A History of the Nineteenth Century, Year by Year. Volume 2 (of 3)

In Europe, the startling upheavals of the previous year were followed by an Abortive Spanish rising aftermath no less startling. Even in Spain, where a first attempt at revolution had easily been crushed at Madrid, Don Carlos deemed the time ripe to join Cabrera's revolutionary rising in Catalonia. On his way there he was arrested at the French frontier. Deprived of his support, Cabrera himself had to remove his forces to French soil. In Italy, the revolutionary movement spread. On February 7, Duke Leopold of Florence wasItalian republics driven out of Tuscany. A republican government was established at Florence under the triumvirate of Guerazzi, Montanelli and Manzoni. Taking refuge on a British man-of-war, the Duke of Tuscany fled to Gaeta to share the Pope's exile there. On the same day that the new republic was proclaimed at Florence a popular assembly at Rome formally deposed the Pope from temporal power and proclaimed the Republic of Rome. The armistice in Sicily was about to expire. King Ferdinand's final concessions to his rebellious subjects were repudiated. Lord Palmerston, who had vainly offered British Situation in Sicily mediation to Ferdinand, on the floor of Parliament openly defended the uncompromising attitude of the Sicilians. In preparation for the inevitable conflict, Filangieri gathered an army of 20,000 Neapolitans, while Mierolavsky, a Pole, took command of the Sicilian insurgents.

Meanwhile the tide of war set against the Hungarians. On February 4, Bem was defeated on the site of his former victory at Hermannstadt. While Hungarian defeats retreating he was defeated again at Paiski. By the middle of February the Austrians succeeded in taking the fortress of Essek from the Hungarians. Toward the close of the month a disastrous defeat was inflicted upon the Hungarians under the command of General Dembinsky at Kapolna. Kossuth had made the mistake of superseding Goergey by that commander. Now Goergey was reinstated. The Hungarians rallied. On March 5, the Magyar Csikos, or irregular cavalry, under Janos Damjanies, defeated the Austrians under General Grammont at Austrian reverses Szolnok. A few days later the Hungarian army in Transylvania, under General Bem, retrieved their ill-fortune by another glorious victory at Hermannstadt. A Russian contingent from Wallachia, which had crossed the frontier to assist the Austrians, was defeated by Bem at Brasso. General Puchner and his Russian allies sought refuge across the border. Goergey relieved Komorn. The ablest of the Austrian generals, Schlik, was beaten at Hapvan, while Jellacic was overthrown at Isaszteg and Windischgrätz "Reconcentrates" Goedoelloe. Prince Windischgrätz had to give up Pesth, or, as he put it in his immortal thirty-fourth bulletin: "Reconcentrate the army in front of Budapesth, a movement hastily imitated by the enemy." Goergey added another touch of humor by attributing the Hungarian victory solely to the activity of Windischgrätz and Jellacic. On March 4, Emperor Francis Joseph had annulled the old Hungarian constitution. Kossuth retaliated in kind. Under his influence the Magyar Diet at Debreczin pronounced the deposition of the Hungarian declaration of independence House of Hapsburg from the throne of Hungary and declared the independence of Hungary and the adjoining southern provinces. While the Hungarian army, instead of marching on Vienna, lost valuable time before Ofen, the Austrian Government improved the interval to perfect its long-threatened alliance with Russia.

