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

In the United States, during this period, the long-expected war with Mexico was well under way. By a joint resolution of Congress, Texas had at last been admitted into the Union...

It had been customary in Greek towns to celebrate Easter by burning an effigy of Judas Iscariot. This year the police of Athens were ordered to prevent this performance, and the...

In England, meanwhile, there was renewed agitation for Parliamentary reforms. Henry Grattan in Parliament moved for a Committee of the Whole House to consider the laws excluding...

Know ye the land where the cypress and myrtle Are emblems of deeds that are done in their clime? Where the rage of the vulture, the love of the turtle, Now melt into sorrow, now...

To his sorrow the poet lived many more years suffering great agony from a spinal complaint which confined him to his bed, or "mattress grave" as he called it. His powers of wit...

"Many experiments have been tried to engraft democratical on monarchical institutions, but how have they succeeded? In France, in Spain, in Portugal, in the Netherlands, in ever...

The patriot, fresh from Freedom's councils come, Now pleas'd retires to lash his slaves at home; Or woo, perhaps, some black Aspasia's charms, And dream of freedom in his bondma...

In America, public feeling was no less excited. The occasion for this was the first serious clash of the Northern and Southern factions of the United States over what was known...

At the time that Canning made British liberalism respected abroad, literary England suffered another irreparable loss by the death of Percy Bysshe Shelley. The last few weeks ha...

At this time more than a hundred thousand destitute men had flocked to the national workshops. They rose as of one accord. The rising of June 23 was the most formidable yet expe...

In Varna, a council of war was held to decide upon the course to be pursued against the Russians. Among others, General Stein, or Ferhat Pasha, as he was called after his conver...

In January, a protective tariff bill was introduced in the American Congress. It was opposed by the South and by New England. On May 22, Congress, by a majority of five in the H...

Reform of all kinds had become popular in England under the dexterous resistance of O'Connell, who held the balance in Parliament. The government was induced to bring in a corpo...

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 tak...

"FRENCHMEN! The present situation can last no longer. Every day which passes enhances the dangers of the country. The Assembly, which ought to be the firmest support of order, h...

Lord Palmerston, the British Foreign Secretary, in the meanwhile had compromised himself with his colleagues in the Cabinet by his independent threats of interference in regard...

All Chile was free now except in the south. General Ordonez, commanding the Spanish forces there, was defeated and fell back to Talcahuano. San Martin prepared to invade Peru. A...

It was the foreign policy of France to supplant Russia as mediator between Turkey and Egypt. Admiral Roussin had made it plain to the Sultan that if Syria could not be reconquer...

The furious slavery debate was resumed when Clay's so-called "Omnibus Bill" was offered for final consideration. It was during this debate that Senator Shields of California utt...

Sir Thomas Lawrence, the celebrated English portrait painter, died at the outset of the year. In his early youth at Bristol and Oxford, this artist showed marked talent for port...

The German preliminary Parliament of five hundred delegates had met at Frankfort in April. It lasted but five days. The Republicans found themselves outnumbered, when they submi...

The discovery of gold in South Australia drew hordes of immigrants to that colony. Others were attracted to America by the discovery of diamonds in Brazil. In the West Indies, t...

Hostilities still continued for a time in the Crimea. The allied fleet was sent to bombard various sea forts. The most important of these naval operations from a historical stan...

When the fortress, which no European eye had before seen, was reached, it was found deserted. Immense stores of ammunition had been left behind. Napier mined Emaun-Ghur in twent...

British enterprise found a vent in other ways beyond colonial conquests. In the spring of this year Sir John Franklin sailed out once more with the "Erebus" and "Terror," in que...

The remains of the Holkar states were permitted to endure, nor would Hastings sanction the proposed dethronement of the family of Jaswant Rao. Holkar was merely required to seiz...

In Central and South America, it was likewise a year of political upheavals. The Yankee settlers of Texas maintained their independence against Mexico. Their movement was joined...

Meanwhile the German Parliament had met again at Frankfort. After the resignation of the former Austrian chief of the Cabinet, Schmerling, the Parliament was split into two fact...

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 minist...

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 thi...

In Germany, arts and literature flourished in the same degree. King Louis I. of Bavaria, upon his accession to the throne, gathered about him in Munich some of the foremost arti...

The first signature to the Act of Allegiance was that of Ernest, Duke of Cumberland, eldest surviving brother of the late King William. To him passed the crown of Hanover, which...

The long-brewing war between Sultan Mahmoud of Turkey and his vassal, Mehemet Ali of Egypt, broke out in May. In the face of new assurances of peace, the Sultan ordered his comm...

The suspension of hostilities proved but temporary. Keshen was degraded and banished. Emperor Taouk-Wang issued an edict that he was resolved "to destroy and wash the foreigners...

An era of peace and reconstruction had begun. After a generation of war and turmoil France was started on her new career of parliamentary government. The brief period of retalia...

The entire province of Oude was in a state of insurrection. The English had been closely besieged in Lucknow since the last day of May. The garrison had held out for two months...

Such was the state of affairs in India when Lord Ellenborough landed at Calcutta in February, to succeed Lord Auckland as Governor-General. The first trying need was to rescue t...

The removal of another menace to Louis Philippe's throne was accompanied by circumstances less tragic. In April, the Duchesse de Berry, wearying of her exile, crossed over to Ma...

On the following day, November 1, Prince Windischgraetz declared Vienna under military law. All arms had to be delivered within forty-eight hours. Arrests and courts-martial fol...

In North America the doctrine of nullification, newly put forth, emphasized the growing differences between the Northern and Southern States. The great debate between Hayne and...

After the brief interregnum of Goderich's administration in England, Canning was succeeded by his rival, the Duke of Wellington. The good sense and great renown of this distingu...

Domestic affairs in England at this turn furnished an all-absorbing topic. In the Cabinet, Huskisson's strong stand on the rotten borough question, with his desire to accord Par...

On February 19, Parliament reassembled. It was found that a working majority of Tories had been returned, but the first vote on the King's speech revealed a junction of the Whig...

Other affairs absorbed the interest of Austria's Foreign Minister. A treaty was signed with Prussia establishing a virtual defensive and offensive alliance. At the same time Aus...

On the day following Czerny's death, Jean Pierre Beranger, the great French song writer, died at Paris. He was seventy-seven years old. Little cared for by his father, he was br...