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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: A History of the Nineteenth Century, Year by Year + Volume Two (of Three) + +Author: Edwin Emerson + +Release Date: October 12, 2008 [EBook #26901] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NINETEENTH CENTURY *** + + + + +Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Paul Dring and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="tnote">Transcribers note: +<p>The list of years (as links) is for end user ease of use only. The list does +not appear in the original, nor (obviously) in the plain text version of this +ebook.</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<a name="THE_FIRST_STEAM_RAILWAY" id="THE_FIRST_STEAM_RAILWAY"></a> +<img src="images/frontspiece.jpg" width="500" height="250" alt="THE FIRST STEAM RAILWAY" +title="The First Steam Railway" /> +<span class="caption">THE FIRST STEAM RAILWAY</span> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0em;"><small>Painted by Edward L Henry, N.A.</small></span> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;"><small>Copyright by C. Klackner</small></span> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/tpage.jpg" width="500" height="165" alt="A History of the Nineteenth Century" title="" /> +</div> + +<p class="center"> +<small>BY</small> +</p> + +<p class="pbig"> +EDWIN EMERSON, <span class="smcap">Jr.</span> +<br /> +</p> + +<p class="center">Member of the American Historical Association, New York<br /> +Historical Society, Franklin Institute of Philadelphia,<br /> +Honorary Member of the Royal Philo-Historical<br /> +Society of Bavaria, etc., etc. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY<br /> +GEORG GOTTFRIED GERVINUS +</p> + +<p class="center"> +ILLUSTRATED WITH SIXTEEN COLORED PLATES AND<br /> +THIRTY-TWO FULL-PAGE, HALF-TONE CUTS<br /> +AND TWO MAPS +</p> + +<p class="center"> +<i>IN THREE VOLUMES—VOLUME TWO</i> +</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;"> +<img src="images/tpbit1.jpg" width="100" height="81" alt="logo" title="logo" /> +</div> + +<p class="center">NEW YORK</p> + +<p class="pbig">P.F. COLLIER AND SON</p> + +<p class="center">MCMII</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p class="center">COPYRIGHT, 1900</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By</span> EDWIN EMERSON, <span class="smcap">Jr</span>.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/tp3.jpg" width="150" height="83" alt="decoration" title="decoration" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p class="center"> +<a href="#a1816">1816</a> +<a href="#a1817">1817</a> +<a href="#a1818">1818</a> +<a href="#a1819">1819</a> +<a href="#a1820">1820</a> +<a href="#a1821">1821</a><br /> +<a href="#a1822">1822</a> +<a href="#a1823">1823</a> +<a href="#a1824">1824</a> +<a href="#a1825">1825</a> +<a href="#a1826">1826</a> +<a href="#a1827">1827</a><br /> +<a href="#a1828">1828</a> +<a href="#a1829">1829</a> +<a href="#a1830">1830</a> +<a href="#a1831">1831</a> +<a href="#a1832">1832</a> +<a href="#a1833">1833</a><br /> +<a href="#a1834">1834</a> +<a href="#a1835">1835</a> +<a href="#a1836">1836</a> +<a href="#a1837">1837</a> +<a href="#a1838">1838</a> +<a href="#a1839">1839</a><br /> +<a href="#a1840">1840</a> +<a href="#a1841">1841</a> +<a href="#a1842">1842</a> +<a href="#a1843">1843</a> +<a href="#a1844">1844</a> +<a href="#a1845">1845</a><br /> +<a href="#a1846">1846</a> +<a href="#a1847">1847</a> +<a href="#a1848">1848</a> +<a href="#a1849">1849</a> +<a href="#a1850">1850</a> +<a href="#a1851">1851</a><br /> +<a href="#a1852">1852</a> +<a href="#a1853">1853</a> +<a href="#a1854">1854</a> +<a href="#a1855">1855</a> +<a href="#a1856">1856</a> +<a href="#a1857">1857</a> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + +<p class="center">VOLUME TWO</p> + +<p class="center"><br />FULL PAGES IN COLOR</p> + +<ul class="lsoff"> +<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#THE_FIRST_STEAM_RAILWAY">The First Steam Railway.</a></span> + Painted by Edward L. Henry <i>Frontispiece</i></li> + +<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#BALAKLAVA">Balaklava.</a></span> + Painted by Elizabeth Thompson (Lady Butler)</li> + +<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#SOLFERINO">Solferino.</a></span> + Painted by E. Meissonier</li> + +<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#MAXIMILIAN">Last Moments of Maximilian.</a></span> + Painted by J. Paul Laurens</li> +</ul> + +<p class="center"><br />FULL PAGES IN BLACK AND WHITE</p> + +<ul class="lsoff"> +<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#AMERICAN_INVENTORS">American Inventors.</a></span> + Painted by C. Schussele</li> + +<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#KING_OF_ROME">The King of Rome.</a></span> + Painted by Sir Thomas Lawrence</li> + +<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#LORD_BYRON">Lord Byron.</a></span> + Painted by Maurin</li> + +<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#BEETHOVEN">Beethoven and His Admirers.</a></span> + Painted by A. Grafle</li> + +<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#QUEEN_VICTORIA">Queen Victoria Taking the Oath.</a></span> + Painted by Sir George Hayter</li> + +<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#TENNYSON">Lord Tennyson.</a></span> + Painted by Frederic Sandys</li> + +<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#WASHINGTON_IRVING">Washington Irving and His Friends.</a></span> + Painted by Daniel Huntington</li> + +<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#INKERMANN">The Battle of Inkermann.</a></span> + Painted by Gustave Doré</li> + +<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#WAGNER">Wagner and Liszt.</a></span> + Painted by W. Beckmann</li> + +<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#OPERA">Opening of the Opera.</a></span> + Painted by Edouard Detaille</li> + +<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#SEPOY_REBELS">Execution of Sepoy Rebels.</a></span> + Painted by Verestchagin</li> + +<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#EMPEROR_OF_CHINA">The Emperor of China Receiving the Diplomatic Corps.</a></span></li> +</ul> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1816" id="a1816"></a>1816</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_605" id="Page_605">[Pg 605]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">A</span><span class="dcap1">N ERA</span> of peace and reconstruction had begun. After a generation of war and +turmoil France was started on her new career of parliamentary government. +The brief period of retaliation ended with the so-called amnesty act of +January, which condemned Napoleon and all his relatives to perpetual exile. +<span class="sidenote">Parliamentary rule in France</span> +The Chambers now entered into a prolonged discussion of the propositions +for a new election law. The Ministry was headed by the Duc de Richelieu, +who had taken the place of Talleyrand and Fouché. The latter was compelled +to leave France forever. Marshal Gouvion St. Cyr, who succeeded Davoust, +reorganized the army on a permanent footing of military equality which +satisfied even Napoleon's veterans. In the Chambers, the Comte d'Artois +represented the ultra-royalist right wing, while the left was brilliantly +led by Lafayette, Manuel, and Benjamin Constant. Guizot, during the same +year, for the first time ascended the tribune as spokesman of the moderate +party—the so-called Doctrinaires.<span class="sidenote">Revival of French letters</span> Chateaubriand so offended the king by +his book "La Monarchie selon la Charte" that his name was crossed from the +list of the Council of State. Yet he remained the foremost man of letters +in France.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_606" id="Page_606">[Pg 606]</a></span> +Béranger was the foremost lyric poet. A typical song by him is that +rendered by Thackeray:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With pensive eyes the little room I view,</span><br /> +<span class="sidenote">Béranger</span> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Where, in my youth, I weathered it so long;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With a wild mistress, a stanch friend or two,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And a light heart still breaking into song:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Making a mock of life, and all its cares,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Rich in the glory of my rising sun,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lightly I vaulted up four pair of stairs,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">In the brave days when I was twenty-one.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Yes; 'tis a garret—let him know't who will—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">There was my bed—full hard it was and small;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">My table there—and I decipher still</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Half a lame couplet charcoaled on the wall.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ye joys, that Time hath swept with him away,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Come to mine eyes, ye dreams of love and fun;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For you I pawned my watch how many a day,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">In the brave days when I was twenty-one.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And see my little Lizette, first of all;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">She comes with pouting lips and sparkling eyes;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Behold, how roguishly she pins her shawl</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Across the narrow easement, curtain-wise;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Now by the bed her petticoat glides down,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And when did woman look the worse in none?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I have heard since who paid for many a gown,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">In the brave days when I was twenty-one.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">One jolly evening, when my friends and I</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Made happy music with our songs and cheers,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A shout of triumph mounted up thus high,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And distant cannon opened on our ears:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">We rise,—we join in the triumphant strain,—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Napoleon conquers—Austerlitz is won—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tyrants shall never tread us down again,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">In the brave days when I was twenty-one.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Let us be gone—the place is sad and strange—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">How far, far off, these happy times appear;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">All that I have to live I'd gladly change</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">For one such month as I have wasted here—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To draw long dreams of beauty, love, and power,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">From founts of hope that never will outrun,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And drink all life's quintessence in an hour,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Give me the days when I was twenty-one!</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_607" id="Page_607">[Pg 607]</a></span> +It was the period of a new revival for French literature.</p> + +<p>In the other Latin countries, Spain, Portugal and Italy, the restoration of +<span class="sidenote">Reaction in southern Europe</span> +the old monarchies was not attended by like beneficent results. In Spain, +the re-establishment of the Inquisition stifled free thought and free +speech to such a degree that some of the most progressive Spaniards +emigrated to the revolted Spanish dependencies in America. The return of +Bourbon rule in Naples and Sicily was made odious by a general suppression +of Freemasons and kindred secret societies.</p> + +<p>In the German States, similar measures of persecution were invoked against +the student societies at the universities. The University of Erfurt was +suspended. The Duke of Hesse, who had gained early notoriety by renting his +subjects to foreign armies, now revived corporal punishment together with +the stocks and other feudal institutions. In Wurtemberg serfdom was +re-established.<span class="sidenote">Metternich's influence</span> Throughout Germany the reactionary suggestions of Prince +Metternich were carried into effect. A good opportunity for Metternich to +assert his ascendency was presented by the first session of the new German +Diet. Late in the year the delegates from all the States of the New +Germanic Confederation met at Frankfort, Austria holding the permanent +presidency. Count Buol von Schauenstein opened the Diet with a solemn +address, which fell flat. First of all, it was settled that Hesse would +have to cede a large part of Westphalia to Prussia. Next, the title of the +Duke of Cambridge to rule as Regent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_608" id="Page_608">[Pg 608]</a></span> in Hanover was fully recognized. In +all resolutions relating to fundamental laws, the organic regulations of +the Confederation, the <i>jura singulorum</i> and matters of religion, unanimity +<span class="sidenote">German Confederation established</span> +was required. All the members of the Confederation bound themselves neither +to enter into war nor into any foreign alliance against the Confederation +or any of its members. The thirteenth article declared, "Each of the +confederated States will grant a constitution to the people." The sixteenth +placed all Christian sects on an equality. The eighteenth granted freedom +of settlement within the Confederation, and promised "uniformity of +regulation concerning the liberty of the press." The fortresses of +Luxemburg, Mainz and Landau were declared common property and occupied in +common by their troops. A fourth fortress was to be raised on the Upper +Rhine with twenty millions of the French contribution money. This was never +done. For future sessions of the Diet the votes were so regulated that the +eleven States of first rank alone held a full vote, the secondary States +merely holding a half or a fourth of a vote, as, for instance, all the +Saxon duchies collectively, one vote; Brunswick and Nassau, one; the two +<span class="sidenote">The Frankfort Diet</span> +Mecklenburgs, one; Oldenburg, Anhalt, and Schwartzburg, one; the petty +princes of Hohenzollern, Lichtenstein, Reuss, Lippe, and Waldeck, one; all +the free towns, one; forming altogether seventeen votes. In constitutional +questions the six States of the highest rank were to have each four votes; +the next five States each three; Brunswick, Schwerin, and Nassau, each two; +and all the re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_609" id="Page_609">[Pg 609]</a></span>maining princes each, one vote. This arrangement, as it +turned out, proved fruitful of endless trouble.</p> + +<p>Austria and Prussia at that time contained forty-two million inhabitants; +<span class="sidenote">Unfair representation</span> +the rest of Germany merely twelve million. The power of the two predominant +States, therefore, really were in proportion to that of the rest of Germany +as seven to two, whereas their votes in the Diet stood merely as two to +seventeen, and in the plenary assembly as two to fifteen.</p> + +<p>Though Prussia had lost Hanover and East Friesland, she had received +<span class="sidenote">Prussia predominant</span> +sufficient compensation still—thanks to Hardenberg's diplomacy—to start +her on her future career as the predominant German State. Incorporated with +the Prussian provinces now were half of Saxony, the Grandduchy of Posen, a +portion of Westphalia, nearly all of the Lower Rhine region from Mainz to +Aix-la-Chapelle, and Swedish Pomerania, for which Prussia paid some eight +million thalers by way of indemnity.</p> + +<p>In Holland, the new Stadtholder, Prince William Frederick of Orange-Nassau, +having incorporated Belgium as an integral part of the kingdom of the +<span class="sidenote">Restoration of the Netherlands</span> +Netherlands, set himself to nullify the French racial traits of his Belgian +subjects. A suggestion of future strife on this score could already be +found in Van der Palm's memorial on "The Restoration of the Netherlands," +published during this year.</p> + +<p>The final settlement of Napoleon's great upheaval of Europe left England +feverish and exhausted. The prolonged financial strain of twenty years of +war had saddled Great Britain with a national debt of eight hundred million +pounds. Of material gain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_610" id="Page_610">[Pg 610]</a></span> +there was little to show but the acquisition of +<span class="sidenote">England's commanding position</span> +Ceylon and the Cape of Good Hope from the Dutch; of the former French +colony of Mauritius, and of a few West Indian islands. The continued +possession of the Rock of Gibraltar, and of Malta, the old stronghold of +the Knights of Malta, together with the British protectorate over the Ionic +Isles, assured to England her commanding position in the Mediterranean. At +home the pressure of the heavy taxes required to meet the financial +legacies of the war was imbittered by the general distress of the country. +The new tax on the importation of grains resulted in famine prices. +<span class="sidenote">Industrial depression</span> +Corresponding tariff restrictions abroad kept British markets overstocked +with goods. Mills and factories had to be shut down, while at the same time +the labor market was glutted with several hundred thousand discharged +sailors and soldiers. The starving working people grew bitter in their +opposition to new labor-saving devices. Thus the appearance of the first +steamship on the Thames and of the earliest ships constructed of iron, +followed shortly by Sir Francis Reynold's invention of an electric +clock-work telegraph and by James Watt's introduction of stereo plates in +book-printing, heightened this feeling. The resentment of laboring men +found expression in riotous meetings at Manchester, Littleport and +Nottingham. The movement spread to London. A great labor meeting was held +there on the Spa fields. The favorite newspaper of the workingmen, +Cobbett's radical "Two Penny Register," rivalled the London "Times" in +power. In Parliament the leaders of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_611" id="Page_611">[Pg 611]</a></span> the radical opposition grew ever more +importunate. Not until the end of the year did matters mend. The most +comforting sign of better times was a partial resumption of specie payments +by the Bank of England, followed shortly by the opening of the first +Savings Bank in London. Other memorable events of the year were the +acquisition of the famous Elgin marbles from the Parthenon in Athens, +<span class="sidenote">Art and Letters</span> +celebrated in Keats's sonnet "On Seeing the Elgin Marbles," and the +publication of Shelley's long poem "Alastor," and Leigh Hunt's "Story of +Rimini." A diplomatic setback pregnant with future trouble was the +dismissal of Lord Amherst, the British Ambassador at Pekin, for refusing to +kow-tow to the Emperor of China.</p> + +<p>In America the depression of commerce and industry resulting from the war +<span class="sidenote">Depression in America</span> +with England continued unabated. To relieve the situation, the Secretary of +the Treasury, A.J. Dallas, proposed as a measure of relief the chartering +of a new national bank with increased capital and enlarged powers and the +readjustment of the tariff by the imposition of higher duties. The bank was +<span class="sidenote">Financial relief measures</span> +chartered for twenty-one years with a capital of $35,000,000, a portion of +the stock to be owned by the government and the institution to have in its +management five government directors in a board of twenty-five. The tariff +policy of Madison was sustained by the Southern party and opposed by the +Federalists, especially in New England. Thus it became more a question of +sectional interests than of abstract political economy. The capital of New<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_612" id="Page_612">[Pg 612]</a></span> +England was invested in shipping, so that the exclusion of articles of +foreign production was bound to injure, by a high tariff, New England's +<span class="sidenote">Tariff <i>vs.</i> Free Trade</span> +carrying trade. On its part, the South sought to establish a home market +for its cotton—almost the only staple of the Gulf States. Efforts were +made to encourage the domestic manufacture of those coarse fabrics which +were indispensable in a slave-holding region. The question thus grew into a +struggle between slave labor and free trade. The free-trade party was led +by Daniel Webster, and the tariff party by Calhoun. During the first year +of the new tariff the value of foreign imports fell off about thirty-two +per cent. In the adjustment of capital and trade to an enforced industrial +policy, the American people passed through a commercial crisis which +<span class="sidenote">Changes in New England</span> +paralyzed the flourishing sea-ports of the New England coast. Newburyport, +Salem, Plymouth, New London, Newport, and intermediate places sank from +lucrative commercial centres into insignificant towns. Manchester, Lowell, +Fall River, Pawtucket, Waterbury and other New England cities on the other +hand became great manufacturing places.</p> + +<p>The Fourteenth American Congress, under the leadership of Clay, imposed a +protective tariff of about twenty-five per cent on imported cotton and +woollen goods, with specific duties on coal and iron. The average duties on +imports amounted almost to prohibition. Late in the year Indiana was +admitted as the nineteenth State.</p> + +<p>The tranquillity of the end of Madison's administration was broken by new +troubles with the south<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_613" id="Page_613">[Pg 613]</a></span>ern Indians. General Jackson by his impulsive +manner of dealing with the Indians of Florida nearly forced the United +States into a war with Spain and England. The Indians had reason to +complain of the injustice that had marked their treatment by the whites. +Florida had become a refuge for runaway slaves from Georgia and South +Carolina. The treaty of 1814 was repudiated by many of the Creeks, who +resented the new settlements of the whites. Those who were most +dissatisfied made common cause with the Seminoles. For a year, General +Gaines, in command at the frontier, complained to the authorities at +Washington of the conduct of the Indians and Spaniards. General Jackson, to +<span class="sidenote">War with Florida Indians</span> +whom the matter was referred, wrote to Gaines that the forts standing in +Spanish territory "ought to be blown off the face of the earth, regardless +of the ground they stand on." In July, a detachment of men and gunboats +under Colonel Church advanced upon Fort Negro. A shot from one of the boats +blew up the powder magazine. The fort was laid in ruins. Of the 324 inmates +270 were killed. Most of the survivors were wounded.</p> + +<p>During this year, the "Washington," the first American line-of-battle ship +put to sea with seventy-four guns on her decks. The first American rolling +mill and plant for puddling iron-ore were built at Red Stone Bank in +Pennsylvania. Bishop Asbury, the founder of Methodism in the United States, +preached his last sermon at Richmond, Virginia. During the same year he +<span class="sidenote">Death of Gouverneur Morris</span> +died at the age of seventy-one. Other noted Americans who died this +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_614" id="Page_614">[Pg 614]</a></span> +year were Gouverneur Morris of New York, and Spaulding, the reputed author of +the book of Mormon.</p> + +<p>Miranda, the South American revolutionist, expired on July 14, in a dungeon +<span class="sidenote">Death of Miranda</span> +at Cadiz. A British officer who saw him shortly before his death, described +him as "tied to a wall with a chain about his neck like a dog." Ever since +his defeat and detention in Venezuela, his last years had been spent in +captivity. He passed from prison to prison—now at San Carlos, now in Porto +Rico, and finally in Spain. Miranda's failure to obtain grants of amnesty +for Bolivar and his fellow rebels, when he came to terms with the Spanish +general Monteverde, left him discredited with the patriots of South +America. In the meanwhile, Miranda's friend, San Martin, was fighting in +<span class="sidenote">Independence of Argentine</span> +Chile and Peru for South American independence, and was aided in his +struggle by Louis Beltran, an unfrocked friar. On July 9, the independence +of Argentine was proclaimed. Pueyrredon was made President of the new +republic. Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia established independent +governments.</p> + +<p>After Miranda's defeat and the fall of Porto Cabello, Bolivar had fled to +Curaçoa. He enlisted a corps of refugees in Cartagena and headed an +<span class="sidenote">The struggle in Venezuela</span> +expedition into New Granada. There he rallied more revolutionists about +him, and, capturing Madalena from the Spaniards, fought his way through to +Caracas. He was welcomed there with extravagant demonstration as the +"Savior of Venezuela." After one more victory on the field of Araure his +star de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_615" id="Page_615">[Pg 615]</a></span>clined. The Spanish general, Boves, defeated him at La Puerta, and +took a terrible vengeance on the patriots. The wounded and prisoners were +killed on the field; the homes of all reputed rebels were burned to the +ground; and the entire population of Aragua was massacred.</p> + +<p>Montalvo, the Spanish War Minister, reported officially: "General Boves +<span class="sidenote">Spanish vengeance</span> +does not distinguish between the guilty and innocent—soldiers or +non-combatants. All alike are killed for the crime of being born in +America." Bolivar retired to New Granada and thence to Jamaica. An attempt +to assassinate him there failed; for the negro cut-throat who had +undertaken to murder Bolivar killed the wrong person. Bolivar crossed over +<span class="sidenote">Bolivar's adventures</span> +to Hayti. There he raised a new expedition. A negro leader, Petion, then +acting-governor of Hayti, helped him in this enterprise, and strongly +advised him to proclaim the freedom of all slaves as the first step on +landing in his country. "For, how can you free your country," said Petion, +"if you don't free all the people in it?" Bolivar heeded his advice. With +six ships and one hundred and fifty men, he set out to reconquer Venezuela +from Spain. He landed at Margerita, where he had the good fortune to +capture several Spanish ships. With them he returned to Santo Domingo for +more men and ammunition. Petion furnished him with funds. Thus reinforced, +Bolivar made a dash for Barcelona in Venezuela. The end of the struggle was +at hand.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1817" id="a1817"></a>1817</h2> + +<div class="sidenote">Return of Bolivar</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_616" id="Page_616">[Pg 616]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">B</span><span class="dcap1">OLIVAR</span> landed on the north coast of Venezuela on the first day of the new +year. His landing place, Barcelona, was a small town at the foot of the +Maritime Andes, so unprotected against attack that he resolved to leave it +at once. He marched his force in the direction of Santa Fé in New Granada, +hoping to push through to Peru. Marino and Piar, two insurgent leaders +operating in the south, joined forces with Bolivar, and brought 1,200 +additional men. By the time their joint column had penetrated well into +<span class="sidenote">General Piar shot</span> +Orinoco, the three leaders were at odds with each other. Piar tried to +incite revolt among his followers. Bolivar caused Piar to be seized, and +after a drum-head trial had him shot. In the meanwhile a Spanish force had +swooped down on Barcelona, and massacred the inhabitants. Things were at +this pass when the standard of revolt was once more raised in Chile by +<span class="sidenote">O'Higgins</span> +Bernado O'Higgins. He was a natural son of Ambrosio, and had just returned +from school in England. At the time the supreme command of the +revolutionary forces was given to him this famous South American leader was +still a young man, as was his chief lieutenant, MacKenna. By his clever +handling of the campaigns that followed he won the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_617" id="Page_617">[Pg 617]</a></span> +title of "El Primer +Soldado del Nuevo Mundo"—the first soldier of America. It was still at the +<span class="sidenote">San Martin</span> +outset of his career, in 1817, that help came to the Chileans from Buenos +Ayres across the Andes. The man who brought this aid was San Martin.</p> + +<p>At Mendoza, on January 17, San Martin reviewed his little army of 5,000, +all Gaucho horsemen, as lightly clad and provisioned as the Indians of the +Pampas. The women of Mendoza presented the force with a flag bearing the +emblem of the Sun. San Martin held the banner aloft, declaring it "the +first flag of independence which had been blest in South America." This +same flag was carried through all the wars along the Pacific Coast. And +under its tattered shreds San Martin was finally laid to rest sixty years +later.</p> + +<p>Marching from Mendoza, San Martin made a feint of crossing the Andes by way +of Planchon, thereby inducing a Spanish column under Captain-General Marco +del Ponte to concentrate at Talca. During the progress of these movements, +San Martin and his followers crossed the mountains by the steep route of +Putaendo and Cuevas. Three hundred miles of the stiffest mountain riding +were covered in less than a fortnight. Early in February, San Martin's +army, now barely 4,000 strong, descended upon Villa Nueva. On February 7, +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Chacabuco</span> +they fought their first battle on Chilean soil with the Spanish outposts at +Chacabuco. Driving the Spaniards before him, San Martin, advanced into the +plain, and presently joined forces with O'Higgins' infantry. New mounts +were provided for the cavalry. At the strong post +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_618" id="Page_618">[Pg 618]</a></span> +of Acuoncagua the +Spaniards made a stand, but they were outnumbered by the insurgents. San +<span class="sidenote">Acuoncagua</span> +Martin delivered a frontal attack, while O'Higgins outflanked the enemy +with an impetuous charge, with the result that the whole Spanish force was +routed beyond recovery. The officers fled to Valparaiso. By the middle of +February, San Martin entered Santiago de Chile. A new republican junta was +formed and complete independence of Spain was declared. O'Higgins assumed +the position of dictator.</p> + +<p>All Chile was free now except in the south. General Ordoñez, commanding the +Spanish forces there, was defeated and fell back to Talcahuano. San Martin +prepared to invade Peru. Anticipating such an attack, Abascal, the Spanish +Viceroy of Peru, despatched Osorio with an expedition of 3,500 veterans, +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Talca</span> +who had just arrived from Spain, to Talcahuano. As soon as these +reinforcements came, Ordoñez set out from Talcahuano with the vanguard to +march on Santiago de Chile, and met the patriot forces near Talca. The +revolutionists largely outnumbered the Spaniards, but were poorly +disciplined and ill-provisioned. While they lost time the Spanish main +column under Osorio came up. Ordoñez took advantage of the clumsy +manœuvres of the revolutionists to drive a sharp attack between their +two wings, piercing their centre. The battle was won after the first +fifteen minutes. O'Higgins was wounded and had to be carried out of the +fight. San Martin, with his right wing, fell back on San Fernando. With +great difficulty O'Higgins man<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_619" id="Page_619">[Pg 619]</a></span>aged to reach Santiago, where he was +presently joined by San Martin. Steadily the Spanish column advanced on +Santiago. The two revolutionary leaders by almost superhuman efforts +succeeded in rallying and equipping a force of 5,000 defenders. On April 5, +<span class="sidenote">Battle of the Maypo</span> +the Spanish army appeared before Santiago de Chile. Near the Maypo, nine +miles from Santiago, the revolutionists took up a strong position. Osorio +opened the battle about noon with artillery. Soon all the troops were +engaged, the fiercest fight raging around a hacienda where San Martin and +O'Higgins had their headquarters. Several times the ranch was lost and +retaken. By sundown the Spaniards advanced all along the line. The battle +seemed lost to the patriots. At this juncture, as the famous regiment of +Burgos on the Spanish right was drawing in its deployed lines for a final +column attack, Colonel O'Brien, at the head of the insurgent cavalry +reserves, charged into the opening and overthrew the Burgos battalions. +O'Higgins immediately charged the rest of the Spanish right wing, and San +Martin simultaneously attacked in the centre. The whole Spanish army gave +<span class="sidenote">Liberation of Chile</span> +away. More than 2,000 Spaniards were killed and wounded. Osorio with his +staff escaped to Peru. The victory of Santiago not only freed Chile, but +left Peru open to the revolutionists.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Monroe's Presidency</div> + +<p>In the United States of North America, during this interval, a new +President had begun his administration. James Monroe was inaugurated as +President in his fifty-ninth year. He had been a member of the Continental +Congress, and at thirty-six a Min<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_620" id="Page_620">[Pg 620]</a></span>ister to France. Under Madison he served +as Secretary of War. Crawford, Calhoun, Meigs, Wirt and Rush were members +of his Cabinet, and were all of the dominant Democratic-Republican party. +Business throughout the country began to revive almost at once when the +re-chartered National Bank went into operation in Philadelphia on the day +of Monroe's inauguration.</p> + +<p>In June, President Monroe undertook a three months' personal inspection of +the military posts of the country. Passing through New York, Boston and +Portland, and crossing New Hampshire and Vermont to Ogdensburg, he took a +boat to Sackett's Harbor and Niagara. From there he went to Buffalo and +Detroit, and returned to Washington. Everywhere the people greeted him by +thousands. Monroe on this occasion wore the three-cornered hat, +<span class="sidenote">"Era of good feeling"</span> +scarlet-bordered blue coat and buff breeches of the American Revolutionary +army. The "Boston Journal" called the times the "Era of Good Feeling," and +the expression has passed into American history as a characteristic of +Monroe's entire administration.</p> + +<p>It was an era notable for the extraordinary growth of the Western States. +Settlers were encouraged to buy government land on the instalment plan, and +the States refrained from levying taxes on these lands until years after +the settlers had received their title deeds. Endless processions of prairie +wagons passed through New York and Pennsylvania. On one turnpike alone, +16,000 vehicles paid toll during the year. Pittsburg at this time had a +population<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_621" id="Page_621">[Pg 621]</a></span> of 7,000 persons. The log cabin was the house of all, with its +rough chimney, its greased paper in a single window, its door with latch +and string, a plank floor and single room, corn husk brooms and its Dutch +oven. In the newly broken ground corn and wheat were planted, which, when +harvested, were thrashed with the flail and winnowed with a sheet. Little +<span class="sidenote">Western prairies settled</span> +settlements sprang up here and there on the rolling prairie, with +store-taverns, blacksmith shops and mills. This a thousand times repeated +was seen in western New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and +Michigan.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Steam navigation</div> + +<p>During the same year the newly organized territory of Mississippi, formed +from a division of Alabama, was admitted as the twentieth State to the +Union. The first line of steam propelled ocean packets was organized to run +between New York and Liverpool. In the western frontier town of St. Louis +the first steamboat made its appearance. On July 4, ground was broken for +<span class="sidenote">The Erie Canal</span> +the Erie Canal, which was to connect the city of New York with the great +inland waters. On the strength of this progressive achievement De Witt +Clinton became a candidate for the governorship of New York. Among other +notable events of this year were the foundation of the New York State +Library, Gallaudet's foundation of the first school for the deaf and dumb +at Hartford, and the establishment of the earliest theological seminaries +of the Episcopal Church in America, as well as of the first Unitarian +Divinity School at Harvard. William Cullen Bryant, barely come of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_622" id="Page_622">[Pg 622]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">"Thanatopsis"</span> age, +published his master work, "Thanatopsis," in the "North American Review."</p> + +<p>In other parts of the world, likewise, the return of peace was followed by +a general advance in culture and civilization. Shortly after the +re-establishment of the American National Bank, Canada followed suit with +government banks at Montreal and Quebec. Hanka, in Bohemia, claimed to have +discovered the famous medieval lyrics of Rukopis Kralodvorsky written at +<span class="sidenote">Stenography</span> +the end of the thirteenth century. Across the border in Poland the new +University of Cracow began its career. In Munich, Franz Gabelsberger +invented the first working system of shorthand, which, in a perfected form, +is still in use in Germany. During this year common school education took +an immense stride in Germany, after the establishment in Prussia of a +distinct Ministry for Public Education. Unfortunately the government soon +<span class="sidenote">German liberalism</span> +came into conflict with the bolder spirits at the universities. By reason +of the more liberal privileges allowed to it by the Duke of Weimar, the +University of Jena took the lead in the national Teutonic agitation +inaugurated by Fichte. On October 18, the students of Jena, aided by +delegates from all the student fraternities of Protestant Germany, held a +festival at Eisenach to celebrate the three-hundredth anniversary of the +Reformation. It was also the anniversary of the battle of Leipzig. Five +hundred ardent young men, among them scholars who had fought at Leipzig, +Ligny and Waterloo, assembled in the halls of Luther's Wartburg Castle. +They sang and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_623" id="Page_623">[Pg 623]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">The Wartburg festival</span> +drank, and fraternized with the members of the militia of +Eisenach. In the evening they had a torchlight procession and lighted a +huge bonfire on the hill opposite the castle. In imitation of Martin +Luther's burning of the Pope's Bull they consigned a number of their pet +aversions to the flames. Thus they burned a soldier's straight-jacket and +corporal's cane, as well as a recent pamphlet by one Schmalz written in +defense of the old Prussian bureaucracy. Rash words were uttered about the +broken faith of princes. They were aimed at King Frederick William of +Prussia, who had promised to give his country a constitution, but had +failed to keep his word. The Wartburg festival, childish as it was in many +of its manifestations, created singular alarm throughout Germany and +elsewhere. The King of Prussia sent his Prime Minister, Hardenberg, to +Weimar to make a thorough investigation of the affair. Richelieu, the Prime +<span class="sidenote">European courts alarmed</span> +Minister of France, wrote from Paris whether another revolution was +breaking out; and Metternich insisted that the Duke of Weimar should +curtail the liberties of his subjects. The heavy hand of reaction fell upon +all German universities. German scholars were compelled to turn their +interests from public affairs to pure science and scholarship, to the +benefit of German learning. The study of history and archeology took an +<span class="sidenote">Advances in scholarship</span> +upward turn with Brentano's publication of old German ballads and +Lachmann's original version of the Nibelungen songs. At this time an +Italian archeologist, Belzoni, was adding new chapters to ancient history +by his original researches +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_624" id="Page_624">[Pg 624]</a></span> +in Egypt, which resulted in the removal of the +Colossus of Memnon to Alexandria, and in the opening of the great Cephren +<span class="sidenote">African missionary work</span> +pyramid. In distant South Africa the first English missionaries began their +labors among the blacks. Although the Governor of Natal at first refused to +permit Robert Moffat, the first Wesleyan missionary in those parts, to +disturb the Kaffirs with his preachings, Moffat pressed on undismayed and +soon established a mission beyond the Orange River.</p> + +<p>In England, industrial depression dragged on. Early in the year riots broke +out in London on the opening of Parliament. While driving to the House of +Lords, the Prince Regent, now grown thoroughly unpopular on account of the +scandals with his wife, was hooted by a crowd in St. James's Park. The +<span class="sidenote">Green Bag inquiry</span> +police claimed that an air gun had been discharged at the Prince and made +an attack on the crowd. A number of persons were injured. This was followed +in February by the great Green Bag Inquiry, when Lord Sidmouth laid before +Parliament a green bag full of reports concerning seditions. Bills were +introduced to suspend the habeas corpus act and to provide for the coercion +<span class="sidenote">Manchester Blanketers</span> +of public meetings. Seditious publications were likewise to be suppressed. +In March occurred the rising of the so-called Blanketers in +Manchester—dissatisfied workingmen who started in a body for London +carrying blanket rolls and other necessaries. Their march was stopped by +the military. In April, seven members of the so-called society of Luddites +were hanged at Leicester for breaking labor-saving ma<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_625" id="Page_625">[Pg 625]</a></span>chinery. Shortly +afterward eighteen persons were hanged for forging notes on the Bank of +England. It was found that since the redemption of specie payments no less +than 17,885 forged notes had been presented. Nearly two hundred persons +<span class="sidenote">Dissatisfaction in England</span> +were apprehended and tried in court for this offence. Shortly afterward +another insurrection which broke out in Derbyshire, and which was led by +Jeremiah Brandrett, was suppressed by soldiers.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">"The Revolt of Islam"</div> + +<p>While the working classes of England and Ireland were thus struggling +against their miseries, English literature shone forth in new splendor. +Shelley brought out his "Revolt of Islam" and Tom Moore published his +"Lalla Rookh." John Keats at the age of barely twenty-one published his +<span class="sidenote">"Lalla Rookh"</span> +first poems. The volume attracted little attention. The appearance of +Blackwood's new magazine in Edinburgh, on the other hand, was hailed as an +<span class="sidenote">John Keats</span> +event in English letters.<br /> +<span class="sidenote">"Blackwood's"</span></p> + +<p>In France, likewise, the return of peace gave a new lease of life to +literature. The French Academy was reorganized to consist of forty members, +<span class="sidenote">French letters</span> +who were elected for life, and who were to be regarded as "the highest +authority on questions relating to language, grammar, rhetoric, poetry and +the publication of the French classics." Chateaubriand was the Academy's +foremost member. Béranger on the other hand, albeit his lyrics had reached +<span class="sidenote">Béranger</span> +the height of their popularity, fell into official disfavor by reason of +his glorification of Napoleonic times, as exemplified in his ballads "La +Vivandière," "La Cocarde Blanche," or "Le Juge de Charenton."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_626" id="Page_626">[Pg 626]</a></span> The last +poem, with its veiled allusions to the Lavalette episode, was made the +subject of an interpellation in the Chamber of Deputies. While this was +still pending further offence was given by the publication of Béranger's +satirical piece on "The Holy Alliance." Béranger had to give up his +position as secretary at the University of France, and was soon afterward +arrested among his boon companions at Madame Saguet's near Le Moulin Vert. +He was placed on trial for the alleged blasphemies committed in his song +"Le Dieu des Bonnes Gens," and condemned to spend three months in prison +and to pay a heavy fine.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Death of Madame de Staël</div> + +<p>Other literary events of the year were the publication of Beyle's "Lives of +Mozart and Haydn"; the performance of Scribe's early plays, and the death +of Madame de Staël, which occurred on July 14. This gifted daughter of +Necker had not been allowed to return to France until after the fall of +Napoleon. Her last work was a treatise of the Constitutional Government, +entitled "Considerations sur les Principaux Evénements de la Révolution +Française," and published posthumously by her long time German companion +<span class="sidenote">Death of Masséna</span> +and adviser, Schlegel. Marshal Masséna died during the same year. His +funeral was attended with imposing military honors rendered him by his old +followers and comrades-in-arms, who recalled the triumphs of Rivoli, +Essling, and a score of other victories in which this famous warrior had +borne the brunt of the fighting.</p> + +<p>This year would have been one of peace, the first since the outbreak of the +French Revolution, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_627" id="Page_627">[Pg 627]</a></span> +for another uprising of the Wachabites in Arabia +<span class="sidenote">Wachabite rebellion</span> +under the standard of Tourkee and the re-occurrence of North American +Indian troubles. A year had passed after the destruction of Fort Negro in +Florida before the whites found a pretext for another attack. King Natchez +was accused of receiving fugitive negroes, and he replied: "I have no +negroes.... I shall use force to stop any armed American from passing my +lands or my towns." The Seminoles looked with alarm on the new forts of the +<span class="sidenote">Seminole war</span> +United States. At Fowltown, on Flint River, the Indians, in November, put +up a war pole, and the chief warned Colonel Meigs in command at Fort Scott +not to cross the Flint River. Gaines reached the place with some regular +troops and volunteers, and Twiggs, with 250 men, moved upon the town, +killed some of the people and burned the village. The revenge of the +Seminoles was swift and bloody. Settlers were massacred and the property of +the whites within reach of the Indians was destroyed. Over 2,700 Seminoles +took the field. General Jackson assumed command on the day after Christmas. +He declared that so long as the Spaniards held Florida the trouble would +continue.</p> + +<p>About the same time the British in India were plunged into further wars +with the natives. First the Pindarees sent out plundering bands from Malwa. +<span class="sidenote">Pindaree war</span> +To suppress them, Lord Hastings had to collect an army of 120,000, the +largest force yet mustered in India. From Madras, four army divisions under +Sir Thomas Hislop crossed the Nerbudda, and drove the Pindarees toward +Bengal. By the great number<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_628" id="Page_628">[Pg 628]</a></span> of his remaining troops Lord Hastings overawed +the neighboring rulers, Peishwa Sindia of the Mahratta, Ameer Khan, Holkar +<span class="sidenote">Treaty of Toona</span> +and Runjit Singh of the Punjab. Peishwa Baji Rao was compelled to sign a +treaty of neutrality at Toona. In October, thereupon, Lord Hastings left +Cawnpore and crossed the Jumna. The Pindarees were routed in a series of +swift-fought engagements. One of their chieftains, Khurin, gave himself up +with his whole household, while another, Chetu, was killed by a tiger while +hiding in the jungle.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Mahratta war</div> + +<p>The Peishwa of the Mahrattas, who was biding his time until the British +forces should withdraw from his dominions, grew impatient and threatened +open war. To appease him a newly arrived British regiment was withdrawn +from Toona to Khirki, a village about four miles from the British +Residency. This concession only encouraged the Peishwa to further +resistance.</p> + +<p>The Mahratta war opened with a romantic incident. Trimbukji Dainglia, one +of the favorites of the Peishwa, was held closely confined by the English +at Thanna for his share in the murder of one of Baji Rao's enemies. Before +the outbreak of hostilities the Mahrattas managed to get word to him of +what was coming. A native groom in the service of one of the British +officers passed the window of the prisoner every day leading his master's +horses. As he did so he trolled a native song the purport of which the +British guards neither understood nor suspected. It has thus been +translated by Bishop Heber:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_629" id="Page_629">[Pg 629]</a></span></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Behind the bush the bowmen hide</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The horse beneath the tree.</span><br /> +<span class="sidenote">Hindu Blondin</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Where shall I find a chief to ride</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The jungle paths with me?</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">There are five-and-fifty horses there,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And four-and-fifty men;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When the fifty-fifth shall mount his steed,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Dekhan thrives again.</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>A few days after this Trimbukji Dainglia was missing. He had broken a bar +from its setting, scaled the wall, and joined a party of horsemen lying in +<span class="sidenote">Outbreak of Poonah</span> +wait. With them he fled to the jungles of Kanderish. Just before the +outbreak of hostilities a British officer thought he recognized him at +Poonah. On November 5, the British Resident, Elphinstone, left Poonah to +inspect the forces at Khirki. On that same day the Mahrattas burned +Elphinstone's house and rich Sanskrit library. Baji Rao attacked the +military post Khirki with 26,000 men, but was repulsed with a loss of five +hundred. The British immediately despatched an army under General Smith for +<span class="sidenote">Flight of Baji Rao</span> +Poonah. On November 15, they prepared for a general attack on the morrow, +but in the night Baji Rao fled from Poonah. Thus he surrendered his +dominions without a blow.</p> + +<p>Appa Sahib, the Rajah of Nagpore, meanwhile had made common cause with Baji +Rao. On the evening of November 24, he brought up his forces and attacked +the British Residency at Nagpore. The resulting battle of Sitaboldi is +famous in Hindu annals. As Wheeler, the historian of British India, +describes it:</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Battle of Sitaboldi</div> + +<p>"The English had no European regiment, as they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_630" id="Page_630">[Pg 630]</a></span> had at Khirki; they had +scarcely fourteen hundred Sepoys fit for duty, including three troops of +Bengal cavalry, and only four six-pounders. Appa Sahib had an army of +eighteen thousand men, including four thousand Arabs, the best soldiers in +the Dekhan; he had also thirty-six guns. The battle lasted from six o'clock +in the evening of the 26th of November until noon the next day. For many +hours the English were in sore peril; their fate seemed to hang upon a +thread. The Arabs were beginning to close round the Residency, when a happy +stroke of British daring changed the fortunes of the day. Captain +Fitzgerald, who commanded the Bengal cavalry, was posted in the Residency +compound and was anxious to charge the Arabs; but he was forbidden. Again +he implored permission, but was told to charge at his peril. 'On my peril +be it!' cried Fitzgerald. Clearing the inclosures, the Bengal cavalry bore +down upon the enemy's horse, captured two guns, and cut up a body of +infantry. The British Sepoys hailed the exploit with loud huzzahs, and +seeing the explosion of one of the enemy's tumbrels, rushed down the hill, +driving the Arabs before them. The victory was won, but the English had +lost a quarter of their number."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<a name="MAXIMILIAN" id="MAXIMILIAN"></a> +<img src="images/maximilian.jpg" width="500" height="314" alt="LAST MOMENTS OF MAXIMILIAN" +title="LAST MOMENTS OF MAXIMILIAN" /> +<span class="caption">LAST MOMENTS OF MAXIMILIAN</span> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0em"><small>Painted by J. Paul Laurens</small></span> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><small>From Carbon Print by Braun, Clement & Co., N.Y.</small></span> +</div> + +<p>Appa Sahib surrendered himself and was placed under arrest. Presently he +<span class="sidenote">Appa Sahib's escape</span> +made good his escape and found a refuge with the Rajah of Jodhpur. In +Holkar's State of Indore affairs ran in a similar groove. The Regent Mother +showed herself inclined to come to an agreement with the British marching +northward under Sir Thomas Hislop. But the Mahratta +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_631" id="Page_631">[Pg 631]</a></span> +chiefs were bent on +war, and murdered the Regent Mother. A battle, henceforth, was unavoidable. +Already the British supply train had been plundered by the Mahrattas. The +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Nahidpore</span> +battle was fought on December 21, at Nahidpore. On each occasion Sir John +Malcolm commanded the British troops and won a complete victory. All the +Hindu guns and swords fell into British hands. Then came the heroic defence +of Korygaun, still celebrated in British Indian annals. A detachment of +Bombay Sepoys and native cavalry, under the command of Captain Staunton and +ten English officers, in all 800 men with two guns, were caught unawares by +the Peishwa's army of 30,000 Mahratta Gosains. Captain Staunton's force +<span class="sidenote">Defence of Korygaun</span> +intrenched itself in the village of Korygaun and prepared for the worst. +The Mahrattas completely surrounded the place and the defenders were cut +off from all water and supplies. Then came a succession of fierce rushes by +the Mahratta horse and foot, every one of which had to be fought off in +desperate hand-to-hand encounters. Of the ten white officers eight were +killed; besides them Staunton lost one-third of his Sepoys. The Mahrattas +left 600 on the field. To the present day the exploit is celebrated in the +songs and stories of the Dekhan. The Peishwa witnessed the long fight from +a neighboring hill, and was beside himself when his discouraged troops +refused to renew the battle. After this Baji Rao could no longer hold his +<span class="sidenote">End of Mahratta rule</span> +army together. By the close of the year his forces were dispersed. It was +the end of Mahratta rule in the Dekhan.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1818" id="a1818"></a>1818</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_632" id="Page_632">[Pg 632]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">P</span><span class="dcap1">EACE</span> was re-established in India shortly after New Year's day. Lord +Hastings would stop at nothing but the absolute deposition of the Peishwa. +He had long resolved to reduce Baji Rao to the condition of Napoleon at St. +Helena. Accordingly, he delivered the Rajah of Satara from the thraldom of +generations, and assigned to him sufficient territory for support. This +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Ashti</span> +done he set himself to hunt down the deposed Peishwa. For several months +Baji Rao remained at large. He made a feeble stand at Ashti, but fled at +the first shot, leaving his army to be defeated by General Smith. It was on +this occasion that the Rajah of Satara fell into English hands. Later in +the year Baji Rao was surrounded by British troops, under the command of +Sir John Malcolm. No alternative was left him but to die or give up. The +terms offered by Malcolm were so liberal as to excite astonishment in +Europe. While the great Napoleon was condemned to spend his remaining days +<span class="sidenote">Baji Rao's surrender</span> +on a mere pittance at St. Helena, this most cowardly of Indian princes was +allowed to live in luxury near Cawnpore, on a yearly grant of £80,000. His +friend Trimbukji Dainglia, however, when captured, was condemned to close +confinement in the fortress of Chunar.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_633" id="Page_633">[Pg 633]</a></span></p> + +<p>The remains of the Holkar states were permitted to endure, nor would +Hastings sanction the proposed dethronement of the family of Jaswant Rao. +Holkar was merely required to seize certain territories, and to confirm the +grants already made to Ameer Khan. From a sovereign principality the land +was reduced to a subsidiary state under British guarantee. Otherwise the +infant Mulhar, Rao Holkar, was treated as an independent prince and his +<span class="sidenote">Lord Hastings' Indian policy</span> +administration was left in the hands of a native Durbar, aided by the +British Resident. The policy of Lord Hastings, although severely criticised +in England, must be pronounced a success in the light of later events. From +the suppression of the Pindarees and the extinction of the Peishwa in 1818, +down to the days of the great mutiny, no serious attempt was made to +overthrow British suzerainty by means of an armed confederation of native +states.</p> + +<p>In some respects the administration of Lord Hastings marks a new era in the +history of India. Hastings was the first Governor-General who encouraged +the education of the native population. Early in his administration he +denounced the maxim of his predecessors, that native ignorance would insure +the security of British rule, as an utterly unworthy and futile doctrine. +Accordingly, he promoted the establishment of native schools and +publications.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Death of Warren Hastings</div> + +<p>The affairs of India were kept before the British public by the renewed +discussion that followed the death of Lord Hastings' great namesake, Warren +Hastings. It was due to the scandals of Warren<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_634" id="Page_634">[Pg 634]</a></span> Hastings' career in India, +and his famous impeachment toward the close of the previous century, that +the administrative reforms and modern rule in India were inaugurated during +the nineteenth century. This reform began with the act, known at Pitt's +Bill, by which the British Crown assumed supreme authority over the civil +and military administration of the affairs in India by the British East +India Company. Henceforward, no alliances could be formed with any native +prince without the express sanction of Parliament. This act arose directly +out of Warren Hastings' confession that he had accepted a present of a +hundred thousand pounds from Asof-Ud-Daula. Warren Hastings' record, though +he was ultimately acquitted, was lastingly besmirched by his dubious +<span class="sidenote">Hastings' career</span> +monetary transactions, and it was for this reason that William Pitt refused +to recommend him for the peerage, or for honorable employment under the +British Crown. Yet he was the greatest statesman that ever ruled India. His +overthrow of the French in India, of the first Mahratta rising, and of the +formidable rebellion of Hyder Ali, are among the greatest achievements of +British colonial extension. The disgrace of Warren Hastings was a great +event in English history, but it made no impression on the people in India. +They only knew him as one of the greatest of conquerors and their +deliverer. Philip Francis, who brought about Hastings' downfall, so far +from supplanting him, is remembered now only as the probable author of the +anonymous "Letters of Junius."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Ross' and Franklin's Expeditions</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_635" id="Page_635">[Pg 635]</a></span> +Besides the death of Warren Hastings, several other notable events +preoccupied the attention of Englishmen. During this year Sir John Ross +sailed north to discover a northwest passage. Another relief expedition +under Lieutenant Franklin, which had sailed after him, resulted only in +failure. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley published her curious novel +"Frankenstein," and John Keats brought out his long poem "Endymion," for +<span class="sidenote">"Frankenstein"</span> +which he was violently assailed by the critics, notably by Jeffries, of +"Blackwood's Magazine." Shelley, Moore, Hunt, and eventually Byron, warmly +<span class="sidenote">"Endymion"</span> +took his part. In the meanwhile a number of industrial reforms were +introduced in England. Infant schools were first thrown open during this +year, and steam was first used for heating purposes. A company in Edinburgh +<span class="sidenote">Macadam roads</span> +undertook to light the streets with gas. John Loudon Macadam's new system +of road building was successfully introduced. In France similar strides +were made in industrial progress. Joseph Nicéphore Niepce invented his +<span class="sidenote">Invention of Velocipede</span> +velocipede. The kindred invention of the "draisine," or dandy-horse was +patented for Baron Drais of Sauerbron. These inventions contained the germ +of the modern bicycle.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Congress of Aachen</div> + +<p>The Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, consisting of the sovereigns of Russia, +Austria and Prussia, aided by ministers of Great Britain and France, signed +a convention for the withdrawal of the army of occupation from France, and +for the reception of France into the European concert. For other countries +the deliberations of this Congress were not so beneficent. Since the Polish +Diet in the spring,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_636" id="Page_636">[Pg 636]</a></span> when Alexander had promised to give all Russia a +constitutional government, a change of spirit had come over the Czar. This +change has been explained by the revelation of a military conspiracy +against his person. At all events, Alexander appeared at Aix-la-Chapelle +<span class="sidenote">Czar Alexander aroused</span> +with the most reactionary proposals. Up to this time Metternich, the +inveterate foe of liberalism, had found in the Czar his most formidable +opponent. Now the Czar distributed among his fellow sovereigns a pamphlet +written by one Stourdza, which described Germany as on the brink of +revolution, and blamed the universities and public press. Metternich +instantly took his cue from the Czar. Before the end of the conference he +delivered to the King of Prussia and to Hardenberg two papers containing +his recommendations for the management of Prussian affairs. Frederick +William was warned against giving his people a national parliament. After +the example of the Czar, Metternich inveighed against the universities and +the press.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Metternich's sentiments</div> + +<p>"The revolutionists," he said, "despairing of attaining their end +themselves, have formed the settled plan of educating the next generation +for revolution. The high school establishment is a preparatory school for +university disorders. The university seizes the youth as he leaves boyhood, +and gives him a revolutionary training. This mischief is common to all +Germany, and must be checked by joint action of the governments. Gymnasia +(high schools), on the contrary, were first invented at Berlin. For these, +palliative measures are no longer sufficient;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_637" id="Page_637">[Pg 637]</a></span> it has become a duty of +State for the King of Prussia to destroy the evil. The whole institution in +every shape must be closed and uprooted."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Prussian reaction</div> + +<p>The reactionary policy outlined in these papers became the guiding star of +King Frederick William of Prussia. They outline the history of what +actually was carried out in Prussia during the succeeding generation.</p> + +<p>It was not only in Germany that the new spirit of liberalism gave concern +to the members of the Holy Alliance. In Spain it appeared in a more +dangerous form, since it was espoused there by the military class. +<span class="sidenote">Misgovernment in Spain</span> +Ferdinand's misgovernment of Spain had soon resulted in an empty treasury, +in consequence of which soldiers and sailors received no pay for several +years. Military revolts were instituted by General Mina, and by Porliar and +Lacy at this period; but they failed through the indifference of the +soldiers themselves. The government's attempt to offset the numerous +desertions from the army by seizing and enrolling some 60,000 beggars in +military service, proved a complete failure. Napoleon's prediction to +Rear-Admiral Cockburn that Spain was doomed to lose all her colonies was +reaching fulfilment in America.</p> + +<p>Amelia Island, at the mouth of the St. Mary's River in Florida, had long +been the resort of lawless men, among whom were European adventurers +attracted by the South American revolution, and many fugitive slaves from +<span class="sidenote">Defection of Spanish colonies</span> +Georgia and South Carolina. A plan was formed to organize a revolution on +that island and to add Florida to the revolting South<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_638" id="Page_638">[Pg 638]</a></span> American republics. +The forces gathered there became too strong for the Spaniards, and +President Monroe decided to interfere. Gaines was sent to Amelia Island; +but before he arrived, Aury, the commander of the malcontents, had +surrendered to Commodore Henley. General Jackson, who was operating in +those parts against the Seminoles, declared that "the cause of the United +States must be carried to any point within the limits of Florida where an +enemy is permitted to be protected." All eastern Florida, he set forth to +the President, should be seized when Amelia Island was taken, and should be +held as an indemnity for the outrages of Spain upon American citizens. This +plan, Jackson said, could be carried out without implicating the United +States. "Let it be signified to me that the province of Florida would be +desirable to the United States, and in sixty days it will be accomplished."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Andrew Jackson in Florida</div> + +<p>When the order to assume command reached Jackson, he raised a volunteer +force in Tennessee from among his old soldiers. With these and the troops +left by Gaines he marched into Florida. On the site of the Negro fort he +built Fort Gadsden. He then advanced to the Bay of St. Marks, defeating the +few Seminoles whom he encountered. On April 7, he raised the American flag +there in place of the standard of Spain. Two Seminole chiefs who had taken +refuge on an American vessel in the bay, and who were supposed to have +participated in the massacre of a party of Americans, were brought on shore +and hanged. Leaving a strong garrison at St. Marks, Jackson marched a +hundred miles to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_639" id="Page_639">[Pg 639]</a></span> Indian town of Suwanee, where he hoped to capture +Billy Bowlegs and his band. But the Indians, warned of his approach, +<span class="sidenote">Summary military measures</span> +escaped across the river. Suwanee was destroyed. Jackson, when at St. +Marks, had taken prisoner one Arbuthnot, a Scotchman and supposed Indian +sympathizer, whom he ordered to be confined until his return. At Suwanee, +Captain Ambrister, a former English officer, intending to join the Indians, +blundered into Jackson's camp, and was held a prisoner. On his return, +Jackson ordered the two men to be tried by court-martial, on the charge of +warning the Indians of the approach of the American soldiers, and both were +convicted and executed. Jackson, on reaching Fort Gadsden, received from +<span class="sidenote">Pensacola occupied</span> +the Spanish Governor of Pensacola a protest against his invasion. He turned +back, occupied Pensacola, and took the Fort of Carrios De Barrancas, to +which the governor had fled.</p> + +<p>When the news of Jackson's course reached Washington, Congress engaged in a +heated debate over his occupation of the forts of a friendly power. In +defending himself Jackson wrote that the Secretary of War had given him +full power to conduct the campaign in the manner which seemed best. Spain, +he claimed, had failed to fulfil that article of the treaty by which she +was bound to restrain the Florida Indians from hostilities. Popular feeling +<span class="sidenote">Jackson unrebuked</span> +proved too strong for Congress to assert its privileges as the sole +war-making power. Jackson was not even rebuked for his course. During all +those months, Onis, the Spanish Minister, and Adams were in negotiation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_640" id="Page_640">[Pg 640]</a></span> +over a treaty, which was not ratified until two years later. Florida was to +be ceded to the United States on a payment of $5,000,000, to be applied in +satisfying the claims of American citizens against Spain. The Sabine River, +instead of the Rio Grande, was made the dividing line between the United +States and Spanish territory. The line was to run from the mouth of the +<span class="sidenote">An amicable settlement</span> +Sabine to the 32d parallel, thence north to the Red River and along it to +the 100th meridian, thence north to the Arkansas and along that river to +its source on the 42d parallel, and thence west to the Pacific. War with +Spain was thus averted.</p> + +<p>While the Florida question was under consideration, there arose another far +more momentous to America. Free labor in the North and slave labor in the +South were brought squarely face to face. Slave labor was fast rising in +value. The new lands of the lower Mississippi opened a vast field for the +employment of slaves in the production of cotton, sugar and tobacco. It was +<span class="sidenote">The slavery issue</span> +believed the extension of slavery into that new territory would save it +from gradual extinction. The interstate traffic in slaves was viewed with +abhorrence by many leading men in the South. John Randolph, while upholding +slavery, denounced the traffic that was carried on in the Southern +plantations. On the other hand it was seen that compromise would be of +little value if the North only was to be permitted to increase its power by +the admission of new States. New slave States as well were demanded by the +Southerners.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_641" id="Page_641">[Pg 641]</a></span></p> + +<p>In March, the citizens of Missouri had asked permission to form a State +constitution and to be admitted into the Union. It was tacitly understood +that slavery might be carried into territory east of the Mississippi +belonging originally to the existing slave States. But Louisiana, west of +the Mississippi, belonged to the whole of the United States rather than to +any one of the several States. The question now arose whether Congress +should establish slavery anew in territory of the United States. The +<span class="sidenote">Contention over Missouri</span> +alternative was presented to the people of the North whether to submit to +the demands of the South or to consent to a dissolution of the Union. +Though represented by a majority in Congress, the Northern States were +defeated after a long struggle. John Quincy Adams doubted if Congress, +under the American Constitution, had the right to prohibit slavery in a +territory where it already existed. "If a dissolution of the Union should +result from the slave question," he wrote, "it is obvious that it must +shortly afterward be followed by a universal emancipation of the slaves."</p> + +<p>During this same year Congress first granted pensions to needy veterans of +<span class="sidenote">American Pension system inaugurated</span> +the Revolutionary War and soon afterward to the widows and children of dead +soldiers. Thus began the system of American pension legislation for former +American soldiers which was destined to grow to such gigantic proportions +in later years. Up to that time the number of stripes in the American flag +had been eighteen. Now a bill was approved reducing the number of stripes +to thirteen, the number of original States comprising the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_642" id="Page_642">[Pg 642]</a></span> Union. The +number of stars was to be made equal to that of the States. Soon afterward, +the new flag, with twenty stars in its quartering, was first raised over +the halls of Congress. Shortly after this the Fifteenth Congress adjourned. +On October 20, a convention with Great Britain was signed respecting +fisheries and boundaries, giving to Americans the right to fish in +Newfoundland waters and renewing the agreement of 1815, making the 49th +<span class="sidenote">Oregon in dispute</span> +parallel the boundary between the United States and British North America. +The convention also provided for the joint occupation of Oregon for ten +years longer.</p> + +<p>The glossy finish to leather known as "patent" leather was first patented +in this year. Another notable invention of the time was the process of +engraving on soft steel.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Illinois a State</div> + +<p>The second session of the American Congress was not called until late in +the year. Illinois was then admitted as the twenty-first State of the +Union.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1819" id="a1819"></a>1819</h2> + +<div class="sidenote">Florida ceded by Spain</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_643" id="Page_643">[Pg 643]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">E</span><span class="dcap1">ARLY</span> in the year Andrew Jackson was called to Washington. He was the hero +of the day. When he visited New York he was received with public honors. On +February 22, a treaty with Spain was adopted by which she surrendered all +claims to Florida and ceded West Florida. The cost of the war to the United +States had been forty million dollars. The year was marked by the enforced +<span class="sidenote">Southern Indians dispossessed</span> +retirement of large bodies of the Cherokees from Georgia to the +Mississippi. The Cherokees as well as the Creeks, the Choctaws and the +Chickasaws were greatly perturbed at the prospect of their final removal +from the land which the United States had guaranteed to them. Partly as a +result of these changes, the Territory of Alabama was admitted to the Union +as the twenty-second State.<span class="sidenote">Alabama a state</span></p> + +<p>There were now eleven free and eleven slave States; and serious opposition +arose to the admission of Missouri. In February, the first bill was +introduced in the House for the admission of that Territory. James +Tallmadge, Jr., of New York, proposed that there should be no personal +servitude in the State except by those already held as slaves, and that +these should be manumitted within a certain period. This proposition he +modified by moving +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_644" id="Page_644">[Pg 644]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">The Missouri problem</span> +an amendment providing that the introduction of slavery +should be prohibited, but that those already slaves in Missouri should +remain so, and that the children of such slaves should be liberated upon +reaching the age of twenty-five. The proposition to hold in slavery a +generation yet unborn was fiercely resented. The two Houses did not agree, +and the question went over to another year. The South presented an unbroken +and unyielding front. Caleb of Georgia said that this attempt to interfere +with slavery was "destructive of the peace and harmony of the union"; that +those who proposed it "were kindling a fire which all the waters of the +ocean could not extinguish. It could be extinguished only in blood."</p> + +<p>The Missouri question having been left for the next session, the cognate +issue concerning a government for the Arkansas country south of parallel +33° 30' was taken up. In both Houses an amendment to prohibit slavery was +lost. As a compromise a representative from Delaware suggested a division +<span class="sidenote">Antagonism to slavery</span> +of the Western Territory between the free and slave States. The contest was +renewed at the December session. Resolutions of Northern Legislatures +condemning the placing of slavery under the national government were +presented, and were treated with contempt by the Southern statesmen. +Senator Mason of North Carolina said: "They may philosophize at town +meetings about it as much as they please, but they know nothing about the +question." In the House the matter was brought up in the same form as in +the previous session. James W. Taylor of New<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_645" id="Page_645">[Pg 645]</a></span> York presented an amendment +prohibiting slavery, but holding in bondage those who were already slaves. +He kept this point clearly in view through the debate that followed. +Finally the bill was passed by a vote of 91 to 82, the prohibitory +amendment being adopted by a majority of eight. The bill for the admission +<span class="sidenote">Maine <i>vs.</i> Missouri</span> +of Missouri was attached to that for the admission of Maine. The suggestion +of this stratagem was made on the 20th of December by Henry Clay, who +declared that he did "not mean to give his consent to the admission of +Maine, so long as the doctrine was upheld of annexing conditions to the +admission of States beyond the mountains." The analogy was scarcely just. +Under the Constitution the right was absolute; Maine was a part of the +original thirteen States of the Republic. The problem respecting Missouri +was radically different, and resolved itself into the question whether +Congress, under the American Constitution, had the right to create a new +State out of the purchased territory, and to admit it to the Union without +a republican form of government. Clay's threat was improved upon. The +judiciary committee reported the House bill for the admission of Maine, +adding an amendment for the admission of Missouri. Roberts of Pennsylvania +moved to amend the amendment by prohibiting slavery in Missouri, but his +motion was rejected by a majority of eleven (including six Senators from +free States). A motion to make the admission of Maine a separate question +was also defeated. The two Houses now stood directly opposed to each other. +The Representatives would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_646" id="Page_646">[Pg 646]</a></span> not retreat from their decision to prohibit +slavery in Missouri; the Senate was equally determined that Missouri should +be admitted as a slave State. Had the House maintained its ground, the +United States for the next half century might have had another history.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Missouri compromise</div> + +<p>Senator Thomas of Illinois, who had voted thus far with the South, now came +forward with a compromise. He proposed to prohibit slavery in that portion +of the Louisiana Purchase north of 36° 30' excepting Missouri. This was +accepted in the Senate by thirty-four votes against ten. But when the bill +came up two days later for its final passage it received only a majority of +four. After much delay the compromise measure was finally passed through +the House by a majority of 134 to 42 votes. The measure was a Northern +victory, having been carried by Northern votes. For the moment peace was +gained; but the fire was only smothered. On the one side there was a gain +of one slave State; on the other side, a mere promise to prohibit slavery +in future States.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the political agitation, general progress in America was +pronounced and rapid during this period. Steam navigation was no longer a +<span class="sidenote">Modern progress</span> +novelty. The Erie Canal was well under way. New towns were springing up +along its course. Blanchard invented his lathe for turning irregular forms. +The famous Danish physicist, Hans Christian Oersted, made his classical +electrical experiments with the magnetic needle and laid the foundation of +our modern theory of electromagnetism.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_647" id="Page_647">[Pg 647]</a></span> The literary event of the year in +America was the appearance of Washington Irving's "Sketch Book." The work +<span class="sidenote">Irving's "Sketch Book"</span> +found favor in England, where Sir Walter Scott befriended Irving.</p> + +<p>In England, too, it was a period of new industrial and colonial expansion. +Following the unsuccessful polar expeditions of the previous year, +Lieutenant Franklin undertook his second search for the northwest passage, +<span class="sidenote">Polar expedition</span> +and a similar expedition, under Perry and Liddon, set out for Arctic +waters. In India, where the Sikhs under Runjeet Singh were engaged in their +great conquest of Cashmere, a British settlement was established in +Singapore. British supremacy at sea received its tribute in an invitation +from the Chileans to Sir Thomas Cochrane to command their new navy. After +their victory on the Maypo, the patriot leaders of Chile had set to work to +create a navy for their country. The British ship "Cumberland" was +purchased in London, and renamed the "San Martin." Within a few months she +captured the "Maria Isabella" from the Spanish. The prize was taken to +<span class="sidenote">Cochrane in Chilean service</span> +Valparaiso, remounted, and renamed the "O'Higgins." To these ships were +added the "Galvarino," "Araucano," "Interpodo," and the "Independencia." +With the "O'Higgins" for a flagship, Cochrane took this squadron up and +down the coast of South America, harrying the Spanish sea-ports everywhere.</p> + +<p>In England, meanwhile, there was renewed agitation for Parliamentary +reforms. Henry Grattan in Parliament moved for a Committee of the Whole +House to consider the laws excluding Catholics from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_648" id="Page_648">[Pg 648]</a></span> public offices. His +motion was defeated by a narrow vote of 243 against 241. Instead of this +reform the British Government, falling in line with the reactionary +<span class="sidenote">The "Six Acts"</span> +measures of the Continental governments, passed through Parliament the +so-called "Six Acts" for the prevention and punishment of sedition in +England. To latter-day Englishmen this year is principally noted for the +birth of Queen Victoria. The little princess, the daughter of Edward, Duke +<span class="sidenote">Birth of Victoria</span> +of Kent, son of George the Third and Maria Louisa Victoria of Saxe-Coburg, +a sister of Leopold I. of Belgium, was born at Kensington Palace, and was +named Alexandrina Victoria.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Schopenhauer</div> + +<p>Germans of the present day remember this year for the appearance of +Schopenhauer's great philosophic work "The World, as Will and Idea"—"Die +Welt als Wille und Vorstellung." Schopenhauer, in this book, laid down the +doctrine that the universe, and therefore human life as such, is governed +by the conflicting principles of the ungoverned will and of the +unattainable ideal. The true solution of life, he held, was to be found in +subjecting brute will to the intellectual force of the ideal.</p> + +<p>Schopenhauer's book at that time passed almost unnoticed. The educated +classes of Germany were in too much of a ferment over the recent police +restrictions inflicted upon the universities and public press. By this time +it had become well known what part Czar Alexander had played at the +Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle. A vehement outcry arose at the universities +against the interference of foreigners in German affairs. The wrath of the +Liberals turned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_649" id="Page_649">[Pg 649]</a></span> against August von Kotzebue, the prolific playwright, who +held the office of Russian agent in central Germany. Kotzebue conducted a +weekly newspaper at Mannheim in which he inveighed against the German +national movement of the day, and ridiculed the patriotic eccentricities of +the students. Having himself studied at Jena, Kotzebue was denounced by the +students there as a traitor. He was believed to be responsible for the +Czar's conversion from liberal ideas to reactionary principles. This belief +cost Kotzebue his life. One Sand, a theological student at Jena, noted for +piety and patriotic ardor, formed a fanatical resolution to do away with +this enemy of the country. An extract from Sand's diary, written on the eve +of his last New Year's day, reveals the character of the man: "I meet the +last day of this year in an earnest festal spirit, knowing well that the +Christmas which I have celebrated will be my last. If our strivings are to +result in anything, if the cause of mankind is to succeed in our +fatherland, if all is not to be forgotten, all our enthusiasm spent in +vain, the evil doer, the traitor, the corrupter of youth must die. Until I +have executed this, I have no peace; and what can comfort me until I know +<span class="sidenote">Assassination of Kotzebue</span> +that I have with upright will set my life at stake? O God, I pray only for +the right clearness and courage of soul, that in that last supreme hour I +may not be false to myself." On March 23, Sand sought out Baron Kotzebue in +the midst of his family and stabbed him to the heart. Then he turned the +dagger against himself. Unfortunately Sand recovered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_650" id="Page_650">[Pg 650]</a></span> from his wounds, and +thus lived to die on the scaffold.</p> + +<p>The mad deed was followed by the worst possible results for Germany. +Minister Hardenberg, when he heard of the murder of Kotzebue, declared that +<span class="sidenote">Retaliatory measures</span> +a Prussian Constitution had now been rendered impossible. Metternich, who +was then in Rome, instantly drew up a scheme for further repressive +measures and summoned the ministers of the various German States for a +meeting at Carlsbad. "By the help of God," wrote Metternich, "I hope to +defeat the German revolution, just as I vanquished the conqueror of the +world. The revolutionists thought me far away, because I was five hundred +leagues off. They deceived themselves; I have been in the midst of them, +and now I am striking my blows." A number of innocent persons were arrested +in various parts of Germany under utterly unwarrantable circumstances. The +houses of professors were searched and private papers were seized. Jahn, +the founder of the popular Gymnastic schools, was arrested in Berlin. De +Wette, a professor of theology at the University of Berlin, had to flee to +<span class="sidenote">German liberals persecuted</span> +Switzerland on account of a letter of sympathy addressed by him to Sand's +mother. With him Oken, the great naturalist, and Corres, the pamphleteer, +became exiles in Switzerland. Professor Fries lost his chair at Jena; the +poet Arndt was suspended at Bonn, and his private papers, in garbled form, +were published by the government. Many of the younger professors, +accompanied by their favorite students, emigrated to America.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_651" id="Page_651">[Pg 651]</a></span></p> + +<div class="sidenote">Convention of Carlsbad</div> + +<p>During August the German ministers met at Carlsbad. Their conferences, in +the memory of the German people, are justly associated with the suppression +of intellectual freedom for a whole generation. It was ordered that in +every State within the German federation a strict censorship should be +established over all publications. Within fifteen days an inquisitorial +commission was called together at Mainz to investigate the students' +societies at the universities. The commission was empowered to arrest any +<span class="sidenote">Police censors appointed</span> +subject in any German State. Special police commissioners were appointed at +the universities, whose duty it was to keep a strict eye on the drift of +the professor's teachings. Any professor or student expelled from a +university was not to be employed by any other German government. The +<span class="sidenote">Binzer's poem</span> +students' societies were suppressed, at least to all outward appearance. +The poet Binzer wrote a defiant song ending with the lines:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Spirit liveth in us all,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For God is still our stronghold.</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>So far was repression carried in Prussia that out of 203 students arrested +for wearing black-red-yellow ribbons, no less than 94 were condemned to +death. Wilhelm von Humboldt, the best and most liberal of Prussian +<span class="sidenote">Resignation of Wilhelm Humboldt</span> +Ministers during the first half of the nineteenth century, resigned his +portfolio in disgust. The zeal with which the Prussian Government accepted +these measures made it useless for the minor German States to offer much +opposition. Yet they formed the only remaining bulwark against<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_652" id="Page_652">[Pg 652]</a></span> +Metternich's restrictive policy. In spite of his strenuous opposition, the +rulers of Bavaria and Baden granted to their subjects constitutional forms +<span class="sidenote">South German liberalism</span> +of government. Representative assemblies with lower and upper houses, after +the manner of the English Parliament, were established. In Wurtemberg, +serfdom was abolished, and a constitution was published a few days before +the enrolment of the decrees of Carlsbad.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Laënnec's stethoscope</div> + +<p>In France, Dr. Laënnec published his epoch-making work "Traité +d'Auscultation Médiate," the result of his recent experiments in listening +to human heart-beats and lung respirations through a hollow cylinder. +Various names were given to the instrument until Laënnec decided to call it +"stethoscope," the name it has ever since retained. Laënnec's contributions +to the study of diseases of the lungs, of the heart and of the abdominal +organs may be said to have laid the foundation of modern clinical medicine.</p> + +<p>Parliamentary government in France worked none too smoothly. In the +Chambers the rise of the independent party and anti-Bourbon faction caused +the Duc de Richelieu to resign. When the news of Kotzebue's assassination +reached Paris, the Comte d'Artois remarked exultingly to the king: "Well, +<span class="sidenote">Decazes Prime Minister</span> +brother, you see what they are driving us to." Louis XVIII. intrusted to +his favorite, Decazes, the formation of a new Cabinet. Decazes found it +difficult to select competent men for the various portfolios. His Cabinet, +when finally brought together, lacked internal unity and outward support.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_653" id="Page_653">[Pg 653]</a></span> +Its career was early imperilled by the untoward election of Bishop Gregoire +<span class="sidenote">The Gregoire episode</span> +of Grenoble, one of the regicides, to the Chamber of Deputies. This popular +manifestation, though sufficiently explained by the sterling public +qualities of the bishop himself, created the utmost apprehension among the +Royalists. Decazes had to bend to the storm, and the election of Gregoire +was declared null and void by the Ministerial majority in the Chambers. The +French Royalists next professed to find cause for apprehension in Spain. +Danger of war with the United States, before the cession of Florida, had +<span class="sidenote">Troubles in Spain</span> +caused King Ferdinand of Spain to assemble an army at Cadiz to embark for +America. It was now proposed to send these troops to South America to quell +the revolutionary movements there. The return of a number of soldiers +stricken with yellow fever in the colonies filled the troops at Cadiz with +consternation. The common soldiers, lying in squalor and inaction at their +barracks, came to regard their expected order of embarkation as a sentence +of death. Their officers plotted with the secret societies in Cadiz and +neighboring towns. Abisbas, the commandant at Cadiz, to safeguard his own +interests pretended to encourage these plots. Then, convinced of their +ultimate failure, he arrested the principal leaders by a stratagem and +hurried to Madrid to reveal all and claim credit for saving the crown. The +ringleaders were imprisoned and the troops were distributed into +cantonments. As it turned out this only served to foment the growing spirit +of dissatisfaction throughout Spain.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1820" id="a1820"></a>1820</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_654" id="Page_654">[Pg 654]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">N</span><span class="dcap1">EW YEAR'S DAY</span> was fixed for the outbreak of revolt by the revolutionists +of Spain. The chosen leaders were Riego, Cabazes and Quiroga. It was +arranged that Quiroga, who was held in light confinement at Medina, east of +Cadiz, should gather the battalions outside of Cadiz, throw himself into +the city, and there await the co-operation of his fellow conspirators. +Riego with a band of chosen men was to pounce upon the military +headquarters at Arcos, and to arrest the general officers before they could +interfere. Accordingly, Riego, on the first day of January, proclaimed the +<span class="sidenote">Spanish military revolt</span> +Constitution of 1812, and, falling upon headquarters, seized the general +officers and rallied the men to his standard. Quiroga was less successful. +After gaining possession of San Fernando at the eastern point of the +peninsula of Leon, he failed to get into Cadiz. The commandant closed the +gates against him, and the troops within gave no sign of defection. By the +time Riego arrived, there were but 5,000 insurgents wherewith to overcome +the strong garrison and fortifications of Cadiz. Leaving Quiroga before +Cadiz, Riego set himself to raise the people of the surrounding towns. He +was received with kindness, but the obvious weakness of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_655" id="Page_655">[Pg 655]</a></span> his force +discouraged others from joining him. Strong forces were sent in pursuit, +and the insurgents were compelled to march back and forth through the +<span class="sidenote">Riego's plight</span> +country to escape their pursuers. At Cordova, Riego was made to realize +that the game was lost. The soldiers of the government were upon him, and +he had only some two hundred followers left. The little band took to the +mountains and there dispersed.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Spread of the revolt</div> + +<p>The revolt, despite its miserable end, was followed by widespread results. +The example of a bold stroke had been given, and the weakness of the +government had been exposed. While Riego's followers were still hunted from +place to place, the soldiers and citizens of Corona together declared for +the Constitution. The revolutionary movement spread to Ferrol and thence +along the coast towns of Galicia.</p> + +<p>In South America, Cochrane in a brilliant action took the Spanish +<span class="sidenote">Cochrane's exploit</span> +stronghold of Valdivia, held to be a Gibraltar in strength. King Ferdinand +in Madrid was terrified. From all points of Spain the commandants wrote +that they could not answer for their garrisons. Abisbas was ordered to +return to Cadiz with reinforcements. On leaving Madrid he boasted to the +<span class="sidenote">Abisbas' treachery</span> +king that he knew how to deal with rebels. By the time he reached Ocaña, +early in March, he himself proclaimed the Constitution. The news of +Abisbas' defection created consternation in Madrid. On the night of March +6, the king convoked his Council of State. On the morrow he issued a +summons for the Cortes. This was not enough. Crowds gathered in the streets +and clamored for the Consti<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_656" id="Page_656">[Pg 656]</a></span>tution. A report that the guards were on the +point of going over to the people brought the king around. From the balcony +of the royal palace Ferdinand announced his readiness to take the oath to +the Constitution. The next day was spent in riotous rejoicing. The prison +of the Inquisition was sacked and all political prisoners were liberated. +On the following day the mob broke into the gates and gardens of the royal +palace. The members of the old municipal council entered the royal private +<span class="sidenote">King Ferdinand succumbs</span> +chamber and called for a fulfilment of the king's public promise. Ferdinand +accepted the inevitable under a smiling exterior, and swore an oath of +fidelity to the Constitution of 1812. A provisional Junta took charge of +affairs until the new Cortes should be convened.</p> + +<p>The news of the Spanish revolution astounded Europe. In France a fanatic by +the name of Louvel deemed the moment come to strike at the reigning house +of France. Louvel had followed Napoleon to exile in Elba. After the Hundred +Days he dogged the footsteps of the Bourbon princes with a settled project +of murder. The heir-presumptive to the French crown was the Duc de Berry. +<span class="sidenote">Duc de Berry assassinated</span> +If he died without a son the elder Bourbon line was bound to become extinct +as a reigning house. On the night of February 13, Louvel attacked the Duc +de Berry at the entrance of the opera house and plunged a knife into his +heart. The Duchess was covered with her husband's blood. That night Duc de +Berry died beseeching forgiveness for the man who had killed him. King +Louis XVIII. himself closed the eyes of his nephew.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_657" id="Page_657">[Pg 657]</a></span></p> + +<p>The assassination of the Duc de Berry involved the ruin of the Ministry of +Decazes. The ultra-royalists in their frenzy of grief and indignation +charged their chief opponent with complicity. Clausel de Coussergues, a +member of the Court of Cassation, moved the impeachment of Minister Decazes +in the Chambers as an accomplice in the assassination. The King himself +felt menaced by the unwarranted accusation. "The Royalists give me the +finishing stroke," said he; "they know that the policy of M. Decazes is +<span class="sidenote">Fall of Decazes' Ministry</span> +also mine, and they accuse him of assassinating my nephew." Yet he had to +abandon his favorite to the violent entreaties of the Comte d'Artois and +the Duchesse de Angoulême. Decazes was permitted to retire, and set out for +London with his new titles of Duke and Ambassador to the Court of St. +James. Richelieu was recalled to the Ministry. The Duchesse de Berry +retired to Sicily.</p> + +<p>In Naples and Sicily the recent events in Spain and France exerted a +powerful influence over the minds of the people. In southern Italy the +secret society of the Carbonari had become a power in the land. The members +of this society, after the manner of Freemasons, took their name and the +<span class="sidenote">Rise of the Carbonari</span> +symbolism of their rites from the calling of the charcoal burners. Since +the revolt against Bourbon tyranny in 1799, the Carbonari had played their +part as revolutionary conspirators. By the year 1820 it was believed that +one person out of every twenty-five in Naples belonged to the society. To +offset their hidden power, the government encouraged the foun<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_658" id="Page_658">[Pg 658]</a></span>dation of a +rival society, known as the Calderari, or Braziers. This only made matters +worse. After the success of the revolution in Spain, the head lodge of the +Carbonari in Salerno issued orders for a rising in June. Later the date was +<span class="sidenote">Neapolitan military revolt</span> +postponed. A score of Carbonari serving in the ranks of a cavalry regiment +at Nola, persuaded one of the officers, Lieutenant Morelli, to head a +revolt in favor of a constitutional government. On July 2, Morelli marched +out with a squadron of 150 men, and proclaimed for the Constitution. Only +one trooper refused to follow his standard. The others rode along the road +to Avellino and were received with enthusiasm all along the way. The +country was ripe for revolt. At Avellino the commandant with all his +garrison and the Bishop with the townspeople gave them a magnificent +reception. The news of the revolt spread like wildfire throughout the +kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Everywhere the Carbonari declared in its +favor. Before the government had taken a single step, the Constitution was +generally proclaimed and joyfully accepted by the populace. From Naples the +King sent General Carrascosa to negotiate with the insurgents. In the +meanwhile General Pepe, himself a Carbonaro of high rank, hastened to +Avellino and placed himself at the head of the revolution. On July 6, the +King published an edict promising a constitution within eight days, and +then, feigning illness, committed the royal authority to his son, the Duke +of Calabria. The Carbonari, recalling the fact that the King, in order to +preserve his contingent rights to the Spanish<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_659" id="Page_659">[Pg 659]</a></span> crown, had but recently +helped to sign the Spanish Constitution of 1812, insisted that this same +Constitution should be proclaimed for Naples. Old King Ferdinand yielded +and signed an edict to that effect. General Pepe and Morelli, at the head +<span class="sidenote">Revolution in Naples</span> +of the garrison of Avellino, and the national guards of Naples, +triumphantly entered the city with public honors, and were received by the +Duke of Calabria, in his capacity as viceroy. On July 13, the King in +person swore to support the Constitution. Standing before the altar in the +royal chapel, he raised his eyes to the crucifix and prayed that the +vengeance of God might fall upon him if ever he broke his oath. Immediately +<span class="sidenote">Bourbon duplicity</span> +afterward he wrote to the Emperors of Austria and Russia, declaring that +his conduct on this occasion was a mere farce and that he regarded his +obligations as null and void.</p> + +<p>The contagion of Spain and Sicily proved too much for the people of +Portugal. The continued absence of the royal family in Brazil, and the +unwelcome prolongation of the British regency had long caused +dissatisfaction in Portugal. The feeling of discontent was deepened by +industrial and commercial distress which made the manifest prosperity of +Brazil seem all the more galling. Marshal Beresford, the English +commander-in-chief of the Portuguese army, was generally execrated for his +barbarous treatment of military conspirators. After the outbreak of the +Spanish revolution, the aspect of affairs became so threatening in Portugal +that Beresford set out for Rio Janeiro to induce the Princes of Braganza to +return to their Court in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_660" id="Page_660">[Pg 660]</a></span> Lisbon. Before he could accomplish his purpose, +the government that he had left behind him was overthrown by the people. On +August 24, the city of Oporto rose against the regency. The officers of the +army, the magistrates, the priests and townspeople united in declaring +<span class="sidenote">Revolution in Portugal</span> +against the regency. They established a provisional Junta to govern in the +name of the King until the Cortes of Portugal could be convened to frame a +constitution. The authority of the regency in Oporto was lost without a +blow. The Junta immediately seized the reins of government, and began its +career by dismissing all English officers and paying the arrears of the +soldiers. In Lisbon the regency itself tried to stem the storm by giving +its formal approval to the measures of the Junta of Oporto. The troops of +Lisbon, however, would no longer recognize the authority of the government. +Within a fortnight the regency was deposed, and a Junta installed in its +<span class="sidenote">End of Lisbon regency</span> +place. Beresford was forbidden to return to Portugal. He went to England, +but found there that the British Ministry did not deem it advisable to +interfere further in the domestic affairs of Portugal. Dom Juan VI., in Rio +Janeiro, promised to return to Portugal and bestow on his subjects a +liberal constitution.</p> + +<p>In England, Lord Beresford's attempt to induce the government to suppress +the revolutionists of Portugal only served to strengthen the popular +antipathy that had grown up against the reactionary tendencies of the Holy +Alliance. Prior to this an attempt had been made to persuade England to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_661" id="Page_661">[Pg 661]</a></span> +act as instrument of the Alliance by suppressing the rebellious colonies of +Spain in South America. At the last session of the Holy Alliance, the +envoys of Russia and France submitted a paper in which they suggested that +<span class="sidenote">British liberalism</span> +Wellington, as "the man of Europe," should go to Madrid to preside over a +negotiation between the Court of Spain and all the Ambassadors, regarding +the terms to be offered to the transatlantic States. If the colonies +continued rebellious, England's fleet was counted upon to reduce them to +submission. But the force of liberalism was too strong in England for any +British Minister to enter into such a scheme. Then it was that the Czar of +<span class="sidenote">Sale of Russian fleet</span> +Russia sold a large part of the Russian fleet to Spain. To Englishmen, who +had seen these same ships in their harbors at the time they were held as +hostages by England, this action gave but little concern. The scandal that +followed in Spain was anticipated in England. On their arrival at Cadiz, +the Russian ships were found to be useless rotten hulks.</p> + +<p>Another more trying scandal engrossed public attention in England. On +January 29, old King George III. had at last sunk into his grave. His son, +<span class="sidenote">Death of George III.</span> +George IV., became king, and began his rule with the same Ministry under +Lord Liverpool that had served him as Prince Regent. The new king's first +public act was to call for a bill for the divorce of his wife, Caroline of +Brunswick. The Cabinet refused to favor such a bill. On April 23, +Parliament met. The King sent "a green bag" to each House of Parliament, +containing a mass of testimony and accusations concerning the queen's +conduct with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_662" id="Page_662">[Pg 662]</a></span> her Italian chamberlain, Pergami. On June 6, Queen Caroline +arrived from Italy. Having been refused passage on a royal ship, she +chartered a vessel of her own. This bold step was taken to imply innocence. +She was received with great popular demonstrations in her favor. Before a +secret committee of Parliament, Queen Caroline offset the King's charges +<span class="sidenote">Queen Caroline's trial</span> +against her by laying stress on his own well-known failings as a husband. +On July 5, Lord Liverpool introduced a bill of "Pains and Penalties" to +dissolve the marriage of Queen Caroline. Her trial was taken up by the +House of Lords, where she was defended by Lord Brougham. To this day the +proceedings of the trial are remembered as one of the most outrageous +scandals in England. The feelings thereby engendered in the people have +been immortalized in the trenchant writings of Thackeray. Before the trial +was concluded, Lord Liverpool's bill was brought up for the third time in +Parliament. It passed by a majority of a few votes. With so slender an +indorsement, the Ministry had cause to tremble for its existence. Lord +<span class="sidenote">Death of the Queen</span> +Liverpool prevailed upon the King to recede from his extreme position, and, +succeeding in this, moved for the abandonment of the bill. The trial was +quashed. Queen Caroline died shortly afterward.</p> + +<p>In America, public feeling was no less excited. The occasion for this was +the first serious clash of the Northern and Southern factions of the United +States over what was known as the Missouri Compromise. On February 18, the +Missouri Compromise bill passed the Senate, and on March 2 the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_663" id="Page_663">[Pg 663]</a></span> House. It +admitted Missouri as a slave State, and prohibited slavery north of +<span class="sidenote">The Missouri Compromise</span> +parallel 36° 30', the southern line of Missouri. Henry Clay declared that +it settled the slavery question "forever." The bill went to the President. +There was still another compromise, and that was in the Cabinet. The +President asked advice on two points. The first point was whether Congress +had a Constitutional right to prohibit slavery in a Territory. The Cabinet +agreed that the right existed. Then the question arose whether the section +prohibiting slavery "forever" referred only to the territorial condition, +or whether it also applied when the Territory became a State. The Cabinet, +with the exception of Adams, agreed that "forever" applied only to the +territorial condition; Adams held that "forever" meant literally forever, +in State as well as in Territory. In order to escape this dilemma it was +proposed that the question of "forever," as relating to States, should be +avoided; and that the only question should be, whether the section +<span class="sidenote">Cabinet in a quandary</span> +prohibiting slavery in the Territories forever was Constitutional. The +order of proceeding was reversed; Mr. Adams was to reply in the affirmative +without giving his reasons, while the others were to explain in writing +that the provision was Constitutional; but "forever" meant only while the +territorial condition existed. With this understanding the bill was signed. +It is plain now that in the unsettled point the whole pith and meaning of +the Missouri Compromise was contained, as the country learned fully and +decisively thirty-five years afterward.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_664" id="Page_664">[Pg 664]</a></span></p> + +<p>New issues then came to the front—protection, internal improvements, and +recognition of the South American republics. Presently, in order to +preserve the balance of power between slavery and freedom, it was enacted +that Maine was to be admitted on March 15, making twelve free and twelve +slave holding States. A bill was passed pronouncing the maritime slave +<span class="sidenote">Monroe elected President</span> +trade piracy. On October 20, Spain ratified the treaty ceding Florida. +Congress reassembled in November. James Monroe and John Quincy Adams were +the opposing candidates for the Presidency. Monroe received 231 electoral +votes; Adams received one from a New Hampshire elector who voted in +sympathy with a popular sentiment that Washington should stand alone in the +high honor of a unanimous choice.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Quinine</div> + +<p>In this year the great fever drug quinine was first clearly separated and +identified by Drs. Pelletier and Caventou, who were spurred on to their +labors by the previous experiments with the drug by Drs. Gomez and Lambert. +In its crude form the bark of the chinchona tree had been used for its +medical properties since times immemorial.</p> + +<p>It was about this time that the German physician Hahnemann's theory of +homeopathy caused general discussion among medical practitioners and +laymen. Hahnemann's first thesis was that many diseases could most quickly +be eradicated by similar effects—fever with fever, poison with +anti-poison. This theory of "like with like"—the Greek ὁμοια +ὁμοιοις—was accordingly named by him homeopathy. It +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_665" id="Page_665">[Pg 665]</a></span> was most fully +<span class="sidenote">Homeopathy</span> +expressed in his "Dogma of Rational Healing" and in the later treatise +"Chronic Ailments and their Homeopathic Cure." These books created such a +widespread sensation that they were at once translated into several +languages and ran through a great number of editions. As a matter of +course, Hahnemann's peculiar theories were violently combated by his fellow +practitioners.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Hydropathy</div> + +<p>Almost at the same time with the rise of the new science of homeopathy came +Vincenz Priessnitz's innovation of hydropathy or water cure. He established +his first sanitarium at Grafenberg, his birthplace, and in the face of +vehement medical opposition soon won government recognition for his +sanitarium. Similar water-cure establishments were erected by many +imitators and followers in Germany and elsewhere.</p> + +<p>Late in the year Emperor Alexander of Russia and Metternich came together +to settle on the counter strokes to be delivered against the revolutionists +of Spain and southern Italy. When Metternich first heard of the fall of +absolute government in Naples he was dismayed. Gentz, who saw him at that +time, has left this record: "Prince Metternich went to-day to inform the +Emperor of the sad events in Naples. As long as I know him I have never +seen him so upset by any event." Metternich had reason to feel alarmed. A +revolution in Naples was almost sure to be followed by an Italian uprising +in the Austrian possessions of Venice and an insurrection in the Papal +States. Had Metternich felt free to follow his own devices, he would +forthwith have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_666" id="Page_666">[Pg 666]</a></span> marched an Austrian army into southern Italy to put an end +to the troubles there. With all his exasperation he did not feel free to +<span class="sidenote">Convention of Troppau</span> +cut loose from joint action with the Czar and with the other sovereigns of +Europe. Thus it came that the summer was spent in arranging for another +conference of the allied monarchs. They met on October 20, at Troppau in +Moravia. The Emperors of Austria and Russia and the King of Prussia +received one another in state. The envoys of England and France were found +to be in accord against armed intervention in southern Italy. The other +powers determined to proceed on their course without them. Metternich's +diplomatic dealings with the Czar were greatly hampered by the clever +intrigues of Count Capodistrias, Alexander's foreign minister. For once +Metternich found himself matched by a diplomat even more subtle than +himself. In the end, he prevailed over Capodistrias sufficiently to +<span class="sidenote">Intervention in Naples</span> +overcome Alexander's scruples against harsh measures in Naples. It was +determined to invite King Ferdinand to meet the sovereigns at Leibach, in +Austria, and to address a summons to the Neapolitans commanding them to +abandon their constitution, under threat of immediate invasion. Accordingly +a note was issued from Troppau to all the courts of Europe, embodying the +doctrine of federative intervention, as applied to Naples.</p> + +<p>As soon as King Ferdinand received the summons he prepared to leave Naples. +The populace became aroused, and angry crowds surrounded the palace. +Ferdinand was not allowed to leave Naples until he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_667" id="Page_667">[Pg 667]</a></span> had once more sworn on +his honor to maintain the constitution borrowed from Spain. The King took +<span class="sidenote">King Ferdinand's duplicity</span> +this oath as readily as he did the other. Then he journeyed northward. Half +way, at Leghorn, he sent letters to each of the five principal sovereigns +of Europe declaring his last declaration just as null and void as his +previous perjuries. His double-dealing was rather too much even for the +Holy Alliance. As Gentz, the secretary of the Congress, expressed himself +in private: "The conduct of this wretched sovereign, since the beginning of +his troubles, has been nothing but a tissue of weaknesses and lies. Happily +they will remain secret. No Cabinet will care to draw them from the +graveyard of its archives. Till then there is not much harm done."</p> + +<p>Benjamin West, the celebrated American-English artist, died at London in +<span class="sidenote">Benjamin West</span> +his eighty-second year. At the opening of the Eighteenth Century, West was +in the forefront of the agitation that grew out of his contested succession +to Sir Joshua Reynolds as president of the Royal Academy. Wearied with +these quarrels he visited Paris, where he studied the newly pillaged +masterpieces at the Louvre. He resigned from the Royal Academy, but was +almost unanimously re-elected. It was then that he painted his famous +"Christ Healing the Sick." His later works failed to attain the success of +his earlier historical paintings. When West died, his reputation had +declined appreciably, still a public funeral at St. Paul's Cathedral was +accorded to him, a unique honor for an American.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1821" id="a1821"></a>1821</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_668" id="Page_668">[Pg 668]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">T</span><span class="dcap1">HE</span> Congress of Leibach met in January. It was attended by the +representatives of Russia, Austria, Prussia, England, France, Sardinia and +Modena. When King Ferdinand of Naples arrived he was received by the +<span class="sidenote">Congress of Leibach</span> +Emperors of Russia and Austria in person. It was predetermined that +absolute government in Naples should be restored by Austrian arms. The only +problem remaining to diplomacy was to put a respectable face on King +Ferdinand's dishonor. Capodistrias offered to make up some fictitious +correspondence in which Ferdinand was proudly to uphold the constitution +which he had sworn to support, and to yield protestingly to the powers only +after actual threats of war. The device was rejected as too transparent. +Moreover, the old king scarcely cared how his conduct appeared to his +subjects. A letter was sent in his name to his son, the acting-viceroy, +stating that the Powers were determined not to tolerate the order of things +<span class="sidenote">Naples under duress</span> +sprung from revolution, and that certain securities for peace would have to +be given. The reference to securities meant the occupation of the country +by an Austrian army. The letter reached Naples on February 9. Three days +before the Austrian troops had received their orders to cross the Po.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_669" id="Page_669">[Pg 669]</a></span></p> + +<p>The invading army of Austria was 50,000 strong. The Neapolitan soldiers +numbered a little more than 40,000, of whom 12,000 were in Sicily engaged +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Rieti</span> +at Palermo in suppressing a counter revolution for home rule. At the first +encounter at Rieti in the Papal territory, the Neapolitans under General +Pepe were utterly routed. Their forces melted away, as they did when Murat +made his last stroke for Italy and Napoleon. Not a single strong point was +defended. On March 24, the Austrians entered Naples. Then came a moment of +danger. Rebellion broke out in Piedmont, and an attempt was made to unite +<span class="sidenote">Revolt of Piedmont</span> +the troops of Piedmont with those of Lombardy. The King of Piedmont rather +than sign the Spanish Constitution abdicated his throne. On the refusal of +the King's brother, Charles Felix, to recognize a constitution, his cousin +Charles Albert of Carignano was made the regent and commander of the +troops. He advanced so cautiously that the conspirators at Milan dared not +follow suit with a revolution of their own. In the meanwhile the Czar had +ordered 100,000 Russians to march in the direction of the Adriatic. The +Austrian forces advanced westward from the Venetian strongholds, and, +brushing aside all resistance, entered Piedmont.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">End of Italian revolution</div> + +<p>The victory of absolutism in Italy was complete. Courts-martial sat all +over Italy. Morelli, the officer who had led out the so-called sacred band +of Nola, was shot. His followers were expressly excluded from all amnesty +acts. An attempted insurrection in Sicily cost the conspirators their +lives. Hundreds of persons were cast into prison, or were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_670" id="Page_670">[Pg 670]</a></span> marched off to +distant fortresses in Austria. It was at this time that Silvio Pellico, the +<span class="sidenote">Silvio Pellico</span> +author of the famous "Prison Records," was sent to the dungeon of +Spielberg. Then began that long stream of fugitives to England and America.</p> + +<p>The Holy Alliance, sitting at Leibach, thought the time was ripe to +pronounce its anathema against all peoples seeking their liberties +<span class="sidenote">Revolt in Brazil</span> +elsewhere than in the grace of their legitimate sovereigns. Yet the spirit +of revolt was abroad, and its flames continued to flicker up at widely +separated points. On February 26, the Portuguese troops in Brazil rose in +revolt. The king, still residing at Rio Janeiro, was compelled to appoint a +new Ministry pledged to give to both Portugal and Brazil a new +representative system. In Mexico, General Iturbide, at the same time, +<span class="sidenote">Mexican independence</span> +issued a pronunciamiento, containing his so-called "Plan of Iguala," which +proposed independence for Mexico under a Spanish Bourbon prince. Several +rebel leaders acquiesced in this, and forced the Spanish viceroy to resign. +Juan O'Donoju became acting-viceroy. He signed a treaty with Iturbide +virtually accepting the plan. The people of Buenos Ayres profited by the +military troubles in Brazil to throw in their lot with that of the +<span class="sidenote">San Martin's Campaign</span> +Argentine Republic. Their popular idol, San Martin, meanwhile was leading +his victorious troops from Chile into Peru. Lima, one of the greatest +Spanish strongholds in South America, was threatened by the revolutionists.</p> + +<p>At the other end of the earth, the new force of national feeling showed +itself in popular uprisings. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_671" id="Page_671">[Pg 671]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">War in Annam</span> +In distant Annam the death of Emperor +Gia-Long, followed by a bloody struggle for the succession between his +sons, incited the people to a national demonstration against the +encroachments of the French in Tonquin. In China the new Emperor Taouk-Wang +<span class="sidenote">Taouk-Wang</span> +was enthroned. He was the first to throw his whole personal influence +against the evils of the opium trade inflicted upon China by English +merchants since 1800.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Philike Hetairia</div> + +<p>In Greece and in the Balkans the people rose against the yoke of Turkey. +The plan of the Philike Hetairia—<i>i.e.</i> Patriotic Association—was to +begin their revolution on the Danube, so as to induce Russia to take a hand +in their favor. They believed that Capodistrias, the Prime Minister of +Russia, himself a Greek, would win the Czar to their cause. Unfortunately +for them, Metternich's influence proved stronger than that of the Greek +Minister. Capodistrias deemed it advisable to publish a pamphlet warning +<span class="sidenote">Ypsilanti</span> +his countrymen against any rash step. Failing to win the open support of +Capodistrias, the Hetairists turned to Prince Alexander Ypsilanti, a Greek +exile serving in the Russian army. Ypsilanti agreed to raise the standard +of revolt in Moldavia. It was arranged that Theodore Vladimiresco, a +<span class="sidenote">Vladimiresco</span> +Roumanian who had served in the Russian army, was to call his countrymen to +arms against the Turk. Then the Greeks were to step in, and the help of +Russia was to be invoked.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Rising of Roumania</div> + +<p>In February, Vladimiresco proclaimed the abolition of feudal servitude in +Roumania, and marched with a horde of peasants upon Bucharest. Early<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_672" id="Page_672">[Pg 672]</a></span> in +March, the Greek troops at Galatz, let loose by their commander, Karavias, +massacred the Turkish population of that town.</p> + +<p>Ypsilanti, waiting on the Russian frontier, crossed the Pruth and appeared +at Jassee with a few hundred followers. A proclamation was issued, calling +upon all Christians to rise against the Crescent. Ypsilanti went so far as +to declare that "a great European power," meaning Russia, was "pledged to +support him." The Greek Hospodar of Jassee immediately surrendered the +government, and supplied a large sum of money. Troops to the number of +2,000 gathered around Ypsilanti. The road to the Danube lay open.</p> + +<p>Ypsilanti wasted valuable time loitering at Jassee. A month was lost before +<span class="sidenote">Ypsilanti repudiated</span> +he reached Bucharest. He delayed partly on account of his expectations of +Russian help in response to a letter he had written to the Czar. The delay +proved fatal to him. The Czar, now wholly under the influence of +Metternich, sent a stern answer from Leibach. Ypsilanti was dismissed from +the Russian service. The Russian consul at Jassee issued a manifesto that +Russia repudiated and condemned Ypsilanti's enterprise. The Patriarch of +Constantinople was made to issue a ban of excommunication against the +rebels. In an official note of the Powers, the Congress of Leibach branded +the Greek revolt as a token of the same spirit which had produced the +revolution of Italy and Spain. Turkish troops crossed the Danube. The +Roumanian peasants, seeing no help from Russia, held aloof. Vladimiresco +plotted against the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_673" id="Page_673">[Pg 673]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Death of Vladimiresco</span> +Greeks. It was in vain that brave Georgakis captured +the traitor at his own headquarters and carried him to his death in the +Greek camp. Ypsilanti was defeated in his first encounter with the Turks. +He retired before them toward the Austrian frontier. In the end he fled +across the border and was promptly made a prisoner in Austria. His +followers dearly sold their lives. At Skuleni, 400 of them under Georgakis +<span class="sidenote">Georgakis</span> +made a last stand on the Pruth. They were surrounded by ten times their +number. Georgakis refused to surrender. Bidding his followers flee, at the +moment when the Turks broke in the doors, he blew himself up in the +monastery of Skuleni.</p> + +<p>At the news of Ypsilanti's uprising in Moldavia the entire Greek population +of the Morea rose against the Turk. From the outset, the Moreotes waged a +<span class="sidenote">Revolt of Morea</span> +war of extermination. They massacred all Turks, men, women and children. +Within a few weeks the open country was swept clear of its Mohammedan +population. The fugitive Turks were invested within the walls of +Tripolitza, Patras, and other strong towns. Sultan Mahmud took prompt +vengeance. A number of innocent Greeks at Constantinople were strangled by +his executioners. The fury of the Moslem was let loose on the Infidel. All +Greek settlements along the Bosphorus were burned. But the crowning stroke +came on Easter Sunday, the most sacred day of the Greek Church. The +Patriarch of Constantinople, while he was celebrating service, was summoned +away by the dragoman of the Porte. At the order of the Sultan he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_674" id="Page_674">[Pg 674]</a></span> +was haled<span class="sidenote">Gregorios hanged</span> +before a hastily assembled synod and there degraded from his office as a +traitor. The synod was commanded to elect his successor. While the +trembling prelates did their bidding, Patriarch Gregorios was led out in +his sacred robes and hanged at the gate of his palace. His body remained +hanging throughout the Easter celebration, and was then given to the Jews +to be dragged through the streets and cast into the Bosphorus. A similar +fate befell the Greek archbishops of Salonica, Tirnovo, and Adrianople. The +body of Gregorios floating in the sea was picked up by a Greek ship and +carried to Odessa. This return to Christian soil of the remains of the +Patriarch was hailed as a miracle in Russia. Gregorios was solemnly buried +by the Russian Government as a martyr.</p> + +<p>If the will of the Russian people had been carried out, the Russian army +and nation would have avenged the murder of their high-priest by an +<span class="sidenote">Russia aroused</span> +immediate war upon the Turks. Strogonov, the Russian Ambassador at +Constantinople, at once proposed to his diplomatic colleagues to join him +in calling for warships to protect the Christians there. Lord Stranford, +the British Ambassador, refused to accede to this proposition. +Single-handed, Strogonov presented an ultimatum to the Sultan demanding the +restoration of Christian churches and the Porte's protection for Christian +worship. A written answer was exacted within eight days. Encouraged by +England's attitude, the Sultan ignored Strogonov's requests. On July 27, +the Russian Ambassador left Constantinople. To the amazement of his +moujiks, the Czar did not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_675" id="Page_675">[Pg 675]</a></span> +declare war. The councils of Prince Metternich +<span class="sidenote">The Czar found wanting</span> +prevailed. With the help of the representatives of England, Metternich +persuaded the Czar to view the rebellion of Greece as a mere unfortunate +disturbance. Any countenance of it, he argued, would imperil the peace of +Europe.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Rising of the Greeks</div> + +<p>The murder of the Greek Patriarch was followed by risings of the Greeks +throughout continental Greece and the Archipelago. Here, as in the Morea, +the cause of Greek freedom was disgraced by massacres, and indignities to +Turkish women. The Sultan's troops, led by able commanders, retaliated in +kind. Khurshid, with a large Turkish army, besieged Janina. He held firmly +to his task, even after his whole household fell into the hands of the +Moreotes. The Greeks in Thessaly failed to rise, and thus the border +<span class="sidenote">Ali Pasha</span> +provinces were saved for the Ottoman Empire. The risings in remoter +districts were soon quelled. In Epirus, Ali Pasha, the Albanian chieftain, +was surrounded by overwhelming numbers and lost his life. On the Macedonian +coast the Hetairist revolt, in which the monks of Mount Athos took part, +proved abortive. Moreover, the desultory warfare on water carried on by the +<span class="sidenote">Moreote campaign</span> +islanders of Hydra, Spetza, and Psara served only to annoy the Turks. The +real campaign was waged in the Morea, where Tripolitza, the seat of the +Turkish Government, was besieged by the insurgents. Demetrios Ypsilanti, +Prince Alexander's brother, landed on the coast and was welcomed as a +leader by the peasants in arms. Three other leaders rose to prominence. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_676" id="Page_676">[Pg 676]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Petrobei</span> +First, in the eyes of the people, came Petrobei, chief of the family of +Mauromichalis. Surrounded by his nine sons, this sturdy chieftain appeared +like one of the old Homeric kings. Second in popular favor was +<span class="sidenote">Kolokotrones</span> +Kolokotrones, a typical modern Clepht, cunning and treacherous, but a born +soldier. The ablest political leader was Maurokordatos, a man of some +breadth of view and foresight, but over-cautious as a general. The early +<span class="sidenote">Maurokordatos</span> +insurgent successes were marred by bad faith and gross savagery. On the +surrender of Navarino, in August, a formal capitulation was signed, +safeguarding the lives of the Turkish inhabitants. In the face of this +<span class="sidenote">Massacre of Navarino</span> +compact the victorious Greeks put men, women and children to the sword. Two +months later the Turkish garrison of Tripolitza, after sustaining a siege +of six months, began negotiations for surrender. In the midst of the truce, +the Greek soldiery got wind of a secret bargain of their leaders to extend +protection for private gain. In defiance of the officers, the peasant +soldiers stormed Tripolitza and scaled the walls. Then followed three days +<span class="sidenote">Sack of Tripolitza</span> +of indiscriminate looting and carnage. By thousands, the Turks, with their +women and children, were slaughtered. Kolokotrones himself records how he +rode from the gateway to the citadel of Tripolitza, his horse's hoofs +touching nothing but human bodies.</p> + +<p>The Greek struggle for independence aroused conflicting emotions in Europe. +The passionate sympathy of the Russians rested wholly on their religious +bonds. The more enlightened Philhellenes +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_677" id="Page_677">[Pg 677]</a></span> +of France and Germany affected to +<span class="sidenote">Philhellenism</span> +see in this struggle a revival of the ancient Greek spirit that blazed +forth at Thermopylæ and Marathon. For this same reason, perhaps, Metternich +and his colleagues in the Holy Alliance looked upon the Greek revolution +with an evil eye. Any cause espoused by the hot-headed liberals at the +universities in those days of itself became obnoxious to the reactionary +rulers of the German and Austrian states.</p> + +<p>The sympathy with the Greeks was most pronounced in England. There the +stirring lyrics of Lord Byron had reached the height of their popularity. +<span class="sidenote">Lord Byron's Greek lyrics</span> +His songs of Greece and Greek freedom were justly regarded as among his +best. It was but a short time before this that the poet, to use his own +phrase, had awakened one morning to find himself famous. Now his Greek +songs were hailed by the whole world as classics. Notable among them were +the "Isles of Greece," embodied in the third canto of his "Don Juan" with +the famous stanza:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The mountains look on Marathon—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And Marathon looks on the sea;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And musing there an hour alone</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">I dreamed that Greece might still be free.</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>And the equally celebrated lines from "The Bride of Abydos":</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Know ye the land where the cypress and myrtle</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Are emblems of deeds that are done in their clime?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Where the rage of the vulture, the love of the turtle,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Now melt into sorrow, now madden to crime!</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_678" id="Page_678">[Pg 678]</a></span></p> + +<p>In English literary annals this year was marked furthermore by the death of +<span class="sidenote">Death of Keats</span> +John Keats. He was but twenty-five, still in the first flush of his genius. +Keats was buried in Rome, where he died. On his gravestone is the epitaph +composed by himself: "Here lies one whose name was writ in water." It was +generally assumed in England that the poet's death was caused by his +anguish over the merciless criticisms of "Blackwood's Magazine" and the +"Quarterly Review." Lord Byron was unkind enough to exploit this notion in +his "Don Juan":</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">John Keats, who was killed off by one critique,</span><br /> +<span class="sidenote">Byron's satire</span> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Just as he really promised something great</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">If not intelligible, without Greek</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Contrived to talk about the gods of late</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Much as they might have been supposed to speak.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Poor fellow! His was an untoward fate;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">'Tis strange the mind, that very fiery particle,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Should let itself be snuffed out by an article.</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>As a matter of fact Keats died of consumption. The ravages of this disease +in his case were accelerated by his feverish passion for poetry, his love +<span class="sidenote">Keats's work</span> +affair with Fanny Brawne, financial embarrassments, and only to a slight +extent by the inevitable disappointment arising from adverse criticisms. +What Byron did for modern Greece in England, Keats may be said to have done +for ancient Greece. The beautiful songs of Greece, embodied in "Endymion" +and "Hyperion," no less than the enthusiastic odes and sonnets in praise of +Hellenic works of art, opened the eyes of many of the contemporaries of +Keats to the enduring beauties of Greece. It was +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_679" id="Page_679">[Pg 679]</a></span> +in his exquisite "Ode to a Grecian Urn,"that Keats expressed +his poetical master passion for +beauty:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Beauty is truth, truth beauty—that is all</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="LORD_BYRON" id="LORD_BYRON"></a> +<img src="images/lord_byron.jpg" width="400" height="569" alt="LORD BYRON" +title="LORD BYRON" /> +<span class="caption">LORD BYRON</span> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0em"><small>Painted by Maurin</small></span> +</div> + +<p>Shortly after Keats's death appeared one of the most beautiful of Shelley's +longer poems—"Adonais," written as an elegy on the death of Keats:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I weep for Adonais—he is dead.</span><br /> +<span class="sidenote">"Adonais"</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oh, weep for Adonais! though our tears</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thaw not the frost which binds so dear a head!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And thou, sad Hour, selected from all years</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To mourn our loss, rouse thy obscure compeers,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And teach them thine own sorrow! Say. "With me</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Died Adonais; till the Future dares</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forget the Past, his fate and fame shall be</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">An echo and a light unto eternity."</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Wilhelm Meister</div> + +<p>Other literary events of the year were the publication of Goethe's "Wilhelm +Meister's Wander Jahre," and of Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin's first long +poem, "Ruslan and Ludmilla." In this epic, written during Pushkin's early +banishment to Bessarabia, an old Russian theme of the heroic times of Kiev +<span class="sidenote">Rise of romantic literature</span> +was treated much after the manner of Byron's romantic examples. In France +the romantic period in literature was inaugurated by young Victor Hugo, +who, but the year before, had been crowned as "Maître des jeux floraux" for +a prize poem on Henri IV. Now Chateaubriand, in his journal "Le +Conservateur," welcomed him as "Un enfant sublime." By his own romantic +<span class="sidenote">Victor Hugo</span> +followers Hugo was hailed as chief of their poetic "Bataillon Sacré." +During the same year the poet, then barely nine<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_680" id="Page_680">[Pg 680]</a></span>teen, married Mademoiselle +Foucher, a girl of fifteen.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Death of Napoleon</div> + +<p>The most important event of the year for Frenchmen was the death of +Napoleon Bonaparte at Longwood, in St. Helena. He died on May 5, after +taking the holy sacrament. He left a last will with several codicils. In it +Napoleon made the following declarations:</p> + +<p>"I die in the Apostolical and Roman religion, in the bosom of which I was +born more than fifty years ago. It is my wish that my ashes may repose on +the banks of the Seine, in the midst of the French people whom I have loved +so well. I have always had reason to be pleased with my dearest wife, Maria +Louisa. I retain for her, to the last moment, the most tender sentiments. I +beseech her to watch, in order to preserve my son from the snares which yet +environ his infancy. I recommend to my son never to forget that he was born +a French prince, and never to allow himself to become an instrument in the +hands of the triumvirs who oppress the nations of Europe: he ought never to +fight against France, or to injure her in any manner; he ought to adopt my +<span class="sidenote">Napoleon's will</span> +motto—<i>Everything for the French people</i>. I die prematurely, assassinated +by the English oligarchy and its tool. The English nation will not be slow +in avenging me. The two unfortunate results of the invasions of France, +when she had still so many resources, are to be attributed to the treason +of Marmont, Augereau, Talleyrand, and Lafayette. I forgive them—may the +posterity of France forgive them as I do! I pardon Louis for the libel he +published in 1820;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_681" id="Page_681">[Pg 681]</a></span> it is replete with false assertions and falsified +documents. I disavow the 'Manuscript of St. Helena,' and other works, under +the title of 'Maxims, Sayings,' etc., which persons have been pleased to +publish for the last six years. Such are not the rules which have guided my +life. I caused the Duc d'Enghien to be arrested and tried because that step +was essential to the safety, interest and honor of the French people, when +the Comte d'Artois was maintaining, by his own confession, sixty assassins +at Paris. Under similar circumstances I should act in the same way."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The bequests</div> + +<p>To his son and immediate relatives, Napoleon left most of his personal +effects. Among his relatives and favorite followers he distributed a sum of +6,000,000 francs, left in the hands of his bankers at the time of his +flight from Paris; likewise the proceeds of a possible sale of his +confiscated crown jewels. Count Lavalette and the children of Labédoyère +were remembered with bequests of 100,000 and 50,000 francs, respectively. +The final clauses were:</p> + +<p>"To be distributed among such proscribed persons as wander in foreign +countries, whether they be French, Italians, Belgians, Dutch, Spanish, or +inhabitants of the departments of the Rhine, under the directions of my +executors, one hundred thousand francs. To be distributed among those who +suffered amputation, or were severely wounded at Ligny or Waterloo, who may +be still living, according to lists drawn up by my executors. The Guards +shall be paid double, those of the Island of Elba quadruple, two hundred +thousand francs."