A History of the Nineteenth Century, Year by Year Part 29

[Sidenote: Ancona evacuated]

[Sidenote: Status of Belgium]

[Sidenote: Fall of Mole's Ministry]

[Sidenote: French provincial government]

[Sidenote: Parisian revolt suppressed]

The French expedition against Mexico was brought to a successful close after the capture of the fort of San Juan d'Ulloa and the town of Vera Cruz. General Santa Anna's attempt to relieve Vera Cruz resulted only in another upheaval of the government at the capital. President Bustamente had to call in a new Ministry, with which, through the mediation of England, negotiations for peace were undertaken. On March 9, the terms of peace were concluded. Mexico had to pay an indemnity of $600,000. Further use for the French squadron in American waters was found in the complicated affairs of the small South American republics at the mouth of the Plata and the alleged injuries suffered by Frenchmen from the disordered state of affairs in Hayti. On the other hand, France withdrew its troops from the citadel of Ancona in the Papal dominions, simultaneously with the withdrawal of the Austrian forces of occupation from the Papal States. The long-pending difficulties between Belgium and Holland were brought to a settlement at last by the King of Holland's acceptance of the conditions of separation fixed by the international conference. The abandonment of Casimir Perier's vigorous foreign policy in Europe was viewed with regret by the Liberal party in France. Guizot combined with Thiers and Odilon Barrot against the Ministry, and thus accomplished its downfall, though they retained Marshal Soult, the most popular member of Mole's Cabinet. "I must have that gallant sword," remarked Louis Philippe. Their efforts to conduct the government proved a failure. The King established a provisional government in their place, which prolonged the crisis. On May 12, an insurrection broke out in the most populous quarters of Paris. Under the leaders.h.i.+p of Barbes, Bernard and others, attacks were made on the Hotel de Ville, the Palace of Justice and the Prefecture of Police. The revolt had to be put down by merciless measures. Marshal Soult was placed at the head of the government to the exclusion of Guizot and Odilon Barrot, while Thiers was made president of the Chambers. Guizot employed his leisure time to write his famous "Life of Was.h.i.+ngton." About the same time Daguerre published his new invention of making the sun prints which were called daguerreotypes after him. A life pension of 6,000 francs was awarded to him by the government of Louis Philippe. The interest in the family of Bonaparte and its dreaded pretensions in France was revived by the death of Letizia Buonaparte, the mother of Napoleon, in her eighty-ninth year. The first problem confronting the new administration of France was the fresh trouble that had broken out in the Orient.

[Sidenote: Turkish-Egyptian War]

[Sidenote: Battle of Nissiv]

[Sidenote: Abdul Medjid, Sultan]

The long-brewing war between Sultan Mahmoud of Turkey and his va.s.sal, Mehemet Ali of Egypt, broke out in May. In the face of new a.s.surances of peace, the Sultan ordered his commander-in-chief of the Euphrates to commence hostilities. The Turkish troops crossed the Euphrates on May 23.

In spite of the good counsels of Moltke and other European officers at the Turkish headquarters, the Turks were outmanoeuvred by the Egyptian forces under Ibrahim. June 24, Ibrahim Pasha inflicted a crus.h.i.+ng defeat on the Turkish army at Nissiv. All the artillery and stores fell into his hands.

The Turkish army dispersed in another rout. Mahmoud II. did not live to hear of the disaster. One week after the battle of Nissiv, before news from the front had reached him, he died. The throne was left to his son, Abdul Medjid, a youth of sixteen.

[Sidenote: Turkish fleet betrayed]

[Sidenote: Anglo-French intervention]

[Sidenote: French diplomacy offset]

Scarcely had the new Sultan been proclaimed when the Turkish admiral, Achmet Fevzi, who had been sent out to attack the coast of Syria, sailed into Alexandria and delivered his fleet over to Mehemet Ali. Turkey, now practically rulerless, was left without defence, on land and on water.

Mehemet Ali not only declared Egypt independent of the Porte, but, encouraged by France, prepared to move on Constantinople. In this extremity the foreign Amba.s.sadors at Constantinople addressed a collective note to the Divan, announcing European intervention. Shortly afterward a squadron of British and French wars.h.i.+ps sailed into the Dardanelles for the ostensible purpose of protecting Constantinople against Mehemet Ali, in reality to prevent Russia from profiting by the terms of its treaty of Unkiar Skelessi. In vain did Russia propose to join the coalition. The recent acquisition of Aden gave England the upper hand. Russian diplomacy accordingly directed itself toward effecting a breach between the allies. A good opening was afforded by the French intrigues at Cairo, which fell in with the ambitions of Mehemet Ali. As a result, France was gradually crowded out of the European coalition during the course of 1839.

