CHAPTER LXV.
{VICTORIA. 1853}
Condition of Great Britain..... The Court..... State of Ireland..... Colonial Affairs..... Foreign Affairs..... The War with Russia..... Parliamentary and Party Events..... Deaths of Eminent Persons.
GENERAL STATE OF GREAT BRITAIN.
{A.D. 1853}
Great Britain was peaceful and prosperous—no internal strife, no civil feud, no general discontent disturbed her fair aspect, or impeded her glorious progress. The working classes were better off than in previous years. Pauperism declined, crime was greatly lessened. In 1852, the commitments in England and Wales were 3899 fewer than the average. In 1853, the favourable difference was seen not so much in decreased numbers as in the lesser gravamen of the offences. Much sickness was caused by the excessive severity of the weather during the spring quarter. From the 20th of-April to the 15th of May, the temperature on one day fell to 14° below the average, on another to 13°, and on others to 10°, 9°, and 8°. There was a heavy fall of snow in April, and still more heavily during the first fortnight in May. The snow in the north was so accumulated upon the ground that the lines of railway were occasionally closed, and trains embedded in the snow. The effect of such severe weather late in the spring and in the opening of summer was disastrous upon the crops, and entailed upon the harvest consequences which formed a check to this otherwise prosperous year. With a deficient harvest came the certainty of a war with Russia, still further embarrassing a year which opened with so many felicitations. The appearance of Asiatic cholera in the autumn tended also to depress the close of the year. That fell disease burst out with extraordinary violence at Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the month of August, where more than 2000 lives were sacrificed to its fury. The disease reached London the same month, and there also effected serious ravages, both in 1853 and in 1854.
The revenue of the year 1853, up to the 8th of January, 1854, was—receipts, £69,410,976 15s.; disbursements, £55,769,252 4s. The surplus revenue, after adding balances to the actual income, exceeded three millions and a quarter sterling—a financial condition of the country proving great prosperity: and one for congratulation at a time when war so imminently impended.
THE COURT.
On the 7th of April, her majesty was delivered of a son. Her recovery was, as on similar occasions, speedy, and the country hailed the event with joy. On the 28th of June, the infant prince was baptized in the private chapel of Buckingham Palace. The splendour usual on such occasions was perhaps somewhat surpassed. Many foreign princes and ministers were present. The sponsors were the King of Hanover, the Princess of Prussia, the Princess Mary of Cambridge, and the Prince of Hohenloe-Lengenburgh. The child was named Leopold George Duncan Albert. The ceremonial was followed by a brilliant state banquet.
The court was not exempt from illness prevalent during a portion of the year. In July, measles attacked her majesty, Prince Albert, the Prince of Wales, the Princess Royal, and others of the royal children. This event postponed the visit of the court to the Dublin Exhibition, and caused uneasiness for a short time both in Ireland and Great Britain.
On the 11th of August, her majesty reviewed a portion of her fleet at Spithead. It was a magnificent spectacle, affording one of the most gorgeous and glorious displays of naval power ever presented to the eyes of even a British sovereign. Her majesty wherever she appeared was received with the greatest enthusiasm; and, in this grand review, she was attended by the members of both branches of the legislature.
On the 29th of August, her majesty visited the Dublin Exhibition of Industry, an event which is more particularly noticed in the following section.
After her majesty’s visit to Ireland, she sailed to Holyhead, whence, on the 5th of September, she proceeded to Balmoral, to enjoy her Scottish Highland retreat. While at Balmoral an incident occurred illustrative of the character of the royal family. A fire broke out near the palace. Her majesty rendered prompt assistance, directing the efforts used to extinguish the fire, while Prince Albert and the Prince of Wales personally worked with ardour and assiduity to accomplish that object.
On the 14th of October the royal family arrived at Windsor Castle for a prolonged residence.
Thus the United Kingdom, in its capitals, great harbours, and even remote hills and glens, continued to witness the domestic happiness, private virtues, queenly goodness and dignity, and public usefulness and activity of their noble queen and her family. It might in truth be said that every heart in the British Isles felt the aspiration “God save the queen.”
STATE OF IRELAND.
The condition of the sister kingdom was still one of faction, feud, and fiery religious and political agitation. Emigration to the British colonies, and the United States of America continued, and by this means the land was relieved of such a portion of its pauper population as lowered the poor-rates and gave relief to the occupiers. Increased attention began to be paid by the landlords to the cultivation of the soil, and commerce appeared somewhat to revive. The expectations of improvement in Ireland, which were entertained in England, were too sanguine. When these hopes of seeing Ireland more peaceable and prosperous were much cherished, tidings continually arrived of deeds of violence and blood, connected with the law of landlord and tenant. To this fruitful source of crime in Ireland, much of the evil state of things there was attributable. The landlords were exacting, and cherished no kindly feeling for the peasantry, especially where political and religious differences existed between the landlords and the priests. The people, on the other hand, shared with their spiritual advisers in a rancorous religious and political hostility to the landlords, whom they regarded as the descendants of invaders and plunderers. It was a common impression among the peasantry, that the rightful owners of the forfeited Irish estates were the descendants of those who had been dispossessed. Prophesies, attributed to various Irish saints, were in circulation among the people, promising the reconquest of Ireland by the children of her own land and of the true faith, the expulsion of the stranger, and the restoration of the soil to the families from whom it had been taken by the sword. With these feelings to the landowners on the part of the farming and labouring population in the Roman Catholic provinces of the country, it cannot be matter of surprise that any trick, or act of violence by which a landlord was deprived of his just rights, was regarded either as a “venial offence,” or no offence, or even a patriotic and virtuous act, according as the conscience of the rude casuist was more or less under such influences. Had the landlords as a body administered their estates in a spirit of justice; used their power to bring land questions under the influence of just and simple legislation; and, as magistrates and legislators, set an example of moderation, good sense, and true patriotism, the prejudices of the peasantry would have been worn down, in spite of sacerdotal or other influences to sustain and foster them. Such a happy state of affairs had not arrived in 1853, and the old tales of brutal and barbarous murders filled Europe-with a sense of astonishment and mystery as to the social and political condition of Ireland.
