Chapter 67

{VICTORIA. 1849}

Colonial Affairs..... Termination of the War in the Punjaub..... Operations against Borneo Pirates, and in the Chinese Seas..... Cape of Good Hope; Agitation against making it a Penal Colony..... Canada: Disturbances..... West Indies: Economical Discussions; Discontent of the Planters..... Ionian Isles: Insurrection..... Foreign Affairs..... General State of the Continent, and Relations to England..... Naples and Sicily: Interference of England and France..... Demand upon Turkey by Russia and Austria for Extradition of Refugees; Interposition of England..... Ireland: Potato Blight; Great Distress of the People; Cholera; Political Agitation; Continuance of Crime and Outrage..... Great Britain: Prevalence of Cholera; State of Trade and Agriculture; Parliamentary Debates; Deaths of Eminent Persons.

{1849}

The year 1849 was one of more importance to continental Europe than to the nations of any other portion of the world. It was, however, a year of considerable events for the British empire. In India a sanguinary war was brought to a successful termination, and a large and fertile territory added to the British dominions. At the Cape of Good Hope the colonists successfully resisted the authority of the mother country. In Canada, insurrectionary violence interrupted the usual order of government. In Cephalonia the disloyalty and fanaticism of the Greek population found violent vent, and generally the greatest circumspection was required on the part of the home government in reference to our vast colonial empire. In foreign affairs England preserved a dignified non-interference, except in the case of Naples and Sicily, where her interposition brought neither honour nor profit. In the case of Turkey it was otherwise; the advice tendered to the Porte by the British ambassador averted conflict, and saved an ancient ally from humiliation. The chief difficulty of the empire was Ireland. Constitutional government was there impossible, crime was rampant, distress all-penetrating, and the people seditious. At home the visitation of a fearful pestilence caused distress and sorrow, while party fury rent the parliament and disturbed the repose of the country. Through every trial to which she was put, the genius and resolution of England conducted her, under the care and blessing of Him who can elevate and abase empires, and the great law of whose moral government is, “Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.”

PROSECUTION OF THE WAR IN INDIA, AND ANNEXATION OF THE PUNJAUB.

The general consequences of the battle of Chillianwallah (an account of which engagement concluded our relation of the war in India, in the last chapter) were the encouragement of the Sikh sirdars, soldiery, and people, and the renewal of exertion on the part of the civil and military authorities of India for the vigorous continuance of the war. In England the news of the battle produced sensations of alarm, and indignant dissatisfaction. In parliament the subject was mooted angrily, not only by the opposition, but by the more radical supporters of the government. Lord John Russell, however, quieted many fears by announcing, which he did in his most pompous manner, that Sir Charles Napier had been selected to command the army in India. This was received with loud cheers and every demonstration of confidence. Had Lord John stated that an army of thirty thousand European soldiers was about to be dispatched to save the glory of the British arms in India, the tidings could not have inspired a sense of security more complete than appeared to be entertained by the house from the announcement of this one name. Sir Charles had retired from the government of Scinde, having quarrelled with the Company and the governor-general. No two human beings could be assorted with less likelihood of concord than Lord Dalhousie and Sir Charles Napier. With Lord Hardinge the eccentric general could have agreed better; but he was a man so much more just than that nobleman, and so much more able and original in his conceptions as a military man and a statesman, that they also would have been very ill-assorted. Sir Charles Napier, during his government of Scinde, had acquired such a knowledge of the government of India, civil and military, and differed so widely from the principles applied to that government, that there could be little hope of his long retaining any command or government in India. Sir Charles had complained warmly of the way in which the army of India was officered; of the love of ease, and the indulgence in luxury which had begun to characterise the officers of that service; of the little sympathy with their men which the officers of some portions of the Company’s troops betrayed; and of the mode of recruiting, especially in selecting soldiers from the Brahmin caste, rather than from Ghoorkhas, Beloochees, and low-caste Hindoos. These views were so distasteful to the governor-general and chief officers of state in India, that the gallant general was set down as a very troublesome fellow, whose presence in India was more mischievous than useful, who prided himself more on Meannee than Scinde was worth, and whose essays of government there were odd, oppressive, and out of the routine of Indian government. Sir Charles had given just cause for as many complaints against himself as he had made of others; this the government at home knew well; but the board of control, and the board of directors also, felt that the public dissatisfaction caused by the battle of Chillianwallah, must be soothed, and knowing the supreme confidence which the public felt in the eccentric but heroic and intellectual general, they nominated him to the post of commander-in-chief of the army in India. Sir Charles was very unwilling to accept this command, and it was alleged that he only yielded to the importunities of his friend, the Duke of Wellington, then commander-in-chief of the army, who was represented as having said, “Either you go, or I go.” This high compliment was so felt by the sturdy old warrior, that he is said to have instantly acquiesced. The opinions of this brave chief on Indian affairs were much canvassed at the time, and much more canvassed since. Circumstances arose to justify many of them, and in few instances did his predictions fail. It was supposed that the Punjaub would be the earliest scene of his exploits, and concerning it he thus expressed himself:—“A large country full of rivers, mountains, climates, plains, deserts, supplies scarce, and a hostile, well-armed, brave people, apparently resolved to wage a partizan warfare.” The population was, on the whole, better inclined to us than the army, nor did they show so much a disposition to wage what is called a partizan war, as to risk the fate of their country and the endurance of their power upon regular warfare, conducted in well-arranged campaigns and general battle. So far Sir Charles somewhat mistook the people against whom he was sent out as the especial champion of his country, but whom he was never destined to encounter.

His opinion on the constitution of the army has been already glanced at. Concerning its dangers in a campaign, involving long marches and distant operations, he thus wrote:—“Suppose the army in march, and to consist of ten thousand fighting men, and that an enemy attacks the fighting men and camp followers, amounting in the mass to forty thousand or sixty thousand men, of which thirty thousand or fifty thousand are unorganised, unmanageable camp-followers; suppose them to be attacked suddenly, and that when so attacked, they all rush back upon the column of fighting men, as they always do, and always will do, until well organised. When you have painted this pretty picture in your mind—this picture of noise, confusion, danger, and slaughter—I will ask you how the column of ten thousand fighting men are to fight? borne down by multitudes—confused by noise—how are they to form in order of battle? If once, by the exertion of their officers, they do form, how are they to fire?—on their own followers! their own animals! What may happen no one can tell; but human foresight says that the whole will stand a fair chance of being utterly defeated. It is said that this took place, and caused, in a great measure, the Cabul massacre. I can easily believe it.”

The following warnings were prophetic:—“Let the army be in every way worthy of the empire that it won and holds—holds by _discipline!_ Let not the word become an empty boast. Let it not lose its reality. Let not victory lull our soldiers to sleep. Let every British officer recollect that powerful nations surround our Indian empire; that they are rapidly acquiring our military system, our tactics, our arms. Let him compare our earlier battles with our last—Plassey with Ferozashooshah and Sobraon—setting our losses in killed and wounded at each battle in juxta-position. Let us look to these matters, that we may not have to exclaim with Pyrrhus at Asculum, ‘Another such victory will undo us!’”

But notwithstanding the dangers which were thus the subject of the military seer’s discourse, he had a high opinion of the Indian army as a whole, as the following quotation proves:—“The Indian army, when well commanded is indomitable: it is capable of subjugating all the countries between the Black and Yellow Seas. The population from which it is drawn is so numerous and warlike—the land so wealthy—that the noble Indian army may vie with any force existing, in numbers, courage, and equipment. Its discipline and intelligence are in proportion. The European officers are all English, Irish, and Scotch gentlemen, whose honour and courage have created in their troops such an intrepid spirit as to render India secure against every evil from which an army can protect a country.”

Notwithstanding the supposed necessity of Sir Charles Napier’s appointment, no great dispatch was used in his departure, and the public began to suppose that the object of the government in this delay was to gain time for Lord Gough to redeem his honour. This increased the public irritation, which was exasperated by the private letters that reached England from Lahore, and from Lord Gough’s own camp. These letters led the English public to believe that a general panic prevailed, not only in the Punjaub, but at the head-quarters of Lord Gough’s army. The following are specimens of the letters, which, on their arrival in England, so disturbed the public mind:—

“I have much pleasure in giving you the following latest information from the commander-in-chief’s camp, dated 16th instant; it indeed has been a sad business, and it is impossible to predict when our mishaps, and such fearful butchery and wanton sacrifice of life will end or stop, under such a commander-in-chief. Unless the governor-general recalls Lord Gough to the provinces, the chances ate he will not only lose the splendid army under his command, which he has already done his best to cripple and weaken, but he will so compromise the government that the most serious apprehension may be entertained as to the ultimate result of this contest.

“I told you Gholab Singh had an army of ten thousand men not far in advance of the commander-in-chief’s camp, doing nothing, but alive and awake to take every advantage of the first serious mishap that might occur to our army under its present chief; in addition to which Dost Mohammed has a force of ten thousand to twelve thousand Affghans, at a short distance from Attock, ready to co-operate with Chuttur Singh. Gholab. Singh has fourteen pieces of cannon with his ten thousand men, but he is not present in person; the wary chief is abiding his time in the hills; he has, however, deputed a vakeel to offer a nuzzur at Lahore to our resident; but deep craftiness and the most wily treachery are at the bottom of this proceeding. The vakeel has been instructed to apprise his master of every single occurrence that takes place at Lahore, and to keep him well informed of all movements on our part. It is extremely strange our government will not believe in the treacherous intentions of Gholab Singh.

“There are from thirty to forty thousand men in arms leagued against our power and supremacy north of the Jhelum, with a park of artillery, varying, according to reports, from fifty to seventy guns.

“In a letter from Lahore of yesterday’s date, which reached me this morning, it is stated that the commanderin-chief has ordered Brigadier-general Wheeler’s force to join him, but of course, I suppose, not until after the general has taken Ram Singh. This proceeding has been rendered necessary and urgent in consequence of her majesty’s 24th, the 36th, and 58th regiments of native infantry having been rendered next to useless. Sir Dudley Hill’s reserve force of eight thousand five hundred men will have to be brought into active service yet, as troops are required not to proceed against, and be the aggressors of the enemy, but to act on the defensive, and hold our active, brave, and courageous foe in check until General Whish’s force joins, to enable the whole army to advance to Peshawur.

“Our government appear now to be so afraid of the issue of our contest with the Sikhs (as they have neither troops sufficient to conquer them and hold the country, nor money to pay the enormous expenses of this prolonged campaign), that I should not be at all surprised they will do their utmost to patch up a peace, which will, to say the least, be not only humiliating to our arms, but disgraceful to British feelings. I am perfectly certain, however, that the Sikhs will entertain no terms with us, except they are based on our quitting the Punjaub, and retiring across the Sutlej; this is a _sine qua non_ with them.” The same letter from Lahore mentions, “You have, no doubt, heard of the late awful butchery of human life. As usual, the troops advanced without order or any arrangement. The 14th Dragoons led the advance, and, on the Goorchurrahs advancing, the brigade of cavalry, it is said, retreated, afraid, apparently, of being led into another trap like the Eumnuggur one. The cavalry brigade overthrew the artillery, and, galloping right through them, was the cause of our loss of six guns, two of which, however, were since retaken. Brigadier Pope was mortally wounded (since dead), and the cavalry were only brought up by the Doolies at the general hospital. Of the 24th foot, four field-officers, one captain, and seven subalterns, were killed, together with four hundred men. The 30th, the 36th, and 56th regiments behaved well, but lost so many officers, killed and wounded, that they must be sent back, and some other corps sent to supply their place. There were twenty-four officers buried the day after the fight, and many more since. The chief was strongly advised to defer the engagement until next day, but it was of no use. Two shots fell near him, and he ordered an immediate attack, left his position, and joined the _mêlée_, and was not to be found anywhere to give directions. A more undisciplined attack, or less tactics, was never heard of. He swears that the first officer who presumes to give advice, he will put in close arrest! Poor Eikins was killed in endeavouring to rally the 14th Dragoons. The artillery have demanded a court of inquiry, but I suppose the business will be hushed up, as it it was in the 62nd foot.”

A second letter, dated Lahore, the 18th, gave the following extract of a letter from camp Chillianwallah, 16th January:—

“On the 12th we marched to Dingee, on the 13th we marched again, and at 11 a.m. came upon one of the enemy’s outposts. The 3rd light field-batteries and heavy guns were brought to the front to drive them in, which they did in about five minutes. The infantry was then brought up, and each regiment deployed into line. The commander-in-chief meant to have encamped here, and sent for quartermasters of corps to mark the ground. The enemy, however, about two o’clock, fired a few shots, which came in beyond our flags, and the commander-inchief resolved to attack them at once. The whole line then advanced, getting into thicker and thicker jungle every minute; all this time our heavy guns, which were in the centre, opened their fire, and were answered by every one of the enemy’s, about sixty in number. It would be impossible to describe the action. There was no plan of attack. The three light field-batteries were at one time close to the enemy without any support near them. These were at last ordered to advance at a gallop to support Hoggan’s brigade, and the 46th regiment of native infantry assured the officers of these light field-batteries that their fire alone saved them. The action lasted until dark.

“At four o’clock in the afternoon we were completely surrounded by the enemy, and our artillery firing at the same time to the front, to the rear, and to the flank. Our loss has been tremendous—one thousand nine hundred killed and wounded: we have taken twelve guns and lost six (two of which have been recovered). The loss of our guns was owing to the cowardice of —— who (you will hardly believe it) ran away from a party of the enemy’s cavalry right through Christie’s and Huish’s troops of horse-artillery, knocking over every one of Christie’s waggons, horses and all! They were so crowded among the guns, that the gunners could not unlimber. The result was that the enemy’s cavalry got among our guns, and cut our men down right and left. The —— never drew reign until they got right through the general hospital in the rear, knocking over the Doolies and everything that came in their way. What caused this panic no one knows.

“Of the above one thousand nine hundred killed and wounded, nine hundred and fifty are Europeans. Above thirty-six officers have been buried. Her majesty’s 24th foot lost their regimental colour. The 25th regiment native infantry lost a colour. The 30th regiment native infantry lost a colour—some say two colours. The 56th regiment native infantry lost the standard they took at Gwalior. Her majesty’s 24th foot lost thirteen officers killed, including every one in the list above the junior captain. The enemy are now encamped at Eussool, four miles only from the commander-in-chief’s camp. A letter that I have just seen states that Major Loftie, of the 30th native infantry, was not killed but only wounded, and that Major Ramfield, commanding the 56th regiment native infantry, was killed. In the 2nd Europeans, which behaved nobly, one officer was severely wounded, Lieutenant Nightingale.”

Another letter, dated camp, the 15th January, stated:—

“I dare say you will have heard of the battle fought by our army on the 13th instant. It commenced about 1 p. m., and fasted till after dark. It was a devil of a battle, and many hard knocks and wounds were received, as the casualty list will show. The Sikhs fought with the greatest gallantry, and, as for our men and infantry generally, they were quite heroes. The 2nd Europeans displayed great bravery; they advanced to the charge and drove the Sikhs back at the point of the bayonet; and after this found another body of Sikhs, a regularly organised battalion, armed and dressed like our troops, in their rear. There were also some of the enemy on the right flank. This regiment had to right-about-face and charge to the rear, which they did, killing and wounding a great many of the Sikhs, and took and spiked four of their guns. Nightingale was wounded when about to do this, and Gaynor, who did it, had a most narrow escape. The former is the only severely wounded officer in that regiment, but I trust not dangerously, the ball having passed out in coming round the head, but the bone is fractured. One or two officers had narrow escapes. The 2nd Europeans had but fifty men wounded, and five killed; the cases of the former, some of them very severe, are mostly in the body and legs. There has been a fearful mortality in the 24th foot, thirteen officers killed and eight wounded, while the men said to be killed and wounded amount to four hundred. The 29th foot also suffered much, and the artillery a good deal. All our wounded are doing well, I rejoice to say. The doctors were at one time quite within range of the enemy’s shot, and a bheestie of the 2nd European regiment had his arm knocked off just behind where the surgeons of that corps were riding: a spent ball rolled under my horse’s feet. Lieutenant Weston and Godby, of the 36th native infantry, were wounded, but not severely. Brigadier Pennycuick and his son both killed. I believe we have gained a regular victory, though at first it was doubtful. I hear Pope’s brigade of cavalry got a kind of panic at one time, and came to the rear, but afterwards moved up in good style: there was something wrong with the —— for they drove us in from the rear and dispersed all the doctors, &c., at the field hospital, where I had just arrived to see if any assistance was required. There was an alarm of the Sikhs being in our rear, and then there was a regular ‘bolt.’ Such a night we all passed is better imagined than described—it was so very cold and rainy, with a high wind blowing, enough to cut one in two. Several Doolies were captured by the enemy, and the band instruments of the 2nd Europeans are missing.

