President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson. The poems were roughly
handled by the "Edinburgh Review." This led to a duel between Moore and
Jeffrey--a bloodless encounter, which resulted in a life-long friendship
between the two men. The same affair produced a quarrel and Moore's
subsequent friendship with Byron. Throughout this time Moore brought out
his charming "Irish Melodies," the most popular of all his productions.
Messrs. Longwin, the publishers, agreed to give him L3,000 for a long poem
on an oriental subject. Moore retired to the banks of the Dofe, surrounded
himself with oriental books, and in three years produced "Lalla Rookh." The
success of this work was beyond the expectations of the publishers. After
achieving this triumph, Moore travelled abroad in the company of the
wealthy poet Rogers, and later of Lord John Russell. At Venice he visited
Lord Byron. The affairs of his office in Bermuda next called him there,
after which he resided in Paris, where he wrote his famous "Fables for the
Holy Alliance." Returning to England, he settled at Bow-wood near
Wiltshire, the seat of his life-long friend, Lord Lansdowne. There he spent
his declining years and died in dotage.
[Sidenote: "Dear Harp of My Country"]
Tom Moore, while a very popular poet, produced few poems of lasting
quality. Most characteristic of Moore, perhaps, are his lightest verses,
such as "The Time I Lost in Wooing," the melodious lines "Oft, in the
Stilly Night," or the famous Irish apostrophe:
Dear Harp of my Country! in darkness I found thee,
The cold chain of silence had hung o'er thee long,
When proudly, my own Island Harp, I unbound thee,
And gave all thy chords to light, freedom, and song!
The warm lay of love and the light note of gladness
Have waken'd thy fondest, thy liveliest thrill;
But, so oft hast thou echoed the deep sigh of sadness,
That ev'n in thy mirth it will steal from thee still.
Dear Harp of my Country! farewell to thy numbers,
This sweet wreath of song is the last we shall twine!
Go, sleep with the sunshine of Fame on thy slumbers,
Till touch'd by some hand less unworthy than mine;
If the pulse of the patriot, soldier, or lover,
Have throbb'd at our lay, 'tis thy glory alone;
I was but as the wind, passing heedlessly over,
And all the wild sweetness I wak'd was thine own.
[Sidenote: Death of Wellington]
[Sidenote: Wellesley's campaigns]
The death of Wellington, on September 14, was felt as a national loss in
England. The Iron Duke died in his eighty-fourth year, having grown more
and more infirm in his last few years. Arthur Wellesley, or Wesley, as the
name was originally written, singularly enough received his first military
education in France, under the direction of Pignorel, the celebrated
engineer. He saw his first active service with the Duke of York's
disastrous expedition to the Netherlands in 1794. There he gained his
colonelcy. After his transfer to India he served under his elder brother,
Marquis Wellesley, and gained the brilliant victories of Assaye and of
Argaum. On his return from India he was appointed Secretary of Ireland, and
there established the celebrated police force which later served as a model
for that of London. In 1807, he took part in the expedition against
Copenhagen, and after the death of Sir John Moore was sent to Portugal,
where he won the battles of Rolica, Vimiera, the brilliant passage of the
Douro, and the hard-fought field of Talavera. The battle of Busaco, the
storming of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz, the victories of Salamanca and
Vittoria, followed, and the Viscount successively became Earl and Marquis
of Wellington, and a grant from Parliament subsequently placed him in
possession of the domain of Strathfieldsaye. The capture of Pampeluna and
St. Sebastian, and the defeat of the French in the passes of the Pyrenees,
enabled him to plant the British ensign on French ground.
[Sidenote: Wellington's funeral]
[Sidenote: Tennyson's Ode]
The concluding triumphs of Orthes and Toulouse were succeeded by the
general peace and by his own promotion to a dukedom, the baton of a
field-marshal having previously been conferred upon him for his victory at
Salamanca. In 1814, the Duke of Wellington was appointed Ambassador to
France, and proceeded in that capacity to the Congress of Vienna. While
there, the return of Napoleon from Elba once more called him to the field;
and on June 18, 1815, he gained his greatest triumph at Waterloo. After
this Wellington served his country in the capacity of a diplomat, as
Commander-in-Chief of the army, Prime Minister, and again as
Commander-in-Chief of the army. A public funeral was of course decreed.
