Chapter XIII: Part 13

By the death of Prosper Marilhat, a young artist of great promise was lost to France. But a few years before, Marilhat sent no less than eight masterpieces to the Salon, but they were received so coldly that the young artist fell into a state from which death was a happy deliverance. Theophile Gautier wrote of him, "That exhibition was Marilhat's swan song, and the works he sent were eight diamonds." After Marilhat's death, some of his unfinished paintings commanded great prices. Thus his "Entrance to Jerusalem," at the Wertheimer sale at Paris in 1861, fetched 16,000 francs. Fifteen years later, at the Oppenheim sale in Paris, Marilhat's "Ruins Near Cairo" brought no less than 29,000 francs. It was as a painter of Oriental subjects that Marilhat won his most lasting distinction. Having travelled to the East with Baron Hugel, he remained for many years in Egypt, painted portraits of the Khedive and decorated several of the buildings of Alexandria. In an obituary article published in the "Revue des Deux Mondes," Theophile Gautier wrote: "Marilhat was a Syrian Arab. He must have had in his veins some blood of the Saracens whom Charles Martel did not kill.... One of the glories of Marilhat was that he preserved his originality in presence of Decamps. The talents of these two men are parallel lines, it is true, but they do not touch each other. The more fruitful fancy of the one is balanced by the character in the works of the other."

[Sidenote: Death of Oudinot]

[Sidenote: Death of Grouchy]

[Sidenote: Death of Marie Louise]

[Sidenote: Merimee and Dumas]

In France the dissatisfaction with Louis Philippe's government, as administered by Guizot, was steadily increasing. The Socialist party, led by Louis Blanc, agitated the country for reform. An appeal to Revolutionary traditions was made by the simultaneous publication of Blanc's and Michelet's histories of the French Revolution. At the same time, Lamartine brought out his "Histoire des Girondins." Napoleonic traditions were revived by a series of events following the death of General Drouot. In September came the death of Marshal Oudinot, the hero of Bitche, Moorlautern, Treves, Ingolstadt, Ulm, Austerlitz, Jena, Ostralenka, Friesland and Wagram. Oudinot was wounded innumerable times and was twice made a prisoner. He bore a prominent part throughout the Russian campaign and that of 1814. During the Hundred Days he remained in retirement. For this he was made Commander-in-chief of the National Guards under the Restoration, and passed through the campaign of Spain in 1823, when he captured Madrid. After his death, Marshal Soult, another veteran of the Napoleonic wars, succeeded him as general commander of the French army. Before this, Marshal Grouchy had likewise expired in his eighty-first year. He it was who was held responsible by Napoleon for the final crushing defeat at Waterloo. There he failed to support his chief, when Bluecher came to the support of Wellington. To the end of his days, Grouchy insisted that Napoleon's orders to this effect never reached him, but it was held up against him that some of his officers on that occasion had vainly urged him to march on the sound of the cannons at Waterloo. On October 10, Jerome Bonaparte, Napoleon's brother and the quondam king of Westphalia, was permitted to return to France after an exile of thirty-two years. Late in the year, ex-Empress Marie Louise, Napoleon's second wife, died at the age of fifty-six in Austria. Never beloved like her predecessor Josephine, she lost the esteem of all Frenchmen by her failure to stand by her husband after his downfall and exile to St. Helena, and by her subsequent liaison with her chamberlain, Neipperg, to whom she bore several children. Other events of lasting interest in France, during this year, were the opening of the great canal from Marseilles to Durano, the death of Duc de Polignac, who helped cause the downfall of his royal master Charles X., and the publication of Merimee's "Carmen" and of "Aventures de Quatre Femmes et d'un Perroquet," by the younger Dumas.

[Sidenote: Austrians occupy Ferrara]

[Sidenote: Italy aroused]

Under the stimulus of Pius IX.'s apparent sympathy for the cause of national unity in Italy, as well as that of the teachings of Mazzini, the Italian patriots took heart again. One group, consisting mostly of the politicians and military men of Piedmont, centred their hopes in the traditional antagonism of the princes of Savoy against Austria. Charles Albert of Carrignano, whom Metternich had attempted to exclude from the succession, showed marked independence in his dealings with Austria. In 1847, the Italian question came uppermost again when the Austrian Government, on a new interpretation in one of the clauses in the treaty of Vienna, occupied the town of Ferrara in the ecclesiastical states. Pius IX. promptly protested against this trespass of his territories. The King of Sardinia openly announced his intention to take the field against Austria, should war break out. English and French warships appeared at Naples. In Sicily and southern Italy the attitude of the patriots grew threatening. Apprehensions of a general revolution throughout Italy at length induced Metternich to agree with the neutral powers on a compromise concerning the occupation of Ferrara. Lucca was united with Tuscany. Still patriotic passion seethed in Italy.

[Sidenote: Mexican campaigns resumed]

[Sidenote: Santa Anna outflanked]

In America, after several months of comparative inaction, the war in Mexico was renewed with vigor. On August 6, General Scott received reinforcements. Leaving a governor at Puebla, he marched on with 14,000 men. He met with no resistance at the passes of the Cordilleras. On August 10, from the top of the Rio Frio Mountains, the City of Mexico, lying in a fertile, lake-dotted basin, was in sight. The land around the city was under water, and the capital was approached by causeways across the low and marshy ground. The numerous rocky hills were all fortified. Scott passed around Lake Chalco to the southwest, and thence moved west skirting the south shore. Santa Anna, intercepting the Americans, took up his headquarters at San Antonio, five miles from the city. His position was flanked on the west by broken lava, and on the east by marshy ground. The ground was as bad as could well be encountered. Santa Anna sent orders to General Valencia, who held a fortified hill in front of the Americans, to spike his guns, destroy his stores and retreat, but Valencia refused. Riley, occupying a hill in his rear, took his intrenchments in reverse. He was cut off both north and south; 2,000 of his force were killed and wounded; a thousand with four generals were captured, and guns, stores and ammunition fell into the hands of the Americans.

