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
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
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
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. Mavromichalis' brother and son, Constantine and George, appealed to
the President in person, but were put under arrest themselves. On October
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.
[Sidenote: Revolt in Bologna]
[Sidenote: Menotti]
[Sidenote: Mazzini]
[Sidenote: Papal legate repudiated]
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
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
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
spread southward to the papal dominions. In his extremity the Pope called
upon Austria for help.
[Sidenote: Austrian intervention invoked]
[Sidenote: Attitude of France]
Austria, whose own dominions in Italy were threatened, had every reason to
grant this request. The only obstacle was the threatening attitude of
France. Before sending out his troops, Metternich took pains to ascertain
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
a _casus belli_. In token of this declaration, the French Ambassador at
Constantinople was instructed to make overtures for an offensive and
defensive alliance to the Sultan.
[Sidenote: Metternich diplomacy]
[Sidenote: Papal dominions invaded]
[Sidenote: Casimir Perier's French policy]
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
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
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
Perier, a constitutional statesman of modern mold. On behalf of France he
put forward a double-edged demand that the Austrians should evacuate the
papal dominions as soon as the papal government should reform its abuses.
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.
[Sidenote: War in Poland]
[Sidenote: Early successes]
[Sidenote: Polish disasters]
[Sidenote: Ostrolenka]
[Sidenote: Ravages of cholera]
[Sidenote: Death of Diebitsch]
[Sidenote: Civil war in Poland]
[Sidenote: Paskievitch, Russian commander]
[Sidenote: Fall of Warsaw]
The Polish struggle, during the earlier part of this year, had assumed the
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
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
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
Poles had to cross the Prussian frontier. Only one division under Dembinski
recovered the road to Warsaw. In the interval, the Polish army under
Skrzynecki fought a pitched battle on May 26 with the right wing of the
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
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
military stores at Dantzig and Koenigsberg 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
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
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.
[Sidenote: Poland's aspirations crushed]
[Sidenote: Polish patriots scatter]
Emperor Nicholas made an example of Poland. All those who had borne a
prominent part in the insurrection were banished to Siberia. The
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
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.
[Sidenote: Spirit of revolt in Germany]
[Sidenote: Liberal leaders lost]
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
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
ancient Germany. After the fall of Warsaw the governments of Prussia and
Austria insisted on new reactionary measures. The Diet of the German
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.
[Sidenote: Death of Hegel]
[Sidenote: German emigration to America]
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was born in 1770 at Stuttgart. He held chairs
successively at the Universities of Jena, Heidelberg and Berlin. His works
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
"Philosophy of Religion." At the time of Hegel's death there was a general
exodus of German liberals to Switzerland, France and America.
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 Philadelphia and
Pittsburg were completed at a cost of twelve million dollars. Several
thousand miles were covered by canals.
[Sidenote: Development of the United States]
[Sidenote: Chicago founded]
[Sidenote: Black Hawk war]
The American census of 1831 showed nearly 13,000,000 inhabitants, a
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
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
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.
[Sidenote: Abolitionist movement]
[Sidenote: William Garrison]
[Sidenote: Nat Turner's revolt]
The issue of slavery was brought to the front early in the year. On the
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 himself heard, and gathered
about him a few men and women as determined as himself. Among them was the
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
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.
[Sidenote: Death of Monroe]
[Sidenote: Monroe's career]
One of the foremost statesman of the day was lost to America by the death
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 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.
[Sidenote: The Reform Bill]
Throughout this year in England raged the great debate over the
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:
[Sidenote: Robert Peel's speech]
[Sidenote: America a "Deterrent Example"]
"Many experiments have been tried to engraft democratical on monarchical
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 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.
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."
[Sidenote: Reform Bill debate]
[Sidenote: Exciting elections]
[Sidenote: Tories defeated]
[Sidenote: Cobbett's state trial]
Altogether seventy-one speakers joined in the debate. In the end the
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 King not to consent to a dissolution. The
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
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.
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."
[Sidenote: Macaulay]
[Sidenote: Commons pass Reform Bill]
[Sidenote: Rejected by the Lords]
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 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
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 spoke strongly against the measure. The bill was thrown out by
the Lords after an all-night debate.
[Sidenote: Riots in England]
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
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.
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.
[Sidenote: Reform Bill up again]
Late in the year, after another rejection of the Reform Bill by the Lords,
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:
What though now opposed I be,
Twenty peers shall carry me,
If twenty won't, thirty will,
For I'm his Majesty's bouncing Bill.
"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."
1832
[Sidenote: English sedition trials]
[Sidenote: Fall of Grey's Cabinet]
[Sidenote: Wellington impotent]
[Sidenote: The King humiliated]
[Sidenote: Passage of Reform Bill]
[Sidenote: Changes effected]