A History of the Nineteenth Century, Year by Year Part 21

[Sidenote: "The Waverley Novels"]

[Sidenote: Scott a bankrupt]

[Sidenote: Literary drudgery]

A few months after the death of Goethe, in September, Sir Walter Scott died in England. Goethe was accustomed to speak of Scott as "the greatest writer of his time." Shortly before his death Goethe said: "All is great in Scott's 'Waverley Novels'--material, effect, characters and execution."

Scott himself derived much of his inspiration from Goethe's writings. One of his earliest works was a translation of "Goetz von Berlichingen." The creation of Mignon, in "Wilhelm Meister," furnished Scott with the character of Fenella in his "Peveril of the Peak." Scott began his career as a writer with a translation of Buerger's "Ballads." His most successful metrical pieces, "The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border," "The Lay of the Last Minstrel," "Marmion," and "The Lady of the Lake," for the most part appeared during the opening years of the Nineteenth Century. Then came the great series of the "Waverley Novels," named after the romance of "Waverley," published anonymously in 1814. The series comprised such cla.s.sics as "Guy Mannering," "The Heart of Midlothian," "Kenilworth,"

"Quentin Durward," and "Ivanhoe." Scott's historical romances, based as they were on painstaking researches into old chronicles, revived in Englishmen an interest in their own past. The romance of the Middle Ages was recognized for the first time, if in an exaggerated degree, throughout the civilized world. The romantic movement in French literature, now in full swing, was directly inspired by Scott. Notwithstanding his great success as a writer, Scott's later career was clouded by difficulties and debt. Through his friends.h.i.+p with Canning early in his career he obtained the post of court clerk in Edinburgh. This left him leisure to edit a number of literary works, such as the editions of Swift, Dryden and Sir Tristan. The great popular success of his novels soon made him rich. His hospitality at Abbotsford grew so lavish that in order to defray his expenses he joined in a financial partners.h.i.+p with his publishers. The failure of the Bank of Constable, in 1826, and the consequent failure of the house of Ballantyne, ruined Scott. His debts amounted to 117,000. In his efforts to earn enough money wherewith to pay this enormous sum, Scott became a literary drudge. It was at this time that he wrote his seven-volume history of the life of Napoleon Bonaparte, "Tales of a Grandfather," and a two-volume "History of Scotland." His work as a historian was by no means equal to that of his purely literary creations.

In 1830, as the result of overwork, Sir Walter Scott suffered from a stroke of paralysis. A journey to Italy brought no relief. Two years later he died. He was buried at Dryburgh Abbey. For several generations after his death Scott remained one of the most popular authors of England.

[Sidenote: Advances in Medicine]

A remarkable instance of good resulting from evil was afforded this year by the revolting murders committed by Burke and Hare in Edinburgh. These two men deliberately killed a number of persons to sell their bodies to medical dissecters. The discovery of their crimes led to a Parliamentary investigation in the course of which Sir Astley Cooper boldly stated that any man's body could be obtained in the United Kingdom if enough money were offered. The scandal resulted in the pa.s.sage of an Anatomy Act licensing the traffic in human bodies within strict limitations. Before this reform surgeons experimenting in human anatomy had to rely on body-s.n.a.t.c.hers for their material. The repeal of the old laws on this subject removed much of the odium hitherto attached to the science of dissection, while the increase of experimental material gave a fresh impetus to the study of anatomy.

[Sidenote: Death of Napoleon II.]

A menace to the royal crown of France was removed by the death of Napoleon's son, the young Duke of Reichstadt, erstwhile King of Rome. He expired at Schoenbrunn, after an empty life spent under Metternich's tutelage in Vienna, and was buried there. His death at the time was commemorated in the famous German ballad, beginning with the lines:

In the gardens of Schoenbrunn Lies buried the King of Rome.

The French playwright Rostand made the life and death of this unfortunate Prince the subject of a romantic tragedy "The Eaglet," in which Sarah Bernhardt achieved so striking a success at the close of the Nineteenth Century.