William Gladstone pronounced the funeral oration in Parliament. In the
procession that followed Wellington's bier, British soldiers of every arm
and of every regiment of the service for the first time marched together.
From Grosvenor Gate to St. Paul's Cathedral there was not a foot of
unoccupied ground. An unbroken silence was maintained as the procession
moved slowly by to the mausoleum where the remains of England's great
warrior were to be placed side by side with those of Nelson. Alfred
Tennyson recited his famous ode on the death of the Duke of Wellington:
Bury the Great Duke
With an empire's lamentation,
Let us bury the Great Duke
To the noise of the mourning of a mighty nation,
Mourning when their leaders fall,
Warriors carry the warrior's pall,
And sorrow darkens hamlet and hall.
* * * * *
Lead out the pageant: sad and slow,
As fits an universal woe,
Let the long, long procession go,
And let the sorrowing crowd about it grow,
And let the mournful martial music blow;
The last great Englishman is low.
[Sidenote: Disraeli and Gladstone]
A new Parliament assembled in November. The result of the elections left
the government in as hopeless a minority as before. An elaborate system of
finance brought forward by Disraeli was rudely handled by Gladstone. The
debate was one of the fiercest ever heard in Parliament. The excitement on
both sides was intense. Disraeli, animated by the power of desperation, was
in a mood neither to give nor to take quarter. He assailed Sir Charles
Wood, the late Chancellor of the Exchequer, with a vehemence which more
than once went to the very limits of Parliamentary decorum. The House had
not heard the concluding word of Disraeli's bitter and impassioned speech,
when Gladstone leaped to his feet to answer him. The Government was
defeated. Disraeli took his defeat with characteristic composure. The
morning was cold and wet. "It will be an unpleasant day for going to
Osborne," he quietly remarked to a friend as they went down Westminster
Hall together and looked out into the dreary street. That day, at Osborne,
the resignation of the Ministry was accepted by the Queen.
[Sidenote: New English Ministry]
The Earl of Aberdeen formed a new Ministry including Lord John Russell as
Foreign Secretary; Lord Palmerston, Home Secretary; Earl Granville,
President of the Council; Gladstone, Chancellor of the Exchequer, while Sir
W. Molesworth, the historian, was Commissioner of Public Works. The Marquis
of Lansdowne occupied a seat in the Cabinet without holding any office. It
was another Ministry of all the talents. Recent events in France demanded
instant attention, the more so since the municipal council of London had
taken upon itself to send an address of congratulation to Louis Napoleon
upon his assumption of the empire. In the end the British Government took
the same course.
[Sidenote: End of French Republic]
[Sidenote: Second Empire]
In Paris, the Senate had been reconvened to consider the reinstitution of
the empire. Within three days a _senatus consultum_ was ready recommending
the desired change to another plebiscite. Every one of the Senators, so the
Parisians suggested, had 30,000 francs' worth of reasons for advocating the
change. The formality of a plebiscite was accomplished by November 21. The
government functionaries reported 7,854,189 yeas against 253,145 nays. On
the anniversary of his _coup d'etat_ of the previous year, Louis Napoleon
took the title of Napoleon III., by the grace of God and the will of the
nation, Emperor of the French. The title was made hereditary. In vain did
the Count of Chambord voice the protest of the Royalists, and Victor Hugo,
in his exile on the Island of Jersey, that of the Republicans. France was
once more under imperial rule, and seemed content to remain so. About this
time the great Credit Mobilier was established as a joint-stock company by
Isaac and Emile Pereire.
[Sidenote: Holy Sepulchre controversy]
Outside of France, Louis Napoleon's second _coup d'etat_ created little
stir. Only Emperor Nicholas of Russia refused to recognize Louis Napoleon
as a full-fledged monarch. An ecclesiastical dispute concerning the
guardianship of the holy places in Palestine threatened to make trouble
between France and Russia. In the end the Sultan was prevailed upon to sign
a treaty confirming the sole custody of the Holy Sepulchre to the French.
