force the federation of the Central American States. At first he was
welcomed by the population and recognized as President of Costa Rica. But
later, as the guerilla war dragged itself out, the opposition gained
ground. Jose Maria Alfaro was recognized as President. In South America,
General Rosas made another attempt to subject Montevideo. Gold was
discovered in Uruguay. In the West Indies, the restoration of peace in Cuba
was followed by educational, far-reaching reforms. Another revolution in
Hayti provoked French interference.
[Sidenote: French-Algerian campaign]
The French squadron that had made demonstrations in the Caribbean Sea
presently descended upon the Marqueso Islands in the southern Pacific. The
islands were annexed to France. In Africa, the war against Abd-el-Kader was
pushed forward. The Arabs attacked Mostaganem and Arzee and lured Yussuf,
the commander of the new French corps of native Spahis, into an ambush.
General Valle, with a division of 9,000 men, drove Abd-el-Kader from an
intrenched pass between Medah and Muzaia; but the French lost heavily. The
Algerian war during this year alone cost 12,000 lives and 50,000,000
francs. Valle was superseded by Bugeaud.
The French general elections had just resulted in favor of the government,
when, on July 13, the Duke of Orleans was killed by a fall from his
carriage. After this event the Chambers fixed the succession to the throne
upon the Duke of Nemours, until the children of the Duke of Orleans should
be of age.
[Sidenote: Louis Blanc]
[Sidenote: Proudhon]
[Sidenote: Eugene Sue]
[Sidenote: "Stendhal"]
By this time the socialistic theories of Saint Simon and Fourier were
exploited still further by Louis Blanc and Proudhon. Blanc's writings had
an immense vogue among the workmen of Paris. This was especially true of
his "Organisation du Travail," published this year, wherein he proclaimed
the opportunity to work as a social right. Proudhon carried Etienne Cadet's
"Icarian" theories so far that in his famous book, "What is Property?"
after describing the conditions under which property is held according to
the Napoleonic Code, he delivered the categorical dictum, "If this be
property, then property is theft." Other popular books of the day were
Eugene Sue's "The Mysteries of Paris," "Le Morne au Diable," and Georges
Sand's famous novel "Consuelo." Marie Henri Beyle, known better under his
pseudonym, "Stendhal," died during this year. As a novelist he was the
precursor of the naturalistic school of romance in France, and was later
acknowledged as such by Balzac, Flaubert and Emile Zola. His powers of
prose were most ably demonstrated in the novel "Rouge et Noir," treating of
the adventures of a worldly Abbe.
[Sidenote: Cherubini]
Another notable figure in Paris passed away with Luigi Cherubini, the great
Italian composer. Cherubini, many of whose works were brought out during
the previous century was so popular by the beginning of the Nineteenth
Century, that he was esteemed above Beethoven. A Viennese critic who
ventured to say that Beethoven's "Fidelio" was of equal merit with
Cherubini's "Fanisca" was laughed to scorn. Cherubini's best opera, "The
Water Carrier," was brought out in Paris and London in 1800 and 1801. Owing
to his disregard of Napoleon's musical opinions, Cherubini found himself
out of favor throughout the First Empire in France. He retired to the
estate of his friend, Prince de Chimay, and would have given up music but
for the latter's request to write a Mass for his chapel. The result was the
celebrated three-part Mass in F, which proved such a success that Cherubini
thenceforward devoted himself to sacred music. After Napoleon's fall he
received an appointment at the Paris Conservatory of Music, from the
directorship of which he did not retire until 1841. Cherubini's voluminous
compositions reveal him as one of the great modern masters of counterpoint.
His great skill and erudition show to the best advantage in his sacred
music.
[Sidenote: Bunsen]
[Sidenote: Gervinus]
[Sidenote: Forecasts of German union]
Germany about this same time lost her great Oriental scholar, F.W.
Genesius. Bunsen invented his carbon battery. Gervinus, the banished
Hanoverian professor, brought out his History of German Literature, which
ended with a stirring appeal for political unity. The same ideal, in a
measure, was voiced during the ceremonies commemorating the resumption of
work on the great Cathedral of Cologne. King Frederick William IV. of
Prussia, fresh from the riots of Berlin, declared: "The spirit that builds
this cathedral is the same that has broken our chains, and the disgrace of
foreign domination over this German river--it is the spirit of German
strength and unity." Even Archduke John, the uncle of the Emperor of
Austria, proposed this toast: "No Austria, no Prussia; but a great united
Germany--firm-rooted as her mountains."