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_682" id="Page_682">[Pg 682]</a></span></p> + +<div class="sidenote">Cantillon remembered</div> + +<p>A curious bequest was that of 10,000 francs to Cantillon, a French +subaltern, who was tried and acquitted for the attempted assassination of +the Duke of Wellington in Paris on February 11, 1818. Napoleon thus +explained this bequest:</p> + +<p>"Cantillon had as much right to assassinate that oligarchist as the latter +had to send me to perish upon the rock of St. Helena. Wellington, who +proposed this outrage, attempted to justify it by pleading the interest of +Great Britain. Cantillon, if he had really assassinated that lord, would +have pleaded the same excuse, and been justified by the same motive—the +<span class="sidenote">Last fling at Wellington</span> +interest of France—to get rid of this general, who, moreover, by violating +the capitulation of Paris, had rendered himself responsible for the blood +of the martyrs Ney, Labédoyère, etc., and for the crime of having pillaged +the museums, contrary to the text of the treaties."</p> + +<p>This last legacy was not paid until 1855, when Napoleon III. discharged it.</p> + +<p>Late in the year the Ministry of Duc de Richelieu succumbed to the +machinations of Comte d'Artois. Before his resignation, Richelieu +complained to the Count, reminding him of his promises of support at the +first formation of the Cabinet. "The fact is, my dear Duke," replied +<span class="sidenote">Fall of Richelieu's Ministry</span> +Monsieur, "if you allow me to say so, you have taken my words too +literally. And then the circumstances at that time were so different." The +Prime Minister rose abruptly and sought out the King. "Monsieur has broken +his word of honor," he said, "he has broken his word as a gentleman." "What +would you have me do?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_683" id="Page_683">[Pg 683]</a></span> said Louis XVIII. "He conspired against Louis XVI.; +he conspires against me; he will conspire against himself." The explosion +of a barrel of gunpowder in the royal palace raised apprehensions of +<span class="sidenote">Villèle Prime Minister</span> +another painful scene, like that preceding the fall of the Ministry of +Decazes. Richelieu resigned, and Villèle took his place. Chateaubriand was +sent to London as Ambassador. While Parliamentary government in France +labored thus under the onslaughts of the Royalist plotters in the Chambers, +the so-called Era of Good Feeling in America was continued under the second +administration of President Monroe.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Inauguration of Monroe</div> + +<p>The 4th of March fell on a Sunday, and Monroe was the first President to be +inaugurated on the 5th. Missouri was admitted conditionally, and, on August +10, the President proclaimed its admission as the twenty-fourth State amid +a tempest of political excitement. The contest over the slavery question +was now supposed to be forever settled. In the debates of 1821, the House +stood firmly against Missouri's admission as a slave State, and the Senate +was equally determined that the colored citizens of other States should be +denied citizenship in Missouri if the people so desired. At last it came to +a conference committee. It was decided that the State should be admitted, +as soon as its Legislature would agree that the section of the Constitution +<span class="sidenote">Missouri admitted to Statehood</span> +in question should not be construed as authorizing a law excluding any +citizens of other States from the immunities and privileges to which they +were entitled under the Constitution. The Legislature of Missouri gave this +pledge, but it remained open<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_684" id="Page_684">[Pg 684]</a></span> whether free negroes and mulattoes were +citizens in other States, and whether they were to be made citizens in +Missouri. In the admission of Missouri there was for the first time an +unmixed issue on the question of a free government or a slave-holding +government in the United States. Doubtful dealings on the part of the +Senators from Indiana and Illinois were followed by an attempt to make +these States both slave-holding States, in face of the binding law of the +Ordinance of 1787. A popular movement led by Governor Edward Coles of +Illinois defeated this project.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Liberia</div> + +<p>On May 5, the territory of Liberia was secured on the west coast of Africa, +and a colony was founded for the repatriation of negro slaves, with +<span class="sidenote">Junius Brutus Booth</span> +Monrovia for a capital. During this same period Junius Brutus Booth made +his first appearance in America, as Richard III., at Richmond. Late in the +year the remains of André, the British officer who was shot as a spy during +the American Revolution, were placed on a British ship for interment in +Westminster Abbey.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1822" id="a1822"></a>1822</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_685" id="Page_685">[Pg 685]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">G</span><span class="dcap1">REEK</span> independence was declared on January 27. After the fall of Ali Pasha +in February, the Sultan was able to turn his undivided attention to the +Greek revolt. In March, a body of Samian revolutionists landed in Chios and +<span class="sidenote">Greek independence declared</span> +incited the islanders to rise against the Turk. They laid siege to the +citadel held by a Turkish garrison. Had the fleet of the Hydriotes helped +them, they might have prevailed. As it was they rendered themselves a prey +to the Turkish troops on the mainland. An army of nearly 10,000 Turks +landed in Chios, and relieved the besieged garrison. Then the fanatical +Moslems were let loose on the gentle inhabitants of the little island. +<span class="sidenote">Sack of Chios</span> +Thousands were put to the sword. The slave markets of Northern Africa were +glutted with Chian women and children. Within a month the once lovely +island was a ruined waste. All Greece and Europe was filled with horror. +Maurokordatos, now at the head of Greek affairs, was bitterly blamed for +not sending over a fleet to save Chios. One single Greek took it into his +hands to avenge his countrymen. The Turks were celebrating their sacred +month of Ramazan. On the night of June 18, the festival of Biram, the +Turkish fleet, under<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_686" id="Page_686">[Pg 686]</a></span> +command of Kara Ali, was illuminated with colored +<span class="sidenote">Kanaris' exploit</span> +lanterns. On that night Constantine Kanaris, a sea-captain from Psara, +drove a fire-ship into the midst of the Turkish fleet. Sailing close up to +the admiral's flagship he thrust his bowsprit into one of the portholes. +Then setting fire to the pitch and resin on board his ship, he dropped into +his small boat and pulled away. A breeze fanned the flames, and in a moment +the big Turkish man-of-war was afire. The powder magazine blew up and the +lifeboats went up in flames. The burning rigging fell down upon the doomed +crew, and the admiral was struck down on his poop-deck. The ship was burned +to the water's edge. The Turkish fleet scattered before the shower of +blazing sparks, and was only brought together under the guns of the +Dardanelles. This exploit made Kanaris the hero of Greece. Within the same +year he repeated the feat.</p> + +<p>The Sultan had thrown his whole land force into the Greek mainland. +<span class="sidenote">Morea reinvaded</span> +Khurshid, after his defeat of Ali Pasha, marched to Larissa, in Thessaly. +Thence two armies, 50,000 strong, under Bramali and Homer Brionis converged +upon the Morea. In the face of so formidable an invasion, Maurokordatos +took the field himself. He mismanaged things badly. At Arta he sacrificed +<span class="sidenote">End of Philhellene corps</span> +his choicest regiment, the famous corps of Philhellenes, composed of +foreign officers and commanded by men who had won distinction in Napoleon's +campaigns. They were cut down almost to a man. Maurokordatos fell back to +Missolonghi. In the meanwhile Dra<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_687" id="Page_687">[Pg 687]</a></span>malis with 25,000 foot and 6,000 horse +penetrated into the Morea. The Greek Government at Argos dispersed. All +would have been lost for the Greeks had Dramalis not neglected to cover the +mountain passes behind him. While he marched on to Nauplia, the Greek +mountaineers rose behind him. Demetrios Ypsilanti, the acting-president of +<span class="sidenote">Defence of Argos</span> +Greece, with a few hundred followers threw himself into Argos. There he +held the Acropolis against the Turkish rearguard. Kolokotrones, calling out +the last men from Tripolitza, relieved Ypsilanti at Argos. The mountain +passage was seized. Dramalis had to give up his conquest of the Morea, and +fight his way back to the Isthmus of Corinth. Without supplies and harassed +<span class="sidenote">Turks demoralized</span> +by hostile peasant forces the Turkish army became badly demoralized. +Thousands were lost on the way. Dramalis himself died from over-exposure. +The remainder of his army melted away at Corinth under the combined effects +of sickness and drought.</p> + +<p>A decisive turn in the Greek war for independence was reached. Europe +realized that the revolt had grown to the proportions of a national war. +Popular sympathy in Russia became more clamorous. Capodistrias, the Russian +<span class="sidenote">Capodistrias resigns</span> +Prime Minister, rightly measured the force of this long pent-up feeling. +Unable to move the Czar, who still floundered in the toils of the Holy +Alliance, Capodistrias withdrew from public affairs and retired to Geneva.</p> + +<p>In England, the suicide of Castlereagh brought Canning once more into +prominence. Robert Peel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_688" id="Page_688">[Pg 688]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Suicide of Castlereagh</span>was made Home Secretary. Canning's long retirement +after the fiasco of his American policy, and his breach with Castlereagh, +had served to chasten this statesman. As leader of the opposition, he had +learned to reckon with the forces of popular feeling. When he returned to +<span class="sidenote">Canning</span> +power in 1822, he was no longer an ultra-conservative, but a liberal. He +now made no disguise of his sympathies with the cause of Greece, and with +the struggle for independence in South and Central America. There the +course of freedom had gathered so much momentum that it was plain to all +that Spain could never prevail without help from others. In Mexico, upon +<span class="sidenote">Iturbide Emperor of Mexico</span> +the refusal of Ferdinand VII. to accept the separate crown of Mexico, +General Iturbide proclaimed himself emperor. On May 19, he assumed the +dignity. As Augustine I., he was crowned in the Cathedral of Mexico in +July. At the same time San Martin and Bolivar met at Guayaquil to dispose +of the destinies of South America. San Martin had just succeeded in +liberating Peru, and had made his triumphal entry into Lima. Bolivar had +brought aid to Ecuador, and established independence there. José de Sucre, +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Pichincha</span> +whom Bolivar called the "soul of his army," defeated the Spaniards in the +famous battle of Pichincha, fought at a height of 10,200 feet above the +sea. When Bolivar and San Martin met on July 25, San Martin announced his +determination to give a free field to Bolivar. The two men parted at a +great public love-feast at which San Martin toasted Bolivar as the +"liberator of Colombia." In his farewell ad<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_689" id="Page_689">[Pg 689]</a></span>dress he said: "The presence of +a fortunate general in the country which he has conquered is detrimental to +<span class="sidenote">San Martin retires</span> +the state. I have won the independence of Peru, and I now cease to be a +public man." Speaking privately of Bolivar, he said: "He is the most +extraordinary character of South America; one to whom difficulties but add +strength." With his daughter Mercedes, San Martin retired to Europe, to +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Junin</span> +dwell there in obscurity and poverty. Bolivar, with Generals Sucre, Miller +and Cordova, assembled a great liberating army at Juarez. After a +preliminary victory at Junin, Bolivar returned to Lima to assume the reigns +of government, while his generals pushed on against the forces of the +<span class="sidenote">Ayacucho</span> +Spanish viceroy. Late in the year a decisive battle was fought at Ayacucho. +The revolutionists charged down the mountain ridges upon the Spaniards in +the plain, and utterly routed them. The viceroy himself was wounded, with +700 of his men, while 1,400 Spaniards were killed outright. In these +casualties the unusual disparity between killed and wounded reveals the +unsparing ferocity of the fight. In Brazil a peaceful revolution was +<span class="sidenote">Independence of Brazil</span> +effected in September. After the return of Juan VI. to Portugal his son Dom +Pedro reigned as regent. On September 7, he yielded to the demands of his +American subjects, and proclaimed the independence of Brazil. He was +declared constitutional emperor of Brazil on October 12, and was crowned as +such shortly afterward at Rio Janeiro.</p> + +<p>The South American colonies had now in great part secured independence. +Spain was thereby<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_690" id="Page_690">[Pg 690]</a></span> robbed of her best resources. As financial distress +became more widespread, the spirit of discontent rose. The King's plottings +with the extreme Royalists of France lost him the confidence of his +subjects. In the south the triumphant party of the so-called Exaltados +<span class="sidenote">Discontent in Spain</span> +refused obedience to the central administration. The municipal governments +of Cadiz, Cartagena and Seville took the tone of independent republics. In +the north, the Serviles, instigated by French agitators and their money, +broke into open rebellion. After the adjournment of the Cortes, Ferdinand +attempted to make a stroke for himself. The Royal Guards were ordered to +march from Aranjuez to Madrid to place themselves under the King's personal +command. The people took alarm, and several regiments of disaffected +soldiers were induced to head off the guards. A fight ensued in the streets +of Madrid. The guards were scattered. The King found himself a prisoner in +his own palace. He wrote to Louis XVIII. that his crown was in peril. The +<span class="sidenote">Foreign aid invoked</span> +Bourbon sympathizers in the north at once seized the town of Seo d'Urgel, +and set up a provisional government. Civil war spread over Spain. +Napoleon's final prophecy that Bourbon rule would end in the ruin of Spain, +and the loss of all the best colonies was near fulfilment. It was then that +the Continental powers of Europe proposed to interfere on behalf of the +Spanish monarchy. The death of old Minister Hardenberg in Berlin did not +loosen Metternich's hold on Prussia. Emperor Alexander hoped to conciliate +his army, burning to fall upon the Turk, by treating<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_691" id="Page_691">[Pg 691]</a></span> them to a light +campaign in Spain. In France, the Spanish war party likewise had the upper +hand.</p> + +<p>Nothing could save Spain; but Spanish South and Central America presented +another issue. The new republics had developed a thriving trade with Great +Britain and the United States of America, which made it impossible for +these countries to ignore their flags. In America, Henry Clay on the floor +of Congress, had already urged the recognition of South American +independence. In his annual message to Congress in 1822 President Monroe +took up the question. On behalf of the United States he declared that, the +American continents were henceforth not to be considered a subject for +further colonization by any European power. "In the war between Spain and +<span class="sidenote">Monroe Doctrine</span> +her colonies," said President Monroe, "the United States will continue to +observe the strictest neutrality.... With the existing colonies or +dependencies of any European power we have not interfered and shall not +interfere. But with the governments who have declared their independence +and maintained it, and whose independence we have, on great considerations +and on just principles, acknowledged, we could not view any interposition +for the purpose of oppressing them, or controlling in any other manner +their destiny by any European power, in any other light than as the +manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States."</p> + +<p>It was the famous Monroe Doctrine, a doctrine that in its substance, if not +in words, had already served as the guiding star of Thomas Jefferson's and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_692" id="Page_692">[Pg 692]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Jefferson's indorsement</span> +Madison's foreign policy. It is related that President Monroe, applying to +Thomas Jefferson for his opinion on the matter, was surprised at the +positive nature of the reply which he received. "Our first and fundamental +maxim," said Jefferson, "should be never to entangle ourselves in the +broils of Europe; our second, never to suffer Europe to intermeddle with +cis-Atlantic affairs." At the same time that America thus flung down her +gauntlet to Europe, Canning, on behalf of the British Ministry, proposed to +inform the allied Cabinets of England's intention to accredit envoys to the +<span class="sidenote">Canning's part</span> +South American republics. Assured of the support of the United States, and +of Great Britain as well, South America could feel free to work out her own +destiny. This was the master-stroke of Canning's career. When brought to +bay afterward in Parliament, he could proudly boast: "I called the New +World into being, in order to redress the balance of the Old." To Americans +<span class="sidenote">Fyffe's comment</span> +Canning's boast has ever seemed to rest on a flimsy foundation. As Fyffe, +the English historian of modern Europe, has justly said, "The boast, famous +in our Parliamentary history, has left an erroneous impression of the part +really played by Canning at this crisis. He did not call the New World into +existence; he did not even assist it in winning independence, as France had +assisted the United States fifty years before; but when this independence +had been won, he threw over it the ægis of Great Britain, declaring that no +other European power should reimpose the yoke which Spain had not been able +to maintain."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_693" id="Page_693">[Pg 693]</a></span></p> + +<p>At the time that Canning made British liberalism respected abroad, literary +<span class="sidenote">Death of Shelley</span> +England suffered another irreparable loss by the death of Percy Bysshe +Shelley. The last few weeks had been spent by Shelley in Italy in the +company of Trelawney, Williams and Lord Byron. Before this Maurokordatos, +now battling in Greece, had been their constant companion. In June Leigh +Hunt arrived. Shelley and Williams set out in a boat to meet him at +Leghorn. The long parted friends met there. On July 8, Shelley and Williams +set sail for the return voyage to Lerici. Their boat was last seen ten +miles out at sea off Reggio. Then the haze of a summer storm hid it from +view. Ten days later Shelley's body was washed ashore near Reggio. It was +identified by a volume of Sophocles and of Keats's poems found on his +person. In the presence of Byron, Trelawney and Leigh Hunt, Shelley's +remains were cremated on the shore. His ashes were buried in the same +burial ground with Keats, hard by the pyramid of Caius Cestius in Rome.</p> + +<p>Shelley's poetry belongs primarily to the Revolutionary epoch in modern +<span class="sidenote">Lyric quality of his work</span> +history. Though he wrote several long narrative poems and one great +tragedy, he was above all a lyric poet—according to some the greatest +lyric poet of England. His life, like his poetry, was almost untrammelled +by convention. Both gave great offence to the stricter elements of English +society. In some respects Shelley was peculiarly unfortunate. At the age of +eighteen, after his expulsion from Oxford University, he married Harriet +Westbrook, a girl of sixteen, and then<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_694" id="Page_694">[Pg 694]</a></span> found himself unable to support +her. Later he abandoned her and eloped with Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin. +<span class="sidenote">Shelley's career</span> +Within a year his first wife committed suicide, and, three weeks later, +Shelley married Mary Godwin. The tragedy stirred up much feeling among his +friends. Among others the poet-laureate, Southey, remonstrated with +Shelley. Shelley replied: "I take God to witness, if such a Being is now +regarding both you and me, and I pledge myself, if we meet, as perhaps you +expect, before Him after death, to repeat the same in His presence—that +you accuse me wrongfully. I am innocent of ill, either done or intended." +Next came Shelley's trouble with the Chancery. Lord-Chancellor Elden +refused to give to Shelley the custody of his own children on the ground +that Shelley's professed opinions and conduct were such as the law +pronounced immoral. Shelley replied with his famous poetical curse "To the +Lord Chancellor." While the poem stands as a masterpiece of lyric invective +it did not mend matters for Shelley in England. In many of his other poems +his detractors saw nothing but the glorification of revolution, incest, and +atheism. When he wrote a satirical drama on so delicate a subject as the +unhappy affairs of Queen Caroline, even his publisher turned against him. +Yet the charm and beauty of Shelley's purely lyric pieces was such that he +must ever stand as one of the foremost poets of England. Either his +"Adonais" or the beautiful "Ode to the West Wind," would alone have +perpetuated his name in English letters.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_695" id="Page_695">[Pg 695]</a></span> One of Shelley's most exquisite +pieces, written shortly before his death, has come to stand as the poet's +own threnody:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"When the lamp is shattered</span><br /> +<span class="sidenote">Shelley's threnody</span> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The light in the dust lies dead—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When the cloud is scattered</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The rainbow's glory is shed.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When the lute is broken,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Sweet tones are remembered not;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When the lips have spoken,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Loved accents are soon forgot.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As music and splendor</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Survive not the lamp and the lute,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The heart's echoes render</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">No song when the spirit is mute,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">No song but sad dirges,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Like the wind through a ruined cell,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or the mournful surges</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">That ring the dead seaman's knell."</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>During this same year Thomas de Quincey published his "Confessions of an +<span class="sidenote">Revival of letters</span> +Opium Eater," a masterpiece of balanced prose. In other parts of the world, +likewise, it was a golden period for literature. In France, Victor Hugo +published his "Odes et Poésies Diverses," a collection of early poems which +contained some of his most charming pieces. The rising Swedish poet, +Tegnér, brought out his "Children of the Last Supper." In Germany, Heinrich +Heine, then still a student at Bonn, issued his earliest verses. For +Germany this was no less a golden age of music. Beethoven, though quite +deaf, was still the greatest of living composers. His great Choral +Symphony, the ninth in D minor, was produced during this year, as was his +Solemn Mass in D major. As a virtuoso he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_696" id="Page_696">[Pg 696]</a></span> was rivalled by Hummel, who at +this time gave to the world his famous Septet, accepted by himself as his +<span class="sidenote">Golden age of music</span> +masterwork. Two other German composers so distinguished themselves that +they were invited to London to conduct the Philharmonic accompaniments. +They were Carl Maria von Weber, who had just brought out his brilliant +opera, "Der Freischütz," and Ludwig Spohr, who performed in London his new +Symphony in D minor. Of other composers there were Franz Schubert, whose +melodious songs and symphonies won him the recognition of the Esterhazys +and of Beethoven. Among those whose career was but beginning were Jacob +Meyerbeer, a fellow pupil with Weber under Abbé Vogler at Vienna, and Felix +Mendelssohn, the precocious pupil of the famous pianist Moscheles.</p> + +<p>Sir Frederick William Herschel, the greatest modern astronomer, died at +<span class="sidenote">Death of Herschel</span> +Slough in England. Herschel was born in 1738 at Hanover. He was a musician +of rare skill and a self-taught mathematician of great ability. In 1757, he +deserted the band of Hanoverian Guards in which he played the oboe, +although a mere boy, and fled to England, where he taught music and +achieved success as a violinist and organist. His studies in sound and +harmony led him to take up optics; and from optics to astronomy the step +was short. Dissatisfied with the crude instruments of his time, he made his +own telescopes; for it was his ambition to be not a mere star-gazer, but an +earnest student of the heavens. By day, he and his brother and sister +ground specula; by night he observed the heavens.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_697" id="Page_697">[Pg 697]</a></span> His astronomical work +includes a careful study of variable stars; an attempt to explain the +relation of sun-spots to terrestrial phenomenæ; the determination that the +periods of rotation of various satellites, like the rotation of our own +moon, are equal to the times of their revolutions about their primaries; +and the discovery of the planet Uranus and two of its satellites, and of +the sixth and seventh satellites of Saturn. His greatest work was his study +of binary stars and the demonstration of his belief that the law of +gravitation is universal in its application. His labors were invariably +systematic, and were characterized by dogged, Teutonic perseverance. His +discoveries were never purely accidental, but were made in accordance with +a well-conceived plan.</p> + +<p>Late in the autumn news came from Venice that Canova, the celebrated +<span class="sidenote">Death of Canova</span> +sculptor, had died. Antonio Canova was born in 1757 at Passaguo near +Treviso. He was first an apprentice to a statuary in Bassano, from whom he +went to the Academy of Venice, where he had a brilliant career. In 1779 he +was sent by the Senate of Venice to Rome, and there produced his Theseus +and the Slain Minotaur. In 1783, Canova undertook the execution of the tomb +of Pope Clement XIV., a work similar to the tomb of Pope Clement XIII. His +fame rapidly increased. He established a school for the benefit of young +Venetians, and among other works produced the well-known Hebe and the +colossal Hercules hurling Lichas into the sea. In 1797, Canova finished the +model of the celebrated tomb of the Archduchess<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_698" id="Page_698">[Pg 698]</a></span> Christina of Austria. +Napoleon called the rising sculptor to France, and he there executed the +famous nude portrait of Napoleon now preserved in Milan. After his return +to Italy he fashioned his Perseus with the Head of Medusa at Rome. When the +Belvidere Apollo was carried off to France, this piece of statuary was +thought not unworthy of the classic Apollo's place and pedestal in the +Vatican. Among the later works of Canova are the colossal group of Theseus +Killing the Minotaur, a Paris, and a Hector. After Napoleon's second fall +in 1815, Canova was commissioned by the Pope to demand the restoration of +the works of art carried from Rome. He went to Paris and succeeded in his +mission. At his return to Rome in 1816, the Pope created him Marquis of +Orchia, with a pension of 3,000 scudi, and his name was entered into the +Golden Book at the Capitol. His closing years were spent in Venice. There +he died October 13, 1822.</p> + +<p>Upon Canning's accession to the Ministry in England, Wellington was +appointed representative of Great Britain at the Congress of Powers +convened at Vienna. The unsettled state of public opinion kept Wellington +<span class="sidenote">Congress of Verona</span> +in England and later at Paris. He did not join the Congress until after its +adjournment to Verona, to dispose of purely Italian affairs. Thus it +happened that the supplementary meetings at Verona became the real European +Congress of 1822. With the Neapolitan problem practically settled, and the +Greek war with Turkey at a standstill, the situation in Spain was the most<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_699" id="Page_699">[Pg 699]</a></span> +vital issue. The Czar of Russia and Metternich were determined not to +tolerate the Constitution of the Spanish liberals. Alexander hoped to make +good Russia's non-intervention in Greece by marching a victorious army into +Spain. The extreme Royalists of France, on the other hand, were so bent on +accomplishing this task themselves that they were resolved not to permit +any Russian troops to pass through France. With the spectre of a general +European war thus looming on the horizon, England endeavored to hold the +balance for peace. Acting under the instructions of Canning, Wellington +declared that England would rather set herself against the great alliance +than consent to joint intervention in Spain. In his despatches to Canning, +<span class="sidenote">England slighted</span> +Wellington expressed his belief that this would result in a decision to +leave the Spaniards to themselves. The only result was that England was +left out of the affair altogether, as she had been in the case of Naples. +It was partly owing to this international slight that Canning put his foot +down so firmly in behalf of Portugal and the South American colonies.</p> + +<p>At the Congress of Verona, Metternich once more won the day. With this +backing, the French envoys, Montmorency and Chateaubriand, in defiance of +their home instructions, committed France to war with Spain. An agreement +was reached that, in default of radical changes in the Spanish +Constitution, France and her allies would resort to intervention. On the +part of England, Wellington rejected this proposal, but all the other +powers con<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_700" id="Page_700">[Pg 700]</a></span>sented. When the French Ambassadors returned to France, their +Prime Minister, Villèle, vented his dissatisfaction by repudiating his +envoys. He addressed himself to the foreign Ambassadors at Paris with a +request that the allies' demands on Spain be postponed. Montmorency at once +<span class="sidenote">French attitude toward Spain</span> +resigned. No notice was taken of Villèle's request except by England. The +King himself went over to the war party and appointed Chateaubriand his +Minister of Foreign Affairs. Great Britain's tentative offer of mediation +was summarily rejected by France. To Villèle, King Louis XVIII. thus +explained his attitude: "Louis XIV. destroyed the Pyrenees; I shall not +allow them to be raised again. He placed my house on the throne of Spain; I +shall not allow it to fall."</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1823" id="a1823"></a>1823</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_701" id="Page_701">[Pg 701]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">T</span><span class="dcap1">HE</span> Spanish Government was resolved to maintain the national independence +of Spain. It would make no concession. The French Ambassador in Madrid was +recalled. At the opening of the French Chambers in January, the King +himself announced his decision: "I have ordered the recall of my Minister. +One hundred thousand Frenchmen, commanded by a prince of my family, whom I +fondly call my son, are ready to march with a prayer to the God of St. +Louis that they may preserve the throne of Spain to the grandson of Henri +IV. They shall save that fair kingdom from ruin and reconcile it to +<span class="sidenote">French invasion of Spain</span> +Europe." By the middle of March, the Duke of Angoulême and his staff left +Paris. On April 7, the French vanguard crossed the Bidassoa, and the Duke +entered Irun, welcomed by Spanish royalists. About the same time the Cortes +and Constitutional Ministry left Madrid, and compelled King Ferdinand VII. +to accompany them to Seville. The forces of the Spanish Government fell +back without striking a blow. Bands of freebooters calling themselves +royalists went pillaging throughout the northern provinces. The commandant +of Madrid felt constrained to beg the French to hasten their advance<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_702" id="Page_702">[Pg 702]</a></span> lest +the city fall a prey to the freebooters. Already the looting of the suburbs +had begun, when the French entered the Spanish capital on the 24th of May. +A regency was appointed under the Duke of Infantado. The Continental powers +sent accredited representatives to Madrid. Meanwhile the Cortes withdrew to +Cadiz. King Ferdinand refused to accompany them; so they suspended his +powers and appointed a regency over his head. The French prepared to lay +siege to Cadiz.</p> + +<p>Civil war broke out in Spain. Across the border in Portugal, Dom Miguel, +<span class="sidenote">Revolution in Portugal</span> +the second son of the absent king, excited a counter revolution. This state +of affairs in the Peninsula gave a finishing stroke to the royal cause in +America. In Central America, the revolutionists of Costa Rica and +<span class="sidenote">Independence of Central America</span> +Guatemala, who had made common cause with Mexico, proclaimed their +independence. In Mexico, Santa Anna proclaimed the republic at Vera Cruz. +Emperor Iturbide, who felt his throne tottering beneath him, retired, and +was banished from Mexico with an annuity. His sympathizers in Costa Rica +were overthrown in a battle at Ochomoco. On the first day of July, Costa +Rica was united with its neighboring States in the federation of Central +America. Nor had Peru been idle. Two royalist armies under Santa Cruz had +entered the upper provinces. During the summer months they overran the +<span class="sidenote">The South American struggle</span> +country between La Paz and Oruro. But in early autumn they were forced back +by the revolutionists under Bolivar, who entered Lima on September 1, and +had himself proclaimed dictator of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_703" id="Page_703">[Pg 703]</a></span> Peru. In Brazil, during this interval, +the Constitutional Assembly had been convoked in accordance with Dom +Pedro's promise. Under the leadership of the two Andrade brothers the +delegates insisted on the most liberal of constitutions. Dom Pedro's first +attempt to suppress the liberal leaders was foiled by the Assembly. Finally +he dissolved the contentious assembly and exiled the Andrade brothers to +France. In the provinces of Pernambuco and Ceara a republic was proclaimed. +Rebellion broke out in Cisplatina.</p> + +<p>In Spain, the two opposing regencies vied with each other in retaliatory +<span class="sidenote">Warring factions in Spain</span> +measures. Odious persecutions were instituted on both sides. In vain the +Duke of Angoulême tried to restrain the reprisals of the Spanish royalists. +In August he appeared before Cadiz. He called upon King Ferdinand to +publish an amnesty and restore the medieval Cortes. But the Spanish +Ministry, in the King's name, sent a defiant answer. Cadiz was thereupon +<span class="sidenote">Siege of Cadiz</span> +besieged. On August 30, the French stormed the fort of the Trocadero. Three +weeks later the city was bombarded. For the Spanish liberals, the cause had +become hopeless. The French refused all terms but the absolute liberation +of the King. On Ferdinand's assurance that he bore no grudge against his +captors, the liberals agreed to release him. At last, on the 30th of +September, Ferdinand signed a proclamation of absolute and universal +amnesty. Next day he was taken across the bay to the French headquarters. +The Cortes dissolved.</p> + +<p>The Duke of Angoulême received King Ferdinand +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_704" id="Page_704">[Pg 704]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Release of Ferdinand VII.</span> +with misgivings. Already he +had written to France: "What most worries the liberals is the question of +guarantees. They know that the King's word is utterly worthless, and that +in spite of his promises he may very well hang every one of them." +Angoulême's first interview confirmed his impression. In reply to his +demand for a general pardon, Ferdinand pointed to the ragged mob shouting +in front of his windows, and said: "You hear the will of the people." +Angoulême wrote to Villèle: "This country is about to fall back into +absolutism. I have conscientiously done my part, and shall only express my +settled conviction that every foolish act that can be done will be done."</p> + +<p>Within twelve hours Ferdinand annulled all acts of the Constitutional +<span class="sidenote">Royalist reprisals</span> +Government during the preceding three years. By approving an act of the +regency of Madrid, which declared all those who had taken part in the +removal of the King to be traitors, Ferdinand practically signed the death +warrant of those men whom he had just left with fair promises on his lips. +Even before reaching Madrid, Ferdinand VII. banished for life from Madrid +and from the country fifty miles around it every person who had served the +government in Spain during the last three years. Don Saez, the King's +confessor, was made Secretary of State. He revived the Inquisition, and +ordered the prosecution of all those concerned in the pernicious and +heretical doctrines associated with the late outbreak. Ferdinand justified +his acts with a royal pronunciamiento containing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_705" id="Page_705">[Pg 705]</a></span> this characteristic +passage: "My soul is confounded with the horrible spectacle of the +sacrilegious crimes which impiety has dared to commit against the Supreme +Maker of the universe.... My soul shudders and will not be able to return +to tranquillity, until, in union with my children, my faithful subjects, I +<span class="sidenote">Riego executed</span> +offer to God holocausts of piety." Thousands of persons were imprisoned, or +forced to flee the country. On November 7, Riego was hanged. Young men were +shot for being Freemasons. Women were sent to the galleys for owning +pictures of Riego.</p> + +<p>The Duke of Angoulême was indignant and would have nothing more to do with +the King. In a parting letter of remonstrance he wrote: "I asked your +Majesty to give an amnesty, and grant to your people some assurance for the +future. You have done neither the one nor the other. Since your Majesty has +recovered your authority, nothing has been heard of on your part but +arrests and arbitrary edicts. Anxiety, fear, and discontent begin to spread +everywhere." Angoulême returned to France thoroughly disenchanted with the +cause for which he had drawn his sword.</p> + +<p>In France, as in England, the return of absolute rule in Spain was viewed +with extreme disfavor by the Liberals. The success of the French arms, to +be sure, gave the government an overwhelming majority at the elections. The +voice of the Liberals was heard, however, in the first debate over the +<span class="sidenote">The French elections</span> +Spanish war. Manuel, a Liberal deputy, denounced foreign intervention in +Spain. He said: "Can any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_706" id="Page_706">[Pg 706]</a></span> one be ignorant that the misfortunes of the +Stuarts in England were caused by nothing so much as the assistance granted +them by France—an assistance foreign to the Parliament and to the people. +The Stuarts would have avoided the fate that overtook them had they sought +their support within the nation." For this alleged defence of regicide +Manuel was excluded from the Chambers. On his refusal to give up his +constitutional rights, he was forcibly ejected by the National Guards. "It +is an insult to the National Guard," exclaimed the venerable Lafayette. In +spite of the momentary triumph of the Royalists, Guizot's final verdict on +French intervention in Spain expresses the true attitude of France:</p> + +<p>"The war was not popular in France; in fact, it was unjust, because +<span class="sidenote">Guizot's verdict</span> +unnecessary. The Spanish revolution, in spite of its excesses, exposed +France and the Restoration to no serious risk; and the intervention was an +attack upon the principle of the legitimate independence of States. It +really produced neither to Spain nor France any good result. It restored +Spain to the incurable and incapable despotism of Ferdinand VII., without +putting a stop to the revolutions; it substituted the ferocities of the +absolutist populace for that of the anarchical populace. Instead of +confirming the influence of France beyond the Pyrenees, it threw the King +of Spain into the arms of the absolutist powers, and delivered up the +Spanish Liberals to the protection of England."</p> + +<p>During this year in France occurred the deaths of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_707" id="Page_707">[Pg 707]</a></span> Dumouriez, the famous +general of the Revolution, and of Marshal Davoust, the hero of Eckmühl, +Auerstädt, and a score of other victories won during the Napoleonic +campaigns. At Rome, Pope Pius VII., the one time prisoner of Napoleon, died +in old age, and was succeeded by Pope Leo XII.</p> + +<p>Dr. Edward J. Jenner, the great English surgeon and originator of +<span class="sidenote">Death of Jenner</span> +vaccination, died in the same year at London. Jenner was led to his great +discovery by the remark of an old peasant woman: "I can't catch smallpox, +for I have had cowpox." In 1796, Jenner performed the first vaccination on +a boy patient, James Phipps, whom he subsequently endowed with a house and +grounds. The scientific results of this experiment and those that followed +were embodied by Jenner in his "Inquiry into the causes and effects of the +<span class="sidenote">Vaccination</span> +variolæ vaccinæ," published on the eve of the Nineteenth Century. Unlike so +many other medical innovations, Jenner's epoch-making cure for the dread +disease of smallpox won him almost instant general renown. Parliament, in +1802, voted him a national reward of £10,000, and a few years later added +another gift of £20,000. After his death a public monument was erected to +Jenner's memory on Trafalgar Square.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Amherst Governor in India</div> + +<p>In India, Lord Hastings retired from the governorship at Calcutta and was +succeeded by Lord Amherst. At the time of his accession to office, Dutch +influence had already become paramount in Borneo, whereas the British were +firmly settled in Singapore.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_708" id="Page_708">[Pg 708]</a></span></p> + +<p>In North America it was a year of industrial progress. On October 8, the +first boat passed through the new Erie Canal from Rochester to New York. In +Brooklyn the first three-story brick houses were built and the paving of +streets was begun. The new system of numbering houses came in vogue. The +earliest steam printing press was set up in New York and issued its first +book. The manufacture of pins was begun, and wine in marketable quantities +<span class="sidenote">American letters</span> +was first made in Cincinnati. American letters saw the appearance of +Cooper's novels, "The Pioneers" and the "Pilot." Halleck published his +famous poem, "Marco Bozarris." During this year an American squadron under +Commodore Porter put an end to piracy and freebooting in the West Indies. +On the first day of December the Eighteenth Congress met and Henry Clay was +once more elected Speaker of the House.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1824" id="a1824"></a>1824</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_709" id="Page_709">[Pg 709]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">I</span><span class="dcap1">N JANUARY</span>, a protective tariff bill was introduced in the American +Congress. It was opposed by the South and by New England. On May 22, +Congress, by a majority of five in the House and four in the Senate, passed +<span class="sidenote">American high tariff</span> +Clay's measure. The average rate of tariff was thirty-seven per cent. +Before the passage of the bill England had been importing goods more +cheaply than Americans could manufacture them. American manufacturers could +now sell their goods at a profit. Even then there were believers in free +trade, who held that the country would naturally produce that which was +prohibited, and that the productions which were brought into existence by +taxation put a portion of the people into unprofitable employment, +advantageous only to the manufacturers. But the Middle and Western States, +with the aid of the representatives from the manufacturing districts of New +England, were strong enough to give the tariff a small majority. From 1824 +the imposition of protective duties has been the bone of contention of the +two great political parties in America. The economical struggle between +<span class="sidenote">Southern ascendency waning</span> +protection and free trade has since gone on with varying features. +Political leadership in the United States was passing from the South to the +North.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_710" id="Page_710">[Pg 710]</a></span> New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio were fast pushing to the front. +Buffalo had 20,000 population; and other interior towns were growing +rapidly. Millions of acres of valuable lands were put under cultivation in +the central and western counties of New York and Pennsylvania and in Ohio; +manufacturing industries multiplied. From a sparsely inhabited country in +1800, Ohio had grown, in 1824, to be the fifth State in population.</p> + +<p>American letters were enriched in this year by Irving's "Tales of a +<span class="sidenote">American letters</span> +Traveller," Paulding's "John Bull," Bancroft's "Politics in Ancient +Greece," and Verplanck's "Revealed Religion."</p> + +<p>During the first session of Congress a special message from President +Monroe recommended the establishment of intercourse with the new +<span class="sidenote">South American republics recognized</span> +independent States of South America—Venezuela, New Granada, Buenos Ayres, +Chile and Peru. Congress voted for recognition by an overwhelming majority, +and the President signed the bill. The United States was the first among +the civilized powers to welcome the new republics.</p> + +<p>The struggle for independence in South America was furthered more than ever +by the unsatisfactory state of affairs on the Peninsula. In Spain the +return of absolute rule was still followed by a reign of terror. The people +there relapsed into medieval barbarism.</p> + +<p>In Portugal, the revolution stirred up by Dom Miguel ended with the +expulsion of that prince from Lisbon. His father, Dom Pedro, in Brazil, +thought it wise to recognize the liberal constitution +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_711" id="Page_711">[Pg 711]</a></span> +imposed upon him by<span class="sidenote">Portuguese Constitution triumphant</span> +his people. In the other Latin-American countries the people rebelled +against one-man rule. In Chile, General O'Higgins was forced to resign his +dictatorship and a provisional Triumvirate assumed the government. At Lima, +Bolivar found his powers curtailed. Mariano Prado was elected president. +The feeling against imperialism was so strong in Central America that all +the smaller States joined in confederation to ward off this danger +<span class="sidenote">Growth of republican sentiment</span> +threatening them from Mexico. The Junta of San Salvador went so far as to +pass a resolution favoring annexation by the United States of North America +in case the Mexican imperialists crossed its borders. Eventually San +Salvador, together with Nicaragua and Costa Rica, joined the Central +American Union. The first Congress in Costa Rica elected Juan Mora +president. In Mexico, in the meantime, a strong provisional government was +established by Santa Anna. Ex-Emperor Iturbide, who in defiance of his +exile returned to Mexico, was arrested as he landed at Sota la Marina in +<span class="sidenote">Iturbide shot</span> +July. He was taken to the capital, tried, condemned, and shot. As he faced +death he said: "Mexicans, I die because I came to help you. I die gladly, +because I die among you. I die not as a traitor, but with honor." With +Iturbide out of the way, Santa Anna established a government strong enough +<span class="sidenote">Santa Anna in power</span> +to accomplish the annexation of California. Henceforth there was no danger +of a return to Spanish rule. In England, Canning followed Monroe with an +absolute recognition of the independent governments in America.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_712" id="Page_712">[Pg 712]</a></span></p> + +<p>By this time public opinion in England had been aroused in behalf of the +Greeks still struggling for their independence from the yoke of Turkey. A +powerful impetus was given to this feeling by the tragic death of Lord +Byron in Greece. A few months before the poet had sailed from Genoa for +<span class="sidenote">Death of Byron</span> +Greece to take active part in the war for freedom. He died of fever at +Missolonghi on April 19, at the age of thirty-six. One of his last poems +was a spirited translation of Rhegas' famous Greek national hymn:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sons of the Greeks, arise!</span><br /> +<span class="sidenote">Rhegas' hymn</span> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The glorious hour shines forth,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And, worthy of such ties,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Display who gave us worth!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sons of Greeks! let us go</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">In arms against the foe,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Till their hated blood shall flow</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">In a river past our feet.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Then manfully despise</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Turkish tyrant's yoke,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Let your country see you rise,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Till all her chains are broke.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brave shades of chiefs and sages,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Behold the coming strife!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Greeks of past ages,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Oh, start again to life!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At the sound of my trumpet,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Break your sleep, join with me!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And the seven-hill'd city seek,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Fight, and win, till we are free!</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Byron's death served the Greek cause better perhaps than all he could have +achieved had his life been prolonged. It caused a greater stir throughout +Continental Europe than it did in England. In<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_713" id="Page_713">[Pg 713]</a></span> truth Byron's poetry was +more appreciated by the world at large than by his countrymen—a literary +anomaly that has prevailed even to the end of the Nineteenth Century. +<span class="sidenote">Goethe on Byron</span> +Goethe said of Byron after his death: "The English may think of Byron as +they please; but this is certain, that they can show no poet who is to be +compared with him. He is different from all the others, and for the most +part greater." Mazzini, many years later, concluded his famous essay on +<span class="sidenote">Mazzini's verdict</span> +Byron and Goethe with this vindication of the English poet's claim: "The +day will come when Democracy will remember all that it owes to Byron. +England too, will, I hope, one day remember the mission—so entirely +English, yet hitherto overlooked by her—which Byron fulfilled on the +Continent; the European cast given by him to English literature, and the +<span class="sidenote">Shelley's estimate</span> +appreciation and sympathy for England which he awakened among us." Shelley, +who knew Byron intimately, has given perhaps the best expression to the +English view of him. He said of him in 1822: "The coarse music which he +produced touched a chord to which a million hearts responded.... Space +wondered less at the swift and fair creations of God when he grew weary of +vacancy, than I at this spirit of an angel in the mortal paradise of a +decaying body." To most Englishmen of his day, Byron, like Shelley, +appeared as a monster of impious wickedness. Unlike Shelley, he attained +thereby the vogue of the forbidden. His earliest poems achieved what the +French call a <i>succès de scandal</i>. His satire, "English Bards and Scotch +Reviewers,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_714" id="Page_714">[Pg 714]</a></span> brought to the youthful poet a notoriety amounting to fame. +After the publication of the first two cantos of "Childe Harold," in 1812, +according to his own phrase, he awoke to find himself famous, and became a +spoiled child of society. Trelawney has recorded that Byron was what London +in the days of the Prince Regent made him. One of Byron's ablest critics, +<span class="sidenote">Symonds' judgment</span> +Symonds, has put this even more strongly: "His judgment of the world was +prematurely warped, while his naturally earnest feelings were overlaid with +affectations and prejudices which he never succeeded in shaking off.... It +was his misfortune to be well born, but ill bred, combining the pride of a +peer with the self-consciousness of a parvenu." Byron's life in London +between 1812 and 1816 certainly increased his tendency to cynicism, as did +his divorce from his wife. While these experiences distorted his personal +character, they supplied him, however, with much of the irony wrought into +his masterpiece, "Don Juan." His poetic genius derived its strongest +<span class="sidenote">Byron's best works</span> +stimulus from his imbittered domestic life and from his travels in Spain, +Italy and Greece. This twofold character of the poet it is that is revealed +in his best poems, "Childe Harold" and "Don Juan." He used both works as +receptacles for the most incongruous ideas. "If things are farcical," he +once said to Trelawney, "they will do for 'Don Juan'; if heroical, you +shall have another canto of 'Childe Harold.'" This means of disposing of +his poetic ideas accounts for the great volume of Byron's verse as well as +for its inequality. That "Don<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_715" id="Page_715">[Pg 715]</a></span> Juan" was never finished cannot therefore be +regretted.</p> + +<p>Byron's last verses were lines written on January 22, 1824, at Missolonghi. +To one of his English military associates in the expedition of Lepanto he +remarked: "You were complaining that I never write any poetry now. This is +my birthday, and I have just finished something which, I think, is better +than what I usually write." They were the famous lines, "On this Day I +complete my Thirty-sixth Year":</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Tis time the heart should be unmoved,</span><br /> +<span class="sidenote">His last verses</span> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Since others it hath ceased to move;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Yet, though I cannot be beloved,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Still let me love!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">My days are in the yellow leaf;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The flowers and fruits of love are gone;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The worm, the canker, and the grief</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Are mine alone!</span><br /> + +<hr class='hr' /> + +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Awake! (not Greece—she is awake!)</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Awake my spirit! Think through whom</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thy life-blood tracks its parent lake,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">And then strike home!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">If thou regret'st thy youth, why live?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The land of honorable death</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Is here—Up, to the field, and give</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Away thy breath!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seek out—less often sought than found—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">A soldier's grave, for thee the best!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Then look around, and choose thy ground,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">And take thy rest!</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>When Byron died, Missolonghi had been delivered from its first siege. +Greece was plunged in civil war. Kolokotrones, who set himself up against +the government of Konduriottes and Kolletes, was<span class="sidenote">Russian suzerainty rejected by Greeks</span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_716" id="Page_716">[Pg 716]</a></span> +overthrown and lodged in +a prison on the island of Hydra. An offer of Russian intervention at the +price of Russian suzerainty was rejected by the Greeks. Encouraged by this, +the Sultan appealed to his vassal, Mehemet Ali of Egypt, to help him +exterminate the Greeks. The island of Crete was held out to Mehemet Ali as +a prize. The ambitious ruler of Egypt responded with enthusiasm. He raised +an army of 90,000 men and a fleet, and sent them forth under the command of +his adopted son Ibrahim. Early in the spring the Egyptian expedition landed +<span class="sidenote">Ibrahim invades Greece</span> +in Crete and all but exterminated its Greek population. The island of +Kossos was next captured; and its inhabitants were butchered. In July, the +Turkish fleet took advantage of the Greek Government's weakness to make a +descent upon Psara, one of the choicest islands of Greece. In spite of +<span class="sidenote">Sack of Psara</span> +desperate resistance, the citadel of Psara was stormed, and the Psariotes +were put to the sword. Thousands were slain, while the women and children +were carried off as slaves. How little the miseries of the Greeks affected +the rulers of Europe may be gathered from this bright side light on +Metternich given by his secretary Gentz:</p> + +<p>"Prince Metternich was taking an excursion, in which unfortunately I could +not accompany him. I at once sent a letter after him from Ischl with the +important news of the Psariote defeat.... The prince soon came back to me; +<span class="sidenote">Metternich's comment</span> +and (pianissimo, in order that friends of Greece might not hear it) we +congratulated one another on the event, which may very well prove the +beginning of the end for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_717" id="Page_717">[Pg 717]</a></span> the Greek insurrection." The Greeks, instead of +desponding, were aroused to fiercer resistance than ever. A Hydriote fleet +foiled Ibrahim Pasha's attempt on Samos. When he tried to return to Crete +<span class="sidenote">Defeat of Turkish fleet</span> +his fleet was beaten back with a signal reverse. Finally, late in the year, +the Egyptians succeeded in eluding the vigilance of the Hydriote +sea-captains, and regained their base of supplies in Crete.</p> + +<p>While Canning's Ministry was still preparing the ground for European +intervention in Greece, the British Government in India found itself with +another native war on its hands. In 1822, the Burmese leader Bundula had +<span class="sidenote">Burmese war</span> +invaded the countries between Burma and Bengal. The Burmese conquered the +independent principalities of Assam and Munipore, and threatened Cachar. +Next Bundula invaded British territory and cut off a detachment of British +sepoys. It was evident that the Burmese were bent on the conquest of +Bengal. Lord Amherst, who had assumed charge early in 1824, sent an +expedition against them under Sir Archibald Campbell. The resistance of the +Burmese was despicable. The British soldiers nowhere found foes worthy of +<span class="sidenote">Siege of Rangoon</span> +their steel. In May, the British expedition, having marched straight to +Burma, occupied the capital Rangoon, which was found deserted and denuded +of all supplies. Ill fed and far from succor, the British had to spend a +rainy season there. Taking advantage of their precarious position, Bundula +returned late in the year with an army of 60,000 men. The Englishmen were +besieged. In<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_718" id="Page_718">[Pg 718]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">British checked at Donabew</span> +December they made a successful sortie and stormed the +Burmese stockades. Bundula with the remains of his army was driven up the +banks of the river Irawaddy. They made a stand at Donabew, some forty miles +from Rangoon, where they held the British in check.</p> + +<p>The rest of the world throughout this year lay in profound peace. In +Germany the rulers of the various principalities were allowed to continue +their reigns undisturbed. Only in Brunswick the assumption of the +government by Charles Frederick William met with the disapproval of the +German Diet. Although pronounced incapable of reigning, he succeeded none +<span class="sidenote">German letters</span> +the less in clinging to his throne. A more important event for the +enlightened element in Germany was the appearance of the first of Leopold +von Ranke's great histories of the Romance and Teutonic peoples. In the +realm of poetry a stir was created by the publication of Rueckert's and +Boerne's lyrics, and Heinrich Heine's "Alamansor" and "Ratcliffe."</p> + +<p>In France, Lamartine brought out his "Death of Socrates," and Louis Thiers +published the first instalments of his great "History of the French +<span class="sidenote">French literature</span> +Revolution." Simultaneously there appeared François Mignet's "History of +the French Revolution." While these historians were expounding the lessons +of this great regeneration of France, the Royalists in the Chambers did +their best to undo its work. After the ejection of Manuel from the +Chambers, and the Ministers' consequent appeal to the country, the +elections were so manipulated by the government +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_719" id="Page_719">[Pg 719]</a></span> +that only nineteen Liberal<span class="sidenote">Clericals in the ascendant</span> +members were returned to the Chambers. Immediate advantage was taken of +this to favor the Clericals and returned Emigrées, and to change the laws +so as to elect a new House every seven years, instead of one-fifth part of +the Chamber each year. Monseigneur Frayssinous, the leader of the +Clericals, was made Minister of Public Instruction. The friction between +Prime Minister Villèle and Chateaubriand was ended by Villèle's summary +<span class="sidenote">Chateaubriand dismissed</span> +dismissal of Chateaubriand as Foreign Minister. Chateaubriand at once +became the most formidable opponent of the Ministry in the "Journal des +Débats," and in the Chamber of Peers. At this stage of public affairs Louis +XVIII. died, on September 16, with the ancient pomp of royalty. Before he +expired he said, pointing to his bed: "My brother will not die in that +<span class="sidenote">Death of Louis XVIII.</span> +bed." The old King's prophecy was based on the character of the French +people as much as on that of his brother. Indeed, Louis XVIII. was the only +French ruler during the Nineteenth Century who died as a sovereign in his +bed. He was duly succeeded by his brother, Count of Artois, who took the +title "Charles X." and retained Villèle as Minister of France.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1825" id="a1825"></a>1825</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_720" id="Page_720">[Pg 720]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">C</span><span class="dcap1">HARLES X</span>. was crowned King of France in the Cathedral of Rheims. His first +public measure was the appropriation of a million francs to indemnify the +<span class="sidenote">Charles X.</span> +French Royalists, whose lands had been confiscated during the French +Revolution. Next came the proposal of a law on sacrilege, and one for +primogeniture. Both bills were strenuously opposed by the Liberals. Broglie +exclaimed: "What you are now preparing is a social and political +revolution, a revolution against the revolution which changed France nearly +forty years ago." Old Lafayette was glad to leave the country to visit +North America.</p> + +<p>In the United States the election of 1824 had to be decided by the House of +Representatives. For the Presidency the candidates were Andrew Jackson, +John Quincy Adams, Crawford and Clay, and for the Vice-Presidency Calhoun, +<span class="sidenote">American election contest</span> +Sanford, Macon, Jackson, Van Buren and Clay. They all belonged to the +Democratic-Republican party. Jackson had received the highest number of +electoral votes—99 were for him and 84 for Adams. Calhoun, as candidate +for Vice-President, led with 182 votes. In the House of Representatives +Clay, as leader, opposed Jackson. Adams was declared President,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_721" id="Page_721">[Pg 721]</a></span> with +Calhoun for Vice-President. The electoral vote of thirteen States was given +<span class="sidenote">John Quincy Adams President</span> +to Adams, while Jackson received seven. John Quincy Adams was then +fifty-eight years of age. Washington had made him Minister to The Hague, +and then to Lisbon, and in 1797 his father, then President, sent him as +Minister to Berlin. In 1803, he was United States Senator. Six years later +he was Minister to Russia. During both of Monroe's terms he was Secretary +of State. Upon his inauguration as President, Adams made Clay Secretary of +State. Wirt, McLean and Southard were retained in the Cabinet. The +adherents of Jackson declared that a bargain had been made between Clay and +<span class="sidenote">Henry Clay rewarded</span> +Adams, who then paid Clay they alleged for his support in the "scrub race" +for the Presidency. Randolph characterized the supposed arrangement as a +"bargain between the Puritan and the Black Leg," and in consequence was +challenged by Clay to fight a duel. Neither was injured. The election was +followed by an immediate reorganization of political parties, on the +question of supporting Adams's administration. Whether the successor of +Adams should be a Northerner or a Southerner was the question at issue. His +<span class="sidenote">Changes in American politics</span> +opponents were slave-holders and their Northern friends; his supporters, +the antagonists of the Democratic party, whether known as National +Republican, Whig or Republican party, all of which terms were in use. For +the first time the new Congress, under the reapportionment, represented the +entire population of the country, with New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio in +the lead. In the Senate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_722" id="Page_722">[Pg 722]</a></span> were men of brilliant promise. Clay was still a +leader, and so was Webster, in the rising majesty of his renown. The +contest between the parties was narrowed down to two great issues—internal +improvements under national auspices and tariff for the protection of +<span class="sidenote">Adams's first message</span> +manufactures. President Adams in his first message gave opportunity for +concerted opposition. He took advanced ground in favor of national +expenditure on internal improvements, and urged the multiplication of +canals, the endowment of a national university, expenditures for scientific +research, and the erection of a national observatory. He announced that an +invitation had been accepted from the South American states to a conference +at Panama, in regard to the formation of a political and commercial league +between the two Americas. The Senate requested President Adams to give it +information "touching the principles and practice of the Spanish-American +states, or any of them—in regard to negro slavery." The subject was +debated for almost the entire session. When enough had been said to show +that slavery must not be interfered with, the delegates were nominated and +an appropriation was made. The delegates never went.</p> + +<p>On November 4, the first boat travelling along the new Erie Canal reached +<span class="sidenote">Erie Canal completed</span> +New York. Through the efforts of De Witt Clinton, the State of New York +without Congressional aid had completed the great Erie Canal. Its annual +tolls were found to amount to half its cost. The financial and commercial +results of the great work were immediate and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_723" id="Page_723">[Pg 723]</a></span> +manifest. The cost of<span class="sidenote">Beneficial results</span> +carrying freight between Albany and New York was reduced from the 1820 rate +of $88 per ton, to $22.50, and soon to $6.50. Travel was no less +facilitated, so that it was possible for emigrants to reach Michigan, +Illinois and Wisconsin cheaply. These fertile States grew accordingly in +population. In 1825 the Capitol at Washington was nearly completed; the +outer walls proved to be uninjured by the fire of 1814. The foundation of +the central building had been laid in 1818, and this edifice was now +completed on its original plan.</p> + +<p>The American visit of the old Marquis de la Fayette—to give him his French +name—was celebrated with national rejoicings. Years ago, when he left the +American republic after its independence was achieved, it was a poor, weak +<span class="sidenote">Lafayette visits America</span> +and struggling nation. Its prosperity and increasing power now amazed him. +The thirteen colonies along the coast had increased to twenty-four +independent, growing and progressive commonwealths, reaching a thousand +miles westward from the sea. Lafayette was the nation's guest for a year. +On June 17, 1825, just fifty years after the battle of Bunker Hill, he laid +the cornerstone of the obelisk which commemorates that battle in Boston. On +this same occasion Daniel Webster made one of his great speeches. Lafayette +returned to France in the American frigate "Brandywine," named in honor of +the first battle in which Lafayette fought and was wounded half a century +before. Congress presented him with a gift of $200,000 in money, and with a +township<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_724" id="Page_724">[Pg 724]</a></span> of land in recognition of the disinterested services of his +youth.</p> + +<p>Shortly before President Adams accepted the invitation to send North +American representatives to the proposed Congress of Panama, thirteen +independent States joined at Buenos Ayres in a powerful confederation and +<span class="sidenote">Argentine Republic</span> +formed the Republic of Argentine. A national constitution was adopted and +Rivadiera elected President. The new republic was soon called upon to prove +its mettle in the war levied against it by Brazil for the possession of +Uruguay. In the end Uruguay remained a part of Argentina. Brazil had +previously achieved its complete independence from the mother country by +assuming the public debt of Portugal, amounting to some ten million +dollars. England gave its official recognition to these new changes of +government as it had to the others.</p> + +<p>The British war against the Burmese was nearly over. Early in the year the +British forces left at Rangoon advanced up the river Irawaddy toward +Donabew. The first attempt to take this stronghold was repulsed, whereupon +<span class="sidenote">Burmese reverses</span> +the British settled down to a regular siege. While trying to get the range +with their mortars the gunners succeeded in killing Bundula, the chieftain +of the Burmese. His brother flinched from the command of the army and was +promptly beheaded. The Burmese forces went to pieces. The British proceeded +to Prome, and inflicted another crushing defeat on the remaining +detachments of the Burmese army. At the approach of the British column the +Burmese rulers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_725" id="Page_725">[Pg 725]</a></span> at Ava became frantic. All the demented women that could be +found in and about Ava were gathered together and conducted to the front +that they might bewitch the English. When this measure proved ineffectual, +Prince Tharawadi tried to stem the British approach, but could not get his +<span class="sidenote">New British acquisitions</span> +followers to face the enemy. All the country from Rangoon to Ava was under +British control. The Burmese came to terms. As a result of the conflict the +territories of Assam, Arrakan and Tenaserim were ceded to the British.</p> + +<p>While the British were still in the midst of this campaign a crisis +occurred in Bhurtpore. The sudden death of the Rajah there left no +successor to the throne but an infant son of seven. He was proclaimed Rajah +under the guardianship of his uncle. A cousin of the dead king won over the +army of Bhurtpore, and putting the uncle to death imprisoned the little +<span class="sidenote">Crisis in Bhurtpore</span> +Rajah. Sir David Ochterlony, the aged British Resident at Delhi, interfered +in behalf of the little prince and advanced British troops into Bhurtpore. +His measures were repudiated by Lord Amherst. Sir David took the rebuff so +much to heart that he resigned his appointment. Within two months after his +retirement the old soldier died in bitterness of soul. The sequel +vindicated his judgment. In defiance of the British Government, the usurper +of Bhurtpore rallied around him all the dissatisfied spirits of the +Mahrattas, Pindarees, Jats and Rajputs. Lord Amherst was forced to retreat +to Vera. The British army under Lord Combermere crossed the border and +pushed through to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_726" id="Page_726">[Pg 726]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Summary British dealings</span> +Bhurtpore. The heavy mud walls of the capital had to be +breached with mines. The usurper was deposed and put out of harm's way in a +British prison. With the restoration of the infant Prince in Bhurtpore, all +danger of another great Indian rising seemed at end.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<a name="SOLFERINO" id="SOLFERINO"></a> +<img src="images/solferino.jpg" width="500" height="263" alt="SOLFERINO" +title="SOLFERINO" /> +<span class="caption">SOLFERINO</span> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0em;"><small>Painted by E. Meissonier</small></span> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><small>From Carbon Print by Braun, Clement & Co., N.Y.</small></span> +</div> + +<p>At home in England it was a period of unprecedented scientific and +industrial development. Following Faraday's recent conversion of the +electric current into mechanical motion, Sturgeon invented the prototype of +<span class="sidenote">The first railway</span> +the electro-magnet. The first public railway for steam locomotives was +opened between Stockton and Darlington by Edward Peese and George +Stephenson—an innovation which caused great excitement throughout England. +On the opening day, September 27, an immense concourse of people assembled +along the line to see the train go by. Nearly every one prophesied that the +"iron horse" would be a failure. The train weighed about ninety English +tons, and consisted of six wagons loaded with coal and flour, then a +covered coach containing directors and proprietors, with twenty-one coal +wagons fitted up for invited passengers, nearly 600 in number. Stephenson's +engine, named the "Locomotion," had a ten-foot boiler and weighed not quite +1,500 pounds. As six miles an hour was supposed to be the limit of speed, +it was arranged that a man on horseback should ride on the track ahead of +the engine carrying a flag. The train was started without difficulty amid +cheers. Many tried to keep up with it by running, and some gentlemen on +horseback galloped<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_727" id="Page_727">[Pg 727]</a></span> +across the fields to accompany the train. After a few +minutes, Stephenson shouted to the horseman with the flag to get out of the +way, for he was going to "let her go." Ordering the fireman to "keep her +hot, lad," he opened wide the throttle-valve and the speed was quickly +raised to twelve miles an hour and then to fifteen.</p> + +<p>The runners on foot, the gentlemen on horseback and the horseman with the +<span class="sidenote">Stephenson's practical demonstration</span> +flag were left far behind. So, with the cross-beams and side-rods trembling +from the violent motion, the red-hot chimney ejecting clouds of black +smoke, amid the cheers of the delighted spectators and to the astonishment +of the passengers—the immortal George Stephenson brought his train safely +into Darlington.</p> + +<p>As the "Newcastle Courant" (October 1, 1825) put it, "certainly the +performance excited the astonishment of all present, and exceeded the most +sanguine expectations of every one conversant with the subject. The engine +arrived at Stockton in three hours and seven minutes after leaving +Darlington, including stops, the distance being nearly twelve miles, which +is at the rate of four miles an hour; and upon the level part of the +railway, the number of passengers was counted about four hundred and fifty, +and several more clung to the carriages on each side. At one time the +passengers by the engine had the pleasure of accompanying and cheering +their brother passengers by the stage coach, which passed alongside, and of +observing the striking contrast exhibited by the power of the engine and of +horses; the engine with her six hun<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_728" id="Page_728">[Pg 728]</a></span>dred passengers and load, and the coach +with four horses and only sixteen passengers."</p> + +<p>So successful was the Stockton and Darlington railway that a bill was +brought in Parliament for the construction of a railroad between Liverpool +<span class="sidenote">Immediate railroad development</span> +and Manchester after Stephenson's plan. The scheme was violently opposed. +Its detractors, among whom were Lords Lefton and Derby, declared that +Stephenson's locomotive would poison the air, kill the birds as they flew +over them, destroy the preservation of pheasants, burn up the farms and +homesteads near the lines; that oats and hay would become unsalable because +horses would become extinct; travelling on the highways would become +impossible; country inns would be ruined; boilers would burst and kill +hundreds of passengers. Indeed, there was no peril imaginable that was not +predicted to attend the working of a railroad by steam.</p> + +<p>When Stephenson was examined by a Parliamentary committee, one of the +members put this question: "Suppose, now, one of these engines to be going +along a railroad at a rate of nine or ten miles an hour, and that a cow +were to stray upon the line, and get in the way of the engine, would not +that, think you, be a very awkward circumstance?" "Yaw," replied +Stephenson, in his broad Northumbrian dialect, "ay, awkward—for the +<i>coo</i>." On account of his speech Stephenson was denounced as a "foreigner," +and the bill was thrown out by the committee, by a vote of 37 against 36. +After a second Parliamentary battle, the bill was passed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_729" id="Page_729">[Pg 729]</a></span> through both +Houses by a majority of forty-seven votes. The passage of the act cost +£27,000.</p> + +<p>Almost coincidentally, Faraday found that benzine was a constituent of +petroleum, a discovery destined to affect the modern construction of +<span class="sidenote">Other modern inventions</span> +automobile vehicles toward the close of the century. A number of other +achievements made this an important year for science in England. John +Crowther took out a patent for his invention of a hydraulic crane. The +steam jet was first applied to construction work by Timothy Hackworth. +Joseph Clement built a planing machine for iron. One of the earliest chain +suspension bridges was erected at Menai Strait by Thomas Thelford, and at +the same time Brunel sunk his first shaft for the Thames tunnel. +Significant of the industrial revival of those days was the opening of +mechanics' institutes at Exeter and Belfast. In Canada, the newly founded +<span class="sidenote">English financial crisis averted</span> +McGill College was raised to the rank of a university. A financial measure +of far-reaching import was the Bank of England's sudden diminution of its +circulation to the extent of £3,500,000 by the combined exertions of the +bank and of the royal mint. A crisis in public funds was thus averted. The +most important political measure of the year was Canning's attempt to +<span class="sidenote">Canning's attempted reforms</span> +repeal the political disabilities of the Catholics in England. A bill to +this effect was passed through the Commons, but was thrown out by the House +of Lords. Canning's friend Huskisson inaugurated a commercial policy, which +was founded on the theory of free trade, destined to bring about the repeal +of the corn laws.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_730" id="Page_730">[Pg 730]</a></span></p> + +<p>The situation in Greece was calculated to stiffen the backbone of Canning's +foreign policy. On February 22, Ibrahim's Egyptian army had crossed the sea +<span class="sidenote">Greek reverses</span> +unopposed and overran the Morea. The Greeks were defeated near Nodoni, and +the garrison of Sphakteria was overwhelmed. The forts of Navarino +capitulated. In vain was old Kolokotrones released from his prison to +oppose the onslaught of Ibrahim's Arabs. The Greeks were driven back +through Tripolitza, and did not succeed in making a stand until the Turks +<span class="sidenote">Nauplia and Missolonghi besieged</span> +reached Nauplia. Here Demetrios Ypsilanti with a few hundred men repulsed +the Turkish vanguard at Lerna. Ibrahim settled down to the siege of Nauplia +and of Missolonghi. The country round about was laid waste and the people +killed. Ibrahim's hordes even cut down all trees and saplings. Thus the +fertile mountains and hillsides of Greece were changed into the barren +rocks they are to-day. Nothing so excited the sympathy of the lovers of +liberty in Europe as these wanton ravages on classic soil committed by the +<span class="sidenote">Greece devastated</span> +savages of the desert. Even Alexander of Russia was so moved by the rising +indignation of his people that he dissolved diplomatic conferences at St. +Petersburg in August. He issued a declaration that Russia, acting on its +own discretion, would put a stop to the outrages of Greece. Accompanied by +the leaders of the Russian war party, he left St. Petersburg and travelled +to the Black Sea. All Europe waited for the long-threatened Russian advance +on Constantinople. Suddenly news arrived that the Czar had died at +Taganrog.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_731" id="Page_731">[Pg 731]</a></span></p> + +<p>Alexander expired on November 19 (December 1), in the arms of Empress +<span class="sidenote">Death of Czar Alexander</span> +Elizabeth. His last hours were clouded by revelations of a plot to +assassinate him. As if to recant his reactionary measures of the last few +years, he said: "They may say what they like of me, but I have lived and +will die republican"—a curious boast which is justified only by the +earlier years of Alexander's reign. In the beginning of his rule the Czar +reversed the despotic tendencies of his predecessors. Free travel was +permitted; foreign books and papers were allowed to enter; the better +classes of the community were exempted from corporal punishments; the +emancipation of serfs was begun, and the collegiate organization of the +<span class="sidenote">Alexander's early reforms</span> +administration was supplanted by ministries modelled after those of the +chief European countries. As early as 1802 Alexander could boast of a +Cabinet as good as that of any constitutional monarch. Another far-reaching +reform was the reorganization of Russian public education, and the +encouragement given to the publication of Bibles. A temporary relaxation of +the censorship resulted in the foundation of societies of literature and of +such journals as the "Russian Messenger," "The Northern Mercury," and the +<span class="sidenote">Russian letters stimulated</span> +"Democrat." Writers like Pushkin and Gogol brought forth their earliest +works. Koltsov discovered a new source of poetry in the popular songs. +Lermontov sang the wild beauty of the Caucasus, and Ozerov wrote his +classical drama "Dmitri Donskoi," which recalled the struggles of Russia +against the Tartars. Modern romantic ten<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_732" id="Page_732">[Pg 732]</a></span>dencies were advanced by +Joukovsky's translation of Schiller's and Byron's poems. Ginka composed the +scores for his earlier operas.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Changes for the worse</div> + +<p>When Alexander came under the influence of Madame de Krüdener and the more +baneful ascendency of Metternich everything was changed for the worse. The +publication of Bibles was stopped; the censorship was re-established in its +full rigor; Speranski's great undertaking of a Russian code of laws was +nipped in the bud; Galytsin, the liberal Minister of Publication, had to +<span class="sidenote">Araktcheyev</span> +resign, and Araktcheyev, a reactionary of extreme type, was put in his +place. Some idea of the dark days that followed may be gathered from +Araktcheyev's first measures. The teaching of the geological theories of +Buffon and of the systems of Copernicus and Newton were forbidden as +contrary to Holy Writ. Medical dissection was prohibited, and the practice +of medicine was reduced to that of faith cure. All professors who had +studied at seats of learning abroad were dismissed. Then it was that the +<span class="sidenote">The Russian succession</span> +secret societies sprang up in Poland and in the north and south of Russia. +One of the foremost conspirators was Pestel, who had undertaken to frame a +new code of laws for Russia. When Alexander died, Russia was on the brink +of a military revolution. It was the intention of the conspirators to +assassinate the Czar in the presence of his troops and to proclaim a +constitution; but his unexpected departure to the Black Sea frustrated the +plan. Alexander's death threw the Russian court into confusion. For a while +it was not known who was to succeed him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_733" id="Page_733">[Pg 733]</a></span> The supposed heir to the throne +was Alexander's brother, Constantine. Unbeknown to the people he had +formally renounced his right to the throne. At the time of his brother's +<span class="sidenote">Conflicting proclamations</span> +death he was in Warsaw. His younger brother, Nicholas, at St. Petersburg, +had him proclaimed emperor. When they brought him Constantine's written +abdication, Nicholas refused to acknowledge it and caused the troops to +take their oath of allegiance to his brother. Constantine in Warsaw +proclaimed Nicholas emperor. Nicholas would not accept the crown unless by +<span class="sidenote">Nicholas, Czar of Russia</span> +the direct command of his elder brother. At length the matter was adjusted, +after an interregnum of three weeks. On Christmas Day, Nicholas ascended +the imperial throne. The confusion at St. Petersburg was turned to account +by the military conspirators who had plotted against Alexander's life. To +the common soldiers they denounced Nicholas as a usurper who was trying to +make them break their recent oath to Constantine. When ordered to take the +<span class="sidenote">Moscow mutiny</span> +oath to Nicholas, the Moscow regiment refused, and marched to the open +place in front of the Senate House. There they formed a square and were +joined by other bodies of mutineering soldiers. It is gravely asserted by +Russian historians that the poor wretches, ignorant of the very meaning of +the word constitution, shouted for it, believing it to be the name of +<span class="sidenote">Miloradovitch shot</span> +Constantine's wife. An attack upon them by the household cavalry was +repulsed. When General Miloradovitch, a veteran of fifty-two battles +against Napoleon, tried to make himself heard, he was shot. The mutineers +would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_734" id="Page_734">[Pg 734]</a></span> not listen even to the Emperor. Not until evening could the new Czar +be brought to use more decisive measures. Then he ordered out the artillery +<span class="sidenote">End of revolt</span> +and had them fire grapeshot into the square. The effect was appalling. In a +few minutes the square was cleared and the insurrection was over. Its +leaders were wanting at the moment of action. A rising in the south of +Russia was quelled by a single regiment. Before the year ended, Nicholas +was undisputed master of Russia.</p> + +<p>By the death of Augustin Jean Fresnel, France lost a brilliant scientist, +<span class="sidenote">Death of Fresnel</span> +who shares with Thomas Young the honor of discrediting the old emission +theory of light, and of formulating the undulatory theory.</p> + +<p>Jacques Louis David, founder of the new French school of classicism in +painting, died at the close of the year at Brussels. Many of his paintings +<span class="sidenote">Death of David</span> +were on exhibition before the fall of the old régime in France. In the days +of the French Revolution, David was a Jacobite and friend of Robespierre, +and suffered in prison after the latter's fall. It was not, however, until +the time of the First Empire that David's fame spread. He then reached the +zenith of his success. His masterpieces of this period are "Napoleon +Crossing the Alps"—a canvas on which is founded Hauff's story of "The +Picture of the Emperor"—"The Coronation of Napoleon," "Napoleon in His +Imperial Robes," and the "Distribution of the Eagles." Equally famous is +his portrait of "Madame Recamier resting on a Chaiselongue." After the fall +of the First<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_735" id="Page_735">[Pg 735]</a></span> Empire, David was exiled from France, and retired to +Brussels. David, unlike so many other beneficiaries of the Empire, remained +warmly attached to Napoleon. Once when the Duke of Wellington visited his +studio in Brussels and expressed a wish that the great artist would paint +him, David coldly replied, "I never paint Englishmen." In his declining +years he painted subjects taken from Grecian mythology. Among the paintings +executed by David during his banishment were "Love and Psyche," "The Wrath +of Achilles," and "Mars Disarmed by Venus." The number of David's pupils +who acquired distinction was very great, among whom the best known were +Gros, Gérard, Derdranais Girodet, Jugros, Abel de Pujel and Droming.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1826" id="a1826"></a>1826</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_736" id="Page_736">[Pg 736]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">D</span><span class="dcap1">RIVEN</span> to assert his rights to the crown by bloodshed, Nicholas I. showed +himself resolved to maintain the absolute principles of his throne. He +<span class="sidenote">Czar Nicholas' measures</span> +accorded a disdainful pardon to Prince Trubetskoi, whom the conspirators of +the capital had chosen as head of the government. The mass of misled +soldiery was likewise treated with clemency. But against the real +instigators of the insurrection the Czar proceeded with uncompromising +severity. One hundred and twenty were deported to Siberia; and the five +<span class="sidenote">Ryleyev and Pestel hanged</span> +foremost men, among whom were Ryleyev, the head of the society in the +north, and Pestel, were condemned to be hanged. All died courageously. +Pestel's chief concern was for his Code: "I am certain," said he, "that one +day Russia will find in this book a refuge against violent commotions. My +greatest error was that I wished to gather the harvest before sowing the +seed." In a way the teachings of these men gave an impetus to Russia that +their death could not destroy. Even the Czar, with his passion for military +<span class="sidenote">Russian laws codified</span> +autocracy, made it his first care to take up the work of codifying the +Russian laws. Alexis Mikhaielovitch during the next four years turned out +his "Complete Code of the Laws of the Russian Empire."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_737" id="Page_737">[Pg 737]</a></span></p> + +<p>The military ambitions of Nicholas found a vent in the direction of Persia. +<span class="sidenote">Persian war</span> +The encroachments of Ermolov, the Governor-General of the Caucasus, so +exasperated the Persians that soon a holy war was preached against Russia. +Ebbas-Mirza, the Prince Royal of Persia, collected an army of 35,000 men on +the banks of the Araxes. A number of English officers joined his ranks. +<span class="sidenote">Defence of Choucha</span> +Nicholas at once despatched General Kasevitch with reinforcements for +Ermolov. Ebbas-Mirza was checked on his march on Tivlas by the heroic +defence of Choucha. In the meanwhile the Russians concentrated their +forces. The Persian vanguard, 15,000 strong, was defeated at Elizabethpol. +<span class="sidenote">Russian victories</span> +On the banks of the Djeham, Paskevitch, with a division of the Russian +army, overthrew the main body of the Persians and forced them back over the +Araxes. The Persians continued their resistance, relying on the terms of +<span class="sidenote">Persia abandoned by England</span> +the treaty of Teheran, wherein England had promised financial and military +subsidies in case of invasion. The English, promise was not kept. Hence +forth the Persians were at the mercy of the Russian army of invasion. +Almost simultaneously a rebellion against the Chinese Government broke out +in Kashgar. Undeterred by this diversion, Nicholas took up a vigorous stand +against the Turks. In March he presented an ultimatum insisting on the +<span class="sidenote">Russia's ultimatum to Turkey</span> +autonomy of Moldavia, Wallachia and Servia, and on the final cession to +Russia of disputed Turkish territory on the Asiatic frontier. Turkey +yielded. Nicholas then joined in an ultimatum with England and France for +an immediate stop of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_738" id="Page_738">[Pg 738]</a></span> Turkish outrages in Greece. In this matter +Nicholas, who regarded the Greeks as rebels, showed himself more lenient to +<span class="sidenote">Massacre of Janizaries</span> +the Turks, and negotiations with the Porte were permitted to drag. The +Sultan profited by the lull to execute a long contemplated stroke against +the Janizaries. The whole of this famous corps of bodyguards was massacred.</p> + +<p>During this year two men died in Russia who had distinguished themselves at +<span class="sidenote">Death of Bennigsen and Rostopchin</span> +the time of Napoleon's invasion. One was General Bennigsen, a soldier of +German extraction and training, who took a leading part in all the Russian +campaigns against Napoleon. The other was Prince Rostopchin, who as +Governor of Moscow consigned that city to the flames after Napoleon's +triumphant entry.</p> + +<p>England lost two men who had distinguished themselves in India. One was the +<span class="sidenote">Death of Hastings and Heber</span> +Marquis of Hastings, who had but lately relinquished his +Governor-Generalship of British India, and whose rule there both from a +military and from a political-economical point of view must be regarded as +pre-eminently successful. The other was Reginald Heber, the Bishop of +Calcutta, who endeared himself to Anglo-Indians by his translations of the +<span class="sidenote">Alfred Tennyson</span> +folk songs and classic writings of Hindustan. In other respects this year +is notable in English literary annals. Alfred Tennyson published his +earliest verses in conjunction with his brother; Elizabeth Barrett also +brought out her first poems; Macaulay had begun to captivate England by his +essays; Thomas Hood issued his "Whims and Oddities"; Scott and Coleridge +were then in the heyday of +<span class="sidenote">English letters flourishing</span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_739" id="Page_739">[Pg 739]</a></span> +literary favor. Scott had just brought out his +"Talisman" and "The Betrothed," and now published "Woodstock." Coleridge +contributed his "Aids to Reflection." A new impetus was given to +scholarship by the foundation of the Western and Eastern literary +institutions of England, and the establishment of a professorship for +political economy at Oxford. London University was chartered. Drummond's +<span class="sidenote">Scientific progress</span> +namesake, Lieutenant Thomas Drummond, perpetuated his name by his +limelight, produced by heating lime to incandescence in the oxy-hydrogen +flame.</p> + +<p>While Herschel was working out his spectrum analysis, Fox Talbot +contributed his share by his observation of the orange line of strontium. +John Walker perfected his invention of friction matches. Industrially, on +the contrary, England still suffered from the canker of the corn laws and +<span class="sidenote">English lotteries suppressed</span> +the recent financial crisis resulting from the operations of ill-fated +stock companies. In Lancashire nearly a thousand power looms were destroyed +by the distressed operatives. Some relief was given by Canning's abolition +of all public lotteries.</p> + +<p>In Germany, arts and literature flourished in the same degree. King Louis +<span class="sidenote">Louis I. of Bavaria</span> +I. of Bavaria, upon his accession to the throne, gathered about him in +Munich some of the foremost artists and writers of Germany. The capital of +Munich was embellished with public monuments; public buildings were +decorated with fresco paintings, and art galleries were established. The +University of Bavaria was transferred from Landshut to Munich, and other +institutions +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_740" id="Page_740">[Pg 740]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Munich embellished</span> +of learning were erected by its side. Streets were widened, +new avenues and public squares laid out, and public lighting introduced +throughout the city. Within a short time the quasi-medieval town of Munich +was changed into a modern metropolis and became the Mecca of German art. +<span class="sidenote">German romantic literature</span> +Among the artists who gathered round Louis of Bavaria were Moritz von +Schwind, Cornelius, Hess, Raupp, and the elder Piloti. Among the writers +who drew upon themselves the notice of this liberal king were the Count of +Platen, who during this year published his "Ghazels" and the comedy "The +Fatal Fork"; and Hauff, who brought out his romantic masterpiece, +"Lichtenstein." Of the rising writers, Heinrich Heine alone withstood the +<span class="sidenote">"Die Wacht am Rhein"</span> +blandishments of Louis with verses of biting satire. Little noticed at the +time was the appearance of Reichardt's "Wacht am Rhein," a song which was +destined to become the battle hymn of Germany. Scant attention, likewise, +was given to Froebel's epoch-making work, "The Education of Man." On the +<span class="sidenote">Froebel</span> +other hand much pother was made over some curious exchanges of sovereignty, +characteristic of German politics in those days. The Dukes of +Saxe-Coburg-Gotha-Meiningen exchanged their respective possessions. +Saalfeld Meiningen received Gotha. Altenburg was assigned to +Saxe-Hilburghausen, which latter principality in turn was relinquished to +Meiningen. The settlements of the succession in those petty principalities +called forth volumes of legal lore.</p> + +<p>Jens Baggesen, the most prolific Danish humorist,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_741" id="Page_741">[Pg 741]</a></span> died this year, +seventy-two years of age. After his death Baggesen's writings declined in +popularity.</p> + +<p>In America, the people of the United States commemorated the +<span class="sidenote">American semi-centennial</span> +semi-centennial of their independence. The Fourth of July, the date of the +declaration of American independence, was the great day of celebration. The +day became noted in American history by the simultaneous death of two +<span class="sidenote">Death of Jefferson and Adams</span> +patriots: Jefferson and Adams. Thomas Jefferson's greatest achievements, as +recorded by himself on his gravestone at Monticello, were his part in the +declaration of American independence, in the establishment of religious +freedom and in the foundation of the University at Virginia. He was the +most philosophic statesman of his time in America. Much of the subsequent +history of the United States was but the development of Jefferson's +political ideas. His public acts and declarations foreshadowed the policies +of his most worthy successors. The essentials of the Monroe Doctrine, of +the emancipation of slaves, as well as of the doctrine of State rights and +<span class="sidenote">"The Father of Democracy"</span> +of American expansion, can all be traced back to him. Thus he has come to +be venerated by one of the two great political parties of America as "The +Father of Democracy."</p> + +<p>Jefferson's principles were stated in his first inaugural address: "Equal +and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or +political; peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations, +entangling alliances with none; the support of the State governments and +all their rights as the most competent of administrations for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_742" id="Page_742">[Pg 742]</a></span> our domestic +concerns; the preservation of the general government in its whole +<span class="sidenote">Jefferson's principles</span> +constitutional vigor, as a sheet anchor of peace at home and safety +abroad.... The supremacy of civil over military authority; economy in +public expense, honest payment of public debts; the diffusion of +information; freedom of religion; freedom of the press and freedom of the +person, under the protection of the habeas corpus and trial by jury." When +Jefferson's second term as President came to an end he retired from the +White House poorer than he had entered it. A third term was declined by him +with these words: "To lay down a public charge at the proper period is as +much a duty as to have borne it faithfully. If some termination to the +<span class="sidenote">Third term discountenanced</span> +services of a chief magistrate be not fixed by the Constitution or supplied +by practice, this office, nominally four years, will in fact become for +life; and history shows how easily that degenerates into an inheritance." +Together with Washington's similar action, this established a custom which +has since been followed in the North American Republic.</p> + +<p>Jefferson's predecessor, John Adams, who died on the same day, though +likewise a model President, was less fortunate in his career. His +<span class="sidenote">John Adams's career</span> +administration was a struggle almost from beginning to end. The troubles +with France, though not attaining the dignity of international warfare, +presented all the difficulties of such a war. Adams's extreme measures +against domestic danger, as embodied in his "alien and sedition laws," were +unfortunate. They were in fact an infringement of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_743" id="Page_743">[Pg 743]</a></span> rights of free +speech and personal liberty, and were with justice denounced as +unconstitutional and un-American. His departure from the American Bill of +Rights among other things effectually prevented his re-election as +President. His wisest closing act was the appointment of John Marshall to +the Chief Justiceship of the American Supreme Court.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Stars of the stage</div> + +<p>In the annals of the American stage the season of 1826 is remembered for +the first appearance of the three great actors Edwin Forrest, Macready and +James H. Hackett, the American comedian. The same year saw the first +appearance of Paulding's "Three Wise Men of Gotham," and Cooper's "Last of +<span class="sidenote">"The Last of the Mohicans"</span> +the Mohicans."</p> + +<p>The Greek cause found friends in Switzerland, England and America. Two +loans for $14,000,000 were raised in London by American and English +subscriptions. Both loans were disgracefully financed. Barely one-half of +<span class="sidenote">Philhellenic efforts</span> +the amount was finally accounted for. With the proceeds contracts were made +for eight warships. The "Perseverance," a steam corvette, mounting eight +68-pound cannon, reached Nauplia in September. The "Hope," a staunch +frigate of 64 guns, built in New York, arrived in December. She was +rechristened the "Hellas."</p> + +<p>The death of Dom Juan de Braganza in March had placed the throne of +Portugal as well as that of Brazil at the disposal of his oldest son, Dom +Pedro IV., at Rio. Under the terms of England's mediation of the previous +year, Dom Pedro renounced the throne of Portugal in favor of his +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_744" id="Page_744">[Pg 744]</a></span> infant +<span class="sidenote">Dom Pedro IV.</span> +daughter, Maria Gloria, while at the same time he conferred upon Portugal a +liberal constitution, the so-called Charta de Ley, similar to that conceded +to Brazil in 1822.</p> + +<p>Dom Pedro IV. had intrusted the throne of Portugal to the regency of his +sister Maria Isabella, on condition that his infant daughter should marry +her uncle, Dom Miguel. It was his intention that the infant Princess should +be recognized as Queen, while Dom Miguel would reign as regent. Under the +leadership of Marquis de Chaves, instigated by Dom Miguel, several +provinces revolted and declared for Miguel as absolute king. Conquered in +Portugal, the insurgents retired to Spain, where they were well received. +<span class="sidenote">Dom Miguel's revolt</span> +The Portuguese constitutional government called for help from England. +France threatened to invade Spain. Canning acted at once: "To those who +blame the government for delay," declared Canning in Parliament, "the +answer is very short. It was only last Friday that I received the official +request from Portugal. On Saturday the Ministers decided what was to be +done. On Sunday our decision received the King's sanction. On Monday it was +communicated to both Houses. At this very moment the troops are on their +<span class="sidenote">Canning's policy</span> +way to Portugal." It was then that Canning delivered the great speech in +defence of his foreign policy which he closed with Shakespeare's famous +lines:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span style="margin-left: 5em;">Oh, it is excellent</span><br /> +To have a giant's strength. And it is tyrannous<br /> +To use it like a giant. </p></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1827" id="a1827"></a>1827</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_745" id="Page_745">[Pg 745]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">O</span><span class="dcap1">N THE</span> first day of January an English army corps under Clinton was landed +at Lissabon and a squadron of eleven British ships of the line came to +<span class="sidenote">Portuguese revolt suppressed</span> +anchor at the mouth of the Tagus. The news of this foreign intervention +dismayed the revolutionists. On the banks of the Mondego the Marquis de +Chaves, with 10,000 rebels, still commanded the approach to Coimbra. On +January 9, a drawn battle was fought with 7,000 constitutional troops under +Saldanha. Next morning Dom Miguel's followers, on the news of an +approaching British column, quitted the field and dispersed. The Spanish +troops on the frontier disarmed those that crossed into Spain.</p> + +<p>In France, the government of Charles X., after some violent attacks in the +Chambers, recalled the Swiss brigade sent to protect the royal family in +<span class="sidenote">Dissatisfaction in France</span> +Madrid. There was trouble enough at home. The clerical reaction in France +brought about a popular outcry against the order of the Jesuits. On the +occasion of a royal military review on April 29, some of the companies of +the National Guards shared in demonstrations against them. "I am here," +said the King, "to receive your homage, not your murmurings." The entire +National Guard of Paris was disbanded by royal ordinance.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_746" id="Page_746">[Pg 746]</a></span></p> + +<p>Early in the spring the Russian forces under Paskievitch had crossed the +<span class="sidenote">Russians invade Persia</span> +Araxes and forced the defiles of the Persian frontier. By a rapid flank +movement an army of 10,000 Persians was detached and brought to surrender. +Erivan, the bulwark of Persia, was taken by assault. The triumphant Russian +column entered Pauris, the second city of the kingdom. Thence an advance +was made on Teheran.</p> + +<p>These easy victories in Persia left the Czar free to resume his threatening +attitude toward Turkey. In this he received the hearty support of Canning. +A protocol at St. Petersburg, concluded between the Duke of Wellington and +Nesselrode, formed the basis for Anglo-Russian intervention in the East. +The royalists of France were won over by an offer from the Greek insurgents +<span class="sidenote">Intervention in Greece favored</span> +to place the Duke of Nimours on the throne of Greece. Without giving actual +support to the proposed intervention the French ambassador in +Constantinople was instructed to act with his English and Russian +colleagues. Under the weight of this combination even Prince Metternich +gave way.</p> + +<p>Affairs in Germany were calculated to excite his alarm. At Dresden the +accession of Anthony Clement to the crown of Saxony met with extreme +disfavor on the part of the Saxon people by reason of Anthony's pronounced +Catholicism. Soon his measures provoked a rising of the people. Anthony had +to resign, and Frederick Augustus II. became regent.</p> + +<p>In Wurtemberg, where public affairs had taken a more liberal turn, the +death of Wilhelm Hauff,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_747" id="Page_747">[Pg 747]</a></span> the young author, was felt as a great loss. Hauff +died in his twenty-fifth year, while still in the first promise of his +<span class="sidenote">Death of Hauff</span> +literary activity. His stories of the Black Woods and his Oriental Tales, +together with his medieval romance "Lichtenstein," modelled after the best +of Walter Scott's romances, have assured him a prominent place in German +letters.</p> + +<p>On March 15, Marquis Pierre Simon de Laplace, one of the greatest +mathematicians and physical astronomers of all time, died at Arcueil. +<span class="sidenote">Laplace</span> +Laplace was born in 1749, in Normandy. Although a poor farmer's son, he +soon won the position of a teacher at the Beaumont Military School of +Mathematics, and later at the Ecole Militaire of Paris. One of the early +notable labors of Laplace was his investigation of planetary perturbations, +and his demonstration that planetary mean motions are invariable—the first +important step in the establishment of the stability of the solar system +and one of the most brilliant achievements in celestial mechanics. In his +<span class="sidenote">The nebular hypothesis</span> +"Exposition du Systeme du Monde" was formulated the theory called the +"nebular hypothesis," the glory of which he must share with Kant. "He would +have completed the science of the skies," says Fourier, "had the science +been capable of completion." As a physicist he made discoveries that were +in themselves sufficient to perpetuate his name, in specific heat, +capillary action and sound. In mathematics he furnished the modern +scientist with the famous Laplace co-efficients and the potential function, +thereby laying the foundation of the mathematical sciences of heat and +electricity.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_748" id="Page_748">[Pg 748]</a></span> Not satisfied with scientific distinction, Laplace aspired to +political honors and left a public record which is not altogether to his +credit. Of his labors as Minister of the Interior, Napoleon remarked: "He +brought into the administration the spirit of the infinitesimals." Although +he owed his political success, small as it was, to Napoleon—the man whom +he had once heralded as the "pacificator of Europe"—he voted for his +dethronement.</p> +<p>Shortly after the death of Laplace, Ludwig van Beethoven died in Vienna on +March 26. The last years of his life were so clouded by his deafness and by +<span class="sidenote">Death of Beethoven</span> +the distressing vagaries of his nephew that he was often on the verge of +suicide. In December, 1826, he caught a violent cold, which brought on his +ultimate death from pneumonia and dropsy. Beethoven, though he adhered to +the sonata form of the classic school, introduced into his compositions +such daringly original methods that he must be regarded as the first of the +great romantic composers. Some of his latest compositions notably, were so +very unconventional that they found no appreciation, even among musicians, +until years after his death. Technically, his art of orchestration reached +such a perfection of general unity and elaboration of detail that he must +stand as the greatest instrumental composer of the nineteenth century. The +profound subjective note that pervades his best compositions lifts his +music above that of his greatest predecessors: Bach, Haydn and Mozart.</p> + +<p>Beethoven came of a line of musical ancestors.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_749" id="Page_749">[Pg 749]</a></span> +His grandfather and +namesake was an orchestral leader and composer of operas. His father was a +<span class="sidenote">Beethoven's career</span> +professional singer, who took his son's musical education in hand at the +age of four. At eight the boy was a fluent performer both on the violin and +on the piano. When but ten years old Beethoven produced his first +pianoforte sonata, and was installed as assistant organist in the Electoral +Chapel at Bonn. When the lad visited Vienna, in 1787, his extemporizations +on the piano made Mozart exclaim: "He will give the world something worth +listening to." It was Haydn that persuaded Beethoven's patron to send the +youth to Vienna; there he became Haydn's pupil and received material +support from Prince Lichnovsky, one of his warmest admirers. From his first +entrance into the musical circles of Vienna, Beethoven was justly regarded +as a highly eccentric man. His generosity of soul and transcendent genius +made all those that learned to know him condone his freaks. It was after +the opening of the Nineteenth Century that Beethoven reached his freest +creative period. Between 1800 and 1815 he composed the first six of his +<span class="sidenote">Notable compositions</span> +great symphonies, the music to "Egmont," the best of his chamber-music +pieces, fourteen pianoforte sonatas, among them the "Pastorale" and the +"Appassionata," and his only opera "Fidelio." This opera, which was first +named "Leonore," with an overture that was afterward abandoned, had its +first public performance in Vienna just before Napoleon's entry into the +capital in 1805. After three representations it was withdrawn. Nearly ten +years<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_750" id="Page_750">[Pg 750]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">"Fidelio"</span> +later, after complete revision by Beethoven, "Fidelio" achieved its +first great success. The great "Heroica Symphony" composed at the same time +was originally dedicated to Bonaparte. When Napoleon had himself proclaimed +Emperor, Beethoven tore up the dedication in a rage. It was subsequently +changed "to the memory of a great man." After 1815, when the composer had +grown quite deaf, his compositions, like his moods, took a gloomy cast. The +<span class="sidenote">Beethoven's declining years</span> +extravagances of his nephew, whose guardianship he had undertaken, caused +him acute material worries. In truth he need have given himself no concern, +for his admirers, Archduke Rudolph and Princes Lobkovitz and Kinsky, +settled on him an annuity of 4,000 florins; but to the end of his days the +unhappy composer believed himself on the verge of ruin. When he died, his +funeral was attended by the princes of the imperial house and all the +greatest magnates of Austria and Hungaria. Twenty thousand persons followed +his coffin to the grave.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<a name="BEETHOVEN" id="BEETHOVEN"></a> +<img src="images/beethoven.jpg" width="500" height="314" alt="BEETHOVEN AND HIS ADMIRERS" +title="BEETHOVEN AND HIS ADMIRERS" /> +<span class="caption">BEETHOVEN AND HIS ADMIRERS</span> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0em;"><small>Painted by A. Grafle</small></span> +</div> + +<p>By this time a number of foreign volunteers had flocked to Greece. Lord +<span class="sidenote">English officers in Greece</span> +Cochrane, an English naval officer of venturous disposition, was appointed +High Admiral. Sir Richard Church was put in command of the Greek land +forces. Early in May, Church and Cochrane sought in vain to break the line +of Turks under Kiutahi Pasha pressing upon Athens. They were defeated with +great loss, and on June 5 the Acropolis of Athens surrendered to the Turks. +<span class="sidenote">Fall of Athens</span> +In July a treaty for European intervention in Greece was signed in London. +Turkey and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_751" id="Page_751">[Pg 751]</a></span> +Greece were summoned to consent to an armistice, and to accept +the mediation of the powers. All Turks were to leave Greece, and the Greeks +were to come into possession of all Turkish property within their limits on +<span class="sidenote">Turks reject armistice</span> +payment of an indemnity. Greece was to be made autonomous under the +paramount sovereignty of the Sultan. The demand for an armistice was gladly +accepted by Greece. But the Sultan rejected it with contempt. The conduct +of the Turkish troops in Bulgaria caused the Bulgarians to rise and call +for Russian help.</p> + +<p>It was at this crisis of European affairs that Canning died. His Ministry, +<span class="sidenote">Death of Canning</span> +brief as it was, marked an epoch for England. Unlike his predecessors, +George Canning was called to the Ministry by a king who disliked him. What +he accomplished was done amid the peculiar embarrassments and difficulties +of such a situation. On the other hand, it freed him from certain +concessions to the personal prejudices of his sovereign that hampered other +Ministers. Thus he was able to introduce in Parliament his great measure +for the removal of the political disabilities of the Catholics, a reform on +which so great a Prime Minister as the younger Pitt came to grief. Had this +<span class="sidenote">Canning's policy</span> +measure passed the House of Lords it would stand as the crowning act of +Canning's administration. By an irony of fate the same Canning that so +bitterly opposed the French Revolution and the claims of America achieved +highest fame by his latter day recognition of the rights of revolution in +the New World.</p> + +<p>William Blake, the English poet and artist, died<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_752" id="Page_752">[Pg 752]</a></span> +at Fountain Court in<span class="sidenote">William Blake</span> +London on August 12. While Blake's poems and paintings belonged to the +Eighteenth Century, chronologically, the spirit of his works, with its +extraordinary independence of contemporary fashions, make him a herald of +the poetic dawn of the Nineteenth Century. An engraver by profession and +training, Blake began while still very young to apply his technical +knowledge to his wholly original system of literary publication. As a poet +<span class="sidenote">Artist and poet</span> +he was not only his own illustrator, but his own printer and publisher as +well. Beginning with the "Poetical Sketches" and his delightful "Songs of +Innocence," down to the fantastic "Marriage of Heaven and Hell," all of +Blake's books, with the exception of his "Jerusalem" and "Milton," were +issued during the Eighteenth Century. Blake's artistic faculties seemed to +strengthen with advancing life, but his literary powers waned. He produced +few more satisfying illustrations than those to the Book of Job, executed +late in life. His artistic work also was left comparatively untainted by +the morbid strain of mysticism that runs through his so-called "prophetic +<span class="sidenote">Blake's mysticism</span> +writings." The charm of Blake's poetry, as well as of his drawings, was not +fully appreciated until late in the Nineteenth Century. Charles Lamb, to be +sure, declared, "I must look upon him as one of the extraordinary persons +of the age," but his full worth was not recognized until Swinburne and +Rossetti took up his cause. In America, Charles Eliot Norton, at Harvard, +was Blake's ablest expounder. Famous are James Thomson's lines on William +Blake:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_753" id="Page_753">[Pg 753]</a></span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He came to the desert of London town,</span><br /> +<span class="sidenote">Thomson's lines</span> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Gray miles long;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He wandered up and he wandered down,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Singing a quiet song.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He came to the desert of London town,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Mirk miles broad;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He wandered up and he wandered down,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Ever alone with God.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">There were thousands and thousands of human kind,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">In this desert of brick and stone;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But some were deaf and some were blind,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And he was there alone.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At length the good hour came; he died</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">As he had lived, alone;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He was not missed from the desert wide,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Perhaps he was found at the Throne.</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>In this year Dr. Richard Bright of London published his famous "Reports of +<span class="sidenote">Richard Bright</span> +medical cases with a view to illustrate the symptoms and cure of diseases +by a reference to morbid anatomy." A special feature of the book was a full +description of Bright's discoveries in the pathology of the peculiar +disease of the kidneys which bears his name. Bright, in response to urgent +demands, lectured more fully on his great discovery before the London +College of Physicians and Surgeons.</p> + +<p>Eugene Delacroix, the great exponent of French romantic art, and a pupil of +<span class="sidenote">Delacroix</span> +Guerin, exhibited this year his "Christ in the Garden of Olives." He had +previously exhibited "Dante and Virgil," which created a sensation by its +rich coloring. This was followed by his "Massacre of Scio," "The Death of +the Doge," "Marino Faliero," "Greece on the Ruins of Missolonghi" and +"Death of Sardanapalus." Not until some time after his death was he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_754" id="Page_754">[Pg 754]</a></span> +recognized as the greatest early master of the French art after David. The +great majority of his works, embracing mural paintings and pictures of +immense size, are to be found in the principal churches and galleries of +France.</p> + +<p>After the brief interregnum of Goderich's administration in England, +<span class="sidenote">Wellington Prime Minister</span> +Canning was succeeded by his rival, the Duke of Wellington. The good sense +and great renown of this distinguished soldier promised strength and +prestige to his administration. For a while the change of Ministry brought +no avowed change in Canning's plans. Huskisson and Palmerston were retained +in the Cabinet, and Canning's policy of active intervention in Greece was +upheld. In consequence of the Turkish refusal of mediation, the war +continued on both sides. The Turks got heavy reinforcements from Egypt, and +a strong expedition was on the point of leaving Navarino to make a descent +<span class="sidenote">Powers intervene in Greece</span> +upon Hydra, the last stronghold of the insurrection. An Anglo-French fleet +under Admirals Codrington and Regnier made a demonstration in Greek waters. +The foreign admirals exacted a promise from Ibrahim that he would make no +movement until further orders should arrive from Constantinople. An oral +agreement to this effect was reached late in September. A few days later +<span class="sidenote">Greek Naval victory</span> +the Greeks in free continuance of hostilities won a brilliant naval victory +in the Gulf of Corinth. The hero on this occasion was Captain Hastings, an +English volunteer. Ibrahim was so incensed that he sailed out of Navarino +and made for Patras. Codrington threw his British squadron<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_755" id="Page_755">[Pg 755]</a></span> across the +track of the Egyptian ships and forced them to turn back by a threat to +sink them. It was regretted at the time that Codrington did not compel +<span class="sidenote">Turkish warships stopped</span> +Ibrahim to take his expedition out of Greek waters back to Alexandria. As +it was, Ibrahim returned to Navarino, and there found orders from the +Sultan to carry on the war without regard to Western intermeddling. Another +Turkish column was forthwith despatched into the Morea and devastated that +country with fire and sword. Clouds of smoke revealed to the European naval +officers how the Turks had met their proposals for peace. Admiral +Codrington sent messages to Ibrahim, calling for instant cessation of +<span class="sidenote">The Morea ravaged</span> +hostilities, for the evacuation of the Morea, and the return of his fleet +to Constantinople and Alexandria. The answer to this message was that +Ibrahim had marched into the Morea and could not be reached. The three +squadrons of England, Russia and France cruising off Zante immediately came +together. They consisted of twenty-nine vessels, ten ships of the line, ten +<span class="sidenote">An international demonstration</span> +frigates, four brigs and five schooners. United in one column, under +command of Codrington as senior admiral, they sailed for Navarino.</p> + +<p>Codrington was unhampered by instructions. He could feel sure of the +support of his government, however, for in his pocket was a confidential +note from the Duke of Clarence, the royal commander of the navy, +encouraging him to "find" a quarrel with the Turkish admiral.</p> + +<p>On October 20, the three squadrons sailed into Navarino harbor in battle +array, and came to anchor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_756" id="Page_756">[Pg 756]</a></span> +within pistol shot of the Turkish fleet, +composed of seventy warships, forty transports and four fire-ships, +<span class="sidenote">Navarino</span> +anchored under cover of the land batteries. To windward of the British +corvette "Dartmouth" lay a Turkish brulote or fire-ship. A gig was sent to +demand the withdrawal of this dangerous vessel. The Turks fired on the boat +with cannon-shot and musketry. When Codrington sent a boat to the Egyptian +flagship, Moharem Bey, the admiral, opened with his guns. One shot struck +the "Asia," Codrington's flagship, and his pilot was killed. Codrington +opened with all his guns. The British broadsides soon reduced the Egyptian +flagship on one side, and a Turkish man-o'-war on the other side to mere +wrecks. The French and Russians joined in. The Moslem ships, which had a +superiority of 800 guns, replied with spirit. At close range they fought +the combined fleets of their hated Christian adversaries. From the +surrounding shores 20,000 Moslem soldiers discharged their guns into the +land-locked harbor. The fight lasted from three in the afternoon until +seven in the evening. All bravery was in vain when pitted against Western +seamanship and gunnery. In the course of a short afternoon one Turkish ship +after another was sunk or blown to pieces. By sundown little was left of +the Turkish fleet but a mass of wreckage. Only fifteen ships escaped, to be +scuttled by their own sailors. Four thousand Moslem seamen lost their +lives. All night long the Turkish gunners on shore kept up their fire. On +the morrow, when Ibrahim returned to Navarino, he found the waters<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_757" id="Page_757">[Pg 757]</a></span> of the +harbor strewn with wreckage and the floating bodies of his sailors. One of +the best accounts of the battle of Navarino has been given by Eugène Sue, +the novelist, who then served as surgeon on one of the French vessels.</p> + +<p>The island of Hydra and with it all Greece was saved. The subsequent course +<span class="sidenote">Greece saved</span> +of Sultan Mahmoud was that of blind infatuation and fury. So far from +accepting the European demands for an armistice, he put forward a +peremptory request for an indemnity for the losses inflicted upon him. The +Ambassadors of the Powers quitted Constantinople. It was then that the loss +of Canning was felt in England. Instead of pursuing the vigorous policy to +which it stood committed by the battle of Navarino, Great Britain hung +back. Further intervention, with the profits accruing therefrom, was left +to Russia.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1828" id="a1828"></a>1828</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_758" id="Page_758">[Pg 758]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">T</span><span class="dcap1">HE</span> time for undisturbed intervention in the East was most auspicious for +Russia. Peace with Persia was concluded early in the year. By the treaty of +<span class="sidenote">Peace of Tourkmanchay</span> +Tourkmanchay, Fet Aly of Persia ceded to Russia the provinces of Erivan and +Nakhitchevan and paid an indemnity of 20,000,000 roubles. The river Araxes +was recognized as the frontier of both states. England's ascendency in +Persia was effectually set at naught. Even in China Emperor Taouk-Wang felt +encouraged to issue edicts prohibiting England's pernicious opium trade on +the Chinese coast. Russia's armies were now let loose on Turkey.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile, the Greeks profited by the Turkish check at Navarino to +<span class="sidenote">Independence of Greece</span> +assert themselves as an independent people. On January 18, Capodistrias, +the former Prime Minister of Russia, was summoned from Geneva and made +president of the Greek republic. His term of office was to last seven +<span class="sidenote">Capodistrias summoned</span> +years. This eminent statesman justified his selection by immediate +beneficent measures. A grand council of state was established and a +national bank opened in Athens. With the help of France, immunity from +further incursions from the Turks was practically assured. To preserve +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_759" id="Page_759">[Pg 759]</a></span> the +<i>status quo</i> in Greece, Russia undertook to limit its single handed war on +<span class="sidenote">Russia's double game</span> +Turkey to operations on the mainland and in the Black Sea. Within the +waters of the Mediterranean the Czar proposed to continue as an armed +neutral in harmony with the other Powers under the treaty of London, and, +to allay the apprehensions of Austria, the Russian forces in the Balkans +were ordered to carry their line of operations as far as possible from +Austria's sphere of influence. A still more effectual check on Austria was +secured by the Czar's secret encouragement of French aspirations toward the +Rhine. Charles X. exposed the plot when he said: "If the Czar attacks +<span class="sidenote">Understanding with France</span> +Austria, I will hold myself in reserve and regulate my conduct according to +circumstances. If Austria attacks, I will instantly march against her." As +Prince Metternich put it, "The two powers were at one: France against the +European <i>status quo</i>; Russia against that of the Orient."</p> + +<p>Although the recent Turkish concessions to Russia left to the Czar no +ground for war, a pretext was supplied by Sultan Mahmoud himself. With true +Turkish infatuation he chose this moment to issue a direct challenge to +Russia. The Czar was denounced as the instigator of the Greek rebellion, +<span class="sidenote">Holy War proclaimed in Turkey</span> +and the arch enemy of Islam. The treaty of Akerman was declared null and +void. A holy war was proclaimed against the Muscovites. "The Turk does not +count his enemies. If all the unbelievers together unite against us we will +enter on the war as a sacred duty, and trust to Allah for help."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_760" id="Page_760">[Pg 760]</a></span> This +proclamation was followed by the expulsion of all Christians from +Constantinople. Unfortunately for the Sultan, his recent massacre of the +Janizaries deprived him of the flower of his troops, and the reorganization +<span class="sidenote">Russia declares war</span> +of the Turkish army, which was the motive of that act, was only under way. +For seven years the Russians had been preparing for this war. Nicholas lost +no time in answering the Sultan's challenge. He replied with a declaration +of war on April 26. Field Marshal Wittgenstein crossed the Pruth, while +Paskievitch entered Asia Minor. The Russian troops overran the Roumanian +provinces, Wallachia and Moldavia. The Danube was crossed early in June, +under the eyes of the Czar. Unable to meet their enemy in the open field, +the Turks withdrew into their strongholds, Ibraila and Silistria on the +<span class="sidenote">Early success</span> +Danube, Varna and Shumla in the Balkans. The Russians besieged and stormed +Ibraila, and thence pushed on through the Dubrudsha toward the Black Sea. +In the meanwhile Paskievitch in Asia Minor defeated two Turkish armies and +captured Erzeroum.</p> + +<p>After these early successes the Russian operations began to lag. The Czar's +presence at headquarters was a source of embarrassment rather than of +strength. Wittgenstein committed the error of dividing his army into three +slender columns. Too weak to conduct forward operations, they were held in +check before Silistria, Varna and Shumla. The Russian transport service, +none too good at best, collapsed under the threefold strain. The ill-fed +soldiers wasted away by thousands. At length +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_761" id="Page_761">[Pg 761]</a></span> +Homer Brionis, the commandant +<span class="sidenote">Brionis victorious</span> +of Shumla, took advantage of the weakness of his besiegers. On September 24 +he broke out of Shumla and marched to the relief of Varna. The Czar, +notwithstanding the evident weakness of his troops, ordered his cousin, +Eugene of Wurtemberg, to check the Turkish advance with a frontal attack. +The result was a severe defeat. Had Brionis marched onward Varna would have +<span class="sidenote">Surrender of Varna</span> +been relieved. He clung to Shumla, however, and the Turks at Varna were +forced to surrender. It was late in autumn now, and cold weather put a stop +to the campaign for the year. The display of military weakness seriously +injured the prestige of Russia. The manifold mistakes of this campaign have +been unsparingly laid bare in a famous monograph of Moltke. Henceforth the +successful prosecution of the war became a <i>sine quâ non</i> for Russia.</p> + +<p>During the progress of these events, French forces were landed in Greece. +They occupied Navarino, Patras and Modon. The Turks gave in and consented +<span class="sidenote">Turks evacuate Morea</span> +to evacuate the Morea. In France, the ultra-royalist measures of Charles X. +gave rise to an ever growing spirit of dissatisfaction. The death of +Manuel, the outcast of the Chambers, was made the occasion of a great +public demonstration. The coalition of Liberals with a faction of Royalists +opposed to the Ministry had a brilliant triumph. Villèle's Cabinet offered +to resign. Instead of that, the King placed Martignac above him. "You are +deserting M. Villèle," said the Princess Royal to the King. "It is your +first step downward from the throne." The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_762" id="Page_762">[Pg 762]</a></span> Duc de Broglie wrote: "Should we +succeed, after the fall of the present Ministry, in getting through the +<span class="sidenote">Vacillation in France</span> +year tranquilly, it will be a triumphant success." By way of concession to +the Liberals, a royal edict suppressed all the educational institutions +maintained by the Society of Jesus. The effect of this measure was offset +later in the year by renewed imprisonment and a heavy fine inflicted upon +Béranger for writing political songs.</p> + +<p>Latin attempts at parliamentary government in America were productive of +even more discouraging results. In the Argentine Republic, the army, after +defeating the Brazilians, was led against its own government by General +Lavalle. The administration was overturned and President Dorrego was shot. +<span class="sidenote">South American revolutions</span> +General Rosas became the leader of the Federalist forces and took the field +against the revolutionists. In Chile, the different parties contending for +the government patched up a precarious peace which was not destined to last +long. In Colombia, the Nueva Granada of the Spaniards, Bolivar clung to the +dictatorship. A new proclamation of dictatorial powers was issued by him on +February 10. Soon afterward an insurrection broke out against him led by +Peadella. Scarcely had this uprising been quelled when an attempt was made +to kill Bolivar at his seat of government. Henceforth the history of Latin +America degenerated into an endless series of revolutions and +counter-revolutions. The only real strength supplied to the various +republican governments, so called, was that derived from strong personal +characters, yielding one-man<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_763" id="Page_763">[Pg 763]</a></span> +power. General Mitré, the great statesman and +<span class="sidenote">Mitré's résumé</span> +historian of South America, has drawn up this striking résumé of the fate +of the foremost leaders of Spanish American revolutions. Their story is the +quintessence of the subsequent turbulent career of Latin America during the +Nineteenth Century.</p> + +<p>"The first revolutionists of La Paz and of Quito died on the scaffold. +Miranda, the apostle of liberty, betrayed by his own people, died, alone +and naked, in a dungeon. Moreno, the priest of the Argentine revolution, +and the teacher of the democratic idea, died at sea, and found a grave in +the ocean. Hidalgo, the first popular leader of Mexico, was executed as a +criminal. Belgrano, the first champion of Argentine independence, who saved +the revolution, died obscurely, while civil war raged around him. +O'Higgins, the hero of Chile, died in exile, as Carrera, his rival, had +done before him. Iturbide, the real liberator of Mexico, died a victim to +his own ambition. Montufar, the leader of the revolution at Quito, and his +<span class="sidenote">The gratitude of republics</span> +comrade Villavicencio, the promoter of that of Cartagena, were strangled. +The first presidents of New Granada, Lozano and Torres, fell sacrifices to +colonial terrorism. Piar, who found the true base for the insurrection in +Colombia, was shot by Bolivar, to whom he had shown the way to victory. +Rivadavia, the civil genius of South America, who gave form to her +representative institutions, died in exile. Sucre, the conqueror of +Ayacucho, was murdered by his own men on a lonely road. Bolivar and San +Martin died in exile."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_764" id="Page_764">[Pg 764]</a></span></p> + +<p>In North America, likewise, the radical issues between the Northern and +Southern States produced ever more dissensions and discord. The question of +<span class="sidenote">Dissension in North America</span> +State sovereignty was prominent in the discussion of the tariff law of +1828, and assumed more and more a sectional aspect. The North had grown +rich and prosperous; when under free trade her energies were directed to +agriculture and commerce. This was the more emphasized when, under a +protective policy, her labor and her capital were devoted to the +development of manufactures. The Southern States had originally desired a +protective policy for their own supposed advantage; now they demanded free +trade for the same reason. But the North had put much money into +manufactures, and therefore demanded that Congress, which had placed her in +this position, should protect her in it. So the tariff of 1828, the highest +adopted in the United States up to that time, was a more comprehensive +<span class="sidenote">New tariff</span> +measure than any which preceded it, and was adjusted throughout to +encourage Northern industry. New England was largely at one on this +subject, and the Middle and Western States were practically united. Thus it +became a question of party politics. From the tariff of 1828 dates a new +era in American Federal legislation. The division between the North and the +<span class="sidenote">North <i>vs.</i> South</span> +South began. Led by Daniel Webster, the New England States became advocates +of the protective system. The question, from being a national issue, became +distinctly sectional.</p> + +<p>State sovereignty was the most important prob<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_765" id="Page_765">[Pg 765]</a></span>lem that presented itself +<span class="sidenote">Injustice to Indians</span> +during John Quincy Adams's administration. The trouble with the Creek and +Cherokee Indians in Georgia brought this issue to the front. These tribes +were now partially civilized, and were tilling their lands in contentment. +Although they held their lands under treaty with the United States, Georgia +sought to eject them. Instead of protecting the Indians the national +<span class="sidenote">State rights precedent</span> +government allowed Georgia to have its way and sent them to the Indian +Territory. Thus was an individual State permitted to act in defiance of the +national government.</p> + +<p>In other respects, it was a year of great prosperity and progress for the +United States. The differences with British North America in regard to +boundaries and to the proposed joint settlement of Oregon were amicably +settled by arbitration. The question of indemnities arising out of the +differences with England was likewise satisfactorily adjusted. England's +recent introduction of railroads was eagerly followed up in America. The +rails of the first American steam road were laid at Baltimore. They were +made of wood covered with iron bars. At Baltimore, too, the manufacture of +<span class="sidenote">Industrial development</span> +fire bricks was begun. Boston harbor beheld its first steamboat. The new +canal between Providence and Worcester was opened and produced an instant +increase of traffic for New England. In the other Eastern States factories +grew in number and new processes were introduced. Thus, the first varnish +made in America was produced at New York. Damask table linen was +manufactured at Pittsburg.