CHAPTER LX.

{VICTORIA. 1848}

Warin India..... Colonial Affairs..... Foreign Relations..... Revolutions throughout Continental Europe..... Distress and Crime in Ireland..... Disaffection of the Irish Roman Catholics, and attempted Revolt..... Enforcement of Law and Order in Ireland..... Chartist Disturbances in England, and their suppression..... Home Incidents..... Transactions of Parliament.

{A.D. 1848}

The year 1848 was one of the most eventful which had ever occurred in the history of Europe, or in the history of the world, since the introduction of Christianity; and the relations of England to the great transactions which passed like a whirlwind over the continent were such as to enhance her dignity and her glory. It is difficult to write the History of England, during a period so interesting to continental Europe, without enlarging upon the events which took place upon other fields of action, and by which England was in many respects so much influenced. It will aid in confining the relations of this chapter within proper bounds, to narrate first those transactions in which England was exclusively interested, so far as other European powers were concerned.

THE WAR IN INDIA.

The Punjaub had, in 1847, as already related, been the theatre of most stirring incidents. The reader of this History can hardly fail to have observed, that although the defeat of the Sikhs was so complete, the subjugation of the spirit of that people was far from having been effected. The dispersed Khalsa army cherished a fierce hostility to the government of British India, and they were ready to enrol themselves under the banner of any chief who would lead them, in numbers sufficient to afford hope of success, against their recent conquerors. An opportunity occurred in the person of Moolraj, the chief of Mooltan. Mooltan is a large and fertile country, situated between the left bank of the Indus and the right bank of the Sutlej, and terminates at one end where these two rivers form a junction. It gives its name to the capital, which was protected by defences unusually strong for an eastern city.

When the British obtained the submission of the regent of the Sikh monarch, Dhuleep Singh, Mooltan was governed by Moolraj. Moolraj owed allegiance to the government at Lahore, to which the chieftainship of Mooltan had been subjected by conquest. The durbar of Lahore purposed the deposition of Moolraj, and negotiated with him for that purpose. He affected to acquiesce, and, in consequence, Mr. Agnew, a political agent of the Honourable East India Company, and Lieutenant Anderson, of the Bombay Fusileers, were deputed to attend the new governor appointed by the government of Lahore, to instal him in his office. This official was named Sirdar Khan Singh, and was an object of extreme jealousy to Moolraj. The party arrived at Mooltan, accompanied by their respective suites and a small escort of cavalry. On the 17th of April, the authority was surrendered in due form by Moolraj, and the object of the British officers seemed to be accomplished. On the 18th they were attacked and desperately wounded; it was at first supposed from a sudden impulse on the part of the soldiery of Moolraj, but it was afterwards known to be the result of treachery. The officers, accompanied by the new governor, were carried to a small fort outside the town. A fire was opened upon the place from Mooltan, but it was ineffectual. A few days afterwards, however, the fort was attacked by the soldiers of Moolraj; the Sikhs who garrisoned the place, and among whom were the escort, treacherously opened the gates, and the assailants entered, foaming with rage, and demanding vengeance upon the infidel officers. Lieutenant Anderson was in a dying state; but Mr. Agnew, although so badly wounded, defended himself with resolution to the last: both officers were murdered. Moolraj declared that he had no knowledge of the transaction, but no one believed his disclaimer. Intelligence of these barbarities reached Lahore with the speed so peculiar to the East; and a force of three thousand cavalry and some infantry was dispatched, under Sirdar Shere Singh, against the refractory city. There happened to be upon the Indus, at the head of a small force, a young and gallant officer who had served with distinction upon the staff of Lord Gough, and who was favourably known by his clever contributions to the India press on the state of the Company’s territory, civil and military: this officer was Lieutenant Edwardes. He was engaged in settling a disturbed district of country, and in collecting the land tax due to Moolraj, as Sikh governor of Mooltan. At the same time, Colonel Van Courtlandt, a native of India, and a distinguished officer in the service of the Company, occupied Dherra Ismael Khan, also in the neighbourhood. Lieutenant Edwardes crossed the river into the Deerajat, whence he wrote to the Khan of Bhawulpore, requesting him to make such a movement of troops as would prevent Moolraj from falling upon either of their forces. The khan’s territories were so situated as to enable him to effect a military disposition to accomplish this object. The khan made the required demonstration. When Edwardes crossed the Indus, he left a detachment of three hundred horse to protect the collection at Serat, where, on the 18th of May, they were attacked by a body of cavalry exceeding their own in number, sent against them from Mooltan, with ten light field-guns (zumbooruks). The British force so manoeuvred as to attain a good position, although under the fire of the zumbooruks, and then charged brilliantly, dispersing the Mooltanese, and capturing their guns.

Colonel Courtlandt was as prompt as Edwardes in the measures taken by him. He left the port of Dherra Ismael Khan, and proceeded by the base of the hills southward. On his route he was joined by a Beloochee chief, with one hundred of his wild followers. Courtlandt detached these, with a portion of his own troops, against the fortress of Sunghur, westward of the Indus. The commander of the fort refused the summons of surrender, and for six hours maintained a gallant resistance; he then brought off the garrison by a skilful manoeuvre, reaching Mooltan in safety.

Lieutenant Edwardes and Colonel Courtlandt effected a Junction of their small forces, and on the 20th of May were attacked by a division of the Mooltan army. The united forces of Courtlandt and Edwardes were so disposed that not more than one thousand five hundred men could be brought into action, while the enemy numbered three thousand. The artillery force of each was about equal. Edwardes was, however, joined by a body of irregular cavalry, and a party of Beloochees, which brought up the British force more nearly to an equality of numbers. The Sikhs in British pay happily showed no disposition to fraternise with the Mooltan army, although the calculations of Moolraj were based upon such an expectation.

The enemy suffered a signal defeat and great slaughter. The Beloochees behaved remarkably well. The skill of the British officers turned the balance in favour of the native army under their command.

After this engagement, Edwardes, acting upon the authority which he possessed as a civil officer of the company, demanded a reinforcement from the Khan of Bhawulpore, and in the meantime recruited his force by Sikhs, Beloochees, Affghans, and men from the hills of various tribes. The faculty of organisation, the ceaseless activity, and the courage of this young officer were surprising. Colonel Courtlandt was also equal to the part assigned him; but, although senior to his colleague in military rank, the civil functions of the latter gave him an especial, and, in some respects, superior authority. The Khan of Bhawulpore responded to the demands of assistance, and a plan was laid for a junction of the troops. In pursuance of this, Edwardes and Courtlandt crossed the Indus on the 10th and 11th of June. Moolraj was informed by his spies of every movement, and the intelligence was conveyed to him with astonishing rapidity. He accordingly marched a large force to intercept either army, and beat both in detail. On the 14th he crossed the Chenab, leaving a considerable force on the other bank. This detachment marched to Khan Ghur, but on the following day crossed the river, being surprised at that place by the advance of Edwardes’s irregulars. The Mooltanese had barely time to cross the Chenab, when the scouts of Edwardes galloped into Khan Ghur. The Sikhs, instead of giving battle at that place, and practically attempting the scheme proposed by Moolraj, encamped on the opposite side of the river, in observation of the British officer and his little army. This delay and timidity was fatal; for Edwardes was soon joined by the infantry and a portion of the artillery of Courtlandt, whose cavalry were scouring the country. The situation of affairs became now interesting and important, for the Bhawulpore forces had arrived on the enemy’s side of the Chenab, within twelve miles. Edwardes made a retrograde movement, so as to place himself opposite the Bhawulpore encampment. The enemy advanced to within four miles of that position. In the course of the night, the raw levies of Edwardes contrived to cross the river in a very irregular manner, and within dangerous proximity to the enemy’s patrols, but were unmolested. On the 18th, early in the morning, the lieutenant crossed with the remainder of his little army, except the horses and artillery, which remained with Courtlandt on the opposite side, for a more slow and safe transport across the river. Scarcely had the lieutenant gained the opposite bank than he was attacked by the Sikh army, which had been moving up from Bugurrarah while he was gaining the passage. This was a terrible engagement. The sun had hardly risen upon river, and swamp, and undulating plains, when the Mooltanee forces fell upon the motley crowd of the British levies, and in such superior numbers that victory seemed certain. For nine hours the English lieutenant resisted the onslaught, and by his valour, activity, presence of mind, and moral influence, kept his undisciplined forces in firm front to the foe. At last Courtlandt’s guns were brought over, and made the contest somewhat equal; later in the day, two regular regiments belonging to the colonel’s division arrived, with six guns, and the enemy panic-struck fled, leaving a large, proportion of their troops upon the field, slain, wounded, and prisoners, with six guns, and their entire baggage and munitions of war. The conduct of Edwardes throughout the day was splendid, and laid a deeper foundation for his military reputation.

Moolraj retreated to Mooltan, followed by the British, and the Khan of Bhawulpore, who had rendered hitherto but little assistance, and whose movements led to the suspicion that he had more sympathy with Moolraj than he dared to avow.

On the 28th of June, a Sikh brigade under the command of Sheik-Emaum-ood-deen, which had been dispatched by the government of Lahore, arrived to reinforce the English. The whole army appeared before Mooltan, consisting of eighteen thousand men, comprising the levies of Edwardes, the division of Courtlandt, that of the Khan of Bhawulpore, and the newly arrived brigade of the sheik.

Moolraj collected his army between the city and the invaders, and intrenched himself in a strong position, near the village of Sadoosan. Edwardes attacked the camp with one portion of his force, storming the breastwork, and with another taking the intrenchments in flank. The discomfited enemy was driven in disorder within the city. The loss of the allies was about twenty killed and less than one hundred wounded: the enemy suffered severely. The difficulties of Edwardes increased with his victories, for it was impossible for him to take Mooltan by a _coup de main_, and he had no siege _matériel_. To remain inactive was dangerous, for little reliance could be placed on the sheik, still less on the khan, and even the regular regiments of Courtlandt were not very trustworthy: he had mainly to rely upon his brave but undisciplined Affghan and Beloochee levies. With such an army, so collected, and without siege train, or heavy artillery of any kind, the conquest of Mooltan was an impossibility, and yet affairs demanded speedy and decided action. He accordingly sent to Sir Frederick Currie, the British resident at Lahore, acquainting him with the delicacy of his situation, and urging the dispatch of siege guns, and such other material of war as was requisite. Communication was made to Lieutenant Edwardes by the British resident at Lahore, that troops, material, and a general officer of experience to take the command, would be sent as speedily as possible, and meanwhile Edwardes was to watch the movements of the enenry. This he effectually did; Moolraj could execute nothing beyond the walls of Mooltan, for the eyes of the vigilant English lieutenant were constantly upon his movements.

On the 18th of August General Whish arrived from Lahore with two regiments of native infantry, a regiment of irregular horse, a troop of horse artillery, and the 10th regiment of her majesty’s foot. The next day a column arrived from Ferozepore, consisting of three regiments of native infantry, two regiments of native cavalry, one regular and one irregular, a battering train, a troop of horse artillery, and her majesty’s 32nd regiment of the line. The forces before Mooltan then amounted to six thousand Europeans, and more than twenty-two thousand native troops, including the levies of Edwardes, and the khan’s forces.

Scarcely had the army under General Whish assembled before Mooltan, when other events still more formidable than the defection of Moolraj occurred elsewhere.

MUTINY OF SIKH TROOPS IN THE PUNJAUB. AND REVOLT OF CHUTTUR SINGH.

Sirdar Chuttur Singh (father of Rajah Shere Singh) was governor of the Hazareh country, under allegiance to the Maharajah Dhuleep Singh, of Lahore. That chief took advantage of the revolt at Mooltan, and opened correspondence with other chiefs for the purpose of tampering with the Sikh soldiers in garrison in their different provinces. The government of Lahore was guilty of complicity in these movements, although affecting to be incensed against the refractory chiefs and provinces. A knowledge of this circumstance soon spread among the Khalsa* soldiery all over the Punjaub, and disposed them to follow any leader who had the boldness to hoist the standard of rebellion.

* “Khalsa,” or church. This name was assumed to express the idea that the army was composed only of the faithful; the Sikh religion being a sort of eclectic religion, chosen from Mohammedanism, Brahminism, and other oriental systems.

Early in September the whole Hazareh country was in ostensible insurrection, and an attack was made upon Attock. Happily Major Lawrence was then, in the phraseology of the Indian political service, the assistant at Peshawur. He sent Lieutenant Nicholson, at the head of a detachment of cavalry and infantry, to take possession of: the fort. By a forced marched this was effected before the arrival of the rebellious sirdar’s troops. Cabbot Abbot, the political agent in the Hazareh, joined Lieutenant Nicholson, and their position was very precarious. Major Lawrence, whose comprehensive mind was prepared for every emergency, had troops moved to their assistance from Peshawur and Jullundur. The revolt, however, spread in every direction. Peshawur was begirt, with disciplined and fanatical enemies, and at last, early in November, Major Lawrence and family had to fly for their lives from that place, the troops in the garrison having mutinied on the approach of Chuttur Singh and his army. Major and Mrs. Lawrence, with Lieutenant Bowie, found refuge at Kohat, under the protection of Mahomed Khan. Mahomed, either through fear or treachery, or both, gave them up as prisoners to Chuttur Singh. The sirdar treated them with kindness, and frequently conversed with them on the prospects of restoring the Sikh ascendancy in the Punjaub; nor were the dissuasions of Major Lawrence of any effect, for Chuttur believed in the Khâlsa confederacy.

On the 18th of December, when Shere Singh was at the head of a numerous force, Major Lawrence was brought to his camp with the object of using him for negotiations with the governor-general. It is necessary, in order to preserve the collateral relation of events, to return to the army of Whish before the besieged city.

SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF MOOLTAN.

General Whish pressed his operations against Mooltan with skill and energy. He was ably aided by Edwardes, Courtlandt, Brigadier-general Markham, and other officers. During the first ten days of September skirmishes were frequent, and some of these were sharp and spirited. On the 12th Whish determined to attack certain posts, the capture of which was essential to the execution of his plans. The enenry had established an extensive and formidable outpost in a village and garden near the walls. To capture this a body of the besiegers, numbering two thousand five hundred, were told off. They began the attack at break of day, under the command of Brigadier-general Harvey. The contest was very severe, but ended in the accomplishment of General Whish’s design. The slaughter of the Mooltanese was signal, and the heroism of the European regiments extraordinary. The loss on the part of the British was heavy. Major Montazambert, of the 10th foot, Colonel Pattoun, of the 32nd, Quartermaster Taylor, also of that regiment, were the officers of the royal regiments which fell. Lieutenant Cubit and Ensign Lloyd, of the Company’s service, also fell. The latter officer was treacherously cut down while parleying with the enemy. The 10th regiment fought desperately, making havoc of the Mooltanese with the bayonet.

The next day the besieged made a sortie against the camp of Lieutenant Edwardes, but were beaten back, the pursuit issuing in the capture of another important outpost. The defence had arrived at its crisis, but Sikh treachery averted from the city the impending blow. On the morn-, ing of the 14th, Shere Singh, with the whole of the Lahore troops, five thousand in number, went over to the enemy. This event, at once lessening the army of the besiegers, and increasing that of the besieged, made their relative numbers so disproportionate, that the siege was raised, the army withdrawing to a position a few miles distant, where they intrenched. Soon after the British took up this position, Shere Singh left Mooltan and marched along the banks of the Chenab, forming a junction with Chuttur Singh, which placed the former at the head of thirty thousand men. It became necessary for another British army to encounter this enemy, while Whish and his troops could do nothing against Mooltan until strongly reinforced. On the 21st of December, a strong division of the Bombay army arrived at General Whish’s camp, and thus strengthened, the general resolved upon active operations. His army now numbered about seventeen thousand Sikhs, Beloochees, Affghans, and other contingents, about fifteen thousand more Queen’s and Company’s troops, and one hundred and fifty pieces of cannon. On the 27th General Whish resolved upon a grand attack, and moved his army forward in four columns. The enemy falling back from their outposts, the British took a position in the suburbs within five hundred yards of the walls. That day and night batteries were constructed on all appropriate points, and early on the 28th a terrible bombardment began. By the 29th, the works were carried forward to within eighty yards of the place, breaches began to be effected, the granary was fired, and the batteries and buildings of the enemy suffered much under the heavy cannonade of the besiegers. On the 30th a shell blew up the principal magazine of the city. The shock was felt for two miles, and the camp of the besiegers literally rocked above the convulsive throes of the earth. The magazine contained sixteen thousand pounds of powder. The explosion was instant; with one fierce crash and a long-continued roar, the smoke and flame gushed upwards—one of the most grandly terrible sights upon which human eye could look. Eight hundred men perished, their charred limbs and whole carcasses were cast far beyond. The houses of the chief persons, the public buildings and temples, were shaken down by the vibrations; yet the walls of the fort endured, and the bulk of the city was intact. A fire was communicated, which raged through several streets, but was extinguished. It was supposed that this event would lead to the surrender of the place, but next day Moolraj sent word to General Whish that he had still powder enough for a twelvemonth’s siege, and that he would hold out while one stone remained upon another. This was supposed to be mere bravado, and a summon was sent to surrender. Moolraj, with perfect _sang froid_, rammed the letter down one of the longest guns, and fired it at the British. During the following night a distinct breach was effected in the Delhi gate of the city, and the next day another at the Bohan gate. The fire of the besiegers was plied hotly for the two following days and nights, the city blazing like a hell, amidst the crash of falling buildings, and the outcry of wounded women and children. On the 81st the Sikhs made a sortie from the south-west gate against the camp of Edwardes. That officer, ever vigilant, and ably seconded by the engineer officer, Lieutenant Lake, repulsed the sortie, inflicting heavy loss. The cannonade continued for fifty-six hours longer, and on the 2nd of January the assault was made. The Bengal and Bombay divisions were formed into separate columns, and precipitated upon the two breaches. These columns moved forward with great daring and under a heavy fire. The Bengal column found the breach impracticable, with an open drop in front, and strong defences in the rear. While the Bengal Sepoys were obstructed by obstacles which they could not surmount, the Bombay column gained an entrance. The sergeant-major of the Bombay Fusileers boldly planted the British flag above the breach. The Bengal column turned and followed their more fortunate comrades of the other presidency. The enemy resisted at every step, receding only before superior force, and it was not until the sun went down over the blackened ruins and blood-stained streets of Mooltan that the city was completely in the hands of the conquerors. The troops of Moolraj retreated to the citadel, which was a place of surpassing strength, and could only be taken by regular approaches. Parallels were opened, and a fierce cannonade was directed against it on the 4th; but it was not until the 18th that any decided impression was made. By that date the intrenchments were carried up to the very walls, but such was their extraordinary strength that they were proof against artillery—at all events, any artillery of the calibre possessed by the besiegers. Whish resolved to effect their destruction by mines. On the 18th three mines were exploded, and the counterscarp was blown into the ditch. A shaft was then sunk under the trench, and a gallery cut towards the wall. At the same time a battery was placed on a level higher than the citadel itself; another carrying eighteen and twenty-four pounders was placed close up to the wall. From this battery the most extraordinary cannonade and bombardment was conducted. Eight-inch howitzers discharged live shells into the wall, which buried themselves in the mud and brickwork of which it was built, and, exploding, tore away large portions. On the 19th the sap reached the crest of the glacis, and on the 21st the engineer officer in charge announced that there were two practicable breaches. General Whish gave prompt orders for the storm on the following morning. Moolraj had been seriously alarmed during the progress of the works for the few days previous, and repeatedly offered to surrender if his life would be spared. The answer returned informed him that no terms but an unconditional surrender would be conceded. On the 22nd, the British columns were forming for the assault, when the garrison hauled down its flag, and Moolraj surrendered at discretion.

The scenes which followed were at once picturesque and painful. The discomfited troops marched forth as prisoners of war. First came a few hundreds of the most miserable, dispirited looking men, ill clothed, and wan with fatigue. These were fanatics who had under a vow devoted themselves to especial peril and labour in the defence, and as is so frequently the case with men under the influence of fanaticism, defeat brings reaction in the form of despair. A column of about three thousand five hundred soldiery, stern looking men, next came. With such troops it was no wonder that Moolraj made so glorious a defence. This splendid body of men laid down their arms with reluctance, and looked back upon the breaches as if they fain would return and die there, with their arms in their hands. The body-guard of Moolraj followed, a splendid body of soldiers, whose equipment in arms and uniform was superb. The chiefs, friends, and family of the governor next came. They were deeply dejected, and uttered words of expressive anguish and shame. Moolraj himself was the last man of the Khalsa host who left the citadel. He was gorgeously appareled in silks, and decorations expressive of Khalsa religious or military associations. He wore jewels, carried arms superbly ornamented and of superior make, and rode a beautiful Arab charger, covered with a scarlet saddle-cloth, with gilt or golden trappings. His personal appearance was impressive, his countenance manly and well formed, with quick, fiery, expressive eyes. Above the middle height, his form was strong, muscular, and yet elegant. His bearing was manly and gallant; there was no assumed or insolent defiance, no fanatical contempt expressed by it, nor did he allow dejection to betray itself. He and his followers became prisoners of war, and were placed at the disposal of the governor-general. It was alleged that the British army was guilty of plunder, and that officers of engineers were discovered appropriating to themselves prizes, which belonged either to the custody of the prize agents, or were sacred as private property. It would appear that these allegations were circulated by certain agents of persons in England having interests adverse to the Honourable East India Company, and were utterly unfounded. Lord Ellenborough, more than eight years afterwards, confuted the calumny.

Mooltan, and the territory of which it was the capital, was now completely subjugated, and our ally, the khan, returned to his own province a wiser if not a better man, his further services being confined to the maintenance of peace in his own territory, and to the exercise of a certain degree of vigilance in reference to surrounding provinces. The fall of Mooltan was received over all British India and the neighbouring independent states as one of the grandest events in Indian history, and filled the petty chieftains with awe, while it excited exultation in the presidencies. Far different were the feelings created in the minds of the Sikh soldiery and people; they were exasperated, and determined to hazard all upon a single throw. To avenge past disasters, and expel the British from the country of the five rivers became the passionate purpose and ambition of chieftain and soldier, and everywhere desultory bands made war, as they pressed onward to join the great chiefs, Shere Singh and Chuttur Singh who were now at the head of a powerful army.

CAMPAIGN IN THE PUNJAUB UNDER LORD GOUGH.

It has been already related that Shere Singh quitted Mooltan with a strong division of Khalsa troops, on the 9th of October, and formed a junction with Chuttur Singh.

The latter returned to the territory of Hazareh, leaving the bulk of his forces under the command of Shere Singh, who was gradually joined by other chiefs and sirdars, whose followers augmented his army,—that army consisted of men inured to combat, the flower of the Sikh nation. Lord Gough, the commander-in-chief of the army in India, was ordered to assemble an army at Ferozepore, and act against Shere Singh, and, in fact, reconquer the Punjaub. Bombay and other troops were ordered to join the army collecting at Ferozopore, and the victorious troops of Whish, Courtlandt, and Edwardes were ordered to follow and form a junction with the grand army. These troops did not join as soon as Lord Gough expected, and the Bombay division, under the Hon. Major-general Dundas, was so dilatory as to evoke from the good-natured general-in-chief a most stinging rebuke. The major-general was urged by despatches to advance with all possible celerity, but he expressed himself as not perceiving the necessity of such speed. “Tell him,” said the gallant commander, “to stay with the native troops if he likes, but to send on the Europeans!”

Before, however, the army which had acted before Mooltan could render any assistance to Lord Gough, months before that city had fallen, events gathered within the Punjaub in gloomy and rapid association. It was on the 21st of November before General Gough assumed the active command of the army at Seharun, a central position. The river Chenab is the central one of the five rivers which give name to the district, and the theatre of conflict was midway between the Chenab and its confluence with the Indus. On the left bank of the former, about a mile and a half from the river, the town of Rumnugger was situated: there Shere Singh had taken up his quarters. Opposite that town the river bends, and there was an island in mid-channel; this island was about two acres in area. The main force of Shere Singh was posted on the right bank of the river, but a strong brigade of four thousand men occupied the island, and erected batteries. These batteries commanded the only available ford, or “nullah,” as it is called in the vocabulary of the country. The opposite town of Rumnugger was favourably situated for defence; it was flanked by a grove, and by the bend in the river. This position Shere Singh had skilfully fortified. On the 22nd, at two o’clock in the morning, Lord Gough approached the enemy. While the right bank and the island were occupied by the chief forces of the sirdar, he had a strong body also posted on the left bank, and it became the first object of Lord Gough to dislodge them. Between the island and the right bank the passage was effected by boats, so that the enemy was able to preserve his communications with tolerable certainty and ease. The nullah or ford was not difficult, although the descent to it from the left bank of the river was steep. It was directly commanded by the guns on the island, and was exposed to a raking cross-fire on either side from batteries placed on the right bank. The 8th light cavalry (Company’s service) advanced along the left bank, skirmishing, supported by her majesty’s 3rd Light Dragoons. The horse artillery pushed into the deep sand on the margin of the river, and commanded the batteries at Rumnugger, but were obliged to retire before their superior metal, leaving behind one gun and two ammunition waggons embedded in the sand. The enemy took skilful and immediate advantage of this reverse, and pushed over a powerful cavalry division. Orders were given to charge them, and the 14th (Queen’s) Light Dragoons, and the 3rd light horse of the Company’s army, in spite of overwhelming numbers and of imperfect supports, cut through the enemy and dashed after them into the nullah. The passage was familiar to the latter, who made good their retreat to the island; the latter were of course ignorant of the ground, and were impeded in their pursuit by that circumstance, had none other obstructed them. As soon as the Sikh cavalry cleared the ford, the batteries of the island and the flanking batteries on the right bank opened with deadly effect. How any British officer could have been so imprudent as to give the order to charge into the nullah is almost inconceivable; that the error was not evident, while the brave men were being mowed down by an artillery fire, which they could do nothing to silence, is still more marvellous; such, however, was the case. Colonel Havelock dashed into the ford at the head of the 14th Light Dragoons, but was never seen again. A native trooper supposed he saw him in the nullah soon after he entered it, unhorsed, and several Sikh soldiers “hacking his person.” After much useless slaughter was thus incurred by Havelock’s gallant brigade, Major-general Cureton rode up with an order from Lord Gough for the troops to retire. He had scarcely given the order when he fell dead from two shots, by which he was instantaneously struck. The troops retired with a loss, in every corps engaged, of officers and men. Lord Gough considered the end attained in driving the enemy from the left bank was worth the sacrifice. The death of General Cureton was severely felt by the army, and was in some degree irreparable. He had risen from the ranks by his superior soldiership, and was deemed one of the best, perhaps the best, officer for outpost duty then in India.

On the 30th of November Lieutenant-general Thackwell was ordered to cross the Chenab above Rumnugger, where an indifferent ford had been discovered, and where Captain Nicholson had provided boats. Thackwell was to take the Sikhs in the flank and rear, while Lord Gough observed them from his old position, ready to take advantage of any favourable opportunity for attack which the manouvre of General Thackwell might create. That gallant and skilful officer performed well the part assigned to him. He gained the right bank of the river; but Shere Singh was also a skilful commander, and did not allow Thackwell even to menace his rear or flank, for he detached a strong force to attack the intruder, as soon as he saw that the river had been forded. It was the 3rd of December before Thackwell secured the passage, and on the fourth he began his march along the right bank towards the lines at Rumnugger. He soon discovered that a strong body of Sikhs were marching in a north-west direction. They threatened his flank with cavalry, and cannonaded him severely. Thackwell’s orders did not allow of his taking any measure for attack, and the enemy drew off after a sharp and heavy cannonade. As soon as this officer’s artillery was allowed to open upon them, they marched towards the Jhelum. Perhaps the enemy were decided in abandoning their strong positions, not only from fear of their left flank being turned by General Thackwell, but also by the energetic proceedings of Lord Gough, after the force detached to observe Thackwell had departed. Lord Gough opened a heavy cannonade upon the island, and upon the batteries on the right bank of the Chenab. On the morning of the 3rd a brigade of infantry, under Brigadier Godby, passed by a ford not far from Rumnugger, his passage being covered by the approach of General Thackwell, who had by that time been advancing from the passage at Wuzerabad. Shortly after, the 9th Lancers and 14th Light Dragoons, under General Gilbert, were ordered to cross the river, and harass as much as possible the retreating enemy. The British generals seem to have believed that the Khalsa army would abandon their chiefs and disperse to their homes, and this impression influenced their proceedings; for although Gilbert with his cavalry followed the enemy briskly, there was not that celerity in the movements of the British which actual circumstances demanded.

On the 28th of December Lord Gough, with his whole army, crossed the river and encamped. The right bank was now clear of the enemy, Shere Singh having followed the previous division of his army to the Jhelum, where he ultimately took post in the formidable position of Russool, with a force which was augmented to forty thousand men, and a powerful artillery, estimated variously from sixty-two to ninety guns.

While these events were passing, Chuttur Singh, who, as before noticed, had retired to his own province, pressed the fort of Attock, which had been long and gallantly maintained by Major Herbert. When it fell the major contrived to send tidings to Lord Gough, and to warn him that Chuttur Singh had repaired with his army to the upper Jhelum, to form a junction with the army of Shere Singh. Lord Gough determined at once to follow the Sikh forces, and bring them to a decisive action. On the morning of the 12th of January he marched from Loah Tibbah to Dingee. The sirdar was represented by the British commander-in-chief in his despatch as holding with his right the village of Lukhneewalla and Futteh Shah-ke-Chuck, having the great body of his force at the village of Lollianwalla, with his left at Eussool, on the Jhelum. This position lay on the southern extremity of a low range of hills, intersected by ravines, and difficult of access to assailants. The post was well chosen by the sirdar, who showed a subtle generalship throughout the war. The information furnished by Lord Gough’s spies was not always faithful, and his lordship, therefore, was not accurately in possession of the forces of the sirdar, nor of the topographical peculiarities of his position. The British commander directed his march upon the village of Bussool, and there reconnoitred.

The advance to the ground chosen by the sirdar was impeded by a jungle, to avoid which, and to distract the enemy’s attention, Lord Gough took a considerable _détour_ to the right. He succeeded in avoiding the intricacies of the jungle, but not in distracting the attention of Shere Singh. That general moved from his encampment, and took ground in advance, a manouvre calculated to hide the strength of his position, and to disconcert any previous arrangements of the British commander.