[Sidenote: Reforms in Russia]
[Sidenote: Gogol]
[Sidenote: Turgenyev]
In Russia, a concession to modern ideas was made by Czar Nicholas, in his
ukase of April 14, permitting the great landholders to liberate their
serfs. Another imperial ukase deprived the Roman as well as the Greek
clergy of all church lands upon condemnation proceedings and money payments
by the government. Russian literature, notwithstanding the strict
censorship, flourished during this period. A new source of poetry was
discovered by Koltsov in the Slavic folk songs. Griboyodov's new comedy,
"Gore Ot Ouma" (Too Clever by Half), had already become one of the stock
pieces. The success of this play was rivalled by Gogol's comedy, "The
Revisor." In 1842, this same writer brought out his celebrated romance,
"Dead Souls." Ivan Turgenyev was just entering upon his career.
Toward the close of the year new troubles broke out in Spain. In November,
a popular insurrection at Barcelona was joined by the National Guards.
Following upon a bitter fight in the streets of the city, on November 15,
the Guards retired into the citadel, where they held their ground. After
one month's stubborn resistance there, they were subjected to such heavy
artillery fire that they were glad to surrender to Espartero's government
forces on Christmas Eve.
1843
[Sidenote: Napier's desert march]
To carry on the British war with Afghanistan it was necessary to pass
troops through Scinde. The Ameers remonstrated. Emaun-Ghur, in the Desert
of Beluchistan, was a stronghold where the Ameers could gather a numerous
army unobserved by the English. Sir Charles Napier determined to strike for
this point with a small force, capable of speedily traversing the desert.
On the night of January 5, he commenced his perilous adventure. With 360
Irish soldiers on camels, with 200 of the irregular cavalry, with ten
camels laden with provisions, and with eighty carrying water, he set forth.
[Sidenote: Emaun-Ghur reduced]
[Sidenote: Battle of Meanee]
When the fortress, which no European eye had before seen, was reached, it
was found deserted. Immense stores of ammunition had been left behind.
Napier mined Emaun-Ghur in twenty-four places, and blew up all the mighty
walls of its square tower. After great privations on the march back, Napier
and his men rejoined the main army on the 23d near Hyderabad. The Duke of
Wellington said that the march to Emaun-Ghur was one of the most arduous
military feats of which he knew. On February 12, the Ameers at Hyderabad,
who, according to the British Resident himself, had been "cruelly
wronged," came to terms. On the day after their apparent submission the
British Resident, Major Outram, was attacked by the infuriated Beluchees.
With a hundred followers he barely succeeded in fighting his way through to
two British war steamers lying in the river. Napier, with his 2,600 men,
now moved against the Beluchee army, numbering nearly 10,000. On February
17, the day of the battle of Meanee, Napier wrote in his journal: "It is my
first battle as a commander. It may be my last. At sixty it makes little
difference what my feelings are. It shall be do or die." It proved an
all-day fight. Most of the white officers fell. In the end, Napier closed
the doubtful struggle by a decisive cavalry charge. The Sepoy horsemen
charged through the Beluchee army and stormed the batteries on the ridge of
the hill of Meanee.
[Sidenote: Hyderabad]
Napier followed up his victory the next day by a message sent into
Hyderabad that he would storm the city unless it surrendered. Six of the
Ameers came out and laid their swords at his feet. Another enemy
remained--Shere Mahomed of Meerpoor. On March 24, Napier, with 5,000
troops, attacked this chief, who had come with 20,000 Beluchees before the
walls of Hyderabad. Napier won another brilliant victory, which was
followed up by the British occupation of Meerpoor. The spirit of the
Beluchees was so broken that after two slight actions in June, when Shere
Mahomed was routed and fled into the desert, the war was at an end. Scinde
was annexed to the British Empire.
