also the most remarkable in the financial history of the United States. A
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
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 recommended 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
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
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.
[Sidenote: Distress in Spain]
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
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.
[Sidenote: Fall of Guizot]
[Sidenote: Death of Fourier]
In France, an unfortunate attempt to fix large dowries on the Duc de
Nemours and the Queen of the Belgians raised an outcry against the private
avarice of the King. As the result of the Ministerial crisis that followed
the defeat of these measures in the Chambers Guizot had to retire from the
Ministry. Mole remained in charge with the reconstituted Cabinet. The
success of a second expedition against Constantine, in which the Duc de
Nemours gained distinction, invested Mole'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
Helene 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 "Societe des Gens
de Lettres," founded by Balzac, Lamennais, Dumas and Georges Sand. Further
events in French letters were the publication of Eugene Sue's
"Latreaumont," and the appearance of the early part of Michelet's "History
of France." Francois 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 "Traite de
l'Association Domestique et Agricole," had found general acceptance among
the radical orders of France.
[Sidenote: Death of Leopardi]
[Sidenote: Ode to Brutus Minor]
[Sidenote: A self-apostrophe]
Count Giacomo Leopardi, the foremost lyric poet of modern Italy, died on
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
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:
Now lie forever still,
My weary heart. Farewell, my last illusion
The dream that we endure. Farewell! Too surely
I know my end, and now of self-deception
The hope long since and dear desire has left me.
Be still forever! Enough
Of fluttering such as thine has been. Vain, vain
Thy palpitation, the wide world is not worth
Our sighs; for bitter pain
Life's portion is, naught else, and slime this earth.
Subside henceforth, despair forever!
Fate gave this race of ours
For only guerdon death. Then make a sport
Of thine own self, of nature, and the dark
First power that, hidden, rules the world for harm--
And of the infinite emptiness of all.
[Sidenote: Death of Pushkin]
[Sidenote: Lermontov]
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
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
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."
[Sidenote: The first kindergarten]
[Sidenote: German clerical struggle]
A joyful event in German letters was the great festival at Mainz in honor
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
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.
[Sidenote: Death of William IV.]
[Sidenote: Victoria's accession]
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
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
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,
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."
[Sidenote: Her first Privy Council]
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
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 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."
[Sidenote: Hanover separates from England]
[Sidenote: Ernest, King of Hanover]
[Sidenote: Royal breach of faith]
[Sidenote: Revolt at Goettingen]
The first signature to the Act of Allegiance was that of Ernest, Duke of
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
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
seven professors of the University of Goettingen. 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
insurrection among the students, which had to be quelled by troops, with
bloodshed.
The departure of the unpopular Duke of Cumberland and the dissolution of
the embarrassing connection with Hanover wrought distinct relief to the
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."
[Sidenote: The Victorian era]
The Victorian era in England, a period comparable for brilliancy only to
that of Queen Elizabeth, began indeed under auspicious circumstances. In
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 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.
[Sidenote: Macaulay joins Cabinet]
[Sidenote: Famine in India]
[Sidenote: Boers defeat Zulus]
When Parliament was reconvened, Lord Macaulay was added to the Cabinet. In
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
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 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.
[Sidenote: Canada restive]
[Sidenote: Papineau]
[Sidenote: The "family compact"]
On December 22, the British Parliament received the news of rebellion in
Lower Canada. The distress occasioned by the financial panic of this year
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
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,
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.
[Sidenote: Supplies refused]
The immediate points in dispute in 1837 were, that the government retained
in its service certain officials contrary to the wishes of the
Representative Assembly, and insisted on paying their salaries out of
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.
[Sidenote: Lord Russell's measures]
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
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.
[Sidenote: Fils de la Liberte]
[Sidenote: Mackenzie]
[Sidenote: American filibusters]
[Sidenote: Sinking of "Carolina"]
[Sidenote: Major Head's measures]
On November 6, the so-called "Fils de la Liberte" 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
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
in Niagara River, established a provisional government, and issued paper
money. Loyalists of Canada attempted in vain to capture the place. On
December 29, they attacked the steamer "Carolina" and sent her over the
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
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.
1838
[Sidenote: Lord Durham in Canada]
[Sidenote: Napierville]
[Sidenote: Prescott]
[Sidenote: Durham repudiated]
[Sidenote: Canadian interregnum]
Early in the year the Canadian insurgents and their sympathizers at Navy
Island were compelled to surrender. United States troops were posted at the
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
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
believed to have been ended. In the meanwhile, 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
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
first measure was to offer a reward of L1,000 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.
[Sidenote: Renewed agitation in England]
[Sidenote: People's Charter]
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 majority of the people were against fresh changes, or any renewal of
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
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."
[Sidenote: Feargus O'Connor]
[Sidenote: Chartist leaders]