It was peculiarly remarkable that during the prevalence of a general state of affairs so lamentable, there should arise in Dublin a Palace of Industry, the sequel of that erected in Hyde Park. The site chosen was admirable—the lawn of Leinster House, at a former time the property of “Ireland’s only Duke,” but then in possession of the Dublin Royal Society. Mr. William Dargan, a celebrated contractor for railway works, with patriotic feeling, conceived the idea of erecting a building, at his own risk, for the display of the industrial products of Ireland. One thousand men were employed daily for many months in completing the structure, which was admirably adapted to its purpose.
On the 12th of May, the building was opened with much _éclat_. It was found more imposing and elegant than the public expected, and the pleasure felt by the people of Ireland and their British friends was thus much enhanced. It was divided into three “halls.” The centre hall was 425 feet long, and 100 feet wide; two lesser ones were each 355 feet long and 50 feet wide. The elevation of the three halls was equal, 65 feet. The whole area occupied by this Palace of Industry was 210,000 square feet. Light was admitted only from above, an arrangement which was deemed better for the peculiar kind of exhibition made than that of the London Crystal Palace, which was an edifice of glass, All the designs and plans, and the superintendence of the entire construction devolved on Mr. Dargan. He advanced £80,000 to the object, expecting a heavy loss, and repudiating any intention to derive any gain.
The exhibition was opened by the Lord-lieutenant, the Earl of St. Germans, attended by the Irish court. The Knights of St. Patrick joined the procession in all the insignia of their order. All were welcomed by the populace without, and the assembled rank and fashion within the building, with that enthusiasm characteristic of the Irish people. None received such applause as the generous and skilful man who originated and carried out the undertaking; and none of the many gifted and useful men who rendered the event memorable by their presence, deserved equal honours on the occasion. Mr. Dargan declined the honour of a baronetcy; that of knighthood was conferred on Mr. Benson, the architect.
The productions exhibited surpassed public expectation still more than did the building itself. Various descriptions of manufacture attracted the attention of visitors from Great Britain, the continent of Europe, and from America. The linen and damask of Ulster, the products of the Dublin silk-loom, especially the tabinets and poplins, fine woollen cloths, “Irish frize,” Limerick gloves and lace, received high encomiums from the manufacturing and commercial visitors from Great Britain and distant countries, as well as from the general public. It was, however, chiefly in works of art that the exhibition excelled. The splendid sculpture of M’Dowel, Hogan, and other sculptors, was most of all conspicuous. The paintings of Shee, M’Lise, O’Neil, and many more, almost rivalled the display of sculpture. There were also beautiful carvings in Irish oak, “bog oak,”* and arbutus, from the beautiful specimens which in natural woods crown the hillsides in Kerry, especially near the Killarney Lakes.
* Found in the “peat” or “turf.” The word “bog,” so well known in India, and other portions of the East, as meaning a garden, has the same signification in Irish, and marks the places where gardens or woods once flourished, now reduced to masses of peat.
Old Irish illuminated MSS., the rarest in the world—no nation having attained the same perfection as the Irish in that department of taste—and specimens of ancient sculpture from before the Christian era, excited the attention of the lovers of antiquity, and admiration for the genius of ancient Ireland.
The English and French newspaper press and reviews complimented the Irish people upon those qualities of artistic taste which their exhibition proved them to possess, and the London _Times_ asserted in several leaders, that whatever might be the superior qualities or advantages of the English people, industrial or otherwise, as compared with the Irish, the latter possessed in a far higher degree, artistic genius, and taste in its superior developments.
The queen and court of London felt great interest in the Dublin exhibition. Her majesty visited it, and expressed her gratification in a manner most flattering to the Irish people, and especially complimentary to the patriotism of Mr. Dargan. Her majesty’s visit to the exhibition was one of those happy circumstances in her reign, in which her noble qualities of head and heart were made conspicuous, and in which she appeared so auspiciously, as the healer of contention, the soother of social asperities, the patroness of art, and the encourager and rewarder of industry and merit. It was on the 29th of August the court visited the Irish metropolis. They arrived early on the morning of that day at Kingstown Jetty, and her majesty, accompanied by the Prince of Wales, and Prince Albert, drove through the streets of Dublin, which were thronged with multitudes of persons, offering the most enthusiastic and unanimous demonstrations of respect and welcome. In the evening, the city was brilliantly illuminated. Her majesty’s visit to the exhibition was one of the most gratifying incidents in modern Irish history. The royal party, while remaining in Dublin, drove much in the environs, and paid a visit to the house of Mr. Dargan, as a compliment to the enterprise and patriotism of that gentleman. Queen and people were delighted with the royal visit to Ireland, which also, as a matter of public policy, was wise and beneficent.
GENERAL CONDITION OF THE COLONIES.