[Sidenote: Attempted revolts in France]

[Sidenote: Repressive measures]

The removal of another menace to Louis Philippe's throne was accompanied by circ.u.mstances less tragic. In April, the d.u.c.h.esse de Berry, wearying of her exile, crossed over to Ma.r.s.eilles and travelled thence in disguise to Chateau Pla.s.sac, in the Vendee, where she summoned the Royalists to arms.

She was betrayed into the hands of constables sent to arrest her, and was placed in safe keeping at Chateau Blaye on an island in the Gironde. The affair took an awkward turn for the cause of the Orleanists in France, when the d.u.c.h.ess gave birth to an infant daughter, whose parentage she found it difficult to explain. Next, the death of General Lamarque, a popular soldier of France, started an insurrection at Paris in the summer. An attempt was made to build barricades, and conflicts occurred in the streets, but the National Guard remained true to the army and the King, and the revolt was soon put down. The government of Louis Philippe resorted to severe repressive measures, and trials for sedition were common. In Germany a revolutionary appeal to arms, made at a popular festival at the Castle of Homburg, near Zweibrucken, resulted in renewed reactionary measures. The German Diet, at the instance of Metternich, declared that the refusal of taxes by any legislature would be treated as an act of rebellion. All political meetings and a.s.sociations were forbidden and the public press was gagged.

[Sidenote: Naval demonstration at Lisbon]

[Sidenote: Civil war in Portugal]

The excesses of Dom Miguel's followers in Portugal were followed by more serious international results. A series of wanton attacks upon foreign subjects in Lisbon called for outside intervention. English and French squadrons appeared in the Tagus. Lord Palmerston, the British Foreign Secretary, declared himself satisfied after Portugal had apologized and paid an indemnity to the British sufferers. The French admiral, unable to obtain quick redress, carried off the best s.h.i.+ps of the Portuguese navy.

The worst result for Dom Miguel was the foreign encouragement given to his brother, Emperor Pedro of Brazil, who was preparing an expedition against him in the Azores. Some of the best British naval officers and veterans of the Peninsular War were permitted to enlist under Dom Pedro's banner.

Captain Charles Napier took charge of Dom Pedro's navy. In July a landing was made near Oporto, and that important city was captured by Dom Pedro's forces. Dom Miguel was constrained to lay siege to Oporto. Thus the civil war in Portugal dragged on.

The most formidable revolt of the year was that of Mehemet Ali, the Viceroy of Egypt, against his suzerain, Sultan Mahmoud of Turkey. The disappointing results of Egypt's partic.i.p.ation in Turkey's war in Greece left Mehemet Ali dissatisfied. He considered the acquisition of Crete by Egypt but a poor recompense for the loss of his fleet at Navarino.

[Sidenote: Mehemet Ali's revolt]

[Sidenote: Siege of Acre]

[Sidenote: Turkish reverses]

[Sidenote: Russian intervention]

A quarrel with the Pasha of Acre, Abdallah, gave Mehemet Ali a chance for Egyptian aggrandizement in that direction. Egyptian forces under the command of Mehemet Ali's adopted son Ibrahim marched into Palestine and laid siege to Acre. That stronghold resisted with the same stubbornness that Bonaparte had encountered years before. The protracted struggle there gave the Sultan time to prepare an expedition wherewith to intervene between his warring va.s.sals. He took the part of the Pasha of Acre. A proclamation was issued declaring Mehemet Ali and his son rebels. A Turkish army under Hussain Pasha entered Syria. The fall of Acre, while the relieving army was still near Antioch, enabled Ibrahim to throw his full force against the Turks. In the valley of the Orontes the two forces met.

The Turkish vanguard was routed and the Turkish main column fell back on Aleppo, leaving Antioch and all the surrounding country to the Egyptians.

The Pasha of Aleppo, won over by Mehemet Ali, closed the gates of his city against Hussain's disordered forces. The Turks retreated into the mountains between Syria and Cilicia. The Egyptians pursued. At the pa.s.s of Beilan a stand was made by Hussain. The fierce mountain tribes turned against him, and with their help Ibrahim won a signal victory over the Turks, on July 29. The retreat continued through Cilicia far into Asia Minor. After several months a new Turkish army under Res.h.i.+d Pasha, Ibrahim's colleague in the siege of Missolonghi, advanced from the north. A pitched battle was fought at Konieh on the 21st of December. The Turks were utterly routed.

