A History of the Nineteenth Century, Year by Year Part 11

1825

[Sidenote: Charles X.]

Charles X. was crowned King of France in the Cathedral of Rheims. His first public measure was the appropriation of a million francs to indemnify the French Royalists, whose lands had been confiscated during the French Revolution. Next came the proposal of a law on sacrilege, and one for primogeniture. Both bills were strenuously opposed by the Liberals. Broglie exclaimed: "What you are now preparing is a social and political revolution, a revolution against the revolution which changed France nearly forty years ago." Old Lafayette was glad to leave the country to visit North America.

[Sidenote: American election contest]

[Sidenote: John Quincy Adams President]

[Sidenote: Henry Clay rewarded]

[Sidenote: Changes in American politics]

[Sidenote: Adams's first message]

In the United States the election of 1824 had to be decided by the House of Representatives. For the Presidency the candidates were Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, Crawford and Clay, and for the Vice-Presidency Calhoun, Sanford, Macon, Jackson, Van Buren and Clay. They all belonged to the Democratic-Republican party. Jackson had received the highest number of electoral votes--99 were for him and 84 for Adams. Calhoun, as candidate for Vice-President, led with 182 votes. In the House of Representatives Clay, as leader, opposed Jackson. Adams was declared President, with Calhoun for Vice-President. The electoral vote of thirteen States was given to Adams, while Jackson received seven. John Quincy Adams was then fifty-eight years of age. Was.h.i.+ngton had made him Minister to The Hague, and then to Lisbon, and in 1797 his father, then President, sent him as Minister to Berlin. In 1803, he was United States Senator. Six years later he was Minister to Russia. During both of Monroe's terms he was Secretary of State. Upon his inauguration as President, Adams made Clay Secretary of State. Wirt, McLean and Southard were retained in the Cabinet. The adherents of Jackson declared that a bargain had been made between Clay and Adams, who then paid Clay they alleged for his support in the "scrub race"

for the Presidency. Randolph characterized the supposed arrangement as a "bargain between the Puritan and the Black Leg," and in consequence was challenged by Clay to fight a duel. Neither was injured. The election was followed by an immediate reorganization of political parties, on the question of supporting Adams's administration. Whether the successor of Adams should be a Northerner or a Southerner was the question at issue. His opponents were slave-holders and their Northern friends; his supporters, the antagonists of the Democratic party, whether known as National Republican, Whig or Republican party, all of which terms were in use. For the first time the new Congress, under the reapportionment, represented the entire population of the country, with New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio in the lead. In the Senate were men of brilliant promise. Clay was still a leader, and so was Webster, in the rising majesty of his renown. The contest between the parties was narrowed down to two great issues--internal improvements under national auspices and tariff for the protection of manufactures. President Adams in his first message gave opportunity for concerted opposition. He took advanced ground in favor of national expenditure on internal improvements, and urged the multiplication of ca.n.a.ls, the endowment of a national university, expenditures for scientific research, and the erection of a national observatory. He announced that an invitation had been accepted from the South American states to a conference at Panama, in regard to the formation of a political and commercial league between the two Americas. The Senate requested President Adams to give it information "touching the principles and practice of the Spanish-American states, or any of them--in regard to negro slavery." The subject was debated for almost the entire session. When enough had been said to show that slavery must not be interfered with, the delegates were nominated and an appropriation was made. The delegates never went.

[Sidenote: Erie Ca.n.a.l completed]

[Sidenote: Beneficial results]

On November 4, the first boat travelling along the new Erie Ca.n.a.l reached New York. Through the efforts of De Witt Clinton, the State of New York without Congressional aid had completed the great Erie Ca.n.a.l. Its annual tolls were found to amount to half its cost. The financial and commercial results of the great work were immediate and manifest. The cost of carrying freight between Albany and New York was reduced from the 1820 rate of $88 per ton, to $22.50, and soon to $6.50. Travel was no less facilitated, so that it was possible for emigrants to reach Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin cheaply. These fertile States grew accordingly in population. In 1825 the Capitol at Was.h.i.+ngton was nearly completed; the outer walls proved to be uninjured by the fire of 1814. The foundation of the central building had been laid in 1818, and this edifice was now completed on its original plan.