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_766" id="Page_766">[Pg 766]</a></span> The first straw paper was turned out at +Meadville, Pennsylvania. The planing mill was introduced. The Franklin +Institute at Philadelphia awarded to Stephen Boyden of Newark the premium +<span class="sidenote">Webster's Dictionary</span> +for his malleable castings. Arts and literature likewise flourished. Among +the new paintings exhibited during this year in America were Inman's +portrait of Halleck, Stuart's "Jared Sparks," Greenough's "Chanting +Cherubs," Dunlap's "Calvary" and Thomas Cole's "Garden of Eden." At Boston +the first lithographic press was established. Noah Webster published his +<span class="sidenote">The "Book of Mormon"</span> +dictionary. Fenimore Cooper brought out his American romances, "The +Prairie" and "Red Rover," while Richard H. Dana published his "Buccaneer." +A book of singular fruition was Joseph Smith's "Book of Mormon," a +corrupted version of Spaulding's "The Manuscript Found."</p> + +<p>About the same time Wergeland in Norway published his tragedy, "Sinclair's +Death." In Germany the appearance of the "Book of Songs," instantly raised +Heine to the foremost rank among German lyric poets. The early influence of +<span class="sidenote">Heine's "Book of Songs"</span> +Byron was revealed by his masterly translations from "Manfred," and of the +opening stanzas of "Childe Harold" and the lines addressed to "Inez." Most +felicitous was Heine's German version of Byron's famous farewell to his +wife:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Fare thee well, and if forever,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Still forever, fare thee well."</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Heine's own lyrical pieces, now put forth in profusion, were fully equal to +those of his English<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_767" id="Page_767">[Pg 767]</a></span> prototype. The "Book of Songs" throughout breathed +the spirit of the poet's sad boast:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"From my heavy sorrows</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Made I these little songs...."</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Heine's love songs, alone, by their subtile fusion of exquisite simplicity +with cynicism in a perverse form, won him immediate recognition outside of +Germany. This in itself has never been forgiven by the Germans. Such +prejudice did not deter German song composers from setting to music Heine's +melodious verses. Franz Schubert, the foremost song composer, just before +his death found inspiration in Heine's poems for his famous "Swan Song."</p> + +<p>Schubert died in Vienna on the 19th of October, at the age of thirty-one. +Notwithstanding his brief career and lack of systematic schooling, he was +<span class="sidenote">Death of Schubert</span> +one of the most prolific as well as original of German composers. His +earliest extant song, "Hagar's Lament," was written at the age of fourteen. +Such early master works as "Margaret at the Spinning Wheel," and the +"Erl-King," both written for Goethe's words, mark the swift development of +his genius. During his eighteenth year, when he wrote the "Erl-King," he +composed no less than 144 songs. On one day alone he wrote eight. Besides +this he composed two operettas, three song plays, three other stage pieces, +four masses and several cantatas. In spite of his astonishing fecundity the +young composer suffered signally from lack of recognition. His whole life +was a long-drawn battle for subsistence. All his efforts to obtain a steady +income were unavailing. Though he composed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_768" id="Page_768">[Pg 768]</a></span> scores for no less than +seventy-two of Goethe's lyrics, that great poet was indifferent to the +young composer. Beethoven, too, gave him but reluctant recognition. Not +until the year of his death did Schubert succeed in giving a public concert +that was a pecuniary success. He was wretchedly underpaid by his +publishers, and his greatest works utterly failed of contemporary +recognition. He died in the depths of poverty. In accordance with his last +request, Schubert was buried in the eastern graveyard at Waehring, close to +the grave of Beethoven. Schubert achieved immortal fame as the creator of +the modern lyric song. No less original were his effective transfers of the +song motive to pianoforte music, as shown in his "Moments Musicales" and +"Impromptus." Some of his symphonies, notably that in C and the "Fragment" +in B minor, are equal to those of Beethoven.</p> + +<p>Spain lost one of her most distinguished modern playwrights by the death of +<span class="sidenote">Moratin</span> +Nicolas Fernandez de Moratin, a pupil of Goldoni, and the author of such +enduring Spanish comedies as "El Baron," "La Mogigata" and "El Sí de Las +Niñas." Besides his plays, Moratin also wrote an authoritative work on the +"Origins of the Spanish Stage."</p> + +<p>Toward the end of the year the disorders in Portugal appeared to have +subsided sufficiently to warrant the withdrawal of the British troops. Dom +Miguel, the regent, promptly proclaimed himself King. After having grasped +the reins of power, one of his first measures was the dissolution of the +seven ancient estates of Portugal. In Spain King<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_769" id="Page_769">[Pg 769]</a></span> Ferdinand VII., in +December, celebrated his wedding to Maria Christina of Naples.</p> + +<p>Domestic affairs in England at this turn furnished an all-absorbing topic. +In the Cabinet, Huskisson's strong stand on the rotten borough question, +<span class="sidenote">Huskisson</span> +with his desire to accord Parliamentary representation to the working +people of Birmingham, had caused his expulsion from the Duke of +Wellington's councils. His resignation was followed by that of the former +members of the Canning Cabinet. Among those chosen to supply their place +was Vesey Fitzgerald, member for County Clare in Ireland. His acceptance of +<span class="sidenote">O'Connell</span> +office compelled him to go back to his constituents. It was then that +Daniel O'Connell, the great leader of the Catholic Association in Ireland, +saw his chance to strike a blow for Catholic emancipation. Though +disqualified from sitting in the Commons as a Catholic, O'Connell ran +against Fitzgerald. From the first Fitzgerald's cause was hopeless. The +great landowners, to be sure, supported his cause with all their wealth and +influence, but the small freeholders, to a man, voted against him. After a +five days' poll, Fitzgerald withdrew from the contest. The result was that +the hitherto irresistible influence of England's territorial aristocracy +lay shattered. The Protestant conservatives of England were filled with +consternation. Every debate in Parliament showed that the Catholic party +was daily gaining strength, while the resistance of the government became +weaker. It was clear that something must be done. At this crisis Robert +Peel, hitherto the champion of the Protestant party<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_770" id="Page_770">[Pg 770]</a></span> +in the House of<span class="sidenote">Robert Peel</span> +Commons and Cabinet, became convinced of the necessity of yielding. He lost +no time in imparting this conviction to the Duke of Wellington, his chief, +and therewith offered his resignation. Wellington had learned a lesson from +the events that followed Huskisson's withdrawal. He refused to let Peel go. +Reluctantly he became a party to Peel's change of views. As late as +December 11, Wellington wrote a letter to the Catholic primate of Ireland, +deferring all hope of Catholic emancipation to the distant future. Before +the year closed, however, Wellington, armed with the arguments of Peel, +wrung from the King the Crown's consent to concede Catholic emancipation +without delay. Peel, as the author of this radical measure, consented to +take charge of the bill in Parliament.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1829" id="a1829"></a>1829</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_771" id="Page_771">[Pg 771]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">A</span><span class="dcap1">T THE</span> opening of Parliament in England, the concessions of the government +in regard to Catholic emancipation were revealed in the royal speech, +delivered by commission. The great Tory party, thus taken unawares, was +furious. The Protestant clergy opposed the bill with all their influence +and clamored for a dissolution of Parliament. In the excited state of +<span class="sidenote">Wellington's change of front</span> +public feeling, an immediate appeal to the country would undoubtedly have +wrecked the bill. Unable to carry out such a plan, the Tory opposition +showed itself ready to unite with any party in order to defeat the measure +and wreak vengeance on its framers. Within the Cabinet itself, Wellington's +change brought him bitter opposition. When the bill was brought into +Parliament in March, the Attorney-General, Sir C. Wetherell, not content +with refusing to draw the bill, sprang up to explain his position.</p> + +<p>"Am I, then," he exclaimed, "to blame for refusing to do that, in the +subordinate office of Attorney-General, which a more eminent adviser of the +<span class="sidenote">Wetherell's attack</span> +Crown, only two years ago, declared he would not consent to do? I dare them +to attack me! I have no speech to eat up. I have not to say that a thing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_772" id="Page_772">[Pg 772]</a></span> +is black one day and white another. I would rather remain as I am, the +humble member for Plympton, than be guilty of such treachery, such +contradiction, such unexplained conversion, such miserable and contemptible +apostasy.... They might have turned me out of office, but I would not be +made such a dirty tool as to draw <i>that</i> bill. I have therefore declined to +have anything to do with it." Of course, Wetherell was at once dismissed.</p> + +<p>But an opportunity to avenge his dismissal was soon afforded. Robert Peel, +<span class="sidenote">Defeat of Peel</span> +since he was not suffered to withdraw from the Ministry, felt in honor +bound to go back to his constituents at Oxford. The Protestant party that +had sent him to Parliament now opposed him with a simple country gentleman, +<span class="sidenote">Emancipation of English Catholics</span> +in no wise his Parliamentary equal. Peel was crushingly defeated. On the +other hand, the Whig party almost in a body went over to the government. +With their help the Catholic Emancipation act was passed. The Tories waited +only for the time to strike down their former leaders.</p> + +<p>The precarious position of Wellington's Ministry at home was offset by a +<span class="sidenote">Reforms in India</span> +firm policy abroad. In British India the new Governor-General, Lord +Bentinck, upheld British prestige by his firm abolition of the native +custom of burning widows and by his extermination of the roving gangs of +Thugs. In regard to the Eastern Question and the war in the Balkans, +England came to an agreement with Austria to frustrate Russia's plans with +respect to Constantinople. Thanks to this <i>entente cordiale</i> between the +two countries, enterprising English capital<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_773" id="Page_773">[Pg 773]</a></span>ists and engineers were allowed +to put into operation the first line of steamboats that plied the waters of +<span class="sidenote">Fanny Kemble</span> +the Danube. Among other minor events of interest to Englishmen during this +year, may be mentioned the first public appearance of Fanny Kemble, the +actress, and the earliest boat race between student crews from the +Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. England lost two of her famous +scientists during this year—Sir Humphry Davy and Thomas Young. Davy was +<span class="sidenote">Humphry Davy</span> +born in 1778 and died in Geneva. Besides inventing the miner's safety lamp, +with which his name will be forever associated, he made valuable +experiments in photography; discovered that the causes of chemical and +electrical attraction are identical; produced potassium and sodium by the +electric current; proved the transformation of energy into heat; formulated +a theory of the properties of particles of matter (or atoms); and made +remarkable experiments which led to the theory of the binary composition of +<span class="sidenote">Thomas Young</span> +chemical compounds. Young was born in 1773. At Cambridge they called him +"Phenomenon Young," because he was said to know everything. In truth, Young +developed into the most profound English scientist of the century. When +only twenty he was asked to read papers before the Royal Society. In 1801 +he delivered the Bakerian lecture, his subject being "The Theory of Light +and Colors." That lecture marks an epoch in physical science; for it +brought forward for the first time convincing proof of the correctness of +the undulatory theory of light. The intangible substance which pulsates<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_774" id="Page_774">[Pg 774]</a></span> +and undulates to produce light, Young christened the "luminiferous ether." +And the term is still to be found in our scientific vocabulary.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<a name="AMERICAN_INVENTORS" id="AMERICAN_INVENTORS"></a> +<img src="images/american_inventors.jpg" width="500" height="306" alt="AMERICAN INVENTORS" +title="AMERICAN INVENTORS" /> +<span class="caption">AMERICAN INVENTORS</span> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0em"><small>Painted by C. Schussele</small></span> +</div> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" width="60%" summary="INVENTORS"> +<tr> + <td class="tds"> 1 Dr Morton, Etherization<br /> + 2 Bogardus, Iron Architecture<br /> + 3 Colt, Revolvers<br /> + 4 McCormick, Reapers<br /> + 5 Saxton, Coast Survey Machinery<br /> + 6 Goodyear, Vulcanizing Gum Elastic<br /> + 7 Cooper, Gelatine<br /> + 8 Prof Henry, Electricity as a Motor<br /> + 9 Mott, Works in Iron<br /> + 10 Dr Nott, Management of Heat + </td> +<td class="tds"> + 11 Ericsson, Caloric Engine Monitors, etc.<br /> + 12 Sickles, Steam Cut off, etc.<br /> + 13 Morse, Telegraph<br /> + 14 Burden, Horseshoe Machine<br /> + 15 Hoe, Rotary Press<br /> + 16 Bigelow, Carpet Loom<br /> + 17 Jennings, Friction Matches<br /> + 18 Blanchard, Eccentric Lathe<br /> + 19 Howe, Sewing Machine<br /> + <br /> + </td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>In the Balkans Russia's war with Turkey was waged with vigor. The winter +<span class="sidenote">War in the Balkans</span> +months had been spent in bringing up reserves. The Czar withdrew from +interference at headquarters, and Wittgenstein was superseded by General +Diebitsch, a trained Prussian soldier. This general made preparations to +cross the Balkans as soon as Silistria should have fallen, without waiting +for the fall of Shumla. On the other side of the Balkans the Russian fleet +made a diversion so as to prepare the way for joining forces on the banks +of the Black Sea. In accordance with these plans Diebitsch sent a strong +force against Silistria. Before anything had been effected in front of +Silistria, Reshid Pasha, the Turkish Grand Vizier, moved eastward from +Shumla and took the field against the weak Russian forces at Varna. He lost +time, however, and suffered himself to be held at bay by the Russians. +Diebitsch hurried across Bulgaria in forced marches. Coming up in Reshid's +rear he could either fall upon Shumla or force the Turks to open battle. He +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Kulevtcha</span> +chose the latter course. The Turks, harried in their rear, attempted to +regain the roads to Shumla. On June 10, the two forces met in a pitched +battle at Kulevtcha. Reshid was badly defeated, losing 5,000 men and +forty-three guns, but made good his retreat to Shumla. Diebitsch had to lay +siege to Shumla. Soon after this, Silistria fell into the hands of the +Russians. Turning Varna over to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_775" id="Page_775">[Pg 775]</a></span> +the Bulgarians, and leaving a blockading +force before Shumla, Diebitsch boldly crossed the Balkans. The resistance +<span class="sidenote">Fall of Adrianople</span> +of the Turks was weak. On August 19, the Russians appeared before +Adrianople. In the Black Sea the Russian frigate "Mercury" defeated two +Turkish men-of-war. The Turks were seized with terror. Adrianople +surrendered without a blow. In the Morea the Turks evacuated Tripolitza and +Missolonghi and acknowledged the independence of Greece. The ports of the +Black Sea, almost as far south as the Bosphorus, fell into Russian hands. +Flying columns of the Russian army penetrated down to the Ægean coast and +as far as the Euxine. Yet the Russians were so weak in numbers that +anything like determined resistance could easily have checked them. As it +was, all Turkish resistance collapsed before the Russian onward march +<span class="sidenote">Powers save Turkey</span> +toward Constantinople. The Sultan appealed to the Powers for help. England +and Austria intervened, and peace was forced upon Russia. The treaty of +Adrianople, signed on September 14, confirmed to Russia its protectorate +over the Danubian principalities. No Mussulman was to be permitted to stay +within the principalities, and all Turkish lands were to be sold within +eighteen months. No fortified point on the left bank of the Danube was left +to Turkey. Territory in Asia was ceded to Russia, as well as the ports of +Poti and Anapa on the Black Sea. The waters of this sea were thrown open to +international navigation; and the straits of Constantinople and the +Dardanelles were declared open to the merchant ships of all +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_776" id="Page_776">[Pg 776]</a></span> powers at +<span class="sidenote">Russia's hold on Turkey</span> +peace with the Porte. The payment of a money indemnity of 2,000,000 roubles +to Russia was deferred, thus leaving to Russia the means for exerting +pressure on the Yildiz Kiosk.</p> + +<p>Russia's acceptance of foreign mediation at Adrianople brought +disappointment to France. Reverting to Napoleonic ambitions, King Charles's +Ministers had proposed a partition of the Ottoman Empire on the basis of a +general rearrangement of Europe. Russia was to have the Danubian provinces +<span class="sidenote">French ambitions</span> +near the Austrian empire, Bosnia and Servia; Prussia was to have Saxony and +Holland; Belgium and the Rhine provinces were to fall to France, and the +King of Holland was to be installed in the Sultan's divan at +Constantinople. It was a chimerical project which it was hoped might avert +the impending troubles at home by dazzling acquisitions abroad. A +formidable majority had been raised up against the government by its +<span class="sidenote">Polignac Prime Minister</span> +persistent encroachments upon the freedom of speech and of the press. +Martignac's Ministry resigned and Prince Polignac, a crony of the King, was +put in his place. In August, the "Journal des Débats" thundered against +him: "Now again is broken that bond of love and confidence which joined the +people to the monarch. The people pay a million of taxes to the law; they +will not pay two millions on the orders of the Minister. What will he do +<span class="sidenote">Liberal opposition</span> +then? Will he bring to his assistance the force of the bayonet? Bayonets in +these days have become intelligent. They know how to defend the law. +Unhappy France, unhappy King!" The Bertins were prose<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_777" id="Page_777">[Pg 777]</a></span>cuted for that +article and condemned. It only made matters worse. Societies were formed +throughout France to refuse the payment of taxes should the government +attempt to raise them without the consent of the Chambers. In the face of +this growing popular opposition, the King and his Minister resolved to +prepare an expedition against Algiers. As Guizot put it, "They hope to get +rid of their difficulties through conquest abroad and a resulting majority +at home." The death of Paul Barras about this time served to revive +revolutionary memories in France.</p> + +<p>The memory of Madame de Staël and her struggle for freedom of speech and of +literary opinion against Napoleon were recalled by the death of her +<span class="sidenote">The Schlegels</span> +long-time friend and biographer, Karl Friedrich Wilhelm von Schlegel, +brother of August Wilhelm, the German poet. Karl studied at Göttingen and +Leipzig, devoting most of his time to the classics. It was his ideal to +become the "Winckelmann of Greek Literature." Schlegel's first publication +was "Greeks and Romans." In 1798 he wrote "Lucinda," an unfinished romance, +and "Alarcos," a tragedy. In 1803 he joined the Roman Church, and several +years later was appointed an imperial secretary at Vienna. He served as +Consul of Legation for Austria in the German Diet at Frankfort. Besides his +published lectures, Schlegel's chief works are: "History of the Old and New +Literature" (1815), "Philosophies of Life" (1828), "Philosophy of History" +(1829), and the posthumous work "Philosophy of Language." His wife, a +daughter of Moses Mendelssohn, was the author<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_778" id="Page_778">[Pg 778]</a></span> of several works published +under Schlegel's name. During the same year Pope Leo XII. died at Rome and +was succeeded by Pius VIII.</p> + +<p>In the United States of North America, John Quincy Adams was succeeded by +Andrew Jackson. Calhoun was re-elected Vice-President. A motley crowd of +<span class="sidenote">Andrew Jackson inaugurated</span> +backwoodsmen and mountaineers, who had supported Jackson, crushed into the +White House shouting for "Old Hickory." For the first time the outgoing +President absented himself from the inauguration of his successor. He had +remained at his desk until midnight of the previous day signing +appointments which would deprive Jackson of so much more patronage. Jackson +took his revenge by the instant removal of 167 political opponents. His +remark, "To the victor belong the spoils," became a byword of American +politics. The system of rotation in office dates from his administration.</p> + +<p>Jackson's first Cabinet was headed by Van Buren, with Samuel D. Ingham for +Secretary of the Treasury. The President also encouraged a set of +<span class="sidenote">"The Kitchen Cabinet"</span> +confidential advisers, among whom Kendall, Lewis and Hill were the most +influential. They came to be known as the "Kitchen Cabinet." The regular +members of the Cabinet were treated as mere head clerks. In one week +Jackson vetoed more bills than any of his predecessors had done in four +years. Other bills he held back until after the adjournment of Congress, +and then failed to sign them. The bills remained, as it were, in the +President's pocket. This new method of vetoing became notorious +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_779" id="Page_779">[Pg 779]</a></span> +as the<span class="sidenote">"Pocket Vetoes"</span> +"Pocket Veto." In other respects Jackson's first administration was stormy. +International relations were repeatedly threatened by the long-standing +controversy over the indemnity for French spoliations. An adjustment of the +indemnity claims with Denmark was likewise forced to an issue. At home, +Jackson's abandonment of the principle of extreme protection and his +hostility to the United States Bank lost him the support of the loose +constructionists. As a Freemason, the President was likewise opposed by the +<span class="sidenote">Peggy O'Neill</span> +new anti-Masonic party in politics. In a quarrel over the character of the +wife of Secretary Eaton, the beautiful Peggy O'Neill, all Washington was +involved. It was commonly believed that the subsequent break-up of +Jackson's Cabinet was caused by the social bickerings among the wives of +the members. Van Buren was the first to resign. Soon he was appointed +Minister to England, but the Senate rejected him through the vote of +Vice-President Calhoun. Jackson afterward took his revenge by defeating +Calhoun's aspirations to the Presidency through Van Buren. The new Cabinet +consisted of Livingston, McLean, Cass, Woodbury, Tracy and Berry. By reason +of the new protective tariff, the States of Georgia and South Carolina, +toward the close of 1829, returning to the Kentucky Resolutions of 1799, +affirmed the right of any State to declare null and void any act of +Congress which the State Legislature deemed unconstitutional. This was the +doctrine of nullification which grew to secession in 1860.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_780" id="Page_780">[Pg 780]</a></span></p> + +<p>The industrial progress of the United States was little affected by the +political dissensions during Jackson's first Presidential year. On July 4, +the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was opened. The first trip of an American +locomotive was made on the Carbondale and Honesdale road. Throughout the +<span class="sidenote">American development</span> +country many canals were opened; to wit, the Delaware and Chesapeake Canal, +the Delaware and Hudson, and the Oswego in New York; the Farmington in +Connecticut, and the Cumberland and Oxford Canal in Maine. Among the +literary productions of the year were a collection of minor poems by Edgar +Allan Poe, Parkman's earlier essays, Cooper's "Wept of the Wish-ton-Wish," +Sparks's "John Ledyard," and Washington Irving's "Granada."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Early automobile vehicles</div> + +<p>In England the first successful experiments with steam-propelled stage +coaches were made by Sir Goldsworth Gurney. These machines were the +precursors of the latter-day automobile vehicle. This account of a ride in +the Gurney stage coach was published by the "United Service Journal":</p> + +<p>"We numbered four in a coach attached to the steam carriage, and we had +travelled without difficulty or mishap as far as Longford, where they were +repairing the bridge over the Cambria. On this was a large pile of bricks, +so high as to conceal what was happening on the other side. Precisely at +the moment we began to cross the bridge the mail-coach from Bath arrived on +the other end. As soon as we perceived it we shouted to the driver to take +care; but, as he was not aware of the extraordinary +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_781" id="Page_781">[Pg 781]</a></span> +vehicle he was going<span class="sidenote">A contemporary description</span> +to meet, he did not slacken speed. To avoid a collision, Mr. Gurney guided +our steam carriage into the pile of bricks. Some damage to our apparatus +resulted, but was repaired in less than a quarter of an hour. As to the +horses of the coach, they had taken the bit between their teeth and had to +be cut loose.</p> + +<p>"Upon our arrival at Melksham, we found that there was a fair in progress, +and the streets were full of people. Mr. Gurney made the carriages travel +as slowly as possible, in order to injure no one. Unfortunately, in that +town the lower classes are strongly opposed to the new method of +transportation. Excited by the postilions, who imagined that the adoption +of Mr. Gurney's steam carriage would compromise their means of livelihood, +the multitude that encumbered the streets arose against us, heaped us with +insults, and attacked us with stones. The chief engineer and another man +were seriously injured. Mr. Gurney feared we could not pursue our journey, +as two of his best mechanics had need of surgical aid. He turned the +carriage into the court of a brewer named Ales, and during the night it was +guarded by constables."</p> + +<p>To have assisted at the experiment of Gurney's steam carriage was, in those +days, almost a title to glory. These carriages became speedily one of the +curiosities of London. Foreign travellers who printed accounts of their +<span class="sidenote">Jobard</span> +journeys, did not fail to devote a chapter to the new means of locomotion. +Jobard, the Belgian savant and economist, was of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_782" id="Page_782">[Pg 782]</a></span> the number, and so were +Cuchette, St. Germain Leduc and C.G. Simon, three prominent scientific +writers of that time. Jobard's impressions noted down at the time are +<span class="sidenote">Jobard's impressions</span> +worthy of record: "My first visit in England was to the starting station of +Sir Goldsworth Gurney's steam omnibus, running between London and Bath. +This carriage does not differ materially from other stage-coaches, nor has +it had any serious mishap as yet. For my benefit it manœuvred back and +forth over the street pavement and later on the smooth macadam of the +highway, without any apparent difficulties of guiding. The drivers of other +stage-coaches are agreed that the thing is a success, and that before long +it will do them much harm."</p> + +<p>Jean Baptiste de Lamarck, a forerunner of Charles Darwin died in this year. +<span class="sidenote">Lamarck</span> +As early as 1801 Lamarck had outlined his ideas of the transmutation of +species and attempted to explain the manner in which that transmutation had +been brought about. There is no such thing as a "species," he held; there +are only individuals descended from a common stock and modified in +structure to suit their environment. Lamarck was scoffed at in his own +time; he was respected as a naturalist, but unrecognized as a prophet.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1830" id="a1830"></a>1830</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_783" id="Page_783">[Pg 783]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">E</span><span class="dcap1">ARLY</span> in the year, Bartholemy Thimonnier, a French tailor, took out a +patent for his invention of a sewing machine. It was an invention destined +<span class="sidenote">First sewing machine</span> +to revolutionize the manufacture of clothing and the matter of dress in all +civilized countries. Thimonnier's device was a chain stitch sewing machine +worked with a treadle. It had taken the inventor, ignorant as he was of +mechanics, four years of painful application to perfect it. The first to +recognize the real value of the invention was M. Beunier, supervisor of +mines at Paris. He took Thimonnier to Paris and installed him as a partner +and manager of a large clothing firm that manufactured army uniforms. They +set up eighty machines and did so well with them that the workmen of Paris, +profiting by the revolutionary disturbances of the times, wreaked their +vengeance on the new labor-saving device by wrecking the establishment. The +inventor was compelled to flee for life. During the same year, another +Frenchman, Charles Barbier, invented the system of raised printing for the +blind.</p> + +<p>Sir Thomas Lawrence, the celebrated English portrait painter, died at the +outset of the year. In his early youth at Bristol and Oxford, this ar<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_784" id="Page_784">[Pg 784]</a></span>tist +showed marked talent for portraiture, and became a pupil of Sir Joshua +Reynolds at the Royal Academy. His delicate pastel portraits obtained great +<span class="sidenote">Sir Thomas Lawrence</span> +vogue in the most aristocratic circles of London. On the death of his +master, Lawrence was appointed painter to the King. He became the +fashionable portrait painter of the age. As such, Lawrence was summoned to +Aix-la-Chapelle during the International Congress of 1818 to paint the +various dignitaries of the Holy Alliance. While at Vienna he painted the +famous pastel of Napoleon's son, the little King of Rome—by all odds the +most charming of all the many likenesses of that unfortunate eaglet. +Lawrence returned to England a few days after the death of Benjamin West, +and was immediately elected to succeed him as President of the Royal +Academy. He held this office for ten years, until his death. Among the most +noted works of Lawrence, executed during this time, were the portraits of +Master Lambton and of the Duke of Wellington. Lawrence's ambitious essays +beyond the limits of portrait painting, such as his once celebrated +"Satan," obtained no lasting success. After the artist's death a number of +his best known canvases were collected for permanent exhibition in the +Waterloo Gallery of Windsor.</p> + +<p>In this year Joseph Jackson Lister, an English amateur optician, +contributed to the Royal Society the famous paper detailing his recent +experiments with the compound microscope. Aided by Tully, a celebrated +optician, Lister succeeded in making of the microscope a practical +scientific implement<span class="sidenote">Lister's microscope</span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_785" id="Page_785">[Pg 785]</a></span> +rather than a toy. With the help of his own +instrument Lister was able to settle the long mooted question as to the +true form of the red corpuscles of the human blood.</p> + +<p>In the face of the menacing attitude of the liberal elements of France, +which had been rendered more acute by the King's increase of the Chamber of +Peers to the detriment of the Deputies, the French Government launched +forth upon the conquest of Algiers. It was believed to be an auspicious +moment. The Sultan's reluctant acknowledgment of the independence of +Greece, April 25, showed how powerless he was. The Dey of Algiers had +insulted France by his discourteous treatment of a French consul. He +refused the satisfaction demanded by France. On the failure of a blockade +<span class="sidenote">Conquest of Algiers</span> +to reduce the city of Algiers, an expedition commanded by Bourmont set out +for Africa in spring. A landing was successfully effected by the middle of +June. Early in July, Algiers was taken. Immense spoils, valued at +48,000,000 francs, were seized by the French. England grew apprehensive. +George IV. had just died (June 26), and the Duke of Wellington, who was +retained in power by the new king, William IV., demanded from the French +<span class="sidenote">England's vain protest</span> +Government an engagement to retain none of its new conquests. "Never," said +Lord Alverdon to Lavel, the French Ambassador, "never did France, under the +Republic or under the Empire, give England such serious ground of complaint +as she has been giving us for the last year." It was in vain. The seething +spirit of the people in France<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_786" id="Page_786">[Pg 786]</a></span> seemed to demand an outlet. The victories +of French arms in Africa were cast before the French people as a sop. The +permanent annexation of Algiers was announced. It was too late.</p> + +<p>The heated spirit of the rising generation had already been revealed in the +<span class="sidenote">"Hernani"</span> +hysterical demonstrations that occurred on the occasion of the first +performance of Victor Hugo's "Hernani" on February 25. Conspicuous among +the leaders of the literary tumult was Théophile Gautier, then a youth of +<span class="sidenote">Théophile Gautier</span> +eighteen, but already an author and an <i>Hugolâtre intransigeant</i>, who led +the claque on this first night resplendent in a rose-colored doublet and +streaming long hair. With him was young Balzac, who had just won renown and +notoriety by his "Physiologie du Mariage," and the first of his "Contes +<span class="sidenote">Honoré de Balzac</span> +Drôlatiques." In March, the Liberals in the Chambers declared their want of +confidence in the government by a majority of forty votes. Charles X., +staking all on the success of his Algerian campaign, dissolved the +Chambers. "No compromise, no surrender," was the motto of the Royalists as +<span class="sidenote">French Government outvoted</span> +they appealed to the people. The result was an overwhelming majority +against the government. No less than 202 deputies pledged to opposition +were elected. The whole of France was now waiting for the <i>coup d'état</i>, +and Europe waited with France. "Your two weakest points are the electoral +law and the liberty of the press," said Metternich to the French Ambassador +in Vienna, "but you cannot touch them except through the Chambers. A <i>coup +d'état</i> would ruin the dynasty." The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_787" id="Page_787">[Pg 787]</a></span> Czar, in St. Petersburg, spoke in a +like strain to the Duc de Mortemart. Charles X. could not be restrained. +"There are only Lafayette and I who have not changed since 1789," said the +<span class="sidenote">Charles Xth's Coup d'État</span> +King. On July 24, a Sunday, after attending mass, Charles X. signed the +orders that were to rid him of his Chambers. All his Ministers signed with +him. "For life and for death, gentlemen," said the King. "Count upon me as +I count upon you."</p> + +<p>The Orders in Council appeared in the "Moniteur" the next day. It was said +that Sauvo, the editor of the "Moniteur," as he gave the order to go to +press, exclaimed: "God protect the King." The publication of the edict +<span class="sidenote">Thiers</span> +caused an instant extraordinary fall in stocks. Thiers thundered against it +in the "Journal des Débats." Government troops seized the printing presses +of the leading journals. Murmuring crowds gathered on the streets. The King +appointed Marshal Marmont commandant of Paris. It was the last stroke, for +<span class="sidenote">Marmont</span> +Marmont was popularly execrated as the betrayer of Napoleon. The National +Guards brought forth their old tricolor cockades of the Revolution and the +Empire. Though military patrols tramped the streets, the night passed +quietly. Next morning all work stopped, and the people fell to building +barricades. Whole streets were torn up. The pupils of the Polytechnic +School broke open the gates and the tricolor flag floated on the towers of +Notre Dame. Marshal Marmont reported to the King: "Sire, it is no longer a +riot, but a revolution. There is urgent need for your Majesty to take means +of pacifi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_788" id="Page_788">[Pg 788]</a></span>cation. Thus the honor of the Crown may yet be saved. To-morrow +it will be too late." The King's answer was to declare Paris under a state +<span class="sidenote">The July revolution</span> +of siege. The so-called "Great Week," or "three days' revolution," had +begun. The bourgeoisie or middle class and all the students joined the +revolt. Before nightfall 600 barricades blocked the streets of Paris. Every +house became a fortress. "Where do the rebels get their powder?" asked the +King in astonishment. "From the soldiers," was the curt reply of the +Procureur-General.</p> + +<p>In the evening the Hôtel de Ville was captured. That evening the Ministers +tried to enlighten the King, but he only replied: "Let the insurgents lay +down their arms." While the discharges of artillery shook the windows of +<span class="sidenote">Charles X. obstinate</span> +the palace the King played whist. Next day two line regiments openly joined +the revolt. The Louvre was stormed. Still the King at St. Cloud would not +yield. "They exaggerate the danger," said he. "I know what concessions +would lead to. I have no wish to ride like my brother on a cart." Instead +of concessions he vested the command in the Dauphin, having grown +suspicious of Marmont. The mob sacked the Tuileries and hoisted the +tricolor flag on the clock tower. At the Hôtel de Ville a municipal +<span class="sidenote">Fall of Ministry</span> +commission was installed, composed of Lafayette, Casimir Périer, General +Lobau and Audry de Puyraveau. At last, when it was too late, the King +countermanded his obnoxious orders and dismissed Polignac with his +Ministry. The people no longer paid attention to the King's acts. He was +declared deposed. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_789" id="Page_789">[Pg 789]</a></span> +A republic was proclaimed and its presidency offered to +<span class="sidenote">An interim republic</span> +Lafayette. But the old hero declined the honor. With Thiers he threw his +influence in favor of the Duke of Orleans. The Duke of Orleans, the son of +Philip Egalité, of Revolutionary fame, was invited to Paris to exercise the +functions of lieutenant-general of the kingdom. The deposed King at St. +Cloud hastened to confirm the appointment. The Duke of Orleans respectfully +<span class="sidenote">Duke of Orleans summoned</span> +declined the royal appointment. "You cannot receive things from everybody," +said Dupont. General Lafayette soon came to pay his respects. "You know," +said he, "that I am a republican, and consider the Constitution of the +United States as the most perfect that has been devised." "So do I," +replied the Duke; "but do you think that in the present condition of France +it would be advisable for us to adopt it?" "No," answered Lafayette; "what +the French people must now have is a popular throne, surrounded by +republican institutions." "That is just my opinion," said Prince Louis +Philippe.</p> + +<p>Lafayette's conversation with the prince led to the so-called programme of +the Hôtel de Ville. "I shall not take the crown," said the Duke of Orleans, +"I shall receive it from the people on the conditions it suits them to +impose. A charter will henceforth be a reality." At last Charles X. +<span class="sidenote">Charles X. abdicates</span> +abdicated in favor of his grandson, the Duke of Bordeaux. The Duke of +Orleans refused to recognize the claims of Henri V., and France and Europe +were with him. Charles X. relinquished further hopes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_790" id="Page_790">[Pg 790]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Dauphin, formerly Duke of Angoulême, in like manner resigned his rights +to his nephew. The act was signed on the 2d of August. Charles X. now set +out for Normandy with his guards, commanded by Marmont, and, on August 16, +embarked at Cherbourg in two American vessels, with the Dauphin and +<span class="sidenote">Louis Philippe, King of France</span> +Dauphiness, the Duchess of Berry, the Duke of Bordeaux, and a numerous +suite of attendants. The ships sailed for England, and, anchoring at +Spithead, the royal fugitives took up their residence at Lulworth Castle, +in Dorsetshire, but eventually removed to Holyrood Castle at Edinburgh, +which was placed at their disposal by the British Government. On August 9, +Louis Philippe, on the formal request of the two Chambers, accepted the +crown of France with a solemn oath to uphold the Constitution.</p> + +<p>The overthrow of the Bourbons was not a revolution in the sense of the +great French Revolution of the previous century. It resulted chiefly in the +transfer of government from one political faction to another. Louis +Philippe, raised to the throne by reason of his supposed democratic +principles, rather than for his royal lineage, was a Republican only in +name. His early education, together with that of his brothers, was directed +<span class="sidenote">Louis Philippe's previous career</span> +by the Countess of Genlis. On the outbreak of the Revolutionary war, the +young Prince, then Duke of Chartres, fought with distinction by the side of +Kellermann and Dumouriez at Valmy and Jemmapes. He accompanied the latter +when he took refuge in the camp of the imperialists in April, 1793. After +the death of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_791" id="Page_791">[Pg 791]</a></span> his father, Philippe Egalité, refusing to bear arms against +France, he joined his sister and Madame de Genlis in Switzerland, where +<span class="sidenote">Sojourn in America</span> +they lived for some time under an assumed name. In 1795 he travelled into +the north of Germany, Sweden and Norway, and in the following year sailed +from Hamburg for the United States of America. Here he was joined by his +two brothers, and after some years in America, during which they were often +in distress, the three princes went to England in 1800. The Duke of Orleans +now obtained a reconciliation with the heads of his family, Louis XVIII. +and the Count of Artois. Subsequently he became a guest at the court of +Ferdinand IV., the dispossessed King of Naples, at Palermo; and here was +celebrated, in November, 1809, his marriage with the Princess Marie Amelie, +daughter of that monarch. Upon the restoration of Louis XVIII. he +re-entered France, and took his seat in the Chamber of Peers; but having +fallen under suspicion of disaffection, he once more retired to England and +<span class="sidenote">"Le Roi Citoyen"</span> +did not reappear in France till 1817. During the remainder of the reign of +Louis he took no part in public affairs and lived in tranquillity at his +favorite villa of Neuilly. He was a "citizen king," only in so far as he +sent his children to the public schools and walked about the streets of +Paris with an umbrella under his arm. The most lasting effect in France of +the July revolution was the obliteration of clerical influences in the +administration and public education. The Royalist nobility likewise lost +what political ascendency they had regained during the Restoration. +Henceforth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_792" id="Page_792">[Pg 792]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">A new power in France</span> +the party in power was that of the bourgeoisie or great middle +class of France, of which Louis Philippe himself was the self-constituted +representative.</p> + +<p>Outside of France, on the contrary, the effects of the short revolution +were far-reaching. In the Netherlands ever increasing friction between the +Dutch-speaking Protestants of Holland and the French Catholics of Belgium +<span class="sidenote">Revolution in Belgium</span> +had excited the country to the point of revolution. Recent repressive +measures on the part of the Dutch Government made matters worse. On August +25, the performance, at the Brussels Opera House, of Auber's "La Muette di +Portici," with its representation of a revolutionary rising in Naples, gave +the signal for revolt. From the capital the insurrection spread throughout +Belgium. The King summoned the States-General to The Hague and agreed to an +administrative separation of Belgium and Holland; but the storm was not +quelled. On the appearance of Dutch troops in Brussels, barricades were +<span class="sidenote">Bombardment of Antwerp</span> +erected and the insurgents drove the soldiers out of the city. For several +days fighting continued in the outskirts. A provisional government declared +the independence of Belgium. Mediation by a conference in Holland was +frustrated by the bombardment of Antwerp by its Dutch garrison. The French +Liberals were burning to give assistance. Austria and Russia stood ready to +prevent their intervention by force of arms. Louis Philippe, while holding +the French war party in check, felt constrained to look about him for an +ally. In this extremity<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_793" id="Page_793">[Pg 793]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Talleyrand's last mission</span> +Prince Talleyrand, the old-time diplomat of the +Bourbons, the Republic, the Empire and the Restoration, now in his +eightieth year, was sent to London. He approached Wellington and the new +King with such consummate address that an understanding was soon reached +with England, which set at naught all projects of European armed +<span class="sidenote">Belgian Independence recognized</span> +intervention on behalf of the Prince of Orange. Such intervention could not +have failed to drag the French into war. Now it was agreed that the +regulation of Belgian affairs should be submitted to a conference at +London. In the interim Belgian independence was accepted in effect and +hostilities ended.</p> + +<p>In Greece, the government of Capodistrias was beset with such difficulties +<span class="sidenote">Leopold of Coburg declines Greek crown</span> +that it was decided to invite some European prince to set up a +constitutional monarchy. The throne was offered to Prince Leopold of +Coburg, the husband of the late Princess Charlotte of England. Leopold +accepted, but when he learned that the Powers would not grant complete +independence to Greece, without restoring Ætolia, Thessaly and the fertile +islands of Samos and Candia to the Sultan, he withdrew his acceptance.</p> + +<p>Peace had scarcely been restored in the Netherlands when the spirit of +revolt, travelling northward, seized the ardent people of Poland. +Alexander's recognition of home rule in Poland had given the Poles a +parliament and army of their own. After the Polish conspiracies at the +outset of Nicholas's reign, Alexander's successor would no longer invoke +the Polish Diet, and Russian troops and officers were sent into Poland. Of +course this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_794" id="Page_794">[Pg 794]</a></span> was bitterly resented. Plans for an uprising had already been +<span class="sidenote">Revolution in Poland</span> +made in 1828 during the Turkish war. The example of the successful risings +in Paris and Brussels now brought matters to a head. On November 29, the +revolt broke out in Warsaw. The Polish regiments of the garrison joined the +insurgents. The Russian troops, finding the odds against them, withdrew. +Grandduke Constantine narrowly escaped with his life. A provisional Polish +Diet was convoked. Prince Czartoryski was elected President. The Poles, in +remembrance of the late Czar's kindly attitude toward them, flattered +themselves that the fruits of their revolution might be left to them. +Lubecki, the former chief of the Imperial Council in Poland, with two +associates, set out for St. Petersburg to voice the Polish demands for +constitutional government before the Czar. It was even proposed that +constitutional government should be conceded to those Russian provinces +that had formerly belonged to Poland. On the way to St. Petersburg the eyes +of the envoys were opened as they met the formidable columns of Russian +troops marching to the Polish frontier. Forthwith, Lubecki forsook the +cause of Poland. His colleagues found difficulty in obtaining a hearing +from the Czar. When they were finally admitted to the imperial palace, +Nicholas gave them clearly to understand that Poland had but two +alternatives, unconditional submission or complete subjugation. When this +answer reached Warsaw it was too late to swing the outside Polish provinces +and Lithuania into the movement.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_795" id="Page_795">[Pg 795]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">War declared on Russia</span> +Yet the Polish Diet, in a spirit of +patriotic frenzy amounting to national suicide, passed a resolution +declaring that the House of Romanoff had forfeited the Polish crown. +Feverish preparations were made for a life and death struggle with Russia.</p> + +<p>The fall of the Bourbons in France had once more raised the hope of the +Spanish Liberals. On the other hand, King Ferdinand's abolition of the +Salic law of succession in Spain, so as to assure the throne to his new +wife, raised up a party of absolutists against him. His brothers, Don +<span class="sidenote">Revolt in Spain</span> +Carlos and Francisco, became the heads of this movement and rallied their +supporters around them, in the Basque provinces. In Portugal kindred +dissensions rent the land in twain. Dom Miguel's claims to the crown were +disputed on behalf of the constitutional government by the Duke of Palermo. +Across the seas, Dom Pedro of Brazil proclaimed himself the legitimate heir +to the throne of Braganza.</p> + +<p>Like other South American States, Brazil was itself a prey to internal +dissensions and civil strife. To put an end to the recurrent revolutions of +South America, Simon Bolivar conceived a scheme for a Pan-American Congress +to weld together all the quasi-republican governments of the Southern +Hemisphere and Central America. Unfortunately for this project, Bolivar's +own aspirations to dictatorial rule told against him. His chief opponents +were those who were striving for a disruption of the Colombian Union. His +own States, Peru and Bolivia, had already declared against him. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_796" id="Page_796">[Pg 796]</a></span> +Congress finally voted to give Bolivar a pension of $3,000 a year on +<span class="sidenote">Death of Bolivar</span> +condition that he should leave America forever. Bolivar's pride was stung +to the quick. He resigned all public offices and honors, and went to +Caracas to sail for England. He died at Santa Marta, on the sea-shore, on +December 17. His last words were: "The people send me to the tomb, but I +forgive them."</p> + +<p>In Bolivar, South America lost the most fiery of her liberators. Born at +Caracas, in 1783, he was pre-eminently a child of the modern spirit +engendered by the French Revolution of 1792. He saw Spain in the days of +its quasi-medieval darkness, and was in Paris at the close of the great +<span class="sidenote">Bolivar's career</span> +revolution. Later he was a witness of Napoleon's coronation as King of +Italy, and saw for himself the benefits of republican institutions in North +America. The turning-point in his career was the loss of his young wife +after two years of domestic happiness. As he said himself: "I loved my wife +so much that at her death I made a vow never again to marry. I have kept my +oath. Perhaps, had I not lost her, my career would have been different. I +might not, then, have been General of the Liberators. My second visit to +Europe would never have been made. The ideas which I imbibed during my +travels would not have come to me, and the experience I have had, the study +of the world that I have made, and of men and things—all this, which has +so well served me, would never have been. Politics would never have +attracted me. But the death of my wife caused the love of my country to +burn in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_797" id="Page_797">[Pg 797]</a></span> my heart, and I have followed the chariot of Mars rather than +Ceres' plow."</p> + +<p>In the new English penal colony of Van Diemen's Land in Australia, the +Tasmania of latter days, the self-assertive and domineering traits of the +Anglo-Saxon race were no less apparent among the convicts than among the +few free settlers. A few years before this the colonists had proclaimed +<span class="sidenote">Van Diemen's Land</span> +themselves independent of New South Wales and established a separate +government. The Van Diemen's Land Company received a grant of twenty-five +thousand acres; white population increased; religious, educational and +commercial institutions were founded. The natives were all but +exterminated. During this year Governor Arthur made an extraordinary +attempt to settle the native problem. His idea was to catch all the +aborigines of the island and pen them up on the narrow neck of land known +as Tasman's Peninsula. Upward of three thousand five hundred white persons, +including three hundred soldiers, turned out for the exciting operation of +clearing Van Diemen's Land by means of a cordon across the island. All +seemed to be going well until the line of beaters contracted, when it was +<span class="sidenote">Extermination of natives</span> +found that the natives were in the rear, instead of in the front. The +attempt proved a total failure; only two natives were captured. The total +cost of the expedition amounted to £35,000. The individual measures of the +settlers against the despised natives proved more efficacious. Within a few +years, when the last of the Tasmanian aborigines were transferred from the +mainland to Flin<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_798" id="Page_798">[Pg 798]</a></span>der's Island, by the instrumentality of George Augustus +Robinson, it was found that but three hundred were left. The white +population—largely of convict antecedents—by this time numbered more than +15,000 persons.</p> + +<p>In North America the doctrine of nullification, newly put forth, emphasized +<span class="sidenote">North American dissensions</span> +the growing differences between the Northern and Southern States. The great +debate between Hayne and Webster came about casually in the course of a +discussion of the sale of public lands. The topic of nullification was +dragged in by Southern speakers. Webster felt called upon to uphold the +<span class="sidenote">Nullification debate</span> +cause of the Northern States. Smarting under some of his animadversions of +Southern sloth, Hayne made a two-day speech in which he inveighed against +the spirit of the New Englanders. His own State, South Carolina, and her +sister States in the South, he declared, would defend their sovereign +rights, or "perish in the last ditch." Webster's reply to those prophetic +<span class="sidenote">Webster's declaration</span> +words was the grandest oratorical effort of his life. He declared for the +continued union of all the States in all their strength: "Liberty and +Union, now and forever, one and inseparable." Jackson's progressive foreign +policy poured oil on the troubled waters. His repeal of the shipping acts +of 1818 and 1823 brought about a resumption of direct trade with the West +Indies. On October 5, Jackson was able to issue a proclamation announcing +the opening of permanent trade with all ports of the West Indies, Bermudas, +Bahamas, the Gulf of Mexico and South America.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_799" id="Page_799">[Pg 799]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">Anglo-American treaty</span> +This friendly treaty with America was the last satisfactory measure passed +by Wellington's Ministry in England. As elsewhere in Europe the success of +the sudden revolution in Paris created a great stir, and was brought home +to Englishmen all the more forcibly by the deposed king's flight to English +<span class="sidenote">O'Connell's State trial</span> +shores. In Ireland, matters were stirred up by Daniel O'Connell, who now +commenced an agitation for the repeal of the union with England. His +prosecution for treason became a State trial. O'Connell's ultimate +conviction once more alienated the powerful Catholic Association of +Ireland. The Duke of Wellington became so prejudiced against reform that he +declared in Parliament: "I am not only averse to bringing forward any +<span class="sidenote">Anti-reform utterances</span> +measure of this nature, but I will at once declare, so far as I am +concerned, so long as I hold any station in the government of the country, +I shall always feel it my duty to resist such a measure when proposed by +others." After this declaration the fall of the Ministry was assured. +Stocks fell in London from 84 to 77 points. Abuse and obloquy were heaped +upon the Ministers from every quarter. Caricatures of them were stamped +even on handkerchiefs and calico aprons. The Duke was mostly represented in +the livery of an old hackney coachman, while Sir Robert Peel figured as a +<span class="sidenote">Wellington unpopular</span> +rat catcher. The King no longer concealed his dislike of Wellington, who in +former days had mortally offended him by his support of Admiral Cockburn, +resulting in the resignation of the Prince as Lord High Admiral of England. +As soon as Parliament was reopened<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_800" id="Page_800">[Pg 800]</a></span> late in the year, a significant rebuff +was administered to the Ministry by the Crown. The King preferred to +deliver his speech in person. In the face of the Prime Minister's +<span class="sidenote">Fall of Ministry</span> +declaration against reform, Sir Harry Parnell, even before the delivery of +the King's speech, announced a bill for the revision of the civil list. +Parnell's motion was carried. Brougham followed this up with a motion for a +reform of the rotten borough system. Rather than submit to another +inevitable defeat Wellington's Ministry resigned. Earl Grey, leader of the +<span class="sidenote">Earl Grey, Prime Minister</span> +Whig opposition, was made Prime Minister. Brougham was raised to the +peerage, and accepted the post of Lord Chancellor. Palmerston was +reappointed Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Lord Grey's appointment of six or +seven of his relatives to administrative posts weakened his Ministry from +the outset.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1831" id="a1831"></a>1831</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_801" id="Page_801">[Pg 801]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">U</span><span class="dcap1">NDER</span> the leadership of Lord Palmerston, the Belgian Conference in London +was conducted to a successful issue. Early in January the representatives +of the Powers signed a protocol defining the limits of Belgium and Holland +and apportioning to each country its share in the national debt. The +problem of providing an acceptable government for Belgium still remained. +The Belgians themselves would have welcomed incorporation into France. With +<span class="sidenote">Belgian conference</span> +this object in view they elected for their sovereign the Duc de Nemours, +second son of Louis Philippe. When a proclamation to this effect was made +on February 3, Louis Philippe, acting under Talleyrand's advice, withheld +official sanction. Privately he had encouraged his son's candidacy, the +more so as a Bonapartist rival, the son of Eugene Beauharnais, was in the +field. The conference at London determined not to permit Belgium thus to +become a dependency of France. The British Government decided that it would +no longer discountenance armed intervention in Belgium against French +schemes of aggrandizement. Talleyrand obtained the best terms open to his +sovereign by insisting on the withdrawal of the Bonapartist pretender.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_802" id="Page_802">[Pg 802]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Leopold, King of Belgium</span> +The selection of Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, who had just been disappointed +in his aspirations for the empty throne of Greece, was encouraged by France +on the understanding that Leopold, if elected King of Belgium, should marry +a daughter of Louis Philippe. Leopold was elected on June 4, and accepted +the crown only on the condition that the London Conference should modify +<span class="sidenote">Luxemburg question</span> +its territorial arrangements of January. This brought up the Luxemburg +question. Since the Paris treaty of 1814, the formidable stronghold of +Luxemburg, though under the sovereignty of the King of Holland, was +maintained as the strongest border fortress of the German Confederation. +<span class="sidenote">Dutch invasion of Belgium</span> +Now, the Luxemburgers had made common cause with the Belgians. Leopold +accordingly insisted that Luxemburg should be treated as an integral part +of Belgium. The powers at London yielded to this demand sufficiently to +annul the declarations of January, with the promise of a future settlement +of the status of Luxemburg. On this repudiation of the recent international +<span class="sidenote">French counter-invasion</span> +declaration in favor of the Netherlands, the King of Holland took up arms. +A Dutch army of 50,000 advanced into Belgium. Leopold at once appealed to +France for assistance. A French army marched into Belgium from the other +side. The powers at London made haste to intervene. A British fleet made a +<span class="sidenote">Foreign intervention</span> +demonstration before Antwerp. Under pressure Leopold signed an agreement to +raze the fortifications on the Belgian frontier. Reluctantly the King of +Holland recalled his army. Under the threat of another armed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_803" id="Page_803">[Pg 803]</a></span> coalition +against France, Louis Philippe withdrew his forces. Outward tranquillity +was once more restored. No immediate settlement, however, was reached in +regard to Luxemburg. The union of the Luxemburgers with the Belgians +remained in effect, while on the other hand strong German garrisons +continued to hold the fortifications. For years to come this remained a +vexatious problem.</p> + +<p>After the restriction of the Greek frontiers by the Powers, Capodistrias' +government was appreciably weakened. As difficulties thickened about him, +he resorted to the restrictive measures he had become accustomed to while +Prime Minister of Russia. He felt that the cause of Greece would be +<span class="sidenote">Difficulties in Greece</span> +jeopardized unless order was maintained at any cost. When the old +revolutionary leaders became turbulent, Capodistrias only put his +government on a firmer basis. Mavrocordato, Konduriottes and Miaulis at +this juncture waited upon the President as a committee from the opposition +<span class="sidenote">Holocaust of Greek fleet</span> +and demanded the withdrawal of the obnoxious measures. Capodistrias would +not yield, and the popular leaders betook themselves to Hydra. Preparations +for civil war were begun. The President sent out an expedition to suppress +them. To prevent the fleet from falling into his hands at Paros, Miaulis +set fire to the "Hellas," the American-built frigate, and that ship and +twenty-eight others were burned to the water's edge. Among those that were +<span class="sidenote">Mavromichalis imprisoned</span> +imprisoned by Capodistrias was Petro Mavromichalis, the hero of the Morea. +The Russian admiral sailed to Nauplia to intercede in his behalf, but in +vain. Mavro<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_804" id="Page_804">[Pg 804]</a></span>michalis' brother and son, Constantine and George, appealed to +the President in person, but were put under arrest themselves. On October +<span class="sidenote">Assassination of Capodistrias</span> +9, Constantine and George Mavromichalis fell upon Capodistrias as he was +going to church and shot him dead. One of the assassins was killed on the +spot while the other was executed later. Capodistrias' brother, Augustine, +assumed charge. His government was short-lived. After a few months he +sailed away with his brother's body to Corfu.</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">Revolt in Bologna</span> +In the meantime another blow for national unity was struck in Italy. On the +death of Pius VIII., late in 1830, Gregory XVI. was elected. He had +scarcely been installed in the chair of St. Peter, when a report reached +him that Bologna had revolted against papal rule. On February 3, Menotti +<span class="sidenote">Menotti</span> +raised the signal of revolt at Modena. He was lured into the power of the +Grandduke of Modena, but the insurrection spread so rapidly throughout the +north of Italy that the Grandduke had to fly to Austria. Menotti was +carried to Austria and there put to death. It was about this time that +<span class="sidenote">Mazzini</span> +Mazzini made his first public appearance as a revolutionist and was +imprisoned. Pope Gregory sent Cardinal Benvenuti to Bologna as a legate to +treat with the rebels, but the legate was made a captive and the revolt +<span class="sidenote">Papal legate repudiated</span> +spread southward to the papal dominions. In his extremity the Pope called +upon Austria for help. +</p> + +<p>Austria, whose own dominions in Italy were threatened, had every reason to +grant this request. The only obstacle was the threatening attitude of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_805" id="Page_805">[Pg 805]</a></span> +France. Before sending out his troops, Metternich took pains to ascertain +<span class="sidenote">Austrian intervention invoked</span> +the immediate intentions of France. The official answer given to the +inquiries of the Austrian Ambassador in Paris, was that Austrian +intervention in favor of the sovereigns of Parma and Modena, who were +related to the House of Hapsburg, might be tolerated. An extension of such +intervention to the Papal States or to Piedmont would certainly constitute +<span class="sidenote">Attitude of France</span> +a <i>casus belli</i>. In token of this declaration, the French Ambassador at +Constantinople was instructed to make overtures for an offensive and +defensive alliance to the Sultan.</p> + +<p>In this crisis Metternich put forth all the powers of statesmanship at his +command. He declared that it was better for Austria, if necessary, to +perish by war than by revolution. On the instant he assured to Russia the +<span class="sidenote">Metternich diplomacy</span> +support of Austria against the Poles, while he worked upon the fears of +Louis Philippe by pointing to the presence of young Louis Bonaparte and his +brother with the Italian insurgents. As a last resort he could always let +loose upon France Napoleon's son, the Duke of Reichstadt, now growing to +manhood at Vienna. In defiance of the French declaration, Austria advanced +<span class="sidenote">Papal dominions invaded</span> +a strong army through northern Italy into the papal dominion. The +insurrection was ruthlessly stamped out. Louis Philippe did nothing. +Lafayette resigned his Ministry in chagrin. He was succeeded by Casimir +Périer, a constitutional statesman of modern mold. On behalf of France he +put forward a double-edged demand that the Austrians<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_806" id="Page_806">[Pg 806]</a></span> should evacuate the +papal dominions as soon as the papal government should reform its abuses. +<span class="sidenote">Casimir Périer's French policy</span> +For the first time in their history, Austria and the Papacy were made to +declare for constitutional reforms. A conference at Rome agreed upon the +schemes of reforms to be instituted by the Pope. Further pretext for +revolution was thus removed. In July, the last Austrian forces were +withdrawn from the Papal States.</p> + +<p>The Polish struggle, during the earlier part of this year, had assumed the +<span class="sidenote">War in Poland</span> +proportions of a national war. In February, the Russians took the +offensive. General Diebitsch at the head of a column of 120,000 men marched +into Poland. In the first encounters against the Polish forces, who were +led by officers who had served under Napoleon, the Russians sustained such +losses at Stoczek, Grochov and Bialolenska that Diebitsch had to call for +<span class="sidenote">Early successes</span> +reinforcements. The main body of the Russian army had to abandon the bank +of the Vistula. Three detached corps remained stationed there. The Polish +general, Skrzynecki, who had succeeded Prince Radzivil in the command, then +took the offensive. He defeated the Russians under Geismas at Waver, and +<span class="sidenote">Polish disasters</span> +General Rosen at Dembevilkie and Igknie, but then stopped short. In the +meanwhile a Polish expedition into Volhynia failed completely. Dvernicki +was driven back into Gallicia. Another Polish expedition sent into +Lithuania under Vilna likewise ended in disaster. The main body of the +<span class="sidenote">Ostrolenka</span> +Poles had to cross the Prussian frontier. Only one division under Dembinski +recovered the road to Warsaw. In the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_807" id="Page_807">[Pg 807]</a></span> +interval, the Polish army under +Skrzynecki fought a pitched battle on May 26 with the right wing of the +<span class="sidenote">Ravages of cholera</span> +Russian main army at Ostrolenka. After a severe fight the Poles had to fall +back over the Narev. Cholera now broke out in both camps. General Diebitsch +and Grandduke Constantine on the Russian side succumbed to the disease. +During this breathing space for the Poles, a revolution against the +<span class="sidenote">Death of Diebitsch</span> +provisional government broke out in Warsaw. The streets ran with blood. +Czartoryski fled in disguise. General Krukoviecki was made dictator. He +shot a number of the mutineers and replaced Skrzynecki by Dembinski. +Prussia and Austria turned against the Poles. The Prussian arsenals and +<span class="sidenote">Civil war in Poland</span> +military stores at Dantzig and Kœnigsberg were placed at the disposal of +Diebitsch's successor, General Paskievitch. He crossed the Vistula at +Warsaw and marched on the capital along the left bank. On September 6, the +Russians attacked Warsaw from the side of Vola and Czyste. On the Polish +<span class="sidenote">Paskievitch, Russian commander</span> +side Wysocki, who had begun the revolution, and General Suvenski, who had +lost a leg at Borodino, were killed. Krukoviecki offered to capitulate. The +Russians demanded unconditional surrender. The Polish Diet deposed +Krukoviecki and put Niemoievski in command. Paskievitch ordered a general +attack on the city. The Russians stormed the ramparts and Warsaw +<span class="sidenote">Fall of Warsaw</span> +capitulated. "Sire, Poland lies at your feet," wrote Paskievitch to the +Czar. It was the truth. At Plock 20,000 Poles laid down their arms. +Ramarino took 15,000 into Gallicia.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_808" id="Page_808">[Pg 808]</a></span></p> + +<p>Emperor Nicholas made an example of Poland. All those who had borne a +prominent part in the insurrection were banished to Siberia. The +<span class="sidenote">Poland's aspirations crushed</span> +constitution granted by Alexander was annulled. No more Polish Diets were +tolerated. Poles in public office were superseded by Russians. The Polish +soldiers and officers were mustered into Russian ranks and distributed over +widely different points of the empire. The country was divided into Russian +provinces, and Russian systems of taxation, coinage and of administration +of justice were imposed upon Poland. In Lithuania, the Polish language was +<span class="sidenote">Polish patriots scatter</span> +banished from the schools. The University of Vilna was suppressed. +Henceforth the ancient spirit of Poland lived only in those foreign exiles +who fomented revolutionary risings in Italy, France, Austria and Germany.</p> + +<p>Until the subjugation of Poland, the German governments, apprehensive of +the course that events might take, had shown moderation in meeting the +liberal movements incited by the French and Polish revolution. Trouble +first broke out in Brunswick and Hesse, the two worst-governed States of +<span class="sidenote">Spirit of revolt in Germany</span> +Germany. The despotic princes of Brunswick and Hesse had to resign, and +reforms were instituted by their successors. In Hanover and Saxony, too, +the people had to be appeased by parliamentary concessions and an extension +of the liberty of the press. In the Bavarian Palatinate, where French +institutions and ideas prevailed, the tricolor of France and the flag of +Poland were saluted side by side with the red, black and gold banner of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_809" id="Page_809">[Pg 809]</a></span> +ancient Germany. After the fall of Warsaw the governments of Prussia and +Austria insisted on new reactionary measures. The Diet of the German +<span class="sidenote">Liberal leaders lost</span> +Confederation began a campaign against all liberal tendencies. German +liberalism during this dark period lost some of its foremost leaders by the +deaths of Stein the statesman, Arnim the poet, Niebuhr the historian, and +Hegel the philosopher.</p> + +<p>Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was born in 1770 at Stuttgart. He held chairs +successively at the Universities of Jena, Heidelberg and Berlin. His works +<span class="sidenote">Death of Hegel</span> +reached an aggregate of eighteen volumes. As a philosopher he was one of +the most brilliant exponents of modern rationalism. He reached this +standpoint by pushing to their extreme logical conclusions the +philosophical doctrines enunciated by Kant. Hegel's most lasting works +proved to be his "Phenomenology of the Mind," "History of Philosophy," and +<span class="sidenote">German emigration to America</span> +"Philosophy of Religion." At the time of Hegel's death there was a general +exodus of German liberals to Switzerland, France and America.</p> + +<p>Despite a small but influential class of Americans who copied foreign +manners, the United States of America had gained something of a national +character in European estimation. In the New World alone, labor was deemed +compatible with gentility. The increasing facilities of traffic and +manufacture gave a tremendous impulse to the development of the country. +Thus a surprising number of railroads were opened in the States of New +York, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Improvements connecting Phila<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_810" id="Page_810">[Pg 810]</a></span>delphia and +Pittsburg were completed at a cost of twelve million dollars. Several +thousand miles were covered by canals.</p> + +<p>The American census of 1831 showed nearly 13,000,000 inhabitants, a +<span class="sidenote">Development of the United States</span> +doubling of the population since the beginning of the century. An area of +725,406 square miles of territory was contained in thirty-four States and +three Territories. The population spread westward, no longer in large +groups, but in small bodies of pioneers, travelling along the chief rivers. +West of the Missouri River all was still virgin soil. During this year +<span class="sidenote">Chicago founded</span> +Schoolcraft discovered the source of the Mississippi. The settlement of +Chicago was laid out and the first sale of lots there was held. A boundary +and commercial treaty was concluded with Mexico in the spring. Later in the +year President Jackson obtained from the French Government a promise of +25,000,000 francs indemnity for the spoliations on American commerce made +<span class="sidenote">Black Hawk war</span> +under Napoleon. On April 21, the so-called Black Hawk war broke out with +the Indian tribes of the Sacs and Foxes. Some 6,500 soldiers were +despatched to subdue them. In this war it so happened that Abraham Lincoln +and Jefferson Davis served as captain and lieutenant.</p> + +<p>The issue of slavery was brought to the front early in the year. On the +<span class="sidenote">Abolitionist movement</span> +first day of January, Garrison's "Liberator" appeared in Boston. Garrison +advocated immediate and unconditional emancipation of the black slaves. In +his first issue he said: "I will not retreat a single inch, and I will be +heard." It was not long before Garrison made<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_811" id="Page_811">[Pg 811]</a></span> himself heard, and gathered +about him a few men and women as determined as himself. Among them was the +<span class="sidenote">William Garrison</span> +young poet Whittier, Louis Tappan, and Lucretia Mott, the Quaker. A storm +of obloquy and persecution was raised against Garrison. Social and public +ostracism was visited upon him and his fellow abolitionists. Garrison's +efforts to free the negroes were made especially unwelcome in the South by +<span class="sidenote">Nat Turner's revolt</span> +an insurrection of blacks led by Nat Turner of South Hampton. The revolt +was speedily suppressed, and Turner with seventeen of his followers +suffered death by hanging. Turner's attempt called forth a debate of +several weeks in the Virginia Legislature, remarkable throughout for its +exposure of the evils of slavery and their bad effect on national +prosperity.</p> + +<p>One of the foremost statesman of the day was lost to America by the death +<span class="sidenote">Death of Monroe</span> +of James Monroe. He expired on July 4, the third President to die on +Independence Day. Monroe was born in Virginia in 1758. He was educated at +William and Mary College, studied law under Jefferson, and became a member +of the Continental Congress at twenty-five. He saw his first military +service in the War of the Revolution. Appointed Minister to France in 1794 +he was recalled in 1796, and was Governor of Virginia from 1799 to 1802. He +then returned to France as envoy extraordinary and helped to accomplish the +purchase of Louisiana. In 1811 he was again made Governor of Virginia. He +served as Secretary of State under Madison from 1811 to 1817 and also as +Secretary of War from 1814<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_812" id="Page_812">[Pg 812]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Monroe's career</span> +to 1815. When the War of 1812 emptied the +national treasury he pledged his personal credit for the defence of New +Orleans. In 1816 he was elected President of the United States. While +serving his second term as President, Monroe sent to Congress the famous +message against European intervention in South America, which has +permanently linked his name with the doctrine of "America for the +Americans." His name has been preserved likewise in Monrovia, the capital +of Liberia, the negro free state in Africa, which was founded under his +auspices.</p> + +<p>Throughout this year in England raged the great debate over the +<span class="sidenote">The Reform Bill</span> +government's proposed reform of the rotten borough system. A bill to this +effect was introduced by Lord Russell on March 1, immediately after the +opening of Parliament. In the seven days' debate that followed the best +speakers of England took part, among them Lord Palmerston, Sir Robert Peel, +Daniel O'Connell, and young Macaulay, who had only just entered Parliament. +By the opponents of the bill reform was denounced as revolution. The +government of the United States of North America was cited as a deterrent +example. Thus Sir Robert Peel said:</p> + +<p>"Many experiments have been tried to engraft democratical on monarchical +<span class="sidenote">Robert Peel's speech</span> +institutions, but how have they succeeded? In France, in Spain, in +Portugal, in the Netherlands, in every country on the face of the earth, +with the exception of the United States, has the experiment of forming a +popular government, and of uniting it with monarchy, been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_813" id="Page_813">[Pg 813]</a></span> tried; and how, +I will again ask, has it succeeded? In America, the House has been told +that the most beneficent effects of a representative form of government are +plainly visible. But I beg to remind the House that there is a wide +difference indeed between the circumstances of this country and of America. +<span class="sidenote">America a "Deterrent Example"</span> +In the United States the Constitution has not been in existence more than +forty years. I will not say it has been deteriorating, for I wish to avoid +all invidious phrases; but it has been rapidly undergoing a change from a +republic to a mere democracy. The influence of the executive—the influence +of the government—has been daily becoming less, and more power has +consequently been vested in the hands of the people. And yet, in that +country, there is land uncultivated to an extent almost incalculable—there +is no established church, no privileged orders—property exists on a very +different tenure from that on which it is held in this country; therefore +let not the people of England be deceived, let them not imagine, from the +example of the United States, that because democracy has succeeded and +triumphed there, it will also succeed and triumph here."</p> + +<p>Altogether seventy-one speakers joined in the debate. In the end the +<span class="sidenote">Reform Bill debate</span> +government obtained a second reading of the bill by a bare majority of one. +The opposition had made a motion to withdraw the bill. After another +prolonged debate this was carried against the government by a majority of +eight. Parliament was dissolved as both Houses were on the point of +carrying a motion asking the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_814" id="Page_814">[Pg 814]</a></span> King not to consent to a dissolution. The +<span class="sidenote">Exciting elections</span> +elections which followed were turbulent in the extreme. Throughout England +the reformers raised the cry: "The bill, the whole bill, and nothing but +the bill." It was then that the custom of electioneering by means of +processions and bands of music came into vogue. When the results of the +<span class="sidenote">Tories defeated</span> +elections were announced it was found that the Tories had lost more than a +hundred seats. On the other hand a few of the most prominent supporters of +the government suffered signal defeat, notably Lord Palmerston and +Cavendish. On the Tory side, young Gladstone, then still a student at +Oxford, came into notice by his warm speech against the proposed reform. +Parliament was reopened with another hot debate on the all-engrossing bill. +<span class="sidenote">Cobbett's state trial</span> +It was passed to a second reading by a strong majority of 135 votes. +Scarcely had this been accomplished when the government was embarrassed by +William Cobbett's state trial for sedition. Throughout the trial the +Attorney-General treated Cobbett with marked courtesy, speaking of him as +"one of the greatest masters of the English language who had ever composed +in it."</p> + +<p>In truth Cobbett's pure, virile, racy, Saxon style, while it delighted men +of taste, was also intelligible to the humblest commoner, and accounted in +some measure for the tremendous popularity of his journal, the "Political +Register." The government was unable to secure Cobbett's conviction and he +was suffered to escape punishment by a disagreement of the jury. After this +interlude the debate on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_815" id="Page_815">[Pg 815]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Macaulay</span> +Reform Bill went on. On the second night of +the debate Thomas Babington Macaulay delivered his first reform speech. +When he sat down he had taken rank among the best Parliamentary orators. +"Portions of the speech," said Sir Robert Peel, "were as beautiful as +anything I have ever heard or read. It reminded me of old times. The names +of Burke, Fox and Canning during the evening were linked with that of Mr. +Macaulay." The "Spectator" computed the number of speeches which were +delivered in committee between the middle and end of July at more than two +hundred. Sir Robert Peel alone spoke forty-eight times, while Wetherell, +the Tory wag of the House, spoke fifty-eight times. Finally the Opposition +was caught unawares late one night on September 19, when they could muster +<span class="sidenote">Commons pass Reform Bill</span> +but fifty-eight votes before the doors closed for division, and the bill +was thus passed to its third reading. The Tories took pains to be present +in force a few days afterward, when the final passage of the bill was +moved. After a last passionate debate lasting through three days and nights +the Commons passed the bill by a majority of 106 votes. That same night +Earl Grey proposed the bill before the Lords. Addressing himself to the +bishops he said significantly: "I specially beg the spiritual portion of +your lordships to pause and reflect. If this bill shall be thrown out by a +narrow majority and the scale should be turned by the votes of the +prelates, what would be their situation? Let them set their houses in +order!" These menacing words gave great offence to the clergy. The Duke of +Wellington +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_816" id="Page_816">[Pg 816]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Rejected by the Lords</span> +spoke strongly against the measure. The bill was thrown out by +the Lords after an all-night debate.</p> + +<p>The immediate effect was a sharp decline in stocks. A few hours after the +House of Peers adjourned at six o'clock in the morning, a run for gold +began on the Bank of England. The simultaneous effort of the French to +abolish their hereditary peerage was hailed as an omen of what was coming +in England. Riots broke out all over England. The return to Bristol of Sir +<span class="sidenote">Riots in England</span> +C. Wetherell, one of the chief opponents of the bill, was made the occasion +of ominous demonstrations. A riotous mob burned the mansion house over his +head. Next, the Bishop of Bristol was driven from his episcopal seat. The +mob fired the mansion house, the bishop's palace, the excise office, the +custom house, three prisons, four toll houses, and forty-two private houses +of prominent Tories.</p> + +<p>No one was injured until the troops were called in to disperse the mob. +Then a number of rioters were sabred and shot. About the same time riots +broke out at Bath, Worcester, Coventry, Warwick, Lichfield, Nottingham and +Canterbury. With difficulty Archbishop Howley of Canterbury was rescued +from the hands of an infuriated mob. The Bishops of Winchester and Exeter +were burned in effigy before their very palaces. The Bishop of London did +not dare to hold services at Westminster. The news from France served to +increase the alarm. Disturbances of a far more serious character were +reported from Lyons.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_817" id="Page_817">[Pg 817]</a></span></p> + +<p>Late in the year, after another rejection of the Reform Bill by the Lords, +<span class="sidenote">Reform Bill up again</span> +the bill was triumphantly reintroduced in the Commons. The question now was +no longer, "What will the Lords do?" but, "What will be done with the +Lords?" Rather than risk the threatening downfall of the House of Peers, +the Ministers reluctantly determined to pack the Upper House by the +creation of a sufficient number of new peers pledged to vote for the Reform +Bill. A verse attributed to Macaulay ran:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">What though now opposed I be,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Twenty peers shall carry me,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">If twenty won't, thirty will,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For I'm his Majesty's bouncing Bill.</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>"Thus," as Molesworth, the historian of the Reform Bill, has put it, "amid +the anxieties of the reformers on one hand, and the dread of revolution on +the other, amid incendiary fires and Asiatic cholera spreading throughout +the country, amid distress of trade and dread of coming bankruptcy, the +year 1831 went gloomily out."</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1832" id="a1832"></a>1832</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_818" id="Page_818">[Pg 818]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">T</span><span class="dcap1">HE</span> new year opened in England with a series of trials arising out of the +<span class="sidenote">English sedition trials</span> +disturbances which followed the rejection of the Reform Bill in the House +of Lords. A great number of rioters were convicted. Altogether, seven men +were put to death at Bristol and Nottingham. The officers who commanded the +troops during the riots were court-martialed. When Parliament reassembled, +the Commons once more passed the Reform Bill and carried it up to the +Lords. In the course of the renewed debate on the Reform Bill in the House +of Peers the Duke of Wellington announced that he had reason to believe +that the King did not approve of the bill. The statement was confirmed by +<span class="sidenote">Fall of Grey's Cabinet</span> +the King's refusal to create new peers wherewith to pass the bill through +the Upper House. Thereupon Lord Grey and his colleagues resigned from the +Ministry. The King accepted their resignation. Monster petitions were +immediately sent in to the Commons from Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and +other great centres of population, urging the Commons to refuse the +supplies until reform should have been secured. Once more stocks fell +sharply. For the express purpose of embarrassing the King's chosen +successors for the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_819" id="Page_819">[Pg 819]</a></span> Cabinet, runs were made on the Bank of England, and on +the savings banks at Birmingham and Manchester. The streets of London were +covered with placards: "Go for gold and stop the Duke!" In the face of this +<span class="sidenote">Wellington impotent</span> +agitation the Duke of Wellington declined the King's offer to form a +Ministry. Sir Robert Peel likewise declined. As a last resort Wellington +consented to form a Ministry, but could not get together a Cabinet strong +enough to stem the storm. The Iron Duke's popularity as well as the King's +was at an end. When the King came up to London, accompanied by his sons, +they were received with hoots and insults. Missiles were thrown at the +<span class="sidenote">The King humiliated</span> +royal carriage, and the Life Guards had to fight a way through the mob with +their swords. The King was driven to the humiliating expedient of recalling +his dismissed Ministers. William IV. now consented to create the required +number of new peers. Lord Brougham gave mortal offence to the King by a +request that he should put his promise in writing. With the King's written +pledge in their hands the Ministers obtained an agreement from their +opponents to pass the bill without further coercion. Early in June, at +<span class="sidenote">Passage of Reform Bill</span> +length, the Reform Bill passed through the House of Lords after a third +reading. One hundred and six peers voted for it and only twenty-two against +it. On this occasion Sir Robert Peel made a remark to which his subsequent +change of front gave peculiar significance: "Whenever the government comes +to deal with the corn laws, the precedent formed by the present occasion +will be appealed to." The reform measure,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_820" id="Page_820">[Pg 820]</a></span> as at last adopted, swept away +142 seats in the Commons. It gave to the counties sixty-five additional +<span class="sidenote">Changes effected</span> +representatives and conferred the right of sending members to Parliament on +Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and thirty-nine other large towns hitherto +unrepresented. The King showed his disapproval of the reform by +peremptorily declining to give his assent to the bill in person. The +Crown's sanction was given by commission. This ended all agitation for the +time being.</p> + +<p>It was in May that the great Powers, in response to another appeal from +<span class="sidenote">Otto, King of Greece</span> +Greece, suggested Prince Otto of Wittelsbach, the second son of the +Philhellene King of Bavaria, for the vacant throne. This choice was +ratified in October amid general rejoicings by the population of Greece.</p> + +<p>In Italy, early in the year, the Pope's failure to carry out his promise of +reform created new troubles. An amnesty, which had been granted by the +legate Benvenuti, was disregarded and the papal soldiery practiced all +manner of repression. Another revolt broke out and once more the Austrians, +at the Pope's request, crossed the frontier. They restored order so well +<span class="sidenote">Foreign intervention in Italy</span> +that they were actually welcomed as protectors against the ruthless +condottieri of the papal troops. Austria's intervention was resented by +France as a breach of the peace. Casimir Périer, now on his deathbed, +despatched a French force to Ancona. The town was seized before the +Austrians could approach it. Austria accepted the situation, and both +powers in Italy remained face to face jealously watching each other.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_821" id="Page_821">[Pg 821]</a></span> Had +Casimir Périer lived he might have made Ancona a lever for effecting the +desired reforms at Rome. As it was, the French garrison at Ancona remained +merely as a balancing point between the contending parties in Italy.</p> + +<p>France in the same year lost one of its distinguished men of science, by +<span class="sidenote">Death of Cuvier</span> +the death of Baron Cuvier, the great naturalist. Georges Leopold Cuvier was +born in 1769 at Montbeliard. After studying at Stuttgart he became private +tutor in the family of Count D'Hericy in Normandy, where he was at liberty +to devote his leisure to natural science and in particular to zoology. A +natural classification of the <i>Vermæ</i> or worms was his first achievement. +The ability and knowledge shown in this work procured him the friendship of +the greatest naturalists of France. He was invited to Paris, took a chair +at the Ecole Centrale, and was received by the Institute as a member of the +first class. His lectures on natural history, distinguished not less for +the elegance of their style than for profound knowledge and daring +speculation, were attended by some of the most accomplished persons of +Paris. In January, 1800, Cuvier was appointed to the Collège de France. +Under Napoleon, who fully recognized his merits, Cuvier held important +offices in the department of public instruction. Under the Restoration he +was made one of the forty members of the French Academy. In 1831, a year +prior to his death, he was appointed a Peer of France. Among the numerous +works by which Cuvier greatly expanded the study of natural history<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_822" id="Page_822">[Pg 822]</a></span> +may be<span class="sidenote">Cuvier's Works</span> +mentioned as foremost "Researches into Fossil Bones," "Discourse of the +Revolutions on the Surface of the Globe," "A Course of Comparative +Anatomy," "Natural History of Fishes," and his great work, "The Animal +Kingdom," with its subdivisions into the four great classes—vertebrates, +mollusks, articulates and radiates.</p> + +<p>On March 22, Wolfgang von Goethe, Germany's foremost man of letters, +<span class="sidenote">Death of Goethe</span> +expired at Weimar. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born in 1749, at +Frankfort-on-the-Main, the son of a councillor under the old German empire. +His best traits were inherited from his mother. As he himself sang in later +years:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Vom Vater hab ich die Statur,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Des Lebens ernstes Fuhren,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Vom Mutterchen die Frohnatur</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Und Lust zum Fabuliren.<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a></span> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">From my father I have my stature</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And serious view of life;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">From dear little mother my glad heart</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And fondness for telling stories.</span><br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p>His father had him educated for the study of law. In his sixteenth year he +<span class="sidenote">Goethe's career</span> +was sent to the University at Leipzig. Later he went to Strasburg, where he +became acquainted with the poet Herder, and had his first love affair with +Friederike Brion of Sesenheim, whose charm has been kept alive in Goethe's +autobiography, "Dichtung und Wahrheit." In 1772 he returned to Frankfort +<span class="sidenote">"Goetz von Berlichingen"</span> +and practiced law. While thus engaged he wrote his first +romantic-historical play, "Goetz von Berlichingen." In the following year +he published his sentimental romance, "The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_823" id="Page_823">[Pg 823]</a></span> +Sorrows of Werther," based in a +measure on one of his own unfortunate love affairs at Wetzlar. Both of +<span class="sidenote">"The Sorrows of Werther"</span> +these early works achieved instant success. "The Sorrows of Werther" +inaugurated in German literature what is known as the period of storm and +stress. Disenchantment of life, or "Weltschmerz," became a fashionable +malady. The romantic suicide of Goethe's sentimental hero Werther was aped +by a number of over-susceptible young persons. Wieland drew the attention +of the Duke of Weimar to Goethe, and the young poet was invited to Weimar. +<span class="sidenote">Goethe at Weimar</span> +He remained under the patronage of this enlightened prince until the end of +his days. At Weimar, Goethe was the centre of a court comprising some of +the foremost spirits of Germany. The little capital became a Mecca for +poets, scholars, artists and musicians from all over the world. Goethe's +only rival poet in Germany, Schiller, was drawn into the circle and the two +became life-long friends. Most of Goethe's lyric poems were written during +the first ten years at Weimar. At the outbreak of the French Revolution he +<span class="sidenote">"Hermann und Dorothea"</span> +accompanied the Duke of Weimar in one of the campaigns against France. The +thrilling atmosphere of the Revolution furnished him with a literary +background for his epic idyl, "Hermann und Dorothea." Goethe's subsequent +journey to Italy, which was a turning-point in the poet's career, was +commemorated in his "Letters from Italy"—a classic among German books of +travel. Another eminently successful creation was the epic of "Reynard, the +Fox," modelled after the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_824" id="Page_824">[Pg 824]</a></span> +famous bestiary poems of early Flemish and +French literature.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="KING_OF_ROME" id="KING_OF_ROME"></a> +<img src="images/king_of_rome.jpg" width="400" height="573" alt="THE KING OF ROME" +title="THE KING OF ROME" /> +<span class="caption">THE KING OF ROME</span> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0em"><small>Painted by Sir Thomas Lawrence</small></span> +</div> + +<p><span class="sidenote">Goethe's dramas</span> +During the same period Goethe wrote four of his greatest dramas, "Iphigenie +in Tauris," "Torquato Tasso," "Egmont," and the first part of "Faust." +Later he wrote his great prose work, "Die Wahlverwandtschaften," a +quasi-physiological romance; "Wilhelm Meister's Lehr und Wander Jahre," a +narrative interspersed with some of Goethe's finest lyrics, such as the +<span class="sidenote">"Wilhelm Meister"</span> +songs of Mignon and of the old harper, as well as the famous critique of +Hamlet. The height of Goethe's superb prose style was reached in "Dichtung +und Wahrheit," which stands as one of the most charming autobiographies of +<span class="sidenote">"Dichtung und Wahrheit"</span> +all times. Goethe's versatility as a writer and man was shown not only by +his free use of all literary forms, but also by his essays on such abstruse +subjects as astrology, optics, the theory of color, comparative anatomy and +botany. Shortly before his death, the poet finished the greatest of his +<span class="sidenote">"Faust"</span> +works, the tragedy "Faust." He died in the eighty-third year of his life, +uttering the words "More Light." Goethe was entombed in the ducal vault at +Weimar, by the side of his friends, Friedrich Schiller and Carl August of +Weimar.</p> + +<p>Like Heine, Goethe offended his fellow Germans by his apparent lack of +purely national and patriotic sentiments. To the present day his outspoken +admiration of Napoleon and his cold abstention from the ardent enthusiasm +of the Prussian war of Liberation have not been forgiven by certain +Germans. As a man, Goethe has been denounced as an egotist,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_825" id="Page_825">[Pg 825]</a></span> for the +apparently selfish character of his relations with women, ending with his +<span class="sidenote">Goethe's genius</span> +marriage to a woman far below him. On the other hand, Goethe must be +regarded as the most universal literary genius produced by Germany. He +stands in line with those master spirits of all ages, Homer, Virgil, Dante, +Cervantes, Shakespeare and Molière.</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">Death of Scott</span> +A few months after the death of Goethe, in September, Sir Walter Scott died +in England. Goethe was accustomed to speak of Scott as "the greatest writer +of his time." Shortly before his death Goethe said: "All is great in +Scott's 'Waverley Novels'—material, effect, characters and execution." +Scott himself derived much of his inspiration from Goethe's writings. One +of his earliest works was a translation of "Goetz von Berlichingen." The +creation of Mignon, in "Wilhelm Meister," furnished Scott with the +<span class="sidenote">Walter Scott's poems</span> +character of Fenella in his "Peveril of the Peak." Scott began his career +as a writer with a translation of Buerger's "Ballads." His most successful +metrical pieces, "The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border," "The Lay of the +Last Minstrel," "Marmion," and "The Lady of the Lake," for the most part +appeared during the opening years of the Nineteenth Century. Then came the +great series of the "Waverley Novels," named after the romance of +<span class="sidenote">"The Waverley Novels"</span> +"Waverley," published anonymously in 1814. The series comprised such +classics as "Guy Mannering," "The Heart of Midlothian," "Kenilworth," +"Quentin Durward," and "Ivanhoe." Scott's historical romances, based as +they were on painstaking researches into old chroni<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_826" id="Page_826">[Pg 826]</a></span>cles, revived in +Englishmen an interest in their own past. The romance of the Middle Ages +was recognized for the first time, if in an exaggerated degree, throughout +the civilized world. The romantic movement in French literature, now in +full swing, was directly inspired by Scott. Notwithstanding his great +success as a writer, Scott's later career was clouded by difficulties and +debt. Through his friendship with Canning early in his career he obtained +the post of court clerk in Edinburgh. This left him leisure to edit a +number of literary works, such as the editions of Swift, Dryden and Sir +Tristan. The great popular success of his novels soon made him rich. His +hospitality at Abbotsford grew so lavish that in order to defray his +<span class="sidenote">Scott a bankrupt</span> +expenses he joined in a financial partnership with his publishers. The +failure of the Bank of Constable, in 1826, and the consequent failure of +the house of Ballantyne, ruined Scott. His debts amounted to £117,000. In +his efforts to earn enough money wherewith to pay this enormous sum, Scott +became a literary drudge. It was at this time that he wrote his +seven-volume history of the life of Napoleon Bonaparte, "Tales of a +Grandfather," and a two-volume "History of Scotland." His work as a +historian was by no means equal to that of his purely literary creations. +<span class="sidenote">Literary drudgery</span> +In 1830, as the result of overwork, Sir Walter Scott suffered from a stroke +of paralysis. A journey to Italy brought no relief. Two years later he +died. He was buried at Dryburgh Abbey. For several generations after his +death Scott remained one of the most popular authors of England.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_827" id="Page_827">[Pg 827]</a></span></p> + +<p>A remarkable instance of good resulting from evil was afforded this year by +the revolting murders committed by Burke and Hare in Edinburgh. These two +men deliberately killed a number of persons to sell their bodies to medical +dissecters. The discovery of their crimes led to a Parliamentary +investigation in the course of which Sir Astley Cooper boldly stated that +any man's body could be obtained in the United Kingdom if enough money were +offered. The scandal resulted in the passage of an Anatomy Act licensing +the traffic in human bodies within strict limitations. Before this reform +surgeons experimenting in human anatomy had to rely on body-snatchers for +<span class="sidenote">Advances in Medicine</span> +their material. The repeal of the old laws on this subject removed much of +the odium hitherto attached to the science of dissection, while the +increase of experimental material gave a fresh impetus to the study of +anatomy.</p> + +<p>A menace to the royal crown of France was removed by the death of +Napoleon's son, the young Duke of Reichstadt, erstwhile King of Rome. He +expired at Schœnbrunn, after an empty life spent under Metternich's +<span class="sidenote">Death of Napoleon II.</span> +tutelage in Vienna, and was buried there. His death at the time was +commemorated in the famous German ballad, beginning with the lines:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In the gardens of Schœnbrunn</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lies buried the King of Rome.</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>The French playwright Rostand made the life and death of this unfortunate +Prince the subject of a romantic tragedy "The Eaglet," in which Sarah<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_828" id="Page_828">[Pg 828]</a></span> +Bernhardt achieved so striking a success at the close of the Nineteenth +Century.</p> + +<p>The removal of another menace to Louis Philippe's throne was accompanied by +circumstances less tragic. In April, the Duchesse de Berry, wearying of her +exile, crossed over to Marseilles and travelled thence in disguise to +Château Plassac, in the Vendée, where she summoned the Royalists to arms. +She was betrayed into the hands of constables sent to arrest her, and was +<span class="sidenote">Attempted revolts in France</span> +placed in safe keeping at Château Blaye on an island in the Gironde. The +affair took an awkward turn for the cause of the Orleanists in France, when +the Duchess gave birth to an infant daughter, whose parentage she found it +difficult to explain. Next, the death of General Lamarque, a popular +soldier of France, started an insurrection at Paris in the summer. An +attempt was made to build barricades, and conflicts occurred in the +streets, but the National Guard remained true to the army and the King, and +the revolt was soon put down. The government of Louis Philippe resorted to +severe repressive measures, and trials for sedition were common. In Germany +<span class="sidenote">Repressive measures</span> +a revolutionary appeal to arms, made at a popular festival at the Castle of +Homburg, near Zweibrücken, resulted in renewed reactionary measures. The +German Diet, at the instance of Metternich, declared that the refusal of +taxes by any legislature would be treated as an act of rebellion. All +political meetings and associations were forbidden and the public press was +gagged.</p> + +<p>The excesses of Dom Miguel's followers in Por<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_829" id="Page_829">[Pg 829]</a></span>tugal were followed by more +serious international results. A series of wanton attacks upon foreign +subjects in Lisbon called for outside intervention. English and French +<span class="sidenote">Naval demonstration at Lisbon</span> +squadrons appeared in the Tagus. Lord Palmerston, the British Foreign +Secretary, declared himself satisfied after Portugal had apologized and +paid an indemnity to the British sufferers. The French admiral, unable to +obtain quick redress, carried off the best ships of the Portuguese navy. +The worst result for Dom Miguel was the foreign encouragement given to his +brother, Emperor Pedro of Brazil, who was preparing an expedition against +him in the Azores. Some of the best British naval officers and veterans of +the Peninsular War were permitted to enlist under Dom Pedro's banner. +<span class="sidenote">Civil war in Portugal</span> +Captain Charles Napier took charge of Dom Pedro's navy. In July a landing +was made near Oporto, and that important city was captured by Dom Pedro's +forces. Dom Miguel was constrained to lay siege to Oporto. Thus the civil +war in Portugal dragged on.</p> + +<p>The most formidable revolt of the year was that of Mehemet Ali, the Viceroy +of Egypt, against his suzerain, Sultan Mahmoud of Turkey. The disappointing +results of Egypt's participation in Turkey's war in Greece left Mehemet Ali +dissatisfied. He considered the acquisition of Crete by Egypt but a poor +recompense for the loss of his fleet at Navarino.</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">Mehemet Ali's revolt</span> +A quarrel with the Pasha of Acre, Abdallah, gave Mehemet Ali a chance for +Egyptian aggrandizement in that direction. Egyptian forces under<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_830" id="Page_830">[Pg 830]</a></span> the +command of Mehemet Ali's adopted son Ibrahim marched into Palestine and +laid siege to Acre. That stronghold resisted with the same stubbornness +that Bonaparte had encountered years before. The protracted struggle there +<span class="sidenote">Siege of Acre</span> +gave the Sultan time to prepare an expedition wherewith to intervene +between his warring vassals. He took the part of the Pasha of Acre. A +proclamation was issued declaring Mehemet Ali and his son rebels. A Turkish +army under Hussain Pasha entered Syria. The fall of Acre, while the +relieving army was still near Antioch, enabled Ibrahim to throw his full +force against the Turks. In the valley of the Orontes the two forces met. +The Turkish vanguard was routed and the Turkish main column fell back on +Aleppo, leaving Antioch and all the surrounding country to the Egyptians. +The Pasha of Aleppo, won over by Mehemet Ali, closed the gates of his city +against Hussain's disordered forces. The Turks retreated into the mountains +between Syria and Cilicia. The Egyptians pursued. At the pass of Beilan a +<span class="sidenote">Turkish reverses</span> +stand was made by Hussain. The fierce mountain tribes turned against him, +and with their help Ibrahim won a signal victory over the Turks, on July +29. The retreat continued through Cilicia far into Asia Minor. After +several months a new Turkish army under Reshid Pasha, Ibrahim's colleague +in the siege of Missolonghi, advanced from the north. A pitched battle was +fought at Konieh on the 21st of December. The Turks were utterly routed. +The army was dispersed and Reshid himself was made a prisoner. The road to +Constantinople<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_831" id="Page_831">[Pg 831]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Russian intervention</span> +now lay open to Mehemet Ali. Sultan Mahmoud was so alarmed +that he turned to his old adversary, Russia, for help. General Muravieff +was summoned to Constantinople and was empowered to make terms for Turkey +with Mehemet Ali.</p> + +<p>In America, likewise, President Jackson had found it necessary to assert +the rights of the United States by means of a punitive expedition. This +grew out of the affair of Quallah Buteau on the Island of Sumatra in the +Dutch East Indies. The American ship "Friendship" had put in there during +the previous year to load with pepper. The captain, whose men were on +shore, permitted the crew of a Malay boat to come on board. There was not a +<span class="sidenote">Affair of Quallah Buteau</span> +sign of danger, when suddenly the Malays attacked the Americans, killing +the first officer and two sailors and plundering the vessel. They then +tried to beach the vessel, but two other American ships compelled the +Malays to flee. The Rajah of Quallah Buteau appropriated the plunder and +refused to return it. Commodore Downs, with the frigate "Potomac," was +ordered to Sumatra. He reached there early in February. Finding that +nothing could be accomplished by peaceful means he landed two hundred and +fifty of his sailors under command of Lieutenant Shubrick. The Malays +refused to give or receive quarter. Their palisades were torn down and +turned into a bridge, and the fort was stormed. The Stars and Stripes were +hoisted. Another fort with its magazines was blown up. The town was +occupied. In all one hundred and fifty Malays were killed and wounded,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_832" id="Page_832">[Pg 832]</a></span> +among them the Rajah. The total loss of the Americans was two men. The +offending town was razed.</p> + +<p>Jackson's domestic policy during this year brought him into conflict with +two powerful factors. One was the United States Bank at Philadelphia. +Jackson disapproved of the Bank on the ground that it failed to establish a +sound and new form of currency. A financial panic had been caused by +worthless paper currency issued by so-called "wildcat" banking +institutions. A petition for the renewal of the National Bank's charter, +which was to expire in 1836, was laid before the Senate. Both Houses passed +a bill to that effect. Jackson vetoed it, and a two-thirds vote wherewith +<span class="sidenote">Struggle over United States Bank</span> +to override his veto could not be obtained for the measure. Jackson then +ordered the Bank's deposits removed. He read to the Cabinet a long paper, +in which he accused the officers of the Bank of mismanagement and +corruption, and stated that he would assume the entire responsibility for +the removal of the deposits. The Bank made a stubborn fight and spent over +$50,000 in defending itself. In the Senate, Benton was the chief opponent +of the Bank, and Webster was its principal defender. In December, the +President sent a message to Congress recommending the removal of the public +funds from the National Bank to certain State banks. Congress refused to +remove the funds.</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">American tariff legislation</span> +The passage of a new tariff law, on July 14, which was considered harmful +to Southern interests, brought the Federal Government into armed conflict +with the South. On November 19, a State<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_833" id="Page_833">[Pg 833]</a></span> +Convention met at Columbus, South +Carolina, in response to a call of the Legislature, and on the 24th a +nullification ordinance was adopted. The tariff laws were declared +<span class="sidenote">South Carolina nullification</span> +unconstitutional, and therefore "null and void and no law, nor binding upon +the State." On December 10, President Jackson issued a proclamation against +nullifiers, threatening them with trial for treason. Governor Hamilton of +South Carolina in reply warned citizens not to be diverted from their +allegiance to their State by this Federal proclamation. Jackson summoned +General Scott to Washington and sent a part of the army to Charleston with +<span class="sidenote">Jackson's vigorous measures</span> +a ship of war to collect the revenues. On December 28, J.C. Calhoun +resigned the office of Vice-President on account of Jackson's proclamation. +He was forthwith elected Senator from South Carolina.</p> + +<p>It was during this year that renewed troubles with the Seminoles in Florida +resulted in one of the most serious Indian wars of the century. By the +treaty of Fort Muller, in 1823, the Indians were to be confined to a +<span class="sidenote">Treaty of Payne's Landing</span> +reservation on the eastern peninsula, but the Territorial Legislature +petitioned Congress for their removal. Finally, in 1832, the treaty of +Payne's Landing stipulated that seven Seminole chiefs should examine the +country assigned to the Creeks west of the Mississippi, and that if they +could live amiably with the Creeks, the Seminoles were to be removed within +three years, surrendering their lands in Florida, and receiving an annuity +of $15,000 and certain supplies. President Jackson sent a commission to the +West to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_834" id="Page_834">[Pg 834]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Troubles with Indians</span> +convince the seven chiefs that the country was eminently +desirable, and a supplementary treaty from these seven was obtained without +consulting the rest of the Seminoles. Many Seminoles were opposed to moving +West through fear of the Creeks. The Sacs and Foxes and Winnebago Indians +of Wisconsin by treaty, in 1830, had ceded their lands to the United +States, but they still refused to leave their territory. Governor Reynolds, +of Illinois, called out troops to compel them to go to the lands set apart +for them, west of the Mississippi. Black Hawk returned, but was again +<span class="sidenote">Black Hawk War</span> +driven off. In 1832 he came back with a thousand warriors and Indian +warfare broke out. Generals Scott and Atkinson were sent with troops to +Rock Island. It was the first time that a steamboat was used as a military +transport. The force was there divided. General Scott could effect nothing, +but General Atkinson pushed on, and in August defeated the Indians and took +Black Hawk and his two sons prisoners.</p> + +<p>In many other ways public attention was engrossed in America. On June 21, +<span class="sidenote">Cholera reaches America</span> +the Asiatic cholera appeared in New York with appalling results. The +epidemic spread to Philadelphia, Albany, Rochester, and westward. A number +of new railroads were opened in New York and Pennsylvania. The first +horse-drawn street cars began running in New York. On July 2, the +Agricultural Society of New York was founded, and the first public trial +was held of Obett Hussy's new reaping machine, which Cyrus MacCormick also<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_835" id="Page_835">[Pg 835]</a></span> +claimed as his invention. The device was destined to give a tremendous +impetus to agriculture in the development of the western prairies. About +the same time the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence, +<span class="sidenote">Death of Charles Carroll</span> +Charles Carroll of Maryland, died at the age of ninety-six. In American +letters, this year is noted for the appearance of Smith's national anthem, +"My Country, 'tis of Thee." Among the books that attracted attention were +Whittier's "Moll Pitcher," Sparks's "Gouverneur Morris," and Irving's +"Alhambra." James Gordon Bennett began the publication of the "New York +Globe."</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1833" id="a1833"></a>1833</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_836" id="Page_836">[Pg 836]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">A</span><span class="dcap1">T THE</span> very outset of this year in America the slavery question burst into +flame. The abolition movement inaugurated by Garrison and Whittier in the +North was in full sway. In the slave-holding States large rewards were +<span class="sidenote">American abolition movement</span> +offered for the apprehension of Garrison, Whittier and others connected +with the publication of the Boston "Liberator," Philadelphia "Freeman" and +New York "Emancipator." The legislatures of Northern States were called +upon to suppress anti-slavery societies by penal enactments. Governor +Edward Everett of Massachusetts and Governor Marcy of New York commended +such legislation. Prominent Northern citizens travelling in the South were +arrested, imprisoned and flogged for flimsy reasons. At New York, +Montpelier, Utica, Boston, Philadelphia, Cincinnati and Alton, meetings +were broken up, houses sacked, newspapers destroyed and public halls +burned. Berry's "Philanthropist" at Cincinnati and Lovejoy's "Observer" at +Alton were destroyed and Pennsylvania Hall at Philadelphia, a costly +building intended for anti-slavery discussion, was burned on the day after +its dedication, at which a poem by Whittier had been read. The firemen +refused to extinguish the flames. In Boston, Gar<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_837" id="Page_837">[Pg 837]</a></span>rison was dragged through +the streets with a rope around his neck. Whittier and Thompson tried to +lecture against slavery in Boston, but their meeting could not be held in +the face of the following placard posted in all parts of Boston:</p> + +<p>"That infamous foreign scoundrel, Thompson, will hold forth this afternoon +<span class="sidenote">A typical manifesto</span> +at 46 Washington Street. The present is a fair opportunity for the friends +of the Union to snake Thompson out. It will be a contest between the +Abolitionists and the friends of the Union. A purse of <i>one hundred +dollars</i> has been raised by a number of patriotic citizens to reward the +individual who shall first lay violent hands on Thompson, so that he may be +brought to the tar-kettle before dark. Friends of the Union, be vigilant!"</p> + +<p>These events inspired Wendell Phillips, who was present at a meeting in +<span class="sidenote">Wendell Phillips</span> +Faneuil Hall, Boston, called to approve these outrages, to take an open +stand in favor of the rights of the people, which were threatened, and gave +to the cause for thirty years his active brain and eloquent tongue.</p> + +<p>As a counterpart to the popular excesses in behalf of slavery, the +Catholics of New England had to suffer persecution. At Charlestown, in +Massachusetts, a mob burned the Ursuline Convent. Another indignation +meeting was held at Faneuil Hall in Boston to denounce this outrage. As a +<span class="sidenote">Compromise tariff</span> +concession to the Southern agitators, the American Congress, on February +26, adopted a so-called "Compromise tariff." The new bill cut down all +duties of over twenty per cent by one-tenth of the surplus of each<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_838" id="Page_838">[Pg 838]</a></span> year, +so as to bring about a uniform rate of twenty per cent within a decade. On +the other hand, Congress passed a "force bill," which empowered the +President to execute the revenue laws in South Carolina by force of arms. A +State Convention in South Carolina for its part repealed the ordinance of +nullification, but proceeded to declare the new Federal force bill null and +void.</p> + +<p>On May 24, John Randolph of Roanoke, Virginia, a descendant of Pocahontas, +<span class="sidenote">Death of Randolph</span> +died at the age of sixty. He commenced public life in 1799, and served +thirty years in Congress. There he became distinguished for his eccentric +conduct, his sharpness of wit, and his galling sarcasm, which made him +feared by all parties. He had to resign from the Cabinet under odious +charges. In 1830, Jackson appointed him Minister to Russia. Randolph's +speeches are still widely read.</p> + +<p>In the extreme South the American settlers of Texas, aided by Davy +<span class="sidenote">Texas filibusters</span> +Crockett's filibusters from the United States, began a war for independence +against Mexico.</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">English abolition movement</span> +The abolition of slavery was likewise the most absorbing topic that came up +during this year in the Parliament of England. Young Gladstone, the newly +elected member from Newark, taunted with his father's slave-holding methods +at Demerara, made his maiden speech in Parliament on this subject. One who +<span class="sidenote">Gladstone's first speech in Parliament</span> +heard the rising orator recorded: "Burke himself could not be more +sympathetic, more earnest, and more strong." Another engrossing topic was +that of Ireland. The state of Ireland at this period,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_839" id="Page_839">[Pg 839]</a></span> as conceded by a +Tory historian of modern England, was a disgrace to the history of the +Nineteenth Century. So wretched was the government of this unhappy +dependency that during the year 1832 alone nearly 1,500 people were +<span class="sidenote">Misgovernment in Ireland</span> +murdered and robbed in Ireland. Instead of giving to Ireland a better +administration, Parliament passed another coercion bill. Tithes for the +Protestant clergy were collected at the point of the bayonet. The cause of +Ireland, as heretofore, was pleaded most eloquently by Daniel O'Connell. He +denounced the Irish Church bill as "the basest act which a national +assembly could sanction." The people became so enraged that when an +Englishman was killed in a riot the coroner's jury returned a verdict of +justifiable homicide. The Court of King's Bench quashed the verdict and +<span class="sidenote">Irish resentment</span> +tried the murderer before a jury. He was acquitted in the face of the +clearest proofs against him and in direct contravention of the instructions +of the judge. The spirit of the English aristocracy was indicated by the +fact that a bill for relieving Jews from their civil disabilities was +thrown out by the House of Lords.</p> + +<p>On July 26, William Wilberforce died in his seventy-fourth year. He lived +<span class="sidenote">Death of Wilberforce</span> +long enough to hear that the bill for the abolition of slavery in the +British colonies, to which he had devoted the greater part of his life, had +passed its second reading, and that success was assured. Of all English +advocates of human freedom he was the most persevering and faithful. After +a distinguished Parliamentary career of forty-five years, he gave up all +political ambitions<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_840" id="Page_840">[Pg 840]</a></span> to devote himself to the cause of humanity and +religion. He had been the intimate friend and associate of Pitt, Fox, G. +Milner, Brougham and Macaulay. His wish that he be buried simply and +privately was not granted by England. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, +close to the tombs of Pitt, Fox and Canning. Around his open grave stood +the royal dukes of Sussex and Gloucester, the Duke of Wellington, Lord +Chancellor Brougham, the venerable Archbishop Howley, with other +representatives from the House of Lords and Commons.</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">Tractarian Movement</span> +It was at this period of the ecclesiastical history of England that the +Tractarian Movement began at Oxford. It is a significant fact that the +"Tracts for the Times" appeared at Oxford within less than a year after the +passage of the Reform Bill. The connection of the two movements has been +<span class="sidenote">Newman</span> +revealed in Newman's "Apologia Pro Vita Sua." In January, Dr. Arnold, the +celebrated headmaster at Rugby, published his "Principles of Church +Reform." He aimed at a reunion of all Christians within the pale of a great +<span class="sidenote">Dr. Arnold</span> +national church. In the discussion that followed, the foremost spirits were +Newman, Froude, Dr. Pusey, and Keble, the sweet singer of the Church of +England, whose "Christian Year" will live as long as that Church endures.</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">Browning</span> +Enlightened Englishmen were further stirred at this time by the publication +of Robert Browning's "Pauline," a narrative in unusually virile verse, and +by Edmund Keane's original creation of the character of "Othello." The new +<span class="sidenote">Keane</span> +invention of steel pens<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_841" id="Page_841">[Pg 841]</a></span> +first came into general use during this same year, +as did Hansom's "safety cab," and Lord Brougham's favorite style of +<span class="sidenote">Steel pens</span> +carriage. Robert Brown, an English scientist, in the course of his +microscopic studies of orchids happened to make the important discovery of +the nucleus of cells. Joseph Saxton, an American, constructed the first +<span class="sidenote">Electro-magnetism</span> +electro-magnetic machine in England. +</p> + +<p>The invention of the electro-magnetic telegraph was claimed by Gauss and +Weber in Germany. The first telegraph actually constructed and used was set +<span class="sidenote">Bismarck</span> +up at Göttingen. Among those who witnessed it was young Bismarck, who had +already achieved a reputation as a duellist among the students of +Göttingen. An impulse toward his political ambitions of the future may +possibly have been given by the sensational events at Frankfort during this +year. A band of misguided enthusiasts attempted to establish German unity +<span class="sidenote">Revolt at Frankfort</span> +by a <i>coup de main</i>. They overpowered a small detachment of guards and +hoisted the black-red-gold banner of Germany. The expected rising of the +population did not follow. The little band of revolutionists was dispersed +at the first appearance of a strong military force. It is characteristic of +the premature nature of this movement that it excited less serious +<span class="sidenote">Caspar Hauser</span> +attention in Germany than the death of Caspar Hauser, a freak foundling, +whose unexplained origin has remained one of the mysteries of the +Nineteenth Century.</p> + +<p>The affair at Frankfort received the usual serious consideration by +<span class="sidenote">Teplitz conference</span> +Metternich, who arranged for meetings of the allied monarchs at +Münchengrätz, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_842" id="Page_842">[Pg 842]</a></span> +of their ministers and authorized representatives at +Teplitz. The most beneficial measure agreed on at these meetings was the +<span class="sidenote">Zollverein</span> +comprehension of all German States in a tariff union known as the +Zollverein.</p> + +<p>Full recognition was given to Prince Otto of Wittelsbach as King of Greece. +The young prince, then in his eighteenth year, had already landed at +Nauplia. He commenced his reign with a regency consisting of Bavaria's +ablest ministers, Count Armandsberg, Von Maurer, and Heideck. King Louis of +<span class="sidenote">Otto's reign in Greece</span> +Bavaria commemorated the accession of his son to the throne of Greece by +erecting a number of monumental buildings at Munich in imitation of the +architecture of ancient Greece, and by mural paintings in the arcades of +his palace garden depicting all the most famous places and incidents of the +Greek struggle for independence.</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">French painters</span> +In France, a new impetus was likewise given to art. Jean Baptiste Leloir +began his career as a painter of religious and historical subjects; +Lecquereux, the great historical painter, stood already at the zenith of +his power, and Corot's exquisite landscapes were receiving their full +measure of appreciation. In French letters, this year is noted for the +<span class="sidenote">Death of Legendre</span> +first appearance of Balzac's "Eugénie Grandet" and Prosper Mérimée's +"Double Erreur." Legendre, the great French mathematician, died during this +year.</p> + +<p>It was the foreign policy of France to supplant Russia as mediator between +Turkey and Egypt. Admiral Roussin had made it plain to the Sultan that if +Syria could not be reconquered from the re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_843" id="Page_843">[Pg 843]</a></span>bellious Mehemet Ali except by +<span class="sidenote">Treaty of Keteya</span> +Russian forces the province was more than lost to Turkey. Accordingly, a +French envoy was sent to Mehemet's victorious son, Ibrahim, with powers to +conclude peace on any terms. The French suggestions were adopted on April +10, in the treaty of Keteya. The Sultan made over to his viceroy all of +Syria and a part of Adana. The Egyptians consented to leave Anatolia. The +Sultan took the spoliation so much to heart that he turned from France. +Once more he entered into negotiations with Russia. Russian warships were +permitted to enter the Dardanelles, and Russian troops camped side by side +with the Turks on the east bank of the Bosphorus. A secret treaty for +<span class="sidenote">Compact of Unkiarskelessi</span> +defence and offence was concluded between Russia and Turkey at the palace +of Unkiarskelessi: The Porte undertook to close the Dardanelles to the +warships of all other nations whenever Russia should be at war. Thus the +entrance to the Black Sea was made practically a Russian stronghold. As +soon as the purport of this treaty was apprehended it had the effect of +uniting the rest of Europe against Russia—notably, France and England. +Henceforth Russia's ascendency in the East was watched by the chancelleries +of Europe with growing suspicion. Sultan Mahmoud set himself seriously to +<span class="sidenote">Moltke</span> +reorganize his army after Western models. Following the example of Mehemet +Ali, he summoned foreign officers to his general staff. It was then that +Moltke, the subsequent strategist of Germany, entered Turkish service.</p> + +<p>Lord Napier's namesake, Captain Charles Napier,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_844" id="Page_844">[Pg 844]</a></span> +had won fresh laurels in<span class="sidenote">Portuguese civil war</span> +the Portuguese war for the succession to the throne. In command of the +fleet fitted out by Dom Pedro of Brazil he attacked and annihilated Dom +Miguel's navy off St. Vincent. Napier's colleague, Villa Flor, landed his +forces and marched on Lisbon. The resistance of Dom Miguel's forces was +overcome. On July 28, Dom Pedro was able to enter Lisbon as a victor. Still +the struggle went on. Among those who linked themselves with Dom Miguel was +Don Carlos, the rebellious pretender to the throne of Spain. Upon the death +of King Ferdinand VII., in September, and the coronation of the Infanta +Isabella as Queen of Spain under a regency, Don Carlos was proclaimed king +<span class="sidenote">Civil war in Spain</span> +by his followers. The Basque provinces declared in his favor. Civil war +began. Had Don Carlos crossed the border at once he might have captured his +crown. Unfortunately for his cause, he lingered in Portugal until the end +of the year. The regency of Spain, in the face of this embarrassment at +home, was called upon to proceed energetically against a revolutionary +<span class="sidenote">Revolt in Cuba</span> +rising in Cuba under the leadership of Manuel Quesada. Henceforth the Pearl +of the Antilles was no longer the "ever faithful Isle."</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1834" id="a1834"></a>1834</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_845" id="Page_845">[Pg 845]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">T</span><span class="dcap1">HE</span> death of Pedro IV., the Emperor of Brazil and claimant king of +<span class="sidenote">Death of Pedro IV.</span> +Portugal, made matters worse in Portugal. Diego Antonio Fergio set himself +up as Regent. Monasteries were suppressed and the Society of Jesus was +expelled from the kingdom. Dom Miguel continued his fight for the throne. +Don Carlos, the Spanish pretender, remained with him. The situation grew so +threatening for the established governments in Portugal and Spain that +they, too, combined for mutual defence. Queen-Regent Christina of Spain +found that she would have to rely for support upon the Spanish Liberals. +Martinez de la Rosa was made Prime Minister. His first measure was to give +his country a constitution, which was ratified, on April 10, by royal +statute. He then entered into negotiations with Portugal as well as with +<span class="sidenote">Quadruple alliance</span> +England and France to crush the two rebellious pretenders by a combined +effort. On April 22, a fourfold treaty was signed at London by the terms of +which the Spanish and Portuguese Governments undertook to proceed +conjointly against Miguel and Carlos. England promised to co-operate with +her fleet. France agreed to send an army into the Peninsula if called upon. +Before the treaty had been ratified<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_846" id="Page_846">[Pg 846]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Foreign intervention in Portugal</span> +even by the English Parliament and +French Chambers, General Rodil marched a Spanish division into Portugal. +Dom Miguel's forces were driven before him. The threatening demonstrations +of British cruisers and the simultaneous publication of the terms of the +quadruple alliance in Lisbon and Madrid cowed the revolutionists. On May +22, Dom Miguel yielded. On the promise of a handsome pension, he renounced +<span class="sidenote">Pretenders withdraw</span> +his rights to the crown of Braganza and agreed to leave Portugal forever. +Don Carlos, while declining thus to sell his rights, took refuge with the +British admiral on his flagship and was taken to London.</p> + +<p>For a while it seemed as if order had been restored in the Peninsula. The +<span class="sidenote">Return of Don Carlos</span> +problem of Portugal was settled. Don Carlos' shrewd move, however, left +matters open in Spain. The pretender had not been made a prisoner of war, +nor was he placed under any constraint or obligations. After a short +residence in England he crossed the Channel, and, travelling through France +in disguise, reappeared on July 10 in Navarre, where Zumalacarregui, a +<span class="sidenote">Zumalacarregui</span> +brigand chief of considerable military ability, was conducting brilliant +operations against the Spanish government forces. Of the detachments sent +against him one after another was defeated in the mountains of Navarre.</p> + +<p>All manner of help from the peasants was obtained by a system of ruthless +intimidation. The personal presence of Don Carlos strengthened the cause. +It was in vain that old General Mina, who had won renown in these parts ten +years ago,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_847" id="Page_847">[Pg 847]</a></span> was sent against the Carlists. Unable to cope with them, the +old soldier resigned from his command. The Spanish Minister, Valdes, +<span class="sidenote">Spanish reverses</span> +thereupon took the field himself. His attempt to operate in Navarre with a +large army resulted in the worst defeat that had yet befallen the +government forces. He had to retreat before the victorious Carlists. +Zumalacarregui prepared to cross the Ebro to march upon Madrid.</p> + +<p>The Spanish Ministry in alarm turned to its allies for aid. The English +<span class="sidenote">Delacey's expedition to Spain</span> +Government would render no further aid beyond that already given by the +British squadron in Spanish waters. Permission, however, was granted to +enroll volunteers for the Spanish cause in England and in Ireland. Colonel +Delacey Ebbons raised a corps of needy adventurers, and, having been +supplied with arms and funds, crossed over to Spain. The first appeal for +<span class="sidenote">French intervention refused</span> +French intervention resulted in like failure. France had cause to hesitate +before embarking in another Peninsular War. Lord Palmerston's refusal on +behalf of the British Government to co-operate with France in any such +undertaking gave Louis Philippe reason to reflect. A large party in France, +moreover, was in sympathy with Don Carlos. The Spanish Government was +informed that French military assistance, under the circumstances, was +<span class="sidenote">Fall of La Rosa's Ministry</span> +impossible. The first result of this refusal was the downfall of La Rosa's +Ministry in Spain. The civil war continued.</p> + +<p>In France, domestic troubles rather than international questions were the +problems of the day. On April 5, a violent outbreak had been precipitated +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_848" id="Page_848">[Pg 848]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Revolts in France</span> +by Mazzini among the workingmen of Lyons, which arose from a labor strike +involving thousands. Soon the whole city was in uproar. Barricades were +thrown up. Blood was shed in hand-to-hand fights with the troops. Similar +outbreaks had been prepared at St. Etienne, Vienne, Grenoble, Châlons, +Auxerre, Arbois, Marseilles, and Luneville. The insurrection spread to +Paris. On April 13, a conflict of some workmen with the troops was followed +<span class="sidenote">Fall of Broglie's Ministry</span> +by the building of barricades all over the city. The revolt was ruthlessly +suppressed by General Bugeaud, the commandant of Paris, who was henceforth +denounced as a butcher. After it was all over the Ministry of Duc de +Broglie fell in consequence of an adverse vote of the Chambers on the +subject of the indemnities due to America. The succeeding Ministry lasted +<span class="sidenote">Thiers, Prime Minister</span> +just three days. Then came the recall of Thiers, Guizot, Duchatel, Humann, +and Rigny. Marshal Mortier became President of the Council. The Chamber of +Deputies was dissolved. The aged Prince Talleyrand quitted the embassy at +London. A proposal to form a Ministry headed by Marquis de la Fayette for +the last time brought the name of that venerable hero into the public +affairs of France. Shortly afterward he died in peace at La Grange, +surrounded by his children and calling for his dead wife. His burial in the +<span class="sidenote">Death of Lafayette</span> +graveyard of Picpus, consecrated to the memory of the victims of the +Terror, was left undisturbed by political demonstrations.</p> + +<p>The name of Lafayette is indissolubly linked with the cause of the American +Revolution and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_849" id="Page_849">[Pg 849]</a></span> struggle for independence. To join the revolutionists' +cause, Lafayette not only had to sacrifice his private fortune and +<span class="sidenote">Lafayette's career</span> +brilliant prospects at home, but also to leave a young, dearly-loved wife +with an unborn babe. Throughout the weary struggle of America against the +overwhelming power of England, Lafayette, together with Kosciusko and De +Kalb, stood by Washington and the cause for which he had drawn his sword. +Lafayette's presence in the American army, and the example of his constant +financial sacrifices for the American cause, were instrumental in winning +France over to that offensive alliance against England which helped to turn +the tide of war against that country. Throughout his subsequent career, +Lafayette sustained the reputation he had won in early manhood. He was one +of the few prominent figures of the French Revolution who emerged from that +ordeal with untainted reputation. From then until his closing days he was +the foremost champion of liberal thought and political freedom in France.