The year was not very eventful to our colonial empire. There was general prosperity. India was, as usual, the theatre of Oriental cabal, and Oude was the scene of its chief features, and the seat of most of the intrigues and plots against English dominion in Hindustan.
CANADA.
This province was especially prosperous, but it experienced the consequences of the policy so embarrassing at home—of allowing Irish religious disturbances, and those who create them, to pass without sufficient reprobation by the government. In Canada the Irish were numerous. The Protestant Irish there were energetic and zealous for their creed. The Roman Catholic Irish were full of a fierce fanaticism. Orangeism and Ribandism flourished in Canada, even as at Belfast, and used such opportunities as arose to fight as fiercely.
One Gavazzi, an Italian priest, left the church of Rome, and lectured against his former faith in Great Britain and Ireland. The liberty enjoyed in Great Britain by all men to discuss publicly their opinions, was not possessed in Ireland. There, indeed, the government conceded such a right, but the local magistracy often acted in a spirit adverse to the British constitution; and the priests and people of the Roman Catholic religion, although always waging an active controversial warfare against Protestants, never tolerated a reply; and whenever any aggressive controversy was set on foot by any sect of Protestants, they were generally assailed with brutal violence, their places of worship attacked, and the persons of the preachers or polemists fiercely assaulted. The Irish Roman Catholic immigrants in Canada carried with them to their adopted country the same spirit of religious intolerance and mob violence, so indulgently treated by whig and tory governments in their own country. Gavazzi was the occasion, in June, 1853, of evoking this fact in a startling manner in Canada. He visited Quebec, and lectured against the Romish church in “the Free Church” in that city. He alluded in his argument to the condition of the Roman Catholics of Ireland, as influenced by their religion. The statements of the reverend gentleman were such as the members of any other communion than the churches of Rome or Greece would have considered matter for reply and fair argument. The Roman Catholics of Quebec, especially the Irish of that communion, resorted to their usual mode of opposing a controversialist: they attacked the preacher with brutal violence, uttering the fiercest yells and denunciations, and in language horrible, as proceeding from men on religious grounds. Gavazzi had to fight for his life, which was with difficulty saved. In Montreal the lectures of the Italian polemist were attended by disturbances more serious and more general. The police protected him, as they would have protected a Roman Catholic clergyman had he been assailed by intolerant Protestants. The police were nearly overwhelmed by the onslaught of a multitude of Irish Canadian Romanists, anxious to imbrue their hands in the blood of a man who had, as a clergyman, left their church and made a public protest against it. Fire-arms were used on both sides, to the disadvantage of the rioters, some of whom were killed. The military arrived in time to protect the place of worship, in which the Italian doctor lectured, from being demolished. The Romanists collected in greater strength, and fired upon the soldiery, who returned the fire, killing seven, mortally wounding six, otherwise wounding many more, and finally driving the aggressive bigots from the streets. The authorities did not follow up with justice or spirit this disgraceful affair; a fear of the Roman Catholic influence in the English parliament deterring them. When tidings of these events arrived in the United Kingdom, the Roman Catholics in parliament, at public meetings, and by the press, expressed sympathy with the violators of law, and the riotous mobs which had attempted to tread down civil and religious freedom; while denunciations, false, vehement, and intolerant, were directed upon the Reverend Doctor Gavazzi. The principles upon which this course was based, were those so commonly assumed by the party in Ireland, when it was needful to justify violence and bigotry there; namely, that the Roman Catholic Church, being the true church, should have immunity from polemic charges against its doctrines and worship; and that, as all attacks upon it are sure, amidst a Roman Catholic population, to lead to a breach of the peace, Gavazzi ought to have been punished by the authorities, and the authorities who neglected to do that should be regarded as accessories to the riot, and guilty of the murder of the rioters who fell. The leaders of the opposite sections of Whigs and Tories in the English parliament treated such arguments very blandly, and instead of denouncing any party or sect which impeded religious liberty, no matter what its theological opinions, the tone adopted was more in sympathy with the Roman Catholic party in parliament, to gain whose votes each party was after its own mode bidding, each alike willing to sacrifice the liberty of public controversy for the political aid thus sought to be procured.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
The year 1853 witnessed little in the foreign relations of the United Kingdom to excite the public interest, except in connection with the dangers to which the integrity of the Turkish empire became exposed. The establishment of the empire in France consolidated the amity between that country and the British government and people. With Europe generally the best understanding existed. Various treaties were formed with countries of minor power, all having a tendency to preserve peace and promote commerce. The public were made acquainted with others which had been made or ratified the previous year; and the expectation was general that the repose of Europe would remain undisturbed. A treaty of friendship, commerce, and navigation, was ratified the previous October with the republic of Peru, and published the beginning of January. A similar treaty was ratified at Guayaquil on the 23rd of January with the republic of the equator. On the 1st of February, a treaty relative to the succession of the crown of Greece was ratified in London, between her Britannic Majesty, the French Emperor, and the Emperor of Russia. “Declarations” were signed at Florence and Rome, on the 17th of November, and exchanged between the governments of Great Britain and the Roman States, “for securing national treatment to the vessels and commerce of the one country in the other.”
THE WAR WITH RUSSIA.
