Part 4

After the brief interregnum of Goderich's administration in England, Canning was succeeded by his rival, the Duke of Wellington. The good sense and great renown of this distinguished soldier promised strength and prestige to his administration. For a while the change of Ministry brought no avowed change in Canning's plans. Huskisson and Palmerston were retained in the Cabinet, and Canning's policy of active intervention in Greece was upheld. In consequence of the Turkish refusal of mediation, the war continued on both sides. The Turks got heavy reinforcements from Egypt, and a strong expedition was on the point of leaving Navarino to make a descent upon Hydra, the last stronghold of the insurrection. An Anglo-French fleet under Admirals Codrington and Regnier made a demonstration in Greek waters. The foreign admirals exacted a promise from Ibrahim that he would make no movement until further orders should arrive from Constantinople. An oral agreement to this effect was reached late in September. A few days later the Greeks in free continuance of hostilities won a brilliant naval victory in the Gulf of Corinth. The hero on this occasion was Captain Hastings, an English volunteer. Ibrahim was so incensed that he sailed out of Navarino and made for Patras. Codrington threw his British squadron across the track of the Egyptian ships and forced them to turn back by a threat to sink them. It was regretted at the time that Codrington did not compel Ibrahim to take his expedition out of Greek waters back to Alexandria. As it was, Ibrahim returned to Navarino, and there found orders from the Sultan to carry on the war without regard to Western intermeddling. Another Turkish column was forthwith despatched into the Morea and devastated that country with fire and sword. Clouds of smoke revealed to the European naval officers how the Turks had met their proposals for peace. Admiral Codrington sent messages to Ibrahim, calling for instant cessation of hostilities, for the evacuation of the Morea, and the return of his fleet to Constantinople and Alexandria. The answer to this message was that Ibrahim had marched into the Morea and could not be reached. The three squadrons of England, Russia and France cruising off Zante immediately came together. They consisted of twenty-nine vessels, ten ships of the line, ten frigates, four brigs and five schooners. United in one column, under command of Codrington as senior admiral, they sailed for Navarino.

Codrington was unhampered by instructions. He could feel sure of the support of his government, however, for in his pocket was a confidential note from the Duke of Clarence, the royal commander of the navy, encouraging him to "find" a quarrel with the Turkish admiral.

[Sidenote: Navarino]

On October 20, the three squadrons sailed into Navarino harbor in battle array, and came to anchor within pistol shot of the Turkish fleet, composed of seventy warships, forty transports and four fire-ships, anchored under cover of the land batteries. To windward of the British corvette "Dartmouth" lay a Turkish brulote or fire-ship. A gig was sent to demand the withdrawal of this dangerous vessel. The Turks fired on the boat with cannon-shot and musketry. When Codrington sent a boat to the Egyptian flagship, Moharem Bey, the admiral, opened with his guns. One shot struck the "Asia," Codrington's flagship, and his pilot was killed. Codrington opened with all his guns. The British broadsides soon reduced the Egyptian flagship on one side, and a Turkish man-o'-war on the other side to mere wrecks. The French and Russians joined in. The Moslem ships, which had a superiority of 800 guns, replied with spirit. At close range they fought the combined fleets of their hated Christian adversaries. From the surrounding shores 20,000 Moslem soldiers discharged their guns into the land-locked harbor. The fight lasted from three in the afternoon until seven in the evening. All bravery was in vain when pitted against Western seamanship and gunnery. In the course of a short afternoon one Turkish ship after another was sunk or blown to pieces. By sundown little was left of the Turkish fleet but a mass of wreckage. Only fifteen ships escaped, to be scuttled by their own sailors. Four thousand Moslem seamen lost their lives. All night long the Turkish gunners on shore kept up their fire. On the morrow, when Ibrahim returned to Navarino, he found the waters of the harbor strewn with wreckage and the floating bodies of his sailors. One of the best accounts of the battle of Navarino has been given by Eugene Sue, the novelist, who then served as surgeon on one of the French vessels.

[Sidenote: Greece saved]

The island of Hydra and with it all Greece was saved. The subsequent course of Sultan Mahmoud was that of blind infatuation and fury. So far from accepting the European demands for an armistice, he put forward a peremptory request for an indemnity for the losses inflicted upon him. The Ambassadors of the Powers quitted Constantinople. It was then that the loss of Canning was felt in England. Instead of pursuing the vigorous policy to which it stood committed by the battle of Navarino, Great Britain hung back. Further intervention, with the profits accruing therefrom, was left to Russia.

1828

[Sidenote: Peace of Tourkmanchay]

The time for undisturbed intervention in the East was most auspicious for Russia. Peace with Persia was concluded early in the year. By the treaty of Tourkmanchay, Fet Aly of Persia ceded to Russia the provinces of Erivan and Nakhitchevan and paid an indemnity of 20,000,000 roubles. The river Araxes was recognized as the frontier of both states. England's ascendency in Persia was effectually set at naught. Even in China Emperor Taouk-Wang felt encouraged to issue edicts prohibiting England's pernicious opium trade on the Chinese coast. Russia's armies were now let loose on Turkey.

[Sidenote: Independence of Greece]

[Sidenote: Capodistrias summoned]

[Sidenote: Russia's double game]

[Sidenote: Understanding with France]

In the meanwhile, the Greeks profited by the Turkish check at Navarino to assert themselves as an independent people. On January 18, Capodistrias, the former Prime Minister of Russia, was summoned from Geneva and made president of the Greek republic. His term of office was to last seven years. This eminent statesman justified his selection by immediate beneficent measures. A grand council of state was established and a national bank opened in Athens. With the help of France, immunity from further incursions from the Turks was practically assured. To preserve the _status quo_ in Greece, Russia undertook to limit its single handed war on Turkey to operations on the mainland and in the Black Sea. Within the waters of the Mediterranean the Czar proposed to continue as an armed neutral in harmony with the other Powers under the treaty of London, and, to allay the apprehensions of Austria, the Russian forces in the Balkans were ordered to carry their line of operations as far as possible from Austria's sphere of influence. A still more effectual check on Austria was secured by the Czar's secret encouragement of French aspirations toward the Rhine. Charles X. exposed the plot when he said: "If the Czar attacks Austria, I will hold myself in reserve and regulate my conduct according to circumstances. If Austria attacks, I will instantly march against her." As Prince Metternich put it, "The two powers were at one: France against the European _status quo_; Russia against that of the Orient."

[Sidenote: Holy War proclaimed in Turkey]

[Sidenote: Russia declares war]

[Sidenote: Early success]

Although the recent Turkish concessions to Russia left to the Czar no ground for war, a pretext was supplied by Sultan Mahmoud himself. With true Turkish infatuation he chose this moment to issue a direct challenge to Russia. The Czar was denounced as the instigator of the Greek rebellion, and the arch enemy of Islam. The treaty of Akerman was declared null and void. A holy war was proclaimed against the Muscovites. "The Turk does not count his enemies. If all the unbelievers together unite against us we will enter on the war as a sacred duty, and trust to Allah for help." This proclamation was followed by the expulsion of all Christians from Constantinople. Unfortunately for the Sultan, his recent massacre of the Janizaries deprived him of the flower of his troops, and the reorganization of the Turkish army, which was the motive of that act, was only under way. For seven years the Russians had been preparing for this war. Nicholas lost no time in answering the Sultan's challenge. He replied with a declaration of war on April 26. Field Marshal Wittgenstein crossed the Pruth, while Paskievitch entered Asia Minor. The Russian troops overran the Roumanian provinces, Wallachia and Moldavia. The Danube was crossed early in June, under the eyes of the Czar. Unable to meet their enemy in the open field, the Turks withdrew into their strongholds, Ibraila and Silistria on the Danube, Varna and Shumla in the Balkans. The Russians besieged and stormed Ibraila, and thence pushed on through the Dubrudsha toward the Black Sea. In the meanwhile Paskievitch in Asia Minor defeated two Turkish armies and captured Erzeroum.