The army was dispersed and Res.h.i.+d himself was made a prisoner. The road to Constantinople now lay open to Mehemet Ali. Sultan Mahmoud was so alarmed that he turned to his old adversary, Russia, for help. General Muravieff was summoned to Constantinople and was empowered to make terms for Turkey with Mehemet Ali.

[Sidenote: Affair of Quallah Buteau]

In America, likewise, President Jackson had found it necessary to a.s.sert the rights of the United States by means of a punitive expedition. This grew out of the affair of Quallah Buteau on the Island of Sumatra in the Dutch East Indies. The American s.h.i.+p "Friends.h.i.+p" had put in there during the previous year to load with pepper. The captain, whose men were on sh.o.r.e, permitted the crew of a Malay boat to come on board. There was not a sign of danger, when suddenly the Malays attacked the Americans, killing the first officer and two sailors and plundering the vessel. They then tried to beach the vessel, but two other American s.h.i.+ps compelled the Malays to flee. The Rajah of Quallah Buteau appropriated the plunder and refused to return it. Commodore Downs, with the frigate "Potomac," was ordered to Sumatra. He reached there early in February. Finding that nothing could be accomplished by peaceful means he landed two hundred and fifty of his sailors under command of Lieutenant Shubrick. The Malays refused to give or receive quarter. Their palisades were torn down and turned into a bridge, and the fort was stormed. The Stars and Stripes were hoisted. Another fort with its magazines was blown up. The town was occupied. In all one hundred and fifty Malays were killed and wounded, among them the Rajah. The total loss of the Americans was two men. The offending town was razed.

[Sidenote: Struggle over United States Bank]

Jackson's domestic policy during this year brought him into conflict with two powerful factors. One was the United States Bank at Philadelphia.

Jackson disapproved of the Bank on the ground that it failed to establish a sound and new form of currency. A financial panic had been caused by worthless paper currency issued by so-called "wildcat" banking inst.i.tutions. A pet.i.tion for the renewal of the National Bank's charter, which was to expire in 1836, was laid before the Senate. Both Houses pa.s.sed a bill to that effect. Jackson vetoed it, and a two-thirds vote wherewith to override his veto could not be obtained for the measure. Jackson then ordered the Bank's deposits removed. He read to the Cabinet a long paper, in which he accused the officers of the Bank of mismanagement and corruption, and stated that he would a.s.sume the entire responsibility for the removal of the deposits. The Bank made a stubborn fight and spent over $50,000 in defending itself. In the Senate, Benton was the chief opponent of the Bank, and Webster was its princ.i.p.al defender. In December, the President sent a message to Congress recommending the removal of the public funds from the National Bank to certain State banks. Congress refused to remove the funds.

[Sidenote: American tariff legislation]

[Sidenote: South Carolina nullification]

[Sidenote: Jackson's vigorous measures]

The pa.s.sage of a new tariff law, on July 14, which was considered harmful to Southern interests, brought the Federal Government into armed conflict with the South. On November 19, a State Convention met at Columbus, South Carolina, in response to a call of the Legislature, and on the 24th a nullification ordinance was adopted. The tariff laws were declared unconst.i.tutional, and therefore "null and void and no law, nor binding upon the State." On December 10, President Jackson issued a proclamation against nullifiers, threatening them with trial for treason. Governor Hamilton of South Carolina in reply warned citizens not to be diverted from their allegiance to their State by this Federal proclamation. Jackson summoned General Scott to Was.h.i.+ngton and sent a part of the army to Charleston with a s.h.i.+p of war to collect the revenues. On December 28, J.C. Calhoun resigned the office of Vice-President on account of Jackson's proclamation.

He was forthwith elected Senator from South Carolina.