[Sidenote: English free-trade agitation]
[Sidenote: Irish disaffection]
[Sidenote: O'Connell arrested]
[Sidenote: Anti-corn law league]
[Sidenote: Mill's "System of Logic"]
[Sidenote: Death of Southey]
[Sidenote: Ballad of Blenheim]
At home, in the meanwhile, the Chartist agitation, with its "sacred month"
strike, was carried over into this year, while the leaders were tried
before the Lancashire Assizes. Popular meetings were held at Birmingham,
Manchester and London. O'Connor, after his suspension of sentence in court,
made the mistake of setting himself against the anti-corn law agitation led
by Cobden and Bright. To most Englishmen of the day the free-trade issue
appeared the most momentous. O'Connor's star paled accordingly. Early in
the year a new free-trade hall had been opened in London, the largest room
for public meetings in the United Kingdom. A dozen lecturers were kept
busy. Cobden alone addressed some thirty great country meetings during the
first half of the year. At the same time the Irish agitation for repeal of
the legislative union with England assumed formidable proportions. The
Irish secret society of the "Molly Maguires" spread alarmingly. On March
16, Daniel O'Connell addressed 30,000 persons at Trim, urging repeal of the
act of united legislation for Ireland and Great Britain. A few months later
several hundred thousand people gathered on the hill of Tara to listen to
his eloquent words. As a result of this agitation, O'Connell, with several
of his followers, was arrested, in October, on charges of sedition.
Simultaneously with this the so-called "Becca Riots" against turnpikes
broke out in Wales. One month after O'Connell's arrest the greatest
free-trade meeting of the year was held at Manchester. Both Cobden and
Bright made speeches against the corn laws. One hundred thousand pounds
were collected on the spot from wealthy manufacturers who attended the
meeting. This opened the eyes even of the editors of the London "Times."
Under the caption "The League is a Great Fact," it announced that a new
power had arisen in the State. This reluctant concession of the leading
Tory paper of England caused a great sensation. Other events that excited
the attention of Englishmen were the erection of the great Nelson column in
Trafalgar Square and the opening of the Thames tunnel for pedestrians.
Thousands of curious Londoners passed through its shaft, measuring 1,300
feet in length. Nasmyth invented his steam hammer. Mill published his
"System of Logic." The event of the year in English letters was the death
of Robert Southey, the Poet Laureate. During the last few years his brain
had softened, and his mind had become enfeebled. Southey was born at
Bristol in 1774. He was educated at Westminster School and Baliol College,
Oxford. While still at college he brought out two volumes of poems,
together with Robert Lovell. His first long narrative poem, "Joan of Arc,"
was written at the age of nineteen, and gave him, as he called it, "a
Baxter's shove into the right place in the world." At the opening of the
Nineteenth Century, he published the "wild and wondrous song" of "Thalaba,
the Destroyer," founded on Moslem mythology. "Kehema," founded on Hindu
lore, followed. In 1803, after some years of wandering, the poet went to
live at Greta Hall, near Keswick, which remained his home until his death.
Besides a long line of prose works, Southey wrote innumerable short poems.
Famous among them is the ballad of the battle of Blenheim, with its homely
irony:
"With fire and sword the country round
Was wasted far and wide,
And many a childing mother then
And new-born baby died;
But things like that, you know, must be
At every famous victory."
[Sidenote: Brilliant occasional pieces]
[Sidenote: Southey's works]
[Sidenote: "Stanzas in My Library"]
Southey nourished a passionate hatred against Napoleon Bonaparte. Again and
again he invoked the Muse against the world conqueror. Thus he wrote to
Landor in 1814: "For five years I have been preaching the policy, the duty,
the necessity of declaring Bonaparte under the ban of human nature." Under
this stress of feeling he wrote his great "Ode During the Negotiations for
Peace." It was the most powerful of his occasional pieces. In 1813, he was
made Poet Laureate. As such, it fell to him to write another occasional
piece on the death of the Princess Charlotte. The grace and beauty of his
lines on this occasion have long outlived the memory of that lamented
princess. Unlike his great contemporaries, Lord Byron and Sir Walter Scott,
Southey never achieved a great material success. Having married young, he
often walked the streets, so he himself confessed, "not having eighteen
pence for a dinner, nor bread and cheese at his lodgings." In 1835, when he
was sixty-one years old, he wrote to Sir Robert Peel while declining the
offer of a baronetcy, "Last year for the first time in my life I was
provided with a year's expenditure beforehand." Yet his works at this time
filled nearly a hundred volumes. In the words of his brother poets:
"Southey's epics crammed the creaking shelves."