[Sidenote: Brionis victorious]

[Sidenote: Surrender of Varna]

After these early successes the Russian operations began to lag. The Czar's presence at headquarters was a source of embarrassment rather than of strength. Wittgenstein committed the error of dividing his army into three slender columns. Too weak to conduct forward operations, they were held in check before Silistria, Varna and Shumla. The Russian transport service, none too good at best, collapsed under the threefold strain. The ill-fed soldiers wasted away by thousands. At length Homer Brionis, the commandant of Shumla, took advantage of the weakness of his besiegers. On September 24 he broke out of Shumla and marched to the relief of Varna. The Czar, notwithstanding the evident weakness of his troops, ordered his cousin, Eugene of Wurtemberg, to check the Turkish advance with a frontal attack. The result was a severe defeat. Had Brionis marched onward Varna would have been relieved. He clung to Shumla, however, and the Turks at Varna were forced to surrender. It was late in autumn now, and cold weather put a stop to the campaign for the year. The display of military weakness seriously injured the prestige of Russia. The manifold mistakes of this campaign have been unsparingly laid bare in a famous monograph of Moltke. Henceforth the successful prosecution of the war became a _sine qua non_ for Russia.

[Sidenote: Turks evacuate Morea]

[Sidenote: Vacillation in France]

During the progress of these events, French forces were landed in Greece. They occupied Navarino, Patras and Modon. The Turks gave in and consented to evacuate the Morea. In France, the ultra-royalist measures of Charles X. gave rise to an ever growing spirit of dissatisfaction. The death of Manuel, the outcast of the Chambers, was made the occasion of a great public demonstration. The coalition of Liberals with a faction of Royalists opposed to the Ministry had a brilliant triumph. Villele's Cabinet offered to resign. Instead of that, the King placed Martignac above him. "You are deserting M. Villele," said the Princess Royal to the King. "It is your first step downward from the throne." The Duc de Broglie wrote: "Should we succeed, after the fall of the present Ministry, in getting through the year tranquilly, it will be a triumphant success." By way of concession to the Liberals, a royal edict suppressed all the educational institutions maintained by the Society of Jesus. The effect of this measure was offset later in the year by renewed imprisonment and a heavy fine inflicted upon Beranger for writing political songs.

[Sidenote: South American revolutions]

[Sidenote: Mitre's resume]

Latin attempts at parliamentary government in America were productive of even more discouraging results. In the Argentine Republic, the army, after defeating the Brazilians, was led against its own government by General Lavalle. The administration was overturned and President Dorrego was shot. General Rosas became the leader of the Federalist forces and took the field against the revolutionists. In Chile, the different parties contending for the government patched up a precarious peace which was not destined to last long. In Colombia, the Nueva Granada of the Spaniards, Bolivar clung to the dictatorship. A new proclamation of dictatorial powers was issued by him on February 10. Soon afterward an insurrection broke out against him led by Peadella. Scarcely had this uprising been quelled when an attempt was made to kill Bolivar at his seat of government. Henceforth the history of Latin America degenerated into an endless series of revolutions and counter-revolutions. The only real strength supplied to the various republican governments, so called, was that derived from strong personal characters, yielding one-man power. General Mitre, the great statesman and historian of South America, has drawn up this striking resume of the fate of the foremost leaders of Spanish American revolutions. Their story is the quintessence of the subsequent turbulent career of Latin America during the Nineteenth Century.

[Sidenote: The gratitude of republics]

"The first revolutionists of La Paz and of Quito died on the scaffold. Miranda, the apostle of liberty, betrayed by his own people, died, alone and naked, in a dungeon. Moreno, the priest of the Argentine revolution, and the teacher of the democratic idea, died at sea, and found a grave in the ocean. Hidalgo, the first popular leader of Mexico, was executed as a criminal. Belgrano, the first champion of Argentine independence, who saved the revolution, died obscurely, while civil war raged around him. O'Higgins, the hero of Chile, died in exile, as Carrera, his rival, had done before him. Iturbide, the real liberator of Mexico, died a victim to his own ambition. Montufar, the leader of the revolution at Quito, and his comrade Villavicencio, the promoter of that of Cartagena, were strangled. The first presidents of New Granada, Lozano and Torres, fell sacrifices to colonial terrorism. Piar, who found the true base for the insurrection in Colombia, was shot by Bolivar, to whom he had shown the way to victory. Rivadavia, the civil genius of South America, who gave form to her representative institutions, died in exile. Sucre, the conqueror of Ayacucho, was murdered by his own men on a lonely road. Bolivar and San Martin died in exile."

[Sidenote: Dissension in North America]

[Sidenote: New tariff]

[Sidenote: North _vs._ South]

In North America, likewise, the radical issues between the Northern and Southern States produced ever more dissensions and discord. The question of State sovereignty was prominent in the discussion of the tariff law of 1828, and assumed more and more a sectional aspect. The North had grown rich and prosperous; when under free trade her energies were directed to agriculture and commerce. This was the more emphasized when, under a protective policy, her labor and her capital were devoted to the development of manufactures. The Southern States had originally desired a protective policy for their own supposed advantage; now they demanded free trade for the same reason. But the North had put much money into manufactures, and therefore demanded that Congress, which had placed her in this position, should protect her in it. So the tariff of 1828, the highest adopted in the United States up to that time, was a more comprehensive measure than any which preceded it, and was adjusted throughout to encourage Northern industry. New England was largely at one on this subject, and the Middle and Western States were practically united. Thus it became a question of party politics. From the tariff of 1828 dates a new era in American Federal legislation. The division between the North and the South began. Led by Daniel Webster, the New England States became advocates of the protective system. The question, from being a national issue, became distinctly sectional.

[Sidenote: Injustice to Indians]

[Sidenote: State rights precedent]

State sovereignty was the most important problem that presented itself during John Quincy Adams's administration. The trouble with the Creek and Cherokee Indians in Georgia brought this issue to the front. These tribes were now partially civilized, and were tilling their lands in contentment. Although they held their lands under treaty with the United States, Georgia sought to eject them. Instead of protecting the Indians the national government allowed Georgia to have its way and sent them to the Indian Territory. Thus was an individual State permitted to act in defiance of the national government.

[Sidenote: Industrial development]

[Sidenote: Webster's Dictionary]

[Sidenote: The "Book of Mormon"]

In other respects, it was a year of great prosperity and progress for the United States. The differences with British North America in regard to boundaries and to the proposed joint settlement of Oregon were amicably settled by arbitration. The question of indemnities arising out of the differences with England was likewise satisfactorily adjusted. England's recent introduction of railroads was eagerly followed up in America. The rails of the first American steam road were laid at Baltimore. They were made of wood covered with iron bars. At Baltimore, too, the manufacture of fire bricks was begun. Boston harbor beheld its first steamboat. The new canal between Providence and Worcester was opened and produced an instant increase of traffic for New England. In the other Eastern States factories grew in number and new processes were introduced. Thus, the first varnish made in America was produced at New York. Damask table linen was manufactured at Pittsburg. The first straw paper was turned out at Meadville, Pennsylvania. The planing mill was introduced. The Franklin Institute at Philadelphia awarded to Stephen Boyden of Newark the premium for his malleable castings. Arts and literature likewise flourished. Among the new paintings exhibited during this year in America were Inman's portrait of Halleck, Stuart's "Jared Sparks," Greenough's "Chanting Cherubs," Dunlap's "Calvary" and Thomas Cole's "Garden of Eden." At Boston the first lithographic press was established. Noah Webster published his dictionary. Fenimore Cooper brought out his American romances, "The Prairie" and "Red Rover," while Richard H. Dana published his "Buccaneer." A book of singular fruition was Joseph Smith's "Book of Mormon," a corrupted version of Spaulding's "The Manuscript Found."

[Sidenote: Heine's "Book of Songs"]

About the same time Wergeland in Norway published his tragedy, "Sinclair's Death." In Germany the appearance of the "Book of Songs," instantly raised Heine to the foremost rank among German lyric poets. The early influence of Byron was revealed by his masterly translations from "Manfred," and of the opening stanzas of "Childe Harold" and the lines addressed to "Inez." Most felicitous was Heine's German version of Byron's famous farewell to his wife:

"Fare thee well, and if forever, Still forever, fare thee well."

Heine's own lyrical pieces, now put forth in profusion, were fully equal to those of his English prototype. The "Book of Songs" throughout breathed the spirit of the poet's sad boast:

"From my heavy sorrows Made I these little songs...."

Heine's love songs, alone, by their subtile fusion of exquisite simplicity with cynicism in a perverse form, won him immediate recognition outside of Germany. This in itself has never been forgiven by the Germans. Such prejudice did not deter German song composers from setting to music Heine's melodious verses. Franz Schubert, the foremost song composer, just before his death found inspiration in Heine's poems for his famous "Swan Song."