In the interim war had broken out anew in Schleswig-Holstein and in Italy. Before the expiration of the Austrian-Italian armistice, Charles Albert of Sardinia, in a spirited address on February 1, Sardinia renews war announced his determination to renew the war. To this desperate resolve he was driven by the increasing turbulence of Italian affairs. The spread of the revolutionary movement to his dominions could be forestalled only by placing himself once more at the head of the Italian movement. In some respects the moment appeared propitious. Charles Albert's army now numbered a hundred and twenty thousand men, while Radetzky had little more than seventy thousand Austrians. A characteristic note of the times was the appointment of Poles Polish leaders to command the Italian troops. Prince Chrzanovsky, who had fought under Napoleon at Leipzig and Waterloo, and had subsequently commanded a Russian division at Varna, was put in supreme command, seconded by Alexander La Marmora. Another Pole, or half Pole, Ramorino, who had figured in the unfortunate rising of 1833, commanded the legion of Lombardy. On March 12, the pending termination of the truce was officially announced. At noon on March 20, hostilities were to be resumed. The campaign that followed lasted The "Five Days' Campaign" but five days. Radetzky, by his preliminary feint, made the Italians believe that he would evacuate Lombardy as heretofore; but at the last moment he quickly concentrated his five army corps at Pavia. At the stroke of noon, on March 20, he threw his army across the Tessino on three bridges. While the Italians believed that Radetzky was retreating on the Adda, the Austrians were already bivouacking on the flank of the Piedmontese army. Three bloody engagements at Mortara, Gambola and Sforzesca, on March 21, ended in a retreat of the Italians all along the line. Ramorino had received orders to move northward and to destroy the bridges behind him. Out of accord with his countryman, Chrzanovsky, he disobeyed his orders and lingered at Stradella. Radetzky flung his army in between, and cut off the Italian line of retreat upon Turin and Alessandria. It was then that Benedek, an Austrian colonel, distinguished himself by leading his troops far in advance of the Austrian army, and cutting his way through an Italian brigade, under the cover of night. At midnight of March 21, Charles Albert had to order a general retreat on Novara. There Chrzanovsky determined to make a stand with his main column of about 50,000 men. Radetzky was in doubt whether the Italians had fallen back on Novara or Vercelli. To make sure he sent his troops in either direction. He himself remained at his headquarters, so as to be ready to ride either way. The roar of artillery from Novara, on the morning of March 23, told him where the battle was to be fought. There General D'Aspre, Battle of Novara commanding the second Austrian army corps, undertook to win some laurels on his own account by a bold attack on the superior position of the Italians. As Charles Albert rode out of the gate of Novara he received the last cheers of his devoted Bersaglieri. After a three hours' fight the scale turned against the Austrians. Count D'Aspre repented of his rashness, and sent for help to Count Thurn at Vercelli. Fortunately for him, Radetzky and Thurn had marched in that direction as soon as they heard the sound of the cannon. It was a race between the two divisions. As Radetzky, at the head of the first army corps, galloped through Nebola, the aged marshal met the retreating columns of D'Aspre's second corps. Both the first and the third Austrian corps rushed into the battle almost simultaneously. The Italian Italian retreat advance was checked. At last, when Thurn's fourth corps arrived at sundown, the Austrian bugles sounded for a general charge. The Italian line of battle was overthrown. The Austrian cavalry circled around the flank. While the Italians fled into Novara they suffered from the fire of their own artillery. Charles Albert was one of the last who left the Bicocca to seek refuge in Novara. The town itself was bombarded by the Austrian artillery far into the night. Standing on the ramparts of Novara, Charles Albert realized the disastrous nature of his defeat. His losses aggregated more D'Aspre's heavy losses than seven thousand, of whom three thousand had been taken captive. Of the Austrian losses of 3,158 men, five-sevenths fell to D'Aspre's corps. The other Austrian divisions were practically intact. The Italians were in confusion. Charles Albert, who throughout the day had exposed his person with the utmost gallantry, had to be dragged from the ramparts by General Durando. As the Austrian shells struck all around them he exclaimed, "Leave me, General. Let it be the last day of my life. I wish to die." At last he consented to send his Minister, Cadorna, to Radetzky's headquarters to sue for an armistice. Cadorna was received in an insulting manner. Charles Charles Albert abdicates Albert came to the conclusion that his own person was an obstacle in the way of peace. That night he resigned his crown. In the presence of his generals he pronounced his eldest son, Victor Emmanuel, King of Sardinia. Accompanied by but one attendant he left Novara, and passed unrecognized through the enemy's lines. Sending a farewell letter to his wife, he went into exile. A few months later he died at Oporto in Portugal.

As Fyffe has said of this unfortunate Prince: "Nothing in his reign became Death of Charles Albert him like the ending of it. He proved that there was one sovereign in Italy who was willing to stake his throne, his life, the whole sum of his personal interests, for the national cause.... The man who, beaten and outnumbered, had for hours sat immovable in front of the Austrian cannon in Novara, had, in the depth of his misfortune, given to his son not the crown of Piedmont only, but the crown of Italy."

