\^f)JT^Pi THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES GIFT %a3AiNn3V^ -^OdlTOJO^^ 4^0F-CALIfO%. -^c^AHVHan-^^ ^•UNIVERX^/ aweuniver% PC ^«yojnv3-jov ^vl^S•AMCfR^ THE TREASURY OF HISTORY; BEING A HISTOHY OF THE WORLD: COMPRISING ^ (general i^istors, boti) !^ncicnt anb illobcrn, OF ALL THE PRINCIPAL NATIONS OF THE GLOBE. THEIR RISE, PROGRESS, PRESENT CONDITION, ETC. BY SAMUEL MAUNDER, AUTHOK OF "THE TREASURY OF KNOWLEDGE," "BIOGRAPHICAL TREASURY," ETC. TO WHICH IS ADDED, ' A COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES TO THE PRESENT TIME, INCLUDING ®l)e Catc toar mill) Mtxko, California, eti\ EDITED BY JOHN INMAN, ESQ. CJc tojole SnibellistjelJ tottl) Numerous SEnarabfnas, rtprcsentinfl JSattle Scenes. Coronations, processions, Costumes, &c,, ^c. IN TWO VOLUMES. V O L I T. NEW YORK: PRINTED BY HARPER & BROTHERS FOE HENRY BILL. 18 5 0. Entered, accordiug to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, by Harper 6c Brothers, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District' of New Yorii. CONTENTS OF VOL. II. THE HISTORY OF IRELAND. CHAPTER I. . CHAPTER II. CHAPTER III. CHAPTER IV. CHAPTER V. CHAPTER VI. lis 16 21 24 30 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. CHAPTER I.— Fii-st Settlement .49 CHAPTER II.— The House of Stuart . 58 CHAPTER III.— The reign of Mary.— House of Stuart 63 CHAPTER IV.— The accession of James the Sixth of Scotland, and the First of England . . , 71 CHAPTER v.— From the accession of Charles I. to the death of William III. 74 CHAPTER VI.— The Union of the two Kingdoms .... 76 THE HISTORY OF FRANCE. Gaul, imder the Romans 78 The Merovingian Dynasty, or First Race 80 The Carlovlngian Dynast}^, or Second Race 81 First Branch. — The Capetine Dj^nasty, or Third Race 81 Second Branch. — House of Valois 83 The House of Valois-Orleans , . . • 84 The House of Valois-Angoul^me 84 Third Branch. — House of Bom-bon 85 The French Revolution. — 1. The Limited Monarchy 8S> 2. The Republican Government 90 3. The Consxilar Government ••...... 93 VI CONTENTS. THE HISTORY OF SPAIN 112 TBE HISTORY OF PORTUGAL 14^ THE HISTORY OF GERMANY, comprifling the Austrian Empire, German States, &c. . I54 HUNGARY 1 164 THE HISTORY OF PRUSSIA 166 THE HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS, comprising Hollaku and Belgium 17J THE HISTORY OF SWEDEN, DENMARK, AND NORWAY. Sweden ; 186 Denmark I93 Norway 198 THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA 199 THE HISTORY OF POLAND 214 THE HISTORY OF SWITZERLAND 223 THE HISTORY OF ITALY 230 THE HISTORY OF VENICE 243 THE HISTORY OF ROME. Ancient Rome 256 The Roman Republic 263 The Roman Empire 271 Papal Rome, or States of the Church 280 NAPLES « .... 282 SICILY.' , . . . 285 CONTENTS. Vli THE HISTORY OF GENOA 287 THE HISTORY OF SARDINIA 288 THE HISTORY OF BAVARIA 289 THE HISTORY OF HANOVER . . 290 THE HISTORY OF GREECE. Chapter I . . 292 Chapter II . 296 Chapter III . 29D THE HISTORY OF THE OTTOMAN, OR TURKISH EMPIRE . . 311 The Rise and Progress of Mohammedauism 318 THE HISTORY OF INDIA 324 THE HISTORY OF PERSIA 344 ARABIA 3.52 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. Chapter I. .... . 3-51 Chapter II 359 Chapter III 365 Chapter IV 372 Chapter V. . . 377 THE HISTORY OF JAPAN 379 THE EAST INDIA ISLANDS. Ceylon 382 Sumatra 383 Prince of Wales' Island 384 Java 384 Borneo 385 Celebes 335 The Moluccas, or Spice Islands 336 The Banda, or Nutmeg Isles • • 387 The Plulippine Islands ... 387 y,i, CONTENTS. THE HISTORY OF PALESTINE, and more particularly of the Jews . 387 The State of the Jews since the Destruction of JeruBjdem .... 382 Armenia • • ^^^ Albania ^^ THE HISTORY OF EGYPT, with Stria 396 Alexandria 40? Antioch ^^^ THE BARBARY STATES 407 Alffiers 408 THE HISTORY OF AUSTRALIA AND POLYNESIA. Australia 413 New Holland 414 New Zealand 415 Polynesia 416 Ladrones, or Marianne Islands .416 Friendly Islands . .417 Society Islands 417 Sandwich Islands . . . . i 418 THE HISTORY OF ICELAND 419 THE HISTORY OF AMERICA 421 North America — Canada . . 422 Newfoundland 423 Greenland 423 Mexico 424 South America — Peru 426 Chili 427 Brazil 428 The Republic of La Plata, or United Provinces 429 Colombia 430 Bolivia 431 Guiana 431 Amazonia 43? THE WEST INDIA ISLANDS. Cuba 432 Hayti, or St. Domingo 433 CONTENTS Porto-Rico Barbadoes St. Chi-istophe Nevia Antigua Montserrat Jamaica . Martinique Guadaloupe St. Lucia St. Vincent Dominica Grenada Trinidad St. Eostatius Tobago . The Bahamas 's; or, St Kitts 437 438 439 439 439 440 440 442 442 443 444 445 445 446 446 446 447 HISTORY 0¥ THE UNITED STATES. CHAPTER I.— To the close of tiie Revolutionary War . . . .448 CHAPTER II. — The Administration of Government 462 CHAPTER III.— The War of 1S12-14 475 CHAPTER IV.— From the Treaty o£ Ghent to tke present time . . .499 OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE DIFFERENT STATES. Virginia (.37 New-York g^2 Pennsylvania ^^q Massachusetts Q^g New-Hampshire (j54 Rhode-Island g5g Connecticut fj.-jg New-Jersey f,f;0 Delaware pgl Maryland (;C>2 North-Carolina 664 Soath-Carolina 065 Georgia 667 Mame 669 Vermont 670 District of Columbia 671 Kentucky .., 672 Tennessee 673 Ohio fi75 Indiana 676 Illinois 677 Lonisiana •• 678 z CONTE.tl-a Mississippi 679 Missouri 680 Arkansas 682 Alabama 683 Michigan . . , 684 Florida 684 Texas 685 Iowa 686 Wisconsin . . . . 687 Oregon 687 «ketch of California 689 Governors of the States C90 General Viesv of Europe 690 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. V0LU3IE II. To face page City of Dublin, in the Time of Charles 1 13 City of Limerick 44 View of Kinsale 44 View of Carlisle 55 The Forth, from Cambuskenneth Castle 65 Castle of St. Andrew's 65 View of Perth 70 Stirling Castle 70 View of the Tyrol 96 View of St. Helena 103 The Chevalier Bayard 120 City of Utrecht 132 Namur 172 Hong Kong, from the opposite Mainland 354 Corpus Christi 590 Point Isabel 591 Fort Brown 594 View near Monterey 596 Charge at Buena Vista 607 Mexican Funeral 625 A SERIES OF SEPARATE HISTORIES, (CONTINUED.) THE HISTORY OF IRELAND. CHAPTER I. There is no other country in the world the history of which has been written and commented upon in so unjust a temper and tone as that of Ireland. And, strange to say, the persons who have been most frequently wrong in their statement of the evils of Ireland, and their proposals for remedying them, have been precisely those who have made the loudest professions of desire to serve her. It is not worth while to say how much of this mis-statement has arisen from their want of correct information, and how much from a deliberately bad spirit ; certain it is, however, that Ireland has few worse enemies than those who in ignorance or in evil temper attribute motives and feelings to England and English statesmen of which they are quite innocent, and who assign for Irish poverty and Irish suffering causes which have really had no part in producing them. Unwise laws of centuries long passed are quite coolly cited as proof of a partial tyranny of Ireland by England ; yet a single glance at English statutes, a single reflection upon the punishments which to a very recent date were allowed to disgust the wise and brutalize the bad, would show- that Ireland was not a jot less mercifully governed than Kent or York- shire, and that the cruelties of English law, whether administered in Lon- don or in Dublin, were no proofs of English dislike of Ireland. The early history of most countries is so uncertain, that but little more credit is due to it than to any other romance ; and when we read of the splendours of a country which during the whole period of its authentic history has been poor ; of the power of a country which during all the period of its authentic history has been divided, turbulent, and weak ; and of the learning and civilization of a country which even now has less of diff"used learning and civilization than any other country in Europe, it is quite consistent with the severest logic and with the utmost charity to look upon the relations of the historian as being founded rather upon fancy than upon fact. The best authorities agree in stating Ireland to have been peopled from the Spanish colonies of the partly trading and partly piratical Phoenicians, and this statement, credible from the unanimity of authorities otherwise conflicting, is still farther strengthened by the facts of the PhcBnicians having been well known to have traded largely with the British isles, and of the frequent finding, even at the present day, of ornaments and utensils which are indubitably of Phoenician manufacture. That gold and silver mines existed in Wicklow and some other parts of Ireland is asserted very positively, but we think with far more positiveness than proof; cer- tain it is, that a recent attempt to find gold in a district in which it was once said to abound, proved to be a complete and lamentable failure. IC 14 THE TREASURY OP HlbTORY as seems to be certain, Ireland was once colonized by individuals of a people so wealthy as the Phoenicians, that fact would at once account for the valuable articles so frequently recovered from the soil. But it by no means goes to prove that Ireland in the early ages could boast of either learning or civilization of the high order claimed for it. It is not the most refined or most learned class that will venture into far and foreign lands to war with the wild animals, to reclaim the morass, and to level the primeval forest. The hardiest, the rudest, the least civilized, those who have the most to hope for and the least to lose or to fear, are the men who usually go forth to colonize strange lands ; and the Phoenicians who seized upon Ireland as their abiding place, were in all human prob- ability the hardy and resolute rovers of the sea for many along and strife - ful year before they became dw^ellers upon and cultivators of the land. That they came from Phoenicia, a civilized, ingenious, and wealthy land, proves literally nothing as to their own civilization or their own wealth, as any one may perceive who will take the trouble to observe the majority of the colonists who leave the civilized and luxurious nations of our own day, to build cities in the desert, and to place palaces and thronged marts stored with costly wares, where, even within the memory of man, the dense forest sheltered only the wild animal or the scarcely less savage man. The Phoenician colonies of Spain were at once eager speculators and bold seamen; visiting the British coast as traders, especially in order to procure tin, they could scarcely fail to admire the soil and climate of Ire- land, and could have but little difficulty in subduing or destroying the mere handful of poor and all but actually savage aborigines, who must have been a mere handful, destitute as they were of commerce or manu- factures, and warring, as we know that they did at a much later date, with the wolf and the hill-fox who disputed the swamp and the forest with them. When historians tell us thai splendidly-manufactured and extremely costly articles are frequently excavated from the Irish soil, we do not dis- pute the accuracy of the statement, but we deny its cogency as proving that the early colonists of Ireland were learned, or civilized, or even wealthy. A magnificent ornament or a costly and ingenious machine taken from France or England to the arid desert of Africa or the swampy flat of the Swan river, would prove that the country had been visited by people from a wealthy and civilized land, but certainly not that the indi- viduals were themselves either the one or the other ; in short, as a gen- eral rule, the very fact of emigration would be decisive on the opposite state of the case. That the Phoenicians were the dominant people in Ireland — anciently called lerne, or Erin, which signifies the western land — and that the magi, or priests of the fire-worshippers of Persia, were the actual governing authorities, both lay and religious, as the Druids were in Britain, there is abundant proof. From the far East, indeed, Europe seems to have been supplied with its early superstitions, as well as with the fierce swarms of nomade and desperate barbarians, who, entering Europe on the north, at length found even the vast steppes and forests of Scandinavia too narrow for them, and whose furious assaults levelled cities and terminated the stern rule of ages, only, in the end, to found nations at once mightier in (jonquest, wiser in law-giving, and possessing, as it should seem, as great a superiority in permanency, as in extent, of empire. As the aborigines, if such existed when the Phoenicians colonized Ireland, had made way for a more civilized, wealthy, and luxurious people, so these in their turn were soon obliged to make way for or submit to a fiercer and more hardy people. The Scoti, one of those Scandinavian hordes, which under the various names of Northmen, Sea-kings, Danes, and Saxons, defied un- THE TREASURY OP HISTORY. 15 navigated seas and natural barriers to prevent them from overrunning the fairest and richest portions of Europe (b. c. 200), sent forth from the north of Spain, where they had been colonized, a powerful and fierce horde led by Milesius. Hence these Scoti are more commonly called Milesians; the term Scoti being generally confined to another swarm of the same fierce race, which at a later date endeavoured to settle, also, in Ireland ; but, unable to effect their purpose, departed northward, and founded the powerful Scots, who, now at war with the Picts and now in alliance with them against the comparatively civilized Britons, were so long noted for strength, courage, and perseverance, before they were famous for aught else ; and who taught even the Roman legions to respect them as foes, ages before they had any of those arts of peace which the Roman eagles had heralded into many other lands. That the vast immigrations which have changed the face of all Europe origmated in the east of the world, and that the north of Europe, by what ever tribes nominally peopled, was, in fact, but the resting-place and nui sery of such immigrants, very many circumstances go to prove ; but per- haps none more strongly than the general resemblance in both the politi- cal and the religious rule of tribes nominally and directly coming from distant parts and settling in distant parts. Thus we find that the Phoeni cians direct from the east of the Mediterranean strikingly resembled, in many points, both civil and religious, the Scoti or Milesians of the Span- ish coast who certainly had settled there from the north of Europe, where. it is nearly as certain, they had originally halted on their march from the eastern quarter of the world ; and these, again, in like manner resembled the Britons. Between the Magi of the Phoenician Irish, (those priests of the false faith of Zoroaster who were perfectly undisturbed in their rites, or rather who were continued in their power as priests, sages, seers, and statesmen by the fierce Milesians), and the Druids of Britain, there were so many and such striking resemblances, that the Milesians called their priests Magi and Druids indiscriminately. The dark grove and the un- sparing sacrificial knife of the stern and unquestioned priest marked both offshoots or corruptions of the fire-worshippers; and the mysteries, cruelties, and sacrifices, from the first fruits of the earth to the first-born child of the idolator's family, of the Druids were, with but such difference as long journeys and distant residence will easily and fully account for, the mysteries, the cruelties, and the sacrifices of the Magi too. The dreadful and fierce sacrifices of the Druids were put an end to in Britain by the Roaians; but, strange to say, that mighty and enterprising people seem never to have visited Ireland, where the Magi exercised their terrible rule quite undisturbed during all the long lustres of the Roman sway in Britain. Yet, geographically speaking, Ireland was well known to the ancients. The Greeks called it lerne, the Romans Hibernia; and It was also called the Holy or Sacred Isle, not, as has been with much defiance of chronology and common sense affirmed, on account of its ow- ing its Christianity to one of the immediate disciples of the great founder of our faith, but to the precisely opposite reason that it was notorious as the residence of the Magi, and as the scene of their terrible rites long after those rites had disappeared elsewhere before the all-conquering and all-reforming Roman. The Scoti, or Milesians, whether intermarrying with the Phosnician first colonies, or annihilating them, are the real ancestors of the Irish people ; and yet we are asked to believe in wealth, learning, and civiliza- tion, among this horde of semi-savages ; these contemporaries and co- equals of the other Scandinavian and Scythian hordes who, probably during ages, had been wandering by slow degrees and in savage guise from the steppes of Tartary to the forests of Germany, and from the bleak north, with its ice-chained rivers and piercing blasts, to the luxuri- 2 2 16 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 0U3 coasts of Spain and Portugal, and the voluptuous plains and rivers of Italy I These were the real ancestors of the Irish people ; these were the "ancient Milesians" and "Irish of the old time" in whose gold and gems, in whose piety, learning, and delicate breeding we are called upon to believe. Had Ireland been so learned and civilized at this early day, we should surely not be even now ignorant whether the round towers were Phoeni- cian temples or beacons for the Scoti, the Danes, and the other hostile settlers or piratical visitors of Ireland ; and had Ireland been so rich at that day, the Romans would never have left her in contempt and in un- visited security, while ruling and reforming Britain for nearly four cen- turies. We conclude this chapter, then, with stating and with begging particular attention to the statement — that the early history of Ireland is as fabulous in all that relates to glory, learning, wealth, and heroes, as any other early history whatever : that, in the case of Ireland this fabulous turn of early writers has been made the foundation of great injustice committed by later writers, and by orators and statesmen, too, as to England; that thoug)\ no doubt, English kings and their advisers in past days may have unwisely decreed or unjustly acted in Ireland, as in any other country, yet Ireland never began to be civilized, populous, learned, wealthy, or important, until connected with England; that English connexion has done much, and is still doing much, to make Ireland both prosperous and happy, and would do far more but for the fierce party spirit of some, and the equally fierce but still more disgraceful personal selfishness and ambition of others, which are constantly and throughout that torn land at work to perpetuate the grossest prejudices and the basest feelings. CHAPTER II. When the ancient kings and the ancient glories of Ireland are spoken of, inexperienced readers ^re apt to picture one king of Ireland swaying the whole territory from the Giant's Causeway to Cape Clear, and from Galway-bay to the Hill of Howth. This, however, was so far from being the case, that within that island there were five separate kingdoms, always jealous of each other, and frequently at open war. The five provinces or kingdoms of Ireland were Meath, Leinster, Munster, Connaught, and Ulster. The first named was considered the chief sovereignty ; at the hill of Tara, famed alike in true .history and bard's romance, which was situated in that kingdom, were the great assemblages of princes and chiefs ; and the other four kings were nominally tributary to the king of Meath, just as the tanists, or the chiefs of septs, in their respective kingdoms were to them. The bards, an idle, imaginative set of men, were not merely the diverters of the chieftain's hours of recreation and wassail; the chieftain's bard was also his recorder, aud we may cease to wonder at the exaggerations that have come down to us, when we consider that these marvels were originally said, sung, and written — if written at all — by men whose comfort depended upon the complacent feelings of him whose deeds they sang, and who, therefore, were under no very great temptation to observe a too rigid adherence to paltry realities. In one of the piratical excursions made by the Irish, Mac Nial, a petty king, landed on the coast of Brittany, and brought spoil living as well as dead, human as well as brute. Among the captives was a youth of some sixteen years of age, who, on arriving in Ireland, was sold as a slave and employed in herding sheep. This youth was the afterwards celebrated St. Patrick. Naturallv of a thoughtful turn, the mountain track and THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 17 forest glade in which his vocation caused him to spend much of his time deepened his meditative habits, and gave zeal and fervour to native re- ligious impressions. He looked upon the land and saw that it was good ; but he saw that it was peopled with idolaters and polluted by cruelties. Even amid the bitterness of his own situation, a slave and a captive in a 'oreign land, he felt that it would be a great and a Christian deed to open 'he eyes of the blinded among whom his lot was cast, and save their minds from the bondage of a false faith, and the lives of their first-born from feeing sacrificed in torture at the flaming altars of senseless and graven idols. Fortunately, Patrick had scarcely attained the age of manhood ere he escaped and got safely back to France, and for upwards of twenty years applied himself with diligence to learning, such as was then attain- able. I3ut neither lapse of years nor pride of cultivated intellect could banish from his mind the recollection of the state of the Irish, or his early determination to make the attempt, at least, to enlighten their minds and raise their social condition. A. D. 432. — Accordingly, in the year 432, when about forty-five years of age, he applied to the pope for permission to preach the gospel in Ireland. Such a permission was willingly granted, and Patrick, accompanied by a few French monks whom he had interested by his descriptions of the character and condition of the Irish, landed in Ulster, after an absence of nearly or quite a quarter of a century. The foreign garb and striking ap- pearance of Patrick and his companions filled the peasantry whom they first encountered with the notion that they were pirates, and preparations were made for driving them back to their vessels. But their quiet de- meanour, and the earnest and simple assurances given by Patrick, in the language of the peasants, that he and his companions had arrived on an errand of peace and good-will, speedily converted hostility into admiration and confidence. The hospitality of the principal people was heartily be- stowed upon the disinterested strangers, and Patrick and his companions presented themselves at Tara attended by a numerous and enthusiasiic cortege. The mild and venerable aspect of the preachers gave full weight to the sublime and benevolent doctrines which they propounded. King and people listened at first with interest, and then with full credence ; and in an incredibly short time idols and idol-worship became hateful to the people ; Christian doctrines were everywhere received, and churches and monasteries arose where flames had but recently licked up the blood of shrieking and expiring human victims of ferocious error. About the close of the eighth century the Northmen began to send as man/ as a hundred vessels laden with fierce warriors into the Boyne and LifTey. The monasteries, both as being the wealthiest places in the island, and as being the abode of the teachers of the faith of hated Charle- magne, whose prowess and whose sternness had made his name odious to the northern marauders, were the especial objects of their cupidity and vengeance. Built chiefly of wood, the monasteries when plundered were committed to the flames ; and crowds of terrified monks and nuns escaped from the swords of the enemy only to perish of hunger, or the inclemency of the weather, amid the woods and morasses. From conducting expe- ditions farther and farther into the bosom of the island, the northmen at length proceeded to attempt a permanent settlement. And early in the ninth century (a. d. 1816), they succeeded in planting a colony in the dis- trict of Armagh. Between this colony and the neighbouring Irish there were frequent and desperate struggles ; but about thirty years after it was; planted, Turgesius, a Norwegian of great fame and power among the northern pirates, brought a powerful fleet to its aid, carried death and dis- n:iay into all the accessible parts of the country, and assumed the title of knig of Ireland (a. n. 845.) Having erected strong forts on well chosen p:iris of the coast, he wielded his usurped authority most stcnly. The 2 18 THE TREASURY ClF HISTORY. native kings were made to consider themselves as his mere tributary tanists ; and upon each he levied a tribute, in the nature of a poll-tax, upon tlieir subjects, wliich, from the punishment of its non-payment being the amputation of the offender's nose, was ealied nose-money. Turbulent towards their own titular kings of Meath, it might have been expected that the singularly haughty chiei's of Ireland would be stung to desperation by the sweeping tyranny of a foreign pirate. Many attempts at throwing off his yoke were' unsuccessful ; but at length the art and intrepidity of O'Malachlin, an Irish king, put an end both to the reign and life of the usurper. As though the whole power of the north- men had been centred in one man, this death was the signal of a general rising of the Irish. The lukewarm grew zealous, and the timid brave: everywhere the Irish sword gleamed for Ireland, and the massacre of the northmen was so extensive that the country might once more be said to be free from all enemies; but this freedom was soon interrupted. In larger numbers than ever, with vengeance animating them, the hordes of the north poured in under three famous sea-kings, Sitric, Olaff, and Ivar. Waterford, Limerick, and Dublin were seized upon, and, as is generally ohservable, the energy of unprincipled conquerors gave a commercial and trading consequence to those cities such as they had never before pos- sessed. Merchants from foreign countries repaired thither, with articles of both use and luxury; and an observable impulse was given to the civ- ilization and refinement of the country, through the medium of the inva- ders to whom thousands of the inhabitants owed misery and death. In truth, the situation of the native Irish during this occupation by the Danes may be compared to that of the Britons under the early rule of the Sax- ons, so grapliically depicted by Bede. But neither the influence of the commercial spirit nor the foreign luxury introduced by the Danes, had the effect of subduing the Irish turbulence or courage. Even when, laying aside for a brief time their petty quarrels for local supremacy, they turned their arms against the northmen, their endeavours were more creditable than successful. But a king of Munster at length arose, to show thR northmen that the power of an invader is precarious, and may be shaken long after the most timid of his followers have ceased to fear, and all save the best and bravest among the oppressed have ceased to hope. A. D. 990. — Brian Borohme, whose talents and courage even romances scarcely rate too highly, was the king of Munster, contemporary with Malachi, king of Meath. The latter, though in title the chief kingdom, was at this time scarcely the superior of Munster, the kings of which oc- casionally asserted their equality by a refusal to pay the tribute. Though rivals, Malachi and Brian had one common feeling of hatred to the foreign rule of Ireland^ and the former, a brave and able general, was in a mere military point of view more completely the liberator of their common country than the latter. Disputes having arisen between the king of Meath and the Danes, who had now rendered Dublin very populous and wealthy, a battle took place between them in the vicinity of the hill of Tara, in which the Danes were so completely routed that they were glad 10 accept Malaehi's terms for peace. But Brian Borohme, conscious not only of warlike ability but also of capacity for civil rule, aimed at the sole sovereignty of Ireland ; Malachi, equally ambitious, resisted his preten- sions. A severe and passionate contest ensued, in which Malachi was subdued, and compelled, in that hall of Tara which for centuries had wit- nessed the supremacy of his ancestors, to do homage to the rival whom he had bravely though lucklessly resisted. Brian Borohme's first acts showed that, however blameable the course by which he had obtained the chief regal place, his genius was admirably adapted to it. Without losing time in idle show and ceremony, he at oiic't THE TREASURY OP IiISrORY. jg Bet ont on a tour of pacification, receiving the submission of the chiefs, and demanding hostages for the loyalty of those who had given cause for suspicion. Nor did he confine his cares to protecting himself; he also made laws preventing the people from being scourged by the cosherings of their rulers. His well known talents, and the sternness with which he imprisoned those chiefs who ventured to infringe his laws, had a salutary effect; and in his reign Ireland was a better ordered and more happy and peaceful country than it had ever before been. The strongholds and re- ligious houses, which had suffered so m.uch at first by the violence of the northmen, were repaired, and new ones founded. The Danes themselves, dreading to provoke him, busied themselves solely with trade, and did not for many years commit any violence. A.D. lOU. — The king of Dublin suddenly and without provocation led his northmen into the kingdom of Meath, plundering without limit, and murdering without mercy. As if to show that Irishmen were never to sec the misfortunes of their country without doing their part towards inflict- ing them, the king of Leinster joined his forces to those of the northmen. Malachi and Brian Borohme put themselves at the head of the other kings to oppose the host of foes that had thus suddenly sprung up. Rightly believing the native more guilty than foreign ones, Borohme dispatched a large force under his son Donough, to overrun the kingdom of Leinster. This service the old warrior judged his son could effect in three days, to which period he limited his absence. But treason was in the camp of the brave Eorohme, whose gallant son was no sooner beyond recall, than some deserter made the northmen aware how much the Irish were weak- ened by this detachment, and they at once forced a general engagement. Borohme formed his troops in battle array, and though four-score years had blanched his hair and abated his strength, he rode along the ranks and shouted his exhortations in the eloquence of which, in former times, he had so often witnessed the effect upon troops who had followed him to victory. Bearing a crucifix in his left hand, as he brandished his familiar sword in his right, he called upon them to follow where he should lead, and strike for the religion of the saints, with the firm hearts and vigourous arms of men who knew how to die as Christians, but never to submit to heathens in heart, name, or alliance. Shortly after day-break, on the 23d of April, the venerable king and warrior thus addressed his army, who responded to the address by commencing the fight, which lasted the whole day. As the shadows of night fell deeper, he was obliged to seek rest in his tent. At length the shouts of the Irish proclaimedlhat the foe was broken beyond hope, and the king's tent in the general joy, was left unguarded save by a stripling page. He was recognised by a flying party of the enemy a few minutes after, and in an instant his enemies were upon him; the loud shriek and feeble blow of the young page delayed the sacrifice not a moment ; Brian Borohme, the terrible in battle, the' wise in council, was slain, with many and ghastly wounds, even as he knelt in thanksgiving for the victory he had done so much towards obtaining for his country. The defeat of the northmen was complete at Clontarf. The invade.rs fled lotlieir ships and sought safety inflight; and the northmen who were nat- uralized in Ireland, despairing of any farther aid from beyond sea, had no recourse but to live in peace with their neighbours, with whom the inter- marriages of a few generations so incorporated them, that all distinction was lost between the two people. Malachi, who had bravely distinguish- ed himself on this occasion, was now by common consent called again to the chief sovereignty, which he enjoyed in peace and honour until his death. A. D 1023. — Full of years and honours, IMalachi expired in 1022 : and the death of that monarch was the signal for the renewal of those slianu'Tui 20 THE TliEASUltY OF HISTORY civil wars, from which the strong mind of Brian Borohme had so long kept the country free. The renown of Malachi had caused all the kings to hail him as the successor of Urian Borohme, but the relatives of those two princes could not so easil> igree as to the successor of the former. Many competitors appeared and sanguinary struggles ensued; but at length the field was cleared of all but two. These were Donough, king ol Munster, heir of Brian Borohme, and Turlough, great nephew of the lat- ter and nephew of the former ; both, it will be perceived, claiming in hereditary succession to him who had been to all intents an usurping king, however good and able. The struggle between these two princes was long; but Donough was vanquished, and almost immediately re- signed his kingdom of Munster, and set out on a pilgrimage to Rome. Arrived at " the eternal city," he entered into a monastery, and there ob- scurely finished his life. Turlough, on mounting the throne, proved that he inherited with it much of the ability and coui&ge of his great uncle, together with a double portion of his resolved self-will. Much as he owed to the inferior kings and chiefs, he imposed upon them unusually heavy tributes ; a tyranny the full weight of which was felt by the unfortunate kerne, or peasantry, from whom it was of course wrung by their tyrants. From the natives, Turlough turned his strong hand upon the northern settlers and traders. Even under the firm rule of Brian Borohme, these people were allowed to follow their peaceable pursuits, and their lowns had been governed by their own laws, administered by governors of their own race. One of these, Godfred, king of Dublin, was banished almost immediately after the accession of Turlough, who filled the vacancy with Murkentach, his own son. A similar tyrannic course was followed to all the Danish towns. At this period Ireland seems to have obtained con- siderable improvement as to wealth, if not refinement. Mention is fre- quently made of gold in payment of tribute, where formerly it was paid in kine ; and to its former exports of wheat, wool, hides, and cattle, we now find timber added. A. D. 1086. — After an active and generally prosperous reign, Turlough died. His kingdom was partitioned among his three sons ; the heredi- tary principle being set aside, but on this occasion with at least the colour of justice, inasmuch as the principle of equal division — though including the most distant male relatives — was that of the Brehon laws in the palmy days of the Magi. One of the sons dying, a contest arose be- tween the two survivors, Murkentach — already mentioned as succeeding Godfred the northman in the government of Dublin— and Dermot. The latter was defeated and driven into exile, and Murkentach now claimed and was about to assume the whole kingdom. But a rival was set up against him in the person of a chieftain of the old blood-royal, named Donald MacLoughlin, who was extremely popular among the princes DOth on account of his personal qualities and his descent ; and again the unhappy country was visited by a civil war. For eight years the old scenes of rapine and misery bade fair to undo all that invaders had done towards improving it ; and after all this strife and misery, the rivals agreed to divide the regal spoil between them. The southern moiety of the kingdom was given to Murkentach, and bore the title of Leathmogh, or Mogh's share ; and the northern moiety to MacLoughlin, and bore the title of Leath Cunnin, or Conn's share. Even this seemingly equitable arrangement did not restore a lasting peace. Perpetual encroachments were made by one or the other, and a series of sanguinary and mischievous battles terminated in the utter defeat of Murkentach, who retired from the contest in 1103, and sought refuge in a monastery, where he terminated his days. During Ihe obstinate struggle between the Irish kings, the coastward THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. jl parts of the country wererepeatedly annoyed by the Norwegian, Magnus. His prowess and audacity had possessed him of the Hebrides and the Isle of Man, and under the title of the Lord of the Isles he struck ter- ror and dismay far and near. Emboldened by the senseless dissensions of the Irish, he sailed up the Liffey, ravaging and destroying, and at length possessed himself of Dublin, where, having fallen into an am- bush, he lost his life. CHAPTER III. The various wars in Ireland did not prevent the island from being still divided into the five chief kingdoms of which mention has already Deen made. The titular chief royalty passed now to Roderic O'Connor, king of Connaught. But all his energies were required to enable him to govern Connaught, and he was incapable of either composing the dif- ferences of the other kings, or of uniting them all under his own au- thority. In a word, Ireland was in the 13th century as divided as ever it had been ; and only so far improved in wealth as to tempt ag- gression by exciting cupidity. Heathen Rome and Christian Rome alike had allowed the semi-barbarous people of the " sacred island " to fight and destroy at their own good pleasure. But the time at length came when Christian Rome, already enthroned as the arbitress of the temporal and spiritual princes of the earth, looked with a longing eye upon the fertile island on which prosperity had begun to dawn. Ireland's near and ambitious neighbour, Henry II. of England, it was who immediate- ly drew the attention of the pontiff to her value and capabilities. Attract- ed by the fertility of Ireland and its contiguity to his own kingdom, he applied to the papal court for its sanction to his subduing Ireland. A. D. 1116. — Pope Adrian III., who then filled the papal chair, was doubly glad to receive this request. An Englishman by birth, he was naturally anxious for the aggrandizement of his native country ; and, as pope, he could not but be rejoiced at having from the king of Eng- land this emphatic acknowledgement of the temporal as well as spiritual supremacy of Rome. The pope having shown that Ireland ought to be conquered, and that Henry is appointed conqueror, " exhorts him to in- vade Ireland, in order to extirpate the vice and wickedness of the natives, and oblige them to pay yearly, from every house, a penny to the see of Rome ; gives him entire right and authority over the island, com- mands all the inhabitants to obey him as their sovereign, and invests him with the fullest power, ' all for the glory of God and the salvation of the souls of men.' " The state of Ireland soon after this bull was issued, was precisely such as its foreign foeman might have desired it to be ; one of the in- testine brawls breaking out just then with even more than usual viru- lence and fury. Dermot Macmorrogh, the king of Leinster, who was remarkable for his gross immorality, had greatly provoked the chief men of his kingdom. Unaware or contemptuous of the general feeling that existed against him, he wantonly added to it by abducting the wife of Ororic, prince of Breffney, during her husband's absence. Prince Ororic, on his return to the bog island in which he had, as he imagined, secured the safety of his wife, was roused to the utmost rage by the information that Macmorrogh had made a descent upon it and forcibly carried her away. Morality at that time was so low, that nearly any man but the king of Leinster might have abducted his neighbour's wife, without run ning serious risk of incurring enmity or censure beyond that of the injured husband and his immediate friends and followers. But Macniorrogh's 22 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. character was so generally detested, that the prince of Bretiney met with warm and unusual sympathy. Among those wlio hastened to assist him was Rodcric, king of Connaught ; and so powerful a force was speedily led to the punisliment of the ravisher, that he was fairly driven from the territory he had so scandalously misgoverned. Chastised but impenitent, the exile went to France, where Henry II. oT Kngland then was, and solicited his aid. Delighted at having an additional excuse for his meditated invasion, Henry affected to give full credence to the version of the story which it suited Macmorrogh's purpose to <.ell; especially as he offered, if restored to his kingdom, to hold it as vassal of the English crown. Just at that moment, however, Henry was too busily engaged in Guienne in quelling the rebellious spirit of his French subjects, to be able to go personally to the aid of his Irish supplicant. Nevertheless he cordially promised him puissant support, and furnished him with letters-patent by which all subjects of the king of Kngland were empowered and encouraged to aid the exile king of Leinster in his attempts to recover his dominion. With this important document Dermot ]\Iacmorrogh hastened to Bristol to raise a force. For a time, however, ho found even the king's letters-patent insufficient to induce men to volunteer for Ireland, where, according to the general notion, hard blows were likely to constitute the principal booty. It is likely Macmorrogh would have been still longer without reaping any benefit from the king's letters-patent, had he not fortunately met with a ruined noble of the house of Clare, who by a furious course of pleasure and extravagance, had so re- duced himself, that he would gladly have shared in even a less promising adventure. E-ichard, surnamed Strongbow, earl of Strigul, was easily induced to etiter into the cause of the king of Leinster, on being promised his daughter Eva as a wife, with a present portion and the reversion of the father's dominion. Having secured this potent ally — for Strongbow was a good and approved soldier — Macmorrogh left his new ally and proceeded to Wales, where by liberal promises he produced two other allies, Maurice Fitzgerald, and Robert Fitzstephen, constable of Abertivi. Having thus secured abundant aid, he made arrangements for future proceedings with the three leaders, and then clandestinely re-entered his kingdom of Lein- ster, and secreted himself in the monastery of Femes, of which — so little had the founding of monasteries at that time to do with religious feeling — this tyrant and ravisher was the founder. It is probable that Dermot Macmorrogh had only his own revenge in view when he sought the protection and aid of the English king. Yet when he thus proposed to introduce foreign troops into Ireland, and, like Count Julian of Spain, who introduced the fierce Arabs into his country, called the foreigners to look at once upon the fertility and the feeblness of the land, it seems scarcely possible he could have been wholly without a presentiment of the natural result. Robert Fitzstephen, with thirty knights, sixty esquires, and three hundred archers, was the first of the friends of Dermot to make his appearance in Ireland. The archers, besides being completely armed, were for the most part men who had seen service, and their compact and orderly march struck terror wherever they appeared. Ten knights, thirty esquires, and sixty archers having, under the leadership of Maurice de Prendergast, joined this force, an attack was was made upon the town of Wexford, which had been greatly improved and was chiefly inhabited by a party of Danes. The town was carried, and here the adventurers awaited the arrival of Maurice Fitzgerald. He joined them soon after with ten knights, thirty esquires, and a hundred archers; and the whole force of the adventurers was now fully equal to the task of defeating any force that Ireland could draw to one point. Rodcric, king of Connaughtj who had taken so signal a part in expelling THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 23 Ihe guilty and detested Macmorrogh, made a gallant resistance, but was beaten at all points ; and Macmorrogh now, looking beyond the mere restoration of the authority from which he had so deservedly been driven, began to project the dethroning and exile or death of Roderick, and his oivn elevation to the dignity of chief king of Ireland. . While these things were being enacted, Strongbow had made his way to Normandy, where, as we have before said, Henry 11. at that time was. Though a gallant knight, Strongbow too well knew the waywardness of his royal master, not to feel anxious for a more direct and personal per- mission to act; lest he should by chance run counter to the king's private wishes while acting under his openly-expressed authority. Henry con- firmed in person the permission given in the letters-patent, but did so with a coldness and ambiguity which showed him by no means over pleased with the success of the king of Leinster. Having first dispatched Ray- mond, with seventy archers, who made good their landing in spite of three thousand Irish by whom they were furiously attacked near Waterford, Strongbow himself soon afterward landed with two hundred horse and a body of archers. Having secured Waterford, Strongbow led the English force to Dublin, which place they carried by assault. Roderick, king of Connaught, enraged at the prowess of the English, put to death a natural son of Macmorrogh's, who was one of the seven hostages held by him. Both at Waterford and Dubhn, the triumph of the English and their treacherous ally was also marked by circumstances of awful barbarity. Has;9ulf, the Danish governor, with his wife and children, were fortunate enough to escape from the sack of Dublin ; but the slaughter among the common 'Y'eople \vas frightful. Strongbow now received, as had been stipulated, the hand of Eva, the natural daughter of Macmorrogh; and this latter personage dying shortly afterwards, Strongbow became pos- sessed of the kingdom of Leinster, and prepared to cstend his possession to the whole of Ireland. Roderick, instead of hastening to the relief of Dublin, employed thai critical time to arrest the progress of the English in a desultory expedi- tion into Meath. He now became sensible of the error, and being joined by other Irish princes, advanced with thirty thousand men — an immense army for Ireland at that time — to besiege Dublin.. But Strongbow wa? not a man to be pent within the walls of a beleaguered city. At the head of ninety knights, with a proportionate number of men-at-arms, he sallied out and inflicted such a sanguinary defeat upon this large but undisciplined host, as to impress all Ireland with an opinion that the English were ab- solutely irresistible. 'Just at this juncture the brave Fitzstephen, who had been closely hemmed in at Carrick, sent to entreat aid of Strongbow. The latter hastened at once to the support of his friend ; but before he could arrive Fitzstephen had allowed himself to be tricked out of his liberty. A messenger sent by the people of Waterford, to whom he was especially obnoxious, informed him that Roderick had taken Dublin ; that Strongbow, Fitzgerald, and other knights of name had perished, and that Roderick was now marching towards him with the avowed determination to spare neither sex nor age of the English. Fitzstephen, confident that a barbarous country like Ireland would be easily subdued, had brought over his wife and children with him, and was now, on their account, struck so with terror, that he readily gave credence to the intelligence. The messenger perceiving the impression his false tidings made upon Fitz- stephen, persuaded him to allow him to guide him to a shelter, together with his family and immediate foliovv-ers. In an evil hour his anxiety for the safety of his wife and children caused him to abandon the strong fort j«s which he could, at the v/orst, have held out for some time, and place 'imself and family in the hands of his bitterest enemies. He discovered nis error almost as soon as he had committed it. Many of his most 24 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. valued followers were put to death on the instant, ^A/hile he and the rest were committed to prison and closely guarded, liut how greatly was his chagrin increased when he heard of the splendid success of Slrongbow at Dublin ; and that he was hastening to Carrick for the express purpose of affording that aid which Filzstephen'sown precipitancy had now rendered jseless. The people at Waterford, well knowing what fate they might pxpect should they fall into the hands of the terrible Strongbow, gathered up every portable part of their property, set fire to the town, and then, carrying their prisoners with them, took shelter in a little island near Waterford harbour. Thither Strongbow pursued them, with threats of taking the most signal and terrible vengeance; but just as he was about to attack the island, he was induced to depart by solemn assurances that the landing of his first man should be the signal for striking off the head of every English prisoner. Henry II., as soon as the state of affairs would admit of his doing so, was on his way to Ireland at tlie head of a numerous force. Strongbow hastened to England and met the king in Gloucester, where he had as- sembled a very powerful force. Henry at first refused to admit Strong- how to his presence ; but on the earl urging that he could clearly show that, in all he had done, he had acted solely for the king's service, and that he would not even stir a step in the Irish expedition until he had received a particular permission from the king, he was admitted. And he boldly affirmed, on being admitted to the royal presence, that he aimed at Irish conquest only for the king's service, and that for himself, he should be content with whatever reward his royal master might deign to bestow upon him. Pacified dy a submission so complete, and seemingly so dis- interested, the king accepted the surrender of Dublin and all other ports and fortresses conquered or to be conquered in Ireland ; and granted to the earl and his heirs for ever, all his other Irish acquisitions to be held as fiefs of the English crown. A. D. 1171. — The conciliatory policy of the shrewd earl having thus averted the storm of royal wrath in which he and his fortunes would otherwise have probably suffered shipwreck, Henry hastened his prepara- tions, and, accompanied by Strongbow, landed at Waterford about the middle of October. The large force by which the king was accompanied, and the gallant appearance of the knights, armed cap-a-pie, procured him a degree of respect from the natives which they probably would have withheld from the name of king, which was too common among them to have much of that prestige which attached to it elsewhere. No opposi- tion was made to his landing, and as he progressed through the country, kings and chiefs flocked to him to tender their homage. To each who thus came to surrender his possessions and authority, Henry instantly restored both on the easy condition of homage being done and vassalage confessed. Even Roderick O'Connor, the original opponent of Dermot, peaceably submitted, and without a single battle Henry II. of England became also king of Ireland. Having held a council at Cashel, in which special provisions were made for the support and protection of the clergy, upon whose exertions the king well knew that the peaceable maintenance of his authority would depend, and in which a variety of other laws for the regulation of marriage, wills, and succession of property were propounded, the king proceeded to celebrate the feast of Christmas at Dublin. The city possessed no apartment large enough to serve for the royal banquet- nig room on this occasion, but a temporary pavilion was erected, in which Henry feasted O'Connor and the other principal Irish princes in a style of profuse and costly hospitality such as they had never before witnessed. The king appointed a lord-high-constable, an earl-marshal, and a high steward ; and distributed vast tracts of Irish territory among English no- bles, but on the strictest feudal principle. Thus, for instance, by wr.y of THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 25 preventing the great possessions of ,Strongbow from beir.^- predominant in Ireland, the king gave the whole of Meaih, so long the beat of the chief Irish royalty, to Hugh de Lacy and his heirs forever, on the tenure of fifty knights' service. Having thus provided for the future government and security of Ireland as an integral part of his dominion, and made such minor arrangements as chanced to occur to his mind or to the minds of his advisers, Henry departed from the scene of his easy conquest — if con- quest, indeed, that could be called in which he never had occasion to strike a blow — in April, 1172, having been in Ireland barely six months ; and on landing in Wales, proceeded immediately to St. David's church to return thanks for a success of which he seems to have felt all the importance. CHAPTER IV. A. n. 1172. — The profuseness with which Henry had parcelled out Irish lands among English soldiers, and the jealous rigour with which each English pale or settlement repressed the slightest Irish disturbance, soon caused deep and fierce hatred. While the king and his formidable army remained, the Irish affected the most cordial feelings ; nay, perhaps, while the king's presence acted as a check upon the haughty tyranny of the conquerors, the conquered actually did entertain the hope of being allowed to live in peace and good-fellowship. But the king had no sooner departed than the fiercest animosities began to display themselves. The natives, especially those who were in the immediate neighbourhood of the palati- nates, and who therefore were especially subjected to the insolence and oppression of the English, looked with detestation upon these possessors of countless acres which they had forcibly wrested from the rightful in- heritors. From murmurs they proceeded to actions ; rebellions on the one hand and unsparing severity on the other, ensued ; and again this luckless land seemed doomed to long centuries of petty but ruinous wars. Strongbovv was the principal man among the new comers, and was known to be the soul of their councils; so against him the animosity of the natives was especially directed. To render his situation still more perilous, his own followers, who, justly or not, had acquired so much through his daring and skill, began to show strong symptoms of insubor- dination. His appearance was hailed with less cordiality; his orders obeyed with less promptitude. A chief cause of this among the English soldiers was the strictness of Fitzmaurice, who had the immediate com- mand. He was a good soldier, and being desirous that the natives and the English should, for the sake of both parties, live in peace and the mu- tual performance of good ofl[ices, he strictly forbade all plundering and brawling, to which the English showed themselves only too prone. This strictness, which the licentious soldiery considered all the more unreason- able, inasmuch as they were most irregularly paid, at length led to an openly-expressed determination of the soldiers to abandon Ireland alto- gether, unless the command were taken from Fitzmaurice, and given to Kaymond le Gros, an officer who was altogether popular among them. Raymond le Gros, perceiving how important his support was to Strongbow, ventured to ask the hand of that nobleman's sister Basilia, a very beautiful woman, of whom Raymond had long been enamoured, but whom his com- naralively humble fortune would probably never have allowed him to seek in marriage, but for the adventitious importance into which he was lifted by the mutinous spirit of the soildery. Strongbow was fa.- loo acute not to be aware of the delicacy and even peril of his 9itu?,fion; b*U he was pround as he was brave, and without hesitation refused A?syirvOMd both the hand of the lady and constableship of Leinster, which he clso demanded. 26 Tllii TREASUllY OF IIISTOIIY. Raymond immeaiately embarked, taking a considerable portion of the army with Iiim. Their departure was the signal for an outbreak of the natives: while the English were so nuu-h wc^akened by the sudden loss of so Vdrge a body, lliat Strongbow found it necessary to dispatch a mes- senger to Le Gros, who had landed in Waies; promising that his double demand should be immediately complied with if he would return with the soldiers. He did so at a most critical moment; arriving just in time to save the garrison of VVaterford, of whom the Irish had vowed not to spare a man. Le Gros received both his bride and his appointment, and then hurried to meet a vast force of Irish whom O'Connor was leading against Dublin. As usual, the superior discipline of the English overcame the tumultuous though brave Irish. liodcrick sought safety in flight, and Raymond le Gros indulged his victorious followers in all the disorders of semi-barbarous w'arfare. Though defeated on this particular occasion, O'Connor was not subdued. Often routed, he as often gathered his wild followers to a head again, and his persevering and desultory attacks defied even the skill of the brilliant Le Gros. At length O'Connor entered into a new treaty, by which he engaged to hold his rightful dominions as the liege vassal of the king of England; and in consideration of his having the chief sovereignly of Ireland exclusive of the English pale, he under- took to secure the peaceable conduct of the other native princes ; to whom Ilenry assured the' peaceful enjoyment of iheir respective territories on condition of their regular payment of tribute, consisting of a hide for every ten head of cattle slaughtered. Roderick O'Connor, therefore, was king, in vassalage to England, of all Ireland except the English pale, which in- cluded Dublin, Waterford, Leinsler, Meath, and the whole extent of coun- try from Dungarvon to Waterford. A. D. 1175.— Strongbow died in 1175, leavinghis daughter Isabel de Clare heiress to his immense wealth, with the exception of certain lands with which he endowed the priory which, in compliance with the quasi devout spirit of the age, he had founded at Kilmainham. At the death of Strong- bow a new governor, Fitz-Adelm, went to Ireland. In his train was a knight, of no great previous notoriety, named De Courcy, who, in pursu- ance of a singular fancy, lighted up the flames of war in a part of the country which amid all the recent bloodshed had remained at peace. Lying towards Scotland, and being inhabited chiefly by Scotsmen and shepherds, the province of Ulster might have long remained undisturbed, but that a headstrong English knight conceived the plan of fulfilling au Irish prophecy, at no matter what expense of blood, Scotch, English, or Irish. The prophecy ran that Ulster should be conquered by a knight from over sea, riding on a white horse and bearing birds on his shield. De Courcy had come from over sea; he speedily provided himself with a white horse, and though his shield bore not birds but bees, yet as the lat- ter as well as the former have wings, he was decidedly of opinion that he was tout-a-fait the very knight alluded to in the prophecy! And to this mere w'him of a foreigner, who in more sober times w^ould have been laughed at as a coxcomb, or shut up as a dangerous lunatic, the unhappy people of Ulster were to see homes and lives sacrificed. In despite of the express prohibition of the governor, Fitz-Adelm, De Courcy mustered a numerous band of followers, and with pennant flying, and trumpets sounding, galloped at day-break into the streets of Down- patrick, the capital of Ulster. The pope's legate. Cardinal Viviani, uho was in that province, endeavoured to dissuade De Courcy from violence; but the cardinal's eloquence was powerless against the prophecy. The cardinal then becoming indignant at the senseless and unprincipled con- duct of De Courcy. advised the king of Ulster, O'Neil, to oppose him in arms. In the first engagement O'Neil was defeated, but subsequently De Courcy, though generally successful in pitched battles, was frequeatlr THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 37 reduced to great straits ; and on one occasion he only escaped capture — which in his case would have been inevitable death — by flying before hia enemies for two days and nights, without other sustenance than water and wjld berries. The petty and mischievous warfare which De Courcy had commenced m Ulster naturally led to similar disturbances in other parts. Fitz-Adelm, the governor, was detested ; and Henry imagining that a more popular governor would perhaps succeed in restoring and preserving the peace of the country — a peace whicli was indispensable towards making the pos- session of the country a source of revenue to England — removed Fitz- Adelm, and gave his post to Hugh de Lacy, the lord of Meath, whom he instructed to take all possible means to couciliate the natives, but at the same time to exert himself in the erection of castles sufficiently strong and advantageously situated for the defence of the English pale. Nor did the king's efforts to secure the peace of Ireland stop even here. He ap- plied to Rome for permission to crown his son Prince John as king ol Ireland, though of course in vassalage to li^ngland. The court of Rome, which even only with reference to Peter-pence, and still more with refer- ence to future contingencies, had a deep stake in the tranquillity and pros- perity of Ireland, readily gave the permission required. But, whether from already perceiving something of John's real nature, or from some other unexplained feeling, the king did not avail himself of it, but merely sent him over as lord of Ireland, where the prince arrived in the year 1185 Prince John was at this period about nineteen years of age. Arrogant, hejrlless, and destitute even of the prudence which would have taught him to imitate the affability of manner by which his father had contrived to conciliate the testy but warm-hearted chieftains, John by his first act disgusted those who approached him for the purpose of renewing their allegiance to the English crown. The flowing yellow garments and long hair and beards of the Irish presented a very odd appearance, no doubt ; though, as the Irish were a singularly well and powerfully made race, one would imagine that the peculiarities of costume tended to make their ap- pearance imposing rather than ludicrous. But when they were intro- duced to Prince John, who seems to have been surrounded by persons as young and ignorant as himself, they were received with peals of laugh- ter, and some of the boy-courtiers are said to have gone so far as to pull the beards of these fiery and veteran warriors. The Irish nature was precisely such as it would be safer to injure than to insult. Burning with rage, the chieftains departed with the deepest determination to leave no eflort untried towards shaking off the English yoke. They who had been tlie most sincerely desirous to show themselves faithful to the absent king of England, now joined those of their fellow-countrymen who were already in arms against him, and an insurrection of the most extensive- description fjorthwith broke out. The English army, beaten at various points, was in a measure destroyed, and the Irish even made themselves a passage into the English pale, plundering and burning many of the houses and butchering the inhabitants. So extensive was this revolt, and so deadly the animosity felt towards John, that it is likely Ireland would have been wholly lost to England, had he longer continued in that island. Fortunately, genuine information, not always procurable by even the most powerful kings, reached the ears of Henry, and he instantly recal- led his incapable son and gave the government to De Courcy, earl of Uls- ter. He, probably, combining both civil and military talents, and possess- ing enormous property and proportionate influence in Ulster, was the fi.ttest man then in Ireland to overcome the difficulties and danger conse- quent upon Prince John's absurd conduct. Hugh de Lacy, who had for- meriv replaced Fitz-Adelm, would have been a still more efficient gover I'or, but he had recently been murdered in cold blood, by an Irish labourer 23 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. while supcrimeiiding the building of a castle in his lorc^ship of Meath. De Courcy, well knowing the propensity of Irish princes to make war upon each other, so skilfully exerted himself to foment quarrels among them, that he easily broke up their league; and, at once separated from their common object, they weakened each other so far that he had but little difficulty in quelling tlicir desultory attacks upon the English. A. D. UH9. — Henry the Second, after a reign of thirty-five years, the latter portion of wliich had been tormented by the unnatural misconduct of liis sons, died on the (5lli of July, and was succeeded by the renowned king Richard the first. Attached to warfare, Richard was more anxious lo humble France, or to lead an army against the far-distant hosts o( Heathenesse, than to improve a conquest already made in his own neigh- borhood. He left Ireland wholly unnoticed ; yet it was in his reign that the final annexation of Ireland to the English crown may in some sort be said to have taken place; as in the year 1198 O'Connor, the last native king of Ireland, expired in the monastery in which for thirteen years he had^livcd in peace. As he was the last Irish king, so was he the first of them who had the sagacity to perceive that the great source of Irish weakness and misery was ignorance. Though monasteries and their inhabitants existed in very evil abundance, the great mass of the people were in the most deplorable stale of ignorance. Roderick O'Connor ex- erted himself to establish schools, especially in Armagh; and by that wise act deserved an admiration which, unfortunately, the world is more willing to bestow upon the king that leads in war, than upon him who points^fhe road to civilization and happiness. De Courcy, by nature restless and ambitious, availed himself of the neglect shown to Ireland by Richard, and made war and took spoil at his own pleasure; and when, in 1199, John succeeded to Richard, De Courcy had the boldness to refuse to acknowledge him as sovereign. As the matter really stood between John and his nephew, Arthur of Brittany, his claim was open to question. But powerful as De Courcy was in Ire- land and against Irish chieftains, he soon discovered that he had overshot his mark in venturing to beard the king of England, even in the person of so contemptible a man as John was. De Courcy, in the life-time of Richard, had given offence to Prince John by the contempt with which he had treated all the prince's orders having relation to Ireland ; and John, now that he had come to the throne, resolved to curb the proud vassal. De Courcy was accordingly arrested and sent to England. How or when he died is not known, but it is certain ho never returned to his Irish possessions ; and even his lordship of Ulster was taken from him and bestowed upon Hugh, the son of Hugh de Lacy, the murdered governor. Though anything but warlike in disposition, John made an expedition to Ireland ; less, it would seem, for the sake of putting an end to the dis- orders which existed there, than as an excuse for leaving England while the minds of his subjects were alarmed and irritated by the tremendous effects of the papal interdict. Attended by a powerful army, he was speedily waited upon at Dublin by twenty of the most powerful chieftains, ■who did homage and took the oath of allegiance. Anxious now to con- ciliate, as formerly he had been hasty to offend, he made many presents among them ; and we may take it as a proof that these brave chieftains Avere even yet not far removed from barbarism, when we learn that of all the presents he made them, they were most dehghted with a quantity ot scarlet cloth. The reader is aware of the important law regulations which were made in England during the reign of John ; all tnese were equally extended to Ireland, as were the provisions of that great political blessing — magna charta. But these benefits, though actually conferred upon afl, were enjoyed only by the English in Ireland ; the turbu^'^'nce -wid THE TREASURY OF l?i3T0RV. 25 indomitable prejudices of the dwellers beyond the Enelish pale, makinj ihem look with contempt upon all liberty and enjoyment procured other wise than by force of arms. Where the barons from Kngland subduec Iracts of country and subjected the inhabitants to the feudal law, those inhabitants undoubtedly enjoyed the same imperfect liberty as Knglish men of the same rank ; and nothing can be more grossly unjust than Ic represent as a consequence of English partiality, that difference betweep the people which really arose from the fierceness of the Irish themselves A. D. 1216. — John, whose attention to Ireland was but temporary, was now succeeded by Henry III. The reign of this prince extended to fifty six years ; and the weakness of his character unfitting him to contend with the bold and restless barons of his time, made the struggles of Eng land more than enough to employ him ; and Ireland was consequently left to be scourged by constant wars between the Irish people and their English rulers, the latter of whom still farther increased the confusion by fierce and frequent contests among themselves. How desperate the con- dition of the country had at length become, may be inferred from a peti- tion of the Irish people to Edward I., in which they implored him to com- pel the barons to administer the laws equally whether to English or Irish vassals of his majesty, and to compel the extension of all English laws and customs to the whole Irish people. Utterly heedless, it would seem, of the fact that, as far as decree could avail, all this had been done in the reign of John, and that it was the people themselves who prevented prac- tice from being assimilated to theory ; yet sensible of the existing evils, though blind to their real causes, they offered to p»ay the sum of eight thousand marks to the king as the price of his rendering them this great service. He made an order accordingly ; but the order of the great Ed- ward was as ineffectual as that of the mean John, when opposed to the prejudices of a people at once brave, restless, and ignorant, living in a state of society provocative of injustice and tyranny. The war in which Edward I. was engaged with Scotland compelled him to summon his barons from Ireland, and during their absence the na- tives made frequent and destructive attacks upon the English pale. The death of Edward enabled the celebrated Robert Bruce to seat himseli firmly upon the throne of Scotland. Knowing how ardently the Irish desired to throw of the English yoke, and judging how important he could make them in diverting the attacks of tlie English from Scotland, King Robert Bruce in the year after his accession to the Scottish throne, (1315) sent his brother Edward into Ireland with a well equipped army of six thousand men. He was received with open arms as deliverer, and took upon himself the title of king. His brother soon afterwards landed in Ireland with a still more powerful army. But just at this time there was an absolute famine in both England and Ireland ; and the latter country, suffering under the effects of long civil war as well as of the bad season, was still more terribly destitute than the former. The most splendid successes of war could avail nothing against famine. Reduced to feed upon the horses as they died of actual hunger, the soldiers of Bruce per- ished in awful numbers, and he at length returned to Scotland, leaving his brother to contest his usurped crown with the English or abandon it, as he might see fit. Edward Bruce, who was to the full as cruel as he was brave, bore up with a constant spirit against all difficulties. But though he had much success in the field, and made terrible examples of the vanquished, he found it impossible to drive the English from their strong holds. The Irish were for the most part very favourable to him ; but if they hated the English much they hated each other still more, and, as usual, their mutual strife rendered it impossible that they could cor- dially co-operate even for a purpose which they all had strongly at heart. A. D. 1318. — Under such circumstances, it is likely that Edward Bruce 30 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY would at length have seen that the conquosl of Ireland was a ptq)''ct too vast for Scotland, even with the mighty Robert Bruce for her kinjf. But Rre he had made up his mind to abandon his usurped royalty and return to Scotland, he was encountered at Dundalk by the English army, inider Lord Bcrmingham. Kdward Bruce on this important day performed the jiart of a good general and a stout soldier; but all his efforts were in vain, and he fell upon the field of battle while making efforts to rally a portion of his routed and dispirited force. Conspicuous by his arms and orna- ments, he was marked out by an English knight, Sir John Maupas. Hold- ing Edward Bruce in especial detestation, and believing his death to be in every way deserved and desirable, he vowed himself, after the custom of the age, to destroying him. Accordingly, though Edward was zealously defended by his friends and attendants, Sir John succeeded in reaching him ; and after the battle their dead bodies were found still grasping eacl'* other in the death-gripe. CHAPTER V. Knowing what we do of the turbulence of the barons wherever the feudal law prevailed, we have no room to doubt that the English in Ire- land made their vassals feel the weight of their feudal chains. Removed as they were from the check of the king's presence, and living in a country in which civil strife v.as not the mere exception but the general rule, it would have been strange indeed if those barons had been less tyrannous than the men of their order. But it is abundantly evident, after making allowance for the evils which Ireland, in common with other countries, must have owed to the abuses of the feudal system, the chief and abiding cause of misery was the inherent disorderliness of the Irish character. The clergy, for instance, both English and Irish, were at deadly feud. No English monk was allowed to enter an Irish monastery; and the monasteries of the English pale were hopelessly inaccessible to the native monk. When we see that even the common bond of spiritual and tem- poral interest could not induce the clergy to lay aside their animosities, we need not marvel that the best attempts at causing a general union of the people failed. Edward III., who did so much towards improving the 1-aws and raising the trade of England, was desirous to render the same service to Ireland. Clearly perceiving that it was next to impossible to obtain the exact obedience of the barons whose lands lay in Ireland, and, at the same time, desirous to prevent the Irish people from being op- pressed, he threw, as far as possible, the government of Ireland into the hands of nobles whose property lay in England, and for v.'hose obedience and good conduct he consequently had some security. But this excel- lent stroke of policy was made too late to have the effect it would have had at an earlier date. A. D. 13G1. — Lionel, duke of Clarence, was appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland in the year 1361 ; and he evidently went there with the desire to give effect to his royal father's wishes for the people's welfare. But llie animosities which had been so many years increasing were now beyond the possibility of a speedy remedy. Such was the hostility between the two races, that under the governorship of Lionel, it was found requisite to pass the stringent regulations known to lawyers as the statute of Kdkenny. Hitherto attempts had been made to govern Ireland rather by affection than by severity ; and the law left it quite open to the two races to become amalgamated by marriage and friendship. 15ut by this statute, which seems to have been called for by the danger of the English from the Irish, the latter we-e at length treated formally as an inferior people. Marriage THE TREASURY OP HISTORY. gi with the Irish was forbidden; the nursings of English infuuls by Irish woinnn was discountenanced; and severe punishments were alloited to ihe oflfences, on the part of men of English descent, of speaking the Irish language, using the Irish customs, or wearing the Irish dress. These enactments were doubtless severe ; but it must be remembered that an opposite spirit had, for two hundred years, been tried in vain; and that between this stern severity and the actual abandonment of the island — the possession of which by France would have been so prejudicial to the Knglish throne — the condition and temper of the Irish people left room for no middle course. However reasonable the demands of the Englisli government, they never failed to provolie an armed resistance ; the country was continually in a state of revolt, famine was frequent, and sufTering constant. Soon after the accession of Richard II. to the throne of England, that prince went to Ireland with a considerable force, naturally expecting that he should find the chiefs disinclined to yield him peaceable homage. Whether from some vague predilection in his favour, or from the fact of his being accompanied by a well-appointed force, he was even joyfully received. No fewer than seventy-four of the most powerful men hastened to make a surrender of their possessions, and to agree to receive them in grant from him on condition of maintaining his royal authority in Ireland. Delighted with a loyalty so exuberant, Richard proposed to honour with knighthood the four principal chiefs. But the Irish were not learned in the lore of chivalry, and an honour which would have been eagerly coveted by the high-born and wealthy elsewhere, was actually declined by these untutored men, who gravely assured him it was the custom of the Irish kings to confer knighthood on their sons as early as the age of seven years. And it was not until pains had been taken to explain to them the theory of knighthood, that they could be induced to pass the preparatory vigil and receive the honour with its formalities. Richard on this occasion made a considerable slay in Ireland, and he and his Irish subjects parted in apparent good feeling. But as soon as the king was absent the chiefs became turbulent as ever. The English pale was per- petually attacked, and so much territory recovered that it became reduced w:.l;n dangerously narrow limits; and at length, Roger, earl of March, eoi;sin and heir-presumptive of the king, was barbarously murdered. Richard was at this time greatly harrassed by the enmity of Henry Bo- lingbroke, the exiled duke of Lancaster. But though he well knew that noble meditated the invasion of England, Richard unhesitatingly led an army to Ireland to avenge the death of his cousin : (a. d. 1399.) As usual with them, the Irish chieftains endeavoured to avoid being brought to a general action, and retired among the bogs and mountains. But Richard was too intent upon avenging the murder of his cousin to listen to those who represented the difficulty of following the rebels into their retreats. Burning the towns and villages as he marched along, and disregarding the sufferings and complamts of his soldiers, who often floundered in the treacherous soil of the bogs, he followed so closely, that the greater part gladly submitted on condition of being received into the king's peace with h.Yi indemnity for the past. But Macmorrogh,a lineal descendant of that Ci,:ef whose misconduct had first called the English into Ireland, held out and loudly protested that neither fear nor love should induce him to sub- n it. The chivalry of England was not to be res"!sted by a chieftain so comparatively powerless ; and Macmorrogh at length agreed to treat with the earl of Gloucester. But when the meeting took place, the fiery chief- tain was so enraged at what he thought the insulting terms proposed, thai he angrily broke up the conference and betook himself lo his savage haunts, less inclined than ever to submission. Richard ofl'ered a large reward for the person of Macmorrogh, living or dead; but events had by 32 THE tiip:asuiiy of history. this time taKen place in England, which compelled him to forego his de- sire to punish the haughty enemy ; for the earl of Lancaster, who sub- sequently dethroned Richard, and succeeded him under the title of Henry IV., had landed in England, and been joined by some of the most power ful of the nobility, and an army of near sixty thousand men. Richard was consequently obliged to abandon whatever projects he had formed. Henry IV. could find no leisure to attend to the affairs of Ireland, though many petitions were sent to him ; and during the whole of his reign the turbu- lence of the Irish chieftains, and the cupidity and despotism of the En glish authorities, made the country a scene of wild disorder and wretch- edness ; in which condition it remained from the close of the fourteenth century to the accession of Henry VII. of England. During this long period the whole history of Ireland may be written in two words, strife and misery ; and to enter into any detail would be merely to weary the reader with a monotonous recital. A. D. 1485. — As though Ireland had not already suffered sufficiently, the accession to the throne of England of one of its most solidly wise and peace-loving kings, Henry VII., was the signal for more disturbance. Hitherto the unhappy people had at least fought about their own afTairs ; but now they were involved in the cause of a silly impostor, the tool of a more knavish one. The history of the impudent attempt of the priest Simon to palm a youth of low degree named Lambert Simnel, upon the people as the earl of Warwick, nephew of Edward IV., and heir to the throne of England, we gave in detail under the history of that country. But it is necessary to speak of it here, inasmuch as that gross imposture became a cause of suffering to the Irish. Richard Simon, a priest living in Oxford, was instructor of the young impostor, Simnel ; but considering the character of the dowager-queen, there is little reason to doubt that Simon was himself a tool in the hands of persons far higher in rank Young Simnel was well furnished with information connected with the royal family ; and his tutor, aware of its propensity to fighting for any or for no cause, judged Ireland to be the fittest scene for the first attempt ; especially as the Irish were attached to the house of York, of which it was pretended the young impostor was a scion. The lord-deputy of Ire- land, Thomas Fitzgerald, earl of Kildare, received the impostor's story without suspicion, the people followed the example of the court, and the impudent son of a baker was actually crowned — the crown being taken for that purpose from an image of the virgin — lodged in Dublin castle with all regal honours, and received throughout Ireland under the title ol king Edward VI., without a word said, or a blow stricken in defence ol king Henry. Henry VII., with the prudence which characterized his life, no sooner heard of the pretensions of Simnel, than he put all doubt out of the question, by causing the real earl of Warwick to be taken from his confinement in the Tower of London, and exhibited to the populace, at Paul's cross. Margaret of Burgundy, however, affecting to believe the absurd tale, got together two thousand German troops, under the com- mand of an enterprising officer named Swartz, and sent them to Ireland. The arrival of such a force, sent, too, by a person of such influence as the duchess-dowager of Burgundy, raised the Irish enthusiasm to the highest pitch. Too poor to be able much longer to support the pretender and his followers, the Irish now became eager to be led to dethrone king Henry. That shrewd monarch had, however, wisely convinced his En- glish subjects of Simnel's imposture, and thus prepared them to give him a hostile reception should he attempt to leave Ireland for England. Sim- nel, intoxicated with honours, was easily induced to believe that his cause was popular in England ; and in full persuasion that he had only to show himself in order to secure support, he actually disembarked his Germans at Foudrey, in Lancashire This was precisely what the king desired. THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. ^ Fie marched against him, and the hostile forces met in Nottinghamshire, near Stoke, where a most sanguinary action was fought. The impostor was completely defeated, and he and his tutor taken prisoners. The Irish, who fought with even more than their accustomed bravery, suffered dreadfully. Ill provided with offensive weapons, they were altogether destituteof defensive armour; and consequently received the most ghastly and fatal wounds. Rushing, half naked, upon the cool and well-protected soldiery of England, they saw their ranks awfully thinned at every charge, and when the battle was over but few of them remained alive. With the capture of Simnel the king's anger ended. He immediately dispatched Sir Richard Edgecombe with a full pardon to all in Ireland who had abetted the impostor; to Thomas, earl of Kildare, he sent, with the letter containing his pardon, a splendid gold chain; and shortly afterwards the principal lords of Ireland were summoned to wait upon the king at Green- wich, ostensibly for the purpose of doing homage and taking oaths of allegiance. But the ever-politic king had a deeper design ; that of making the Irish lords so ashamed of the impostor to whose designs they had so foolishly lent themselves, that they should be ever after little disposed to countenance similar adventurers. Accordingly, at a grand banquet to which they were invited, they had the surprise and mortification to find among the liveried menials who waited upon them, that identical Simnel whom a short time previous they had crowned as their king — crowned, too, with a diadem taken from the head of an image of the Virgin ! Henry VII., though he loved peace and preferred amassing money to the empty glories of the mere conqueror, was nevertheless very capable of exerting vigour upon occasion ; and he now determined to make such alterations as would prevent Ireland from being so convenient a recruiting place for pretenders and their traitorous friends. It is a singular fact that Ireland was at this time an avowed sanctuary to evil-doers. He who had committed in England an offence by which he had forfeited life or liberty, had only to escape into Ireland, and no man could touch him. The right of sanctuary was first recognised by Richard, duke of York — father of Edward IV. — during his governorship of Ireland; but for its actual origin we must look to the numerous monastic houses there. Henry VII., per- ceiving the immense and pernicious advantages which the enemies of England derived from this Irish right of sanctuary, wisely determined to abolish it ; and he entrusted this and some other reforms to a man of con- siderable talent and still more energy, Sir Edward Poynings, whose able and firm conduct caused his name to be given to the important regula- tion known to lawyers as " Poyning's law," which struck at the very root of Irish sedition, by taking away from the lords, parliament, and all other authorities in Ireland, the power of giving validity to any law until it should have been considered by the king of England. Beit, perhaps, the most important act performed by Sir Edward Poyning, was his arrest' ing and sending prisoner to England the celebrated earl of Kildare. Henry VII. carried his peaceable policy too far now, and not merely pardoned him, but even reappointed him to the dangerously powerful ofSce for which he had shown himself unfit. A. D. 1497. — Warned by his narrow escape, the earl of Kildare seems henceforward to have conducted himself with considerable discretion. Perkin Warbeck, another impostor, aided by his French friends, having made an attempt upon England, was signally disappointed by the loyal men of Kent. They invited him to land, intending to seize him, but the pretender was too experienced a cheat to fall into the snare, and the re- sult fully justified his caution. Those of his adherents who had landed were either slain or made prisoners ; and Warbeck, unaware or neglectful of the alteration in the temper and opportunities of Ireland that had been wrought by Poyning's law, proceeded thither. But though on landing 3 .-54 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. at Cork lie was well received by the mayor of that place, and ai30 by the factious earl of Desmond, he speedily found it necessary to depart for Scotland/ where he had a most credulous and fast friend in James IV., who protected and honoured him to the utmost, and even went so far as to give him the hand of his own relative, the lovely Catherine Gordon, daughter of the earl of Huntley, who, to the honour of Henry VH. be it said, was most kindly and hospitably treated after the fall and execution of lier husband. The short stay of Warbeck in Ireland was, thanks to the pood order established by Poyning, productive of no general injury ; the laayor of Cork, who was subsequently executed for his treasonable concert with the pretender, being the chief sufferer. A. D. 1535. — The young earl of Kildare had now for some time been in a sort of honourable imprisonment in England ; Cardinal Wolsey, the able minister of Henry VIII., having very wisely objected to allowing that nobleman's use or abuse of his immense power in Ireland to depend upon his more or less lively recollection of the narrow escape his father had formerly had ; and the cardinal had an additional reason to doubt the loyalty and faith of the young earl, from the fact of his being very closely allied with the notoriously seditious and powerful chieftains of the septs O'Carrol and O'Connor. During Kildare's enforced absence, he left all his interests and influence in the hands of his son. Lord Thomas Fitzger- ald, who was then barely twenty-one years of age. It is not surprising .:hat, under sticli circumstances, the lord Thomas Fitzgerald should fall into the snare that was laid for hin^i by his father's enemies. Thej% in order to involve him with the English government, caused it to be report- ed to him that his father had been put to death, and that orders had been issued for liis own arrest and that of other members of his family. Hot- headed, and, to say the truth, partly justified by the probabilities of the case, the young man assembled his armed followers and galloped to Dub- hn, where he scornfully threw down his father's state sword, and rndde a •solemn renunciation, in both his own and his father's name, of ail alle- giance and respect to the P^nglish crown. It was to no purpose that the chancellor, one of the few real friends of the Fitzgerald family, implored the deceived young man not to commit himself too hastily and too far. The mere rhymed follies of an Irish bard were, with this hot-headed and most ill-advised young nobleman, sufBcient to counterbalance all tlio wis- dom of a grave and honest counsellor. He collected all the friends and stores he could command ; and though the plague was then raging in Dublin, he proceeded to invest that city. A. D. 1536. — Lord Leonard Grey, newly appointed to the government of Ireland, displayed considerable talent in the course of this strife ; and after upwards of six months hard fighting he obliged Lord Thomas to surrender. He and five of his uncles, who had been as deeply concerned as himself, were sent to London as prisoners, and there executed. Henry VIII. was the more enraged by the extent and continuance of this rebel- lion, because it put a stop to the efforts he was making to carry into llie religion of Ireland the same reformation he had brought about in England. As soon as the rebellion was suppressed, Henry renewed his endeavours to that end ; and so evident an evil was the multitude of monastic houses in Ireland, that the archbishop of Dublin was the first person to fall in with the king's design. The suppression of the monasteries, and the formal declaration of Henry VIII. as king of Ireland, independent of the pope — instead of lord of Ireland holding under the pope, which was the light in which the Irish had hitherto looked upon the king of England — were followed up by some politic endeavours on the part of Henry to conciliate the regard of the Irish chieftains. O'Donncl, for instance, was created earl of Tyrconnel ; O'Neill, earl of Tyrone ; and his son, Lord Duncannon ; tliougli t!>e latter, formidable as he could make himself n; THE TREASURY OF UISTORY. ^\, Wild Irish warfare, was so poor, that in order to be able to go to London to receive his new honour from the hands of the king, was actually obliged to borrow a hundred pounds of .St. Leger, the English governor and had so little prospect of returning: even tlial sum in hard cash, that he stipulated to be allowed to repay it in cattle. A. D. 1558. — Tlie comparatively short reign of Mary in England, served to show that the facility with which the Irish had acquiesced in Henry's sweeping reform of religion was chiefly owing to self-interest and the skill of the king in accommodating his favour to the desires of the person to be conciliated. For a very general inclination was shown in Ireland during the reign of Mary, to return to the papal faith, and one of the ear- liest difficulties experienced by Elizabeth was that of re-establishing protestantism among her Irish subjects. The Desmonds and the O'Neills were especially troublesome in their resistance to England. The earl of Desmond broke out into an open v/ar with the earl of Ormond, who, be- sides being a very able nobleman, was cousin to the queen. Desmond professing to be confident that he could show he was in the right, and was the injured party in the dispute between him and OrnioJid — a question of boundary of their adjoining possessions — petitioned to be allowed to represent the matter to the queen in person. He arrived in London, un- der the impression that he was to have the required interview ; but instead of being so favoured he was thrown in the Tower, where he was kept a close prisoner for some years. When he at length got his liberty he nat- urally enough considered himself a deeply-injured man, and extended his enmity from the earl of Ormond to the English power altogether. A. D. 1579. — Philip of Spain, hating Elizabeth, both as the protestant ruler of that kingdom which he would fain have subjected to the gloomy despotism of the inquisition, and because she had, most prudently, refused the offer he made of his hand almost ere her sister and his wife was laid in her tomb, gladly encouraged Desmond in his desire to work evil to tlie English power, and actually sent the rebel earl a very considerable foi-cp of Spaniards and Italians. But the wild Irish warfare, with its accompa- nying famine and other sufferings, v/as too much for the endurance ot these troops, who had been accustomed to make war with considerably less bloodshed and more personal indulgence. Defeated wherever they appeared, and at length abandoned in despair by Desmond himself, they laid down their arms, and Sir Walter Raleigh and other English officers decided that they could not be looked upon so much in the light of pris- oners of war, as in that of felonious abettors of a domestic rebellion ; and, as a consequence of this decision, they were summarily executed. Des- mond himself being found in a hut, was put to death by some soldiers for the sake of the reward they anticipated receiving for his head from his enemy the earl of Ormond. The large territories of Desmond, and the vast possessions of the numerous wealthy men who had abetted his rebel- lion were confiscated, either on the death of the owners in battle, or by their departure on the failure of the rebellion to the Low Countries, where service was offered to them by Philip. If the miseries of civil war fell exclusively upon those who excite it, the evil would be great and sad enough ; but, unhappily, the worst share of wretchedness usually fails upon people who neither take part in the crime, nor have any power to prevent its commission. In the present case, the horrors of famine and disease raged to such an extent as almost to depopulate Munstcr. Ra- leigh and other Englishmen got grants of the land that was left untenant- ■ able and to the accident of his obtaining a grant, Ireland owes t'le iiitro- d louon of her great staple, potatoes, which he first brought into that coun- try from Spanish America. He also introduced the cultivation of tobacco, but the climate prevented it from being good. But, by introducing the potato, Raleigh conferred a real and permanent benefit upon that country. 36 THE TREASi:aY OF HISTORY. Hugh O'Neill, who had received much kindness from Queen Elizubeth, by whom he had been created carl of Tyrone, and to whom he was indebt- ed for the restoration of a considerable part of the earldom, which had been forfeited by the treason of his uncle Shane O'Neill, was for some time one of the most loyal of the queen's nobles. It chanced, however, that when the great and providential tempest dispersed that armada which Philip of Spain and the pope had presumptuously named the " invincible," some of the vessels composing it were wrecked on the coast of Ireland Tyrone behaved with so much cordiality to the shipwrecked Spaniards, as to give an opportunity to his cousin, a son of Shane O'Neill, to accuse him of treasonable correspondence with Spain. All the violence of the earl's nature now burst fiercely forth; insteadof taking a safe and straight course, he caused his cousin to be seized and put to death; and having thus, by an inhuman crime put himself out of the queen's peace, he impu- dently set himself up as the patriotic enemy of her to whose favour he owed all that he possessed. Levying war in reality to save himself from the deserved penalty of murder, he also excited the M'Guires, M'Mahona, and other sects to join in his rebellion ; and while the English agents were endeavouring to enrich the country, these patriots were doing their utmost to throw it deeper into barbarism. A. D. 1594. — The experience of ages had not yet taught the Irish that peace is the true nursing-mother of prosperity and happiness. Tyrone and his associates, with abundant support, had committed much crime .and inflicted proportionate misery. And yet, when in 1594 Sir William Russell went to Ireland as lord-deputy, Tyrone had the consummate assu- rance to go to Dublin and assert his desire to support her majesty's gov- ernment. Sir Henry Bagnal, a shrewd man, who then filled the office of marshal of the army in Ireland, was for putting it out of the traitor's power to commit further crime by at once sending him to England. But Sir William, desirous of carrying conciliation to its most prudent length, determined to trust the earl's promise of faith and loyalty ; and the earl showed his sense of this too-trusting conduct, by immediately going to his own territory and opening a correspondence with her majesty's bitter- est enemy, the Spaniard, from whom he obtained a supply of ?.rms and ammunition, and then openly placed himself at the head of a confederacy of Irish chiefs, their avowed object being the ruin of the English power in Ireland. Shrewd and well-advised as Elizabeth was beyond most English sovereigns, magnum vectigal parsimunia est was the ruling maxim of her life; to parsimony she owed not a little of that respect which the profu- sion of her successor caused to be withheld from him ; to parsimony she was sincerely devoted. And, accordingly, to the six thousand pounds which was the ordinary revenue of Ireland, the queen added only twenty thousand, when emergency required the doubling or trebling of the ordi- nary English force of a thousand men. While Sir John Norris was in command of the English force in Ireland, Tyrone availed himself of his knowledge of the limited extent to which the queen supplied her officers, to play upon that commander's feelings, to make and break treaties to such an extent, that the unfortunate gentle- man actually died of a complaint which was attributed solely to his men- tal sufferings. He was succeeded by Sir Henry Bagnal, of whom mention has already been made. Being aware of the real disposition of Tyrone, this officer resolved to suppress him to the utmost; but an unfortunate circumstance caused the first of his operations to terminate in his death The rebels at that time were besieging the fort of Blackwater, the garri- son of which they had already reduced to great distress. Sir Henry led his troops to the relief of the fort, and was suddenly attacked on very dis- advantageous ground; and one of the ammunition wagons accidentally blowing up, so ir creased the panic into which the men had been thro wo. THJ3 TREASURY OF HISTORY. 37 that a complete rout took place. The loss on the English side was fully fifteen hundred, and unhappily mcluded the gallant Sir Henry ; and but for the daring conduct of Montacute, the commander of the cavalry, who held the enemy in check, the loss would have been much greater. The rebels were much elated by this victory, which was more decisive than they were accustomed to achieve ; and it also put them in possession of a considerable supply of arms and ammunition, of both which they stood in great need. As for Tyrone, he assumad to himself the title of deliverer of the Irish people, and patron of Irish liberty. This event caused no little anxiety at the English court ; and Elizabeth and her councillors at length came to the determination to give no future room to the rebels to avail themselves of truces and treaties. The queen, in truth, deemed it high time to put her Irish affairs in the hands of some commander posses- sing rank as well as ability. Her own opinion inclined towards Charles Blount, the young and high-spirited Lord Mountjoy. But Essex, who was now high in his sovereign's favour, was himself ambitious of acquir- ing fame by pacifying Ireland, and he urged that Mountjoy was not pos- sessed of the requisite standing or the requisite talent ; plainly giving the queen to understand that he was himself tiie fittest person she could send. Essex so perseveringly pushed his suit, that Elizabeth at length consented to entrust him with the coveted office ; and in the patent by which she constituted him her lord-lieutenant of Ireland, she gave him the power of pardoning rebels, and of appointing all the principal officers in the lieuten- antcy. As in distinction, so in military force he was favoured beyond any of his predecessors ; having an army provided for him of twenty thousand infantry and two thousand cavalry. Averse as Elizabeth was to all expensive armaments, the more reflecting among the friends of Essex trembled for him ; and the more reflecting among his enemies re- joiced in anticipation of the ruin in which failure would involve him, should he be otherwise than successful when so abundantly provided with the means of success. And, in order to render ill success the more ruin- ous to him, Raleigh, Cecil, and the earl of Nottingham, took every oppor- tunity to impress upon the queen the impossibility of her favourite being otherwise than triumphant. The earl of Southampton had incurred the anger of Elizabeth by marrying without her permission — an offence which never failed deeply to incense her against those of her courtiers who com- mitted it ; and ere Essex left England the queen gave express orders not to give any command to Southampton. But one of the very first acts of Essex on his arrival in Ireland was to give his friend Southampton the command of the horse. This error, gross enough, was still farther aggra- vated. The queen no sooner heard of the disobedience than she sent her special command to Essex to revoke Southampton's commission ; and Essex, instead of obeying, contented himself with remonstrating, nor did he obey until a new and more positive order convinced him that his own command would be taken from him if he longer hesitated. Considering the self-willed character of the sovereign whom he served, Essex placed himself in sufficient peril by this one error ; but as if infatuated and deter- mined upon ruin, he immediately committed an error still more grave, because striking directly against the success of the cnterprize intrusted to him. At the English council-board he had pledged hi.T.self to proceed at once against the main body under Tyrone. The queen and her advisers perfectly agreed with him on this point; yet he had scarcely landed in Dublin when he allowed himself to be persuaded the season was too early, and that his better plan would be to devote some time to an expe- dition into Munster, where parties of the rebels were doing mischief. In fine, after proving himself signally unfit for his task, Essex in a pet re- lumed to England, and eventually lost his head. Lord Mountjoy, whom Elizabeth, as we have said, oripinally intended for the Irish expedition. 38 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. was now sent over, in the hope that he would repair the evils cansed by his incapable rival. The Irish rebels speedily discovered that tliey now had to deal with a lord-lieutenant very different from the vain and facile Essex. Brave and accomplished as a soldier, Mountjoy was also some- what inclined to sternness and severity. A. D. 1G02. — On taking the command in Ireland, Mountjoy divided hi3 force into detachments, and gave tlie commands to men of known ability and courage, with orders to act with tlie utmost vigour and to give no quarter. The rebels being thus attacked at once, and finding their new opponent was impracticable in negotiation as he was in war, threw down their arms. Many of them sought safety by retiring into the morasses and mountain caves, while their friends exerted themselves to obtain their peace Oh such terms as Mountjoy chose to dictate. Tyrone was no ex- ception ; at first, indeed, he tried to obtain favourable terms, but his days of successful deception were ended. Mountjoy refused to admit him to mercy on any other condition than that of absolute surrender of his life and fortunes to the queen's pleasure. But Elizabeth had expired while he still hesitated ; and as the character of her successor rendered it un- likely he v^ould show mercy to rebels so crafty and faithless as Tyrone, both he and O'Donnel made their escape to Italy ; where Tyrone lived some years, supported only on a pension allowed him by the pope. He was blind for many years before his death ; and the poverty and obscurity into which his misconduct brought him, compared with the influence and respect which he forfeited, ought to warn such men — if indeed men of ambition and ill-regulated energies can be warned by anything — of the danger as well as impropriety of inciting the ignorant and violent to that worst of crimes, rebellion. CHAPTER VI. A. D. 1612. — The most efficient of the English commanders was un- doubtedly the lord Mountjoy ; and perhaps, but for his stern chastisement of armed rebellion, Ireland would not have been in a state to profit by the wise and humane desire of Elizabeth's successor, James I., to civilize the people by raising them socially as well as intellectuall}'. The immense tracts of land which civil war and rebellion had depopulated in Ireland, especially in Ulster, furnished the sagacious James with the first great element, room for civilized colonists, whose example of industry and prosperity could not fail to have the effect of raising all the rest in the social scale. Aware that a large sum of money was necessary for the carrying out of his admirable plan, and aware, too, that practical men were the best persons to look after the details upon which so much would de- pend, James incorporated the Royal Irish Society. The members were to be annually elected from the aldermen and common-council of London ; and to the committee thus formed, were all matters to be intrusted con- nected with the management of the Irish fisheries, and the waste tracts of land. The lands were to be let to three classes of undertakers; so called because they undertook to fulfil certain conditions. Those who received two thousand acres were to build a castle, with a proportionate hawn or yard, surrounded by a substantial wall; those who received fifteen hundred acres were to build a stone house, also surrounded by a bawn, unless in situations where a bridge would be more desirable ; and those who received a thousand acres were to build a good dwelling to their own taste. The plan itself was a comprehensive one ; and we think that few will be disposed to differ from Sir Jonn Davies, who says, as quoted by Hume, that " James in nine years made greater advances towards the THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 33 Civilization of Ireland, than had been made in tlie four hundred and forty years which had elapsed since the conquest was first attempted." Having done so much, James declared all the people of Ireland to be equally his subjects, abolished the Brehon laws, and stationed a small army in Ire- land, which was regularly paid from England, and thus spared all temp- tation to excite disturbances in the country by levying contributions upon its inhabitants. The good effect of this was strikingly shown in the case of an outbreak excited by a chief named O'Dogherty. This chieftain, among many, was enraged at seeing the comfort and prosperity in which strangers dwelt in his native country ; and he was especially opposed to the abolition of the Brehon laws, which gave occasion to periodical war- fare by a most absurd division of property, and made murder and other crimes as purchaseable as any manufactured luxury, by affixing a price to each crime, as the Normans and Saxons, and most other partially bar- barous people, had done at an earlier day. Taking counsel with other chieftains as prejudiced and turbulent as himself, O'Dogherty endeavoured to plunge the country into a civil war. But his first outbreak was steadily met by the resident English troops; reinforcements were speedily sent; and he v/ho but a few years before might have sacked towns, and then have sold his good behaviour for a peerage, was easily and speedily put down. Regular circuits for the administration of justice were formed ; charters of incorporation were bestowed upon the larger and more pros parous towns; and James had the truly enviable pleasure of seeing prosperity and growing civiUzation accomplished by his peaceful and equitable rule, for a country which his predecessors had all failed even to begin to rule with either certainty or advantage. Hume gives a curious anecdote, illustrative of the effect which the affixing prices to crimes had, in diminishing not merely the legal fear of committing them, but also the moral sense of their enormity. When Sir William Fitzwilliams was lord- deputy, he told the powerful and unruly M'Guire that he, the deputy, was about to send the sheriff into Fermanagh. "Your sheriff shall be wel- come," said M'Guire, " but let me know beforehand what a sheriff's head is rated at, that I may be prepared to levy the amount upon the county if my people chance to cut his head off." A. D. 1641. — From the year 1G03, Ireland had been constantly progres- sing, sometimes slowly, but always more or less, towards the comparative perfection of England ; and if, now, in 1641, Brian Borohme, or Mala- chi of the golden collar, those sincere and — the age in which t!iey lived being considered — sensible friends of their native country, could have seen the splendid alterations that had been wrought in its favour, they would have denounced to death the traitor, who, for the sake of Iiis own interests, or ignorant fancies, should have proposed to light up the tore!) of war, and undo, in a few weeks of violence, what had been accomplished by the wisdom, patience, and liberality of years. Bat unhappily the times were favourable to mock patriots. The unfortunate Charles I. was now upon the English throne, and deeply involved in the fatal disputes with parliament, which ended so lamentably for both king and people. The settlers in Ireland under the scheme of King James were almost exclu sively protestant, and tliey naturally had the utmost horror of the oppo- site faith, in the name of which so much cruel persecution had taken place, and constantly sympathized with the puritan party in the English house of commons. In their zealous attention to this one point, they quite overlooked the peculiarity of their own situation. Owing everything to royal authority, and protected in their liberties by the royal troops, the Irish protestants were probably the last of all the ill-fated Charles' subjects who, even with a view to selfish interests alone, should have done aught that could aid the triumphs of his enemies. Though a long lapse of years, and the steady and consistent wisdom of the successive adminis- 10 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. trations of Chichester, Grandison, Falkland, and the murdered Strafford, had fairly established Ireland among the prosperous and civilized nations; though septs after septs had become peaceful and settled tillers of the earth, or prosperous artizans and traders in the town, neither time nor ministerial wisdom had, as yet, abated the detestation in which the Irish- man hold the Englishman, in which the catholic held the prolestant, in which, in a word, the conquered held the conqueror. There was still much of tlie old leaven of disturbance in existence; and at the moment when the protestants of Ireland were indulging their hostility to the throne, they were watched with a grim smile of approving hate by their lloman catholic enemies. No matter whether the question \verc one of finance, of power, or of the form and etiquette so important to the efficacy of the ruler, yet without injury or danger to the ruled, the Irish protestants in parliament assem- bled took every opportunity to despoil and mortify their king in the most complete and egregious unconsciousness, as it would seem, that they were in precisely the same degree preparing and precipitating their own ruin. While the Irish protestants were thus departing from the line of policy and duty, the catholics and old Irish were longing for an opportu- nity to avail themselves of the fatal error; and there was nothing needed to plunge the now smiling and prosperous land into the horrors of civil war, but a daring, active leader. Unhappily such a man was at hand in the person of Roger Moore, a man of ability, and very popular among the " old Irish," of whom by descent he was one. Haling even the benefi- cence of the English, he took advantage of the blundering ingratitude of the Irish protestants, to excite the catholics and malcontents to insurrec- tion. Artful and eloquent, he suited his complaints to every man's pecu- liar character, and pressed them alike upon the sympathy of all. To Sir Phelim O'Neill, and the lord M'Guire, he early and successfully addressed himself, and he and they used the most untiring industry to induce other leading men of the old blood and the old faith to join them. They pointed out the crippled condition of the royal authority in England, and of the vice-regal authority in Ireland ; and they dwelt upon the inferiority of the English in numbers, and upon the ignorant and insolent confidence of safety in which they lived, even their small standing army being loosely sub- divided throughout the land. Moore urged that the decay of the royal authority boded persecution and ruin to the catholics. He said, that though, as Irishmen, they were wronged by being .subjected to English rule under any circumstances, yet the king had shown no disposition to persecute them especially on account of their religion, but if the puritans, as seemed certain, should succeed in subjecting their high-church sover- eign in England, would they have any toleration to spare for his catholic subjects in Ireland] If any Irishman had a doubt upon that point, he had but to look at the persecution already endured by his fellow-religionists in lOngland. As catholics, it was their bounden duty to prevent themselves from falling victims to the fierce and persecuting zeal of the puritans ; as Irishmen they would at all times, and under any circumstances, have been warranted in throwing off the foreign yoke which conquest had fixed upon them ; and they were now especially called upon to do so. O'Neill engaged to head an insurrection in the provinces, the signal for which was to be given simultaneously with an attack upon the castle of Dublin, which was to be headed by Roger Moore and M'Guire. Cardinal Richelieu, indirectly at least, promised arms and other aid ; numero4]s Irish officers who were serving in the Spanish army promised to join them ; and there could be no doubt but the catholic population would join in a revolt origin- atnig in zeal for the catholic religion. Every arrangement having been made, the day fixed upon for the outbreak was the 23d of October, 1641, that late period of the year being named by Moore on account of the THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 41 darkness of the nights, which would favour the dark deeds that were in contemplation, and on account of the difficulty that stormy season of the year would throw in the way of transporting men and arms from England, when news should reach that country. Great and prudent precaution as Moore and his fellow-conspirators had taken, their terrible design would in all probability have been frustrated, but for the unhappy ditference be- tween the king and his people. For whatever caution might be used in holding foreign correspondence, it was scarcely possible so vast a con- spiracy could be known at foreign courts without some inkling of the matter getting to the ears of the spies, who, for gain or other motives, busy themselves in tattling to the attaches of the embassies. And though no definite news of the matter in agitation reached the king from his am- bassadors, yet he was warned by them that there assuredly was some deep and dangerous thing planning in Ireland. Had the king been in concord with his people at home, and the Irish 'authorities zealous in his service, even these slight hints would have led to the discovery of the plot, and the prevention of one of the most extensive and terrible massa- cres that has ever occurred. But the lord-lieutenant, Earl Leicester, was detained in London ; and Sir .John Borlase and Sir William Parsons, who discharged his duties by commission, owed their promotion to the king's domestic enemies, the puritans, and therefore paid little attention to his warinngs, and made no use of them. These reckless men had not so much as doubled the guards at Dubhn castle, though its routine guard was at that time but fifty men, while it held out to the rebels the tempting booty of thirty pieces of artillery, and arms for ten thousand men, with ammu- nition in proportion. The 23d of October, as we have mentioned, was the day appointed; the 22d had already arrived; Moore and M'Guire were in Dublin, their signal watched by a host of disguised followers ; yet not a doubt or fear disturbed the serenity of the castle, until, when the eleventh hour was past and the twelfth had well-nigh struck. Sir William Pardons was roused from his complacent indolence by the ap- pearance of one O'Conolly, who, though an Irishman and a conspirator, was also a protestant, and shuddered when the hour approached which was to doom every man of his own faith throughout Ireland to death. The repentance and confession of O'Conolly were in time to save Dublirn castle from capture ; but, alas ! it was now beyond human power to pre- vent massacre from stalking, unsparing and ghastly, throughout the resi of the land. Sir William Parsons and his colleague dispatched officers to apprehend Moore and M'Guire, and to warn the protestan-ts, from street to street, to arm and prepare themselves for a death-struggle. Moore perceived that something had alarmed the castle, and he took his depar- ture from the city before the oiScers could find him ; M'Guire and Maho- ney were less fortunate ; they were seized and examined by the lords- justices, and Mahoney's confession conveyed to them the astounding in- telligence that the fate from which the protestants of Dublin had so nar- rowly escaped, was but too certainly in store for their unhappy co-religion- ists throughout all the rest of the island. O'Neill and other leaders, not dreaming of any check to their design taking place in Dublin, where the authorities had seemed so blind and presumptuous, were true to their time and their ruthless purposes. Men, women, and children, were indis- criminately put to death ; no former kindness, no present connection, was suffered to save the unhappy creatures who were known to be guilty of the inexpiable crimes of being English and of being protestants. Never in the world's history was massacre more unrelentingly carried on. Roger Moore, though enthusiastic in his hatred of the English, was grieved at the wide-spreading horrors of which his own exertions had been the cause, and retired to Flanders. A short truce at length took place. The marquis of Ormond entered i-2 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY nto a correspondence witli Pheliin O'Neill, between whom and tlie rebel parliament at Kilkenny and the royal authorities at Dublin a peace waa agreed upon. How long- so bloodthirsty a person as O'Neill would have remained peaceable, it is difTicult to guess. But the pope looked longingly upon the Peter-pence and the absolute authority of the green isle ; and the instant he heard O'Neill had agreed to give the torn land and suffering people rest, he sent a confidential priest named Rinuccini as his nuncio. Whatever else the court of Rome understood, it was ignorant of political economy. For while that grasping power was ready to brave all laws and feelings in its ardour for conquering countries, it was to the full as anxious to impoverish as to conquer them; and while desirous of tribute, was bent upon nmltiplying tliose non-producing communities which could neither pay themselves nor exist but by diminishing that which but for them might have been wrung from the laity ; and the monks, whether Jesuits or Franciscans, Carmelites or Dominicans, who were placed in the principal abbeys and monasteries that were restored, had it in charge from this zealous Jesuit, that they should be instant in season and out of season i 1 exhorting the laity to aid in restoring and beautifying all the monasteries throughout the island ; of which it is clear that Rome felt confident of ob- taining the complete dominion. The assistance which the rebels received enabled them to recommence and continue the civil war with advantage over the royal force, for the king was now in the power of the puritans; and much as those bigots hated the papists of Ireland, they loved their own aggrandizement still more ; and while they obtained large sums from the gulled people of i^ngland, under the pretence of putting down the Irish rebels, they coolly applied those sums to the support of their own treason- able schemes, and left the luckless authorities at Dublin wholly unaided. Rinuccini, though his ostensible mission was only of a spiritual character, had more ample secret powers and instructions. At all events, he by no means confined himself to matters spiritual, but interfered with so much insolence in civil affairs, and showed so evident an intent to usurp all authority, that even the Irish rebels became disgusted, and he was at length driven out of the country. After the murder of Charles I., that event added to the previously exist- ing topics of strife in Ireland. The "king's party" included not a few of those who had rebelled against the authority of Charles I., and was from a variety of causes, so strong, that the marquis of Ormond, then at Paris with the queen and Charles II., complied with the invitation that was sent him to go over and take the chief command, in hope that his experience and popularity, being himself an Irishman, would make him so efficient a rallying point for the royalists, that Ireland might enable the young king at some future day to reconquer England. For a time, in truth, it seemed as if this really would bs the case. Notwithstanding the cause of hale and strife which divided the Irish people into royalists and parliament- arians, Ormond was cordially received among them, and speedily found himself at the head of an army of nearly twenty thousand men. Colonel Jones, who was a creature of the parliament, and to whom Ormond had delivered the chief command in Ireland when he himself hastened to aid the unfortunate Charles I. in England, was compelled to bestow all his care upon Dublin, where the parliament left him unaided. Ormond there- fore found but little difficulty in the earlier part of his attempt to reduce Ireland to subjection to Charles II. At Dundalk, Ormond no sooner sum- moned the place, than the garrison mutinied against tlieir governor. Monk and compelled him to surrender without firing a shot. Tredah and several other places were taken with comparatively small trouble and loss ; and Ormond now proposed, after giving his troops necessary repose, to advance to the siege of Dublin. Could he have succeeded in that important point, it is v(?ry probable that Irela^^d would have wholly been lost to the parlia TilE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 43 raent; for, considering the enthusiastic nature of the Irish people, it is highly probable the appearance of the young king jn Dublin, whither he would have proceeded immediately on the success of Ormond, would have united the whole Irish people in defence of their king against the pu- ritans, and their country against usurpers. But a change had come over the state of things. Cromwell was now more potent in England than the parliament whose tool he had seemed to be ; and though England presented abundant labour and no little danger, Cromwell grudged Waller and Lam- bert the glory, which both aspired to, of conquering Ireland, in the char- acter of its lord-lieutenant. With his usual art, he procured his own nom- ination ; and, with his usual promptitude and energy, he no sooner received his appointment than he prepared to fulfil his task. He immediately sesJ over a strong reinforcement of both horse and foot i». Colonel Jones, in Dublin. Never was reinforcement sent at a more critical moment. Or- mond, and Inchiquin, who had joined him, had proceeded to repair a fort close to Dublin, and had carried forward their work very considerably towards completion. Colonel Jones, who was an energetic olllcer, had no sooner received this reinforcement than he sallied out suddenly upon the royalists, and put them completely to the rout. One thousand of them were killed; and twice that number, with all the ammunition and muni- tions of the royal army, graced the triumphal return of the colonel to Dub- lin. In the midst of the joy and exultation of the garrison and people of Dublin at this success, Cromwell himself, accompanied by Ireton, arrived upon the scene. Tredah, or Drogheda, a strong and well fortified town near Dublin, was garrisoned for the king by three thousand men, princi- pally English, under the command of Sir Arthur Aslon, an able and expe- rienced officer. Thither Cromwell hastened, battered a breach in the wall, and led the way in person to an assault. Though the parliamentary sol- diery of England, with Cromwell, and scarcely less terrible Ireton at their head, sword in hand, were not the men to be easily repelled, the garrison of Tredah showed that they were " English too ;" for the assailants were twice beaten back with great carnage. A third assault was more suc- cessful, and partly in implacable rage at having been even temporarily held in check, and partly as the surest way to deter other places from venturing to resist his formidable power, Cromwell, to his disgrace, gave the fatal word "No quarters;" and so determined was he in this barbarous resolution, that even a wretched handful of men who escaped the carnage, were, on the fact becoming known to Cromwell, immediately put to the sword. The excuse that Cromwell made for this barbarity, so thoroughly disgraceful to the soldierly character, was his desire to avenge the shock- ing cruelties of the massacre. Professing so much religious feeling, even that motive would scarcely have palliated his cruelty ; but the excuse was as ill-founded as the measure was rufllanly, for the garrison were not Irish- men, stained with the horrible guilt of the ever-execrable massacre, but, as Cromwell well knew, Englishmen, true alike to their monarch, their faith, and their country. Having thus barbarously destroyed the entire garrison of Tredah, with the exception of one solitary soldier, whose life was merely spared that he might carry through the country the tale of the prowess of the English general, Cromwell advanced upon Wexford. Here he had the same success, and showed the same murderous severity as at Tredah ; and in less than a year from his landing in Ireland he was in possession of all its chief towns and fortresses, and had driven both English royalists and Irish rebels to such straits, that no fewer than forty thousand withdrew from the island altogether. But Scotland now attracted the ambition of Cromwell ; and having looked well to the garrisoning of the principal towns, and sent a vast num- ber of the inhabitants, and especially young people, of both sexes, to the We.'t li, ■'•jes, as slaves, he left the goverment of Ireland to Ireton, upoa 14 THE TREASUllY OP HISTORY. whom also devolved the finishing the subjection of the country. Treton, who was a stout soldier, followed the parting instructions of Cromwell to the letter. With a well-supplied army of thirty thousand men, he ruled liie country with an iron and unfaltering hand. Wherever the rebels ap- peared, there he was sine to meet them ; and wherever he met, there he also defeated them. The faithless and black-hearted Phelim O'Neill, the author of the worst atrocities of the rebellion, was at length taken prisoner; and if ever the gibbet was rightfully employed in taking away human life, it was certainly so on this occasion. As far as his means permitted him, this man had rivalled Nero and all the worst miscreants of antiquity ; Ireland, that unhappy country, was at least fortunate in being reconquered by even a Cromwell, instead of falling under the dictatorship of an O'Neill. The only place of any importance that had now not yielded to the English, was Limerick. Against this town Ireton led his men with his usual suc- cess. A fierce resistance was made, and when he at length took it by assault, he took a no less fierce revenge. But here it was ordained that both his success and cruelty should terminate. The crowded state of the place and the scarcity of provisions had generated one of those fevers so fommon in Ireland, which are as infectious as the plague of the East, and nearly as fatal. Ireton had scarcely stilled the tumult and excitement in- separable from the taking of a besieged town, when he was attacked by this fever; and as he was already much weakened by fatigues and expo- sure, it speedily proved fatal. After what we have said of his inflexible severity to his Irish prisoners, it may seem paradoxical to affirm thai his death was a calamity to Ireland. A'nd yet as such we really view it ; he was led to his inflexibility by a horror of the cruelty of the rebels, and a belief that it was his duty to God and man to avenge it. But in his civil administration he was a just and calm governor; and as the country be- came orderly and obedient, so would he, we feel sure, have relaxed from his sternness and become the best resident ruler that Ireland ever possessed. Ireton was succeeded in the lieutenancy by Ludlow. He drove the native Irish, almost without exception, into Connaught ; and so completely was the Irish cause a lost one, that Clanricarde, who had succeeded O'Neill as its chief hope and champion, lost all heart and confidence, made peace with parliament, and was allowed to find a shelter in England, where he resided until his death. Under Ludlow and Henry Cromwell, Ireland gradually improved. On the restoration of Charles II., the duke of Or- mond, who was condemned to death at the same time as O'Neill, but spared and allowed to retire to France, returned to Ireland as lord-lieu- tenant. Ormond, unlike soldiers in general, set a due value upon the peaceable arts, and he wisely considered that the best way to ensure peace and the obedience of a people, is to encourage commerce and manufac- tures among them. Accordingly, he exerted himself to promote the im- migration of English and foreign artizans, and established linen and wooleiv factories in Clonmel, Carrick, and other towns. The duke continued to be lord-lieutenant of Ireland during the whole reign of Charles II.; and the improvement of the country was proportionate to his well-directed ^Jfforts to that end. On the accession of James 11. , that monarch, who was extremely anxious to fill all the offices of that country with catholics, as though he foresaw it would one day be the last spot upon which he could, with even a chance of success, attempt to defend his crown, removed the duke; but Ireland still continued to improve in wealth, morals, and comfort, untd the abdication of James once more involved that ill-fated country in warfare. Aided by Louis XIV., James led a strong force to Ireland, where he landed at Kinsale, on the 17th of March, 1689. The earl of Tyrconnel, whom he had himself made lorf-lieutenant, escorted him to Dublin, where he was received with every demonstration of loyalty and respect by the catholic clergy and people, the former meeting him at 53^^rL>^=t^^y^ View of Kinsale. City of Limekick THE taSASLrvf OF HISTORY. 45 9ome distance from the city in their full clerical attire But his conduct while in the country was arbitrary and mischievous in the extreme. James caused several pieces of brass artillery to be melted down and coined. The utmost value of each of these coins was sixpence, but the current value given to them by the preposterously dishonest order of James was five pounds ! Not contented with subsisting his army, his suite, and his friends, upon this shameful difference between the nominal and intrinsic value of his currency, he went still farther, and did what we think would justify even sterner censure than we have pronounced upon him ; for with this same base money, so base as to have scarcely any in- trinsic value at all, he purchased vast quanlilies of every description of goods and shipped them off to France. In the province of Ulster, where nearly the whole population were traders and protestants, and where much of the real property-tenure was affected by the act of settlement, the tyranny of James aroused a spirit of determined resistance. The king, obstinate and implacable in his resent- ments, looked upon the dislike of his subjects to such wholesale destruc- tion of both their political liberty and private property, as nothing less than treason against his authority ; and made war upon them as fiercely as though they had no more rights than the meanest of the mercenaries by whom he was accompanied. Derry, commanded by the famous pro- testant clergyman, George Walker, closed her gates against him ; and to the steady bravery with which that city held out, as more particu- larly described in the history of England, it was mainly owing that he was so early driven from the island. Inniskillen resisted him with success; her army of 'prentice boys nobly making good their war-cry of " no sur- render ;" and at length, on the 30th of June, 1690, after a little more than fifteen months of tyranny, so senseless that one might almost suppose him to have laboured during the whole time under a judicial blindness, the famous battle of the Boyne drove him forever into that obscurity for which, as concerned the happiness of mankind, he was alone fitted. The affairs of England now requiring William's presence, he gave up the command of the army to Ginckle, an able general. He defeated the Irish and French at Aughrim, and on the defeated troops taking refuge in Limerick, he at once laid siege to it. But the cause of the fugitive James was at so low an ebb, that even the most enthusiastic of the catholics had given up all anticipation of benefit from farther resistance ; and as, froa the stern character of Ginckle, it was not likely that he would keep any measure in his wrath, if compelled to take the place by assault, it was determined to treat for peace while it was likely he would listen to reason- able terms. A negotiation was commenced, and after some alteration in the terms had been dictated by Ginckle and acceded to by the garrison, peace vvas concluded, and the gates of Limerick thrown open on the 3d of October, 1691. When William III. was fairly settled upon his throne. Ireland as well as England began to exhibit manifest improvement ia trade and commerce. That some distress should exist was inevitable, but no one can deny that Ireland improved wonderfully and rapidly, upon the whole, during the time that elapsed between the treaty of Limerick and the accession to the English throne of George III., that is to say, from the year 1691 to the year 1760. George III., in the first year of his reign, showed sincere anxiety to promote the prosperity and comfort of his Irish subjects. Public" works of importance gave employment to those labourers, who, in the inevitable fluctuations of trade and speculation, were in want of it ; new roads were made, piers built at some of the sea-ports, a splendid quay was built at Limerick, and that magnificent canal was planned which connects Dublin with the Shaimon, carrying employment and prosperity throughout its course. In 1786, that perpetual source of ill blood, the tithe system, met with determined resistance from a large 40 TUE TIIEASUKY OF HISTOKY. parly in the south of Ireland, who styled themselves Right-boys. The> administered oaths, binding the people not to pay more tithe per acre than a certain sum they fixed — to permit no proctors — and not to allow the clergyman to take his tithes in kind. They also proceeded to fix the rents of land — to raise the wages of labour — and to oppose the collection of the tax called hearth-money. It was impossible that the legislature could allow this violation of the law to pass unnoticed, and in the following year an act was passed, to prevent tumultuous assemblies and illegal com- binations. A very few years passed from this time before the French revolution broke out ; when all who were dissatisfied with the government, and lioped to profit by the convulsion into which the country was likely to be thrown, as well as those who sighed for catholic emancipation, or clamoured for redress of grievances, hailed the success of revolutionary principles in that country as the day-spring of liberty in their own; but while they professed to forward a" brotherhood of affection, a communion of rights, and a union of power among Irislimen of every religious per- suasion," the leaders of this *' association " contemplated nothing short of subversion of the monarchy in Ireland, and a perfect fraternization with the republicans of France, whom they invited to come to their assistance. That such was their intention, was afterwards fully proved on the trials of Napier Tandy and others ; and it was also evident from the formation in Dublin of national guards, distinguished by a green uniform, and by but- tons with a harp under a cap of liberty instead of a crown. The i)th of December, 1792, was appointed for the general muster of these guards; but the government interfered with their proceedings, and the muster never took place. But, although the progress of insurrection v/as stayed for a time, the spirit of disaffection only lay dormant till a more favour?- able opportunity should offer for displaying its activity. At length an arrangement was made between the ringleaders and the French govern- ment, that an armament should be sent in the winter of 1796-7, with whom the Irish insurgents would be ready to co-operate. Accordingly, the in- vading fleet anchored in Bantry Bay, on the 24ih of December, 179C ; but as the general and a great part of the troops were on board ships that had not arrived, the admiral, after waiting for him a few days, returned to Brest ; having previously ascertained, however, that the country was in a better state of defence, and that the population was less disaffected to the English government, than the French directory had reason to suppose. In May, 1797, a proclamation was issued, declaring the civil power in- adequate to quell the insurrection, and ordering the military to act upon the responsibility of their own officers. Many severities were consequently practised ; and the United Irishmen, perceiving that their only chance of success was by assuming the appearance of being reduced to obedience, they conducted their operations in a more secret manner, discontinuing their meetings, and putting on the semblance of loyalty with such con- summate art that, tlie government being deceived by these appearances, the administration of justice was again, in about three months from the date of the proclamation, committed to the civil power. The organization of the United Irishmen, however, liad been going on all this time in a man- ner the most secret and effectual. Secretaries, delegates, committees, and even an executive directory, was respectively engaged in furnishing sup- plies and arranging the materials necessary for carrymg out their plans; and in the spring of 1797, the Irish union was extending far and wide throughout the island. Not being able to propagate their instruction by means of the public press, liaud-bills were privately printed and circ-alatcd by their agents. In \.\\q^c, abstinence from spirituous liquors was strongly recommended— for the two-fold reason of impairing the reveriue, and of guard. ing against intoxication, lest the secrets of the society should be incautiously THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 47 divulged tc the agents of government. Those who thought thsy knew the character of the lower Irish would not have believed that any motive would induce thenj to follow this advice ; but it was so generally and faithfully obeyed, that drunkenness among Unite! Irishmen became a comparatively rare occurrence. The members were cautioned against pur- chasing the quit-rents of the crown, as the bargains would not be valid in case of a change in the government ; and the taking of bank notes was also to be especially avoided. These things indicated an approaching revolution, and to effect it they looked with intense anxiety to France for military aid. This was readily promised them; and preparations for the invasion of Ireland were made at Brest and in the Texel ; but Lord Dun- can's victory off Camperdown rendered the latter abortive, while that at Brest met with unexpected delays. By this time the number of men sworn into the conspiracy amounted nearly to half a million, and plans were made for the simultaneous rising of this body; their plans were, however, defeated by the vigilance of the ministry, and some of their most influential leaders arrested. In March, 1798, government issued a proclamation for the immediate sup- pression of the disaffection and disorders in Ireland ; while Gene'i'al Aber- crombie, at the head of the forces, marched into the most disturbed dis- tricts ; not, however, till the insurrection had risen to an alarming heig-ht. Vigorous measures were now taken ; and General Lake, who succeeded Abercrombie in the command of the army, proclaimed martial law, and eventually crushed the rebellion in the memorable conflict at Vinegar-hill. But it is needless to proceed ; for the scenes which followed, and the affairs of Ireland generally, are so bound up with those of England from this period, that the reader will find the material points already succinct!)- given. We shall therefore only introduce a few remarks relative to the repeal agitation, the poison so thoroughly instilled into the minds and hearts of the people in every pa"t of the island. Insulting epithets, gibes, and falsehoods, have been used by O'Connell again and again, to bring the government of England into contempt ; denunciations against the " Saxon," he has coupled with the meanest sycophancy to an ignorant rabble; ht) has boasted of his power to wage war against the British, while in the same breath he has affected to recommend peace. " If," said he, at a recent "monster" meeting, " it should be necessary for me to call this vast assemblage to arms — to bid you march to the battle-field, there is not one of you that would refuse the summons ; ay, and your enemies know it as well as I do. Yes, 1 have set them at defiance, and I defy them again." To write at all on Ireland, and not allude to the crisis which is so •ostentatiously announced, would seem to be a dereliction of one's duty. But that we may not be subject to the charge of taking a one-sided view of Irish grievances, we shall make a few extracts from the observations of a popular writer, whose opinions on political matters are frequently carried to the verge o[ liberalism. " The granting of the elective franchise to the catholics, so late as 17'j2, was the first great step in the progress to a better system, which was happily consummated by the repeal of the last remnant of the penal 'jode in 1829. The odious distinctions by which society was formerly divided hive no longer any real or statutory foundations- Adherence to the religion of their ancestors has ceased to entail upon the catholics a denial of their political franchises ; and all classes now participate equally in the rights and privileges granted by the constitution. " One of the most curious chapters in the Irish history is that connected with the embodying of the volunteers in 1782, and the revolution that was soon after effected in the construction of Ireland. The difficulties in which Great Britain was then involved having occasioned (he withdrawal 48 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. of the greater number of the troops from Ireland, rumours were propa- gated of an expected invasion of the island by the French ; and, to nieet this contingency, the protestants of Ulster and other parts took up arms, and formed themselves into a body of volunteer corps. These bodies soon became sensible of their strength ; and having- appointed delegates and concerted measures, they proceeded to set about reforming the constitu tion. In this view they published declarations, to the effect that Ireland ■was a free and independent kingdom, and that no power on earth, except that of the king, lords, and commons of Ireland, could legally enact laws to bind Irishmen. These declarations, which struck a direct blow at the superiority hitherto claimed and asserted by the British parliament, might, and most probably would, at another time, have been successfully resist- ed. But Great Britain, being then engaged in a desperate contest with her revolted colonies, and with almost all the great European powers, pru- dently made the concession demanded by the Irish volunteers; and the Independence of Ireland was proclaimed amid the most enthusiastic demon- strations of popular rejoicing. " In truth, however, this independence was apparent only. The wretched state of the elective franchise in Ireland was totally inconsistent with anything like real independence ; and so venal was the Irish parliament, that any minister, how unpopular soever, had no difficulty in securing a majority in that assembly. Hence the anticipations in vv'hich tlie more sanguine Irish patriots had indulged were destined soon to experience a most mortifying disappointment; and this, and the hopes inspired by the French revolution, terminated in the rebellion of 1798, which was not suppressed v/ithout a repetition of the former scenes of devastation and bloodshed. "The British government at length wisely determined to effect a legis- lative union between Great Britain and Ireland, and to suppress the sep- arate legislature of the latter. This measure, notwithstanding a strenuous opposition, was happily carried, and took effect from the 1st of January 1801. And, unless it were resolved or wished to put an end to all politi- cal connection between the two countries, nothing could be more inexpe- dient and absurd than the existence of a separate independent legislature for Ireland. Perpetual jealousies could not have failed to arise between It and the legislature of Great Britain, which must necessarily in the end have led to estrangement, and probably separation. A legislative union was the only means of obviating these and other sources of miscJiief ; its repeal would make Ireland a theatre for all sorts of projects and intrigues, and it would be sure to be followed, at no distant period, by the dismember- ment of the empire. Its maintenance, therefore, should be regarded as a fundamental principle of policy ; and, to give it permanence and stability, every effort should be made to remove all just grounds of complaint on the part of the Irish people, and to make the union one of national inteicw and affection, as vvell as of constitutional law." — M^Culloch THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. CHAPTER I. ''History," says Dr. Robertson, "which ought to record truth and teacn wisdom, often sets out with retailing fiction and absurdities." Never was a sentence more true, nor a truism more necessary to be borne in mind. Relying upon uncertain legends, and the traditions of their bards, still more uncertain, the Scots reckon up a series of kings several ages before the birth of Christ ; but the earliest accounts we can depend on, are obtained from Roman historians ; and even these are very meagre. The Scots ap- pear to have been descended from the Britons of the south, or from the Caledonians, both of Celtic origin, who being pressed forward by new colonies from Gaul, till they came to the western shores of Britain, there took shipping and passed over to Ireland, about a century before tlie Chris- tian era. In their new abode, it is said they obtained the name of Scuyts, or Wanderers; from which the modern term Scots is supposed to be de- rived. About A. D. 320, they returned to Britain, or at least a large colony of lliem, under the conduct of Fergus, and settled on the coast of Cale- donia, whence they had formerly emigrated, and in a few years after we find them associated with the Picts in their expedition against the Roman province of South Britain. The modern inhabitants of Scotland are divided into Highlanders and Lowlanders ; but the general name of both is Scots ; and if the etymology of that name be correct, we may say, withcut sar- casm or reproach, that they still merit it as much as their ancesiors; for there is scarcely a place in the world where they are not to be Durid. There has been much dispute among antiquaries whether, m the first place, the Picts and Caledonians were the same race; and iv'hether, sec ondly, they were of Gothic origin ; but, according to the best authorities, both these points have been very satisfactorily demonstrated. Tacitus describes the Caledonians as being of tall stature, light hr;ir, and blue eyes, and he deduces their Gothic origin from their appearance ; the Celts being, on the other hand, a small and dark people, with black eyes and hair. In the year 81, the Romans, under Agricola, carried their arms into the northern parts of Britain, which they found possessed by the Caledonians, a fierce and warlike people; and having repulsed, rather than conquered them, they erected a strong wall, or line of forfs, between the friths of Forth and Clyde, which served as the northerr boundary of their empire. In 121, Adrian, on account of the difficulty o( defending such a distant frontier, built a second wall much more soi:thward, which extented from Newcastle to Carlisle. However, the country between the two walls was alternately under the dominion of the Romans and the Caledonians. In the reign of Antoninus Pius, the pro-prcetor, Lollius Urbius, drove the Scots far to the northward, and repaired the chain of forts built by Agri- cola, which lay between the Carron on the frith of Forth, and Dunglass on the Clyde. However, after the death of Antoninus, Commodus having recalled Calpnrmus Agricola, an able commander, who kept the Scots in awe, a more dangerous war broke out than had ever been expcrienrc^d by the Romans in that quarter. Tlie Scots having passed the wall, put all the Romans tliey could meet with to the sword ; but they were soon re- pulsed by Ulpius Marcellus, a general of consummate abilities, whom 4 50 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. Commodus sent into the island. In a short time the tyrant recalled this able commander. After his departure the Roman discipline suffered a total relaxation; the soldiery grew mutinous, and great disorder ensued; but these were all happily removed by the arrival of Clodius Albinus, who possessed great skill and experience in military affairs. His presence for some time restrained the Scots, but a civil war breaking out between him and Severus, Albinus crossed over to the continent with the greatest part of the Roman forces in Britain, and meeting his antagonist at Lyons, a dreadful battle ensued, in which Albinus was completely defeated. The withdrawal of the Roman troops gave encouragement to the Scots to renew their insurrection, which they did with such success, that the emperor became apprehensive of losing the whole island, on which he de- termined to take the field against them in person. The army he collected on this occasion was far more numerous than any the Romans had ev^r sent into Britain, and it is asserted that in reconquering Scotland he lost no less than 50,000 men. On his return from the northern extremity of the island he built much stronger fortifications to secure the frontiers than had ever been done before, and which in some places coincided with Adrian's wall, but extended farther at each end. But, in the meantime, the Scots, provoked by the brutality of the emperor's son, Caracalla, whom he had left regent in his absence, again took up arms, on which Severus put himself at the head of his legions, with a determination, as he said, of extirpating the whole nation. But his death, which happened soon after, put a stop to the execution of a threat so direful, and we find that his son Caracalla ratified the peace with the Scots. At this period Scotland was governed by Donald I., who is said to have been its first Christian king. ' Hq died a. d. 216. From the reign of Donald I. to that of Eugene I., in 357, during which time eleven kings filled the throne, no important event occurs for which we have authentic history ; though we are told that for the gr^at aid afforded by one of the Scottish kings, named Fincormachus, to the liritons, in their contest with the Romans, Westmoreland and Cum- berland vrere ceded to Scotland. In the reign of Eugene I. v.'e read that the Romah and Pictish forces were united against the Scots. The Picts were comn^.anded by their king, named Hargust, and the Romans by Maximus, wlio murdered Valentinian III., and afterwards assumed the imperial purple. The allies defeated Eugene in the county of Galloway ; but Maximu.s being obliged to return southward on account of an insurrec- tion, the Picts wp-re in their turn defeated by the Scots. In the following year, however, Maximus again marched against the Scots, and not only gained a complete \'\ctory over them, but the king, with the greater part of his nobles, were among the slain. So well, indeed, did the conquerors improve their victory, 'Jiat their antagonists were at last totally driven out of the country. Some of them took refuge in the jEbudae islands, and some in Scandinavia, but most of them fled to Ireland, whence they made frequent descents upon Scotland. The Picts were at first greatly pleased with the victory they had gained over their warlike antagonists; but being commanded to adopt the laws of the Romans, and to choose no king who was not sent from Rome, they began to repent of their having contributed to the expulsion of the Scots; and in the year 421, when Autulphus, king of the Goths, sent over a body of exiled Scots to Britain, under Fergus, a descendant of the kings of Scotland, the Picts immediately joined them against the common enemy. It was at this period that the Romans were obliged, by the inundation of northern barbarians who poured in upon them, to recall their legions and abandon their conquests in Britain. The native Britons, therefore, so long accustomed to the dominion of these mighty conquerors, and now so incorporated willi them, severely felt the perils of their situation when left to defend themselves ; hence originated that supplicating letter to THE TIIEASUilY OF HISTORY. 5I Rome, entitled " the groans of the Britons." This, however, not being attended with success, the Britons called in the >Saxons to their aid. By these new allies the Scots were defeated in a great battle, and their king, Dongard, successor to Eugene, drowned in the Humber, a. d. 457, which put a stop for soiTie time to these excursions. Hitherto we have seen the Scots very formidable enemies of the southern Britons ; but when the Saxons usurped the kingdom, and subjected those whom they came to aid, the Scots joined in a strict alliance with the latter; nor does it ap- pear that the league thus formed was afterwards broken. Three centuries now pass without anything occurring calculated to interest the reader, or to throw light on the Scottish history, beyond what has been related in the history of England during the Heptarchy. In 787 we find that Achaius, king of tlie Scots, after quelling some insur- rections, entered into a treaty of perpetual amity with Charles the Great, king of France and emperor of Germany, which treaty continued to be observed inviolably between the two nations, till the accession of James VI. to the throne of England. The next remarkable event in the history of Scotland is the war with the Picts. Dongal, king of the Scots, claimed a right to the Pictish throne, which being rejected by the latter, they had recourse to arms. At this time the dominions of the Scot." comprehended the western islands, together with the counties of Argyle, Knapdale, Kyle, Kintyre, Lochaber, and a part of Breadalbane, while the Picts possessed the rest of Scotland, and a considerable part of Northumberland. The Scots, however, appear to have been superior in military skill; for Alpin, the successor of Dongal, having engaged the Pictish army near Forfar, defeated them, and killed their king, though not without suflfering great loss himself. The Picts then chose Brudus, the son of their former king, to succeed him, but soon after deposed and put him to death. His brother Kenneth shared the same fate. Brudus, who next ascended the throne, was a brave and spirited prince ; lie first offered terms of peace to the Scots, which, however, Alpm rejected, and insisted on a total surrender of his crown. After vainly endeavoring to obtain the assistance of Edwin, king of Northumberland, Brudus marched resolutely against his enemies, and the two armies came to an engagement near Dundee. The superior skill of the Scots in military affairs was about to have decided the victory in their favour, when Brudus is said to have had recourse to stratagem to preserve his army from destruction. He caused all the attendants, female as well as male, to assemble and show themselves at a distance, as a powerful reinforcement coming to the Picts. This caused such a panic in the Scottish ranks, that all the efforts of their leader could not recover them ; and they were accordingly defeated with great slaughter. Alpin himself was taken prisoner, and soon after beheaded. Kenneth H., the son of Alpin, succeeded his father, and proved himself a brave and enterprising prince. Resolved to take a severe revenge for his father's death, he made the most vigorous preparations for war ; and so well did he succeed, that, after many desperate conflicts, he became master of all Scotland, so that he is justly considered the true founder of the Scottish monarchy. lie is also said to have been very successful against the Saxons, but of his exploits with those hardy an 1 skilful war- riors we have no accounts that can be depended on. Hav'ng reigneJ sixteen years in peace after his subjugation of the Picts, and composed a code of laws for the better regulation of his people, he died at Fort Teviot in Perthshire. Before his time tlie seat of the Scottish government had been in Argyleshire ; but he removed it to Scone, by transferring thither the celebrated black stone supposed to be the palladium of Scotlaiid, and V, hich was afterwards removed by tidv/ard I. to Westminster abbey. In the reign of Donald, who succeeded his brother Kenneth, the Picts who had fled out of Scotb.nd applied to the Saxons for assistance, promis- 52 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. ing to make Scotland tributary to the Saxon power after it should be con- quered. This ended in a great victory on the part of the confederates, who became masters of all the country south of the Fortli and Clyde ; it being agreed that the Forth should from that time forward be called the •' Scots sea;" and it was made a capital offence for any Scotchman to set his foot on English ground. They were to erect no foriSw near the t]n- glish boundaries, to pay an annual tribute of a thousand pounds, and to give up sixty of the sons of their chief nobility as hostages. After the conclusion of this treaty, so humiliating to the Scots, the Picts, finding that their interests had been entirely neglected, fled to Norway, while those who remained in England met with a brutal death from tlieir late allies. Donald, having been dethroned and imprisoned, put an end to his own life; he was succeeded by his nephew Constantine, the son of Ken- neth M'Alpin, in whose reign Scotland was first invaded by the Danes, who proved such formidable enemies to the English. This invasion is said to have been occasioned by a body of exiled Picts v.'ho fled to Den- mark, where they prevailed upon the king of that country to send his two brothers to recover the Pictish dominions from Constantine. These princes landed on the coast of Fife ; and though one of the armies was defeated by Constantine near the water of Levan, the king was himself defeated by the other, taken prisoner, and beheaded at a place called the Devil's Cave, a. d. 874. This unfortunate action cost the Scots 10,000 men ; but the Danes purchased their victory dearly, as they were obliged immediately afterwards to abandon their conquests and retire to their own country. Constantine was succeeded by his brother Eth, surnamed the Swift- footed, from his agility. He was succeeded by Gregory, the son of Dou- gal, contemporary with Alfred of England, and both princes deservedly acquired the name of Great. The Danes at their departure had left the Picts in possession of Fife. Against them Gregory immediately marched, and quickly drove them into the north of England, where their confede- rates were already masters of Northumberland and York. In their way thither they threw a garrison into the town of Berwick ; but this was presently reduced by Gregory, who put all the Danes to death, but spared the lives of the Picts. He afterwards marched against the Cum- brians, whom he easily overcame, and obliged to yield up all the lands they had formerly possessed belonging to the Scots, at the same time that he agreed to protect them against the power of the Danes. In a short time, however, Constantine, the king of the Cumbrians, violated the convention he had made, and invaded Annandale, but vvas defeated and killed by Gregory near Lochmaben. After this he entirely reduced the counties of Cumberland and Westmoreland, which, it is said, were ceded to him by Alfred the Great, whose affairs were at that period anything but prosperous. Gregory next engaged in a war with the Irish, to support Donach, an Irish prince, against two rebellious noblemen. The first en- gagement after his landing in Ireland proved fatal to Brian, one of these chieltains, and he then reduced Dundalle and Drogheda. On his way to Dublin he was opposed by a chieftain named Cornell, who shared the fato of his friend Brian. Gregory then assumed the guardianship of the young prinre he came to assist, appointed a regency, and obliged them to swear thri they would never admit into the country either a Dane or an Englishman without his consent. Having placed garrisons in the strong- est fortresses, he returned to Scotland, where he died in the year 893. Donald III., the son of Constantine, succeeded Gregory; but his reign was short ; for, having marched against a body of marauders, who had in- vaded and ravaged the counties of Murray and Hoss, and subdued them, he soon after died, a. d. 903. He was succeeded by Constantine III., the eon of Eth, the most remarkable event in whose reign was, that he enter- THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 5 ed into alliance with the Danes against the English. This, however, lasted but two years. As soon as Constanline had concluded the treaty with the Danes, he appointed the presumptive heir to the Scottish crown, Malcolm, prince of the southern counties, on condition of his defending them against the attaliks of the English. He had soon dn opportunity ot displaying his valour, but, neglecting the necessary cauti(jn,his army was signally defeated, and he himself severely wounded. In consequence of this disaster, Constantino was obliged to do homage to the English mon- arch, Edward the Elder, for the possessions he had to the southward of the Scottish boundary. Early in the reign of Athelstan, the son of Edward, the northern Danes were encouraged by some conspiracies formed against that monarch, to throw off the yoke ; and their success was such, that Athelstan thought proper to enter into a treaty witli Sithric, the Danish chief, and to give nim his daughter in marriage. Sithric, however, did not lonij survive the nuptials ; and his son Guthred, endeavouring to throw off the English yoke, was defeated and obliged to fly into Scotland. This event caused a series of hostilities between the Scots and English, which in the year 938 ended in a general engagement. At this time the Scots, Irish, Cum- brians, and Danes, were leagued against the English. The Scots were commanded by their king, Constantine ; the Irish by Anlaf, the brother of Guthred, the Danish prince; ihe Cumbrians by their own sovereign; and the Danes by Froda. The generals of Athelstan were Edmund, his brother, and Turketil, his favourite. After an obstinate engagement, the confed- erates were defeated with great slaughter; the consequence of which was, that the Scots were deprived of all their possessions to the southward of the Forth, and Constantine, quite dispirited with his misfortune, re- signed the crown to Malcolm, and retired to the monastery of the Culdees at St. Andrew's, where he died in 943. The reigns of Malcolm, Indulfus, Duffus, and Cnllen, present nothing worthy of comment ; but a remarkable revolution took place in the reign of Kenneth III., who succeeded CuUen, a. d. 970. This prince com- menced his reign by reUeving the lower classes from the exactions and oppressions of the nobiliiy, which had become intolerable. Without stating his reasons, he ordered the barons to appear before him at Lanark, where he had provided an armed host to take such of them into custody as he knew to be notorious offenders, and on the charges being substan- tiated, they were compelled to make restitution, or were punislied in pro- Sortion to the niagnitucie of their offences. In this reign the Danes, who ad previously been making attempts to invade England, landed at Mon- trose, and laid waste the country around. Kenneth finding that they were making rapid progress in his kingdom, and were then besieging Perth, resolved to give them battle. He is said to have offered ten pounds in silver, or the value of it in land, for the head of every Dane which should be brought to him, and an immunity from all taxes to the soldiers who served in his army, provided they should be victorious ; but, notwith- standing the utmost efforts of the Scots, their enemies fought so desperatelj', that Kenneth's army must have been totally defeated, liad not the fugitives been stopped by a yeoman of the name of Hay, and his retainers, who were only armed with rustic weapons. The fight wa? "ow renewed with such violence on tlie part of the Scots, that the Danes were wholly de- feated ; and after the battle the king rewarded Hay with the barony of Errol, in the carse of Gowrie, ennobled his family, and gave them an armorial bearing alluding to the rustic weapons with which they had achieved this illustrious exploit. Kenneth, at lenoth, in 994, met his death by murder, at the instigation of a lady named Fenella, whose son he had caused to be put to death. The throne wag then seized by an usurper, named Constantine, who, being killed in bsittle after a reign of S 54 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. year and a half, was succeeded by Grime, the grandson of King Dufius; and he again was defeated and killed by Malcolm, the son of Kenneth, the lawful heir of the Scottish throne. Malcolm formed a strict alliance with the king of England ; and proved so successful against the Danes in that country, that Sweyn, their king, resolved to direct his whole force against him by an invasion of Scotland. In conjunction with Duncan, prince of Cumberland, who on this occasion entered into an alliance with Sweyn, Malcolm sustained a terrible defeat, and was himself desperately wounded. So elated were the Danes by this victory, that they sent for their wives and children, intending to make Scotland their future home. Towns and fortresses fell into their hands, and the Scots were everywhere treated as a conquered people ; but they afterwards met with a severe check, which they endeavoured to remedy by sending for reinforcements from both England and Norway. Their fleets soon appeared off the coast, and they effected a landing at Redhead, in the county of Angus. The castle of Brechin was first besieged ; but meeting with a stout resistance there, they laid the town and church in ashes. Malcolm, in the meantime, was at hand witli his army, and encamped at a place called Barr, in the neighbourhood of which both parties prepared to decide the fate of Scotland. The action was tierce and bloody, but was eventually crowned with complete success to the Scots. Sweyn was not, however, so discouraged, but that he sent his son Canute, afterwards king of England, and one of the greatest warriors of that age, into Scotland, with an army more powerful than any that had j'et appeared ; and though the Danes were, upon the whole, successful in the great battle which followed, they were so much reduced that they willingly concluded a peace on the following terms, viz: that the Danes should immediately leave Scotland; that as long as Malcolm and Sweyn lived, neither of them should wage war with the other, or help each other's enemies, and that the field in which the battle was fought should be set apart and consecrated for the burial of the dead. But glorious as the war- like exploits of Malcolm had been, he is said to have stained the latiei part of his reign with avarice and oppression ; and at the age of eighty, after having reigned thirty years, he fell by the hand of an assassin. Duncan I., a grandson of Malcolm, succeeded him in 1034 ; he had also another grandson, the celebrated Macbeth, who in the early part of Dun- can's reign signalized himself in quelling a formidable insurrection, but who subsequently, after having done much in expelling the Danish marauders, murdered the king, and usurped his throne, to the exclusion of Malcolm, the rightful son and heir of Duncan. For some time Macbeth governed with moderation, but his tyrannical nature was afterwards shown in almost every act. He caused Banquo, the most powerful thane in Scotland, to be treacherously murdered, and intended that his sonFleance should share the same fate, had he not made his escape to Wales. Next to Banquo the most powerful of his subjects was Macduff, the thane of Fife ; for which reason Macbeth plotted hi» destruction; but on Macduff seeking refuge in England, the tyrant cruelly put to death his wife and infant children, and sequestered his estate. The injured Macduff vowed revenge, and encouraged Malcolm to attempt to dethrone the traitorous usurper. With their united forces they gave Macbeth battle ; and, being defeated, he retreated to the most inaccessible places in the Highlands, where for two years he continued to defend him- self against all who dared to oppose him. In the meantime, however, Mal- colm, was acknowledged king of Scotland, and Macbeth penslied in a con- flict with Macduff. A. D. 1057. — Malcolm III. being now established oi. the throne, com- menced his reign by rewarding Macduff for his great services, and con- ferred upon his family some distinguished honouro The conquest of THE TREASURY OF HISTORY 5,5 England by William of Normandy involved Malcolm, who espoused the cause of the Saxons, in many fierce wars. Edgar Atheling', the heir of the Saxon line, and many of the Saxon nobles, found an asylum in Scot- land. Malcolm married Margaret, the sister of the fugitive prince, who is said to have introduced a degree of refinement into her court remarkable for that time, and to have contributed to soften the rude manners of the people. Malcolm twice invaded England with success; but William, having collected a great army, in his turn invaded Scotland, and compelled Malcolm to do homage for the lands which he held within what was accounted the English territory. This was, as the reader has been else- where informed, an ancient feudal practice, common at the period ; though in later times it has been asserted that the Scottish monarchs held their whole kingdom on this tenure. On the death of William the Conqueror, Malcolm again espoused the cause of Edgar Atheling, who had been induced to seek his assistance asecond time, when William II.,surname(l E.ufus, ascended the English throne. After several negotiations between Malcolm, Rufus, and Edgar, it was agreed that the king of England should restore to Malcolm all his southern possessions, for which he should pa}' the same homage he had been accustomed to do to the Conqueror; that he should restore to Malcolm twelve disputed manors, and give him like- wise thirteen marks of gold yearly, besides restoring Edgar to all his En- glish estates. William, however, afterwards refused to fulfil his engage- ments, and applied himself to the fortification of his northern boundaries, especially Carlisle, which had been destroyed by the Danes 200 years before. This place lay within the feudal dominions of Malcolm, and he complained of William's proceedings, as a breach of the late treaty. Another war was the natural consequence; and the Scottish king, with his eldest son, were killed in attempting to take the castle of Alnwick, A D. 1093. I'hough Malcolm left male heirs, yet his throne was usurped, first by his brother Donald Bane, and afterwards by Duncan, his natural son. By the interposition of the king of England, however, Edgar, lawful son of Malcolm, was placed upon the Scottish throne. After a reign distinguish- ed by no remarkable event, Edgar died in 1107, and was succeeded by his brother Alexander, surnamed the Fierce, from the impetuosity of his temper. But though impetuous, he was severely just, and rendered him- self chefly remarkable by the attention he paid to the administration ol justice and redress of wrong. A conspiracy formed against the life ot this good king was dissipated by the vigour of his measures; and after assisting Henry I. of England in a war with the Welsh, he died in 1124. Having left no issue, Alexander was succeeded by David, his younger brother, commonly called St. David, on account of his great piety and excessive liberality to the church and clergy. David interested him- self in the affairs of England, espousing the cause of Maud against Stephen. In several engagements he was successful, but was in others defeated, and found himself unable effectually to support the cause he had undertaken. He died in 1153, and was succeeded by Malcolm IV., a prince of a weak body, and no less feeble mind, who, dying in 1165, left his crown to his brother William. • In the beginning of his reign, William recovered from Henry of Eng- land the earldom of Northumberland, which had been relinquished by Malcolm; but afterwards leading an army into England, and conducting himself with too little caution, he was made prisoner by surprise, and de- tained in captivity, till, in order to regain his liberty, he consented to declare himself a vassal of England, and to do homage for his whole king- dom. Richard Cceur de Lion, however, who succeeded Henry, remitted the oppressive terms, and declared Scotland to be an independent king- dom ; a measure to which he was induced, partly by tlic injustice of the 55 THE THEASURY OF HISTORY. claim itself, and partly by his wish of rendering the Scots his friends, during an expedition he was about to undertake in Palestine. William showed his gratitude for the restoration of his independence, by con- linuing a faithful ally of the English till his death, in 1214. William was succeeded by his son, Alexander II., a youth of sixteen. He took the side of the English barons in their contentions with John their feeble and imprudent monarch. He was a wise and good prince, and maintained with steadiness and spirit the independency of his crown abroad, and the authority of his government at home. At his death, in 1249, he was succeded by his son, Alexander, a child of eight years of age, who was immediately crowned at Scone as Alexander III. Having been betrothed, when an infant, to the princess Margaret of England, their nuptials were celebrated at York in 1251, and he did homage to Henry for his English possessions. The latter monarch demanded homage for the kingdom of Scotland, but the young prince replied with spirit, that he came to York to marry the princess of England, not to treat of state affairs, and that he would not take so important a step without the concurrence of the national council. One of the principal events of Alexander's reign was the battle of Largs. Haco, king of Norway, having collected a fleet of one hundred and sixty ships, sailed towards Scotland with a numer- ous army, a. d. 1263, with a view to recover such of the western isles as had formerly belonged to his crown, but which had been wrested from it by the Scots. He made himself master of Arran and Bute, and after- wards landed on the coast of Ayrshire. Alexander attacked him at Largs, where, after a fierce contest, victory at last declared for the Scots, and the greater part of the invading army fell either in the action or the pur- suit. Haco reached the Orkneys, but soon afterwards died, as is said, of a broken heart, and was succeeded by Magnus, who, discouraged by the disaster which had befallen his father, yielded all his rights to the Western Islands and the Isle of Man to the crown of Scotland, for the sum of four thousand marks, to be paid in four years, and a quit-rent of one hundred marks, yearly ; a. d. 1266. The Norwegians still retained the Orkney and Shetland islands. From this period, Alexander was employed for several years in maintaining the independence of the Scottish church against the pretensions of the pope, and in restraining the encroachments of the clergy. His reign was a long and prosperous one, and his death was, in its consequences, a serious calamity to Scotland. While riding in the dusk of the evening along the sea-coast of Fife, his horse started, and he was thrown over the rock and killed on the spot. A. D. 1286. — Alexander's children had all died before him. His daughter Margaret had married Eric, king of Norway, and died, leaving issue one daughter, Margaret, ucually called the Maiden of Norway, the now un- doubted lieiress of the crown of Scotland, and recognized as such by the states of the kingdom about three weeks after Alexander's death. The*^ same convention appointed a regency of six noblemen during the absence of the young queen. These regents for some time acted with wisdom and unanimity ; but two of them dying, dissensions arose among the re- maining four, and Eric, king of Norway, apprehensive for the interests of his daughter, applied to Edward, king of England, for his assistance and protection. Edward had already formed a scheme for uniting the two kingdoms by the marriage of his eldest son, Edward, with the queen of Scots. A treaty was entered into for this purpose ; but the Maiden of Norway unfortunately died at Orkney, on her passa-je to Scotland, and the nation was struck with grief and consternation in beholding the extinc- tion of a race of sovereigns who had distinguished themselves for their bravery and wisdom, and in anticipating the miseries of a contested suc- cession. The line of Alexander's descendants being thus extinguished, the right THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 57 Bf succession devolved on the descendants of David, earl of Buntingdon, third son of David I. Among these, Robert Bruce and John Baliol ap- peared as compeiitors for the crown. Bruce was the son of Isabel, earl David's second daughter; Baliol, tiie grandson of Margaret, the eldest daughter. Although the right was incontestable in Baliol, the prejudices of the people favoured Bruce ; each was supported by a powerful faction, and arms alone, it was feared, must decide the dispute. In order to avoid the threatened miseries of civil war, Edvk'ard I., king of England, was chosen umpire, and both parties agreed to acquiesce in his decree. This measure had nearly proved fatal to the independence of Scotland. Edward was artful, brave, and enterprising. The anarchy which pre- vailed in Scotland invited him first to seize, and then to subject the king- dom. Under the authority of an umpire, he summoned all the Scottish barons to' Norharn ; and having gained some, and intimidated others, he prevailed on all who were present, not excepting Bruce and Baliol, the competitors, to acknowledge Scotland to be a fief of the crown of England, and to swear fealty to him as their sovereign lord. Edward now de- manded possession of the kingdom, that he might be able to deliver it to him whose right should be found preferable; and such was the pusillan- imity of the nobles, and the impatience of the competitors, that both as- sented to his demand, and Gdbert d'Umpfrevilie, earl of Angus, was the only man who refused to surrender the castles in his custody to the'ene- my of his country. Edward, finding Baliol had the best right, and was the least formidable of the two competitors, gave judgment in his favour, and Baliol once more confessed himself the vassal of England. Edward now concluded that his dominion was fidly established in Scotland, and began to assume the master ; his new vassals, however, bore the yoke with im- patience. Provoked by his haughtiness, the humble spirit of Baliol began to mutiny. But Edward, who had no further use for such a pageant king, forced him to resign the crown, and attempted to seize it, as having fallen to himself by the rebellion of his vassal. Sir William Wallace, a hero and patriot, now first made his appearance, and almost singly ventured to take arms in defence of the kingdom ; but his courage, although for a time it revived the spirit of his countrymen, could not save them from the power of the English king. He had lived a free man, and a free man he resolved to die ; but the season of resist- ance was passed. He at length fell into Edward's hands, was arraigned at Westminster as a traitor, and an ignominious death was the reward of his unexampled bravery. Robert Bruce, the grandson of the competitor of Baliol, then came forward, to assert his own rights and to vindicate the honour of his country. The nobles crowded to his standard, and many battles were fought with the English. The Scots, though often van- quished, were not subdued ; the prudent conduct nf Bruce, aided by the national enthusiasm, baffled the repeated eftbrts of Edward ; and, although the war continued, with littk; intermission, upv/ards of seventy years, Bruce and his posterity kept possession of Scotland. But while the sword, the ultimate judge of all disputes between contend- ing nations, was employed to terminate this controversy, neither Edward nor the Scots seemed to distrust the justice of their cause; and both ap- pealed to history and records, and from these produced, in their own favour, such evidence as they pretended to be unanswerable. The letters and memorials addressed by each party to the pope, v.'ho was then reverenced as the common father, and often appealed to as the common judge of all Christian princes, are still extant. The fabulous tales of the early British history, the partial testimony of ignorant chroniclers, suppositions, treaties, and charters, are the proofs on which Edward founded his title to the sovereignty of Scotland; and the homage done by the Scottish monarchs for their lands in England is preposterously supposed to imply the subjec- 58 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. tion of llie whole kingdom. Ill-founded, however, as their right was, Iho p]nglish (lid not fail to revive it, in all tiie subsequent quarrels between the two kinjj-doins, while the Scots disclaimed it with the utmost indigna- tion. To this we must impute the fiereo and implacable hatred to each other, which long inflamed both. Their national antipathies were excited, not only by the usual circumstances of frequent hostilities, and reciprocal injuries, but the English considered the Scots as vassals who had presumed to rebel, and the Scots, in their turn, regarded the English as usurpers who amied at enslaving their country. A. D. 133u. — liobert Bruce began to reign in 1306, and no prince was ever more indebted to his nobles. Their valour conquered the kingdom, and placed him on the throne, and he bestowed upon them, in return, the lands of the vanquished. Robert died in 1329, and was succeeded by his son David. He iiad been an exile in France, and afterwards a prisoner in England, and being involved in continental war with Edward 111. of England, had not time to attend to the internal police of the kingdom. He died without children in 1371, and was succeeded by Robert Stuart. CHAPTER II. THE HOUSE OF STU.VRT. A. D. 1371. — The reign of Robert II. (the first of the House of Stuart), is replete with accounts of skirmishes and inroads, but of very little con- sequence in an historical point of view. He died in 1390, and was suc- ceeded by Robert III., who was a man of weak mind and sickly constitu- tion, and very unfit to check the growing power of the martial barons. Robert died in HOG, and an interregnum of eighteen j'ears took place, owing to James, his successor, being a prisoner in England. A. D. 1424. — The English had unjustly detained the heir of the Scottish throne, but they certainly made some amends for their injustice, by the care they took in his education. During his long residence in England, he had an opportunity of observing the feudal system in a more advanced state, and refined from many of the imperfections which still adhered to it in his own kingdom. He saw there nobles great, but not independent ; a king powerful, though far from absolute ; he saw a regular administra- tion of government, wise laws enacted, and a nation flourishing and hap- py, because all ranks were accustomed to obey them. Full of these ideas, he returned to his native country, which presented to him a very different scene. The royal authority, never great, was now contemptible, by hav- ing been so long delegated to regents. The ancient patrimony and rev- enues of the crown were almost totally alienated. The license of many, years had rendered the nobles independent. Universal anarchy prevailed ; the weak were opposed to the oppression of the strong ; the barbarous chieftain ruled at pleasure, and neither feared the king, nor felt for the people. James was too wise to employ open force to correct such rooted evils ; neither the men nor the times would" have borne it. He applied the gentler remedy of laws and statutes, tending visibly to re-establish order, tran- quillity, and justice, in the kingdom. But, at the same time that he en- deavoured to secure these blessings to the people, he discovered his in- tention to recover those possessions of which the crown had been unjustly deprived, and for that purpose oblamedan act, by which he was impow- ered to summon such nersons as had obtained crown-lands during the three last reigns, to produce the rights by which they held them. As this statute threatened the property of the nobles, another, which passed in a subsequent parliament, aimed a dreadful blow at their power. By it the THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 53 leagues and combinations which rendered the nobles so formidable to the crown, were declared unlawful. James now took bolder and more deci~ sive steps. During the silling of parliament, he seized his cousin Murdo, duke of Albany, and his sons ; the earls of Douglas, Lenox, Angus, IMarch, and above twenty others of the first rank, who appeared restless under the new statutes. To all of them, however, he was soon after reconciled, except Albany and his sons, and Lenox. These were tried by their peers, and condemned. Their execution struck the whole order with terror, and the forfeiture of their estates added considerably to the possessions of the crown. He seized likewise the earldoms of Buchan and Strathern upon different pretexts, and that of Mar fell to him by inheritance. The pa- tience and inactivity of the nobles, while the king was proceeding so rapidly in aggrandizing the crown, are amazing. The only obstruction he met with, was from a slight insurrection, headed by the duke of Albany's youngest son, which was soon suppressed. Encouraged by the facility with which he had advanced, James ventured upon a measure that irrita- ted the whole body of the nobility. The father of George Dunbar, earl of March, had taken arms against Robert IIL the king's father; but that crime had been pardoned, and his lands restored, by Robert, duke of Al- bany, during the confinement of James in England. Under the pretext that the regent had exceeded his power, and that it was the prerogative of the king alone to pardon treason, James declared the pardon to be void. Many of the nobles and great men held lands by no other right than what they derived from grant of the two dukes of Albany. Although Dunbar was at present the only sufferer, it caused great alarm, as the precedent might be extended. Terror and discontent spread far and wide upon this discovery of the king's intentions ; the common danger called on the whole order to unite, and to make one bold stand, before they were strip- ped successively of their acquisitions. A conspiracy was formed against the king's life by those who had been the chief sufferers under the new laws, and the first intelligence of it was brought to him while he lay in his camp before Roxburgh castle. He instantly dismissed his nobles and their vassals, in whom he could place no confidence, and retired to a monastery near Perth, where he was soon afterwards murdered in a most cruel manner, in 1437. James was a prince of great abihties, and, in general, conducted his operations with prudence ; he was beloved by trie people, and hated by the nobles. His maxims and manners were too re- fined for the age and country in which he lived. He was succeeded by his son, James H., an infant. A. D. 1437. — Crichton, who had been the minister of James L, still held the reins of government. He did not relinquish the design of the late king for humbling the nobility, but endeavoured to inspire his pupil with the same sentiments. But what James had attempted to effect slowly, and by legal means, his son and Crichton pursued with the impetuosity natural to Scotchmen. William, the sixth earl of Douglas, was the first victim to their barbarous policy. He was decoyed to an interview in the castle of Edinburgh, and there murdered with his brother. Crichton, however, gained little by this act of treachery, which rendered him universally odious. William, the eighth earl of Douglas, was no less powerful, and no less formidable to the crown than his predecessor ; he had united against his sovereign almost one half of his kingdom, when his credulity led him into the same snare which had been fatal to tlie former earl. Re- lying on the king's promises, who had now attained to the years of man- hood, and having obtained a safe conduct under the great seal, he ventured to meet him in Stirling castle. James urged him to dissolve that danger* ous confederacy into which he had entered ; the earl obstinately refused. " If you will not," said the enraged monarch, drawing his dagger, "this hall ;" and stabbed him to the heart. This filled the nation with astonish 00 THE TREASUIIY OF HLSTORY. ment. The earl's vassals ran to arms, marched to Stirling', burnt the town, and threatened to besiege the castle. An accommodation, how- ever, ensued, on what terms is not known ; but the king's jeahiusy, and the new carl's power and resentment, prevented it from beiiigof long con- tinuance. Ijoth took the field at the head of tlieir armies, and met near Abercorn. That of the earl, composed chiefly of borderers, was far supe- rior to the king's both in number and in valour ; and a single battle must, in all probability, have decided whether the house of Stuart or of Douglas was henceforth to possess the throne of Scotland. But as his troops were impatiently expecting the signal to engage, the earl ordered them to retire to their camp. His principal ofiicers, now convinced of his want of genius and courage, deserted him; and he was soon after driven out of the kingdom, and obliged to depend for his subsistence on the friendship of the king of England. The ruin of this great family, which had so long rivalled and overawed the crown, secured the king for some time from opposition, and the royal authority remained uncontrolled, and al- most absolute. James did not suffer this favourable interval to pass un- improved ; he procured the consent of parliament to laws more advan- tageous to the prerogative, and more subversive of the privileges of the aristocracy, than were ever obtained by any former or subsequent mon- arch of Scotland. During the remainder of his reign, this prince pursued the plan which he had began with the utmost vigour ; and had not a sud den death, occasioned by the splinter of a cannon which burst near him at the siege of Roxburgh, prevented his progress, he wanted neither genius nor courage to perfect it, and Scotland might, in all probability, have been the first kingdom in Europe which would have seen the subversion of the feudal system. A. D. 1460. — James III. succeeded his father in 1460, and discovered nc less eagerness than his father, or grandfather, to humble the nobility ; but far inferior to either of them in abilities or address, he adopted a plan ex- tremely impolitic, and his reign was disastrous, as well as his end trag- ical. James feared and hated his nobles ; he kept them at an unusua. distance, and bestowed every mark of confidence and affection upon a few mean persons. Shut up with these in his castle of Stirling, he seldom appeared in public, and amused himself in architecture, music, and other arts, which were tlien little esteemed. The nobles resented this conduct in the king, and combinations, secret intrigues with England, and all tht usual preparations for civil war, were the effects of their resentment. Alexander, duke of Albany, and John, earl of Mar, the king's brothers, two young men of turbulent and ambitious spirits, and incensed against James, who treated them with great coldness, entered deeply into all their cabals. The king detected their designs before they were ripe for execution, and seizing his two brothers, committed the duke of Albany to Edinburgh castle. The earl of Mar having remonstrated with too much boldness, it is said, was murdered by the king's command. Albany, apprehensive of the same fate, made his escape out of the castle, and reached France. James' attachment to favourites rendering him every day more odious to his nobles, soon inspired Albany with more ambitious and criminal thoughts. He concluded a treaty with Edward IV. of England, in which he assumed the name of Alexander, king of Scots ; and, in return for the assistance which was promised him towards dethroning his brother, he bound himself, as soon as he was put in possession of the kingdom, to swear fealty and do homage to the English monarch, to renounce the an- cient alliance with France, to contract a new one with England, and to surrender some of the strongest castles and most valus.ole counties in Scotland. The aid which the duke so basely purchased, at. the price of his own honour and the independence of his country v/f.s punctually granted him, and Richard, duke of Gloucester, with 2 j!;flerful army THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 61 conducted him towards Scotland. The danger of a foreign invasion soon induced James to asii the assistance of those nobles whom he had so long treated with contempt. They expressed their readiness to stand forward in defence of their king and country against all invaders, and took the field at the head of a large army of their followers ; but it was evident at the same time that they were animated by a stronger desire to redress their own grievances tlian to annoy the enemy, and with a fixed deter mination of 'r-unishing those favourites whose insolence had become in- tolerable. This resolution they executed in the camp near Lauder. Hav- ing previously concerted their plan, the earls of Angus, Huntley, and Lauder, followed by almost all the barons of note in the army, forcibly entered the apartments of the king, sei/.ed every one therein, except Ram- say, who had taken shelter in his arms, and hanged them immediately over a bridge. Among the most remarkable of those who had engrossed the king's favour, were Cochran, a mason, Homrail, a tailor, Leonard, a smith, Rogers, a musician, and Torlifan, a fencing-master. Having no reason to confide in an army so little under his command, James dismiss- ed it, and shut liimself up in the castle of Edinburgh. At length Albany made his peace with the king, but it was not of long duration ; for James abandoned himself once more to his favourites, and Albany, again dis- gusted, retired to his castle at Dunbar, and renewed his former confed- eracy with Edward. The death of Edward, soon after, blasted his hopes of reigning in Scotland. He fled first to England, and then to France, and from that time he took no part in the affairs of his native country. Grown fonder of retirement than ever, and sunk into indolence or super- stition, James suffered his whole authority to devolve upon his favourites. The nobles llew to arms, and obliged or persuaded the duke of Rothsay, the king's eldest son, a youth of fifteen, to set himself at their head ; and they then openly declared their intention of depriving James of the crown- Roused by this danger, the king quitted his retirement, took the field, and encountered them at Bannockburn; but his army was soon routed, and he v/as slain in the pursuit. Suspicion, indolence, immoderate attachment to favourites, and all the vices of a feeble mind, are visible in his whole conduct. Many of those who acted against James, being fearful of the terrors of excommunication for having imbrued their hands in the blood of their king, endeavoured to atone for the treatment of the father by their loyalty and duty towards the son. They placed him instantly on the throne, and the whole kingdom soon united in acknowledging his authority. A. D. 1488. — James IV. ascended the Scottish throne in the year 1488. He was naturally generous and brave ; loved magnificence, and delighted in arms. Indeed, so well suited was he for those over whom he ruled, that during his reign the ancient enmity between the king and the nobles seemed almost to have entirely ceased. He envied not their splendour, because it contributed to the ornament of his court; and their power he considered as the security of his kingdom, not as an object of terror to himself. This confidence on his part met with duty and affection on theirs ; and in his war with England he experienced how much a king beloved by his nobles is able to perform. Through the ardour of his courage, rather than from any prospect of national advantage, he declared war against England, and was followed by as gallant an army as ever any of his an- cestors had led into England. The battle of Flodden Field, [see "Eng- land," vol I.] gained by the earl of Surrey over James, and in which he lost his life, served to humble the aristocracy of Scotland more than all the premeditated attacks of the preceding kings. Twelve earls, thirteen .ords, five eldest sous of noblemen, and a great number of barons, fell with the king. A. D. 1517. — James V. succeeded his father when only one year old. The office of regent was conferred upon his cousin, the duke of Albany, 52 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. a man of genuis and enterprize, a native of France. A stranger to the manners, the laws and the language of the people over whom he was called to rule, he acted rather as a viceroy of the French king, than the governor of Scotland. "When James had attamed his thirteenth year, Albany retired to France ; and the nobles agreed that the king should as- sume the government, with the assistance of eight counsellors, among whom was the earl of Angus, who soon got the whole authority into his own hands. James was continually surrounded by the earl's spies and confidants, who closely watched his motions ; he, however, eluded all their vigilance, and, escaping from Falkland, fled to the castle of vStirling, the residence of the queen, his mother, and the only place of strength in the kingdom which was not in the hands of the Douglasses. The nobles soon appeared at Stirling, and the court of James was presently filled by persons of the first distinction. In a parliament held soon after, Angus and his adherents were attainted, and he was at length obliged to fly to Eng- land for refuge. James had now not only the name, but the authority of a king. His understanding was good, and liis person graceful ; but his education had been neglected. He, however, formed a plan for humbling the power of the nobles, more profound and more systematic than any of his predecessors. The Scottish monarchs had the sole right of nomination to vacant bishoprics and abbeys; and James naturally concluded, that men who expected preferment from his favour, would be willing to merit it by promoting his designs. Happily for him, the nobles had not yet re- covered the blow which fell on their order at Flodden, and James treated them with coldness and reserve. Those oflices which, from long posses- sion, they considered as appropriated to their order, were bestowed on ecclesiastics, who alone possessed his confidence, together with a few gentlemen of inferior rank. These ministers were chosen with judgment ; and Cardinal Beaton was a man of superior genius. However, a false step which they took, presented to the nobles an advantage which they did not fail to improve. Henry VHI. of England, unole to James, proposed a personal interview with him at York, with a view lo induce him to throw off his allegiance to the pope; and James accepted the invitation. By the persuasion of his ministers, however, James bioke his agreement with Henry, who, in expectation of meeting him, had already come to York ; and that haughty monarch resented the affront, by declaring war against Scotland. James was now obliged to have recourse to his nobles for the defence of his do- minions. At his command they assembled their followers, it is true, but with the same dispositions which had animated their ancestors in the reign of James HI. The king, perceiving their designs, disbanded the army, and retired into the heart of the kingdom. Impatience, indignation, and resentment against the nobles, filled his bosom by turns. He became pensive, sullen, and retired. In order to revive his spirits, an inroad on the western border was concerted by his minister, who prevailed upon the barons in the neighbouring provinces, to raise as many troops as were thought necessary, and to enter England. But nothing could remove the king's aversion to his nobility, or dimmish his jealousy of their power. He would not even trust them with the command of the forces which they had assembled, but appointed Oliver Sinclair, his favourite, to that post. As might have been foreseen, Sinclair no sooner appeared to take upon him the dignity conferred, than an universal mutiny took place in the army. Five hundred English, who happened to be drawn up in sight, taking ad- vantage of this disorder, attacked the Scots ; when hatred to the king, and contempt for his general, produced an effect to which there is no parallel in history. Ten thousand men fled before an army so vastly inferior, without striking a blow. About thirty were killed, above a thousand v.eio taken prisoners, and among them one hundred and sixty persons of condi- THE TREASURY OF mSTYRY. 