[Sidenote: Decamps]

At the French Salon of this year Decamps exhibited his celebrated "Punishment of the Hooks," "Executioners at the Door of a Prison," and "Children Playing with Turtles." Decamps with Delacroix, the leader of the French school of romanticism, was praised at this time for the exceeding charm of his colors.

[Sidenote: Rise of English Conservatives]

England during this period pa.s.sed through a Cabinet crisis. The popularity of Melbourne's Ministry was waning. Lord Melbourne was a typical Whig, opposed to the policy of the Tories, or, as they were beginning to be called at that time, the Conservatives. The alteration in t.i.tle is attributed to John Wilson Croker, who, in the "Quarterly Review," referred to "what is called the Tory, but which might with more propriety be called the Conservative party." This new name was indorsed by Lord John Russell, who said, "If that is the name that pleases them, if they say that the old distinction of Whig and Tory should no longer be kept up, I am ready, in opposition to their name of Conservative, to take the name of Reformer, and to stand by that opposition." Sir Robert Peel defined Conservatism when he said, "My object for some years past has been to lay the foundation of a great party, which, existing in the House of Commons, and deriving its strength from the popular will, should diminish the risk and deaden the shock of collisions between the two branches of the legislature."

[Sidenote: Fall of Melbourne Ministry]

[Sidenote: Bedchamber question]

In May, the government's proposition to suspend the Const.i.tution of Jamaica brought about the fall of the Ministry. The measure was sustained by a majority of only five. The Queen sent for Sir Robert Peel. Her wish to retain as ladies of her household the wife and sister of two members of the last Cabinet brought forth a respectful remonstrance from Peel. The Queen replied in this wise: "The Queen having considered the proposal made to her yesterday by Sir Robert Peel, to remove the Ladies of her Bedchamber, cannot consent to a course which she considers to be contrary to usage, and is repugnant to her feelings."

[Sidenote: Queen Victoria yields]

This ended Peel's attempt to form a Ministry and Melbourne was recalled.

The question created much discussion at the time. Lord Brougham maintained that Lord Melbourne "had sacrificed liberal principles and the interests of the country to the private feelings of the sovereign." "I thought," he said, "that we belonged to a country in which the government by the Crown and the wisdom of Parliament was everything, and the personal feelings of the sovereign were absolutely not to be named at the same time." In the end the Queen yielded her point. A statement was put forth that "the Queen would listen to any representation from the incoming Prime Minister as to the composition of her household, and would arrange for the retirement, of their own accord, of any ladies who were so closely related to the leaders of Opposition as to render their presence inconvenient."

[Sidenote: Chartist agitation]

On behalf of the Chartists large public meetings were organized in London and in all parts of England at which violent speeches were made. On the 1st of April, at a public meeting in Edinburgh to support the Ministry, the Chartists took possession of the platform, ejected the Lord Provost, and pa.s.sed their own resolutions. On the same day at Devizes, in Wilts.h.i.+re, Vincent entered the town at the head of about a thousand men, carrying sticks, and attempted to address them in the market-place. In May, the Chartist National Convention removed from London to Birmingham. There they were met by a mob of five thousand persons and conducted through the princ.i.p.al streets to the meeting-place.

[Sidenote: Chinese oppose opium trade]

[Sidenote: English opium destroyed]

[Sidenote: British resentment]

[Sidenote: Chinese orders defied]

[Sidenote: Opening of hostilities]

[Sidenote: Sea fight off Chuenpee]

[Sidenote: British squadron sails for China]

Meanwhile, Great Britain was embroiled in another Oriental war. The despatch of Admiral Maitland and Captain Elliot to China to deal with the difficulties growing out of the English opium trade there only served to make the situation more acute. In January, Emperor Taouk-w.a.n.g ordered Lin Tsiaseu, Viceroy of Houk w.a.n.g, to proceed to Canton to put a definite stop to the opium traffic. The peremptory instructions given to Commissioner Lin were "to cut off the fountain of evil, and if necessary to sink the British s.h.i.+ps and to break their caldrons, since the hourly thought on the Emperor's part was to do away with opium forever." Within a week of Lin's arrival at Canton he issued an edict wherein he stigmatized the foreigners as a heartless people who thought only of trade and of making their way by stealth into the Flowery Land, whereas the laws of England, he a.s.serted, prohibited the smoking of opium in their own country. A demand was made to surrender to him all stores of opium within three days. To enforce this demand, Chinese troops were concentrated around the European settlement.