On the day after the battle of Novara, King Victor Emmanuel sought out Victor Emmanuel yields Marshal Radetzky and came to terms. Venice and the Italian duchies had to be relinquished to the Austrians. Austrian troops, in conjunction with those of Piedmont, occupied Alessandria. Piedmont was to reduce its army to a peace footing, to disperse all volunteers, and to pay a war indemnity of 75,000,000 francs. The Austrian demand that Victor Emmanuel should annul the liberal constitution granted by his father was unconditionally refused. For this Piedmont had to suffer a prolonged military occupation by Austrian troops, but Victor Emmanuel, by the same token, retained his father's Italian Princes reinstated claim to the leadership of the national cause of Italy. The victory of Austrian arms was speedily followed by the return of the princes of northern Italy to their petty thrones. Radetzky's troops undertook the reconquest of Venice. To forestall an Austrian movement against Rome, France undertook to reinstate Pio Nono in the Holy Chair of St. Peter. A French expedition to Rome French expedition under Oudinot, a son of the famous marshal, disembarked at Civita Vecchia. Mazzini and Garibaldi alone rallied their men to the defence of the republic.

In Sicily, hostilities had been likewise renewed on March 29. The Sicilians were discouraged by the report of the Italian defeats in the north. Filangieri succeeded in capturing Taormina, the Sicilian base of supplies. In the defence of Catania the Polish general commanding the Sicilian Subjection of Sicily troops, Mierolavsky, was severely wounded. At the foot of Mount Etna, the Sicilians were again defeated on April 6, Good Friday. Catania was taken. Syracuse surrendered to the Neapolitan fleet. Filangieri's army penetrated into the interior. In vain did the English and Austrian Ambassadors offer mediation. Ruggiero Settimo resigned his Presidency of the Sicilian Republic. The heads of the insurrection fled the country. Palermo surrendered. The customary courts-martial and military executions followed. Until the accession of King Ferdinand's eldest son to the throne, Filangieri ruled as military governor. In commemoration of one of the cities he had laid in ashes, he was created Duke of Taormina. When England tried to exact the promised recognition of the Constitution of 1812, King Ferdinand rejected the proposal with the sardonic statement that peace had been re-established in Sicily, and everybody was content.

The armistice of Malmö with Denmark expired on February 26. The German Danish war Bundestag mobilized three divisions of the allied German federation. Within a month Prussian, Bavarian and Swabian troops marched into Holstein. A Prussian general, Von Prittwitz, assumed supreme command. On April 3, the Danes opened hostilities by a bombardment of the Island of Allston. Then came the battle of Eckenfoerde, when German shore batteries blew up the Dueppel trenches stormed Danish ship of the line, "Christian VIII.," and two smaller vessels, the crews of which surrendered. On April 13, the Bavarians and Saxons stormed the intrenchments of Dueppel. One week later, the German troops, in conjunction with the volunteers of Schleswig-Holstein, under Von Bonin, occupied Jutland, and defeated the Danes at Kolding. A Danish advance from Battle of Gudsoe Fridericia was repulsed after a seven hours' fight, on May 7, at Gudsoe. The Danes fell back on Fridericia, where they were invested.

Meanwhile the German Parliament had met again at Frankfort. After the resignation of the former Austrian chief of the Cabinet, Schmerling, the Parliament was split into two factions, according to their preferences for a German union with or without Austria. Early in January it had been decided to elect some German prince to assume the leadership of German affairs as Emperor of the Germans. To this plan the minor German Francis Joseph's "Constitution" sovereigns gave their consent. During the first week of March, when the Emperor of Austria issued his new Constitution, which declared the whole of the Austrian Empire under one indivisible constitutional monarchy, it was plain to the German delegates that Austria could no longer be reckoned on. German Constitution adopted On March 28, King Frederick IV. of Prussia was elected by 290 votes. Some 284 delegates, among whom were 100 Austrians, abstained from voting. An imperial constitution was adopted which limited the former sovereign rights of the various principalities, declared for the liberties of speech and of the press, religious worship, free public schools, and the total abolition of all feudal titles of nobility. On April 23, the great Parliamentary German imperial crown rejected deputation, with President Simpson at its head, came to Berlin to notify the King of Prussia of his election. To the consternation of all, Frederick William declined the honor. He explained in private that he did not care "to accept a crown offered to him by the Revolution."