About noon on the 13th, Lord Gough was before the village of Bussool, and finding a very strong picket of the enemy on a mound close to that place, his lordship, after some fighting, dislodged it. Ascending the mound, the general and his staff beheld the Khalsa army ranged along the furrowed hills in all the majestic array of war. The British officers gazed with admiration and professional ardour upon the long lines of compact infantry and the well-marshalled cavalry, mustered in their relative proportions and positions with scientific exactness. The sirdar’s batteries were chiefly masked by jungle. The scene was striking in its aspect, from the magnitude of the events associated with it, and the excitement it stirred up within the hearts of the brave. Alas, how many noble hearts were necessarily to bleed before victory crowned the arms of England, and that fine Khalsa army succumbed to the destiny of England’s Asiatic foes!

Lord Gough found that he could not turn the flanks of the sirdar’s army, they were so protected by jungle, unless he detached a portion of his army to a considerable distance, which he deemed unsafe. The day was too far advanced to begin any operations. The engineer officers were ordered to examine the country in front, and the quartermaster-general was about to take up ground for the encampment, when the enemy advanced some horse artillery, and opened a fire upon the skirmishers in front of Bussool. Lord Gough ordered his heavy guns to open upon the enemy’s artillery, and for this purpose they were advanced to an open space in front of the village. Shere Singh did not act with his usual good strategy, in exposing the positions of so many of his cannon, which the jungle had concealed, and which might have remained hidden until an attack upon his line would have afforded him opportunity to use them with sudden and terrible advantage, as he afterwards was enabled to use those on his right. As it was, he replied to the British cannonade with such a powerful field-artillery as constrained Lord Gough to draw up in order of battle, lest in the night the sirdar’s guns should be moved still more forward, and open on his camp. His lordship, keeping the heavy guns on his centre, placed Sir Walter Gilbert’s division on his right, flanked by Brigadier Pope’s brigade of cavalry, strengthened by her majesty’s 14th Light Dragoons, and three troops of horse artillery, under Colonel Grant. This arrangement was necessitated by the large force of cavalry observed upon the enemy’s left. On the left of the British line, Brigadier-general Campbell’s division was formed, flanked by Brigadier White’s cavalry, and three troops of horse artillery under Colonel Brind.

The demonstrations of the enemy were such that, late as was the hour, and weary as the troops were with marching, Lord Gough determined to attack at once. His lordship’s critics, influenced by the events which followed, have severely censured him for attacking under such circumstances, more especially as the ground was unknown to his lordship. It was true that sufficient time had not been obtained to reconnoitre the enemy’s positions, but it was not correct to allege that Lord Gough was entirely unacquainted with the ground, as he had previously known it, especially the country to the left of the enemy. It was generally supposed by his lordship’s censors that the attack was a wanton waste of life, and arose from the brave, rash, and unreflecting temperament of the general, and the irritation caused by the sudden and severe artillery fire opened upon him. On the other hand, the Duke of Wellington declared that he would, in Lord Gough’s place, have acted as he had done; and so full of confidence were the Sikhs in their numbers and resolution, that had not the general given battle, he would have been obliged to defend himself from a desperate night attack under circumstances far less favourable. There can be no doubt, on the part of any who know the noble old soldier, that he acted from his sense of duty to his army and his country, and not from personal irritation.

The battle began, or, it may be said, was resumed, by a heavy cannonade which lasted for more than an hour when Lord Gough ordered his left to advance, making a flank movement. In executing this manouvre, the troops exposed their own flank to a galling fire from heavy guns, the positions of which had remained covered by jungle, and the Sikh batteries were so placed as to pour a most destructive cross-fire upon the British. When the 3rd and 4th brigades reached the enemy’s guns, they were received by a cannonade so overwhelming that they were obliged to retire. As soon as it was known that these two brigades were engaged, the 5th, under Brigadier Mountain, was ordered to storm the centre. They were received with round-shot the moment they moved; with grape and canister as they advanced through the jungle; and, finally, with musketry within close and deadly range. Many of the Sikh soldiers, at the cost of their own life, advanced and shot down the British officers. Brigadier Mountain had distinguished himself in China, and had the entire confidence of Lord Gough, under whom he had served there. Under his able guidance, the British stormed the batteries and spiked the guns, under a flank fire from other guns which they also spiked, while the enemy, without giving way, poured upon them musket balls thick as hail. Detachments of musketeers took them on each flank, and some getting to their rear among the jungle, fired upon them with deadly aim. The British were thus compelled to cut their way back to their own lines through hosts of encircling foes. While this was going on upon the centre, Sir Walter Gilbert advanced against the enemy’s left. That general occupied the extreme right of his division, and Brigadier Godby the extreme left. They marched through a dense jungle almost unmolested, and then were confronted by infantry. Had the British at once charged with the bayonet, the result might for them have been less sanguinary; they, however, opened fire, and the Sikhs, more numerous, returned the fire and outflanked them. Two companies of the 2nd (or Queen’s) British regiment charged with the bayonet, but were surrounded. These gallant and skilful soldiers immediately faced about, and after some file-firing charged, rear-rank in front. At this critical moment, Deane’s battery arrived, and drove back the enemy by the precision of their fire. Several guns were here captured by the British. The heroism and losses of the 2nd regiment were very great. While the infantry had thus been engaged in close and deadly battle, the cavalry also were occupied both on the left and right. On the former flank of the British, Brigadier White’s brigade charged the enemy, covering the retreat of the infantry. On the extreme right Brigadier Pope’s brigade, strengthened, as has been already shown, by the temporary attachment of the 14th Light Dragoons of the Queen’s army, was ordered to charge a body of the enemy’s cavalry, the numbers of which were much superior. Instead of obeying the orders given, they wheeled right about, and galloped off the field, breaking through the artillery, upsetting artillerymen, drivers, and waggons in their course, until they reached the field hospital. According to some narrations of this transaction, the men galloped away under a mistake of orders; other accounts represent this to have been impossible, because their own officers and officers of the artillery endeavoured to stop and rally them without success, except so far as a portion of the 9th Lancers was concerned. The enemy was not slow to take advantage of this extraordinary flight; they pursued—dashed in among the horse artillery—cut down seventy-five gunners, and took six guns. The arrival of artillery reserves, the rallying of a portion of the 9th Lancers, and the steadiness of the infantry, prevented the destruction of the whole right wing. The fresh artillery which came up opened upon the Sikh cavalry with grape and canister, with such precision and fury that they retreated. Two of the captured guns were recovered in the retreat. The Sikhs gradually withdrew, leaving the field of battle in possession of the British, who, on this account, claimed the victory. The enemy, in the night, carried away all the guns which the British had spiked during the action, the four pieces of horse artillery which they took on the British right, and five stand of colours, and on these grounds also claimed the victory; and a salute of twenty-one guns in honour of the triumph was, as the English thought, most impudently fired. This was also done at Attock, in the capital of Chuttur Singh, and wherever the Sikh troops held a position. The Sikhs also claimed the victory for the same reason as the English did—being left in possession of the field. It was, in truth, a drawn battle. The Sikhs having began the engagement, and the English having retained the ground on which they fought, while the former retired their line, the battle may more correctly be said to have been won by the British; but the advantages gained were altogether on the part of the Sikhs, who continued to occupy for a month positions from which the British did not attempt to dislodge them. During that time Lord Gough waited for reinforcements, and felt the tardy arrival of some of the troops whose presence had been detained before Mooltan, as has already been shown.

The loss sustained by the Sikhs it is impossible to calculate; according to themselves it was much less than that of the English; and this is credible when the strength of their position is considered, and the losses to which the unaccountable flight of Pope’s brigade exposed the British light. The English loss, according to the official returns, was three thousand men in killed and wounded, nearly one-third of whom belonged to the former class; this, however, did not comprehend all the slain, for many were so horribly wounded by the close discharge of artillery that they died in a few days. The proportion of the wounded who were hit mortally was beyond that which usually occurs in battle. There were also many desertions of Sepoy soldiers to Shere Singh, but more especially of Sikh soldiery under Lord Gough’s command.

The flight of the large body of cavalry under Brigadier Pope was the subject of much investigation and of shame. The brigadier was too old for the duties imposed upon him; he had no experience in war, and was placed in the command from seniority. This gave occasion, in England, to denounce the substitution of seniority for fitness, so common in the British army. Unhappily, the officer himself who was so much concerned in the responsibility of the event, and who had been much respected by his brother officers and his commander, was placed beyond all human accountability, for he fell in front of his fugitive soldiers. Colonel King, of the 14th Light Dragoons, who succeeded Colonel Havelock, who fell at Rumnugger, was also much censured. His defence was, that he did his utmost to rally his men in vain; that they were generally light small men, mounted upon light small horses; whereas the cavalry immediately opposed to them were not only much more numerous, but cuirassiers—powerful, heavy men, with long and superior swords, and admirably mounted. The colonel complained of the bad manufacture of the English weapons, which bent or broke against the swords and cuirasses of the Sikh cavalry, When Sir Charles Napier arrived to command the forces in India late in the spring, he inspected the 14th, and addressed them, referring to the allegations of their colonel, and telling them that they were fine, stalwart, broad-chested fellows, that would follow anywhere that they were led. Colonel King took this so much to heart, that he retired from the field of inspection and shot himself. Sir William Napier (brother to Sir Charles) afterwards denied in the London newspapers that his brother intended to cast any reflection upon Colonel King. It was, however, generally believed in the army, that Sir Charles levelled a censure at the unfortunate officer, whose sensitive honour could not endure such a reflection from so high an authority. His fate excited deep commisseration, and the address of Sir Charles was disapproved of indignantly by the whole army.

The generalship of Lord Gough became the subject of anonymous criticism in India, and open attack in England; but the brave and skilful general proved at the subsequent battle of Goojerat that he knew how to gain victory at as little cost of blood as it was possible for military knowledge to ensure. The late drawn battle—if such it may be called—was designated the battle of Chillianwallah, after a village in the immediate neighbourhood of which the British had encamped. The Sikhs know it as the battle of Russool, the more appropriate name to give it, as it was in its vicinity the chief strength of the Sikh position was found.

Leaving the movements of the two armies confronting one another to the narrative of another chapter, it is now necessary to turn to other scenes of interest.

CANADA.

This fine colony continued prosperous and powerful, yet the dissatisfaction of previous years with the imperial administration was not removed. On the 28th of February the first session of the new parliament was opened by the governor-general, who delivered a speech which was intended to be concilatory, but which did not accomplish its purpose. An amendment was proposed to the address, which was carried against the government by a majority of fifty-four to twenty. In this amendment the legislature plainly declared its want of confidence in the governor’s advisers; the ministry therefore resigned.

THE WEST INDIES.

During this year the West India colonists were discontented, and complained of distress, while at home they were regarded with suspicion by the religious and anti-slavery public, as designing, if possible, to restore slavery.

The immigration of hill Coolies from India into several of the colonies, which was promoted by the West India legislative bodies at the public expense, increased this jealousy towards the planters. The taxes to meet the expenses incidental to the immigration were levied in such a manner as to fall especially upon the emancipated negro, to compete with whose labour the Coolie was imported. This irritated the classes in England whose dispositions were unfavourable to the planter. The press, the pulpit, and missionary meetings denounced the Coolie trade and traders, and, in terms of eloquent indignation, represented the negro inhabitants of the West Indies as still subjected to the plunder and persecution of a tyrant race. The Coolie immigration was depicted as rivaling the slave-trade in atrocity, and its failure was boldly predicted on every religious platform. These predictions certainly were fulfilled—the Coolie speculation was a failure. A writer of that date, well acquainted with the facts of the case, thus noticed them:—“One of the most recent efforts made to substitute free for slave labour in the West Indies, it will be recollected, was the bringing of a number of hill Coolies from India for this purpose. The experiment has miserably failed, as acknowledged by the chancellor of the exchequer in his speech on the introduction of the sugar duties bill, now in progress through parliament. The Coolies were conveyed to Demerara from Madras in ship-loads to supply the labour market in British Guiana, at the expense of that colony; and, as our correspondent learned, at a rate which even reached the Negro himself, against whom they came to compete. Many agents were employed in their importation, and large bounties were given; such temptations led parties to crowd the colony with numbers of miserable persons, quite unable to perform any laborious employment. It was the general opinion that, owing to physical inability, scarcely one in a hundred of these Coolies was fit for manual labour; and whilst our correspondent was at Demerara a law was issued by the governor granting permission for labourers to enter Guiana from certain countries only, omitting the East Indies. The wretchedness of these immigrant Coolies was truly distressing; numbers of them might be seen wandering about, and living in the open air on charity, in George Town, congregating about the market-house and elsewhere, many of them covered with sores, and all but naked. Hospitals were subsequently provided for them in different places, in which they were maintained at the public expense; and by this means they were removed from about the town and frontier of the colony. Mr. Stocqueler, in his very useful ‘Oriental Interpreter,’ refers to the Coolies in connection with the Bheels, a race of people who inhabit the northern part of the chain of Ghauts, running inland parallel with the coast of Malabar. On one side they are bordered by the Coolies, and on another by the Goands of Goandwana. They are considered to have been the aborigines of Central India, and, with the Coolies, Goands, and Ramooses, are bold, daring, and predatory marauders—occasionally mercenaries, but invariably plunderers. There are, however, many shades of difference in the extent of the depredations of these several people, in which the balance of enormity is said to be considerably on the side of the Bheels. They are, nevertheless, described as faithful when employed and trusted; and the travellers who pay them their _choute_, or tribute, may leave untold treasure in their hands, and may consider themselves as safe with them as in the streets of London. Their word is sacred, their promise unimpeachable.’”

There was another class of immigrants who were found more useful, the Portuguese, from Madeira. They were highly prized by the Demerara planters; but even among them the mortality was very considerable.

FOREIGN RELATIONS.

In the East the only hostile acts required from the British government, during the year 1848, was the suppression of Chinese piracy. During the year, also, the Rif pirates gave trouble on the shores of northern Africa. Employment was also given to British cruisers in various other parts of the world in the suppression of piracy and the protection of British commerce.

THE UNITED STATES.

The measures of Sir Robert Peel’s late government in the disputes which arose between England and the United States, whatever their demerits, had the effect of preserving peace between the two countries, which, during the tumults of continental Europe, the disturbances in Ireland, and the agitations in England during 1848, was of the utmost consequence to Great Britain. The discovery of gold in California, although an American event, exercised much influence upon the commerce and monetary affairs of the British Isles, and tended still more to draw the bonds of amity close between the two great British nations.

SPAIN: DIPLOMATIC DISAGREEMENT WITH THAT COUNTRY; DISMISSION OF THE ENGLISH AMBASSADOR.

Spain, ever fruitful of internal discord, was not less so in 1848. The history of the court was one of scandal, and of the government one of weakness, fickleness, and incapacity. The year 1847 closed by a change of ministry, when the infamous Narvaez was in the ascendant, and his creatures were gathered around him in the guise of a cabinet. The queen-mother, it was declared, had been married in December, 1833, to her paramour, Munoz, within three months of the decease of the king her husband, and this was kept secret for fifteen years from the Spanish people, until, under the auspices of the new government of Narvaez, it was at last brought to light, for purposes at once venal and revolting. This disclosure incensed the Spanish people, and revived the hopes of both the republican and Carlist parties. The corrupt practices of Senor Salamanca also coming before the public, disgusted the nation with its public men. As will be seen on another page, France effected a new revolution in February. Louis Philipp was dethroned, and the republic was once more proclaimed. From the immediate contiguity of the two countries it was feared that the French republic would find some cause of quarrel with the imprudent and despotic government of Spain. England, alarmed lest she should be once more involved in a war with France for the protection of the Iberian peninsula, looked with concern upon the tyrannical and profligate conduct of the Spanish court and government; and Lord Palmerston, therefore, addressed a note to Sir H. Bulwer, the British representative at Madrid, requesting him to make such representations to the government, and offer such advice as would tend to consolidate the independence and preserve the peace of Spain. This Sir H. Bulwer performed; but the Spanish minister, the Duc de Soto Mayer, resented this interference as an insult to Spain, and the British minister was dismissed from Madrid. In England Lord Palmerston was denounced as a meddler, and a minister whose policy was provocative of foreign discord. The course of policy, however, adopted by the noble viscount was customary with all British ministers, did not exceed the right which one friendly nation has to advise another, and was based upon the actual and recognised relations of Spain and Great Britain. It afforded, however, an opportunity to ignorant declaimers, in and out of parliament, to oppose the astute yet direct and manly policy of the great English foreign minister. The interruption of diplomatic relations between the two countries continued throughout the year.

THE CONTINENTAL REVOLUTIONS.

Although not strictly forming a portion of the history of England, it would be impossible to relate the events in which the interests of England were involved, without some extended reference to the mighty moral earthquakes of continental Europe. France was the centre of these terrible upheavings of human passion and power. Her government, under the base king Louis Philippe, whom the revolution of 1830 had placed upon the throne, was the most corrupt which France had ever known. Tyranny infinitely more oppressive than that which he was permitted to wield had often cursed France, but never before were such efforts made as by him to corrupt the whole people. The unprincipled conduct of every department of the government directed by Guizot, the treacherous and subservient tool of his bad master, utterly disgusted all honourable men; and even those who were willing to sell themselves and their country, despised and hated the purchasers. Even the correct manners of Louis Philippe’s court, and the strict domestic morality observed there, at last increased the public indignation and contempt, for it left the universal impression that he was a cold and heartless hypocrite. During 1847 a desire for electoral reform, which had existed for many years among the more thoughtful politicians of France, became more thoroughly developed among most classes of citizens, and agitations to accomplish this object were set on foot. The tyrant king opposed this feeling and these movements, at first by corrupt means, and, ultimately, by the hands of his unscrupulous minister, he resorted to coercion. Public meetings were suppressed, and the liberty of the press was invaded. The insulted citizens of Paris rose in arms, barricades were erected, and the king, as cowardly as he was corrupt, had not the manhood to stand by his own measures, but fled, with craven spirit, to take refuge in the country whose queen and people he had betrayed. Under the common English name of Smith this proud prince found means of escaping from the country he had deceived, pillaged, and oppressed, and which allowed him to pass away without pursuit, and without malediction, because of its own magnanimity and the contempt with which it regarded him. Louis Philippe found a home in England, at first at Claremont, and then in Abingdon House, Kensington, where he lived for some time in apparently tranquil enjoyment, the delightful and salubrious vicinity affording to his family means of retired and pleasurable recreation.

The expulsion of the nefarious old man, who had for eighteen years ruled France on a system of false pretences, was followed by the appointment of a provisional government, consisting of Dupont (de l’Eure), Lamartine, Arago, Marie, Armand Marrast, Garnier Pages, Albert, Ledru Rollin, Ferdinand Flocon, Louis Blanc, Cremieux. No sooner was the provisional government appointed, than it was discovered that harmony among its members was impossible. The republican party was divided into two great sections—the old republicans and the “reds.” The former, like those of the United States of America, contended for self-government and equal political rights, for civil and religious liberty. The latter declared for what they called “a republic, democratic, and social,” and their aim was to establish socialism by subverting all rights, civil and religious, fusing all interests in a communal equality, no longer being subject to individual claims. The unknown of Paris were ignorant, and many of them suffered much from low wages and irregular employment; these madly grasped at a theory which promised to them a maintenance at the public expense. The state ought, in their opinion, to provide them with wages sufficient for their support, they being themselves the judges of the requisite amount, and the state should find employment, if it could, for those who were so requited, the amount of labour to be rendered was also to be decided by the workers. The theory was substantially that which prevailed among the English Chartists. The whole subject of this division of feeling and opinion in the provisional government and in the nation, with the practical results, was thus clearly set forth by a writer of that day:—“In this conflict of opinion upon the question of labour, or of communism, is the _resumé_ of all the great events that have taken place in France since the declaration of the republic on the 24th of February last. This key unlocks them all, and the efforts of this principle to establish itself, and to overthrow its opponents, explain events otherwise inexplicable, and show us in the clearest possible manner what are and what are not the great opposing forces that have since been at feud. All other forces in France have been as nothing compared with these two. The friends of monarchy, whether of the Orleans or the old Bourbon dynasty, and the friends of Napoleon, have, it is true, endeavoured to make themselves heard; but their voices have been mere whispers in comparison with the shouts and hubbub of the communists and anti-communists—of the tricolor republicans and the republicans of the _drapeau rouge_. Without this clue to the character of the revolution, the remark of Milton that the wars of the Saxon heptarchy were as unintelligible as those of kites in a neighbouring wood, would apply to the proceedings of the Parisians. Almost each day, after the 24th of February, brought tidings of change in all the relations betwixt man and man. There was fighting one day, embracing the next; every rotation of the hand brought to view a wonderful and unexpected change of figures in the political kaleidoscope. Day after day, in endless succession, there were mouthings of tumid, florid, and often unintelligible speeches, and of still more unintelligible and mysterious theories for the regeneration of mankind. Every speech and newspaper article breathed only peace and goodwill towards all men, yet almost every ordinance of the government was directed towards the organisation of armed men. There were assemblings of the people, reviews, marchings, and counter-marchings, hasty summonings at all hours, the beating of the _rappel_, and the sounding of the tocsin, in the dead of night and the early dawn. The ‘Marseillaise Hymn’ and the ‘Mourir pour la Patrie,’ were sung in every street, court, and alley, and were heard on the pillow of every recumbent citizen. Journalism became a power of tremendous magnitude and extent. People read leading articles by torchlight, and shouted out to the moon apostrophes to liberty, ay, ‘liberty, equality, fraternity.’ These three talismanic words, too often devoid of meaning in the apprehension of those who shouted them with a fervour sufficient to split the ears of the groundlings. Liberty? every man doing what he deemed best, seemed to be the interpretation of the mob. Equality? every man trying to get above every other man, seemed its natural consequences. Fraternity? every man knocking down every other man who happened to be of a different way of thinking from himself, was the manner in which the men of the _faubourgs_ seemed to construe it. Such seemed to be the epitome of the French revolution; but it was not so. There was order amid disorder; two principles were at work; and the revolution—so frivolous in its details, so momentous in its results; exhibiting so much talent and energy, so much vanity and folly, so much honesty and treachery, such kind feelings and such malignant passions, such planting of trees and cutting of throats, such recommendations of order, such instances of disorder, so much wisdom producing so much folly, so much goodness mingled with so much wickedness, so much gravity combined with so much levity, such long speeches and such brief epigrams—was quite explainable wherever the mind was able to grasp it as a whole, and see the operation of the two great and all pervading principles which we have mentioned.”

The party of the communists in the provisional government comprised three members—Ledru Rollin, Louis Blanc, and Albert. This number, being small in proportion to the whole, offended the socialists; but Lamartine and Arago possessed such influence with the three “reds,” that they were for a time induced to co-operate with the rest for the general good, and in a system of rational government. To those two great men France was deeply indebted; their appearance was at times sufficient to still a tumult.

The three communist members of the government gradually became more exacting, and at last the influence of the philosophical republicans and statesmen, who were associated with them, failed to keep within bounds the communist sympathies of these hot-headed and imprudent men. In an evil hour, Lamartine and some of his colleagues, who, like him, had just notions of state affairs, and correct views of political economy, conceded to Ledru Roll in and his brothers of the _drapeau rouge_ a certain organisation for the employment of labour. From that hour the doom of the new republic was sealed—it was the beginning of the end. Men of property and sagacity stood aloof. M. Goodcheaux resigned, and many official persons of eminent knowledge and experience followed his example. Meanwhile Paris was kept in continual apprehension by popular demonstrations, and commercial failures shook the public credit. The working population became more and more dissatisfied, and menaced public order and the existence of all rational government.

The provisional government called a constituent assembly, and the representatives of the people were to assemble in Paris on a certain day in April, but the assemblage was afterwards deferred to the 4th of May. Ledru Rollin addressed a circular to the prefects and other departmental and commercial authorities, urging upon them the support of republican candidates at the elections. This measure Ledru Rollin and some of his colleagues justified on the ground that there were already parties whose reactionary efforts might be successful in returning Orleanist, Buonapartist, or ultramontane representatives, who might form a majority in the assembly, or, at all events, a minority large enough to embarrass the republic. By republican members, however, Rollin and Louis Blanc meant socialists, and this effort on their part to influence by official means the returns of the constituent assembly, destroyed all confidence in their justice, impartiality, and toleration. Rollin defended the measures he had adopted in terms, if possible, more imprudent than the measures themselves, and Albert and Blanc went still further in their indiscreet words, as well as excited zeal. The result was that moderate men not only lost confidence in them personally, but became apprehensive of the designs and tendency of their party, and the elections were much less favourable to the views and wishes of the “reds” than would otherwise have been the case. While Ledru Rollin and his communist colleagues in office were mismanaging everything connected with home interests, Lamartine was conducting the foreign affairs of France with surpassing judgment. At first all European governments saw the proclamation of a French republic with awe, and their thoughts were only how most effectually to arm and combine against French republic propagandism. Lamartine soothed this alarm. He addressed a diplomatic circular to all the agents of France through Europe, expounding the principles upon which the French republic was founded. His policy might be summed up in a single sentence of this manifesto,—“The republic is the will of a great people; it derives its title from itself. Its policy is peace.”

The government adopted the plan of large workshops, and workmen were employed at the rate of a million and a half sterling a year. Louis Blanc admitted that unless the work produced should prove remunerative in the market, it would be impossible for the government to continue so enormous an outlay. The operatives, perceiving the hesitation of the government, prepared to carry their communistic views into operation themselves, without having the trouble of using the provisional government for their execution.

On the appointed day the assembly met, and the republic was proclaimed. The real feelings and opinions of the assembly were soon seen; they were elicited by the ministerial reports. The following description of the scene presented on the occasion is quoted from the contemporary press:—

“All the preliminaries having been gone through, powers verified, a president (M. Buchez) and vice-presidents, secretaries, &c, appointed, the members of the government proceed to lay before the assembly an account of their ministries since the establishment of the republic.

“On Saturday, May 6, the president announced that the citizen minister, Lamartine, was about to make a communication from the government, when that gentleman ascended the tribune, and proceeded to read a document, which purported to be a report of the acts of the provisional government in their _ensemble_—the restoration of order, organisation of the national guard, _mobile garde_, the army, &c.—enumerating what had been done in the midst of two months of a crisis during which not a drop of blood had been shed. Many portions of this report were much applauded, and at the close there was great enthusiasm.

“He was succeeded by Ledru Rollin, the minister of the interior, who read a report of the acts of his administration, which he read with great vehemence, but without exciting applause, except of a very partial kind from a small minority.

“The minister of justice (M. Crémieux) next ascended the tribune, and proceeded to read a report of his official acts, in which he recounted all the ameliorations applied to the administration of justice, the abolition of capital punishment for capital offences, abolition of the pillory, &c.

“The next member of the government who ascended the tribune was M. Louis Blanc, who excited a smile by his first act, which was to stoop and arrange a _tabouret_, or footstool, on which to raise himself high enough to be seen. The voice that came from this small form was firm, clear, and loud; and he, instead of reading, delivered an extempore oration in favour of his _Organisation du Travail_, to which he said the government stood committed by its promises to the people assembled before the Hôtel de Ville the day after the revolution. The assembly received his oration with a coldness which augured ill.

“M. Carnot, the minister of public instruction, was afterwards heard, and was succeeded by M. Bethmont, the minister of commerce, who deposited on the table the _exposé_ of the state of his department. M. Gamier Pages, minister of finance, concluded his report on the financial condition of the country.

“M. Arago, the minister of war and marine, and M. Marie, the minister of public works, next presented the situation of their departments; and were succeeded by M. Lamartine, minister for foreign affairs, who took a short review of the aspect of affairs throughout Europe. The general tone of his remarks was pacific, and in accordance with the principles of his address some time before to the diplomatic agents of France.

“In the course of the sitting a note from Béranger, the poet, resigning his seat for Paris, was read; but the assembly unanimously refused to accept the resignation.

“A stormy discussion then arose on the motion of M. Domes, offering the thanks of the assembly to the provisional government for their conduct in the administration of affairs, and nominating a committee of five to act as a government _ad interim_, until the permanent government of the country had been constituted. Subsequently, after fearful uproar, the motion was modified by the withdrawal of the latter part of it, and the assembly voted that the provisional government had deserved well of the country. The vote was almost unanimous, M. Barbes, M. Durrien, and another rising alone against it.

“On Tuesday, at eleven o’clock, M. Buchez, the president, took the chair.

“Some apprehensions were entertained that the result of this sitting would occasion disturbances. The workmen met in several quarters of Paris, and in the wood of Boulogne, and were understood to have declared that if M. Ledru Rollin was excluded from the government, they would take arms. Extraordinary precautions had accordingly been adopted around the hall. A large force was stationed in the adjoining garden, and invitations had been sent to the national guards to hold themselves in readiness to march at the first signal.

“On the following Wednesday, the appointment of an executive committee, in lieu of the provisional government, was announced. The result of the ballot was—

Arago....................................... 725

Gamier Pages................................ 715

Marie ..................................... 702

Lamartine .................................. 643

Ledru Rollin..........,..................... 598

“Those five members having obtained the required majority, were proclaimed members of the executive committee. M. Louis Blanc, M. Albert, and M. Flocon were entirely excluded—a fact which the _peuple_ and the ‘communists’ cherished in vindictive remembrance. M. Ledru Rollin, whose violence had alarmed the majority, though not excluded, was at the bottom of the list; and M. de Lamartine, who had lent his high name and great popularity to support M. Ledru Rollin, was placed next lowest—all of them being most significant facts to show the spirit of the assembly, and the probable policy to be hereafter expected from it.”

The discontent of the _ouvriers_ gathered strength, and on the 15th of May they rose in insurrection. After much severe fighting the insurgents were defeated, the loyalty of the troops, national guards, and _garde mobile_ to the republic sustaining the cause of order. The _garde mobile_ had been organised from the very lowest classes in Paris— classes below the workmen—and was composed of mere youths, who distinguished themselves beyond all other forces by their heroic courage throughout that eventful day. The result to the leaders of the socialists was that many of them, such as Albert, Barbes, Blanqui, Raspail, and Sobrier were consigned to prison. Louis Blanc had a very narrow escape of being numbered among them.