[Sidenote: Lafayette visits America]

The American visit of the old Marquis de la Fayette--to give him his French name--was celebrated with national rejoicings. Years ago, when he left the American republic after its independence was achieved, it was a poor, weak and struggling nation. Its prosperity and increasing power now amazed him.

The thirteen colonies along the coast had increased to twenty-four independent, growing and progressive commonwealths, reaching a thousand miles westward from the sea. Lafayette was the nation's guest for a year.

On June 17, 1825, just fifty years after the battle of Bunker Hill, he laid the cornerstone of the obelisk which commemorates that battle in Boston. On this same occasion Daniel Webster made one of his great speeches. Lafayette returned to France in the American frigate "Brandywine," named in honor of the first battle in which Lafayette fought and was wounded half a century before. Congress presented him with a gift of $200,000 in money, and with a towns.h.i.+p of land in recognition of the disinterested services of his youth.

[Sidenote: Argentine Republic]

Shortly before President Adams accepted the invitation to send North American representatives to the proposed Congress of Panama, thirteen independent States joined at Buenos Ayres in a powerful confederation and formed the Republic of Argentine. A national const.i.tution was adopted and Rivadiera elected President. The new republic was soon called upon to prove its mettle in the war levied against it by Brazil for the possession of Uruguay. In the end Uruguay remained a part of Argentina. Brazil had previously achieved its complete independence from the mother country by a.s.suming the public debt of Portugal, amounting to some ten million dollars. England gave its official recognition to these new changes of government as it had to the others.

[Sidenote: Burmese reverses]

[Sidenote: New British acquisitions]

The British war against the Burmese was nearly over. Early in the year the British forces left at Rangoon advanced up the river Irawaddy toward Donabew. The first attempt to take this stronghold was repulsed, whereupon the British settled down to a regular siege. While trying to get the range with their mortars the gunners succeeded in killing Bundula, the chieftain of the Burmese. His brother flinched from the command of the army and was promptly beheaded. The Burmese forces went to pieces. The British proceeded to Prome, and inflicted another crus.h.i.+ng defeat on the remaining detachments of the Burmese army. At the approach of the British column the Burmese rulers at Ava became frantic. All the demented women that could be found in and about Ava were gathered together and conducted to the front that they might bewitch the English. When this measure proved ineffectual, Prince Tharawadi tried to stem the British approach, but could not get his followers to face the enemy. All the country from Rangoon to Ava was under British control. The Burmese came to terms. As a result of the conflict the territories of a.s.sam, Arrakan and Tenaserim were ceded to the British.

[Sidenote: Crisis in Bhurtpore]

[Sidenote: Summary British dealings]

While the British were still in the midst of this campaign a crisis occurred in Bhurtpore. The sudden death of the Rajah there left no successor to the throne but an infant son of seven. He was proclaimed Rajah under the guardians.h.i.+p of his uncle. A cousin of the dead king won over the army of Bhurtpore, and putting the uncle to death imprisoned the little Rajah. Sir David Ochterlony, the aged British Resident at Delhi, interfered in behalf of the little prince and advanced British troops into Bhurtpore.

His measures were repudiated by Lord Amherst. Sir David took the rebuff so much to heart that he resigned his appointment. Within two months after his retirement the old soldier died in bitterness of soul. The sequel vindicated his judgment. In defiance of the British Government, the usurper of Bhurtpore rallied around him all the dissatisfied spirits of the Mahrattas, Pindarees, Jats and Rajputs. Lord Amherst was forced to retreat to Vera. The British army under Lord Combermere crossed the border and pushed through to Bhurtpore. The heavy mud walls of the capital had to be breached with mines. The usurper was deposed and put out of harm's way in a British prison. With the restoration of the infant Prince in Bhurtpore, all danger of another great Indian rising seemed at end.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SOLFERINO Painted by E. Meissonier From Carbon Print by Braun, Clement & Co., N.Y.]

