The members of the new sect of Mormon, numbering some 12,000 souls, were Persecution of Mormons driven from their homes at Nauvoo in western Missouri. They went across the plains of Iowa, stopping temporarily at Council Bluffs. From there they passed over the great American prairies, and, crossing the Rocky Mountain range, settled near the Great Salt Lake of Utah.
Chicago was incorporated with a population of 4,170 residents. Much comment Record transatlantic trip was excited by a record trip of the steamboat "Great Western," which steamed from Bristol, England, to New York in fifteen days. Among those who lived to witness this event was John Stevens, one of the pioneers of modern steamboat building. Shortly afterward he died in his eighty-ninth year.
Within a short time after suing for peace, the Southern Indians broke the Indian truce broken truce and made a determined effort to take Fort Mellon. In this they were unsuccessful. In March, at Fort Dade, five of the chiefs signed an agreement, in which they stipulated to cease from war until the government decided whether they might remain in Florida. Some seven hundred Indians and negroes were taken by the government before its decision was announced, and were sent off to Tampa for shipment. In violation of a flag of truce, Betrayal of Osceola Osceola and several of his principal chiefs were seized and sent to Fort Moultrie as prisoners. Their treatment there was such that Osceola soon died. In May, Colonel Zachary Taylor succeeded Jesup. The remaining forces of the Indians were now wary. They scattered in the swamps, eluding attempts of organized troops to capture them. In December, Colonel Taylor Zachary Taylor in Florida set out with over a thousand men for their almost inaccessible haunts. On Christmas Day they found the Seminoles prepared to receive them near Okeechobee Lake. After a hard fought battle, in which Taylor lost 139 men, the Indians once more retreated into the swamps of Florida.
In South Africa during this year, the new community of Dutch settlers, who had evaded English jurisdiction, soon revived their peculiar institutions in the region that is now Natal—from the Drakensberg to the sea at Durban, Boers in Natal and from the Tugela River to the Umzimbolbu. The fight against the African savages continued. Early in the spring, a Boer expedition was defeated by the Zulus, who followed up their advantage by an attack on the nearest Boer laager. Seventy Boers, with their Kaffir servants, were massacred. A large Boer settlement, numbering some 800 persons, was saved from extermination only by a timely relief expedition under Pretorius, in December. On the Pretorius other side troubles arose between the Boers and the Bechuanas in consequence of King Moroka's prohibition of the importation of spirituous liquors into Bechuanaland. The growth of a new Dutch State to the north of Cape Colony caused uneasiness among the British authorities at Cape Town. A movement was started to extend British rule to Natal, and to secure the important seaport of Durban.
1839
THE French expedition against Mexico was brought to a successful close French hold on Mexico after the capture of the fort of San Juan d'Ulloa and the town of Vera Cruz. General Santa Anna's attempt to relieve Vera Cruz resulted only in another upheaval of the government at the capital. President Bustamente had to call in a new Ministry, with which, through the mediation of England, negotiations for peace were undertaken. On March 9, the terms of peace were concluded. Mexico had to pay an indemnity of $600,000. Further use for the French squadron in American waters was found in the complicated affairs of Ancona evacuated the small South American republics at the mouth of the Plata and the alleged injuries suffered by Frenchmen from the disordered state of affairs in Hayti. On the other hand, France withdrew its troops from the citadel of Ancona in the Papal dominions, simultaneously with the withdrawal of the Status of Belgium Austrian forces of occupation from the Papal States. The long-pending difficulties between Belgium and Holland were brought to a settlement at last by the King of Holland's acceptance of the conditions of separation fixed by the international conference. The abandonment of Casimir Périer's vigorous foreign policy in Europe was viewed with regret by the Liberal party in France. Guizot combined with Thiers and Odilon Barrot against the Fall of Molé's Ministry Ministry, and thus accomplished its downfall, though they retained Marshal Soult, the most popular member of Molé's Cabinet. "I must have that gallant sword," remarked Louis Philippe. Their efforts to conduct the government proved a failure. The King established a provisional government in their place, which prolonged the crisis. On May 12, an insurrection broke out in French provincial government the most populous quarters of Paris. Under the leadership of Barbes, Bernard and others, attacks were made on the Hôtel de Ville, the Palace of Justice and the Préfecture of Police. The revolt had to be put down by merciless measures. Marshal Soult was placed at the head of the government to the exclusion of Guizot and Odilon Barrot, while Thiers was made president of the Chambers. Guizot employed his leisure time to write his Parisian revolt suppressed famous "Life of Washington." About the same time Daguerre published his new invention of making the sun prints which were called daguerreotypes after him. A life pension of 6,000 francs was awarded to him by the government of Louis Philippe. The interest in the family of Bonaparte and its dreaded pretensions in France was revived by the death of Letizia Buonaparte, the mother of Napoleon, in her eighty-ninth year. The first problem confronting the new administration of France was the fresh trouble that had broken out in the Orient.
The long-brewing war between Sultan Mahmoud of Turkey and his vassal, Turkish-Egyptian War Mehemet Ali of Egypt, broke out in May. In the face of new assurances of peace, the Sultan ordered his commander-in-chief of the Euphrates to commence hostilities. The Turkish troops crossed the Euphrates on May 23. In spite of the good counsels of Moltke and other European officers at the Turkish headquarters, the Turks were outmanœuvred by the Egyptian forces Battle of Nissiv under Ibrahim. June 24, Ibrahim Pasha inflicted a crushing defeat on the Turkish army at Nissiv. All the artillery and stores fell into his hands. The Turkish army dispersed in another rout. Mahmoud II. did not live to hear of the disaster. One week after the battle of Nissiv, before news from Abdul Medjid, Sultan the front had reached him, he died. The throne was left to his son, Abdul Medjid, a youth of sixteen.
Scarcely had the new Sultan been proclaimed when the Turkish admiral, Achmet Fevzi, who had been sent out to attack the coast of Syria, sailed Turkish fleet betrayed into Alexandria and delivered his fleet over to Mehemet Ali. Turkey, now practically rulerless, was left without defence, on land and on water. Mehemet Ali not only declared Egypt independent of the Porte, but, encouraged by France, prepared to move on Constantinople. In this extremity Anglo-French intervention the foreign Ambassadors at Constantinople addressed a collective note to the Divan, announcing European intervention. Shortly afterward a squadron of British and French warships sailed into the Dardanelles for the ostensible purpose of protecting Constantinople against Mehemet Ali, in reality to prevent Russia from profiting by the terms of its treaty of Unkiar Skelessi. In vain did Russia propose to join the coalition. The recent acquisition of Aden gave England the upper hand. Russian diplomacy French diplomacy offset accordingly directed itself toward effecting a breach between the allies. A good opening was afforded by the French intrigues at Cairo, which fell in with the ambitions of Mehemet Ali. As a result, France was gradually crowded out of the European coalition during the course of 1839.
At the French Salon of this year Decamps exhibited his celebrated Decamps "Punishment of the Hooks," "Executioners at the Door of a Prison," and "Children Playing with Turtles." Decamps with Delacroix, the leader of the French school of romanticism, was praised at this time for the exceeding charm of his colors.