Early in the year, events transpired which ultimately led to a war on the part of the United Kingdom, France, and Turkey against Russia. Designs against the integrity of the Turkish empire had long been entertained by Russia, and there was reason to believe that Austria was an abettor of those schemes, in the hope of being a partaker of the spoil. Sir Hamilton Seymour, the British Ambassador at St. Petersburg, came to the conclusion that those two great powers were in secret league against the Turkish empire. They dared not, however, proceed in their plans in opposition to the will of England and France, and the ambassadors of both countries were sounded by the czar, to ascertain with what part of the territorial plunder contemplated they would be satisfied. Both powers indignantly refused to participate in any aggression against the sultan, and made known their reasons in terms calculated to deter his imperial majesty from the like. Austria had fomented disputes on the Turkish frontier, and threatened armed interference when the sultan made military preparation to restore the peace of his provinces. Russia ostensibly opposed Austria in these proceedings, but, as was afterwards proved, secretly abetted her. The attitude of the czar towards Turkey was one of vigilance and preparation, as an armed robber watches the wayfaring man. The czar was encouraged to hope that events would arise from the policy of France favourable to his own designs. This expectation arose from the ostentatious interference of France in the disputes between the Latin and Greek Christians. French agents were spread over Syria; and a tone at once insolent to the authorities, defiant to the Greeks, and unworthy the dignity of the representatives of a great power, was adopted by these men. The French ministers and consuls in the Turkish empire were rather religious partizans, than political agents acting in harmony with the authorities of the country to which they had been accredited. Frequent disputes arose in Jerusalem, in connection with Greek and Latin rites in celebration of certain anniversaries at the Holy Places. Disturbances of a fierce nature at last rendered the interference of the Turkish authorities necessary, who acted with impartiality. The French ambassador resorted to menace and intrigue on behalf of the _protégés_ of France—the professors of the Latin rite; and the sultan, intimidated, yielded everything which French violence demanded. The English ambassador in vain advised moderation on the one hand, and firmness on the other; the French minister seemed to disdain all temperate counsels, and the Porte was too much awed by his threats to adopt an attitude of resolution, or even dignity. The concessions wrung from the sultan by the French furnished the Russian government with the occasion it had long sought. An especial envoy was sent to demand the restitution of all the privileges of which the Greeks had been deprived. The vacillating sultan yielded to his new tormentor. Negotiations were set on foot by the ministers who represented the great powers; and France was induced by the influence of England to adopt a concessive tone, and to withdraw from the insolent and hostile position she had assumed. The Russian minister, Prince Menschikoff, and his master, were elated by their success, and increased their demands. An ultimatum was put forth on the 21st of May, that contained stipulations which virtually made the czar protector of the Greek Christians throughout the Turkish empire. It was at the same time notified by the envoy, that if the ultimatum were not complied with, he would leave Constantinople in eight days. The events connected with these transactions, and the results, are described by the author of this History, in his _History of the War against Russia_, in the following terms, which are here transcribed. The account is the result of careful and painstaking researches, and of confidential intercourse with official persons well acquainted with the diplomacy and events of the period.
This ultimatum was declined by the Porte, and Prince Menschikoff withdrew from Constantinople. During these negotiations the Russian armies were concentrated upon the Bessarabian frontiers, and at the same time the Emperor Nicholas was sounding Sir H. Seymour at St. Petersburg. These conversations were accompanied by despatches and protestations that the emperor would not, in the quarrel then pending, attempt any territorial occupation. But Odessa and Sebastopol were filled with naval and military preparation, and the Russian army was massing upon the Pruth, ready at a moment’s notice to invade the principalities. The moment at last came. Prince Metternich, and Count Nesselrode (the Russian minister for foreign affairs), baffled in their intrigues by the resolution of the sultan, gave place to other and more decisive performers. Prince Gortschakoff crossed the Pruth on the 25th June, at the head of a numerous army, organized to the highest efficiency on the Russian principle, and attended by a most powerful artillery and _matériel_ of war. Contemporaneous with the advance of his armies, the autocrat published a manifesto, which left his motives and objects no longer in disguise, and which no persons could misapprehend, except those whom the disclosures of Sir H. Seymour had failed to enlighten. Means were taken to reassure the Western governments that no conquest was intended. Count Nesselrode wrote diplomatic circulars to the Russian ambassadors and consuls at the various courts and capitals; M. Druhyn de L’Huys, the French minister of foreign affairs, and our own foreign minister, wrote countercirculars; and time was bootlessly expended by the Western governments that ought to have been given to the preparation of armaments. The Russians lost no time. Having advanced upon Wallachia by way of Leova, and upon Moldavia by way of Skouliany, they rapidly penetrated to the capitals of the provinces, where the clergy of the Greek Church, and the leading officials also of that communion, gave them public welcome. _Te Deum_ was sung in the churches, and the Russian armies acted as if on conquered territory. It was on the 3rd of July that the Pruth was crossed; on the 8th Prince Gortschakoff assisted in the ceremonies of the Church of St. Spiridion, at Jassy; on the 29th he received the compliments of the assembled bishops of the Greek Church of the provinces at Bucharest, 150 miles nearer to the Danube. By this date the Russian army had greatly increased; Gortschakoff, Dannenberg, and Luders had at their disposal nearly 20,000 cavalry, 144 pieces of cannon, of a larger calibre than had ever before been brought into the field by any army, and a force of infantry not so large in proportion to these arms of the service, but the precise number of which it is impossible, amidst so many conflicting statements, to verify. General Osten-Sacken remained within the Russian frontier with powerful reserves, and reinforcements were pouring along in unbroken streams from the great centres of Russian military power. The fierce Cossack from the Don and the Dneister, the Tartar from the Ukraine, the beetle-browed and predatory Baschkir, with all their variety of wild uniform, and “helm and blade” glancing in the summer’s sun, crowded on the great military thoroughfares, while fresh supplies of well-appointed and formidable artillery were carefully transmitted. The foundries of Russia were blazing in the manufacture of warlike weapons; and the workshops of Belgium were ransacked for the musket and rifle. The shores of the Sea of Azoff and of the Black Sea were alive with craft of every size, bearing military resources to the points destined to receive them. By shore and river in the occupied cities of the provinces, and far off in the cities of imperial Russia, the din of ceaseless preparation was heard; and it was evident to all men—still only excepting our government and the diplomatists—that Russia was preparing for a struggle against whatever forces might be brought against her, and was resolved to peril her empire upon one desperate effort to humble Europe, and grasp from Turkey some of her richest provinces, or compel the formal admission of her vassalage.
