General Narcisso Lopez, with 600 American filibusters, landed at Cardenas
to liberate Cuba from the dominion of Spain. He was defeated and his
expedition dispersed. Another Cuban expedition was agitated in America. On
April 25, President Taylor felt constrained to issue a second proclamation
against filibusters. In May, the United States, in conjunction with Great
Britain, recognized the independence of the Dominican Republic. Both
countries at the same time agreed not to interfere in the affairs of
Central America. In accordance with this agreement the famous
Bulwer-Clayton Treaty was completed. It provided that neither country
should obtain exclusive control over any inter-oceanic canal in Central
America, nor erect fortifications along its line. In June an American
squadron was sent to Portugal to support the United States demand for
American war claims of 1812. The claims were refused and the American
Minister was recalled from Lisbon. The American fleet was withdrawn without
further hostile demonstrations. The American President, in pursuance of his
policy of peace, proclaimed neutrality in the civil war which had arisen in
Mexico.
[Sidenote: Shields' prophecy]
[Sidenote: Webster scourged]
The furious slavery debate was resumed when Clay's so-called "Omnibus Bill"
was offered for final consideration. It was during this debate that Senator
Shields of California uttered his famous prophecy that the United States,
so far from dissolving, would within a few generations send its soldiers to
Asia and into China. On July 9, Webster soothed the angry passions of the
legislators when he announced that President Taylor was dying. Webster's
support of the Compromise Act of 1850, with its fugitive slave bill,
dimmed his Presidential prospects. It was then that Whittier wrote the
scathing lines entitled "Ichabod":
So fallen! so lost! the light withdrawn
Which once he wore!
The glory from his gray hairs gone
For evermore!
Revile him not! the tempter hath
A snare for all;
And pitying tears, not scorn and wrath,
Befit his fall.
Oh, dumb be passion's stormy rage,
When he who might
Have lighted up and led his age
Falls back in night!
Scorn! would the angels laugh to mark
A bright soul driven,
Fiend-goaded, down the endless dark,
From hope and heaven?
Let not the land once proud of him
Insult him now,
Nor brand with deeper shame his dim
Dishonor'd brow!
But let its humbled sons, instead,
From sea to lake,
A long lament, as for the dead,
In sadness make!
Of all we loved and honor'd naught
Save power remains,
A fallen angel's pride of thought
Still strong in chains.
All else is gone; from those great eyes
The soul has fled:
When faith is lost, when honor dies.
The man is dead.
Then pay the reverence of old days
To his dead fame!
Walk backward, with averted gaze,
And hide the shame!
[Sidenote: Death of Calhoun]
John Caldwell Calhoun, after a final speech on the issues of the country,
died on the last day of March. He was the most prominent advocate of State
sovereignty. He was noted for his keen logic, his clear statements and
demonstrations of facts, and his profound earnestness. Webster said
concerning him that he had "the indisputable basis of high character,
unspotted integrity, and honor unimpeached. Nothing grovelling, low, or
mean, or selfish came near his head, or his heart."
[Sidenote: Death of President Taylor]
[Sidenote: Fillmore's Presidency]
On July 9, President Taylor died, and Vice-President Fillmore succeeded
him. He received the resignations of all the Cabinet. His new Cabinet was
headed by Webster, Secretary of State (succeeded by Everett in 1852). The
new fugitive slave bill was signed by Fillmore. But the law was defied in
the North as unconstitutional. Benton called the measure "the complex,
cumbersome, expensive, annoying and ineffective fugitive slave law." In
Boston occurred the cases of the fugitives Shadrach, Simms and Anthony
Burns. Fillmore and Webster came to be looked upon in the North as traitors
to the anti-slavery cause. But for this Fillmore would have had a fair
chance of re-election to the Presidency.