It was in his declining age that he wrote the prophetic "Stanzas Written in
My Library":
My days among the Dead are passed:
Around me I behold,
Where'er these casual eyes are cast,
The almighty minds of old;
My never-failing friends are they,
With whom I converse day by day.
* * * * *
My hopes are with the Dead, anon
My place with them will be,
And I with them shall travel on
Through all Futurity;
Yet leaving here a name, I trust,
That will not perish in the dust.
[Sidenote: Wordsworth, Poet Laureate]
[Sidenote: "The Lost Leader"]
After Southey's death, William Wordsworth was made Poet Laureate. His
acceptance of this benefice from the government incensed his more radical
friends. Robert Browning then wrote the famous invective lines entitled
"The Lost Leader":
Just for a handful of silver he left us,
Just for a ribbon to stick in his coat--
Found the one gift of which fortune bereft us,
Lost all the others, she lets us devote;
They, with the gold to give, doled him out silver,
So much was theirs who so little allowed:
How all our copper had gone for his service!
Rags--were they purple, his heart had been proud!
We that had loved him so, followed him, honored him,
Lived in his mild and magnificent eye,
Learned his great language, caught his clear accents,
Made him our pattern to live and to die!
Shakespeare was of us, Milton was for us,
Burns, Shelley, were with us--they watch from their graves!
He alone breaks from the van and the freemen,
He alone sinks to the rear and the slaves!
[Sidenote: Prescott's "Conquest of Mexico"]
[Sidenote: Edgar Allan Poe]
[Sidenote: "The Gold Bug"]
America this year lost three of her prominent literary men by the deaths of
Allston, the poet and painter, Noah Webster, the lexicographer, and Key,
the author of "The Star-Spangled Banner." The historian Prescott now
brought out his great "Conquest of Mexico." Longfellow published his
"Spanish Student." Edgar Allan Poe entered upon his new journalistic
venture "The Stylus." For this he wrote his stories of "The Tell-Tale
Heart," "Leonore," and his "Notes upon English Verse." For other
publications he wrote "The Pit and the Pendulum," and the striking poem,
"The Conqueror Worm." His fearful tale of the "Black Cat" was published in
the "Saturday Evening Post." At this time he was ailing in health, while
his young wife, Virginia, was dying. During these trying months his
principal income was a hundred dollar prize received for his famous story
of "The Gold Bug," published in the "Dollar Newspaper." The judges
confessed later that they awarded the prize to this contribution largely on
account of its neat handwriting.
[Sidenote: Oregon controversy]
[Sidenote: Texas unannexed]
On June 17, the new Bunker Hill Monument of Boston was dedicated amid
impressive ceremonies. Daniel Webster, who as a young man had spoken there
when the cornerstone was laid by Lafayette, was once more the orator of the
day. In the South, Jefferson Davis began his political career as a member
of the Mississippi Convention, as did Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, who was
then elected to Congress. The pending negotiations with Great Britain
concerning the possession of Oregon were made more momentous by the exodus
of some thousand American emigrants from Missouri, on an overland journey
to distant Oregon. The first session of the Thirty-eighth Congress, in
December, showed a Democratic majority in the House of sixty-nine votes.
Under the Whig regime, the policy of a great navy had been developed. A
bill for a large increase in ships was passed. Tyler's last message
recommended the annexation of Texas, for which a treaty was pending. It was
voted down in the Senate by a two-thirds vote.
[Sidenote: Central-American upheavals]
Under the shadow of impending war with the United States, a new
Constitution was proclaimed in Mexico. Santa Anna prepared for the conflict
by assuming the practical powers of a dictator. In Ecuador, too, a new
Constitution was adopted. General Flores had himself made President for a
third time. When the opposition to him became too formidable, he consented
to yield and quit the country after accepting a bonus of $20,000 and the
title of generalissimo. Another revolution in Hayti resulted in the
expulsion of President Boyer.
