased +our pursuit a short distance from the entrance to the town, which is +very strongly situated. If one gives battle, one ought to be sure of +victory; this axiom is very true under all circumstances, but especially +at the beginning of a campaign. + +The victory of Calatafimi, though of slight importance as regards +acquisitions--for we took only one cannon, a few rifles, and a few +prisoners--had an immeasurable moral result in encouraging the +population and demoralizing the hostile army. The handful of +filibusters, without gold lace or epaulettes, who were spoken of with +such solemn contempt, had routed several thousand of the Bourbon's best +troops, artillery and all, commanded by one of those generals who, like +Lucullus, are ready to spend the revenue of a province on one night's +supper. One corps of citizens--not to say filibusters--animated by love +of their country, can therefore gain a victory unaided by all this +needless splendor. + +The first important result was the enemy's retreat from Calatafimi, +which town we occupied on the following morning, May 16, 1860. The +second result, and one abundantly noteworthy, was the attack made by the +population of Partinicio, Borgetto, Montelepre, and other places, on the +retreating army. In every place volunteer companies were formed which +speedily joined us, and the enthusiasm in the surrounding villages +reached its height. The disbanded troops of the enemy did not stop till +they reached Palermo, where they brought terror to the Bourbon party and +confidence to the patriots. Our wounded, and those of the enemy, were +brought in to Vita and Calatafimi. Among ours were some men who could +ill be spared. + +Montanari, my comrade at Rome and in Lombardy, was dangerously wounded +and died a few days after. He was one of those whom doctrinaires call +demagogues, because they are impatient of servitude, love their country, +and refuse to bow the knee to the caprices and vices of the great. +Montanari was a Modenese. Schiaffino, a young Ligurian from Camogli, who +had also served in the Cacciatori delle Alpi and in the Guides, was +among the first to fall on the field, bereaving Italy of one of her +bravest soldiers. He worked hard on the night of our start from Genoa, +and greatly assisted Bixio in that delicate undertaking. De Amici, also +of the Cacciatori and Guides, was another who fell at the beginning of +the battle. Not a few of the chosen band of the Thousand fell at +Calatafimi as our Roman forefathers fell--rushing on the enemy with cold +steel, cut down in front without a complaint, without a cry, except that +of _"Viva L'Italia!"_ I may have seen battles more desperate and more +obstinately contested, but in none have I seen finer soldiers than my +citizen filibusters of Calatafimi. + +The victory of Calatafimi was indisputably the decisive battle in the +brilliant campaign of 1860. It was absolutely necessary to begin the +expedition with some striking engagement such as this, which so +demoralized the enemy that their fervent southern imaginations even +exaggerated the valor of the Thousand. There were some among them who +declared they had seen the bullets of their carbines rebound from the +breasts of the soldiers of liberty as if from a plate of bronze. Far +more men were killed and wounded at Palermo, Milazzo, and the Volturno, +but still I believe Calatafimi to have been the decisive battle. After a +fight like that, our men knew they were bound to win; and the gallant +Sicilians, whose courage had been previously shaken by the imposing +numbers and superior equipment of the Bourbon force, were encouraged. +When a battle begins with such prestige, with omens drawn from such a +precedent, victory is sure. + + +JOHN WEBB PROBYN + +On June 27, 1860, about three weeks after Garibaldi had taken possession +of Palermo, Francis II solemnly announced his intention to give a +constitution to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, adopt the Italian flag, +and ally himself with Sardinia. These promises only provoked the cry of +"Too late!" They did but recall how often the Neapolitan Bourbons had +promised in the hour of danger, and proved faithless to every promise +when the danger was passed. Victor Emmanuel and his Government were now +both unable and unwilling to agree to any such terms with a sovereign +who had rejected similar offers at the beginning of his reign when such +a settlement was possible. Every friend of freedom felt that the time +had gone by for any common action between the houses of Savoy and +Bourbon. Each had taken its own line of action, and each was now to +abide by the result. + +Garibaldi had overthrown the Neapolitan rule in Sicily, and raised the +cry of "Italy and Victor Emmanuel!" which found a hearty response. +Having been so successful he now determined, despite the warnings of +friendly advisers and the hostility of enemies, to carry his forces from +Sicily to the mainland, and take possession of Naples itself. He was at +the head of about twenty thousand men under the command of Generals +Medici, Bixio, Cosenz, and Turr. He had also the prestige of victory +mingled with a kind of legendary fame which continually increased. These +were formidable aids to further success, especially when brought to bear +on the fervid feelings and imagination of a southern people. Francis of +Naples still possessed an army of eighty thousand men, of which he +despatched more than twenty thousand to arrest, if possible, the +progress of his formidable opponent. + +Victor Emmanuel sought to dissuade Garibaldi from an enterprise so full +of danger as that of marching upon Naples against the wishes of the +united cabinets of Continental Europe. The King desired that matters +should proceed by negotiation, the basis of which should be that +Neapolitans and Sicilians should be allowed to decide their future +destinies for themselves. Garibaldi, who loved and trusted the honest +King, replied that the actual state of Italy compelled him to disobey +his majesty. "When," said the noble-hearted patriot, "I shall have +delivered the populations from the yoke that weighs them down, I will +throw my sword at your feet, and will then obey you for the rest of my +life." In truth, Italians of all ranks were now so roused that neither +Victor Emmanuel, Cavour, nor even Garibaldi himself could have stayed +the movement. + +The overpowering strength of foreign armies could alone have put it +down. Circumstances, however, happily prevented so gross an abuse of +mere force. For once Italians were allowed to do as they wished in their +own country instead of being compelled by foreign powers to do as those +powers commanded. Many things concurred to bring about this result. The +French Emperor had just received Savoy and Nice; he had been spending +the blood and treasure of France in giving the first blow to the old +despotisms of Italy; how could he now fly in the face of his own +principle of the national will in order to save the worst of those +despotisms? He could not declare that Sicilians and Neapolitans should +not dare have the opportunity of doing what he had at last permitted in +Central Italy and profited by in Nice and Savoy. To have allowed Austria +to do so would be to stultify himself in the eyes of Europe, to enrage +Italians, and to lead France to ask what was the use of calling on her +to make sacrifices for the overthrow of Austrian domination in the +Peninsula if within a few months that domination was to be in a large +measure restored. + +Austria too had her own difficulties to encounter, and they were both +numerous and complicated. Her military and priestly despotism had +suffered defeat; her people disliked its rule and desired freer +institutions; her finances were terribly disordered. + +The Emperor was beginning to see the necessity of a change of system--a +change by no means easy to effect--for the Hungarians were demanding the +restoration of their ancient constitutional rights. Russia and Prussia +contented themselves with protests which had, it may be, some diplomatic +value, but were wholly without practical effect. England was favorable +to the extension of Italian liberties, and France was her ally in Syria +and in China. So it was that Garibaldi, having only to encounter the +naval and military forces of Francis II, crossed the Straits of Messina, +landed in Calabria, and marched on Reggio. On August 21st the town was +occupied, and the citadel, with its commander and soldiers, capitulated. +Another victory was gained on the 23d, dispersing the forces of the +Neapolitan Generals Melendez and Briganti. Some of their soldiers joined +Garibaldi; the rest returned to their homes and increased both his real +and his legendary fame by their account of his victories. The +insurrection against the Bourbon dynasty was now rapidly spreading. + +At Cosenza in Calabria, and at Potenza in the Basilicata, provisional +governments were proclaimed and were hailing with delight the progress +of Garibaldi. The forces of Francis were disappearing from those +provinces and leaving the road to Naples unprotected. The fleet was as +little to be counted on as the army. + +In Naples itself all was confusion and contradiction in the Government. +None of its members trusted the others or believed in the duration of +the Bourbon dynasty. Years of corruption, tyranny, falsehood, and +cruelty had undermined the whole system, and it fell before the storm as +if by magic. Francis II determined to leave his capital. When he ordered +the troops which still remained faithful to him to retreat upon Capua +and Gaeta, two-thirds of the staff sent in their resignation, as did +many of the officers of the Neapolitan fleet. The King addressed a +protest to the foreign powers in which he declared he only quitted his +capital to save it from the horrors of a siege. He issued a proclamation +to his people in which he expressed his wishes for their happiness, and +declared that when restored to his throne it would be all the more +splendid from the institutions he had now irrevocably given. On +September 6, 1860, he left the capital on board a steamer accompanied by +two Spanish frigates, and was taken to Gaeta. On September 7th Garibaldi +entered Naples at midday in an open carriage, accompanied by some of his +staff. For long hours he received a welcome such as has seldom if ever +been given to any other man. Again and again he had to appear on the +balcony of the Palazzo d'Angri, where he had taken up his quarters, to +receive the applause of the multitude. At eight o'clock that evening it +was at length announced that, worn out with fatigue and emotion, he had +retired to rest. A sudden quiet fell upon the vast crowds, and repeating +to one another "Our father sleeps," they dispersed to their homes, their +right hands raised above their heads, with the first finger alone +extended, a sign expressive of the cry reiterated again and again that +day, "_Italia Una_!" ("One Italy"). + +On September 10th Garibaldi issued a proclamation to his soldiers, +headed "Italy and Victor Emmanuel." In it the General called upon them +to aid him in carrying to a successful termination the work so well +begun. Nor did he hesitate to declare that Rome must be Italian, and the +line of the Alps the frontier of Italy. He addressed another +proclamation to the people in which he especially called on them to be +united: "The first need of Italy is concord in order to realize the +union of the great Italian family; to-day Providence has given us this +concord, since all the provinces are unanimous and labor with +magnanimous zeal at the national