[Sidenote: "Uncle Tom's Cabin"]
[Sidenote: "The Scarlet Letter"]
Then appeared in the "National Era" at Washington the opening chapters of
Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin." A million copies of the book
were sold in America and in Europe. It spread and intensified the feeling
against slavery. Emerson published "Representative Men"; Hawthorne "The
Scarlet Letter"; and Whittier brought out his "Songs of Labor." Parodi,
the Italian singer, made her first appearance in America. She was eclipsed
presently by Jenny Lind, whose opening concert at Castle Garden in New York
netted $30,000 to her manager, Barnum.
[Sidenote: Russian conscription]
[Sidenote: Schleswig-Holstein abandoned]
[Sidenote: Ibsen]
Under the stress of another Mohammedan rising against the Christians in
Syria and the Balkans, Emperor Nicholas of Russia decreed a notable
increase of the Russian army. Out of every thousand persons in the
population seven men were mustered into the ranks in western Russia, thus
adding some 180,000 men to the total strength of the Russian force. In
midsummer, the city of Cracow, in Poland, was nearly destroyed by fire.
Later in the year occurred the death of the Polish general Bem, in Turkey,
who had won such distinction while serving the cause of Hungary. Another
attempt to win Schleswig-Holstein from Denmark was made in summer. Unaided
by the Germans, the Schleswig-Holsteiners, under the leadership of
Willisen, a former Prussian general and distinguished theoretical
strategist, engaged a superior Danish army at Idstedt. They were beaten.
Their defeat had so discouraging an effect that Prussia abandoned the
struggle in their behalf. In Norway, about this time, Henrik Ibsen came
into prominence with a publication of his early drama "Catalina."
[Sidenote: Dumas Fils]
In France, the younger Dumas proved himself a formidable rival of his
father by such works as his "Trois Hommes" and "Henri de Navarre."
[Sidenote: Death of Balzac]
[Sidenote: "The Human Comedy"]
The death of Honore de Balzac, the celebrated French novelist, was an event
in literature. Born at Tours in 1799, he soon devoted himself to writing.
His first work, the tragedy "Cromwell," written at the age of nineteen,
proved unsuccessful, as did all of his earlier novels, which appeared under
a pseudonym. Various unfortunate undertakings, such as the publication of
new editions of "La Fontaine" and "Moliere," plunged him into debt. He
returned to writing novels. Not until late was his authorship openly
avowed. By this time several of his stories, such as "Le Dernier Chouan,"
"La Femme de Trente Ans," and his sprightly "Physiologie du Mariage," had
achieved immense success. Still Balzac failed to turn his successes to
financial account. He sank ever deeper in debt. In 1843 he turned upon his
critics with a slashing "Monograph on the Parisian Press." The major part
of his striking, realistic novels was published in the famous series "La
Comedie Humaine." This in turn was divided into these seven parts: "Scenes
of Private Life," "Life in the Provinces," "Life in Paris," "In Politics,"
"In the Army," "In the Country," with "Philosophical Studies" and "Studies
in Analysis." In his preface of 1842, Balzac thus explained the scheme of
his work:
"In giving the general title of 'The Human Comedy' to a work begun
nearly thirteen years ago, it is necessary to explain its motive, to
relate its origin, and briefly sketch its plan, while endeavoring to
speak of these matters as though I had no personal interest in them.
This is not so difficult as many imagine. Few works conduce to much
vanity; much labor conduces to great diffidence....
"As we read the dry and discouraging list of events called History,
who can have failed to note that the writers of all periods, in Egypt,
Persia, Greece and Rome, have forgotten to give us the history of
manners? The fragment of Petronius on the private life of the Romans
excites rather than satisfies our curiosity....
[Sidenote: The novel defined]
"A sure grasp of the purport of this work will make it clear that I
attach to common, daily facts, hidden or patent to the eye, to the
acts of individual lives, and to their causes and principles, the
importance which historians have hitherto ascribed to the events of
public national life.... I have had to do what Richardson did but
once. Lovelace has a thousand forms, for social corruption takes the
hues of the medium in which it lives. Clarissa, on the contrary, the
lovely image of impassioned virtue, is drawn in lines of distracting
purity. To create a variety of Virgins it needs a Raphael.