[Sidenote: Revolution in Spain]
[Sidenote: Isabella proclaimed queen]
[Sidenote: Spanish marriage projects]
In Spain a revolutionary junta in June once more assumed power at
Barcelona. Other parts of the country declared for the ex-Queen Regent
Christina. On July 15, General Narvaez compelled the surrender of Madrid to
Christina. General Espartero laid siege to Seville. On November 8, the
Spanish Cortes proclaimed as queen, Princess Isabella, then in her
thirteenth year. With the crown of Spain on the head of a young girl, and
no immediate successor in sight but her sister, the King of France and his
Prime Minister, Guizot, deemed the time ripe for action. It was proposed to
marry both Spanish princesses to the sons of Louis Philippe, so as to
secure the throne of Spain to the House of Orleans, as it had once been
secured to that of Bourbon. For the French people the interest in Spain was
revived by Gautier's new book, "Tras los Montes." During the negotiations
over the new extradition treaty with England, the project was
confidentially broached to Lord Aberdeen. He gave his consent to the
proposed marriage of the Duke of Montpensier to the Infanta Fernanda, on
the express understanding that it should not be celebrated until Queen
Isabella had been married herself, and had children. For some time still
the plan hung fire.
In the meanwhile, Hungary was once more in uproar. Kossuth, after his
release from prison in 1840, had become the spokesman of the new generation
of Magyars. The other wings of the Hungarian party were led by Scechenyi
and Deak.
[Illustration: THE EMPEROR OF CHINA RECEIVING THE DIPLOMATIC CORPS]
[Sidenote: Hungarian reform movement]
[Sidenote: Clash at Agram]
[Sidenote: Kossuth's oratory]
By the time the Hungarian Diet of 1843 was convoked, all parties united in
demanding the most important reforms, _i.e._ of a new electoral system, a
new criminal code, trial by jury, and official recognition of the Magyar
language. One of the first resolutions of the Lower Chamber was that no
language but Magyar should be permitted in debate, and that all persons
incapable of speaking Magyar should gradually be excluded from all public
employment. Against the prohibition of Latin in the Diet, the Croatians
appealed to the government. The Emperor promptly vetoed the resolution.
Upon the publication of the imperial rescript a popular storm broke forth
in Hungary. At Agram, the capital of Croatia, the two factions fought on
the streets. The Austrian Cabinet receded from its position. A compromise
was accepted whereby Latin was to be permitted in the Hungarian Diet for
the next six years. Of all the important schemes for reform brought before
the Hungarian Diet of this year, only the language compromise became law.
This was due to the fact that the members of the Lower House were bound to
vote as directed by the Provincial Assemblies, which vetoed everything
affecting their local interests. To do away with this anomaly Kossuth and
his followers now set themselves to bring their appeal before the country
at large. Kossuth dropped the pen and became an orator.
[Sidenote: Algerian campaign]
[Sidenote: "Foreign Legion" formed]
In other parts of the world the spread of Western civilization was carried
on with accustomed vigor. A French squadron seized Tahiti in the Society
Islands. In Algiers the war against Abd-el-Kader was kept alive by
occasional raids and by buying over the less faithful of his followers. The
natives were enrolled in the French army in regiments of Turcos, Zouaves
and Spahis. The barbaric glamour of their oriental garb, as well as the
reputation of their dashing leader, Colonel Lamorciere, attracted many
Frenchmen and foreign adventurers to this service. Soon there were enough
men to form the famous "Foreign Legion."
[Sidenote: Chinese treaty ports opened]
[Sidenote: British seize Sindia]
In China, after the ratification of the Nanking treaty, the five treaty
ports were opened to all foreigners on the same footing as to Englishmen.
Long before this, the Russians had already established themselves in
certain parts of China. The smouldering resentment against the white men
found vent in the truculent doings of the anti-foreign society of the
"Green Water Lily" in Hoonan. Now trouble broke out in the Punjab. Jankoji
Bao Sindia had died in February, and his widow, a girl of twelve, now ruled
over the Sikhs. She outwitted her native Minister, who was supported by the
British. Lord Ellenborough hastened to interfere. He ordered the British
army to advance to Gwalior, under Sir Hugh Gough, in December. All Sindia
made common cause against the foreigner. The Sikh warriors tried to oppose
the British advance in two simultaneous battles at Maharajpore and Punniar,
fought on the twenty-ninth day of December. Both engagements resulted in
their defeat. The Queen and her Ministers submitted to England's terms.
They were deposed. The Sikh army was reduced to 6,000 men.
1844
[Sidenote: Texas]
[Sidenote: Calhoun becomes Secretary of State]
[Sidenote: Texan annexation rejected]