reconstruction. As to unity, Providence +has further given us Victor Emmanuel--a model sovereign who will +inculcate in his descendants the duties which they should fulfil for the +happiness of a people who have chosen him as their chief with +enthusiastic homage." The proclamation went on to speak with kindly +warmth of those Italian priests who had sided with the national cause, +and declared that such conduct was a sure means of gaining respect for +their mission and work. Repeating again the demand for concord, the +concluding words justly protested against all foreign interference: +"Finally (be it known) we respect the houses of others; but we insist +upon being masters in our own whether it please or displease the rulers +of the earth." + +Garibaldi united the Neapolitan to the Sardinian fleet, so forming an +Italian naval force. He appointed a ministry comprising Liborio Romano +(who had served under Francis II), Scialoia, Cosenz, and Pisanelli; he +then proceeded to promulgate the Sardinian Constitution throughout the +Neapolitan Provinces. But the Bourbon forces were still in possession of +Capua and Gaeta. It became necessary, therefore, to undertake military +operations against them. + +Meanwhile the agitation in the Papal Provinces was increasing. The +Pope's Government had refused to modify its policy or agree to any +reduction of its territory. It accepted the protection of France in Rome +and its immediate neighborhood, but declined further aid, as it was +raising forces of its own under a French general, Lamoriciere. These +soldiers were men of various European nationalities belonging to that +Roman Catholic party which was determined to maintain intact the +temporal rule of the Pope as against the wishes of the vast majority of +Italians, themselves Roman Catholics, who desired to substitute for that +rule the constitutional sovereignty of King Victor Emmanuel. The +Italians were willing enough to remain under the spiritual headship of +the Roman Pontiff, but they would not have a temporal power upheld by +foreign soldiers. The moment was, like many others, a very critical one +in the history of Italy. Garibaldi was victorious in Naples. The Papal +forces, composed chiefly of Germans and French, under Lamoriciere, were +holding the inhabitants of Umbria and the Marches who were longing to +join the national movement. Indeed, some of the most influential men of +those provinces, among others Marquis Filippo Gualterio of Orvieto, had +already come to Turin to obtain the intervention of its Government and +protection from the Papal troops, whose foreign extraction rendered them +odious to the people. + +On September 7th Count Delia Minerva was sent to Rome to demand, on the +part of Victor Emmanuel, the disbandment of the foreign troops which the +Papal Government had got together under the command of General +Lamoriciere. The demand was refused. This refusal the Papal Government +was quite competent to give, but whether its policy in upholding its +temporal power by the aid of foreign mercenaries was wise or not was +another matter. It was hardly to be expected that Italians, any more +than Frenchmen, Germans, or English, would endure such a state of things +if they could prevent it. The Government of Turin now ordered its troops +to enter the Papal Provinces of Umbria and the Marches. On September **nth +General Fanti crossed the frontier, easily took possession of Perugia +with the aid of the inhabitants, and obliged Colonel Schmidt, the Papal +commander, to capitulate. The General advanced with equal success +against Spoleto, and in a few days was master of all the upper valley of +the Tiber. At the same time General Cialdini, operating on the eastern +side of the Apennines, marched rapidly to meet General Lamoriciere's +forces, which he encountered and defeated completely at Castelfidardo, +compelling the French General to fly to Ancona, which he entered in +company with only a few horsemen who had escaped with him from the rout +of the Papal army. The Italian fleet was off Ancona, before which +General Cialdini's troops now appeared, thus completely preventing the +escape of Lamoriciere, who was obliged to surrender. In less than three +weeks the campaign was over. The Sardinian troops having thus occupied +Umbria and the Marches, proceeded to cross into the Neapolitan Provinces +and march upon Capua and Gaeta. + +Austria, Prussia, and Russia protested against the course thus pursued by +the Government of Victor Emmanuel. The Pope excommunicated all who had +participated in the invasion of his territory. Francis II protested with +no less earnestness. The Emperor of the French withdrew his minister from +Turin and blamed the proceedings of Victor Emmanuel's Government; but in +other respects Napoleon remained a passive spectator of all that occurred, +and maintained the principle of non-intervention--at least as regarded +Umbria and the Marches, Sicily and Naples--excepting at Gaeta, where his +fleet prevented for a time any attack being made against that fortress +from the sea. He also raised the number of his troops in Rome and the +province in which it is situated, called the Patrimony of St. Peter, to +twenty-two thousand men. This was now all the territory left to the +temporal power of the Pope. Napoleon determined to preserve that much to +the Roman See, defending it from the attacks of Garibaldi, and forbidding +its annexation to the kingdom of Italy. + +The English Government, however, decidedly vindicated the course taken +under the circumstances by Victor Emmanuel and his advisers. Lord +Russell, who was Secretary of Foreign Affairs under Lord Palmerston, +wrote, on October 27, 1860, an admirable despatch to Sir James Hudson, +the English minister at Turin, who was allowed to give a copy of it to +Count Cavour. In that despatch Lord Russell gives good reasons for +dissenting from the views expressed by the Governments of Austria, +Prussia, Russia, and France; he justifies the action of the Government +of Turin, admits that Italians themselves are the best judges of their +own interests, shows how in times past they vainly attempted regularly +and temperately to reform their governments, says such attempts were put +down by foreign powers, and concludes by declaring that "Her Majesty's +Government will turn their eyes rather to the gratifying prospect of a +people building up the edifice of their liberties and consolidating the +work of their independence amid the sympathies and good wishes of +Europe." + +It is gratifying to remember that at this very critical juncture in the +cause of Italian unity and independence, the English Government gave its +very cordial support to that cause, and ably defended the course pursued +by King Victor Emmanuel, his ministers, and his people. + +The cause of Italian unity and independence had indeed made prodigious +strides, due not only to the marvellous victories of Garibaldi, which +had brought him in four months from Marsala to Naples, but also to the +skilful campaigns of Generals Fanti and Cialdini in Umbria and the +Marches. Cavour now followed up these successes by advising a course +calculated to give them consistency and endurance. He counselled the +immediate assembling of Parliament, the acceptance by Victor Emmanuel of +the sovereignty of the Papal, Neapolitan, and Sicilian Provinces, if +such were the will of their inhabitants, and the departure of the King +from Turin to take the command of his troops now advancing toward Capua. +Victor Emmanuel entirely agreed with his minister's advice. On October +2, 1860, Cavour asked Parliament for full powers to annex all the new +provinces of Central and Southern Italy if they desired it. He contended +that the events which had taken place were due to the initiative of the +people, the noble audacity of General Garibaldi, and the constitutional +rule of Victor Emmanuel, united to his devotion to the cause of Italian +freedom. + +Even those deputies who represented the views of the extreme Left, some +of whose members avowed a preference for Republicanism--in theory at any +rate--supported the Government. One of them, Signor Bertani, declared he +would not now raise any point of difference, and frankly acknowledged +that in reality all Italians wished the same thing--"Italy one and free, +under Victor Emmanuel." Cavour further satisfied the Chamber by saying +that Rome and Venice must in the end be united to the mother country, +though the questions involved in such union must, out of deference to +Europe and France, be postponed for the present. A vote of two hundred +ninety against six confirmed the policy of the Government and gave full +expression to the wishes of the country. + +Garibaldi had in the mean time pushed on his forces from Naples toward +Capua and the line of the River Volturno. On September 19th his troops +took Caiazzo, from which, however, they were dislodged on the 23d of the +month. After this success Francis II determined to take the offensive +and attack in force the Garibaldian lines with the object of driving +them back to Naples or cutting them off from that city. This attempt was +well planned and conducted on October 1, 1860. The struggle was hotly +maintained on both sides throughout the day. Some companies of +bersaglieri arrived from Naples and united in resisting the attacks of +the Bourbon troops, who were in the end repelled and compelled to +retire. But though beaten they had fought well and still held the +fortresses of Gaeta and Capua, to which they had retreated. The army of +Victor Emmanuel, however, led by the King in person, was now rapidly +advancing, easily overcoming whatever resistance the Bourbon troops were +able to offer. Francis II, unable to prevent the junction of the King's +forces with those of Garibaldi, withdrew with the bulk of his soldiers +to Gaeta, leaving four thousand men in Capua, who were soon obliged to +capitulate. + +On October 26th Victor Emmanuel and Garibaldi met near the little town +of Teano. They greeted each other with great cordiality, for though +Garibaldi had little faith in ministers or diplomatists, and could not +forgive their cession of Nice to France, he felt the utmost confidence +in the King himself. Victor Emmanuel on his part had the greatest regard +for the heroic patriot who had ever been so devoted to his country's +cause and whose marvellous exploits had now given freedom to Sicily and +Naples. As they grasped each other's hands Garibaldi cried, "Behold the +King of Italy! Long live the King!" The soldiers of both leaders +shouted, "Long live Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy!" + +On November 7th the King entered Naples with Garibaldi at his side. The +reception was enthusiastic in the extreme; it reached its culminating +point as Victor Emmanuel entered the royal palace. Long had it been the +abode of those who hated and betrayed both constitutional liberty and +national freedom; now it was taken possession of by one who had risked +life and crown in their cause. The King issued a proclamation, in which +he called to mind the increased responsibilities which fell henceforth +upon himself and his people alike; nor did he fail to remind them of the +necessity for union and abnegation: "All parties must bow before the +majesty of Italy which God has raised up. We must establish a government +which gives guarantees of liberty to the people and of severe probity to +the public at large." In the succeeding days his majesty received the +deputations of the newly acquired Provinces of Umbria, the Marches, +Naples, and Sicily, which came to present to him officially the result +of the plebiscite