63 tion. The small number of the English prevented their taking more pris- oners. As sooner as this affair reached the king, all the violent passions which are the enemies of life preyed on his mind ; the deepest melancholy and despair succeeded to the furious transports of his rage. Death re- lieved him from his anxiety ; but whether from the diseases of his mind, or by poison, is not sufficiently ascertained. It took place in December, 1542. CHAPTER III. THE REIGN OF MARV. — HOUSE OF STUART. A. D. 1543. — Marv, only child of James V. and Mary of Giiiso, who was born only a few days before the death of her father, succeeded to the crown. The situation in which he left the kingdom, and the perils to be appre- hended from a lengthened regency, alarmed all ranks of men with the prospect of a turbulent and disastrous reign. Cardinal Deaton, who for many years had been considered as prime minister, was the first that claimed the high dignity of regent ; in support of his pretensions, he pro- duced a will, which he himself had forged in the name of the late king, and, without any other right, instantly assumed the title of regent. He hoped, by the assistance of the clergy, the countenance of France, the connivance of the queen-dowager, and the support of the whole popish faction, to hold by force what he had seized on by fraud. But Beaton had enjoyed power too long to be a favourite of the nation. James Hamilton, ean of Arran, the next heir to the queen, w-as called forth, by the general voice of the nation, to take upon himself the high office ; and the noble.'', who were assembled for that purpose, unanimously proclaimed him regent. Arran had scarcely taken possession of his new dignity, when a negotia- tion was opened with England, which gave rise to events of the must fatal consequence to himself, and to the kingdom. This negotiation em- braced a proposal from Henry, of the marriage of Edward, his only son, with the young queen of S(;ots. All those who feared the cardinal, or who desired a change in religion, were pleased with the idea of an alliance that would afford protection to the doctrine which they had embraced, as well as to their own persons, against the rage of that powerful and haughty prelate. The designs which Henry had formed upon Scotland, were ob- vious from the marriage which he had proposed, and he had not dexterity enough to disguise them. He demanded that the young queen should be put under his care, and the government of the kingdom placed in his hands during her minority. The Scotch parliament consented to a treaty of mar- riage and of union, but upon terms somewhat more equal. The Scots agreed to send their sovereign into England as soon as she had attained the age of ten years, and to deliver six persons of the first rank, to be kept as hostages by Henry till the queen's arrival at his court. On the side of Henry, it was agreed that the queen should continue to reside in Scotland, and himself remain excluded from any share in the governmeni of the kingdom. The cardinal complained loudly that the regent had be trayed the kingdom to its most inveterate enemies, and sacrificed its hon our to his own ambition ; he lamented to see an ancient kingdom consent- mg to its own servitude, and descending into the ignominious station of a province, and in one hour, by the weakness or treachery of one man, sur. rendering everything for which the Scottish nation had struggled and fought during so many ages. These remonstrances of the cardinal were not without effect, and the whole nation declared against the allaince which had been concluded, .^rgyll, Huntley, Both well, and other powerful barons, declared openly against the alliance with Ihigland ; by their asy- 64 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY sistance the cardinal seized on the persons of the young queen and hei mother. On the 25th of August, 1543, the regent ratified the treaty with Henry, and prochiimcd the cardinal, wlio still continued to oppose it, an enemy to his country. On the 3d of .September, he secretly withdrew from Edin- burgh, and had an interview with the cardinal at Callandar, where he not only renounced the friendsiiip of England, and declared for the interests of France, but also changed his sentiments concerning religion, and pub- licly renounced the doctrine of the reformers in the Franciscan church at Sterling. The cardinal was now in possession of everything his ambition could desire, and exercised all the authority of a regent, without the envy and opprobrium attached to the name. Henry VIII. was not of a temper to bear tamely the indignity with which he had been treated both by the regent and the parliament of Scotland, and determined on invading that country. The earl of Hertford liad the command of the army destined for the enterprise, and landed it, without opposition, a few miles above Leith. He maiclied directly for Edinburgh, which city he entered May 3d, 1544. After plundering the adjacent country, he set fire to both these towns; then putting his booty on board the fleet, reached the English borders in safety. Peace followed soon after; but Cardinal Beaton had previously been murdered by the means of Norman Leslie, eldest son of the earl of Rothes, whom the cardinal had treated not only with injustice, put con- tempt. The prelate resided at that time in the castle of St. Andrew's, which he had fortified at a great expense, and, in the opinion of the age, had rendered it impregnable. His retiime was numerous, the town at fiis devotion, and the neighbouring country full of his dependents. In this situation Leslie, with fifteen others, undertook to surprise his castle, and assassinate him; and their success was equal to the boldness of the at- tempt. May 20th, 154G, early in the m-orning, they seized on the gate of the castle, which was open for the accommodation of the workmen who were employed in finisiiing the f(!rtifications; and having placed sentries at the door of the cardinal's apartment, ihey awakened his domestics one by one, and turning them out of the castle, they murdered him without offering violence to any other person, thereby delivering their country from a man whose pride was insupportable, and whose cruelty atid cun- ning were great checks to the reformation. The death of Beaton was fatal to the catholic religion, and to the French interest in Scotland. The regent threatened vengeance, but the threat was as impotent as it was unwise. The death of Henry VIH., which happened January 28ih, 1547, blasted the hopes of the conspirators, by whom they were supported both with money and provisions. Henry II. of France, sent powerful succours to the regent, under the command of Leon Strozzi ; and the conspirators, after a short resistance, surrendered, with the assurance of their lives, and were sent prisoners to France. The castle, the monument of Beaton's Sower and vanity, was demolished in obedience to the canoji law, which enounces its anathemas even against the house in which the sacred blood of a cardinal happens to be shed, and ordains it to be laid in ashes. Edward VI. v,'as now king of England, and the earl of Hertford, now duke of Somerset, and protector of the kingdom, entered Scotland at the head of eighteen thousand men ; at the same time a fleet of sixty ships appeared on the coast, to second his land forces. The Scots had for some time seen this storm gathering, and were prepared for it. Their army was almost double that of the enemy, and posted to the greatest ad- vantage on a rising ground above Musselburg, not far from the banks of the Esk. Confident of success, they attacked the English, under the duke of Somerset, near Pinkey, September 10th, 1547, who, l::king advan- tage of their impetuous haste, routed tliem with considerable loss. The encounter in the field was not long, but the pursuit was continued for some WW^''^^-^^ Castle of St. Andrew's The Forth, from Cambuskenneth Castle. THE TREASURY 0^=^ HI^ORY. 65 time, and to a great distance ; the three roads by which the Scots fled, were strewed with spears, swords, and targets, and covered with the bodies of the slain. More than ten thousand men fell on this day, one of the most fatal Scotland had ever seen. A few were taken prisoners, and among them some persons of distinction. A. D. 1548. — The Scottish nobles falling in with the prejudices of the queen dowager in favour of France, in the violence of their resentment against England, voluntarily proposed to Henry II. of France, a marriage of their young queen, only six years old, with the dauphin, eldest son of Henry II., and to send her to his court for education. Henry witiiout hesitation accepted these offers, and prepared for a vigorous defence of his new acquisition. On the loth of June, 1518, the treaty was concluded by the parUament assembled in the camp bei'ore Haddington ; and Mary was immediately sent to France, at that time notoriously the most cor- rupt court in Europe. Here -slie acquired every accomplishment tiiat could add to her charms as a woman, and contracted many of those prejudices which occasioned her misfortunes as a queen. Peace was soon afterwards made vi'iih England ; and both the British and Scottish nations lost power by this unhappy quarrel, while France obtained a de- cided advantage. The reformation, however, gained ground. At this lime appeared the famous John Knox, a man whose natural intrepidity of mind placed him far above fear. He began his public ministry at St. Andrew's, in 1547, with that success which always accompanies a bold and popular eloquence. He was patronized by the conspirators while they kept possession of the castle, which he had made the place of his abode. At this time the qucen-dowager, Mary of Guise, aspired to the office of regent. She had already nearly engrossed the administration of affairs* into her hands. Her designs were concealed with the utmost care, and advanced by address and refinement ; her brothers entered warmly mto the scheme, and supported it with all tlieir credit at the court of France. The queen-dowager visited France in 1550 ; from llience over- ures were made to the regent to resign his situation in her favour, which .he king of France enforced, by an artful admixture of threats and promises ; .so that he was induced to relinquish his power, which he formally laid down in 1554, and the parliament raised Mary of Guise to that dignity. Thus was a woman, and a stranger, advanced to the supreme authority in Scotland! A. D. 1558. — On the 14ih of April, the marriage of the young queen took place with the dauphin Francis, and the parliament of Scotland sent eight of its members to represent their whole body at the nuptials. In l!ie treaty of marriage, the dauphin was allowed to assume the title of king of Scotland as an honorary title. The French king, however, soon after in- sisted that the dauphin's title should be publicly recognized, and all the right appertaining to the husband of a queen should be vested in his per- son, upon which the Scotch parliament, (Nov. 29), passed an act confer- ring the crown matrimonial on the daupliin. The earl of Argyll, and James Stuart, prior of St. Andrew's, were appointed to carry the crown and other ensigns of royalty to the dauphin. But from this they were diverted by the part they were called upon to act in a more interesting scene, which now began to open. The bigoted Queen Mary, of England, whose religious persecutions had earned for her a still more offensive name, died on the 17th of November, 1558 ; and Elizabeth, her sister, took possession of the English throne. In order to gratify the arbitrary caprice of Henry, Elizabeth as well as her predecessor, Mary, had heea declared illegitimate by the parliament ; but in his last will he declared them the successors on the throne to their brother Edward ; at the same time passing by the posterity of his sister Margaret, queen of Sc-otland, and continuing the" line of succession to his sister, the duchess o( 5 (56 ' THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. Suffolk. Rome trembled for the catholic faith under a queen of sucb abilities as Elizabeth was known to possess. Spain and France were equally alarmed. Instigated by the impetuous ambition of the Guises, who governed the court of France, Henry, soon after the death of Mary persuaded his daughter-in-law, and his son, her husband, to assume the title of king and queen of England. Thev affected to publish this to all Europe and used that style and appellrtion in public papers. The arms of England was engraved on their cjin, and on their plate, and borne by them on all occasions ; but no preparations were made to sup- port this impolitic and premature claim. Elizabeth was already seated on her throne ; she possessed all the intrepidity of spirit, and all the arts of policy which were necessary for maintaining that station ; and England was growing into reputation for naval power, while that of France was neglected. It was absurd to expect that the Scottish protestants would assist to dethrone a queen whom all Europe began to consider as the most powerful guardian and defender of the reformed faith. Yet, absurd as it was, in 1559, the queen-regent issued a proclamation, enjoining all persons to observe the approaching festival of Easter according to the Romish ritual. The protestants, who saw danger approaching, in order to av£rt it, engaged the earl of Glencairn, and Sir Hugh Campbell, of London, to expostulate with her. Without disguise or apology, she avowed to them her resolution of extirpating the reformed religion out of the kingdom, and soon after summoned all the protestant preachers in the kingdom to a court of justice, to be held at Stirling on the 10th day of May. The reformed convened in great numbers to attended their pastors to Stirling. The regent being alarmed at their being so numerous, although unarmed, promised to put a stop to the intended trial, and they dispersed towards their own habitations. The regent had little regard to her promise. The 10th of May arrived. The names of those were called who had been summoned ; and, upon their non-appearance, they were pro- nounced outlaws. This conduct occasioned an insurrction in Perth; the churches were defaced, the altars were overturned, the images broken in pieces, the pictures torn, and the monasteries almost levelled with the ground. A truce was soon after concluded between the regent and the protestants, which was presently broken by the former, and the proies- tants again took to arms, not only with a view of redressing their reli- gious, but their civil grievances, and the protestant army, wherever it came, spread the ardour of reformation. The gates of every town were thrown open to receive them ; and, without striking a blow, they took possession of Edinburgh, June 29, 1559. On the 8th of July, Henry II. of France died; and Francis, the husband of Mary, queen of Scots, succeeded to the throne. The queen-regent was soon after deprived of her power by the protestants ; but the P'rench garri- son in Leith refused to surrender that place, nor were the Scots in a con- dition to compel them. In this situation of affairs, application was made to Elizabeth for assistance. She sent to them a supply of four thousand crowns, which was intercepted by Bothwell, and carried off. A second application was made, imploring her assistance. Elizabeth had observed llie prevalence of French councils, and had already come to a resolution with regard to the pan she would act, if their power should grow more formidable. In January, 1560, an English fleet arrived in the frith of Forth, and cast anchor in the road of Leith. The English army, consist- ing of six thousand foot and two thousand horse, under the command of Lord Grey of Wilton, and attended by a prodigious number of protestants, entered Scotland early in the spring, and advanced towards Leith, which they invested. Nothing could now save the French troops shut up in Leith, but the immediate conclusion of peace, or the arrival of a powerful army from the continent They chose the former; and Elizabeth not 7liK TREASURY OP HISTORY. fff only obtained honourable conditions for her allies, but for herself; par- ticularly an acknowledgment of her right to the crown of England from Francis and Mary, who in the treaty solemnly engaged neither to assume the title, nor to bear the arms of king and queen of England, in any time to come ; this peace was signed July 6, 1560. "While this peace was negotiating, the queen-regent died ; and on the 4th of December Francis II. paid the debt of nature. He was a prince of a weak constitution, and Btill weaker intellect. The ancient confederacy of the two kingdoms had already been broken ; and by the death of Francis the chief bond of union which remained was dissolved. In 1561, the convention invited the queen to return to Scotland, her native countrj% and to assume the reins of government. She sailed from Calais in a galley, and on the 19th of August landed safely at Leith, where she was received by her subjects with acclamations of joy. With a view to gain Elizabeth's favour, and conformable to the plan which had been concerted in France, Mary committed the administration of affairs entirely to protestants. Elizabeth commanded Randolph to congratulate her on her safe return ; and Mary sent Maitland to the English court with cere- monious expressions of regard for the queen. Mary had now been several years a widow, and numerous applications from different courts were made for her hand without effect. The queen of England recommended Robert Dudley, afterwards earl of Leicester to her choice. The high spirit of Mary could not well bear the first overture of a match with an English subject. She dissembled, however, with the English resident, and married her cousin. Lord Darnley, eldest son of the earl of Lenox. The ceremony was performed in the queen's chapel, according to the rites of the Romish church, on the 25th of July, 1565. Darnley's external accomplishments had excited that sudden and violent passion which raised him to the throne. But his understanding was weak, and he was inexperienced and conceited. A few months after marriage their domes- tic quarrels began to be observed. Rizzio, an Italian musician, whom Darnley had at first taken into great confidence, had now incurred his displeasure; and he imputed the change in the queen's conduct towards him, to his insinuations ; and Mary's behaviour was undoubtedly such as to confirm these suspicions. She treated this Italian with a familiarity, and admitted him to a share in her confidence, which neither his first condition, nor the oflice of French secretary to the queen, which she had lately bestowed on him. gave him any title. He was perpetually in her company ; and, together with a few favourites, was the companion of all her private amusements. The haughty spirit of Darnley could not bear the intrusion of such an upstart, and, impatient of any delay, he resolved to get rid of him by violence. Nothing remained but to concert the plan of operation, and choose the actors. The place appointed for Rizzio's murder was the queen's bed-chamber. Darnley himself selected it, in order that he might have the satisfaction of reproaching him with his crimes before the queen's face. On the 9th of March, 1556, Morton entered the court of the palace with one hundred and sixty men, and .seized all the gates without resistance. W^hile the queen was at supper with the countess of Argyll and Rizzio, the king suddenly entered the apartment. Close behind him was Ruthven, clad in complete armour ; and three or four followed him. Rizzio, conscious of his baseness, supposing himself their victim, took shelter behind the queen, taking hold of her, hoping that she might prove some protection to him. Numbers of armed men rushed into the chamber. Ruthven drew his dagger, and furiously commanded Rizzio to leave a place of which he was so unworthy, and which he had occupied too long. Mary employed tears, entreaties, and Ihreatenings, to save her favourite ; but notwithstanding all these, he was lorn from her by violence ; and before he could be dragged through the next apartment, his body was pierced with fifty-six wounds. gg THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. Mary was but a very short time without a favourite. James Hepburn, earl of Bothwell, a man of base character, gained an ascendancy over her heart; and the king- was treated with indifference and neglect. On the 19th of June, 1566, she was dehvered of a son. This event did not in the least alter her opinion in favour of her husband, and her aversion to hini was excessive. Bothwell was the object of her admiration. Henry had for some time resided at Glasgow, where he had suffered severely from illness. Thither Mary went, and prevailed upon him to come to Edinburgh, to which place he was carried in a litter. The house prepared for his reception belonged to the provost of a collegiate church, called Kirk of Field, and had all the advantages of healthful air to recom- mend it, and its solitude rendered it a proper place for the commission of that crime, with a view to which it seems manifestly to have been chosen. Mary attended the king with assiduous care; she even slept two nights in the chamber under his apartment. On Sunday, the 9th of February, 1567, she left him, in order to be present at a masque in the palace. At two o'clock the next morning the house was blown up with gunpowder. The dead body of the king, with that of a servant who slept in the same room, were found lying in an adjacent garden, without the city wall, untouched by fire, and with no bruise or mark of violence. The queen and Bothwell were generally suspected of the murder, not only by her own subjects, but by all Europe, over which the news spread rapidly, and excited universal horror; but what contributed most to convince the world of her guilt, was her marriage, on the 15lh day of May follov/ing, with Bothwell. This inde cent act excited particular indignation and abhorrence in the Scots; and in one month Bothwell was obliged to make a hasty flight to Norway, where he died in a miserable state, while Mary surrendered herself to the nobles, who conducted her to Edinburgh, amid the execrations of thf soldiers and the multitude. The following evening she was conveyed, under a strong guard, to Lochlevin castle, and put under the care oi William Douglas, the owner of it. to keep her as a prisoner. In this place she resigned the crown to her son, and appointed the earl of Murray regent. A. D. 1567. — James VI., at the time an infant, was crowned at Stirling on the 29th day of Jidy, 1567 ; and the earl of IMurray assumed the regency, the good effects of which was quickly felt. He called a parlia- ment, that confirmed the proceedings of the confederates. Here the let- ters which Mary had written to Bothwell were produced, which proved her to be accessory to the murder of the king. Yet George Douglas, a youth of eighteen, and brother to William Douglas, who had charge oi Mary, was induced, by her affable and insinuating manner, to let her escape. On Sunday, the 2d of Maj^ while his brother was at supper, he procured the keys which unlocked her apartment ; and the queen and one of her maids were suffered to escape to a boat on the lake ready to receive her. She travelled all night, attended by Douglas, Seton, and Sir James Hamilton, and in two days reached Hamilton, where she raised a large army. The regent was at Glasgow, holding a court of justice, when he heard of Mary's flight ; and her army, already strong, was only eight miles distant. In this dangerous exigency the superiority of Murray's genius appeared, and he was soon in a condition to take the field. Be- tween the two armies, and on the road towards Dumbarton, lay Langside- hill. This the regent had the precaution to seize, and here he awaited the approach of the enemy. The encounter was fierce and desperate ; at length the queen's army was obliged to give ground, and the rout imme- diately became universal. Mary witnessed the battle from a hill, and when she saw the army, her last hope, thrown into irretrievable confusion, she began her flight, and never slept till she reached the abbey of Dun- drenan, in Galloway, full sixty Scots miles from the field of battle. From THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 69 tlience she escaped in a fisherman's boat to Carlisle, with about twenty- attendants. This event took place on the Ifith of May, 15G8, Elizabeth no sooner heard that Mary had arrived in England, than she resolved to detain her. With this view she instantly dispatched Lord Scrope, and Sir P'rancis KnoUys, with letters full of kindness and condolence ; but at the same time gave orders to prevent her escape. Mary was soon after conducted to Bolton, a seat of Lord Scrope's on the borders of Yorkshire. She was some time after, on account of a rebellion in her favour, removed to Coventry, a place of strength, which could not be taken without a reg- ular siege. Weary of keeping such a prisoner as the Scotch queen, Eliza- beth resolved to deliver her to the regent on certain conditions. But wliile this affair was in negotiation, the regent was murdered by Hamilton, of Bothwellhaugh, a person who owed his life to the regent's clemency. Thus ended the celebrated man, James Stuart, natural son of James the Fifth, by Lady Erskine, and natural brother of Mary, queen of Scots. He possessed personal intrepidity, military skill, and sagacity. He was a friend to learning, zealous for the reformed religion, and liberal to all whom he esteemed worthy of his confidence and friendship. He was long and aff'ectionately remembered among the people by the name of the "good regent." A. D. 1570. — The earl of Lenox, father of the unfortunate Darnley, the husband of Mary, was elected regent on the 13th of July, 1570 ; and in 1571 Dumbarton castle was attacked and taken by Captain Crawford ; a service of great importance to the regent, being the only fortified place in the kingdom that held out for the queen. He was, however, surprised and murdered at Stirling, on tiie 3d of September, 1571. The earl of Mar was chosen regent by a majority of voices, on the Rlh of September, but he retained the situation no longer than the 29ih of October, 1572, when the earl of Morton was elected, the fourth who had held that dangerous office in the space of five years. James was now in the twelfth year of his age. Alexander Erskine had the chief direction of his education ; and under him the celebrated Buchanan acted as preceptor, assisted by three others of the first ability. The nation groaned under the oppressions of Morton; and those about the king infused into him suspicions of his power and designs. The earls of Athol and Argyll were animated against him with implacable resentment; they beseeched the king to call •• council of the nobles. James consented, and letters were issued for that purpose. This council met March 24, 1578, and advised the king to de- prive Morton of the regency, and take the reins of government into his own hands. Morton immediately acquiesced ; and a council of twelve peers were appointed to assist the king in tlie administration of affairs. Morton, however, gained theascendancyina month, and resumed hisformer authority. James early discovered thai excessive attachment to favour- ites which accompanied him through life. Esme Stuart, second brother of the earl of Lenox, by birth a Frenchman, and Captain James Stuart, second son of Lord Ochiltree, were most in his confidence. Both tliese favourites laboured to undermine the authority of Morton; they accused him of the murder of the late king, and oftered to verify this charge by legal evidence. Morton was confined first to his own house, and after- wards in the castle of Edinburgh ; and he was soon a''*"^r tried, condemn- ed, and executed. What he confessed with regard to the crime is re- markable ; it amounted to this, that Bothwell and Huntley were the per- petrators, and that the queen was the author of it. Morton was executed in 1581. The enterprise called the " raid of Ruthven" happened in the following year, when the king was seized in Ruthven castle by Cowrie, Boyd, Glamis, and Oliphant. This conspiracy, it is said, was counte- nanced by Elizabeth. James, however, in June, J583, escaped out of the hands of the conspirators, after upwards of ten uKMith's confinement. 70 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. In 1584, the partisans of Mary were busied in a conspiracy againal Elizabeth, called the Great Plot, or Designment, which she no sooner din- covered, than she resolved to lake Mary out of the hands of tiie earl ol Shrewsbury, who had had the care of her fifteen years, and appointed Sii Amias Pau'let and Sir Drue Drury to be her keepers. Soon after this an act was passed, which rendered Mary accountable not only for her owu actions, but for those of others, in consequence of which she might forfeit her right of succession, and even her life itself. From this period Mary was treated with inereased rigour; almost all her servants were dismissed, she was removed to Teibury, and, shortly after, was tried and executed. The next event of importance connected with the court of Scotland, was the marriage of James to the princess Ann of Denmark, which took place November 24, 1589. As the prospect of succeeding to the crown ot England drew near, James thought it prudent to endeavour to gain a party in that country. Edward Bruce, his ambassador at the court of Elizabeth, solicited her in the most earnest manner to recognize his title by some public deed ; but a general and evasive answer was all that James could obtain. As no impression could be made on the queen, the ambassador was then ordered to sound the disposition of her subjects. In this he succeeded, and many of the highest rank gave him repeated assurances oi their resolution to assert his master's right against every pretender. During the summer of IGOO, Scotland enjoyed an unusual tranquillity, when, in the midst of this security, the king's life was exposed to the ut- most danger, by a conspiracy altogether unexpected, and almost inexpli- cable. The authors of it were John Ruthven, earl of Gowrie, and his brother Alexander, the sons of that earl who was beheaded in the year 1584. On the 4lh of August, as the king, who during the hunting season resided at Falkland, was going out to his sport early in the morning, he was accosted by Mr. Alexander Ruthven, who, with an air of importance, told him, that the evening before he had met an unknown man, of a sus- picious appearance, walking alone in a by-path, near his brother's house at Perth, and on searching him, had found under his cloak a pot filled with a great quantity of foreign gold ; that he had immediately seized both him and his treasure, and, without communicating the matter to any person, had kept him confined and bound in a solitary house, and that he thought it his duty to impart such a singular event first of all to his maj- esty .° James immediately suspected this person to be a seminary priest supplied with foreign gold, in order to excite new commotions in the kingdom, and resolved, to empower the magistrates of Perth to call the person before them, and inquire into all the circumstances of the story. Ruthven violently opposed this resolution, and, with many arguments, m- duced the king to ride directly to Perth, and to examine the matter in person. When within a mile of the town, Ruthven rode forward to inform his brother of the king's arrival, with about twenty attendants. No prep- arations were made for his entertainment ; although the earl appeared pen- sive and embarrassed, he took great pains to atone, by his courtesy, for the common fare with which he treated his guest. As soon as the king's repast was over, his attendants were conducted to dinner in another room. Ruthven told him now was the time to go to the chamber where the un- known person was kept; and, conducting the king up a staircase, and then through several apartments, the doors of which he locked behind him, led him at last to a small study, in which stood a man clad in armour, with a sword and a dagger by his side. The king, who expected to have found one disarmed and bound, started at the sight. Ruthven, snatching the dagger from the girdle of the man in armour, and holding it to the king's breast, " Remember," said he, " how unjustly my Cainer suffered by your command. You are now my prisoner ; submit to my disposal with- out resistance or outcry, or this dagger shall instantly revenge his blood." ,1^' View op Perth. Stirling Castle THE TREASURY OP HISTORY. 71 James expostulated with Ruthven, entreated, and flattered him. Words had no effect. Rutliven told him that he must die, and attempted to bind his hands. James, unarmed as he was, scorned to submit to that indig- nity, and, losing with the assassin, a fierce struggle ensued, the man in armour standing motionless all the while, and the king dragging Ruthven towards a window which was open. The king then, with a voice of ter- ror, loudly exclaimed, " Treason ! treason ! help! I am murdered !" His attendants heard and knew his voice, and saw at the window a hand which grasped the king's neck with violence. They flew to his assistance, and Sir John Ramsay first entering the apartment, rushed upon Ruthven, who was still struggling with his royal master, struck him twice with his dagger, and thrust him towards the stairs, where Sir Thomas Erskine and Sir Hugh Herries met and killed him. Gowrie now rushed into the room, with a sword in each hand, followed by seven of his attendants well armed, and, with a loud voice, threatened them all with instant death. Notwithstanding the inequality of numbers, they encountered the earl, and Sir John Ramsay pierced Gowrie to the heart, who fell without uttering a word. His followers having received several wounds, immediately fled. The parliament lost no time in proceeding against the conspirators. The dead bodies of the two brothers were produced there according to law, an indictment for high treason was preferred against them, witnesses were examined, and, by an unanimous sentence, tlie punishment due to traitors was inflicted on their dead bodies. The parliament also enacted that the surname of Ruthven should be abolished. Queen Elizabeth died on the 24th of March, 1604, in the seventieth year of her age, and the forty-fifth of her reign. A short lime previous to her death, she declared to Cecil and the lord-admiral, " that her cousin, the king of Scots, should be her successor." This she confirmed on her death-bed. As soon as she had breathed her last, the lords of the council proclaimed James king of England. All the intrigues carried on by for- eigners in favour of the infanta, all the cabals formed within the kingdom to support the title of Lady Arabella Stuart and the earl of Hertford dis- appeared in a moment. Sir Charles Percy, brother to the earl of Nor- thumberland, and Thomas Somerset, son of the earl of Worcester, were dispatched to Scotland with a letter to James, signed by all the peers and privy councillors then in London, informing him of Elizabeth's decease, and of his accession to the throne. He prepared to set out for London, and appointed the queen to follow him within a few weeks. CHAPTER IV. THE ACCESSION OK JAMES THE SIXTH OF SCOTLAND, AND THE FIRST OF ENGLAND On the 5th of April James began his journey with a splendid train, and entering London on the 7th of May, took peaceable possession of the throne of England. But from this period to the legislative union of the kingdoms, Scotland declined not only in importance but in wealth. In- stead of enjoying any advantages by the alliance, it was considered rather as an appendage of England than an important part of Great Britain, and it was consequently neglected. We shall in this place introduce the reflections of that able historian, Dr. Robertson, on the alteration produced in the political and social state o^ Scotland by this event. "The Scots," he says, " dazzled with the glory of giving a sovereign to their powerful enemy, relying on the par- tiality of their native prince, and in full expectation of sharing liberally in the wealth and honours which he now would be able to bestow, at- 72 THE TllEASUUY OF HISTOaV. lended little to the most obvious consequences of that great event, and rejoiced at his accession to the tlirone of Kiii^hiud, as if it had been no less beneficial to the kingdom than honourable to the king. By his ac- cession, James acquired such an immense increase of wealth, power, and splendour, that the nobles, astonished and intimidated, thought it vain to struggle for privileges whicfi they were now unable to defend. Nor ■was it from fear alone ihey submitted to the yoke ; James, partial to his countrymen, and willing that they should partake in his good fortune, loaded them with riches and honours ; and the hope of his favour concuwed with the dread of his power, in taming their fierce and independent spirits. The will of the prince became the supreme law in Scotland, and the nobles strove, with emulation, who should most implicitly obey commands which they had formerly been accustomed to contemn. Satisfied with having subjected the nobles to the crown, the king left them in full posses- sion of their ancient jurisdiction over their own vassals. The extensive rights vested in a feudal chief, became in their hands dreadful instruments of oppression, and the miHtary ideas on which these rights were founded, being gradually lost or disregarded, nothing- remained to correct or to mitigate the rigour with which they were exercised. The nobles exhaust- ing their fortunes by the expense of frequent attendance upon the English court, and by attempts to imitate the manners and luxury of their more wealthy neighbours, multiplied exactions upon the people, who durst hardly utter complaints which they knew would never reach the ear of their sovereign, nor move him to grant them any redress. From the union of the crowns to the revolution in 1688, Scotland was placed in a political situation of all others the most singular and unhappy ; subjected at once to the absolute will of a monarch, and to the oppressive jurisdiction of an aristocracy, it suffered all the miseries peculiar to both these forms of government. Its kings were despotic, its nobles were slaves and tyrants, and the people groaned under the rigorous domination of both." As the nobles were deprived of power, the people acquired liberty. Exempted from burdens to which they were formerly subject, screened from oppression, to which they had long been exposed, and adopted into a constitution whose genius and laws were more liberal than their own, they extended their commerce, refined tlieir manners, made improve- ments in the elegancies of life, and cultivated the arts and sciences. Since the union, the commons, anciently neglected by their kings, and seldom courted by the nobles, have emerged into dignity, and, being' admitted to a participation of all the privileges which the English had pur- chased at the expense of so much blood, must now be deemed a body not less considerable in the one kingdom than in the other. The church felt the effects of the power which the king acquired by his accession, and its revolutions are worthy of notice. James, delighted with the splendour and authority which the English bishops enjoyed, and eager to effect a union in the ecclesiastical policy, which he had, in vain, attempted in the civil government of the two kingdoms, resolved to bring both churches to an exact conformity with each other. Three Scotchmen were consecrated bishops at London. From them their brethren were commanded to re- ceive orders. Ceremonies unknown in Scotland were imposed, and though the clergy, less obsequious than the nobles, boldly opposed these innovations, James, long practised and well skilled in the arts of man- aging them, obtained at length their compliance. But Charles I., a super stitious prince, unacquainted with the genius of the Scots, imprudent and precipitant in all the measures he pursued in that kingdom, pressing too eagerly tlie reception of the English liturgy, and indiscreetly atten)pting a resumption of church lands, kindled the flames of civil war; and the people being left at liberty to indulge their own wishes, the episcopal church was overturned, and the presbyterian government and disciDline THE TREASURY OF HISTOHT. 73 were re-established with new vigour. Topfsther with monarchy, episco- pacy was restored in Scotland. A form of government so odious to the people, required force to uphold it, and though not only the whole rigour of authority, but all the barbarity of persecution, were employed in its support, the aversion of the nation was insurmountable, and it subsisted with diflrculty. At the revolution, the inclinations of the people were thought worthy the attention of the legislature, the presbyterian govern- ment was again* established, and, being ratified by the union, is still main- tained in the kingdom. Nor did the inlluence of the accession extend to the civil and ecclesias- tical constitutions alone; the genius of the nation, its taste and spirit, things of a nature still more delicate, were sensibly affected by that event. When learning revived m the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, all the modern languages were in a state extremely barbarous, devoid of elegance, of vigour, and even of perspicuity. No author thought of writing in lan- guage so ill adapted to express and embellish his sentiments, or of erect- ing a work for immortality with such rude and perishable materials. As the spirit which prevailed at that time did not owe its rise to any original eftbrt of the human mind, but was excited chiefly by admiration of the ancients, which began then to be studied in every part of Europe, their compositions were deemed not only the standards of taste and of senti- ment, but of style, and even the languages in which they wrote were thought to be peculiar, and almost consecrated to learning and the muses. Not only the manner of the ancients was imitated, but their language was adopted, and, extravagant as the attempt may appear to write in a dead tongue, in which men were not accustomed to think, and which they could not speak, or even pronounce, the success of it was astonishing. As they formed their style upon the purest models, and were uninfected with those barbarisms which the inaccuracy of familiar conversation, the af- fectation of courts, intercourse with strangers, and a thousand other causes introduced into living languages, many moderns have attained to a degree of eloquence in their Latin compositions which the Romans themselves scarce possessed beyond the limits of the Augustan age. While this was almost the only species of composition, and all authors, by using one common language, could be brought to a nearer comparison, the Scottish writers were not inferior to those of any other nation. The happy genius of Buchanan, equally formed to excel in prose and in verse, more various, more original, and more elegant than that of almost any other modern who writes in Latin, reflects, with regard to this particular, the greatest lustre on his country. But the labour attending the study of a dead tongue was irksome ; the unequal return for their industry which authors met with, who could be read and admired only within the narrow circle of the learned, was mor- tifying ; and men, instead of wasting half their lives in learning the lan- guage of the Romans, began to refine and to polish their own. The modern tongues were found to be susceptible of beauties and graces w^iich, if not equal to those of the ancient ones, were at least more attainable. The Italians having first set the example, Latin was no longer used in works of taste, but was confined to books of science; and the politer nations have banished it even from these. The Scots, we may presume, would have had no cause to regret this change in the public taste, and would still have been able to maintain some equality with other nations, in their pursuit of literary honour. The English and Scottish languages, derived from the same sources, were at the end of the sixteenth century in a state nearly similar, differing from one another somewhat in orthog- raphy, though not only the words, but the idioms, were much the same. The letters of several Scottish statesmen of that age were not inferior in eJegance, or in ourity, to those of the English ministers with whom they 74 THE THEASURY OF HISTORY. corresponded. James himself was master of a style far from contempti- ble, and by his example and encouragement the hjcoltish language might have kept pace with the P^nglish in refinement. Scotland rnif^hl have liad a series of authors in its own, as well as in the Latin language to boast of; and the improvements in taste, in the arts, and in the sciences, which spread over the other polished nations of Europe, would not have been unknown there. During the whole of the seventeenth century, the Englislj were gradually refining their language and their taste ; in Scotland the former was much debased, and the latter almost entirely lost. In the beginning of that period, both nations were emerging out of barbarity ; but the distance between them, which was then inconsiderable, became, before the end of it, immense. Even afier science had once dawned upon them, the Scots seemed to sink back inio ignorance and obscurity, and active and intelli- gent as they naturally were, they continued, while other nations were eager in the pursuit of fame and knowledge, in a state of langour. This, how- ever, must be imputed to the unhappiness of their political situation, not to any defect of genius ; for no sooner was the one removed in any degree, than the other began to display itself. Tiie act abolishing the power of the lords of tlie articles, and other salutary laws passed at the revolution, having introduced freedom of debate into the Scottish parliament, eloquence, with all the arts that accompany or perfect it, became imme- diate objects of attention ; and the example of Fletcher of Salton is alone sufficient to show that the Scots were still capable of general sentiments, and, notwithstanding some peculiar idioms, were able to express them- selves with energy and with elegance. At length, the union having incorporated the two nations, and rendered them one people, the distinctions which subsisted for many ages gradually wore away ; the same manners prevailed in both parts of the island ; the same authors were read and admired ; the same entertainments were fre- quented by the elegant and polite ; and the same standard of taste and of purity in language was established. The Scots, after being placed, during a whole century, n a situation no less fatal to the liberty than to the taste and genius of the nation, were at once put in possession of privileges more valuable than those which their ancestors had formerly enjoyed ; and every obstruction that had retarded their pursuit, or prevented their acquisition of literary fame, was wholly removed. There were seven Scottish parliaments called after the accession of James, wherein he pre- sided by a commissioner. An act was was passed in 1606 for the resto- ration of the estate of bishops ; which was followed by a great variety of laws for giving proper effect to the general principle; and there were also many laws enacted for promoting domestic economy. After governing Scotland with considerable success during his occupation of the throne of England, he died on the 27th of March, 1625, and was succeeded by his eon, Charles I., then in the 25th year of his age. CHAPTER V. FROM THE ACCESSION OF CHARLES I. TO THE DEATH OF WILLIAM III. During the first ten years of Charles' reign nothing occurred in Scot- land calculated to disturb the serenity of his rule ; but this calm was suc- ceeded by frequent broils and contentions, arising from many causes, but chiefly originating in ecclesiastical matters. Among many laws of a salutary tendency, they passed an act, reserving to the crown those lands which the baronage had wrested from the church: the clergy were thus benefitted, the people were relieved, but the barons were oflended THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 7S Charles, who was attached to episcopacy from sincere religious convic- tions, as well as from views of political expediency, formed the scheme of assimilating in all respects the churches in England and Scotland. With this view he determined to introduce a liturgy, which in Scotland had never been regularly used ; and he insisted upon the reception of a set of canons abolishing the control over ecclesiastical measures which the inferior church judicatories had been permitted to exercise. The violence with which all this was resisted was carried to the most extrava- gant pitch, the clergy were insulted, and episcopacy was again contem- plated as the engine of popery and despotism. The dissensions which soon arose in England cherished this state of mind ; the discontented in Scotland made common cause with the disaffected in the southern part of the island ; they bound themselves by the extraordinary deed which they entitled " the solemn league and covenant," to exterminate prelacy as a corruption of the gospel ; and they took an active part in those violent scenes which ended in the death of Charles and the erection of the com- monwealth. To describe the battles which took place between royalists and roundheads, or to make comments on the hypocrisy and faithlessness of the times, would be to repeat that which has already found a place in this volume, and which must remain the foulest blot in the annals of England. We shall therefore merely observe, that after the execution of Charles I., in 1G48, the Scots proclaimed l^is son king, under the title of Charles II. ; and that some months after tiis defeat at Worcester, Scot- land was incorporated into one commonwealth with England. On the restoration of Charles II., the Scottish parliament assembled, under the earl of Middleton, the king's commissioner, on the I't of January, 1661. He declared the king's resolution to maintain the true reformed protestant religion, as it had been established during the reigns of his father and grandfather; intimating, however, that he would restore the episcopal government, though he allowed, meanwhile, the administra- tion of sessions, presbyteries, and synods. This endeavour to establish episcopacy was violently opposed, and led to the most cruel persecution of the Presbyterians, which lasted with more or less severity, during the whole of the reign. Numbers were executed ; others were fined, im- prisoned, and tortured; and whole tracts of the country were placed under a military despotism of the worst description. Driven to desperation, the presbyterian party had several times recourse to arms, and, although in some cases successful, they were finally defeated and scattered at Both- well-bridge. A. D. 1685. — On ascending the throne, James II. professed his intention to support the government, in church and state, as by law established ; yet his predilection for the catholic religion was evident in his very first; acts. Compliant as the Scottish parliament was in what related to theii civil liberties, they were resolved to adhere to their religious principles. On this point, indeed, the people of Scotland were unanimous, and when they heard of the landing of the prince of Orange, and read his declaration in favour of liberty and in support of law, they hailed his advent with joy. The nobles began to intrigue, the populace, in their zeal, broke out into insurrection against the catholics at Edinburgh, and all classes looked up to the prince of Orange as the deliverer of the two nations from popish dominion. William consulted several of the Scottish nobles, clergy, and gentry, regarding the state of their country, and issued circular letters, summoning a convention at Edinburgh, on the 22dof March, 1689. When they met they decided that king James, by his abuse of power, had for- feited the rights to the crown, and immediately declared the prince and princess of Orange to be king and queen of Scotland. This act, which involved such mighty consequences, was attended by a declaration of their wrongs and rights. Former insurrections, thougti accompanied by 76 TIIE TREASUILY OF HISTOllY. many mischiefs, passed away without any advantage to the nation. Though the revolution of 1C8D brouglit with it a civil war, it was the means of strengthening- the constitution, of preserving public liberty, and securing private rights. The presbyterian church was now erected on the ruins of episcopacy, the prerogative was restrained to its proper functions, and many salutary laws for promoting domestic economy were enacted. Although the great bulk of the people were in favour of the revolution, it must not be forgotten there was a considerable party that remained attached to the exiled family of the Stuarts; and it was found to be no easy matter to reconcile the Highlanders to the expulsion of their ancient race of monarchs. Many of them were in open state of rebellion. How- ever, in August, 1G92, a proclamation of indemnity had been passed to such insurgents as would take the oath of allegiance to the new govern- ment on or before the last day of December. The last man to submit was Macdonald of Glencoe, and he, owing to the snows and other inter- ruptions which he met with on the road, did not reach Inverary, the county town, in time, and the benefit of the indemnity was therefore strict- ly forfeited. William was informed, and fully believed that Macdonald of Glencoe was the chief obstacle to the pacification of the Highlands, and a warrant of military execution was procured from him against the unfortu- nate chief and his whole tribe. A detachment of soldiers, one hundred and twenty in number, commanded by Captain Campbell, was ordered on the 1st of February, to repair to Glencoe, where they were quartered for a fortnight among the inhabitants of that sequestered vale. On tho evening of the 13th orders arrived to attack the Macdonalds while asleep at midnight, and not to suffer a man to escape their swords ; an order which the soldiers obeyed with ruthless barbarity. Thirty-eight persons, among whom were Glencoe and his wife, thus mercilessly perished ; the rest, alarmed by the report of the musketry, escaped to the hills, and were only preserved from destruction by a tempest that added to the horrors ol the night. The carnage was succeeded by rapine and desolation ; the houses were burned to the ground, and women and children, stripped naked, were left to die of cold and hunger. This horrible massacre excited universal execration, and, naturally enough, rendered the government of William odious to the Hiehlanders. CHAPTER VI. UNION OF THE TWO KINGDOMS. William III. died in 1702, by which the crowns of the two nations devolved on Anne, who assured the parliament that she would support the government as then established. But they refused to tolerate episcopacy, and they declined lo concur in adopting the prolestant succession for the crown; nay, they issued a declaration which intimated a purpose, in case of the demise of the crown, to appoint a different sovereign from whomso- ever might be the English king. The English statesmen, forseeing what this was likely to produce, recommended the appointment of commission- ers to treat of a union between the two kingdoms. Instead of regarding it as an identification of the interest ofboth kingdoms, the people generally considered it as a total surrender of their independence into the hands of a powerful rival. Addresses against it were presented from all quarters, and in several places the populace rose in arms, and formed themselves into regiments of horse and foot in order to oppose the union. Nor were the commercial part of the community, who were supposed to benefit largely by it, satisfied by its terms. Notwithstanding every opposition, THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 77 however, the treaty of union was ratified by both parliaments, and on the 1st of May, 1707, the legislative union of England and Scotland was ratified. For several years the union was unproductive of those advantages which were at first expected ; no new manufactories were attracted to Scotland, and commerce grew more languid than before. But by a considerable assimilation of the laws to those of Ens^land, the courts of justice were better regulated, and legal redress more easily obtained, while the bar- barous practice of subjecting prisoners to the torture was abolished. It was stipulated by the treaty that no alterations should be made in tlie church of Scotland; that tl'.e commercial laws and customs should be the same in all parts of the united kingdom ; that the Scotch royal burgiis should retain all their ancient privileges ; and that no person should be deprived of those hereditary rights and ofiices which they had enjoyed by the laws of Scotland. Looking at these and other conditions of ihe union, it is certain that if the Scotch would abandon prejudices that ought to be obsolete, and resolve to profit by the connexion, they would soon have ample opportunity of so doing ; while, on the part of England, it was evident that the zealous co-operation of her northern neighbour in times of war must tend to the security of the whole island, and in peace contri- bute to its commercial importance. Queen Anne died on the 1st of August, 1714, and, under tlie act of settlement, the united crown was transferred to George I. We conceive it to be unnecessary to carry the general narrative beyond this period ; the affairs of Scotland being henceforth detailed, in common with those of England, in the history of that country. But, in concluding this sketch, it appears requisite to give a brief account of the peculiarities which attach to matters ecclesiastical. In 15G0, the Roman catholic religion was abolished, and the reformation was sanctioned by act of par- liament; the distinguishing tenets of the Scotch church having been first embodied in the formulary of faith attributed to John Knox, who had adopted the doctrines of Calvin, established at Geneva. General assem- blies at that time began, and continued to meet twice every year, for the space of twenty years ; after which they were annual. From 1572 to 1592, a sort of episcopacy prevailed in the church, while the ecclesiastical form of government was presbyterian. Meantime, the dignitaries of the church and the nobility monopolized the revenues of the church, and left the reformed clergy in a state of indigence. After much deliberation, the protestaat leaders resolved to provide a state-maintenance for their teachers, and the following plan was adopted. Two-thirds of all ecclesi astical beneficer were reserved to the present possessor, and to the crown the remainder was annexed, out of which a competent subsistence was to be assigned to the protestant clergy. But the revenue thus appropri ated, Instead of being duly applied, was diverted into other channels. In 1587, all the unalienated church lands were annexed to the crown ; and the tithes alone were reserved for the support of the clergy. Bishops continued till 1592, when presbyterian government was established by an act of parliament, and a division was made of the church into synods and presbyteries. But the king, desirous of having the power of the bishops restored, as a balance to the nobles in parliament, prevailed on a majority of the clergj'', in 1597 and 1598, to agree that some ministers should represent the church in parliament, and that there should be constant moderators in presbyteries. By an act of parliament in IfiOG, the tempo- ralities of bishops were restored, and they were allowed a seat in par- liament ; and thus the presbyterian government was overturned. But episcopacy at leng^.h grew so obnoxious to the people, that in 1689, pre- lacy was declared, \)y a convention of estates, to be a national grievance, whi(;;i ought to be ubolished ; and in the following year the presbyterian 78 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. government was restored and established by parliament ; and the general assembly met, after it had been discontmued from the year 652. Hither- to the provision for the maintenance of the clergy was madequate, but their stipends were now raised and regulated by the price of grain. The Presbyterian church government afterwards secured in the treaty of union, is founded on a parity of ecclesiastical authority among all its presbyters or pastors, and modelled after the Calvinistic plan, which Knox recommended to his countrymen. This form of government excludes all pre-eminence of order, all ministers being held equal in rank and power. In matters relating to discipline a pastor is asisted by elders, who ought to be selected from among the most intelligent and consistent of the parishioners, but have no right to teach or dispense the sacraments. Their proper office is to watch over the morals of the people, and to cate- chise and visit the sick. They likewise discharge the office of deacons by managing the funds for the maintenance of the poor within their dis- tricts. The elders and ministers compose what is called a kirk or church- session, the lowest ecclesiastical judicature in Scotland. When a pari.=h- ioner is convicted of immoral conduct, the church-session inflicts some ecclesiastical censure. If a person considers himself aggrieved, he may appeal to the presbytery, which is the next superior court. The ministers of an indefinite number of contiguous parishes, with one ruling elder chosen half-yearly, out of every church-session, constitute what is called a presbytery, which has cognizance of all ecclesiastical matters within its bounds. Si/nods are composed of several presbyteries, and of a ruling elder from every church-session within their bounds. They review the proceedings of presbyteries, and judge in references, complaints, and ap- peals from the inferior court. But their decisions and acts are reversible by the general assembly, which is the highest ecclesiastical court, and from which there is no appeal. THE HISTORY OF FRANCE. France, which in the time of the Remans was called Gnul, or Gallia, extended from the Pyrenees to the Rhine, and on the side of Italy, beyond the Alps to the Adriatic, that which was situated on the Italian side of the Alps being named Cisalpine Gaul, and that beyond the Alps, Transal- pine Gaul. The part of Transalpine Gaul nearest Upper Italy, and stretching along the Mediterranean towards the Pyrenees, was conquered by Fabius. As this was the first part that was converted into a Roman province, it was called, by way of eminence, the Provincia (afterwards changed into Provence.) It was bounded by the Alps, the Cevennes, and the Rhone. Cassar, who conquered Transalpine Gaul at a later period, found it divided into three parts : 1. Aquitania, extending from the Pyr- enees to the Garonne, chiefly occupied by Iberian tribes ; 2. Gallia Celii- ca, from the Garonne to the Seine and Marne ; 3. Gallia Belgica, in the north, extending to the Rhine. But subsequently, by the command of Augustus, a very different and much more minute division of the country took place, which, however, it is not here necessary to describe. IHfi TREASURY OF HISTORY. 79 The Gauls were^he chief branch of the great orighial stock of Celts, and as they called llifimselves Gael, the name Gaul probably thus took its rise. A greai resemblance appears to have existed among all the Celts, and although they were divided into numerous tribes, there were but few branches that were perceptibly different from each other. The period of their earliest migrations is, however, too remote for history, and inappli- cable to our present object. Caesar represents all the Gallic tribes as warlike, going always armed, and ready on all occasions to decide their differences by the sword; as a people of great levity, and little inclined to idleness, but hospitable, generous, confidmg, and sincere. The Druids, their priests, who were the sole depositaries of learning among them, were indebted to the credulity of the people for the deference they paid to them. These priests ruled the people by the terror of their anathemas ; they were exempt from all tribute to the state, and abounded in riches. They had also bards or poets, who composed war-songs to animate the combatants, and to perpetuate the memory of their heroes. The elders, or senators of their towns, together with the military and their chiefs, formed the nobility; these, in conjunction with the priests, possessed the riches and the power; vassalage and misery were the portion of tlie com- monalty. The discipline of the Romans, and the genius and good fortune of Caesar, triumphed in ten years over the valour of the Gauls. Colonies had com- menced the work of subjugation, and conquest completed it; Gaul became a Roman province. The municipal regulations, and the agriculture of the Romans, soon rendered the country flourishing, but despotism afterwards despoiled it. This state of tilings continued for four centuries, when the people were reduced to the lowest depths of misery, impoverished by the proconsuls, the prey of factions, and alternately passing from insurrection to slavery, under tyrants, who were perpetually changing. But the " in- cursions of the barbarians" on the Roman territory, had by this time greatly humbled the former mistress of the world. The civilization, arts, and literature of the Romans were on the decline ; the empire, divided and weakened, was falling into ruin, discipline was relaxed, and the glory of the Roman name faded before the barbaric hosts that issued from the north and overran the five provinces which had flourished under the ad- ministration of a Trajan and an Antonine. Four hundred years after the Roman conquests, and under the reign of the weak Honorious, a people known by the name of Franks, from Fran- conia in Germany, abandoned their morasses and their woods, in search of a better country. Under the direction of their king Pliaramond, they passed the Rhine, and entered Gaul, but carried their arms no further than Belgic Gaul, that part of modern France till lately called the Netherlands. Pharamond died soon after he had effected the settlement. The long lists of kings which followed Pharamond, are divided into three races. 'Vhefirsl is called the Merovingian, from Merovius, the third king of the Franks ; it produced twenty-one kings to France, from the year 448 to the year 751, and ended with Childeric III., surnamed the Foolish. The second race began with Pepin, mayor of the palace, who did not take upon himself the title of king; nor did his son, the celebrated Charles Martel. Pepin the Short, his son, deprived Childeric III. of his crown. This race, called the Carlotingian, gave thirteen kings to France. It acquired much glory under Charlemagne, but became very weak under his successors, and terminated with Louis V., called the Sluggard, after having possessed trie throne 233 years, from 752 to 987. The third race, called the Cape- tine, commenced with Hugh Capet,and gave to France thirty-three kings, who reigned 806 years, and finished with Louis XVI., who was beheaded January, 1793. France then became a republic, which lasted until May 1804, when it was transformed intr an empire by Napoleon Bonaparte, go THE TREASURY OF HISTOllY. ■who had risen on the ruins of tlie republic, and had been dictatoro<" France under the appellation of chief consul. The imperial ti.tle, however, Ia-»led but ten years, Napoleon having been driven from his UhurpeJ throne, and Louis XVIII. restored to tlie throne of his ancestorfi. In tracini^ the obscure records of the early periods, we behold alternately wars and alliances amon^ the Romans and Fianks, the Visigoths, and other barbarians ; ambitious generals raised t.> power by the imperial court, but quickly overcoming ttieir feeble masters, and calling in tiie aid of the barbarous tribes to serve the ever-varying purposes of their per- sonal ambition. The western empire was then declining; the Saxons seized upon Anjou and Maine; the Burgundiaiis occupied the country near the Seine ; the Goths and Visigoths extended their dominions as far as the Loire ; the Franks and the Allmanns> branches of the different hordes which issued from Germany, contended for the possession of the north ; while the Romans or Gauls kept the other part of the country. On the conquest of (iaul by the Franks, the lands were distributed among their officers ; and these, with the clergy, formed the first great councils or parliaments. Thus the government was evidently a kind of mixed monarchy, in which nothing of moment was transacted without the grand council of the nation, consisting of the principal oflicers, who held their lands by military tenures. It appears, indeed, that when Gaul became the possession of northern invaders, it did not acquire that degree of free- dom to its constitution which Britain received, about the same time, from conquerors who sprung from the same common stock. TJie Merovingian Dynasty, or First Race. A. D. 420. — Pharamond, the first king of the Franks, was succeeded by Clodio, who extended t!ie bounds of his kingdom. Merovius secured the acquisitions of his predecessor, and Childeric, his son, pushed his con- quests to the banks of the river Seine. Clovis, his son, and the inheritor of his ambition, aggrandized his kingdom, and so far extended his power, that he is ranked as the founder of the French monarchy. This prince, the first of the Frank kings who had embraced Christianity, brought al- most all the Gauls under his government. He parted his dominions, before he died, between his children. Clovis owed his conversion to Christianity from his marriage with a Christian princess of Spain, and his example was followed by most of the Franks, who until that time had been pagans. He was baptized with great splendour in the cathedral at Rheims, on which occasion the king granted freedom to a number of slaves, and re- ceived the title of " Most Christian King," which has ever since been re- tained by the monarchs of France. Charles I., the youngest and most barbarous of the sons of Clovis, and the last survivor of them, at tiie time of his death possessed the whole of France ; his dominion extended from the banks of the Elbe to the sea of Aquitaine, in the Atlantic ocean, and from the Scheldt to the sources of the Loire. At his death he divided it among his four sons. The kingdom was soon after rendered miserable, from the jealousy of two ambitious women, the queens Fredigonde and Brunehaut. The former was a prodigy of boldness, of wickedness, and genius, and gained several battles in person ; the other is described as a woman who, under the exterior graces of beauty, practised the worst of vices, and expiated her crimes by a shocking death. A. D. 613. — Clotaire II., the worthy son of Fredigonde, became sole monarch of France. Under this prince the mayors of the palace began to have considerable power, which increased under Dagobcl I., and became excessive under Clovis II. and his successors. We see in the first race little more than the shadov/s of kings, while their nnnisters governed and tyrannized over the people. Pepin Heristal, mayor of the palace to Childeric the Foolish, seized the whole authority. His son, Charles THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 81 Martel, a bold and enterprising warrior and great politician, with more ambition even than his father, increased his power by his brilliant achieve- ments, and governed France under the title of duke. The Carlovingian Dynasty, or Second Race. As mayor of the palace, Charles Martel had long exercised the sovereign jjower in the name of Childeric, a weali and indolent prince. The Sara- cms, who had made themselves masters of the south of France, penetra- ting" into the heart of the kingdom, were at length entirely defeated by him, 'n one great battle, fought between Tours and Poitiers, which lasted seven Jays, and in which 300,000 Moslems were slain. In consequence of this s,-lendid victory, he was considered the champion of Christendom, and such sras his popularity, that with the consent of the people he as- sumed (he QOininion of France ; for, having a victorious army at his com- mand, he not 9nly deposed the king, but rendered himself an absolute prince, by depriving the nobility and clergy of their share in the govern- ment. A. D. 752. — His &Jiii Pepin succeeded him on the throne, but restored the privileges of the \obility and clergy, on their agreeing to exclude the former race of kings. He also divided the provinces among his principal nobihty, allowing them to exercise sovereign authority in their respective governments, till at length, assuming a kind of independency, they only acknowledged the king as their liead, and this gave rise to the numerous principalities, and their several parliaments, every province retaining the same form of government thai had been exercised in the whole ; and no laws were made, or taxes raised, without the concurrence of the clergy. A. D. 768. — Charles, his son, called Charlemagne, was valiant, wise, and victorious. He conquered Italy, Germany, and part of Spain, and was crowned emperor of the Romans (the western empire), by Pope Leo III. He established a regular and popular government, compiled a code of laws, favoured the arts and sciences, and died with the glory of being beloved by his subjects, and feared by his enemies. Louis I., le Debonnaire, the only surviving son of Charlemagne, began his reign with the most cruel executions. His children revolted against him, he was compelled to do public penance, and declared to have forfeited the imperial dignity. The Normans renewed their incursions and their ravages under Charles the Bald, besieged Paris in the reign of Charles the Gross, and at length ob- tained a fixed establishment under Charles the Simple. The royal au- thority became weakened, while the power of the lords considerably aug- mented ; the imperial dignity was already lost to the house of Charle- magne, and it was soon followed by the loss of the crown of France First Branch. — The Capetine Dynasty, or Third Race. k. D. 987. — After the death of Louis V., the last of the Carlovingian race, Hugh Capet usurped the throne. This Hugh was the grandson of Robert, whom the French had elected king in the room of Charles the Simple, His father had rendered himself much respected by the nation, in defending Paris against the attacks of the barbarians. Hugh Capet inheriting the valour of his ancestors, saved France under Lothail-e. This family possessed, the duchies of Paris and of Orleans ; and these two cities, by their situation on the Loire and the Seine, were the strongest bulwarks of the monarchy against the Normans. Hugh associated his son Robert in the kingdom. Robert, as pusillanimous as his father was courageous, reunited the duchy of Burgundy to the crown, but his weak- ness tarnished his virtues. A. D. 103L — Henry I., who had the misfortune to see his own mother irmed against him, to deprive him of his crown and give it to his brother, 6 62 THE TllEASUIlY OF HISTORY. with iTie assistance of the duke of Normandy, forced his brother to content iiimself with Burgundy, which this branch of the royal family possessed 300 years. At this period the tyranny of feudalism was at its height. Overwhelmed with services, toils, and subsidies of all sorts, imposed by the military or the ecclesiastics, tiu; people fought only to rivet their (chains more firmly. Those who lived in the country were called villeins; those of the cities and towns, bourgeois. Neither of them could labour but for the advantage of their lords, who often quartered their military retainers upon thcni. Among themselves the lords were equally fero- cious ; their declarations of war extended to relations and allies, and the quarrel of a single family was sufficient to involve a whole community in the fiercest war for years together. Thus France became one vast field of blood, and perpetual carnage at length wearied even ferocity itself. A. D. lOCO. — The long reign of Pliilip I., son of Henry I., is an epoch of remarkable events. William, duke of Normandy, crossed the channel, and effected the conquest of Kngland in 1066, where he established his own rigorous modification of the feudal regime, and had also the firmness to refuse homage to llie pope. A jest of the king of France on the obesity of William kindled a war, from which may be dated a long continued enmity between France and England. A. D. 1108. — Philip was succeeded by his son, Louis the Gross. The first years of his reign were disturbed by insurrections of his lords in dif- ferent parts of the kingdom, and these insurrections were the more trouble- some, as they were secretly fomented by the English king, that by weak- ening the power of France his duchy of Normandy might be the more secure. These wars between the two countries were often interrupted by treaties, but as often re-lighted by national ambition and antipathy. Louis the Young, unfortunate in the crusades, at his return repudiated his wife, in whose right he inherited Guienne and Poictou. He died in 1180, and was succeeded by his son, Philip II., surnamed the August. Philip II. defeated John, king of England, and wrested from him Normandy, Maine, and Anjou. He then went on the crusade with Richard Cceur-de- Lion, to rescue Jerusalem from the Saracens. The two kings succeeded only in taking Acre, and Philip, on his return, treacherously invaded Normandy during Richard's absence. A. D. 1223. — Philip Augustus was succeeded by his son, Louis VIII., surnamed the Lion. His short reign was not marked by any great events, but he distinguished it by enfranchising a great number of serfs or villeins. He signalized his courage against the English, and died of a contagious distemper, at the age of thirty-nine years. A. D. 1226. — Louis IX., surnamed for his piety, Saint Louis, having de feated the king of England and many of the grand vassals of France, at Tailleburg, conducted an army to Palestine, took Daraietta in Egypt, and distinguished himself at Massous, where he was taken prisoner. He was a friend to the indigent, and a zealous advocate for the Christian religion. He died before Tunis, where he had gone upon a second crusade against the infidels. Philip III., surnamed the Bold, his son, was proclaimed king by the army ; he was liberal, benevolent, and just, but displayed no striking abilities. He was succeeded by his son, Philip the Fair. A. ». 12S5. — Philip IV., surnamed le Bel, or the Fair, celebrated for his disputes with Edward I. of England, and Pope Boniface VIII., abolished the order of the Templars, reduced the Flemings, and made the seat of the parliament permanent in Paris. He was of a lively disposition, but cruel and unfeeling, and employed ministers who possessed his defects, without his good qualities. In his reign, the states-general, or representa- tives of the three estates of the kingdom, the nobility, clergy, and com- monalty, were first assembled. Philip IV. was succeeded by his son, Louis X., during whose reign, which was short, the people were burdened THE TREASURY OP HISTORY. S3 with imposts. The two brothers of Louis, Philip the Long and Charles IV., followed successively. Philip signalized himself by a number of wise regulations in the courts of justice. Charles followed his brother's steps in this particular, but the state was loaded with debts and badly governed. Second Branch. — House of Valois. A. D. 1328. — Queen Jane, wife of Charles IV., being delivered of a pos- thumous daughter, the house of Valois mounted the throne, the states of France having decreed females to be incapable of inheriting the crown of France. This is called the Salic law, from its having been the practice of a tribe of Franks, called Salians, to exclude females from all inheritance to landed property. Philip IV., soon after his succession, defeated the Flemings, but was defeated by the English in a sea-fight near Sluys, also at Cressy and Calais. In this reign Dauphiny was annexed to the crown of France. A. D. 1350. — .John, a brave prince, but without genius or political dis- cernment, succeeded Philip. He continued to war against England, but was defeated and taken prisoner at the battle of Poitiers. The kingdom became the theatre of factions and carnage, and was drained of its valuables to ransom the king. He had stipulated for the cession of one third of the kingdom, and 3,000,000 of gold crowns. Not being able to raise this enor- mous sum, John voluntarily returned to London, and died soon after, A. D. 13G4. His son, Charles, surnamed the Wise, succeeded him. Charles V., seconded by De Guesclin, constable of France, avenged the honour of the nation, and re-established order in the state. Everything wore a new face under this king, who was wise, laborious, and economi- cal ; a friend to the arts, to letters, and to virtue. A. D. 1380. — Charles VI. succeeded to the crown, and France, under his government, fell into great disoi'der. This prince having lost his reason, and recovering it at intervals, nothing decisive could be effected. The English king, Henry V., entered France, and gained the battle of Agincourt. Henry, by treaty, became heir to the crown, but died a few days before Charles VI. Henry VI. of England was crowned king of France at a very early age. His uncle, John, duke of Bedford, acted as regent, and during his life the power of the English increased in France. About this time Joan of Arc, an enthusiast in the cause of her country, reanimated the valour and patriotism of the French nation. She fought several bat- tles with success, but was at length taken at Compiegne, and burnt as a witch, by order of the English. [See "England," Hennj VI-] During this time, Charles VII. reigned only over a part of France. But the duke of Bedford was no sooner dead, than the dukeof Burgundy became recon- ciled with Charles. Normandy, Guienne, and the other provinces, which nad been held by the power of the duke of Bedford, acknowledged Charles, and the English were compelled to evacuate France. Charles VII. was succeeded by Louis XL, his rebellious son. He established the posts. He was a bad son, and as bad a father ; a severe prince, but a deep poli- tician. Some important changes in the political condition and the man- ners of the nation were produced in this reign. The royal power was ex- tended and consolidated, the knights and nobles assisting in this, because it gave scope for their exploits. The gendarmerie, or body of permanent cavalry, was formed, and a corps of foot archers. Charles VIII., who succeeded him, married Anne of Brittany, thereby putting an end to the last of the great feudal fiefs of France. He restored to Ferdinand V. Car- dagne and Roussillon. He was an amiable prince, and his death was con- sidered as a public loss. 84 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY The House of Valois- Orleans. A. D. 1495. — Charles VIII. dying without children, Louis, Juke of Or- leans, descended from Charles V., obtained the crown, of which he ap- peared worthy by his good qualities and his virtues. He commenced his reign by forgiving his enemies, and befriending his people. He conquered Milan, which he afterwards lost. He made himself master of the kingdom of Naples, conjointly with the king of Arragon. He made war also against Pope Julius II. Gaston, duke of Nemours, and the chevalier Bayard, greatly distinguished themselves; but the French were obliged to quit Italy. Louis XII. acquired glory more durable, by gaining the love of his people, and by his extraordinary affability, than by his wars. House of Valois- Angouleme. A. D. 151o. — A prince of the house of Valois-Angouleme ascended the throne after the death of Louis XII., who left an only daughter, married to Francis, count of Angouleme, heir to the crown. Francis defeated the Swiss at Marignan, reunited Brittany to the crown, and conquered Lux- embourg. He was the protector and the promoter of the fine arts, and a great encourager of the learned. He died with the reputation of being the most polite prince in Europe. A. D. 1547. — Henry II. succeeded Francis. The face of affairs changed at the commencement of the reign ol this prince. He joined the league of the protestanf princes against the emperor, and made himself master of Metz, Toul, and Verdun. The emperor, Charles V., besieged Metz ; the duke of Guise obliged him to raise the siege, and defeated him at Renti. Henry afterwards entered into a league against the house of Austria in Spain, and Philip II. avenged the honour of the Spaniards at St. Quintin. The duke of Guise took Calais from the English, and the peace of Cateau Cambresis terminated the war. Francis II., his son, succeeded to the throne — a prince without any remarkable vices or vir- tues. He was married to Mary, queen of Scots, and died at the age of seventeen. A. D. 1560. — Francis II. was succeeded by Charles IX. The religious wars, the seeds of which had been previously sown, broke out with fury in this reign. The massacre of Vassi was the signal, and France presented nothing but one continued scene of sanguinary factions for years. The massacre of St. Bartholomew's day covered the land with the bleeding bodies of the protestants. On the eve of St. Bartholomew, orders had been sent to the governors of provinces to fall upon the protestants in every department throughout France ; and though an edict was published before the end of the week, assuring them of the king's protection, and that he by no means designed to exterminate them because of their religion, yet private orders were sent of a nature directly contrary ; in consequence of which the massacre at Paris was repeated in many of the principal towns, and in the space of two months fifty thousand protestants were cruelly butchered. From the time of this most atrocious order, given by Charles himself, he was taken ill, and languished with bodily pains, until relieved by death, a. d. 1572. Charles, dying without issue, was suc- ceeded by his brother, Henry III., who, in 1575, concluded the celebrated " edict of pacification" with the protestants ; the substance of which was, that liberty of conscience, and the public exercise of religion, were granted to the reformed, without any other restriction than that they should not preach within two leagues of Paris, or any other place where the court whs. This edict caused the Guises to form an association called the "catholic league." This struck at the very root of the king's authoritj' ; for as the protestants had already their chiefs, so the catho- lics were for the future to depend entirely upon the chief of tlie league, THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. gi and execute whatever he commanded. Hence arose another persecution of the protestants, and another reconciliation. In the end, however, the king perished by assassination at the hands of a monk, in the year 1588. Before the king's death he nominated Henry of Bourbon, king of Navarre, as his successor on the throne of France. Third Branch. — House of Bourbon. A. D. 1589. — Henry IV. took the title of king of France and Navarre ; and his first care was to put an end to the religious disputes which had so long distracted the kingdom. For this purpose he subsequently promul- gated the celebrated edict of Nantes, which re-established all the favours that had ever been granted to the reformed by other princes. He was acknowledged by the lords of the court, but opposed by the catholic league, which set up the old cardinal of Bourbon as king, under the title of Charles X. Henry IV., with a small army and little money, was obliged to conquer his kingdom. He raised the siege of Paris, and defeated the duke of Mayenne, at Arques and at Ivri. After this success he presented himself before Paris, and before Rouen, which places he besieged in form, but was compelled to abandon them by the duke of Parma. The duke of Mayenne assembled the states-general for the election of a king of France ; but the victory gained by Henry at Dreux, and his abjuration of the protestant religion, overthrew all their projects, and Paris and the greater part of the cities in the kingdom, submitted to his government. The duke of Mayenne retired into Burgundy ; but the leaguers, supported by Spain, were still in opposition in Brittany. Henry declared war against Spain, and defeated the Spanish army at Fontaine- Frangoise. With the assistance of his sagacious friend and minister, Sully, he established order in the finances, and in every department of the state ; and while intent on reducing the dangerous power of the house of Austria, and rendering still greater service to the people, he was stabbed by a fanatical priest named Ravilliac Thus fell the greatest prince evef known in France — the best and bravest of its kings. A. D. 1610. — Louis XIII., surnamed the Just, succeeded Henry IV Being a minor, Mary de Medicis was declared regent of the kingdom, and dispensed with profusion the riches which Henry had amassed to render France powerful. The queen's favourite, a Florentine, named Concini, governed the state. The lords, dissatisfied with the pride and despotism of this stranger, took to arms ; and the death of the favourite calmed the intestine division. But no sooner was Concini in his grave, than another favourite, De Luynes appeared, possessing more power, if possible, than the former. Louis banished his mother to Blois. The celebrated Riche- lieu, then bishop of Lucon, eflTected a reconciliation between them, and received, as a reward, a cardinal's hat. The protestants, much aggrieved by the catholics, took to arms. The king marched against them, and was victorious in every quarter, except at Montaubon, from whence he was obliged to retire with great loss. The credit and ambition of Richelieu increased daily, until he was declared minister of the state. The war was renewed with the protestants, and Rochelle, the bulwark of the Calvinists, was, after a severe conflict, reduced by the king. The queen- mother, and Gaston d'Orleans, became jealous of the authority of Riche- lieu, and, disgusted with his pride, left the kingdom ; and the duke de Montmorenci was beheaded at Toulouse. Richelieu died in the fifty- eighth year of his age, and his death was soon followed by that of the king, who was succeeded by his son. A. D. 1543. — Louis XIV. being only six years old when his father died, the queen, Anne of Austria, was declared regent of the kingdom, and ap- pointed Cardinal Mazarine as minister. Conde defeated the emperor at Rocroy, at Fribourg, at Nordlingen, and at Lens * and these successes, 86 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. seconded by those of Turenne, determined the emperor to conclude peace. The Spaniards still continued the war. The young king took the field in person at the head of his armies, and Stenay and Montmedi were the fruits of his first eflforts for military fame. Peace was soon after con- cluded between Don Louis de Haro, on the part of the Spaniards, and Cardinal Mazarine, on that of the French. The cardinal died soon after, leaving the finances in the most deranged state, and the navy nearly rained. Louis XIV. now took the reins of government into his own hands. He thirsted for glory, and had the discernment to choose great men as his ministers. Colbert and Louvois filled the first ofl!ices of the state. The finances, the commerce, the marine, the civil and military government, the sciences and the arts, experienced a happy change. The death of Philip IV. of Spain occasioned the renewal of war. Louis head- ed his troops, showing a great example of activity and courage ; and his conquests were the means of re-establishing peace. The success of his arms alarmed the neighbouring powers, who entered into a defensive league against France. Louis again took the field, and conquered the greater part of Holland, which he was obliged to evacuate through the firmness and intrepidity of the stadlholder, afterwards William HI., king of Great Britain. The theatre of the war was soon after changed, and Franche Compte was reconquered. In the zenith of his conquests, Louis dictated the conditions of the peace of Nimeguen ; but this peace was soon after infracted. The Spaniards lost Luxembourg; Algiers, Tripoli, and Geneva were bombarded, and obtained peace by making reparation in proportion to the offences they had given. The princes of Europe formed the league of Augsburg against Louis, of which William, prince of Orange, was the soul. Louis impoliticly revoked the edict of Nantes, thereby depriving himself of the services of many thousands of his best and most useful subjects, the protestants, whom he threw into the arms of his enemies. Having so done, he marched against the allied powers. He took, in person, Mons and Namur; and under Luxembourg, Catinat, and Vendome, the French signalized themselves at Fleurus, at Steinkirk, at Neuvinde, at Barcelona, and elsewhere. James II., of Eng- land, having abdicted his throne, flew to France as an asylum ; and Louis endeavoured, but in vain, to re-establish him. Peace was made at Ryswick, and Europe once more enjoyed repose. Peace was of short duration ; the death of Charles II. of Spain re- kindled the flames of war. Philip, duke of Berri, by the will of the late king, was named heir to the Spanish throne, which he ascended by the name of Philip V. The emperor claimed the crown of Spain for his son. War was declared, and the fortune of arms appeared to have abandoned Louis, who, as well as Philip, sued for peace ; but the terms offered by the allies were so hard, as to excite the indignation of the Bourbons. The war was continued, and at length terminated in favour of France, who saw Philip in peaceable possession of the crown of Spain, secured by the peace of Utrecht in 1713. Two years after, Louis died, having reigned seventy-two years. The reign of Louis XIV. has been celebrated as the era which produced everything great and noble in France. He has been held up to the world as the munificent patron of the arts, and a prince whose conceptions and plans were always grand and dignified. The true character of kings can only be justly determined by posterity, and the reputation of this celebrated monarch has not been strengthened by time. After every proper tribute of applause is rendered him, it may be asserted, that, in general, he rather displayed a preposterous vanity than true greatness of character, which has been productive of such baneful effects, that the decline of the French monarchy may said to have mainly originated from his conduct. It must be admitted that in the earlier years of his reign, Louis was a liberal patron of 'etters, and many of the most THE TREASURy OF HISTORY. g7 celebrated writers flourished ; as Corneille and Racine, the two greatest tragic poets of France, and Moliere, the first comic writer ; Boileau, the satirist; Fontaine, Fenelon, Massilon, and others. The close of the long career of Louis, once styled by the French " the great," was disgraced by gloomy and bigoted intolerance. A. D. 1715. — Louis XV. succeeded his grandfather at the age of five years and a half. The regency was conferred on his uncle, the duke of Orleans, under whose auspices the unfortunate Mississippi scheme, planned by Law, a Scotchman, took place. The king took the gov- ernment upon himself at the age of fifteen, and appointed Cardinal Fleury, his preceptor, prime minister. The emperor disturbing the peace of Europe, Spain and Sardinia united with France, and declared war. The taking of Philipsburg, the victories of Parma and Placentia, and the conquests of Don Carlos, put an end to this short war, which gave Lorraine to France. The death of the Emperor Charles VI. plunged Europe again into war. France favoured the pretensions of the elector of Bavaria. The combined armies of France and Bavaria sub- dued Upper Austria, and possessed themselves of Prague, where the elector was crowned king of Bohemia. But a sad reverse was soon after experienced. Austria and Bohemia were torn from Charles VIL, who had been elected emperor by the assistance of France ; and peace was demanded of the Hungarian queen, but refused. Louis XV., who, after the death of Cardinal Fleury, governed for some time in his own person, set four armies on foot, and marched into Flanders. He took Menin, Ypres, and Furnes; while the prince of Conti signalized himself in Italy. In the meantime Alsace was attacked ; Louis flew to its assistance, aiid fell sick at Mentz. As soon as his health was re-established, he beseiged Friburg, which surrendered. Several campaigns followed with various suc- cess, until peace was made at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748. War recommenced in 1755, between the English and French. In Germany it was carried ou with advantage to the latter. Hanover was taken, and the duke of Cumber- land made the capitulation of Closterseven disgraceful to the English. The king of Prussia deffeated the French and Austrians at Rosbach, which instantly changed the face of aff'airs. Hanover was retaken, and the French beaten at Crevelt, by the prince of Brunswick. They were defeated at Warburg, and at Minden, by the English, who proved success- ful both by sea and land. Spain, alarmed at the many conquests of their arms, joined a confederacy of the princes of the house of Bour- bon, known by the name of the " family compact ;" and the flame of war raged in both hemispheres, to the glory of tlie English nation, and the loss of the Bourbons. The peace of 1763 put an end to this war. During the interval of peace, Louis conquered Corsica, after a desperate struggle on the part of that brave people for their independence, under Pascal Paoli. He died in 1774. He was a prince of very moderate parts, and was governed in a great measure by his mistresses and favourites, who also governed France. A. D. 1774. — Louis XVI., grandson of the last king, succeeded to the throne, and soon after his accession married Antoinette, princess of Aus- tria. He regenerated the marine, much weakened by the successes of the English in the late war ; and the navy of France, in a few years after his succession, could boast of one hundred sail of the line. He assisted the Anglo-Americans to throw oft' the 5"oke of the mother country, which they effected ; but it was in this war that the seeds were sown of that revolu- tion which proved his ruin. The war of American independence had, in truth, taught the people of every country to know their power; and in France, the influence of the nobility and the crown had been annihilated by their profligacy in the preceding reign. A set of powerful but intoler ant writers had also arisen, at the head of whom were Voltaire and Rous- seau, who attacked all existing institutions with a wit and eloquence that >38 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. made them popular. The taxes were most unjustly distributed, the clergy and nobility being exempt from taxation, and the middling classes and the poor being obliged to defray the whole. Towards the close ol the year 178S, when famine stared the miserable peasants in the face, the greatest difficulty was found to supply the enormous expenses which were every day increasing. The king was advised to call a meeting of the st?.tes-general, a measure seldom recurred to but in cases of the greatest necessity. The states-general, consisting of the nobles, clergy, and others, assembled, and commenced their sittings in the king's royal palace at Versailles, May 5th, 1789. They soon discovered the situation of the country ; and they also felt their power and their consequence, from the eyes of all France being directed to their proceedings. They bound them- selves, by an oath, never to separate until the constitution of the king- dom, and the regeneration of public order, were established and fixed on a solid basis. They declared themselves inviolable, by a majority of 493 against 34 ; and seemed passionately in love with freedom and their country. The celebrated Necker was dismissed the ministry, and re- tired from France. A state of universal agitation was now on the eve of commencing; an awful scene approached, from which we date the French revolution. The citizens of Paris, who had assembled on Sunday eve- ning, the 12th of July, 1789, in the public walks of the Palais Royal, pro- ceeded from thence to the house of an artist on the Boulevards ; and having procured a bust of M. Necker, and also of the duke of Orleans, they adorned them with crape, and carried them through the streets in triumph. When they came to the square of Place Vendome, they were stopped by the German regiment of horse, who dispersed the people, and broke the bust of Necker. Some few were wounded, but they soon rallied in increased numbers. The army, which had been stationed round Paris, now came forward in full force with a body of cavalry, and the Prince de Lambesq, of the house of Lorraine, at their head. He had received orders from Marshal Broglio, to take post near the gardens of the Tuilleries, and maintain himself in that position, without doing any mischief to the people ; but they were now assembled in such numbers,and were so tumultuous, that the prince, finding himself hemmed in, and fearful of being cut off, entered the gardens of tlie TuUeries at the head of his German regiment, and, with his drawn sword, v/ounded a peaceable citizen who was walking there. The disorder from that time became universal ; the soldiers fired on the people ; and what with the shrieks of the women, the groans of the wounded, and the arbitrary behaviour of the military, the whole city was in an instant thrown into a convulsed state. The general cry was, " To arms !" Muskets, and other weapons of defence, were soon in every hand. The French guards not only refused to fire on their countrymen, but united in their cause. They marched to the Place of Louis XV. to meet the German regiment. They soon came up with them, as well as with some hussars of the Hungarian light-horse, who had joined the Ger- mans. A smart action took place, and the Germans were driven back in disorder, leaving eleven of their comrades killed or wounded behind them. Oh tlie 14th of July, in the morning, almost every person in Paris was armed ; the soldiers mingled with the populace, and all at once a numer- ous body exclaimed, " Let us storm the Bastile." They immediately pro- ceeded towards it, and presented themselves before the tremendous fortress, by the great street of St. Anthony. M. De Launay, the governor, caused a flag of truce to be hung out, upon which a detachment of the patriotic guards, with five or six hundred citizens, introduced themselves into the first court. The governor having advanced to the drawbridge, inquired of tlx; people what they wanted. They answered, " ammunition and arms." He promised to furnish them, instead of which he caused the drawbridge to be rai-jcd, and a discharge of artillery on all those men THE TREASURY OF HISTORY 89 wno were m the first court, whereby many were killed and wounded. The governor now turned his cannon on the city. The populace, burning with revenge, sent for the cannon from the Invalids, upon which five pieces were soon brought, and delivered to experienced gunners. Three pieces of artillery, under the direction of M. Hulin,werealsobrought into the court of the Saltpetriere, contiguous to the B-astile, and immediately pointed against that fortress, on which they fired with great vivacity. The governor per- ceiving he could not hold out against such a phalanx as opposed him, threw out a white flag. The besiegers, however, would look at nothing that might lessen their resentment, or excite pity in favour of the besieged. The gov •srnormade a second attempt to pacify them, but in vain. He acquainted them, by a paper introduced througha crevice of the drawbridge, that he had 50,0001b. weight of gunpowder, and would blow up the garrison, and all its environs, if a capitulation was not accepted. The besiegers despised this menace, and continued their firing with additional vigour. Three cannon were brought forward to beat down the drawbridge. The governor then demolished the little bridge of passage on the left-hand, at the entrance of the fortress. Hely, Hulin, and Maillard, leaped on the bridge, and de- manded that the inmost gate should be instantly opened. The besieged obeyed ; and the besiegers pushed forward to make good their entrance, massacring all who came in their way, and soon after the standard of the victors was seen hoisted on the highest tower. In the meantime the principal drawbridge was let down ; the populace rushed in, every one eager to discover the governor, and to plunge his sword into his treacher- ous bosom. One Arne, a grenadier, singled him out, seized, and disarmed him, and delivered him up to Hulin and Hely. The deputy governor, the major, and the captain of the gunners, were also seized. The victors proceeded with their prisoners to the Hotel de Ville ; but they were scarcely arrived, when the mob tore them from the hands of those who held them in security, and trampled them under foot, and De Launay and the major, pierced with countless wounds, expired. Thus fell the Bastile, after a siege of three hours only; a fortress that the most experienced generals of the age of Louis XIV. had deemed im- pregnable. It was began by Charles V. in 1369, and finished in 1383. The court, utterly astounded at these proceedings, now ordered the dis- missal of the troops, and the recall of Necker. Bailly, who presided at the tennis court, was nominated mayor of Paris, and Lafayette became the commander of the national guards. A crowd of the lowest rabble, ac- companied by some of the national guards, proceeded to Versailles, and entered the palace amid threats and execrations the most indecent and revolting. The king was compelled to accompany them to Paris, and to receive from the hands of Bailly the tri-coloured cockade, as a mark of his union with the people. At this period the famous Jacobin club was formed ; an illegal and violent power, which raised itself at the side of the national representation in order soon after to crush it. At first it con- sisted of a few well-disposed deputies and patriots, but it soon changed its character, and became the focus of insurrection and treasonable excite- ment. The French Revolution. — The Limited Monarchy. A. D. 1789. — W^e now come to the month of August, an ever memorable era in the history of France. The new constitution was finally ushered into the national assembly on the 1st day of the month. The articles being all discussed, the king accepted it with seeming sincerity, returning the assembly thanks for the title they had bestowed on him — that of "restorer of the liberties of France." It was not long after this, how- ever, that Louis, probably from finding his power circumscribed, attempt- . ed to leave France, with the queen and family, and had actually pro* 90 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY ceeded near the frontiers, when he was recognized by Drouet, son of the postmaster at Varennes, who contrived to impede his journey by over- turning a cart in the way. In the meantime he conveyed the intelligence to the guard. The king was now fully identified, but denied having any intention of leaving France. He was, however, conveyed back to Paris, where he had been but a very short time missed. His brothers escaped by taking different routes. This attempt of Louis to leave the kingdom irritated the Parisians almost to frenzy, and he was soon after conveyed to the Temple as a prisoner, together with his queen, his children, and his sister, Madame Elizabeth. Here he suffered a rigorous confinement, until he was brought to trial before the national convention — for by that appellation the national assembly was then known. Being convicted of what they termed treason against that constitution which he had sworn to defend, he was condemned to die by the guillotine, which death he suffered on the 21st of January, 1793, with great fortitude, and was buried privately, in a churchyard of Paris ; his grave was filled with lime in order to prevent his partizans from removing his body. Thus died Louis XVJ., who, if not the greatest of the French monarchs, was certainly one of the most unoffending ; but he was irresolute, brought up in the habits of indolence, and of a court famous for its breach of faith. He was, in fact, in every respect, unsuitable to the government of the French nation, whether as a despotism or a free government; the latter he himself cer- tainly was the means of introducing, by the part he took in the contes* between Great Britain and her American colonies. 2. The Republican Government. A. D. 1792. — During the confinement of Louis, the constitution was mod- elled anew. The limited monarchy gave way to the republican govern- ment, which took place the 23d of September, 1792. The death of the queen soon followed ; the absurd and infamous charges brought against her astonished all Europe. But no power could save the once beautiful Marie Antoinette ; her doom had doubtless long been decreed; and she suffered by the axe of the guillotine, on the 16th of October, 1793, after having been treated with every possible indignity. Her body was imme diately interred in a grave filled with quick-lime, like that of her husband. This highly accomplished woman, who is described as a model of grace and beauty, was in her 38th year, and sister of Leopold H., late emperor of Germany. La Vendee rose, and the continent as well as England armed m hostility to the convention, whom nothing seemed to intimidate. Four- teen armies, without experience, and merely with the aid of paper money, Avere set in motion. Custine took Mentz ; Montesquieu invaded Savoy , Lille repulsed the Austrians, who bombarded the city; and Dumouriez, making a descent upon Belgium, carried the redoubts of Jenappe at the point of the bayonet. The generals had only to sound the Marseillais hymn, and the citizen soldiers saw in the republic a futurity of peace and prosperity, although the roots of what was called the tree of liberty were saturated with blood. Lyons, after a two months' siege, surrendered to the republicans, and there are few examples, even amid the horrid scenes of barbarous warfare, of more vindictive cruelty than took place there. The guillotine being deemed too slow an engine of destruction, crowds were driven into the Rhone, or butchered in the squares by discharges o\ grape-shot. Barrere sent a flaming account to the convention, which de creed that the walls and public buildings of the city should bo razed, anc Lyons henceforth called La Ville Affranchie. The excesses and enormi- ties of this period of French history are almost, indeed, too incredible foi the sober pen of history to record. A new calendar was formed ; and ip order to obliterate the remembrance of the Christian sabbath, each month was subdivided into tliree decades, the first days of which were festivals •THE TREASUllY OF HISTORY. 91 or days of rest. A few days after, the municipal authorities of Paris ap- peared in the convention, attended by the bishop and clergy, decorated with caps of liberty, who publicly renounced their offices of Christian pas- tors. The bishop of Moulins threw down his mitre, and preached the doctrine that "death is an eternal sleep." Various allegorical creations, such as Liberty and Equality, were deified, and a young woman of aban- doned character was enshrined as the Goddess of Reason on the altar of Notre Dame, to receive the adoration of the multitude. But the reign of Robespierre was now in its plenitude ; a tyrant more savage and bloody cannot be found since the days of Nero and Caligula. The guillotine was in constant action, and thousands were immolated to his sanguinary ven- geance. Royalists and republicans indiscriminately felt the axe ; and among his victims were Madame Ehzabeth, sister to the king, and the duke of Orleans, the king's cousin, who had, in the national convention, voted for the death of Louis. The latter not only died unpitied, but exe- crated by both parties, for the infamous part he had acted towards his near relation. This "bold bad man," who had renounced his title, and adopted the name of Philip Egalite, was in his 46th year, and met death with apparent indifference. Under the mask of patriotism he aspired to the throne, but met his just reward (though not for his regicidal and un- natural crime), from the guillotine. Who at that time could have ima- gined that young Egalite, his son, who had fought under the banners of the republic, would one day be saluted as Louis Philippe, king of the French ! This era was appropriately termed " the reign of terror." But the power of Robespierre was not to endure forever. Talien had the virtue and courage to denounce him, in the convention, for his numberless barbari- ties. The members well knew they held their heads by the slight tenure of his will only ; they were tlierefore gratiged by the opportunity which now offered itself for his destruction ; they supported the denunciation against him ; and but a few hours elapsed between his accusation and his death, on that scaffold where he had so recently sent his victims by doz- ens. This event, which gave general satisfaction, took place the 28th of July, 1794. The constitution of the third year, was, soon after the death of Robespierre, put into force. A directory, consisting of five, forming the executive power, was appointed ; it consisted of Reubel, Barras, La Reveilliere, Lepaux, Merlin, and Treilliard ; and two councils ; the first, of the "elders;" and the latter, of "five hundred," formed the legislative part. One third of each chamber was to be renewed annually ; and one of the "directors" was to go out yearly, and be replaced by the election of another. The armies of France had been contending, from the year 1792, with those of almost every power in Europe. Prussia was, indeed, early drawn off from the contest ; though it had penetrated the French territory. The republican arms were in general successful by land ; and, in the beginning of 1795, they were in possession of all the Austrian Netherlands, Holland, and Germany, to the banks of the Rhine ; they were also masters of Savoy on the side of Italy. Early in 1796, Bonaparte, a young man, till then unknown in the world of politics, was appointed, through the powerful interference of the direc- tor Barras, to the command of the army of Italy. No sooner had he taken the field, than victory appeared to have adopted him as her favourite son. His prodigious successes astonished the world. He defeated the Aus- trians and Piedmontese in the battles of Montenotte and of Milesimo, in April, 1796 ; compelled the king of Sardinia to conclude a treaty of peace, in which Savoy and Nice were given up to France ; on the 8th of May he crossed the Po ; on the succeding day he forced Parma to consent to an armistice ; defeated General Wurmser on the 3d of August at Lonado, and on the 5th at Castiglione; advanced against the Tyrol; defeated 92 THE TREASURY OP HISTORY. Alvinzi at Arcole on the 15th of November, and at Rivoli on the 14th of January, 1797; concluded the peace of Tolentino, in which the pope yielded Avignon to France, and Bologna, Ferrara, and Romagna to the Cisalpine republic, on the 19th of February ; and defeated the archduke Charles at Lesonzo; and signed preliminaries of peace with Austria at Leoben on the 16th of April, 1797, which formed the peace of Campo Formio, by which alone the Austrian capital was saved from destruction. This treaty led to a congress to be held for the adjustment of claims, and to bring about that desirable blessing, peace. Radstadt was the place appointed for the meeting of the ministers of the different powers who were to assist. Fifteen months elapsed in negotiation, which terminated in delusion; and the French plenipotentiaries. Bonnier and Roberjot, were assassinated by some German soldiers on their return to France. Both parties having in the interim recruited their strength, renewed the war. During the above-mentioned negotiation, a plan was laid in France for the conquest of Egypt. They accordingly fitted out a formidable fleet at Toulon, on board of which were embarked 42,000 troops, the flower of Bo- naparte's victorious Italian army. All Europe was interested in the des- tination of so formidable an armament, but more particularly England. Bonaparte it was generally understood, was to have the command ; but the great secrecy with which everything relating thereto was conducted, baflled all the efforts at the discovery of his real designs. It left Toulon in May, 1798, under the command of Brieux as admiral, and Bonaparte as commander-in-chief of the troops, and steered to the eastward. In June, Malta submitted ; and on the 2d of July, it reached Alexandria, in Egypt ; having had the good fortune to escape the vigilance of Admiral Nelson, who had been dispatched in search of it as soon as it was known for a certainty that it had gone to the eastward. Alexandria was taken on the 3d ; and the beys and MameluJces were defeated in several actions. Egypt, including its capital, Grand Cairo, was in the possession of the French in twenty-one days from their landing. Bonaparte had landed his forces but a short time before the English fleet appeared on the coast of Egypt. The French fleet lay in the bay of Aboukir, moored in the greatest security ; Nelson attacked it on the 1st of August, and gained a victory as complete as any in the naval annals of the country. Bonaparte having brought Egypt under his power, his next object was Syria, for the invasion of which he was in readiness early in February, 1799. He marched from Grand Cairo across the desert. He took El Arish, Joppa, and Jerusalem, and penetrated the country as far as Acre, which place he besieged. Here he met with an unexpected foe, in the captains and crews of a small En- glish fleet, commanded by Sir Sydney Smith, which had come to the as- sistance of the pacha ; and after many most daring attempts to take that city, during forty days and upwards, he retired with considerable loss. It was during the siege of Acre that Bonaparte first heard of the re- verses of the French, and the loss of the greater part of his conquests in Italy. He soon afterwards defeated the army of the pacha of Natolia at Aboukir, and his departure from Egypt followed immediately on that event. He left the government of his new conquest under General Kleber, and, embarking on board a small vessel, with a few of his principal officers, had the good fortune to escape the numerous English cruisers, and arrived at Frejus on the 13th of October. He was received in Paris on the 16th, amid the acclamations of the people, and was soon made acquainted with the external and internal situation of France. He deplored the loss of those conquests which had acquired to him immortal fame, but he further deplored the state of the country, torn into a variety of factions. Au army unclothed, unfed, and unpaid ; a part of the interior of the republic in rebellion ; a host of foes from without pressing it on all sides ; the finan- ces in the utmost possible state of derangement ; and the resources drained THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 93 almost to the last livre. The quick discernment of Bonaparte told him that nothing short of a grand effort could save France from ruin. He soon made up his mind to the action, and, assisted by a few friends, his generals, and his army, actually assumed the government on the 9th of November, abolishing, a-t the same time, the constitution of the third year- He vi^as soon after elected first consul, with extraordinary powers. ^he scene that took place on this memorable occasion is well wa ih transcribing : The legislature met at St. Cloud ; the council of elders in the great gallery, and that of five hundred, of whom Lucien Bonaparte was president, in the orangery. Bonaparte entered the council of elders, and, in an animated address, described the dangers that menaced the republic, and conjured them to associate their wisdom with the force which surrounded him. A member using the word " constitution," Bona- parte exclaimed, " The constitution ! It has been trodden under foot, and used as a cloak for all manner of tyranny." Meanwhile a violent debate was going on in the orangery, several members insisting upon knowing why the place of sitting had been changed. The president endeavoured to allay the storm ; but the removal had created great heat, and the cry was, " Down with the dictator ! No dictator !" At that mo- ment Bonaparte himself entered, bare-headed, followed by four grenadiers ; on which several members exclaimed, " Who is that ? No sabres here ! No armed men !" While others descending into the hall, collared him, calling him " Outlaw^," and pushed him towards the door. One member aimed a blow at him with a dagger, which was parried by a grenadier. Disconcerted at this rough treatment, General Lefevre came to his aid ; and Bonaparte retiring, mounted his horse, and addressed the troops outside. His brother Lucien also made a forcible appeal to the military, and the result was, that a picket of grenadiers entered the hall, and the drums beating the pas de charge, cleared it at the point of the bayonet. This truly Crom- "^wellian argument decided the affair, and in the evening it was declared , that the directory had ceased to exist ; that a provisional consular com- mission should be appointed, composed of citizens Sieyes, Ducos, and Bonaparte ; and that the two councils should name committees, of 25 members each, to prepare a new constitution. In the interval between the abolition of one constitution and the creation of another, the consuls were invested with a dictatorship. Lucien Bonaparte was made minister of the interior ; Talleyrand, of foreign affairs ; Carnot, of war ; and Fouche, of police. The Consular Government. A. D, 1809. — The new constitution consisted of an executive composed of three consuls, one bearing the title of chief, and in fact possessing all « the authority ; of a conservative senate, composed of 80 members, appoint- ed for life, the first 60 to be nominated by the consuls, and the number to be completed by adding two, annually, for ten years, and a legislative body of 300 members, and a tribunate of 100. Bonaparte was nominated the first consul, for ten years ; Cambaceres and Lebrun, second and third consuls, for five years. Sieyes, who had taken an active part in bringing about the revolution, and in framing the new constitution, was rewarded by the grant of an estate worth 15,000 francs per annum. One of the first acts of the consulate was a direct overture from Bonaparte to the king of England for peace ; which was replied to by the English minister, who adverted to the origin of the war, and intimated that "the restoration of the ancient line of princes, under whom France had enjoyed so many- centuries of prosperity," would afford the best guarantee for the mainte- nance of peace between the two countries. This was of course construed, as it was meant, a rejection of the offer. The strength and energy of the new government made itself visible in the immediate union of the best 94 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. leaders of all parties ; in the return of many thousand emigrants in the humbler ranks of life, and in the activity which was displayed by all who held office under the consular government. Bonaparte soon put himself at the head of the army of Italy, and by the rapidity of his operations out- generalled his opponents. Having made himself acquainted with the posi- tion of the Austrian army, encamped in a valley at the foot of Mount St. Bernard, he formed the bold design of surprising them by crossing that part of the Alps which was before considered inaccessible to a regularly equipped army. It was, in truth, a most difficult and daring exploit, exceeding anything that had occurred since the days of Hannibal ; but in proportion to the peril of the undertaking, was the glory that awaited it. The battle of Marengo, which was fought on the 14ili of June, 1800, decided the fate of Italy. Moreau, who was at this lime commanding the army of the Rhine, gained the battle of Hohenlinden, December 3d, and threatened Vienna. These great victories were followed by the conclusion of a treaty with Austria, in its own name, and that of the German empire, but without the concurrence of England, on the 9th of February, 1801. In this peace, the course of the Rhine was fixed as the limit between France and Germany. Those German princes who lost their territories beyond the Rhine by this new arrangement, were to be indemnified by additional possessions on the right bank of that river. In Italy the course of the Adige was fixed as the boundary between Austria and the Cisalpine re- public, and the former power gave the Briesgau and Ortenau to the duke of Modena. The territories of the grand duke of Tuscany were erected into the kingdom of Etruria, which was given to the hereditary prince of Parma, according to a treaty between France and Spain, the grand duke to be indemnified in Germany for the loss of his territories. This peace was the prelude to others. On the 29th of September, 1801, Portu- gal concluded a treaty with France, and Russia and Turkey on the 8th and 9th of October. A. D. 1802. — England was also now disposed to enter into negotiations for peace, and the terms of the treaty of Amiens were soon arranged. France retained her acquisitions in Germany and the Netherlands, and her supremacy in Holland, Switzerland, and Italy. England consented to resign Malta to the knights of St. John, to make the Ionian islands an independent republic, and to restore all the colonies she had taken from France, except Ceylon and Trinidad. France, on the other hand, guaran- tied the existence of the kingdoms of Naples and Portugal. The treaty was signeo on the 27ih of March, 1802, and for a short time the inhabi- tants of Europe were flattered with the prospect of continued tranquillity. Tn May, Bonaparte founded the legion of honour, and soon after, he was chosen first consul for life. He had just before concluded with the newly- elected pope a concordat for the Galilean church, the articles of which were — the establishment of the free exercise of the catholic religion; a new division of the French dioceses, the bishops to be nominated by the first consul, and to take an oath of fidelity to the republic. He also put an end to the proscription of the emigrants, and numbers returned to end their days in the land of their birth. But his extraordinary successes, the adulation of the army, and his elevation, intoxicated the chief consul ; so much so, indeed, that it was not long before he took an opportunity of openly insulting the English ambassador. A renewal of hostilities was the natural result, and to such an extent did Bonaparte carry his animosity towards England, that on the ground that two French ships had been captured prior to the formal declaration of war, he issued a decree for the detention of all the English in France, and under this infringement of in- ternational law, the number of British subjects detained in France amount- ed to 11,000, and in Holland to 1,300. A. D. 1804. — In February a plot was discovered in Paris for the assas- THE TREASURY OF HISTORY OB sination of Bonaparte and the overthrow of the consular government The principals in this conspiracy were General Pichegru, Georges, an enthusiastic loyalist, and Lajolais, a friend of General Moreau, who also was charged with disaffection to the consular government. Pending the trials Pichegru was found strangled in prison ; Georges and some of his accomplices were publicly executed, and Moreau was sentenced to two years' imprisonment, which was commuted to banishment to America. One of the foulest atrocities of modern times was next perpetrated by the order of Bonaparte. The duke d'Enghi^n, eldest son of the duke of Bour- bon, was seized in the neutral territory of Baden, and taken first to Stras- burgh, thence to Paris, and afterwards to the castle of Vincennes, where a military commission met on the night of his arrival, to try him, on the charges of having served in the emigrant armies against France, and of being privy to the conspiracy of Georges. It, however, signified little what the charges were ; he was destined for immediate execution ; and, in defiance of every barrier of international law, he was taken out and shot in the castle ditch, almost immediately after his midnight trial was concluded. The prince had the reputation of being a brave soldier and a virtuous man, hence he was the more obnoxious ! The ambition of Bona- parte to obtain the imperial dignity, and his denunciations against Eng- land, seemed to occupy all his thoughts ; and, truly, these were objects of no little magnitude. At length, on the first of May, a motion was made in the tribunate for conferring on Napoleon the rank of emperor, with hereditary succession in his family. The decree of the tribunate was adopted by the senate, and power given to Bonaparte, if he had no male issue, to adopt an heir from the children of his brothers. The titles of prince, princess, and imperial highness, were conferred on all members of the Bonaparte family. Thus ended the French republic, under all its phases. It had lasted eleven years and four months, almost the exact duration of the English commonwealth from the death of Charles I. Pope Pius VII. now proceeded to Paris, and on the '2d of December solemnly anointed the new emperor, who himself placed the imperial crown upon his own head. The Italian republic followed the example of France; and on the 15ih of March, 1805, having named their president king of Italy, Napoleon, on the 26th of May, with his own hands also placed the new crown of the Lombardian kings upon his own head, and was anointed by the archbishop of Milan. During his presence in Italy, the senate of the Ligurian republic demanded and obtained the incorporation of the Genoese state with the French empire, on the 4th of June ; and the small republic of Lucca was transformed in the same year into an heredi- tary principality for Bonaparte's sister, the princess Eliza. He was already, also, preparing thrones to establish his brothers. The threatened invasion of Britain had long been the theme of every tongue, and the peo- ple of France had been diverted from all other thoughts during the moment- ous changes which, with a magician's wand, had taken place in the sys- tem of government, for the attainment of which the blood of Frenchmen nad flowed with such reckless prodigality. A third coalition against France was concluded at Petersburgh, between England and Russia, April 11. A.ustria joined the confederacy in August ; and Sweden likewise was Blade a party to it, and received a subsidy. But the Emperor Napoleon felt assured that, while he could detach Prussia from the alliance, which ne did by promising Hanover to the king, he had no great reason to appre- hend any serious injury from the other powers. In Italy, the archduke Charles was opposed to Marshal Massena; at the same time twenty-five thousand French marched under St. Cyr from Naples into Upper Italy, after a treaty of neutrality had been concluded between France and Naples. The Austrian army in Germany was commanded by the archduke Ferdi- fland and General Mack. This army penetrated into Bavaria in Septera- 96 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. ber, 1805, and demanded that the elector should'^ither unite his forces with the Austrians or disband them ; upon wliich the elector joined Napo- leon ; and a similar course was adopted by the dukes of Wirtcmberg and Baden. Forsaking the camp of Boulogne, where he had been preparing the "army of England" for the projected invasion, Napoleon hastened towards Wirtemberg, and issued a declaration of , war. The corps of Bernadotte and the Bavarians having marched towards the Danube, through the neu- tral province of Anspach, belonging to Prussia, the latter power, which had assembled its armies in the neiglibourhood of the Russian frontier, renounced its obligations to France ; and by the treaty of Potsdam, con- cluded on on the 3d of November, during the stay of the emperor Alex- ander at Berlin, promised to join the enemies of Napoleon. The Prus- sian armies, in conjunction with the Saxons and Hessians, took up a hostile position extending between the frontiers of Silesia and the Danube. But the Austrian armies in Suabia had been rapidly turned and defeated by the French, in a series of operations extending from the Cth to the 13th of Octo- ber, upon which Mack, in the infamous capitulation of Ulm, surrendered with thirty thousand men, but the archduke Ferdinand, by constant fight- ing, reached Bohemia. The French now penetrated through Bavaria and Austria into Moravia, and after having obtained possession, in Novem- ber, of the defiles of the Tyrol, and driven back several Russian corps in a series of skirmishes, they occupied Vienna on the 13ih of November, and afterwards took possession of Presburg. The next great battle, fought at Austerlitz on the 2d of December, decided the war, although it had only lasted two months ; and the archduke Charles, having received informa- tion of the event in Suabia, retired through the German provinces, after having fought a dreadful battle upon the Adige, which lasted three days. The battle of Austerlitz, in which Napoleon so signally defeated the allies, was well contested by the troops on both sides. The Austro-Russian armies amounted to eighty thousand men, commanded by General Kutusoff and Prince Lichenstein ; one hundred pieces of cannon, and thirty thousand killed, wounded, and prisoners on the side of the allies, was an irresistible proof of the desperate nature of the conflict, as well as the good fortune of Napoleon. An immense number perished in a lake by the ice giving way. Davoust, Soult, Lannes, Berthier, and Murat most distinguished themselves among the French marshals. An interview between Napoleon and Francis II. immediately followed, and an armistice was concluded on the 6lh. By the treaty of peace of Presburg, Austria yielded its Venetian possessions to the kingdom of Italy; the Tyrol and several German countries to Bavaria; Briesgau to Baden, and other Suabian possessions to Wirteraberg. She also recog- nized the electors of Bavaria and Wirtemberg as kings, and the elector of Baden as sovereign elector. These and other concessions Austria was compelled to make. But during the victorious course of the armies ol France by land, she suffered deeply from the naval power of England, the united fleets of France and Spain, under Villeneuve and Gravina, being nearly annihilated by Nelson in the battle of Trafalgar. This took place on the 2151 of October. On the 15th of December the emperor con-- eluded a treaty with Prussia, at Vienna, in which the alliance between both these powers was renewed, and a reciprocal guarantee of the ancient and newly-acquired states exchanged. France pretended to give Hanover to Prussia; and, on the other hand, Prussia yielded to France, Anspach, Cleve, and Neufchatel. Prussia was now obliged to act offensively against England, as well by taking possession of Hanover as by excluding English vessels from the ports under her control. Joseph, the elder brother of Napoleon, was by an imperial decree named king of Naples and Sicily, which had been conquered by Marshal Masscna, who marcher^ THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 97 with an army from Upper Italy into Naples, on acconnt of a pretended breach of neutrality, occasioned by the landing of the English and Rus- sians. But Ferdinand IV. look refuge in Sicily with his family; and that island being protected by the English fleet, formed merely a nominal appendage to the crown of Joseph Bonaparte. Prince Eugene Beauhar- nois, son of the empress Josephine by her first husband, was named vice- roy of Italy; Talleyrand received the nominal title of prince of Bene- vento ; Bernadotte was proclaimed princeof Ponte Corvo; and Louis, the second brother of the emperor, was proclaimed hereditary and constitu- tional king of Holland. With the same disregard of political justice, the constitution of the German empire, which had lasted for above a thousand years, was overthrown on the 12th of July, 1806, to make way for the Rhenish confederation, of which the emperor Napoleon was named pro- tector. Prussia, at this period still trembling for her own safety, was once more excited by England and Russia to resistance; upon which Napoleon trans- ported his immense army across the continent, and in less than one month he arrived at Berlin, having gained the ever-memorable battle of Jena, in which 250,000 men were engaged in the work of mutual destruction. More than twenty thousand Prussians were killed and wounded, and forty thousand taken prisoners, with three hundred pieces of cannon. Prince Ferdinand died of his wounds. A panic seized the garrison, and all the principal towns of Prussia, west of the Oder, surrendered to the French soon after the battle, and on the 25th of October, Napoleon entered the capitol. Bonaparte next promulgated the celebrated Berlin decree, or " continental system," by which the British islands were declared in a state of blockade ; all articles of British manufacture were interdicted: and all vessels touching at England, or any English colony, excluded from every harbour under the control of France. Beyond the Vistula, the war between France and Russia was opened on the 24th of December, 1806, by the fight of Czarnowo, in which the French carried the Russian redoubts upon the left bank of the Ukra. On the succeeding morning Davoust drove field-marshal Kameuskji out of his position ; and on the day follow- ing the marshal renounced the command-in-chief, in which he was suc- ceeded by Bennigsen. This general suddenly transported the theatre of war into Eastern Prussia, where the Russians, an the 23d of January, 1807, attacked the advanced posts of the prince of Ponte Corvo, who engaged them on the 25th, at Mohrungen, and by his manoeuvres covered the flank of the French army until a junction was formed. After con- tinual fighting from the 1st to the 7th of February, the battle of Eylan took place. The slaughter was dreadful ; both parties claimed the victory, and both were glad to pause while they recruited their respective armies. The next operation of consequence, was the seige and bombardment of Dantzic, by Lefebvre ; and General Kalkreuth was compelled to capitulate on the 24th of May, after Marshal Lannes had defeated a body of Rus- sians who had landed at Weichselmunde with the view of raising the siege. At last, after a series of skirmishes between the diff'erent divisions of the hostile armies, the decisive victory of the French over the Russians at Friedland, on the 14th of June, 1807, led to the peace of Tilsit ; which was concluded on the 9th of July, between France and Prussia, by Talley- rand and Count Kalkreuth, after an interview between the three monarchs upon the Niemen, and subsequently at Tilsit. In this peace Prussia was shorn of territories containing upwards of one half of the former popula- tion of that kingdom ; and from the various districts which fell into the conqueror's hands were formed two new states — the kingdoms of West- phalia, and the dukedom of Warsaw. The former was given to Jerome Bonaparte, and the king of Saxony was flattered with the title of duke of Warsaw. Upon the intercession of Russia, the dukes of Mecklenburgh- «)3 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. Schwerin, Oldenburgh, and Cobiirg, were reinstated, and France and Russia exchanged reciprocal guarantees of their possessions, and of those of the other powers included in this peace. Never had the fortune of man been more brilliant ; the whole world was struck with astonishment at victories so rapid, and seemed to bow itself before so colossal a power. But his ambition was boundless ; no sovereign could be more absolute ; he regarded other men as ciphers destined to increase the amount of that unity which centered in himself. He talked of the glory of France ; but he re-established the imposts, the abuses, and prodigality of the ancient monarchy. The aids and monopo- lies reappeared under the name of united duties. The press was kept under by a censorship ; juries were perverted ; prefects and other petty despots assumed the administration of justice ; the emperor nominated all the public functionaries, and all were inviolable ; the council of slate, a dependent and removeable body, was the sole arbiter of tneir responsi- bility. The election of the deputies was ridiculous in this pretended rep- resentative government, the laws of which were the dicta of the empe- ror, under the name of decrees or senatorial edicts. Individjal liberty no longer existed ; a police, that was a true political inquisition, suspected even silence itself; accused the thoughts of men, and extended over Europe a net of iron. All this time, too, the conscription, a dreadful tax upon human life, was levied with unsparing activity ; and the French youth were surrendered to his will by the senate as a sort of annual con- tribution. The affairs of Spain now began to occupy the attention of Napoleon ; one of his first objects, however, was to destroy the English influence in Portugal. A French army, in concert with a Spanish one, marched against that kingdom, the partition of which had been concerted between France and Spain, on the 27th of October, 1807, the northern part being given to the house of Parma, the southern part to Godoy, prince of peace, and the middle, on the conclusion of peace, to the house of Braganza. Tuscany was to be given to France, and the king of Spain to be declared protector of the three states, erected out of Portugal ; the Spanish monarch was also to assume, after the maritime peace should be concluded, the title of emperor of both Americas. In conformity with this treaty, Tuscany was given up to Napoleon in 1807, and afterwards incorporated with France ; and Marshal Junot, duke of Braganza, entered Lisbon on the 30th of November, after the royal family had embarked with their treasures, and a few of the principal nobility, in a British fleet, for the Brazils. But, in 1808, the Spanish nobility, tired of the govern- ment of the prince of peace, formed a plot to raise Ferdinand VII. to the throne, and free their country from foreign influence. It required no great effort to induce Charles to resign in favour of his son ; but this was an arrangement to which Napoleon would not consent ; and both father and son now became pensioners of the French conqueror, who invested his brother Joseph, at that time king of Naples, with the sovereignty of Spain and India. The people now rose to vindicate their rights, and that strug- gle commenced in which patriotic Spaniards were so warmly and success- fully supported by the British under Wellington, during the long and ardu- ous military operations which in England are known as the " Peninsular war." The war in Spain appeared to give Austria a new and favour- able opportunity for attempting the re-establishment of her former in- fluence in Germany. The emperor Francis accordingly declared war against France, and sent his armies into Bavaria, Italy, and the dukedom of Warsaw. But the rapid measures of Napoleon baflded Austrian calcula- tions; and, collecting a large army, he defeated the archduke Louis so severely at Eckmuhl and Ratisbon, on the 22d and 23d of April, that he was compelled to cross the Danube. Vienna was thus opened to the con- querors, and Napoleon took possession of that capital. The archduke THE TREASURY OF fllSTORY. 99 Charles was, however, undismayed ; he attacked the French in their position at Aspern, on the 21st of Maj^ and the battle continuing through the next day. Napoleon vvas compelled to retreat into the isle of Loban, where his army was placed in a situation of great jeopardy, the flood having carried away the bridge that connected the island in the middle of the river with the right bank of the Danube; and two months elapsed before he was able to repair the disasters of the battle, and again transport his army across the river. Then followed the great battle of Wagram, which was fought on the 5th and 6th of July ; and in this desperate conflict the loss of the Austrians was so great, that they immediately sought an armistice of the French emperor, which led to the peace of Vienna, signed on the 14th of October, 1809. By this peace Austria was obliged to re- sign territories containing three millions of subjects. Saltzburg, Berch- tolsgaden, &c., were given to Bavaria; all western and part of eastern Galli- cia,with the town of Cracow, were united to the dukedom of Warsaw ; and other provinces, with part of the kingdom of Italy, were destined to form the new state of the Illyrian provinces ; while Austria was absolutely cut off from all communication with the sea, by the loss of her ports on the Adriatic. The Tyrolese, who had been transferred to the king of Bavaria by the treaty of Presburg, finding that their ancient immunities and privileges had been violated, and that they were crushed by severe taxa- tion, seized the opportunity of the Austrian war to raise the standard of revolt ; and in their early operations they expelled the Bavarians from the principal towns. A French army entered the country and laid it waste with fire and sword ; but the Tyrolese, animated by a heroic peasant named Hofer, expelled the invaders once more, and secured a brief interval of tranquillity. The results of the battle of Wagram, however, gave the French and Bavarian forces an opportunity of overwhelming them ; they penetrated their mountain fastnesses, desolated the land, executed the leading patriots as rebels, and the land was again subjected to the tyranny of Maximilian Joseph, the puppet of Napoleon. Several efforts were simultaneously made in Germany to shake off" the French yoke; butafter the overthrow of the Austrians there were no longer any hopes for fliem, and the emperor of the French exercised an almost unlimited power over the northern part of continental Europe. During Napoleon's residence at Vienna, he abolished the temporal power of the pope, and united the remaining territories of the stales of the church with France, to which he had previously united Piedmont, Liguria, Tuscany, and Parma, besides Savoy and Nice. A pension was assigned to his holiness, and the city of Rome declared an imperial and free city. The pope was conducted to Fontainebleau, where Napoleon concluded a second concordat with him, in which, though the pope did not resume his temporal jurisdiction, he obtained the right to keep ambassadors at foreign courts, to receive am- bassadors, and to appoint to certain bishoprics. One of the consequences of the peace of Vienna was the dissolution of the marriage between Napoleon and Josephine, which took place in December, 1809 ; and his second marriage with the archduchess Maria Louisa, daughter of the em- peror of Austria, in April, 1810. When Napoleon declared tbe papal territory a province of France, and Rome a city of the empire, he deter- mined that the heir-apparent of France should bear the title of king of Rome, and that the emperor of France should be crowned in Rome within the first three years of his government. The firmness with which he was opposed in Spain, the perseverance of Great Britain in maintaining the orders in council, to counteract the decrees of Berlin and Milan, and the daily increasing prospect of an approaching war in the North, where longer submission to the arbitrary mandates of Napoleon was refused, did not augur favourably for the future stability of his vast power. The British also carried on an important commerce with Russia, through 100 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. Qottcnburg and the ports of the Baltic, of which complaint was made to the courts of Stockholm and Petersburg. The commercial policy of Russia in 1810 and 1811, and its disapprobation of the treatment of the duke of Oldenburg (a near relation to the emperor Alexander), had excited the distrust of Napoleon; and he spoke the language of offended confidence in remonstrating with " his brother the emperor." At length Russia and Sweden made common cause with Great Britain in opposing Napoleon's darling " continental system ;" while the latter arrayed under his banners the military strength of western and southern Europe, and, . trusting to the vast number of his victorious legions, he crossed the Nie- men, and directed his march to the capital of Lithuania. As the French advanced the Russians retired, wasting the country in their retieat. Napoleon then with his main body marched upon Moscow, while a large division of his forces menaced the road to St. Petersburg. But tlie main force of the invaders advanced to Smolensko, which was justly regarded as the bulwark of Moscow. This strongly fortified position was taken by storm on the 17th of August, after a brief but bloody struggle, the Russian general, Barclay de Tolly, firing the town on his retreat. But Moscow was not to be abandoned without'another effort. Kutusoff, who now assumed the command of the Russians, fixed upon a position near the village of Borodino, and there firmly awaited the invading host. Nearly seventy thousand men fell in this furious and sanguinary conflict ; and as the French were joined by new reinforcements after the battle, Napoleon entered Moscow, and took up his residence in the Kremlin, the ancient palace of the czars. The citizens, however, under the direction, or with the sanction, of the governor, Rostopchin, not only determined to abandon their beloved metropolis, but to consign it to the flames; and scarcely had the French troops congratulated themselves on having secured winter-quarters in that cold and inhospitable region, ere the con- flagration burst forth in every direction, and notwithstanding every device was tried to subdue the flames, they ceased not until more than three-fourths of the city was a mass of smoking embers. In this unex- pected and embarassing position. Napoleon gave orders for a retreat. All the horrors that the imagination can conceive were now felt by the hap less fugitives, who so lately were the boasted conquerors of southern Europe. The winter had set in unusually early, and brave as the French soldiers were, the climate of Russia was an enemy too powerful for them to contend vvith. Thousands upon thousands perished with cold and hun- ger, and an immense number fell beneath the swords of their relentless pursuers, who, maddened by the recollection that their hearths and homes had been polluted by these invaders, and that their ancient city lay smouldering in the dust, heeded not their cries for mercy. But why should we repeat the tale of horrors? Suffice it to say, that the wreck of this mighty army retreated through Prussia and Poland, into Saxony, while Napoleon hastened to Paris with all the speed that post-horses could effect. Napoleon appealed to the senate for men, money, and other munitions of war, and his appeal was promptly responded to. Notwithstanding his recent reverses, he felt that he still possessed the confidence of the French nation ; and a large conscription was ordered to supply the losses of the late campaign ; as soon, therefore, as the new levies were organized, he hastened to the north ; and, to the astonishment of all Europe, the army under his command was numerically^uperior to those of his adversaries. The public voice in Prussia loudly demanded war with France, and the Prussian monarch took courage to assert his independence and enter into alliance with Alexander. The armies of these newly-united powers sus- tained a considerable loss at Lutzen on the 2d of May, and at Bautzen on the 21st and 22d, in engagements with the French ; but neither battle was THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. lOl decisive ; and Napoleon, alarmed by the magnitude of his losses, and the obstinacy of his enemies, consented to an armistice. During the truce the British government encouraged the allies by large subsidies ; but vi^hat was of most consequence, the emperor of Austria, who had never cordially consented to an alliance with his son-in-law, now abandoned his cause, and took an active part in the confederation against him. Napoleon established his head-quarters at Dresden, and commenced a series of operations against his several foes, which at first were successful ; but the tide of fortune turned ; different divisions of his army were successively defeated, and he collected his scattered forces for one tremendous effort, which was to decide the fate of Europe. Retiring to Leipsic, he there made a stand, and under the walls of that ancient city he sustained a ter- rible defeat, Oct. 18, the Saxon troops in his service having deserted in a body to the allies during the engagement. Compelled to evacuate Leipsic, he retreated upon the Rhine, followed by the allied troops, and after a severe struggle at Hanau, Oct. 30, in which the Bavarians, under the command of General Wrede, took a decisive part against the French, they were defeated, and multitudes were made prisoners. Ber- nadotte undertook the task of expelling the French from Saxony. The sovereign governments in the kingdom of Westphalia, the grand dukedom of Frankfort and Berg, and the countries of the princes of Isenburg and Vonder-Leyen, were now overturned ; the elector of Hesse-Cassel, the duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel, and the duke of Oldenburg, returned to their own country ; the Hanoverians again acknowledged their old government, and the Russian administration was re-introduced into the provinces between the Rhine and the Elbe. Considerable masses of troops, partly volunteers, and partly drafted from the Prussian militia, followed the Austrians, Russians, and Prussians across the Rhine. The flame of independence spread to Holland, and the hereditary claims of the house of Orange were acknowledged. A. D. 1814. — While the allies were thus effecting the humiliation of Na- poleon, Wellington advanced slowly towards Bayonne. As he advanced, the old partisans of the Bourbons began to revive, the exiled family was proclaimed, and the white flag floated on the walls of Bordeaux. Napo- leon had the advantage over Blucher at Brienne on the 29th of January, but was forced to retreat at La Rochiere, where the allies had concentra- ted their forces. He now retired between the Loire and the Marne, with the view of covering Paris ; and it was not without difficulty that Blucher succeeded in penetrating the French line. But the order of march was still " forward ! forward !" On the 31st of March, 1814, the allied troops entered Paris, and Alexander declared, in the name of the allied sover- eigns, that they would not negotiate with Napoleon Bonaparte, nor with any of his family ; that they acknowledged the right of France only to the territory embraced vvhhin its ancient limits under its kings ; and, finally, that they would acknowledge and guaranty the government which the French nation should adopt. They therefore invited the senate to estab- lish a provisory government for the administration of the country and the preparation of a constitution. Accordingly, the senate assembled, April 1, under the able presidency of Talleyrand, (a man ever skilful in taking advantage of circumstances), whom, with four other members, they charged with the provisory government. On the next day it declared that Napoleon and his family had forfeited the throne of France. The legislative body ratified this decree, and the recall of Louis XVHL to the throne of France was soon after made known. Meanwhile, April 11, Napoleon had resigned the crown conditionally in favour of his son, at Fontair.ebleau ; and a treaty was concluded the same day, ceding to him the island of Elba. Wearied with continual war, France hailed the return of peace withaa 102 TILE TflEASUllY OF UlSTORY. clamalions of joy and hope. The seiiHtors, in conjunction wiih some others, formed a chamber of peers. At the same time was convened the legislative body of the empire, which formed the chamber of deputies; and Louis, who had declared his determination to adopt a liberal constitu- tion, granted the charter, which, notwithstanding omissions and imper- fections, contained guaranties for liberty. The new constitutional char- ter was presented to the nation by the king on tlie 4ih of June. It con- tained tlic principles of a limited monarchy. The person of the king was declared to be inviolable ; the legislative power was vested in him in conjunction with the two chambers. The chamber of deputies was to be composed of deputies chosen by the electoral colleges, one fifth part to be renewed yearly ; to be eligible as a deputy, it was necessary to be forty years old, and pay 1000 francs of direct taxes. On the 4th of May Louis created the new ministry, and on the 3d of August a new council of state. The royal orders of the Holy Ghost, of military merit, the order of St. Louis, and that of St. Michael, were revived ; the legion of honour received a new decoration (the portrait of Henry IV.), and a new organization, and the order of the silver lily was founded. There were still, however, many prejudices in favour of the abdicated emperor to overcome, and many restless spirits to soothe. It was soon perceived that a great difference of opinion prevailed among the members of the royal family and among the ministers. The honours conferred on the old nobility and the emigrants who had returned with the court, excited great discontent ; and the national pride was offended by the public de- claration of the king, that he owed his crown to the prince-regent of Great Britain. The army, so long used to war and the rewards which awaited a successful career, was in a state of the highest irritation; the remembrance of him by whom they had so often been led to victory was yet fresh, when they saw their corps dissolved, their dotations, their pay, and their pensions diminished, their importance and their influence de- stroyed, and they themselves compelled to change their favourite badges for others, on which they had formerly trampled. The holders of the national domains feared to lose them. The people were discontented with the burden of the taxes, the alleviation of which had been promised to them. In this slate of public feeling nothing could be more fatal for the royal government than the sudden reappearance of Napoleon on the coast of France, the 1st of March, 1815. These circumstances explain why, without the existence of an actual conspiracy in favour of Napoleon, the measures taken to oppose his progress were unsuccessful ; why the army and a great part of the nation declared for him ; and why, after a march of eighteen days, which resembled a triumph, he was able to enter Paris without shedding a drop of blood. The king and his adherents left the country. Napoleon immediately annulled most of the royal ordinances, dissolved the two chambers, and named a new ministry. He declared that he should content himself with the limits of France, as settled by the peace of Paris, and that 1 e would establish his government on liberal principles. But he could not s.itisfy the expectations of the different parties, much less could he avert the danger of a war with Europe. As soon as the news of Napoleon's landing in France was known at Vienna, the ministers of all the allied powers who were assembled in congress t-liere, denounced him as the enemy and the disturber of the repose of the world, and declared that the powers were firmly resolved to employ all means, and unite all their ef- forts, to maintain the treaty of Paris. For this purpose, Austria, Russia. Britian, and Prussia concluded a new treaty, on the basis of that of March 1st, 1814, whereby each power agreed to bring 150,000 men into the field against Napoleon, who, on his part, was indefatigable in making prepara- tions for war. At the same time, April 22: he published the additional TllE TREASUltV OF HISTOUY. 