The Russian armies crowded down to the sweeps of the Danube, occupying every strategical position, and fortifying themselves by entrenchments and other defences as occasion seemed to require; the Russian leaders the while consolidating their hold upon the provinces thus occupied by deposing the hospodars, levying taxes and rations for the troops, taking the direction of the militia and municipalities, and when payments were made for anything giving only Russian paper, which it was never intended to redeem. Vast quantities of corn were accumulating upon the Danube and at Odessa, which could not be exported. The Russian armies must be fed; and it was a part of the policy of the occupation to detain these stores for any emergency that might arise. With all these evils pressing down the unfortunate Wallachians and Moldavians, forced enlistment was resorted to; and the boyards who refused complicity with the treasonable hospodars were placed in the Russian ranks. To crown all the horrors which filled with fear these wasted and tortured lands, cholera, which broke out in the corps of General Luders, communicated itself to the people of the country, and every town and many districts, from the windings of the Danube to the confines of Podolia, were swept by the cold hand of the unseen messenger of woe. As statements of all these calamities reached Western Europe, the people of England were indignant; and although the desire for peace was intense, the increasing indignation of the British people was loudly expressed. None of these things moved their government—their faith was in protocols and protests, both very gentle and harmless; and the Western powers literally did nothing effective during the summer and autumn until the 10th of September, when the French ambassador, as if in sudden alarm, and without any orders from his government or concert with his colleague of the British embassy, ordered three frigates to ascend the Sea of Marmora and anchor in the Bosphorus. The English minister, after much importunity, adopted a similar measure; but pains were taken to make the Czar and the world believe that this measure was intended to protect the Porte from its own subjects, and not from him. Indeed, the allies seemed to name Russia with “’bated breath;” while Russia was filling the world with boasting, fabricating reports of successes over the tribes of Central Asia, pushing a force even to Bokhara, and menacing and wheedling Persia by turns. The _Petersburg Gazette_ threatened that if England went to war, peace should be dictated to her from Calcutta; she was treated by the emperor and his subjects with utter disdain.
The Turkish government took example from Russia rather than from the allies; she made prodigious efforts to meet the exigency. Her first care was wisely not in the direction of the Danube. She knew that, numerous as were the Russian legions, they could not force the passage of the Balkan, and meet her in defence of her capital upon the plains of Roumelia, before the allied fleets and allied troops would secure it. She had another and more urgent danger; that pointed out by Lord Aberdeen in his despatch upon the treaty of Adrianople.
* * * * *
Russia might penetrate through Armenia into Asia Minor; she might, from the southern shores of the Black Sea, rundown new hosts, overrun provinces comparatively unprotected, and by another route reach the Dardanelles, and menace not only Constantinople, but the allied fleets within its waters. The divan accordingly organized an army of Asia, and with it occupied Anatolia. Selim Pasha was appointed as commander-in-chief and seraskier of the province. Had he possessed the genius of Omar Pasha, to whom the army of the Danube was committed, he might, as events have since proved, have driven the Russians from Georgia and Circassia, and freed the Caucasus from their presence. He was wholly unfit to command a division, much less an army. The Asiatic danger provided against, Omar was sent to collect and organize an army in Bulgaria, and strong reinforcements were promised to be held ready at Adrianople. Two conscriptions, of 80,000 men each, were made before the end of September; and Russia replied to these demonstrations by two enormous levies.
Thus the note of preparation sounded through all the vast empire of the sultan, from Hindostan to the Bosphorus, and thence to the Danube.*
* Nolan’s “History of the War against Russia.”
The allies made attempts to open negotiations at Vienna, in which the Russian, Austrian, and Turkish diplomatists proved themselves superior to those of Western Europe. The only result was to prove that the dispute could be settled only by the arbitrament of war. This the sultan declared on the 4th of October, the new year’s day of the Turks. Fifteen days were given by the sultan for the czar to withdraw his armies before any attack was made upon them.
The events which followed will best and most briefly be depicted by a quotation from the author’s work already referred to.
