War between Great Britain and China ended, Great Britain winning at all points, and reopening the opium trade. In the retreat from Kabul, Afghanistan, a British detachment and its followers were slaughtered in Khyber Pass, Dr. Brydon alone of fifteen thousand who started reaching Jelalabad, though a few who were captured were later freed. British envoys to Bokhara beheaded. Jelalabad, besieged by the Afghans, was relieved by the British, Kabul was recaptured, and Akbar Khan, leader of the insurgents, fled.
In Great Britain, Parliament rejected a Chartist petition for universal suffrage, etc., containing over three million signatures. A general strike was conducted by the Chartists; Feargus O'Connor, the leader, convicted of inciting to riot, but escaped sentence. Two attempts to assassinate Queen Victoria. Law passed by Parliament restricting the employment of women and children in coal mines. The bore of the Thames Tunnel was finished. In Algeria, the war went on, with several serious reverses for the French. The Illustrated London News, first publication of its kind, started. Luigi Cherubini, Italian musician; Marie Henri Beyle (better known as "Stendhal"), French novelist; Thomas Arnold, the famous head master of Rugby; and Allan Cunningham, Scottish poet, died.
RULERS—The same as in the previous year.
1843
Extradition treaty negotiated between the United States and Great Britain. Bunker Hill monument was dedicated. Annexation of Texas by United States was mooted, and Mexico, foreseeing war, proclaimed new constitution, and Santa Anna made himself virtually dictator. Charles Thurber, Worcester, Massachusetts, built the first practical typewriter; too slow to be generally adopted.
Scinde, Northwest India, annexed by Great Britain after a brilliant campaign by Sir Charles Napier, with victories at Meanee and Hyderabad. A revival of Mahratta resistance was crushed in December by Sir Hugh Gough in the battle of Maharajpore. Natal proclaimed a British settlement, after war with the Boers, who had set up a republic there. Some Boers submitted; others migrated beyond the Drakensberg mountains. Daniel O'Connell, Irish patriot, continuing his agitation for the repeal of the Act of Union, held mammoth meetings, and was arrested on a charge of seditious conspiracy. Free-trade movement grew in Great Britain, with Cobden and Bright leading. "Rebecca" riots in Wales against toll-gates. Active demands in Hungary for electoral and other changes favoring national interests of the Magyars. Carlist struggle in Spain, after years of sporadic outbreaks, ended with the assumption of power, by the young Queen Isabella, who swore to observe constitutional rule.
Robert Southey, English poet; Dr. Hahnemann, founder of homeopathy; Washington Allston, American artist; Francis Scott Key, author of "The Star-Spangled Banner"; and Noah Webster, American lexicographer, died.
RULERS—The same as in the previous year.
1844
In the United States, the annexation of Texas was the chief political topic. Tyler was a strong annexationist, but he failed during the year to get a treaty through the Senate. The slavery question and questions of keeping good faith with other countries were involved in the problem. Henry Clay's political aspirations went to wreck because of his vacillation concerning Texas. Anti-Mormon riots at Nauvoo, Illinois, resulted in the death of Prophet Joseph Smith; Brigham Young became leader. Samuel F.B. Morse, assisted by a Congressional grant of thirty thousand dollars, constructed a successful telegraph line from Baltimore to Washington. Copper and iron deposits discovered in Lake Superior country. Dr. Horace Wells, of Hartford, Connecticut, discovered "laughing gas." James Knox Polk elected President.