discussion that followed the death of Lord Hastings' great namesake, Warren
Hastings. It was due to the scandals of Warren 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
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."
[Sidenote: Ross' and Franklin's Expeditions]
[Sidenote: "Frankenstein"]
[Sidenote: "Endymion"]
[Sidenote: Macadam roads]
[Sidenote: Invention of Velocipede]
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
which he was violently assailed by the critics, notably by Jeffries, of
"Blackwood's Magazine." Shelley, Moore, Hunt, and eventually Byron, warmly
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
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 Nicephore Niepce invented his
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.
[Sidenote: Congress of Aachen]
[Sidenote: Czar Alexander aroused]
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, 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
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.
[Sidenote: Metternich's sentiments]
"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; 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."
[Sidenote: Prussian reaction]
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.
[Sidenote: Misgovernment in Spain]
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.
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.
[Sidenote: Defection of Spanish colonies]
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
Georgia and South Carolina. A plan was formed to organize a revolution on
that island and to add Florida to the revolting South 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."
[Sidenote: Andrew Jackson in Florida]
[Sidenote: Summary military measures]
[Sidenote: Pensacola occupied]
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 Indian town of Suwanee, where he hoped to capture
Billy Bowlegs and his band. But the Indians, warned of his approach,
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
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.
[Sidenote: Jackson unrebuked]
[Sidenote: An amicable settlement]
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
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
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
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.
[Sidenote: The slavery issue]
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
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.
[Sidenote: Contention over Missouri]
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
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."
[Sidenote: American Pension system inaugurated]
[Sidenote: Oregon in dispute]
During this same year Congress first granted pensions to needy veterans of
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 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
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.
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.
[Sidenote: Illinois a State]
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.
1819
[Sidenote: Florida ceded by Spain]
[Sidenote: Southern Indians dispossessed]
[Sidenote: Alabama a state]
Early 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
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.
[Sidenote: The Missouri problem]
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 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."
[Sidenote: Antagonism to slavery]
[Sidenote: Maine _vs._ Missouri]
The Missouri question having been left for the next session, the cognate
issue concerning a government for the Arkansas country south of parallel
33 deg. 30' was taken up. In both Houses an amendment to prohibit slavery was
lost. As a compromise a representative from Delaware suggested a division
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 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
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 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.
[Sidenote: The Missouri compromise]
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 deg. 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.
[Sidenote: Modern progress]
[Sidenote: Irving's "Sketch Book"]
Notwithstanding the political agitation, general progress in America was
pronounced and rapid during this period. Steam navigation was no longer a
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. The literary event of the year in
America was the appearance of Washington Irving's "Sketch Book." The work
found favor in England, where Sir Walter Scott befriended Irving.
[Sidenote: Polar expedition]
[Sidenote: Cochrane in Chilean service]
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,
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
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.
[Sidenote: The "Six Acts"]
[Sidenote: Birth of Victoria]
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 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
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
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.
[Sidenote: Schopenhauer]
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.
[Sidenote: Assassination of Kotzebue]