</p> + +<p>Another distinguished Frenchman who died during this year was Jacquard, the +inventor of the loom which bears his name. In the French Salon in spring, +<span class="sidenote">Delaroche</span> +"The Execution of Lady Jane Grey in the Tower," by Paul Hippolyte +Delaroche, took the highest prize. The picture was a happy medium between +the ultra-romantic method of Delacroix and the classicism of David. Three +years previous to this, Delaroche sent to the Salon his famous paintings +"Cromwell at the Bier of Charles I.," and "The Children of Edward IV. in +the Tower."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_850" id="Page_850">[Pg 850]</a></span> At this same time he was engaged on the greatest of his works, +"The Hemicycle," now in the Hall of the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. +<span class="sidenote">Death of Blackwood</span> +England lost three men prominent in letters, Blackwood, Lamb, and +Coleridge. Blackwood's contribution to English letters was the "Edinburgh +Magazine," founded and maintained by him from 1817 until his death.</p> + +<p>Charles Lamb appeared in the world of letters as "Elia," a fancifully +adopted name of an Italian fellow clerk at the South Sea House, where Lamb +<span class="sidenote">Charles Lamb</span> +served his literary apprenticeship. While serving as a clerk for the South +Sea Company he published his first poems at the age of twenty-two, followed +shortly by "Rosamond Gray" and "John Woodville," at the beginning of the +century. With his sister Mary he shared in the publication of the two +children's books, "Tales from Shakespeare" (1806), and "Poetry for +Children" (1809). During this same period he compiled and edited the famous +<span class="sidenote">"Essays of Elia"</span> +"Specimens of Dramatic Poets Contemporary with Shakespeare." The "Essays of +Elia," which made Lamb's reputation, did not appear until 1823. The charm +of these essays is a frank note of autobiography tempered by a kindly humor +and whimsicality peculiar to Lamb. His fond appreciation of the poetry of +Elizabethan days, as revealed in these essays, was instrumental in bringing +about that revival of Shakespeare and old English poetry which set in early +in the Nineteenth Century.</p> + +<p>Thus it happened that Lamb and Coleridge were intimately associated. Lamb's +first poems appeared<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_851" id="Page_851">[Pg 851]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Death of Coleridge</span> +in a volume of Coleridge's. Lamb repaid the debt by +his tribute to Coleridge in his letters. There he has aptly described him +as a "logician, metaphysician and bard." It so happened that both friends, +who were almost of the same age, died in the same year.</p> + +<p>Samuel Taylor Coleridge was born in 1772 at Ottery St. Mary, in Devonshire, +the son of a clergyman. He studied at Cambridge and then went to London, +where he enlisted as a trooper in a regiment of dragoons. Finding military +service uncongenial, he obtained a discharge and devoted himself to +literature. Together with Southey and Lovell he undertook to found a +communistic colony on the banks of the Susquehanna in America. The project +<span class="sidenote">The "Lake School"</span> +failed from lack of money. The three friends married the three sisters +Fireckes of Bristol and settled in Stowey. There Coleridge, Southey and +Wordsworth founded their so-called "Lake School of Poetry." Coleridge has +told in his "Biographia Literaria," how the "Lyrical Ballads," issued at +that time, derived their inspiration from two sources; to wit, supernatural +themes, which appealed to Coleridge, and homely every-day subjects, which +<span class="sidenote">"Rime of the Ancient Mariner"</span> +Wordsworth loved to beautify. Occasionally Coleridge tried himself in the +other field, as in his "Lines to a Young Ass." In the same year Coleridge +brought out the famous "Rime of the Ancient Mariner," his "Odes," and wrote +his first version of "Christabel." The period at Nether Stowey, from 1797 +to 1798, was Coleridge's most fruitful year as a poet. All his best poetic +works<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_852" id="Page_852">[Pg 852]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Swinburne on Coleridge</span> +had their origin at that time. Swinburne has said of Coleridge: "For +height and perfection of imaginative quality he is the greatest of lyric +poets, this was his special power and is his special praise." Much of the +charm and magnetic suggestion of his famous poem "Christabel" rests on its +exquisite vowel-music. The same is true of his wonderful "Rime of the +Ancient Mariner." There the running prose glossary accompanying the poem +displays the same delicate, fanciful tone as his most musical verse. By +these two poems alone Coleridge proved himself the most successful of the +English poets who have tried to imbue their verse with an eerie sense of +the invisible and the unreal:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Like one that on a lonesome road,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Doth walk in fear and dread,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And, having once turned round, walks on,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And turns no more his head;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Because he knows a frightful fiend,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Doth close behind him tread.</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>After his twenty-fifth year, Coleridge's poetic qualities declined. As a +result of his travels in Germany he published, in 1800, a translation of +Schiller's "Wallenstein," after which he reluctantly undertook to edit the +<span class="sidenote">"Aids to Reflection"</span> +"Morning Post," a government organ. In 1804 he went to Malta as secretary +of Governor Ball. His last works were "Biographia Literaria" (1817), +"Zapolya" (1818), "Aids to Reflection" (1825), "Constitution of the Church +and State" (1826), as well as his posthumous "Literary Remains," +"Confessions of an Inquiring Spirit," and the "Theory of Life." In English +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_853" id="Page_853">[Pg 853]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">"Sartor Resartus"</span> +literary annals this year is noted likewise for the appearance of Carlyle's +"Sartor Resartus."</p> + +<p>A Parliamentary bill admitting dissenters to university honors in England +was thrown out by the House of Lords. Another bill for the removal of the +civil disabilities of the Jews was again carried in the Lower House only to +be rejected by the Lords. Next, another coercion bill against Ireland was +introduced by the Ministry early in July. In the Commons much fault was +found with the Government's manner of dealing with Irish questions. In +spite of the concessions to O'Connell, that formidable leader had not been +<span class="sidenote">The Church of Ireland</span> +won over. The Tories held that the Ministry had gone altogether too far. At +this critical moment, on the King's birthday, the Irish prelates, with the +Primate at their head, presented an address signed by fourteen Irish +clergymen in which they deprecated the proposed changes in the discipline +of the Church in Ireland. Instead of leaving the reply to his Ministers, +the King answered it in person: "I had been by the circumstances of my life +led to support toleration to the utmost extent of which it is justly +<span class="sidenote">Royal interference</span> +capable, but toleration must not be suffered to go into licentiousness.... +I have spoken more strongly than usual, because of unhappy circumstances +that have forced themselves on the observation of all. The words which you +hear from me have not been learned by heart, but do indeed flow from my +heart." This speech was received with transports of joy by the opposition. +<span class="sidenote">Earl Grey resigns</span> +Earl Grey and his colleagues, on July 9, handed in their resignation.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_854" id="Page_854">[Pg 854]</a></span> +Viscount Melbourne was called in with a heterogeneous Cabinet. During this +interregnum, on October 16, the two Houses of Parliament burned down. +Westminster Hall, the Abbey and the Speaker's residence were saved, but all +the rest, including the interior of the tower and the library of +Parliament, was destroyed.</p> + +<p>The most serious of the many embarrassments inherited from the +Administration of Grey was the trouble with China, that had arisen out of +<span class="sidenote">Troubles in China</span> +the East India Company's opium trade in the Far East. When the charter of +the East India Company was renewed in 1834, it was shorn of its monopoly of +this trade. The consequent extension of the trade in opium, so strenuously +opposed by the Chinese Government, incensed Emperor Taouk-Wang. Lord +Napier, the new British Commissioner, reached the Canton River in July. His +instructions from Lord Palmerston were to foster the English opium trade +not only at Canton, but to demand an extension of the trade to other parts +of the Chinese empire. The Chinese mandarins, under instructions from the +<span class="sidenote">Opium trade resented</span> +Viceroy of Canton, refused to have anything to do with Napier. He was +lampooned in Chinese prints as "the foreign eye." The Viceroy issued an +edict forbidding the British Commissioner to proceed up the river. At the +same time all trade with English merchants was suspended. In defiance of +the Chinese orders Lord Napier left Macao, and sailing up the river made +his way to the English factory at Canton. There he found himself isolated. +An Imperial proclamation declared that the national<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_855" id="Page_855">[Pg 855]</a></span> dignity was at stake, +and ordered all Chinese subjects to keep away from the Englishmen. The +<span class="sidenote">Lord Napier's defiance</span> +Canton factory was deserted by all of its coolies and domestic servants. +Lord Napier, ailing in health as he was, found his position untenable. He +sent a final defiance to the Viceroy of Canton: "The merchants of Great +Britain wish to trade with all China on principles of mutual benefit. They +will never relax in their exertions until they gain this. The Viceroy will +find it as easy to stop the current of the Canton River, as to carry into +effect his insane determination." After this the Viceroy sent his troops +<span class="sidenote">British ships fired on</span> +into the foreign settlements, and ordered the Bogue forts to fire on any +English ship that attempted to pass. On September 5, two British ships in +the river were fired upon by the Chinese. The English merchants petitioned +Lord Napier to retire to Macao. This he did with a futile protest against +China's acts "of unprecedented tyranny and injustice." Lord Napier died, +leaving to others the settlement of the difficulties which his presence had +intensified.</p> + +<p>The death of Earl Spencer, which raised Lord Althorp, his son, to the Upper +<span class="sidenote">Lord Melbourne dismissed</span> +House, gave the King a chance to get rid of his new advisers. When Lord +Melbourne, on November 14, submitted to the King the changes he proposed to +make in the Ministry in consequence of the vacancies in the Exchequer, +William IV. expressed his disapproval and called in the Duke of Wellington +in his stead. The Duke advised that the task of forming a new Cabinet be +intrusted to Sir Robert Peel, then in Rome. Sir<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_856" id="Page_856">[Pg 856]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Peel dissolves Parliament</span> +Robert arrived in London +on December 9, and at once accepted the task imposed on him. The opposition +against his new-formed Ministry was so strong that it was decided to appeal +to the country. On December 30, Parliament was dissolved.</p> + +<p>In North America, the contest between the Northern and Southern States in +regard to slavery steadily gathered force. President Jackson, in his annual +message, called attention to "the fearful excitement produced in the South +<span class="sidenote">American slavery agitation</span> +by attempts to circulate through the mails inflammatory appeals addressed +to the slaves." The Federal postmasters of the South and in several cities +of the North were encouraged in the practice of rifling the mails of +possibly offensive matter. John Quincy Adams was threatened with public +censure at the bar of the House for proposing to print a petition for +<span class="sidenote">"Atherton Gag"</span> +freedmen. All attempts to get such petitions before Congress were defeated +by a standing rule known as the Atherton Gag. During this year the national +debt was almost liquidated by Jackson's payment of $4,760,082. A measure +was passed through Congress establishing the value of gold and silver. Gold +flowed into the Treasury through all channels of commerce. The mint was +kept busy, and specie payments, which had been suspended for thirty years, +were resumed. Gold and silver became the recognized currency of the land. +The President's measures against the National Bank were less successful. On +March 28, the Senate debated Clay's resolution censuring the President for +his removal of the government deposits. A joint resolution by +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_857" id="Page_857">[Pg 857]</a></span> +both Houses<span class="sidenote">American events</span> +of Congress was passed, in the Senate, June 3, by a vote of 29 to 10. Other +events of the year of interest to Americans were the popular riots that +threw New York into a turmoil on the occasion of the first mayoralty +election in that city, the election of Abraham Lincoln to the Legislature +of Illinois, the establishment of the Indian Territory; and the first +appearance of Bancroft's "History of the United States."</p> + +<p>Of world-wide interest was the emancipation of all black slaves in the +British West Indies, South Africa, and other colonies; the establishment of +the German tariff union, including all German States except Austria; the +transfer of the capital of Greece from Nauplia to the site of Athens; the +<span class="sidenote">Friction matches</span> +foundation of the free university of Brussels, and the death of the great +German theologian Schleiermacher. An innovation that was destined to add to +the convenience and comfort of domestic life throughout the world was the +introduction of lucifer matches during this year.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1835" id="a1835"></a>1835</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_858" id="Page_858">[Pg 858]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">O</span><span class="dcap1">N</span> February 19, Parliament reassembled. It was found that a working +majority of Tories had been returned, but the first vote on the King's +<span class="sidenote">Irish balance of power</span> +speech revealed a junction of the Whigs with O'Connell's Irish party, which +foreboded disaster to the government. For the first time in Parliamentary +history the Irish members held the balance of power. In vain did Sir Robert +Peel attempt to stave off his downfall by the introduction of welcome +measures of reform. Once more it was on a question affecting Ireland that +the government was defeated. This was Peel's high commutation bill. Lord +Russell in reply moved that the surplus revenues of the Irish Church be +used for non-ecclesiastical purposes. In the debate that followed, +Gladstone spoke strongly against the measure. For this early speech, +<span class="sidenote">Gladstone's anti-Irish speech</span> +embodying as it did views so radically different from those of his later +life, he was constantly reproached during his career. It ended with the +words, "I hope I shall never live to see the day when such a system shall +be adopted in this country; for the consequences of it to public men will +be lamentable beyond all description." O'Connell said in reply: "I shall +content myself with laying down<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_859" id="Page_859">[Pg 859]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">O'Connell's reply</span> +the broad principle that the emoluments of +a church ought not to be raised from a people who do not belong to it.... +All that the Catholics of Ireland require is justice—equal and even-handed +justice."</p> + +<p>When the matter came to a vote the government was defeated by a majority of +<span class="sidenote">Fall of Peel's Ministry</span> +thirty-three. On April 8, the resignation of the Ministry was announced to +Parliament. The King sent for Earl Grey, and, on his refusal to form a +Ministry, was driven to the humiliating expedient of recalling Lord +Melbourne. On April 18, a new Cabinet was formed, composed largely of the +men who had been so summarily dismissed by the King a few months before. +<span class="sidenote">Melbourne's second Administration</span> +Lord Melbourne's second Administration was marked by the elevation of the +settlements of South Australia to a Crown colony. The city of Melbourne, +which was founded that year, was named in his honor.</p> + +<p>An extraordinary career was ended, on June 18, by the death of William +Cobbett, from overwork in Parliament. With but little school education, +<span class="sidenote">Death of William Cobbett</span> +this remarkable man succeeded in becoming not only one of the foremost +prose writers of English, but the leader of a great popular party.</p> + +<p>During the early part of Lord Melbourne's Administration, the discontent +and irritation prevailing in Ireland were heightened by the agitation +against the Orange lodges. The original purpose of these lodges had been to +defend, against the Stuarts and their supporters, the Protestant ascendancy +which had begun with the reign of William of Orange.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_860" id="Page_860">[Pg 860]</a></span> The lodges had grown +<span class="sidenote">The Orange Lodges</span> +in strength until, in 1835, it was estimated that they numbered 140,000 +members in Ireland, and as many as 40,000 in London alone. The Grand Master +of all the Orange Lodges was no less a personage than the Duke of +Cumberland, the King's brother. It was believed in Ireland that a +conspiracy existed on the part of the Orangemen to set aside the Princess +Victoria, the next heir to the throne, in favor of the Duke of Cumberland. +The subject was brought to the notice of Parliament by Hume and O'Connell, +who drew special attention to the illegal introduction of Orangemen into +<span class="sidenote">Duke of Cumberland implicated</span> +the British army, under warrants signed by the Duke of Cumberland. The +scandal grew to such an extent that the Duke of Cumberland hastened to +dissolve the order before a resolution condemning his conduct could pass +through the Commons.</p> + +<p>In South Africa, another war over boundary questions broke out between the +<span class="sidenote">D'Urban in South Africa</span> +Dutch and English settlers and the Kaffirs. Sir Benjamin d'Urban advanced +the frontier of Cape Colony to the Keir River. The Zulu chief, Dingaan, on +the assassination of King Chaka, who had welded together a confederation of +warlike tribes, succeeded to his powers. In the midst of these difficulties +an advance guard of Boers, exasperated by Great Britain's abolition of the +<span class="sidenote">Beginning of Boer trek</span> +old Dutch moot courts or "Heemraden," and of slavery in Cape Colony, +trekked across the Orange River and founded a colony of their own.</p> + +<p>In South America, political changes rapidly followed one upon the other. +Rocafuerte seized the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_861" id="Page_861">[Pg 861]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">South American disorders</span> +reins of power in Ecuador. About the same time +General Rosas had himself re-elected for fifteen years as dictator of the +Argentine Republic. President Santa Cruz of Bolivia made a raid into Peru, +and in his absence the State of Bolivia promptly fell a prey to internal +disorders. In Mexico, General Santa Anna established his rule as dictator. +The affairs of Texas soon demanded his attention. On December 20, Texas +<span class="sidenote">Revolution of Texas</span> +declared itself independent of Mexico. Support came from the United States. +The revolution began with the battle of Gonzales, in which 500 Americans +took part. The Mexicans were defeated. Soon afterward Goliad and the strong +citadel of Bexar, known as the Alamo, were taken and the Mexican forces +dispersed.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile the Seminole war in Florida had assumed a serious aspect. +The chief Indian leader who opposed the removal of the Seminoles west of +<span class="sidenote">Osceola in Florida</span> +the Mississippi was Osceola, son of a half breed squaw and an Englishman. +His wife, the daughter of a slave, had been seized and returned to her +mother's master. Thenceforth Osceola became an uncompromising enemy of the +whites. The Indian controversy with the American Government turned on the +interpretation of a pronoun in the treaty of Payne's Landing. President +<span class="sidenote">Treaty of Payne's Landing disputed</span> +Jackson held that the word "they" in the most important clause of the +treaty relating to the compensation of the despoiled Indians referred only +to the deputies who executed the document, whereas Osceola contended that +it was meant to stand for all the Indians. The continued quibbling so +enraged<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_862" id="Page_862">[Pg 862]</a></span> Osceola that he drove his knife into the table exclaiming: "The +next treaty I will execute is with this."</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">American progress</span> +Among the intellectual and scientific achievements of this year in America +must be reckoned Colt's invention of a revolver and the manufacture of +pins. Longfellow brought out his "Outre-Mer," and Audubon published his +"Birds of America." On December 16, a disastrous fire destroyed most of the +<span class="sidenote">New York conflagration</span> +commercial houses of New York City. In all 530 houses burned down and +$18,000,000 worth of property was consumed. Chief Justice Marshall of the +United States Supreme Court died during this year, eighty years of age. As +a member of Congress, a Cabinet officer, and the foremost jurist of the +United States, Marshall won lasting distinction. His ability as a writer +<span class="sidenote">Death of Justice Marshall</span> +was conspicuously displayed in his popular "Life of Washington."</p> + +<p>In Europe, in the meanwhile, there had been some significant changes. On +March 2, Emperor Francis of Austria died at the age of sixty-seven. The +<span class="sidenote">Ferdinand, Emperor of Austria</span> +succession of Archduke Ferdinand to the throne produced no change in the +national policy. Metternich was retained at the head of affairs. Almost of +more moment to Germany was the death of Karl Wilhelm von Humboldt, the +diplomat, and brother to Alexander, the great German explorer and +philosophic writer. Besides his services as a statesman at the time of the +international conferences at Paris and Vienna, he is distinguished for his +<span class="sidenote">Wilhelm von Humboldt</span> +philological researches in the Basque and Kauri languages. About the same +time Hans Christian Andersen,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_863" id="Page_863">[Pg 863]</a></span> the Danish author, published his first +collection of fairy tales. The book had an immediate success, and after its +translation into German achieved a world-wide reputation. Various +<span class="sidenote">Andersen's Fairy Tales</span> +translations from the German version and from the original had large sales +in England and America.</p> + +<p>In France, too, notwithstanding political disturbances, fine arts and +letters flourished. New creations appeared from the pens of Lamartine, +<span class="sidenote">Artistic activity in France</span> +Victor Hugo, Balzac, De Vigny and Alfred De Musset. Théophile Gautier +brought out his masterpiece "Mademoiselle de Maupin." Among the musicians +at Paris, Meyerbeer, Auber, Berlioz, Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Spontini, +and Schapa were at the height of their activity. Politically it was a year +of disturbances for France. The opening of the State trial of last year's +conspirators before the Chamber of Peers was followed by diatribes in the +<span class="sidenote">May riots of Paris</span> +press. The liberties of the press were further restricted. Riots again +broke out in May. After all, but one man was condemned to death. Most of +those who were implicated were sentenced to transportation. New laws for +the repression of sedition were proposed by the Cabinet. Then it was that +the first serious attempt was made on the life of Louis Philippe. Already +seven projects of assassination had been discovered and frustrated, when a +grand review of the National Guards, on July 28, gave an opportunity for a +<span class="sidenote">Fieschi's infernal machine</span> +telling stroke. At the moment when the royal procession arrived on the +Boulevard Temple, an infernal machine was set off by a Corsican named +Fieschi. The King was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_864" id="Page_864">[Pg 864]</a></span> saved only by the fact that he had bent down from +his horse to receive a petition when the machine was discharged. Among +those that were struck down were the Dukes of Orleans and Broglie, Marshal +Mortier, General Verigny, and Captain Vilate. The perpetrators of the crime +<span class="sidenote">Second campaign in Algiers</span> +were put to death. In French foreign affairs a renewed uprising of Arab +tribes under Abd-el-Kader necessitated another military campaign in +Algeria.</p> + +<p>In Greece, King Otto, having come of age on June 1, dissolved the Bavarian +regency and assumed his full royal powers at Athens. His reign, lacking +though it was in national spirit or sympathies, assured to Greece an era of +undisturbed peace and tranquillity.</p> + +<p>Toward the close of the year, the American Government's attempt to remove +the Seminole Indians from their hunting grounds in Florida resulted in a +sanguinary Indian war. Micanopy the Seminole Sachem and Osceola were the +Indian leaders. Osceola opened hostilities with a master stroke. On +<span class="sidenote">Seminole War</span> +December 28, he surprised General Wiley Thompson at Fort King. Thompson had +wantonly laid Osceola in chains some time before. Now Osceola scalped his +enemy with his own hands. On the same day, Major Dade, leading a relief +expedition from Tampa Bay, was ambushed and overwhelmed near Wahoo Swamp. +Only four of his men escaped death. Within forty-eight hours, on the last +day of the year, General Clinch, commanding the troops in Florida, won a +bloody fight on the banks of the Big Withlacoochee.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1836" id="a1836"></a>1836</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_865" id="Page_865">[Pg 865]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">T</span><span class="dcap1">HROUGHOUT</span> this year the Seminole War in Florida dragged on. Gaines's +command was assailed by the Indians near the old battleground of the +<span class="sidenote">Withlacoochee</span> +Withlacoochee on February 27. In May, the Creeks aided the Seminoles in +Florida, by attacking the white settlers within their domain. Success made +them bold, and they attacked mail carriers, stages, river barges and +outlying settlements in Georgia and Alabama, until thousands of white +people were fleeing for their lives from the savages. General Scott was now +in chief command in the South, and he prosecuted the war with vigor. The +<span class="sidenote">Creek Indians subdued</span> +Creeks were finally subdued, and during the summer several thousand of them +were forcibly removed to their designated homes beyond the Mississippi. +Governor Call of Georgia marched against the Seminoles with some two +thousand men in October. A detachment of five hundred of these had a severe +<span class="sidenote">Fight in Wahoo's swamp</span> +contest (November 21) with the Indians at Wahoo swamp, near the scene of +Dade's massacre. As in so many other engagements with the Seminoles in +their swampy fastnesses, both sides claimed the victory.</p> + +<p>In Europe, early during 1836, the conclusions reached by the long-sitting +Diet of Hungary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_866" id="Page_866">[Pg 866]</a></span> opened the eyes of the new Emperor of Austria and of +<span class="sidenote">Diet of Pressburg</span> +Metternich to the changed spirit within their own dominions. For many years +during the long period when the government did not dare to convoke the +Diet, the Hungarians in their county assemblies had opposed a steady +resistance to the usurpations of the crown. These county assemblies, +rejoicing as they did in the right of free discussion, and the appointment +of local officials, were one of the hardiest relics of home rule existing +anywhere in Europe, comparable only to the democratic government of the +Swiss cantons and to the old English town meetings reconstituted in New +<span class="sidenote">Magyar demands</span> +England. By banishing political discussion from the Diet to the county +sessions, Metternich only intensified the provincial spirit of opposition +which he thought to quell. When the Hungarian Diet reassembled at Pressburg +at last, the new spirit showed itself in the demand of the Magyars for the +substitution of their own language, in all public debates, for the older +customary Latin. The government speakers, who attempted to address the +<span class="sidenote">Kossuth</span> +deputies in Latin, were howled down by the Magyars. When the government +forbade the publication of all Magyar speeches, Kossuth, one of the +youngest of the deputies, circulated them in manuscript. After the +dissolution of the Diet, in summer, he was punished for this act of +defiance by a three years' imprisonment. The foremost leader of the +<span class="sidenote">Scechenyi</span> +Hungarian Liberals at this time was Count Scechenyi, a Magyar magnate of +note. He it was that opened the Danube to steam navigation by the +destruction of the rocks<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_867" id="Page_867">[Pg 867]</a></span> at Orsova, known as the Iron Grates, and to him, +too, Hungary owes the bridge over the Danube that unites its double capital +of Budapesth and Ofen. Of the Hungarian noblemen he was one of the few who +recognized the injustice of the anomalous institution which restricted +Parliamentary representation to the noblemen, and absolved them at the same +time from taxation. The new liberal spirit thus manifested was turned into +revolutionary channels by Metternich himself. The dissolution of the +<span class="sidenote">Transylvanian Diet</span> +Hungarian Diet and the subsequent imprisonment of deputies whose persons +should have been inviolable aroused bad blood among the Magyars. This was +made worse by the peremptory dissolution of the Transylvanian Diet, where +the Magyar element likewise predominated. The leader of the Transylvanian +opposition, Count Vesselenyi, a magnate in Hungary, betook himself to his +own county session and there inveighed against the government. He was +arrested and brought to trial before an Austrian court on charges of high +<span class="sidenote">Vesselenyi</span> +treason. His plea of privilege was supported by the Hungarian county +sessions as involving one of their oldest established rights. In the face +of this agitation Count Vesselenyi was convicted and sentenced to exile. +Henceforth opposition to the government and hostility to all things +Austrian were synonymous with patriotism in Hungary.</p> + +<p>The discontent in Hungary and the Slav provinces of Austria was fomented by +a keen sympathy with the misfortunes of Poland groaning under the yoke of +Russia. Notwithstanding Austria's official conference +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_868" id="Page_868">[Pg 868]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Poland restive</span> +with Russia, Polish +refugees were received with open arms in Galicia, Bohemia and Hungary.</p> + +<p>In various other parts of the world the spirit of revolution would not be +quelled. More Dutch settlers in South Africa sought relief from British +interference with their customs and the institution of slavery by +<span class="sidenote">The great Boer trek</span> +emigrating into the virgin veldt lying to the north of their former +settlements. It was in vain that the British authorities of Cape Colony +tried to stop this "great trek." Rather than submit to British domination, +the Boers preferred to renew the inevitable struggle with the wild beasts +and the savages of the African wilderness. While one part of the emigrant +body remained in the Transvaal and Northern Free State, the foretrekkers +<span class="sidenote">Piet Retief</span> +passed over the Drakensberg Mountains into Natal, under the leadership of +Piet Retief. The land of Natal was at that time practically unpopulated. +Chaka and his warriors had swept the country clean of its native +inhabitants, so Dingaan considered it within his sphere of influence. The +Boers accordingly made overtures to Dingaan, Chaka's successor, who resided +at his kraal on the White Umvolosi, a hundred miles distant in Zululand, +for the right to trek into this country. This was granted after the Boers +had undertaken to restore some cattle of the Zulus stolen by the Basutos. A +thousand prairie wagons containing Boer families trekked over the +Drakensberg into Natal, and scattered over the unpeopled country along the +banks of the Upper Tugela and Mooi Rivers. Piet Retief, with sixty-five +followers, went to visit Dingaan in his kraal.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_869" id="Page_869">[Pg 869]</a></span> +They were made welcome. A<span class="sidenote">Zulu treachery</span> +solemn treaty of peace and friendship was drawn up by one Owens, an English +missionary with the Zulus. During a feast, the Boers, disarmed and wholly +unprepared for an attack, were suddenly seized and massacred to a man. Then +the Zulus, numbering some ten thousand warriors, swept out into the veldt +to attack the Boer settlements. Near Colenso, at a spot called Weenen +<span class="sidenote">Massacre of Weenen</span> +(weeping), in remembrance of the tragedy there enacted, the Zulus +overwhelmed the largest of the Boer laagers, and slaughtered all its +inmates—41 men, 56 women, 185 children and 250 Kaffir slaves. In spite of +this and other battles the Boers held their ground.</p> + +<p>The Englishmen likewise extended their colonial conquests. The unsettled +<span class="sidenote">South Australia settled</span> +Bushland of South Australia was colonized by Captain Hindmarsh and his +followers. They founded the city of Adelaide, named after the consort of +William IV. A wrecked British ship having been plundered by Arabs, the +Sultan of Aden, under a threat of British retaliation, was made to cede +<span class="sidenote">British seize Aden</span> +Aden to Great Britain. New claims for territory were preferred by Great +Britain against the Republic of Honduras, in Central America.</p> + +<p>The neighboring republic of Mexico, under the dictatorship of Santa Anna, +<span class="sidenote">Mexican independence acknowledged</span> +at last succeeded in having its independence formally acknowledged by +Spain. On March 6, Santa Anna, having raised a new force of 8,000 men, +marched on Fort Alamo, which had been left in charge of a small garrison of +Americans under Colonel Jim Bowie. All night<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_870" id="Page_870">[Pg 870]</a></span> they fought. Every man fell +at his post but seven, and these were killed while asking quarter. Here +died David Crockett, the famous American frontiersman, whose exploits had +<span class="sidenote">Defence of the Alamo</span> +made him so popular in Tennessee, that, though unable to read, he was +thrice elected to Congress. Joaquin Miller, the American poet, based on +this encounter his stirring ballad on "The Defence of the Alamo":</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Santa Anna came storming, as a storm might come;</span><br /> +<span class="sidenote">Joaquin Miller's lines</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">There was rumble of cannon; there was rattle of blade;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">There was cavalry, infantry, bugle and drum,—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Full seven thousand, in pomp and parade,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The chivalry, flower of Mexico;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And a gaunt two hundred in the Alamo!</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>On April 21 was fought the decisive battle of San Jacinto, in which Santa +Anna with 1500 men was defeated by 800 Texans under Sam Houston. On the +<span class="sidenote">Battle of San Jacinto</span> +next day General Santa Anna was captured. He was compelled to acknowledge +the independence of Texas, but the people of Mexico refused to ratify his +act. Nonetheless serious hostilities against the Texans were abandoned.</p> + +<p>The abolition of slavery in Bolivia gave a new impetus to the government of +that republic. President Santa Cruz of Bolivia felt encouraged by this to +<span class="sidenote">Peru and Bolivia joined</span> +attempt to carry out his pet project of the amalgamation of Peru with +Bolivia. A prolonged guerilla war was the result.</p> + +<p>The example of these movements in Central and South America encouraged the +revolutionists of Cuba to keep up their struggle against the rule of Spain. +Unfortunately for them, the apparent weak<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_871" id="Page_871">[Pg 871]</a></span>ness of the Spanish +constitutional government at Madrid did not extend to the more distant +<span class="sidenote">Spanish rule in Cuba and Philippines</span> +possessions of Spain. The only result of the rising of Manuel Quesada was +that Cuba was deprived of her representation in the Spanish Cortes. In the +Philippine Islands, Spanish rule was extended to the Island of Sulu. On the +Peninsula, on the other hand, matters went from bad to worse. The Carlist +war continued unabated. On May 5, General Evans, commanding the +constitutional troops and foreign volunteers, won a victory over the +Carlists at Vigo, but within a few months he was himself defeated at San +<span class="sidenote">Civil war in the Peninsula</span> +Sebastian. On Christmas Day, another crushing defeat was inflicted on the +Constitutionalists by the Carlist leader Espertero at Bilboa. In Portugal +the marriage of Princess Maria II. to Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha +was followed by fresh disorders. Revolution broke out at Lisbon, on August +9, and could be subdued only by the re-establishment of the Constitution of +<span class="sidenote">Portuguese slave trade abolished</span> +1832. On November 8 came another popular rising. It was a sign of the times +and of a more liberal turn of affairs at Lisbon that one of the first +measures of the new government was a total abolition of Portuguese slave +trading.</p> + +<p>Reform of all kinds had become popular in England under the dexterous +resistance of O'Connell, who held the balance in Parliament. The government +<span class="sidenote">British reforms</span> +was induced to bring in a corporation reform bill for Ireland. An official +register of births, deaths, and marriages was conceded to the dissenters. +Next came the abolition of one of the most<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_872" id="Page_872">[Pg 872]</a></span> +barbarous practices of English<span class="sidenote">Charles Dickens</span> +and Irish law courts. Up to this time prisoners accused of felony were not +allowed to be defended by counsel. At the instance of Lord Lyndhurst this +was now changed. Another gain for humanity was made by the abolition of the +law which required that persons convicted of murder should be executed on +<span class="sidenote">"Pickwick Papers"</span> +the next day but one. On the other hand a bill for the abolition of +imprisonment for debt miscarried. The most potent plea against the abuses +of this particular relic of barbarism in England was put forth by Charles +Dickens in his "Pickwick Papers." These serial papers relating the humorous +adventures of Mr. Pickwick and his body servant Sam Weller, when brought in +<span class="sidenote">Marryat</span> +conflict with the English laws governing breach of marital promise and +debt, had an immense success in England and all English-speaking countries. +Already Dickens had published a series of "Sketches of London," under the +pseudonym of Boz, while working as a Parliamentary reporter for the +<span class="sidenote">Landor</span> +"Morning Chronicle." The success of the "Pickwick Papers" was such that he +felt encouraged to emerge from his pseudonym and to devote himself entirely +to literature. Other literary events of the year in England were the +publication of the initial volumes of Lockhart's "Memoirs of the Life of +<span class="sidenote">Death of Mill</span> +Sir Walter Scott," of Captain Marryat's "Mr. Midshipman Easy," and "The +Pirate and the Three Cutters," and of Landor's "Pericles and Aspasia." The +first Shakespeare jubilee was celebrated at Stratford-on-Avon in the +spring. A loss to English letters was the death of James Mill, the great +political economist,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_873" id="Page_873">[Pg 873]</a></span> +in his sixty-third year. About this time Wheatstone +<span class="sidenote">Wheatstone</span> +constructed his electro-magnetic apparatus by which he could send signals +over nearly four miles of wire. The Irish composer Balfe began his +brilliant career as a composer of English operas with the "Siege of +Rochelle," produced at Drury Lane in London. About the same time +<span class="sidenote">Balfe</span> +Mendelssohn brought out his "St. Paul" in Düsseldorf.</p> + +<p>Maria Felicitá Malibran, the great contralto singer of the early part of +the Nineteenth Century, died on September 23, at Manchester, in her +<span class="sidenote">Death of La Malibran</span> +twenty-eighth year. Taken from Paris to Naples at the age of three, she +made her first appearance as a public singer in her fifth year. Two years +later she studied solfeggio with Panseron. At the age of sixteen she made +her début as Rosina in "Barbiere di Seville" at London. The success of her +first appearance was so great that she was at once engaged for the season. +Next she appeared in New York, where she was a popular favorite for two +<span class="sidenote">Her operatic career</span> +years, singing in Mozart's "Don Giovanni," in "Tancred," "Romeo and +Juliet," and two of her father's operas. Here she married a French +merchant, Malibran. After her separation from him she returned to Paris, +where she was engaged as prima donna at a salary of 50,000 francs. +Thereafter she sang at every season in Paris, London, Milan, Rome and +Naples. For one engagement of forty nights in Naples she received 100,000 +francs. Both as a singer and woman she exercised an extraordinary +fascination over her contemporaries. Only a few months before her death she +married the violinist De Beriot. In England she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_874" id="Page_874">[Pg 874]</a></span> suffered a severe fall +from her horse, which shattered her health. After this she literally sang +herself to death. Her loss was mourned most of all in France, where her +death has been commemorated by Alfred de Musset's beautiful threnody ending +with the lines:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Die, then. Thy death is sweet, thy goal is won;</span><br /> +<span class="sidenote">Alfred de Musset's lines</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">What is called genius by men here below</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Is the great cry for Love; all else is but show;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And since, soon or late, human love is undone,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">It is for great hearts and great voices like thine</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To die as thou didst—for Love all-divine.</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p><span class="sidenote">Meyerbeer's "Huguenots"</span> +In France, great strides had been made in music, art and literature. +Giacomo Meyerbeer, whose real name was Jacob Beer, surpassed the success of +his "Robert le Diable" with his greatest opera "Les Huguenots," produced on +February 20, at the Paris Opera House. The success of this masterpiece so +<span class="sidenote">Gounod</span> +disheartened Rossini that he resolved to write no more operas, and withdrew +to Bologna. Charles François Gounod, on the other hand, now began his +<span class="sidenote">Chopin</span> +musical career by entering the Paris Conservatory. Frederick Chopin, the +Polish composer, at this time was at the height of his vogue as the most +<i>recherché</i> pianist of Paris. He was the favorite of a circle of friends +<span class="sidenote">Liszt</span> +consisting of Meyerbeer, Bellini, Berlioz, Liszt, Balzac, and Heine. It was +during this year that Liszt introduced Chopin to Madame Dudevant, better +known as Georges Sand, the famous French novelist. Their attachment was the +<span class="sidenote">Georges Sand</span> +talk of Paris. André Marie Ampère, the noted French mathematician and +physicist, died during this year<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_875" id="Page_875">[Pg 875]</a></span> +at sixty-one years of age. He was the<span class="sidenote">Death of Ampère</span> +inventor of the electrical unit of measure which bears his name.</p> + +<p>Politically it was a turbulent year for France. On the question of the +<span class="sidenote">Thiers Prime Minister</span> +budget the Ministry was defeated in January and had to resign. The new +Ministry called in went to pieces on February 22, when Guizot and De +Broglie retired from the Cabinet. Thiers was placed at the helm. On June +26, another attempt to assassinate the King was made by Louis Alibaud, a +former soldier of the south who had taken part in the revolution of July. +The military expedition to Algeria under Marshal Clauzel and the Duke of +Orleans first met with distinguished success. The French army occupied +<span class="sidenote">Algerian reverses</span> +Mascera. But later the unfortunate issue of an expedition against the town +of Constantine caused the retirement of Marshal Clauzel as Governor-General +of Algeria. Commander Changarnier at the head of a French battalion was +beaten back step by step by an overwhelming body of Achmet Bey's cavalry of +the desert. The question of French intervention in Spain resulted in the +downfall of the Ministry of Thiers. King Louis Philippe, ever since Lord +Palmerston's chilling reply to his overtures for joint intervention, was +opposed to such a project. "Let us aid the Spaniards from a distance," said +he, "but never let us enter the same boat with them. Once there we should +have to take the helm, and God knows where that would bring us." He +demanded the retirement of the French corps of observation in the Pyrenees. +Thiers was utterly opposed to this: "Nothing can bring the King to +intervention," said<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_876" id="Page_876">[Pg 876]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Thiers resigns</span> +he, "and nothing can make me renounce it." On +September 6, the Cabinet resigned, having been in power but six months. +Count Molé was charged with forming a new Ministry. A new cause of +disquietude was given late in October by Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte at +<span class="sidenote">Fiasco of Strasburg</span> +Strasburg. On the last day of that month, Louis Napoleon, with no other +support than that of Persigny and Colonel Vauterey, paraded the streets of +that town and presented himself at the barracks of the 4th regiment of +artillery. He was received with the cry "Vive l'Empereur." An attempt to +win over the soldiers of the other barracks failed. The young prince was +arrested. Ex-Queen Hortense interceded in his behalf. The attempt to regain +the Napoleonic crown had been so manifest a fiasco that Louis Philippe +<span class="sidenote">Louis Napoleon exiled</span> +thought he could afford to be generous. Louis Napoleon was permitted to +take himself off to the United States of America with an annuity of fifteen +thousand francs from the royal purse. His adherents were taken before the +court at Colmar and were all acquitted by the jury. A simultaneous military +mutiny at Vendome was treated with like leniency. After the death of +<span class="sidenote">Amnesty acts</span> +ex-King Charles X., Prince Polignac and other of his Ministers who had come +to grief after the revolution of 1830 were sent out of the country. A +general amnesty was announced.</p> + +<p>The arrival of Prince Louis Napoleon created little stir in the United +States. The people there were in the midst of a Presidential election. +President Jackson wished Vice-President Van Buren to be his successor. He +therefore recommended that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_877" id="Page_877">[Pg 877]</a></span> the Democratic nomination should be by national +convention. The National Republicans had by this time generally adopted the +<span class="sidenote">American elections</span> +name of Whigs. They supported William H. Harrison and John McLaine of Ohio +with Daniel Webster of Massachusetts. The opposition hoped to throw the +Presidential election into the House, but did not succeed in doing so. A +majority of Van Buren electors were chosen by 761,549 votes against 736,656 +divided among the other candidates. Congress met on December 5. Arkansas +and Michigan were admitted as new States of the Union. Before this +Jackson's Administration had won a complete success over his opponents. The +President gave his sanction to a Congressional resolution in favor of the +<span class="sidenote">The "Gag Law"</span> +South, that "all petitions, memorials, and resolutions relating to slavery +shall be laid on the table, and no further action whatever shall be had +thereon." A select committee resolved that "Congress cannot +constitutionally interfere with slavery in the United States and it ought +not to do so." The so-called "Gag Law" was adopted by 117 over 68 votes. +About this same time Congress accepted the bequest of James Smithson, an +<span class="sidenote">Smithson's bequest</span> +Englishman, who left $515,169 to be expended in America "for the general +diffusion of knowledge among men." After the fall of the United States +Bank, a number of State banks were formed, many of which were without +adequate capital. Their notes were used in large quantities for the +purchase of public lands from the United States. Thereupon President +Jackson issued the so-called specie circular, ordering<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_878" id="Page_878">[Pg 878]</a></span> +federal agents to<span class="sidenote">Jackson's specie circular</span> +receive no other money but gold and silver. This caused such a demand for +specie that many of these minor banks fell into difficulties. By the close +of the year bank failures had become so numerous that a financial crisis +was at hand.</p> + +<p>Ex-President James Madison died this year at the ripe age of eighty-five. +<span class="sidenote">Death of Madison</span> +His entire career was such as to make him one of the great line of Southern +Presidents of Virginian stock: Washington, Jefferson and Monroe.</p> + +<p>The military campaign against the Seminoles was far from satisfactory. Many +of the soldiers sent into Georgia and Florida succumbed to disease. They +had to abandon Forts King, Dane and Micanopy, giving up a large tract to +<span class="sidenote">Seminole War</span> +the Indians. The Indians were defeated in battle at New Mannsville, and in +the fall of the year General Call rallied them on the Withlacoochee, but +could not drive them into the Wahoo Swamp. A change in commanders was once +more made, and Jesup succeeded Call. With 8,000 men he entered on a winter +campaign. The Indians were forced from their positions on the +Withlacoochee, and were pursued toward the Everglades, and at the end of +1836 sued for peace. On December 15, the Federal Post-Office and +<span class="sidenote">American railroad development</span> +Patent-Office burned down. Irreparable loss was caused by the destruction +of 7,000 models and 10,000 designs of new inventions. At the close of +Jackson's Administration some three thousand miles of railroad had been +constructed. Eight years previously, when he came into office, no railway +had ever been seen in America.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1837" id="a1837"></a>1837</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_879" id="Page_879">[Pg 879]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">T</span><span class="dcap1">HE</span> financial crisis of this year was not only one of the most severe, but +also the most remarkable in the financial history of the United States. A +<span class="sidenote">American financial crisis</span> +Congressional act of the previous year provided that after January 1, 1837, +all surplus revenues of the government should be divided as loans among the +States. The amount to be distributed this year aggregated $28,000,000. No +part of this large sum was ever recalled. When the government called for +its deposits in order to distribute the surplus an immediate shrinkage of +specie was the result. As bank after bank suspended, it was found that the +paper issue had increased from $51,000,000 in 1830 to $149,000,000 in 1837. +Jackson's attacks on the National Bank had shaken public confidence in this +institution, and it likewise suspended specie payments. The mercantile +<span class="sidenote">Government relief measures</span> +failures of a single fortnight in New York City amounted to $100,000,000. A +repeal of Jackson's order that payments for public lands should be in coin +filled the National Treasury with paper money. Congress met in special +session to relieve the financial distress. A law was passed authorizing the +issue of $10,000,000 in Treasury notes. This brought some relief. President +Van Buren's first message recom<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_880" id="Page_880">[Pg 880]</a></span>mended the adoption by the government of +the Sub-Treasury plan. A bill for the establishment of an independent +treasury passed the Senate, but was defeated in the House by a union of +<span class="sidenote">Sub-Treasury system</span> +Whigs and Conservatives. The Sub-Treasury plan, as eventually carried out, +provided for complete separation of the National Bank and the government, +and established the principle that the government revenues should be +received in coin only. President Van Buren in his message specially +deprecated any interference by Congress in the struggle between Texas and +Mexico. Texas, which had been bargained away by Southern votes in 1819, was +<span class="sidenote">Texas independent</span> +now an eagerly desired prize. It had now become a part of Coahuila, and had +declared its independence. Still Congress persisted in its attempt to +interfere, but a bill to that effect was voted down by the adherents of the +President.</p> + +<p>In Mexico, Bustamente had again become President. In the neighboring State +of Colombia, President Marquez, likewise, had himself re-elected. The +influence of North American progress was shown in Cuba by the opening of +<span class="sidenote">Distress in Spain</span> +the first railway there, long before the mother country, Spain, could boast +of such an advance in civilization. There the civil war was still draining +the resources of the country. On May 17, General Evans took Trun, but +failed to follow up his success. In Portugal, the restoration of Pedro's +Charta de Ley was proclaimed by the Duke of Terceira.</p> + +<p>In France, an unfortunate attempt to fix large dowries on the Duc de +Nemours and the Queen of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_881" id="Page_881">[Pg 881]</a></span> the Belgians raised an outcry against the private +avarice of the King. As the result of the Ministerial crisis that followed +<span class="sidenote">Fall of Guizot</span> +the defeat of these measures in the Chambers Guizot had to retire from the +Ministry. Molé remained in charge with the reconstituted Cabinet. The +success of a second expedition against Constantine, in which the Duc de +Nemours gained distinction, invested Molé's new Ministry with a certain +popularity. Measures for a general political amnesty and for the closing of +gambling houses were readily voted by the Chambers. The people of Paris +were kept amused first by the marriage of the Duc d'Orleans to Princess +Hélène of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and by the subsequent wedding of Princess +Marie d'Orleans, the amateur sculptress, to Duke Alexander of Wurtemberg, a +dilettante, like herself, in letters. The occasion provoked the German poet +Heine, then lying ill at Paris, to some of his most pungent witticisms. +Ailing though he was, Heine was made a member of the new "Société des Gens +de Lettres," founded by Balzac, Lamennais, Dumas and Georges Sand. Further +events in French letters were the publication of Eugène Sue's +<span class="sidenote">Death of Fourier</span> +"Latréaumont," and the appearance of the early part of Michelet's "History +of France." François Charles Marie Fourier, the philosophic writer and +follower of St. Simon, died in his sixty-fifth year. Before his death his +well-elaborated system of communism, as put forward in his "Traité de +l'Association Domestique et Agricole," had found general acceptance among +the radical orders of France.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_882" id="Page_882">[Pg 882]</a></span></p> + +<p>Count Giacomo Leopardi, the foremost lyric poet of modern Italy, died on +<span class="sidenote">Death of Leopardi</span> +June 14. Leopardi's genius was tinctured with pessimism. Like Byron, he was +powerfully moved by the painful contrast between the classic grandeur of +ancient Italy and the degeneracy of its latter days. The tendency toward +pessimism was increased by his own ill health. His first works were the +result of his eager study of classic antiquities. Thus he brought out a new +edition and translation of Porphyrios' "De vita Plotini." His earliest +verses, such as the fine "Ode to Italy," and his poem on a projected +monument for Dante, already contained the strain of sadness that ran +through all his later poems. On the publication of Leopardi's first +collection of verses, Niebuhr, the Prussian Ambassador at Rome, offered him +a professorship at Berlin, but the poet's failing health prevented +<span class="sidenote">Ode to Brutus Minor</span> +acceptance. Religious dissensions with his father depressed his spirits +still more. He gave expression to his increasing sadness in the beautiful +ode on the "Minor Brutus." In 1825 he took part in bringing out the famous +"Antologia" at Florence, and also issued an edition of Petrarch and two +collections of Italian verse. Another collection of his own poems was +published in 1826, followed by the prose dialogues "Operette Morali." In +1833, declining health led Leopardi to withdraw to Naples. One year before +his death he brought out a last collection of poems distinguished alike for +poignant pessimism and for their high lyric beauty. Characteristic of +Leopardi's verse is this poem addressed to himself:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_883" id="Page_883">[Pg 883]</a></span></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Now lie forever still,</span><br /> +<span class="sidenote">A self-apostrophe</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">My weary heart. Farewell, my last illusion</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The dream that we endure. Farewell! Too surely</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I know my end, and now of self-deception</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The hope long since and dear desire has left me.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Be still forever! Enough</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of fluttering such as thine has been. Vain, vain</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thy palpitation, the wide world is not worth</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Our sighs; for bitter pain</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Life's portion is, naught else, and slime this earth.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Subside henceforth, despair forever!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fate gave this race of ours</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For only guerdon death. Then make a sport</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of thine own self, of nature, and the dark</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">First power that, hidden, rules the world for harm—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And of the infinite emptiness of all.</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Russia lost her foremost man of letters at this period by the death of +Count Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin, as the result of a duel. His last +<span class="sidenote">Death of Pushkin</span> +work, the drama "Boris Goudunov," was left uncompleted. After his recall +from his exile in Bessarabia, Pushkin had been appointed as imperial +historian by Czar Nicholas, in which capacity he wrote a history of Peter +the Great and an account of the conspiracy of Pugatshev. Of his poetic +works, the most important was "Eugene Onegin," an epic written after the +manner of Byron's "Don Juan." "Eugene Onegin" has remained one of the +<span class="sidenote">Lermontov</span> +classics of Russian literature throughout the Nineteenth Century. Pushkin's +brother poet Lermontov, then an officer of the Guards, wrote a poem +demanding vengeance for Pushkin's death. He was banished to the Caucasus, +and his writings were suppressed. Under a false name he now wrote his +famous epic: "Song of Czar Ivan Vasilyevitch."</p> + +<p>A joyful event in German letters was the great<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_884" id="Page_884">[Pg 884]</a></span> +festival at Mainz in honor<span class="sidenote">The first kindergarten</span> +of Gutenberg and his invention of the art of printing. Froebel opened his +first kindergarten at Blankenburg in Thuringia. Auerbach, the popular +novelist, brought out his "Spinoza." Much was made by Germans of the +opening of the first railway between Dresden and Leipzig, and of the +invention of coal-tar colors, or aniline dyes, by a process destined to +revolutionize the arts of coloring and dyeing throughout the world. A great +<span class="sidenote">German clerical struggle</span> +stir was created by the imprisonment of the Archbishop of Cologne at Minden +after a quarrel with the Prussian Government concerning marriages between +persons of different creeds. He was forbidden to go to Bonn. Backed by the +Holy See in Rome, he continued to defy the Protestant authorities.</p> + +<p>A change of rule, fraught with future consequences for Hanover, resulted +from the death of William IV., King of England and Hanover, on the 20th of +<span class="sidenote">Death of William IV.</span> +June. By the death of the old King, his niece, Victoria Alexandra, then in +her eighteenth year, became Queen of England. Miss Wynn, in her "Diaries of +a Lady of Quality," has told how the news was brought to the young Princess +at Kensington by the Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr. Howley) and the Lord +Chamberlain (Marquis Conyngham): "They did not reach Kensington Palace +until five o'clock in the morning. They knocked, they rang, they thumped +for a considerable time before they could rouse the porter at the gate; +they were again kept waiting in the courtyard, then turned into one of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_885" id="Page_885">[Pg 885]</a></span> +lower rooms, where they seemed forgotten by everybody. They rang the bell, +and desired that the attendant of the Princess Victoria might be sent to +inform Her Royal Highness that they requested an audience on business of +importance. After another delay, and another ringing to inquire the cause, +<span class="sidenote">Victoria's accession</span> +the attendant was summoned, who stated that the Princess was in such a deep +sleep that she could not venture to disturb her. Then they said, 'We are +come on business of state to the Queen, and even her sleep must give way to +that.' In a few minutes she came into the room in a loose white nightgown +and shawl, her nightcap thrown off, and her hair falling upon her +shoulders, her feet in slippers, tears in her eyes, but perfectly collected +and dignified."</p> + +<p>Lord Melbourne, the Prime Minister, was summoned, and at eleven o'clock +that same morning a Privy Council was held, which is thus described by +Charles Greville, an eye-witness: "Never was anything like the first +impression she produced, or the chorus of praise and admiration which is +<span class="sidenote">Her first Privy Council</span> +raised about her manner and behavior, and certainly not without justice. It +was very extraordinary, and something far beyond what was looked for. Her +extreme youth and inexperience, and the ignorance of the world concerning +her, naturally excited intense curiosity to see how she would act on this +trying occasion, and there was a considerable assemblage at the palace, +notwithstanding the short notice which was given. The first thing to be +done was to teach her her lesson, which for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_886" id="Page_886">[Pg 886]</a></span> this purpose Melbourne had +himself to learn.... She bowed to the Lords, took her seat, and then read +her speech in a clear, distinct, and audible voice, and without any +appearance of fear or embarrassment."</p> + +<p>The first signature to the Act of Allegiance was that of Ernest, Duke of +<span class="sidenote">Hanover separates from England</span> +Cumberland, eldest surviving brother of the late King William. To him +passed the crown of Hanover, which for a hundred and twenty-five years had +been held by the occupants of the British throne. Under the Salic law, +restricting succession to the male line, Hanover now became separated from +England. On June 28, the new King arrived in Hanover. He refused to receive +<span class="sidenote">Ernest, King of Hanover</span> +the deputation of the estates that had come to greet him. Dispensing with +the formality of taking the required oath to the constitution, he dissolved +the estates. The validity of the Hanoverian Constitution was next called in +question, and the restoration of the less liberal constitution of 1819 was +ordained. The first to protest against this royal breach of faith were +<span class="sidenote">Royal breach of faith</span> +seven professors of the University of Göttingen. Among them were the two +brothers Grimm, to whom the German language and literature are so deeply +indebted, and Gervinus, the great historian of modern Europe. The +professors were instantly dismissed. This high-handed act provoked an +<span class="sidenote">Revolt at Göttingen</span> +insurrection among the students, which had to be quelled by troops, with +bloodshed.</p> + +<p>The departure of the unpopular Duke of Cumberland and the dissolution of +the embarrassing connection with Hanover wrought distinct relief to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_887" id="Page_887">[Pg 887]</a></span> +people of England. According to usage on the accession of a new sovereign, +Parliament was dissolved, in this instance by the Queen in person. She +drove to the House of Lords in state, and created a sensation by her youth +and graciousness. What she said of her own good intentions, her confidence +in the wisdom of Parliament and the love of her people and her trust in +God, was re-echoed throughout the English dominion. Her popularity speedily +became unbounded. The change in the person of the sovereign was a great +advantage for the Melbourne Ministry. They had no longer to fear such a +summary dismissal or interference by the throne as they had suffered during +the last reign. The dissolution of Parliament only resulted in their favor. +The Tories were in despair. The departure of the Duke of Cumberland, their +power behind the throne, had deprived them of a leader. The old Duke of +Wellington regarded the accession of a female sovereign a probable bar to +his return to power. To a friend he said: "I have no small talk, and Peel +has no manners."</p> + +<p>The Victorian era in England, a period comparable for brilliancy only to +that of Queen Elizabeth, began indeed under auspicious circumstances. In +<span class="sidenote">The Victorian era</span> +the field of letters there was the galaxy of diverse spirits: Southey, +Wordsworth, Tennyson, and Browning. A new start was given to English prose +by such powerful writers as Lord Macaulay, Carlyle, Charles Dickens, and +William Makepeace Thackeray, who brought out his "Yellowplush Papers" this +very year. Another newcomer in the field<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_888" id="Page_888">[Pg 888]</a></span> of romance was the Irish +novelist, Charles Gaines Lever, whose early "Adventures of Harry Lorrequer" +found instant favor. Among the women writers were Maria Edgeworth, Jane +Austen, and Elizabeth Barrett. Great strides were also made in science. +Shortly after the appearance of Whewell's "History of Inductive Sciences," +the Ornithological and Electrical Societies were founded at London. The +principle of working clocks by electricity was advanced by Alexander Bain. +Wheatstone and Cooke invented the magnetic needle telegraph. Ericsson's new +screw steamer "Francis Bogden" was found to develop a speed of ten miles an +hour. John Upton patented his steam plow, and the first photographic prints +on paper were made by Fox Talbot.</p> + +<p>When Parliament was reconvened, Lord Macaulay was added to the Cabinet. In +<span class="sidenote">Macaulay joins Cabinet</span> +the northwestern provinces of East India a widespread famine, which cost +the lives of 8,000 natives, necessitated relief measures on a large scale. +In the midst of these troubles the death of the ruling King of Delhi caused +<span class="sidenote">Famine in India</span> +a vacancy, which was filled by Mahmoud Bahadour Shah, the last titular +Great Mogul under the protection of the British colonial government. In +South Africa some measure of home rule was accorded to Cape Colony by the +institution of a representative legislative council under a governor +appointed by the Crown. To the north of Cape Colony the Boer emigrants +carried on their war of revenge against the Zulus. In a fierce battle on +December 16, at Blood River, the Boers under Maritz and<span class="sidenote">Boers defeat Zulus</span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_889" id="Page_889">[Pg 889]</a></span> Potgieter utterly +defeated Dingaan's warriors. Pantah, the brother of Dingaan, became King of +the Zulus. The anniversary of this battle was ever after celebrated as a +holiday by the Boers. A settlement was founded in the conquered land, and +the first church was built on the site of Pietermaritzburg, named after the +Boer leaders.</p> + +<p>On December 22, the British Parliament received the news of rebellion in +Lower Canada. The distress occasioned by the financial panic of this year +<span class="sidenote">Canada restive</span> +in the United States had spread to Canada. It found vent in agitation +against English rule on the part of the French Canadians. On the occasion +of the announcement of Queen Victoria's accession to the throne, when Te +Deums were sung in the churches, the French Canadians signified their +<span class="sidenote">Papineau</span> +disapproval by walking out of church. Louis Joseph Papineau, Speaker of the +Lower House, led the opposition to the government proposals regarding the +application of the revenues of the province. The home government kept up a +narrow "British party" devoted to the so-called interests of the mother +country. The majority in the Legislative Council constantly thwarted the +resolutions of the vast majority of the popular Assembly. In Upper Canada, +<span class="sidenote">The "family compact"</span> +a British and official class practically held within its control the +government of the province. This class became known as the "family +compact." The public offices and lands were parcelled out among themselves +and their followers.</p> + +<p>The immediate points in dispute in 1837 were, that the government retained +in its service cer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_890" id="Page_890">[Pg 890]</a></span>tain officials contrary to the wishes of the +Representative Assembly, and insisted on paying their salaries out of +<span class="sidenote">Supplies refused</span> +colonial funds. The Representative Assembly declined to furnish the +supplies, complained of arbitrary infringement of the Constitution, and +demanded that the Legislative Council, instead of being nominees of the +Crown, should be made elective.</p> + +<p>When intelligence reached England that the Assembly obstinately refused +supplies for the payment of public officials, and of the arrears, which up +to that time amounted to nearly one hundred and fifty thousand pounds +<span class="sidenote">Lord Russell's measures</span> +sterling, Lord John Russell carried in the English House of Commons a +series of resolutions rejecting the demand for an elective legislative +council and other changes in the Constitution, and empowering the executive +government to defray the expenses of the public service out of the +territorial and casual revenues.</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">Fils de la Liberté</span> +On November 6, the so-called "Fils de la Liberté" rose in Montreal under +the leadership of Papineau. In Upper Canada, a similar rising was headed by +William Lyon Mackenzie, a journalist. On December 4, an attempt was made to +<span class="sidenote">Mackenzie</span> +surprise Montreal. With the help of the militia the insurgents were +defeated, on December 4, at St. Eustace. The leaders of the insurrection at +Toronto fled to the United States and persuaded Van Rensselaer with other +citizens of Buffalo to join them. On December 12, they seized Navy Island +<span class="sidenote">American filibusters</span> +in Niagara River, established a provisional government, and issued paper +money. Loyalists of Canada attempted in vain to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_891" id="Page_891">[Pg 891]</a></span> +capture the place. On +December 29, they attacked the steamer "Carolina" and sent her over the +<span class="sidenote">Sinking of "Carolina"</span> +Falls, resulting in the loss of several lives. This incident caused great +excitement, both in England and this country. President Van Buren issued a +proclamation of neutrality forbidding all interference in Canada, and sent +General Wool with a military force to compel obedience to the proclamation. +In Upper Canada, Major Head—afterward Sir Francis Head—undertook to +<span class="sidenote">Major Head's measures</span> +suppress the rebellion by throwing the Canadians on their honor. Trusting +to the good will of the people, he sent all the regular soldiers out of the +province to the assistance of Governor Gosford in Lower Canada. The plan +worked well. The Canadians, proud of the confidence reposed in them, +enrolled themselves in the militia to the number of ten or twelve thousand, +and when Mackenzie and the rebels assembled to show fight, they were routed +at the first encounter, and the rebellion in Upper Canada was at once +suppressed. But Major Head's policy was not approved by the British +Government, and Head had to make way for Lord Durham, the newly appointed +Governor of Canada.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1838" id="a1838"></a>1838</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_892" id="Page_892">[Pg 892]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">E</span><span class="dcap1">ARLY</span> in the year the Canadian insurgents and their sympathizers at Navy +Island were compelled to surrender. United States troops were posted at the +<span class="sidenote">Lord Durham in Canada</span> +frontier. In the meanwhile Lord Durham had taken charge in Canada with +dictatorial powers. He undertook to remodel the Constitution of Canada. His +first act was a proclamation of amnesty from the Queen. The beneficent +effect of this was spoiled by a clause of exceptions providing for the +perpetual banishment of a number of men implicated in the recent rising. On +April 2, Lunt and Matthews, two conspicuous rebels, were hanged. Lord +Durham's confession that his measures were illegal evoked a storm in +Parliament. Lord Brougham, who had a personal quarrel with him, led the +opposition there. In Canada, Mackenzie promptly proclaimed a republic. On +<span class="sidenote">Napierville</span> +June 5, a fight between the rebels and British troops near Toronto quelled +the rebellion for a short time. Within a few months it broke out again at +Beauharnais. A pitched battle was fought at Napierville early in November. +After their defeat there, the rebels made another stand at Prescott on +November 17, but suffered so crushing a defeat that the insurrection was +<span class="sidenote">Prescott</span> +believed to have been ended. In the mean<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_893" id="Page_893">[Pg 893]</a></span>while, Lord Brougham had succeeded +in passing a bill through the House disapproving Lord Durham's measures. +Durham, he said, had been authorized to make a general law, but not to hang +men without the form of law. To save his own Administration Lord Melbourne +on the next day announced that the Cabinet had decided to disallow Durham's +<span class="sidenote">Durham repudiated</span> +expatriation ordinances. Durham was called upon to proclaim to the +rebellious colonists that the ordinance issued by him had been condemned by +his own government. Venting his mortification in a last indignant +proclamation, he quitted Canada without waiting for his recall. By the +express orders of the government the honors usually paid to a +Governor-General were withheld from him. Lord Durham returned to England a +broken-hearted and dying man. He was succeeded by Sir John Colbourne. His +<span class="sidenote">Canadian interregnum</span> +first measure was to offer a reward of £1,000 for the apprehension of +Papineau. The storm of indignation that followed was so violent that +Colbourne incontinently threw up his post, and hastened back to England. +The Hudson's Bay Fur Company improved the interval of the interregnum to +monopolize the functions of government in the vast regions of the extreme +north of America. An expedition was sent out to explore the northernmost +coast. The United States also fitted out an Antarctic exploring expedition, +consisting of six vessels, under the command of Lieutenant Wilkes.</p> + +<p>In the British Parliament, the question of the adoption of the ballot was +raised by Duncombe, but Lord John Russell spoke against it, stating that +the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_894" id="Page_894">[Pg 894]</a></span> +majority of the people were against fresh changes, or any renewal of +<span class="sidenote">Renewed agitation in England</span> +the agitating circumstances which preceded the Reform Bill. But twenty +members voted with Duncombe, of whom six were asked to meet six members of +the Workingmen's Association to discuss a programme of action. At that +meeting a document in the shape of a Parliamentary petition was prepared +containing "six points," which were: Universal suffrage, or the right of +<span class="sidenote">People's Charter</span> +voting by every male of twenty-one years of age; vote by ballot; annual +Parliaments; abolition of the property qualification for members of +Parliament; members of Parliament to be paid for their services; equal +electoral districts. At the conclusion of the meeting, Daniel O'Connell +rose and handed the petition to the secretary of the Workingmen's +Association, saying, "There, Lovett, is your Charter. Agitate for it and +never be content with anything else."</p> + +<p>The "People's Charter" was submitted to a large public meeting and +enthusiastically approved, and the leaders of the movement began to +<span class="sidenote">Feargus O'Connor</span> +organize. They soon fell into two factions; those who were in favor of +force and those in favor of agitation only. The leader of both parties was +Feargus O'Connor, an Irish barrister, and once a follower of O'Connell, +with whom he subsequently quarrelled. Associated with him as leaders of the +<span class="sidenote">Chartist leaders</span> +movement at various periods were Lovett, Heatherington, Henry Vincent, +Ernest Jones, and Thomas Cooper "the poet of Chartism."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="QUEEN_VICTORIA" id="QUEEN_VICTORIA"></a> +<img src="images/queen_victoria.jpg" width="400" height="574" alt="QUEEN VICTORIA TAKING +THE OATH" +title="QUEEN VICTORIA TAKING THE OATH" /> +<span class="caption">QUEEN VICTORIA TAKING THE OATH</span> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0em"><small>Painted by Sir George Hayter</small></span> +</div> + +<p>In France, the sympathies of the people with the cause of the French +Canadians were kept under firm<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_895" id="Page_895">[Pg 895]</a></span> control by the government of Louis +Philippe. A dissolution of the Chambers, which modified the condition of +<span class="sidenote">French expedition to Mexico</span> +the Assembly, served to strengthen the Ministry of Molé. To vent the +feelings excited in behalf of the Frenchmen of Canada, the French +Government picked a quarrel with the Republic of Mexico. Reparation was +demanded late in March for injuries inflicted on French residents during +the internal dissensions of Mexico. The demand was refused. A French +squadron of warships, under Admiral Baudin and Prince de Joinville, was +<span class="sidenote">Coast towns bombarded</span> +sent out to blockade the coast of Mexico. On November 27, San Juan de Ulloa +was bombarded. Vera Cruz likewise suffered bombardment. The Argentine +Republic became involved and declared war on France. French cruisers +blockaded Buenos Ayres.</p> + +<p>On the occasion of his mother's death, Prince Louis Napoleon returned to +<span class="sidenote">Louis Napoleon returns</span> +Europe. His book, "Idées Napoléoniennes," which was widely read throughout +France, at once drew attention upon him. At the request of the French +Government he was expelled from Switzerland. Louis Philippe's friend, +Alexandre Dumas, at this time achieved a popular success with his book "Le +<span class="sidenote">Alexandre Dumas</span> +Capitaine Paul." Dumas's romantic plays and several of his latest comedies, +written in the style of Scribe, were at the height of their vogue.</p> + +<p>In the French salon of this year, François Daubigny, the great pupil of +<span class="sidenote">Daubigny</span> +Delaroche, first exhibited his early masterpieces, "Banks of the River +Oulins" and "The Seine at Charenton." Both paintings were purchased by the +French Government.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_896" id="Page_896">[Pg 896]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">Poe</span> +In America, a new writer had arisen in Edgar Allan Poe, who disputed the +field with Longfellow and Whittier. Poe's "Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym," +a story of marine adventures, which had begun in Poe's own journal, "The +Messenger," was published in complete form by Harpers. Before this several +<span class="sidenote">Hawthorne</span> +of his works, among them that of "Ligeia," had already brought him into +some prominence. Nathaniel Hawthorne during this same year wrote his early +stories, which were afterward collected under the title of "Twice Told +<span class="sidenote">Emerson</span> +Tales." Ralph Waldo Emerson at Concord, Massachusetts, had begun to deliver +those penetrating lectures which, rewritten in the form of essays, later +established his rank as the foremost philosophic writer in America. Wendell +Phillips made his appearance as a lecturer against slavery in Boston. +<span class="sidenote">Wendell Phillips</span> +Shortly before this a pro-slavery mob at Alton, Illinois, murdered the Rev. +E.P. Lovejoy and destroyed the press and building of his newspaper, +published in the interests of abolition. Abraham Lincoln, who had been +re-elected to the Legislature of Illinois, voiced a strong protest against +this and other pro-slavery tendencies in Illinois.</p> + +<p>Other acts of persecution during this year brought lasting disgrace upon +America. In direct violation of the Federal treaties with the Indians the +<span class="sidenote">Removal of Cherokees</span> +State troops of Georgia forcibly removed 16,000 Cherokees from their lands +in that State. Nothing was done to alleviate the sufferings of the +Cherokees, who were driven from their settlements in midwinter. The +resulting death rate was fearful. More than<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_897" id="Page_897">[Pg 897]</a></span> 4,500 Indians, or one-fourth +of the whole number, perished before they reached their destination in the +distant Indian Territory.</p> + +<p>The members of the new sect of Mormon, numbering some 12,000 souls, were +<span class="sidenote">Persecution of Mormons</span> +driven from their homes at Nauvoo in western Missouri. They went across the +plains of Iowa, stopping temporarily at Council Bluffs. From there they +passed over the great American prairies, and, crossing the Rocky Mountain +range, settled near the Great Salt Lake of Utah.</p> + +<p>Chicago was incorporated with a population of 4,170 residents. Much comment +<span class="sidenote">Record transatlantic trip</span> +was excited by a record trip of the steamboat "Great Western," which +steamed from Bristol, England, to New York in fifteen days. Among those who +lived to witness this event was John Stevens, one of the pioneers of modern +steamboat building. Shortly afterward he died in his eighty-ninth year.</p> + +<p>Within a short time after suing for peace, the Southern Indians broke the +<span class="sidenote">Indian truce broken</span> +truce and made a determined effort to take Fort Mellon. In this they were +unsuccessful. In March, at Fort Dade, five of the chiefs signed an +agreement, in which they stipulated to cease from war until the government +decided whether they might remain in Florida. Some seven hundred Indians +and negroes were taken by the government before its decision was announced, +and were sent off to Tampa for shipment. In violation of a flag of truce, +<span class="sidenote">Betrayal of Osceola</span> +Osceola and several of his principal chiefs were seized and sent to Fort +Moultrie as prisoners. Their treatment there was such that Osceola soon +died. In May, Colonel Zachary Taylor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_898" id="Page_898">[Pg 898]</a></span> succeeded Jesup. The remaining forces +of the Indians were now wary. They scattered in the swamps, eluding +attempts of organized troops to capture them. In December, Colonel Taylor +<span class="sidenote">Zachary Taylor in Florida</span> +set out with over a thousand men for their almost inaccessible haunts. On +Christmas Day they found the Seminoles prepared to receive them near +Okeechobee Lake. After a hard fought battle, in which Taylor lost 139 men, +the Indians once more retreated into the swamps of Florida.</p> + +<p>In South Africa during this year, the new community of Dutch settlers, who +had evaded English jurisdiction, soon revived their peculiar institutions +in the region that is now Natal—from the Drakensberg to the sea at Durban, +<span class="sidenote">Boers in Natal</span> +and from the Tugela River to the Umzimbolbu. The fight against the African +savages continued. Early in the spring, a Boer expedition was defeated by +the Zulus, who followed up their advantage by an attack on the nearest Boer +laager. Seventy Boers, with their Kaffir servants, were massacred. A large +Boer settlement, numbering some 800 persons, was saved from extermination +only by a timely relief expedition under Pretorius, in December. On the +<span class="sidenote">Pretorius</span> +other side troubles arose between the Boers and the Bechuanas in +consequence of King Moroka's prohibition of the importation of spirituous +liquors into Bechuanaland. The growth of a new Dutch State to the north of +Cape Colony caused uneasiness among the British authorities at Cape Town. A +movement was started to extend British rule to Natal, and to secure the +important seaport of Durban.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1839" id="a1839"></a>1839</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_899" id="Page_899">[Pg 899]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">T</span><span class="dcap1">HE</span> French expedition against Mexico was brought to a successful close +<span class="sidenote">French hold on Mexico</span> +after the capture of the fort of San Juan d'Ulloa and the town of Vera +Cruz. General Santa Anna's attempt to relieve Vera Cruz resulted only in +another upheaval of the government at the capital. President Bustamente had +to call in a new Ministry, with which, through the mediation of England, +negotiations for peace were undertaken. On March 9, the terms of peace were +concluded. Mexico had to pay an indemnity of $600,000. Further use for the +French squadron in American waters was found in the complicated affairs of +<span class="sidenote">Ancona evacuated</span> +the small South American republics at the mouth of the Plata and the +alleged injuries suffered by Frenchmen from the disordered state of affairs +in Hayti. On the other hand, France withdrew its troops from the citadel of +Ancona in the Papal dominions, simultaneously with the withdrawal of the +<span class="sidenote">Status of Belgium</span> +Austrian forces of occupation from the Papal States. The long-pending +difficulties between Belgium and Holland were brought to a settlement at +last by the King of Holland's acceptance of the conditions of separation +fixed by the international conference. The abandonment<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_900" id="Page_900">[Pg 900]</a></span> of Casimir Périer's +vigorous foreign policy in Europe was viewed with regret by the Liberal +party in France. Guizot combined with Thiers and Odilon Barrot against the +<span class="sidenote">Fall of Molé's Ministry</span> +Ministry, and thus accomplished its downfall, though they retained Marshal +Soult, the most popular member of Molé's Cabinet. "I must have that gallant +sword," remarked Louis Philippe. Their efforts to conduct the government +proved a failure. The King established a provisional government in their +place, which prolonged the crisis. On May 12, an insurrection broke out in +<span class="sidenote">French provincial government</span> +the most populous quarters of Paris. Under the leadership of Barbes, +Bernard and others, attacks were made on the Hôtel de Ville, the Palace of +Justice and the Préfecture of Police. The revolt had to be put down by +merciless measures. Marshal Soult was placed at the head of the government +to the exclusion of Guizot and Odilon Barrot, while Thiers was made +president of the Chambers. Guizot employed his leisure time to write his +<span class="sidenote">Parisian revolt suppressed</span> +famous "Life of Washington." About the same time Daguerre published his new +invention of making the sun prints which were called daguerreotypes after +him. A life pension of 6,000 francs was awarded to him by the government of +Louis Philippe. The interest in the family of Bonaparte and its dreaded +pretensions in France was revived by the death of Letizia Buonaparte, the +mother of Napoleon, in her eighty-ninth year. The first problem confronting +the new administration of France was the fresh trouble that had broken out +in the Orient.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_901" id="Page_901">[Pg 901]</a></span></p> + +<p>The long-brewing war between Sultan Mahmoud of Turkey and his vassal, +<span class="sidenote">Turkish-Egyptian War</span> +Mehemet Ali of Egypt, broke out in May. In the face of new assurances of +peace, the Sultan ordered his commander-in-chief of the Euphrates to +commence hostilities. The Turkish troops crossed the Euphrates on May 23. +In spite of the good counsels of Moltke and other European officers at the +Turkish headquarters, the Turks were outmanœuvred by the Egyptian forces +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Nissiv</span> +under Ibrahim. June 24, Ibrahim Pasha inflicted a crushing defeat on the +Turkish army at Nissiv. All the artillery and stores fell into his hands. +The Turkish army dispersed in another rout. Mahmoud II. did not live to +hear of the disaster. One week after the battle of Nissiv, before news from +<span class="sidenote">Abdul Medjid, Sultan</span> +the front had reached him, he died. The throne was left to his son, Abdul +Medjid, a youth of sixteen.</p> + +<p>Scarcely had the new Sultan been proclaimed when the Turkish admiral, +Achmet Fevzi, who had been sent out to attack the coast of Syria, sailed +<span class="sidenote">Turkish fleet betrayed</span> +into Alexandria and delivered his fleet over to Mehemet Ali. Turkey, now +practically rulerless, was left without defence, on land and on water. +Mehemet Ali not only declared Egypt independent of the Porte, but, +encouraged by France, prepared to move on Constantinople. In this extremity +<span class="sidenote">Anglo-French intervention</span> +the foreign Ambassadors at Constantinople addressed a collective note to +the Divan, announcing European intervention. Shortly afterward a squadron +of British and French warships sailed into the Dardanelles for the +ostensible purpose of protect<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_902" id="Page_902">[Pg 902]</a></span>ing Constantinople against Mehemet Ali, in +reality to prevent Russia from profiting by the terms of its treaty of +Unkiar Skelessi. In vain did Russia propose to join the coalition. The +recent acquisition of Aden gave England the upper hand. Russian diplomacy +<span class="sidenote">French diplomacy offset</span> +accordingly directed itself toward effecting a breach between the allies. A +good opening was afforded by the French intrigues at Cairo, which fell in +with the ambitions of Mehemet Ali. As a result, France was gradually +crowded out of the European coalition during the course of 1839.</p> + +<p>At the French Salon of this year Decamps exhibited his celebrated +<span class="sidenote">Decamps</span> +"Punishment of the Hooks," "Executioners at the Door of a Prison," and +"Children Playing with Turtles." Decamps with Delacroix, the leader of the +French school of romanticism, was praised at this time for the exceeding +charm of his colors.</p> + +<p>England during this period passed through a Cabinet crisis. The popularity +of Melbourne's Ministry was waning. Lord Melbourne was a typical Whig, +opposed to the policy of the Tories, or, as they were beginning to be +called at that time, the Conservatives. The alteration in title is +<span class="sidenote">Rise of English Conservatives</span> +attributed to John Wilson Croker, who, in the "Quarterly Review," referred +to "what is called the Tory, but which might with more propriety be called +the Conservative party." This new name was indorsed by Lord John Russell, +who said, "If that is the name that pleases them, if they say that the old +distinction of Whig and Tory should no longer be kept up, I am ready, in +opposition to their name of Con<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_903" id="Page_903">[Pg 903]</a></span>servative, to take the name of Reformer, +and to stand by that opposition." Sir Robert Peel defined Conservatism when +he said, "My object for some years past has been to lay the foundation of a +great party, which, existing in the House of Commons, and deriving its +strength from the popular will, should diminish the risk and deaden the +shock of collisions between the two branches of the legislature."</p> + +<p>In May, the government's proposition to suspend the Constitution of Jamaica +<span class="sidenote">Fall of Melbourne Ministry</span> +brought about the fall of the Ministry. The measure was sustained by a +majority of only five. The Queen sent for Sir Robert Peel. Her wish to +retain as ladies of her household the wife and sister of two members of the +last Cabinet brought forth a respectful remonstrance from Peel. The Queen +replied in this wise: "The Queen having considered the proposal made to her +<span class="sidenote">Bedchamber question</span> +yesterday by Sir Robert Peel, to remove the Ladies of her Bedchamber, +cannot consent to a course which she considers to be contrary to usage, and +is repugnant to her feelings."</p> + +<p>This ended Peel's attempt to form a Ministry and Melbourne was recalled. +The question created much discussion at the time. Lord Brougham maintained +that Lord Melbourne "had sacrificed liberal principles and the interests of +the country to the private feelings of the sovereign." "I thought," he +said, "that we belonged to a country in which the government by the Crown +and the wisdom of Parliament was everything, and the personal feelings of +the sovereign were absolutely not to be named at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_904" id="Page_904">[Pg 904]</a></span> the same time." In the +<span class="sidenote">Queen Victoria yields</span> +end the Queen yielded her point. A statement was put forth that "the Queen +would listen to any representation from the incoming Prime Minister as to +the composition of her household, and would arrange for the retirement, of +their own accord, of any ladies who were so closely related to the leaders +of Opposition as to render their presence inconvenient."</p> + +<p>On behalf of the Chartists large public meetings were organized in London +and in all parts of England at which violent speeches were made. On the 1st +of April, at a public meeting in Edinburgh to support the Ministry, the +<span class="sidenote">Chartist agitation</span> +Chartists took possession of the platform, ejected the Lord Provost, and +passed their own resolutions. On the same day at Devizes, in Wiltshire, +Vincent entered the town at the head of about a thousand men, carrying +sticks, and attempted to address them in the market-place. In May, the +Chartist National Convention removed from London to Birmingham. There they +were met by a mob of five thousand persons and conducted through the +principal streets to the meeting-place.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, Great Britain was embroiled in another Oriental war. The +despatch of Admiral Maitland and Captain Elliot to China to deal with the +difficulties growing out of the English opium trade there only served to +<span class="sidenote">Chinese oppose opium trade</span> +make the situation more acute. In January, Emperor Taouk-Wang ordered Lin +Tsiaseu, Viceroy of Houk Wang, to proceed to Canton to put a definite stop +to the opium traffic. The peremptory instructions given to Com<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_905" id="Page_905">[Pg 905]</a></span>missioner +Lin were "to cut off the fountain of evil, and if necessary to sink the +British ships and to break their caldrons, since the hourly thought on the +Emperor's part was to do away with opium forever." Within a week of Lin's +arrival at Canton he issued an edict wherein he stigmatized the foreigners +as a heartless people who thought only of trade and of making their way by +stealth into the Flowery Land, whereas the laws of England, he asserted, +<span class="sidenote">English opium destroyed</span> +prohibited the smoking of opium in their own country. A demand was made to +surrender to him all stores of opium within three days. To enforce this +demand, Chinese troops were concentrated around the European settlement. +Eventually more than 20,000 chests of opium were seized and dumped into the +sea. After this triumph, Lin wrote a letter to Queen Victoria calling upon +her government to interdict the importation of opium. At the same time a +memorial was sent to England by the British merchants of Canton begging the +government to protect them against "a capricious and corrupt government" +and demanding compensation for the opium confiscated by the Chinese. On the +part of the British Government no answer was vouchsafed to the demands of +the viceroy. In China, matters took their course. Captain Elliot at Canton, +<span class="sidenote">British resentment</span> +on May 22, issued a notice in which he protested against the action of the +Chinese Government "as utterly unjust per se," and advised all British +merchants to withdraw to Hong Kong. The merchants acted on the suggestion, +and the English factory at Canton, which had existed for nearly 200 years, +was abandoned.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_906" id="Page_906">[Pg 906]</a></span> The British sailors in Chinese waters threw off all +restraint. Frequent collisions occurred between them and the natives. In +one of them a Chinaman was killed. The Chinese viceroy denounced this act +as "going to the extreme of disobedience to the laws" and demanded the +<span class="sidenote">Chinese orders defied</span> +surrender of the British sailor who perpetrated the murder. This demand was +flatly refused. The Chinese thereupon refused to furnish further supplies +to the ships and prohibited all British sailors from coming ashore on +Chinese soil. The official notice said: "If any of the foreigners be found +coming on shore to cause trouble, all and every one of the people are +permitted to withstand and drive them back, or to make prisoners of them." +The English naval officers retaliated by sending out their men to seize by +<span class="sidenote">Opening of hostilities</span> +force whatever they needed. A boat's crew of the British ship "Black Jack" +was massacred. Thus hostilities began. Two British men-of-war exchanged +shots with the forts in the Bogue. On November 3, the two frigates "Volage" +and "Hyacinth" were attacked by twenty-nine junks-of-war off Chuenpee. A +<span class="sidenote">Sea fight off Chuenpee</span> +regular engagement was fought and four of the junks were sunk. On the news +of the fight at Chuenpee, Emperor Taouk-Wang promoted the Chinese admiral. +On December 6, an imperial edict prohibiting all trade with Great Britain +<span class="sidenote">British squadron sails for China</span> +was issued. Already a strong British squadron was on its way to China.</p> + +<p>Simultaneously with these troubles the British had become embroiled in war +with the Afghans. The ostensible purpose was to depose Dost Mo<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_907" id="Page_907">[Pg 907]</a></span>hammed Khan +from his usurpation of the throne of Afghanistan. In reality this chieftain +had aroused the ire of England by entering into negotiations with Russia, +<span class="sidenote">War with Afghans</span> +after Lord Auckland had declined to call upon Runjit Singh to restore +Peshawar to Afghanistan. When it was learned that a Russian mission had +been received at Kabul, the British Government resolved to dethrone Dost +Mohammed Khan and to restore Shah Shuja to the throne of Kabul. War was +declared at Simla. Columns were sent out from Bombay and Bengal and were +<span class="sidenote">Fall of Kandahar</span> +united at Quetta under the command of Sir John Keene. Kandahar was captured +in April. In July, Ghasni was taken by storm. It was on this occasion that +Sir Henry Durand, then a young subaltern, distinguished himself by blowing +<span class="sidenote">British enter Kabul</span> +up the Ghasni gate. In August, the British entered Kabul. Dost Mohammed +Khan fled over the Oxus into Bokhara. Shah Shuja was restored as ruler of +Afghanistan under the tutelage of a British resident minister. In response +to Dost Mohammed's appeals, the Russian Government sent out an expedition +<span class="sidenote">Failure of Russian counter move</span> +toward Khiva, in November; but the winter weather in the mountains was so +severe that the expedition had to return.</p> + +<p>Other problems engaged the attention of the British Colonial Office. A +rebellion in Borneo had to be suppressed by force of arms. In Canada, the +new Governor-General, Charles Pollot Thompson, later Lord Sydenham, found +it difficult to carry out Durham's scheme of union. In November, martial +law had to be declared again at Montreal.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_908" id="Page_908">[Pg 908]</a></span> The reported discovery of gold +<span class="sidenote">British colonial problems</span> +by Count Strzelescki in New South Wales, and the discovery of copper in +South Australia, drew great numbers of emigrants thither. New Zealand was +incorporated in New South Wales. The wild financial speculations engendered +by these changes plunged almost all of Australia into bankruptcy. In Cape +Colony the public school system was introduced by Sir W. Herschel.</p> + +<p>In England, it was a period of material advances in civilization. Postal +reforms were introduced by Sir Roland Hill. In July, a bill for penny +<span class="sidenote">Industrial development</span> +postage was introduced in Parliament, resulting in a new postage law +providing a uniform rate of fourpence per letter. New speed records were +made on land and on water. While the steam packet "Britannia" crossed from +Halifax to Liverpool in ten days, the locomotive "North Star" accomplished +a run of thirty-seven miles in one hour. Wheatstone perfected his invention +<span class="sidenote">Charles Darwin</span> +of a telegraph clock. A patent was obtained for the process of obtaining +water gas. Charles Darwin, having returned from his scientific travels on +H.M.S. "Beagle," published his "Journal of Researches."</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">Death of Schelling</span> +A loss to German philosophic literature was the death of Joseph Schelling, +whose theories formed the main inspiration of the romantic poet Novalis. +Agassiz, the naturalist, published his original researches on fresh-water +fishes.<br /><span class="sidenote">Agassiz</span> +</p> + +<p>It was then that Dr. Theodore Schwann, stimulated in his microscopic +researches by the previous discoveries of Robert Brown, Johannes Müller +and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_909" id="Page_909">[Pg 909]</a></span> Schleiden, propounded the famous cell theory in his work, "Microscopic +<span class="sidenote">Schwann's cell theory</span> +Researches Concerning the Unity in the Structure and Growth of Animals and +Plants." Schwann's book became a scientific classic almost from the moment +of its publication. It was Schwann, too, who, simultaneously with Cagniard +la Tour, discovered the active principle of gastric juice to be the +substance which he named pepsin. The cell theory was for some time combated +by the most eminent German men of science. Thus Liebig, in apparent +<span class="sidenote">Liebig's theory of fermentation</span> +agreement with Helmholtz, took a firm stand against the new doctrine with +his famous "theory of fermentation" promulgated this same year.</p> + +<p>In England, William Smith, "the father of English geology," died. Born in +1769, Smith, like many another English scientist, was self-taught and +<span class="sidenote">Death of William Smith</span> +perhaps all the more independent for that. He discovered that the fossils +in rocks, instead of being scattered haphazard, are arranged in regular +systems, so that any given stratum of rock is labelled by its fossil +population; that the order of succession of such groups of fossils is +always the same in any vertical series of strata in which they occur, and +<span class="sidenote">The new geology</span> +that a fossil, having once disappeared, never reappears in a later stratum. +The facts which he unearthed were as iconoclastic in their field as the +discoveries of Copernicus and Galileo.</p> + +<p>In Spain, a signal defeat of the Carlists at Pennecerrada during the +previous year had caused a decisive turn in the civil war. Don Carlos' +attempted march on Madrid had to be abandoned, and was fol<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_910" id="Page_910">[Pg 910]</a></span>lowed by the +<span class="sidenote">Spanish civil war</span> +retreat of his forces to the Ebro. General Espartero forced back the +Carlist forces step by step, and carried the fight into the Basque +provinces. There the struggle degenerated into a war of extermination. The +Carlist leaders turned against one another. The priests excommunicated the +<span class="sidenote">Carlist reverses</span> +generals, and the generals in turn shot the priests. At last, by the middle +of September, so many of the insurgents had surrendered to Espartero that +Don Carlos found himself almost without followers. He gave up the struggle +<span class="sidenote">Flight of Don Carlos</span> +and fled into France. This ended the civil war. It had lasted six weary +years, and had proved almost as disastrous for Spain as the great +Peninsular War. Robbed of her former colonial resources, excepting only +those from Cuba and the Philippines, Spain's finances were all but ruined. +<span class="sidenote">Decline of Spain</span> +Of industrial progress there was next to none. The country relapsed into +semi-barbarism.</p> + +<p>In the United States, prominent Northern abolitionists met at Warsaw, New +<span class="sidenote">American Whig Convention</span> +York, and resolved to form an independent political party. A Whig +Convention, the first of such gatherings, was held at Harrisburg, fifteen +months before the next Presidential election. Harrison was nominated for +President and John Tyler for Vice-President. In the West, Henry Clay, +<span class="sidenote">Henry Clay's candidacy.</span> +popularly known as "Harry of the West," was the ideal of a strong minority. +His repeated failures to attain the Presidency led to the remark: "He is +too good a man to be President." The first session of the Twenty-sixth +Congress opened in December. An organization of the House was at last +effected by John Quincy Adams, who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_911" id="Page_911">[Pg 911]</a></span> put a question to vote which the +Speaker had refused to present. The Representatives indulged for the first +time in the practice of "pairing off." Adams opposed this, declaring that +it was a violation of the Constitution, of an express rule of the House +which the Representatives owed to their constituents. Another event of the +year in America was the failure of the United States Bank at Philadelphia, +<span class="sidenote">Financial failures</span> +in consequence of speculations in cotton, as the result of which the +government lost $2,000,000 of its deposits. Other bank failures followed. +Mississippi repudiated $5,000,000 of its State bonds. The first power loom +for making carpets was set up at Lowell, Massachusetts. Charles Goodyear +obtained his first patent for making vulcanized rubber. The express +business was organized by Harndon, who sent his first pack from New York to +Boston by the public messenger. Longfellow published his romance +<span class="sidenote">Longfellow's poems</span> +"Hyperion," and "Voices of the Night," a collection of verses embracing +some of his most widely known poems. In the same year appeared Willis's +"Letters from Under a Bridge" and Cooper's "History of the Navy."</p> + +<p>Toward the close of the year, Queen Victoria held a Privy Council at +Buckingham Palace, at which she announced her intention to marry her +cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.</p> + +<p>Greville wrote in his diary that "about eighty Privy Councillors were +present, the folding-doors were thrown open, and the Queen came in, attired +<span class="sidenote">Queen Victoria's betrothal</span> +in a plain morning gown, but wearing a necklace containing Prince Albert's +portrait. She read the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_912" id="Page_912">[Pg 912]</a></span> declaration in a clear, sonorous, sweet tone of +voice, but her hand trembled so excessively that I wonder she was able to +read the paper which she held."</p> + +<p>All this time the agitation for the People's Charter in England went on +unabated. In the autumn, St. Paul's Cathedral in London was temporarily +taken possession of by a large body of Chartists. Churches were likewise +entered in Manchester.</p> + +<p>At Newport, in Monmouthshire, an organized attempt was made, under the +<span class="sidenote">Popular riots in England</span> +leadership of John Frost and Zephaniah Williams, to rescue Henry Vincent +from prison. Armed with guns, crowbars and pick-axes the mob poured into +the town twenty thousand strong. They were met by a small body of soldiery, +and after a sharp conflict were scattered with a loss of ten killed and +fifty wounded. The leaders were arrested and condemned in court. A vast +periodical literature kept alive the agitation. Among the new Chartist +<span class="sidenote">The Charter propaganda</span> +newspapers were the "Northern Star," the property and the organ of Feargus +O'Connor; the London "Despatch"; the Edinburgh "New Scotsman"; the +Newcastle "Northern Liberator"; the Birmingham "Journal," and many others.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1840" id="a1840"></a>1840</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_913" id="Page_913">[Pg 913]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">T</span><span class="dcap1">HE</span> Chinese edict prohibiting all trade and intercourse with England was +put in force on January 5. The English missionaries in China fled to Hong +<span class="sidenote">England declares war on China</span> +Kong, which port was put in readiness for defence against the Chinese. +Great Britain declared war, and sent out an expedition consisting of 4,000 +troops on board twenty-five transports, with a convoy of fifteen +men-of-war.</p> + +<p>In South Africa, during January, the Boers inflicted a crushing defeat on +<span class="sidenote">End of Dingaan</span> +the Zulus under Dingaan. The Zulu King himself was killed. His brother, +Upanda, succeeded him as ruler.</p> + +<p>On the other side of the globe, the legislative union of Upper and Lower +<span class="sidenote">Union of Upper and Lower Canada</span> +Canada was at last effected, after a separation of forty-nine years. Each +had equal representation in the common legislature, with practical +concession on the part of the mother country of responsible government. +Kingston was selected as the new seat of government, to be shifted +presently to Montreal. To settle the long pending boundary dispute between +Canada and the United States, a commission was appointed, consisting of +<span class="sidenote">Canadian boundary commission</span> +Lord Ashburton for England and Daniel Webster for America. Between the line +claimed by Great Britain and that demanded +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_914" id="Page_914">[Pg 914]</a></span> +by the United States lay 12,000 +square miles of territory. The commission sat all the year.</p> + +<p>The American Senate early in the year passed the Sub-Treasury bill. By this +measure it was required that the national funds should be kept at +Washington, and in federal sub-treasuries in some of the large cities, +subject to the orders of the Washington office. The first National +Convention against anti-slavery met at Albany. James G. Birney, a +Kentuckian, was nominated for President. The Whigs were incensed at the +nomination and Birney withdrew. The Democratic National Convention at +Baltimore unanimously renominated Van Buren. The political campaign that +<span class="sidenote">American Presidential election</span> +followed began a new era in American elections. The facilities of transit +effected by the railroads now first rendered possible immense gatherings at +central points. In May, 20,000 political followers gathered at Baltimore in +Harrison's interest. The contest had just opened, when a leading Democratic +paper stated "if some one would present Harrison with a barrel of cider he +would sit down on a log content and happy the rest of his days." The log +cabin and hard cider jug forthwith became the emblems of the Whigs. Log +<span class="sidenote">Morse</span> +cabin songs were heard, with shouts for "Tippecanoe, and Tyler too." All +the Middle States gave their majorities to Harrison. Harrison and Tyler +were elected by a vote of 1,275,017 to 1,128,702 for Van Buren. It was a +political revolution, breaking the Democratic success of forty years. It +<span class="sidenote">Draper</span> +was during this year that Samuel F.B. Morse obtained his first American +patent on the telegraph. William Draper<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_915" id="Page_915">[Pg 915]</a></span> +of New York turned out the most +successful daguerreotype portraits yet obtained. Florence, the actor, made +<span class="sidenote">Florence</span> +his first appearance at the National Theatre in Philadelphia, while Fanny +Ellsler appeared at the Park Theatre in New York City. Ralph Waldo Emerson +published the "Dial." Other notable publications in American letters were +Poe's "Tales of the Arabesque and Grotesque," Willis's "Loiterings of +<span class="sidenote">Fanny Ellsler</span> +Travel," Cooper's "Pathfinder," and Dana's "Two Years Before the Mast."</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">New Mexico</span> +In Central and South America, it was likewise a year of political +upheavals. The Yankee settlers of Texas maintained their independence +against Mexico. Their movement was joined by the Northern States along the +<span class="sidenote">Yucatan</span> +Rio Grande. The independent State of New Mexico was formed. Yucatan +likewise became an independent government. On July 25, a revolution broke +out in the City of Mexico. General Urrea captured in person President +Bustamente. After two days Bustamente was released on a pledge of general +<span class="sidenote">Revolution in Mexico</span> +amnesty and administrative reforms. Santander, the first President of +Colombia, died in May. The election of Marquez to the Presidency was +followed by civil war. The province of Cartagena seceded from Colombia. The +union of Central American States was dissolved, and Costa Rica became an +<span class="sidenote">Dom Pedro II. of Brazil</span> +independent republic. In Brazil, another political overturn resulted in +material changes in the Constitution. In July, the Brazilian Legislature +declared Dom Pedro II., then still under age, Emperor of Brazil. In the +Argentine Republic, General Lavalle, who had taken the field +<span class="sidenote">General Lavalle shot</span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_916" id="Page_916">[Pg 916]</a></span> against his +opponents, was utterly defeated and shot. A new treaty was concluded +between Argentina and Montevideo.</p> + +<p>In the distant South Seas, the Hawaiian Islands were recognized as an +<span class="sidenote">Hawaiian Islands recognized</span> +independent kingdom by the Powers on the condition that free access be +given to white missionaries and the teachings of Christianity.</p> + +<p>In regard to the affairs of the Orient, the Powers found agreement more +difficult. France gave continued support to the pretensions of Mehemet Ali +of Egypt against Turkey. The French scheme to anticipate Russia's designs +on Constantinople by a dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire and the +<span class="sidenote">Oriental problems</span> +establishment of Mehemet Ali at Constantinople found little favor with the +Powers. The Russian statesmen understood the true weakness of Turkey, and +were willing to bide their time. Metternich and Lord Palmerston clung to +the belief that the Ottoman Empire could still be reconstructed. Thus Lord +Palmerston said at this time: "All that we hear about the decay of the +Turkish Empire, and its being a dead body, or a sapless trunk, and so +forth, is pure and unadulterated nonsense." Metternich affected to look +upon Mehemet Ali as a mere rebel. At last, on July 15, the negotiators of +<span class="sidenote">Egypt's status defined</span> +Great Britain, Russia, Austria and Prussia, without waiting for France, +concluded a treaty at London. Egypt was offered to Mehemet Ali in +perpetuity with southern Syria for his lifetime. If this offer was not +accepted within ten days, Egypt alone was to be ceded; if, after twenty +days, this alternative<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_917" id="Page_917">[Pg 917]</a></span> were not accepted, joint action was to be taken +against Mehemet Ali.</p> + +<p>The exclusion of France from the concert of Europe aroused a storm of anger +<span class="sidenote">France slighted</span> +at Paris. Guizot, the French Ambassador at London, expostulated with Lord +Palmerston. Thiers, then at the head of affairs in France, issued orders +for an increase of the strength of army and navy. The long-delayed +fortifications at Paris were begun. Military spirit was so awakened in +France that the familiar cry was raised to avenge Waterloo and recover the +<span class="sidenote">French pretensions on the Rhine</span> +Rhine. The Germans fiercely resented this threat of invasion, prompted +largely by French exasperation over the turn which Egyptian affairs had +taken. Even the Rhenish provinces, which owed so much to France, shared in +this national feeling. It was at this time that Becker, himself a man from +the Rhine, wrote the lines which in later years became one of Germany's +most famous war songs:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span class="sidenote">Becker's Rhine song</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Sie sollen ihn nicht haben</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Den freien deutschen Rhein."</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Alfred de Musset answered this with his defiant verses:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span class="sidenote">Musset's defiance</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Nous avons eu votre Rhin Allemand,"</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Under the stress of this new military ardor in France, agitation was +revived for the return of Napoleon Bonaparte's remains from St. Helena to +France. The consent of the British Government having been obtained, a +decree to this effect was passed by the French Chambers. Other events +helped to fan to fresh life the smouldering flames of Napoleonic +imperialism. Thus the death of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_918" id="Page_918">[Pg 918]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Napoleonic memories</span> +Lucien Bonaparte, Napoleon's eldest +brother, and of Marshal MacDonald, hero of Wagram, recalled a host of +Napoleonic memories. On August 6, Prince Louis Napoleon deemed the time +ripe for another Napoleonic rising. Crossing over from England with General +Moltenon and fifty followers he attempted to incite an insurrection at +Vimereux near Boulogne. He hoped to re-enact the events after Elba. Once +<span class="sidenote">Louis Napoleon's second fiasco</span> +more his plans ended in a fiasco. "Bonaparte or not, I see in you only a +conspirator," exclaimed Colonel Puygelier. The conspirators fled back to +their boat and capsized. Louis Napoleon was taken and sentenced to life +imprisonment within the fortress of Ham. As a sop to popular feeling, King +Louis Philippe permitted the bronze statue of the Great Napoleon to be +replaced on the column of the Grande Armée in Paris.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<a name="WASHINGTON_IRVING" id="WASHINGTON_IRVING"></a> +<img src="images/washington_irving.jpg" width="500" height="305" alt="WASHINGTON IRVING +AND HIS FRIENDS" +title="WASHINGTON IRVING AND HIS FRIENDS" /> +<span class="caption">WASHINGTON IRVING AND HIS FRIENDS</span> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0em"><small>Painted by Daniel Huntington</small></span> +</div> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" width="60%" summary="INVENTORS"> +<tr> + <td class="tds"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">1 Henry T Tackerman</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;">2 Oliver Wendell Holmes</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;">3 William Gilmore Simms</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;">4 Fitz Greene Halleck</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;">5 Nathaniel Hawthorne</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;">6 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;">7 Nathaniel Parker Willis</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;">8 William H Prescott</span><br /> +</td> + <td class="tds"> + 9 Washington Irving<br /> + 10 James K Paulding<br /> + 11 Ralph Waldo Emerson<br /> + 12 William Cullen Bryant<br /> + 13 John P Kennedy<br /> + 14 J Fenimore Cooper<br /> + 15 George Bancroft<br /> + <br /> + </td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>In England, great popular rejoicings had been occasioned by the marriage of +Queen Victoria to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg. A bill was passed +<span class="sidenote">Prince Consort Albert</span> +appointing the Prince Consort regent of England in case of the Queen's +death. The royal couple were well matched. The credit of having brought +about this marriage was chiefly due to Lord Melbourne. The tactful conduct +of Prince Albert after the marriage fully justified his choice. Yet Prince +Albert was never popular in England. Parliament cut down his proposed +income from the Crown by nearly one half. The lower classes were prejudiced +against him as a foreigner, while the nobility and army turned against him +when they found that he preferred the society of men eminent for their +intellectual<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_919" id="Page_919">[Pg 919]</a></span> +attainments to that of dukes and marquises. On June 10, an +<span class="sidenote">First attempt to assassinate Victoria</span> +insane pot-boy named Oxford attempted to assassinate the Queen and the +Prince Consort with a pistol. The would-be assassin was confined in an +asylum. On November 21, Queen Victoria gave birth to her eldest child, +Augusta, who subsequently became Empress of Germany.</p> + +<p>Other English events of domestic importance were the passage of the +vaccination act, the introduction of screw propellers in the British navy, +<span class="sidenote">First Charter petition</span> +and the State trial of the three leaders of the Chartist movement of the +previous year. A monster petition subscribed by 1,280,000 signatures on a +great cylinder was rolled into Parliament. In it were embodied new demands +for a bill of rights, or the "People's Charter," comprising universal +suffrage, including that of woman, secret ballots, payment of Parliamentary +representatives, and the like. The denial of this petition provoked a +<span class="sidenote">Jack Frost's revolt</span> +popular uprising under the leadership of Jack Frost at Newport, which had +to be suppressed by the military. After a sensational trial, the leaders +were condemned to deportation.</p> + +<p>Echoes of the English Regency were re-awakened by the death of "Beau" +Brummel, a dandy after the manner of the French exquisites. It was a boast +<span class="sidenote">Death of Beau Brummel</span> +of this leader of fashion that he spoiled twenty-five cravats before one +was tied to his liking. The Prince Regent in his dress imitated Brummel. +The offended beau retaliated one day, when some of his friends saluted the +Prince on Rotten Row, by asking, "Who is your fat friend?" Leigh Hunt +im<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_920" id="Page_920">[Pg 920]</a></span>proved upon this in his "Examiner" by describing the Prince as "a +corpulent Adonis of fifty." For this Hunt was sentenced to imprisonment for +two years and fined £500. After George IV. became king, Brummel fell into +disfavor and had to leave London. Years later, the bankrupt beau, who had +been cheated out of a snuff-box by Prince George, presented the King with +another in token of submission. In the words of Thackeray, "the King took +the snuff, and ordered his horses, and drove on, and had not the grace to +notice his old companion—favorite, rival, enemy, superior." Poor Beau +Brummel died in extreme poverty. Some of the striking episodes of the +beau's career were dramatized in a play, which has kept alive the memory of +this lesser light of modern English society.</p> + +<p>The career of another striking figure of the Nineteenth Century was ended +<span class="sidenote">Death of Paganini</span> +by the death of Paganini, the most remarkable of violin virtuosi. The son +of a poor shopkeeper, with little musical knowledge, but of some +proficiency on the mandolin, Paganini received an indifferent early +schooling in music. After the boy had come under the tutelage of Costa, the +orchestral leader of Genoa, his progress on the violin was rapid. At the +age of eight he composed a violin sonata. Soon he surpassed his +instructors. At sixteen he ran away from his father, after a concert at +Lucca, and made a tour of his own through Italy. Already he was addicted to +gambling and other forms of dissipation. At Leghorn he had to sell his +violin to pay a gambling debt. A French<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_921" id="Page_921">[Pg 921]</a></span>man, M. Levron, lent him his own +Guarnero violin. When he heard him play on it he was so charmed that he +made him a present of the instrument. Paganini kept the Guarnero throughout +the rest of his life. It was the turning-point of his career. After two +<span class="sidenote">Foremost violin virtuoso</span> +years of incessant practice, Paganini appeared in public again at Lucca, +where he aroused unbounded enthusiasm by his novel performances on the G +string. For the next twenty years he travelled and played throughout Italy, +vanquishing all rivals. His superstitious countrymen believed him to be in +league with the Evil One, an impression which Paganini loved to confirm by +dark utterances and eccentricities of dress. Not until 1828 did he leave +his own country to gather foreign laurels. His first appearance at Vienna +was an unprecedented triumph. The Emperor appointed him court violinist and +the city of Vienna presented him with a gold medal. From there he made a +triumphal tour through Europe, appearing in Berlin, Paris and London. He +was acknowledged the most wonderful violinist that had ever been heard. He +soon amassed a colossal fortune. Withal, Paganini was almost as much a +<span class="sidenote">Genius and charlatan</span> +charlatan as he was an original genius. He liked to impress his audiences +by fantastic eccentricities and by mere tricks of legerdemain, such as +dropping and catching his instrument, or breaking one string after another +to finish his concert on one alone. Other tricks of virtuosity, such as +tuning up the A string by a semi-tone, left hand pizzicato, or his double +thirds, were executed with such stupendous tech<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_922" id="Page_922">[Pg 922]</a></span>nique that they held +connoisseurs and amateurs spellbound. His individuality, in fact, was so +abnormal that it rendered him unfit to play with others in quartets or +other chamber music. As a man he had all the worst faults of a genius. The +vast sums of money which he accumulated were gambled away. His whole life +<span class="sidenote">Paganini's compositions</span> +was disgraced by unbridled sensuality coupled with sordid avarice. This +explains in a measure Paganini's inferior rank as a composer. Famous are +his variations on the tune "God Save the King," his "Studies," his twenty +variations on "Il Carnevale di Venezia," and the concert allegro "Perpetual +Motion." The celebrated twenty-four violin capricci, written early in +Paganini's career, have been rendered familiar by their transcriptions to +the pianoforte by Schumann and Liszt. Paganini died from the results of +dissipation. He left his famous Guarnero fiddle to his birthplace, Genoa.</p> + +<p>In Germany, King Frederick William III. of Prussia died in his sixty-sixth +<span class="sidenote">Frederick William IV. King of Prussia</span> +year. He was succeeded by Frederick William IV. The pending dispute between +the Prussian Government and the Vatican, arising out of the refusal of the +Rhenish priests to sanction marriages between Catholics and Protestants, +found a temporary adjustment by the new king's concessions to the clergy.</p> + +<p>In England, too, church questions temporarily rose uppermost during debates +in Parliament over the proposed government assistance to schools in which +the Douay Bible, or Roman Catholic version of the Scriptures, was used. On +account of these Parliamentary debates, and the attempted reform of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_923" id="Page_923">[Pg 923]</a></span> +Irish<span class="sidenote">Religious discussions</span> +registration by which more Roman Catholic voters were to be admitted, a +loud anti-Popery cry was raised by the English Tories. Once more the House +of Peers rejected a bill for removing the political disabilities of the +Jews, after its passage through the Commons by a handsome majority of 113 +yeas. The attention of Englishmen at this time was diverted to questions of +<span class="sidenote">Chinese naval brigade</span> +foreign policy. The British expedition against China had arrived at the +mouth of the Canton River in June. A naval blockade was established in +Chinese waters. The Chinese retaliated by offering a reward for every +Englishman taken, and a prize of $20,000 for the destruction of a British +<span class="sidenote">Capture of Chusan</span> +man-of-war. Sir Gordon Bremer sent an expedition against the Island of +Chusan. The Chinese officials refused to surrender until after the city of +Tinghai had been all but demolished by the English guns. Tinghai was made a +British base of supplies, but proved a very unhealthy place. The Chinese +capture of an English subject, Vincent Stanton, was followed by a British +expedition into the Canton River. The barrier forts, after a heavy +bombardment, were taken by storm. Stanton was released. The British fleet +made demonstrations at Amay, Ningpo, and in the Gulf of Pechili. Emperor +Taouk-Wang sent for troops from the interior. Mandarin Lin, who had entered +into negotiations with the British, was degraded and was succeeded by +Viceroy Keshen of Peiho. Keshen received Lord Palmerston's formal demands +upon China and forwarded them to Pekin. By dilatory tactics he succeeded in +gaining a breathing space.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_924" id="Page_924">[Pg 924]</a></span></p> + +<p>In India, the British occupation of Kabul continued. New trouble broke out +<span class="sidenote">Burmese expedition</span> +in Burma where the British Resident was expelled from Ava. An expedition +had to be sent against Burma. The death of Runjit Singh led to a series of +revolutions which shook the Sikh dominion to its foundations. The +successive deaths of Runjit Singh's son and grandson, who had succeeded him +<span class="sidenote">Sikhs restive</span> +as Maharajas, led to a general belief that they had been murdered by the +Prime Minister, Dhian Singh. All the chief Sirdars rose against Dhian. The +Sikh army of Khalsak, numbering 7,000 soldiers, became a menace for +Hindustan. In July, the British garrison of Kelat in Beluchistan was +<span class="sidenote">Fall of Kelat</span> +overpowered by the natives. Lord Auckland had to prepare another expedition +to restore English prestige in that quarter. Kelat was retaken by the +British in November. New complications arose at Herat. This had long been +the bone of contention between Great Britain and Russia in Central Asia. +British ascendency over Herat had been gained by large financial subsidies, +which had been spent in frustrating the designs of the Persians and +Russians in that quarter. Major d'Arcy Todd, the English envoy at Herat, +incensed by King Kamram's continued dealings with Russia, withheld the +further payment of the British subsidies, unless British troops were +<span class="sidenote">Todd leaves Herat</span> +admitted to Herat. The situation became so acute that Major Todd on his own +authority threw up his post and left Herat. It was a severe setback for +British influence in Central Asia. Lord Auckland in exasperation dismissed +his erstwhile ambassador from political employ. Todd<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_925" id="Page_925">[Pg 925]</a></span> found a soldier's +death on the field of Ferozeshahar. The continued rebellion of the +Sarawacks in Borneo gave the British an opportunity for interference there. +Sir James Brooke, at the head of a British expedition, helped the Sultan of +Borneo in quelling the rising.</p> + +<p>The operations of the international coalition against Mehemet Ali of Egypt +had now begun. Though the Viceroy's soldiers lay on Turkish soil without a +<span class="sidenote">Turkish-Egyptian War</span> +foe before them, and France stood at his back, Mehemet Ali found himself +checkmated. While Russia undertook to keep Ibrahim's army out of +Constantinople, all French support was neutralized by Germany's +mobilization on the Rhine. A naval squadron, composed of British and +Austrian warships, was free to land the Turkish forces in Syria. On October +10, Commodore Napier bombarded Beyrout. The Syrians were armed against +their Egyptian oppressors. On November 3, the British and Austrian fleets +captured Acre. Ibrahim, with the remains of his army, fell back toward the +Egyptian frontier. When the British fleet arrived before Alexandria, +<span class="sidenote">Mehemet Ali brought to terms</span> +Mehemet Ali made haste to come to terms. In contravention of the ultimatum +of the Powers, he was allowed to retain his hereditary dominion over Egypt +upon relinquishment of Syria, and of the Turkish fleet, which had been +betrayed into his hands. Sir Charles Napier in later years, while speaking +of his part in this expedition in Parliament, said: "I was ashamed for my +country and for myself."</p> + +<p>The humiliating position forced upon France<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_926" id="Page_926">[Pg 926]</a></span> +caused the downfall of the<span class="sidenote">Fall of Thiers' Ministry</span> +Ministry of Thiers. Marshal Soult was placed at the head of affairs. Guizot +was recalled from his embassy at London to take the portfolio of Foreign +Affairs. He succeeded in restoring France to her former place in the +concert of Europe. The French Government joined with the other powers in +the restoration of the ancient rule of the Ottoman Empire by which all +foreign warships were excluded from the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles. +<span class="sidenote">Oriental affairs readjusted</span> +Russia thereby virtually conceded the abrogation of her treaty of Unkiar +Skelessi. On the other hand, Sebastopol and the Russian arsenals of the +Euxine were thus safeguarded against any maritime attack except by Turkey.</p> + +<p>The revival of the Napoleonic legend by such writers as Béranger, +Lamartine, and Victor Hugo, together with other influences which served to +keep bright the glories of the Empire, bore their fruit in the return of +Napoleon's remains to France. On October 15, his body had been removed from +<span class="sidenote">Napoleon's body returned</span> +the simple tomb at St. Helena. On November 30, the ship bearing Napoleon's +remains arrived at Cherbourg. A million francs were voted by the Chambers +for the new sepulchre under the dome of the chapel of the Hôtel des +Invalides. On this occasion great publicity was given to Lord Palmerston's +letter to Ambassador Granville: "The government of her British Majesty hope +that the promptness of their response to this French request will be +considered in France as a proof of their desire to efface all traces of +those national animosities which, during the life of the Emperor armed +against each other the French<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_927" id="Page_927">[Pg 927]</a></span> and English nations. The government of her +Majesty are confident that if such sentiments still exist anywhere, they +will be buried in the tomb in which the remains of Napoleon are to be +laid." Napoleon's reburial was witnessed by a million of persons including +a hundred and fifty thousand soldiers drawn up in line to do him honor. The +ceremonies were attended by the royal family and all the dignitaries of +France, excepting only the immediate relatives of the great Napoleon. As it +happened, those of the Napoleonides that were not dead were either in exile +or in prison.</p> + +<p>Shortly before this, great havoc had been wrought in France by disastrous +<span class="sidenote">Floods in France</span> +inundations of the Saone and Rhone. The water, which covered 60,000 acres, +and flooded Lyons, rose higher than it had within 250 years. In Greece, a +tremendous earthquake laid the city of Zante in ruins. These catastrophes +<span class="sidenote">Earthquake of Zante</span> +were made the object of special study in Germany and Switzerland, where +Agassiz was in the midst of his epoch-making discourses on the glacial +period.</p> + +<p>Toward the end of the year wretched Spain suffered another political +upheaval. After the last abandonment of the cause of Don Carlos by General +Cabrera, in July, the Queen-Regent found herself confronted by a strong +democratic party both in the Cortes and the country. The scandals of her +private life undermined her political authority. By an insurrection at +<span class="sidenote">Isabella abdicates</span> +Barcelona she was forced to call in General Espartero, the chief of the +Progressist party, as her Prime Minister. Rather than submit to his demands +she abdicated the Regency in Octo<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_928" id="Page_928">[Pg 928]</a></span>ber and left Spain. Espartero, toward the +close of the year, was acknowledged by the Cortes as Regent of Spain. His +first measures turned a large part of the people against him. On December +<span class="sidenote">Rule of Espartero</span> +29, as a result of the growing discussions between the government and the +clergy, the Papal Nuncio was expelled from Madrid. Thereafter Espartero and +the clerical party of Spain were at daggers' points.</p> + +<p>This year Friedrich Overbeck finished his masterpiece, the "Triumph of +Religion and the Arts." This German artist, at the time when the classicism +of David was at its height, had become his most strenuous opponent, and had +brought about the regeneration of the German religious school of painting. +<span class="sidenote">Overbeck</span> +He and several of his followers formed the Nazarites, whose fundamental +principle was that art existed only for the service of religion. Overbeck's +frescoes of the "History of Joseph" and "Jerusalem Delivered" are best +known. Among his paintings of this period, "The Entrance of Christ into +Jerusalem" at Luebeck, "Christ on the Mount of Olives" at Hamburg, and "The +Coronation of Mary" in the Cathedral of Cologne, are the most celebrated. +</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1841" id="a1841"></a>1841</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_929" id="Page_929">[Pg 929]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">T</span><span class="dcap1">HE</span> dilatory tactics of Viceroy Keshen in China had prolonged the +negotiations there for several weeks. In the meanwhile a large Chinese army +was gathering in the interior. Early in the year, after the arrival of the +British plenipotentiaries, orders were issued for an attack on the Bogue +<span class="sidenote">British capture Bogue forts</span> +forts. On January 7, 1,500 British troops were landed on the flank and rear +of the forts at Chuenpee. After a sharp cannonade by the fleets, the forts +were carried by a storming party under Captain Herbert. Simultaneously the +forts at Taikok were destroyed by the fleet, and their Chinese garrison was +routed by landing parties. Several Chinese junks were sunk during the +engagement. In all the Chinese lost some 1,500 men in casualties; the +British losses were small. After the capture of the Bogue forts, Viceroy +<span class="sidenote">Hong Kong ceded to Britain</span> +Keshen came to terms. He agreed to pay a large money indemnity and to cede +Hong Kong absolutely. On January 29, Hong Kong was declared a British +possession, and was heavily garrisoned with the troops transferred from +Chusan. The importance of the new acquisition was scarcely realized by +Englishmen at the time.