John Quincy Adams was overtaken by death in the midst of his career. On Death of John Quincy Adams February 21 he entered the House and took his seat. Suddenly he fell to the floor, stricken with apoplexy. As he was carried to the Speaker's room and was laid on a lounge, he feebly murmured: "This is the last of earth. I am content." He died on February 23.
John Quincy Adams's long career is unique in American history. At the age of eleven he accompanied his father on a diplomatic mission to Europe, and early acquired a knowledge of French and German. When barely fourteen he went to St. Petersburg as private secretary to the American Minister, Dana. At sixteen Adams served as one of the secretaries of the American His diplomatic career Plenipotentiaries during the negotiations resulting in the treaty of peace and independence of 1783. At the age of twenty-seven he was appointed Minister to Holland by President Washington, and afterward was Minister to Berlin and Commissioner to Sweden. After serving for some years in the United States Senate he was sent, in 1809, as Minister to Russia, where he remained till 1815. Then he was transferred to London, where he resided till 1817, when he became Secretary of State. His career as President of the United States and his subsequent Congressional life was honorable in the extreme. Yet Adams's biographer, Morse, has aptly said: "Never did a Morse on Adams man of pure life and just purposes have fewer friends or more enemies.... If he could ever have gathered even a small personal following, his character and abilities would have insured him a brilliant and prolonged success; but for a man of his calibre and influence, we see him as one of the most lonely and desolate of the great men of history."
During this year James Russell Lowell published his "Bigelow Papers," a James Russell Lowell humorous satire on the Mexican war in Yankee dialect, the "Indian Summer Reverie," and "A Fable for Critics."
On April 8, Gaetano Donizetti—who together with Rossini and Bellini formed Death of Donizetti the brilliant triumvirate of Italian composers in the first half of the Nineteenth Century—died in his native town of Bergamo. Donizetti composed his first opera, "Enrico di Borgogna," in 1819, while serving as a soldier in Venice. Three other operas followed quickly. His fourth, "Zoraide di Granada," was such a success that he was exempted from further military Early operas service in 1822. During the following six years he wrote no less than twenty-three operas, many of which were cheap imitations of Rossini. In 1880, stung by the success of Bellini, he wrote "Anna Bolena," which inaugurated his second more original period, which included "Lucrecia Borgia" and the immensely popular "Lucia di Lammermoor." The prohibition of his opera "Poliecto," while he was serving as a director of the Naples Conservatory, so exasperated Donizetti that he betook himself to Paris in 1838. There he brought out the "Daughter of the Regiment" and "La Favorita." After a few years he went to Vienna, where his "Linda di Chamounix," sung in 1842, achieved an immense success. Having returned to Prolific compositions Italy he was stricken with paralysis from overwork in 1845. He never recovered. Besides more than threescore of operas, Donizetti composed seven masses, twelve string quartets, and a host of songs, cantatas and vespers, as well as pianoforte music.
Another figure of world-wide renown was lost by the death of the French Death of Chateaubriand poet François René de Chateaubriand. Born at château Combourg in 1768, the scion of one of the noblest families of France, he received a careful education at château Combourg. Roaming about on the sea-shore and in the famous forest of Brezilien, the youth received his earliest impressions of the grandeurs of nature. Shortly before the outbreak of the French Revolution he was sent to Paris, where he received a commission in the royal army. It was then he published his first poem, "L'Amour de la New world inspirations Campagne," in the Almanach des Muses. Dissatisfied with the revolutionary turn of affairs, he resigned his commission in 1790, and journeyed to North America. There he travelled extensively, seeking poetic inspiration from the wilderness and the primitive customs of the Indians. After the downfall of King Louis XVI. and the French nobility, Chateaubriand hastily returned to France and joined the army of émigrés under Prince Condé. At the siege of Thionville he was wounded and went to England. By "Essay on Revolutions"the time Chateaubriand recovered he found himself in abject poverty, and had to spend his days in bed for lack of fuel. In England, he wrote his "Essai sur les Révolutions," in which he compared the recent rising in France to that of the English Commonwealth. On the fall of the Directorate he returned to "Atala" France, and became one of the editors of Fontaine's "Mercure de France." At the opening of the Nineteenth Century he published "Atala," an episode of his epic poem "Les Natchez," treating of the suicide of an Indian virgin, "Réné" who sought death rather than violate a solemn vow of chastity given to her mother. In 1802 appeared the second episode, "Réné," a subjective story treating of the hapless love of a sister for her brother, full of a French form of maladie du monde akin to Goethe's Weltschmerz in the "Sorrows "Genius of Christianity" of Werther." During the same year, Chateaubriand brought out his famous "Genius of Christianity, or the Beauties of the Christian Religion," which achieved an immense success. It won the approbation even of Napoleon, who appointed Chateaubriand to diplomatic posts at Rome and Vallis. The execution of the Duc d'Enghien was so horrifying to Chateaubriand that he forthwith resigned his appointments. After extensive travels through "The Last of the Abencerrages" Greece, Egypt and the Holy Land, Chateaubriand went to Spain, where he found inspiration at the Alhambra to write "Le dernier des Abencerrages." There, too, he wrote his story of "The Martyrs, or the Triumph of the Christian Religion," brought out in Paris in 1809. Less successful was his tragedy "Moses." In "The monarchy under the Charter" 1810, Chateaubriand published the famous political pamphlet "La Monarchie selon la Charte," which was made the basis of the subsequent royal constitution of France. On the restoration of the Bourbons he wrote another political pamphlet, directed against Bonaparte, which sent him into exile together with Louis XVIII. during the Hundred Days. On the return of Louis XVIII. he was made a member of State, a peer of France, and member of the French Academy. In 1820 he was sent as ambassador to Berlin and then to London, from where he was recalled into the Cabinet. Crowded The poet's political career out of the Cabinet by Villèle, he became one of the leaders of the opposition. In 1828, he went on another diplomatic mission to Rome. The rest of his life was uneventful. Shortly before his death he brought out his complete works, including his latest "Etudes Historiques." A posthumous work was his "Mémoires d'Outre-Tombe," containing the famous comparison between the characters of George Washington and Napoleon Bonaparte.