103 act to the constitutions of the empire, and summoned the meeting of tho Champ de Mai, which accepted that act, June 1. As we gave in the " History of England," a succinct account of the operations of the French and allied armies, which ended in the battle of Waterloo, as also the de- portation of Napoleon to St. Helena, and the events which immediately followed the second restoration of Louis XVIII., we shall not repeat them in this place, but carry on our narrative to the period when the two chambers passed the law of amnesty proposed by the king, by which all those who had voted for the death of Louis XVI., or had accepted offices from Napoleon, during the "hundred days," were forever banished from the kingdom. With the evacuation of the French territory by foreign troops, which was determined on by the congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, the 9th of October, 1818, and accomplished in the course of the same year, , was connected the payment of the expenses of the war, and of the indi- vidual claims of the subjects of foreign powers on the French govern- ment and nation. Here French diplomacy was successful, and a small proportion of the real claims was accepted as a liquidation. France was admitted into alliance with the great European powers, and the French cabinet entered deeply into the continental system. But the return of France to the ancienregime, was far from satisfactory to the bulk of the people ; and the government was kept in a continual state of oscillation, now a set of ultra-royalists, and now the liberal party, directing the na- tional councils. Under these circumstances much acrimonious discussion took place in the chambers, and the sessions of 1819 and 1820 were agitated by the most violent conflicts. The parties attacked each other with reciprocal accusations, and, in February, 1820, the assassination of the duke of Berri, by Louvel (who, to the last moment of his life, ex- pressed his fierce hatred of the whole Bourbon race) drew forth the most virulent accusations from the extreme right. The minister Decazcs re- signed, and the duke of Richelieu succeeded him. A new law of election was carried, amid the most violent opposition on the part of the doc- trinaires (members who defended a consistent maintenance of the prin- ciples of the charte) and the liberals. Many officers of government, by their writings, and in their places as deputies, opposed the new system : so that, with every new ministry, there were numerous dismissions, and many names were even erased from the army rolls for political opinions. It was evident, indeed, that conspirators were employed to excite the troops to a revolt, and some were tried, found guilt)^, and suffered the penalty due to treason. The king opened the session of 1823 with a speech announcing the march of 100,000 French troops to Spain. He was alarmed lor the safety of France by the revolutionary movements of his neighbours ; and this army, which was commanded by the duke of Angouleme, was sent express- ly to restore the royal authority. The invaders encountered no effective opposition ; the cortes fled before them to Cadiz ; and when King Ferdi- nand approached that city, they permitted him to resume his despotic sway. During the last fev/ years of the reign of Louis XVIII., he was much enfeebled by disease, and, consequently, unable to act with the en- ergy necessary for establishing a firm and, at the same time, a conciliatory government. He died in September, 1824, nine years subsequent to his restoration. On the accession of Charles X., brother of the deceased king he declared liis intention of confirming the charter, appointed the dauphin (duke of Angouleme) as member of the ministerial council, and suppressed the censorship of the public journals. Villele was his prime minister. In May, 1826, the splendid coronation of Charles took place at Rheims, ac- cording to ancient custom, with the addition, however, of the oath of the king to govern according to the charter. 104 THE TREASUEY OF HISTORY. On Lafayette's return from America in 1825, the citizens of Havre having received him with demonstrations of joy, the government manifested their resentment by ordering out the gen d'armes, who charged the multitude with drawn sabres. The influence of the Jesuits was seen in the prosecution of the Constilutionnel and Courrier Francois, two of the best Hberal journals. Villele, who had discernment enough to see to what this fanaticism would lead, and who was, at the same time, obnoxious to the liberals, on account of his anti-constitutional principles, and his operations in the funds, be- came less secure. The parties assumed a more hostile attitude towards each other. The royalists and the supporters of the Jesuits became more open in the expression of their real sentiments ; the liberals became stronger and bolder; and the government assumed a tone ill calculated to conciliate its avowed opponents. On the opening of the session, Dec. 12, 182G, Damas, minister of foreign affairs, informed the chamber that all the continental powers had endeavoured to prevent the interference of Spain in the affairs of Portugal ; that France had co-operated with them, had withdrawn her ambassador from Madrid, and had entered into ar- rangements with England to leave Portugal and Spain to settle their af- fairs in their own way. Several unpopular measures brought forward by the ministers, were after violent discussions rejected, among which was a proposed law, confirming the hberty of the press. The withdrawal of this by an ordinance was regarded as a popular triumph. This event was followed by the disbanding of the national guards of Paris, a body of 45,000 men, who, at a review at the Champ de Mars, had joined the cries of hatred against the ministry. This was a highly unpopular measure; and Lafitte, Benjamin Constant, and some other members, talked of im- peaching the ministers ; but Vill61e took credit to himself for having ven- tured upon a step which he knew to be unpopular, but considered neces- sary. Every proceeding, however, served to show that the ministerial party was gradually losing ground, and that no trifling concessions to their opponents would avail. While Charles was much more resolutely opposed to the prevalence of democratic principles than his brother, and yielded to the councils of priests who were intent on the restoration of the church to the power it possessed some centuries before, the people were taught to believe, and actually dreaded, that a plot was forming to deprive them of the constitutional privileges which they had gained after so long a struggle. Thus the nation became alienated from the court, and the court from the nation ; a new ministry was forced upon the king by the popular party, but they had neither the ability nor influence necessary for steering a safe course between the extremes of royal prerogative on one side, and popular encroachment on the other ; the consequence was that both parties treated them as drivellers and incapables. In this state of feeling, Charles suddenly dismissed them, and entrusted the formation of a new cabinet to Prince Polignac, when, on August 9, 1839, the following appointments were announced : Prince Polignac, minister of foreign af- fairs ; M. Courvoisier, keeper of the seals and minister of justice ; Coun» Bourmont, minister of war ; Count de Bourdonaye, minister of the interior ; Baron de Montbel, minister of ecclesiastical affairs and public instruction; and Count Chabrol de Crousol, minister of finance. To these was after- wards added M. d'Haussey, minister of marine and the colonies, in lieu of Admiral Count Rigny, who declined the offered portfolio. The ministry was ultra-royalist ; and nothing could convince the democrats of the rec- titude of the intentions of either Charles or his ministers. And when it was seen that the king not only favoured the Jesuits and monastic orders, but that he showed a marked dislike to those who had acquired eminence in the revolution, or under Napoleon, and that the rigid court-etiquette bserved — and then the deputies passed to other business. The manner in which the duke and his communications were received by the deputies was an announcement that Charles X. had ceased to reign. On the 31st of July the deputies published a proclamation, declaring that they had invited the duke of Orleans to become lieutenant-general oi the kingdom. At noon of the same day, Louis Philippe d'Orleans issued a proclamation, declaring that he had hastened to Paris, wearing the ' glorious colours" of France, to accept the invitation of the assembled deputies to become lieutenant-general of the kingdom. A proclamation of the same date appointed provisional commissaries for different depart- ments of government. The king, with his family, had fled to St. Cloud They now proceeded to Rambouillet, a small place six leagues w. s. w. o. Versailles. Three commissioners were sent from Paris to treat with him : who, on their return, informed the authorities, that the king wished to leave France by way of Cherbourg ; to restore the crown jewels, which he had taken from Paris, Sic. These concessions were produced by the advrnce of the national guard towards Rambouillet. On the morning of Augu?t 9 the abdication of Charles X. and the dauphin, Louis Antoine, was plfcai in the hands of the lieutenant-general; the abdication, however, Vaj IJO THE TREASURY OF HISTORY, made in favour of the duke of Bordeaux. A letter of the king, bearing that date, appointed the duke of Orleans lieutenant-general of the kingdom, and ordered him to proclaim the duke of Bordeaux king, under the title of Henry V. The abdication of Charles was announced to the peers and the deputies by the lieutenant-general on the 3d of August; and Casimir-Pcrier was at the same time chosen president of the chamber. On the 6th, the cliamber of deputies declared the throne of France vacant, de jure and defar.to, and discussed the provisions of the charter. On the 7th, new changes were adopted in it ; and it was voted to invite the duke of Orleans to become king of the French, on condition of his accepting these changes. On the 8th, the chamber went in a body to the duke, and offered him the crown, which he accepted ; and on the 9lh, he took the prescribed constitutional oath. The spirit of order manifested by the people during the struggle? in Paris, which prevented all outrage and plundering, was still further shown in the unmolested retreat of Charles X., who took passage for England in two American vessels. On arriving he was received merely as a private person. The revolution of .luly, 18.30, thus drove one dynasty from the throne of France, and seated another in its place. In theory, it sanctioned the doctrine of the sovereignty of the people, and dealt a fatal blow to the ancient notion of passive obedience ; but in practice, it disap- pointed the " movement party," who looked to see a monarchy shorn of its prerogatives and surrounded by republican institutions. Though this extraordinary revolution had been effected with such com- parative ease, justice could hardly be considered as complete without the trial of those responsible officers of government who had originated, or at least sanctioned, this war on the liberties of France. In the course of the month, four of the ex-ministers, Peyronnet, Guernon de Ranville, Chante- lauze, and Polignac, were arrested, tried by their peers, and being found guilty, were sentenced to imprisonment for life. While the trial was going on, the Luxembourg was surrounded by a clamorous mob, demanding the death of the prisoners, and threatening vengeance in case the sentence was not satisfactory. As the trial proceeded, and it began to be suspect- ed that a capital sentence would not be pronounced, the violence of the multitude increased, and everything seemed to menace a new insurrection. The troops and national guards were kept under arms by night, and bivouacked in the public places. The whole personal influence of the king and of Lafayette was also employed to soothe the populace ; still the number and clamour of the mob became so alarming, ifhat it was deter- mined to remove the prisoners secretly to Vincennes before sentence was pronounced; and the jwse succeeded. In the beginning of the year 1831, the public mind continued to be agitated liy conspiracies of Carlists, or partisans of the exiled family. Nor were there wanting, on the other hand, republicans and Bonapartists to fan the flame of insurrection both in the capital and in the provinces. In the midst of tins anarchy, the king of the French, with that prudential foresight and con- ciliatory disposition which have characterised most of his movements, de- termined on a tour through his domnions ; one of his objects, doubtless, liaving been to attach to his person, by so popular a course, a large portion resent, it is a democracy with an hereditary head ; the only change like- y to happen, is to a democracy with an elective head." THE HISTORY OF SPAIN. This country, situated in the south-west of Europe, and bounded by the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, Portugal, and France, was well known to the Phoenicians at least a thousand years before the Christian era ; yet .t appears to have been very imperfectly known to the Greeks in the lime of Herodotus. As far as history or tradition makes us acquainted with its aboriginal inhabitants, they were the CeltBe and Iberians, who became blended in the common name of Celtiberians. Till the coming of the Carthaginians into Spain, however, nothing certain can be affirmed of the Spaniards, and this happenednot long before the first puiiic war TH£ TilEAsUiiY OF HISTOaY. II3 n ancient times Spain was regarded as a country replete with riches : and though at the time of the Rom*an conquest prodigious quantities of gold and silver had been carried out of it by the Carthaginia]is anil Tyrians, it still had the reputation of being very rich. We are inforiiijd by Aris- totle, that when the Phoenicians first arrived in Spain, liiey exchanged their naval commodities for such immense quantities of silver, that their ships could neither contain nor sustain their load, though they used it for ballast, and made their anchors and other implements of silver. Nor <;oiild it have been much diminished when the Carthaginians came, since the inhabitants at that time made all their utensils, even their mangers, of that precious metal. In the time of the Romans this am-azing plenty was greatly reduced ; still their gleanings were by no means despicable, since in nine years they carried off 111,542 pounds of silver, and 4,095 ()ounds of gold, besides an immense quantity of coin and other things of value. Although the earliest inhabitants of Spain appear to have consisted ol Celtic tribes, which probably entered the peninsula from the neighbouring country of Gaul, and occupied the northern districts, there is every rea- son to believe that the southern part of the country was possessed by the Mauritani from the opposite coast of Africa; the narrowness of the strait of Gibraltar, and the valuable products of Spain, being induce- ments quite sufficient for the African barbarians to form settlements there. Accordingly, the Carthagenians, whose descent from the Phoeni- cians led thera to traffic with all those nations who could supply them with useful commodities, early directed their views towards Spain, and about the year 300 b. c, had established a colony in the north-east of the peninsula, and founded the town of Barceno, the modern Barcelona. In the course of the same century their ambition and jealousy of the Ro- mans induced them to attempt the conquest of a country so advanta- geously situated for their commercial enterprises. This attempt gave rise to the second punic war. The result was the gradual annexation of the whole peninsula to the Roman republic, and it continued, under the name of Hispania, to form an important province of the empire for nearly seven centuries. It was usually divided into three great portions, Lusi- tania, Boetica or Hispania Ulterior, and Tarraconensis or flispania Cite- rior. The Spaniards were naturally brave, and though the inhabitants of the eastern and southern coasts had been reduced to a state of servile subjection, yet, as the Romans penetrated farther into the country than the Carthagenians had done, they met with nations whose love of liberty was equal to their valour, and whom the whole strength of their empiri was scarcely able to subdue. Of these the most formidable were the Nu mantines, Cantabrians, and Asturians. In the time of the third punic war, one Vieriathus, a celebrated hunter, and afterwards the captain of a gang of banditti, took the command of some nations who had been in al- liance with Carthage, and ventured to oppose the Roman power in that part of Spain called Lusitania, now Portugal. The prfetor Vitelius, who commanded in those parts, marched against him with ten thousand men, but was defeated and killed, with the loss of four thousand of his troops. The Romans immediately dispatched another praetor with ten thousand foot and thirteen hundred horse ; but Vieriathus, having first cut off a de- tachment of four thousand of them, engaged the rest in a pitched battle, and, having entirely defeated them, reduced great part of the country. Another praetor, who was Sent with a new army, met with the same fate ; so that, after the destruction of Carthage, the Romans thought proper to send their consul, Quintus Fabius, who defeated the Lusitanians in several battles. It is not, however, necessary to pursue this portion of the Spanish history witli minuteness ; suffice it to say, that after many severe contests, in which the Romans were often obliged to yield to the 114 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. bravery of the Celliberians, Numantines, and Cantabrians, Scipio ^mili- aiius, tlie destroyer of Carthage, was sent against Numaiitia, which, after a most desperate resistance, submitted to the Roman commander, though scarcely an inhabitant survived to grace the conqueror's triumph. This was a final overthrow, and the wliole of Spain very speedily became a province of Koin-c, governed by two annual praetors. Nothing of importance now occurred m the history of the peninsula till ilie civil war between Marius and iSylla ; u. c. 76. The latter having lU'ushfcd the Marian fw.-tion, proscribed all those who had joined against him whom he could not destroy. Among these was Sertorius, who had collected a powerful army from the relics of that party, and contended with great success against Caius Annius and Metellus, who were sent against him. Sertorius now formed a design of erecting Lusitania into dn independent republic ; and so vigorously were his measures prosecuted, that the IJomans became seriously alarmed for the safety of their empire ill that quarter. On the death of Sylla, the most eminent generals in Rome i-'ontended for the honour of having the command of the army which it was intended to send against this formidable enemy. After some deliber- ation, the management of tiiis war v/as intrusted to Pompey, afterwards surnamed the Great, tliough he had not yet attained the consular dignity. iMetellus was not, however, recalled. Sertorius for a long time proved more than a match for them both; and after establishing himself in Lusi- tania, he made such perpetual attacks on their united armies, that they found it necessary to separate, one retreating into Gaul, and the otlier to the foot of the Pyrenees. Treachery at length effected for the Roman cause what valour tried in vain, the bold and skilful Sertorius being as- sassinated at an entertainment by Perperna, after having made head againsi the Roman forces for almost ten years. Pompey now pressed forward with redoubled ardour against the insurgent army, and the troops, deprived of their able leader, were finally subdued by him. Though conquered, Spain was not altogether in a state of tranquility ; many of the most warlike nations, particularly the Cantabrians and Astu- lians, continuing, wherever opportunities presented themselves, to struggle U)r their independence. But from the time of Agrippa, who carried on a war of extermination against them, till the dscline of the western empire, they remained in quiet subjection to the Romans. Augustus himself founded the colony of Ctesar Augusta (Saragossa), and Augustus Emerita (Merida). For four hundred years the Roman manners and language took root in the Spanish provinces, which in C'cesar's time had a population of torty millions. Tarragona had two millions five hundred thousand inhab- itants ; and Merida supported a garrison of ninety thousand men. In the arts of war and peace, the peninsula at that period rivalled Rome, and it gave birth to many men of first-rate character and abilities ; among them, Pomponius Mela, Seneca, Lucan, Trajan, and Theodosius the Great. In the reign of the emperor Honorius, the Gothic tribes of Vandals, Suevi, and Alans, spread themselves over the peninsula. About the year 4-30 the brave Wallia founded the kingdom of the Visigoths in Spain. The Vandals, from whom Andalusia received its name, could not withstand him, and withdrew into Africa in a few years after. The Visigoths, undet ICuric, extended their kingdom by the expulsion of the Romans in 464; and at length Leovigiid, in 583, overthrew the kingdom of the Suevi, in (xalicia. Under his successor, Reccared I., the introduction of the catho- I ic faith gave the corrupt Latin language the predominance over the Gothic • and, after that time, the unity of the Spanish nation was maintained by the catholic religion and the political influence of the clergy. 'J'ovvards the end of the seventh century, the Saracens (the name adopted ')y the Arabs after their settlement in >]urope), having overran Barbary with a rapidity which nothing could resist, and possessed themselves o/ THE TIIEASURY OF HISTORY. 115 the Gothic dominions in Africa, made a descent upon Spain. Roderic, the king of the Goths, was a usurper, and having occasioned great disaf- fection among his subjects, he determined to come to an engagement, knowing that he could not depend upon the fidehly of his own people if he allowed the enemy time to tamper with them. The two armies met in a plain near Xeres, m Andalusia. The Goths began the attack with great fury, but they were totally defeated, and Roderic, in his flight, was drowned in the Guadalquiver, a. d. 711. Nearly the whole of Spain was brought under the dominion of the Moors (as the Arabs of Spain are usually called), by this decisive battle ; those Goths who still contended for independence retiring into the mountainous parts of Asturia, Burgos, and Biscay. But in 718 their power began to revive under Pelayo (or Don Pelagio), a prince of the royal blood, who headed those that had retired to the mountains after the fatal battle of Xeres. In the most inaccessible parts of these re- gions Pelayo established himself; and such were its natural defences, that although the Moorish governor, Alakor, sent a powerful army to crush him, the followers of Pelayo were so concealed among the preciprces, that, almost unseen, they annihilated their enemies. In a second attempt the Moors were equally unsuccessful, nearly the whole of their army being either cut in pieces or taken prisoners. At this time the greater part of Spain became a province of the caliphs of Bagdad ; but in the middle of the eighth century, Abderahman, the ca- liph's viceroy in Spain, threw off the yoke, and rendered himself inde- pendent, fixing the seat of his government at Cordova. Abderahman's first care was to regulate the affairs of iiis kingdom ; and though he could not alter the Mahommedan laws, which are unchangeable as tlie koran wherein they are written, he appointed just magistrates, released his (^'hristian subjects from a great part of the tribute-money hitherto exacted from them, and patronised commerce and tlie arts. At Cordova he built one of the most superb mosques in the world, and it stdl remains a splendid monument of the skill and magnificence of that enlightened people. The descendants of Abderahman continued for nearly two centuries to reign in Spain, at their capital Cordova, patronising the sciences and arts, par- ticularly astronomy and medicine, at a period when christian Europe was immersed in ignorance and barbarism. In 778, Charlemagne entered Spain with two great armies, one passing through Catalonia, and the other through Navarre, where he pushed his conquests as far as the Ebro. On his return he was attacked and defeated by the Moors, though this did not prevent him from keeping possession of all those places he had reduced. In the meantime the kingdom founded by Pelayo, now called the king- dom of Leon and Oviedo, continued to increase rapidly in strength, and many advantages were gained over the Moors. In the early part of the tenth century, a distinguished general, named Mohammed Ebn Amir Al- manzor, appeared to support the sinking cause of that people. He took the city of Leon, which he reduced to ashes, and destroyed the inhabitants. Barcelona shared the same fate ; Castile was reduced and depopulated ; Galicia and Portugal ravaged ; and he is said to have overcome the Chris- tians in fifty different engagements. A pestilence, however, having at- tacked his army just after he had demolished the city of Compostella, and carried off in triumph the gates of the church of St. James, the Christians Buperstitiously attributed it to a divine judgment ; and, in the full persua- sion that the Moors were destitute of all heavenly aid, they fell upon them with such fury in the next battle, that all the valour of Almanzor and his soldiers could not save them from a terrible defeat, and, overcome with shame and despair, he starved himself to death. During this period a new Christian principality appeared in Spain, name- ly, that of Castile, which lay in the middle between the Christian kingiom of Leon and Oviedo, and the Moorish kingdom of Cordova. This district 116 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. soon became an object of contention between tlie kings of Leon and Cor- dova ; but by degrees Castile fell eniiroi}' under tlie power of the kings ol Leon and Oviedo ; in 1035, Don Sanchez bestowed it on his son, Don Ferdinand, with the title of king, and by this event the territories of Cas- tile were first firmly united to those of Loon and Oviedo, and the sove- reigns were from that time styled kings of Leon and Castile. Arragon, another Christian kingdom, was set up in Spain about the be- ginning of the eleventh century. The history of Arragon, however, during its infancy, is but little known. But about the year 103.5, Don Sanchez, surnamed the Great, king of Navarre, erected Arragon into a kingdom in favour of his son, Don Ramira, and afterwards it became very powerful. At this time the continent of Spain was divided into two unequal parts, by a straight line drawn from east to west, from the coast of Valentia to a little below the mouth of the Douro. The country north of this belonged to the Christians, wlio, as yet, had the smallest and least valuable share, and all the rest to the Moors. In point of wealth and real power, both by land and sea, the Moors were greatly superior; but their continual dissen- sions weakened them, and every day faciliated the progress of the Chris- tians. The Moorish governments, indeed, being weakened by changes of dynasties, as well as by internal dissensions, the Christian kings wrested from them one portion of the country after another, till, after tlie great victory which the united Christian princes gained over the Moors, in 1222, at Tolosa, in Sierra Morena, there remained to them only the kingdom of Granada, which was likewise obliged to acknowledge the Castilian su- premacy in 1246, and was finally conquered by Ferdinand and Isabella. In 1080, the king of Toledo engaged in a war with the king of Seville, another Moorish potentate, which being observed by Alphonso, king of Castile, he also invaded his territories, and in four years made himself master of the city of Toledo, with all the places of importance in its neigh- bourhood, and from that time he made Toledo the capital of his dominions. In a short time the whole province of New Castile submitted, and Madrid fell into the hands of the Christians. The only son of Alphonso died without heirs ; and Ferdinand, the son of his daughter, united Castile and Leon. Having thus become more powerful than the former kings, he con- quered Baeza and Cordova, and after a difficult siege of eighteen months, made himself master of Seville, a. d. 1243. Setting out thence, he gained possession of Cadiz. In vain the mountains of Jaens opposed them selves to his career ; the coasts no longer allowed reinforcements to arrive from Africa to the Arabian Spaniards, and Granada was henceforward their chief possession. Ferdinand III., after conquering Cordova, Murcia, Jaen, Seville, Cadiz, and subjecting Granada to a feudal dependence on him, became, in 1252, the true founder of Castile, by establishing the rule of indivisibility and primogeniture, in the succession. Still the whole was as yet an imper- fect confederation. The privileges granted to the Jews in Spain, in the middle ages, had an injurious influence on the government and the public welfare. They were placed nearly on a level with the nobles, they were appointed ministers of finance, farmers of the public revenues, and stew ards to the great ; thus they obtained possession of all the money in the country, and, by their excessive usury, at length excited a universal out cry against them ; and, in 1492, they were banished forever, to the num- ber of eight hundred thousand, from Spain. The improvement of the country was much retarded by the defects in the public administration, particularly in regard to the taxes, by powerful vassais, bad kings, and family disputes ; so that the third estate was not formed in Castile till A. D. 1325, two hundred years later than that of Arragon, and with inferior privileges. Meanwhile the Cortes, consisting of the estates of the kir.ii- dom, namely, the clergy, the high nobility, the orders of knights, and THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 117 cignteen great cities, restricted the royal power, without, however, bring- ing- about a state of legal order. But, in Arragon, of which Alphouso ]., since the conquest of Saragossa, in 1115, had been in complete possession, the third estate was formed before the middle of the twelfth century— sooner than in any other European country — and a well settled political order ensued. In the time of Edward III. we find England, for the first time, inter- fering with the affairs of Spain. In the year 1284 the kingdom of Na- varre had been united to that of France by the marriage of Donna Joanna, queen of Navarre, with Pliilip the Fair, of France. In 1328, however, the kingdoms were again separated, though the sovereigns of Navarre were still related to those of France. In 1350, Charles, surnamed the Wicked, ascended the throne of Navarre, and married the daughter of John, king of France. Notwithstanding this alliance, and that he himself was related to the royal family of France, he secretly entered into a negotia- tion with England against the French monarch, and even drew into his schemes the dauphin Charles, afterwards surnamed the Wise. When the young prince was made sensible of the danger of his connexions, by way of atonement he promised to sacrifice his new associates. Accord- ingly, he invited the king of Navarre, and some of the principal nobiUty of the same party, to a feast at Rouen, where he betrayed them to his father. The most obnoxious were executed, and the king of Navarre was thrown into prison. In this extremity, the party of the king of Navarre had recourse to England. The prince of Wales, surnamed the Black Prince, invaded France, defeated King John at Poictiers, and took him prisoner, which unfortunate event produced the most violent disturbances in that kingdom. The dauphin, tlien about nineteen years of age, naturally assumed the royal power during his father's captivity. In order to obtain supplies, he assembled the states of the kingdom ; but that assembly, instead of supporting his administration, demanded limitations of the prince's power, the punishment of past malversations, and the liberty of the king of Na- varre. A rebellion ensued ; and amid the disorders that convulsed the kingdom, the king of Navarre made his escape from prison, and presented a dangerous leader to the malcontents. Those of the French people who wished to restore peace to their country, turned their eyes towards the dauphin. Marcel, the seditious provost of Pans, was slain in at- tempting to deliver that city to the king of Navarre. The capital imme- diately returned to its duty ; considerable bodies of the mutinous peasants were dispersed or put to the sword ; some bands of military robbers under- went the same fate, and France began once more to assume the appear- ance of civil government. In the thirteenth century, during the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, the cities in the kingdoms of Arragon and Castile had formed themselves into an association, distinguished by the name of Holy Brotherhood. They exacted a certain contribution from each of the associated towns; they levied a considerable body of troops, in order to protect travellers and pur- sue criminals; and they appointed judges, who opened courts in various parts of the kingdom. The nobles often murmured against tliis salutary institution ; they complained of it as an encroachment on their most valua- ble priviliges, and endeavoured to have it abolished. But their catholic majesties (for such was the title they now bore), sensible of the beneficial effects of the Brotherhood, not only in regard to the peace of their kingdom, but in its tendency to abridge, and by degrees annihilate the ter- ritorial jurisdiction of the nobility, countenanced the institution upon every occasion, and supported it with the full force of' royal authority ; by which means the prompt and impartial administration of justice was re- stored, and with it tranquillity and order. But at the same time that they were giving vigour and justice to their civil government, and securing 113 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. their subjects from violence and oppression, an intenipcrale zeal led them to establish an ecclesiastical tribunal, eciually contrary to the natural rights of humanity and the mild spirit of the gospel ; and thus originated the most baneful of all institutions, the Inquisition. Wherever the foot- steps of the " HOLY office" may be traced, the path is marked with blood ; but in no part of the world has it run such a sanguinaiy career as in Spain. Of all the Mahomniedan possessions in Spain, the kingdom of Granada now alone remained. Princes equally zealous and ambitious naturally wished to add that fertile territory to their hereditary dominions, by expel- ling the enemies of Christianity and extending its doctrines. Everything conspired to favour their project ; the Moorish kingdom was a prey to civil wars; when Ferdinand, having obtained the bull of Sixtus IV., authori- sing a crusade, put himself at the head of his troops, and entered Granada. Its subjugation quickly followed. When the capital surrendered, it was stipulated that their king should enjoy the revenue of certain places in the fertile mountains of Alpujarros; tliat the inhabitants should retain un- disturbed possession of their houses, goods, and inheritances, tiieir laws and religion. Thus ended the empire of tlie Arabs in Spain, which had flourished for more than eight hundred years. During the period of Arabian power, agriculture, commerce, the arts, and sciences, flourished in Spain. The universities and libraries at Cor- dova and other places were resorted to by the Christians, as the seat of the Greco-Arabic literature and the Aristotelian philosophy. From these institutions Europe received the knowledge of the arithmetical characters, of gunpowder, and of paper made of rags ; while, on the other hand, among the Gothic Spaniards, the blending of the chivalrous and religious spirit gave occasion to the foundation of several military orders. We ma}' here remark, that Don Rodrigo Diaz de Vival el ('ampeador, the hero without an equal, has been celebrated since the end of tiie eleventh century as the hero of his age. The romantic elevation of national feel- ing, which found its support in the religious faith and national church, preserved the Christian Gothic states of Navarre, Arragon, and Asturia, from many internal and external dangers. It was in the reign of Ferdi- nand and Isabella, and through the patronage of the latter, that Columbus, a Genoese navigator, discovered America. The country was afterwards subdued by Cortez and Pizarro; and' its valuable mines of gold and silver continued, until of late, to fill the cofl'ers of Spain ; but riches so easily acquired in the new world withdrew much of the activity of the nation from the improvement of the mother country ; and avarice, united with fanaticism, established an impolitic colonial system. Still, the extensive conquests which were made by the Spaniards in the new world, though obtained by the fiercest cruelty and the most flagrant injustice, tended, for a time at least, to raise the Spanish monarch above any other in Europe. On the death of Isabella, which took place in 1506, Philip, archduke ol Austria, came to Castile, in order to take possession of that kingdom as heir to his mother-in-law; but he dying in a short time after, his son, Charles V., afterwards emperor of German}^ became heir to the crown of Spain. His father, at his death, left the king of France governor to the young prince; and Ferdinand at his death left Cardinal Ximenes sole regent of Castile, till the arrival of his grandson. This man, whose char- acter is no less singular than illustrious, who united the abilities of a great statesman with the devotion of a superstitious monk, and the magnifi- cence of a prime minister with the severity of_. a mendicant, maintained order ancj tranquillity in Spain, notwithstanding the discontents of a tur- bulent and high-spirited nobility ; and when, in 1517, he resigned into the hands of the young king the power he had so worthily held for him he was able to do so with honour and integrity. THE TREASURY OE" HISTORY. 119 " Never yet," observes Dr. Von Rotteck, " the old Roman emperors, and perhaps Charles Martel excepted, had providence accumulated such great power in Europe upon one head, as Charles V. inherited. The two momentous marriages — that of Maximilian I. with the hereditary princess of Burgundy, and that of his son, Philip I., with Joanna of Spain (upon whom, however, the great inhentance of her parents did not devolve until the death of three nearer heirs), made Charles, Joanna's first-born, thu master of immense countries ; they gave by that means the political relations and efforts of Europe their principal figure and determination for centuries." Charles had scarcely taken possession of his throne, when the emperor Maximilian assembled a diet at Augsburg, and endeavoured to prevail on the electors to choose that young prince as his successor. But though he could not prevail upon the German electors to confer on him that dignity, other circumstances conspired to his exaltation. Th<' imperial crown had so lon^ continued in the Austrian line, that it began to be considered as hereditary in that family ; and Germany, torn by religious disputes, stood in need of a powerful emperor, not only to pre- serve its own internal tranquillity, but also to protect it against the vic- torious arms of the Turks, who, under Selim I., threatened the liberties of Europe. This fierce and rapid conqueror had already subdued the Mame- lukes, and made himself master of Egypt and Syria. The power of Charles appeared necessary to oppose that of Selim. The extensive dominions of the house of Austria, which gave him an interest in the preservation of Germany ; the rich sovereignty of the Netherlands and Franche Compte; the entire possession of the great and warlike kingdom of Spain, together with that of Naples and Sicily, all united to hold him up to the first dignity among Christian princes ; and tlie new- world seemed only to be called into existence that its treasures miglil enable him to defend Christendom against the infidels. Such, at least, was the language of his partisans. Francis I., king of France, was also a candidate for the empire, and he put forth his claims with equal confidence, and scarcely less plausibility. The electors, whose deliberations were directed by Frederic the Wise, of Saxony, who himself refused the offered throne from purely political motives, united finally in favour of Charles, as a German prince, and whose position promised the empire the most certain protection, especially against the menacing power of the Turks. Yet he was required, by solemn ac- ceptation of a convention with the electors, to guarantee the most precious of ancient rights, and to promise such innovations as appeared useful. Although the two candidates had hitherto conducted their rivalship witli- out enmity, the preference was no sooner given to Charles, than Francis discovered all the passions natural to disappointed ambition, and could not suppress his chagrin and indignation at being rejected. We shall find in the sequel, that the jealousy between those potentates cost Europe four sanguinary wars. The first act of Charles' administration was to appoint a diet of the Empire, to be held at Worms, in order to concert with the princes proper measures for checking the progress of " those new and dangerous opinions which threatened to disturb the peace of Grermany, and to overturn the religion of their ancestors." This subject, iowever, does not properly belong to the history of Spain, and as our jotice of the reformation appears elsewhere, we here merely allude to it. Not long after Charles' coronation at Aix-la-Chapelle, an insurrection ■»roke out in Spain, which was highly dangerous for the power of the iinf, and extremely remarkable in its origin, spirit, and object. The com- mencement of the reign of Charles, whose partiality for his Dutch Aivour- ites wounded the Spanish pride, was already attended with disorders ; and all the courage and all the wisdom of Cardinal Ximenes, whom Ferdi- nand the Catholic had appointed in his last moments administrator of Iha 120 THE TREASURY OP HISTORY. kingdom, had been necessary to allay the storm, wJiich the nobility had jnainly raised. Tiie arrival of Charles in Spam would iiave restored complete tranquillity, had he not wantonly wounded the hearts of his peo- ple, who were beconiinir favourably disposed towards him, by his scornful and despotic manners, and harshly violated the constitutional rights of the country by his imperious tone, by disregard of customary forms, and by extraordinary demands. As soon, therefore, as he had gone to Germany, to take possession of the new throne, tlie cities of Castile arose for the defence of their ancient rights. These cities, jealous of their indepen- dence, refused to acknowledge Cardinal Adrian, bishop of Utrecht, whom Charles, his former pupil, had appointed regent. They concluded among themselves a " holy league," got possession of the person of the queen- mother, to administer in the name of her, as the legitimate sovereign, the government of the kingdom, and sent to the king a detail of their well- founded grievances, of which they demanded redress. Cliarles refused to receive the deputies of the league, and thus augmented the exasperation of the people. The league then raised its head still more boldly, and formed plans for liberating the common people from the ancient feudal oppression of the nobility. The democratic spirit spread rapidly ; but it was by this very means the cause was lost ; for the nobles in all the provinces, feeling that spirit far more than the abuse of the royal power rallied around the throne, which they had previously risen against, and around the regent Adrian, whom they had hitherto hated, in order to frus- trate the projects of the rebels. The citizen-warriors of the leagu", not- withstanding the high courage and devotednessof individuals, were enable to withstand the shock of the forces brought against them ; and though the noble city of Toledo defied their power for nearly a year after all the others had submitted, it was at length taken by stratagem, and royalty triumphed. The most precious of ancient privileges were abolished oi forgotten; the cortes, once so venerated and influential, degenerated int« tame assemblies, the principal business of which was to grant taxes, bul the voice of which was unable to produce salutary reform. This revolt seemed to Francis a favourable juncture for reinstating the family of John d'Albert in the kingdom of Navarre. Charles was at a distance from that part of the dominions, and the troops usually stationed there had been called away to quell the commotion in Spain. A French army, under Andrew de Foix, speedily conquered Navarre ; but that young and inex [)erienced nobleman, pushed on by military ardour, ventured to enter Castile. The Spaniards, though divided among themselves, united against a foreign enemy, routed his forces, took him prisoner, and recovered Na- varre in a shorter time than he had spent in its reduction. Hostilities thus begun in one quarter between the rival monarchs, soor spread to another. The king of France encouraged the duke of Bouillon to make war against the emperor, and to invade Luxembourg. Charles, after humbling tlie duke, attempted to enter France ; but was repelled and worsted before Mezieres, by the famous Chevalier Bayard, distinguished among his cotemporaries by the appellation of " The knight without fear and without reproach," and who united the talents of a great general to the punctilious honour and romantic gallantry of the heroes of chivalry. During these operations in the field, an unsuccessful congress was held at Calais, under the mediation of Henry VIH. of England. It served only to exasperate the parties which it was intended to reconcile. A league was soon after c .ncluded, by the intrigues of Wolsey, between the pope Henry, and Charles, against France; and after a severe contest, in which Francis conf.nued to lose ground in Italy, the authority of the emperor and his confederates was everywhere established there. Following up the advantages he had gained in the field by political manoeuvre Charles paid a visit to the court of England in his way to Spain, where his pres- The Chevaliee Bayakd THE TREASUHY OF HISTORY. 121 ence was become necessary. In this he was more fortunate than he had any right to expect ; for he not only gained the cordial friendship of Henry, but disarmed the resentment of Wolsey, (who had been grossly deceived and offended by the share which Charles took in conferring the papacy, vacant at Leo's death, on Adrian), by assuring him of it on the decease of the present pontiff, whose age and infirmities seemed to render it not far distant. But the negotiation between Charles and Henry proved of little value to either ; for the army under the earl of Surrey, that was sent to invade France, was obliged to retire at the end of the campaign, without being able to take one place within the French frontier. Francis had prepared not only for the most energetic defence of his kingdom, but was resolved also upon reconquering Milan. This, perhaps, would have succeeded, had he not at the instigation of his intriguing mother, Louise of Savoy, incurred the enmity of Prince Charles of Bour- bon, constable of France. Impelled by passion, this prince fled to the (;mperor, in order to fight under his banners, and thereby revenge the wrong which had been inflicted on him. Thus France lost its best General, and secured the triumph of its enemy, by the hand of its natural defender. In the meantime the imperial army, under the command of Pescara and Bourbon, had penetrated into Provence, and was besieging Marseilles. But Francis, never more energetic than in misfortune, forced these arrogant generals to retreat, and entered once more as conqueror the plains of Milan and their brilliant capital. The strong city of Pavia, on the preservation of which almost the last hope of the emperor hung, lie now besieged with all the impetuosity of passion, and with all the resources of the art of war. Great destinies seemed to depend on the issue of this siege. Already the friends of Charles began to waver- already threatening clouds seemed to portend some dire political calamity. Pope Clement VII. (Medicis), previously the enemy of the French, having signed a treaty of neutrality, abandoned the cause of Charles ; and England, ministering to the passions of Wolsey, its prime minister, had grown cold in the emperor's interest. The French army no sooner appeared in Piedmont than the whole Milanese was thrown into con- sternation. The capital opened its gates. The forces of the emperoi and Sforza retired to Lodi ; and had Francis pursued them, they must have abandoned that post, and been totally dispersed. But fortune sud- denly rescued her favourite son from such a disaster, by a most decisive blow. The evil genius of Francis led him to besiege Pavia, which almost miraculously withstood, during the winter, the immense force that was brought against it, until the generals of Charles, strengthened by rein- forcements, hastened to its relief. The soldiers of the emperor, eager for plunder, longed to engage ; and the chivalrous pride of Francis would not permit him to decline a battle, although in this he acted contrary to the advice of his most experienced generals. Under the walls of Pavia, February 23, 1525, the emperor's army gained the most brilliant victory ; Francis himself, after the most valiant resistance, being taken prisoner. The news of this victory, and of the captivity of Francis more especially, filled all Europe with consternation. The French army was nearly des- troyed, Milan was immediately abandoned, and in a few weeks not a French soldier was left in Italy. The power of the emperor, and still more his ambition, became an object of universal terror, and resolutions were everywhere taken to set bounds to it ; while France, governed at such a calamitous juncture by the queen-mother, a princess of a mascu- line and courageous character, prepared for a desperate contest. The emperor saw a prospect of unbounded glory, and immediately meditated plans for realizing it. It was not, however, by pursuing his victory with energy, but by recurring to artful negotiation, that Charles sought to gain his object. He designed to humble Francis, who rejected with indignation 122 THE TREASURY OF lildTORY. tlio ignominious terms of deliverance which were oflTercd to him, and spent one long sad year in Madrid under the strictest custody. Finally his desire for lilxrty overcame him, and he signed, on the 14th of January, 152G, the treaty called ttie peace of Madrid, in wliicli he ceded Burgundy, and renounced his claims to Milan and all other Italian countries. He also relinquished his feudal sovereignty over Flanders and Artois ; pro- mised to restore to tiie duke of Bourbon and his adherents all their pos- sessions, to abandon the cause of the king of Navarre, and, by surrender- ing his two elder sons as hostages, and taking his oath if all this was not fulfilled he would return into captivity, guarantied the inviolability of the whole treaty. But we must not forget to state, that a few hours before le signed this instrument. King Francis had protested before some of his faithful friends, secretly, although by writing, against this treaty, which he said he was compelled by unjust force to conclude, and by which he thought he was nowise bound. And let us not forget, also, that Pope Clement 11. soon afterwards formally released him from the obligation of his oath ! After Francis had returned to his kingdom, the imperial ambassadors in vain demanded the fulfilment of this treaty. The deputies of the states of Burgundy, having been called into their presence at the same time, de- clared that the king had passed the limits of his power by ceding their country, and that, if he abandoned them, they would avert from themselves foreign dominion with their own power. At the same time the news was spread of the alliance concluded between the king of France and the pope, in which the Venetians, the duke of Milan, and the king of England also participated. It was designed by force of arms to make Charles subscribe 10 more moderate terms ; and the alliance was called the holy league. But Francis, having become disheartened by his previous misfortunes, nego- tiated instead of fighting, while his Italian allies succumbed to the superior forces of the emperor. In the meantime Charles had strengthened his armies by new levies, and they were now under Bourbon's command. But his troops were a mixture of Spaniards, Italians, and Germans, who, devoid of national feeling, and without love for the cause, served only for pay and booty. So badly managed were the finances of the emperor, that he, be- fore whose power Europe trembled, could not, at that time, furnish money sufficient to pay twenty-five thousand men. In that dilemma the general led the army against Rome, and promised to enrich them with the spoils of the eternal city. Nor did he make an idle boast; for though Bourbon himself was shot while planting a scaling-ladder against the walls, the sol- diers, infuriated rather than discouraged by the death of their beloved commander, mounted to the assault, took the city, and pillaged it with all the atrocities of rapacity and brutality. Never did Rome in any age suffer so many calamities, not even from the barbarians by whom she was often subdued, the Huns, Vandals, or Goths, as now from the subjects of a Christian and Catholic monarch. During this storm the pope had taken refuge in the 'castle of St. Angelo, and, not making his escape in time, was taken prisoner. He was con- fined till he should pay an enormous ransom imposed by the victorious army, and surrender to the emperor all the places of strength belonging to the papal dominions. Well knowing the horror which his Spaftisli subjects would feel at the indignity thus offered to the sovereign pontiff, Charles not only repressed all outward demonstration of joy at this new triumph, but literally put himself and his court into mourning, and, with unexampled hypocrisy, had prayers offered up in all the churches of Spain for the recovery of the pope's liberty, when an imperial order nould have instantly procured his freedom! A. D. 1529. — Charles had, however, more to apprehend from the resent- ment of other powers than from his own subjects ; and it was not long before his old competitor, Francis, with the aid of English money, was THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 123 able to send a formidable army into Ttalj', under the command of Mar- shal Lautrec. Clement then regained liis freedom; but the death of the French marshal, and the revolt of Andrew Doria, a Genoese admiral in the service of France, were serious disasters, which inclined Francis to try the effect of negotiation in lieu of the force of arms. The progress of ihe reformation in Germany — to which Charles was ever most stren- uously opposed — at this time threatened the tranquillity of the empire ; while the victorious suUan, Solyman, who had overrun Hungary, was ready to break in upon the Austrian territories with an overwhelming force. In this state of things, a pacific accommodation was too desirable to be refused by Charles, notwithstanding he had lately gained such ad- vantages ; and it was agreed that Margaret of Austria (Charles' aunt), and Louisa (the mother of Francis), sliould meet at Cambray, with a view of adjusting the terms of a treaty between the two monarchs. The result was, that Francis agreed to pay two millions of crowns as the ransom of his two sons, to resign the sovreignty of Flanders and Artois, and to forego all his claims on Italy ; and Charles ceased to demand the restitu- tion of Burgundy. On this occasion, Henry VIII. was so generous to his friend and all}', Francis, that he sent him an acquittal of near 600,000 crowns, in order to enable him to fulfil his agreement witli the emperor. The terrors of the Turkish arms were at this time greatly increased by the cruelties exercised on the subjects of Christian states who were so unfortunate as to fall into the power of the Algerine pirate, Barbarossa. This man was the son of a potter at Lesbos, and by deeds of violence had raised himself to the throne. He regulated with much prudence the interior police of his kingdom, carried on his piracies with great vigour, and extended his conquests on the continent of Africa; but perceiving that the natives submitted to his government with nnpatience, he put his dominions under the protection of llie grand seignior. Solyman, flatter- ed by such an act of submission, and considering him the only adversary worthy of being opposed to the renowned Doria, appointed him to the command of the Turkish fleet. Thus assisted, he not only strengthened his former kingdom but usurped that of Tunis, and now carried on his depredations against the Christian states with more destructive violence than ever. Willing to support the exiled king of Tunis, Muly Hassan, but far more desirous of delivering his dominions from so dangerous a neighbor as Barbarossa, the emperor readily concluded a treaty with the former, and set sail for Tunis with a formidable armament. This was the most brilliant exploit of his life. He sailed from Cagliari to the Af- rican coast, took the strong seaport town of Golelta by storm, with three hundred pieces of cannon and all Barbarossa's fleet, defeated the tyrant in a pitched battle, and ten thousand Christian slaves having overpowered the guards and got possession of the citadel, he made his triumphant entry into Tunis. Muly Hassan, on being reinstated, agreed to acknowl- edge himself a vassal of the crown of Spain, to put the emperor in pos- session of all the fortified seaports in the kingdom of Tunis, and to pay annually twelve thousand crowns for the subsistence of the Spanish gar- rison in Goletta. These points being settled, and twenty thousand Chris- tian slaves freed from bondage, either by arms or treaty, Charles, covered with glory, returned to Europe, and was received as the deliverer of Christendom. Barbarossa, who had retired to Bona, lost no time in gath- ering around him the necessary means of becoming again the tyrant of the ocean. While Charles was fighting in so glorious a manner against the hereditary enemy of the Christian name, the king of France took ad-' vantage of his absence to revive his pretensions in Italy. Glorious as the result had been, the temerity of the Algerine expedition at first portended nothing but misfortune, and Francis thought such an opportunity of turn- ing the political scale might not again occur. How quickly did the orf? 124 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. pect change! Barbarossa defeated and obliged to fly — tlie barbarian prince for whom C^harlos liad interested himself, replaced upon the throne of Tunis, and that kingdom made tributary to Spain — while altars were erected there to the Christian religion, and the triumph of the conqueror adorned with the broken chains of slavery. A. D. 153G. — Francis now invaded Italy, occupied Savoy and Piedmont, and threatened Milan. Cliarles, again roused to exertion, arrived with a superior force, and drove tiie French from the greatest part of Savoy, in- vaded Provence, and besieged Marseilles. But the great talents of the Marshal de Montmorency, who commanded the French army, and still more the determined energy of the people, who now arose to defend their homes and property, compelled Charles to raise the siege and make a most deplorable retreat across the Alps. After other feats of arms, at- tended with changing success, a truce was concluded, through the media- tion of the pope, for ten years (.lune 18, 1538), according to which each of the belligerents retained what lie possessed. Savoy was therefore di- vided, but Milan remained in the hands of the empe.ror, although under equivocal promises in favor of France. These conditions were not ful- filled. For Charles, having invested his son Philip with Milan, had given his adversary a new cause for animosity; and the second expedition of the emperor to Africa, which was this time very unfortunate, furnished Francis with a favourable occasion for a new rupture. The audacious piracies of Barbarossa, which were renewed with all their horrors, ap- peared finally to require an avenging sword; and Charles, full of the proudest hopes, undertook this crusade in October, 1.541, at the head of a powerful army, well equipped and stored. Hardly had they arrived on the coast of Algiers, when a storm arose which destroyed the fleet, and left the discouraged troops exposed to the fierce attacks of an exasperated enemy. The battalions, relieved by abandoning their baggage and muni- tions, marched from the gates of Algiers amid a thousand dangers and hardships, to Cape Metafuz, where the vessels that had escaped the storm awaited them, and the miserable remnant of the army embarked. A. D. 1542. — Francis thought that the moment had at length arrived for prostrating his enemy. He took the field against Charles with five ar- mies, on live different boundaries— towards Spain, Luxembourg, Brabant, Flanders, and Milan. Nor did he blush to admit the auxiliary fleet of the sultan into the harbour of Marseilles, or to let the French flag float be- side that of the pirate Barbarossa in the line of battle against the impe- rial and papal fleets. But all this w^as of little avail. Andrew Doria re- mained master at sea, and the five armies of France, notwithstanding their success in the beginning (and notwithstanding even the brilliant victory of Cerisoles), in which ten thousand of the emperor's best troops fell, yielded at last to the perseverance, prudence, and fortune of Charles and his generals. On the other hand, Charles having renewed his old al- liance with Henry, king of England, had already penetrated into Cham- pagne, and menaced the heart of France, while Henry was advancing through Picardy, in order to unite with Charles at Paris. At length, mu- tually tired of harassing each other, the rival monarchs concluded a treaty of peace at Crespy (1544), which, in the main, renewed the con ditions of the earlier one at Cambray, but contained also the project of a matrimonial connexion between the two houses. Francis died in 1547. In consequence of the emperor's resolution to humble the protestant princes, he concluded a dishonourable peace with the porte, stipulating that his brother Ferdinand should pay tribute for that part of Hungary which he still possessed, while the sultan enjoyed undisturbed possession of the rest. At the same time he entered into a league with Pope Paul HI. for the extirpation of heres}^ but in reality to oppress the liberty of Ger- many. But he failed in his object, and ^vas obliged, in 1552, to conclude THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 125 a peace with the protestants on their own terms. By this peace the em- peror lost Metz, Toul, and Verdun, which had formed the barrier of the empire in that quarter; he therefore, soon after, put himself at the head of an army, in order to recover these three bishoprics. In this he was unsuccessful. The defence of Metz was committed to Francis of Lor- raine, duke of Guise, who possessed in an eminent degree all the qual- ities that render men great in military command ; and although the em- peror marched into Lorraine at the head of sixty thousand men, and laid siege to Metz, attempting all that was thought possible for art or valour to effect, he was obliged to abandon the enterprise, with the loss of one half of his troops. Breathing vengeance against France, and impatient to efface the stain his reputation had received, Charles retired to the Low Countries, and took Terouanne and Hesdin. In Italy and Hungary, however, the impe- rial arms were less successful; still, by efforts of wisdom, celerity, and prudence, he again snatched the laurel, from his enemy's brow. At length, after having reigned over Spain for thirty-nine years, this mighty monarch, whose life had been one continued scene of ardent pursuits, either disgusted with the pomp of power and the projects of ambition, or sickened by repeated disappointments, resigned the empire to his brother Ferdinand, and his hereditary dominions (Spain, Italy, Flanders, and the American possessions), to his son Philip. He then sought happiness in quiet obscurity, and retired to the monastery of St. Juste, in the province of Estremadura, where, after two years tranquillity, he closed one of the most tumultuous lives that is to be met with in history; a. d. 1558. Ex- traordinary penetration, astonishing skill, unwearied application to busi- ness, a profound knowledge of men, and of the art of placing them prop- erly ; a mind calm in prosperity and unshaken m adversity ; an activity which continually hurried him from one extremity of his empire to the other, were the talents that distinguished Charles, and raised him to the first rank among those who governed the world. He was inferior to his rival, Francis, in the qualities of the heart, but far exceeded him in abil- ities, and, independent of superiority of power, was formed to triumph over him. Ambitious, artful, and prudent; little scrupulous in point of religion, and always affecting to appear the reverse ; prodigal of his promises in danger, and preferring the advantages of breaking to the honour of keeping them ; affable and open with subjects, who, in a man- ner, adored him ; a dissembler with his enemies, whom he flattered only to destroy — this prince possessed all the virtues and vices necessary for the conquest of Europe, and would in all probability have subjected it, but for the courage of Francis and the capacity of Solyman. When Charles V. resigned his dominions to his son Philip II., anxious that he should pursue the same plans of conduct and principles of policy, he put into his hands all the political observations which he had written down during his long reign, and which formed a system of the art of gov- ernment both in peace and in war. Philip treated his father with great disrespect after he had abdicated the crown, yet he highly valued and carefully studied this his political testament, which being the result of long experience, and dictated by great abilities, might be thought an inestima- ble gift; but the event has proved that the maxims adopted and principles laid down were in their tendency destructive of the true interests of Spain, whose power has been gradually weakened, and wealth exhausted, by the system of aggrandizement therein recommended, and pursued during the two succeeding reigns. The Spaniards, even to this time, retain the memory of this fact, on which they have founded a proverbial expression, that "in all great emergencies, their ministers aire wont to consult the spirit of Charles V." At the period to which we are now at'iived, how powerful was the throne 125 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. of Spain ! Besides that fine and warlike country, it governed also in Eu- rope the two Sicilies, the Milanese, the seventeen provinces of the Low Countries, and Franche Conipte ; in Africa, Tunis and Oran, with theii territories, the Canaries and some of the Cape Verd islands ; in Asia, the Philippines, tiie islands of Snndi, and a part of the Moluccas ; in America, the empires of Mexico and Peru, New Spain, Chili, and almost all the islands situated between these two continents. The troops of Spain were the first in Europe ; th(;ir armies, reckoned invincible, were composed of veterans trained in actual service, inured to fatigue, and animated by the remembrance of various triumphs. They were commanded by the dukes of Alva and Savoy, both pupils of Ciiarlcs V., who had been broui^lit uj) in his camp, and were already distinjjuished by their victories, llcr im- mense fleets, which m a maimer covered the seas, had been taught to con tend with Barbarossa, and to triumph under Doria; the mines of Polosi and Chili, lately opened, were in full vigor, and enriched Cadiz with an annual tribute of twenty millions sterlmg. Philip II. was master of all those possessions. He had recently married the queen of England ; and the passionate fondness of Mary for a husband who made no return to her affection, gave him the command of all the forces of her kingdom. This monarch had neither the valour or activity of his father, nor that affability which made the emperor the idol of his subjects; but he had all his ambi- tion, and supported it with those talents and vices which make tyrants so formidable. His penetration and capacity were extensive; but lie was callous to every generous feeling, full of duplicity and suspicion, cruel, vevengeful, and superstitious. A truce of five years, settled by the man- agement of Charles V., had given some repose to Europe, and seemed tc promise a lasting peace. An aged pontiff revived the animosity of nations and kindled the flames of a general war. Paul IV., impatient to be re venged on Philip, sent his nephew to Henry II., in order to persuade hin. to take up arms. Montmorency in vain urged him to reject the solicita tions of an ambitious old man; Guise, who ardently wished to display his talents, prevailed on the monarch to assist the pope, and hostilities were renewed. Henry, who always found a faithful ally in Solyman, wat joined by the sultan and the pontiff' against Philip. The latter, who, not- withstanding the indifference which he showed for his consort, still pre- served an absolute empire over her, found no great difficulty in obtain- ing the assistance of English forces. Thus Italy, Hungary, and the fron- tiers of France, were at the same time in a flame. Tranquillity, however, soon revived in Italy, where the misfortunes of Henry, the defeats of Guise, and the abilities of the duke of Alva, obliged the pontiff to abandon the monarch whose assistance he had implored. In Flanders Philip ap- peared in person, at the head of a numerous army ; the operations being directed by Philibert of Savoy, a prince of great abilities, which he was particularly desirous of exerting on this occasion, from motives of re- sentment against the oppressors of his country. The flower of the French troops advanced to meet the Spaniards, and a splendid train of nobles fol- lowed their warlike leader; the king was prepared to join them, and the city of St. Quentin became the general rendezvous of those numerous for- ces. PhiUbert laid siege to it ; and it was defended by the gallant Coligiiy, nephew of the constable. The prodigious efforts of the inhabitants, ani- mated by the young hero, confounded Philip, and he already began to dread that he should be under the necessity of raising the siege in a shameful manner, when the impetuous ^Montmorency appeared under the walls, and offered battle. The French fought valiantly, but their courage was useless; the capacity of the Spanish general triumphed over the rash valour of his opponent; a bloody defeat threw Montmorency into chains, and destroyed the greater part of the nobles under his command. The '•apture of the city immediately followed. THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 127 France, unprotected on all sides, thought herself undone, and Paris trembled with apprehensions of soon seeing the enemy at her gates. Ctjarles, who was informed in his retreat of the success of his son, no longer doubted of the destruction of his ancient rivals, and the French monarch was preparing to fly for shelter to some remote province. The duke of Guise, who had been recalled from Italy, was the only person that did not despair of preserving the state. With incredible diligence h^ collected the scattered remains of the vanquished army, and when, by ju- dicious marches and continued skirmishes, he had given a check to the ar- dour of the enemy, and revived the courage of the French, he suddenly turned towards Calais, and after a vigorous and well-concerted attack, de- prived the English of a place that, for three centuries, had given them a ready entrance to the continent. Philip fixed his residence at Madrid, and governed his vast dominions without the aid of any ostensible minister, in perfect despotism. By his intrigues the popedom was conferred on Cardinal Medicis, who was attached to the house of Austria, and became the minister of his designs. The new pontiff loaded him with favours, and declared him the protector of the church, which title the monarch justified by extraordinary condescension. lie submitted to bulls and pr.pal edicts that affected the majesty of the throne, and paid a blind defercn.ce to the clergy. He raised immense and magnificent monasteries, rigorously per- secuted the enemies of Rome, and presided at those horrid rites which bigotry and enthusiasm dignified with the name of acts of faith. He gave orders for establishing that court in all the provinces under his anthoriiy, and published decrees to inflame the zeal of the tyrants who presided over it. Can it be wondered at that the oppressive severity of tliis execrable court should cause disaffection \ The Moors, who remained in Spain on the faith of treaties, were enraged to see their privileges violated, their liberty continually menaced, and the blood of their dearest friends flowing beneath the hands of pul)lic 'execu- tioners. Despair supplied the place of strength ; they considered nothing but the excess of tiieir misery, and endeavoured to break their chains, th(! weight of which was become insupportable. The execution of one of their countrymen, whom they had crowned, did not terrifjMlicm ; they supplied his place by another, and implored the assistance of strangers who professed the religion of their ancestors. A general rebellion rent the southern parts of the kingdom, which now became once more the theatre of an ancient animosity. AH Spain was alarmed; Philip alone secretly exulted at the revolt he had produced. The valour of his troops and the abilities of his generals triumphed over the desperate resolution of the Moors, and these unfortunate people were obliged to submit to the mercy of the king; they lost their rights and possessions, and were trans- planted to the provinces that lay most remote from their former settle- ments. The people of Arragon, at the same time, demanded a restoration of their violated privileges : Naples threatened to shake of!" the yoke, and Milan, so long remarkable for fidelity, was endeavouringlikewi.se to break her fetters. The establishment of the inquisition terrified tlie inhabitants, and prompted them to take up arms. But the same crafty measures also appeased those disturbances, and the eflTorts exerted by so many nations for the recovery of their liberty, served only to rivet their cliains the faster. The tumults and confusion in Flanders were still more violent. The people were extremely jealous of their privileges, which they had preserved under their counts and the dukes of Burgundy ; they compelled Charles V. to respect them, and that prince, after despairing to subject them by terror, adopted the more generous method of conciliating their affection. Philip, who never had a heart to relish such an expedient, was passion- ately desirous of bending the stubborn necks of this people to tlie most op- pressive and humiliating yoke ; their privileges were obnoxious to hia 128 THE TllEASUHY OF IILSTOllY. pride, and tlieir immense riches inflamed his cupidity. When he quitted that country, with a resokition never to return, lie seemed inclined to con- tinue the mildness of his father's rule ; he appointed Margaret, the daughter of Charles V., and widow of Ociavius, duke of Parma, its ruler. The wit, charms, and clemency of tliis princess, were well calculated to gain the hearts of a generous people, but, at the same time, the unfeeling cardinal Granville, who made no distinction between policy and perfidy, or zeal and persecution, was placed at the head of the council. This ecclesiastic was the depository of the secrets of the cabinet, and while he appeared to perform but a secondary part, was actually employed in the first. He treated the nobles with contempt, issued extravagant edicts that were prejudicial to industry and commerce, multiplied taxes, trampled on the laws, and punished tlie most humble remonstrances and timid representa- tions as crimes. The Flemings, thus oppressed under the yoke of a stranger, contented themselves with lamenting their distress in private ; but the sight of the tribunal of the inquisition, erected in their principal cities, raised a general indignation; the people forgot their weakness, and thought nut of their duty ; protestanls, impelled by rage and fury, pulled down churches, subverted altars, and obliged the clergy to fly. Margaret trembled at those increasing tumults, and endeavoured to appease them dy a prudent compliance with the desires of the people ; the cardinal over- turned all her measures, and published a decree of council, equally ridicu- lous and cruel, against those seditious proceedings, which condenmed all the citizens indiscriminately — the heretics for having destroyed the tem- ples, and the catholics because they did not prevent them. The nobles, foreseeing the consequences of the ill-advised acts of the minister, en- deavoured to persuade him from such inconsiderate conduct; but being dismissed with haughtiness, and finding themselves disappointed in their hopes of meeting with justice from the throne, they determined, if possi- ble, t9 save their country, by a resolute opposition to the council, that should re-establish the vigour of the laws. At the head of those nobles was William, prince of Orange, descended from the illustrious house of Nassau, that three centuries before had swayed the imperial sceptre. With every necessary qualification for ef- fecting a revolution, William had ambition, capacity, and courage to un- dertake anything, and saw, with secret pleasure, that the imprudent haught- iness of the Spanish minister was opening a road to give him independence. In order to conceal his ambitious designs, he assumed an air of submis- sion and respect, ajid talked of nothing but carrying the complaints of his countrymen to Madrid; but he secretly concerted a more extensive plan. With this view he conciliated the friendship of the great, and ingratiated himself in a particular manner with the counts Egmont and Horn. These two noblemen were descended from very ancient families, and were both excellent citizens and faithful subjects ; Egmont was distinguished for victories he had gained for the house of Austria ; Horn was respected for his virtues by all parties. The cries of the nation carried to the throne by such venerable advocates seemed to aff'ect Philip ; Granville was re- called, and the people flattered themselves with the hope of seeing their grievances redressed by a new minister. In some men the most valuable powers of the mind are united with the basest passions. Thus it was with Alva, whom Philip had appointed to succeed Granville. As soon as he arrived in Flanders, by an aflfected show of lenity and moderation that silenced all diffidence and apprehensions, he appeased and united the Flem- ings, disarmed them, and decoyed the principal nobility to Brussels. The governor, thus master of their fate, threw oft' the mask that till then con- cealed his despotic and sanguinary sentiments, confined tl^ most distin- guished persons in a dungeon, and appointed a special commission for their trial. Tudges, devoted to his mandates, condemned eighteen noble- THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 129 men to death, and a few days after pronounced the like sentence against Egmont and Horn. I'hese executions, conducted with the most awful solemnity, were a prelude to many others. Executioners were dispatched from one city to another, and in the space of one month thousands per- ished under their hands.. Terror, which at first chilled the courage of the people, at length gave place to despair, by which it was relieved. Nu merous armies appeared on every side, all animated by the desire of aveng- ing the blood of their friends and fellow-citizens shed on the scaffold, and all made desperate by the certainty of having no hope of pardon. Alva, no less great as a commander than he was barbarous as a minister, has- tened at the head of a small body of Spaniards to the different provinces, fought and triumphed at every step, dispersed the confederates, beat down the walls of the cities, and deluged the streets with blood. One head. however, escaped the governor's snare; William, prince of Orange, hav ing more penetration than his unfortunate friends, did not give way to the flattering invitations of the Spaniard. He retired to Germany, where he learned, with the rest of Europe, the miseries of his country; proscribed as he was, and his fortune confiscated, without friends or support, he ven- tured to declare himself openly the avenger of his countrymen. A gen- eral hatred against Philip, whose enormities he laid open, horror and de- testation against the duke of Alva, whose tyrannical excesses he painted in strong colours, the interest of the protestant religion, the alliances of the house of Nassau with so many sovereigns, his prayers, his patience and resolution, procured him a small army, and his two brothers who joined him gave increase to his hopes. He scarce raised the standard of liberty, when the people flocked round him ready to obey his orders. His first attempts were unsuccessful, and gave way to the superior fortune of the duke of Alva; he returned to Germany, collected another army, made his appearance in Holland again, and was once more obliged to fly. Haarlem, Flushing, Leyden, and most of tlie maritime towns renounced all obedi- ence to the duke of Alva; the love of civil and religious liberty animated every breast, and the Hollanders, till then obscure and insignificant, seemed to become a nation of heroes. Courage and skill were in vain opposed to them ; the love of liberty supplied the place of numbers, policy, experi- ence, and riches. At length the sovereignty of Philip was abjured, the Roman catholic religion abolished, the state erected into a repubhc, and William declared tiieir chief, under the title of stadlholder. But he did not long enjoy the title. An assassin employed by Philip gratified his revenge against William, and the sudden death of that great man seemed to threaten the extinction of the republic he had created ; but Maurice, his worthy son inherited his dignity, his talents, and his zeal. The new stadlholder was not dismayed at the approach of the duke of Parma, though that hero pos- sessed all the capacity of the duke of Alva, and, with more knowledge and experience, had many excellent qualities. Though reduced to the last extremity by the amazing efforts of their enemies, they would listen to no accommodation, and contented themselves with soliciting succours from Queen Elizabeth. Their persevering efforts were rewarded; the republic revived, her fleets returned from distant countries richly laden, and fur- nished her with new resources for repelling her tyrants and securing her liberty on a solid foundation. While Philip was pursuing the war against these obstinate revolters, an unexpected revolution procured him a new kingdom. John HI., who during a long reign saw Portugal enjoy a most splendid prosperity, left only a grandson for his successor, who was still an infant, and promised to be the model of happy monarchs. A peaceful and wise regency aug- mented those expectations, which were confirmed by the great qualities thai appeared in Sebastian. This prince, in peace with all Europ(\ mins- ter of the most extensive commerce till then carried on, idolized bv hi.s 9 130 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. people, who fancied the great kinijs his predecessors were revived in him, appeared to liavo nothing that could prevent him from enjoying an envia* ble felicity. But a vain passion for glory having suddenly captivated the mind of Sebastian, hurried him to the tomb, and with him the glory and prosperity of the nation vanished forever. One of those scenes of ambi- tion so frequent among barbarians, had lately been cxliiltited at Morocco. The ruler of that country was both weak and odious, and bis uncle taking advantage of his unpopularity, obtained the crown. The unfortunate mon- arch having no ho[)es of assistance from subjects that had suffered by his oppression, applied to the (Christian princes, and endeavoured to interest them in his cause by the most specious promises. Philip was too prudent to engage in a war from which he could derive but little advantage, and therefore rejected the solicitations and offer of the African. Sebastian eagerly embraced them, and resolved to employ all his forces in restoring the tyrant. Deaf to all advice, and blind to every other consequence, he could see nothing in the prosecution of his design but the honour of being the protector of kings, the glory of having an emperor for his vassal, and of planting the standard of Christianity in the capital of one of the most powerful enemies of the cross, lie led the army in person to Africa, and having landed with such success as seemed to presage still greater advan- tages, he exulted in the general consternation that appeared around him. But his fond hopes wen; speedily dissipated, for when on the plains of Al- cassar the armies of Europe and Africa contested the prize of valour, the vanquished Christains suffered a memorable defeat; half the Portuguese nobility fell beneath the Moorish scimetar, and three kings were slain. The cardinal Henry immediately ascended the throne of Portugal, but he survived his accessiononly two years, and Philip, being in the same degree v)f affinity with Catharine, duchess of Braganza, who then claimed liie sceptre, supported his pretensions by force of arms, and proved victorious iU many a sanguinary encounter. Lisbon was taken, plundered, and de- lUged with blood. Executioners succeeded to the soldiery ; the whole kingdom was subjected to Philip, and his good fortune at the same time gave him possession of all the appendages of the crown — the Portuguese colonies on the coast of Africa, Brazil, and the richest islands of the In- dies. Yet, rich and extensive as were his possessions, valiant as were his troops, and inflexible as he was in all that he undertook, the brave Flemings, assisted by Elizabeth of England, carried on the war in support of their independence with unconquerable fortitude. Impatient of this long protracted struggle, so disgraceful to him who could boast the best troops and most able generals in the world, Philip resolved, by one stu- pendous effort, to subdue the spirit of revolt, and chastise the powers which had abetted it. He fitted out, in the year 1588, the most formidable fleet that had ever sailed, and, that religious zeal might give greater force to the weapons of war, the pope (Sixtus V.) bestowed on it his benedic- tion, and styled it "the invincible armada." Three years had been spent in preparing this armament, which was destined for the conquest of Eng- land. It consisted of 130 ships, most of which, from their large size, were unwieldly ; nor was the skill of the Spaniards in maritime affairs equal to the management of such a fleet. No sooner had the armada entered the narrow seas, than it was beset with violent tempests ; while the whole naval foi'ce of England, then composed of light fast-sailing ships, was drawn together to oppose the attack. Lord Effiingham had the chief command, and Sir Francis Drake, the circumnavigator, who was vice-ad- miral, performed signal services. The superior seamanship of the English was very successfully displayed in this important contest, in which great advantages were obtained from the use of fire-ships, which were first brought into use upon this memorable occasion. Such were the conse- quences, both from the elementary war and the attacks of their enemies, THE TREASURY OF HISTORl. 13| mat in the course of a month from the time they left Corunna, no more than fifty-three ships had escaped destruction, and about twenty thousand persons perished in the expedition. Philip died in the year 1598, having reigned forty-three years. He has been compared, and in some respects with justice, to Tiberius. Both these tyrants attempted and accomplished the abasement of the character of their people ; both were equally dreaded by their own families and by their subjects; both were full of the deepest dissimulation; both were severe towards others, and licentious in their own habits. But Philip possessed great perseverance, admirable firmness under adverse circum- stances, and an appearance of devotion calculated to make a strong im- pression on the people, together with that stately reserve which the mul- titude mistakes for dignity. Notwithstanding this severity of deportment, his manners were affable and gracious when he chose to assume that char- acter. He suflfered nothing to stand in the way of his undertakings ; he regarded religion and crime as two instruments, of which he equally availed himself without hesitation, according as either was suitable to his pur- poses ; for he seemed to think that the performance of certain exterior rites of devotion, and a strict adherence in religious opinions to the dog- mas of Rome, gave him unbounded license in all other respects. He was succeeded by Piiilip HI., his son by his fourth wife, Anna of Austria; Don Carlos, his eldest son, who was accused of a conspiracy against the 'ife of his father, having ended his days in 1568. Philip HI. was not less bigoted or superstitious than his predecessoi, out he was less stained with crime, and without the dangerous ambition of his father. A peace with England was concluded in 1604, and an armistice for twelve years with the Netherlands, in 1609 ; but Spain suffered an irreparable loss in population and wealth by the expulsion of the Moriscoes or descendants of the Moors. They wore allowed thirty days to banish themselves, and death was the punishment appoint- ed for such as remained behind after the specified time. By this im- politic act, and the subsequent expulsion of the Jews, Spain lost six hundred thousand of her most industrious inhabitants, besides those who were successively butchered, a loss which transferred five-sixths of her commerce and manufactures to other countries, and reduced the public revenue from thirty to fourteen millions of ducats. After a reign of twenty-two years he died, and was succeeded by his son ; a. d. 1621. Under the reign of Philip IV. Portugal shook off its bonds by a hap- pily conducted revolution, which placed the house of Braganza on the throne in 1640. The war in the Netherlands was renewed, but to no other purpose than to bring about a peace, in 1648, by which the king of Spain acknowledged the independence of the Seven United Provinces. During the thirty years' war France acted against Spain, which was allied to Austria ; and this struggle was not even terminated by the peace of Westphalia, but continued till the peace of the Pyrenees, in 1659, by which Rousillon and Perpignan were ceded to France, and a marriage was concerted between the infanta, Maria Theresa, Philip's daughter, and Louis XIV. In 1665 Philip IV. died, leaving for his successor an infant son (Charles II.), only four years of age, during whose minority the queen-dowager, Mary Anne of Austria, governed the kingdom, while she resigned herself to the government of her confessor, a Jesuit, and by birth a German, named Nitard, whom she caused to be appointed in- quisitor-general. The king, when eighteen years of age, married a daughter of Philip, duke of Orleans, who by her mother was grand- daughter to Charles I. of England ; but this marriage producing no issue, on the death of the king, which happened in 1700, the succession to the crown of Spain v,'as contested between Philip, duke of Anjou, second Bon of the dauphin, and grandson to Lou s XIV. by Maria Thereau 132 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. whom the deceased king had in his will named for his immediate suc- cessor, and the archduke Charles of Austria, brother to the emperor Jo- seph. On this occasion, the jealousy which prevailed of the increasing power of the French monarchy, occasioned a strand alliance to be formed between the maritime powers and the house of Austria, to prevent the duke of Anjou from obtaining the crown of Spain, and to place that dia- dem on the head of the archduke Charles. This occasioned a long and destructive war; but tiie unexpected death of the emperor Joseph, in 1711, when he was in the 33d year of his age, entirely changed the political as- pect of Europe ; and Charles, who had assumed the title of king of Spain, and entered Madrid in triumph, in consequence of the wonderful successes of the earl of Peterborough succeeding his brother in the empire, that idea of maintaining the balance of power in Europe, which had procured the archduke such powerful support against the pretensions of Philip, now pointed out the bad policy of suffering the empire and the kingdom of Spain to be again held by the same sovereign. This, together with the reverse of fortune which had happened to Charles, by the defeat at Al- manza, brought about the peace of Utrecht, which confirmed the crown gf Spain to Philip, but stripped it of all those valuable European appen- dages which had for many years been annexed to that monarchy ; Bel- gium, Naples, Sicily, and MUan being resigned to Austria; Sardinia to Savoy, and Minorca and Gibralter to England. To prevent, as much as possible, the danger apprehended from two kingdoms being possessed by one prince of the house of Bourbon, Philip V. solemnly renounced his right to the crown of France, in case the suc- cession should happen to devolve upon him ; and his brothers, the dukes of Berri and Orleans, on their parts renounced all claim to the crown of Spain; but as there has not been wanting lineal decendants to succeed to the sovereignty of each kmgdom, the collateral branches have not had oc- casion to make known to the world how far they consider themselves bound by these solemn acts to deprive themselves of their natural rights, which acts might otherwise have been found weak restraints upon their ambition. Many important conquests were made by the navy of Great Britain in the Mediterranean, during the war for the succession, and the strength and resources of Spain were in every respect greatly exhausted by it. The provinces of Valencia, Catalonia, and Arragon, which had adhered to the interest of Charles, severely felt the resentment of Philip, when he became established on the throne ; all the remains of liberty which those people had been allowed to retain since the Gothic kings, were abolished, and the sovereign assumed an absolute power over the lives and fortunes of his subjects. Cardinal Alberoni, an Italian, who became minister to Philip IV. soon after he married his second wife, the princess Elizabeth, daughter of the duke of Parma (1714), was formed for enterprize and intrigue ; he laboured indefatigably to restore the kingdom to something of its former conse- quence ; and by his attention and superior talents the Spanish navy was greatly augmented. His designs were so bold and extensive, that for f^ short time they seemed likely to effect great changes in the political s)'s tern of Europe; and in 1717 Spain refused to ratify the peace of Utrecht AH these ideal projects were, however, at once disconcerted by the Britisl court, in sending a fleet into the Mediterranean, which, without any pre vious declaration of war, attacked the naval force of Spain, at Cape Pas saro, near Sicily (August, 1718), and took or destroyed the greatest partol their ships. This decided step on the part of England soon procured the dismissal of Alberoni, and at the same time gave birth to the quadruple al- liance between Great Britain, France, Holland, and Germany. In 1739 great misunderstandings arose between the courts of Madrid and London, in respect to the right which the subjects of the latter THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 133 f.laimed to cut logwood on the Spanish mahi, and from the conduct of the guarda-coslas of the former in the West Indies, in seizing upon and confis- cating British merchant-ships there. These disputes gave rise to a war, the principal event of which was the taking of Porto Bello by the English. Philip V. died in 1746, and was succeeded by Ferdinand VI., his son by Ids first queen, who reigned thirteen years, and dying without issue, was succeeded by his half-brother Charles III., then king of the two Sicilies. Under the reign of Charles III. the Bourbon family compact of 1761 in volved Spain, to its injury, in the war between England and France.^ The expedition against Algiers likewise miscarried ; as did the siege of Gibral- tar, in the war of 1797-83. Yet the internal administration improved, as was seen in the advancement of agriculture, commerce, and the useful arts, while the population was considerably on the increase. The power of the inquisition also was restricted, and the secret opposition of the Jesuits annihilated at a blow, by the "pragmatic sanction" of 1767, which banished them from all the Spanish dominions, and confiscated their property. The grossest superstition, however, still abounded, and a strict observance of the most frivolous ceremonies of the church was regarded as obligatory and indispensable. Charles IV. ascended the throne in 1788. The pro- gress of improvement was still observable while the aWe Florida Blanca conducted the aflfairs of the nation. But he was superseded, in 179-2, by Godoy, whose administration was as void of plan as it was injurious to the state, and greatly exasperated the people ; so that the fall of the most fortunate and proudest favourite of modern times, was immediately fol- lowed by that of the royal family, Spain at first entered with zeal into the war against the French republic; but the favourite ruined all, by hast- ening to conclude the discreditable peace of Basle, by which Spain re- signed half of St, Domingo ; on which occasion Godoy received the title of " Prince of Peace." He then concluded with the republic the important offensive and defensive alliance of St. Ildcfonso, in 17-96, and declared war against Great Britain ; but being defeated at sea, Spain lost Trinidad, by the peace of Amiens, in 1802. The prince withdrew from the conduct of affairs, but retained his influence, and rose to high dignities. In 1801 military operations were commenced against Portugal, which was obliged to cede Olivenga, at the peace of Badajos ; while France took possession of Parma, and made its duke king of Etruria, in 1801 ; in consequence of wliich Spain ceded Louisiana to Napoleon, who, in 1803, sold it to the United States. Charles IV., in the war between Great Britain and France in 180.3, hav- ing purchased permission to remain neutral, by the payment of a monthly tribute of one million piastres to Napoleon, the British seized the Spanish frigates which were carrying the products of the American mines to Cadiz, in 1804, and Spain was compelled to declare war. The victory of the British at Trafalgar, October 21, 1805, destroyed its naval power; the bold Miranda excited the desire for independence in Spanish America, in 1806; and Napoleon overthrew the throne of the Bourbons in Naples. The prince of peace now o-alled on the Spanish nation to arm against "the common enemy;" and Napoleon, therefore, sent a Spanish army, under Romana, to Denmark, and another, under O'Farrill, to Tuscany. Octo- ber 27, 1807, he concluded a secret treaty at Fontainbleau, respecting the division of Portugal ; and twenty-eight thousand French soldiers, main- tained by Spai-n, inarched over the Pyrenees, and were joined by eleven thousand Spaniards. The family quarrels of the royal family favoured the plans of the French ruler in Spain. At the instigation of Godoy, Charles IV. wrote to Napoleon, stating that his son Ferdinand, prince of Astiirias, had intended to dethrone him, and to deprive his mother of life, so that he ought to be excluded from the succession. The junta, however, unanimously acquitted the prince and the other prisoners ; but Godoy in- 134 THE TUEASUllY OF HISTORY. duced Ferdinand to ask pardon of the king and queen ; on which the ki ig caused the letter to be published in the gazette of Madrid, and issued a decree gnniliiig pardon to the prince on account of liis repentance. The other prisoners were banished, and thus ended the process of the Escurial. In the meanwhile French troops entered Spain. Charles IV. received them as allies ; but, on a sudden, the court prepared to leave Aranjuez for Seville ; and it was rumoured that the royal family intended to go to Mex- ico. Nothing would now satisfy the people but the dismissal of the prince of peace. This was done; on the next day, March 19, 1808, Charles IV. resigned the crown in favour of his son, and on the 24th Ferdinand made his public entry into Madrid, which had been occupied by Murat, comman- der of the French troops, the day previous. Ferdinand informed Napo- leon of his assumption of the royal power, while Charles made it knowii to him that he had retracted his resignation. It required not the keen eye of the emperor to discern that the affairs of the royal family were most wretchedly embroiled, and he failed not to profit bj it, but caused the whole family to be conveyed to Bayonne, where he himself arrived April 15. During the meeting at Bayonne, a commotion, attended with bloodshed, took place at Madrid between the French and Spaniards, the latter, excited by the arrogance of their visitors, having attacked them. Joseph Bonaparte, accompnied by all the ministers of Ferdinand VII., entered Madrid, as tlje future monarch of Spain ; but some parts of the country would not acknowledge him so easily. Supine as the Spaniards appeared in the first instance, it could not be expected that a change o. dynasties, or rather a transfer of one large country to the dominions, ol another, could be effected without some opposition ; yet had it not beer for the energetic support of Great Britain, the struggle could not havt lasted long. The historian of the Peninsular war forcibly and truly observes, tha "the imbecility of Charles IV"., the vileness of Ferdinand, and the corrup tion of Godoy, were undoubtedly the proximate causes of the calamities that overwhelmed Spain ; but the primary cause, that which belongs to history, was the despotism arising from the union of a superstitious court with a sanguinary priesthood ; a,despotism which, by depressing knowl- edge and contracting the public mind, sapped the foundation of all military as well as civil virtues, and prepared the way for invasion. No foreign potentate would have attempted to steal into the fortresses of a great kingdom, if the prying eyes, and the thousand clamorous tongues belong, ing to a free press, had been ready to expose his projects, and a well dis- ciplined army present to avenge the insult ; but Spain, being destitute of both, was first circumvented by the wiles, and then ravaged by the arms of Napoleon. She was deceived and fettered because the public voice was stifled ; she was scourged and torn because her military institutions were decayed. "From the moment that an English force took the field, the Spaniards ceased to act as principals in a contest carried on in the heart of their country, and involving their existence as an independent nation. They were self-sufficient, and their pride was wounded by insult; they were superstitious, and their religious feelings were roused" to fanatic fury by an all-powerful clergy, w-ho feared to lose their own rich endowments ; but after the first burst of indignation the cause of independence created little enthusiasm. Horrible barbarities were exercised on all French sol- diers thrown by sickness or the fortune of war into the power of the in- vaded, and a dreadful spirit of personal haired was kept alive by the ex- actions and severe retaliations of the invaders; yet no great and general exertion to drive the latter from the soil was made, at least none was sus- tauied with steadfast courage in the field. Manifestoes, decrees, and lofty boasts, like a cloud of canvass covering a rotten hull, made a gallant »> THE TREASUEY OF HISTORY. 135 pcarance, when real strength and firmness were nowhere to be found. The Spanish Insurrection presented, indeed, a strange spectacle. Patriot- ism was seen supporting a vile system of government ; a popular assembly working for the restoration of a despotic monarch; the higher classes seeking a foreign master; the lower armed in the cause of bigotry and misrule. The upstart leaders, secretly abhorring freedom though govern- ing in her name, trembled at the democratic activity they had themselves excited ; they called forth all the bad passions of tlie multitude, and re pressed the patriotism that would regenerate as well as save. The coun- try suffered the evils, without enjoying the benefits of a revolution ; for while tumults and assassinations terrified or disgusted the sensible part ot the community, a corrupt administration of the resources extinguished patriotism, and neglect ruined the armies. The peasant-soldier, usually flying al the first onset, threw away his arms and returned to his home, or, attracted by the license of the panidas, joined the banners of men who, for the most part, originally robbers, were as oppressive to the people as the enemy, and these guerilla chiefs would, in their turn, have been as quickly exterminated, had not the French, pressed by Wellington's bat- talions, been obliged to keep in large masses ; this was the secret of the Spaiiish constancy. It was the copious supplies from England, and the valour of the Anglo-Portuguese troops, that supported the war, and it was the gigantic vigour with which the duke of Wellington resisted the fierce- ness of France, and sustained the weakness of three inefficient cabinets, that delivered the peninsula." The people in Asturias first took up arms; Arragon, Seville, and Bada- JDS followed. Palafox carried from IJayonne to Saragossa the order of the prince of Asturias that the people should arm ; and the supreme junta received permissioti to assemble the cortes. Early in June the junta a"t Seville had issued a proclamation of war, and the French squadron at Cadiz surrendered to the Spaniards. Six days later an insurrection broke out in Portugal, and the alliance of Great Briiian with the Spanish nation was proclaimed. The great struggle now commenced. Marshal Bes- sieres was successful in the battle at Medina del Rio Secco over General Cuesta; but the previous defeat of Dupont at Baylen, decided the retreat of the French from Madrid, and Castanos entered the city. General Ro- mana had secretly embarked his troops at Funen, and landed in Spain ; and Wellesley was victorious over the French under Junot, at Vimeira, on which the French general capitulated the day after at Cintra, and soon after evacuated Portugal. Napoleon advanced with a new army as far as the Ebro, and on the 10th of September Soult defeated the centre of the great Spanish army. Victor and Lefebvre's victory on the 11th, at Espi- nosa, opened the way to Asturia and the northern coast ; and, in conse- quence of the success of Lannes at Toleda, great numbers of fugitives took shelter in Saragossa. The mountain pass of Somo Sierra was taken by assault, by the French and Poles, under Napoleon and Bessieres, and the French army appeared before Madrid, which surrendered December4. The French gained many victories and took many fortresses; but the con- querors remained masters only of the places which they occupied, as the guerillas everywhere surrounded and harassed them. Austria now declared war, and Napoleon was obliged, in January, 1809, to leave the conduct of the war to his marshals. Two objects chiefly oc-" cupied the French generals in that and the following year — the re-conquest of Portugal, and the march over the Sierra Morena to Cadiz. The Brit- ish had become masters of Portugal. Sir Arthur Wellesley advanced from Lisbon, by the way of Alcantara, up the Tagus, and Cuesta joined him near Truxillo, while general Sir Robert Wilson advanced over Placen- zia, and Venegas, and the Spanish general, from the Sierra Morena, towards Madrid. Tliis bold plan of attack was frustrated by the battle of Talavera- 136 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY The British, indeed, were victorious over Joseph, Victor, and Joiirdan ; but not beincr sufficiently supported by the Spaniards, and being threatened by Soult and Ney advancing on either flank, tliey were obliged to retire to the frontiers of Portugal; after which Vcnegas also began to retreat, and was defeated by Joseph at Ahnonacid, as was Wilson by Ney in the pas- ses of Baros. Madrid tlnis escaped a siege, and the central junta at Seville now resolved to yield to the universal wish, to assemble the cortes and to nominate a regency. New armies were created, and Arezaga advanced with fifty-five thousand men as far as Ocana, where, however, he was en- tirely defeated by Mortier. Madrid, therefore, was again saved, but in Catalonia, Arragon, and Biscay, the most desperate struggle was carried on with the bands of the patriots. The Empecinado's troops advanced even to the vicinity of Madrid. In Old Castile several guerilla parties hovered on the Frencli, and in Navarre the troops of Mina were an abso- lute terror to them. The largest company of them, under the dreaded Marquesito, formerly a colonel in the army, encountered several generals in the open field. In vain did the French establish fortresses on their lines of communication, and endeavour to protect their rear by moveable col- umns. Yet their plan against Andalusia succeeded. With twenty-two thousand men, the rash Arezaga thought he could maintain the Ime on the Sierra Morena, fifteen leagues long, entrenched and mined, and having in its centre the fortified pass of Peraperos, against sixty thousand troops, commanded by the best generals of France. Dessolles and Gazan, in January, 1810, took the pass of Despenna-Peras ; Sebastiani stormed the defile of St. Estevan, and took tlie bridges over the Guadalquiver ; and on the 21st of January Joseph Bonaparte entered Baylen. Jaen was con- quered; Cordova submitted. Sebastiani occupied Granada, and Joseph entered Seville on the 1st of February, from which the junta had fled to Cadiz. This place, the only one which remained in the hands of the Spaniards, and which was defended by sixteen thousand men under Albu- querque, and four thousand Knglish soldiers under Graham, besides the combined British and Spanish fleets, was besieged in February, but all the eflforts and offers of the French were in vain. The war in Catalonia and Arragon continued. In Leon, the French conquered Astorga, and then directed their arms against Portugal. In this country, to the north of the Tagus, Wellington commanded a British army of thirty thousand men, and Beresford a Portuguese army nearly sixty thousand strong, besides fifty-two thousand militia. The right wing of Wellington, at Badajos, was joined by twenty thousand Spaniards under Romana, and eight thousand under Ballasteros. The main body of the allied force was posted on the heights of Lisbon, which had been rendered impregnable. The plan of the British commander, therefore, was defensive. Massena began his un- dertaking in June, by the siege of Cuidad-Rodrigo, which surrendered on the 10th of July, and Ney entered Portugal over the river Coa ; but Al- meida detained Massena "till the 27th of August, when it was obliged to capitulate. Wellington ordered the whole country through which Mas- sena could follow him, to be laid waste ; and the latter was consequently compelled to defer his march some time. He was afterwards beaten at Busaco; and Wellington now entered the strong position of Torres- Ve- •dras, which consisted of two lines on the heights of Lisbon, defended by one hundred and seventy w-ell placed works and four hundred and forty- four cannons. Massena found this position unassailable, and retreated, after several engagements of little importance, in November, to Santarem. Here he remained till March, 1811, when he was compelled, by want of provisions, to evacuate Portugal entirely. But the French were victorious at other points. Suchet, in January, 1811, took the important fortress of Tortosa, in Catalonia; and in the following June, after a murderous as- sault of five days, the fortress o.f Tarragona Soult took the frontier for- THE TREASURY OF HISTUHY. 137 tresses towards Portugal — Olivenga, and Badajos, and Victor defeated General Graham at Ciiiclana. In the autumn, Suchet marched against Valencia ; and after having defeated tlie army under General Blake, Saguntum fell on the 26th of October, and Valencia surrendered in Jan- uar3% 1612. Lord Wellington now again entered Spain. He took Cuidad-Rodrigo Hnd Badajos ; but he was ill supported by the cortes and the regency. At this time Marmont was at the head of the French army in Portugal ; but the loss of the decisive battle of Salamanca, on the 22d of July, 1812, obliged him to give up the defence of Madrid. Wellington entered the city on the 22d of August, and the French retired from before Cadiz about the same time, thus withdravting their forces from the south of Spain, and concentrating them in the eastern and northern parts. After the oc- cupation of Madrid, Wellington followed the enemy to Burgos ; but he gave up the siege of the castle of Burgos, after several unsuccessful as- saults, as the Spaniards afforded him insufficient support, and tlie French had received succours. After several engagements, he transferred his head-quarters to Freynada, on the frontier of Portugal, and the French again entered Madrid. At length Napoleon's disasters in Russia decided the fate of the peninsula. Soult was recalled in the beginning of 1813, with thirty tliousand n^en, from Spain. Suchet left Valencia in July, but delivered Tarragona, which was besieged by Benlinck, in August, and withstood Clinton on the Lobregat. But Joseph had been obliged to leave Madrid again, and Wellington had occupied Salamanca. The French army, commanded by Joseph Bonaparte and Jourdan, retreated to Vitloria. Here Wellington overtook the enemy, and gained the splendid victory of Vittoria ; after which the French army, pursued by Graham and Hill, re- tired in disorder over the Pyrenees to Bayonne, and lost all its baggage. The victors immediately invested Pampeluna. Count Abisbal occupied the pass of Pancorbo. Graham besieged St. Sebastian, and Wellington entered France on the 9th of July. In the meantime, Napoleon, then in Dresden, had appointed Marshal Soult his lieutenant, and commander-in- chief of his armies in Spain. He united the beaten corps, and opposed a considerable force to the victor. On the 24th of July the struggle began in the Pyrenees, and was maintained until August on every point. Wel- lington took St. Sebastian by assault, after having several times repulsed the enemy, who approached to deliver the garrison. It was not, however, till the 7th of October that he left the Pyrenees, and passed the Bidassoa. A Iter Pampeluna had fallen, no French soldier was left on the Spanish territory, except in Barcelona, and a few other places in Catalcftiia. Wel- lington now attacked the enemy on the fortified banks of the Nivelle, and Soult retreated into tlie camp of Bayonne. But until Wellington had passed the Nive, and had repulsed several attacks, it was not possible for him to obtain a secure fooling in the hostile country. His head-quarters were at St. Jean de Luz. Thence he repulsed Suchet's attacks on the Gave. On the 28th of February he fought a battle with Soult at Orthes, by which the latter was driven from his strong position, and obliged to retreat, in great disorder, to the Upper Garonne. Wellington foflowed the French, under Soult, to Toulouse, where a sanguinary engagement took place on the 10th of April ; and the occupation of France by the allied armies put an end to the war. The cortes had already held its first session, and had resolved that Fer- dinand Vll. should swear to preserve the constilution, before he should be recognized as king. The treaty of Valengay, between Ferdinand and Na- poleon, was made void by declaring all the acts of the king during his cap- tivity null. On the 14th of May, 1814, he entered Madrid; the people, dissatisfied with the new taxes which had been imposed by the cortes, re- ceivBd him with acclamation, and the friends of the cortes and King Joseph 138 THE TliEASUIlY OF HISTORY. were persecuted with the greatest rigour. Freemasonry was abolished, and the inquisition revived; the conventual estates were restored, and the Jesuits recalled, and reinstated in all the rights and property of which they had been deprived since 1767. And, although the king had solemnly promised a new constitution, liberty of the press, &c., he regarded none of his promises, and reigned with absolute power. The army, however, was highly dissatisfied with these proceedings, and guerillas, or bands of sol- diers, infested the interior. Even the lower classes, though averse to liberal principles, were discontented with the severity of the government, while the better classes were divided into the hostile factions of the ser- viles and the liberals. Those councillors who ventured to remonstrate with the king, as Kmpecinado, Ballasteros, &c., were banished or thrown into prison. From 1814 to 1819, there were twenty-five changes in the ministry, mostly sudden, and attended with severities. They were pro- duced by the camarilla, or persons in the personal service of the king. Every attempt to save the state was frustrated by such counsellors, and the overthrow of this ancient monarchy was accelerated by the loss of the American colonies. The army was the instrument of its fall ; several conspiracies had been organized by the officers for the restoration of the constitution of the cortes; and Portier, Mi'na, Lacy, and Vidal, were suc- cessively the leaders of the conspirators. Mina had been obliged to save himself by flight; the others had been executed, and their friends had suf- fered on the rack, or been thrown into prison. The army was indisposed to the American service, for which it was des- tined, and the officers favourable to the constitution of the cortes took ad- vantage of this state of feeling to effect their own purposes ; whole regi- ments had determined not to embark, and the commander himself, O'Don- nel, conde del Abisbal, was in the secret. But, finding his ambitious pro- ject of becoming dictator of the monarchy frustrated by the civil authority, he caused a division of troops which had given the signal of insurrection to be disarmed (July 8, 1819), and the officers, 123 in number, to be ar- rested. The einbarkation of the troops was fixed for January ; but on the 1st of the month, four battalions under Riego, proclaimed the constitution of 1812, surrounded the head quarters of General Callejo, who had suc- ceeded O'Donnel in the command, took possession of the town of Isla de Leon, and delivered the officers arrested in July, among whom was Qui- roga. The insurgents were unsuccessful in iheir attack on Cadiz, but occupied La Caracca, where the naval arsenal, a ship of the line, and other vessels of war, with some transports, fell into their hands. Quiroga declared, in the name of the army of the nation — the title assumed by the insurgents — that it was their purpose to obtain from the king the accept- ance of the constitution. Riego, at the head of a troop of two thousand five hundred men, now occupied Ajgesiras, entered Malaga, and after some fighting with O'Donnel, advanced through Ecija and Cordova to Antequera; while the national army, under Quiroga, in addresses to the king and to the nation, declared their only object was to save their country by the re- storation of the constitution, which had already been accepted by the na- tion. Risings now took place in all quarters in favour of the constitution of the cortes ; the royal forces joined the insurgents ; Freyre himself was obliged to proclaim the constitution in Seville, and Ferdinand, abandoned by his own troops, was compelled to yield to the general cry, and, by pro- clamation, declared himself ready to summon the cortes of 1812, and ac- cept the constitution of that year. On the same day a general amnesty was proclaimed. On the 9lh a provisorj^ junta of eleven members was named, to conduct affairs till tlie meetings of the cortes, and Ferdinand swore to observe the constitution in presence of this body, and of the mu- nicipal authorities of Madrid. The inquisition was abolished, as incon- sisteiit with the constitution, and obnoxious ministers, &c., were succeedeti THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 139 by olTiers favourable to constitutional principles. In place of the council of Castile and tliat of the Indies, a supreme judicial tribunal, with appro- priate subordinate courts, was established, national guards were organized in the provinces, the municipal authorities were made to conform to the constitution, and the cortes finaUy assembled. Much was done to heal the wounds of the country; but an apostolical junta established itself on the frontiers of Portugal, and bands of peasants, monks, and guerilla sol- diers were formed, for the purpose of restoring the privileges of the crown and the clergy. The second session of the cortes began in March, 1821, who declared the whole country in danger, and in a slate of siege. Tire command of the- armed force was now given to Morillo, and quiet was in some measure restored. But the ultra-liberals, or exaltados, as they were called, were not a little excited by the events in Naples and Piedmont, in 1821, and the kingdom was in so disturbed a state that an extraordinary cortes was 8ummoned in September. At the same time Mexico declared itself inde- pendent; Lima was occupied by the Chilians, under San Martin; and the Spanish part of the island of St. Domingo was lost by its union with Hayti. Upon which the cortes urged the king to appoint an abler ministry, and, after some contention, his majesty yielded to their wishes. In January, 1822, the cortes declared themselves ready to acknowledge America as a kingdom independent of Spain, but united with her under Ferdinand VII. , their common sovereign. The deputies sent to America, however, could effect nothing on these conditions, and the session of the cortes was con- cluded on the 14th of February. At tlic outset of the third session the moderate liberal party prevailed, and tranquillity was gradually restored to the internal affairs of the country, when it began to be threatened from without. The strong sanitary cordon of French troops along the Pyrenees, and the intrigues of the exiles, led the government to suspect that the disturbances excited among tlie peas- ants in Navarre and Catalonia, and the bands of "soldiers of the faith," so called, were instigated by the French government. The cortes there- fore armed the volunteer national guards ; but the pecuniary resources were chiefly in the hands of tiie supporters of despotism. The royal guards, in spite of the opposition of Morillo, their commander, entered Madrid, July 7, but Ballasteros, at the head of the national guards, defeated them, and they fled into the royal palace ; but the king, who favoured them originally, now showed himself irresolute. They were unable to resist the popular force, but would have been allowed to retire, if they had not again fired on the national guards, who then fell upon them, and killed or wounded the greater part. The anilleros, or moderate party, who had been in favour of a chamber of peers and the extension of the royal power, now joined the communeros, or popular party, and all the ministers resigned. The new ministers acted in conformity with the views of the commu- neros; and the king, whose authority had sunk entirely, consented to all they proposed. Many persons of rank, including bishops, were banished. General Elio was executed ; but the guards v/ere treated with great le- niency. Tlie kmg again declared his adherence to the constitution ; but the apostolical troops in Biscay, Navarre, and Catalonia, continued their revolting cruelties. Under the marquis Mataflorida a regency of the friends of absolute government was established at Seo d'Urgel, near the French frontier, in August, 1832. It issued orders, in the name of the "imprisoned king," for the restoration of everything to the state in which it had been before the 7th of March, 1820. The troops of the apostolical party, after much bloodshed, were beaten by Mina and Milans. Generals Espinosa, Torrijos, and El Pastor distinguished themselves against Que- sada, a Trappist, and others. The regency fled to France in November, 140 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 1822, and it was obvious that its cause was not that of the nation. No troops of the line or national guards, no important cities nor individuals, went over to them. Some "soldiers of the faith," however, still continued in Spain, particularly those of Bessieres, UUmaim, &;c. At no period was Spain in a more unsettled state than now, and nothing less than a desper- ate struggle between despotism and revolution could be calculated on. The French had acceded to the principle of an armed intervention pro- nounced by Austria, Russia, and Prussia, in relation to Spain ; and the Frencli ambassador at Madrid received orders to advise a change in the constitution, as the condition on which the continuance uf peace between the two countries must depend; and, in order to enable Ferdinand VII. to make such changes freely, he must first of all be restored to the full enjoyment of sovereign power. The same demand, and even in bolder terms, was made by the ministers of Prussia, Austria, and Russia, while Great Britain advised the cortes to yield, and offered her mediation. The Spanish government repelled with indignation the interference of the for- eign powers, and the threatened discontinuance of diplomatic intercourse took place. The foreign ambassadors were recalled from Madrid. One hundred thousand French soldiers were assembled with the soldiers of the faith at Perpignan and Bayonne, and the cortes summoned the national guards to serve with the troops of the line ; but the attempts to raise an army were unsuccessful, because the bands of the absolutists gave full employment to the troops of the line and the national guards in the various provinces. The duke of Angouleme, at the head of the French army, issued a pro- clamation to the Spaniards, declaring the object of the French was only to aid ihem, and that France desired nothing but the deliverance of Spain from the evils of revolution. His army then passed the Bidassoa; a junta was established, who formed a provisional government, declared the king the sole depository of sovereign power, and that no change in the govern- ment should be recognized but such as the king should make of his own free choice ; and all the decrees of the cortes were declared void. Great Britain remained neutral, or rather affected neutrality, for the government allowed the exportation of arms and ammunition to Spain, and, in return, the ports of the New World were opened to her ships. A long, tedious, and cVuel warfare was now kept up by the Spanish troops under the con- trol of Ballasteros, Mina, L'Abisbal, and Morillo, against the French, and the supporters of the "absolute king." On the 24th of IMay, the duke of Angouleme entered Madrid amid the acclamations of the populace. He nominated a regency, consisting of the duke of Infanlado, the duke of Montemar, the bishop of Osma, the baron d'Eroles, and Don Gomez Cal- deron ; but they had no pecuniary resources, and no power, if they had the will, to prevent the furious eruption of party hatred. The cortes had in vain tried to excite a general guerilla war. On ac- count of the want of money, they decreed the seizure of all the property of persons of the opposite party, a forced loan of 200,000,000 of reals, and the coining of the superfluous church plate, by which measures the hatred of the people was still more increased. Yet the ministers did not dare to propose to the cortes the mediation offered by England, through Sir W. A'Court, the British minister. The king refused to go to Cadiz; and a regency of three members, with royal powers, was appointed, because the case of mora! incapacity on the part of the king, provided for by the con- stitution, had occurred. On the 12th of June, the cortes and the king, with the regency, departed for Cadiz; but the people were so furious against the constitutionalists, that the authorities called in the aid of the French. Meanwhile the regency in Madrid declared all the members of the cortes who had participated in the session of the 11th, when the king was declared morally incapable, to be traitors ; but more it could not do • THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 141 't was so destitute of resources that it was even supported by French money. The duke of Angouleme took possession of Cadiz on the 4th of October. An act of the cortes had already reinvested the king with abso- lute power, and requested him to retire to the French camp, where he had been received ii. form by the duke, with cries of " Viva el rey," " Viva la religion !" "Muera la nacion !" &c. Ferdinand's first measure was to de- clare all the acts of the constitutional government, from March 7, 1820, to October 1, 1823, void, on the ground that during that time the king was acting under compulsion. The partizan warfare still continued to rage with great fierceness, particularly in Catalonia; but the defection of some of the leaders soon after taking place, it appeared fast drawing to a termi- nation; and on the 22d of October, 1823, the duke of Angouleme took his leave of the army of the Pyrenees, which had so successfully accomplished the military objects of its mission. The political objects of the expedition, to secure a system of mildness and moderation, were frustrated by the bad faith of the Spanish govern- ment. In direct violation of the terms of the military capitulaiions, a per- secuting and vindictive policy was adopted towards the former partizans of the constitution. Among the crowds of fugitives were Mina, the count del Abisbal, Morillo, &c. Riego was executed at Madrid, and the king made his entry into the capital on a triumphal car twenty-five feet high, drawn by a hundred men, and amid the rejoicings of the people. It was not, however, to be expected that the excesses of political and religious bigotry would suddenly subside, or that the people would quietly submit to the'heavy taxation which the bad state of the finances rendered neces- sary. A treaty was therefore concluded with France, stipulating for the maintenance of a French force of forty-five thousand men in the country, until the Spanish army could be organized ; and the debt due to France for the expenses of the French expedition was fixed at thirty-four mil- Jions of francs. The year 1825 was disturbed by several insurrections of the Carlists, who were anxious to effect the abdication of Ferdinand, and place his brother, Don Carlos, on the throne. Numerous executions and frequent changes of ministry took place, all plainly indicative of the weakness of the government, while the independence of the colonies was acknowledged by foreign powers, and a general interruption of commerce and industry throughout Spain was manifest. In this state the country continued for several subsequent years. In 1827, Spanish subjects were permitted to trade with the Spanish American republics, but under foreign flags, and in the following year Spain was evacuated by the French troops. The sword, the scaffold, exile, and the dungeon had done so much to subdue the national spirit, and to reduce the numbers of the constitutionalists, that when, in 1830, the French revolution produced such effects in Belgium, and excited so much alarm in Germany and other neighbouring countries, it scarcely awakened the popular feeling on this side the Pyrenees; the troubles of Spain were now mostly confined to the struggle for power be- tween the more or less absolute of the absolutists, the former having been favoured by the views of Don Carlos, then heir-presumptive to the throne, and the latter by the king. But on the birth of a royal princess, in 1830, by Maria Christina, his fourth wife, a royal decree rendered the crown hereditary in the female line, in default of male heirs, and entirely changed the relation of the prince to the throne. During a severe attack of illness, Ferdinand, at the instigation of the friends of Don Carlos, in 1832, renewed the Salic law, which rendered the throne of Spain hereditary only in the male line, but, with that vacillating conduct which is the sure mark of a weak mind, his majesty, on his recovery, formally protested against the decree, which he stated to have been extorted from him, and he then again declared his daughter to be his only legitimate successor to the throne of 142 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. Spain. Shortly after this, Don Carlos was banished from the kingdom , and Ferdinand, who was in his fiftieth year, died suddenly of apoplexy, ou the 29th of September, 1833. The death of Ferdinand VII. became the signal for the breaking out of fresh dissensions. In order still further to fortify the right of his daughter to the throne, ho had exercised the prerogative of naming her his succes sor in his will ; and by the same instrument he appointed the queen re- gent till the infanta Isabella attained the age of eigliteen years. Don Car- los, however, claimed the throne in virtue of the Salic law, although it had been repealed, and was never, in fact, practically in force. The rights of Isabella II. were supported by the liberals, the pretensions of Don Carlos by the absolutists. Guided by the counsels of M. Ilea, the chief minister, the queen depended upon the support of the constitutionalists for securing the succession to her infant daughter. The strength of the Carlists lay chiefly in Navarre, Catalonia, the Biscayan provinces. Old Castile and Estremadura. The chief strength of the constitutionalists was m Madrid, and tiie provinces of Andalusia, iMurcia, Valencia, and other districts bor- dering on the Mediterranean. The queen regent was not slow in adopting vigorous and popular measures to counteract the Carlists. With the aid of the provincial militia and the volunteers, she disbanded the royalist vol- unteers of the capital, and in Toledo ; she also remodelled the post-office laws, the censorship of the press, and public education ; while at the same time care was taken not to disturb existing interests and prejudices. Meantime several contests took place between the rival parties, accom- panied with the exercise of great cruelties on both sides ; but the queen's party was generally successful, and at the close of the year the civil war appeared nearly at an end. The reciprocal massacre of prisoners had several times occurred, and the deadliest hatred and revenge was manifestly encouraged by both par- ties ; in short, so savagely was the Spanish contest carried on, that the duke of Wellington, from motives of humanity, sent Lord Elliot and Colo- nel Gurwood on a mission to Spain, to endeavour to put a stop to the cru- elties practised by the belligerents, and render the war less bloody and revengeful. Tiie Christines hesitated at first to enter into any terms with the Carlists, whom they deemed rebels; and although, at length, it was mutually agreed upon to treat the prisoners taken on either side according to the ordinary rules of war, a few months only elapsed before similar barbarities were practised with all their former remorselessness. In the spring of 1834 a treaty was concluded in London, by the courts of Grea'. Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal, having for its object the pacification of the peninsula. By this quadruple treaty it was agreed — that Spain and Portugal should assist each other in the expulsion from their respective territories of Don Carlos and Don Miguel ; that Britain should co-operate by employing a naval force, and that France should as- sist tlie contracting parties in any way that they in common accord might determine upon. The war thus continued to rage with unabated fury; but the queen's party obtained an auxiliary force in England, denominated the "British legion," without the sanction, though with the connivance of ministers. They were ill-equipped and ill-clad, nor could anything be managed worse than their commissariat. Notwithstanding, they fought bravely, and contributed in no slight degree to the success of the queen's cause. On the 5ih of May, 1836, some fortified works, which had cost the Carlists three or four months to erect, and through the centre of which ran the high road to Hernani, were gallantly carried by the auxiliary le- gion ; while two armed steamers, commanded by Lord John Hay, lent very opportune aid. On this occasion the loss of the British in killed and wounded amounted .to eight hundred, among whom were upwards of sev- enty officers. About this time Mendizabel, the Spanish prime minister THE TREASURY OF HISTORY". 143 Irom whose abilities much had been anticipated, but who had not been xealously supported by the cortes, resigned, and was succeeded by M. Is- turitz. Another violent change was, however, near at hand. At Malaga, Cadiz, Seville, and Cordova, the Cadiz constitution of 1812 had been pro- claimed, and provincial juntas established, wholly independent of ihe queen's authority. On the 3d of August a movement commenced in Mad- rid ; but it was put down, and the capital declared in a state of siege ; but on *he 12th the insurrection became more serious, and a regiment of pro- vincial militia forced their way into the apartments of the queen-regent, and obtained from her a promise of the acceptance of the constitution. This produced a revolution in the metropolis. Isturitz, the prime minis- ter, made his escape to Lisbon, and thence to England. General Que- sada, the military governor of Madrid, was seized by the populace, and inhumanly put to death. Ultimately, the constitution was proclaimed by the queen-regent, subject to the revision of the cortes, and a new ministry of decided liberals formed, of which Mendizabel was minister of finance. The new government commenced with vigour. The sum of 2,000.000^. was sought to be raised by a forced loan ; a conscri.ption of fifty thousand men was called for, to send against the Carlists ; the property of emigrant Carlists was confiscated, and the example of France and Portugal was proposed to be followed, by the extinction of the remaining moiety of tithe, leaving the clergy stipendaries of the state, or dependent on volun- tary contributions. On the IGth of June, 1837, the revised constitution of the Spanish mon- archy was proclaimed. Its articles appear to be of a popular character. Among them are the following: — 1. All Spaniards may print and publish freely their opinions, without submitting them to previous censorship, by merely conforming to the laws. 2. All Spaniards are admissible to offices and public functions according to their merit and capacity. 3. The power of making laws resides in the cortes and tlie king. The cortes to consist of two legislative assemblies equal in rights and power — a senate and a congress of deputies ; the senators must be forty years old, possessed of an independent fortune, and are chosen for life. To the congress of dep- uties each province to return one deputy, at least, for every fifty thousand souls of its population; the deputies are elected for three years. 4. The person of the king sacred and inviolate, and not responsible; the minis- ters to be held responsible. The powers of the crown are analogous to those of the British sovereign. 5. The civil list of the king and royal family to be fixed at the commencement of each reign. 6. The succes- sion to be in the order of primogeniture, preferring the male to the female branch. 7. The cortes may exclude from the succession persons they deem incapable to govern, or who have been guilty of any act for vvhich they ought to lose their right to the crown. 8. Independence of the judges and judicial administration are secured. In .Tune, 1835, Colonel De Lacy Evans was appointed by the Spanish authorities to command the said British auxiliary legion to co-operate with the queen's troops against Don Carlos. On the 1st of October, 1836, a vigorous assault was made on the lines of the British legion at Sebastian by the Carlists, who made an unsuccessful attempt to carry them. Both parties fought bravely. The Carlists charging down-hill, frequently sal- lied from their works in force, but each time were driven back at the point of the bayonet. The conflict lasted twelve hours. General Evans lost three hundred and seventy-six men and thirty-seven officers killed and wounded. The loss of the Carlists in killed and wounded was estimated at one thousand men. In December, 1836, the siege of Bilboa was raised, by the operations of the combined British and Christinos forces. General Espartero, assisted by a small band of British engineers, artillerymen, and •ailors, entered the city of Bdboa on Christmas-day, at the head of his 144 THE TR-EASUaY OF HLSTORT. army, after a series of contests with the enemy. The works raised by the Carlists were of great strength, and nothing but the enthusiasm of the troops could have enabled them to overcome the difficulties. A vote o thanks to the liberators of liilboa was moved in the cortes, and the official gazette of January 4, 1837, contained a royal decree, in which the queen- regent expressed, in the name of her daughter, her gratitude to General Espartero and his army, the national and auxiliary British force, and to all those, whether Spaniards or Knglish, who took part in the engagements of the 2Uh and 25th of December. A month had scarcely elapsed, how- ever, before the affairs of Don Carlos appeared to revive; General Evans having sustained a defeat before St. Sebastian, and the queen's armies under generals Saarsfield and Espartero having found it necessary to make simultaneous retreats. These reverses made such an impression, that at a secret sitting of the cortes on tlie .30ih of March, the acting war-minister described Spain to be "without credit at home or abroad — with a depre- ciated and ill-concocted revenue — with an army in the worst state as to subordination or military dicipline — while the chiefs were at variance with each other." It was originally arranged that Espartero, Saarsfield, and p]vans, should move simultaneously to the points of attack; but owing to mismanagement or treachery, this plan was not carried into operation. On the 10th of Mandi, General Evans broke ground from St. Sebastian, and commencing his operations by an attack upon the heights of Ametza- gana, at the eastern extremity of the chain of hills, carried that position. On the IGth he prepared to make his decisive attack upon the town of Hernani, and succeeded in gaining possession of the wooded heights which rise above it on the north. All was prepared for a forward movement, when he discovered, most unexpectedly, that the Carlists had been so powerfully reinforced as to render an advance desperately hazardous, and almost at the same moment the whole of his left wing was thrown into confusion, by the appearance in its rear of three battalions of Carlists, who, under cover of the night, had been brought, by a circuitous march, to the right bank of the Urumea, and having passed that river at Axterra- gaga, again moved in the direction of the north-west. The regiment on the extreme left of the Anglo-Christinos' line, thus finding itself attacked in front, on the left flank and in the rear, made a rapid lateral movement to the right, which was soon accelerated to a panic flight. The Anglo- Christinos are said to have lost between fifteen hundred and two thousand in killed, wounded, and prisoners — and immeasurably more in moral in- fluence. The next accounts from Spain showed that the cause of the queen was somewhat improving. After an obstinate defence by the Carlist troops. General Evans succeeded in carrying Irun, where a dreadful scene of pil- lage and massacre ensued. Fontarabia soon afterwards capitulated. On the 13th of May, Espartero entered Hernani, after having beaten the Car- lists, and taken six hundred of them prisoners. In several other engage- ments he was also successful. Yet such was the uncertainty of this con- test, that in the following month the forces of Don Carlos were almost everywhere successful. On one occasion — the battle of Barbastro — the Carlists gained a great victory, upwards of two thousand five hundred Christines being put hors du comlat. This was the most sanguinary en- gagement that had been fought since the commencement of the civil war. While Don Carlos was advancing towards Upper Catalonia, and prepar- ing to place himself in the centre of the mountains of that province, the revolutionary hydra had raised its head with more hardihood than ever. And, to add to the calamities of the Christinos, General Evans, with the t;reatest part of the officers belonging to the legion, had abandoned the cause as hopeless, and returned to England; only fifteen hundred remain- ing behind, who foi-med a brigade under the command of Colonel O'Don- THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 145 nell. The cause of the queen now wore a most unpromising aspect. Her iroops had sustained severe defeats, and, in September, the forces of Car- los were actually investing the capital. On the 24th of August, General Buerens was defeated, with the loss of fifteen hundred men, M'hile en- deavouring to repel one of the armies of Don Carlos, twelve thousand strong, which was attempting' to pass between Daroca and Saragossa. On the 14th of September, the remains of the British legion, under Gen- eral O'Donnell, after their advance to Pampeluna, were attacked by a superior body of Carlists, who carried Andoain, where O'Donnell had for- tified himself, and drove the queen's troops back to Hernani. The British auxiliaries bore the whole brunt of the attack, and twenty-five English of- ficers were killed. On the lllh of September, the Spanish government received intelligence that Cabrera was preparing to march against the capital, and that his movement was to be supported by the bulk of Don Carlos' army. Mar- tial law was immediately proclaimed. The troops and national guard mustered ; a "sacred battalion" was formed to guard the two queens ; and cannon was stationed in the most exposed and dangerous quarters of the city. Again the fortune of war inclined to the Christinos side. Don Car- los, who had invested Madrid, was compelled to make a precipitate retreat, with great loss, and was closely pursued by Espartero. In Navarre and Valladolid, also, the queen's troops gained some considerable advantages ; and Carlos was driven to his old quarters in the north, and Espartero, hav- ing taken possession of many strong places, appeared confident of success- ful results from the next winter campaign. In November, the dissolution of the cortes took place, and a new cabinet was formed, in which Espar- tero was appointed minister of war, and at the same time continued as commander-in-chief of the army of the north. The English legion had been wholly disbanded, after a correspondence between its commander, O'Donnell, and the Spanish general, which had reached the height of asperity. The men composing the legion had given up their arms, and were in the most deplorable state of destituiion. At the commencement of 1838, the town of Morella was captured by the Carhsts. This was of the greatest importance to them, as it consti- tuted the point of junction between the kingdoms of Valencia and Arragon, and was admirably fortified. Twelve hundred prisoners, twelve pieces of cannon, and provisions for three months, were the fruits of this capture. On the other hand, the Carlists had been defeated in an attempt to obtain possession of Saragossa. and in some minor engagements elsewhere. To which we may add, that on the 26th of April, Espartero attacked and en- tirely defeated, near Burgos, the force of Count Negri ; making two thous- and prisoners, of whom two hundred and fifteeen were chiefs and officers. Thus for many succeeding months did victory continue to alternate be- tween the contending parties, though inclining generally to the constitu- tional side. We shall therefore pass on till we come to an affair of con- siderable moment, namely, the surrender of Morella— the last stronghold of Cabrera — to the queen's troops, in May, 1840; the garrison remain- ing prisoners of war. Espartero had no less than fifty thousand men, in- cluding two thousand cavalry, and seventy-two pieces of artillery, to reduce this fortress. Balinaseda, the worthy rival of Cabrera in ferocity and ra- pacity, fell into the snare laid for him by the queen's generals. Believing that he was not pursued, he passed the Douro, and conceived the bold project of surprising the two queens on their way to Madrid and Saragos sa, when he was attacked, on the 25th of June, by the constitutional gen eral, Concha, and driven to the Pyrenees. He then retreated into France, but made his appearance again on the 30th, at the head of about five thous- and men. He had retired before the queen's troops, fighting to the last; and although, like almost every other chieftain .n this sanguinary and long-protracted struggle, he was a monster of cruelty, his firm adherence 10 I4C THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. to his master's cause until tliere was no longer any hope of success, meriti admiration. He appeared in nearly the last stage of exhaustion, from fatigue and from his wounds, of which he had received no less than four- teen. At this time it was said that but little more than the name of roy- alty existed in Spain ; a military despotism, headed by Espartero, dictating the whol3 affairs of the nation. The queen-regent Christina, being stripped of nearly every particle of power, made up her mind to leave Spain before lOspartero and the new ministers arrived. She saw them, however, at Valencia, and expressed her determination to abdicate the regency, in consequence of the difficulties which environed her. She was then told, that if she insisted upon abdicating, and on retiring to Naples, she must leave the young queen Isabella to the guardianship of the nation, and must also give up the public property vested in her as queen and regent. To this she consented, and the ministers accordingly announced the event to the nation. Shortly afterwards, the young queen Isabella II. made her public entry into Madrid, attended by Kspartero, &c , amid the acclama- tions of the inhabitants. In May, 1841, the duke of Victory (Kspartero) was elected by a major ity of 76 votes as sole regent of Spain during the minority of Isabella ; the queen-mother, Christina, having previously sought refuge in France. For a considerable time after this event, the new regent possessed the confi- dence of the people, and effected many useful reforms in the state ; but having given offence to the clergy by the appropriation of part of the ec- clesiastical revenues to secular purposes, a powerful party continued to harass and distract his government; till, at length, the insurrectionary movements in various parts of the country denoted that another crisis was approaching. In Juno, 1843, Corunna, Seville, and many other towns de- clared against Kspartero, and Madrid surrendered on the 24th of July. On receiving this information, the duke immediately raised the siege of Seville, and started for Cadiz, with four hundred cavalry. He was pursued to Port St. Mary's by General Concha, at the head of five hundred horse, who arrived on the strand only five minutes after the regent had embarked in a boat for the English ship Malabar, of 72 guns. Nogueras, Gomez, and a few other officers escaped with him. A manly and patriotic manifesto was addressed by Espartero to the nation prior to his departure for Eng- * land; which thus concludes :—" A military insurrection, without the slightest pretext, concluded the work commenced by a mere few ; and, abandoned by those whom I so often had led to victory, I am compelled to seek refuge in a foreign land, fervently desiring the felicity of my be- loved country. To its justice I recommend those who never abandoned the cause of legitimacy, loyal to the last, even in the most critical moments. In these the state will ever find its most decided assistants." His ene- mies also addressed a manifesto to the people of Spain, with the alledged view of explaining and justifying the revolution, and also of vindicating themselves and those who co-operated with them in procuring the defec- tion of the army, and the consequent overthrow of Espartero, by means of foreign gold. On the 30th of July, the duke of Baylen assumed the func- tions of guardian of the queen and the princess her sister. The new min- istry adopted the decided course of declaring Queen Isabella of age after the meeting of the cortes, which was appointed to take place on the 15th of October ; to which proposal the queen gave her consent. Espartero left Spain, on his voyage to England, on board the Prometheus steam-ves- sel ; and on his arrival at Woolwich he was received with respect by Lord Blomfield, commandant of the royal arsenal, Sir F. BoUyer, &c. Spain, however, still continues subject to unhappy dissensions, which are the inevitable results of her degrading submission to a bigoted priesthood. THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 147 THE HISTORY OF PORTUGAL. Portugal, anciently called Lusitania, is supposed to have been origin' Blly colonized by the Phoenicians and Carthaginians ; but was taken pos- session of by the Romans about 250 years before Christ, and became a Roman province under the emperor Augustus. Towards the beginning of the fifth century the Alans, and afterwards the Suabians and the Visi- goths, successively made themselves masters of this country. In the eighth century it was overrun by the Moors and Saracens, but was gradu- ally wrested from them by the Christians. Henry, duke of Burgundy, distinguishing himself by his eminent services against the Moors, Alphonso II., king of Castile, gave him his daughter Theresa in marriage, created him earl of Portugal, and in 1110 left him that kingdom. Alphonso Hen- riques, his son and successor, obtaining a signal victory, in 1136, over tlie Moors, was created king by the people; and in 1181, at an assembly of the states, the succession of the crown was settled. Alphonso III. added .