</p> + +<p>The suspension of hostilities proved but temporary. Keshen was degraded and +banished. Em<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_930" id="Page_930">[Pg 930]</a></span>peror Taouk-Wang issued an edict that he was resolved "to +<span class="sidenote">Chinese convention repudiated</span> +destroy and wash the foreigners away, without remorse." Keshen's successor, +Elang, repudiated the convention signed by his predecessor. On February 25, +the British proceeded to attack the inner line of forts guarding the +approaches to Canton. The formidable lines of Anunghoy, with batteries of +two hundred guns, were carried in the first rush. In quick succession the +other positions of the Chinese were taken, until, on March 1, the English +<span class="sidenote">British threaten Canton</span> +squadron drew up in Whampoa Reach, under the very walls of Canton. On the +arrival of Sir Hugh Gough, to take command of the British forces, a brief +armistice was granted. After a few days, hostilities were renewed by the +capture of the outer line of defences. Under the threat of immediate +military occupation, the Viceroy of Canton came to terms. On March 18, the +British reoccupied their opium factories in Canton. Emperor Taouk-Wang's +anti-foreign policy remained unshaken. He appointed a new commission of +three mandarins to govern Canton, and collected an army of 50,000 men in +that province. In May, Captain Elliot was insulted in the streets of +<span class="sidenote">English opium factory destroyed</span> +Canton. He sent for reinforcements from Sir Hugh Gough at Hong Kong. A +notice was issued advising all Englishmen to leave Canton that day. On the +following night the Chinese sacked the opium warehouses and fired upon the +British ships lying at anchor. Fire rafts were let loose against the +squadron, but drifted astray. The British promptly took the offensive. They +sunk forty war junks, and dismantled the Chinese bat<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_931" id="Page_931">[Pg 931]</a></span>teries. On May 24, Sir +<span class="sidenote">Canton bombarded</span> +Hugh Gough arrived at Canton with all his forces. The fleet advanced up the +Macao passage, and troops were landed under unusually difficult +circumstances. The Chinese failed to take advantage of this, preferring to +await the British attack in a strong line of intrenchments north of the +city. On May 25, two British columns of 2,000 men each, with sixteen pieces +of artillery and fifty-two rockets, advanced to the attack across the +sacred burial grounds. Three of the hill forts were carried with slight +loss. At the fourth fort desperate resistance was encountered. After this +fort had succumbed to a bayonet attack the Chinese rallied in an open camp +one mile to the rear. Intrenchments were thrown up with remarkable +rapidity. The British troops, led by the Royal Irish Fusiliers, streamed +over the open ground and scattered the remaining forces of the Chinese. The +brilliancy of this exploit was dimmed by the slaughter of Chinamen while +asking quarter. The British losses were 70 killed and wounded. A general +<span class="sidenote">Heavy ransom exacted</span> +attack on the city was ordered for the next day. A fierce hurricane and +deluge of rain frustrated this plan. During the day the Canton mandarins +came to terms. They agreed to pay an indemnity of $6,000,000, and to +withdraw their troops sixty miles from the city. A few days after this, +when $5,000,000 of the indemnity had already been paid, the Chinese broke +the armistice by an attempt to surprise the British camp. Instead of +driving the attack home, the Chinese soldiers, some 10,000 in number, +contented themselves with waving their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_932" id="Page_932">[Pg 932]</a></span> banners and uttering yells of +<span class="sidenote">British camp attacked</span> +defiance. The British artillery opened on them, and a running fight ensued. +In the midst of it a violent thunderstorm burst over Canton. A detachment +of Madras Sepoys lost its way, and was all but overwhelmed by the Chinese. +They had to be extricated by a rescue party of marines, armed with the new +percussion gun, which was proof against wet weather. Under threat of +<span class="sidenote">More ransom saves Canton</span> +immediate bombardment, the payment of more ransom was exacted from Canton. +In the end the city was spared, to remain, according to the English +formula, "a record of British magnanimity and forbearance."</p> + +<p>After this the opium trade reverted to its former footing. To bring the +Chinese Emperor, himself, to terms, Sir Henry Pottinger, the new British +plenipotentiary, sailed northward, and appeared before the seaport of Amoy, +<span class="sidenote">Reduction of Amoy</span> +nominally at peace with England. The Viceroy of Amoy sent a flag of truce +to demand what was wanted. He was called upon to surrender the town. This +he refused to do. The British ships at once engaged the land batteries, and +landing parties were sent around the rear. The Chinese gunners were driven +from their pieces, but several of their officers committed suicide. The +commandant of the chief fort drowned himself in the face of both armies. +The capture of Amoy remained barren of useful results. The British fleet +proceeded northward until scattered by a hurricane in the Channel of +Formosa. Coming together off Ningpo, the fleet attacked Chusan for the +second time. Spirited resistance was offered by the Chi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_933" id="Page_933">[Pg 933]</a></span>nese. In the +defence of the capital city Tinghai, Keo, the Chinese general-in-chief, was +<span class="sidenote">Chinese reverses</span> +killed. All his officers fell with him. Leaving a garrison at Chusan, the +British attacked Chinhai on the mainland. Here the Chinese suffered their +heaviest losses. After this victory the city of Ningpo was occupied without +opposition. The inhabitants shut themselves up and wrote on their doors: +"Submissive people." Nevertheless, Ningpo was put to ransom, under threats +of immediate pillage. More British troops and warships were arriving to +<span class="sidenote">An Indian diversion</span> +carry the war to the bitter end, when news arrived of disastrous events in +Afghanistan. Troops had to be diverted in that direction, and a more +definite settlement of the Chinese question was accordingly postponed.</p> + +<p>The attention of Englishmen at home was all but engrossed by domestic +topics. In Parliament, the opposition found its strongest issue in the long +<span class="sidenote">Corn Law agitation</span> +demanded reform of the Corn Laws. Various circumstances, such as increase +of population and bad harvests, contributed to bring this issue to the +front. The retaliatory tariffs adopted by America, Russia, France, Sweden +and the German Zollverein had their serious effect on British trade. The +<span class="sidenote">Richard Cobden</span> +resulting financial depression engendered discontent. It was at this time +that Richard Cobden came into prominence with his free trade views. Then +began the great struggle over the Corn Laws which, until its settlement, +remained the most important question of the day in England. Lord +Melbourne's Ministry by its attempt to adjust the sugar bounties, and +inciden<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_934" id="Page_934">[Pg 934]</a></span>tally the Corn Laws, dealt the first formidable blow against the +great system of monopoly called protection. The government's proposals on +that subject were denounced as an encouragement of the produce of the +<span class="sidenote">Defeat of Melbourne's Ministry</span> +sugars of Cuba and other slave states at the expense of the British West +Indies, where slavery had been abolished. As a result the anti-slavery +Whigs joined with the Tories, under the leadership of Peel. The government +was defeated by a majority of thirty-six votes. In contravention of +Parliamentary customs, Lord Melbourne's Ministry did not hand in their +resignations, neither did they see fit to dissolve Parliament. When +<span class="sidenote">Parliamentary precedents defied</span> +Parliament met again Sir Robert Peel, amid tumultuous cheering from his +followers, moved a direct vote of want of confidence in the government. By +a majority of one the motion was carried. The dissolution of Parliament was +announced on the morrow. The appeal to the country resulted in a strong +gain of Conservatives. The moribund Ministry made another attempt to carry +<span class="sidenote">Adverse elections</span> +their measures before retiring from office. Sir Robert Peel, in his +proposals for a sliding scale in the duties on corn, already showed some +bias toward that free-trade policy to which he afterward became committed. +On the first division on this question the government was outvoted by a +majority of sixty-four. Melbourne's resignation was of course followed by +<span class="sidenote">Peel, Prime Minister</span> +the elevation of Peel to the Prime Ministry. Lord Palmerston was replaced +by the Earl of Aberdeen in the Foreign Office. Lord Lyndhurst was retained +in the Chancellorship. The leadership of the Upper House was left<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_935" id="Page_935">[Pg 935]</a></span> to the +Duke of Wellington, who joined the Cabinet without taking any office.</p> + +<p>Throughout the year industrial distress prevailed in England and Ireland, +with the usual consequence of an increase in crime. The vigorous support of +British trade in the Far East was followed by an extension of Christian +<span class="sidenote">Growth of mission work</span> +missions. Thus missionary work was resumed in China, while Livingstone +preached the Gospel to the Hottentots of South Africa. The growth in +colonial bishoprics caused Sidney Smith to say that soon there would not be +a rock in the ocean without an English bishop and archdeacon. During this +year adhesive postage stamps were first used in England. Wheatstone +patented his alphabetic printing telegraph, and telegraph wires were strung +as far as Glasgow. Almost simultaneously with the death of Hook, the +British humorist, the new publication of "Punch, or the London Charivari," +made its appearance. One of its earliest contributors was George +Cruikshank, the caricaturist.</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">William H. Harrison inaugurated</span> +In British North America, the first Parliament of Canada was opened with +great ceremony in June. After the changes in the Ministry, Sir Charles +Bagett became Governor-General of Canada. In the United States, General +Harrison was inaugurated as President. It rained on his inauguration day, +and the aged General suffered so from exposure that he contracted +pneumonia. One month later he died. The clamor of office-seekers during his +<span class="sidenote">Death of Harrison</span> +brief tenure contributed largely to his death. Harrison had been active in +public life since he was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_936" id="Page_936">[Pg 936]</a></span> Secretary of the Northwest Territory in 1797. He +acquired a national reputation by his victory over the Indians at +Tippecanoe. He served as Senator from Indiana from 1825 to 1828, when he +became Minister to the Republic of Colombia in South America. Congress, +<span class="sidenote">Tyler, tenth President</span> +after some debate, passed a bill to appropriate one year's Presidential +salary to General Harrison's widow. Vice-President Tyler became President. +A Virginian by birth, he was committed to the Southern theory of State +rights. In his first message he recognized the veto of the United States +Bank measure as approved by the nation. This caused a decisive break with +the holdover Cabinet. All the members resigned except Daniel Webster, who +<span class="sidenote">Canadian boundary treaty</span> +was retained to complete the Canadian boundary treaty with England. The +line at length agreed upon gave to the United States 7,000 square miles, +and to Great Britain 5,000, with the navigation of the St. John's River. +Lord Ashburton in a speech at New York declared that never again could war +be possible between the two countries. Tyler's new Secretary of State was +Upham. The first measure of the Whigs was the repeal of the independent +Treasury act of the previous Congress, and the next was the establishment +of a general system of bankruptcy, and for distribution of the public land +<span class="sidenote">American financial policy</span> +revenue. The former was more than a bankrupt law; it was practically an +insolvent law for the abolition of debts at the will of the debtor. The +bill passed both Houses. The land-revenue distribution was made imperative +by the fact that various American States and municipalities owed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_937" id="Page_937">[Pg 937]</a></span> +$200,000,000 to European creditors. These became uneasy, and wished the +Federal Government to assume their debts. The system was first favored in +1838, and again in 1839, and in 1840 became a national issue. Although +Calhoun and Benton both opposed the measure as a squandering of the public +patrimony, it passed by a party vote.</p> + +<p>A compromise tariff measure, advocated by Clay, provided for an upward +scale of duties, to reach their maximum during the following year. The bill +<span class="sidenote">Tyler's vetoes</span> +was vetoed by the President. Another important measure was that for the +rechartering of the National Bank. It passed both Houses by a close vote, +but Tyler vetoed it, to the consternation of the Whigs. On the second vote +the necessary two-thirds majority was not obtained. Thus the second attempt +<span class="sidenote">Loss of Whig support</span> +to resuscitate the old United States Bank resulted in failure. After this +the Whigs withdrew their support from the Administration they had put into +office.</p> + +<p>During this year, in America, the grain drill was patented. Wilkes explored +the coast of California. Graham's Magazine was published—one of the first +American literary magazines of high pretensions. Among its earliest +contributors was Edgar Allan Poe. At the same time Longfellow published his +ballads, Cooper his "Deerslayer," and Ralph Waldo Emerson brought out his +philosophical lectures in essay form.</p> + +<p>War with the Seminoles continued unabated. In the spring, General William +J. Worth had been appointed to succeed Armisted. During the summer,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_938" id="Page_938">[Pg 938]</a></span> Worth +dispersed his troops into small parties, which ascended the rivers and +penetrated the swamps to the islands to which the Indians had retired. +Worth brought Chief Coacoochee to Tampa in irons. To secure peace, Worth +bade him name five of his fellow chieftains, who were to return to the +Indians and inform them that unless they should appear at Tampa within a +given time and give themselves up, Coacoochee and his fellow prisoners +would forthwith be hanged. The Indians came within the appointed time. As +one band after another surrendered they were sent West to Mississippi. The +<span class="sidenote">Close of Seminole War</span> +cost of the war from first to last had been $40,000,000, which was twice +the sum paid for the Territories of Louisiana and Florida together. It was +estimated that for each black slave brought back from Florida to his +owners, three white men had lost their lives, and $80,000 had been +expended.</p> + +<p>In Mexico, the Presidency of Bustamente was superseded by that of General +Santa Anna. The northern States of Mexico maintained their independent +attitude. The State of Costa Rica attempted to withdraw from the ascendant +<span class="sidenote">Latin-American upheavals</span> +influence of Guatemala. About the same time the city of Cartago was +destroyed by an earthquake. In Colombia, Marquez maintained himself as +President against his opponents. The States of Panama and Veragua seceded +from the Colombian Union, but the President prevailed upon them to return +to the confederation. In South America, an expedition from Peru invaded +Bolivia and laid siege to La Paz, only to be driven back. Peru was now +invaded by an army from Bo<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_939" id="Page_939">[Pg 939]</a></span>livia, but General Bolnes, the newly elected +President of Chile, interfered on behalf of Peru.</p> + +<p>In Spain, General Espartero throughout this year continued his precarious +rule. In October, Generals O'Donnel and Concha headed a rising at Pambulna +<span class="sidenote">Revolts in Spain</span> +in behalf of the former Queen-Regent Christina. The Queen's guard repelled +an attack of Don Diego Leon on the palace. On October 15, Don Diego was +captured and shot. One week later O'Donnel fled to France. On the same day, +General Zurbano gained possession of the citadel and port of Bilbao. He +declared himself in favor of the Queen-Regent.</p> + +<p>On the other side of the Pyrenees the restoration of the French <i>entente +cordiale</i> with England and the other European Powers was manifested in the +conclusion of the International Convention of Alexandria in July, and the +quintuple treaty for suppression of the slave trade proposed by the British +Government. The French cry for the forcible recovery of the Rhine frontier +died down and public funds rose accordingly. Alfred de Musset's second +invective poem on "Le Rhin Allemand" scarcely raised a stir. All desire for +<span class="sidenote">French Algerian victories</span> +military conquests was satisfied for the moment by the exploits of French +arms under General Bugeaud and the Duc d'Aumale in Algeria. For once the +Arab chiefs of the Desert were cowed into submission. The effect of the Duc +d'Aumale's triumphal return was spoiled somewhat by the attempt to +assassinate him on September 13. Under Guizot's guidance the French +Chambers showed their appreciation of the flourishing state of literature +in France by their amendments to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_940" id="Page_940">[Pg 940]</a></span> copyright law, extending the +provisions of copyright to a period of thirty years after an author's +death.</p> + +<p>Michel Jurgevitch Lermontov, the Russian poet, died on July 27, as the +<span class="sidenote">Death of Lermontov</span> +result of a duel in the Caucasus. His romance, "A Hero of Our Time," was +the immediate cause of the duel. This poet was the Russian spokesman of the +so-called Weltschmerz (world-sorrow) which had come into vogue with the +"Sorrows of Werther." Following in the wake of Chateaubriand and Byron, +Lermontov wrote epic poems in a pessimistic, cynical strain, without +attaining quite the bitterness of spirit of a Byron or Heine, nor the +<span class="sidenote">Lermontov's work</span> +melancholy lyric beauty of a Lenau or Leopardi. Pre-eminent, on the other +hand, are his poetical descriptions of the scenery and wild national traits +of the Caucasus, which furnished the background for almost all of his +poems. Noteworthy among his epics are "The Circassian Boy," "Ismail Bey," +"Valerik," "Hadshy-Abrak," and "The Demon." Under Czar Nicholas, +Lermontov's works were forbidden in Russia. After having been banished to +the Caucasus, for demanding revenge for Pushkin's death, the poet published +his last brilliant epic, "Song of Czar Ivan Vasilyevitch," under a +pseudonym.</p> + +<p>In Germany, too, letters and arts were flourishing. In Vienna, Nikolaus +Lenau (Baron Strehlenau) and his friend, Anastasius Gruen (Count +<span class="sidenote">German letters</span> +Auersperg), were the leaders of a literary movement which found its +counterpart in the so-called "Young German" movement of the north, where +Ferdinand Freiligrath, Laube, Gutzkow, and Emanuel Geibel came<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_941" id="Page_941">[Pg 941]</a></span> under the +ban of the German Bundesrath. The great political event of the year was the +<span class="sidenote">Prussian General Estates</span> +meeting of the first General Estates, convoked at Berlin. The new king's +hostile attitude toward their popular demands for constitutional rights and +larger liberties soon destroyed the hopes of liberal Germans for a change +of spirit in the government of Prussia. A more material advance in +civilization was assured by the opening of the first railway from Berlin to +Magdeburg.</p> + +<p>Peter von Cornelius, one of the leaders of the religious Catholic movement +<span class="sidenote">Cornelius</span> +in art which had followed the classicism of the first decade of the +century, was commissioned by the King to decorate the cemetery at Berlin. +These decorations afterward, as well as the mural paintings in the Church +of Saint Louis at Munich, proved to be his masterpieces.</p> + +<p>The British occupation of Afghanistan had continued since the last year. +The expenses of the occupation were so heavy that economy was imperative. +As soon as the British Resident cut down the subsidies paid to Shah Shuja +<span class="sidenote">Defence of Jellalabad</span> +the situation took a sinister turn. In October, Sir Robert Sale left Kabul +with a brigade of British troops to reopen communications with Jellalabad, +which had been interrupted by hostile mountain tribes. He got to Jellalabad +only after a desperate struggle and heavy losses. His subsequent defence of +that stronghold against the Afghans is one of the heroic traditions of +British India.</p> + +<p>At Kabul, in the meanwhile, the garrison had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_942" id="Page_942">[Pg 942]</a></span> been removed from the citadel +of Bala Hasir to open cantonments outside of the city. Sir William +MacNaghten, the British Resident, had been appointed Governor of Bombay, +and was about to be succeeded by Sir Alexander Byrnes. Byrnes took up his +abode in the centre of the city amid the turbulent bazaars. On November 2, +the people of Kabul rose against the English. Byrnes barricaded his house +and sent to MacNaghten for help. On the advice of General Elphinstone, +MacNaghten decided to wait for further information before acting. The delay +<span class="sidenote">Massacre of Kabul</span> +was fatal for Byrnes. He held out with thirty-two others from eight in the +morning until two in the afternoon. Then the ammunition gave out. The mob +rushed in and tore the house to pieces. Byrnes and twenty-three of his +followers were massacred. One hour later a British relief corps tried to +enter the city. All Kabul turned against them. The British were forced to +retire. The news of this set Afghanistan wild. Thousands of armed +mountaineers flocked to Kabul, and the whole nation rose against the +foreigners. The British troops were cut off from all supplies. They +maintained their precarious position only by lavish promises of ransom. At +<span class="sidenote">Afghans up in arms</span> +length, after many parleys, a meeting was arranged, for December 23, +between MacNaghten and the Afghan chiefs. When the English envoy walked +into the meeting the Afghans fell upon him, and he was slain by Akbar +Khan.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1842" id="a1842"></a>1842</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_943" id="Page_943">[Pg 943]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">T</span><span class="dcap1">HE</span> situation of the British in Afghanistan was so critical that they could +<span class="sidenote">MacNaghten's murder unavenged</span> +not avenge the murder of their countrymen. Negotiations were actually +renewed with Akbar Khan upon his statement that he had not meant to murder +the British envoy, but had been goaded into the act by the taunts of +MacNaghten. Promises of safe conduct were obtained. In January the British +forces began their retreat from Kabul. Then followed a series of +treacheries and mutual breaches of faith. Akbar Khan and his hordes of +Afghans dogged the retreating column exacting further concessions. The +<span class="sidenote">The retreat from Kabul</span> +English women and children were demanded as hostages. From the heights of +the Khaibar Pass, the Ghilzai mountaineers poured a destructive fire into +the Englishmen. Akbar Khan's followers made common cause with them. +Thousands of Englishmen were slain, or perished in the deep snows of the +Khaibar Pass. The wounded and those who fell behind were butchered by the +<span class="sidenote">Disaster of Khaibar Pass</span> +Afghans. A fortnight sufficed to cut the whole column to pieces. Of the +entire force of 4,000 soldiers and 12,000 followers, one single survivor +succeeded in reaching Jellalabad. He was a British surgeon named Brydon, +who dragged himself on all fours<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_944" id="Page_944">[Pg 944]</a></span> out of reach of the Afghans; but he lived +to tell the tale for more than thirty years afterward.</p> + +<p>Colonel Stoddart and Captain Connelly had been sent as British emissaries +to Bokhara. When the news of the British massacre at Kabul reached Bokhara, +both men were promptly thrown into prison. Later, when the news of the +British disaster in the Khaibar Pass reached Bokhara, the Ameer had the two +envoys taken from their dungeons. They were publicly beheaded in the +market-place of Bokhara.</p> + +<p>Such was the state of affairs in India when Lord Ellenborough landed at +<span class="sidenote">Lord Ellenborough in India</span> +Calcutta in February, to succeed Lord Auckland as Governor-General. The +first trying need was to rescue the remaining British garrisons at +Jellalabad and Kandahar. General Pollock, with a strong force of Sepoys, +was sent through the Punjab and Peshawar. In April, he pushed his way +through the Khaibar Pass, in the face of fierce resistance from the +mountaineers. The relieving force reached Jellalabad none too soon. General +<span class="sidenote">Jellalabad relieved</span> +Sale and his garrison were fighting for time. In a last sortie they had +just inflicted a telling defeat on Akbar Khan and his besieging army. From +Kabul the boy sovereign of the Afghans fled out of Akbar Khan's reach and +put himself under the protection of General Pollock. Akbar Khan now wrote +to General Pollock, offering to deliver up his British prisoners and +hostages if he would withdraw from Afghanistan. Lord Ellenborough showed +himself inclined to accept this proposition. The British officers at the +front were furious. General Pollock wrote to Nott at Kandahar<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_945" id="Page_945">[Pg 945]</a></span> not to move +until further instructions, while he himself reported to headquarters that +he could not retire to Jellalabad for want of transports. Eventually, Lord +Ellenborough consented to modify his instructions. Without waiting for +this, General Nott was already marching on Kabul. Pollock, accompanied by +Sale, left Jellalabad to support Nott's advance. In the Tezeen Valley the +British came upon the scene of one of the bloodiest massacres of the +retreat from Kabul. The sight of the murdered bodies of their comrades +exasperated the soldiers. The heights around were bristling with Akbar +Khan's men. In the face of a murderous fire from their matchlocks, the +<span class="sidenote">Recapture of Kabul</span> +British stormed the heights and gave no quarter. Akbar Khan fled into the +northern hills. In September, Nott's column took Kabul and hoisted the +British flag over the Bala Hassar. The English captives managed to bribe +their keepers and to join the rescuing army, amid general rejoicings. The +British conquest of Afghanistan was followed by barbarous deeds of +vandalism. The great bazaar of Kabul, one of the handsomest stone +structures of Central Asia, was blown up by gunpowder. The city itself was +<span class="sidenote">British vandalism</span> +turned over to loot and massacre. The bloodcurdling atrocities of the white +men on that occasion kept alive the fierce hatred of all things British in +Afghanistan for years to come. By the express orders of Lord Ellenborough +the sacred sandalwood gates of Somnath, which had adorned the tomb of +Mahmud of Ghasni since the Eleventh Century, were brought away as trophies +of war.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_946" id="Page_946">[Pg 946]</a></span></p> + +<p>In South Africa, too, the seeds of enduring hatred were sown at this time. +Scarcely had the new Boer community in Zululand become well settled when a +<span class="sidenote">Boers driven from Natal</span> +proclamation was issued in Cape Town, declaring that Natal should become a +British territory. Soldiers were despatched to Durban to support this +claim. After some sharp fighting the Boers were driven out of the seaport. +When the British Commissioner arrived at Pietermaritzburg, a stormy mass +meeting was held. For two hours Erasmus Smith, the Boer predicant, argued +in vain in behalf of his flock. In the end the Boer women passed a +unanimous resolution that rather than submit to English rule they would +emigrate once more. Pointing to the Drakensberg Mountains, the oldest of +the women said: "We go across those mountains to freedom or to death." Over +<span class="sidenote">Foundation of Transvaal</span> +these mountains almost the whole population of Natal trekked their way into +the uninhabited regions beyond. Only 300 families remained, the ancestors +of some 10,000 Afrikanders of Natal in later days. On the other side of the +Orange and Vaal Rivers the Boer emigrants founded once more their +commonwealth, known later as the Transvaal, or South African Republic.</p> + +<p>In Australia the first representative constitution was granted to the +English colonists of New South Wales. Almost simultaneously with this began +the agitation for separating Victoria from New South Wales.</p> + +<p>In England, early in the Parliamentary session, Sir Robert Peel on behalf +of the government moved<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_947" id="Page_947">[Pg 947]</a></span> his famous bill for a sliding scale of the duties +on corn. In the debate that followed, the most notable speeches were made +<span class="sidenote">"The Sliding Scale"</span> +by Cobden and Macaulay, who advocated complete free trade. In spite of all +opposition, the bill in an unamended form reached its third reading and was +passed on the 5th of April. The most serious difficulty confronting the +government was a financial deficit of £2,570,000, to which had to be added +the heavy expenditures for the wars in India and China. To fill up this +deficiency, Peel resorted to the levy of an income tax. To make this +unpopular tax more acceptable a number of minor mischievous taxes were +abolished. Thus rendered palatable, this bill, too, was carried through +<span class="sidenote">British Income Tax</span> +Parliament with tolerable speed, and was passed with handsome majorities by +both Houses. It called for a tax of sevenpence on every pound of annual +income above £150.</p> + +<p>In emulation of the new provisions for copyright in France, a bill was +brought in to extend English copyright from twenty-eight to forty-two +years. Among the considerations which prompted Parliament to perform this +long delayed act of justice was the recent lamented death of Sir Walter +Scott. The royalties on his works were the only resource left to his +family, and the copyright on the most important of them, the Waverley +Novels, was about to expire. Southey, the Poet Laureate, before his recent +illness, it was stated, had been deterred from undertaking a projected +great work by the unsatisfactory copyright provisions. Wordsworth was about +to lose the fruits of some of his earliest and<span class="sidenote">Copyright reform</span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_948" id="Page_948">[Pg 948]</a></span> +most patriotic poems. Among +those who actively pressed the measure were Charles Dickens and Thomas +Carlyle. The sixty years' copyright demanded in Carlyle's petition was not +obtained; but authors were allowed to retain the property of their works +during life, while their heirs could possess it for seven years after their +<span class="sidenote">"Lays of Ancient Rome"</span> +death. Coincident with this literary victory came other triumphs in +literature. Thomas B. Macaulay published his "Lays of Ancient Rome"; Alfred +Tennyson brought out "Locksley Hall" and other poems; Bulwer Lytton +<span class="sidenote">"Locksley Hall"</span> +finished "Zanoni"; the new Shakespeare Society issued some twenty volumes +of researches. A new impetus to the making of books and printing was given +by Woolwich's new system of electrotyping, and Charles Young's new device +of a type-setting machine, first employed on the "Family Herald."</p> + +<p>It was then, too, that Dr. Julius Robert Meyer, an obscure physician in +Heilbronn, published a paper in Liebig's "Annalen," entitled "The Force of +Inorganic Nature." Not merely the mechanical theory of heat, but the entire +doctrine of the conservation of energy was clearly formulated. It is true +that he was anticipated in a measure by Mohr, and that Helmholtz more +exhaustively demonstrated the truth of the hypothesis of the conservation +of energy; but Helmholtz himself hailed Meyer as the rightful claimant of +the honor of having first clearly formulated the doctrine.</p> + +<p>A great gain for humanity was made in Lord Ashley's successful bill for the +restriction of work<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_949" id="Page_949">[Pg 949]</a></span> done by women and children in mines and collieries. +Under the leadership of O'Connell's former Irish rival, Feargus O'Connor, +<span class="sidenote">Second Charter petition</span> +the agitation for a People's Charter was revived. On May 2, another monster +petition, containing nearly three and a half million signatures, was rolled +into Parliament. Too voluminous to pass through the doors, it had to be cut +up and carried into the hall by sixteen men. A motion to consider it was +violently opposed by Macaulay. Once more the petition was rejected by 287 +over 49 votes. Now followed one of the most singular labor strikes of +<span class="sidenote">The "Sacred Month"</span> +England. This was the so-called sacred month, or thirty days' idleness to +be enforced throughout the United Kingdom. Within a few days the Chartists +could boast that for fifty miles round Manchester every loom was still. The +attempt to extend the strike to London was followed by the arrest of +O'Connor and nearly a hundred of his associates. They were tried and +convicted, but owing to a flaw in the indictment sentence could not be +carried out. The agitation was made to appear more serious by two attempts +to assassinate the Queen in May and July, but the young Queen was not +deterred thereby from making her first visit to Scotland.</p> + +<p>In August, the Duke of Wellington was reinstated as commander-in-chief of +the British army. Among the military reforms undertaken was the general +introduction of the percussion-cap musket in the infantry, and the use of +the carbine in the artillery. The war in China was brought to a close. The +long period of inaction following the occupation of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_950" id="Page_950">[Pg 950]</a></span> Ningpo had been broken +<span class="sidenote">Chinese opium war</span> +in March by Chinese attempts to recapture Ningpo, Chinhai and Chusan. In +all three places the British beat off their assailants. At Ningpo the +Chinese succeeded in breaking through the south and west gates, and reached +the centre of the city only to be mowed down there by the British +artillery. At Tszeki a strong Chinese camp was captured by the British. The +Chinese losses on this occasion were over a thousand killed, including many +<span class="sidenote">Fall of Chapoo</span> +of the Imperial Guards. The British casualties did not exceed forty. A +naval expedition next attacked Chapoo, China's port of trade with Japan. +The main body of the Chinese was routed, but 300 of their soldiers shut +themselves up in a walled inclosure, and held their ground until +three-fourths of their number were slain. As heretofore, the British +<span class="sidenote">Shanghai occupied</span> +casualties were small. The important city of Shanghai was captured without +appreciable resistance. The most serious affair of the war was the attack +on Chinkiangfoo on the southern bank of the Yangtse-Kiang at one of the +entrances of the great canal. A part of the Manchu garrison held out there +<span class="sidenote">Assault of Chinkiangfoo</span> +until shot down to the last man. The inner Tartar city was only taken after +the Manchus had first killed the women and children and then themselves. +The immediate losses of the British were nearly two hundred. Owing to the +intense heat, they failed to bury the bodies of the Chinese. Pestilence and +cholera broke out, and caused more serious losses than befell the main +force sent against Nanking. On August 5, the British fleet appeared before +Nanking, the second city of the em<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_951" id="Page_951">[Pg 951]</a></span>pire. It was then that Minister Elepoo, +<span class="sidenote">China brought to terms</span> +the leader of the Chinese peace party, prevailed upon Emperor Taouk-Wang to +give in. On August 26, peace was concluded on board the British flagship +"Cornwallis." China paid an indemnity of $21,000,000, and confirmed the +cession of Hong Kong to England. The English opium factory at Canton was to +<span class="sidenote">Treaty ports designated</span> +be reinstalled, and, in addition to this, foreign trading was to be allowed +at the ports of Shanghai, Ningpo, Amhoy and Foochow, after a tariff should +have been agreed upon and consular officers appointed. The final ceremonies +of peace were marred by barbarous injuries inflicted upon the famous +porcelain tower of Nanking by a party of British officers and soldiers. In +the words of a British historian: "The only weak point in the commercial +treaty was that it contained no reference to opium. Sir Henry Pottinger +failed to obtain the assent of the Chinese government to its legalization." +In reply to Sir Henry Pottinger's final demand for legalization of the +<span class="sidenote">Opium forced upon China</span> +opium trade in China, Emperor Taouk-Wang delivered this ultimatum: "True, I +cannot prevent the introduction of the poison; but nothing will induce me +to raise revenue from the vice and misery of my people." The emperor, +himself a reformed opium smoker, had lost three sons by this vice. All this +time American, Dutch and Russian trade with China had been continued. +President Tyler made it the subject of his message to the American Congress +during this year. From the first any American traffic in opium was +discouraged.</p> + +<p>The Webster-Ashburton treaty, regulating the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_952" id="Page_952">[Pg 952]</a></span> northeastern boundary between +the United States and Canada, was signed on August 9. A strip of territory +<span class="sidenote">Webster-Ashburton agreement</span>claimed by the State of Maine was ceded to Canada, while a more important +strip was yielded to Vermont and New York. The treaty also provided for a +joint repressive action against the slave trade, and for the extradition of +criminals. It was Webster's greatest achievement in diplomacy, as was +indicated by the fact that the American Senate, notwithstanding its +hostility to President Tyler, ratified it by a three-fourths vote. In +England more serious opposition was encountered. In Parliament the treaty +was termed "Ashburton's Capitulation," and Lord Palmerston went so far as +to attribute its concessions to Ashburton's partiality toward his American +<span class="sidenote">"Battle of the Maps"</span> +wife. The ratification of the treaty was followed by an international +controversy known as "The Battle of the Maps." An early map found by Jared +Sparks, the American historian, in the Library of Paris, had been used in +the Senate to insure the ratification of the treaty without the knowledge +of Lord Ashburton. When this became known in England it was denounced as +underhand dealing. Frantic search in the archives of the British Museum +brought to light another map, bearing the autograph indorsement of King +George III. As it turned out, this only sustained the American contentions, +and was used in Parliament to vindicate Lord Ashburton, just as Sparks's +map had been used in behalf of Webster. Credit also belongs to Webster for +his strong stand made at the time the Hawaiian Islands were threatened by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_953" id="Page_953">[Pg 953]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">American interests in Hawaii</span> +a French expedition. It was then stated, as reiterated by President Tyler +to Congress, that, in view of the preponderant intercourse of the United +States with those islands, the American government would insist that no +European nation should colonize or possess them, nor subvert the native +governments. After a settlement of these international questions, Daniel +Webster was permitted to resign his secretaryship to join the Whig +<span class="sidenote">Daniel Webster resigns</span> +opposition on the floor of the House. His resignation was the more readily +accepted since he was known to be out of harmony with the Administration's +designs against Mexico. As the son of President Tyler has recorded: "The +time had come when it was necessary to have in the office of the Secretary +of State one who would go the full length of the Texas question. Certainly, +that man was not Webster." In the Senate, Henry Clay resigned his seat, the +better to carry on his canvass as a candidate for the Presidency.</p> + +<p>At the time that Charles Dickens paid his first visit to America the +agitation for a better copyright law was renewed, and was in a measure +successful. Dickens's early impressions of the United States, as published +<span class="sidenote">First American submarine cable</span> +later in England, were distinctly unfavorable to the American people. Had +he lingered longer he might have witnessed the laying of the first +submarine telegraph between Governor's Island and New York City. In the +extreme West another outlet toward the Pacific Ocean was found by Fremont +and Kit Carson in the south pass of the Rocky Mountains.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_954" id="Page_954">[Pg 954]</a></span></p> + +<p>In Central America, General Morazan invaded Costa Rica to re-establish by +force the federation of the Central American States. At first he was +<span class="sidenote">Latin-American affairs</span> +welcomed by the population and recognized as President of Costa Rica. But +later, as the guerilla war dragged itself out, the opposition gained +ground. José Maria Alfaro was recognized as President. In South America, +General Rosas made another attempt to subject Montevideo. Gold was +discovered in Uruguay. In the West Indies, the restoration of peace in Cuba +was followed by educational, far-reaching reforms. Another revolution in +Hayti provoked French interference.</p> + +<p>The French squadron that had made demonstrations in the Caribbean Sea +presently descended upon the Marqueso Islands in the southern Pacific. The +islands were annexed to France. In Africa, the war against Abd-el-Kader was +<span class="sidenote">French-Algerian campaign</span> +pushed forward. The Arabs attacked Mostaganem and Arzee and lured Yussuf, +the commander of the new French corps of native Spahis, into an ambush. +General Vallè, with a division of 9,000 men, drove Abd-el-Kader from an +intrenched pass between Medah and Muzaia; but the French lost heavily. The +Algerian war during this year alone cost 12,000 lives and 50,000,000 +francs. Vallè was superseded by Bugeaud.</p> + +<p>The French general elections had just resulted in favor of the government, +when, on July 13, the Duke of Orleans was killed by a fall from his +carriage. After this event the Chambers fixed the succession to the throne +upon the Duke of Nemours, until the children of the Duke of Orleans should +be of age.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_955" id="Page_955">[Pg 955]</a></span></p> + +<p>By this time the socialistic theories of Saint Simon and Fourier were +<span class="sidenote">Louis Blanc</span> +exploited still further by Louis Blanc and Proudhon. Blanc's writings had +an immense vogue among the workmen of Paris. This was especially true of +his "Organisation du Travail," published this year, wherein he proclaimed +the opportunity to work as a social right. Proudhon carried Etienne Cadet's +<span class="sidenote">Proudhon</span> +"Icarian" theories so far that in his famous book, "What is Property?" +after describing the conditions under which property is held according to +the Napoleonic Code, he delivered the categorical dictum, "If this be +property, then property is theft." Other popular books of the day were +<span class="sidenote">Eugène Sue</span> +Eugène Sue's "The Mysteries of Paris," "Le Morne au Diable," and Georges +Sand's famous novel "Consuelo." Marie Henri Beyle, known better under his +pseudonym, "Stendhal," died during this year. As a novelist he was the +precursor of the naturalistic school of romance in France, and was later +<span class="sidenote">"Stendhal"</span> +acknowledged as such by Balzac, Flaubert and Emile Zola. His powers of +prose were most ably demonstrated in the novel "Rouge et Noir," treating of +the adventures of a worldly Abbé.</p> + +<p>Another notable figure in Paris passed away with Luigi Cherubini, the great +Italian composer. Cherubini, many of whose works were brought out during +the previous century was so popular by the beginning of the Nineteenth +Century, that he was esteemed above Beethoven. A Viennese critic who +ventured to say that Beethoven's "Fidelio" was of equal merit with +Cherubini's "Fanisca" was laughed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_956" id="Page_956">[Pg 956]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Cherubini</span> +to scorn. Cherubini's best opera, "The +Water Carrier," was brought out in Paris and London in 1800 and 1801. Owing +to his disregard of Napoleon's musical opinions, Cherubini found himself +out of favor throughout the First Empire in France. He retired to the +estate of his friend, Prince de Chimay, and would have given up music but +for the latter's request to write a Mass for his chapel. The result was the +celebrated three-part Mass in F, which proved such a success that Cherubini +thenceforward devoted himself to sacred music. After Napoleon's fall he +received an appointment at the Paris Conservatory of Music, from the +directorship of which he did not retire until 1841. Cherubini's voluminous +compositions reveal him as one of the great modern masters of counterpoint. +His great skill and erudition show to the best advantage in his sacred +music.</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">Bunsen</span> +Germany about this same time lost her great Oriental scholar, F.W. +Genesius. Bunsen invented his carbon battery. Gervinus, the banished +Hanoverian professor, brought out his History of German Literature, which +ended with a stirring appeal for political unity. The same ideal, in a +<span class="sidenote">Gervinus</span> +measure, was voiced during the ceremonies commemorating the resumption of +work on the great Cathedral of Cologne. King Frederick William IV. of +Prussia, fresh from the riots of Berlin, declared: "The spirit that builds +this cathedral is the same that has broken our chains, and the disgrace of +foreign domination over this German river—it is the spirit of German +strength and unity." Even Archduke John, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_957" id="Page_957">[Pg 957]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Forecasts of German union</span> +uncle of the Emperor of +Austria, proposed this toast: "No Austria, no Prussia; but a great united +Germany—firm-rooted as her mountains."</p> + +<p>In Russia, a concession to modern ideas was made by Czar Nicholas, in his +<span class="sidenote">Reforms in Russia</span> +ukase of April 14, permitting the great landholders to liberate their +serfs. Another imperial ukase deprived the Roman as well as the Greek +clergy of all church lands upon condemnation proceedings and money payments +by the government. Russian literature, notwithstanding the strict +censorship, flourished during this period. A new source of poetry was +<span class="sidenote">Gogol</span> +discovered by Koltsov in the Slavic folk songs. Griboyodov's new comedy, +"Gore Ot Ouma" (Too Clever by Half), had already become one of the stock +pieces. The success of this play was rivalled by Gogol's comedy, "The +Revisor." In 1842, this same writer brought out his celebrated romance, +<span class="sidenote">Turgenyev</span> +"Dead Souls." Ivan Turgenyev was just entering upon his career.</p> + +<p>Toward the close of the year new troubles broke out in Spain. In November, +a popular insurrection at Barcelona was joined by the National Guards. +Following upon a bitter fight in the streets of the city, on November 15, +the Guards retired into the citadel, where they held their ground. After +one month's stubborn resistance there, they were subjected to such heavy +artillery fire that they were glad to surrender to Espartero's government +forces on Christmas Eve.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1843" id="a1843"></a>1843</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_958" id="Page_958">[Pg 958]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">T</span><span class="dcap1">O CARRY</span> on the British war with Afghanistan it was necessary to pass +troops through Scinde. The Ameers remonstrated. Emaun-Ghur, in the Desert +<span class="sidenote">Napier's desert march</span> +of Beluchistan, was a stronghold where the Ameers could gather a numerous +army unobserved by the English. Sir Charles Napier determined to strike for +this point with a small force, capable of speedily traversing the desert. +On the night of January 5, he commenced his perilous adventure. With 360 +Irish soldiers on camels, with 200 of the irregular cavalry, with ten +camels laden with provisions, and with eighty carrying water, he set forth.</p> + +<p>When the fortress, which no European eye had before seen, was reached, it +was found deserted. Immense stores of ammunition had been left behind. +<span class="sidenote">Emaun-Ghur reduced</span> +Napier mined Emaun-Ghur in twenty-four places, and blew up all the mighty +walls of its square tower. After great privations on the march back, Napier +and his men rejoined the main army on the 23d near Hyderabad. The Duke of +Wellington said that the march to Emaun-Ghur was one of the most arduous +military feats of which he knew. On February 12, the Ameers at Hyderabad, +who, according to the British Resident himself, had been "cruelly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_959" id="Page_959">[Pg 959]</a></span> +wronged," came to terms. On the day after their apparent submission the +British Resident, Major Outram, was attacked by the infuriated Beluchees. +With a hundred followers he barely succeeded in fighting his way through to +two British war steamers lying in the river. Napier, with his 2,600 men, +now moved against the Beluchee army, numbering nearly 10,000. On February +17, the day of the battle of Meanee, Napier wrote in his journal: "It is my +first battle as a commander. It may be my last. At sixty it makes little +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Meanee</span> +difference what my feelings are. It shall be do or die." It proved an +all-day fight. Most of the white officers fell. In the end, Napier closed +the doubtful struggle by a decisive cavalry charge. The Sepoy horsemen +charged through the Beluchee army and stormed the batteries on the ridge of +the hill of Meanee.</p> + +<p>Napier followed up his victory the next day by a message sent into +Hyderabad that he would storm the city unless it surrendered. Six of the +Ameers came out and laid their swords at his feet. Another enemy +remained—Shere Mahomed of Meerpoor. On March 24, Napier, with 5,000 +<span class="sidenote">Hyderabad</span> +troops, attacked this chief, who had come with 20,000 Beluchees before the +walls of Hyderabad. Napier won another brilliant victory, which was +followed up by the British occupation of Meerpoor. The spirit of the +Beluchees was so broken that after two slight actions in June, when Shere +Mahomed was routed and fled into the desert, the war was at an end. Scinde +was annexed to the British Empire.</p> + +<p>At home, in the meanwhile, the Chartist agitation,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_960" id="Page_960">[Pg 960]</a></span> with its "sacred month" +strike, was carried over into this year, while the leaders were tried +before the Lancashire Assizes. Popular meetings were held at Birmingham, +<span class="sidenote">English free-trade agitation</span> +Manchester and London. O'Connor, after his suspension of sentence in court, +made the mistake of setting himself against the anti-corn law agitation led +by Cobden and Bright. To most Englishmen of the day the free-trade issue +appeared the most momentous. O'Connor's star paled accordingly. Early in +the year a new free-trade hall had been opened in London, the largest room +for public meetings in the United Kingdom. A dozen lecturers were kept +busy. Cobden alone addressed some thirty great country meetings during the +first half of the year. At the same time the Irish agitation for repeal of +<span class="sidenote">Irish disaffection</span> +the legislative union with England assumed formidable proportions. The +Irish secret society of the "Molly Maguires" spread alarmingly. On March +16, Daniel O'Connell addressed 30,000 persons at Trim, urging repeal of the +act of united legislation for Ireland and Great Britain. A few months later +several hundred thousand people gathered on the hill of Tara to listen to +<span class="sidenote">O'Connell arrested</span> +his eloquent words. As a result of this agitation, O'Connell, with several +of his followers, was arrested, in October, on charges of sedition. +Simultaneously with this the so-called "Becca Riots" against turnpikes +broke out in Wales. One month after O'Connell's arrest the greatest +free-trade meeting of the year was held at Manchester. Both Cobden and +Bright made speeches against the corn laws. One hundred thousand pounds +were collected on the spot from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_961" id="Page_961">[Pg 961]</a></span> wealthy manufacturers who attended the +<span class="sidenote">Anti-corn law league</span> +meeting. This opened the eyes even of the editors of the London "Times." +Under the caption "The League is a Great Fact," it announced that a new +power had arisen in the State. This reluctant concession of the leading +Tory paper of England caused a great sensation. Other events that excited +the attention of Englishmen were the erection of the great Nelson column in +Trafalgar Square and the opening of the Thames tunnel for pedestrians. +<span class="sidenote">Mill's "System of Logic"</span> +Thousands of curious Londoners passed through its shaft, measuring 1,300 +feet in length. Nasmyth invented his steam hammer. Mill published his +"System of Logic." The event of the year in English letters was the death +of Robert Southey, the Poet Laureate. During the last few years his brain +had softened, and his mind had become enfeebled. Southey was born at +<span class="sidenote">Death of Southey</span> +Bristol in 1774. He was educated at Westminster School and Baliol College, +Oxford. While still at college he brought out two volumes of poems, +together with Robert Lovell. His first long narrative poem, "Joan of Arc," +was written at the age of nineteen, and gave him, as he called it, "a +Baxter's shove into the right place in the world." At the opening of the +Nineteenth Century, he published the "wild and wondrous song" of "Thalaba, +the Destroyer," founded on Moslem mythology. "Kehema," founded on Hindu +lore, followed. In 1803, after some years of wandering, the poet went to +live at Greta Hall, near Keswick, which remained his home until his death. +Besides a long line of prose works, Southey wrote innumerable short<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_962" id="Page_962">[Pg 962]</a></span> poems. +Famous among them is the ballad of the battle of Blenheim, with its homely +irony:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"With fire and sword the country round</span><br /> +<span class="sidenote">Ballad of Blenheim</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Was wasted far and wide,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And many a childing mother then</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And new-born baby died;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But things like that, you know, must be</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At every famous victory."</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Southey nourished a passionate hatred against Napoleon Bonaparte. Again and +again he invoked the Muse against the world conqueror. Thus he wrote to +Landor in 1814: "For five years I have been preaching the policy, the duty, +<span class="sidenote">Brilliant occasional pieces</span> +the necessity of declaring Bonaparte under the ban of human nature." Under +this stress of feeling he wrote his great "Ode During the Negotiations for +Peace." It was the most powerful of his occasional pieces. In 1813, he was +made Poet Laureate. As such, it fell to him to write another occasional +piece on the death of the Princess Charlotte. The grace and beauty of his +lines on this occasion have long outlived the memory of that lamented +princess. Unlike his great contemporaries, Lord Byron and Sir Walter Scott, +Southey never achieved a great material success. Having married young, he +often walked the streets, so he himself confessed, "not having eighteen +pence for a dinner, nor bread and cheese at his lodgings." In 1835, when he +<span class="sidenote">Southey's works</span> +was sixty-one years old, he wrote to Sir Robert Peel while declining the +offer of a baronetcy, "Last year for the first time in my life I was +provided with a year's expenditure beforehand." Yet his works at this time +filled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_963" id="Page_963">[Pg 963]</a></span> +nearly a hundred volumes. In the words of his brother poets:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Southey's epics crammed the creaking shelves."</p></div> + +<p>It was in his declining age that he wrote the prophetic "Stanzas Written in +My Library":</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">My days among the Dead are passed:</span><br /> +<span class="sidenote">"Stanzas in My Library"</span> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Around me I behold,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Where'er these casual eyes are cast,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The almighty minds of old;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">My never-failing friends are they,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">With whom I converse day by day.</span> + +<hr class='hr' /> + +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">My hopes are with the Dead, anon</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">My place with them will be,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And I with them shall travel on</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Through all Futurity;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Yet leaving here a name, I trust,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">That will not perish in the dust.</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>After Southey's death, William Wordsworth was made Poet Laureate. His +<span class="sidenote">Wordsworth, Poet Laureate</span> +acceptance of this benefice from the government incensed his more radical +friends. Robert Browning then wrote the famous invective lines entitled +"The Lost Leader":</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Just for a handful of silver he left us,</span><br /> +<span class="sidenote">"The Lost Leader"</span> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Just for a ribbon to stick in his coat—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Found the one gift of which fortune bereft us,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Lost all the others, she lets us devote;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">They, with the gold to give, doled him out silver,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">So much was theirs who so little allowed:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">How all our copper had gone for his service!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Rags—were they purple, his heart had been proud!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">We that had loved him so, followed him, honored him,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Lived in his mild and magnificent eye,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Learned his great language, caught his clear accents,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Made him our pattern to live and to die!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shakespeare was of us, Milton was for us,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Burns, Shelley, were with us—they watch from their graves!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He alone breaks from the van and the freemen,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">He alone sinks to the rear and the slaves!</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_964" id="Page_964">[Pg 964]</a></span> +America this year lost three of her prominent literary men by the deaths of +<span class="sidenote">Prescott's "Conquest of Mexico"</span> +Allston, the poet and painter, Noah Webster, the lexicographer, and Key, +the author of "The Star-Spangled Banner." The historian Prescott now +brought out his great "Conquest of Mexico." Longfellow published his +"Spanish Student." Edgar Allan Poe entered upon his new journalistic +venture "The Stylus." For this he wrote his stories of "The Tell-Tale +<span class="sidenote">Edgar Allan Poe</span> +Heart," "Leonore," and his "Notes upon English Verse." For other +publications he wrote "The Pit and the Pendulum," and the striking poem, +"The Conqueror Worm." His fearful tale of the "Black Cat" was published in +the "Saturday Evening Post." At this time he was ailing in health, while +<span class="sidenote">"The Gold Bug"</span> +his young wife, Virginia, was dying. During these trying months his +principal income was a hundred dollar prize received for his famous story +of "The Gold Bug," published in the "Dollar Newspaper." The judges +confessed later that they awarded the prize to this contribution largely on +account of its neat handwriting.</p> + +<p>On June 17, the new Bunker Hill Monument of Boston was dedicated amid +impressive ceremonies. Daniel Webster, who as a young man had spoken there +when the cornerstone was laid by Lafayette, was once more the orator of the +day. In the South, Jefferson Davis began his political career as a member +of the Mississippi Convention, as did Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, who was +then elected to Congress. The pending negotiations with Great Britain +concerning the possession of Oregon were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_965" id="Page_965">[Pg 965]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Oregon controversy</span> +made more momentous by the exodus +of some thousand American emigrants from Missouri, on an overland journey +to distant Oregon. The first session of the Thirty-eighth Congress, in +December, showed a Democratic majority in the House of sixty-nine votes. +Under the Whig régime, the policy of a great navy had been developed. A +<span class="sidenote">Texas unannexed</span> +bill for a large increase in ships was passed. Tyler's last message +recommended the annexation of Texas, for which a treaty was pending. It was +voted down in the Senate by a two-thirds vote.</p> + +<p>Under the shadow of impending war with the United States, a new +Constitution was proclaimed in Mexico. Santa Anna prepared for the conflict +by assuming the practical powers of a dictator. In Ecuador, too, a new +Constitution was adopted. General Flores had himself made President for a +<span class="sidenote">Central-American upheavals</span> +third time. When the opposition to him became too formidable, he consented +to yield and quit the country after accepting a bonus of $20,000 and the +title of generalissimo. Another revolution in Hayti resulted in the +expulsion of President Boyer.</p> + +<p>In Spain a revolutionary junta in June once more assumed power at +<span class="sidenote">Revolution in Spain</span> +Barcelona. Other parts of the country declared for the ex-Queen Regent +Christina. On July 15, General Narvaez compelled the surrender of Madrid to +Christina. General Espartero laid siege to Seville. On November 8, the +Spanish Cortes proclaimed as queen, Princess Isabella, then in her +thirteenth year. With the crown of Spain on the head of a young girl, and +<span class="sidenote">Isabella proclaimed queen</span> +no immediate successor in sight but her sister, the King of France<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_966" id="Page_966">[Pg 966]</a></span> and his +Prime Minister, Guizot, deemed the time ripe for action. It was proposed to +marry both Spanish princesses to the sons of Louis Philippe, so as to +secure the throne of Spain to the House of Orleans, as it had once been +secured to that of Bourbon. For the French people the interest in Spain was +revived by Gautier's new book, "Tras los Montes." During the negotiations +<span class="sidenote">Spanish marriage projects</span> +over the new extradition treaty with England, the project was +confidentially broached to Lord Aberdeen. He gave his consent to the +proposed marriage of the Duke of Montpensier to the Infanta Fernanda, on +the express understanding that it should not be celebrated until Queen +Isabella had been married herself, and had children. For some time still +the plan hung fire.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile, Hungary was once more in uproar. Kossuth, after his +release from prison in 1840, had become the spokesman of the new generation +of Magyars. The other wings of the Hungarian party were led by Scechenyi +and Déak.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<a name="EMPEROR_OF_CHINA" id="EMPEROR_OF_CHINA"></a> +<img src="images/emperor_of_china.jpg" width="500" height="339" alt="THE EMPEROR OF CHINA RECEIVING THE DIPLOMATIC CORPS" + title="THE EMPEROR OF CHINA RECEIVING THE DIPLOMATIC CORPS" /> +<span class="caption">THE EMPEROR OF CHINA RECEIVING THE DIPLOMATIC CORPS</span> +</div> + +<p>By the time the Hungarian Diet of 1843 was convoked, all parties united in +<span class="sidenote">Hungarian reform movement</span> +demanding the most important reforms, <i>i.e.</i> of a new electoral system, a +new criminal code, trial by jury, and official recognition of the Magyar +language. One of the first resolutions of the Lower Chamber was that no +language but Magyar should be permitted in debate, and that all persons +incapable of speaking Magyar should gradually be excluded from all public +employment. Against the prohibition of Latin in the Diet, the Croatians +appealed to the government. The Em<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_967" id="Page_967">[Pg 967]</a></span>peror promptly vetoed the resolution. +<span class="sidenote">Clash at Agram</span> +Upon the publication of the imperial rescript a popular storm broke forth +in Hungary. At Agram, the capital of Croatia, the two factions fought on +the streets. The Austrian Cabinet receded from its position. A compromise +was accepted whereby Latin was to be permitted in the Hungarian Diet for +the next six years. Of all the important schemes for reform brought before +the Hungarian Diet of this year, only the language compromise became law. +This was due to the fact that the members of the Lower House were bound to +<span class="sidenote">Kossuth's oratory</span> +vote as directed by the Provincial Assemblies, which vetoed everything +affecting their local interests. To do away with this anomaly Kossuth and +his followers now set themselves to bring their appeal before the country +at large. Kossuth dropped the pen and became an orator.</p> + +<p>In other parts of the world the spread of Western civilization was carried +on with accustomed vigor. A French squadron seized Tahiti in the Society +<span class="sidenote">Algerian campaign</span> +Islands. In Algiers the war against Abd-el-Kader was kept alive by +occasional raids and by buying over the less faithful of his followers. The +natives were enrolled in the French army in regiments of Turcos, Zouaves +and Spahis. The barbaric glamour of their oriental garb, as well as the +reputation of their dashing leader, Colonel Lamorcière, attracted many +<span class="sidenote">"Foreign Legion" formed</span> +Frenchmen and foreign adventurers to this service. Soon there were enough +men to form the famous "Foreign Legion."</p> + +<p>In China, after the ratification of the Nanking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_968" id="Page_968">[Pg 968]</a></span> treaty, the five treaty +ports were opened to all foreigners on the same footing as to Englishmen. +<span class="sidenote">Chinese treaty ports opened</span> +Long before this, the Russians had already established themselves in +certain parts of China. The smouldering resentment against the white men +found vent in the truculent doings of the anti-foreign society of the +"Green Water Lily" in Hoonan. Now trouble broke out in the Punjab. Jankoji +Bao Sindia had died in February, and his widow, a girl of twelve, now ruled +over the Sikhs. She outwitted her native Minister, who was supported by the +British. Lord Ellenborough hastened to interfere. He ordered the British +army to advance to Gwalior, under Sir Hugh Gough, in December. All Sindia +<span class="sidenote">British seize Sindia</span> +made common cause against the foreigner. The Sikh warriors tried to oppose +the British advance in two simultaneous battles at Maharajpore and Punniar, +fought on the twenty-ninth day of December. Both engagements resulted in +their defeat. The Queen and her Ministers submitted to England's terms. +They were deposed. The Sikh army was reduced to 6,000 men.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1844" id="a1844"></a>1844</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_969" id="Page_969">[Pg 969]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">T</span><span class="dcap1">YLER'S</span> scheme for the annexation of Texas to the North American Union was +uppermost in American affairs from the outset of this year. After the +retirement of Daniel Webster from the State Department, active efforts +toward that end were begun. The Mexican Government, learning of this +<span class="sidenote">Texas</span> +movement, notified the United States that annexation would be regarded as a +cause for war. Texas first asked for American interference, and, failing in +this, came to an agreement with Great Britain. In return for England's +action in securing the recognition of independence by Mexico, Texas pledged +itself not to be annexed to any other country. This agreement was approved +in Mexico. The Texan debt was largely owed in England, and it was the +policy of Lord Aberdeen, accordingly, to encourage her independence. In +February, a note by Lord Aberdeen was transmitted to the American +Government, stating that Great Britain desired to see slavery abolished in +Texas, as elsewhere, but disclaimed any intention unduly to force that +point. This statement in itself whetted the desire of the Southern States +of the Union to incorporate Texas among the slave-holding States. Calhoun, +who as early as 1836 had demanded the annexation of Texas<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_970" id="Page_970">[Pg 970]</a></span> on behalf of the +interests of Southern slavery, was invited to join Tyler's Cabinet as +Secretary of State. The office had been rendered vacant by the calamitous +<span class="sidenote">Calhoun becomes Secretary of State</span> +explosion of a new monster gun on the U.S.S. "Princeton," killing Secretary +of State Upshar and Secretary Gilmer of the Navy in the immediate vicinity +of President Tyler. Calhoun entered office on March 6, and on April 12 the +Texan treaty of annexation was signed. On April 18, Calhoun answered Lord +Aberdeen's note, declaring that "the British avowal made it the imperious +duty of the Federal Government to conclude in self-defence a treaty of +annexation with Texas." As to this transaction, Von Holst, Calhoun's +biographer, has said: "It may not be correct to apply, without +modification, the code of private ethics to politics; but, however flexible +political morality may be, a lie is a lie, and Calhoun knew there was not a +particle of truth in these assertions." The annexation treaty was held back +in the American Senate until the Democratic Convention of 1844 had declared +<span class="sidenote">Texan annexation rejected</span> +for the reannexation of Texas. In the hope that this would secure +ratification the treaty was submitted in June, but the Senate once more +rejected it by 35 to 16 votes. Undismayed by this, President Tyler within +three days sent another message to the House of Representatives asking for +reconsideration of the subject, but the matter went over until after the +Presidential campaign in the autumn. Henry Clay's vacillating stand +throughout this controversy proved fatal to his Presidential aspirations.</p> + +<p>During this same year, the Indians surrendered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_971" id="Page_971">[Pg 971]</a></span> the regions adjoining Lake +Superior, which were promptly settled by white men. Iron was then +<span class="sidenote">Anti-Mormon riots</span> +discovered at Marquette and copper at Kewenaw Point. At Nauvoo, Illinois, +where the Mormons had just erected a temple, their revival of patriarchal +polygamy excited the wrath of the people. Riots broke out June 27. The +Mormon leader, Joseph Smith, and his brother, who had been lodged in jail, +<span class="sidenote">Brigham Young</span> +were killed. Brigham Young thenceforth became the leader of the Mormons.</p> + +<p>By means of a Congressional grant of $30,000, Samuel B.F. Morse constructed +<span class="sidenote">Morse's telegraph</span> +his first telegraph line over the forty miles between Baltimore and +Washington. The first message, "What hath God wrought?" is still preserved +by the Connecticut Historical Society. Before this Alfred Vail had +perfected his telegraph code of alphabetical signs, with his dry point +reading register and relay key. Now Ezra Cornell contributed his invention +of an inverted cup of glass for insulating live wires. Dr. Horace Wells, a +<span class="sidenote">Wells' anæsthetic discovery</span> +dentist of Hartford, Connecticut, first employed nitrous oxide gas, +popularly known as laughing gas, in extracting one of his own teeth.</p> + +<p>In England, Faraday published his first "Experimental Researches in +Electricity." The anonymous publication of "Vestiges of the Natural History +of Creation," containing the first enunciation of Darwin's doctrine of the +origin of species by evolution, was followed by a storm of controversy. +Another subject for controversy was furnished by the invention of the new +tonic system in music (Do re mi fa).<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_972" id="Page_972">[Pg 972]</a></span> Kingsley brought out his "Village +Sermons," while Max Müller came into prominence by his new edition and +translation of "Hitopadesa," a collection of old Hindu fables. The +<span class="sidenote">Death of John Dalton</span> +necrology of the year in England includes John Dalton, the physicist, and +Sir Francis Burdett, the parliamentarian and popular leader, who did so +much for liberty of speech and of the press. John Dalton, a strangely +original genius, and perhaps the greatest theoretical chemist of his +generation, first came into prominence by showing that water existed in air +as an independent gas. The wonderful theory of atoms, on which the whole +gigantic structure of modern chemistry rests, was the logical outgrowth of +the original conception of this country-bred, self-taught Quaker.</p> + +<p>A feature of the year was the sensational trial of Daniel O'Connell and his +<span class="sidenote">O'Connell's trial</span> +associates on charges of sedition in Ireland. On May 30, O'Connell was +sentenced to imprisonment for one year and fined £2,000. After Lord +Heytesbury's advent as Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland the judgment of the Irish +Court of Queen's Bench against O'Connell was reversed and O'Connell and his +associates were liberated. Baring's bill for a renewal of the Bank of +England's charter was passed with a handsome government majority. The new +Royal Exchange was opened by the Queen in October. Another measure which +was speedily passed through Parliament, owing to the slight importance +<span class="sidenote">Government monopoly of English railways</span> +attached to it, was Gladstone's bill requiring the railroads of England to +provide proper accommodations and to run cheap trains daily. The government +was authorized, with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_973" id="Page_973">[Pg 973]</a></span> +the approval of Parliament, to undertake the gradual +purchase of all existing railways before the year 1866. At this same time +there were but fourteen miles of railroad in all British America. Minor +events of importance to Englishmen were the foundation of the Young Men's +<span class="sidenote">Y.M.C.A. founded</span> +Christian Association by certain drygoods clerks of London, and the +demolition of the notorious Fleet Prison, made immortal by the novels of +Dickens.</p> + +<p>The discovery of gold in South Australia drew hordes of immigrants to that +colony. Others were attracted to America by the discovery of diamonds in +Brazil. In the West Indies, the successful rising against President Boyer +<span class="sidenote">Secession of Santo Domingo</span> +of Hayti resulted in the foundation of the Black Republic of Santo Domingo. +President Rivière, at the head of 20,000 negroes from Hayti, was defeated +and had to abandon his attempt to subdue the Dominicans. Guerrier +superseded him as President of Hayti. The warlike spirit of these negroes +spread to the neighboring island of Cuba. Various armed risings of the +blacks in the province of Santiago and elsewhere were sternly put down by +the Spaniards and their white descendants in Cuba.</p> + +<p>A bloodless revolution in Greece resulted in the dismissal of King Otto's +Bavarian Ministry and the King's acceptance of a Constitution, which left +<span class="sidenote">Otto's reign in Greece</span> +the King almost as absolute as before. Yet his government was weak and +slipshod. The wretched fiscal system and heavy taxation of the old Turkish +régime were retained, while ill-managed innovations from Bavaria, such as +military conscription, drove<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_974" id="Page_974">[Pg 974]</a></span> large numbers to brigandage. As an American +traveller remarked at the time: "The whole Greek Government is one enormous +job."</p> + +<p>The long-smouldering discontent of the common people in Italy and Sicily, +<span class="sidenote">Revolt of Calabria</span> +fomented by the secret agitation of such men as Mazzini and Garibaldi, +found premature vent in a popular insurrection in Calabria. The revolt was +ruthlessly put down. The patriotic leaders, Attilio and Emilio Bandiero, +with eighteen others, were shot for their part in the affair.</p> + +<p>On March 8, Bernadotte, latterly known as King Charles XIV. of Sweden, died +in his eighty-first year. During the last years of his reign he received +<span class="sidenote">Death of Bernadotte</span> +many signs of love and appreciation from his adopted people, notably on the +occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of his coronation. Shortly before +his death this self-made king asserted with good reason: "No one living has +made a career like mine."</p> + +<p>The reign of Bernadotte produced a new line of eminent scientists and was +the golden age of Swedish literature. Berzelius remolded the science of +<span class="sidenote">Progress in Sweden</span> +chemistry and founded theoretical chemistry. Elias Fries devised a new +system of botany. Sven Nilsson, a distinguished zoologist, also became the +founder of a new science, comparative archeology. Schlyter brought out a +complete collection of the old Scandinavian laws, a work of equal +importance to philology and jurisprudence. Ling invented the Swedish system +of gymnastics and founded the Institute of Gymnastics in Stockholm, where +his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_975" id="Page_975">[Pg 975]</a></span> Swedish massage or movement cure was further developed. Geijer, as a +<span class="sidenote">Geijer</span> +philosopher, was a follower of Hœijer, while as a historian he attained +foremost rank in Sweden. As a poet and composer, Geijer also attained +noteworthy success. Professor of History at Upsala, he was accused of +atheism, but acquitted. His political career was equally remarkable. Geijer +was a firm supporter of the government until fifty-seven years of age, when +he joined the opposition. Swedish writers were divided in factions as +opposed to each other as political parties. The old Gustavian school, of +which Leopold remained the last representative, was attacked by the "New +School," which was inspired by German Romanticism. Of this so-called +"phosphoristic" school Atterbom was the leader. Stagnelius, the young poet, +who died early, belonged to the same group. The New School was in turn +<span class="sidenote">Tegnér's "Frithiof's Saga"</span> +opposed by the Gothic Society or Scandinavian School, among whom were Ling +and Geijer. Franzen and Wallin devoted themselves to religious poetry. The +most famous of all modern Swedish poets was Esaias Tegnér, whose +"Frithiof's Saga" achieved an international reputation. Politically, he was +conspicuous for his inveterate hostility to the "Holy Alliance" and its +reactionary spirit in state, church and literature.</p> + +<p>Bernadotte's son, Oscar I., was forty-five years old when he ascended the +<span class="sidenote">Oscar I. of Sweden</span> +throne. Like his father, he was a patron of the fine arts. Upon his +accession several important reforms were at once enacted by the new +Riksdag. It was decided that this as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_976" id="Page_976">[Pg 976]</a></span>sembly should meet every third instead +of every fifth year; the liberty of the press was extended, and equal +rights were accorded to women in certain matters of inheritance and of +marriage. This last reform aroused so much criticism that a powerful +opposition was organized in the Riksdag, under the leadership of +Hartmansdorff and Bishop Wingan.</p> + +<p>Albert Bertal Thorvaldsen, the great Danish sculptor, died suddenly on +<span class="sidenote">Death of Thorvaldsen</span> +March 25, at Copenhagen. Thorvaldsen was the son of an Icelandic sailor, +who incidentally earned a living by carving wooden figure-heads for ships. +The boy was born at sea, in 1770, while his mother was making a voyage to +Copenhagen. At the age of twenty-four, young Thorvaldsen, who had attended +the Royal Academy of Fine Arts at Copenhagen, won the grand prize, which +enabled him to pursue his studies at Rome. His first work was the model of +a colossal statue of Jason, a marble execution of which was ordered by +Thomas Hope, the English banker. For this work Thorvaldsen asked six +hundred sequins. Hope offered him eight hundred. Yet Thorvaldsen did not +<span class="sidenote">The great sculptor's career</span> +fulfil his contract with Hope until fourteen years had passed. At the house +of Baron Wilhelm von Humboldt, in Rome, Thorvaldsen met Count von Moltke, +who commissioned him to execute two statues of Bacchus and Ariadne. About +the same time he made his famous "Cupid and Psyche" for the Countess von +Ronzov. The fame of these statues and others was such that the Academy of +Copenhagen bestowed upon the young sculptor another prize of four hundred +crowns.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_977" id="Page_977">[Pg 977]</a></span></p> + +<p>In the spring of 1805 Thorvaldsen made his first important bass-relief, +"The Abduction of Brisëis," which still remains one of the most celebrated +<span class="sidenote">Famous works</span> +of the sculptor's works. Orders now began to come in from all over the +world. Marquis Torlogna commissioned Thorvaldsen to make companion pieces +to Canova's famous group "Hercules and Lycas" in the Palazzo Brazzino, +while a government representative of the United States offered to pay five +thousand crowns apiece for colossal statues of a Liberty and a Victory to +be erected in the city of Washington. These and other works Thorvaldsen was +prevented from executing by his unfortunate entanglement with Signora +d'Uhden, whose fits of jealousy imbittered his life. About this time the +sculptor formed life-long friendships with his German fellow-sculptor, +Rauch, and with Prince Louis of Bavaria, who commissioned him to execute an +Adonis for the Munich Museum, and to restore the Ægean marbles lately +<span class="sidenote">A Napoleonic order</span> +acquired by that prince. Napoleon's visit to Rome in 1811 resulted in a +characteristic order. The Emperor left to Thorvaldsen the choice of the +subject, but gave him only three months' time wherein to finish his models. +The sculptor accordingly executed his colossal frieze presenting the "Entry +of Alexander the Great into Babylon." It remains one of the largest and +most ambitious of Thorvaldsen's works. It was intended for the Temple of +Glory, now the Church of the Madeleine in Paris, and the price stipulated +by Napoleon was 320,000 francs. Before Thorvaldsen could execute the frieze +in marble, Na<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_978" id="Page_978">[Pg 978]</a></span>poleon suffered his reverses and was exiled to Elba. The +Bourbon Government in France refused to take the monument. A replica in +marble now adorns the Palace of Christianborg in Denmark. No less abortive +was Thorvaldsen's undertaking of a great monument intended to commemorate +the re-establishment of Poland. The monument was ordered in 1812, after +Napoleon's entry into Warsaw. By the time the work was finished Poland was +<span class="sidenote">"Morning and Night"</span> +no more. To the year 1815 belong Thorvaldsen's famous bass-reliefs "The +Workshop of Vulcan," "Achilles and Priam," and the two well-known +medallions, "Morning" and "Night," which were reproduced a thousand-fold +throughout Europe. They were conceived, it is said, during a sleepless +night, and were modelled in one day.</p> + +<p>Despite the urgent requests of his countrymen, Thorvaldsen would not be +weaned from Rome. About this time Thorvaldsen produced his famous "Dancing +Girl," "Love Victorious," "Ganymede and the Eagle," and "A Young Shepherd +with his Dog." It was then, too, that he modelled the portrait of Lord +Byron which served for the monument subsequently erected to that poet in +the library of Trinity College, Cambridge.</p> + +<p>At last, after thirty-three years of absence from home, Thorvaldsen +<span class="sidenote">"The Lion of Luzerne"</span> +resolved to return to Denmark. On the way he stopped at Luzerne in +Switzerland, and there executed the famous Lion of Luzerne, carved into the +solid rock of the Alps. When he modelled this monument, Thorvaldsen had +never seen a live lion. From Luzerne, Thorvaldsen pro<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_979" id="Page_979">[Pg 979]</a></span>ceeded straight to +Copenhagen. He was received like a royal sovereign. At Copenhagen the +<span class="sidenote">Thorvaldsen in Copenhagen</span> +artist began his great series of sculptural embellishments for the +Cathedral. As completed, they comprised almost all his works on religious +subjects, among them the colossal "Christ and the Twelve Apostles," the +grand frieze of "Christ on the Road to Calvary," "The Baptism of Christ," +"The Preachings of St. John the Baptist," "Christ's Entry into Jerusalem," +and "The Lord's Supper." From Copenhagen Thorvaldsen went to Warsaw, where +he executed a bust of Emperor Alexander, and an equestrian statue of Prince +Poniatovski. This monument did not reach Warsaw until 1829. It was never +put up. What became of it is still a matter of conjecture.</p> + +<p>The accidental collapse of Thorvaldsen's studio at Rome, and the damage +done to several of his sculptures there, hastened his return to that city. +On the death of Pope Pius VII., shortly afterward, Thorvaldsen was +commissioned by Cardinal Consalvi to execute a monument to his memory. The +death of Canova having left the Academy of St. Luke without a president, +<span class="sidenote">Roman honors</span> +Pope Leo XII. himself nominated Thorvaldsen as Canova's successor. When +objections were raised that he was a heretic, the Holy Father asked: "Is +there any doubt that Thorvaldsen is the greatest sculptor in Rome?" "The +fact is incontestable," answered the prelates. "Then Thorvaldsen shall be +made president," said Leo XII. The office was held by the Danish sculptor +for the full term of three years, when he was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_980" id="Page_980">[Pg 980]</a></span> glad to resign it. Just +before the outbreak of the Paris Revolution of 1830, Thorvaldsen was +commissioned to execute a colossal bust of Napoleon I. He entered upon this +<span class="sidenote">Thorvaldsen's friends</span> +task with enthusiasm. During the trying times of the revolution at Rome, +Thorvaldsen formed a close friendship with Horace Vernet, the French +artist, and Felix Mendelssohn, the German composer. Mendelssohn would play +on the piano in Thorvaldsen's studio at Rome, while the sculptor worked on +his models. About this time, too, occurred the famous interview between +Thorvaldsen and Walter Scott. Neither understood the other's language, yet +they took a warm liking to each other. Later, Thorvaldsen modelled a bust +of Sir Walter Scott. Shortly after the Revolution of 1830, the new French +Government of Louis Philippe appointed Thorvaldsen an officer of the Legion +<span class="sidenote">Sculptures for Germany</span> +of Honor. At the invitation of King Louis of Bavaria, Thorvaldsen went to +Munich. There he finished his monument to Prince Eugene, the equestrian +statue of Elector Maximilian, and another model of his famous "Adonis," +ordered by that art-loving King. For the city of Mainz he finished his +model of Gutenberg, for which he refused to receive any pay, while for the +city of Stuttgart he made a monument of Schiller. On Thorvaldsen's return +to Rome, his stay there was brought to an end by an epidemic of cholera. +The government of Denmark sent a royal frigate to Leghorn to bring +Thorvaldsen and all his sculptures back to his native land. Arriving in +Copenhagen, the old artist was received with even greater<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_981" id="Page_981">[Pg 981]</a></span> honor than +before. The Castle of Nysoe was put at his disposal, and there he executed +his last works, among them a statue of himself. In his seventy-second year +he died very suddenly, while attending a performance at the Royal Theatre +<span class="sidenote">The Thorvaldsen Museum</span> +at Copenhagen. His obsequies were marked by all the pomp and ceremony due +to a sovereign of Denmark. Four years later, after the completion of the +Thorvaldsen Museum, his remains were laid in the vault that had been +prepared for him there, amid the rich collection of his masterpieces.</p> + +<p>As a sculptor, Thorvaldsen's name will always be linked with that of his +great rival and contemporary, Canova. Both sculptors are equally remarkable +for the way they returned to the classic traditions of Hellenic sculpture. +It can be said of them that they bridged the chasm of nearly two thousand +years that had elapsed between antiquity and modern times. It was reserved +to their successors to introduce a modern note in sculpture. Like Canova, +<span class="sidenote">The master's pupils</span> +Thorvaldsen exerted great influence on almost all the sculptors who came to +Rome in his day. Thus Rauch declared himself indebted to him for the purity +of his style. From his school in turn issued Riechel of Dresden, Drake, +Wolff and Blauser of Cologne. Among the friends of Thorvaldsen, who +profited by his councils, were Dannecker, Schadow and Schwanthaler. At +Rome, Tenerini, Louis Bienaimé, Pierre Galli and Emile Wolff proved +themselves apt pupils of the Danish master, while, at Copenhagen, +Thorvaldsen's influence was kept alive by Bisson.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_982" id="Page_982">[Pg 982]</a></span></p> + +<p>In France two other great personages of Napoleonic days passed away with +Joseph Bonaparte, the great Napoleon's brother and quondam king of Naples +and Spain, and Jacques Lafitte, Napoleon's banker, to whose honor were +<span class="sidenote">Death of Saint Hilaire</span> +intrusted the millions left behind by Napoleon, when he fled from Paris. +More lamented than their death, perhaps, was that of Etienne Geoffroy +Saint-Hilaire, the great French naturalist. Born in 1772, he first came +into prominence as the curator of the wild animals in the Jardin des +Plantes. Here he formed his life-long friendship with Cuvier. General +Bonaparte took him along on the expedition to Egypt, where Saint-Hilaire +helped found the Institute of Cairo. In 1807 he was admitted into the +French Institute, and two years later was appointed Professor of Zoology +and Comparative Physiology in the Faculty of Sciences. This chair he +retained until his death. Starting as a pure zoologist, Saint-Hilaire +became the founder of the science of philosophical anatomy. This new +doctrine was fully expounded in his "Philosophie Anatomique" (1818-1822). +Other important works of Saint-Hilaire were "Histoire Naturelle des +<span class="sidenote">Comte</span> +Mammifères," collaborated with Cuvier (1819-1837); "Principes de la +Philosophie Zoologique" (1830), and "Etudes Progressives d'un Naturaliste." +During this same year Comte published his "Discours sur l'Esprit Positive." +Père Lacordaire brought out his "Funeral Orations," while Charles +<span class="sidenote">Lacordaire</span> +Lenormais, with others, published the great French work on "Ceramographic +Monuments." Practical effect to the teachings of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_983" id="Page_983">[Pg 983]</a></span> Saint-Simon, Fourier and +Louis Blanc was given by the establishment of the so-called Crèches, or +infant asylums for the temporary care of children of working mothers. The +<span class="sidenote">"Count of Monte Cristo"</span> +greatest literary success of the year was that of Alexandre Dumas's serial +novel, "The Count of Monte Cristo."</p> + +<p>The foreign affairs of France throughout this year were conducted by +Guizot. As a result of the military occupation of Algiers, war with Morocco +broke out in May. The Prince de Joinville bombarded and captured the +<span class="sidenote">French war with Morocco</span> +fortified town of Mogador. Marshal Buguead won a signal victory over the +Moors on the banks of Isly. After the defeat of the rebellious subjects of +the Sultan of Morocco, this potentate, Abder Rahman, made common cause with +the French against Abd-el-Kader. A French treaty with China was negotiated +by Guizot in October. In regard to the vexed problem of Tahiti and the +Hawaiian Islands an understanding was reached with the other Powers. Amends +<span class="sidenote">Hawaiian independence guaranteed</span> +were made to England for the French indignities to the British Consul at +Tahiti, while the independence of Hawaii was guaranteed by a joint +declaration of France, Great Britain and the United States. Toward the +close of the year the uncertainties of government in Spain were once more +made manifest by a military insurrection, headed by General Zurbano.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1845" id="a1845"></a>1845</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_984" id="Page_984">[Pg 984]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">A</span><span class="dcap1">T THE</span> beginning of the year, in America, came a literary sensation of +<span class="sidenote">Poe's "Raven"</span> +unwonted brilliancy. In the New York "Evening Mirror," January 29, Edgar +Allan Poe's famous poem "The Raven" was reprinted from the advance sheets +of "The American Whig Review," in which the name of the author was masked +under the pseudonym of "Quarles." The poem was copied all over America and +soon reached England. Baudelaire translated it into French. As Poe's +biographer, Woodberry, has said: "No great poem ever established itself so +immediately, so widely and so imperishably in men's minds." A literary +tradition has it that Poe only received ten dollars for this masterpiece, +and had to wait a year and more for his money.</p> + +<p>War between the United States of North America and Mexico was now seen to +be inevitable. On January 25, a joint resolution for the annexation of +<span class="sidenote">Texas annexed to the United States</span> +Texas passed through the American House of Representatives by a vote of 120 +to 98, and through the Senate by 27 over 25 votes. On March 1, President +Tyler signed the bill. The tactics by which Texas was annexed were similar +to those by which the Missouri Compromise had been forced through Congress +in 1820, and the nullification compromise<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_985" id="Page_985">[Pg 985]</a></span> in 1833. It meant a distinct +gain for the pro-slavery party in the United States, and was denounced as +such by the abolitionists of the North. Both in Mexico and in the United +States active preparations were now made for war. American ships were still +welcomed in the ports of Mexico, the more so since many of them brought +needed munitions of war. In the United States strenuous efforts were made +to settle all pending differences with other countries. In February, Great +Britain had already accepted the forty-ninth parallel as a boundary line +agreeable to the governments of both countries, and soon the Oregon +<span class="sidenote">Florida admitted to Union</span> +boundary dispute was likewise settled by treaty. Caleb Cushing's treaty +with China was ratified by the Senate. Florida was admitted into the Union +on March 3, the day before Tyler ceased to be President. James K. Polk +succeeded him as the eleventh President. He had represented Tennessee in +the House for fourteen years, serving twice as Speaker. Having declined the +re-election to Congress, he was chosen Governor of his State. His +<span class="sidenote">James K. Polk, President</span> +nomination to the Presidency had been brought about by accident. +Immediately after his inauguration, Polk appointed James Buchanan as his +Secretary of State. Polk in his inaugural address suggested a settlement of +the Oregon boundary dispute with England on the line of 54° 40'. The +Democratic platform of 1844 had declared: "Fifty-four-forty, or fight." In +other words, both Great Britain and the United States claimed the country +on the Columbia River. When Calhoun proposed a line of boundary along the +forty-ninth degree of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_986" id="Page_986">[Pg 986]</a></span> latitude, the British Ministry made a counter +<span class="sidenote">Oregon dispute settled.</span> +proposition, accepting the line to the summit and thence along the Columbia +River to the Pacific. Despite much talk of war, Calhoun's successor in the +end accepted the British proposition of a boundary along the line of forty +degrees, continuing to the ocean.</p> + +<p>By the aid of the Whig Senators a treaty on this basis was approved by the +Senate. With this question out of the way, the brunt of preparing for war +now fell upon the new administration. Troops were massed within striking +distance, and General Taylor was put in command of the American army. He +proceeded to St. Joseph's Island, and from there crossed over to Corpus +Christi on the mainland, near the mouth of the Neuces. At this point more +<span class="sidenote">Death of Andrew Jackson</span> +troops were concentrated to remain in winter quarters until the opening of +hostilities. On June 8, Andrew Jackson died at "The Hermitage" in +Tennessee. He had lived there quietly ever since his retirement from the +Presidency. One of his last acts was to write a public letter to President +Polk, wherein he urged him to prompt action in the Oregon boundary matter +so as to be ready for decisive measures in Texas.</p> + +<p>The frustration of the British attempt to keep slavery out of Texas was +offset in other directions. A convention was concluded between Ecuador and +<span class="sidenote">Slave trade under ban</span> +Great Britain to suppress slave trading in that region. In Cuba, likewise, +General Concha took measures for the total suppression of the slave trade. +A law was passed making the trade a crim<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_987" id="Page_987">[Pg 987]</a></span>inal offence in the Spanish West +Indies. The government of Spain after much reluctance recognized the +<span class="sidenote">General Zurbano shot</span> +independence of Venezuela. Affairs in Spain had taken a new turn. On +January 21, General Zurbano was betrayed into the hands of his enemies and +was shot. The Cortes adopted a reactionary constitution.</p> + +<p>In France, a Liberal majority in the Chambers, after a prolonged struggle, +brought about the expulsion of the Jesuits. In the midst of this movement, +Cavaignac, the great opposition journalist, expired. The French war in +Algeria by this time had degenerated into mere guerilla fighting. The chief +<span class="sidenote">Atrocities in Algiers</span> +event of the year brought execration upon the arms of France. A tribe of +Kabyles had taken refuge in the caves of Dahra. Unable to dislodge them +from there, General Pelissier gave orders to smoke them out. Some five +hundred of the tribesmen, among them women, children and aged people, were +suffocated.</p> + +<p>Colonial extension in other parts of the world was carried on in like +aggressive manner. Thus a joint expedition of France and Great Britain made +an attack on Tamatave in Madagascar, but failed of success. Another joint +<span class="sidenote">Colonial expansion</span> +expedition of the two powers forced the Republic of Argentine to concede +free navigation of the La Plata River. From China concessions were wrested +by which Christian missionaries were to be admitted to all of the five +treaty ports. As a consequence of these concessions a virulent hatred of +the foreigners sprang up among the common people of China. In South +Africa,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_988" id="Page_988">[Pg 988]</a></span> Governor-General Maitland of Cape Colony earned the everlasting +hatred of the Boers by sending out an armed expedition to assist the black +warriors of Griqualand against the Boers. In India, affairs at Lahore had +<span class="sidenote">Sikhs belligerent</span> +reached a crisis. There the boy Maharajah, with his regent mother and her +favorite sirdar, Lal Singh, were at the mercy of their Sikh soldiery. To +save themselves they determined to launch their army upon the British.</p> + +<p>British enterprise found a vent in other ways beyond colonial conquests. In +the spring of this year Sir John Franklin sailed out once more with the +<span class="sidenote">John Franklin's Arctic quest</span> +"Erebus" and "Terror," in quest of the Northwest Passage. The last message +from him was received in July. News also reached England that he had +entered Lancaster Sound, but it was long after that before anything was +heard concerning him. Since then more than thirty Arctic expeditions have +searched in vain for the body of Franklin. About the same time that +Franklin sailed on this expedition, a great fire in Quebec destroyed 1,650 +<span class="sidenote">Conflagration of Quebec</span> +houses, rendering 12,000 people homeless. Just one month later, on June 29, +a second fire destroyed 1,365 houses. Two-thirds of the city was laid in +ashes. Another serious calamity was the Irish famine of this year, caused +by the failure of the potato crop. The distress thus occasioned increased +the agitation against the corn laws. As during the preceding year, great +mass meetings were held in Birmingham and Manchester. Sir Robert Peel, +early in the year, had showed his new leanings toward free trade, by the +introduction<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_989" id="Page_989">[Pg 989]</a></span> of a bill for the abolition of import duties on no less than +four hundred and thirty articles. The government's discrimination in favor +of the duties on sugar provoked a long debate in Parliament. Gladstone +<span class="sidenote">Irish famine</span> +continued to support his old colleagues in the government, while Cobden and +Bright led the opposition on the floor of the House. By the time Parliament +was prorogued in August, the Ministry had won a complete victory. The +spread of the famine during the summer, when almost all harvests failed, +reacted powerfully upon the government. A strong public letter from the pen +of Lord Russell brought the precarious position of the government home to +<span class="sidenote">Peel's Cabinet resigns</span> +the Cabinet. Sir Robert Peel admitted the necessity of an absolute repeal +of the corn laws. Rather than confess such a complete change of position, +Peel's Cabinet resigned. Lord Russell was summoned to form a new Cabinet.</p> + +<p>During this interim the practice of duelling in England, but recently +countenanced in the army by the Duke of Wellington, fell under lasting +disfavor by the fatal outcome of an army duel, in which Lieutenant Hawkes +<span class="sidenote">Death of Hood</span> +killed Lieutenant Seaton. About the same time occurred the death of Thomas +Hood, the poet and humorist. Born in 1798, as a son of a bookseller, he +soon became a writer. As one of the editors of the "London Magazine," he +moved among all the principal wits of the day. His first book, "Odes and +Addresses to Great People," was written in conjunction with J.H. Reynolds, +his brother-in-law. This was followed by "Whims and Oddities," in prose +and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_990" id="Page_990">[Pg 990]</a></span> verse; "National Tales," and "The Plea of the Midsummer Fairies," a +<span class="sidenote">Thomas Hood's Works</span> +book full of imaginative verse. Hood's rich sense of humor found scope in +his "Comic Annual," appearing through ten successive years, and his +collection of "Whimsicalities." Among his minor poems, "The Bridge of +Sighs" and "The Song of the Shirt" deserve special mention.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="TENNYSON" id="TENNYSON"></a> +<img src="images/lord_tennyson.jpg" width="400" height="555" alt="LORD TENNYSON" +title="LORD TENNYSON" /> +<span class="caption">LORD TENNYSON</span> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0em"><small>Painted by Frederic Sandys</small></span> +</div> + +<p>Sir Sydney Smith, the essayist, died shortly before this. Born in 1771, he +<span class="sidenote">Death of Sydney Smith</span> +studied for orders and became a clergyman. At the opening of the Nineteenth +Century he entered the field of authorship with the publication of "Six +Sermons Preached at Charlotte Chapel." Then came the famous "Letters on the +Catholics, from Peter Plymley to his Brother Abraham." This book +established Sydney Smith's reputation as a satirist. For nearly twenty +years he published no more books, though a constant contributor to the +<span class="sidenote">Pungent satire</span> +"Edinburgh Review." Some idea of Sydney Smith's pungent style may be +derived from his famous remarks on England's taxation during the wars with +Napoleon: "The schoolboy," he said, "whips his taxed top; the beardless +youth manages his taxed horse with a taxed bridle on a taxed road; and the +dying Englishman, pouring his medicine which has paid seven per cent, into +a spoon which has paid fifteen per cent, flings himself back upon his +chintz bed which has paid twenty-two per cent, and expires in the arms of +an apothecary, who has paid a license of one hundred pounds for the +privilege of putting him to death. His whole property is then immediately +taxed from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_991" id="Page_991">[Pg 991]</a></span> two to ten per cent. Large fees are demanded for burying him +in the chancel; his virtues are handed down to posterity on taxed marble, +and then he is gathered to his forefathers to be taxed no more."</p> + +<p>It was Sydney Smith, too, who asked the famous question: "Who ever reads an +American book?" In 1824 Sydney Smith broke his long silence as an author, +with the fervent pamphlet "The Judge that Smites Contrary to the Law." This +was followed by a long series of open letters on clerical and political +questions of the day. Shortly before his death he brought out a collection +of sermons. A posthumous work was his collection, "Elementary Sketches of +Moral Philosophy." Sydney Smith's case has been held up, together with that +of Swift, as an example of political ingratitude. Despite all his labors +<span class="sidenote">Meagre literary remains</span> +for the Whig cause, but slender recognition was given to him by his +political friends in office. The excuse for not making him a bishop was +that his writings were generally regarded as inconsistent with clerical +decorum. Like Jeffrey, Wilson and other distinguished contributors to +English periodical literature at this time, he left no truly great work to +posterity.</p> + +<p>Elizabeth Fry, the great English prison reformer, died on October 15. She +<span class="sidenote">Elizabeth Fry's work</span> +it was that improved the condition of women prisoners at Newgate. Later her +influence was apparent in most of the reforms introduced into the jails, +houses of correction, lunatic asylums and infirmaries of England, the +abuses of which were so eloquently voiced by Dickens.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_992" id="Page_992">[Pg 992]</a></span></p> + +<p>Lord John Russell's attempts to form a new Ministry proved unsuccessful, +largely because Lord Howick—who by the death of his father had become Earl +<span class="sidenote">Peel recalled</span> +Grey—refused to join the new Ministry on account of his objections to the +foreign policy of Lord Palmerston. Sir Robert Peel was presently recalled. +All of his colleagues retained their posts, except Lord Stanley, superseded +by Gladstone. Soon after Peel's re-entry into office, the London "Times" +<span class="sidenote">A premature announcement</span> +announced that the Cabinet had decided on proposing a measure for the +repeal of the corn laws. This premature announcement was one of the most +startling journalistic achievements of the time. Notwithstanding all the +published denials it was generally believed, and was followed by a great +fall in the price of corn.</p> + +<p>In the mind of the Ministry, as well as of the country at large, the +threatening state of foreign affairs claimed precedence. In Autumn the Sikh +army of the Khalsa had crossed the Sutlej, to the number of 60,000 +<span class="sidenote">War with Sikhs</span> +warriors, 40,000 armed followers and 150 guns. Sir John Little marched out +of Ferozepore with 10,000 troops and 31 guns to offer battle, but the Sikhs +preferred to surround them. Meanwhile, Sir Hugh Gough and Sir Henry +Hardinge, the new Governor-General, hurried toward the frontier with a +<span class="sidenote">Moodkee</span> +large relieving force. On September 18, they met the army of Lal Singh at +Moodkee and won a slender success. But for the flight of Lal Singh, the +Sikhs might have claimed the victory. The British troops now advanced on +the Sikh intrenchments, Ferozeshahar, where they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_993" id="Page_993">[Pg 993]</a></span> effected a junction with +Little. On December 21, the British advanced in force, but encountered such +stubborn resistance that the day ended in a drawn battle. Not until after +<span class="sidenote">Ferozeshahar</span> +sunset did Gough's battalions succeed in storming the most formidable of +the Sikh batteries. After a night of horrors the battle was resumed. The +Sikh soldiers, who had risen in mutiny against their own leaders, fell back +and yielded their strong position. The second army of the Sikhs under Tej +Singh came up too late. After a brief artillery engagement, all the Sikh +forces fell back across the Sutlej River.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1846" id="a1846"></a>1846</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_994" id="Page_994">[Pg 994]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">I</span><span class="dcap1">N JANUARY</span>, the hostile forces on both sides of the Sutlej River in India +were reinforced. The Sikhs recrossed the river, entered British territory, +and hostilities were renewed. On January 27, Sir Harry Smith defeated a +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Sobraon</span> +part of the Sikh forces at Aliwal. The Sikhs threw up intrenchments at +Sobraon. On February 10, the British army advanced to the attack under +Gough and Hardinge. The battle proved one of the hardest fought in the +history of British India. Advancing in line, the British had two battalions +mowed down by the Khalsa guns. Tej Singh broke down the bridge over the +river. After fighting all day, the British at last succeeded in driving the +Sikhs into the Sutlej at the point of the bayonet. The victory was dearly +<span class="sidenote">End of first Sikh war</span> +won. The British losses were 2,000 men, while the Sikhs were said to have +lost 8,000. This practically ended the first Sikh war. The British army +crossed the Sutlej River by means of their pontoons, and, pushing on to +Lahore, there dictated terms of peace. An indemnity of a million and a half +pounds was exacted. It was paid by Gholab Singh, the Viceroy of Cashmere +and Jamu, upon British recognition of his independence of the Sikh +Government at Lahore. The British frontier<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_995" id="Page_995">[Pg 995]</a></span> was extended from the banks of +the Sutlej to those of the Ravi.</p> + +<p>In England, Sir Henry Hardinge's services in the Sikh war were rewarded by +his elevation to the peerage. The distress of the previous year continued, +<span class="sidenote">English internal affairs</span> +owing partly to a commercial panic brought on by overspeculation in +railways, and partly to a repeated failure of the crops. To relieve the +potato famine in Ireland, Parliament voted £10,000,000 for that country. In +the midst of this general distress the twopenny omnibuses made their first +appearance in London, and the first issue of the "Daily News" appeared in +the metropolis. Leigh Hunt brought out his stories from the Italian poets. +<span class="sidenote">Death of Clarkson</span> +Sir Aubrey De Vere, the Irish poet, died in his thirty-ninth year. A few +years before his death he had published his "Song of Faith" and other +poems. A posthumous publication was the poetic drama "Mary Tudor." Thomas +Clarkson, the great anti-slavery advocate of England, died soon afterward, +in his eighty-sixth year. Early during the first Parliamentary session Sir +Robert Peel avowed his complete change of face in regard to the corn laws. +<span class="sidenote">Disraeli</span> +The rage of the protectionists was voiced by Benjamin Disraeli, then known +chiefly as a writer of novels remarkable for the wild exuberance of their +fancy. He denounced Peel as a political trimmer and no more of a statesman +"than a boy who steals a ride behind a carriage is a great whip." Peel, in +speaking for the principle of free trade, declared that England had +received no guarantees from any foreign gov<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_996" id="Page_996">[Pg 996]</a></span>ernment that her example would +<span class="sidenote">Repeal of corn laws</span> +be followed. Notwithstanding their hostile tariffs, however, he showed that +the value of British exports had increased above £10,000,000 since the +first reductions in the tariffs were made. On June 26, a bill for the total +repeal of the corn laws was at last accepted. It passed through the Commons +by a majority of 98 votes, while in the House of Peers, largely through the +efforts of the Duke of Wellington, a majority of 47 was attained. The wrath +of the defeated protectionists found vent on the same day when another +Irish oppression bill was brought before the House. Lord Bentinck, as the +mouthpiece of the protectionist party, launched forth in vehement invective +against Sir Robert Peel, "his forty paid janizaries, and the seventy other +members who, in supporting him, blazoned forth their own shame." In +<span class="sidenote">Fall of Peel's Ministry</span> +conclusion, Lord Bentinck called upon Parliament to "kick the bill and the +Ministry out together," exclaiming, "It is time that atonement should be +made to the betrayed honor of Parliament and of England." After this speech +the Ministry called for a vote of confidence. It was denied by a majority +of 73 votes against the government. On June 29, Sir Robert Peel announced +<span class="sidenote">Richard Cobden's reward</span> +his resignation. In a final speech he gave all credit for the repeal of the +corn laws to Richard Cobden. A few weeks later a testimonial of £80,000 was +placed at the disposal of Richard Cobden for his eminent services in +promoting the repeal of the corn laws. On July 16, Lord Russell succeeded +Peel as Prime Minister. His Cabinet<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_997" id="Page_997">[Pg 997]</a></span> included the Marquis of Lansdowne, +Viscount Palmerston, Earl Grey, Earl Granville, Lord Auckland and +<span class="sidenote">Modern progress</span> +Gladstone. The Duke of Wellington was retained in supreme command of the +army. Unlike other heroes, he lived to see several monuments raised to his +fame. Thus the grand Wellington Monument in London, made chiefly from +captured cannon, was erected at the corner of Hyde Park. Otherwise it was a +year of bridge building in England. At Newcastle a high level bridge was +erected, while at Conway and at the Menai Strait work was begun on two of +the greatest tubular bridges of England. In Germany, Schœnbein invented +gun-cotton. About the time of the death of Friedrich Bessel, the great +German astronomer, one of the greatest triumphs of abstract astronomical +reasoning was achieved. In France, Leverrier had worked out the position of +the planet Neptune, finally determining it on September 23. He communicated +<span class="sidenote">Astronomical discoveries</span> +this to Johann Gallé at Berlin, who discovered the planet on the same +night. Adams, in England, a few months previous, had made calculations to +the same effect, and communicated with Challis, but owing to delays Challis +did not discover the planet until after Gallé. The Royal Astronomical +<span class="sidenote">Sue's "Wandering Jew"</span> +Society at London awarded its gold medal to each as equally deserving. +Within a few days after this discovery, on October 10, a satellite of +Neptune was discovered by Laselle. Eugène Sue, moved by the popular +agitation against the Jesuits, wrote his novel of the "Wandering Jew," +first published in serials.</p> + +<p>Another attempt to kill King Louis Philippe by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_998" id="Page_998">[Pg 998]</a></span> +one Lecompte in April had +<span class="sidenote">Attempts to kill French king</span>been frustrated by the Guards. On July 29, Joseph Henry risked his life in +the seventh attempt at the assassination of the King. Louis Bonaparte, the +quondam king of Holland, who resigned his throne rather than submit to his +brother Napoleon's demands, died in his sixty-eighth year. His namesake, +<span class="sidenote">Louis Napoleon escapes from Ham</span> +Prince Louis Napoleon, imprisoned in the fortress of Ham, succeeded in +making a sensational escape disguised in the garb of a stone mason. Once +more he returned to his exile in England.</p> + +<p>On July 8, King Christian VIII. of Denmark published an open letter in +which he reasserted the union of the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein with +<span class="sidenote">Schleswig-Holstein question</span> +Denmark regardless of the differing systems of succession prevailing in +these provinces. The question of succession was so intricate that the +Chancelleries of Europe despaired of satisfactory solution. Inasmuch as +Schleswig and Holstein had been recognized as German principalities +entitled to representation in the Germanic Confederation, the German people +as such objected to their absolute incorporation with Denmark. The storm +raised over King Christian's letter was such as to forebode no other +settlement than by arms.</p> + +<p>Pope Gregory XVI. died at Rome in his eighty-first year. At the time of his +<span class="sidenote">Gioberti</span> +death the Papal prisons were filled with conspirators and reformers, among +whom were some of his best subjects. His death gave new hope to the +followers of Gioberti, whose political dreams depicted a new Italy, +regenerated by the moral force of a reforming<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_999" id="Page_999">[Pg 999]</a></span> Papacy. Austria's candidate +for the Papacy having failed to secure the requisite number of votes in the +College of Cardinals, Mastai Ferretti, Bishop of Imola, was elected, and on +<span class="sidenote">Pius IX.</span> +June 17 assumed the title Pius IX. The choice of this popular prelate was +taken to be a tribute to Italian feeling. The first acts of Pio Nono +confirmed this impression. Universal amnesty was extended to political +prisoners. Hundreds of Italian patriots who had been sentenced to +imprisonment for life were set free. When, in addition to this, permission +<span class="sidenote">Early Papal measures</span> +was given to the citizens of Rome to enroll themselves in the new civic +guard, all Rome gave itself up to popular rejoicings. The climax of +national enthusiasm was reached when the new Pope took occasion to voice a +formal protest against the designs of Austria upon Ferrara.</p> + +<p>For the time being the Austrian Government was too preoccupied with its +troubles at home to carry its Italian policy to extremes. The Polish +refugees at Paris had long determined to strike another blow for the +freedom of their country. It was arranged that the Polish provinces in +Austria and Prussia should rise and revolt, early during this year, and +extend the revolution to Russian Poland. But the Prussian Government +<span class="sidenote">Revolt of Cracow</span> +crushed the conspiracy before a blow was struck. In Austria the attempt was +more successful. Late in February insurrection broke out in the free city +of Cracow. General Collin occupied the city, but his forces proved too +weak. The Polish nobles around Tarnow in Northern Galicia raised the +standard of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1000" id="Page_1000">[Pg 1000]</a></span> revolt. Some 40,000 Polish insurgents marched on Cracow. A +severe reverse was inflicted upon them by the government troops. Now the +peasants turned against the nobles, burning down the largest estates and +plunging the country into anarchy. The landowners, face to face with the +<span class="sidenote">Anarchy in Austrian-Poland</span> +humiliating fact that their own tenants were their bitterest foes, charged +the Austrian Government with having instigated a communistic revolt. In a +circular note to the European courts, Metternich protested that the +outbreak of the Polish peasantry was purely spontaneous. A simultaneous +attempt at revolution in Silesia was ruthlessly put down. Austria, Russia +and Prussia now revoked the treaty of Vienna in regard to Poland. Cracow, +which had been recognized as an independent republic, was annexed by +<span class="sidenote">Cracow incorporated in Austria</span> +Austria with the consent of Russia and Prussia, and against the protests of +England, France and Sweden. New measures of repression against Polish +national aspirations were taken in Russia. The last traces of Poland were +blotted from the map of nations. It was then that Tennyson wrote his famous +sonnet on Poland:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"How long, O God, shall men be ridden down,</span><br /> +<span class="sidenote">Tennyson on Poland</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And trampled under by the last and least</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of men? The heart of Poland hath not ceased</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To quiver, tho' her sacred blood doth drown</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The fields, and out of every smouldering town</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cries to Thee, lest brute Power be increased."</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>In Russia during this year Otto von Kotzebue, the great navigator and +Arctic explorer, died in his fifty-ninth year.</p> + +<p>Almost simultaneously with the attempted revo<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1001" id="Page_1001">[Pg 1001]</a></span>lution of Poland, another +revolt broke out in Portugal. On April 20, the northern provinces rose +against the Ministry of Costa Cabral, the Duke of Tomar. After desultory +<span class="sidenote">Civil war in Portugal</span> +fighting, the Duke of Plamella, one of the commanders of the constitutional +army, gave up the struggle. He resigned his post and was banished from the +country. Late in the year the Marquis of Saldanha, with a force of Pedro +loyalists, defeated Count Bonfinn at the Torres Vedras.</p> + +<p>In Spain, the long-pending diplomatic struggle over the Spanish marriages +culminated, on October 10, in the wedding of Queen Isabella to her cousin, +Don Francisco d'Assisi, Duke of Cadiz. Put forward by France, this prince +<span class="sidenote">Spanish princesses married</span> +was physically unfit for marriage. Simultaneously with the Queen's wedding, +her sister was married to the Duke of Montpensier, the son of Louis +Philippe. Thus the King of France and his Minister, Guizot, had their way.</p> + +<p>Lord Palmerston's candidature of the Prince of Saxe-Coburg for Queen +Isabella's hand was foiled. It proved a doubtful success for France. The +<i>entente cordiale</i> between France and Great Britain was broken. Guizot was +<span class="sidenote">Guizot's doubtful success</span> +charged in the Chambers with sacrificing the most valuable foreign alliance +for the purely dynastic ambitions of the House of Orleans. Having cut loose +from England, Guizot now endeavored through his diplomatic envoys to form a +new concert of Europe from which England should be left out.</p> + +<p>Great Britain's diplomatic dispute with America,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1002" id="Page_1002">[Pg 1002]</a></span> concerning the +northwestern boundary, was satisfactorily settled by the Oregon treaty, +<span class="sidenote">Oregon treaty signed</span> +signed on June 15. Before this a peremptory demand had been put forward by +the American Congress that the joint occupation of Oregon should cease. The +British originally claimed all the territory west of the Rocky Mountains, +from Mexico to Alaska. For years the land was settled jointly. Now the +forty-ninth degree of northern latitude was accepted as the boundary +between British North America and the United States. The Columbia River was +retained by the United States, with free navigation conceded to English +ships, while the seaport of Vancouver, the importance of which was not as +yet recognized, fell to England. The value of this possession was soon +<span class="sidenote">Rae's Arctic explorations</span> +revealed. Agents of the British Hudson's Bay Company selected Victoria, on +the Island of Vancouver, as the most promising British port in the Pacific. +During this same year, Dr. John Rae, by sledge journeys of more than 1,200 +miles, explored the northernmost region, Boothia, wherein was determined +the northern magnetic pole.</p> + +<p>On October 16, Dr. J.C. Warren of Boston, to whom Drs. Wells and Morton had +communicated their discoveries with sulphuric ether, demonstrated the +potency of the drug in a public test. A severe operation was performed at +<span class="sidenote">Ether in surgery</span> +the Boston Hospital, in the presence of some of the foremost medical men of +the city, while the patient remained unconscious. The news was heralded +abroad and was received by medical men throughout the world as a new +revela<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1003" id="Page_1003">[Pg 1003]</a></span>tion. Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, the famous physician and author, +named the new method "Anæsthesia." The credit of the new discovery was +claimed forthwith by several persons—notably by Dr. Charles T. Jackson of +Boston, and Dr. Crawford W. Long of Alabama. A few months after the value +<span class="sidenote">Chloroform</span> +of ether in surgery had come to be clearly recognized, a Scotch surgeon, +Sir J.V. Simpson, discovered that chloroform could be administered with +analogous effect.</p> + +<p>In the United States, during this period, the long-expected war with Mexico +was well under way. By a joint resolution of Congress, Texas had at last +been admitted into the Union. General Taylor took position in Texas, +opposite Matamoras on the Rio Grande, where the Mexican troops were +<span class="sidenote">Mexican war begun</span> +gathering. Taylor presently moved his troops to Point St. Isabel. There a +fleet of seven ships brought supplies. Leaving a part of his force there, +he marched to a point on the Rio Grande opposite Matamoras, where he built +Fort Brown, named after Major Brown, whom he left in command. The ground +was malarious, and many soldiers died of disease. On April 12, the Mexican +general, Ampudia, moved forward with a strong force to drive Taylor beyond +the Rio de la Nueces. Ampudia demanded that Taylor should withdraw within +twenty-four hours, but Taylor refused to leave what he claimed to be the +soil of the United States. Ampudia hesitated, and General Arista was +appointed in his place. Learning that two vessels with supplies for the +Mexicans were about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1004" id="Page_1004">[Pg 1004]</a></span> to enter the Rio Grande, Taylor caused the river to be +<span class="sidenote">Mexican success</span> +blockaded, at the "cost of war." Arista prepared to attack Fort Brown, and +cut off communication between Taylor and his supplies. Captain Thornton's +command, sent out to reconnoitre, was captured on April 26. Only Thornton +escaped by leaping his horse over a dense hedge. On May 1, leaving Major +<span class="sidenote">American reverse at Fort Brown</span> +Brown in command at the fort, Taylor made a forced march to Point Isabel. +The Mexicans promptly sent men across the river to the rear of Fort Brown, +and opened fire together with the guns of Matamoras on that work. Major +Brown was first among the killed. Signal guns were fired to recall Taylor. +With 2,300 men he turned back on May 6. Meanwhile, 6,000 Mexicans had +<span class="sidenote">Palo Alto</span> +arrived and taken up a strong position at Palo Alto. On the 8th, Taylor +assaulted the superior force confronting him. Two eighteen-pounders and two +light batteries made fearful havoc in the closed ranks of the Mexican +infantry. The prairie grass between the two armies took fire. Both lines +drew back, but soon renewed the fight. Taylor's left was met by cannonade, +but the Mexican column was overthrown and the entire force fell back to +Resaca de la Palma. The Americans took up their march to Fort Brown. When +within three miles of the fort they encountered the Mexicans, strongly +posted in Resaca de la Palma, a ravine three hundred feet wide bordered +with palmetto trees. Taylor deployed a portion of his force as skirmishers, +and a company of dragoons overrode the first Mexican battery. The +Ameri<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1005" id="Page_1005">[Pg 1005]</a></span>cans then advanced their battery to the crest. +<span class="sidenote">Resaca de la Palma</span> +A regiment charged in +column, and, joined by the skirmishers, seized the enemy's artillery. After +hard fighting in the chaparral, the Mexicans were put to flight. The +Mexicans lost one thousand men, the Americans conceded but one hundred. +Refusing an armistice, Taylor crossed the river on May 18, and unfurled the +Stars and Stripes on Mexican territory. Another attempted stand of the +<span class="sidenote">Invasion of Mexico</span> +Mexicans resulted in worse defeat. Arista's retreat became a rout. Of 7,000 +men he brought only 2,500 to Linares. The American troops occupied +Matamoras, Reinosa and Camargo. The three States of Tamaulipas, Coahuila +and Nuevo Leon were annexed to the territory of the Rio Grande. In the +interior of Mexico a revolution broke out. General Paredes was made +President.</p> + +<p>In July, Colonel Philip Kearney, with an American force, marched unopposed +<span class="sidenote">Kearney annexes New Mexico</span> +from the Arkansas River and took possession of Santa Fé. On August 1, he +annexed the State of New Mexico as a Territory of the United States. In +May, Captain John C. Fremont, in charge of an exploring expedition in the +South, received a message from Secretary of State Buchanan and Senator +Benton, whose daughter he had married, suggesting that he should remain in +<span class="sidenote">Fremont in California</span> +California. Fremont took the hint and returned to Sacramento. There he +learned that the Mexican commander was about to take the offensive. He at +once assumed command of the American forces, and on June 15 captured +Sonoma. Meanwhile Commodores Sloat and Stockton took<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1006" id="Page_1006">[Pg 1006]</a></span> possession of the +coast towns as far as Los Angeles, and, on August 13, held Monterey, the +capital of California. Fremont set up a provisional government, placing +himself at the head. In the meantime, the United States had sent a company +of artillery, which took two hundred days in making the journey around the +Horn. Among its members were three future heroes of the American Civil +War—Lieutenants Sherman, Halleck and Ord.</p> + +<p>The news of these events did not reach Washington until after Congress had +<span class="sidenote">Tardy declaration of war</span> +declared war on April 26, authorized a call for 50,000 volunteers, and made +an appropriation of $10,000,000. Three hundred thousand volunteers +responded. Of these some 75,000 were enrolled with the regular army of +40,000. President Polk, on May 11, sent to Congress an aggressive measure, +announcing that war existed by the act of Mexico. On May 23, Mexico made +her formal declaration of war. General Taylor, with the army of occupation, +was ordered to seize and hold points on the Rio Grande.</p> + +<p>General Taylor waited at Matamoras until September 19, when, having been +joined by General Worth, he encamped with 6,000 men within three miles of +Monterey, a strongly fortified place, ninety miles distant from Matamoras. +On the north, Monterey was protected by a strong citadel, with lunettes on +the east, and by two fortified hills on either side of the river just above +the town. Worth's division planted itself above the city on the Mexican +line of retreat. Garland's brigade, advancing between the citadel and the +first lunette,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1007" id="Page_1007">[Pg 1007]</a></span> reached the city with heavy loss. After three companies had +failed to move to Garland's support, two other companies passed to the rear +of the citadel and compelled the Mexicans to abandon that point. An attempt +<span class="sidenote">Assault of Monterey</span> +on the second lunette failed with heavy loss to the Americans. The next +morning Worth endeavored to capture the fortified eminence south of the +river. The Americans advanced in the face of a plunging artillery fire. A +host of skirmishers clambered over the parapet and turned its guns on the +fleeing Mexicans, and, with two supporting regiments moving along the +slope, drove the Mexicans out of Fort Saldado. At daybreak the hill on the +north side of the river was carried. These positions commanded the western +half of the city. On the morning of the 23d, the American troops fought +their way in, but were driven out again. Worth's men then pushed into the +town from the west, and finding the streets swept by artillery, broke into +the houses. On the next morning, September 24, Ampudia capitulated. The +capture of Monterey inspired the American poet, Charles F. Hoffman, to a +song modelled after the famous St. Crispin's Day speech in Shakespeare's +"King Henry V.":</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">We were not many—we who stood</span><br /> +<span class="sidenote">Hoffman's stanzas</span> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Before the iron sleet that day;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Yet many a gallant spirit would</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Give half his years if he but could</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Have been with us at Monterey.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Our banners on those turrets wave,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And there our evening bugles play;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Where orange-boughs above their grave</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Keep green the memory of the brave</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Who fought and fell at Monterey.</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1008" id="Page_1008">[Pg 1008]</a></span> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>An armistice of eight weeks was agreed upon. The armistice was disapproved +<span class="sidenote">Long armistice</span> +by the American Secretary of War, and, in November, General Scott was +ordered to take command and conduct the war on his own plans.</p> + +<p>In Mexico, General Paredes, who favored the restoration of monarchical +rule, was opposed by General Alvarez in the south. When Paredes left the +capital to go to the front, revolution broke out behind him. Don Mariano +<span class="sidenote">Revolution in Mexico</span> +Solas, the commandant of the City of Mexico, summoned to his aid General +Santa Anna. On his arrival this popular general, but recently banished from +the capital, was hailed as the saviour of his country and was invested with +the supreme military command. Paredes went into exile. Santa Anna, after +inexplicable delay, raised war funds to the amount of six million dollars, +and advanced toward San Luis Potosi. There the "Napoleon of the West," as +they called him in Mexico, wasted more precious months.</p> + +<p>On the American side, too, little was done. On August 8, the Wilmot Proviso +was considered. It was a proviso to the $2,000,000 bill asked by the +President to arrange peace with Mexico, and it declared it to be "an +express and fundamental condition to the acquisition of any territory from +Mexico, that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist +therein." August 10 the proviso came up for final passage, but John Davis +of Massachusetts, in order to defeat action on the bill, held the floor +till the session expired. Congress adjourned on that day. Great agitation +prevailed in the North<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1009" id="Page_1009">[Pg 1009]</a></span> over the defeat of this proviso. The Democrats lost +their majority in the Twenty-ninth Congress, owing to the new tariff and +<span class="sidenote">Howe's sewing machine</span> +the predominance of pro-slavery issues in the war. Polk had but 110 votes +against 118 when the new Congress met. Now the new tariff went into effect. +Howe, the American inventor, secured a patent for an improvement in +sewing-machines, which embodied the main features of the machine used at +present; to wit, a grooved needle provided with an eye near its point, a +<span class="sidenote">Iowa becomes a State</span> +shuttle operating on the side of the cloth opposite the needle to form a +lockstitch, and an automatic feed. On December 28, Iowa was admitted to the +Union as the twenty-ninth State.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1847" id="a1847"></a>1847</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1010" id="Page_1010">[Pg 1010]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">G</span><span class="dcap1">ENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT</span> reached the harbor of Vera Cruz in January, and +assumed command of all the American forces. He took with him the best +<span class="sidenote">Santa Anna's advance</span> +officers and troops on the field of action, and left Taylor with only 5,200 +men, most of whom were volunteers. Santa Anna, who had gathered 12,000 men +eager to be led against the Americans, was approaching Saltillo. Leaving +Monterey on January 31, Taylor reached Saltillo on February 2, and passed +on to Aqua Nueva, twenty miles south of Saltillo, where he remained three +weeks. Thence he fell back to a mountain gorge opposite Buena Vista. On +February 22, his troops and those of Santa Anna were within sight of each +other. Under a flag of truce, Santa Anna demanded Taylor's surrender, which +was refused. The famous battleground, taking its name from the estate of +Buena Vista, is a rugged valley from two to five miles wide, between rocky +walls a thousand feet high. The slopes on either side are cut by deep +ravines. Taylor placed his forces in groups on the crests of the bluffs, at +the base of the eastern mountain, and in the southern edge of the plateau. +The Mexican troops attempted to flank his position, but were driven off. +The Mexican cavalry were sent to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1011" id="Page_1011">[Pg 1011]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Buena Vista</span> +Taylor's rear to intercept the American +retreat, but they were beaten back after a fierce hand-to-hand fight, led +by Taylor himself. Santa Anna made his first attack in three columns. Two +of these combined and turned the American left. The third, thrown against +the American right, was forced to retreat, the Americans having formed a +new front. Again the Mexicans sought to gain Taylor's rear, but with two +regiments supported by artillery and dragoons, the American commander drove +them back, firing into their heavy mass.</p> + +<p>At one point in the engagement, an Indiana regiment, through a mistaken +order, gave way, thereby placing the American army in peril. But the +Mississippians and the Kentuckians threw themselves forward; the Indiana +troops rallied, and the Mexicans were repulsed. General Taylor, standing +<span class="sidenote">Taylor's order to Bragg</span> +near Captain Bragg's battery, saw signs of wavering in the enemy's line. +"Give them a little more grape, Captain Bragg," he exclaimed—a command +which was repeated all over the United States during the political campaign +two years later. The Mexican column broke, and Taylor drove it up the slope +of the eastern mountain. By means of a false flag of truce the endangered +wing, however, escaped. Santa Anna, forming his whole force into one +column, advanced. The Americans fell back, holding only the northwest +corner of the plateau. When morning broke, the enemy had disappeared. The +Mexican loss was 2,000, that of the Americans 746. Henry Clay, a son of the +Kentucky statesman, as he lay wounded, was despatched by a Mexi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1012" id="Page_1012">[Pg 1012]</a></span>can +<span class="sidenote">Conflicting claims of victory</span> +vacquero. Colonel Jefferson Davis commanded with distinction a regiment of +Mississippi riflemen. Buena Vista was Taylor's last battle. Its fame was +heralded throughout America. Both sides claimed the victory. The Mexicans +chanted Te Deums. In the United States the poet Kifer sang:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="75%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">From the Rio Grande's waters to the icy lakes of Maine,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Let us all exult! for we have met the enemy again.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Beneath their stern old mountains we have met them in their pride,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And rolled from Buena Vista back the battle's bloody tide;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Where the enemy came surging swift, like the Mississippi's flood,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And the reaper, Death, with strong arms swung his sickle red with blood.</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>After the battle of Buena Vista, General Taylor returned to the United +States, his task finished. The exploit shed such lustre on his name that he +was soon regarded as the fittest candidate for the Presidency.