1769, Smith, like many another English scientist, was self-taught and
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
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.
[Sidenote: Spanish civil war]
[Sidenote: Carlist reverses]
[Sidenote: Flight of Don Carlos]
[Sidenote: Decline of Spain]
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 followed by the
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
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
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.
Of industrial progress there was next to none. The country relapsed into
semi-barbarism.
[Sidenote: American Whig Convention]
[Sidenote: Henry Clay's candidacy.]
[Sidenote: Financial failures]
[Sidenote: Longfellow's poems]
In the United States, prominent Northern abolitionists met at Warsaw, New
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,
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 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,
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
"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."
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.
[Sidenote: Queen Victoria's betrothal]
Greville wrote in his diary that "about eighty Privy Councillors were
present, the folding-doors were thrown open, and the Queen came in, attired
in a plain morning gown, but wearing a necklace containing Prince Albert's
portrait. She read the 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."
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.
[Sidenote: Popular riots in England]
[Sidenote: The Charter propaganda]
At Newport, in Monmouthshire, an organized attempt was made, under the
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
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.
1840
[Sidenote: England declares war on China]
The Chinese edict prohibiting all trade and intercourse with England was
put in force on January 5. The English missionaries in China fled to Hong
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.
[Sidenote: End of Dingaan]
In South Africa, during January, the Boers inflicted a crushing defeat on
the Zulus under Dingaan. The Zulu King himself was killed. His brother,
Upanda, succeeded him as ruler.
[Sidenote: Union of Upper and Lower Canada]
[Sidenote: Canadian boundary commission]
On the other side of the globe, the legislative union of Upper and Lower
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
Lord Ashburton for England and Daniel Webster for America. Between the line
claimed by Great Britain and that demanded by the United States lay 12,000
square miles of territory. The commission sat all the year.
[Sidenote: American Presidential election]
[Sidenote: Morse]
[Sidenote: Draper]
[Sidenote: Florence]
[Sidenote: Fanny Ellsler]
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
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
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
was during this year that Samuel F.B. Morse obtained his first American
patent on the telegraph. William Draper of New York turned out the most
successful daguerreotype portraits yet obtained. Florence, the actor, made
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
Travel," Cooper's "Pathfinder," and Dana's "Two Years Before the Mast."
[Sidenote: New Mexico]
[Sidenote: Yucatan]
[Sidenote: Revolution in Mexico]
[Sidenote: Dom Pedro II. of Brazil]
[Sidenote: General Lavalle shot]
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
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
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
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 against his
opponents, was utterly defeated and shot. A new treaty was concluded
between Argentina and Montevideo.
[Sidenote: Hawaiian Islands recognized]
In the distant South Seas, the Hawaiian Islands were recognized as an
independent kingdom by the Powers on the condition that free access be
given to white missionaries and the teachings of Christianity.
[Sidenote: Oriental problems]
[Sidenote: Egypt's status defined]
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
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
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 were not accepted, joint action was to be taken
against Mehemet Ali.
[Sidenote: France slighted]
[Sidenote: French pretensions on the Rhine]
[Sidenote: Becker's Rhine song]
[Sidenote: Musset's defiance]
The exclusion of France from the concert of Europe aroused a storm of anger
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
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:
"Sie sollen ihn nicht haben
Den freien deutschen Rhein."
Alfred de Musset answered this with his defiant verses:
"Nous avons eu votre Rhin Allemand,"
[Sidenote: Napoleonic memories]
[Sidenote: Louis Napoleon's second fiasco]
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 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
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 Armee in Paris.
[Illustration: WASHINGTON IRVING AND HIS FRIENDS
Painted by Daniel Huntington
1 Henry T Tackerman
2 Oliver Wendell Holmes
3 William Gilmore Simms
4 Fitz Greene Halleck
5 Nathaniel Hawthorne
6 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
7 Nathaniel Parker Willis
8 William H Prescott
9 Washington Irving
10 James K Paulding
11 Ralph Waldo Emerson
12 William Cullen Bryant
13 John P Kennedy
14 J Fenimore Cooper
15 George Bancroft]
[Sidenote: Prince Consort Albert]
[Sidenote: First attempt to assassinate Victoria]
In England, great popular rejoicings had been occasioned by the marriage of
Queen Victoria to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg. A bill was passed
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 attainments to that of dukes and marquises. On June 10, an
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.
[Sidenote: First Charter petition]
[Sidenote: Jack Frost's revolt]
Other English events of domestic importance were the passage of the
vaccination act, the introduction of screw propellers in the British navy,
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
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.
[Sidenote: Death of Beau Brummel]
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
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
improved 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 L500. 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.
[Sidenote: Death of Paganini]
[Sidenote: Foremost violin virtuoso]
[Sidenote: Genius and charlatan]
[Sidenote: Paganini's compositions]
The career of another striking figure of the Nineteenth Century was ended
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 Frenchman, 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
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
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 technique 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
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.
[Sidenote: Frederick William IV. King of Prussia]
In Germany, King Frederick William III. of Prussia died in his sixty-sixth
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.
[Sidenote: Religious discussions]
[Sidenote: Chinese naval brigade]
[Sidenote: Capture of Chusan]
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 Irish
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
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
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.
[Sidenote: Burmese expedition]
[Sidenote: Sikhs restive]
[Sidenote: Fall of Kelat]
[Sidenote: Todd leaves Herat]