[Sidenote: Death of Schubert]

Schubert died in Vienna on the 19th of October, at the age of thirty-one. Notwithstanding his brief career and lack of systematic schooling, he was one of the most prolific as well as original of German composers. His earliest extant song, "Hagar's Lament," was written at the age of fourteen. Such early master works as "Margaret at the Spinning Wheel," and the "Erl-King," both written for Goethe's words, mark the swift development of his genius. During his eighteenth year, when he wrote the "Erl-King," he composed no less than 144 songs. On one day alone he wrote eight. Besides this he composed two operettas, three song plays, three other stage pieces, four masses and several cantatas. In spite of his astonishing fecundity the young composer suffered signally from lack of recognition. His whole life was a long-drawn battle for subsistence. All his efforts to obtain a steady income were unavailing. Though he composed scores for no less than seventy-two of Goethe's lyrics, that great poet was indifferent to the young composer. Beethoven, too, gave him but reluctant recognition. Not until the year of his death did Schubert succeed in giving a public concert that was a pecuniary success. He was wretchedly underpaid by his publishers, and his greatest works utterly failed of contemporary recognition. He died in the depths of poverty. In accordance with his last request, Schubert was buried in the eastern graveyard at Waehring, close to the grave of Beethoven. Schubert achieved immortal fame as the creator of the modern lyric song. No less original were his effective transfers of the song motive to pianoforte music, as shown in his "Moments Musicales" and "Impromptus." Some of his symphonies, notably that in C and the "Fragment" in B minor, are equal to those of Beethoven.

[Sidenote: Moratin]

Spain lost one of her most distinguished modern playwrights by the death of Nicolas Fernandez de Moratin, a pupil of Goldoni, and the author of such enduring Spanish comedies as "El Baron," "La Mogigata" and "El Si de Las Ninas." Besides his plays, Moratin also wrote an authoritative work on the "Origins of the Spanish Stage."

Toward the end of the year the disorders in Portugal appeared to have subsided sufficiently to warrant the withdrawal of the British troops. Dom Miguel, the regent, promptly proclaimed himself King. After having grasped the reins of power, one of his first measures was the dissolution of the seven ancient estates of Portugal. In Spain King Ferdinand VII., in December, celebrated his wedding to Maria Christina of Naples.

[Sidenote: Huskisson]

[Sidenote: O'Connell]

[Sidenote: Robert Peel]

Domestic affairs in England at this turn furnished an all-absorbing topic. In the Cabinet, Huskisson's strong stand on the rotten borough question, with his desire to accord Parliamentary representation to the working people of Birmingham, had caused his expulsion from the Duke of Wellington's councils. His resignation was followed by that of the former members of the Canning Cabinet. Among those chosen to supply their place was Vesey Fitzgerald, member for County Clare in Ireland. His acceptance of office compelled him to go back to his constituents. It was then that Daniel O'Connell, the great leader of the Catholic Association in Ireland, saw his chance to strike a blow for Catholic emancipation. Though disqualified from sitting in the Commons as a Catholic, O'Connell ran against Fitzgerald. From the first Fitzgerald's cause was hopeless. The great landowners, to be sure, supported his cause with all their wealth and influence, but the small freeholders, to a man, voted against him. After a five days' poll, Fitzgerald withdrew from the contest. The result was that the hitherto irresistible influence of England's territorial aristocracy lay shattered. The Protestant conservatives of England were filled with consternation. Every debate in Parliament showed that the Catholic party was daily gaining strength, while the resistance of the government became weaker. It was clear that something must be done. At this crisis Robert Peel, hitherto the champion of the Protestant party in the House of Commons and Cabinet, became convinced of the necessity of yielding. He lost no time in imparting this conviction to the Duke of Wellington, his chief, and therewith offered his resignation. Wellington had learned a lesson from the events that followed Huskisson's withdrawal. He refused to let Peel go. Reluctantly he became a party to Peel's change of views. As late as December 11, Wellington wrote a letter to the Catholic primate of Ireland, deferring all hope of Catholic emancipation to the distant future. Before the year closed, however, Wellington, armed with the arguments of Peel, wrung from the King the Crown's consent to concede Catholic emancipation without delay. Peel, as the author of this radical measure, consented to take charge of the bill in Parliament.

1829

[Sidenote: Wellington's change of front]

At the opening of Parliament in England, the concessions of the government in regard to Catholic emancipation were revealed in the royal speech, delivered by commission. The great Tory party, thus taken unawares, was furious. The Protestant clergy opposed the bill with all their influence and clamored for a dissolution of Parliament. In the excited state of public feeling, an immediate appeal to the country would undoubtedly have wrecked the bill. Unable to carry out such a plan, the Tory opposition showed itself ready to unite with any party in order to defeat the measure and wreak vengeance on its framers. Within the Cabinet itself, Wellington's change brought him bitter opposition. When the bill was brought into Parliament in March, the Attorney-General, Sir C. Wetherell, not content with refusing to draw the bill, sprang up to explain his position.

[Sidenote: Wetherell's attack]

"Am I, then," he exclaimed, "to blame for refusing to do that, in the subordinate office of Attorney-General, which a more eminent adviser of the Crown, only two years ago, declared he would not consent to do? I dare them to attack me! I have no speech to eat up. I have not to say that a thing is black one day and white another. I would rather remain as I am, the humble member for Plympton, than be guilty of such treachery, such contradiction, such unexplained conversion, such miserable and contemptible apostasy.... They might have turned me out of office, but I would not be made such a dirty tool as to draw _that_ bill. I have therefore declined to have anything to do with it." Of course, Wetherell was at once dismissed.

[Sidenote: Defeat of Peel]

[Sidenote: Emancipation of English Catholics]

But an opportunity to avenge his dismissal was soon afforded. Robert Peel, since he was not suffered to withdraw from the Ministry, felt in honor bound to go back to his constituents at Oxford. The Protestant party that had sent him to Parliament now opposed him with a simple country gentleman, in no wise his Parliamentary equal. Peel was crushingly defeated. On the other hand, the Whig party almost in a body went over to the government. With their help the Catholic Emancipation act was passed. The Tories waited only for the time to strike down their former leaders.

[Sidenote: Reforms in India]

[Sidenote: Fanny Kemble]

[Sidenote: Humphry Davy]

[Sidenote: Thomas Young]

The precarious position of Wellington's Ministry at home was offset by a firm policy abroad. In British India the new Governor-General, Lord Bentinck, upheld British prestige by his firm abolition of the native custom of burning widows and by his extermination of the roving gangs of Thugs. In regard to the Eastern Question and the war in the Balkans, England came to an agreement with Austria to frustrate Russia's plans with respect to Constantinople. Thanks to this _entente cordiale_ between the two countries, enterprising English capitalists and engineers were allowed to put into operation the first line of steamboats that plied the waters of the Danube. Among other minor events of interest to Englishmen during this year, may be mentioned the first public appearance of Fanny Kemble, the actress, and the earliest boat race between student crews from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. England lost two of her famous scientists during this year--Sir Humphry Davy and Thomas Young. Davy was born in 1778 and died in Geneva. Besides inventing the miner's safety lamp, with which his name will be forever associated, he made valuable experiments in photography; discovered that the causes of chemical and electrical attraction are identical; produced potassium and sodium by the electric current; proved the transformation of energy into heat; formulated a theory of the properties of particles of matter (or atoms); and made remarkable experiments which led to the theory of the binary composition of chemical compounds. Young was born in 1773. At Cambridge they called him "Phenomenon Young," because he was said to know everything. In truth, Young developed into the most profound English scientist of the century. When only twenty he was asked to read papers before the Royal Society. In 1801 he delivered the Bakerian lecture, his subject being "The Theory of Light and Colors." That lecture marks an epoch in physical science; for it brought forward for the first time convincing proof of the correctness of the undulatory theory of light. The intangible substance which pulsates and undulates to produce light, Young christened the "luminiferous ether." And the term is still to be found in our scientific vocabulary.