The suppression of the clubs and of the _atteliers nationaux_, followed this success on the part of the government, but still more exasperated the workmen. In this condition of affairs Prince Louis Napoleon was elected for Paris, as representative in the room of one of the double returns made in the general election. He was also elected for three departmental vacancies, caused also by double returns in the general election. It at once became the fashion to laud the prince. All parties, except the “republicans pure and simple,” seemed to think that Napoleonism offered a refuge from anarchy. The “reds” favoured him from hatred to the party of the executive committee, or rather the majority of that party; but in reality no faction hated Louis Napoleon at heart so much as they. At all events, his name became a rallying word for nearly all the lovers of order, who were not believers in the theory of philosophical republicanism. The most ominous thing connected with these demonstrations was the appearance of a journal entitled _Le Napoléonien_. Placards also appeared with the words “_Louis Napoleon! Vive l’Empereur! A bas la République!_” and crowds, shouting the name of Buonaparte, collected in various parts of Paris, the _générale_ and the _rappel_ were beaten, troops assembled, and the guards, _sédentaires_ and _mobile_, were frequently assembled to protect the government and the representatives. Shots were fired, some lives were lost, and the panic became general throughout Paris. Lamartine took advantage of this, and proposed to the assembly that the laws of 1816 and 1832 should be enforced, forbidding the entrance of any of the Buonaparte family into France. This motion was received by the assembly with loud shouts of “_Vive la République!_” Many who joined in that shout would have shouted still more cordially for Louis Philippe or the representative of the older branch of the Bourbon family. The cry of the republic answered their present purpose of committing the executive committee to imprudent measures, and of excluding the Buonapartists, who were regarded as more formidable rivals to the Bourbons than the republicans, old or new. The assembly was not able to carry out its own resolution; after coquetting with public opinion and persisting for a time, the exclusion of the Buonapartes was given up as impracticable; and the prince, again elected for Corsica and other electoral districts, took his place in the legislative assembly, accepted the oaths to the republic, and before the year expired was president. Before that was accomplished France was doomed to undergo fresh trials, and Paris to witness still more sanguinary scenes.

The question of labour-regulation continued, under every improvement and modification that was devised, to embarrass the government; and it was at last resolved to remove from Paris great numbers of the workmen to distant parts of the country, to be engaged there on various public works. This the men determined to resist, and to subvert a government which dared to suggest such a measure. The government was, however, forced to adopt at once some plan to rid itself of the peril and imminent ruin of the _atteliers_. In the National Assembly, Victor Hugo, M. Léon Faucher, and others, denounced the connivance of the executive committee with a state of things that must speedily destroy France. The number of workmen then engaged in the government workshops of Paris was one hundred and twenty thousand. On the night of the 22nd of June, cries of “Down with the Assembly!” were raised by the _ouvriers_ in the streets. In the morning, signs of disturbance were indicated in many quarters. In the course of a few hours the workmen began to erect barricades. Fighting began between the national guards and the constructors of the barricades at the Porte Saint-Denis. Throughout the day barricades were demolished by the national guards and _gardes mobiles_, but only after fierce and deadly conflict. During the night of the 23rd new barricades were raised as if by magic, and on the morning of the 24th, a system of ingenious and powerful defences existed through a large extent of Paris, behind which and commanding which, from the windows and house-tops, well-armed and determined men were placed. Happily the government consigned to General Cavaignac, minister of war, all the functions of a dictator. He was ably seconded by General Lamoricière, and other officers of rank, several of whom sealed their fidelity in death. During the 24th, terrible battle raged in the streets of Paris, but the troops and civic soldiery stormed the barricades and conquered. Mortars were used, from which showers of shells were discharged, which bursting behind the barricades shattered these defences, ponderous although they were, scattering them, and the bodies of the brave men who defended them to the last. Shells also were thrown into the houses, whence a fire was kept up upon the military in the streets: many of these houses were torn to pieces, burying the defenders in their ruins. In some streets the troops had to cut their way from house to house, the sappers knocking down the party-walls: the contest in these directions resembled that at Saragossa, where, amidst crumbling walls and blazing roofs, men fought foot to foot, in the agonies of valour, fanaticism, and despair. Throughout the 25th and 26th the conflict raged, but was terminated on the evening of that day. Twenty thousand men were killed or wounded. General Cavaignac was elected by the assembly president of the council. The gallant general conducted his administration with justice and wisdom.

During the month of June, a committee appointed by the assembly was engaged in drawing up a constitution; they presented a report to the following effect:—They proposed that there should be a president elected by universal suffrage for a period of four years; he was to be a French citizen, not less than thirty years of age. The legislature to consist of one chamber; that chamber to consist of seven hundred and thirty members. The ministers to be appointed and dismissed at the pleasure of the president. A council of state to be appointed out of the assembly, forty in number, and chosen by the assembly itself; that body to draw up the projects of law which the government might think fit to bring in. The punishment of death for political offences was interdicted. Slavery to be abolished in all French colonies. The press to be free. All religions to be allowed, and their ministers to be paid by the state. Public instruction to be free, subject to the superintendence of the state. Substitutes for the army and navy to be disallowed. The national debt to be deemed sacred. Property inviolable. Algeria, and all other French colonies, to be integral parts of the French soil, but to be governed by laws peculiar to themselves. Trials to be public, and the office of judge to be permanent.

This project of constitution was accepted as a base for further consideration. Subsequently it was modified, but not in any way essentially to alter its principles. The resolution regarding colonial slavery roused the whole colonial interest of France against the republic. That which forbid substitutes for the army and navy created wide-spread dissatisfaction. The former of these provisions of the constitution was so just and humane, that it deserved to be carried out at any cost; the other was impolitic, as it deprived large numbers who would not serve in the army or navy of the opportunity of avoiding that service, if they fell under the ballot, by nominating a substitute willing to serve if remunerated.

The question of the adoption of the constitution was finally put on the 4th of November, and carried, thirty voices being dissident. In the evening of the same day, one hundred and one cannon shots announced to Paris and its environs that the work of preparing the constitution had been completed. The public made no manifestation of feeling. Only the old republican party valued so free a constitution. The _ouvriers_ cared not for it, nor for anything short of socialism. The Absolutists hated liberty in every form. The Buonapartists regarded it as an instrument that might be made available for reconstituting the empire. The Orleanists received it with more malignant hostility than any other class. They professed the theory of a constitutional monarchy; but the free and just and noble constitution of the republic contrasted so advantageously with the corrupt practices and _doctrinaire_ theories of Louis Philippe and his favourites, that the Orleans party betrayed the most malevolent feelings to the republican leaders, such as Cavaignac and Lamartine, and the uttermost repugnance to the republic itself. Louis Philippe, in England, entertained his friends with garrulous accounts of his own wisdom in all the measures he had adopted, predicting that France, enamoured of the glory of his reign, would repent and return to him again! His queen, equally incapable of appreciating France, dwelt only upon the injury inflicted upon religion by the conduct of the French people in dethroning their king, and making an indiscriminate establishment of all churches a feature of the constitution. Her silence, gravity, and the religious view she took of the event were strangely in contrast to the vanity, levity, and self-gratulation with which the king talked of his temporarily humbled fortunes.

The proclamation of the constitution failed in quieting enemies, restoring public confidence in the state of affairs, or reviving material prosperity, notwithstanding all that so many eloquent orators of the old republican party predicted to that effect. The _Presse_ at this juncture gave a most melancholy account of the sufferings of the poor, and the distress of the commercial classes:—“It will be necessary to feed at the public expense two hundred and sixty-three thousand persons during the present month, two hundred and eighty thousand during the month of December, three hundred thousand during the month of January, three hundred thousand during the month of February, three hundred thousand during the month of March, and two hundred and eighty thousand during the month of April next; and the sum granted by the assembly will not afford each individual more than 12 centimes (1d. and ⅖ths) per day each to exist upon. At the same time the revenue of the city of Paris has fallen off by a sum of 16,000,000 fr. (£640,000), which must be made good by an addition to the assessed taxes of more than 50 per cent.”

The Socialists were not without hope that matters would turn to their account; and although they did not dare to defy the republic in action, they became more resentful in language than ever. They continued to hold meetings, in which opinions at variance with all morality and civil order were expressed, and which would have alarmed every government in Europe, had not recent events been of a character to confine the attention of these governments to domestic affairs. A banquet, under the title of “The Confederation of the People of Europe,” was held, at which eight hundred men, French, Poles, Belgians, Germans, and Italians assembled; the most furious threats to kings, governments, persons of property, and to all persons everywhere not favourable to communistic projects, were uttered. One blasphemous toast will show the _animus_ of the assembly, and of its orators. It was delivered by M. Saint Just:—“To the men strong, courageous, and valiant in the cause of humanity. To those whose names serve as a guide, a support, and an example to the degenerate beings—to all those whom history calls heroes!... To Brutus, to Catiline, to Jesus Christ, to Julian the Apostate, to Attila!... To all the thinkers of the middle age.... To unfortunate thinkers!... To Jean Jacques Rousseau, and his pupil, Maximilian Robespierre!” This enumeration of names was received with a triple salvo of applause, and was encored, with which request M. Saint Just complied. The banquet concluded with the “Marseillaise” and the “Chant du Départ” sung by the entire company.

The great work of electing a president proceeded without interruption or disturbance, and the result was the election of Prince Louis Napoleon by an overwhelming majority. The following, by an eye-witness, is a condensed account of the transactions in the assembly upon the occasion of formally announcing this result. The letter was dated November 20th, and referred to the previous Wednesday, as selected for the ceremony by the executive government, instead of Thursday, which had been publicly announced; the change of the day arising from the apprehension of disturbances consequent upon an attempt which was expected to be made to greet Napoleon as emperor. The prince himself acquiesced in the arrangement, to prevent unnecessary bloodshed:—

“At two o’clock orders were forwarded by the government to the colonels of the 24th regiment of infantry and of two regiments of dragoons to march their corps towards the National Assembly. At three o’clock two battalions of the former, and a battalion of _garde mobile_, preceded by a detachment of national guards, entered the Garden of the Tuileries, and advanced to the gate of the Place de la Concorde, a general, accompanied by his aide-de-camp, and escorted by a few lancers, taking his station close to the obelisk. In the meantime, the quays adjoining the palace were lined with dragoons. The presence of these troops, which nobody could account for, created much uneasiness, though in some groups a report circulated that the assembly was about to proclaim the president of the republic.

“At half-past three o’clock M. Marrast, president, took the chair. The assembly was extremely numerous, and animated groups were to be seen here and there through the hall. Prince Louis Napoleon was not present at the opening of the sitting, but his cousin, Jerome Buonaparte, occupied his seat. The public galleries were crowded. In one of them we remarked Princess Mathilda, sister of Jerome, and next to her M. Emile de Girardin. Two aides-de-camp appointed in the morning by the prince, M. Edgar Ney, and a son of General Pajol, were also present. No serious discussion could take place in the state of excitement of the assembly, and most of the orders of the day were adjourned. Two applications for leave to prosecute Messrs. Caussidière and Turk, representatives of the people, were rejected.

“The committee charged with examining the electoral returns for the presidency entered the chamber at four o’clock, when the president immediately called to the tribune M. Waldeck Rousseau, the reporter of the committee, who read the report. It stated that seven million three hundred and forty-nine thousand citizens of the republic had voted at the presidential election, and that the votes had been divided in the following proportion over the surface of the country:—

M. Louis Napoloen had obtained ... 5,434,226 suffrages.

General Cavaignac ............... 1,448,107 „

M. Ledru-Rollin ................. 370,119 „

M. Raspail........................ 36,900 „

M. Lamartine ................... 17,910 „

General Changamier ............. 4,790 „

Votes lost........................ 12,600 „

Among the latter were many containing unconstitutional denominations, and the committee had besides denounced to the minister of the interior for prosecution a few individuals guilty of acts of violence. At Grenoble, in particular, public tranquillity was slightly disturbed. The committee had, moreover, examined several protests addressed to it against the election of M. Buonaparte. In one of them he was declared ineligible, because he had forfeited his rights as a Frenchman by his naturalisation in Switzerland. The members of the committee however had, by a unanimous decision, passed to the order of the day on that difficulty. By the number of the votes, and the regularity of the operation, M. Louis Napoleon was the real elect of the nation, and the assembly had only to order that the executive power be transferred to his hands. After paying a tribute of praise and gratitude to General Cavaignac, which was ratified by the loud acclamations of the entire assembly, M. Rousseau concluded by calling upon it to proclaim the president, and exclaimed, ‘Have confidence, God protects France.’

“General Cavaignac, having then ascended the tribune, said, ‘I have the honour of informing the National Assembly that the members of the cabinet have just sent me their collective resignation; and I now come forward to surrender the powers with which it had invested me. You will understand, better than I can express, the sentiments of gratitude which the recollection of the confidence placed in me by the assembly, and of its kindness to me, will leave in my heart.’ This short address was received with deafening cries of ‘Vive la République!’

“M. Marrast then rose and said, ‘In the name of the French people! Whereas Citizen Charles Louis Napoleon Buonaparte, born in Paris, possesses all the qualifications of eligibility required by the 44th article of the constitution; whereas the ballot gave him the absolute majority of suffrages for the presidency: by virtue of the powers conferred on the assembly by the 47th and 48th articles of the constitution, I proclaim him President of the French Republic, from this day until the second Sunday of May, 1852, and I now invite him to ascend the tribune and take the oath required by the constitution.’

“M. Louis Napoleon, who was seated near M. Odilon Barrot, then rose and advanced towards the tribune. He was dressed in black; on his left breast was a _crachat_ set with diamonds, and under his coat he wore the grand cordon of the Legion of Honour. Having mounted the tribune, the president read to him the oath of fidelity to the constitution, to which M. Louis Napoleon replied, ‘Je le jure.’ He then asked leave to address a few words to the assembly. The suffrages of the nation and his personal sentiments, he said, commanded his future conduct, and imposed upon him duties which he would fulfil as a man of honour. He would treat as enemies of the country whoever should attempt to subvert the constitution, and between him and the assembly would exist the most perfect harmony of views. He would exert himself to place society on its real basis, and to relieve the sufferings of a people who had borne such generous and intelligent testimony. He would endeavour to restore to the government the moral force of which it stood in need, and to maintain peace and order. He had called around him men distinguished for talent and patriotism, who, notwithstanding the differences of their political origin, would assist him in consolidating the new institutions of the country. He then eulogised the becoming conduct and loyalty of which General Cavaignac had given so many and such signal proofs, and pledged himself strenuously to labour to accomplish the great mission of founding the republic, without recurring to reactionary or Utopian means; and, with the assistance of God, he trusted to achieve useful if not great things.

“This speech was received with unanimous cries of ‘Vive la République!’ and M. Louis Buonaparte, having descended the tribune, went up to the seat of General Cavaignac, and cordially shook him by the hand. The new president was then met by M. Odilon Barrot and his friends of the right, who escorted him out of the hall. In leaving the hall the president was accompanied by a great number of the members of the assembly, and passed between a double line of soldiers and national guards, which extended through the Salle des Pas Perdus to the gate upon the quay facing the Place de la Concorde. There was no manifestation of enthusiasm at this moment. A carriage waited for the president at the gate, in which he left for the palace of the Elysée Bourbon, escorted by a squadron of dragoons and lancers. The cannon of the Invalides were discharged as a salute at the moment. General Changarnier attended on the occasion, and directed the proceedings. It was remarked that, on the occasion of this solemnity, all the enthusiasm of the assembly was shown to General Cavaignac, and the utmost coldness towards Prince Louis.

“M. Marrast next announced that M. Odilon Barrot was charged with the construction of the new cabinet, which would be communicated by a message to the assembly. The house afterwards adjourned.”

Such were the great events in France during the year 1818, events which too nearly affected the connection of England with that country to be given here in less detail.

During the progress of these transactions the relations of Great Britain and France became delicate and critical; but the wisdom of the provisional government on the one hand, and of the British government on the other, prevented any collision. Diplomatic relations were necessarily interrupted for a time by the revolution, and the flight of the king; but her Britannic majesty, in her speech proroguing parliament, expressed her satisfaction that she had been enabled to resume the usual intercourse between the two governments. Several occasions arose when even a slight deviation from international equity on the part of the French provisional government might have involved the two countries in war. In England the Chartists continued the agitations already recorded, and made a grand demonstration, which will be related in another section of this chapter. While they were preparing to put forth this exhibition of strength, a correspondence was kept up by many of their leaders with those of the French Communists, and the excitement of the latter was intense as the hour approached for the grand _denouement_. Indeed, all classes of the French, except the most intelligent, especially in Paris, regarded a revolution in England as inevitable. They were under the delusion that Fergus O’Connor and his colleagues and followers were, politically speaking, the English people. The following account of this impression was given by a gentleman then resident in Paris:—“Never, during the many years I have resided in Paris, did any event in England excite such universal interest among all classes of the French as the great chartist demonstration has done. For days and days it was a leading topic in the newspapers, and for days the general subject of conversation. Both newspapers and talkers, relying on the big swagger of the Chartists, and the undisguised alarm of the government, confidently expected a stern and terrible straggle, with barricades, and bayonets, and pikes, and deluges of blood, and awful slaughter. To this expectation many added the hope of seeing a complete revolution effected—a revolution which would overthrow throne, aristocracy, and middle class, leaving the people and the republic triumphant. So deeply had this hope taken possession of the more sanguine, that they could not bear to hear the slightest doubt of its realisation expressed.”

Strange as it may seem to English readers, the chartist proceedings in England, and those of the Irish repeal party, had considerable influence not only in sustaining unreasonable expectation among the French workmen, but even on their modes of procedure. It was not until the speeches of O’Connor and other Chartists claiming “the land for the people,” and the articles of Mitchell and others in Ireland demanding for the farmers a right in the soil, were circulated in Paris, that the workmen there began an agitation against rent. This they maintained until the restoration of order restored to the house-owners the means of asserting the rights of property. The following graphic and lively description of the agitation, incited and fostered under such circumstances, is no exaggeration:—“The past week has been the calmest which we have had since the revolution. We have had no forced illuminations, no planting of trees of liberty, no physical-force demonstrations, no great display of any kind; in fact, we have been decidedly dull. But in some parts of the city, our sovereign lord and master, the Mob, has been graciously pleased to afford us a little interesting excitement by bullying the landlords into giving receipts for their rents, without the usual preliminary ceremony of fingering the cash. ‘Base is the slave that pays his rent’ is now the motto of the mob, and his mobship chalks it up along with ‘liberty, equality, fraternity!’ To show, however, that he is really a good fellow at heart, the said mob no sooner swindles (I am afraid it amounts to swindling in English) the landlord out of his rent, than he invests a small portion of the coin in the purchase of a tricolor flag, with which he decorates the landlord’s house. And such is the worthy fellow’s moderation, that even when the landlord has refused to be victimised, the mob has not inflicted summary vengeance on him; he has only stuck a black flag before the offender’s door, or playfully made his effigy dangle by the neck from the nearest lamp-post.”

In Ireland the progress of sedition afforded a much more favourable opportunity for displaying the equity and prudence of the French provisional government. An address was voted to the republic of France by the Young Irelanders, who styled themselves the people of Ireland, although they well knew that millions of Irishmen, numbering among them her most intelligent and influential citizens, repudiated the principles and proceedings of the party. A deputation, consisting of Mr. Smith O’Brien and several other gentlemen, were sent to Paris to express the sympathy and congratulation of the Irish people on the new-born liberty of the citizens of France. It was well understood in England, and much better understood in Ireland, that the deputation were expected to sound the French government as to any hope of assistance in case of a rising in Ireland; and also to stir up the minds of the French people generally to more decided interest for Ireland, and a greater willingness to identify the French republic with Irish hopes and aspirations. On the 3rd of April the young Ireland deputation was received by the provisional government at the Hôtel de Ville, and there presented an address in the spirit of their mission. The following reply was read by Lamartine:—

“_Citizens of Ireland_,—If we required a fresh proof of the pacific influence of the proclamation of the great democratic principle,—this new Christianity, bursting forth at the opportune moment, and dividing the world, as formerly, into a Pagan and Christian community,—we should assuredly discern this proof of the omnipotent action of an idea, in the visits spontaneously paid in this city to republican France, and the principles which animate her, by the nations, or by fractions of the nations, of Europe.

“We are not astonished to see to-day a deputation from Ireland. Ireland knows how deeply her destinies, her sufferings, and her successive advances in the path of religious liberty, of unity, and of constitutional equality with the other parts of the United Kingdom, have at all times moved the heart of Europe. We said as much, a few days ago, to another deputation of your fellow-citizens. We said as much to all the children of that glorious Isle of Erin, which the natural genius of its inhabitants, and the striking events of its history, render equally symbolical of the poetry and the heroism of the nations of the north. Rest assured, therefore, that you will find in France, under the republic, a response to all the sentiments which you express towards it.

“Tell your fellow-citizens that the name of Ireland is synonymous with the name of liberty courageously defended against privilege—that it is one common name to every French citizen. Tell them that this reciprocity which they invoke—that this hospitality of which they are not oblivious—the republic will be proud to remember and to practise invariably towards the Irish. Tell them, above all, that the French republic is not, and never will be, an aristocratic republic, in which liberty is merely abused as the mask of privilege; but a republic embracing the entire community, and securing to all the same rights and the same benefits. As regards other encouragements, it would be neither expedient for us to hold them out, nor for you to receive them. I have already expressed the same opinion with reference to Germany, Belgium, and Italy; and I repeat it with reference to every nation which is involved in internal disputes—which is either divided against itself or at variance with its government. When there is a difference of race—when nations are aliens in blood—intervention is not allowable. We belong to no party in Ireland or elsewhere, except to that which contends for justice, for liberty, and for the happiness of the Irish people. No other part would be acceptable to us, in the time of peace, in the interests and the passions of foreign nations. France is desirous of reserving herself free for the maintenance of the rights of all.

“We are at peace, and we are desirous of remaining on good terms of equality, not with this or that part of Great Britain, but with Great Britain entire. We believe this peace to be useful and honourable, not only to Great Britain and the French republic, but to the human race. We will not commit an act—we will not utter a word—we will not breathe an insinuation at variance with the principles of the reciprocal inviolability of nations which we have proclaimed, and of which the continent of Europe is already gathering the fruits. The fallen monarchy had treaties and diplomatists. Our diplomatists are nations, our treaties are sympathies. We should be insane were we openly to exchange such a diplomacy for unmeaning and partial alliances with even the most legitimate parties in the countries which surround us. We are not competent either to judge them or to prefer some of them to others; by announcing our partizanship on the one side, we should declare ourselves the enemies of the other. We do not wish to be the enemies of any of your fellow-countrymen. We wish, on the contrary, by a faithful observance of the republican pledges, to remove all the prejudices which may mutually exist between our neighbours and ourselves. This course, however painful it may be, is imposed on us by the law of nations, as well as by our historical remembrances.

“Do you know what it was which most served to irritate France and estrange her from England during the first republic? It was the civil war in a portion of our territory, supported, subsidised, and assisted by Mr. Pitt. It was the encouragement and the arms given to Frenchmen, as heroical as yourselves, but Frenchmen fighting against their fellow-citizens. This was not honourable warfare; it was a royalist propagandism waged with French blood against the republic. This policy is not yet, in spite of all our efforts, entirely effaced from the memory of the nation. Well, this cause of dissension between Great Britain and us, we will never renew by taking any similar course. We accept with gratitude expressions of friendship from the different nationalities included in the British empire. We ardently wish that justice may found and strengthen the friendship of races; that equity may become more and more its basis; but while proclaiming with you, with her (England), and with all, the holy dogma of fraternity, we will perform only acts of brotherhood, in conformity with our principles and our feelings towards the Irish nation.”

At the conclusion of this reply some present exclaimed, “Vive la République!” others “Vive le Gouvernement Provisore!” and a few cried out, “Vive Lamartine!” but the general impression was one of dissatisfaction. Smith O’Brien and his companions retired discomfited. The British government and people received the intelligence of this reply with the greatest satisfaction, and their confidence in the provisional government, and in Lamartine, more especially, was much increased. There was already more reliance upon the friendly policy of the republic than there had been upon the monarchy and the monarchial ministry of Louis Philippe. In Ireland the reply of Lamartine gave satisfaction also to the Protestants, and such of the Roman Catholic citizens as were opposed to the O’Brien movement; but the Young Irelanders, and most of the Old Irelanders, were exasperated, and in their speeches and newspapers denounced Lamartine as the enemy of liberty, the sycophant of England, and the incubus of the French provisional government. It was said that he had married an English lady, and was more English at heart than French—that he would betray the republic to England or to monarchy. Those persons who had been foremost in holding him up as a demi-god, now abused him not only as a traitor, but as weak in purpose, policy, and intellectual grasp. John Mitchell denounced him as the great obstruction to the development of European freedom, which no doubt he was to such freedom as Mitchell advocated—the plunder and tyranny of a modified communism; for while essentially holding that theory, he in some way, not very intelligible to others, repudiated it. Lamartine began his career of power by emancipating the negro race; Mitchell commenced his career as a free exile in America, some years after, by the most violent advocacy of the fetter and the whip for the coloured population of that country. The _Nation_ newspaper, week after week, informed its readers that Lamartine was an idle dreamer, a mere theoretical politician; that his mind was only constituted for the regions of romance; and that his opinion on the affairs of Ireland, England, France, or Europe was worthless. A week or two before the same paper held him up as the very Achilles of freedom, and the hope of Ireland—for it was the habit of both the parties claiming nationality in Ireland, to hope for liberty from the courage and efforts of others rather than from their own. The reply of Lamartine caused as much despondency in Ireland among the seditious, as it inspired confidence among the loyal, and among all the intelligent citizens in Great Britain. Throughout the year the conduct of the French government was internationally just and courteous, and England had no cause for complaint, but every reason to be thankful that Louis Philippe and Guizot had given place to such men as Lamartine and Cavaignac.

The revolution in France was of more importance to England than the revolutions which took place in Italy and Germany—they require, therefore, only a comparatively brief notice.

ITALY.

All Italy felt the shock of the French revolution, although, in point of time, the revolutionary feeling developed itself in Italy before it burst forth in France. Throughout the year 1847 all Switzerland, and Austrian and Papal Italy, were uneasy; and in January, six weeks before the dethronement of Louis Philippe, there were disturbances in Milan. Indeed, from the moment Pius IX. ascended the papal throne, a change came over the people of Italy: it was supposed that the pope was a patriot, and would favour the struggle for Italian liberty, and this delusion was not dispelled until after the battle of Novara. It was then found that the pope and the kasir were allies, even while the troops of the former were marching forth ostensibly to do battle for Italy.

When the tidings of the revolt in Paris reached Italy, the people flew to arms. General Radetzsky and his Austrian troops were driven from Milan; a provisional government was formed, and all Italy was called upon to arm. The King of Sardinia, who had proclaimed a most liberal constitution for his own kingdom, marched an army into Lombardy; Venice revolted; and Radetzsky retired upon Verona. The Austrian lines along the Mincio were forced, and the position of Radetzsky’s forces was dangerous. Two circumstances, however, favoured him—the supineness of the papal troops, and the junction of Nugent, an Irish marshal in the Austrian service, with the troops under his command. After various fortunes, the allied Italians were beaten; Lombardy and Venice were entirely subjected to the Austrian arms; and but for English and French diplomacy, Sardinia also would have fallen before the victorious Austrian. The English government was desirous to see Italy freed from Austrian domination, and would not have submitted to see Sardinia overthrown by an invasion of the kasir’s army. France, also, regarded events there with views similar to those entertained by England, but it did not suit the policy of either country to interfere beyond the diplomatic interposition by which Sardinia was saved. Probably they were also influenced by the suspicion that the royal house of Sardinia was more actuated by ambition than by a desire for the liberties of Italy. The fact of the king having granted a constitution did not altogether prevent such suspicions, because that was his only hope of gaining ascendancy in Italy; and the general tone of the Sardinian court and cabinet gave a colour to the impression that their policy was not entirely disinterested. His majesty was glad to consent to an armistice with Radetzsky, and to fall back behind the shields of France and England for safety. The king, however, was obliged to abdicate; shame, the defeat of his armies, the failure of his policy, and the certainty that if he remained upon the throne, the kasir would seize the first opportunity to make war upon him, determined him to abdicate.

THE PAPAL STATES.

Early in the year the pope published a new plan for the organisation of the executive government of his dominions, which gave satisfaction to the liberal friends of the popedom. On the 14th of March he proclaimed a new constitution. The resistance offered to the national will, in the case of Austria, caused him to become unpopular. On the 29th of April he addressed the cardinals in conclave, disavowing the act of the papal troops proceeding against the Austrian armies in Italy. This caused a popular tumult; the next day the people took possession of the post-office and the offices of state, and discovered that the pope and cardinals had been intriguing with Austria. The result was the entire sacrifice of the pontiff’s popularity; all confidence in his honour, and that of his cardinals, was erased from the Roman mind. Under the pressure of the public demand, he, on the 1st of May, proclaimed war against Austria, but never intended to adopt such measures as would carry the declaration into effect. He intended to deceive the people, seeing that they were determined on war; and he knew that this could be better done by retaining his authority over the troops, than by allowing the war to be carried out by a popular and lay administration, which would be in earnest. Early in May a new ministry of a liberal character was formed, but the pope’s private advisers counteracted their policy. The result was a revolution—not against the pope’s ecclesiastical, but solely against his temporal, authority. Scenes of the most dreadful nature followed, all of which might have been averted by an honest course on the part of the pontiff, and the college of cardinals. The pope was really willing to concede much; but the demand that the temporal government of the people should be by and for the people, he was not willing to admit; and by covertly attempting to destroy or counteract all that he publicly and ostensibly admitted, he filled the people with incurable resentment against those who surrounded him, and to whom they attributed, rather than to himself, the faithless and despotic policy in secret pursued. A chamber of deputies was convoked, to whom the pope formally surrendered his government, declining to take any part in their doings, or to afford any sanction. Several of the high ecclesiastics and lay authorities, by whose agency he sought to counteract the efforts for constitutional liberty which the people made, were slain, and others driven from Rome. At last, on the 24th of November, he disguised himself as a livery servant in attendance upon the Bavarian ambassador, and mounting the box of that gentleman’s carriage, beside his coachman, was driven to the house of the Bavarian embassy; thence, disguised as the chaplain to the embassy, he succeeded in escaping to Gaeta, a town within the Neapolitan territory. The flight of the pope was followed by a protest on his part against the liberalism of his people, who organised a regular government on liberal principles; their efforts were counteracted by the spies and agents of the pope, and the embassies of all the Roman Catholic powers: among the foreign representatives, none was more hostile to the incipient liberties of Rome than the ambassador of the French republic.