The immediate effects of his rejection were new attempts at revolution in Germany. After Frederick William's refusal to enter into the plans of the German Parliament, this body fell into utter disrepute. Its radical Saxon revolution elements could no longer be kept in control. Armed revolts, encouraged by the radical delegates, broke out in Frankfort, Kaiserslautern and throughout Saxony. The King of Saxony, with his Ministers, Von Beust and Rabenhorst, fled from Dresden. From the barricades the provisional government was proclaimed. The garrison was at the mercy of the insurgents, great numbers of whom flocked to Dresden from Leipzig and Pirna. Prussian troops overran Saxony. The revolutionary movement spread to Hesse, Baden, the Rhine provinces, Wurtemberg and the Bavarian Palatinate. Encounters South German risings with the troops occurred at Elbafeldt, Düsseldorf and Cologne. The reserves and municipal guards sided with the insurgents. All Baden rose and declared itself a republic, forming an alliance with the revolted Palatinate. The people of Wurtemberg, in a turbulent mass-meeting, demanded coalition with both of these countries. It was then that the Parliament at Frankfort decided to hold its future sessions at Stuttgart. Those principalities which had not yet succumbed to revolution withdrew their delegates. Prussia now gave to the Parliament its coup de grace by arrogating to herself all further prosecution of the Danish war, on the ground that "the so-called central government of Frankfort had no more weight of its own to affect the balance of peace or war." The remnants of the Parliament tried to meet at German Parliament dispersed Stuttgart, under the leadership of Loewe and Ludwig Uhland, the foremost living poet of Germany. When they came together at their meeting hall they found the doors blocked by troops. Attempts at protest were drowned by the roll of drums. Under the threat of a volley the delegates dispersed. Such was the end of the first German Parliament.

Prussian troops advanced into the Palatinate, Baden and Wurtemberg. After desultory encounters Princes reinstated with ill-led bands of insurgents, the sovereigns of these principalities were reinstated on their thrones by the Prussian army. The refugees thronged into Switzerland. In the north, on the other hand, Prussia's further advance into Denmark was stopped by the threatening attitude of England, Russia and France. On July 5, the Danes made a sortie Battle of Fridericia from Fridericia and inflicted a crushing defeat on the Schleswig-Holsteiners, capturing 28 guns and 1,500 prisoners. The Germans lost nearly 3,000 men in dead and wounded.

Five days after this disgrace to German arms, the Prussian Government accepted an armistice, according to which Schleswig was to be cut in two to Danish armistice be occupied by Swedish and Prussian troops. The provisional government of this province was intrusted to a joint commission, presided over by an Englishman. Holstein was abandoned to its fate. The final downfall of all the ideals of the German Liberals was followed by a feeling of dejection in Germany akin to despair. The number of immigrants who left Germany to seek new homes in America and elsewhere rose abruptly to 113,000 persons.