[Illustration: AMERICAN INVENTORS Painted by C. Schussele

1 Dr Morton, Etherization 2 Bogardus, Iron Architecture 3 Colt, Revolvers 4 McCormick, Reapers 5 Saxton, Coast Survey Machinery 6 Goodyear, Vulcanizing Gum Elastic 7 Cooper, Gelatine 8 Prof Henry, Electricity as a Motor 9 Mott, Works in Iron 10 Dr Nott, Management of Heat 11 Ericsson, Caloric Engine Monitors, etc. 12 Sickles, Steam Cut off, etc. 13 Morse, Telegraph 14 Burden, Horseshoe Machine 15 Hoe, Rotary Press 16 Bigelow, Carpet Loom 17 Jennings, Friction Matches 18 Blanchard, Eccentric Lathe 19 Howe, Sewing Machine]

[Sidenote: War in the Balkans]

[Sidenote: Battle of Kulevtcha]

[Sidenote: Fall of Adrianople]

[Sidenote: Powers save Turkey]

[Sidenote: Russia's hold on Turkey]

In the Balkans Russia's war with Turkey was waged with vigor. The winter months had been spent in bringing up reserves. The Czar withdrew from interference at headquarters, and Wittgenstein was superseded by General Diebitsch, a trained Prussian soldier. This general made preparations to cross the Balkans as soon as Silistria should have fallen, without waiting for the fall of Shumla. On the other side of the Balkans the Russian fleet made a diversion so as to prepare the way for joining forces on the banks of the Black Sea. In accordance with these plans Diebitsch sent a strong force against Silistria. Before anything had been effected in front of Silistria, Reshid Pasha, the Turkish Grand Vizier, moved eastward from Shumla and took the field against the weak Russian forces at Varna. He lost time, however, and suffered himself to be held at bay by the Russians. Diebitsch hurried across Bulgaria in forced marches. Coming up in Reshid's rear he could either fall upon Shumla or force the Turks to open battle. He chose the latter course. The Turks, harried in their rear, attempted to regain the roads to Shumla. On June 10, the two forces met in a pitched battle at Kulevtcha. Reshid was badly defeated, losing 5,000 men and forty-three guns, but made good his retreat to Shumla. Diebitsch had to lay siege to Shumla. Soon after this, Silistria fell into the hands of the Russians. Turning Varna over to the Bulgarians, and leaving a blockading force before Shumla, Diebitsch boldly crossed the Balkans. The resistance of the Turks was weak. On August 19, the Russians appeared before Adrianople. In the Black Sea the Russian frigate "Mercury" defeated two Turkish men-of-war. The Turks were seized with terror. Adrianople surrendered without a blow. In the Morea the Turks evacuated Tripolitza and Missolonghi and acknowledged the independence of Greece. The ports of the Black Sea, almost as far south as the Bosphorus, fell into Russian hands. Flying columns of the Russian army penetrated down to the AEgean coast and as far as the Euxine. Yet the Russians were so weak in numbers that anything like determined resistance could easily have checked them. As it was, all Turkish resistance collapsed before the Russian onward march toward Constantinople. The Sultan appealed to the Powers for help. England and Austria intervened, and peace was forced upon Russia. The treaty of Adrianople, signed on September 14, confirmed to Russia its protectorate over the Danubian principalities. No Mussulman was to be permitted to stay within the principalities, and all Turkish lands were to be sold within eighteen months. No fortified point on the left bank of the Danube was left to Turkey. Territory in Asia was ceded to Russia, as well as the ports of Poti and Anapa on the Black Sea. The waters of this sea were thrown open to international navigation; and the straits of Constantinople and the Dardanelles were declared open to the merchant ships of all powers at peace with the Porte. The payment of a money indemnity of 2,000,000 roubles to Russia was deferred, thus leaving to Russia the means for exerting pressure on the Yildiz Kiosk.

[Sidenote: French ambitions]

[Sidenote: Polignac Prime Minister]

[Sidenote: Liberal opposition]

Russia's acceptance of foreign mediation at Adrianople brought disappointment to France. Reverting to Napoleonic ambitions, King Charles's Ministers had proposed a partition of the Ottoman Empire on the basis of a general rearrangement of Europe. Russia was to have the Danubian provinces near the Austrian empire, Bosnia and Servia; Prussia was to have Saxony and Holland; Belgium and the Rhine provinces were to fall to France, and the King of Holland was to be installed in the Sultan's divan at Constantinople. It was a chimerical project which it was hoped might avert the impending troubles at home by dazzling acquisitions abroad. A formidable majority had been raised up against the government by its persistent encroachments upon the freedom of speech and of the press. Martignac's Ministry resigned and Prince Polignac, a crony of the King, was put in his place. In August, the "Journal des Debats" thundered against him: "Now again is broken that bond of love and confidence which joined the people to the monarch. The people pay a million of taxes to the law; they will not pay two millions on the orders of the Minister. What will he do then? Will he bring to his assistance the force of the bayonet? Bayonets in these days have become intelligent. They know how to defend the law. Unhappy France, unhappy King!" The Bertins were prosecuted for that article and condemned. It only made matters worse. Societies were formed throughout France to refuse the payment of taxes should the government attempt to raise them without the consent of the Chambers. In the face of this growing popular opposition, the King and his Minister resolved to prepare an expedition against Algiers. As Guizot put it, "They hope to get rid of their difficulties through conquest abroad and a resulting majority at home." The death of Paul Barras about this time served to revive revolutionary memories in France.

[Sidenote: The Schlegels]

The memory of Madame de Stael and her struggle for freedom of speech and of literary opinion against Napoleon were recalled by the death of her long-time friend and biographer, Karl Friedrich Wilhelm von Schlegel, brother of August Wilhelm, the German poet. Karl studied at Goettingen and Leipzig, devoting most of his time to the classics. It was his ideal to become the "Winckelmann of Greek Literature." Schlegel's first publication was "Greeks and Romans." In 1798 he wrote "Lucinda," an unfinished romance, and "Alarcos," a tragedy. In 1803 he joined the Roman Church, and several years later was appointed an imperial secretary at Vienna. He served as Consul of Legation for Austria in the German Diet at Frankfort. Besides his published lectures, Schlegel's chief works are: "History of the Old and New Literature" (1815), "Philosophies of Life" (1828), "Philosophy of History" (1829), and the posthumous work "Philosophy of Language." His wife, a daughter of Moses Mendelssohn, was the author of several works published under Schlegel's name. During the same year Pope Leo XII. died at Rome and was succeeded by Pius VIII.

[Sidenote: Andrew Jackson inaugurated]

In the United States of North America, John Quincy Adams was succeeded by Andrew Jackson. Calhoun was re-elected Vice-President. A motley crowd of backwoodsmen and mountaineers, who had supported Jackson, crushed into the White House shouting for "Old Hickory." For the first time the outgoing President absented himself from the inauguration of his successor. He had remained at his desk until midnight of the previous day signing appointments which would deprive Jackson of so much more patronage. Jackson took his revenge by the instant removal of 167 political opponents. His remark, "To the victor belong the spoils," became a byword of American politics. The system of rotation in office dates from his administration.

[Sidenote: "The Kitchen Cabinet"]

[Sidenote: "Pocket Vetoes"]

[Sidenote: Peggy O'Neill]

Jackson's first Cabinet was headed by Van Buren, with Samuel D. Ingham for Secretary of the Treasury. The President also encouraged a set of confidential advisers, among whom Kendall, Lewis and Hill were the most influential. They came to be known as the "Kitchen Cabinet." The regular members of the Cabinet were treated as mere head clerks. In one week Jackson vetoed more bills than any of his predecessors had done in four years. Other bills he held back until after the adjournment of Congress, and then failed to sign them. The bills remained, as it were, in the President's pocket. This new method of vetoing became notorious as the "Pocket Veto." In other respects Jackson's first administration was stormy. International relations were repeatedly threatened by the long-standing controversy over the indemnity for French spoliations. An adjustment of the indemnity claims with Denmark was likewise forced to an issue. At home, Jackson's abandonment of the principle of extreme protection and his hostility to the United States Bank lost him the support of the loose constructionists. As a Freemason, the President was likewise opposed by the new anti-Masonic party in politics. In a quarrel over the character of the wife of Secretary Eaton, the beautiful Peggy O'Neill, all Washington was involved. It was commonly believed that the subsequent break-up of Jackson's Cabinet was caused by the social bickerings among the wives of the members. Van Buren was the first to resign. Soon he was appointed Minister to England, but the Senate rejected him through the vote of Vice-President Calhoun. Jackson afterward took his revenge by defeating Calhoun's aspirations to the Presidency through Van Buren. The new Cabinet consisted of Livingston, McLean, Cass, Woodbury, Tracy and Berry. By reason of the new protective tariff, the States of Georgia and South Carolina, toward the close of 1829, returning to the Kentucky Resolutions of 1799, affirmed the right of any State to declare null and void any act of Congress which the State Legislature deemed unconstitutional. This was the doctrine of nullification which grew to secession in 1860.