by which the inhabitants of those provinces declared +their wish to be united to the rest of the King's dominions and so form +a single Kingdom of Italy. + +Many other receptions there were of societies belonging to several ranks +and classes of men. Particularly impressive was the welcome given to the +deputation which came from the Senate and Chamber at Turin in honor of +so great an event as the union of Southern with Northern Italy under the +constitutional rule of one sovereign. On December 1st Victor Emmanuel +embarked for Palermo, where he was received with an enthusiasm at least +as great as that which marked his arrival in Naples. In the capital of +Sicily all orders of citizens pressed forward to pay him their willing +homage. + +These great results were not, however, achieved without difficulty, for +there was considerable diversity of opinion and not a little jealousy +between those that surrounded Garibaldi and those that followed the lead +of Cavour in Parliament and in the country. Nor can it be denied that +faults and mistakes may fairly be laid to the charge of both those +parties, despite their sincere attachment to the cause of their common +fatherland. A mistake was made by Garibaldi himself when he wished to +postpone the immediate annexation of the Southern Provinces to the +Northern Kingdom, and asked to be named Dictator of Naples for two years +by Victor Emmanuel, whom he further requested to dismiss Cavour and his +actual advisers. + +The King rightly refused to agree to a course so subversive of all +constitutional proceedings and liberties. He could not even entertain +the idea of dismissing ministers at the request of any citizen, however +illustrious, or however great the services he had rendered his country. +It was for the national representatives alone to decide to what minister +the King should give his confidence, and what course should be taken as +to the annexation of Naples and Sicily. Garibaldi's good sense and +honesty of purpose led him to give in to the King's judgment. Victor +Emmanuel took the right view of the course to be pursued in this matter, +just as he had taken the right view of the course to be pursued at the +moment of the Peace of Villafranca. In the one case he showed himself +wiser than Cavour, and in the other wiser than Garibaldi. The +single-minded patriotism of the latter, and the statesmanship of the +former, combined with the remarkably sure judgment and unfailing honesty +of the King, gradually overcame all the difficulties of the situation. +Victor Emmanuel ever kept aloof from political coteries, while deferring +to the advice of his responsible ministers so long as they had the +confidence of Parliament. He ever showed himself to be the head of the +nation, not the head of a party. + +His unswerving determination to be guided by the nation's will as +expressed by the nation's chosen representatives, though nothing new in +his career, won for him the absolute confidence of all Italians, not one +of whom avowed it more frankly than Garibaldi himself. But what shall be +said of the popular hero, sprung from the ranks of the people, who had +given a kingdom to his sovereign? Rarely, if ever, has history recorded +nobler conduct than that of the conqueror of Sicily and Naples when, +having liberated those provinces, he laid down all power, refused all +honors, turned away alike wealth and titles, to betake himself to his +island home of Caprera, there to work with his own hands, to rejoice as +he thought of how greatly he had advanced the independence of Italy, and +to pray for the hour of its completion. Whatever defects may be found in +the character or judgment of this heroic patriot, his name will +assuredly be held in grateful remembrance wherever men are found who +love freedom and rejoice as they see its blessings spread more and more +among the nations of the earth. As Garibaldi retired to his quiet abode +in Caprera, Victor Emmanuel returned to his duties in Turin. But neither +the one nor the other forgot Rome and Venice. + +The siege of Gaeta was now being carried forward with great +determination. The place was defended with courage and endurance by +Francis II and his Queen. For a time the French fleet prevented the +Italians from attacking Gaeta by sea, but when Napoleon withdrew his +ships further resistance became hopeless. On February 13, 1861, Gaeta +surrendered after a defence of which those who took part in it had a +right to be proud. The garrison marched out with the honors of war, the +officers retained their rank. Francis and his wife embarked for +Terracina, and went thence to Rome, where they were received by the Pope +and lodged in the Quirinal palace. The citadels of Messina and of +Civitella del Tronto surrendered soon after, and so passed away forever +the rule of the Neapolitan Bourbons over the Kingdom of the Two +Sicilies. + +No less than twenty-two million of Italians were now united under the +sceptre of Victor Emmanuel, who, in accordance with the advice of his +Prime Minister, Count Cavour, dissolved the Parliament. The new election +took place at the end of January, 1861. The constitution as established +in Sardinia was put in force from Turin to Palermo. At the same time the +King nominated, as suggested by his responsible advisers, sixty new +Senators or Members of the Upper House. They were selected chiefly among +the most prominent and influential men of the Provinces of Central and +Southern Italy. The elections were everywhere favorable to the new order +of things; namely, the formation of the single Kingdom of Italy under +the constitutional rule of Victor Emmanuel. The majority of the new +Chamber gave a hearty support to Count Cavour. + +On February 18, 1861, the first Italian Parliament, representing all the +Provinces of Italy--Venetia and the Roman patrimony alone +excepted--assembled in the Palazzo Carignano at Turin. The title assumed +by the King in concert with his ministers and Parliament was "Victor +Emmanuel II, by the grace of God and the will of the nation, King of +Italy." [Footnote: It was almost ten years later--when Victor Emmanuel +entered Rome, September 20, 1870--that the emancipation and union of +Italy were made complete.--ED.] + + + + +(1861) EMANCIPATION OF RUSSIAN SERFS, Andrew D. White and Nikolai + Turgenieff + + +By the act that freed the serfs in Russia, Alexander II, to whom it was +in great measure due, obtained a place of unusual honor among the +sovereigns that have ruled his nation. It was the grand achievement of +Alexander's reign, and caused him to be hailed as one of the world's +liberators. The importance of this event in Russian history is not +diminished by the fact that its practical benefits have not as yet been +realized to the full extent anticipated. In 1888 Stepniak, the Russian +author and reformer, declared that emancipation had utterly failed to +realize the ardent expectations of its advocates and promoters, had +failed to improve the material condition of the former serfs, who on the +whole were worse off than before emancipation. The same assertion has +been made with respect to the emancipation of slaves in the United +States, but in neither case does the objection invalidate the historical +significance of an act that formally liberated millions of human beings +from hereditary and legalized bondage. + +In the two views here presented, the subject of the emancipation in +Russia is considered in various aspects. Andrew D. White's account, +being that of an American scholar and diplomatist familiar with the +history and people of Russia through his residence at St. Petersburg, is +of peculiar value, embodying the most intelligent foreign judgment. +White's synopsis covers the entire subject of the serf system from its +beginning to its overthrow. Nikolai Turgenieff, the Russian historian, +writing while the emancipation act was bearing its first fruits, +describes its workings and effects as observed by one intimately +connected with the serfs and the movement that resulted in their +freedom. + + +ANDREW D. WHITE + +Close upon the end of the fifteenth century the Muscovite ideas of right +were subjected to the strong mind of Ivan the Great and compressed into +a code. Therein were embodied the best processes known to his land and +time: for discovering crime, torture and trial by battle; for punishing +crime, the knout and death. + +But hidden in this tough mass was one law of greater import than others. +Thereby were all peasants forbidden to leave the lands they were then +tilling, except during the eight days before and after St. George's Day. +This provision sprang from Ivan's highest views of justice and broadest +views of political economy; the nobles received it with plaudits, which +have found echoes even in these days; the peasants received it with no +murmurs which history has found any trouble in drowning. + +Just one hundred years later upon the Muscovite throne, as nominal Czar, +sat the weakling Feodor I; but behind the throne stood, as real Czar, +hard, strong Boris Godunoff. Looking forward to Feodor's death, Boris +made ready to mount the throne; and he saw--what all other "Mayors of +the Palace" climbing into the places of _faineant_ kings have seen--that +he must link to his fortunes the fortunes of some strong body in the +nation; he broke, however, from the general rule among usurpers--bribing +the church--and determined to bribe the nobility. + +The greatest grief of the Muscovite nobles seemed to be that the +peasants could escape from their oppression by the emigration allowed on +St. George's Day. Boris saw his opportunity: he cut off the privilege of +St. George's Day, and the peasant was fixed to the soil forever. No +Russian law ever directly enslaved the peasantry, but, through this +decree of Boris, the lord who owned the soil came to own the peasants, +just as he owned its immovable boulders and ledges. To this the peasants +submitted; but history has not been able to drown their sighs over this +wrong; their proverbs and ballads make St. George's Day representative +of all ill-luck and disappointment. + +A few years later Boris made another bid for oligarchic favor. He issued +a rigorous fugitive-serf law, and even wrenched liberty from certain +free peasants who had entered service for wages before his edicts. This +completed the work, and Russia, which never had had the benefits of +feudalism, had now fastened upon her feudalism's worst curse, a serf +caste, bound to the glebe. + +The great good things done by Peter the world knows by heart. The world +knows well how he tore his way out of the fetichism of his time; how, +despite ignorance and unreason, he dragged his nation after him; how he +dowered the nation with things and thoughts that transformed it from a +petty Asiatic horde to a great European Power. + +We were present a few years since when one of those lesser triumphs of +his genius was first unfolded. It was in that room at the +Hermitage--adjoining the Winter Palace--set apart for the relics of +Peter. Our companions were two men noted as leaders in American +industry--one famed as an inventor, the other famed as a champion of +inventors' rights. + +Suddenly from the inventor, pulling over some old dust-covered machines +in a corner, came loud cries of surprise. The cries were natural indeed. +In that heap of rubbish he had found a lathe for turning irregular +forms, and a screw-cutting engine once used by Peter himself: specimens +of his unfinished work were still in them. They had lain there unheeded +a hundred fifty years; their principle had died with Peter and his +workmen; and not many