1853
[Sidenote: Empress Eugenie]
[Sidenote: French Royalists reconciled]
On January 30, Louis Napoleon married Eugenie Marie de Montijo de Guzman, a
Spanish beauty. Raised to the rank of Empress, this ambitious lady at once
became a leader of fashion. The Czar of Russia, acting in conformity with
the sovereigns of Austria and Prussia, finally consented to acknowledge
Napoleon III. as Emperor of the French, and Great Britain followed.
Strengthened by this outward recognition, Louis Napoleon deemed it safe to
extend an amnesty to some 4,500 political prisoners and Republican exiles.
On February 5, however, General Saint-Priest, with many other Royalists,
was secretly arrested on charges of communicating with the Comte de
Chambord and of sending false news to foreign newspapers. Not long
afterward a bill was passed restoring capital punishment for attempts to
subvert the imperial government and for plots against the life of the
Emperor. On the recognition of the Empire by Great Britain, application was
made to the English Government for a surrender of the Great Napoleon's last
testament. The request was granted. Louis Napoleon thereupon undertook to
carry out his famous uncle's bequests. Under the stress of adversity, the
two branches of the Bourbon family became reconciled to each other. The
Duke de Nemours, on behalf of the House of Orleans, made his peace with the
Comte de Chambord. Henceforth, the Count of Paris was recognized by the
Royalists of France as the rightful pretender to the crown.
[Sidenote: Gervinus' State trial]
[Sidenote: Death of Tieck]
In Germany, reactionary measures of repression were still in order. An
alleged democratic conspiracy was unearthed at Berlin in March, and another
in April. In Baden, Georg Gervinus, the historian, on charges of high
treason for writing his "Introduction to the History of the Nineteenth
Century," was sentenced to ten months' imprisonment, and his book was
ordered to be burned. The sentence of imprisonment, however, was not
executed. On April 28, Ludwig Tieck, the great German Shakespearian scholar
and romantic poet, died at Berlin. Born in 1778 at Berlin, he entered into
literary activity at the opening of the Nineteenth Century, and joined the
enlightened circle of Weimar. There he issued his great collection of
German medieval romances, and of the works of the Minnesingers. It was he
who drew Goethe into the study of Shakespeare, and who persuaded Henry
Steffens, the Norwegian philosopher, to try his hand at purely literary
productions. Together with Schlegel he was the greatest German exponent of
the works of Shakespeare.
[Sidenote: Reaction in Italy]
In Italy, likewise, severe measures of reaction were inflicted on the
people of the governments of Austria, Naples and some of the petty
principalities. In Tuscany, the reading of the Bible was prohibited. In
February, a revolt at Milan, instigated by Mazzini, was ruthlessly put
down. A few months later a revolutionary plot was revealed at Rome. Some
hundred and fifty conspirators were thrown into prison. As heretofore,
Garibaldi figured in these movements. In Sardinia alone, under the
enlightened Ministry of Count Cavour, the liberal movement for united Italy
was encouraged. The Pope's hostile attitude was resented by the passage of
anti-clerical measures in Sardinia. Thus at first ecclesiastical
jurisdiction was abolished, and later bills were proposed for the
suppression of convents and for the ultimate withdrawal of all State
support from the clergy.
[Sidenote: Tommaso Grossi]
In October, while the conspiracy trials were still in full prosecution at
Milan, Tommaso Grossi, the Italian romantic poet, died in that city. Grossi
was born at Belland, on Lake Como, in 1791, and at an early age won
distinction by a patriotic satire against Austrian rule in northern Italy.
In 1817 he published "La Fuggitiva," a love story of the French wars, which
found great favor. Inspired by his intercourse with Manzoni, a few years
later he wrote "Ildegonda," a romantic poem treating of the times of
chivalry and cloister life. This poem won a great success. Less happy was
his attempt to rival Tasso with an epic poem in fifteen cantos on the
Crusades. Among his prose tales, the most lasting in interest are the
historical novel "Marco Visconti" and the idyl "Ulrico e Lida." Of his
lyric songs, "La Rondiella" achieved the greatest popularity.