[Sidenote: American development]

The industrial progress of the United States was little affected by the political dissensions during Jackson's first Presidential year. On July 4, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was opened. The first trip of an American locomotive was made on the Carbondale and Honesdale road. Throughout the country many canals were opened; to wit, the Delaware and Chesapeake Canal, the Delaware and Hudson, and the Oswego in New York; the Farmington in Connecticut, and the Cumberland and Oxford Canal in Maine. Among the literary productions of the year were a collection of minor poems by Edgar Allan Poe, Parkman's earlier essays, Cooper's "Wept of the Wish-ton-Wish," Sparks's "John Ledyard," and Washington Irving's "Granada."

[Sidenote: Early automobile vehicles]

In England the first successful experiments with steam-propelled stage coaches were made by Sir Goldsworth Gurney. These machines were the precursors of the latter-day automobile vehicle. This account of a ride in the Gurney stage coach was published by the "United Service Journal":

[Sidenote: A contemporary description]

"We numbered four in a coach attached to the steam carriage, and we had travelled without difficulty or mishap as far as Longford, where they were repairing the bridge over the Cambria. On this was a large pile of bricks, so high as to conceal what was happening on the other side. Precisely at the moment we began to cross the bridge the mail-coach from Bath arrived on the other end. As soon as we perceived it we shouted to the driver to take care; but, as he was not aware of the extraordinary vehicle he was going to meet, he did not slacken speed. To avoid a collision, Mr. Gurney guided our steam carriage into the pile of bricks. Some damage to our apparatus resulted, but was repaired in less than a quarter of an hour. As to the horses of the coach, they had taken the bit between their teeth and had to be cut loose.

"Upon our arrival at Melksham, we found that there was a fair in progress, and the streets were full of people. Mr. Gurney made the carriages travel as slowly as possible, in order to injure no one. Unfortunately, in that town the lower classes are strongly opposed to the new method of transportation. Excited by the postilions, who imagined that the adoption of Mr. Gurney's steam carriage would compromise their means of livelihood, the multitude that encumbered the streets arose against us, heaped us with insults, and attacked us with stones. The chief engineer and another man were seriously injured. Mr. Gurney feared we could not pursue our journey, as two of his best mechanics had need of surgical aid. He turned the carriage into the court of a brewer named Ales, and during the night it was guarded by constables."

[Sidenote: Jobard]

[Sidenote: Jobard's impressions]

To have assisted at the experiment of Gurney's steam carriage was, in those days, almost a title to glory. These carriages became speedily one of the curiosities of London. Foreign travellers who printed accounts of their journeys, did not fail to devote a chapter to the new means of locomotion. Jobard, the Belgian savant and economist, was of the number, and so were Cuchette, St. Germain Leduc and C.G. Simon, three prominent scientific writers of that time. Jobard's impressions noted down at the time are worthy of record: "My first visit in England was to the starting station of Sir Goldsworth Gurney's steam omnibus, running between London and Bath. This carriage does not differ materially from other stage-coaches, nor has it had any serious mishap as yet. For my benefit it manoeuvred back and forth over the street pavement and later on the smooth macadam of the highway, without any apparent difficulties of guiding. The drivers of other stage-coaches are agreed that the thing is a success, and that before long it will do them much harm."

[Sidenote: Lamarck]

Jean Baptiste de Lamarck, a forerunner of Charles Darwin died in this year. As early as 1801 Lamarck had outlined his ideas of the transmutation of species and attempted to explain the manner in which that transmutation had been brought about. There is no such thing as a "species," he held; there are only individuals descended from a common stock and modified in structure to suit their environment. Lamarck was scoffed at in his own time; he was respected as a naturalist, but unrecognized as a prophet.

1830

[Sidenote: First sewing machine]

Early in the year, Bartholemy Thimonnier, a French tailor, took out a patent for his invention of a sewing machine. It was an invention destined to revolutionize the manufacture of clothing and the matter of dress in all civilized countries. Thimonnier's device was a chain stitch sewing machine worked with a treadle. It had taken the inventor, ignorant as he was of mechanics, four years of painful application to perfect it. The first to recognize the real value of the invention was M. Beunier, supervisor of mines at Paris. He took Thimonnier to Paris and installed him as a partner and manager of a large clothing firm that manufactured army uniforms. They set up eighty machines and did so well with them that the workmen of Paris, profiting by the revolutionary disturbances of the times, wreaked their vengeance on the new labor-saving device by wrecking the establishment. The inventor was compelled to flee for life. During the same year, another Frenchman, Charles Barbier, invented the system of raised printing for the blind.

[Sidenote: Sir Thomas Lawrence]

Sir Thomas Lawrence, the celebrated English portrait painter, died at the outset of the year. In his early youth at Bristol and Oxford, this artist showed marked talent for portraiture, and became a pupil of Sir Joshua Reynolds at the Royal Academy. His delicate pastel portraits obtained great vogue in the most aristocratic circles of London. On the death of his master, Lawrence was appointed painter to the King. He became the fashionable portrait painter of the age. As such, Lawrence was summoned to Aix-la-Chapelle during the International Congress of 1818 to paint the various dignitaries of the Holy Alliance. While at Vienna he painted the famous pastel of Napoleon's son, the little King of Rome--by all odds the most charming of all the many likenesses of that unfortunate eaglet. Lawrence returned to England a few days after the death of Benjamin West, and was immediately elected to succeed him as President of the Royal Academy. He held this office for ten years, until his death. Among the most noted works of Lawrence, executed during this time, were the portraits of Master Lambton and of the Duke of Wellington. Lawrence's ambitious essays beyond the limits of portrait painting, such as his once celebrated "Satan," obtained no lasting success. After the artist's death a number of his best known canvases were collected for permanent exhibition in the Waterloo Gallery of Windsor.

[Sidenote: Lister's microscope]

In this year Joseph Jackson Lister, an English amateur optician, contributed to the Royal Society the famous paper detailing his recent experiments with the compound microscope. Aided by Tully, a celebrated optician, Lister succeeded in making of the microscope a practical scientific implement rather than a toy. With the help of his own instrument Lister was able to settle the long mooted question as to the true form of the red corpuscles of the human blood.

[Sidenote: Conquest of Algiers]

[Sidenote: England's vain protest]

In the face of the menacing attitude of the liberal elements of France, which had been rendered more acute by the King's increase of the Chamber of Peers to the detriment of the Deputies, the French Government launched forth upon the conquest of Algiers. It was believed to be an auspicious moment. The Sultan's reluctant acknowledgment of the independence of Greece, April 25, showed how powerless he was. The Dey of Algiers had insulted France by his discourteous treatment of a French consul. He refused the satisfaction demanded by France. On the failure of a blockade to reduce the city of Algiers, an expedition commanded by Bourmont set out for Africa in spring. A landing was successfully effected by the middle of June. Early in July, Algiers was taken. Immense spoils, valued at 48,000,000 francs, were seized by the French. England grew apprehensive. George IV. had just died (June 26), and the Duke of Wellington, who was retained in power by the new king, William IV., demanded from the French Government an engagement to retain none of its new conquests. "Never," said Lord Alverdon to Lavel, the French Ambassador, "never did France, under the Republic or under the Empire, give England such serious ground of complaint as she has been giving us for the last year." It was in vain. The seething spirit of the people in France seemed to demand an outlet. The victories of French arms in Africa were cast before the French people as a sop. The permanent annexation of Algiers was announced. It was too late.