years since, they were reinvented in America, and +gave their inventors fame and fortune. At the late Paris Universal +Exposition crowds flocked about an American lathe for copying statuary; +and that lathe was, in principle, identical with this old, forgotten +machine of Peter's. + +Yet, though Peter fought so well and thought so well, he made some +mistakes which hang to this day over his country as bitter curses. For +in all his plan and work to advance the mass of men was one supreme +lack--lack of any account of the worth and right of the individual man. +Lesser examples of this are seen in his grim jest at Westminster +Hall--"What use of so many lawyers? I have but two lawyers in Russia, +and one of those I mean to hang as soon as I return;" or when at Berlin, +having been shown a new gibbet, he ordered one of his servants to be +hanged in order to test it; or in his review of parade fights, when he +ordered his men to use ball, and to take the buttons off their bayonets. + +Greater examples are seen in his Battle of Narva, when he threw away an +army to learn his opponent's game; in his building of St. Petersburg, +where, in draining marshes, he sacrificed a hundred thousand men the +first year. But the greatest proof of this great lack was shown in his +dealings with the serf system. Serfage was already recognized in Peter's +time as an evil. Peter himself once stormed forth in protestations and +invectives against what he stigmatized as "selling men like beasts; +separating parents from children, husbands from wives; which takes place +nowhere else in the world, and which causes many tears to flow." He +declared that a law should be made against it. Yet it was by his +misguided hand that serfage was compacted into its final black mass of +foulness. + +For Peter saw other nations spinning and weaving, and he determined that +Russia should at once spin and weave; he saw other nations forging iron, +and he determined that Russia should at once forge iron. He never +stopped to consider that what might cost little in other lands as a +natural growth, might cost far too much in Russia as a forced growth. In +lack, then, of quick brain and sturdy spine and strong arm of paid +workmen, he forced into his manufactories the flaccid muscle of serfs. +These, thus lifted from the earth, lost even the little force in the +State they had before; great bodies of serfs thus became slaves; worse +than that, the idea of a serf developed toward the idea of a slave. + +And Peter, misguided, dealt one blow more. Cold-blooded officials were +set at taking the census. These adopted easy classifications; free +peasants, serfs, and slaves were often huddled into the lists under a +single denomination. So serfage became still more difficult to be +distinguished from slavery. As this base of hideous wrong was thus +widened and deepened the nobles built higher and stronger their +superstructure of arrogance and pretension. Not many years after Peter's +death, they so overawed the Empress Anne that she thrust into the codes +of the empire statutes which allowed the nobles to sell serfs apart from +the soil. So did serfage bloom fully into slavery. + +But in the latter half of the eighteenth century Russia gained a ruler +from whom the world came to expect much. To mount the throne, Catharine +II had murdered her husband; to keep the throne she had murdered two +claimants whose title was better than her own. She then became, with her +agents in these horrors, a second Messalina. To set herself right in the +eyes of Europe, she paid eager court to that hierarchy of scepticism +which in that age made or marred European reputations. She flattered the +fierce deists by owning fealty to "_Le Roi_" Voltaire; she flattered the +mild deists by calling in La Harpe as the tutor of her grandson; she +flattered the atheists by calling in Diderot as a tutor for herself. + +Her murders and orgies were soon forgotten in the new hopes for Russian +regeneration. Her dealings with Russia strengthened these hopes. The +official style required that all persons presenting petitions should +subscribe themselves "Your Majesty's humble serf." This formula she +abolished, and boasted that she had cast out the word serf from the +Russian language. Poets and philosophers echoed this boast over +Europe--and the serfs waited. + +The great Empress spurred hope by another movement. She proposed to an +academy the question of serf emancipation as a subject for their prize +essay. The essay was written and crowned. It was filled with beautiful +things about liberty, practical things about moderation, flattering +things about the "Great Catharine"--and the serfs waited. + +Again she aroused hope. It was given out that her most intense delight +came from the sight of happy serfs and prosperous villages. Accordingly, +in her journey to the Crimea, Potemkin squandered millions on millions +in rearing pasteboard villages, in dragging forth thousands of wretched +peasants to fill them, in costuming them to look thrifty, in training +them to look happy. Catharine was rejoiced, Europe sang paeans--the +serfs waited. + +She seemed to go further: she issued a decree prohibiting the +enslavement of serfs. But unfortunately the palace intrigues, and the +correspondence with the philosophers, and the destruction of Polish +nationality left her no time to see the edict carried out. But Europe +applauded--and the serfs waited. Two years after this came a deed which +put an end to all this uncertainty. An edict was prepared ordering the +peasants of Little Russia to remain forever on the estates where the day +of publication should find them. This was vile; but what followed was +diabolic. Court pets were let into the secret. These, by good promises, +enticed hosts of peasants to their estates. The edict was now sprung; in +an hour the courtiers were made rich, the peasants were made serfs, and +Catharine II was made infamous forever. So, about a century after Peter, +a wave of wrong rolled over Russia that not only drowned honor in the +nobility, but drowned hope in the people. + +As Russia entered the nineteenth century, the hearts of earnest men must +have sunk within them. For Paul I, Catharine's son and successor, was +infinitely more despotic than Catharine, and infinitely less restrained +by public opinion. He had been born with savage instincts, and educated +into ferocity. Tyranny was written on his features in his childhood. If +he remained in Russia his mother sneered and showed hatred of him; if he +journeyed in Western Europe crowds gathered about his coach to jeer at +his ugliness. Most of those who have seen Gillray's caricature of him, +issued in the height of English spite at Paul's homage to Bonaparte, +have thought it hideously overdrawn; but those who have seen the +portrait of Paul in the Cadet-Corps of St. Petersburg know well that +Gillray did not exaggerate Paul's ugliness, for he could not. + +And Paul's face was but a mirror of his character. Tyranny was wrought +into his every fibre. He demanded an oriental homage. As his carriage +whirled by, it was held the duty of all others in carriages to stop, +descend into the mud, and bow themselves. Himself threw his despotism +into this formula: "Know, Sir Ambassador, that in Russia there is no one +noble or powerful except the man to whom I speak, and while I speak." + +And yet within that hideous mass glowed sparks of reverence for right. +When the nobles tried to get Paul's assent to more open arrangements for +selling serfs apart from the soil, he utterly refused; and when they +overtasked their human chattels Paul made a law that no serf should be +required to give more than three days in the week to the tillage of his +master's domain. But, within five years after his accession, Paul had +developed into such a ravenous wild beast that it became necessary to +murder him. This duty done, there came a change in the spirit of Russian +sovereignty as from March to May; but, sadly for humanity, there came at +the same time a change in the spirit of European politics, as from May +to March. + +For, although the new Czar, Alexander I, was mild and liberal, the storm +of French ideas and armies had generally destroyed in monarchs' minds +any poor germs of philanthropy which had ever found lodgement there. +Still Alexander breasted this storm; found time to plan for his serfs, +and in 1803 put his hand to the work of helping them toward freedom. His +first edict was for the creation of the class of "free laborers." By +this, masters and serfs were encouraged to enter into an arrangement +which was to put the serf into immediate possession of himself, of a +homestead and of a few acres, giving him time to indemnify his master by +a series of payments. Alexander threw his heart into this scheme; and in +his kindliness he supposed that the pretended willingness of the nobles +meant something; but the serf-owning caste, without openly opposing, +twisted up bad consequences with good, braided impossibilities into +possibilities; the whole plan became a tangle, and was thrown aside. + +The Czar now sought to foster other good efforts, especially those made +by some earnest nobles to free their serfs by will. But this plan also +the serf-owning caste entangled and thwarted. At last the storm of war +set in with such fury that all internal reforms must be lost sight of. +Russia had to make ready for those campaigns in which Napoleon gained +every battle. Then came that peaceful meeting on the raft at +Tilsit--worse for Russia than any warlike meeting; for thereby Napoleon +seduced Alexander, for years, from plans of bettering his empire into +dreams of extending it. + +Coming out of these dreams, Alexander had to deal with such realities as +the burning of Moscow, the Battle of Leipsic, and the occupation of +France; yet, in the midst of those fearful times--when the grapple of +the emperors was at the fiercest; in the very year of the burning of +Moscow--Alexander rose in calm statesmanship, and admitted Bessarabia +into the empire under a proviso which excluded serfage forever. Hardly +was the great European tragedy ended, when Alexander again turned +sorrowfully toward the wronged millions of his empire. He found that +progress in civilization had but made the condition of the serfs worse. +The newly ennobled _parvenus_ were worse than the old _boyars_; they +hugged the serf system more lovingly and the serfs more hatefully. The +sight of these wrongs roused him. He seized a cross, and swore that the +serf system should be abolished. + +Straightway a great and good plan was prepared. Its main features were: +a period of transition from serfage to personal liberty, extending +through twelve or fourteen years; the arrival of the serf at personal +freedom, with ownership of his cabin and the bit of land attached to it; +the gradual reimbursement of masters by serfs; and after this advance to +personal liberty, an advance by easy steps to a sort of political +liberty. Favorable as was this plan to the serf-owners, they attacked it +in various ways; but they could not kill it utterly. Esthonia, Livonia, +and Courland became free. Having failed to arrest the growth of freedom, +the serf-holding caste made every effort to blast the good fruits of +freedom. In Courland they were thwarted; in Esthonia and Livonia they +succeeded during many years; but the eternal laws were too strong for +them, and the fruitage of liberty had grown richer and better. + +After these good efforts, Alexander stopped, discouraged. A few +patriotic nobles stood apart from their caste, and strengthened his +hands, as Lafayette and Lincourt