</p> + +<p>In March, Scott's army of 12,000 landed at Vera Cruz. After four days' +<span class="sidenote">San Juan d'Ulloa captured</span> +bombardment by land and water, the city and castle of San Juan d'Ulloa +surrendered. General Worth was left in command at Vera Cruz, and Scott +started on his march to the City of Mexico, two hundred miles away. Santa +Anna, with the flower of his army, awaited him in the strong position of +Cerro Gordo, fifty miles northwest. General Twiggs turned the Mexican left +flank. On the following morning, April 18, the Americans attacked in three +columns. Pellow advanced against the Mexican right, where three hills at an +angle in the road were crowned with batteries. Shields' division, climbing +by a pass, fell upon Santa Anna's right and rear. Twiggs<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1013" id="Page_1013">[Pg 1013]</a></span> and Worth, +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Cerro Gordo</span> +bearing to the right, covered the El Telegrafo Hill, and attacked the +height of Cerro Gordo, where Santa Anna commanded in person. Carrying this +position, they turned its guns on the retreating Mexicans. Caught between +the columns of Pellow, Twiggs and Worth, Santa Anna's forces surrendered. +The American troops thus gained the national road to the capital of Mexico. +They had made 3,000 prisoners and taken forty-three cannon, with $22,000 in +silver and immense munitions of war. They lost, at Cerro Gordo, 481 killed +<span class="sidenote">American advance into Mexico</span> +and wounded; the Mexican loss was 2,000. Jalapa was occupied on April 19, +and on the 22d the American flag waved above the Castle of Perote, fifty +miles beyond. Puebla, containing 80,000 inhabitants, was occupied without +opposition on May 15. On account of the sufferings of the men in the hot +climate, General Scott rested at Puebla for several months.</p> + +<p>The authority of the United States was established on the Pacific Coast, +after a final defeat of the Mexicans at San Gabriel. Colonel Doniphan of +Kearney's command, having been left in charge in New Mexico, compelled the +Navajo Indians to enter into a treaty of peace, after which he set out with +1,000 Missourians to join General Wool. At Bracto, a Mexican commander with +a superior force sent a black flag demanding his surrender. On refusal of +this summons notice was given that no quarter should be granted. The +Mexicans then advanced firing; the Americans lying down to escape the +bullets. Cheering, the Mexicans ran<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1014" id="Page_1014">[Pg 1014]</a></span> forward, when suddenly Doniphan's +<span class="sidenote">Doniphan's exploit</span> +command rose and fired, killing more than 200 Mexicans. The rest turned and +fled. Near the capital of Chihuahua, Doniphan, after a sharp encounter, +dispersed 4,000 Mexicans. The Stars and Stripes were raised above the +citadel. In May, Doniphan rejoined Wool at Saltillo. Then followed a long +lull in the Mexican campaign.</p> + +<p>The question concerning the power of the American Congress to legislate on +slavery again came up in connection with the bill for the establishment of +the Oregon Territorial government. In February Calhoun had introduced his +new slavery resolution, declaring the Territories to be the common property +of all the States, and denying the right and power of Congress to prohibit +slavery in any Territory. Thus began the agitation which led to the +abrogation of the Missouri Compromise. By the terms of an amendment offered +for the extension of the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific Ocean, +<span class="sidenote">Slavery controversy revived</span> +slavery was to be excluded from all future territory in the West. This +amendment was lost, but the bill passed with another, incorporating the +anti-slavery clause of the ordinance of 1787. Calhoun declared that the +exclusion of slavery from any Territory was a subversion of the Union, and +proclaimed "the separation of the Northern and Southern States complete."</p> + +<p>In British North America a new era of home rule began after the Earl of +Elgin took his oath as Governor-General of Canada in January. The imperial +government abandoned all control over the customs<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1015" id="Page_1015">[Pg 1015]</a></span> of Canada. The building +of the first great Canadian railroad was begun on the main line of the +Grand Trunk system. Discouraging reports from the extreme northern regions +of America at last confirmed the impression that Sir John Franklin, with +<span class="sidenote">John Franklin's career</span> +the other members of his expedition, had perished in the Arctic regions. A +romantic naval career was thus brought to a close. Born in 1786, John +Franklin entered the British navy at the age of fourteen as a midshipman, +and soon saw his first active service at the battle of Copenhagen in 1801. +In the following year he was taken on his first trip of exploration to +Australia by his cousin, Captain Flinders of the "Investigator." In 1818 he +was a member of an expedition sent out by the British Government to attempt +a passage to India by crossing the Polar Sea. His bold seamanship during +this voyage brought him into such prominence that during the next year he +was appointed by the Admiralty to command an expedition to travel overland +from Hudson's Bay to the Arctic Ocean. During the course of this expedition +<span class="sidenote">Long overland journey</span> +he and his companions walked 5,560 miles and endured many hardships, of +which Franklin wrote a thrilling narrative on his return to England in +1822. He then married Eleanor Porden, the author of the heroic poem +"Cœur de Lion." In 1825 he was appointed to the command of another +overland Arctic expedition. When the day of his departure arrived, his wife +was dying of consumption. Lying at the point of death as she was, she would +not let him delay his voyage, and gave him for a parting gift a silk<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1016" id="Page_1016">[Pg 1016]</a></span> flag +to hoist when he reached the Polar Sea. On the day after Franklin left +England she died. When he returned again he was knighted and showered with +honors by various scientific societies of England and France. After serving +as Governor of Van Diemen's Land, Sir John, in 1845, was appointed an +admiral, and then another Arctic expedition to discover the Northwest +Passage was organized. He sailed from Sheerness on May 26, 1845, and was +last seen by a whaler in Baffin's Bay. Many years later a record was found +on the northwest shore of King William's Land, announcing that Sir John +Franklin died in the spring of 1847, and that the survivors of his +<span class="sidenote">The Northwest Passage</span> +expedition had attempted to make their way back on the ice to the American +continent. To Sir John Franklin belongs the honor of the first discovery of +the northwest passage leading from Lancaster Sound to Behring Strait.</p> + +<p>On February 8, Daniel O'Connell, the great Irish Parliamentary leader, made +his last speech in the English House of Commons. The question on which he +<span class="sidenote">O'Connell's last speech</span> +spoke was a proposed bill for the relief of famine in Ireland: "I am +afraid," he said, in the course of this address, "that the English people +are not sufficiently impressed with the horrors of the situation in +Ireland. I do not think they understand the accumulated miseries which my +people are suffering. It has been estimated that 5,000 adults and 10,000 +children have already died from famine, and that one-fourth of the whole +population must perish unless something is done." Failing in health +himself, O'Connell went to Italy.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1017" id="Page_1017">[Pg 1017]</a></span> At Rome, Pope Pius IX. prepared a +<span class="sidenote">Death of O'Connell</span> +magnificent reception for him. Before he could reach the Eternal City, +O'Connell died in his seventy-second year. Lacordaire, who but shortly +before this had pronounced his greatest of funeral orations over the bier +of General Drouot, thus spoke of O'Connell: "Honor, glory and eternal +gratitude for the man who gave to his country the boon of liberty of +conscience. Where is a man in the Church since the time of Constantine who +has at one stroke enfranchised six millions of souls?" When the body of +O'Connell was buried at Glasnevin, it was followed to the grave by fifty +thousand mourners, among whom Orangemen and Ribbonmen walked side by side. +In England, O'Connell's death was regarded with a feeling akin to relief. +There his persistent demands of "justice for Ireland" had come to be +regarded with derision, bringing him the nickname of "Big Beggarman."</p> + +<p>Another spirit that won religious renown in England passed away with Thomas +<span class="sidenote">Death of Thomas Chalmers</span> +Chalmers, the great Scotch divine. As a teacher of theology at Edinburgh he +wrote no less than twenty-five volumes, the most famous of which is his +"Evidences of the Christian Revelations," a reprint of his article on +"Christianity" contributed to the "Encyclopedia Britannica." In other +respects it was a notable year for English letters. Charles Dickens had +<span class="sidenote">"Vanity Fair"</span> +just published his famous stories "Dombey and Son" and "The Haunted Man." +The success of these novels was surpassed by that of Thackeray's "Vanity +Fair." Three writers now made their appear<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1018" id="Page_1018">[Pg 1018]</a></span>ance. Anthony Trollope brought +out his "MacDermotts of Ballycoran"; Emily Brontë published her first +<span class="sidenote">"Jane Eyre"</span> +novel, "Wuthering Heights," while her sister, Charlotte Brontë, at the same +time achieved an immense success with her story of "Jane Eyre." These +successes were more than rivalled by that of Jenny Lind, the great soprano +singer, who made her first appearance in London during this season. Another +<span class="sidenote">Jenny Lind</span> +event for intellectual England was the sale at auction of Shakespeare's +house at Stratford. It was acquired by a united committee of Shakespeare +lovers for the sum of £3,000.</p> + +<p>The oft-mooted question of the civil disabilities of the Jews in England +was brought up again by the election of Baron Rothschild as a member of +<span class="sidenote">Jewish disabilities reconfirmed</span> +Parliament for London, together with Lord John Russell. The Premier, whose +name was already identified with the cause of civil and religious liberty, +made another strong effort to obtain the recognition of his colleague's +claim to his seat. He was supported in this not only by most of the Whigs +in the House of Commons, but also by three such prominent men of the +opposition as Lord Bentinck, Gladstone and Benjamin Disraeli, himself of +Jewish lineage. As heretofore, this proposed reform was accepted by the +Commons only to be rejected by the Lords, now installed in their new House +of Peers. Otherwise, Lord Russell's Ministry followed largely in the +footsteps of their immediate predecessors. Palmerston pursued his wonted +vigorous foreign policy.</p> + +<p>It had been customary in Greek towns to cele<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1019" id="Page_1019">[Pg 1019]</a></span>brate Easter by burning an +effigy of Judas Iscariot. This year the police of Athens were ordered to +prevent this performance, and the mob, disappointed of their favorite +amusement, ascribed the new orders to the influence of the Jews. The house +<span class="sidenote">Don Pacifico affair</span> +of one Don Pacifico, a Portuguese Jew of Gibraltar, happened to stand near +the spot where the Judas was annually burned. Don Pacifico was known to be +a Jew, and the anger of the mob was wreaked upon him accordingly. On April +4, his house was sacked. Don Pacifico made a claim against the Greek +Government for compensation. He estimated his losses, direct and indirect, +at nearly £32,000. Another claim was made at the same time by another +British subject, Finlay, the historian of Greece. The Greek Government, +<span class="sidenote">British retaliation</span> +which was all but bankrupt, was dilatory in settling these claims. A +British fleet was ordered to the Piræus. It seized all the Greek vessels +belonging to the government and to private merchants that were found within +those waters. The Greek Government appealed to France and Russia as Powers +joined with England in the treaty to protect the independence of Greece. +France and Russia both made bitter complaint of not having been consulted +in the first instance by the British Government, nor was their feeling +<span class="sidenote">Palmerston obdurate</span> +softened by Lord Palmerston's peremptory reply that it was all a question +between England and Greece. It was on this occasion that Palmerston made +the famous speech harking back to the sentiment expressed in the old Roman +boast "Civis Romanus Sum."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1020" id="Page_1020">[Pg 1020]</a></span></p> + +<p>Next, new troubles arose with China. During the previous year riots broke +out in Canton, by reason of a superstitious belief that a weather-vane on +top of the flagstaff over the American Consulate interfered with the +spirits of the air. A Chinaman was shot during the riots. The British had +to interfere on behalf of the threatened Americans. The outraged feelings +<span class="sidenote">Troubles in China</span> +of the Chinese populace were allayed by a conciliatory declaration of +Emperor Taouk-Wang, to the effect that the Christian religion could be +commended as a faith for inculcating the principles of virtue. At the same +time he sent a special commissioner, Ke-Ying, "amicably to regulate the +commerce with foreign merchants at Canton." Trouble again broke out in +March, when a small English hunting and fishing party violated the +agreement confining them to the foreign concession at Canton. They were +pelted with stones by the natives. Sir John Davis denounced this incident +as international outrage, and, in disregard of the accepted treaty +provisions, proclaimed "that he would exact and acquire from the Chinese +Government that British subjects should be as free from molestation and +insult in China as they would be in England." On April 1, all the available +<span class="sidenote">Bogue forts recaptured</span> +forces at Hong Kong were summoned to Canton. Three steamships, bearing two +regiments of soldiers, convoyed by a British man-of-war, attacked the Bogue +forts. The Chinese, acting under orders from Ke-Ying, made no resistance. A +British landing force seized the batteries and spiked the guns. Next, the +forts opposite Canton<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1021" id="Page_1021">[Pg 1021]</a></span> were captured without a blow. Without a shot fired, +Canton, on April 3, lay at the mercy of the British guns. Ke-Ying accepted +the British ultimatum that the whole city of Canton should be opened to +<span class="sidenote">A Chinese protest</span> +Englishmen two years from date. The agreement was closed with this +significant statement on behalf of the Chinese Emperor: "If mutual +good-will is to be maintained between the Chinese and foreigners, the +common feelings of mankind, as well as the just principles of heaven, must +be considered and conformed with."</p> + +<p>A new phase in Great Britain's boundary dispute with Nicaragua was reached +<span class="sidenote">Nicaragua coerced</span> +by a British squadron's abrupt seizure of the harbor of San Juan del Norte, +Nicaragua's only seaport on the Atlantic coast. In regard to the demands +made for the free navigation of the La Plata River, the Argentine Republic +at last came to terms. The joint squadrons of England and France thereupon +raised their blockade of Buenos Ayres. At London a conference of English +and French statesmen, to which Spain was likewise admitted, had come to an +<span class="sidenote">Threatened intervention in Portugal</span> +agreement to interfere on behalf of Queen Maria II., in Portugal. When this +was made known, Bandiera, one of the chief partisans of Dom Pedro, +announced his submission. Nonetheless, Pedro's followers persevered, and on +June 26 the Junta at Oporto had to capitulate to Pedro's army.</p> + +<p>In Germany, in the meanwhile, the agitation for Parliamentary government +steadily gained ground. In Bavaria, where King Louis's open liaison with +the dancer Lola Montez had turned his sub<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1022" id="Page_1022">[Pg 1022]</a></span>jects against him, the deputies +of the Landtag exerted their power to abolish the crown lotteries by a +unanimous vote. In Prussia, King Frederick William IV. at last issued his +<span class="sidenote">German Parliamentary essays</span> +long-promised summons for a united provincial Diet. A semblance of +representative government was established. It was at this time that +Frederick William became Elector of Hesse-Cassel. The agitation for a +representative government grew. On September 12, the Liberals held a +meeting at Orthenburg. Within a month the Constitutional party met at +Heppenheim, in Hesse. At length a united Prussian Parliament, called the +Landtag, was convoked at Berlin. The first question to claim the attention +of this Parliament was that of Schleswig-Holstein. The gauntlet recently +flung down to the German population of Schleswig and Holstein, by King +Christian VIII. of Denmark, was picked up not only by the anti-Danish +<span class="sidenote">Schleswig-Holstein issue</span> +Holsteiners, but by the whole German nation as well. Little Schleswig, with +its 160 square miles and 400,000 inhabitants, was claimed by every German +as German borderland. King Christian at this time was failing in health. +His condition had been aggravated by the recent great fire at Copenhagen, +which, amid other costly properties, destroyed invaluable records of +Icelandic literature, including more than 2,000 unpublished manuscripts.</p> + +<p>An event of like international importance was the death of Felix +Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, at the age of thirty-eight. He was the grandson of +the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, and the son of the gifted Lea +Solomon-Bartholdy, from whom he received<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1023" id="Page_1023">[Pg 1023]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Death of Mendelssohn</span>his first piano lessons. At the +age of ten he joined the Singing Academy of Berlin, where a composition of +his, the "Nineteenth Psalm," was performed shortly after his entry. In 1825 +his father took him to Paris to consult Cherubini, as to his future. +Cherubini offered to take him as a pupil, but his father preferred to bring +him up in the musical atmosphere of his own home. There the boy perfected +himself as a piano player and wrote a host of early compositions. The +overture to "A Midsummer Night's Dream" was written in 1826, when +Mendelssohn was but seventeen years old. Two years later his first opera, +"The Marriage of Camècho," was given at the Berlin Opera. In Berlin, +Mendelssohn became the leading figure in the propaganda for the music of +Bach. Having undertaken a journey to England, at the suggestion of +<span class="sidenote">"Songs Without Words"</span> +Moscheles, he gave a series of concerts there, after which he travelled +throughout Europe. It was at this time that he wrote his "Songs Without +Words," and composed the overture, "A Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage." +After filling a musical directorship at Düsseldorf, he was summoned to +conduct the orchestra of the Gewandhaus there. This proved an important +turn in his career. In 1841, Frederick William IV. of Prussia invited him +to Berlin, where he organized the famous Cathedral choir. Returning to +Leipzig, he founded the musical conservatory in that city. The sudden death +of his favorite sister, Fannie, gave him such a shock that he died within a +few months after her. Mendelssohn exerted little influence as an operatic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1024" id="Page_1024">[Pg 1024]</a></span> +composer, but achieved the highest rank by such vocal compositions as the +oratorios "St. Paul" and "Elijah," and some of his beautiful songs, which +have become folksongs. Of his orchestral pieces, the most famous are his +concert overtures, such as that of the "Midsummer Night's Dream," or "Ruy +Blas," and his "Funeral March." The most celebrated of his piano pieces are +the popular "Songs Without Words," the "Wedding March" and the brilliant +"Rondo Capriccioso."</p> + +<p>By the death of Prosper Marilhat, a young artist of great promise was lost +<span class="sidenote">Death of Marilhat</span> +to France. But a few years before, Marilhat sent no less than eight +masterpieces to the Salon, but they were received so coldly that the young +artist fell into a state from which death was a happy deliverance. +Théophile Gautier wrote of him, "That exhibition was Marilhat's swan song, +and the works he sent were eight diamonds." After Marilhat's death, some of +his unfinished paintings commanded great prices. Thus his "Entrance to +Jerusalem," at the Wertheimer sale at Paris in 1861, fetched 16,000 francs. +Fifteen years later, at the Oppenheim sale in Paris, Marilhat's "Ruins Near +Cairo" brought no less than 29,000 francs. It was as a painter of Oriental +subjects that Marilhat won his most lasting distinction. Having travelled +to the East with Baron Hugel, he remained for many years in Egypt, painted +portraits of the Khedive and decorated several of the buildings of +Alexandria. In an obituary article published in the "Revue des Deux +Mondes," Théophile Gautier wrote: "Marilhat was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1025" id="Page_1025">[Pg 1025]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Gautier on Marilhat</span>a Syrian Arab. He must +have had in his veins some blood of the Saracens whom Charles Martel did +not kill.... One of the glories of Marilhat was that he preserved his +originality in presence of Decamps. The talents of these two men are +parallel lines, it is true, but they do not touch each other. The more +fruitful fancy of the one is balanced by the character in the works of the +other."</p> + +<p>In France the dissatisfaction with Louis Philippe's government, as +administered by Guizot, was steadily increasing. The Socialist party, led +by Louis Blanc, agitated the country for reform. An appeal to Revolutionary +traditions was made by the simultaneous publication of Blanc's and +Michelet's histories of the French Revolution. At the same time, Lamartine +<span class="sidenote">Death of Oudinot</span> +brought out his "Histoire des Girondins." Napoleonic traditions were +revived by a series of events following the death of General Drouot. In +September came the death of Marshal Oudinot, the hero of Bitche, +Moorlautern, Trêves, Ingolstadt, Ulm, Austerlitz, Jena, Ostralenka, +Friesland and Wagram. Oudinot was wounded innumerable times and was twice +made a prisoner. He bore a prominent part throughout the Russian campaign +and that of 1814. During the Hundred Days he remained in retirement. For +this he was made Commander-in-chief of the National Guards under the +Restoration, and passed through the campaign of Spain in 1823, when he +captured Madrid. After his death, Marshal Soult, another veteran of the +Napoleonic wars, succeeded him as general commander of the French<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1026" id="Page_1026">[Pg 1026]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Death of Grouchy</span>army. +Before this, Marshal Grouchy had likewise expired in his eighty-first year. +He it was who was held responsible by Napoleon for the final crushing +defeat at Waterloo. There he failed to support his chief, when Blücher came +to the support of Wellington. To the end of his days, Grouchy insisted that +Napoleon's orders to this effect never reached him, but it was held up +against him that some of his officers on that occasion had vainly urged him +to march on the sound of the cannons at Waterloo. On October 10, Jerome +Bonaparte, Napoleon's brother and the quondam king of Westphalia, was +permitted to return to France after an exile of thirty-two years. Late in +<span class="sidenote">Death of Marie Louise</span> +the year, ex-Empress Marie Louise, Napoleon's second wife, died at the age +of fifty-six in Austria. Never beloved like her predecessor Josephine, she +lost the esteem of all Frenchmen by her failure to stand by her husband +after his downfall and exile to St. Helena, and by her subsequent liaison +with her chamberlain, Neipperg, to whom she bore several children. Other +events of lasting interest in France, during this year, were the opening of +the great canal from Marseilles to Durano, the death of Duc de Polignac, +<span class="sidenote">Mérimée and Dumas</span> +who helped cause the downfall of his royal master Charles X., and the +publication of Mérimée's "Carmen" and of "Aventures de Quatre Femmes et +d'un Perroquet," by the younger Dumas.</p> + +<p>Under the stimulus of Pius IX.'s apparent sympathy for the cause of +national unity in Italy, as well as that of the teachings of Mazzini, the +Italian patriots took heart again. One group, consisting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1027" id="Page_1027">[Pg 1027]</a></span> mostly of the +politicians and military men of Piedmont, centred their hopes in the +traditional antagonism of the princes of Savoy against Austria. Charles +Albert of Carrignano, whom Metternich had attempted to exclude from the +succession, showed marked independence in his dealings with Austria. In +1847, the Italian question came uppermost again when the Austrian +<span class="sidenote">Austrians occupy Ferrara</span> +Government, on a new interpretation in one of the clauses in the treaty of +Vienna, occupied the town of Ferrara in the ecclesiastical states. Pius IX. +promptly protested against this trespass of his territories. The King of +Sardinia openly announced his intention to take the field against Austria, +should war break out. English and French warships appeared at Naples. In +Sicily and southern Italy the attitude of the patriots grew threatening. +<span class="sidenote">Italy aroused</span> +Apprehensions of a general revolution throughout Italy at length induced +Metternich to agree with the neutral powers on a compromise concerning the +occupation of Ferrara. Lucca was united with Tuscany. Still patriotic +passion seethed in Italy.</p> + +<p>In America, after several months of comparative inaction, the war in Mexico +<span class="sidenote">Mexican campaigns resumed</span> +was renewed with vigor. On August 6, General Scott received reinforcements. +Leaving a governor at Puebla, he marched on with 14,000 men. He met with no +resistance at the passes of the Cordilleras. On August 10, from the top of +the Rio Frio Mountains, the City of Mexico, lying in a fertile, lake-dotted +basin, was in sight. The land around the city was under water, and the +capital was approached by causeways across the low<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1028" id="Page_1028">[Pg 1028]</a></span> and marshy ground. The +numerous rocky hills were all fortified. Scott passed around Lake Chalco to +the southwest, and thence moved west skirting the south shore. Santa Anna, +intercepting the Americans, took up his headquarters at San Antonio, five +miles from the city. His position was flanked on the west by broken lava, +and on the east by marshy ground. The ground was as bad as could well be +<span class="sidenote">Santa Anna outflanked</span> +encountered. Santa Anna sent orders to General Valencia, who held a +fortified hill in front of the Americans, to spike his guns, destroy his +stores and retreat, but Valencia refused. Riley, occupying a hill in his +rear, took his intrenchments in reverse. He was cut off both north and +south; 2,000 of his force were killed and wounded; a thousand with four +generals were captured, and guns, stores and ammunition fell into the hands +of the Americans.</p> + +<p>The divisions of Pellow and Twiggs were ordered, August 19, to storm +Contreras. The line between that position and Santa Anne's reserves was cut +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Contreras</span> +at the close of the day, and General Persifer F. Smith at sunrise the next +morning led an assault on the Mexican camp, and in less than half an hour +drove 6,000 Mexicans out of the fortification. Shortly afterward General +Worth attacked Santa Anna and routed the garrison.</p> + +<p>The Americans followed to Churubusco on the road to the capital, where +Santa Anna had concentrated his whole force. Here the river was protected +by levees, the head of the bridge strongly fortified, and the stone convent +surrounded by a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1029" id="Page_1029">[Pg 1029]</a></span> strong field-work. The attack on the bridge and the +<span class="sidenote">Churubusco</span> +convent was desperate. Pierce and Shields had made a detour to the main +road in the rear of Churubusco. They struck the Mexican reserves, and all +the troops on both sides were engaged. Worth and Pellow carried the bridge +in time to save Pierce and Shields. The Mexican left gave way. A detachment +crossed the river and threatened the bridge from the rear. Worth threw his +whole force upon the broken line. Through ditches and over parapets they +went with a rush, and the battle was won. The Americans lost a thousand men +and seventy-six officers.</p> + +<p>General Kearney had left Fort Leavenworth in the spring of 1847. To him +<span class="sidenote">Santa Fé captured</span> +fell the task of conquering New Mexico and California. On August 18, Santa +Fé was captured, and all New Mexico submitted. From Santa Fé, Kearney, with +400 dragoons, set off for California. Kit Carson, whom he met on the road, +informed him that Colonel Fremont had conquered California. On learning +this Kearney sent back most of his force, and with the few remaining pushed +on to the coast. In the five distinct victories thus far gained over the +<span class="sidenote">Mexican reverses</span> +Mexican army of 80,000, scarcely 10,000 Americans had been engaged, 4,000 +Mexicans had been killed and wounded, and 3,000 made prisoners, and +thirty-seven pieces of artillery were captured.</p> + +<p>Scott again made overtures for peace. He had with him a government +commissioner, Trist, who had already made a vain effort to secure peace. +Scott accordingly advanced to Tecubaya within<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1030" id="Page_1030">[Pg 1030]</a></span> three miles of the capital, +<span class="sidenote">Another armistice</span> +and on August 21 sent to Santa Anna a proposition for an armistice looking +to negotiations for peace. The proposition was accepted, and Trist entered +the capital on the 24th, where he remained until September 5. He reported +that the American proposition had not only been rejected, but that Santa +Anna had improved the armistice to strengthen the city's defences. Scott +instantly declared the armistice at an end.</p> + +<p>Scott had now 8,500 men and 68 guns. He moved, September 7, upon Molino del +Rey (King's Mill), a group of stone buildings 500 yards long, forming the +western side of the inclosure surrounding the rock and castle of +Chapultepec, and 1,100 yards from the castle, which is a mile and a half +from the city wall. Scott's purpose was to enter the city on the south, and +he considered the castle of slight importance. He supposed that the battle +<span class="sidenote">Molino del Rey</span> +of Molino would be a small affair. Worth anticipated a desperate struggle, +and took up his position in the dark on the morning of the 8th. At 3 <span class="smcap">a.m.</span> +he opened fire with his twenty-four pounders, and his storming party +advanced toward the point where the enemy's batteries had been, but their +position had been changed, and they suddenly opened fire on the flank of +his 500. After various contests, the fighting became a struggle for the +possession of the Molino. A desperate and deadly fight took place. The +southern gate gave way and the Americans passed in. The fight was renewed +with bayonet and sword, and Worth lost a large<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1031" id="Page_1031">[Pg 1031]</a></span> number of the flower of his +forces. At last the Mexicans, all but 700, retreated to Chapultepec. On the +left the Americans were received with a murderous fire, which was long +continued. Their whole artillery was then concentrated upon the Casa Mata +and its works, which, after a desperate defence, were abandoned. Except as +an outpost to Chapultepec, the position had no value. By Scott's order +Worth withdrew his command, and left to the enemy the field which had been +so dearly won. Of 3,500 Americans in the fight, 787 had fallen, including +59 officers.</p> + +<p>The Rock of Chapultepec rises 150 feet, and is crowned by the great castle. +<span class="sidenote">Chapultepec</span> +The northern side was inaccessible; the eastern and southern sides nearly +so, and the southwestern and western could be scaled. A zigzag road on the +southern side was swept by a battery at an angle. The crest was strongly +fortified; ditches and strong walls and a redoubt were constructed at +various points. The garrison numbered 2,000, and thirteen long guns were +mounted. A select party under Captain Joseph Hooker seized the Molino, and +at night Pellow threw his whole force into it. Two forces made a desperate +assault on the intrenchments in front, united and passed the Mexicans and +mounted the western slope. A party passed around the western front, which +they scaled, and gained the parapet. Their comrades on the western side +climbed the southern slope at the same time and joined the two. The whole +castle was occupied. The Mexicans were dislodged and many prisoners were +taken.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1032" id="Page_1032">[Pg 1032]</a></span></p> + +<p>The approach to the capital was difficult. It was by two roads, each along +a stone aqueduct. On the Belen road the Mexicans were gradually pressed +back, however, and the Americans entered the first work, where they were +confronted by the citadel commanded by Santa Anna. A terrible fire rendered +further advance impossible. On the San Cosme road the enemy was pursued to +a second barricade, which was carried under Lieutenant U.S. Grant and +Lieutenant Gire. Worth's columns pushed on. Having passed the arches, they +began breaking their way through the walls of the houses. Howitzers were +hauled to the roofs, and at last the main gate was carried. During the +night a delegation proposed a capitulation. Scott refused to grant terms. +<span class="sidenote">Fall of City of Mexico</span> +At dawn Quitman advanced to the grand palace and occupied the Plaza, and an +hour later Scott took up his headquarters there. Presently some 2,000 +liberated convicts and others began casting paving stones on the soldiers, +and it became necessary to sweep the streets with grape and canister. By +the 15th Scott was in full possession of the City of Mexico.</p> + +<p>On the morning of September 14, Generals Quitman and Worth raised the +American flag over the national palace, and Scott soon afterward reined up +at the Grand Plaza, where he removed his hat, and, raising his hand, +proclaimed the conquest of Mexico. Santa Anna's men afterward treacherously +attacked the hospital at Puebla, where were 2,000 Americans, sick and +<span class="sidenote">Flight of Santa Anna</span> +wounded. They bravely resisted and were presently rescued; the Mexicans +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1033" id="Page_1033">[Pg 1033]</a></span> +being routed by General Lane. Santa Anna, again a fugitive, fled for safety +to the shores of the Gulf.</p> + +<p>Among the officers who distinguished themselves were many who gained a +<span class="sidenote">Many reputations made</span> +lasting reputation fifteen years later, during the American civil war; for +instance, Jefferson Davis, Grant, Lee, McClellan, Beauregard, Sherman, +Hill, Jackson, Hooker, Longstreet, Buell, Johnston, Lyon, Kearney, +Reynolds, French, Ewell and Sumner.</p> + +<p>Late in the year simultaneous risings against the Bourbon government of +Naples and Sicily occurred in Calabria and at Messina. In the north a +conspiracy against further government by Austria assumed the proportions of +a national movement. In France the popular clamor for reforms grew to +threatening proportions. Prime Minister Guizot declined to enter into any +of the radical schemes for reform. In the Chambers, Guizot declared: "The +<span class="sidenote">Premonitions of trouble in France</span> +maintenance of the union of the Conservative party, of its policy and +power, will be the fixed idea of the rule of conduct in the Cabinet." Late +in December the Chambers met but promised no reforms. Defeated in this, the +opposition determined to voice its protests at a political banquet in Paris +similar to those that had been held at Strasburg, Lille, Lyons, Rouen, and +other cities. The government forbade the banquet. It was postponed until +the nest year. Popular passions for the moment were appeased by +Abd-el-Kader's final surrender to General Lamorcière in Algeria, and the +reported end of the troublesome war with the Arabs.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1848" id="a1848"></a>1848</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1034" id="Page_1034">[Pg 1034]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">T</span><span class="dcap1">HE</span> long seething discontent of the lower classes in Italy, fomented by the +national aspirations of such radical leaders as Mazzini and Manin, had +reached its culmination by this time. The centenary of the expulsion of the +Austrians from Genoa had just been celebrated with such enthusiasm +throughout central Italy that Austria was forewarned of the storm that was +<span class="sidenote">Revolution in Palermo</span> +about to burst. Metternich wrote to Apponyi, "The world is very sick. The +general condition of Europe is dangerous." Communications passed between +the patriots in northern Italy and the opponents of the Bourbon government +in Sicily. On January 12, the people of Palermo rose in revolt. The +government troops were driven from the city. Palermo was bombarded and +fighting continued for a full fortnight. In the end the insurgents were +victorious, and a provisional government was established. Other towns in +Sicily followed suit. On January 27, revolutionary riots broke out in +Naples. Threatened by revolution throughout his dominions, King Ferdinand +<span class="sidenote">Neapolitan constitution granted</span> +II. of Naples and Sicily, like his grandfather, made haste to proclaim a +popular constitution. A Liberal Ministry was called in on January 29. The +city of Messina was still in full insurrection when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1035" id="Page_1035">[Pg 1035]</a></span> the standard of revolt +was raised in northern Italy. In order to deprive the Austrian Government +of one of its chief financial supports, the patriotic societies of Italy +<span class="sidenote">Anti-Austrian riots at Milan</span> +formed a resolution to abstain from the use of tobacco, on which the +government had a monopoly. On the following Sunday, Austrian officers, +smoking in the streets of Milan, were attacked by the populace. The troops +had to be called to arms, and blood was shed on both sides. Similar +outbreaks followed in Padua and elsewhere. Radetzky, the Austrian +<span class="sidenote">Northern Italy aflame</span> +commander-in-chief, proclaimed martial law. On February 15, the people rose +in Tuscany, and compelled their grandduke to proclaim a constitution. In +March the insurrectionary movement spread from Lombardy to Piedmont. The +republic of Venice was proclaimed. The King of Sardinia declared himself in +sympathy with the liberation of Venice from Austrian rule. For a while Pope +Pio Nono showed similar leanings. On March 15, the Nationalists of Rome +<span class="sidenote">Revolt at Rome</span> +declared against the Pope. The National Guards joined in the movement. The +Papal troops had to be called out to put down the revolt by force of arms. +The hordes of Roman lazzaroni or beggars profited by the confusion to +commit hideous crimes. The Pope created a high council and Chamber of +Deputies with privileges of limited legislation, the Pope retaining his +full veto power on whatever they might decree. But on April 29, after the +Jesuits had been expelled from Sardinia, Pio Nono turned his back on these +reforms, and returned to the conservative policy of his immediate +predecessors in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1036" id="Page_1036">[Pg 1036]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Rome bombarded</span> +the chair of St. Peter. His definite refusal to declare +against Austria provoked another insurrection at Rome. This time the revolt +grew to such proportions that the city had to be subjected to bombardment +by artillery.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile a revolution of far more serious proportions had broken +<span class="sidenote">Spread of the revolution</span> +out at Paris. Successful from the start, the contagion of its example had +spread from France to most of the various principalities of Germany, to +Austria, Bohemia and Hungary, and thence to almost every quarter in Europe. +Few other events afford so striking an illustration of the modern +cosmopolitan spirit that had arisen in Europe during the first half of the +Nineteenth Century. The great revolutions of England, of America and of +France, in previous times, affected the rest of humanity only long after +their occurrence. The overthrow of Charles X. in 1830 gave rise to more or +less abortive revolutions in Belgium, Italy and Poland, as well as some of +the smaller German States. But the French February revolution of 1848 +<span class="sidenote">Democratic governments spared</span> +spread instantly to all the civilized communities of the world, except +Switzerland, Great Britain, and the United States of North America. The +exemption of these three countries, where alone true democratic forms of +government prevailed, was in itself a revelation of the general discontent +of European peoples. Other explanations in plenty have been given, every +one of which contained its measure of truth. To Polish refugees the +upheavals of this year have been in part attributed. The rise of the new +national spirit in literature was revealed in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1037" id="Page_1037">[Pg 1037]</a></span> Italy and Germany as well as +among the Magyars, Slavs and Greeks. The apparently epidemic character of +the movement found another explanation in the improved means of transit and +communication, and the great development of the public press.</p> + +<p>In the countries untouched by revolution internal progress kept pace with +the continued spread of civilization. In Switzerland, the expulsion of the +Jesuits resulted in the attempted secession of the seven Catholic cantons. +<span class="sidenote">Changes in Switzerland</span> +This was frustrated by General Dufour's prompt occupation of Freibourg and +Luzerne. The so-called Sonderbund of the seceding cantons was dissolved. In +place of the former union of sovereign cantons, the Swiss republic was now +reconstituted after the model of the United States of North America, as a +union of States with a central federal government at Berne. The Swiss army, +postal system and finances were put under federal control and a national +coinage was established. The separate interest of the cantons found +representation in the Stænderat, while the Swiss people at large were +represented in the Nationalrath, the members of which were elected from +districts apportioned among the cantons according to equal numbers of +population.</p> + +<p>The people of England, though the stirring events on the Continent were +<span class="sidenote">England unaffected</span> +brought home to them by so many eminent refugees seeking shelter in their +land, held the issues at stake too well settled by their own great +revolution of 1649 to find a sufficient incentive for another such +movement. The popularity of the young Queen doubtless contributed its share +to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1038" id="Page_1038">[Pg 1038]</a></span> the stability of the government. The renewed demonstrations of the +Chartists in London were merely co-incident with the revolutionary +demonstrations abroad. Still the influence of contemporaneous events in +<span class="sidenote">Insurrection in Tipperary</span> +Europe was strong enough to frighten Parliament into passing an act which +made the utterance of seditious speeches a felony. A popular insurrection +in Tipperary, Ireland, was made the pretext for once more suspending the +habeas corpus act in Ireland. By the end of July the revolt was put down. +Its leaders, John Mitchell, O'Brien and others were apprehended and tried +in court for high treason. They were sentenced to death, but the Queen +mitigated their sentences to transportation. A calming effect on Ireland +<span class="sidenote">Queen Victoria in Ireland</span> +was produced by the personal visit of the young Queen and her royal consort +to Ireland. When she held her court at Dublin in midsummer, the most +poignant causes for discontent were lost sight of amid wild demonstrations +of apparently universal loyalty. A constitution on home rule principles was +proclaimed in West Australia. In South Africa, Sir Harry Smith, the +<span class="sidenote">Orange River territory annexed to England</span> +Governor of Cape Colony, after his successful termination of a fourth war +with the Kaffirs, proclaimed the authority of Great Britain over the Orange +River territory. The Boer settlers there under the leadership of Pretorius +found themselves unable to maintain their independence. The adjoining lands +of the Basutos were declared under British protectorate.</p> + +<p>Early in the year, Lord Dalhousie had relieved Lord Hardinge as +Governor-General of India. Up<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1039" id="Page_1039">[Pg 1039]</a></span> to that time the British occupation of the +Punjab had continued without material change. Now a new fiscal system was +to be introduced there to settle up the arrears of Viceroy Mulraj of +Multan. In April, Vance Agnew, a British commissioner, with a military +escort of three hundred men, arrived at Multan to occupy the citadel as +<span class="sidenote">Massacre of Multan</span> +surety for these arrears. The British officers were admitted to the city, +but as they emerged from the citadel they were attacked, and all the +Englishmen were massacred. Mulraj called upon the Sikhs to rise against the +English. A force of seven thousand British troops were sent against Multan. +When they reached the city all the native troops turned against them. The +<span class="sidenote">Punjab up in arms</span> +whole of the Punjab revolted and a holy war was proclaimed against England. +Lord Dalhousie rose to the occasion. As he left Bengal to go to the front +he delivered a characteristic speech containing the historic declaration: +"Unwarned by precedent, uninfluenced by example, the Sikh nation have +called for war. On my word, sirs, they shall have it with vengeance!" The +<span class="sidenote">Sikhs and Afghans join revolt</span> +Sikh garrisons of Peshawar joined in the revolt, which was quickly taken up +by the Afghans. George Lawrence, the British Resident there, was carried +off as a prisoner. In the fort of Attock, Captain Herbert held out for a +while, but in the end was forced to succumb. The first general engagement +between Lord Gough and Sagr Singh at Ramluggar, late in the year, resulted +in a drawn battle. On both sides reinforcements were hurried up wherewith +to wage the coming year's campaign.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1040" id="Page_1040">[Pg 1040]</a></span></p> + +<p>From England, during this time, two more expeditions had been sent out in +search of Sir John Franklin. The first of these was commanded by Sir James +<span class="sidenote">More Arctic expeditions</span> +Ross, the famous Antarctic explorer. The second expedition, while +discovering no trace of Franklin, claimed that it had discovered the long +sought for Northwest Passage. The science of astronomy lost one of its most +distinguished representatives in England by the death of Caroline Herschel, +the sister of the famous discoverer of Uranus. Besides her the necrology of +the year in England included the two authors, Isaac d'Israeli, the father +of Lord Beaconsfield, and Captain Frederick Marryat, the romancer of the +<span class="sidenote">Death of George Stephenson</span> +sea; Lord Alexander Ashburton, the framer of the Canadian boundary treaty +that commemorates his name, and George Stephenson, the inventor of the +first practicable locomotive. Stephenson began life as a pit-engine boy at +twopence a day near Newcastle-on-Tyne. Having risen to the grade of +engineman, he was employed in the collieries of Lord Ravensworth improving +the wagon way and railway planes under ground. In 1814 he completed a +locomotive steam-engine, which was successfully tried on the Killingworth +Railway. The locomotive "Rocket," constructed by Stephenson and his son +Robert, which won the premium of five hundred pounds in 1829, offered by +the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company, ushered in the greatest +mechanical revolution since the invention of the steam-engine by Watt. +After this Stephenson became a locomotive builder on a large scale and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1041" id="Page_1041">[Pg 1041]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Stephenson's career</span> +acquired enormous wealth. Another invention standing to the credit of +Stephenson was one of the earliest safety lamps, but a committee which +investigated the subject accorded to Sir Humphry Davy the priority of this +invention. During this year Sir Austin Henry Layard published the results +of his original researches of Nineveh and its remains. Macaulay printed the +first two volumes of his "History of England," while Matthew Arnold brought +out his "Strayed Reveller" and other poems. Elizabeth Gaskell published +"Mary Barton."</p> + +<p>Of the various expeditions undertaken in search of Sir John Franklin, the +most noteworthy perhaps was Dr. John Rae's overland journey through the +northwestern territory of America from the Mackenzie to the Copper Mine +River. This opened up a vast tract of country to adventurous Canadians. +Another lasting benefit was conferred upon Upper Canada by the +reorganization of the public school system of Ontario.</p> + +<p>On the part of the United States the war with Mexico was brought to a +<span class="sidenote">Peace with Mexico</span> +close. The President of the Mexican Congress assumed provisional authority, +and, on February 2, that body at Guadaloupe Hidalgo concluded peace with +the United States. With slight amendments the treaty was ratified by the +United States Senate on March 10, and by the Mexican Congress at Queratero +<span class="sidenote">Treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo</span> +on the 30th of May. President Polk, on July 4 following, finally proclaimed +peace. The Americans under the terms of the treaty evacuated Mexico within<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1042" id="Page_1042">[Pg 1042]</a></span> +three months, paid Mexico $3,000,000 immediately, and $12,000,000 in three +annual instalments, and assumed debts of $3,500,000 due from Mexico to +American citizens. These payments were made in consideration of new +<span class="sidenote">American expansion</span> +accessions of territory which gave to the United States not only Texas, but +Arizona, New Mexico and California. The war had cost the United States +approximately $25,000,000 and 25,000 men.</p> + +<p>While these negotiations were under way, Colonel Sutter had begun the +erection of a mill at Colonna on the American branch of the Sacramento +River. In January one Marshall, who was engaged in digging a race-way for +<span class="sidenote">Gold found in California</span> +the mill for Colonel Sutter, found a metal which he had not seen before, +and, on testing it in the fire, found that it was gold. The "finds" were +sent to Sacramento and tested, with the result that they were declared to +be pure gold. The mint at Philadelphia also declared the metal to be gold, +and the President referred to the fact in his annual message to Congress.</p> + +<p>Then the gold seekers poured into California. They arrived in multitudes +from all parts of America and other countries—thousands tracking across +the plains and mountains with ox-teams and on foot, and other thousands +<span class="sidenote">Influx of Gold Seekers</span> +crossing the Isthmus with scarcely less difficulty, while around the Horn a +steady procession of ships passed up the coast of South America and Mexico +to the new El Dorado. In two years the population of California increased +100,000, and still the hordes of gold seekers came.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1043" id="Page_1043">[Pg 1043]</a></span></p> + +<p>Wisconsin, the thirtieth State, was admitted May 29. It had been one of the +first districts to receive the visits of the fur traders and the French +missionaries, who went thither in 1639.</p> + +<p>John Quincy Adams was overtaken by death in the midst of his career. On +<span class="sidenote">Death of John Quincy Adams</span> +February 21 he entered the House and took his seat. Suddenly he fell to the +floor, stricken with apoplexy. As he was carried to the Speaker's room and +was laid on a lounge, he feebly murmured: "This is the last of earth. I am +content." He died on February 23.</p> + +<p>John Quincy Adams's long career is unique in American history. At the age +of eleven he accompanied his father on a diplomatic mission to Europe, and +early acquired a knowledge of French and German. When barely fourteen he +went to St. Petersburg as private secretary to the American Minister, Dana. +At sixteen Adams served as one of the secretaries of the American +<span class="sidenote">His diplomatic career</span> +Plenipotentiaries during the negotiations resulting in the treaty of peace +and independence of 1783. At the age of twenty-seven he was appointed +Minister to Holland by President Washington, and afterward was Minister to +Berlin and Commissioner to Sweden. After serving for some years in the +United States Senate he was sent, in 1809, as Minister to Russia, where he +remained till 1815. Then he was transferred to London, where he resided +till 1817, when he became Secretary of State. His career as President of +the United States and his subsequent Congressional life was honorable in +the extreme. Yet Adams's biographer, Morse, has aptly said: "Never<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1044" id="Page_1044">[Pg 1044]</a></span> did a +<span class="sidenote">Morse on Adams</span> +man of pure life and just purposes have fewer friends or more enemies.... +If he could ever have gathered even a small personal following, his +character and abilities would have insured him a brilliant and prolonged +success; but for a man of his calibre and influence, we see him as one of +the most lonely and desolate of the great men of history."</p> + +<p>During this year James Russell Lowell published his "Bigelow Papers," a +<span class="sidenote">James Russell Lowell</span> +humorous satire on the Mexican war in Yankee dialect, the "Indian Summer +Reverie," and "A Fable for Critics."</p> + +<p>On April 8, Gaetano Donizetti—who together with Rossini and Bellini formed +<span class="sidenote">Death of Donizetti</span> +the brilliant triumvirate of Italian composers in the first half of the +Nineteenth Century—died in his native town of Bergamo. Donizetti composed +his first opera, "Enrico di Borgogna," in 1819, while serving as a soldier +in Venice. Three other operas followed quickly. His fourth, "Zoraide di +Granada," was such a success that he was exempted from further military +<span class="sidenote">Early operas</span> +service in 1822. During the following six years he wrote no less than +twenty-three operas, many of which were cheap imitations of Rossini. In +1880, stung by the success of Bellini, he wrote "Anna Bolena," which +inaugurated his second more original period, which included "Lucrecia +Borgia" and the immensely popular "Lucia di Lammermoor." The prohibition of +his opera "Poliecto," while he was serving as a director of the Naples +Conservatory, so exasperated Donizetti that he betook himself to Paris in +1838. There he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1045" id="Page_1045">[Pg 1045]</a></span> brought out the "Daughter of the Regiment" and "La +Favorita." After a few years he went to Vienna, where his "Linda di +Chamounix," sung in 1842, achieved an immense success. Having returned to +<span class="sidenote">Prolific compositions</span> +Italy he was stricken with paralysis from overwork in 1845. He never +recovered. Besides more than threescore of operas, Donizetti composed seven +masses, twelve string quartets, and a host of songs, cantatas and vespers, +as well as pianoforte music.</p> + +<p>Another figure of world-wide renown was lost by the death of the French +<span class="sidenote">Death of Chateaubriand</span> +poet François René de Chateaubriand. Born at château Combourg in 1768, the +scion of one of the noblest families of France, he received a careful +education at château Combourg. Roaming about on the sea-shore and in the +famous forest of Brezilien, the youth received his earliest impressions of +the grandeurs of nature. Shortly before the outbreak of the French +Revolution he was sent to Paris, where he received a commission in the +royal army. It was then he published his first poem, "L'Amour de la +<span class="sidenote">New world inspirations</span> +Campagne," in the Almanach des Muses. Dissatisfied with the revolutionary +turn of affairs, he resigned his commission in 1790, and journeyed to North +America. There he travelled extensively, seeking poetic inspiration from +the wilderness and the primitive customs of the Indians. After the downfall +of King Louis XVI. and the French nobility, Chateaubriand hastily returned +to France and joined the army of émigrés under Prince Condé. At the siege +of Thionville he was wounded and went to England. By<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1046" id="Page_1046">[Pg 1046]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">"Essay on Revolutions"</span>the time +Chateaubriand recovered he found himself in abject poverty, and had to +spend his days in bed for lack of fuel. In England, he wrote his "Essai sur +les Révolutions," in which he compared the recent rising in France to that +of the English Commonwealth. On the fall of the Directorate he returned to +<span class="sidenote">"Atala"</span> +France, and became one of the editors of Fontaine's "Mercure de France." At +the opening of the Nineteenth Century he published "Atala," an episode of +his epic poem "Les Natchez," treating of the suicide of an Indian virgin, +<span class="sidenote">"Réné"</span> +who sought death rather than violate a solemn vow of chastity given to her +mother. In 1802 appeared the second episode, "Réné," a subjective story +treating of the hapless love of a sister for her brother, full of a French +form of <i>maladie du monde</i> akin to Goethe's <i>Weltschmerz</i> in the "Sorrows +<span class="sidenote">"Genius of Christianity"</span> +of Werther." During the same year, Chateaubriand brought out his famous +"Genius of Christianity, or the Beauties of the Christian Religion," which +achieved an immense success. It won the approbation even of Napoleon, who +appointed Chateaubriand to diplomatic posts at Rome and Vallis. The +execution of the Duc d'Enghien was so horrifying to Chateaubriand that he +forthwith resigned his appointments. After extensive travels through +<span class="sidenote">"The Last of the Abencerrages"</span> +Greece, Egypt and the Holy Land, Chateaubriand went to Spain, where he +found inspiration at the Alhambra to write "Le dernier des Abencerrages." +There, too, he wrote his story of "The Martyrs, or the Triumph of the +Christian Religion," brought out in Paris in 1809. Less successful was his +tragedy "Moses." In<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1047" id="Page_1047">[Pg 1047]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">"The monarchy under the Charter"</span> +1810, Chateaubriand published the famous political +pamphlet "La Monarchie selon la Charte," which was made the basis of the +subsequent royal constitution of France. On the restoration of the Bourbons +he wrote another political pamphlet, directed against Bonaparte, which sent +him into exile together with Louis XVIII. during the Hundred Days. On the +return of Louis XVIII. he was made a member of State, a peer of France, and +member of the French Academy. In 1820 he was sent as ambassador to Berlin +and then to London, from where he was recalled into the Cabinet. Crowded +<span class="sidenote">The poet's political career</span> +out of the Cabinet by Villèle, he became one of the leaders of the +opposition. In 1828, he went on another diplomatic mission to Rome. The +rest of his life was uneventful. Shortly before his death he brought out +his complete works, including his latest "Etudes Historiques." A posthumous +work was his "Mémoires d'Outre-Tombe," containing the famous comparison +between the characters of George Washington and Napoleon Bonaparte.</p> + +<p>In the French Chambers, early in February, a great debate had been held on +the Reform Bill. Guizot, the Prime Minister, held firm in his opposition to +<span class="sidenote">Paris reform banquet</span> +all the proposed reforms. It was now proposed to hold the reform banquet, +that had repeatedly been prohibited and postponed, on February 22. The +banquet was once more interdicted, and it was announced that any unlawful +assemblage would be dispersed by force. Thereupon the banquet was +abandoned. The evening papers de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1048" id="Page_1048">[Pg 1048]</a></span>clared that the deputies of the opposition +had agreed to abstain from the proposed manifestation. A manifesto +<span class="sidenote">Ministry impeached</span> +published by the "Journal National" was the cause of a noisy demonstration +in the streets of the 12th Arrondissement. The National Guards were called +out. On the same day fifty-two deputies of the Left laid before the +Chambers a bill of impeachment against the Ministry. The King and his +advisers were in a state of blind security.</p> + +<p>On the morning of the eventful 22d of February, the Parisian populace +congregated by thousands near the Madeleine and the Rue Royale, shouting +<span class="sidenote">Street demonstrations</span> +"Vive la réforme; à bas les ministres!" and singing the "Marseillaise." No +troops made their appearance; but encounters occurred at several points +between the mob and the municipal guards. Still the day passed over without +serious hostilities. On the next day, the National Guards of Paris were +called out. Their cry, as they marched through the different quarters of +the city, was "Vive la réforme!" This emboldened the leaders of the +revolutionists. The members of the secret societies flew to arms; and in +the skirmishes which followed between the populace and the regular troops, +<span class="sidenote">National Guard disaffected</span> +the National Guard everywhere interfered in favor of the former. Thus +confronted, officers and soldiers hesitated to commit a general assault +upon their fellow citizens. They allowed themselves to be reduced to +inaction. The insurrection thus triumphed almost without actual strife.</p> + +<p>The King at length became acquainted with the true situation. In the +afternoon of the 23d, Guizot<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1049" id="Page_1049">[Pg 1049]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Fall of Guizot's Ministry</span> +tendered his resignation, which was promptly +accepted, and published as an act of satisfaction on the part of the King +to the demands of the people. Count Molé was charged with the formation of +a new Ministry. It was now generally expected that tranquillity would be at +once restored. But late at night the detachment of troops posted at the +Office of Foreign Affairs was attacked by a band of rioters. The commanding +officer ordered them to fire, and several persons in the crowd were shot +<span class="sidenote">Barricades erected</span> +down. Their dead bodies were paraded through the city. This spectacle +raised the indignation of the multitude to the highest pitch. Fresh +barricades were erected in all the most populous quarters of the city, and +the soldiers, stupefied and panic-struck, renounced all further opposition +to the revolt. The King now named Marshal Bugeaud to the supreme command of +the whole military force at Paris. Molé having declined the task of +constructing a Ministry, the King summoned Thiers to the head of affairs. +<span class="sidenote">Thiers' manifesto</span> +This statesman, in conjunction with Odillon-Barrot, immediately issued a +proclamation announcing their appointment as Ministers, and stating that +orders had been given to the troops to withdraw and abandon the contest. +This gave the last blow to the monarchy of Louis Philippe. Marshal Bugeaud +<span class="sidenote">The last stroke</span> +resigned his command. The soldiers quitted their ranks, giving up arms and +ammunition to the insurgents. The National Guard openly joined the masses +of the people and marched with them upon the Tuileries. The catastrophe was +now inevitable. Louis Philippe, feeling that all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1050" id="Page_1050">[Pg 1050]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Louis Philippe succumbs</span> +was lost, signed an act +of abdication in favor of his grandson the Comte de Paris, and withdrew to +St. Cloud.</p> + +<p>An attempt was made to obtain the recognition of the Duchess of Orleans as +regent, and thus to preserve the throne to the heir of Louis Philippe, +according to the terms of his abdication. The Duchess went to the Chamber +of Deputies, holding by the hand her sons the Comte de Paris and the Duc de +<span class="sidenote">Mob invades the Chamber</span> +Chartres. They took their seats in front of the tribune. More than one +member spoke earnestly in favor of the regency. In the midst of the debate +the Chamber was invaded by a tumultuous throng of armed men. One of them +was Arnold Böcklin, the Swiss artist, who subsequently rose to highest rank +among the painters of the Nineteenth Century. Marie, a violent Republican, +ascending the tribune, announced that the first duty of the Legislature was +to appoint a strong provisional government capable of re-establishing +public confidence and order. Cremieux, Ledru-Rollin and Lamartine in turn +insisted on a new government and constitution to be sanctioned by the +sovereign people. The proposition was hailed with tumultuous acclamations. +The Duchess of Orleans and her children retired precipitately.</p> + +<p>The Republicans remained masters of the field. A provisional government was +<span class="sidenote">Provisional Government formed</span> +forthwith nominated. It included the poet Lamartine, Ledru-Rollin, +Garnier-Pagès and Arago. While the mob was searching the Hôtel de Ville +these men conferred in a small out-of-the-way chamber behind<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1051" id="Page_1051">[Pg 1051]</a></span> locked doors. +Louis Blanc, the great socialistic writer, and one Albert, a locksmith, +were added to the provisional government. Every half hour Lamartine had to +confront some new crowd of rioters preferring fresh claims. The confusion +lasted several days. Throughout this time more barricades were thrown up, +<span class="sidenote">Fulsome promises</span> +until the government gained a breathing space by a promise to distribute +one million francs among the laboring men. Louis Blanc and Ledru-Rollin +signed another decree whereby they pledged the government to furnish every +Frenchman with work. With the help of National Guardsmen, and an organized +body of students, Caussidière, the new police prefect, succeeded at last in +keeping the mob out of the Hôtel de Ville and the Palais Bourbon. On +<span class="sidenote">Proclamation of French Republic</span> +February 27, the Republic was formally proclaimed from the Place de la +Bastille. The barricades were levelled and the crowds that had surged +through the streets of Paris gradually dispersed. Throughout France the +Republic was accepted without serious opposition.</p> + +<p>For a while it was feared that Louis Philippe's sons in Algiers, the Duke +d'Aumale and Prince de Joinville, who commanded the French army and navy, +disposing of more than a hundred thousand men, might make a stroke on their +father's behalf. This hope of the Royalists was doomed to disappointment. +<span class="sidenote">Flight of royal family</span> +Both princes resigned their command, to be succeeded by General Cavignac, +who took charge of the forces in the name of the French Republic. The other +members of the dynasty accomplished their escape from France amid many<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1052" id="Page_1052">[Pg 1052]</a></span> +curious adventures. After leaving Paris the party separated so as to avoid +suspicion. Louis Philippe and the Queen with a few attendants fled to +Honfleur, where they lay for nearly a week in concealment. At length the +packet steamer "Express" was placed at their disposal by the British +Government. On March 4, Louis Philippe, having assumed the name of William +Smith, landed at Newhaven in Sussex. With the Queen he proceeded to +Claremont, a country-seat belonging to his son-in-law, King Leopold of +Belgium. The Duke of Montpensier with the Duchess of Nemours fled to +Belgium, as did the Duchess of Orleans.</p> + +<p>The French Revolution gave quickening impulse to the Chartist movement in +<span class="sidenote">English Chartists encouraged</span> +England. Feargus O'Connor had been returned at the General Election of 1847 +as member for Nottingham. He threw himself into a renewal of the agitation +with all the strength and vigor of a madman. A National Convention was +summoned, and it was determined that another monster petition should be +carried to the House of Commons, to be followed by a procession of half a +<span class="sidenote">Inflammatory speeches</span> +million persons. The idea got abroad that a revolution might break out in +London on the presentation of the petition. Ernest Jones had exclaimed on +Kensington Common, "Never fear the vile men of the law; the police, the +troops, sympathize with you. Down with the Ministry! Dissolve the +Parliament! The Charter, and no surrender!" At the National Convention, +Vernon declared: "If a few hundreds do fall on each side, they will only be +the casualties in a mighty movement." On<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1053" id="Page_1053">[Pg 1053]</a></span> April 10 a great demonstration +was to be held on Kensington Common. In anticipation, special constables to +the number of 170,000 were sworn in to keep the peace; troops were +quartered in the houses of the main thoroughfares; two thousand stands of +arms were supplied to the officials of the General Post-Office; the Custom +House, Bank, Exchange, and other public buildings were similarly equipped; +<span class="sidenote">London ready for revolution</span> +the Admiralty was garrisoned by a body of marines, and the Tower guns were +mounted. On the eventful morning, London assumed a military guise such as +it had never worn before. Traffic was suspended along the streets for fear +that the vehicles should be employed, as in France, in the construction of +barricades. Finally a proclamation was issued warning people against +collecting for disorderly purposes. The military arrangements were in the +<span class="sidenote">Rioters discouraged</span> +hands of the Duke of Wellington. Owing to these thorough precautions the +threatened mass meeting collapsed. The procession was never held. The whole +affair was covered with ridicule. The "monster petition" was found to +contain not six million signatures as was alleged, but only 1,975,469, and +many of these proved to be fictitious, whole sheets being found to be in +the same handwriting, and containing such names as Victoria Rex, Prince +Albert, Punch, and so forth.</p> + +<p>In the words of a contemporary, "Chartism had received its death-blow. +<span class="sidenote">Collapse of Chartism</span> +O'Brien, Vincent, and others endeavored to revive it, but in vain. Its +members fell off in disappointment and allied themselves with reformers of +greater moderation,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1054" id="Page_1054">[Pg 1054]</a></span> and Feargus O'Connor, who for ten years had madly +spent his force and energy in carrying forward the movement, gave it up in +despair. Everything he had touched had proved a failure. From being an +<span class="sidenote">End of Feargus O'Connor</span> +object of terror, Chartism had become an object of ridicule. O'Connor took +the matter so much to heart that he soon became an inmate of a lunatic +asylum, and never recovered his reason."</p> + +<p>All Italy now, from the southern shores of Sicily to the Alps, was in a +blaze of insurrection. Venice, Piedmont and Lombardy were in arms. Charles +Albert, the King of Sardinia, put himself at the head of the movement in +<span class="sidenote">Progress of Italian Revolution</span> +northern Italy. From all parts of Italy volunteers crowded to his banners. +In defiance of the Pope's orders a compact body of these volunteers marched +from Rome. Radetzky, the Austrian commander, a veteran of all the Austrian +wars since the outbreak of the French Revolution, had long prepared for +this struggle by formidable fortifications at Verona. When Milan revolted +<span class="sidenote">Austrians driven northward</span> +and the Austrian Vice-Governor, O'Donnell, was captured, Radetzky evacuated +the city at the approach of Charles Albert's army from Piedmont. His +outlying garrison was cut off by the Italians. Preferring the loss of Milan +to a possible annihilation of the army, Radetzky fell back upon Verona. On +the banks of the Adige, about twenty-five miles east of the Mincio, he +rapidly concentrated all available forces, while the Italians threw up +intrenchments on the Mincio. There, with the armies of Piedmont and +Lombardy in front of him and the revolutionary forces of Venice behind him, +<span class="sidenote">Radetzky seeks refuge</span> +Radet<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1055" id="Page_1055">[Pg 1055]</a></span>zky stubbornly held his ground. Nothing remained to Austria on +Italian ground but Verona and the neighboring fortresses on the Adige and +Mincio.</p> + +<p>The Austrian Empire itself, by this time, was shaken to its foundations. +When the news of the February Revolution in Paris reached Austria the +Magyar Diet was in session in Hungary. The success of the revolutionists in +<span class="sidenote">Kossuth's appeal</span> +France inflamed the Liberal leaders in Hungary. Casting aside all reserve, +Kossuth declared in the Diet: "From the charnel house of the Viennese +system a poison-laden atmosphere steals over us. It would paralyze our +nerves and pin us down when we might soar. The future of Hungary can never +be secured while Austria maintains a system of government in direct +antagonism to every constitutional principle. Our task is to found a +happier future on the brotherhood of all the races in Austria. For a union +<span class="sidenote">Magyar Constitution proclaimed</span> +enforced by bayonets and police spies let us substitute the enduring bond +of a free constitution!" On March 3, the Hungarian Lower House triumphantly +passed a resolution to that effect. The cry for a liberal constitution was +instantly taken up in the other dominions of Austria. It so happened that +the Provincial Estates of Lower Austria were to meet about this time. It +was planned that an address embodying demands similar to those of Hungary +should be forwarded to the Emperor by this assembly. The political +agitation in Vienna became feverish. The students indulged in noisy +demonstrations. Rumors of the impending repudiation of the paper currency +<span class="sidenote">Stocks fall in Vienna</span> +and of State bank<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1056" id="Page_1056">[Pg 1056]</a></span>ruptcy +made matters worse. A sharp decline in stocks +showed Metternich that a public catastrophe was near at hand.</p> + +<p>On March 13, the Provincial Diet met. Dense crowds surged about the Diet +Hall. The students marched around in procession. Street orators harangued +the crowds. The tumult was at its height when a slip of paper was let down +<span class="sidenote">Viennese Diet stormed</span> +from one of the windows of the hall, stating that the Diet was inclining to +half measures. An announcement to this effect was received with a roar of +fury. The mob overran the guards and burst into the Diet Hall. All debate +was stopped, and the leading members of the Estates were forced to head a +deputation to the Emperor's palace to exact a hearing. All the approaches +to the palace were choked with people. Street fighting had already begun. +Detachments of soldiers were hurried to the palace and to the Diet Hall. +From the roof and windows of the Diet Hall missiles were hurled upon the +soldiery. The interior of the Hall was demolished. The soldiers now fired a +<span class="sidenote">Fighting in the street</span> +volley and cleared the Hall with their bayonets. Blood flowed freely and +many were killed. The sound of the shots was received by the crowds around +the palace with howls of rage. The whole city was in an uproar. Barricades +were thrown up and the gunsmith shops were sacked. At the palace, where the +Emperor himself remained invisible, Metternich and his assembled Council +received the deputation in state. The Council urged the aged Prime Minister +to grant the demanded concession. At length he withdrew into an +<span class="sidenote">Imperial palace invaded</span> +ad<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1057" id="Page_1057">[Pg 1057]</a></span>joining +chamber to draft an order annulling the censorship of the press. While he +was thus engaged the cry was raised, "Down with Metternich!" The deputies +in the Council Chamber peremptorily demanded his dismissal. When the old +statesman returned he found himself abandoned even by his colleagues. +<span class="sidenote">Downfall of Metternich</span> +Metternich realized that the end had come. He made a brief farewell speech, +marked by all the dignity and self-possession of his greatest days, and +left the Council Chamber to announce his resignation to the Emperor.</p> + +<p>The news of Metternich's downfall was received with deafening cheers. His +personality was so closely identified with all that was most hateful in +<span class="sidenote">Quiet restored</span> +Austrian politics that the mere announcement of his resignation sufficed to +quell the popular tumult. On the night of March 14, Metternich contrived to +escape from Vienna unobserved, and fled across the frontier. On the same +day a National Guard was established in Vienna, and was supplied with arms +taken from the government arsenal. The Viennese outbreak gave irresistible +force to the national movement in Hungary. Now the Chamber of Magnates, +which had hitherto opposed the demands of the Lower House, adopted the same +by a unanimous vote. On March 15, a deputation was despatched to Vienna to +<span class="sidenote">Hungarian demands</span> +demand from the Emperor not only a liberal constitution, but a separate +Ministry, absolute freedom of the press, trial by jury, equality of +religion, and a free public-school system. The Hungarians, with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1058" id="Page_1058">[Pg 1058]</a></span> Kossuth in +the lead, were received in triumph in Vienna. They paraded through the +streets, and were greeted by Emperor Ferdinand in person. He consented to +<span class="sidenote">Kossuth in Vienna</span> +everything and issued an imperial rescript, promising a liberal +constitution to the rest of Austria as well. The light-hearted Viennese +indulged in indescribable jubilations. On March 18, the Emperor drove +through the city. Somebody put a revolutionary banner into his hands. The +black, red and gold ensign of united Germany was hoisted over the tower of +<span class="sidenote">Demonstrations of enthusiasm</span> +St. Stephen. In an intoxication of joy the people took the horses from the +imperial carriage and drew it triumphantly through the streets. The regular +troops around the imperial palace were superseded by the new National +Guards.</p> + +<p>By this time the same storm of revolution was sweeping over Germany. +<span class="sidenote">Germany in a ferment</span> +Popular demonstrations occurred at Mannheim, Cassel, Breslau, Kœnigsberg +and along the Rhine region in Cologne, Düsseldorf and Aix-la-Chapelle. A +popular convention at Heidelberg, on March 5, had resolved upon a national +assembly to be held at Frankfort-on-the-Main by the end of March. Elections +for this assembly were being held throughout Germany. The long-desired +union of Germany was at last to be accomplished. On March 14, King +<span class="sidenote">Prussian Assembly convoked</span> +Frederick William of Prussia convoked the Prussian Assembly for April 27, +to deliberate upon Prussia's part in the proposed German union. Then came +the news of the events in Vienna. Crowds gathered in the streets excitedly +discussing the events of the day.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1059" id="Page_1059">[Pg 1059]</a></span> Attempts on the part of the police to +disperse them led to threatening encounters. Under the stress of alarming +<span class="sidenote">King of Prussia cowed</span> +bulletins from Vienna, the King issued a rescript on March 18, in which he +not only convoked the Prussian Assembly for the earlier date of April 2, +but himself proposed such reforms as constitutional government, liberty of +speech, liberty of the press, and the reconstitution of the Germanic +Federation as a national union of states—a realization in brief of all the +most ardent ideals of the German Liberals. Now the popular agitators +proposed a monster demonstration to thank the King for his concessions. +Shortly after noon, on March 18, the processions converged upon the palace. +Immense crowds filled the streets. The appearance of the King upon the +balcony was greeted with cheers. King Frederick William tried to speak but +could not make himself heard. The troops set out to clear the palace +grounds. Angry shouts arose for the withdrawal of the soldiery. In the +<span class="sidenote">Revolt in Berlin</span> +confusion two shots were fired. A panic ensued: "We are betrayed," cried +the leaders, and called the people to arms. The troops of the garrison +charged into the rioters. Barricades were thrown up, and here and there +church bells rang the tocsin. From three in the afternoon until early the +next morning, fighting continued in the streets. The entire garrison of +<span class="sidenote">Prince William's part</span> +Berlin was called out and with the help of the bright moonlight succeeded +in clearing one street after another. Prince William, the future German +Emperor, gained unenviable notoriety by his zeal. At two<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1060" id="Page_1060">[Pg 1060]</a></span> in the morning +the King gave orders to stop firing. He issued a proclamation: "To my dear +people of Berlin," the mild tone of which only betrayed his weakness. On +the following day all the troops were withdrawn and ordered out of the +city. Prince William likewise left Berlin in deep chagrin and departed for +England. His palace had to be protected from the fury of the people by +placards pronouncing it the property of the nation. Once more the rioters +appeared before the royal palace with the bodies of some of their slain. +The King convoked a new Ministry and consented to substitute armed citizens +and students for his royal guards. A general amnesty was proclaimed. On +March 21, the King agreed to adopt "the sacred colors of the German Empire" +<span class="sidenote">King of Prussia submissive</span> +for those of Prussia. After the manner of the weak Emperor of Austria, he +rode through the streets of Berlin wearing a tricolor sash. Not satisfied +with this, the revolutionists, on March 22, paraded before the palace with +the open biers of 187 men that had been killed during the riots. Standing +on his balcony with bared head, King Frederick William reviewed the ghastly +procession. In a manifesto published at the close of the day he declared: +"Germany is in ferment within and exposed from without to danger from more +than one side. Deliverance from this danger can come only from the most +<span class="sidenote">Royal promises</span> +intimate union of the German princes and people under a single leadership. +I take this leadership upon me for the hour of peril. I have to-day assumed +the old German colors, and placed myself and my people under the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1061" id="Page_1061">[Pg 1061]</a></span> venerable +banner of the German Empire. Prussia is henceforth merged into Germany." +Thus Frederick William, by word and acts, which he afterward described as a +comedy, directly encouraged the imperial aspirations of liberal Germany. +The passage of his address in which he spoke of external dangers +threatening Germany came true sooner than was expected. King Christian +VIII. of Denmark had died early in the year. The fear of revolution at +Copenhagen drove his son Frederick VII., the last of the Oldenburg line, to +prick the war bubble blown by his father. On March 22, he called the +leaders of the Eider-Dane party—the party which regarded the Eider as the +boundary of the Danish dominions, thus converting Schleswig into a Danish +<span class="sidenote">Rising of Schleswig-Holstein</span> +province—to take the reins of government. The people of Schleswig and +Holstein protested. The King was checkmated at Kiel by the appointment of a +provisional government. The troops joined the people, and the insurrection +spread over the whole province. The struggle then began. Volunteers from +all parts of Germany rushed to the northern frontier. The German Bundestag +admitted a representative of the threatened Duchies, and intrusted Prussia +with their defence. An attempt was made to organize a German fleet. General +Wrangel was placed in command of the Prussian forces despatched toward +<span class="sidenote">Reverse at Bau</span> +Denmark. Before he could arrive, the untrained volunteer army of +Schleswig-Holsteiners suffered defeat at Bau. A corps of students from the +University of Kiel was all but annihilated.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1062" id="Page_1062">[Pg 1062]</a></span></p> + +<p>An attempted rising of the Poles, in the Prussian province of Posen and at +Cracow, was quickly suppressed. As soon as the news of the revolution in +Paris reached Russia, the absolute ruler of that vast empire mobilized his +armies, "so that, if circumstances should demand it, the tide of Anarchy +<span class="sidenote">Russia stems revolution</span> +could be dammed." After the abortive revolt at Cracow, Czar Nicholas issued +an imperial manifesto, closing with a quotation from Isaiah: "Listen, ye +heathen, and submit, for with us is God." When the spirit of revolt spread +to Moldavia and Wallachia, Emperor Nicholas without further ado despatched +a Russian army corps across the Pruth. The Sultan of Turkey was prevailed +upon to do the same. Russian and Turkish troops occupied Jassy and +Bucharest during the summer.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="OPERA" id="OPERA"></a> +<img src="images/opening_of_opera.jpg" width="400" height="595" alt="OPENING OF THE OPERA" +title="OPENING OF THE OPERA" /> +<span class="caption">OPENING OF THE OPERA</span> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0em"><small>Painted by Edouard Detaille</small></span> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><small>Copyright by M. Knoedler & Co.</small></span> +</div> + +<p>The German preliminary Parliament of five hundred delegates had met at +<span class="sidenote">Frankfort Vor-Parlament</span> +Frankfort in April. It lasted but five days. The Republicans found +themselves outnumbered, when they submitted their scheme for a national +constitution. Repulsed in this, the Liberals proposed that they should +continue in session until the real National Parliament should meet, thus +extending their function beyond the limits of a mere constituent assembly. +Outvoted in this, the leaders of the extreme Republicans resorted to armed +revolt. Assisted by Polish refugees and men from France, they raised the +<span class="sidenote">Revolution in Baden</span> +red flag in Baden. Friedrich Hecker, a popular orator and representative of +Baden, headed the movement. George Herwegh, the poet, took charge of the +refugees from Switzerland and a group of German oper<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1063" id="Page_1063">[Pg 1063]</a></span>atives recently +returned from France. A provisional government was declared in the lake +district of Baden. The Parliamentary majority of Frankfort, on breaking up, +left behind a committee of fifty to prepare the draft of a constitution. +The Bundestag meeting at the same time called for military measures against +the insurgents. From three sides troops advanced into Baden. A Bavarian +detachment marched from Lindau, Swabian troops came from the Black Forest, +while from the north Hessian forces were led by General von Gagern, a +<span class="sidenote">General Gagern shot</span> +brother of the new Prime Minister of Hesse. On April 19, Von Gagern +encountered the revolutionists under Hecker at Kandern. While haranguing +the insurgents, he was shot from his horse. The troops charged the +insurgents with the bayonet and dispersed them in less than an hour. Four +days later the revolutionary intrenchments at Freiburg were stormed. On the +27th, Herwegh's corps of 1,000 refugees was dispersed by General Miller. +Hecker fled to America. The other leaders likewise made good their escape. +<span class="sidenote">Flight of rebels</span> +On April 29 they issued a manifesto at Strasburg: "An overwhelming number +of imported bestial mercenaries have crushed Republican aspirations in +Baden, and have once more subjected the people to the hateful tyranny of +princes."</p> + +<p>The unexpected outbreak of revolution in Vienna and Hungary had inspired +the Italians to rebel against Austrian rule with new confidence. On March +30, Pio Nono at Rome issued a proclamation to the people of Italy, in which +he said: "The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1064" id="Page_1064">[Pg 1064]</a></span> events which have followed one another with such astounding +rapidity during the last two months are not the work of man. Woe to him +<span class="sidenote">The cause of Italy</span> +who, in this storm that shatters cedars as well as oaks, hears not the +voice of the Lord." Under the command of General Durando, a band of +Crociati, or crusaders, marched from Rome against the Austrians. Count +Balbo was placed in command of the Piedmontese army. To the remonstrances +of the British Ambassador at Turin, King Charles Albert replied that he +must either march against Austria or lose his crown. England, indeed, was +emphatic in its disapproval of the Italian national movement. In the pages +of the "Edinburgh Review," Sir Archibald Allison, the court historian, +wrote: "It is utterly repugnant to the first principles of English policy, +and to every page in English history, to lend encouragement to the +separation of nationalities from other empires." The new republican +<span class="sidenote">Other Powers hostile</span> +government in France, on its part, had no desire to see a strong Italian +national State spring up on its southern frontier. Lamartine, the French +Foreign Minister, declined Charles Albert's request to sanction his +military occupation of Lombardy. A strong French army of observation was +concentrated on the Italian frontier in the Alps. Germany, which in later +years was destined to become the strongest ally of Italy, was still so +bound up with Austria that when Arnold Ruge in the Frankfort Parliament +dared to express a wish for the victory of Italian arms against Austria, a +great storm of indignation broke out in Germany. As a last<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1065" id="Page_1065">[Pg 1065]</a></span> resort, Charles +Albert, on April 6, proposed an offensive and defensive alliance to +Switzerland, but the little republic wisely declined to emerge from its +<span class="sidenote">Italy isolated</span> +traditional neutrality. It was then that the Italians raised the defiant +cry: "Italia fara de se" (Italy will fight her own battles). When the hard +beset Austrian Government, in a confidential communication of Minister +Wessendberg to Count Casati, showed itself inclined to yield Lombardy upon +payment of Lombardy's share in the Austrian national debt, the proposition +was curtly declined.</p> + +<p>It was a fatal move. The course of Italy, as Dante once sang, seemed like +that of "a ship without stars in a wild storm." Affairs took a wrong turn +in Naples. There a new popular Parliament had just been elected, which was +about to meet, when there were some final difficulties between the King and +his Liberal Ministers over the exact wording of the oath of allegiance. The +<span class="sidenote">Set-back at Naples</span> +excitable Neapolitan populace forthwith became unmanageable. The Swiss +Guards, who had long been the butt of the people, put down the revolt +without mercy. Once more King Ferdinand was master. He hastened to dismiss +his Cabinet and dissolved the Parliament before it could come to order. +Orders were sent to General Pepe, who had marched to the front in northern +Italy with 14,000 men, to return at once. General Pepe, who had already +<span class="sidenote">Neapolitan forces recalled</span> +reached Bologna and had entered hostilities under Charles Albert's command, +declined to obey the orders of his sovereign. His rank and file trooped +back to Naples. Only fifteen hundred Neapolitan<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1066" id="Page_1066">[Pg 1066]</a></span> volunteers remained with +Pepe at the front. A number of the officers who returned felt their +disgrace so keenly that they committed suicide. The Neapolitan fleet, which +had already succeeded in raising the Austrian blockade of Venice, was +likewise ordered home. A more serious blow to the cause of Italy was Pio +<span class="sidenote">Pio Nono's allocution</span> +Nono's apparent change of front. On April 29, without previous consultation +with his new Ministry, the Pope issued the famous "Allocution," in which he +declared that he had despatched his troops northward only for the defence +of the Papal dominions, and that it was far from his intentions to join +with the other Italian princes and peoples in the war against Austria. The +Papal Ministry immediately handed in its resignation. The Municipal Council +of Rome called upon the Pope to abstain from interference with his army. +General Durando, commanding the Papal troops at the front, had already +yielded to their entreaties by crossing the Po. Now he threw in his lot +with Charles Albert. Pio Nono sent a confidential messenger to Naples to +arrange for an asylum there, in case the people should turn against him at +Rome.</p> + +<p>Charles Albert on the Mincio lost three precious weeks. His army now +<span class="sidenote">Garibaldi</span> +numbered nearly one hundred thousand men, only sixty thousand of whom were +trained soldiers. About this time he was joined by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who +had just returned from the revolutionary battlefields of South America, +whither he had been driven an exile from Charles Albert's own dominions. He +was received with honor, and was put in charge of a volunteer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1067" id="Page_1067">[Pg 1067]</a></span> corps which +he had raised at Milan. The Austrian commander profited by the delay of his +opponents to place his army between the strong fortresses of Verona, +Mantua, Legnano and Peschiera, and to draw reinforcements from the Tyrol, +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Goito</span> +until the situation in Austria itself became so threatening that no further +aid could be given him. In truth, the fate of the Austrian empire now +rested on the aged shoulders of Radetzky. On April 8, the Sardinian army, +in a sharp engagement at Goito, effected the passage of the Mincio. The +Austrians lost one thousand men. Siege was now laid to Peschiera. A Tuscan +division moved on Mantua, while the bulk of Charles Albert's army cut off +<span class="sidenote">Cortatone</span> +Verona from the roads to the Tyrol. Radetzky was driven to take the +offensive. In a fight at Cortatone he defeated the Tuscans, but within +twenty-four hours the Austrian garrison of Peschiera was brought to the +point of capitulation. The Italians took two thousand one hundred and fifty +<span class="sidenote">Surrender of Peschiera</span> +men. On May 6, Charles Albert made an attempt to drive the Austrians out of +their positions in front of Verona. Repulsed at Santa Lucia, he was forced +to fall back on the Mincio. Under the influence of the peace party, the +Austrian Emperor now directed Radetzky to offer an armistice to the +Italians. Simultaneously with this, Austrian reinforcements cut their way +through to Verona. Radetzky sent Prince Felix Schwarzenberg to Innsbruck to +implore the Emperor for permission to continue the combat. This was +reluctantly given. Fearing another reversal of his orders, Radetzky +forthwith<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1068" id="Page_1068">[Pg 1068]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Radetzky firm</span> +threw his army into Venetia. General Durando and his Papal army +were shut up in Vicenza, and compelled to capitulate. The capture of +Vicenza was followed by that of all the Venetian mainland east of the +Adige.</p> + +<p>The republic of St. Mark sought shelter under the royal Ægis of Piedmont. +Manin, the liberator of Venice, resigned his presidency and went into +retirement. Charles Albert now moved on Mantua, leaving half his army at +Peschiera and further north. Radetzky instantly threw himself on the weakly +<span class="sidenote">Custozza</span> +guarded centre of the long Sardinian line. Charles Albert sought too late +to rejoin his northern detachments. At Custozza, on July 25, he suffered a +signal defeat. While he was thrown back over the Mincio the northern +divisions were also overcome. Charles Albert retreated to Milan closely +followed by Radetzky. He declared himself unable to hold the city. The +<span class="sidenote">Fall of Milan</span> +people rose against him. On the night of August 5, he escaped with +difficulty, protected by General La Marmora and a few guards. Milan +capitulated on the following day. When the Austrians made their triumphant +entry, half of the population left their homes to emigrate to Piedmont and +Switzerland. On August 9, an armistice was arranged at Vigevano. Venice +<span class="sidenote">Truce of Vigevano</span> +refused to accept it, and detaching itself once more from Sardinia, +restored Manin to power. Garibaldi with his volunteers likewise held aloof +and carried the fight into the northern mountains. From there he was +eventually dislodged by D'Aspre and crossed the frontier into Switzerland.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1069" id="Page_1069">[Pg 1069]</a></span></p> + +<p>The picturesque scenes of the revolutionary struggle in Italy have been +perpetuated by Denis-Auguste-Marie Raffet, a pupil of Charlot and of Gros, +<span class="sidenote">Raffet's battle scenes</span> +who had already distinguished himself by his lithographs of the brief +Belgian war of 1832, and by his Russian and Oriental sketches made while +travelling with Prince Demidov. The motley uniforms of the volunteers of +Garibaldi, the Swiss Papal Guards and the Austrian, Piedmontese and French +troops, as well as the picturesque costumes of the Italian peasantry, +afforded a great scope for Raffet's brush. One of the most characteristic +specimens of Raffet's art during this period is his well-known picture of +"The Evening of the Battle of Novara."</p> + +<p>The success of Radetzky restored a measure of confidence in Austria. The +Emperor and his court, who had sought refuge at Innsbruck, consented to +return to Vienna. There the promised elections had been held, and an +<span class="sidenote">Austrian court returns</span> +assembly representing all the provinces of the Empire, excepting Hungary +and Italy, had met in the third week of July. With the armies of Radetzky +and Windischgrätz within call, the Emperor and his Ministry assumed a +bolder front toward the Magyars. The concessions exacted by Hungary in +April had raised that kingdom almost to the position of an independent +state. Under its separate management of the Hungarian army, Austria found +it difficult even to use her Magyar troops at the front in Italy. The +Magyars showed the same haughty spirit toward the Austrian Serbs, Slavs and +Croatians. After Hun<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1070" id="Page_1070">[Pg 1070]</a></span>gary's successful emancipation in March, the Serbs of +southern Hungary demanded from Kossuth the restoration of their own local +autonomy. The Magyars insisted on maintaining their ascendency, and decreed +that only the Magyar language should be the language of the state. Slavic +race feeling was kindled to sudden hatred. The Croatian national committee +<span class="sidenote">Jellacic ban of Croatia</span> +at Agram, that had assumed charge of affairs after the catastrophe in +March, elected Jellacic, the colonel of the first Croatian regiment, Ban of +Croatia. The appointment was confirmed at Vienna, even before formal +notification had reached the Emperor. On assuming office, Jellacic caused +all Magyar officials to be driven out of the country, and broke off all +relations with the Hungarian government at Pesth. Batthyany, the Hungarian +Premier, hastened to Vienna, and obtained the disavowal of Jellacic. No +attention was paid to this at Agram. Now, General Hrabovsky, commanding the +<span class="sidenote">Croats and Serbs secede from Magyars</span> +troops in the southern provinces, received orders from Pesth to suspend +Jellacic from office and bring him to trial for high treason. In the +meanwhile the Serbs, meeting in Congress at Carlowitz on the Lower Danube, +proclaimed home rule, elected a Voiovode of their own and authorized him to +enter into intimate relations with their fellow Slavs in Croatia. This was +in the middle of May. Vienna during these same days was in a continual +uproar. Early in May a report that the Austrian Ambassador at London had +given a formal reception to Prince Metternich upon his arrival in England +caused an outbreak of popular wrath in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1071" id="Page_1071">[Pg 1071]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Riots in Vienna</span> +Vienna. A mob surrounded the house +of Count Ficquelmont, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and compelled him to +resign his office. Detachments of troops patrolled the streets at night. On +May 15, the people revolted against this measure before the Palace, and +compelled Minister Pillersdorf to sign an order for the withdrawal of the +troops. The Emperor and his family fled to the Tyrol. At Innsbruck, where +he was received with great demonstrations of loyalty, the Emperor issued a +rescript in which he declined to return to his capital or to open the +national assembly until order should be restored. In Croatia, on hearing of +Hrabovsky's orders, the Palatine was burned in effigy. Batthyany hastened +to Innsbruck to turn this Slavic affront to the crown to account. By +<span class="sidenote">Jellacic disavowed</span> +assuring to the Emperor the support of Hungary's troops against the +Italians, Batthyany obtained the Emperor's signature to an emphatic +condemnation of Jellacic and his suspension from office. Jellacic then set +out for Innsbruck, accompanied by a large deputation of Croats and Serbs. +On the day that he arrived at Innsbruck, Batthyany at Pesth published the +text of the Emperor's orders against the Ban. Still Jellacic held his +ground. He regained the Emperor's favor by issuing an address to the +Croatian soldiers serving in Italy, enjoining them to stand by the colors +no matter what reports reached them from home. He was permitted to return +to Croatia and to resume his government at Agram. As soon as he reached +home, he declared himself the champion of Austrian unity, and assumed +<span class="sidenote">Civil War in Hungary</span> +dic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1072" id="Page_1072">[Pg 1072]</a></span>tatorial +powers. Civil war broke out in Lower Hungary. General +Hrabovsky, when he attempted to occupy Carlowitz, encountered serious +opposition. He was attacked with such vehemence, by the Serbs led by +Stratimirovic, that he had to beat a retreat. The Hungarian Diet at Pesth +called for a levy of 200,000 men to crush the Slavic rebellion. In the face +of a letter from the Emperor, condemning the resistance offered to the +Hungarian government by the Slavs, Kossuth charged the Austrian Court with +instigating the civil war. Evidence was brought forward to show that the +Minister of War at Vienna was encouraging Austrian officers to join the +insurrection. Such was the situation in Austria at midsummer. A +characteristic comment on this apparently sudden disintegration of the +Austrian Empire at this time was furnished by Prince Metternich to his +fellow refugee, François Pierre Guizot, the fallen Prime Minister of +<span class="sidenote">Metternich's comment</span> +France. "During the catastrophes of 1848," writes Guizot, in his "Mémoires +pour servir a l'Histoire de mon Temps," "meeting Prince Metternich at +London one day, I said to him: 'Explain to me the causes of your revolution +in Austria. I know why and how things happened in Paris; but in Austria, +under your government, I cannot understand.' He replied with a smile of +mingled pride and sadness: 'I have sometimes ruled Europe, but Austria +never.'"</p> + +<p>At Frankfort, during this interval, the national parliament of Germany was +convened on May 18. The event was celebrated throughout Germany with +<span class="sidenote">The Frankfort Parliament</span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1073" id="Page_1073">[Pg 1073]</a></span> the +ringing of bells and bonfires at night. In truth, the assembly was such +that Germany might well be proud of it. Of the 586 delegates, more than a +hundred were university professors and scholars of eminence. Among them +were such men as Arndt, the poet, Gervinus and Dahlberg, the historians, +with others of like note. A promising unity of ideals seemed to prevail. +Heinrich von Gagern, a man of high character and parliamentary experience, +was elected chairman by a majority of 305 out of 397 votes. It was his +<span class="sidenote">John of Austria elected leader</span> +proposal to create a central executive in the person of a <i>Reichsverweser</i>. +Archduke John of Austria, one of the most popular of German princes, was +elected to this office by an overwhelming majority of 436 votes. The +Archduke, who was then presiding over the new Austrian Assembly at Vienna, +accepted the honor. By the time the German Bundestag adjourned, on July 13, +everything seemed full of promise. The minor German States formally +acknowledged the new Reichsverweser. King Frederick William of Prussia +invited him, together with many members of the Frankfort Parliament, to the +Cologne Cathedral festival on August 14. There the King pledged the +Archduke at a public banquet: "May he give us," declared the King, "united +<span class="sidenote">Prussia discredited</span> +and free German peoples; may he give us united and free sovereigns." A few +days later an event occurred which opened the eyes of the Germans to +Prussia's real part in the destinies of Germany. This was the armistice of +Malmö, concluded on August 26, between Denmark and Prussia. The early +German victories at Dannewirk and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1074" id="Page_1074">[Pg 1074]</a></span> Oversee had borne no fruit. The Danes +were masters of the sea, and mercilessly ravaged the German coasts, +unprotected by any navy. As King Frederick William remarked, it was like a +fight between a hound and a fish. The Danes took innumerable prizes and +crippled the commerce of the Hanseatic cities. General Wrangel thereupon +exacted a contribution of 2,000,000 thalers in Jutland. For every +fisherman's hut that the Danish fleet might injure on the German coast, he +<span class="sidenote">Foreign Powers intervene</span> +threatened to lay a Danish village in ashes. The foreign Powers objected to +such ruthless campaigning. The Scandinavian States intervened on behalf of +Denmark. Emperor Nicholas of Russia, who regarded the Schleswig-Holstein +movement as an unjustifiable rebellion, came to their support. Lord +Palmerston, who had once proposed to end the quarrel by simply cutting the +disputed territory in two, according to the preferences of the inhabitants, +now threw in the weight of England with the other Powers. Prussia was +<span class="sidenote">Truce of Malmö</span> +constrained to withdraw her army. According to the provisions of the seven +months' truce forced upon Prussia at Malmö in Sweden, all prisoners were to +be returned, the Schleswig-Holstein army was to be disbanded, while a +temporary government of the duchies was to be administered by +representatives of Denmark and Prussia. All Germany was in an uproar. The +Frankfort Parliament repudiated the armistice by 238 against 221 votes. The +new-formed German Ministry resigned. Prof. Dahlmann, one of the +protagonists of the Schleswig-Holstein movement, was commissioned to form a +new Minis<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1075" id="Page_1075">[Pg 1075]</a></span>try. +<span class="sidenote">Frankfort Parliament powerless</span> +His efforts resulted only in failure. The conviction grew +that the German Parliament was powerless. Presently the Parliament revoked +its own decision, approving the armistice by 258 over 236 votes. After all, +it was plain that the most momentous German question of the day had been +settled independently of united Germany by Prussia standing alone. In South +Germany the revolutionists were once more called to arms.</p> + +<p>The new republican government of France had been kept far too busy by the +logical consequences of its revolutionary measures to take any active part +<span class="sidenote">The French Republic</span> +in the international settlement of the Schleswig-Holstein question. The +majority of the provisional government were moderate republicans, +representing the <i>bourgeoisie</i>, or middle class, rather than the workmen, +but associated with them were such radicals as Louis Blanc, Ledru-Rollin +and Albert, a locksmith. During the first few days of the installation they +undertook to guarantee employment to every citizen. It proved a gigantic +<span class="sidenote">National workshops</span> +engagement. The mere distribution of idle workmen among the various +industries in which they were employed called for a new branch of the +administration. The task outgrew all expectations. Within four weeks the +number of applicants for government work rose from 140 to 65,000. Under the +stimulus of government competition, a series of labor strikes were declared +against private factories and establishments. The scheme, as then +attempted, grew utterly unmanageable. As Fyffe has said in his chapter on +this subject: "If, instead of a group of benevolent theorists, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1076" id="Page_1076">[Pg 1076]</a></span> the +<span class="sidenote">Fyffe's judgment</span> +experiment of 1848 had had for its authors a company of millionaires +anxious to dispel all hope that mankind might ever rise to a higher order +than that of unrestricted competition of man against man, it could not have +been conducted under more fatal conditions."</p> + +<p>The elections of April 23 gave the moderate element a handsome majority. An +<span class="sidenote">Radicals outvoted</span> +attempt to change the elections was frustrated by the National Guard. +Strengthened by this manifestation of popular approval, Lamartine and his +colleagues got rid of their radical associates in the Cabinet. The excluded +radicals now planned a new revolution. On May 15, simultaneously with the +renewed riots in Vienna, an attempt was made to overthrow the government. +On the pretext of presenting a petition on behalf of Poland, a mob invaded +<span class="sidenote">Another attempted revolution</span> +the Chambers and dissolved the Assembly. A provisional government was +installed at the Hôtel de Ville. The government supporters rallied the +National Guard. The leaders at the Hôtel de Ville were taken captive. The +Palais Bourbon was cleared, and the Deputies were reconvened in their +assembly hall. Encouraged by this success, the government resolved to rid +itself of the incubus of the national workshops, after a variety of schemes +<span class="sidenote">National workshop abolished</span> +with this purpose in view had been brought forward in the Assembly. The +government cut the Gordian knot by a violent stroke. On June 21, an edict +was issued that all beneficiaries of the public workshops between the ages +of seventeen and twenty-five must enlist in the army or cease to receive +support from the State.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1077" id="Page_1077">[Pg 1077]</a></span></p> + +<p>At this time more than a hundred thousand destitute men had flocked to the +national workshops. They rose as of one accord. The rising of June 23 was +<span class="sidenote">Paris up in arms</span> +the most formidable yet experienced in Paris. The number of the workmen +alone exceeded that of several army corps. The unity of grievances and +interests gave them an <i>esprit de corps</i> similar to that of an army. The +whole eastern part of Paris was barricaded like a fortified camp. Instead +of a mere revolt, the government found itself entering upon a civil war. +General Cavaignac, the Minister of War, was placed in supreme command, the +executive commission resigning its powers. He summoned all available troops +into the capital. Regardless of private interests, Paris was treated as a +great battlefield in which the enemy was to be attacked in a mass and +dislodged from all his main lines. The barricades were battered down with +field and siege artillery. Four days and nights the fight lasted. Whole +<span class="sidenote">Archbishop killed</span> +houses and blocks in which the insurgents had found a lodgment had to be +demolished. On the third day the Archbishop of Paris was struck by a bullet +while trying to stop the bloodshed. On both sides the fight was waged with +inexcusable savagery. The National Guard, with a few exceptions, fought +side by side with the regular troops. The workmen, threatened with the loss +<span class="sidenote">End of bloodshed</span> +of their subsistence, fought with the courage of despair. At the point of +the bayonet they were at last driven into the northeastern quarter of the +city. There, plied with grape and canister from every direction, they were +brought to the point of surrender.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1078" id="Page_1078">[Pg 1078]</a></span></p> + +<p>After this hard-won victory, the government did not hesitate to transport +without trial the whole mass of prisoners taken alive. A policy of reaction +<span class="sidenote">Cavaignac</span> +set in. The government workshops and other concessions to socialism were +abandoned. General Cavaignac, at the direction of the Assembly, retained +his dictatorial powers until a new Constitution could be drafted. It seemed +as if Cavaignac was marked to become the permanent ruler of France, but his +own rigid republicanism stood in his way. It was at this time that Prince +Louis Napoleon once more came into prominence. When he first made his +reappearance in Paris he was requested to leave by the Provisional +<span class="sidenote">Louis Napoleon</span> +Government. Retiring to England, he awaited developments, while his friends +and supporters agitated in his behalf. During the supplementary elections +he was nominated for the Chambers by four districts at once, and, despite +the government's efforts, he obtained a fourfold election. A vote of the +Assembly declared the election valid. With unwonted self-command the Prince +declined to take his seat, on the ground that it might embarrass the +government in its difficult situation. His letter to the president of the +Assembly ended with the significant declaration that if duties should be +imposed upon him by the will of the people he would know how to fulfil +them.</p> + +<p>Three months later, in the midst of the debates on the constitution, while +Cavaignac was still in power, Louis Napoleon was re-elected to the +Assembly—this time by five departments. His hour had come. From this +moment he was a recognized aspirant for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1079" id="Page_1079">[Pg 1079]</a></span> power. The great name of his uncle +shed its glory upon him. The new constitution of the Republic provided that +<span class="sidenote">France spellbound</span> +a President with executive powers should be elected by a direct vote of all +citizens. Louis Napoleon at once became a candidate. In an address to the +people he declared that he would devote himself without stint to the +maintenance of the Republic. In well-worded generalities something was +promised to all the classes and parties of France. The other candidates +were Cavaignac and Lamartine. Out of seven millions of votes cast in this +election, five million went to Louis Napoleon. The mere glamour of an +imperial name cast a new spell over France.</p> + +<p>In the midst of these stirring events in Paris, Frederick Chopin, the piano +<span class="sidenote">Death of Chopin</span> +composer, died on October 17. Born at Jelisovaya-Volia in Poland, he +received his early musical education at Warsaw. At the age of nine he +played a pianoforte concerto with improvisations in public. His first +compositions were Polish dances. In his fifteenth year he published a rondo +and a fantasie. Having perfected himself as a pianist, he set out on a +concert tour through Vienna, Munich, Paris and London. After his first +appearance in Vienna, the foremost musical critic there wrote of him: "From +the outset Chopin took place in the front rank of masters. The perfect +delicacy of his touch, his indescribable mechanical dexterity, the +melancholy tints in his style of shading, and the rare clearness of his +delivery are in him qualities which bear the stamp of genius. He must be +regarded as one of the most remarkable meteors<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1080" id="Page_1080">[Pg 1080]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">The pianist's career</span> +blazing on the musical +horizon." In Paris he gave a concert at Pleyel's house. His reception was +such that he gave up all idea of proceeding further and made Paris his home +for life. He was welcomed to the intimacy of men like Liszt, Berlioz, +Meyerbeer, Bellini, Balzac and Heine. As one after another of his unique +compositions for the piano appeared, he took rank as the foremost composer +for that instrument. On the publication of his preludes and new Polish +dances, Schumann wrote of Chopin: "He is and ever will be the most daring +and proud poetic spirit of the time."</p> + +<p>In 1836, Chopin met Madame Dudevant, better known as the celebrated +<span class="sidenote">Chopin and Georges Sand</span> +novelist Georges Sand. Their attachment was mutual. For her he wrote some +of his most inspired pieces. They spent the winter of 1838-39 together on +the Island of Majorca, where Georges Sand nursed Chopin through a severe +attack of bronchitis. Of this episode, which had its profound effect on +Chopin's music, Georges Sand has left an unengaging record in the novel +"Lucreticia Floriani," published shortly afterward, and another in her +"Histoire de ma Vie." Chopin returned from Majorca broken in health. He was +supplanted in Georges Sand's affections by Alfred de Musset. During the +season of 1848-49 he gave concerts in London, whence he returned to Paris +only to die. He was buried at Père la Chaise, between Bellini and +Cherubini's graves.</p> + +<p>In Italy, after the armistice between the Austrians and the Piedmontese, +matters went from bad to worse. In Sicily, a National Parliament had met +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1081" id="Page_1081">[Pg 1081]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Sicilian elections</span> +and put Ruggiero Settimo at the head of affairs by a unanimous vote. King +Ferdinand and the House of Bourbon were declared to have forfeited the +crown of Sicily forever. Elections were ordered to call another Prince to +the vacant throne. England, interested as ever in Sicilian affairs, +impressed upon the Sicilian leaders the urgency of an early settlement. The +elections were held in haste. On July 12, at two in the morning, the vote +was announced in Parliament. The Duke of Genoa, Albert Amadeus of Savoy, +Charles Albert's second son, was elected King. The British and French +warships in Sicilian waters fired a royal salute. For Charles Albert this +only meant fresh embarrassment. In case of acceptance, he was sure to be +<span class="sidenote">King of Sardinia wary</span> +involved in war with Naples in the south, as well as with Austria in the +north. When the Sicilian deputies submitted their proposition in Piedmont, +on August 27, they obtained no definite reply.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile King Ferdinand of Naples gathered his forces to win back Sicily. +In the north the cause of Italy was on the wane. Francis V. was reinstated +as Duke of Modena, with the help of Austrian arms. On his return in August +he granted an amnesty, from the benefits of which "only those who had taken +part in the revolution" were to be excluded. Austrian troops under Count +Thurn likewise occupied the Duchy of Parma, the Duke remaining in Germany. +In Tuscany, the Archduke found it difficult to maintain himself at +Florence. His principality was overrun by radical refugees. A revolutionary +junta at Leghorn threatened to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1082" id="Page_1082">[Pg 1082]</a></span> proclaim the republic unless the Duke of +<span class="sidenote">Venice steadfast</span> +Tuscany should appoint a governor in sympathy with their ideas. In his +extremity the Duke sent them Montanelli, a political dreamer, who +proclaimed Jesus Christ as the father of democracy. At Venice the Republic +of St. Mark, under Manin's able leadership, still held its own. Austria's +occupation of Ferrara and the Romagna brought new embarrassment to the +Pope. Baron Von Welden, the Austrian general, made matters worse in the +Romagna by his threatening language: "Woe to those who dare to oppose me!" +Formal protests were made in vain by Pope Pio Nono and the diplomatic +representatives of France and England. The Papal Ministry of Mamiani +<span class="sidenote">Riots at Bologna</span> +resigned. The Roman Radicals, under the leadership of Prince Canino, a +Bonaparte, clamored for war, and some Austrian officers dared to show +themselves in Bologna. They were attacked in the streets and murdered by +the mob. Fighting began around Bologna. Too late the Austrians consented to +relieve the Pope from this embarrassment by withdrawing their troops from +his dominions. The Pope's new Minister, Count Pellegrino Rossi, an +<span class="sidenote">Rossi, Papal Minister</span> +unusually able and forceful man who had once acted as an envoy for Louis +Philippe, was denounced as a Frenchman and an enemy to Italy.</p> + +<p>In September, King Ferdinand of Naples, having got rid of his Parliament, +launched his forces upon Sicily. General Filangieri, with 12,000 men, was +sent against Messina. There the Neapolitan garrison still held the +citadel—all that remained to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1083" id="Page_1083">[Pg 1083]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Bombardment of Messina</span> +Ferdinand of his Sicilian kingdom. Three +days before Filangieri landed, the gunners in the citadel began to bombard +the helpless town lying beneath them. Half of the city was laid in ruins. +The foreign warships in the harbor were filled with refugees. It was this +outrage that gave to King Ferdinand the nickname of "King Bomba." The +inhabitants remained steadfast. When Filangieri effected his landing, the +fight was carried on with ferocity. The fall of the city was followed by +barbarous excesses. For three days incendiary fires raged in the hapless +town. At last the foreign admirals, Parker and Baudin, put a stop to the +horrors, "as against all canons of civilized nations." An armistice was +established between the Neapolitans and the Sicilians. King Ferdinand's +dogged resistance to the remonstrances of the French and English +Ambassadors was strengthened by the latest event in Rome.</p> + +<p>On November 15, as the Roman Chambers were about to be opened, Prime +<span class="sidenote">Assassination of Rossi</span> +Minister Rossi was assassinated as he left his carriage to enter the +Chambers. It was the signal for a new revolt. The delegates in the Hall of +Chambers sought safety in flight. The National Guards made common cause +with the insurgents. A howling mob beset the Quirinal. But for the resolute +stand of the Pope's Swiss mercenaries, the palace would have been stormed. +As bullets penetrated the walls of the Pope's ante-chamber, Pio Nono +exclaimed: "Has Heaven no lightning?" For a while the Pope was practically +a prisoner in his palace, while the Prince<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1084" id="Page_1084">[Pg 1084]</a></span> of Panino and Sterbini, the +<span class="sidenote">Flight of Pio Nono</span> +President of the Circolo Popolare, ruled Rome. At last, on the night of +November 24, Pio Nono, in the disguise of a groom, escaped from Rome, +seated on the box of the carriage of the Bavarian Ambassador, Count Spaur. +He fled to Naples. From the Neapolitan fortress Gaeta he sent a letter to +his "dearest son," the Emperor of Austria, imploring his help against the +Republic of Rome.</p> + +<p>At Frankfort, the ratification of the armistice of Malmö by the German +Parliament had aroused the Radicals to fury. On September 17, the day after +the second vote on this matter, a mass meeting was called at Frankfort. One +delegate, Zitz, proposed the abolition of the Parliament; another, Ludwig +Simon, declared the time had come to discuss all further questions from +<span class="sidenote">Revolt in Frankfort</span> +behind barricades. The Municipal Senate of Frankfort, taking alarm, ordered +out the city troops and appealed for help to Prussia. On the morrow +fighting began in the streets of Frankfort. Barricades had been erected +overnight, and all day long the insurgents held their ground. It was known +that a Prussian column was approaching. Prince Lichnovsky and General Von +Auerswald, two leaders of the Conservative majority in the Parliament, +rashly undertook to meet the Prussian troops halfway. At the gates of +Frankfort both men were seized by the insurgents and were lynched by the +mob. Shortly before midnight the Prussian troops arrived and soon overran +the barricades with their bayonets. On the following day the city was under +military rule.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1085" id="Page_1085">[Pg 1085]</a></span></p> + +<p>In other parts of South Germany revolution had broken out anew. The Prince +<span class="sidenote">South Germany restive</span> +of Sigmaringen was driven from his little domain, which was proclaimed a +republic. Insurgent expeditions were organized in Wurtemberg and Baden. +There Karl Blind and Gustav Struve made another attempt on Freiburg. At +Staufen, on September 24, they were beaten back by regular troops under +General Hoffmann and fled toward Switzerland. Struve himself was captured +near the frontier. On the same day the German Cabinet at Frankfort was +reinstated. Still the ill success of popular government in Germany brought +the Parliament into lasting disrepute.</p> + +<p>The reaction was first felt at Berlin. There the return of General +Wrangel's troops from Denmark was followed by friction between the soldiers +and the democratic agitators in the streets. A resolution was passed in the +popular Parliament of Prussia that all officers out of sympathy with +<span class="sidenote">Reaction in Berlin</span> +democratic government should be encouraged to leave the army. The failure +of the Minister of War to act on this suggestion was followed by his +downfall. Having succeeded in this, the parliamentary majority next passed +a vote to eliminate the words "by the grace of God" from the titles of the +King. Toward the end of October a national convention of democrats met at +Berlin, and held its sessions amid tumultuous scenes in the streets. In +exasperation, the King dissolved the Cabinet that had been forced upon him, +<span class="sidenote">Brandenburg Prime Minister</span> +and commissioned Count Brandenburg, a natural son of Frederick William II., +to form another. It included Major-General von Strotha, Minister of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1086" id="Page_1086">[Pg 1086]</a></span> War, +and Otto von Manteuffel, Minister of the Interior. The Parliament sent a +deputation to remonstrate with the King. One of the delegates, Jacoby, as +the King terminated the audience, called after him: "Behold the chief +misfortune of kings, that they will not listen to the truth!" Immediately +after this King Frederick William IV. prorogued the Parliament to the town +of Brandenburg. The majority of the delegates declined to adjourn. The +Cabinet Ministers, followed by the members that had been outvoted, left the +hall. On November 15, the remaining Parliament issued a proclamation to the +<span class="sidenote">Prussian Parliament dissolved</span> +people to withhold all further payment of taxes. General Wrangel posted his +troops throughout Berlin. The Municipal Guards of Berlin were dissolved. An +attempt on the part of the Parliament to meet again was easily frustrated. +The taxes were collected as before. When the Parliamentary minority came to +order at Brandenburg their sessions were dissolved by royal order. On his +own initiative, King Frederick William IV. now proclaimed a constitution. +The Chambers, provisions for which were contained in this royal +constitution, were to meet at Berlin on February 24, 1849. Such was the end +of the People's Parliament in Prussia.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<a name="WAGNER" id="WAGNER"></a> +<img src="images/wagner_and_liszt.jpg" width="500" height="317" alt="WAGNER AND LISZT" +title="WAGNER AND LISZT" /> +<span class="caption">WAGNER AND LISZT</span> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0em"><small>Painted by W. Beckmann</small></span> +</div> + +<p>About the same time Robert Blum, one of the radical Parliamentarians of +Frankfort, was shot in Austria. Together with Froebel, he had been +despatched to Vienna by the Parliamentary minority in Frankfort with +messages of sympathy for the popular cause in Austria. To offset this, the +majority sent two delegates to the Emperor to offer the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1087" id="Page_1087">[Pg 1087]</a></span> Parliament's good +services for mediation with his rebellious subjects. They were coolly +received.</p> + +<p>All Austria was in a state of civil war. After the example of the Slavs in +Servia and Croatia, the Czechs of Bohemia rose at Prague. Austrian-German +<span class="sidenote">Slav Congress of Prague</span> +authority there collapsed. A National Guard was organized, and a popular +Assembly convened. In midsummer a Congress of Slavs from all parts of +Austria met at Prague. Popular excitement rose to a threatening pitch. On +the day that the Panslavistic Congress broke up, barricades were erected +and fighting began in the streets of Prague. The wife of Count +Windischgrätz, the military commandant, was killed by a bullet. +Windischgrätz, after withdrawing his troops, threatened to bombard the city +<span class="sidenote">Bohemian revolt suppressed</span> +unless the barricades were removed. This was not done. Windischgrätz then +took the city by storm. Military law was proclaimed. This success, like +that of Radetzky's arms in Italy, gave new hope to the Austrian Emperor. He +pronounced his veto on Hungary's military measures against Croatia. A +hundred delegates from the Magyar Diet at Pesth posted to Vienna to exact +from the Emperor the fulfilment of his promises to Hungary. On September 9, +the Emperor received them at his palace with renewed assurances that he +<span class="sidenote">Ferdinand's duplicity</span> +would keep his plighted word. A few hours afterward the official "Gazette" +published a letter over the Emperor's signature, expressing his full +approval of Jellacic's measures in Croatia. This was all Jellacic had been +waiting for. On September 11, he crossed the Drave with his Croatians and +marched<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1088" id="Page_1088">[Pg 1088]</a></span> upon Pesth. Archduke Stephen, the Hungarian Palatine, took command +of the Magyar army and went to the front. At Lake Balaton he requested a +<span class="sidenote">Archduke Stephen withdraws</span> +conference with Jellacic. The Ban paid no attention to it. Realizing the +secret support given to Jellacic by the Crown, Archduke Stephen resigned +his command in Hungary. The Emperor now appointed General Lamberg at Vienna +to the supreme command over the military forces of Hungary as well as +Croatia. At the same time the Austrian Cabinet submitted a memorial +suggesting that the laws establishing Hungarian autonomy be declared null +<span class="sidenote">Kossuth in power</span> +and void. On the publication of this memorial in Pesth, Batthyany's +Ministry resigned. Kossuth openly proposed war with Austria. When Lamberg +arrived at Pesth, Kossuth prevailed upon the Diet to withhold its +ratification of Lamberg's appointment. Should Lamberg attempt to resume his +military command Kossuth demanded that he should be outlawed as a traitor. +<span class="sidenote">Murder of General Lamberg</span> +As General Lamberg crossed the bridge at Budapesth he was recognized by the +populace. A cry was raised that he meant to seize the citadel and bombard +the town. He was dragged from his carriage and torn to pieces by the mob. +His body was dragged through the streets, and finally strung up before one +of the government buildings. A few days later, Count Zichy, one of the +Magyar magnates, was court-martialled by order of Arthur Goergey, the +<span class="sidenote">Count Zichy shot</span> +Hungarian Honved leader, for entering into a correspondence with Jellacic, +and was shot.</p> + +<p>On the receipt of this news, Emperor Ferdinand<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1089" id="Page_1089">[Pg 1089]</a></span> +declared the Hungarian +Parliament dissolved, and pronounced all its acts null and void. Jellacic +<span class="sidenote">Imperial rescript repudiated</span> +was appointed representative of Austria in Hungary with command of all the +forces. The Magyar Diet repudiated the Emperor's manifesto as a breach of +the constitution, and pronounced Jellacic a traitor. Jellacic's forces were +checked by the Hungarian army in their advance upon Pesth. General Latour, +the Austrian Minister of War, ordered a division of troops at Vienna to go +<span class="sidenote">Troops mutiny in Vienna</span> +to the support of Jellacic. The Magyar sympathizers at Vienna raised a +fearful uproar. As the troops were marching out of the city several +battalions were prevailed upon to mutiny. The Hungarian flag was hoisted +above the Cathedral of St. Stephen. The National Guard joined the mutiny. +Other battalions of the line were driven out of the city. The guards at the +arsenal capitulated. Vienna was at the mercy of the insurgents. The +<span class="sidenote">Flight of Emperor</span> +Emperor, who had sought refuge at Schœnbrunn, left his palace at four on +the morning of October 1, and fled to Olmütz.</p> + +<p>As soon as the news of these events reached Jellacic he evacuated his +threatened positions on the banks of the Raab and marched for Vienna. +<span class="sidenote">Jellacic marches on Vienna</span> +Windischgrätz, with his garrison, set out from Prague. Revolutionists of +all races flocked into Vienna. Among them were the German delegates Froebel +and Blum, and the Polish general, Bem. The Hungarians pursued Jellacic no +further than their frontier. The regiments expelled from Vienna, under the +command of Count Auersperg, joined forces with Jellacic. The insurgents at +Vienna manned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1090" id="Page_1090">[Pg 1090]</a></span> their fortifications as well as they could, and called upon +the people throughout Austria to take up arms. Emperor Ferdinand, at +Olmütz, offset this by an imperial proclamation to his people in which he +guaranteed all peasant rights. Prince Windischgrätz was created a field +marshal, with full command over all the forces in the empire, except those +under Radetzky in Italy. Windischgrätz took immediate steps to effect a +<span class="sidenote">Windischgrätz moves from Bohemia</span> +junction with Jellacic by seizing the bridges at Krems and Stein. In vain +did the delegates from Frankfort, who now appeared upon the scene, present +their offer of intervention. Windischgrätz would not listen to them. On +October 23, the Austrian army, 80,000 strong, appeared before Vienna. The +defence of the city had been intrusted to Captain Messenhauser, an officer +of the regular army, and to General Bem. Robert Blum, the German +Parliamentarian, fought in the ranks. While Windischgrätz was wasting his +time in parleys, an army of 18,000 Hungarians crossed the frontier and +threatened Jellacic's rear. On October 28, twenty-four hours after the time +fixed in Windischgrätz's last ultimatum, he began his assault on the city. +<span class="sidenote">Assault on Vienna</span> +In the course of an all-day fight the troops succeeded in taking the +suburbs. The scenes of that night were frightful. The troops bivouacked on +the ramparts. The following Sunday was spent in further parleys. Already +the terms of capitulation had been settled, when Messenhauser, from the top +of the church of St. Stephen, made out the approaching columns of the +Hungarians. The news of their arrival was signalled to the city by a column +of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1091" id="Page_1091">[Pg 1091]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Arrival of Hungarians</span> +smoke rising from the top of the tower. All negotiations for surrender +were dropped. The Hungarians attacked Jellacic on the banks of the +Schwechat, within a few leagues of the capital. The boom of their artillery +could be plainly heard in Vienna. In a frenzy of enthusiasm the Viennese +resumed the struggle. A corps of students attempted a sortie. Unfortunately +<span class="sidenote">Battle of the Schwechat</span> +for them, the engagement on the banks of the Schwechat turned against the +Hungarians. Shortly after noon they gave way all along the line and fell +back toward Hungary. On the ramparts of Vienna the hopeless fight of a few +thousand civilians against an army of 90,000 men was continued until +nightfall. At six in the evening the troops broke into the city.</p> + +<p>On the following day, November 1, Prince Windischgrätz declared Vienna +<span class="sidenote">Fall of Vienna</span> +under military law. All arms had to be delivered within forty-eight hours. +Arrests and courts-martial followed in profusion. Robert Blum was one of +the first to be shot. His colleague, Froebel, owed his life to a political +pamphlet signed with his name, in which he had defended the interests of +Austria against those of a united Germany. A new Ministry was installed, +<span class="sidenote">Stadion's Ministry</span> +under the leadership of the notorious Prince Felix Schwarzenberg and Count +Stadion. They announced their programme to be the maintenance of a strong +central government and the integrity of the Austrian Empire, with quick +suppression of the civil war in Hungary. A new Reichsrath was convoked at +the village of Kremsier, near Olmütz. On December 2, it was announced that +Emperor Fer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1092" id="Page_1092">[Pg 1092]</a></span>dinand had resolved to abdicate his throne. His brother, +<span class="sidenote">Abdication of Ferdinand</span> +Archduke Francis Charles, renounced the succession. The Archduke's son, +Francis Joseph, a youth of eighteen, was declared by a family council to +have attained his majority. In virtue of this he ascended the throne as +Emperor.</p> + +<p>The Hungarian Diet, on learning of this transfer of the crown, refused to +<span class="sidenote">Francis Joseph, Emperor</span> +acknowledge Francis Joseph as King of Hungary. The whole nation was +summoned to arms. The command of the army was given to Goergey. His first +serious problem was a rising of the Roumanians in Transylvania against +Magyar rule. The Roumanian peasants committed all conceivable atrocities. +When they raised the standard of the Empire, the Austrian commander, +General Puchner, espoused their cause. Transylvania was lost to Hungary. +The Roumanians led by Puchner co-operated with Jellacic's forces in +<span class="sidenote">The war in Hungary</span> +Croatia, and moved on Hungary from that quarter. On December 15, the main +Austrian army, under Windischgrätz, crossed over the River Leitha and +invaded Hungary. Goergey declared from the first that Pesth would have to +be abandoned. Kossuth's frantic efforts to prevent this only served to +hamper Goergey's able campaign. One line after another had to be abandoned. +At last, toward the close of the year, Kossuth and his Magyar Diet were +compelled to evacuate Pesth. The Hungarian army fell back over the River +Theiss, upon the fortress of Comorn, and the mountainous regions of +northern Hungary. Kossuth's government was established at Debreczin.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1849" id="a1849"></a>1849</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1093" id="Page_1093">[Pg 1093]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">O</span><span class="dcap1">N JANUARY 5</span>, Windischgrätz and Jellacic made their triumphant entry into +Budapesth. The Vienna "Gazette" announced "the glorious end of the +<span class="sidenote">Bem's aggressive campaign</span> +Hungarian campaign." Prince Windischgrätz rested on his arms. During this +interval the Polish general, Bem, who had escaped from Vienna, aroused his +countrymen in Siebenbürgen and carried the war into that region. The +Austrian troops under General Puchner were beaten in a series of +engagements. Goergey, aided by another Pole, Dembinsky, repulsed the +<span class="sidenote">Goergey and Dembinsky</span> +Austrian troops under General Schlik in the north. While Windischgrätz +remained idle at Pesth, Klapkah, the new Hungarian Minister of War, +organized the Magyar forces and created new defences for his country.</p> + +<p>Prince Metternich, whiling away his idle hours among other notable refugees +at London and Brighton, now had the satisfaction of seeing the dangers of +<span class="sidenote">Afghan war</span> +revolt brought home to the people of England. The tidings of a disaster in +Afghanistan provoked an outburst of alarm and indignation in England. On +January 13, Lord Gough had advanced on Sher Singh's intrenchments at +Chilian Wallah. They were held by 30,000 Sikhs with sixty guns, screened by +a thick jungle. As the British imprudently +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1094" id="Page_1094">[Pg 1094]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Chilian Wallah</span> +exposed themselves the Sikhs +opened fire. Lord Gough ordered a general charge. The drawn battle that +followed proved the bloodiest affair in the history of British India. +Driven from their first line of defences, the Sikhs stood their ground in +another stronger position, and repulsed the British attack. Nearly 2,500 +British officers and men fell in the fight. In the face of the Afghan +rejoicings Lord Gough claimed a victory. The British War Office, however, +<span class="sidenote">Lord Gough superseded</span> +hastily despatched Sir Charles Napier to India to supersede Lord Gough. +There was still time for that commander to retrieve himself. General Whish +captured the town of Multan, and by terrible bombardment of the citadel +brought Mulraj to surrender. General Whish then joined forces with Lord +Gough in his final struggle with Sher Singh. At Guzerat, on February 22, +<span class="sidenote">"Battle of the Guns"</span> +Lord Gough achieved the crowning victory known as "the battle of the guns." +For two hours a terrific artillery duel was maintained, the Sikhs firing +with all their sixty pieces. Finally the British stormed their batteries in +a combined charge of bayonets and cavalry. The Sikh forces were scattered, +and their camp, with most of their standards and guns, were captured by the +<span class="sidenote">Punjab annexed to England</span> +British. Dost Muhammad Khan and his Afghans were driven out of Peshawar and +narrowly escaped to Kabul. Mulraj was imprisoned for life. The whole of the +Punjab was annexed to British India. A successful administration of this +hostile province was Lord Dalhousie's first great triumph.