[Sidenote: "Hernani"]

[Sidenote: Theophile Gautier]

[Sidenote: Honore de Balzac]

[Sidenote: French Government outvoted]

[Sidenote: Charles Xth's Coup d'Etat]

The heated spirit of the rising generation had already been revealed in the hysterical demonstrations that occurred on the occasion of the first performance of Victor Hugo's "Hernani" on February 25. Conspicuous among the leaders of the literary tumult was Theophile Gautier, then a youth of eighteen, but already an author and an _Hugolatre intransigeant_, who led the claque on this first night resplendent in a rose-colored doublet and streaming long hair. With him was young Balzac, who had just won renown and notoriety by his "Physiologie du Mariage," and the first of his "Contes Drolatiques." In March, the Liberals in the Chambers declared their want of confidence in the government by a majority of forty votes. Charles X., staking all on the success of his Algerian campaign, dissolved the Chambers. "No compromise, no surrender," was the motto of the Royalists as they appealed to the people. The result was an overwhelming majority against the government. No less than 202 deputies pledged to opposition were elected. The whole of France was now waiting for the _coup d'etat_, and Europe waited with France. "Your two weakest points are the electoral law and the liberty of the press," said Metternich to the French Ambassador in Vienna, "but you cannot touch them except through the Chambers. A _coup d'etat_ would ruin the dynasty." The Czar, in St. Petersburg, spoke in a like strain to the Duc de Mortemart. Charles X. could not be restrained. "There are only Lafayette and I who have not changed since 1789," said the King. On July 24, a Sunday, after attending mass, Charles X. signed the orders that were to rid him of his Chambers. All his Ministers signed with him. "For life and for death, gentlemen," said the King. "Count upon me as I count upon you."

[Sidenote: Thiers]

[Sidenote: Marmont]

[Sidenote: The July revolution]

The Orders in Council appeared in the "Moniteur" the next day. It was said that Sauvo, the editor of the "Moniteur," as he gave the order to go to press, exclaimed: "God protect the King." The publication of the edict caused an instant extraordinary fall in stocks. Thiers thundered against it in the "Journal des Debats." Government troops seized the printing presses of the leading journals. Murmuring crowds gathered on the streets. The King appointed Marshal Marmont commandant of Paris. It was the last stroke, for Marmont was popularly execrated as the betrayer of Napoleon. The National Guards brought forth their old tricolor cockades of the Revolution and the Empire. Though military patrols tramped the streets, the night passed quietly. Next morning all work stopped, and the people fell to building barricades. Whole streets were torn up. The pupils of the Polytechnic School broke open the gates and the tricolor flag floated on the towers of Notre Dame. Marshal Marmont reported to the King: "Sire, it is no longer a riot, but a revolution. There is urgent need for your Majesty to take means of pacification. Thus the honor of the Crown may yet be saved. To-morrow it will be too late." The King's answer was to declare Paris under a state of siege. The so-called "Great Week," or "three days' revolution," had begun. The bourgeoisie or middle class and all the students joined the revolt. Before nightfall 600 barricades blocked the streets of Paris. Every house became a fortress. "Where do the rebels get their powder?" asked the King in astonishment. "From the soldiers," was the curt reply of the Procureur-General.

[Sidenote: Charles X. obstinate]

[Sidenote: Fall of Ministry]

[Sidenote: An interim republic]

[Sidenote: Duke of Orleans summoned]

In the evening the Hotel de Ville was captured. That evening the Ministers tried to enlighten the King, but he only replied: "Let the insurgents lay down their arms." While the discharges of artillery shook the windows of the palace the King played whist. Next day two line regiments openly joined the revolt. The Louvre was stormed. Still the King at St. Cloud would not yield. "They exaggerate the danger," said he. "I know what concessions would lead to. I have no wish to ride like my brother on a cart." Instead of concessions he vested the command in the Dauphin, having grown suspicious of Marmont. The mob sacked the Tuileries and hoisted the tricolor flag on the clock tower. At the Hotel de Ville a municipal commission was installed, composed of Lafayette, Casimir Perier, General Lobau and Audry de Puyraveau. At last, when it was too late, the King countermanded his obnoxious orders and dismissed Polignac with his Ministry. The people no longer paid attention to the King's acts. He was declared deposed. A republic was proclaimed and its presidency offered to Lafayette. But the old hero declined the honor. With Thiers he threw his influence in favor of the Duke of Orleans. The Duke of Orleans, the son of Philip Egalite, of Revolutionary fame, was invited to Paris to exercise the functions of lieutenant-general of the kingdom. The deposed King at St. Cloud hastened to confirm the appointment. The Duke of Orleans respectfully declined the royal appointment. "You cannot receive things from everybody," said Dupont. General Lafayette soon came to pay his respects. "You know," said he, "that I am a republican, and consider the Constitution of the United States as the most perfect that has been devised." "So do I," replied the Duke; "but do you think that in the present condition of France it would be advisable for us to adopt it?" "No," answered Lafayette; "what the French people must now have is a popular throne, surrounded by republican institutions." "That is just my opinion," said Prince Louis Philippe.

[Sidenote: Charles X. abdicates]

Lafayette's conversation with the prince led to the so-called programme of the Hotel de Ville. "I shall not take the crown," said the Duke of Orleans, "I shall receive it from the people on the conditions it suits them to impose. A charter will henceforth be a reality." At last Charles X. abdicated in favor of his grandson, the Duke of Bordeaux. The Duke of Orleans refused to recognize the claims of Henri V., and France and Europe were with him. Charles X. relinquished further hopes.

[Sidenote: Louis Philippe, King of France]

The Dauphin, formerly Duke of Angouleme, in like manner resigned his rights to his nephew. The act was signed on the 2d of August. Charles X. now set out for Normandy with his guards, commanded by Marmont, and, on August 16, embarked at Cherbourg in two American vessels, with the Dauphin and Dauphiness, the Duchess of Berry, the Duke of Bordeaux, and a numerous suite of attendants. The ships sailed for England, and, anchoring at Spithead, the royal fugitives took up their residence at Lulworth Castle, in Dorsetshire, but eventually removed to Holyrood Castle at Edinburgh, which was placed at their disposal by the British Government. On August 9, Louis Philippe, on the formal request of the two Chambers, accepted the crown of France with a solemn oath to uphold the Constitution.

[Sidenote: Louis Philippe's previous career]

[Sidenote: Sojourn in America]

[Sidenote: "Le Roi Citoyen"]

[Sidenote: A new power in France]

The overthrow of the Bourbons was not a revolution in the sense of the great French Revolution of the previous century. It resulted chiefly in the transfer of government from one political faction to another. Louis Philippe, raised to the throne by reason of his supposed democratic principles, rather than for his royal lineage, was a Republican only in name. His early education, together with that of his brothers, was directed by the Countess of Genlis. On the outbreak of the Revolutionary war, the young Prince, then Duke of Chartres, fought with distinction by the side of Kellermann and Dumouriez at Valmy and Jemmapes. He accompanied the latter when he took refuge in the camp of the imperialists in April, 1793. After the death of his father, Philippe Egalite, refusing to bear arms against France, he joined his sister and Madame de Genlis in Switzerland, where they lived for some time under an assumed name. In 1795 he travelled into the north of Germany, Sweden and Norway, and in the following year sailed from Hamburg for the United States of America. Here he was joined by his two brothers, and after some years in America, during which they were often in distress, the three princes went to England in 1800. The Duke of Orleans now obtained a reconciliation with the heads of his family, Louis XVIII. and the Count of Artois. Subsequently he became a guest at the court of Ferdinand IV., the dispossessed King of Naples, at Palermo; and here was celebrated, in November, 1809, his marriage with the Princess Marie Amelie, daughter of that monarch. Upon the restoration of Louis XVIII. he re-entered France, and took his seat in the Chamber of Peers; but having fallen under suspicion of disaffection, he once more retired to England and did not reappear in France till 1817. During the remainder of the reign of Louis he took no part in public affairs and lived in tranquillity at his favorite villa of Neuilly. He was a "citizen king," only in so far as he sent his children to the public schools and walked about the streets of Paris with an umbrella under his arm. The most lasting effect in France of the July revolution was the obliteration of clerical influences in the administration and public education. The Royalist nobility likewise lost what political ascendency they had regained during the Restoration. Henceforth the party in power was that of the bourgeoisie or great middle class of France, of which Louis Philippe himself was the self-constituted representative.