strengthened Louis XVI. They even drew +up a plan of voluntary emancipation; formed an association for the +purpose and gained many signatures; but the great weight of that +besotted serf-owning caste was thrown against them, and all came to +naught. Alexander was at last walled in from the great object of his +ambition. Pretended theologians built, between him and emancipation, +walls of Scriptural interpretation; pretended philosophers built walls +of false political economy; pretended statesmen built walls of sham +common-sense. If the Czar could but have mustered courage to cut the +knot! Alas for Russia and for him, he wasted himself in efforts to untie +it. His heart sickened at it; he welcomed death, which alone could +remove him from it. + +Alexander's successor, Nicholas I, had been known before his accession +as a mere martinet, a good colonel for parade days, wonderful in +detecting soiled uniforms, terrible in administering petty punishments. +It seems like the story of stupid Brutus over again. Altered +circumstances made a new man of him; and few things are more strange +than the change wrought in his whole bearing and look by that week of +energy in climbing his brother's throne. The great article in Nicholas's +creed was a complete, downright faith in despotism, and in himself as +despotism's apostle. Hence he hated, above all things, a limited +monarchy. He told De Custine that a pure monarchy or pure republic he +could understand; but that anything between these he could not +understand. Of his former rule of Poland, as constitutional monarch, he +spoke with loathing. + +Of this hate which Nicholas felt for liberal forms of government there +yet remain monuments in the great museum of the Kremlin. That museum +holds an immense number of interesting things, and masses of jewels and +plate which make all other European collections mean. The visitor +wanders among clumps of diamonds and sacks of pearls and a nauseating +wealth of rubies and sapphires and emeralds. There rise rows upon rows +of jewelled cimeters, and vases and salvers of gold, and old saddles +studded with diamonds and with stirrups of gold--presents of frightened +Asiatic satraps or fawning European allies. There too are the crowns of +Muscovy, of Russia, of Kazan, of Astrakhan, of Siberia, of the Crimea, +and, pity to say it, of Poland. And next this is an index of despotic +hate--for the Polish sceptre is broken and flung aside. Near this stands +the full-length portrait of Alexander I, and at his feet are grouped +captured flags of Hungary and Poland--some with blood-marks still upon +them. But below all, far beneath the feet of the Emperor, in dust and +ignominy and on the floor, is flung the _very_ Constitution of +Poland--parchment for parchment, ink for ink, good promise for good +promise--which Alexander gave with so many smiles, and which Nicholas +took away with so much bloodshed. + +And not far from this monument of the deathless hate Nicholas bore that +liberty he had stung to death stands a monument of his admiration for +straightforward tyranny, even in the most dreaded enemy his house ever +knew. Standing there is a statue in the purest of marble, the only +statue in those vast halls. It has the place of honor. It looks proudly +over all that glory and keeps ward over all that treasure; and that +statue, in full majesty of imperial robes, and bees, and diadem, and +face, is of the First Napoleon. Admiration of his tyrannic will has at +last made him peaceful sovereign of the Kremlin. + +This spirit of absolutism took its most offensive form in Nicholas's +attitude toward Europe. He was the very incarnation of reaction against +revolution, and he became the demigod of that horde of petty despots who +infest Central Europe. Whenever, then, any tyrant's lie was to be +baptized, he stood its godfather; whenever any God's truth was to be +crucified, he led on those who passed by, reviling and wagging their +heads. Whenever these oppressors revived some old feudal wrong, Nicholas +backed them in the name of religion; whenever their nations struggled to +preserve some great right, Nicholas crushed them in the name of law and +order. With these pauper princes his children intermarried, and he fed +them with his crumbs and clothed them with scraps of his purple. The +visitor can see today, in every one of their dwarf palaces, some of his +malachite vases or porcelain bowls or porphyry columns. + +But the people of Western Europe distrusted him as much as their rulers +worshipped; and some of these same presents to their rulers have become +trifle-monuments of no mean value in showing that popular idea of +Russian policy. Foremost among these stand those two bronze masses of +statuary in front of the Royal Palace at Berlin, representing fiery +horses restrained by strong men. Pompous inscriptions proclaim these +presents from Nicholas; but the people, knowing the man and his +measures, have fastened upon one of these curbed steeds the name of +"Progress Checked," and on the other "Retrogression Encouraged." + +A few days before Nicholas's self-will brought him to his deathbed we +saw him ride through the St. Petersburg streets with no pomp and no +attendants, yet in as great pride as ever despotism gave a man. At his +approach, nobles uncovered and looked docile, soldiers faced about and +became statues, long-bearded peasants bowed to the ground with the air +of men on whose vision a miracle flashes. For there was one who could +make or mar all fortunes--the absolute owner of street and houses and +passers-by--one who owned the patent and dispensed the right to tread +that soil, to breathe that air, to be glorified in that sunlight and +amid those snow crystals. And he looked it all. Though at that moment +his army was entrapped by military stratagem, and he himself was +entrapped by diplomatic stratagem, that face and form were proud and +confident as ever. + +There was in this attitude toward Europe--in this standing forth as the +representative man of absolutism, and breasting the nineteenth +century--something of greatness; but in his attitude toward Russia this +greatness was wretchedly diminished. For, as Alexander I was a good man +enticed out of goodness by the baits of Napoleon, Nicholas was a great +man scared out of greatness by the ever-recurring phantom of the French +Revolution. + +In those first days of his reign, when he enforced loyalty with +grape-shot and halter, Nicholas dared much and stood firm; but his +character soon showed another side. Fearless as he was before bright +bayonets, he was an utter coward before bright ideas. He laughed at the +flash of cannon, but he trembled at the flash of a new living thought. +Whenever, then, he attempted a great thing for his nation, he was sure +to be scared back from its completion by fear of revolution. And so, +today, he who looks through Russia for Nicholas's works finds a number +of great things he had done, but each is single, insulated, not preceded +logically, not followed effectively. Take, as an example of this, his +railway-building. + +His own pride and Russian interest demanded railways. He scanned the +world with that keen eye of his, saw that American energy was the best +supplement to Russian capital; his will darted quickly, struck afar, and +Americans came to build his road from St. Petersburg to Moscow. Nothing +can be more complete. It is an air-line road, and so perfect that the +traveller finds few places where the rails do not meet, before and +behind him, in the horizon. The track is double, the rails very heavy +and admirably ballasted; station-houses and engine-houses are splendid +in build, perfect in arrangement, and surrounded by neat gardens. The +whole work is worthy of the Pyramid builders. The traveller is whirled +by culverts, abutments, and walls of dressed granite, through cuttings +where the earth on either side is carefully paved or turfed to the +summit. Ranges of Greek columns are reared as crossings in the midst of +broad marshes, lions' heads in bronzed iron stare out upon vast wastes +where never rose even the smoke from a serf's kennel. + +All this seems good; and a ride of four hundred miles through such +glories rarely fails to set the traveller at chanting the praises of the +Emperor who conceived them. But when the traveller notes that complete +isolation of the work from all conditions necessary to its success, his +praises grow fainter. He sees that Nicholas held back from continuing +the road to Odessa, though half the money spent in making the road an +imperial plaything would have built a good, solid extension to that most +important seaport; he sees that Nicholas dared not untie police +regulations, and that commerce is wretchedly meagre. Contrary to what +would obtain under a free system, this great public work found the +country wretched and left it wretched. The traveller flies by no ranges +of trim palings and tidy cottages; he sees the same dingy groups of huts +here as elsewhere, the same cultivation looking for no morrow, the same +tokens that the laborer is not thought worthy of his hire. This same +tendency to great single works, this same fear of great connected +systems, this same timid isolation of great creations from principles +essential to their growth, is seen, too, in Nicholas's church-building. + +Foremost of all the edifices on which Nicholas lavished the wealth of +the empire stands the Isak Church in St. Petersburg. It is one of the +largest and certainly the richest cathedral in Christendom. All is +polished pink granite and marble and bronze. On all sides are double +rows of Titanic columns, each a single block of polished granite with +bronze capital. Colossal masses of bronze statuary are grouped over each +front; high above the roof and surrounding the great drums of the domes +are lines of giant columns in granite bearing giant statues in bronze; +and crowning all rises the vast central dome, flanked by its four +smaller domes, all heavily plated with gold. + +The church within is one gorgeous mass of precious marbles and mosaics +and silver and gold and jewels. On the tabernacle of the altar, in gold +and malachite, on the screen of the altar, with its pilasters of lapis +lazuli and its range of malachite columns fifty feet high, were lavished +millions on millions. Bulging from the ceilings are massy bosses of +Siberian porphyry and jasper. To decorate the walls with unfading +pictures, Nicholas founded an establishment for mosaic work, where sixty +pictures were commanded, each demanding, after all artistic labor, the +mechanical labor of two men for four years. + +Yet this vast work is not so striking a monument of Nicholas's luxury as +of his timidity. For this cathedral and some others almost as grand +were, in part at least, results of the deep wish of Nicholas to wean his +people from their semi-idolatrous love for dark, confined, filthy +sanctuaries, like those of Moscow; but here again is a timid purpose and +half result; Nicholas dared set no adequate enginery working at the +popular religious training or moral training. There had been such an +organization, the Russian Bible Society, favored by Alexander I; but +Nicholas swept it away at one stroke of the pen. Evidently, he feared +lest Scriptural denunciations of certain sins in ancient politics might +be popularly interpreted against certain sins in modern politics. The +corruption system in Russia is old, organized, and respectable. Stories +told of Russian bribes and thefts exceed belief only until one has been +on the ground. + +Nicholas began well. He made an imperial progress to Odessa, was +welcomed in the morning