\lgarve to the crown of Portugal. In 1383 the legitimate male line of this family becoming extinct in the person of Ferdinand, John I. his nat- ural son, was, two years after, admitted to the crown, and in his reign the Portuguese made settlements in Africa, and discovered the islands of tlie Azores. In 1482, his great-grandson, John II., received the Jews who had been expelled from Spain, and gave great encouragement to navigation and discoveries. Afterwards, in the reign of King Emanuel, Vasco do Gama discovered a passage to the East Indies by doubling the Cape of Good Hope. In 1600, Brazil was discovered by Don Pedro Alvarez, and the Portu- guese made most valuable discoveries in the East Indies, where they soon erected forts, subdued the neighbouring inhabitants, and at the same time carried on a sanguinary war in Africa. The power of Portugal was then at its height ; but in 1580, on the decease of Henry the Cardinal, the male line of the royal family became extinct, and in the succeeding year the kingdom was subdued by Spain. The Portuguese now lost most of the advantages they had obtained under their own monarchs ; their posses- sions in the East Indies, in Brazil, and on the coast of Africa, were neg- lected, and many of them wrested from them by the new republic of Hol- land, and by the other maritime powers, while at home the Portuguese were much oppressed ; but in 16^0, they shook off the Spanish yoke, by electing John, duke of Braganza, a descendant of the old royal family, for their king. This prince, who assumed the title of John IV., drove the Dutch out of Brazil ; and from him all the succeeding kings of Portugal have been descended. Alphonso VI. the son of John IV., was dethroned by his brother Peter, who in 1668, concluded a treaty with Spain, by which Portugal was declared an independent kingdom. This was brought about by the mediation of Charles II. of Great Britain, who had married the in- fanta Catherine, sister to Alphonso and Peter. In 1706, John V. suc- ceeded to the throne on the death of his father. In 1792 a double marriage took place between the courts of Spain and Portugal, a prince of eacli court marrying a princess of the other court. Although Brazil again be- longed to Portugal, its former greatness could not now have been restored even had the princes of the house of Braganza displayed as much vigour and wisdom as some of them showed good intentions. A commercial ireaty had been concluded under the first prince of this line, and in 17 03 148 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. a new treaty was concluded by the English ambassador, which secured to England the advantages of the newly-disc;overed gold mines in Brazil- From this time the relations with England continued to become more in- timate, until Portugal was no longer in a condition to maintain an inde- pendent attitude in European politics- During the long reign of John V,, from 1707 to 1750, some vigour was exerted in regard to the foreign rela- tions, and something was attempted for the promotion of the national welfare at home (the restriction on the power of the inquisition, and the formation of an academy of Portuguese history, for example) ; but in tlie former case, without decisive consequences, and, in the latter, without a completion of the plans proposed. On the death of John, in 17f ?, his son Joseph 1., prince of the Brazils, succeeded him, and the marquis of Pombal, a vigorous reformer, administered the government, to the universal satis- faction of the people. He attacked the Jesuits and the nobility, who dur- ing the precedmg reigns had exercised a secret influence in the govern- ment. The exposure of the power of the Jesuits in Paraguay, their con- duct at the time of the earthquake in Lisbon (17.5-5), and the conspiracy against the life of the king (1756), led to the suppression of the order; in 1757 they had been deprived of the post of confessors to the royal family, and forbidden the court. Two years after, all the Jesuits were banished the kingdom, and their estates were confiscated- The brave count of Schauenburg-Lippe, to whose services against Spain, in 1760, Portugal was so much indebted, likewise reformed the Portuguese army ; but soon after his departure, the effects of his improvements disappeared. On the accession of Maria Francisca Isabella, eldest daughter of Joseph (in 1777), the marquis of Pombal lost the influence which he had possessed for twenty-five years. To him Portugal owed her revival from her pre- vious lethargy; and although many of his useful regulations did not sur- vive his fall, yet the enlightened views he introduced, and the national feeling which he awakened, were not without permanent eff'ecfs. In 1792, on account of the sickness of the queen, Juan Maria Joseph, prince of Brazil (the title of the prince-royal until 1816), was declared regent; and, in 1799, her malady having terminated in a confirmed mental aberration, the prince was declared regent with full regal powers, but made no change in the policy of the government. His connexions with England involved him in the wars of that country against France ; and the Portuguese troops distinguished themselves by their valour in the peninsular campaigns. Commercial distress, the accumulating debt, and the threatening language which Spain was compelled by France to adopt, led to a peace with France in 1797 ; but the disasters of the French arms in 1799 encouraged the re- gent to renew hostilities, in alliance with England and Russia. As soon, however, as Bonaparte had established his authority, Spain was obliged to declare war against Portugal ; but it was terminated the same year (1801) by the treaty of Ba^ajos, by which Portugal was obliged to cede Olivenga, with the payment of a large sum of money to Spain. Por- tugal, meanwhile, preserved a mere shadow of independence by the great- est sacrifices, until at last Junot entered the couniry, and the house ol Braganza was declared, by Napoleon, to have foifeited the throne ; this impudent declaration arising from the refusal of the prince to seize the English merchandise in his dominions. The regent now threw himselt entirely into the arms of the English, and on the 9th of November, 1807 embarked for Brazil. Junot entered the capital the next day, and Portu- gal was treated as a conquered countrj'. An English force was landed, and, in the northern provinces, numerous bodies of native troops deter mined to maintain the stniggle for freedom; a junta was also established in Oporto to conduct the government. After some hard fighting, the de- cisive battle of Vimeira took place (August 21, 1608), which was followed THE THEASUEY OF HISTORY. I49 by the convention of Cintra, and the evacuation of the country by the French forces. During 1808, 1809, and 1810, Portugal was the chief scene of the mili- tary contest between Great Britain and France ; and the Portuguese sub- sequently also took an active part in the war of Spanish independence. On the death of Maria, John VI. ascended the throne of Portugal, and Brazil. This transference of the court of Lisbon into an American colony was followed by important consequences : firstly, that Brazil attempted to withdraw itself from dependence on England ; and secondly, that the colony gradually became a separate state. In Portugal, on the contrary the influence of England continued, and the condition of the kingdom was not essentially changed. In 1816, John VI. refused to return to Lisbon, whither a squadron under Sir John Beresford had been sent to convey him ; partly, it is said, because he was displeased at the disregard to his rights shown by the congress of Vienna ; partly because the unpopularity of the commercial treaty had alienated him from England; but, probably, still more because he was influenced by the visible growth of a Brazilian party which now aimed at independence. Henceforward, indeed, the separation of Portugal from Brazil manifestly approached. The Portuguese of Europe began to despair of seeing the seat of monarchy at Lisbon ; the regency there were without strength, all appointments were obtained from the distant court of Rio Janeiro ; men and money were drawn away for the Brazilian war on the Rio de la Plata ; the army left behind was unpaid ; in fine, all the materials of formidable discontent were heaped up in Por- tugal, when the Spanish revolution broke out, in the beginning of 1820. Six months elapsed without its communicating to Portugal ; but in August the garrison of Oporto declared for a revolution, and, being joined on their march to the capital by all the troops on their line, were received with open arms by the garrison of Lisbon ; and it was determined to bestow on Portugal a still more popular constitution than that of Spain. This revolution was unattended by violence or bloodshed. A provis- ional government was established, which, on the first of October, formed a union with the junta of Oporto. Count Palmella, the head of the royal regency, was despatched to Rio Janeiro with an account of what had hap- pened, and a petition that the king or the prince royal would return to Lisbon. The mode of electing the cortes was settled chiefly in imitation of the Spanish constitution ; and the liberal party, which was desirous of the immediate adoption of that constitution, obliged the supreme junta (November 11) to administer the oath of obedience to it to the troops. The regency of Lisbon, by the advice of a Portuguese minister, at once faithful to his sovereign and friendly to the liberty of his country, made an attempt to stem the torrent by summoning an assembly of the cortes. The attempt was too late ; but it pointed to the only means of saving the monarchy. The same minister, on his arrival in Brazil, at the end of 1820, advised the king to send his eldest son to Portugal as viceroy, with a con- stitutional charter, in which the legislature was to be divided into two chambers. He also recommended an assembly of the most respectable Brazilians at Rio Janiero to organize their affairs. But a revolution in that capital speedily brought matters to a crisis ; and the popular party, headed by Don Pedro, the king's eldest son, declared for the constitution of Portugal, and the separation of Brazil at the same time. On the 9th of March, 1821, the articles of the new constitution, securing freedom of person and property, the liberty of the press, legal equality, and the abolition of privileges, the admission of all citizens to all offices, and the sovereignty of the nation, were adopted almost unanimously. There was more diversity of opinion concerning the organization of the chambers, and the royal veto ; but large majorities finally decided in favour of one chamber and a conditional veto. After some disturbances in Brazil, 150 THK TREASURY OF HISTORY. •he kin^ sailed for Portugal, but was not permitted to land until he had given his cons/ it to the several acts of the cortes, imposing restrictions «n his pciver. On landing, he immediately swore to observe the new con- stitution and c incurred, without opposition, to all the succeeding acts of the cortex. Tlie revolutionary cortes were as tenacious of the authority of the mother country as the royal administration; and they accordingly recalled the h sir-apparent to Lisbon. But the spirit of independence arose among" tiie Brazilians, who, encouraged by the example of the Span- ish Americans, presented addresses to the prince, beseeching him not to yield to the demands of the Portuguese assembly, who desired to make him a prisoner, as they had made his father; but, by assuming the crown of Brazil, to provide for his own safety, as well as for their liberty. In truth, it is evident he neither could have continued in Brazil without ac- ceding to the popular desire, nor have then left it without insuring the destruction of monarchy in that country. lie acquiesced, therefore, in the prayer of these petitions ; the independence of Brazil was proclaimed, and the Portuguese monarchy thus finally dismembered. In the summer of 1823, the advance of the French army into Spain ex- cited a revolt of the Portuguese royalists; and now the infant Don Miguel, the king's second son, attracted notice, by appearing at the head of a bat- tallion who declared against the constitution ; and the inconstant soldiery, equally ignorant of the objects of their revolts against the king or the cortes, were easily induced to overthrow their own slight work. After a short interval, the possessors of authority relapsed into the ancient and fatal error of their kind : — that of placing their security in maintaining un- limited power. A resistance to the constitution, which grew up in the interior of the court, was fostered by foreign influence ; and, after a strug- gle of some months, prevented the promulgation of a charter well consid- ered and digested. In April, 1824, part of the garrison of Lisbon surrounded the king's palace, and hindered the access of his servants to him; some of his min- isters were imprisoned, and the diplomatic body, including the papal nun- cio, the French ambassadors, and the Russian as well as the English min- ister, were the only means at last of restoring him to some degree of lib erty ; which was, however, so imperfect, that, by the advice of the French ambassador, the king, accompanied by his two daughters (May 9), took refuge on board of an English ship of war in the Tagus, where, with the assistance of the whole diplomatic corps, he was at length able to re-estab- lish his authority. In all the transactions which rendered this step neces- sary, Don Miguel had acted a most conspicuous part. He, however, de- clared that his object was to frustrate a conspirac)', which was on the point of breaking out, against the life of the king and the queen ; and so well inclined was the king to pardon his son, that he accepted his explan- ation, and forgave these youthful faults as involuntary errors. The king, at length, issued a proclamation (June 4), for restoring the ancient con- stitution of the Portuguese monarchy, with assurances that an assembly of the cortes, or three estates of the realm, should be speedily held with all their legal rights, and especially with the privilege of laying before the king, for his consideration, the heads of such measures as they might deem necessary for the public good, for the administration of justice, and for the redress of grievances, whether public or private. To that assem- bly was referred the consideration of the periodical meetings of succeeding cortes, and the means of progressively ameliorating the administration of the state. On the 14th of May the king returned ashore; and on the 4th of the following month he proclaimed an act of amnesty for the adherents of the cortes of 1820, from which only a few exceptions were made ; on the same day appeared the decree of June 4, reviving the old constitution of the estateSj and summoning the cortes of Lamego. At the same time THE TREASURY OF HISTORY 151 the junta for the preparation of a constitution was superseded by another, which was directed to make preparations for the election of the deputies of the old cortes. But Spain opposed the convocation of the old cortes, and the influence of the queen was thus revived. New conspiracies were formed against the king, and the ministry was divided in its views, prin- cipally in regard to the policy to be pursued towards Brazil. In January, 1825, a new ministry was formed ; and a negotiation was opened in London, under the mediation of Austria and England, to adjust the differences between Portugal and Brazil. The Brazihans had tasted independence, and it was soon evident that no amicable issue of such ne- gotiation was possible which did not involve acquiescence in tiie separa- tion of the two countries. Accordingly, a treaty was concluded, and finally ratified at Lisbon (November 5), recognizing the independence and separ- ation of Brazil, acknowledging the sovereignty of that country to be vested in Don Pedro; allowing the king of Portugal also to assume the imperial title ; and binding the emperor of Brazil to reject the offer of any Portu- guese colony to be incorporated with his dominions. The death of John VI. took place March 10, 1826, after having named the infanta Isabella regent, who governed in the name of the emperor of Brazil, as king of Portugal. In the following month, Don Pedro granted a constitution, establishing two chambers, and in other respects resemb- ling the French charter. May 2, he abdicated the Portuguese throne, in favour of his daughter. Donna Maria (he remaining king during her minori- ty), on condition of her marryingher uncle Miguel. But a party was formed, which aimed at the overthrow of this constitution, and proclaimed the prince absolute king of Portugal. The marquis of Chaves and the marquis of Abrantes appeared at the head of the insurgents ; and Spain, which alone had not acknowledged the new order of things, assembled an army on the Portuguese frontiers. In this emergency Portugal appealed to England, and fifteen thousand British troops were landed in Lisbon. Thus assisted, the insurrection was completely put down ; Spain was forced to yield, and the cortes, which had been convened in October, 1826, closed its session in March, 1827. In July, Don Pedro named his brother Miguel lieutenant and regent of the kingdom, with all the rights established by the charter, according to which the government was to be administered. The prince accordingly left Vienna, and arrived at Lisbon in February, 1828. The cortes was then in session, and, on the 26th, Miguel took the oath to observe the charter, in the presence of the two chambers. But the apos- tolicals or absolutists, to whom the disposition of the regent was well known, already began to speak openly of his rights to the throne, and to hail him as absolute king. His ministers were all appointed from that party, except the count Villa Real ; and the populace were permitted to add to their cry, "Long live the absolute king," that of "Down with the constitution." It was now determined that Miguel should go to Villa Vigosa, a town near the Spanish frontier, where he could be supported by the troops of the marquis of Chaves, and be proclaimed absolute king; but this project was frustrated by the decision of Mr. Lamb, the British minister, who counteracted the order for the departure of the British troops, and prevented the payment of the loan made to Don Miguel under the guarantee of the British government. The cortes, being opposed to the designs of the prince, was dissolved March 14, and the recall of the British troops in April removed another obstacle from his path. He ac- cordingly, on the 3d of May, issued a decree in his own name, convoking the ancient cortes of lamego, which had not met since 1697. The mili- tary in general was not favourable to the projects of the prince, and the garrison of Oporto proclaimed Don Pedro and the charier, May 18. Other garrisons joined them, and the constitutional army, six thousand strong, advanced towards Lisbon. But they were unable to cope with the abso- 162 THE TKEASUEY OF HISTORY. lutists, and after sustaining a severe defeat towards the end of June, the troops either forced their way to the Spanish frontiers, or embarked for England. Thus terminated the first efforts of the constituiionaUsts in Portugal, and, with the extinction of that party, the influence of England with the Portuguese government ceased. Don Miguel now turned his at- tention to the consolidation of his power; severity and cruelty were his expedients; the prisons were crowded with the suspected, and foreign countries were filled with fugitives. Many noblemen who were known to be attached to the cause of the young queen, fortunately made their escape, and some of them came to England, where they were supported by money sent from Brazil by the emperor, for that purpose, to his am- bassador in London. The cortes met June 23, and declared Don Miguel lawful king of Portugal and Algarve ; chiefly on the grounds that Don Pedro had forfeited his right by becoming a Brazilian citizen, and was not a resident in the country, and that therefore he could neither succeed tc the throne himself, nor name the person who should reign in his stead On the 4th of July, 18'28, Don Miguel confirmed the judgment of the cortes, and assumed the royal title. He immediately established a special com- mission to punish all who had taken a part in the Oporto insurrection, the members of the commission to be paid from the confiscations they should make ; and in the colonies the same course of condemnation was pursued that had been practised at home. Portugal now became the prey of political and religious bigots. In March, 1830, the regency appointed by Don Pedro, as guardian of his daughter, was installed in Terceira, consisting of Palmella, Villa Flor, and Guerreiro. The other islands were afterwards reduced by the forces of the regency ; and subsequently to the return of Don Pedro to Europe, it was well known that he was making preparations for displacing Miguel from his usurped seat. Meanwhile insurrections repeatedly broke out at home, but were suppressed by the vigour of the government and the want of concert in the insurgents. In 1830, it was estimated that the number of prisoners confined for political causes were above forty thousand, and that the number of persons concealed in different parts of the country was about five thousand. In consequence of some acts of violence, and a re- fusal of redress on the part of the government, a British fleet was sent to the Tagus (May 4, 1831); but on its appearance the required concessions were made. In July, Miguel was obliged to suffer a second humiliation of this nature ; a French fleet having forced the passage of the Tagus, *id taken possession of the Portuguese fleet, in consequence of the de- mands of the French government, for satisfaction for injuries to French subjects committed by the Portuguese authorities, not having been com- plied with. In August, an insurrection of the troops broke out against Miguel. At that time Don Pedro had arrived in Europe, having embarked on board an English ship of war in the spring of 1831, and reached France in June. From thence he proceeded to Oporto, and immediately com- menced operations for displacing Don Miguel from the throne, and estab- lishing Donna Maria as queen, under a regency. Previous to this, large bodies of volunteers had embarked from Britain and Ireland in the cause of Don Pedro, the greater number of whom were garrisoned in Oporto. Don Miguel, meanwhile, was not inactive, but advanced with his adherents towards that city, which he attacked several times without success ; on one occasion (September 21, 1832), hs loss was fifteen hundred men, while that of Don Pedro was not more than a third of the number. In July of the same year, a naval battle took place between, the fleet of Don Pedro, imder the command of Admiral Napier, and that of Don Miguel, in which the latter was defeated, with the loss of two ships of 74 guns, a frigate of 56, a store-ship of 48, and two smaller vessels. This event, with other successes of the Pedroite party, led to Miguel's abandonment of the THE TREASURY OF HISTORY I53 throne, consenting at the same time to leave the kingdom, on condition of receiving an income for life suited to his rank. Donna Maria da Gloria was proclaimed queen of Portugal, and in 1835 was married to the duke of Leuchtenberg, son of Eugene Beauharnois. This prince died in March of the same year, after having been married about a month. Don Pedro died a few months after his daughter had assumed the regal power ; but his short reign was distinguished by two remarkable acts, one of which is likely to have a beneficial effect on the commerce of the country, the other not less likely to have an influence over the religion and social habits of the people. By the former, the abolition of the Oporto wine company, which was a most injurious monopoly, was effected, there- by giving the grower a fair recompense for encouraging the cultivation of the grape, and thus producing wine of a better quality ; while, owing to the competition of merchants who export the wine, it could be bought at a lower price. The English being great buyers of wine, the decree of Don Pedro was advantageous to them, as well as to the Portuguese. We must not, however, forget to state, that the young queen was prevailed upon, in 1838, to grant a new charter of monopoly to the Oporto wine company for twenty years, thereby frustrating the benefits which were to be expected from its previous abolition. The other memorable act of the regent was the suppression of all the monasteries and convents in the kingdom, and the seizure of all lands belonging to them ; a measure which was considered as retaliatory for the assistance given to Don Miguel by the monks, &c., during the contest between the rival brothers. This was, notwithstanding, an act of unmerited severity ; for although small pensions — none exceeding fifty pounds a year — were granted to those who had not openly avowed themselves in favour of Don Miguel, it was so easy to accuse them of having done so, that very few actually received the pittance. The lands thus confiscated were ordered to be sold for the benefit of the state ; and after the death of Don Pedro, the cortes divided them into very small lots, allowing labouring people to become the pur- chasers on easy terms. The sale took place in 1835, and among the buy- ers were many foreigners, who have settled in Portugal on these small estates, and who, as well as the Portuguese peasantry thus converted into landed proprietors, will be the means of promoting industry, and thereby increasing the comforts of a large class of the inhabitants. To pursue this sketch of the history of Portugal farther is needless ; for though several attempts have been made to overturn the existing govern- ment, and although the political horizon wears an unsettled aspect, the events which have subsequently occurred present few features worthy of comment. The queen's second marriage with a prince of the family of Saxe-Coburg must not, however, be forgotten; neither should we omit that Portugal, so early and so constantly foremost among the slave-dealing nations of Europe, has followed the example of Great Britain, and decreed its abolition. The government of Portugal is an hereditary monarchy, with an upper and a lower representative chamber, both of which are elective, the fran- chise being vested in the holders of a certain small amount of fixed prop- erty. The cortes meet and dissolve at specified periods, without the in- tervention of the sovereign, and the latter has no veto on a law passed twice by both houses. Each province has a governor, to whom the details of its government arc entrusted, but great abuses exist in almost every department, both in the judicial and administrative branches, the inade quacy of the salaries leading to the acceptance of bribes. And with regard to the prevalence of crime, it may be trulj ^aid, that so common is assas- sination, and so numerous are thefts, that the law and the police are im potent alike to secure either property or life. The Portuguese language differs but litHe from the Spanish ; and, in 154 THE TREASUUY OF HISTORY. Southey's "Peninsular War," the author says, "add hypocrisy to a Span- iard's vices, and you have the Portuguese character." But we are inclined to think iiini shuiderous. The fifteenih century was the era of the heroic age in Portugal, at which time its literature vied with the Spanish; at present, the Italian opera is the chief attraction in Lisbon. Though Por- tugal has lost Brazil, she still retains the Azores, Madeira, Cape de Verd. and Guinea islands ; the settlements of Angola and Mozambique, in Af- rica; and those of Goa, Dilli, Macao, &c., in Asia. THE HISTORY OF GERMANY. [AUSTRIAN EMPIRE, GERMAN STATES, &c.] From all that can be collected of the early history of Germany, it ap- pears to have been divided into many petty nations and principalities, some governed by kings whose power was limited, others by such as were ab- solute ; some of their princes were elective, and others hereditary; and some aristocratical and democratical governments were also found among them. Many of these states and kingdoms frequently united under one head or general, both in their offensive and defensive wars. This was the state of the Germans before they were conquered by the Romans. At that time the children went naked, and the men hung the skin of some wild beast upon their shoulders, fastening it with a thong; and persons of the best quality wore only a little woolen mantle, or a coat without sleeves. Their usual bed was the ground, a little straw, with the skins of wolves or bears. Their food was bread, meat, butler, and fruit, as at present, and their drink, water, milk, and beer ; for in those early ages they were strangers to the use of wine. They were accustomed to convivial enter- tainments, sitting in a semi-circle, with the master of the family in the middle, and the rest on the right and left, according to their quality ; but to these feasts no women were admitted, nor a son under twenty years of age. They expressed an extraordinary regard for morality, and were very strict in divine worship, choosing their priests out of the nobility, who were not entirely ignorant of moral philosophy and physics, and were usually called to councils of state. Women, we are told, were like- wise admitted to the priestly office, and both the one and the other were treated with the most profound respect by the laity. The doctrine of transmigration prevailed in Germany ; they believed that departed souls, when they had left these bodies, animated other creatures ; and, according as they behaved in this life, were happy or miserable. Cluverius observes, that they worshiped the sun with such devotion, that they seemed to ac- knowledge that planet as the supreme God, and to it dedicated the first day of the week. They also worshiped Woden, or Godan, after whom the fourth day of the week was called Wednesday. It is said that this word Godan, becoming afterwards contracted into God, the Germans and Eng- lish gave that name to the Deity. They also worshiped the god Faranes, the same with *-he Danish Thar, the Thunderer, from whom our Thursday has its name. The goddess Freia, or Venus, gave her name to Friday ; and Tuisco, ihr same with Mars, gave name to Tuesday. THE TRKASURY OP HISTOB-Y. 155 Like the ancient Britons, they performed their sacrifices in groves, the oak being usually chosen for an altar ; and, instead of a temple, they erected an arbour made of the boughs of the oak and beech. The priests, as well as the sacrifice, were always crowned with wreaths of oak, or of some other sacred tree. They sacrificed not only beasts, but men; and these human sacrifices were taken from among their slaves or malefactors. Their belief that their souls should animate other bodies after death, it is said, made them fearless of danger, and upon extraordinary occasions they made no scruple of sacrificing their own lives. They burnt their dead bodies, and, having gathered up the bones and ashes of the funeral pile, buried them together ; at the funerals of the great, warlike exercises were exhibited with all the rude pageantry of barbaric splendour, and songs were sung in memory of the heroic actions of the deceased. These were the manners of the Germans, before they were subdued by the Romans, who met with such resistance, that they were contented with making the Rhine and the Danube the boundaries of their conquests ; they accordingly built fortresses, and stationed garrisons on the banks of both those rivers, to prevent the incursions of what they termed the barbarous nations ; but within about a hundred years after Constantine the Great, the Franks, Burgundians, Alemanni, and other German nations, broke through those boundaries, passed the Rhine, and dispossessed the Romans of all Gaul, Rhaetia, and Noricum, which they shared among themseves; but the Franks prevailing over the rest, at length established their empire over all modern Germany, France, and Italy, under the conduct of Charle- magne, or Charles the Great. This celebrated man was crowned at Rome by Pope Leo IIL in the church of St. Peter, on Christmas-day, 800, amid the acclamations of the clergy and the people. Nicephorus, at that time emperor of the East, attended at the coronation ; and these princes agreed that the state of Venice should serve as the limit to each empire. Charle- magne now exercised all the authority of the Caesars ; the whole country from Benevento to Bayonne, and from Bayonne to Bavaria, acknowledging his power. The Germans had previously been converted to Christianity by one Winfred, an Englishman, who also collected them in towns, and thus in- troduced the elements of civilization among them. The Saxons were made Christians by Charlemagne, after a long and bloody warfare. After the death of Charlemagne, and of Louis le Debonnaire, his son and successor, the empire was divided between the four sons of Louis ; Lothaire was emperor; Pepin, king of Aquitaine; Louis, king of Ger- many; and Charles the Bald, king of France. This partition was a con- tinual source of discontent among the parties. The French enjoyed the empire under eight emperors, until the year 912, when Louis IIL, the last prince of the race of Charlemagne, dying without male issue, Conrad, count of Franconia, son-in-law to Louis, was elected emperor, but was not acknowledged in Italy nor in France. The reign of Conrad produced no change whatever in Germany ; but it was about this period that the German bishops fixed themselves in the possession of their fiefs ; and many cities began to enjoy the right of natural liberty; following the ex- ample of the cities of Italy, some bought these rights of their lords, and others procured them with arms in their hands. Questions affecting the general interests of the Germanic body were determined in a diet, con- sisting of the emperor, the electors, and the representatives of the princes, and of the free cities. There were also minor diets in the difl'erent cities or divisions of the empire. It may, however, be proper to mention in this place, that the constitution of the empire has undergone a total change. There is no emperor of Germany ; the title is sunk in that of emperor of Austria, which that sovereign holds by inheritance, not election. The ecclesiastical electorates have been taken possession of by secular princes. i56 THE TREASUaV OP HISTORY. Bohemia is united to Austria; the palatinate has disappeared ; Saxony is given to the kingdom of Prussia, formerly the electorate of Brandenburg; and the electorates of Hanover and Bavaria are also converted into king- doms. Most of these changes are the work of the late wars. Conrad was succeeded by Henry, duke of Savoy, whom on his death- bed he recommended to the states. And in Henry H. the male race of the Saxon kings and emperors ended, in 1024. The states then elected Conrad H., who, by means of his son, afterwards Henry III., annexed the kingdom of Burgundy to the empire, rendered Poland subject to his dominion, and, in a treaty with Denmark, appointed the river Eider as the boundary of the German empire. Henry III. is regarded as the most powerful and absolute of the German emperors. He deposed three popes who had set up against each other, and supported a fourth against them ; from which time the vacancy of the papal chair was always inti- mated to the emperor, and it became an established form for him to send a deputation to Rome, requesting that a new pope might be elected. Henry IV., his son, was, however, put under the ban by the pope, Greg- ory VII., and his subjects and son excited to rebel against him ; on which he was deposed by the states. Henry V. succeeded his father, but was obliged to renounce all pretensions to the investiture of bishoprics, which had been claimed by his ancestors ; and in him became extinct the male line of the Frank emperors. Upon this the pope caused Lotharius, duke of Saxony, to be elected ; but he was not acknowledged by all Ger- many for their sovereign till after a ten years' war. Frederic I., who be- came emperor in 1152, effectually exercised his sovereignty over the see of Rome, by virtue of his coronation at Aries, reserving also his do- minion over that kingdom, and obliging Poland to pay him tribute and take an oath of allegiance. To him succeeded Henry VI., Philip III., and Otho ; the latter of whom, being deposed by the pope, was succeeded by Frederic II., whom historians extol for his learning, wisdom and res- olution; he was five times excommunicated by three popes, but prevailed so far against Pope Gregory IX. as to depose him from the papal chair. These continual contests between him and the popes gave rise to the two famous factions of the Guelphs and Ghibelines ; the former adhering to the papal see, and the latter to the emperors. About the middle of the thirteenth century the empire was rent asun- der by factions, each of which supported a particular candidate for the imperial dignity ; these were William, earl of Holland, Henry of Thurin- gia, Richard, earl of Cornwall, brother to Henry HI. of England ; and Alphonso, king of Castile. At this time the great officers of the house- hold laid claim to a right of electing the emperor, to the exclusion of the princes and great towns, or without consulting any other members of the empire ; the distracted state of the empire served to confirm to them this claim ; and Gregory X., who then filled the pontifical chair at Rome, either considering such claim as valid, or desirous of rendering it so, di- rected a bull to those great officers, the purport of which was to exhort them to choose an emperor, and by that means to end the troubles in Germany. From that time they have been considered as the sole elect- ors ; and their right to this privilege was established beyond all contro- versy in the reign of Charles IV., by the glorious constitution known by the title of the golden bull, published in the year 1357, which decreed that the territories by virtue of which the great offices were held, should descend to the heirs-male forever, in perpetual entail, entire and indi- visible. Germany began to recover from its distracted state in the year 1273, when Count Rodolph of Hapsburgh, the founder of the house of Aus- tria, was advanced to the imperial dignity. Charles IV. of the Austrian family lived to see his son Wenzel, or Wenceslaus, elected king of <;be THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. I57 Romans. This prince, who was the fourth son of Charles, at his father's desire succeeded to the empire ; but, being dissolute and cruel, was de- posed, after he had reigned twenty-two years. Charles was succeeded by three other princes, whose reigns were short; at length, in 1411, Si- gismund was unanimously chosen emperor, and in 1414 he proclaimed a general council to be held at Constance, in which three popes were de- posed and a new one was set up. At this council the reformers, John Huss and Jerome of Prague, were condemned and burnt, although the emperor had granted them a passport, and was engaged in honour and conscience for their safe return to their country ; which so exasperated the Hussites of Bohemia, that they raised a formidable army, and under the conduct of Zisca, their general, defeated his forces in fourteen bat- tles. Frederic, duke of Austria, son-in-law to the emperor Sigismund, was chosen emperor upon the death of his father, and reigned fifty-three 5'ears. His son Maximilian was chosen king of the Romans during the life of his father, and afterwards obtained from the pope the imperial crown. During his reign the empire was divided into ten circles. Charles V., surnamed the Great, son of Philip, king of Spain, and grandson to Maximilian, was elected emperor in 1519. He caused Lu- ther's doctrine to be condemned, and in his reign the disciples of that great reformer obtained the name of Protestants., from their protesting against a decree of the imperial diet in favour of the Catholics. He is -said to have been victorious in seventy battles ; he had the pope and French king prisoners at the same time, and carried his arms into Africa, where he conquered the kingdom of Tunis, but was disgrnced in the war >vith the piratical states. He compelled the Turks to raise the siege of Vienna, made war on the protestant princes, and took the elector of Saxony and the prince of Hesse prisoners ; but, after a reign of thirty- eight years, he resigned the empire to his brother Ferdinand, and the kingdom of Spain to his son, Philip II., himself retiring to the convent of St. Juste, in Spain. The abdication of this prince left the power of the princes of Germany more firm. The house of Austria was divided into two branches, one of which reigned in Spain, and which, by the con- quests in the New World, had become much superior, in power and riches, to the Austrian branch. Ferdinand I., successor to Charles V., had great possessions in Germany ; Upper Hungary, which he also pos- sessed, could aff"ord him little more than the support of the troops neces- sary to make head against the Turks ; Bohemia seemed to bear the yoke with regret ; and Livonia, which had hitherto belonged to the empire, was now detached and joined to Poland. Ferdinand I. distinguished himself by establishing the aulic council of the empire ; he was a peaceful prince, and used to assign a part of each day to hear the complaints of his people. Maximilian II., and his son, Rodolph II., were each elected king of the Romans, but the latter could not be prevailed upon to allow a successor to be chosen in his lifetime. Under Maximilian II., as under Ferdinand I., Lombardy was not, in ef- fect, in the power of Germany ; it was in the hands of Philip, appertain- ing rather to an ally than a vassal. During this time the legislative authority resided always in the emperor, notwithstanding the weakness of the imperial power ; and this authority was in its greatest vigour, when the chief of the empire had not diminished his power by increasing that of the princes. Rodolph II. found these obstacles to his authority, and the empire became more weak in his hands. The philosophy, or rather the effeminacy, of this prince, who possessed particular virtues, but not those of a sovereign, occasioned many fermentations. Luther- anism had already spread itself in Germany for the space of a century ; princes, kings, cities and nations, had embraced this doctrine. In vain Charles V. and his successors had endeavoured ♦o stop its progress ; it 158 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. manifested itself more and more every day, till at length it broke all bounds, and menaced Germany with a general war. Henry IV. having nullified the measures of the party formed against the house of Austria, the protestants and catholics appeared reciprocally to fear each other; and hostilities ceased after the taking of Juliers. Germany, however, continued to be divided into two parties. The first, which was named the angelic union, had for its chief the elector palatine, united to whom were all the protestant princes, and the greater part of the imperial cities. The second was called the catholic league, at the head of which was the duke of Bavaria. The pope and king of Spain joined themselves to this party; and it was further strengthened by the elector of Saxony, and the landgrave of Hesse Darmstadt; the first because he was jealous of the elector palatine, and the latter because he had his particular reasons for keeping fair with the emperor. Rodolph died in 1612. The electors, after an interregnum of some months, bestowed the empire on the arch- duke Matthias, brother to the late emperor. This prince had already mounted the thrones of Hungary and Bohemia, as a friend to the protest- ant cause. But he had no sooner ascended the imperial throne, than he laid aside the mask and renounced the reformed religion. It was not long before he received the proper reward of his dissimulation. An ir- ruption being made into Hungary by the Turks, he applied to the protest- ants for succour, who refused him assistance. In 1619 Matthias died, leaving no issue. The protestant party used its utmost endeavors to prevent the empire from falling into the hands of a catholic prince, especially one of the house of Austria ; notwithstanding which, Ferdinand II., cousin to the late emperor, was elected, and for a time he was the most happy as well as the most powerful monarch in Europe : not so much from his personal efforts or abilities, as from the great success of his generals, Walstein and Tilly. The power of Aus- tria menaced equally the catholics and the protestants, and the alarm spread itself even to Rome. The pope thought it advisable to unite with France, in order to check the growing power of Austria. French gold, and the entreaties of the protestants, brought into this confederacy Gus- tavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, the only monarch of his day who had the smallest pretension to the name of a hero. The arrival of Gustavus in Germany changed the face of affairs in Europe. In 1631 he gained the battle of Leipsic, defeating General Tilly. Many of the new manoeu- vres introduced at that time by the Swedish monarch into the art of war, are even now practised by most of the European powers, and are esteem- ed by military men chef-d'cEuvres in military art. Ferdinand, in 1632, had nearly lost Hungary, Bohemia, and the empire ; but his good fortune saved him; his enemy, Gustavus Adolphus, was killed in the battle of Lutzen, in the midst of victory. The house of Austria, which had sunk under the arms of Adolphus, now felt new spirits, and succeeded in de- taching the most powerful princes of the empire from the alliance of Sweden. These victorious troops, abandoned by their allies and deprived of their king, were beaten at Nordlingen ; and although more fortunate afterwards, they were less feared than when under Gustavus. Ferdinand II. died at this conjuncture; he left all his dominions to his son Ferdinand III. In the reign of this prince the celebrated treaty of Westphalia was solemnly signed at Munster, October 24th, 1648. It was the basis of all subsequent treaties, and is esteemed as the fundamental law of the empire. It was by this treaty that the quarrels of the emperors^ and the princes of the empire, which had subsisted seven hundred years, and the disputes about religion (although of less duration, not less dan- gerous), were terminated. Germany appeared to recover insensibly its losses ; the fields were cultivated, and the cities rebuilt. Leopold, the son of Ferdinand, succeeded. His first war was very unfortunate, and he THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 159 received the law by the peace of Nimeguen. The interior of Germany was not materially injured ; but the frontiers, on the side of the Rhine, suffered considerably. Fortune was less unequal in the second war, pro- duced by the league of Augsburg; Germany, England, Spain, Savoy, and Sweden, against France. This war ended with the peace of Ryswick, (vhich deprived Louis XIV. of Strasburg. The third war was the most fortunate for Leopold, and for Germany ; when Louis XIV. had considerably increased his power; when he gov- erned Spain under the name of his grandson; when his armies not only possessed the Netherlands, and Bavaria, but were in the heart of Italy and Germany. The battle of Hochstadt, in 1704, changed the scene, and every place he had acquired was lost. Leopold died the following year, with the reputation of being the most powerful emperor since Charles the Fifth. The reign of Joseph I., his son, was yet more successful than thai of Leopold. The gold of England and Holland, the victories of Prince Eugene and the duke of Marlborough, and his good fortune, rendered him almost absolute. He put to the ban of the empire the electors of Bavaria and Cologne, partizans of France, and took possession of their dominions. Joseph died in 1711, and was succeeded by his brother, Charles VI. Although powerful as he was, by the possession of all Hungary, of the Milanese, of Mantua, of Naples, and of Sicily, and the nine provinces ol the Low Countries, and the flourishing state of his hereditary German do- minions, he was obliged to sign, on receiving the imperial crown, an obligation to conserve and augment the rights of the Germanic body. The empire vas tranquil and flourishing under the last emperor of the house of Austria. The war cf 1716, against the Turks, was principally on the frontiers of the Ottoman territory, and terminated gloriously. Ger- many had changed its face during the times of Leopold and Joseph ; but, in the reign of Charles VI. it may be said to have arrived almost at per- fection. Previous to this epoch, the arts were uncultivated ; scarcely a house was well built, and manufactures of fine articles unknown; the thirty years' war had ruined all. The aff'airs of Charles were uniformly successful until 1734. The cel- ebrated victories of Prince Eugene over the Turks at Temeswar, and ac Belgrade, secured the frontiers of Hungary from molestation ; and Italy became safe in consequence of Don Carlos, son of Philip V., havmg con- sented to become his vassal. But these prosperities had their termination. Charles, by his credit in Europe, and in conjunction with Russia, endeav- oured to procure the crown of Poland for Augustus III., elector of Saxony. The French, who supported Stanislaus, had the advantage, and Stanislaus was elected king. Don Carlos being declared king of Naples, after the battle of Bitonto. took possession also in 1735. Charles, to obtain peace, renounced the two kingdoms, and dismembered the Milanese in favour of the king of Sardinia. New misfortunes aflHicted him in his latter years. Having declared war against the Turks in 1737, his armies were defeated, and a disadvantageous peace was the consequence. Belgrade, Temeswar Orsova, and all the country between the Danube and the Saave, Vv^ere ceded to the Turks. He died broken-hearted, in 1740. The death of Charles plunged Europe in one general and ruinous war. By the "pragmatic sanction," which he had signed, and which was guaranteed by P'rancc, the arch-duchess Maria Theresa, his eldest daughter, had been named as heiress to all his possessions. This princess married, in 1736, Francis Stephen, last duke of Lorraine. She solicited the imperial throne for her husband, and sued for the inheritance of her father. They were both dis puted by the elector of Bavaria, who, supported by the arms of France, was elected emperor, in 1742. Charles VII. died in 1745, and was succeeded by Francis L, the husband ol Maria Theresa. He died in 1765, and was succeeded by his eldest son, ]G0 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. ^oseph II., who had been elected king of the Romans the preceding yeai. When this prince attained to the imperial dignity, he was considered as distinguished by a steady and active attention to every department of gov- ernment ; and he actually introduced a variety of bold and salutary reforms in the state. A noble liberality of mind, and enlarged views of politics, were imputed to him when he rendered the condition of the lower orders of men in his hereditary dominions less wretched and servile, by alleviat- ing that cruel vassalage in which they were held by the feudal lord:? of the soil; while a free and unreserved toleration was granted to all sects and denominations of Christians; but these hopes were frustrated by a more full developement of his character, in which, activity without efficiency, enacting laws and abrogating them, forming great designs and terminating them in mean concessions, appeared conspicuous. On the death of the elector of Bavaria, in 1777, the emperor laid claim to a considerable part of that electorate, founded on a vague right which had been set up, but not contended for, so long ago as the year 1425, by the emperor Sigismund. The king of Prussia, as elector of IJrandenburgh, opposed these preten- sions, on the ground of protecting the empire in its rights, privileges, and territorial possessions, against all encroachments upon, or diminutions of them; but the emperor not being induced by negotiation to relinquish his designs, in 1778 the two most powerful monarchs in Europe led their for- midable armies in person, to decide the dispute by arms ; nearly half a million of men appearing in the field, to fight for a territory which would have been dearly purchased at the sum expended on one year's support of those vast armies — so little is the ambition of princes regulated by the in- trinsic worth of the object at which they aim ! The kingdom of Bohemia was the scene of action, and the greatest generals of the age commanded; as. Marshal Count Laudohn, on the side of Austria; Prince Henry ol Prussia, and the hereditary prince (afterwards duke) of Brunswick, on the side of Prussia. The horrors and the eclat of war were then expected to be revived, in all their tremendous pomp, but the campaign was closed without any general action, or any brilliant event whatever; and during the following winter the courts of Petersburgh and Versailles interposing their good offices to make up the breach, terms of peace were soon ad- justed at Teschen, in Austrian Silesia. The territory acquired to the house of Austria by virtue of this treaty extends about seventy English miles, and in breadth is about half that space. The court of Vienna, being thus put into possession of this territory, renounced, in the fullest and most ex- plicit terms, all other claims whatever on the electorate, by which every latent spark that might kindle future contentions and wars was supposed to be extinguished. In the year 1781, the court of Vienna endeavoured to procure for the archduke Maximilian, brother to the emperor, the elec- tion to a participation of the secular bishoprics of Cologne and Munster, together with the reversion of the former : this measure was strenuously opposed by the king of Prussia, who remonstrated against it to the reign- ing elector, and to the chapters, in whom the right of election is lodged ; but notwithstanding the power of the prince who thus interposed, the house of Austria carried its point. After this the views of the emperor were directed to the restoration of the commerce formerly carried on by the ancient city of Antwerp ; and also to invite foreign ships to the port of Ostend, by which he hoped to render the Austrian Netherlands flourishing and opulent; nor was he less attentive to abridge the power of the clergy and the authority of the church of Rome, in every part of his hereditary dominions. Joseph II. died February 20, 1790, in the 49th year of his age, and was succeeded by his brother, Leopold II., then grand duke of Tuscany, who became emperor of Germany, and king of Hungary and Bohemia. This prince severely felt the thorns which encompassed a diadem : although a THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 161 lover of peace, he was compelled to wage war with the French republic . while lie ^'aw his sister, the queen of France, degraded from her rauk, kept a close prisoner, and in continual danger of an untimely end ; but death closed his eyes upon these conflictive scenes in March, 1791, five months after his advancetijent, in the forty-fourth year of his age. Fran- cis had no sooner been declared emperor, than he joined in the hostilities carrying on against France, on account of his hereditary states, as well as the empire. He soon lust the Netherlands ; and the empire all its territory west of the Rhine ; the Austrian possessions in Italy followed in 1797. The progress of the French arms was arrested only by the treaty of Campo Formio. A congress v\as afterwards held at Rastadt, which continued sitting for many months, and at length broke up without pro- curing peace. During the year 179J the Austrians, joined by the Russians under Suwarrow, penetrated into Italv, and deprived the French of the greater part of their conquests acquired by the military skill of Bonaparte. In 1800, Bonaparte having returr.ed fiom Egypt, raised an army, and crossed the Alps, with a view to recover Italy, lost in his absence. Fortune favoured his arms, and all the possessions of Francis fell into his hands by the famous battle of Marengo. Piedmont also submitted to the conqueror, and was, with Parma, Placentia, c^nd some imperial fiefs, in- corporated with France. The peace of Lur.eville, in 1301, made the Rhine the boundary between France and Germany ; the latter thus lost more than 26,000 square miles of territory, and nearly 4,000,000 inhabi- tants. The Austrian monarch founded the hereditary empire of Austria in 1804 ; and the first consul of France was declared emperor of the French, under the title of Napoleon I. Austria and Russia soon after united against Napoleon ; and the peace of Presburg, which took place on the 26th of December, 1805, terminated the war, in which three states of the German empire, Bavaria, Wirtemberg, and Baden, had taken part as allies of France. In the following year, sixteen German princes re- nounced their connexion with the German empire, and entered into a union under the name of the confederation of the Rhine, which acknow- ledged the emperor of France as its protector. This decisive step was followed by a second. The German empire was dissolved ; the emperor Francis resigned the German crown, renounced the title of emperor of Germany, and declared the hereditary dominions separated from the Ger- man empire. The first year of the existence of this " confederation " had not elapsed, when its armies, united with those of France, were marched to the Saale, the Elbe, and the Oder, against the Prussians, and afterwards to the Vistula, against the Russians. After the peace of Tilsit the con- federation was strengthened by the accession of eleven princely houses of northern Germany. The kingdom of Westphalia was established, and Jerome, the brother of Napoleon, put upon the throne. Four kings, five grand-dukes, and twenty-five dukes and other princes, were united in the new confederation. The peace of Vienna increased its extent and power. The north-west- ern parts, however, and the Hanseatic cities, Bremen, Hamburg, and Lubeck, were united with France in 1810. When Napoleon, in 1812, undertook his fatal expedition to Russia, the contingents of the Rhenish confederation joined his army ; and not less than 100,000 Germans found their graves in the snows of Russia. The Russians pursued their advan- tages to the frontiers of Germany. Prussia, wearied with her long suf- ferings, joined them with enthusiasm, and, at the same time, some of the states of the north of Germany united with them. Lubeck and Hamburg rose against the French, and all Germany was animated with the cheering hope of liberation. Austria next joined the grand alliance; and the war. owing to the enthusiasm of the people, soon assumed a most favourable appearance fo» 'he allies. On the 8th of October, 1813, Bavaria joined the 11 lb'2 THE TREASURY CF HISTORl. allied arms : and, ten days afterwards, the battle of Leipsic destroyed the French dominion in Germany, and dissolved the confederation of th« Rhine. The king of Wirtemberg, and the other princes of the south, soon after followed the example of Bavaria ; and after the battle of Hanau, Oct. 30, the French arms had retreated over the Rhine, p] very where in Ger many the French power was now annihilated; neither the kingdom of Westphalia nor the grand-duchy of Berg any longer existed. Through- out Germany immense preparations were made for the preservation ot the recovered independence. The victorious armies passed the Rhine on the first days of the following year, and all the territory which the French had conquered from Germany since 1793, was regained and secured by the events of the campaign in France and peace of Paris. It was stipula- ted, by the articles of the peace, that the German states should be inde- pendent, but connected together by a federative system. This provision (jf the treaty was carried into effect by the congress of Vienna, Nov. 1, 1814, and by the statutes of the Germanic confederation in 1H15. In the new system of Europe, established at the congress in 1815, and by the treaty concluded with Bavaria, at Munich, in April, 181G, the Aus- trian monarchy not only gained more than 4238 square miles of territory, but was also essentially improved in compactness ; and its commercial importance was increased by the accession of Dalmatia and Venice. The influence of this power among the states of Europe, in consequence ofthe congress of Vienna, as the first member of the great quadruple alliance (changed, by the congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, to a quintuple alliance,) and as the head ofthe German confederation, has since been gradually in- creasing. Of the foreign aflfairs ofthe government, which have been con- ducted by the prince Von Metternich, the most important is the connexion of Austria with the German confederation. The termination of the war with Russia, or, as it is called in Germany, " the war of liberation," re- stored Germany to its geographical and political position in Europe, but not as an empire acknowledging one supreme head. A confederation of thirty-five independent sovereigns and four free cities has replaced the elective monarchy, that fell inider its own decrepitude. In the choice of the smaller princes, who were to become rulers, as well as of those who were obliged to descend to the rank of subjects, more attention was paid to family and political connection than to the old territorial divisions under the empire. The clerical fiefs, and the greater part of the free im- perial cities, were incorporated into the estates of the more powerful princes, upon the dissolution of the empire, and were not re-established. Only four cities remained in the enjoyment of their political rights. The following territories, with the population of each, according to the sta- tistics of 1838, are comprised in the present German confederation: States. Population. 1. Austrian empire . . . 11,713,950 2. Kingdom of Trussia . . 10,903,810 3 Bavaria . . 4,338,490 4 Saxony . . 1,605,590 5 Haiinver . 1,737,500 « Wirtemberg l,646,78o 7. Grand duchy of Baden . 1,237,260 8. Electorate of Hesse . . . 721,550 9. Hesse Darmstadt .... 793,130 10. Duchy of llolstein . . . 476,950 11. Grand duchy of Luxemburg 184,760 Leinburg . 147,530 12. Duchy of Branswick . . . 269,000 13. Grand duchy of Mecklenburgh Scwerin ...... 478,800 1 4 Duchy of Nassau .... 387,490 States. Population. 15. Grand duchy of Saxe-Weimar 245,590 16. Duchy of Saxe-Cobm-g Gotha 140,040 17. . . . Saxe-Meiningen . 140,590 18. . . . Saxe-Altenburg . 121,590 19. Grand duchy of Mecklenbm-g- Sti-elitz 87,820 20. i Oldeubiu-g and Kniphausen .... 267,660 21. Duchy of Anhah Dessau . 61,480 22. . . . Bemburg . . . 46,920 23. Duchy of Kothen .... 40,200 24. Pi-incipality of Schwarzburg- Sonderhausen .... 55,810 25 Rudolstadt . 86.130 26 Hohenzolterii Hechinjren 20.200 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. ^63 States. Population.! States. Population. •27 Lichtenstein . 6,520 '33. Principality of LippeDetmold 82,970 34. Laudgravate of Hesse-Hom- burg 23.400 35. Free city of Lubeck . . . 47,200 36 Frankfort . . G4,570 37 Bremen . . . 57,400 38 Hamburg . . 153,500 Total . . 33,715,600 28 Hohenzoltern- Sigmaringen 42,990 29 Waldeck . . 56,480 30 Reuss (elder branch) . . 31,500 31. . . . Reuss (younger branch) . . , 72,050 32 .... Schaumburg- Lippe 27,600 The present emperor, Ferdinand I., succeeded his father, Francis I., on the 2nd of March, 1835. The accession of Ferdinand to the throne has been marked by a tendency on the part of the Austrian cabinet to an en- lightened course of domestic and foreign policy, the steady prosecution of which must prove of incalculable advantage for the empire andforElurope. Of the provinces which make up the grand imperial dominions of Austria, many of them have constitutions different from each other. Hungary, as an hereditary and limited monarchy, has been in the house of Austria ever since the year 1437, when the archduke, having married the only daughter of King Sigismund, succeeded to the crown. The nation, however, shares the legislative and executive power with the emperor, who exercises his authority only through the medium of the states, a kind of parliament as- sembling at fixed periods for the transaction of public business. The Hun- garian nobility also possess great power; and they alone, in state lan- guage, are included under the appellation of the Hungarian people, the rest being included as an inferior race of beings. Bohemia, Moravia, and the Tyroiese, also have an influence in the general government, and pos- sess, to a certain degree, the privileges of Hungary. But in most of the provincial diets, the authority of the crown is so great, that the represen- tation can determine little else than the mode of raising taxes, so that the emperor is in a considerable degree unlimited in his sovereignty. In the ancient diet of the empire, Austria, independent of her electoral vote for Bohemia, had seven votes in the college of princes for the seven states of Austria Proper, Carinthia, Styria, Brixen, Trent, Tyrol, and Carniola. In the new diet, or "confederation of the sovereigns and free towns of Ger- many," Austria, without having any superiority over the other states in point of rank, was declared by the congress of Vienna, to have the presi- dency with a vote. In the general assembly Austria had now four votes. The executive government consists of four great departments, established at Vienna, organized originally by the councils of Maria Theresa. One of these regulates the internal concerns of the empire, another its foreign af- fairs, a third its military conduct, and the fourth the government of Hun- gary. These different parts of the administration are identified in numer- ous boards, chanceries, councils, ministries, &c. The laws and jurispru- dence of his imperial and royal apostolic majesty's dominions are, taken altogether, very vague and complicated. Bohemia and Moravia are divi- ded into circles, each under a separate court of judicature, from which lies a right of appeal to the supreme tribunal in the provincial capital. Kvery county in Hungary has its ruling assembly and court of justice, subject to an appeal to the district judicature, thence to the royal tribunal at Buda, and thence to the king in person. A new code of mild and salu- tary laws was, however, drawn up at the instance of the government, in the early part of the present century ; which arc made the universal code of jurisprudence for the Austrian empire. " The importance of Austria in a political, not less than in a commer- rial point of view," says Mr. M'Culloch, " is evident; and as that impor- tance depends altogether upon her power and the judicious developement of her resources, the western states are deeply interested in her prosper- 164 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. ity. From the nature of the various states united under the imperial sceptre, it is clear that Austria divides the rule over the Sclavonic nations of Europe with Russia; it must consequently be for her interest to attach to her sway so numerous a portion of her subjects, who have a strong band of sympathy with a growing and very powerful rival. A mild government and a sincere attention to the material as well as moral condition of her subjects, will prove the best means of linking together provinces differing so much from each other, and each of which is too powerful to be long retained by any other than gentle means. The conduct of the cabinet at Vienna justifies the expectation that its leading members are aware ol the part which they are called upon to play, and of the true sources of their own influence, and of that of the nation in European politics. If unity at home be promoted, and the material and moral condition of the people be improved, the power of Austria will be such that she need fear nothing even if she had to contend single-handed with Russia or France. The variety, however, of her population, and the different, or supposed different interests, of her various provinces, are sufficient guarantys to the rest of Europe, that the power of Austria will not be abused. The pacific policy which her cabinet has generally observed is dictated by the pecu- liar composition of the state, and cannot safely be departed from. While Austria may thus be looked upon as a most useful ally by the other states of Europe, and as their grand bulwark against the power and ambition of Russia, her friendship will be courted in proportion to her increase of power. Her worst enemies are those, who, by fostering disunion at home, or keeping her people in ignorance of their true interests, tveaken her influence, and prevent her from attaining a position to command tL« respect of her neighbours without exciting their apprehensions." HUNGARY As this country now forms a part of the Austrian empire, but a short notice of it is necessary in this place. The Huns are described by the old historians as a nation of ferocious savages, emanating from Scythia, or Western Tartary. They lived upon roots, and flesh, half raw ; they had neither houses nor cities; and their wives and children dwelt under tents. They fought without order, and without discipline ; and trusted much to the swiftness of their horses. They do not appear to have been known to the Romans, until about the year 209 of the Christian era, at which time the Romans called them Pannonians. The people of Hungary consist of seven distinct races, viz : Magyars, Slowacks, Croatia.ns, Germans, Wallachians, Rusniacks, and Jews ; of whom the Magyars are by far the most considerable. In their own country their oriental denomination of Magyars is usually given to them, the name of Hungarians being used only by other nations. Under Attila, they penetrated into Gaul, and became masters of the finest cities ; and Avere approaching towards Paris, when Actius, the Roman general, defeat- ed them near Troyes, in Campagne. After this battle Attila retired into Pannonia ; but as soon as he had repaired his losses, he ravaged Italy : and was preparing anew to enter Gaul, when death put an end'^to his vic- tories, in the year 454. THE TREASURY OF HISTORY 165 Attila was really what he had named himself, " the terror of men, and the scourge of God." After his death, great divisions took place among the Huns, who no longer kept that name, but assumed the appellation of Hungarians ; but of their history during the time of the Western and Eastern empires, and the various wars and invasions which are said to have taken place between the third and tenth centuries, there is no infor- mation upon which reliance can be placed. They began to embrace Christianity under the guidance of German missionaries ; Stephen, chief of the Hungarians, who had married the sister of the emperor Henry, was baptized at the beginning of the eleventh century. The pope bestowed upon him the title of " apostolic king ;" and idolatry soon after disappeared in Hungary. Stephen, thus honoured by the pope for his services in converting the heathens, endeavoured to strengthen his kingdom by the power of the hierarchy and the aristocrary. He established ten richlv endowed bishop- rics, and divided the whole empire into seventy counties. These officers and the bishops formed the senate of the kingdom, with whose concur- rence King Stephen granted a constitution, the principal features of which are still preserved. The unsettled state of the succession to the crown, and the consequent interference of neighbouring princes, and of the Roman court, in the domestic concerns of Hungary; the inveterate hatred of the Magyars against the Germans, who were favoured by Peter, the success- or of Stephen ; the secret struggle of paganism with Christianity, and par- ticularly the arrogance of the clergy and nobility, long retarded the pros- perity of the country. The religious zeal and bravery of St. Ladislaus, and the energy and prudence of Colomann, shine amid the darkness of this period. These two monarchs extended the boundaries of the empire ; the former by the conquest of Croatia and Sclavonia, the latter by the conquest of Dalmatia. They asserted with firmness the dignity of the Hungarian crown, and the independence of the nation, against all foreign attacks ; and restored order and tranquillity at home by wise laws and prudent regulations. The introduction of German colonists, from Flanders and Alsace, into Zips and Transylvania, by Geysa H., in 1148, had an important influence on those districts ; and the connexion of Hungary with Constantinople during the reign of Bela HI., who had been educated in that city, had a favourable effect on the country in general. The Magyars, who had previously pass- ed the greater part of the year in tents, became more accustomed to living in towns, and to civil institutions. On the other hand, Hungary became connected with France by the second marriage of Bela with Margaret, sister to Henry, king of France, and widow of Henry, king of England. She introduced French elegance at the Hungarian court, and at this time we find the first mention of Hungarians studying at Paris ; but these im- provements were soon checked, and the kingdom was reduced to a most deplorable condition by the invasions of the Mongols in the middle of the 13th century. After the retreat of these wild hordes, Bela IV. endeavour- ed to heal the wounds of his country. He induced Germans to settle in the depopulated provinces, and elevated the condition of the citizens by increasing the number of the royal free cities. The king, Ladislaus, having been killed in 1290, by the Tartars, the emperor Rodolph of Haps- burg, pretending that Hungary was a fief of the empire, gave the crown to one of his sons ; but, in 1319, Pope Boniface VHI., supposing it to be his right to dispose of the kingdom, invested Charibert, who supported his appointment with his sword. Under him Hungary became powerful; he added to his kingdom Croatia, Servia, Transylvania, Moldavia, and part of Dalmatia. In 1437, Albert of Austria ascended the Hungarian throne. Under him oommenced the intestine divisions which, joined to the irruptions of the 16G THE TREASUllY OF HISTORY. Turks, almost depopulated the country. The civil war between the peo- ple and the nobles, in the reign of Ladislaus V. and the Corvins, weakened it so much, that it was not in a state to resist the Ottoman power; and the army of Solyman entirely destroyed that of Hungary in 1526 ; when the king, Louis II., was killed. Two hundred thousand captives were taken away by the Turks. Ferdinand I., emperor of Germany, was elected king of Hungary by the states in 1627. He found the country weak in popula- tion, very poor, divided by the catholic and protestant factions, and occu pied by the Turkish and German armies. It was in a deplorable state under all the kings of the house of Austria, but more particularly so under Leopold, elected in 1655. In his reign, Upper Hungary and Transylvania were the theatre of revolution, bloody war, and devastation. The Hun- garians defended their liberties against Leopold ; and the consequence was, the death of the principal nobility on the scaffohl, at Vienna. A man named Emeric Tekeli, whose father and friends had fallen under the hands of the executioner, in order to avenge their deaths, raised a force in Hun- gary, in 1683, and joined Mahomet IV., tlien besieging Vienna. John Sobieski, king of Poland, Charles, duke of Lorraine, and the princes of the empire, had the good fortune to oblige Mahomet to retire, and thus relieved the emperor and his capital. Leopold was resolved to be re- venged on the Hungarians ; he erected a scaffold in the month of March, 1687, and it remained until the close of the year, during which time vic- tims without number were immolated by the hands of the executioner. The shocking butcheries which the Hungarians saw practised on their countrymen, filled them with horror and intimidated them. The Turks were twice repulsed and Hungary submitted. Transylvania was con- quered, and in possession of the Imperialists. The crown, which, since the time of Ferdinand I. had been elective, was now declared hereditary ; and Joseph, son of Leopold, was crowned king at the close of the year 1687. It continued in the possession of the Old Austrian House until the death of Charles VI., 1740, After his death, Maria Theresa, his daughter, who had married into the House of Lorraine, and was by right heiress to his hereditary states, was in great danger of being deprived. France and Bavaria overran her domin- ions ; but at length she overcame all her difficulties ; her husband, after the death of Charles VII. of Bavaria, was also invested with the joint sovereignty. She dying in 1780, her son, Joseph II., emperor of Ger- many, succeeded- He dying in 1790, his next brother, Peter Leopold, grand-duke of Tuscany, became king of Hungary ; but died five months after his elevation, and was succeeded by his eldest son Francis. By the constitution of Hungary the crown is still held to be elective. This point is not disputed. All that is insisted on is, that the heir of the House of Austria should be elected as often as a vacancy happens. THE HISTORY OF PRUSSIA. The name of Prussians was unknown till the tenth century ; and ita etymology is very uncertain ; some authors suppose that the former in- habitants, alluding to their proximity to the Russians, called themselves Porussi, or, bordering on the Russians; forpo, in the old Prussian lau- THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 167 guage signifies near. In that age the king of Poland took great pains, and even made use of fire and sword, for the conversion of the pagan Prus- sians to Christianity. Boleslaus I. began with chastising the Prussians for the murder of St. Albert, or Adelbert, called the apostle of that nation. His successors had also several quarrels with the Prussians ; and Boles laus IV. who committed dreadful ravages in this country, lost his life in an unsuccessful battle in 1163. In the thirteenth centuty, the Prussians ravaged Culm, Cujavia and Masovia; upon which Conrad, duke of Masovia, was obliged to apply for assistance to his allies, who all wore the cross, which emblem they carried into the field against the Prussians, whom they considered as the enemies of the Christian name. But all their eflforts proving ineffect- ual, the duke applied to the German knights of the Teutonic order, and strongly represented the great importance of defending the frontiers. Ac- cordingly, in 1230, they obtained the palatinates of Culm and Doberzin for twenty years, and afterwards forever, with the absolute authority over any future conquests in Prussia. These knights, after a long and bloody war, during the space of fifty-three years, by the assistance of the sword- bearing knights, subdued the whole country. A war afterwards broke out between the Teutonic knights and the Lithuanians, which was attend- ed with the most dreadful outrages. These knights made religion the cloak of their ambitious views, and, under the pretence of propagating the gospel of peace, committed the most inhuman barbarities ; nay, it is gen- erally agreed, that they extirpated the native Prussians, and planted the Germans there in their stead. Their territory at that time extended from the Oder along the Baltic, to the bay of Finland, and contained cities like Dantzic, P^lbing, Thorn, Culm, &c. But, in 1410, their savage zeal re- ceived a terrible check ; for after a most bloody battle they were wholly defeated. In 1554 half of Prussia revolted from its obedience to the Teutonic order, and declared for Casimir III., king of Poland. This occasioned a fresh effusion of blood : till at last a peace was concluded in 14G6, by which it was agreed, that the part now called Polish Prussia should con- tinue a free province under the king's protection ; and that the knights and the grand-master should possess the other part, acknowledging them- belves vassals of Poland. The knights soon endeavoured, but in vain, to throw off this yoke. In 1519 they raised new wars, which were termina- ted in 1525 by a peace concluded at Cracow; by which it was agreed, that the margrave Albert, grand-master of the Teutonic order, should be acknowledged duke or sovereign of the eastern part of Prussia, which he was to hold as a fief of Poland, and which was to descend to his male heirs ; and upon failure of male issue, to his brothers and their male heirs. Thus ended the sovereignty of the Teutonic order in Prussia, after it had subsisted three hundred years. The new duke favoured the introduction of the reformed religion into his dominions, and founded the university of Konigsberg. The elector Joachim added the duchy of Prussia to the electoral house of Branden- burg, with which it had been closely connected. The reign of the elec- tor George William was unhappily distinguished by the calamities of a thirty years' war, in which Prussia suffered much from the ravages of the Swedes. Frederic William, called the " great elector," from his extraor- dinary talents as a general, a statesman, and a politician, obtained, in 1656, by a treaty with Poland, an extinction of the homage heretofore paid to that kingdom ; and he was acknowledged by the powers of Europe, a sovereign independent duke. He made firm his right in Juliers ; ob- tained Cleves ; recovered part of Pomerania ; and increased the popula- tion of his country by affording an asylum to th'e refugees of France, after the impolitic revocation of the edict of Nantes by Louis XiV. Frederic, his son, raised the ducliy of Prusbiu to a kingdom ; and on the 18th of 168 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY January, 1701, in a solemn assembly of the states of the empire, placed the crown with his own hands, on his own head and that of his consort: soon after which he was acknowledged king of Prussia by all the other Christian powers. His son, Frederic William I., who ascended the throne in 1713, greatly increased the population of his country by the favourable reception lie gave to the distressed and persecuted Saltzburgers, as his grandfallier had done by making it an asylum to the Huguenots, when driven out of France by the revocation of the edict of Nantes, in the year 1G84. He was wise, bold, and economical; his principal study the ag- grandizement of his kingdom. Tiiis monarch was succeeded in 1740 by his son Frederic H., then in the 29th year of his age, who rendered his kingdom formidable by his valour and his prudence, and promoted the happiness of his subjects by an amendment and simplification of the laws, the increase of commerce, and many wise regulations. His depredations on Poland, and his arbitrary and unjust violation" of the guaranteed privileges of Dantzic, as well as the oppressions which the city of Thorn endured, though they might serve to aggrandize his kingdom, sullied his name in the eyes of an impartial pos- terity. On the death of the emperor Charles VI., in the same year, Fre- deric led a large army into Silesia, to a considerable part of which duchy he laid claim. He for some time maintained a war against Maria Theresa, daughter of the late emperor, who was married to the grand-duke of Tus- cany; but on the 13th of June, 1712, a treaty between the queen of Hungary and the king of Prussia was signed at Breslau ; by which the former ceded to the latter Upper and Lower Silesia, with the county of Glatz in Bohemia, and the king of Prussia engaged to pay certain merchants of London, the sums which they had advanced to the late emperor, coMti- monly called " the Silesian loan ;" and at the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, the contracting powers guaranteed to him whatever had been thus ceded. His father had ever paid peculiar attention to his army, but the attention of the son was more judiciously and eflfectually directed: for, in the year 1756, he had 150,000 of the best troops in Europe. At that time a league was formed against him by the empress-queen, and the court of Ver- sailles ; Augustus, king of Poland and elector of Saxony, had secretly be- come a party to this confederacy, the object of which was to subdue the Prussian dominions, and partition (hem among the contracting powers. Frederic obtained early and authentic information of his danger from Sax- ony, and proceeded with no less spirit than effect to avert it. He marched a powerful army into that electorate; compelled the troops of the elector to lay down their arms ; became master of Dresden ; entered the palace, got possession of the corespondence which had been carrying on against him, and published to all Europe the authentic documents he had thus obtained; which fully justified him in the hostilities he had thus com- menced. The war soon after raged with great fury, and the empress ol Russia joined the confederacy against this devoted monarch ; but his un- paralleled exertion, judicious measures, and personal bravery, which were powerfully supported by the wealth and arms of Great Britain, finally baffled all the attempts of his enemies, and the general peace which was ratified in 1763, terminated his labours in the field. The Great Frederic, long regarded as the hero of the Prussian mon- archy, and ipar excellence the hero of the age, brought to perfection what his father had so successfully begun. He resisted the power of half Europe, and, by his conquests and the wisdom of his administration, he doubled the number of his subjects, and almost the extent of his territo- ries. He was as great in his projects as he was fortunate in their execu- tion; he was a legislator, a general, a statesman, a scholar, and a philoso- pher. Lideed it may be said, he was one of those men whom nature only produces at long intervals ; but at the same time, it must not be forgotten THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. Igg hat, instead of execcising a paternal care for his people, he regarded the Prussian nation as a foreign general regards the army under his com- mand ; his sole thoughts, in fact, appearing to be constantly centred in the love of fame and power. We collect from the writings of Dr. Moore, the following description of this extraordinary personage, as he appeared at the time the sketch was written : " The king of Prussia is below the mid- dle size, well-made, and remarkably active for his time of life. He has become hardy by exercise and a laborious life, for his constitution seems originally to have been none of the strongest. His look announces spirit and penetration ; he has fine blue eyes, and his countenance, upon the whole, may be said to be agreeable. His features acquire a wonderful degree of animation while he converses. He stoops considerably, and inclines his head almost constantly on one side ; his tone of voice is the clearest almost imaginable. He talks a great deal, yet those who hear him regret that he does not say a great deal more. His observations are always lively, very often just, and few men possess the talent of repartee in greater perfection. He hardly ever varies his dress, which consists of a blue coat lined and faced with red, and a yellow waistcoat and breeches ; he always wears boots with hussar tops, which fall in wrinkles about his ankles. From four or five o'clock in the morning till ten at night, this king dedicates all his hours, methodically, to particular occupations, either of business or amusement. He seldom appears at the queen's court, or any place where women form part of the assembly ; consequently he is seldom seen at festivals. All his hours not employed in business he spends in reading, music, or the society of a few people whom he esteems. The only repose which the king allows to himself, is between the hours of ten at night and four in the morning ; the rest of his time, in every sea- son of the year, is devoted to action either of the body or mind, or both. While fevv objects are too great for this monarch's genius, none seem too small for his attention. Although a man of wit, yet he can continue methodically the routine of business with the patience and perseverance of the greatest dunce. The meanest of his subjects may apply to him in writing and are sure of an answer. His first business every morning is the perusing of papers addressed to him. A single word, written with his pencil in the margin, indicates the answer to be given, which is afterwards made out in form by his secretaries. He sits down to dinner precisely at noon ; of late he has allowed more time at this repast than formerly ; it is generally after three before he leaves the company. Eight or nine of his officers are generally invited to dine with him. At table, the king likes that every person should appear to be on a footing, and that the conver- sation should be carried on with perfect freedom. It is absolutely im- possible for any man to enjoy an office in the king of Prussia's service, without performing the duty of it ; but to those who know their business, and perform it exactly, he is an easy and equitable master. The king understands what ought to be done, and his servants are never exposed to the ridiculous or contradictory orders of ignorance, or the mortification of caprice. His favourites, of whatever kind, were never able to acquire in- fluence over him in anything regarding business. Nobody ever knew bet- ter than this prince how to discriminate between the merits of those who serve him in the important departments of the state and those who con- tribute to his amusement. A man who performs the duty of his office with alertness and fidelity has nothing to apprehend from the king being fond of the company and conversation of his enemy; let the one be re- galed at the king's table every day, while the other never receives a sin- gle invitation, yet the real merit of both is known ; and if his adversary should ever try to turn the king's favour to the purpose of private hatred or malice, the attempt would be repelled with disdain, and the evil he in- tended for another would fall upon himself. The steady and unwearied 170 ' THE TllEASl IIY OF HISTORY. atleiUiou wliiclilhis monarch has bestowed, for more than forty years, to the discipHne of the army, is unparalleled either in the ancient or modern history of mankind. This perseverance of the kin», as it is without ex- ample, so it is the most remarkahle part of his extraordinary character. That degree of exertion whicli a vigorous mind is capable of making on some very important occasions, Frederic II. has made during his whole reign at a stretch, without permitting pleasure, indolence, disgust, or dis- appointment to interrupt his plan for a single day ; and he has obliged every person, throughout the various departments of his government, to make the like exertion as far as their characters and strength could go. In what manner must such a king be served! and what is he not capable of performing ! Twice every year he makes the circuit of his dominions. This great prince is so perfectly exempt from suspicion and personal fear, that he resides at Sans Souci, in his electoral dominions, without any guard whatever; an orderly sergeant or corporal only attends in the day- lime, to carry occasional orders to the garrison at Potsdam, whither he alway returns in the evening." Frederic died in 1780, and left to his nephew, Frederic William II. (by some called Frederic III.) an extensive and prosperous kingdom, a large and well-disciplined army, and a well-filled treasury ; but he pos- sessed none of those commanding talents, that energy, or that patient per- severance, which so eminently distinguished his predecessor. Tiie finan- ces of Prussia were soon exhausted; and in consequence of the high rank among the European states to which Frederic the Great had elevated her, she was obliged to take a prominent part in the most important affairs of the continent, which, without his genius, could not be maintained. Fred- eric William II. died in 1797, and was succeeded by his son Frederic William III. By the partition of Poland in 1792, and its final dismemberment in 1795, Prussia acquired a great extension of territory, including the important city of Daiitzic,and upwards of two millions of inhabitants. In 1796 the Prussian cabinet made a secret treaty with France ; and after many sin- ister and vascillating movements, Prussia resolved upon the maintenance of a strict neutrality, which, in the state of Europe at that time, was im- possible. In 1803 France occupied Hanover; and in 1605, when a third coalition was forming against France, Prussia wavered more than ever. Alexander of Russia appeared at Berlin, and brought about the conven- tion of Potsdam, Nov. 3, 1805; but after the battle of Austerlitz, Prussia sought for and obtained peace with France, and was consequently com- pelled to submit to the conqueror. Again, when Napoleon had concluded the confederacy of the Rhine, Prussia stepped forward to arrest his gigan- tic power; but the battle of Jena disclosed to the world how impossible it was for her to contend against the emperor and his confederated allies. The peace of Tilsit reduced Prussia to half its former dimensions, which half had to support 150,000 French soldiers until the end of 1803, and to pay 120 millions of francs, while French troops were to retain possession of the fortresses of Strettin, Kustrien, and Glogau. The minister Von Stein, who was long at the head of affairs, was a most uncompromising enemy of France, and being in consequence compelled by them to quit Germany, Baron Hardenberg was placed at the head of the government as state-chancellor. The continuance of French oppression at length roused the spirit of the people. A.fter Napoleon's Russian campaign the population rose en masse, and to their zealous efforts in the cause of op- pressed Europe, the completeness of his discomfiture may be mainlj- at- tributed. The part which Prussia played in this great game of war w^ have elsewhere related, and it is not consistent with the limits of ou work to make needless repetitions ; it is suflScient to state, that at the general peace of 1815, Prussia became more powerful than ever ; for, al THE TREASUHY OF HISTORY. 171 though a portion of her Polish dominions passed into tlie hands of Russia, it was more than compensated by valuable acquisitions in Saxony, Pome- rania, «&c. In June, 1840, the king died, and was succeeded by his son, Frederic IV., a prince possessing many amiable qualities. His majesty has since paid a visit to Queen Victoria, and was sponsor to the infant prince of Wales. The following observations are so explanatory of the present influence of Prussia in the scale of European politics, that we unhesitatingly adopt them, from " The Brittannia ;" and in transferring them to our pages, beg to acknowledge their worth : " Since the peace of 1815, Prussia has been tranquil. Her tremendous suffering in the war closed in a triumph of the most exalting and memorable rank. Of all nations she alone had the pre- eminent honour of sharing in the consummate victory which extinguished the French empire ; and since that period she has advanced in a course of tranquil but progressive prosperity. Prussia is a despotism, but the beau ideal of a despotism. As Plato imagined a republic, the future Plato who shall adopt the cause of despo- tism might refer to its reality as the most expressive instance of a govern- ment directed by the sole will of an intelligent, active and patriotic king. Bacon, we think, says that if an angel were on the throne, despotism would be the finest government in the world. This is true, for the unity of council, the decision of conduct, the power which prevents tumults, and the impartiality which provides for justice to all, are the first essen- tials to all government. But, since men are not angels, and the best of kings cannot be security for the principles of his successor, we are compelled to find that security in constitutional restraints, in laws regulating the conduct of kings as well as of subjects, in coronation oaths, which are obligations, and in penalties which protect those obligations. The chief immediate expenditure of all European nations is in their means of defence, whether military or naval. In England it is enormous. At this moment of universal peace, a peace, too, of twenty-five years, the expenses of the fleet and army are not under twelve millions of pounds. It is worth our wonder to know, that the whole expense of the military force of Prussia, 500,000 men, is not much more than half the expense of the force of England, or 90,000. This is by the simple but admirable arrangement of dividing the whole force into two parts, the standing army and the landivehr. The landwehr is a standing militia, which forms the reserve of the army, and is augmented from the ranks of the regular troops, instead of supplying recruits to them. This system is peculiar to Prussia, and is thus organized. The standing army is merely the mili- tary school, and the landwehr forms the nucleus of the army. The landwehr of the first class perform the annual exercises with the regular troops, and the eye of a military observer would detect no difference in the manoeuvres of either corps. The second levy consists chiefly of soldiers who have been drafted from the standing army to the first levy, and from thence to the second, when arrived at the requisite age. The number of men required for the regular army is taken from those between 20 and 25 years of age, the remainder of whom are enrolled in the second levy (or landwehr of the second class). The period of service in the army is for three years ; but young men of any station in life are allowed, in- stead, to enter the army as volunteers, and serve as privates for one year, without receiving any pay. At the end of one year they go over to the reserve, in which they continue two years ; the otiiers, after three years in the army and two in the reserve, are sent into the levy of the first class ; and after twelve years' service in the army, the reserve and the landwehr of the first class pass into the landwehr of the second. The horses for the cavalry of the landwehr are furnished by the landed owners of the Circle during the continuance of the annual exercises. \\ lieU arrived 172 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. at the age of 39, the soldiers of the second levy are incorporated in the landstrum, where they remain until the age of 50 ; they are then released from all military service. We believe that Louis Philippe is as perfectly sincere in his wish for peace, as England is. But the people with whom he has to deal have none of his good sense, and the conquest of the Rhenish provinces is the dream of every cobbler in France. We agree entirely in the opinion that France would much more probably lose than gain by an attack on those provinces. Supposing England to be wholly passive, which it is notori- ous that she would not be, nay, could not, or that Russia would look on, German resistance, in its present state of preparation, would be formid- able. The former facility of French conquest on the Rhine arose almost wholly from the weakness of the little Rhenish principalities, too small to resist separately and too jealous to unite. But the greater portion of those states are now consolidated into the Prussian sovereignty, and rest under the immediate direction of Austria." The principal part of the Prussian dominions lies continuously along the south shore of the Baltic, between Russia and Mecklenburg. The inland frontier of this part of the monarchy on the east and south is suffi- ciently connected ; but on the west side its outline is very irregular, some small independent states being almost entirely surrounded by the Prus- sian dominions. But exclusive of this principal portion, there is an ex- tensive Prussian territory on both sides of the Rhine ; which is separated from the eastern part of the kingdom by Hesse-Cassell, part of Hanover, Brunswick, «&c. The canton of Neufchatel, in Switzerland, and some detached territories in Saxony, also belong to Prussia. Considering the importance of making Prussia a first-rate power as a counterpoise to Russia on the one hand, and to France on the other, it is to be regretted that at the congress of Vienna her share of Poland was diminished, and that her territories were not rendered more compact. THE HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS. COMPKISING HOLLAND AND BELGIUM. The Netherlands, or Low Countries, which now form two populous kingdoms, though of second-rate importance when compared with the great European powers, were at the commencement of the Christian era mere dreary marshes and dismal forests of vast extent, which were fre- quently overflowed by the sea. This inhospitable low track was thinly inhabited by people of German origin, called Batavians and Frisians, many of whom lived in miserable huts, raised on wooden piles, or built upon mounds of sand, to secure them above the reach of the tides. But it is not to be understood that the entire region was of this description; although it has been graphically said, that whole forests were occasion- ally thrown down by a tempest, or swept away by inundation — that the sea had no limits and the earth no solidity. The higher grounds, extend THE TKEASUaY OF HISTORY. I73 mg from the Rhine to the Scheldt, including that vast extent of woody country, the ancient forest of Ardennes, were inhabited by various tribes of the German race, who subsisted by agriculture and the chase. They had towns and villages in the heart of the forest ; their country produced abundant supplies of corn and cattle ; they were courageous and uncivil- ized ; the rites of Druidism were observed, as in Britain ; and the people consisted of two classes, chiefs and slaves. When the Romans under Julius Csesar subdued the Gauls, that warlike nation turned their arms also against the people we have just spoken of, whose country they denominated Gallia Belgica, or Belgium ; but they did not pursue their conquests farther towards the north, thinking probably that the desert plains and patches of land rising, as it were, from their watery bed, were scarcely worth the trouble of exploring, much less of contending for. They accordingly offered peace and alliance to that part of the Netherlands now called Holland ; while the Frisians were left to struggle with the Roman legions for their liberty. From the writings of Caesar we learn that Flanders was occupied by the Menappi and Morini, Brabant by the Atuatici, Hainault and Namur by the Nervii (so remark- able for desperate courage as to excite the wonder of the veterans of liome), Luxemburg and Limburg by the Eburones, &c. Caesar emphati- cally describes the Belgians as the most warlike of the Gallic tribes, and observes that in stature and bulk they surpass the Romans. But though they fought with an energy and determination which nothing could ex- ceed, the discipline and military skill of the Romans eventually obtained the mastery. In subduing this brave people the Romans had recourse to tlie most barbarous practises of ancient warfare ; and for a time either ex- termination or expulsion seemed to be necessary to conquer their fierce and valiant spirits ; thus we read, that in Caesar's celebrated battle with the Nervii, near Namur, the army of the confederated tribes, amounting to 60,000 men, was reduced to 500, and that on taking the town of Tongres he sold 53,000 of the Atuatici for slaves. By degrees, however, they be- came incorporated with their conquerors, adopted their manners^ and servedintheir armies, proving themselves, in many memorable instances, the ablest auxiliaries that ever fought by the side of the Roman legions. In this state they remained for about four centuries, during which time the Belgic population underwent considerable changes from the successive invasions of the Franks from the north, whose progress westward ter- minated in their establishing the Frankish empire in Gaul. We have already had occasion more than once to notice, that when the Romans subjugated any country, the inhabitants, however barbarous, gradually became acquainted with the arts and advantages of civilized life, and that the subsequent prosperity and rank to which they attained in the scale of nations may justly be attributed to the connexion which subsisted between the conquerors and the conquered. Thus it was with the Belgic provinces. From the Romans they learned how to redeem their inundated lands from the briny flood, by constructing dykes, embank- ments, and canals ; and as they were naturally an active and intelligent people, they drained their marshes, and prepared the land not merely as pasture for cattle and the growth of corn, but for the cultivation of choice fruits and vegetables ; while towns and villages were built on higher ground, and the country, instead of being a dreary waste of bog-land and water, presented to the eye a varied prospect of fertility, and an indus- trious population. Towards the declension of the Roman empire, when its rulers were compelled to withdraw their troops from the provinces, Gallia Belgica shared the fate of the rest ; and it was successively over- run by the various tribes from the north of Germany. But notwith- standing these serious disadvantages, the spirit of improvement kept pace with the age : more land was reclaimed from the ocean, and rer J74 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY dered both produciive and habitable. The maritime lowland descendants of the Menapii, now blended with Saxons and Frisians, continued to prosper in commerce and agriculture. Large towns had been built, and many arts and manufactures, brought from other countries, were carried on with credit and success. Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, and other towns rose into importance, and the commercial importance of the Flemings was universally acknowledged. At what precise time the Christian religion was introduced it is impos- sible to speak with certainty; but we know that, previous to the reign of Charlemagne, the conversion of the people had become general, and that churches and monasteries existed /n various parts of the country. But no trace of the fierce and valiant warriors of former days remained ; their swords had, indeed, been turned into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks, but feudal institutions had converted the free sons of the soil into abject vassals, wlio now toiled only to enrich the baronial lords and haughty priests, whose powers and possessions were immense^ This state of vassalage did not, however, extend to the towns, the inhabitants of which were mostly merchants and manufactures, enjoying all the ad- vantages of free citizens. Their industry and ingenuity not only made them wealthy, but obtained for them attention and respect ; and, in the course of time, they elected their own magistrates, made their own laws, fortified their cities, and organized a regular militia from among them- selves, so that they were able to maintain their privileges and defend their liberties against the encroachments of foreign princes or their own pow- erful nobles. At the period to which we are now referring, the maritime commerce of the Flemings had made a great progress with Spain and England, from whence they had obtained large importations of wool. Their skill in the manufacture of woolen stuffs and cloths had established for them a market in every foreign port ; the herring-fishery was also a great source of wealth ; and to these they added a large tr-ade in corn, salt, and jewelry. In the eleventh century the country was divided into duchies, counties, and imperial cities : Brabant, or Lower Lorraine, and afterward Luxem- burg, Limburg, and Gueldres, were governed by dukes ; Flanders, Hol- land, Zealand, Hainault, Artois, Namur, and Zutphen, by counts. Fries- land Proper remained a free lordship; Utrecht became a bishopric, the secular authority of the bishop extending over Groningen and Overyssel. Of all these realms, the counts of Flanders were the most powerful, and, after their possessions had passed, in 1383, to the more powerful house of Burgundy, the latter, partly by marriages, partly by force or cession, obtained possession of the largest part of the Low Countries. During the crusades the Flemish burghers obtained great advantages, owing to the mania with which many of the nobles were seized to join the holy leaguers. In order to raise money for equipping armies to com- bat against the Saracens, they were induced to part with their lands and to grant great privileges and political powers to their wealthy tenants, who thus were enabled to purchase independence and a jurisdiction of their own, as we have before mentioned. " The people, conscious of their power, gradually extorted from their rulers so many concessions, that the provinces formed, in reality, a democracy, and were only nominally sub- ject to the monarch of France and his nobles. When the rest of Europe was subject to despotism, and involved in comparative ignorance and bar- barism, the court of the counts of Flanders was the chosen residence of liberty, civilization, and useful knowledge; and when the ships of other nations scarcely ventured beyond the sight of land, those of the Flemish merchants traversed the ocean, and Bruges and Antwerp possessed the commerce and wealth of the north of Europe. In this state the provinces long continued, until they came under the dominion of the duke of Bur THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 175 gunay, about the middle of the fifteenth century. Previous to this event, we find only unconnected duchies, counties, lordships, and towns, with innumerable rights, claims, and privileges, advanced and enforced now by subjects and vassals against each other or against their lords ; and now by lords and vassals against the monarch, without the expression of any collective idea of Belgium as a nation. Under the Burgundian dynasty ■,he commercial and manufacturing towns of the Low Countries enjoyed d remarkable prosperity. The famous order of the Golden Fleece was instituted in 1430 ; and before the end of the fifteenth century the city of i''pres had 4,000 looms, and the city of Ghent 50,000 weavers. Bruges ind Antwerp were the great marts of the commercial world, and contained oach about 200,000 inhabitants. In the Flemish court of the duke of Bur- gundy, named Philip the Good, about 1455, luxurious living was carried to a vicious and foolish excess. The wealthy were clad in gorg-eous vel- vets, satins, and jewelry, and their banquets were given with almost in- credible splendour. " This luxury produced depravity and crime to such an extent that, in one year, 1,400 murders were committed inGhent, in the gambling-houses and other resorts of debauchery. The arts were cultivated with great success. Van Dyck invented the beautiful oil colours for which the Fle- mish school is renowned. Painting on glass, polishing diamonds, lace, tapestry, and chimes were also invented in Belgium at this period. Most Df the magnificent cathedrals and town-halls in the country were built in the 13th and 14th centuries. History, poetry, and learning were much cultivated., and the University of Louvain was the most celebrated in Europe. In 1477 Belgium passed under the dynasty of the empire of AuLtria; and after many years of contest between the despotic Maximi- lian and tiie democratic Flemings, the governmeot, in 1519, descended to his grandson, Chailes V., king of Spain and emperor of Germany. In liis reign ihe affluence of the Flemish burghers attained its highest point. The city of Ghent contained 175,000 inhabitants, of whom 100,000 were engaged in weaving and other industrial arts. Bruges annually export- ed stuffs of English and Spanish wool to the value of 8,000,000 florins. The Scheldt at Antwerp often contained 2,500 vessels, waiting their turn to come to the wharfs ; her gc ies were daily entered by 500 loaded wag- gons; and her exchange was attended, twice a day, by 5,000 merchants, who expended 130,000 golden crowns in a single banquet given to Philip I[., son of Charles V. The value of the wool annually imported from England and Spain exceeded 4,000,900 pieces of gold. This amazing prosperity experienced a rapid and fatal decline under the malignant tyranny and bigotry of Philip, The dcrtrines of the protestant reforma- tion had found very numerous adherents in Belgium ; Lutheranism was preached with phrenzied zeal by severa.. popular fanatics, who drew around them crowds amounting sometimes o 10,000 or 15,000. Parties of iconoclasts also appeared, and demolished the ornamental property of four hundred churches. Protestant persecuticn by the Inquisition had been commenced by Charles V. ; but by Philip i\. it was established in its most diabolical extravagance. He filled the country with Spanish soldiers, and commissioned the duke of Alva to extirpate, without mercy, every protestant heretic in Belgium. Volumes have been written to describe the proceedings of this able soldier, but sangurnary persecutor, who boasted that in less than six years he had put to dv,ath 16,000 men and women by the sword, the gibbet, the rack, and the flames. Ruin and dread of death in its most hideous forms drove thousands of artisans to England, where they introduced the manufacturing skill of Bruges and Ghent. Commerce and trade in Flanders dwindled away, many of the rich merchants were reduced to beg for bread, the great cities w^re half deserted, and forest wolves often devoured the scattered inhabitants oi desolated villages." 176 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. These oppressions being exercised with the most tyrannical fury by Ferdinand of Toledo, duke of Alva, wiiom Philip had created governor, the Netherlands made a stronnr effort for their freedom, and William, prince of Orange, in conjunction with his brother, Count Louis of Nassau, undertook the defence of the inhabitants, in their noble stru|rgles for re- ligious and civil liberty. Accordingly, the states of Holland, in their own names conferred the stadlholdcrship, a title equivalent to lieutenant, on the former, and several other towns and provinces declared for him. He first united them, in 157G, m one general association, under the title of " The Pacification of Ghent." Hut this union being soon dissolved, the prince laboured to the utmost of his power to form a more durable alliance, which he happily accomplished in 157D. In that year the celebrated leagu'^ of Utrecht was concluded, which gave name to the United Pro- vinces, and became the basis and plan of the constitution. The prince of Orange was afterwards on the point of being nominated the sovereign of these countries, but was treacherously shot by an assas- sin named Belthazar Gerhard, who had assumed the name of Francis Guyon. This man was supposed to have been hired to perpetrate the murder by the Spanish ministry, but no tortures could force a confession from him. The United Netherlands, however, continued to maintain, sword in hand, that liberty to which they had raised themselves ; and Elizabeth of England took them under her protection, and rendered them essential assistance. When the earl of Leicester, the favourite of the queen, was sent over by her to the Netherlands in the year 168.5, the states appointed him governor and captain-general of tlie United Provin- ces, or in other words the stadtholder; but his haughty carriage, and un- skilful manner of conducting the war, soon rendered him unpopular, and the next year he returned to England. The Dutch, being afterwatds bet- ter supported by the English, baffled all the attempts of the Spaniards ; and their commerce arrived at such a height, that in 1G02 their cele- brated East India company was established. Spain, being both weaken- ed and discouraged by the ill success of a tedious war, in 1609 agreed to an armistice for twelve years, and in the very first article of the treaty acknowledged the United Netherlands to be a free and independent state. During this truce the republic attained to a degree of power which it has never since exceeded. Compelled by necessity to make war against the Spanish fleets, the republicans soon became excellent sailors, and enterprising, indefatigable merchants, who visited every sea, and to whom no port was too distant, no obstacle too discouraging. The commerce of Cadiz, Antwerp, and Lisbon, fell into their hands ; and in this way the United Netherlands were, in the middle of the 17th century, the first commercial state and the first maritnue power in the world ; for, with about one hundred vessels of war, they bade defiance to every rival, while England and France re- joiced in tlie humiliation of tUe dreaded monarchy of Spain. The Dutch East India Company, established in 1602, conquered islands and kingdoms in Asia; and with about two hundred ships, they carried on a trade with China and even with Japan. They alone supplied Europe with the pro- ductions of the spice islands. The gold, the pearls, the precious jewels of the East, all passed through their hands. The West India Company was not so successful, on account of the jealousy of England and France. Holland, nevertheless, for a long time maintained the dominion of the sea. Van Tromp and De Ruyter were victorious, and Louis XIV., who had laid a deep plan for humbling the daring repubUc, was finally exhaust- ed, and obliged to sue for peace. These signal successes were principally obtained by the able conduct of Prince Maurice of Nassau, the second son of the first stadtholder ; and to the same dignity this prince was chosen when only twenty-one years THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 177 ' of ag;e. He conducted the affairs of the states, during twenty years, with great ability and success. The latter part of this prince's government was sullied by cruelty and ingratitude; for he procured the condemnation and death of the pensionary Barnevelt, to whose influence he owed his eleva- tion. This man, who was an Armenian in religion and a republican in politics, was sacrificed to his opinions ; but his death caused llie political principles for which he suffered to spread more widely. Those who op- posed the stadtholder were afterwards called " the Louvestein party," from De Witt, burgomaster of Dort, and five other members of the states-gen- eral, being imprisoned in the castle for maintaining such sentiments. In 1G21 the war was again renewed, during which the stadtholder Prince Frederic Henry, youngest son of the first William (who succeeded on the death of his half-brother, Prince Maurice, in 1625) greatly distin guished himself. This war was brought to a period in 1648, by the peace of Munster, by which treaty Philip IV., king of Spain, renounced all claim to the United Netherlands. Frederic was succeeded by his only sou William, who was fourth stadtholder, being twenty one years of age. He appears to have been ambitious, as was his father. In 1652 a war broke out between the United Provinces and England, the latter country being under a republican form of government : this war was terminated two years after, by a treaty, in which the states of Holland engaged for- ever to exclude the house of Orange from the stadtholdership of their pro- vince. In 1665 another war was kindled with England, at which time that country had regained its regal constitution ; this war continued until the treaty of Breda. The states of Holland and West Friesland then passed an edict, by which they abolished the stadtholdership in their province. This was effected by the grand pensionary De Witt. When France formed a design to seize on the Spanish Netherlands, the United Pro- vinces entered into an alliance with the crowns of England and Sweden for the defence of those countries; by which France was, in 1668, com- pelled to agree to the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle; but soon took a severe revenge by breaking that alliance, and inducing England, with some othei powers, to enter into a league against the United Provinces ; on which a war ensued. In this critical juncture, the republic, m 1672, nominated William, the young prince of Orange, captain and admiral general; and the populace compelled the states of Holland to invest him with the stadt- holdership, which two years after was declared hereditary in his family. He was the fifth stadtholder and the third of that name ; he married the princess Mary, eldest daughter of James II. of England, and became king of England. In the j'ear 1678 a peace was concluded with France, at Nimeguen; but it was of no long continuance, for, in 1688, the states supporting their stadtholder in his expedition to England, with a fleet and a large body of troops, France declared war against them, which was terminated by the the peace of Ryswick in 1697. At length, on the death of Charles II. king of Spain, in the year 1700, the Spanish provinces fell to the share of the house of Austria, and the republic became involved in a war respect ing that succession, which continued till the peace of Utrecht, in 1713. William died king of England and stadtholder of the United Provinces, in 1702. He appointed John William Frizo, prince of Nassau Dietz, his sole heir, who was born 1687, and was drowned in crossing an arm of the sea at Mardyke, 14th July, 1711. Three months after his death his widow was delivered of a son, who was christened William, and afterwards be- came stadtholder; but on the death of William HI. that office was laid aside, until, in 1722, the province of Guelders elected him their stadtholder, notwithstanding the remonstrances of the other provinces. On the decease of the emperor Charles VI. the Dutch assisted the queen of Hungary against France, which drew on them the resentment of that 12 178 THE TaEA6UB,Y OF HISTORY. power; and in 1747, the French making an irruption into Dutch Flcinders, the republic unanimously declared the above mentioned William, prince of Orange, stadlholder, captain-general, and admiral-in-chief, making those dignities hereditary in his family, even in the female and collateral branches. In the general war which bri^ke out in Europe in 1756, the Dutch, taking no part in the quarrel, were perhaps the greatest gainers, by supplying the belligerent powers with naval and military stores; and when the dispute between Great Britain and the American colonies re kindled liie flames of war, the most essential assistance was procured both to America and F'rance, by means of the Dutch settlement at St. Eusta- tius, and of the freights brought by their ships. At length it was dis- covered by the capture of an American packet, that a treaty between the American States and the province of Holland was actually adjusted, and that Mr. Laurens, formerly of the congress, was appointed to reside at Amsterdam in a public capacity. This occasioned the court of London Jirst to cancel all treaties of commerce and alliance which then subsisted between that kingdom and the United States, and soon after, in Decem- ber, 1780, to issue a declaration of hostilities against the republic. The resentment of Great Britain proved extremely fatal to the possessions and wealth of the Dutch ; the island of St. Eustatius, with a large fleet of valu- able merchant ships, fell an easy prey to a naval and military force under tli« command of Admiral Rodney and General Vaughan ; several home- ward-bound East India ships, richly laden, were either taken by the En- glish or destroyed ; Negapatam, on the Coromandel coast, and their chief settlement on the Island of Ceylon, were wrested from them ; and a fleet of merchant ships bound to the Baltic, convoyed by a squadron of Dutch men-of-war, under the command of Admiral Zoutman, were obliged tore- turn to the Texel, and one of the 74 gun ships was sunk in a very sharp action which happened with a British squadron under the command wf Admiral Hyde Parker. In the mean time the emperor of Germany, attentive to the improve- ment of his dominions in the Low Countries, and desirous of procuring for his subjects the advantages to be derived from the extension of their com- merce, determined to oblige the Dutch to allow a free navigation on the Scheldt, which river, by the treaty of Munster, in the year 1648, they pos- sessed exclusively. To procure this, a ship, bearing the imperial flag, proceeded down the Scheldt from Antwerp ; the captain being ordered not to submit to any detention or examination whatever from the ships belonging to republic of the Seven United Provinces, or to make any ed by the barbarians, they would be led, either by a pining after their fertile and beautiful land, which would be remembered with the greater regret by being contrasted with the flat and dreary shores of the isles, or by a vague hope of finding some rem- nants of plunder left behind by the barbarians, to return to the continent. But that the number of permanent emigrants to the isles even at this time was very considerable, is evident from a document which we believe is not quoted, if even referred to, by any modern historian of Venice, ex- cept Daru. The document in question is an old and only partially perfect manu- script in the convent of St. Michael — and is a collection of " various notices relative to the origin of Venice," which was formed by Fulgentius Tomasellus, an abbot of the house, and since translated by one of its librarians, Father Mitarelli. It bears date in the year of Christ 421, and the last year of the papacy of Innocent I. ; and the chief passage of it that was sufRciently legible to be translated into Latin by the learned li- brarian, is a decree of the consuls and the senate of Padua, for erecting Rialto into a chief city, in which the scattered population of the whole of the adjacent islands might congregate, not merely for their own greater comfort, and the convenience and prosperity of their own port, and the patron city of Padua, but likewise, and especially, that they being thus concentrated might keep an armed fleet, and thus defend alike themselves and the neighbouring continent against the recurrence of the destruction by fire and sword, which this region had already, and to so fearful an ex- tent, experienced at the hands of " Gothorum cum rege illorum Alarico.'' " Reliquum legcre non potiii" says the translator, the rest is not legible ; but enough appears to show, that the earliest inhabitants of the isles were comparatively few in number, scattered hither and thither without judg- ment and without common polity, save such as necessarily resulted from their common dependence upon Padua, as fishermen, carriers, and traders in general : and that the invasion of Italy by Alaric, and the subsequent and ruinous occupation of the cities and plains of Lombardy by his fierce people, so much increased the populousness of the isles, as to lead the Paduans to order the concentration of the inhabitants and the consti- tution of a central seat of population — in short, of a chief city of the islets, to which it was inevitable the rest should become morally, as in the end they also were physically, united and subjected. Imitating upon a small scale the immemorial policy of Rome herself, the Paduans, while they assuredly took the course which was best calculated to promote the interests of the settlers on the islands, and to make them importantly useful to northeastern Italy, should its fate ever depend upon maritime warfare, did not allow the islanders to forget that they were dependents 248 THE TKBASUEY OF HISTOKY. as traders, and, in some degree, as colonists; and, accordingly, the new town or state was governed by officers appointed by the Paduans, with the title of consuls. Rialto, or Rivo aha, the deep river, which was thus made the chief town of the isles, was subsequently connected with the opposite bank by abridge whiclj bore the same name, and this island subsequently had built upon it, too, the exchange, also called Rialto ; this last being at once the homage paid to the chief island, and surest guarantee, in a purely com- mercial or maritime state, for preserving the chief resort and influence to it. The peculiar situation of the Venetian isles being considered, the obstacles wliich their difficult navigation must have presented to foreign- ers and barbarians in the then rude state of the maritime art, their con- nection with so fertile and populous a portion of coniinental Italy, woulo prognosticate immense prosperity immediately, and great, if not prepon derating power ultimately, to the new state, in the event of that ruin fall- ing upon the Roman empire, which every circumstance, within and with- out, indicated to least careful and attentive observer; even should no other external circumstances favour the islanders. Such other circum- stances, however, were not to be wanting in the causation of Venetian greatness. A new scourge for Italy appeared in the shape of a multitude of Huns, who were led from the depths of Scythia by Attila ; a leader fierce and able as Alaric in the field, and far more cruel and unsparing when the field was won. Having carried fire and sword throughout Macedonia, Ger- many, and Gallia, from which last he found it prudent to retreat, the alarm was suddenly given that he was leading the Huns and their swarming barbarous allies towards the Julian Alps, threatening new destruction to the beautiful lands of Venelia, and new miseries to the Venetians of the main land. In the year 452 Attila appeared before Aquilea; and that city still preserving some of the spirit of old Rome, of which it was a colony and offset, made a defence so brave — though insufficient to save it from the fierce host that assailed it — that when it was at length, in sheer necessity yielded, the enraged barbarian literally left not one brick or stone standing upon another. The fate of Aquilea, and the terrific charac- ter of its destroyer, naturally struck terror into the inhabitans of the neighbouring cities of Padua, Altino, Concordia, and Oderso ; who hastily gatlaered together, all their property that was moveable, and hastened to take refuge in the isles ; the difficult navigation of which, and the niari- time habits of the long settled and proper inhabitants of which, gave a promise of safety from pursuit and destruction, which the example of Aquilea but too plainly showed to be hopeless upon the main land. The cause of this new irruption of Attila and his Huns, as being also a principal cause of the wealth and power of Venice the Superb, must not be wholly omitted here ; we mean the treason of Honoria, the sister of Valentinian III. This princess, having dishonoured her rank and family by her intrigue with a courtier, which intrigue was aided by the careless- ness of her own mother, who had always acted as if she was regardless of the education and moral conduct of her daughter, was placed under the most rigid surveillance. Naturally of a gay, perhaps we might even say of a licentious turn, this restraint wearied her to such a pitch of despera- tion, that she contrived to send a ring to Attila, as a pledge of love and good faith ; and with it a pressing message demanding his support and aid against her own family, and requesting to be admitted in the number of his wives. Honoria was reputed to be very beautiful, and to female beauty the barbarian chieftain was by no means unsusceptible. But he devised a considerable improvement upon the proposition of the princess ; he preceded his new advance upon the empire with a demand, not only of the hand of the lady, but also of half the provinces of the empire. The THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 249 refusal he met with, and his rage thereupon, led to the destruction ol Aquilea, and to the taking- refuge of the inhabitants of that and the neigh- bouring cities in Rialto and the dependent Venetian isles. If not so wholly destroyed to their very foundations as Aquilea, the neighbouring cities were, however, so completely pillaged and so con- siderably devastated, that a 'vast number of the inhabitants not merely sought shelter in the isles during the actual and threatening presence of the barbarians upon the main land, but were so wearied by the losses they had already sustained, and so completely dispirited by the apparent probability of a frequent recurrence of similar inflictions, as to take up their permanent residence in the comparatively inaccessible isles, where they had at first sought only a temporary shelter. Some would doubtless return to the main land, in hope to find their homes undestroyed, what- ever might have befallen the homes of their neighbours ; but being as poor as the poorest of the islanders, and far less favourably situated as to the future than the islanders as a body, it was not at all reasonable that the former should claim any continuance of the Paduan authority over the isles ; the more especially, as no one knew how soon a new incursion of the barbarians might once more render the isles the only place of safe refuge to the dwellers upon the main land. The authority of the old towns being thus tacitly but effectually terminated, the islanders and refugees consolidated themselves together, and organized, perhaps, the very best kmd of society for the circumstances in which they were placed. The extent of the immigration had made it impossible for the chief islet, Rialto, to accommodate more than a very inconsiderable portion of the fugitives. The remainder had of necessity distributed themselves amid the other islets, all of which were now populated more or less densely. Each of the larger of these islands, containing a sufficient population to give it the necessary weight and importance in the new state, it was agreed to elect a tribune. This magistrate, whose term of office was limited to one year, was charged with the administration of justice in his own isle, and was accountable only to the general assembly of the colony, which alone could decide upon the affairs of the isles en masse. In a word, the islanders formed a federative republic ; the whole governed as to external affairs and affairs of common import, by an authority delegated from the whole ; each internally and in matters peculiar to itself governed by the tribune of its own election. For a long time their chief commodi- ties for sale were salt and fish, but those are articles peculiarly profitable where the commerce in them is very large ; however, the islanders could not fail to accumulate riches, the great source, when wisely used, of political power — exempted as they were from the evils to which the cities on the main land had become the victims. The invasion of Italy by the Heruli under Odoacer, in 476, when the army sent by Augustulus was vanquished, and its general slain by Odoa- cer's own hand ; and the subsequent invasion of the Ostrogoths under Theodoric, who dethroned and put to death Odoacer, the dethroner of Agustulus, caused a new increase of population to flow into the Venetian isles ; and when the insular republic had barely a hundred years of exist- ence, it already began to be respected for its industry and numbers, and admired for a prosperity so strikingly contrasted with its small number of natural productions. Fish and salt were all that Venice seemed to pos- sess ; and it was not yet known how far better a nurse commerce is to a state than war. The disasters to which the empire had been subjected both in the east and in the west, and the blots which barbarian success had cast upon the escutcheon of Rome's supposed invincibility, added to the utter destruction of the cities of Venetia Prima, probably caused Rome's power to be held in comparatively light estimation even by those 250 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. who returned to the main land and rebuilt their destroyed homes. And the isolation of the inhabitants of the isles, their early poverty, and, above -ill, the hardly practicable sea-walls that stretched around tliem, would seem to make their independence of disorganized and distracted Rome a matter beyond dispute. It has, however, been disputed, and by a high authority, but we lliink on very inadequate grounds. Cassiodorus, min- ister to Theodoric, wrote a highly flattering letter, — a letter penned with most oratorical art and care, and evidently with great anxiety a.i to its success, — requesting the Venetians to effect by means of their ves.sels the transport of a supply of wine and oil from Istria to Ravenna. The very care and polish that are lavished upon this letter seem to us to be quite decisive as to Rome having no recognized, stated, or easily available au thority over the Venetians of the isles. It is quite true, as has been re- marked by the learned count Daru, that notwithstanding the urbanity o( the letter, it yet evidently contains an order. It seems to us, that the politely-couched order of such a neighbour as Rome, can scarcely be said to prove aught against the actual political independence of such a slate as Venice, and at so early a stage of its existence. It would seem far more correct to consider that Rome couched a demand, which she knew was not strictly just, in terms which she judged would be agreeable to her nascent neighbour. Even in her decline, Rome was far too formidable a neighbour not to feel at liberty to make even unreasonable requests of a community of fishermen and small merchants, comparatively prosperous as that community might be. With increase of population and of wealth, the Venetians, by which name we shall, to save circumlocution, henceforth designate only the islanders, began to feel anxious about that which was their chief and cheap safeguard, the difficult navigation of the lagunes ; and the navigation was forbidden not merely to strangers in general, but even to that Padua which once was the metropolis and nursing mother of the island republic. When we consider the horrors to which the cities on the main land had been exposed by the barbarian invaders, and reflect how probable it was that new invasions would occur, which only the difficulty of the naviga- tion and the superiority this insured to the vessels of the islanders could prevent from extending to the isles, we can scarcely wonder at the stern and Jealous rule adopted by men who had only become islanders and fishers after they had been ruined agriculturists, flying in haste and in terror from one of the loveliest and most fertile of earth's lovely and fer- tile spots. Nor was it long ere the Venetians had good reason to con- gratulate themselves upon the care they had bestowed equally upon ac- quiring dexterity in the navigation of their narrow and difficult creeks and shallows, and preventing alike dexterity from being acquired by others. The Slavi, a barbarous and warlike people, had established themselves in Dalmatia. That country, however, had already been so often overrun and plundered, that it afforded by no means a sufficient amount of booty to satisfy so numerous and so greedy a people. They consequently availed themselves of the numerous ports and creeks their new country afforded them, to imitate the piratical example of the Illyrians, by whom the country had formerly been occupied, and speedily became a name of terror to all who had occasion to be upon the sea in that direction. The ^''enetians, perpetually pursuing their commercial and carrying avocations in their light vessels, were especially subjected to the attacks of these daring marauders, to whom the portable but valuable freights brought by the Venetians from the ports of the eastern empire, with which they car ried on great commerce, were an irresistible temptation. The hardy hab its and active life of the fishers and merchants of the Venetian isles had given new vigour and courage to the people, who, while living in com- parative luxury upon the main land, had abandoned all their possessions THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 251 to the barbarians, rather than struggle to possess them at the risk of losing life also. Mustering their vessels, they boldly encountered the pirates, beat them, and. compelled them to respect the liberty of the seas as far as Venetians were concerned therein. This, in addition to many other cir- cumstances, seems to have been a link in a long and unbroken chain of causation of the prosperity and power of Venice in her subsequent palmy days ; for while the success with which the traders encountered the ter- riWe and notorious pirates was especially well calculated to obtain a high ind chivalrous name for the Venetians, even at the outset of their career, the very struggle and warfare in which they were from time to time en- gaged with so fierce a people, and with everything at stake upon the issue, must have had a mighty share in increasing the energy of the Venetians, and in forming their national character to that striking commixture of commercial industry and warlike spirit and skill to which their subsequent and long-continued greatness may so greatly be ascribed. In the year 568 the Lombards invaded Italy, and so successfully, as completely to cut off all connexion between it and the eastern empire. The Lombards, who came from Pannonia, like all the other barbarian scourges of Italy, commenced their destroying and plundering career in Venice on the main land. And now again, the misfortune of the main land brought benefit to the isles. Not only were the people of the newly rebuilt habitations on the main land glad to abandon their incomplete cities, and take refuge in the isles ; not only did the islanders see the inhabitants of even Padua, their former patron city, imploring shelter, but even the clergy settled among them, and permanently, too ; for the Lombards es- tablished Arian preachers in tlie towns of continental Venice ; and the consequence was, so fierce and sanguinary a war and such ceaseless schisms, that the clergy who had found a refuge in the isles did not think of quitting it. Though the Lombards persecuted the catholic faith pro- fessed by the Venetians, the former, who were at that time neither a com- mercial nor a maritime people, were to a very great extent dependent upon the islanders for their supply of all such necessaries or luxuries as came from foreign countries ; and in this particular superiority of the Venetians to the Lombards, and subsequently to Charlemagne and his Franks, the attentive and thoughtful reader will scarcely fail to see yet another great element of the permanency and power of the insular state of Venice. Eginard, the contemporary and historian of Charlemagne, makes emphatic mention of the coarseness of the apparel of that monarch and his court, as compared to the fine stuffs and rich silks brought by the Venetian traders from the ports of Syria, the Archipelago and the Black Sea. It was in the inevitable nature of things, that the very increase of population which tended so greatly to the increase of the prosperity and consideration of the comparatively new state, should bring in its train such a diversity of interests, such a difference of proportion in the num- oers, wealth, and power of the numerous insulated members of the feder- ative republic as should call aloud for a change in the political system. Most important changes afterwards took place ; and it is to Venice as an acting and not merely growing state, that we have henceforth to direct our attention. But we perceive that we have already greatly trespassed on our limits, and must endeavour to finish this sketch with a rapid pen. The original form of Venetian government was purely democratical; magistrates were chosen by a general assembly of the people, who gave them the name of tribunes ; one of whom was appointed to preside on each island, but to hold his office only for a year. Tliis form subsisted for about one hundred and fifty years ; it then appeared expedient to make choice of a chief magistrate, and on him the title of duke was conferred, V hich has since been corrupted to doge ; this dignity was elective, and »»eid for life ; he was even entrusted with the power of nominating to all 252 THE TH-EASURY OF HISTORY. offices, and of making peace and declaring war. Paul Luke Anafeslo, the first duke, was elected in the year 697; and such was the confidence which the people reposed in their duke, that he was at liberty to use his own discretion how far he would avail himself of the advice of the citi- zens. In the councils which he called on any matter of importance, he sen! messages for those citizens for whose judgment he had the greatest es- teem, praying that they would come and assist him with their advice This form was retained by succeeding doges, and the citizens so sent foi were called pregadi (from the Italian word pregare, to pray). The third doge, whose talents for war had proved successful in extending the powei of the republic, at length meditated the assumption of a more absolute sway, wishing to render the supreme authority hereditary in his family, but such conduct excited general alarm in the people; he was assawlted in his palace, and there put to death. This event caused the government of Venice to be new modelled, and a chief magistrate, who was now call- ed "master of the militia," was elected annually; but his power while iu office was the same as before. Such form of government continued only five years, when the title of doge was revived (a. d. 740), in the person of the son of him who had been assassinated. About the latter end of the twelfth century, when every other part of the Christian world was seized with a frantic rage for recovering the holy land, the Venetians were so far from contributing any forces for the cru- sades that they did not scruple to supply the Saracens with arms, ammu- nition, and every other necessary. As the power of the state became augmented by the acquisition of Istria and many ports of Dalmatia, the jealousy of the people towards their doge became stronger. At that time the only tribunal at Venice consisted of forty judges ; these were called "the council of forty ;" but in the year 1173, another doge, named Michieli, being assassinated in a popular insurrection, the council of forty found means to new model the government, by gaining the consent of the peo- ple to delegate the right of voting for magistrates, which each citizen pos- sessed, to four hundred and seventy persons, called councillors, who re- ceived the appellation of "the grand council;" and, acting as delegates of the people, became what the general assembly of the people until that time had been. By this artful innovation (which the people were cajoled into an acquiescence wiih, by retaining the right of electing these councillors annually), the democracy became presently subverted ; and an aristocracy, in its fullest and most rigid form, was introduced, by restricting the power of the doge, and instituting a variety of officers (all of whom were, in a short time, chosen from among the nobility) which effectually controlled both the prince and the people. Ziani was the first doge elected after the government had received, whai the event proves to have been, its permanent modification ; and during his administration the singular ceremony of espousing the sea, which has been annually observed ever since, was first adopted, and took its rise from the assistance which the Venetians gave to the pope Alexander III. when hard pressed by the emperor Frederic Barbarossa, and the signal vic- tory they obtained over a formidable fleet under the command of Otho, son of Frederic, in which the admiral and thirty of his ships were taken. Alexander, with the whole city of Venice, went out to meet Ziani, the conqueror, on his return ; to whom his holiness presented a ring, saying, " Use this ring as a chain to retain the sea, henceforth, in subjection to the Venetian state ; espouse her with this ring, and let the marriage be solem- nized annually, by you and your successors, to the end of time, that the latest posterity may know that Venice has acquired the empire of the -waves, and holds the sea in subjection, in the same manner as a wife la ueld by her husband." During the continuance of the republic this cere- mony was performed by the doge dropping a ring into the sea, pronotf«i- THE TREASUEY OF HISTORY. 253 cing" at the same time the words, Desponsamus te. Mare, in signum veri per- petuique dominii. This emblem of its former power and independence is now forever gone ; and, in the language of the poet, " The spouseless Adriatic mourns her lord." The Venetians having extended their territories into Lombardy, Istria, and Dalmatia, became masters of many of the islands in the Archipelago, particularly the large and importannt one of Candia ; they were masters of the Morea ; and, in the beginning of the thirteenth century, Dandolo, their doge, when more than eighty years of age, in conjunction with the French, took Constantinople from the Turks. It was about this time that they engrossed the lucrative trade in the manufactures and productions of the East Indies, which they procured at the port of Alexandria, and conveyed to every market of Europe. Under Marino Morosini was intro- duced the latest form of electing the doge; and at this juncture jealousy and envy occasioned the war with Genoa, which, after continuing a hun- dred and thirty years, was at last concluded by a treaty in 1381. Dur- ing this war, Peter Gradonigo, the doge, procured a law to be passed, that none but the nobility should be capable of having a seat in the grand council ; and thus the government became altogether aristocratical. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the Venetians extended their pos sessions in Lombardy, and, in 1473, the last king of Cyprus appointed the state of Venice his heir. Towards the end of the fifteenth, century the commerce and power of the Venetians began to decline; for the Portu- guese having doubled theCape of Good Hope, and found a way to the East Indies by sea, that valuable trade was acquired, first by the discoverers and afterwards by the Dutch and English. In the beginning of the sixteenth century (a. d. 1509) the pope, the em- peror, France and Spain, joined in the famous league of Cambray, which threatened the subversion of the Venetian state; but the republic made a brave stand against its numerous and powerful enemies, and the Vene- tians retained their independence, although with the loss of all their pos- sessions in the ecclesiastical state and the Milanese. They also suffered much from the Turks, who drove them out of Cyprus. In the seven- teenth century a sharp contest arose between the government, the clergy, and the pope, in which, however, the former had the advantage. Venice was also long engaged in fierce wars with the Turks, during which they lost Candia, but gained part of Dalmatia and all the Morea; the latter, with other places and districts, the Turks recovered in the wars which were waged during the early part of the last century. The Venetian gov- ernment, in the year 1737, having shown particular marks of respect to the prince, who was generally called in England the pretender, when he vis- ited the city, under the character of count of Albany, th«i British court took great offence, and the Venetian resident at London 'vas ordered to depart ; but proper concessions being made by the state, a friendly inter- course was re-established, and in the year 1745 the earl of Holdernesse was sent ambassador extraordinary to Venice. In the year 1763 the Ve- netians found it necessary to pay a subsidy to the dey of Algiers, to pre- serve their commerce from the depredations of those corsairs ; but they subsequently carried on a war with some other of the piratical states, nearer to them, on that coast. Thus did the republic of Venice continue upwards of thirteen hundred ears, amidst many foreign wars and intestine commotions. Its gran- deur, as we have seen, was chiefly owing to its trade ; and, after the de- cline of that, its strength and power suffered considerable diminution. No republic in the history of the world has subsisted for so long a space of time ; and, as its independence was not founded on usurpation, nor cemented with blood, fi its descent from that splendour and power which 254 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. It had once attaineo, ir>stead of degrading, reflects the highest honour on them. None of the causes which subverted the famous republics of an- tiquity effected the dechne of Venice. No tyrants enslaved, no dema- gogues deluded, no luxuries enervated them. They owed their greatness to their industry, bravery, and maritime skill ; and their decline, to the revolutions which successful pursuits of science had produced in the na- tions of F^urope. For many years they withstood the whole force of the Ottoman empire by sea and land; and, although their treasures were eventually exhausted, and their power weakened, their enemies have ex- perienced consequences scarcely less fatal. No government has been more attacked by deep-laid and formidable conspiraces than that of Ven- ice : many of which have been brought to the very eve of execution without discovery or suspicion. Bwt though the entire subversion of the state has been, at times, impending from some of these plots, yet until the era of the French revolution, they have been constantly rendered abortive, either by the vigilance or good fortune of the senate. One of the most remarkable of these conspiracies was formed by a doge named Marino Faliero, in the year 1355, who at that time was eighty years of age ; but, conceiving a violent resentment against the senate, he formed a plan in order to assassinate the whole body. The design was timely discovered, and the dignified traitor brought to trial, found guilty upon his own con- fession, and publicly beheaded. In the great chamber of the palace-, where the portraits of the doges are placed, there is a vacant space be- tween the predecessor and successor of this man, where appears this in- scription, " iocws jlfarmi jpahm £?eca;t)i7aper. This formidable tribunal was established in the year THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 26fi 1310. About two centuries after, a still more despotic power was en trusted to three individuals, always chosen from the above council of ten, and forming the court called the state mquisition. The inquisitors like- wise kept the keys of chests which are placed in several parts of the ducal palace, enclosed within the open jaws of lions' heads carved in the walls ; through which notes were conveyed by any one who was disposed to drop them ; and thus notice was secretly given to the government of whatever might concern it to know. The history of Venice furnished a dreadful instance, in the beginning of the seventeenth century, of a number of confederated villains, who con- certed their measures so artfully as to frame false accusations against some of the Venetian nobles, which, in the opinion of their judges, con- victed them of treasonable practices against the state, and one at least was publicly executed. At length the frequency of accusations created suspicions, which led to a full detection of the infernal scheme ; upon which every possible reparation was made to the manes of the innocent victim, the honour of whose family was fully restored ; but the tribunal, which decreed the sentence, was suffered to possess the same unlimited power ; the only alteration being that anonymous information was some- what more cautiously received ; for it was a political maxim in Venice, that "it is of more importance to the state to intimidate every one even from the appearance of crime, than to allow a person, against whom a presumption of guilt appears, to escape, however innocent he may be." How different this from the merciful spirit of those laws which hold it better ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent person should suffer ! The history of Venice furnishes two instances which bear a strong similarity to the conduct of the Roman Brutus. In the year 1400, Antonio Venier being doge, his son having committed an offence of no great enor- mity, was condemned in a fine of one hundred ducats, and to be impris- oned for a certain time. During his confinement, he fell sick, and peti- tioned to be removed to a purer air. The doge rejected the petition, de- claring that the sentence must be executed literally, and that his son must take the fortune of the rest in the same situation. The youth was much beloved, and many applications were made that the sentence might be softened, on account of the danger which threatened him, but the fa- ther was inexorable, and the son died in prison. Fifty years after this, a son of another doge, named Foscari, being suspected of having been the instigator of the murder of a senator, who was one of the " council of ten," was tortured, banished, and on his application to the duke of Milan, solic- iting him to exert his interest for his recall, was brought back to Venice, for the purpose of again undergoing the torture, and being closely confin- ed in the state prison ; the only mercy shown him being that of granting permission for the doge, the father of the unfortunate youth, to pay him a visit in his confinement. The father, who had held his office for thirty years, and was very old, exhorted his son to support his hard fate with firmness ; whilst the son protested not only his innocence, but that he was utterly incapable of supporting the confinement to which he was doomed. In an agony of grief he threw himself at his father's feet, imploring him to take compassion on a son whom he had ever loved with the fondest affection, and conjuring him to use his influence with the council to miti- gate their sentence, that he might be saved from the most cruel of all deaths, that of expiring under the consuming torture of a broken heart, secluded from every creature whom he loved. This melting intercession had no other effect upon the father than to draw from him the following reply:—" My son, submit to the laws of your country, and do not ask of roe what it is not in my power to obtain." After this interview, the mis- erable youth languished for a while, and then expired in prison ; but ths 25R THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. violence which his father, as a magistrate, did to his paternal feelings, ter- minated his life somewhat sooner. A short time after this catastrophe, a Venetian of noble rank, being on his death-bed, confessed, that, urged by private resentment, he was the murderer of the senator whose assassina- tion had given rise to this tragic scene. THE HISTORY OF ROME. If it is hard to carry back our ideas of Rome from its actual state to the period of its highest splendour, it is yet harder to go back in fancy to a time still more distant, a time earlier than the beginning of its authentic history, before the art of man had completely rescued the soil of the future city from the dominion of nature. Here also it is vain to attempt accuracy in the details, or to be certain that the several features in our description all existed at the same period. It is enough if we can image to ourselves some likeness of the original state of Rome, before the undertaking of those great works which are ascribed to the late kings. The Pomcerium of the original city on the Palatine, as described by Tacitus, included not only the hill itself, but some portion of the ground immediately below it ; it did not, however, reach as far as any of the other hills. The valley between the Palatine and the Aventine, after- wards the site of the Circus Maximus, was in the earliest times covered with water; so also was the greater part of the valley between the Pala- tine and the Capitoline, the ground afterwards occupied by the Roman forum. But the city of the Palatine hill grew in process of time, so as to become a city of seven hills. Not the seven famous hills of imperial or republican Rome, but seven spots more or less elevated, and all belong- ing to three only of the latter seven hills, that is to the Palatine, the Cselian, and the Esquiline. At this time Rome, already a city on seven hills, was distinct from the Sabine city on the Capitoline, Quirinal, and Viminal hills. The two cities, although united under one government, had still a separate existence ; they were not completely blended in one till the reigns of the latter kings. The territory of the original Rome during its first period, the true Ager Romanus, could be gone round in a single day. It did not extend beyond the Tiber at all, nor probably beyond the Anio; and on the east and south, where it had most room to spread, its limit was between five and six miles from the city. This Ager Romanus was the exclusive properly of the Roman people, that is of the houses; it did not include the lands conquered from the Latins, and given back to them again when the Latins became the plebs, or commons of Rome. Well may the inquiring historian exclaim, " What was Rome, and what was the country around it, which have both acquired an interest such as can cease only when the earth itself shall perish ?" The hills of Rome are such as we rarely see ; low in height, but with steep and rocky sides. Across the Tiber the ground rises to a greater height than that of the Roman hills, but its summit is a level unbroken line, while the heights, w«ich opposite to Rome rise immediately from the river, under the names of Janiculus and Vaticanus, then sweep away to some distance from it, and return in their highest and boldest form at the Mons Marius, just above the Milvian bridge and Flaminian road. Thus to the west the i-icw is immediately bounded ; but to the north and north-east the eye THE TREASURY OP HISTORY. 257 ranges over the low ground of the Campagna to the nearest line of the Apennines, which closes up, as with a gigantic wall, all the Sabine, Latin, and Volscian lowlands, while over it are still distinctly to be seen the high summits of the central Apennines, covered with snow, even at this day, for more than six months in the year. South and south-west lies the wide plain of the Campagna ; its level line succeeded by the equally level line of the sea, which can only be distinguished from it by the brighter light reflected from its waters. Eastward, after ten miles of plain, the view is bounded by the Alban hills, a cluster of high bold points rising out of the Campagna, on the highest of which (about three thousand feel) stood the temple of Jupiter Latiarius, the scene of the common worship of all the people of tlie Latin name. Immediately under this highest point lies the crater-like basin of the Alban lake; and on its nearer rim might be seen the trees of the grove of Ferentia, where the Latins held the great civil assemblies of their nation. Further to the north, on the edge ()f the Alban hills, looking towards Rome, was the town and citadel of Tusculum; and beyond this, a lower summit crowned with the walls and towers of Labicum, seems to connect the Alban hiijs with the line of the Apennines, just at the spot where the citadel of Prceneste, high up on the mountain-side, marks the opening into the country of the Her- nicans, and into the valleys of the streams that feed the Lyris. Returning nearer to Rome, the lowland country of the Campagna is broken by long green swelling ridges. The streams are dull and slug- gish, but the hill sides above them constantly break away into little rock clitFs, where on every ledge the wild fig now strikes out its branches, and tufts of broom are clustering, but which in old times formed the natural strength of the citadels of the numerous cities of Latium. Except in these narrow dells, the present aspect of the country is all bare and des- olate, with no trees nor any human habitation. But anciently, in the early times of Roipe, it was full of independent cities, and in its popula- tion and the careful cultivation of its little garden-like farms, must have resembled the most flourishing parts of Lombardy. Such was Rome, and such its neighbourhood. The foregoing topographical observations appear to be necessary, before the reader enters upon even a brief recital of any of those circumstances' which — whether legendary or strictly true, whether fabulous or merely exaggerated — have been handed down from age to age as the veritable history of Rome. We are told, in the first place, that vEneas, after the destruction of Troy, having arrived in Italy, married Lavinia, the daugh- ter of Latinus, fifth king of the Latins, and succeeded his father-in-law,, after having deprived Turnus, king of the Rutuli, first of his sceptre and then of his life. Ascanias, after the death of jEneas, his father, united with it the kingdom of Alba, of which he was the founder. We cannot, however,, proceed without remarking, that whatever relates to the origin of Rome is attended with the greatest uncertainty ; and that the records of some of the ancient writers are more worthy of a place in the vEneid of Virgil,, than the page of history. In illustration of this remark, we sh'dll take the liberty of quoting the " Legend of Romulus." " NumiU)r was the eldest son of Procras, king of Alba Longa, and he had a younger brother called Amulius. When Procras died, Amulius seized by force on the kingdom, and left to Nnmitor only his share of his father's private inheritance. After this he caused Numitor's only son to be slain, and made his daughter Silvia become one of tlie virgins who watched the ever-burning fire of the goddess Vesta. But the god Mamers, who is called also Mars, beheld the virgin and loved her, and it was found that she was going to become/the mother of children. Then Amulius order- ed that the children, when born, should be thrown into the river. It hap- pened that the river at that time had flooded the country ; when, therefore 17 o«;q the treasury OF HISTORY. the two children in their basket were thrown into the river, the waters carried them as far as the foot of the Palatine hill, and there the basket was upset, near the roots of a wild fig- tree, and the children thrown out upon land. At this moment there came a she-wolf down to the water to drink, and when she saw the children, she carried them to her cave hard by, and gave them suck ; and while they were there, a woodpecker came backwards and forwards to the cave, and brought them food. At last one Faustulus, the king's herdsman, saw the wolf suckling the children ; and when he went up, the wolf left them and fled ; so he took them home to his wife Laurentia, and they were bred up along with her own sons on the Palatine hill; and they were called Romulus and Remus. " When Romulus and Remus grew up, the herdsmen of the Palatine hill chanced to have a quarrel with the herdsmen of Numitor, who stalled their cattle on the hill of Aventinus. Numitor's herdsmen laid an am- bush, and Remus fell into it, and was taken and carried off to Alba. But when the young man was brought before Numitor, he was struck with his noble air and bearing, and asked him who he was. And when Remus told him of his birth, and how he had been saved from death, together with his brother, Numitor marvelled, and thought whether this might not be his own daughter's child. In the meanwhile, Faustulus and E-omulus hasten- ed to Alba, to deliver Remus ; and by the help of the young men of the Palatine hill, who had been used to follow him and his brother, Romulus look the city, and Amulius was killed ; and Numitor was made king, and owned Romulus and Remus to be born of his own blood. The two brothers did not wish to live at Alba, but loved rather the hill on the banks of the Tiber, where they had been brought up. So they said that they would build a city there ; and tliey inquired of the gods by augury, to know which of them should give his name to the city. They watched the heavens from morning till evening, and from evening till morning ; and as the sun was rising, Remus saw six vultures. This was told to Romulus ; but as they were telling him, behold there appeared to him twelve vultures. Then it was disputed again, which had seen the truest sign of the god's favour; but the most part gave their voices for Romulus, So he began to build his city on the Palatine hill. This made Remus very angry ; and when he saw the ditch and the rampart which were drawn round the space where the city was to be, he scornfully leapt over them, saying, ' S'hall such defences as these keep your city]' As he did this, Celer, who had the charge of the building, struck Remus with the spade which he held in his hand, and slew him ; and they buried him on the hill Remuria, by the banks of the Tiber, on the spot where he had wished to build the city. " But Romulus found that his people were too few in numbers ; so he set apart a place of refuge, to which any man might flee, and be safe from his pursuers. So many fled thither from the countries round about ; those who had shed blood, and fled from the vengeance of the avenger of blood ; those who were driven out from their own homes by their enemies, and even men of low degree who had run away from their lords. Thus the city became full of people ; but yet they wanted wives, and the nations round about would not give them their daughters in marriage. So Rom- ulus gave out that he was going to keep a great festival, and there were to be sports and games to draw a multitude together. The neighbours came to see the show, with their wives and their daughters; there came the people of Caenina, and of Crustumerium, and of Antemna, and a great multitude of the Sabines. But while they were looking at the games, the people of Romulus rushed out upon them, and carried off the women to be their wives. Upon this the people of Caenina first made war upon the people of Romulus ; lut they were beaten, and Romulus with his own THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 259 fliand slew their king Acron. Next the people of Crustumeriutn, and of Aiitemna, tried their fortune, but Romulus conquered both of them. Last of all came the Sabines, with a great army under Titus Tatius, their king. Tliere is a hill near to the Tiber, which was divided from the Palatine hill by a low and swampy valley ; and on this hill Romulus made a fortress, to keep off the enemy from his city. But when the fair Tarpeia, the daue;hter of the chief who had charge of the fortress, saw the Sabines draw near, and marked their bracelets and collars of gold, she longed after these ornaments, and promised to betray the hill into their hands if they would give her those bright things they wore upon their arms. So she opened a gate, and let in the Sabines ; and they, as they came in, threw upon her their bright shields which they bore on their arms, and crushed her to death. Thus the Sabines got the fortress which was on the hill Saturnius; and they and the Romans joined battle in the valley between the hill and the city of Romulus. The Sabines began to get the better, and came up close to one of the gates of the city. The people of Romu- lus shut the gate, but it opened of its own accord ; once and again they shut it, and once and again it opened. But as the Sabines were rushing in, behold there burst forth from the temple of Janus, which was near the gate, a mighty stream of water, and swept away the Sabines, and saved the city. For this it was ordered that the temple of Janus should stand ever open in the time of war, that the god might be ever ready, as on this jay, to go out and give aid to the people of Romulus. "After this they fought again in the valley ; and the people of Romu- ■•.us were beginning to flee, when Romulus prayed to Jove, the stayer of Qight, that he might stay the people ; and so their flight was stayed, and Vhey turned again to battle. And now the fight was fiercer than ever : when, on a sudden, the Sabine women, who had been carried off, ran down from the hill Palatinus, and ran in between their husbands and their fathers, and prayed them to lay aside their quarrel. So they made peace with one another, and the two people became as one : the Sabines with their king dwelt on the hill Saturnius, whioh is called Capitolium, and on the hill Quirinalis ; and the people of Romulus with their king dwelt on the hill Palatinus. But the kings with their counsellors met in the valley between Saturnius and Palatinus, to consult about their common matters; and the place where they met was called Comitium, which means ' the place of meeting.' Soon after this. Tatius was slain by the people of Laurentum, because some of his kinsmen had wronged them, and he would not do them justice. So Romulus reigned by himself over both nations; and his own people were called the Romans, for Roma was the name of the city on tJie hill Palatinus : and the Sabines were called Quirites, for the name of their city on the hills Saturnius and Qui- rinalis was Quirium. The people were divided into three tribes ; the Ramnenses, and the Titienses, and the Luceres : the Ramnenses were called from Romulus, and the Titienses from Tatius ; and the Luceres were called from Lucumo, an Etruscan chief, who had come to help Romulus in his war with the Sabines, and dwelt on the hill called Ca;lius. In each tribe tliere were ten curiae, each of one hundred men; so all the men of the three tribes were three thousand, and these fought on foot, and were called a legion. There were also three hundred horsemen, and these were called Celerians, because their chief was that Celer who had slain Remus. There was besides a council of two hundred men, which was called a senate, that is, a council of elders. Romulus was a just king and gentle to his people : if any were guilty of crimes, he did not put them to death, but made them pay a fine of sheep or of oxen. In his wars he was very successful, and enriched his people with the spoils of their enemies. At last, after he had reigned nearly forty years, it chanced that one day he called his people together in the field of Mars, near the Goats 250 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. Pool ; when, all on a sudden, there arose a dreadful storm, and all was dark as night ; and the rain, and thunder and lightning, were so terrible, that all the people fled from the field, and ran to their several homes. At last the storm was over, and they came back to the field of Mars, but Romulus was nowhere to be found ; for Mars, his father, had carried him up to heaven in his chariot. The people knew not at first what had be- come of him ; but when it was night, as one Proculus Julius was coming from Alba to the city, Romulus appeared to him in more than mortal beauty, and grown to more than mortal stature, and said to him, ' Go, tell my people that they weep not for me any more ; but bid them be brave and warlike, and so shall they make my city the greatest in the earlh.' Then the people knew that Romulus was become a god; so they built a temple to him, and offered sacrifice to him, and worshipped him evermore by the name of the god Quirinus." But to quit the hyperbole of legendary lore and speak in plain terms, it amounts to this — Romulus, the grandson of Numiior, king of the Latins, joined with his brother Remus in an attempt to re-establish his grand- lather in the possession of his throne, and Amulius, the usurper, was put to death. Having thus far succeeded, the two young heroes next assem- bled a number of the lowest orders of the people, and built a city on the Aventine hill, to which Romulus gave his name ; and soon after becoming jealous of his brother, caused him to be assassinated. We turn to the pages of Dr. Arnold, who, after referring those who desire to go deeply into the whole question, to the ' immortal work of Niebuhr,' very justly observes, that " the first question in the history of every people is, what was their race and language 1 the next, what was the earliest form of their society, their social and political organization !" " The language of the Romans was not called Roman, but Latin. Po- litically, Rome and Latium were clearly distinguished, but their language appears to have been the same. This language is diflferent from the Etrus- can, and from the Oscan ; thus the Romans are marked out as distinct from the great nations of central Italy, whether Etruscans, Umbrians, Sabines, or Samnites. On the other hand, the connection of the Latin language with the Greek is manifest. Many common words, which no nation ever derives from the literature of another, are the same in Greek and Latin ; the declensions of the nouns and verbs are, to a great degree, similar. It is probable that the Latins belonged to that great race which, in very early times, overspread both Greece and Italy, under the various names of Pelasgians, Tyrsenians, and Siculians. It may be believed, that the Hellenians were anciently a people of this same race, but that some peculiar circumstances gave to them a disUnct and superior charac- ter, and raised them so far above their brethren, that, in after ages, they disclaimed all connection with them. But in the Latin language there is another element besides that which it has in comniun with the Greek. This element belongs to the languages of central Italy, and uiay be called Oscan. The terms relating to agriculture and domestic life'are mostly de rived from the Greek part of the language ; those relating to arms and war are mostly Oscan. It seems, then, not only that the Latins were a mixed people, but that they arose out of a conquest of the Pelasgians by the Oscans ; so that the latter were the ruling class of the united nation, the former its subjects. The Latin language, then, may aflbrd us a clue to the origin of the Latin people, and m far to that of the Ro- mans. But it does not explain the ditference between Romans and Latins, to which the peculiar fates of the Roman people owe their origin. We must inquire, then, what the Romans were which the other Latins were not ; and as language cannot aid us here, we must have recourse toother SBBistance, to gcograpliy and national traditions. And thus, at the same time, we shall arrive at an answer to the second question in Roman his- THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 261 x«y, what was the earliest form of civil society at Rome 1 If we look it the map, we shall see that Rome lies at the farthest extremity of La- tium, divided from Etriiria only by the Tiber, and having the Sabines close oa the north, between the Tiber and the A.nio. No other Latin town, so far as we know, was built on the Tiber ; some were clustered on and round the Alban hills, others lined the coast of the Mediterranean; but from all these Rome, by its position, stoop aloof. Tradition reports that as Rome was thus apart from the rest of the Latin cities, and so near a neighbour to the Etruscans and Sabines, so its population was in part formed out of these nations, and many of its rites and institutions borrowed from the other. Tradition describes the very first founders of the city as the shep- herds and herdsmen of the banks of the Tiber, and tells how their numbers were presently swelled by strangers and outcasts from all the countries about. It speaks of a threefold division of the Roman people, in the very earhest age of its history ; the tribes of the Ranmenses, Titienses, and Luceres. It distinctly acknowledges the Titienses to have been Sabines ; and in some of its guesses at the origin of the Luceres, it connects their name with that of the Etruscan Lucumones, and thus supposes them to have been composed of Etruscans. We know that for all points o detail, and for keeping a correct account of time, tradition is worthless. It is very possible that all the Etruscan rites and usages came in with the Tarquinii, and were falsely carried back to an earlier period. But the mixture of Sabines with the original people of the Palatine hill, cannot be doubted ; and the stories of the asylum, and of the violence done to the Sab'ne women, seem to shew that the first settlers of the Palatine were a n ixed race, in which other blood was largely mingled with that of the Latins. We may conceive of this earlier people of Mamers, as of 'le Mamertini of a more historical period: that they were a band of reso- lute adventurers from various parts, practised in arms, and little scrupu- lous how they used them. Thus the origin of the highest Roman nobility greatly resembled that of the larger band of adventurers who followed the standard of William the Norman, and were the founders of the no- bility of England. The people or citizens of Rome, were divided into the three tribes of the Ramnenses, Titienses, and Luceres, from whatever circumstances they may have risen. Each of these tribes was divided into ten smaller bodies called curiae ; so that the whole people consisted of thirty curitB: the same divisions were in war represented by the thirty centuries which made up the legion, just as the three tribes were repre- sented by the three centuries of horsemen ; but that the soldiers of each century were exactly a hundred, is apparently unfounded. We see, then, that this city, which afterward became the mistress of the world, was at this time but a large village. Its principal inhabitants laboured with the plough in an unproductive soil. Everyone made choice of the spot he meant to cultivate ; and, until the taking of Rome by the Gauls, 334 years after its foundation, it was rather to be called amass of separated dwellings than a regularly built city. Whereas, the circumfer- ence of the walls, in the time of Augustus, was thirty thousand paces, without including the part that approached the Tiber, which was twenty thousand ; independent, also, of the suburbs. Its embellishments were superb and prodigious. But to return to the first foundation of Rome. There were very few women at this time among the Romans; and their neighbours being unwilling to marry their daughters to these heroic rob- bers, K.omulus caused public games to be exhibited, at which many of the Sabine women were present, who were seized by the Romans. This conduct produced a war between the two nations, which terminated in their union. Romulus being acknowledged king, endeavoured to civilize his new subjects ; and, having ascertained their number, which was 3,000 men, he divided them into three tribes of 1,000 each, and each tribe into 262 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. ten curi.d by the senate and the people. He was good-tempered, moderate, humane, witty, capa- ble of friendship, and, on the whole, the greatest emperor since Augustus Titus succeeded his father ; he was perfectly a master of his passions, and governed the empire so admirably as to gain the name of the " Love and delight of the Human Racey His eloquence, his valour, and his mod- eration, where the charms by which he gained the hearts of his subjects. He died in the forty-first year of his age, having reigned two years, eight months and twenty days. Domitian, the younger brother of Titus, ascended the throne. He abandoned himself to every vice, and was ca- pable of every crime. He raised many considerable edifices in Rome; and was killed in his palace, by his domestics, in the fifteenth year of his reign. Nerva, already advanced in age, was next elected emperor. He governed with justice, and chose Trajan for his successor. He died at Rome at the age of seventy, having reigned four months and eight days, ••egretted by a people whom he had rendered happy. Trajan, by birth a Spaniard, succeeded Nerva. He was a successful soldier, and extended the bounds of the Roman empire. He was just, and an enemy to flattery and envy ; he was friendly, and loved his subjects ; and it has been said that his only defects were a love of war and wine. He^ied in Asia in the sixty-third year of his age. Adrian was raised to the throne by the means of Plotina, the wife of Trajan. He had a happy disposition ; was a protector of the arts, and of artists ; and his greatest ambition was to have the reputation of being learned. He was a perfect master of the Greek language, and jealous of those who spoke or wrote better than him- self. He abandoned many provinces conquered by Trajan, and built a temple in honour of Venus on mount Calvary. He died in the Campania of Rome at the age of sixty-two years. Antoninus Pius, of Nismes, suc- ceeded Adrian. He treated his subjects as his children. Liberality, clemency, and affability, formed only a part of the good qualities of this prince ; his wit was polished, his sentiments noble. He defeated the Britons by his generals. He repulsed the Moors, and took part of Egypt. His death took place at a country seat called Lorium, four leagues from Rome, in the sixty-third year of his age. Marcus Aurelius, the successor of Antoninus, took Lucius Verus as his colleague in the empire ; they made war upon the Parthians. Lucius Verus intended to command in person, but stopped at Antioch, and gave his orders to his lieutenants, who defeated the Parthians, and took Seleu- cia, one of the finest cities in Syria. Lucius Verus returned to Rome, and had a triumph. He did at Venice, of apoplexy, or poison, having reigned nine years. After the death of Verus, Marcus Aurelius governed alone, with all the wisdom which characterizes a good prince. He over- came several northern nations, and sold the most precious part of his property to compensate his soldiers, rather than oppress the people. This crowned philosopher would serve as a perfect model for princes, if his extreme kindness had not sometimes degenerated into weakness. He died at the age of sixty-one. Commodus, son of Aurelius, but unwor- thy of such a parent, succeeded his father to the throne. He made him- self detestable by his debaucheries ; but carried on a successful war against the Germans. After having practised the cruelties of a Nero, and the wickedness of a Caligula, by sacrificing the wisest among the Romans, and murdering his wife and his sister, he died, as is supposed, by poison. Pertinax, prefect of Rome, succeeded Commodus, at the ago of seventy. He was originally a schoolmaster in Liguria, which he quitted for a mili- tary life. In endeavouring to establish dicipline in the army, he was killed by the soldiers of his own guard, after a reign of twenty-four days. Julian usurped the empire after the death of Pertinax ; but he was de- feated by his rival, Septimus Severus, and was slain in his palace in the 18 274 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. seventh month of his reign. Severus, who had already assumed the title of emperor in Illyria, succeeded Julian. He defeated and killed Pescennius Niger, who had been proclaimed emperor in the east. He also defeated Clodius Albin, who had assumed the title of Caesar in Gaul. He subjugated the Parthians and the Arabs, and joined to his military skill the reputation of learning. In England he built the famous wall in the north, which extended from sea to sea — and which is in part remain- ing at this hour — in order to prevent the inroads of the Picts and Scots. He died at York, after having reigned gloriously eighteen years and four months. Caracalla and Geta, the sons of Severus, were elected emperors. Caracalla having killed Geta, whom the senate had declared an enemy to the republic, reigned alone. He governed tyrannically, and abandoned himself to the most infamous and degrading vices. He carried on a war with some success against the Germans ; and was preparing to march against the Parthians, when he was killed at Edessa, at the age of forty- three years ; after having reigned six years and two months, the detesta- tion of the Roman people. Here we date the decline of the Roman empire. Macrinus and Diadamenis, father and son, were placed on the imperial throne. They were killed by the soldiers, after having reigned fourteen months. Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, surnamed Heliogabalus, priest of the Temple of the Sun, was proclaimed emperor by the array. He was a monster of lasciviousness ; and was, with his mother Semiasyra, killed by the soldiers, after having reigned two years and eight months. Alexander Severus, cousin to the last emperor, mounted the throne at the age of fifteen years. The army gave him the name of Caesar, and the senate of Augustus. He gained a signal victory over the Persians ; and was noted as a patron of the arts and sciences. He was killed in Gaul, by a soldier whom he had raised from the ranks, after a reign of thirteen years ; during which he consoled the empire, by his virtues and his kind- ness, for the tyranny of the preceding reigns. Maximinian, of the Gothic race, elected emperor by the soldiers, was the son of a poor peasant, and, from the station of a common soldier, arose step by step to the first dig- nities in the empire. He was eight feet high, and a most voracious glut- ton. He commenced his reign by the murder of his best friends, and was himself murdered by his soldiers. Gordian was placed upon the imperial throne by the soldiers. He appointed his son as his colleague, whom he sent into Africa against Capellian, governor of Numidia and Mauritania. The younger Gordian was vanquished and killed by the Numidians, at the age of forty-five years. Gordian the elder died with despair, at the age of eighty, in the third year of his reign. Maximus and Balbinus, the first the son of a smith, and the latter of noble origin, had been during the life-time of Maximinian elected emperors by the senate, and now assumed the throne. But the soldiers, dissatis- fied with their election, entered their palaces and massacred them. They then set up the grandson of Gordian, whom the senate had also declared Cssar after the death of his grandfather. Gordian H., invested with the purple, opened the temple of Janus, and carried on a successful war against the Parthians and Persians. He pursued Sapor totHe confines of Persia, where he was killed through the treachery of Philip, whom he had constituted his lieutenant. The Romans, for his virtues, ranked him among the gods. The two Philips, father and son, were proclaimed em- perors. The father was the son of an Arab chief of robbers. Before he came into Italy, he had made his peace with Sapor. He abandoned some of the provinces of the empire ; visited Arabia ; and built, at the place of liis birth, a city which he called Philipopolis. During the reign of the Philips, was celebrated at Rome, with great magnificence, the year one thousand from the foundation of the city. Philip, the father, was killed THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 075 tt Verona, and the son at Rome, after having reigned about six years. Decius and his son, who had been sent against the Scythians, being suc- cessful, receiv*'d from the soldiers the imperial crown. Decius possessed the qualities of a good soldier and an honest man. He, however, perse- cuted the Christians with rigour, on account of what he considered their fanaticism. After having reigned two years, he, together with his son, perished by an ambuscade prepared for them by Trebonianus Gallus. Hostilius and Gallus succeeded Decius in the empire. Hostilius had been named by Decius as his successor; but he died soon after his eleva- tion, with the plague, at Rome. Gallus, who was saluted emperor by the legions, divided his power with his son Volusius. Lucinius, brother of Hostilius, prepared to fight him, but was abandoned, and killed by his sol- diers in lUyria. Gallus and Volusius marched against Emilius, who had revolted in Mossia, and were killed at Terano, after having reigned about two years. Emilius, an African, was proclaimed emperor by the legions which had revolted against Gallus; but the soldiers having learned that Valerian had taken the purple in Gaul, they killed Emilius, after having reigned three months. Valerian, and Gallien, his son, governed the empire jointly. They were unfortunate in their wars, particularly in that carried on against Sapor, king of Persia, who defeated Valerian in Mesopotamia, took him prisoner, and treated him with every indignity. Gallien defeated and killed Ingenuus, who had taken the purple. The weakness of the Roman government had encouraged the Germans, who made irruptions into Gaul and Italy. At the same time the governors of the provinces aimed at becoming independent; and at one time not less than thirty had declared themselves emperors. Posthumus usurped the empire in Gaul, which he governed ten years by his valour and prudence. Pie laid siege to May- ence, which had revolted at the solicitation of Lollius, elected emperor by the troops he commanded. Posthumus and Lollius were killed by their own soldiers. Marius, originally a blacksmith, elected emperor after the death of Posthumus, was killed on the second day of his reign, by a soldier who had been his boy at the forge. He ran his sword through his body ; telling him, at the same time, tJial it was of his own forging. Victorinus succeeded Marius, and was killed at Cologne, by a writer, whose wife he had seduced. Tetricus succeeded Victorinus, and took the purple at Bourdeaux. Gallus succeeded, and \vas killed with Vale- rian, his brother, at Milan, in the ninth year of his reign. Claudius II. succeeded Gallus. He totally defeated the Goths, who had committed great ravages in Greece. His modesty, moderation, equity, and other good qualities, gained him general esteem. He died of a contagious fever, in the second year of his reign. Quintillus, the brother of Claudius, was saluted emperor by the soldiers, but killed on the seventeenth day of his reign. Aurelian succeeded Quintillus, and was esteemed for his valour and his prudence. He defeated, near Chalons, in Champagne, the army of Tetricus. He fought a bloody battle with Zenobia, a celebrated prin- cess. This astonishing woman, after the death of her husband, Odenatus, who, under the emperor Gallus, was proclaimed emperor of the East, com- manded the arTiy in person with much success. Aurelian took her pris oner, and entered Rome in triumph, making Zenobia walk before his cha- riot. She possessed extraordinary beauty, and a great mind. Aurelian was assassinated by the means of his secretary, in the road between Con- stantinople and Heracleum. The army having refused at this time to bestow the imperial throne, the senate resumed its ancient right. The choice fell on an old man, named Tacitus. He died in the sixth month of his reign. He was just and en- lightened, perfectly disinterested, and a man well suited to close the wounds of the state. Florian succeeded Tacitus, his brother ; but reigned 276 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. only two months and twenty days. The prince demanded the empire as the right of his family. Probus, saluted emperor after Florian, was of ob- scure birth ; but he possessed heroic valour ; he drove from Gaul the many barbarians who had nearly overrun it. He defeated Saturninus in the east, and Proculus and Bonosus near Cologne, usurpers of the empire. Probus was killed by his own soldiers, after having reigned with glory about six years. Aurelius Carus succeeded Probus ; and soon after he had been named Augustus, he created his sons, Carinus and Numerian, Caesars, with whom he reigned about two years. He defeated the Salma- tians, and afterwards the Persians, and was killed by lightning on the banks of the Tigris. Numerian, who was with his father in the east, was assassinated in his litter. Carinus, whom his father had left in the west, to govern lUyria, Gaul, and Italy, had, by his crimes, become the scourge of the human race. The victorious army of Persia refused to acknowledge him, and saluted Diocletian as emperor. Diocletian was no sooner elected emperor than he marched against Ca- rinus, and defeated him in a general battle in Moesia. He bestowed the name of Caesar on Maximin, surnamed Hercules, and sent him into Gaul, to quell an insurrection of the peasants, which duly he soon effectively performed. Carausius, general of part of the troops of the empire, and ■whom Maximin had ordered to be killed, took the purple, and possessed himself of Britain. Achilleus took possession of Egypt ; and Narses used every effort to render himself master of the east. Diocletian now took for his colleague in office, Maxin)in Hercules, and named him Augustus ; and gave the title of Caesar to Constance and Galerus. The two emperors accommodated matters with Carausius. They defeated the Persians un- der Narses, and on their return to Rome, received the honour of a superb triumph. But they presently grew weary of their grandeur, and both emperors relinquishing the purple on the same day, appeared in the habit of common citizens ; Diocletian at Nicomede, and Maximin at Milan. The former retired to Salona, in Dalmatia; the latter to Lucania. Dio- cletian was a philosopher, possessing a commanding genius. Maximin •was fierce and cruel, possessing more of the courage of the soldier, than the genuis of a general. Constantius Clorus and Galerus were declared emperors by the senate. These two princes divided the empire between them. Constantius had Gaul, Italy, and Africa ; Galerus, lUyria, Asia, and the east. Constantius died after a reign of about two years, with the character of a just prince. Constantine the Great, son of Constantius, was elected emperor at York. But the soldiers of the praetorian guard, who had revolted at Rome, gave the title of Augustus to Maxentius, son of Maximin Hercules. Maxi- min, who now felt regret at having resigned the purple, left Lucania, and came to Rome, from whence he wrote in vain to Diocletian to re-assume the imperial throne. Galerus sent Severus to Rome, to oppose Maxen- tius. Severus besieged Rome, but was betrayed, and defeated ; and soon after Maxentius caused him to be strangled between Rome and Capua. Maximin having in vain endeavoured to dispossess his son, Maxentius, retired into Gaul, in search of Constantine, his son-in-law, with a design to kill him. Fausta, daughter of Maximin, and wife of Constantine, being acquainted with the design of her father, informed her husband. Maxi- min, in order to save himself from the fury of Constantine, endeavoured to embark at Marseilles for Italy, but was killed in that city by the order of Constantine. Galerus honoured Licinius with the purple, and died soon after. The Romans at this time obeyed three emperors ; Constantine, Maxentius, and Licinius. Consiantine possessed talents both for war and politics ; he defeated the army of Maxentius, and afterwards attacked Licinius, who had married his sister, and having defeated him in several actions both by sea and land, the vanquished Licinius surrendered at dis THE TREASURY OF HISTORY 277 cretion to the conqueror. Licinius retired to Thessalonia, where he lived in privacy and tranquility, until Constantine, hearing that he was alive, ordered him to be put to death. Constantine, now sole master of the em- pire, transferred the seat of government to Byzantium, which he named Constantinople. Under him Christianity began to flourish ; he received baptism ; but, although he was a nominal Christian, many of his qualities were repugnant to the principles of Christianity. He died near Nicomede. Constantine II., Constance, and Constantius, divided the empire between them, agreeable to the will of Constantine their father. Constantine had Spain, Gaul, and the Alps ; Constance, Asia, Egypt, and the East ; Con- stantius, Italy, Sicily, and Africa. This division was the ruin of the em- pire. Constantine was killed by the soldiers of his brother Constantius, who perished by treason a little time after. Constance, sole master of the empire, reigned twenty-four years. Destitute of glory, weak, and in- consistent, he was neither loved nor feared. Julian, called by the Christians the Apostate, by others the Philoso- pher, was proclaimed emperor by the troops in the lifetime of Constance. This prince was just, frugal, an enemy to vain-glory and flattery, and af- fected to hate the name of Christian. He died a hero fighting against the Persians. Jovian, elected by the principal oflUcers of the army, governed with wisdom, and encouraged Christianity. He reigned about eight months. Valentinian succeeded Jovian; he joined in the government his brother Valens. They divided the empire of the East and the empire of the West. Valentinian had the West, and Valens the East. Gratian as- cended the imperial throne after the death of his father Valentinian. Va- lens, defeated by the Goths and other barbarians who were established in Thrace and menaced Constantinople, died leaving few subjects to re- gret his loss. Gratian appointed Theodosius governor of the East, where, by his zeal for the Christiai? hgion, his abhorrence of its opponents, and by his courage, he rendere(!. .himself popular. Gratian being dead, and Valentinian, emperor of the West, being assassinated in the year 393, and Theodosius having vanquished Maximus and Eugenius, who had declared themselves emperors, re-united the whole empire, which he divided be- tween his sons. After the death of Theodosius, all degenerated; and from this epoch may be dated the fall of the Romans. The decline of the Roman empire, in fact, followed the age of the Antonines. The eff"eminate and luxurious manners of the nobles and people of Rome ; the vices of the emperors ; the means by which they rose to power; the disposal of sovereignty by the military ; the recruiting of the army by natives of Germany and other barbarous countries ; and the increasing numbers and audacity of the "barbarians," precipitated Rome from that eminence which she had attained during the consulate and the first years of the empire. In order to connect the present with the past, and thereby render our sketch of Roman history the more complete, we shall now make some abridged extracts from the observations of a modern tourist, M. GaliflTe, of Geneva, in his work entitled " Italy and its inhabitants ;" and conclude with a slight historical notice of Papal Rome, or States of the Church. "If we were to judge of the state of society in Rome under the kingly power, from the tales which so many writers have dignified with the title of Roman history, we should find it very difficult indeed to account for the astonishing magnificence of its earliest monuments. The Cloaca Maxima^hmM by the elder Tarquin, is, I believe, the most stupendous work known in Europe — a work which even Egyptian kings might have ad- mired. The Curia Hostilia offers remains of similar architecture ; walls and vaults, built with stones of such enormous size, and so closely joined, that they are likely enough to endure to the end of the world. From Ehese remains alone it would be easy to show how ridictr'ous is the sup- 273 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY position that the common people were of any consideration in the a^ate nnder the kings of Rome ; they were slaves, and could be nothing else. It is clear that they had no votes to give, that they were never consulted, that the public resolutions were not even communicated to them, except in so far as it was necessary that they should know what duties were prescribed for their performance ; in short, that they were very nearly on the same footing as the Russian peasants in our days — perhaps rather worse than better. On the other hand, I have no doubt that the aristoc- racy had a much higher degree of power and dignity than they are gener- ally represented and supposed to have possessed. All those lords who were called patricians, were very nearly on a level with their chief, whom they called kng. Their more immediate armed followers, very probably formed that part of the nation called populus in the general assemblies. The plebs were considered as far below the populus, which its name indeed implies — a name more expressive than polite ; but politeness to that por- tion of the inhabitants of Rome was then quite out of the question. " It was not till very long after the expulsion of the kings, that the ple- beians began to feel that they were human beings, and that the distance at which they were kept by their lords began to wound their feelings. And it is probable, that they would never have dared to make the least attempt to raise themselves above the condition of their masters' cattle, if their services in war had not, by slow degrees, opened their eyes to their disgraceful situation. In time of peace they had either no leisure to make, or no means to circulate, observations of this nature ; but in camps, where the clients of different patrons were necessarily often lodged together, and were led to compare their respective leaders, to talk of their deeds, and discuss their private as well as public conduct, they could not fail, sooner or later, to make serious reflections on the extreme difference Avhich existed between themselves and their masters ; a difference not to be sufficiently accounted for by any disparity of natural means ; notwith- standing that the habit of command on the one side, and that of blind obedience and low obsequiousness on the other, might have established a perceptible, and even a striking diversity of features as well as of temper between them. That diversity, besides, must have gradually diminished, as every succeeding war augmented the consequence, and at the same time enlarged the feelings and the understandings, of the lower classes. "When the plebeians had achieved a complete equality of rights with the patricians, the progress of the Roman republic towards universal do- minion became, from the mere nature of things, excessively rapid. Though we may not be able to ascertain that the first plebeian who was made consul did anything in particular to prove himself deserving of that distinction, we may be pretty sure that none were raised to the dignity but men capable of illustrating their name by their deeds — at least in the earlier times ; afterwards, indeed, it was grown into a custom, and the election of a plebeian consul had ceased to be a party-stroke. On tho other hand, the patricians were deeply interested in rivalling and excelling their plebeian colleagues ; so that this double motive of action gave pro- digious strength to the government, and such an impetus to the whole- nation, that none of the radical defects of its constitution could impede its progress through a long series of conquests. But those defects stuck closely to it, though concealed by the very triumphs which seemed tc disprove their existence ; and they penetrated into its core, and gnawer its vital parts, while its outward appearance inspired terror even in the na tions among whom it had not yet carried destruction. " The religion of the first Romans seems to have been more simpk and more serious that that of other heathen nations. They were strangers to that immense multitude of gods, which the over-luxuriant imagination of the Greeks and Asiatics had created. Their gods were THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 270 lew in number; and as they were believed to be virtuous and severe, they were accordingly respected and feared. Religious fear too frequently produces superstition ; the Romans were extremely superstitious. But if the excess of their credulity made them attach a high degree of impor- tance to ceremonies, which certainly were infinitely more absurd than even the most extravagant practices of the most superstitious sects of Christians, the perfect sincerity of belief which animated every class, gave them a moral strength which has never been sufficiently appreciated. Let it be remembered, that in those early times their priests were not a stipendiary class ; they were the chiefs who led the people to war, and who maintained them in peace ; without whose permission and inter- ference nothing material could be done, and who introduced some particu- lar religious rites into every action of life. This mixture of civil and ec- clesiastical power in the chief of every noble family, over his children and clients, formed such a bond of union between them, that no external influence could have broken it ; and even long after the plebeians had ac- quired a rank in society, and a considerable degree of influence in the state, they hardly dared to think that those religious rites could be per- formed by any but an hereditary patrician. As soon as they began to discover that they could perform them with equal efficacy themselves, their deep respect for religion received a wound from which it never recovered. All the divinities of the conquered countries, however im- moral and impure, were freely admitted and adopted; and they complete- ly changed the nature as well as the form of public and private worship. The great men began to be as free in their speeches on the subject, as the same class in France affected to be during the last two reigns of the Bourbons. Indifference and incredulity glided down from the higher to ihe lower classes; and that Rome which conquered Carthage, had long ceased to to exist, when Cresar made himself master of its corpse. The winding-sheet was indeed more brilliant than any imperial robe, and seemed an object well worthy of his ambition. *' The luxury of the Romans was gradually carried to so extravagant a pitch, that the wise and the thinking even of their own nation were shocked at, and condemned it ; but idle declamations can do no good in such cases. Many of those who were accounted the most virtuous and best citizens, were infected with this disorder, and delighted in it hardly less than the worst. But it does not appear that it was a part of their luxury to employ their riches in raising splendid edifices, for the astonishment of posterity. Posterity was nothing to them ; present enjoyment was their only care. They levelled mountains, they digged or filled up lakes, they sent to the extremities of the earth for every delicacy of the table for which each country was renowned; they filled a great number of elegant villas with the most costly furniture, they kept an immense number of servants and slaves, and thus they squandered thousands of millions, of which hardly any trace remains except the names of the places from whence they dated elegant, philosophical epistles to their friends ! The whole space beyond the Capitol is full of ruins; and those ruins are the more interesting, as the names of but very few of tliem are known. The form as well as the height of the hills, has been changed by the immense heaps of ruins which were thrown down in the lower parts of the town, and which in many places rose up to the level of those buildings which towered above them before. Houses have been built in places where none existed in ancient times ; just because those places happened to be less encumbered with ruins, and because the ground was more solid. Trees have been planted on the top of the rubbish which filled up some streets, more particularly the Forum Romanum. But Rome, as it is, offers abundance to occupy the leisure hours of a man of taste for years. The Colosseum alone, so vast, so grand (notwithstanding defects 280 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. in its architecture) is so uncommonly picturesque in many points of view, that it well deserves to be visited. Nor is it necessary to admire the Romans of former times, and to hate their present governors, in order to take a lively interest in this magnificent fragment of antiquity. There are twelve obelisks in Rome ; and five grand pillars, the two finest of which are those called the columns of Trajan and Antonine. The first gives its name to a square, the middle of which has been excavated as low down as the level of the ancient place, which is, if I remember well, about eight or ten feet lower than that of the buildings around. The other stands in tlie middle of the Piazzo Colonna; there is a staircase within it, as in the London monument. The general appearance of these columns is very agreeable as well as grand, and they are noble decora- tions to ja. square. The Capitol is so very different from what it was in ancient times, that it affords but little satisfaction at first sight ; it is, how- ever, far from being so insignificant as some would have it to be, and it grows more interesting on a nearer examination. What people call the Capitol at present, was only the Intermontium of ancient Rome, a sort of midway hill, which joined the Tarpeian rock to the real Capitoline Mount. The latter is extremely high, as one may easily perceive from the church of Ara CceU on its top. The Tarpeian rock is lower, but yet quite lofty enough for its known destination. It must be observed that the Romans were far from posssessing any well-founded pretensions to elegance ; they imitated the Greeks as closely as they could, without ever attaining to their pitch of excellence. They thought there could never be too much of a good or a fine thing ; and they crowded temples, houses, statues, obelisks, and every sort of ornament, in a manner that must have seemed absurd to a person of taste. The Roman arms conquered the territory of Greece, but the Grecian accomplishments subdued the Romans themselves ; and the latter victory was more glorious than the former, which was only the inevitable consequence of a disproportion of mere physical force between the combatants." PAPAL ROME, OR STATES OF THE CHURCH. The name of Pope, or Father, was formerly given to all bishops. But since the time of Gregory VH. it has been solely applied to the bishop of Rome. The temporal grandeur of the Roman pontiff commenced in times very remote. Constantine gave to the church of Lateran up- wards of one thousand marks in gold, and about thirty thousand marks in silver, besides the assignment of rents. The Popes, charged with sending missionaries to the east and west, and with providing for the poor, obtained for these pious purposes, from the richer Christians, without much trouble, considerable sums. The emperors, and the kings of the Lombards, gave to the Holy Father lands in various parts; and many others, by gift, and by will, increased his patrimony. In the seventh century we find the pontiff possessed of great riches in various countries, and exempted from tax or tribute. The Popes formed the design to render themselves independent. Under the reign of Pepin, father of Charlemagne, this revolution commenced ; and it was completed under that of his son. Adrian I. caused money to be coined with his name ; and the custom rf kissing the feet of the Pope began about the close of the eighth century, when they assumed regal rights, and their power and riches increased rapidly. Gregory IV. rebuilt the port of Ostia ; and Leo IV, fortified Rome at his own expense. The election of Pope has been different in the different ages of the ohurch. The people, and the clergy, were the first electors ; and the emperor had the power of confirming the election, after the death of Pope Simphcius, in 483. Odoacer, king of the Heruli, and of Italy, made a THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 281 w>v which struck at the right of election, under pretence of remedying the divisions which fsometimes look place on the election of a pope. Th/a law was abolished about twenty years after, in the fourteenth coun- cil o» Rome, held in 502, under Pope Simmacus, with the consent of the king I?jeodoric. But this prince, who was an Arian, becoming cruel towards tue latter end of his life, caused Pope John to be laid in prison, where he jied mrserably, in 526. He then usurped to himself the right of creating a pope, and named to the pontifical chair Felix IV. The Gotnic kings who succeeded him followed his example; yet not entirely, for thoy contented themselves with confirming the election which the clergy had made. Justinian, who destroyed the empire of the Goths in Italy, and after him the other emperors, preserved this right ; and they obliged the new-elected pope to pay a sum of money for the confirmation of his election. Constantino Pogonat delivered the church from this ser- vitude and exaction in 681. Notwithstanding this apparent relinquish- ment on the part of the emperors, they always preserved some authority in the election of popes, until the time of Louis le Debonnaire, in 824, and his successors, Lothaire I. and Louis II., who ordained that the election of popes should henceforward be free, and canonical, according to ancient usage. Parties in favour of the different candidates for the popedom had now arisen to a great height, and were the cause of the schisms which followed in the church. The emperors were obliged to take on themselves the right of election; but after the schism of Peter and Victor IV. had been extinguished, all the cardinals re-united under the obedience of Innocent II. After his death, the cardinals were the only electors of Celestine II. in 1143 ; since which time they have been in full possession of this privilege. Honorius III. in 1216, or, according to others, Gregory X. in 1247, ordained, that the election should be made in the conclave. The conclave is a part of the palace of the Vatican, composed of many cells, where the cardinals are shut up for election, which takes place on ihe morning of the tenth day after the death of the pope. The pope may be considered under four different titles : first, as chief jf the church ; second, as patriarch ; third, as bishop of Rome ; and fourth, as a temporal prince. As primate, he is the superior of all the catholic churches. As patriarch, his rights extend over the kingdoms and provinces within the pale of the Romish church. As bishop of Rome, he exercises in the diocese of Rome the ordinary functions which he has not a right to exercise in other dioceses. As a temporal prince, he is sovereign of Rome, and the states which have been acquired by donation, or by proscription. No throne upon earth has been filled with men of more exalted genius, higher ambition, or more depraved vice, than the pontifical chair ; but they are in general old men, well versed in the know- ledge of men and the world. Their council is composed of men resem- bling themselves ; and their orders, for a length of time, embraced almost the universe. Cardinal Braschi (Pius VL) was elected in the early part of the year 1775, on the death of the celebrated (Ganginelli) Clement XVI. He occupied the pontifical chair until the breaking out of the French revolution in 1789 ; or rather till after the execution of Louis XV^I., when he was induced to take a part in the war carrying on against France, by the emperor and other potentates. The French armies having overrun Italy, seized upon Rome, and made the venerable pontiff prisoner •n 1798; from whence he was conveyed into France, where he died at Valence, in August, 1799, at a very advanced age. In 1800 a successor to the popedom was elected at Venice, who took the name of Pius VII. \t his death Leo XII. was elected ; who in 1829 was succeeded by Pius VIII. The government is wholly ecclesiastical, no one being eligible to fill iny civil ofiice who has not attained the rank of abbot. The pope enacts 2S-2 THE TREASURY OP HISTORY. all laws, and nominates to all clerical appointments. He is assisted, how- ever, by the high college of cardinals, comprising about seventy members; and the different branches of the government are conducted each by con- gregations, with a cardinal at its head. The laws in force are merely those of the Justinian code ; but the pope has power to alter or annul any previous laws. Brigandage is less frequent than formerly ; but the police and the law are still very defective ; assassinations and other crimes of violence daily taking place without the perpetrators being ever brought to justice. On the fall of Napoleon, the alienation of church domains was confirmed ; but the compensation since made to their former owners, and the restoration of suppressed churches and convents, have cost the gov- ernment prodigious sums, and are the principal causes of the wretched state of the finances. Within the limits of the Papal States there are no fewer than eight archbishops', and fifty-nine bishops' sees ; and it is esti- mated that in Rome there is a clergyman for every ten families. It is needless to add that this superabundance of priests, instead of promoting religion and morality, is, in fact, a principal cause of their low state in the city. The outward deportment of the papal court is, however, at present highly decorous. Those times so disastrous and disgraceful, when the popes had so many nephews, and those nephews built many splendid palaces and villas, called by the Romans, in derision, miracles of St. Peter, are now almost as much forgotten in Rome, as the time when horses were made consuls, and eunuchs emperors. NAPLES Of the remote antiquity of this country there are but scanty documents. At a very early period most part of the coasts of Naples and Sicily were occupied by Greek colonists, the founders of some of the greatest and most flourishing cities in the ancient world. They received, from this circumstance, the name of Magna Graecia, But, rapidly as the Greek republics of Italy rose to notice, it is certain that luxury and corruption kept equal pace with their prosperity; and in the time of Polybius, the very name of Magna Graecia was disused. Continental Naples submitted to the Romans at an early period of the republic, subsequent to which it underwent many vicissitudes. In the fifth century it became a prey to the Goths. Belisarius, general of the emperor Justinian, took Naples in 537. Destined to pass from master to master, it was conquered by Totila in 543. The Lombards next got possession of it, and kept it until Char- lemagne put an end to that kingdom. His successors divided it with the Greek emperors, and the latter soon after became its sole masters. In the ninth and tenth centuries, the Saracens possessed Naples, and after them, the Normans. Sicily also fell into the hands of the French in 1058. The French formed Naples into a monarchy, of which Roger was its first king. Constance, last princess of the blood of Roger, and heiress of the two kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, was married, in 1186, to Henry, son of the emperor Barbarossa. This marriage was the source of great misfortunes. At length this family became extinct in 1265, when Pope Clement IV. gave the investiture of Naples and Sicily to Charles, count of THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 283 Anjou. Charles was opposed by Conradiii, nephew of Manfroid, whc came from Germany to dispute with him the crown. Charles defeated him in battle, and having taken him prisoner, with Frederic of Austria, caused them both to be executed in the market-place of Naples in 126S. This execution made^he king detested by his new subjects : and the French in Naples were equally obnoxious as in Sicily. A Frenchman had committed in Sicily an atrocious act of violence on a woman. On the morrow after Easter, 1282, the people assembled together, and murdered every Frenchman on the island, with the exception of one gentleman, a native of Provence. The innocent perished with. the guilty, and the blood of Conradin was terribly avenged. The descendants of Charles of Anjou possessed the crown until 1384, when Jane 1. adopted, by her will, Louis I., duke of Anjou, son of King John. At the same time, Charles Duras, or Durazzo, a cousin of Queen Jane, established himself upon the throne. This event occasioned a long war between the two princes, and even between their successors. The posterity of Charles Durazzo, however, maintained their situation, while that of the count of Anjou also bore the title of king of Naples. Jane II., last sovereign of Naples, of the house of Durazzo, appointed, by her will, Rene of Anjou as her successor, which gave the Anjouan family a double right to the kingdom ; but Rene never possessed it. Alphonso, king of Arragon, took possession of Naples and the crown. The kings of Arragon possessed Naples until the time of Charles VIII., when Louis XII. conquered the kingdom. The great general, Gonsalvo, of Cordova, drove out the French army. Notwithstanding the treaty made between Louis XII. and Ferdinand, king of Spain, in favour of the former, the successors of Ferdinand enjoyed it until the death of Charles II., but not without frequent revolts on the part of the Neapolitans. The revolt of 1647 was headed by a man of the name of Massaniello, a fisher- man, who, during fifteen days, could reckon upward of 100,000 men, over whom he held a most absolute sway. Henry, duke of Guise, a knight- errant of his day, taking advantage of the troubles which rent Naples asunder, procured himself to be declared king, when, after he had been some months in Naples, he was made prisoner by the Spaniards ; and his partizans not only disavowed him, but submitted to his conquerors. After the death of Charles II., who had left Philip V. as the inheritor of his kingdom, the Neapolitans acknowledged him as their king. Ferdi- nand IV., the late king of Naples, joined the grand confederacy against France at an early period of the war. He afterward made his peace, but again joining in the war, the French made themselves masters of Naples in January, 1799, and the royal family were compelled to fly from that portion of the Neapolitan dominions, and take refuge in Sicily. In Feb- ruary it was divided into eleven departments, and the government new- modelled on the French plan ; but Admiral Nelson appearing upon the coast, the French capitulated, the democratic system was overturned, the old monarchy and government restored, and the king returned to his throne. The kingdom of Naples was again, however, placed under French dominion by Bonaparte, and its crown conferred on his brother Joseph : the legitimate king having again fled to Sicily, where he was long supported by a British force under Sir John Stewart. In the spring of 1808 Bonaparte removed Joseph to Spain, and raised Murat to the tribu- tary and usurped throne of Naples, where he remained, without having been able to annex Sicily to his usurpation, until he was in turn hurled from the throne in 1815. Early in May of that year, the capital was sur- rendered to a British squadron; and on the 17th of June, Ferdinand IV re-entered it, amid loud and apparently sincere plaudits of the multitude. During the time of Mural's reign considerable changes took place, the good effects of which every impartial person was ready to allow. AU ng4 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. branches of the public administration were invigorated and improved ; society, in the upper ranks, was reconstructed upon the Parisian scale ; the French code superseded the cumbrous and vicious jurisprudence of ancient Naples ; and the nation, notwithstanding its subordination to the imperial politics, and its participation in Napoleoi^'s wars, appeared to be destined to take a higher rank than before in the scale of natioES. Irt July, 1820, a revolt, headed by General Pepe, broke out among the troops, and the universal cry was for a constitution, though no person seemed to know exactly what constitution to adopt, or how to frame a new one. At length it was determined to imitate that of the Spanish cortes, and the parliament was expressly summoned to modify and correct it. An epi- sode to this revolutionary movement was about the same time exhibited in Sicily. No sooner had the citizens of Palermo heard what had been transpired at Naples, and that a parliament had been convoked there, than they determined to have a parliament and constitution of their own. Of their taste for liberty, as well as their fitness for it, they gave an immedi- ate specimen, by letting loose from prison nearly a thousand atrocious malefactors. They assailed the houses of the Neapolitan officers, and threw the soldiers into dungeons. It was necessary, therefore, to send a large force from Naples to put down the rebellion ; but when that force approached Palermo, a dreadful scene of slaughter and cruelty ensued in that unhappy city. All who refused to join this militia of criminals were shamefully murdered, then cut into pieces, and their quivering limbs ex- posed on pikes and bayonets. In the meanwhile those who led the Nea- politan troops permitted Palermo to surrender on terms of capitulation. While at Naples they were thus amusing themselves at constitution- mongering, and in Sicily every species of horrid barbarity was practised, the allied powers took into their deliberation the changes which popular force had worked in the political system of the country and the king of the Two Sicilies was invited to the congress. The result was, that the Austrians crossed the Po on the 28th of January, and marched to Naples. Rieti was immediately taken by the Austrians, and the Nea- politan army fell back upon Aquila. The Austrians appeared in sight; General Pepe was almost instantly deserted by his troops, and obliged to escape as well as he could. This dispersion was followed by that of the troops at Mignana, who fired on their officers, and then disbanded. The Austrians entered Naples on the morning of the 29th; and thus ended the Neapolitan revolution. There is something so unique and striking in the Neapolitan character, that we are tempted to conclude this article with an extract from Mr. Forsyth's account of the inhabitants of the capital : — " Naples, in its inte- rior, has no parallel on earth. The crowd of London is uniform and in- telligible : it is a double line in quick motion; it is the crowd of business. The crowd of Naples consists in a general tide rolling up and down ; and in the middle of this tide, a hundred eddies of men. Here you are swept on by the current ; there you are wheeled round by the vortex. A diver- sity of trades dispute with you in the streets. You are stopped by a carpenter's bench, you are lost among shoemakers' tools, you dash amorhg the pots of a maccaroni stall, and you escape behind a lazzaroni's night- basket. In this region of caricature, every bargain sounds like a battle ; the popular exhibitions are full of the grotesque ; some of their church processions would frighten a war-horse. " The mole seems, on holidays, an epitome of the town, and exhibits most of its humours. Here stands a methodislical friar preaching to one row of lazzaroni ; there. Punch, the representative of the nation, holds forth to a crowd. Yonder, another orator recounts the miracles performed by a sacred wax- work on which he rubs his agnuses, and sells them, thus impregnated with grace, for a grain a piece. Beyond him are quacks iii THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 285 nussar uniforms, exalting their drugs and brandishing their sabres, as if not content with one mode of killing;. The next professore is a dog of knowledge, great in his own little circle of admirers. Opposite to hina stand two jocund old men, in the centre of an oval group, singing alter- nately to their crazy guitars. Further on is a motley audience, seated on planks, and listening to a iragi-comic Jilosopho, who reads, sings, and ges- ticulates old Gothic tales of Orlando and his Paladins. If Naples be ' a paradise inhabited by devils,' I am sure it is by merry devils. Even the lowest class enjoy every blessing that can make the animal happy — a de- licious climate, high spirits, a facility of satisfying every appetite, a con- science which gives no pain, a convenient ignorance of their duty, and a church that ensures heaven to every ruffian who has faith. Here tatters are not misery, for the climate requires little covering ; filth is not misery to those who are born to it ; and a few fingerings of maccaroni can wind up the rattling machine for the day. " They are, perhaps, the only people on earth who do not pretend to virtue. On their own stage they suffer the Neapolitan of the drama to be always a rogue. If detected in theft, a lazzaroni will ask you, with impu- dent surprise, how you could possibly expect a poor man to be an angel. Yet what are these wretches ? Why, men, whose persons might stand as models to a sculptor ; whose gestures strike you with the commanding energy of a savage ; whose language, gaping and broad as it is, when kin- dled by passion, bursts into oriental metaphor ; whose ideas, indeed, are cooped within a narrow circle, but a circle in which they are invincible. If you attack them there you are beaten. Their exertion of soul, their humour, their fancy, their quickness of argument, their address at flattery, their rapidity of utterance, their pantomime and grimace, none can resist but a lazzaroni himself." SICILY. Sicily, the largest, most fertile, and best peopled island in the Mediter- ranean sea, now forming part of the kingdom of Naples, or the Two Sici- lies, was inhabited by a people originally from Hispania, and called Sica- nians. The Sicules, inhabitants of Latium, penetrated afterward into this island, and drove the Sicanians from the south and west parts. Several colonies of Greeks next transported themselves into Sicily, and the an- cient inhabitants were obliged to retire into the interior of the country. The Greeks built several handsome cities, which are remaining to this day; but the most considerable was Syracuse, founded by the -Stolians. Archius of Corinth, a bold and enterprising man, entered Sicily with a colony of Dorians, and made himself master of Syracuse, about 765 b. c. The fertility of the country, and the convenience of the port, induced him to enlarge the city considerably, and it soon became one of the first in Europe. Agrigentum, the next city in Sicily after Syracuse, was equally exposed to revolution. Phalaris made himself master of it in the year 572 before Christ, and exercised there, during sixteen years, every species of cru- elty. He was killed by Telemachus, the grandson of Theron, the libera- tor of his country, and afterward its monarch. The fugitives of Syracuse, 286 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. wishing once more to get possession of their city, in the year 491, implor- ed succor from Gelon, king of Gela, a city of Sicily. Gelon conducted himself with so much prudence, that the Syracusians unanimously elected him to be their king. His first care was to reinstate agriculture ; and he worked in the fields at the head of the labourers. He augmented Syra- cuse, fortified it, and became afterward so powerful as to be master of all Sicily. The Carthaginians made several attempts upon this island, bat were always repulsed. Gelon died in the year 476 b. c, leaving behind him the character of a great prince, and regretted by all ranks of Sicilians. He was succeeded by his brother Hieron, a man naturally morose and severe, but softened by Simonides, Pinder, and Xenophon, whom he en- couraged, and always kept at his court. He died 466 b. c, and left the throne to his brother, Thrasybulus, who possessed all the vices of Hieron, without his good qualities. He was driven out for his tyranny ; and Sicily was a short time free. Dionysius rendered himself master of Sicily in 405 b. c., and reigned thirty-seven years. He was succeeded by Dionysius the tyrant, who reigned twenty-five years : being driven out by Timoleon, he took refuge in Corinth, where he set up a school. Agalhocles brought the Sicilians under his yoke 317 b. c., and reigned twenty-six years. From his death Sicily was a theatre of continual war between the Carthaginians and the Romans. Not the fortifications of Syracuse, nor the machines invented by Archimides for its defense, were sufficient to prevent Marcellus from becoming master of it in the year 208 b. c. Sicily flourished under the Romans ; but in the decline, or rather toward the fall, of that empire, it came under the Vandals, and afterward the kings of Ital}'. The Saracens were continual in their attacks upon it ; and in the year 823 after Christ, the emperors of the East ceded it to Louis le Debonnaire, emperor of the West ; from which time the Saracens occupied a part of it (a. d. 837), until driven out by the Normans in 1004. Soon after the expulsion of the Saracens, the feudal system was intro- duced ; and in 1072, earl Roger, the Norman, also established a represen- tative assembly, or parliament, in which the nobles and clergy had an over- whelming majority, and which subsisted, notwithstanding the many changes the island has undergone, down to our own times. The Nor- mans kept possession of the island till the establishment of the Suabiaa dynasty, in 1194. In 1265 Charles of Anjou became master of Sicily; but the massacre planned by John of Procida, known by the name of the "Sicilian Vespers," (March 29, 1282), put an end to the Augevines. It soon after became a dependency of Spain, and was governed by Spanish viceroys. At the death of Charles II., of Spain, his spoils became an object of furious contention; and at the peace of Utrecht, in 1711, it was ceded to Victor Amadens, of Savoy, who not many years after was forced by the emperor Charles VI. to relinquish it for Sardinia. The Spaniards, however, not having been instrumental in effecling this disadvantageous exchange, made a sudden attempt to recover Sicily, in which they failed, through the vigilonce of the English admiral Byng, who destroyed theii fleet, and compelled them for that time to abandon the enterprise. In 1734 the Spanish court resumed their design with success. The infant Don Carlos drove the Germans out, and was crowned king of the Two Sicilies at Palermo. When he passed into Spain, to take possession of that crown, he transferred the Sicilian diadem to his son Ferdinand HI. of Sicily and IV. of Naples. While the continental dominions of Naples were held by Napoleon, Palermo was the residence of the court, the island being defended by an English fleet and garrison. THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 287 Since 1750, however, improvements of various kinds have been slowly, but gradually gaining ground ; and, within the last few years, several im- portant and substantial reforms have been introduced, that will, it is to be hoped, conspire to raise this fine island from the abyss into which it has been cast by bad laws and bad government. GENOA. A history of the various revolutions of Genoa would be a record oi con- tinual turbulence, but still interesting. Our limits, however, prevent us from attempting even a synopsis of them. In the time of the second Pu- nic war, it was a considerable city under the dominion of Rome. Mago, a Carthaginian general, in the course of the war, attacked, look, and des- troyed it. The senate thereupon sent the pro-consul Spurius, who in less than two years raised it to its former splendour. It remained under the Romans until it submitted to the Goths. The Lombards next possessed and almost ruined it. Charlemagne annexed it to the French empire. Pepin, his son, gave the city of Genoa, and its dependencies, to a French lord of the name of Adhesnar, under the title of count. His descendants reigned until the end of the eleventh century, when the Genoese revolted against their count, set themselves at liberty, and chose magistrates from among the nobles. In the next century, the city was taken by the Sara- cens, who put all the men to the sword, and sent the women and children as slaves into Africa. When again re-established, the inhabitants availed themselves of their fine situation, turned their attention to commerce, enriched themselves, became powerful in proportion to their riches, and erected their country into a republic. Their enthusiasm for liberty rendered this republic capa- ble of great things. In it were joined the opulence of commerce with the superiority of arms. The jealousy and ambition of the citizens at length caused great troubles ; the emperors, the kings of Naples, the Vis- contis, the Sforzas, and France, successively called in by the different parties, divided the republic. In 1217, the principal Genoese, fearful of once more becoming the victims of civil war, chose as their first magis- trate a stranger. In 1339, the state appeared in a somewhat more regular form, and had acquired tranquility. Simon Bocanegra, a man of an illus- trious family, was elected duke, or doge, with a council composed of the chiefs of the principal families. In 1396, the Genoese put themselves under the protection of Charles VI., king of France, whom they acknowl- edged as their sovereign. In 1409, they massacred the French, and gave their government to the marquis of Montferrat. *In 1458, Francis Sforza, duke of Milan, was acknowledged sovereign protector of the republic of Genoa ; but his administration tending to despotism, they set themselves at liberty. It was at this time that they offered the sovereignty of their city to Louis XL Louis, well acquainted with the disposition of the Genoese, unfiit either to command or obey, made this answer to their so- licitations: "If the Genoese give themselves to me, I will give them all to the devil." In 1528, Andrew Doria had the happiness and address to unite and con- ciliate this refractory people, and establish an aristocratic government. This form continued until the French republicans made their rapid con- quests in Italy. Genoa was the scene of many hard-fought battles. At length, in 1797, a new republic was raised, under the name of the Ligurian republic ; but which, like the rest of the modern French creations, was dissolved at the downfall of Napoleon, in 1815, and transformed to a de- pendent province of Sardinia. THE HISTORY OF SARDINIA ISardinia is an insular and continental kingdom in the south of Europe. The continental part occupies the north-west portion of Italy, and is bounded by Switzerland on the north, the duchies of Milan and Parma on the east, the Mediterranean on the south, and France on the west. It stretches about 200 miles from north to south, and 130 from east to west. It consists at present of Piedmont, with the county of Nice ; the duchy of Montferrat ; part of the duchy of Milan ; the territory of the late republic of Genoa ; Savoy (not properly included in Italy), and the island of Sar- dinia, with the adjacent isles. THE ISLAND OF SARDINIA is divided from Corsica by the Strait of Bonifacio. The Greeks called it Ichnusa Sandaliotis, and Sardo. While it was in the possession of the Romans, it was a place of banishment ; and afterward the Saracens pos- sessed it nearly four centuries. Their expulsion could not be effected by the Pisanese, on whom Pope Innocent III. had assumed the prerogative of bestowing it in 1132. The emperor Frederic paid so little regard to this grant, that he again reunited it with the empire ; but the Pisanese taking advantage of the long interregnum, got possession of it in 1257. A difference afterward arising between them and the see of Rome, the pope again bestowed the island, in 1298, on James II. of Arragon, whose son, Alphonso IV. made himself master of it in 1324. From this time it continued under the crown of Spain, governed by a viceroy until 1708, when the English making a conquest of it for King Charles III., afterward emperor, by the title of Charles VI., it was confirmed to him by the treaty of Utrecht. In 1717, it was recovered by the Spaniards ; and in 1718 the emperor exchanged it for Sicily with the duke of Savoy, who was put in actual possession of it in 1720, and took the title of king of Sardinia. "The inhabitants of Sardinia," says Mr. Salt, " (I speak of the common oeople), are yet scarcely above the negative point of civilization ; perhaps ;t would be more correct to say that they appear to have sunk a certain way back into barbarism. They wear, indeed, linen shirts, fasted at the collar by a pair of silver buttons, like hawks' bills ; but their upper dress of shaggy goats' skins in the pure savage style. A few have gone one step nearer to perfectability, and actually do wear tanned leather coats, made somewhat in the fashion of the armour worn in Europe in the 15th century. With such durable habiliments, it is easy to conceive that thejf do not require much assistance from the manufactures of foreign coun- tries." Another writer, whom we have frequently quoted in this work says, "Notwithstanding her extent, the richness of her soil, her position in the centre of the Mediterranean, and her convenient harbours, Sardinia has been strangely neglected, not only by her own governments, but by the European powers generally ; and has remained, down to our own times, in a semi-barbarous state. A long series of wars and revolutions followed by the establishment of the feudal system in its most vexatious and oppressive form ; the fact of her having been for a lengthened period a dependency of Spain, and, if that were possible, worse governed even than the dominant country ; the division of the island into immense es- tates, most of which were acquired by Spanish grandees ; the want of leases, and the restrictions on industry, have paralysed the industry of the inhabitants, and sunk them to the lowest point in the scale of civilization BAVARIA. Bavaria, now one of the principal secondary states of Germany, was derived from a circle of the German empire, of the same name, bounded by Franconia and Bohemia on the north, Austria on the east, Tyrol on the south, and Suabia on the west. The earhest inhabitants of Bavaria were a tribe of Celtic origin called the Boii, from whom it received its old Latin name of Boiaria ; but, about the time of Augustus, the Romans subdued it, and it afterwards formed a part of v*^hat they termed Rhaitia, Vinde- licia and Noricum. After the downfall of the Roman empire, Bavaria fell under the dominion of the Ostrogoths and Franks, by whom it was governed till Charlemagne took possession of the country, and committed the government to some of his counts ; and on the partition of his impe- rial dominions among his grandsons, Bavaria was assigned to Louis the German. Its rulers bore the title of margrave till 920, when Arnold, its reigning prince, was raised to the title of duke, which his successors con- tinued to bear till 1623, when Maximilian I., having assisted Ferdinand 11. against his Bohemian insurgents, was elevated to the electoral dignity. In 1070, Bavaria passed into the possession of the Guelphs ; and in 1180 it was transferred by imperial grant to Otho, count of Wiltelsbach, whose descendants branched out into two families, the Palatine and the Bavarian, the former inheriting the Palatine of the Rhine, the latter the duchy of Bavaria. Few events of any importance occurred till the war of the Spanish succession, when Bavaria suffered severely from following the fortunes of France. It, however, received a great accession in 1777, when, upon the extinction of the younger line of Wittelsbach, the palati- nate, after a short contest with Austria, was added to the Bavarian terri- tory. After the adjustment of the Austrian pretensions, the electorate enjoyed the blessings of peace till the French revolution, which involved all Germany in the flames of civil discord. The elector remained on the side of the Imperialists till 1796, when the French marched a powerful army into his dominions, and concluded a treaty for the cessation of hos- tilities. In the following year was signed the treaty of Campo-Formio, and in 1801 that of Luneville, by which all the German dominions left of the Rhine were annexed to France, and the elector lost the palatinate of the Rhine, his possessions in the Netherlands and Alsace, and the duchies of Juliers and Deux Ponts ; receiving as indemnities four bishoprics, with ten abbeys, fifteen imperial towns, and two imperial villages. In the conflicts between France and the continental powers, Bavaria continued to maintain a neutrality till 1805, when the elector entered into an alliance with Napoleon, who shortly afterwards raised him to the dig- nity of king, and enlarged his dominions at the same time, by the annexa- tion of several imperial provinces. Of all the allies of the French empe- ror, no country has retained more solid advantages than Bavaria. Shortly after the campaign of 1806, when Austria, to purchase peace, sacrificed part of her possessions, Bavaria received a further enlargement, by the addition of Tyrol, Eichstadt, the eastern part of Passau, and other terri- tories ; when she began to assume a more important station among the surrounding states. At the dissolution of the Germanic confederation, and the formation of the Rhenish confederation, another alteration took place, the duchy of Berg being resigned for the margraviate of Anspach, together with the imperial town of Augsburg and Nuremburg. In 1809, Bavaria again took part with France against Austria, and again shared in the spoils of war; 19 200 THE TIIEASUII"X OF HISTORY but subsequently ceded some of her territories to Wirtemburg and Wurtz. burg ; and by another alteration, which sJiortly followed, exchanged a great part of Tyrol for Bayreuth and Ralisbon. But the friendship of the Bavarian monarch for his ally and patron was soon to be put to the test. When the thirst for military conquest induced Napoleon to march the French armies to Moscow, the Bavarian troops were among the number. Apprehending the ruin that awaited the French, but while the fortunes of Napoleon were still doubtful, the king of Bavaria seized the criiicai moment, and entered into a treaty with the emperor Oi. Austria, and joined the alUes in crushing that power which had long belt so many nations in thraldom. These important services were not for gotten. Bavaria was confirmed in her extensive acquisitions by the treaties of 1814 and 1815; for though Austria recovered her ancient pos- sessions in the Tyrol, &c., Bavaria received equivalents in Franconia and the vicinity of the Rhine. Though the inferior kingdoms and states of Germany are of too little importance to become principals in any Euro- pean wars, they are frequently found very effective allies, as was the case with Bavaria. Its army during the war amounted to sixty thousand men. In the history of Greece it will be seen that Otho, a Bavarian prince, was, in 1832, elected king of that country ; and that, in 1 843, he consented to g^ive his subjects a more liberal government. HANOVER. The kingdom of Hanover, which, until the year 1815, was an electorate •was formed out of the duchies formerly possessed by several familieo belonging to he junior branches of the house of Brunswick. The house of Hanover may, indeed, vie with any in Germany for antiquity and noble- ness. It sprung from the ancient family of the Guelphs, dukes and elec- tors of Bavaria, one of whom, Henry the Lion, in 1140, married Maude, eldest daughter of Henry II. king of England. Their son William, called Longsword, was created first duke thereof. The dominions descended in a direct line to Ernest, who divided them, upon his death in 1546, into two branches ; that of Brunswick Wolfenbuttle, and Brunswick Lune- burg. The possessor of the latter, Ernest Augustus, was, in 1692, raised to the dignity of an elector ; before which he was head of the college oi German princes. Ernest married Sophia, daughter of Frederic, elector palatine, and king of Bohemia, by Elizabeth, daughter of James I., king of Great Britain. Sophia being the next protestant heir to the crown ol England, through the medium of ihe house of Stuart, the parliament fixed the succession upon her, on the demise of the reigning queen Anne. Sophia died a short time before the queen ; and her eldest son, George Louis, in consequence, became king of Great Britain. This was in 1714 from which time till 1837, at the death of William IV., both England and Hanover have had the same sovereign. The families set aside from the succession by the parliament on that oc- casion, independent of the family of King James II. by Mary of Este, were as follows : the royal houses of Savoy, France, and Spain, descend- ants of Charles I., through his daughter Henrietta ; Orleans and Lorraine, descendants of James I. through Charles Louis, elector palatine, eldest THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 291 son of Elizabeth, daughter of the said king; Salm, Ursel, Conde, Conti, Maine, Modena, and Austria, descendants of James I., through Edward, elector-palatine, youngest son of the said Elizabeth. The history of Han- over for the two centuries preceding the Lutheran reformation presents little interest, except in the connection of its princes with the wars of the Guelphs and Ghibelines, in the latter end of the fourteenth century. Among the most zealous supporters of the reformation, however, were the princes of Brunswick ; and their subjects, during the thirty years' war, very effectively supported their anti-papal efforts. Ernest of Zell, the reigning duke at that period, was one of the most eloquent defenders of Luther at the diet of Worms; and his endeavours to improve the people by estab- lishing clerical and general schools, when learning was appreciated by only a few, shew him to have been a man of enlightened and liberal views. On the accesssion of her present Majesty to the throne of Great Britain, the Hanoverian crown, by virtue of the salic law, devolved on her uncle Ernest, duke of Cumberland, fifth but eldest surviving son of George HI. It had previously been for many years under the viceroyship of the duke of Cambridge. Hanover suffered in the French war of 1757 ; but it ex- perienced still greater sufferings during the French revolutionary war, after the enemy got possession of it. At the peace af Amiens, it was given up to the king of Great Britain ; but that peace being of very short duration, it again fell into the hands of the French, without resistance, or without an effort to save it, on the part of the inhabitants or the govern- ment. In 1804 Prussia took possession of Hanover, but ceded it in the same year to the French, who constituted it a part of the kingdom of Westphalia, established in 1808. At the peace of 1813, the king of Great Britain reclaimed his rightful dominions, which were then formed into a kingdom, and much enlarged by the stipulations of the treaty of Vienna. The countries which compose what is called Hanover, consist of Lune- burg, acquired by inheritance in 1292 ; Danneburg, by purchase, 1303 ; Grubenhagen, by inheritance, 1679; Hanover (Culenburg), by inheri- tance, 1679 ; Diephollz, by exchange, 1685 ; Hoya, by inheritance, in part, 1582; the remaining part by a grant from the emperor, in 1705 ; Lauen- burg, by inheritance, 1706; Bremen and Verden, by purchase, 1715 and 1719 ; Wildeshausen, by purchase, 1720 ; and the Hadeln-land, 1731. The district of Lauenburghas since been ceded for the bishopric of Hildeshiem, the principality of East Friesland, the districts of Lingen, Harlingen, &c. Hanover so long formed an appendage to the British crown that we are induced to extend this slight history by quoting a further account of its government : " Before Prussia ceded Hanover to France, in 1804, the form of government was monarchial, and the various territories were sub- ject to feudal lords. The peasants of the marsh lands had more freedom, and in East Friesland the constitution of the country was almost republi- can. In the territories of the princes of the empire, the representation of the people by estates, composed of the nobles, prelates, and deputies from the towns, served to check the power of the sovereign, as in other parts of Germany. In 1808, when Napoleon created the kingdom of Westphatia, the territories of Hanover, with the districts of Hildesheimand Osnabruck, formed a part of it, and the code Napoleon took the place of the ancient laws, and a sham representative government was established. On the return of the rightful sovereign to Hanover, in 1813, the French institu- tions were summarily abolished, and the old forms re-established ; and in 1818 the estates, summoned upon the ancient footing, drew up the form of anew constitution, modelled on that of England and France, and sub- stituting a uniform system of presentation for the various representative forms which prevailed under the empire. As the salic law, excluding fe- males from the succession to the throne, prevails in Hanover, William IV. was succeeded by his eldest surviving brother, Ernest, duke of Cumber- 292 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. land, in England. He, however, is considered an arbitrary ruler, quite incableof concentrating the affections of his people. A treaty of mutual inheritance has long existed between Hanover and Brunswick, which wan formally renewed in 1836, and by which the Hanoverian crown is declared to descend to the dukes of Brunswick on the extinction of male heirs of the line of Hanover." THE HISTORY OF GREECE. CHAPTER I. This deservedly celebrated country of antiquity — the seat of science, literature, and the fine arts, at a period when the greater part of the Euro- pean continent was involved in the obscurity of a barbaric ignorance — in its most palmy state comprised the southern portion of the great eastern peninsula of Europe, and extended to about 42° of north latitude, including Thessaly and a part of Modern Albania, with the Ionian islands, Crete, and the islands of the Archipelago. Modern Greece, although not so con- siderable in extent as the far-famed Greece of ancient date, comprises the territories of all the most celebrated and interesting of the Grecian states. By all the accounts which have been handed down, the earliest inhab- itants of Greece were barbarous in the extreme. They lived on those fruits of the earth which grew spontaneously ; their shelter was in dent or caves, and their country was one wild uncultivated desert. By slow degrees they advanced towards civilization, forming themselves into regu lar societies to cultivate the lands, and build towns and cities. But their original barbarity and mutual violence prevented them from uniting as one nation, or even into any considerable community: and hence the great number of states into which Greece was originally divided. The history of Greece is divided into three principal periods — the periods of its rise, its power, and its fall. The first extends from the origin of the people, about 1800 b. c, to Lycurgus, 875 years b. c; the second extends from that time to the conquest of Greece by the Romans, 146 B. c, ; the third shows us the Greeks as a conquered people, constant- ly on the decline, until at length, about a. d. 300, the old Grecian states were swallowed up in the Byzantine empire. According to tradition, the Pelasgi, under Inachus, were the first people who wandered into Greece. They dwelt in caves in the earth, supporting themselves on wild fruits, and eating the flesh of their conquered enemies, until Phoroneus, who is called king of Argos, began to introduce civilization among them. Some barbarous tribes received names from the three brothers, Achaeus, Pelasgus, and Pythius, who led colonies from Arcadia into Thessaly, and also from Thessalus andGrsecus (the sons of Pelasgus) and others. Deu- calion's flood, 1514 B. c., and the emigration of a new people from Asia, the Hellenes, produced great changes. The Hellenes spread themselves over Greece, and drove out the Pelasgi, or mingled with them. Their name became the general name of the Greeks. Greece now raised itself from its savage state, and improved still more rapidiy afier the arrival o. some Phosnician and Egyptian colonies. About sixty years after the" THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 293 flood of Deucalion, Cadmus the Phoenician settled in Thebes, and intro- duced a knowledge of the alphabet. Ceres from Sicily, Triptnlemus from Eleusis, taught the nation agriculture, and Bacchus planted the vine. Now began the heroic age, to wlaoh Hercules, Jason, Pirithous, and Theseus belong, and that of the old bards and sages, as Tamyris, Aniphion, Orpheus, Linus, Musaeus, Chiron, and many others. A warlike spirit tilled the whole nation, so that every quarrel called the heroes of Greece to arms ; as, for instance, the war against Thebes, and the Trojan war, 1200 B.C., which latter forms one of the principal epochs in the history of Greece. This war deprived many kingdoms of their princes, and produced a general confusion, of which the Heraclidse took advantage, eighty years after the destruction of Troy, to possess themselves of the Peloponnesus. They drove out the lonians and Achccans, who took refuge in Attica. But, not finding here sufficient room, Neleus (1044) led an Ionian colony to Asia Minor, where a colony of ^Eolians, from the Peloponesus, had already settled, and was followed eighty years after, by a colony of Dorians. In other states republics were founded, viz., in Phocis, in Thebes, and in the Asiatic colonies, and at length also in Athens and many other places ; so that for the next 400 years, all the southern part of Greece was, for the most part, occupied by republics. Their prosperity and the fineness of the climate, in the meantime, made the Asiatic colonies 4he mother of the arts and learning. They gave birth to the songs of Homer and Hesoid. There commerce, navigation flourished. Greecej however, still retained its ancient simplicity of manners, and was unac- quainted with luxury. If the population of any state became too numer- ous, colonies were sent out ; for example, in the 7th and 8th centuries, the powerful colonies of Rhegium, Syracuse, Sybaris, Crotona, Tarentum, Gela, Locris, and Messena were planted in Sicily and the southern parts of Italy. The small independent states of Greece needed a common bond of union. This bond was found in the temple of Delphi, the Amphictyonic council, and the solemn games, among which the Olympic were the most distinguished, the institution, or rather revival of which, 776 b. c. furnishes the Greeks with a chronological era. From this time Athens and Sparta begsm to surpass the other states of Greece in power and importance. At the time of the Persian war, Greece had already made important ad- vances in civilization. Besides the art of poetry, we find that philosophy began to be cultivated 600 b. c., and even earlier in Ionia and Lower Italy than in Greece Proper. Statuary and painting were in a flourishing con- dition. The important colonies of Massilia (Marseilles) in Gaul, and Agrigentum in Sicily, were founded. Athens was continually extending her commerce, and established important commercial posts in Thrace. In Asia Minor, the Grecian colonies were brought under the dominion of the Lydian CroBsus, and soon after under that of Cyrus. Greece itself was threatened with a similar fate by the Persian kings, Darius and Xerxes. Then the heroic spirit of the free Greeks shovved itself in its greatest brilliancy. Athens and Sparta almost alone withstood the vast armies of the Persian ; and the battles of Marathon, Thermopylae, and Plataea, as well as the sea fights at Artemisium, Salamis, and Mycale, taught the Persians that the Greeks were not to be subdued by them. Athens now exceeded all the other states in splendour and in power. The supremacy which Sparta had hitherto maintained, devolved on this city, whose com- mander, Cimon, compelled the Persians to acknowledge the independence of Asia Minor Athens was also the centre of the arts and sciences. The Peloponnesian war now broke out, Sparta being no longer able to endure the overbearing pride of Athens. This war devastated Greece, and en- slaved Athens, until Thrasybulus again restored its freedom ; and, for a short time, Sparta was compelled, in her turn, to bend before the Theban heroes, Epaminondas and Pelopidas. In spite of these disturbances 294 THE TIlEASUilY OF HISTORY. poets, philosophers, artists, ani statesmen, continued to arise, commerce flourished, and manners and customs were carried to tlie highest degree of refinement. But tiiat unhappy period had now arrived, when the Greeks, ceasing to be free, ceased to advance in civilization. A kingdom, formed by conquest, had grown up on the north of Greece, the ruler of which, Philip, united courage with cunning. The dissensions which prevailed among the different states, afforded him opportunity to execute his ambitious plans, and tiie battle of Chaeronea, 338 b. c, gave Macedonia the connnand of all Greece. In vain did the subjugated states hope to become free after his death. The destruction of Thebes was sufficient to subject all Greece to the young Alexander. This prince, as generalissimo of the Greeks, gained the most splendid victories over the Persians. An attempt to liberate Greece, occasioned by a false report of his death, was frustrated by Antipater. The Lamian war, after the death of Alexander, was equally unsuccessful. Greece was now little better than a Macedonian province. Luxury had enervated the ancient courage and energy of the nation. At length, most of the states of southern Greece, Sparta and iEtolia excepted, concluded the Achteau league, for the niaintainance of their freedom against the Macedonians. A dispute having arisen between this league and Sparta, the latter applied to Mace- donia for help, and was victorious. But this friendship was soon fatal, for it involved Greece in the contest between Philip and the Romans, who, at first, indeed, restored freedom to the Grecian states, while they changed ^tolia, and soon after Macedonia, into Roman provinces ; but they afterward began to excite dissensions in the Achaean league, inter- fered in the quarrels of the Greeks, and finally compelled them to take up arms to maintain their freedom. So unequal a contest could not long remain undecided ; the capture of Corinth, 146 b. c, placed the Greeks in the power of the Romans. During the whole period which elapsed between the battle of Chceronea and the destruction of Corinth by the Romans, the arts and sciences flourished among the Greeks ; indeed, the golden age of the arts was in the time of Alexander. The Grecian colonies were yet in a more flourishing condition than the mother country ; especially Alexandria, in Egypt, which became the seat of learning. As they, also, in process of time, fell under the dominion of the Romans, they became like their mother country, the instructors of their conquerors. In the time of Augustus, the Greeks lost even the shadow of their former freedom, and ceased to be an independent people, although their language, manners, customs, learning, arts, and taste spread over the whole Roman empire. The character of the nation was now sunk so low, that the Romans es- teemed a Greek as the most worthless of creatures. Asiatic luxury had wholly corrupted them ; their ancient love of freedom and independence was extinguished; and a mean servility was substituted in its place. At the beginning of the fourth century, the nation scarcely showed a trace of the noble characteristics of their fathers. The barbarians soon after began their ruinous incursions into Greece. The principal traits in the character of the ancient Greeks, were sim- plicity and grandeur. The Greek was his own instructor, and if he learned anything from others, he did it with freedom and independence. Nature was his great model, and in his native land she displayed herself in all her charms. The uncivilized Greek was manly and proud, active and enterprising, violent both in his hate and in his love. He esteemed and exercised hospitality toward strangers and countrymen. These features of the Grecian character had an important influence on the religion, poli- tics, manners, and philosophy of the nation. The gods of Greece were not, like those of Asia, surrounded by a holy obscurity : they were human in their faults and virtues, but were placed far above mortals. They kept THE TREASURY OF HISTORY 295 up an intercourse with men ; good and evil came from their hands ; all physical and moral endowments were their gift. The moral system of the earliest Greeks taught them to honour the gods by an exact observance of customs; to hold the riglits of hospitality sacred, and even to spare mur- derers, if they fled to the sanctuaries of the gods for refuge. Cunning and revenge were allowed to be practiced against enemies. No law en- forced continence. The power of the father, of the husband, or the bro- ther, alone guarded the honour of the female sex, who therefore lived in continual dependence. The seducer brought his gifts and offerings to the gods, as if his conduct had been guiltless. The security of domestic life rested entirely in the master of the family. From these characteristic traits of the earliest Greeks originated, in the sequel, the peculiarities of their religious notions, their love of free- dom and action, their taste for the beautiful and the grand, and the sim- plicity of their manners. The religion of the Greeks was not so much mingled with superstition as that of the Romans ; thus, for example, they were unacquainted with the practice of augury. The Greek was inclined to festivity even in religion, and served the gods less in spirit than in out- ward ceremonies. His religion had little influence on his morals, his belief, and the government of his thoughts. All it required was a belief in the gods, and in a future existence ; freedom from gross crimes, and an observance of prescribed rites. The simplicity of their manners, and some obscure notions of a supreme God, who hated and punished evil, loved and rewarded good, served at first to maintain good morals and piety among them. These notions were afterwards exalted and systema- tized by poetry and philosophy ; and the improvement spread from the cultivated classes through the great mass of the people. In the most enlightened period of Greece, clearer ideas of the unity of the deity, of his omniscience, his omnipresence, his holiness, his good- ness, his justice, and of the necessity of worshipping him by virtue and purity of heart, prevailed. The moral system of some individuals among the Greeks was equally pure. The precepts of morality were delivered at first in sententious maxims ; for example, the sayings of the seven wise men. Afterwards, Socrates and his disciples arose, and promulgated their pure doctrines. The love of freedom among the Greeks sprang from their good fortune, in having lived so long without oppression or fear of other nations, and from their natural vivacity of spirit. It was this which made small armies invincible, and which caused Lycurgus, Solon, ;ind Timoleon to refuse crowns. Their freedom was the work of nature, and the consequence of their original patriarchal mode of life. Their first kings were considered as fathers of families, to whom obedi- ence was willingly paid, in return for protection and favours. Important affairs were decided by the assemblies of the people. Each man was master in his own house, and in early times no taxes were paid. But as the kings strove continually to extend their powers, they were ultimately compelled to resign their dignities ; and free states arose, with forms of government inclining more or less to aristocracy or democracy, or com- posed of a union of the two ; the citizens were attached to a government which was administered under the direction of wise laws, and not of arbi- trary power It was this noble love of a free country, which prompted Leonidas to say to the king of Persia, that he would rather die than hold a despotic sway over Greece. It was this which inspired Solon, Themis- tocles, Demosthenes, and Phocion, when, in spite of the ingratitude of their countrymen, they chose to serve the state and the laws, rather than their own interests. The cultivation of their fruitful country, which, by the industry of the inhabitants, afforded nourishment to several millions, and the wealth of their colonies, prove the activity of the Greeks. Com- merce, navigation, and manufactures flourished on all sides ; knowledge 296 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. of every sort was accumulated ; the spirit of invention was busily at work; the Greeks learned to estimate the pleasures of society, but they also learned to love luxury. From these sources of activity sprang also a love of great actions and great enterprises, so many instances of which are furnished by Grecian history. Another striking trait of the Grecian character, was a love of the beautiful, both physical and intellec- tual. This sense of the beautiful, awakened and developed by nature, created for itself an ideal of beauty, which served them, and has been transmitted to us, as a criterion for every work of art. CHAPTER II. We have seen to what a state of degradation the Greeks were reduced in a few centuries after their subjugation by the Romans. Thus it con- tinued as long as it was either really or nominally a portion of the Roman empire ; till at length, like the imperial mistress of the world herself, it bent before the all-subduing Alaric the Goth, a. d. 400; and shared in all the miseries which were brought by the northern barbarians who succes- sively overran and ravaged the south of Europe. After the Latin con- quest of Constantinople, in 1204, Greece was divided into feudal princi- palities, and governed by a variety of Norman, Venetian, and Prankish nobles; but in 1261, with the exception of Athens and Nauplia, it was re-united to the Greek empire by Michael Paleologus. But it not long remained unmolested ; for the Turks then rising into notice, aimed at obtaining power in Europe : and Amurath II. deprived the Greeks of all iheircities and castles on the Euxine sea, and along the coasts of Thrace, Macedon, and Thessaly ; carrying his victorious arms, in short, into the midst of the Peloponnesus. The Grecian emperors acknowledged him as their superior lord, and he, in turn, afTorded them protection. This conquest, however, was not effected without a brave resistance, particu- larly from two heroic Christians, John Hunniades, a celebrated Hungarian general, and George Castriot, an Albanian prince, better known in history by the name of Scanderberg. When Mohammed II., in 1451, ascended the Ottoman throne, the fate of the Greek empire seemed to be decided. At the head of an army of 300,000 men, supported by a fleet of 300 sail, he laid siege to Constanti- nople, and encouraged his troops by spreading reports of prophecies and prodigies that portended the triumph of Islamism. Constantine, the last of the Greek emperors, met the storm with becoming resolution, and maintained the city for fifty-three days, though the fanaticism and fury of the besiegers were raised to the highest pitch. At length, (May 29, 1453) the Turks stormed the walls, and the brave Constantine perished at the head of his faithful troops. The final conquest of Greece did not, how- ever, take place till 1481. Neither were the conquerors long left in un- disturbed possession of their newly-acquired territory ; and during ihe sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Greece was the scene of obstinate wars, till the treaty of Passarovitz, in 1713, confirmed the Turks m their conquest ; and for a century from that tmie the inhabitants of Greece groaned under their despotic sway. At the time of the expedition of the French into Egypt, the Greeks, strongly excited by the events of the war, which was thus approaching them, waited for them as liberators, with the firm resolution of going to meet them and regaining their liberty ; but again their hopes were dis- appointed, and the succors they expected from France were removed to a distance. Having waited in vain, in the midst of the great events which in several respects have changed the whole face of Europe in this centuiy, the Greeks, taking counsel only of their despair, and indignant at living always as helots on the ruins of Sparta and of Athens, when nation? but THE TREASURY OP HISTORY. 297 of yesterday were recovering their rights and recogniznig their social re- lations, rose against their despotic and cruel masters, perhaps with greater boldness than prudence. The first decided movement took place in the year 1800, when the Servians, provoked by the cruelty of their oppressors the Turks, made a general insurrection, which was headed by their famous chief Czerni George, who had been a sergeant in the Austrian service, aad afterward became a bandit chief. He was possessed of much energy of character and bravery ; and under him the Servians obtained several victories. He blockaded Belgrade ; and, one of the gates being surren- dered to him, he made his entry into the city and slaughtered all thp Turks that were found in it. At this time the affairs of the Porte were in great disorder. It had but just terminated its war with France ; and the efforts by which it had been endeavouring to reduce Paswan Oglou, pacha of Widden, had failed and ended in disgrace. At home the Janissaries were ever dissatisfied, and Roumelia was in a disturbed state. The divan, however, exerted them- selves to quell the Servians, and they were aided by the Bosnians, incon- sequence of which many sanguinary combats took place. But relying on the promises of Russia, and receiving pecuniary succour from Ypsilanti, the insurgents continued the contest, issuing from their fastnesses on every favourable opportunity, and making their progress a terror to the country by spreading devastation in every direction. In the meantime Russia openly declared war against the Porte in 1607, and carried on the war until 1S12, when the treaty of Bucharest was negociatcd ; and though some efforts were made to obtain a concession in favour of their Servian allies, yet one difficulty after another being started by the Porte, a peace was at length concluded, as before, upon such terms as left the insurgents to their fate. At length it was agreed, that Milosh, brother-in-law to Czerni George, a native, should be their prince ; that the sum of c£lOO,000 sliould be paid yearly to the Turks, whose garrisons in the fortresses of the Dan- ube were to be limited, and that the prince should maintain a few national forces, for the regulation of the internal policy. The period that intervened between 1815 and 1820 was apparently tran- quil : the Ottoman affairs seemed prosperous ; the Sultan Mahmoud, by his vigorous measures, maintained peace with his neighbours, quelled the spirit of the mutinous Janissaries, suppressed several revolts in the eastern part of the empire, drove the Wechabites from Mecca, and gave more weight to the imperial firmans than they had heretofore possessed. But under this appearance of tranquillity, all those projects were forming which produced what we term " the Greek revolution." The Greeks soon became more open in their plots against their oppressors, and enter- tained some considerable hopes from the probable arrangements of the congress of Vienna ; but that congress closed without effecting any result favourable to the liberties of Greece. This, however, did not damp the ardour of its friends, nor induce them to abandon the plans they had pro- jected. At length, in 1820, symptoms of a general rising appeared : and all civilized nations seemed disposed to aid the cause of the oppressed. But that generous feeling in a great measure subsided, as the petty dissen- tions of party, or the despotic notions of arbitrary power, severally dis- played themselves. The Turks and Greeks never became one nation ; the relation of conquerors and conquered never ceased. However abject a large part of the Greeks became by their continued oppression, they never forgot that they were a distinct nation ; and their patriarch at Con- stantinople remained a visible point of union for their national feelings. On the 7th of March, 1821, a proclamation of Ypsilanti was placarded in Jassy, under the eyes of the hospodar, Michael Suzzo, which declared, that all the Greeks had on that day thrown off the Turkish yoke ; that he would put himself at their head, with his countrymen ; that Prince Suzzo J98 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. wished the happiness of the Greeks ; and that nothing was to be feared, as a great power was going to march against Turkey. Several officers and members of the Hetaireia had accompanied Ypsilanti from Bessara- bia and Jassy. Some Turks were murdered, but Ypsilanti did all in his power to prevent excess, and was generally successful. He wrote to the emperor of Russia, Alexander, who was then at Laybach, asking his pro- tection for the Greek cause, and the two principalities, Wallachia and Moldavia ; but the revolutions in Spain and Piedmont had just then broke out, and that monarch considered the Greek insurrection to be nothing but a political fever, caught from Spain and Italy, which could not be checked too soon; besides, Ypsilanti was actually in the service of Rus- sia, and therefore had undertaken this step against the rules of military disc pline. Alexander publicly disavowed the measure ; Ypsilanti's name was struck from the army rolls, and he was declared to be no longer a subject of Russia. The Russian minister, and the Austrian internuncio at Constantinople, also declared that their cabinets would not take advan- tage of the internal troubles of Turkey, in any shape whatever, but would remain strictly neutral. Yet the Porte continued suspicious, particularly after the information of an Englishman had led to the detection of some supposed traces of the Greek conspiracy at Constantinople. It, therefore, ordered the Russian vessels to be searched, contrary to treaty. The com- merce of Odessa suffered from this measure, which occasioned a serious correspondence between Baron StroganofF, the Russian ambassador, and the reis etfendi. The most vigorous measures were taken against all Greeks; their schools were suppressed; their arms seized; suspicion was a sentence of death ; the flight of some rendered all guilty, and it was prohibited under penalty of death : in the divan, the total extinction of the Greek name was proposed ; Turkish troops marched into the principali- ties ; the hospodar Suzzo was outlawed ; the patriarchs of Constantinople and Jerusalem excommunicated all insurgents (March 21) ; and a hatti- sheriff of March 31, called upon the Mussulmans to arm against the rerbels for the protection of the Islams. No Greek was, for some time, safe in the streets of Constantinople ; women and children were thrown uito the sea ; the noblest families openly violated, and murdered or sold ; the pop- ulace broke into the house of Fonton, the Russian counsellor of letjaiion ; and Prince Murusi was belieaded in the seraglio. After the arrival of the new grand-vizier, Benderli Ali Pacha, who conducted a disorderly army from Asia to the Bosphorus, the wildes fanaticism raged in Constantino pie. In Wallachia and Moldavia the bloody struggle was brought to a close through the treachery, discord, and cowardice of the pandoors and Arnaouts, wiih the annihilation of the valiant " sacred band " of the Heta- ireia, in the battle of Dragashan (June 19,1821), and with Jordaki's heroic death in the monastery of Seek. In Greece Proper, no cruelty could quench the fire of liberty ; the beys of the Morea invited all bishops and the noblest Greeks to Tripolizza, under pretence of consulting with them on the deliverance of the people from their cruel oppression. Several fell into the snare : when they arrived, they were thrown into prison. Germanos, archbishop of Patras, alone penetrated the intended treachery, and took measuK s with the others for frustrating the designs of their oppressors. The beys of the Morea then endeavoured to disarm the separate tribes ; but it was too late ; the Mai- notes, always free, descended from Mount Taygetos, in obedience to Ypsi- lanti's proclamation ; and the heart of all Greece beat for liberty. The revolution in the Morea began, March 23, 1821, atCalavrita a small place in Achaia, where eighty Turks were made prisoners. Qn the same day the Turkish garrison of Patras fell upon the Greek inhabitants ; but they were soon relieved, h the ancient Laconia, Colocotroni and Peter Mav- romichalis roused the people to arms. The archbishop Germanos co.- THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 299 lected the peasants of Achaia. InPatras and the other places, the Turks retreated into the fortresses. As early as April 6, a Messenian senate assembled in Calamata, and the bey of Maina, Peter Mavromichalis, as commander-in-chief, proclaimed that the Morea had shaken of the yoke of Turkey to save the Christian faith, and to restore the ancient character of their country. "From Europe, nothing is wanted but money, arms, and counsels." From that time the suffering- Greeks found friends in Germany, France, Switzerland, Britain, and the United States, who sym- pathized with them, and did all in their power to assist them in their struggle. The cabinets of Europe, on the contrary, threw every impedi- ment in the way of the Hellenists, until they were finally obliged, against their inclination, to interfere in their favour. Jussuf Selim, pacha of Lepanto, having received information of these events from the diplomatic agent of a European power, hastened to re- lieve the citadel of Patras, and the town was changed into a heap of ruins. The massacre of the inhabitants, April 15, was the signal for a struggle of life and death. Almost the whole war was thenceforward a succes- sion of atrocities. It was not a war prosecuted on any fixed plan, but merely a series of devastations and murders. The law of nations could not exist between the Turks and Greeks, as they were then situated. The monk Gregoras, soon after, occupied Corinth, at the head of a bod}' of Greeks. The revolution spread over Attica, Boeotia, Phocis, ^Etolia, and Acarnania. The ancient names were revived. At the same time, the islanders declared themselves free. In some islands the Turks were massacred, in revenge for the murder of the Greeks at Patras ; and, in retaliation, the Greeks were put to death at Smyrna, in Asia Minor, and in those islands which had not yet shaken off the Turkish yoke. The exasperation was raised to its highest pitch by the cruelties committed against the Greeks in Constantinople after the end of March. On mere suspicion, and often merely to get possession of their property, the divan caused the richest Greek merchants and bankers to be put to death. The rage of the Mussulmans was particularly directed against the Greek clergy. The patriarch of Constantinople was murdered, with his bishops, in the metropolis. In Adrianople, the venerable patriarch Cyrillus, who had retired to solitude, and Proesos, archbishop of Adrianople, and others, met the same fate. Several hundred Greek churches were torn down, without the divan paying any attention to the remonstrances of the Christian am- bassadors. The savage grand-vizier, indeed, lost his place, and soon after his life ; but Mahmoud and his favourite, Halet effendi, persisted in the plan of extermination. The commerce of Russia, on the Black Sea, was totally ruined by the blockade of the Bosphorus, and the ultimatum of the ambassador was not answered. Baron Stroganoff, therefore, broke off all diplomatic relations with the reis effendi, July 18, and on the 31st, embarked for Odessa. He had declared to the divan that, if the Porte did not change its system, Russia would feel herself obliged to give " the Greeks refuge, protection, and assistance." The answer of the reis effendi to this declaration, given too late, was sent to Petersburg ; but it was after the most atrocious ex- cesses, committed by the janissaries, and the troops from Asia, that the foreign ministers, particularly the British minister. Lord Strangford, suc- ceeded in inducing the grand-seignior to recall the command for the arm- ing of all Mussulmans, and to restore order. CHAPTER HI. All eyes were fixed on Tripolizza, which was now in a state of close blockade, and its fall daily expected. The usual population was about fifteen thousand souls ; it is also computed, that the garrison, with all the 300 THE TREASOttY OF HISTORY. Albanians of the Kiayah, amounted to eight thousand men ; there could not, thcri;fore, have been fewer than twenty thousand persons within the walls; yet they allowed themselves to be blockaded by five thousand un- disciplined and ill-armed Greeks, without artillery or cavalry. While the Turkish horse were in a stale for service, the Greeks did not attemptany- thing in the plain ; but their forage soon failed, and the only food they could get was vine leaves. Provision was very scarce, and the Greeks had cut the pipes, and thus intercepted the supply of water. Ypsilanti, however, was impatient, and felt anxious to begin a regular siege ; but he had neither proper ordnance nor engineers. Some cannon and mortars had indeed been brought from INIalvasia and Navarin, and were entrusted to the care of an Italian adventurer; but in the first essay he burst a mor- tar, and was dismissed. Things were in this state, when Prince Mavra- cordato arrived, bringing with him some French and Italian officers. In the beginning of October the Turks began to make propositions for a capitulation, and the treaty was proceeding, on the 5th, when an acci- dental circumstance rendered it of no avail, and hastened the catastrophe. Some Greek soldiers, having approached one of the gates, began to con- verse and, as usual, to barter fruit with the sentinels. The Turks impru- dently assisted them in mounting the wall, but no sooner had they gained the top than they threw down the infidels, opened the gate, and displayed the standard of the cross above it ; the Christians instantly rushed from all quarters to the assault, and the disorder became general. The Turks immediately opened a brisk fire of cannon and small shot ; but the gates were carried ; the walls scaled, and a desperate struggle was kept up in the streets and houses. Before the end of the day the contest was over, and the citadel, which held out till the next evening, surrendered at discre- tion. About six thousand Turks, it is said, perished, some thousands were made prisoners, and numbers fled to the mountauis. While these transactions were occurring at Tripolizza, four pachas pro- ceeded, in the month of August, from the frontiers of Thessaly and Macedonia, to Zeitouni, with the design of forcing the straits of Ther- mopylae, and in conjunction with the Ottoman troops at Thebes and Athens, relieving the besieged fortresses in the Morea. Odysseus was stationed on a height above the defiles at a place called Fontana. They sent a body of three hundred horse to reconnoitre his position, but this detachment was cut to pieces. The next day they attacked him with their whole force ; at first the Greeks gave way, but a brave chief, named Gonraz, made a stand, and rallied the fugitives. They returned to the charge, and the infidels were routed with the loss of twelve hundred men. One of the pachas was slain, and vast quantities of baggage and ammuni- tion taken. This was on the 31st of Aug., and was a victory of immense importance to the cause. About the same time the bishop of Carj'stus raised an insurrection in Euboea, and endeavoured to intercept the commu- nication between Athens and that island. An assembly was now called, to meet at Argos, for the purpose of organizing a government, and the prince repaired thither to attend it ; while deputies in the meantime arrived from different parts to demand succours from the administration of the peninsula, and to report what was doing in their districts. In Macedonia the monks of Mount Athos, provoked by the violent proceedings of the Turks, were driven into revolt. The assemblage of congress had been regarded as a new and important era in the Greek revolution ; the anxiety of the nation for the organiza- tion of a government was evident from the eagerness with which the people elected the deputies. By the middle of December not less than sixty had arrived, including ecclesiastics, landowners, merchants, and civilians, most of whom had been liberally educated. They first named a commission to draw up a political code; the rest were occupied in ex THE TREASURY OF HISTORY 301 i.ni.iiiif ihe general state of the nation, and laying plans for the next cam- paign. On the 27th of January, 1822, the indendence of the country was proclaimed, and its code published amid the joyful acclamations of the deputies, the army, and the people. The government was for the present Btyled "provincial," while the promulgation of the constitution was ac- companied with an address, exhibiting the reasons for shaking off the Turkish yoke. Five members of the congress were nominated as an ex- ecutive, and Prince Mavrocordato was appointed president. Ministers were appointed for the different departments of war, finance, public instruc- tion, the interior, and police ; and a commission named of three individu- als to superintend the naval affairs. The new government signalized their liberty by a decree for the aboli- tion of slavery, as well as the sale of any Turkish prisoners who might fall into their hands, prohibiting it under the severest penalties; they also passed another edict for a compensation for military services, and a pro- vision for the widows and orphans of those who should fall in battle ; and a third regulating the internal administration of the provinces. The organ- ization of the army was also commenced ; a corps, called the first regi- ment of the line was formed and officered from the volunteers of different nations, and as there were more of them than were requisite for this ser- vice, a second was formed of the remainder, which took the name of Phil- hellenes. Patras was blockaded again by three thousand men, and a smaller body under the French colonel Voutier was sent to Athens, to reduce the Acropolis ; the forces before Napoli were augmented, and Modon and Coron closely invested by the armed peasantry around. An event, the most terrific and atrocious that history has ever recorded, marked the commencement of the second campaign : the destruction of Scio, and its miserable inhabitants. The Sciots had taken no part in the movement of 1821. In the beginning of May, in that year, a small squad- ron of Ipsariots appearing off the coast, furnished the aga with a pretext for his oppressions, and he began by seizing forty of the elders and bish- ops, who were immured as hostages for the good conduct of the people. "On the 23rd of April," says Mr. Blaquiere, "a fleet of fifty sail, in- cluding five of the line, anchored in the bay, and immediately began to bombard the town, while several thousand troops were landed under the guns of the citadel, which also opened a heavy fire on the Greeks. It was in vain for the islanders to make any resistance : deserted by the Samians, most of whom embarked and sailed away when the Turkish fleet hove in sight, they were easily overpowered and obliged to fly. From this mo- moment, until the last direful act, Scio, lately so great an object of admi- ration to strangers, presented one continued scene of horror and dismay. Having massacred every soul, whether men, women, or children, whom they found in the town, the Turks plundered and then set fire to it, and watched the flames until not a house was left, except those of the foreign consuls. Three days had, however, been suffered to pass, before the infi- dels ventured to penetrate into the interior of the island, and even then their excesses were confined to the low grounds. While some were occupied in plundering the villas of rich merchants, and others setting fire to the villages, the air was rent with the mingled groans of men, women, and children, who were falling under the swords and daggers of the infi- dels. The only exception made during the massacre was in favour of young women and boys, who were preserved to be afterward sold as slaves. Many of the former, whose husbands had been butchered, were running to and fro frantic, with torn garments and dislievelled hair, pres- sing their trembling infants to their breasts, and seeking death as a relief from the still greater calamities that awaited them. About forty thou- sand of both sexes had already either fallen victims to the sword, or been geleoted for sale in the bazaars, when it occurred to the pacha, that no 302 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. time should be lost in persuading those who had fled to the more inacces- sible parts of the island, to lay down their arms and submit. It being impossible to effect this by force, they had recourse to a favourite expe- dient with Mussulmans — that of proclaiming an amnesty. In order that no doubt should be entertained of their sincerity, the foreign consuls, more particularly those of England, France, and Austria, were called upon to guarantee the promises of the Turks ; they accordingly went forth and invited the unfortunate peasantry to give up their arms and return. Not- withstanding their long experience of Turkish perfidy, the solemn pledge given by the consuls at length prevailed, and many thousands who might 'lave successfully resisted until succours had arrived, were sacrificed : or no sooner did they descend from the heights, and give up their arms, than the infidels, totally unmindful of the proffered pardon, put them to death without mercy. The number of persons, of every age and sex, who became the victims of this perfidious act was estimated at seven thousand. After having devoted ten days to the work of slaughter, it was natural to suppose that the monsters who directed this friglitful tragedy would have been in some degree satiated by the blood of so many innocent victims ; but it was when the excesses had begun to diminish, on the part of the soldiery, that fresh scenes of horror were exhibited on board the fleet and in the citadel. In addition to the women and children embarked for the purpose of being conveyed to the markets of Constantinople and Smyrna, several hundreds of the natives were also seized, and among these, all the gardeners of the island, who were supposed to know where the treasures of their employers had been concealed. There were no less than five hundred of the persons thus collected hung on board the different ships; when these executions commenced, they served as a signal to the com- mandant of th^ citadel, who immediately followed the example, by sus- pending the whole of the hostages, to tlie number of seventy-six, on gib- bets erected for the occasion. With respect to the numbers who were either killed or consigned to slavery, during the three weeks that followe* the arrival of the capitan-pacha, there is no exaggeration in placing the former at twenty-five thousand souls. It has been ascertained that above thirty thousand women and children were condemned to slavery, while the fate of those who escaped was scarcely less calamitous. Though many contrived to get off in open boats, or such other vessels as they could procure, thousands, who were unable to do so, wandered about the mountains, or concealed themselves in caves, without food or clothing, for many days after the massacre had begun to su!)side on the plains. Among those who had availed themselves of the pretended amnesty, many families took refuge in the houses of the consuls, who were indeed bound by every tie of honour and humanity, to afford them protection. It has however been asserted, upon authority, that the wretched beings thus saved from Mussulman vengeance were obliged to pay large ransoms be- fore they could leave the island ; nay, that it was extremely diflficult to ob- tain even temporary protection under the Christian flags, without first gratifying avaricious demands." At the commencement of the campaign, Colocotroni, with three hundred men, was dispatched to Patras, where a part of the Turkish fleet had landed a great body of men in the latter end of February. On his appoach the Turks went to meet him with almost all their force. Colocotroni, not considering himself strong enough to meet them, retreated to the moun- tains ; but suddenly stopped, addressed his men, and wheeling about, ad- vanced toward the enemy. Upon this the Turks, struck with a panic, thinking he had received notice of a reinforcement, turned their backs, and were pursued by the Greeks up to the walls of the town ; five hun- dred of them were slain in less than two hours, and Colocotroni block- aded the place. The Ottoman fleet was pursued by the Greeks under THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 303 Miauli and Tombasi, and the admiral's frigate nearly fell into the hands of the Greeks. Marco Bozzario and Rango gained many advantages in Epirus, and took Arta, the key of Albania ; but, owing to the treachery of Tairabos, it was abandoned. Odysseus and his companions endeavour- ed to check the enemy in Livadia and Negropont; but the disaster of the Greeks at Cassandra so much strengthened them, that they advanced again, and threw some reinforcements into Athens. The fall of Ali Pacha had now so much increased the resources of Choursid, that he concerted measures which would have been the destruc tion of the Greek cause, had they been skillfully executed. Mavrocordato, in order to frustrate them, laid a plan to undertake an expedition into Epi- rus, draw off the Turks from the Morea, relieve the Suliotes, and carry the war into the heart of Albania. He communicated his plan to the ex- ecutive, and it was determined to place five thousand men at the disposal of the president, who was to lead the expedition in person. The only forces, however, which could be mustered, were the corps of the Philhel- lenes, and the first regiment of the line, neither of them complete, with seven hundred men, commanded by General Norman and Kiriakouii, to relieve the Suliotes. He arrived at Patras on the 12th of June; but Col- ocotroni here opposed many difficulties to any of his troops being detach- ed, and he was obliged to leave without the expected assistance. Accord- ingly, he sailed to Missolonghi with only a few hundred men. A large force of the enemy was in the meantime collected at Larissaand Zetouni ; Colocotroni suddenly left the blockade of Patras, and proceeded, with all his army, to Tripolizza, leaving an opportunity for the Turkish garrison either to enter the Morea, or cross the Lepanto. Consternation prevailed in the Peloponnesus ; and Corinth was abandoned and reoccupied by the enemy, not without the suspicion of treachery. The situation of Ypsilanli was at this time very critical : he had no money or provisions, and hardly thirteen hundred men to oppose thirty thousand; he, therefore, in order to stop the enemy's progress, threw him- self into the citadel of Argos, while Colocotroni took up the strong posi- tion of Lerno on the west of the gulf. The first body of the Turks, con- sisting of seven thousand cavalry and four thousand foot, halted near Argos, and part of it proceeded to Napoli ; soon after Marchmont Pacha arrived with ten thousand more. The pacha, however, entered Napoli, and continued several days inactive ; when, threatened with tlie extremi- ties of famine and drought, he gave orders for the return to Corinth, and his army set out in the greatest disorder. Colocotroni attacked and de- stroyed five thousand of them in a few hours ; the advanced guard was attacked in the defiles by the Mainiotes under Nikitas, and twelve hundred perished in the first onset. These successes happened between the 4th and 7th of August. On the 16th the pacha attempted to draw the Greeks into an ambuscade, but they got into his rear, and he was defeated with great loss ; the next day, determining to regam the position they had lost, the Turks again attacked under Hadji Ah, who was slain in the engage- ment, and nearly two thousand of his men were lost, as well as a large quantity of baggage and several hundred horses. The Greeks, however, had no means of following up their successes. Ypsilanti advanced to Napoli to assist in its reduction, while the troops left under the command of Coliopulo, not being supplied with rations or pay, became so weary of the service that the greater part withdrew, leaving Colocotroni's eldest son with two or three hundred men to con- tinue the blockade of Corinth. Soon after this, Colocotroni, at the passes near the isthmus, stopped the Turks who wished to bring succours to Na- poli : and they being driven to the greatest extremity of famine, and the jPalamida or citadel having been surprised, the garrison had no alternative left them but to surrender. The Greeks took possession of this important i04 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY place on ihe 11th of January. The Turkish commanders, on the surren- der of Napoli, determined to proceed to Patras, which the Greeks haj lately neglected blockading. Setting out in the middle of January, they had reached Akrata near Vostitza, when a detachment from Missolonghi stopped one of the passes, and shortly after another body blocked up The other: so that the Turks were reduced to the greatest straits, feeding upon horses, the herbs on the rocks, their saddles, and at last one another. For nearly three weeks longer the place held out, when Odysseus arriv- ing, and, one of the beys being acquainted with him, a negociation was commenced, by which the garrison obtained permission to embark, and the beys were sent prisoners to Napoli. The number of the enemy that perished on this occasion, without firing a shot, amounted, it is said, to two thousand. Thus ended tiie second campaign in the JNIorea, costing the Turks not fewer than twenty-five thousand men in the Peloponnesus alone. The operations in Epirus, though on a smaller scale, were little less interesting. Mavrocordato put his forces in motion, and first making a feint as if he wished to reach Salona, returned on the village of Thera- sova, and entered Missolonghi on the 17th of October, where greater dif- ficulties than ever awaited him. Here he was besieged by the Turks until the 9lh of November, when the blockading squadron was chased away by six vessels bearing the Greek flag; and on the 14th Mavromichalis arrived with the long expected succours. A sortie was then made ; but it was of little avail, and the garrison so much weakened, that Omar Vrioni determined to attack the place. Accordingly, on the morning of Christmas-day, at five o'clock, eight hundred men approached the walls with scaling ladders unperceived, and had even fixed some, but they were instantly cut down; the conflict that followed was desperate and sangui- nary, and the Turks were obliged to retire with the loss of twelve hun- dred men and nine pieces of cannon. The rising now became general through the country, and the retreat of the enemy was intercepted in all quarters; so that of the whole force brought into the country, only three months before, not half escaped. Mavrocordato arrived in the Peloponnesus in the early part of April, 1823, after an absence of ten months. The national congress met at Astros, a small town in Argos, on the 10th of April, 1823, in a garden under the shade of orange trees; nearly three hundred deputies were occupied in the debates, which began at sun- rise. The following oath was taken at the first meeting by each mem- ber : — "I swear, in the name of God and my country, to act with a pure and unshaken patriotism, to promote a sincere union, and abjure every thought of personal interest in all the discussions which shall take place in this second national congress." Having settled a number of important points, its labours ended on the 30th. The third meeting of the congress was deferred for two years ; and the executive and legislative body was transferred to Tripolizza, where measures were immediately taken for opening the third campaign. The enemy was not idle as the summer advanced; a fleet of seventeen frigates, and sixty smaller vessels, was sent with stores to supply the remaining fortresses in Negropont, Candia and the Morea ; and after accomplishing this object, the capitan pacha arrived at Patras about the middle of June. Yusuff" Pacha led on a large body to Thermopylfe, and Mustapha conducted another to the pass of Neopatra, near Zeitouni, the former, especially, laying waste the whole country, and committing all manner of excesses- Odysseus in the mean- time arrived from Athens, and Nikitas from Tripolizza, and a sort of guerilla warfare was commenced, which so harrassed the Turks under Yusuff that they retreated in the greatest disorder. Mustapha was at- THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 305 tacked, and forced to take refuge at Carystos, where he was closely- blockaded. Marco Bozzaris. who commanded tlie Greeks at Crionero, fell on the Turks, and either killed or captured two-thirds of their number. The same brave leader undertook a forced march against Mustapha, who had 14,000 men, while he had only 2000. On assigning each man's part at midnight on the 19th, his last words were, "If you lose sight of me during the combat, seek me in the pacha's tent." On his arrival at the centre, he sounded his bugle, as agreed upon, and the enemy, panic- struck, fled in all directions. In the midst of the attack, which was now general, he was twice wounded, and at last carried off from the field ex- piring ; the struggle, however, was maintained till day-light ; when the Greeks were victorious on all points, and the loss of the enemy was not less than three thousand. One of the first acts of the capitan pacha, on his arrival with his fleet, had been to declare Missolonghi, and every other Greek port, in a state of blockade. The entrance of a few Greek gun- boats, however, was sufficient to set the capitan pacha at defiance ; having remained inactive for above three months, and lost nearly a third of his crews by epidemics, he at length made the best of his way to the Archi- pelago. At the commencement of the year 1824, proclamation was issued by the president and senate of the United States of the Ionian islands, de- claring their neutrality, and their firm resolution not to take any part in the contest ; also prohibiting any foreigner, who should do so, from re- siding in the islands. Among the Greeks, dissensions still prevailed, every faction following its own plans, and seeking to advance its own influence. Mavrocordato, Colocotroni, and Ypsilanti, headed diflerent factions, among the members of which there was neither unanimity of counsel, nor uniformity of action. The Turkisli fleet sailed on tlie 23rd of April. The Greek senate summoned Colocotroni to surrender himself, and to de- liver up Napoli and Tripolizza, but he refused; the troops that were in- vesting Patras quarrelled about the division of some of their booty, and were withdrawn; in the meantime the Turks sailed from Lepanto with fourteen ships, and blockaded Missolonghi. In order to encourage the Greeks, a loan of about jG800,000 was contracted for in London. About this period Ipsara was threatened by the Turkish fleet, which was now at Mitylene. The island of Caso was attacked on the 8th of June by an Egyptian squadron, and after an obstinate resistance was taken on the 9th. Several naval actions occurred about this time, in which the Greeks generally had the advantage ; and had not the long delay in paying the loan in London threatened ruin to the cause, the success of their arms was such as to give great hopes of a speedy deliverance from the Otto- man power. On the 18lh of April, this year, Lord Byron died at Missa- longhi, of an inflammatory fever, after having zealously devoted himself to the cause of the Greeks from the time he first landed, in August, 1823, up to the period of his death. His exertions hud been great and unremit- ting, but he never seems to have been free from apprehension lest the jealousies and divisions among the Greek leaders should ultimately prove destructive to all their patriotic efforts. Taking advantage of an insurrection that broke out on the Morea, at the head of which were Colocotroni and his sons, the troops of Mahomet Ali, pacha of Egypt, were directed to land in great force there ; and it now became evident that the neighbourhood of Navarino was destined to be the seat of war. On the 1st of May the Egyptian fleet, from sixty-five to seventy sail, left the port of Suda, where it had been watched by a Greek squadron under Miaoulis, who now sailed to Navarino. On the 8th, MiaouHs' squadron, amounting to twenty-two vessels, was near Zante ; the Egyptian fleet, forty-six in number, being off Sphacteria. In 306 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. about an nour from two thousand to three thousand troops effected a de- barkation from the Eg;yptian fleet, on the island. The garrison of old Navarino c;ipitulated on the tenth, and the garrison of Navarino on the twenty- third. After the surrender of .Sphacteria, a great part of the Egyptian fleet was followed by Miaoulis into the harbour of Modon, and more than half of it destroyed by fire-ships. In the end of May the Turkish admiral left the Dardanelles, and on the first of June was en- countered by the Hydriote Sakhturi, who, by means of his fire-ships, de- stroyed three men of war and some transports. Soon after the capitan pacha entered Suda, and joined the Egyptian fleet from Navarino. The Greek fleet was dispersed by a tempest, and having no fire-ships, they re- tired to Hydra, while the Turkish admiral landed a reinforcement of five thousand men at Navarino, and went to Missolonghi with seven frigates and many smaller vessels. The siege was now vigorously pressed ; the lagune was penetrated on the 21st of July, and Anatolica, an island on the north, surrendered to the Turks. The supply of water was now cut oft', batteries had been erected near the main works of the place, the ram- parts had been injured, and part of the ditches filled up; at length a gen- eral attack was ordered on the 1st of August, and the town assailed in four places at once. On the 3rd the Greek fleet, consisting of twenty-five brigs, attacked and destroyed two small ships of war and all the boats in the lagune, relieved Missolonghi, and obliged the enemy's fleet to retire. On the 10th the Greeks attempted, but without success, to burn the Turk- ish fleet in the harbour of Alexandria. On the 20th the fleet of the Greeks, about thirty sail, commanded by Miaoulis, engaged the Turks between Zante, Cephalonia, and Chiarenza, and an action ensued, which lasted with little intermission for two days and nights, till at length the Greeks were obliged to retire. On the 29th another naval action took place, and skirmishes on the two next days, when the Greeks forced the enemy to lake shelter in the gulf. Nothing of importance happened during the year 1826 to give the Greeks encouragement. After a lengthened blockade of Missolonghi, in which every effort was made by the Greeks to defend it, that important fortress was taken by assault and sacked. Nor were the events of the early part of 1627 such as to hold out hopes of a successful issue of this prolonged and barbarous contest. Athens was taken in May by the Turks under Kiutaki, not long after the arrival of the gallant lord Cochrane in its neigh- bourhood, with a considerable naval force. The loss of the Greeks on this occasion amounted to seven hundred men killed, and two hundred and forty taken prisoners, including eighteen Philhellenians of different countries. Kiutaki, supposing that Lord Cochrane and General Church were among the Europeans, had the prisoners brought before him, and, after examing them carefully, caused the eighteen Europeans to be po- niarded before his eyes, and ordered the two hundred and twenty-two Greeks to be massacred. The interference of the great European powers could no longer well be deferred; and an important treaty between Great Britain, France, and Russia was concluded, expressly with a view to put an end to this horrid warfare, and, under certain tributary stipulations, to establish the independence of Greece. The ambassadors of the three powers, on the 16th of August, presented the said treaty to the Porte, and waited for an answer till the 31st. Meanwhile the Greek government proclaimed an armistice in conformity with the treaty of London ; but the reis eft'endi rejected the intervention of the three powers. The Greeks then commenced hostilities anew, and on the 9th of September the Tur- kish-Egyptian fleet entered the bay of Navarino. A British squadron ap- peared in the bay on the 13th, under Admiral Codrington. To this a French squadron, under Admiral Rigny, and a Russian, under Count Hey- den, united themselves on the 22nd. They demanded from Ibrahim Pa- THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 307 cha a cessation of hostilities ; this he promised, and went out with a part of his fleet, but was forced to return into the bay. He, however, con- tinued the devastations in the Morea, and gave no answer to the com- plaints of the admirals. The combined squadrons of England, France, and Russia now entered the bay, where the Turkish-Egyptian fleet was drawn up in order of battle. The first shots were fired from the Turkish side, and killed two English- men. This was the signal for a deadly contest, in which Codrington nearly destroyed the Turkish-Egyptian armada of one hundred and ten ships. Some were burned, others driven on shore, and the rest disabled Enraged at the battle of Navarino, the Porte seized all the ships of the Franks in Constantinople, detained them for some time, and stopped all communication with the allied powers, till indemnification should be made for the destruction of the fleet. At the same time it prepared for war; and the several ambassadors left Constantinople. Upon this the Porte aflfected to adopt conciliatory measures ; but it was evident they were in- sincere; for from all parts of the kingdom the ayans were now called to Constantinople, and discussed with the Porte the preparations for war ; and all the Moslems, from the age of nineteen to fifty, were called on to arm. In the meantime, the president of the Greeks, Capo d'Istrias, es- tablished a high national council at Napoli di Romania : took measures for instituting a national bank ; and put the military on a new footing. The attempts at pacification were fruitless, because the Porte rejected every proposal, and in Britain the battle of Navarino was looked on as an "untoward event." In this state of indecision and uncertainty, Ibraham took the opportunity of sending a number of Greek captives as slaves to Egypt. In the meantime, the French cabinet, in concurrence with the British, to carry into execution the treaty of London, sent a body of troops to the Morea, while Admiral Codrington concluded a treaty with the vice- roy of Egypt, at Alexandria (August G), the terms of which were that Ibrahim Pacha should evacuate the Morea with his troops, and set at lib- erty his Greek prisoners. Those Greeks who had been carried into slavery in Egypt, were to be freed or ransomed : one thousand two hundred men, however, were to be allowed to remain to garrison the fortresses in the Morea. To force Ibrahim to comply with these terms, the French gen- eral Maison arrived, on the 29th of the following August, with one hundred and fifty-four transport ships in the bay of Coron. After an amicable ne- gotiation, Ibrahim left Navarino, and sailed (October 4) with about twen- ty-one thousand men, whom he carried with the wreck of the fleet to Al- exandria; but he left garrisons in the Messenian fortresses, amounting to twenty-five thousand men. Maison occupied the town of Navarino with- out opposition ; and after a mere show of resistance on the part of those who held the citadels of Modon, Coron, and Patras, the flags of the allied powers floated on their walls. Nothing hostile was undertaken against the Turks by the French out of the Morea, because the sultan would in that case have declared war against France; and Britain and France carefully avoided such a result, that they might be able to mediate between the Porte and Russia. To defend the Morea, however, from new invasions from the Turks, the three powers agreed to send a manifesto to the Porte to this eff'ect : "That they should place the Morea and the Cyclades under their protection till the time when a definite arrangement should decide the fate of the provinces which the allies had taken possession of, and that they should consider the entrance of any military force into this country as an attack upon themselves. They required the Porte to come to an explanation with them concerning the final pacification of Greece." The Greeks, in the meantime, continued hostilities ; and the Turks re- laxed not in retaliating with bitter vengeance on all who came within their 303 THE TREASURY OF HJ8T0RY power ; nor would Mahmoud recall the edict of extermination which ne had pronounced when he commanded Dram Ali, a few years before, to bring him the ashes of Peloponnesus. Ibrahim had wantonly burned down the olive groves as far as his Arabians spread, and the Greeks were sunk in the deepest misery. It must not be supposed that the allied powers were wholly unmindful of the great object they had undertaken; but many serious obstacles tend- ing to delay its accomplishment presented themselves at every step of the negotiation. The basis of a settlement was, however, at length agreed upon, the principal points of which may be thus briefly stated : — The Greeks, to pay to the Porte an annual tribute ; a joint commission of Turks and Greeks to determine the indemnification of the Turks for the loss of property in Greece; Greece to enjoy a qualified independence, under the sovereignty of the Porte ; the government to be under an hered- itary Christian prince, not of the family of either of the allied sovereigns; at every succession of tlie hereditary prince, an additional year's tribute to be paid; mutual amnesty to be required ; and all Greeks to be allowed a year to sell their properly and leave the Turkish territories. The situation of Capo d'lstrias, the president, was all this time most embarrassing. He was without means, in a land torn by discord ; yet his attention had been zealously directed towards the maintenance of order, the suppression of piracy, and the formation of a regular army; the es- tablishment of courts of justice, and schools of mutual instruction ; o/ means for collecting the revenue, and providing for the subsistence of the wretched remnants of the population. He called together the fourth na- tional assembly, at Argos, and in a long address (July 23, 1829), gave an account of the state of the country and of his measures, particularly di- recting the attention of the assembly to the organization of the forces and the revenue. The conferences between the ministers of the three powers, at London, had now for their object to select a prince to wear the crown of Greece. It was first offered to Prince Leopold of Saxe Coburg, February 3, 1830, and was accepted by him, as "sovereign prince of Greece," on the 20th. On further consideration, however, he resigned the honour ; alledging as his reasons — the unwillingness of the Greeks to receive him, and their dissatisfaction at the settlement of the boundaries. He further observed, that the answer of the president of Greece to his appointment, in his judg- ment, announced a forced submission to the allied powers, and even that forced submission was accompanied by reservations of the highest im- portance. Much dissatisfaction was shown in England, and various mo> tives were assigned to the prince for his refusal ; but it is perhaps unne- cessary to seek for any other motive than that which would force itself on the notice of any man of correct feelings and good taste, namely, the irk- someness of filling a regal station, with the consciousness that his unwil- ling subjects regarded him as an intruder and a tyrant. After the resig- nation of Leopold, several princes were proposed as candidates for the throne ; and at length Otho, a younger son of the king of Bavaria, accepted the trust, and was proclaimed at Nauplia, August 30, 1832. During the discontents and jealousies of the previous year, Count Capo d'Istria, the president, was assassinated. Such havoc had the ravages of war made in Greece, and so necessary was repose to all classes of its inhabitants, that the first years of Otho's reign passed away in a comparatively tranquil manner; although the sul- len murmur of discontent was occasionally heard as, one by one, the sev- eral state appointments were filled bv the king's German friends, to the exclusion of natives. At length, in' September, 1843, the people, urged by distress and dissatisfaction, rose against the constituted authorities of the kingdom, and accomplished a revolution without bloodshed or vio- THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 309 lence — without endangering- the personal safety, or inflicting any humilia lion on the king. The ministers were arrested at their houses, but were liberated in a few hours. The populace assembled in front of the palace, and demanded a constitution. The king assured the people that he would consider their demand, and that of the army, after consulting with his ministers, the state council, and foreign ambassadors, but was informed that the ministers were no longer recognized, and that the council of state were then deliberating on the best course to pursue. An address from this body was subsequently presented to the king, in which the instant dismissal of the Bavarian ministers was insisted on, and a list of those chosen to succeed them in office was presented. Wisely foreseeing the result of resisting demands, which were founded in justice and reason, his majesty with a good grace acceded to them, and the affair terminated apparently to the satisfaction of all parties. It is, however, too important a catastrophe in the history of Greece to be dismissed with so slight a notice ; we shall therefore avail ourselves of the following extract from an account of this bloodless revolution, as given in a Greek paper of the 15th of September, 1843:— " A wise revolution, accomplished in one day, amid the most perfect order, without a single offensive cry being uttered, even against the Bava- rians, has renewed the claims of Greece to the esteem and sympathy of nations and their governments. Every body knows the unfortunate situ- ation in which Greece was placed. The Greeks had exhausted every means in their power to induce the government to adopt a truly national policy. The parliaments of France and England, and the London confer- ence, had vainly acknowledged the many grievances of the Greek people ; the government obstinately persevered in its evil course. The nation had no other alternative but to plunge itself into the abyss opened by ten years' mistakes and incapacity, or to extricate itself therefrom by a dangerous but inevitable effort. For some time the movement was in progress of preparation on different points of the country, that it might be effected without any disorder. The hostile attitude assumed by the government against those who sought to enlighten it, the extraordinary dispositions adopted within the last few days, with a view to assail the liberty, and the very lives of the citizens (a military tribune had been established) most devoted to the national interests, necessarily tended to hasten the mani- festation of the contemplated movement. "Last night, at two o'clock, a. m., a few musket shots, fired in the air, announced the assembling of the people in different quarters of Athens. Soon after, the inhabitants, accompanied by the entire garrison, marched toward the square of the palace, crying, ' The constitution for ever !' On reaching the place, the entire garrison, the artillery, cavalry, and infantry, drew up under the windows of the king, in front of the palace, and the peo- ple, having stationed themselves in the rear, all in one voice demanded a constitution. The king appeared at a low window, and assured the people that he would take into consideration their demand and that of the army after consulting with his ministers, the council of state, and the represent- atives of the foreign powers. But the commander, M. Calegri, having stepped forward, made known to his majesty that the ministry was no longer recognized, and that the council of state was already deliberating on the best course to be adopted under existing circumstances. xV depu- tation of the council shortly after waited on the king with the documents ihat had been prepared for his perusal. The new ministry soon afterward repaired to the palace, where they held a long consultatior\ with his ma- jesty, who shortly appeared in the balcony, surrounded by his ministers and other personages, and was received with acclamations by the people. The cry of ' Long live the constitutional king,' resounded together with 310 THE TIIEASURY OF HISTORY. that of the ' constitution for ever.' The new ministers entered immedi ately on the discharge of llieir functions." It may be well to close the present historic sketch with a few remarks on Greece in iis past and present state. The government of the diflferent states of ancient Greece was purely monarchical ; it subsequently varied from a mixed monarchy, as in Sparta, to a democracy, as at Athens. In most stales there was a continued struggle between an oligarchical and popular faction : and, as one or other prevailed, their adversaries were exiled, or unrelentingly put to death. In their cultivation of literature and the arts, they surpassed all nations. Tlie poems of Homer are still unrivalled ; and Hesiod and others, maintained the reputation which their great poet had won. Dramatic composition was invented by Thes- pis, and brought to perfection by TEschincs, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes. History was cultivated with success by Herodotus, Thu- cydides, and Xenophon ; subsequently by Polybius, Diodorus, Siculus, Arrian, and Plutarch. In oratory also the Greeks excelled : there is, in- deed, no name in history more honoured for commanding eloquence than that of Demosthenes. Philosophy was also prosecuted at a very early date, and there were several eminent teachers cotemporary with Solon- Pythagoras, who lauglit the doctrine of metempsychosis, came next ; but it flourished most after the time of Socrates, e. c. 400, who introduced a pure system of morality, with a correct mode of reasoning, into Greece. Plato, Aristotle, and Xenophon, who were termed academics, succeeded him ; and other schools were also set up ; as tlie skeptics, by Pyrrho ; the stoics, by Zeno ; the cynics, by Aristippus ; and the epicureans, by Epicurus: the object of all these schools being to discover what was the chief aim of human existence. The mathematical sciences were also objects of early attention in Greece ; and were pursued by many of their teachers, in conjunction with those which were purely philosophical. In painting, sculpture, and architecture, also, the Greeks gave proof of the highest excellence; the finest statues in the world are of Greek execution ; and the styles of architecture, distinguished as Doric, Ionic, and Corinth- ian, are those to which we are indebted for our most splendid public edi- fices. With some few exceptions the Greeks were a people of lively temperaments, fertile imagination, social habits, and elegant taste : but they were fickle and vindictive, caring little for principle, and even incul- cating a crafty and overreaching policy. They ever showed an extreme proneness to civil discord, and through their own dissensions and treach- ery they first fell a prey to Macedon, and afterward to Rome. The modern Greeks are thus described ; — " There is a pretty marked distinction among the inhabitants of the three great divisions of Greece — Greece north of the Isthmus, the Peloponnesus, and the islands. The in- habitants of northern Greece have retained a chivalrous and warlike spirit, with a simplicity of manners and mode of life which strongly remind us of the pictures of the heroic age. The soil here is generally cultivated by Bulgarians, Albanians, and Wallachians. In eastern Greece, Parnassus, with its ancient bulwarks, is the only place where the Hellenic race has maintained itself; in the mountainous parts of western Greece there are also some remnants of the Hellenic stock. In these parts the language is spoken with more purity than elsewhere. The population of the Pelo- ponnesus consists nearly of the same races as that of northern Greece, but the Peloponnesians are more ignorant and less honest than the inhab- itants of Hellas. The Albanians occupy Argolia and a part of the ancient Triphylia. Among the rest of the inhabitants, who all speak Greek, there are considerable social differences. The population of the towns is of a mixed character, as in northern Greece, where there is an active and in- telligent body of proprietors, merchants, and artisans in the towns, and among them some of Greek stock. The Maniotes form a separate class THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 31] of the population : they are generally called Maniotes from the name of one of their districts ; but their true name, which they have never lost, is Spartans. They occupy the lofty and sterile mountains between the gulfs of Laconia and Messenia, the representatives of a race driven from the sunny valley of the Eurotas to the bleak and inhospitable tracts of Taygetos, though the plains whicli are spread out below them are no longer held by a conqueror, and the fertile lands lie uncultivated for the want of labourers. In the islands, there is a singular mixture of Alba- nians and Greeks. The Albanians of Hydra and Spozzia have long been known as active traders and excellent mariners. The Hydriotes made great sacrifices for the cause of independence in the late war; the Spez- ziotes, more prudent and calculating, increased their wealth and their merchant navy. The island of Syra, which has long been the cen- tre of an active commerce, now contains the remnant of the popu- lation of Ipsara and Chios. The Ipsariots are an active and handsome race, and skilful seamen ; the Chiots, following the habits of their ances- tors, are fond of staying at home and attending to their shops and mer- cantile speculations ; they amass wealth, but they employ it in founding establishments of public utility, and in the education of their children. In Tinos, the peasants, who are also the proprietors, cultivate the vine and the fig even amid the most barren rocks ; in Syra, Santorin, and at Naxos, they are the tenants of a miserable race of nobility, whose origin is traced to the time of the crusades, and who still retain the Latin creed of their ancestors. Besides these, there are various bodies of Suliotes, of people from the heights of Olympus, Candiotes, many Greek families from Asia Minor, Fanariotes, and others, who have emigrated, or been driven by cir- cumstances, within the limits of the new kingdom. The Ipsariots are those who are supposed to have the least intermixture of foreign blood. They have the fine and characteristic Greek physiognomy, as preserved in the marbles of Phidias and other ancient sculptors ; they are ingenious, loquacious, lively to excess, active, enterprising, vapouring, and disputa- tious. The modern Greeks are generally rather above the middle height, and well shaped ; they have the face oval, features regular and expressive, eyes large, dark, and animated, eyebrows arched, hair long and dark, and complexions olive-coloured." THE HISTORY OF THE OTTOMAN OR TURKISH EMPIRE. The Turks are of Tartarian or Scythian extraction ; and this appella- (ion was first given them in the middle ages as a proper name ; it being a general title of honour to all the nations comprehended under the two principal branches of Tartar and Mongol, who therefore never use it as a proper name of any particular nation. The Scythian, or Tartarian nation, to which the name of Turks has been peculiarly given, dwelt Detwixt the Black and Caspian seas, and became first known in the seventh centu^3^ when Heraclius, emperor of the East, took them into his service •, m which they so distinguished themselves, by their fidelity and bravery in 315 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. the conquest of Persia, that the Arabian and Saracen caliphs had not only select bodies of tlieiii for guards, but thoir armies were composed of them. Thus gradually getting tlie power into tlieir liands, they set up or de- throned caliphs at pleasure, liy this strict union of the 'J'urks with the Saracens or Arabs, the former were brought to embrace the Maliornetan religion, so that they are now become intermixed, and have jointly enlarged their conquests ; but as ihe Turks became superior to the Saracens, they subdued them. The following account has been given of the origin of the Ottoman em pire. Gengliis-khan at the head of his horse, issued out of Great Tartary and made himself master of a vast tract of land near the Caspian Sea, and even of all Persia and Asia Minor. Incited by his example and suc- cess, Shah Solyman, prince of the t(jwn of Nera, on the Caspian Sea, in the year 1214, passed Mount Caucasus with fifty thousand men, and pene- trated as far as the borders of Syria; and though his career was stopped there by Genghis-khan, yet in the year 1219 he penetrated a second time into Asia Minor, as far as the Euphrates. Othman, his grandson, made himself master of several countries and places in Lesser Asia, belonging to the Grecian empire; and having, in the year 1300, at the city of Carachifer, assumed the title of emperor of the Othmans, called his peo- ple after his own name. Tliis prince, among many other towns, took, in the year 1326, Prusa, in Bithynia, now called Bursa, w-hich Orchan, his son and successor, made the seat of his empire. Orchan sent Solyman and Amurath, his two sons, on an expedition into Europe; the former of ■whom reduced the city of Callipolis, and the latter took Tyrilos. Amu- rath succeeded his father in the government, in 1360; took Ancyra, Adrianople, and Philipopolis ; and, in 1362, overran Servia, and invaded Macedonia and Albania. Bajazet, his son and successor, was very successful both in Europe and Asia, defeating the Christians near Nicopolis ; but, in 1401, he was routed and taken prisoner by Tamerlane. His sons disagreed; but Mahomet I. enjoyed the sovereignty, and his son Amurath II. distinguished himself by several important enterprises, and particularly in the year 1444 gained a signal victory over the Hungarians near Varna. The Byzantine empire was already cut off from the west, when Mahomet II., the son of Amu- rath and his successor, at the age of twenty-six, completed the work ol conquest. It is said, that the reading of ancient historians had inspired him with the ambition of equalling Alexander. He soon attacked Con- stantinople, which was taken May 29, 1453 ; aud the last Paleologus, Constantine XI., buried himself under the ruins of his throne. Mahomet now built the castle of the Dardanelles, and organized the government of the empire, taking for his model Nushirvan's organization of the Persian empire. In 1456, he subdued the Morea, and in 1461, led Comnenus, emperor of Trebizond, prisoner to Constantinople. Pius II. called in vain upon the nations of Christendom to take up arms. Mahomet conquered the remainder of Bosnia in 1470, and Epirus in 1465, after the death of Scanderbeg. He took Negropont and Lemnos from the Venetians, Caffa from the Genoese, and, in 1473, obliged the khan of the Crim Tartars, of the family of Genghis-khan, to do him bom- age. In 1480, he had already conquered Otranto, in the kingdom of Naples, when he died, in the midst of great projects against Rome and Persia. His grandson, Selim I., who had dethroned and murdered his father, drove back the Persian power to the Euphrates and the Tigris. He defeated the Mamelukes, and conquered, in 1517, Egypt, Syria, aiid Palestine. During fifty years, the arms of the Ottomans, by sea and by land, were the terror of Europe and of Asia, especially under Solyman TI. the Magnificent, also called the Lawgiver, who reigned between 1519 and 1566. In 1522, he took Rhodes from the knights of St. John, and, bj THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 313 llie victory of Mohaez, in 1526, subdued half of Hungary. He exacted a tribute from Moldavia, and was successful against the Persians ia Asia, so as to make Bagdad, Mesopotamia, and Georgia subject to him. He was already threatening to overrun Germany, and to plant the standard of Mahomet in the west, when he was checked before the walls of Vienna, in 15-29. But as Hungary had placed its king, John Zapolya, under the powerful protection of the padishah, and the successful corsair Barbarossa was master of the Mediterranean, had conquered Northern Africa, and laid waste Minorca, Sicily, Apulia, and Corfu, the sultan Solyman might have conquered Europe, had he known how to give firmness and consis- tency to his plans. He was resisted at sea by the Venetians, and the Genoese Andrew Doria, by the grand-master Lavalette in Malta, and by Zriny, under the walls of Zigeth. Twelve sultans, all of them brave and warlike, and most of them con- tinually victorious, had now, during a period of two centuries and a half, raised the power of the crescent ; but the internal strength of the state was yet undevelped. Solyman, indeed, by his laws, completed the or- ganization begun by Mohammed H., and in 1538 united the priestly dignity of the caliphate to the Ottoman porte ; but he could not incorpo- rate into a whole the conquered nations. He also imprisoned his suc- cessor in the seraglio. From this time, the race of Osman degenerated, and the power of the porte declined. From Solyman's death, in 1556, to our own time, most of the Ottoman sovereigns have ascended the throne from a prison, and lived in the seraglio until, as it not unfrequently happened, they again exchanged a throne for a prison. Several grand viziers have, at different periods, alone upheld the fallen state, while the nation continued to sink deeper into the grossest ignorance and slavery ; and pachas, more rapa- cious and more arbitrary than the sultan and his divan, ruled in the pro- vinces. In its foreign relations, the porte was the sport of European' politicians, and more than once was embroiled by the cabinet of Ver- sailles in a war with Austria and Russia. While all P^urope was making progress in the arts of peace and of war, the Ottoman nation and govern- ment remained inactive and stationary. Blindly attached to their doc- trines of absolute fate, and elated by their former military glory, the Turks looked upon foreigners with contempt, as infidels. Without any settled plan, but incited by hatred and a thirst for conquest, they carried on the war with Persia, Venice, Hungary, and Poland. The revolts of the janizaries and of the governors became dangerous. The suspicions of the despot, however, were generally quieted with the dagger and the bow- string; and the ablest men of the divan were sacrificed to the hatred of the soldiery and of the ulema. The successor to the throne frequently put to death all his brothers ; and the people looked with indifference upon the murder of a hated sultan, or the deposition of a weak one. Mustapha I. was twice dethroned; Osman I\. and Ibrahim were strangled, the former in 1622, the latter in 1648. Selim H., indeed, con- quered Cyprus in 1571, but in the same year, Don John of Austria defeated the Turkish fleet at Lepanto. A century after, under Mahomet IV., in 1669, Candia was taken, after a resistance of thirteen years ; and the vizier Kara Mustapha gave to the Hungarians, who had been oppressed by Austria, their general, Count Tekeli, for a king, in 1682 ; but, the very next year, he was driven back from Vienna, which he had besieged, and, after the defeat at Mohaez, in 1687, the Ottomans lost most of the strong places in Hungary. The exasperated people threw their sultan into pri- son ; but, in a short time, the grand vizier, Kiuprili Mustapha, restored order and courage, and recalled victory to the Turkish banners ; but he was slain in the battle against the Germans near Salankemen, in 1691. At last, the sultan Mustapha II. himself took the field ; but he was opposed 314 THE TREASURY OF HISTOaV. by the hero Eugene, the conqueror at Zenlha, in 1G97; and, on the Don, Peter tlie Great conquered Azoph. He was obliged, therefore, by the treaty of Carlowitz, in 1G99, to renounce his claims upon Transylvania and the country between the Danube and the Theias, to give up the Morea to the Venetians, to restore Podolia and the Ukraine to Poland, and to leave Azoph to the Russians. Thus commenced the fall of the Ottoman power. A revolt of the jani- zaries, who, abandoning their ancient rigid discipline, wished to carry on commerce, and live in houses, obliged the sultan to abdicate. His suc- cessor, the imbecile and voluptuous Achmet HI., saw with indifference the troubles in Hungary, the war of the Spanish succession, and the great northern war. Charles XH., whom he protected after his defeat at Pultowa, finally succeeded in involving him in a war with Peter; but the czar, although surrounded with his whole army, easily obtained the peace of the Pruth, by the surrender of Azoph, in 1711. In 1715, the grand vizier attacked Venice, and took the Morea; but Austria assisted the republic, and Eugene's victories at Peterwardein and Belgrade in 1717, obliged the porte to give up, by the treaty of Passarowitz, in 171":, Te- meswar, Belgrade, with a part of Servia and Wallachia, but still it re- tained the Morea. Equally unsuccessful were Achmet's arms in Persia ; in consequence of which an insurrection broke out, and he was thrown into prison in 1730. In 1736, the Russian general Miinmich humbled the pride of the Ottomans ; but Austria, the ally of Russia, was not successful, and the French ambassador in Constantinople effected the treaty of Belgrade, by which the porte regained Belgrade, with Servia and Wallachia. Catherine, empress of Russia, soon after her elevation, began to make it a favourite object in her plan of politics to gain a dictatorial ascendency over the king and diet of Poland. This she effected partly by the intri- gues and persuasive bribes of her minister at the court of Warsaw, and partly by marching a powerful army into that kingdom : but as soon as this hostile step was taken, the porte took the alarm, and stimulated by jealousy of its northern rival, resolved to support the liberties and inde- pendence of the Poles. These resolutions being formed in the divan of Constantinople, M. Obreskow, the Russian resident there, was, according to the constant practice of the Turks on such occasions, committed a prisoner to the castle of the Seven Towers, (October 5, 17G8.) War was declared against the empress of Russia, and the most vigorous prepara- tions were made to collect the whole force of the empire. The court of Russia was far from seeking a rupture with the porte, being fully employed in important objects nearer home ; but being unable to prevent a war, two armies, amounting together to one hundred and fifty thousand men, were formed, at the head of the largest of which Prince Galliizin crossed the Dniester, and entered Moldavia, with a view of becoming master of Choczin; but the prudent measures taken by the Turkish vizier frustrated all his attempts, and obliged him to repass the river, 'j'he impatience of the Turks to pursue these advantages, and to transfer the seat of war into Podolia, excited a general disgust at the cautious and circumspect conduct of their leader; in consequence of which he was removed, and Maldovani Ali Pacha, a man precipitate and incautious, appointed in his stead ; who, by repeated attempts to cross the Dneister in sight of the Russian army, lost in the short space of a fortnight twenty-four thousand of his best troops ; which spread such general discontent through the army, that, renouncing all subordination, the troops retreated tuinultu- ously towards the Danube, and no less than forty thousand men are said to have abandoned the standard of Mahomet in this precipitate flight. The Turkish provinces of Moldavia and Wallachia were overrun by the Russians, and most of the places of strength became easy preys Co tae THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 315 conqueror. The campaign which opened so auspiciously for the Ottomans, oy the rashness and folly of their general ended in their disgrace and ruin. The vizier was degraded and banished. The czarina, who almost from the commencement of her reign had endeavoured to establish an efficient naval force, which, under the super intendence of Sir Charles Knowles, had been successfully effected, now caused a large fleet of Russian men-of-war, commanded by Count Orlow, to proceed from the Baltic to the Mediterranean, to annoy the Turks on their extensive coasts in the Levant. The unskilfulness of the Russians in maritime affairs greatly retarded the progress of their fleet ; and it was not until the spring of 1770, that it arrived at the scene of action, al- though many experienced British officers were volunteers in the expedi- tion. The Turks, to whom the sea has ever proved a fatal element, for some time had no force capable of opposing the enemy, so that the Morea was exposed to their ravages, and several places of strength were taken ; the Greek inhabitants everywhere joyfully received the invaders ; but at length an army of Albanians being collected, they drove the Russians to their ships, and having recovered the whole country, chastised the revolt of Its inhabitants by the lawless vengeance of a licentious soldiery. The Russians, now driven from the Morea, had advanced in full force into the Egean sea, and, passing the straits which divide the island of Scio from the coast of Natolia, were met by a Turkish fleet of superior force. A furious engagement ensued on the 5th of July, in vvhich the Russian ad- miral Spiritof encountered the capitan pacha, in the Sultana of ninety guns, yard-arm and yard-arm. The two ships running close together, grappled each other. The Russians, by throwing hand grenades, set the enemy's ship on fire, which rapidly spread, and soon reached tiie Russian ship. This dreadful spectacle suspended the action between the two fleets, until both ships blew up. Only twenty-four Russians were saved, among whom were the admiral, his son, and Count Theodore Orlow ; the ship carried ninety brass guns, and had on board a chest containing 500,000 rubles (c£ll2,500 sterlmg.) Although each fleet was equally affected by this event, yet it infused a panic among the Turks, which the Russians did not partake of. During the remainder of the day the Turks maintained the action ; but on the ap- proach of night, the capitan pacha, contrary to the advice of his officers, gave orders for each ship to cut its cables, and run into a bay on the coast of Natolia, near a small town anciently called Cyssus, but now known by the name of Chisme. Hossein Bey, who had raised himself by his talents for war to be second in command, saved his ship by bravely forcing his way through the enemy's fleet. Here the Russian fleet soon after blocked them up, and began a furious cannonade ; which being found ineffectual, a fire-ship was sent in at midnight, on the 7th of .July, which, by the intrepid behaviour of Lieutenant Dugdale, grappled a Turkish man-of-war, and the wind at that moment being very high, the whole Ottoman fleet was consumed, except one man-of-war and a few galleys which were towed off by the Russians. The Russians next morning entered the harbour and bombarded the town and a castle that protected it; and a shot hap- pening to blow up the magazine, both were reduced to a heap of rubbish. Thus, through the fatal misconduct of a commander, there was scarce a vestige left, in a few hours, of a town, a castle, and a fine fleet, which had all been in existence the day before. It was somewhat remarkable, that this place was rendered famous by a great victory which the Ro- mans gained there over the fleet of Antiochus, in the year before Christ 191. The Turkish fleet consisted of fifteen ships of the line, from sixty to ninety guns, besides a number of xebecs and galleys, amounting in the whole to near thirty sail. The Russians had only ten ships of the line. 31G THE TREASURY OP HISTORY. and five frigates. The Turkish fleet being annihilated, it might iiave been expected lliat the liussian admiral vvouhl have shaken the Oltoaian em- pire to its very foundations : that it would have put it to the proof how far the Dardanelles were effectual for the defence of the Hellespont. Had he proved successful against those celebrated barriers, Constantinople itself, the seat of the empire, must have fallen into his hands. It seems 0l^- dent the views of Russia did not extend to the effecting such a purpose ; her fleet, during the remainder of the war, was oidy employed in making descents on the Turkish islands, and with little or no success. In that space of time the great Russian army having passed the Danube, found its progress in Bulgaria stopped by the range of mountains which inter- sects that country, whilst it was continually harassed by detachments from the Turkish camp. The expenses of the war were severely felt by each empire, and although that of Russia had gained the ascendancy, no beneficial consequences had been realized. In this state of affairs, the grand seignor Mustapha III., emperor of the Turks, died January 21, 1774, in the fifty-eighth year of his age, and seventeenth of his reign ; he appointed his brother Abdulhamet to succeed him in the throne. The war was continued with spirit; but a large Turkish army, commanded by the reis effendi, being most disgracefully defeated by General Kamenski, the porte, no longer able to maintain the war, was compelled to receive terms from the conqueror. A peace was signed on the 21st of July, 1774, at Kainardgiac, to ratify which the mufti issued his fetfa, or ordinance, in which, to the great degradation of the Ottoman pride, it was said, that, " seeing our troops will no longer fight the Russians, it is necessary to con- clude a peace." The treaty of peace consisted of twenty-eight articles, by which, among other advantages, the Russians obtained a free navigation in all the Turkish seas, together with the passage through the Dardanelles. Russian consuls were likewise to reside in the Turkish sea-ports. Al- though peace was upon these conditions restored, yet it soon became apparent that the latent ambition of Catharine caused her to meditate the utter subversion of the Turkish empire, and to indulge in the hope that she herself should effect it. To bring forward this grand de.'^igij she made a progress from Moscow to the Crimea, with all the pageantry of imperial state. Whilst on this journey she received a visit from the em- peror of Germany, Joseph II., and, as the visits of potentates are gener- ally fatal to the peace of the world, there was good ground to suppose that this was portentous to the Ottoman empire, and had for its chief ob- jects to settle the mode of attacking it, and how it should be divided when conquered. The porte took the alarm, and, determined not to wait the maturation of its enemy's councils and force, published a manifesto, dated the 7th of August, 1787, and commenced hostilities against the em- press of Russia. The emperor of Germany, soon after, led a formidable army agamst the Turkish fastnesses on the frontiers of Hungary, not doubting but that everything would fall before him with the rapidity which Cajsar exulted in ; but his progress was opposed, and his measures frustrated by the surprising valour and conduct of the Turks. The war with Russia was chiefly maritime, and the seat of it the Black sea; but here neither success nor glory accrued to the Turkish arms. The Rus- sians became masters of Ocsakow, and in every conflict at sea were de- cisively superior. This unequal war was not looked upon with indifference by some other of the great powers of Europe. The subjugation of the Turkish empire, and the vast increase of power which Russia would acquire by possessing the most valuable, because the most commercial parts of it, were considered as revolutions in which the other powers of Europe were deeply interested. In consequence of which a close alliance was formed between Great Bri- THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 317 tain and Prussia, having for its chief object, the rescuing the Turks from that destruction which hung over them, by restoring peace to that part of Europe. The losses and disgraces which the emperor sustained, and the death of Laudohn, the only general who had effected anything, rendered that prince anxious to terminate the war; and tlie empress of Russia, t^ugh the mediation of the British court, at length acceded to terms of ^^ke, by the conditions of which very important towns and districts were added to her dominions ; which, however, her arms had previously obtained. Bonaparte's campaign in Egypt finally raised the indignation of the porta, which, on the 1st of September, 1798, declared war for the first time against France. By its alliance with Russia, in December, 1798, and with England and Naples, in January, 1799, it now fell under the direc- tion of the cabinets of St. Petersburg and St. James. A Russian fleet sailed through the Dardanelles, and a Turkish squadron, in co-operatiou with it, conquered the Ionian islands. Paul I. and Selim III., by a treaty at Constantinope, formed the republic of the Seven Islands, whieh, as well as Ragusa, was to be under the protection of the porte. In the fol- lowing year, Britain restored Egypt to the porte; but the Mameluke beys and the Arnaouts filled the land with tumult and bloodshed, until, on the 1st of March, IBll, the new governor, Mehemed Ali Pacha, entirely exterminated the Mamelukes by treachery. Since then he has ruled over Egypt almost independently. The union with the European powers had, however, made Selini and some of the chiefs of the empire sensible that, if the porte would main- tain its power, it must introduce into its armies the modern tactics, and give to the divan a form more suited to the times. The Nizan Dshedid laboured, therefore, to form a Turkish army on the European model, which should supersede the janizaries. But after the poace with France, in 1801, there was in the divan two parties, a Russian and British, and a French. The superiority of Russia pressed upon the porte in the Ionian islands and in Servia; it was accordingly inclined to favour France. When, therefore, Russia, in 1806, occupied Moldavia and VVallachia, the old hostility broke out anew, and (December 30th, 1806) the porte, at the instigation of France, declared war against Russia, which was already engaged with Persia and France. The weakness of the Ottoman empire was now evident. An English fleet forced the passage of the Dardan- elles, and, on the 20th of February, 1807, appeared before Constantinople ; but the French general Sebastiani directed, with success, the resistance of the divan and of the enraged people. On the other hand, the Russians made rapid advances. The people murmured ; and Selim III., on the 29th of May, 1807, was deposed by the mufti, and Mustapha IV. was obliged to put a stop to the hated innovations. But, after the Turkish fleet had been entirely beaten by the Russians at Lemnos, Selim's friend, Mustapha Bairaktar, the brave pacha of Ruschuk, took advantage of the terror of the capital, to seize it. But the unhappy Selim lost his life ; and Bairaktar, in the place of the deposed Mustapha IV., raised to the tluone the sultan Mahmoud II. As grand vizier of Mahmoud, he restored the new military system, and concluded a truce with Russia; but the fury of the janizaries again broke out, and destroyed him in the latter end of 1808. Mahmoud now alone supported the throne ; for he was, since the death of Mustapha IV., the only prince of the family of Osman, and he soon displayed an extraordinary degree of courage and prudence. One of his first acts was to conclude peace with Great Britain, in 1809 ; he then con- tinued, with redoubled vigour, the war against the Russians, who already threatened the passage of the Balkan. Twice the Russians were obliged to retreat beyond the Danube ; nevertheless, their policy conquered the 318 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY French party in the divan. In vain did the French emperor, in his treaty with Austria, March 14, 1812, declare he would maintain the integrity of the Turliish territory. Notwithstanding this, before the French army had passed the Niemen, the sultan bought peace with Russia, at Bucharest, by ceding that part of Moldavia and Bessarabia which lies beyond the Pruth, with the northern fortresses on the Dniester and at the mouth^^ the Danube, and the southern gates of the Caucasus on the Kur. ^K The Servians, left to themselves, again became subjected to TuiHey * They retained, however, by their treaty with the porte, in November, 1815, the administration of the government. In 1817, Mahmoud was obliged to give up tlie principal mouth of the Danube to Russia. But the Greek insurrection again disturbed the relations of the two powers, and has produced important changes in the situation of the porte. The porte believed that Russia secretly favoured the insurrection, and therefore seized Moldavia and Wallachia, and restricted its marine commerce. Both were open violations of the peace of Bucharest. After an inter- change of notes, the Russian ambassador left Constantinople. The me- diation of the English and Austrian courts, together with the emperor Alexander's desire for peace, prevented the outbreak of a war; but the divan, under various pretexts, refused all satisfaction to the Russian cab- inet, until, at last, the emperor Nicholas declared the Russian ultimatum ; upon which the porte, in 1826, granted all the demands of the Russian court, and promised that in Moldavia and Wallachia (where, in three years, it had raised 37,000,000 of piastres, which were employed in the war against the Greeks) everything should be replaced on its former foot- ing, and sent commissioners to Ackerman. Here a final term was again fixed for the decision of the divan, and on the 6th of October, 1826, eighty- two articles of the Russian ultimatum were accepted. The porte swr- rendered to the Russians all the fortresses in Asia which it had hitherto held back, and acknowledged the privileges granted by Russia to Servia, Moldavia, and Wallachia. The treaty was executed in 1827. In the meanwhile the porte had begun its internal reform, and it was resolved utterly to exterminate the janizaries, who burnt the suburb of Galata, between the 3rd and 5th of January, 1826. An army was formed in June, 1826, and the janizaries destroyed, after a bloody struggle. The violence employed in the execution of this and other measures, caused an insurrection, in which six thousand houses were burnt in Constanti- nople. Instead of military insubordination, the most rigid military des- potism began, which did not spare even the ulema. At the same time, the porte, in Jime, 1827, firmly refused the mediation of Russia, England, and France, in its war with the Greeks; and the grand seignor called all his subjects (Christians included) to arms, to fight, if necessary against all Europe. Our limits compel us to bring this sketch somewhat abruptly to a close. But for the more recent events connected with the Ottoman empire, in respect to its foreign relations, we refer the reader to the latter portions of our histories of Greece, Russia, and England. THE RISK, PROGRESS, AND ESTABLISHMENT OF MAHOMETANISM. A subject so curious and important as the religion established by Ma- homet, which has been professed for more than eleven centures by many millions of the human race, and which at present prevails from the Gan- ges to INlorocco, inclusive of a vast number of very populous islands, and every country where the tribes of Malays settle, in one direction, and from the southern extremity of Arabia to the borders of Hungary, in another, deserves to be particularly noticed in this place. Mahomet, or more properly Mohammed, the founder of this singular and spreading faith, was born in the year 569 of the Christian era; he THE TREASURY OF HISTORY 3 {9 sprung irom the tribe of Koraiish, and the family of Hashen? •, his grand- father, uncles, and lineal ancestors were princes ; his family possessed, by hereditary right, the custoay of the Caaba at Mecca, which was a place of worship resorted to by thB Arabians long- before the time of Mahomet. Notwithstanding the respectability of his descent, being left an orphan when very young, and being in low circumstances, he was recommended iJfchadijah, a noble rich widow, for her factor, he having been bred to nrerchandize ; in which capacity he acquitted himself so well that lie gained the affections of his mistress, and, by marrying her, became as rich a merchant as any in Mecca; his kindness, attachment, and strict fidelity to his wife, who was much older than himself, are frequently al- luded to by writers as proofs of a susceptible heart, and a generous and noble nature. His natural strength of mind, and intrepidity of spirit, prompted him to form great designs when his fortunes improved, altliough it is said that he was so illiterate as not to be capable of reading or wri- ting. The want of learning was so far from proving an impediment to him in effecting his designs, that it very strongly promoted them ; for the crafty Arab, who must unquestionably have merely affected this gross ignorance, insisted that the writings which he produced as revelations from God, were cleared of all imputation of being forgeries, for such ele- gance of style and excellence of doctrine could not originate from a man incapable alike of reading or writing : for this reason his followers, in- stead of being ashamed of their master's ignorance, glory in it, as an evident proof of his divine mission, and scruple not to call him, as he is called in the Koran itself, " the illiterate prophet." Sir William Jones relates a traditional story concerning the celebrated poet Lebid, who was cotemporary with Mahomet, and an avowed enemy to his new doc- trine at its first promulgation; who, to express his opposition to it, hung a poem on the gate of the temple, as was then customury to be done, which poem contained a strong implied contempt of the new religion. This piece appeared so sublime that none of the poets chose to attempt an answer to it, till Mahomet, who was likewise a poet, having composed a chapter of the Koran, placed the exordium of it by tiie side of Lebid's poem ; who no sooner read it, than he declared it to be something divine, confessed his own inferiority, tore his verses from the gate, embraced the religion he liad stigmatized, and became afterwards essentially service- able in replying to the satires of Amralkeis, who was unwearied in his attacks upon the doctrine of Mohammed. The state of the world at that time was highly favourable to the intro- duction of a new religion : it had been the will of Heaven to permit the purity and simplicity of the doctrines of Christ to be contaminated and perverted by the artful wiles of priestcraft, which caused the grossest im- positions to be practised upon an ignorant laity; pomp, splendour, and unintelligible worship, were substituted for the devotion of the heart, while the prayers offered up to imaginary and fictitious saints had effaced all just notions of the attributes of the Deity. Mohammed had made two journeys into Syria, where he had informed himself of the principles of .Tudaism, and the jargon which bore the name of Christianity : it is pro- bable, indeed, that his mind was naturally prone to religious enthusiasm, and that he was a devotee before he became an impostor. His first design seems to have extended no farther than to bring the v.'ild, intractable, and ardent Arabs to acknowledge one God and one king; and it is probable that for a considerable time his ambition extended no farther than to be- come the spiritual and temporal sovereign of Arabia. He began his eventful project by accusing both Jews and Christians of corrupting' the revelations which had been made to them from heaven, and maintained that both Moses and Jesus Christ had prophetically foretold the coming of a prophet from God, which was accomplished in himself, the last and 320 THE TREASURY OP HISTORY. greatest of the prophets; thus initiated, he proceeded to deliver detached sentences, as he pretended to receive them from the Almighty, by the hand of the ange. Gabriel. These pretensions to a divine mission drew on him a requisition from the inhabitants of Mecca that he would convince them by working a miracle; but he replied, " God refuses those signs and wonders that would depreciate the merit of faith, and aggravate the guilt of infidelity." The unity of God was the grand and leading article in the creed he taught, to which was closely joined his own divine mission : Allah il Allah, Muhamed resoul Allah, is their preface to every actof devotion, and the sentence continually in their mouths : which is, " there is but one God, and Moliammed is his prophet." The Arabian tribes, who occupied the country from Mecca to the Eu- phrates, were at that time known by the name of Saracens ; their reli- gion was chiefly gross idolatry, Sabianism having spread almost over the whole nation, though there were likewise numbers of Christians, Jews, and Magians, interspersed in those parts. The essence of that worship principally consisted in adoring the planets and fixed stars ; angels and images they honoured as inferior deities, whose intercessions with the Almigiity in their favour they implored ; they believed in one God ; in the future punishment of the wicked, for a long series of years, though not forever ; and constantly prayed three times a day ; namely, at sunrise, at its declination, and at sunset ; they fasted three times a year; during thirty days, nine days, and seven days ; they offered many sacrifices, but ate no part of them, the whole being burnt ; they likewise turned their faces, when praying, to a particular part of the horizon ; they performed pilgrimages to the city of Harran in Mesopotamia, and had a great respect for the temple of Mecca and the pyramids of Egypt, imag- ining the latter to be the sepulchres of Seth, also of Enos and Sabi, his two sons, whom they considered as the founders of their religion. Be sides the book of Psalms, they had other books which they esteemed equally sacred, particularly one, in the Chaldee tongue, which they called " the book of Seth." They have been called " Christians of St. John the Baptist," whose disciples they also pretend to be, using a kind of bap- tism, which is the greatest mark they bear of Christianity : circumcision was practised by the Arabs, although Sale is silent on that practice, when describing the religion of the Sabians ; they likewise abstained from swine's flesh. So that in this sect we may trace the essential articles of the creed of Mussulmans. Mahomet was in the fortieth year of his age when he assumed the cha- racter of a prophet; he had been accustomed for several years, during the month of Ramadan, to withdraw from the world, and to secrete himself in a cave, three miles distant from Mecca; " conversation," says Mr. Gib- bon, " enriches the understanding, but solitude is the school of genius." During the first three years, he made only fourteen proselytes, among which were his wife Khadijah, his servant, or rather slave, Zeid Ali, who afterward married the prophet's favourite daughter, Fatima, and was sur- named "the Lion of God;" Abubekar, a man distinguished for his merit and his wealth ; the rest consisted of respectable citizens of Mecca. The Koreishites, although the tribe from which he sprung, were the most vio- lent opposers of the new religion. In the tenth year of his prophetic office his wife died; and the next year, his enemies having formed a de- sign to cut him off, and he being seasonably apprized, fled by night to Me- dina, on the 16th of July, 622, from which event the Hegira commenced ; lie was accompanied only by two or three followers, but he made a public entry into that city, and soon gained many proselytes, on which he as- sumed the regal and sacerdotal characters. As he increased in power, that moderation and humanity, wliichhad before distinguished his conduct, were gradually erased, and he became fierce and sanguinary ; he began to THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 32. avow a design of propagating his religion by the sword, tc destroy the monuments of idolatry, and, without regarding the sanctity of days or months, to pursue the unbelieving nations of the earth. The Koran incul- cates, in the most absolute sense, the tenets of faith and predestination. The first companions of Mahomet advanced to battle with a fearless con- fidence, their leader having fully possessed their minds with the assurance that paradise awaited those who died fighting for the cause of their prophet, the gratifications of which were held out to be such as best suited the am- orous complexions of the Arabians. Houries of black-eyed girls, resplen- dent in beauty, blooming youth and virgin purity ; every moment of plea- sure was there to be prolonged to a thousand years, and the powers of the man were to be increased an hundred- fold to render him capable of su(;h felicity: to those who survived, rich spoils and the possession of their female captives were to crown their conquests. Mahomet was present at nine battles or sieges ; and fifty enterprises of war were achieved in ten years by himself or his lieutenants. Seven years after his flight from Mecca he returned to that city, where he was publicly recognized as a prince and prophet; the idolatrous worship of the Caaba was immediately abolished, and succeeded by the simplicity of the Mahometan establish- ment. This Arab lawgiver retained both his mental and bodily powers unimpaired till he reached his sixtieth year, when his health began to de- cline, and he himself suspected that a slow poison had been administered to him by a Jewess, under the effects of which he languished ; but his death was caused by a fever, in the sixty-third year of his age, the six hundred and thirty-second of the Christian era, and tenth of the Hegira. There are some particulars told respecting Maiiomet, which have gained general belief, although void of all foundation : such is the story of the tame pigeon, which the people were taught to believe imparted religious truths to the ear of the propliet ; the epileptic fits, which have been said to cause him to fall down as in a trance, he is not supposed to have been subject to; and the suspension of his iron coffin at Mecca is a most absurd false- hood, it being well known that he was buried at Medina in a stone cofliii. Of the chapters of the Koran, which are one hundred and fourteen in number, the Sieur du Ryer makes ninety-four to have been received at Mecca, and twenty at Medina ; but, according to Mr. Sale, a much better authority, the commentators on the Koran have not fixed the place where about twenty of these revelations were imparted ; so that no inference can be drawn how far the prophet had proceeded in his pretended inspira- tions when he fled from Mecca; neither does the order in which they were written, for the seventy-fourth chapter is supposed to have been the first revealed, and the sixty-eighth to have immediately followed it. The most amiable features in the reHgion which Mahomet established are, profound adoration of one God, whose names, or rather titles, are amazingly diversified in the Koran ; (these are collected, to the amount of nine hundred and ninety-nine, and serve as a manual of devotion ;) the daily ofl'ering up of prayers to him, which consist of short ejaculations ; stated fasts, and a constant distribution af a large poriion of personal pro- perty to the relief of the indigent and distressed ; nor is the charity which is enjoined confined to alms-giving, but comprehends, in its fullest extent, general humanity and acts of beneficence to all Mussulmans. A general resurrection of the dead is another article of belief reiterated in the Koran Whatever superstitious practices adliere to it, cannot be imputed to priest- craft, for no religion that ever was promulgated to the world, the unadul- terated religion of Jesus Christ excepted, so entirely excludes the influence of the priesthood; it may, indeed, be called emphatically "the laical reli- gion," since its founder had the address to obtain the most enthusiastic regard to his dogmas, without giving wealth or consequence to those who were appointed to illustrate and enforce them; indeed, the Koran re- 21 322 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. proaclies the Christians for taking their priests and monks for their lords beside God. The pilgrimage to Mecca, praying toward that place, and the ablutions which are enjoined on the most ordinary acts and occasions, together with the adoption of that religious sophism predestination, in its most extravagant extent, seem to comprehend the superstitious parts of this religion ; but it has other characteristics which betray its spurious origin, and prove its destructive tendency. To compensate for the rigid fastings which it enjoins, and the disuse of wine which it requires, a most licentious indulgence is allowed in the use of women ; and though they may not, as has been imputed to them, deny to that sex a future state of existence, yet, as they consider women merely as instruments of gratification, all those amiable qualities which the sex is capable of displaying when the faculties are properly expanded by a ju- dicious and liberal course of education, are suppressed as soon as formed. Another foul taint in this religion is, the abhorrence which it creates against all those who do not embrace the same doctrines ; and also the direct tendency of that faith to consign the human mind to a state of ar- rogant and incurable ignorance by considering the Koran as comprising everything worthy of being known. The Arabs, from the genial in- fluence of their climate, as well as from habits transmitted through so many generations as to be formed into innate principles, were libidinous beyond most of their species, and no individual among them felt that pro- pensity stronger than their prophet; neither policy nor inclination there- fore prompted him to bring his disciples under severe restraints with re- spect to women ; he ought not, however, to be denied the praise which is due to having in some measure tempered the lustful fierceness of his countrymen ; and he may be said to have eflfected some reformation, when he restrained his followers even to four wives, when he forbad in- cestuous alliances, entitled a repudiated wife to a dower from her hus- band, made adultery a capital offence, and rendered fornication punish- able by law. Besides the Koran, which is the written law to the Mahometans, alike as to the belief and practice of religion and the administration of public justice, there is the Sunnah, or oral law, which was selected, two hun- dred years after the death of Mahomet, from a vast number of precepts and injunctions which had been handed down from age to age, as bearing the stamp of his authority. In this work the right of circumcision is en- joined, concerning which the Koran was silent ; nor was it necessary to be there commanded, as the Arabians adhered to it before this establish- ment. By the express command of their founder, the Mahometans set apart Friday in each week for the especial worship of God. They are ever assiduous to make converts to their faith; nor can they reject the most abject or profligate wretch who declares his desire of becoming a true believer, even although they know him to be ignorant alike of their language and the principles of their religion. Charily, as already ob- served, is enjoined in the strongest terms in the Koran ; and the Turks are remarkable for acts of benevolence to the poor and the distressed, and are even careful to prevent the unfortunate being reduced to neces- sity They repair highways, erect cisterns of water for the conve- nience of travellers, build kahns or caravanseras for their reception ; and some devout people, it is said, erect sheds by the way side, tliat the weary traveller may sit under the shade and take his refreshment. In chap. iv. of the Koran are the following injunctions: " Sho^y kindness to thy parents, to thy relations, to orphans, to the poor; to thy neighbor who is related to thee, and to thy neighbor who is a stranger ; to thy fa- miliar companion, to tlie traveler, and to t!ie captive whom thy right hand has taken; for God loveth not the proud, the vain-glorious, the covetous, or those who bestow their wealth in o.-^der to be seen of men.*' THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 323 They name their children as soon as they are born ; when the father, putting some grains of salt into its mouth, and lifting it on high, as ded- icating it to God, cries out, " God grant, my son Solyman, that his holy name may be as savoury in thy mouth as this salt, and that he may pre- serve thee from being too much in love with the world." As to the in- fants who die young, before they are circumcised, they believe they are saved by the circumcision of their father. Their children are not cir- cumcised, like those of the Jews, at eight days old, but at eleven or twelve, and sometimes at fourteen or fifteen years of age, when they are able to make a profession of their faith. When any renegade Cliristian is circumcised, two basins are usually carried after him, to gather the alms which the spectators freely give. Those who are uncircumcised, whether Turkish children or Christians, are not allowed to be present at their public prayers; and if they are taken in their mosques, they are liable to be impaled or burnt. The fast of Ramadan is observed by the Turks exactly in the same manner as by the Persians. The feast of Bairam begins with the next new moon after that fast, and is published by firing of guns, bonfires, and other rejoicings. At this feast the houses and shops are adorned with their finest hangings, tapestries, and sofas. In the streets are swings ornamented with festoons, in which the people sit, and are tossed in the air, while they are at the same time entertained with vocal and instru- mental music performed by persons hired by the masters of the swings. They have also fireworks; and, during the three days of this festival, many women, who are in a manner confined the rest of the year, have liberty to walk abroad. At this time they forgive their enemies, and be- come reconciled to them ; for they think they have made a bad bairam, if they harbour the least malice in their hearts against any person what- soever. This is termed the Great Bairam, to distinguish it from the Lit- tle Bairam, which they keep seventy days after. They have also several other festivals, on all which the steeples of the mosques are adorned with lamps placed in variour figures. They regularly pray three times a day, and are obliged to wash before their prayers, as well as before they presume to touch the Koran. As they make great use of their fingers in eating, they are required to wash after every ineal, and the more cleanly among them do it before meals. After every kind of defilement, in fact, ablution is enjoined. By the Mahometan law a man may divorce his wife twice, and if he afterwards repents, he may lawfully take her again ; but Mahomet, to prevent his followers from divorcing their wives upon every slight occa- sion, or merely from an inconstant humour, ordained, that if any man di- vorces his wife a third time, it is not lawful for him to take her again, till she has been married and bedded by another, and divorced from that hus- band. The Koran allows no man to have more than four wives and con- cubines, but the prophet and his successors are laid under no restriction. Church government, by the institutions of Mahomet, appears to have centered in the mufti, and the order of the moulalis, from which the mufti must be chosen. The moulahs have been looked upon as ecclesiastics, and the mufti as their head ; but the Turks consider the first rather as ex- pounders of the law, and the latter as the great law officers. Those who really act as divines are the imaums, or parish priests, who officiate in, and are set aside for the service of the mosques. No church revenues are appropriated to the particular use of the moulahs; the imaums are the ecclesiastics in immediate pay. Their scheiks are the chiefs of their dervises (dervishes), or monks, and form religious communities, or or- ders, established on solemn vows ; they consecrate themselves merely to religious offices, domestic devotion, and public prayer and preaching; there are four of these orders, the Bektoshi, Mevelevi, Kadri, and Seyah, 324 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY Avho are very numerous throughout the empire. The Mevelevi, in their acts of devotion, turn round with velocity for two or three hours inces- santly. They are passionately fond of music, particularly a flute formed of an Indian reed; they live in their monastery; profess poverty and hu- mility; entertain kindly all strangers, of whatever religion, who visit them ; and receive alms. They sometimes even offer to wash the feet of a Mussulman. The Kadri express their devotion by lacerating their bodies; they walk the streets almost naked, with distracted and wild looks ; they hold their hands joined together, as if in the act of prayer, except when they perform their religious dances, which they continue many hours, and sometimes the whole day, repeating incessantly, Hu ! hu! hu! hu ! one of their names of the deity, until at last, as if they Avere in a violent rage or phrensy, they fall to the ground, foaming at the mouth, and every part of their body bathed in sweat. The Seyahs, like the Indian fakiers, are little better than mere vagabonds. The Turks appropriate to themselves the name of Moslemim, which has been corrupted into Mussulman, signifying persons professing the doctrine of Mahomet. They also term themselves Sonnites, or observers of the oral traditions of Mahomet and his three successors; and like- wise call themselves True Believers, in opposition to the Persians and others, the adherents of Ali, whom they call a wicked and abominable sect. Their rule of faith and practice is the Koran. Some externals of their religion, besides the prescribed ablutions, are prayers, which are to be said five times every twenty-four hours, with the face turned towards Mecca, and alms, which are both enjoined and voluntary; the former consists of paying two and a half per cent, to charitable uses out of their whole income. Their feasts have been already spoken of; and every Mahometan must, at least, once in his lifetime, go in pilgrimage, either personally or by proxy, to the Caaba, or house of God at Mecca. THE HISTORY OF INDIA. AlS the Hindus (or Hindoos), never had any historical writings, all tne information to be obtained respecting the original inhabitants of India, is gleaned from popular poems or the accounts of foreigners. How vague and unsatisfactory such accounts alwaj's are, and how mixed with fab ulous invention, the result of all researches in such labyrinths most abundantly proves; we shall, therefore, make but a brief analysis of it Under the name of India the ancients included no more than the peniii sula on this side the Ganges, and the peninsula beyond it, having little oi no knowledge of the countries which lie farther eastward. By whom these countries were originally peopled, is a question which has given rise to much speculation, but which, in all probability, will never be solved. Certain it is, that some works in these parts discover marks of astonishing skill and power in the inhabitants ; such as the images in the island of Elephanta, the observatory at Benares, and many others. These stupendous works are, by Bryant, attributed to the Cushites or Babylo- nians ; and it is possible that the subjects of Nimrod, the beginning of whose kingdom was in Shinar, might extend themselves in this direction, and thus fill the fertile regions of the east witli inhabitants, before tliey THE TREASUEY OF HISTORY. 