Four days after the declaration of war, the sultan made a formal demand for the allied fleets to enter the Dardanelles. The demand was complied with, and the ministers of the Western powers presented the admirals with great “pomp and circumstance” to the sultan. The further request of the sultan that the fleets or a portion of them should pass also the straits of the Bosphorus was refused by the ambassadors, on the ground that the Western powers were not at war with Russia. In vain the foreign minister of the sultan urged the danger to which his ships and coasts were exposed in the Black Sea. The answer was, that Prince Gortschakoff had promised to make the war on the part of Russia strictly defensive; and that Count Nesselrode, in his circular despatch (above referred to), had repeated that promise. There was, in the opinion of the ambassadors, no reason for doubting the good faith of the Russian government; and they would not, by a demonstration so hostile as that of sending the fleets into the Enxine, provoke Russia to change the character of the war, and make it one of offensive operation. The reply of the Turkish minister was, that Russia could not make the war offensive upon the shores of the Black Sea if the fleets were to cruise there and that the only chance of her being able to convert the war upon the Danube into one of active offensive operations, was her having command of the Black Sea for the easy transport of stores of all kinds to the vicinity of the armies. This reasoning, irrefutable although it obviously was, and most important as it soon and fatally proved itself to be, was met by the reply that the ambassadors had no instructions for any demonstration more active than the assemblage of the fleets for the protection of Stamboul. Again the Turkish minister pressed upon the ambassadors and admirals the exposed situation of the coast of the Black Sea and the Turkish squadron within its waters; and showed that, for the present, there was no necessity for the allied fleets in the Sea of Marmora; that the sultan, in calling them through the Dardanelles, contemplated their further progress through the other straits; that the Russians could not endanger the capital until they had forced the Danube, captured Shumla and Sophia, forced the passes of the Balkan, and were victors at Adrianople; or, from the eastern frontier, had pushed a victorious campaign from the Caucasus, through Asia Minor. It was, however, in vain that the enlightened men then in the Turkish foreign-office demonstrated that if the fleets were sent to defend Turkey, the Black Sea was their appropriate sphere of action: the admirals had no orders, and the ambassadors would give them none, and pleaded the absence of any discretionary power.
While the fleets spread the tricolor and the union-jack upon the gentle breezes of the Bosphorus, Omar Pasha, with frame of iron and intellect of light, seemed to do everything, as well as direct everything, upon the northern frontier of Bulgaria; and only just allowed the fifteen days’ “notice to quit” to expire, before he showed Russia and the world that the Turks had a general, and that with a general they were still soldiers, as when the blazing scimitar of Orchan first flashed upon Europe, or Byzantium shook before the thunder of the artillery of Mohammed II. They were still worthy of their father, Osman, the “Bone-breaker;” and, in hand-to-hand combat, an overmatch for the boors of Russia, both in courage and strength. It must be said, to their disadvantage, that they were not very precise concerning the declaration of war; for on the very day it was declared, and without the knowledge of their chief, a semi-brigade hurried over the river, fell upon a Russian detachment, routed it, seized a considerable booty, and, like true Bashi-bazouks, were away again upon their own side before the foray could be chastised.
With the end of October, the time granted to Prince Gortschakoff by Omar Pasha expired; by whom strong detachments were immediately expedited to the Russian side of the disputed river. Crossing at once in several places, they were soon established in some force upon the frontier of Wallachia, and pushing forward a strong advance-guard upon the Russians, the latter skirmished, refused battle, and slowly and sullenly retreated upon Slatina. The Turks fought and gained several sanguinary battles on the Danube during the month of November, which was followed by various contests, less important, but scarcely less sanguinary.
The month of November, however glorious to the Turkish armies, was disastrous to its navy. The fleet lay in the harbour of Sinope, upon the Black Sea. The Russians, contrary to the official declaration made to the allies, to confine the war to defensive operations, resolved to attack the Turkish fleet by a surprise. The enterprise of the Russian admiral was successful. The unsuspecting Turks were surprised; no opportunity of surrender was given; the attack led, not to a battle, but to a massacre. The whole fleet was destroyed, with an unsparing barbarity and a vindictive bloodthirstiness that must leave a stain for ever upon the pages of Russian history.
War continued to roll along the Bulgarian and Wallachian frontiers to the close of the year; the Turks displaying undaunted heroism, and surpassing the Russians in nearly every soldierly quality, so that the Russian armies lost by battles and marches 35,000 men, exclusive of the sick and wounded.
Prodigious efforts were made by the Russian emperor and the nation. The people contributed voluntarily 150 millions of silver rubles for the expenses of the war between the date of Omar Pasha’s crossing the Danube to the end of the year. Of this vast sum the clergy contributed nearly one-half. All Russia was wrought up to a pitch of fanatical enthusiasm for the war, and every heart burned with ambition to see the Greek cross upon the dome of St. Sophia.
Tidings of the massacre of Sinope flew through Europe, and every man out of Russia, Austria, and the countries inhabited by Greeks, perused the harrowing story with indignation and disgust. In England and France the popular feeling against the tardiness of their governments rose high. The English ministry never regained the confidence of the public. The Earl of Aberdeen, Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Sidney Herbert, and the Duke of Newcastle, were known to be the members of the cabinet chiefly accountable for the policy of respect and timidity towards Russia, which had caused the British nation to take so tame and unworthy a part. The diplomatists continued to lose time by tedious and worthless negotiations, giving Russia the advantage of calling forth and organizing her resources, and fomenting by her agents sedition and insurrection among the Greek subjects of the Porte.
Little was effected by the hostile powers upon the theatre of Asia after the declaration of war during that year, but the clangour of arms resounded on the shores of the Black Sea, and along the confines of the two great empires.
PARLIAMENTARY HISTORY.
On the 10th of February parliament assembled. The usual fencing occurred between the leaders of parties. Lord Derby was fiery and impetuous, Lord Aberdeen reserved and pragmatical. Law reform first engaged the attention of the peers. The lord chancellor did not possess the confidence of the house, either as to his capacity or zeal in that direction, and, at the hands of Lord St. Leonards, his proposals received severe and able animadversion.