The pope, the kasir, the king of Naples, and the despots of the smaller Italian states, considered that England was the chief fomenter of Italian disturbance. This arose from one of those whig _mal àpropos_ movements for which their party had of late years earned a bad reputation. Lord Minto was dispatched to Italy in a semi-official capacity; the real object of his mission was to open diplomatic relations with the pope, who, although very desirous to respond to the wishes of the English Whigs, thought it a good opportunity to extort some concessions as to the interests of the Roman Catholic religion in British territory. The Whigs, knowing that they dare not face the public opinion of Great Britain, if they made such concessions as the pope’s demands and their own wishes would prompt, were baulked in their undertaking. They succeeded, however, in obtaining a certain amount of influence upon the Roman Catholic clergy of Ireland, restraining the latter from favouring the revolutionary designs existing in that country. It was remarkable that while the Irish Roman Catholics were abusing Lamartine and the French provisional government, for not assisting by arms revolution in Ireland,—that is, a revolution of a portion of the Irish who followed certain leaders,—they were equally abusive of the people of Rome for daring, against the will of the pope, to assert any measure of civil or religious liberty, however modest. Impudent threats were made of sending an Irish army to the pope’s assistance, at the very time that the persons so vaunting were afraid of the Dublin police!

The close of the year saw the pope a fugitive and the people free.

NAPLES AND SICILY.

These countries did not escape the revolutionary contagion. Sicily flew to arms, and the revolt succeeded. The English government was desirous to see Sicily separated from Naples; and their emissary, Lord Minto, so betrayed this feeling to the king of the two Sicilies as to inspire him with intense hatred to England, and to confirm him in the opinion that English agency was busy in creating or sustaining the confusion of the continente, Lord Minto had the preposterous folly to suggest to the king that Sicily should only be garrisoned by Sicilian troops! This, of course, was indignantly rejected by both the king and cabinet.

The Sicilians published a manifesto of their free and moderate opinions, which was very excellent. The document was very deceptive, and designed to gain support in England and France. One of the false promises of the manifesto was the entire freedom of religion; one of the first acts of the Sicilians in their short-lived power was a rigorous establishment of the Roman Catholic religion, and this was enacted in terms which disclosed the bigoted feelings of the nation. Sicily wanted to be independent of Naples, but it had not the same wish to be separated from the despotic principle. An independent nation, without a free people, was the highest aspiration of revolted Sicily. England and France left her to her fate, except so far as Lord Minto’s meddling complicated her condition. The temporarily vanquished Neapolitans returned to the contest, and the revolution was ingloriously suppressed.

In Naples the victory of the constitution was as short as the independence, of Sicily. The king acted without sincerity, and the deputies without prudence. The king found an opportunity of resistance, for which he had well prepared himself. He was surrounded by Swiss guards, recruited from the bigoted Roman Catholic cantons of the Sonderbund, or what had been so termed before its tyranny was crushed the previous year. The king had also the lazzaroni on his side; some thirty thousand thieves, assassins, street beggars, and burglars were in his majesty’s royal pay and royal favour. They were enthusiastic for king, church, and plunder. It was alleged that the royal promise was held out to them that if they conquered the citizens they would be permitted to sack the city. The event seemed as if such allegation were true; the united Swiss and lazzaroni conquered, and the city was sacked. The king permitted, and his minions encouraged, the most infamous proceedings: riot, robbery, and debauch filled every street and almost every house, while blood, the blood of the best citizens of Naples, flowed in torrents. There is no knowing to what extent these horrors might have been carried by the “faithful lazzaroni,” had not the French admiral in the bay declared that he would act against the king if these inhumanities were not at once stopped. The lazzaroni must have been at the king’s beck, for the moment he was alarmed by threats of the interference of a French squadron, he called in his bloodhounds, and held the leash until the threatened danger passed.

BELGIUM.

Much concern was felt in England as to the part which Belgium would take in the terrible continental tragedy. The king being her majesty’s uncle, and also the uncle of her consort, the safety of his throne was regarded anxiously by the English court. As he had by his second marriage connected himself with the family of Louis Philippe, the French republicans looked upon him as a very suspicious neighbour; but the prudent policy of Lamartine prevented any collision, and checked the propagandism which both sections of French republicans desired to bring to bear upon Belgium. The “Reds,” perceiving that the provisional government was not disposed to embroil itself with foreign powers, organised an _émeute_ in Belgium with a sort of filibustering expedition of their own. Several hundred socialists made their way into Belgium, and used every effort to induce the people to join them, but in vain,—a few only, who like themselves, held extreme and impracticable views of democracy, made any insurrectionary movement; and the affair exploded as harmlessly as Smith O’Brien’s abortive attempt at revolution in Ireland. Had any success, short of a complete revolution, attended the efforts of the French “sympathisers,” the armed intervention of England might have been necessitated, and another long war with France have spread its terrors, havoc, and ruin in Belgium.

GERMANY.

The people of Germany were ripe for revolt when the tidings of the French revolution came suddenly as a flash along the electric wire. No people had ever been more basely deceived by princes than the Germans. Constitutions were promised, and the promises shamefully violated, sometimes ostensibly conceded, but really never acted upon. The oaths of kings were synonymous for falsehood throughout the great fatherland. Schiller has sung—

“The human being: May not be trusted with self-government;”

but the poet and philosopher must have understood that the human being is as worthy to be trusted with self-government as with the irresponsible government of other men, no way his inferiors—perhaps, morally and intellectually, superior to him. The Prussian people could have governed themselves with as much ability as the king governed them. The Hanoverians could have managed their own affairs as morally as the English Duke of Cumberland, or his son George conducted them. Nor did the wisdom of the Austrian emperor, for matters of government, exceed the intelligence of the educated citizens of Vienna.

The first vibration of the great French earthquake was felt in the grand Duchy of Baden. The people, as one man, demanded liberty; the demand was too unanimously made to be resisted; the victory was won without a shot. On the 3rd of March the Rhenish provinces of Prussia felt the shock, and Cologne was in arms; on the 4th, Wisbaden; on the 5th, Dusseldorf; on the 8th, the Hessians of Cassel barricaded the streets, and flew to arms—their victory was won without blood. Early in March the people of Munich demanded their rights, which none but slaves consented to forego; they were refused; the people responded to the first cry “to arms” that was raised; the troops would not charge the people, but mingled in the shouts of “a republic! a republic!” The alarmed king conceded, tampered with his own concessions, and at last abdicated. His son and successor made a great flourish of proclamations and promises, throwing himself upon the popular sympathy until time enabled him to forswear himself. The credulous people who believed the oaths of kings, generally paid afterwards the penalty of their credulity in blood or fetters.

In Saxony there was no harmony between the court and people; the former were Roman Catholic, and the latter Protestant. The prudence of the monarch, however, prevailed over the solicitations of his court to treat his people with disdain, and he saved his throne and his honour.

The King of Hanover was less honest, as well as less compliant, but even he had to recognise, for the time being, a constitution.

Prussia proper was affected, as well as her less homogeneous provinces, by the grand convulsion. After a series of conflicts in the streets of Berlin, order was at last restored, and the constitution modified so as to satisfy a large portion of the people. The Poles in Posen revolted, and perpetrated the utmost atrocities, but were put down by the Prussian troops without obtaining any of the objects for which they so wildly fought, and so vaguely demanded. The people of Posen had been practised upon by their own nobles, and incited by their priests. Their insurrection was one of fanaticism, not of freedom; the revolters carried the symbols and images of their creed, not the banners of nationhood before them,—they deserved to fail. Their chief oppressors were the privileged classes of their own countrymen, from whom the Prussian government derived no aid in its efforts to meliorate the condition of the province. Education was resisted, industry discouraged, and the religious rights of minorities assailed by ignorant and fanatical mobs. The freedom required in Posen was an emancipation of the people from their own passions and prejudices.

THE AUSTRIAN EMPIRE.

The revolutionary history of the Austrian empire during the year 1848 was instructive, and full of the most eventful changes and great results. On another page the progress of affairs in Austrian Italy was sketched, and the relation of the kasir’s interests there to contiguous Italian states pointed out. The whole empire was, however, convulsed, and the throes of every part communicated its vibrations to the whole. The revolt in Hungary constituted the most interesting and important part of the great transactions which occurred within the limits of the empire. The government of the kasir succeeded, by exciting the jealousy of Magyar and German, Croat and Hungarian, metropolitan and provincial, in holding the difficult balance, and in preserving the empire in its integrity from the flood which flowed over it with such disintegrating force.

The revolution in Hungary was completely successful, and Vienna itself was menaced by a Hungarian army. The heroism of an Englishman, General Guyon, rendered the greatest military services; and the eloquence and wisdom of a civilian, Louis Kossuth, guided the aspirations and resolves of armed Hungary. Ultimately, indeed, by the aid of Russian armies, the Austrian was enabled once more to tread out the fire of Hungarian liberty; but 1848 saw the gallant Magyars victorious.

The Viennese, notwithstanding their contiguity to the court and their close dependence upon the kasir, rose in arms, and obtained an extensive recognition of those rights which the people everywhere claimed. Those who by extreme measures and views marred the cause of freedom elsewhere, did so at Vienna. The socialist element was the ruin of the revolution. The thinking and the morally sound portions of the citizens were detached from the popular cause, in and out of Vienna, and the arms of the emperor finally triumphed over the barricades of the capital.

THE GERMAN CONFEDERATION.

Representatives from all the German states, where successful revolutions had been effected, assembled in Frankfort to form a closer confederacy of the German states. The ambition of Prussia and Austria found scope in this new sphere of action. The Prussian king was desirous to be elected emperor of Germany, and supposed that the Frankfort parliament would subserve his purpose. Never did an assembly of men utter finer, noble principles, than that, nor did any display such utter impracticability. They occupied the time in visionary schemes, which ought to have been devoted to secure the liberty of each individual state, and they sacrificed the interests of nations to the German invidiousness of race. The socialist party tried to force their own especial objects upon the assembly, and when unsuccessful, deluged Frankfort with blood. They followed the policy and conduct of their prototypes, the red republicans of Paris, in their resistance to the provisional government. The irreconcilable differences of opinion between the advocates of change gave kings advantage in the reactionary policy which they meditated before the year was out.

DENMARK.—SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN.

The inhabitants of the duchies revolted against the king of Denmark; this arose partly from that hatred to all other races characteristic of the German. The Schleswig-Holsteiners could not endure amalgamation, or even close alliance with the Scandinavian race, much less with the Sclaves, should the Emperor of Russia inherit the throne of Denmark. The people of the duchies were desirous to be identified more with Germany, and this was, notwithstanding other pretences, the main-spring of the revolt. The King of Prussia, never true to his engagements, violated treaties, and marched his troops into the duchies. This dispute was one with which England might have been involved, as she had certain treaty obligations which rendered the possibility of such a result the subject of speculation.

RUSSIA.

The empire of the autocrat was undisturbed, but the revolutionary feeling seemed ready to invade it on all its European frontier. Large bodies of troops were gathered in Southern Russia for the purpose of entering the Turkish Danubian provinces, in order to suppress the spirit of revolution which there manifested itself, and found vent in a fervent political agitation. In Poland, also, the czar concentrated a great army. Warsaw bristled with bayonets; and a diplomatic message was sent to the court of Berlin, assuring it of the czar’s friendly feeling, but warning it that, in case of any disturbances on the Polish frontier of Russia, if they were not very promptly suppressed, the Russian government would take measures to effect the security of its own frontier. The message amounted to a hint that if a Russian army were needed by the Prussian monarch, the czar was not unwilling to lend it, or, if need should exist, he would find a reason, without being asked for his aid, to cross the frontier, and put down democracy.

The following arrogant presumption of divine right was put forth by the czar:—

“After the benefits of a long peace, the west of Europe finds itself at this moment suddenly given over to perturbations which threaten with ruin and overthrow all legal powers and the whole social system. Insurrection and anarchy, the offspring of France, soon crossed the German frontier, and have spread themselves in every direction with an audacity which has gained new force in proportion to the concessions of the governments. This devastating plague has at last attacked our allies the empire of Austria and the kingdom of Prussia, and to-day in its blind fury menaces even our Russia—that Russia which God has confided to our care. But Heaven forbid that this should be! Faithful to the example handed down from our ancestors, having first invoked the aid of the Omnipotent, we are ready to encounter our enemies from whatever side they may present themselves, and without sparing our own person we will know how, indissolubly united to our holy country, to defend the honour of the Russian name, and the inviolability of our territory. We are convinced that every Russian, that every one of our faithful subjects, will respond with joy to the call of his sovereign. Our ancient war-cry, ‘For our faith, our sovereign, and our country!’ will once again lead us on the path of victory: and then, with sentiments of humble gratitude, as now with feelings of holy hope, we will all cry with one voice, ‘God is on our side: understand this, ye peoples, and submit, for God is on our side.’”

On the whole, England preserved peace with all foreign states during the rage of this political tempest. Her attitude was morally sublime. The waves rose, and the hurricane raged around her, but she towered above the billow and the tempest, her crown bright with the glory which the sun of liberty shed upon it. The stranger who found a refuge and a home within her borders, might well offer to her the tribute which the poet Moore so gracefully inscribed upon the pedestal of her freedom and her power:—

“Hail to thee, Albion! that meetest the commotion Of Europe, as calm as thy cliffs meet the foam; With no bond but the law, and no bound but the ocean, Hail, temple of liberty! thou art my home.”

IRELAND.

_Famine and Pestilence_.—Frightful as was the state of Ireland in 1847, it was still worse in the year 1848. Commercial affairs were embarrassed by so many disturbing circumstances, that public confidence was not restored throughout the year. The potato disease, agrarian outrage, Ribbonism, the repeal agitation, and an insurrectionary combination, all combined to restrict commerce.

The destitution of the people was terrible. It is unnecessary to go into the details of the horrid story: numbers perished of famine, and pestilence went forth with devastating fury where hunger had stricken. The “famine fever” carried away multitudes to an untimely grave. This disease extended also to the Irish in England. Many in London died of it, and great numbers in Manchester, but the affliction fell still more heavily upon Liverpool. Several Roman Catholic clergymen in those towns fell victims, nor did medical men escape. Efforts continued to be made by the government, and by voluntary charity, to mitigate the calamities which befel the country, but their variety and magnitude set at defiance all the noble efforts that were made, and the exhaustless compassions of the noble hearts that made them.

_Continuance of Crime and Outrage_.—The story of the two previous years was the same of this: crime raged everywhere; the hand of the assassin was constantly uplifted; and woe to the landlord who expelled a tenant for whatsoever violation of contract, and to the zealous Protestant, lay or clerical, who claimed a right to discuss his religious opinions, even in self-defence, or to circulate there, even in the most inoffensive manner.

Much of the crime of Ireland was to be attributed to a secret society which the government never made any adequate efforts to suppress, and which was commonly called the “Ribbon Society.” No means were taken by the respectable Roman Catholics to break up this exclusively Romanist confederacy, the chief object of which was the extermination of Protestants, and it was in 1848 that, in this respect, little was to be then expected from them. No public protest against the worst and the wildest of the ultramontane proceedings of previous years had been made by Roman Catholics, clerical or lay, English or Irish, or of any rank in life; and the “liberal Roman Catholics,” as they liked to be called, could not be surprised if Protestants began to put no faith in their liberal professions. Yet this section of the Roman Catholics had gained much confidence and respect with liberal Protestants in both countries. It was chiefly on their representations that the once formidable Orange societies were suppressed, and although these societies changed their constitution in compliance with the law, yet they never acquired public confidence after: through the instrumentality of Mr. Hume’s exposure of the dangerous tendency of the confederacy, the law was put in force against them. The liberal Romanists were accustomed to say that Ribbonism was, so to say, but the complement of Orangeism; that if the latter were made illegal, the other would die of itself. This was believed by the whig and radical parties of the day; and after a feeble resistance on the part of the Tories, Orangeism was at last discountenanced by the state, and literally turned out of doors, after having been used and misused, petted and pampered, for half a century. Instead, however, of Ribbonism taking a voluntary departure, as lay and priestly liberal spouters of the popular Roman Catholic party presumed, it increased in extent, numbers, and virus. Portions of Ireland where it had previously no footing became the high places of its power; every town in England where Irish Roman Catholics lived had affiliated societies formed; London, Manchester, Liverpool, and Lancashire generally, counted their tens of thousands of sworn enemies to the English government and name, and to the toleration and even existence of Protestants. The oaths of the members were again and again revised, becoming more relentless and bloodthirsty, just as every concession was made to Roman Catholic demands. As the system of Ribbonism was in 1848, nothing more bloody and diabolical was ever conceived by lost human minds. Nothing like it _could_ exist except amongst a people in whose hearts bigotry had so uprooted all tolerance and charity, that their ferocity of zealotism would vie with that which an Irish Romanist described of others:—

“Men of the saintly murderous brood. To carnage and the Koran given, Who think, through unbeliever’s blood, Lies the directest path to heaven.”

_Political Agitation_.—The Repeal Association continued its meetings, and notwithstanding the prevailing distress, considerable sums were subscribed; some weeks as much as £80 was received. Mr. John O’Connell presided at those meetings, which were barren of all utility for the party, and destitute of the eloquence which in the days of O’Connell and Shiel enlivened and gave importance to public meetings.

The young Ireland party was all activity, and although few of its orators were really eloquent, there were many of them good speakers, several who rose to the rank of superior platform address, and one (Mr. Meagher) of surpassing eloquence. The Young Irelanders, on the whole, wrote better than they spoke, and very able articles appeared from their pens in the press, not only in Dublin, but throughout Ireland. The _Nation_ newspaper, conducted by Charles Gavan Duffy, a man of wonderful energy and courage, of discriminating literary taste and fine talents, was perhaps the most ably managed newspaper in the British Isles, so far as literary claims were concerned. The most passionate and exciting ballads, full of poetical and patriotic fervour, the most elaborate and elegantly written dissertations on Ireland, her history, music, poetry, language, and people, and popularly written and able articles on politics, filled its columns. Their influence upon the mind of the young men of Ireland who were of the Roman Catholic persuasion, and of many Protestants who were too liberal in sentiment to suspect their Roman Catholic fellow-countrymen of desiring religious ascendancy, was great. When John Mitchell considered that the _Nation_ had too little sympathy with red republicanism, he set up a paper called the _Irishman_, which he made the vehicle of the most outrageous doctrines, political and social. The leading articles of the _Irishman_ were written by Mr. Mitchell himself, with a nervous power, eloquence, boldness of thought, and audacity, which were very extraordinary. These articles were amongst the ablest specimens of newspaper writing which had ever been known in Ireland. Their effect was electric; they maddened the young men of the movement with a fierce spirit of nationality. The clubs read them with ecstasy, and John Mitchell was the idol and hero of all men of extreme opinions. His defiance of government, his incitements to rebellion, were so open and intrepid, that they seized upon the imagination of the people, and much disturbed the government. Pikes and side-arms were manufactured in every part of the country, and John Mitchell wrote various articles on the proper pattern of a pike, on the best way of using that “queen of weapons,” as he termed it, and to prove how hopeless it would be for either cavalry or infantry, disciplined on the ordinary system, to face corps of Irish pikemen disciplined on his plan. These military articles were eminently absurd, and excited the ridicule of military men; but the style in which they were written was so admirably adapted to the taste and tone of thought of those whom they were designed to influence, that they told wonderfully, and inspired confidence in the clubs and in the country, that means were at last found by which the trained troops of England could be encountered with a superior weapon.

Meanwhile the lord-lieutenant of Ireland, the Earl of Clarendon, proved himself a most vigorous governor. He entered into negotiations with the Orangemen, who were true to the throne to a man. One hundred and fifty thousand men of that confederacy, and of the Protestants who held their principles and sympathised with their party, although not enrolled in the lodges, were ready to take up arms on the side of the government, and many stand of arms were to be distributed should necessity arise. A very large distribution was made, and the Orangemen, and vast number of other Protestants, were ready to turn out at a moment’s notice. The number at the call of the government were quite sufficient, with a small body of troops as a point of support, to put down any force the disloyal could bring into the field. How such men as Mitchell, Meagher, O’Brien, and Duffey could fail to see that, was extraordinary. They still went on, talking of Ireland as about to “arise in her majesty and shake off the English yoke,” at a time when a million and a half of Irish Protestants would have preferred any yoke under heaven to that of their own Roman Catholic countrymen; and while some of the most papal of the Roman Catholics themselves had no hope in the movement, no confidence in the leaders, and a strong conviction that any effort against England was impracticable, and would lead only to a waste of blood. His excellency displayed such vigour that, early in the spring, two hundred and eighty thousand persons, comprising the wealth and intelligence of the country, signed a document expressive of their confidence. His lordship was keenly alive, also, to the influence of the press, and subsidised various papers to oppose the Young Irelanders. He did not display as much caution in this department of his policy as he did vigour and sagacity in other directions. He hired a man named Birch, who edited a paper called the _World_, which was very ably conducted. The terms on which his excellency put himself with Mr. Birch were discreditable to the government, and the spirit in which he wrote and acted was insulting to the country, and when his connection with the Castle became known, the hands of government were weakened by the circumstance.

The negotiations with Rome were productive of more effect than giving subsidies to the press, for both sections of the anti-union agitation did their utmost to gain the priests over to their cause. The priesthood was, however, suspicious of the Young Irelanders, from the conviction that they were generally indifferent to religion. This impression was also received at Rome; and the English government, by its secret agency, did its best to strengthen that opinion. The pope had sufficient reason to dread any tendency to red republicanism in any part of the world where his disciples or subjects might be influenced by it. He accordingly issued a rescript, which created a powerful sensation in Ireland. The _Nation_ newspaper, and the press generally which sympathised with it, denounced the English government, and the English Roman Catholics, with having, by false representations, induced the pope to issue this document. The censures fell with especial weight upon the English Roman Catholic aristocracy, who were believed to have a peculiar prejudice against Ireland, and in this case to have allowed their antipathies of race and nationality to interfere with the good of their religion; for it was alleged that the promotion of agitation, and even revolution, in Ireland by the priesthood, was the surest way to make England concessive to the Roman Catholic clergy and people. It was also maintained that the severance of Ireland from England would give a wider scope to the influence of the church, and rescue one of her fairest provinces from the sceptre of a heretic sovereign. These different grounds were taken up by various organs of the press, according to their degrees of prudence, or the especial light in which they regarded the transaction. At all events, it was felt that the rescript would baulk the efforts of the Young Irelanders to engage any portion of the priesthood on their side, and greatly lessen the chances of their success. The Protestants of Ireland, ignorant of the true nature of the mission of Lord Minto to Italy, which the government organs systematically misrepresented, and ignorant also of the progress which the English government had made at Rome, through certain Roman Catholics of influence, considered the rescript as a _ruse_ on the part of the pope, acting in concert with the Irish episcopacy, to throw the English government off its guard. The Protestants were therefore stirred up to more vigorous preparation to resist the approaching insurrection, while, at the same time, the hopes of the opposite party were damaged, and depression was necessarily communicated to their exertions.

The following is a copy of the papal rescript, addressed to the Roman Catholic prelates of Ireland:—

“_Most Illustrious and Reverend Lord_,—The reports now for nine months circulated by the English newspapers concerning the political party-strifes in which some ecclesiatics have allowed themselves to be carried away, and the desecration made of some of the Irish churches for the purpose of aiding and promoting secular concerns—nay, more, the reports which have reached us relative to the murders which we are informed are so frequent, and by reason of which the clergy have been stigmatised, and some of them charged with imprudence, and as giving indirect provocation from the pulpit, or, at least, extenuating the guilt of these murders—these reports must surely awaken the solicitude of the sacred congregation.

“This sacred congregation cannot bring itself to believe that such reports, so extensively raised abroad, can be true; nor can it believe that ecclesiastics have forgotten that the church of God should be the house of prayer, not of secular concerns, or the meeting-place of politicians; neither can the sacred congregation believe that ecclesiastics have ceased to recollect that they are the ministers of peace, dispensers of the mysteries of God—men who should not involve themselves in worldly concerns—in a word, men who should abhor blood and vengeance. Nevertheless, this sacred congregation deems it its duty to require certain and satisfactory explanation on all these matters, that it may know what importance to attach to the above-mentioned damnatory reports. Wherefore, at the suggestion of his holiness, I have deemed it my duty to forward this letter to your lordship, praying you to satisfy this most reasonable solicitude of the congregation; and, meantime, it exhorts you to admonish the clergy, that seeking the things which are of Jesus Christ, they sedulously apply themselves to watch over the spiritual interests of the people, and in nowise mix themselves up with worldly affairs, in order that their ministry may not be brought into disrepute, and those who are against them may not have wherewith to charge them.

“I pray God long to preserve your lordship.

“J. Ph. Cardinal Fransoni.

“Rome. From the Congregation of the Faith,

“January 3rd, 1848.”

Early in the year the legislature passed stringent laws to suppress crime and outrage in Ireland, and to bring the perpetrators to justice. Proceedings were also taken of various kinds against several of the more prominent promoters of sedition.

On the 15th of May, William Smith O’Brien was tried before Lord Chief Justice Blackburn and a special jury, upon an _ex officio_ information, charging him with having delivered a speech, on the 15th of March, in the parish of St. Thomas, Dublin, for the purpose of exciting contempt and hatred against the queen in Ireland, and inducing the people to rise in rebellion. The traverser pleaded not guilty. There could be no doubt that in point of fact and law he was guilty, for it would be difficult to cull language from a seditious speech more pertinent to the charge than that quoted by the attorney-general from the speech of Mr. O’Brien on the 15th of March. He was ably defended by Mr. Butt, an eloquent queen’s counsel. The jury could not agree, and by the consent of the attorney-general they were discharged. It was not expected that the jury would agree in a verdict; there was a determination among the disaffected that when summoned as jurors they would not give verdicts in charges of this nature. The government were determined to procure convictions, if possible, and the trial of Mr. O’Brien was followed by an indictment of T. E. Meagher. He was also arraigned on an _ex officio_ information for a seditious speech delivered on the same occasion as that which furnished O’Brien with an opportunity for his delinquent oratory. When the jury returned into court they were asked if they had agreed in their verdict; the foreman replied, “We are not, my lord.” Mr. Favel, one of the jurors, remarked, “We are all agreed but one, and he is a Roman Catholic.” The report of this trial produced a very great sensation in England. Men everywhere remarked, “If a single Roman Catholic on a jury prevents the course of justice, a remedy must be found for such a state of things; there must be power accorded to the crown.” It was not generally understood in England that a Roman Catholic had often little reason to hope for justice when high party Protestants composed the jury.

In the Commission Court, before Mr. Baron Lefroy, and Mr. Justice Moore, John Mitchell, proprietor of the _United Irishman_ newspaper, was placed upon his trial. He had been arrested under the act passed in the beginning of the year to meet such cases, entitled, “An act for the better security of the crown and government.” True bills were found by the grand jury against him for felony. To each he handed in a plea praying that the indictment might be quashed, on the ground that one of the members of the jury was also a member of the town-council of the borough of Dublin, and as such disqualified. These pleas were put in merely to gain time, which led the attorney-general to enter a _nolle prosequi_ to each, and to file ex officio information against Mr. Mitchell. After various other artifices to obtain delay, the prisoner was compelled to plead, and he pleaded “not guilty.” The terms of the indictment were, that the traverser endeavoured to take away the style, honour, and royal name of our sovereign lady the queen, and to make war against her majesty, her heirs, and successors. The trial was chiefly remarkable for the bold and manly tone of Mr. Holmes, the prisoner’s counsel. Never did an advocate more fearlessly do his duty to his client and his country. The judge charged against the prisoner, and the jury, after three hours and a half’s deliberation, returned with a verdict of guilty. The sentence was transportation for fourteen years. The bearing of the prisoner was manly and dignified throughout. He was known to be a man of strong domestic affections, and of warm friendship, and the sentence was received with intense dissatisfaction throughout Ireland. The violent opinions and proceedings of Mr. Mitchell in his public capacity could not destroy the popular partialities for him as a brave, generous, and amiable man; it was allowed on all hands that the time had arrived for stopping his political career, but it was hoped that a temporary imprisonment would have satisfied the ends of justice. The public sympathy for his amiable wife and his little children was very strong, and it was desired by all classes that at the earliest possible occasion which would give the government an opportunity to exercise clemency, his sentence might be greatly mitigated.

It was allowed on all hands that the government were compelled to prosecute. In the pages of the _United Irishman_ he had uttered the most vehement defiance to the government, and to the lord-lieutenant of Ireland especially. He had invoked a prosecution, and in one furious article in the _United Irishman_ had told the vice-regal government that if it did not pack a jury and prosecute him, it was restrained only by cowardice. What the motives of Mr. Mitchell were in thus wishing to be made a victim it is impossible to affirm. Many believed that he wrote in the confidence that no Irish jury, however packed, would find him guilty; others supposed that he calculated upon a packed jury finding a verdict against him, but that he felt sure of a popular revolt for his rescue, and thus desired to precipitate the insurrection. A large class of persons who did not sympathise with his doctrines and efforts, alleged that, foreseeing the utter hopelessness of the cause upon which he had embarked, he desired to bring matters as regarded himself at once to a conclusion, and as he could not withdraw with honour from the course he had espoused, he was anxious to incur the lesser penalty for sedition, than to risk encounter with the queen’s forces as the leader of a bootless insurrection. His sentence was rapidly carried out, the populace making no effort to save him. The leaders found various excuses for not at once rising, and Mitchell was carried ignominiously away, and departed before their eyes, not an arm raised, not a blow struck by those who vehemently cheered him in his career of folly, and promised to follow him to the death.

During and immediately previous to these transactions, the Repeal Association and the Young Irelanders made a great parade, after their own fashion, for their own ostensible objects. The Young Irelanders called a convention of three hundred representatives or delegates from every part of the country; these were, in fact, to be the representatives of the insurrectionary clubs, ostensibly of the people. Smith O’Brien, the last time he appeared in the English House of Commons, had the temerity and absurdity to advise the premier to put himself in communication with this council of three hundred, and be guided in his measures by them. This was after the visit of the honourable member to Paris, to induce the French government to espouse the cause of insurrection in Ireland. His recommendation was received with shouts of derisive laughter, and his treason was chastised by the premier reminding him that he had taken the oath of allegiance, and at the same time was encompassing the dishonour of the queen’s throne.

At a meeting of the Old Irelanders in April, in Conciliation Hall, a Mr. Aikins in the chair, the following business was transacted, which will show the position which that party desired publicly to take both to the Young Irelanders and to the government:—

“Mr. Maurice O’Connell proposed, and Mr. T. Galway seconded, the following resolutions, which were unanimously adopted:—‘That we, this association, view with disgust and indignation the bill brought in by the ministers, entitled, A bill for the better security of the crown and government of the United Kingdom. That we consider such bill, instead of answering its professed purposes, to be of such a character as the odious six acts of Lord Castlereagh’s ministry, with the aggravation that the latter were only legal and temporary, while this is intended as general and perpetual. That we consider such bill as in fact a bill to encourage the odious spy system, and prevent all discussion of the wants of the people, whether by the press or at meetings. That we therefore express our detestation of this measure, and call upon the repeal members of parliament to oppose the passing of such bill by all constitutional means.’