3i25 migrated to the less mild and rich countries to the westward. Thus would be formed for a time that great division betwixt the inhabitants of India and other countries ; so that the western nations knew not even of the existence of India, but by obscure report ; while the inhabitants of the latter, ignorant of their own origin, invented a thousand idle tales concerning the antiquity of their tribes. Accordnig to Hindu tradition, then, and the popular legends of their bards, their country was at first divided between two principal families, called in oriental phraseology, " the families of the sun and moon." These were both said to be descended from Brahma originally, through the patriarchs Daksha and Atri, his sons. Vaiwaswat (the sun), had Dak- sha for his father ; and Soma (the moon), sprung from Atri. The first prince of the family of the sun was named Ikshwaku, who was succeed- ed by his grandson, named Kakutstha. But the most celebrated prince was Rama, the son of Dasaratha, who was banished to the forests by his father for fourteen years, and was accompanied there by Sita, his wife. Sita having been carried off by Ravana (or the giant with ten heads), who was king of Lanka, or Ceylon, Rama, assisted by Sugriva and Ha- numan (who are described as monkeys), pursued him to his capital, took it, put him to death, and placed his brother Vibhishna on the throne. The traditions of the south of India add, that upon Rama's victory, colonists came from Ayodhya, or Oude, cleared and tilled the ground, and intro- duced the arts of civilized life. Rama returned to Ayodhya, over which he ruled for many years, and was succeeded by his son Kusa, whose pos- terity inherited the throne after him. Pururaves, the son of Budha, the son of the moon, was the first prince of the lunar dynasty. His capital was Pratishthana, at the confluence of the Ganges and Jumna. To him is attributed the discovery of the art of kindling fire. His eldest son, Ayus, succeeded him. Ayus had two sons, Nahusha, who succeeded him, and Kshetravtiddha, who established a separate principality at Kasi, or Benares. Nahusha's successor was Yayati, who had five sons, the youngest of whom, Puru, he named as his successor. To the other four, whose names were Yadu, Turvasu, Druhya, and Anu, he gave the vice- royship, under Puru, of certain provinces of the paternal kingdom. One of the descendants of Druhya was Gandhar, from whom the province now called Candahar, received its name. The posterity of Anu estab- lished themselves from the south of the province of Behar to the upper part of the Coromandel coast. In fact, it appears that the descendants of Yayati colonized and introduced civilization throughout the greater part of southern and western India. Among the descendants of Puru there were several celebrated princes, one of whom, named Bharata, the son of Dushyanta, ruled over a very extensive territory, so that India has been sometimes called after his name, Bharata Versha, the country of Bharata. The most material facts that we notice in these annals are, that some centuries after this, Hasti, a descendant of Puru, removed the capital further north, on the banks of the Ganges, which city was called after him, Hastinapur; also that, four descents after Hasti, the sovereign of Hastinapur was Kuru, from whom the country to the north-west was called Kurukshetra, a name it still retains. "The whole course of the political history of ancient India," as Profes- sor Wilson observes, "shows it to have been a country divided among numerous petty rajahs, constantly at variance with one another, and in- sapable of securing their subjects from the inroads of their neighbours, or the invasions of foreign enemies. The early religion of the Hindus, as represented in the Vedas, seems to have been little more than the adora- tion of fire and the elements. The attributes of a Supreme Being, as creator, preserver, and destroyer, were afterwards personified, and wor- shipped as the deities Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. Philosophical notions 325 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. of matter and spirit were next embodied ; and celebrated individuals, like the demigods of Greece, added to the Pantheon; other modifications, some as recent as four or five centuries, were subsequently introduced.'' The division of the Hindus into castes is a peculiarity in their social condition, which early attracted notice ; but such an arrangement was not uncommon in antiquity, and it prevailed in Persia and Egypt. In these counliies it gradually ceased ; but in India it has been carried far beyond the extent contemplated in the original system. The original distinction was into Brahman, religious teacher; Kshe- truja, warrior ; Vaisya, agriculturist and tradcir ; and .Sudra, servile ; but from the intermixture of these and their descendants, arose numerous other tribes or castes, of which the Hindus now chiefly consist; the Brah- man being the only one of the four original divisions remaining. The first among the western nations who distinguished themselves by their application to navigation and commerce, and who were of conse- quence likely to discover these distant nations, were the Egyptians and Phoenicians. The former, however, soon lost their inclination for naval aflTairs, and held all sea-faring people in detestation ; though to the exten- sive conquests of Sesostris, if we can believe them, must this feeling in a great measure be attributed. He is said to have fitted out a fleet of four hundred sail in the Arabian Gulf or Red Sea, which conquered all the countries lying along the Erythrean Sea to India; while the army, led by himself, marched throHgh Asia, and subdued all the countries to the Ganges; after which he crossed that river, and advanced to the Eastern ocean. Strabo rejected the account altogether, and ranks the exploits of Sesostris in India with the fabulous ones of Bacchus and Hercules. Soon after the destruction of the Babylonian monarchy by the Persians, we find Darius Hystaspes undertaking an expedition against the Indians. Herodotus informs us, that he sent Scylax of Gary and ra to explore the river Indus ; who sailed from Caspatyrus, a town at its source, and near the territories of Pactya, eastward to the sea ; thence, turning westward, he arrived at the place where the Phoenicians had formerly sailed round Africa, after which Darius subdued the Indians, and became master of that coast. His conquests, however, were not extensive, as they did not reach beyond the territory watered by the Indus ; yet the acquisition was very important, as the revenue derived from the conquered territory, according to Herodotus, was near a third of that of the whole Persian empire. According to Major Rennel, the space of country through which Alex- ander sailed on the Indus was not less than one thousand miles ; and as, during the whole of that navigation, he obliged the nations on both sides of the river to submit to him, we may be certain that the country on each side was explored to some distance. An exact account, not only of his military operations, but of everything worthy of notice relating to the countries through which he passed, was preserved in the journals of his three officers, Lagus, Nearchus, and Aristobulus ; and these journals Arrian followed in the composition of his history. From these authors we learn that, in the time of Alexander, the western part of India was possessed by- seven very powerful monarchs. The territory of Porus, which Alexander first conquered and then restored to him, is said to have contained no fewer than two thousand towns ; and the king of the Prasii had assembled an army of twenty thousand cavalry, two thousand armed chariots, and a great number of elephants, to oppose the Macedonian monarch on the banks of the Ganges. The country on each side of the Indus was found, in the time of Alex- ander, to be in no degree inferior in population to the kingdom of Porus. The climate, soil, and productions of India, as well as the manners and customs of the inhabiiants, are exactly described, and the descriptions faund to correspond in a surprising manner with modern accounts. The THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 327 stated change of seasons, now known by the name of monsoons, the pe- riodical rains, the swellings and inundations of the rivers, with the ap- pearance of the country during the time they continue, are particularly mentioned. The descriptions of the inhabitants are equally particular ; their living entirely upon vegetables ; their division into tribes or castes, with many of the particularities of the modern Hindoos. The military operations, however, extended but a little way into India properly so called ; no further, indeed, than the modern province of Lahore, and the countries on the banks of the Indus, from Moultan to the sea. On the death of Alexander, the eastern part of his dominions devolved first on Pytho, the son of Agenor, and afterwards on Seleucus. The lat- ter was sensible of the advantages of keeping India in subjection. With ihis view, he undertook an expedition into that country, partly to confirm his authority, and partly to defend the Macedonian territories against Sandracottus, king of the Prasii. The particulars of his expedition are very little known ; Justin being the only author who mentions them. Plutarch tells us that Seleucus carried his arms farther into India than Alexander; and Pliny, whose authority is of considerably greater weight than either, in this instance, corroborates the testimony of Plutarch. The career of Seleucus in the east was stopped by Antigonus, who pre pared to invade the western part of his dominions. The former was, therefore, obliged to conclude a treaty with Sandracottus ; but Dr. Rob- ertson is of opinion, that during the lifetime of Seleucus, which continued forty-two years after the death of Alexander, no diminution of the Ma- cedonian territories took place. With a view of keeping up a friendly in- tercourse with the Indian prince, Seleucus sent Megasthenes, one of Al- exander's officers, to Palibothra, capital of the kingdom of the Prasii, on tha banks of the Ganges. This city is by Dr. Robertson thought to be the modern Allahabad, but Major Reiuiel supposes it to be Patna. As Megasthenes resided in this city for a considerable time, he made many observations relative to India in general, which he afterwards published. But he mingled with his relations the most extravagant fables ; such as accounts of men with ears so large that they could wrap themselves up in them ; of tribes with one eye, without mouths or noses, &c., if the ex- tracts from this book, given by Arrian, Diodorus, and other ancient writers, can be credited. After the embassy of Megasthenes to Sandracottus, and that of his son Damaichus to Allitrochidas, the successor of Sandracottus, we hear no more of the affairs of India with regard to the Macedonians, until the time of Antiochus the Great, who made a short incursion into India, about 197 years after the death of Seleucus. All that we know of this expedition is, that the Syrian monarch, aftei finishing a war he car- ried on against the two revolted provinces of Parthia and Bactria, obliged Sophagasenus, king of the country which he invaded, to pay a sum of money, and give hiin a number of elephants. It is probable that the suc- oes-sors of Antiochus were obliged, soon after his death, to abandon all their Indian territories. After the loss of India by the Syrians, an intercourse was kept up for isome time betwixt it and the Greek kingdom of Bactria. This last be- came an independent state about sixty-nine years after the death of Alex- der; and, according to the few hints we have concerning it in ancient au- thors, carried on a great traffic with India. Nay, tlie Bactrian monarchs are said to have conquered more extensive tracts in that region than Al- exander himself had ddne. Six princes reigned over this new kingdom in succession ; some of whom, elated with the conquests they had made, assumed the title of the great king, by which the Persian monarchs were distinguished in their highest splendour. Strabo informs us, that the Bactrian princes were deprived of their territories by the Scythian no- fliades, known by the name of Asii, Pasiani, Tachari, and Scaurauli. 328 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. This is confirmed by the testimony of the Chinese historians, quoted by M. de Guignes. According to them, about 13G years before the Ciiristian era, a powerful horde of 'I'artars, pushed from their native seats on the confines of China, and obliged to move farther to the west, poured in upon Uactria like an irresistible torrent, overwhelmed that kingdom, and put an end to the dominion of the Greeks, after it had lasted nearly 130 years. From this time to the close of the fifteenth century, all thoughts of establishing any dominion in India were totally abandoned by the Euro- peans. The only object was to promote a commercial intercourse with that country: and Egypt was the medium by which that intercourse was to be promoted. Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, first raised the power and splendour of Alexandria, by carrying on a trade with India. His son Ptolemy Philadelphus prosecuted the same plan very vigorously. In his time the Indian commerce once more began to centre in Tyre ; but, to re- move it elfectually thence, he attempted to form a canal between Arsinoe on the Red Sea, near the place where Suez now stands, and the Pelusiac, or eastern branch of the Nile. This canal was about one hundred cubits broad, and thirty deep ; so that by means of it the productions of India might liave been conveyed to Alexandria entirely by water. On the conquest of Egypt by the Romans, the Indian commodities con- tinued as usual, to be imported to Alexandria in Egypt, and from thence to Rome ; but the most ancient communication betwixt the east and west parts of Asia seems never to have been entirely given up. Syria and Palestine are separated from Mesopotamia by a desert ; but the passage through it was much faciliated by its aflTording a station which abounded in water. Hence the possession of this station became an object of such consequence, that Solomon built upon it the city called in Syrian Tadmor, and in Greek Palmyra. Both these names are expressive of its situation in a spot adorned with palm trees. Though its situation for trade may to us seem very unfavourable, being sixty iniles from the Euphrates, by which alone it could receive the Indian commodities, and two hundred miles from the nearest coast of the Mediterranean; yet the value and small bulk of the goods in question, rendered the conveyance of them by a long carriage overland not only practicable, but lucrative and advanta- geous. Hence the inhabitants became opulent and powerful, and this place long maintained its independence after the Syrian empire became subject to Rome. The eagerness of the Romans for Asiatic luxuries kept up an intercourse with India during the time that the empire con- tinued in its power ; and, even after the destruction of the western part, it was kept up between Constantinople and those parts of India which had been visited formerly by merchants from the west. Long before this period, however, a much better method of sailing to India had been dis- covered by one Hippalus, the commander of an Indian ship, who lived about eighty years after Egypt had been annexed to the Roman empire. This man having observed the periodical shifting of the monsoons, and how steadily they blew from the east and west during some months, ven- tured to leave the coast, and sail boldly across the Indian Ocean, from the mouth of the Arabian Gulf to Musiris, a port on the Malabar coast ; which discovery was reckoned a matter of such importance, that the name ol Hippalus was given to the wind by which he performed the voyage. Pliny gives a very particular account of the manner in which the Indian traffic was now carried on, mentioning the particular stages and the dis- tances between them. While the Seleucidse continued to enjoy the empire of Syria, the trade with India continued to be carried on by land. The Romans, having ex- tended their dominions as far as the Euphrates, found this method of conveyance still established, and the trade was by them encouraged and protected. But the progress of the caravans being frequently interrupted THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 329 by the Parthians, particularly when they travelled towards th'^se countires where silk and other of the most valuable manufactures were procured, it became an object to the Romans to conciliate the friendship of the sove- reigns of those distant countries. Dr. Robertson takes notice, from the evidence of an Arabian merchant who wrote in 852, it appears, that not only the Saracens but the Chinese also, were destitute of the mariner's compass; contrary to a common opinion, that this instrument was known in the east long before its discovery in Europe. Notwithstanding this dis- advantage, they penetrated far beyond Siam, which had set bounds to the uaviga-tion of Europeans. They became acquainted with Sumatra and other Indian islands; extending their navigation as far as Canton in China. A regular commerce was now carried on from the Persian Gulf to all the countries lying betwixt it and China, and even with China itself. Many Saracens settled in India, properly so called, as well as the coun- tries beyond it. In the city of Canton they were so numerous that the emperor permitted them to have a cadi or judge of their own religion ; the Arabian language was understood and spoken in every place of conse- quence ; and ships from China even are said to have visited the Persian Gulf. According to the Arabian accounts of those days, the peninsula of India was at that time divided into four kingdoms. The first was composed of the provinces situated on the Indus and its branches, the capital of which was Moultan. The second had the city of Canoge, which, from its re- maining ruins, appears to have been a very large place. The Indian his- torians relate, that it contained thirty thousand shops in which betel-nut was sold, and sixty thousand sets of musicians and singers who paid a tax to government. The third city was tiiat of Cachemire, first mentioned by Massoudi, who gives a short description of it. The fourth kingdom, Guzerat, is represented by the same author as the most powerful of the whole. Another Arab writer, who nourished about the middle of the fourteenth century, divides India into three parts; the northern compre- hending all the provinces of the Indus ; the middle extending from Guzerat to the Ganges ; and the southern, which he denominates Comar, from cape Comorin. From the relation of the Arabian merchant above men- tioned, explained by the commentary of another Arabian who had like- wise visited the eastern part of Asia, we learn many particulars concern- ing the inhabitants of these distant regions at that time, which correspond with what is observed among them at this day. They take notice of the general use of silk among the Chinese, and the manufacture of porcelain, which they compare to glass. They also describe the tea-plant, with the manner of using its leaves ; whence it appears, that in the ninth century the use of this plant in China was as common as it is at present. They mention likewise the great progress which the Indians had made in as- tronomy ; a circumstance which seems to have been unknown to the Greeks and Romans; they assert, that in this branch of science they were far superior to the most enlightened nations of the west, on which account their sovereign was called the king of wisdom. The superstitions, extravagant penances, &c., known to exist at this day among the Indians, are also mentioned by those writers ; all which particulars manifest that the Arabians had a knowledge of India far supe- rior to that of the Greeks or Ronnns. The industry of the Moham- medans, in exploring the most distant regions of the east, was rivalled, however, by the Christians of Persia, who sent missionaries all over India, and the countries adjoining, as far as China itself. But, while the western Asiatics thus kept up a constant intercourse with these parts, the Europeans had in a manner lost all knowledge of them. Tlie port of Alexandria, from which they had formerly been supplied with the Indian goods, was now shut against them : and the Arabs, satisfied with supply. 330 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. ing the demands of their own subjects, neglected to send any by the usual channels to the towns on the Mediterranean. The inhabitants of Con- stantinople and some other great towns were supplied with Chinese com- modities by the most tedious and difficult passage imaginable. In spite of every difficulty, however, this commerce flourished, and Constantinople became a considerable mart for East Indian commodities ; and from it all the rest of Europe was chiefly supplied with them for more than two centuries. The perpetual hostilities in which the Christians and Moham- medans were during this period engaged, contributed still to increase the difllculty ; but, the more it increased, the more desirous Europeans seemed to be of possessing the luxuries of Asia. About this lime the cities of Amalfi and Venice, with some other in Italy, having acquired a great degree of independence, began to exert themselves in promotmg domestic manufactures, and importing the productions of India. At the end of the tenth century, a considerable revolution took place in India, by the conquests of Mahmud Gazni, who erected the empire of Gazna. And it is at this period that the authentic history is generally reckoned to commence. Mahmud's kingdom had arisen out of that of the Saracens, who had extended their conquests immensely, under the caliph Al-Walid, both to the east and west. He possessed great part of the ancient Bactria. Gazna, near the source of the Indus, and Balkh, were his chief cities. After conquering the rest of Bactria, he invaded Hindostan a. d. 1000, and reduced the province of Moultan, which was in- habited by the Kuttry and Rajpoot tribes (the Catheri and Malli of Alex- ander), who still retained their ancient bravery, and made a very for- midable resistance. Mahmud being equally influenced by a love of con- quest, and a superstitious zeal to exterminate the Hindoo religion, a league was at last formed against him among all the Indian princes, from the Ganges to the Nerbudda. Their allied troops were, however, de- feated ; and in 1008 the famous temple of Nagracut in the Punjab was destroyed. In 1011 Mahmud destroyed the city and temple of Tanafar, and reduced Delhi. In 1018 he took Canoge, and demolished the temples of that and several other cities ; but failed in his attemps on Ajimere. In his twelfth expedition, in 1024, he reduced the whole peninsula of Guzer- at, and destroyed the famous temple of Sumnaut, as well as those of all the other cities he conquered. At his death, in 1028, he possessed the east, and largest part of Persia, with the Indian provinces from the west part of the Ganges to Guzerat, and those between the Indus and the mountains of Ajimere. But in 1158 this extensive empire began to fail to pieces. The west and largest part was seized by the Gauri, while the east, contiguous to the Indus, remained in possession of Chosroe, whose capital was Lahore. In 1184 his sons were expelled by the Gauri, and hi 1194 Mohammed Gori penetrated into Hindostan as far as Benares, committing as great devastation as Mahmud Gazni had done. He also reduced the south part of Ajimere, and the territory south of the Jumna, the fort of Gualior, &c. On his death, (1205,) the empire of Gazna was again divided, and the Patau or Alghan empire was founded by Caltub, who had the Indian part, the Persian remaining to Eldoze. Cattub made Delhi his capital; and in 1210 his successor, Altumish, reduced the great- est part of Hindostan Proper. One of his sons obtained the government of Bengal, and, from this period, one of the emperor's sons had always that government. During his reign, the bloody Genghis Khan put an end to the other branch of the Gaznian empire, but Hindostan was left undisturbed. From this period the most dreadful confusion and massacres followed almost to the time that the British government commenced. The empire being subdivided among a set of rapacious governors, the people were reduced to the greatest degree of misery. To add to their distress, the THE TREASURY OP HISTORiY. 33I Moguls made such frequent and formidable invasions, that at last the em- peror Ferose II. allowed them to settle in the country in 1292. The em- peror was incited by Alia, governor of Gurrah, to attempt the conquest of the Deccan ; and Alia being employed in that business, wherein he amassed an immense quantity of treasure, no sooner accomplished it, than he deposed and murdered Ferose, and assumed the sovereignty of Hin- dostan. In 1306 the conquest of the Deccan was undertaken ; and in 1310 Alia carried his army into Dowlatabad and the Carnatic. But all this usurper's expeditions and those of his general, Cafoor, seem to have been made more with a view of plunder than of permanent conquest. Under Mohammed III. the inhabitants of the Deccan revolted, aud drove the Mohammedans completely out of all their territories, except the city of Dowlatabad. Ferose III., who succeeded Mohammed in 1351, was a wise prince, who preferred the improvement of his empire by the arts of peace to the extension of it by war and conquest. In his reign, which lasted thirty- seven years, agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, were encouraged. But upon his death in 1388, a civil war broke out, wliich continued five years, till Mahmud III. succeeded, in 1393. During this period Hindostan exhibited the uncommon phenomenon of two emperors residing in the same capital, yet at war with each other. In this unfortunate situaiion of affairs, Tamerlane, after subduing all the west of Tartary and Asia, turned his arms against Hindostan, and made an easy conquest of it. But the cruel monster, not contented with his victory, ordered a general massa- cre of the inhabitants, in consequence of which, it is said, that one hun- dred thousand of them were murdered in one hour. In January, 1399, he defeated the Indian army with great slaughter, and soon after took Delhi, which then consisted of three cities surrounded by walls. Though no resistance was made, and of course there was no pretence for bloodshed, yet a quarrel was fomented within a few days by his Tartar soldiers, who pillaged the city, massacred most of the people, and sold the rest for slaves. The spoils, in plate and jev/els, were immense. After this dreadful carnage, Tamerlane marched through the other provinces of Hin- dostan, defeating the Indians everywhere, and slaughteriug the wor- shippers of fire. On the 25th of March, this insatiable conqueror retired, leaving Mahmud in possession of the throne, and reserving only Punjab to himself. The death of Mahmud III., in 1413, put an end to the Patau dynasty. He was succeeded by Chizer, a descendant of Mahomet, and his posterity continued to reign until 1450, when Alia II. abdicated the throne, and Bel- loli, an Affghan, took possession of it. Under him a prince who resided at Jionpour, became so formidable, that he left him only the shadow of authority. Belloli's son, however, recovered a great part of the empire, about 1501, when he made Agra his residence. In the reign of Ibraham II., sultan Baber, a descendant of Tamerlane, conquered a considerable part of the empire. His first expedition was in 1518; and in 1525 he took Delhi. On the death of Baber, who reigned only five years, his son Humaioon was driven from the throne, and obliged to take shelter among the Rajpoot princes of Ajimere. The sovereignty was usurped by Sheer Khan, who in 1545 was killed at the siege of Cheitou. His territories extended from the Indus to Bengal ; but the government was so unsettled that no fewer than five sovereigns succeeded within nine years after his death. This induced a strong party to join in recalling Humaioon, who is said to have been a prince of great virtue and abilities ; but he lived only one year after his return. Upon his death, in 1555, his son Ackbar, one of the greatest princes that ever reigned in Hindostan, succeeded. He was then only fourteen years of age ; but, during the long reign of 332 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. fifty-one years, he established the empire on a more sure foundation than it had probably ever been before. We are now come to a period when the European powers began to be interested in the affairs of Hindostan. The Cape of Good Hope had been doubled in tlie reign of John II., king of Portugal : Emanuel, his suc- cessor, equipped four ships, for the discovery of the Indian coast, and g-ave the command to Vaseo de Gama, who, having weathered several storms in his cruise along the eastern coast of Africa, landed in Hindos- tan. after a voyage of thirteen months. This country, which has since been almost entirely reduced by war under a foreign yoke, was, at the time of the arrival of the Portuguese, divided between the kings of Cara- baya, Delhi, Bisnagur, Narzingua, and Calicut, each of which reckoned several sovereigns among their tributaries. The last of these monarchs, who is better known by the name of zamorin, which signifies emperor, possessed the most maritime states, and his empire extended over all Mal- abar. Vasco de Gama having informed himself of these particulars when he touched at Melinda, hired an able pilot to conduct him to that port in which trade was the most flourishing. Here he fortunately met with » Moor of Tunis, who understood the Portuguese language, and he pu himself under his direction. He procured Gama an audience of the za morin, who proposed an alliance and a treaty of commerce with the king his master. This was upon the point of being concluded, when the Mus sulmen interfered, who so far swayed the monarch from his purpose, that he resolved to destroy the adventurers, to whom he had just before given so favourable a reception. The zamorin, who wanted neither power nor inclination, wanted courage to put his design into execution ; and Gama was permitted to return to his fleet : he sailed for Lisbon, which he reached in safety, and was received with rapturous joy by the people. The pope gave to Portugal all the coasts they should discover in the east ; and a second expedition soon after took place, under the command of Alvarez Cabral, consisting of thirteen vessels. They first visited Calicut, where fifty Portuguese were massacred by the inhabitants, through the intrigues of the Moors. Cabral, in revenge, burnt all the Arabian vessels in the harbour, cannonaded the town, and then sailed to Cochin, and from thence to Cananor. The kings of both these towns gave him spices, gold, and silver, and proposed an alliance with him against the zamorin, to whom tix'iy were tributaries. Other kings followed their example ; and this in- fatuation became so general, that the Portuguese gave the law to almost the whole country of Malabar. The port of Lisbon now become the grand mart of Indian commodities. To secure and extend these advan- tages, it was necessary to establish a system of power and commerce. With a view to these objects, the court of Portugal wisely reposed its con- fidence in Alphonso Albuquerque, the most discerning of all the Portu- guese that had been in India. The new viceroy acquitted himself beyond expectation. He fixed upon Goa, where there was a good harbour and wholesome air, as an establishment, being situated in the middle of Mal- abar, belonging to the king of the Deccan ; and this soon after became the metropolis of all the Portuguese settlements in India. As the govern- ment soon changed its schemes of trade into projects of conquest, the nation, which had never been guided by the true commercial spirit, soon assumed that of rapine and plunder. In reference to this we may observe, that of all the conquests made by the Portuguese in India, they possess at present only Macao, Diu, and Goa : and the united importance of these three settlements in their intercourse with India and Portugal is very in- considerable. Towards the close of the sixteenth century, Drake, Stephens, Caven- dish, and some other Englisli navigators, by doubling Cape Horn, and the Cape of Good Hope, reached India. The success attending these first THE TREASURY OF HISTORY 333 vo5'ages, was sufficient to determine some of the principal merchants in London to establish a company in 1600, which obtained an exclusive pri- vilege of trading to the East Indies for fifteen years. The funds of this company were, in the beginning, inconsiderable. They fitted out four ships, which sailed in 1601, under Lancaster, an able man, who arrived with them, in 1602, at the port of Achen, at that time a celebrated mart. He was received by the king with the highest marks of respect, and had every favour shown him that could be wished for, to facilitate the estab- lishment of an advantageous commerce. The English admiral was re- ceived at Bantam in the same manner as at Achen; and a ship, which he had despatched to the Molucca islands, brought him a considerable cargo of cloves and nutmegs ; with these valuables and pepper, which he took in at Java and Sumatra, he returned safe to England. The company now determined to form settlements, but not without the consent of the natives. They applied to James I., for assistance, but obtained none. They, however, out of their small funds, erected forts and founded colonies, in the islands of Java, Poleron, Amboyna, and Banda. They likewise shared the spice trade with the Dutch, who soon became jealous of their rising prosperity. They at first proceeded by accusations, equally void of truth and decency, to make the English odious to the natives of the country; but these expedients not meeting with success, they resolved to proceed to acts of violence ; and the Indian ocean became t!ie scene of the most bloody engagements between the maritime forces of the two na- tions. In 1619, the two companies signed a treaty, signifying, that the Mo- lucca islands, Amboyna, and Banda, should belong in common to both nations. The Dutch, however, not only soon found means to render the treaty ineffectual, but to drive the EngUsh from Amboyna. This latter transaction was replete with so much cruelty, that it will remain a lasting stigma on the Dutch nation. The English, harassed in every mart by the Dutch, who were bent on their destruction, were obliged to give way to their power. India was totally forgotten ; and the company was greatly reduced at the death of Charles I. Cromwell, proud of his success, and sensible of his own strength, was piqued that the republic of the United Provinces should pretend to the dominion of the sea, and declared war against the Dutch. Of all the maritime wars which have been recorded in history, none were conducted with more knowledge and bravery ; none have abounded with more obstinate and bloody engagements. The En- glish gained the superiority, and peace ensued. But to return : Under Ackbar's successor, Jehan Guire, the war was faintly carried on, the empire being disturbed by his rebellious son Shah Jehan, and his coun- cils distracted by the influence of his mistress, Noor Jehan. In this mon- arch's reign, Sir Thomas Roe, the first British ambassador at the court of Hindostan, arrived. Jehan Guire died in 1627, and was succeeded by his son Shah Jehan who pushed the conquest of the Deccan with vigour, but in so destructive a manner, that most of the princes submitted. A war next broke out with the Portuguese, which ended in their expulsion from Hoogly. Shah Jehan was a debauched prince ; and his rebellion against his father was retaliated by that of his son Aurungzebe, who dethroned him, disguising his ambition under the mask of religion, and committing the greatest crimes under that pretence. He engaged in a war with his brothers, Morad and Dara, whom he defeated and put to death, and then pretended to lament their misfortune. He, however, treated his father with tenderness till his death in 1666. From 1660, when Aurungzebe attained full possession of the throne, till 1678, a profound tranquillity prevailed throughout the empire ; but from a jealousy of Sevagee, the founder of the Mahratta states, he undertook the conquest of the Deccan ; and, having quelled a rebellion of the Patans beyond the Indus, he persecuted the Hindoos so severely, that the Rajpoot tribes in 334 THE TREASURY OP HISTORY. Ajimere commenced a war against him. At his death in 1707, his em- pire extended from 10° to 35° latitude, and nearly as many degrees in lon- gitude. " His revenue," says INIajor Rennel, " exceeded ^£35,000,000 sterling, in a country where provisions are about four times as cheap as in England. But so weighty a sceptre could be wielded only by a hand like Aurungzebe's ; and, accordingly, in fifty years after his death, a suc- cession of weak princes and wicked ministers reduced this astonishing empire to nothing." He left four sons, Mausum, Azcm, Kaum-Bush. and Ackbar. This last had rebelled against his father, and been obliged to fly to Persia thirty years before. A civil war commenced between Mausum and Azem ; and a decisive battle was fought, wherein three hundred thousand men were engaged on each side, and Azem was defeated and killed. Mausum then assumed the title of Bahader Shah, and, during his short reign of five years, gave proofs of considerable abilities. He defeated and killed his brother Kaum-Bush ; after which he reduced the seiks, a new set of religionists, who, in the reign of Shah Jehan, had silently established themselves along the eastern mountains, and had now taken up arms in Lahore, ravaging the country to the banks of the Jumna. About this time the English East India Company obtained the famous firman, or grant, by which their goods of export and import were ex- empted from duties. Furroksere was deposed and murdered by the bro- thers Houssein and Abdoolah, who set up another emperor whom they also deposed and murdered in the same year; and thus, in eleven years after Aurungzebe's death, eleven of his posterity, who had either possessed or been competitors for the throne, were exterminated ; and the government declined so rapidly, that the empire seemed ready to fall to pieces. In 1718, the two brothers raised to the throne Mohammed Shah, the grand- son of Bahader: who, warned by the fate of his predecessors, soon rid himself of these two powerful subjects, though at the expense of a civil war. But new enemies started up. Nizam Al Mulck, viceroy of the Deccan, in 1722, had been offered the place of vizier, or prime minister, but did not accept it. Independence was his aim, and the mcreasing power of the Mahratlas, furnished him with a pretence for augmenting his army. Persuaded that he had a party at court, he, in 1738, came thither, with a great body of armed followers; but, finding that the inter- est of the emperor was still too powerful for him, he invited the famous Persian usurper, Nadir Shah, or Kouli Khan, to invade Hindostan. This invitation was readily accepted, and Nadir entered the country without opposition; yet, when far advanced into Hindostan, he considered the issue of matters to be so uncertain, that he off"ered to evacuate the coun- try and retire for fifty lacks of rupees, about c£500,000 sterling. The in- trigues of the Nizam and his party hindered the emperor from complying with this demand ; instead of which he threw himself upon the usurper's mercy, who then took possesion of Delhi, and demanded a ransom of jC30,000,000 sterling. After a conference with the emperor. Nadir seized upon two hundred cannon, with some treasure and jewels, which he sent off to Candahar. He then marched back to Delhi, where a commotion arose about the price of corn. While Nadir endeavoured to quell it, a shot was fired at him, and narrowly missed him ; upon which the barba- rian ordered a general massacre of the inhabitants, and slaughtered one hundred and twenty thousand, or, according to some, one hundred and fifty thousand persons. This was followed by a seizure of all the jewels, plate, &c., which could be found ; besides, exacting the .€30,000,000, which was done with the utmost rigour. In the midst of these scenes Nadir caused the marriage of his son to be celebrated with a grand-daughter cf Aurungzebe, and then took leave of the emperor, with professions of friendship, on the 6th of May, 1739 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 335 He is said to have carried off goods and treasure to the value of ,£135,000,000 sterling. Mohammed had also ceded to him all the pro- vinces of Hindostan west of the Indus. About the same time the Rohil- las, a tribe from the mountams between India and Persia, erected an inde- pendent state on the east of the Ganges, eighty miles from Delhi. The empire seemed now to be running fast to its dissolution. Nadir Shah being murdered, Abdallah, one of his generals, seized on the east of Per- sia, and the acijacent Indian provinces which Mohammed Shah had ceded to Nadir, and formed them into the kingdom of Kandahar. In 1739. Mo- hammed Shah died, and was succeeded by his son Ahmed ; during whose reign, which lasted only six years, the division of the remainder of the empire took place : and nothing remained to the family of Tamerlane but a small tract of territory round Delhi. In 1748 the Nizam Al Mulck died, at the age of 104, and was succeeded by his son Nazir Jung, to the prej- udice of his elder brother Gazi, vizier to the nominal emperor. The con- test that followed on this occasion, for the throne of the Deccan and the nabobship of Arcot, first engaged the British and French to act as auxili- aries on opposite sides. Immediately after the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, the French commandant, M. Dupleix, began to sow dissension among the nabobs, who had by this time usurped the sovereignty of the country. On tliis occasion Mr. (afterwards lord) Clive first appeared in a military capacity. He had been employed before as a writer, but seemed very little qualified for that department of civil life. He now marched toward Arcot at the head of two hundred and ten Europeans and five hundred sepoys ; and in his first expedition displayed the qualities of a great com- mander. His movements were conducted with such secresy and dis- patch, that he made himself master of the enemy's capital before they knew of his march ; and gained the affections of the people by his gener- osity, in affording protection without ransom. In a short time, however, he found himself invested in fort St. David's by rajah Saib, son to Chunda Saib, an Indian chief, pretender to the nabobship of Arcot, at the head of a numerous army; the operations of the siege being conducted by Euro- pean engineers. But Mr. Clive, having intelligence of the intended attack, defended himself with such vigour, that the assailants were everywhere repulsed with loss, and obliged precipitately to raise the siege. He then marched in quest of the enemy; and, having overtaken them in the plains of A rani, attacked and entirely defeated them. This victory was followed by the surrender of the forts of Timery, Coiijaveram, and Arani ; after which, he returned in triumph to fort St. David's. In the beginning of 1752, he marched toward Madras, where he was reinforced by a small body of troops from Bengal. Though the whole did not exceed three hundred Europeans, with as many natives as were sufficient to give the appearance of an army, he boldly proceeded to a place called Koveripank, about fifteen miles from Arcot, where the enemy lay to the number of one thousand five hundred sepoys, one thousand seven hundred horse, with one hundred and fifty Europeans, and eight pieces of cannon. Vic- tory was long doubtful, until Mr. Clive having sent round a detachment to fall upon the rear of the enemy, while the English attacked the en- trenchments in front with their bayonets, a general confusion ensued, the enemy was routed with considerable slaughter, and only saved from total destruction by the darkness of the night. The French to a man threw down their arms on this occasion, and surrendered themselves prisoners of war; all the baggage and cannon falling at the same time into the hands of the victors. M. Dupleix, mortified at this bad success, proclaimed rajah Saib, son of Chunda Saib, nabob of Arcot ; and afterwards produced forged commis- sions from the great Mogul, appointing him governor of ail the Carnatic 336 THE TEEASURY OF HISTORY. from the Kristnah to the sea. To carry on this deception, a messenger pretended to come from Delhi, and was received with all the pomp of an ambassador from the great IMogul. Diipleix, mounted on an elephant and preceded by music and dancing women, after the oriental fashion, re- ceived his commission from the hands of this imposler; after which he affected the state of an eastern prince; kept his durbas at court, appeared sitting cross-legged on a sofa, and received presents as sovereign of the country, from his own council as well from the natives. 'JWius the forces of the English and French Kast India companies were engaged in a course of hostilities, under the title of auxiliaries to the contending parties at a lime when no war existed between the two nations. Next year both par- ties received considerable reinforcements ; the English by the arrival of Admiral Watson with a squadron of ships of war, having on board a regi- ment commanded by Colonel Aldercroon ; and the FVench by M. Gadeheu, commissary and governor-general of all their settlements, on whose arri- val M. Dupleix departed for Europe ; and a provisional treaty and truce were concluded, on condition that neither of the two companies should for the future interfere in any of the difTercnces that might take place in the country. Matters, however, did not long continue in a state of tran- quillity. Early in 1755, it appeared that the French were endeavouring to get possession of all the Deccan. M. Hussy, the successor of Dupleix, demanded the fortress of (iolconda, from Salabat Zing ; and M. Leyrit encouraged the governor who rented Velu to take up arms against the nabob. He even sent three hundred French and as many sepoys from Pondicherry to support this rebel, and oppose the English employed by the nabob to collect his revenues from the tributary princes. Aliverdi Khan, an able and prudent subahdar, who had for fifteen years been nabob of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, having d^ed in 1756, Surajah Dowla succeeded to the nabobship. He was congratulated upon his accession by Mr. Drake, the English president at Calcutta, and readily promised protection to his countrymen ; but he soon after took offence at the imprisoment of Omichund, an eminent Gentoo merchant, who had lived several years under the protection of the English government. Of this circumstance, however, Surajah did not directly complain ; but found- ed his pretence of war upon the conduct of the English in repairing the fortifications of Calcutta ; which indeed was absolutely necessary, on account of the great probability of a war with the French. The nabob, however, threatened an attack if the works were not instantly abolished. With this requisition the president and council pretended to comply : but they nevertheless went on with them. Surajah Dowla took the field on the 30th of ]\Iay, 1756, with an army of forty thousand foot, thirty thous- and horse, and four hundred elephants ; and on the 2d of June, detatched twenty thousand men to invest the fort of Cassumbazar, a large town on an island formed by the west branch of the Ganges. This fort was regu- larly built, with sixty cannon, and defended by three hundred men, princi- pally sepoys. The nabob pretending a desire to treat, Mr. Watts, the chief of the factory, was persuaded to put himself in his power ; which he had no sooner done, than he was made a close prisoner, along with Mr. Batson, a surgeoii, who accompanied him. The two prisoners were treated with great indignity, and threatened with death ; but two of the council who had been sent for by the tyrant's command were sent back again, with orders to persuade the people of the factory to surrender at discretion. This proposal met with great opposition ; but was at last complied with, though very little to the advantage of the prisoners ; for they were not only deprived of every thing they possessed, hut stripped almost naked, and sent to Hoogl}% where they were closely confined. The nabob, encouraged by this success, marched directly to Calcutta, which he invested on the 15th THE TREASURY OF HISTORY 337 Tt was impossible that the garrison could long defend themselves against tlie great force brought against it ; little or no attempt was therefore made at resistance : the fort was consequently soon taken, and the effects of the factory destroyed. Many of the English escaped in boats and ships down the river, but many were taken ; of these, one hundred and forty- six were confined for the night in a room twenty feet square, named the Blackhole, and which the English had made for a place of confinement. The dreadful heat and want of air quickly deprived some of existence ; others lost their reason, and expired raving mad ; their entreaties and offers of money to their guards to give them water, or to remove them, were mocked at or disregarded ; and when the door of the dungeon was opened next morning, only twenty-three were taken out alive. Having plundered the town, Surajah Dowla departed, leaving in it a garrison of three thousand men. The news of this disaster put an end to the expe- dition projected against M. Bussy ; and Colonel Clive was iiistantly de- spatched to Bengal with four hundred Europeans and one thousand sepoys, on board of the fleet commanded by Admiral Watson. They did not ar- rive till the 15th of December, at a village called Fulta, situated on a branch of the Ganges, where the inhabitants of Calcutta had taken refuge after their misfortune. Their first operations were against the forts of Busbudgia, Tanna, Fort William, and Calcutta, now in the hands of the enemy. All these were reduced almost as soon as they approached them. Hoogly, the place of rendezvous for all nations who traded to Bengal, (its warehouses and shops being always filled with the richest merchandize of the country), was likewise reduced and destroyed, with its granaries and store-houses of salt on each side of the river; which proved very detrimental to the nabob, by depriving him of the means of subsistence for his army. Surajah Dowla, enraged at the success of the English, now seemed de- termined to crush them at once by a general engagement. ' From this, however, he was intimidated by a successful attack on his camp, which induced him to conclude a treaty, on the 9th of February, 1757, on the following conditions: — 1. That the privileges granted to the English by the Mogul should not be disputed: — 2. That all goods with English orders should pass by land or water, free of any tax: — 3. All the company's fac- tories which had been seized by the nabob should bo restored ; and the goods, money, and effects accounted for: — 4. That the English should have liberty to fortify Calcutta ; and 5. To coin their own gold and silver. As intelligence was now received of a war between France and England, an attack was meditated on Chandernagore. It remained, therefore, only to obtain the consent of the nabob; but, in ten days after the conclusion of the treaty, he sent a letter to Admiral Watson, complaining of his in- tention, and surmising that the English designed to turn their arms against him as soon as they made themselves masters of Chandernagore. This was strenuously denied by the admiral ; and a number of letters passed, m which the latter made use of expressions which were supposed to im- ply a tacit consent that Chandernagore should be attacked. An attack was therefore made, and it soon capitulated. This intelligence, however, seemed to be by no means agreeable to Surajah Dowla. He pretended displeasure on account of the English infringing the treaties, and com- plained that they had ravaged some parts of his dominions. This was denied by the admiral ; but from this time both parties made preparation? for war. The nabob returned no answer till the ]3th of June, when he sent a declaration of war. The English council at Calcutta now resolved on the deposition of the nabob; which at this time appeared practicable, by supporting the pretensions of Meer JafRer Ali Cawn, who had entered into a conspiracy against him. Meer Jaflier had married the sister of Cilverdi Cawn, the predecessor of Surajah ; and was now supported in 22 338 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY his pretensions by the general of the horse, and by Jugget Sect, the na- bob's banker, the richest merchant in all India- Colonel Clive began his march against Surajah Dowla on the 13th of tune. The decisive action at Plassey followed (June 23), in which the treachery of Meer Jaffier, who comanded part of the nabob's troops, stood neuter during the engagement, and rendered the victory easy. At daybreak the nabob's army of fifteen thousand horse and fifteen thousand foot, advanced to attack the Knglish. Clive's troops were posted in a grove defended by mud-banks. After cannonading them till noon, the enemy retired to their fortified camp ; and shortly after, Clive stormed an angle of it, put them to the rout, and pursued them for a space of six miles. The unfortuuate nabob (led to his capital, but left it the following evening disguised like a faquir, with only two attendants. By these he appears to have been abandoned and even robbed ; for on the 3rd of July he was found wandering forsaken and almost naked on the road to Patna. Next day he was brought back to Muxadabad, and a few hours after pri- vately beheaded by Meer JafiTier's eldest son. Meer Jaffier and his En- glish allies now took possession of the capital in triumph. On the 29lh of June, Colonel Clive went to the palace, and, in presence of the rajahs and grandees of the court, solemnly handed him to the musnud (or car- pet) and throne of state, where he was unanimously saluted subahdar, or nabob, and received the submission of all present. While these trans- actions were going forward, the utmost efforts were used to expel the French entirely from Bengal. It had all along, indeed, been the opinion of Clive that it was impossible for the French and English to co-exist in India. Both parties now received considerable reinforcements from Europe ; Admiral Pocock was joined by Commodore Stevens with five men-of-war and two frigates ; while a squadron was sent from France having on board General Lally with a large body of troops. The British admiral went in quest of the French fleet, and an engagement took place, in which the French were defeated with the loss of six hundred killed and a great number wounded. In the treaty concluded by Clive with the new subahdar, it was stipulated thai one hundred lacs of rupees should be paid to the East India Company for their losses and the expenses of the cam- paign, with compensation to all the sufferers at the taking of Calcutta: the company was also to have the zemindary, (or right of farming the produce of the soil claimed by the crown) of a tract of country to the south of that city. The subahdar was also profuse in his donations to those to whom he was indebted for his throne. His gifts to Clive amounted tOi£l80,000; and however much the latter may have been censured at the time for receiving a reward from the subahdar, he was justified by the usages of Asia, and there seems to be no reason why he should refuse a gift from the prince whom he had so greatly benefitted. The remainder of the year 1759 proved entirely favourable to the Bri- tish arms. D'Ache, the French admiral, who had been very roughly handled by Admiral Pocock on the 3rd of August, 1758, having refitted his fleet, and being reinforced by three men-of-war at the islands of Mauri- tius and Bourbon, now ventured once more to face his antagonist. A third battle ensued on the 10th of September, 1759, when the French, not- withstanding their superiority both in number of ships and weight of metal, were obliged to retreat with considerable loss, having fifteen hun- dred men killed and v.-ounded, while those on board the English fleet did not exceed five hundred and seventy. By the 17th of October the British fleet was completely refitted ; and Admiral Pocock, having been joined by a reinforcement of four men-of-war, soon after returned to England. All this time the unfortunate General Lally had been employed in unsuccess- ful endeavours to retrieve the affairs of his countrymen : but his fate was THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 339 At last decided by laying siege to Wandewash, which had lately been taken by Colonel Coote. The advantage in number was entirely in favour of the French general ; the British army consisting only of seventeen hundred Europeans, including artillery and cavalry, while the French amounted to two thousand two hundred Europeans. The auxiliaries on the English side were three thousand black troops, while those of the French amounted to ten thousand black troops and three hundred Catfres ; nor was the difference less in proportion in the artillery, the English bring- ing into the field only fourteen pieces of cannon and one howitzer, wiiile the French had twenty-five pieces in the field and five on their batteries against the fort. The battle began at noon (January 22, 1760), and in three hours the whole French army fled toward their camp ; but quitted it on finding themselves pursued by the English, who took all their cannon except three small pieces. They collected themselves under the walls of Chel- taput, about eighteen miles from the field of battle, and soon after retired to Pondicherry. Colonel Coote novv caused the country to be wasted to the very gates of this fortress, by way of retaliation for what the French had done in the neighborhood of Madras. He then set about the siege of Cheltaput, which surrendered in one day ; a considerable detachment of the enemy was intercepted by Captain JSmith ; the fort of Timcry was reduced by Major Monson, and the city of Arcot by Captain Wood. This last con- quest enabled the Brilisli to restore the nabob to his dominions, of whii-Ii he had been deprived by the French, and it weakened both the French force and interest in India. M. Lally, in the meantime, had called his forces from Syringham, by which means he augmented his army with five hun- dred Europeans. These were now shut up in Pondicherry, which was the last hope of the French in India. To complete their misfortunes, Admiral Cornish arrived at Madras with six men-of-war; and, as the P'rench had now no fleet in these parts, the admiral readily engaged to co- operate with the land forces. The consequence was the reduction of Car- ical, Chellambrum, and Verdachellum, by a strong detachment under Ma- jor Monson ; while Colonel Coote reduced Permacoil, Almamverpa, and Waldour. He was thus at last enabled to lay siege to Pondicherry itself; and the place capitulated on the 15th of January, 1701, by which an end was put to the power of the French in this part of the world. While the British were thus emyloyed, Meer Jaflier, the nabob of Ben- gal, who had been raised to that dignity by the ruin of Surajah Dowla, found himself in a very disagreeable situation. The treasure of the late nabob had been valued at sixty-four crore of rupees (about c£80,000,000 sterling), and in expectation of this sum, Meer Jaffier had submitted to the exactions of the English. On his accession to the government, how- ever, the treasure of which he became master fell so much short of ex- pectation, that he could not fulfil his engagements to them, and was re- duced to the extremity of mortgaging his revenues. In this dilemma his grandees became factious and discontented, his army mutinous for ^vant of pay, and himself odious to his subjects. To tliis it may be added, that Mr. Vansittart, the successor of Clive, who knew but little of the merits of the respective parties, was willing to conclude a treaty with Cossiin Ali, the nabob's son-in-law, for his dethronement; by wliich the provin- ces of Burdwan, INIidnapore, and Chittagong, were to be made over to the company, and large rewards given to the members of council. Meer Cossim was accordingly raised to the musnud ; and the old nabob hurried into a boat with a few of his domestics and necessaries, and sent away to Calcutta in a manner wholly unworthy of the high rank he so lately held. So unblushingly, indeed, was the whole of this affair conducted, that the servants of the company, who were the projectors of the revolu- tion, made no secret that there was a present promised them of twenty 340 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. lacs of rupees from Cossiin, who was desirous of making the firsJ act of his power the assassination of Jaffior; and was very much dis- pleased wlien he found that the English intended giving him protectinn at Calcutta. It could scarcely be supposed that Meer Cossim, raised to the nabobship in this manner, would be more faithful to the ICnglish than Meer Jaflier had been. Notiiing advantageous to the interests of the company could indeed be reasonably expected from such a revolution. No successor of Meer Jaffier could be more entirely in sutijection than tlie late nabob, from his natural imbecility, had been- This last consideration had induced many of the council at first to oppose the revolution ; and ir.-leed the jnly plausible pretence for it was, tiiat the administration of Meer Jaffier was so very weak, that, unless he was aided and even controlled by some persons of ability, he himself must soon be ruined, and very probably the interests of the company along with him. Meer Cossim, however, was a man of very different disposition from his father-in-law. As he knew he had not been served by tlie Knglish out of friendship, so he did not think of making any return out of gratitude ; but, instead of this, considered only how he could most easily break with such troublesome allies. For a while, however, it was necessary for him to take all the advantage he could of his alliance with them. By their assistance he cleared his do- minions of invaders, and strengthened his frontiers, and he reduced the rajahs who had rebelled against his predecessor, obliging them to pay the usual tribute ; by which means he repaired his finances, and thereby se- cured the fidelity of his troops. Having thus, by the assistance of the English, brought his government into subjection, he took the most efl'^ectual means of securing himself against their power. As the vicinity of his capital, Muxadabad, to Cal- cutta, gave the Englisli factory there an opportunity of inspecting his actions, and interrupting his designs when they thought proper, he took up his residence at Mongheer, a place two hundred miles farther up the Ganges, which he fortified in the best and most expeditious manner. Sensible of the advantages of the European discipline, he now resolved to new-model his army. For this purpose he collected all the Armenian, Persian, Tartar, and other soldiers of foriune, whose military characters might serve to raise the spirits of his Indian forces, and abate their natural timidity. He also collected all the wandering Europeans who had borne arms, and the sepoys who had been dismissed from the English service, and distributed them among his troops. He changed the fashion of the Indian matchlocks to muskets, and made many excellent improvements in the discipline of his army. But it was soon discovered that all the pains taken by Meer Cossim to discipline his troops had not rendered them able to cope with the Europeans. Several acts of treacherous hos- tility on his part was followed by a formal declaration of war ; and several engagements took place, in all of which the British arm)' proved victori ous, and Cossim's army retreated. His active enemy accordingly pene- trated into the heart of his territories, crossed the numerous branches of the Ganges, and traversed morasses and forests in search of the native foe. At length the two armies met on the banks of a river called Nunas Nullas, August 2, 1763. Cossim had chosen his post with great judgment, and his forces had much of the appearance of an European arm)% not onlj'' in their arms and accoutrements, but in their division into brigades, and even in their clothing. The battle was more obstinate than usual, being continued for four hours : but though the Indian armj' consisted oJ no fewer than twenty thousand horse and eight thousand foot, the English proved in the end victorious, and the enemy was obliged to quit the field with the loss of all their cannon. Meer Cossim was subdued and deposed, and Meer Jaffier once more seated on the rousnnd. His reign was, how- THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 34I ever, very short ; and on his death the council of Calcutta raised to it his oon, Nujum-ud-Dowla, making him pay, as usual, a large sum for his ele- vation. The hig;h character which Lord Clive had already gained in the East justly marked him out for the government of India ; and on the 3d of May, 1765, he landed, with full powers as commander-in-chief, president, and governor of Bengal. He remained in India about two years, during which period he effected the most desirable reformations in both the civil and military departments. Sujah-ad-Dowla, subahdarof Oude, and the nom- inal emperor of Delhi, Shah Alem II., having assisted Meer Cossim, the English marched against them. Allahabad and Lucknow were taken. The nabob was glad to purchase peace by paying the expenses of the war, and the emperor conferred upon the iMiglish the revenue of Bengal, Ba- har, and Orissa, and his imperial confirmation of all the territories con- quered by them within the nominal extent of the Mogul empire. The East India Company had now acquired territory equal in extent to the most flourishing kingdom of Europe ; and from this date. a. d. 1765, com- mences the recognized sovereignty of the English in Hindostan. It is wortliy of notice that, although actually independent, the great subahdars continued to the last moment of the empire to solicit imperial firmans or patents from the court of Delhi, confirming them in the power they already possessed. In the south of India, besides the real authority in the Car- natic, the English had received the northern circars in grant from the Nizam, on condition of furnishing a body of troops in time of war. This alliance involved them in a series of contests with Ilyder Ali, who had made himself sultan of the Hindu state of Mysore. Tlie political impor- tance acquired by the East India Company induced the government of Great Britain, to claim a share in the administration of the Indian territo- ries ; and in 1773 it was determined in parliament, that all civil and mili- tary correspondence should be submitted to the king's ministers ; that a supreme court of judicature should be sent out from England; and that the three presidencies should be subject to a governor-general and council, the former to be approved of by the king. Warren Hastings, the first governor-general, found the company's finan- ces in India much embarrassed, and a general confederation against the English in progress amongst the native powers. Notwithstanding violent opposition in his council, he conducted the government through its diffi culties, repulsed Hyder, humbled the Mahrattas, and obtained from Asef- ad-Dowla, the subahdar of Oude, the zemindary of Benares. On his return to England, Warren Hastings was impeached by the house of com- mons for corruption and oppression, and tried before the house of lords. The trial, owing to frequent interruptions, was protracted for seven years, at the end of which he was honourably acquitted. The proceedings, however, are not necessary to be here dwelt upon, as they belong more especially to the parliamentary history of England. During his twelve years' government in India, Warren Hastings had raised the revenue to double its previous amount; but he had added twelve millions and a half to the debt of the Company. Lord Cornwallis succeeded as governor-general in 1786, The relations between the British government and those of Lucknow and Hyderabad, were revised and strengthened ; and in a war with Tippoo Saib, who had succeeded Hyder in the principality of Mysore, Lord Cornwallis defeated his armies, and besieged his capital, Seringapatam. The sultan, to ob- tain peace, gave up considerable territory to the British. It was under the administration of Lord Cornwallis, who was possessed of first rate qualities for this office, that the principal judicial and revenue regulations, still in force, were enacted, particularly the perpetual settlement of the revenue of Bengal with the zemindars. In 1793 Lord Cornwallis returned 342 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. to England, and was succeeded by Sir John Shore; but the pacific sy» tern of policy followed by liim forfeited that conisideiation which lh(; British government held in his predecessor's lin.e amongst the native states. In 1798 he was succeeded by Lord Monnngton, afterwards mar- quis of Wellesley. Tippoo had greatly augmented his army, and many severe battles had l)een fought between bin' and the British, but wiihoux humbling iiis tone, or much disminishing his power. For several years in fact, the affairs of India had continued ir. a state of doubtful tranquillity The jealousy of the British was at length justly aroused by a proclama tion of the French governor of the isle of France, in 1798, which openly mentioned an alliance formed between Tippoo and tl>e French republic for the destruction of tlie British power in India. The governor-general on this, demanded an explanation of him, which being evasive and evi- dently intended to procrastinate our ifiilitary operations, the reduction of the fort of Seringapatam was immediately resolved on. After having been repulsed, with considerable loss, in an attack of the Bombay array under General Stuart, Tippoo Saib retreated to Seringapatam. The main army, under General Harris, consisted of thirty-one thousand men, be- side the Nizam's cavalry, all completely eqnijjpcd : that under General Stuart was equally efficient. On the 3rd of April the army came within sight of Seringapatam, took its position on the 5th, and on the 6th the principal outposts were in possession of the British. Several letters pass- ed, and on the 20th General Harris received an overture of peace from Tippoo, which he answered, on the 22d, with a draft of preliminaries; but the terms were too severe for the enemy to accept. (3n the 2d of May, therefore, the British batteries began to open, and in the course of the day a breach was made in the faussebray wall ; the main rampart was shat- tered ; and, to complete the misfortune of the besieged, a shot having struck their magazine, it blew up with a dreadful explosion. The breach being thought practicable, on the night of the 4th of !\Iay, four thousand men were stationed in the trenches before day-break. The assault was led on by General Baird, and began at one o'clock. In six minutes the for- lorn hope had reached the summit of the breach, where the British col- ours were instantly planted. In a few minutes, the breach, which was one hundred feet wide, was crowded with men. After a short conflict the panic became general in the fort ; thousands quitted it, and others laid down their arms. A flag of truce was soon after sent to the palace of the sultan, offering protection to him and his friends upon surrendering unconditionally. The young prince surrendered to General Baird, and the body of Tippoo was afterward found in the gateway of the fort, lying among heaps of slain, covered with wounds. His dominions were now partitioned among his conquerors, and the Mahrattas were admitted to a share, from motives of policy, though they had taken no part in the war. A descendant of the ancient rajahs of Mysore, about five years old, was sought out and placed on the throne with great ceremony, under certain conditions : and the sons and relations of Tippoo were removed to the Carnatic. Thus terminated one of the most important wars in which the Anglo-Indians had been ever engaged ; and for some time, at least, it secured them from the re-apf{iearance of a formidable enemy. A. D. 1799. As the conquests of Tippoo and Hyder were retained by the British, and a subsidiary treaty had been formed with the Nizam, by which the de- fence of his dominions was undertaken by them upon providing for the expense, the greater part of the Deccan was now directly or indirectly subject to their authority. Arrangements were next concluded with the nabob of Oude, by which the lower part of the Douab and other countries were ceded to the British for the support of a subsidiary force. Upon these transactions followed a war with the IMahratta chiefs, Scindia, and THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 343 liagoji Bhosla, rajah of Berar, whose armies were defeated in tlie south by Sir Arthur Wellesley, brother of the governor-general, and in :lie north by Lord Lake ; and the upper part of the Douab, with Delhi and Agra, were taken possession of in the north ; whilst in the south, Cut tack on the eastern, and part of the Guzerat on the western coast, were annexed to the British dominions. A war with Holkar, another Mahratta prince, followed. He made a rapid incursion into the Douab, and com- mitted some ravages ; but was pursued by Lord Lake to the Sikh coun- try, and all his territories occupied by a British force. The whole, how- ever, was restored to him at the peace. In 1805 Lord Wellesley was succeeded by Lord Cornwallis, again ap- pointed governor-general. His policy was of a pacific character; and upon his death, soon after his arrival in India, it was adopted by his tem- porary successor, Sir George Barlow. Lord Minto arrived in India in 1807. His attention was chiefly directed to the subjugation of the re- maining possessions of the Frencli in the Kast ; and the Isle of France and Mauritius, and the large island of .lava, were subdued by armaments fitted out in India. At the end of 1813 the marquis of Hastings arrived as governor-general. The determination of his predecessors to abstain from interference with the native slates had been attended with deplora- ble dissensions among themselves, and had encouraged them to commit outrages on the British dominions, the repressal of which soon led to active warfare. On the northern frontier the conduct of the Ghorka government of Nepaul having provoked hostilities, the Himalaya was traversed by the British armies, and an extensive tract of mountain coun- tly permanently annexed to the slate. The aggressions of the Pindarees, a set of freebooters, secretly supported by the Mahratla princes, were next punished by the annihilation of their hordes. In 1314 these bands comprised about forty thousand horse, and they subsisted wholly on plunder. In the course of operations against them, the peishwa and the rajah of Nagpore altcmpted, by treachery and murder, to rid themselves of British control; and hostilities ensued, which placed the territories and persons of ooth princes in the hands of their enemies, a. d. 1818 The Pindarees were at first bodies of mercenary horse, serving difl"erent princes for hire during war, and in time of peace subsisting upon plunder. Lands along the Nerbuddah had been assigned to some of their leaders by the princes of Malwa; and from hence they occasionally made incur- sions into the British provinces, devastating the country in the most fero- cious manner, and disappearing before a force could be assembled against them. It was resolved, however, in the year 1817, to hunt them to their native holds, and either exterminate or drive them from the position A'hich they occupied, in the centre of India. By the end of the rainy ieason of that year, a numerous army took the field for this purpose. The plan was, that the armies of the different presidencies should ad- /ance southward, and gradually converging to a common centre, hem in, 3n every side, the territory of the robbers. This was at length effected; ihe greater part of them being destroyed, and the rest humbled to sub- mission. Upon the re-establishment of peace. Puna, and part of the Mahratta territories, were retained, and the rest restored to the rajah of Satara. Appa Saib, the rajah of Nagpore, who had escaped from confinement, was deposed, and a grandson of the former rajah elevated to the throne. Holkar, a youth, was taken under the British protection, which was also extended to the llajput princes. By these arrangements the whole of Hindostan was brought under the power or control of the Britisli govern- ment. In 1823 the marquis of Hastings quitted his government, leaving British India in a proud and prosperous condition. At the end of the fiame year Lord Amherst arrived from England. In 1824 war broke out 344 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. with the Burmese, who had for many years given much trouble on tht eastern frontier. An expedition was sent to Rangoon, which, in thf second year of hostilities, advanced nearly to Ava, the capital ; and the Burman government was glad to purchase peace in 182G by the cession of Assam, Aracan, and the Tenasserim provinces. The beginning of the same year was signalized by the capture of Hliurtpore, a strong fortress in Upper India. The more recent events in British India will be found given as fully as limits would permit, in the latter portion of the history of England. THE HISTORY OF PERSIA TnK limits of this most ancient and celebrated empire have been yari ously stated; but its original name was Klam, so called from the son ol Shem, whose descendants were its first inhabitants. In the books ol Daniel, Esdras, &c., it is called by the names of Pars or Pharas, whence the modern name of Persia; but from what those names were derived is now uncertain. From the accounts of those who have most studied the subject it would appear that the ancient kingdom of Persia was situated more to the east and north-east than the present ; whence, until its authori- ty extended over Media and Assyria, it was but little known to the nations of Europe. It is sometimes spoken of as the kingdom of Bactria, from Bahlica, or Balkh, its capital; but is termed by oriental writers, Iran. The country beyond it constituting modern Tartary, the Scythiaofthe ancients, is called by the orientals, Turan ; and between these two, Iran andTuran, collisions were frequent in early times. The history of Persia first emerges from the obscurity of antiquity with Cyrus. Hystaspcs, the Median Cyaxares, or his contemporary, un- der whom Zoroaster lived, belongs to the uncertain time before Cyrus. With Cyrus (559 — 529 b. c.) began the period of Persian power in the west. By uniting the Persians and Medes under the sceptre, he made them the ruling nation in western Asia; he conquered Croesus, took Baby Ion, and reduced Asia Minor. Although the history of Cyrus is very ob- scure, it is certain that he not only founded a vast empire, but established it by his genius and valour. He defeated the Babylonians, together with all their numerous allies, at the famous battle of Thymbra ; overturned the monarchy, and made himself master of Babylon. He afterward con- siderably extended his conquests ; and the boundary of his vast empire was the river Indus on the east, the Caspian and Euxine seas on the north, the jEgean Sea on the west, and the ^Etolia, with the Arabian or Persian Gulf, on the south. Although his character has been given to us very diflferently by Xenophon and Herodotus, k must be allov/ed, upon the whole, that he was both a powerful and a worthy prince. He intro- duced a new discipline into his army ; and furnished them with weapons for close combat instead of bows and arrows, which contributed in a great measure toward his extraordinary success. Having settled the civil go- vernment of the conquered kingdoms, and restored the Jews to their own land, Cyrus took a review of his forces, which he found to consist of six hundred thousand foot, one hundred and twenty thousand horse, and twr thousand chariots armed with scythes. With these he extended his do THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 345 minion over all the nations to the confines of Ethiopia and to the Red Sea , after which he continued to reign peaceably over his vast empire till his death, which happened about 529 b. c. Cyrus was succeeded by his son Cambyses (529—522), who conquered Tyre, Cyprus, and Egypt. After him a Magian ruled for a short time, who gave himself out as Smerdis, brother of Cambyses. He was de- throned, and Danus Hystaspes obtained the crown by lot, or the choice of his colleagues (521 — 487 b. c.) He reduced the revolted kingdom of Babylon, and subdued Thrace, Macedonia, and a small part of India; but his attempt to conquer the Scythians beyond the Danube was unsuccess- ful. He reduced the Greek colonies in Asia Minor, which had attempted to shake off the Persian yoke (501 b. c.) ; but he was unfortunate in his war against the European Greeks, and Egypt revolted from him. His son Xerxes (487 — 467 b. c.) effected the submission of Egypt, but was defeated by the Greeks on the field of Marathon and at Salamis, and was obliged to defend himself against their attacks in a disastrous war. Under Artaxerxes Longimanus, (the Ahasuerus of Scripture), the first symptoms of decline became visible. Egypt again revolted, and was again conquered, after a bloody struggle. The Greek war terminated disadvantageously, in 449 b. c. ; and Megabyzus excited a dangerous in- surrection. The next changes of government were rapid and violent. Xerxes H., his only legitimate son, was murdered, after a reign of forty- five days, by his natural brother, Sogdianus, who suffered the same fate six months afterward, by the hands of another illegitimate son of Artaxerxes — Ochus, who assumed the name of Darius II., and reigned until 404 b.c, under the influence of his wife Parysatis. The revolts of his satraps hastened the decline of the empire, and the Persians were obliged to ac- knowledge independent kings in Egypt. But the internal troubles in Greece, of which the Persians artfully took advantage, saved them, for a time, from a united attack by the Greeks. Artaxerxes (or Mnemon) was entirely subservient to the wdl of his mother, Parysatis. His brother Cyrus, who had been made govervor of Asia Minor, supported by ten thousand Greeks, under Xenophon, attempted to dethrone him, (400 b. c), but he was defeated and killed. Domestic dissensions obliged the Lace- daemonians to abandon their advantages in Asia Minor, and to conclude the disadvantageous peace of Antalcidas (387 b. c.) The army of Cyrus comprised a body of Greek mercenaries, who, after the death of the prince, effected their retreat through the heart of Persia, in defiance of all at- tempts to cut them off. A particular account of this has been given by their commander, Xenophon, and is known as "the retreat of the ten thousand." Artaxerxes III. secured his throne by putting to death his numerous brothers. He re-established the Persian supremacy over Phoenicia and Egypt, but was a luxurious and cruel prince. After a reign of twenty- three years, he was poisoned by his minister, Bagoas, an Egyptian, in re- venge for the indignities he had heaped on the religion of his country. Bagoas then gave the crown to Darius Codomanus, a prince of the blood, who was conquered by Alexander in three decisive actions, on the Grani- cus, at Issus, and at Arbela, and lost his life (330 b. c.) ; after which Alex- ander made himself master of the whole empire. After the battle of Arbela, Alexander took and plundered Persepolis, whence he marched into Media, in pursuit of Darius, who had fled to Ecbatana, the capital. This prince had still an army of thirty thousand foot, among which were four thousand Greeks, who continued faithful to the last. Besides these he had four thousand slingers and three thousand horse, most of them Bac- trians, commanded by Bessus. When Darius heard that Alexander had marched to Ecbatana, he retired into Bactria, with a design to raise another army ; but soon after he determined to venture a battle with the forces he 34r) THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. slill had left. On Ihis, Bessus, governor of Bactria, and Nabarzanes, a Persian lord, formed a conspiracy to seize hi-s person, and, if Alexander pui>sued them, to gain his friendship by betraying their master into his hands; but if they escaped their design was to murder him, and usurp the crown. The troops were easily gained over ; but Darius himself, when inftjrmed of their proceedings, and solicited to trust his person among the Greeks, could not give credit to the report. The consequence was, that he was in a few days seized by traitors ; who bound him with golden chains, and shutting him up in a covered cart, fled with him to Bactria. .After a most extraordinary march in pursuit of Darius, Alex- ander was informed that the Persian monarch was in the custody of Bes- sus and Nabarzanes, and that he himself was within one day's march of the conspirators, whom, indeed, he soon afterward overtook, marching in great confusion. His unexpected appearance struck them, though far superior in number, with such terror, that they immediately fled ; and, because Darius refused to follow them, Bessus, and those who were about him, discharged their darts at the unfortunate prince, leaving him wallow- ing in his blood. After this they all fleddiflferent ways, and were pursued by the Macedonians with great slaughter. In the meantliie, the horses that drew the cart in which Darius was shut up, stopped ; for the drivers had been previously killed by Bessus ; and Polystratus, a Macedonian, being distressed with thirst, was directed by the inhabitants to a fountain near the place. As he was filling his hel- met with water, he heard the groans of a dying man ; and, looking round him, discovered a cart with a team of wounded horses, unable to move. Approaching it, he perceived Darius lying in the cart, and having several darts in his body. He had enough of strength, however, left to call for water, which Polystratus brought him ; and, after drinking, he turned to the Macedonian, and with a faint voice told him, that, in the deplorable state to which he was reduced, it was no small comfort to him that his last words would not be lost : he then charged him to return his hearty thanks to Alexander for the kindness he had shown to his wife and family, and to acquaint him, that, with his last breath, he besought the gods to prosper him, and make him sole monarch of the world. He added, that it did not so much concern him as Alexander to pursue and bring to con dign punishment those traitors who had treated their lawful sovereign with such cruelty. Then taking Polystratus by the hand, " Give Alex- ander your hand," said he, " as I give you mine, and carrj' him, in my name, the only pledge I am able to give, in this condition, of my gratitude and affection." Having uttered these words, he expired in the arms of Polystratus. Alexander coming up a few minutes after, bewailed his death, and caused his body to be interred with the highest honours. The traitor Bessus being at last reduced to extreme difficulties, was delivered up by his own men, naked and bound, into the hands of the Macedonians ; on which Alexander gave him to Oxyalhres, the brother of Darius, to suffer what punishment he should think proper. The manner of it is thus described by Plutarch: — Several trees being by main force bent down to the ground, and one of the traitor's limbs being tied to each of them, the trees, as they were suflered to return to their natural position, flew back with such violence that each carried with it a limb. Thus ended the ancient empire of Persia, two hundred and nine years after it had been founded by Cyrus, and leaving Alexander its sovereign, b.c. 329. On the dissolution of the Macedonian empire, after the death of Alex- ander (323), the Seleucides ruled over Persia until 246 b. c. They were succeeded by the Arsacides, who founded the empire of the Parthians, which existed until 229 a. d. Ardeshir Babegan (Artaxerxes) then ob- tained the sovereignty of Central Asia, and left it to his descendants, the Sassanides, who ruled four hundred and seven years. With them begms, THE TREASUKY OF HISTORY. 347 iccording to Hammer, the romantic character of Persian chivalry ; and ihe six most renowned rulers of this dynasty, among whom are Behram- gur, Chosroes, Parwis, and Nushirvan, are the subjects of Persian ro- mances. Ardeshir, son of Sassan, ruled from 218 to 241. The wars which he carried on with the Romans were continued under his successor, Sa- por I., against Gordian and Valerian (the latter of whom fell into the hands of Sapor, and was treated in a most revolting- manner), and were not ter- minated until the peace of Narses with Diocletian (303). When Sapor the Great had become of full age, the empire again recovered strength. He punished the Arabs for their incursions, and took the king of Yemen prisoner; and demanded from the emperor of Constantinople the cession of all the country to the Strymon, as Ardeshir had once done. Constantine the Great, Constantine II., and Julian resisted his demands ; but Jovian purchased peace by a cession of the five provinces in question and the fortress of Nisibis. Sapor also extended his conquests into Tartary and India. War and peace successively followed, without any important events, after the death of Sapor. Under Artaxerxes H., Sapor HI., and Vararanes IV. (until 399), the em- pire flourished. Arabs, Huns and Turks successively appeared on the field, as the allies or enemies of Persia. Yezdegerd I., a friend of the Chris- tians, conquered Armenia in 412. In the year 420, Vararanes V. ascended the throne by the aid of the Arabs. He was victorious against Theo- dosius II., defeated the Huns who had invaded his empire, and conquered the kingdom of Yemen. He was succeeded by Vararanes VI., and Hor- misdas III. In the year 457, Firoz (Pheroses) ascended the throne by the assistance of the Huns; bnt afterward made war against them, and lost his life in battle, in 483. Valens, or Balash, was stripped of a part of his territories by the Huns, and obliged to pay them a tribute for two years. The Sassanides, however, soon regained their greatness and power. Kobad subdued the Huns ; and though he had recovered his throne, in 198, by their assistance, yet, at a later period, he waged a successful war against them, against Athanasius, the Indians, and Justinian I. His youngesCson and successor, Chosrou Nushirvan, was distinguished for his uncommon wisdom and valour. Under him the Persian empire extended from the Mediterranean to the Indus, from the laxartes to Arabia and the confines of Egypt. He waged successful wars with Indians and Turks, with Justinian and Tiberius, and with the Arabs, whom he deliver- ed from the oppression of petty tyrants : he also suppressed the rebellions of his brother and son. The Lazians in Colchis, wearied with Greek oppression, submitted themselves to him ; but, when he attempted to trans- fer them into the interior of Persia, they again placed themselves under the dominion of Justinian, whose arms were now victorious. Nushirvan died of grief during the negotiations for peace. War continued under Hormuz (Hormisdas IV.), until the reign of Chosrou II., under whom the Persian power reached its highest pitch. By successful wars he ex- tended his conquests, on the one side to Chalcedon (C16), on the other over Egypt to Lydia and ^Ethiopia, and finally to Yemen. But the for- tune of war was suddenly changed by the victorious arms of the emperor Heraclius. Chosrou lost all his conquests, and his own son Sirhes made )iim prisoner, and put him to death (628). The decline of Persia was hastened by continued domestic feuds. Sirhes, or Kabad Shirujeh, was murdered in the same year. His son Ardesiiir (Artaxerxes III), but seven years old, succeeded him, and was murdered, in G29, by his general Ser- bas (Sheheriar). The chief Persians prevented Serbas from ascending the throne : and after numerous revolutions succeediiig each other so ra- pidly that historians have confounded the names, Yezdegerd III., a ne- phew of Chosrou, ascended the throne in 632, at the age of sixteen. He 348 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY, was attacked by the caliph Omar, in G36, and Persia became a prey to the Arabs and Turks. Yezdegerd lost his life in 651. With the conquest of Persia by the caliphs begins the history of the modern Persian empire. The dominion of the Arabs lasted five hundred and eighty-five years, from 636 to 1220. As some of the Arab governors made themselves independent, and Persian and Turkish princes possessed themselves of single provinces, Persia continued to be divided into nu- merous petty states. Among the principal dynasties were, in the north and north-east, 1. The Turkish house of the Thaheridis in Khorasan, from 820 to 872 ; — 2. The Persian dynasty of the Soffarides, which de- throned the one last named, and ruled over Khorasan and Farsistan until 902 ; — 3. The Samanide dynasty, which established its independence on Khorasan in 874, under Ahmed, in the province Mavaralnar, and lasted to 999. Ishmael, Ahmed's son, dethroned the Soffarides, and became pow- erful: and under his descendants originated, — 4. The Gaznavides, in 977, when Sebektechin, a Turkish slave and governor of the Samanides at Gazna and Khorasan, made himself independent at Gazna. His son Mahmoud subdued, in 999, Khorasan, and in 1012, Farsistan, and thus put an end to the dominion of the Samanides. He subsequently con- quered Irak Agemi (1017) from the Bouides, and even extended his con- quests into India. But his son Masud was stripped of Irak Agemi and Khorasan by the Seljooks (from 1037 to 1044) ; and the Gaznavides, weakened by domestic divisions, became, under Malek Shah (1182), a prey to the Gourides; — 1. The sultans of Gour (Gourides) became pow- erful in 1150, by means of Aladdin Hosain, but lost their ascendency, after several important reigns, partly by the encroachments of the princes of Khowaresm, and partly by domestic dissensions ; — 6. The dynasty of the Khowaresmian Shahs (1097 to 1230) was founded by Aziz, governor of the Seljooks in Khowasresm, or Karasm, where he rendered himself independent. Tagash (1192) destroyed the empire of the Seljooks, and took Khorasan from the Gourides. His son Mohammed conquered Ma- varalnar, subdued the Gourides and Gazna, and occupied the greater part of Persia. But, in 1220, the great khan of the Monguls, Genghis Khan and his heroic son Gelaleddin Mankbern, deprived him of his dominions; and he died in 1230, after a struggle of ten years, in a lonely hut in the mountains of Kurdistan. In western and north-eastern Persia reigned — 7. Mardawig, a Persian warrior, who founded a kingdom at Dilem, in 928, which soon extended over Ispahan, but was soon destroyed by the Bou- ides ; — 8. The Bouides (sons of Bouia, a poor fisherman, who derived his origin from the Sassanides), by their valour and prudence, extended their sway over the greater part of Persia, and in 945, even over Bagdad. They were chiefly distinguished for their virtues and love of science, and main- tained themselves until 1056, when Malek Rahjm was obliged to yield to the Seljooks ; — 9. The Seljooks, a Turkish dynasty, as is supposed, dri- ven by the Chinese from Turkestan, first became powerful in Khorasan, with the Gaznavides. Togrulbeg Mahmoud, a brave and prudent warrior, drove out the son of Mahmoud, the Gaznavide sultan, in 1037; extended his dominion over Mavaralnar, Aderbijan, Armenia, Farsistan, Irak Agemi, and Irak Arabi, where he put an end to the rule of the Bouides at Bagdad, in 1055, and was invested with their dignity, as Emir el Omrah, by the caliphs. Some of his descendants were distinguished for great activity and humanity. The most powerful of them, Melak Shah, con- quered also Georgia, Syria, and Natolia. But the empire gradually de- clined, and was divided into four kingdoms, which was destroyed by the shahs of Khowaresm, the atabeks of Aleppo, and the Monguls. Ghengis Khan established the power of the Tartars and Monguls in Persia (1120 — 1405.) Those Persian provinces which had been acquired by Genghis Khan fell to his younger son, Tauli, in 1229 and then to the THE TREASURY OP HISTORY. 349 son of the latter, Hulaku, at first as governors of the Mongohan khans, Kajuk and Mangu. Hulaku extended his dominion over Syria, Natolia, and Irak Arabi. He or his successor became independent of the great khan, and formed a separate Mongolian dynasty in those countries, and sat on the throne till the death of Abusaid, without heirs, in 1335. His successors, also descendants of Genghis Khan, had merely the title of khans of Persia. The empire was weak and divided. Then appeared (1387), Timurlenk (Tamerlane), at the head of a new horde of Monguls, who conquered Persia, and filled the world, from Hindostan to Smyrna, with terror. But the death of this famous conqueror was followed by the downfall of the Mongul dominion in Persia, of which the Turkomans then remained masters for a hundred years. These nomadic tribes, who had plundered Persia for two centuries, wrested, under the reign of Kara Jussuf and his successors, the greatest part of Persia from the Timurides, were subdued by other Turkoman tribes under Usong Hassan (1468), and incorporated with them. They sunk before Ismail Sophi (1505), who art- fully made use of fanaticism for his political purposes, and whose dy nasty lasted from 1505 to 1722. Ismail Sophi, whose ancestor, Sheikh Sophi, pretended to be descended from Ali, took from the Turkomans of the white ram, Aderbijan and part of Armenia, slew their princes, and founded upon the ruins of their empire, after having conquered Shirvan, Diarbeker, Georgia, Turkestan, and Ma- varalnar, another, which comprised Aderbijan, Diarbeker, Georgia, Tur- kestan, and Mavaralnar, an empire which comprised Aderbijan, Diarbeker, Irak, Farsistan, and Kerraan. He assumed the name of a shah, and in- troduced the sect of Ali into the conquered countries. His successors, Thamas, Ishmael II., Mahommed, Hamzeh, and Ishmael III. (from 1523 to 1587), carried on unsuccessful wars against the Turks and the Usbecks. But Shah Abbas the Great (1587 to 1629, re-established the empire by his conquests. He took from the Turks Armenia, Irak Arabi, Mesopotamia, the cities of Tauris, Bagdad and Bassora; Khorasan from the Usbecks; Ormuz from the Portuguese, and Kandahar from the Monguls ; and hum- bled Georgia, which had refused to pay tribute. He introduced absolute power into Persia, transferred his residence to Ispahan, and instituted the pilgrimage to Meshid, in order to abolish that to Mecca among the Persians. The following rulers. Shah Saffi and Abbas II. (from 1629 to 1666), had new wars with the Turks and Indians ; with the former on account of Bagdad, which was lost; and with the latter on account of Kandahar, which was reconquered in 1660, Under Shah Solyman, however, (1666 to 1694), the empire declined, and entirely sunk under his son Hussein. The Affghans in Kandahar revolted, in 1709, under Mirweis; and his son Mir Mahmud conquered the whole empire, in 1722. A state of anarchy followed. Mahmud having become insane, was dethroned by Asharf in 1725 ; the latter was subdued by Thamas Kuli Khan, who with the assist- ance of the Russians and Turks, placed Thamas, son of Hussein, on the throne in 1729. But when the latter ceded Georgia and Armenia to the Turks, Kuli Khan dethroned him, and placed his minor son, Abbas III., on the throne. He recovered, by conquest or treaties, the provinces ceded to the Russians and Turks, and ascended the throne under the title of Nadir Shah, Abbas III. having died in 1736. He restored Persia to her former importance by successful wars and a strong government. The booty carried off by Nadir has been estimated at seventy millions ster- ling. The emperor and all the principal noblemen were obliged to make up the sum demanded, with their jewels and richest furniture. Among the most remarkable of the latter articles was the throne of the emperora of Delhi, made in the shape of a peacock, and richly ornamented with precious stones. After his return from India. Nadir subdued the northern 350 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. kingdoms of Khwarasm and Bokhara, and settled at Meshed, which he made his capital ; entertaining suspicions of his eldest son, he had his eyes put out, and remorse for the cnme made him franticly ferocious. Vast numbers of people, of every rank, fell victims to his rage, until some of his officers conspired against, and assassinated him, a. d. 1747. The death of Nadir Shah was followed by a period of confusion. Ahmed Shah, one of his officers, seized upon Khorasan and Cabul, and established the kingdom of the Affghans. Mohammed Husein Khan, a Persian chief, occupied the eastern shore of the Caspian; and Ali, the nephew of Nadir, was for a short time king of Persia. Four kingdoms were now formed : 1, Khorasan and Segistan ; 2, Kandahar, or the east- ern provinces ; 3, Farsistan, or the western provinces ; and, 4, Georgia. The latter, for the most part, retained its own princes, who at length submitted to Russia. In Kandahar and the East, Ahmed Abdallah founded the empire of Affghanistan. He was victorious at Panniput, and ruled Avith absolute sway in India. His residence was Cabul. He was suc- ceeded in 1753 by Timur; the latter by Zeman. In the two other king- doms the Curd Kerim Khan, who had served under Nadir, and was of low extraction, succeeded in establishing tranquillity, after long and bloody wars, by subduing Mohammed Khan, who fled, and perished at .Mazanderan. His wisdom, justice, and warlike skill gained him the love of his subjects and the esteem of his neighbours. He did not call him- self khan but vekil (regent.) He fixed his residence at Shiraz in 1765, and died in 1779. New disturbances arose after his death. His brothers attempted to get possession of the throne, to the exclusion of his sons. A prince of the blood, Ali Murat, occupied it in 1784 ; but a eunuch, Aga Mohammed, a man of ancient family and uncommon abilities, had made himself independent in Mazanderan. Ali Murat, who marched against him, died in consequence of a fall from his horse, and left the sceptre to his son Yafar, who was defeated by Aga Mohammed at Jezd Kast, and fled to Shiraz, where he perished in an insurrection. His son Luthf Ali made several desperate efforts to recover his throne ; but Aga Moham- med was victorious, and appointed his nephew Baba Khan his successor, who reigned under the name of Feth Ali Shah. He fixed his residence at Teheran, in order to be nearer the Russians, who threatened him in Georgia and the neighbouring provinces. By the peace of 1812, the Persians were obliged to cede to Russia the whole of Daghestan, the Khanats of Kuba, Shirvan, Baku, Salian, Tali- shah, Karaachb, and Gandsha, resigning all claims to Shularegi, Kharthli, Kachethi, Imeritia, Guria, Mingrelia and Abchasia, and were obliged to admit the Russian flag on the Caspian Sea. Feth Ali (born in 1768), a Turkoman of the tribe of Kadshar Shah, was induced by the heir-appa- rent, Abbas Mirza, and his favourite, Hussein Kuli Khan, who believed Russia to be involved in domestic troubles, to attack that power in 1826. The Persians invaded the Russian territories, without a declaration of war, instigated part of the Mohammedan population to insurrection, and advanced as far as Elizabethpol ; but they were defeated in several bat- tles, and the Russians under Paskewitch conquered the country to the Araxes, which, by the treaty of Tourkmantchai, in 1829, was ceded to Russia. On the death of Futteh Ali Shah, in 1835, his grandson, the present sovereign, son of the prince-royal. Abbas Mirza, succeeded to the throne, and, profiting by the dear-bought experience of his predecessor, is under- stood to be favourable to the interests of Russia, or, what is more likely considers it prudent to keep on good terms with a neighbour who has it so much in his power to injure him. The late Abbas Mirza had, with the consent of the East India Company, raised and disciplined a body of troops in Azerbijan, with a view of opposing the Russians ; but on the THE TREASUHY OF HISTOEY. 351 commencement of the war with Turkey in 1822, as British officers could not serve against a power on friendly terms with Great Britain, ihey were dismissed ; but the regular Persian army marched against the Russians, and were successful until they were disabled by the cholera. Yet it is clear that their army is still very inefficient, compared with what it for- merly was ; for when, in 1837, Mohammed Mirza, the present shah, made every eftbrt to bring a large force against Herat, the besieging army did not exceed thirty-five thousand men of every description, which was considerably less than half the number of efficient troops engaged with the Russians in the previous war. The Greeks greatly interested themselves to learn the manners, the laws, and the form of government of the Persians, and found that they adored the sun and moon ; they erected neither temple nor altar, nor statue, to their gods. Their Magi were their sages and their priests. They held at Babylon a solemn feast to Venus. The kings and lords of Persia kept a great number of concubines; and such was their jealousy, that not only the sight of them was forbidden to all persons without the seraglio, but every one of them was separated and confined under a strong guard. The king of Persia assumed the title of the Great King. His authority, however, was not without bounds ; the important business of the nation was debated in a sovereign council, composed of seven principal lords, who always accompanied the prince. The Greeks ob- served among the Persians a great attention to justice, the king frequent- ly rendering it himself to his subjects, and not confiding in any instance this material duty of the prince but to such persons as were profoundly learned in the law, and who could not attain the eminence of the judg- ment-seat under the age of fifty years. The lives of slaves did not alto- gether depend on the will of their masters ; and the pain of death could not be pronounced against them for their first fault. This empire, ac- cording to the best information, was divided into one hundred and twenty- seven governments. The lords who presided over them were called sa- traps (similar to viceroys of our day), to whom the king assigned a con- siderable revenue. Agriculture was particularly honoured by the Per- sians; there was in every district officers appointed by the state to over- look the cultivation of the earth. The conquered nations supported the expenses of the state, the Persians themselves being exempt from every tax and impost. The present government of Persia is an absolute monarchy : but the right of succession, as in ancient times, and as in all Asiatic monarchies, is undefined, and generally rests with the strongest, whence a perpetual re- currence of bloodshed and anarchy arises. The religion is Mahommedan, and the Persians are zealous followers of the Sheah persuasion, or those who look upon Ali, the son-in-law of the prophet, as his legitimate suc- cessor. The people consist of four classes ; the first are the native tribes, who live in tents, and are migratory with the seasons — as the Zend, Affshar, and others ; the second are similar tribes, of Mongol or Turkoman origin, settled in the country, of which the Kajar, or royal tribe, is one ; the third are the inhabitants of the towns, and those of the country who follow agriculture ; and the fourth are Arab tribes, who occupy the country to- ward the Persian Gulf. When the Arabs overran Persia, about the middle of the seventh cen- tury, three languages were spoken in the country, Parsee, Peh vi, and Deri, exclusive of the Zend, or language dedicated to religion. The Persians make high claims to ancient literature ; but the greater part of that which escaped destruction in the time of Alexander, was destroyed under the caliphs. Persian civilization declined during the first period of «he Arabian dominion. But learning revived in Persia in the time of the Ibassides, and learned men and poets were encouraged by personal fa 352 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. vours and distinctions, till the time of Genghis Khan, in the thirteenth century. Under Timur, in the fourteenth century, and the Turks in the fifteenth, it continually declined, and in the sixteenth was almost entirely extinct. The oppressions and disturbances to which Persia has since been continually subject, have prevented the revival of learning. No ori- ental nation possesses richer literary treasures of the earlier periods, parti- cularly in poetry and history ; but their acquaintance with useful science or the fine arts, is most crude and limited indeed. ARABIA The histor}' of the Arabians, called by some " the children of the east," is one of an unstable, but interesting people. Connected with the early portions of the Sacred History, and reflecting strong evidences ofthetrutn of that history, we find in its annals the descendants of the patriarchs. Ishmael and Esau, in particular, throw an interest over the map of this country, and carry us back to that era when the hope of the promised seed was the star of guidance to the chosen family. Various are the tribes that peopled this country; from three of these the present Arabi- ans are supposed to be descended — two of them from the race of Ish- mael, and the third from Cush, the son of Ham. Of the early history of these wandering people, it may be truly said, in the language of Scrip- ture, respecting Ishmael, "he has been a wild man; his hand has been against every man, and every man's hand has been against him." In vain have the respective powers of the successive empires of the world at- tacked this wonderful people. The Egyptians, the Greeks, the Persians, the Romans, especially the conqueror of Jerusalem, have in turn failed in their gigantic eflforts to subdue them. Their subjugation has never been eff'ected; they occupy the same seats, cultivate the same soil, and retain very much the old habits and customs of their patriarchal foun- ders. The religion of the early Arabs partook to a considerable extent, ol that of the Hebrews, but so far from being strict observers of the laws of Moses, they came under the denomination of idolaters, for, although they acknowledged one supreme God, they worshipped the sun, moon, and stars as subordinate deities. This religion has been called Sabianism, from Sabi, a supposed son of Seth. The Arabs also worshipped images, and had their tutelary guardians for appointed times and seasons of the year. After the destruction of Jerusalem, by Titus, many of the Jews took refuge in Arabia, where they made no inconsiderable number of pro- selytes ; so that, in a century or two, the Jewish Arabs became a very powerful section of the whole people. In a similar way, converts to Christianity were made ; for in the persecution which the followers of Christ suffered in the third century, many fled to Arabia, where they preached their doctrines with such zeal and success, that in a short time they had made great progress there. The faith of the Persian Magi, of wiiich Zoroaster was the founder, had long before been embraced by numerous Arab tribes; so that, in the sixth century, the population of Arabia was divided into Sabians, Magians, Jews, and Christians. As the propagator of a new code of religion, falsely ascribed to divine revela- THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 3b3 tion, tTie celebrated iMahomet stands conspicuous in tlieir annals Amongst them he made many converts, and his successors have for centures main- tained the ascendancy he founded. Of this extraordinary man, however, and the successful mission he undertook, it is not necessary here to enter into the details ; having specially devoted a considerable space to an ac- count of the rise and progress of Mahometanism, at the conclusion of our historic sketch of the Ottoman empire — to which the reader can turn for further information. In many respects this new religion was but little more than an adapta- tion of various parts of the religions previously existing in Arabia (if we except llie idolatrous worship of the Sabian) ; the people in general, there- fore, were in some measure fitted to receive it ; and, when the sensual character of the Moliammedan paradise is considered, its rapid promulga- tion is less surprising than would otherwise at first sight appear. B^ut, besides the delights which were to attend upon all who perished in battle in the cause of the "true faith," he made it incumbent upon all his fol- lowers to spread his doctrine by the sword, or to pay tribute for their un- belief. The attractions of plunder had charms which the Arabs could not withstand, consequently great numbers flocked to his standard. No car- avan dared approach the place of his resort, without the danger of beino- pillaged; and by making a trade of robbing, he learned insensibly how to conquer. Of his soldiers, and even his vanquished enemies, he made dis- ciples, giving to them the name of Mussulmen; that is to say, faithful. Having now become a great general, and an eloquent preacher, he took Mecca; and the greater part of tlie strong places and castles of Arabia fell under the power of his arms. Mahomet was assisted in his wars by Abubeker, his father-in-law; by All, his cousin and son-in-law ; and by Omar, and Oihman; and in twenty- three years from the commencement of his career, he found all Arabia had embraced his doctrine, and submitted to his government. He in- tended Ali, who had married his daughter Fatima, as his successor; but Abubeker, on account of his age, and by the interest of Omar and Oth- man, was chosen. This election of Abubeker gave birth to the schisms and civil wars which followed. The successors of Mahomet took the title of caliphs, or vicars of the prophet. Full of that fire or zeal which generally accompanies and inspires a new religion, tiiey spread into dif- ferent countries their doctrine and their power. Persia'and Greece were among the first to suffer; Damascus, Antioch, and Syria followed. They then penetrated into Palestine, and took Jerusalem. They destroyed eu tirelythe monarchies of Persia and the Medes of Korasan, of Diarbeck, of Bactriana, and Mesopotamia : nor was their progress less successful in Africa; tliey subdued all the coast to the west of Egypt; and Egypt itself submitted to their government, together with the islands of Cyprus, Rhodes, Candia, Sicily, Malta, and many others. It appears tliat in Asia and Africa, at different times, there were upwards of fifty caliphs, successors of Mahomet, every one of whom pretended to be his descendant, and the true interpreter of the law. The greater part of tliese caliphs sunk into luxury and effeminacy, confided tlie man- agement of the government to their emirs, and the principal officers of the palace. The caliph had at last little more to do than to take cogni- zance of matters of religion, and in all public prayers his name was first used. Thus had the enormous power of these rulers become weak by their indolence, so that it generated into a mere title, and ended in annihi- lation. By imposture and fanaticism the Arabian dominion rose into im- portance, and, like other gigantic empires, it fell by its own unwieldiness. Spain, Egypt, and Africa were soon engaged in elTectino their indepen- dence. l''.rc long the caliphs found it necessary to call to their aid those wild hordes of Tartars and Turks who had partially received the doctrines 23 354 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY of the prophet, and from them ihey chose a body of mercenary troops lo guard their frontiers and protect their persons. For a few generaiiona they by this means held together their tottering power; but their aiixih- aries coveted the possessions of those whom they assisted, and the over grown empire gradually crumbled away, till a Tartar army, in 1258, cap tured Bagdad, and put an end lo the nominal existence of the caliphate The religion of Mahomet was untouched ; but the power of the " comman der of the faithful," was transferred from the caliphs of Bagdad to the Turkish sultans; while the heads of the different tribes continued to govern their subjects as they had governed them before. In the eighteenth century, a reformation was commenced by a sheik, called Mahomet Ibu Abdoulwahab, who converted to his views the sheik of the Arabians, Ebn Saaoud. The reformation was extended, and its progress was marked by the demolition of several towns, and the massa- cre of thousands of people. The son of the Saaoud, Abdelaagis, sent an expedition against Mecca, which he completely destroyed, excepting the sacred temple. He captured also Medina, where he was assassina- ted — a deed which his son, Saaoud, avenged by seizing the accumulated treasures of ages stored n that .city, by means of which he made him- -TJlf master of all Arabia. THE HISTORY OF CHINA. CHAPTER I. There is probably no existing nation whose history is less accurately known or more inquisitively sought after, than that of China. The most startling statements as to the antiquity of the nation, and the number of its population, have been gravely put into circulation by grave writers, as though the "omne ignotum pro magnifico" were not a satirical remark, but a philosophical command. More, probably, of authentic information upon the subject of this singular people has been acquired during the last half century, than during the whole lapse of the preceding ages. Marco Polo and Du Halde, subjected as they now are to the correction of Dr. Morrison, Gutzlaff, Latrobe, and other able European residents in China, may safely be taken as our guide, though were they not thus corrected, they would lead into frequent and very gross error. The Chinese writers pretend to trace back their government to a period anterior to the Flood ; a ridiculous absurdity which we should not feel called upon to notice, but that European writers have, without going to the full extent of Chinese extravagance, admitted their existence as a nation considerably more than two thousand years before Christ. Its early history, indeed, like that of most other nations of any considerable antiquity, seems to be an imaginative distortion of a few truths, mixed up with a vast number of bare and mere fictions. Their founder and first monarch they affirm to have been Fohi, who is presumed by many writers to have been the same with Noah. The eastern mountains of Asia they take to be the Ararat of Scripture ; and they assert that, as the waters subsided, Noah lullowed tlie course of the rivers to the south until he arrived at China, where, THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 355 beinj much struck with the beauty and fertility of the land, he eventually Bettled. As the Chinese, contrary to the practice of almost all nations, have rarely, if ever, soug^ht to conquer other countries, their annals for many ages furnish nothing- remarkable ; and although they date the origin of their imperial dynasties (excluding those of the fabulous times) two thousand years before the Christian era, we find that the country was long divided into several states or independent sovereignties. Twenty- two dynasties of princes are enumerated as having governed China from 2207 B. c , to the present day. the reigning emperor being the fifth mon- arch of the twenty-second or Tai-Tsin dynasty. What may be termed the authentic history of China does not begin till the time of Confucius, who flourished about five centuries before the Christian era, and who must be regarded as the great reformer of China. He endeavoured to unite in one great confederation the numerous states which harassed each other by mutual wars, and constructed a moral code for the government of the people. He forbore to dive into the impenetrable arcana of nature ; neither did he bewilder himself in abstruse researches on the essence and attributes of a Deity, but confined himself to speaking with the most pro- found reverence of the First Principle of all beings, whom he represented as the most pure and perfect Essence, the Author of all things, who is acquainted with our most secret thoughts, and who will never permit virtue to go unrecompensed, nor vice unpunished. It is not until b. c. 248 that Chinese history begins to be at all developed. Che-Hwang-te, the founder of the Tsin dynasty, in that year succeeded to the throne, and the petty princes of China, as well as the Huns who inhabited the immense plains beyond the Oxus, speedily found that they had a warrior to deal with. Whenever these princes ventured to meet him they were infallibly defeated, until he completely subdued all the states, and consolidated the empire. Having provided for his power within the empire, he next turned his attention to its regular and efficient defence against foreign invaders. Theverydesultorinessof the attacks of the Huns made it difficult to sub- due them. When he could meet and force them into a pitched battle, he never failed to give an excellent account of them ; but they were no sooner dispersed than they rallied; no sooner chastised in one part of the empire than they poured furiously down to repeat their offences in some other. Whether the monarch himself, or his able general, Mung-Teen, con- ceived the grand idea of surrounding China — as it was then limited — with a wall, it would now be no easy matter to ascertain ; certain it is that the wall was erected under the superintendence of the general. This perfectly stupenduous monument of human skill and industry (which is one thousand five hunded miles in length, thirty feet high, and fifteen feet thick on the top), could only have been completed by an ab- solute monarch. The emperor of China had only to will and be obeyed. He ordered that every third man throughout the empire should aid in the vast work. Like the Israelites in Egypt, and like the native builders of the vast pyramids, the builders of the great wall of China were but slaves, whose slavery only differed from that of purchased slaves, in that it was but for a time they were purchased, and that the price paid for them was not in cash or merchandise, but the sic volo, the absolute will of the em- peror. A curious calculation has been made, showing that if this wall were pulled down, and a new one made of the materials, twelve feet high and four feet thick, it would be of sufficient length to encircle the globe. By the stern exercise of his power, the emperor had this mighty wall, with embattled towers at convenient distances on the top, completed, and the towers garrisoned, so as to serve at once for watch towers and for- tresses ! But though he was a spirit ?d prince, and had a chivalrous desire to protect his empire from the rapiiu of its barbarous enemies, his reign 556 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY was by no means free from cause of censure : for we find he ordered the destruction of the whole body of Chinese literature, in the disgraceful hope of destroying all traces of Chinese history previous to the com- mencement of his dynasty ! The works of Confucius were alone secreted, by some man of well-directed mind, and were found, years after the em- peror's death, by some workmen employed in repairing a house. On the death of Che-Whang-te, his son Urh-siic, less politic or less powerful than his father, found it impossible to prevent new outbreaks among the princes who had been reduced to the position of mere nobles and lieutenants of the emperor. Whether leaguing against the commands of the emperor, or assailing each other, they filled the land with strife; entire cities were in some cases destroyed, and the annihilation of the empire seemed at hand ; when there arose in the land one of those mi'.n of iron nerve and hand who never fail to appear during great revolutions, and always precisely when the myriad-evils of anarchy can only be put an end to by a man who possesses the talents of the soldier joined to the will of the despot. Lien Pang, the man in question, was originally the captain of a band of robbers, and notorious in that character alike for his boldness and success. The distracted state of the country opened trto way to his joining the profession of a leader of free lances to that of a. robber, and, at first in alliance witli some of the princes, and subsequent- ly in opposition to all of them in succession, he fought so ably that he subdued the whole empire, changed his name to that of Kaon-te, and as- cended the tlirone, thus founding the Hang dynasty. Though thus suc- cessful within, he was greatly annoyed by the Huns ; and so far was his usual success from attending him in his endeavours to free the empire from them, that he bought their quietness with many and costly presents, which on his death and the succession of his son was changed to a stip- ulated annual tribute. During several years there were no events worth recording in the his- tory of China ; but, in the reign of Woo-te, the empire was assailed by a succession of misfortunes and calamities. Owing to a long continuance of heavy rains the Hoang-ho river burst its banks, sweeping away every thing in its path, and causing a destruction, not only of property but also of human life, that was truly terrible. During the same reign the culti- vated lands were left completely bare by the invasion of a vast army of those destructive creatures, locusts; and a fire occurred in the capital which burned property to a frightful extent, and was only extinguished after it had consumed a great portion of the city, including almost the whole of the imperial palace. To counterbalance these great national calamities, this reign had one piece of good fortune of the highest con- sequence. The Huns had made their appearance again in vast numbers; they were completely routed in a great battle, by the Chinese under their general, Wei-sing, who took many thousands of prisoners, together with the whole of the tents, stores, and baggage of these nomadic plunderers. So thoroughly humbled were the Huns on this occasion, that for very many years they did not again make their appearance ; they even paid homage to the emperor, Senen-Te, against whom, however, they broke out as fiercely as ever towards the close of his reign. In the first year of the Christian era Piiig-te ascended the imperial throne. He only reigned about five years, and being a weak prince, was even during that period rather the nominal than the real emperor, for both he and the empire were completely ruled by Wang-mang, a prince of great energy, who, on the death of Ping-le, took actual possession of tho throne, of which he had long been the virtual owner. Many princes es- poused the cause of the displaced dynasty ; but though they perpetually made war upon the able usurper, he kept possession of the throne during the remainder of his life. Wang-mang died a. d. 23, and was succeeded THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 357 by Hwac-yang-wang; he died in a. d. 58, and was succeeded by Kvvang- Woo. This reign is chiefly remarkable on account of the introduction into China, from the neighbouring country of Eastern India, of the Bud- dhist religion. In the year 89, and the reign of Ho-te, the Tartars, who as well as the Huns and the Cochins, were the perpetual pest of China, again made their appearance. They were worsted in several encounters, and many thousands of them perished. They were driven, broken and dispirited, to the Caspian, and only then escaped owing to the fear with which the mere prospect of a long voyage inspired the Chinese. For several years after this event the affairs of China were in a very pitiable state ; the Tartars, returning again and again, added by their ravages to the distress caused by bad seasons; and just under those very circum- Btances which made the rule of a vigorous and able man more than ever desirable, it, singularly enough, chanced that reign after reign fell to the lot of mere children, in whose names the kingdom was of course gov erned by the court favourites of the existing empress ; the high trust o. the favourite arising naturally more from the empress' favour than foi his fitness or integrity. Drought, famine, plague, and the frequent curse of foreign invasion, made this part of Chinese history truly lamentable. In the year 220, the empire was divided into three, and with the usual effect of divided rule in neighbours between whom nature has placed no boundary of sea, or rock, or impracticable desert. In the year 288, the emperor Woo-te succeeded in again uniting the states into one empire. He died about two years later, and was succeeded by Hwuy-te, who reigned seventeen years, but was guilty of many cruelties, and conse- quently much disliked. The history of no fewer than one hundred and thirteen years, terminating a. d. 420, may be summed up in three words — confusion, pillage, and slaughter. Either native generals and native ar- mies fought, or the fierce Hun and still fiercer Tartar carried death and dismay throughout the empire. Years of bloodshed and confusion at length inclined the more important among the native competitors to peace, and two empires were formed — the northern and southern — the Nan and the Yuh-chow. Lew-yn, or Woo-te, emperor of the southern empire, though he was far superior in the wealthiness of his share to the prince of the north, was originally the orphan of parents of low rank, who left him in circum- stances of such destitution, that his youth was supported by the actual charity of an old woman, who reared him as her own son. As soon as he was old enough he enlisted for a soldier, and subsequently made his way to the empire by a succession of murders upon members of the royal family, including the emperor Kung te, who was the last of the Tsin dynasty. Lew-yn, or Woo-te, compelled that unfortunate monarch publicly to abdicate in his favour. The prison of deposed kings is pro- verbially synonymous with their grave. The case of Kung-te was no exception to the general rule ; he was put to death by poison. Woo-te died in 422 ; his son, Ying- Yang-Wang succeeded him, but was speedily deposed in favour of Wan-te. This prince issued an edict against the Buddhist doctrines, which in the northern dominions, where the prince just at that time was possessed of far more power than his southern brother, proceeded still more harshly. All Buddhists were banished ; the Buddhist temples burned, and many priests put to death or cruelly tortured and mutilated. Wan-te, learned himself, was a great friend and promoter of learning. •Several colleges were founded by him, and his exertions in this respect were the more valuable, as they were imitated by the prince of the north. Wan-te having sharply reproved his son Lew Chaou, for some miscon- duct, and threatened to disinherit him, the son bfuially murdered him at the instigation of a bonze or priest, who represoi;lv^d that act as the only J558 THE TREASURY Or HISTORY. means of [)ieventing the father's threat from being carried into effect. The guill of both tlie prince and his priestly instigator met with its fitting reward. Lew-senen, half-brotiier to the prince, raised a powerful army, and attacked Lew Chaou, who with his wliole family were beheaded, and all his pala(H;s razed to the ground. Fci-le King-Ho has been aptly enough compared to the Caius ('aligula of Kome ; bloodshed appeared to be his greatest delight ; to bo privileged to approach him was at the same time to be in constant peril of being butchered ; and he was no less ob- scene than cruel, an mimcnse and gorgeously decorated hall being bml> by him, and exclusively devoted to the most disgusting and frantic orgies, The reign of so foul a monster could not be otherwise than short. The very officers of his palace could not tolerate his conduct, and in the yeai following his accession to the throne he was dispatched by one of the eunuchs of his palace. Miiig-te Tae-che succeeded to the throne, a. d. 466, What he might have proved if his accession had been unopposed we can but guess ; but, being opposed, he was aroused to a rage perfectly ungovernable. Those of his relatives who actually took up arms against him were not more hateful than those of them who did not, and many of the latter were put to death by him. Mis whole reign was passed in warfare with one or more of the princes of his family. This state of things lasted for nearly six years, and caused so much misery to the people, that there would have been a general rising for the purpose of dethroning him, but for his opportune death. Anarchy and war marked the two following reigns, of Chwang-yu-wang, and Shun-te ; the former was dispatched by a eunuch employed by an aspiring general, who also compelled Shun te to abdicate in his favour, and soon afterwards assassinated him. In 479 the aspiring and reckless general, Seawu-Taduching, ascended the throne, under the title of Fvaou-te-now ; he reigned but two years, and the succeeding princes of this dynasty, Tsi, which terminated in 502, were engaged in continual war with the prince of the north, but performed neither war- like nor peaceful services to merit notice. A new dynasty, the Leang, was now commenced by Woo-te, who as- cended the throne in 502. Under him the old wars between the northern and southern empires were continued. Nevertheless, though warlike and active at the commencement of his reign, he showed himself a great ad- mirer and patron of learning. He revived some learned establishments that had fallen into decay, and founded some new ones; but probably the most important service that he did it was that of publicly teaching in person. We may fairly doubt whether such a prince was not better skill- ed in the arts of war, as then practised, than in studious lore ; but his ex- ample tended to make learning fashionable, and he may therefore be said to have afforded it the greatest encouragement. Whatever his actual at- tainments, his love of study seems to have been both deep and sincere ; for while yet in the prime of mental and bodily vigour, he abandoned the pomp and power of the throne, and retired to a monastery with the avow- ed intention of devoting the remaind( r of his life to study. This, how- ever, had such mischievous effect upon public affairs, that the principal mandarins compelled him to quit his peaceful retirement and re-ascend the throne; but the rest of his life was passed in strife and tumult, which eventually broke his heart. His son and successor had scarcely com- menced his reign, when he was put to death, and succeeded by Yuen-te. This emperor also was fond of retirement and study, and greatly neglect- ed the affairs of his empire, which, distracted as it constantly was by the violence and intrigues of the princes of the empire, required a stern and vigorous attention. Shin-pan-seen, who was not only a prince of the empire, but also prime minister to the emperor, raised a rebellion against his confiding imd peace- THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 359 fal master, whose first intimation of his danger was given to him by ,he fierce shouts of the rebel force at the very gates of his palace. On hear- ing those boding sounds, the emperor, awakened from his delicious rev- eries, calmly closed the book he had been so intent upon, put on his ar- mour, and ascended the ramparts. A single glance showed him that it was too late for resistance ; he returned to his library, and, setting fire to it, abandoned his sword, and resigned himself to his fate. The library of this unfortunate monarch, who would probably have been both powerful and glorious had he ruled over a less divided and turbulent people, is said to have contained one hundred and forty thousand volumes; an immense number to have been collected even by royalty at such a time and among such a people. The next emperor worthy of any mention, however slight, is Wan-te, whose short reign was so vigorous, prudent, and suc- cessful, that he must be considered to have been the chief cause of the re-union which occurred soon after his death between the northern and southern empires. He died in 566, and was succeeded by his sou, Pe-tsung, who was speedily dethroned by his uncle and the empress dowager. The throne was then filled by Suen-te. During his short reigii, of less than three years, he fought boldly and constantly against his opponents, and did much towards promoting the fast approaching union of the two empires. On the death of Suen-te, in the year 569, he was succeeded by How Chow, a mere sensualist and idler, whose debauchery and indolence disgusted and angered his people more, probably, than hardier and more active vices would, even though they had been productive of a fiercer and more obvious kind of tyranny. A powerful and warlike noble, Yang- keen, put himself at the head of the disaffected nobles and their followers and laid siege to the imperial city. The inhabitants, who, as might be ex- pected, were even more disgusted witli the effeminacy and profligacy they had witnessed, than the beseigers, threw open the gates almost without 3 struggle. The immediate advisers of the emperor and the notorious com- panions of his profligate revels were sternly put to death, and search was then made for the emperor. That cowardly sensualist had taken refuge with all his family in a dry well, whence he was dragged out half dead with terror, and expecting no less than instant death at the hands of the victorious rebel leader. But Yang-keen, either in mercy, or with the politic view of placing an additional obstacle in the way of all other pre- tenders that might arise, spared both him and his family. On usurping the throne, a. d. 572, Yang-keen's very first act was to consolidate the northern empire with the southern. In this he found lit- tle difficulty. AVei, the last really great prince of the northern empire, was both so well able to war, and so little inclined to do so without oc- casion, that he made his state at once feared without, and peaceful and prosperous within. He was poisoned by his own mother, a woman of high but cruel spirit, and of great talents but most restless disposition. Both she, while she acted as regent to her grandson, and the latter when ne had taken the reins of government into his own hands, plunged the state into all the venomous and mischevious wars of the imperial prin- ces ; and this fatal departure from the peaceful polity of the former ruler, and the absence of any improvement in his militar}'^ power, struck a blow at the safety and integrity of the northern empire, which, after a separate existence of upwards of a century and a half, was re-annexed to the south- ern empire, almost without an effort. CHAPTER H. Yang-keen having been so successful in obtaining the throne and con- Bolidating the empire, turned his attention to restraining the violence and 360 THE TREASUllY OF HISTORY. rapine of the Tartar chiefs. Tlis reputation for skill, valour, and firmness, here did him good sorvice. IJold and rapacious as the Tartars were, they were too well aware of the character of the monarch whom they now had 10 deal with, to hope that he would overlook any of the advantages he possessed. They professed ihemselves desirous rather of his friendship than his enmity ; and to sliow the sincerity of what they called their amity, but what would have been far more correctly termed their terror, they went so far as to pay him homage. With his usual shrewd policy, Yang-keen gave one of the imperial princesses in marriage to the princi- pal i'artar chief. Nor was he ill-rewarded for the facility with which he permitted himself to substitute alliance for strife. During his reign, his people remained free froni the incursions of the Tartars, which had pre- viously been as frequent as the natural tempests, and far more destructive. On the death of Yang-keen, in fiul, the heir to the throne was strangled by a younger brother, Yang-te, who, having committed the fratricide and removed all other obstacles from his path, ascended the throne in 605. The means by which this prince obtained the throne, common as such means are in despotic and but partially civilized nations, deserve all the detestation that we can bestow upon them ; but if he obtained the throne shamefully, he filled it well, 'i'hough eminently a man of taste and plea- sure, he was no less a man of judgment, enterprise, and energy. In the early part of his reign he formed extensive gardens, which for magnitude and tastefulness were never before witnessed in China ; and in these gar- dens it was his chief delight to ride, attended by a retinue of a thousand ladies, splendidly attired, who amused him with vocal and instruiTiental music, and with dancing and feats of grace and agility on horseback. This luxurious habit did not, however, prevent him from paying great at- tention to the solid improvements of which China at that time stood so much in need. It would be idle to remark upon the importance (to both the prosperity and the civilization of a people) of good and numerous means of communication between all the extremities of their land. Many of his canals and bridges still exist, as proofs both of his zeal and judg- ment in this most important department of the duty of a ruler. But his talents, energy, and accomplishments, could not save him ; he had been on a tour, not improbably with a view to some new improvement in the face of the country, when he was assassinated. This melancholy event, it seems probable, arose from the successful artifices of Le-yuen : he was both powerful and disaflfected; had previously signalized himself by the most factious conduct, and immediately after the assassination, put him- self forward to place King-te upon the vacant throne. What motive Le- yuen had in making this man the mere puppet of sovereignly for a brief time it is difficult to conjecture ; but it is certain that King-te had scarce- ly ascended the throne, before Le-yuen caused him to be strangled and assumed the sovereign power himself. It is strange that ill-acquired power is sometimes used with wisdom and moderation, as though in the struggle to obtain it the evil portion oi the posessor's nature had been exhausted. Le-yuen, or rather Kaou-tsoo, which name he took on ascending the throne, was a remarkable instance of this. Nothing could be more sanguinary or unscrupulous than the course by which he became master of the empire; nothing could be bra- ver, more poliiic, or, as regarded his internal administration, milder, than his conduct ai'ier he had obtained it. For some years previous to his usurpation, the Tartars had returned to their old practice of making in- cursions into the northern parts of China, on some portion of which they had actually proceeded to settle themselves. Kaou-tsoo attacked them with great spirit., and in many severe engagements made such slaughter among them as to impress them with a salutary fear of pushing their en- croachments farther. Looking with a politic and prescient eye at the THE TREASURY OP HISTORY. 361 stnte of other nations, Kjiou-tsoo was extremely anxious about that sin gular and (Vrocions people, the Turks, who about the commencement o'' his rei^n began to be very troublesome in Asia. Dwelling between the Caspian sea and the river Hypanis, the Turks were a sylvan people, har- dy, and living chiefly upon the spoils of the chase. Thus prepared by their way of life to tlie hardships of war, and having their cupidity exci- ted by the rich booty of the caravans, which they occasionally rushed upon from their peninsular lair to plunder, tliis people could not fail U) be otherwise than terrible, when, under a brave and politic leader, they went fcjrlh to the conquest of nations instead of ihe pillage of a caravan, and appeared as a great multitude instead of a mere isolated handful of robbers. To China ihe^' were especially hateful and mischievous : for they were perpetually at war with the Persians, with whom just at that time, far the most valuable part of Chinese commerce was carried on. The Persians fell before the Turkish power, and that restless power en- deavoured to pusli their conquests intu China. It might probably have effected this had a different man ruled the empire; but the emperor not merely repulsed them from his own territory, but chastised the disartected Tiiibetians who had aided them and j)usiied forward into China, whence he expelled the Turks. After a victorious and active reign of twenty-two years and a few months, this brave and politic emperor died, and was succeeded by Chun-lsung, whose effeminacy was the more glaringly disgraceful from contrast with the brave and active character of his pre- decessor. The single act for which his historian gave him any credit, is that of having made it necessary for the literati, who by this time exer- cised pretty nearly as much influence in both private and public affairs in China as the clergy did in Europe during the middle ages, to sustain a rather severe public examination. Of the next seventeen uKHiarchs of China there is literally nothing re- corded that is worthy of transcript ; nor during their reigns did anything of moment occur to China beyond the civil dissensions, which were fre- quent, and indeed inevitable, in a country where cfleminate princes com- mitted their power to intriguing eunuchs, who scarcely ever failed to prevent a resumption of it, by the dagger or the poisoned cup. Chwang- tsung, son of a brave and skilful general, founded the IIow-Tang dynasty, and, at least at the outset of his reign, was a bright contrast to his predecessors. He had from mere boyhood shared ihe perils and hard ships of his father, whom he had accompanied in many of his expeditions At the commencement of his reign he gave every promise of being the greatest monarch China ever saw. In his apparel and diet he emulated the frugality of the meanest peasant and the plainest of his troops. Lest he siiould indulge in more sleep than nature actually required, he was accustomed to have no other bed than the bare ground, and, as if this luxurious way of lying might lead him to waste in sleep any of that pre- cious time of which he was a most rigid economist, he had a bell so fastened to his person, that it rang on his aiterripting to turn round, so loudly as to awaken him, and after it did so he immediately rose, to re- pose no more until his usual hour on the ensuing night. Extremes are proverbially said to meet ; but certainly one would never have suspected that so .Spartan a youth would have heralded a manhood of exceeding luxury and even licentiousness. But so it was ; his companions were among the most profane wassailers in his empire, and he emulated their conduct. Yet though he departed from the, perhaps, too rigid se- verity of his manners, he was to the last a brave and active man, and was slain at the head of his troops in a battle fought in 926. having in spite of some personal defects of character already noted, been on the whc^e one of tho most respectable of all the native Chinese empe- rors 8(53 THE TEEASURY OP HISTORY. Tlic next was Ming-tsung, who reigned for only seven years. Bu( if his reign was short it was active and beneficent ; and if there are many greater names in the imperial annals, there is not one more beloved. His people looked upon him as a parent, and his whole reign seems, in fact, to have been the expression and achievement of a truly kind and paternal feeling. He died in 933, with a character greater monarchs might envy. Min-te succeeded to the throne in 933. He only reigned one year; but in that very brief space of time he contrived to deserve, if not to obtain, the execration of the Chinese women, not only of his own time, but up to the present hour. He it was who established the truly barbarous prac- tice of confining the feet of female children in such a manner that the toes are bent completely under the soles of the f(;et, which are, it is true, rendered very diminutive in appearance by this abominable method, but are at the same time rendered almost useless. The loitering and awk- ward gait of the women would be sufiicient to make this practice deser- ving of all abhorrence as a mailer of taste merely, but when we consider the exquisite torture which the unhappy creatures must have suffered in girlhood, it is really wonderful that such a practice should so long have existed in any nation possessing even the first rudiments of civilization. Min-te died in 934, in the first year of his reign, and was succeeded by Fei Tei, who paid the fearful price of fratricide for the throne. He pos- sessed, it would seem, a great share of merely animal courage, and like the generality of persons who do so, he was distinguished for his exceed- ing barbarity. Even the Chinese, accustomed as they were to despotism in all its varieties of misrule, could not endure the excess and wanton- neiss of his cruelly. A formidable revolt broke out; and findmg himself hard pressed by his enemies, and abandoned every moment by his troops, he collected the whole of his family together, and, like another Sardanap- alus, set fire to his palace — his wealth, his family, and himself being con sunicd in the flames. Kaou-tse now ascended the throne, being the first of the How-tsin dynasty. He was more the nominal than the real mon- arch, his minister, Uung-taieu, usurping a more than imperial power. The minister, in fact, is in every way more worthy of mention than the monarch, for according to the most credible accounts the invention of printing from blocks was a boon conferred by him upon China in the year 937. Both this reign and that of Chuh-te, which closed this short-lived dynasty, were occupied in perpetual battling with the restless Tartars, who for ages seem to have had an instinctive certainly of having, sooner or later, the rule of China, as the reward of their determined and pertina- cious inroads. In 960, Kung-te, a child of only six years of age, being upon the throne, the people arose and demanded his abdication. Of maternal and eunuch misgovernment they certainly had for centuries past had abundant expe- rience. How far the successful aspirant to the throne was concerned in rousing their fears into activity and fervour does not appear ; but it is certain that the revolt against the infant emperor, and the election of Chaou-quang-yin as his Buccessor, were events in which the people show- ed great unanimity of feeling. This founder of the Sung dynasty did not commence his reign under the most promising circumstances ; for on the ceremonial of his acceptance of the throne, he actually ascended in a state of intoxication. Nevertheless, this prince, who on his elevation to the throne took the name of Taou-tsoo, was in reality one of the best of the Chinese monarchs, both as a warrior and a domestic ruler. The im- beci'ity or infancy of some of his predecessors, and the pernicious habit into which others fell of leaving the actual administration of afi'airs in the hands of eunuchs, and other corrupt favorites, had caused the court expenses as M'cll as the court retinue to be swelled to a shameful extent. Thf <»e'y emperor, immediately after his accession, caused the most THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 363 rtgid enquiry to be made into the expenses of the state ; and every use- less office was abolished, and every unfair charge sternly and promptly disallowed. In effecting this great and important reform, the emperor derived no small benefit from having formerly been a private person, as in that capacity he no doubt would have the opportunity to note any abuses which could never be discovered by the emperor or any of the imperial princes. His frugality seems to have been as impartial as it was wise; for though he raised his family, for four generations, to the rank of imperial princes, he at the same time insisted upon their being content with the most moderate revenue that was at all consistent with iheir rank. When we bear in mind the long and indefatigable endeavours of the Tartars to obtain a footing in the interior of the Chinese empire, and couple that fact with their now leaguing with the Chinese revolters against the new emperor, we shall not be presumptuous if we affirm that the opposition to hi in was in fact more foreign than native. The empe- ror made immense levies of men throughout the provinces that were faithful to him, and marched against his enemies. The subsequent con- flicts were dreadful; the troops of the prince of Han well knowing that they had little mercy to hope for if taken prisoners, fought with the fury and obstinacy of despair, and they were well seconded by the Tartars. Thousands fell in each engagement ; and though the emperor was a warrior and a brave one, he is said to have often subsequently slied tears at the mere remembrance of the bloodshed he witnessed during this war. The overwhelming levies of the emperor, and perhaps, that '' tower of strength," the royal name, which the adverse faction wanted, made him completely successful. Having put down this opposition, he next pro- ceeded against the prince of Choo, whom he captured and deprived of his dominions. Among the millions of souls whom he thus added to his subjects was an extremely numerous and well-appointed army. This he forthwith incorporated with his own, and thus strengthened in force, marched against Kyang-Nan and southern Han. Here again he was completely successful, and he now turned his attention to the chastise- ment of the iMongols of Leaon-lung, who had joined the prmce of Han in the former war; but the issue of this expedition was still uncertain when the emperor died. Though engaged in war from the beginning to the end of his reign, this emperor was attentive to the internal state of his em- pire. When not actually in the field he was at all times accessible ; to the humblest as to the highest the gates of the imperial palace were open, and in giving his decision he knew no distinction between the mandarin and the poor labourer. This conduct in his military and civic affairs, produced him the enviable character of being the " terror of his enemies and ♦he delight of his subjects." Tae-tsung, son of the last-mentioned monarch, ascended the throne at the death of his father, whose warlike measures he proceeded to carry out, and whose warlike character and abilities he to a great extent inher- ited. During his entire reign he was engaged in war ; now with the Mongols, at that time the most threatening of all the enemies of the empire, and now with this or that refractory native prince. It is strange that the emperors never thought, so far as we can perceive, of the policy of concentrating their forces upon ihe positions of individual princes, and on every decisive advantage demanding such a contribution in money as would effectually impoverish him ; at the same time demand- ing as hostages not only some of the more important of his own family, but of all the other great families connected with him. These measures, though severe upon individuals, would have been merciful as regards the great mass of both contending parties. After twenty-one years of al- most perpetual warfare, with many successes and comparatively few de- 3fi4 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. feats, Tae-tsung died, in 997, leaving behind him a character only less hononiblt! than that of his predecessor, inasmuch as he paid less constant and miiuitfi attention to the internal order of the empire and the indi- vidual welfare of his subjects. ('Iiin-tsuiitweniy cubits ihbiiiJ CHmference,i having a total height of 180 eubits, which turns romnd npon^d meted dxis ; and that with little more difficulty than if it were merely a child's toy ], ; Assuredly, the people who even in whim could erect suoh' a Structure a$ this at a period of more than, four' centuries ago; cannot' ikmv be theiritmpable and unprovided race ;wlrich niatiy late accounts' would represent- thBrnj \u .;,:;! i--- ^.U ot Lvviiin..-; c-nli wv-,,!.!!;^ Movi.i; '=rThe emperor's paJace jati Pekin iskiescrihedas beilrgrefslriBHaelyirichi spri- cious and gi^and- ! Wliiie (he ;ambassadors ajid their suite were th^re,- ife was <-onstantlyi iSurroiindedlby. about two thousand musicians, play i" ing and singing aathems. to the praise of the emperor, wbosethrontJ' ifcas of solid gOkU ascended by a flightof nine silver steps.: On theiempei-: rorascendiiig this rare and gorgeous throne, the chiefH of the embjissy were introduced ; and after. a brief and very formal audience, at which tliey did not prostrate themselves in the Ch)hose fashion, but bowc?d in that of the Persians, they werei reconducted to the apartments provided for them, v/here a sheep, a goosfe, and two fowls, with fruitj vegetabl«iK< and tea, were daily; served out tb every ^ix persons!, i, ) 'io i;;;rj) ;.■ An evil deed, whether of man or nation, rarely proves other than an; ©vili seed. The unprovoked ^ggr^Jsio^i of the Chinese-Tartars nnder Kublai, was not only productive of great injury to the Chinese fleptat thc-iinhet bat: led to veryt many'Mibsiiquent losses and calamities, iPavourhbiy-' sutnated as Jap^ii wa's forthe maintena.nee of a fleet, itwas a power uponi wilich such a pitlatical attack as that of; Jiuhlai couM not be made with- out incurriDgisbribuSidangpr of heavy reprisals. Tin-tsang, an extremelj^ well-inclined priiicievfouiad the 'attacks v©f the Japanese so fi^equent and so: fearfully injuriiousnoi his people, and toithe imperial fleet, that his ear- liest care was directed lio that subject.; The Japanese, amessentially Sfea-faring people, had,' according to the; least exaggerated accounts, /rom siix to seven : thousand ves^efo of various^ sizes, maimed with their most dating and unprincipled people, not a few of them ready for piracy and nuifder as a: part of their proper trade. Hunning suddenly into the' Chi- nese ports, the darin* adventurers comraiited acts not merely of robbery, but Of the most wanton. destruction of property and life, firing whole townk and village'?, vand retiring.Avitli immense; booty. . During the eleven yea rs ctf'his reign the: emperor TinitsMngiwa.s feol spirited aind incessant in bis opposition to these daring 'Tovers.jtjhatihe 'would probably have perma- nently rid his country ;of them, had hig life hot been so early terminated Suen-tsung, who succeeded the la^t named emperOr, was but barely al lowed to ascend the throne when he was ^bout to be dethroned by some of the grandees of the empire, among whom was his own uncle. Fortu nately for the emperor, his' army was more faithful to him than ithd^ grandees ; and after a most olistinate engagem'^nt between it and thefbftjo 24 370 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY- of the iiisiirgciits, the latter were completely overthrown. With a far greater lei;ity llian would have been shown by some monarchs after being so early ;md deeply olTcnded, the emperor spared the lives of the ringlead- ers, though, as a sheer matter of self-defence, he reduced some of them to the rank of commoners, and confiscated the estates of others. Though the commencement of his reign was thus stormy, he was very little disturbed by revolts afterwards, to the lime of his death in 143G. He was succeeded by Chin-tung, a minor; the empress-dowager being his guardian, and the real state authority being divided between her and her chief adviser, the eunuch Wan-chin. This latter personage seems to have had nobler and more spirited notions of government than were commonly displayed by the effeminate and venal court favourites. He not only took prompt and active measures for repressing the Tartars, who annoyed the Tartar-Chinese with as much impartiality as though they had been still ? purely Chinese people and government, but also took the field in person Both he and the youthful emperor were taken prisoners, and matters began to look very prosperously for the Tartars, who were not only more ex- pert in tlie use of the newly introduced fire-arms, but also invariably used them, which upon certain solemn days the Chinese, from superstitious no- tions, refused to do. As a matter of course, the Tartars always soughf every chance of taking them at so great a disadvantage, and made fearful havoc whenever they contrived to do so. But the bold spirit which Wan- chin had infused into the councils of the imperial court, soon turned the scale. The imperial authority was assumed by King-tae, who, however, subsequently showed that he had assumed such authority in the truest spirit of a loyal f ubject and most honourable man. He advanced against the Tartars, and opposed them with such skill, courage, and tenacity, that he completely defeated them, compelled them to restore the young Chin- tung to liberty, unransomed, and then immediately descended from a dig- nity that has so often been obtained by the commission of the most detes- table crimes, and placed upon the throne the young sovereign whom his valour and conduct had already restored to liberty. The remainder of the reign of Chin-tung, about ten years, was comparatively peaceful and prosperous. The early part of the 16th century produced an event of which even yet the consequences are but partially and dimly seen — the appearance oi the Portuguese at China. They went there merely as adventurous mar- iners and keen traders; but it is quite within the pale of probability that before such another space as three hundred years, the whole vast popula- tion may as a consequencee mbrace Christianity. To India the Portu- guese had already made their way by the Cape of Good Hope, and had an extremely flourishing settlement. The governor of the Portuguese in In- dia determined to send a somewhat imposing embassy to China ; accord- ingly, Andrada and Perez, two ambassadors, sailed to Canton, their own vessels being under a convoy of eight large ships, well manned and armed. Perez and Andrada, with two vessels, were allowed to proceed up the river on their embassy. While they did so, the crew and merchants who were left with the other vessels in the Canton river, busied themselves in endeavouring to trade with the natives. As usual, wherever a turbulent body of seamen is concerned, the laws of mevm and tuum were frequently set at nought, and this one-sided system of free-trading so greatly enraged the Chinese, tliat the little fleet was surrounded by the Chinese war junks, and only escaped capture by the opportune occurrence of a severe i?torra. Perez, though far up the country, and personally innocent, was seized by the Chinese as the scape-goat of his fellow countrymen's offences. He was hurried back to Canton with the utmost ignominy, loaded with irons, and put into a prison, from which he never again emerged until death set him free. THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 37] On the accession, in 1627, of Hwae-tsung, the Tartars, who, during the comparatively quiet seven years' reign of this emperors immediate prede- cessor, had been preparing themselves for war, broke out fiercely and sud- denly. The time was peculiarly favourable to their anticipated overthrow of the empire, which was overrun by two robbers, whose armies were not only more numerous than that of the emperor, but had already so far beaten it as to have obtauied possession of some important provinces. City after city had fallen before these fierce rebels, and the imperial troops w^ere in some places reduced to such an extremity of famine, that the bodies of executed criminals formed a portion of their disgusting food, and human flesh was, without shame or remark, exposed for sale in the open market. The imperial general was at length so pressed by the rebel troops, that being at once in despair of successful resistance, and determined not to surrender, he caused the dykes to be cut through which retained the river Hoang-ho from inundating the country in which he was encamped, and at one feel swoop he and the whole of the troops and inhabitants, in all above two hundred thousand, were drowned. If the affairs of the em- pire were desperate before, the loss of this force could not fail to com- plete the ruin. The rebels and robbers who had alone been so formidable, now united with the wily Mantchoo Tartars, who had so well known how to "bide their time." The unfortunate emperor finding that there was no longer any hope or safety for him even in his own palace, strangled him- self. The last city that endeavoured to make head against the victorious and formidable Tartars and robbers was Tae-yuen. The inhabitants, and a comparative handful of imperial troops, defended this with a stern ob- stinacy, which, under a different state of things in the empire at large, would have been very likely to save it ; the Tartars were repulsed again and again, until the very numbers of tlieir slain enabled them to fill up the ditches and mount. Instead of admiring the gallantry of their conquered opponents, and treating them with mercy, the Tartars savagely put the in- habitants to the sword, and then gave the devoted city to the flames. Woo San-quei, an able politician as well as a brave general, did not, even now that the emperor was slain, and the most precious parts of the empire in the hands of the Tartars or rebels, despair of retrieving affairs. By a lavish distribution of rich presents he engaged the Mantchoo leaders to abandon the cause of the rebels, and to join with him against their chief. Woo San-quei's policy succeeded in procuring him the alliance of the Mantchoo Tartars ; and, aided by them, he vanquished their former allies, the rebels, after a series of achievements on both sides, that equal anything recounted in the w^ars of the most distinguished generals of an- cient times. But a new proof was now cxliibited of the danger of pur- chased allies, who, like the elephants used in Indian warfare, are liable to become as formidable to their friends as to their foes. The Tartars having put down the rebels, took possession of Pekin (or Cambulu), which they expressed their determination to "protect," a word to which armed pro- tectors attach a meaning very different from that assigned to it by the pro- tected. They proclaimed Shun-che, a son of their own monarch, emperor of the northern provinces of China, the seat of his government being Pekin, while the princes and mandarins of the southern provinces proclaime*' Choo-yew, the seat of whose government was at Nankin. CHAPTER IV. There being a northern and southern empire, and the thrones I eiiig respectively filled by a Tartar and a Chinese, it might easily have been forseen that war and bloodshed would once more vex the unhappy people 372 THE TilEASUIlY OF HISTORY. of both empires ; and the opposite natures of the two emperors, far irora decreasing, increased this probability. The emperor of the south was un worthy of his high station, and ill-calculated for its peculiar exigencies His indolence and gross sensuality, added, no doubt, to the tyrannies of the subordinates to whom he committed the cares of slate, while he abandoned himself to his indulgences, caused a spirit of revolt to show itself, which the northern en)peror was not slow to avail himself of. Marching rapid- ly upon the southern provinces, he possessed himself of the capital, Nan- kin, and after a long series of successes, became master of the whole em- pire, with the exception of some few comparatively unimportant portions; and the princes of even these may be said to have been his tributaries rather than independent rulers. Shun-che was the first emperor of China who came into direct hostile collision with the Russians, who, in his reign made their way to the great river Amur on the borders of Tartary. The Russians seized upon Dauri, a fortified Tartar town of some strength, and in several battles obtained signal advantages. But subsequently the Chinese recovered their ground, and a treaty was entered into by which all the northern bank of the Amur, together with the sole navigation of that river, was assigned to the Chi- nese, and Tobolsk was fixed as the neutral trading ground of the two na- tions. Busily and successfully as Shun-che was engaged in war, he seems to have been by no means insensible to the importance of the arts of peace. The Portuguese and other missionaries and scholars who, in de- spite of almost innumerable obstacles, had by this time settled themselves in China, in considerable numbers, found at the hands of this warlike monarch a degree of friendship and patronage highly creditable to him. He not only prevented them from being subjected to any annoyance, but even appointed one of them, Adam Scluial, to the post of superintendant of mathematics, a post at that time, of some importance in Germany, and one that gave opportunity, of which Sehaal in the next reign very skilfully availed himself, of obtaining the highest influence in the state. Shun-che, though an energetic man, as is evident by his warlike achieve- ments, and a sensible man, as we may judge both from the favour he showed to learned foreigners, and the readiness with which he accepted of their instruction in many branches of learning, was, at the same time somewhat of a sensualist. Towards the close of his life he devoted an undue por'ion of his time to pleasure, and his death, which took place in 1661, is said to have occurred througli excess of grief, occasioned by the death of a favourite concubine; of which, had we not so many instances on record of human inconsistency, one would have supposed it impossible for a man of his stern and martial nature to be guilty. Kang-he, who now ascended the throne, was a minor ; four principal personages of the empire forming the regency. The German, Sehaal, was appointed to the important post of principal tutor, isuch was the influence Sehaal acquired in this position, that he was virtually for some time prime minister of China. But the abilities of Sehaal and the other missionaries, though they could raise them to power and influence, could not guard them from envy. The Chinese literati, and even the regents themselves, at length became excited to anger by the very learning they had availed themselves of, and by the influence it procured for the foreign- ers, through Sehaal; for among the many services he had rendered to the state, it is said that on one occasion he actually preserved Macao from destruction. But envy was afoot, the most absurd charges were made against the missionaries, and they were at length deprived of all employ- ment, while many of them were loaded with chains and thrown into pri- son. Sehaal, who was now far advanced in years and very infirm, sank beneath his afflictions soon after their commencement, and died at the age of seventy-nine. It is much to the credit of the young emperor that he THE TREASURY OP HISTORY. 373 had so well profited by the instructions of his foreign friends, that as soon as he attained his majority he restored them to their influence and appoint- ments, the place of the deceased Schaal being bestowed upon the mis- sionary Verbeist. We must, perhaps, blame rather the barbarous cruelty of his time and country, when we add, that on discovering- that his four guardians and regents of the empire were the chief instigators of thedis grace and suffering that had been inflicted on the missionaries, he con- firmed the horrid decree of the tribunal, which sentenced not only the offenders, but also their unfortunate families, to be cut into a thousand pieces. We have previously alluded to the skill and courage evinced by the general Woo San-quei when the Mantchoo Tartars and the rebels caused so much misery to the empire ; when the Mantchoo Tartars, after aiding him in putting down the rebels, had fairly established the Mantchoo dy- nasty upon the throne, the general was appointed governor of Kweichow and Yun-nan. His position in the north-west of the empire, discontent with his command, distinguished as it was, added, perhaps, to a natural restlessness and love of warfare, caused him now to levy war upon the neighbouring places. His military skill and his great resources speedily enabled him to make himself master of the southern and western pro- vinces. His success was at once so great and so rapid, that the emperor and his court were thrown into consternation, and Verbeist, who among his numerous abilities included that of a founder of great guns, was ap- plied to to superintend the casting of some. From some inexplicable motives he declined. To suppose a religious scruple, in the case of men so ambitious as the missionaries had shown themselves, and so pliable as they had been in far less justifiable courses on the part of the court, is difficult; and yet on no other ground can we reconcile Verbiest's refusal on this occasion with his sanity. Certain it is that he not only refused, but persisted in so doing, until significant hints showed him that his life would not be safe did he not comply with the emperor^s wishes. Can- non were then cast, and the speedy consequence was, that Woo San-quei, who, probably, would in a brief space have been master of the capitaland the throne, was beaten back within safe limits. Woo San-quei, after an- other unsuccessful endeavour at usurping the empire, died in 1679, and vvas succeeded in what remained of his power, by his son, who shortly after put an end to his own life. In 1680 the Mongol Tartars assailed the emperor, but the cannon with which European skill in the great game of manslaughter had furnished him, enabled him to beat off these enemies with greater ease. He had the same success over the Elenths on the north-western frontier of the empire. Successful in war by the aid of the missionaries, he was no less so in commerce : the czar, Peter the Great, would in all probability, but for their mediation, have been prevented from concluding a peace with China; and though the commercial advantages which resulted from that peace were not immediate, they were vast and certain. As a whole, the reign of this emperor may be considered by far the noblest of all spoken of in his country's annals. As a military sovereign he will bear comparison even with the daring and hardy Kublai; while, like England's Elizabeth, he had the rare merit — scarcely inferior to genius itself — of skill in dis- covering genius, and of steady support to ministers possessing it, regard- less of court intrigue and court jealousies. Canton, in his reign, even more than it has ever been in our time, was a port open to all nations, and by commerce with all nations was China enriched ; and his people had real cause for grief when he died, in the year 1722. Yung-ching, who now ascended the throne, began his reign by an act which held ou' but little hopes that he would distinguish himself by wis- dom like that of his predecessor. It has been seen that in the preceding 374 THE TliEASUKY Ol'^ HISTORY. reign the missionaries had performed the most important services. In doing so, and in enjoying the high imperial favour wljich those services se- cured to them, it was to be expected that they should incur many enmi- ties; and had the new emperor been as wise as his predecessor, to such enmities would he have attributed the host of complaints which now as- sailed his ears. But the emperor was at least equal to any man in his vast dominions in fierce and bigoted hatred of Christianity ; and he gladly received and im|)licitly listened to all complaints against the missionaries and their native converts, who at tiiis time probably numbered a quarter of a million. Orders were issued for the expulsion oftlie whole of the mis- sionaries, with the exception of a few whose mathematical attainments ren- dered their services of the utmost consequence to the court; and there were a few siieltered at the imminent risk of both parties by the more zealous of their pupils, and thus enabled to evade the edict and in some measure to preserve the leading truths of their teaching among the na- tive converts. IJut it was a very insignificant number of these mission- aries that remained in China owing to both these causes, and the whole of their chapels and stations were either sacked and destroyed by fero- cious mobs, converted into public offices, or perverted to idolatrous wor- ship. The excessive violence which this emperor displayed toward the catholic missionaries caused the king of Portugal in 1726 to dispatch an embassy to the emperor on their behalf. The ambassadors were received with distinction ; but, though general promises were given even with profusion, the converts to Christianity derived not the slighesl practical benefit from their interference on their behalf. The persecution of Chris- tianity in China was, indeed, no exception to the general rule — for the more the persecution raged, the more numerous did the proselytes be- come. It would seem that the errors of their heathenism were in too many cases blended by the converts with the truths they were taught by the missionaries ; and even the most intelligent of the higher classes were seen to worship the images of sanits, as formerly they had had wor- shipped the idols of their native superstition. Christian charity demands that we should attribute this unfortunate confusion of ideas to the obsti- nate and ineradicable superstition of the converts, rather than to neglect or design on the part of the teachers. Unhappily, in the year 172G a new and more terrible persecution took place. Both torture and imprisonment, the former in most cases ter- minating, after the most frightful agonies, in the death of the sufferers, were now resorted to in every corner of the land where a Christian could be discovered. Deep policy, however, was mixed up with the vengeful spirit; and to avoid the persecution it was only necessary to declare re- conversion to Confucius or Buddha. It may easily be supposed that, un- der such circumstances, the number of Christians was, nominally, at least, soon reduced to a mere handful. One of the causes of this terrible persecution was a dreadful famine which occurred in the previous year, and which was still attributed to the sin of conversion to Christianity. With the usual inconsistency of fanaticism, it was quite overlooked, that of the hundreds of thousands who perished, not one in a thousand had ever even heard of Christianity. The year 1730 was marked by an event which Yung-ching's worst flatterers could not, after his two terrible persecutions of the Christians, venture to attribute to any undue encouragement of the new faith. The whole province of Pecheli — in which Pekin is situated — was shaken by an earthquake. The imperial city was for the most part laid in ruins ; and the emperor, who was at the tin)e walking in the garden, was vio- lently thrown to the ground. In Pekin alone upwards of ten thousand souls perished by this lamentable occurrence, and at least thrice that number in other parts of the province. The emperor distributed upwards THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 375 of a quarter of a million of money for the relief of the survivors. The bigotry and cruelly of this prince can scarcely be excused on the plea of being ill-advised, for it is certain that he was personally aware of the great Denefits that tlie calumniated and persecuted missionaries had conferred upon his people. The best that can be said of this reign is, that it was a peaceful one ; and tlie interval of peace would have been infinitely more valuable than it was, had tlic Christians and their foreign and highly in- lellig nt instructors been allowed to improve it to the best advantage. He died in the year 173.5. The throne was now filled by Keen-lung; whose first act was to recall the princes and courtiers wlio had been banished by his father. This done, he put down some revolts among the Elenths and other tribes on the north-western frontiers. Probably it was the vigour with which he executed this latter measure, that caused a deputation to be sent from Russia to settle the disputes which were perpetually breaking out as to the trade between the two countries. Ragusinki, who was at the head of the Russian embassy, acquitted himself with so much address, that he obtained a treaty by which a Russian caravan, not to exceed two hundred in number, was to visit China for the purposes of trade once in every three years ; a church was to be erected ; and a hmited number of Rus- sians were to take up their permanent abode in the Chinese capital for the purpose of acquiring the language. In this treaty, which is called "the treaty of Kiachta," the Chinese authorities, urged no doubt by sound considerations of mercantile profit, conceded much, yet they could not forbear from giving one characteristic specimen of their extreme jealousy of their national polity. Thus, though a caravan was permitted to visit the capital, it was to halt upon the frontiers until the arrival of the proper officer to conduct it through the emperor's people. The next important event of this reign was the expedition sent by the emperor in 1767 against the Burmese. This expedition seems to have originated wholly in the most wanton lust of war on the part of the Chi- nese, who, in the sequel, were very deservedly punished. An army of above 100,000 men marched into Burmah; but no regular army appeared to oppose its progress. As it penetrated farther, however, every foot oi country, and especially wdiere swamp or jungle rendered the route natu- rally more difficult, had to be traversed with active and daring hordes of guerillas hovering upon its rear and flanks, cutting off stragglers, pour- ing down suddenly upon weak detachments or divisions — such as the very nature of the country made inevitable ; and, in short, acting witli such efficient destructiveness, that the Chinese lost upwards of .50,000 men without coming to a general engagement ! Incredible as it would see;:) m European warfare, of the immense army of 100,000 men, only 2,000 returned to China — the rest were all killed or taken prisoners ; and all in the latter category were naturalized and settled in Burmah. Even this horrible loss of life did not prevent the emperor from persisting in his un- just scheme. He sent a still greater force under his favourite general A-quei, who was as fond of war and as ferocious as himself. Choosing what he thought a less dilKicult line of march, A-quei had scarcely entered the Burmese territory when he found that if he had fewer human enemies to contend against than his predecessor, he had a still more deadly anfl irresistible enemy, the jungle fever. He saw his men perish around him by thousands, and he was glad to hasten from the deadly place with even a diminished army, rather than remain to see it wholly annihilated. And the result of all this loss was, that China was obliged to agree to a treaty which confined her dominion within her natural frontier, thereby giving to Burmah rich gold and silver mines which otherwise would have remained undisputed in the possession of China. Keen-Lung was engaged in several minor warfares originating in en- gy^ Tfiilf. TBJEAe^Up^y OF IfI8TO|lY. d^T^vouf? pf , the iiiort; tlistaiit northern aud western tribes to throw of! their yoke. The ]\Iuhoinetau Tartars, a brave and bigoted race, made an inroad into the pnjvinco of Shen-si ; A-quej, who was sent against them, callqU upon them to surrertder the city in which they had entrenched iheiuselvt's, and, on being jrofused, took it by storm, and put every human being he found witliia the W4LIS tp the sword, save a few of the chiefs whom he sent to cvurt. Thq; emperor, whose blood-thirsty nature was such tliat he was accustomed to have criminals tortured in his presence, ordered these unhappy cliicfs to be tortured before his assembled court, and tJien cut to peices and thrown to the dogs ! Not content with this sanguinary act, the monster gave orders to A-quci to march upon the l^Iahometan Tarlilrs, and put all to the sword who were above fifteen years of age. Mauy, very many, rebellions took place during this reign; among them was that of the jXiople of the island of Formosa. The man- darins wi»o acted as viceroys in this island were guilty of the most Bhameful exactions and cruelties. On one occasion they put to death a mandarin who had j|l-lreated them. The viceroy of Fuh-keen, being commissioued to avenge the death of the mandarin, sailed to the island and sacrificed victims to his manes, witliout regard to the guilt or inno- (?once of those ho immolated. The Formosans soon became so enraged that they rose en masse, butchered every Chinese and Tartar in the island, and were only at length induced to return to their yoke — after having bravely beaten off the miperial fleet — on being indemnilied for their losses, and assuredwigaiiist a recurrence of the tyranny of which they complain- edt ,;A6 thpug^i fairly wearied out willi the strife of sixty years of perpet- ual /VyarfareSi Keen-lung abdicated the throne in favour of his son Kea- king., Tijojugh he never personally commanded his armies, he caused more bloodshed than probably any modern commander, with the excep- tion of Napoleon. Kear'king's first use of his power was to renew those persecutions of the catholics, which, in the last reign, had seemed to be falling into disuetude. Torture and death were the fate of many ; still more were sentenced to wear the cangou or wooden collar during their lives, or were banished to Tarlary, which last was a singularly impolitic punishment, as the Tartars needed no discontented men to incite them to revolt. A rebel- lion of a very threatening nature, inasmuch as some members of the imperial family, and other principal persons were concerned in it, was planned in 1803. By some fortunate accident, or, still more probably through the treachery of some of the confederates, the plot was discover- ed ere it was ripe for execution. Many of the principal conspirators were put to death, and others only escaped to suffer the confiscation of their property, which was peculiarly acceptable to the almost empty treasury of the emperor. In 1793 Lord Macartney was sent by George III. as ara- bassdor to China, to endeavour to establish trade with that country upon a better and surer footing, and more especially to obtain for the British factory a cessation of the insolence and extortion of the viceroy of Canton. The embassy was productive of but little good effect. The insolent and extortionate viceroy was recalled, it is true, but his predecessor w as not long in office ere he went far beyond him in both of those bad qualities. The ambassador was blamed at home for having been too high and un- bending in his demeanour ; but the truth is, that the time had not come for a proper understanding to exist between the Chinese and any Euro- pean nation. When in 1808 it was feared that Bonaparte would aim at the eastern trade of Great Britain, Admiral Drury was ordered to Macao : but aftei much wordy disputation between the Chinese authorities there and the admiral, the latter retired after a slight collision. The Chinese pretend- ed to have gained a great victory, a magniloquent account of the same THE TREASUPcY OF lilSTOFtY. 377 was sent to Pekin, and a pagoda actually erected to comniemcrate it. In 1816 another ambassador, Lord Amherst, was sent to China, but his mission was to the full as unsatisfactory as that of Lord Macartney. It was about this time that the opium speculation began to grow to some- thing ]ilme of age. By this murder the crown passed to the family of Jejassama, in which it still continues. The Japanese must be placed rather among the polished nations than otherwise. Their mode of government, their skill in agriculture, in man- ufactures, arts, and sciences — their politeness, good-natire, prudence, frankness, and courage — entitle them to this distinction. 