The topics in both houses were interesting during the first few weeks of the session, but only as connected with passing events. There was nothing done worthy of extended record, nor of particular notice within the space allotted to these volumes. The question of Jewish disabilities occupied the attention of members, under the auspices of Lord John Russell; but a bigoted hostility to the measure pervaded a large minority in the commons and a large majority of the lords. The leader of the party opposed to any concession to the Jews was the Earl of Shaftesbury, who, in a speech mild and impressive in manner, but bigoted and illogical in matter, succeeded in persuading the lords to throw out the bill.
The financial plans of the government met with the support of the commons. Mr. Gladstone introduced the budget in a speech of extraordinary eloquence, which lasted five hours, and was applauded throughout by a great majority of the house. There were no original propositions, no very ingenious contrivances; but the right hon. gentleman threw around his statements an attraction by his eloquence which won his audience: like his preceptor, Sir Robert Peel, he proved himself to be, in the language of Disraeli, “a very great member of parliament.” In the debates which followed, Mr. Gladstone received several severe defeats from the more advanced liberals on his own side of the house; but all efforts on the part of the tory and protectionist section to defeat his proposals, upon their own principles, were abortive.
INDIA BILL.
The house, the public, the East India Company, and all interested in the great Eastern dependencies included under the general name of India, looked forward with anxiety to the bill which it was necessary to pass in reference to the relations of the country and the East India Company.
On the 3rd of June, Sir Charles Wood, in a speech of five hours’ duration, proposed his plan for the future government of India.*
* See Nolan’s “History of the British Empire in India and the East.”
Mr. Bright, in one of his most elaborate parliamentary efforts, criticised the measure; he eloquently inveighed against the East India Company, but his information upon subjects connected with India did not support the influence his parliamentary powers were so calculated to command. Lord Stanley, during the debates that ensued, distinguished himself for the first time on Indian subjects, over which in a few years he was destined to hold so important an influence. The bill of the government passed the commons, but was subjected to various alterations in the interest of the East India Company in the lords. Thus amended, it was accepted by the commons and became law.
To give even the briefest abstract of this measure would be as unnecessary as it is undesirable, within the limits of our space, for in a few years a great insurrection in India led to the abolition of the act, and the removal of the East India Company from all political power in India, and the vesting in the crown the government of all our eastern possessions.
The main objects of the act of 1858 were to lessen the power of the East India Company still more than it had been fettered by previous acts; to enlarge the scope of the board of control; to increase the direct authority of the president of that board and the governor-general of India; and to simplify the procedure of the home, action, on Indian government.
DISCUSSIONS ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS.—RUSSIA AND TURKEY.
Some party debates ensued upon certain speeches made “out-of-doors” by cabinet ministers about French affairs, in which some personalities towards the French emperor were indulged. Hardly any other foreign topic engaged the debating powers of the members, except the all-absorbing one of the hostile proceedings of Russia against Turkey. It was the general opinion of the English people, that the French emperor, for dynastic purposes, brought on the war. He had not been recognised by the Russian emperor, and the policy was obviously to bring on a conflict in which, with England and Turkey for allies, victory was certain, and the beaten czar would be obliged to recognise an emperor in the person of his conqueror.
Discussions upon the relations of Turkey and Russia began as early as April, and were continued, with short intervals of intermission, while parliament sat. During these debates the ministry was severely arraigned for incapacity, tardiness, crotchety and conceited views, confidence in the czar, which could only be inspired by sympathy with his despotic views, and instability of purpose. To the Aberdeen section of the cabinet these failings were especially attributed, and the justice of the imputations was too plainly established. The Earl of Derby, Lord Lyndhurst, and the Marquis of Clanricarde, showed a large acquaintance with the subject, and their orations against the policy of the government were the happiest political and parliamentary efforts ever made by those noblemen. In the commons, Mr. Layard, Lord Dudley Stuart, and Mr. Duncombe, made severe and eloquent denunciations against the ministerial policy, which “out-of-doors” encountered universal reprobation. It was the general opinion that Lord Palmerston ought to be placed at the head of affairs: even the conservative section of the country desired such a change, but were of opinion that his lordship should serve as minister for foreign affairs, or minister of war, under Lord Derby as premier. It was plain that while Lord Palmerston supported his colleagues ostensibly, he did not interfere much in foreign affairs, but attended to the duties of the home-office, which had never before been so efficiently performed. He was an object of jealousy, both to the Russell Whigs and the Aberdeen Peelites, and possessed more of the confidence of his opponents than of either. Much dissatisfaction was created throughout the country by the temper and policy displayed by Mr. Cobden, Mr. Bright, Mr. Fox, and other gentlemen of the Manchester school. The great abilities of those gentlemen, the general conviction entertained of their honesty of purpose, and their past services to their country, on economical questions especially, made men reluctant to exhibit the dissatisfaction felt, and which, at a later period, displayed itself by strong practical demonstrations. These gentlemen lauded Russia as a highly civilized and Christian state; Turkey, on the other hand, was denounced as a robber power, which ought to be dispossessed. It was asserted that it was for the good of English trade that Russia should succeed in conquering Turkey; and that, at all events, it was the interest of England to be neutral, and leave France, Turkey, and Russia to concuss, as the waves of the sea against one another and the shore. A general impression, however, arose, that as the Manchester trade with Turkey and Eastern Europe was mainly transacted through Greek merchants and agents, it was the commercial interest of these men to conciliate the enemies of the sultan, apart from the political aspect of their relations. The cabinet was undoubtedly much influenced by this section of its supporters in the blind confidence it snowed to the czar, in their presumption that moral influence would suffice to prevent a war, and in the niggardly, and therefore unwise, and ultimately costly scheme upon which armaments were provided. Probably never in the House of Commons was rebuke more eloquently and sincerely given, or more justly merited, than when Lord Palmerston exposed the contradictory, selfish, and unpatriotic policy advocated by Mr. Cobden.