[Sidenote: Battle of Contreras]

The divisions of Pellow and Twiggs were ordered, August 19, to storm Contreras. The line between that position and Santa Anne's reserves was cut at the close of the day, and General Persifer F. Smith at sunrise the next morning led an assault on the Mexican camp, and in less than half an hour drove 6,000 Mexicans out of the fortification. Shortly afterward General Worth attacked Santa Anna and routed the garrison.

[Sidenote: Churubusco]

The Americans followed to Churubusco on the road to the capital, where Santa Anna had concentrated his whole force. Here the river was protected by levees, the head of the bridge strongly fortified, and the stone convent surrounded by a strong field-work. The attack on the bridge and the convent was desperate. Pierce and Shields had made a detour to the main road in the rear of Churubusco. They struck the Mexican reserves, and all the troops on both sides were engaged. Worth and Pellow carried the bridge in time to save Pierce and Shields. The Mexican left gave way. A detachment crossed the river and threatened the bridge from the rear. Worth threw his whole force upon the broken line. Through ditches and over parapets they went with a rush, and the battle was won. The Americans lost a thousand men and seventy-six officers.

[Sidenote: Santa Fe captured]

[Sidenote: Mexican reverses]

General Kearney had left Fort Leavenworth in the spring of 1847. To him fell the task of conquering New Mexico and California. On August 18, Santa Fe was captured, and all New Mexico submitted. From Santa Fe, Kearney, with 400 dragoons, set off for California. Kit Carson, whom he met on the road, informed him that Colonel Fremont had conquered California. On learning this Kearney sent back most of his force, and with the few remaining pushed on to the coast. In the five distinct victories thus far gained over the Mexican army of 80,000, scarcely 10,000 Americans had been engaged, 4,000 Mexicans had been killed and wounded, and 3,000 made prisoners, and thirty-seven pieces of artillery were captured.

[Sidenote: Another armistice]

Scott again made overtures for peace. He had with him a government commissioner, Trist, who had already made a vain effort to secure peace. Scott accordingly advanced to Tecubaya within three miles of the capital, and on August 21 sent to Santa Anna a proposition for an armistice looking to negotiations for peace. The proposition was accepted, and Trist entered the capital on the 24th, where he remained until September 5. He reported that the American proposition had not only been rejected, but that Santa Anna had improved the armistice to strengthen the city's defences. Scott instantly declared the armistice at an end.

[Sidenote: Molino del Rey]

Scott had now 8,500 men and 68 guns. He moved, September 7, upon Molino del Rey (King's Mill), a group of stone buildings 500 yards long, forming the western side of the inclosure surrounding the rock and castle of Chapultepec, and 1,100 yards from the castle, which is a mile and a half from the city wall. Scott's purpose was to enter the city on the south, and he considered the castle of slight importance. He supposed that the battle of Molino would be a small affair. Worth anticipated a desperate struggle, and took up his position in the dark on the morning of the 8th. At 3 A.M. he opened fire with his twenty-four pounders, and his storming party advanced toward the point where the enemy's batteries had been, but their position had been changed, and they suddenly opened fire on the flank of his 500. After various contests, the fighting became a struggle for the possession of the Molino. A desperate and deadly fight took place. The southern gate gave way and the Americans passed in. The fight was renewed with bayonet and sword, and Worth lost a large number of the flower of his forces. At last the Mexicans, all but 700, retreated to Chapultepec. On the left the Americans were received with a murderous fire, which was long continued. Their whole artillery was then concentrated upon the Casa Mata and its works, which, after a desperate defence, were abandoned. Except as an outpost to Chapultepec, the position had no value. By Scott's order Worth withdrew his command, and left to the enemy the field which had been so dearly won. Of 3,500 Americans in the fight, 787 had fallen, including 59 officers.

[Sidenote: Chapultepec]

The Rock of Chapultepec rises 150 feet, and is crowned by the great castle. The northern side was inaccessible; the eastern and southern sides nearly so, and the southwestern and western could be scaled. A zigzag road on the southern side was swept by a battery at an angle. The crest was strongly fortified; ditches and strong walls and a redoubt were constructed at various points. The garrison numbered 2,000, and thirteen long guns were mounted. A select party under Captain Joseph Hooker seized the Molino, and at night Pellow threw his whole force into it. Two forces made a desperate assault on the intrenchments in front, united and passed the Mexicans and mounted the western slope. A party passed around the western front, which they scaled, and gained the parapet. Their comrades on the western side climbed the southern slope at the same time and joined the two. The whole castle was occupied. The Mexicans were dislodged and many prisoners were taken.

[Sidenote: Fall of City of Mexico]

The approach to the capital was difficult. It was by two roads, each along a stone aqueduct. On the Belen road the Mexicans were gradually pressed back, however, and the Americans entered the first work, where they were confronted by the citadel commanded by Santa Anna. A terrible fire rendered further advance impossible. On the San Cosme road the enemy was pursued to a second barricade, which was carried under Lieutenant U.S. Grant and Lieutenant Gire. Worth's columns pushed on. Having passed the arches, they began breaking their way through the walls of the houses. Howitzers were hauled to the roofs, and at last the main gate was carried. During the night a delegation proposed a capitulation. Scott refused to grant terms. At dawn Quitman advanced to the grand palace and occupied the Plaza, and an hour later Scott took up his headquarters there. Presently some 2,000 liberated convicts and others began casting paving stones on the soldiers, and it became necessary to sweep the streets with grape and canister. By the 15th Scott was in full possession of the City of Mexico.

[Sidenote: Flight of Santa Anna]

On the morning of September 14, Generals Quitman and Worth raised the American flag over the national palace, and Scott soon afterward reined up at the Grand Plaza, where he removed his hat, and, raising his hand, proclaimed the conquest of Mexico. Santa Anna's men afterward treacherously attacked the hospital at Puebla, where were 2,000 Americans, sick and wounded. They bravely resisted and were presently rescued; the Mexicans being routed by General Lane. Santa Anna, again a fugitive, fled for safety to the shores of the Gulf.