In the French Chambers, early in February, a great debate had been held on the Reform Bill. Guizot, the Prime Minister, held firm in his opposition to Paris reform banquet all the proposed reforms. It was now proposed to hold the reform banquet, that had repeatedly been prohibited and postponed, on February 22. The banquet was once more interdicted, and it was announced that any unlawful assemblage would be dispersed by force. Thereupon the banquet was abandoned. The evening papers declared that the deputies of the opposition had agreed to abstain from the proposed manifestation. A manifesto Ministry impeached published by the "Journal National" was the cause of a noisy demonstration in the streets of the 12th Arrondissement. The National Guards were called out. On the same day fifty-two deputies of the Left laid before the Chambers a bill of impeachment against the Ministry. The King and his advisers were in a state of blind security.
On the morning of the eventful 22d of February, the Parisian populace congregated by thousands near the Madeleine and the Rue Royale, shouting Street demonstrations "Vive la réforme; à bas les ministres!" and singing the "Marseillaise." No troops made their appearance; but encounters occurred at several points between the mob and the municipal guards. Still the day passed over without serious hostilities. On the next day, the National Guards of Paris were called out. Their cry, as they marched through the different quarters of the city, was "Vive la réforme!" This emboldened the leaders of the revolutionists. The members of the secret societies flew to arms; and in the skirmishes which followed between the populace and the regular troops, National Guard disaffected the National Guard everywhere interfered in favor of the former. Thus confronted, officers and soldiers hesitated to commit a general assault upon their fellow citizens. They allowed themselves to be reduced to inaction. The insurrection thus triumphed almost without actual strife.
The King at length became acquainted with the true situation. In the afternoon of the 23d, Guizot Fall of Guizot's Ministry tendered his resignation, which was promptly accepted, and published as an act of satisfaction on the part of the King to the demands of the people. Count Molé was charged with the formation of a new Ministry. It was now generally expected that tranquillity would be at once restored. But late at night the detachment of troops posted at the Office of Foreign Affairs was attacked by a band of rioters. The commanding officer ordered them to fire, and several persons in the crowd were shot Barricades erected down. Their dead bodies were paraded through the city. This spectacle raised the indignation of the multitude to the highest pitch. Fresh barricades were erected in all the most populous quarters of the city, and the soldiers, stupefied and panic-struck, renounced all further opposition to the revolt. The King now named Marshal Bugeaud to the supreme command of the whole military force at Paris. Molé having declined the task of constructing a Ministry, the King summoned Thiers to the head of affairs. Thiers' manifesto This statesman, in conjunction with Odillon-Barrot, immediately issued a proclamation announcing their appointment as Ministers, and stating that orders had been given to the troops to withdraw and abandon the contest. This gave the last blow to the monarchy of Louis Philippe. Marshal Bugeaud The last stroke resigned his command. The soldiers quitted their ranks, giving up arms and ammunition to the insurgents. The National Guard openly joined the masses of the people and marched with them upon the Tuileries. The catastrophe was now inevitable. Louis Philippe, feeling that all Louis Philippe succumbs was lost, signed an act of abdication in favor of his grandson the Comte de Paris, and withdrew to St. Cloud.
An attempt was made to obtain the recognition of the Duchess of Orleans as regent, and thus to preserve the throne to the heir of Louis Philippe, according to the terms of his abdication. The Duchess went to the Chamber of Deputies, holding by the hand her sons the Comte de Paris and the Duc de Mob invades the Chamber Chartres. They took their seats in front of the tribune. More than one member spoke earnestly in favor of the regency. In the midst of the debate the Chamber was invaded by a tumultuous throng of armed men. One of them was Arnold Böcklin, the Swiss artist, who subsequently rose to highest rank among the painters of the Nineteenth Century. Marie, a violent Republican, ascending the tribune, announced that the first duty of the Legislature was to appoint a strong provisional government capable of re-establishing public confidence and order. Cremieux, Ledru-Rollin and Lamartine in turn insisted on a new government and constitution to be sanctioned by the sovereign people. The proposition was hailed with tumultuous acclamations. The Duchess of Orleans and her children retired precipitately.
The Republicans remained masters of the field. A provisional government was Provisional Government formed forthwith nominated. It included the poet Lamartine, Ledru-Rollin, Garnier-Pagès and Arago. While the mob was searching the Hôtel de Ville these men conferred in a small out-of-the-way chamber behind locked doors. Louis Blanc, the great socialistic writer, and one Albert, a locksmith, were added to the provisional government. Every half hour Lamartine had to confront some new crowd of rioters preferring fresh claims. The confusion lasted several days. Throughout this time more barricades were thrown up, Fulsome promises until the government gained a breathing space by a promise to distribute one million francs among the laboring men. Louis Blanc and Ledru-Rollin signed another decree whereby they pledged the government to furnish every Frenchman with work. With the help of National Guardsmen, and an organized body of students, Caussidière, the new police prefect, succeeded at last in keeping the mob out of the Hôtel de Ville and the Palais Bourbon. On Proclamation of French Republic February 27, the Republic was formally proclaimed from the Place de la Bastille. The barricades were levelled and the crowds that had surged through the streets of Paris gradually dispersed. Throughout France the Republic was accepted without serious opposition.