Lord Palmerston, the British Foreign Secretary, in the meanwhile had compromised himself with his colleagues in the Cabinet by his independent threats of interference in regard to the Hungarian refugees in Turkey. Queen Victoria sent a letter to Prime Minister Russell containing these significant words: "The Queen expects to be kept informed by Lord Palmerston rebuked Palmerston of what passes between him and the foreign Ministers, before important decisions are taken based upon that intercourse; to receive the foreign despatches in good time; and to have the drafts for her approval sent to her in sufficient time to make herself acquainted with their contents before they be sent off." Lord Palmerston replied: "I have taken a copy of this memorandum of the Queen, and will not fail to attend to the directions which it contains." Some of the most troublesome foreign complications, as often before, first came up for settlement in the Colonial Office. Thus, in March a British force under Sir Harry Smith defeated a commando of Boers lose Orange Colony Boers at Boomplaatz. Other Boer forces were dispersed. The British flag was hoisted beyond the Orange River and the annexation of that territory to Great Britain was accomplished.
In India, war was renewed with the King of Burma. As usual, the trouble started with complaints of the British merchants at Rangoon calling for the Second Burmese war protection of their country. Lord Dalhousie sent Commodore Lambert to Rangoon on the "Fox." Lambert seized one of the ships of the Burmese king lying in the river, promising to restore it on receipt of ten thousand rupees as compensation for the injured merchants. In reply the Burmese opened fire on the "Fox." Now all Burmese ports were declared in a state of blockade. Lord Dalhousie sent nineteen steamers and 6,000 men to Rangoon under General Godwin. Rangoon was captured after a heavy cannonade. The Fall of Rangoon three terraces of the great Pagoda there were carried by storm, and the British flag hoisted over the golden dome of the sacred Pagoda. The capture of Rangoon was followed by that of Bassie on the Irawaddy, and Prome. The whole of Pegu was annexed to the British Empire.
In Australia great excitement was created by the discovery of gold in various places. As early as February, gold was found in New South Wales by Gold found in Australia returned gold seekers from California. A great number of immigrants rushed into that province. In July, a squatter on Meroo Creek found a mass of virgin gold weighing above a hundred pounds. Thereupon the famous gold fields of Ballarat were opened in Victoria. In October, gold discoveries were made near Melbourne surpassing all others. As a result of the great tide of immigration that swept into Victoria that province separated itself from New South Wales. Melbourne became the capital of Victoria.
In England, throughout the summer, a great international exposition in the Crystal Palace show so-called "Crystal Palace" erected on Hyde Park attracted visitors from far and wide. A special ode by Alfred Tennyson was sang at the opening:
|
Uplift a thousand voices full and sweet, In this wide hall with earth's invention stored, And praise the invisible universal Lord, Who lets once more in peace the nations meet, Where Science, Art and Labor have outpoured Their myriad horns of plenty at our feet. |
The Exposition was the most ambitious affair of the kind held so far. The building, which covered an area of nineteen acres, cost about £180,000. The total receipts of the Exposition were more than a half million pounds. At one time it was calculated nearly a hundred thousand visitors were assembled under its roof. The difficult problem how to place the exhibits of various countries was settled by awarding the choice places in an arrangement according to Mercator's projection of the map of the world. Even then Spain refused to be represented at the Exposition unless she were provided with an entrance distinct from that of Portugal.
Portugal was scarcely in a condition to share in any exhibition of industrial progress. Another outbreak of the persistent conflict between the Septembrists Civil war in Portugal and Cabralists broke out in April. An insurrection in Oporto declared for the fugitive Duke of Saldanha. On April 29, he arrived at Oporto. The movement assumed such threatening proportions that Queen Maria da Gloria dismissed Count Thomar de Costa Cabral, and made Saldanha Prime Minister.
In Portugal's former colonial possessions a civil war, no less wearing, was maintained. On October 2, General Urquiza of the Argentine Republic, having joined forces with Brazil and Montevideo, compelled General Oribe to South American convulsions capitulate at Montevideo. This ended the nine years' investment of Montevideo. Later in the year General Urquiza overthrew General Rosas at Montevideo and proclaimed himself military dictator. In Chile, about the same time that a violent earthquake wrecked more than four hundred houses at Valparaiso, a military insurrection broke out under Colonel Ourriola. In a sharp engagement between the government troops and the insurgents Ourriola with three hundred of his followers was killed. The insurrection was prolonged by General José Maria de la Cruz. Between four and five thousand men were killed in the desultory engagements that followed. At last the revolt was crushed by the decisive defeat of General Cruz in the battle of Longamilla.
In China, the threatening Taiping rebellion gathered force. In Siam, the unusual spectacle was beheld of the simultaneous enthronement of two kings as rulers of that country. The progress of modern civilization was attested by the opening of a steam Extension of railways railway in Egypt between the cities of Cairo and Alexandria. In Russia, too, a straight line of railroad was laid over the long stretch between St. Petersburg and Moscow, and work was begun on others no less ambitious.
The fears of unpleasant complications between the United States and Spain, American filibusters pardoned by reason of Cuban filibustering expeditions, were allayed by a general pardon extended to the American filibusters on the part of the Queen of Spain. On August 11, Lopez had landed with more filibusters in Cuba. He was captured shortly after his landing and was shot. The same fate was shared by his Cuban followers. Only to the American adventurers who accompanied American yacht victory the expedition did the Spanish Queen's pardon apply. An event of joyful interest to Americans was the victory of the American schooner-yacht "America" over all her English competitors in the yacht races at Cowes on October 22. She carried off the trophy of an international cup, which, under the name of the America's Cup, was destined to remain beyond the reach of English racing yachts throughout the rest of the century. Not long after this the visit of two distinguished Europeans excited general interest in America. One was Lola Montez, the famous Spanish dancer, whose Kossuth in America relations with King Louis I. of Bavaria had resulted in the loss of his crown. The other was Louis Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot, who had been brought from England on an American vessel. His reception in America surpassed even that which had been accorded to him in England. During this same year Death of Fenimore Cooper in America occurred the deaths of Audubon, the great naturalist; Gallaudet, the benefactor of deaf-mutes, and James Fenimore Cooper, the novelist. Cooper was born in Burlington, New Jersey, the son of a wealthy father, who settled on the shores of Lake Otsego in New York. After attending Yale College for three years, Cooper entered the United States navy as a common sailor. He was promoted after some time to the rank of midshipman and eventually to that of lieutenant. On his marriage in 1811 he left the service, and soon began his career as an author. His first novel, "Precaution," was not promising. In "The Spy," which appeared in 1821, he gave the first indications of his peculiar originality. It made Cooper's reputation as an American author. The knowledge that Cooper had acquired in his father's estate on the borders of the wilderness and later on the sea Cooper's novels was turned to account in his many tales of Indian life and sea stories, which took his contemporaries by storm. Most famous among them are: "Deerslayer," "The Last of the Mohicans," "Pathfinder," "Pioneers," "Prairie," and the sea tales "The Pilot" and "Red Rover." His strictures on American customs in "Homeward Bound" and "Home as Found" brought upon him much newspaper abuse. About the time of Cooper's death, Francis Parkman published his "Conspiracy of Pontiac," Longfellow his "Golden Legend," while Nathaniel Hawthorne brought out "The House of the Seven Gables."