[Sidenote: Many reputations made]

Among the officers who distinguished themselves were many who gained a lasting reputation fifteen years later, during the American civil war; for instance, Jefferson Davis, Grant, Lee, McClellan, Beauregard, Sherman, Hill, Jackson, Hooker, Longstreet, Buell, Johnston, Lyon, Kearney, Reynolds, French, Ewell and Sumner.

[Sidenote: Premonitions of trouble in France]

Late in the year simultaneous risings against the Bourbon government of Naples and Sicily occurred in Calabria and at Messina. In the north a conspiracy against further government by Austria assumed the proportions of a national movement. In France the popular clamor for reforms grew to threatening proportions. Prime Minister Guizot declined to enter into any of the radical schemes for reform. In the Chambers, Guizot declared: "The maintenance of the union of the Conservative party, of its policy and power, will be the fixed idea of the rule of conduct in the Cabinet." Late in December the Chambers met but promised no reforms. Defeated in this, the opposition determined to voice its protests at a political banquet in Paris similar to those that had been held at Strasburg, Lille, Lyons, Rouen, and other cities. The government forbade the banquet. It was postponed until the nest year. Popular passions for the moment were appeased by Abd-el-Kader's final surrender to General Lamorciere in Algeria, and the reported end of the troublesome war with the Arabs.

1848

[Sidenote: Revolution in Palermo]

[Sidenote: Neapolitan constitution granted]

[Sidenote: Anti-Austrian riots at Milan]

[Sidenote: Northern Italy aflame]

[Sidenote: Revolt at Rome]

[Sidenote: Rome bombarded]

The long seething discontent of the lower classes in Italy, fomented by the national aspirations of such radical leaders as Mazzini and Manin, had reached its culmination by this time. The centenary of the expulsion of the Austrians from Genoa had just been celebrated with such enthusiasm throughout central Italy that Austria was forewarned of the storm that was about to burst. Metternich wrote to Apponyi, "The world is very sick. The general condition of Europe is dangerous." Communications passed between the patriots in northern Italy and the opponents of the Bourbon government in Sicily. On January 12, the people of Palermo rose in revolt. The government troops were driven from the city. Palermo was bombarded and fighting continued for a full fortnight. In the end the insurgents were victorious, and a provisional government was established. Other towns in Sicily followed suit. On January 27, revolutionary riots broke out in Naples. Threatened by revolution throughout his dominions, King Ferdinand II. of Naples and Sicily, like his grandfather, made haste to proclaim a popular constitution. A Liberal Ministry was called in on January 29. The city of Messina was still in full insurrection when the standard of revolt was raised in northern Italy. In order to deprive the Austrian Government of one of its chief financial supports, the patriotic societies of Italy formed a resolution to abstain from the use of tobacco, on which the government had a monopoly. On the following Sunday, Austrian officers, smoking in the streets of Milan, were attacked by the populace. The troops had to be called to arms, and blood was shed on both sides. Similar outbreaks followed in Padua and elsewhere. Radetzky, the Austrian commander-in-chief, proclaimed martial law. On February 15, the people rose in Tuscany, and compelled their grandduke to proclaim a constitution. In March the insurrectionary movement spread from Lombardy to Piedmont. The republic of Venice was proclaimed. The King of Sardinia declared himself in sympathy with the liberation of Venice from Austrian rule. For a while Pope Pio Nono showed similar leanings. On March 15, the Nationalists of Rome declared against the Pope. The National Guards joined in the movement. The Papal troops had to be called out to put down the revolt by force of arms. The hordes of Roman lazzaroni or beggars profited by the confusion to commit hideous crimes. The Pope created a high council and Chamber of Deputies with privileges of limited legislation, the Pope retaining his full veto power on whatever they might decree. But on April 29, after the Jesuits had been expelled from Sardinia, Pio Nono turned his back on these reforms, and returned to the conservative policy of his immediate predecessors in the chair of St. Peter. His definite refusal to declare against Austria provoked another insurrection at Rome. This time the revolt grew to such proportions that the city had to be subjected to bombardment by artillery.

[Sidenote: Spread of the revolution]

[Sidenote: Democratic governments spared]

In the meanwhile a revolution of far more serious proportions had broken out at Paris. Successful from the start, the contagion of its example had spread from France to most of the various principalities of Germany, to Austria, Bohemia and Hungary, and thence to almost every quarter in Europe. Few other events afford so striking an illustration of the modern cosmopolitan spirit that had arisen in Europe during the first half of the Nineteenth Century. The great revolutions of England, of America and of France, in previous times, affected the rest of humanity only long after their occurrence. The overthrow of Charles X. in 1830 gave rise to more or less abortive revolutions in Belgium, Italy and Poland, as well as some of the smaller German States. But the French February revolution of 1848 spread instantly to all the civilized communities of the world, except Switzerland, Great Britain, and the United States of North America. The exemption of these three countries, where alone true democratic forms of government prevailed, was in itself a revelation of the general discontent of European peoples. Other explanations in plenty have been given, every one of which contained its measure of truth. To Polish refugees the upheavals of this year have been in part attributed. The rise of the new national spirit in literature was revealed in Italy and Germany as well as among the Magyars, Slavs and Greeks. The apparently epidemic character of the movement found another explanation in the improved means of transit and communication, and the great development of the public press.