Worse even than in Germany fared the cause of popular government in Hungary. On the day that Goergey's Hungarians stormed Ofen (May 21), Austrian-Russian alliance Emperor Francis Joseph had a personal interview with Czar Nicholas at Warsaw. A joint note announced that the interest of all European States demanded armed interference in Hungary. The Emperor of Russia placed his whole army, under the command of Paskievitch, at the disposal of his "dear brother, Francis Joseph." On June 3, the vanguard of the Russian main army occupied Pressburg. Paskievitch called upon all Magyars to submit. Instead of that, Kossuth called upon his countrymen to destroy their homes and Russians invade Hungary property at the approach of the enemy, and to retreat into the interior as did the Russians before Napoleon. The rapid course of military events made this impracticable. While Kossuth and his government retired to Scegedin in the far southeast, Goergey, with the bulk of the army, took post on the upper Danube to prevent the junction of the Austrians and Russians. There the notorious Haynau, who had been recalled from Italy, was in command. While Goergey attacked his left wing on the River Vag, Haynau perfected his Fall of Budapesth junction with the Russians. On June 28 their united forces, 80,000 strong, captured Raab, under the eyes of Francis Joseph. The Russians occupied Debreczin, while the Austrians moved on Budapesth. Goergey's attempts to stop them resulted only in placing him in a dangerous position between both armies. On the same day that the Austrians reoccupied Budapesth, the Last Hungarian victories Hungarians under Vetter succeeded in inflicting another disastrous defeat on Jellacic at Hegyes. Three days later, Goergey won his last victory over the Russians at Waitzen. After this the tide of war turned against Hungary. The united army of Austria and Russia exceeded 225,000 men and 600 guns. The Hungarian resources were exhausted. In the first week of August the final conclusion of peace between Austria and Sardinia and the victorious movement against Venice put new forces at Austria's disposal. Dembinsky, who was to defend the passage of the Theiss before Scegedin, was defeated, Kemmisvar on August 5, at Czoreg with heavy losses. Kossuth now gave the command to Bem. He fought the last battle of the campaign at Kemmisvar, on August 9, ending in the disastrous defeat of the Hungarians. Bem barely succeeded in saving the remnant of his army by crossing the Moldavian frontier. On August 11, Kossuth at Arad relinquished his dictatorship in favor of Surrender of Vilagos General Goergey. This headstrong soldier, in realization of his helplessness, led his army of 20,000 foot, 2,000 horse and 130 guns within the Russian lines at Vilagos and surrendered unconditionally. Goergey's life was spared. Not so those of his foremost fellow prisoners, who were handed over to the tender mercies of Haynau. "Hungary," wrote Paskievitch to the Czar, "lies at the feet of your Majesty." Goergey's galling explanation that he did not deign to surrender to his despised Austrian Batthyany hanged adversaries was brutally avenged by Haynau. The foremost Magyar officers and statesmen who fell into Austrian hands were court-martialled and shot. Count Batthyany, the former Prime Minister, was hanged as a common felon. Hungary lost all her ancient constitutional rights, besides her former territories of Transylvania and Croatia. The flower of her youth was Hungary crushed enrolled in Austrian ranks and dispersed to the most remote garrisons of the empire. Her civil administration was handed over to German bureaucrats from Austria. The exiled patriots sought refuge in Turkey and in America.

The French interference in Rome aroused the Republicans in France. While Oudinot was carrying on siege operations against Rome, Ledru-Rollin, in Paris insurrection suppressed Paris, demanded the impeachment of the Ministry. The rejection of this motion by the Chambers was followed by revolutionary risings at Paris, Lyons, Marseilles and other cities. Then it was shown that France had a new master. President Louis Napoleon was on his guard. Large forces of troops, held in readiness for this event, put down the insurrections without much trouble. The siege of Rome was pressed to its conclusion. On June 14, Oudinot began his bombardment of Rome. Garibaldi prolonged his defence French enter Rome until the end of the month. Then, when sufficient breaches had been opened, the French stormed the ramparts and entered Rome. Garibaldi attempted to throw his forces into Venice to prolong the war against Austria. With his ever-dwindling followers he was hunted from place to place. In the end, through the devotion of Italian patriots, he managed to escape to America. Flight of Garibaldi On July 14, the restoration of the Pope's authority over Rome was announced by Oudinot. Pio Nono, however, showed no inclination to place himself in the power of his protectors. Remaining at Gaeta, he sent a commission of cardinals to take over the government of Rome. Their first act was to restore the Inquisition, and to appoint a court for the trial of all persons implicated in the Roman revolution. Thereat great wrath arose among the Republicans of France. Louis Napoleon felt compromised. In Pio Nono firm reliance on the growing ascendency of Austria, the Pope insisted on his absolute rights as a sovereign of Rome. All that Pio Nono would consent to, under the pressure of the French Government, was to suffer his political prisoners to go into exile, and to bestow a small measure of local powers upon the municipalities of the various States.

After the fall of Rome and of Hungary no hope remained for Venice. A fortnight after the surrender of Vilagos, and several months after the subjugation of the Venetian mainland, the Republic of St. Mark, reduced by cholera and famine, gave up its long struggle. The Austrians re-entered Venice.

Having gained a free hand in her Hungarian and Italian dominions, Austria set to work to recover her ascendency in Germany.

1850

AT THE opening of the year the British Foreign Office determined to bring Blockade of the Piræus pressure to bear upon Greece for payment of the public debts which were owing to English bankers. A British squadron, during January, blockaded the Piræus. On January 17, a resolution was passed in the British House of Lords condemning the foreign policy of the government in Greece. Later France interposed in behalf of Greece and the blockade was discontinued. Cholera in England Throughout the earlier part of the year the scourge of cholera continued in England. In London alone the death-rate for a while was 1,000 per week. More than 50,000 people died from the epidemic in England and Wales.