[Sidenote: The first railway]

At home in England it was a period of unprecedented scientific and industrial development. Following Faraday's recent conversion of the electric current into mechanical motion, Sturgeon invented the prototype of the electro-magnet. The first public railway for steam locomotives was opened between Stockton and Darlington by Edward Peese and George Stephenson--an innovation which caused great excitement throughout England.

On the opening day, September 27, an immense concourse of people a.s.sembled along the line to see the train go by. Nearly every one prophesied that the "iron horse" would be a failure. The train weighed about ninety English tons, and consisted of six wagons loaded with coal and flour, then a covered coach containing directors and proprietors, with twenty-one coal wagons fitted up for invited pa.s.sengers, nearly 600 in number. Stephenson's engine, named the "Locomotion," had a ten-foot boiler and weighed not quite 1,500 pounds. As six miles an hour was supposed to be the limit of speed, it was arranged that a man on horseback should ride on the track ahead of the engine carrying a flag. The train was started without difficulty amid cheers. Many tried to keep up with it by running, and some gentlemen on horseback galloped across the fields to accompany the train. After a few minutes, Stephenson shouted to the horseman with the flag to get out of the way, for he was going to "let her go." Ordering the fireman to "keep her hot, lad," he opened wide the throttle-valve and the speed was quickly raised to twelve miles an hour and then to fifteen.

[Sidenote: Stephenson's practical demonstration]

The runners on foot, the gentlemen on horseback and the horseman with the flag were left far behind. So, with the cross-beams and side-rods trembling from the violent motion, the red-hot chimney ejecting clouds of black smoke, amid the cheers of the delighted spectators and to the astonishment of the pa.s.sengers--the immortal George Stephenson brought his train safely into Darlington.

As the "Newcastle Courant" (October 1, 1825) put it, "certainly the performance excited the astonishment of all present, and exceeded the most sanguine expectations of every one conversant with the subject. The engine arrived at Stockton in three hours and seven minutes after leaving Darlington, including stops, the distance being nearly twelve miles, which is at the rate of four miles an hour; and upon the level part of the railway, the number of pa.s.sengers was counted about four hundred and fifty, and several more clung to the carriages on each side. At one time the pa.s.sengers by the engine had the pleasure of accompanying and cheering their brother pa.s.sengers by the stage coach, which pa.s.sed alongside, and of observing the striking contrast exhibited by the power of the engine and of horses; the engine with her six hundred pa.s.sengers and load, and the coach with four horses and only sixteen pa.s.sengers."

[Sidenote: Immediate railroad development]

So successful was the Stockton and Darlington railway that a bill was brought in Parliament for the construction of a railroad between Liverpool and Manchester after Stephenson's plan. The scheme was violently opposed.

Its detractors, among whom were Lords Lefton and Derby, declared that Stephenson's locomotive would poison the air, kill the birds as they flew over them, destroy the preservation of pheasants, burn up the farms and homesteads near the lines; that oats and hay would become unsalable because horses would become extinct; travelling on the highways would become impossible; country inns would be ruined; boilers would burst and kill hundreds of pa.s.sengers. Indeed, there was no peril imaginable that was not predicted to attend the working of a railroad by steam.

When Stephenson was examined by a Parliamentary committee, one of the members put this question: "Suppose, now, one of these engines to be going along a railroad at a rate of nine or ten miles an hour, and that a cow were to stray upon the line, and get in the way of the engine, would not that, think you, be a very awkward circ.u.mstance?" "Yaw," replied Stephenson, in his broad Northumbrian dialect, "ay, awkward--for the _coo_." On account of his speech Stephenson was denounced as a "foreigner,"

and the bill was thrown out by the committee, by a vote of 37 against 36.

After a second Parliamentary battle, the bill was pa.s.sed through both Houses by a majority of forty-seven votes. The pa.s.sage of the act cost 27,000.

[Sidenote: Other modern inventions]

[Sidenote: English financial crisis averted]

[Sidenote: Canning's attempted reforms]

Almost coincidentally, Faraday found that benzine was a const.i.tuent of petroleum, a discovery destined to affect the modern construction of automobile vehicles toward the close of the century. A number of other achievements made this an important year for science in England. John Crowther took out a patent for his invention of a hydraulic crane. The steam jet was first applied to construction work by Timothy Hackworth.