'J'hey seem to possess nothing of the vanity of Asiatics and Africans; but 9re careful only to provide themselves, from the productions of their own country, with those necessaries and comforts of life, so desirable to enlightened liuman beings. The language of the Japanese has some a\\'rvity io th«» THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 381 Chinese ; though it appears, from its various dialects, to have been a kind of compound of that and other languages, derived from the various nations that first peopled these islands. Their manner of writing, and their ar- chitecture, are similar to those of China. The internal trade of Japan is very extensive, and their industry will bear comparison v/ith that of the Hindoos, or even Chinese. Foreign commerce, however, is vigorously opposed by the government, in conse- quence of the supposed Portuguese treachery before mentioned, and the attempts of the Jesuit misionaries to Christianize the people. The num- ber of Dutch vessels allowed to come each year, and the quantity of each descrip-tion of wares to be sold, are strictly defined. The ships, immedi- ately on their arrival, are strictly searched, and the crews are kept, during their stay in port, completely secluded from the natives ; while all the business transactions are conducted by the Japanese, who also unload and re-load the vessels. Nay, so rigid are they in preventing their subjects from having intercouse with other nations, that it is a capital offence for the natives of Japan to travel into other countries ; and their seamen even, when accidentally cast on foreign shores, are, on their return, sub- jected to vigorous examination, and sometimes tedious imprisonment, to purify them from the supposed pollution contracted abroad. The cautious and ceremonious way in which the Japanese transact their business with the Dutch merchants is thus described : — About the time when the Dutch ships are expected, several outposts are stationed on the highest hills by the government ; and they are provided with telescopes, and when seen at a distance, notice is given to the governor of Nagasaki. As soon as they anchor in the harbour, officers go on board with interpre- ters, to whom is delivered a chest, in which all the sailors' books, the muster-roll of the whole crew, six small barrels of powder, six barrels of balls, six muskets, six bayonets, six pistols, and six swords, are deposited. This is supposed to be the whole remaining ammunition, after the imperial garrison has been saluted. These things are conveyed on shore, and housed; but returned again on the day the ship quits the harbour. The beginning of the year is the time observed for holidays, or days of leisure and enjoyment; and at this time the ceremony of trampling on images, representing the cross, and the virgin and child, is performed. The images are of copper, about a foot long. This ceremony is intended to impress every individual with hatred of the Christian doctrine, and the Portuguese, who attempted to introduce it ; and also to discover whether any remnant of it is left among the Japanese. It is performed in the places where the Christians chiefly resided. In Nagasaki it lasts four days ; then the images are carried to circumjacent places, and afterward are laid aside till the next year. Every person, except the Japanese go- vernor and his attendants, even the smallest child, must be present. The population of Japan is supposed to exceed fifty millions. The army in time of peace consists of one hundred thousand infantry, and twenty thousand cavalry : the force during the war being increased by levies from the different provinces to four hundred thousand infantry, and forty thousand cavalry. The arms used by the former are the musket, pike, bow, sabre, and dagger ; those of the mounted troops, being the lance, sabre, and pistol. Their artillery is very inconsiderable. THE EAST INDIA ISLANDS. CEYLON. Ceylon is a large island of the East Indies, separated from the conti- leni by the Gulf of Manaar and Talk's Straits, near the southern extrem- ity of Hindostan. It is two hundred and fifty miles in length from north to south, and averages about one hundred in breadth. The conquest of this island was the first attempt of Albuquerque, the celebrated Portu- guese admiral. He found it well peopled, and inhabited by two different nations ; the Bedas in the north, and the Cinglasses, or Singalese, in the south. The former were very barbarous; but the latter in some state of civilization. These, however, derived great advantage from the mines of precious stones, and also from their pearl fishery, the greatest in the East. It is said that the proper name of the island is Singhala, and that part of the population called Singalese have a tradition that their ancestors came thither from the eastward nearly two thousand four hundred years ago; but many authors suppose them to be a colony of Singhs or Raj- poots, who arrived five hundred years b. c. From the ruins of cities, tanks, aqueducts, canals, bridges, temples, &c., at Trincomalee and other places, Ceylon has evidently been at some remote period a rich, populous, and comparatively civilized country. The Portuguese not only conquered, but tyrannized over them to such a degree, that tfiey assisted the Dutch in expelling them from the island in 1658, after a bloody and obstinate war, by which all the Portuguese settlements fell into the hands of the Dutch East India Company. The wars with the king of Candy, the most potent, if not the sole sov- ereign of the island, were very detrimental to Holland. In a sanguinary war, which ended in 1766, the Ceylonese monarch was driven from his capital, and the Dutch made a very advantageous treaty. Their sovereignty was acknowledged all over those parts of the country they possessed be- fore the war, and that part of the coasts held by the natives was ceded to them. They were allowed to gather cinnamon in all the plains; and the court stipulated to sell them the best sort, which is produced in the mountains, at a very moderate price. The government also engaged to have no connection with any foreign power, and even to deliver up any Europeans who might happen to come into the island. In return for so many concessions the king was to receive annually the value of the pro- duce of the ceded coasts ; and from thence his subjects were to be fur- nished, gratis, with as much salt as they had occasion for. Matters w ere in this situation wdien the English attacked the Dutch in 1794, and con- quered Trincomalee, and all their settlements in the island ; and it after- ward became a part of the price of the peace of Amiens in favour of England. The English had no sooner taken possession, than they unhappily were involved in a war with the king of Candy, owing to some misunderstanding relative to certain articles of commerce ; and the lives of many brave men were sacrificed to it ; rather, however, by the treachery and bad faith o( the Ceylonese king and his minister, than by fair and h'.)nnurable warfare. The population of Ceylon, independently of the col., .iist? wlio have ai THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 383 rarious times possessed themselves of the coasts, consist of — 1st, the na- tive Singalese or Ceylonese, one branch occupying the Candyan territo- ries, and the other the coasts; 2nd, the Veddahs, or aborigines, who, in an ahn(^st savage state, inhabited the mountainous regions and unexplored fastnesses ; 3rd, the Moors, who are found in all parts of the island ; and 4th, the Malabar and other Hindoos, who dwell chiefly on the northern and eastern coasts. Of all these races the Candyan Ceylonese differ least from Europeans in form, feature, and physical power. The Singa- lese are more timid and effeminate; but it may be observed that although some assume a haughty and independent bearing, yet indolence, deceit, and revenge are the generally prevailing qualities of these islanders. There are also some Caffres and Javanese, a few Chinese and Parsee tra- ders, and a considerable number of English, Dutch, and Portuguese; besides a hybrid population from the intermixiure of all these and the native races. I'iie upper classes among the Singalese profess Christianity, and many are converts to Mohammedanism ; but the general religion is Buddhism. The government is vested in the hands of a British governor, assisted by a council of European civil servants ; but all laws, before being acted upon, are published in the official gazette, for their general diffusion and translation into the native languages. SUMATRA. Sumatra is a large island in the Indian Ocean, being, next to Borneo, the largest in the eastern seas. It is about one thousand miles in length, from north-west to south-east; but in general, not more than one hundred and fifty in breadth. This is the first of the islands which form the great East India Archipelago; and it is separated from the peninsula beyond the Ganges by the straits of Malacca ; which is the usual passage from the bay of Bengal and the Coromandcl coast to Borneo or China, and, consequently to the Gulf of Siam, Cambodia, Cochin China and the Gulf of Tonquin. Gold dust is an article of considerable trafl[ic, and is brought by mer- chants from the interior to the sea-coast, where it is bartered for iron tools, and various kinds of East Indian and European manufactures of silk, cotton, broad-cloths, &,c. But the most valuable and important produc- tion of the island is pepper, the average produce of which at this time is supposed to amount t > thirty millions of pounds a year. Tumeric, cas- sia, ginger, coffee, aiTd many kinds of scented woods are also produced here. After the capture of the Moluccas by the British, in 1796, the nut- meg and clove were introduced at Bencoolen, but though large quantities were raised, the quality was inferior to similar products obtained from Amboyna and the Banda isles. The Sumatran camphor is in high esti- mation. Cocoa-nut, betel, bamboo, sugar-cane, various palms, and an abundance of tropical fruits, are indigenous. At Bencoolen, on the west side of Simiatra, is the English factory, be- longing to the East India Company. The factory was once entirely de- serted, through the frequent quarrels and bickerings of the natives and the English ; and had not the former found that trade decreased in conse- quence of the absence of the latter, they never would have been invited tc settle there again. 381 THE TREASURY OF IlIBTORY. PRINCE OF WALES' ISLAND. Prince of Wales' Island, or Pulo Penany, is situated ia the straits of Malacca, about two miles from Hk; west coast of the Malay peninsula. The India Company in 17B1, came to the resolution of establishing a set- tlement there. The island is about seventeen miles lonj(, by ten broad : its northern extremity runs nearly parallel with tlie mam land, at a dis- tance of about two miles, by whicii a fine channel is formed, where the largest fleet may ride in perfect safety; the height of the surrounding mountains acting as a barrier against the force of the prevailing winds. In fact, the advantages attending this island, both in a political and com- mercial view, arc obvious. JAVA. Java is a large island, extending in length nearly seven hundred mlle^, and averaging in breadth ninety ; and it is separated from Sumatra by the strait of Sunda. Toward the close of the sixteenth century, Cornelius Houtman, a Dutchman, conducted four vessels to Java by the Cape of Good Hope ; and his prudence procured him an interview with the princi pal king of the island ; but the Portuguese created him some enemies. Having got the better in several skirmishes in which he was engaged, he returned with his small squadron to Holland, where, though he brought but little wealth, he raised much expectation. He brought away some Negroes, Chinese, and inhabitants of Malabar; a native of Malacca, a Ja- panese, and Abdul, a pilot of the Guzerat, a man of great abilities, and perfectly acquainted with the coasts of India. The account given by Houtman encouraged the merchants of Amster-! dam to form the plan of a settlement at Java, which, at the same time thai it would throw the pepper trade into their hands, Vvfould place them also near the islands that produce the more valuable spices, and facilitate theii communication with China and Japan. Admiral Van Neck was therefore sent on this important expedition with eight vessels, and arrived safe at Java, where he found the inhabitants prejudiced against his natioii. They fought and negotiated by turns. At length they were permitted to trade, and, in a short time, loaded four vessels with spices and linens, i The ad- miral, with his fleet, sailed to the Moluccas, where he learned that the natives of the country had forced the Portuguese to abandon some of ithe places in which they had settled, and that they only waited fora fiivour- able opportunity of expelling them from the rest. He establisheti facto- ries in several of these islands, entered into a treaty:with sokHeiof j^fe* kings, and returned to Europe laden with riches. ■ ^ ''[• ;;■ i ^^:: -t 'i'^'- In 1602, the states-general formed the Dutch India Cotripany-'-'tt was invested with authority to make peace or war with the eastern princes^to erect forts, maintain garrisons, and to nominate officers for 'the condiiGtof the police and the administration of justice. The company, which had no parallel in antiquity, and was the pattern of all succeeding societies of the kind, set out with great advantages; and, soon after itsi^tatelish- ment, they fitted out for India fourteen ships and some y^chte, tindei'' thb' command of Admiral Warwick, whom the Hdlland-ers Wf)ktip6n ttg! the founder of their commerce, and of their colonies, in the East. He bufll a factory in this island, and secured it by fortifications. He had frequent engagements with the Portuguese, in which he generally came oft' victo- rious. A sanguinary war was the consequence of these hostilities be- tween the two nations, in which the Dutch were successful. THE TREASURY OF HISTORY, 385 Batavia, which, from a small beginning, has become the capital of ali the Dutch possessions in India, has one of the best and safest harbours in the world. The city is surrounded by a rampart twenty-one feet in thickness, covered on the outside with stone, and fortified with twenty-two bastions. This rampart is environed by a ditch, fort)'-lhree yards over, and full of water. The river Jucutra runs through the midst of tlie city, and forms fifteen canals of running water, adorned with evergreens. The inhabitants consist of Dutch, French, Portuguese, Javanese, Chinese, Malays, Negroes, and many others. Coffee, sugar and spices are produced here in great abundance : and, together, it may be said to be one of the most valuable colonies belonging to any European nation. The island was taken by a British force from India in 1811, and held till 1616, when it was restored to the Dutch. BORNEO. Borneo is one of the largest islands in the world, being fifteen hundred miles in circumference. It is seated under the equator, and occupies near- ly the centre of the eastern archipelago. The west and north-east sides of it are a desert, and the east is comparatively little known- The inland parts are mountainous ; and the south-east, for many leagues together, is an unwholesome morass. The Portuguese, who first discovered Borneo, had been in the Indies thirty years before they knew anything of it more than the name and its situation, by reason of their frequently passing by its coast. At length Captain Edward Corral had orders to examine it witli attention. From thence becoming acquainted with its worth, they made frequent voyages thither. They found the coast inhabited by Malayan Moors, wiio had cer- tainly established themselves there by conquest ; but the interior and part of the north-west coast are peopled by a savage race, believed to be the aborigines, and called Dyaks. They use long shallow canoes hollowed out of a single tree ; and kill wild animals for their food, by shooting them with arrows blown through a tube. They wear very little clothinp,, and have all the habits and superstitions of the most savage tribes. Borneo is rich in valuable minerals, and it is the only island of the eastern archi- pelago where diamonds are found. The climate is similar to that of Ceylon, and those parts of the island which are under cultivation are de- cidedly fertile. CELEBES. This is a large island, under the equator ; the length and breath have not been accurately computed ; but the circumference, taken at a medium, is about eight hundred miles. The principal Dutch settlement is Macas- sar, which contains Fort Rotterdam, the residence of the governor: they have also a fort at a place called Jampandam. There are several independent tribes or nations of Celebes, each hav- ing their peculiar form of government. Among them the Tuwadju tribe, inhabiting the body of the island, are distinguished as an enterprising and ingenious people. Thefts, robberies, and murder are common witliail the tribes. The island was taken by the British in 1814, but restored to Hol- land in 1816. 25 38fi THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. THE MOLUCCAS, OR SPICE ISLANDS. These consist of Amboyna, Ternate, Fedor, Motyr, Cilolo, and several other small islands. The Portuguese were the first Europeans who pos- sessed them, but were obliged to share their advantages with the Spaniards, and at length to give up the trade almost entirely to them. These two na- tions joined to oppose the Dutch in their first attempts to gain a settlement; but the Dutch, assisted by the natives of the country, by degrees gained the superiority. The ancient conquerors were driven out about the year 1615, and their place supplied by others equally avaricious, though less turbulent. As soon as the Dutch had established themselves in the Moluccas, they endeavoured to get the exclusive trade of spices into their own hands ; an advantage which the nations they had just expelled were never able to pro- cure. They skilfully availed themselves of the forts they had taken, and those they had erected, to draw the kings of Ternate and Tydor, who were masters of this archipelago, into their schemes. These princes, for ■A small sum of money, (little more than c£3000) agreed to root out all the clovu and nutmeg trees in the islands under their dominions ; and a garrison of seven hundred men was appointed to secure the performance •f the treaty. At Amboyna they engrossed the whole cultivation of cloves. They allotted to the inhabitants four thousand parcels of land, on each of which they were compelled to plant one hundred and twenty-five trees, amount- ing, in the whole, to five hundred thousand : and the collective produce averages about one million of pounds. Amboyna is about thirty-two miles long and ten broad, and is divided into two parts, a greater and a lesser peninsula : the former is called Hiton, and the latter, Letymor. The massacre of the English at Amboyna, by the Dutch, in 1621, was attended with much cruelty. We have before observed, that the Dutch dispossessed the Portuguese of Amboyna in 1615. They did not, how ever, become masters of the island at once. The English had here five factories, and lived under the protection of the Dutch castle; holding themselves safe, in respect of the friendship existing between the two nations. But great differences arose between the English and Dutch colonists; at length a treaty was concluded, in 1619, by which the con- cerns of both were regulated, and certain measures agreed upon for pre- venting future disputes. Some short time after, the Dutch pretended that the English and Amboynese had formed a conspiracy to dispossess them of one of their forts. The plot, it was alleged, had been discovered by a Japanese and Portuguese in the English service, who were most inhu- manly tortured into such confessions as their cruel inquisitors thought proper. Upon this evidence, they immediately accused the English fac- tors of the pretended conspiracy. Some of them they imprisoned ; and others they loaded with irons, and sent on board their ships ; seizing at the same time all the English merchandise, with their writings and books. These acts of violence were followed by a scene of horror unexampled in the punishment of offenders. The torments to which they put the inno- cent factors, are too shocking to relate ; and those who did not die under the agonies of pain, were consigned to the executioner. The whole of the transaction affords testimony that the Hollanders did it with no other view, than of monopolizing the trade of the Spice Islands. They acted a similar tragedy at Poleron, about the same time, where they put to the torture one hundred and sixty-two of the natives, whom they likewise charged v/iih a pretended conspiracy. Until the French revolutionary war, then, the Dutch enjoyed in peace these invaluable islands, v^hea Amboyna, and the other Moluccas, submitted to the English THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 387 THE BANDA, OR NUTMEG ISLES. The Banda Isles is the general name of twelve small islands in the East Indian Archipelago. Two of them are uncultivated, and almost uninhabited ; the other three claim the distinction of being the only islands in the world that prodcce the nutmeg. If we except this valuable spice, the islands of Banda are barren to a dreadful degree. The land will not produce any kind of corn, and the pith of the sago serves the natives of ihe country instead of bread. This is the only settlement in the East Indian isles, that can he con- sidered as a European colony : because it is the only one where the Eu- ropeans are proprietors of lands. The Dutch company finding that the inhabitants of Banda were savage, cruel, and treacherous, because they were impatient under their yoke, resolved to exterminate them : and their possessions were divided among the people, who procured slaves from some of the neighbouring islands to cultivate the lands. The climate of Banda is particularly unhealthy ; on which account the company attempted to transfer the culture of the nutmeg to Amboyna : but all the experiments that have been made have proved unsuccessful. The Banda Islands were discovered by the Portuguese in 1512, and colonized in 1524; but were taken by the Dutch in 1599. The English possessed themselves of them in 1810, but restored them to the Dutch in 1814. THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. The Philippine Islands are a large group belonging to the eastern archi- pelago, the principal of which is Luzon, a long, irregular, and narrov/ island. They were discovered by Magellan, in 1521, who called them the archipelago of St. Lazarus, as the discovery was made on that saint's day. But they were subjected, or rather part of them, to the Spaniards, by Don Louis de Velasco, in 1564, in the reign of Philip IK, and derive their present name from him. The natives are supposed to be of Chinese extraction. Manilla, the capital of the island of Luzon, and all the Philippines, is situated on the south-east part of the island, where a large river falls into the sea, and forms a noble bay, thirty leagues in compass. On the 6th of October, 1762, the English under General Draper and Admiral Cornish, took Manilla by storm, after a siege of twelve days; but, to save so fine a city from destruction, they agreed to accept a ransom, amounting to a million of pounds sterling, part of which, it is said, was never paid. THE HISTORY OF PALESTINE, AND, MORE PARTICULARLY OF THE JEWS. By the various names of Hebrews, Israelites, or Jews, were this most illustrious people of ancient limes known, who dwelt in the land thee 388 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY, called Canaan. Contrary to the obscurity in which the origin of other nations is veiled, we have the evidence of Holy Writ for the rise, progress, decline and fall of the Jews. They deduced their descent from Arphax ad the son of Shem ; and we have it on record that Abraham, the sixth in descent from lOber, the grandson of Arphaxad, dwelt in Assyria, but re- moved into Canaan or Palestine, with liis family, to the intent that the true religion of Cod should be preserved by them, his "chosen people" amid the corruptions of the idolaters by whom they were surrounded. The period of which we are now speaking was about two thousand years before the birth of Christ. At that time the inhabitants of Meso- potamia and Syria appear to have been partly nomadic, or wandering, like the Tartars or Scythians ; for we find that Abraham and his descend- ants sojourned in diflerent parts of Canaan and I'^gypt, until the time of their protracted residence in the latter country. Abraham at his death transmitted the inheritance of the " promised land" to his son Isaac ; and Isaac was succeeded in the patriarchate by his younger son Jacob, also called Israel. .lacob had twelve sons; the descendants of whom remain- ing distinct, constituted the twelve tribes of the Israelites in after-time. Joseph, the youngest but one of these sons, having unconsciously excited tlie jealousy of the rest, was sold by them as a slave, to some Arabian merchants, and carried into Egypt ; there, as we read, he became known to the king, and was made his chief minister; and in a time of famine, for which his foresight had provided, l:e was the happy means of provid- ing his aged father and the whole of his family an asylum in the fertile district of Goshen (b, c. 1702). The pathetic and interesting story of " Joseph and his brethren," as narrated in the Bible, requires no comment in this place; but, we may, perhaps, be allowed slightly to digress, in order to illustrate the case of Joseph's memorable rise from the condition of a slave to that of the chief ruler of Pharaoh's household. European notions of slavery very natural- ly picture to the mind all that is horrible, cruel, and revolting; and it would seem next to an impossibility that, by any chance, one so helpless and degraded as a slave could become an officer of trust, or — more won- derful still — the chief minister and adviser of a monarch of a mighty king- dom. It is, however, remarked by Marshal Marmont, who some years ago travelled through Turkey, &c., and who evidently paid great atlen- Jion to the condition of the people, i\nd the customs of the countries he visited, that slaves in the East are far from being in the condition we might suppose ; and it is therefore net unreasonable to believe that the kindness with which they are treated at the present day is derived from immemorial custom. He observes, "the most docile slave rejects with indignation any order that is not personally given him by his master; and he feels himself placed immeasurably above the level of a free or hired servant. He is a child of the house ; and it is not unusual to see a Turk entertain so strong a predilection for a slave he has purchased, as to prefer him to his own son. He often overloads him with favors, gives him his confidence, and raises his position ; and, when the master is powerful, opens to his slave the path of honour and public employment." As peaceful dwellers in the rich and fertile valleys of Goshen, the Is- raelites in process of time became sufficiently numerous to excite the en vious alarm of the Egyptians; and they accordingly underwent many persecutions, until the Almighty raised up Moses as their deliverer. The* miracles he was empowered to work, the murmurings and backsiidings of the people, their idolatrous propensities, and all other particulars relative to them while travelling through the parched and arid deserts of Arabia, form interesting portions of the sacred volume ; we shall therefore pass on briefly to the death of Moses, and the delegation of power to Joshua, the acknowledged chief of the Jewish nation, b. c. 1451. Joshua was THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 359 now ninety-three years of age, and had under his command six hundred thousand men capable of bearing arms, besides the aged and infirm wo- men, children, and servants. On every side were warlike nations, some of them represented as containing men of gigantic stature and immense personal prowess ; their towns were well fortified, and every necessary preparation had been made to repel invasion. The veteran leader was, however, undismayed ; and relying on that protecting Power who had delivered the people from Egyptian bondage, and brought them safely to the frontiers of Canaan, he went on " conquering and to conquer." At length, after subduing the " promised land," and establishing its tranquility he divided it among the twelve tribes ; charging them, at the same time, to give a tenth part of their goods to the tribe of Levi, who were conse- crated solely for the priesthood : and hence proceeds the origin of tithes. Having ruled Palestine as wisely as he had conquered it bravely, and being an hundred and ten years old, the aged warrior resigned his breath. Joshua was no sooner dead than the Jews gave themselves up to anar- chy,by which means they shortly fell under the power of Cushan. king of Mesopotamia. After a servitude of eight years, Othoneel became judge of Israel ; at whose death, Eglon, king of Moab, reduced them to his obedience ; and under his yoke they continued eighteen years. Ehud then ruled as judge of Israel, in whose time they fell under the government of Jabin, king of Canaan, who held them twenty-nine years ; when Deborah and Barak, jointly, judged Israel for thirty-three years. A fourth servi- tude, of seven years, then followed under the Midianites. Then Gideon and his succes.sors, to Jair, ruled Israel as judges tliirty-six years ; when in the fifteenth year of ;rair, the fifth servitude commenced, under the Philistines and the Ammonites. Jephtha succeeded as judge, and was fol- lowed in his office by, Tour successors, the last of whom was Samson, (whose superhuman strength was exerted with such terrible effect on his enemies, the Philistinesj). In his time, however, the Israelites fell again under theii oppressor's yoke, and were ruled by them forty years. Eli then became judge, who being nearly a hundred years old, his two sons, Hophni and Phineas, who acted under him, took advantage of his weak- ness to commit the most profligate abominations. They were, notwith- standing, by no means deficient in bravery : but having sustained a great defeat by the Philistines, in which they lost their lives and the sacred ark, their aged parent was so overcome on hearing the fatal tidings, that he fell backward from his chair and instantly expired. Samuel, at that time but a youth, though divinely inspired, was then chosen judge of Israel ; and during the latter part of his administration, the land was in a more peaceful state than it had been for many previous years. When Samuel had been judge of Israel about twenty years, the people, wishing to imitate the example of their neighbours, demanded that they should have a king to rule over them. Saitiuel accordingly selected Saul for that high office, and on presenting him for their acceptance, " all the people shouted and said, God save the king!" Although many of the Is- raelites were afterwards discontented with having a king who had been their companion and equal, the numerous proofs which Saul gave of his military qualifications checked their murmurs. He attacked and defeated the forces of the different nations who harassed the frontiers of his king- dom, and took signal vengeance of their old and implacable enemies, the Philistines. As a warlike monarch h3 reigned with glory, but put an end *o his life. The judges of Israel are to be considered the defenders of religion, and the protectors of the laws; they decided upon war and peace, and were at all times magistrates and warriors. Saul was succeed£d by David, a shepherd of tne tribe of Judah, under whom the government gained con- siderable strength. He was succeeded by Solomon, his son, celebrated (90 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. for his wisdom and his magnificence : he rendered the people happy by continual peace, and the encouragement of commerce ; he had the repu- tation of being a wise prince, and liis writings and his laws were received and esteemed in the most distant countries, with all that veneration they deserved. His son, Rehoboam. an insensible despot, ruled ihe Israelites with an iron rod. Ten of the tribes separated themselves from the gov- ernment, and chose Jeroboam for their king. Palestine now became two kingdoms ; the one called Judah, and the other Israel. A difference in religion was soon after introduced; that called the Samaritan or Is- raelite, was embraced by the ten tribes; while Judah and Benjamin kept to the ancient usage of their forefathers. Under Ilosea, king of Israel, the ten tribes were carried away captive to Nineveh, by Salmanczer. Nebuchadnezzar very soon placed the peo- ple of Judah in the like unhappy situation of ihe people of Israel. After having conquered Jerusalem, he transported them to Babylon, the capital of his empire. This captivity lasted seventy years, when Cyrus gave them the liberty of returning to their country. Great numbers accepted the offer, conducted by Zerubabel, Nehemiah, and Esdras. They re-built Jerusalem and the temple. They re-established their state, and lived under their own laws, paying a small tribute to the kings of Persia ; and suffered idolatry no more to supplant their devotion to the true God. The Jews were subject to the kings of Persia at the time Alexander made his conquest of that empire. At his death, his vast dominions were divided between his principal captains, and the king of Syria had a part of Judea : but lying, as it were, upon the frontiers of both Syria and Egypt, it suffered severely from alternate invasions. Jerusalem, after the Babylonian captivity, had no particular governors who took upon themselves the title of king; the high priests held the interior administra- tion, and were respected as much as if they had actually been in posses- sion of the the throne. Ptolemy Soter besieged Jerusalem, and carried away one hundred thousand captives, whom he dispersed through Egypt, Libya, and the country about Cyrene, where their posterity for n)any centuries after continued to exist. During this period, Sin)on surnamed the Just, was high-priest ; a man not less remarkable for his merits as a governor, than for his eminent piety. Under his direction the canon of the Old Testa- ment was completed, and thenceforward transmitted to future generations without further revisal : e. c. 202. It was about this time that the sect of the Sadducees arose, who denied the existence of a future state They were, however, inferior in numbers and popularity to the Pharisees, who entertained a decided belief in the resurrection, and in the doctrine of fu- ture rewards and punishments. Under the patronage of Ptolemy Phila- delphus, the Hebrew Scriptures were translated into Greek, for the bene- fit of the Jews residing in Egypt. This version is usually called the Septuagint, because, according to tradition, the translation was entrusted to seventy persons. The situation of the Jews under the Syrians was various. Antiochus Epiphanes, wishing to alter their religious opinions, took the power of the disposal of the high-priesthood into his own hands, which he alternately disposed of, and dispossessed, according to his caprice. He pillaged the temple, and put Eleazer to death ; and also the seven brothers, Maccabees, with their mother. He also caused to be put the sword, on the sabbath- day, all those that had assembled together for the purpose of devotion. This cruel and unjust persecution caused the Jews to rebel: they were headed by Mattathias ; and, after his death, by his son, the celebrated Ju- das Maccabeus, the defender of the religion, and the saviour of his coun- try. That hero being killed in battle, was succeeaed by Jonathan, who united in himself the spiritual and temporal powers. His brother Simou THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 391 succeeded, and was equally celebrated for his wisdom as his virtues, and was the first of his nation who had governed Judea peaceably and abso lately, since tlie return from Babylon. He was killed at a banquet, and was succeeded by his son, John Hyrcanus, who was succeeded by Judas, surnamed Aristobulus, assuming to himself the title of king. Alexander Jannsus was the next king, a hero very little inferior to Da- vid. He left two sons. Hyrcanus and Aristobulus. The former held the sceptre during the life of Alexandra, his mother; but soon after the death of that princess, Aristobulus declared war against his brother, and deprived him of his kingdom. Judea having become a Roman province, Pompey the Great, its con- queror, re-established Hyrcanus* in the government, and took with him Aristobulus to Rome, to heighten the glory of his triumph. Phraales, king of Parthia, deposed Hyrcanus, and put in his place Antigonus, son of Aristobulus. Soon after Herod, surnamed the Great, an Idumean by birth, and patronised by Anthony, obtained permission from the Romans to assume the title of king of the Jews. This prince, although a tyrant to his subjects and to his family, added lustre to the Jewish nation; he repaired Jerusalem, rebuilt the temple, and procured to himself success- ively the favour of Cassius, Caesar, Antony, and Octavius ; augmenting his power by the art which he possessed of pleasing those of whom he held his crown. In this reign Jesus Christ was born. After the death of Herod, Augustus divided the government of Judea be- tween the sons of Herod : he bestowed one half upon Archelaus, and the other half upon Herod-Antipas and Philip. Nine years afterwards, Au- gustus, being dissatisfied with their conduct, sent them into exile, and placed the government of Judea under the pro-consul of Syria. The governors appointed by the Romans over the Jews were for the most part tyrants, which served to strengthen in them the propensity for revolt. They had been taught that a descendant of the house of David should deliver them from oppression; they believed that the time was nearly arrived, and their insolence increased as the fulfilment of the pre- diction, in their opinion, drew near. They were almost in continual se- dition ; and although severely punished for their turbulence, their ardour in a cause wherein they supposed their own liberties, and those of their posterity depended, was not in the least diminished. In the year 66 after Christ, the standard of revolt was set up. Jerusa- lem was besieged by Cestius, whom the Jews compelled to retire. Nero, who was then in Achaia, no sooner heard of that event, than he sent Ves- pasian into Palestine, for the purpose of effecting that conquest which Cestius had been found unequal to obtain. Vespasian, who had already distinguished himself in Germany and Britain, entered this devoted coun- try with a well-disciplined army; and as he encountered everywhere a fierce resistance, he put to the sword men, women, and children. All the cities and towns that lay in the way of his march, were taken and plun- dered. Those persons who escaped the cruelty of the conqueror, fled to Jerusalem, then in the hands of two furious parties, each of whom perse- cuted their opponents with unfeeling cruelty. Civil war and assassina- tion became the consequence of their unbridled rage, and the priests them- selves were not exempt from the popular fury. The siege of Jerusalem was suspended by the death of Nero. Three emperors mounted the throne; Galba, Otho, and Vitellius; all of whom died violent deaths. At length Vespasian was elected to the purple. He immediately sent his son, Tiius, to Jerusalem, to finish the war which he had so successfully begun. Titus having arrived before Jerusalem pre- vious to the feast of Easter, took his station on the mount of Olives, and, investing the city, he surrounded it with a wall, flanked with thirty tow- ers. The magazines had been destroyed by fire, and a most cruel fan hw. 592 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. raged witliiii iho city; but, notwithstanding tlioir terrible situation, the be- sieged refused tlie advantageous conditions ofTered to thenj by the Roman general. At length lie became master of the city, which was nearly re- dueed to ashes, and also of the temple. A scene of butchery tlien com- menced, and was continued for several days, until Jerusalem was left al- together desolate. According to Josephus, eleven hundred thousand persons perished dur ing the siege, and at the capture ; and those that were taken prisoners were made slaves. The misfortunes of Jerusalem were not confined to the Jews of that city, but extended to the whole of that people under the Roman power; some were thrown to ferocious beasts at the public games, and others sold into bondage. Tlie sulferings, indeed, of the devoted in- habitants, fraught as some of the scenes are with thrilling interest, are such as humanity shudders to contemplate, and over which pity is glad to throw a veil. THE STATE OF THE JEWS SINCE THE DESTRUCTION Ot JERUSALEM. The Jews, obliged to quit their country, irritated and provoked by the cruel treatment they had received, meditated to avenge themselves of their enemies. They began to put their murderous designs into execution at the city of Cyrene, in Lybia, and in the island of Cyprus, where, since their flight, they had increased considerably. They were headed by an enterprising but artful man, named Andrew, under whom they not only committed the greatest excesses, but also gained some advantages over the Egyptians, and even over the Romans. The emperor Trajan found himself obliged to march an army against them ; but they were not re- duced until after several engagements, maintained with the greatest ob- stinacy ; they were at length overcome, and were treated by the Romans rather as enemies of the human race, than as rebels against the power of Rome. Lybia became so far depopulated in this conflict, that the Ro mans deemed it necessary to send a colony to repeople the waste. The Jews, notwithstanding their recent misfortunes in Palestine, again revolted. Adrian, the successor of Trajan, sent Julius Severus against them. This general (according to Dion), killed five hundred and eighty thousand in different battles ; and, he further asserts, they could not reckon those that perished by famine, or otherwise ; so that very few Jews es- caped in this war. They razed (continues Dion), fifty fortified castles, pillaged and burnt nine hundred and ninety-five cities and towns, and made such a general massacre of the inhabitants through the country, that all Judea was in a manner converted into a desert. Before this massacre, the number of Jews, according to calculations made under Nero, and es- timating those destroyed under Titus, amounted to two million five hund- red and forty-six thousand persons. Adrian, after having ruined and mas- sacred the greatest part of the remaining number, prohibited, by a solemn edict, confirmed in the senate, any of those that had escaped the sword, from returning into their own country : and from that time this unfortu- nate people have been entirely dispersed. Notwithstanding the prodigious numbers which perished in the succes sive overthrows of the Jewish nation, it is clear that very considerable colonies of them settled in different countries, as the travels of the apos- tles alone amply testify. In Rome, Alexandria, and many other places, there were flourishing communities. Some devoted themselves to the cultivation of the arts and sciences, others pursued handicraft trades, mar y practised as physicians, but most of them turned their attention to C(..i.mercial speculations, and soon became notorious for their wealth and THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 393 overreaching cupidity. In the fifth century they were banished from Al- e.xandria, where they had been estabhshed from the time of Alexander. They rendered themselves the ridicule of all nations by their enthusiasm in favour of a false 3Iessiah, who appeared at the time in Candia. This impostor, who was named Moses, and pretended to be the ancient legis-- lator of the Jews, asserted that he had descended from Heaven, in order to enable the children of Abraham to enter the Land of Promise. A new revolt in Palestine, in the sixth century, served to show the tur- bulent disposition of the Jewish race, and the increase of the massacres of that people. Phocias drove them from Antioch, and Heraclius from Je- rusalem. While some of the scattered families resorted to Egypt, Babylon, and other polished countries in the East, there were others who settled in Arabia, penetrated to China, or wandered over the European continent. But many still remained in Palestine. After the conversion of the Roman empire to Christianity, Judea became an object of religious veneration, and the empress Helena repaired thither in pilgrimage, and built various splendid temples. A crowd of pilgrims resorted thither subsequently from every part of the world ; the most numerous arriving from the west, over which the church of Rome had fully established its domination. In the commencement of the sixth century, however, an entire change took place. Judea was among the countries first exposed to the fanatical followers of Mahomet, and soon fell under their sway. But when the Turks poured in from the north, they no longer observed the same courtesy. They pro- faned the holy places, and the intelligence of their outrages being con- veyed to Europe, roused the religious spirit of the age into those expedi- tions called the crusades. All Europe seemed to pour itself upon Asia; the Saracen armies were routed, Jerusalem taken by storm, and its gar- rison put to the sword. The leader of the first crusade, Godfrey of Bouil- lon, was made king; and a petty Christian sovereignty established, which endured for above eighty years ; the Holy Land continually streaming with the blood of Christian and Saracen. The Mahometan states, whose resources were all at hand, gradually, however, regained the ascendancy. In 1187 Judea was conquered by Saladin ; on the decline of whose king- dom it passed through various hands, till, in the 16th century, it was eventually swallowed up in the Turkish empire. Great calamities to the Jews occurred during the crusades. Wherever the fanatical soldiers who were on their way to Palestine passed, they pillaged and murdered the scattered inhabitants of the once happy land of Canaan, and the people of the nations among whom they dwelt robbed them of their valuables without remorse. The persecution was general, their furious enemies endeavouring, as it were, to extirpate the very name of Israel. It should be observed, however, that both Mahometans and Jews being animated by a like hatred of the Christians, we often find them acting in concert, especially during the Saracenic conquest of Africa and Spain. Nay, under the rule of the Spanish Moslems, the Jews not only enjoyed toleration, but they cultivated science, and were entrusted with the high offices of state. In the twelfth century, Philip Augustus, king of France, banished them twice from his kingdom ; and during the reign of Philip le Bel, they were accused, and not without justice, of cruel exactions and usu- rious extortions. They were also accused with having committed outra- ges against the host, of having crucified children on Good Friday, of hav- ing insulted the image of Jesus Christ, &c. They were put into the hands of the judges ; and, although no proof whatever was brought for- ward to substantiate their guilt, they were delivered over to the populace to be dealt with according to their pleasure. Philip banished them en- tirely from France in 1308. and confiscated all their efl'ects. Louis X., his successor, permitted them to re-estabUsh themselves in his kingdom, 394 THE TEEASUIIY OF HISTORY on condition of their paying him a large sum of money. In the reign o*" Philip the Long, brother and successor of Louis, lliey were massacred and pillaged. In 1395, Charles V. banislied iheni and confiscated all their property. This was their fourth and last banisiiment. In 1393 they • experienced in Germany a treatment similar to that which they had re- ceived in France. In Castile they purchased their peace at a high price ; but in (Jalalonia, Arragon, and the oilier parts of Spain, they were most horribly persecuted, and nearly two hundred thousand of tliem were compelled to embrace the Christian religion, or at least appear so to do. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the Jews established in Por- tugal iniderwent all the mischief with which Moses menaced their nation In 150G, during three days successively, they were barbarously massa- cred at Lisbon : yet as if not content with taking away their lives, they took those among them whom they had mutilated or mortally wounded and burnt them by heaps in the public squares. Two thousand perislied in this manner. The fathers not daring to weep for their children nor the children for tiieir fathers, they were mutually overcome by despair on seeing each other dragged away to torment. In the eighth century we find them the property of the Anglo-Saxon kings, who seem to have exer- cised absolute power over both their lives and goods. In this abject state they remained under the Norman princes and the early Plantaganets, who harassed them by the most cruel exactions, and often treated them with great barbarity. In proof of this, we need only refer to the reigns of Richard I., John, Henry IIL, and I^dward I. If we pursue their history in other European countries, we shall find that if we except the Italian republics, and Spain while under the dominion of its Arab conquerors, the Jews everywhere found themselves the objects of persecution. On the introduction of the Inquisition into Spain and Portugual, that dread tribunal condemned thousands to the flames, before it commenced its di- abolical proceedings against those Christians who differed from the see of Rome : and it was not until the Protestant states were strong enough to break asunder the shackles of religious intolerance, that the Jew had any cliance of ensuring his personal safety. We thus see that in different ages the Jews have suffered the most dreadful persecutions and massacres : but though the annihilation of the race seemed inevitable, their numbers were still very considerable; and they exercised then, as they do at the present time, no little influence in the affairs of civilized nations. Since arts and learning have revived in Europe, they have felt the benefit of that humane enlightenment, which has extended all over the globe. France, Holland, Austria, and most of the German slates, allow them the rights of citizenship; England and Prussia tolerate and protect them ; in many of the British colonies they are among the principal merchants and traders; and in Italy, Spain, and Portugal, hey are at least suffered to reside unmolested. The attention of the British nation has of late years been particularly directed towards the im- provement of their political condition and their conversion to Christianity But upon the latter topic, as well as the probable restoration of the Jews to the land of their fathers, it is not necessary to offer an opinion ; both are concealed from mortal ken by the impenetrable veil which enwraps futurity. ARMENIA. The ancient history of this large and warlike people is connected witn that of the several mighty nations who in turn filled the world with the terror of their names. Its first king appears to have been Seython, the next Barzanes, after whose death the kingdom was divided into several THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 395 petty kingdoms. The Medes under Astyages subsequently subdued Arme- nia, which was reduced to a province under Persian governors. It was afterwards divided into Major and Minor by Artarias and Zadriades, who having united their forces, established each himself in his respective prov- ince, indepenaent of his master ; the former possessing Armenia Major, the other Minor. They were contemporary with Hannibal, who planned for Artarias the celebrated town of Artarata. Assisted by the Roman alliance, these usurpers maintained their power in spite of the several attacks of their former master, Antiochus. After their death, the Arme- nians suffered considerable loss in a war with the Parthians. Marc An- tony put Artavardes, the sovereign of Armenia, to death, to make room for Alexander, his own son by Cleopatra; others say that he led him captive to Rome in golden chains. Trajan reduced Armenia to a Roman province ; but in the reign of Constantine the Great, and his successor, it had its Oun kings, dependent on the emperor. Although St. Barthol- omew is said to have introduced Christianity into Armenia, there can be no doubt that it was Christian in the beginning of the fourth century. The Saracens subdued it in a. d. 687, who gave way to the Turks about a century afterwards. It was then called Turcomania. Armenia partially recovered its independence, but was again subdued by Occadan or Ileccate, son of Genghis, first khan of the Tartars. A remnant of the royal family of Armenia still remained ; and we find one of them, Leo, came to England to solicit the aid of Richard II. against the Turks, by whom he had been expelled from his throne. Armenia was again made a province of the Persian empire in 1572. Selim II. re- duced it to a Turkish province, in 1522 ; the greater part of which still remains subject to the Crescent. ALBANIA. Albania was nominally a province of the Turkish empire. Its history is diversified, and mixed up with the various fortunes of the surroimding nations. Looked upon as barbarous by the Greeks and Romans, because very slightly explored by them, Albania, better known to those celebra- ted people as Illyricum, and Epirus, still retains the simplicity of prim- itive habits, so that it is emphatically called the Scythia of the Turkish empire. The ancient historians describe the inhabitants of this country as peculiarly fierce and intractable. The remoteness of its situation, and want of union among the several tribes which inhabited the country of Albania, rendered the v;ilour of iis people of little consequence to the general affairs of Greece, and accordingly we find them but slightly mixed up with Grecian politics. Under the conduct of Pyrrhus II., one of the most consummate generals of antiquity, who waged a bloody war with the Romans in Italy, the Albanians, or Epirotes, routed Antigonus, king of Macedonia, and held that country in subjection ; but their con- quest ended with the death of their commander, and they in turn fell under the power of the Macedonians. The Romans made some settlements in their country, and availed themselves of the many fine harbours to be found along its coast. At their decline, along with other portions of that once mighty empire, Al- bania fell a prey to Alaric and the Goths, although some of their descend- ants afterwards regained possession of the northern distri(;t. Sigismund, one of its kings, was celebrated for his alliance with Theodoric, the victor of Clovis and Odoacer, a. d. 526. Albania now became the prey of the Sclavonian nations, till it was settled within its present limits, under the Bulgarians, in 870. As the Greek empire declined, the Alba- 396 THE TREASUaY OF HISTORY. nians again rose to distinction, and at last re-established their nidepend- ence, in spite of the most strenuous exertions of the Bulgarians, who were masters of all the neighbouring districts of Greece. Forming a fourth division of tiie army of Nicephorus Basilices, a. d. 1079, they greatly distinguished themselves. During the next century, the period of the crusades, there were several settlements on their coasts by the Sicilians, Franks, and other nations. After the conquest of Constantino- ple, 1204, Micliael Angelus established an independent government in this district. Albania has cut some figure in the annals of the last forty years, chiefly through the enterprising spirit and politic conduct of Ali Pacha, who raised himself to a degree of power which long kept the Turks, who were nominally his masters, in a state of fear to attack him. After amass- ing immense treasures, and keeping up independent alliances with the European powers, he was, in 1822, finally cut off by the Turkish officers, "^he modern name of Albania is Arnaout. THE HISTORY OF EGYPT. (WITH SYRIA.) The early history of Egypt, like that of China, is so involved in obscu- rity and faljle, that for many ages it must be passed over in silence ; for it would be an insult to common sense, in a work professedly historical, to narrate the marvellous actions ascribed to Osiris, Isis, Typhon, Apollo, and a host of ideal personages who, as we are told, over Egypt "once held sway." After those purely fabulous ages, the first king who makes his appearance, in the times called heroic, but without any certain date, is Menes, who is by some considered the same with Misraim, the son of Ham. He drained the lower part of Egypt, converting that which was before a morass, into firm ground; turned the course of the Nile, so as to render it more beneficial to the country, that river having before his time washed the foot of a sandy mountain in Lybia ; built the city of Mem- phis ; instituted solemn festivals and oiher religious rites ; instructed his subjects in many valuable arts, and accomplished a variety of wonders usually attributed to the founders of kingdoms. It being impossible to follow the succession of princes, it must suffice to state, that after the death of Menes, Egypt was divided into several dynasties, or principalities ; but its most natural and permanent division appears to have been into three portions, sometimes underone, and some- times under different kings. The most southerly portion was called Up- per Egypt, or Thebais, the capital of which was Thebes, still remarkable for the extent and magnificence of its remains. The central part, or Middle Egypt, had Memphis for its capital, situated opposite to the mod- ern capital Cairo. Lower Egypt was the country along the branches of the Nile, as it approached the sea; many large cities were built in this tract, one of the chief of which was Heliopolis. We learn that some ages afterwards (b. c. 2084), Egypt was invaded by the Hycsos, a pastoral tribe from, the north, who penetrated to Nubia, and estabhshed themselves in that country, and in Kgypt. as the sovereign THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 397 power. These are known as " the shepherd kings," and they were even tually expelled by Amosis, king of Lower Egypt, b. c. 1825. Vaiious princes succeeded, who all bore the title of Pharaoh. The Israelites settled in Kgypt, and were reduced to a state of slavery, from which they were delivered by Divine interference ; and, as we are further informed in Holy Writ, one of the Pharaohs, with all his host, was drowned in the Red Sea. The most distinguished prince of this race was Sesostris, who marched victoriously through both Africa and Asia, as far as to the countries beyond the Ganges, and enriched Egypt with the booty he acquired. After his return, he divided the country into thirty-six dis- tricts or governments. In 725 B. c, Sabachus, king of Ethiopia, conquered Egypt and left the throne to his natural successors ; but after the reign of Tharaca, his grand- son, a period of anarchy followed, and Egypt was divided among twelve kings; one of these, Psammetichus, with the assistance of the Greeks, subdued his competitors, and became sole monarch, b. c 670. After his death, the Egyptain kings continued in frequent hostilities with the neigh- bouring nations of Judea and Assyria, attended with various success, and were at last reduced to Persian subjection by Cambyses, the son of Cy- rus, B. c. 525. The Persians remained masters of Egypt until the year 327 B. c, when it was conquered by Alexander the Great, who was re- ceived with joy by the Egyptians ; the Persians having made themselves odious to the people by their exactions, and by their contempt of the Egyptian religion. Alexander, as great in the cabinet as in the field, per- mitted the conquered to enjoy their own laws and customs. He founded Alexandria, which soon became the deposit of the commerce of tho East ; and it ceased not to flourish until the discovery of a passage to Ii;dia by the Cape of Good Hope. After the death of the Macedonian hero, Piolemy Soter, one of his generals, took upon himself the government of Egypt, and his descendants enjoyed it till the year 30 of the Christian era, wlien it was conquered by the Romans ; and it became a province of that em- pire after the defeat of Marc Antony, and the death of Cleopatra. The Ptolemies governed Egypt for 293 years. The first four o! the family were active and wise princes, who promoted the prosperity of their country, and encouraged literature and the arts. Ptolemy Soter, the son and successor of Ptolemy Lagus, established an academy of learned men at Alexandria, and founded the celebrated library at that city, which, at the Roman conquest, contained seven hundred thousand volumes. It was partly destroyed by fire in Julius Caesar's attack on Alexandria; but the losses were replaced in succeeding centuries, until the 7th after Christ, when it was totally destroyed by order of the Mohammedan caliph Omar. For nearly seven centuries Egypt belonged to the Roman and Greek empires, and was for a lengthened period the granary, as it were, of Rome. It then remained under the power of the Mohammedan caliphs till the beginning of the 12th century, when they were expelled by the Turcomans, who in their turn gave way to the Mamelukes, 1250. The ancient kings of Egypt were always considered subject to the laws of the empire, and their manners were, in some particulars, regulated by set rules ; among which, the quality and quantity of the provisions for their tables were allotted. If a king, during his reign, governed arbitra- rily, or unjustly, his memory was condemned after his death. No people were ever more idolatrous or superstitious than the Egyptians. Men, an- imals, and even plants were the objects of their worship ; but the deities Isis and Osiris were in the greatest repute, and adored generally through- out the country. They also especially worshiped Apis, a bull, dedicated to Osiris, at Memphis; and Mnevis, a similar bull at Heliopolis. But every city had its sacred animal ; a stork, a cat, a monkey, a crocodile, or a goat ; any irreverence to which was severely punished, and an in- 398 THE TREASURY OF IIISTORY. jury held deserving of death. The tribunal of Egypt was composed of thirty judges, chosen from among the priests of Heliopolis, of Mempiiis. and of Tiiebes; who administered justice to the people gratuitously, the prince allowing tliem a tsufficent revenue to enable them so to do. The ICgyptians had two kinds of writinjj; one sacred, and one common. The former was the representation of ideas by figures of animals, or other sensible objects, called hieroglyphics ; many incriptions of which still exist, as do inscriptions and writings in the common character. The priests were held in the highest reverence, and the hieroglyphics were known to them alone. Philosophy was early cultivated by the Egyptians, and the doctrine of the Metemp.sychosi3 taught in their schools, to which many of the Greek philosophers repairefl. They also made great pro- gress in astronomy and g.e()metry, and in the arts, particularly of archi- tecture, of which the whole country still offers extensive columns, obe- lisks, and those stupendous specimens of human labour, the pyramids. We now return to the history of Kgypt after it became possessed by the Mamelukes, of whom it may be as well to speak. According to M. Volney, they came originally from Mount Caucasus, and were distin- guished by the flaxen colour of their hair. The expedition of the Tartars, in 1227, proved indirectly the means of introducing them into Egypt. These merciless conquerors, having slaughtered till they were weary, brought along with them an immense number of slaves of both sexes, with whom they filled all the markets in Asia. The Turks purchased about twelve thousand youne: men, whom thoy bred up in the profession of arms, which they soon excelled in; but, becoming mutinous, they deposed and murdered the sultan Malek, in 1260. The Mamelukes having thus got possession of the government, and neither understanding nor valuing any- thing but the art of war, every species of learning decayed in Egypt, and a degree of barbarism was introduced. Neither was their empire of long duration, notwithstanding their martial abilities ; for as they depended upon the Christian slaves, chiefly brought from Circassia, whom they bought for the purpose of training to war, and thus filling up their ranks, these new Mamelukes, or 13orgites as they were at first called, in time rose upon their masters, and transferred the government to themselves, about A. D. 1382. They became famous for ferocious valour; were almost perpetually engaged in wars either foreign or domestic ; and their domin- ion lasted till 1517, when they were invaded by Selim I., the Turkish sul- tan. The Mamelukes defended themselves with incredible bravery, but, overpowered by numbers, they were defeated in almost every engagement. Cairo, their capital, was taken, and a terrible slaughter made of its de- fenders. The sultan, Tuman Bey, was forced to fly ; and, having col- lected all his forces, he ventured a decisive battle. The most romantic efforts of valour, however, were insufficient to cope witli the innumerable multitude which composed the Turkish army. PJost of his men were cut in pieces, and the unhappy prince was himself taken and put to death. With him ended the glory of the Mamelukes. The sultan Selim commenced his government of Egypt by an unexam- pled act of wholesale butchery. Having ordered a theatre to be erected on the banks of the Nile, he caused all the prisoners (upwards of thirty thousand), to be beheaded in his presence, and their bodies thrown into the river. He did not, however, attempt the total extirpation of the Ma- melukes, but proposed a new form of government, by which the power, being distributed among the different members of the state, should preserve an equilibrium ; so that the dependence of the whole should be upon him- self. With this view, he chose from among those Mamelukes vvho hagerous war with Russia, had not leisure to atterid to the proceedings of Aii Bey ; so that he had an opportunity of vigorously pro- secuting his designs. His first expedition was against an Arabian prince named Ilamman; against wliom he sent his favourite Mohammed liey, under pretence that the former had concealed a treasure entrusted with him by Ibrahim, and that he afforded protection to rebels. Having de- stroyed this unfortunate prince, he next began to put in execution a plan proposed to him by a young Venetian mercliant, of rendering Gedda, the port of Mecca, an emporium for all the commerce of India; and he even imagined he should be able to m?ike the Europeans abandon the passage to the Indies by the Cape of Good Hope. With this view, he fitted out some vessels at Suez ; and, manning them with Mamelukes, commanded the bey Hassan to sail with them to Gedda, and seize upon it, while a body of cavalry under Mohammed Hey advanced against the town. Both these commissions were executed according to his wish, and Ali became quite intoxicated with his success. Nothing but ideas of conquest now occupied his mind, without considering the immense disproportion be- tween his own force and that of the grand seignior. Circumstances were then indeed very favourable to his schemes. The sheik Daher was in rebellion against the Porte in Syria, and the pacha of Damascus had so exasperated the people by his extortions, that they were ready for a revolt. Having made the necessary preparations, Ali Bey dispatched about five hundred Mamelukes to take possession of Gaza, and thus secure an en- trance into Palestine. Ositian, the pacha of Damascus, however, no sooner heUrd of the invasion than he prepared for war, while the troops of Ali Bey held themselves in readiness to fly on the first attack. Sheik Daher hastened to their assistance, while Osnian fled without even offer- ing to make the least resistance ; thus leaving the enemy masters of all Palestine. The combined army of Ali Bey and Sheik Daher afterward marched to Damascus ; where the pachas waited for thera, and on the 6th of June, 1771, a decisive action took place: the Mamelukes andSafadians (the name of Daher's subjects) rushed on the Turks with such fury, that, terrified at their courage, the latter immediately fled ; and the allies became masters of the country, taking possession of the city without opposition. The castle alone resisted. Its ruinous fortification had not a single can- non ; but it was surrounded by a muddy ditch, and behind the ruins were posted a few musqueteers ; and these alone were sufficient to check this army of cavalry. As the besieged, however, were already conquered by their fears, they capitulated on the third day, and the place was to be sur- rounded next morning, when, at daybreak, a most extraordinary revolu- tion took place. This was no less than the defection of Mohammed Bey himself, whom Osman had gained over in a conference during the night. At the moment, therefore, that tlie signal of surrender was expected, this treacherous general sounded a retreat, and turned toward Egypt with all his cavalry, flying with as great precipitation as if he had been pursued by a superior army. Mohammed continued his march with such celerity, that the report of his arrival in Egypt reached Cairo only six hours before him. Thus Ali Bey found himself at once deprived of all his expecta- tions of conquest ; and, what was indeed galling, he found a traitor whom he durst not punish, at the head of his forces. A sudden reverse of for- tmie now took place. Several vessels laden with corn for Sheik Daher THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 401 weie taken by a Russian privateer; and Mohammed Bey, whom he de- signed to have put to death, not only made his escape, but was so well attended that he could not be attacked. His followers continuing daily to increase in number, Mohammed soon became sufficiently strong to march toward Cairo ; and, in April, 1772, having defeated the troops of Ali in a rencontre, entered the city sword in hand, while the latter had scarcely time to make his escape with eight hundred Mamelukes. With difficulty he was enabled to get to Syria by the assistance of Sheik Daher, whom he immediately joined with the troops he had with him. The Turks under Osman were at that time besieging Sidon, but raised the siege on the approach of the allied army, consisting of about seven thou- sand cavalry. Though the Turkish army was at least three times their number, the allies did not hesitate to attack them, and gained a complete victory. Their affairs now began to wear a more favourable aspect, but the military operations were retarded by the siege of Yafa (the ancient Joppa), which had revolted, and held out for eight monliis. In the be- ginning of 1773 it capitulated, and Ali Bey began to think of returning to Cairo. For this purpose Sheik Daher had promised him succours, and the Russians, with whom he had now contracted an alliance, made him a similar promise. Ali, however, ruined everything by his own impatience. He set out with his Mamelukes and fifteen hundred Safadians given him by Daher: but he had no sooner entered the desert which separates Gaza from Egypt, than he was attacked by a body of one thousand chosen Mamelukes, who were lying in wait for his arrival. They were command- ed by a young bey, named Mourad, who, being enamoured of the wife ol Ali Bey, had obtained a promise of her from Mohammed, in case he could bring him her husband's head. As soon as Mourad perceived the dust by which the approach of Ali's army was announced, he rushed forward to the attack and took prisoner Ali Bey himself, after wounding him in the forehead with a sabre. Being conducted to Mohammed Bey, tlie latter pretended to treat him with extraordinary respect, and ordered a magnifi- cent tent to be erected for him ; but in three days he was found dead of his wounds, as was given out; thougli some, with equal probability, af- firmed that he was poisoned. Upon the death of Ali Bey, Mohammed took upon himself the supreme dignity. At first he pretended to be only the defender of the rights of the sultan, remitted the usual tribute to Constantinople, and took the customary oath of unlimited obedience; after which he solicited to make war upon Sheik Daher, against whom he had a personal pique. In Febru- ary, 1776, he appeared in Syria with an army equal to that which he had formerly commanded under Ali Bey. Daher's forces despairing of being able to cope with such a formidable armament, abandoned Gaza, of which Mohammed immediately took possession, and then marched toward Yafa, which defended itself so long, that Mohammed was distracted with rage, anxiety, and despair. The besieged, however, whose numbers were di- minished by the repeated attacks, became weary of the contest ; and it was proposed to abandon the place, on the Egyptians giving hostages. Conditions were agreed upon, and the treaty might be considered as con- cluded, when, in the midst of the security occasioned by this belief, some Mamelukes entered the town ; numbers of others following their example, attempted to plunder. The inhabitants defended themselves, and the at- tack recommenced ; the whole army then rushed into the town, which suffered all the horrors of war j v/omen and children, young and old men, were all cut to pieces, and Mohammed, equally mean and barbarous, caused a pyramid, formed of the heads of the unfortunate sufferers, to be raised as a monument to his victory. By this disaster the greatest terror and consternation were diffused everywhere. Sheik Daher himself fled, and Mohammed soon became master of Acre also. Here he behaved with 26 I 102 THE TllEASUilY OF HISTORY. his usual cruelty, and abandoned the city to be plundered by his soldiers. But his career was soon slopped, his death just at the time occurring through a malignani fever, after two days' illness. Soon after Mohammed's death a contest arose among several of the beys, as to who should succeed him. But the chief struggle lay between Mourad and Ibrahim, who, having ultimately overcome the rest, agreed in 1785, to share the government between them, and continued to rule as ioint pachas for many years. From that time we have no account of any remarkable transaction in Egypt, till the French invaded that coun- try in 1798 ; which we shall as concisely as possible relate, and then take a brief survey of some striking events that have occurred more recently When Selim III. ascended the Ottoman throne, the French revolution was just breaking out ; but until Bonaparte's memorable invasion of Egypt and Syria, its effects were not much felt in that quarter of the globe. Tlie two Mameluke beys, Mourad and Ibrahim, were at that time at the head of the government. The French landed near Alexandria on the 1st of •luly, 1798; and that city was taken by assault on the 5th, and plundered by the soldiery. They then marched to Cairo, but were met by an army of Mamelukes in the plains near the Pyramids, where the French gained a signal victory, which was followed by their occupation of the capital, and the submission, in general, of the inhabitants. The destruction of the French fleet, by the English under Nelson, in tlie bay of Aboukir, was the next event of importance; yet, notwithstanding this great calamity, Bonaparte was not deterred from pursuing his original design, but set out at the head of ten thousand men to cross the desert which separates Egypt from Palestine. On his arrival in Syria he conquered several towns, one of which was Jaffna. The defence of Acre, however, by Sir Sidney Smith, put a stop to the future proceeding of Napoleon in that quarter. The most remarkable person connected with Egypt after the period of which we have been speaking, was Mehemet Ali, the Turkish pacha of that country. This chief, who has since become so prominent in Egyptian and Syrian history, was ambitious of making himself independent of the Ottoman Porte ; but as this could not be effected while the Mameluke beys retained their power and influence, he determined on their extirpation by a cold-blooded act of treachery. He accordingly invited them to a grand festival, to be given in honour of his son Ibrahim, who had just been ap- pointed commander-in-chief of an expedition against the Wahabites of Arabia. Wholly unsuspicious of the treacherous design of Mehemet Ali, the beys arrived at the castle on the appointed day, (March 1st, 1811), each attended by his suite ; but they had no sooner entered than they :,vere seized and beheaded. The execution of all the chief Mamelukes throughout the country immediately followed : and Mehemet now, though nominally a vassal of the Turkish empire, exercised all the functions and privileges of an absolute sovereign prince. In the histories of ' Turkey' and ' Greece,' will be seen how large a share Mehemet Ali and Ibrahim had in fomenting and carrying on the war between those countries. It will also be seen in its proper place in the history of 'England,' that Mehemet Ali had provoked the insurrection in Syria, and but for the inter- ference of England and her continental allies, would have wrested Egypt and Syria from the Turks. But the allied fleet, under the command of Sir Pw. Stopford and Commodore Napier, bombarded and captured the whole line of fortified places along the coast of Syria, ending their oper- ations with tlie destruction of St. Jean d' Acre. This place is renowned for scenes of desperate valour. A heavy cannonade for three hours was kept up, by which time the guns of the forts were silenced; when, owing to one of the bomb-shots falling on the enemy's powder magazine, an i;wful explosion 'ook place, and twelve hundred human beings were blown THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 403 Into the air. This decided the fate of the war; and Meheriiet All, after a long negotiation, in which the allied powers of Europe took part, was reinstated in his viceroyship of Egypt, the government of that country to descend in a direct hereditary liiie, a. d. 1841. That Mehemet Ali is a man of superior talents, and that under his administration of affairs, Egypt has made advances in arts and arms, and in the improvement ol those natural advantages which she possesses for securing her internal prosperity, no one can entertain a doubt; but, at the same time we cannot forget, that many of his actions prove him to be despotic, cruel, and re- vengeful. ALEXANDRIA. Alexandria, now called Scanderia, the ancient capital of Lower Egypt, occupies a prominent po-siiion in the annals of history, even from its first foundation. Perhaps there is no place whose records present to a mari- time people more interesting details. Founded by the Great Alexander, whose mind was comprehensive as his valour was unequalled, the very cause of its existence was commercial, and its history for eighteen hun- dred years shows how well the Macedonians appreciated the advantages of maritime resources. The strength of Tyre, which cost him so long and so dear a contest, probably suggested to him the value of commerce. Accordingly, after the city " whose merchants were princes," had fallen before his banners, and Egypt received his j'oke, he formed the design of building a city, in which commerce might find a shelter, and from which his vast empire might derive riches and strength. No sooner was the de- sign conceived than executed; and Alexander, whose new commercial depot was situated alike convenient for the trade of the east and the west, died A. D. 385. Amidst the convulsions which shook his empire to pieces after his death, Alexandria continued to rise in greatness and magnificence under the fostering protection of the enlightened Ptolemies, the friends of commerce and science — whose capital it became, a. d. 304. But such is the natural proneness of human things to decay, that wealth begets lux- ury, and greatness is its own destroyer. For three hundred years during which Alexandria was subject to the Ptolemies, the canker of corruption bloated its magnificence, and fed upon its luxury. The name of Ptolemy Physcon is synonymous with vice and cruelty. His savage brutality made Alexandria almost a desert about one hundred and thirty years before Christ. The desertion of sages, grammarians, philosophers, and other masters of the liberal sciences, whose presence had shed a lustre over the capital of Egypt, was followed by the influx of people of various nations, invited by a general proclamation of the tyrant. An inhuman massacre of all the young men of the city shortly afterward look place, and Alexandria was for some time the scene of commotion and anarchy. In 48 b. c, the conqueror of the West visited the city of the victor of the East, in pursuit of his defeated rival, where he arbitrated between Ptolemy XII. and Cleopatra. His military conduct was no less conspicuous here than it had been previously in Gaul, Britain, and the plains of Pharsalia. With a small band of Romans, assisted by some forces of the Jews, he defeated the whole army of Ptolemy. Whilst his- tory records with exultation the exploit of Caesar, who swam across the Nile bearing his Commentaries aloft safe from the waters, slie droops over the conflagration whicli accidentally consumed the library of the Bruchion, consisting of four hundred thousand volumes. For it must be remembered that the city of Alexandria was originally designed, and actually proved, to be the mart of philosophy and science. 404 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. The emperor Caligula had designed Alexandria as the seat of his empire, in the event of his massacring the chief senators and knights of Rome, In the year a. n. 40, the Jews, who, to the amount of a milhon, had for many years enjoyed a variety of ()rivileges, were, by an edict of Flaccus, now d'fA'Anred strangers in Alexandria — and underwent, as one of the signs of the time of their approaching destruction and the complete disper- sion of their nation, grievous privations, losses, and cruelty. It was with in a few years after this, that the gospel of Jesus Christ was promulgated in Alexandria, and received by many. The names of Pantretius, 8t. Cle- ment, and Origen, are found as presidents of a Christian school of con- siderable eminence founded in this city. The admixture, however, of the philosophy which distinguished Alexandria, with the tenets of Christian- ity, and the dogmas of Judaism, tended materially to corrupt both truth, and wisdom; and the eclectic philosophy proved the foundation of the Jewish cabbala, and many corruptions of the Christian faith. Undei Claudius, Alexandria again reckoned the Jews as citizens. It was the first place which hailed Vespasian emperor, a. d. GO; and here he abode whilst his generals and armies were deciding his cause against Vitellius The account Adrian, who visited the city a. d. 130, gives of if, is charac- teristic of the industry and enterprise of commerce, as well as of its worst and most pernicious effects upon the inhabitants who thrive upon its riches Under the emperor Severus, Alexandria obtained several immunities and privileges, a. d. 202; a grateful sense of which was manifested by a mon- ument erected to him. Different, however, was their fortune under the despicable Caracalla, who rewarded their entertainment of him by a gen- eral massacre of the inhabitants, a. d. 215; by abolishing the societies of learned men, who were maintained in the museum ; by the plunder oi temples and private houses ; and by separating different parts of the city from one another by walls and towers. During the reign of Gallienus, Alexandria suffered most severely both by water and pestilence. But history, here, records with admiration the conduct of two Christian bishops, Eusebius and Anatolius, who, like the good Samaritan, bound up the wounds of the wretched, and, like their heavenly Master, were un- wearied in alleviating the distresses of their suffering fellow-creatures. Their conduct sheds a lustre over the annals of this city, far transcending the most brilliant exploits which emblazon its heraldry. Alexandria was now almost depopulated. It, however, again recovered somewhat of its former greatness, again to feel the unsparing havoc of war and dissension, in the reign of Dioclesian, who having captured it from Achilleus, the usur- per of Egypt, gave it up to indiscriminate pillage and plunder, a. d. 296 He made some retribution for this severity by establishing certain salutarj regulations, amongst which may be reckoned, his establishment for thf perpetual distribution of corn, for the benefit of this city, a. d. 302. Un der Constantine, Alexandria again flourished by its trade and commerce A dreadful and almost universal earthquake, July 21, 365, shook this cit] to its very foundation, and swallowed up fifty thousand of its inhabitants Although the second capital of the Roman empire, Alexandria was cap tured by the Moslems, under Amrou, the general of the caliph Omar, De eember 22, a. d. 640. Bloody and obstinate was the siege : amply sup plied with provisions, and devoted to the defence of their dearest rights and honours, its inhabitants bravely withstood the astonishing efforts and unwearied bravery of their enemies; and had Heraclius as promply sec- onded their resolution, the crescent of Mahomet had not then reigned in bloody supremacy over the Christian cross. It was invaluable to Hera- clius, and its loss was a source of great inconvenience to Byzantium, to which it had been the storehouse. Since, in the short space of five years, the harbours and fortifications of Alexandria were occupied by a fleet and •array of Romans, twice did the valour of its conqueror, Amrou, expel THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 405 ihem; but liis policy had been to dismantle several walls and towers, in pursuance of a vow he had made of rendering Alexandria as accessible as the home of a prostitute. In the year 612, the library of Alexandria was destroyed by order of the caliph Omar; and so extensive was it, that its volumes of paper or parchment sufficed to light the fires of the four thousand baths which were in the city, for more than six months ! So waned the splendour and glory of this mighty city. The dominion of the Saracens withered its energies, and Alexandria gradually sunk from its high estate, so that in the year 875, its extent was contracted to laif its former dimensions. Mournful, but still majestic in its decline, it still retained the Pharos, and part of its public places and monuments. In 920 its great church, called Cosarea, which had formerly been a pagan temple, erected by Cleopatra, in honour of Saturn, was destroyed by fire ; and two years after, this second, or Arabic, Alexandria, was taken by the Magrebians, who, after various vicissitudes, at length finally lost it to the Moslems, a. d. 928, when more than two hundred thousand of the wretched inhabitants perished. The discovery of the Cape of Good Hope in 1499, completed the ruin which had, for some centuries, been advancing under the Turkish dominion ; and Alexandria ceases from that time to possess any particular interest for the historian, until the close of the last century. The first cons*ul of France, whose name will be reckoned up with the Macedonian Alexander and the Roman Caesar, like these two great proto- types of his ambition, displayed in Alexandria his skill and prowess. It fell to his army July 4, 1798, after a defeat of the Arabs and Mamelukes. The tiiundersof the British navy, braving defeat and discomfiture through the ships of France, at Aboukir, were heard at Alexandria, and the British ensign waved triumphant over its walls in the year 1801, as again in 1806. Among the names of various heroes connected with this once might}' city, that of Abercrombie, who died there in the arms of victory, shall live enrolled in the annals of history. ANTIOCH. The history of this interesting place is pregnant with great and impor- tant events connected as well with profane as sacred history. It was found- ed by Antigonus, and called Antigonia, a name soon after changed for Anti- ocha, in honour of Antiochus, father of Seleucus. The seat of empire for the kings of Syria, and of government for the Roman officers, Antioch was a place of considerable importance. It contained four distinct cities, and was therefore called Tetrapolis. Another city, built in its suburbs, called Daphne, superceded it in magnificence and luxury so much, that, not only did " to live after the manner of Daphne" become proverbial, but Antioch was termed Antioch near Daphne. Its history is confined pretty much to the various calamities of war and pestilence which, at different times, have visited and scourged this city. By the assistance -of Jonathan, the leader of the Maccabees, king Deme- trius punished the e'erything bespeaks their submarine creation, and in many are positive evidences of volcanic agency. They are some- times divided into Northern and Southern Polynesia, and classed in the following groups: — Pelew Islands; Carolines; Ladrones ; Sandwich Islands; Friendly Islands ; Gallapagos ; Admiralty Isles ; New Ireland; New Britain, and New Hanover; Solomon's Isles ; New Hebrides, and New Caledonia ; Queen Charlotte's Islands ; Navigators' Islands ; Soci- ety Islands ; Marquesas : Pitcairn Island, &c. Of these we shall only mention a few ; as they can hardly be said to come within the scope of a work professedly historical ; though their entire omission might be re- garded as a defect. LADRONES, OR MARIANNE ISLANDS. The Ladrcnes are a cluster of islands belonging to Spain, lying in tne North Pacific Ocean, between the 12th and 21st degrees of north latitude, and about the 145th degree of east longitude. They were discovered by Magellan, who gave them the name of Lad'-one Islands, or the Islands of Thieves, from the thievish disposition of the inhabitants. At the time of this discovery, the natives were totally ignorant of any other country than their own, and, as it is said, were actually unacquainted with the el- ement of fire, till Magellan, provoked by their repeated thefts, burned one of their villages. At the latter end of the 17th century, they obtained the name of the Marianne Islands, from the Queen of Spain, Mary Anne of Austria, mother of Charles II., at whose expense missionaries were sent thither to propagate the Christian faith. Though plunged in the deepest ignorance, and destitute ol c^'erythlng valued by tlie rest of mankind, no nation ever shewed more presumption, or a greater conceit of themselves, than these islanders ; for to use the words of an old voyager, they looked on themselves as the only sensible and polished people in the world. As Japan lies within six or seven days sail of them, vome have been induced to believe that the first inhabitants came from that empire ; but, from their greater resemblance to the inhab- itants of the Philippine Islands, than to the Japanese, it is more probable that they came from the former. Commodore Anson visited the La- drones in 1742, and describes Tirrian, one of the group, as abounding with everything necessary to human subsistence, and presenting at the same time a pleasant and delightful appearance, where hill and valley, rich ver- dure and spreading trees, formed a happy intermixture. Subsequent nav- igators, however, found the island to have been deserted, and become an unmhabited wilderness. The natives of the the Ladrones are tall, robust, and active, managing their canoes with admirable adroitness. Guajan is the largest island in the group, and the population consists of settlers from Mexico and the Philippine Islands. THE TREASCmY OF HISTOILY 417 FRIENDLY ISLANDS. The Friendly Isl'n,nds are a group or cluster of islands, said to be up- wards of one hundred in number, in the South Pacific Ocean. They received their name from the celebrated Captain Cook, in the year 1773, in consideration of the friendship which appeared to subsist among the inhabitants, and from their courteous behaviour to strangers. The chief islands are Anamooka, Tongataboo, Lefooga, and Eooa. Abel Jansen Tasman, an eminent Dutch navigator, first touched here in 1643, and gave names to the principal islands. Captain Cook laboriously explored the whole cluster, which he found to consist of upwards of sixty. The three islands which Tasman saw, he named Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Middleburg. Tongataboo is the residence of the sovereign, and the chiefs. These islands are fertile, and in general highly cultivated. Eooa is described as a beautiful spot : the land rising gently to a considerable height, presents the eye with an extensive view. Captain Cook and some of his officers walked up to the highest point of the island. " While I was surveying this delightful prospect," says the captain, " I could not help flattering myself with the pleasing idea, that some future navigator may, from the same station, behold these meadows stocked with cattle, brought to these islands by the ships of England ; and that the comple- tion of this single benevolent purpose, independent of all other consider- ations, would sufficiently mark to posterity, that our voyages had not been useless to the general interests of humanity." Of tiie nature of their government, no more is known than the general outline. The power of the king is unlimited, and the life and property of the subjects are at his disposal ; and instances enough were seen to prove, that the lower order have no property, nor safety for their persons, but at the will of the chiefs to whom they respectively belong. SOCIETY ISLANDS. The Society Islands, in the Pacific Ocean, are eight in number; viz., Otaheite, Huaheine, Ulitea, Otaha, Bolabola, Maurowa, Toobaee, Taboo- yamanoo. They are situated between the latitude of 16° 10' and 16° 55' south, and between the longitude of 150° 57' and 152° west. The people, religion, language, customs and manners, soil and productions, are nearly the same as Otaheite, — which was discovered by Captain Wallis in 1767, who called it King George the Third's Island. Bougainville, a French circumnavigator, next arrived at it, in 1768, and stayed ten days. Cap- tain Cook, in the Endeavour, next visited it, in 1769, in company with Mr. Banks, Dr Solander, and other learned men, to observe the transit of Ve- nus, and staid three months ; and it was visited by Captain Cook in his two succeeding voyages ; since which time the Spaniards and ojher Euro- peans have called there. It consists of two peninsulas, great part of which is covered with woods, consisting of bread-fruit trees, palms, cocoa- nuts, and all tropical vegetation. The people of this and the neighbour- ing islands, were the most honest and civilized of any in the Pacific Ocean ; but it appears certain that the inhabitants have degenerated rather than improved since Cook's time. SANDWICH ISLANDS. The Sandwich Islands, in the North Pacific Ocean, consist of eleven m number. They are called by the natives Owyhee, Movvee, Ranai, Moro- 27 418 THE TREASURY OP HISTOBiV. toi, Taboorowa, Woakoo, Atooi, Neeheeneow, Orehowa, Morotinne, and Takoora : all inhabited except the last two. They were discovered by Captain Cook in Mil and 1778. Goats, and European seeds, were left by the English at their departure the first time ; but the possession of the goats soon gave rise to a contest between two districts, in which the breed was entirely destroyed. The inhabitants are undoubtedly of the same race as those that possess the islands south of the equator ; and in their person and manner, approach nearer to the New Zealanders than to their less distant neighbours, either of the Society or Friendly Islands. Tattooing the body is practised by the whole of them. As these islands are not united under one government, wars are frequent among them. The same system of subordination prevails here as at the other islands, the same absolute authority on the part of the chiefs, and the same unresist- ing submission on the part of the people. The government is monarchial, and hereditary. Owyhee, the eastermost and largest of these islands, was discovered by Captain Cook, on the 30th November, 1778, on his return from his voy- age northward. Having circumnavigated the island, and anchored in a bay, called Karakakooa, he found great alteration in the conduct of the natives, and a general disposition to theft. Still no hostilities were com- menced, honours were paid the commander, and on going ashore, he was received with ceremonies little short of adoration. A vast quantity of hogs, and other provisioiis, were procured for the ships ; and on the 4th of February, 1789, they left the island, not without most magnificent pres- ents from the chiefs, such as they had never received in any part of the world. Unluckily, they encountered a storm on the 6th and 7th of the eame month, during which the Resolution sprung the head of her foremast in such a manner, that they were obliged to return to Karakakooa bay to have it repaired. On the 13th, one of the natives being detected in steal- ing the tongs from the armourer's forge in the Discovery, was dismissed with a pretty severe flogging : in the afternoon of the same day, another having snatched up the tongs and a chisel, jumped overboard with them, and swam for the shore, and having got on board of a canoe, escaped. These tools were soon after returned, through the means of Pareah, a chief. But Captain Cook was not satisfied with the recovery of the sto- len goods ; he insisted upon having the thief, or the canoe which carried him, by way of reprisal. This brought on hostilities. The Indians at- tacked the sailors with stones, and drove them to their boats. And al- though the difference appeared to be presently adjusted, the jealousy of the natives subsequently broke forth in a furious assault, on an attempt to induce the King of the Islands to go on board one of the ships. On this occasion, Sunday, Uth February, 1779, Captain Cook was killed. ICELAND. This is a large island in the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean, between the 63rd and 67th degrees of north latitude, and between the 16th and 23rd degrees of west longitude from London. It is of a very irregular shape, and contains about fifty-six thousand inhabitants. At what time the island was first peopled is uncertain. The Icelandic chronicles go no farther back than the arrival of the Norwegians, about the year 861, when Naddodr, a pirate, was driven on the coast. In 864, Garder Suafarson, a Swede, encouraged by the account given by Naddodr, went in search of it, sailed round it, and gave it the name of Gardersholmer, or Garder's Island. Having remained in Iceland during the winter, he returned in the THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 419 spring to Norway, where he described the new-discovered island as a pleasant, well-wooded country. This excited a desire in Floke, another Swede, reputed the best navigator of his time, to undertake a voyage thither. Floke staid the whole winter in the island, and, because he found great quantities of floating ice on the north side, he called it Ice- land, which name it has ever since retained. In 874, Ingolfr, and his friend Liefr, established a colony, and in sixty years the whole island was inhabited. The tyranny of Harold, king of Norway, contributed not a little to the population of Iceland. Besides the Norwegians, new colonies arrived from different nations. In 928 they chose a chief ; but his powers were inconsiderable, and the Iceland- ers began to wage war against each other. They remained, however, free from a foreign yoke till 1261, when they became subject to the Nor- wegians. Afterwards Iceland, together with Norway, became subject to Denmark. Iceland is famous for the volcanoes with which it abounds, appearing, indeed, to owe its existence to submarine volcanic agency, and to have been upheaved at intervals from the bottom of the sea. Tracts of lava traverse the island and almost in every direction ; besides which the country abounds with other mineral masses indicative of an igneous origin. The burning mountains, so dreadful in their eflfect, seldom begin to throw out fire without giving warning. A subterraneous noise precedes the eruption for several days, with a roaring and crackling in the place from whence the fire is about to burst forth. The immediate sign is the bursting of the mass of ice, or snow, which covers the mountain, with a dreadful noise. The flames then issue forth, and stones, ashes, &c. are thrown out to vast distances. Egbert Olassen relates, that in the eruption of Kattle-gia, in 1755, a stone weighing two hundred and ninety pounds was tlirown to the distance of twenty-four English miles. Besides more than thirty volcanic mountains, there exists an immense number of small cones and craters, from which streams of melted substan- ces have been poured forth over the surrounding regions. Twenty-three eruptions of Hecla are recorded since the occupation of the island by Europeans; the first of which occurred in 1004. It will be sufficient to give an account of that which happened in 1783, and which, from its violence, seems to have been unparalleled in history. Its first signs were observed on the first of June, by a trembling of the earth in the western part of the province of Skapterfiall ; it increased gradually till the elev- enth, and became at last so great, that the inhabitants quitted their houses and lay at night in tents on the ground. A continual smoke, or steam, was perceived rising out of the earth in the northern and uninhabited parts of the country. Three fire spouts, as they were called, broke out m different places ; one in Ulfarsdal, a little to the east of the river Skap- la ; the other two were a little to the westward of the river Ilverfisfliot. The three fire spouts, or streams of lava, united in one after having risen a considerable height in the air, arrived at last at such an amazing alti- tude as to be seen at the distance of upwards of two hundred miles ; the whole country, for double that distance, being enveloped in the densest smoke and steam, while the atmosphere was filled with sand, brimstone, and ashes, in such a manner as to occasion continual darkness. Consid- erable damage was done by the pumice-stone, which fell red-hot in great quantities. Along with these, a tenacious substance, like pitch, fell in abundance. This shower having continued for three days, the fire be- came very visible, and at last arrived at the amazing height already men- tioned. Sometimes it appeared in a continual stream, at others in flashes, with a perpetual noise like thunder, which lasted the whole summer. The obscurity occasioned by this extraordinary eruption, seems to have reached as far as Great Britain; for, during the whole summer of 1783, a haze or dullness appeared to darken the atmosphere. The whole ex- 420 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. tent of ground covered by the lava, was computed to be ninety miles long, by forty-two in breadth ; the depth of the lava being from sixteen to twen- ty fathoms. Twelve rivers were dried up, twenty-one villages were de- stroyed, and two hundred and twenty-four persons lost their lives. After this eruption, two new islands were thrown up in the sea; one of about three miles in circumference, and about a mile in height, at the dis- tance of a hundred miles south-west from Iceland, in one hundred fath- oms water. The other lay to the north-west, between Iceland and Greenland. Both these islands subsequently disappeared. Iceland abounds also with hot and boiling springs, called geysers, some of which throw the water into the air to the surprising height of from two hundred to three hundred feet. These are, indeed, the most remark- able phenomena in Iceland. The great geyser, or principal fountain of this kind, rises from a tube or funnel, seventy-eight feet in perpendicular depth, and from eight to ten feet in diameter at the bottom, but gradually widening till it terminates in a capacious basin. The jets take place at intervals of about six hours; and when the water, in a violent state of ebulition, begins to rise and fill the basin, subterraneous noises, like the distant roar of cannon, may be heard, the earth is slightly shaken, and the agitation increases, till at length a column of water is sud- denly thrown up, to a vast height, as already stated. After playing for a time like an immense artificial fountain, a column of steam rushes up with great violence, and a thundering noise terminates the eruption. All the hot waters have an incrusting quality ; in some places they taste of sulphur, in others not, but when drank as soon as cold, they taste like common boiled water. This island is committed to a governor, who re- sides at Bassa-stadr ; he has under him a bailiff, two laymen, a sheriff, and twenty-two sysselmen, or magistrates, who superintend small dis- tricts ; and almost everything is decided according to the laws of Den- mark, to whom it belongs. At a period when most parts of continental Europe were in a state ol rude ignorance, the inhabitants of this remote island were well acquainted with poetry and history. The most flourishing period of Icelandic liter- ature appears to have been from the twelfth to the end of the thirteenth century ; but even during the last three centuries, Iceland has produced several eminently learned men. At present there is no want of disposi- tion on the part of the people to apply to literature, but they wisely attend more to solid branches of learning than to the lays and legends of their ancient sages. Domestic education is universal ; there are few among them who cannot read and write, and many among the better class would be distinguished by their taste and learning in the most cultivated society. THE HISTORY OF AMEEICA. This vast continent comprises nearly one half of the habitable globe. It is supposed by some who have given the matter a particular investiga- tion, to have been partially known to the ancients ; but, be that as it may, ihe glory of its discovery in modern history belongs to Christoval Colon, a native of the republic of Genoa, better known to us as Christopher Co- lumbus. This enterprising man, after many fruitless attempts to obtain assistance to enable him to prosecute his elaborate speculations in geo- graphy, discovered the island of St. Salvador, Oct. 12th, 1492 ; and six years afterwards he reached the main continent at the mouth of the Ori- noco, August 1st, 1498. The discovery of the north continent of America belongs to the family of the Cabots, Venetian by birth, but who were residing in Bristol. The father and three sons set out in the year 1497, stimulated by the fame of Columbus, and under the patronage of Henry VII. of England. They discovered several islands, and coasted the whole of the main-land of the northern continent down to the Floridas. Strange as it may appear, the honour of giving a name to these immense discoveries, was gained by Amerigo Vespucci, a Florentine, who accompanied Alonzo de Ojeda, as pilot, and on returning published the first account of the several countries ; from which circumstance the newly-discovered world was called America. The Brazilian coast was first approached by Alvarez de Cabral, a Por- tuguese admiral, in 1500 ; and Florida by Ponce de Leon, a Spaniard, in 1512. In the eastern part of the peninsula, called Yucatan, the natives were found clothed in cotton garments, and exhibiting other marks of civ- ilization, by Hernandez Cordova, a. d. 1517. The expedition which fol- lowed this discovery led to the conquest of Mexico. The spirit of discovery was now active, and all the great European courts emulated one another in affording facilities to carry into effect the enterprising efforts of numerous able and adventurous navigators, who successively prosecuted the attempt, and immortalized their names by the successes which they gained. The history of the principal colo- nies and states which arose from these discoveries will be given in due course. America is divided into North and South. The principal colonies of the first were made by England and France ; those of the South by Spain and Portugal. The distinguishing spirit of the respective mother coun- tries seems to have been infused into the infant states ; for while the southern division is rent by crude aspirants after liberty, the greater part of North America stands conspicuous — a mighty nation, growing in all the essentials of greatness, and already worthy to rival the leading Euro- pean states. The vigour of the United States is that of youth; while the strength of the European dynasties assimilates very closely to the con- dition of Age — some of them strong, it is true, in their gray hairs, but others effete, and tottering to decay. BRITISH POSSESSIONS. CANADA. This is the most important province possessed by Great Britain in Nortn America. Its history is closely interwoven with that of the United States, with the people of which it has been, both under its original and present masters, in almost constant collision. Founded by the French, in 1C08, the colonists were for many years in danger of being overwhelmed by the native Indians, with whom at length they entered into treaties, which en- abled them to annoy very materially the neighbouring states under the British jurisdiction. Twenty years after the founding of Quebec, the right of trading with Canada was granted exclusively to a company of French merchants, who, in the following years, were dispossessed of Quebec by Sir David Keith. This conquest remained in the hands of the British till it was ceded at the treaty of St. Germaine. In 1663 the West India Company obtained the exclusive right of com merce for forty years, and Canada for thirty years enjoyed tranquillity, and its concomitant, prosperity ; which were interrupted by a bold but un- successful expedition of the people of New England, consisting of one thousand two hundred or one thousand three hundred men under the com- mand of Sir William Phipps. This attempt was repeated about seventeen years afterwards (1711), on a larger scale, but shared the same result, al- though four thousand veteran British troops were employed. Little occurs in the affairs of Canada deserving notice, till the breaking out of the continental war, in 175(), when Canada became the theatre of military scenes, which ended, three years afterwards, in the conquest of it by the British. The English general, Wolfe, though defeated in his first operations by the French, at length, after an action sustained by equal gallantry on both sides, obtained possession of Quebec. In this ex- ploit the opposing generals, Montcalm and Wolfe, are equally renowned for spirit and courage ; one did not survive the mortification of defeat — the other only lived to hear the shouts of victory. This conquest was ratified to the English by the treaty of 1763. Since that period it long enjoyed comparative peace ; for with the exception of one unsuccessful expedition sent against it during the revolutionary war, under General Montgomery, who was killed, Canada was exempt from military operations till the last American war, when it became the theatre of several bloody frays, but resisted, by means of the British troops, the reiterated attacks of the Americans. Canada is now rising in importance. The facility of commerce is increased, and it may be hoped that this colony will be a ▼aluable acquisition to the British crown Sir Charles Metcalfe, the present governor, who was appointed on the death of Sir Charles Bagot, in 1843, is a man of great experience and ability. "From the first moment of his assumption of the vice-regal of- fice," says the Montreal Gazette, " Sir Charles Metcalfe, who had been used to represent the crown of England with honour and success, in other parts of the globe, found himself, and most naturally so, in a state o( antagonism,' as they very correctly phrase it, with those who were con- verting Canada into a democracy, and nullifying the royal power. He found the whole power of the provinces united and centralized by the act of Lord Sydenham, and the royal and paternal influence abdicated by that of Sir Charles Bagot. He found a democracy concentrated in one cham ber and ruled by one cabal ; claiming the right despotically to introduce THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 423 into the other chamber any number of new members necessary to register its decrees — ay, and exercising it, too; demanding that the power of the crown and of the mother country should be a mere nullity, and asserting that the only duty of their representative was to transfer its patronage to them for the purpose of perpetually confirming their own. Such was the system which Sir Charles Metcalfe found in full operation; to which, from the first, he intimated himself to be in a state of 'antagonism;' to which he opposed himself under the great difficulties which circumstances had arrayed against him ; against which he has now taken his stand, and called on everything that is loyal and constitutional, on every man who loves the British connexions and respects the principles of constitutional liberty as distinguished from mere democracy, to rally around him." We make no mention in this place of the internal insurrections and piravical invasions of Canada in the years 1838 and 1839, but refer the reader to the "History of England," p. 739, and the "History of the United States,'' p. , et seq. NEWFOUNDLAND. This large island of North America, situated near the Gulf of St. Law- rence, is s^posed to have been first discovered by the Norwegians, about the beginning of the lllh century; be it so or not, it was not generally made known till John Cabot visited it in 1497, and gave it its present name. Immediately after this, we find that an extensive fishery was carried on, by the Portuguese and French, on the neighbouring banks ; but no suc- successful attempt at a settlement was made till 1623, when Lord Balti- more established a colony on the south-east part of the island, and ap- pointed his son governor. In 1633 some colonists arrived from Ireland, and in 1654 a few English settlers came over, having the authority of a parliamentary grant. The Newfoundland fishery has for nearly a century been the occasion of disputes between the English, French, and Ameri- cans ; though for a great portion of the time the English were enabled to monopolize the trade. Since the peace of 1815, however, it has been very different ; the French and Americans enjoying the greatest share of it. The other British Possessiom in North America are New Brunswick, NovA Scotia, Cape Breton, and Prince Edward's IsLiiND ; but want of space prevents us from entering on the particular history of either. GREENLAND. Under the name of Greenland is denoted the most easterly parts of America, stretching towards the North Pole, and likewise some islands to the northward of the continent of Europe, lying in very high latitudes. This country is divided into West and East Greenland. West Greenland had long been considered to be a part of the continent of America, but recent geographers seem to think it an island. It is bounded on the west by Baffin's bay, on the south by Davis' straits, and on the east by .he North Atlantic Ocean. This country was first peopled by Europeans from Iceland, headed by Eric Rande in the eighth century; and a regular intercourse was main- Uiined between Norway and Greenland till the year 1406; from that ime all correspondence was cut off, and all knowledge of Greenland 424 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. buried in oblivion. It is supposed that a nation called Schrellings, whosfc descendants still inhabit the western part, got the better of the settlers, and exterminated thcin. All that can be learned from the most authentic records is, that Greenland was divided into two districts, called West Bygd, and East Bygd ; that the western division contained four parishes, and one hundred villages ; and the eastern district was still more flourish- ing. This colony, in ancient times, certainly comprehended twelve ex- tensive parishes, one hundred and ninety villages, a bishop's see, and two monasteries. Many attempts have been made to re-discover the east country, without etfect, by the Danes and the English. The land has been seen, but the ice has always prevented any approach to the shore. The Greenland Company, at Bergen, in Norway, transported a colony to the west coast; and in 1712, the Rev. Hans Egede, and others, en- deavoured to reach the eastern district by coasting, but were obliged to return, owing to continual storms. That part of West Greenland which is now settled by the Danes and Norwegians, lies between the 64th and 68th degrees of north latitude ; and thus far, it is said, the climate is temperate. To the northward of the 68th degree, the cold is prodigious- ly intense ; and towards the end of August all the coast is covered with ice, which never thaws till April or May, and sometimes June. Thun- der and lightning rarely happen ; but the aurora borealis is very fre- quent and splendidly luminous. The Greenlanders are constantly em- ployed either in fishing or hunting; at sea they pursue the whale, morse, seal, fish, and sea-fowl, and on shore they hunt the rein-deer. THE HISTORY OF MEXICO. This rich and interesting country may be regarded as altogether a Span- ish colony, though it is no longer dependent on Spain, having become a federal republic. Discovered by Fernando Cortez, a. d. 1519, it was by him taken possession of in the name of the Spanish government. The exploits by which he made himself master of this country, seem rather to belong to romance than history ; the circumstances of the age, and the nature and character of the opposing powers, throw an air of universal interest over operations so multiform and diversified — as the conquest of a great and powerful state by a body of men hitherto unseen by them, possessing all the advantages of skill and experience in war, and resolu- tion and enterprize in action. The first conquest made by Cortez was on the river Tabasco ; after which, landing at St. Juan de Ulloa, he erected a fort, where he received two ambassadors sent by the emperor of Mexico with offers of assistance. A haughty answer was the reply of Cortez ; and gifts of the most costly character were heaped upon him by the natives, in the hope of conciliating peace and preventing his further advance. Dangers, however, encom- passed his steps. Sedition broke out in his own camp, which he had the address not only to quell, but turn to his own advantage. A new town was founded, called La Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz. Still a more alarm- ing mutiny showed itself, which he again converted into the means of executing a measure fraught with imminent risk, but calculated to super- induce the deadly courage of despair. This measure was the destruction of the fleet. Soon after this, being joined by one of the native caciques, with a force of little more than one thousand men, fifteen horses, and six cannons, he entered the state of the Tlascalans, whom, after a desperate THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 425 resistance of fourteen days, he subdued, and converted into allies. At Cholula he massacred six thousand of the natives in revenge for their treachery. Success now wafted his banners, and the capital of the em- pire lay before him. Received by the emperor Montezuma at the head of his nobles, Cortez was conducted to a house in the city, which he for- tified in the strongest manner possible. It appears there was a prediction among the Mexicans, that a strange people should come to chastise them for their sins — a piece of superstition of which Cortez availed himself. By treachery he obtained possession of the person of Montezuma, whom he kept a prisoner for six months. Worn out at length, the Mexican em- peror acknowledged himself a vassal of the Spanish throne. In the meanwhile Cortez lost no opportunity of strengthening his power, by sur- veys of the country, and dividing the spoils among his followers. He was again on the point of losing the fruit of his exertions ; for Ve- lasquez, who commanded the expedition from which Cortez had been despatched from Cuba, hearing of his success, sent out a large force under Narvaez, to seize him, and take possession of Mexico. This formidable danger Cortez frustrated, as well by bribes as the rapidity of his move- ments, almost without bloodshed. But this he observed gave fresh spirit to the Mexicans, who attacked him on his return, and wounded him in his fortress. The wretched Montezuma, who had been placed in the van to deter the assailants from prosecuting their attacks, was wounded, and died of a broken heart. Cortez was compelled to evacuate the place se- cretly, but only to return with a larger body of forces at the expiration of six months. We shortly afterwards find his head-quarters at Tezcuco, where, with the assistance of the Indians, he built a flotilla of thirteen ships. Reinforced with two hundred men, eight horses, and some mili- tary stores, he renewed the siege. Gallantly was the capital defended by Guatimozin, the new emperor, and Cortez was once taken prisoner, but rescued at the expense of a severe wound. Seventy-four days did the city hold out, although the ranks of Cortez were augmented by one hun- dred thousand Indians. August 12, 1512, beheld Guatimozin a prisoner, and his capital in the hands of the merciless invaders — merciless to him they were, for Cortez stained the lustre of his glory by putting the brave but ill-fated monarch to the torture. But there is even in this world a retributive justice ; and worldly minds, however sublimed by courage and enterprize, generally encounter reverses similar in character to their own conduct. Success had excited envy ; and Cortez was doomed to find that no courage and enterprize can be altogether free from reverses. Created captain-general of New Spain (the name he had given to his new con- quest) even after an order had been issued, but not executed, for his ar- rest — established in high favour and honour with the emperor, his native master — endowed with a grant of large possessions in the New World — he had the mortification to find himself possessing only military command. The political government was vested in a royal ordinance. His enter- prising spirit led him to the discovery of the great Cahfornian gulf, but his glory was on the wane ; irritated and disappointed, he returned to Europe to appeal against the proceedings of the royal ordinance, but with- out success ; and he, who had barbarously tortured the gallant emperor of Mexico, died twenty- six years afterwards of a broken heart, a. d. 1547, in the 62nd year of his age. Abstracting the interest which attended the discovery and first conquest of Mexico, or New Spain, the historian finds a tame succession of events, which claim but a very vague notice. From the year 1535 to 1808 there was a succession of fifty viceroys, one alone an American by birth. At the latter period a spirit broke forth, elicited by centuries of oppression and exclusive favour to Europeans, which led the Mexicans to offer re- sistance to the disunion of Spain. The dissensions were headed by Hi- dalgo, an enthusiastic patriot, who was proclaimed generalissimo, Sen- 426 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. lember 17, 1810. lie unfortunately halted in his advance towards the capital, which gave the royalists time to rally, and enabled them to defeat his intentions a few months, and put him to death. But with him the spirit of independence vanished not. Morelos, a priest, assumed the com- mand, and several princes were completely ensured to the side of liberty. A congress of forty members was called, but after the defeat and execu- tion of Morelos, it was dissolved by General Teran, who succeeded him. After languishing for some time, the revolt was entirely quelled in 1819. The change of system introduced into Spain by the cortes alarmed the ecclesiastics in Mexico, who, for their defence, elected Iturbide, undei whom a bloodless revolution was effected, and Mexico maintamed in all its rights, independent of the Spanish dominion, a. d. 1822. After an usurpation of the title of emperor for little more than one year, Iturbide was compelled to lay down his usurpation, and he retired to Leghorn. A federal government was now formed, and sworn to, February 24, 1824. Still commotions arose, in one of which Iturbide, who had been induced to return, lost his life. Thenceforward the government has been almost in a continual turmoil, adverse parties fighting for the rule, and alternate- ly overthrowing each other. The generals Pedrazzo, Guerrero, Arenas, Arista, Urrea, and others, rapidly succeeded in grasping after the shadow of power, were exalted, and debased. Bravo, Bustamente, and Santa Ana, more successful because more unscrupulous tyrants, managed for a time to monopolize what there was of authority. Each of them being in turn banished, General Herrera was, in 1845, elected president. SOUTH AMERICA. PERU. The Peruvians have strange traditions that their progenitors were in- structed in the arts of government and society by a man and woman, named Manco Capac and Mama Oello, from an island in a lake south of Peru. Under their instructions their kingdom was established, the royal family instituted, and success and power heaped upon them. This was about the thirteenth century ; and previous to the arrival of the Spaniards in 1524, there had been fourteen successive monarchs or incas. On the arrival of the Europeans, Huana Capac was the reigning inca, who was taken prisoner and put to death by Pizarro, the discoverer of the country, although he had paid as much gold for his ransom as filled the place of his confinement. Pizarro likewise defeated his successor, and was created marquis of Atibellos, with large possessions in his conquest. His asso- ciate, Almagro, was also amply rewarded. The city of Lima was founded by Pizarro, in 1533, but the Peruvians again took up arms under their inca, Manco Capac, and obtained some successes. A division took place between Pizarro and Almagro, the lat- ter of whom having sustained' a defeat, was taken prisoner and beheaded by his conqueror ; who, two years afterward, was assassinated by Alma- gro's party. Various insurrections ensued with various successes, in which were conspicuous Vasco de Castro, Blasco Vela, Gonzales Pizarro, and Pedro de la Gasca, a priest. The royal authority of the Spaniards was at length established by the surrender and execution of the last inca, Tupac Amaru, by Toledo, the viceroy at Ciizco, a. d. 15C2. Peru re- THE TREASUaY OF HISTORY. 427 mamed in a state of uninterrupted vassalage to the Spanish crown, till the year 1762, when a descendant of the last inca, on being refused a title which had been granted his ancestor, Sayu Tupac, reared the standard of independence, round which the natives rallied with spirit, and in great numbers. For two years the war continued with alternate success. At last Jose Gabriel Condorcanqui was defeated, and with the rest of his family, excepting his brother Diego, put to death. The surviving brother shortly afterward shared the same fate, on suspicion of being engaged in a revo't at Quito. Peru escaped awhile the rising spirit of insubordination, which con- vulsed the other colonies ; but in 1809 commotions ensued, and juntas were established in the cities of Quito and La Paz, but were suppressed. In 1813 the independents of Chili were subjugated, but their efforts were triumphant in 1817, under General San Martin, and Chili was not only evacuated by the Peruvian army, but sent an army to retaliate upon Peru. Lima capitulated on July 6, 1821, and San Martin held levees in the vice- regal palace. The independence of Peru was solemnly proclaimed on the 28th of the same month, and San Martin was proclaimed protector. This office he laid down, after calling together a constituent and sovereign con- gress, on the 20th of September, 1822. Disinterested as was this abdication, it was not followed by prosperity to the country. The inadequacy of the junta appointed by the congress soon became manifest : the patriots were defeated early in 1823 ; the con- gress was dissolved, anarchy predominated, and Lima surrendered to the Spanish troops in July of the same year. They were partially dispos- sessed by Bolivar and the Chilians shortly afterward ; and Peru, thouah safe from Spanish subjugation, was liice a vessel tossed by every casual wave, unsafe, and exposed to conflicting dangers. CHILL This country was subjugated in 1450, by the Peruvians, who retained possession of it till they were driven out by the Spaniards under Alma- gro, in 1535. The Spaniards were driven out by a general rising of the natives three years afterward. Pizarro attempted to colonize the country in 1540, and though opposed by the natives of Copiapo, he succeeded in conquering several provinces, and founded the city of Santiago, February, 1541. In attempting to extend his conquest he exposed his settlement, for six years, to the strong and repeated attacks of the Mapochians, in whose district Santiago was. His lieutenant, Pedro de Valdivia, to whom this extension was entrusted, made the Promancians his allies, and, sur- mounting various attacks and oppositions from the natives, founded the cities of Concepcion, Imperial, and Valdivia. He was shortly afterward defeated by his old enemies the Araucanians, who took him prisoner, and he was at length despatched by an old chief with the blow of a club. These Araucanians kept the new colonies for several years in a contin- ual state of alarm and distress ; and so far succeeded in avenging their former defeats, as in 1598 to capture Vallansa, Valdivia, Imperial and other towns, and form the cities of Concepcion and Chillar. Nor were these the only losses sustained by the Spaniards. The Dutch plundered Chiloe, and massacred the garrison. The feuds between the Araucani- ans and Spaniards were settled by a treaty of peace in 1641, which lasted for fourteen years ; then came a war of ten years, and another peace. In 1722 a conspiracy for the extirpation of the whites vras happily frustrated. The colonists were gathered into towns, the country divided into provin- ces, and several new cities founded by the governor Don Josef Manio, 428 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 1742. A similar attempt by Don Antonia Gonzago, in respect of the Araucanians, relierhted the torch of war, which blazed three years, when harmony was restored. Nor does anything- of particular moment occur in the history of Chili, till 1809: then a successful revolutionary move- ment took place, and for four or five years fortune favoured the cause of independence ; but in 1814, a royalist party from Peru nearly extinguished the flame of liberty. Success (in 1817) returned with General San Mar- tin, who brought them freedom. D. Bernado O'Higgins was made direc- tor of the junta ; and a fatal blow was struck at the power of the royalists on the 5th of April, 1818, when a large tract of coast was declared in a state of blockade by the Chilian navy under Lord Cochrane. In 1820, as stated in the history of Peru, the Chilian army under San Martin, liber- ated Peru from the Spanish thraldom, and San Martin retired into the ranks of private life in Chili. His example was followed by O'Higgins, who resigned the dictatorship, January 28, 1823, and was succeeded by General Freire, the commander-in-chief. The royalist flag, which was hoisted in September, near the city of Concepcion, was pulled down after a short period, and a free constitution appointed, with a popular govern- ment. BRAZIL. The honour of discovering this country is contested between Martin Behem, and Pedro Alvarez Cabral, at the close of the fifteenth century. It was originally called Santa Cruz by Cabral, but afterward Brazil, from the name of a wood produced there. It was first colonized by some re- fugee Jews, in 1548, banished from Portugal, and was fostered by the able guidance of Governor de Sonza, and the blandishments of the Jesuits. In 1624, San Salvador was taken possession of by the Dutch, who were in turn defeated by an armament of Spaniards under Frederic de Toledo. The Dutch, in 1630, succeeded in making themselves masters of De- merara, Paraiba, and Rio Grande. Maurice of Nassau added Scara, Se- regipee, and the greater part of Bahia; and the whole of Brazil was on the point of yielding to their arms, when the revolution which drove Philip IV. from the Portuguese throne, afforded an opportunity for both the Dutch and Portuguese to expel the Spaniards from Brazil. By an agreement between them, the country received a plural title, being called Brazils from the circumstance that both the Dutch and Portuguese pos- sessed almost equal parts of it. By conquest and treaty the whole at length fell to Portugal. In 1806, the royal family of Portugal, driven from Europe by the inva- sion of the French, migrated to Brazil, which from that period has risen rapidly in importance, independence, and strength. In 1817, a revolution broke out in Pernambuco, which failed. A free constitution was passed, and the king returned to Lisbon. Subsequently the prince-regent, on his birth-day, October 12, 1822, was proclaimed constitutional emperor of Brazil, independent of the Portuguese throne — a measure which has since been formally recognised by the government of the parent country. THE REPUBLIC OF LA PLATA, OR UNITED PROVINCES. The title of the United Provinces is of modern date, as the following brief outline of the history of this part of the New World will exhibit. Juan Diaz de Soils, a Spaniard, is said to have been the first adventurer who explored the country, and took possession of it, a. d. 1513. Sebas- THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 429 tian Cahot, in 1526, in the La Plata, discovered the island of St. Gabriel, the river St. Salvador, and the Paraguay. Buenos Ayres was founded in 1535, by Don Pedro de Mendoza. This did not flourish much, on account of the restricted state of commerce, which was, however, gradually relaxed, and in 1748 the annual flota made its last voyage. A free trade with several American ports began in 1774, and an extension to the Spanish ports was granted in 1778. Under a viceroy, trade augmented, and commercial prosperity ensued. Buenos Ayres was captured in 1806 by General Beresford, with a British army, which was in turn compelled to surrender a few weeks afterward to General Liniers, a French officer, at the head of a body of miliiia. Sir Home Popham, with five thousand men, having captured Fort Maldon- ado, attacked Monte Video, without success; but, reinforced by Sir Sam- uel Auchmuty, at length carried the town by storm. The operations were extended under General Whitelocke and General Crawford, who with twelve thousand men renewed the attack upon Buenos Ayres, but were defeated and captured by the native militia. Liniers, who had con- tributed so largely to this defeat, was raised by the people to the vice- royalty, upon the expulsion of Sobremonte for cowardice. The United Provinces escaped not the swell of that storm which the French invasion stirred up in Spain. After various intrigues and plots, Ferdinand VIL was at length proclauned in Buenos Ayres by the address of Don Josef de Goyeneche. A rising of the people (August 1809) was suppressed by Liniers, who was shortly after deposed and sent into exile. Rapid were the convulsions which now shook this unhappy country ; till, on May 26, 1810, the people rose, expelled the viceroy, and appointed a provisional junta of nine persons. In vain the provinces of Cordova, Paraguay, and Monte Video refused their co-operation ; they were com- pelled to go along with the tide. In vain Liniers and General Nieto as- sembled armies ; they were defeated, and beheaded. Shortly after the district of Potosi fell into the hands of the patriots, who deputed, in 1814, a special mission to Ferdinand, on his restoration to the Spanish throne, with conditions of submission. These, happily for them, were rejected. In the same year a small cloud passed over the hopes of the patriots by General Artigas, which was dispelled by the capture of Monte Video, the last stronghold of the Spaniards. After two years of carnage and con- fusion, in 1816, a sovereign congress met at Tucuman, and on October 6, the same year, the act of independence was ratified, D. Juan Martin Pueyrsedon being dictator. Monte Video was taken by the Portuguese under the Baron de Leguna, who had seized on the most valuable part of Hilda Oriental. Petty dissensions and intrigues, incident to the effects of rising inde- pendence, interrupted the progress of success necessary for the consoli- dation of a new state. D. Jose de San Martin cut a distinguished figure in this part of the history, having twice defeated the independents at Entre Rios, in 1811 ; but his efforts failed, and the independence of the Provinces of Rio de la Plata was shortly after sealed. Artigas, driven by the Portuguese across the Paraguay, was apprehended by the dictator Francia, and in 1819, Pueyrsedon, the dictator, fled to Monte Video, and thus dissolved the confused mass of the union of conflicting anddiscordant provinces. After a variety of events and political changes, D. Martin Pvodriguez was established governor, October 6, 1820 ; and in the following year the independence of Buenos Ayres was recognised by the Portuguese government. A general congress was convened at Cor- dova the same year, and on the 15th of December they decided the num- ber of deputies to be sent by each province. In 1827 a war broke out between the republic and Brazil, respecting the possession of Uruguay (Banda Oriental) established as an independent 430 THE TREASURY OP HISTORY. state in 1828 ; and more recently La Plata has been involved in disputes with both Bolivia, and France. These wars have contributed to retard the march of her prosperity; but with all her accumulated difficulties, La Plata has every appearance of soon becoming a prosperous country. COLOMBIA. This is a new state, formed at the close of the year 1819, from the states of Grenada, and Venezuela or Caraccas. It will therefore be ne- cessary to detail the distinct history of these two original states. Grenada, or as it is called. New Grenada, was discovered by Columbus in his fourth voyage, and taken possession of for the Spanish government. He was followed by others, and especially by Amerigo Vespucci, who was the first who made Kurope acquainted with a published account of this part of the New World. The first regular colonists were Ojeda, and Nica Essa, in 1508 ; the former founded the district called New Andalusia, but with no great success ; the latter. Golden Castile, and he also per- ished. These two districts were united (1514) in one, called Terra Firma, under Avila, who successfully extended the discoveries, and founded the town of Panama. Other additions were subsequently made, and the kingdom of New Grenada was established under a captain-general, in 1547. As it had been established, so did it continue for more than one hundred and fifty years, when in 1718 it became a vice-royalty, which form of government lasted but for six years, when it was supplanted by the original one, which was again superseded in 1740, by the incubus of the vice-royalty. Thus did itpontinue, till the weakness of the mother country, from the invasion of the French, afforded an opportunity to raise the standard of independence. Many and various have been the events attendant upon the struggle for mastery ; but a severe blow was inflicted oy their old masters in 1810, who, under Morillo, defeated the colonists with tremendous loss. Three years of renewed subjection followed when the success of the illustrious Bolivar caused the union of Grenada with Venezuela. Venezuela. — This district was discovered somewhat earlier than Gren- ada, by Columbus, in 1498. After several fruitless attempts to colonize it, the Spanish government disposed of the partially subdued natives to the Weltsers, a German company of merchants. Their management led to a change in 1550, when Venezuela, like Greneda three years before, became a supreme government under a captain-general. From that pe- riod to 1806, Venezuela was a torpid vassal under the Spanish crown, when a futile attempt for independence was made under General Mirando, a native. Simultaneous with Grenada, Venezuela rallied for liberty, when the mother country was prostrate before the ascendancy of France, in 1810. In the following year a formal proclamation of independence was made, July 6, and success seemed to attend the cause. Then came the dreadful earthquake. Superstition re-nerved the arm of freedom, and the royalist general, Monteverde, discomfited Mirando, and again overran the province. In 1813 Bolivar called independence again into action, and suc- cess attended him for three years, when another defeat was sustained, which was followed by another victory. Reverses again recurring, com- pelled the congress to appoint Bolivar dictator; and in 1819 the union of Venezuela with Grenada was effected under the name of Colombia. Colombia may therefore date its history as a nation from this union, which was agreed upon December 17, 1819; and the installation of the jnited congress took place May 6, 1821 ; which was followed in June 24, by a victory obtained by the president Bolivar over the Spaniards, at the THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 431 celebrated battle of Carabobo, in which the royalist army lost above six thousand men, besides their artillery and baggage. BOLIVIA. The history of this recently formed state, known before as Upper Peru, partakes of the nature of an episode in the life of the great Bol- ivar, in whose honour its present name was given, and to whose wise f.-ouncils it is so much indebted. Previously to the battle of Ayachuco, in 1824, it formed a part of the Spanish viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres ; but General Sucre, at the head of the republicans, having then defeated Vhe royalist troops, the independence of the country was effected ; and in the following year, at the request of the people, Bolivar drew up a constitu- tion for its governance. The reader will find in the life of Bolivar the following passage, which is so applicable that we cannot, perhaps, do better than transcribe it. " His renown was now at its height, and every act of his government showed how zealously alive he was to the improvement of the national instiiutious and the moral elevation of the people over whom he ruled. In 1823 he went to the assistance of the Peruvians, and having succeeded in settling their internal divisions, and establishing their independence, he was proclaimed liberator of Peru, and invested with supreme anthority. In 1825 he visited Upper Peru, which detached itself from the goverment of Buenos Ayres, and was formed into a new republic, named Bolivia, in honour of the liberator; but domestic factions sprung up, the purity of his motives were called in question, and he was charged with aiming at a perpetual dictatorship ; he accordingly declared his intention to resign his power so soon as his numerous enemies were overcome, and to repel the imputations of ambition cast upon him, by retiring to seclusion upon his patrimonial estates. The vice-president, Santander, urged him, in reply, to resume his station as constitutional president; and though he was beset by the jealousy and distrust of rival factions, he continued to exercise the chief authority in Colombia till May, 1830, when, dissatisfied with the as- pect of internal affairs, he resigned the presidency, and expressed his de- termination to leave the country. The people ere long became sensible of their injustice to his merit, and were soliciting him to resume the gov- ernment, when his death, which happened in December, 1830, prevented the accomplishment of their wishes." The government of Bolivia is in the hands of a president, to which office General Santa Cruz was elected in 1829. GUIANA. This is a Britsh possession, comprising the several districts of Berbice, tlssequibo, Demerara, and Surinam. It is asserted by some that Colum- bus saw this coast in 1458, and by others that it was discovered by Vasco Nunez, in 1504. It became, however, known to Europe in 1595, when Raleigh sailed up the Orinoco in his chimerical search of El Dorado, a city supposed to be paved with gold. The coast of Guiana then became the resort of buccaneers ; and in 1634, a mixed company of these free- booters, English and French, formed the settlements of Surinam for the cultivation of tobacco. They were, after twenty years of great hardship and difficulty, taken under the protection of the British, who appointed Lord Willoughby, of Parham, governor, 1662. The Dutch captured the 432 THE TEBASURY OF HISTORY settlement in 1667, and the possession of it was confirmed by the treaty of Westminster, Kngland receiving the colony of New-York in exchange. In 1773, the Dutch settlements on the Essequibo, which had been captured by the British in the American war, were restored to the states-general. In 1796, both Berbice and Demerara fell to the English, as also Surinam, in 1799; but again reverted to Holland, at the peace of Amiens, in 1802 ^ fell to the English arms in 1813, and were confirmed by the treaty of Paris, 1814, to Great Britain. AMAZONIA. A couNTBY of South America, so called from a martial and powerful state, in which a body of women, it is said, with arms in their hands, op- posed Francisco Orellana in his passage down the river Maragnon. It was first discovered by him, a. d. 1541 ; when, with fifty soldiers, he was wafted in a vessel down the stream of a smaller river into the channel of the Maragnon, which he also called Amazon. The origin of the name Amazon is folded in some mystery. It is applied exclusively to females of strong and martial habits, and was first used in reference to a race of them who, whether actually or fabulously is a mat- ter of dispute, founded an empire in Asia Minor, upon the river Thermo- doon, along the coast of the Black Sea, as far as the Caspian. They are mentioned by the most ancient Greek writers, as well as by others of a late date ; and various are accounts given both of their origin and history. THE WEST INDIA ISLANDS. The West Indies consist of a number of islands in the central part of America, extending from the tropic of Cancer southward, to the coast of Terra Firma and Mexico ; the principal of which are Cuba, Hayti or St. Domingo, Jamaica, Porto Ptico, Trinidad, St. Christopher, (commonly called St. Kitt's,) Antigua, Guadaloupe, Martinique, Barbadoes, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Grenada, and Tobago ; for the most part discovered by Co- lumbus, near the close of the fifteenth century. The islands are in pos- session of various powers. CUBA. Cuba, the largest and most westerly island in the West Iniies, was dis- covered by Columbus, 1492 ; and was first called Juana, in honour of prince John, son of Ferdinand and Isabella ; afterward Fernandina ; then San- tiago and Ave Maria, in deference to the patron saint of Spain and the Virgin. The name of Cuba is that which it was called by the natives at the time of its discovery. It is about eight hundred miles in length, and about one hundred and twenty-five in breadth. The Spaniards made no settlement upon it till 1151, when Diego de Velasquez arrived with four ships, and landed on the eastern point. This district was under the government of a cacique, named Hatney, a native of St. Domingo, who had retired hither to avoid tlie slavery to which his countrvnien were con- THE TREASUilY OF HISTORY. 433 demned. Those who could escape the tyranny of the Spaniards bad followed hinn in his retreat. The Spaniards soon overcaine the Indians. Hatney was taken in the woods, and condemned to be burned. When he was fastened to the stake, and waited only for the kindling of the fire, a priest advanced towards him, and proposed the ceremony of baptism as a means of entering the Christian paradise. "Are there," said the cacique, "any Spaniards in that happy place !" " Yes," replied the priest. " I will not," replied Hat- ley, " go to a place where I should be in danger of meeting one of them. Talk to me no more of your religion, but leave me to die." Velasquez found no more enemies. All the caciques hastened to do him homage. After the mines had been opened, and it was found that they did not answer, the inhabitants of Cuba, having become useless, were exterminated. A small part only of this island is cleared ; there are only some traces of cultivation at St. Jago, and at Matanzas ; t!ie fine plantations are all confined to the beautiful plains of the Havana. Havana, the capital of Cuba, is a fine city, and the harbour one of the safest in the world. The English took it in the year 1762, but it was re- stored at the peace of 1763, since which time prodigious pains have been taken to render this key to all the Spanish American colonies impregnable. HAYTI, OR ST. DOMINGO. This island was discovered by Columbus in 1492, and is, next to Cuba., the largest of the West India islands. It is upwards of four hundred miles in length, from east to west, and averages more llian one hundred in breadth. Having taken possession of it in the name of Spain, Columbus founded the town of La Isabella on the north coast, and established in it, under his brother Diego, the first settlement of the Spaniards in the New World. It was in high estimation for the quantity of gold it supplied; but this wealth diminished with the inhabitants of the country, whom they compelled to perpetual labour in the mines ; and it was entirely lost when those wretched victims were no more. The cruelties of the Spaniards almost exceed belief. It is computed, that considerably more than a mil- lion of natives (the number at the time of its discovery) perished in the space of fifty years, by the hands or tlirough the means of the con- querors. The gold mines have failed for want of hands to dig them. The Span- iards thought of procuring slaves from Africa, to re-open them, and numbers were imported : but the mines on the continent having been begun to be worked w ith good eflfect, those of St. Domingo were no lon- ger of importance. The settlers then turned their thoughts to agricul- ture, which was cultivated with success. Sugar, tobacco, cocoa, cassia, ginger and cotton, were among their productions at the close of the six- teenth century. The immense fortunes raised in Mexico, and other parts, induced the inhabitants of St. Dominfro to, despise their settlements, and they quitted the island in numbers in search of those regions of wealth. This conduct ruined St. Domingo. It had no intercourse with the mother country, but by a single ship, of no great burden, received from thence every third year; and the whole colony, in 1717, consisted of only eigh- teen thousand four hundred and ten, including Spaniards, Mestees, Mulat- toes and Negroes. The Spaniards retained possession of the whole istaland till 1GG5, when the French obtained a footing on its western coast, and laid the founda- tion of that colony which sftervvards became so flourishing. The French settlers increased very fast; and sugar works were erected in great num- 28 434 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. bers ; the planters became rich, and the negroes became numerous, until the fatal measure of giving liberty to the slaves was adopted, without preparatory means, by the French national convention. At that period the negroes in the French part of St. Domingo were estimated at about five huTidrod tliousand ; and while the revokitionary terrorists in France were hourly exhibiting scenes of barbarity, and recommending their ac- tions as worthy of imitation by all other nations, the inhabitants of St. Domingo were precisely in that unsettled situation wliich seemed to fa- vour the commission of similar atrocities, under the pretext of avenging past injuries and redressing present grievances. In October, 1790, James Oge, a free mulatto who had been in Paris, and who is described as an enthusiast for liberty, but otherwise humane, returned from France, and put himself at the head of the insurgent people of colour; but being de- feated, in March, 1791, was betrayed by the Spaniards, to whom he had fled for refuge, and, with Mark Chavane, his lieutenant, broke alive on the wheel. At this time eight thousand troops arrived from France ; and Maudit, the new governor, was murdered by his own soldiers, with circumstances of horrid barbarity. By a decree of the national assembly of the 15th of May, 1791, people of colour were declared eligible to seats in the colonial assembly. And on the 11th of September, a concordat, or truce, was signed between the whites and mulattoes. But the operation of this truce was destroyed by an absurd decree of the national assembly re- pealing the decree of the 15th of May. Open war in all its horrors wao now renewed. It was no longer a contest for victory, but a diabolical emulation to outvie each other in barbarous atrocities. On the 23rd of August, 1791, Cape Frangois was burnt; and it was computed that in the space of two months, upwards of two thousand persons perished by these horrible massacres, while not fewer than ten thousand of the mulattoes and negroes died by famine and the sword, besides numbers that suffered by the executioner, Meantime three commissioners arrived from France, accompanied by six thousand of the national guards; and citizen Galbaud was appointed governor. Their attempts, however, to stop these enormi- ties, proved fruitless, though they proclaimed the total abolition of slavery, and a general indemnity. In October, 1793, a body of British under Colonel Whitelock, landed and took possession of Tiburon, Treves, Jeremie, Lcogane, Cape Nicholas Mole, and upwards of ninety miles of the eastern coast, with little opposi- tion. It was, however, a disastrous acquisition to the English, for in less than six months after their arrival, not less than six thousand, of whom one hundred and fifty were officers, fell victims to disease. Leogane was soon after re-taken by the negroes, who now amounted to above one hun- dred thousand, under their general Touissant L'Ouverture : and Tiburon was taken by the French under General Rigaud. To remedy these dis- asters another expedition was undertaken by the British, but v/as attended with vast expense and the loss of many brave troops. Colonels Brisbane ^and Markham were killed ; and at length, in 1798, the British having surrendered Port au Prince and Cape Nicholas Mole to General Hedonville, the island was totally abandoned by them. At this time the name of Port au Prince was changed to Port Repiihlicain ; and the Spanish part of the island was taken possession of by L'Ouverture; a man of superior talents and character, whose unremitting exertions were directed to the laudable object of healing the wounds and improving the condition of every class in the island. The beneficial efTecls of such an administration were soon visible. The wasted colony began to revive; the plantations were again brought into a fertile state ; the poils were opened to foreign vessels ; and, DOtwithstanding the ravages of a ten years' war, the commerce of St. Do- THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 435 mingo was rapidly recovering ; while the population also increased with astonishing rapidity. In 1798, when the British forces evacuated the island, the military es- tablishment of St. Domingo did not exceed forty thousand ; but in two years it was more than double that number. Touissant was regarded as an extraordinary being by his soldiers, and no European army was ever subject to a more rigorous discipline. Every officer commanded, pistol in hand ; and had the power of life and death over the subalterns. Sixty thousand men were frequently reviewed and exercised together; on which occasions two thousand officers were seen in the field, carrying arms, from the general to the ensign, yet with the utmost attention to rank, and without the smallest symptom of insubordination. In these re- views, says M. de la Croix, Touissant appeared like an inspired person, and became the fetiche or idol of the blacks who listened to him. In order to make himself belter understood, he frequently addressed them iu parables, and often made use of the following : — In a glass vessel full of grains of black maize, he would mix a few grains of white maize, and saj'^ to those who surrounded him, " you are the black maize; the whites, who are desirous of enslaving you are the white maize." He would then shake the vessel, and presenting it to their fascinated eyes, exclaim," see the white here and there !" in other words, " see how far the whites are apart in comparison to ourselves.'' The gleam of prosperity, however, which resulted from his wise administration, was but of short continuance. The independence of St. Domingu vas proclaimed on the 1st of July, 1801 ; and while the inhabitants were indulging the hope of future happi- ness, a storm was gathering, which burst upon them with accumulated fury. Scarcely was the peace of Amiens concluded, when a formidable armament of twenty-six ships of war was equipped by order of the first consul, with the determination of reducing the revolted colony of St. Do- mingo. On board this fleet v/ere embarked twenty-five thousand chosen troops, amply furnished with all the apparatus of military slaughter ; and the chief command was confided to General Le Clcrc, the brother- in law of Bonaparte. Before proceeding to hostilities, however, recourse was had to various perfidious acts. Attempts were made to sow disunion among the free people of St. Domingo. Proclamations and letters, ex- pressed in all the delusive jargon of the republic, were widely circulated. The chiefs of both colours then in France, and the two sons of Touissant himself, who had sent them thither for instruction, were pressed into the service of the expedition. The French forces arrived in January, 1801 ; yet so little did Touissant expect to have any enemy to combat, that he was at the time making a tour round the eastern part of the island, and had given no order for resis- tance in case of aitack. After the French troops had disembarked, and previously to commencing operations in the interior of the country, Le Olerc thought proper to try what effect the sight of his two sons, and a specious letter from Bonaparte, would have upon Touissant. Coisnon, their tutor, who had accompanied them from France, and was one of the chief confidential agents in this expedition, was accordingly deputed on this errand, with instructions to press Touissant's instant return to the Cape, and to bring back the children in case he should not succeed. On arriving at Touissant's country residence, and learning that its owner would not return from his excursion until the next day, the wily French- man availed himself of this delay to work upon the feelings of their mother, whose tears, and the solicitations of the children, when llieir fath- er returned, for a while shook his resolutions. But being at length con- firmed in his suspicions of the snare that was laid for him, by the conduct and language of Coisnon, Touissant suddenly composed his agitated countenance; and, gently disefigaging himself from the embraces of his 436 THE TEEASURY OF HISTORY. wife and children, he took their preceptor hito another apartment, and gave him this dignified decision : — " Take back my children ; since it must be so, I will be faithful to my brethren and my God." Unwilling to prolong this painful scene, Touissant mounted his horse, and rode to the camp; and although a correspondence was afterwards opened between him and Le Clcrc, it failed to produce his submission. Hostilities now commenced. After several obstinate conflicts in fh» open field, and the burning of several towns, the blacks found themselves overpowered, and were compelled to retire into the inaccessible fortresses of the interior, whence they carried on, under their brave chieftain, Touis- sant, a desultory, but destructive warfare against detached parties of their enemies. At length, however, the negroes and cultivators were either subdued by the terror of the French army, or cajoled by the deceitful promises of the French general, who had published in his own name, and in that of the first consul, solemn declarations that the freedom of all the inhabitants of St Domingo, of all colours, should be preserved inviolate. But no sooner did Le Clerc find that his plans succeeded than he threw aside the mask, and issued an order restoring to the proprietors, or their attorneys, all their ancient authority over the negroes upon their eslates. This order at once opened the eyes of the negro population; Touissant and Christophe united their forces ; and such was the fierce and active na- ture of their attacks, that Le Clerc was obliged to abandon most of his former conquests, and seek refuge in the town of Cape Frangois ; whei« he again issued a proclamation, couched in such specious terms that the blacks and their leaders accepted the conditions of his proffered amnesty. This master-piece of deception having thus succeeded, and the French now having the dominion of the island, began to put in execution their meditated system of slavery and destruction ; and, as a preliminary step towards this object, Le Clerc caused Touissant to be privately seized in the night, together with his family, and, putting him on board a fast-sail- ing frigate, he was conveyed to France, as a prisoner, (May, 1802). There, under a charge of exciting the negroes to rebel, he was committed to close custody, and was no more heard of by his sorrowing countrymen, till his death was announced in the following year as having taken place in the fortress of Joux. Aroused by the treachery of Le Clerc, the black chieftains, Dessalines, Christophe, and Clervaux, again raised their standards, and were soon found at the head of considerable bodies of troops, ready to renew the struggle for liberty, and determined to succeed or perish in the attempt. Many and desperate were the contests which ensued ; Le Clerc died, and was succeeded in the command of the French army by Rochambaud; but the losses they sustained by disease as well as by this harrassing warfare rendered any escape froni Hayti preferable to a continuance there : and, as war had then recommenced between Great Britain and France, the French gladly surrendered themselves prisoners of war to a British squad- ron, and were conveyed to England. The independence of Hayti, which had been first proclaimed in 1800, was thus consolidated, and Dessalines erected the west or French part of the island into an empire, of which he became emperor, with the title of Jacques L (January 1, 1804). But his reign was of short duration; the cruelties he perpetrated caused a conspi- racy to be formed against him ; and, two years after his coronation, he was surrounded by the conspirators at his head-quarters, and, struggling to escape, received his death-blow. The assassination of Dessalines caused another division of the island, and another civil war. In the north, Christophe assumed the government, with the modest designation of chief of the government of Hayti; while Petion, a mulatto, asserted his claim to sovereign power. For several years these rival chieftains carried on a sanguinary contest, with various THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 437 success, until the year 1810, when hostilities were suspended; and, though no formal treaty was concluded, the country enjoyed the blessings of peace. Christophe was crowned king of Hayli in March, 1811, by the title of Henry I. ; and Petion, as president of the republic of Hayli, gov- erned the southern part until 1818, when he died, and was succeeded by General Boyer, whom he was allowed to nominate his successor. Both governments evinced a praiseworthy solicitude for the encouragement of agriculture, as the basis of their national prosperity; and both were per- severing in their endeavours to promote the intellectual instruction of the rising generation. Christophe, in imitation of other monarchs, created various orders of nobility, together with numerous officers of state, &c. His dynasty, however, was like his predecessor's, short-lived. In 1820, a successful conspiracy was formed against him; and, finding himself completely surrounded by an overwhelming force, he committed suicide. Boyer now took possession of his dominions ; and, the Spanish portion of the island having, in 1821, voluntarily placed itself under his government, he became master of the whole of Hayti. Though nominally republican, the government of Hayti is in reality an elective military monarchy ; vested ostensibly in a president, senate, and chamber of representatives ; but the whole efficient authority is wielded by the chief officer. The president is charged with all the executive du- ties ; commands the army and navy; makes war, peace, and treaties, subject to the sanction of the senate ; appoints all public functionaries, &c. In 1825, Boyer concluded a treaty with France, by the provisions of which the independence of Hayti was fully recognized, and its ports thrown open to all nations, but with certain exclusive advantages to the French. The Haytians also agreed to pay one hundred and fifty millions of francs to France, in five annual payments, as an indemnity for the losses of the colonists during the revolution. The first instalment of thirty millions was paid in 183G; but it being evident that the annual exaction was be- yond the ability of Hayti to repeat, it was agreed, in 1838, to reduce the original sum to sixty millions of francs, to be paid in six instalments, by 1867. PORTO-RICO. Porto-Rico was discovered by Columbus in 1493 ; it is about one hun- dred miles in length, from east to west, and forty from north to south. The Spaniards neglected it till 1509, when thirst of gold brought thera vhither from Si. Domingo, under Ponce de Leon, to make a conquest, which afterwards cost them dear. Ambitio-i, revenge, and love of gold prompted the Spaniards to the most atrocious outrages. They found the inhabitants brave and fond of liberty; and as they looked up to the Kuropean visitants as a superior order of beings, to their authority they voluntarily submitted. It was not long, however, before they wished to shake off the intolerable yoke under which they groaned, and postponed the enterpise only till they could assure themselves that they were not immortal. A cacique, named Broyo, was entrusted with this coinmission ; and chance soon favoured the design, by bringing to him Salzedo, a young Spaniard, who was travelling. Broyo received him with the greatest re- spect, and, at his departure, sent some Indians to attend him on his way, in quality of guides. When they came to the bank of the river, which Ihcy were to pass, one of them took him on his shoulders to carry him across; but no sooner had he got into the middle of the stream, than he threw the S[)aniard into it, and, with the assistance of his companions, he kept him there till no signs of life remained. They then dragged him to the bank, but, as they were still in doubt whether he was dead or living, .i:.y THE TREASUilY OF HISTORY. llicy bogged pardon many times for the afcident that hud happened. Thw lart'o lasted three days; till at len{/tli being convinced, by the puiridily of the body, llial it was possible for Spaniards to die, the Indians rose on all Hides upon their opi)ressors, and massacred upwards of one hundred of them. Ponce de Leon immediately assembled all the Castilians who had es- caped, and fell upon the Indians, who, as historians relate, had the extreme folly to suppose that these Spaniards were the same that had been killed and were come to life again to fight them. I'lider this ridiculous and al- most incredible persuasion, dreading to continue a war with men who re- vived after death, they submitted again to the yoke of a cruel foe; and being condemned to the mines, six hundred thousand are said to have fallen martyrs to the sword or the toils of slavery. Under the old cohjiiial system of Spain, in 1768. the population was little more than eighty thousand; whereas it amounted, in 1836, to three hundred and fifty-seven thousand, and it was supposed to contain near four hundred thousand, of whom an eighth are slaves. Previously lo 1815, Porto-liico being excluded from all direct iiitercouse with oilier countries excepting Sjiain, was but slowy progressive. At that period, however, a royal decree appeared, which exempted the trade between Spain and the Spanish colonies and Porto- Hico from all duties for fifteen years; and she was then also permitted to carry on a free trade, under reasonable duties, with other countries. Tliese wise and liberal meas- ures have wonderfully contributed to the prosperity of the island ; and their coffee, sugar, and tobacco plantations are jiow in a thriving condi- tion. In the latter part of the 17lli century, Porto-liico was taken pos- session of by the lOnglish; but they did not long retain it, owing to the prevalence of disease among the troops. The government, laws, and institutions are nearly similar to those established in the other trans- atlantic colonies of Spain. BARUADOES. This is the most easterly island of the West Indies. It is twenty-two miles in length, from north to south, and fifteen in breath, from east to west. The time of its discovery is not certain, nor by whom; but it is generally attributed to the P«)rtugucse, on their way to Brazil. However, the English touched there in 1615, and, landing some men in 1625, made their first permanent settlement. In 16'27, the earl of Pembroke obtained a grant of the island in trust for Sir William Courleen, unknown to the earl of Carlisle, who had before obtained a grant of all the Caribbee islands from James I. The first planters were gentlemen of Devonshire and Cornwall, principally of the parliamentary party. The country bore not the least appearance of having ever been peopled : there was no kind of beast of pasture or of prey; no fruit, herb, or root, fit for the support of human life ; but the soil was good, and soon began to submit to cultivation. Population increased through a variety of ad- ventures, and the civil wars of England added prodigiously thereto; Bar- badoes, in twenty-five years from its first settlement, containing upwards of fifty thousand \vhites, and a much greater number of negroes and Indian slaves. The former of these they bought, and the latter they seized upon without any pretence. In 1676, the population and trade were at their highest pitch; four hundred ships, averaging about one hiindred and fifty tons each, were employed ; since which the island has been much oil the decline. Barbadoes has been frequently visited by hurricanes, of which those of August 10, 1674, October 10, 1780, and August 11, 1S31, have been the THE THEASURY OF HISTOllY. 439 most destructive in their effects ; but the fury and violence of the last hurricane far exceeded that of either of the former, in it twenty-five hundred persons were killed, and the loss of property amounted to two millions and a half sterling. By the munificent aid of the British parlia- ment, and the industry of the inhabitants, the planters have now recovered from these losses. The population, as in the adjoining islands, may prop- erly be divided into four classes; crcolc or native whites; European whites; Creoles of mixed blood; and native blacks. Barbadoes has all along remained in possession of the English. It is the residence of the bishop of Barbadoes and tlie Leeward Islands; and the clerical establish- ment IS on a very respectable and effective scale. ST. CHRISTOPHER'S, OR ST. KITT'S. This island, which b'dongs to Great Britain, was discovered in 1493, by Columbus, v.iio gave it the name it bears. It was the mother country of all the English" and French settlements in the West Indies. Both nations arrived there on the same day in 1U25; they shared the island between them; signed a perpetual neutrality; and entered into a mutual engagement to assist each other against their common enemy, the Span- iards. War commenced between England and France in ItJGG, and St. Christopher's became a scene of carnage for nearly half a century, ter- minating only with the total expulsion of the French in 170J. This island is about fifteen miles long, by four broad. There is no harbour in the country, nor the appearance of one. NEVIS. Tnis small island, now belonging to the British, was originally discov- ered by Columbus; and the English, under Sir Thomas Warner, settled on it in lti28. It is separated from St. Christopher's by a narrow cliauncl; and is properly only one very high mountain, about seven miles over each way. It was ravaged by the French in 170G, and the next year al- most destroyed by the most violent hurricane ever recorded. ANTIGUA. Anticda, a West Indian island, belonging lo Great Biitain, is one of those denominated the Windward Islands. It was called by the natives Xaymaca, but Columbus gave it the name of Santa Maria do la .Vntigua. The island is about twenty-five miles long, by eighteen broad. (Jolumbus discovered it in 1492, but it was found totally uninhabited by those few Frenchmen who fled thither in 1G29, upon being driven from St. Christo- pher's by the Spaniards. The want of fresh water induced the fugitives to return as soon as they could. It appears that in 1G40 there were about thirty English families settled in this island ; and the number was not much increased when Charles II. granted the property to Lord Willough- by, of Parham. His lordship sent over a considerable number of inhabi- tants in 16GG ; but, from that lime till 1680, it grew nothing but indigo and tobacco ; when the island being restored again to the state. Colonel Cod- rington introduced the culture of sugar. The harbours of tlic island, Particularly that called English Harbour, are the best belonging to tho ritish government in these seas; and the v/Iiolc is so much encora 440 THE TKEASUILY OF UISTOIIY. passed with rocks and shoals, that it is very dangerous for those unac- quainted with its navigation to cfTect a landing. For this cause it has remained unmolested by the French in all tiie late wars. MONTSERRAT. Tins island was discovered by the Spaniards in 1493, who gave it the name of a mountain in Catalonia, which it resembled in shape. It is about twelve miles in length, and five in its broadest part. The English landed here in 1G32, and soon after drove off all the natives. The pro- gress of the colony was slow ; and it acquired no kind of importance till the close of the seventeenth century, when the culture of sugar took place. It has no harbour, nor even a tolerable road ; and masters of ves- sels are under the necessity of putting to sea when they see a storm ap- proaching. It is in the possession of the English. JAMAICA. Jamaica, the largest and most valuable of the British West India islands, was discovered by Columbus in his second voyage, in 1494. It is about one hundred and sixty-five miles in length, from east to west, and its average breadtli about foity miles, bearing a resemblance to a long oval. In 1502, Columbus was driven upon the island by a storm, and having lost his ships, he implored the humanity of the natives, who gave him all the assistance that natural pity suggests. They soon, however, grew tired of supporting strangers, and insensibly withdrew from their neighbour- hood. The Spaniards, who had already treated the Indians ungenerous- ly, now took up arms against one of their chiefs, whom they accused of severity toward them. Columbus, forced to yield to the threats of his people, in order to extricate himself from so perilous a situation, availed himself of one of those natural phenomena, in which a man of genius may sometimes find a resource. From the knowledge he had acquired ot astronomy, he knew that an eclipse of the moon was fast approaching. He took advantage of this circumstance, and summoned all the caciques in the neighbourhood to come and hear something that concerned them, and was essential to their preservation. He then stood up in the midst ol them, and having upbraided them w-ith their cruelty, in suffering him and his distressed companions almost to perish, he thus emphatically addressed them : " To punish you for this, the God whom 1 worship is going to strike you with his most terrible judgments. This very evening you will see ihe moon turn red, then grow dark, and withhold its light from you. This will be only a prelude to your calamities, if you obstinately persist in refusing to give us food." He had scarcely done speaking, when his pror phecies were fulfilled. The Indians were terrified beyond measure ; they begged for mercy, and promised to do anything that he should desire. He then told them, that Heaven, moved with their repentance, vvas appeased, and that nature was going to resume her natural course. From that mo- ment provisions weres ent from all quarters ; and the Spaniards were never in want of anything during the time they remained there. It was Don Diego Columbus, son of the discoverer, that first fixed the Spaniards in Jamaica. In 1509, he sent thither seventy robbers from St. Domingo, under the command of John de Esquimel; and others soon fol- lowed. These wretches went over apparently for no other purpose but to shed human blood; in fact, they never appear to have sheathed their swords while there was an inhabitant left. The murderers raised several settlements upon the ashes" of the natives; but that of St. Jago de la Ve- ga, was the only one that could support itself. The inhabitants of tbai THE TREASUaY OF HISTOEY. 44) town contented themselves with living upon the produce of some few plantations, and the overplus they sold to the ships that passed by their coasts. The whole population of the colony, centered in the little spot that fed this race of destroyers, consisted of about fifteen hundred whites, and as many slaves, when the English came and attacked the town, took it, and settled there, in 1655. The English brouglit the fatal sources of discord along with them. At first the new colony was only inhabited by three thousand of that fanatical army who had fought and conquered un- der the standards of the republican party. These were soon followed by a multitude of royalists. The divisions which had prevailed for so long a time, and with so much violence, between the two parties in Europe, followed them beyond the seas. One party triumphed in the protection of Cromwell; the other trusted to the governor of the island, who was, in secret, a royalist. The name of this governor was Dudley ; and by his disinterested behaviour he enforced his authority. When Charles II. was restored to the crown, a form of civil government was established at Jamaica, modelled like those of the other islands, upon that of the mother country. The governor represented the king; the council, the peers ; and three deputies from each town, with two from every parish, constituted the commons. In 1682, the code of laws was drawn up which has so long existed. Jamaica soon after became the grand depot of the buccaneers, a set of pirates who plundered the seas, and ravaged the coasts of America. Here the spoils of Mexico and Peru met with a ready reception ; and here " extravagance and debauchery held their court," till this destruc- tive race became extinct, or annihilated, in consequence of the frequency of the murders they committed. The illicit trade carried on between Ja- maica and the Spanish colonies, had, in 1739, according to the best cal- culations, brought into the former upwards of jC65, 000,000 sterling. The court of Madrid thought to put a stop to it, by prohibiting the admis- sion of foreign ships into the Spanish harbours, on any pretence what- ever. But the people of Jamaica supported themselves in this trade under the protection of the English men-of-war, by allowing the captain five per cent, upon every article of which he authorized the smuggling. After the establishing of register ships by Spain, this trade gradually di- minished ; and sometime previous to the year 1766, it was reduced to about ^£56,000 per annum. The British ministry at that time wishing to restore or recover the profit of it, thought that the best expedient to re- pair the losses of Jamaica was to make it a free port. This was no sooner done than the Spanish American ships flocked thither from all parts, to exchange their gold and silver, and other commodities, for the manufac- tures of England. St. Jago, or Spanish Town, is the capital, but Kingston by far exceeds it in size and opulence. The town of Port Royal stood on a point of land running far out into the sea, and ships of seven hundred tons cotild come up close to the wharfs. When the earthquake happened on the 7ih of June, 1692, this town contained two thousand houses, all of which were destroyed, and vast numbers of persons perished. The earthquake was followed by an epidemic disease, which carried off three thousand more. Port Royal was soon rebuilt ; but in January, 1703, it experienced another great taiamity, a fire nearly reducing it to ashes. Many people now re- moved to Kingston. It was, however, built a third time, and was rising toward its former grandeur, when it was overwhelmed by the sea, on the 28lh of August, 1722. Kingston was built in 1692, from a plan of Colonel Lilly's, after the earthquake which destroyed Port Royal. It is a beauti- ful city, laid out in squares, with streets wide and regular, crossed by others at right angles. The harbour is spacious, and capable of admitting one hundred ships, or more, in safety. 