[Sidenote: Changes in Switzerland]

In the countries untouched by revolution internal progress kept pace with the continued spread of civilization. In Switzerland, the expulsion of the Jesuits resulted in the attempted secession of the seven Catholic cantons. This was frustrated by General Dufour's prompt occupation of Freibourg and Luzerne. The so-called Sonderbund of the seceding cantons was dissolved. In place of the former union of sovereign cantons, the Swiss republic was now reconstituted after the model of the United States of North America, as a union of States with a central federal government at Berne. The Swiss army, postal system and finances were put under federal control and a national coinage was established. The separate interest of the cantons found representation in the Staenderat, while the Swiss people at large were represented in the Nationalrath, the members of which were elected from districts apportioned among the cantons according to equal numbers of population.

[Sidenote: England unaffected]

[Sidenote: Insurrection in Tipperary]

[Sidenote: Queen Victoria in Ireland]

[Sidenote: Orange River territory annexed to England]

The people of England, though the stirring events on the Continent were brought home to them by so many eminent refugees seeking shelter in their land, held the issues at stake too well settled by their own great revolution of 1649 to find a sufficient incentive for another such movement. The popularity of the young Queen doubtless contributed its share to the stability of the government. The renewed demonstrations of the Chartists in London were merely co-incident with the revolutionary demonstrations abroad. Still the influence of contemporaneous events in Europe was strong enough to frighten Parliament into passing an act which made the utterance of seditious speeches a felony. A popular insurrection in Tipperary, Ireland, was made the pretext for once more suspending the habeas corpus act in Ireland. By the end of July the revolt was put down. Its leaders, John Mitchell, O'Brien and others were apprehended and tried in court for high treason. They were sentenced to death, but the Queen mitigated their sentences to transportation. A calming effect on Ireland was produced by the personal visit of the young Queen and her royal consort to Ireland. When she held her court at Dublin in midsummer, the most poignant causes for discontent were lost sight of amid wild demonstrations of apparently universal loyalty. A constitution on home rule principles was proclaimed in West Australia. In South Africa, Sir Harry Smith, the Governor of Cape Colony, after his successful termination of a fourth war with the Kaffirs, proclaimed the authority of Great Britain over the Orange River territory. The Boer settlers there under the leadership of Pretorius found themselves unable to maintain their independence. The adjoining lands of the Basutos were declared under British protectorate.

[Sidenote: Massacre of Multan]

[Sidenote: Punjab up in arms]

[Sidenote: Sikhs and Afghans join revolt]

Early in the year, Lord Dalhousie had relieved Lord Hardinge as Governor-General of India. Up to that time the British occupation of the Punjab had continued without material change. Now a new fiscal system was to be introduced there to settle up the arrears of Viceroy Mulraj of Multan. In April, Vance Agnew, a British commissioner, with a military escort of three hundred men, arrived at Multan to occupy the citadel as surety for these arrears. The British officers were admitted to the city, but as they emerged from the citadel they were attacked, and all the Englishmen were massacred. Mulraj called upon the Sikhs to rise against the English. A force of seven thousand British troops were sent against Multan. When they reached the city all the native troops turned against them. The whole of the Punjab revolted and a holy war was proclaimed against England. Lord Dalhousie rose to the occasion. As he left Bengal to go to the front he delivered a characteristic speech containing the historic declaration: "Unwarned by precedent, uninfluenced by example, the Sikh nation have called for war. On my word, sirs, they shall have it with vengeance!" The Sikh garrisons of Peshawar joined in the revolt, which was quickly taken up by the Afghans. George Lawrence, the British Resident there, was carried off as a prisoner. In the fort of Attock, Captain Herbert held out for a while, but in the end was forced to succumb. The first general engagement between Lord Gough and Sagr Singh at Ramluggar, late in the year, resulted in a drawn battle. On both sides reinforcements were hurried up wherewith to wage the coming year's campaign.

[Sidenote: More Arctic expeditions]

[Sidenote: Death of George Stephenson]

[Sidenote: Stephenson's career]

From England, during this time, two more expeditions had been sent out in search of Sir John Franklin. The first of these was commanded by Sir James Ross, the famous Antarctic explorer. The second expedition, while discovering no trace of Franklin, claimed that it had discovered the long sought for Northwest Passage. The science of astronomy lost one of its most distinguished representatives in England by the death of Caroline Herschel, the sister of the famous discoverer of Uranus. Besides her the necrology of the year in England included the two authors, Isaac d'Israeli, the father of Lord Beaconsfield, and Captain Frederick Marryat, the romancer of the sea; Lord Alexander Ashburton, the framer of the Canadian boundary treaty that commemorates his name, and George Stephenson, the inventor of the first practicable locomotive. Stephenson began life as a pit-engine boy at twopence a day near Newcastle-on-Tyne. Having risen to the grade of engineman, he was employed in the collieries of Lord Ravensworth improving the wagon way and railway planes under ground. In 1814 he completed a locomotive steam-engine, which was successfully tried on the Killingworth Railway. The locomotive "Rocket," constructed by Stephenson and his son Robert, which won the premium of five hundred pounds in 1829, offered by the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company, ushered in the greatest mechanical revolution since the invention of the steam-engine by Watt. After this Stephenson became a locomotive builder on a large scale and acquired enormous wealth. Another invention standing to the credit of Stephenson was one of the earliest safety lamps, but a committee which investigated the subject accorded to Sir Humphry Davy the priority of this invention. During this year Sir Austin Henry Layard published the results of his original researches of Nineveh and its remains. Macaulay printed the first two volumes of his "History of England," while Matthew Arnold brought out his "Strayed Reveller" and other poems. Elizabeth Gaskell published "Mary Barton."

Of the various expeditions undertaken in search of Sir John Franklin, the most noteworthy perhaps was Dr. John Rae's overland journey through the northwestern territory of America from the Mackenzie to the Copper Mine River. This opened up a vast tract of country to adventurous Canadians. Another lasting benefit was conferred upon Upper Canada by the reorganization of the public school system of Ontario.