“Mr. O’Connell next proposed, and Mr. Galway seconded, a resolution, that it be referred to the committee to have a case prepared for counsel upon the construction of the convention act, 33 George HI., cap. 29. Mr. O’Connell observed that although his father had not matured the project of assembling three hundred delegates in Dublin, he had never abandoned it up to the period of his death. (Cheers.) ‘The liberator’ had frequently consulted lawyers of great celebrity, to fortify his own opinion, but the result of his consultation with others was that he had grave and fearful doubts as to its legality. The project was accordingly suffered to remain in abeyance. They were determined never to advise or sanction any rash or precipitate act; they would act only within the law, and were anxious to ascertain whether the delegates could assemble legally in Dublin. This was the object of obtaining counsel’s opinion upon the subject; and if the step could be taken with safety, and within the bounds of law, in the name of God they would take it. (Cheers.)

“Mr. O’Connell called the attention of the association to a resolution adopted at the last meeting of the Confederation, admitting ‘to membership all enrolled members of the Conciliation Hall, on the same ternis as members of the Confederation.’ It was also intimated that seats would be reserved at the meeting of the Confederation for the accommodation of the members of Conciliation Hall. Now he (Mr. O’Connell) wished to warn every member of the association against accepting that invitation, or making use of the privileges (if privileges they were) thus offered by the Confederation. (Hear, hear.) The safety of the association consisted entirely in keeping strictly within the letter of the law, and he hoped none of its members would directly or indirectly sanction or identify themselves with any of the proceedings of the Confederation.”

The Orangemen, as a body, also took active measures. They addressed a memorial to the lord-lieutenant, protesting their loyalty, and offering their support.. Their assistance was accepted, arms were distributed to them, and there is no doubt they would have been bravely used on the side of the government. A knowledge that the Orangemen were arming in support of the crown, tended very much to depress the hopes and check the actions of the seditious. The rifle clubs adopted ball-practice, it is true, but they confined their shooting to the precincts of the clubs. When a petty insurrection did break forth, not a shot was fired by the clubs, after so much preparation on their part, and so much expenditure of eloquence in boasting of their bravery, and eagerness for the field.

The transportation of John Mitchell did not extinguish the zeal of the insurgent press. The _United Irishman_ was suppressed, to resume a new life under the title of the _Felon_, which was as true to its designation as treason could make it. A paper called the _Irish Tribune_ vied with the _Felon_ and the _Nation_, in open incentives to insurrection.

It was the policy of the leaders to wait until the harvest was gathered, and this was openly proclaimed by them, which enabled the government more effectually to frustrate their schemes. The editor of the _Felon_ counselled the people, however, to resist if their leaders were arrested, even if the harvest were not reaped. “After harvest if we may; before harvest if we must,” was the counsel of this authority, and the general tenour of the advice given by all the chiefs. The government, upon these indications, took vigorous measures to enable the lord-lieutenant by extraordinary power to suppress or prevent any revolt; the _Habeas Corpus_ Act was suspended, and it was left to the discretion of his lordship to call out the Protestant yeomanry of the north of Ireland.

The House of Commons having assembled on Saturday, the 22nd of July, for a sitting at noon, Lord John Russell rose, amidst profound silence, and proposed a motion of the most important character: a relation of the circumstance is introduced here, rather than in the parliamentary history of the year, because it places in a clearer view the progress of the Irish insurrection, and the government policy in respect to it. His lordship, after a pause in which he betrayed considerable emotion, moved for leave to bring in a bill to empower the lord-lieutenant, or other chief governor or governors of Ireland, to apprehend and detain, until the first of March, 1849, such persons as he should suspect of conspiring against her majesty’s person and government. The noble lord having expressed his deep regret at being compelled to suspend the constitutional liberties of Ireland, and declared that, in his opinion, such a measure was absolutely necessary for the preservation of life and property in Ireland, for the prevention of the effusion of blood, and for the stopping of insurrection, proceeded to state the grounds upon which he rested his proposition. He considered it would be necessary for him to prove three things:—First that the present state of things in Ireland was fraught with evil; that it threatened danger; that we were on the eve of an outbreak, if not timely prevented. Secondly, that there were means sufficient to produce great evils and dangers unless some measures should be adopted to counteract them. Thirdly, that the measure he proposed was the most appropriate for its purpose. He did not propose to rest his case on any secret information known only to the government; but he would rest it on facts patent, notorious, and palpable. He then traced the history of the Irish Confederation, establishing, from the manifestoes published in the _Felon_ and _Nation_ newspapers, that the determination of these confederates was to entirely abolish the imperial government; to take away from the queen all authority in Ireland; to annihilate all the rights of property; to hold up the hope of plunder to those who would break their oaths of allegiance and join in rebellion; and to hold up the threat of depriving all those of their property who would remain fast to their allegiance, and refuse to assist in the insurrection. One of these manifestoes, entitled, “The Value of the Irish Harvest,” set forth that there was growing on the Irish soil eighty millions of produce, and declared that it would be for the new Irish Council of Three Hundred to decide how this produce should be apportioned: thus showing that, by one sweeping confiscation, the masters of this red republic were prepared to disregard all existing social rules, and to reduce everything to anarchy. The noble lord then described the means of effecting their treasonable objects possessed by the confederates. All the intelligence received by the government proved that the organisation of the clubs was formidable, that it was rapidly progressing, and that in many parts of the country the plans of the associates were ripe for execution. He adduced the accounts obtained from Tipperary, Meath, Louth, Cork, Waterford, and other counties, as evidence of the formidable nature of the organisation of the insurgents; the information received from all quarters, and the opinions obtained from various persons, being to the one effect, that though persons of property and the clergy of all denominations were decidedly against an outbreak, no influence would have any effect in deterring many thousands of the younger men, especially of the farmer class, from joining in the proposed insurrection; in fact, nothing was now wanting but the naming of the day and hour, to be fixed by the leaders, for carrying into effect this fatal revolution. The noble lord quoted a letter received that day from Lord Clarendon, in which the lord-lieutenant stated that the aspect of things was growing worse, and that the increasing disloyalty, on the part of the Irish people, was most rapid within the last few days. It might be necessary, he said, to introduce a measure for the prevention of the organisation of clubs, but the first, the most direct, the immediate and efficacious remedy for the existing evil would be the suspension of the _Habeas Corpus_ Act—a power to be given to the lord-lieutenant of at once securing the persons of those suspected of high treason. The government might have been justified in demanding this power at an earlier period, but they delayed it as long as it was possible. He implored the house, if their conviction was this measure should pass, to lose no time in arming the lord-lieutenant with the power requisite. Without it, rebellion could undoubtedly be put down, but it would be at the expense of blood—at the cost of much misery and ruin. No man could say what the consequence of withholding these powers even for a day would be. The government undertook the responsibility, however odious it might be, of proposing this measure; and they confidently asked the house to accept their responsibility, mindful of the blessings they would preserve, and aware of the risks they might incur.

A petition was presented to the house from the mayor and leading merchants of Liverpool, expressing gratitude for this measure, and declaring the apprehensions entertained from the active communications passing between the disaffected in Ireland and the large Irish population in Liverpool. In all the great towns of Lancashire sympathy with Ireland was expressed, and threats were made of firing the manufactories and the merchants’ stores, to prevent the dispatch of troops to that country. A Mr. MacManus, a trader in Liverpool, was the most prominent person among the disaffected in Lancashire. This person procured a beautiful uniform of green and gold, and proceeded to Ireland, expecting to appear on the field of action as an extempore commander. The police were on his track, and he was arrested, with all his military finery, and committed to prison, without even having signalised himself in command of a corporal’s guard of pikemen. Mr. MacManus was an honest man to the cause to which his whole heart was given. The night before he left for Ireland, he slept at the house of a merchant in Manchester, named Porteus; that gentleman used all his influence to dissuade his friend from so mad an exploit, but in vain. The embryo chief left a considerable store of pistols in the custody of Mr. Porteus, which were delivered to the chief constable of Manchester.

The vigorous proceedings of the executive, both in England and Ireland, compelled the Irish leaders, without waiting for the harvest, to decide upon a course of action. Their first project was to seize the metropolis. It was garrisoned by about twelve thousand men—a small force, had there been unanimity and determination on the part of the Irish people; but the leaders were obliged to fly to the provinces, or conceal themselves, in order to avoid arrest; and, in fact, they felt that the fortitude of the clubs could not be relied upon for so bold an enterprise. After all their preparations and their boasting, the members of the clubs—their chief reliance—were too few in number, and inadequately armed for such an exploit.

The project was then adopted for the leaders to repair to those parts of the country where the clubs were most numerous, and supposed to be most resolute, and there proceed with their organisation until the government attempted to arrest them, when the clubs were to rise for their rescue. It was supposed that the excitement produced by the arrest of the leaders was necessary to inflame the enthusiasm of the populace. How little did they know the real feelings of the multitude upon whose generosity and manhood they thus adventurously threw themselves!

On the 26th, the _Habeas Corpus_ Suspension Act arrived in Dublin, and warrants were issued for the arrest of all the club leaders. Troops were moved upon the principal points where it was desirable, for strategetic and political purposes, to concentrate them. Extraordinary precautions were taken for the capital. Sir Charles Napier was placed in command of a powerful steam squadron on the southern coast, Cork and Waterford being especially menaced by the guns’ of the ships. A proclamation was issued by the viceroy declaring the clubs illegal, and “commanding all persons to withdraw from and abandon the same.” On the last day of July, the privy council held a sitting at Dublin Castle, when it was resolved to place a number of baronies and counties under the Prevention of Crime and Outrage Act. By this means opportunity would be most easily taken to disarm the rebels. The districts put under the stern surveillance of this law were the counties of Kerry, Wexford, Carlow, Queen’s County, counties of Galway, Kildare, Wicklow, Westmeath, Louth; seven baronies of the county Cork, eight baronies in the King’s county, four baronies in the county of Cavan, two baronies in the county Armagh, and the barony of Newry, county Down. Proclamations of reward were also offered for the arrest of Smith O’Brien, £500; for Francis T. Meagher, John B. Dillon, and Michael Doheny, “each or either,” £300. The ground assigned for the arrest was “having taken up arms against her majesty.”

The _Hue and Cry_ gave the following descriptions of the personal appearance, ages, &c, of the leaders:—“William Smith O’Brien, no occupation, forty-six years of age, six feet in height, sandy hair, dark eyes, sallow long face, has a sneering smile constantly upon his countenance, full whiskers, sandy, a little grey. A well set man, walks erect, and dresses well.—Thomas Francis Meagher, no occupation, twenty-five years of age, five feet nine inches, dark, nearly black hair, light blue eyes, pale face, high cheek bones, peculiar expression about the eyes, cocked nose, no whiskers, well dressed.—John B. Dillon, barrister, thirty-two years of age, five feet eleven inches in height, dark hair, dark eyes, thin sallow face, rather thin black whiskers, dressed respectably, has a bilious look.—Michael Doheny, barrister, forty years of age, five feet eight inches in height, sandy hair, grey eyes, coarse, red face, like a man given to drink, high cheek bones, wants several of his teeth, very vulgar appearance, peculiar coarse, unpleasant voice, dress respectable, small short red whiskers.—Richard O’Gorman, junior, barrister, thirty years of age, five feet eleven inches in height, very dark hair, dark eyes, thin long face, large dark whiskers, well-made and active, walks upright, dress black frock coat, tweed trowsers.—Thomas Davy M’Ghee, connected with the _Nation_ newspaper, twenty-three years of age, five feet three inches in height, black hair, dark face, delicate, pale, thin man; generally dresses in black shooting coat, plaid trowsers, and thin vest.—Thomas Devin Keily, sub-editor of the _Felon_ newspaper, twenty-four years of age, five feet seven inches in height, sandy, coarse hair, grey eyes, round freckled face, head remarkably broad at the top, broad shoulders, well set, dresses well.”

The peculiar personal appearance of the men who comprised, with a few others, those who fomented the insurgent feeling in Ireland is of some interest for the page of history, especially of contemporaneous history. The delineation was faithful, and aided very much in rendering concealment difficult, for it prevented the timid from affording shelter to the chiefs as soon as they became fugitives. For the masses, this minute description had an alarming appearance, as if government were well informed of its enemies.

At last the period arrived for the struggle, if ever it was to be made, and contemporaneous with the projected outbursts, movements were made by the Irish residents in Great Britain, the Chartists sympathising with them. The last week of July was especially an anxious period in Lancashire. The chief danger was apprehended in Manchester, but the only occurrence was a demonstration of the clubs, which was made on Tuesday evening, the 26th:—“The members of the several confederate clubs met in their respective club-rooms, and proceeded thence, about nine o’clock, in military order, to a large space of vacant ground adjoining the new Roman Catholic chapel, on the Cheetham Hill Boad. The number present was very great. No speech was delivered, but three cheers were given for ‘the cause,’ immediately after which the assembly dispersed. The intention of holding the meeting having been made known to the authorities, steps were taken to prevent any disorder.”

In Liverpool, and on the opposite side of the Mersey at Birkenhead, it was necessary to resort to very extraordinary precautions. The following extracts from letters written from these places at that time, describe a state of considerable apprehension in the public mind, and the necessity of great exertions to intimidate the Irish population:—“There being reason to apprehend a movement in Liverpool, to act as a diversion in favour of the insurgents, should a rising take place in Ireland, preparations are accordingly being made by our local authorities to guard against a surprise. From the Liverpool papers of Tuesday we learn that twenty thousand special constables have been sworn in in the several wards of that town. Steps have also been taken to organise the corps and to appoint leaders. A place of rendezvous has been taken in each ward, and there a guard is placed night and day, to give the alarm, should the necessity for so doing arise. About one thousand men belonging to the dock works have been sworn in, and amply provided with formidable weapons, and all the public buildings in the town are guarded day and night. There can be no doubt, it is stated, that confederate clubs are being formed in Liverpool, for the avowed purpose of aiding the people of Ireland in any insurrectionary movements which may be originated. The idea is, that by rising in Liverpool, Glasgow, and other places, whenever a rebellion breaks out in Ireland, troops, instead of being sent across the water, will be kept at home to put down disturbances, and thus the forces of the government in Ireland will be considerably weakened. It is stated that clubs to the number of fifty have been established in the former town—that they number one hundred men each. The subscription of each member is 1s. a-week. The money is spent in the purchase of fire-arms, the general price being about 12s. 6d. a-piece. Every night for the payment of subscriptions, a raffle takes place for the muskets, which the members are enabled to procure with the subscriptions. Several arrests have taken place; and it is hoped that the bold front displayed by the authorities will have the effect of preventing the contemplated outbreak. It may be stated here, as a circumstance showing how much on the alert are those who are endeavouring to repress the rebellious movements of the disaffected, that information was received yesterday morning by the authorities, that two sons of Hyland, the notorious pike-maker of Dublin, arrived from that city in Liverpool on Monday last. The magistrates of Birkenhead have requested the inhabitants of that town ‘to act as special constables for six months.’ A summons, signed by four magistrates—Colonel Gregg, Mr. W. Hall, Mr. J. W. Harden, and Mr. J. S. Jackson—was served to every householder, requiring them to attend on Monday at the Town Hall and take the necessary oath, and by half-past ten every respectable inhabitant was sworn. Accompanying the summons was a notice, signed by Messrs. Townsend and Kent, clerics to the magistrates, informing the parties that ‘by disobedience to the precept a penalty of £5 would be incurred.’”

On the 27th the London _Times_ contained the following startling telegraphic communication, which caused the funds to fall, and created alarm throughout the provinces:—

“The whole of the south of Ireland is in rebellion.

“The station at Thurles is on fire, the rails for several miles torn up, and the mob intend detaining the engines as they arrive.

“At Clonmel the fighting is dreadful. The people arrived in masses. The Dublin club leaders are there. The troops were speedily overpowered; many refused to act.

“The military at Carrick have shown disaffection, and have been driven back, and their quarters fired.

“At Kilkenny the contest is proceeding, and here the mob are also said to be successful.

“No news from Waterford or Cork.”

The writer of this History was in Dublin at that time, and remembers the city being thrown into a state of great excitement by the foregoing intelligence. The alarm was, however, of short duration, as the citizens of the Irish capital were better acquainted with the disposition of the people, and the probability of their sustaining a close contest with the troops. Besides, there existed confidence in the loyalty of the police, whether Roman Catholic or Protestant. An incident occurred in Dublin which greatly strengthened that confidence; it was thus related in the papers of the day:—“A policeman who attempted to arrest three of the club-men, who were armed, was stabbed in several places, and now lies dangerously wounded at Mercer’s hospital. The brave fellow never let go his grasp of two of the fellows, and they and a third are in custody, and will, no doubt, be indicted capitally at the next commission. The unfortunate constable (Byrne) at first, on being submitted to medical treatment, continued for some time to improve, but fever having set in, it was deemed advisable for him to make a declaration, and the magistrate on Thursday repaired to the hospital for that purpose.”

Happily the telegraphic communication was found to be false; it was managed by persons in the interest of the insurrection, in order to spread alarm, to magnify the undertaking, and drive many of the Irish people, both in Ireland and Great Britain, to join the confederacy. But while the startling tidings of the telegraph were false, other news, authentic and very alarming, reached London concerning the movements of the insurrectionary chiefs, and the reception which they met with from the people. The following piece of correct intelligence influenced the funds, and produced a considerable degree of anxiety in the public mind:—

“On Sunday evening, July 23rd, Smith O’Brien and Thomas Francis Meagher reached Carrick-on-Suir at half-past five in the evening from Kilkenny. On their route, at Gallan, they addressed thousands, and told them for the present not to interfere with the police or soldiery, as they performed their duties, but when the word should be given, not to spare any who opposed them. Monday being fair-day at Carrick, the town was filled with country people, and Messrs. Meagher and O’Brien addressed the people in a more violent and determined strain than heretofore, stating their determination not to be arrested under the provisions of the new act. Both gentlemen were armed with pistols, which they are determined to use in the event of an attempt being made to capture them; they stated that they had spent their fortunes in the people’s cause, and would hazard their lives for their service, and would now throw themselves on the protection of the people. A number of Waterford men, who were at Carrick doing business at the fair, begged of Mr. Meagher to come to Waterford, alleging that his fellow-citizens would protect him from arrest; but Mr. Smith O’Brien would not listen to that proposal, and brought off Mr. Meagher to Cashel, or, as others said, to Tipperary. Whilst this scene was enacting, two hundred of the 3rd Buffs marched in from the camp at Besborough, and took up their position in the barracks. Few of either party slept during the night; the Young Irelanders, however, did not do anything to disturb the peace of the town, but business is totally at a stand-still, and all in and about the town are resting on their arms, waiting for the battle hour. In Waterford the clubs are described as being well organised, and armed, and ready to act when called upon. The people seemed reckless from poverty; groups of workingmen might be seen in the streets by day and night, discussing politics and retailing the news of the hour. The queen’s forces in Waterford were about one thousand strong. The _Rhadamanthus_ steam-vessel was in the river, and it was proposed to form two camps on the hills which command the town. In the country the peasants were arming; at Coolnamuck so much timber had been cut down for pike-handles, that the clubs would not allow any more to be taken thence, in compassion to the proprietor. At Mount Bolton the owner had it cut and left outside the wood for the people, to prevent further waste; at Lord Waterford’s demesne more ash-trees had been cut down, and the useless parts left behind. All the anvils in the country ring with pike-forging, and every weapon is put in order for the fray.”

The effect upon the government, the legislature, and the country, of the electric telegraph and other communications, false and true, may be judged of by the readers of these pages from the following speech by Sir George Grey, the home-secretary in the House of Commons, on Thursday evening, the 27th. Sir George had been questioned on this subject, and thus replied:—

“I have great satisfaction in stating that I have every reason to believe that the alarming accounts which have appeared in the later editions of the morning papers, and which were transmitted this morning from Liverpool by the electric telegraph, to the effect that insurrection had actually broken out in the south of Ireland, are totally destitute of truth. Sir, on receiving the copy of the paper containing the intelligence said to have been sent from Liverpool this morning, I dispatched a letter to the honourable member for Stoke-upon-Trent, to induce him to forward a communication by the electric telegraph to the mayor of Liverpool, requesting to know from him what information had been received in Liverpool from Ireland, and I received a despatch from that functionary, by the electric telegraph, stating that the information published this morning was accompanied from Ireland by a letter, dated Dublin, Wednesday evening, which represented that Mr. Conway, of the _Dublin Evening Post_, had received from the Castle a most dreadful rumour, which he was about to publish in a second edition of that paper. The writer then went on to say, that he took advantage of our queen’s messenger going off at the moment for London, to forward the intelligence in a parcel to Messrs. Willmer and Smith, of Liverpool, who, no doubt, would transmit it to London by the electric telegraph. The mayor of Liverpool, about an hour after this, further communicated to me that he is perfectly satisfied that the Irish intelligence, contained in the paragraph published in the morning papers, is utterly untrue, unless government have received a despatch from Lord Clarendon, confirming it. He also states that a queen’s messenger certainly had arrived from Dublin by a steamer this morning, and he left Liverpool by the half-past six express train. Now, it is perfectly true that a queen’s messenger was dispatched from Dublin last night. I had sent him over with a despatch, stating that the bill for suspending the Habeas Corpus Act had received the royal assent, and he left Dublin with a despatch from the lord-lieutenant yesterday evening, and arrived in London by the express train this morning by half-past one o’clock. This despatch certainly describes the state of the country in the neighbourhood of Clonmel, Carrick, and Thurles to be dreadful, but in relation to any actual outbreak it is perfectly silent, and makes no mention whatever. I have seen the messenger, and he states that he left Dublin at three o’clock yesterday afternoon, but he assures me he brought no parcel or letter for any party whatever. The messenger is stated to have come over by a special steamer from Kingston yesterday, that he started at three o’clock by the steamer which was reported to have had the queen’s messenger on board. Now, no queen’s messenger came over in that steamer; but I have received letters from the lord-lieutenant, written after the departure of the queen’s messenger yesterday afternoon, which contain no allusion to those frightful accounts. I am also assured by an hon. member that the hon. gentleman the member for Totness left Dublin yesterday by the steamer which leaves at seven o’clock, and that everything was tranquil when he left—that no rumour of the kind had reached his ears when the steamer left the port. I will only add that I certainly shall endeavour to trace the wilful originator of the report. I have now given all the information in my power, and it enables me to concur with the honourable gentleman that these reports were fabricated for a wicked and malicious purpose. With respect to the state of Ireland, I may only add, that by the letters which I have received from the lord-lieutenant, it appears that Sir Charles Napier had arrived at Cork with his squadron, with an able and ample body of troops, who, I am sure, are always ready to discharge their duty with unflinching bravery, and who are, therefore, entirely free from the imputations which the reports circulated this day have unfoundedly cast upon them.”

Lord Lansdowne was also questioned in the House of Lords, and made a similar reply, when the Marquis of Londonderry, in a very spirited maimer and amidst the applause of the house, inculpated the government for allowing the agitation in Ireland to rise to such a head, arguing that had the seditious writing, speaking, and acting of the confederates been timely prevented, the law would have been vindicated, public peace and order undisturbed, and many thousands of poor deluded men would have been saved from wandering after the _ignis fatuus_ of the Confederation. This philippic was well deserved by the government; had they really desired that the pear should ripen before they plucked it, they could not have proceeded otherwise than they did. The insurrection might have been crushed in the bud had the government exercised proper wisdom and firmness. It will scarcely be believed that during these exciting transactions, any member of the legislature would have the folly to introduce measures for repealing the union or holding parliaments in Ireland. There were, however, such persons: Fergus O’Connor and John O’Connell repeatedly advocated repeal, and Mr. R. M. Fox gave notice of a motion for holding a parliament in Ireland, which, on the 26th, he withdrew, amidst the derisive laughter of the house, the honourable member assuring it that he deprecated the union of repealers and republicans in Ireland. The government and the legislature were very much strengthened by the support which the executive received from Sir Robert Peel. In one of the debates upon the political condition of Ireland during that memorable week, Sir Robert, with great warmth and energy of manner, said, “He was prepared to give his unqualified support to the government. He trusted in the veracity of the ministers when they stated that the conspiracy was wide-spread and imminent, and he was ready to take his part with the crown against those mock kings of Munster of whom they had heard, and against those conspirators who were working to substitute for the mild sway of her majesty a cruel and sanguinary despotism. There was now no excuse for further delay in coping with the Irish traitors, and he for one was prepared to consent to the suspension of all the forms of the house in order to the speedy passing of this bill; and if additional powers should be required, he trusted the government would not hesitate a moment in bringing them forward. Having referred to the results of revolution on the continent, the right honourable gentleman concluded by reiterating his conviction that the throne of this country was firmer than ever fixed in the hearts and affections of the people.”

The Roman Catholic clergy were never favourable to the Young Ireland party. They desired the repeal of the union, and even the entire separation of the two countries; but they had no confidence in the ringleaders of the Confederation, because, in their opinion, some were sceptics, and some heretics, and all men of a judgment below the undertaking: of this a considerable body of the clergymen of the Romish church in Ireland were well competent to judge; they knew the feelings of the people better than any other class of men did, and in their own ranks were numbered a great many men of high attainments and superior intellect. Some of the very old clergymen in the south, who remembered the great insurrection at the close of the last century, and the sufferings which the people experienced, spared no efforts of persuasion and moral influence to prevent a like occurrence, while some of the younger and more active clergymen literally horsewhipped the people to their homes who had turned out. But for these efforts of the priests, there would have been an insurrection of some force; and had the priests given it active encouragement, a wide-spread and sanguinary rebellion must have ensued. Lord Glengall declared in his place in the House of Lords that the country was much indebted to the Roman Catholic priests for the preservation of the peace. The general discontent of the people, and their disloyalty to the throne, had been, however, much perverted by the bigoted spirit and inflammatory harangues of their teachers.

After vain attempts to rouse the people to turn out, Mr. O’Brien, with persistence and courage worthy of any cause, placed himself at the head of a mob of a few hundred peasants and labourers, and without any well-poised aim or determinate plan of action, proclaimed open revolt against the queen’s government. On the 29th of July he appeared as the leader of this hopeless corps, to make war against the mightiest empire in the world. He was, however, compelled to resort to some decisive measure by the proclamations of reward offered for his arrest, and by the efforts which were put forth immediately upon the proclamations having been posted up. Kilkenny was one of the principal _foci_ of the strength of the confederates, and O’Brien seems to have relied mainly upon the men of Kilkenny and Tipperary.

While O’Brien, Meagher, and a few others were mustering their poor forces, others of the leaders appear not to have taken very much precaution against arrest. Charles Gavan Duffy was taken early in July, so was Doheny, and several more of the most boisterous of the club chiefs. Mr. Blake, the county inspector of constabulary in Kilkenny, arriving at Harley Park, discovered that O’Brien and his forces were quartered among the colliers of Boulagh, within a mile of Ballingarry. He immediately sent to Callan, where the constabulary of the district had been concentrated for some days, to avoid being attacked in small parties by the populace. Nearly sixty men left Callan, under Inspector Trant. Mr. Blake sent to Kilkenny, and other military positions, for troops, which were dispatched so as to surround the neighbourhood where the confederates had mustered. The country people soon communicated to Smith O’Brien and his followers these facts; and Mr. O’Brien thereupon reviewed his force, consisting of colliers and peasants, variously armed. They all promised faithfully to stand by him. While thus engaged, Inspector Trant and his police detachment were seen approaching from Ballingarry, and the insurgents, numbering twenty to one, dashed forward to meet them. The police perceiving the disparity of force, made for a farm-house known as the widow M’Cormack’s. The mob broke their array, and rushed also to seize the house; but the police were first there, and barricaded it with the furniture and such other materials as were at hand. Mr. O’Brien parleyed with the police, shaking hands with them through the lower windows, and used every persuasion to induce them to deliver up their arms, which of course they refused. The peasants and colliers then directed showers of stones against the doors and windows, and also opened a fire of small arms from an outhouse. This was replied to by the police, who killed several and wounded many others. O’Brien was perfectly incompetent to give any useful direction, and his men began to retire before the sharp practice from the fire-arms of the police, when at last the latter, advancing under cover of some low walls and haystacks, drove the crowd from the neighbourhood, O’Brien escaping on the inspector’s horse. Neither skill nor courage was shown by the assailants. O’Brien’s conduct has been criticised with much severity on this occasion; but it is false to represent him as having acted without spirit; he, of course, in giving directions to his party, placed himself where he might best do so, and avoid the aim of the police; but if he or his followers had been fit for the work they had undertaken, they would either have stormed the house or retired in order; and, possessing so intimate a knowledge of the country, they might have evaded the armed parties in pursuit, until, with increased numbers, they had fallen upon some place of arms which they would have made their _point d’appui_. As it was, their proceedings were ludicrous, and afforded subject-matter for _Punch_, which contained a caricature representing an army of Irish rebels scared by the shadow of a policeman. There can be no doubt that O’Brien would have dared anything which a sense of duty and honour dictated, and which opportunity afforded; but to lead an insurrection was a task utterly beyond his capacity. It is difficult to believe that the more crafty of the confederates were sincere in the language they employed in inciting him to the preposterous acts in which he took part. For instance, a letter written by Charles Gavan Duffy was found in Smith O’Brien’s portmanteau after his arrest, which contained the following absurdly eulogistic incitement to place himself in the foreground of the revolt:—

“There is no halfway house for you. You will be the head of the movement, loyally obeyed, and the revolution will be conducted with order and clemency; or the mere anarchists will prevail with the people, and our revolution will be a bloody chaos. You have at present Lafayette’s place, so graphically painted by Lamartine; and I believe have fallen into Lafayette’s error—that of not using it to all its extent, and in all its resources. I am perfectly well aware that you don’t desire to lead or influence others; but I believe, with Lamartine, that that feeling which is a high personal and civic virtue, is a vice in revolutions. If I were Smith O’Brien, I would strike out in my own mind, or with such counsel as I valued, a definite course for the revolution, and labour incessantly to develop it in that way.”