by the governor in full pomp and robes and flow +of smooth words; and at noon the same governor was working in the +streets with ball and chain as a convict. But against such a chronic +moral evil no government is so weak as your so-called "strong" +government. Nicholas set out one day for the Kronstadt arsenals to look +into the accounts there; but before he reached them, stores, +storehouses, and account-books were in ashes. So at last Nicholas folded +his arms and wrestled no more. For, apart from the trouble, there came +ever in his dealings with thieves that old timid thought of his, that, +if he examined too closely their chief tenure, they might examine too +closely his despot tenure. + +We have shown this vague fear in Nicholas's mind thus at length and in +different workings, because thereby alone can be grasped the master-key +to his dealings with the serf system. Toward his toiling millions +Nicholas always showed sympathy. Let news of a single wrong to a serf +get through the hedges about the Russian majesty, and woe to the guilty +master! Many of these wrongs came to Nicholas's notice; and he came to +hate the system, and tried to undermine it. Opposition met him, of +course; not so much the ponderous laziness of Peter's time as an +opposition, polite and elastic, which never ranted and never stood +up--for then Nicholas would have throttled it and stamped upon it. But +it did its best to entangle his reason and thwart his action. He was +told that the serfs were well-fed, well-housed, well-clothed, +well-provided with religion; were contented, and had no wish to leave +their owners. + +Now Nicholas was not strong at spinning sham reasons nor subtle at +weaving false conscience; but, to his mind, the very fact that the +system had so degraded a man that he could laugh and dance and sing, +while other men took his wages, his wife, and homestead, was the +crowning argument against the system. Then the political economists +beset him, proving that without forced labor Russia must sink into sloth +and poverty. + +Yet all this could not shut out from Nicholas's sight the great black +fact in the case. He saw, and winced as he saw, that, while other +European nations, even under despots, were comparatively active and +energetic, his own people were sluggish and stagnant; that, although +great thoughts and great acts were towering in the West, there were in +Russia, after all his galvanizing, no great authors, or scholars, or +builders, or inventors, but only two main products of Russian +civilization, dissolute lords and abject serfs. + +Nearly twenty years went by in this timid dropping of grains of salt +into a putrid sea. But at last, in 1842, Nicholas issued his ukase +creating the class of "contracting peasants." Masters and serfs were +empowered to enter into contracts, the serf receiving freedom, the +master receiving payment in instalments. It was a moderate innovation, +very moderate--nothing more than the first failure of the First +Alexander. Yet even here that old timidity of Nicholas nearly spoiled +what little good was hidden in the ukase. Notice after notice was given +to the serf-owners that they were not to be molested, that no +emancipation was contemplated, and that the ukase contained "nothing +new." The result was as feeble as the policy. A few serfs were +emancipated, and Nicholas halted. The revolutions of 1848 increased his +fear of innovation; and finally the war in the Crimea took from him the +power of innovation. + +The great man died. We saw his cold dead face, in the midst of crowns +and crosses, very pale then, very powerless then. One might stare at +him, then, as at a serf's corpse; for he who had scared Europe during +thirty years lay before us that day as a poor lump of chilled brain and +withered muscle. And we stood by, when, amid chanting and flare of +torches and roll of cannon, his sons wrapped him in his shroud of gold +thread, and lowered him into the tomb of his fathers. + +But there was shown in those days far greater tribute than the prayers +of bishops or the reverence of ambassadors. Massed about the Winter +Palace and the Fortress of Peter and Paul, stood thousands on thousands +who, in far-distant serf-huts, had put on their best, had toiled wearily +to the capital to give their last mute thanks to one who for years had +stood between their welfare and their owners' greed. Sad that he had not +done more. Yet they knew that he had wished their freedom and loathed +their wrongs; for that came up the tribute of millions. + +The new Emperor, Alexander II, had never been hoped for as one who could +light the nation from his brain; the only hope was that he might warm +the nation somewhat from his heart. He was said to be of a weak, silken +fibre. The strength of the family was said to be concentrated in his +younger brother, Constantine. But soon came a day when the young Czar +revealed to Europe not merely kindliness, but strength. While his +father's corpse was still lying within his palace, he received the +diplomatic body. As the Emperor entered the audience-room he seemed +feeble, indeed, for such a crisis. That fearful legacy of war seemed to +weigh upon his heart; marks of plenteous tears were upon his face; +Nesselrode, though old and bent and shrunk in stature, seemed stronger +than his young master. + +But as he began his speech it was seen that a strong man had mounted the +throne. With earnestness he declared that he sorrowed over the existing +war; but that, if the Holy Alliance had been broken, it was not through +the fault of Russia. With bitterness he turned toward the Austrian +minister, Esterhazy, and hinted at Russian services in 1848, and +Austrian ingratitude. Calmly then, not as one who spoke a part but as +one who announced a determination, he declared: "I am anxious for peace; +but if the terms at the approaching congress are incompatible with the +honor of my nation, I will put myself at the head of my faithful Russia +and die sooner than yield." + +Strong as Alexander showed himself by these words, he showed himself +stronger by acts. A policy properly mingling firmness and conciliation +brought peace to Europe and showed him equal to his father; a policy +mingling love of liberty with love of order brought the dawn of +prosperity to Russia and showed him the superior of his father. The +reforms now begun were not stinted as of old, but free and hearty. In +rapid succession were swept away restrictions on telegraphic +communication, on printing, on the use of the Imperial Library, on +strangers entering the country, on Russians leaving the country. A +policy in public works was adopted which made Nicholas's greatest +efforts seem petty; a vast network of railways was begun. A policy in +commercial dealings with Western Europe was adopted, in which Alexander, +though not apparently so imposing as Nicholas, was really far greater; +he dared advance toward freedom of trade. + +But soon rose again that great problem of old--that problem ever rising +to meet a new autocrat, and, at each appearance, more dire than +before--the serf question. The serfs in private hands now numbered more +than twenty millions; above them stood more than a hundred thousand +owners. The princely strength of the largest owners was best represented +by a few men possessing over a hundred thousand serfs each, and, above +all, by Count Scheremetieff, who boasted three hundred thousand. The +luxury of the large owners was best represented by about four thousand +men possessing more than a thousand serfs each. The pinching +propensities of the small owners were best represented by fifty thousand +men possessing fewer than twenty serfs each. + +The serfs might be divided into two great classes. The first comprised +those working under the old or _corvee_ system, giving usually three +days in the week to the tillage of the owner's domain; the second +comprised those working under the new or _obrok_ system, receiving a +payment fixed by the owner and assessed by the community to which the +serfs belonged. The character of the serfs had been moulded by the serf +system. They had a simple shrewdness, which, under a better system, had +made them enterprising; but this quality soon degenerated into cunning +and cheatery--the weapons which the hopelessly oppressed always use. +They had a reverence for things sacred, which under a better system +might have given the nation a strengthening religion; but they now stood +among the most religious peoples on earth and among the least moral. To +the picture of Our Lady of Kazan they were ever ready to burn wax and +oil; to truth and justice they constantly omitted the tribute of mere +common honesty. They kept the Church fasts like saints; they kept the +Church feasts like satyrs. + +They had curiosity, which under a better system would have made them +inventive; but their plough, in common use, was behind the plough +described by Vergil. They had a love of gain, which under a better +system would have made them hardworking; but it took ten serfs to do, +languidly and poorly, what two free men in America would do quickly and +well. They were naturally a kind people; but let one example show how +serfage can transmute kindness. It is a rule, well known in Russia, that +when an accident occurs, interference is to be left to the police. Hence +you would see a man lying in a fit, and the bystanders giving no aid, +but waiting for the authorities. Some years ago, as all the world +remembers, a theatre took fire in St. Petersburg, and crowds of people +were burned or stifled. The whole story is not so well known. The +theatre was but a great temporary wooden shed--such as is run up every +year at the holidays, in the public squares. When the fire burst forth, +crowds of peasants hurried to the spot; but though they heard the +shrieks of the dying, separated from them only by a thin planking, only +one man in that multitude dared cut through and rescue some of the +sufferers. + +The serfs, when standing for great ideas, would die rather than yield. +Napoleon I learned this at Eylau; Napoleon III learned it at Sebastopol; +yet in daily life they were slavish beyond belief. On a certain day, in +the year 1855, the most embarrassed man in all Russia was doubtless our +excellent American minister. The serf coachman employed at wages was +called up to receive his discharge for drunkenness. Coming into the +presence of a sound-hearted American democrat, who never had dreamed of +one mortal kneeling to another, Ivan throws himself on his knees, +presses his forehead to the minister's feet, fawns like a tamed beast, +and refuses to move until the minister relieves himself from this +nightmare of servility by a full pardon. + +Time after time we have entered the serf field and serf hut; have seen +the simple round of serf toils and sports; have heard the simple +chronicles of self joys and sorrows: but whether his livery were filthy +sheepskin or gold-laced caftan; whether he lay on carpets at the door of +his master, or in filth on the floor of his cabin; whether he gave us +cold, stupid stories of his wrongs, or flippant details of his joys; +whether he blessed his master or cursed him--we have wondered at the +power which a serf system has to degrade and imbrute the image of God. + +But astonishment was increased a thousand-fold at study of the reflex +influence for evil upon the serf-owners themselves, upon the whole free +community, upon the very soil of the whole country. On all those broad +plains of Russia, on the daily life of that serf-owning aristocracy, on +the whole class which was neither of serfs nor serf-owners, the curse