</p> + +<p>About the same time, General Taylor, the con<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1095" id="Page_1095">[Pg 1095]</a></span>queror of Buena Vista, was +<span class="sidenote">President Taylor inaugurated</span> +inaugurated as President of the United States. One sentence in his +inaugural address provoked derision: "We are at peace with all the world +and the rest of mankind." The old Spanish missions in the conquered +territory were deprived of their wealth and influence. The name of San +Francisco was adopted in place of Yerba Buena. Besides California, the new +<span class="sidenote">Development of Western America</span> +territory included the subsequently admitted States of Nevada, Arizona, +Utah, New Mexico, and parts of Colorado, Wyoming and Kansas. The Apache and +Navajo Indians in those regions gave immediate trouble. The gold seekers +tracking across the plains were the first to suffer from the Indians. Still +the stream of immigrants poured into California. Their halfway stations on +the Missouri River developed into the two thriving towns of Omaha and +Council Bluffs. The Bay of San Francisco was soon surrounded by a +settlement of tents and sheds. A Vigilance Committee took affairs into its +<span class="sidenote">The "Forty-Niners"</span> +own hands, and administered justice without fear or favor. Six times the +new city was destroyed by fire. Within two months all traces of the +disaster would be lost. California soon had a population entitling it to +Statehood. President Taylor eagerly seconded the wishes of the people for a +government of their own. The first Constitutional Convention of California +declared against slavery. More than $40,000,000 worth of gold was produced +in the new State, and the first gold dollars were coined.</p> + +<p>The death of Edgar Allan Poe, the American poet, was as tragic as his life +had been. After the death<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1096" id="Page_1096">[Pg 1096]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Death of Poe</span> +of his wife, Poe had engaged himself to marry a +wealthy lady in Richmond, and the wedding day was fixed. On his way to New +York to settle up affairs in anticipation of his marriage, Poe fell in with +some of his companions in dissipation at Baltimore. He became drunk, +wandered through the streets, and was finally taken to a hospital in an +unconscious condition. Later he became delirious and finally expired, +<span class="sidenote">Posthumous poems</span> +saying: "Lord, help my poor soul!" After Poe's death the simplest and +sweetest of his ballads, "Annabel Lee," and the wonderful poem of "The +Bells," were published. His former friend and editor, Griswold, published a +scathing denunciation of the dead man in the New York "Tribune." Poe's fame +as a master of the weird and fanciful in literature was already established +wherever his thrilling tales and superb poem "The Raven" had penetrated. He +was one of the few poets of America at that period who had succeeded in +achieving an international reputation. The best of his poems were rendered +in choice French by Baudelaire, while his short stories were translated +into almost all European languages. As his biographer, Woodberry, has said: +"On the roll of American literature Poe's name is inscribed with the few +foremost, and in the world at large his genius is established as valid +among all men. Much as he derived nurture from other sources, he was the +son of Coleridge by the weird touch in his imagination, by the principles +of his analytic criticism, and the speculative bent of his mind." Most +characteristic of Poe's genius perhaps are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1097" id="Page_1097">[Pg 1097]</a></span> these lines from his famous +poem "The Conqueror Worm":</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lo! 'tis a gala night</span><br /> +<span class="sidenote">"The Conqueror Worm"</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Within the lonesome latter years!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">An angel throng, bewinged, bedight</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In veils, and drowned in tears,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sit in a theatre, to see</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A play of hopes and fears,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">While the orchestra breathes fitfully</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The music of the spheres.</span> + +<hr class='hr' /> + +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That motley drama—oh, be sure</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">It shall not be forgot!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With its Phantom chased for evermore</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By a crowd that seize it not,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Through a circle that ever returneth in</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To the self-same spot,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And much of Madness, and more of Sin,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And Horror the soul of the plot.</span> + +<hr class='hr' /> + +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Out—out are the lights—out all!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And over each quivering form</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The curtain, a funeral pall,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Comes down with the rush of a storm,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And the angels, all pallid and wan,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Uprising, unveiling, affirm</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That the play is the tragedy "Man,"</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And its hero the Conqueror Worm.</span> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>In Europe, the startling upheavals of the previous year were followed by an +<span class="sidenote">Abortive Spanish rising</span> +aftermath no less startling. Even in Spain, where a first attempt at +revolution had easily been crushed at Madrid, Don Carlos deemed the time +ripe to join Cabrera's revolutionary rising in Catalonia. On his way there +he was arrested at the French frontier. Deprived of his support, Cabrera +himself had to remove his forces to French soil. In Italy, the +revolutionary movement spread. On February 7, Duke Leopold of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1098" id="Page_1098">[Pg 1098]</a></span> +Florence was<span class="sidenote">Italian republics</span> +driven out of Tuscany. A republican government was established at Florence +under the triumvirate of Guerazzi, Montanelli and Manzoni. Taking refuge on +a British man-of-war, the Duke of Tuscany fled to Gaeta to share the Pope's +exile there. On the same day that the new republic was proclaimed at +Florence a popular assembly at Rome formally deposed the Pope from temporal +power and proclaimed the Republic of Rome. The armistice in Sicily was +about to expire. King Ferdinand's final concessions to his rebellious +subjects were repudiated. Lord Palmerston, who had vainly offered British +<span class="sidenote">Situation in Sicily</span> +mediation to Ferdinand, on the floor of Parliament openly defended the +uncompromising attitude of the Sicilians. In preparation for the inevitable +conflict, Filangieri gathered an army of 20,000 Neapolitans, while +Mierolavsky, a Pole, took command of the Sicilian insurgents.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the tide of war set against the Hungarians. On February 4, Bem +was defeated on the site of his former victory at Hermannstadt. While +<span class="sidenote">Hungarian defeats</span> +retreating he was defeated again at Paiski. By the middle of February the +Austrians succeeded in taking the fortress of Essek from the Hungarians. +Toward the close of the month a disastrous defeat was inflicted upon the +Hungarians under the command of General Dembinsky at Kapolna. Kossuth had +made the mistake of superseding Goergey by that commander. Now Goergey was +reinstated. The Hungarians rallied. On March 5, the Magyar Csikos, or +irregular cavalry, under Janos Damjanies, defeated the Austrians under +General Grammont at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1099" id="Page_1099">[Pg 1099]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Austrian reverses</span> +Szolnok. A few days later the Hungarian army in +Transylvania, under General Bem, retrieved their ill-fortune by another +glorious victory at Hermannstadt. A Russian contingent from Wallachia, +which had crossed the frontier to assist the Austrians, was defeated by Bem +at Brasso. General Puchner and his Russian allies sought refuge across the +border. Goergey relieved Komorn. The ablest of the Austrian generals, +Schlik, was beaten at Hapvan, while Jellacic was overthrown at Isaszteg and +<span class="sidenote">Windischgrätz "Reconcentrates"</span> +Goedoelloe. Prince Windischgrätz had to give up Pesth, or, as he put it in +his immortal thirty-fourth bulletin: "Reconcentrate the army in front of +Budapesth, a movement hastily imitated by the enemy." Goergey added another +touch of humor by attributing the Hungarian victory solely to the activity +of Windischgrätz and Jellacic. On March 4, Emperor Francis Joseph had +annulled the old Hungarian constitution. Kossuth retaliated in kind. Under +his influence the Magyar Diet at Debreczin pronounced the deposition of the +<span class="sidenote">Hungarian declaration of independence</span> +House of Hapsburg from the throne of Hungary and declared the independence +of Hungary and the adjoining southern provinces. While the Hungarian army, +instead of marching on Vienna, lost valuable time before Ofen, the Austrian +Government improved the interval to perfect its long-threatened alliance +with Russia.</p> + +<p>In the interim war had broken out anew in Schleswig-Holstein and in Italy. +Before the expiration of the Austrian-Italian armistice, Charles Albert of +Sardinia, in a spirited address on Febru<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1100" id="Page_1100">[Pg 1100]</a></span>ary 1, +<span class="sidenote">Sardinia renews war</span> +announced his determination +to renew the war. To this desperate resolve he was driven by the increasing +turbulence of Italian affairs. The spread of the revolutionary movement to +his dominions could be forestalled only by placing himself once more at the +head of the Italian movement. In some respects the moment appeared +propitious. Charles Albert's army now numbered a hundred and twenty +thousand men, while Radetzky had little more than seventy thousand +Austrians. A characteristic note of the times was the appointment of Poles +<span class="sidenote">Polish leaders</span> +to command the Italian troops. Prince Chrzanovsky, who had fought under +Napoleon at Leipzig and Waterloo, and had subsequently commanded a Russian +division at Varna, was put in supreme command, seconded by Alexander La +Marmora. Another Pole, or half Pole, Ramorino, who had figured in the +unfortunate rising of 1833, commanded the legion of Lombardy. On March 12, +the pending termination of the truce was officially announced. At noon on +March 20, hostilities were to be resumed. The campaign that followed lasted +<span class="sidenote">The "Five Days' Campaign"</span> +but five days. Radetzky, by his preliminary feint, made the Italians +believe that he would evacuate Lombardy as heretofore; but at the last +moment he quickly concentrated his five army corps at Pavia. At the stroke +of noon, on March 20, he threw his army across the Tessino on three +bridges. While the Italians believed that Radetzky was retreating on the +Adda, the Austrians were already bivouacking on the flank of the +Piedmontese army. Three bloody engagements at Mortara, Gam<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1101" id="Page_1101">[Pg 1101]</a></span>bola and +Sforzesca, on March 21, ended in a retreat of the Italians all along the +line. Ramorino had received orders to move northward and to destroy the +bridges behind him. Out of accord with his countryman, Chrzanovsky, he +disobeyed his orders and lingered at Stradella. Radetzky flung his army in +between, and cut off the Italian line of retreat upon Turin and +Alessandria. It was then that Benedek, an Austrian colonel, distinguished +himself by leading his troops far in advance of the Austrian army, and +cutting his way through an Italian brigade, under the cover of night. At +midnight of March 21, Charles Albert had to order a general retreat on +Novara. There Chrzanovsky determined to make a stand with his main column +of about 50,000 men. Radetzky was in doubt whether the Italians had fallen +back on Novara or Vercelli. To make sure he sent his troops in either +direction. He himself remained at his headquarters, so as to be ready to +ride either way. The roar of artillery from Novara, on the morning of March +23, told him where the battle was to be fought. There General D'Aspre, +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Novara</span> +commanding the second Austrian army corps, undertook to win some laurels on +his own account by a bold attack on the superior position of the Italians. +As Charles Albert rode out of the gate of Novara he received the last +cheers of his devoted Bersaglieri. After a three hours' fight the scale +turned against the Austrians. Count D'Aspre repented of his rashness, and +sent for help to Count Thurn at Vercelli. Fortunately for him, Radetzky and +Thurn had marched in that direction<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1102" id="Page_1102">[Pg 1102]</a></span> as soon as they heard the sound of the +cannon. It was a race between the two divisions. As Radetzky, at the head +of the first army corps, galloped through Nebola, the aged marshal met the +retreating columns of D'Aspre's second corps. Both the first and the third +Austrian corps rushed into the battle almost simultaneously. The Italian +<span class="sidenote">Italian retreat</span> +advance was checked. At last, when Thurn's fourth corps arrived at sundown, +the Austrian bugles sounded for a general charge. The Italian line of +battle was overthrown. The Austrian cavalry circled around the flank. While +the Italians fled into Novara they suffered from the fire of their own +artillery. Charles Albert was one of the last who left the Bicocca to seek +refuge in Novara. The town itself was bombarded by the Austrian artillery +far into the night. Standing on the ramparts of Novara, Charles Albert +realized the disastrous nature of his defeat. His losses aggregated more +<span class="sidenote">D'Aspre's heavy losses</span> +than seven thousand, of whom three thousand had been taken captive. Of the +Austrian losses of 3,158 men, five-sevenths fell to D'Aspre's corps. The +other Austrian divisions were practically intact. The Italians were in +confusion. Charles Albert, who throughout the day had exposed his person +with the utmost gallantry, had to be dragged from the ramparts by General +Durando. As the Austrian shells struck all around them he exclaimed, "Leave +me, General. Let it be the last day of my life. I wish to die." At last he +consented to send his Minister, Cadorna, to Radetzky's headquarters to sue +for an armistice. Cadorna was received in an insulting manner. Charles<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1103" id="Page_1103">[Pg 1103]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Charles Albert abdicates</span> +Albert came to the conclusion that his own person was an obstacle in the +way of peace. That night he resigned his crown. In the presence of his +generals he pronounced his eldest son, Victor Emmanuel, King of Sardinia. +Accompanied by but one attendant he left Novara, and passed unrecognized +through the enemy's lines. Sending a farewell letter to his wife, he went +into exile. A few months later he died at Oporto in Portugal.</p> + +<p>As Fyffe has said of this unfortunate Prince: "Nothing in his reign became +<span class="sidenote">Death of Charles Albert</span> +him like the ending of it. He proved that there was one sovereign in Italy +who was willing to stake his throne, his life, the whole sum of his +personal interests, for the national cause.... The man who, beaten and +outnumbered, had for hours sat immovable in front of the Austrian cannon in +Novara, had, in the depth of his misfortune, given to his son not the crown +of Piedmont only, but the crown of Italy."</p> + +<p>On the day after the battle of Novara, King Victor Emmanuel sought out +<span class="sidenote">Victor Emmanuel yields</span> +Marshal Radetzky and came to terms. Venice and the Italian duchies had to +be relinquished to the Austrians. Austrian troops, in conjunction with +those of Piedmont, occupied Alessandria. Piedmont was to reduce its army to +a peace footing, to disperse all volunteers, and to pay a war indemnity of +75,000,000 francs. The Austrian demand that Victor Emmanuel should annul +the liberal constitution granted by his father was unconditionally refused. +For this Piedmont had to suffer a prolonged military occupation by Austrian +troops, but Victor Emmanuel, by the same token, retained +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1104" id="Page_1104">[Pg 1104]</a></span>his father's +<span class="sidenote">Italian Princes reinstated</span> +claim to the leadership of the national cause of Italy. The victory of +Austrian arms was speedily followed by the return of the princes of +northern Italy to their petty thrones. Radetzky's troops undertook the +reconquest of Venice. To forestall an Austrian movement against Rome, +France undertook to reinstate Pio Nono in the Holy Chair of St. Peter. A +<span class="sidenote">French expedition to Rome</span> +French expedition under Oudinot, a son of the famous marshal, disembarked +at Civita Vecchia. Mazzini and Garibaldi alone rallied their men to the +defence of the republic.</p> + +<p>In Sicily, hostilities had been likewise renewed on March 29. The Sicilians +were discouraged by the report of the Italian defeats in the north. +Filangieri succeeded in capturing Taormina, the Sicilian base of supplies. +In the defence of Catania the Polish general commanding the Sicilian +<span class="sidenote">Subjection of Sicily</span> +troops, Mierolavsky, was severely wounded. At the foot of Mount Etna, the +Sicilians were again defeated on April 6, Good Friday. Catania was taken. +Syracuse surrendered to the Neapolitan fleet. Filangieri's army penetrated +into the interior. In vain did the English and Austrian Ambassadors offer +mediation. Ruggiero Settimo resigned his Presidency of the Sicilian +Republic. The heads of the insurrection fled the country. Palermo +surrendered. The customary courts-martial and military executions followed. +Until the accession of King Ferdinand's eldest son to the throne, +Filangieri ruled as military governor. In commemoration of one of the +cities he had laid in ashes, he was created Duke of Taormina. When England +tried to exact the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1105" id="Page_1105">[Pg 1105]</a></span> promised recognition of the Constitution of 1812, King +Ferdinand rejected the proposal with the sardonic statement that peace had +been re-established in Sicily, and everybody was content.</p> + +<p>The armistice of Malmö with Denmark expired on February 26. The German +<span class="sidenote">Danish war</span> +Bundestag mobilized three divisions of the allied German federation. Within +a month Prussian, Bavarian and Swabian troops marched into Holstein. A +Prussian general, Von Prittwitz, assumed supreme command. On April 3, the +Danes opened hostilities by a bombardment of the Island of Allston. Then +came the battle of Eckenfoerde, when German shore batteries blew up the +<span class="sidenote">Dueppel trenches stormed</span> +Danish ship of the line, "Christian VIII.," and two smaller vessels, the +crews of which surrendered. On April 13, the Bavarians and Saxons stormed +the intrenchments of Dueppel. One week later, the German troops, in +conjunction with the volunteers of Schleswig-Holstein, under Von Bonin, +occupied Jutland, and defeated the Danes at Kolding. A Danish advance from +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Gudsoe</span> +Fridericia was repulsed after a seven hours' fight, on May 7, at Gudsoe. +The Danes fell back on Fridericia, where they were invested.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the German Parliament had met again at Frankfort. After the +resignation of the former Austrian chief of the Cabinet, Schmerling, the +Parliament was split into two factions, according to their preferences for +a German union with or without Austria. Early in January it had been +decided to elect some German prince to assume the leadership of German +affairs as Emperor of the Germans. To<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1106" id="Page_1106">[Pg 1106]</a></span> this plan the minor German +<span class="sidenote">Francis Joseph's "Constitution"</span> +sovereigns gave their consent. During the first week of March, when the +Emperor of Austria issued his new Constitution, which declared the whole of +the Austrian Empire under one indivisible constitutional monarchy, it was +plain to the German delegates that Austria could no longer be reckoned on. +<span class="sidenote">German Constitution adopted</span> +On March 28, King Frederick IV. of Prussia was elected by 290 votes. Some +284 delegates, among whom were 100 Austrians, abstained from voting. An +imperial constitution was adopted which limited the former sovereign rights +of the various principalities, declared for the liberties of speech and of +the press, religious worship, free public schools, and the total abolition +of all feudal titles of nobility. On April 23, the great Parliamentary +<span class="sidenote">German imperial crown rejected</span> +deputation, with President Simpson at its head, came to Berlin to notify +the King of Prussia of his election. To the consternation of all, Frederick +William declined the honor. He explained in private that he did not care +"to accept a crown offered to him by the Revolution."</p> + +<p>The immediate effects of his rejection were new attempts at revolution in +Germany. After Frederick William's refusal to enter into the plans of the +German Parliament, this body fell into utter disrepute. Its radical +<span class="sidenote">Saxon revolution</span> +elements could no longer be kept in control. Armed revolts, encouraged by +the radical delegates, broke out in Frankfort, Kaiserslautern and +throughout Saxony. The King of Saxony, with his Ministers, Von Beust and +Rabenhorst, fled from Dresden. From the barricades the provis<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1107" id="Page_1107">[Pg 1107]</a></span>ional +government was proclaimed. The garrison was at the mercy of the insurgents, +great numbers of whom flocked to Dresden from Leipzig and Pirna. Prussian +troops overran Saxony. The revolutionary movement spread to Hesse, Baden, +the Rhine provinces, Wurtemberg and the Bavarian Palatinate. Encounters +<span class="sidenote">South German risings</span> +with the troops occurred at Elbafeldt, Düsseldorf and Cologne. The reserves +and municipal guards sided with the insurgents. All Baden rose and declared +itself a republic, forming an alliance with the revolted Palatinate. The +people of Wurtemberg, in a turbulent mass-meeting, demanded coalition with +both of these countries. It was then that the Parliament at Frankfort +decided to hold its future sessions at Stuttgart. Those principalities +which had not yet succumbed to revolution withdrew their delegates. Prussia +now gave to the Parliament its <i>coup de grace</i> by arrogating to herself all +further prosecution of the Danish war, on the ground that "the so-called +central government of Frankfort had no more weight of its own to affect the +balance of peace or war." The remnants of the Parliament tried to meet at +<span class="sidenote">German Parliament dispersed</span> +Stuttgart, under the leadership of Loewe and Ludwig Uhland, the foremost +living poet of Germany. When they came together at their meeting hall they +found the doors blocked by troops. Attempts at protest were drowned by the +roll of drums. Under the threat of a volley the delegates dispersed. Such +was the end of the first German Parliament.</p> + +<p>Prussian troops advanced into the Palatinate, Baden and Wurtemberg. After +desultory encounters<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1108" id="Page_1108">[Pg 1108]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Princes reinstated</span> +with ill-led bands of insurgents, the sovereigns of +these principalities were reinstated on their thrones by the Prussian army. +The refugees thronged into Switzerland. In the north, on the other hand, +Prussia's further advance into Denmark was stopped by the threatening +attitude of England, Russia and France. On July 5, the Danes made a sortie +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Fridericia</span> +from Fridericia and inflicted a crushing defeat on the +Schleswig-Holsteiners, capturing 28 guns and 1,500 prisoners. The Germans +lost nearly 3,000 men in dead and wounded.</p> + +<p>Five days after this disgrace to German arms, the Prussian Government +accepted an armistice, according to which Schleswig was to be cut in two to +<span class="sidenote">Danish armistice</span> +be occupied by Swedish and Prussian troops. The provisional government of +this province was intrusted to a joint commission, presided over by an +Englishman. Holstein was abandoned to its fate. The final downfall of all +the ideals of the German Liberals was followed by a feeling of dejection in +Germany akin to despair. The number of immigrants who left Germany to seek +new homes in America and elsewhere rose abruptly to 113,000 persons.</p> + +<p>Worse even than in Germany fared the cause of popular government in +Hungary. On the day that Goergey's Hungarians stormed Ofen (May 21), +<span class="sidenote">Austrian-Russian alliance</span> +Emperor Francis Joseph had a personal interview with Czar Nicholas at +Warsaw. A joint note announced that the interest of all European States +demanded armed interference in Hungary. The Emperor of Russia placed his +whole army, under the command<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1109" id="Page_1109">[Pg 1109]</a></span> of Paskievitch, at the disposal of his "dear +brother, Francis Joseph." On June 3, the vanguard of the Russian main army +occupied Pressburg. Paskievitch called upon all Magyars to submit. Instead +of that, Kossuth called upon his countrymen to destroy their homes and +<span class="sidenote">Russians invade Hungary</span> +property at the approach of the enemy, and to retreat into the interior as +did the Russians before Napoleon. The rapid course of military events made +this impracticable. While Kossuth and his government retired to Scegedin in +the far southeast, Goergey, with the bulk of the army, took post on the +upper Danube to prevent the junction of the Austrians and Russians. There +the notorious Haynau, who had been recalled from Italy, was in command. +While Goergey attacked his left wing on the River Vag, Haynau perfected his +<span class="sidenote">Fall of Budapesth</span> +junction with the Russians. On June 28 their united forces, 80,000 strong, +captured Raab, under the eyes of Francis Joseph. The Russians occupied +Debreczin, while the Austrians moved on Budapesth. Goergey's attempts to +stop them resulted only in placing him in a dangerous position between both +armies. On the same day that the Austrians reoccupied Budapesth, the +<span class="sidenote">Last Hungarian victories</span> +Hungarians under Vetter succeeded in inflicting another disastrous defeat +on Jellacic at Hegyes. Three days later, Goergey won his last victory over +the Russians at Waitzen. After this the tide of war turned against Hungary. +The united army of Austria and Russia exceeded 225,000 men and 600 guns. +The Hungarian resources were exhausted. In the first week of August the +final conclusion of peace between Aus<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1110" id="Page_1110">[Pg 1110]</a></span>tria and Sardinia and the victorious +movement against Venice put new forces at Austria's disposal. Dembinsky, +who was to defend the passage of the Theiss before Scegedin, was defeated, +<span class="sidenote">Kemmisvar</span> +on August 5, at Czoreg with heavy losses. Kossuth now gave the command to +Bem. He fought the last battle of the campaign at Kemmisvar, on August 9, +ending in the disastrous defeat of the Hungarians. Bem barely succeeded in +saving the remnant of his army by crossing the Moldavian frontier. On +August 11, Kossuth at Arad relinquished his dictatorship in favor of +<span class="sidenote">Surrender of Vilagos</span> +General Goergey. This headstrong soldier, in realization of his +helplessness, led his army of 20,000 foot, 2,000 horse and 130 guns within +the Russian lines at Vilagos and surrendered unconditionally. Goergey's +life was spared. Not so those of his foremost fellow prisoners, who were +handed over to the tender mercies of Haynau. "Hungary," wrote Paskievitch +to the Czar, "lies at the feet of your Majesty." Goergey's galling +explanation that he did not deign to surrender to his despised Austrian +<span class="sidenote">Batthyany hanged</span> +adversaries was brutally avenged by Haynau. The foremost Magyar officers +and statesmen who fell into Austrian hands were court-martialled and shot. +Count Batthyany, the former Prime Minister, was hanged as a common felon. +Hungary lost all her ancient constitutional rights, besides her former +territories of Transylvania and Croatia. The flower of her youth was +<span class="sidenote">Hungary crushed</span> +enrolled in Austrian ranks and dispersed to the most remote garrisons of +the empire. Her civil administration was handed over to German bureaucrats +from Austria. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1111" id="Page_1111">[Pg 1111]</a></span> +exiled patriots sought refuge in Turkey and in America.</p> + +<p>The French interference in Rome aroused the Republicans in France. While +Oudinot was carrying on siege operations against Rome, Ledru-Rollin, in +<span class="sidenote">Paris insurrection suppressed</span> +Paris, demanded the impeachment of the Ministry. The rejection of this +motion by the Chambers was followed by revolutionary risings at Paris, +Lyons, Marseilles and other cities. Then it was shown that France had a new +master. President Louis Napoleon was on his guard. Large forces of troops, +held in readiness for this event, put down the insurrections without much +trouble. The siege of Rome was pressed to its conclusion. On June 14, +Oudinot began his bombardment of Rome. Garibaldi prolonged his defence +<span class="sidenote">French enter Rome</span> +until the end of the month. Then, when sufficient breaches had been opened, +the French stormed the ramparts and entered Rome. Garibaldi attempted to +throw his forces into Venice to prolong the war against Austria. With his +ever-dwindling followers he was hunted from place to place. In the end, +through the devotion of Italian patriots, he managed to escape to America. +<span class="sidenote">Flight of Garibaldi</span> +On July 14, the restoration of the Pope's authority over Rome was announced +by Oudinot. Pio Nono, however, showed no inclination to place himself in +the power of his protectors. Remaining at Gaeta, he sent a commission of +cardinals to take over the government of Rome. Their first act was to +restore the Inquisition, and to appoint a court for the trial of all +persons implicated in the Roman revolution. Thereat great wrath<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1112" id="Page_1112">[Pg 1112]</a></span> arose +among the Republicans of France. Louis Napoleon felt compromised. In +<span class="sidenote">Pio Nono firm</span> +reliance on the growing ascendency of Austria, the Pope insisted on his +absolute rights as a sovereign of Rome. All that Pio Nono would consent to, +under the pressure of the French Government, was to suffer his political +prisoners to go into exile, and to bestow a small measure of local powers +upon the municipalities of the various States.</p> + +<p>After the fall of Rome and of Hungary no hope remained for Venice. A +fortnight after the surrender of Vilagos, and several months after the +subjugation of the Venetian mainland, the Republic of St. Mark, reduced by +cholera and famine, gave up its long struggle. The Austrians re-entered +Venice.</p> + +<p>Having gained a free hand in her Hungarian and Italian dominions, Austria +set to work to recover her ascendency in Germany.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1850" id="a1850"></a>1850</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1113" id="Page_1113">[Pg 1113]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">A</span><span class="dcap1">T THE</span> opening of the year the British Foreign Office determined to bring +<span class="sidenote">Blockade of the Piræus</span> +pressure to bear upon Greece for payment of the public debts which were +owing to English bankers. A British squadron, during January, blockaded the +Piræus. On January 17, a resolution was passed in the British House of +Lords condemning the foreign policy of the government in Greece. Later +France interposed in behalf of Greece and the blockade was discontinued. +<span class="sidenote">Cholera in England</span> +Throughout the earlier part of the year the scourge of cholera continued in +England. In London alone the death-rate for a while was 1,000 per week. +More than 50,000 people died from the epidemic in England and Wales.</p> + +<p>William Wordsworth, the English Poet Laureate, died on April 23, at Rydal +Mount. Born at Cockermouth in 1770, Wordsworth received his academic +<span class="sidenote">Death of Wordsworth</span> +education at Cambridge University. Two years after his graduation, he made +his first appearance as a poet with the publication of "An Evening Walk; an +Epistle in Verse." In the same year he published "Descriptive Sketches in +Verse," inspired by a pedestrian tour through the Alps. These poems brought +the appreciation of Coleridge, and both men soon became friends. Together +with Wordsworth's sister they made a tour of Germany.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1114" id="Page_1114">[Pg 1114]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">"Lyrical Ballads" and "Peter Bell"</span>On their return, +Wordsworth brought out the first volume of his "Lyrical Ballads," which won +great popularity, and the anonymous "Peter Bell," the most condemned of all +his poems. After his marriage in 1803, Wordsworth settled at Grasmere in +the lake country, where he was joined by Southey and Coleridge. This caused +the writings of all three to be classified under the generic title of "The +<span class="sidenote">The "Lake School"</span> +Lake School of Poetry" by the "Edinburgh Review." The fame of Wordsworth's +poetic productions, and especially of his sonnets, slowly grew. While he +won the immediate approbation of his countrymen by some of his stirring +patriotic pieces, his strongest appeal to the world at large and to future +generations lay in his poetic appreciation of the beauties of nature and of +the essential traits of human character. As he sang in the famous preface +to "The Excursion":</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Beauty—a living presence of the earth,</span><br /> +<span class="sidenote">Wordsworth's doctrine</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Surpassing the most fair ideal forms</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Which craft of delicate spirits hath composed</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">From earth's materials—waits upon my steps;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pitches her tents before me as I move,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">An hourly neighbor. Paradise, and groves</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Elysian, Fortunate Fields—like those of old</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sought in the Atlantic main—why should they be</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A history only of departed things,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or a mere fiction of what never was?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the discerning intellect of man,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When wedded to this goodly universe</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In love and holy passion, shall find these</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A simple produce of the common day.</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>The annunciation of this doctrine was greeted by the critic of the +"Edinburgh Review" with the insolent: "This will never do." In truth, +Words<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1115" id="Page_1115">[Pg 1115]</a></span>worth's fondness for the inner beauty of common things sometimes led +his verse into the commonplace. Wordsworth reached the height of his poetic +fervor in his "Ode on the Intimations of Immortality," containing the +famous lines:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:</span><br /> +<span class="sidenote">Ode on immortality</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Hath had elsewhere its setting,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">And cometh from afar.</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>It is at the end of this ode that Wordsworth summed up his veneration for +nature in the lines:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To me the meanest flower that blows can give</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>After the death of his friend Southey, the mantle of the Poet Laureate fell +upon him. His acceptance of this honor, and of the humble office of stamp +distributer in the counties of Westmoreland and Cumberland, was decried by +some of his fellow poets as a sordid compromise. Robert Browning then wrote +his stirring invective, "The Lost Leader," while Shelley wrote the famous +sonnet addressed to Wordsworth:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Poet of Nature, thou hast wept to know</span><br /> +<span class="sidenote">Shelley's sonnet to Wordsworth</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That things depart which never may return:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Childhood and youth, friendship and love's first glow,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Have fled like sweet dreams, leaving thee to mourn.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">These common woes I feel. One loss is mine</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Which thou too feel'st, yet I alone deplore.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thou wert as a lone star, whose light did shine</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On some frail bark in winter's midnight roar,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thou hast like to a rock-built refuge stood</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Above the blind and battling multitude:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In honored poverty thy voice did weave</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Songs consecrate to truth and liberty—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Deserting these, thou leavest me to grieve,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thus having been, that thou shouldst cease to be.</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1116" id="Page_1116">[Pg 1116]</a></span> +Sir Robert Peel's recognition of Wordsworth's genius, on the other hand, +was regarded by the English Liberals as one of the brightest points in that +famous statesman's career. The University of Oxford, shortly afterward, +bestowed upon Wordsworth an honorary degree. One of Wordsworth's latest +poems was addressed to the Mount of Wanswell, rising above his country home +at Ambroside, closing with the prophetic lines:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 9em;">When we are gone</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">From every object dear to mortal sight,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As soon we shall be, may these words attest</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">How oft, to elevate our spirits, shone</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thy visionary majesties of light,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">How in thy pensive glooms our hearts found rest.</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p><span class="sidenote">"The Prelude"</span> +After Wordsworth's death, appeared "The Prelude, or Growth of the Poet's +Mind," an autobiographical poem.</p> + +<p>The next noted death in England this year was that of Sir Robert Peel, +which occurred after a stirring debate on the foreign policy of Lord +<span class="sidenote">Death of Peel</span> +Palmerston in Greece. On the following day Peel was thrown from his horse +while riding near London. The injuries he received were such that he died +three days later. A monument to his memory was erected in Westminster +Abbey; but in accordance with his own wish he was buried in the village +churchyard of Drayton Bassett. Of other events arousing interest in +<span class="sidenote">First international cable</span> +England, the most noteworthy was the laying of the first submarine electric +telegraph between England and France. The cable, which was twenty-seven +miles long and covered with gutta-percha, stretched from Dover to Cape Gris +Nez.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1117" id="Page_1117">[Pg 1117]</a></span> +Messages were interchanged, but the cable soon parted. During the +same year the great East Indian diamond, Koh-i-noor, was presented to Queen +<span class="sidenote">The Koh-i-noor</span> +Victoria. The history of this great jewel was more stirring, in its way, +than that of any living man. Its original weight was nearly 800 carats. By +the lack of skill of the European diamond cutters this was reduced to 270 +carats.</p> + +<p>Beyond the immediate shores of England the course of events kept the +British Colonial Office fully occupied. In Canada, a movement arose for the +annexation of British America to the United States. Earl Grey, the Colonial +Secretary, took occasion to warn all Canadians against this movement as an +act of high treason. In India, the Afghans succeeded in reconquering Balkh. +<span class="sidenote">Death of Taouk Wang</span> +The fifth Kaffir war broke out in South Africa. The affairs of China gave +fresh concern. On February 24, Emperor Taouk Wang died in his sixty-ninth +year. The thirty years during which he reigned were among the most +eventful, and in some respects the most portentous, for China. His +strenuous opposition to the evils of the opium trade mark him as a wise, if +not a powerful, ruler. He never wasted the public moneys of China on his +own person, and his expenditures in behalf of the court and mere pomp were +less than that of most of his predecessors. One of Taouk Wang's last acts +showed how his mind and his health had been affected by the recent +misfortunes of the empire. It appeared that the Chinese New Year's +Day—February 12, 1850—was marked by an eclipse of the sun. Such an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1118" id="Page_1118">[Pg 1118]</a></span> event +being considered inauspicious in China, the Emperor decreed that the new +year should begin on the previous day. The decree was utterly disregarded, +and the Chinese year began at the appointed time. Taouk Wang's end was +hastened by the outbreak of a great fire in Pekin, which threatened the +<span class="sidenote">Hien Fong, Emperor</span> +imperial city with destruction. On February 25, a grand council was held in +the Emperor's bedchamber, and Taouk Wang wrote in his bed an edict +proclaiming his fourth son, Yihchoo, ruler of the empire. Prince Yihchoo, +who was less than twenty years old, took the name of Hien Fong, which means +great abundance, and immediately upon his accession drew to his aid his +four younger brothers, a new departure in Manchu rule. Their uncle, Hwuy +Wang, who had made one attempt to seize the throne from his brother Taouk +Wang, once more put forward his pretensions. After the imperial Ministers, +Kiaying and Muchangah, had been degraded, Hwuy Wang's attempt signally +<span class="sidenote">The Taiping rebellion</span> +failed, but his life was spared. Later in the year, as a result partly of +poor harvests, the great Taiping rebellion began. The great secret society +of the Triads started the movement by raising an outcry in southern China +against the Manchus. Their leader, Hung Tsiuen, a Hakka or Romany, +proclaimed himself as Tien Wang, which means the head of the Prince. Under +<span class="sidenote">Chinese emigration</span> +the cloud of the impending upheaval, Chinese coolies in great numbers began +to emigrate to the United States. At the same time the bitter feeling +against foreigners was intensified by an encounter of the British +steamship<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1119" id="Page_1119">[Pg 1119]</a></span> "Media" with a fleet of piratical Chinese junks. Thirteen of the +junks were destroyed.</p> + +<p>In California, where most of the Chinese immigrants landed, this movement +was scarcely considered in the heat of the discussion whether California +<span class="sidenote">California an American issue</span> +should be admitted into the Union as a pro-slavery or anti-slavery State. +In the American Senate, Henry Clay introduced a bill for a compromise of +the controversy on slavery. His proposal favored the admission of +California as a free State. On March 7, Daniel Webster delivered a +memorable speech in which he antagonized his anti-slavery friends in the +North. This was denounced as the betrayal of his constituents. State +Conventions in South Carolina called for a Southern Congress to voice their +claims. Not long afterward a fugitive slave bill was adopted by the United +<span class="sidenote">Fugitive slave bill</span> +States Congress. A fine of $1,000 and six months' imprisonment was to be +imposed on any person harboring a fugitive slave or aiding him to escape. +Fugitives were to be surrendered on demand, without the benefit of +testimony or trial by jury. This served to terrorize some 20,000 escaped +slaves and created intense indignation in the North. The issues were still +more sharply drawn by the resignation of Jefferson Davis from the Senate, +to run as a State-rights candidate for Governor of Mississippi. His +Unionist rival, Foote, was elected.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile trouble had arisen with Spain and Portugal. On May 19, +<span class="sidenote">American filibusters in Cuba</span> +General Narcisso Lopez, with 600 American filibusters, landed at Cardenas +to liberate Cuba from the dominion of Spain. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1120" id="Page_1120">[Pg 1120]</a></span> +was defeated and his +expedition dispersed. Another Cuban expedition was agitated in America. On +April 25, President Taylor felt constrained to issue a second proclamation +against filibusters. In May, the United States, in conjunction with Great +Britain, recognized the independence of the Dominican Republic. Both +countries at the same time agreed not to interfere in the affairs of +<span class="sidenote">Bulwer-Clayton treaty</span> +Central America. In accordance with this agreement the famous +Bulwer-Clayton Treaty was completed. It provided that neither country +should obtain exclusive control over any inter-oceanic canal in Central +America, nor erect fortifications along its line. In June an American +squadron was sent to Portugal to support the United States demand for +American war claims of 1812. The claims were refused and the American +<span class="sidenote">Friction with Portugal</span> +Minister was recalled from Lisbon. The American fleet was withdrawn without +further hostile demonstrations. The American President, in pursuance of his +policy of peace, proclaimed neutrality in the civil war which had arisen in +Mexico.</p> + +<p>The furious slavery debate was resumed when Clay's so-called "Omnibus Bill" +was offered for final consideration. It was during this debate that Senator +<span class="sidenote">Shields' prophecy</span> +Shields of California uttered his famous prophecy that the United States, +so far from dissolving, would within a few generations send its soldiers to +Asia and into China. On July 9, Webster soothed the angry passions of the +legislators when he announced that President Taylor was dying. Webster's +support of the Compromise Act<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1121" id="Page_1121">[Pg 1121]</a></span> of 1850, with its fugitive slave bill, +dimmed his Presidential prospects. It was then that Whittier wrote the +scathing lines entitled "Ichabod":</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">So fallen! so lost! the light withdrawn</span><br /> +<span class="sidenote">Webster scourged</span> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Which once he wore!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The glory from his gray hairs gone</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">For evermore!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Revile him not! the tempter hath</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">A snare for all;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And pitying tears, not scorn and wrath,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Befit his fall.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oh, dumb be passion's stormy rage,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">When he who might</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Have lighted up and led his age</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Falls back in night!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Scorn! would the angels laugh to mark</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">A bright soul driven,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fiend-goaded, down the endless dark,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">From hope and heaven?</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Let not the land once proud of him</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Insult him now,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nor brand with deeper shame his dim</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Dishonor'd brow!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But let its humbled sons, instead,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">From sea to lake,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A long lament, as for the dead,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">In sadness make!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of all we loved and honor'd naught</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Save power remains,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A fallen angel's pride of thought</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Still strong in chains.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">All else is gone; from those great eyes</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The soul has fled:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When faith is lost, when honor dies.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The man is dead.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Then pay the reverence of old days</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">To his dead fame!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Walk backward, with averted gaze,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And hide the shame!</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1122" id="Page_1122">[Pg 1122]</a></span> +John Caldwell Calhoun, after a final speech on the issues of the country, +<span class="sidenote">Death of Calhoun</span> +died on the last day of March. He was the most prominent advocate of State +sovereignty. He was noted for his keen logic, his clear statements and +demonstrations of facts, and his profound earnestness. Webster said +concerning him that he had "the indisputable basis of high character, +unspotted integrity, and honor unimpeached. Nothing grovelling, low, or +mean, or selfish came near his head, or his heart."</p> + +<p>On July 9, President Taylor died, and Vice-President Fillmore succeeded +<span class="sidenote">Death of President Taylor</span> +him. He received the resignations of all the Cabinet. His new Cabinet was +headed by Webster, Secretary of State (succeeded by Everett in 1852). The +new fugitive slave bill was signed by Fillmore. But the law was defied in +the North as unconstitutional. Benton called the measure "the complex, +<span class="sidenote">Fillmore's Presidency</span> +cumbersome, expensive, annoying and ineffective fugitive slave law." In +Boston occurred the cases of the fugitives Shadrach, Simms and Anthony +Burns. Fillmore and Webster came to be looked upon in the North as traitors +to the anti-slavery cause. But for this Fillmore would have had a fair +chance of re-election to the Presidency.</p> + +<p>Then appeared in the "National Era" at Washington the opening chapters of +<span class="sidenote">"Uncle Tom's Cabin"</span> +Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin." A million copies of the book +were sold in America and in Europe. It spread and intensified the feeling +against slavery. Emerson published "Representative Men"; Hawthorne "The +Scarlet Letter"; and Whittier brought<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1123" id="Page_1123">[Pg 1123]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">"The Scarlet Letter"</span> +out his "Songs of Labor." Parodi, +the Italian singer, made her first appearance in America. She was eclipsed +presently by Jenny Lind, whose opening concert at Castle Garden in New York +netted $30,000 to her manager, Barnum.</p> + +<p>Under the stress of another Mohammedan rising against the Christians in +<span class="sidenote">Russian conscription</span> +Syria and the Balkans, Emperor Nicholas of Russia decreed a notable +increase of the Russian army. Out of every thousand persons in the +population seven men were mustered into the ranks in western Russia, thus +adding some 180,000 men to the total strength of the Russian force. In +midsummer, the city of Cracow, in Poland, was nearly destroyed by fire. +Later in the year occurred the death of the Polish general Bem, in Turkey, +who had won such distinction while serving the cause of Hungary. Another +<span class="sidenote">Schleswig-Holstein abandoned</span> +attempt to win Schleswig-Holstein from Denmark was made in summer. Unaided +by the Germans, the Schleswig-Holsteiners, under the leadership of +Willisen, a former Prussian general and distinguished theoretical +strategist, engaged a superior Danish army at Idstedt. They were beaten. +Their defeat had so discouraging an effect that Prussia abandoned the +<span class="sidenote">Ibsen</span> +struggle in their behalf. In Norway, about this time, Henrik Ibsen came +into prominence with a publication of his early drama "Catalina."</p> + +<p>In France, the younger Dumas proved himself a formidable rival of his +<span class="sidenote">Dumas Fils</span> +father by such works as his "Trois Hommes" and "Henri de Navarre."</p> + +<p>The death of Honoré de Balzac, the celebrated French novelist, was an event +in literature. Born<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1124" id="Page_1124">[Pg 1124]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Death of Balzac</span> +at Tours in 1799, he soon devoted himself to writing. +His first work, the tragedy "Cromwell," written at the age of nineteen, +proved unsuccessful, as did all of his earlier novels, which appeared under +a pseudonym. Various unfortunate undertakings, such as the publication of +new editions of "La Fontaine" and "Molière," plunged him into debt. He +returned to writing novels. Not until late was his authorship openly +avowed. By this time several of his stories, such as "Le Dernier Chouan," +"La Femme de Trente Ans," and his sprightly "Physiologie du Mariage," had +achieved immense success. Still Balzac failed to turn his successes to +financial account. He sank ever deeper in debt. In 1843 he turned upon his +critics with a slashing "Monograph on the Parisian Press." The major part +<span class="sidenote">"The Human Comedy"</span> +of his striking, realistic novels was published in the famous series "La +Comédie Humaine." This in turn was divided into these seven parts: "Scenes +of Private Life," "Life in the Provinces," "Life in Paris," "In Politics," +"In the Army," "In the Country," with "Philosophical Studies" and "Studies +in Analysis." In his preface of 1842, Balzac thus explained the scheme of +his work:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>"In giving the general title of 'The Human Comedy' to a work begun +nearly thirteen years ago, it is necessary to explain its motive, to +relate its origin, and briefly sketch its plan, while endeavoring to +speak of these matters as though I had no personal interest in them. +This is not so difficult as many imagine. Few works conduce to much +vanity; much labor conduces to great diffidence....<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1125" id="Page_1125">[Pg 1125]</a></span></p> + +<p>"As we read the dry and discouraging list of events called History, +who can have failed to note that the writers of all periods, in Egypt, +Persia, Greece and Rome, have forgotten to give us the history of +manners? The fragment of Petronius on the private life of the Romans +excites rather than satisfies our curiosity....</p> + +<p>"A sure grasp of the purport of this work will make it clear that I +attach to common, daily facts, hidden or patent to the eye, to the +<span class="sidenote">The novel defined</span> +acts of individual lives, and to their causes and principles, the +importance which historians have hitherto ascribed to the events of +public national life.... I have had to do what Richardson did but +once. Lovelace has a thousand forms, for social corruption takes the +hues of the medium in which it lives. Clarissa, on the contrary, the +lovely image of impassioned virtue, is drawn in lines of distracting +purity. To create a variety of Virgins it needs a Raphael.</p> + +<p>"It was no small task to depict the two or three thousand conspicuous +types of a period; for this is, in fact, the number presented to us by +each generation, and which the Human Comedy must require. This crowd +of actors, of characters, this multitude of lives, needed a +setting—if I may be pardoned the expression, a gallery. Hence the +division into Scenes of Private Life, of Provincial Life, of Parisian, +Political, Military and Country Life. Under these six heads are +classified all the studies of manners which form the history of +society at large.</p> + +<p>"The vastness of a plan which includes both a history and a criticism +of society, an analysis of its evils, and a discussion of its +principles, authorizes me, I think, in giving to my work the title +'The Human Comedy.' Is this too ambitious?" </p> +</div> + +<p>Altogether, Balzac brought out more than a hundred prose romances. They +contain the most<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1126" id="Page_1126">[Pg 1126]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Balzac's Works</span> +graphic pictures of the life of the French people under +Louis Philippe. Balzac said of himself that he described people as they +were, while others described them as they should be. A few months before +his death Balzac improved his circumstances by a marriage with the rich +Countess Hanska. On his death Victor Hugo delivered the funeral oration, +while Alexandre Dumas, his rival throughout life, erected a monument to him +with his own means.</p> + +<p>One week later Louis Philippe, the deposed King of France, died at +Claremont in England, in his seventy-seventh year. His career, from the +time that he followed the example of his father, Philippe Egalité, by +fighting the battles of the Revolution, and through the vicissitudes of his +exile until he became King in 1830, was replete with stirring episodes.</p> + +<p>Gay-Lussac, the great French chemist and physicist, died during the same +<span class="sidenote">Death of Gay-Lussac</span> +year. Born at Saint Léonard, Haut-Vienne, in 1788, Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac +distinguished himself early in his career as a scientist by his aerial +voyages in company with Biot for the observation of atmospheric phenomena +at great heights. In 1816, he was appointed Professor of Chemistry at the +Polytechnic School of Paris, a chair which he held until 1832. Promoted to +a professorship at the Jardin des Plantes, Gay-Lussac labored there +incessantly until his death. There is scarcely a branch of physical or +chemical science to which Gay-Lussac did not contribute some important +discovery. He is noted chiefly for his experiments with gases and for the +discovery of the law of combination by volumes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1127" id="Page_1127">[Pg 1127]</a></span></p> + +<p>Louis Napoleon, while administering affairs as President, began to let +<span class="sidenote">Louis Napoleon's presidency</span> +France feel his power. Early in the year he created his incapable uncle, +Jerome Bonaparte, a marshal of France. On August 15, his Napoleonic +aspirations were encouraged by a grand banquet tendered to him at Lyons. +His government felt strong enough to enact new measures for the restriction +of the liberty of the press.</p> + +<p>In Germany, as well as in Austria and Russia, similar reactionary measures +were enforced. Frederick William IV. of Prussia for a while appeared +<span class="sidenote">Prussian constitution</span> +anxious to undo the effects of his narrow policy of the previous year. A +constitution had been adopted in Prussia on the last day of January, and on +February 6 the King took the constitutional oath. Austria now began to edge +her way back into the management of German affairs. Under her influence +Hanover withdrew from the alliance of the three North German powers, +<span class="sidenote">South German alliance</span> +Hanover, Saxony and Prussia. Later Saxony also withdrew. On February 27, +the Kings of Bavaria, Wurtemberg and Saxony signed a joint agreement for a +restoration of the German Confederation and a maintenance of the federal +union. The Emperor of Austria gave to this scheme his full support. When +the Bundestag met again at Frankfort, Austria insisted on her rights as a +German State. Too late the Prussian representative advocated a German +federal State, with Austria excluded. The disastrous failure of Prussian +intervention in Schleswig-Holstein about this time brought Prussia into +further disrepute with the rest of Germany. England, France and Sweden +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1128" id="Page_1128">[Pg 1128]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Denmark's integrity guaranteed</span> +united to guarantee the integrity of Denmark. Prussia left the Duchies to +their fate. On July 19, Austria called for another assembly of the old +Confederation. Prussia and her adherents could not join. On August 17, the +German sovereigns met on the call of Austria at Frankfort to consider a +plan of federal union. The old Bundestag was reopened at Frankfort on +September 2, under the auspices of Austria. Prussia clung to her rival +federal union. A bone of contention was furnished by the little State of +Hesse. The Archduke of Hesse, the most reactionary of German princes, had +resumed his rule with the help of his hated Prime Minister, Hassenpflug. +<span class="sidenote">Hessians resist despotism</span> +The financial budget of this Minister was disapproved by the Hessian +Estates. Hassenpflug now dissolved the Assembly and proceeded to levy taxes +without its sanction. The people refused to pay. The courts decided against +the government. Even the soldiers and their officers declined to lift a +finger against the people. In the face of this resolute attitude the Prince +and his Minister fled the country, on September 12, and appealed to the new +Bundestag at Frankfort for help. The restoration of the Archduke to his +throne was decreed.</p> + +<p>Prussia now took a decided stand. On September 26, General von Radowitz, +the originator of the North German Union, was placed at the head of +Prussia's foreign affairs. He declared for the cause of the people in +Hesse. The Prussian troops were withdrawn from Baden over the military +roads leading through Hesse. To meet this situation, Francis Joseph of +Austria, in October, had a personal inter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1129" id="Page_1129">[Pg 1129]</a></span>view +<span class="sidenote">Prussians intervene</span> +with the Kings of Bavaria +and of Wurtemberg at Bregenz. It was decided to crowd the Prussians out of +Baden and Hesse by moving Bavarian and Austrian troops into those +countries. Another personal conference between Francis Joseph and Czar +Nicholas at Warsaw assured to Austria the support of Russia. In vain did +Frederick William send his cousin, Count Brandenburg, to win over the Czar +<span class="sidenote">Austria prepares for war</span> +to his side. Count Brandenburg met with so haughty a reception that he +returned chagrined, and, falling ill, died soon afterward. Both Austria and +Prussia mobilized their armies. At Vienna the Austrian Prime Minister +avowed to the Ambassador of France that it was his policy to "avilir la +Prussie, puis la démolir." On November 8, the vanguards of the Prussian and +Austrian troops exchanged shots. The single casualty of a bugler's horse +served only to tickle the German sense of humor. The Prussians retired +without further encounters. Radowitz resigned his Ministry. Otto von +Manteuffel was put in charge. On November 21, the Austrian Ambassador at +<span class="sidenote">Prussia cowed</span> +Berlin, Prince Schwarzenberg, demanded the evacuation of Hesse within +forty-eight hours. Prussia gave in. Manteuffel requested the favor of a +personal interview at Olmütz. Without awaiting Austria's reply he posted +thither. In a treaty signed at Olmütz late in the year, Prussia agreed to +withdraw her troops from Baden and Hesse, and to annul her military +conventions with Baden, Anhalt, Mecklenburg and Brunswick. Thus miserably +ended Prussia's first attempt to exclude Austria from the affairs of +Germany. As heretofore, the Prussian-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1130" id="Page_1130">[Pg 1130]</a></span>Polish provinces of Posen and Silesia +were excluded from the Confederation. Austria, on the other hand, tried to +bring her subjected provinces in Italy and Hungary into the Germanic +<span class="sidenote">Hessia ground under</span> +Confederation. Against this proposition, repugnant to most Germans, France +and England lodged so vigorous a protest that the plan was abandoned. The +Elector of Hesse-Cassel returned to his capital. Under the protection of +the federal bayonets he was able to bring his wretched subjects to complete +subjection.</p> + +<p>The profound disappointment of the German patriots at the downfall of their +<span class="sidenote">Gervinus</span> +political ideals found its counterpart in German letters and music. Georg +Gottfried Gervinus, the historian, who had taken so active a part in the +attempted reorganization of Germany, turned from history to purely literary +studies. It was then that he wrote his celebrated "Study of Shakespeare." +Richard Wagner, who had escaped arrest only by fleeing from Dresden, gave +<span class="sidenote">Richard Wagner</span> +up active composition to write pamphlets and essays, and published his +remarkable essay on "The Revolution and the Fine Arts." In the meanwhile, +Franz Liszt at Weimar brought out Wagner's new operas "Lohengrin" and +"Tannhäuser." Nicolas Lenau, the most melodious of the German lyric poets +<span class="sidenote">Lenau</span> +after Heine, died insane. Lenau, whose true name was Niembsch von +Strehlenau, was a Hungarian by birth. He joined the group of German poets +among whom were Uhland, Gustav Schwab and Count Alexander von Wurtemberg, +whose literary aspirations were ridiculed by Heine as "la Romantique +défroquée." Stimulated by his fellow poet<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1131" id="Page_1131">[Pg 1131]</a></span> Chamisso's voyage to Bering +Strait, Lenau sought new inspiration in America. On his return he wrote a +<span class="sidenote">Lenau's pessimism</span> +number of poems on America, which were published under the title of +"Atlantica." In later years Lenau's verses, like those of Leopardi in +Italy, became ever more melancholy, owing partly to inherited tendencies. +In the early forties the poet's pessimism turned into absolute melancholia.</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">Uhland</span> +After the death of Lenau the mantle of German poetry fell upon Uhland. One +of the younger poets, Paul Heyse, at the same time made his first +appearance with the poetic drama "Francesca da Rimini." +<span class="sidenote">Heyse</span></p> + +<p>In this year, Mirza Ali Mohamad, the great founder of the new Bab religion +in Persia, with his disciples Aka Mohamad Ali and Sayyid Husayn of Yezd, +<span class="sidenote">Babism in Persia</span> +suffered martyrdom. Sayyid Husayn recanted under torture, but the Bab and +Aka went firmly to the place of execution. Condemned to be shot, the Bab +escaped death by an apparent miracle. The bullets only cut the cords that +held him bound. He was afterward slain by a soldier. His body was recovered +by his disciples. Thus, in the words of Denison Ross, the Persian scholar, +"died the great Prophet-Martyr of the Nineteenth Century, at the age of +twenty-seven, having during a period of six brief years, of which three +were spent in prison, attracted to his person and won for his faith +thousands of devoted men and women throughout Persia, and having laid the +foundation to a new religion destined to become a formidable rival to +Islam." Further persecution of the Babis during this same year did much to +forward the new religion.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1851" id="a1851"></a>1851</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1132" id="Page_1132">[Pg 1132]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">P</span><span class="dcap1">RESIDENT LOUIS NAPOLEON'S</span> growing mastery of France was revealed early in +<span class="sidenote">Louis Napoleon's measures</span> +the year. On January 3, as the result of his restrictions of the liberty of +the press, the Ministry had to resign. The President deprived General +Changarnier, a pronounced Republican, of the command of the Paris garrison, +and dissolved the Assembly, which might have objected to these measures.</p> + +<p>Gasparo Spontini, the celebrated Italian composer, died on January 24, at +<span class="sidenote">Death of Spontini</span> +his birthplace in Ancona province. Born in 1774, Spontini was intended for +the priesthood, but while still a lad ran away and took up music. A +sympathetic uncle sent him to the musical conservatory at Naples, where he +studied under Sala Tritto. Spontini began his career as a dramatic composer +at the opening of the century while acting as orchestral conductor at +Palermo. In 1800 he brought out three operas, and wrote others for Rome and +Venice, so that by the time he went to Paris in 1803 he had sixteen operas +to his credit. His study of Mozart's music served to bring about a complete +change in his style. Thus his one-act opera "Milton," dedicated to Empress +Josephine, may be regarded as the first of his truly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1133" id="Page_1133">[Pg 1133]</a></span> original works. +Empress Josephine appointed him her chamber composer, and secured a hearing +for his new opera "The Vestal," produced at the Grand Opera. Napoleon +<span class="sidenote">Spontini's career</span> +awarded to him the prize for the best dramatic work of that year. In 1810, +Spontini became the director of the Italian opera, and there staged +Mozart's "Don Giovanni." Dismissed in 1812, on charges of financial +irregularity, he was reappointed as court composer by Louis XVIII. His +stage pieces in glorification of the Restoration only achieved a <i>succès +d'estime</i>. He was glad to accept an appointment to Berlin as court composer +for Frederick William III. There he brought out "Lalla Rookh," "Alcidor," +and "Agnes Hohenstauffen," none of which found currency in other cities. +His overweening conduct gradually made his position at Berlin untenable. He +was finally driven out by the hostile demonstrations of his audiences, and +retired, in 1841, a broken man. After a few years spent in Paris he +returned to Italy, where the Pope created him a count. Spontini returned to +his birthplace of Magolati village only to die.</p> + +<p>In Germany, King William IV. at Berlin celebrated the 150th anniversary of +the Prussian monarchy on January 18. A colossal statue of Frederick the +<span class="sidenote">Prussian events</span> +Great was made for this occasion by the sculptor Christian Rauch. At the +same time a further humiliation upon Prussia was inflicted by the military +occupation of Schleswig-Holstein by Austria. The Austrian troops, who came +to put a definite stop to hostilities in those provinces, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1134" id="Page_1134">[Pg 1134]</a></span> marched into +<span class="sidenote">Schleswig-Holstein again</span> +Schleswig-Holstein over a pontoon bridge laid by the retreating columns of +the Prussians. As a concession to outraged German feeling, representatives +from Schleswig-Holstein were to be readmitted to the Diet of the Germanic +Confederation. This superannuated Diet met again at Frankfort as in the +days of the Holy Alliance. Before this a conference of Ministers had been +held at Dresden, at which Prussia was represented by Baron Lamsikell, while +<span class="sidenote">Metternich returns</span> +Prince Felix Schwarzenberg appeared for Austria. With the powerful backing +of Russia, Austria could force the hand of Prussia into reacceptance of the +old order of things. As if to emphasize this, old Prince Metternich made +his reappearance in Vienna as if nothing had happened. On May 30, the +<span class="sidenote">Bismarck</span> +Confederate Diet met again at Frankfort. Baron Bismarck was appointed as a +delegate from Prussia. On the day after the opening of the Diet, the +sovereigns of Russia, Austria, and Prussia met at Olmütz to renew the +former alliance of these countries. A period of reaction set in. The +<span class="sidenote">The Dreibund</span> +Prussian Constitution was modified. The Emperor of Austria began to undo +the reforms granted by the Liberal Constitution of 1849. On August 20, he +arrogated to himself absolute powers in a series of Cabinet letters, in +which he declared that his Ministers were "responsible to no other +political authority than the throne," while the Reichsrath was to be merely +"considered as the council of the throne." Before this the Austrian and +Turkish Governments had come to a settlement respecting Hungarian and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1135" id="Page_1135">[Pg 1135]</a></span> +Polish refugees in Turkey. With the exception of Kossuth and seven others +<span class="sidenote">Austrian-Turkish agreement</span> +of the foremost leaders of the Hungarian revolution, a so-called amnesty +was extended to all refugees, provided they did not set foot in Hungary. +About this time another popular rising occurred in Bosnia. A Turkish army +was sent to suppress it, and Austrian troops took up their station on the +frontier. Many of the exiled Hungarians betook themselves to America. +Kossuth first went to England. A magnificent reception awaited him there.</p> + +<p>Lord Palmerston, the British Foreign Secretary, in the meanwhile had +compromised himself with his colleagues in the Cabinet by his independent +threats of interference in regard to the Hungarian refugees in Turkey. +Queen Victoria sent a letter to Prime Minister Russell containing these +significant words: "The Queen expects to be kept informed by Lord +<span class="sidenote">Palmerston rebuked</span> +Palmerston of what passes between him and the foreign Ministers, before +important decisions are taken based upon that intercourse; to receive the +foreign despatches in good time; and to have the drafts for her approval +sent to her in sufficient time to make herself acquainted with their +contents before they be sent off." Lord Palmerston replied: "I have taken a +copy of this memorandum of the Queen, and will not fail to attend to the +directions which it contains." Some of the most troublesome foreign +complications, as often before, first came up for settlement in the +Colonial Office. Thus, in March a British force under Sir Harry Smith +defeated a commando of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1136" id="Page_1136">[Pg 1136]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Boers lose Orange Colony</span> +Boers at Boomplaatz. Other Boer forces were +dispersed. The British flag was hoisted beyond the Orange River and the +annexation of that territory to Great Britain was accomplished.</p> + +<p>In India, war was renewed with the King of Burma. As usual, the trouble +started with complaints of the British merchants at Rangoon calling for the +<span class="sidenote">Second Burmese war</span> +protection of their country. Lord Dalhousie sent Commodore Lambert to +Rangoon on the "Fox." Lambert seized one of the ships of the Burmese king +lying in the river, promising to restore it on receipt of ten thousand +rupees as compensation for the injured merchants. In reply the Burmese +opened fire on the "Fox." Now all Burmese ports were declared in a state of +blockade. Lord Dalhousie sent nineteen steamers and 6,000 men to Rangoon +under General Godwin. Rangoon was captured after a heavy cannonade. The +<span class="sidenote">Fall of Rangoon</span> +three terraces of the great Pagoda there were carried by storm, and the +British flag hoisted over the golden dome of the sacred Pagoda. The capture +of Rangoon was followed by that of Bassie on the Irawaddy, and Prome. The +whole of Pegu was annexed to the British Empire.</p> + +<p>In Australia great excitement was created by the discovery of gold in +various places. As early as February, gold was found in New South Wales by +<span class="sidenote">Gold found in Australia</span> +returned gold seekers from California. A great number of immigrants rushed +into that province. In July, a squatter on Meroo Creek found a mass of +virgin gold weighing above a hundred pounds. Thereupon the famous gold +fields of Ballarat were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1137" id="Page_1137">[Pg 1137]</a></span> opened in Victoria. In October, gold discoveries +were made near Melbourne surpassing all others. As a result of the great +tide of immigration that swept into Victoria that province separated itself +from New South Wales. Melbourne became the capital of Victoria.</p> + +<p>In England, throughout the summer, a great international exposition in the +<span class="sidenote">Crystal Palace show</span> +so-called "Crystal Palace" erected on Hyde Park attracted visitors from far +and wide. A special ode by Alfred Tennyson was sang at the opening:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Uplift a thousand voices full and sweet,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">In this wide hall with earth's invention stored,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And praise the invisible universal Lord,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Who lets once more in peace the nations meet,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Where Science, Art and Labor have outpoured</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Their myriad horns of plenty at our feet.</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>The Exposition was the most ambitious affair of the kind held so far. The +building, which covered an area of nineteen acres, cost about £180,000. The +total receipts of the Exposition were more than a half million pounds. At +one time it was calculated nearly a hundred thousand visitors were +assembled under its roof. The difficult problem how to place the exhibits +of various countries was settled by awarding the choice places in an +arrangement according to Mercator's projection of the map of the world. +Even then Spain refused to be represented at the Exposition unless she were +provided with an entrance distinct from that of Portugal.</p> + +<p>Portugal was scarcely in a condition to share in any exhibition of +industrial progress. Another outbreak of the persistent conflict between +the Sep<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1138" id="Page_1138">[Pg 1138]</a></span>tembrists +<span class="sidenote">Civil war in Portugal</span> +and Cabralists broke out in April. An insurrection in +Oporto declared for the fugitive Duke of Saldanha. On April 29, he arrived +at Oporto. The movement assumed such threatening proportions that Queen +Maria da Gloria dismissed Count Thomar de Costa Cabral, and made Saldanha +Prime Minister.</p> + +<p>In Portugal's former colonial possessions a civil war, no less wearing, was +maintained. On October 2, General Urquiza of the Argentine Republic, having +joined forces with Brazil and Montevideo, compelled General Oribe to +<span class="sidenote">South American convulsions</span> +capitulate at Montevideo. This ended the nine years' investment of +Montevideo. Later in the year General Urquiza overthrew General Rosas at +Montevideo and proclaimed himself military dictator. In Chile, about the +same time that a violent earthquake wrecked more than four hundred houses +at Valparaiso, a military insurrection broke out under Colonel Ourriola. In +a sharp engagement between the government troops and the insurgents +Ourriola with three hundred of his followers was killed. The insurrection +was prolonged by General José Maria de la Cruz. Between four and five +thousand men were killed in the desultory engagements that followed. At +last the revolt was crushed by the decisive defeat of General Cruz in the +battle of Longamilla.</p> + +<p>In China, the threatening Taiping rebellion gathered force. In Siam, the +unusual spectacle was beheld of the simultaneous enthronement of two kings +as rulers of that country. The progress of modern civilization was attested +by the opening of a steam<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1139" id="Page_1139">[Pg 1139]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Extension of railways</span> +railway in Egypt between the cities of Cairo and +Alexandria. In Russia, too, a straight line of railroad was laid over the +long stretch between St. Petersburg and Moscow, and work was begun on +others no less ambitious.</p> + +<p>The fears of unpleasant complications between the United States and Spain, +<span class="sidenote">American filibusters pardoned</span> +by reason of Cuban filibustering expeditions, were allayed by a general +pardon extended to the American filibusters on the part of the Queen of +Spain. On August 11, Lopez had landed with more filibusters in Cuba. He was +captured shortly after his landing and was shot. The same fate was shared +by his Cuban followers. Only to the American adventurers who accompanied +<span class="sidenote">American yacht victory</span> +the expedition did the Spanish Queen's pardon apply. An event of joyful +interest to Americans was the victory of the American schooner-yacht +"America" over all her English competitors in the yacht races at Cowes on +October 22. She carried off the trophy of an international cup, which, +under the name of the America's Cup, was destined to remain beyond the +reach of English racing yachts throughout the rest of the century. Not long +after this the visit of two distinguished Europeans excited general +interest in America. One was Lola Montez, the famous Spanish dancer, whose +<span class="sidenote">Kossuth in America</span> +relations with King Louis I. of Bavaria had resulted in the loss of his +crown. The other was Louis Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot, who had been +brought from England on an American vessel. His reception in America +surpassed even that which had been accorded to him in England. During this +same year<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1140" id="Page_1140">[Pg 1140]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Death of Fenimore Cooper</span> +in America occurred the deaths of Audubon, the great naturalist; +Gallaudet, the benefactor of deaf-mutes, and James Fenimore Cooper, the +novelist. Cooper was born in Burlington, New Jersey, the son of a wealthy +father, who settled on the shores of Lake Otsego in New York. After +attending Yale College for three years, Cooper entered the United States +navy as a common sailor. He was promoted after some time to the rank of +midshipman and eventually to that of lieutenant. On his marriage in 1811 he +left the service, and soon began his career as an author. His first novel, +"Precaution," was not promising. In "The Spy," which appeared in 1821, he +gave the first indications of his peculiar originality. It made Cooper's +reputation as an American author. The knowledge that Cooper had acquired in +his father's estate on the borders of the wilderness and later on the sea +<span class="sidenote">Cooper's novels</span> +was turned to account in his many tales of Indian life and sea stories, +which took his contemporaries by storm. Most famous among them are: +"Deerslayer," "The Last of the Mohicans," "Pathfinder," "Pioneers," +"Prairie," and the sea tales "The Pilot" and "Red Rover." His strictures on +American customs in "Homeward Bound" and "Home as Found" brought upon him +much newspaper abuse. About the time of Cooper's death, Francis Parkman +published his "Conspiracy of Pontiac," Longfellow his "Golden Legend," +while Nathaniel Hawthorne brought out "The House of the Seven Gables."</p> + +<p>In England, Alfred Tennyson had been selected as the worthiest successor of +William Wordsworth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1141" id="Page_1141">[Pg 1141]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Tennyson, poet laureate</span> +in the office of Poet Laureate. He showed his +appreciation of the honor by his famous dedication to Queen Victoria in +"The Keepsake."</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Revered, beloved—O you that hold</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">A nobler office upon earth</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Than arms, or power of brain, or birth</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Could give the warrior kings of old,</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Victoria—since your Royal grace</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">To one of less desert allows</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">This laurel greener from the brows</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of him that utter'd nothing base:</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And should your greatness, and the care</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">That yokes with empire, yield you time</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">To make demand of modern rhyme</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">If aught of ancient worth be there;</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Then—while a sweeter music wakes,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And thro' wild March the throstle calls,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Where all about your palace walls</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The sunlit almond-blossom shakes—</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Take, Madam, this poor book of song;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">For tho' the faults were thick as dust</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">In vacant chambers, I could trust</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Your kindness. May you rule us long,</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And leave us rulers of your blood</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">As noble till the latest day!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">May children of our children say,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"She wrought her people lasting good;</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Her court was pure; her life serene;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">God gave her peace; her land reposed;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">A thousand claims to reverence closed</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In her as Mother, Wife, and Queen;</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"And statesmen at her council met</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Who knew the seasons when to take</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Occasion by the hand, and make</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The bounds of freedom wider yet</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"By shaping some august decree,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Which kept her throne unshaken still,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Broad-based upon her people's will,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And compass'd by the inviolate sea."</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1142" id="Page_1142">[Pg 1142]</a></span> +Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, daughter of Godwin and wife of the poet +<span class="sidenote">Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley</span> +Shelley, died during this year. She wrote some half dozen novels and +stories, the best of which was "Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus." +The weird story, which was written in 1816 in a spirit of friendly rivalry +with Shelley and Byron, achieved great popularity. This was largely by +reason of the originality of the author's conception of the artificial +creation of a human monster which came to torment its maker. Mrs. Shelley's +last book was an account of rambles in Germany and Italy. She also brought +out a careful edition of her husband's complete works.</p> + +<p>Joseph M.W. Turner, the most celebrated English artist of the Nineteenth +<span class="sidenote">Death of Turner</span> +Century, died in this same year. Born in 1775, he displayed his artistic +talents at an early age. At the outset of the Nineteenth Century he +achieved a national reputation by his "Battle of the Nile," but did not +reach the apotheosis of his fame until Ruskin sang his praises. One of his +most discussed pictures was that of the "Slave Ship," which has in turn +<span class="sidenote">"The Slave Ship"</span> +excited the most scathing ridicule and the most extravagant admiration. +Thus George Inness, the American artist, wrote of him: "Turner's 'Slave +Ship' is the most infernal piece of clap-trap ever painted. There is +nothing in it." Thackeray confessed with delightful frankness: "I don't +know whether it is sublime or ridiculous." Mark Twain, the American +humorist, has voiced both of these views at once, whereas Ruskin has +recorded:</p> + +<p>"I believe if I were reduced to rest Turner's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1143" id="Page_1143">[Pg 1143]</a></span> immortality upon any single +<span class="sidenote">Ruskin's estimate</span> +work, I should choose 'The Slave Ship.' Its daring conception, ideal in the +highest sense of the word, is based on the purest truth, and wrought out +with the concentrated knowledge of a life. Its color is absolutely perfect, +not one false or morbid hue in any part or line, and so modulated that +every square inch of canvas is a perfect composition; its drawing as +accurate as fearless; the ship buoyant, bending, and full of motion; its +tones as true as they are wonderful; and the whole picture dedicated to the +most sublime of subjects and impressions (completing thus the perfect +system of all truth, which we have shown to be formed by Turner's +works)—the power, majesty, and deathfulness of the open, deep, illimitable +sea."</p> + +<p>The picture, having first been acquired by Ruskin, finally went to America. +<span class="sidenote">Some Turner prices</span> +About this time Turner's canvases began to command fabulous prices. "Van +Goyen Looking for a Subject," sold in 1833 for a few hundred pounds, was +resold in London thirty years later for 2,510 guineas. At a Turner sale in +1878 hitherto unsold canvases and unfinished sketches brought over £73,000, +or about $365,000. Over a hundred of Turner's paintings and as many +sketches and drawings, dating from 1790 to 1850, are now in the National +Gallery of London.</p> + +<p>In France, Marshal Horace François Sebastiani, one of the favorites of +<span class="sidenote">Death of Sebastiani</span> +Napoleon the Great, died on July 21 at Paris. Sebastiani was a Corsican +like Napoleon. He was identified with his great countryman's career from +beginning to end. A soldier of fortune, like his illustrious chief, he +distin<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1144" id="Page_1144">[Pg 1144]</a></span>guished himself chiefly by his Machiavellian talents for diplomacy. +It was he who stirred up Napoleon's first war with England by his famous +mission to the East to lay bare England's weakness in that quarter. After +this, Sebastiani's name figured in many confidential missions. By his +machinations at Constantinople, at one time he embroiled both England and +<span class="sidenote">Corsican diplomacy</span> +Russia with Turkey, when such a diversion came most welcome to Napoleon, +who was then fighting on the frontiers of Poland. On the downfall of +Napoleon, Sebastiani was temporarily intrusted with the management of +affairs at Paris. His conduct at this time as at all others laid him open +to charges of double dealing and treachery. Napoleon showed his +appreciation of Sebastiani's services by remembering him in his will. The +famous old marshal's death gave to Prince Louis Napoleon a welcome +opportunity to recall the lost glories of the First Empire. A still better +chance was presently afforded. For, soon after Sebastiani, Marshal Soult +<span class="sidenote">Death of Soult</span> +died at château St. Amans, on November 26, in his eighty-second year. The +death of this distinguished Marshal-General of France served to recall some +of the brightest glories of Napoleonic days. Born in 1769 at St. +Amans-la-Bastide, Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult joined the royal army of +France at the age of sixteen. He served as a sous-lieutenant under Marshals +Lukner and Ustine, and so distinguished himself that he soon won his steps +and was attached as adjutant-general to Marshal Lefebvre's staff. As a +brigadier-general he turned the tide of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1145" id="Page_1145">[Pg 1145]</a></span> victory at the battle of Fluress. +<span class="sidenote">Soult's early successes</span> +After this he was intrusted with the command of a division, and took part +in all the campaigns in Germany, and through the Swiss and Italian +campaigns waged by Massèna. In a sortie from Genoa he was taken prisoner. +Set at liberty after the battle of Marengo, he returned to France at the +peace of Amiens, and was made one of the four colonels of the guard of the +consuls. Napoleon Bonaparte, though by no means fond of Soult, was quick to +detect his great talents as a soldier. After this a prominent part was +assigned to Soult in all of Napoleon's campaigns. He was one of the first +<span class="sidenote">First Peer of France</span> +of the generals selected for the new rank of marshal in 1804, and was the +first of the marshals to be advanced to the dignity of a peer of France. In +1805, Soult led the main column of the Grand Army, which gained the +Austrian rear, and thus brought about the disastrous capitulation of Ulm. +On the field of Austerlitz he was charged with the execution of the +brilliant manœuvre which decided the fate of that battle. His share in +the battle of Jena was scarcely less distinguished. After this victory, +Soult defeated Kalkreuth, captured Magdeburg, and put to flight Blücher and +Lestocq. On the bloody field of Eylau, Soult's ardor helped to secure the +semblance of victory for France. In 1808 he was sent to secure the French +conquest of Spain. He defeated the Spaniards at Manuessa and fought the +battle at Coruña where Sir John Moore lost his life. The English army +having fled, Soult overran Galicia and the north of Portugal, where he +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1146" id="Page_1146">[Pg 1146]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Foremost soldier of Empire</span> +stormed Oporto. On the landing of Wellington he retreated before that +commander into Spain, but after the battle of Talavera once more drove the +Spaniards and English before him into Portugal.</p> + +<p>After the loss of Badajoz and Ciudad Rodrigo, Soult was recalled to aid +Napoleon in Germany after the catastrophe of Moscow. He was the Emperor's +chief-of-staff in the battles of Luetzen and Bautzen. On Wellington's +invasion of France, Soult was sent against him. Marching through the passes +of the Pyrenees, he succeeded in inflicting great losses on the English. +<span class="sidenote">Last stand at Toulouse</span> +His attempts to secure Pampeluna and San Sebastian having failed, Soult was +compelled to face Wellington on the soil of France. His dispirited troops +were driven back at Toulouse, where he held his ground tenaciously until +the allies had lost 5,000 men. At the Peace of Paris he signed a separate +suspension of arms, and was rewarded for this by Louis XVIII. with the +<span class="sidenote">Minister of war</span> +cross of St. Louis and the portfolio of the Ministry of War, but during the +Hundred Days he declared for Napoleon, and once more served as his +chief-of-staff at Waterloo. On his return from exile in 1819 his marshal's +baton was restored to him. Charles X. also confirmed him in his rank as +<span class="sidenote">Marshal-General of France</span> +peer. Louis Philippe twice made him Minister of War. At the coronation of +Queen Victoria in 1838, Soult was elected to represent France. When he +retired into private life, nearly ten years later, the King revived for him +the ancient dignity of Marshal-General of France.</p> + +<p>By the time of Marshal Soult's death, the storm<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1147" id="Page_1147">[Pg 1147]</a></span> that arose over Louis +Napoleon's abrupt removal of Changarnier had been suppressed with a firm +<span class="sidenote">Louis Napoleon's aspirations</span> +hand. The majority in the Assembly who voted for a revision of the +Constitution was found to be ninety-seven less than the three-fourths +required, and all further opposition of the Assembly against Louis +Napoleon's measures was denounced as factious. Maupas, the obsequious Chief +of Police, discovered dangerous plots against the government and against +<span class="sidenote">Maupas</span> +the person of the President. Fears of possible Napoleonic aspirations had +been silenced by Louis Napoleon's energetic protests. He himself stated +publicly: "They think that I wish to revive Napoleon. What could I revive +of Napoleon? One sole thing—a crime. I am not a genius—so I cannot copy +<span class="sidenote">Emphatic disavowals</span> +Napoleon; but I am an honest man—so I will imitate Washington. My name, +the name of Bonaparte, will be inscribed on two pages in the history of +France. On the first there will be crime and glory; on the second propriety +and honor. And the second, perhaps, will be worth the first. Why? Because, +if Napoleon is the greater, Washington is a better man. Between the guilty +hero and the good citizen I choose the good citizen. Such is my ambition."</p> + +<p>Later, after a caricaturist had been imprisoned and fined for depicting +Louis Bonaparte in the act of shooting at the French Constitution as a +<span class="sidenote">A last denial</span> +target, Morigny, Minister of the Interior, declared in the Council that "a +guardian of public power should never so violate the law, as otherwise he +would be—" "A dishonest man," interposed President<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1148" id="Page_1148">[Pg 1148]</a></span> Napoleon. Such was the +situation on the eve of December 2. As Victor Hugo put it, in the opening +chapter of his "History of a Crime": "People had long suspected Louis +Bonaparte; but long continued suspicion blunts the intellect and it wears +itself out by fruitless alarms." On December 1, the session of the Assembly +was devoted to a discussion on municipal law. It terminated with a peaceful +tribunal vote. Prince Louis Napoleon held an informal reception at the +<span class="sidenote">The Coup d'État</span> +Elysées. During that night, Louis Napoleon, in complicity with the bastard +princes, De Morny, Valevsky, Saint-Arnaud, Persigny, Maupas and others, +having made sure of the commanding officers of the troops on duty, caused +the arrest before daylight of all the leading Republicans. It was alleged +afterward that Colonel Espinasse, who was in charge of the soldiers +stationed at the Legislative Palace, received 100,000 francs and the +promise of a general's rank for his part in the affair.</p> + +<p>At the stroke of five in the morning, columns of soldiery filed out of all +the Paris barracks and occupied the commanding positions where barricades +had been thrown up in former times. At the same time a score of detectives +in closed carriages apprehended the leading members of the Assembly. Among +them were Cavaignac, Changarnier, Thiers, Bedeau, General Lamorcière, the +Acting-Secretary of War, and Charras. The government printing establishment +and all the newspaper offices were occupied by troops. Soldiers were placed +at the side of the printers, who were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1149" id="Page_1149">[Pg 1149]</a></span> then ordered to set up a series of +proclamations. Before six in the morning bands of bill stickers, hired for +the occasion, posted them up all over Paris. At breakfast time, when +<span class="sidenote">"Boxed up"</span> +sixteen deputies and seventy-eight citizens had been arrested and were held +secure, the Duke of Morny reported the success of the undertaking to Louis +Napoleon with the two words: "Boxed up." Louis Napoleon hereupon issued the +following decree in the name of the French People:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Article</span> I.—The National Assembly is dissolved.</p> +<span class="sidenote">Louis Napoleon's manifesto</span> +<p>"II.—Universal suffrage is re-established. The law of May 31 is +abrogated.</p> + +<p>"III.—The French People are convoked in their electoral districts +from the 14th December to the 21st December following.</p> + +<p>"IV.—The State of Siege is decreed in the district of the first +Military Division.</p> + +<p>"V.—The Council of State is dissolved.</p> + +<p>"VI.—The Minister of the Interior is charged with the execution of +this decree.</p> + +<p>"Given at the Palace of the Elysée, 2d December, 1851.</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Louis Napoleon Bonaparte</span>.</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">De Morny</span>, Minister of the Interior." </p></div> + +<p>Together with this decree Louis Napoleon issued this appeal to the people:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Frenchmen</span>! The present situation can last no longer. Every day which +<span class="sidenote">A Napoleonic address</span> +passes enhances the dangers of the country. The Assembly, which ought +to be the firmest support of order, has become a focus of +conspiracies. The patriotism of three hundred of its members has been +unable to check its fatal tendencies. Instead of making laws in the +public interest it forges arms for civil war; it attacks the power +which I hold directly from the People, it encourages all bad passions, +it compromises the tranquillity of France; I have dissolved it, and I +constitute the whole People a judge be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1150" id="Page_1150">[Pg 1150]</a></span>tween it and me. The men who +have ruined two monarchies wish to tie my hands in order to overthrow +the Republic; my duty is to frustrate their treacherous schemes, to +maintain the Republic, and to save the Country by appealing to the +solemn judgment of France.</p> + +<p>"Such is my firm conviction. If you share it, declare it by your +votes. If, on the contrary, you prefer a government without strength, +Monarchical or Republican, borrowed I know not from what past, or from +what chimerical future, answer in the negative.</p> + +<p>"But if you believe that the cause of which my name is the +symbol—that is to say, France regenerated by the Revolution of '89, +and organized by the Emperor, is to be still your own, proclaim it by +sanctioning the powers which I ask from you.</p> + +<p>"Then France and Europe will be preserved from anarchy, obstacles will +be removed, rivalries will have disappeared, for all will respect, in +the decision of the People, the decree of Providence.</p> + +<p>"Given at the Palace of the Elysée, 2d December, 1851. +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="smcap">Louis Napoleon Bonaparte</span>."</span> +</p> +</div> + +<p>During the same day the Assembly was dissolved by troops. Attempts at +<span class="sidenote">The Second December</span> +public protests were roughly suppressed. A few barricades were thrown up, +but the crowds were quickly dispersed, and those agitators who were caught +were hurried off to prison. On December 4, the troops were ordered out in +force, and proceeded to clear the streets. Nearly a thousand persons were +<span class="sidenote">Summary executions</span> +shot during the course of the day. The insurrection was stamped out. A few +days later, when the National Assembly tried to meet again, a hundred and +eighty members were arrested. Then appeared two parallel lists of names. +One contained the names of those who could be counted on for the purposes +of Prince Napoleon. They were all created members of a consultative +committee, which was to sit "until the reorganiza<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1151" id="Page_1151">[Pg 1151]</a></span>tion of the legislative +party." The other list contained the names of those who were proscribed +<span class="sidenote">Proscription</span> +from French territory, from Algeria, and from the colonies "for the sake of +public safety." Among them were Victor Hugo, Thiers, Baune, Laboulaye, +Theodore Bac, and Lamarque. Many hundreds of compromised Republicans fled +before they were proscribed. Others were transported across the borders +without any publication of the fact. Still others were summarily shot in +the barrack courtyards.</p> + +<p>On December 21, the result of the so-called popular plebiscite was +announced. Louis Napoleon had been elected President for ten years by an +<span class="sidenote">The plebiscite</span> +alleged vote of 7,473,431 ays against 641,341 nays. He was clothed with +monarchical power and was authorized to issue a constitution for France. +Outside of France the results of the <i>coup d'état</i> were received with +equanimity. Pope Pius IX. went to a review held by General Gémeau in Rome +and begged him to congratulate Prince Louis Napoleon for him. Lord +<span class="sidenote">Foreign congratulations</span> +Palmerston in London, it was stated, told the French Ambassador that he +"entirely approved of what had been done, and thought the President of the +French fully justified." The British Ambassador at Paris was instructed to +make no change in his relations with the French Government, and to do +nothing that might wear the appearance of English interference. It appeared +<span class="sidenote">Palmerston dismissed</span> +that Lord Palmerston had once more acted on his own initiative. He was +requested to resign. Before long the dismissed Minister had an opportunity +of showing the government how formidable an adversary he could be.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1852" id="a1852"></a>1852</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1152" id="Page_1152">[Pg 1152]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">O</span><span class="dcap1">N THE</span> first day of January, Louis Napoleon was reinstalled as President of +France in the Cathedral of Notre Dame. The day was made a public holiday. +<span class="sidenote">Louis Napoleon in power</span> +On New Year's Eve the Diplomatic Corps had congratulated Prince Napoleon at +the Palace of the Tuileries. A few days later some of the more prominent of +the President's opponents, among them Changarnier and Lamorcière, were +conducted to the Belgian frontier. On January 10, the President banished +eighty-three members of the Legislative Assembly. Some six hundred persons +who had been arrested for resisting the <i>coup d'état</i> at the same time were +taken to Havre for transportation to Cayenne. On January 14, the new +constitution was made public. All real powers were vested in the President. +He had the initiative for all new measures, as well as the veto on +deliberations of both Senate and Legislative Assembly. The Senators were to +be appointed by him. The sessions of both bodies were to be held behind +closed doors. The impotence of the legislators was offset by their princely +salaries. Senators were to receive 30,000 francs per year, while the +Deputies drew half that sum. The actual sessions of the Legislature were +limited to three years. The President<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1153" id="Page_1153">[Pg 1153]</a></span> himself was to draw an annual salary +of 12,000,000 francs. The money for these expenditures was raised by +extraordinary means. A decree on January 22 confiscated all former crown +lands and the estates of the Princes of Orleans. The press was gagged by a +decree prohibiting the publication of any newspaper without the sanction of +the government. All liberty poles were chopped down, and the motto of +<span class="sidenote">Empire foreshadowed</span> +"Liberté, Fraternité, Egalité," was tabooed. On February 29, the elections +for the Legislative Assembly were held. The government nominated all the +candidates, and practically all were elected. Late in March, Prince Louis +Napoleon opened the Senate and Corps Legislatif. His address throughout was +couched in the language of a monarch. While he conceded the intention of +the republican reforms to be harmless, he suggested the possibility that he +might be called upon "to demand from France in the interest of peace a new +title, by which the powers that have been conferred upon me may be +confirmed once for all." A Cabinet was formed of the President's most +devoted followers, under the nominal leadership of Persigny. One of the +first votes of the Legislature, after fixing the President's salary, was a +grant of 80,000,000 francs for public works wherewith to occupy the +laboring classes. This done, the President made a triumphal tour of France. +The government officials saw to it that he received a magnificent welcome +wherever he appeared.</p> + +<p>In the neighboring countries the progress of events in France created less +misgivings than had the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1154" id="Page_1154">[Pg 1154]</a></span> doings of the Republic. In Austria, Emperor +<span class="sidenote">Death of Schwarzenberg</span> +Francis Joseph further undid the work of the recent revolution by his total +abolition of the rights of trial by jury on January 15. Shortly afterward, +Prince Felix Schwarzenberg, the Prime Minister, died in Vienna. He was a +nephew of Charles Philippe, the famous Prince of Schwarzenberg who +negotiated the marriage of Napoleon and Marie Louise, and later led the +<span class="sidenote">Buol Schauenstein, Austrian Minister</span> +allied armies against Napoleon. In 1848, Prince Felix Schwarzenberg +commanded a division in Italy. Later he joined Windischgrätz in the +military occupation of Jena, and soon took charge of the civil +administration of the empire, in which he continued until his death. He was +succeeded by Count Buol von Schauenstein.</p> + +<p>Throughout the year the affairs in Germany were tranquil. Shortly after the +death of the old King of Hanover, a tariff union was established with +Russia, while a postal and telegraph union was extended to all the German +<span class="sidenote">German affairs</span> +States. Early in the year the King of Prussia revived the old Council of +State as it was before 1848. The Constitution underwent new modifications. +In May, a conference of the great Powers met at London to treat of certain +German affairs. An agreement was signed practically assuring the +independence of the Swiss district of Neuchâtel, which had revolted from +Prussia in 1848. Three days later, on May 8, a protocol was signed +concerning the Danish succession. This intricate problem continued to vex +the souls of diplomats. Lord Palmerston, when interrogated about it, said +that there were only three persons who understood the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1155" id="Page_1155">[Pg 1155]</a></span> +Danish succession.<span class="sidenote">The Danish succession</span> +One was the Queen Dowager of Denmark, the second was God Almighty, and the +third was a German professor, but he had gone mad. While attempting to +settle the terms of the succession the five great Powers and Sweden signed +a treaty guaranteeing the integrity of the Danish monarchy. The throne was +granted to Christian of Sonderburg-Glücksburg. Christian, Duke of +Augustenburg-Holstein, consented to surrender his rights for a money +<span class="sidenote">German fleet sold</span> +consideration. The treaty was not recognized by the German Confederation, +but was accepted by Hanover, Saxony and Wurtemberg. In June, Germans had +the humiliating experience of seeing their fleet, the formation of which +was undertaken in 1848, sold at public auction. All aspirations for sea +power had been abandoned by the Bund. In July, Prussia's representative at +the Bund meetings, Baron Bismarck, was sent as envoy to Austria. Through +his efforts at Vienna the Austrian Government was prevailed upon to join +the German Zollverein and to sign commercial treaties.</p> + +<p>During this year in Germany, Friedrich Wilhelm Froebel, the German +educator, died at Marienthal on July 21, in his seventieth year. After an +<span class="sidenote">Death of Froebel</span> +unsettled and aimless youth, he started teaching, and soon developed a +system which has become famous under the name of Kindergarten (children's +garden). It was intended to convert schooling into play, which, according +to Froebel, is the child's most serious business. The first Kindergarten +was opened in 1840 at Blankenburg, Prussia. Meeting at first with little +encouragement, it gradually gained a footing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1156" id="Page_1156">[Pg 1156]</a></span> in most civilized countries. +Froebel was largely assisted in the propagation of his ideas by the +Baroness Marenholz-Buelow. He was the author of "Die Menschenerziehung" +(Human Education) and "Mutter und Koselieder," a book of nursery songs and +pictures for children.</p> + +<p>In England, the dismissal of Lord Palmerston left the Foreign Office in an +embarrassing position as regarded Louis Napoleon's government. Other +embarrassments were likewise bequeathed. Thus, on January 10, Lord +<span class="sidenote">"Prometheus" affair</span> +Palmerston's successor, Lord Granville, had to disavow to the American +Minister the act of the British man-of-war "Empress," which had fired into +the American steamer "Prometheus." England offered an apology which was +accepted.</p> + +<p>The caustic comments of the English press on French affairs, together with +the free utterances of Victor Hugo and other French exiles on English soil, +gave great offence to Louis Napoleon. Count Valevski's diplomatic protests +<span class="sidenote">"The Third of February"</span> +found support in the British House of Lords. It was then that Alfred +Tennyson, undeterred by the supposed reserve of his Poet Laureateship, +wrote the invective lines entitled "The Third of February."</p> + +<p>About the same time Thackeray brought out his "History of Henry Esmond," a +<span class="sidenote">"Henry Esmond"</span> +masterpiece of English historical fiction. In the dedication to Lord +Ashburton, Thackeray thus announced his departure for America. "My volume +will reach you when the author is on his voyage to a country where your +name is as well known as here."</p> + +<p>In South Africa, at the Sand River Convention<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1157" id="Page_1157">[Pg 1157]</a></span> on January 17, the British +<span class="sidenote">Transvaal's independence recognized</span> +virtually accepted the independence of the Transvaal. In the meanwhile the +fifth war with the Kaffirs was begun by Sir George Cathcart. Incidentally a +crushing defeat was inflicted on the Basutos at Guerea. Toward the close of +the year the situation grew so alarming that martial law was proclaimed by +the Governor of Cape Colony. All inhabitants were bidden to the frontier +for the defence of the colonies.</p> + +<p>In China, the Taiping rebellion grew ever more threatening. Early in the +year Tien Wang decided to march out of Kmaysi to invade the vast untouched +provinces of Central China. He averred that he had "the divine commission +<span class="sidenote">Progress of Taiping rebellion</span> +to possess the Empire as its true sovereign." The rebels now became known +as Taipings, after a town of that name in Kwangsi province. Tien Wang began +his northern march in April. Irritated by the conduct of Tien Wang's +lieutenants, the Triads took a secret departure and made peace with the +Imperialists. Their secession put an end to the purpose of attacking Canton +which Tien Wang had cherished, and he made an assault on Kweisling. The +Imperial Commissioners at that place having beaten them back failed to +pursue and conquer them, and they advanced unopposed across the vast +province of Hoonan. At Changsha they encountered strong resistance. After a +siege of eighty days they abandoned the attack and marched northward. They +captured Yoochow, which was an important arsenal, and soon afterward +Hankow, Manchong and How-Kong were taken.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1158" id="Page_1158">[Pg 1158]</a></span></p> + +<p>In the Argentine Republic, the civil war and its consequent upheavals were +continued. On February 3, General Urquiza, commanding the combined army of +Entre Rios and Brazil, defeated General Rosas at Monte Cazeros, "the gate +<span class="sidenote">South American struggles</span> +of Buenos Ayres." The city capitulated and the civil war seemed ended. +Urquiza announced himself as provisional dictator. On May 31, he was +elected Provisional President, while Vincente Lopez was elected Governor of +Buenos Ayres. One month later, Urquiza, having won over the army by a +sudden <i>coup d'état</i>, seized the reins of government as dictator. His first +measure was to acknowledge the independence of Paraguay. In September, +Urquiza's refusal to recognize the political and commercial pre-eminence of +Buenos Ayres produced another revolt. On September 11, the people of Buenos +Ayres, under the leadership of Bartholomay Mitré, seceded from the +confederacy. Urquiza was compelled to leave Buenos Ayres and proceeded to +Santa Fé, where he was acknowledged as President by the thirteen other +provinces. They bound themselves by a treaty to secure the free navigation +of all rivers flowing into the La Plata. On November 20, the Congress of +the Confederation met at Santa Fé and invested Urquiza with full powers to +suppress the revolution in Buenos Ayres. Urquiza's blockade of the city by +sea led to another revolution within the walls of Buenos Ayres. General +Pintos assumed charge and Urquiza withdrew.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<a name="SEPOY_REBELS" id="SEPOY_REBELS"></a> +<img src="images/execution.jpg" width="500" height="270" alt="EXECUTION OF SEPOY REBELS" +title="EXECUTION OF SEPOY REBELS" /> +<span class="caption">EXECUTION OF SEPOY REBELS</span> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0em"><small>Painted by Verestchagin</small></span> +</div> + +<p>Nicholas Vasilievitch Gogol died on March 4 at Moscow. Born in 1810, at +Soroczince, in the dis<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1159" id="Page_1159">[Pg 1159]</a></span>trict +<span class="sidenote">Death of Gogol</span> +of Poltava, he began his career as a writer +with poems and a metrical tragedy, written in the dialect of Little Russia. +To this period belongs his ballad "Two Fishes." After travelling in +Germany, he was called to a professorship at the patriotic institute of St. +Petersburg, where he wrote his famous prose romances in Greater Russian +dialect. His "Evenings at a Farm" admitted him to the literary circles of +the capital and brought him the friendship of his fellow poet, Pushkin. He +wrote a series of short stories, treating of life in the Russian provinces, +and among the middle class, which were subsequently published in the +collection of four volumes, entitled "Mirgorod." In 1833, Gogol brought out +his satirical comedy, "The Commissioner," in which he laid bare the +all-pervading corruption of Russian official life. After prolonged travels +through Germany, France, Italy and Palestine, Gogol returned to Russia and +<span class="sidenote">"Dead Souls"</span> +settled near St. Petersburg. He wrote more short stories and descriptions +of travel, and finally published the incomplete satirical novel, "Dead +Souls," which is the best of his works. In this novel he handled Russian +life fearlessly, with satirical comments on the weak points of Russian +society. It is stated that he finished the story before his death, but +burned the manuscript. When he died he was acknowledged as the best writer +of satirical prose in Russia.</p> + +<p>On February 20, Lord Palmerston was enabled to make his former colleagues +in the Cabinet feel his power. Owing to general vague apprehensions that +Prince Louis Napoleon might revive his illus<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1160" id="Page_1160">[Pg 1160]</a></span>trious namesake's projects +<span class="sidenote">Palmerston's revenge</span> +against England, a cry had arisen for the strengthening of the national +defences. To satisfy this demand, Lord John Russell brought in a local +militia bill. Lord Palmerston promptly moved an amendment for a general +volunteer force instead of local militia, thus totally altering the nature +<span class="sidenote">Earl of Derby Premier</span> +of the bill. The amendment was sustained by a majority of eleven votes. +Lord John Russell's Ministry thereupon resigned, and the Earl of Derby was +called in. The most conspicuous member of the new Cabinet was Benjamin +Disraeli, who took the portfolio of the Exchequer. Disraeli by this time +had already achieved popularity as an author. Some idea of his personality +may be gathered from a contemporary's description of his outward appearance +in those days:</p> + +<p>"Usually he wore a slate-colored velvet coat lined with satin, purple +<span class="sidenote">Disraeli's appearance</span> +trousers with a gold band down the outside seam, a scarlet waistcoat, long +lace ruffles falling down to the tips of his fingers, white gloves with +brilliant rings outside them, and long black ringlets rippling down over +his shoulders. When he rose in the House, he wore a bottle-green frock +coat, with a white waistcoat, collarless, and a needless display of gold +chains."</p> + +<p>The new Ministry was so distinctly protectionist that the Anti-Corn Law +League was reorganized to resume the agitation for free trade. Soon the +perennial troubles with America about the fisheries of Newfoundland broke +out afresh. The new Foreign Secretary, the Earl of Malmesbury, insisted +upon a strict fulfilment of the terms agreed upon in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1161" id="Page_1161">[Pg 1161]</a></span> convention of +<span class="sidenote">American fisheries dispute</span> +1818. Armed vessels were sent to the coast of British North America. The +United States likewise sent a war steamer to the disputed fishing-grounds. +Many vessels were boarded for information, but both sides abstained from +giving serious grounds for complaint.</p> + +<p>In the United States, the Whigs, encouraged by their success with Taylor, +put forth another military officer, General Scott, as their Presidential +candidate. At the convention held in Baltimore in June, Webster, Fillmore +and Scott were put in nomination. Fifty-two ballots were cast before Scott +was nominated. The candidates before the Democratic Convention in Baltimore +<span class="sidenote">Franklin Pierce elected</span> +were Buchanan, Cass, Marcy and Douglas. Franklin Pierce was chosen after +more than forty ballots. The Free Democrats selected John P. Hale and +Julian of Indiana. Pierce carried twenty-seven States, to Scott's four, +receiving 254 votes to Scott's 42.</p> + +<p>Henry Clay died in June. He was a candidate for the Presidency three times. +<span class="sidenote">Death of Clay</span> +Few Americans have been more idolized than he. His great success was +largely due to his manner, which captivated opponents as well as friends. +In will and fine sense of honor he was as firm and lofty as Jackson or +Jefferson. He it was who said that he would "rather be right than +<span class="sidenote">Death of Webster</span> +President." His death was followed in October by that of his great rival, +Daniel Webster. This great American orator was born in 1782, the son of a +New England farmer. He was graduated from Dartmouth College, and began the +study of law. While reading Vattel,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1162" id="Page_1162">[Pg 1162]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Webster's oratory</span> +Montesquieu, and Blackstone, he eked +out a humble income as a school teacher. He became associated with +Christopher Gore, a noted lawyer of those days in Boston, and presently +acquired a reputation as an orator. An address delivered at Fryeburg in +1802 furnished the model for his great Concord speech four years later. As +<span class="sidenote">The Concord speech</span> +a result of the speeches in opposition to Jefferson's and Madison's embargo +policy against England, Daniel Webster was elected by the Federalists of +New Hampshire to represent them in the Thirteenth Congress. Henceforth +Webster's stirring addresses were delivered in the national forum of the +<span class="sidenote">Webster in Congress</span> +United States. Pitted against such distinguished speakers as Calhoun and +Henry Clay, he gradually came to be acknowledged the foremost orator of +America. He was at the height of his reputation when he died. His most +lasting achievement, perhaps, was the conclusion of the famous +Webster-Ashburton treaty with England, settling the boundaries between +British North America and the United States.</p> + +<p>Shortly before Webster's death another orator of world-wide reputation was +heard at Washington. This was Louis Kossuth, the Hungarian exile. On the +occasion of a banquet tendered to him by the American Congress early in the +year, Kossuth delivered the famous speech in which he compared the Roman +Senate of antiquity to that of the New World.</p> + +<p>Junius Brutus Booth, the great English tragedian, died in America while +returning from a lucrative tour to California. Booth made his début at +Covent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1163" id="Page_1163">[Pg 1163]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Junius Brutus Booth</span> +Garden Theatre in London in 1814 as Richard III. His personal +resemblance to the hunchbacked tyrant conformed so well to the traditions +of the stage, and his personification of the character was in other +respects so striking, that he eclipsed Edmund Keane, then acting at Drury +Lane. The rivalry of the two actors grew so intense that Booth was driven +from the stage by a serious theatrical riot. In 1821, he made his first +appearance in the United States, again as Richard III., and was received +with such enthusiasm that he settled permanently at Baltimore. From here he +made professional excursions to other American cities. Among his most +familiar personations were Iago, Hamlet, Shylock, Sir Giles Overreach, and +Sir Edmund Mortimer. Over his audiences he ever exercised a wonderful +power. On his death he left two sons, both actors like himself, and both +destined to make their mark in life.</p> + +<p>The death of Thomas Moore, the Irish poet, excited as much attention in +<span class="sidenote">Death of Tom Moore</span> +America as it did in England. Born at Dublin in 1779, Tom Moore, as he was +usually called, wrote verses in early youth. Like Pope, he may be said to +have lisped in numbers. At the age of thirteen he was a contributor to the +"Anthologia Hibernica." After graduating at Trinity College he came to +London, and there dedicated his translation of the poems of Anacreon to the +Prince Regent. He became a favorite of fashionable society. Among his +patrons were the Earl of Moira, Lord Holland, the Marquis of Lansdowne, and +other noblemen of the Whig party. He obtained the appointment of Registrar +to the Admiralty in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1164" id="Page_1164">[Pg 1164]</a></span> Bermuda, but on arriving there hired a deputy to +<span class="sidenote">Moore's American impressions</span> +discharge the duties of the office and went on a tour to America. Like some +other famous travellers, he conceived a poor opinion of the American +people. In commemoration of his trip, Moore brought out "Epistles, Odes and +other Poems," containing many defamatory verses on America. One scurrilous +stanza read:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The patriot, fresh from Freedom's councils come,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Now pleas'd retires to lash his slaves at home;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or woo, perhaps, some black Aspasia's charms,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And dream of freedom in his bondmaid's arms.</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>In a footnote Moore was careful to explain that this allusion was to the +President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson. The poems were roughly +handled by the "Edinburgh Review." This led to a duel between Moore and +Jeffrey—a bloodless encounter, which resulted in a life-long friendship +<span class="sidenote">"Irish Melodies"</span> +between the two men. The same affair produced a quarrel and Moore's +subsequent friendship with Byron. Throughout this time Moore brought out +his charming "Irish Melodies," the most popular of all his productions. +Messrs. Longwin, the publishers, agreed to give him £3,000 for a long poem +<span class="sidenote">"Lalla Rookh"</span> +on an oriental subject. Moore retired to the banks of the Dofe, surrounded +himself with oriental books, and in three years produced "Lalla Rookh." The +success of this work was beyond the expectations of the publishers. After +achieving this triumph, Moore travelled abroad in the company of the +wealthy poet Rogers, and later of Lord John Russell. At Venice he visited +Lord Byron. The affairs<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1165" id="Page_1165">[Pg 1165]</a></span> of his office in Bermuda next called him there, +after which he resided in Paris, where he wrote his famous "Fables for the +Holy Alliance." Returning to England, he settled at Bow-wood near +Wiltshire, the seat of his life-long friend, Lord Lansdowne. There he spent +his declining years and died in dotage.</p> + +<p>Tom Moore, while a very popular poet, produced few poems of lasting +quality. Most characteristic of Moore, perhaps, are his lightest verses, +such as "The Time I Lost in Wooing," the melodious lines "Oft, in the +Stilly Night," or the famous Irish apostrophe:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dear Harp of my Country! in darkness I found thee,</span><br /> +<span class="sidenote">"Dear Harp of My Country"</span> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The cold chain of silence had hung o'er thee long,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When proudly, my own Island Harp, I unbound thee,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And gave all thy chords to light, freedom, and song!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The warm lay of love and the light note of gladness</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Have waken'd thy fondest, thy liveliest thrill;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But, so oft hast thou echoed the deep sigh of sadness,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">That ev'n in thy mirth it will steal from thee still.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dear Harp of my Country! farewell to thy numbers,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">This sweet wreath of song is the last we shall twine!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Go, sleep with the sunshine of Fame on thy slumbers,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Till touch'd by some hand less unworthy than mine;</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">If the pulse of the patriot, soldier, or lover,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Have throbb'd at our lay, 'tis thy glory alone;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I was but as the wind, passing heedlessly over,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And all the wild sweetness I wak'd was thine own.</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>The death of Wellington, on September 14, was felt as a national loss in +<span class="sidenote">Death of Wellington</span> +England. The Iron Duke died in his eighty-fourth year, having grown more +and more infirm in his last few years. Arthur Wellesley, or Wesley, as the +name was originally written, singularly enough received his first military +education in France, under the direction of Pi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1166" id="Page_1166">[Pg 1166]</a></span>gnorel, the celebrated +engineer. He saw his first active service with the Duke of York's +disastrous expedition to the Netherlands in 1794. There he gained his +colonelcy. After his transfer to India he served under his elder brother, +Marquis Wellesley, and gained the brilliant victories of Assaye and of +<span class="sidenote">Wellesley's campaigns</span> +Argaum. On his return from India he was appointed Secretary of Ireland, and +there established the celebrated police force which later served as a model +for that of London. In 1807, he took part in the expedition against +Copenhagen, and after the death of Sir John Moore was sent to Portugal, +where he won the battles of Rolica, Vimiera, the brilliant passage of the +Douro, and the hard-fought field of Talavera. The battle of Busaco, the +storming of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz, the victories of Salamanca and +Vittoria, followed, and the Viscount successively became Earl and Marquis +of Wellington, and a grant from Parliament subsequently placed him in +possession of the domain of Strathfieldsaye. The capture of Pampeluna and +St. Sebastian, and the defeat of the French in the passes of the Pyrenees, +enabled him to plant the British ensign on French ground.</p> + +<p>The concluding triumphs of Orthes and Toulouse were succeeded by the +general peace and by his own promotion to a dukedom, the baton of a +field-marshal having previously been conferred upon him for his victory at +Salamanca. In 1814, the Duke of Wellington was appointed Ambassador to +France, and proceeded in that capacity to the Congress of Vienna. While +there, the return of Napoleon from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1167" id="Page_1167">[Pg 1167]</a></span> Elba once more called him to the field; +and on June 18, 1815, he gained his greatest triumph at Waterloo. After +this Wellington served his country in the capacity of a diplomat, as +Commander-in-Chief of the army, Prime Minister, and again as +Commander-in-Chief of the army. A public funeral was of course decreed. +<span class="sidenote">Wellington's funeral</span> +William Gladstone pronounced the funeral oration in Parliament. In the +procession that followed Wellington's bier, British soldiers of every arm +and of every regiment of the service for the first time marched together. +From Grosvenor Gate to St. Paul's Cathedral there was not a foot of +unoccupied ground. An unbroken silence was maintained as the procession +moved slowly by to the mausoleum where the remains of England's great +warrior were to be placed side by side with those of Nelson. Alfred +Tennyson recited his famous ode on the death of the Duke of Wellington:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bury the Great Duke</span><br /> +<span class="sidenote">Tennyson's Ode</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With an empire's lamentation,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Let us bury the Great Duke</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To the noise of the mourning of a mighty nation,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mourning when their leaders fall,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Warriors carry the warrior's pall,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And sorrow darkens hamlet and hall.</span> + +<hr class='hr' /> + +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lead out the pageant: sad and slow,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As fits an universal woe,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Let the long, long procession go,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And let the sorrowing crowd about it grow,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And let the mournful martial music blow;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The last great Englishman is low.</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>A new Parliament assembled in November. The result of the elections left +the government in as hopeless a minority as before. An elaborate sys<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1168" id="Page_1168">[Pg 1168]</a></span>tem of +finance brought forward by Disraeli was rudely handled by Gladstone. The +<span class="sidenote">Disraeli and Gladstone</span> +debate was one of the fiercest ever heard in Parliament. The excitement on +both sides was intense. Disraeli, animated by the power of desperation, was +in a mood neither to give nor to take quarter. He assailed Sir Charles +Wood, the late Chancellor of the Exchequer, with a vehemence which more +than once went to the very limits of Parliamentary decorum. The House had +not heard the concluding word of Disraeli's bitter and impassioned speech, +when Gladstone leaped to his feet to answer him. The Government was +defeated. Disraeli took his defeat with characteristic composure. The +morning was cold and wet. "It will be an unpleasant day for going to +Osborne," he quietly remarked to a friend as they went down Westminster +Hall together and looked out into the dreary street. That day, at Osborne, +the resignation of the Ministry was accepted by the Queen.</p> + +<p>The Earl of Aberdeen formed a new Ministry including Lord John Russell as +<span class="sidenote">New English Ministry</span> +Foreign Secretary; Lord Palmerston, Home Secretary; Earl Granville, +President of the Council; Gladstone, Chancellor of the Exchequer, while Sir +W. Molesworth, the historian, was Commissioner of Public Works. The Marquis +of Lansdowne occupied a seat in the Cabinet without holding any office. It +was another Ministry of all the talents. Recent events in France demanded +instant attention, the more so since the municipal council of London had +taken upon itself to send an address of congratulation to Louis Napo<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1169" id="Page_1169">[Pg 1169]</a></span>leon +upon his assumption of the empire. In the end the British Government took +the same course.</p> + +<p>In Paris, the Senate had been reconvened to consider the reinstitution of +<span class="sidenote">End of French Republic</span> +the empire. Within three days a <i>senatus consultum</i> was ready recommending +the desired change to another plebiscite. Every one of the Senators, so the +Parisians suggested, had 30,000 francs' worth of reasons for advocating the +change. The formality of a plebiscite was accomplished by November 21. The +government functionaries reported 7,854,189 yeas against 253,145 nays. On +the anniversary of his <i>coup d'état</i> of the previous year, Louis Napoleon +took the title of Napoleon III., by the grace of God and the will of the +<span class="sidenote">Second Empire</span> +nation, Emperor of the French. The title was made hereditary. In vain did +the Count of Chambord voice the protest of the Royalists, and Victor Hugo, +in his exile on the Island of Jersey, that of the Republicans. France was +once more under imperial rule, and seemed content to remain so. About this +time the great Crédit Mobilier was established as a joint-stock company by +Isaac and Emile Pereire.</p> + +<p>Outside of France, Louis Napoleon's second <i>coup d'état</i> created little +stir. Only Emperor Nicholas of Russia refused to recognize Louis Napoleon +<span class="sidenote">Holy Sepulchre controversy</span> +as a full-fledged monarch. An ecclesiastical dispute concerning the +guardianship of the holy places in Palestine threatened to make trouble +between France and Russia. In the end the Sultan was prevailed upon to sign +a treaty confirming the sole custody of the Holy Sepulchre to the French.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1853" id="a1853"></a>1853</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1170" id="Page_1170">[Pg 1170]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">O</span><span class="dcap1">N JANUARY 30</span>, Louis Napoleon married Eugénie Marie de Montijo de Guzman, a +<span class="sidenote">Empress Eugénie</span> +Spanish beauty. Raised to the rank of Empress, this ambitious lady at once +became a leader of fashion. The Czar of Russia, acting in conformity with +the sovereigns of Austria and Prussia, finally consented to acknowledge +Napoleon III. as Emperor of the French, and Great Britain followed. +Strengthened by this outward recognition, Louis Napoleon deemed it safe to +extend an amnesty to some 4,500 political prisoners and Republican exiles. +On February 5, however, General Saint-Priest, with many other Royalists, +was secretly arrested on charges of communicating with the Comte de +Chambord and of sending false news to foreign newspapers. Not long +afterward a bill was passed restoring capital punishment for attempts to +subvert the imperial government and for plots against the life of the +Emperor. On the recognition of the Empire by Great Britain, application was +made to the English Government for a surrender of the Great Napoleon's last +testament. The request was granted. Louis Napoleon thereupon undertook to +carry out his famous uncle's bequests. Under the stress of adversity, the +two branches<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1171" id="Page_1171">[Pg 1171]</a></span> of the Bourbon family became reconciled to each other. The +<span class="sidenote">French Royalists reconciled</span> +Duke de Nemours, on behalf of the House of Orleans, made his peace with the +Comte de Chambord. Henceforth, the Count of Paris was recognized by the +Royalists of France as the rightful pretender to the crown.</p> + +<p>In Germany, reactionary measures of repression were still in order. An +alleged democratic conspiracy was unearthed at Berlin in March, and another +<span class="sidenote">Gervinus' State trial</span> +in April. In Baden, Georg Gervinus, the historian, on charges of high +treason for writing his "Introduction to the History of the Nineteenth +Century," was sentenced to ten months' imprisonment, and his book was +ordered to be burned. The sentence of imprisonment, however, was not +executed. On April 28, Ludwig Tieck, the great German Shakespearian scholar +and romantic poet, died at Berlin. Born in 1778 at Berlin, he entered into +<span class="sidenote">Death of Tieck</span> +literary activity at the opening of the Nineteenth Century, and joined the +enlightened circle of Weimar. There he issued his great collection of +German medieval romances, and of the works of the Minnesingers. It was he +who drew Goethe into the study of Shakespeare, and who persuaded Henry +Steffens, the Norwegian philosopher, to try his hand at purely literary +productions. Together with Schlegel he was the greatest German exponent of +the works of Shakespeare.