Had Mr. Duffy desired to precipitate a weak man—the leader of other weak men—into certain ruin, these extracts, and the letter from which they are taken, would be perfectly consistent and intelligible. Had Mr. Duffy himself been quite sure of escape, by some means, from the consequences of insurrection, and had he desired to aid the government in bringing the disaffection existing into actual maturity, such a mode of addressing the proud, brave, and honest man to whom he wrote, would be rational; but with the clergy and gentry of all sects in Ireland adverse to any such movement, and with a fourth at least of all the other classes in Ireland, except the mere peasantry, equally hostile,—while many of those favourable to the Confederation were afraid to move hand or foot in its behalf,—such a letter, written by a man who ought from his position to have known Ireland well, is one of the most extraordinary episodes in the history of the eminently foolish transactions of the party.

After the wild affair at Boulagh Common, Smith O’Brien became a fugitive. There was no more preparedness or spirit to rise in his behalf than there had been for Mitchell; and indeed so destitute were leaders and people of any military knowledge or resources, that in any effort against the soldiery, the insurgents would have gone forth as sheep to the slaughter.

On the 5th of August O’Brien was arrested at the Thurles railway station, having taken a ticket at that place for Limerick. He was recognised by Hulme, a guard on the Great Southern and Western Railway, and the police and military were promptly summoned to Hulme’s aid. General M’Donald treated the prisoner with all possible courtesy, and sent him to Dublin. The courtesies of the gallant general were rather disdainfully repelled. Mr. O’Brien requested his portmanteau to be sent for, as it contained various necessaries. This request was granted, but all papers which it contained were abstracted by the Irish secretary, and several documents and letters from the other leaders, of a treasonable nature, were discovered. Nine years after this event, when Mr. O’Brien as a pardoned convict was permitted to return to his country, he had the puerility to complain of this act in a letter to the public. The man who could fail to see the justice and propriety of such a step on the part of the government, was so far beyond reason on political matters, that all astonishment at the impracticability of his insurrectionary attempts during the autumn of 1848 ceases.

On the 28th of September Mr. O’Brien was put upon his trial at Clonmel. The trial lasted until the 9th of October, when a verdict of guilty was returned, and a strong recommendation for mercy, the jury stating that, on many grounds, they were of opinion that Mr. O’Brien’s life should be spared. Probably every impartial person in the kingdom snared their views. The judges, however, recorded sentence of death.

The trials of MacManus, Meagher, and O’Donoghue resulted in verdicts of guilty, and sentence of death was recorded in each case. When they were brought to the court for that purpose, and asked what they had to say why sentence of death should not be passed upon them, Mr. MacManus delivered a manly and sensible speech, in a tone and with a manner so frank and direct, as to produce a strong impression in his favour throughout the court, as it did throughout the country, by all who perused it. The speech of Meagher was an eloquent failure; it appeared as if he had kept the noble and unfortunate Emmet before him as a model. He addressed the judges as if he were about to expiate his error upon the scaffold, whereas he knew, as all Ireland knew, that it was not the intention of government to put the sentence of the law in force. This circumstance gave an air of display and bombast to a speech that, if the realities of the speaker’s position had corresponded with it, would have been thrillingly effective.

Soon after these events, a number of other participants in the revolt were put upon their trial for their connection with it, or for seditious writings. The following notices, under the head of “State Trials,” appeared in the papers of the day, and will sufficiently exemplify the general character of such proceedings and their results:—“The trial of Mr. Williams was closed on Friday se’nnight, by the acquittal of the accused. It appeared that he could not be fixed upon as the author of any of the articles indicted. Those which were most violent had been published during a period when he was confined to his room, and could not, and did not, take part in conducting the _Tribune_. Mr. O’Doherty, the part-proprietor of the _Tribune_, less fortunate than Mr. Williams, has been sentenced to ten years’ transportation. In Dublin the sentence on Mr. O’Doherty was not expected to be so severe. He is a young man, not more than twenty-two, and his high character for humanity, and the recommendation of the jury, induced the public to believe that, though the sentence would be severe, the punishment would not so nearly approach that of those who preceded him in his career. With his sentence, and the discharge of Mr. Williams, the commission terminated. Mr. Duffy still remains in the custody of the gaoler of Newgate.”

The sentence of death upon the prisoners at Clonmel was afterwards commuted to transportation, and this was carried into effect. The people of Ireland felt that the crown had acted with justice and clemency; and all regretted the necessity of visiting with so severe a punishment men whose conduct arose from fervent patriotism and honest purpose.

The case of Charles Gavan Duffy was the most remarkable of any which was brought before the Irish law courts in connection with the insurrection. Certainly, the charges brought against him were as clearly proved as were those against any other of the party leaders. Yet the trial was so managed, and juries were found so obstinate, that notwithstanding the appearance of the most pertinacious prosecution on the part of the crown, a conviction could not be obtained. The following extract from a journal published Saturday, the 23rd of December, exhibits the general character of the proceedings against Mr. Duffy, and the questions which were raised to postpone his trial and embarrass the prosecution:—

“On Friday (se’nnight) the important trial of Mr. Duffy commenced, before Baron Richards and Mr. Justice Perrin, and the first two days were consumed in arguments for and against the quashing of a former indictment found in the county of Dublin against the prisoner. On Monday the court decided the point. The motion of the prisoner’s counsel was, that Mr. Duffy be not called upon to plead to the indictment found against him by the grand jury of the county of the city of Dublin, because another and a similar indictment was put in against him in the county of Dublin; and as it would be an injustice to him to be called upon to plead to one indictment during the subsistence of another in which the crime laid was the same.

“The judgment of the court was, that the whole of the cases previous to the passing of the act 6 Geo. IV., cap. 51, were against the case made on behalf of Mr. Duffy, and that there was nothing in the act to take it out of the operation of those decisions. The act did not directly apply to the present case at all, and the court could not imply anything to disqualify the crown from taking whatever course it should think fit to take in furtherance of the administration of justice.

“The counsel for the prisoner, however, had not stated all their objections; and on Mr. Duffy being called on to plead to the indictment, his counsel handed in on his behalf a plea of abatement, on the ground of the disqualification (by reason of non-residence, or not being householders) of two of the grand jury who found the bill. The counsel for the crown retired, and, ultimately, the further consideration of the plea was postponed to the next day.

“The court intimated that in the decision they had come to on the motion before them in the morning, they by no means desired or intended to leave Mr. Duffy open to the indictment found in the county along with that found in the city. Before he pleaded to the latter, the crown should declare what course would be adopted—whether a _nolle prosequi_ should not be entered on the other.

“Application having been made to rescind the order of the court made on Saturday, prohibiting the proceedings at the trial to be published in the newspapers until the trial had been concluded, the court refused to accede to the request.

“On Tuesday, the arguments on the plea, handed in on the previous day, engaged the court the whole day. Their lordships took time to consult the various authorities cited, before giving judgment. Before rising, the court refused to hear Mr. Duffy, who applied to have the order against the publication of the proceedings at the trial in the newspapers rescinded, and directed the application to be made by counsel; stating at the same time that the order must remain in force, unless it could be shown that the prisoner would sustain damage from the non-publication.

“On Thursday morning, Mr. Holmes inquired at what time their lordships would deliver judgment as to the validity of the plea in abatement? Mr. Justice Perrin replied that they hoped to be able to give judgment to-morrow (Friday). It was clear that, no matter what that decision might be, the trial could not be commenced until after Christmas.”

After many and intricate legal questions had been disposed of, Mr. Duffy finally escaped the meshes of the law, and resumed his avocations as proprietor and editor of the _Nation_ newspaper, which journal he conducted for a time with more moderation, although the government still allowed him an extraordinary degree of license.

_Irish Agitation fob Rotatory Parliaments_.—The extinction of the Irish insurrection did not suppress agitation. The moral-force Repealers kept up a certain amount of clamour: said much, but not to any purpose, and did nothing.

A considerable number of noblemen and gentlemen, more remarkable for their high position and character than for intellectual power, formed an association for the purpose of promoting what they called Rotatory Parliaments, which would lead to the frequent holding of legislative sessions in Dublin. On the 18th of December, a meeting for this purpose was held in Dublin, at the Northumberland Buildings, Lord William Fitzgerald in the chair. The meeting was but thinly attended, probably on account of the extreme wet which prevailed all day. Mr. Sharman Crawford proposed the first resolution—“That the present mode of legislation for Ireland is at the root of all the difficulties under which this country labours.” Mr. Crawford referred all the evils under which Ireland laboured to English misrule and Irish landlords. Dr. Carmichael moved the next resolution:—“That amongst the many striking instances of the neglect which Irish affairs, even of vital importance, usually meet with in the imperial parliament, may be stated the failure of all attempts by the Irish members to improve the laws relating to medical charities.” The next resolution was as follows:—“That the present mode of legislation for Ireland tends to alienate the affections of her people; to prevent their industry and self-reliance, and would be impolitic even in a recently conquered country.” The fourth resolution stated:—“That the waste lands of Ireland offer a vast field of remunerative employment for her unemployed population, while the many abortive attempts that have been made to legislate on the subject in the imperial parliament sitting at Westminster, furnishes another argument for a meeting of the imperial parliament in Dublin.” All the resolutions were passed unanimously. Lord Massarene was then called to the chair; and a vote of thanks having been passed to Lord W. Fitzgerald, the meeting separated.

This agitation, which enlisted the attention of so many respectable persons, was never supported by the people. Had the priests, and their lay agents, and organs of the press favoured it, it would in all probability have attained to some degree of importance. The people began to lose faith in all associations, and the programme of this was not sufficiently _piquant_ for the political taste of the violent and bigoted sections of the community. The association met with some favour in high quarters in England, but not with so much as its promoters believed would be the case.

_Religious Feuds.—Conflicts between Landlords and Tenants_.—The social and agrarian warfare continued when the political fires were quenched. Men were waylaid and murdered on account of their religious opinions being too prominently expressed for the bigotry of their assassins, and the utmost religious animosity raged through the land. Landlords who were active in proselytising, or who in any way showed religious zeal or earnestness, were subject to insult and injury in every form.

The conduct of the owners of land was not generally forbearing and praiseworthy, while the laws were all designed to operate in their favour. The tenantry were not more just than the owners of the soil; and altogether the relations of landlord and tenant in Ireland were most unhappy. A letter written from Ireland at the close of the year, thus depicted the state of affairs:—“The evictions and house-levelling do not cease in activity. At Ardnacrusha, a little hamlet about two miles from Limerick, twenty houses were levelled on Monday. Thousands of the fertile acres of Tipperary are waste, and these are increased each day by further evictions. The case is the same in Limerick and in Clare. We find daily announcements of large farmers running away, and sweeping all with them. They grow alarmed lest their turn may soon come, and they evade the fate of others by leaving the land naked on the landlord’s hands. A few days since, in a district of Clare, while the farmers were at market with their produce, the landlord’s agents descended on the farmers, with a large body of armed followers, and without legal process or authority of any kind, it is said, swept away all the stock on the land to satisfy the landlord’s claims. On the other side of the picture we find that a tenant, holding ninety-seven acres of land, had sold off everything, and, with the whole of the produce in his pocket, had reached Limerick, to emigrate, when he was arrested at the suit of his landlord and other creditors.”

_Advent of Cholera_.—Many as were the social and political evils of Ireland during the sorrowful year of 1848, there was a providential visitation which added to her miseries. Cholera made its appearance in several places during the autumn; the cases were not very numerous, but were in general fatal, and excited great apprehension as to the progress of the pestilence, which, in the following year committed fearful ravages. It was observable that the famine fever disappeared as this still more deadly enemy approached.

Such was the history of Ireland during one of the most eventful years in the annals of the world. She had passed through a terrible ordeal, and although not wholly uninstructed by it, yet any lessons it was calculated to teach were reluctantly received and imperfectly learned.

ENGLAND.

_Political Events_.—On former pages we sketched the violent political convulsions of continental Europe, and the relation which England bore to the changes which so rapidly took place: within her own confines there was much uneasiness, and some danger, but law and order triumphed over their adversaries.

The chartist confederacy put forth all its force, and its leader, Fergus O’Connor, assumed unwonted boldness, both in and out of parliament. Meetings were held in various parts of the country, in which the government was denounced for not employing the people; and the virtue (as it appeared to these assemblages) of appropriating the property of the landholders and manufacturers, was loudly insisted upon.

One of these meetings, which excited considerable apprehension, was held at Kennington Common, on the 13th of March. Much preparation appeared to be made by the chartist leaders to give it the appearance of a very great popular demonstration. Nearly fifteen thousand persons assembled, the greater number from curiosity, the love of mischief, or any other than political feeling. The speeches were inferior to those usually made at such meetings, and except in the more than usual amount of abuse offered to all who were not operatives, the meeting was not remarkable, and was dispersed by a shower of rain. The consequences of the assemblage were of more importance: many respectable persons were robbed and beaten; provision dealers were plundered, and a pawnbroker’s house of business was stripped of all valuable articles. Rioting subsequently occurred, although nearly four thousand police were in the neighbourhood or in reserve. This meeting seriously damaged the chartist cause in the metropolis. The upper and middle classes saw that plunder and molestation awaited them and the peaceable portion of the poor, if Chartism should gain the ascendant; and a determination arose to meet and suppress, with a resolute hand, the first outbreak. Early in April, fifteen of the rioters were put upon their trial for robbery with violence; eleven were convicted, and sentenced to various terms of transportation. This infuriated their confederates, and preparations were made for another demonstration of immense magnitude, to which Mr. Fergus O’Connor gave all his energy and influence. It was proposed to hold another meeting at Kennington Common on the 10th of April, ostensibly to carry a petition to the parliament house for making “the Charter” law. One hundred and fifty thousand Chartists were expected to assemble from very great distances. It was generally believed that the intention was to effect an English socialist revolution. Probably on no occasion, since the apprehension of invasion from the great Napoleon, was the London public so much alarmed. The subject, of course, fell under the consideration of parliament, where Fergus O’Connor was accused of attending seditious meetings and making treasonable speeches; this he denied with the greatest effrontery, affecting to be a pattern of order and law, although it was notorious that he was bent upon revolutionary attempts, and that his main motive was to resent certain affronts offered to himself by the Whigs. He had been jealous of O’Connell, whom that party to a certain extent petted, giving him private power and patronage, while Fergus was treated, as he himself believed, without consideration. His first attempts at agitation were in his own country, Ireland; but O’Connell turned him into ridicule, and eventually denounced him. Fergus then saw that the only hope of becoming an agitator of name and influence lay among the discontented English operatives; and he sought fame and power in that direction by means unworthy of any man, and ultimately ruinous to himself and to many of his dupes. On Tuesday, the 5th of April, the following conversation occurred in the commons, which showed the apprehensions of government and of the public, the hypocrisy of Mr. O’Connor, and the folly of Mr. Hume, who, always meaning well, so often inflicted injury on the liberal cause by his imperfect judgment and decided prejudices:—

“Mr. J. Walsh inquired of the secretary of state for the home department, if the attention of the government had been directed to the notice issued by the chartist body, of their intention to hold a numerous public meeting on Kennington Common on Monday next, and to go thence in procession to the House of Commons, for the purpose of presenting a petition in favour of ‘the people’s Charter;’ and if the right honourable baronet was prepared to take any steps to prevent the independence of the House of Commons from being overawed by any public meeting, or to protect the loyal and peaceable inhabitants of London? —Sir G. Grey replied that the attention of her majesty’s government had been directed to the notice in question, emanating from a convention consisting of forty-nine delegates elected at public meetings held in several of the large towns of the kingdom. This notice stated that those delegates met in London for the purpose of superintending the presentation of a petition in favour of the Charter to the House of Commons, and to adopt any other course that might be deemed advisable in order to secure the passing of the Charter into law. It likewise stated that a great public meeting would be held on Kennington Common on Monday next, and that the parties composing that assemblage would march in a procession, regulated and superintended by marshals, with their petition to the House of Commons. The attention of the government having been called to that notice, and other information having reached them respecting the intended proceedings, the government had directed a notice to be issued, which would be published in the course of half an hour throughout London, pointing out that, by the statute and common law of these realms, the intended procession was illegal, warning the loyal and peaceable subjects of her majesty to abstain from taking any part in the procession, and calling upon them to give their best aid to the constituted authorities towards preventing any disturbance, maintaining public order, and preserving the public peace.—Mr. F. O’Connor said, if there were the slightest intimation of committing a breach of the peace on the occasion of this procession, he would not be a party to the proceeding—that the parties concerned in the affair were peaceably disposed—and that every man of them would consider himself as a special constable, upon whom the preservation of peace was incumbent. Their whole object was to present to that house a petition, signed by between five and six millions of the people. The present announcement would certainly take the people by surprise.—Sir G. Grey could not see how they could be taken by surprise. The government had, at the earliest moment, taken the subject into deliberation, and resolved to take the course he had indicated.—Mr. Hume was sorry to find the government had taken up the subject so seriously, and advised them to rescind the proclamation.”

Notwithstanding Mr. Hume’s advice, the government did take it up as a serious matter, and the opinion of the public was with the government. Among other measures which the executive took to ensure security, the following were conspicuous:—“A large supply of fire-arms and cutlasses have been sent from the Tower to the East India House, and their different warehouses, the Custom House, Excise-office, the Post-office, Bank of England, the Mansion House, the various departments at Somerset House, the Ordnance-office, Pall-Mali, the Admiralty, and the different government offices at the West-end; also to a great many banking-houses in the city, and the dock companies. The clerks and persons employed in these establishments will be ready to act, if absolutely necessary, against any outrage that may be committed by a mob. The swearing-in of special constables is proceeding rapidly in Lambeth, Walworth, Camberwell, the Borough, and the districts on the Surrey side of the water, where the tradespeople and householders all show their desire to protect the public peace if called upon.”

These preparations were followed by the following proclamation:—

“_NOTICE_

“Whereas the assemblage of large numbers of people, accompanied with circumstances tending to excite terror and alarm in the minds of her majesty’s subjects, is criminal and unlawful.

“And whereas not only those persons who take an active part in such, assemblage, but those also who by their presence wilfully countenance it, are acting contrary to law, and are liable to punishment; and whereas an act of parliament, passed in the thirteenth year of the reign of his late majesty King Charles II., intituled, ‘An act against tumults and disorders, upon pretence of preparing or presenting public petitions or other addresses to his majesty in the parliament,’ it was enacted, ‘that no person or persons whatsoever shall repair to his majesty, or both or either of the houses of parliament, upon pretence of presenting or delivering any petition, complaint, remonstrance, or declaration, or other addresses, accompanied with excessive numbers or people, nor at any one time with above the number of ten persons.’

“And whereas a meeting has been called to assemble on Monday next, the 10th instant, at Kennington Common, and it is announced in the printed notices calling such meeting, that it is intended by certain persons to repair thence in procession to the House of Commons, accompanied with excessive numbers of people, upon pretence of presenting a petition to the Commons house of parliament; and whereas information has been received that persons have been advised to procure arms and weapons, with the purpose of carrying the same in such procession; and whereas such proposed procession is calculated to excite ‘terror and alarm in the minds of her majesty’s subjects.

“All persons are hereby cautioned and strictly enjoined not to attend, or take part in, or be present at, any such assemblage or procession.

“And all well-disposed persons are hereby called upon and required to aid in enforcing the provisions of the law, and effectually to protect the public peace, and suppress any attempt at the disturbance thereof.

“(Signed) C. Rowan,

“R. Maxne,

“Commissioners of the Police of the Metropolis.

“Metropolitan Police Office, Whitehall Place,

“April 6, 1848.”

The government resolved wisely to permit the meeting to assemble, at the same time announcing that any attempt to cross the bridges in a formal procession would be resisted. By this means, which it was alleged had been taken by the advice of the Duke of Wellington, the immense concourse of the seditious was placed at the side of the river where they could do least mischief, and the passages of which by the bridges could be easily defended by a small force. The government thus showed the impotency of the chartist party, and its own respect for constitutional rights.

On the morning fixed for the great experiment London presented a strange appearance. A vast body of persons was called out to act as special constables. Men of every rank of life might be seen in this capacity, among them Prince Louis Napoleon Buonaparte, afterwards Emperor of the French, stood with his constable’s baton as a custoder of order. The troops, which had been called from distances, and were billeted in the suburbs, rapidly concentrated at tap of drum and call of bugle. The Duke of Wellington, having the command, so disposed them that, without appearing through the day, they were ready to act at a moment’s notice, wherever their presence might be necessary, and so posted that each detachment could readily render support to another, in a regular chain of defensive positions. From every part of the provinces chartist delegates arrived, by railway and coach, bringing large rolls of petitions to be appended to the general roll.

Very early in the morning the Chartists gathered, in large bodies, at each separate rendezvous. Russell Square, Clerkenwell Green, and Stepney Green, were the grand points of meeting, where the greatest numbers assembled before marching to Kennington Common. Some of these processions were composed, to a great extent, of old men, boys, and women, and were attended by bands. Poles, surmounted by caps of liberty, flags, and streamers, were borne in the ranks or in carts. All these detachments were watched by mounted police and special constables, and at each rendezvous a large body of special constables on foot was drawn up to prevent any breach of the peace. The police being concentrated on various points, their ordinary duty was performed by special constables, who were distinguished by official staves and a white band round the arm. The shops were closed, and the public buildings were all well guarded and fortified. Buckingham Palace seemed the only place upon which no extra care was expended. No one supposed that the home of her majesty would be insulted, no matter what party was in the ascendant. As the troops took up their several positions within the public buildings, they were loudly cheered by the people in the streets, for it was evident, notwithstanding the immense chartist concourse, that an overwhelming majority of the Londoners was opposed to their proceedings. While matters were taking this course with the general public, the chartist delegates met in their usual place, the Literary and Scientific Institution, John Street, Fitzroy Square; Mr. Reynolds was called to the chair at nine o’clock. Mr. Doyle, the secretary, announced that a communication had been received from the head police-office, Scotland Yard, intimating that no procession from Kennington Common to the parliament house with the petition would be allowed, but that the petition itself would be permitted to pass the bridge in the custody of a suitable number of persons. Several speakers urged that the government should be set at defiance, and the petition proceeded with at all risks, until delivered at the House of Commons. Fergus O’Connor dissuaded them from any collision with the authorities. In a speech full of bombast and egotism, he declared that he was personally marked out for slaughter by the authorities. Thus, after all the bluster of this great tribune, as his followers called him, he showed the white feather. He was not prepared, like Smith O’Brien, gallantly to go out, with his life in his hand, and verify, by exposing himself to every peril and penalty, the words which he uttered when it was safe to utter them. Mr. O’Connor’s dissuasions in the interest of peace did not meet the approbation of the delegates, who seemed unanimously resolved to force their way across Westminster Bridge when the hour should arrive for so doing. In this spirit the meeting was adjourned to Kennington Common. The following graphic account of the departure of the delegates, their progress thither, and their arrival, was given by an eye-witness:—

“During this discussion two newly-constructed cars had driven up to the doors of the institution. The one intended for the conveyance of the monster petition was on four wheels, and drawn by as many very splendid farm horses. The body of the car was square, and surmounted by a tastefully constructed canopy. The attendants bore streamlets in the varied colours of red, green, and white, having appropriate inscriptions. The van or car in waiting for the delegates was upwards of twenty feet in length, with seats arranged transversely, in so commodious a manner as to afford comfortable accommodation to the delegates, as well as several representatives of the press. The body of the car was inscribed with the motto, ‘The Charter. No surrender. Liberty is worth living for and worth dying for.’ On the left, ‘The voice of the people is the voice of God;’ while on the back of the car was inscribed, ‘Who would be a slave that could be free?’ ‘Onward, we conquer; backward, we fall.’ Eight banners were fixed (four on each side) to the car, inscribed, ‘The Charter.’ ‘No vote, no muskets.’ ‘Vote by ballot,’ ‘Annual parliaments,’ ‘Universal suffrage,’ ‘No property qualification,’ ‘The payment of members,’ and ‘Electoral districts.’ To the vehicle were harnessed six farm-horses of superior breed, and in the highest possible condition. The marshals (designated by a silk sash of the colours red, white, and green) having announced, at ten minutes past ten o’clock, all in readiness, Mr. F. O’Connor was the first to ascend the car. The honourable gentleman was received with loud cheers by the crowd which thronged John Street, and took his seat in front of the van. He was followed by Mr. Ernest Jones, Mr. Harney, Mr. M’Grath, Mr. Clark, Mr. Wheeler, Mr. Reynolds, Dr. Hunter, and other leaders of the convention. The rest of that body having also taken their seats, the _cortege_ set forth amidst loud cheers. Passing along Goodge Street into Tottenham Court Road, along High Street, Bloomsbury, the National Land Company’s office was reached, and from that building five huge bales or bundles, comprising the petition, with the signatures, were brought out, and secured on the first car, prepared for their reception. Again the cavalcade moved forward, and progressing along Holborn and Farringdon Street, reached New Bridge Street, the crowd increasing the train at every step. So far the shops in the line which had been passed were only partially closed. The utmost order prevailed, though the delegates were recognised by numerous friends and adherents, and at intervals most vociferously cheered. At the Waithman obelisk the alderman of the ward, Sir James Duke, was in attendance, with his deputy, Mr. Obbard; but up to this spot not a single policeman was to be seen. The windows of the houses in New Bridge Street were filled with spectators, and, amidst much applause, the moving mass took an onward course across Blackfriars Bridge. At this time, a strong detachment of a battalion of pensioners, under arms, and fully accoutred, were observed to have just landed at the city pier, from Woolwich, and were loudly cheered by the vast concourse that now crowded the bridge. On reaching the Surrey side, the first display of the civil force appeared. On each side of Albion Place, were drawn up, in military order, a strong body, in double file, of the L division of the metropolitan police, while the city police maintained the ground on each side of the bridge, which was within the limits of the city jurisdiction. This force was under the orders of Mr. Henry, one of the magistrates at Bow Street. Opposite the end of Stamford Street, a party of the mounted police, fifteen strong, under the command of an inspector, was stationed. In its passage along the Blackfriars Road to the Elephant and Castle, the crowd continued to increase, and hem in the vehicles on both sides; still, everything was peaceable and well-conducted. At the Elephant and Castle a new mass joined in the rear of those who, walking eight abreast, and followed the train from the place of departure, and on reaching Newington Church the appearance of the masses was most bewildering. Proceeding along the Kennington Road the common was reached at half-past eleven o’clock. Here had already assembled the Irish confederalists, and the various bodies of the trades of London, who had intimated their intention of joining in the demonstration. These had taken their position in numerical order on the common, having arrived from their different rendezvous some time previously. Each trade had its emblematic banner, and the Irish confederalists displayed a very splendid green standard, emblazoned with the harp of Erin, and the motto ‘Erin go bragh.’”

The delegates addressed the meeting, and recommended peace, but chiefly on the ground that they were not prepared to contend with the armed force directed upon all the strategetic points where it might be made available. The magistrates and some of the chiefs of police were assembled at the Horns Tavern, Kennington, where they sent for Mr. O’Connor, requesting an interview. The mob supposed that he was arrested, and loud cries arose for his rescue. They were pacified, however, by his return, accompanied by Mr. M’Grath, and he was welcomed by the people with a tumult of cheers. He had given the magistrates assurance that order should be preserved, and he communicated the fact to the people, many of whom, believing that the day would issue in a revolution, were dissatisfied. Discussions arose on Cuffey advising the people to force Westminster Bridge, and present the petition themselves. The more moderate of the leaders, having their recommendations well backed by the statement that the troops were under arms and the police provided with cutlasses and pistols, prevailed, and the mob at last consented that the petition should be taken in a cab by Mr. O’Connor and certain others, and be presented by the honourable member for Nottingham that night. Upon the departure of Mr. O’Connor and the other delegates with the petition, a Mr. Clark moved the adoption of a petition to the House of Commons against the bill for providing more effectually for the security of the crown and government:—“The humble petition of the inhabitants of the metropolis of England, in public meeting assembled, showeth: That your petitioners have heard, with feelings of indignation and astonishment, that, by a bill which is now before your honourable house, for the ostensible purpose of providing more efficiently for the security of the crown and the government of these realms, it is sought to alter the law relating to the indefinite charge of sedition, and to punish by transportation that which is at present punishable by fine and imprisonment. That your petitioners regard this bill as an attempt to deprive the people of the right of expressing their just horror at the atrocious legislation which is generally practised by your honourable house, and your petitioners beg your honourable house to stamp this infamous measure with condemnation, by its unanimous and ignominious rejection.”

This resolution was seconded by a Mr. Kydd, and eloquently supported by Mr. Reynolds, and at half-past one the assembly broke up. The multitudes of course pressed to the bridges, but found their progress everywhere obstructed by police. Those who chose to cross the toll-paying bridges, were permitted to do so upon payment, under the eye of strong bodies of police. At London Bridge and Blackfriars, the crowd made desperate efforts to force their way across, and repeatedly swept the police before them, but were encountered by stronger efforts, and inch by inch driven back again. At Westminster Bridge the chief struggle was maintained, so that fears were entertained lest the bridge should give way beneath the swaying masses. On these three points many of the more sturdy of the mob were severely wounded by the swords of the mounted police, and many were arrested and placed in custody under the charge of riot. When the “monster petition” was brought over Westminster Bridge, the excitement of the multitude assembled in Bridge Street and Parliament Street was very great, and the police had to disperse or capture many ill-disposed persons who had no public object in collecting together. The petition and chartist executive committee arrived at the lobby of the commons by half-past three o’clock.

The house met at the usual hour. When the gallery was opened, the chartist petition, of awful bulk, stood rolled up in front of the table. An unusual number of members were present; several peers occupied the seats allotted to them in the chamber, and the public gallery was filled. Mr. Smith O’Brien was in his place, and he was the object of much observation. After the transaction of private business, Mr. F. O’Connor rose and said—“Sir, I have the honour to present a petition signed by five million seven hundred and six thousand persons, and another signed by thirty thousand persons, praying for annual parliaments, universal suffrage, vote by ballot, equal electoral districts, no property qualification, and the payment of members. As I have already received so much courtesy from the house, I will say nothing further at present, but move that the petition be read at the table.”

The petition having been read by the clerk, Lord Morpeth rose to apologise for the necessary absence of the home-secretary. The noble lord said that the secretary of state would have been in his place, only that he was occupied with the numerous details of his office. It was his opinion, with regard to the matters of the petition, that he would not willingly be wanting in proper respect to a petition so numerously signed.

The petition was then received, and was, with difficulty, rolled down the floor of the house to the bar.