"It was no small task to depict the two or three thousand conspicuous
types of a period; for this is, in fact, the number presented to us by
each generation, and which the Human Comedy must require. This crowd
of actors, of characters, this multitude of lives, needed a
setting--if I may be pardoned the expression, a gallery. Hence the
division into Scenes of Private Life, of Provincial Life, of Parisian,
Political, Military and Country Life. Under these six heads are
classified all the studies of manners which form the history of
society at large.
"The vastness of a plan which includes both a history and a criticism
of society, an analysis of its evils, and a discussion of its
principles, authorizes me, I think, in giving to my work the title
'The Human Comedy.' Is this too ambitious?"
[Sidenote: Balzac's Works]
Altogether, Balzac brought out more than a hundred prose romances. They
contain the most graphic pictures of the life of the French people under
Louis Philippe. Balzac said of himself that he described people as they
were, while others described them as they should be. A few months before
his death Balzac improved his circumstances by a marriage with the rich
Countess Hanska. On his death Victor Hugo delivered the funeral oration,
while Alexandre Dumas, his rival throughout life, erected a monument to him
with his own means.
One week later Louis Philippe, the deposed King of France, died at
Claremont in England, in his seventy-seventh year. His career, from the
time that he followed the example of his father, Philippe Egalite, by
fighting the battles of the Revolution, and through the vicissitudes of his
exile until he became King in 1830, was replete with stirring episodes.
[Sidenote: Death of Gay-Lussac]
Gay-Lussac, the great French chemist and physicist, died during the same
year. Born at Saint Leonard, Haut-Vienne, in 1788, Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac
distinguished himself early in his career as a scientist by his aerial
voyages in company with Biot for the observation of atmospheric phenomena
at great heights. In 1816, he was appointed Professor of Chemistry at the
Polytechnic School of Paris, a chair which he held until 1832. Promoted to
a professorship at the Jardin des Plantes, Gay-Lussac labored there
incessantly until his death. There is scarcely a branch of physical or
chemical science to which Gay-Lussac did not contribute some important
discovery. He is noted chiefly for his experiments with gases and for the
discovery of the law of combination by volumes.
[Sidenote: Louis Napoleon's presidency]
Louis Napoleon, while administering affairs as President, began to let
France feel his power. Early in the year he created his incapable uncle,
Jerome Bonaparte, a marshal of France. On August 15, his Napoleonic
aspirations were encouraged by a grand banquet tendered to him at Lyons.
His government felt strong enough to enact new measures for the restriction
of the liberty of the press.
[Sidenote: Prussian constitution]
[Sidenote: South German alliance]
[Sidenote: Denmark's integrity guaranteed]
[Sidenote: Hessians resist despotism]
In Germany, as well as in Austria and Russia, similar reactionary measures
were enforced. Frederick William IV. of Prussia for a while appeared
anxious to undo the effects of his narrow policy of the previous year. A
constitution had been adopted in Prussia on the last day of January, and on
February 6 the King took the constitutional oath. Austria now began to edge
her way back into the management of German affairs. Under her influence
Hanover withdrew from the alliance of the three North German powers,
Hanover, Saxony and Prussia. Later Saxony also withdrew. On February 27,
the Kings of Bavaria, Wurtemberg and Saxony signed a joint agreement for a
restoration of the German Confederation and a maintenance of the federal
union. The Emperor of Austria gave to this scheme his full support. When
the Bundestag met again at Frankfort, Austria insisted on her rights as a
German State. Too late the Prussian representative advocated a German
federal State, with Austria excluded. The disastrous failure of Prussian
intervention in Schleswig-Holstein about this time brought Prussia into
further disrepute with the rest of Germany. England, France and Sweden
united to guarantee the integrity of Denmark. Prussia left the Duchies to
their fate. On July 19, Austria called for another assembly of the old
Confederation. Prussia and her adherents could not join. On August 17, the
German sovereigns met on the call of Austria at Frankfort to consider a
plan of federal union. The old Bundestag was reopened at Frankfort on
September 2, under the auspices of Austria. Prussia clung to her rival
federal union. A bone of contention was furnished by the little State of
Hesse. The Archduke of Hesse, the most reactionary of German princes, had
resumed his rule with the help of his hated Prime Minister, Hassenpflug.