[Sidenote: Peace with Mexico]

[Sidenote: Treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo]

[Sidenote: American expansion]

On the part of the United States the war with Mexico was brought to a close. The President of the Mexican Congress assumed provisional authority, and, on February 2, that body at Guadaloupe Hidalgo concluded peace with the United States. With slight amendments the treaty was ratified by the United States Senate on March 10, and by the Mexican Congress at Queratero on the 30th of May. President Polk, on July 4 following, finally proclaimed peace. The Americans under the terms of the treaty evacuated Mexico within three months, paid Mexico $3,000,000 immediately, and $12,000,000 in three annual instalments, and assumed debts of $3,500,000 due from Mexico to American citizens. These payments were made in consideration of new accessions of territory which gave to the United States not only Texas, but Arizona, New Mexico and California. The war had cost the United States approximately $25,000,000 and 25,000 men.

[Sidenote: Gold found in California]

While these negotiations were under way, Colonel Sutter had begun the erection of a mill at Colonna on the American branch of the Sacramento River. In January one Marshall, who was engaged in digging a race-way for the mill for Colonel Sutter, found a metal which he had not seen before, and, on testing it in the fire, found that it was gold. The "finds" were sent to Sacramento and tested, with the result that they were declared to be pure gold. The mint at Philadelphia also declared the metal to be gold, and the President referred to the fact in his annual message to Congress.

[Sidenote: Influx of Gold Seekers]

Then the gold seekers poured into California. They arrived in multitudes from all parts of America and other countries--thousands tracking across the plains and mountains with ox-teams and on foot, and other thousands crossing the Isthmus with scarcely less difficulty, while around the Horn a steady procession of ships passed up the coast of South America and Mexico to the new El Dorado. In two years the population of California increased 100,000, and still the hordes of gold seekers came.

Wisconsin, the thirtieth State, was admitted May 29. It had been one of the first districts to receive the visits of the fur traders and the French missionaries, who went thither in 1639.

[Sidenote: Death of John Quincy Adams]

John Quincy Adams was overtaken by death in the midst of his career. On February 21 he entered the House and took his seat. Suddenly he fell to the floor, stricken with apoplexy. As he was carried to the Speaker's room and was laid on a lounge, he feebly murmured: "This is the last of earth. I am content." He died on February 23.

[Sidenote: His diplomatic career]

[Sidenote: Morse on Adams]

John Quincy Adams's long career is unique in American history. At the age of eleven he accompanied his father on a diplomatic mission to Europe, and early acquired a knowledge of French and German. When barely fourteen he went to St. Petersburg as private secretary to the American Minister, Dana. At sixteen Adams served as one of the secretaries of the American Plenipotentiaries during the negotiations resulting in the treaty of peace and independence of 1783. At the age of twenty-seven he was appointed Minister to Holland by President Washington, and afterward was Minister to Berlin and Commissioner to Sweden. After serving for some years in the United States Senate he was sent, in 1809, as Minister to Russia, where he remained till 1815. Then he was transferred to London, where he resided till 1817, when he became Secretary of State. His career as President of the United States and his subsequent Congressional life was honorable in the extreme. Yet Adams's biographer, Morse, has aptly said: "Never did a man of pure life and just purposes have fewer friends or more enemies.... If he could ever have gathered even a small personal following, his character and abilities would have insured him a brilliant and prolonged success; but for a man of his calibre and influence, we see him as one of the most lonely and desolate of the great men of history."

[Sidenote: James Russell Lowell]

During this year James Russell Lowell published his "Bigelow Papers," a humorous satire on the Mexican war in Yankee dialect, the "Indian Summer Reverie," and "A Fable for Critics."

[Sidenote: Death of Donizetti]

[Sidenote: Early operas]

[Sidenote: Prolific compositions]

On April 8, Gaetano Donizetti--who together with Rossini and Bellini formed the brilliant triumvirate of Italian composers in the first half of the Nineteenth Century--died in his native town of Bergamo. Donizetti composed his first opera, "Enrico di Borgogna," in 1819, while serving as a soldier in Venice. Three other operas followed quickly. His fourth, "Zoraide di Granada," was such a success that he was exempted from further military service in 1822. During the following six years he wrote no less than twenty-three operas, many of which were cheap imitations of Rossini. In 1880, stung by the success of Bellini, he wrote "Anna Bolena," which inaugurated his second more original period, which included "Lucrecia Borgia" and the immensely popular "Lucia di Lammermoor." The prohibition of his opera "Poliecto," while he was serving as a director of the Naples Conservatory, so exasperated Donizetti that he betook himself to Paris in 1838. There he brought out the "Daughter of the Regiment" and "La Favorita." After a few years he went to Vienna, where his "Linda di Chamounix," sung in 1842, achieved an immense success. Having returned to Italy he was stricken with paralysis from overwork in 1845. He never recovered. Besides more than threescore of operas, Donizetti composed seven masses, twelve string quartets, and a host of songs, cantatas and vespers, as well as pianoforte music.

[Sidenote: Death of Chateaubriand]

[Sidenote: New world inspirations]

[Sidenote: "Essay on Revolutions"]

[Sidenote: "Atala"]

[Sidenote: "Rene"]

[Sidenote: "Genius of Christianity"]

[Sidenote: "The Last of the Abencerrages"]

[Sidenote: "The monarchy under the Charter"]

[Sidenote: The poet's political career]