[Sidenote: Revolution in Belgium]

[Sidenote: Bombardment of Antwerp]

[Sidenote: Talleyrand's last mission]

[Sidenote: Belgian Independence recognized]

Outside of France, on the contrary, the effects of the short revolution were far-reaching. In the Netherlands ever increasing friction between the Dutch-speaking Protestants of Holland and the French Catholics of Belgium had excited the country to the point of revolution. Recent repressive measures on the part of the Dutch Government made matters worse. On August 25, the performance, at the Brussels Opera House, of Auber's "La Muette di Portici," with its representation of a revolutionary rising in Naples, gave the signal for revolt. From the capital the insurrection spread throughout Belgium. The King summoned the States-General to The Hague and agreed to an administrative separation of Belgium and Holland; but the storm was not quelled. On the appearance of Dutch troops in Brussels, barricades were erected and the insurgents drove the soldiers out of the city. For several days fighting continued in the outskirts. A provisional government declared the independence of Belgium. Mediation by a conference in Holland was frustrated by the bombardment of Antwerp by its Dutch garrison. The French Liberals were burning to give assistance. Austria and Russia stood ready to prevent their intervention by force of arms. Louis Philippe, while holding the French war party in check, felt constrained to look about him for an ally. In this extremity Prince Talleyrand, the old-time diplomat of the Bourbons, the Republic, the Empire and the Restoration, now in his eightieth year, was sent to London. He approached Wellington and the new King with such consummate address that an understanding was soon reached with England, which set at naught all projects of European armed intervention on behalf of the Prince of Orange. Such intervention could not have failed to drag the French into war. Now it was agreed that the regulation of Belgian affairs should be submitted to a conference at London. In the interim Belgian independence was accepted in effect and hostilities ended.

[Sidenote: Leopold of Coburg declines Greek crown]

In Greece, the government of Capodistrias was beset with such difficulties that it was decided to invite some European prince to set up a constitutional monarchy. The throne was offered to Prince Leopold of Coburg, the husband of the late Princess Charlotte of England. Leopold accepted, but when he learned that the Powers would not grant complete independence to Greece, without restoring AEtolia, Thessaly and the fertile islands of Samos and Candia to the Sultan, he withdrew his acceptance.

[Sidenote: Revolution in Poland]

[Sidenote: War declared on Russia]

Peace had scarcely been restored in the Netherlands when the spirit of revolt, travelling northward, seized the ardent people of Poland. Alexander's recognition of home rule in Poland had given the Poles a parliament and army of their own. After the Polish conspiracies at the outset of Nicholas's reign, Alexander's successor would no longer invoke the Polish Diet, and Russian troops and officers were sent into Poland. Of course this was bitterly resented. Plans for an uprising had already been made in 1828 during the Turkish war. The example of the successful risings in Paris and Brussels now brought matters to a head. On November 29, the revolt broke out in Warsaw. The Polish regiments of the garrison joined the insurgents. The Russian troops, finding the odds against them, withdrew. Grandduke Constantine narrowly escaped with his life. A provisional Polish Diet was convoked. Prince Czartoryski was elected President. The Poles, in remembrance of the late Czar's kindly attitude toward them, flattered themselves that the fruits of their revolution might be left to them. Lubecki, the former chief of the Imperial Council in Poland, with two associates, set out for St. Petersburg to voice the Polish demands for constitutional government before the Czar. It was even proposed that constitutional government should be conceded to those Russian provinces that had formerly belonged to Poland. On the way to St. Petersburg the eyes of the envoys were opened as they met the formidable columns of Russian troops marching to the Polish frontier. Forthwith, Lubecki forsook the cause of Poland. His colleagues found difficulty in obtaining a hearing from the Czar. When they were finally admitted to the imperial palace, Nicholas gave them clearly to understand that Poland had but two alternatives, unconditional submission or complete subjugation. When this answer reached Warsaw it was too late to swing the outside Polish provinces and Lithuania into the movement. Yet the Polish Diet, in a spirit of patriotic frenzy amounting to national suicide, passed a resolution declaring that the House of Romanoff had forfeited the Polish crown. Feverish preparations were made for a life and death struggle with Russia.

[Sidenote: Revolt in Spain]

The fall of the Bourbons in France had once more raised the hope of the Spanish Liberals. On the other hand, King Ferdinand's abolition of the Salic law of succession in Spain, so as to assure the throne to his new wife, raised up a party of absolutists against him. His brothers, Don Carlos and Francisco, became the heads of this movement and rallied their supporters around them, in the Basque provinces. In Portugal kindred dissensions rent the land in twain. Dom Miguel's claims to the crown were disputed on behalf of the constitutional government by the Duke of Palermo. Across the seas, Dom Pedro of Brazil proclaimed himself the legitimate heir to the throne of Braganza.

[Sidenote: Death of Bolivar]

Like other South American States, Brazil was itself a prey to internal dissensions and civil strife. To put an end to the recurrent revolutions of South America, Simon Bolivar conceived a scheme for a Pan-American Congress to weld together all the quasi-republican governments of the Southern Hemisphere and Central America. Unfortunately for this project, Bolivar's own aspirations to dictatorial rule told against him. His chief opponents were those who were striving for a disruption of the Colombian Union. His own States, Peru and Bolivia, had already declared against him. The Congress finally voted to give Bolivar a pension of $3,000 a year on condition that he should leave America forever. Bolivar's pride was stung to the quick. He resigned all public offices and honors, and went to Caracas to sail for England. He died at Santa Marta, on the sea-shore, on December 17. His last words were: "The people send me to the tomb, but I forgive them."

[Sidenote: Bolivar's career]

In Bolivar, South America lost the most fiery of her liberators. Born at Caracas, in 1783, he was pre-eminently a child of the modern spirit engendered by the French Revolution of 1792. He saw Spain in the days of its quasi-medieval darkness, and was in Paris at the close of the great revolution. Later he was a witness of Napoleon's coronation as King of Italy, and saw for himself the benefits of republican institutions in North America. The turning-point in his career was the loss of his young wife after two years of domestic happiness. As he said himself: "I loved my wife so much that at her death I made a vow never again to marry. I have kept my oath. Perhaps, had I not lost her, my career would have been different. I might not, then, have been General of the Liberators. My second visit to Europe would never have been made. The ideas which I imbibed during my travels would not have come to me, and the experience I have had, the study of the world that I have made, and of men and things--all this, which has so well served me, would never have been. Politics would never have attracted me. But the death of my wife caused the love of my country to burn in my heart, and I have followed the chariot of Mars rather than Ceres' plow."

[Sidenote: Van Diemen's Land]

[Sidenote: Extermination of natives]

In the new English penal colony of Van Diemen's Land in Australia, the Tasmania of latter days, the self-assertive and domineering traits of the Anglo-Saxon race were no less apparent among the convicts than among the few free settlers. A few years before this the colonists had proclaimed themselves independent of New South Wales and established a separate government. The Van Diemen's Land Company received a grant of twenty-five thousand acres; white population increased; religious, educational and commercial institutions were founded. The natives were all but exterminated. During this year Governor Arthur made an extraordinary attempt to settle the native problem. His idea was to catch all the aborigines of the island and pen them up on the narrow neck of land known as Tasman's Peninsula. Upward of three thousand five hundred white persons, including three hundred soldiers, turned out for the exciting operation of clearing Van Diemen's Land by means of a cordon across the island. All seemed to be going well until the line of beaters contracted, when it was found that the natives were in the rear, instead of in the front. The attempt proved a total failure; only two natives were captured. The total cost of the expedition amounted to L35,000. The individual measures of the settlers against the despised natives proved more efficacious. Within a few years, when the last of the Tasmanian aborigines were transferred from the mainland to Flinder's Island, by the instrumentality of George Augustus Robinson, it was found that but three hundred were left. The white population--largely of convict antecedents--by this time numbered more than 15,000 persons.

[Sidenote: North American dissensions]

[Sidenote: Nullification debate]

[Sidenote: Webster's declaration]

In North America the doctrine of nullification, newly put forth, emphasized the growing differences between the Northern and Southern States. The great debate between Hayne and Webster came about casually in the course of a discussion of the sale of public lands. The topic of nullification was dragged in by Southern speakers. Webster felt called upon to uphold the cause of the Northern States. Smarting under some of his animadversions of Southern sloth, Hayne made a two-day speech in which he inveighed against the spirit of the New Englanders. His own State, South Carolina, and her sister States in the South, he declared, would defend their sovereign rights, or "perish in the last ditch." Webster's reply to those prophetic words was the grandest oratorical effort of his life. He declared for the continued union of all the States in all their strength: "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable." Jackson's progressive foreign policy poured oil on the troubled waters. His repeal of the shipping acts of 1818 and 1823 brought about a resumption of direct trade with the West Indies. On October 5, Jackson was able to issue a proclamation announcing the opening of permanent trade with all ports of the West Indies, Bermudas, Bahamas, the Gulf of Mexico and South America.