William Wordsworth, the English Poet Laureate, died on April 23, at Rydal Mount. Born at Cockermouth in 1770, Wordsworth received his academic Death of Wordsworth education at Cambridge University. Two years after his graduation, he made his first appearance as a poet with the publication of "An Evening Walk; an Epistle in Verse." In the same year he published "Descriptive Sketches in Verse," inspired by a pedestrian tour through the Alps. These poems brought the appreciation of Coleridge, and both men soon became friends. Together with Wordsworth's sister they made a tour of Germany. "Lyrical Ballads" and "Peter Bell"On their return, Wordsworth brought out the first volume of his "Lyrical Ballads," which won great popularity, and the anonymous "Peter Bell," the most condemned of all his poems. After his marriage in 1803, Wordsworth settled at Grasmere in the lake country, where he was joined by Southey and Coleridge. This caused the writings of all three to be classified under the generic title of "The The "Lake School" Lake School of Poetry" by the "Edinburgh Review." The fame of Wordsworth's poetic productions, and especially of his sonnets, slowly grew. While he won the immediate approbation of his countrymen by some of his stirring patriotic pieces, his strongest appeal to the world at large and to future generations lay in his poetic appreciation of the beauties of nature and of the essential traits of human character. As he sang in the famous preface to "The Excursion":

The annunciation of this doctrine was greeted by the critic of the "Edinburgh Review" with the insolent: "This will never do." In truth, Wordsworth's fondness for the inner beauty of common things sometimes led his verse into the commonplace. Wordsworth reached the height of his poetic fervor in his "Ode on the Intimations of Immortality," containing the famous lines:

It is at the end of this ode that Wordsworth summed up his veneration for nature in the lines:

After the death of his friend Southey, the mantle of the Poet Laureate fell upon him. His acceptance of this honor, and of the humble office of stamp distributer in the counties of Westmoreland and Cumberland, was decried by some of his fellow poets as a sordid compromise. Robert Browning then wrote his stirring invective, "The Lost Leader," while Shelley wrote the famous sonnet addressed to Wordsworth:

Sir Robert Peel's recognition of Wordsworth's genius, on the other hand, was regarded by the English Liberals as one of the brightest points in that famous statesman's career. The University of Oxford, shortly afterward, bestowed upon Wordsworth an honorary degree. One of Wordsworth's latest poems was addressed to the Mount of Wanswell, rising above his country home at Ambroside, closing with the prophetic lines:

"The Prelude" After Wordsworth's death, appeared "The Prelude, or Growth of the Poet's Mind," an autobiographical poem.

The next noted death in England this year was that of Sir Robert Peel, which occurred after a stirring debate on the foreign policy of Lord Death of Peel Palmerston in Greece. On the following day Peel was thrown from his horse while riding near London. The injuries he received were such that he died three days later. A monument to his memory was erected in Westminster Abbey; but in accordance with his own wish he was buried in the village churchyard of Drayton Bassett. Of other events arousing interest in First international cable England, the most noteworthy was the laying of the first submarine electric telegraph between England and France. The cable, which was twenty-seven miles long and covered with gutta-percha, stretched from Dover to Cape Gris Nez. Messages were interchanged, but the cable soon parted. During the same year the great East Indian diamond, Koh-i-noor, was presented to Queen The Koh-i-noor Victoria. The history of this great jewel was more stirring, in its way, than that of any living man. Its original weight was nearly 800 carats. By the lack of skill of the European diamond cutters this was reduced to 270 carats.