[Sidenote: Gustave Courbet]
Gustave Courbet, the French originator of realism in painting, the author
of "Le Beau c'est le Laid," the man who claimed that all search for the
beautiful or ideality in art was a gross error, this year exhibited his
"Women Bathing," and again created a stir on the exhibition of his "Funeral
at Ornans" and his "Drunken Peasants at Flagny." This early exponent of
realism in its most radical form, despite his taste for vulgar types,
showed such strength of technique that his landscapes were accepted almost
at once as masterpieces.
[Sidenote: International expositions]
In England, a period of great prosperity had set in, notwithstanding
several great labor strikes, among them that of the London cabmen, and of
many thousands of operatives at Stockport and Preston. The success of the
Crystal Palace Exhibition had been such that another great Industrial
Exhibition was held at Dublin. It was made the occasion of Queen Victoria's
second visit to Ireland. International expositions were likewise held at
Berlin and in New York.
[Sidenote: President Pierce inaugurated]
The change of Administration in the United States of North America gave a
new tone to affairs there, and incidentally brought America into closer
touch with the East. Congress had counted the electoral vote on February 9,
giving to Pierce 254 and 42 to Scott. Franklin Pierce was forty-nine years
of age when he became President, and was the youngest man who had been
elected to that office. During the Mexican war he had fought with credit
under Scott. William L. Marcy became Secretary of State, and Guthrie,
McClelland, Jefferson Davis, Dobbin, Campbell and Cushing completed the
Cabinet. It was said that Pierce came into office with no bitter
opposition and went out with none. In his inaugural message he spoke with
doubt concerning his own powers. In truth, he proved himself the tool of
different managers.
[Sidenote: Kane's Arctic voyage]
The American Government also assisted Grinnell in fitting out a second
expedition to the Arctic under charge of Dr. Kane, who was surgeon and
naturalist of the former expedition. The ships were frozen fast on the
shores of Greenland. Kane's crew, without waiting for relief, set out to
return in open boats, and after a voyage of 1,300 miles reached a Danish
settlement in Greenland, where a relief expedition met them. They reached
New York on October 11, 1855, where they were welcomed as men risen from
the dead. They brought no news concerning Sir John Franklin.
[Sidenote: Death of Arago]
Dominique Francois Arago died on October 2, at the age of sixty-seven.
Scientists remember him chiefly for his experiments and discoveries in
magnetism and optics. He was one of the few men who championed Fresnel
during the controversy which raged at the time when the undulatory theory
of light was first announced. As a popular expounder of scientific facts,
Arago had few equals. With Gay-Lussac he was the founder of "Annales de
Chimie et de Physique." He was also an active politician, and was a member
of the French Provisional Government of 1848.
[Sidenote: The opening of Japan]
[Sidenote: Japanese dissensions]
[Sidenote: Preparing for intrusion]
A thriving oriental trade had sprung up, fostered partly by the development
of steam navigation and partly by the discovery of gold in California. A
few years previously a first attempt had been made by the United States
Government to break down if possible the system of exclusion kept up by
Japan. Commodore Biddle was despatched with two war vessels. His mission
proved unsatisfactory, and the Commodore was subjected to humiliating
experiences. Early in 1853, President Fillmore sent Commodore Perry with a
squadron of four vessels to present a letter from the President of the
United States to the Mikado of Japan, asking consent to the negotiation of
a treaty of friendship and commerce between the two governments. On July 7,
Commodore Perry's squadron steamed into the harbor of Yeddo. Perry got a
favorable reception after using his big guns. The President's letter was
left with the Mikado for the consideration of the Japanese Government,
while Perry sailed away, promising to return the following spring. In the
meanwhile violent upheavals in Japan resulted from the appearance of the
American mission at Yeddo. The appearance of the squadron had long been
anticipated, and was the subject of violent political discussions. Japan at
that time was threatened with civil war. Two parties were disputing
concerning the proper successor to the worn-out Shogun, who had hitherto
wielded the powers of the impotent Mikado. The head of one party was Ee
Kamong No Kami, the head of the Fudai Daimios. By right he was to be
appointed Regent in case of an emergency. The head of the other party was
the Prince of Mito, one of the "three families," hereditary Vice-Shogun in
Yeddo, and connected by marriage with the family of the Emperor and with
the wealthiest Daimios. The two parties made the arrival of the American
squadron a pretext for grasping at the reins of power. Letters were sent to
all the Daimios and Ometkis, requesting their opinions as to the reception
to be given to the Americans. The majority were for resenting any foreign
interference in the affairs of Japan by force. It was agreed, however, that
open declaration of war had best be deferred until the comparatively
defenceless shores of Japan could be strengthened and sea forts could be
erected. Orders were sent to the Daimios to muster the full strength of
their retainers and munitions of war, for "if Japan does not conquer, it
will be a great disgrace."