The financial budget of this Minister was disapproved by the Hessian
Estates. Hassenpflug now dissolved the Assembly and proceeded to levy taxes
without its sanction. The people refused to pay. The courts decided against
the government. Even the soldiers and their officers declined to lift a
finger against the people. In the face of this resolute attitude the Prince
and his Minister fled the country, on September 12, and appealed to the new
Bundestag at Frankfort for help. The restoration of the Archduke to his
throne was decreed.
[Sidenote: Prussians intervene]
[Sidenote: Austria prepares for war]
[Sidenote: Prussia cowed]
[Sidenote: Hessia ground under]
Prussia now took a decided stand. On September 26, General von Radowitz,
the originator of the North German Union, was placed at the head of
Prussia's foreign affairs. He declared for the cause of the people in
Hesse. The Prussian troops were withdrawn from Baden over the military
roads leading through Hesse. To meet this situation, Francis Joseph of
Austria, in October, had a personal interview with the Kings of Bavaria
and of Wurtemberg at Bregenz. It was decided to crowd the Prussians out of
Baden and Hesse by moving Bavarian and Austrian troops into those
countries. Another personal conference between Francis Joseph and Czar
Nicholas at Warsaw assured to Austria the support of Russia. In vain did
Frederick William send his cousin, Count Brandenburg, to win over the Czar
to his side. Count Brandenburg met with so haughty a reception that he
returned chagrined, and, falling ill, died soon afterward. Both Austria and
Prussia mobilized their armies. At Vienna the Austrian Prime Minister
avowed to the Ambassador of France that it was his policy to "avilir la
Prussie, puis la demolir." On November 8, the vanguards of the Prussian and
Austrian troops exchanged shots. The single casualty of a bugler's horse
served only to tickle the German sense of humor. The Prussians retired
without further encounters. Radowitz resigned his Ministry. Otto von
Manteuffel was put in charge. On November 21, the Austrian Ambassador at
Berlin, Prince Schwarzenberg, demanded the evacuation of Hesse within
forty-eight hours. Prussia gave in. Manteuffel requested the favor of a
personal interview at Olmuetz. Without awaiting Austria's reply he posted
thither. In a treaty signed at Olmuetz late in the year, Prussia agreed to
withdraw her troops from Baden and Hesse, and to annul her military
conventions with Baden, Anhalt, Mecklenburg and Brunswick. Thus miserably
ended Prussia's first attempt to exclude Austria from the affairs of
Germany. As heretofore, the Prussian-Polish provinces of Posen and Silesia
were excluded from the Confederation. Austria, on the other hand, tried to
bring her subjected provinces in Italy and Hungary into the Germanic
Confederation. Against this proposition, repugnant to most Germans, France
and England lodged so vigorous a protest that the plan was abandoned. The
Elector of Hesse-Cassel returned to his capital. Under the protection of
the federal bayonets he was able to bring his wretched subjects to complete
subjection.
[Sidenote: Gervinus]
[Sidenote: Richard Wagner]
[Sidenote: Lenau]
[Sidenote: Lenau's pessimism]
The profound disappointment of the German patriots at the downfall of their
political ideals found its counterpart in German letters and music. Georg
Gottfried Gervinus, the historian, who had taken so active a part in the
attempted reorganization of Germany, turned from history to purely literary
studies. It was then that he wrote his celebrated "Study of Shakespeare."
Richard Wagner, who had escaped arrest only by fleeing from Dresden, gave
up active composition to write pamphlets and essays, and published his
remarkable essay on "The Revolution and the Fine Arts." In the meanwhile,
Franz Liszt at Weimar brought out Wagner's new operas "Lohengrin" and
"Tannhaeuser." Nicolas Lenau, the most melodious of the German lyric poets
after Heine, died insane. Lenau, whose true name was Niembsch von
Strehlenau, was a Hungarian by birth. He joined the group of German poets
among whom were Uhland, Gustav Schwab and Count Alexander von Wurtemberg,
whose literary aspirations were ridiculed by Heine as "la Romantique
defroquee." Stimulated by his fellow poet Chamisso's voyage to Bering
Strait, Lenau sought new inspiration in America. On his return he wrote a
number of poems on America, which were published under the title of
"Atlantica." In later years Lenau's verses, like those of Leopardi in
Italy, became ever more melancholy, owing partly to inherited tendencies.