</p> + +<p>In Italy, likewise, severe measures of reaction were inflicted on the +people of the governments of Austria, Naples and some of the petty +principalities. In Tuscany, the reading of the Bible was prohibited.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1172" id="Page_1172">[Pg 1172]</a></span> In +February, a revolt at Milan, instigated by Mazzini, was ruthlessly put +<span class="sidenote">Reaction in Italy</span> +down. A few months later a revolutionary plot was revealed at Rome. Some +hundred and fifty conspirators were thrown into prison. As heretofore, +Garibaldi figured in these movements. In Sardinia alone, under the +enlightened Ministry of Count Cavour, the liberal movement for united Italy +was encouraged. The Pope's hostile attitude was resented by the passage of +anti-clerical measures in Sardinia. Thus at first ecclesiastical +jurisdiction was abolished, and later bills were proposed for the +suppression of convents and for the ultimate withdrawal of all State +support from the clergy.</p> + +<p>In October, while the conspiracy trials were still in full prosecution at +Milan, Tommaso Grossi, the Italian romantic poet, died in that city. Grossi +<span class="sidenote">Tommaso Grossi</span> +was born at Belland, on Lake Como, in 1791, and at an early age won +distinction by a patriotic satire against Austrian rule in northern Italy. +In 1817 he published "La Fuggitiva," a love story of the French wars, which +found great favor. Inspired by his intercourse with Manzoni, a few years +later he wrote "Ildegonda," a romantic poem treating of the times of +chivalry and cloister life. This poem won a great success. Less happy was +his attempt to rival Tasso with an epic poem in fifteen cantos on the +Crusades. Among his prose tales, the most lasting in interest are the +historical novel "Marco Visconti" and the idyl "Ulrico e Lida." Of his +lyric songs, "La Rondiella" achieved the greatest popularity.</p> + +<p>Gustave Courbet, the French originator of realism<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1173" id="Page_1173">[Pg 1173]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Gustave Courbet</span> +in painting, the author +of "Le Beau c'est le Laid," the man who claimed that all search for the +beautiful or ideality in art was a gross error, this year exhibited his +"Women Bathing," and again created a stir on the exhibition of his "Funeral +at Ornans" and his "Drunken Peasants at Flagny." This early exponent of +realism in its most radical form, despite his taste for vulgar types, +showed such strength of technique that his landscapes were accepted almost +at once as masterpieces.</p> + +<p>In England, a period of great prosperity had set in, notwithstanding +several great labor strikes, among them that of the London cabmen, and of +many thousands of operatives at Stockport and Preston. The success of the +<span class="sidenote">International expositions</span> +Crystal Palace Exhibition had been such that another great Industrial +Exhibition was held at Dublin. It was made the occasion of Queen Victoria's +second visit to Ireland. International expositions were likewise held at +Berlin and in New York.</p> + +<p>The change of Administration in the United States of North America gave a +new tone to affairs there, and incidentally brought America into closer +touch with the East. Congress had counted the electoral vote on February 9, +giving to Pierce 254 and 42 to Scott. Franklin Pierce was forty-nine years +<span class="sidenote">President Pierce inaugurated</span> +of age when he became President, and was the youngest man who had been +elected to that office. During the Mexican war he had fought with credit +under Scott. William L. Marcy became Secretary of State, and Guthrie, +McClelland, Jefferson Davis, Dobbin, Campbell and Cushing completed the +Cab<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1174" id="Page_1174">[Pg 1174]</a></span>inet. It was said that Pierce came into office with no bitter +opposition and went out with none. In his inaugural message he spoke with +doubt concerning his own powers. In truth, he proved himself the tool of +different managers.</p> + +<p>The American Government also assisted Grinnell in fitting out a second +<span class="sidenote">Kane's Arctic voyage</span> +expedition to the Arctic under charge of Dr. Kane, who was surgeon and +naturalist of the former expedition. The ships were frozen fast on the +shores of Greenland. Kane's crew, without waiting for relief, set out to +return in open boats, and after a voyage of 1,300 miles reached a Danish +settlement in Greenland, where a relief expedition met them. They reached +New York on October 11, 1855, where they were welcomed as men risen from +the dead. They brought no news concerning Sir John Franklin.</p> + +<p>Dominique François Arago died on October 2, at the age of sixty-seven. +<span class="sidenote">Death of Arago</span> +Scientists remember him chiefly for his experiments and discoveries in +magnetism and optics. He was one of the few men who championed Fresnel +during the controversy which raged at the time when the undulatory theory +of light was first announced. As a popular expounder of scientific facts, +Arago had few equals. With Gay-Lussac he was the founder of "Annales de +Chimie et de Physique." He was also an active politician, and was a member +of the French Provisional Government of 1848.</p> + +<p>A thriving oriental trade had sprung up, fostered partly by the development +of steam navigation and partly by the discovery of gold in California. A<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1175" id="Page_1175">[Pg 1175]</a></span> +few years previously a first attempt had been made by the United States +Government to break down if possible the system of exclusion kept up by +Japan. Commodore Biddle was despatched with two war vessels. His mission +proved unsatisfactory, and the Commodore was subjected to humiliating +experiences. Early in 1853, President Fillmore sent Commodore Perry with a +squadron of four vessels to present a letter from the President of the +<span class="sidenote">The opening of Japan</span> +United States to the Mikado of Japan, asking consent to the negotiation of +a treaty of friendship and commerce between the two governments. On July 7, +Commodore Perry's squadron steamed into the harbor of Yeddo. Perry got a +favorable reception after using his big guns. The President's letter was +left with the Mikado for the consideration of the Japanese Government, +while Perry sailed away, promising to return the following spring. In the +meanwhile violent upheavals in Japan resulted from the appearance of the +American mission at Yeddo. The appearance of the squadron had long been +anticipated, and was the subject of violent political discussions. Japan at +that time was threatened with civil war. Two parties were disputing +<span class="sidenote">Japanese dissensions</span> +concerning the proper successor to the worn-out Shogun, who had hitherto +wielded the powers of the impotent Mikado. The head of one party was Ee +Kamong No Kami, the head of the Fudai Daimios. By right he was to be +appointed Regent in case of an emergency. The head of the other party was +the Prince of Mito, one of the "three families," hereditary Vice-Shogun in +Yeddo, and connected by marriage with the family of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1176" id="Page_1176">[Pg 1176]</a></span> the Emperor and with +the wealthiest Daimios. The two parties made the arrival of the American +squadron a pretext for grasping at the reins of power. Letters were sent to +all the Daimios and Ometkis, requesting their opinions as to the reception +to be given to the Americans. The majority were for resenting any foreign +interference in the affairs of Japan by force. It was agreed, however, that +<span class="sidenote">Preparing for intrusion</span> +open declaration of war had best be deferred until the comparatively +defenceless shores of Japan could be strengthened and sea forts could be +erected. Orders were sent to the Daimios to muster the full strength of +their retainers and munitions of war, for "if Japan does not conquer, it +will be a great disgrace."</p> + +<p>In China, the Taipings, having captured Kinkiang and Gurking, closely +invested Nanking. After a fortnight's siege, the city surrendered to an +armed rabble. The Tartar colony of 200,000 threw themselves upon Tien +Wang's mercy, but not a hundred of them escaped: "We killed them all," said +<span class="sidenote">Taipings capture Nanking</span> +one of the Taipings; "we left not a root to sprout from." The acquisition +of Nanking, the second city in the empire, made the Taipings a formidable +rival to the Manchus, and Tien Wang became a contestant with Hienfung for +imperial honors. It cut off communication between north and south China. +Chinkiangfoo, at the entrance of the Grand Canal, and Yangchow, on the +north bank of the river, also fell into their hands. Tien Wang proclaimed +Nanking, the old Ming city, his capital. At a council of war it was decided +to provision and fortify Nanking, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1177" id="Page_1177">[Pg 1177]</a></span> then march against Peking. By the +end of May the Taiping army numbered 80,000. They attacked Kaifong and were +<span class="sidenote">Peking threatened</span> +repulsed, but continued their march toward Peking. After crossing the +Hoang-ho, they were again repulsed at Hwaiking. Passing on, they defeated a +Manchu force in the Sin Simming Pass, and in September added the province +of Pechili, and came to Tsing, twenty miles south of Tien-tsin, less than a +hundred miles from Peking. The fate of the Manchu dynasty trembled in the +balance. The Mongol levies at last arrived under their great chief, +Sankolinsin, and the invaders retired to their fortified camp at Tsinghai +and sent to Tien Wang for succor. At Tsinghai they were closely beleaguered +for some time to come.</p> + +<p>The recurrence of American filibustering expeditions to Cuba appeared to +the governments of England and France as evidence of an American purpose to +secure Cuba and the West Indian Islands. To avert this, they suggested to +the United States Government to make a treaty which should secure Cuba to +Spain. The American Government was asked "to decline now and forever +<span class="sidenote">American declaration as to Cuba</span> +hereafter all intention to obtain possession of the island of Cuba and to +discontinue all such attempts in that direction on the part of any +individual or power whatever." Secretary of State Everett replied that the +question affected American and not European policy, coming not properly +within the scope of the interference of European Cabinets; that the United +States did not intend to violate any existing laws; that the American +Government claimed the right to act regarding<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1178" id="Page_1178">[Pg 1178]</a></span> Cuba independently of any +other power, and that it could not view with indifference the fall of Cuba +into any other hands than those of Spain. This was tantamount to a +reassertion of the Monroe Doctrine. France did not reply to Everett's note, +and the correspondence with the British Foreign Office was scarcely more +satisfactory.</p> + +<p>A new treaty with Mexico was negotiated by Gadsden, by which the United +<span class="sidenote">Gadsden's Mexican treaty</span> +States secured Marrila Valley, with 44,000 square miles, on the payment of +$10,000,000. This settled the Mexican boundary dispute and averted all +danger of further war.</p> + +<p>Another international complication had arisen with Austria. On June 21, +Martin Koszta, a Hungarian refugee and would-be American citizen, +<span class="sidenote">Koszta episode</span> +travelling under a United States passport, was arrested by the Austrian +consul at Smyrna. Captain Ingraham of the United States sloop-of-war "St. +Louis," cruising in Turkish waters, hearing of this, put into Smyrna. In +accordance with the recent treaty governing Austrian refugees in Turkey, he +demanded the surrender of Koszta within eight hours. If the man were not +surrendered he threatened to land marines and take him by force. It was +finally agreed to leave Koszta in the hands of the French consul, who +presently released him. Austria issued a circular note to the courts of +Europe protesting against the conduct of Captain Ingraham, and followed +this up with a formal protest to the government of the United States. The +reply of the American Congress was to vote a medal for Captain Ingraham. +There the incident closed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1179" id="Page_1179">[Pg 1179]</a></span></p> + +<p>Other affairs absorbed the interest of Austria's Foreign Minister. A treaty +was signed with Prussia establishing a virtual defensive and offensive +alliance. At the same time Austria joined the German Zollverein for twelve +years. When the Montenegrins rose against their Turkish oppressors, Austria +supported their cause and demanded a redress of their grievances from +<span class="sidenote">Austria supports Montenegrins</span> +Turkey. After protracted negotiations this was granted. The wrongs of the +Montenegrins and other Christian subjects of Turkey were warmly espoused by +Russia. Czar Nicholas, as the pontiff of the Russian-Greek Church, claimed +a protectorate over the Greek Christians in Turkey. The pending +difficulties concerning the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem became part of the +<span class="sidenote">Russia threatens Turkey</span> +controversy. On the pretext of legalizing the predominant position of the +Greek Church as one of the guardians of the Holy Sepulchre, the Czar +assumed a threatening attitude toward Turkey. For a while Lord Stratford +Canning, the British Ambassador at Constantinople, succeeded in mediating +between Russia and France. A temporary agreement was effected. At this +point the appearance of a French fleet in Turkish waters gave great offence +to Russia, making it appear that the concessions to France had been +extorted by a menace. Already Sir Hamilton Seymour, the British Ambassador +at St. Petersburg, had been sounded by the Czar. It was on that occasion +that Nicholas uttered the historic phrase that "the sick man was dying," +meaning the Ottoman Empire. It was then, too, that tentative offers were +made to England to let<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1180" id="Page_1180">[Pg 1180]</a></span> her take Egypt and the island of Candia, provided +Russia could make herself mistress of the Balkans.</p> + +<p>The traditional aspirations of Russia toward Constantinople were well +<span class="sidenote">International concern</span> +understood in Europe. With the exception of Prussia, the European Powers, +contrary to the Czar's expectations, were resolved to preserve the +integrity of Turkey.</p> + +<p>The Continental Powers diplomatically met the Czar on his own religious +ground. Protestant England, on the other hand, with no pilgrims to defend, +could protest only on the score of preserving the balance of power. A +deeper reason for British opposition lay in the possible opening of the +Black Sea to Russian commerce, and the consequent loss of oriental trade to +English merchants. Louis Napoleon, who could hardly begin his imperial +reign in France more auspiciously than by avenging the disasters of his +immortal uncle and of the Grand Army in Russia, entered the lists as the +<span class="sidenote">Austria's timely measures</span> +champion of the Roman Catholic Christians of the Orient. Austria, though +she took no active part against her recent ally, ingeniously frustrated the +plans of the Russian autocrat by bringing the Sultan to terms in his +attempt to crush the insurgent Montenegrins, who had been incited by Russia +to revolt. Thus was Nicholas robbed of his best pretext for impressing his +will upon Turkey. Chagrined at the triumph of Austria, angered by the +demands made by the French Ambassador, Marquis de Lavalette, in behalf of +Roman Catholic pilgrims, Nicholas sent his Admiral, Prince Menzikov, as +Ambassador Extraordinary to the Porte. With unusual ostentation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1181" id="Page_1181">[Pg 1181]</a></span> +Menzikov<span class="sidenote">Menzikov's mission</span> +gathered the Russian fleet and an army of 30,000 men at Sebastopol, and +then went alone to Constantinople. He demanded an audience of the Sultan, +and on March 2 appeared before him in a plain overcoat and with boots +covered with dust. His appearance was in keeping with his mission. In the +name of his master he demanded the protectorate over all Greek Christians. +<span class="sidenote">French-English naval demonstration</span> +Failing to attain his end, Menzikov, after a six weeks' stay, delivered a +Russian ultimatum. Late in May he left Constantinople, prophesying his +speedy reappearance in uniform. Three weeks later the French and English +fleets cast anchor in the entrance to the Dardanelles.</p> + +<p>It was not to be expected that a ruler like Nicholas would shrink from war. +On July 7, he despatched Prince Michael Gortschakov, together with two army +<span class="sidenote">Russians cross Pruth</span> +divisions of 40,000 men each, respectively commanded by Generals Lueders +and Danneberg, across the Pruth, with orders to hold the Danube +principalities until the Sultan had granted the Russian demands. Sultan +Abdul Majid, through his grand vizier, Reschid Pasha, issued a firman +recognizing the rights of his Christian subjects. Upon crossing the Pruth, +<span class="sidenote">Cossacks in Danube provinces</span> +the Russian Commander-in-Chief assured the people of Moldavia and Wallachia +that their property and persons would not be molested; but the Russian +soldiers seized the public funds, compelled peasants to give up their +cattle and their grain, and pressed the native militia into the Czar's +service.</p> + +<p>Still, European diplomats hoped to preserve<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1182" id="Page_1182">[Pg 1182]</a></span> peace. The Porte was persuaded +not to regard the invasion of the Danube principalities as a <i>casus belli</i>. +The conference which was held by the representatives of the Powers resulted +in the Viennese mediatory note, by the terms of which the Sultan was to +yield to the Czar, with certain restrictions. Russia's claim of a +protectorate was utterly ignored. The Czar accepted the conditions imposed, +but held that the note gave him the desired protectorate by implication. In +England, the press fiercely attacked the faint-hearted politicians of the +<span class="sidenote">Turkish ultimatum</span> +Continent. Layard, the discoverer of the royal palaces of Nineveh, appeared +as the champion of Turkey in the House of Commons. Still more threatening +was the attitude of the war party in Constantinople. The Sultan was forced +to reject the note and to prepare for the storm. Hatred of Russia and +religious fanaticism inspired the Turks with something of the old love of +battle and lust of conquest. On October 4, an ultimatum was sent to Russia +in which war was threatened if the invaded territory were not forthwith +<span class="sidenote">Russia declares war</span> +evacuated. Russia replied with a declaration of war on November 1. The +Sultan, for complying with the wishes of his people, was rewarded by the +ready payment of heavy war taxes, and by hordes of volunteers flocking to +arms. Even Tunis and Egypt placed troops at the disposal of the mother +country. In a short time a considerable fighting force was gathered under +<span class="sidenote">Oltenizza</span> +Omar Pasha on the south bank of the Danube. On the 4th of November the +river was crossed and a defeat inflicted on the Russians at Oltenizza.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<a name="INKERMANN" id="INKERMANN"></a> +<img src="images/battle_of_inkermann.jpg" width="500" height="300" alt="THE BATTLE OF INKERMANN" +title="THE BATTLE OF INKERMANN" /> +<span class="caption">THE BATTLE OF INKERMANN</span> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0em"><small>Painted by Gustave Doré</small></span> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><small>From Carbon Print by Braun, Clement & Co., N.Y.</small></span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1183" id="Page_1183">[Pg 1183]</a></span></p> + +<p>Had the Czar sent his troops into the Balkans immediately after he declared +war, he might have struck a decisive blow before the Powers could come to +the assistance of the Turks. But he had pledged himself not to cross the +Danube when he met the Emperor of Austria at Olmütz, and again when he +visited the King of Prussia in Berlin. Thus he had persuaded them to adopt +a policy of neutrality. England and France now promised to give Turkey +their armed support if the Czar persisted in his demands. Their fleets +sailed for the Bosphorus.</p> + +<p>At Sinope, a Turkish squadron composed of two steamers, two corvettes and +seven frigates rode at anchor under the guns of a small battery. On +November 30, the Turks were surprised by a Russian fleet commanded by +<span class="sidenote">Turkish naval disaster</span> +Admiral Nachimov, consisting of six ships of the line and three +steamers—all vessels of large size, armed with the smooth-bore shell-gun. +For the first time in naval history the disastrous effect of shell fire on +wooden ships was demonstrated. Only one Turkish steamer escaped to tell the +tale.</p> + +<p>This blow, dealt beneath the very guns of the allied fleets, had its +immediate effect. Lord Aberdeen, whose foreign policy was far too mild for +the taste of most Englishmen, was so bitterly attacked that he resigned. +The return of Palmerston to the Ministry was the signal for war. In +December, the Vienna Conference sent to Nicholas a second note, demanding +the evacuation of the Danube principalities.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1854" id="a1854"></a>1854</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1184" id="Page_1184">[Pg 1184]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">I</span><span class="dcap1">N THE</span> American Congress, on January 4, Senator Douglas introduced a bill +<span class="sidenote">Opening of Nebraska</span> +for opening the Territory of Nebraska. All land west of Iowa and Missouri +had been closed against immigrants, so that it was impossible for them to +secure a farm. By "Nebraska" was meant all territory north of Texas +westward to the Rocky Mountains. On January 23, Douglas introduced his +second bill, repealing the provisions of the Missouri Compromise for the +proposed two Territories. This reopened the slavery discussion, which +President Pierce six weeks before had declared to be closed forever. At the +East, Mason and Dixon's line between Pennsylvania and Maryland had been +regarded as separating freedom from slavery. At the West, the parallel of +<span class="sidenote">American slavery issue revived</span> +36° 30', agreed on in 1820, was regarded as the border line. To cross this +boundary, and remove all obstacles against slavery, promptly became the +determination of the South. Douglas's bill now declared that the Compromise +of 1850 left the question of slavery to the people within the Territory. +General Cass gave to this doctrine the title of "Squatter Sovereignty." The +bill passed by 113 to 100, and was taken up by the Senate, May 24, and +passed by 35 to 13. President Pierce signed it on May<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1185" id="Page_1185">[Pg 1185]</a></span> 30. By the +provisions of the bill, the country in question was to be organized into +the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska; the slavery question was to be +settled by the residents; the Supreme Court was to determine the title to +slaves, if appeal was taken from the local courts, and the Fugitive Slave +law was to be enforced. The Whig Party was destroyed and the Republican +Party rose in its place. On July 6, a State Convention of all anti-Nebraska +<span class="sidenote">Rise of Republican Party</span> +citizens irrespective of former political affiliations assembled. This +Convention designated the fusion of Whigs, Free Soilers, "Know Nothings," +and Democrats who opposed the extension of slavery, by the name +"Republicans."</p> + +<p>Within the three months immediately preceding, treaties had been quietly +made with a half score of Indian nations in Kansas, by which the greater +part of the soil for 200 miles west was opened. In June, within a few days +after the act had been passed, hundreds of Missourians crossed into Kansas, +took up quarter-sections and claimed the right of pre-emption upon the +eastern region. In Massachusetts and other Eastern States, societies were +<span class="sidenote">Opening of Kansas</span> +meanwhile formed for the purpose of making Kansas a free State. All the +Northwest was eager to furnish squatters. In the East, Eli Thayer organized +immigration to Kansas. When the country was thrown open to settlement, the +company which he had organized took up claims at Lawrence. A population of +8,000 pressed in from the North. Meetings were held in Missouri in the +slave interest, which pledged that State to send men to Kansas and remove +all the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1186" id="Page_1186">[Pg 1186]</a></span> Free State immigrants. A bloody election was held in Kansas. The +pro-slavery Legislature made it a felony to circulate anti-slavery +publications, or to deny the right to hold slaves. Reeder, the newly +appointed first Governor, arrived. An election was ordered to choose a +delegate for Congress. Armed Missourians from across the border took +<span class="sidenote">Fraudulent elections</span> +possession of the polls, and by methods of intimidation elected Whitfield, +a slave-holding delegate, to Congress. At a second election 13 State +Senators and 26 members of a Lower House were declared elected. For this +purpose 6,320 votes were cast—more than twice the number of legal voters.</p> + +<p>Foreign affairs for a short while served to distract attention from the +all-engrossing subject. Mexican boundary disputes were further ended by a +<span class="sidenote">Mexican adjustment</span> +repeal of the obligation of Guadeloupe Hidalgo which required the Mexican +frontier to be defended against the Indians. For this release the United +States paid to Mexico $10,000,000.</p> + +<p>A reciprocity treaty was made with Great Britain which opened to the United +States all the frontiers of British America except Newfoundland, and gave +to the British the right to share the American fisheries to the 36th +<span class="sidenote">Reciprocity with Canada</span> +parallel. Commerce in breadstuffs, fish, animals and lumber between the +United States and the British provinces was made free. The St. Lawrence and +Canadian Canals were opened to American vessels. All future differences +were to be settled by arbitration.</p> + +<p>During this year news arrived of the safe arrival of Fremont's fifth +expedition to California. He had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1187" id="Page_1187">[Pg 1187]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Fremont in California</span> +crossed the Rocky Mountains at the +sources of the Arkansas and Colorado Rivers, passed through the Mormon +settlement, and discovered a number of passes. He was chosen the first +United States Senator from California, and served for a short term.</p> + +<p>On February 28, the American steamship "Black Warrior" was seized in Havana +Harbor, and was confiscated by the Spanish Government on the charge of +<span class="sidenote">Cuban filibusters</span> +filibustering. The American House of Representatives prepared to suspend +the neutrality laws between the United States and Spain; but it was finally +decided to demand an indemnity from Spain. This action gave an interest to +filibustering operations in Cuba. Expeditions were fitted out, but were +stopped by a proclamation of the President on June 1. The American +representatives at the courts of England, France and Spain, by direction of +the President, met at Ostend, Belgium, to confer on the best method of +settling the difficulties of Cuba and obtaining possession of the island. +In the Ostend Circular these diplomats recommended to the government of the +United States that Cuba should be purchased if possible, and if that could +not be done that it should be taken by force. "If Spain, actuated by +<span class="sidenote">Ostend manifesto</span> +stubborn pride and a false sense of honor, should refuse to sell Cuba to +the United States, then by every law, human and divine, we shall be +justified in wresting it from Spain if we possess the power." In this +Messrs. Buchanan, Mason and Soule were held to have gone beyond the demands +of public opinion.</p> + +<p>In their camp at Isinghai the Taiping rebels, in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1188" id="Page_1188">[Pg 1188]</a></span> +China, were closely<span class="sidenote">Course of Taipings</span> +beleaguered through the early part of the year until spring. Their +provisions then becoming exhausted, they cut their way out and retreated +southward. A relieving army from Nanking rescued them from imminent +capture. They then captured Lintsing, where their headquarters remained for +some months. During the rest of the year their successes were unimportant.</p> + +<p>In South Africa, the difficulties of administering the recalcitrant +communities of the Boers in the Orange River territory proved such that +<span class="sidenote">Orange Free State recognized</span> +during this year the struggle was abandoned as hopeless by the British +authorities. The Orange River Free State, organized as an independent +republic of Dutch settlers, was recognized as such.</p> + +<p>On June 28, another military insurrection broke out near Madrid. General +Espartero assumed charge of the movement. It found favor in Madrid and +<span class="sidenote">Espartero in Spain</span> +Barcelona. Within a fortnight the Ministry was overthrown. On July 19, +Baldomero Espartero was welcomed with great enthusiasm on his return to +power. On the last day of the month the Queen had to present herself on the +balcony of her palace in Madrid while 3,000 revolutionists from the +barricades paraded before her. Espartero on his return to power forthwith +convoked the Cortes to frame a new liberal constitution, a task which was +accomplished before the close of the year.</p> + +<p>In Mexico, the celebrated operatic singer Henriette Sontag died of cholera. +Born at Coblenz in 1805, she made an early début, and appeared with +brilliant success in all the capitals of Eu<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1189" id="Page_1189">[Pg 1189]</a></span>rope, +<span class="sidenote">Death of Sontag</span> +where she was recognized +as a worthy rival of Malibran. In 1829 she married Count Rossi, and in the +following year retired from the stage. Twenty years later, in consequence +of the loss of her fortune, she returned to the stage, and it was found +that her voice had lost none of its power and charm.</p> + +<p>In the Balkans, the Servians, Bulgarians and the Bosnians, in view of the +meagre success of Russian arms so far, were disinclined to rise against +<span class="sidenote">The Crimean war</span> +Turkey. In Greece, on the other hand, Russian partisans succeeded in +inciting the populace to revolt. From all sides volunteers rushed to the +northern frontier. There was even some talk of establishing a new Byzantine +Empire. King Otto, partly from lack of sympathy, but more through fear of +the Western Powers, whose ships suddenly appeared at the Piræus, opposed +the movement. The Greek volunteers who had gathered at the frontier were +ordered to disperse.</p> + +<p>The war had so far not fulfilled the expectations of Russia. Not only had +<span class="sidenote">Kalafat</span> +the Czar's troops been repulsed at Kalafat, despite their greater numbers, +but they had also been surprised and beaten at Cetate. The respect which +<span class="sidenote">Cetate</span> +Russia commanded as a great Power had been engendered largely by her +supposed inexhaustible resources. The Czar was therefore forced to maintain +the old appearance of strength by recruiting troops throughout his empire +and by intrusting the command of all his men to Prince Paskievitch, +regarded, despite his great age, as the best general of Russia. Operations +were shifted further<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1190" id="Page_1190">[Pg 1190]</a></span> to the east, partly to still the apprehensions of +<span class="sidenote">Russians cross Danube</span> +Austria, partly in the hope that more Slavic Christians would join the +Russian army. In the middle of March, Paskievitch crossed the Danube not +far from the mouth of the Pruth, despite the promises made by the Czar to +Prussia and Austria. The Czar's rejection of a second pacific note from +Vienna, together with the breach of the promise given to his fellow +<span class="sidenote">Powers declare war</span> +sovereigns, was followed, on March 28, by a formal declaration of war on +the part of France and England.</p> + +<p>Without effective resistance on the part of the Turks, General Lueders +seized the Dobrudsha and joined General Schilder before the walls of +Silistria, while Omar Pasha, in the face of a superior Russian force, was +compelled to retire to the fortress of Shumla. These energetic Russian +movements spurred the Western Powers to greater activity.</p> + +<p>In April, an English army of 20,000 men under Lord Raglan, together with a +French force more than twice as large under the command of Marshal St. +<span class="sidenote">Allied troops landed</span> +Arnaud, distinguished for his deeds in Africa and for his part in Louis +Napoleon's <i>coup d'état</i>, landed at Gallipolis. The allies bombarded Odessa +on April 22, taking good care, however, not to destroy English property in +the city.</p> + +<p>The crossing of the Danube by the Russians led Austria and Prussia to form +an offensive and defensive alliance, both agreeing to wage war on the Czar +<span class="sidenote">Austrian-Prussian remonstrances</span> +if he sent his armies across the Balkans or incorporated the Danube +principalities. But how little Prussia intended to engage in a struggle +with the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1191" id="Page_1191">[Pg 1191]</a></span> Czar was indicated by the retirement of Bonin, the Minister of +War, and of Bunsen, the Ambassador to London. Even a tentative offer of +Schleswig and Holstein made by England could not tempt Prussia to forsake +her old confederate. A joint note was sent to St. Petersburg by Austria and +Prussia, demanding the withdrawal of the Russian troops from the invaded +territory of the Danube. Austria concluded a treaty with the Porte, by the +<span class="sidenote">Assault of Silistria</span> +terms of which she was to seize the Danube principalities, on the borders +of which she had mobilized her troops. Paskievitch's efforts to reduce +Silistria proved fruitless. The courageous example of Mussa Pasha and the +skill of Grach, a Prussian officer of artillery, were more than a match for +the strategy of the Russian commanding general. The hostile attitude of the +Austrian troops on the frontier of Wallachia and Moldavia, and the landing +of French and English expeditions at Varna, caused Paskievitch, on June 21, +<span class="sidenote">Paskievitch withdraws</span> +to withdraw his weakened force across the Danube and the Pruth. In the +attempt to reduce Silistria the lives of many Russian soldiers had been +sacrificed. Paskievitch himself was slightly wounded. Eighteen months after +his defeat he died in Warsaw. Schilder, Mussa and Grach, all mortally +wounded, had been carried off before him. The losses of the allies were +also serious. An ill-considered march of the French from Varna into the +<span class="sidenote">Allies at Varna</span> +Dobrudsha resulted in the loss of 2,000 men, most of whom succumbed to the +insufferable heat. In the camp at Varna cholera wrought terrible havoc.</p> + +<p>Upon the sea the allies were no more successful.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1192" id="Page_1192">[Pg 1192]</a></span> An English and French +fleet, under Sir Charles Napier, proceeded to the Baltic Sea for the +purpose of persuading Sweden to join France and England, of reducing the +<span class="sidenote">Ineffectual naval operations</span> +fortress of Kronstadt, the key to the Russian capital, and of attacking St. +Petersburg itself. Sweden, despite the efforts of the Powers, held aloof +like Prussia. The walls of Kronstadt defied the ships. Besides the capture +of Bomarsund on August 16, nothing was accomplished.</p> + +<p>In Varna, a council of war was held to decide upon the course to be pursued +against the Russians. Among others, General Stein, or Ferhat Pasha, as he +<span class="sidenote">A council of war</span> +was called after his conversion to Mohammedanism, proposed the landing of +troops in Asia in order to drive the enemy from the Caucasus. But St. +Arnaud, who felt that he had not long to live, and, therefore, wished to +end his career as gloriously as he could, voted for an attack on +Sebastopol, the naval port of the Crimea. He was supported by Lord Raglan, +who desired nothing more fervently than the destruction of the Russian +fleet. So far no less than 15,000 men had perished in the campaign. The +remaining force, composed of 56,000 soldiers, of whom 6,000 were Turks, was +<span class="sidenote">Before Sebastopol</span> +landed, on September 14, at Eupatoria on the west coast of the peninsula. +To the south of Eupatoria the sea forms a bay which receives the waters of +the River Tchernaya, flowing past the ruins of Inkermann. Upon the southern +side is the fortified city of Sebastopol. On the northern side +fortifications had been built to protect the fleet anchored in the bay. +Upon the heights overlooking the river Alma,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1193" id="Page_1193">[Pg 1193]</a></span> Prince Menzikov, Governor of +the Crimea, had stationed his army of 39,000 men with 106 guns. Although +the heights overhanging the Alma are more than five miles long, the Russian +troops by which they were defended formed a front of but three miles. This +left the extreme left of the Russians open to an attack by a ford opposite +the village of Almatack. Against Menzikov, Marshal St. Arnaud and Lord +Raglan could oppose 63,000 men and 128 guns. The weakness of the undefended +left flank of the Russian army was discovered from the French ships. St. +Arnaud laid his plans accordingly. On the morning of September 20, the +attack was begun. The warships steamed up the river and opened fire on the +enemy. Bosquet, in command of a French division and a Turkish contingent, +was assigned to attack Menzikov's left. He pushed his way through the +village of Almatack and forded the river. His Zouaves nimbly climbed the +heights and reached the feebly defended plateau. Menzikov, busily engaged +in resisting the advance of the English against his right, at first refused +to believe the unwelcome tidings. He endeavored to shift a part of his +force from right to left. Meantime the English, under Lord Raglan, were +subjected to so fierce a fire from the Russian main position that they +<span class="sidenote">Battle of the Alma</span> +could make no headway. They lay passive upon the ground waiting for the +French under Canrobert and Louis Napoleon to begin the attack in front, and +thus divert the attention of Menzikov. Weary of their long delay, Lord +Raglan took matters into his own hands. The English infantry rose from the +field, advanced<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1194" id="Page_1194">[Pg 1194]</a></span> upon the Russian main position, and, under a hot fire, +stormed the Russian redoubt with dreadful loss. Attacked on the one side by +the English and on the other by the French, Menzikov was compelled to beat +a retreat.</p> + +<p>The battle of the Alma was one of the first modern engagements described by +special war correspondents in the field. The news of the victory was +despatched to London with a rapidity prophetic of the feats performed by +latter-day correspondents. Besides the war correspondents, several artists +<span class="sidenote">War artists and correspondents</span> +of note followed the armies of the allies. Among the French painters who +have perpetuated some of the well-known episodes of the Crimean War were +Horace Vernet, who painted a "Battle of Alma," and Paul Alexandre Protais, +a pupil of Desmoulins, who first came into note about that time. Another +artist who made his early reputation in the war of the Crimea was Adolphe +Schreyer.</p> + +<p>On the Russian side, Count Lyof Tolstoi served at the front, together with +<span class="sidenote">Tolstoi</span> +his namesake and fellow writer, Count Alexander Tolstoi. There he gathered +impressions for his stories on the siege of Sebastopol, and for his +subsequent great novel of the Napoleonic invasion, "War and Peace."</p> + +<p>Besides the news of victory, the Crimean War correspondents told of the +<span class="sidenote">Cholera</span> +sore plight of the English army, of the ravages of cholera, and of the +wretchedly organized hospital system. No preparations had been made for a +very long campaign. The taking of Sebastopol, it was thought by the +English, would present no grave difficulties.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1195" id="Page_1195">[Pg 1195]</a></span></p> + +<p>But Sebastopol was better prepared to meet an attack than England knew. +True it is that early in the war the city might have been taken by a dash +from the land and sea. But the chance was now gone. Three days after the +defeat of Alma, Menzikov sank seven vessels of the Russian Black Sea fleet +<span class="sidenote">Todleben</span> +in the mouth of the harbor. On all sides the city was strongly fortified in +accordance with the suggestion of Todleben, an ingenious artillery officer.</p> + +<p>Instead of moving directly upon Sebastopol the allies first marched to +Balaklava, further to the south, where they would be in constant +<span class="sidenote">Allies beaten off</span> +communication with the ships and could establish a base of supplies. On +October 17, an unsuccessful attack was made on Sebastopol.</p> + +<p>At dawn on October 25, the Russians crossed the Tchernaya and stole rapidly +on until their vanguard had reached a position from which they could +cannonade Canrobert's Hill, the post most distant from the forces of the +allies and nearest the village of Kamara. The main Russian army under +Liprandi soon came up and began to fire upon Canrobert's Hill and the +adjacent works. The English replied with the assistance of a troop of horse +<span class="sidenote">Russian success</span> +artillery and of a field battery. Two English divisions and two French +brigades were sent to the aid of the garrison on the hills. The Russians +succeeded in storming Canrobert's Hill and in capturing the next and +smaller fortification. Threatened by overwhelming numbers, the troops on +the remaining hills withdrew.</p> + +<p>Two English cavalry brigades—the Light and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1196" id="Page_1196">[Pg 1196]</a></span> Heavy—commanded by Lord +Lucan, had been manœuvring to protect Balaklava. The Light Brigade, +under Lord Cardigan, faced the Tchernaya; the Heavy Brigade, under +<span class="sidenote">Balaklava</span> +Scarlett, was on the Balaklava side of the ridge. A great body of Russian +cavalry swept down the slope upon the Heavy Brigade, and for a moment threw +it into disorder. But Scarlett's men charged the Russians. The two opposing +bodies of cavalry clashed and seemed to melt one within the other. Then the +Russian horsemen yielded, and fled over the ridge whence they had first +appeared five minutes before.</p> + +<p>A disposition on the Russian side to carry off the captured guns induced +Lord Raglan to send Lord Lucan an order "to advance rapidly to the front +and try to prevent the enemy carrying away the guns." The order was carried +by Captain Nolan, who found Lucan between his two brigades, with the Light +Brigade beyond Woronzov road. Whose "front" was meant Lucan did not know. +Nolan conjectured that "the guns" in question were those which had retired +with the retreating Russian cavalry. Already the Russian cavalry had taken +protection behind its works toward the Tchernaya, and was supported by +<span class="sidenote">The charge of the Light Brigade</span> +Liprandi's troops posted along the Woronzov road, and by Russian guns +bearing on the valley from the ridge and from Fedioukin heights. Nolan, +Lord Lucan reported later, insisted that these very guns must be regained. +Although Lord Cardigan of the Light Brigade shared Lucan's misgivings he +obeyed the command. With the order, "The Brigade will advance!" the famous<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1197" id="Page_1197">[Pg 1197]</a></span> +charge of the Six Hundred began. Nolan galloped obliquely across the +Brigade as it started. He was killed by the first shell fired from a +Russian gun. Into the thick of the Russians Cardigan rode with his men. The +forlorn exploit has been immortalized by Alfred Tennyson:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Half a league, half a league,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Half a league onward,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">All in the valley of Death</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rode the six hundred.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Forward, the Light Brigade!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Charge for the guns!" he said:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Into the valley of Death</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Rode the six hundred.</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>The whole Brigade would have been wiped out after the repulse, when the +Russian cavalry rode in pursuit, had not several squadrons of French +<span class="sidenote">Liprandi's victory</span> +cuirassiers ridden to the rescue. The fact that the Russians retained the +hills which they had captured justified Liprandi in claiming the victory.</p> + +<p>In November, the French infantry in the Crimea numbered 81,000, the British +16,000, and the Turkish 11,000. Brave as the Moslems undoubtedly were, they +were not permitted to demonstrate their value in subsequent encounters. +While the allies strengthened their batteries and replenished their +magazines, the Russians likewise fortified their position and gathered +<span class="sidenote">Preparing for battle</span> +reinforcements. It was a race on both sides for the first delivery of the +attack. On November 4, the allied commanders definitely arranged for a +cannonade and an assault which was to place Sebastopol at their mercy. The +Russians, recognizing their peril, completed the assembly of their forces +to attack the allies and forestall them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1198" id="Page_1198">[Pg 1198]</a></span> In all, Menzikov could oppose +115,000 soldiers to the 65,000 available men of the allies. The Russian +commander assigned the main attack to General Soimonov with 19,000 infantry +and 38 guns and to General Paulov with 16,000 infantry and 96 guns. The +regiments in the valley of the Tchernaya, formerly commanded by Liprandi, +but now led by Gortschakov, were "to support the general attack by drawing +the enemy's forces toward them." The garrison of Sebastopol was to cover +with its artillery fire the right flank of the attacking force. After +effecting their junction, the two divisions were to place themselves under +General Danneberg's command.</p> + +<p>Soimonov issued under cover of a thick fog from the fortress before dawn on +November 5, and to the surprise of the allies began the attack on the +English left. The timely arrival of reinforcements under Buller enabled the +<span class="sidenote">Inkermann</span> +British to repel the Russians. Soimonov was left dead on the field. The +attack of Paulov on the right was no more successful. The Russians were +here repulsed with frightful loss. When Danneberg arrived on the scene he +found that, with Paulov's battalions on Mount Inkermann and with those of +Soimonov, he could recommence the battle with 19,000 men and 90 guns. Ten +thousand of these men were hurled against the English centre and right by +Danneberg. The carnage was frightful. Between the hostile lines rose a +rampart of fallen men. The Russians would probably have swept away the +British by the sheer force of greater numbers, had they not been taken in +the flank and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1199" id="Page_1199">[Pg 1199]</a></span> repulsed by a French regiment which arrived just in time to +save their English comrades.</p> + +<p>Although the Russian attacking force had been diminished to 6,000 men, it +was once more resolutely launched against the enemy, this time against the +<span class="sidenote">A dear victory</span> +centre and left of the allied armies. So impetuous was the assault, that +for a time the Russians carried all before them. But a simultaneous, +irresistible advance of the French and English not only repulsed the +attacking force, but drove it off the field. Shortly before noon the battle +was decided. The heavy losses suffered by the Russians enabled the allies +to oppose greater numbers of men against Danneberg's broken battalions and +his still unused reserve, and to make use of their guns, now for the first +time superior in number to the Russian ordnance. The battle of Inkermann +closed with no grand charge on the one side, nor wild flight on the other. +When the Russians saw that success was hopeless, they withdrew gradually, +with no attempt on the part of the wearied allies to convert the repulse +into a rout. On both sides, men had been ruthlessly sacrificed.</p> + +<p>Inkermann was followed by a gloomy winter. The Black Sea was swept by +terrible storms which destroyed transport ships laden with stores for the +<span class="sidenote">Crimean horrors</span> +army. The horses that charged at Balaklava became unfit for service; the +men who had fought at Inkermann languished in field hospitals. In the +wretchedly organized lazarets at Scutari the sick and wounded died by +scores for lack of proper<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1200" id="Page_1200">[Pg 1200]</a></span> medical attendance. Shameful frauds were +perpetrated in filling the contracts for preserved meats. With grim humor +"Punch" exclaimed: "One man's preserved meat is another man's poison." +After the harrowing misery that prevailed in camp had been pictured in the +London newspapers, something like system was finally established in the +hospitals by the energy of Miss Florence Nightingale.</p> + +<p>Balaklava and Inkermann had a profound effect upon the diplomatic +negotiation of the Powers. England and France attempted to induce Austria +and Prussia to take arms against the Czar. But Prussia would do nothing +<span class="sidenote">Sardinia's offered help</span> +without the Confederation; and Austria would do nothing without Prussia. +Buol-Schauenstein, the Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs, would gladly +have mediated; but the prospects of success were not rosy. To the annoyance +of Austria, Piedmont, which had maintained its position in Italy despite +Austria, offered to take part in the war. Austria saw that she must now act +quickly if she wished to preserve her European prestige. On December 2, she +signed a treaty with England and France binding herself not to negotiate +separately with the Czar; to defend the principalities which she had +occupied in accordance with her compact with Turkey, after their evacuation +by the Russians; and to deliberate with the Powers as to the best course to +be pursued if the war were not ended by January 1, 1855. The treaty was +intended merely to thwart Piedmont.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1855" id="a1855"></a>1855</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1201" id="Page_1201">[Pg 1201]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">C</span><span class="dcap1">OMPLAINTS</span> of neglect and maladministration in the Crimea waxed ever +louder. The reports of the war correspondents at the front aroused +indignation in London and Paris. Now the London "Times" came out with a +leading article which produced a profound sensation throughout England. The +burden of it was a bitter complaint that "the noblest army ever sent from +our shores has been sacrificed to the grossest mismanagement. Incompetency, +<span class="sidenote">Crimean war scandals</span> +lethargy, aristocratic hauteur, official indifference, favor, routine, +perverseness and stupidity reign, revel, and riot in the camp before +Sebastopol, in the harbor of Balaklava, in the hospitals of Scutari, and +how much nearer home we do not venture to say. We say it with extremest +reluctance, no one sees or hears anything of the Commander-in-Chief. +Officers who landed on the 14th of September, and have incessantly been +engaged in all the operations of the siege, are not even acquainted with +the face of their commander." The exposures of the "Times" were taken up in +Parliament. Already Lord John Russell had urged upon the Earl of Aberdeen +the necessity of having the War Minister in the House of Commons, and +recommended that Lord Palmer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1202" id="Page_1202">[Pg 1202]</a></span>ston should be intrusted with the portfolio of +war. The Prime Minister refused to recommend the proposed change to the +Queen, on the ground that it would be unfair to the Duke of Newcastle, +against whom, he said, no positive defect had been proved. As soon as +<span class="sidenote">Parliamentary inquiry</span> +Parliament assembled on January 25, the opposition moved for a commission +of inquiry "into the condition of our army before Sebastopol, and into the +conduct of those departments whose duty it has been to minister to the +wants of that army." Lord John Russell at once wrote to Lord Aberdeen that +since this motion could not be resisted, and was sure to involve a censure +of the War Department, he preferred to tender his resignation. The +retirement of the leaders of the House of Commons served to paralyze the +government's resistance. After a debate of two nights the motion for an +inquiry was accepted by 305 against 148 votes. As Mr. Molesworth, who was +present, wrote:</p> + +<p>"Never, perhaps, had a government been more decisively defeated. When the +<span class="sidenote">Aberdeen's Ministry defeated</span> +numbers were announced, the House seemed to be surprised, and almost +stunned by its own act. There was no cheering; but for a few moments a dead +silence, followed by a burst of derisive laughter. The Ministers of course +resigned."</p> + +<p>Lord John Russell and Lord Derby, each in turn, tried to form a Ministry, +but both failed. Lord Palmerston was then called in, and succeeded in +rallying a Cabinet composed largely of the members of the old +Administration. Thus Lord Granville, Earl Grey, the Duke of Argyll, Lord +Clarendon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1203" id="Page_1203">[Pg 1203]</a></span> and William E. Gladstone were retained. The chief change was the +<span class="sidenote">Palmerston, Premier</span> +appointment of Lord Panmure to take the place of the Duke of Newcastle as +Secretary of War. Lord Panmure, better known as Fox Maule, had already +served as Minister of War during the six years of Lord Russell's +administration, and had shown himself thoroughly capable in that post. +Commissions of inquiry were now sent to the Crimea. At the same time +diplomatic conferences were reopened at Vienna.</p> + +<p>The evident insincerity of Count Buol stirred up a hornet's nest of +indignation. The people of England and France became incensed as they saw +<span class="sidenote">Cavour's master-stroke</span> +that Austria showed no inclination to fight. Prussia flatly refused to +assist Austria in any warlike undertaking. Victor Emmanuel of Sardinia took +advantage of the situation to join the allies. On April 21 he sent 15,000 +men to the Crimea.</p> + +<p>During the diplomatic parleys of the Powers, the siege of Sebastopol +wearily dragged along. The commissariat and land-transport systems broke +down. The armies were weakened by cholera, cold, and starvation. +Negotiations for peace were set on foot by Austria. A conference was opened +at Vienna under promising auspices.</p> + +<p>Czar Nicholas, with whom the war was a personal grievance, died on March +<span class="sidenote">Death of Emperor Nicholas</span> +2—of pulmonary apoplexy, reported the physicians—of bitter disappointment +and despair, claimed his people. His son, Alexander II., peace-loving as he +was known to be, did not venture to show himself less of a true Russian +than his father. The Conference proved a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1204" id="Page_1204">[Pg 1204]</a></span> failure. Lord John Russell, +England's representative, was instructed to insist upon the admission of +Turkey into the Concert of Powers. To secure this end, four principal +<span class="sidenote">The Four Points</span> +points were to be considered, now famous under the name of the Four +Points—the fate of the Danube principalities, the free navigation of the +Danube, the limitation of Russian supremacy in the Black Sea, and the +preservation of the integrity of the Ottoman Empire. The attempt to limit +Russia's supremacy in the Black Sea was the chief point upon which the +Powers could not agree.</p> + +<p>The operations in the Crimea were vigorously renewed. Lord Raglan died and +was succeeded by General Simpson. Long before him, old Marshal St. Arnaud +<span class="sidenote">Changes at the front</span> +was carried away by disease. His post was taken by Canrobert, who afterward +resigned in favor of Pelissier. On August 16, the Russians under Liprandi +made a desperate effort to raise the siege by an attack on the allies. The +assault was made on the French divisions and on the Sardinian contingent. +Liprandi was foiled. Northern Italy was in a delirium of joy when the news +came that the banner of Piedmont had been carried to victory over a great +Power, side by side with the flag of France. The far-sightedness of +Cavour's audacious policy was now fully appreciated.</p> + +<p>The repulse proved fatal to the Russians. Nearer and nearer the French drew +to the city. But the ingenious Todleben threw up works which also brought +the Russians closer to the enemy. Sometimes it seemed as if the allies were +the besieged and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1205" id="Page_1205">[Pg 1205]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Russian works assaulted</span> +not the besiegers. Malakov Tower and the Mamelon battery +in front of it were the scenes of bloody conflicts. Night sorties were made +and repelled. On June 7, the English assaulted the quarries in front of the +Redan, and the French assailed the Mamelon. Both attempts were successful. +On the 18th, a fierce attack was made on the Redan and the Malakov +batteries, which resulted in failure, because the French did not act with +sufficient precision. A simultaneous assault was made on the Malakov and +<span class="sidenote">Zouaves storm the Malakov</span> +the Redan on September 5. The French upon capturing the Malakov were to +hoist their flag, and thereby signal to the English when to move against +the Redan. A brilliant success was won by the Zouaves. Their tricolor waved +over the ramparts fifteen minutes after they had started to scale the steep +heights. The task of the English troops proved more difficult. They were +compelled to advance under a galling fire, but stormed the parapets despite +the resistance which they encountered. The attacking force, however, was +too small; reinforcements did not come in time, and the remnant of the +<span class="sidenote">British beaten off</span> +party was compelled to withdraw. It was the story of Balaklava told over +again with bloody emphasis—the story of splendid courage on the part of +the men, of wretched generalship on the part of their commanders. After the +attack, the Russians withdrew from the south side of Sebastopol. That +portion of the city had been so thoroughly bombarded that Gortschakov could +no longer hold out. "It is not Sebastopol that we have left to them, but +the burning ruins of the town, to which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1206" id="Page_1206">[Pg 1206]</a></span> we ourselves set fire," wrote the +<span class="sidenote">Sebastopol yielded to allies</span> +Russian commander after his brave defence. He could indeed boast that later +generations would "recall with pride" the great siege and its stirring +events. The investment had lasted eleven months. It involved the +construction of seventy miles of trenches and the employment of 60,000 +fascines, 80,000 gabions, and 1,000,000 sandbags. One and one-half million +shells and shot were fired into the town from the cannon of the besiegers. +The Russian forces in and about Sebastopol numbered 150,000; their losses +sustained in its defence amounted, in killed, wounded and missing, to +90,142. The allied armies numbered 80,650 French, 43,000 English, and +<span class="sidenote">Cost of the great siege</span> +20,000 Turks in January, 1855. The British troops suffered terribly from +disease. The forty-one English infantry battalions, which embarked +originally, mustered 36,923, and were reinforced by 27,884. Their strength +at the conclusion of hostilities was 653 less than it was at the beginning. +The Sardinians suffered proportionately. The wastage, due principally to +disease, thus amounted to 28,537 men.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<a name="BALAKLAVA" id="BALAKLAVA"></a> +<img src="images/balaklava.jpg" width="500" height="252" alt="BALAKLAVA—"OUT OF THE MOUTH OF HELL—"" +title="BALAKLAVA—"OUT OF THE MOUTH OF HELL—"" /> +<span class="caption">BALAKLAVA—"OUT OF THE MOUTH OF HELL—"</span> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0em"><small>Painted by Elizabeth Thompson (Lady Butler)</small></span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><small>Copyright. By permission of</small></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 17em;"><small>Henry Graves & Co., Ltd.,</small></span> +<span style="margin-left: 15em;"><small>London</small></span> +</div> + +<p>With the fall of Sebastopol the war may be said to have ended. A brilliant +chapter which had little effect on the Crimean campaign, partly because it +occurred after the fall of Sebastopol, partly because it concerned chiefly +the Armenians, was the long defence of Kars by Colonel Williams and Wassif +<span class="sidenote">The defense of Kars</span> +Pasha against an overwhelming Russian army under General Muraviev. Williams +sturdily held his ground, bravely repulsed a violent attack in which the +Russians lost over 5,000 men, and sur<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1207" id="Page_1207">[Pg 1207]</a></span>rendered on November 27, with all +the honors of war, only when starvation stared his little garrison in the +face.</p> + +<p>Hostilities still continued for a time in the Crimea. The allied fleet was +sent to bombard various sea forts. The most important of these naval +operations from a historical standpoint was the expedition against Kinburn, +for here it was that the modern ironclad was first tried. On September 5, +1854, Napoleon had ordered the construction of five armored floating +batteries, which embodied the results obtained in the tests of plating made +before the War Ministry's representatives at Vincennes. The ships were of +1,400 tons displacement, were armed with eighteen 50-pounder smoothbores, +and protected by four inches of iron armor. They were the prototypes of the +<span class="sidenote">First ironclads before Kinburn</span> +later ironclads. Not without some misgivings three of these batteries were +sent to the Crimea to join the allied fleet under Admirals Lyons and Bruat. +The English squadron consisted of six line-of-battle ships, seventeen +frigates and sloops, ten gunboats, six mortar-boats and ten transports. The +French fleet, besides the three armored batteries mentioned, included four +line-of-battle ships, three corvettes, four despatch boats, twelve gun +boats and five mortar-boats. The combined fleets prepared to attack the +Russian works at Kinburn. On October 18, the bombardment began. The +ironclads steamed up to within 800 yards of the main fort; the other ships +took up positions at distances varying from 1,200 to 2,800 yards. Without +appreciable effect the Russian 32-pound and 18-pound<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1208" id="Page_1208">[Pg 1208]</a></span> shot and shell +dropped into the sea from the iron plating of the French ships. Whatever +injury was sustained was caused by the entrance of shot and splinters +through the portholes. Unable to withstand the well-directed fire of their +invulnerable enemy, the Russians hoisted the white flag, after having lost +<span class="sidenote">Success of first trial</span> +45 killed and 130 wounded. The allies lost but two killed and had but +forty-five wounded—all on board the armored ships. "Everything may be +expected of these formidable engines of war," wrote Admiral Bruat in his +report. The Black Sea was the cradle of the modern ironclad.</p> + +<p>Another achievement of far-reaching consequences was Captain Henry +Bessemer's process for manufacturing steel. He took out a patent for his +invention of forcing air through liquid molten iron. Other inventions of +interest were Brewster's prismatic stereoscope, Garcia's laryngoscope (a +<span class="sidenote">Achievements in Science and Letter</span> +mirror for examining the throat), and Drummond's light, patented by Captain +Thomas Drummond. Captain Robert Le Mesurier M'Clure of the "Investigator" +received the £5,000 prize for the discovery of the Northwest Passage and +was knighted. Famous English books of the year were Robert Browning's "Men +and Women," Charles Kingsley's "Westward Ho!" and George Henry Lewes' "Life +of Goethe."</p> + +<p>Charlotte Brontë, the novelist, died on the last day of March. She was born +<span class="sidenote">Death of Charlotte Brontë</span> +in 1824, the daughter of the Rev. Patrick Brontë of Haworth in Yorkshire. +In June, 1854, she married her father's curate, the Rev. Archer Bell +Nicholls. Under the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1209" id="Page_1209">[Pg 1209]</a></span> pseudonym of Currer Bell she published several novels, +in which she displayed great power in the delineation of character. The +most important of these were "Shirley," "Villette" and the celebrated "Jane +Eyre." At the same time her sister, Emily Jane, who published under the +name of Ellis Bell, won fame by her novel "Wuthering Heights." She died six +years earlier.</p> + +<p>This year Jean-Baptiste Corot, the famous French painter of "Paysage +<span class="sidenote">Corot</span> +Intime," and follower and modifier of the new realistic schools under the +lead of Courbet, exhibited his "Souvenir de Marcoussy," which was purchased +later by Napoleon III.</p> + +<p>Samuel Rogers, the English poet, wit and patron of art, died, on December +18, in his ninety-second year. The son of a banker, he travelled +<span class="sidenote">Death of Rogers</span> +extensively while a young man, and applied himself to the study of art and +letters. His first published essays and poetry were an "Ode to +Superstition" and "The Pleasures of Memory." The death of his father in +1793 left him in the possession of an ample fortune, and he lost no time in +retiring from active business. In 1798 he published "The Epistle to a +Friend" and other poems. During the early part of the Nineteenth Century, +Rogers figured in the foremost rank of the literary and artistic society in +London, where he went by the name of "The Banker Bard of St. James's +Place." In 1812 he brought out an epic on "The Voyage of Columbus," which +met with indifferent success. This was followed by "Jacqueline" and "Human +Life." His last and largest publication was his descriptive poem "Italy," +brought out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1210" id="Page_1210">[Pg 1210]</a></span> in 1822. Rogers devoted the rest of his literary life to the +publication of exquisitely illustrated editions of his "Italy" and his +"Poems." Shortly after Rogers' death a collection of his witty sayings was +published under the title of "Table Talk."</p> + +<p>At the Parisian Art Exposition of this year, Horace Vernet, the celebrated +<span class="sidenote">Horace Vernet</span> +French battle painter, had a Salon devoted entirely to his works. The walls +were covered by his immense canvases. At this time Vernet was the most +successful of French artists. Born at the Louvre at the outbreak of the +French Revolution, Vernet in his early career was identified with the +events of that epoch. For the Duke of Orleans he painted his celebrated +series of the four revolutionary battles, "Jemmapes, Hanau, Montmirail, and +Valmy." In 1812 he received his first important commission from King Jerome +of Westphalia, and in 1813 another from Empress Marie Louise. In 1814, +Horace Vernet, with his father and Géricault, fought on the Barrière de +Clichy, and for his gallant conduct there received the decoration of the +Legion of Honor from the hands of Napoleon. After the Restoration, Vernet +achieved a great success by his "Battle of Torlosa," which was purchased +<span class="sidenote">His early works</span> +for 6,000 francs for the Maison du Roi. At the Salon of 1819 Vernet +contested the field with Géricault and Ingres, whose "Medusa" and +"Odalisque" were the success of the season. By his popular lithographs of +Napoleonic scenes, Vernet so jeopardized his interests at Court that it was +thought best for him to transfer his studio from Paris to Rome. On his +return from there in 1822<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1211" id="Page_1211">[Pg 1211]</a></span> he painted his masterpiece, "The Defence of the +Barrier of Clichy," for which Odiot paid 4,000 francs. It was presented to +the Chamber of Peers, from which it was transferred subsequently to the +Gallery of the Louvre. Thenceforward Vernet's pictures, the first of which +had sold for a few hundred francs, commanded ever higher prices. For +Avignon, his ancestral home, Horace Vernet painted "Mazeppa Pursued by +Wolves," a picture which was injured by a sabre stroke in the artist's +studio. After his election to the Institute, Vernet changed the style of +<span class="sidenote">Vernet's earnings</span> +his subjects, charging staggering prices. For a ceiling fresco in the +Museum of Charles X. he received 17,910 francs; for "Phillip Augustus +Before Bovines," now at Versailles, 24,775 francs; for "The Battle of +Fontenoy," 30,000 francs. Still these pictures were scarcely up to the +standard of the "Barrier of Clichy," and on Vernet's second removal to Rome +his art seemed to decline. After many years spent in Rome and with French +armies in Algiers and in the Orient, Vernet went to Russia, where he was +<span class="sidenote">Highest artistic honors</span> +received with great favor at the Court of the Czar. The highest financial +point in his career was marked by a 50,000-franc commission for a portrait +of the Russian Empress. He returned to France in good time to receive, in +1855, the greatest honors yet showered upon a French painter.</p> + +<p>In America, Longfellow brought out his "Hiawatha" and Walt Whitman +<span class="sidenote">"Leaves of Grass"</span> +published "Leaves of Grass." At this period the "Know Nothing" Party had +come to be a power in politics. The party had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1212" id="Page_1212">[Pg 1212]</a></span> started from a New York +society formed to check the influence of the Pope, for purifying the ballot +and maintaining the Bible in the public schools. It was called the American +<span class="sidenote">American "Know Nothings"</span> +Party. Wherever the difference of opinion on the Missouri Compromise in +1854 dissolved party ties in the North, multitudes flocked to the new +party. Before 1855 it had a million and a half of voters. In 1854 it all +but wrecked the old organizations. In Virginia, Henry A. Wise, an old Whig, +led the Democratic Party, and overthrew the new organization. At the +National Convention of the new party, Southern resolutions were adopted by +a vote of 80 to 59. The Northern delegates met and repudiated the +anti-slavery alliance. In 1855 the party carried New York, California and +Massachusetts, and the Democrats carried New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana +and Illinois.</p> + +<p>The American Convention met in Philadelphia, February 22, and nominated +<span class="sidenote">Stirring party contest</span> +Fillmore and Donelson. On the same day a convention met at Pittsburg to +effect a national organization of the Republican Party, which appointed a +National Convention for the 17th of June, the anniversary of Bunker Hill. +The Democratic Convention met at Cincinnati. Pierce, Douglas and Buchanan +were candidates. On the seventeenth ballot Buchanan was chosen by unanimous +vote with Breckenridge for Vice-President. The Republican Convention met, +and in it were King, Clay, Wilson and Wilmot. Fremont was made a candidate +by 359 votes against 196 for McLean. For Vice-President, Abraham Lin<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1213" id="Page_1213">[Pg 1213]</a></span>coln +had 110 votes, but Dayton received the majority. The nominees of the +American Convention were afterward withdrawn. The various nominees each +represented real issues. Buchanan stood for the South, Fremont for +<span class="sidenote">Buchanan elected</span> +non-extension, and Fillmore for the Union. The election resulted in the +choice of Buchanan, who received 1,838,169 votes, to Fremont's 1,341,000, +and Fillmore's 875,000. Of the electoral votes, Buchanan received 174, +Fremont 114, and Fillmore 8.</p> + +<p>At another election in Kansas to choose members of the Territorial +Legislature, armed bodies from Missouri took possession of the polls and +elected a pro-slavery Legislature. Of 6,218 votes cast but 1,310 were +legal. Governor Reeder set the election aside and ordered another. May 22, +supplementary elections were held and the Free State men won. June 11, +Governor Reeder was charged with fraud in the purchase of the Indian lands, +and, on July 26, was removed. Dawson was appointed in his place, with +Woodson as acting-governor. On July 2, the pro-slavery Legislature met at +Pawnee, organized, expelled nine Free State members, and adjourned to the +Shawnee Mission, near the Missouri State line. Thereupon the Free State men +<span class="sidenote">Struggle in Kansas</span> +met at Lawrence, repudiated the Shawnee Mission Legislature as spurious, +and summoned a new convention at Topeka. The Convention adopted a Free +State Constitution, and nominated Reeder for Congress. On October 1, the +pro-slavery party elected Whitfield for Congress by more votes than the +census list contained. The Free Staters declared the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1214" id="Page_1214">[Pg 1214]</a></span> pro-slavery +<span class="sidenote">"Bleeding Kansas"</span> +Legislature to have been elected by fraud. A rival government was +organized. Discord, violence, and crime prevailed for a year. "Bleeding +Kansas" became an issue in American national politics.</p> + +<p>The House resolved by 101 to 93 votes to send a special committee to Kansas +to inquire into the anarchy prevailing there. The committee consisted of +Howard, Sherman, and Oliver. After several weeks' investigation they +returned and reported that every election in Kansas had been carried by +Missourians, and the people had been prevented from exercising their +rights; that the Legislature was illegal and its acts null and void; that +<span class="sidenote">Congress takes action</span> +Whitfield held his seat under no valid law, and Reeder had received more +votes than he; that a well-devised election law was necessary, and +impartial judges should be guarded by United States troops, and that the +Topeka Free Soil Convention embodied the will of the majority. A bill +admitting Kansas under her free constitution was defeated by 107 to 106, +but was subsequently passed by 99 to 97. In the Senate the bill was +defeated. Meanwhile turmoil and disorder continued in Kansas. Finally +negotiations between Shannon, and the Free State leaders suspended the feud +for a time.</p> + +<p>The latest attempts to overthrow the government in Mexico, while they +brought General Santa Anna once more to the head of affairs seriously +imperilled his position. After the release of the United States Government +from guarding the frontiers of Mexico, the Indians once more became +troublesome. Pred<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1215" id="Page_1215">[Pg 1215]</a></span>atory bands of Apaches and Comanches so ravaged the +<span class="sidenote">Mexican filibusters</span> +province of Cohauila that the government had to distribute arms among the +inhabitants. A filibustering expedition under Major Walker of Kentucky +established itself in Lower California. They proclaimed the independence of +that province, so as to bring about annexation by the United States. A +strong display of Mexican forces had the effect of driving them into Texas. +Another filibustering expedition led by a French adventurer who called +himself Count Raousset de Bouldon terrorized the north. From Guyamas this +<span class="sidenote">Count Bouldon shot</span> +expedition marched inland, but was defeated in the first encounter with a +strong Mexican force. Raousset de Bouldon was taken captive and was shot. +More serious was a military revolution in the south led by General Alvarez. +In his proclamation of Ayutla, Alvarez called for a new Constitution and a +<span class="sidenote">Alvarez revolution</span> +new Congress, and promised such reforms as the abolition of personal +taxation, of military conscription, and of the feudal system of passports. +Other popular leaders like Bravo and Moreno joined the movement. In vain +did Santa Anna put forth all the powers of a military dictator. The +revolutionists took Monterey, and the insurrection spread throughout the +country until it reached the capital. Santa Anna gathered fourteen hundred +<span class="sidenote">Santa Anna withdraws</span> +of his best troops and left the City of Mexico to march upon his enemies. +Soon the hopelessness of his enterprise became apparent. On the way to Vera +Cruz he suddenly abdicated, and embarked on August 19 for Havana. Scarcely +had Santa Anna left Mexico<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1216" id="Page_1216">[Pg 1216]</a></span> when the country was plunged into new +disorders. General Carrera, on August 15, declared for the plan of Ayutla +and proclaimed himself Vice-President. Funds were raised by a forced loan +from the clerical orders. Several provinces of Mexico refused to recognize +Carrera. Within a month he had to abdicate. He was succeeded at first by +<span class="sidenote">Anarchy in Mexico</span> +General Diaz de la Vavaga, and then by Juan Alvarez, the leader of the +Puros. While he tried to establish his rule, General Vidini in the north +strove to wrest the States of Cohauila, Tamaulipas and Nuego Leon from +Mexico, to form an independent republic under the name of Sierra Madre. +Before the close of the year Alvarez likewise found his position untenable +<span class="sidenote">General Comonfort</span> +and resigned. General Comonfort seized the reins of power as substitute +president—the thirty-sixth President within forty years, the fifth within +four months. He fell heir to the serious international complication with +Spain resulting from the unpaid dividends of Mexico's original debt of +indemnity to that country.</p> + +<p>In China, the Taiping rebels still holding Lintsing were beset by the +<span class="sidenote">Growth of Taiping movement</span> +imperial troops. They were expelled from the province of Shantung during +the spring, but on the other hand carried their arms up the Yangtse-Kiang +as far as Ichang, and eastward from Nanking to the sea. The establishment +of the Taiping power at Nanking attracted the attention of Europeans. At +length a ruthless system of capital executions, by which nearly one hundred +thousand victims are believed to have perished, terrorized China.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1856" id="a1856"></a>1856</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1217" id="Page_1217">[Pg 1217]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">I</span><span class="dcap1">N AMERICA</span>, the increasing virulence of the long controversy over slavery +was brought home to the people by a cowardly assault committed by one +Albert Rust upon Horace Greeley, the editor of the New York "Tribune," and +one of the leaders of the agitation against slavery.</p> + +<p>At a Territorial election in Kansas on January 15 a Legislature was chosen, +and Robinson was elected Governor under the Free State Constitution. +January 26, President Pierce recognized the pro-slavery Legislature in +Kansas, and, on February 11, by proclamation ordered the dispersion of +armed invaders of Kansas. The Legislature met at Topeka, March 4, and +inaugurated Robinson. Congress appointed a committee to investigate the +Kansas troubles. On May 5, the Grand Jury of Douglas County found +indictments against Reeder, Robinson and Lane, the Free State leaders. In +<span class="sidenote">Buford in Kansas</span> +the spring of 1856, Colonel Buford of Alabama, with a thousand young men +from South Carolina and Georgia, came to Kansas in military array. In May, +Lawrence was surrounded by these men bearing Federal arms taken from the +United States armory. Nearly all the pro-slavery leaders were with them. +They demanded the surrender of the people's arms. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1218" id="Page_1218">[Pg 1218]</a></span> inhabitants were +<span class="sidenote">The "Kansas War"</span> +unprepared to resist. The armed pro-slavery force marched through the town, +destroying the hotels and printing-offices and the residence of Governor +Robinson, doing a damage of $150,000. Such was the beginning of the "Kansas +War" which continued throughout the year.</p> + +<p>Acting-Governor Woodson proclaimed the Territory to be in a state of +<span class="sidenote">"Osawatomie Brown"</span> +rebellion. A large pro-slavery force was gathering at Lecompton and another +at Santa Fé. Osawatomie was captured, seven men were killed and thirty +buildings burned. Among the killed was a son of John Brown. Atchison's +pro-slavery force withdrew into Missouri. On September 1, in a municipal +election at Leavenworth, an armed band of Missourians killed and wounded a +number of Free State men, burned their houses, and compelled one hundred +and fifty of them to embark for St. Louis.</p> + +<p>The attack on Lawrence was renewed under the direct authority of the +government. Many lives were lost. The United States troops at Leavenworth +were used by Shannon. The Free State Legislature was dispersed by the +United States forces. Other Missouri forces invaded the Territory and +destroyed Brown's village of Osawatomie, but the Free State men compelled +them to retreat across the Missouri. In September, President Pierce +appointed Gray Governor of Kansas. Arriving at Lecompton, he released +<span class="sidenote">Fight at Lawrence</span> +Robinson and other Free State prisoners on bail, and ordered all hostile +forces to disband. On September 15, three regiments of Missourians with +cannon attacked Lawrence. Governor Gray<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1219" id="Page_1219">[Pg 1219]</a></span> with United States troops +compelled them to retire. December 15, Lecompton, a partisan judge, was +removed on demand of the Governor, and Harrison of Kentucky was appointed. +The Free State preponderance among settlers constantly increased. Nearly +all the clearing, plowing, and planting was done by Free State men. All +manner of irregularities constantly thinned the ranks of volunteers from +the South. Kansas, according to Greeley's expressive phrase, "was steadily +hardening into the bone and sinew of a Free State."</p> + +<p>The National Convention of the American Party virtually approved the +Fugitive Slave law and the Kansas-Nebraska act. In Congress, Sumner +<span class="sidenote">Senator Sumner assaulted</span> +delivered a philippic on "The Crime against Kansas," in which he commented +severely on Senator Butler of South Carolina. Thereupon Preston Brooks +brutally assaulted Sumner in his seat in the Senate. As a result of his +injuries Sumner was an invalid for four years.</p> + +<p>In Mexico, President Comonfort had barely reached a temporary adjustment of +difficulties with Spain when his government was embarrassed by a serious +<span class="sidenote">Puebla revolts</span> +insurrection in Puebla. Government troops in overwhelming numbers put a +bloody end to the revolt. Orihuela, the rebel chief, was shot.</p> + +<p>A new liberal Constitution in Mexico, proclaimed by President Comonfort, +<span class="sidenote">Friction with Spain</span> +did not mend matters much in that distracted republic. New troubles with +Spain arose over unpunished robberies and murders of Spanish subjects. In +March, diplomatic intercourse between the two countries was severed. +Spanish<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1220" id="Page_1220">[Pg 1220]</a></span> warships were ordered to the Gulf of Mexico. At the last moment, +diplomatic mediation on the part of England and France succeeded in +averting war. General Comonfort, finding himself unable to make much +<span class="sidenote">Civil war in Mexico</span> +headway by constitutional means, invoked the help of General Zuloaga, and +established himself once more as military dictator. When it came to +dividing the spoils, Comonfort and Zuloaga fell out, and a seven days' +conflict resulted. Comonfort's followers were routed. The defeated +President had to flee the country.</p> + +<p>Heinrich Heine, the foremost German lyric poet, died at Paris, February 18. +<span class="sidenote">Death of Heine</span> +The last ten years of his life were clouded by ill health. Heine derived +his first poetic inspiration from A.W. Schlegel, while a student at the +University of Bonn. In the literary and artistic circle of Rachel Varnhagel +in Berlin he found further encouragement in his early literary labors. He +was a Jew, but, for the purpose of taking up the study of law, he had +himself baptized a Christian, and became a doctor of law at the University +of Göttingen. After a journey to England, he gave up law to devote himself +exclusively to the pursuit of letters. In 1827, he brought out his "Buch +der Lieder," and followed this up with the first part of his famous +"Reisebilder." Heine's lyrics, by their unwonted grace and sprightliness, +captivated German readers. Some of his songs, like that of the "Lorelei" or +"Thou Art Like a Flower," soon became German folksongs. More +characteristic, perhaps, of Heine's light muse are lines like these:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1221" id="Page_1221">[Pg 1221]</a></span></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A youth once loved a maiden,</span><br /> +<span class="sidenote">Heine's Muse</span> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">But for another she sighed;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">This other loved still another</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And took her for his bride.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The maid for spite then married</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The first that came along;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Alas for the youth who loved her,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">He suffered grievous wrong!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">It is an old, old story,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">But yet it is ever new,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And the one to whom it happens</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">His heart is broken in two.</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Shortly after the July Revolution, Heine went to Paris, where he became a +<span class="sidenote">The poet in Paris</span> +contributor to several of the foremost literary journals of the day as a +writer of French feuilletons. His French prose style was almost equal to +his brilliant command of German. Not until 1844 did Heine bring out any new +German poems. Then he published the epic satires "Germany, a Winter's +Tale," and "Atta Troll, a Summer Night's Dream," two works which aroused +intense indignation in Germany. Much was made of the fact that Heine +accepted an annual pension of 4,800 francs from the government of Louis +Philippe. On the other hand, Heine made the terse observation that whenever +he was treated with rude discourtesy he could be sure that he had met a +<span class="sidenote">"La Mouche"</span> +German. In Paris, the poet was captivated by the charm of young Matilde +Mirat, his "lotos flower," as he called her, or also "la mouche." The +uneducated yet infinitely charming and loyal grisette was the good angel of +Heine's later years. On the eve of the famous duel with his rival poet +Börne, in 1841, Heine married Matilde at the Church of St. Sulpice.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1222" id="Page_1222">[Pg 1222]</a></span></p> + +<p>To his sorrow the poet lived many more years suffering great agony from a +spinal complaint which confined him to his bed, or "mattress grave" as he +called it. His powers of wit and raillery never failed him, even to the +<span class="sidenote">Deathbed wit</span> +last. On the night before he died an anxious friend called to bid farewell. +He asked if the dying man had made his "peace with God." Heine replied with +a wan smile: "Do not trouble yourself. God will pardon me. That's his +trade." These were the last recorded words spoken by Heine. Another story +has it that when the physician put a handglass to the lips of the dying man +and said, "Can you hiss (siffler)?" Heine murmured, "No, not even a play of +Scribe."</p> + +<p>Among German writers of this period, Friedrich Rueckert, the lyric poet, +and Fritz Reuter, who wrote in Low German dialect, were at the height of +their activity. Emanuel Geibel presented himself as heir presumptive to the +mantle of Heine. Unlike Heine, this poet devoted his muse to the +<span class="sidenote">German romantic poets</span> +glorification of German patriotism. He achieved such a success that he was +soon called to Munich, where he brought out the first "Golden Book of +Poets." Other German poets, such as Gottfried Kinkel, the revolutionist, +Hoffmann von Fallersleben, and Ferdinand Freiligrath, famous outside of +Germany for his happy translations of English and American verse, had to +write their poems in exile.</p> + +<p>On February 18, Wilhelm von Biela, the great German astronomer, died at +Venice. Born in 1782 at Rossla in the Hartz Mountains, he entered the +Austrian military service in 1805, and was made<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1223" id="Page_1223">[Pg 1223]</a></span> colonel in 1826, and +<span class="sidenote">Biela's comet</span> +commandant of Rovigo in 1832. On February 27, 1826, he discovered the +famous comet named after him. According to Biela's prediction, the comet +returned every six years and thirty-eight weeks until 1852. Thereafter it +was not seen as a comet during the century. Biela also discovered two other +comets.</p> + +<p>After the fall of Sebastopol, Austria made another attempt to secure peace. +Two of the Powers, France and Russia, were heartily weary of the war. Louis +Napoleon had entered the struggle merely to gain military glory and +political prestige. He had succeeded in attaining his ends. Alexander II., +who had continued the war largely as a matter of filial piety, was ready to +<span class="sidenote">Crimean peace conference</span> +seize the first opportunity to conclude peace with honor. A Congress was +therefore assembled in Paris to draw up terms satisfactory to all +concerned. On March 30, a treaty was signed which gave Kars back to the +Sultan and restored Sebastopol to the Czar. The Porte was admitted to the +Concert of Powers. Most important was the regulation of the navigation of +the Black Sea. It was decreed in the treaty that "the Black Sea is +neutralized; its waters and its ports, thrown open to the mercantile marine +of every nation, are formally and in perpetuity interdicted to the flag of +<span class="sidenote">Black Sea and Danube opened</span> +war of the Powers possessing its coasts or of any other Power." Patrolling +of the sea by small armed vessels was permitted. The Danube was thrown open +to the commerce of the world. In order more fully to secure free navigation +of the river, the Czar's frontier in Bessarabia was some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1224" id="Page_1224">[Pg 1224]</a></span>what changed by +<span class="sidenote">Status Quo in Balkans</span> +the cession of certain territory to Moldavia under the suzerainty of the +Porte. Both Wallachia and Moldavia continued under the protection of +Turkey, and were permitted to enjoy their former privileges. The <i>status +quo</i> of Servia was assured. It was further stipulated that, following the +ancient rule of the Sultans, no foreign war vessels were to pass through +the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus while Turkey was at peace. To insure the +integrity of the Ottoman Empire, England, France and Austria signed a +treaty, on April 15, guaranteeing the independence of the Sultan's +dominions and declaring that any violation of this would call for war.</p> + +<p>Besides drawing up the treaty of peace, the Congress of Paris settled +various moot points in international law. The plenipotentiaries all agreed +<span class="sidenote">The Paris convention</span> +to the doctrines: "First, privateering is and remains abolished. Second, +the neutral flag covers enemy's goods, with the exception of contraband of +war. Third, neutral goods, with the exception of contraband of war, are not +liable to capture under an enemy's flag. Fourth, blockades in order to be +binding must be effective; that is to say, maintained by a force sufficient +really to prevent access to the enemy's coast." The United States of +America did not subscribe to this convention.</p> + +<p>Russia came out of the conflict defeated but respected. She had received a +<span class="sidenote">Results of Crimean war</span> +check in the Black Sea and her frontier line had been readjusted. Still her +political losses were trivial. The war most deeply affected Austria. She +had played a false game<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1225" id="Page_1225">[Pg 1225]</a></span> and had lost. The sceptre of European leadership +slipped from her. The situation afforded to Bismarck and Cavour the +opportunity each was anxiously awaiting.</p> + +<p>Cavour had won his first point. At the Conference of Paris he took his +place as a representative of Sardinia by right of an alliance with the +other great Powers. Then it was seen that every Italian soldier who had +fallen on the Tchernaya, or who had wasted away in the fever-stricken +camps, had died indeed for the honor of Italy among the nations of the +world. At the close of the Conference Cavour made a plain statement +concerning the misgovernment of southern and central Italy and the evils of +the Austrian occupation. When Count Buol von Schauenstein protested, the +French and English representatives supported Cavour. The effect of these +representations was such that there was a sudden change in Austria's +restrictive measures hitherto inflicted upon her Italian dominions. Old +<span class="sidenote">Italy benefited</span> +Marshal Radetzky, the man of the sword, was retired. The sequestrated +Italian estates were returned to their owners. Emperor Francis Joseph came +in person to Milan to proclaim a general amnesty. His brother Maximilian, a +prince of liberal tendencies, came with his young bride Charlotte to undo +the harsh measures of the military government. Maximilian's liberal policy +proved too much for the narrow spirit of the Ministry at home.</p> + +<p>One of the first results of the Crimean war was the threatened suspension +<span class="sidenote">After effects in England</span> +of the Bank of England. In November, it was found that the reserve funds<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1226" id="Page_1226">[Pg 1226]</a></span> +of the Bank had shrunk to £1,462,153, while the deposits that might at any +moment be drawn out aggregated £18,248,003. In these circumstances, a +special bill of Parliament authorized a new issue of paper notes for +£180,000 more than the law permitted. Furthermore, the war with Russia left +behind it a dispute between the governments of Great Britain and of the +United States. Under the provisions of a recent foreign enlistment bill in +England, American citizens had been induced to enter the British military +service. The American Government complained that the practice was in +<span class="sidenote">Friction with America</span> +violation of international law. The point was practically conceded by the +English Government, which at once put a stop to the enlistment of American +citizens and tendered an apology to the government of the United States. +The situation was aggravated by the fact that one of the attachés of the +American Legation in London at this very time was refused admission to a +diplomatic levee at the Court of St. James because he did not appear in +court dress. The British Minister at Washington received his passports. In +<span class="sidenote">Australian Home Rule</span> +Australia, the first Home Rule Parliament had been opened at Sydney by Sir +William Denison. The popular elections were conducted under the famous +ballot system which was afterward adopted in other parts of the world.</p> + +<p>In South Africa, the province of Natal was separated from Cape Colony, and +became an independent Crown Colony with a constitution of its own. The land +of the Basutos, no longer under British protectorate, suffered greatly from +hostile incursions<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1227" id="Page_1227">[Pg 1227]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Singular suicidal mania</span> +and cattle raids from the Boers. During the summer the +Kaffirs fell victims to a fatal delusion. Their prophet Amaxosa foretold +the resurrection of all their dead heroes and warriors, on condition that +they themselves should put an end to their lives. In all, some 50,000 +Kaffirs committed suicide. Emigrants from Cape Colony occupied the Kaffir +lands, which had become depopulated.</p> + +<p>In October, the Chinese Emperor, beset as he was by the victorious Taiping +<span class="sidenote">Affair of "The Arrow"</span> +rebels, was made to feel the heavy hand of Great Britain. A Portuguese +lorcha, "The Arrow," flying the British flag though without British +register, was overhauled by the Chinese authorities while at anchor near +Dutch Folly. One of her crew had been recognized as one of a band of +pirates who had committed some recent outrages. The Taotai of Canton had +the offender arrested. Sir John Bowring at Hong Kong at once protested. The +Chinese Imperial Commissioner Yeh replied that "The Arrow" was not a +foreign vessel, and therefore declined to enter into any discussion about +her. As a first step toward obtaining reparation the British seized a +Chinese imperial junk and held her in reprisal. As this failed to bring the +<span class="sidenote">British reprisals on China</span> +Chinese to terms, Sir Michael Seymour with a British squadron bombarded and +seized the barrier forts of Canton. The fleet proceeded up the river, and, +after capturing the Chinese fort of Macao Passage, came to anchor before +Canton. An ultimatum was addressed to Yeh, stating that unless he at once +complied with all English demands they would "proceed with the destruction +of all the defences<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1228" id="Page_1228">[Pg 1228]</a></span> and public buildings of the city and of the government +vessels in the harbor." No reply was vouchsafed. The Canton forts were +seized by the British and their men-of-war trained guns on the city. All +<span class="sidenote">Canton bombarded</span> +able-bodied Chinamen were called upon by the Viceroy of Canton to rally for +the defence of their city. The British bombarded Canton and sunk a large +fleet of Chinese war junks up the river. A fort at French Folly was +reduced, and the Bogue forts on both sides of the river were captured. The +Chinese retaliated by burning the whole foreign settlement, and by chopping +off the heads of all the Englishmen who came into their power. Sir Michael +Seymour found his force inadequate to capture Canton, and had to withdraw +<span class="sidenote">Insufficient British forces</span> +from his positions while he sent home a request for reinforcements. The +urgency of the request opened the eyes of the British Foreign Secretary to +the gravity of the situation. A force of 1,500 men was at once sent from +England, another regiment from Mauritius, and a division from the Madras +army. The situation in India shortly became such that this force never +reached China.</p> + +<p>New difficulties had arisen with Persia respecting Herat. The death of Yar +Muhammad Khan in 1852 was followed by intrigues in Herat. The province +became a bone of contention between the Shah of Persia and the aged Dost +Muhammad Khan. This ruler's hostility to England during the second Sikh war +had been condoned, and a treaty of friendship concluded between him and +Lord Dalhousie. In virtue of this treaty the British sided with Dost +Muhammad. When the Shah moved an army into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1229" id="Page_1229">[Pg 1229]</a></span> Herat and captured the capital, +<span class="sidenote">British war with Persia</span> +England declared war on Persia. Arms and munitions in great quantity were +presented to Dost Muhammad, together with a subsidy of ten thousand pounds +a month so long as the Persian war should last. An expedition under Sir +James Outram was sent from Bombay to the Gulf of Persia. The capture of +Bushire by the English and their victory at Mohamrah brought the Shah of +Persia to withdraw his troops from Afghanistan. Herat was relinquished. +While the war lasted a new danger to the British Indian Empire arose at +Delhi. In July, the heir-apparent of old Bahadur Shah, the reigning King of +Delhi, suddenly died. A younger queen was believed to have poisoned him. +She persuaded Bahadur Shah to proclaim her son heir to the throne. Lord +Canning withheld Great Britain's recognition. An elder brother was +recognized as successor by Lord Canning, on condition that he should leave +Delhi upon his succession to the throne and take up his abode at Kutut. The +young Queen was moved to wild wrath. She was a daughter of the House of +Nadir Shah, burning with the traditional ambitions of her family. Forthwith +she took a part in all manner of intrigues against the English on the side +of Persia as well as of the Afghans. The remarkable outbursts of +anti-British feeling that followed have been credited to her.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="a1857" id="a1857"></a>1857</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1230" id="Page_1230">[Pg 1230]</a></span> +<span class="dcap">T</span><span class="dcap1">HE REVERSES</span> of the Persians brought the Shah to terms. A treaty of peace +was presently concluded in which all claim to Herat was abandoned by +<span class="sidenote">Chinese war ships sank</span> +Persia. Early in the year the British expedition in China resumed +hostilities. Commodore Elliot with five gunboats and a host of small boats +destroyed a fleet of forty armed junks. Next an attack was delivered on the +Chinese headquarters at Fatshan. A flotilla of English small boats cut +their way through the long line of war junks, and a landing party under +Commodore Harry Keppel attacked the main position. The Commodore's boat was +<span class="sidenote">Assault on Fatshan</span> +sunk and several others had to be abandoned. A number of the Chinese junks +were burned. Keppel's force was found too small to capture Fatshan. Sir +Michael Seymour decided to postpone further hostilities until the arrival +of the promised reinforcements that were to come after Lord Elgin. When +these troops failed to arrive in good time, Lord Elgin went to Calcutta +himself to hasten their despatch. There he found affairs of far more +serious import than those in China.</p> + +<p>Some time previously rumors had been circulated concerning a danger to +British rule in India. Mysterious little cakes were circulated far and +wide.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1231" id="Page_1231">[Pg 1231]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Murmurs in India</span> +Lord Canning, the new Governor-General, was blamed for not taking +alarm. A dangerous story got abroad early in the year. The Enfield rifle +had been introduced. Its cartridges were greased with animal lubricants. +The fat of pigs was hateful to Mohammedans, while that of cows was still +more of an abomination in the eyes of the Hindus. At Barrackpore, near +Calcutta, where Sepoys were stationed, a Laskar reviled a Brahmin as +defiled by the British cartridges. The whole of the Bengal army was seized +with horror. The British authorities claimed that none of the greased +<span class="sidenote">The greased cartridges</span> +cartridges had been issued to the Sepoys. The story of the greased +cartridges ran up the Ganges to Benares, Delhi and Meerut. It was soon +noised abroad that the bones of cows and pigs had been ground to powder and +thrown into wells with flour and butter in order to destroy the caste of +the Hindus so as to convert them to Christianity.</p> + +<p>In March, incendiary fires broke out at Barrackpore. The Sepoys from the +Nineteenth Regiment refused to receive the cartridges dealt out to them. +There was only one white regiment in the 400 miles between Barrackpore and +Patna. After remonstrances had been made by the English officers, the +<span class="sidenote">Hindu soldiers demur</span> +Sepoys returned, but there still remained disaffection at Benares, Lucknow, +Agra and other places. When it was believed that the excitement was allayed +another outbreak occurred at Lucknow. Lawrence's energetic measures +maintained order in Oude. The mutiny was only scattered, however. Within a +week Meerut, thirty-eight miles northeast of Delhi,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1232" id="Page_1232">[Pg 1232]</a></span> and the largest +cantonment in India, was in a blaze. The story of the greased cartridges +had been capped by that of the bone dust. Some eighty-five of a regiment of +Sepoy cavalry refused to take the cartridges and were marched off to the +guard-house. During the afternoon of the following Sunday, when the +European officers were preparing for church, the imprisoned Sepoys were +liberated with others. They shot down every European they met.</p> + +<p>The mutiny became a revolt. The rebellious Sepoys marched on Delhi. When +<span class="sidenote">The Indian mutiny</span> +the rebel troops came up from Meerut the English officers prepared to meet +them. Their Sepoys joined the mutineers. The revolt spread throughout +Delhi. In despair, Willoughby blew up the fort with 1,500 rebels who were +assaulting it. Only four of his command escaped. Willoughby himself died +six weeks afterward, while India and Europe were ringing with his name. +Fifty Englishmen whom the rebels had captured were butchered in cold blood. +Delhi on Monday evening was in rebel hands. The remaining officers on the +Ridge fled for their lives. Their subsequent suffering was one of the +harrowing features of the great convulsion. The revolution at Delhi opened +Lord Canning's eyes. He telegraphed for regiments from Bombay, Burma, +Madras and Ceylon.</p> + +<p>On May 11, the news of the outbreak at Meerut was brought to the +authorities at Lahore. Meean Meer is a large military cantonment five or +six miles from Lahore, and there were then some four thousand native troops +there, with only about thirteen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1233" id="Page_1233">[Pg 1233]</a></span> hundred Europeans of the Queen's and the +Company's service. There was no time to be lost. A parade was ordered on +the morrow at Meean Meer. On the parade-ground an order was given for a +<span class="sidenote">Lahore mutineers foiled</span> +military movement which brought the heads of four columns of the native +troops in front of twelve guns charged with grape, the artillerymen with +their port-fires lighted, and the soldiers of one of the Queen's regiments +standing behind with loaded muskets. A command was given to the Sepoys to +stack arms. Cowed, they piled their arms, which were borne away at once in +carts by the European soldiers. All chances of a rebellious movement were +over for the moment in the Punjab.</p> + +<p>At three stations—Lucknow, Jhansi and Cawnpore—the mutiny was of +political importance. The city of Lucknow, the capital of Oude, extended +four miles along the right bank of the river Goomti. The British Residency +<span class="sidenote">Situation at Lucknow</span> +and other principal buildings were between the city and the river. The +Residency was a walled inclosure, and near it stood a castellated +structure, the Muchi Bowun. Since the affair of May 3, Sir Henry Lawrence +had been making preparations for a defence in case of insurrection. The +native force consisted of three regiments of infantry and one of cavalry, +all Sepoys, and there was a European force of 570 men with sixty +artillerymen. Lawrence brought all the European non-combatants within the +Residency walls, and established a strong post between the Residency and +the Muchi Bowun to command the two bridges which led to the cantonments. +The outbreak began on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1234" id="Page_1234">[Pg 1234]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Massacre of Jhansi</span> +May 30, when the insurgents rushed to the bridges, +and, being repulsed by Lawrence, made off to Delhi. At Jhansi, the garrison +of fifty-five men was butchered in cold blood.</p> + +<p>At Cawnpore, on the Ganges, fifty-five miles southwest of Lucknow, the +tragedy was even more terrible. Cawnpore had been in the possession of the +English for more than fifty years. In May, sixty-one artillerymen and four +Sepoy regiments were there. Sir Hugh Wheeler, the commandant, prepared for +the coming storm. He took some old barracks and there quartered the white +women, children and invalids. He accepted from the Nana, who professed +great friendship, 200 Mahrattas and two guns. On the night of June 4, the +Sepoy regiment at Cawnpore broke out in mutiny. The Nana overtook them on +the road to Delhi and soon returned with them to Cawnpore. Sir Hugh was +taken by surprise on the morning of the 6th, when he received a message +from the Nana, announcing that his men were about to attack the Englishmen. +<span class="sidenote">Defence of Cawnpore</span> +Sir Hugh prepared for the defence of the barracks. The mutineers first +rifled the city and cantonment, and murdered all the English who came in +their way. At noon they opened fire on the intrenchments. From the 6th to +the 25th of June, the inmates struggled against fearful odds. Though +starving, they resisted successfully. On June 25, Wheeler received a +proposal that safe passage would be given to Allahabad to those who were +willing to lay down their arms. An armistice was proclaimed, and next +morning terms were nego<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1235" id="Page_1235">[Pg 1235]</a></span>tiated. The English were to capitulate and march +out with their arms and sixty rounds of ammunition for each man, to the +river a mile away, where boats would be furnished for all. The next morning +they marched down to the boats—the men on foot, the wounded and +non-combatants on elephants and bullocks. They were all huddled together on +<span class="sidenote">Massacre of Cawnpore</span> +board the boats. Suddenly, at the sound of a bugle, a murderous fire was +opened on them. The women and children, one hundred and twenty-five in +number, were hurried off to prison, and the men were ordered to immediate +execution. All was soon over. Nana was proclaimed Peishwa. English +reinforcements were coming from Allahabad. Nana hastened back to Cawnpore. +There, within a few days, more than two hundred English were taken +prisoners. The men were all butchered, and eighty women and children were +sent to join those in a house near the Nana. Great excitement prevailed in +England, where it was believed that these women were subjected to all +manner of outrage and made to long for death as an escape from shame. As a +<span class="sidenote">Englishwomen spared</span> +matter of fact the royal widows of the Nana's adoptive father did their +utmost to protect the captive Englishwomen. They threatened to throw +themselves and their children from the palace windows should any harm +befall the English ladies. Thanks to them no worse indignity than the +compulsory grinding of corn was inflicted on the white women. Meanwhile, +Colonel Mill was pushing up from Calcutta. In July, he was joined at +Allahabad by a column under General Havelock.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1236" id="Page_1236">[Pg 1236]</a></span></p> + +<p>In July, Havelock left Allahabad for Cawnpore with 2,000 men, Europeans and +<span class="sidenote">Havelock to the relief</span> +Sikhs. He burned to avenge the massacre of Cawnpore. On the 12th and 15th +of July he inflicted three defeats on the enemy. When within twenty miles +of Cawnpore, having halted for the night, he heard that the women and +children at Cawnpore were still alive, and that the Nana had taken the +field to oppose him. He broke camp and marched fifteen miles that night. In +the meantime, the crowning atrocity was committed at Cawnpore. The defeated +<span class="sidenote">Englishwomen slaughtered</span> +rebels had returned to the Nana. On receiving the tidings of their repulse, +he ordered the slaughter of the 200 women and children. They were hacked to +death with swords, bayonets, knives and axes. Their remains were thrown +into a well. At 2 <span class="smcap">p.m.</span> Havelock toiled on with a thousand Europeans and +three hundred Sikhs, and without cavalry and artillery, to meet the 5,000 +rebels. Failing to silence the enemy's batteries, Havelock ordered a +bayonet charge. Nana Sahib with his followers took flight. He was never +<span class="sidenote">Capture of Cawnpore</span> +heard from again. The next morning Havelock marched into the station at +Cawnpore, and there found the well filled with mangled human remains. On +July 20, having been reinforced by General Neill, whom he left in charge at +Cawnpore, Havelock set out for the relief of Lucknow.</p> + +<p>The entire province of Oude was in a state of insurrection. The English had +been closely besieged in Lucknow since the last day of May. The garrison +had held out for two months against fifty thousand Hindus. On July 4, Sir +Henry Law<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1237" id="Page_1237">[Pg 1237]</a></span>rence +<span class="sidenote">The defence of Lucknow</span> +was killed by a shell which burst in his room. Two weeks +later, the rebels, learning of the advance of Havelock to Cawnpore, +attacked the Residency with overwhelming force, but the garrison at last +compelled them to retire. By the middle of August, Havelock advanced toward +Bethan with 1,500 men. He met the enemy in force, and overcame him with a +<span class="sidenote">Havelock captures Bethan</span> +bayonet charge. The Mahratta palace was burned. This ended Havelock's first +campaign against Lucknow. Without cavalry for the pursuit of the enemy, he +fell back to Cawnpore.</p> + +<p>During the months which followed the outbreak at Delhi, all political +interest was centred in that ancient capital of Hindustan. Its recapture +was vital to the re-establishment of British sovereignty. In the absence of +railways the British were slow to cope with the situation. Every European +soldier sent for the relief of Delhi from Calcutta was stopped en route. On +June 8, a month after the affair at Delhi, Sir Henry Barnard took the field +at Alipano, ten miles away. He defeated the mutineers, and then marched to +the Ridge and reoccupied the old cantonment, which had been abandoned.</p> + +<p>On June 23, the enemy made a desperate assault, and not long afterward +<span class="sidenote">Defence of Delhi</span> +repeated the attempt. Reinforcements came from the Punjab. The British now +had 8,000 men. With their fifty-four guns they could shell the besiegers. +At last, at 3 <span class="smcap">a.m.</span> on September 14, three columns were formed for a sortie, +with one in reserve. They rushed through the broken walls, and the first +and second<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1238" id="Page_1238">[Pg 1238]</a></span> columns met at the Kabul Gate. Six days of desperate fighting +followed. On September 20, the gates of the old fortified palace were +<span class="sidenote">Delhi recaptured</span> +broken open, but the inmates had fled. Thus fell the imperial city. The +British army lost 4,000 men, among them Brigadier-General Nicholson, who +led the storming party. The great mutiny at Delhi was stamped out, and the +British flag waved over the capital of Hindustan. This was the turning +point of the Sepoy mutiny.</p> + +<p>The capture of Delhi was followed by acts of barbarous retribution. Hindu +<span class="sidenote">British vengeance</span> +prisoners were shot from the mouths of cannon. Hodson, of "Hodson's Horse," +a young officer who had once been cashiered for high-handed conduct in +India, offered to General Wilson to capture the king and the royal family +of Delhi. General Wilson gave him authority to make the attempt, but +stipulated that the life of the king should be spared. By the help of +native spies Hodson discovered that when Delhi was taken the king and his +family had taken refuge in the tomb of the Emperor Hoomayoon. Hodson went +boldly to this place with a few of his troopers. He found that the royal +family of Delhi were surrounded there by a vast crowd of armed adherents. +He called upon them all to lay down their arms at once. They threw down +their arms, and the king surrendered himself to Hodson. Next day the three +<span class="sidenote">Delhi princes murdered</span> +royal princes of Delhi were captured. Hodson borrowed a carbine from one of +his troopers and shot the three princes dead. Their corpses, half naked, +were exposed for some days at one of the gates of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1239" id="Page_1239">[Pg 1239]</a></span> Delhi. Hodson committed +the deed deliberately. Several days before, he wrote to a friend to say +that if he got into the palace of Delhi, "the House of Timour will not be +worth five minutes' purchase, I ween." On the day after the deed he wrote: +"In twenty-four hours I disposed of the principal members of the House of +Timour the Tartar. I am not cruel; but I confess that I do rejoice in the +opportunity of ridding the earth of these ruffians."</p> + +<p>The mutineers had seized Gwalior, the capital of the Maharajah Scindia, who +<span class="sidenote">The Princess of Jhansi</span> +escaped to Agra. The English had to attack the rebels, retake Gwalior and +restore Scindia. One of those who fought to the last on the mutineers' side +was the Ranee, or Princess of Jhansi, whose territory had been one of the +British annexations. She had flung all her energies into the rebellion. She +took the field with Nana Sahib and Tantia Topi. For months after the fall +of Delhi she contrived to baffle Sir Hugh Rose and the English. She led +squadrons in the field. She fought with her own hand. She was foremost in +the battle for the possession of Gwalior. In the garb of a horseman she led +<span class="sidenote">An Amazon's death</span> +charge after charge, and she was killed among those who resisted to the +last. Her body was found upon the field, scarred with wounds enough to have +done credit to any hero. Sir Hugh Rose paid her a well-deserved tribute +when he wrote: "The best man upon the side of the enemy was the woman found +dead, the Ranee of Jhansi."</p> + +<p>Lucknow was still beleaguered. Late in September, Havelock had prepared for +a second attempt to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1240" id="Page_1240">[Pg 1240]</a></span> relieve that place. Sir Colin Campbell had reached +Calcutta as Commander-in-Chief. Sir James Outram had come to Allahabad on +September 16. He joined Havelock with 1,400 men. With generous chivalry the +"Bayard of India" waived his rank in honor of Havelock. "To you shall be +left the glory of relieving Lucknow," he wrote. "I shall accompany you, +placing my military service at your disposal, as a volunteer." On September +<span class="sidenote">Relief of Lucknow</span> +20, Havelock crossed the Granges into Oude with 2,500 men. Having twice +defeated the enemy, on September 25 he cut his way through the streets of +Lucknow. Late in the day he entered the British cantonments. The defence of +the Residency at Lucknow was a glorious episode in British annals. It has +been sung in immortal strains by Alfred Tennyson. The fortitude of the +garrison was surpassed only by the self-sacrificing conduct of the women +who nursed the wounded and cared for all. They received the thanks of Queen +Victoria for their heroic devotion. For four months the garrison had +watched for the succor which came at last. The surrounding city remained +for two months longer in rebel hands. In November, Sir Colin Campbell with +2,000 men took charge of the intrenchments at Cawnpore, and then advanced +against Lucknow with 5,000 men and thirty guns. He defeated the enemy and +carried away the beleaguered garrison with all the women and children.</p> + +<p>Still the British were unable to disperse the rebels and reoccupy the city. +Sir Colin Campbell left Outram with 4,000 men near Lucknow. He himself +returned to Cawnpore. On approaching that city he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1241" id="Page_1241">[Pg 1241]</a></span> heard the roll of a +<span class="sidenote">Cawnpore rises again</span> +distant cannonade. Tantia Topi had come again to the front. He had +persuaded the Gwalior contingent to break out in mutiny and march against +Cawnpore. General Windham resisted his advance. The whole city was in the +hands of the rebel Sepoys, but the bridge of boats over the Ganges was +saved to the British. Sir Colin Campbell marched over it, and in safety +reached the intrenchment in which Windham was shut up. He routed the +<span class="sidenote">Death of Havelock</span> +Gwalior rebels and drove them out of Cawnpore. General Havelock the day +after he left Lucknow succumbed to dysentery. Throughout the British Empire +there was universal sorrow that will never be forgotten so long as men +recall the memory of the mutinies of Fifty-seven. Havelock's victories had +aroused the drooping spirits of the British nation.</p> + +<p>The subsequent history of the Sepoy revolt is largely a recital of military +operations for the dispossession of the rebels and the restoration of +British supremacy. Sir Colin Campbell, now Lord Clyde, undertook a general +and successful campaign against the rebels of Oude and Rohlikund, and Sir +<span class="sidenote">Aftermath of the Mutiny</span> +James Outram drove them out of Lucknow, and re-established British +sovereignty in the capital of Oude. At the same time a column under Sir +Hugh Rose and another under General Whitlock did a similar work in Central +India and Bundelkund. Rose's campaign was peculiarly difficult. It was +carried out amid the jungles and ravines of the Vindhya Mountains, and in +the secluded regions of Bundelkund. He fought battles against baffling +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1242" id="Page_1242">[Pg 1242]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Rose's brilliant campaign</span> +odds, and captured the stronghold of Jhansi. He then marched against Tantia +Topi, who had an army of 40,000 near Kalpi, which he routed and scattered. +Having brought his campaign to a close, he congratulated his troops on +having marched a thousand miles, defeated and dispersed the enemy, and +<span class="sidenote">King of Delhi transported</span> +captured a hundred guns. The old King of Delhi was put on trial, convicted +and sentenced to transportation. He was sent to the Cape of Good Hope, but +the colonists there refused to receive him. The last of the line of the +Great Moguls of India had to go begging for a prison.</p> + +<p>Toward the close of the year, when the Indian mutiny appeared to have spent +its force, Lord Elgin returned from Calcutta to Hong Kong. In the meanwhile +the English, French and American Governments had exchanged notes on the +subject of Chinese outrages against Christians. Louis Napoleon was found to +be in hearty accord with England's desire to make an example of China. +Baron Gros was sent to China charged with a mission similar to that of Lord +Elgin. The United States declined to join in active measures against China.</p> + +<p>In the United States of America, James Buchanan had become President at +<span class="sidenote">Buchanan, American President</span> +sixty-six years of age. He had served as a member of Congress from 1821 to +1831; then as Minister to Russia from 1832 to 1834; United States Senator +from 1834 to 1845; Secretary of State under Polk from 1845 to 1849, and +Minister to Great Britain from 1853 to 1856.</p> + +<p>Buchanan's first message repeated the assurance that the discussion of +slavery had come to an end.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1243" id="Page_1243">[Pg 1243]</a></span> The clergy were found fault with for fomenting +the disturbances. The President declared in favor of the admission of +Kansas with a Constitution agreeable to the majority of the settlers. He +<span class="sidenote">Dred Scott case</span> +also referred to an impending decision of the Supreme Court with which he +had been acquainted and asked acquiescence in it. This was Judge Taney's +decision in the Dred Scott case, rendered two days after Buchanan's +inauguration. An action had been begun in the Circuit Court in Missouri by +Scott, a negro, for the freedom of himself and children. He claimed that he +had been removed by his master in 1834 to Illinois, a free State, and +afterward taken into territory north of the compromise line. Sanford, his +master, replied that Scott was not a citizen of Missouri, and could not +bring an action, and that he and his children were Sanford's slaves. The +lower courts differed, and the case was twice argued.</p> + +<p>The decision nullified the Missouri restriction, or, indeed, any +<span class="sidenote">The decision</span> +restriction by Congress on slavery in the Territories. Chief-Justice Taney +said: "The question is whether that class of persons (negroes) compose a +portion of the people, and are constituent members of this sovereignty. We +think they are not included under the word citizen in the Constitution, and +can therefore claim none of the rights and privileges" of that instrument. +"They were at that time considered as a subordinate and inferior class who +had been subjugated by the dominant race—and had no rights or privileges +but such as those who held the power and the government<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1244" id="Page_1244">[Pg 1244]</a></span> might choose to +grant them. They had for more than a century been regarded as beings of an +inferior grade—and so far inferior that they had no rights which the white +man is bound to respect; and that the negro might justly and lawfully be +reduced to slavery for his (the white man's) benefit. The negro race by +common consent had been excluded from civilized governments and the family +of nations and doomed to slavery. The unhappy black race were separated +from the whites by indelible marks long before established, and were never +thought of or spoken of except as property." The Chief-Justice nullified +the Missouri restriction, by asserting that "the act of Congress, which +prohibited a citizen from holding property of this kind north of the line +therein mentioned, is not warranted by the Constitution, and is therefore +void." This made slavery the organic law of the land. Benton said that it +was "no longer the exception with freedom the rule, but slavery the rule, +with freedom the exception."</p> + +<p>It was a year of financial distress in America, which recalled the hard +<span class="sidenote">Financial distress</span> +times of twenty years before. The United States Treasury was empty. There +had been a too rapid building of railway lines in comparatively undeveloped +regions where they could not pay expenses for years to come. Settlers did +not come so quickly as was expected, and a fall in railway shares resulted. +<span class="sidenote">Trouble with Mormons</span> +There was great loss, yet the country suffered less than in 1837. During +the summer the Mormons in Utah gave new trouble. Brigham Young, after Utah +was excluded<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1245" id="Page_1245">[Pg 1245]</a></span> from the Union, destroyed the records of the United States +courts, and practically drove Federal judges from their seats and other +officials from the Territory. The Mormons now numbered 40,000 members, and +felt strong enough to defy the government.</p> + +<p>In September, the Indians, believed to have been instigated by the Mormons, +<span class="sidenote">Massacre of Mount Meadow</span> +massacred an immigrant train of 120 persons at Mountain Meadow in Utah. +Alfred Cumming, Superintendent of Indian Affairs on the upper Missouri, +displaced Young as Governor of Utah. Judge Eckles of Indiana was appointed +Chief-Justice of the Territory. A force of 2,500 men under Colonel A.S. +Johnston was sent to Utah to suppress interference with the laws of the +United States. On the arrival of the Federal troops in the autumn, they +were attacked, on October 6, by the Mormons, their supply trains were +destroyed, and their oxen driven off. Colonel Johnston was compelled to +find winter quarters at Fort Bridger.</p> + +<p>Early in the year a Legislature had met at Topeka, Kansas, and was +immediately dissolved by the United States marshals. A Territorial +Legislature also met at Lecompton and provided for a State Constitution. +The people of Kansas utterly refused to recognize the Legislature chosen by +the Missouri invaders, and both parties continued to hold their elections.</p> + +<p>Manuel José de Quintana, the Spanish playwright and patriotic poet, died on +March 11, at Madrid. He was one of the many Spanish writers whose first +poetic inspirations were derived from the stirring in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1246" id="Page_1246">[Pg 1246]</a></span>cidents of the +Peninsular War. On the return of King Ferdinand VII., Quintana had to +<span class="sidenote">Quintana</span> +expiate his liberal sentiments by a term of six years in the prison of +Pampeluna. The revolution of 1820 brought about his release, but three +years later he was banished again from Madrid. An ode on King Ferdinand's +marriage restored him to royal favor. He was appointed tutor to the Infanta +Isabella, and in 1833 was made Minister of Public Instruction. Two years +before his death Queen Isabella publicly crowned the poet with a wreath of +laurel in the hall of the Cortes. It was a well-merited honor, for the +poet's patriotic odes and ringing lyrics long before this had taken rank +among the finest productions of the modern literature of Spain.</p> + +<p>Jules Breton, the famous French pupil of Drolling and of Devigne, exhibited +<span class="sidenote">Jules Breton</span> +this year at Paris one of his greatest works, "La Bénédiction des Blés." It +was of this picture that Hamerton, the author of "Painting in France," +wrote: "It is technically a work of singular importance in modern art for +its almost perfect interpretation of sunshine."</p> + +<p>Alfred de Musset, the French lyric poet, died on May 1, in Paris. Born in +<span class="sidenote">Alfred de Musset</span> +1810, the scion of an old aristocratic family, he was brought up with the +Duke of Orleans. They remained intimate friends until the Duke's death in +1842. In his eighteenth year De Musset took rank among the romantic writers +of Paris by his first volume of poems—"Contes d'Espagne et d'Italie." +During the next two years De Musset published another volume of poems and +the collection "Un Spectacle dans un Fauteuil," and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1247" id="Page_1247">[Pg 1247]</a></span> followed this up with +several essays in dramatic verse, published under the title "Comédies +Injouables." In 1833, De Musset went to Italy together with Georges Sand, +<span class="sidenote">Relations with Georges Sand</span> +but in Venice the lovers quarrelled and separated. The character of Stenio +in Georges Sand's novel "Lelia" was recognized as a personification of De +Musset. Alfred de Musset himself drew on these experiences for his novel +"Confessions d'un Enfant du Siècle," published upon his return from Italy +in 1836. Georges Sand, stung by De Musset's allegations concerning her, +gave her version of their relations in the famous book "Elle et Lui," +whereupon De Musset's brother Paul published an even less lovely version of +the affair, in his book "Lui et Elle." During the succeeding year De Musset +became one of the foremost contributors to the "Revue des Deux Mondes." In +<span class="sidenote">"Rolla" and "Les Nuits"</span> +its pages appeared most of his "Comédies et Proverbes," and the lyric +pieces of "Rolla" and "Les Nuits." Among his prose tales of this period +were "Emmeline," "Les deux Maitresses," "Frédéric et Bernerette," and "Le +Fils du Titien." Having lost part of his income, the poet was made +librarian of the Ministry of the Interior at the instance of the Duke of +Orleans, and as such received an ample pension. After the revolution of +1848 he was deprived of this stipend. Louis Napoleon, on his coronation as +Emperor, restored Alfred de Musset to office and had him elected to the +French Academy. During his last years the poet wrote but little verse.</p> + +<p>As a lyric poet, Alfred de Musset claims foremost<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1248" id="Page_1248">[Pg 1248]</a></span> +rank among the modern<span class="sidenote">De Musset's pessimism</span> +writers of France. His verse, like that of his contemporaries, Byron, +Lermontov, Leopardi, Lenau and Heine, is tinged with sadness and pessimism. +Like them, too, he excels in the mastery of the subtile beauties of his +native tongue. Characteristic of the spirit of his verse, if not of its +outward form, are these lines, translated from his beautiful lyric +"Rappelle-toi!"</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Recall our love when the shy dawn unfoldeth</span><br /> +<span class="sidenote">"Rappelle-toi"</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The enchanted radiance of the morning sun—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Recall our love when darkling night beholdeth</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Veiled trains of silvery stars pass one by one,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When wild thy bosom palpitates with pleasure,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or when the shades of night lull thee in dreamy measure;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Then lend a willing ear</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To murmurings far and near:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Recall our love!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Recall our love when fate hath separated</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thy heart and mine, estranged for evermore—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When by the grief of exile ever mated</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The soul is crushed that soared so high before—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Remember our sad love, remember how we parted—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Time, absence, grief, are naught for love full-hearted,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">So long as fond hearts beat,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">They ever must repeat:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Recall our love!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Recall our love when under earth reposes</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">This heart at last lulled in eternal sleep—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Recall our love when on my grave dark roses</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In solitude their tender petals weep.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">You will not see me more, but in immortal anguish</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">My stricken soul will ever near you languish;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Under the midnight sky</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A spirit voice will sigh,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Recall our love!</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>During this same year in France the pessimism of Alfred de Musset was +outdone by Baudelaire's famous collection of poems "Les Fleurs de Mal." +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1249" id="Page_1249">[Pg 1249]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">"Les Fleurs de Mal"</span> +Baudelaire, as a poet, took a unique place in French literature. Following +in the footsteps of Victor Hugo, and the American, Poe—whose works he was +the first to translate into French—he outdid both these masters of the +grotesque in bizarre creations. He was the founder of diabolism in French +letters. As Sainte-Beuve wrote of Baudelaire: "S'est pris l'enfer et s'est +fait diable." The lucubrations of the so-called Satanic School of Byron, +Shelley and Hugo were surpassed by Baudelaire's rapt worship of evil as the +great power of the world. Take his famous Litany to Satan:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="poem"> +<tr> +<td> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">O thou the wisest and most beautiful of cherubim,</span><br /> +<span class="sidenote">Baudelaire's Litany</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A god betrayed by fate and reft of worshipping,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">O Satan, have pity on my endless woe!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thou, who dost save the bones of the old sot</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That reels 'twixt prancing steeds and heeds them not,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">O Satan, have pity on my endless woe!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Adopted father of those whom in his rage on high</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The God of Vengeance banished from his paradise,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">O Satan, have pity on my endless woe!</span><br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Baudelaire's worship of evil was genuine, since he cared nothing for any +virtue save the crowning virtue of artistic excellence. From beginning to +end his "Fleurs de Mal" may be said to have blossomed in defiance of all +that the world has accepted as virtuous. Baudelaire's unusual sense of the +grotesque is believed to have been fostered by his early voyages in the Far +East.</p> + +<p>Carl Czerny, the eminent pianist and teacher, died on July 15, at the age +<span class="sidenote">Czerny</span> +of sixty-six, at his birthplace, Vienna. Czerny while a boy showed rare +talent for music. He received encouragement from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1250" id="Page_1250">[Pg 1250]</a></span> such men as Beethoven, +Clementi and Hummel, and began his career as a teacher at sixteen. An early +concert tour in 1804 had to be given up on account of the wars. The rest of +his life was spent in Vienna, where he became one of the most influential +teachers. In all he published over a thousand compositions, the most +lasting of which were his pedagogic piano studies. As a musical writer he +gained recognition by a work on the history of music.</p> + +<p>On the day following Czerny's death, Jean Pierre Béranger, the great French +<span class="sidenote">Death of Béranger</span> +song writer, died at Paris. He was seventy-seven years old. Little cared +for by his father, he was brought up by his grandfather, a tailor, who let +him roam the streets as a gamin. At the age of nine he was sent to act as a +tavern boy for his aunt, who kept a small inn near Peronne in Picardy. In +his fourteenth year he was apprenticed to a printer, and learned the first +<span class="sidenote">The poet's early career</span> +principles of versification while setting up the poems of André Chenier. On +his own behalf he soon printed a small volume of songs entitled "A Garland +of Roses." In 1798, he returned to Paris, and was reclaimed by his father. +For more than a year he had no settled occupation, during which time he +composed some of his best songs. At the outset of the Nineteenth Century, +Béranger definitely determined to follow the career of letters. He wrote a +comedy, but failing to get it accepted threw it into the fire. Collecting +all his poems he sent them to Lucien Bonaparte, the enlightened brother of +the First Consul. Prince Lucien took the young poet under his patronage, +but, unfortu<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1251" id="Page_1251">[Pg 1251]</a></span>nately for Béranger, soon had to leave France, an exile. On +his arrival at Rome, Lucien Bonaparte transmitted to Béranger the salary +coming to him as a member of the Institute. As a song writer Béranger made +the most of his opportunities. In 1809, he was appointed Secretary of the +University of France, an office which he held throughout the Napoleonic +era. In 1813, he became a member of the Jolly Topers of the Caveau, then +<span class="sidenote">Napoleonic songs</span> +the resort of the most distinguished literary men of Paris. On the fall of +Napoleon, Béranger took it upon himself to sing the glory of the fallen +empire in elegiac strains. A severe reprimand was administered to him by +the government. His second series of Napoleonic songs, published in 1821, +cost him his place and three months' confinement in the prison of St. +<span class="sidenote">Béranger in prison</span> +Pelagie, while his third (1828) subjected him to nine months' imprisonment +in La Force and a fine of ten thousand francs. The fine was paid by his +admirers, and the prison in which he was incarcerated became the gathering +place of the most celebrated literary men of the day. The songs which he +composed during this period helped to bring about the revolution of 1830. +Béranger now retired to Passy, then to Fontainebleau, and finally to Tours, +where he completed what he called his "Mémoires Chantantes" by the +publication of a fourth volume of songs. After the revolution of 1848 he +was elected to the Constituent Assembly, but soon resigned that post. His +declining years were spent at Passy.</p> + +<p>Isidore Auguste Comte, the metaphysical writer and founder of modern +positive philosophy, died<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1252" id="Page_1252">[Pg 1252]</a></span> on September 5, at Paris. He was born at +<span class="sidenote">Death of Comte</span> +Montpellier in 1798, and became acquainted in his early manhood with +Saint-Simon. Failing to agree with Saint-Simon's doctrines, Comte began to +lecture on his own system of philosophy as early as 1826. In 1849, he gave +readings on the "History of Humanity." After the <i>coup d'état</i>, however, +the government of Louis Napoleon prohibited the continuance of his +readings. Comte's teachings are a combination of empiricism and socialism. +The first of his numerous works was published in 1822—"Plan of Scientific +Work Necessary for Reorganizing Society." Comte's most important work, "A +Course of Positive Philosophy," was published in six volumes, 1830-1842. +During the period of his religious enthusiasm Comte published his "System +of Positive Politics, or a Treatise of Sociology." This was followed by his +"Positivistic Catechism," "An Appeal to Conservators," and "Subjective +Synthesis." In England and America, Comte's works found many illustrious +interpreters, and congregations adhering to the "Positivistic Ritual" were +formed at several places in England. Among his most fervent adherents were +Miss Martineau, R. Congreve, Stuart Mill, Buckle, Lewes, Bridges, Tyler, +and the American, Carey. Positivism also found some noted exponents in +Italy and Germany.</p> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A History of the Nineteenth Century, +Year by Year, by Edwin Emerson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NINETEENTH CENTURY *** + +***** This file should be named 26901-h.htm or 26901-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/9/0/26901/ + +Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Paul Dring and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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