[Sidenote: Taipings capture Nanking]
[Sidenote: Peking threatened]
In China, the Taipings, having captured Kinkiang and Gurking, closely
invested Nanking. After a fortnight's siege, the city surrendered to an
armed rabble. The Tartar colony of 200,000 threw themselves upon Tien
Wang's mercy, but not a hundred of them escaped: "We killed them all," said
one of the Taipings; "we left not a root to sprout from." The acquisition
of Nanking, the second city in the empire, made the Taipings a formidable
rival to the Manchus, and Tien Wang became a contestant with Hienfung for
imperial honors. It cut off communication between north and south China.
Chinkiangfoo, at the entrance of the Grand Canal, and Yangchow, on the
north bank of the river, also fell into their hands. Tien Wang proclaimed
Nanking, the old Ming city, his capital. At a council of war it was decided
to provision and fortify Nanking, and then march against Peking. By the
end of May the Taiping army numbered 80,000. They attacked Kaifong and were
repulsed, but continued their march toward Peking. After crossing the
Hoang-ho, they were again repulsed at Hwaiking. Passing on, they defeated a
Manchu force in the Sin Simming Pass, and in September added the province
of Pechili, and came to Tsing, twenty miles south of Tien-tsin, less than a
hundred miles from Peking. The fate of the Manchu dynasty trembled in the
balance. The Mongol levies at last arrived under their great chief,
Sankolinsin, and the invaders retired to their fortified camp at Tsinghai
and sent to Tien Wang for succor. At Tsinghai they were closely beleaguered
for some time to come.
[Sidenote: American declaration as to Cuba]
The recurrence of American filibustering expeditions to Cuba appeared to
the governments of England and France as evidence of an American purpose to
secure Cuba and the West Indian Islands. To avert this, they suggested to
the United States Government to make a treaty which should secure Cuba to
Spain. The American Government was asked "to decline now and forever
hereafter all intention to obtain possession of the island of Cuba and to
discontinue all such attempts in that direction on the part of any
individual or power whatever." Secretary of State Everett replied that the
question affected American and not European policy, coming not properly
within the scope of the interference of European Cabinets; that the United
States did not intend to violate any existing laws; that the American
Government claimed the right to act regarding Cuba independently of any
other power, and that it could not view with indifference the fall of Cuba
into any other hands than those of Spain. This was tantamount to a
reassertion of the Monroe Doctrine. France did not reply to Everett's note,
and the correspondence with the British Foreign Office was scarcely more
satisfactory.
[Sidenote: Gadsden's Mexican treaty]
A new treaty with Mexico was negotiated by Gadsden, by which the United
States secured Marrila Valley, with 44,000 square miles, on the payment of
$10,000,000. This settled the Mexican boundary dispute and averted all
danger of further war.
[Sidenote: Koszta episode]
Another international complication had arisen with Austria. On June 21,
Martin Koszta, a Hungarian refugee and would-be American citizen,
travelling under a United States passport, was arrested by the Austrian
consul at Smyrna. Captain Ingraham of the United States sloop-of-war "St.
Louis," cruising in Turkish waters, hearing of this, put into Smyrna. In
accordance with the recent treaty governing Austrian refugees in Turkey, he
demanded the surrender of Koszta within eight hours. If the man were not
surrendered he threatened to land marines and take him by force. It was
finally agreed to leave Koszta in the hands of the French consul, who
presently released him. Austria issued a circular note to the courts of
Europe protesting against the conduct of Captain Ingraham, and followed
this up with a formal protest to the government of the United States. The
reply of the American Congress was to vote a medal for Captain Ingraham.
There the incident closed.
[Sidenote: Austria supports Montenegrins]
[Sidenote: Russia threatens Turkey]