The hostile feeling of the Manchester section of the liberal party towards Lord Palmerston increased from that time, and his lordship made no efforts to conceal his dislike of the party, but sometimes showed it in a manner even contemptuous. The influence of the party was exercised upon the cabinet, and Lord Palmerston felt himself treated by so little consideration, that on the 16th December he resigned. Her majesty wisely refused to receive his resignation. No explanations of the cause of the circumstance were ever given in parliament, but the country, una voce, pronounced that it arose from his lordship’s dissatisfaction with the truckling policy of the Aberdeen party in the cabinet, and his popularity rose still higher.
The session of 1853 was not unproductive. Various measures of importance were transacted. The cabinet possessed much administrative ability, and displayed it by carrying a number of bills of great practical utility. It was a good peace, but a bad war, ministry.
DEATHS OF EMINENT PERSONS.
In modern English history much of the greatness and glory of the country may be learned by noticing the names, characters, and exploits of the eminent persons who pass away from the theatre of life and action. So fruitful is the country in men of renown, and men who deserve renown, that to notice these is to see the mighty position which Great Britain occupies, and is likely to occupy, in the world.
The obituary of 1853 was not more remarkable than that of previous years; but still the number of the great and good who dropped into the silence of the grave was too great for any justice to be done to their memories, or to their country, jealous of their fame. Throughout the year, admirals and general officers, who had well served their country, were removed from the ranks of her defenders. So numerous were these, that it would be invidious to select from them any for particular notice.
Among the men of other professions it is more easy to point out a few of those whose decease excited general regret.
In January, Jonathan Pereira, Esq., M.D., F.R.S., and F.L.S. He was distinguished as a professor of _Materia Medica_, and a writer on medical subjects.
In February, Dr. Kay, Bishop of Lincoln. The son of a linen-draper of Hammersmith, near Kensington. He rose by force of his superior intellect to the highest honours in the church. As a general scholar, as well as a theologian, he attained great eminence.
In June, the Earl of Ducie. This nobleman was one of the most excellent in the peerage. His religious zeal and charity received the acknowledgments of all classes of men, although his resources were small. He was a proficient in agricultural science, and invented various agricultural implements of utility. As a breeder of stock he was unequalled. His “Example Farm,” at Whitfield, gained him much reputation. He was a sound political economist and freetrader. The author of these lines had opportunities of seeing his lordship’s attainments in these respects severely tested in private intercourse with men of the highest name.
July witnessed the death of Lady Sale, widow of the heroic General Sale, who died from wounds received upon the field of battle. Lady Sale was one of the captives made by Akbar Khan in the disastrous Affghan war. During that war, and more especially during her captivity, she displayed wonderful fortitude. She possessed extraordinary military skill and knowledge, and showed judgment in campaigning and in diplomatic affairs, far superior to most of the chief officers with whom she came in contact. Her narrative of the Affghan war is ably written, and a record of most romantic events. After the death of her gallant husband, she received a pension of £500 a year from the queen. She returned to India, and resided among the hills, and ultimately died at Cape Town, Florentia, on the 6th of July, universally regarded with respect and admiration.
Although the names of eminent officers in the army and navy, who died in this year, have been passed over in these notices, from their great number, one is especially deserving of being selected from the heroic crowd.
Lieutenant-general Sir Charles James Napier, G.C.B. This extraordinary man was the eldest son of the Hon. Colonel George Napier, comptroller of the army accounts in Ireland. Before he finished his twelfth year, he was appointed to an ensigncy in the 22nd regiment of foot; and it is a remarkable fact, that his conquest of Scinde was mainly effected by the instrumentality of that regiment. His services were arduous and heroic. His mind was original, and active exceedingly. He possessed amazing vigour in command, and powers of organization rarely exhibited. The great duke held him in high estimation as a general. He was seventy-one years of age at his death, which took place at Oaklands, near Portsmouth. A monument, to celebrate his exploits, has been erected in Trafalgar Square, near to that of Nelson.
As December opened, Mrs. Opie, so celebrated as a writer, died at Norwich, her native place, in her eighty-fifth year.
On the 17th, the Marchioness of Wellesley, an American lady of Irish parentage. Her life was an eventful one. She was much esteemed as the lady of the Lord-lieutenant of Ireland, when the noble marquis held that post. She had been for many years a favourite of Queen Adelaide, and died in the Palace of Hampton-court.
The Rev. W. Jay, the eminent Congregational minister of Bath, died on the 27th, in his eighty-fifth year. He began to preach before he had attained his sixteenth year. Before he was of age, he had delivered about one thousand sermons. He had been sixty-two years minister of Argyle Chapel, Bath. His writings were varied, beautiful in style, and rich in thought and illustration. They were productive of a vast amount of good, as all denominations of Christians and all ranks of men perused them. The author of this History was on terms of intimacy with this remarkable man, and can testify that his powers of conversation were as varied and rare as his talents in the pulpit, and as a writer on religious subjects.