Joseph Clement built a planing machine for iron. One of the earliest chain suspension bridges was erected at Menai Strait by Thomas Thelford, and at the same time Brunel sunk his first shaft for the Thames tunnel.

Significant of the industrial revival of those days was the opening of mechanics' inst.i.tutes at Exeter and Belfast. In Canada, the newly founded McGill College was raised to the rank of a university. A financial measure of far-reaching import was the Bank of England's sudden diminution of its circulation to the extent of 3,500,000 by the combined exertions of the bank and of the royal mint. A crisis in public funds was thus averted. The most important political measure of the year was Canning's attempt to repeal the political disabilities of the Catholics in England. A bill to this effect was pa.s.sed through the Commons, but was thrown out by the House of Lords. Canning's friend Huskisson inaugurated a commercial policy, which was founded on the theory of free trade, destined to bring about the repeal of the corn laws.

[Sidenote: Greek reverses]

[Sidenote: Nauplia and Missolonghi besieged]

[Sidenote: Greece devastated]

The situation in Greece was calculated to stiffen the backbone of Canning's foreign policy. On February 22, Ibrahim's Egyptian army had crossed the sea unopposed and overran the Morea. The Greeks were defeated near Nodoni, and the garrison of Sphakteria was overwhelmed. The forts of Navarino capitulated. In vain was old Kolokotrones released from his prison to oppose the onslaught of Ibrahim's Arabs. The Greeks were driven back through Tripolitza, and did not succeed in making a stand until the Turks reached Nauplia. Here Demetrios Ypsilanti with a few hundred men repulsed the Turkish vanguard at Lerna. Ibrahim settled down to the siege of Nauplia and of Missolonghi. The country round about was laid waste and the people killed. Ibrahim's hordes even cut down all trees and saplings. Thus the fertile mountains and hillsides of Greece were changed into the barren rocks they are to-day. Nothing so excited the sympathy of the lovers of liberty in Europe as these wanton ravages on cla.s.sic soil committed by the savages of the desert. Even Alexander of Russia was so moved by the rising indignation of his people that he dissolved diplomatic conferences at St.

Petersburg in August. He issued a declaration that Russia, acting on its own discretion, would put a stop to the outrages of Greece. Accompanied by the leaders of the Russian war party, he left St. Petersburg and travelled to the Black Sea. All Europe waited for the long-threatened Russian advance on Constantinople. Suddenly news arrived that the Czar had died at Taganrog.

[Sidenote: Death of Czar Alexander]

[Sidenote: Alexander's early reforms]

[Sidenote: Russian letters stimulated]

Alexander expired on November 19 (December 1), in the arms of Empress Elizabeth. His last hours were clouded by revelations of a plot to a.s.sa.s.sinate him. As if to recant his reactionary measures of the last few years, he said: "They may say what they like of me, but I have lived and will die republican"--a curious boast which is justified only by the earlier years of Alexander's reign. In the beginning of his rule the Czar reversed the despotic tendencies of his predecessors. Free travel was permitted; foreign books and papers were allowed to enter; the better cla.s.ses of the community were exempted from corporal punishments; the emanc.i.p.ation of serfs was begun, and the collegiate organization of the administration was supplanted by ministries modelled after those of the chief European countries. As early as 1802 Alexander could boast of a Cabinet as good as that of any const.i.tutional monarch. Another far-reaching reform was the reorganization of Russian public education, and the encouragement given to the publication of Bibles. A temporary relaxation of the censors.h.i.+p resulted in the foundation of societies of literature and of such journals as the "Russian Messenger," "The Northern Mercury," and the "Democrat." Writers like Pushkin and Gogol brought forth their earliest works. Koltsov discovered a new source of poetry in the popular songs.

Lermontov sang the wild beauty of the Caucasus, and Ozerov wrote his cla.s.sical drama "Dmitri Donskoi," which recalled the struggles of Russia against the Tartars. Modern romantic tendencies were advanced by Joukovsky's translation of Schiller's and Byron's poems. Ginka composed the scores for his earlier operas.

[Sidenote: Changes for the worse]