Mr. Lushington gave notice that on Friday night he would ask the first lord of the treasury whether he could hold out a distinct hope that, in the present session, he would introduce himself, or support the introduction of any measure for the extension of the suffrage, the abridgment of the duration of parliaments, the formation of electoral divisions, and the vote by ballot. This motion was hailed with loud cheers.

The strangers’ gallery, and wherever spectators could be accommodated, was full during this scene, and the public desire to hear what notice the lords would take of these events was nearly as great; there also every allowable space was occupied by anxious expectants, to hear the Duke of Wellington and other ministers express their opinions.

The Marquis of Lansdowne, in reply to a question from the Marquis of Northampton, stated that the meeting which had caused so much alarm throughout the metropolis had taken place at Kennington Common that day, and the multitude had been dispersed by the police without requiring the aid of the military, and without any difficulty. The petition had, he believed, been brought to the House of Commons in a cab, and had been presented according to the usual form.—Lord Brougham, who made his first appearance in the house since Christmas, remarked that however high he held the right of petitioning, and of meeting for the purpose of discussing public affairs, he was decidedly of opinion that such a multitudinous meeting as that referred to, as well as the monster meetings of Ireland, could be viewed in no other light but as demonstrations intended to overawe the parliament and the crown by an exhibition of physical force. Although he had condemned the manner in which the Manchester meeting in 1819 was put down, it was his opinion, as well as the opinion of Lord Plunkett and the late Lord Abinger, that such a meeting could not be considered _bonâ fide_ meant for discussion, and that it was illegal.—The Duke of Wellington quite concurred in the law as declared by Lord Brougham, and considered that the metropolis had deep reasons for complaint in having trade interrupted, commerce suspended, the inhabitants kept in a state of alarm and terror for several days, owing to the assemblage of large bodies of people, whose only object could be, by meeting in such multitudes, to overawe the legislature. He sincerely rejoiced that the peace had been preserved without the appearance of a single soldier.—The Marquis of Northampton heard the explanations given with pleasure. He thought the country was greatly indebted to the noble duke, and also to all concerned, for their exertions in maintaining the peace.—The Marquis of Lansdowne declared that it was most gratifying to him and to the government to find the enthusiasm displayed by all the respectable inhabitants of the metropolis, who had come forward to enrol themselves as special constables. The noble marquis said that the exemplary conduct of the police was also deserving of the highest commendation.

Allegations having been made that the names attached to the petition were not nearly so numerous as alleged, and that many of them were forgeries, an inquiry was called for, and the committee on public petitions had the task assigned to it of making the investigation. The report made by the chairman to the house was most singular, showing that in fact the privilege of petition had been abused, and the house trifled with. On the 13th of April Mr. Thornley brought up the report of the committee on public petitions, which stated that upon the 26th of November last, a committee was appointed to report to the house the number of signatures attached to all petitions presented to that house, and that they had felt it their duty to make a special report to the house upon the subject of the national petition, presented on the 10th of April by the honourable member for Nottingham, signed by subjects of the British crown. The committee attached the utmost value to the right of petitioning, and to the exercise of that most important privilege by the subjects of this realm, and felt deeply the necessity of preserving the due exercise of such privilege from abuse, and having also a due regard to the importance of a petition so very numerously signed, had made that petition the subject of their present report. They felt bound, in the discharge of their duty, to represent to the house that with respect to that petition there had been a gross abuse of that privilege. The honourable member for Nottingham, upon presenting the petition, had stated that the petition was signed by upwards of five millions of persons. Upon the most careful examination of the number of signatures in the committee, with the assistance of thirteen law-stationer’s clerks, who acted under the superintendence of the various clerks of the committees, the number of signatures attached to the petition does not, in the opinion of the committee, amount to two millions. It is further found that a large number of the signatures were consecutively written by the same hand. It was likewise observed that a large number of the signatures were those of persons who could not be supposed to have concurred in its prayer; among these were the name of her majesty, signed Victoria Rex, the Duke of Wellington, Sir Robert Peel, &c, &c. There was also noticed a large number of names which were evidently fictitious, such as “Pugnose,” “Longnose,” “Flatnose,” “Punch,” “Snooks,” “Fubbs,” and also numerous obscene names, which the committee would not offend the house or its dignity by repeating, but which evidently belonged to no human being. Upon the motion that the report do lie upon the table, a somewhat angry and personal discussion arose, in which Mr. Cripps was very severe in his censure of the conduct of Mr. O’Connor, in alleging that upwards of five millions of signatures had been attached to the petition. The motion was eventually agreed to. At the conclusion of the discussion Mr. F. O’Connor left the house; and a hostile meeting between him and Mr. Cripps having been presumed likely, in consequence of the personal nature of what had passed, Mr. O’Connor was, on an order of the house at a late period of the evening, taken into the custody of the sergeant-at-arms, but was subsequently released, and a reconciliation with Mr. Cripps effected.

Throughout the year attempts were made by the Chartists to create disturbances, and many of them were arrested and punished for riot, assault, or sedition. The leaders were very active in disseminating among the working classes opinions adverse to the rights of property and of society at large. These proceedings injured the cause of electoral and parliamentary reform. There were many members in the House of Commons, and many persons of influence throughout the country, who were favourable to some of the principal political opinions put forth in “the people’s Charter,” but there was no sympathy among these classes for the economical and social theories of the party by which the Charter was chiefly upheld. Reform in parliament, which was still desired by the people at large, was thus postponed by the alarm which the extreme views and violent temper of the Chartists created amongst the classes who possessed property, and amongst religious and peaceable citizens.

VISIT OF FRENCH NATIONAL GUARDS TO LONDON.

The political excitement of the times was much increased by a visit to London, made at the end of October, by more than a thousand National Guards of Paris, in full uniform. Aged persons who remembered the first French revolution, and the subsequent wars, were somewhat alarmed at this sudden appearance of French uniforms. The masses of the people welcomed the peaceful invaders, and the British Guards fraternised with them. Every public place was thrown open to them, and in the theatres and public gardens they were greeted with applause, the bands performing French national music. The visitors departed, expressing their high sense of the cordiality with which they had been received.

COMMERCIAL AFFAIRS.

This year was one of severe trial to Great Britain. The credit of many great mercantile houses was shaken, and many failed. The distress which prevailed at the beginning of the year, both in Great Britain and Ireland, disheartened the trading community, and impeded the usual course of business. When the French revolution suddenly burst forth, business received a shock such as only political events of the greatest magnitude can communicate; but when that event was followed by a series of continental revolutions, destroying the old European system, and convulsing nearly all the great monarchies, commercial affairs were nearly paralysed. The threatened disturbances in Ireland, and the chartist agitation at home, aggravated the evil effects which so many other causes produced. Banking accommodation was extremely difficult of attainment, and the funds fell very low. About the end of March affairs assumed some hopefulness, and the funds rose; but so many events crowded on in rapid succession, like dark clouds impelled by the storm, that these encouraging indications were checked. Still, public confidence in the stability of British institutions sustained public credit, and the disturbed state of other countries likewise caused the investment of capital in England to a surprising extent, keeping up the funds, and extending commercial transactions. As soon as the great chartist demonstrations of April were over, and the safety of the government placed beyond doubt, monetary and mercantile matters rapidly improved; and although English merchants and bankers suffered from the fluctuations of credit on the continent, yet the security of England reacted upon all European commerce, and caused the continental losses of our capitalists and traders to be far less than could have been expected in a season so politically tempestuous.

THE COBDEN TESTIMONIAL.

Soon after the repeal of the corn laws, it was resolved by certain friends of that measure to give Mr. Cobden a testimonial of national gratitude for his services. The public knew his deserts, but they did not know that he had consumed his fortune in their behalf. The business of Mr. Cobden was that of a calico-printer, which he carried on in the neighbourhood of Manchester. By the excellence of his colours, his execution, and the novelty and good taste of his patterns, he created a vast and distinctive trade, which he necessarily neglected while conducting the agitation against the corn laws; and the result was perilous to his business and ruinous to his purse. Viewed in this respect the national testimonial was but an act of justice, apart from any consideration of the great services which he rendered to the cause of free-trade. None but those immediately cognizant of his efforts could conceive his herculean labours to promote the repeal of the corn laws. His eloquence was characterised by intelligence, directness, the absence of all meretricious ornament, and an eagerness to convince and carry his hearers with him, which was singularly effective. His addresses were not only free from all ambition as to ornate or attractive language, but also as to original or characteristic thought. There was such an entire absence of all self-seeking about the man, and he so thoroughly identified himself with the people whose interests he pleaded, that, possessing a fair readiness of speech, and aptness for _ad captandum_ argument, he could not fail to secure the favourable attention of earnest men on a subject where their interests were largely engaged.

Although Mr. Cobden promoted the agitation of the question on broad national grounds, he, nevertheless, looked at it from a class point of view more particularly, and this was one of the elements of his power with the traders. When he began the agitation it was as a manufacturer, for the redress of a grievance which affected his class; it was as he went on in the agitation for that object, that he began to look upon the question as one of general interest; and then his speeches assumed a higher tone and a larger scope, and sound principles of political economy were uttered by him with all the force of truth which he felt, and which he had capacity ably to express. It could, however, scarcely fail to strike men that whether in Free-Trade Hall, in Manchester, or in the commons house of parliament, his speeches on free-trade were rather those of the merchant than the philosopher or the statesman. On all political and politico-economical questions, the tone of his mind was the same: he regarded them rather in reference to the effect likely to be produced upon commerce in its immediate or proximate interests, than in the ulterior consequences, or the great political and ethical principles involved. The interests of trade, rather than the honour of England, engaged his heart. He was, consequently, accused of being deficient in patriotism; but no public man was more willing to sacrifice himself for the welfare of the people of England, or was personally less selfish. He was kind, amiable, truthful, honourable, and upright; and desired with all his energies to promote, not only the welfare of his countrymen, but of all men.

A public subscription having been set on foot, the committee by whom it was conducted reported the result of their labours about the end of April. Seventy-nine thousand pounds were contributed; it would have been twice the sum, but for the distress, and the disturbance of public affairs by the torrent of revolution which was sweeping over the continent. The birthplace of Mr. Cobden, in Sussex, was purchased for him, and the remainder of the money invested according to his wish. A sum of £10,000 was raised for Mr. Bright, whose services, however great, were justly deemed inferior to those of Mr. Cobden. Mr. Bright, however, was supposed to possess considerable pecuniary resources, although he also spent freely his private property for the public welfare; and it was alleged that, but for his liberality in this respect, Mr. Cobden could not have maintained his post in the face of so many personal sacrifices. Mr. Bright was the less popular man of the two, partly from temper, and a certain _hauteur_ which contrasted unfavourably with the more simple and cordial manners of Mr. Cobden, partly from his religious opinions bringing him, under a sense of duty, into collision with the Established Church on various irritating questions, such as church-rates. The general attainments of Mr. Bright were higher, and his oratorical talents far superior to those of Mr. Cobden. The latter frequently fell beneath his ordinary standard of effectiveness, Mr. Bright scarcely ever. The author of these lines has frequently attended public meetings in which these gentlemen took part, and he hardly remembers a single instance in which Mr. Blight’s speech did not possess a high order of eloquence; whereas many of Mr. Cobden’s speeches were only interesting on account of the facts they detailed, and the clear manner in which they were communicated.

Some time after these contributions of goodwill from the country to the two principal orators of the Anti-cornlaw League, a similar tribute was paid to the services of Mr. Archibald Prentice, for many years editor and proprietor of the _Manchester Times_. This gentleman was the founder of the Anti-corn-law Association, out of which the League sprung, and, as an able writer and public speaker, did much to prepare the way for the men who afterwards conducted that agitation to victory. Mr. Prentice fought bravely and pertinaciously for the repeal of the corn laws, long before the wealthy supported it, or the suffrages of statesmen and men of influence gave it a leading position in the questions of the day.

It was not to the credit of some others (a very small number) who were advocates of the League, that they were as eager to set on foot subscriptions for themselves, as the public were for those who had really earned them. One individual, who hung about “the League rooms,” and made speeches often undesired by the committee, and when inconvenient to their arrangements, was very indignant that a subscription was not raised for him. Without eloquence in speech, temperance in council, or discretion in action, he became prominent only by overbearing boldness, and an ever-meddling officiousness.

AGITATION CONCERNING THE NAVIGATION LAWS.

Early in the parliamentary session, the government indicated an intention to repeal the navigation laws. In this they were supported very ardently by Mr. Hume, Mr. Ricardo, Mr. Cobden, Mr. Bright, Mr. Milner Gibson, and by many other ardent friends of the Manchester school. The time was ill-chosen for any movement on this subject, because the seamen as well as the shipowners were opposed to any alteration, and the disturbed state of continental Europe, and indeed of the British Isles, made it extremely unwise for government to irritate a class whose physical energy, peculiar position, and popularity with the people, gave them, if disposed, peculiar capacity to disturb the peace.

The party which desired the repeal of the navigation laws maintained that free-trade in ships and seamen was as necessary as in other matters, and the cotton districts called loudly for the change. The leader of the shipping interest was James Mather, Esq., of South Shields, a gentleman not connected with ships or shipowners, but moved by patriotic feelings alone. Mr. Mather possessed all the qualities necessary for a leader in the agitation of a great political and politico-economical question. With a highly cultivated intellect, conciliatory address, fearless spirit, and astonishing physical energy, he was just the man to please at once the educated mariners, and the rough, bold, hardy tars. The gentlemanly bearing of Mr. Mather was also calculated to impress his opponents favourably, and a graceful persuasiveness of mien and language, aided in qualifying him for that object. Mr. Mather grappled with the arguments of Cobden, Bright, and the other leaders of the cotton districts, whose influence at that time, fresh from their victory over the corn interest, made it important to confute the arguments they addressed to the public. Mr. Mather addressed a letter to the editor of the _Shipping Almanack and Gazette_, which produced a great impression where the arguments of the Lancashire leaders had been accepted as irrefutable. It is desirable to reproduce this document, as the controversy was one of the most important in its day, and the policy ultimately adopted remained longer open to question than any other of the anti-protectionist measures which were adopted. Mr. Mather’s letter was the more effective, because it exposed an artifice to which Mr. Gladstone especially resorted, but in which he was supported by the Lancashire members:—

“The combined attack of Messrs. Gladstone, Bright, Cobden, and two or three others in the House of Commons, upon the navigation laws, on account of their preventing the importation of a few cargoes of cotton lying at Havre, and demanding a suspension of these laws for the immediate necessities of the manufactories, and the advantage of British shipping, was as unfair and discreditable a proceeding as party men have for a long time been guilty of. For the sixty-five thousand bales of cotton at Havre, brought across the Atlantic chiefly by French ships, it is, they assert, of advantage to British shipping to destroy that amount of carriage on the long voyage, and allow this cotton to be brought from France to England, which a few trips of a steamer would easily effect. The very statement of the matter, in plain language, refutes the absurd assertion. You are losing the carriage of thirty cargoes of cotton, these gentlemen asserted. No, it is replied, for by preventing their admission from France, as there is a great abundance of cotton in America, we are gaining the carriage of thirty cargoes on the long voyage—a portion in British ships; and you will get cotton just as cheap, nay cheaper for the manufacturers, as the expense of transhipment will be saved.

“But the cotton is immediately wanted, they assert. Now this was a mere pretence, which the parties clearly understood, to give a momentary effect to a most untenable charge. Events have corroborated this.

“Within a few days thirty-three vessels have brought seventy-three thousand six hundred and forty-nine bales of cotton from America; and such is the great want of it, sufficient to annihilate or suspend the navigation laws, that the manufacturers only bought nineteen thousand six hundred and sixty bales, while nine hundred and seventy bales were bought for exportation; that, instead of requiring cotton, they are exporting it from the manufacturing district in which it was stated to be so much required.

“If cotton was in such demand, would it be upwards of thirty per cent, lower than it was last year, and would it be falling in price as it is now? Prices are at present within ⅛d. per lb. of the lowest they were ever reduced to. For two months it has been a falling market, and at the very moment these men were advancing such assertions, was the cotton market in a state of decline, giving the broadest contradiction to them. If cotton had been wanted, the price, as in any other article, would have been high, not low, and would have been advancing, not receding, especially with a limited supply.

“The importation last year was the smallest for ten years. Increasing previous to 1845 for fifty years, it has since rapidly decreased, and now it has been found that nearly one-third less stock is required than there was in 1843, 1844, and 1845.

BALES.

In 1843 it was.......................... 1,557,597

1844.................................... 1,490,984

1845.................................... 1,652,731

1846.................................... 1,134,194

1847.................................... 1,087,058

“And in this year (1848), up to this month, it has been ascertained that one-third less stock than in the previous low year of 1847, is more than enough. (See _George! Holt &c.; Co.’s Circular, and Liverpool Prices Current_, for the 7th of April). In addition, a reduction of upwards of thirty per cent, in price, from that of last year, indicates a still more limited requirement.

“While the stock is only, up to this period for this year, three hundred and twenty-two thousand eight hundred bales, against the corresponding period last year, four hundred and ninety-two thousand six hundred bales; showing, with upwards of one-third less stock one-third less price—a demonstrative proof that the supply is infinitely greater than the demand. Whenever the price advances, indicating demand, the American supply will be poured into the market without any necessity for importations from France. Had the navigation laws been suspended, as urged by some of their opponents, and the French cotton brought in, it would only have been a drug in the market, useless and unsaleable. More has since been brought in than was lying at Havre, at thirty per cent, less than they have had it for two years, and they will not buy it. It was not wanted; only an excuse was wanted to strike a blow—a most unfair one—at the navigation laws, and the British commercial marine, which all the little opponents throughout the country, in their gross ignorance, have quoted and applauded.”

Meanwhile, the agitation of the mariners and shipowners was exceeding great, especially in the three grand centres of maritime activity—the Thames, the Mersey, and the Tyne. Along the north-east coast of England, the tidings that the government meant to repeal the navigation laws sped with rapidity, and produced the most intense excitement. Public meetings were called at Hull, Scarborough. Whitby, Sunderland, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Shields, and Berwick, which were attended by great numbers, and which were eloquently addressed. The sailors attended these meetings with boisterous enthusiasm. They were under the impression that a great wrong was about to be perpetuated, and they were resolved to do anything which loyalty allowed to defeat the meditated alterations in the law. Under the guidance of a man less just and scrupulous, and less jealous for the constitution than Mr. Mather was, much mischief might have arisen from the sense of grievance which the sailors entertained. That gentleman, however, so conducted the agitation as to gain a large measure of public support, and to defeat, during that year, the proposed alterations.

A convention of shipowners and seamen of the Tyne was held at Shields, one of the largest and most important ever held in England. Mr. Mather proposed the following resolutions, which were enthusiastically adopted: they will disclose the purpose and opinion of that community:—

“Resolved—That we will resist, by every legal and constitutional means in our power, the repeal of the navigation laws, so violently agitated by theorists and self-interested men, which were adopted, and have been sustained, by the wisest statesmen in all ages for the support of the shipping and seamen of Britain, to prevent the cheap ships and ill-fed and badly-paid foreigners from underselling and destroying the British mercantile marine.

“Resolved—That we pledge ourselves, on arriving in London, to take measures, in conjunction with all the seamen there, loyally and respectfully, as becomes British seamen, to lay, personally, an urgent memorial at the feet of her majesty, warning her of the consequence of driving British seamen into the service of a foreign state, where that protection and encouragement are freely given them that, by the repeal of the navigation laws, will be denied them in their own country; and humbly entreating her majesty to interpose her royal authority for the protection of that class of men who, in time of war and danger, her ancestors and this kingdom have ever found their best protection and their greatest glory.”

At this meeting Mr. Mather was deputed to proceed to London, and lay the statements of the shipowners before the government. A speech made by that gentleman at Shields, places the controversy in the light in which it was then viewed by the shipping interest:—

“All the maritime laws that have guided the policy of this great state for centuries, that have made her ‘great, glorious, and free,’ are to be repealed under the most frivolous pretexts. Mr. Labouchere, the organ of the government, a supporter of reciprocity and equal rights to the commercial marine of the world—British and foreign—propounds a measure in which he bestows all the preponderating advantages upon the opponents of his own country. Had the act being that of an enemy it would have been proper. The whole foreign and colonial trade is to be given up to foreign shipping, free and unfettered, while that of Britain is to be bound down hand and foot, and scarcely capable of moving. First, then, your ships are to be built of taxed timber, 15s. and 20s. per load, exclusive of its freight, and expenses as much more, and to go into competition with the foreign ships with not a shilling per load duty or freight. You are not only obliged to compete with your heavily-taxed ships, and to pay foreigners freight to bring you the timber to build them, but you are obliged to carry three-fourths British crews in these offered-up trades, while the foreigner’s crews are to be all of his own country, half-paid and half-fed. You know well the wages and feeding of foreign crews; you have all been witnesses and are daily witnesses of it. It is a truth, and undeniable, that these foreigners have only from 15s. to 25s., the highest wages per month. It is thus with Danes, Russians, Prussians, Swedes, and Norwegians, while your wages are more than twice as much—60s. per month. They can be fed, too, on 6d. per day—in most instances, much less; while British seamen cannot be fed under 1s. per day, to feed them as their climate and constitutions require—hence their extraordinary energies. Yet, with these great disadvantages, in ships, wages, and provisions, it is determined to risk three-fourths of the commercial marine of Britain in a contest with foreigners that must be overwhelming. But Mr. Labouchere feels no difficulties, has no political qualms of conscience, in thus offering up a sacrifice three-fourths of the commercial marine of Great Britain. He says, ‘Look at the results of the same system tried so far back as the beginning of the seventeenth century in Holland—the Dutch by free trade became the most prosperous nation in Europe. Look at her great commercial marine. Under it the carriers of the world—her ships were on every sea.’ It is very surprising that this gentleman did not continue to follow history in that country and at home since that period downwards. The iron-headed Cromwell, great by his acts, had the sagacity to perceive that the commercial marine was the soul of the navy, and that as long as the Dutch had the carrying trade, Britain and other colonies were in danger. So he strengthened the old restrictive laws of Richard II., Henry VII., and Elizabeth, and passed the navigation laws, under which the British commercial marine has been protected to the present time, with the exception of the tampering they have met with lately. And what has been the result? The Dutch, with her free-trade system, has sunk her commercial marine to the lowest condition, while Britain, with her protective system, has grown a commercial marine, the greatest the world ever saw—her ships in every sea, her flag overshadowing the world. How does it happen—and let Mr. Labouchere and the whig government answer—how does it happen that the Dutch commercial marine has been ruined by the free-trade system, and that we have grown great, _pari passu_, by a restrictive system? But figures are appealed to by the present government to show that since the introduction of the reciprocity treaties, or free trade in a limited extent, our commercial marine has greatly increased.

“These figures Mr. Labouchere adduces as a strong argument in favour of Mr. Huskisson’s relaxations, commencing at the former period. Observe these figures more closely, and you will find that the tonnage of the United Kingdom, to which the reciprocity treaties apply, have increased considerably under one-half, while the trade to which they did not apply has more than trebled its tonnage. To overwhelm the defalcations in the British trade with the reciprocity states, by the extended or more prosperous state of the general trade, was both unfair and disingenuous. Yet, this has Mr. Labouchere not a moment hesitated to do. Knowing, for he must have known, that the British commercial marine, in its trade with the reciprocity states, had either decreased or only in a smaller proportion increased with those states, it was a great fallacy and a deceit for him to proclaim it as the source of prosperity. How stand the facts with the reciprocity countries.

“In twenty-two years, then, there has been a decrease of British tonnage employed in three of the five principal reciprocity states, and an enormous increase of foreign tonnage in four of the five states. In the two states where British tonnage has increased, the foreign, or the tonnage of the same states, has infinitely surpassed it; in Denmark, 2793 to 82,284; and in the United States, 160,129 to 281,924; and yet a British minister of state cites the cause of the increase of British tonnage to the reciprocity treaties as a reason for this momentous change. In thirty years averaging twenty of the reciprocity treaties, our tonnage has increased only 38 per cent., while our population and its wants have increased 50 per cent., and imports 104 per cent. Thus, in every phase that the question is presented to us, the shipping appears to have kept no pace with the other interests of the kingdom, presenting to our view some great obstructive cause; and that cause, I humbly submit, is the reciprocity system adopted so generally in 1824. Notwithstanding which, here have we a government insisting upon extending, without a moment’s hesitation, this system which has already so deeply injured us, to three-fourths of the commercial marine of this country. And what are the flimsy pretences in addition? Why, that Prussia has threatened on one hand, and the United States coaxed on the other, and that British masters and mates are intemperate, and British seamen insubordinate. I will take the libel first, and ask Mr. Labouchere and the whig government how it happens that British ships, commanded by such masters and manned by such crews, are at the great marine insurance office of the world, Lloyds, always insured 1 per cent., 1 ½ and 2 per cent, lower than the eulogised foreign ships, with their masters and crews? Will they explain that indubitable fact? And also, I beg to know of these sage legislators the cause that in the winters of 1846–47, out of two hundred and ninety-four corn-laden British ships from America, there were only three foundered, while out of four hundred and thirty United States’ ships performing the same voyage, with similar cargoes, seventeen foundered. And how out of the same number four British only were stranded, while there were twelve American? Not a fourth part of the casualties amongst the British that there were amongst the United States ships; yet the Americans are an experienced, gallant, and well-conducted race of seamen. These things gave the broadest refutation to such a calumnious charge. It is not wise for a minister of state of Britain to proclaim to the world a character of the bravest and most important class of men of Britain, that disgraces them indelibly, injures the property of their employers, and dishonours the country. The twenty thousand gallant schoolmasters afloat that are busy day and night, educating and developing the powers of the future defenders of Britain, making them able and worthy sons—the ablest and worthiest of their great country—to be thus traduced by those who should ever and above all protect them, is an act of the most revolting nature.”

The effect of Mr. Mather’s exertions were seen in a grand demonstration on the 9th of February, in London, which, in deference to the civic authorities, was made on the river, rather than, as originally intended, in the streets of London and Westminster. According to the _Shipping Gazette_, there were ten thousand seamen from the Tyne and its neighbourhood in the port of London that day. On the evening previous to the demonstration, the crews of all British vessels in the Thames were in a high state of excitement, full of preparation for the morrow. Between three and four hundred vessels were in the Pool, the Gallions, Bugsby’s Hole, and Longreach, and their crews manifested the utmost eagerness to show their sense of what they considered their rights. The next day a grand procession of boats, partly tugged by steamers, proceeded to Westminster Bridge. The vessels and boats carried the union jack, and various flags; the sailors were dressed in their holiday suits, and bore the words “Navigation Laws” round their hats, in large yellow letters, the masters and mates in gilt letters. The _Standard_ newspaper estimated the number of seamen in the procession at about fifteen thousand. The banks of the river and the bridges were crowded with spectators, whose sympathy was shown in every way that the most enthusiastic popular feeling could evince. Cheers rang along the river, cannons were fired, and the leaders of the demonstration, Mr. Mather, Captain Smith, and Mr. Butchert, were received everywhere with the loudest plaudits of the people. The appearance of the boats and steamers, manned by tars in their best attire, and bearing gay flags, was exceedingly picturesque. Perhaps no metropolitan sight so imposing had been witnessed by the generation of Londoners then living. The wind was boisterous and the sky lowering; the procession had also to make its way against tide; but these obstacles only broke the formality of the line of procession, while evoking an activity on the part of those who manned the boats, which heightened the interest of the scene, giving characteristic traits to a procession afloat, which in gentler weather it would not have exhibited. Even the cloudiness of the sky aided the picture, which would have been seen to less advantage under a glaring sunshine; yet, occasionally, the clouds broke away, and the sun fell upon the scene with that splendour, which, if wholly wanting, would have deprived the view of much of its effect.

The following is a copy of the memorial presented by the deputation:—

“TO HER MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY.

“_The loyal and humble memorial of the masters, mates, seamen, shipwrights, and other naval artizans now assembled in London, and the delegates representing the outports of the kingdom_.

“May it please tour Majesty,—We, your majesty’s loyal and dutiful subjects, beg most respectfully to approach your majesty to lay this humble memorial at the foot of the throne, believing that the subject-matter of it involves not only the well-being of your memorialists, but the security of your majesty’s dominions in every part of the world.

“Your majesty’s memorialists have learnt with deep regret and indignation that it is seriously contemplated to repeal the navigation laws, the principle of which, for the protection and encouragement of British ships and British seamen has been the undeviating policy of this maritime state for nearly five hundred years.

“Your memorialists most respectfully and loyally, but firmly, as ardent friends of their country, which they sincerely love, beg to represent to your majesty that the repeal of the navigation laws will bring ruin on your memorialists and the commercial marine of Britain.

“That by such a measure, admitting the cheap foreign ships, half-paid and ill-fed foreign seamen, of which your memorialists have the most correct personal knowledge, it will reduce, by a competition, the lowest in the world, the condition of your memorialists, and their families, and strike a blow at their very existence.

“That thus your memorialists will be driven to seek employment in another state, speaking the same language and possessing similar laws, where seamen’s interests and seamen’s rights are carefully attended to, and where thousands of British seamen have already found protection—so weakening your majesty’s empire, and giving additional strength to an already great maritime competitor.

“Your memorialists, therefore, urgently pray your majesty to throw your royal protection around your memorialists, and the commercial marine of Great Britain, whose predecessors in all ages in time of war and danger, your ancestors and this kingdom have ever found their best protection and their greatest glory.

“God bless your majesty, and counsel you in wisdom, your petitioners will ever pray.”

This demonstration, while it postponed the repeal of the navigation laws, did not avert various modifications in our maritime code, which were made in the ensuing year. The consequences were not so disadvantageous as those who objected to the experiment feared, whereas the abettors of repeal contend that free trade in ships and sailors has proved, like free trade in corn, advantageous to the country.

Soon after the demonstration, Sir George Grey wrote to Mr. Mather, assuring him that her majesty had received the memorial in the most gracious manner.

REWARDS FOR INDIA SERVICE.

The conduct of the officers and men, who had served so gallantly in the Punjaub, received the approval of the country, parliament, and the throne. Medals were struck off for officers and privates alike, and clasps appended for the separate battles of Sobraon, Aliwal, and Perozashooshah. Honours of various kinds were conferred upon the officers who had distinguished themselves. Lieutenant Edwardes was promoted to the rank of major; but the Company’s being a seniority service, the friends of routine vigorously opposed the gallant and skilful young lieutenant’s promotion. He was also made a C.B. The Company, in other and substantial forms, indicated its approval of this officer’s very valuable services.

REFORM OF THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY.