of +God was written in letters so big and so black that all mankind might +read them. Farms were untilled, enterprise deadened, invention crippled, +education neglected; life was of little value; labor was the badge of +servility, laziness the very badge and passport of gentility. Despite +the most specious half-measures, despite all efforts to galvanize it, to +coax life into it, to sting life into it, the nation remained stagnant. +Not one traveller who does not know that the evils brought on that land +by the despotism of the autocrat were as nothing compared to that dark +network of curses spread over it by a serf-owning aristocracy. Into the +conflict with this evil Alexander II entered manfully. Having been two +years upon the throne, having made a plan, having stirred some thought +through certain authorized journals, he inspired the nobility in three +of the northwestern provinces to memorialize him in regard to +emancipation. + +Straightway an answer was sent conveying the outlines of the Emperor's +plan. The period of transition from serfage to freedom was set at twelve +years; at the end of that time the serf was to be fully free and +possessor of his cabin, with an adjoining piece of land. The provincial +nobles were convoked to fill out these outlines with details as to the +working out by the serfs of a fair indemnity to their masters. The whole +world was stirred; but that province in which the Czar hoped most +eagerly for a movement to meet him--the province where beat the old +Muscovite heart, Moscow--was stirred least of all. Every earnest throb +seemed stifled there by that strong aristocracy. + +Yet Moscow moved at last. Some nobles who had not yet arrived at the +callous period; some professors in the University who had not yet +arrived at the heavy period, breathed life into the mass, dragged on the +timid, fought off the malignant. The movement had soon a force which the +retrograde party at Moscow dared not openly resist. So they sent answers +to St. Petersburg, apparently favorable; but wrapped in their phrases +were hints of difficulties, reservations, impossibilities. All this +studied suggestion of difficulties profited the reactionists nothing. +They were immediately informed that the imperial mind was made up, that +the business of the Muscovite nobility was now to arrange that the serf +be freed in twelve years, and put in possession of homestead and +enclosure. + +The next movement of the retrograde party was to misunderstand +everything. The plainest things were found to need a world of debate; +the simplest things became entangled; the noble assemblies played +solemnly a ludicrous game of cross-purposes. Straightway came a notice +from the Emperor which, stripped of official verbiage, said that they +must understand. This set all in motion again. Imperial notices were +sent to province after province, explanatory documents were issued, good +men and strong were set to talk and work. + +The nobility of Moscow made another move. To scare back the advancing +forces of emancipation, they elected, as provincial leaders, three +nobles bearing the greatest names of old Russia and haters of the new +ideas. To defeat these came a successor of St. Gregory and St. Bavon, +one who accepted the thought that when God advances great ideas the +Church must marshal them. Philarete, Metropolitan of Moscow, upheld +emancipation and condemned its foes; his earnest eloquence carried all. +The work progressed unevenly--nobles in different governments differed +in plan and aim--an assembly of delegates was brought together at St. +Petersburg to combine and perfect a resultant plan under the eye of the +Emperor. The Grand Council of the Empire, too, was set at the work. It +was a most unpromising body, yet the Emperor's will stirred it. + +The opposition now made the most brilliant stroke of its campaign. Just +as James II of England prated of toleration and planned the enslavement +of all thought, so now the bigoted plotters against emancipation began +to prate of constitutional liberty. But Alexander held right on. It was +even hinted that visions of a constitutional monarchy pleased him. But +then came tests of Alexander's strength far more trying. Masses of +peasants, hearing vague news of emancipation--learning, doubtless, from +their masters' own spiteful lips that the Emperor was endeavoring to +tear away property in serfs--took the masters at their word, and +determined to help the Emperor. They rose in insurrection. To the +bigoted serf-owners this was a godsend. They paraded it in all lights; +therewith they threw life into all the old commonplaces on the French +Revolution; timid men of good intentions wavered. The Czar would surely +now be scared back. + +Not so. Alexander now hurled his greatest weapon, and stunned reaction +in a moment. He freed all the serfs on the Imperial estates without +reserve. Now it was seen that he was in earnest; the opponents were +disheartened; once more the plan moved and dragged them on. But there +came other things to dishearten the Emperor; and not least of these was +the attitude of those who moulded popular thought in England. Be it said +here, to the credit of France, that from her came constant encouragement +in the great work. Wolowski, Mazade, and other true-hearted men sent +forth from leading reviews and journals words of sympathy, words of +help, words of cheer. + +Not so England. Just as in the French Revolution of 1789, while yet that +Revolution was noble and good, while yet Lafayette and Bailly held it, +leaders in English thought, who had quickened the opinions which had +caused the Revolution, sent malignant prophecies and prompted foul +blows, so in this battle of Alexander against a foul wrong they seized +this time of all times to show all the wrongs and absurdities of which +Russia ever had been or ever might be guilty--criticised, carped, sent +much haughty advice, depressing sympathy, and malignant prophecy. Review +articles, based on no real knowledge of Russia, announced a desire for +serf-emancipation, and then, in the modern English way, with plentiful +pyrotechnics of antithesis and paradox, threw a gloomy light into the +skilfully pictured depths of imperial despotism, official corruption, +and national bankruptcy. + +They revived Old World objections, which, to one acquainted with the +most every-day workings of serfage, were ridiculous. It was said that if +the serfs lost the protection of their owners they might fall a prey to +rapacious officials. As well might it have been argued that a mother +should never loose her son from her apron-strings. It was said that +"Serfism excludes pauperism"--that, if the serf owes work to his owner +in the prime of life, the owner owes support to his serf in the decline +of life. No lie could be more absurd to one who had seen Russian life. +We were first greeted, on entering Russia, by a beggar who knelt in the +mud; at Kovno eighteen beggars besieged the coach, and Kovno was hardly +worse than scores of other towns; within a day's ride from St. +Petersburg a woman begged piteously for means to keep soul and body +together, and finished the refutation of that sonorous English theory, +for she had been discharged from her master's service in the metropolis +as too feeble, and had been sent back to his domain, afar in the +country, on foot and without money. + +It was said that freed peasants would not work. But, despite volleys of +predictions that they would not work if freed, despite volleys of +assertions that they could not work if freed, the peasants when set +free, and not crushed by regulations, have sprung to their work with an +earnestness and continued it with a vigor at which the philosophers of +the old system stand aghast. The freed peasants of Wologda compare +favorably with any in Europe. And when the old tirades had grown stale, +English writers drew copiously from a new source--from _La Verite sur la +Russie_--pleasingly indifferent to the fact that the author's praise in +a previous work had notoriously been a thing of bargain and sale, and +that there was in full process of development a train of facts which led +the Parisian courts to find him guilty of demanding in one case a +blackmail of fifty thousand rubles. + +All this argument outside the empire helped the foes of emancipation +inside the empire. But the Emperor met the whole body of his opponents +with an argument overwhelming. On March 5, 1861, he issued his manifesto +making the serfs free! He had struggled long to make some satisfactory +previous arrangement; his motto now became: Emancipation first, +arrangement afterward. Thus was the result of the great struggle +decided. + + +NIKOLAI TURGENIEFF + +In 1857 the Emperor Alexander II first raised the question of +emancipation, and declared it was time for it to be accomplished. As +might have been expected, the idea of emancipation met with great +opposition from different sides. Yet the opposition was directed not so +much against the personal emancipation of the serfs as against the +appropriation to them, when liberated, of the land they held. The +proprietors, assembled in different committees which were established +all over the empire to discuss the matter, ended even by giving up their +right of possession in the person of the serf, and, mentioning only +their right to the land occupied by the peasants, claimed pecuniary +indemnities if that land were delivered to them. The honorable gentlemen +whom the Emperor intrusted with this important task, forming a committee +_ad hoc_, declared from the first as a principle that the emancipated +peasants must have land, about in the same quantity as they had hitherto +occupied, on condition of a pecuniary indemnity to be paid to the +proprietors. That principle prevailed, thanks to the Emperor's firmness. + +During the discussion of that question in Russia, I published several +writings on the matter. My chief purpose and warmest desire being to +secure to the peasants as soon as possible their personal freedom and +complete liberty of labor, I proposed a method of emancipation, claiming +the entire property of their homes; that is to say, cottages and +orchards and a small quantity of arable land, and that without the +slightest indemnity from them to their masters, which was to be left to +the Government. A sum of about two hundred million dollars, according to +my calculation, would have been sufficient for it. + +Meanwhile I inherited a small landed property, inhabited by about four +hundred persons of both sexes. I hastened to put in practice my method. +I abandoned one-third of the land, including their houses, to the +peasants, and let them the two remaining thirds for a certain sum of +money. In my agreement with them it was settled that, if the +emancipation which the Government was preparing (1859) turned out more +advantageous to them, they were to accept it in preference to mine. It +is needless to add that, when the official emancipation was proclaimed, +the peasants and I found it more advantageous and adopted it. If I were +to compare the two methods, I should say that mine tended chiefly to the +liberty of the peasants' person and labor, and that of the Government to +give them a quantity of land sufficient for their subsistence. + +The great inconvenience of this last method was that it obliged the +peasants to pay a heavy rent to redeem their land, and that during +forty-nine years! Nevertheless, their passion to possess land was so +strong that they cheerfully submitted to such hard conditions. The +redeeming rent _(rente de rachat_) was to be paid by the peasants, +either in money, according