“All letters agree in stating that a panic overtook the —— when ordered to charge. I hear on all sides that it would be a wise and prudent measure on the part of the governor-general to recall Lord Gough from the Punjaub, and restrain his ill-judged valour within our peaceful provinces. His lordship fancied himself at Donnybrook Fair, and was in the thick of it, in the _mêlée_, and lost to sight!

“P.S.—The 56th regiment native infantry was brought out of action with three hundred men, under the command of its junior captain, a cadet of 1840!”

These communications, although affording intelligence which was, unfortunately, too true, were in several respects erroneous. They placed matters in a gloomy aspect, which was not justified by the facts. The battle of Chillianwallah, however doubtful as a victory, and however disastrous as to the loss which we experienced, neither perilled the existence of British rule in India, nor shook the hold of the English upon the Punjaub. The arrival of the despatches, and the issue of an extraordinary gazette, in some measure reassured the public; and as Lord Gough was decidedly and deservedly a favourite, people became anxious that before Sir Charles Napier should arrive out and take the command of the army, his lordship might be enabled to revenge Chillianwallah by a well-fought battle and decided victory. The friends of Lord Gough even entertained the hope that he might conclude the campaign by the entire dispersion of the Sikh army, and the reconquest of the Punjaub. It was very generally felt that the ministry, whatever their private feeling and private intentions, had shown too much eagerness to disclaim him, and to signify, by making their only measure for the emergency in India the appointment of a new commander-in-chief, that they supposed the blame of any misfortunes there to have been exclusively with Lord Gough. Military men pointed out that the previous policy of Lord Hardinge, and the immediate policy of Lord Dalhousie, both as it regarded their military and political management, invited the resistance to our power which had been awakened. The chief apprehensions entertained arose from the course which Gholab Singh and Dost Mohammed might pursue. The former, with his Sikh soldiery, occupied positions that kindled some suspicion of his intentions, while he had, as an ostensible ally, omitted to strike a single blow in our favour. He had collected, it was alleged, one hundred and fifty pieces of cannon; and he was represented as having declared that his control over his own soldiers was imperfect, and that their sympathy was wholly with the troops of Chuttur and Shere Singh. As it was not uncommon for the native princes, when hesitating between the British and their enemies, to represent their soldiers as untrustworthy and dangerous to themselves, Gholab’s account of himself, his province, and his army, caused him reasonably to be suspected. Dost Mohammed rendered substantial aid to Shere Singh; at least twelve thousand Affghans were encamped under the command of that general, and fresh levies were said to be descending the passes from Peshawur and from Candehar towards Scinde. Reports had arrived in England that all the Affghan chieftains were in arms, and that the war of the prophet was proclaimed. The Affghan infantry were without discipline, and out of their own fastnesses it was presumed that they would not display courage; but some supposed that, subjected to the Sikh discipline, and led by Sikh officers, as well as by their own chiefs, they would prove formidable, being physically a fine race, and naturally brave. The reinforcements sent by them, however, were chiefly composed of cavalry, and their efforts as auxiliary to our enemies were too tardy to influence materially the fortunes of the war; by degrees these facts became known at home, and the absence, in Lord Gough’s despatches, of any alarm, and the entire confidence breathed through them and the official tidings from the Indian government, at last wholly reassured the English public.

The following is the list of ordnance and ordnance stores captured from, the enemy in the action of the 13th of January:—

Six of these guns had carriages and limbers, and six were without limbers; all of the pattern nearly in use with our field-pieces.

Two ammunition carriages (one partly destroyed by explosion), one platform-cart, one hundred and forty-four cartridge-liners fixed to shot, sixteen cartridges unfixed, and eighteen port-fires, were also taken.

_Assault of Dullah by General Wheeler_.—Lord Gough was unable to undertake any active operations after the severe losses at Chillianwallah, until he should receive reinforcements. These he expected from Mooltan, under Whish, and also a brigade of Wheeler’s force, which had been actively engaged in another direction, where he had been detained by the obstinacy of a rebel chief named Earn Singh. This redoubtable chieftain was ascendant in the Baree Doab, and he occupied a strong fortified position on the heights of Dullah. In the middle of January Wheeler attacked this position, but so inaccessible was the fastness that the most he could, do, and that with considerable loss, was to drive out Ram Singh and his followers, whereas the gallant general hoped to accomplish either his capture or destruction. On the 11th, Wheeler ordered the 4th native infantry to take up a position to the northward of the enemy’s post, so as to intercept him in case he should be obliged to evacuate the fort, and retreat in that direction; the main force tarried at Shorpore, where they had been in quarters, until the 13th, the sappers, pioneers, and labourers being engaged in making a practicable road through an exceedingly difficult country consisting of defiles and “ghauts.” This road was laid for about seven miles, as far as the village of Cote on the course of the Ravee, about three miles distant from Ram Singh’s position. On the 14th, the little army of General Wheeler took up ground under the Dullah heights. That day and the next was occupied in cutting roads, transporting guns and mortars upon elephants, and making arrangements for storming the fort. On the morning of the latter day, Captain Hicks, of the 3rd native infantry, was dispatched with four companies of that regiment, and Mr. Hodgson, with two companies of the Guide corps, to take post west of the Dullah heights, on the opposite bank of the Ravee. The precautions taken by detaching these bodies of men were necessary from the topographical character of the neighbourhood. The Ravee, debouching from the mountainous region in which it has its birth, flows through a beautiful valley, where a series of hills runs from east to west, presenting an unequal ridge; on this ridge, overlooking the river, the little village of Dullah was situated, in which Ram Singh had so cleverly fortified himself. In every direction from the village the rock dipped almost perpendicularly, beside being protected by the river, which wound partly around it. Access was by paths, partly lying in hollows formed by former streams, and partly cut through the rock. These paths were circuitous, and nearly covered with brushwood, admitting only by single file of an approach to the platform on which the village rested. On either side of the path were precipices from twenty to eighty feet deep, and huge boulders lay profusely across the way. A few men could defend such a position against very many. The 4th native regiment was to advance against the face of this defence, from the direction where it had taken post some days, and the signal was to be the firing of a gun from the British camp. The 3rd and the Guides were at the same moment ordered to advance, at the same signal, against the west of the ridge, and crown a height visible from head-quarters. As soon as the success of this detachment was ascertained, the remainder of the 3rd regiment, and two hundred men of the 2nd irregular cavalry, who, with Lieutenant Swinton, had volunteered to serve on foot, were to advance upon another face of the ridge, from the little village of Chulbarah, where they had been posted; this party, ascending a spur of the hill on its left, was to co-operate opportunely with the advance of the other detachments. Major Fisher, at the head of a body of regular native infantry and irregular cavalry, with guns mounted upon elephants, were in support, and to ascend (the cavalry, of course, dismounting) when the various detachments had come well into action. There was yet another point upon which an ascent was to be attempted—that which was in front of the camp of the British. Major Davidson, with a few hundred Sikh auxiliaries, regular and irregular, supported by two companies of the 1st Sikh light infantry, under Lieutenant Peel, was ordered to make this attempt.

At the moment for action, the signal gun was fired, but no one appeared to take any notice of it—no men were seen to make their way along the ridge. There was a long pause on the side of the British, the guns of the enemy at the same time firing. None of the detachments appearing on the ridge, Major Butler was ordered to attempt to storm it, in conjunction with the other party already appointed to ascend in front: this was happily accomplished, after a very sharp conflict. Major Davidson was shot through the hand, Lieutenant Peel was mortally wounded, and Lieutenant Christie killed. The detached parties, trusting to native guides, were purposely misled, and thus could not come into action. Ram Singh had by this means the way kept open for his retreat when resistance was no longer possible, and all the skilful arrangements that had been made to catch the eagle in his eyrie were thwarted by the treachery of the natives, who had been, unfortunately, too implicitly trusted in an important service.

_Retreat of Shebe Singh from Chillianwallah._—On the 12th of February Shere Singh struck his tents, and retired from the strong positions which he had so skilfully occupied. Lord Gough threw forward his cavalry, but the Sikh general interposed the whole of his mounted force, covering effectually his retreat. On the 15th the English general learned that the Sikhs were at Wuzeerabad, and his spies informed him that the sirdar was marching upon Lahore. It is probable that these reports were correct, but the approach of a portion of General Whish’s army defeated the project. The cavalry of Whish were pushed on to the Chenab, preventing the passage of the ford of Wuzeerabad. The sirdar swept the whole district of supplies, and sent messengers to Chuttur Singh informing him of his dangers, and intimating that he would take post at Goojerat. Chuttur Singh hastened to the support of Shere, and their united forces constituted a splendid army of eighty thousand men, with fifty-nine pieces of cannon, most of them of large calibre, and worked by a choice body of artillerymen. While Whish guarded the fords of the Chenab, Wheeler hastened to join Lord Gough, having cleared the Baree Doab of Ram Singh and his adherents. On the 16th his lordship left Saporee, and arrived at Sundalpoor, a village only a few miles from the Chenab, which separated his army from that of the victor of Mooltan. The latter skilfully fabricated a bridge of boats at Hurreke Puttum, and joined the commander-in-chief. While this was being accomplished, a body of Affghans from Dost Mohammed Khan, who professed to be neutral, joined the enemy. The entire number of Lord Gough’s army, after every accession, scarcely exceeded twenty-five thousand men. The enemy, when joined by the Affghans, nearly quadrupled the forces of the British general. Lord Gough, however, determined to attack him, and on the 20th reconnoitred his position with that object. Shere Singh made the village of Goojerat his head-quarters: this place lay between the Jhelum and the Chenab, nearer to the former; a small river ran nearly around it, but was at that juncture very low, so that its bed was in some places nearly dry. Between this river and the city, the enemy had taken his position.

Lord Gough resolved upon his plan of attack, and early on the 21st put it into execution.

_Battle of Goojekat_.—Lord Gough’s artillery was in excellent order, and an overmatch for that of the enemy. He determined upon using this arm of offence to the uttermost, and opened along his line a murderous cannonade. His chief danger lay in the difficulty of passing his troops over the “nullah” (or dry bed of the river) under the enemy’s fire; for it was impossible for his infantry to enter the bed of the stream in any direction without being exposed to their musketry; his guns kept those of the enenry hotly engaged. The numerous cavalry of the foe threatened his flanks, and exposed him, inferior as he was numerically in this arm of the service, to another peril. Both these risks he provided against with skill, and conquered them with resolution and energy. The array of battle was superb; the order of the engagement scientific; and all its parts conducted with obedience and alacrity by those to whom they were committed.

The first fault of the enemy was opening his artillery practice at too great a distance; this indicated the number and position of his guns, as well as their range, and enabled the British general to make his calculations accordingly. He advanced his right wing under cover of his superior artillery fire; the infantry dashed into the nullah, cleared it, and stormed a village on its banks, where a strong body of infantry was posted. The enemy’s left and centre were thus separated, and while the British right pressed upon the Sikhs’ left centre, the British left cleared the nullah, stormed another strong infantry post in a village, and completely doubled up the centre of the sirdar’s army. His cavalry made various efforts to fall upon the flanks of the victorious infantry, but the British horse-brigades, with horse artillery, prevented the success of these movements, and punished the rash approach of the Sikh troopers. The Khalsa soldiers fled through their own tents, Brigadier Campbell and the Honourable Major-general Dundas, sweeping round the town or village of Goojerat, drove them in confused flight. Major-general Gilbert followed the fugitives with the cavalry; the defeated Sikhs cast away their arms and accoutrements in the utmost panic. Never was victory more complete, and seldom did victorious battle redound to the honour of a victorious general so signally as at Goojerat.

The loss of the British was three officers killed and twenty-four wounded, the total killed of men and officers did not exceed one hundred, and the killed and wounded of the whole army did not reach in number one thousand men. The Sikhs lost thousands in slain, all their guns but two were captured, and many thousand men were left wounded and prisoners in the hands of the pursuers. The following extracts from Lord Gough’s despatch will throw additional light on the course of the conflict:—

“With my right wing I proposed penetrating the centre of the enemy’s line, so as to turn the position of their force in rear of the nullah, and thus enable my left wing to cross it with little loss, and in co-operation with the right to double upon the centre, the wing of the enemy’s force opposed to them.

“At half-past seven o’clock the army advanced in the order described, with the precision of a parade movement. The enemy opened their fire at a very long distance, which exposed to my artillery both the position and range of their guns. I halted the infantry just out of the fire, and advanced the whole of my artillery covered by skirmishers. The cannonade now opened upon the enemy was the most magnificent I ever witnessed, and as terrible in its effects.

“The Sikh guns were served with their accustomed rapidity, and the enemy well and resolutely maintained his position; but the terrific force of our fire obliged them, after an obstinate resistance, to fall back. I then deployed the infantry, and directed a general advance, covering the movement by my artillery, as before.

“The village of Burra Kabra, the left one of that name, in which the enemy had concealed a large body of infantry, and which was apparently the key of their position, lay immediately in the line of Major-general Sir Walter Gilbert’s advance, and was carried in the most brilliant style by a spirited attack of the 3rd brigade, under Brigadier Penny, consisting of the 2nd Europeans, and the 31st and 70th regiments of native infantry, which drove the enemy from their cover with great slaughter. A very spirited and successful movement was also made about the same time against a heavy body of the enemy’s troops in and about the Chota Kabra, by part of Brigadier Harvey’s brigade, most gallantly led by Lieutenant-colonel Franks, of her majesty’s 10th foot.

“The heavy artillery continued to advance with extraordinary celerity, taking up successive forward positions, driving the enemy from those they had retired to, whilst the rapid advance and beautiful fire of the horse artillery and light field-batteries, which I strengthened by bringing to the front the two reserve troops of horse artillery under Lieutenant-colonel Brind (Brigadier Brooke having the general superintendence of the whole of the horse artillery), broke the ranks of the enemy at all points. The whole infantry line now rapidly advanced, and drove the enemy before it; the nullah was cleared; several villages stormed; the guns that were in position carried; the camp captured; and the enemy routed, in every direction—the right wing and Brigadier-general Campbell’s division passing in pursuit to the eastward, the Bombay column to the westward, of the town.

“The retreat of the Sikh army, thus hotly pressed, soon became a perfect flight—all arms dispersing over the country, rapidly pursued by our troops for a distance of twelve miles, their track strewn with the wounded, their arms, and military equipments, which they threw away to conceal that they were soldiers.”

At dawn next day Major-general Sir Walter Gilbert took the command of a corps of the army, principally consisting of cavalry, in pursuit. The retreat of the Sikhs, or rather their flight, was covered by fifteen hundred Affghan horse, who had arrived just before the battle. These, however brave, constituted a very irregular force, and soon became mixed with the mass of the fugitives. The flight of the Khalsa army was in the direction of the Khoree Pass. At the entrance General Gilbert halted, with the Bombay division, and sent General Mountain through the gorge to Pooran. It was necessary to secure this pass, as, if the enemy had been able to hold it, considerable difficulties might have been thrown in the way of the pursuers, especially as torrents gushed from the mountains, and the weather was wet and tempestuous.

On the 24th the pursuers resumed their march, but by that time the Sikhs had crossed the river, and the British did not succeed in getting sight of them until reaching Noorangabad. During this march, Major Lawrence joined the camp of Sir Walter Gilbert; Chuttur Singh, whose prisoner he was, permitting him on parole to proceed to the camp of the commander-in-chief with proposals from Shere Singh. Akram Khan, with part of the Affghan auxiliaries to the Khalsa army, retreated upon Attock.

On the 27th and 28th, Sir Walter Gilbert brought his forces over the Jhelum, compelling Shere Singh, with the relics of his army, to retire with precipitation. Gilbert was obliged to leave a portion of his forces behind in consequence of the high waters in the river, but by the 5th of March these followed. Before these detachments effected their passage, the armies of pursuers and pursued were nearly equal in number; but the Sikh chief wisely concluded that if he could not, with nearly four times the number of the British, prevent the latter from storming his strong position near the Chenab, he was not likely to hinder them, when their numbers were superior, from crossing the Jhelum. Gilbert was speedily reinforced, and at the head of an army of about twenty thousand men, with nearly fifty pieces of cannon, he so menaced the Sikh general, that the latter intimated his intention to lay down his arms.

On the 8th of March terms of submission were personally discussed, Shere Singh having come over to General Gilbert’s camp. The English general demanded an unconditional surrender; and as the rajah hesitated, the English advanced to Hoormuk. Chuttur Singh and Shere, with several great sirdars, came over to the British camp, followed by the guns taken at Chillianwallah. The surrender of the whole army was arranged to take place the next day. It was not, however, until the 14th that all the Sikhs had laid down their standards and their arms, which they did with the greatest reluctance, their countenances and tones being expressive of the deepest anguish. The conduct of the British was most generous. Each Sikh soldier received a rupee to enable him to reach his home; the cavalry were allowed to retain their horses—a boon which was highly appreciated, many of them expressing, and really feeling, the deepest gratitude. The artillery surrendered amounted to forty-one guns, and a number of tumbrils and carriages: the artillery horses were retained by the English. During the short campaign the enemy had lost one hundred and fifty-eight pieces of cannon, many of them of larger calibre than any in the English army. The detention of General Gilbert in negotiating and securing the surrender of the Sikhs, was favourable to the escape of the Affghans. Chuttur Singh had given up to them the fort of Attock, which they precipitately abandoned, their main force marching rapidly for the Indus. Gilbert endeavoured to intercept them, but was only in time to witness their success in making good their passage, and the destruction of the bridge of boats by which pursuit would have otherwise been made. The Affghans were reduced to less than half the force with which they joined Chuttur Singh, but they drew up on the bank of the river, and offered an artillery fire, to which the British replied in a manner that soon cleared the bank of the Indus of every trace of the enemy. Detachments were sent to take possession of Attock, and also of Hyderabad, on the right bank of the river. The British did not succeed in crossing the Indus until the 20th, when the Affghans had very far distanced their pursuers. They continued their march unmolested, either by Sir Walter Gilbert’s or any other force, entered the Khyber Pass, and proceeded to. Cabul. The sensation produced in that city by the total destruction of the Sikh army was very great. The Affghan fugitives, after the manner of orientals, gave the most absurd exaggerations as to the prowess of the British soldiers, especially of the officers, many of both being described as fiends, who proved their infernal nature by deeds of superhuman daring and strength. An alliance with “Shatan” was of course a mode of accounting for defeat which saved the honour of the fugitives, and satisfied the denizens of Cabul, as well as the wild clans _en route_ thither, that a retreat was wisdom. The government of Cabul became uneasy for the consequences, and Dost Mohammed Khan took measures to placate the British government, whose policy was not to pursue the war into Affghanistan. The government of Calcutta annexed the Punjaub to British India, and thus terminated the Sikh war. The governor-general issued, on the 29th of March, the following proclamation:—

“For many years, in the time of Maharajah Runjeet Singh, peace and friendship prevailed between the British nation and the Sikhs. When Runjeet Singh was dead, and his wisdom no longer guided the counsels of the state, the sirdars and the Khalsa army, without provocation and without cause, suddenly invaded the British territories. Their army was again and again defeated. They were driven, with slaughter and in shame, from the country they had invaded, and at the gates of Lahore the Maharajah Dhuleep Singh tendered to the governor-general the submission of himself and his chiefs, and solicited the clemency of the British government. The governor-general extended his clemency to the state of Lahore; he generously spared the kingdom which he had acquired a just right to subvert; and the maharajah having been replaced on the throne, treaties of friendship were formed between the states.

“The British have faithfully kept their word, and have scrupulously observed every obligation which the treaties imposed upon them. But the Sikh people and their chiefs have, on their part, grossly and faithlessly violated the promises by which they were bound. Of their annual tribute, no portion whatever has at any time been paid, and large sums advanced by the government of India have never been repaid. The control of the British government, to which they voluntarily submitted themselves, has been resisted by arms. Peace has been cast aside. British officers have been murdered when acting for the state; others engaged in the like employment have been treacherously thrown into prison. Finally, the army of the state, and the whole Sikh people, joined by many of the sirdars of the Punjaub who signed the treaties, and led by a member of the regency itself, have risen in arms against us, and have waged a fierce and bloody war for the proclaimed purpose of destroying the British and their power.

“The government of India formerly declared that it desired no further conquest, and it proved by its acts the sincerity of its professions. The government of India has no desire for conquest now—but it is bound, in its duty, to provide fully for its own security, and to guard the interests of those committed to its charge. To that end, and as the only sure mode of protecting the state from the perpetual recurrence of unprovoked and wasting wars, the governor-general is compelled to resolve upon the entire subjection of a people whom their own government has long been unable to control, and whom (as events have now shown) no punishment can deter from violence, no acts of friendship can conciliate to peace. Wherefore, the governor-general of India has declared, and hereby proclaims, that the kingdom of the Punjaub is at an end; and that all the territories of Maharajah Dhuleep Singh are now and henceforth a portion of the British empire in India.

“His Highness the Maharajah shall be treated with consideration and with honour. The few chiefs who have not engaged in hostilities against the British shall retain their property and their rank. The British government will leave to all the people, whether Mussulman, Hindoo, or Sikh, the free exercise of their own religions; but it will not permit any man to interfere with others in the observance of such forms as their respective religions may either enjoin or permit. The jagheers, and all the property of sirdars and others who have been in arms against the British, shall be confiscated to the state. The defences of every fortified place in the Punjaub, which is not occupied by British troops, shall be totally destroyed, and effectual measures shall be taken to deprive the people of the means of renewing either tumult or war.

“The governor-general calls upon all the inhabitants of the Punjaub, sirdars and people, to submit themselves peaceably to the authority of the British government, which has hereby been proclaimed. Over those who shall live as obedient and peaceful subjects of the state, the British government will rule with mildness and beneficence; but if resistance to constituted authority shall again be attempted—if violence and turbulence be renewed, the governor-general warns the people of the Punjaub that the time for leniency with them has passed away, and that their offence will be punished with prompt and most rigorous severity.”

As soon as matters were placed on a footing of order as to the government of Lahore, Moolraj was brought to trial before a special military commission, consisting of four British and two native officers, and a colonel of the Sikh army. The charges against him were:—“1. Having aided the murderers of Mr. Van Agnew and Lieutenant Anderson; 2. Having been an accessory to that crime before the fact; 3. Having been an accessory after the fact.”

The object of pressing the one charge of murder in a threefold form was to prevent the captive obtaining a verdict of not guilty, if only the first form expressed the charge. He was allowed the service of an advocate; Captain Hamilton performed that office in a very able and ingenious manner. After a trial which lasted fifteen days, he was found guilty on all the charges, and sentenced to death. The sentence was commuted by the governor-general into imprisonment for life at Singapore. This was not accepted by the captive as a favour, who demanded rather to die like a soldier than live a captive. He had borne up with the noblest manhood, and received with a slight smile and composed countenance, but without any bravado, the announcement that he must die; but the commutation of his sentence caused the most passionate lamentations. He desired to be shot at Mooltan, or, if he must he a captive, there to spend his captivity; but to be a prisoner, and expatriated, was intolerable, and he craved to die. The orders of the governor-general were not, however, affected by the patriotic desires of the murderer—for such Moolraj was. His heroic conduct in honourable war won the admiration of the British officers, civil and military, but they could not forget that he murdered in cold blood their brethren. Intelligence of these events caused much joy in England, for the disturbed state of the continent, the distressed and agitated state of Ireland, and in part of England, caused apprehensions that a foreign war might possibly break out, and this at such a time would render conflict with the Sikhs a perilous matter to the empire, as they were the only remaining power dangerous to British interests in India. There were, however, many unfavourable reports raised of the mode in which the negotiations were conducted which closed the war under Lord Hardinge, as well as that which had just terminated. These created dissatisfaction in England, and led to inquiries in parliament; the questions which excited most attention in the country referred to the appropriation of the celebrated Koh-i-noor diamond, and the new regulations about _batta_, which caused discontent in the Sepoy army.

On the 3rd of July, in the House of Lords, the Earl of Ellenborough moved for papers explanatory of the circumstances under which the crown had granted to the Court of Directors of the East India Company, or to the army in India, property conquered from the enemy; the question involved being with reference to the confiscation of the property taken in the district of Lahore, including the Koh-i-noor diamond, which the governor-general had agreed by treaty should be appropriated to the liquidation of the accumulated debt due by one of the states to the Indian government, instead of devolving to the crown as booty, such booty having always been granted to the armies since the year 1758, as then decreed by patent. The noble earl concluded his speech in favour of inquiry, by stating that, for every battle in India previous to those in the Punjaub, a pecuniary reward, under the name of batta had been given, but not so in the latter cases; and he implored their lordships and the government, if they desired to retain the Indian territory, above all things to do justice to the army.

The Marquis of Lansdowne detailed the circumstances under which the property was acquired, explaining that Dhuleep Singh was not a prisoner, but was treated as sovereign prince when the treaty was made, and doubtless the governor-general considered himself at liberty to conclude such a treaty, and dispose of the property obtained from the state of Lahore in any way which he thought best for the government of India. The subject, however, should be reconsidered in reference to its legal matters.

The Duke of Wellington defended the governor-general from, the implied suspicion of a want of attention to the merits of the Indian army, entered into some technical explanations as to the treaty, and suggested that the subject should be left in the hands of the government at home, and the governor-general in India, to settle the question of booty (there being immovable as well as removable property involved, which could not, strictly speaking, come under the designation of booty), who were most anxious to do full justice to the Indian army.

_State of India after the Annexation of the Punjaub_.—The peace of India was not entirely secured by the termination of the Punjaub war; the hill tribes in the neighbourhood of Peshawur gave uneasiness, more or less, throughout the year. The enemies of Gholab Singh continued their intrigues, and in considerable numbers had recourse to amis. It was supposed that the English would not again interfere on his behalf, as he had acted more like the ally of Chuttur and Shere Singh, and the other sirdars, previous to the battle of Goojerat, than as the ally of the British. Gholab had, however, the address to engage the Company’s civil servants, and the military men acting in that capacity, on his side; and he managed to hold up the English name _in terrorem_ to his refractory subjects, so as to keep them from maturing, or at all events effectuating, a decided revolt. The Affghans were also troublesome on the Scinde frontier, and by their agents sought to stir up the Beloochees to predatory and desultory warfare.

_Troubles in the Gwalior Territory_.—The withdrawal of troops for service elsewhere left Gwalior with but few military detachments, this circumstance encouraged the disaffected there, and a partial insurrection took place. Two leading chiefs were implicated. Lieutenant-colonel Graves collected troops, and successively stormed a series of forts, thus putting an end to the power of the insurgents.

The arrival of Sir Charles Napier was hailed with satisfaction, as the prestige of his name had spread all over India. Lord Gough’s departure was, however, a subject of regret, for the venerable and glorious old general had by his heroism, urbanity, and goodness, won every heart. Enemies respected and esteemed him; his soldiers, and all connected with the government of India, respected and loved him. During the autumn long conferences were held at Simla, between the governor-general, the commander-in-chief, and the ex-commander-in-chief. Sir Charles Napier there imbibed impressions unfavourable to the government of India in many respects, and previous prejudices, which he was known to entertain, were strengthened. His views of the constitution and management of the Bengal army, and of the way in which the armies of all the presidencies were officered, were such as to excite in his mind alarm for the fidelity of the Bengal Sepoys, and the safety of our Indian possessions. He subsequently left Simla on a tour of inspection through the Punjaub to Peshawur; various suggestions were made by him which were not attended to; the reforms which his subtle mind saw to be necessary, and his vigorous habits required to be immediately put in force, were obstructed by both military and civil authorities; and it soon became obvious that he could not long co-operate with the authorities of India, either there or at home. He had hardly assumed the command-in-chief when prognostications were indulged concerning his early resignation, which were, unfortunately for India and for England, fulfilled.

In the Madras presidency, disturbances were occasioned by Mohammedan fanatics. Wherever in India Mohammedans resided, they were disloyal. No kindness conciliated them; and in some places, such as Delhi, where they were numerous, an unarmed European was always in danger. In the Bengal and Madras presidencies, the army was to a great extent recruited from that sect, and in the former provinces much to the hazard of the government, for that soldiery united to the fanaticism of Mohammedanism all the pride of caste characteristic of the heathens, and these united peculiarities fostered a deadly enmity to the government whose salt they eat and whose arms they bore. In the Madras presidency, a sect of Mohammedans existed known as Moplahs. It was the custom of these Moplahs to gather together and perpetrate some sanguinary outrage, and then shut themselves up in a strong place, and sell their lives as dearly as possible. By this course they hoped to kill as many Giaours as possible, and obtain a large reward in the paradise of the prophet. During the month of August a body of these fanatics pursued a course of violence and depredation, but were pursued by the police. The fugitives shut themselves up in a temple, a very strong place, from which the police either could not or would not dislodge them. Captain Whyte, at the head of a detachment of the 43rd native infantry, was sent to perform this service; but his men, after firing a volley, fled as if panic-struck, leaving the captain and a few other men, Europeans and Hindoos, to the will of the Moplahs. Their “tender mercies were cruelty,” for they cut the captain and his few brave followers to pieces. The conduct of the native troops was treated as unaccountable—a sudden fear for which they could give no reason; the fact being that they sympathised with the assassins whom they were sent to assail. Afterwards a detachment of the 94th European regiment attacked the temple, and, after some severe fighting, were repulsed; a second onset was more successful, and the murderers who made it their garrison were put to the bayonet.

There were many trials for India during the year 1849. Cholera raged fearfully, sweeping away a large proportion of the population of many villages and large towns, and also laying its cold hand upon many a European.

At a great heathen festival at Trichinopoly, during an outburst of fanaticism, four hundred persons were trampled to death, and a vast number injured. These mad assemblages for idolatrous purposes not only received too much tolerance from the government, but sometimes were favoured with encouragement.

During the rainy season, the country was deluged, and the region of the five rivers, the theatre of such sanguinary war, especially suffered. The floods were so overwhelming, that they were said to have rushed up the rivers at the rate of seventy miles a day, until the whole country was inundated. The torrents which poured along the course of the Chenab swept away the great fortress of Mooltan, so long the prize of conflicting armies. The Sikh nation was exposed to much suffering, as well as signal defeat, and their humiliation was only beginning, for the native princes were on every occasion reminded, at Calcutta, of their fallen fortunes. This may be exemplified in an extract from the “American Merchant Abroad,” by G. F. Train, who attended a ball at Government House, Calcutta, long after the conquest of the Punjaub, just before Lord Dalhousie retired; he thus records his impression of the scene:—“There, too, were the brave Sikhs of the mountain dens, Shere Singh and Chuttur Singh, who held their passes, those bold chieftains who fought like tigers in their country during that memorable campaign of 1848–9, and finally, overpowered by the superior force brought against them, after going through the celebrated battles of Chillianwallah and Goojerat, were brought to bay at Raweel Pindee, where, after the most obstinate war, they surrendered their sabres to Sir Walter Gilbert, the able general, who was made a G.C.B. and a baronet for his bravery and judgment on that occasion. It was pitiful to see brave warriors so painfully humiliated, for they moved about the room in their stockinged feet like so many automatons, shrinking and cringing before their conquerors, evincing the greatest pleasure in receiving the least attention from the civilians in the room. Their appearance without shoes is by order of the governor-general, to remind them of their disgrace, and to show proper respect to those that hold the sway: this, I am told, is the custom of the land. This last tax upon their pride might at least have been passed over, for why strike them while they are down? These princes, it will be remembered, were the chieftains of the Punjaub, and their surrender was the signal of annexing that great kingdom to the British empire. The ameers of Scinde, I believe, are also among the dark faces opposite. Other warriors as brave as they have been unfortunate—the captives, or rather the victims, of Sir Charles Napier.”

The ameers were of course subjected to similar indignities: these things could but inspire hatred among the native princes, which broke out malignantly soon after Lord Canning’s Indian career commenced.

CHINA.

The governor and garrison of Hong-Kong were startled by a deed of atrocity and perfidy on the part of the Chinese. On the 22nd of August the governor of Macao, who had acted more firmly towards the commissioner at Canton than his predecessors, was waylaid and assassinated. Proofs arose that the Chinese authorities were concerned in the outrage, and a conflict of a serious nature ensued between the Chinese and the Portuguese troops. The British, French, and American naval officers on the station brought up their war-ships to protect the residents at Macao who belonged to their respective countries, and to render such assistance as might be possible to the Portuguese authorities. But for this, the Europeans resident at Macao would probably have all been massacred.

At the same time, the chief commissioner of his Chinese majesty at Canton issued very stringent edicts against smuggling, and the English merchants and marine were subjected to repeated insults. No conflict, however, occurred; but the seeds were sowing for future contest. After laborious negotiations, and many minor outrages, a peace between the Portuguese of Macao and the Chinese was ultimately arranged. The Portuguese themselves were as little to be trusted or respected as the Chinese; probably, where religion was concerned, less bigotry was exhibited by the Pagan Chinamen. An instance in proof of this occurred at the very juncture when Englishmen were offering their assistance to the Portuguese authorities, and preserving the lives of Portuguese subjects, which their own government had not force sufficient to do. On the 25th of August, Mr. Summers, an English missionary, was cast into prison because he did not take off his hat to the procession of _Corpus Christi_ in the street. The Englishman excused himself by a declaration that his conscience would not allow him to do any act of religious reverence in such a case; but that he meant no disrespect, and regretted that he did not think of passing into some other street, thereby avoiding the procession. These reasonable explanations and polite statements did not mollify the Portuguese civil and ecclesiastical authorities; and an English Protestant subject was incarcerated for not performing an act of Roman Catholic worship in the public streets of a city which English arms were saving from pillage and massacre! Captain Keppel, of her majesty’s ship _Meander_, however, demanded Mr. Summers’s release, which was refused, when he gallantly landed a party of marines, and took him out of prison. The Portuguese resisted with fierce fanaticism, and some loss of life ensued; but the English officer accomplished his purpose, and inflicted humiliation upon the bigots whose tyranny compelled his prompt and manly act.

BORNEO.

Sir James Brooke, the Rajah of Sarawak, whose heroic efforts to suppress piracy in the Indian Seas have been noticed on a former page, continued his exertions in clearing those seas of the pirates, and in building up settlements on the coasts of Borneo. July was generally the expeditionary season for the pirate chiefs, and Sir James resolved this year to prepare for their severe chastisement, and, if possible, for their extirpation. Accordingly, Commander Farquhar, in command of her majesty’s brigs _Albatross_ and _Royalist_, the celebrated steamer _Nemesis_, belonging to the East India Company, and the steam-tender _Ranee_, were joined by the rajah himself in command of a native flotilla. The squadron entered the mouth of the Sarrebas river, as the rajah had certain information that the pirates intended to inflict pillage and massacre upon the people of that neighbourhood. On the evening of the 30th, tidings reached Sir James that the pirates were attacking a place called Palo. The next day one of the look-out boats brought in tidings that the pirates were advancing in full force. The _Nemesis_ first put to sea; and being seen by the pirates, they made for the Kaluka river. The boats under the command of Lieutenants Wilmshurst and Everest, with the native boats under Sir James, intercepted the pirate flotilla, the men-of-war’s boats opening a sure and destructive fire upon them. The night had already fallen, and the naval officers were anxious lest they should fire into the rajah’s boats instead of those of the enemy. A pass-word had been agreed upon to avert this danger—the word “rajah;” but the occupants of the native boats never ceased screaming this word, rendering it difficult for the naval officers to determine in what quarter there was an enemy, in which a friend also was not in danger of their fire. This state of hesitation favoured an effort to escape on the part of the piratical prahus, two of which made sail seaward. The steam-tender pursued, but the larger prahu made again for the river, was run down by the _Nemesis_, and her crew, sixty in number, were destroyed. The other prahu kept seaward, pursued by the tender, who fired into her a large congreve-rocket, by which she was destroyed. The boats of the squadron then rowed up the Sarrebas river, and destroyed a few prahus, some pirate villages, and a town which seemed to be the head-quarters of the pirates in that direction. The flotilla next proceeded up the Rejanz river, and severely handled the natives indiscriminately; for it was known that such as were not pirates themselves aided them in every practicable way. Several hostages and prisoners were taken; among others a little child, very fair, and apparently having belonged to European parents who were murdered by the Dyaks. It was found that, during the night conflict, a very extensive destruction had been inflicted upon the prahus and their crews. Dead bodies lay in great numbers washed upon the shores, with shattered boats, presenting a scene of wreck and slaughter terrible to contemplate. Of one hundred and twenty prahus which constituted the force of the piratical expedition, eighty were destroyed; about twelve hundred men of their crews perished. Most painful scenes were presented to the British in the course of their proceedings, horribly verifying all that had been heard of the cruelty of the natives of these regions. They had taken many captives, and before putting to sea decapitated them, and gashed their bodies with knives: many who had been thus treated were women. When the news of these proceedings reached England, there was a great public outcry; Mr. Hume, Mr. Cobden, and many members of the Peace Society, alleging that Rajah Brooke had instigated these measures for his personal interests; that the inhabitants of these coasts were not pirates; that their armed prahus were their fleets, by which they desired to protect themselves from the rajah’s aggressions; and that England was dishonoured by the sanguinary destruction of harmless and unoffending natives. Evidence was adduced, on the other hand, to show that the persons destroyed were not inoffensive seafarers, but bloodthirsty barbarians and pirates. This evidence failed to convince those who raised and sustained the outcry, and ultimately the rajah had to return to England and defend, himself. He satisfied the government and the general public; but the party which had attacked him conceded little or nothing, and continued to denounce the proceedings of Sir James, in Borneo, as unjust and aggressive, with the ostensible object of abolishing the piracy alleged to be so prevalent on those coasts.

THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

An event occurred which disturbed the loyalty of this colony. The home government felt considerable difficulty in dealing with its convicts, and, among other places, the Cape of Good Hope was selected for experiment in the establishment of convict colonisation. The inhabitants resisted with the greatest determination; and the haughty manner in which Earl Grey, the colonial minister, bore himself, exasperated the colonists, and inflamed their animosity against the proposed measure. Public meetings were called, in which the ministers of religion took a very prominent part; and it was resolved neither to sell to the government nor the convicts. The ship having arrived which bore the unwelcome freight, every form of opposition previously determined upon was put into execution, and the government was at last compelled to give up its purpose, and the convict-ship was ordered away to Van Diemen’s Land. The Colonial-office had long projected making the Cape a penal colony, and it was supposed that political convicts would not be objected to. The colonists believed that this was merely the plan of insinuating the thin edge of the wedge, which would ensure the whole being driven home. John Mitchell was among the convicts; that gentleman having suffered at Bermuda from the climate, the government desired in mercy to place him in one more salubrious for persons afflicted with pulmonary disease. The colonists of the Cape were willing to receive him as a settler, but not as a convict, and expressed themselves concerning him in terms of sympathy and respect. The plan of the government to make it a place for political prisoners, was as unsuccessful as the project of making it a general penal settlement: and in the end the people of the Cape obtained, by their obstinacy and energy, a complete victory over the Colonial-office.

The contest in the parent country between the principles of protection and free-trade affected the political and social condition of the West Indies. Jamaica, being the principal colony, its example had a beneficial or baneful influence upon all the other West-Indian colonies. The Governor of Jamaica, Sir Charles Grey, was very unpopular, and his instructions from the Colonial-office were neither wise nor conciliatory. Those instructions, however, being necessarily made in the free-trade spirit then ascendant in the British legislature, would hardly have pleased the planters, however well intended or judiciously ordered. In that particular, the _suaviter in modo_ would never have compensated for the _fortiter in re_. The new Assembly was hostile to the governor, and its votes showed its hostility, especially in reference to the supplies. Throughout the year, this state of things continued. The negro population sympathised with the government, and boasted of their willingness to turn out and fight for the queen. The parish of St. Ann elected a black representative. Agitation of almost every kind that could afflict a West-Indian colony prevailed in Jamaica. The other colonies in that region were generally discontented, although in most the crop of sugar was good; in some however it failed, increasing the dissatisfaction which the prevalence of free-trade opinions in England created. At Antigua and St. Kitts the chief cause of complaint was the want of rain. In Demerara, the political aspect of affairs was more favourable to the government—the combined Court, which had refused the taxes, having, by a small majority, retraced their steps, and effected an understanding with the governor, which facilitated his administration.

CANADA.—POLICY OF THE GOVERNMENT.—OPPOSITION AND INSOLENT PROCEEDINGS OF THE BRITISH PARTY.

The state of Canada during 1849 was most unhappy, and the policy of the English ministry most unjust. The discontent existed chiefly in Upper or Western Canada, and amongst the population, which was British, or of British origin. In 1837–8, when nearly all Lower or Eastern Canada was in open rebellion, only partial insurrection existed in the Western province, where people armed in behalf of the government. During the rule of Lord Metcalfe, a bill of indemnity passed the Canadian legislature, on behalf of the loyalists of Western Canada, who had suffered loss of property in consequence of their loyalty. As soon as Lord Elgin became governor-general, claims were set up for the loyalists who had incurred losses in Lower Canada. This seemed to be reasonable and just; but the portions of that province which had suffered at all had been the foci of rebellion, and the sufferers were those who had perilled life and property in opposition to the government; it was therefore a trick on the part of the Lower Canadians, who had been the rebels, to reimburse themselves at the expense of the loyal population. The proposal therefore excited in Upper Canada, in portions even of Lower Canada, and in Great Britain, warm indignation, and a formidable opposition was organised. During the Canadian session of 1848, the colonial ministry was obliged to resign in consequence of a vote of want of confidence; that ministry had belonged to the British party, but the vote constrained the governor to choose his ministers from the Lower Canadian, or French party. This ministry was of course favourable to the scheme of their own party, and encouraged those whose rebellion had caused their losses, to prosecute the demand, which practically amounted to a tax upon the loyal, for the especial advantage of the disloyal. In consequence of the opposition, by the English party, the bill actually brought in provided that no person who had been guilty of treason after the 1st of November, 1837, should be allowed to claim under the act of indemnification. This concession, which appeared to comprehend all that was necessary, and to place the measure on an equitable basis, did not satisfy the British party, who declared they had no confidence in the ministry, whose sympathies were wholly French, and who would find pretexts for indemnifying their own party by ignoring the proofs of their treason. The bill, however, passed through the Canadian parliament, after a fierce struggle from the opposition. The British party still remained quiet, in the hope, faintly entertained, that the queen’s representative would refuse the royal assent, dissolve parliament, and take the sense of the colony on the question. The governor, either on his own judgment, or by the directions of the Colonial-office, instead of taking that course, which under such circumstances would have been the most just and constitutional, gave his sanction to the measure, as well as to some other bills which were not palatable to the Western settlers. The ministry had, at the same time, exasperated the Protestant and British Canadians, by various acts which savoured of hostility to them, and of partiality to the French and Roman Catholic Canadians. After the governor-general gave the royal assent, his carriage was stoned by a mob consisting mainly of gentlemen, and the parliament house itself was broken open while the members were in debate, the building fired and destroyed, the members being permitted to retire unmolested. The governor, Lord Elgin, in his despatch to Earl Grey, described the population of Montreal as numbering fifty thousand inhabitants, of whom he gave on the whole an indifferent character, as belonging to secret societies, and “having other agencies of mischief,” with only two policemen in the service of government, and seventy in the service of the corporation. If, however, no complaints of the disloyalty or disorder of Montreal had been customary, and a few police were sufficient to maintain peace, it is presumptive proof that his lordship was influenced more in using this language by the feelings excited in his own mind, from the opposition and indignation of the most loyal and respectable citizens of the place, than by any demerits on the part of the Montreal citizens. The parliament met in the Market Hall, and by a large majority voted an address of confidence to the governor-general. The citizens met in the open air, in the Champs de Mars, and voted with acclamation an address to the queen, begging her to refuse her assent to the Indemnity Bill, which they indignantly designated “an insult and a robbery to every man who, in the time of trial stood forth to defend her majesty’s crown and dignity.” The memorial also prayed, in very earnest terms, for the recall of the Earl of Elgin.

On the 31st of May, the governor-general prorogued the parliament, but the governor took no measures to soothe the English settlers, while his ministry, proud of their triumph, offered them many gratuitous affronts. The British party, on the other hand, conducted itself with much arrogance and violence, to which it was moved as much by the free-trade measures of the imperial parliament as by any grievance it felt in connection with the Lower Canada Indemnity Bill, or the ascendancy of the French party in the local government. An assembly had been convened from all parts of Canada, and other portions of the North American colonies, which called itself the “British League;” this body was ostensibly formed to consider the interests of the country, which it was assumed were neglected by the parliament and government. The League assembled on the 25th of July, and broke up after six days’ deliberations, on the day when parliament was prorogued. It was the intention of those who formed it to alarm the government by an impression that a movement would be made for annexation with the United States, and many were really in favour of such a measure. There were objections which, however, weighed against such a step in the minds of the British party generally. One was the antipathy felt to negro slavery under any circumstances, but more especially as tolerated in the United States. Another was the hostility generally entertained in the latter to the principle of an Established Church, whereas nearly all the Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and Methodists of the party were in favour of state establishments of religion, which had been one of the most fertile sources of party dispute in both the Canadas. It was generally supposed that the United States’ policy would be more in favour of the protective system than Great Britain; and that Canada could form stipulations on that basis which would render her annexation a mutual advantage. This, however, was denied strongly by many of the party, and doubted by more. Before the League closed its labours, it issued a manifesto to all the colonies of Great Britain in America, and passed the following resolution, which sufficiently sets forth the spirit of the manifesto itself:—“Resolved—That a president, six vice-presidents, secretaries, a treasurer, and an executive committee of ten, be appointed by the convention for the purpose of conducting at the seat of government the general business of the league. Every township, village, town, and city in the province will have its branch; and in each district the presidents and vice-presidents of its Branch Leagues will form an executive body for district business; and all these officers, together with those first named as the general executive, will constitute the Central League. Protection to home industry, with the view of encouraging the establishment of domestic manufactures; retrenchment in the expenditure of the government, or the better apportionment of that expenditure to the existing means of the province, and an extension of our home market, and the consolidation of British interest, by the union of the colonies—these present specific objects worthy the employment of our highest efforts for their attainment.”

This was the last act of the convention. The demonstration was on the whole loyal, contrary to the expectation of both its promoters and government. That the general public of British birth or extraction did not meditate rebellion at this juncture was evinced by the following record in a Montreal journal, of an occurrence which took place on the very day that the parliament was prorogued, and the British League adjourned its sittings:—“A public meeting of the citizens of Montreal was held on the 31st ult., at which it was all but unanimously agreed to lend the credit of the city to the extent of five hundred thousand dollars to the completion of the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railway, which will connect Montreal with Portland (Maine), and open out the splendid intermediate county. This, with two hundred thousand dollars from other sources, it is expected will execute one-half the work, and then the guarantee of the legislature under a general act comes in; and an expectation is entertained that the other half may be borrowed in England, on the joint security of the railroad and the province.”

A very large party, however, contemplated the peaceable separation of the Canadas from the mother country; others supposed that Great Britain would consent to the union of all the North American provinces, and, after a time, recognise the independence of the new province thus formed. These agitations showed how deeply laid, and how extensively prevalent was the discontent among the most industrious, enterprising, and respectable colonists. Religious animosities amongst the colonists themselves embittered the social condition of the country. At a place called Bytown, during the autumn, there were repeated conflicts between Protestants and Roman Catholics, which left lasting acrimony and dissatisfaction among the former, from the fact that Lord Elgin’s government appeared to favour the latter party. This circumstance renewed the desire for annexation, and a petition containing twelve hundred signatures of persons of respectability, of British birth or lineage, was got up for presentation to the queen. This petition would have been far more numerously signed, but for the impression that it could not be received, being unconstitutional. At the close of the year the division of parties, especially “Annexationists” and “Anti-annexationists,” ran high, and a new element of discord was introduced by the projected removal of the seat of government from Montreal to Toronto or Kingston. This subject was discussed with heated temper, even by those who were for separating the Canadas altogether from the mother country, and who might be supposed without interest in the question.

At home a certain party in the commons and the country favoured the views of those who would separate the colony from the crown. The speeches of these gentlemen encouraged dissatisfaction in Canada, and contributed largely to the elements of disturbance there. The Irish Roman Catholic members of parliament, and the newspaper organs of that party, were singularly inconsistent; they argued for the separation of the colony, yet they denounced the disloyalty of the party in Canada which promoted it, because that party was chiefly formed of Protestants, and were adverse to the French and Catholic sections of the colonists. The influence of the Irish newspaper articles, and of the speeches of those who partook of the opinions, expressed by them, were mischievous in Canada, where even’ expression of opinion pronounced at home was watched and reproduced. Some of the disloyal papers in Ireland, while abusing the Canadian Protestants with bitterness, expressed their hope that they would settle the dispute by an appeal to arms, forcibly severing the colony from the sceptre of Victoria. These treasonable wishes were published with impunity. The year 1849 closed sadly in Canada: blood had been shed, incendiarism had been perpetrated, disloyalty had spread; and the main causes of this state of things were the infatuation of the colonists in favour of commercial protection, and the inability of the governor-general of the Canadas, and of the ministry at home, to descry the policy which was most calculated to serve the interests of the mother country and the colony together.

AUSTRALIA.—DISCONTENTS CREATED BY THE TRANSPORTATION QUESTION.

The Australian colonies were generally prosperous in 1849; few new incidents of any kind occurred, and none to make the year peculiar in history. The convict question, however, caused uneasiness. In Van Diemen’s Land horrible outrages were committed by “ticket-of-leave men,” and some parts of the island resembled pandemonium.

At New South Wales, much discontent was created by the English Colonial-office violating an existing compact with that colony, to send them no more convicts, and the Assembly passed the following resolutions—“1. That, considering the arbitrary and faithless manner in which this colony has been treated by the Right Honourable Earl Grey, this meeting most humbly prays her majesty to remove that nobleman from her majesty’s councils.—2. That it is indispensable to the well-being of this colony, and to the satisfactory conduct of its affairs, that its government should no longer be administered by the remote, ill-informed, and irresponsible Colonial-office, but by ministers chosen from, and responsible to, the colonists themselves, in accordance with the principles of the British constitution.—3. That this meeting, having unanimously agreed to the preceding two resolutions, the following humble address to her most excellent majesty the queen, embodying them, be adopted, and that such address be signed by the chairman on behalf of the meeting. [The address was a mere transcription of the resolutions, placed in the ordinary form.]—4. That, considering the discourtesy shown by his excellency the governor to the former meeting, and to its deputation, this meeting abstains from appointing a deputation to wait upon his excellency with the preceding resolutions and address; but requests the chairman to transmit them to him, with a written request that his excellency will be pleased to forward it to her majesty the queen for her gracious consideration.”

With reference to the arrival of convicts which had just taken place, the _Sydney Morning Herald_ had the following:—“All the convicts will be removed from the ship this morning. They have all been engaged. In addition to those previously mentioned, a large draft was sent to Paramatta on Saturday. The forty-five sent to Moreton Bay were forwarded at the expense of the government, not being under any engagement, but merely sent to the district in order that the settlers may have the opportunity of hiring them. All the rest have been taken from the ship at the expense of the employers. We believe that the only restrictions are that the men shall not be landed in Sydney, and that they shall not be employed in the county of Cumberland.”

The policy of Earl Grey was, for the time being, carried out.

CEPHALONIA.

The disturbances which prevailed in 1848 were continued in 1849, and revived again and again, fitfully, when they seemed to have been suppressed. An attempt was made to assassinate the governor of the island, and a soldier was shot by his side, and several others near him were wounded. Murder and incendiarism prevailed everywhere, and open revolt where there was any chance of even temporary success. The same cause which existed in 1848—the desire for annexation to Greece—produced these proceedings; but certain banditti chiefs took advantage of the feeling, in order to promote their own predatory designs. The musket and the gallows suppressed these outrages. The public trials of the chief offenders betrayed a state of dishonesty, treachery, treason, and bloodthirstiness among the population generally, disgraceful to the Greek race.

The colonial history of the British empire during this year involved no other incidents that were remarkable—in general it was discontented and disturbed; but the energy of the military and civil officers, and the fidelity and valour of the troops, subjugated all opposition, or held adverse interests at bay, and kept down disaffection, until future opportunities allowed of more signal success. India was the scene of more striking events, which had their full share of peril and glory.

THE ARCTIC EXPEDITION UNDER SIR J. ROSS.

Perhaps no subject engaged the mind of the British people more sympathetically and powerfully than the fate of the brave men who formed the great Arctic expedition. Sir John Franklin was popular, and eminently deserved to be so; and the public desired that every effort should be made, and every risk incurred, for his deliverance—or, at all events, a satisfactory solution of the doubts which prevailed concerning his existence. For this purpose an expedition was sent out under Sir James Ross, with specific instructions to prosecute the search in a certain direction, which would not interfere with efforts elsewhere, so as to determine, at all events in one great field of exploration, if he yet survived. Sir James and his gallant crews arrived off Scarborough on the 3rd of November, and on the 5th the gallant officer presented his report at the Admiralty. The following account of that report, from official authority, will afford sufficiently full information of the result:—

“It is Sir James Ross’s confident opinion that neither Sir John Franklin, nor any of his brave companions, are eastward of any navigable point in the Arctic regions; and if there be any chance of their existence, it is in the supposition that he proceeded in a westerly direction, and in such case we can only expect to hear from the missing adventurers by the Mackenzie detachment, or by her majesty’s ship Plover, Commander Moore, by way of Russia.

“Sir James traversed at least two hundred and thirty miles on the ice, the bergs of which were frightful, much more so than any of the experienced Arctic voyagers had seen before. Sir James and his party penetrated as far as the wreck of the _Fury_, where he found the old tent standing, and everything about it in a state of the best preservation. At this point Sir James deposited a large quantity of provisions, and also the screw-launch of the _Enterprise_. The march of Sir James across the boundless regions of ice is truly stated as a most unparalleled feat in exploration. We are sorry to find, however, that it was in no way successful. The captain, officers, and ship’s company have worked together most harmoniously—a spirit of emulation having animated every one in the great philanthropic task of endeavouring to cany help and succour to their long lost friends. In the whole courses of his researches it is said Sir James Ross never met with a single Esquimaux.

“Sir James speaks most highly of all those who have been connected and associated with him. He is fully satisfied that all is done that could be done by the Admiralty, in the appropriation of the vessel, the selection of the crew, and the extensive equipment of each vessel, in stores, provisions, &c.”

FOREIGN AFFAIRS.

A glance at the state of Continental Europe is necessary for a clear view of the relation of England to other states. The revolutionary spirit of 1848 had not passed away, yet already symptoms of reaction appeared in several of the continental states. The daring and dissolute doctrines of French, German, and Italian socialists created universal alarm, among all who regarded, with any sacredness, the ties of family and the rights of property. It was seen that, however hateful despotic monarchy, and the ascendancy of a bigoted and superstitious church, these oppressions were far preferable to the levelling and loathsome tyranny of socialism, in any of the forms in which it presented itself in England, France, or Germany. Whatever was abhorrent to the natural sense of justice, and the dear claims of kindred, was propagated by socialism; and which the socialists, whether called Owenites, St. Simonians, or red republicans, were ready by force to establish. Enlightened men were therefore in doubt, during the early part of 1849, what part to take; their aspirations were for liberty; but the multitude preferred license, and, without the multitude, nothing could be enforced upon despotic governments and ecclesiastical systems. It was now hoped that governments had been warned; that kings would never again venture to violate political promises to their people; that constitutions would never again be revoked by princes; and that, consequently, little was to be apprehended from the governing powers: whereas, everything dear to social order, happiness, and sacredness, was to be feared from the social and political fanatics that to so great an extent guided the peoples,—exciting false hopes, stimulating violent action, propounding doctrines destructive of social order, and menacing a tyranny more formidable than had ever before been witnessed in the world. With these feelings, the good and true rallied round the centres of ordinary government and order—but, alas! they were deceived; they did not take the Scripture warning, “Put not your trust in princes.” Pledges and promises were made by the foreign despots and their ministers, more profusely than even during the war of 1812; but all this was only destined to exemplify the necessity for the warning given by Him who best understood human nature—“Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils.” The friends of order, peace, and rational liberty believed the protestations of potentates, and used their influence, and armed on the side of governments in the conflicts of 1849. The result was, they unconsciously abetted a reaction by which the old chains were riveted upon the people, and new ones forged still further to fetter them.

The state of France most interested England, because all great changes in that country influence the whole of Continental Europe, and, in fact, affect more or less the whole civilised world. France, throughout the year, was rent by the violence of party. Three royal factions, the Buonapartists, the Orleanists, and the Bourbons, _par excellence_, were sowing broadcast the seeds of social dissension. The two great-republican parties—that of the socialists (or “reds”), and that of a philosophic and rational republicanism, led by Cavaignac and Lamartine—were ardent in their appeals for popular support. The party of the church watched all the others, ready to exert its influence wherever it could serve itself, by preventing any political sect from settling into power, except under such conditions as, in its own interest, the church should prescribe. The party of the president (the Buonapartists) gradually and steadily gained over all the others; the soldiery and the peasantry were Napoleonist; the church saw this, and threw its weight into the presidential scale. The union of peasant proprietary, the army, the church, the Buonapartists proper, and the friends of order, who believed in the oath of the prince-president, constituted the will of France;—the policy of Napoleon was accepted by many because it was his: it was his, because he knew it would be acceptable to many as the only safeguard against anarchy, and the only form of absolutism that could be substituted for liberty, or impose upon its friends.

While revolution raged everywhere, Rome was in arms, the pope was a fugitive, and a provisional government ruled the estates of Romagna, Bologna, and Ferrara, in the name of freedom. The Romans conducted themselves justly and heroically, but the Austrian government, whose successes in Italy and Hungary, as well as in the duchy of Austria, gave her confidence, was anxious to restore the pope and enforce his government by the bayonet. This was not acceptable to either the governments of England or France. The latter resolved to interfere, and the question arose and was anxiously mooted in England, what, under such circumstances, was the true policy of Britain? Lord Palmerston, who was strongly opposed to Austrian ascendancy in Italy, was favourable to French intervention; and there were persons who asserted that the idea itself originated not at the Tuileries, but in the English Foreign-office. At all events, no opposition was offered, and a French expedition to Rome resulted. The Romans fought in a way worthy of Romans, but, borne down by the superior power of France, their proud city yielded to the invader, and the pope, under joint French and Austrian protection, returned to rule his reluctant people at the Vatican. It then became necessary for France to modify and restrain the fiery persecution which the restored pontiff visited upon his temporal subjects, at the instigation of Austria and Naples. In this, however, the French were not as zealous as in restoring the pontifical tyranny; and, as in the misrule of Louis Philippe, his chief agent of corruption and wrong was a protestant, M. Guizot, so in the agency of French despotism at Rome, a protestant general, D’Hilliers, was the most active instrument.

Meanwhile the socialists, under Ledru Rollin, attempted to upset the presidential government, but were beaten by General Changarnier, at the head of the troops and national guards, Ledru Rollin becoming a fugitive. The president of the French republic worked his will.

The general condition of Europe was well described by M. Mauguin in the French Assembly, as under arms from the line of the Ural to the Atlantic. The attitude, however, which the president resolved to maintain, was one of peace with foreign powers, and, except in the instance of Rome, of non-interference. This exception he justified on the grounds of the necessity of counteracting the ascendancy of Austria in Italy, and of the Catholic feeling of the French nation, which forbid the deposition of the head of the church.

One of the most remarkable incidents in French history during the year, and that in which the English people undoubtedly took most interest, was the assemblage of a Peace Congress of all nations at Paris. Deputations from England and America were the most conspicuous persons in the assembly, which met on the 22nd of August, in the Salle St. Cécille, a music-hall in the Chaussée d’Antin, M. Victor Hugo in the chair. The vice-presidents were Messrs. Cobden, Vesschères, Coquerel, Degnore, and Durkee. The secretaries were Messrs. Joseph Gamier, Alochin, Elihu Burrit, the celebrated American blacksmith, editor of the _Olive Leaf_, and Henry Richards, secretary to the English Peace Society. The two principal speakers were the Reverend John Bennet, a congregational minister, residing at Camberwell, near London, a very eloquent orator, and Victor Hugo, who said he believed the object they had at heart was a religious one, and not only desirable, but practicable and realisable:— “Four centuries ago, the different provinces of France made war against one another; and he expected to see the day arrive when that which took place with respect to the provinces of one country would mark the whole of Europe; and that, as Normandy and other provinces formed one France, at peace with itself, so the different nations of Europe could dwell in harmony as one country. Then would be no longer war, but civilisation; and cannon would only be seen as curiosities shut up in museums.” M. Hugo proceeded to descant on the vast expense of keeping up standing armies, and the great advantages that would arise if such money were thrown into the channels of labour, by which commerce would be promoted and intelligence advanced. M. Hugo concluded by announcing that 500 francs would be given for a peace essay, and 500 francs for the best collection of facts showing the horrors of war. The Archbishop of Paris gave his adhesion to the objects of the assembly. The president of the republic looked coldly upon the gathering, having no cordial feeling to the chairman. The meeting was got up by the English peace party, and chiefly under the auspices of Mr. Cobden. They regarded it as peculiarly well-timed, whereas it is almost inconceivable how any number of men of ability could suppose the occasion suitable, or that the state of Europe offered the smallest hope of producing any influence by such a convention. The resolutions submitted to the congress show how impracticable they were at that juncture, and events in Europe have since proved how uninfluential was the congress itself, and the opinions it expressed. Tire resolutions proposed were adopted, and were as follow:—

“1. As peace alone can secure the moral and material interests of nations, it is the duty of all governments to submit to arbitration all differences that arise among them, and to respect the decisions of the arbitrators whom they may choose.

“2. It is advisable to call the attention of governments to the necessity of entering, by a general and simultaneous measure, upon a system of disarmament, for the purpose of reducing national expenditure, and of removing, at the same time, a permanent cause of disquietude and irritation from among the nations.

“8. The congress recommends all the friends of peace to prepare public opinion, in their respective countries, for the formation of a congress of nations, whose sole object should be to frame a code of international laws, and to constitute a supreme court, to which should be submitted all questions relating to the rights and reciprocal duties of nations.

“4. The congress condemns all loans and taxes intended to aid the prosecution of wars of conquest and ambition.

“5. The congress recommends all its members to endeavour to eradicate from the minds of all in their respective countries, both by means of a better education of youth, and by other methods, those political prejudices and hereditary hatreds which have so often been the cause of disastrous wars.

“6. The congress addresses the same invitation to all ministers of religion, whose sacred mission it is to encourage feelings of goodwill among men; as well as to the various organs of the press, which exercise so powerful an influence over the development of civilisation.

“7. The congress earnestly hopes for the improvement of the means of international communication; for the extension of postal reform; for the universal adoption of the same standard of weights, measures, and coinage; and for the multiplication of peace societies, which shall keep up a correspondence with each other.

“8. The congress decides that the committee be instructed to draw up an address to all nations embodying the resolutions of the congress; and that this address shall be presented to the various governments of Europe and America, and particularly to the president of the French republic.”

There was one political effect produced by the assemblage; the fact that the French government allowed it, and that the Archbishop of Paris patronised it, led to a general impression in Europe that the policy of Louis Napoleon would be peaceful. It is probable that in giving his permission for the convention he calculated upon such an effect, which suited the purpose of the hour, and comported with the necessities of his _régime_. The policy of the French president towards Great Britain was peaceful and friendly. In various minor matters he endeavoured to gain the confidence of the English government. He had implicit faith in the honesty and goodwill of the English foreign minister, who believed Napoleon to be a necessity, and counselled his cabinet to maintain amity with him. The British ambassador to the French republic was treated with more marked respect than the minister of any other power delegated to it, and citizens of the United Kingdom were treated with the most marked consideration in France whenever the emperor found opportunity of showing it. As a proof of his goodwill, a _souvenir_ of his residence in London, and the courtesies which, when an exile, he had received there from the Army and Navy Club, he presented that body with a superb piece of Gobelins tapestry, and a letter couched at once in the most respectful and cordial terms. In greater matters, he appeared anxious to secure the sympathy of Great Britain: difficulties arose in the East, which engaged the attention of English politicians very much, and the English Foreign-office was officially led to consider that reliance might be placed upon the co-operation of France. Events, in a few years, brought this feeling more thoroughly and practically to the test.

STATE OF GERMANY.

The condition of Germany much interested the English government and people. The contests between the duchies of Schleswig-Holstein and Denmark threatened to call for the interference of Germany on the one hand and Russia on the other, and to involve England in embarrassing questions. The attempt of the German democracies, triumphant in 1848, to fuse the powers of Germany into a whole, a new Germanic empire, also involved questions of great intricacy, and which, however England might desire to keep aloof, tended to affect treaties in which she was concerned. The union of all Germany as one authority would introduce a new element into European relations, disturbing the balance of power. Russia and France had much to apprehend from such a union; England but little, so long as the united German power abstained from invading the territory or independence of the Scandinavian nations. United Germany, possessing popular liberty, would be a natural ally of England, and a counterpoise to France, whose ambitions England had had so often to check, and a counterpoise to Russia also, whose aggrandising policy was so menacing to England and to Europe.

The disagreements of the German people as to the respective merits of monarchy and republicanism, but more especially on social questions, rendered the union of Germany politically impossible. The jealousies of Austria and Prussia were equally fatal to such a project. The houses of Hapsburg and Hohenzollern were competitors for the prize of German empire; and this, rather than the welfare or union of Germany, engaged their subtlety and energy. An Austrian archduke became vicar of the German unity, and, unless so far as there appeared any probability of his securing the supreme authority for the royal family of Austria, his object was to humour the German parliament at Frankfort, and gradually to wear it out, restoring things to their original condition. When the royal houses of Austria and Prussia found that neither could obtain a permanent supremacy, they concerted together for the purpose of breaking up the parliament, and in the meantime, of practically preventing any invasion of the independence or separate prerogative of the individual states and their governments by the central representative power which the revolution had set up. Accordingly, on the last day of September a convention was signed at Vienna, by Austria and Prussia, for the establishment of a provisional central power for Germany. This was shortly after ratified by both courts. The first article was for the purpose of giving the archduke vicar an opportunity of resigning his authority to the provisional central power.

“1. The government of the Germanic confederation, in concert with the vicar, agree on a provisional form or interim, during which time Austria and Prussia assume the administration of the central power for the German confederation, in the name of all the governments of the confederation, until the 1st of May, 1850, unless this power cannot be transferred to a definite power before that period.

“2. The object of the interim is to maintain the German confederation as a union founded on the right of the states appertaining to the German princes and of the free cities, to having preserved the independence and the integrity of their states comprised in the confederation, and to having maintained the internal and external security of Germany.

“3. So long as the interim lasts, the affair of the German constitution is left to the free concertation of the individual states.

“It is the same with those affairs which by art. 6 of the federative act, belong to the full assembly of the diet.

“4. If, at the expiration of the interim, the German constitutional question should be not yet settled, the German government will come to an understanding with respect to the prolongation of the present treaty.

“5. The affairs hitherto carried on by the provisional central power, in so far as, according to the legislation of the confederation, they came within the competency of the late assembly, are transmitted for the entire duration of the interim to a dietary committee, to which Prussia and Austria appoint each two members, to sit at Frankfort. The other governments can be represented by plenipotentiaries accredited to the said committee, either by each individual state or by several states conjointly.

“6. The committee of the confederation carries on affairs in an independent manner, but are responsible to the powers that respectively nominate them. It forms its resolutions after deliberation in common. If the members cannot agree, the decision takes place by means of negotiation between the governments of Prussia and Austria, and which latter, in case of need, will refer to a judgment of arbitration. This judgment is pronounced by three governments of the confederation. In such case, Austria will nominate each time one of the arbiters, and Prussia the other. The two governments thus designed have to decide upon a third arbiter for completing the tribunal of arbitration. The members of the committee of the confederation divide the affairs assigned to them in this mode, that according to the legislation of the existing confederation, and especially according to the military constitution of the confederation, they either personally carry them on, or else direct and superintend the carrying of them on.

“7. As soon as the ratification by the governments aforesaid of the great proposition shall have taken place, the archduke vicar will renounce his dignity and depose the rights and duties of the confederation that have been confided to him into the hands of the Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia.”

DEMANDS OF THE RUSSIAN AND AUSTRIAN EMPERORS UPON THE SULTAN OF TURKEY. —INTERPOSITION OF ENGLAND AND FRANCE.

Varied and important as the changes and conflicts were in Western and Central Europe during this year, none of these events menaced the general peace of Europe so much as a demand made by the czar and the kasir upon the sultan for the extradition of certain Hungarian refugees.

During the general convulsion of Europe, Hungary flew to arms, and the Austrian empire was in danger of dismemberment from the success of the Hungarian revolt. Russia, however, joined her armies to those of the great German power, and the result was the suppression of the Hungarian revolution. The chiefs of that movement took refuge within the Turkish territory. This circumstance led to a demand by the ambassadors of Russia and Austria at the Porte, for the surrender of all Polish and Hungarian refugees into the hands of the governments to which they owed allegiance. The sultan refused, and the ambassadors demanded their passports. The alarmed sultan consulted the learned doctors of the Koran, and received for reply that the abandonment of the refugees would be contrary to the law of Mohammed. The English and French ministers counselled resistance, and the sultan increased his armies, and ordered remnants of troops towards the Austrian frontier. The terms and tone in which the communications of the ministers of the czar and the kasir were made, were insulting to the sultan, and aroused the indignation of the French and British governments, whose interposition was of such a character as to lead Austria and Russia to believe that a war with the western powers would ensue if the haughty requisition was persisted in. The communications between the English ambassador at St. Petersburg and the czar’s minister for foreign affairs, although maintaining the forms of courtesy, were pervaded by an indifferently concealed acrimony, which showed that a bad feeling between the two governments underlayed the ceremonies of diplomatic civility. A special minister from the Porte was sent to St. Petersburg with a conciliatory note from the sultan to the emperor, and this, with the firm tone of the French ambassador, and the energetic exertions of the English minister, caused the emperors to relax their demands, and to insist only upon the removal of certain of the refugees from the territory contiguous to that which had been the theatre of their revolt. The ill feeling which sprung up on this occasion between the governments of Vienna and St. Petersburg, on the one hand, and those of England and France, on the other, continued until events arose still more grave for Turkey, and for all these powers.

Through another year of grave occurrences, and political difficulties and involvements such as Europe had seldom Been, Great Britain pursued the even tenor of her way, by her moral influence everywhere aiding liberty and checking excess, maintaining her own prestige and international rights, yet pursuing a policy of non-interference. Her foreign relations at the close of 1849 were in all respects satisfactory, but it required all the skill and vigilance of the remarkable man then at the head of the foreign office to maintain at once peace and the honour of the country.

CONTINUED DISTRESS IN IRELAND—CRIME AND OUTRAGE—POLITICAL AGITATIONS EFFORTS OF GOVERNMENT TO MEET THE EXIGENCIES OF THE COUNTRY.

The state of Ireland during this year was a continuation of the want, misery, criminality, and sedition which made up its history for so many previous years. The causes already noticed so fully in previous chapters operated in producing famine and its attendants, disease and social discontent. Notwithstanding all the efforts of government by parliamentary aid, and of the people of Great Britain by their generous subscriptions, the poor in Ireland continued to die of starvation, and where death did not immediately happen from that cause, it arose from it mediately, through the instrumentality of famine, fever, cholera, dysentery, or gradual decay. The efforts of the government were still, to a great extent, rendered abortive by the frauds committed upon the funds devoted to Irish relief, not only in Ireland, but in England; much that was supposed to be applied for the relief of the Irish famishing poor never reached Ireland, and much more that did arrive in that country never found its way to the objects for whom it was intended. The failure of the potatoe crop had so impoverished the people, that, during the spring of 1849, the destitution in some parts of the country equalled that which had been known even during the three previous years. The queen, in her speech at the opening of the session, referred to the failure of the potatoe crop, and recommended her parliament to make further provision to relieve the destitution which prevailed. In pursuance of this recommendation, parliament voted £50,000 for the relief of distressed unions, a sum utterly disproportioned to the necessities of the case. A bill was brought in for levying “a rate in aid,” as it was termed, the object of which waa to levy a rate upon solvent parishes to aid insolvent parishes. This was both inequitable in its conception and application, and was one of those make-shifts of the government which, while it raised opposition, failed in accomplishing the object contemplated. A vote of £100,000, in anticipation of “the rate in aid,” was proposed and carried, but this also waa inadequate to the purpose for which it was designed. Some idea of the magnitude of the miseries of Ireland at this juncture may be formed from the fact that the poor-law guardians of Kilrush expended £1000 per week in support of the paupers of that union. Kilrush is a remote and not particularly populous district, and was a specimen of the general expenditure to which the distressed unions were exposed.

The terrible distress prevailing brought on a state of social calamity and discord such as has seldom been witnessed in the history of the world. As the year went on, the prospects of an abundant harvest inspired hopes that peace and plenty would at last smile upon unhappy Ireland, but these hopes were doomed to disappointment. The growing crops became objects of contention between the miserable tenant, and, in many cases, almost equally miserable landlord. The tenants sought to cut and remove the crops clandestinely. Suddenly the corn would be cut over a vast area of land, and carried away, as if by magic, beyond the bounds to which any existing legal process on the part of the landlord might be applicable. Rents were refused. Many of the farmers were unable to pay, many were unwilling from dishonesty, and many considered that the tenants had as good a right to the land as those from whom they rented it. They talked of themselves as descended from the old families, the natural lords of the soil, and of those who then claimed the rents as the seed of the invader and the spoiler, whom it was just to deprive of what he had no right to, unless conquest and force could confer the right,—a doctrine that did not suit the popular interests. The landlords, on the other hand, sternly evicted the tenantry; whole town-lands were depopulated, the expelled tenants died of starvation on the public roads, or crowded the workhouses, where they were supported by rates levied on the industrious occupier. The poor-law was continued upon a plan which protected the property of the rich English absentee, and threw the burden upon the resident landlords who cultivated their own land, and upon the farmer who rented land. The agents of these absentees exacted the rents with bitter severity, and often the dwelling of the wretched occupier was pulled down about his sick and starving children, who frequently perished within the roofless walls. It was civil war, without any of the redeeming manhood which strips even that of its aspects of misery and horror. Frequently the police, armed as regular cavalry and infantry, were called out to seize the corn in process of clandestine removal, or to execute an eviction. On these occasions, sometimes, the unarmed peasantry, maddened by despair, would resist, and a conflict ensue in which victory did not always determine on the side of arms and discipline. The military were often in requisition to seize carts of corn under process of removal, or to enforce the expulsion of some tattered, hungry, sick, woe-stricken family from their miserable holding into the “wide wide world,” houseless and hopeless. Frequently the parish allowed an outcast of this description at the rate of seven-eighths of a penny per day to sustain existence. An English periodical writer truly and compassionately remarked, “nothing like Irish misery exists under the sun.” Whatever the disturbances generally prevailing, a very great number of the people offered no resistance to the law; they obeyed and died. Mr. P. Scrope* truly observed that the people bore these hardships “with a patience and resignation which it is heart-breaking to witness, and which one scarcely knows whether to praise or to blame.”

* “Notes of a tour in England, Scotland, and Ireland, with a view to inquire whether our labouring population be really redundant.”

Yet Mr. Crope, while he denounced the state of the law in Ireland as affecting landlord and tenant, in terms which attracted the attention of the country, and of foreign lands, described the difficulties of landlords in a way just to the class and to his subject. “A moment’s consideration,” he says, “will show the futility of expecting any mercy to be shown to these poor people by those whom the law at present arms with the power of destroying them. It sounds very well to English ears to preach forbearance and generosity to the landowners. But it should be remembered that few of them have it in their power to be merciful or generous to their poor tenantry. They act under compulsion, usually of the severest kind. They are themselves engaged in a life and death struggle with their creditors. Moreover the greater number of the depopulators are mere agents for absent landlords or for the law-receivers under the courts acting for creditors, and bound by the established rules and avowed practice of the Court of Chancery itself (the fountain and head of justice) to make the utmost of the property entrusted to them, without regard to any other consideration than the pecuniary interest of the parties, which is committed to their care. Those landlords who have yet some voice in the management of their estates, seeing the highest court of judicature in the realm sanction this principle of action, think themselves justified—most of them, indeed, are compelled by the overwhelming pressure of their own difficulties—to follow the example. It is vain to expect mercy to be shown under such circumstances. All is done in the sacred name of the law. The sheriff, the representative of the majesty of the law, is the actual exterminator. The officers of the law execute the process. The constabulary, acting under the orders of the magistracy, stand by to prevent resistance; and if any is expected, the queen’s troops are brought to the spot, to quell with all the power of the throne what would amount to an act of rebellion. It is absurd, then, to cast the blame of these foul deeds, and their horrible results, upon a few reckless, bankrupt, wretched landlords. It is to the law, or rather to the government and legislature which uphold it, and refuse to mitigate its ferocity, that the crime rightly attaches; and they will be held responsible for it by history, by posterity—ay, and perhaps before long, by the retributive justice of God, and the vengeance of a people infuriated by barbarous oppression, and brought at last to bay by their destroyers.” It is difficult to read such statements and wonder that agrarian outrage prevailed extensively in Ireland, and that all over the land murder stained the soil with blood.

It is impossible to write the history of Ireland in any given year without having to record assassinations springing from religious discord, and 1849 was no exception.

Political disturbance was only kept down by the arm of the law. Early in the session, Earl Grey moved in the house of lords for a renewal of the “suspension of the _Habeas Corpus_ act,” and in doing so he stated that although there was no reason to fear an insurrection, yet disaffection existed extensively, and especially in the districts which had been the scenes of insurgency in the previous year. His lordship never knew much of Ireland in any respect—her people, the philosophy of her turbulence, or the policy which ought to be pursued towards her; had he formed acquaintance with such subjects he would hardly have spoken of disaffection existing in certain districts, for it is chronic in Ireland. The masses of the people have been disaffected since the English first obtained the ascendancy in Ireland; but independent of any hostility of race or nationality, a deep-rooted religious animosity towards the creed of England rankles in the hearts of all in Ireland who differ from that creed.

The Young Ireland party was not extirpated by the events of 1848, although as a public organized body, suppressed. Its writers continued to write, although there was little public speaking. Charles Gavan Duffy, more fortunate than his fellows, was enabled to escape the legal penalties attached to his undoubted treason; juries would not convict, notwithstanding the plainest evidence. The Roman Catholics in the juries were obstinate in refusing a conviction. This circumstance deepened the general distrust existing among Protestants in the fidelity of Roman Catholic jurors on any question in which they took a political or ecclesiastical interest. There is no reason, however, to suppose that this spirit of inequitable partizanship was confined to Roman Catholics. Such incidents never justified the government in refusing them alterations in the jury laws, popularly demanded, and in exercising so sternly the right of challenge which belonged to the crown in such prosecutions. Mr. Duffy resumed his place at the office of the _Nation_ newspaper, affecting to believe that there was no hope of achieving what he called Irish independence by political agitation; that the country needed material improvement in the first instance, and that in proportion as it increased in wealth would it be likely to obtain a national existence. Mitchell, in his exile, denounced this doctrine; and when he afterwards escaped to the United States, he impugned these opinions of Mr. Duffy as dangerous to freedom, and as a cover to his retreat from the patriotic advocacy of Irish nationality. The recriminations of these two champions of Young Irelandism showed what little prospect there ever had been of any harmony existing in an Irish provisional government, if success had attended the efforts of these men. Mr. Duffy, while for a time persisting in his new course, and making his paper more an organ of the ultramontane priesthood, took every opportunity of inciting the people to treason, at first covertly, but gradually in a more open manner. This the government permitted, to the disparagement of the loyal, and the injury of peace and improvement in Ireland. The Old Ireland party continued to agitate, but their agitation assumed still more of a sectarian character. Yet the name of O’Connell had lost much of its spell, and at an auction of his library in Dublin, his books, even with his autograph, barely fetched the prices which the same volumes would have brought at any other public auction if the property of an unknown person.

The winter of 1849 smote Ireland with fresh accumulations of suffering. Gaunt famine stalked abroad; pestilence lurked in the hovels of the country, and the cellars and garrets of the great towns; cholera ravaged as fiercely in some places as if no other destroyer visited the unhappy realm; crime lurked by the wayside, and sedition and bigotry muttered their curses everywhere. It seemed as if a wide-wasting ruin covered all.

The queen’s visit to Ireland made this year memorable in her history. An account of this will appear in the narrative of the court in another page.

POLITICAL STATE OF ENGLAND.

Notwithstanding the humiliation of the Chartists in 1848, they still continued blatant. Some rioting occurred, and but for the conviction that the people at large would support the government in strong measures, the tendency to disturbance would have been still more decidedly manifested. The anti-free-traders were still a large and powerful party, and, led by Mr. Disraeli, formed an imposing array both in and out of parliament. The free-traders were also active and resolute, giving to the government a very general support. The agitations in the country assumed no new phases, and almost all political questions assumed a politico-economical aspect from the temper in which men discussed them, and the prevailing tone of the time. The alteration —virtually the repeal—of the navigation laws caused much excitement in the sea ports, as the agitation of the subject did the previous year; but the government and the free-trade party mustered all their strength, and succeeded with the measure. The government was not popular, but was accepted as a political necessity. Lord John Russell had great weight in parliament, “in the city,” and with the old whig party everywhere; but the more advanced liberals had lost confidence in him, and some of his colleagues were unpopular. Foreign politics engaged much of the attention of the nation, and the tide of reaction which began to roll back over the continent, sweeping away so many newly acquired liberties, was a cause of abundant regret, and even alarm to the English people.

COMMERCIAL AFFAIRS.

The year did not begin or end very prosperously in business and monetary matters. The successive blights of the potatoe crop, the advances to Ireland, the ruinous bankruptcies of 1848, the enormous railway calls, the many failures upon the continent of both banking-houses and commercial establishments, by which English firms sustained great losses, and the continued disturbance of commercial relations in consequence of the civil conflicts on the continent, were causes sufficiently numerous and potent to create and sustain apprehension, and embarrass the usual proceedings of trade. Still money flowed into England from continental Europe, as the place of security which, whatever might betide the world, was supposed to be beyond the range of political convulsion. Thus capital was plentiful, and money was easily obtained by all creditable establishments. The peace, good order, and constitutional liberty by which these blessings were established, afforded England a source of prosperity amidst so much that was calculated to impoverish. The wrecks of many nations floated around her shores, but within her borders all was safe; the shadow of the thundercloud passed over her, and she heard its peals, as it burst in lightning and torrent on less favoured lands.

THE CHOLERA.

There was one calamity, which befel so many nations, from which England was not spared. The mysterious cholera, which appeared in 1848 in some places, broke out in the autumn of this year with surprising fury. Its ravages were far more extensively fatal than in 1832. In 1832 the number attacked in London was 14,154, and the number of those who fell victims was 6729. In 1848–49, the number attacked exceeded 30,000, and nearly half the number perished. In 1832, one out of every 250 of the population died; in 1848–49, one out of every 150. More than 80,000 persons died of cholera and diarrhoea in Great Britain during the latter period. The disease spared neither sex nor age. It was found in London to prevail most near the banks of the Thames, and on the south side of the river, where the ground was lower and worse drained than on the north. In the higher grounds, north and south, the disease inflicted but little injury. Where the water supply was from the less pure portions of the Thames, the havoc was greater than where it was drawn from a portion of the river further up, or from other sources. The disease prevailed most during hot weather both in Great Britain and Ireland. The faculty was as little able to treat it as when it first appeared; and there was a disposition to rely too much on general sanitary measures, without regard to the specific virus of the disease.

PARLIAMENTARY HISTORY OF 1849—OPENING OF THE SESSION.

On the second of February the queen in person opened a new session. Her majesty’s speech referred to most great matters which had occurred in the latter part of 1848, and to such subjects as formed the leading features of the policy of the ministry for 1849. Her majesty especially recommended an alteration in the navigation laws, and she asked for further administrative power to preserve order in Ireland. The general tone and tenor of the speech were congratulatory. Lord Stanley, in the lords, moved an amendment to the usual address, which represented that the state of the country was not such as to call for or justify an address pervaded by a spirit of gratulation. The amendment was rejected, but only by a majority of two. In the commons Mr. Disraeli moved an amendment upon the address, similar to that which Lord Stanley had proposed in the lords, and with no better success. Mr. Disraeli especially contended for keeping up a much larger fleet and army than the government proposed. His arguments were singularly opposed to those which, without any professed change of principle, he used eight years afterwards, against the government of Lord Palmerston, for refusing to reduce the army and navy when serious perils demanded their increase in the judgment of that astute and experienced minister. Mr. Grattan, son of the distinguished Irishman who assisted Irish independence in 1782, proposed an amendment adverse to the ministerial policy for Ireland, but it was rejected in a very decisive manner. The temper of the house, as displayed towards Mr. Grattan, was harsh, invidiously national on all sides, and especially offensive to the popular party in Ireland.

REPEAL OF THE NAVIGATION LAWS.

On the 14th of February Mr. Labouchere renewed the motion for the repeal of the navigation laws, which had been defeated the previous year by the agitation of the shipowners and sailors, particularly those of the Tyne, under the leadership of James Mather, Esq., of South Shields. On the 9th of March the second reading came on, and was met by an amendment proposed by Mr. Hemes, such as is usually offered in order to defeat a bill. This amendment was negatived, in a house of four hundred and seventy-six members, by a majority of fifty-six. The government was much mortified that the minority was so very considerable. In committee Mr. Labouchere modified the bill in a manner which proved the want of proper forethought and decided policy in its preparation. This was the case with most whig measures. On the 23rd of April Mr. Hemes again endeavoured to defeat the bill, securing a very large minority, which further annoyed the ministry, but failed to obstruct the progress of the measure. In the lords the bill was opposed vehemently by Lord Brougham, who denied that it was based upon the principles of free trade. By a majority of ten only the government succeeded in carrying it, and it was generally believed that it would have been lost, only that the government raised a report of intended resignation if the bill had been lost. This decided the opposition of Lord Brougham, who desired to produce such a result, and influence the doubtful among the Conservatives, as they were not prepared at that moment to resume the reins of power. The Bishop of Oxford proposed an amendment intended, by securing the anti-slavery lords, to defeat the measure by a “side wind;” but his object was transparent, and his end was not attained. The bill was carried, and ordered to take effect from the beginning of 1850.

AGRICULTURAL DISTRESS—MOTION FOR GOVERNMENTAL RELIEF.

The agricultural interest was as discontented as it had been since the repeal of the corn-laws. It was still hoped that the greater part of the public burdens would be shifted to the shoulders of the commercial middle classes; and the party calling itself “the agricultural interest,” but in reality adverse to the prosperity of the farmers and farm-labourers, clamoured for public relief. Mr. Disraeli had now fairly succeeded Lord George Bentinck as the leader, and he on the 5th of March proposed a resolution for a committee of the whole house, to consider such measures as might relieve the owners and occupiers of real property, and establish a more equitable apportionment of the public burdens. Sir Charles Wood, in an awkward and clumsy speech, confuted Mr. Disraeli, no difficult matter even in such a speech, for the honourable leader of “the country party” had collected his statistics carelessly, and used them illogically. His speech was also deficient in the eloquence so striking generally in his elaborate orations. It failed to produce any effect upon any party, even upon his own, and he could only muster the support of seventy members against three hundred and ninety-four. This motion greatly damaged the prestige of Mr. Disraeli: it was thought that he was not competent to lead a great party, and but for the paucity of talent in the conservative ranks, his leadership would have immediately terminated. In the country generally, but especially in the large cities and manufacturing districts, the speech excited a stronger political hostility to Mr. Disraeli than had before prevailed.

IRELAND.

A very considerable portion of the session was occupied by the affairs of Ireland. Under the section devoted to the concerns of that country such notice was taken of the proceedings in parliament bearing reference to her, as makes it unnecessary to enter at length into their record in this place. Early in the session the government requested the house to renew the act for the suspension of Habeas Corpus: it was granted. Measures bearing upon the poor-laws, and the commercial state of the country, were subsequently discussed, the government always succeeding in obtaining the support of the house. A bill for facilitating the transfer of encumbered estates was introduced on the 26th of April; its object was, chiefly, to amend a similar act of 1848, which had been found to a great extent impracticable, the usual fate of most whig measures. The new bill was carried; but while it did much good, it was sometimes an instrument of injustice, very imperfectly answered its own objects, and was not conceived or framed in a comprehensive or statesman-like spirit. The great changes which its abettors predicted it would create in the social condition of Ireland were not realized. The estates brought into the court were often purchased by their former owners, or occupiers, or by other Irish landowners, who borrowed money for the purchase at a heavy interest, on the credit of the estates themselves, which soon became as much encumbered as they had been before. English companies and assurance offices were also purchasers: their management was generally bad, expending large sums without obtaining an adequate return. Ignorance of the habits of the people caused much loss to such occupiers, and a species of quackery in cultivation sprung up which was injurious to the interests of the owners and of the country.

VOTE OF THANKS TO THE ARMY IN INDIA.

Votes of thanks to the troops engaged in the war of the Punjaub were proposed and carried on the 24th of April. These were advocated with eloquence, and conceded with enthusiasm. Sir Robert Peel passed an eloquent eulogy on Lord Gough, which was as just to the brave old veteran, after having served his country with honour for fifty-six years, as it was creditable to the impartiality, temper, and talent of Sir Robert.

MR. COBDEN’S MOTION FOR REDUCING THE ARMY AND NAVY.

The Whigs were not good financiers. Sir Robert Peel excelled his contemporaries, and more especially his opponents, in the practicability of his financial arrangements. The government had been placed in circumstances of great difficulty by events purely of a providential nature; but there existed a general impression that they did not meet the emergency with skill. A society called the Financial Reform Association grew into existence in consequence of this feeling. Its head-quarters was at Liverpool. Many important facts were brought to light by it, and much information extended, but there was a want of tact in the management which defeated these laudable and enlightened exertions. The society had a singular fatality for urging particular measures precisely at the juncture when there was least likelihood of gaining the ear of either the public or the legislature. Mr. Cobden made himself conspicuous in this agitation, and began that career of impracticability which gradually limited his public usefulness, and at last expelled him from parliament. When the whig budget came on for discussion, Mr. Cobden was agitating a scheme for returning to the expenditure of 1835, by which he alleged ten millions annually would have been saved. The state of Ireland and the continent rendered it unlikely that the country would consent to any very great reduction in its military and naval defences, yet it was in these departments Mr. Cobden contemplated his economical experiments. On the 26th of February he submitted a motion to the house embodying the principles for which he had contended at public meetings. The chancellor of the exchequer showed that no reductions which even Mr. Cobden himself dare submit to the house would reduce the national expenditure to the proposed extent, and proved that the defence of the commerce and independence of the country forbade any such reduction. Mr. Cobden only obtained seventy-seven to support him, in a house of three hundred and fifty-three members. This did not arise from any indisposition to reduce the public burdens, but from a conviction that Mr. Cobden rested his motion upon false data, and that his scheme was utterly inapplicable to the circumstances of the times.

THE BUDGET.

On the 29th of June the chancellor of the exchequer brought forward his budget. He estimated the ordinary income at £51,550,000, and the extraordinary income at £580,000. The expenditure he estimated at £53,287,000. He contemplated a surplus income for the ensuing year of about three quarters of a million sterling. The statement was received favourably, but a general impression existed that the chancellor might have carried retrenchment much farther. The supplies, however, were granted upon the basis of the statement offered.

MOTION ON THE STATE OF THE NATION

On the 2nd of July Mr. Disraeli moved for a select committee on the state of the nation. He did not expect that the government would concede, or the house support it; but he made it the occasion for a general attack upon the whig policy, and especially the free-trade policy which that party had originated in parliament, although Sir Robert Peel, their successful rival in this department, carried away the credit of having done so. The speech of Mr. Disraeli was rhetorically, and only rhetorically, successful. He reenumerated the misfortunes which befel Ireland and the colonies during the three previous years, and all the monetary difficulties which befel England, and attributed them, with dextrous dishonesty, to whig impolicy and free trade. These calamities, which were chiefly caused by delaying free trade too long, he ascribed to that measure. The perverted ingenuity thus displayed did not serve his party or convince his opponents. He was opposed in a blunt and candid speech by Mr. Hume, and in one of the happiest orations ever delivered by Sir Robert Peel. Lord John Russell also made an effective reply. Mr. Disraeli received small support from his followers. If the chief was not equal to the exigencies of the party, neither was the party worthy of the chief. Only one hundred and fifty-six votes sustained him, although Mr. Disraeli did his utmost to induce a decided display of strength. The motion was lost by an overwhelming majority.

THE PROROGATION.

Few events of public interest occurred in the parliamentary history of the session except those which are here recorded. The prorogation occurred on the 1st of August. The president of the council read the queen’s speech, which referred in the usual vague and general manner to the topics which had been discussed, but paid a generous tribute of acknowledgment to the heroism of the troops in the Punjaub. The blessing of domestic peace, and of the prospects of a good harvest were dwelt upon in terms of thankfulness to the Divine goodness.

The session of 1849 was not in any way remarkable. Few good laws were passed, few good speeches made, and no incidents of striking importance entered into its history. The state of parties remained what it had been when the session commenced; perhaps, if any change took place, the Whigs were on the whole strengthened. Sir Robert Peel gave them a qualified support, taking care frequently to express his want of confidence in their Irish policy, although nothing in his own past policy warranted the expectation that he would have governed Ireland substantially better than his rivals.

THE COURT.

Outrage on her Majesty.—There were various occurrences in the course of the year of interest or importance to the court, and to the public as having reference to the court.

On the 19th of May her majesty held a drawing-room, and shortly after her return, drove out with three of her children in the park. She was returning a little before six o’clock, when a shot was fired as the carriage passed down Constitution Hill by a man who stood within the railing of the Green Park. He was seized, and narrowly incurred being torn to pieces by the people, who were in a state of furious excitement at the occurrence. He was eventually rescued from the populace by the park-keepers and police and conducted to the guardhouse of the palace. Her majesty displayed the coolest self-possession and courage. Prince Albert, who rode on before, heard the occurrence from her majesty’s lips as she alighted. The name of the criminal was Hamilton; he was a native of Adair, county Limerick, Ireland. General Wemyss, who rode exactly in the line between her majesty and the criminal, thought that the pistol was fired at him, and was of opinion that, had it been loaded with ball, he must have been struck; he also considered the report to be from a blank cartridge. This opinion proved to be correct, he had no intention of hurting any person, and seemed either to have been actuated by a desire for display, or to place himself in the hands of the authorities as a criminal, for sake of maintenance, as he was in great destitution. He was sentenced to seven years’ transportation.

THE QUEEN’S VISIT TO IRELAND.

The ministry had, with much wisdom, advised her majesty to visit Ireland in the autumn of 1849. It was supposed by them that such an event would soothe the spirit of party, and restore the loyalty which was supposed to exist before 1848. Such was its tendency; but it ought to have been understood that the people were no more disloyal in that year than in the year which preceded it, or any other previous one; and the visit of her majesty, although beneficial for a time, on the whole, was not likely to give any permanent effect to the loyalty of those who might, during her visit, display the like. The Young Ireland press denounced the policy of the visit as a trick to ensnare the generosity of the Irish character, and to divert the people from the only true political pursuit for Irishmen—the separation of their country from Great Britain; and those papers predicted that the reception of her majesty, notwithstanding that national generosity which they truly asserted, would be painful to the royal lady, and demonstrate the unwillingness of the Irish people to be her subjects. The Old Ireland press, like the Old Ireland leader in parliament (Mr. John O’Connell), gave a very “uncertain sound”—it “blew hot and cold with the same mouth,” protesting that the Irish people were most loyal, but at the same time in a very treasonable state; spurned, doubted, and encouraged the ministerial policy by turns. The newspapers made a point of averring, that if her majesty would only grant repeal and justice to Ireland, and, in fact, whatever the party demanded, she would find the Irish people, always excepting Orangemen and “swadlers,” most peacefully disposed. The words of the national poet were echoed by these persons:—

“There never were hearts, if our rulers would let them, More formed to be tranquil and blest than ours.”

The Irish people not connected with these two parties made every exertion to prove their real and unaffected loyalty and devotion to her majesty; and they boldly declared that the prophecies of the Young Irelanders, and the doubts of the Old Irelanders, as to the probability of the queen receiving insult, were unworthy of notice. The Irish are too gallant a nation to insult a lady and a queen under any circumstances, and there was not a man among either Old Ireland or Young Ireland who would do the like, however wavering in loyalty; nor was there one among them who would not risk his life to chastise such conduct, had it happened in his presence.

After the prorogation, the court proceeded to Cowes, where a squadron was in readiness, and her majesty, with her husband and children, embarked and proceeded on their voyage on the night of the 1st of August. The next night, at one o’clock, the squadron arrived at Cove, “amidst a blaze of illumination by sea and land.” In the morning, the little town of Cove received the designation of Queenstown from her majesty, at the request of the inhabitants, as commemorative of her arrival there. It was noticed that the moment her majesty set her foot on shore, the sun, which had been clouded, burst forth with brilliancy. In the afternoon, the royal party visited the city of Cork, to receive various deputations, and afford the queen an opportunity of seeing the city. She proceeded up the river, and never did the scenery on the banks of the beautiful Lee look finer than on that bright autumnal day. Her majesty’s reception in Cork was most enthusiastic. There is no country in the world where public enthusiasm appears to greater advantage than in Ireland, when displayed in a good cause; and in no part of Ireland are the people more hearty in any feeling than m the sunny south. The reception of her majesty and suite was everything she could wish it to be. She received an address from the city, while seated on the quarter-deck of the royal tender. As the first address presented to her in Ireland, it has historic interest:—

_May it please your Majesty_,—

We, your majesty’s dutiful and loyal subjects, the mayor, aldermen, and councillors of the ancient city of Cork, humbly approach your majesty to tender to you, on behalf of ourselves and our fellow-citizens at large, the homage of our profoundest loyalty, and of our deepest affection and attachment to your majesty’s sacred person and crown.

We gratefully beg to express our deep sense of the high honour and distinction conferred on us by your majesty graciously condescending to select our city as the place where you, and your royal and much-loved consort, pay your first visit to this portion of the kingdom; and we hail with the sincerest feelings of joy and exultation your august presence here, and ardently hope that your majesty will be graciously pleased to cheer and gladden us by frequent visits, and thus diffuse pleasure and happiness amongst us. We sincerely hope that your majesty’s gracious visit will be like those of the angel of mercy, with healing on its wings, and that it is the harbinger of bright and better days for our country, which your majesty must be aware is passing through a fearful ordeal.

We know that your majesty deeply sympathises in the sufferings and privations which your people have undergone, and are still going through; and we are convinced that nothing would afford a higher gratification to your royal breast than to mitigate and relieve those sufferings, and to raise the moral and social condition of your majesty’s much and long enduring, but patient and faithful Irish subjects.

We trust that your royal advent here will lay the foundation of a better order of things than lias hitherto existed; be the means of fully developing the great and varied natural resources of our beautiful and fertile country; and that its prosperity, and the consequent comfort, happiness, and contentment of its people, will be the glorious and blessed results of your auspicious visit.

That your majesty may enjoy a long and prosperous reign over a united, happy, and contented people, and that you, your royal consort and family, may possess every happiness that this world can afford, is the ardent and sincere prayer of your loyal and attached subjects, the council and citizens of Cork.

Her majesty’s sail down the Lee was even more picturesque than her voyage up; and her departure from Cove was such a scene as, no doubt, the royal lady, as well as her subjects of the south, will long and vividly remember. Her majesty’s yacht tarried the next night at Waterford harbour, but she did not visit the city.

On Sunday, the 5th, her majesty was expected to arrive at Kingstown, and the people of the metropolis, and the surrounding country for many a mile, poured multitudinously along the beautiful shores of Kingstown and Killany. When in the evening the squadron approached, the enthusiasm of the people was boundless. At twenty minutes past seven, the squadron dropped anchor in the deep clear waters of Kingstown harbour, and every token of cordial greeting that a people could express, or a queen receive, indicated the popular spirit. The sea was crowded with barques, the shore with people. The former were gaily decked, the latter in elegant attire; and over sea and shore rang the loud cheers of a vast and excited multitude. Few sights were ever presented to her majesty equal in scenic effect. She appeared on deck, and bowed in acknowledgment of the cheers of her people. Prince Albert next presented himself, and was received with an ardour as great as that which marked the welcome of the queen. Her majesty and the prince having retired, the people renewed their cheers, when the royal pair again came forward, with their four children, and, amidst renewed demonstrations of welcome, bowed to the people in the boats, and on the shore. The attempt at illumination in Kingstown was a failure. It had been intended to light bonfires on the Wicklow and Dublin mountains; this would have been a picturesque and national welcome, but the scheme was not executed.

On Monday, the 6th, according to previous announcement, her majesty was to land, and proceed by rail to Dublin, about six miles. The morning broke over the beautiful bay and the bold hills of Wicklow in peculiar loveliness. From Howth to Bray Head the mellow light of an autumn morning shed its richness; the clear waters of the noble bay, the green hills of Dublin, the majestic city, west and south the granite peak of “the Sugar-loaf,” and the broad forehead of Bray Head, glistened in the glorious day. The very earth and heavens welcomed the Island Queen. Amidst all the loveliness on which she looked, the fairest spot was that which was washed by the waters of Killany Bay, where the soft sweet vale of Shanganah, with its silver strand, its green bosom, and noble background, stretched away between Bray Head and Kingstown. They were scenes amidst which one of queenly taste might love to linger, and were well calculated to impress her majesty and family with the beauty of the fair but sorrowful land upon which she was about once more to tread.

At ten minutes to ten on Monday morning, her majesty, consort, and children, came upon deck, and were received with acclamations. The moment she set foot on Irish ground, the harbour master hoisted the royal standard, and the cannon sent their thunders echoing over the bay, and among the hills.

The royal suite proceeded by rail to Dublin, the line profusely decorated, and the banks thronged with people, waving hats and handkerchiefs, and filling the air with their hurrahs. At the Sandy-Mount station the royal carriages were in waiting, and a grand procession of the authorities and gentry of the county. Seated in open carriages, the royal personages then drove, attended by a splendid military escort, to the vice-regal Lodge, Phoenix Park. The route was indeed triumphal, everywhere along the magnificent course which the cortege pursued, the national expression, “_caed mile failthe_” (a hundred thousand welcomes), was heard. There were several halts in the line of progress: the first to afford opportunity to the lord mayor to present the keys of the city to her majesty; the second was of her majesty’s spontaneous desire, in order to admire the beautiful church of St. George; the third was at the triumphal arch at the foot of Eccles Street, where a scene of much interest was presented. As the royal carriage was about entering the triumphal arch, a beautiful fawn-coloured dove, ornamented with a white ribbon, was lowered to her majesty by Mr. Robert Williams. Her Majesty received this suitable emblem of the effect which her royal visit was expected to produce with smiles, and most graciously acknowledged the simple but significant gift. The bird was held out by her majesty to the royal children, to whom it at once became an object of attraction. The Prince of Wales soon obtained possession of the bird, which seemed to absorb his attention. In the evening Dublin was illuminated, and maintained its well-established fame for pyrotechnic displays.

Her majesty during her stay held a brilliant court, which was attended by the nobility and gentry of Ireland, numbering many among them of those most famed for arts and arms, literature and politics. The royal party visited most of the public institutions, in which they appeared to take an interest, and many expressions were said to have dropped incidentally from the queen indicative of her concern for the peace and welfare of Ireland, as well as of her admiration of the country. On the Tuesday evening the illuminations were spontaneously renewed, and with more brilliancy than before, and on the Wednesday evening all the public buildings were a third time illuminated. On the morning of that day a levee was held at the Castle, the most brilliant ever known in Ireland. The costume of the queen attracted the highest admiration. She wore a robe of exquisitely shaded Irish poplin, of emerald green, richly wrought with shamrocks in gold embroidery. Her hair was simply parted on her forehead, with no ornament save a light tiara of gold studded with diamonds and pearls. On the Friday the royal party visited the Duke of Leinster, the premier peer of Ireland, and the same evening embarked at Kingstown for Belfast. Her departure, like her arrival, was attended by vast multitudes. Her majesty ascended the paddle-box of the steamer, and waved her hand again and again in response to the adieus of the great multitude. On Saturday morning the royal squadron arrived at Belfast, where her majesty and suite landed, and received as hearty a welcome as elsewhere. The same night she embarked, and steamed through a violent gale for the Scottish coast, but was obliged to defer the attempt until Sunday, in the evening of which the squadron arrived at Loch Ryan, in Argyleshire.

THE ROYAL VISIT TO SCOTLAND.

After her majesty’s triumphal visit to Ireland, the loyal Scottish people were most anxious to show her their warm affection and deep respect. Arrangements were accordingly made for public entry into Glasgow and Perth, by which route her majesty determined to proceed to her autumn residence at Balmoral. Ardent as was the hospitality of the Irish, it was rivalled by the patriotic fervour of the Scots, and the cities of Glasgow and Perth made demonstrations of attachment of which the royal lady might well be proud. On the 15th of August the court reached Balmoral, and entered upon those happy and private recreations which the royal family were wont to enjoy at their delightful Highland home. On the 29th of September the court was once more at Osborne.

DEATH OF THE QUEEN DOWAGER.

On Sunday morning, the 2nd of December, the queen dowager died at Stanmore Priory. The royal lady was the relict of King William IV., the uncle of Queen Victoria. She was supposed to have been much attached, through her husband’s reign, to the Conservative party, and to have favoured those intrigues in that interest which kept alive so long and so fiercely the spirit of faction during the discussions about the reform bill, and for some time after that measure was carried. Her majesty was buried on the 13th, at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, where her coffin was placed beside that of her husband.

DEATHS OF EMINENT PERSONS.

It is always a subject of deep interest to a nation when its most eminent citizens are called away from the duties and honours of their citizenship. How frequently has the decease of a great person turned the scale of party, baffled armies or states, restored a country from peril, or placed it in the imminency of danger? Such was not the case with England in 1849, yet many very remarkable persons were that year numbered with the dead; the most notable person whose removal took place in this way, was the queen dowager.

On the 1st of January the Earl of Auckland died. This nobleman had attracted for some years previously a large share of public attention. He was not remarkable in youth for any special gift. In the House of Commons, which he entered in early life, he made no figure. The public were therefore amazed when, in November, 1830, he was appointed by Earl Grey a member of the cabinet, with the important post of president of the board of trade, and also the office of master of the Mint. In 1834, he was made first lord of the Admiralty. In 1835 he was appointed governor-general of India. In 1841 he was displaced, a conservative government coming into office. In 1846 he again appeared at the head of the Admiralty board. His business habits and good sense qualified him for office, and at the Admiralty he rendered some service, but had he not been a peer and a friend of Lord Grey, he would never have occupied so prominent a place in the government.—On the 7th Earl Talbot died. His career was remarkable only for his having proved himself very unfit to govern Ireland, having exemplified, when lord-lieutenant, how little the conservative party at that time considered the importance of placing a man in the important situation because of his aptitudes.—On the 20th Mr. Cadell, the eminent Scotch publisher, and, in great degree, founder of cheap literature in Great Britain. He was identified with Sir Walter Scott in the cheap issue of his immortal volumes.

Feb. 1st. Lieut.-general Sir Thomas Arbuthnot, a very distinguished officer. He was born in the county of Mayo, in Ireland, and died at Salford, Manchester, while in military command of the northern district.—19th. Bernard Barton, the quaker poet, the amiable and useful author of so many pious and instructive compositions. He was born near London, and died at Woodbridge, in the sixty-fifth year of his age.

May 9th. General Sir Robert Thomas Wilson, Bart. This officer had distinguished himself through a long series of years in the most active and daring military services, especially in Germany, Poland, and Russia. He was particularly known as having, in conjunction with two other British officers, effected the escape of Count Lavalette, after the battle of Waterloo. He was a native of London, and died at an hotel there in the seventy-third year of his age.—13th. General the Hon. Sir Edward Paget, the last surviving brother of the Marquis of Anglesea. Sir Edward’s services in the Peninsular war are matters of pride and honour in British history.—19th. Sir Nesbit Josiah Willoughby, Rear-admiral of the White. This gallant officer served both by land and sea, having, when not engaged by the British Admiralty, joined the Russian army, in which, as a colonel, he greatly distinguished himself. He was born in Warwickshire, at the family seat, and died in London, in the seventy-third year, of his age.—21st. At Edgeworthstown, county of Longford, Ireland, in her eighty-fifth year, Miss Edgeworth, so celebrated as a novelist, and deserving equal celebrity as a metaphysician, for her novels abound with the most accurate and acute speculations in mental philosophy, incidentally occurring in the course of her narratives. She was small in stature, lively in disposition, vivacious in thought, a good correspondent, and an affectionate friend. The opinion has gained currency since her death, that the more intellectual portions of her writings were the products of her father’s genius, whose hand appeared in nearly all her novels.—22nd. At his house in Pall Mall, aged seventy-five, William Vernon, Esq., an artist and a tasteful collector of pictures. He had been a successful man of business, and left a large fortune to the nation in works of art, the productions of native artists, which reveal the talent prevailing among native painters, whom it was the fashion to undervalue.

June 4th. The Countess of Blessington. This beautiful and accomplished lady, so well known as the friend of Byron, was born at Curragheen, county Waterford, Ireland, and she was distinguished through life for literary eminence as well as personal beauty. She possessed a noble generosity, especially to obscure men of talent. Her house at Kensington Gore, near London, was for many years the resort of the most eminent literary men. She died at Paris.

July 8th. Mr. Wilson, the celebrated Scotch vocalist, at the early age of forty-nine. He was born in Edinburgh, and died at Quebec.—12th. Horace Smith, the author, known in connection with “The Pic-nic Papers,” “The Rejected Addresses,” &c. He was born in London, and died at Tunbridge Wells, at the age of seventy.

Sept. 12. William Cooke Taylor, LL.D. This learned and gifted man was born in Youghall, county of Cork, Ireland. He fell a victim to cholera, in Dublin, in the fiftieth year of his age.

Nov. 3rd. Mr. Duncan, the African traveller, on board her majesty’s ship _Kingfisher_. He was a native of Wigtonshire, in Scotland.

Dec. 1. Ebenezer Elliott, “the Corn-law Rhymer.” He was born and died in Yorkshire. He was the author of several pleasing poems, of a somewhat epigrammatic character.

The year 1849 was remarkable for the death of eminent general officers and military men of inferior rank. Naval heroes, of a reputation extensive as the world, were also called away. The numbers of persons of great mark in the nation who died during the year were too great to receive notice within the limits of this history. To point out a few in whom the public of the present day take most interest is all which space will allow in this volume.