[Sidenote: Treaty of Payne's Landing]

[Sidenote: Troubles with Indians]

[Sidenote: Black Hawk War]

It was during this year that renewed troubles with the Seminoles in Florida resulted in one of the most serious Indian wars of the century. By the treaty of Fort Muller, in 1823, the Indians were to be confined to a reservation on the eastern peninsula, but the Territorial Legislature pet.i.tioned Congress for their removal. Finally, in 1832, the treaty of Payne's Landing stipulated that seven Seminole chiefs should examine the country a.s.signed to the Creeks west of the Mississippi, and that if they could live amiably with the Creeks, the Seminoles were to be removed within three years, surrendering their lands in Florida, and receiving an annuity of $15,000 and certain supplies. President Jackson sent a commission to the West to convince the seven chiefs that the country was eminently desirable, and a supplementary treaty from these seven was obtained without consulting the rest of the Seminoles. Many Seminoles were opposed to moving West through fear of the Creeks. The Sacs and Foxes and Winnebago Indians of Wisconsin by treaty, in 1830, had ceded their lands to the United States, but they still refused to leave their territory. Governor Reynolds, of Illinois, called out troops to compel them to go to the lands set apart for them, west of the Mississippi. Black Hawk returned, but was again driven off. In 1832 he came back with a thousand warriors and Indian warfare broke out. Generals Scott and Atkinson were sent with troops to Rock Island. It was the first time that a steamboat was used as a military transport. The force was there divided. General Scott could effect nothing, but General Atkinson pushed on, and in August defeated the Indians and took Black Hawk and his two sons prisoners.

[Sidenote: Cholera reaches America]

[Sidenote: Death of Charles Carroll]

In many other ways public attention was engrossed in America. On June 21, the Asiatic cholera appeared in New York with appalling results. The epidemic spread to Philadelphia, Albany, Rochester, and westward. A number of new railroads were opened in New York and Pennsylvania. The first horse-drawn street cars began running in New York. On July 2, the Agricultural Society of New York was founded, and the first public trial was held of Obett Hussy's new reaping machine, which Cyrus MacCormick also claimed as his invention. The device was destined to give a tremendous impetus to agriculture in the development of the western prairies. About the same time the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence, Charles Carroll of Maryland, died at the age of ninety-six. In American letters, this year is noted for the appearance of Smith's national anthem, "My Country, 'tis of Thee." Among the books that attracted attention were Whittier's "Moll Pitcher," Sparks's "Gouverneur Morris," and Irving's "Alhambra." James Gordon Bennett began the publication of the "New York Globe."

1833

[Sidenote: American abolition movement]

At the very outset of this year in America the slavery question burst into flame. The abolition movement inaugurated by Garrison and Whittier in the North was in full sway. In the slave-holding States large rewards were offered for the apprehension of Garrison, Whittier and others connected with the publication of the Boston "Liberator," Philadelphia "Freeman" and New York "Emanc.i.p.ator." The legislatures of Northern States were called upon to suppress anti-slavery societies by penal enactments. Governor Edward Everett of Ma.s.sachusetts and Governor Marcy of New York commended such legislation. Prominent Northern citizens travelling in the South were arrested, imprisoned and flogged for flimsy reasons. At New York, Montpelier, Utica, Boston, Philadelphia, Cincinnati and Alton, meetings were broken up, houses sacked, newspapers destroyed and public halls burned. Berry's "Philanthropist" at Cincinnati and Lovejoy's "Observer" at Alton were destroyed and Pennsylvania Hall at Philadelphia, a costly building intended for anti-slavery discussion, was burned on the day after its dedication, at which a poem by Whittier had been read. The firemen refused to extinguish the flames. In Boston, Garrison was dragged through the streets with a rope around his neck. Whittier and Thompson tried to lecture against slavery in Boston, but their meeting could not be held in the face of the following placard posted in all parts of Boston:

[Sidenote: A typical manifesto]

"That infamous foreign scoundrel, Thompson, will hold forth this afternoon at 46 Was.h.i.+ngton Street. The present is a fair opportunity for the friends of the Union to snake Thompson out. It will be a contest between the Abolitionists and the friends of the Union. A purse of _one hundred dollars_ has been raised by a number of patriotic citizens to reward the individual who shall first lay violent hands on Thompson, so that he may be brought to the tar-kettle before dark. Friends of the Union, be vigilant!"