[Sidenote: Anglo-American treaty]

[Sidenote: O'Connell's State trial]

[Sidenote: Anti-reform utterances]

[Sidenote: Wellington unpopular]

[Sidenote: Fall of Ministry]

[Sidenote: Earl Grey, Prime Minister]

This friendly treaty with America was the last satisfactory measure passed by Wellington's Ministry in England. As elsewhere in Europe the success of the sudden revolution in Paris created a great stir, and was brought home to Englishmen all the more forcibly by the deposed king's flight to English shores. In Ireland, matters were stirred up by Daniel O'Connell, who now commenced an agitation for the repeal of the union with England. His prosecution for treason became a State trial. O'Connell's ultimate conviction once more alienated the powerful Catholic Association of Ireland. The Duke of Wellington became so prejudiced against reform that he declared in Parliament: "I am not only averse to bringing forward any measure of this nature, but I will at once declare, so far as I am concerned, so long as I hold any station in the government of the country, I shall always feel it my duty to resist such a measure when proposed by others." After this declaration the fall of the Ministry was assured. Stocks fell in London from 84 to 77 points. Abuse and obloquy were heaped upon the Ministers from every quarter. Caricatures of them were stamped even on handkerchiefs and calico aprons. The Duke was mostly represented in the livery of an old hackney coachman, while Sir Robert Peel figured as a rat catcher. The King no longer concealed his dislike of Wellington, who in former days had mortally offended him by his support of Admiral Cockburn, resulting in the resignation of the Prince as Lord High Admiral of England. As soon as Parliament was reopened late in the year, a significant rebuff was administered to the Ministry by the Crown. The King preferred to deliver his speech in person. In the face of the Prime Minister's declaration against reform, Sir Harry Parnell, even before the delivery of the King's speech, announced a bill for the revision of the civil list. Parnell's motion was carried. Brougham followed this up with a motion for a reform of the rotten borough system. Rather than submit to another inevitable defeat Wellington's Ministry resigned. Earl Grey, leader of the Whig opposition, was made Prime Minister. Brougham was raised to the peerage, and accepted the post of Lord Chancellor. Palmerston was reappointed Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Lord Grey's appointment of six or seven of his relatives to administrative posts weakened his Ministry from the outset.

1831

[Sidenote: Belgian conference]

[Sidenote: Leopold, King of Belgium]

[Sidenote: Luxemburg question]

[Sidenote: Dutch invasion of Belgium]

[Sidenote: French counter-invasion]

[Sidenote: Foreign intervention]

Under the leadership of Lord Palmerston, the Belgian Conference in London was conducted to a successful issue. Early in January the representatives of the Powers signed a protocol defining the limits of Belgium and Holland and apportioning to each country its share in the national debt. The problem of providing an acceptable government for Belgium still remained. The Belgians themselves would have welcomed incorporation into France. With this object in view they elected for their sovereign the Duc de Nemours, second son of Louis Philippe. When a proclamation to this effect was made on February 3, Louis Philippe, acting under Talleyrand's advice, withheld official sanction. Privately he had encouraged his son's candidacy, the more so as a Bonapartist rival, the son of Eugene Beauharnais, was in the field. The conference at London determined not to permit Belgium thus to become a dependency of France. The British Government decided that it would no longer discountenance armed intervention in Belgium against French schemes of aggrandizement. Talleyrand obtained the best terms open to his sovereign by insisting on the withdrawal of the Bonapartist pretender. The selection of Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, who had just been disappointed in his aspirations for the empty throne of Greece, was encouraged by France on the understanding that Leopold, if elected King of Belgium, should marry a daughter of Louis Philippe. Leopold was elected on June 4, and accepted the crown only on the condition that the London Conference should modify its territorial arrangements of January. This brought up the Luxemburg question. Since the Paris treaty of 1814, the formidable stronghold of Luxemburg, though under the sovereignty of the King of Holland, was maintained as the strongest border fortress of the German Confederation. Now, the Luxemburgers had made common cause with the Belgians. Leopold accordingly insisted that Luxemburg should be treated as an integral part of Belgium. The powers at London yielded to this demand sufficiently to annul the declarations of January, with the promise of a future settlement of the status of Luxemburg. On this repudiation of the recent international declaration in favor of the Netherlands, the King of Holland took up arms. A Dutch army of 50,000 advanced into Belgium. Leopold at once appealed to France for assistance. A French army marched into Belgium from the other side. The powers at London made haste to intervene. A British fleet made a demonstration before Antwerp. Under pressure Leopold signed an agreement to raze the fortifications on the Belgian frontier. Reluctantly the King of Holland recalled his army. Under the threat of another armed coalition against France, Louis Philippe withdrew his forces. Outward tranquillity was once more restored. No immediate settlement, however, was reached in regard to Luxemburg. The union of the Luxemburgers with the Belgians remained in effect, while on the other hand strong German garrisons continued to hold the fortifications. For years to come this remained a vexatious problem.

[Sidenote: Difficulties in Greece]

[Sidenote: Holocaust of Greek fleet]

[Sidenote: Mavromichalis imprisoned]

[Sidenote: Assassination of Capodistrias]

After the restriction of the Greek frontiers by the Powers, Capodistrias' government was appreciably weakened. As difficulties thickened about him, he resorted to the restrictive measures he had become accustomed to while Prime Minister of Russia. He felt that the cause of Greece would be jeopardized unless order was maintained at any cost. When the old revolutionary leaders became turbulent, Capodistrias only put his government on a firmer basis. Mavrocordato, Konduriottes and Miaulis at this juncture waited upon the President as a committee from the opposition and demanded the withdrawal of the obnoxious measures. Capodistrias would not yield, and the popular leaders betook themselves to Hydra. Preparations for civil war were begun. The President sent out an expedition to suppress them. To prevent the fleet from falling into his hands at Paros, Miaulis set fire to the "Hellas," the American-built frigate, and that ship and twenty-eight others were burned to the water's edge. Among those that were imprisoned by Capodistrias was Petro Mavromichalis, the hero of the Morea. The Russian admiral sailed to Nauplia to intercede in his behalf, but in vain. Mavromichalis' brother and son, Constantine and George, appealed to the President in person, but were put under arrest themselves. On October 9, Constantine and George Mavromichalis fell upon Capodistrias as he was going to church and shot him dead. One of the assassins was killed on the spot while the other was executed later. Capodistrias' brother, Augustine, assumed charge. His government was short-lived. After a few months he sailed away with his brother's body to Corfu.

[Sidenote: Revolt in Bologna]

[Sidenote: Menotti]

[Sidenote: Mazzini]

[Sidenote: Papal legate repudiated]

In the meantime another blow for national unity was struck in Italy. On the death of Pius VIII., late in 1830, Gregory XVI. was elected. He had scarcely been installed in the chair of St. Peter, when a report reached him that Bologna had revolted against papal rule. On February 3, Menotti raised the signal of revolt at Modena. He was lured into the power of the Grandduke of Modena, but the insurrection spread so rapidly throughout the north of Italy that the Grandduke had to fly to Austria. Menotti was carried to Austria and there put to death. It was about this time that Mazzini made his first public appearance as a revolutionist and was imprisoned. Pope Gregory sent Cardinal Benvenuti to Bologna as a legate to treat with the rebels, but the legate was made a captive and the revolt spread southward to the papal dominions. In his extremity the Pope called upon Austria for help.

[Sidenote: Austrian intervention invoked]

[Sidenote: Attitude of France]

Austria, whose own dominions in Italy were threatened, had every reason to grant this request. The only obstacle was the threatening attitude of France. Before sending out his troops, Metternich took pains to ascertain the immediate intentions of France. The official answer given to the inquiries of the Austrian Ambassador in Paris, was that Austrian intervention in favor of the sovereigns of Parma and Modena, who were related to the House of Hapsburg, might be tolerated. An extension of such intervention to the Papal States or to Piedmont would certainly constitute a _casus belli_. In token of this declaration, the French Ambassador at Constantinople was instructed to make overtures for an offensive and defensive alliance to the Sultan.

[Sidenote: Metternich diplomacy]

[Sidenote: Papal dominions invaded]

[Sidenote: Casimir Perier's French policy]