to an estimate fixed by law, or by work done +for the proprietor, _i.e.,_ by _corvies_. This last mode of payment, +sanctioned by law only for a short period, disappeared more and more +every day, so that the majority of the peasants no longer worked for the +proprietors, but paid their rent in money. + +I can say more: About two millions of peasants were entirely liberated +with regard to the proprietors, thanks to an immediate payment of the +redeeming rent. In such cases their annual rent (_redevance_) was +capitalized, and the Government gave the proprietor an obligation for +the amount of the capital, which bore five per cent, interest, and was +to be redeemed in the course of forty-nine years by annual drawings +(_tirages_); the peasants then to pay their redeeming rent to +Government, and thus become free and independent proprietors. For some +time both peasants and proprietors seemed to find this proceeding the +most profitable, and agreements of this kind became more and more +frequent every day. + +I can hardly say how happy I was when I saw for the first time my dear, +beloved, and deeply respected Russian peasants free at last, and +proprietors of the land they had till then cultivated as serfs! What a +change! The same creatures, serfs yesterday, became men, conscious of +their human dignity; their aspect, their language, are those of free +men. In the mean while, in getting rid of their serfdom, they preserved +their usual good sense, wisdom, and _bonhomie_; no impertinence, no +arrogance whatever can be detected in them; they are full of +self-respect, yet polite. I saw them discussing with the authorities +some business of theirs. They maintained their new rights, and, when +wrong, never hesitated to acknowledge it. + +Every district and every _chef-lieu_ had every year an assembly of +deputies who named a permanent committee for three years. This committee +was charged with the municipal administration, under the control of the +assembly. Everyone was called by law to the election of the deputies. It +happened in many places that the peasants were the more numerous and +could therefore dispose of all the places in the administrative +committee. They were so informed. "No," was their answer; "we want one +or two members of the committee taken from among ourselves; they will +watch over our interests. As for defending them, as for action, the +nobles we name will do it better than we, for they are more learned than +we are." In one of the assemblies the nobles, moved by the tact and +moderation of the peasants, insisted and almost forced a peasant to +become president of the administrative committee of the district. When +the salary of the members of the committee had to be decided, the +peasants usually considered it too high for them, and, letting the +nobles and the merchants have it, got it diminished by one-half for +themselves. + +All the district assemblies, after voting for the formation of the +administrative committee, named the deputies for the larger assembly in +the chief town in the province, which in its turn chose among its own +members the members for the provincial administrative committee. The +central committee seemed to interest the peasants less than those of the +districts, and this too is owing to their modesty and moderation. + +Another field was offered by the new law to the activity of the peasants +in the local or municipal tribunals. The law united several rural +communes in one canton _(volost)._ Each canton, each commune, chose an +_ancient_, assisted by a _conseil_ In every canton was a tribunal to +judge the peasants' affairs. Ancients and judges were elected by +peasants; noblemen were not submitted to these tribunals, but it has +happened that some of them preferred having their difficulties with +peasants settled by municipal judges rather than by the usual tribunals. +This jurisdiction, established merely for peasants, had great +importance, owing chiefly to the privilege of deciding not only +according to general law, but also according to local customs. +Opportunities were not wanting for the good sense of the peasants to +show itself in these municipal tribunals and councils, and the success +of the institution was clear to everyone. + + + + +(1844-1861) CHRONOLOGY OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY, Embracing the period + covered in this volume, Daniel Edwin Wheeler + + +Events treated at length are here indicated in large type; the numerals +following give volume and page. + +Separate chronologies or the various nations, and of the careers of +famous persons, will be found in the INDEX VOLUME, with references +showing where the several events are fully treated. + + + 1844 - "INVENTION OF THE TELEGRAPH." + + 1845 - Florida and Texas admitted to the United States; beginning of + President Folk's Administration. + + - Sir John Franklin sails on his last search for the Northwest + Passage. + + - England and France war on the Argentine Confederation. + + 1846 - War between the United States and Mexico; General Taylor + captures Monterey; California and New Mexico occupied by United + States troops. See "THE ACQUISITION OF CALIFORNIA." + + - Treaty with England arranges the Oregon boundary. + + - Elias Howe patents the sewing-machine. + + - "THE DISCOVERY OF NEPTUNE." + + - Great Famine begins in Ireland. Corn-Law agitation at its + height in England, "REPEAL OF THE ENGLISH CORN LAWS." + + - Unsuccessful uprising of the Poles. Cracow annexed to Austria. + Election of Pope Pius IX; his reforms. See "THE REFORMS OF Pius + IX." + + 1847 - General Taylor conquers Northern Mexico; Battle of Buena Vista. + General Scott captures Vera Cruz, marches on the city of + Mexico, wins repeated battles, and enters the capital in + triumph, September 14th. See "THE MEXICAN WAR." + + - "FAMINE IN IRELAND." + + - Tumult occasioned in Italy by the papal reforms; civil war of + the _Sonderbund_ in Switzerland; France finally subjugates + Morocco. See "THE FALL OF ABD-EL-KADER." + + 1848 - Peace signed between Mexico and the United States; cession of + large territory by Mexico. + + - "DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN CALIFORNIA." + + - The Mormons settle in Utah. See "MIGRATIONS OF THE MORMONS." + + - Italian uprisings in Milan and Sicily; Sardinia grants a + constitution to its subjects. See "THE REVOLUTION OF FEBRUARY + IN FRANCE." Gathering of a workingmen's convention in Paris. + + - Outbreak of revolution in Vienna (March 13th) and in Berlin + (March 18th). See "REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS IN GERMANY." + + - Meeting of the German Parliament at Frankfort. + + - Venice declares itself a republic. Sardinia begins war for the + "liberation of Italy"; Battle of Custozza. Bloody outbreak of + communists in Paris. Unsuccessful revolts in Poland and + Bohemia. + + - "THE REVOLT OF HUNGARY." + + - Storming of Vienna by government troops. Flight of Pius IX from + Rome. Louis Napoleon elected President of France. + + - The English crowd back the Boers in Southern Africa; the Boers + migrate and form the Transvaal Republic. + + 1849 - Zachary Taylor inaugurated as President of the United States. + + - Rome declared a republic. The Sardinian troops defeated by the + Austrians at Novara, and the Sardinian King resigns his throne + to his son, Victor Emmanuel II. Austria again dominant in + Italy. Rome stormed by French troops. See "RISE AND FALL OF THE + ROMAN REPUBLIC." + + - Venice surrenders to the Austrians after nearly a year of + siege. Hungary declared a republic; her forces crushed by the + + + - Russians in aid of Austria. + + - Denmark and Schleswig-Holstein at war. A German confederation + established. + + - "LIVINGSTONE'S AFRICAN DISCOVERIES." + + - The Punjab annexed to British India. + + 1850 - Death of President Taylor. + + - Congress passes the Clay compromise measures admitting + California as a free State, but compelling the return of + fugitive slaves by the North. + + - Tai-ping rebellion begins in China. + + 1851 - First great world's fair in the Crystal Palace, London. + + - "DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN AUSTRALIA." + + - "THE COUP D'ETAT OF LOUIS NAPOLEON." Napoleon dismisses the + Assembly, and is elected President of France for ten years. + + 1852 - Napoleon III proclaimed Emperor of France. + + 1853 - Franklin Pierce inaugurated as President of the United States. + + - The Gadsden Purchase made from Mexico, including Southern + Arizona and New Mexico. Surveys begin for a transcontinental + railroad. + + - Dr. Kane sets out on his arctic explorations. + + - Russia quarrels with Turkey, claims a protectorate over all + Christians in Turkish dominions; war begun, a Turkish fleet + destroyed at Sinope. England and France interfere. + + - Great successes of the Tai-pings in China. + + 1854 - Passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill intensifies the slavery + agitation in the United States; formation of the Republican + party. See "THE RISE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY." + + - France and England declare war against Russia; bombardment of + + Bomarsund; the allies land in the Crimea; battles of the Alma, + of Balaklava, of Inkerman, siege of Sebastopol. + + - "THE OPENING OF JAPAN." + + 1855 - "THE CAPTURE OF SEBASTOPOL." + + - Russian successes against the Turks in Asia. + + - Overthrow of Santa Ana, Dictator of Mexico. + + - Opening of a railway across the Isthmus of Panama. + 1856 - Tumult and bloodshed in Kansas. + + - Walker, the filibuster, seizes temporary control of Nicaragua. + + - End of the Crimean War; Russia withdraws from the Danubian + Provinces. + + - Second war between England and China; Persians attack + Afghanistan. + + 1857 - James Buchanan inaugurated as President of the United States. + + The decision in the Dred Scott case extends slavery into the + Territories. + + - Mormon Revolt in Utah. + + - "THE INDIAN MUTINY." Nana Sahib heads the insurgents; recapture + of Delhi and Cawnpore; relief of Lucknow. + + - England ends the Persian War. France joins England against + China. + + - The first Atlantic cable laid and broken. + + 1858 - Jews admitted to share in the government of England. + + - End of the Indian Mutiny; the East Indian Company transfers its + authority to the Crown. + + 1859 - John Brown's Raid. + + - Charles Darwin announces the doctrine of evolution. See "DARWIN + PUBLISHES His ORIGIN OF SPECIES." + + - Russia captures Shamyl, and subdues the entire region of the + Caucasus. + + - Cavour, the chief statesman of Sardinia, arranges an alliance + with France and begins a war with Austria to establish "United + Italy." + + - "BATTLES OF MAGENTA AND SOLFERINO." + + - Lombardy added to the Italian Kingdom; Venice remains Austrian. + + 1860 - Garibaldi and his "Thousand" attack the Neapolitans in + + Sicily; they capture Naples. Victor Emmanuel seizes the States + of the Church. See "THE KINGDOM OF ITALY ESTABLISHED." + + 1860 - French and English troops seize Peking and dictate peace terms. + + - Election of Abraham Lincoln, the Republican candidate, as + President of the United States. South Carolina secedes from the + Union. + + 1861 - "EMANCIPATION OF RUSSIAN SERFS." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Events by Famous Historians, +Vol. 17, by Charles Francis Horne + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREAT EVENTS 17 *** + +***** This file should be named 10128.txt or 10128.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/1/2/10128/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Keith M. 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