Eventually more than 20,000 chests of opium were seized and dumped into the sea. After this triumph, Lin wrote a letter to Queen Victoria calling upon her government to interdict the importation of opium. At the same time a memorial was sent to England by the British merchants of Canton begging the government to protect them against "a capricious and corrupt government"

and demanding compensation for the opium confiscated by the Chinese. On the part of the British Government no answer was vouchsafed to the demands of the viceroy. In China, matters took their course. Captain Elliot at Canton, on May 22, issued a notice in which he protested against the action of the Chinese Government "as utterly unjust per se," and advised all British merchants to withdraw to Hong Kong. The merchants acted on the suggestion, and the English factory at Canton, which had existed for nearly 200 years, was abandoned. The British sailors in Chinese waters threw off all restraint. Frequent collisions occurred between them and the natives. In one of them a Chinaman was killed. The Chinese viceroy denounced this act as "going to the extreme of disobedience to the laws" and demanded the surrender of the British sailor who perpetrated the murder. This demand was flatly refused. The Chinese thereupon refused to furnish further supplies to the s.h.i.+ps and prohibited all British sailors from coming ash.o.r.e on Chinese soil. The official notice said: "If any of the foreigners be found coming on sh.o.r.e to cause trouble, all and every one of the people are permitted to withstand and drive them back, or to make prisoners of them."

The English naval officers retaliated by sending out their men to seize by force whatever they needed. A boat's crew of the British s.h.i.+p "Black Jack"

was ma.s.sacred. Thus hostilities began. Two British men-of-war exchanged shots with the forts in the Bogue. On November 3, the two frigates "Volage"

and "Hyacinth" were attacked by twenty-nine junks-of-war off Chuenpee. A regular engagement was fought and four of the junks were sunk. On the news of the fight at Chuenpee, Emperor Taouk-w.a.n.g promoted the Chinese admiral.

On December 6, an imperial edict prohibiting all trade with Great Britain was issued. Already a strong British squadron was on its way to China.

[Sidenote: War with Afghans]

[Sidenote: Fall of Kandahar]

[Sidenote: British enter Kabul]

[Sidenote: Failure of Russian counter move]

Simultaneously with these troubles the British had become embroiled in war with the Afghans. The ostensible purpose was to depose Dost Mohammed Khan from his usurpation of the throne of Afghanistan. In reality this chieftain had aroused the ire of England by entering into negotiations with Russia, after Lord Auckland had declined to call upon Runjit Singh to restore Peshawar to Afghanistan. When it was learned that a Russian mission had been received at Kabul, the British Government resolved to dethrone Dost Mohammed Khan and to restore Shah Shuja to the throne of Kabul. War was declared at Simla. Columns were sent out from Bombay and Bengal and were united at Quetta under the command of Sir John Keene. Kandahar was captured in April. In July, Ghasni was taken by storm. It was on this occasion that Sir Henry Durand, then a young subaltern, distinguished himself by blowing up the Ghasni gate. In August, the British entered Kabul. Dost Mohammed Khan fled over the Oxus into Bokhara. Shah Shuja was restored as ruler of Afghanistan under the tutelage of a British resident minister. In response to Dost Mohammed's appeals, the Russian Government sent out an expedition toward Khiva, in November; but the winter weather in the mountains was so severe that the expedition had to return.

[Sidenote: British colonial problems]

Other problems engaged the attention of the British Colonial Office. A rebellion in Borneo had to be suppressed by force of arms. In Canada, the new Governor-General, Charles Pollot Thompson, later Lord Sydenham, found it difficult to carry out Durham's scheme of union. In November, martial law had to be declared again at Montreal. The reported discovery of gold by Count Strzelescki in New South Wales, and the discovery of copper in South Australia, drew great numbers of emigrants thither. New Zealand was incorporated in New South Wales. The wild financial speculations engendered by these changes plunged almost all of Australia into bankruptcy. In Cape Colony the public school system was introduced by Sir W. Herschel.

[Sidenote: Industrial development]

[Sidenote: Charles Darwin]

In England, it was a period of material advances in civilization. Postal reforms were introduced by Sir Roland Hill. In July, a bill for penny postage was introduced in Parliament, resulting in a new postage law providing a uniform rate of fourpence per letter. New speed records were made on land and on water. While the steam packet "Britannia" crossed from Halifax to Liverpool in ten days, the locomotive "North Star" accomplished a run of thirty-seven miles in one hour. Wheatstone perfected his invention of a telegraph clock. A patent was obtained for the process of obtaining water gas. Charles Darwin, having returned from his scientific travels on H.M.S. "Beagle," published his "Journal of Researches."

[Sidenote: Death of Sch.e.l.ling]

[Sidenote: Aga.s.siz]