In the early forties the poet's pessimism turned into absolute melancholia.
[Sidenote: Uhland]
[Sidenote: Heyse]
After the death of Lenau the mantle of German poetry fell upon Uhland. One
of the younger poets, Paul Heyse, at the same time made his first
appearance with the poetic drama "Francesca da Rimini."
[Sidenote: Babism in Persia]
In this year, Mirza Ali Mohamad, the great founder of the new Bab religion
in Persia, with his disciples Aka Mohamad Ali and Sayyid Husayn of Yezd,
suffered martyrdom. Sayyid Husayn recanted under torture, but the Bab and
Aka went firmly to the place of execution. Condemned to be shot, the Bab
escaped death by an apparent miracle. The bullets only cut the cords that
held him bound. He was afterward slain by a soldier. His body was recovered
by his disciples. Thus, in the words of Denison Ross, the Persian scholar,
"died the great Prophet-Martyr of the Nineteenth Century, at the age of
twenty-seven, having during a period of six brief years, of which three
were spent in prison, attracted to his person and won for his faith
thousands of devoted men and women throughout Persia, and having laid the
foundation to a new religion destined to become a formidable rival to
Islam." Further persecution of the Babis during this same year did much to
forward the new religion.
1851
[Sidenote: Louis Napoleon's measures]
President Louis Napoleon's growing mastery of France was revealed early in
the year. On January 3, as the result of his restrictions of the liberty of
the press, the Ministry had to resign. The President deprived General
Changarnier, a pronounced Republican, of the command of the Paris garrison,
and dissolved the Assembly, which might have objected to these measures.
[Sidenote: Death of Spontini]
[Sidenote: Spontini's career]
Gasparo Spontini, the celebrated Italian composer, died on January 24, at
his birthplace in Ancona province. Born in 1774, Spontini was intended for
the priesthood, but while still a lad ran away and took up music. A
sympathetic uncle sent him to the musical conservatory at Naples, where he
studied under Sala Tritto. Spontini began his career as a dramatic composer
at the opening of the century while acting as orchestral conductor at
Palermo. In 1800 he brought out three operas, and wrote others for Rome and
Venice, so that by the time he went to Paris in 1803 he had sixteen operas
to his credit. His study of Mozart's music served to bring about a complete
change in his style. Thus his one-act opera "Milton," dedicated to Empress
Josephine, may be regarded as the first of his truly original works.
Empress Josephine appointed him her chamber composer, and secured a hearing
for his new opera "The Vestal," produced at the Grand Opera. Napoleon
awarded to him the prize for the best dramatic work of that year. In 1810,
Spontini became the director of the Italian opera, and there staged
Mozart's "Don Giovanni." Dismissed in 1812, on charges of financial
irregularity, he was reappointed as court composer by Louis XVIII. His
stage pieces in glorification of the Restoration only achieved a _succes
d'estime_. He was glad to accept an appointment to Berlin as court composer
for Frederick William III. There he brought out "Lalla Rookh," "Alcidor,"
and "Agnes Hohenstauffen," none of which found currency in other cities.
His overweening conduct gradually made his position at Berlin untenable. He
was finally driven out by the hostile demonstrations of his audiences, and
retired, in 1841, a broken man. After a few years spent in Paris he
returned to Italy, where the Pope created him a count. Spontini returned to
his birthplace of Magolati village only to die.
[Sidenote: Prussian events]
[Sidenote: Schleswig-Holstein again]
[Sidenote: Metternich returns]
[Sidenote: Bismarck]
[Sidenote: The Dreibund]
[Sidenote: Austrian-Turkish agreement]