Beyond the immediate shores of England the course of events kept the British Colonial Office fully occupied. In Canada, a movement arose for the annexation of British America to the United States. Earl Grey, the Colonial Secretary, took occasion to warn all Canadians against this movement as an act of high treason. In India, the Afghans succeeded in reconquering Balkh. Death of Taouk Wang The fifth Kaffir war broke out in South Africa. The affairs of China gave fresh concern. On February 24, Emperor Taouk Wang died in his sixty-ninth year. The thirty years during which he reigned were among the most eventful, and in some respects the most portentous, for China. His strenuous opposition to the evils of the opium trade mark him as a wise, if not a powerful, ruler. He never wasted the public moneys of China on his own person, and his expenditures in behalf of the court and mere pomp were less than that of most of his predecessors. One of Taouk Wang's last acts showed how his mind and his health had been affected by the recent misfortunes of the empire. It appeared that the Chinese New Year's Day—February 12, 1850—was marked by an eclipse of the sun. Such an event being considered inauspicious in China, the Emperor decreed that the new year should begin on the previous day. The decree was utterly disregarded, and the Chinese year began at the appointed time. Taouk Wang's end was hastened by the outbreak of a great fire in Pekin, which threatened the Hien Fong, Emperor imperial city with destruction. On February 25, a grand council was held in the Emperor's bedchamber, and Taouk Wang wrote in his bed an edict proclaiming his fourth son, Yihchoo, ruler of the empire. Prince Yihchoo, who was less than twenty years old, took the name of Hien Fong, which means great abundance, and immediately upon his accession drew to his aid his four younger brothers, a new departure in Manchu rule. Their uncle, Hwuy Wang, who had made one attempt to seize the throne from his brother Taouk Wang, once more put forward his pretensions. After the imperial Ministers, Kiaying and Muchangah, had been degraded, Hwuy Wang's attempt signally The Taiping rebellion failed, but his life was spared. Later in the year, as a result partly of poor harvests, the great Taiping rebellion began. The great secret society of the Triads started the movement by raising an outcry in southern China against the Manchus. Their leader, Hung Tsiuen, a Hakka or Romany, proclaimed himself as Tien Wang, which means the head of the Prince. Under Chinese emigration the cloud of the impending upheaval, Chinese coolies in great numbers began to emigrate to the United States. At the same time the bitter feeling against foreigners was intensified by an encounter of the British steamship "Media" with a fleet of piratical Chinese junks. Thirteen of the junks were destroyed.

In California, where most of the Chinese immigrants landed, this movement was scarcely considered in the heat of the discussion whether California California an American issue should be admitted into the Union as a pro-slavery or anti-slavery State. In the American Senate, Henry Clay introduced a bill for a compromise of the controversy on slavery. His proposal favored the admission of California as a free State. On March 7, Daniel Webster delivered a memorable speech in which he antagonized his anti-slavery friends in the North. This was denounced as the betrayal of his constituents. State Conventions in South Carolina called for a Southern Congress to voice their claims. Not long afterward a fugitive slave bill was adopted by the United Fugitive slave bill States Congress. A fine of $1,000 and six months' imprisonment was to be imposed on any person harboring a fugitive slave or aiding him to escape. Fugitives were to be surrendered on demand, without the benefit of testimony or trial by jury. This served to terrorize some 20,000 escaped slaves and created intense indignation in the North. The issues were still more sharply drawn by the resignation of Jefferson Davis from the Senate, to run as a State-rights candidate for Governor of Mississippi. His Unionist rival, Foote, was elected.

In the meanwhile trouble had arisen with Spain and Portugal. On May 19, American filibusters in Cuba General Narcisso Lopez, with 600 American filibusters, landed at Cardenas to liberate Cuba from the dominion of Spain. He was defeated and his expedition dispersed. Another Cuban expedition was agitated in America. On April 25, President Taylor felt constrained to issue a second proclamation against filibusters. In May, the United States, in conjunction with Great Britain, recognized the independence of the Dominican Republic. Both countries at the same time agreed not to interfere in the affairs of Bulwer-Clayton treaty Central America. In accordance with this agreement the famous Bulwer-Clayton Treaty was completed. It provided that neither country should obtain exclusive control over any inter-oceanic canal in Central America, nor erect fortifications along its line. In June an American squadron was sent to Portugal to support the United States demand for American war claims of 1812. The claims were refused and the American Friction with Portugal Minister was recalled from Lisbon. The American fleet was withdrawn without further hostile demonstrations. The American President, in pursuance of his policy of peace, proclaimed neutrality in the civil war which had arisen in Mexico.