Another figure of world-wide renown was lost by the death of the French poet Francois Rene de Chateaubriand. Born at chateau Combourg in 1768, the scion of one of the noblest families of France, he received a careful education at chateau Combourg. Roaming about on the sea-shore and in the famous forest of Brezilien, the youth received his earliest impressions of the grandeurs of nature. Shortly before the outbreak of the French Revolution he was sent to Paris, where he received a commission in the royal army. It was then he published his first poem, "L'Amour de la Campagne," in the Almanach des Muses. Dissatisfied with the revolutionary turn of affairs, he resigned his commission in 1790, and journeyed to North America. There he travelled extensively, seeking poetic inspiration from the wilderness and the primitive customs of the Indians. After the downfall of King Louis XVI. and the French nobility, Chateaubriand hastily returned to France and joined the army of emigres under Prince Conde. At the siege of Thionville he was wounded and went to England. By the time Chateaubriand recovered he found himself in abject poverty, and had to spend his days in bed for lack of fuel. In England, he wrote his "Essai sur les Revolutions," in which he compared the recent rising in France to that of the English Commonwealth. On the fall of the Directorate he returned to France, and became one of the editors of Fontaine's "Mercure de France." At the opening of the Nineteenth Century he published "Atala," an episode of his epic poem "Les Natchez," treating of the suicide of an Indian virgin, who sought death rather than violate a solemn vow of chastity given to her mother. In 1802 appeared the second episode, "Rene," a subjective story treating of the hapless love of a sister for her brother, full of a French form of _maladie du monde_ akin to Goethe's _Weltschmerz_ in the "Sorrows of Werther." During the same year, Chateaubriand brought out his famous "Genius of Christianity, or the Beauties of the Christian Religion," which achieved an immense success. It won the approbation even of Napoleon, who appointed Chateaubriand to diplomatic posts at Rome and Vallis. The execution of the Duc d'Enghien was so horrifying to Chateaubriand that he forthwith resigned his appointments. After extensive travels through Greece, Egypt and the Holy Land, Chateaubriand went to Spain, where he found inspiration at the Alhambra to write "Le dernier des Abencerrages." There, too, he wrote his story of "The Martyrs, or the Triumph of the Christian Religion," brought out in Paris in 1809. Less successful was his tragedy "Moses." In 1810, Chateaubriand published the famous political pamphlet "La Monarchie selon la Charte," which was made the basis of the subsequent royal constitution of France. On the restoration of the Bourbons he wrote another political pamphlet, directed against Bonaparte, which sent him into exile together with Louis XVIII. during the Hundred Days. On the return of Louis XVIII. he was made a member of State, a peer of France, and member of the French Academy. In 1820 he was sent as ambassador to Berlin and then to London, from where he was recalled into the Cabinet. Crowded out of the Cabinet by Villele, he became one of the leaders of the opposition. In 1828, he went on another diplomatic mission to Rome. The rest of his life was uneventful. Shortly before his death he brought out his complete works, including his latest "Etudes Historiques." A posthumous work was his "Memoires d'Outre-Tombe," containing the famous comparison between the characters of George Washington and Napoleon Bonaparte.

[Sidenote: Paris reform banquet]

[Sidenote: Ministry impeached]

In the French Chambers, early in February, a great debate had been held on the Reform Bill. Guizot, the Prime Minister, held firm in his opposition to all the proposed reforms. It was now proposed to hold the reform banquet, that had repeatedly been prohibited and postponed, on February 22. The banquet was once more interdicted, and it was announced that any unlawful assemblage would be dispersed by force. Thereupon the banquet was abandoned. The evening papers declared that the deputies of the opposition had agreed to abstain from the proposed manifestation. A manifesto published by the "Journal National" was the cause of a noisy demonstration in the streets of the 12th Arrondissement. The National Guards were called out. On the same day fifty-two deputies of the Left laid before the Chambers a bill of impeachment against the Ministry. The King and his advisers were in a state of blind security.

[Sidenote: Street demonstrations]

[Sidenote: National Guard disaffected]

On the morning of the eventful 22d of February, the Parisian populace congregated by thousands near the Madeleine and the Rue Royale, shouting "Vive la reforme; a bas les ministres!" and singing the "Marseillaise." No troops made their appearance; but encounters occurred at several points between the mob and the municipal guards. Still the day passed over without serious hostilities. On the next day, the National Guards of Paris were called out. Their cry, as they marched through the different quarters of the city, was "Vive la reforme!" This emboldened the leaders of the revolutionists. The members of the secret societies flew to arms; and in the skirmishes which followed between the populace and the regular troops, the National Guard everywhere interfered in favor of the former. Thus confronted, officers and soldiers hesitated to commit a general assault upon their fellow citizens. They allowed themselves to be reduced to inaction. The insurrection thus triumphed almost without actual strife.

[Sidenote: Fall of Guizot's Ministry]

[Sidenote: Barricades erected]

[Sidenote: Thiers' manifesto]

[Sidenote: The last stroke]

[Sidenote: Louis Philippe succumbs]

The King at length became acquainted with the true situation. In the afternoon of the 23d, Guizot tendered his resignation, which was promptly accepted, and published as an act of satisfaction on the part of the King to the demands of the people. Count Mole was charged with the formation of a new Ministry. It was now generally expected that tranquillity would be at once restored. But late at night the detachment of troops posted at the Office of Foreign Affairs was attacked by a band of rioters. The commanding officer ordered them to fire, and several persons in the crowd were shot down. Their dead bodies were paraded through the city. This spectacle raised the indignation of the multitude to the highest pitch. Fresh barricades were erected in all the most populous quarters of the city, and the soldiers, stupefied and panic-struck, renounced all further opposition to the revolt. The King now named Marshal Bugeaud to the supreme command of the whole military force at Paris. Mole having declined the task of constructing a Ministry, the King summoned Thiers to the head of affairs. This statesman, in conjunction with Odillon-Barrot, immediately issued a proclamation announcing their appointment as Ministers, and stating that orders had been given to the troops to withdraw and abandon the contest. This gave the last blow to the monarchy of Louis Philippe. Marshal Bugeaud resigned his command. The soldiers quitted their ranks, giving up arms and ammunition to the insurgents. The National Guard openly joined the masses of the people and marched with them upon the Tuileries. The catastrophe was now inevitable. Louis Philippe, feeling that all was lost, signed an act of abdication in favor of his grandson the Comte de Paris, and withdrew to St. Cloud.