The syndicate, regarding the study of classics and mathematics as the basis of a superior education, yet nevertheless was of opinion that greater encouragement ought to be afforded to the pursuit of various other branches of learning, which in the general community were acquiring more importance, recommended various improvements in the curriculum to that end. The study of mental and moral philosophy, natural history, chemistry, &c, were in future to be stimulated, and every facility afforded to those who desired high attainments in these and some other branches of learning. This movement was not very popular in the university, but gave great satisfaction to the general public.

THE COURT.

There were but few incidents which especially concerned the royal family, but these were important. On the 18th of March her majesty gave birth to a princess, her fourth daughter. The baptism took place on the 13th of May, in the private chapel at Buckingham Palace. The Archbishop of Canterbury officiated. The Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, the Duchess of Saxe-Meinengen, and the Grandduchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, were the sponsors, represented by Prince Albert, the queen-dowager, and the Duchess of Cambridge, as proxies. The name of the princess was Louisa Carolina Alberta. The queen gave a state banquet in the picture-gallery, in honour of the occasion, and afterwards an evening party..

On the 27th of May her Royal Highness the Princess Sophia died at Kensington Palace. She expired in her arm-chair, painlessly, at the age of seventy-one. She was the twelfth daughter of George III., and was born on the 3rd of November, 1777.

PARLIAMENTARY PROCEEDINGS.

_West-India Interest_.—On the 3rd of February parliament reassembled after the Christmas recess. When the usual preliminaries on those occasions were over, the first matter of business was in connection with the West India interest, which complained much of distress, and attributed it to imperial legislation. Lord George Bentinck, who became the leader of the West-India, as well as of the country party, moved for a select committee of inquiry into the condition of the West-India colonies. Mr. James Wilson and Mr. Bernai delivered themselves more happily than the other honourable members who engaged in the discussion. The motion was agreed to without a division. This was followed by a motion on the part of the chancellor of the exchequer for a loan of £200,000 to certain of the West-India colonies. On the 10th of June Lord John Russell proposed certain remedial measures for the West-India colonies, which gave rise to long and intensely bitter discussions; but the government succeeded in carrying substantially through parliament its proposals. During these discussions Mr. Hume made himself very conspicuous as a champion of the West-India planters, and showed an indifference to the rights, liberties, and interests of the labourers, irreconcilable with correct views of civil and religious liberty, and with the honourable member’s own professed liberalism where popular claims were concerned. The part taken by Mr. Bright gave great offence to the anti-slavery party, who considered it more consistent with his interests as a Lancashire cottonspinner, than with his profession as a quaker and an anti-slavery man. In the course of these debates, Lord George Bentinck, in indignant terms, denounced Lord Grey, as the head of the Colonial-office, for returning to parliament garbled extracts from the reports and despatches of colonial governors. In the lords, Earl Grey defended his conduct from this imputation; but Lord Stanley, with uncommon eloquence, reiterated the charge. No public man ever came out of a personal discussion less favourable than the noble minister for the colonies on this occasion. The simple truth evoked was, that while a committee of the house supposed that they were possessed of full and complete reports, they were supplied with only curt and crude extracts, calculated to place matters in the ministerial light, but not really affording the committee the opinions of those whose views they purported to be. This practice was, unfortunately, common with great officers of state; but it seemed to be so much beneath the high reputation of Earl Grey, that the public were astonished and scandalised. Few modern events tended more to destroy the popular confidence in eminent public men, and with the people Lord Grey never recovered his popularity. He had been guilty of a trick which ought to have been punishable by parliament, for it was incompatible with all just views of ministerial responsibility.

_Financial Measures of the Government_.—The Whigs had for some time proved themselves to be indifferent financiers. In this respect Sir R. Peel had for years maintained a reputation superior to that acquired by any of the whig leaders. During this year the government was not successful in reconciling either parliament or the country to their plans of revenue. Their defeats were signal, and their victories very hardly won. Soon after the meeting of parliament, Lord John Russell made a financial statement, from which it appeared the income fell short of the expenditure by nearly three millions. Lord John estimated that the balance for the year 1848–9 would show a deficiency of more than two millions. To meet these adverse balances upon two years, his lordship proposed that the income-tax, which was to expire in April, should be continued for five years, and be increased from sevenpence in the pound to one shilling. This proposal was received by a burst of ironical cheers, and other sounds indicative of the strong disapprobation of the house. His lordship stated that Ireland would not be included in the measure, as from her recent and present sufferings, she was unable to bear increased taxation. This statement was received with the most violent and vehement shouts of disapprobation from the English and Scotch members on the ministerial side of the house, and the most boisterous cheers from the Irish members on both sides—the opposition, generally (with the exception of the exultant Irish conservative members), remaining silent. The opposition to the income-tax out of doors was very energetic, so that on the 28th of February the chancellor of the exchequer came forward with an amended budget. He proposed that the income-tax should continue at the same rate for three years. After a warm parliamentary opposition, led by Mr. Hume, the government resolutions were carried.

_Bill to legalise diplomatic intercourse with Rome_.—A bill for this purpose was introduced in the lords by the Marquis of Lansdowne. It was opposed by the Duke of Newcastle and the Bishop of Winchester with great earnestness, the latter particularly objecting to the expression “sovereign pontiff” in the bill. The influence of the Duke of Wellington secured the second reading without a division. On the committal of the bill, the illustrious duke proposed the substitution of the words “sovereign of the Roman states” for those of “sovereign pontiff.” The Whigs, always ready to conciliate their Roman Catholic supporters at the expense of principle, offered the utmost resistance to the duke’s proposal, which, in spite of his great authority in the house, was only carried by a majority of three. In the commons the bill was also carried, and by large majorities. The opposition to it was badly led by Mr. Anstey; the chief champion of the measure was the celebrated Irish orator, Richard Lalor Shiel. During these debates the Whigs, and especially the members of government, adopted the vocabulary of Roman Catholics, such as “the holy father,” “the holy see,” “the head of the church,” &c. Mr. Shiel exceeded the bounds of prudence in this respect. Still, while from some quarters a warm opposition out of doors was offered, the great bulk of the people in Great Britain regarded the progress of the measure with indifference.

_Bill for the Alteration op the Navigation Laws_.—It has been already shown that the intention of the government to make some alteration in these laws was the occasion of a fierce agitation, and of one of the most remarkable popular demonstrations ever made in this country. A variety of circumstances tended to determine the government. The free-trade party insisted upon it as necessary to carry out their principle; and the legislative council and assembly of Canada, had, in 1847, adopted a joint address to the queen, praying for the opening of the St. Lawrence to all nations, and the abolition of the navigation laws. From various other colonies remonstrances as to the operations of these laws were constantly arriving at the Colonial office; foreign powers had also expressed complaints and offered reciprocity. On these grounds, as well as on sound principles of political economy, the government pressed for a decision of the house against the continuance of the state of the laws as they stood. Sir Robert Peel gave the government a very effective support, declaring that these laws could not possibly be preserved on their present basis. Mr. Hume, who was a very forward champion of English radicalism and colonial monopoly, at first objected to the new policy, but in equivocal and undecided terms, and finally supported the government. Mr. Gladstone spoke as if for the purpose of showing that he could consistently support either side, as he practically opposed both. Mr. Cobden made a “peace-society” speech, as illogical as it was inappropriate, in reply to which Mr. Disraeli delivered an oration, the statistics of which were for him unusually accurate; and confuted the allegations upon which Mr. Cobden based his theory, that we did not require to nurse a marine for martial purposes. Mr. Disraeli satirised with great effect the representations of the _quies gentium sine armis_, which Mr. Cobden had been so much in the habit of making before 1848. The appeal to the patriotism and glory of the country, with which the honourable member concluded his speech, was followed by the cheers of the whole house The government, however, triumphed, but was deterred by the opposition out of doors, and the feelings of the seamen, which their demonstration had so plainly indicated, from pressing forward its views in the form of a bill. Leave, however, was granted to bring in a bill on the subject, the consideration of which was postponed to another session.

_Bill for the Removal of Jewish Disabilities_.—The impossibility of a Jew sitting in parliament, in consequence of the form of oath containing the expression “upon the true faith of a Christian,” gave much umbrage to the Israelitish community, and the general public sympathised. The election of Baron Rothschild, along with the premier, in the representation of the city of London, drew attention to this subject with revived force. The government brought in a bill to enable Jews to sit in parliament, the house, in their case, dispensing with the form of oath to which they were opposed. Mr. Augustus Stafford proposed that the bill be read a second time that day six months. He was very ably and eloquently answered by Mr. Monckton Milnes. After adjournments and fierce discussions the government, as usual, triumphed by a large majority. In the House of Lords it was especially opposed by the Earl of Ellenborough. The most effective speech delivered by the opposition was that made by the Bishop of Oxford; but it was marked by a party acrimony so intense as to weaken much the force of its eloquence.

He accused the premier of having gained his return for the city by the bribery to which rich Jews resorted on his behalf. This he found it necessary to apologise for and withdraw. The bill was lost by a considerable majority against it.

_Irish Encumbered Estates Bill_.—Very early in the session the lord-chancellor introduced a measure to facilitate the sale of encumbered estates in Ireland. This bill was resisted chiefly by those it was designed most to benefit; it was, however, ultimately carried, and under its administration a very large portion of landed property in Ireland changed hands. The operation of the measure was beneficial, but was not sufficiently sweeping in its powers, and failed to produce all the good that a better concerted scheme might have worked out.

_Measures for Repressing Insurrection in Ireland_.—On other pages a minute account of Irish suffering and sedition has been given, and references were then made to the proceedings in parliament which had reference to these transactions. On the 21st of July, Lord John Russell, amidst the cheers of the house, gave notice of motion to enable the lord-lieutenant of Ireland to arrest and detain persons suspected of treasonable designs against her majesty’s throne and government. The same night the Earl of Glengall brought under the notice of the peers the existence of treasonable clubs, the manufacture of pikes and the importation of fire-arms, the treasonable correspondence with France and America, the denunciations made by the rebel press and rebel orators, and the atrocious anti-social doctrines propounded—among others, the right and duty of exterminating the eight thousand Protestant landlords. Lord Brougham startled the house by reading a private letter, written to a friend by Daniel O’Connell a short time before his death, in which he declared it necessary for Ireland that coercion should be employed, and that the suspension of the habeas corpus was, in his opinion, the best and least oppressive way of putting down Irish disturbance. The publicly expressed opinions of the agitator had been so very adverse to those conveyed in this private communication, that its perusal caused a great sensation in the house. As O’Connell’s writing was well known to Lord Brougham, and most of the noble lords who sat around him, there could be neither misapprehension nor imposition. The government measures were opposed by some Irish members, but their opposition was deficient in dignity and good sense. Mr. Fergus O’Connor so nearly approached treason in one of his speeches, that the premier was obliged to interfere formally, as did Sir Robert Peel on another occasion. Mr. Sharman Crawford, with excellent temper, but substantially with absurdity and impracticability, rivalled Mr. O’Connor in the earnestness of his opposition. The measure of the ministry was carried, much to the satisfaction of the country.

_Bill for the better Security of the Crown and Government_—This measure was introduced by Sir George Grey, for the double purpose of quelling Irish insurrection, and repressing the disturbances caused by the English Chartists. One of the clauses of the bill was for the suppression of “open and unadvised speakings.”

This gave offence to the liberal party, and there was a general suspicion throughout the country that under the disguise of putting down chartism, the government was solicitous to check the increase of public meetings for reform in church and state, which became very numerous, especially in the north of England, and most especially in Lancashire. In those parts of the country, the disapprobation of the clause was very strong, and occasion was taken at public meetings, even of a religious nature, to denounce it. Mr. Hume, Mr. G. Thompson, and Mr. Fox argued well against the “gagging clause” as it was called, and eloquently pointed out the consequences which, upon a forced construction, might ensue. Mr. M. J. O’Connell declared that some such measure was necessary to the peace of Ireland, and he would give the government his support. This circumstance, taken in connection with the private letter read by Lord Brougham in the House of Lords, left a strong impression among liberal members of the commons, and of the community, that the O’Connells had been insincere in their professions to Ireland. The press, both in the Old and Young Ireland interest, censured Mr. M. J. O’Connell, in terms of bitter severity, and the cry was raised that the younger O’Connells were more of place-hunters than patriots. After some warm personal altercations, the bill passed.

Mr. Samuel Martin, afterwards Sir Samuel Martin, and a baron of the exchequer, much increased his personal and legal reputation by opposing “the gagging clause.” This, however, he did in a temper and mode which secured the respect of the government as well as of the country.

_Alien removal Bill_.—The vast number of foreigners in England, and especially in London, was at that time a source of uneasiness to the well-disposed, and eventually became so to the government. These immigrants so conducted themselves as to expose the country to the danger of being embroiled with foreign powers; and they expressed openly their sympathy with English Chartists and Irish Confederates. A bill was brought into the House of Lords by the Marquis of Lansdowne, giving power to the home secretary to remove foreigners whose presence might be an inconvenience. Their removal was to be determined by their conduct in England, not in the place from which they had come. This bill was introduced in the middle of April. It readily passed the lords. On the first of May it was introduced to the commons by the home secretary, and after an opposition of great force, from Sir William Molesworth and others, was carried.

_Motion for Extension of the Franchise, Triennial Parliaments, and Apportionment of Members to Population_.—A very extensive and influential agitation for these objects, headed by Mr. Hume, was maintained throughout the country, by persons much opposed to the socialist doctrines and riotous practices of the Chartists. On the 21st of June, Mr. Hume moved a resolution declaring the opinion of the house to be in favour of these measures, It was seconded by Dr. Bowring, afterwards so famous in connection with the government of Hong-Kong. Mr. Henry Drummond partly supported the views of those gentlemen, but nevertheless exposed, in very able and eloquent terms, the inconsistencies of Mr. Hume’s speech, who seemed to have no clear and definite notions of the way in which his own theory should be carried out. Lord John Russell opposed the resolution in a speech as anti-reform in its character as if it had been made by Sir Charles Wetherell. Mr. Fergus O’Connor bitterly opposed Mr. Hume’s motion, and afterwards voted for it. Mr. Urquhart and Mr. Anstey offered to it an opposition foolish and factious. Mr. Cobden supported Mr. Hume’s resolution, but not upon any political principle, but exclusively in reference to his own economical views, which he considered it would, if carried, promote. Mr. Cobden was ably answered and exposed by Mr. Sidney Herbert. The resolution found only eighty-four supporters in a house of four hundred and thirty-five members.

_Discussions on Foreign Policy_.—The conduct of the government in sending Lord Minto to Italy, as a sort of _quasi-envoy_, and its interference in the quarrel between Sicily and Naples, led to long discussions, in which Lord Stanley and Mr. Disraeli laboured with unusual energy to gain a party victory over the government. The reply of Lord Palmerston was, however, so luminous and convincing that it dispelled all doubt of the wisdom of the policy which he had pursued. His lordship resumed his seat amidst cheers from both sides of the house—the government was triumphant. Nevertheless there existed throughout the country a strong antipathy to the mission of Lord Minto; nor did the public feel quite sure that the management of the Sicilian affair was discreet—and it certainly was not successful.

The differences with Spain, in connection with the dismission of our ambassador, gave rise to another warm debate. The wisdom of the ambassador and of the foreign minister was impeached, while the conduct of the Spanish government was deemed rash, unnecessary, and insulting. The conduct of the government in exposing the country and its queen to such insult was now called in question. Lord Stanley on the 6th of May, called for the correspondence between Lord Palmerston, Mr. Bulwer, and the Duke of Soto Mayer. In his speech, which was very eloquent, the noble lord expressed the highest respect for the person and powers of Lord Palmerston, but considered that, in this particular case, he had erred. It was evoked, during the discussion, that the published despatch of Lord Palmerston did not contain certain words used by the noble foreign secretary, which gave to the ambassador a discretion as to the propriety of making the communication dependent upon the tone of public opinion in Spain, and the nature of events. It was generally considered by the lords, that any indiscretion which had taken place was at the embassy in Madrid, and not in the Foreign-office. The ambassador at the court of Madrid had been appointed by the Earl of Aberdeen, whose management of the Foreign-office was in every direction disastrous. The Peel foreign policy required men of a certain stamp, whose agency little suited the policy or character of Lord Palmerston’s foreign-office administration. Mr. Bankes withdrew his motion, and Mr. Urquhart was clamoured down in a subsequent attempt to address the house upon the subject. That gentleman seized every opportunity, in and out of the house, to vituperate Lord Palmerston, and persisted in reiterating as facts, fallacies which had been many times exposed. The house and the country became utterly weary of his absurd harangues, hence the extraordinary ebullition of feeling among honourable members on that occasion.

CLOSE OF THE SESSION.

On the 30th of August, Mr. Disraeli reviewed the labours of the session after the manner so effectively observed by Lord Lyndhurst in the other house. The oration was ingenious, and eloquently amusing; it entertained honourable members very much, but it neither instructed nor edified the commons or the country. Some curiosity was entertained as to how he would notice the measure for removing Jewish disabilities; he declared that he “personally approved of that measure, but condemned the policy of government in bringing it forward without the hope of carrying it, for by that means the cause lost ground.” This was mere pretence on the part of the honourable and rhetorical leader of the opposition; he knew well that, assured of the support of the commons, the government acted justly to the country and to those aggrieved by bringing the measure through the lower house, and throwing the responsibility of rejecting it upon the lords. Besides, the election of Baron Rothschild for the city of London constrained the government to adopt some course, and that which they chose was the most dignified and constitutional. Mr. Hume made some able strictures on the speech of “the reviewer of the session,” and Lord John Russell replied to it at length with skill and dignity. Nevertheless, the brilliant periods of “the oriental orator” had their effect on both sides of the house; and Mr. Disraeli was on the whole a more popular man, so far as admiration of his genius was concerned.

On the 5th of September the house closed its labours. It had been one of the longest sessions on record; but from various causes, such as the indifferent management of the government, the failure of the chancellor of the exchequer, the obstructions offered by the opposition, and the disturbed state of public affairs, very little was accomplished. Her majesty prorogued parliament in person in the new chamber of peers, which was made ready for the occasion. The Dukes of Nemours and Joinville (sons of the fallen French monarch) were present. The usual formalities on these occasions took place, rendered remarkable only by the congratulations expressed in the address to her majesty, delivered by the speaker of the House of Commons, on the loyalty of her majesty’s people, notwithstanding the efforts of some “misguided men.” Her majesty’s speech briefly, and in the usual common-place terms, referred to the various legislative measures of the session, and she alluded, in terms of strong approbation, to the conduct of the lord-lieutenant of Ireland (the Earl of Clarendon), and to the loyalty of her people, in promptly suppressing the efforts of evil-disposed persons to disturb the public peace, for purposes of malice and pillage. The parliament stood prorogued to the 2nd of November.

The wearied members, after ten months’ almost unremitting and patient exertions, went to the moors, the seaside, and upon excursions of pleasure at home and abroad, to prepare themselves for renewed labour. Many went to Paris, to study the progress of the revolution there, and the practical working of those recent changes which had shaken the world. Probably that capital was never before, at one time, visited by so many English senators.

Although tranquillity was not perfectly established in either England or Ireland, and there was rioting in the former and assassination in the latter, yet the executive was left strong to cope with any old or new form of turbulence and crime, and the confidence of parliament and people was firm, that the executive would be found equal to any emergencies that might arise.

DEATHS OF EMINENT PERSONS.

Many persons celebrated in arts and arms were removed by death in this eventful year. On the 6th of January the country lost the services of Sir Thomas Usher, C.B., K.C.H., Rear-admiral of the White, and naval commanderin-chief on the Irish station. This gallant sailor was born near Dublin, in the year 1779, and was said to have been a descendant of the great Archbishop of Armagh, whose name he bore. He was the officer who, when a post-captain, brought the great Napoleon to Elba after his abdication. The day following saw the decease of Admiral Sir Robert Laurie, who had also seen much service.

On the 19th of January, at Bradenham House, Buckinghamshire, died Isaac Disraeli, Esq., aged eighty-two. This gentleman was the son of a Venetian merchant, who had long been settled in this country, and was the father of Benjamin Disraeli, who occupies so important a place in the politics and literature of the day. Mr. Isaac Disraeli was a literary man of much eminence, his chief work, “The Curiosities of Literature,” having won for him a great reputation. In his day, literary history and criticism were but little valued, and he conduced much to a higher appreciation of that department of letters. He was the author of many pieces of great merit in the periodicals of the day. He also published many separate treatises which met with great public favour, such as “A Dissertation on Anecdotes,” “Essay on the Manners and Genius of the Literary Character,” “Miscellanies, or Literary Recreations,” “Calamities of Authors; including some Inquiries respecting their Moral and Literary Characters,” “Quarrels of Authors, or some Memoirs for our Literary History; including Specimens of Controversy to the Reign of Elizabeth,” “Inquiry into the Literary and Political Character of King James the First,” “Commentaries on the Life and Reign of Charles the First,”—the University of Oxford conferred upon him the degree of a doctor of the civil law for this production, which it absurdly called “Optimi regis, optimo defensori” “Amenities of Literature,”—this work he wrote when blind, his daughter acting as his amanuensis; he notices eloquently and feelingly her devoted services. Mr. Disraeli was the friend, of literary merit in the obscure and unfortunate, in which he was the rival of Sir Robert Peel, as his son Benjamin became in the career of parliamentary oratory and politics. He married, in 1802, Miss Basseni, of Brighton, aunt to the celebrated architect Basseni, and who became the mother of the celebrated leader of the tory and protection party in the commons, after the decease of his less able predecessor, Lord George Bentinck. Few men ever pursued literature, for its own sake, with more heartiness than Isaac Disraeli. It was no wonder that his son should set out in life with the ambition of writing a great book, and being a great orator—an ambition which can seldom be realised by the same man, requiring mental qualities so different.

At Tunbridge Wells, in his eighty-fifth year, died General Frederick Maitland, who had seen many fields of war, and had always distinguished himself. During this month, in which death was so busy with eminent persons, especially in the profession of arms, there died also, at Edinburgh, Pringle Stoddardt, Rear-admiral of the White, and Lieutenant-general Sir John Maclean, officers who had served in almost every clime, and always with honour.

The eminent persons who died in February were Major-general Carlo Joseph Doyle; Major-general William Goodday Scott, Governor of Quebec; Lieutenant-general Sir Thomas Reynel, the sixth baronet of the kingdom of Ireland, K.C.B., and K.C.H.; Dr. Hamley, Archbishop of Canterbury, and primate of all England; the Honourable James William King, Rear-admiral of the Red, seventh son of the second Earl of Kingstown, of Mitchelston Castle, Ireland; the Right Honourable Lord Graville Charles Henry Somerset, a privy-councillor, and M.P. for Monmouthshire; Rear-admiral Inglefield.

In March, Rear-admiral Warren; Major-general Sir W. Gosset, Bart., Serjeant-at-arms attending the House of Commons—he was a native of Jersey, and had seen some active service; at Aix-la-Chapelle, John Burke, Esq., the compiler of the “Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the United Kingdom,” “The Commoners of Great Britain,” “A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the landed gentry of Great Britain and Ireland,” “A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies of England,” “A general Armoury of England, Scotland, and Ireland,” republished under the title of “Burke’s Encyclopaedia of Heraldry,” “Heraldic Illustrations, comprising the Armorial Bearings of all the principal Families of the Empire, with Pedigrees and Annotations,” “The Royal Families of England, Scotland, and Wales, and the Families descended from them.” This learned and laboriously-compiled collection of heraldic works gained for the author great and well-merited fame.

At Brompton, a western suburb of the great metropolis, died Madame Guizot, at the age of eighty-three. This lady was a native of France, but joined her son, who was exiled with his king, Louis Philippe, whom he had served too faithfully, but faithlessly to his country. Madame Guizot was a lady of indomitable will, and abounding charity; she was most remarkable for her unconquerable and zealous attachment to the Protestant Church of France.

In April several very eminent persons were removed by death: among them was Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick, LL.D., F.S.A. He was the author of several works of considerable reputation: “The History and Antiquities of the County of Cardigan;” he united with Captain Smith in producing a book on the subject of the costume of the early inhabitants of these islands. He also published “A critical Inquiry into ancient Armour as it existed in Europe, but particularly in England, from the Norman Conquest to the Reign of King Charles the First, with a Glossary of Military Terms of the Middle Ages.” Several arch geological works were subsequently written by him, and he left behind him the reputation of a profound antiquarian.

In May, the death of some valuable persons took place. Baron Ashburton, who, as a cabinet minister and a financier, and in one instance as a negotiator, earned distinction. Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, of Haddington, distinguished as a writer, especially in the region of fiction; also Sir William Hotham, Admiral of the Red.

June saw an equal number of famous men laid low. Among them none was more remarkable than Tom Steele, an ardent follower of O’Connell, and his “head pacificator.” Steele was a gentleman and a Protestant; he had studied with great success at Cambridge University, and was a proficient in mathematics. He began life with bright prospects; talents, education, connections, and property—all were his. He wrecked all in the service of Ireland, as he believed—in the service of an Irish faction, as the event proved. Steele burned with indignation at the disabilities of his Roman Catholic fellow-countrymen, and joined in every exertion to obtain them justice. He conscientiously believed that Ireland could never prosper while in connection with England, and he struggled for their separation. O’Connell and his party had ulterior objects—the ascendancy of their religion, and the persecution of Protestants; but Steele’s honest nature refused to believe what was so opposed to their professions, notwithstanding the warnings which he received from many whose experience of that party, and of Ireland, qualified them to offer him counsel. He was only undeceived shortly before his death, which took place at Peel’s Coffee House, Fleet Street, London, where he had taken up his abode in sickness and in poverty, his fortune and his heart broken. He felt bitterly the desertion of his old confederates, and much bitter censure has been heaped upon the Irish Catholic and Repeal party, for thus abandoning the man they had flattered and used when he was in the heyday of his prosperity. It must be admitted that every one in Ireland said “poor Tom Steele!” when his sorrows were heard of, and his death was announced; but none came to the rescue, and few words of sympathy were afforded to him. It is but just to say that Ireland was at that time in the throes of a revolutionary struggle, and all were forgotten who dropped for a moment out of public view. Besides, the distress of the country spread alarm and grief on every side. These circumstances will, in great measure, account for the neglect which Ireland showed to her sinking patriot. But a similar excuse cannot be offered on behalf of the eminent and wealthy Roman Catholics of England, of Irish repeal members of parliament, and of other prosperous Irishmen in England attached to that party. As soon as the distress of the brave and patriotic man was known to his former opponents, English and Irish, they literally rushed to his relief, for all believed him to be an honest man and a pure patriot. Among the first in the work of kindness was Lord Brougham, an inflexible and terrible opponent. May the generosity of the deed be ever recorded to his honour! Colonel Perceval, one of the chief ringleaders of the Irish Orangemen was another; he sought the bedside of the sufferer, and consoled his closing hours. Proffers of aid on a large scale were made by his old opponents; but the stern and disinterested man died in his poverty, accepting only those acts which aided and soothed the closing scene. It was bitterly but too justly said by an eloquent writer, an old opponent of poor Steele, “Ireland gave him words, England deeds; Ireland took his life, England gave him a grave.”

In August, Captain Marryat of the royal navy, whose early life had been full of heroic adventure, and whose latter days were honoured by successful authorship. His “Diary in America” gave just displeasure to the American people, and betrayed a national invidiousness unworthy of a literary man and a British naval officer.

Mr. Edward Baines, the proprietor of the _Leeds Mercury_, and for many years M.P. for Leeds. This indefatigable and able man entered the town of Leeds a poor printer, and earned his first wages there through the influence of Mr. Obadiah Williams, a cloth manufacturer, a man of shrewd judgment of character, and whose benevolent disposition prompted him continually to generous actions. Mr. Baines worked as a journeyman-printer on the _Leeds Mercury_, then a mere local paper; he ultimately became the proprietor, and under his management it became one of the most ably conducted papers in the kingdom, and had a wide-spread circulation. Mr. Baines represented Leeds as successor to Mr. Macaulay, and as representative of that town was one of the most useful members of parliament. He was not a man of refined bearing or mental cultivation; as a public speaker he was ungainly in manner, his pronunciation common and provincial, his voice monotonous, and his style dry and common-place; but he was serviceable, practical, pertinent, experienced; and the soundness of his judgment, and the weight of his character, gave force to what he said. His son, Matthew Baines, Esq., a barrister, became a member of the cabinet, and another son, Edward, became proprietor of the _Leeds Mercury_, and an enlightened leader of the dissenters of the west riding of York. He sustained the business reputation of the paper, after his father’s decease, and raised it to a much higher place as a literary journal. Few good men have had sons so worthy of their sire.

In August also died George Stephenson, Knight of the Order of Leopold, F.B.S., the originator of our railway system. This eminent engineer is a rare example of a self-taught genius. Born of parents too poor to give him any schooling, at eighteen years of age, when full grown, and following the occupation of a fireman, he was not ashamed to commence his education at an evening school. His steady industry and unconquerable perseverance ultimately won for him a position second to none in his profession. Looking at the influence of his labours on the whole human race, there are few names on the pages of history so pre-eminent as that of George Stephenson.

On the 21st of September, Lord William George Frederick Cavendish Bentinck, M.P. for Lynn, was suddenly removed by death. He was found dead in the grounds where he had been walking alone. As leader of the opposition, his death, so unexpected and so painfully sudden, made a great sensation.

In November Lord Melbourne, who had filled the office of premier in the beginning of her majesty’s reign, departed this life. The queen was much indebted to the courtly and constitutional skill of this nobleman in her first essays of government. He was her majesty’s faithful subject, minister, and friend, and she was justly much attached to her preceptor. He was too indolent, and too little acquainted with the tone and temper of the whole people for the office of premier. He was, however, a man of superior intellect and extensive culture, and was well versed in constitutional law.

Dr. James Pritchard, the celebrated naturalist and ethnologist, died in this month.

The death of Colonel Sir Frederick Augustus D’Esté, K.C.B., son of the Duke of Sussex by Lady Augustus Murray, daughter of the Earl of Dunmore, was the last decease of a remarkable person publicly noted in this year. The marriage of his royal highness without the consent of the crown rendered it invalid, and Sir Augustus was unable to obtain the inheritance or title of his father.

Thus terminated the events of 1848 which admit of record in a work like the present. The year expired leaving England on the whole stronger, and more confident in her stability and power. The whirlwind which had swept over the nations, shaking down the trophies and glories of antiquity which had remained after the first great French revolution, did not affect England—she heard its fury, but felt not its power.