The furious slavery debate was resumed when Clay's so-called "Omnibus Bill" was offered for final consideration. It was during this debate that Senator Shields' prophecy Shields of California uttered his famous prophecy that the United States, so far from dissolving, would within a few generations send its soldiers to Asia and into China. On July 9, Webster soothed the angry passions of the legislators when he announced that President Taylor was dying. Webster's support of the Compromise Act of 1850, with its fugitive slave bill, dimmed his Presidential prospects. It was then that Whittier wrote the scathing lines entitled "Ichabod":

John Caldwell Calhoun, after a final speech on the issues of the country, Death of Calhoun died on the last day of March. He was the most prominent advocate of State sovereignty. He was noted for his keen logic, his clear statements and demonstrations of facts, and his profound earnestness. Webster said concerning him that he had "the indisputable basis of high character, unspotted integrity, and honor unimpeached. Nothing grovelling, low, or mean, or selfish came near his head, or his heart."

On July 9, President Taylor died, and Vice-President Fillmore succeeded Death of President Taylor him. He received the resignations of all the Cabinet. His new Cabinet was headed by Webster, Secretary of State (succeeded by Everett in 1852). The new fugitive slave bill was signed by Fillmore. But the law was defied in the North as unconstitutional. Benton called the measure "the complex, Fillmore's Presidency cumbersome, expensive, annoying and ineffective fugitive slave law." In Boston occurred the cases of the fugitives Shadrach, Simms and Anthony Burns. Fillmore and Webster came to be looked upon in the North as traitors to the anti-slavery cause. But for this Fillmore would have had a fair chance of re-election to the Presidency.

Then appeared in the "National Era" at Washington the opening chapters of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin." A million copies of the book were sold in America and in Europe. It spread and intensified the feeling against slavery. Emerson published "Representative Men"; Hawthorne "The Scarlet Letter"; and Whittier brought "The Scarlet Letter" out his "Songs of Labor." Parodi, the Italian singer, made her first appearance in America. She was eclipsed presently by Jenny Lind, whose opening concert at Castle Garden in New York netted $30,000 to her manager, Barnum.

Under the stress of another Mohammedan rising against the Christians in Russian conscription Syria and the Balkans, Emperor Nicholas of Russia decreed a notable increase of the Russian army. Out of every thousand persons in the population seven men were mustered into the ranks in western Russia, thus adding some 180,000 men to the total strength of the Russian force. In midsummer, the city of Cracow, in Poland, was nearly destroyed by fire. Later in the year occurred the death of the Polish general Bem, in Turkey, who had won such distinction while serving the cause of Hungary. Another Schleswig-Holstein abandoned attempt to win Schleswig-Holstein from Denmark was made in summer. Unaided by the Germans, the Schleswig-Holsteiners, under the leadership of Willisen, a former Prussian general and distinguished theoretical strategist, engaged a superior Danish army at Idstedt. They were beaten. Their defeat had so discouraging an effect that Prussia abandoned the Ibsen struggle in their behalf. In Norway, about this time, Henrik Ibsen came into prominence with a publication of his early drama "Catalina."

In France, the younger Dumas proved himself a formidable rival of his Dumas Fils father by such works as his "Trois Hommes" and "Henri de Navarre."

The death of Honoré de Balzac, the celebrated French novelist, was an event in literature. Born Death of Balzac at Tours in 1799, he soon devoted himself to writing. His first work, the tragedy "Cromwell," written at the age of nineteen, proved unsuccessful, as did all of his earlier novels, which appeared under a pseudonym. Various unfortunate undertakings, such as the publication of new editions of "La Fontaine" and "Molière," plunged him into debt. He returned to writing novels. Not until late was his authorship openly avowed. By this time several of his stories, such as "Le Dernier Chouan," "La Femme de Trente Ans," and his sprightly "Physiologie du Mariage," had achieved immense success. Still Balzac failed to turn his successes to financial account. He sank ever deeper in debt. In 1843 he turned upon his critics with a slashing "Monograph on the Parisian Press." The major part "The Human Comedy" of his striking, realistic novels was published in the famous series "La Comédie Humaine." This in turn was divided into these seven parts: "Scenes of Private Life," "Life in the Provinces," "Life in Paris," "In Politics," "In the Army," "In the Country," with "Philosophical Studies" and "Studies in Analysis." In his preface of 1842, Balzac thus explained the scheme of his work: