A History of the Nineteenth Century, Year by Year Part 50

Let not the land once proud of him Insult him now, Nor brand with deeper shame his dim Dishonor'd brow!

But let its humbled sons, instead, From sea to lake, A long lament, as for the dead, In sadness make!

Of all we loved and honor'd naught Save power remains, A fallen angel's pride of thought Still strong in chains.

All else is gone; from those great eyes The soul has fled: When faith is lost, when honor dies.

The man is dead.

Then pay the reverence of old days To his dead fame!

Walk backward, with averted gaze, And hide the shame!

[Sidenote: Death of Calhoun]

John Caldwell Calhoun, after a final speech on the issues of the country, died on the last day of March. He was the most prominent advocate of State sovereignty. He was noted for his keen logic, his clear statements and demonstrations of facts, and his profound earnestness. Webster said concerning him that he had "the indisputable basis of high character, unspotted integrity, and honor unimpeached. Nothing grovelling, low, or mean, or selfish came near his head, or his heart."

[Sidenote: Death of President Taylor]

[Sidenote: Fillmore's Presidency]

On July 9, President Taylor died, and Vice-President Fillmore succeeded him. He received the resignations of all the Cabinet. His new Cabinet was headed by Webster, Secretary of State (succeeded by Everett in 1852). The new fugitive slave bill was signed by Fillmore. But the law was defied in the North as unconst.i.tutional. Benton called the measure "the complex, c.u.mbersome, expensive, annoying and ineffective fugitive slave law." In Boston occurred the cases of the fugitives Shadrach, Simms and Anthony Burns. Fillmore and Webster came to be looked upon in the North as traitors to the anti-slavery cause. But for this Fillmore would have had a fair chance of re-election to the Presidency.

[Sidenote: "Uncle Tom's Cabin"]

[Sidenote: "The Scarlet Letter"]

Then appeared in the "National Era" at Washington the opening chapters of Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin." A million copies of the book were sold in America and in Europe. It spread and intensified the feeling against slavery. Emerson published "Representative Men"; Hawthorne "The Scarlet Letter"; and Whittier brought out his "Songs of Labor." Parodi, the Italian singer, made her first appearance in America. She was eclipsed presently by Jenny Lind, whose opening concert at Castle Garden in New York netted $30,000 to her manager, Barnum.

[Sidenote: Russian conscription]

[Sidenote: Schleswig-Holstein abandoned]

[Sidenote: Ibsen]

Under the stress of another Mohammedan rising against the Christians in Syria and the Balkans, Emperor Nicholas of Russia decreed a notable increase of the Russian army. Out of every thousand persons in the population seven men were mustered into the ranks in western Russia, thus adding some 180,000 men to the total strength of the Russian force. In midsummer, the city of Cracow, in Poland, was nearly destroyed by fire.

Later in the year occurred the death of the Polish general Bem, in Turkey, who had won such distinction while serving the cause of Hungary. Another attempt to win Schleswig-Holstein from Denmark was made in summer. Unaided by the Germans, the Schleswig-Holsteiners, under the leadership of Willisen, a former Prussian general and distinguished theoretical strategist, engaged a superior Danish army at Idstedt. They were beaten.

Their defeat had so discouraging an effect that Prussia abandoned the struggle in their behalf. In Norway, about this time, Henrik Ibsen came into prominence with a publication of his early drama "Catalina."

[Sidenote: Dumas Fils]

In France, the younger Dumas proved himself a formidable rival of his father by such works as his "Trois Hommes" and "Henri de Navarre."

[Sidenote: Death of Balzac]

[Sidenote: "The Human Comedy"]

The death of Honore de Balzac, the celebrated French novelist, was an event in literature. Born at Tours in 1799, he soon devoted himself to writing.

His first work, the tragedy "Cromwell," written at the age of nineteen, proved unsuccessful, as did all of his earlier novels, which appeared under a pseudonym. Various unfortunate undertakings, such as the publication of new editions of "La Fontaine" and "Moliere," plunged him into debt. He returned to writing novels. Not until late was his authorship openly avowed. By this time several of his stories, such as "Le Dernier Chouan,"

"La Femme de Trente Ans," and his sprightly "Physiologie du Mariage," had achieved immense success. Still Balzac failed to turn his successes to financial account. He sank ever deeper in debt. In 1843 he turned upon his critics with a slashing "Monograph on the Parisian Press." The major part of his striking, realistic novels was published in the famous series "La Comedie Humaine." This in turn was divided into these seven parts: "Scenes of Private Life," "Life in the Provinces," "Life in Paris," "In Politics,"

"In the Army," "In the Country," with "Philosophical Studies" and "Studies in a.n.a.lysis." In his preface of 1842, Balzac thus explained the scheme of his work:

"In giving the general t.i.tle of 'The Human Comedy' to a work begun nearly thirteen years ago, it is necessary to explain its motive, to relate its origin, and briefly sketch its plan, while endeavoring to speak of these matters as though I had no personal interest in them.

This is not so difficult as many imagine. Few works conduce to much vanity; much labor conduces to great diffidence....

"As we read the dry and discouraging list of events called History, who can have failed to note that the writers of all periods, in Egypt, Persia, Greece and Rome, have forgotten to give us the history of manners? The fragment of Petronius on the private life of the Romans excites rather than satisfies our curiosity....

[Sidenote: The novel defined]

"A sure grasp of the purport of this work will make it clear that I attach to common, daily facts, hidden or patent to the eye, to the acts of individual lives, and to their causes and principles, the importance which historians have hitherto ascribed to the events of public national life.... I have had to do what Richardson did but once. Lovelace has a thousand forms, for social corruption takes the hues of the medium in which it lives. Clarissa, on the contrary, the lovely image of impa.s.sioned virtue, is drawn in lines of distracting purity. To create a variety of Virgins it needs a Raphael.

"It was no small task to depict the two or three thousand conspicuous types of a period; for this is, in fact, the number presented to us by each generation, and which the Human Comedy must require. This crowd of actors, of characters, this mult.i.tude of lives, needed a setting--if I may be pardoned the expression, a gallery. Hence the division into Scenes of Private Life, of Provincial Life, of Parisian, Political, Military and Country Life. Under these six heads are cla.s.sified all the studies of manners which form the history of society at large.

"The vastness of a plan which includes both a history and a criticism of society, an a.n.a.lysis of its evils, and a discussion of its principles, authorizes me, I think, in giving to my work the t.i.tle 'The Human Comedy.' Is this too ambitious?"

[Sidenote: Balzac's Works]

Altogether, Balzac brought out more than a hundred prose romances. They contain the most graphic pictures of the life of the French people under Louis Philippe. Balzac said of himself that he described people as they were, while others described them as they should be. A few months before his death Balzac improved his circ.u.mstances by a marriage with the rich Countess Hanska. On his death Victor Hugo delivered the funeral oration, while Alexandre Dumas, his rival throughout life, erected a monument to him with his own means.

One week later Louis Philippe, the deposed King of France, died at Claremont in England, in his seventy-seventh year. His career, from the time that he followed the example of his father, Philippe Egalite, by fighting the battles of the Revolution, and through the vicissitudes of his exile until he became King in 1830, was replete with stirring episodes.

[Sidenote: Death of Gay-Lussac]

Gay-Lussac, the great French chemist and physicist, died during the same year. Born at Saint Leonard, Haut-Vienne, in 1788, Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac distinguished himself early in his career as a scientist by his aerial voyages in company with Biot for the observation of atmospheric phenomena at great heights. In 1816, he was appointed Professor of Chemistry at the Polytechnic School of Paris, a chair which he held until 1832. Promoted to a professorship at the Jardin des Plantes, Gay-Lussac labored there incessantly until his death. There is scarcely a branch of physical or chemical science to which Gay-Lussac did not contribute some important discovery. He is noted chiefly for his experiments with gases and for the discovery of the law of combination by volumes.

[Sidenote: Louis Napoleon's presidency]

Louis Napoleon, while administering affairs as President, began to let France feel his power. Early in the year he created his incapable uncle, Jerome Bonaparte, a marshal of France. On August 15, his Napoleonic aspirations were encouraged by a grand banquet tendered to him at Lyons.

His government felt strong enough to enact new measures for the restriction of the liberty of the press.

[Sidenote: Prussian const.i.tution]

[Sidenote: South German alliance]

[Sidenote: Denmark's integrity guaranteed]

[Sidenote: Hessians resist despotism]

In Germany, as well as in Austria and Russia, similar reactionary measures were enforced. Frederick William IV. of Prussia for a while appeared anxious to undo the effects of his narrow policy of the previous year. A const.i.tution had been adopted in Prussia on the last day of January, and on February 6 the King took the const.i.tutional oath. Austria now began to edge her way back into the management of German affairs. Under her influence Hanover withdrew from the alliance of the three North German powers, Hanover, Saxony and Prussia. Later Saxony also withdrew. On February 27, the Kings of Bavaria, Wurtemberg and Saxony signed a joint agreement for a restoration of the German Confederation and a maintenance of the federal union. The Emperor of Austria gave to this scheme his full support. When the Bundestag met again at Frankfort, Austria insisted on her rights as a German State. Too late the Prussian representative advocated a German federal State, with Austria excluded. The disastrous failure of Prussian intervention in Schleswig-Holstein about this time brought Prussia into further disrepute with the rest of Germany. England, France and Sweden united to guarantee the integrity of Denmark. Prussia left the Duchies to their fate. On July 19, Austria called for another a.s.sembly of the old Confederation. Prussia and her adherents could not join. On August 17, the German sovereigns met on the call of Austria at Frankfort to consider a plan of federal union. The old Bundestag was reopened at Frankfort on September 2, under the auspices of Austria. Prussia clung to her rival federal union. A bone of contention was furnished by the little State of Hesse. The Archduke of Hesse, the most reactionary of German princes, had resumed his rule with the help of his hated Prime Minister, Ha.s.senpflug.

The financial budget of this Minister was disapproved by the Hessian Estates. Ha.s.senpflug now dissolved the a.s.sembly and proceeded to levy taxes without its sanction. The people refused to pay. The courts decided against the government. Even the soldiers and their officers declined to lift a finger against the people. In the face of this resolute att.i.tude the Prince and his Minister fled the country, on September 12, and appealed to the new Bundestag at Frankfort for help. The restoration of the Archduke to his throne was decreed.

[Sidenote: Prussians intervene]

[Sidenote: Austria prepares for war]

[Sidenote: Prussia cowed]

[Sidenote: Hessia ground under]

Prussia now took a decided stand. On September 26, General von Radowitz, the originator of the North German Union, was placed at the head of Prussia's foreign affairs. He declared for the cause of the people in Hesse. The Prussian troops were withdrawn from Baden over the military roads leading through Hesse. To meet this situation, Francis Joseph of Austria, in October, had a personal interview with the Kings of Bavaria and of Wurtemberg at Bregenz. It was decided to crowd the Prussians out of Baden and Hesse by moving Bavarian and Austrian troops into those countries. Another personal conference between Francis Joseph and Czar Nicholas at Warsaw a.s.sured to Austria the support of Russia. In vain did Frederick William send his cousin, Count Brandenburg, to win over the Czar to his side. Count Brandenburg met with so haughty a reception that he returned chagrined, and, falling ill, died soon afterward. Both Austria and Prussia mobilized their armies. At Vienna the Austrian Prime Minister avowed to the Amba.s.sador of France that it was his policy to "avilir la Prussie, puis la demolir." On November 8, the vanguards of the Prussian and Austrian troops exchanged shots. The single casualty of a bugler's horse served only to tickle the German sense of humor. The Prussians retired without further encounters. Radowitz resigned his Ministry. Otto von Manteuffel was put in charge. On November 21, the Austrian Amba.s.sador at Berlin, Prince Schwarzenberg, demanded the evacuation of Hesse within forty-eight hours. Prussia gave in. Manteuffel requested the favor of a personal interview at Olmutz. Without awaiting Austria's reply he posted thither. In a treaty signed at Olmutz late in the year, Prussia agreed to withdraw her troops from Baden and Hesse, and to annul her military conventions with Baden, Anhalt, Mecklenburg and Brunswick. Thus miserably ended Prussia's first attempt to exclude Austria from the affairs of Germany. As heretofore, the Prussian-Polish provinces of Posen and Silesia were excluded from the Confederation. Austria, on the other hand, tried to bring her subjected provinces in Italy and Hungary into the Germanic Confederation. Against this proposition, repugnant to most Germans, France and England lodged so vigorous a protest that the plan was abandoned. The Elector of Hesse-Ca.s.sel returned to his capital. Under the protection of the federal bayonets he was able to bring his wretched subjects to complete subjection.