[Sidenote: Mob invades the Chamber]

An attempt was made to obtain the recognition of the Duchess of Orleans as regent, and thus to preserve the throne to the heir of Louis Philippe, according to the terms of his abdication. The Duchess went to the Chamber of Deputies, holding by the hand her sons the Comte de Paris and the Duc de Chartres. They took their seats in front of the tribune. More than one member spoke earnestly in favor of the regency. In the midst of the debate the Chamber was invaded by a tumultuous throng of armed men. One of them was Arnold Boecklin, the Swiss artist, who subsequently rose to highest rank among the painters of the Nineteenth Century. Marie, a violent Republican, ascending the tribune, announced that the first duty of the Legislature was to appoint a strong provisional government capable of re-establishing public confidence and order. Cremieux, Ledru-Rollin and Lamartine in turn insisted on a new government and constitution to be sanctioned by the sovereign people. The proposition was hailed with tumultuous acclamations. The Duchess of Orleans and her children retired precipitately.

[Sidenote: Provisional Government formed]

[Sidenote: Fulsome promises]

[Sidenote: Proclamation of French Republic]

The Republicans remained masters of the field. A provisional government was forthwith nominated. It included the poet Lamartine, Ledru-Rollin, Garnier-Pages and Arago. While the mob was searching the Hotel de Ville these men conferred in a small out-of-the-way chamber behind locked doors. Louis Blanc, the great socialistic writer, and one Albert, a locksmith, were added to the provisional government. Every half hour Lamartine had to confront some new crowd of rioters preferring fresh claims. The confusion lasted several days. Throughout this time more barricades were thrown up, until the government gained a breathing space by a promise to distribute one million francs among the laboring men. Louis Blanc and Ledru-Rollin signed another decree whereby they pledged the government to furnish every Frenchman with work. With the help of National Guardsmen, and an organized body of students, Caussidiere, the new police prefect, succeeded at last in keeping the mob out of the Hotel de Ville and the Palais Bourbon. On February 27, the Republic was formally proclaimed from the Place de la Bastille. The barricades were levelled and the crowds that had surged through the streets of Paris gradually dispersed. Throughout France the Republic was accepted without serious opposition.

[Sidenote: Flight of royal family]

For a while it was feared that Louis Philippe's sons in Algiers, the Duke d'Aumale and Prince de Joinville, who commanded the French army and navy, disposing of more than a hundred thousand men, might make a stroke on their father's behalf. This hope of the Royalists was doomed to disappointment. Both princes resigned their command, to be succeeded by General Cavignac, who took charge of the forces in the name of the French Republic. The other members of the dynasty accomplished their escape from France amid many curious adventures. After leaving Paris the party separated so as to avoid suspicion. Louis Philippe and the Queen with a few attendants fled to Honfleur, where they lay for nearly a week in concealment. At length the packet steamer "Express" was placed at their disposal by the British Government. On March 4, Louis Philippe, having assumed the name of William Smith, landed at Newhaven in Sussex. With the Queen he proceeded to Claremont, a country-seat belonging to his son-in-law, King Leopold of Belgium. The Duke of Montpensier with the Duchess of Nemours fled to Belgium, as did the Duchess of Orleans.

[Sidenote: English Chartists encouraged]

[Sidenote: Inflammatory speeches]

[Sidenote: London ready for revolution]

[Sidenote: Rioters discouraged]

The French Revolution gave quickening impulse to the Chartist movement in England. Feargus O'Connor had been returned at the General Election of 1847 as member for Nottingham. He threw himself into a renewal of the agitation with all the strength and vigor of a madman. A National Convention was summoned, and it was determined that another monster petition should be carried to the House of Commons, to be followed by a procession of half a million persons. The idea got abroad that a revolution might break out in London on the presentation of the petition. Ernest Jones had exclaimed on Kensington Common, "Never fear the vile men of the law; the police, the troops, sympathize with you. Down with the Ministry! Dissolve the Parliament! The Charter, and no surrender!" At the National Convention, Vernon declared: "If a few hundreds do fall on each side, they will only be the casualties in a mighty movement." On April 10 a great demonstration was to be held on Kensington Common. In anticipation, special constables to the number of 170,000 were sworn in to keep the peace; troops were quartered in the houses of the main thoroughfares; two thousand stands of arms were supplied to the officials of the General Post-Office; the Custom House, Bank, Exchange, and other public buildings were similarly equipped; the Admiralty was garrisoned by a body of marines, and the Tower guns were mounted. On the eventful morning, London assumed a military guise such as it had never worn before. Traffic was suspended along the streets for fear that the vehicles should be employed, as in France, in the construction of barricades. Finally a proclamation was issued warning people against collecting for disorderly purposes. The military arrangements were in the hands of the Duke of Wellington. Owing to these thorough precautions the threatened mass meeting collapsed. The procession was never held. The whole affair was covered with ridicule. The "monster petition" was found to contain not six million signatures as was alleged, but only 1,975,469, and many of these proved to be fictitious, whole sheets being found to be in the same handwriting, and containing such names as Victoria Rex, Prince Albert, Punch, and so forth.

[Sidenote: Collapse of Chartism]

[Sidenote: End of Feargus O'Connor]

In the words of a contemporary, "Chartism had received its death-blow. O'Brien, Vincent, and others endeavored to revive it, but in vain. Its members fell off in disappointment and allied themselves with reformers of greater moderation, and Feargus O'Connor, who for ten years had madly spent his force and energy in carrying forward the movement, gave it up in despair. Everything he had touched had proved a failure. From being an object of terror, Chartism had become an object of ridicule. O'Connor took the matter so much to heart that he soon became an inmate of a lunatic asylum, and never recovered his reason."

[Sidenote: Progress of Italian Revolution]

[Sidenote: Austrians driven northward]

[Sidenote: Radetzky seeks refuge]

All Italy now, from the southern shores of Sicily to the Alps, was in a blaze of insurrection. Venice, Piedmont and Lombardy were in arms. Charles Albert, the King of Sardinia, put himself at the head of the movement in northern Italy. From all parts of Italy volunteers crowded to his banners. In defiance of the Pope's orders a compact body of these volunteers marched from Rome. Radetzky, the Austrian commander, a veteran of all the Austrian wars since the outbreak of the French Revolution, had long prepared for this struggle by formidable fortifications at Verona. When Milan revolted and the Austrian Vice-Governor, O'Donnell, was captured, Radetzky evacuated the city at the approach of Charles Albert's army from Piedmont. His outlying garrison was cut off by the Italians. Preferring the loss of Milan to a possible annihilation of the army, Radetzky fell back upon Verona. On the banks of the Adige, about twenty-five miles east of the Mincio, he rapidly concentrated all available forces, while the Italians threw up intrenchments on the Mincio. There, with the armies of Piedmont and Lombardy in front of him and the revolutionary forces of Venice behind him, Radetzky stubbornly held his ground. Nothing remained to Austria on Italian ground but Verona and the neighboring fortresses on the Adige and Mincio.

[Sidenote: Kossuth's appeal]

[Sidenote: Magyar Constitution proclaimed]

[Sidenote: Stocks fall in Vienna]

The Austrian Empire itself, by this time, was shaken to its foundations. When the news of the February Revolution in Paris reached Austria the Magyar Diet was in session in Hungary. The success of the revolutionists in France inflamed the Liberal leaders in Hungary. Casting aside all reserve, Kossuth declared in the Diet: "From the charnel house of the Viennese system a poison-laden atmosphere steals over us. It would paralyze our nerves and pin us down when we might soar. The future of Hungary can never be secured while Austria maintains a system of government in direct antagonism to every constitutional principle. Our task is to found a happier future on the brotherhood of all the races in Austria. For a union enforced by bayonets and police spies let us substitute the enduring bond of a free constitution!" On March 3, the Hungarian Lower House triumphantly passed a resolution to that effect. The cry for a liberal constitution was instantly taken up in the other dominions of Austria. It so happened that the Provincial Estates of Lower Austria were to meet about this time. It was planned that an address embodying demands similar to those of Hungary should be forwarded to the Emperor by this assembly. The political agitation in Vienna became feverish. The students indulged in noisy demonstrations. Rumors of the impending repudiation of the paper currency and of State bankruptcy made matters worse. A sharp decline in stocks showed Metternich that a public catastrophe was near at hand.

[Sidenote: Viennese Diet stormed]

[Sidenote: Fighting in the street]

[Sidenote: Imperial palace invaded]

[Sidenote: Downfall of Metternich]

On March 13, the Provincial Diet met. Dense crowds surged about the Diet Hall. The students marched around in procession. Street orators harangued the crowds. The tumult was at its height when a slip of paper was let down from one of the windows of the hall, stating that the Diet was inclining to half measures. An announcement to this effect was received with a roar of fury. The mob overran the guards and burst into the Diet Hall. All debate was stopped, and the leading members of the Estates were forced to head a deputation to the Emperor's palace to exact a hearing. All the approaches to the palace were choked with people. Street fighting had already begun. Detachments of soldiers were hurried to the palace and to the Diet Hall. From the roof and windows of the Diet Hall missiles were hurled upon the soldiery. The interior of the Hall was demolished. The soldiers now fired a volley and cleared the Hall with their bayonets. Blood flowed freely and many were killed. The sound of the shots was received by the crowds around the palace with howls of rage. The whole city was in an uproar. Barricades were thrown up and the gunsmith shops were sacked. At the palace, where the Emperor himself remained invisible, Metternich and his assembled Council received the deputation in state. The Council urged the aged Prime Minister to grant the demanded concession. At length he withdrew into an adjoining chamber to draft an order annulling the censorship of the press. While he was thus engaged the cry was raised, "Down with Metternich!" The deputies in the Council Chamber peremptorily demanded his dismissal. When the old statesman returned he found himself abandoned even by his colleagues. Metternich realized that the end had come. He made a brief farewell speech, marked by all the dignity and self-possession of his greatest days, and left the Council Chamber to announce his resignation to the Emperor.

[Sidenote: Quiet restored]

[Sidenote: Hungarian demands]

[Sidenote: Kossuth in Vienna]

[Sidenote: Demonstrations of enthusiasm]

The news of Metternich's downfall was received with deafening cheers. His personality was so closely identified with all that was most hateful in Austrian politics that the mere announcement of his resignation sufficed to quell the popular tumult. On the night of March 14, Metternich contrived to escape from Vienna unobserved, and fled across the frontier. On the same day a National Guard was established in Vienna, and was supplied with arms taken from the government arsenal. The Viennese outbreak gave irresistible force to the national movement in Hungary. Now the Chamber of Magnates, which had hitherto opposed the demands of the Lower House, adopted the same by a unanimous vote. On March 15, a deputation was despatched to Vienna to demand from the Emperor not only a liberal constitution, but a separate Ministry, absolute freedom of the press, trial by jury, equality of religion, and a free public-school system. The Hungarians, with Kossuth in the lead, were received in triumph in Vienna. They paraded through the streets, and were greeted by Emperor Ferdinand in person. He consented to everything and issued an imperial rescript, promising a liberal constitution to the rest of Austria as well. The light-hearted Viennese indulged in indescribable jubilations. On March 18, the Emperor drove through the city. Somebody put a revolutionary banner into his hands. The black, red and gold ensign of united Germany was hoisted over the tower of St. Stephen. In an intoxication of joy the people took the horses from the imperial carriage and drew it triumphantly through the streets. The regular troops around the imperial palace were superseded by the new National Guards.

[Sidenote: Germany in a ferment]

[Sidenote: Prussian Assembly convoked]

[Sidenote: King of Prussia cowed]

[Sidenote: Revolt in Berlin]

[Sidenote: Prince William's part]

[Sidenote: King of Prussia submissive]

[Sidenote: Royal promises]

[Sidenote: Rising of Schleswig-Holstein]

[Sidenote: Reverse at Bau]