442 THE TRKASURY OF IIISTOIIY. MARTINIQUE. MARTiNiquF:, one of the discoveries of Columbus, and the principal ol the Frencii Caribbec islands, is about forty miles in length, and ten in average breadth. It was first settled by M. iJesnambouc, a Frer.ehman, in the year in3o, with only one hundred men from St. Christopher's. He chose rather to have it peopled from thence than from Europe ; as he fore- saw that men tired from the fatigue of a long voyage would be likely U, perish, after their arrival, either from the climate, or the hardships inci- dent to most emiirralions. They completed their first settlement without any difTiculty. The natives, intimidated by fire-arms, or seduced by pro- mises, gave up to the French the western and the southern parts of the island, and retired to the other. This tranquillity was of short duration. The Caribs, when tliey saw those enterprising strangers dnily increasing, were resolved to extirpate them : they therefore called in the natives of the neighbouring isles to their assistance, and suddenly attacked a little fort that had been newly erected. Tiiey were, however, repulsed, leaving upwards of seven hundred of their best warriors dead upon the spot. After this check, they disappeared for a long time ; and when they did ap- pear, it was with presents in their hands for their conquerors. The Indians, whose manner oflife requires a vast e.Ment of land, find- ing themselves daily more straitened, waylaid the French who frequented the woods, and destroyed them. Twenty men had been killed, before any one was &b\e to account for their disappearance. No sooner was it dis- covered, than the aggressors were pursued, their houses burnt, their wives and children massacred; and those few that escaped the carnage, fled from Martinique, and never appeared there any more. The French, by this retreat, became sole masters of the island. They were divided into two classes ; the first consisted of such as had paid their passage to the island, and those were called inhabitants. The govern- ment distributed lands to them, which became their absolute property upon paying a yearly tribute. These had under their command a number of disorderly people, sent from Europe, ai their expense, whom they called engages, or bondsmen. This engagement was a kind of slavery for three -ears, and when it expired they became free. The first cultivation was confined to tobacco, cotton, annato, and indigo. That of sugar was intro- duced in 1G50. Benjamin Da Costa, ten years after, planted cocoa. In 1718, all the cocoa-trees were destroyed by the season, and the cofTee-tree immediately took its place. Early in the eighteenth century, Martinique became the mart for all the windward French settlements ; and Port Royal became the magazine for all matters of exchange between the colonies and the mother country. The prosperity of this island was very great until the war of 1744, when a stop was put, in a great measure, to the contraband trade with the Span- ish colonies, by the introduction of registered ships. Martinique was taken by the English in the beginning of the year 1762, and returned to France in July, 1763. It was again taken by the English in 1809, but restored to France by the peace of Amiens. The empress Josephine, and her first husband, the viscount Beauharnois, were natives of this island. GUADALOIJPE. GUADALOUPE, a valuable island colony belonging to France, was one of the discoveries of Columbus. It is of an irregular form, about twentj-.five miles long and thirteen broad. It is divided into two unequal parts by a THE TH"AsunY or iiisTorvY. 443 small arm of the sea, nearly six miles long, and varying from one to three hundred feet in breadih. 'J'his canal, known by the name of the Riviere- salce, or Salt River, is navigable for vessels of fifty tons burthen. The part of the isla-nd which gives its name to the whole colony i«, towards the centre, full of craggy rocks. Among these rocks is a moun- tain, called La Soufnere, or, the Brimstone Mountain, which rises to an immense height, and exhales, through various openings, a thick and black smoke, intermixed with sparks that are visible by night. Frorn these hills flow numberless streams, which fertilize the plains below. Such is that part of the island properly called Guadaloupe, or Basse-terre. That part which is commonly called Grande-terre, has been less favoured by nature. In 1635 the first settlement was made on this island, by two gentlemen from Dieppe, named Loline and Duplesis, with about five hundred follow- ers. Through imprudence, all their provisions were exhausted in two months; famine stared them in the face, when they resolved to plunder the natives. This, however, did not avert the dreadful alternative. How far the accounts of their horrible sufferings are to be credited we know not, but it is asserted that the colonists were reduced to graze in the field, and to dig up dead bodies for their subsistence. Many who had been slaves in Algiers deplored the fate that had broken their fetters; and all of them cursed their existence. It was in this manner that they atoned for their crime of invasion, till the government of Aubert brouglit about a peace with the natives, a. d. 1640. The few inhabitants that escaped the calamities they liad brought upon themselves, were soon joined by some discontented colonists from St. Ctiristopher's, and by Europeans fond of novelty. But still the prosperity of Guadaloupe was impeded by obstacles arising from its situation. Martinique engrossed every species of traffic, from its convenient harbours and roads. It was in consequence of this preference, that the population of Guadaloupe, in 1700, amounted only to about lour thousand whites, and seven thousand slaves, many of whom were Caribs ; while the produce of the island was proportionably small. Its future progress was, however, as rapid as the first attempts had been slow. At the end of 1755, the colony contained near ten thousand whites, and between forty and fifty thousand slaves; and such was the state of Guad- aloupe when conquered by the Enghsh, in 1759, after a siege of three months, in which time the island suffered so much as to be nearly ruined The conquerors, however, delivered the inhabitants from their fears; they overstocked the market, and thereby reduced the price of all European commodities. The colonists bought them at a low price, and in consequence of this plent)^ obtained long delays for payment. The colony was re- stored to France by the peace of Paris, in 1765. During the French re- publican war, Guadaloupe was taken by the English, and retaken by the French, in whose hands it now remains ST. LUCIA. St. Lucia was discovered by Colimibus, and is about thirty miles in length, by twelve in breadth. The English took possession of it in the beginning of the year 1639, without opposition. They lived there peace- ably about a year and a half, when they were massacred by the natives. In 1650, about forty French arrived there under Rousselan, who married one of the natives, and was beloved by them. He died four years after. Three of his successors were murdered by the discoiitpnted Caribs; and the colony was declining, when it was taken by the English in 1661, who 444 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. evacuated it in 1666. They had scarce left it, when the French appeared again on the island. Twenty years after, the English drove out the French- The English again quitted it; and it at lengtii remained wholly without culture. In 1718, Marshal d'Estrees obtanied a grant of St. Lucia, and sent over a commaiulant, troops, and inhabitants. This gave umbrage to the cour- of London, wliicli iiad a prior claim ; therefore, the French ministry or- dered that tilings i^hould be put into the same state as tliey were before the grant. In 1722, the duke of Montague had a grant of St. Lucia from the British ministry. This gave uneasiness to France, and it w as at length agreed, in 173G, tiiat neither nation should occupy it, but that both should "wood and water" there. However, the peace of 17G3, gave to France this long-contested territory. During the American war, 1778, it was taken by the English. It was afterwards given up to France ; then again captured by the English in 1803, with whom it now remains, having been so definitely assigned by the treaty of Paris. ST. VINCENT. This island was discovered by the same enterprising navigator, and nearly at the same time, as the other islands in its neighbourhood. It is about sixteen miles long, and eight broad. For some time after its dis- covery, it was the general rendezvous of the red Caribs, the original pos- sessors of the western archipelago. In 1660, when the English and French agreed that Dominica and St. Vincent should be left to the Caribs as their property, some of these natives, who till then had been dispersed, retired into the former ; but the greater part into the latter. This population was soon after increased by a race of Africans, whose origin was never posi- tively ascertained. It is supposed that they were slaves intended for the Spanish markets, and wrecked upon the coast. But by whatever chance these strangers were brought into the island, is now of no importance. The natives treated them with kindness, and mingled with them in mar- riage ; from whence sprung the race called black Caribs. In 1719, many inhabitants of Martinique removed to St. Vincent. The first who came there settled peaceably, not only with the consent, but by the assistance of the red Caribs. This success induced others to follow their example ; but these, whether from jealousy, or some other motive, taught these Caribs a fatal secret; it was, that they could sell their lands. This knowledge induced them to measure, and fix boundaries; and from that instant peace was banished from the island. The black Caribs no sooner knew the price which the Europeans set upon the lands they inhabited, than they claimed a share with the red Caribs, and also a share in all future sales. Provoked at being denied a part of these profits, they formed themselves into a separate tribe, swore never more to associate with the red Caribs, chose a chief of their own, and declared war. In this war they were successful, made themselves masters of all the leeward coast, and required of the Europeans that they should again buy the lands they had already purchased. A Frenchman attempted to show the deed of his purchase of the same lands which he had bought of a red Carib; "I know not," said the black Carib, "what thy paper says ; but read what is written on my arrow. There you may see, in characters which do not lie, that if you do not give me what I de- mand, I will go and burn your house this night." Time, which brings on a change of measures with a change of interests, put an end to these dis- turbances. The French became, in their turn, the strongest. In less than twenty years the population amounted to eight hundred whites and three THE TREASURY OF HISTORY' 445 thousand blacks. In this situation was the island when it fell into the hands of the English, to whom it was secured by the peace of 17G3. In 1779 it was re-captured by the French ; but it reverted to Great Britain in 1783. The English had no sooner got possession, than they issued an order to deprive the cultivators of the lands of their property, unless redeemed. The settlers remonstrate-d against a proceeding so unjust, but were disre- garded ; and the lands were ordered, by the English ministry, to be sold indiscriminately. This severity made them disperse. Some went to St. Martin, Margalanlc, Guadaloupe, and Martinique ; but the greater part to St. Lucia. The Caribs still occupied the windward side of the island, which contained fine plains ; but having refused to evacuate them when ordered so to do by the English, the latter took to arras to compel them. These unfortunate people defended themselves with extraordinary cour- age during several years, but were at length obliged to submit. The greater part had been exterminated during the war, and the remainder either fled, or were sent off the island. DOMINICA. Dominica, discovered by Columbus, in 1493, is about thirty miles long, and sixteen broad. This island was for many years afterward inhabited only by its natives. In 173-2, nine hundred and thirty-eight Caribs were found there, dispersed in thirty-two carbets, or huts ; and three hundred and forty-nine French lived in a district by the sea-side. At the peace of 1763, when it became an English colony, it was found to contain six hundred whites, and two thousand blacks. The island was captured by the French in 1778, but restored at the peace of 1783. The great advan- tage of this island to the English is its situation. It is nearly equi-distant from Guadaloupe and Martinique, and at a small distance from either; and its safe and commodious roads and bays enable their privateers and squad rons to intercept, without risk, the navigation of France in her colonies GRENADA. One of the West India islands, belongings to Great Britain, is aboui thirty miles long, and twelve broad. The French formed a project for settling there as early as the year 1638, yet they never carried it into execution till 1651. At their arrival they gave a few hatcliets, some knives, and a barrel of brandy,. to the chief of the natives they found there ; and imagining they had purchased the island with these trifles, assumed the sovereignty, and soon acted as tyrants. The Caribs, unable to contend with them by open force, took the usual method which weak- ness inspires to repel oppression: they murdered all whom they found alone and defenceless. The troops that were sent to support the infant colony, destroyed all the natives they found. The remainder of these miserable people took refuge upon a steep rock, preferring rather to throw themselves down alive from the top of it, than to fall into tlie hands of an implacable enemy. The French called this rock, Le Morno des Sauteurs, (the Hill of the Leapers), which name it still retains. The French held this island till 1762, when it was captured by the British, to whom it was confirmed by the treaty of 1763. The French, however, retook it in 1799, but restored it in 1783, agreeable to the treaty of peace. 446 THE TREASUllY OF HISTORY. TRINIDAD. This is the most southerly of the Windward Islands, and, next to Ja- maica, the largest ;ind most valuable of thf West India islands belonging to Great liritain. It lies immediately off the northeast coast of Colom- bia, beinir only separated from it by a narrow strait. It was first visited by Columbus in 1498, at the time he discovered the river Orinoco. Its favourable situation for carrying on trade with the main, as well as the neighbouring islands, its extent, fruitfulncss, and the convenience of its harbours, make it an object of considerable importance ; indeed, so fertile is the soil, that not more than a thirtieth part of its surface is incapable of cultivation. Cocoa is more extensively grown in Trinidad than in any of the other British Antilles, and is of superior quality; but its sugar j^antations are still more important. Coffee, indigo, tobacco, and cotton, also come to perfection here, though the quantities grown are but small; but all the fruits and vegetables of the adjacent tropical climates arc found in abundance; and the pines transplanted from France or Spain are said to be equal to the parent stock. The mineral products of Trinidad are considerable, but the most abun dant is that of asphaltum, which is found in the greatest profusion in the lake Brea, or Pitch lake ; part of which is in a liquid state, and consists of fluid pitch of unknown depth, in a state of slow ebullition, and exhaling a strong bituminous and sulphurous odour. Exclusive of this pitch lake, Trinidad has several extinct volcanic craters and other positive evidences of volcanic agency. Is is. however, happily exempt from the destructive scourge of hurricanes. Although discovered in 1498, Trinidad was not taken possession of by the Spaniards until 1558, when a similar scene of extermination of the natives occurred as marked most of the other territories in the New World which fell under their power. Raleigh visited it in 1595; and the French took it in 1696, but soon after re- stored it to the Spaniards, who held it till it was taken by the English in 1797, and ceded to them by the peace of Amiens. ST. EUSTATIUS. St. Edstatius, one of the West India islands, in the group called the Leeward islands, is about fifteen miles in circumference, and is, properly speaking, nothing but a steep mountain, rising out of the sea in the form of a cone, the centre of which is apparently the crater of an extinct vol- cano. Some Frenchmen, who had been driven from St. Christopher's, took refuge there in 1629, and abandoned it soon after, 'i'he Dutch got possession of it in 1639. They were afterward driven out by the f^nglish, and the latter by the French, to whom it v»'as ceded by the treaty of Bre- da; notwithstanding which, Louis XIV. restored it to the Dutch, in whose possession it remained until the American war, when it was taken by the English, and retaken by the Dutch. During the French republican war, it was again taken by the English, with whom it now remains TOBAGO. One of the West India islands belonging tg Great Britain, is about thirty- five miles in length, and twelve in breadth. In 1632, two hundred men from Flushing, landed there to lay the foundation of a Dutch colony upon which the neighbouring Indians joined with the Spaniards to oppose THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 447 an establishment that gave umbrage to both. Whoever attempted to stop their fury, were murdered or taken prisoners ; and the few who escaped into the woods soon deserted the island. In 1654, the Dutch sent a fresh colony to Tobago, which was driven out, in 1666, by the English. The English were soon deprived of this conquest by the French ; but Louis XIV., satisfied with having conquered it, restored it to the Dutch. In the month of February, 1677, a French fleet, destined to seize upon To- bago, fell in with the Dutch fleet sent out to oppose this expedition. The}' engaged in the road of the island; and the courage displayed on both sides was such, that every ship was dismasted, nor did the engagement cease till twelve vessels were burnt. The French lost the fewest men ; but the Dutch kept possession of the island. D'Estrees was determined to take it, and landed there the same year, in the month of December, at a time when there was no fleet to obstruct his progress. A bomb, thrown from his camp, blew up their powder magazine, which proved a decisive stroke ; and the Dutch, unable to resist, surrendered at discretion. The conquerors availed tliemselves to the utmost of the rights of war; not content with razing the fortifications, they burned the phintations, seized upon all the ships in the harbour, and transported the inhabitants. This conquest was secured to France by the peace tliat soon followed. The French, however, neglected this important island ; not a single man was sent thither for many years, and it fell into a very- low condition. The English claimed a right to Tobago; their arms confirmed their preten- sions ; and it was ceded to England by the peace of 1763. It was taken by the French in 1781, and ceded to them by the peace of 1783. The English again took it in the French republican war, (1793), and it now remains with them. THE BAHAMAS. These islands, the first which Columbus discovered in America, are about five hundred in number, and belong to Great Britain. St. Salvador, one of them, was the first land discovered by Columbus, on the ISth of October, 1492. They are, in general, little more than rocks just above water. When first discovered, some were densely inhabited, and their natives were sent, by the Spaniards, to perish in the mines of St. Do- mingo. Not one of them had a single inhabitant in 1672, when the English landed a few men on that called New Providence, who were all destroyed by the Spaniards seven or eight years after. This disaster did not deter other Englishmen from settlnig there in 1690. They had, built about one hundred and fifty houses, when the French and Spaniards jointly attacked them in 1703, and destroyed their plantations, and carried off their ne- groes. The pirates next got possession, and insulted every flag, till 1719, when England fitted out a sufficient force to subdue them. The greater part of them accepted the pardon held out upon submission, and served to increase the colony, which Woods Rogers brought with him from Britain. There are other islands in the West Indies, belonging to the English, Danes, Swedes, and Dutch, but of so little consideration, that to give de- tails of them would afford but little interest or real information. THE UNITED STATES. CHAPTER I. TO THE CLOSE OF THE EEVOLUTIONART WAR These were originally Ihirtcen colonies, composed of emisrrants princi- pally from Great Britain. After enduring all the hardships incident to the settlement of anew country, having at the same time to contend against hostility from the natives and each other, they triumphed over every obstacle and became permanently settled. For the space of about a cen- tury they acknowledged the sway, and continued to contribute like loyal subjects to the support of the British crown ; but at the end of that period a plan of taxation was projected and attempted to be carried into effect by the parliament of Great Britain, which was peculiarly obnoxious to the people of the colonies. This attempt was the cause which finally sepa- rated the two countries ; for the colonies with unexampled vigour and pertinacity opposed all the efforts of the mother country to subject them to obedience. The national existence of this country, therefore, com- menced on the 4th of July, 1776, such being the date of that celebrated document, the Declaration of Independence of the colonies. So rapid and unprecedented has been the rise of this new nation, that the great European powers have already ranked her immediately after themselves in the scale of national importance; and she is now univer- sally attracting attention as the most celebrated and powerful Republic that exists. A brief consideration of the causes which superinduced the American revolution, may not be here improper. As early as the year 1651, had been passed in England, a navigation act, for the regulation of the com- merce of the colonies, by which it was .declared that no merchandize ol the English Plantations should be imported into England in any othei than English vessels ; also, that the transfer of articles of domestic manu- facture from one colony to another were prohibited, particularly sudb goods as could be obtained from England ; also, shortly after, was en acted another law forbidding hatters to have more than two apprentices or to extend their business ; forbidding, also, the erection of iron works and the manufacture of steel ; and prohibiting the importation of sugar rum, and molasses, without the payment of exorbitant duties ; and declaring to be illegal the felling of pitch and white-pine trees not comprehended within the enclosures. Even so soon as 1739, certain restless scheming English politicians proposed to Sir Robert Walpole, then prime-minister, the subsequently fatal notion of imposing direct excises upon the colonies, for the purpose of raising a revenue for support of the government. That profound and sagacious statesman, however, replied, with an ironical stnile, " I will leave that operation to some one of my successors, who shall have more courage than I, and less regard for commerce. During my administration I have always thought it my duty to encourage the commerce of the American colonies ; and I have done it. For, it is my opinion that, if by their trade ihey gain five hundred thousand pounds sterling, at the end of tv.-o years full the half that sum will have entered British coffers. This is a mode of taxing them more conformable to their constitution, and to our own." In 1763, however, the government of Great Britain found it necessary *« search out every object, and every occupation, which was susceptible THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 449 of laxes, QT contributions; as her public debt had at that time increased to the prodigious amount of one hundred and forty-eight millions sterling', or about six hundred and fifty-seven millions five hundred thousand dol- lars. It was therefore thought expedient, and even necessary, to tax the colonies; and George Grenville, then prime-minister, accordingly intro- duced a resolution in parliament, "That it was proper to charge certain stamp duties, in the colonies and plantations." This passed the house of commons, March 10th, 1764; but no further action was taken until the year following. Meanwhile the colonies received intelligence of the design, with a gen- eral feeling of indignation. They considered it the commencement of a system of revenue which, if unresisted, opened a prospect of oppression boundless in extent, and endless in duration. Meeinigs were held, and remonstrances addressed to the king, and to both houses of parliament; and agents were sent to London, to prevent, if possible, the intended act from becoming a law. But ministers were not to be diverted from their plan ; the memorials, remonstrances, petitions, and resolutions of the American provinces were alike rejected: and the obnoxious stamp act passed in the month of March, 1765, by a vote of five to one in the Com- mons, and without opposition in the Lords. On the occasion of the debate preceding the law, eloquence and patriot- ism of the most exalted character were exhibited. Charles Townsend, a brilliant orator on the side of the ministry, took occasion to exclaim. "These Americans, our own children, planted by our care, nourished by our indulgence, protected by our arms, until they are grown to a good de- gree of strength and opulence; will they now turn their backs upon us, and grudge to contribute their mite to relieve us from the heavy load which overwhelms usV Colonel Barrc caught the words, and, with a vehemence becoming a soldier, rose and said: ^'■Planted by your care ! No ! your oppression planted them in America: they fled from your tyranny into a then uncultivated land, where they were exposed to almost all the hardships to which human nature is liable, and among others, to the savage cruelty ol the natives of the country, a people the most subtle, and, I take it upon me to say, the most truly ter- rible of any people that ever inhabited God's earth; and yet actuated by principles of true English liberty, they met all these hardships with pleas- ure, compared with those they suffered in their own country, from the hands of those that should have been their friends. " They nourished by your indulgence ! They grew by your neglect : as soon as you began to care about them, that care was exercised by sending per- sons to rule over them, in one department and another, who were, perhaps,, the deputies of the deputies of some members of this house, sent to spy out their liberty, to misrepresent their actions, and to prey upon them:: men, whose behaviour, on many occasions, had caused the blood of these sons of liberty to recoil within them ; men, promoted to the highest seats of justice, some of whom, to my knowledge, were glad, by going to foreign countries, to escape the vengeance of the laws of their ovvn. " They protected by your arms ! They have nobly taken up arms in your defence -. have exerted their valour amid their constant and laborious in- dustry, for the defence of a country whose frontiers were drenched in blood, while its interior parts yielded for your enlargement the little savings of theii frugality and the fruits of their toils. And believe me, remember, I this day told you so, that the same spirit vv'hich actuated that people at first, will continue with them still." When the news of the passage of this act reached America, a burst of resentment was everywhere manifested. In Boston and in Philadelphia the bells were mufEed and rung a funeral peal; in New-York the act was 29 450 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. carried through the streets with a death's head affixed to it, and styled "Tlie folly of Eiif^laud and the ruin of America." In Portsmouth, a cof- fin, inscribed with the word "Liberty," in large letters, was carried to the grave with much ceremony ; minute guns being fired during the move- ment of the procession, and an oration in favour of the deceased delivered at the place of interment. The stamped paper was in many places seized and destroyed, and the houses of those who sided with the government plundered. The stamp officers were compelled to resign, and the doctrine openly avowed, that England had no right to tax America. It was main- tained, as a fundamental principle, that taxation and representation were inseparable ; and as the American colonies were not represented in the parliament of Great Britain, ihe act complained of was every way repre- hensible, unjust, and unconstitutional. On the night the bill was passed, Doctor Franklin, who was then in London, wrote to Charles Thompson, afterwards secretary of the conti- nental Congress, "The sun of liberty is set; the Americans must now light tlie lamps of industry and economy." To which Mr. Thompson answered, "Be assured we shall light torches of quite another sort :" Thus predicting, as it were, the convulsions about to follow. The opposition to the stamp act was so spirited and universal, that par- liament had only the alternative to compel submission or repeal the law. Accordingly, on the 22d February, 1766, General Conway introduced a motion in the house of commons for its repeal. Great excitement was exhibited on the occasion ; but a division of the house being at length called for, at three o'clock in the morning, the vote stood as follows: one hundred and sixty-seven voices against the motion, and two hundred and seventy-five in favour of it : so the obnoxious bill was repealed. As a salvo to the wounded honour of the ministerial party, a declar- atory act was passed at the same time, more hostile to the American rights than anything which had preceded it. The language of the enact- ment was, "That parliament have, and of right ought to have, power to bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever." Nevertheless, the satisfaction of the people on the repeal of the act was sincere and general. But they mistook entirely the spirit and determina- of the ministry; for, in 1767, a bill was passed imposing a duty to be col- lected in the colonies on glass, paper, paints, and tea. Again the fire of opposition and alarm, which had been partially smothered by the previous action of parliament, broke forth anew; again associations were formed to prevent the importation of British goods ; and meetings called to resolve, petition, and remonstrate. Parliament presently suspended the action of this law also, except upon the single article of ^ea, upon which a merely nominal duty of three pence per pound was demanded. The non-importa- tion recommendations of meetings and associations to suspend the pu»^ chase of tea, had been so strictly complied with, that but little had been brought into the country. The consequence was, that a vast quantity, seventeen millions of pounds, had accumulated upon the hands of the East India Company. For their relief, the parliament now authorized them to export this tea into any part of the world, free of duty. By this regula- tion, tea would come cheaper to the colonies than before it had been made a source of revenue — parliament having, in 1767, reduced the duty on it to three pence a pound. Confident of now finding a market for iheir tea in America, the East India Company freighted several ships with that article for the different colonies, and appointed agents to dispose of it. On the arrival of this tea, however, the determination of the colonists was formed — they would not pay even three pence by way of duty. The consequence was, that cargoes of tea, sent to New York and Philadelphia, were returned without being entered at the custom house ; and those sent to Charleston, South Caro- tina, were stored, but not olFered for sale. THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 45I Tn Massachusetts, a different fate awaited it. Upon its arrival, the in- habitants endeavoured to procure its return, but this being' impracticable, the tea having been consigned to the relations and friends of the royal governor, Hutchinson, they resolved to destroy it. Accordingly, a num- ber of persons, dressed like Indians, repaired to the ships, and discharged three hundred and forty-two chests of tea into the water, without, how- ever, doing any other damage. Intelligence of these proceedings was, on the 7th of March, 1774, com- municated in a message from the throne to both houses of parliament. The excitement was pecularly strong. In the spirit of revenge against Massachusetts, and particularly against Boston, which was considered as the chief seat of rebellion, a bill was brought forward, called the "Boston port bill," by which the port of Boston was precluded from the privilege of landing and discharging, or of loading and shipping goods, wares, and merchandise. A second bill, which passed at this time, essentially altered the charter of the province, making the appointment of the council, justices, &c., de- pendent upon the crown, or its agent. A third soon followed, authorizing and directing the governor to send any person indicted for murder, or any other capital offence, to another colony, or to Great Britain, for trial. Early the next year, January 7th, 1775, Lord Chatham, Mr. Pitt, after along retirement, resumed his seat in the house of lords, and introduced a conciliatory hill, the object of which was, to settle the troubles in Amer- ica. But the efforts of this venerable and peacemaking man wholly failed, the bill being rejected by a majority of sixty-four to thirty- two, without even the compliment of lying on the table. The crisis, therefore, had arrived ; and the signal of war being given, the blood shed at Lexington opened the scene. The circumstances of the case were as follows ; General Gage, the king's governor of Massa- chusetts, learning that a quantity of military stores had been deposited by the provincials at Concord, eighteen miles from Boston, detached Lieu- tenant-Colonel Smith, and Major Pitcairn, with eight hundred grenadiers to seize them. It is said, also, that another and more important object of the same expedition was to obtain possession of the persons of two dis- tinguished leaders of the patriots, John Hancock and Samuel Adams, They receiving timely intimation of the design through the means of Dr. Warren, an ardent lover of freedom, who afterwards fell on Bunker's Hill, they made their escape. When the detachment arrived at Lexington, a small town lying in their course, they found a body of militia, numbering about seventy, under arms. Major Pitcairn, riding up to them, cried with a loud voice, "Disperse, disperse, you rebels ; throw down your arms and disperse." The sturdy yeomanry not immediately obeying his orders, he approached nearer, discharged his pistol, and ordered his soldiers to fire. The result is known. They succeeded in destroying the stores, but were compelled to retire with the loss of 273 men, while the loss on the side of the colonists only amounted to 84. The provincial congress of Massachusetts, being in session at this time, despatched a minute account of the affair at Lexington, to Great Britain, vvith depositions to prove that the British troops were the aggressors. In conclusion, they used this emphatic language ; "Appealing to heaven for the justice of our cause, zve determine to die, or be free-''' While these things were passing within and about Boston, the other provinces were making their preparations for war with extreme activity. The city of New York itself, in which the English had more friends than in any other on the continent, and which hitherto had manifested so much reserve, at the first news of the battle of Lexington, was seized with a violent emotion, and resolved to make common cause with the other col onies. The inhabitants adopted the resolutions of the general Congress 452 THE TilEASURY OF HISTORl. with the determination to persist in them until tlie entire re-establiohment of constitulionai hiwo. They drew up an energetic address to the common council of the city of London, which had sliuvvn itself favouriible to the cause of the colonies; they declared, thai ail the calamities in tlie train of civil war, could not constrain the Americans to bend to the will of Great Britain, and that such was the universal sentiment, from Nova Scotia to Georgia; they conjured the city of London to exert all its endeavour.^ to restore peace between the two parts of the empire ; but as to them- selves, tliey protested tlieir determination no longer to endure tyranny.' The second continental Congress met at Philadelphia on the lOih May, 1775, and as war had now actually commenced, it became necessary to fix upon a proper person to conduct it. The one unanimously selected by Congress was CJeohge Wasuington, a member of their body, from Vir- ginia. General Washington, in liis reply to the president of Congress, who announced to him his appointment, after consenting to enter upon the mo- mentous duly assigned iiim, added ; "As to pay, Sir, I beg leave to assure the Congress, that as no pecuniary consideration could have tempted me to accept this arduous employment, at tlie expense of my domestic ease and happiness, I do not vvisli to make any profit from it. I will keep an exact account of my expenses. These I doubt not they will discharge, and that is all I desire." A special commission was drawn up and presented to him, as commander-in-chief of the American forces ; on presenting it, Con- gress unanimously adopted this resolution: "That they would maintain and assist him, and adhere to him with their lives and fortunes, in the cause of American liberty." Following his appointment, was that of four ma- jor-generals, Arlemas Ward, Charles Lee, Philip Schuyler, and Israel Putnam ; and eight brigadier-generals, Selh Pomeroy, Richard Mont- p^omery, David Wooster, William Heath, Joseph Spencer, John Thomas, John Sullivan, and Nathaniel Greene. It may not be inappropriate here to give a table of the time and order of the principal battles which led to the freedom of the colonies from iheir mother country, together with the name of the commanding officer of either force, witli their respective losses. The war commenced, as we have said, with the battle of Lexington, April 19, 1775; British, Major Pitcaim, loss 273; American yeomamy, loss 81. Bunker IIiLL, June 17, 1775; British, Lord Howe, loss 1054; American, Col. Pres- cott, loss 453. Flatbusii, Aug. 12, 1776; British, Lord Howe, loss 400; American, Putnam and Sullivan, loss 2000. White Plains, Oct. 28, 1766; British, Lord Howe, loss 300 to 400; American. General Washington, loss 300 to 400. Trenton, Dec. 25, 1776 ; British, General Rahl,loss 1000 ; American, General Wash- ington, loss 9. Princeton, Jan. 3, 1777; British, General Mawhood, loss 400 ; American, General Washington, loss 100. HuBBARDSTON, Aug. 7, 1777 ; British, General Frazer and Baron Reidesei, loss 180; American, Cols. Francis and Wanier, loss 800. Bennington, Aug. 16, 1777; British, Generals Baum and Breyman, loss 800; American, General Stark, loss 100. Bkandxwine, Sept. 11, 1777; British, Lord Howe, loss 500; American, General Washington, loss 1200. Stillwater, Sept. 17, 1777; British, General Burgoyne, loss 600; American, Gen- eral Gates, loss 350. Germantown, Oct. 4, 1777; British, General Grey and CoL Musgrave, loss 600 ; American, General Washington, loss 1200. Saratoga, Oct. 17, 1777; British, General Burgoyne, surrendered 5752 men, hia entire array, to General Gates. Red Hook, Oct. 22, 1777 ; British, Count Donop, loss 500 ; American, Col. Greene, loss 32. THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 453 Monmouth, June 25, 1778; British, General Clinton, loss 400; American, General Wasliington, loss 130. Rhode Island, Aug. 29, 1778; British, General Pigott, loss 260; American, General Sullivan, loss 211. Briar Creek, March ;J0, 1779; British, General Trevost. loss 13 ; American, Gen- eral Ash, loss 100, Stony Point, July 15, 1779, British, General Johnson, loss 600; American, Gen- eral Wayne, loss 100. Camden, Aug. 16,1780; British, Lord Cornwallis, loss 375; American, General Gates, loss 610. King's Mountain, Oct. 1, 1780; British, Major Ferguson, loss 950 ; American, Cols. Cleveland, Campbell, and Shelby, loss 96. CovvPENS, Jan. 17, 1781 ; British, Col. Tarleton, loss 800; American, Col. Morgan. loss 72. ^ Guilford Court-Hodse, March 15, 1781 ; British, Lord Cornwallis, loss 523 ; Amer ican. General Greene, loss 400. Hobkir;k's Hill, April 25, 1781 ; British, Lord Rawdon,loss 300 to 400 ; American. General Greene, loss 300 to 400. EuTAW Springs, Sept. 8, J781; British, General Stewart, loss 1000; American, General Greene, loss 550. YoRKTOWN Oct. 19, 1783; British, Lord Cornwallis surrendered 7073 men, his en- tire army, to General Washington. This last surrender was the final conclusion of the revolutionary war. The whole expense of the struggle to ihe Americans, estimated in round numbers, was $135,191,700. The occasion of peace, as may be well im- agined, was celebrated throughout the country with the most fervent de- monstrations of joy;* and General Washington, the American Fabius, who had with such signal ability conducted this great contest to a suc- cessful issue, was unanimously called to preside over the councils of the nation. Provisional articles of peace, acknowledging the independence of the United Slates, were signed in Paris, Nov. 30th, 1782, by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and Henry Laurens, on the part of the United States, and Mr. Fitzherbcrt and Mr. Oswald, on the part of Great Britain. The definitive treaty was signed September 30th, 1783. The confederation of the states, which in time of the war had given to the re- solves of Congress the force of law, now that the danger was passed, evinced that its power was inadequate to all the purposes of an efficient government. It could neither meet the claims against the United States, provide for the public debt, raise a revenue, or harmonize the jarring in- terests of the states. Indeed, the difficulties which attended the forma- tion of this new government, it is said, though diflferent in kind were scarcely less than those of achieving its independence. But by a happy con- currence of circumstances, a Constitution was at length formed and ratified, which has effectually secured the happiness and prosperity of the people, and stands as an illustrious proof of the wisdom of the fathers of the revolution, and a model for other nations in the pursuit of freedom. The Constitution is here appended. CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. Article I. Sec. I. — All legislative powers herein granted, shall be vested in a con- gress of the United States, which shall consist of a senate and house of representatives. Sec. IJ. — 1, The house of representatives shall be composed of mem- bers chosen every second year, by the people of the several states ; and 454 THE TREASUIIY OF HISTORY. the electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite for elec- tors of the most numerous branch of the slate legislature. 2. No person shall be a representative, who shall not have attained the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of tlie United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inliabitant of the state in which he shall be chosen. 3. Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states whicii may be included within this Union, according to their n^spective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, mcluding those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons. The actual enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subse- quent term of ten years in such manner as they shall by law direct. The number of representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each state shall have at least one representative ; and until such enu- meration shall bo made the state of New Hampshire shall be entitled to choose three ; Massachusetts eight ; Rhode Island and Providence Plan- tations one ; Connecticut five; New-York six; New Jersey four; Penn- sylvania eight; Delaware one; Maryland six; Virginia ten; North-Car- olina five ; South-Carolina five ; and Georgia three. 4. When vacancies happen in the representation from any state, the executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies. 5. The house of representatives shall choose their speaker and other officers, and shall have the sole power of impeachment. Sec. III. — 1. The senate of the United States shall be composed of two senators from each state, chosen by the legislature thereof, for six years ; and each senator shall have one vote. 2. Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of the first election, they shall be divided, as equally as may be, into three classes. The seats of the senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of the second year, of the second class at the expiration of the fourth year, and of the third class at the expiration of the sixth year, that one-third may be chosen every second year ; and if vacancies happen by resignation or otherwise, during the recess of the legislature of any state, the executive thereof may make temporary appointments until the next meeting of the legislature, which shall then fill such vacancies. 3. No person shall be a senator who shall not have attained the age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state for which he is chosen. 4. The vice-president of the United States shall be president of the senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided. 5. The senate shall choose their other officers, and also a president pro tempore, in the absence of the vice-president, or when he shall exer- cise the office of president of the United States. 6. The senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or aflirmation. When the president of the United States is tried, the chief-justice shall preside ; and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present. 7. Judgment in cases of impeachment, shall not extend farther than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit, under the United States ; but the party convicted shall, nevertheless, be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment, and punishment, according to law. Sec. /r. — 1. The times, places, and manner of holding elections for THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 455 senators and representatives, shall be prescribed in each state, by the le gislature thereof; but the Congress may, at any time, by law maive or al- ter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing senators. 2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year ; and such meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by law appoint a ditl'erent day. -Sec. V. — 1. Each house shall be judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members ; and a majority of each shall consti- tute a quorum to do business, but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner, and under such penalties, as each house may provide. 2. Each house may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderlyjbehaviour, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member. 3. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may, in their judgment, re- quire secrecy ; and the yeas and nays of the members of either house on any question, shall, at the desire of one-fifth of those present, be entered on the journal. 4. Neither house, during the session of Congress, shall, without the con- sent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which the two houses shall be sitting. Sec. VI. — 1. The senators and representatives shall receive a compen- sation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the treasury of the United States. They shall, in all cases, except treason, felony, and breach of the peace, be priviliged from arrest during their at- tendance at the session of their respective houses, and in going to or re- turning from the same ; and for any speech or debate in either house, they shall not be questioned in any other place. 2. No senator or representative shall, during the time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of tlie United States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased, during such time ; and no person holding any ofllce under the United States, shall be a member of either house, during his continuance in office. Sec. VII. — 1. All bills for raising revenues shall originate in the house of representatives; but the senate may propose or concur with amend- ments, as on other bills. 2. Every bill which shall have passed the house of representatives and the senate, shall, before it become a law, be presented to the president of the United States ; if he approves, he shall sign it ; but if not, he shall re turn it with his objections, to that house in which it shall have origina- ted, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, "two-thirds of that house shall agree to pass the bill, it must be sent, together with the objections, to the other house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if appro- ved by two-thirds of that house, it shall become a law. But in all such cases the votes of both houses shall be determined by yeas and nays ; and the names of the persons voting for and against the bill, shall be en- tered on the journal of each house respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the president within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress, by their adjournment, prevent its return; in which case it shall not be a law. 3. Every order, resolution, or vote, to which the concurrence of the senate and house of representatives may be necessary (except on a ques- tion of adjournment) shall be presented to the president of the United 456 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. States; and before the same shall take effect, shall be approved by him, or, being disapproved by him, shall be re-passed by two-thirds of the senate and house of representatives, according to the rules and limita- tions prest-ribed in the face of a bill. Sec. VIII. — The Congress shall have power — 1. To lay and collect taxes, diiiies, imposts, and excises: to pay the debts, and provide for the common defence and general warfare of the United States ; but all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States : 2. To borrow money on the credit of the United States: 3. To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes : 4. To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States : 5. To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures : 6. To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securies and current coin of the United States : 7. To establish post-offices and post-roads : 8. To promote the progress of science and useful arts by securing, for limited times, to authors and inventors, the exclusive right to their re- spective writings and discoveries : 9. To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court : to define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offences against the law of nations : 10. To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning capture on land and water : 11. To raise and support armies ; but no appropriation of money to that use, shall be for a longer term than two years : 12. To provide and maintain a navy: 13. To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces : 14. To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions : 15. To provide for organizing, arming and disciplining the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia, according to the disci- pline prescribed by Congress : 16. To exercise exclusive legislation, in all cases whatsoever, over such district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of par- ticularstates, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of govern- ment of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erectior; of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful buildings: — And 17. To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carry- ing into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United Slates, or in any de- partment or officer tliereof. Sec. IX. — 1. The migration or importation of such persons as any of the states now existing shall think proper lo admit, shall not be prohib' ited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight ; but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation not exceed- ing ten dollars for each person. 2. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspendedi unless when, in cases of rebellion, or invasion, the public safety may re quire it THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 457 3. No bill of attainder, or ex-post facto law, shall be passed. 4. No capitation, or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken. 5. No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any state. No preference shall be given, by any regulation of commerce or revenue, . to tlie ports of one state over those of another; nor shall vessels bound to or from one state, be obliged to enter, clear or pay duties in another. 6. No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law; and a regular statement or account of the receipts and expenditures of all public money, shall be published from time to time. 7. No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States; and no persons holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office or title, of any kind whatever, from any kinjo:, prince, or foreign state. Sec. X. — 1. No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confedera- tion ; grant letters of marque and reprisal ; coin money ; emit bills of cred- it ; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex-post facto law, or law impairing the obliga- tion of contracts ; or grant any title of nobility. 2. No state shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing its inspection laws; and the nett produce of all duties and imposts laid by any state on imports or exports, shall be for the use of the treasury of the United States; and all such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of the Congress. No state shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duly of tonnage, keep troops or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another state, or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit delay. Article II. Sec. I. — 1. The executive power shall be vested in a president of the United States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of four years, and together with the vice-president, chosen for the same term, be elected as follows : 2. Each stale shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of senators and representalives to which the state may be entitled in Congress ; — but no senator or representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector. 3. [Annulled. See Amendments, Art l"-2.] 4. The Congress may determine the time of choosing the elector, and the day on which they shall give their votes ; which day shall be the same throughout the United States. 6. No person, except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of president ; neither shall any person be eligible to that office, who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been four- teen years a resident within the United States. 6. In case of the removal of the president from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the same shall devolve on the vice-president; and the Congress may by law provide for the case of removal, death, resignation, or inabil- ity, both of the president and vice-president, declaring what officer shall then act as president, and such officer shall act accordingly, until the dis- ability be removed or a president shall be elected. 458 THE TREASUaY OF HISTOKY. 7. The president shall at stated times receive, for his services, a com- pensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during tlie period for which he sliall have been elected ; and he shall not receive, within that period, any other emolument from the United States or any of them. 8. Before he enter on the execution of his ofBce he shall take the fol- lowing oath or affiirmation. 9. " 1 do solemnly swear [or affirm] that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United states and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." Sec. II — 1. The president shall be commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states when called into actual service of the United States ; he may require the opinion in writing of the principal officer in each of the executive de- partments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices ; and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardon for offen- ces against the United States, except in cases of impeachment. 2. He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the sen- ate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds of the senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the consent and advice of the senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United Slates, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law. But the Congress may, by law, vest the ap- pointment of such inferior officers as they think proper, in the president alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments. 3, The president shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may hap- pen during the recess of the senate, by graninig commissions which .shall expire at the end of their next session. Sec. III. — 1. lie shall, from time to time, give to the Congress infor- mation of the state of the Union, and recommend to their consideration, such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient ; he may, on ex- traordinary occasions, convene both houses, or either of them, and in case of disagreement between them, with respect to the time of adjourn- ment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper; he shall receive ambassadors, and other public ministers ; he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed ; and shall commission all the officers of the United States. Sec. IV. — 1. The president, vice-president, and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and con viction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. Article III. Sec. I. — 1. The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The judges both of the Supreme and infe- rior courts, shall hold their offices during good behaviour, and shall, at sta- ted times, receive for their services, a compensation, which shall not bf. diminished during their continuance in office. Sec. II- — 1. The judicial power shall extend to all cases inlaw and equity arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority ; to all cases affect ing ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls ; to all cases of admi- ralty and maritime jurisdiction ; to controversies to which the United Stales shall be a party ; to controversies between two or more states, between a state and citizens of another state, between citizens of different states, between citizens of the same state claiming lands under grants of THE TREASURY OP HISTORY. 459 different states, and between a state or the citizens thereof, and foreign states, citizens, or subjects. 2. In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and con- suls, and those in which a state shall be a part}', the Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before naentioned, tlie Supreme Court, shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions and under such regulations as the Oongress may make.- 3. The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by jury ; and such trial shall be held in the state where the said crimes shall have been ' committed ; but when not committed within any state, the trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by law have directed. $ec. III. — 1. Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason, unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court. 2. The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason ; but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture, except during the life of the person attainted. Article IV. -Sec. 1. — 1. Full faith and credit shall be given, in each state, to the pub- lic acts, records and judicial proceedings of every other state. And the Congress may, by general laws, prescribe the manner in which such acts, records, and proceedings, shall be proved, and the effect thereof. Sec. II. — 1. The citizens of each state shall be entitled to all priviliges and immunities of citizens in the several states. 2. A person charged in any state with treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in another state, shall, on de raand of the executive authority of the state from which he fled, be de- livered up to be removed to the state having jurisdiction of the crime. 3. No person held to service or labor in one state, under the laws there- of, escaping into another, shall in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labour ; but shall be delivered up, on claim of the party to whom such service or labour may be due. Sec. III. — 1. New states may be admitted by the Congress into this union ; but no new state shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other state, nor any state be formed by the junction of two or more states, or parts of states, without the consent of the legislature of the states concerned, as well as of the Congress. 2. The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belong- ing to the United States ; and nothing in this Constitution, shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States or of any par- ticular state. Sec. IV. — The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion: and, on application of the legislature, or of the executive, (when the legislature cannot be convened,) against domestic violence. Article V. The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both houses shall deem it ne- cessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution ; or, on the a{)- plication of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several states, >li;ill call a 460 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to ail intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by ihe legislatures of three-fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by Congress ; provided that no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, shall, in any manner, affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article ; and that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the senate. Article VI. 1. All debts contracted, and engagements entered into, before the adop- tion of tliis Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as under the confederation. 2. This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which sliail be made under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land ; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby ; anything in the Constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding. 3. The senators and representatives before mentioned, and the mem- bers of the several state legislatures, and executive and judicial officers both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution ; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office, or public trust, under the Uni- ted States. Article VII. The ratification of the convention of nine states shall be sufficient for the establishment of this Constitution between the states so ratifying itlip S3.rn6 GEORGE WASHINGTON, Pres't. William Jackson, Secretary. AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION. Article I, Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press ; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. Article II. A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. Article III. No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner ; nor in time of war, but in a manner to be pre- scribed by law. Article IV. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be vio- lated ; and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 461 Article V. No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in ihe land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual eervice, in time of war, or public danger ; nor shall any person be subject, for the same offence, to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case, to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law ; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation. Article VI. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the stale and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation ; to be confronted with the witnesses against him ; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in liis favour ; and to have the assistance of counsel for the defence. Article VII. In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved; and no fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-examintd in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law. Article VIII. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, noi cruel and unusual punishments infli.cted. Article IX. The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights, shall not be con- strued to deny or disparage others retained by the people. Article X. The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people. Article XI. The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to ex- tend to any suit in law or equity commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States, by citizens of another state, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign state. "^ Article XII. 1. The electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for president and vice-president, one of whom, at least, shall not be an in- habitant of the same state with themselves ; they shall name in theii ballots the person voted for as president, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as vice-president ; and they shall make distinct lists of all per- sons voted for as president, and of all persons voted for as vice-president, and of the number of votes for each, which list they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of government of the United States, di- rected lo the president of the senate ; the president of the senate shall, in the presence of the senate and house of representatives, open ail the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted; the person having the 402 THE TREASUllY OF HISTORY. greatest number of votes for president, shall be the president, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed ; and if no one has such majority, then from the persons having the highest num- bers, not exceeding three, on the list of those voted for as president, the house of representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the president. But in choosing the president, the votes shall be taken by slates, the rep- resentation from each state having one vote ; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the house of representatives shall not choose a president, whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next fol- lowing, then the vice-president shall act as president, as in the case of the death, or other constitutional disability of the president. 2. 'I'hc person having the greatest number of votes as vice-president, shall be the vice-president, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed ; and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the senate shall choose the vice- president ; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. 3. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of president shall be eligible to that of vice-president of the United States. Article XIII, If any citizen of the United States shall accept, claim, receive, or retain any title of nobility, or honour, or shall, without the consent of Congress, accept and retain any present, pension, office, or emolument of any kind whatever, from any emperor, king, prince, or foreign power, such person shall cease to be a citizen of the United States, and shall be incapable of holding any office of trust or profit under them or either of them. CHAPTER II. THE ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNMENT. On the second Monday of May, 1787, delegates from the several states assembled at Philadelphia, for the purpose of forming a Constitution for the United States. The preceding instrument was adopted (being mainly the production of Thomas Jeflerson, of Virginia), and sent to the several states for their approval. After a due consideration by the state conventions, it was finally adopted by them all ; and the Congress of July, 1788, in conclusion, fully ratified it. On the first Wednesday of January, 1789, electors of president and vice-president were appointed; and on the first Wednesday of February, 1789, George Washington, "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen," was unanimously chosen president, and John Adams, vice-president. General Washington was inaugurated as first president of the Union on the 30th of April, 1789, in the open gallery of the old Federal Hall, in New- York, where the Cus- tom House now stands. And perhaps there never was a warmer response from any multitude, than that which greeted the conclusion of the cere- mony with, " Long live George Washington !" And now, after an experi- ment of more than half a century, after having seen how completely this Constitution secures all the purposes of a good government, and at how cheap a rate, the fear and trembling which marked its commencement are exchanged for steadfast confidence and unbounded hope : it stands like a THE TREASURY OP HISTORY. 463 light-house on the shore of the sea of liberty, to direct the political voya- ger in his perilous course to the port of freedom. In despite of the prognostications of enemies of freedom abroad, and the fears of the weak-hearted at home, the entire eight years of Washing- ton's administration of the government passed away without his once as- suming the exercise of any authority which might be termed unconstitu- tional. He betrayed no disposition to tyrannize, no latent desire to elevate himself or family unduly in the land ; his enemies he pursued not; and they looked in vain to the last, who sought in him the slightest aspiration for any regal power. Nor were his capabilities in council less distin- guished for discernment and propriety, than in the field : and the men he at first drew around him as advisers, who were subsequently confirmed as his cabinet, afforded a new evidence of his singularly admirable insight into human character, as well, also, as that the land was even then rich in the most glorious of allmateriel whereof to form a nation's government. t. c, able and honest men. Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia, was his Secretary of State ; Alexander Hamilton, of New York, Secretary of the Treasury ; General H. Knox, of Massachusetts, Secretary of War; Samuel Osgood, of Massachusetts, Post-Master General ; Edmund Randolph, of Virginia, Attorney General ; and John Jay, of New- York, at the head of the Judicial department. The Associate Justices, United States' Supreme Court, were John Rutledge, of South Carolina; James Wilson, of Pennsylvania; William Cushing, of Massachusetts; Robert Harrison, of Maryland; and John Blair, of Virgi- nia. Before the close of Washington's second term, the chief officers of his government were changed, the following names being substituted : Timothy Pickering, of Pennsylvania, Secretary of State ; Oliver Wolcott, of Connecticut, Secretary of the Treasury ; James M'Henry, of Maryland, Secretary of War; Joseph Habersham, of Georgia, Post-Master General; Charles Lee, of Virginia, Attorney General; and Oliver Ellsworth, of Connecticut, at the head of the Judiciary. The American people having thus, by an energetic though long and bloody struggle, thrown off all allegiance and achieved for themselves independence and an honourable position among the nations of the earth, have since continued to grow and flourish. Very few events have oc- curred to disturb the harmony of the Republic ; perhaps the first of any note, was an outbreak in the interior of Massachusetts, which for a short time threatened to involve the country in a civil war. One Daniel Shays, a person of some energy, about the close of the year 1786, collected to- gether not less than two thousand men, who demanded that the collection of debts should be suspended, and that ihe legislature should authorize the emission of paper money for general circulation. Two bodies of militia, drawn from those parts where the disaffection did not prevail, were im- mediately despatched against them, one under the command of General Lincohi, the other of General Shepard. The rebels were easily dispersed ; and afterwards abandoning their seditious purposes, accepted the proffered indemnity of the government. The next occurrence of a rebellious nature which took place, arose from the necessity of levying taxes for the support of government. A duty had been imposed upon spirits distilled within the country, which was bearing heavily upon the people of western Pennsylvania. The leaders of the disaffected in consequence called a public meeting, which was held in September, 1791, at Pittsburgh, and was very largely attended. Resolutions were passed at this meeting, declaring all excise taxes hos- tile to liberty, and denouncing all such officers as might be appointed to collect them ; great exertions were made to inflame the public mind against any who should willingly pay, and to encourage resistance to the laws ; committees of correspondence were also appointed to give unity of sv.s- -564 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. tem to their measures, and to increase the number of their associates , subsequently other meetings were field at which similar resolutions were adopted. A proclamation of the president exhorting all persons to desist from illegal combinations, and callmir upon the magistrates to execute the lawsj^was disregarded ; the marshal of the state, while serving pro- cesses upon delinquents and offenders, was resisted and fired upon ; ihr inspector of the revenue, dreading the indignation of the populace pro cured a detachment of soldiers to guard his house, and they vvereattacke* by a numerous body of insurgents, who, after setting fire to several con tiguous buildings, obliged the soldiers to leave the house and deliver them selves up; several individuals zealous in supporting the government wert ordered to leave the country, and compelled to obey. The eifeetive strength of the insurgents was computed at seven thousand men— and an intention was openly showed of forcibly resisting the general government, with the view of extorting a repeal of the oflfensive laws. The president, conceiving himself bound by the most solemn obliga tions, " to take care that the laws be faithfully executed," called out a portion of the militia of Pennsylvania, and the adjacent states, to suppress this insurrection. In the autumn of 179 J, fifteen thousand were detached, and being placed under the command of Governor Lee, of Virginia, were marched into the disaffected counties. The strength of this army ren- dering resistance desperate, none was offered, and no blood was shed. A few of the most active leaders were seized, and detained for legal prose- cution. The great body of the insurgents on submission were pardoned, as were also the leaders, after their trial and conviction of treason. The government acquired the respect of the people by this exertion of its force, and their afi'ection, by this display of its lenity. Shortly after the commencement of Mr- Washington's administration, he strongly recommended to Congress the adoption of some effectual measures for establishing the public credit. Alexander Hamilton, in an able report on the stale of the Treasury, proposed a plan for the object. He estimated the public debt to be at that time about fifty-four millions of dollars : twelve millions were due to France and Holland — and the bal- ance had been contracted for by the several slates in the course of the war, for its support. These debts, he proposed, should all be assumed by the general government, and paid out of the public treasury. This mea- sure was strongly opposed by the republican parly. It was contended that men had taken advantage of the low state of public credit, and bought up for a small price, certificates of security against the government, and that the present holders were not justly entitled to receive more than they had paid. To this it was answered, that the government originally pro- mised to pay the whole, and the reason why these securities had depre- ciated, was owing to its not having exactly fulfilled this promise ; and now, to preserve the public faith, the whole must be paid. Further, it was asserted that, for the general government to assume the debts of the several state governments, would be dangerous to the sovereignty of the states : but this objection was ably answered, and after some debate, the plan was in the main adopted. Another financial measure of tlie secretary of the treasury soon at- tracted much attention and dispute. Through his means a bill was intro- duced into Congress for establishing a national bank, with a capital of ten millifuis of dollars. This was violently opposed by the republican party. It was contended that banks were unnecessary, and that by the constitu- tion. Congress was not vested with the competent power to establish a national bank. After a debate of great length, however, the bill was passed, by a majority of nineteen voles. Washington was now clamo- rously 'Mlled upon to crush "the monster" by the power of his veto; but he ' ' 'SO rather to require from the heads of departments their differ- THE TREASURY OP HISTORY. 4g5 ent opinions on the subject, in writing. Mr. Jeffersor., Secretary of State, and Mr. Randolph, Attorney General, considered the bill as entirely un- constiuilional : while Mr. Hamilton, on the other hand, maintained the opposite: opinion with great ability and decision. After wt-ighing their opinions, and examining the subject in all its relations, Washington be- came satisfied of the the utility of the bill, and accordingly gave it the sanction of his name. The charter of this, the first United States' Bank, extended to the 4lh of May, 1811. in 1790, a termination was pin to the war which for several years had raged between the Creek Indians and the state of Georgia. Pacnfic over- tures were also made to the hostile tribes inhabiting the banks of the Scioto and Wabash. These being rejected, an army of fourteen huinlred men, commanded by General Harmer, was despatched against them. Two battles were fought near Chilicothe, Ohio, between successive detach- ments from tills army and the Indians, in which the latter were victorious. Emboldened by these successes, they made more vigorous attacks on the frontier setllemenis, which sufTered all the distressing calamities of an Indian war. Additional troops were raised, and the command given to General St. Clair. With near two thousand men he marched, in October, into the wilderness. By desertion and detachments, this force was re- duced to fourteen hundred. On the third of November, they encamped a few miles from the villages on the Miami, intending to remain there until joined by those who were absent. But before sunrise ne>a morning, just aft(;r the troops were dismissed from parade, they were attacked un- expectedly by the Indians. The nevv levies, who were in front, fell back in confusion upon the regulars. These, who had been hastily formed, were thrown into disorder. They, however, with great intrepidity, ad- vanced into the midst of the enemy, who retired from covert to covert, keeping always beyond reach, and again returning as soon as the troops were recalled from pursuit. In these charges, many brave and e.vperienced officers were killed; the loss of men was also great, and no permanent impression was made upon the enemy. At length, after a contest of three or four hours. General St. Clair, whose ill health disabled him from performing the active duties of commander, determined lo withdraw from the field the remnant of his troops. The instant the directions to retire were given, a disorderly flight commenced. Fortunately for the survivors, the victorious Indians were soon recalled from the pursuit to the camp, by their avidity for plunder; and the vanquished continued their retreat unmolested to the frontier settlements. In this bailie, the numbers en- gaged on each side were supposed to be equal. Of the whites, the slaughter was beyond example. Six hundred and thirty were killed and n)issing, and two hundred and sixty were wounded — a loss which proves at once the obstinacy of the defence, and the bravery of the assailants. On re- ceiving information of this disaster. Congress resolved to prosecute the war with increased vigour, and made provision directly for augmenting by enlistment the military force of the nation to five thousand men. In 1791, was completed the first census of the inhabitants of the United States. They amounted to 3,921,3-26, of which number 095,655 were slaves. The revenue, according to the report of the secretary of the treasury, amounted to $4,771,000, the exports to about $19,000,000, and imports to about $20,000,000. A great improvement in the circumstances of the people began at this period to be visible. The establishment of a firm and regular government, and confidence in the men whom they had chosen to administer it, gave an impulse to their exertions which bore Ihcm rapidly forward in their career of prosperity. In the autumn of 1792, General Washington was again unanimously elected president of the American republic, and in March, 1793, was in- ducted into office. Mr. .\dams was re-elected vice-president, in opposition 30 4fi6 THE TREASUEY OP HISTORY. to George Clinton, of New-York. In the progress of these elections, but little party feeling was exliibited. The repose of society was not then disturbed, as at present — but tiie citizens raised to posts of the highest honor those whom their judgments and affections designated as the most worthy. After the defeat of St. Clair by the Indians, in 1791, General Wayne was appointed to command the American forces. This officer taking post near the country of the enemy, made assiduous and long-protracted endeavours to negociate a peace. Failing in this, he marched against them, at the head of three thousand men. On the 20th of August, 1794, an action took place in the vicinity of one of the British garrisons ovi the banks of the Miami. A rapid and vigorous charge roused the ii.va.'^es from their coverts, and they were driven more than two miles at the point of the bayonet. liroken and dismayed, they fled without renewing the combat. Their houses and cornfields were destroyed, and forts were erected on the sites of the towns laid waste. In 1795, a treaty was coa- cluded at Greenville, Ohio, which was long and faithfully observed, and gave peace and security to the frontier inhabitants ; in consequence of which, the already abundant population of the eastern states began to spread, with astonishing rapidity, over the fertile region northwest of the Ohio. Simultaneous with the conclusion of the Indian war, in 1795, a treaty highly satisfactory to the Americans was formed with Spain. That coun- try had from the first regarded with especial coldness the hopes of the republicans ; fearing, perhaps, lest the principles of liberty and the desire of independence should find their way into her contiguous American pro- vinces. Becoming at length involved in a war with France, the Spanish government intimated its willingness then to form a satisfactory treaty with the United States, which was accordingly concluded. The naviga- tion of the Mississippi river, which was controlled by the province of Louisiana, and was very important to the south-western states, had for- merly been denied them, and was a fruitful source of disturbance ind threatened invasion of the Spanish territory. This treaty secured to the United States the free navigation of the Mississippi to the ocean, and the privilege of landing and depositing cargoes at New-Orleans. In the same year, also, a permanent peace was arranged with the regency of Algiers, with which state the republic was previously at war, on account of its flagrant piracies and interruptions of American commerce. Thus all difficulties were arrranged, and the star of independence again shone brightly forth upon the w^orld. At the close of 1796, the two rival parties of the nation brought forward their candidates for the presidency. John Adams, of Massachusetts, was voted for by the federalists, while Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia, was up- held by the republicans. The contest was nearly equal. Mr. Adams, however, was chosen to fill the first office, and Mr. Jefferson, of course, succeeded to the second. The cabinet during this administration, was composed as follows: John Marshall, of Virginia, Secretary of State; Samuel Dexter, of Massachusetts, Secretary of the Treasury ; Roger Griswold, of Connecticut, Secretary of War; Benjamin Stoddert, of Maryland, Secretary of the Navy ; no change was made in the office of Attorney General, or the chief of the post-office department. When this administration came into power, it found the nation involved in difficulties with France. Mr. Pinckney, who had been sent by Wash- ington to adjust existing differences between the two republics, was or- dered to leave the country ; and the American government was soon after under the painful necessity of declaring war against its ancient ally. That country was at the time suffering under the misguided rule of the Directory, which it seems desired the co-operation of the United States THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 467 in their Kuropean wars, and had demanded of the American government a large sum of money previous to any negotiation for a commercial treaty. To enforce compliance with their unjust demands, a law had been passed authorizing the capture, in certain cases, of American merchant vessels by French cruizers; and in consequence of this several hundred vessels loaded with valuable cargoes, were, while prosecuting a lawful trade, taken, and the whole confiscated. When these events were known in the United States, they excited general indignation. The spirit of party ap- peared to be extinct. " Millions for defence, not a cent for tribute," resounded from every quarter of the Union. The former treaty of alli- ance with France was declared by Congress to be now without force, and authority was given for capturmg French armed vessels. Laws were passed authorizing the president, whenever he should deem it necessary, to detach eighty thousand men from the militia of the United States — and providing for an increase of the navy, and for augmenting the revenue of the nation. To display to France and to the world his desire of peace, and to leave no means unattempted to preserve it, the president resolved to institute a formal and solemn mission to the French republic. General Pinckney, John Marshall, and Elbridge Gerry, were accordingly appointed envoys, and were instructed to seek a reconciliation as the representatives of a people dreading war much, but the sacrifice of honour more. These the Directory refused to receive. After remaining several months at Paris, pressing in vain to be received and heard, the two former, who were fed- eralists, were ordered to leave France ; but Mr. Gerry, who was a repub- lican, was permitted to remain, and was invited singly to enter into a discussion relative to the commencement of a negotiation. This also failing to produce any good effect, belligerent operations commenced. On land, no opportunity was presented of testing the courage and skill of the American troops ; but at sea, a desperate action was fought between the frigate Constellation of thirty-eight guns, commanded by Captain Truxton, and the French frigate L'Insurgente, of forty guns ; in this, the latter, although of superior force, was compelled to surrender. The same intrepid officer, in a subsequent action, obliged another French frigate, La Vengeance, of fifty guns, to strike her colors ; but she afterward escaped in the night, owing to the disabled state of the Constellation. By such means the United States, in arms at home and victorious on the ocean, commanded the respect of their enemy. The Directory made overtures of peace. The president immediately appointed ministers, who, on their arrival at Paris, found the executive authority in the possession of Bona- parte as first consul. They were promptly accredited, and in September, 1800, a treaty was concluded satisfactory to both countries. While this negotiation was in progress, an event occurred which over- shadowed the whole American people with gloom. On the 14th of De- cember, 1799, after an illness of one day only, General Washington, the father of his country, expired. He died at his residence at Mount Vernon, of an inflammation of the throat, aged sixty-eight years. After having led on to victory the armies of his countrymen — after having filled for eight successive years the presidential chair, and in all cases manifesting the same unapproachable integrity with which his public career had first commenced, this singularly virtuous man, may truly be said to have " filled the measure of his own and his country's glory." Intelligence of this event, as it rapidly spread, produced spontaneous, deep and unaffected grief, suspendmg every other thought, and absorbing every different feel- ing. The American Congress, then in session at Philadelphia, immedi- ately adjourned ; and the senate, on this melancholy occasion, addressed a letter of condolence to the president of the United States, which con- tained the following just tribute to the memory of this great man :— 468 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. " With patriotic pride we review the life of our Washington, and compare him with those of other countries who have been pre-eminent in fame. Ancient and modern names are diminished before him. Greatness and guilt have loo often been allied ; but his fame is whiter than it i.s brilliant. The destroyers of nations stood abashed at the m;ijesly of his virtues. It reproved the intemperance of their ambiti(jn, and darkened the sj)lendour of victory. Such was the man whom we deplore. Thanks to God, his glory is consummated. Washington yet lives on earth in his spotless example — his spirit is in heaven. Let his countrymen consecrate the memory of the heroic general, the patriotic statesman, and the virtuouj sage; let them teach their children never to forget that the fruits of his labours, and of his example, are their inheritance." In pursuance of a law enacted in 17'J0, a place had been selected on the Potomac, a few miles above Mount Vernon, for the permanent seat of tlie national government. Within a district ten miles square, which was called the District of Columbia, a city was laid out, to which tlie name of Wash- ington was appropriately given. Public buildings having been erected, the officers of government removed to that place in 1800. and in Novem- ber of that year. Congress, for the first time, there commenced its ses- sion. A second census of the people was now ordered, and in the follow- ing year completed. They then amounted to 5.319,702, having in ten years increased nearly one million four hundred thousand. In the same number of years, the exports increased from nineteen to ninety-four mil- liorts, and the revenue from $4,771,000 to $12,915,000. This rapid advance in the career of prosperity has no parallel in the history of nations, and It is to be attributed principally to the institutions of the country, which, securing equal privileges to all, give to the enterprize and industry of all free scope and full encouragement. Since the year 1801, war had existed between the United States and Tripoli, one of the Barbary slates, on the coast of the Mediterranean. No memorable event occurred until 1803, when a large squadron under the command of Commodore Preble, was despatched into that sea. On arriving before Tripoli, Captain Bainbridge, in the frigate Philadelphia, of forty-four guns, was sent into the harbour to reconnoitre. While in eager pursuit of a small vessel, he unfortunately advanced so far that the frigate grounded, and all attempts to remove her were in vain. The sea around her was immediately covered with Tripolitan gun-boats, and Captain Bain- bridge was compelled to surrender. The officers were considered as pri- soners of war; but the crew, according to the customs of Barbary, were treated as slaves. At the capture of this frigate, the enemy rejoiced and exulted beyond measure. Lieutenant Stephen Decatur conceived the de- sign of retaking or destroying her. Commodore Preble, applauding the spirit of the youthful hero, granted him permission to make the attempt. In February, 1804, he accordingly sailed from Syracuse, Sicily, in a small schooner, having on board but seventy-six men — entered undiscovered the harbour of Tripoli, and advancing boldly in the teeth of a battery, un- der the guns of which the Philadelphia had been towed and anchored, took his station alongside the frigate. Perceiving the crew in consterna- tion, Decatur sprang on board, his men followed, and with drawn swords rushed upon the enemy. The decks were soon cleared, some being killed and others driven into the sea. A heavy cannonade upon the frigate from the batteries on shore and the corsairs near was now commenced, and several vessels of war were seen approaching. She was therefore set on fire and abandoned, none of the party being killed and but four wounded. Throughout all the piratical states, this brilliant exploit exalted the reputation of the American arms. The president, in reward of his address and bravery, promoted Lieutenant Decatur to the rank of post- captain in the navy. THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 469 While the squadron remained before Tripoli, other deeds of heroism were performed, evincinur a love of fame and a devotion to country unsur- passed in Grecian or Roman story. The events and operations of this war slied a lustre upon the American name, gave experience and charac- ter to the officers, and prepared tliem to acquire greater glory in a contest with a nobler foe. They were equalled, however, by an enterprize on land, bold and romantic in its conception, and exhibiting in its execution uncommon address and decision of character. William Eaton, who had been a captain in the American army, was at the commencement of this war consul at Tunis. He there became acquainted with Hamet Cara- manly, whom a younger brother had excluded from the throne of Tripoli. With him he concerted an expedition against the reigning sovereign, and ret' riicd to the United States to obtain permission and the means to un- dtr-iiike it. Permission was granted, the co-operation of the squadron reconnnended, and such pecuniary assistance as could be spared was afforded. To raise an army in Egypt, and lead it to attack the usurper in his do- minions, was the project which had been concerted. In the beginning of 1805, Eaton met Flamet at Alexandria, and was appointed general of his forces. On the 6th of March, at the head of a respectable body of mounted Arabs, and about seventy Christians, he set out for Tripoli. His route lay across a desert of one thousand miles in extent. On his march, he encount- ered peril, fatigue, and suffering, the description of which would resemble the exaggerations of romance. On the 25th of April, having been fifty days on the march, he arrived before Derne, a Tripolitan city on the Med- iterranean, and found in the harbour a part of the American squadron destined to assist him. He learned also that the usurper, having received notice of his approach, had raised a considerable army and was then within a day's march of the city. No time was therefore to be lost. The next morning he summoned the governor to surrender, who returned for answer, " My head or yours." The city was assaulted, and after a con- test of two hours and a half, possession gained. The Christians suffered severely, and the general was sligluly wounded. Great exertions were immediately made to fortify the city, which were partially successful. On the 8th of May, it was attacked by the Tripolitan army. Although ten times more numerous than Eaton's band, the assailants, after persist- ing four hours in the attetnpt, were compelled to retire. On the lOih of June another battle was fought, in which the enemy were defeated. The next day the American frigate Constitution arrived in the harbour, which so terrified the Tripolitans that they fled precipitately to the desert. The frigate came, however, to arrest the operations of Eaton, in the midst of his brilliant and successful career. Alarmed at his progress, the reigning bashaw had offered terms of peace which, being much more favorable than had before been offered, were accepted by Mr. Lear, the authorized agent of the government. Sixty thousand dollars weie given as a ransom for the unfortunate American prisoners, and an engagement was made to withdraw all support from Hamet. The nation, proud of the exploits of Eaton, regretted this diplomatic interference; but the treaty was rati- fied by the president and senate — and thus ended the war in the Medi- terranean. Just previous to these occurrences, an election of stirring interest had taken place. The two great political parties in the United Stales were still distinguished a.** federalists and republicans, and were then of nearly equal strength. Thomas Jefferscm and Aaron Burr received the same number of votes for the office of president, and so strenuously and with such acerbity did the parties contest the matter, that it was not until after thirty-five balloiings that the former was elected over the latter. Colonel Burr next offered himself as a candidate for the governorship of the slate 470 '^IJ^ TREASURY OF HISTORY. of New York ; but liaviiig already lost tlie confidence of his party by re ceiving thti votes of the federalists in tlic house of representatives ag:ost beneficial results. In the beginnwg of October, the Americans had not a single armed vessel on Lake Enaf and their whole force on Lake Ontario was a brig carrying sixteen g^^^^ On the first of November, tWe commodore had under his comniand^^vessfels, mounting altogether thirty-two guns ; and although not equann strength to their opponents, they managed to capture the Prince Regent schooner of eighteen guns, and put to flight the Royal George of twenty-six. These successive victorips were peculiarly gratifying to the nation, ^ey were gained in the midst of disasters on land, and by that class of -■^izens whose rights had been more specially violated ; and they were gained over a people claiming to be lords of the sea, whom long-continued success had rendered hauglity and insolent, and who had confidently boasted that the whole American navy would soon be swept from the ocean. A number of British merchantmen were likewise captured by the THE TREASURY OP HISTORY. 479 American navy : and privateers issuing from almost every port, many of them bearing flags inscribed " Free Trade and Sailors' Rights," were remarkably successful. The number of prizes made during the first seven months of the war exceeded five hundred; upwards of fifty of them were armed, carrying nearly six hundred guns. More than three thou- sand prisoners were taken. Various reasons have been assigned for the continued success of the American arms upon the water. The British themselves assert it to be owing to the superior dimensions of their enemy's vessels ; but this cause is not by any means sufficient to prove the fact, as all historical evidence contradicts it. The British were formerly almost everywhere victorious, in spite of the superior force of a few guns. Perhaps the truth may he arr.!ved at, when we consider the manner in which different navies are isi the habit of aiming their war-missiles. The French throw all their shot among the enemy's rigging, thus hopiijg to disable him : the English aim directly for the decks, with the intention to destroy life ; but the Ameri- ^^cans pursue a system diffe refit -from either — pouring all their fury against the hull of their antagonist, -^hus a single broadside frequently opens iheir enemy's sides to the torretits of the ocean, and compels the drown- ing foe to strike his colours. In the* autumn of this year (1812), the quadrennial period for the elec- lion of president and vice-president again r^purred. The candidates were, on one side, the incumbent .Tames Madison-»V)f Virginia, and Elbridge Gerry, of Massachusetts: on the other, De Wiit Clinton, of-New-York, and Jared Inger^oll, of Pennsylvania. Those wjio opposjgd tlj^^ar, were in favour of the latter candidates : those who^ef^ called'derr™|i,t«, sup- ported the former. Great exertions were njiade |by.th^.p:ic(izans of the opposing candidates, and the passioits^|^l;>fiJ|'op fc^ pecia"n\iin the raid- die and nomern states, were hiffhlvjrf^fle^.-* Of irfS|J|ctoral votes given, ^Ir. Madison received one hunarecl|and tTCen^y-eigJiyJ^id Mr. Gerry one hundred and tfeirty-one, and were elecj^dV* Mr. Cliittm/repcived eighty- nine, and Mr Ingersoll eighty-six. fj .iV ' /^ ».' |i*f' At the comnreiicement of the sessiMLofjGonffress f!ear thfeclose of |^2, the president, in his message, stated tlm Tie,h*i receivecf cfeqial in^ma- tion of the repeal of the orders in council ; ' ani tha9it,wo mppositimBfoi i^Ain armistice had. been made to him, both of v^BchMfhadxej^Gited^Hrhev ould not have been accepted without coilaBdi^rto Great. Bri^mi the ight.of impressment. The rejection of theaplpr1)^sitiQns was approved by the national representatives, who, insteadPwf abandoning the ground they had taken, a-dopted more vigorous measiroPs for the prosecution of the war. The 'bounty and the wages of the gcldio's were increased. The president wf^ authorized to raise twenty, aidditicwial regiments of infantry, 10 issue treaaH^iotes, and to borrow m'oney. provision was also made for buildingj^^ ships^of the line, six frigates, and.^s many vessels of war Mm the great^^'es as the public servic^might require* r^So great was the desire of the citizws of the western country to regain possession of the territory of Michigan, that in order to effect it, General Harrison resolved to undertake a winter campaign. Information was re- ceived that a small body of British and Indians wei-e stationed atVFrench- town, a village on the river Raisin, not far from Detroit. .. General Win- chester proceeded in advance, with a portion of tlie^jv^estern army, and attacked and entirely dispersed the enemy. The Aj^eriicans encamped near the field of battle, a part of them being ppQl^ecte'd hyi close garden pickets : yet, althoi^gh near an enemy's fort, but'dittle pj^caution was taken to prevent a -sWprise. Early in the morning o*^the 22nd of January, they were attacked by a large force of British apd Indians, the former commanded by Colonel Proctor, the latter by the chiefs Round- head and Split-log. The troops in the open field weiievthrown into disor- 480 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. tier, and General Winchester and other ofTiccrs in vain endeavoured to rally ihoni. They turned and fled, but in attempting to escape were niosily killed by tlie Indians. The General and (Colonel Lewis were made prisoners. The troops behind the pickets maintained the contest with undaunted bravery. At length (.'oloncl Proctor assured General Win- chester, that if the remainder of the Aniericans would imni(;diaicly sur- render, they should be protected from massacre ; but otiierwise he would set fire to the village, and would not be responsible for the conduct of the savages. Intimidated by this threat, General Winchester sent an order to the troops to surrender, which lluiy obeyed. Colonel Proctor, leaving the wounded wiihouta guard, marched back immc'diatcly to Maiden. The Indians accompanied them a few miles, but returned early the next morn- ing. Then followed deeds of horror. 'I'he wounded officers were dragged from the houses, and killed and scalped in the streets. The buildings were set on fire, and many who attempted to escape from them were forced back into the llames. Others were put to death by the toma- hawk, and left shockingly mangled in the highway. But the infamy of this butclicry should not fall upon the perpetrators alone — it must rest equally upon those who instigated them to hostility — those by wdiose side they fought, and who were able, and who were bound by a solemn engage- ment, to restrain them. The battle aad massacre at Frenchtown clothed Kentucky and Ohio in mourning. Otlier volunteers, indignant at the treachery and cruelty of their foes, hastened to the aid of Harrison. Having twelve hundred men, he marched to the rapids of^the Miami, where he erected a f(jrt which was called FH^fej. Meigs, in honour of the governor of Ohio. On the first of May, it was invested by a large n^umbt^r of Indians, and by a party of British troops from Maiden, .the whole coptmanded by Col. Proctor. Five days afterwards, General/^Clay, at me ,hj^ad yf twelve hundred Kentuckians, made an attempt to raise the siege. .Dividing his force into several par- ties, and making an impetuous onset, he drove the besiegers from their works. His troops supposing the victory complete, and disregarding the orders of their commander, dispersed into the woods; which the enemy observing, returned from their flight, and obtained an easy victory. Of the Americans, two or three hundred escaped into the fort; about three hundred were killed or made prisoners — and the remainder fled to the nearest settlements. The loss of the enemy, w^as very considerable. The fort continued to be defended with bravery and skill. The Indians, unaccustomed to seiges, became weary and discontented ; and on the 8th of May, notwithstanding the entreaties of their chief, Tccumseh, they de- serted their allies. On the 9th, the enemy, despairing of success, made a precipitate retreat. General Harrison, leaving General Clay in command, returned to Ohio for reinforceme^its ; but in this quarter aelive operations were not resumed until a squadron had been built and preoa^ed for action on Lake Erie. At Sackett's Harbour, on the northern frontier, a body ol» troops had been assembled under the command of General Dearborn ; and' great exertions were made, by Commodore Chauncey, to build and equip a squadron on Lake Ontario, sufficiently powerful to contend with that ot the enemy. By the 25th of April, the naval preparations were so far com- pleted that the general, and seventeen hundred troops, were conveyed across the lake to the attack, of York (now Toronto), the capital of Upper Canada. On the 27th, an advanced party, led on by Br'gadier-general Pike, who was born in a camp and bred a soldier from his birth, landed, although opposed at the water's edge by a superior force. After a short but se- vere conflict, the enemy were driven to their fortifications. The rest of the troops having landed, the whole party pressed forward — carried the first battery by assault, and were moving towards the main works, when THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 481 the enemy's magazine, containing five hundred barrels of gunpowder, blew up, with a tremendous explosion, hurling upon the advancing troops im- mense quantities of stone and timber. Upwards of three hundred men were killed and wounded ; their leader, the brave General Pike, was mor- tally wounded. He retained to the last, however, the spirit of a soldier and commander ; " Move on, my brave fellows," was his first exclamation, *' and avenge your general." With three cheers, in the midst of the carnage, they pressed forward, and speedily drove the enemy from all their intrenchmen'ts, and gained possession of the town. The British loss in men, amounted to seven hundred and eighty. The public property de- stroyed was very considerable ; and that which was transferred unin- jured to the Americans, was considered worth at least half a million of dollars. When the flag that had waved over the fort was brought to the dying General Pike, with an expression of triumph on his countenance he made signs for it to be placed under his head, and contentedly expired. An attack on Fort George, and Fort Erie, unsuccessfully attempted the year before, was the next thing to be undertaken. Accordingly, on the morning of the 28th, generals Dearborn and Lewis embarked with their whole force, amounting to four thousand men. The advance, under Col. Scott, consisting of five hundred, were exposed in approaching the shore to incessant volleys of musketry, from a large body of regulars stationed in a ravine ; yet they faltered not, and no sooner were they formed on the beach, than they were led to the charge and dispersed the enemy. Meanwhile the works on each side of the river were furiously engaged. Fort George being in a short time rendered untenable, the British laid trains to their magazines and hastily retired. The American light com- panies instantly took possession of the abandoned works — captains Hynd- man and Stockton entering first, and extinguishing the fire intended to create the explosion. The former withdrew a match at the imminent hazard of his life. Before twelve o'clock, the whole of tlie fortifications in that quarter were surmounted by the American flag ; the enemy having lost, in killed and vvouuded, above two hundred and fifty men, besides six hundred prisoners. Their antagonists had only thirty-nine killed, and a hundred and eight wounded. A few days afterwards, it became known that a body of fifteen hundred English, under General Vincent, had encamped on the heights at the head of Burlington bay. A superior force was therefore dispatched, under generals Chandler and Winder, to reconnoitre, and to cut off" the escape of the enemy. Strangely enough, this force was surprised in the night with an onset from the British, the sentinels being bayonetted on their posts without giving an alarm. A complete rout ensued, in which both the American generals were taken prisoners. The British findmg two pieces of artillery limbered, drove them oflT, hastily overturned the others, and made good their retreat with but little loss. This misfortune to the republicans was soon followed by another. Lieutenant-colonel Boerstler, having been sent with five hundred men to disperse a body of the enemy collected at the Beaver Dams, was surrounded, and the whole detachment made prisoners. General Dearborn having for some time laboured under a severe indis- position, now retired from service, assigning Fort George to the care of Col. Boyd. The American army soon afterwards experienced a severe reverse, by an irrational attack on a British party stationed at Le Cosse's House, aboui seventeen miles from the fort; and on the 8th of July, a gen- eral skirmish ensued, without any advantage remaining on either side. From the peculiar character of Indian warfare, and the constant iiarassing sustained by the Americans, Col. Boyd deemed it prudent to adopt meas- ures for guarding against it : the services of the Seneca nation werj 31 482 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. therefore accepted, and about four hundred warriors, commanded by tne chief Corn-planter, were put under arms. While the greater part of the American army was thus employed in Canada, the British made an attack upon the important post of Sackett's Harbour. On the 27ih of May, their squadron appeared before the town. Alarm guns instantly assembled the citizens of the neighbourhood. General Brown, of the New-York militia, commanded in chief, his whole force amounting to about one thousand men. By his orders a slight breastwork was hastily thrown up, at the only place where the enemy could land. Behind this he placed the militia, and the regulars under Colonel Backus formed the second line. On the morning of the 29th, one thousand British troops landed from the squadron, and advanced towards the breastwork. The militia, seized with a sudden panic, fled in confusion, Colonel Mills, in a vain attempt to rally them, bemg mortally wounded. The regulars, after a spirited resistance, were compelled to jetire towards the town ; but in their retreat they took possession of the houses on the road, and from these coverts they poured so destructive a fire upon the British column, that it halted and fell back. General Brown, by a strata- gem, converted this slight check into a precipitate flight : collecting the panic-struck militia, he directed their course along a road which, while It led from the village, appeared to the British commander to lead to the place of landing. Perceiving them marching with great speed, he suppo- sed that their object was to cut off" his retreat, and he re-embarked so has- tily as to leave behind most of his wounded. General Brown, in recom- oense for his services, was appointed a brigadier in the regular army. Meanwhile, upon the coast, a distressing and predatory war was car- ■ied on, by large detachments from the powerful navy of Great Britain. >!)ne squadron, stationed in Delaware Bay, captured and burned every ■iierchant vessel which came within its reach. The inhabitants of Lewistown, in the slate of Delaware, having refused to sell provisions to 5he enemy, the village was bombarded, and several attempts were made to land — but they were defeated by the militia. In Chesapeake Bay, an- other and more powerful squadron had arrived, early in the spring. It was under the command of Admiral Cockburn — a notorious and disgrace- ful person, whose name will ever be considered a stain among the officers of his country. He, disregarding the honourable modes of warfare, di- rected his efforts principally against unoffending citizens and peaceful villages. Instead of seeking to advance the interests of Great Britain in any manner, he sought simply to stir up enmity and hatred wherever ne went, and planted a spirit of revenge which in many sections rankles still. The farm houses and 'gentlemen's seats near the shore were plun dered, and the cattle driven away or in mere wantonness slaughtered. Frenchtown, Havre de Grace, Fredericktown, and Georgetown, were sacked and burned. Norfolk was only saved from a similar fate, by the determined bravery of a small force stationed on Craney Island, in the harbour. A furious attack was made upon Hampton, which, notwith- standing the gallant resistance of its small garrison, was captured, and the unfortunate inhabitants suffered all which a brutal and unrestrained soldiery could inflict. The ocean, in the meantime, had been the theatre of sanguinary conflicts, ui which the victors gained untarnished laurels. Captain Lawrence, in the sloop of war Hornet, discovering in the neutral port of San Salvador a British sloop of war of superior force, challenged her commander to meet him at sea. The challenge being declined, Captain Lawrence block- aded the port, until forced by a ship of the line to retire. Soon after, meeting an English brig of ten guns, he captured her, and with her above S-20,000 in specie. The next day the Hornet steered for Demerara, and shortly encountered a large Briti.sh national armed brig, the Peacock. THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 483 Captain Lawrence instantly engaged her, and the combat continued for fifteen minutes with great fury — when the enemy struck her colours, and displayed at the same time a signal of distress. The Americans instantly endeavoured now to save the vanquished ; but such was the shattered condition of the Peacock, that m spite of all their efforts to rescue her seamen, it could be but partially effected — she went down, carrying with her nine British sailors and three of the brave Americans who were en- deavouring to assist them. In the battle, the loss of the Hornet was but one killed and two wounded — that of the Peacock was never ascertained. On his return to the United States, Captain Lawrence was promoted to the command of the frigate Chesapeake, then in the harbour of Boston. For several weeks the British frigate Shannon, of equal force but having a selected crew, had been cruizing before the port ; and Captain Brooke, her commander, had announced his wish to meet, in single combat, an American frigate. Inflamed by this challenge, Captain Lawrence, although his crew were just enlisted, and his officers were strangers to him and to each other, set sail, on the first of June, in pursuit of the Shannon. To- ward evening on the same day, they met, and engaged instantly, with unexampled fury. In a very few minutes, and in quick succession, the sailing-master of the Chesapeake was killed, and Captain Lawrence and three lieutenants were severely wounded ; her rigging was so cut to pieces that she fell on board the Shannon, her chest of arms blew up, and Cap- tain Lawrence, receiving a second and mortal wound, was carried below. At this instant, the position of the ships being favourable. Captain Brooke, at the head of his marines, gallantly boarded the Chesapeake; when, every officer who could take command being killed or wounded, resistance ceased, and the American flag was struck by the enemy. The victory, however, was not achieved without loss. Of the crew of the Shannon, twenty-four were killed and fifty-six wounded. Of that of the Chesapeake, forty-eight were killed and nearly one hundred wounded. When the intrepid Lawrence learned the fate of his ship, he became de- lirious with excess of mental and bodily suffering. His proud spirit was broken ; and during the four days he continued to live, almost the only words he uttered, were, " Don't give up the ship !" — an expression which has since been consecrated by his countrymen. Captain Lawrence and Lieutenant Ludlow were both interred by the British at Halifax, with every honour — civil, naval, and military. Subsequently, a passport being obtained from the gentlemanly commander on that station. Commodore Hardy, the remains of the two officers were brought to the United States, by Mr. Crowninshield, of Salem, in his own barge, manned by twelve masters of vessels. Great were the exultations of the government party in London, on the news of this action. Victories over the frigates of other nations were occurrences too common to excite emotion; but the capture of an Ameri- can frigate was considered a glorious epoch in the naval history of Great Britain. Captain Brooke received the honour of knighthood, and alto- gether the rewards and honours bestowed upon him were such as had never before been received t^ut by the conqueror of a squadron. These demonstrations of triumph were inadvertent confessions of American superiority; and they were, to the vanquished themselves, a species of triumph, and a source of consolation. On the 4th of August, another American vessel was captured by the British. The Argus sloop of war had that misfortune ; she was cruizing in the British channel, committing depredations upon the enemy's ship- ping, when several men-of-war were sent in quest of her. The Pelican, a vessel of her own class, but of slightly superior force, descried and encountered her; at the first broadside, Captain Allen, of the Argus, fell, severely wounded ; Lieutenant Watson, on whom the command devolved, 484 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. was next renaered unfit for service ; midshipmen Delphy and Edwards, both died of their wounds — and after a severe and proionged action of above till 60 liours, tlie vessel surrendered. Shortl)' after tliis, victory turned agai>i in favour of the republicans. The American brig Enterprize, commanded by Lieutenant Burroughs, met, when a fevvdaysout on a cruize, the British brig Boxer, of the same or a more available force. Here, again, tlie superior manoeuvring of the Americans was made manifest: the P^nterprizc lost but one man killed and thirteen wounded ; while the loss of the Boxer was much greater. Both commanders, however, were slain ; Captain Blythe, of the Boxer, being killed, while Lieutenant Burroughs was the one lost by the Ameri- cans. They were buried side by side, due honours being rendered, in Portland, Maine. The events of the war again call our attention to the northwestern frontier. While each nation was busily employed in equipping a squad- ron on Lake Erie, General Clay remained inactive at Fort Meigs. About the last of July, a large number of British and Indians appeared before the fort, hoping to entice the garrison to a general action in the field. After waiting a few days without succeeding, they decamped, and pro- ceeded to Fort Stephenson, on the river Sandusky. This fort was little more than a picketing surrounded by a dilch ; and the garrison consisted of but one hundred and sixty men, who were commanded by Major Cro- ghan, a youth of twenty-one. On the 1st of August, it was invested by five liundred regulars and eight hundred Indians. After a cannonade, which continued two days, the enemy, in the evening, supposing a breach had been made, advanced to assault the works. Anticipating this. Major Croghan had planted a six pounder, the only piece of cannon in the fort, in a position to enfilade the ditch. It was loaded with grape shot and slugs, and was discharged the instant the assailants arrived before it. The British commander and many of his men were killed, and many others severely wounded. The attack was again renewed, and they were again as fatally repulsed ; when the remainder retreated in haste and dis- order to their former position, and at dawn of day retired to Maiden. The youthful Croghan, for his valour and good conduct, was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel ; and he and his brave companions received the thanks of Congress. To complete the triumph of the victor, the ladies of Chilicothe presented him with an elegant sword. In the meantime, by the exertions of Commodore Perry, an American squadron had been prepared for service on Lake Erie. It consisted of nine small vessels, carrying in all fifty-four guns. A British squadron had also been built and equipped, under the superintendence of Commodore Barclay ; this fleet consisted of six vessels, mounting sixty-three guns. Commodore Perry, immediately sailing, offered battle to his adversary. On the 10th of September, the British commander, having wind in favour, left the harbour of Maiden to accept that offer. In a few hours the wind shifted, giving the Americans the advantage. Perry, forming the line of battle, hoisted his flag, on which were inscribed the words of the dying Lawrence, " Don't give up the ship !" Loud huzzas from all the vessels, proclaimed the animation with which this motto inspired their patriotic crews. About noon the firing commenced ; but the wind being light, the Lawrence, the commodore's flag ship, was the only American vessel that could, at first, engage in close action. For two hours she contended alone with two vessels, each nearly her equal in force. All but seven of her crew were either killed or wounded, and she, by the damage she had received, was rendered wholly unmanageable. The wind springing up, Captain Elliott was enabled to bring his vessel, the Niagara, into action. To this ship Commodore Perry, sailing in an open boat through the thick- est of the fire, transferred his flasr. Again the combat raged with undb THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 485 minished fury. In a short time, one of the British vessels surrendered, and soon after another ; and the rest of the American squadron now join- ing in the action, the victory was rendered decisive and complete. At four o'clock, the brave and fortunate commander despatched to General Harrison, at Fori Meigs, this laconic epistle : " We have met the enemy and they are ours." Great was the joy which this brilliant victory occasioned throughout the Union. That it was achieved over a superior force — that it was the first over gained over a squadiron — that it was entirely decisive — and that it opened a way to the recovery of all that had been lost by the defeat of the imbecile General Hull — were circumstances which threw every other victory into the shade, and cast the brightest lustre upon the characters of the heroes who had gained it. At every place which he visited, the gallant Perry received the most flattering proofs of a nation's gratitude and love. The Americans were now masters of the lake; but a part of their ter- ritory was yet in possession of the British, which General Harrison im- mediately set about recovering. The vessels conveyed him and his troops (amounting to about seven thousand men) across the lake to Amherstburgh, from whence they proceeded to occupy Detroit and Fort Maiden, which they did without opposition, the British general having evacuated the lat- ter place and destroyed the stores. The enemy had passed Detroit on their retreat, and ascended the river Thames to the Moravian villages, where they encamped. They were pursued by General Harrison with three thousand five hundred picked troops, consisting of Colonel John- son's mounted regiment, Colonel Ball's dragoons, and Governor Shelby's Kentucky volunteers. On the 5th of October they were overtaken and forced into battle ; when the Americans, greatly outnumbering the enemy, were perfectly triumphant. But the death on this occasion of the chief Tecumseh, who was the most subtle, brave, eloquent, and formidable of Indian warriors, was without doubt a more completely irreparable loss that the British had yet sustained. He was better able to concentrate, command, and guide sagaciously the savage forces, than any warrior who had preceded him. It is said that he met his fate under the following circumstances : Colonel Johnson, of Kentucky, had resolved if possible to engage him ; dressed, therefore, in a showy uniform, and mounted upon a large white horse, he cut his way through the melee directly to where the chief was encouraging his people — who were then fighting with more indomitable and obstinate courage than had yet been witnessed in them — and endeavoured to attract his attention. The chief turning, dis- charged his rifle at the approaching foe, and drew his tomahawk with the intention to dispatch him at once. Covered with wounds and blood, the colonel still approached — when Tecumseh paused a moment, seeming surprized at the appearance of his adversary, 'i'hat pause proved fatal — for in it Colonel Johnson drew a pistol and discharged its contents through his body. The Indians no longer hearing the stentorian voice of their leader, fled in confusion, and the rout was complete. The American loss was but fifty ; that of the British seventy, besides six hundred prisoners : the Indians left one hundred and twenty dead on the field, and those who escaped could not be gathered together again in battle. Stationing General Cass with a thousand men at Detroit, Harrison now returned to Buff'alo, intending according to his instructions, to co-operate with the army of the centre in efl'ecting what appeared to be the grand object of the American government, the conquest of Canada. Reeent victory had increased the confidence of the administration, and revived the martial spirit of the people. A larger force than at any former period was collected along the northern frontier, and placed under the command of generals Wilkinson and Hampton, officers then highly esteemed for 486 THE TREASURl OF HISTORY. their military iiiforniation, as well as warlike taste and abilities, lii charge of the war olHce, was General Armstrong, a man held in distin- guished consideration for his courtly experience, his familiarity with arms and tactics, and his thoroughly American spirit. Strangely, indeed, does it sound, when we are told that witlj all these advantages just nothing coald be accomplished. Eiglit thousand men stood upon their arms on the northern frontier, exclusive of Harrison's four thousand, v/ho were or- dered to rendezvous at Flattsburgh, all waiting for the word of command to march upon Montreal. At length, after a very tedious course of pre- parations, it came : the secretary of war himself arrived and reviewed the troops, delivering his instructions. At Grenadier Island, on Lake Ontario, the flotilla was prepared which was intended to transport the armed array to the capture of Montreal, and every thing was in motion directly. On the 5th of November, they were finally got under way. But now it appeared that bodies of the enemy had been gathered together at every convenient point upon their route, well prepared to harass and dispute with them their passage. To disperse them, a body of troops under the command of General Brown was landed, and directed to march in advance of the boats. At Chrystler's Fields, on the 11th of November, a body of the enemy of about the same force, was encountered, and the battle which ensued was fought with resolute bravery on both sides. Both par- ties claimed the victory. The American loss was greatest, but as they drove the enemy from their position, and enabled the flotilla to pass un- molested, it is but fair to allow that they accomplished all they intended. The next day the troops arrived at St. Regis. At this place Gen- eral Hampton had been ordered to join the main army, and no doubt had been entertained of his disposition and ability to comply with the order. But here General Wilkinson learned, with surprise and mortification, that the contemplated junction would not take place. The project of attack- ing Montreal was consequently abandoned, and the army under Wilkin- son marched to Frenchtown Mills, and there encamped for the winter. Great indignation followed this abortive issue of the campaign ; the se- verest censure fell upon General Armstrong, for having associated two such officers as Wilkinson and Hampton, between whom there was a well known spirit of animosity existing. The latter soon after resigned his commission in the army, and General Izard was selected in his stead, to command the post at Flattsburgh. The injury suffered by the United States on account of this trifling, did not end altogether in disappointment. Failing in the extension of their territory, they were dispossessed of their former acquisitions on the Ca- nadian shore. Fort George was abandoned — but before leaving it, the officer in charge was guilty of an act which provoked a lamentable retal- iation from the British. He crossed over to the handsome village of Newark, and sacked and left it in flames. Sir George Prevost, in return, surprised Fort Niagara, with its garrison of about three hundred, and put nearly every man of them to the sword. Not satisfied with this, his myrmidons forthwith began to ravage and lay waste the country, burning in their course Lewistown, Manchester, Youngstown, the Indian village ol .he Tuscaroras, and Bufl'alo. In the beginning of this year, 1813, the emperor of Russia had offered lis mediation to the two powers at war. On the part of the United States ihe off"er was promptly accepted, and Messrs. Adams, Gallatin, and Ba- yard, were appointed commissioners to negotiate, at St. Petersburgh, a i)eace under the proffered mediation. On the 24th of May, Congress was .convened by proclamation of the president. Laws were enacted impos- ng a direct tax of three millions of dollars ; authorizing the collection of arious internal duties ; providing for a loan of seven and a half millions THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 48? of dollars ; and prohibiting the merchant vessels of the United States from sailing under British licenses. Near the close of the session, a com- mittee appointed to inquire into the subject, made a long report upon the spirit and manner in which the war had been commenced and conducted by the enemy. Many proofs were presented of shameful departures from the rules of warfare observed by civilized nations. In September, Commodore Chauncey made two cruizes upon Lake Ontario, and repeatedly offered battle to the enemy's squadron, which was of superior force ; but Sir James Yeo, the commander, intimidated by the result of the battle on Lake Erie, retired before him. On one occasion, however, in a running fight, the British ships sustained considerable in- jury : but the inconsiderable breadth of the passage which separates the frontiers in the neighbourhood of the several forts, allowed the British to cross over in their small boats, and therefore rendered naval superiority in a great measure unavailing. After the failure of the campaign against the British provinces, the northern army remained in winter quarters until the latter end of Febru- ary. The troops were then divided, two thousand men being ordered with General Brown to Sackett's Harbour, and the remainder returning to Plattsburgh with General Wilkinson. The latter officer, not feeling sat isfied with his exploits in Canada, on the 15th of March ensuing, at the head of four thousand men, re-crossed the Canadian lines, and attacked a fortified stone house known as La CoUe Mill, which was garrisoned by about two thousand. After a persevering assault, in which the besiegers suffered severely, they were obliged to retire. This event, in connection with other unfortunate operations, caused the administration to suspend General Wilkinson from any further command. The impolicy of carrying on offensive war, for the purpose of conquer inga British province, was becoming every day more and more apparent. Militia and volunteers could be assembled for defence ; but regulars onl}^ were suitable for purposes of invasion — and recruits for the regular service came forward with reluctance, because the name of an enlisted soldier was held in disrepute. Inexperience in commissarial affairs, also, had promoted waste and disappointment : at one time the soldiers were fur- nished with exuberance, at another left destitute of a sufficiency. The expenditure was thus three times larger than the ministerial estim.ates, and the consumption of regular soldiers greater than could be balanced by recruiting. No expedient was left untried, however, to keep up the establishment : the enormous bounty of one hundred and twenty-four dollars was offered to recruits, the regular pay was increased, and future benefits in lands tendered : millions of acres were for this purpose sur- veyed in Illinois and Missouri, one hundred and sixty acres being appor- tioned to each private, with a corresponding increase to subordinate officers. At sea, no event of importance had lately transpired. Captain Rogers, who commanded the frigate President, returned from a long cruize, hav- ing captured eleven merchantmen ; but he met no armed vessels, the cap- lure of which could enhance his reputation. Captain Porter, in the Es- sex, rode triumphant over the Pacific ocean, annoying the trade of the enemy, and protecting that of the republic. In the southwestern extremity of the Union, troubles of a serious na- ture were demanding the attention of government. The influence of Tecumsehhad been felt among the Indians there, and many of them were persuaded that the Great Spirit required of them to attempt the e.Ktirpa - tiou of the whites on their borders. The Creeks and Seminoles, in par- ticular, were carrying on a cruel war against the frontier inhabitants of Georgia General Jackson, therefore, at the head of two thousand five hundred volunteers from Tennessee, marched into the country of the h\- 433 THIi; TllEASURY OF HISTORY. (lians. Overawed by his presence, Ihey for a time desisted from hostili- ties ; but immediately after his return, their animosity burst forth with increased and fatal violence. To escape their cruelty, about three hun- dred men, women, and children, sought safety at Kort Mimms, in the Tensaw settlement. Yet, notwithstanding they had received frequent warnings of an intended attack, on the 30lh of August, at noonday, they were surprised by a party of six hundred Indians, who with axes cut their way into the fort, and drove the peojie into the houses which it enclosed. These they set on fire. Many persons were burned, and many killed by the tomaliawk. Only seventeen escaped to carry the horrid tidings to the neighbouring stations. The whites resolved on vengeance. Again General Jackson, at the head of three thousand five hundred miliiia of Tennessee, marched into the southern wilderness. A detachment under General Coffee encoun- tered, at Tallushatchie, a body of Indians, and a sanguinary conflict en- sued. The latter fought with desperation, neither giving nor receiving ([uarter, until nearly every warrior had perished. At Talladega, another battle was fought, in which three hundred Indians were killed, and the rest of the parly, exceeding seven hundred, fled. General Jackson's provisions being exhausted, he was unable to pursue them. While on ills return to the settlements to obtain a supply, his troops became refrac- tory, and even mutinous: nearly all returned to their homes; but to thf small number that remained, were soon added a reinforcement of one thousand mounted volunteers. With this force he marched to Emuckfaw, within a bend of the Talla- poosa, where a body of the enemy were posted. To several skirmishes succeeded a general battle, in which the whites were victorious, but sus- tained considerable loss. For the relief of the wounded, Jackson returned to Fort Strother, where the volunteers were discharged. General White, from East Tennessee, and General Floyd, from Georgia, led separate ex- peditions against the Indians, and were victorious in every combat. So enraged were the savages, that but few would accept of quarter or seek safety in retreat. Yet still was the spirit of the Creeks unsubdued, and their faith in victory unshaken. With no little sagacity and skill, they selected and fortified another position on the Tallapoosa, called by them- selves Tohopeka, and by the whites Horse-shoe Bend. Here nearly a thousand warriors, animated with a fierce and determined resolution, were collected. Three thousand men, commanded by General Jackson, marched to attack this post. To prevent escape, a detachment under General Coffee, encircled the Bend. The main body, keeping within it, advanced to the fortress. For a few minutes, the opposing forces were engaged, muzzle to muzzle, at the port holes. Soon the troops, leaping over the walls, mingled with the savages, and the combat became furious and sanguinary. The Indians, fleeing at length to the river, beheld the troops on the opposite bank. Returning, they fought with increased fury and desperation, and continued to resist until night. Six hundred war- riors were killed ; four only yielded themselves prisoners ; the remaining three hundred escaped. Of the whites, fifty-five were killed, and one hundred and forty-six wounded. ' .. ' It was expected that another stand would be made, by the Indians, at a place called the Hickory Ground, and thither General Jackson marched, in April. The principal chiefs came out to meet him, and among them was Wetherford, a half-blood, distinguished equally for his talents and his cruelty. "I am in your power," said he, "do with me what you please. I commanded at Fort Mimms. I have done the white people all I he harm I could. I have fought them, and fought them bravely. There vvas a time when I had a choice; I have none now — even hope is ended. V)nce I could animate my warriors ; but I cannot animate the dead. They THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 439 can no longer hear my voice ; their bones are at Tallushatchie, Talladega, Eniuckfaw, and Tohopeka. While there was a chance of success, I never supplicated peace ; but my people are gone, and I now ask it for my nation and myself." Peace was concluded, and the successful gen- eral and his brave troops enjoyed an honourable though a short repose. In the winter of 1813-14, the fifteenth Congress held a second session. Warlike measures were of course the only ones of consequence adopted , and to enforce their vigorous prosecution, the president was authorized to borrow twenty-five millions of dollars and to issue treasury notes to tha amount of five millions. Before the close of the session, a communi- cation was received from the British government announcing its readiness to treat for peace, although declining the mediation of Russia. A direct negotiation at London or Gottenburgh was proposed instead, which the American government frankly accepted, and chose the latter place, for which, however, Ghent was afterwards substituted. Henry Clay, and lonatban Russell, Esqrs., were named as commissioners additional to Uiose already in Europe. Mr. Clay was at that time the popular speaker 3f the House of Representatives, which station he relinquished in conse- quence of this appointment, and the vacant chair was filled by Langdon Cheves, of South Carolina. Meantime, information was received of the stupendous events which had recently occurred in Europe. The Emperor of France had been ar- rested in his victorious career, his armies being expelled from Spain, and lefeated at Leipsic, and himself compelled to abdicate the throne and •etire to the island of Elba. Louis the XVIII. was proclaimed king 01 France : and Great Britain, at peace with all the world except tlie United States, was enabled to direct against them alone the immense force which had been employed to crush her rival. She delayed not to use the advan tages afforded by her good fortune. From the ports of conquered France, ships of war and transports bearing veteran and victorious troops, sailed to the American continent, some destined to the Niagara frontier, and some to the Atlantic coast. These events could not be viewed with in difference by the American people. The friends of the administration anticipated a severer conflict and prepared for greater sacrifices and greater sufferings. Its opposers were encouraged to make more vigorous efforts to wrest the reins of authority from men who, they asserted, had shown themselves incompetent to hold them. Their efforts, although condemned by a great majority of the people, diminished in no slight de- gree the strength of the Republic. In the beginning of July, General Brown, who had been assiduously employed in disciphning his troops, crossed the Niagara with about three thousand men, and without being opposed took possession of Fort Erie. In a strong position a few miles distant, at Chippewa, was intrenched an equal number of British troops, commanded by General Riall. On the 4th, General Brown approached their works. The next day the two armies met, in the open field, and obstinate and bloody was the conflict. The Americans were finally victorious : the enemy having sustained the loss of five hundred men, sought safety behind their intrenchments. This de- cisive victory, achieved after so many reverses, was hailed as an omen of future success. Soon afterwards General Riall abandoned his works, and retired to the heights of Burlington. Here Lieutenant-general Drum- mond, with a large reinforcement joined him, and assuming the command, led back the army towards the Am.erican camp. On the 25th, was fought the battle of Bridgewater, which began before sun-set and continued until midnight. This battle was fought near the cataract of Niagara, whose roar was rivalled by the thunder of cannon and the din of arms, but was distinctly heard during the pauses of the fight. At intervals the moon shone brightly, 490 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. but often her light was obscured. Against a superior force, the Ameri- cans for several hours contended with various success. During the first part of the cn^'ageincnt, they were sorely ainioyed, into whatever part ol the field they might drive the enemy or be driven, by the british artillery, which was stationed on a commanding eminence. " Can you storm that battery ]'" said G'cneral liipley to Colonel Miller. " I'll try, sir," was the laconic answer — which afterwards became the motto of his regiment. A» the word of command, his men with steady courage ascended the hill, advanced to the muzzles of the cannon, killed with tiie bayonet several artillery-men on the point of firing their pieces, and drove the remainder before them. Both parties were instantly reinforced, and the enemy made a daring attempt to refrain their cannon. They were repulsed, but quickly repeated the attempt. Nearly all the opposing forces were gatii- ered around this position, and to possess it was the sole object of both armies. Again the enemy were repulsed — but again they renewed the effort : after a violent contliet they were a third time driven from the hill. The firing then ceased ; the British troops were withdrawn ; and the Americans were left in quiet possession of the field. Generals Brown and Scott having both been severely wounded, the command devolved upon General Ripley. He remained a few hours upon the hill, collected the wounded, and then returned unmolested to hia camp. The number of the killed and wounded proves the bravery of the combatants, and the severity of the struggle. On the American side it was eight hundred and fifty-eight ; on the liritish, one hundred more, and of the latter one hundred and seventeen more were missing than of the former. The British, therefore, besides losing their position, sustained the greater loss of men. During this battle, in the evening, Captain Ambrose Spencer, son of the chief-justice of New-York, and aid to General Brown, was dispatched with orders to one of the regiments ; when about to deliver them, he sud- denly found himself in contact with a British corps ; with consummate coolness, and a firm air, he enquired " What regiment is this V On beinf answered, the Royal Scots, he immediately replied, " Royal Scots, remain a' you arey The commandant of the corps, supposing the orders came from the British general, instantly halted his regiment, and Captain Spen- cer rode off. This brave officer was afterwards mortally wounded, and taken prisoner. Captain Loring, the aid of General Drummond, was taken prisoner by the Americans — and was exchanged for the corpse of Captaitv Spencer. Here, to show how diametrically opposite were the dispositions of the British and American commanding officers, we beg leave to subjoin the substance of a brief correspondence held between them on this occasion : Camp, before Chippewa, > July 27th, 1814. ] Sm.— Your wounded aid, Mr. ijpeucer, is in my possession. Send Captain Loring. and you can have him. Gordon Dhummo.nd, Maj. Gen., H. B. M. S Fort Erif, } Sia:— July^Wi, 1814. \ Your aid, Captain Loring, is here, quite well and comfortable. If Captain Spencer is able to be removed, I will gladly make the exchange. The bearer of this is the brother of my aid ; I pray you to let him superintend the removal of the wounded man to the American lines, as his life is very dear to me. Any kindness you can render him wiU be thankfully acknowledged by me; and your aid returned, whether mine shall arrive dead or alive. Jac. Bbown, Maj, Gen., ^'. S. A. THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 491 Captain Spencer died about the time of the arrival of his brother — not having been at all able to bear reniovaf. General Drummond, however, con- sidered the arrangement for an exchange complete, and General Brown, soliciting permission from the secretary at war, was authorized to make it. General Ripley found his force so much weakened, that he deemed it prudent again to occupy Fort Erie. On the 4th of August, it was invest- ed by General Drummond with five thousand troops. In defending it, no less bravery and skill were requisite, and no less were displayed, than in contending in the field. In the night between the 14ih and 15th, the be- siegers made an assault upon the fort, which was repelled with conspicu- ous gallantry by the garrison, the former losing more than nine hundred men, the latter but eighty-four. The siege was still continued. On the 2nd of September, General Brown, having recovered from his wounds, threw himself into the fort, and took command of the garrison. For their fate great anxiety was felt by the nation, which was, however, in some degree removed, by the march from Plattsburgh of five thousand men to their relief. On the 17th, a sortie was made by the besieged, General Porter of the New- York militia, and General Miller of the regular army, commanding divisions. The bravery of the troops equalled that which they had displayed in the recent contests. After an hour of close fighting, tliey returned to the fort, having killed, wounded, and taken prisoners, one thousand of the enemy. The American loss was also severe, amounting to near five hundred. On the 21st of September, the forty- ninth day of the siege, General Drummond withdrew his forces, relieving the garrison from their toil, which had been incessant, and from their danger, which had been encoun- tered without fear. Seldom have troops deserved higher praise of their country. On the 9th of October, General Izard arrived with the reinforce- ment from Plattsburgh, and being the senior officer, took command. On the 18lh, he marched, with his whole force, in pursuit of the enemy, whom he found at Chippewa, strongly posted in a fortified camp. After making- several unsuccessful attempts to entice them into the field, he evacuated Canada, and placed his troops in winter quarters at Buffalo, Black Rock and Batavia. The march of the troops from Plattsburgh having left that post almost defenceless, the enemy determined to attack it by land, and at the same time to attempt the destruction of the American flotilla on Lake Cham- plain. On the 3d of September, Sir George Prevost, the governor-general of Canada, with an army of fourteen thousand men, most of whom had served in the wars of Europe, entered the territories of the United Slates. As soon as his object was ascertained, Brigadier-general Macomb, the commander at Plattsburgh, called to his aid the militia of New- York and Vermont, who, with alacrity and without distinction of party, obeyed the call. On the 6th, the enemy arrived at Plattsburgh, which is situated near Lake Champlaiii, on the northerly bank of the small river Saranac. On their approach, the American troops, who were posted on the opposite bank, tore up the planks of the bridges, with which they formed slight breastworks, and prepared to dispute the passage of the stream. Several attempts to cross it were made by the enemy, but tliey were uniformly defeated. From this time until the llth, the British army were employed in erecting batteries, while the American forces were every hour aug- mented by the arrival of volunteers and militia. Early in the morning of that day, the British squadron, commanded by Commodore Dovvnie, ap- peared off the harbour of Plattsburgh, where that of the United States, commanded by Commodore McDonough, lay at anchor, prepared for bat- tle. The American squadron consisted of fourteen vessels, carrying eighty-six guns and eight hundred and twenty-six men. The British con- sisted of seventeen vessels, with ninety-five guns and one thousand and 492 THi: TREASURY OF HISTORY. fifty men. At nine o'cl.)ck the bailie commenced — and seldom lias ii.e ocean witnessed a niore furious encounter than now took place on tlie bosom of this transparent and peaceful lake. At the same moment the enemy on land hegan a lieavy cannonade upon the American lines, and attempted, at diffcrtuit places, to cross the Saranac At a ford above the village tlie strife was hot and deadly. As often as the enemy advanced into the water they received a destru(;tive fire from the militia, and their dead bodies (loated down the stream literally crimsoned with blood. At half [)asl eleven, a shout of victory was heard along the American lines, announcing the result of the battle on the lake. A second iJrilish squadron had yielded to the prowess of American seamen. The cry ani- mated to braver deeds their brethren on the land. Fainter and fainter be- came the efforts of the enemy ; and in the afternoon they withdrew to their intreiichments. In the night they began a pi'ecipitate retreat, and had tied eight miles before their departure was known in the American camp. Upon land, the American loss was one hundred and nineteen tliat of the IJrilish was estimated at two thousand five hundred. In this latter number, however, are included five hundred Ikltish soldiers who deserted from the retreating army, preferring a residence in this country to service in the Hritish line. On the water, the American loss was one hundred and ten : that of the British one hundred and ninety-four, besides eight hundred and fifty-six made prisoners. With these splendid victo- ries closed the campaign on the northern frontier. In the meantime, on the ocean, the republican flag maintained its high reputation. Victory was not always won — but defeat never occurred at- tended with dishonour. The Essex, commanded by Captain Porter, after a bloody combat, prolonged longer than was necessary to vindicate his fame, struck to a liriiish frigate and sloop of war, whose united force was much superior. The American sloop Peacock captured the Epervier, of equal force. The sloop Wasp, commanded by Captain Blakely. captured the liein-deer, and afterwards, in the same cruize, sunk the Avon, each of superior force. She made several other prizes — but never returned into port. Darkness rests upon her fate. She probably foundered at sea. The republic, with deep and sincere grief, mourned the loss of her gallant crew. In the beginning of August, many vessels of war, and a large number of troops, arrived in Chesapeake Bay from Europe. Of this force, several frigates and bomb vessels were ordered to ascend the Potomac ; another division, under Sir Peter Parker, was directed to threaten Baltimore ; while the main body, under Admiral Cochrane, ascended the Patuxenl as far as Benedict, where, on the 19th of August, five thousand men, com- manded by General Ross, were landed. During this time. General Win- der had busied himself in calling together his forces, who, however, were very remiss in complying with the call. Not more than two thousand militia, with one thousand regulars, could be collected ; though even these, it would appear, might have made some resistance, as they possessed above twenty pieces of cannon, while the British had only three. They continued to retreat, however, as far as Bladensburgh, where a stand was ordered ; on the first approach of danger, the militia fled in confusion, the enemy holly pursuing ; whence the field has since retained the name of •' Bladensburgh race-ground," over which the Americans greatly outran the British. No opposition was off'ered to the progress of the enemy, except by a body of sailors and marines, under Commodore Barney and Captain Mil- ler; t^ese were stationed advantageously, and could no doubt have effect- ual'/ impeded the advancing foe, if the assistance which they had aright !o expect from General Winder had been afforded. As it was, they were outflanked and surrounded by the enemy, cut in pieces and taken prison- THE TREASUHY OF HISTORY. 493 ers. Thus the fate of Washington was decided. General Ross, with a thousand men, slowly approached the city, where he arrived on the 24th, at eight o'clock in the evening. At nine, the capitol, containing the Con- gressional library, senate, supreme court, and representative chambers, public records, See, (Sec, was set on fire, as was also the president's house, the treasury, war, and navy offices, and all the public establishments, with the single exception of the post and patent office building, which was only saved by the personal intercession of its superintendent. In the sanguinary wars which grew out of the French revolution, the capitals of Europe were successively in the hands of conquerors— but they waged no such Vandal war against specimens of art, public libraries, and public papers. All civilized nations exclaimed against this violation of the rules of honourable warfare — and the indignation of the republic was fully aroused. All ages and all classes turned out to defend Baltimore, and volunteers flocked in from the neighbouring states of Virginia and Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, however, the squadron which had ascended the Potomac, met with even less resistance than that which had passed up the Patux- ent. As soon as it arrived at Alexandria, the citizens proposed a capitu- lation ; the British commander stated his terms, and allowed one hour's time to determine upon them. To purchase safety, they delivered up all their shipping, all the merchandize in the city (including sixteen thousand barrels of flour), and all the naval and ordinance stores, public and private- With a fleet of prizes, loaded with rich booty, the enemy returned imme- diately to the ocean. The success of the attack on Washington having encouraged General Ross to proceed against Baltimore, on the 12th of September he landed five thousand men on North Point, about fourteen miles from the city, for which he took up his line of march. Preparations for defence had already been made. General Smith, who commanded the American forces, de- tached General Strieker with three thousand men, to retard the progress of the enemy. At about eight miles from the city the advanced parties met, and in the skirmish which ensued, General Ross was killed. The invaders, however, continued slowly to advance, under command of Colo- nel Brooke — and the Americans gradually retreated to within half a mile of their intrenchments. The British then paused, choosing to await the result of a bombardment of the American batteries, which had been com- menced by their fleet. Not less than fifty sail were drawn together in view of forts M'Henry and Covington, which stand at the entrance of the harbour ; and for twen- ty-four hours an assault was continued, without success, against these posts. They were commanded, the first by Major Armistead, and the latter by Lieutenant Newcomb, of the navy ; and the defence was allowed in every respect to have been conducted with signal ability. The com- mander of the British forces upon land, finding he was to receive no as- sistance from the fleet, held a conference with Admiral Cochrane during the night, in which it was determined to abandon the project of taking Baltimore, and attempt some more feasible operation. Accordingly on the 14th, they retreated to North Point, and the next day re-embarked. Shortly after, the fleet left Chesapeake Bay, a part of it proceeding south- ward, to convey troops to the theatre of a future undertaking, and an un- precedented slaughter. In the autumn of 1814, information was received that the British and American commissioners had met and held conferences at Ghent. Great Britain, rendered arrogant by her recent triumphs in Europe, and by the capture of Washington, demanded terms which extinguished all hope of a speedy reconciliation. Still Congress shrunk not from the duties which the crisis imposed. General Armstrong not having manifested sufficient 494 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. energy, was rpmoved from offic.e, and Colonel Monroe appointed Secre- tary at War in his stead. Mr. Dallas, of Pennsylvania, was assigned to the Treasurj'' department — and vij^orous measures were adopted Cor sus- taining the national honour, increusing the finances, and placing upon a firm footing the credit of the country. Tlie repose of General .lat^kson, and the troops whom he commanded, was interrupted by the arrival at Pcnsacola, in August, of three British ships of war, bringing three humlred soldieri?, and arms and ammunition to be distributed among tin! Indians of Florida. The troops were permit- ted, by the Spaniards, to take possession of the fort, and the commander issued a proclamation, indicating an intention of carrying on war against the adjacent parts of the Republic. General Jackson, with characteristic promptness, took instant and efficient measures for calling to his aid the patriotic militia, who liad before been victorious under iiis banners. Hav- ing remonstrated in vain with the governor of Pensacola for affording slielter and protection to the enemies of the United States, he, near the end of October, at the head of a body of regulars and two thousand mount- ed volunteers, marched against that place. A flag, sent to demand re- and Avon, American and Bri Genl. 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Wk come now to consider, not a series of victories springing out of bloodshed, but some of the more truly ennobling and substantial triumphi* which arise from an uninterrupted season of peace. One of the most lib- eral and enlighted of monarchs [Louis Philippe] has declared it his deliber- ate conviction that no serious collision between civilized nations can ever again occur. Looking abroad upon the world with a serene eye an(> mature judgment, he cannot but feel persuaded that the present mental superiority of mankind over former ages, will forbid the toleration here- after of anything like the barbarism called war. We may at least be al- .owed to hope that he is right. At the close of the struggle of 1812, the people of the United States "ound that, if they had accomplished all for which they began the contest, they had also materially crippled themselves ; that although their bravery in battle and moderation in victory was now more firmly than ever estab- lished, those laurels constituted all that they had won. In return for which, they had increased their public debt an hundred millions of dollars ; had completely deranged the monetary affairs of the country, overturned their general credit, and destroyed entirely the banking system of tiie nation. Innumerable failures had taken place in the eastern and middle states; and great dissatisfaction among the people resulted from certain swindling; operations which had taken place by means of private banks and specu- lating brokers. Without a reliable currency, the circulation of specie being of course very limited, the commerce of the nation was in a fair way to experience a perfect paralyzation. To remedy these evils, Congress deemed it expedient and necessary to provide for the establishment of a new national bank, the old one having expired wiih the year 1810, by limitation of its charter. It was therefore enacted, after a most strenuous opposition, that a bank should be organ- ized, to continue twenty-one years from the 1st of July, 181G, having for its capital thirty-five millions of dollars. The labours of this great monied corporation were in the beginning, doubtless, highly beneficial to the coun- try ; but that it subsequently became a very dangerous monopoly, whose workings were at the least not boneficial to society, is strenuously maintained by the party now holding the reins of government, while the contrary is as strongly maintained by its opponents. The next subject that engrossed the attention of Congress, was a re- vision of the duties on goods imported. In forming the new tariff, a ju- dicious attention was given to protect domestic manufactures, without at the same time injuring the national revenue, or lessening, by over-indul- gence, the industry and economy requisite to their full success. The double war imposts were, with few exceptions, reduced ; but a large in- crease was made to the duties on some fabrics, particularly cotton cloths of a coarse description, especially when imported from the East Indies, where those articles are manufactured by persons contented with daily wages not exceeding a few cents, and from a material not grown in the United Stales. It is but justice here to state, that the regulation of the tariff would probably never have been quite as favourable as it is to the interests of the home manufactu^rs of this country, were it not for an untiring vigilance in their behalf, on the part of tlie Hon. H. Clay, of Keniucky, which has won for him the distinguished title of "Champion ol the American system." This is the more remarkable, as he is from a sec- tion of country not likely to engage extensively in manufactures, and not generally allowed' much credit as being particularly favourable to the eastern interests. If this truly great man is for his patriotism immolated {,00 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. upon the altar of sectional partizanship, as at present seems most probable he will be, posterity, at least, will do his memory justice. In the autumn of 1816, another election for president took place. James Monroe, of Virginia, was chosen without much opposition ; and at the same time with him, Daniel D. Tompkins, of New York, to fill the second office. Very few political changes occurred to disturb the quiet course of his administration : the same vice-president served with him eight years — and his official advisers were continued, with scarce an interruption, for a like length of time. John Quincy Adams, of Massachusetts, Secretary of State ; William H. Crawford, of Georgia, Secretary of the Treasury; John C Calhoun, of South Carolina, Secretary of War; Smith Thompson, of New-York, Secretary of the Navy ; John M'Lean, of Ohio, Post-Master General ; Pilchard Rush, of Pennsylvania, Attorney General. For some years after the conclusion of the war, the foreign and domes- tic trade of the United States continued to be variable and unprofitable. The channels of consumption at home became gradually filled to repletion : while the universal peace of Europe enabled its producers to raise their own supplies, instead of calling upon the American market. Peace also allowed the ships of every nation to be its own carriers, and foreign mer- chants to do their own trading : the flag of the United States was no longer an agent between belligerents, nor were American ports now, as hereto- fore, the general entrepots of the world. The terms of freight rapidly de- clined, vessels rotted in their harbours, and warehouses groaned under the stagnant pressure of accumulating merchandize. Internal traffic was not sufficient to employ the numerous individuals formerly engaged in the different pursuits of trade. Competition became excessive ; and disap- pointment and distress very prevalent. The public revenue could not escape being impaired by such multifa- rious embarrassments : it became every day more inadequate to meet the usual expenditures — in addition to which, moreover, calls for an enormous amount, from a new source, had lately been made. By an act of Con- gress, in 1818, a yearly pension sufficient for their decent maintenance had been granted to those officers and privates who had served for three successive years in the war of the revolution. More than thirty thousand of that venerable army made application for relief — and several millions of dollars were required annually to satisfy their claims. Money, in conse- quence, had to be obtained by loans ; and various public expenses were necessarily curtailed, and the army and navy reduced. This state of things of course could not last ; and we shall have presently occasion to turn over a new leaf, and consider a more encouraging picture of Ameri- can affairs. In the winter of 1819, the country was deprived of the services of Com- modore Perry, who fell a victim to the climate of Trinidad, while on a cruize : and in the following spring, Decatur was killed in a duel, near Washington, by Commodore Barron. In the year 1820, under the favour- ing auspices of President Monroe, a society for colonizing free people of colour began a settlement at Sierra Leone, on the coast of Africa, with a view to the final extinguishment of slavery in the United States. The tract has a good harbour, is high, fertile, and the healthiest in that region. It has since been called Liberia. No pains have been spared by the com- pany to induce immigration to their colony, to render it thriving and suc- cessful, or to forward the laudable ultimate object with which they begaa the enterprize. In 1821, the territory of Florida was ceded to the United States, by Spain, in compensation for spoliations upon American commerce to the amount of five millions of dollars. General Jackson was appointed first governor of Florida, and the unsettled, semi-savage state of the population was such as to require the greatest energy and decision to enforce respect THE TREASURY OF HISTORY 501 !or the laws among them. A tedious and distressing predatory warfare was for years waged against the new settlers by savages inhabiting its inaccessible swamps and secure fastnesses. The U. S. troops seemed to be set at defiance, until the hostile tribes came out from their conceal- ments in the everglades, and consented to remove beyond the Mississippi. A deputation* of the Seminoles has lately returned from their new place of abode in the far west with such flattering accounts of the desirable nature of their possessions, that they will doubtless persuade the few straggling bands remaining in Florida to accompany them on their return home. In the spring of 1822, the independence of the South American repub- lics, and also that of the state of Mexico, was recognized by the U. S. Congress, and an appropriation made to defray the expenses of establish- ing with them a diplomatic intercourse. The European powers at length, very slowly and cautiously, adopted a similar course : and the several small republics are still existing, though their governments are unsettled, and internal discord, attended with effusion of blood, appears to prevail among them. Spanish influence, subjugation to a tyrannous priesthood: or other causes, may induce this sad state of their affairs. About this time the U. S. government signalized itself by a series of vigorous and successful efforts against certain bands of lawless piratical marauders ; these had for a long time infested the numerous shallow bays and inlets which indent the different West India islands, and were fre- quently guilty of cruel and cold-blooded murder, besides destroying mucb property and causing otherwise great annoyance and distress. All at- tempts to crush them were at the first futile, owing to their extensive and well-disposed arrangements for self-protection ; none of the cutters con- structed for war service were sufficiently light or swift to chase them with any success, and an ordinary craft of any description could not be made to penetrate into their recesses. The government accordingly had prepared ten small vessels, which, together with a sloop of war, a steam galliot, and the frigate Congress, were dispatched into the neighbourhood of their haunts. So actively was this matter then prosecuted, that in less than six months not a freebooter could be heard of on the coast of either Cuba or St. Dommgo, or about the Keys of Florida, where formerly they had swarmed. In August, 1824, General La Fayette arrived in the city of New-York, on a visit to the United States. In returning to America, near half a cen- tury from the period of his military career, and at the age of sixty-seven. La Fayette could hope to meet but few of his former associates in arms. Most of them had certainly found rest in the grave. A new generation had risen to manhood, a new army had re-crimsoned with their blood the soil which he had assisted to set free, and a third generation were spring- ing up before him. On approaching the American shores he was equally surprised and delighted. History furnishes no record of an individual receiving so unusual and spontaneous a demonstration of respect. At the entrance of New- York bay, he was received by Governor Tompkins, who conveyed him to his private residence on Staten Island ; the day follow ing, business was suspended in the city, and the illustrious guest was welcomed with the roar of cannon, the ringing of bells, the parade of the military, and every demonstration of joy. It was estimated that not less than fifty thousand persons were assembled in the vicinity of the Battery to witness his arrival. Nor did these flattering manifestations then cease ; they accompanied him in all his extended journeyings through the Union. And when at length his tour of observation ended, in the city of Washing- ton, on the 10th of December following, the president in his message re- ferred to the services of the distinguished stranger, and his present some- what dependent circumstances in life, at the same time recommending Congress to take in consideration the matter, and make some provisioD 502 'TH^ TREASURY OF HISTORY. to be tendered the hero which would be worthy his acceptance and the character of the American people. A committee of the senate, to whom the subject was referred, reported two resolutions; the first granting him two hundred thousand dollars in money ; the oilier, a township of six miles square, of any of the unappropriated lands which the president should direct. These resolutions encountered considerable opposition, but were both finally passed by very respectable majorities, and were presented to the general by a joint committee, accompanied with a com- plimentary address. Since the conclusion of peace in 1815, the state of New- York has been busily engaged with her favourite designs of internal improvement. Ca- nals were early proposed from the Hudson river to Lake Cham plain, and from Albany to Lake Erie; the attention of scientific and public-spirited men was occupied with the subject, and commissioners were appointed by the legislature to investigate carefully the propositions. It was re- ported, that the objects were calculated to be of the greatest utility, but that the estimated expense was too great for individuals or private corpo- rations to undertake ; and that the national government or state legislatures ought only to attempt them. De Wilt Clinton, the giant mover of the principal enterprise, it is said, consulted Ex-president Jefferson with a view to obtain his weighty opinion in favour of the project. The vener- able statesman could not then see things in the same light with Governor Clinton : he replied, " Your plan is a noble one — magnificent — and may be carried into effect a hundred years hence.''' Nevertheless, the Clinto- nians persevered, and in October, 1825, was completed the grandest work of internal improvement then anywhere, perhaps, projected. The Erie Canal is of itself three hundred and sixty -three miles in length, and con- nects the great lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. It cost upwards of seven millions of dollars, and was constructed by the state alone ; yet its annual revenues have long since extinguished the debt, and it is now referred to as a most splendid and perfectly successful operation. At the commencement of 1825, closed the very successful and prosper- ous, because peaceful, eight years' presidency of James Monroe. He had paid off sixty millions of the national debt — had peaceably acquired the important territory of Florida — and had seen established our national limits toward the west, on the Pacific ocean. Internal taxes were repeal- ed, the military establishment reduced to its narrowest limits of eflaciency, the organization of the army improved, the independence of the South American republics recognized, progress made in the suppression of the slave trade, and the civilization of the Indians advanced as far as practi- cable. Four candidates were set up to succeed Mr. Monroe in the presi- dential chair ; they were John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, and Wm. H. Crawford. These were severally voted for by their par tizans, and the election was warmly contested ; but no one candidate re- ceiving a legal majority of votes, the power of choice passed from the college of electors into the House of Representatives. Here, John Quincy Adams was chosen. Mr. Adams, in his inaugural address, declared that he should endeavour to exercise something like magnanimity in his public acts, discarding every remnant of political rancour, and yielding only to talents and virtue that confidence which is too often bestowed upon those whose greatest claim is their subserviency to party purposes. We believe his pledge was well redeemed. The gentlemen composing his cabinet were the following named:— John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, Vice President. Henry Clay, of Kentucky, Secretary of State ; Richard Rush, of Pennsylvania Secretary of the Treasury ; James Barbour, of Virginia, Secretary of War ; Samuel L. Southard, of New Jersey. Secretary of the Navy ; William Wirt THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 50» of Maryland, Attorney General ; John M'Lean^ of Ohio, Post-Master General. In the year 1826, an unparalleled excitement sprung up in the northern part of the Union, on account of the abduction and alleged murder of a man named William Morgan. It was asserted that he had been sacrificed solely for opinion's sake, in this, a country most notoriously recognizing the right of all men to cherish whatsoever opinions may appear unto them prof)er, unless openly inimical to the welfare of others. It seems he was a member of the fraternity of free masons, and had progressed as far in the order as the royal arch degree. The obligations of the society require each member of said degree to consent that death may be inflicted upon him if he divulge the manner of initiation into a lodge, or proceedings thereafter. This man, however, becoming distressed in circumstances, and not having the fear of death or power of his brethren before his eyes, proceeded to publish to the world the history of their illuminations. Hereupon certain leaders of the fraternity, who were possessed of much zeal and very little judgment, became exceedingly wroth with the aforesaid derelict brother, and, it was said, did him from his family and friends abduct, so that he returned not. A year afterwards the mutilated body of a man was found washed upon the shores df Lake Ontario, which the widow of the missing Morgan testified before a coroner's jury to be that of her husband. Governor Clinton, though himself at the time grand high priest of the free masons, promptly offered a reward of two thousand dollars for proof to convict the authors of the assassination, and minute and lengthy trials of suspected individuals were had ; but after every investi- gation, for want of sufficient evidence, no person could be punished. A curious episode occurs — the bereaved widow, seemingly unwarned or un- discouraged by her sad experience, very shortly after married another of the royal arch brethren. In 1827, Henry Clay, then Secretary of State for the United States, ar- ranged satisfactorily with M. Rebello, "knight of the holy crozier," and charge d'affaires near the United States' government for his majesty the emperor of the Brazils, a dispute which had grown out of the Brazilian seizure of certain American vessels engaged in the carrying trade between Rio de Janeiro and the revolted Buenos Ayrean province. A serious col- lision had been threatened, owing to the too abrupt demand of passports, and precipitate departure of the American minister from his imperial highness' dominions. New treaties of amity, navigation and commerce, were also concluded with Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Guatemala and the Hanseatic League. Towards the close of 1828, the tariff question was again agitated in Con- gress, and considerable asperity manifested. Eventually, however, the debates terminated in the passage of a law laying further protective duties on such articles of import as particularly competed with the manufactured and agricultural productions of the United States. By this tariff bill ad- ditional duties were laid on wool and woollens, iron, hemp and its fabrics, lead, distilled spirits, silk stuffs, window glass and cottons. The manu- facturing states consequently received the law with warm approbation, while the southern stales regarded it as highly prejudicial to the interests of the cotton planters ; and in Charleston, South Carolina, the flags of the shipping were displayed at half mast, and a state convention was demand- ed. — Governor De Witt Clinton, of New- York, died, suddenly, this year. Also, General Jacob Brown, U. S. Army. And, early in the following year, John Jay departed. General Jackson having been elected president and John C Calhoun re-elected vice-president of the United States, they were formally installed in office on the 4lh of March, 1829. The names of the new cabinet ran as CoUows : Martin Van Buren, of New- York, Secretary of State ; Samue* g04 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. D. Ingham, of Pennsylvania, Secretary of the Treasury; John H. Eaton of Pennsylvania, Secretary of War; John Ikanch, of North Carolina Secretary of the Navy. John M. Ik-rrien, of Georgia, Attorney General- William T. Barry, of Kentucky, Post Master General. Directly after the organization of the new government, a small party at the south then termed "state-rights" men, but subsequently " nullifiers," commenced working themselves up into a high state of exasperation, on account of the alluded-to obnoxious provisions of the last year's tariff. In Congress, the exponent of the views of these new-lights was no less a man than Colonel Hayne, of the Senate. Indeed, all parties seemed now suddenly resolved into two great antagonistic elements, alike confident in their strength, and e:iger only for the fray. Nothing appeared to merit or meet with attention in either house, unless it could be made in some way sub- servient to the great subject matter in hand : and the probable reason why the eventual struggle was not earlier brought to bear, may be seen in the revolutionary changing of government officers, both great and small, which immediately succeeded the elevation of the Jackson party. On the 20th of January, 1830, upon the occasion of Mr. Foot's resolu- tion relative to the public lands being brought forward, Mr. Webster and Mr. Benton respectively advanced the views of their constituents, in a brief, discursive manner, with their usual uniqueness and ability : but the storm was about to commence in earnest. Colonel Hayne directly fol- lowed the honourable senators, in a speech of two days' length, in which was set forth with no little ability and a deal of logic, the same "disor- ganizing" state-rights principles which, he contended, had been at least once within the memory of man advocated by the sons of the puritan- dwellers near Hartford, when in convention deliberately assembled. Noth- ing- could avail the gentlenrian from the south, however, in a contest with the dark-browed champion of the east. This was too late a day to advo- cate principles with so slight a foundation. Mr. Webster disclaimed in behalf of New-England, all approach towards, or sympathy with, such strange delusions as the gentleman and his clique seemed subject to. He replied at length to all the assumptions of his distiguished opponent, and in conclusion, indulged in one of the loftiest flights of eloquence ever, perhaps, listened to upon any occasion. Men's minds were taken captive, their understandings chained, convinced — while all American hearts must have glowed with mingled pride and satisfaction, to know that their coun- try possessed such unalloyed and profound patriotism. In his first message to Congress this year, the president manifested to- wards the United States' Bank that spirit of opposition which was a few years later to break forth into open hostility, and create in certain sec- tions such a strong feeling against him. But the grand subject of consideration at this time, was the position of the Indians. These people were averse to removing from the borders of the states where they were located, while it would seem no power could effectually check the rapidly-encroaching sway of the masses of white population towards them. Collision of interests must necessarily follow their proximity, and consequent cruel and bloody personal encounters re- sult therefrom. Owing to the impossibility of subjecting the aborigines to the usages of civilized society, as well as their peculiar and subtle sys- tem of warfare provoking inveterate enmity from their neighbouring set- tlers, nothing appeared in prospect for the tribes but ultimate extinction, without speedy and imperative measures from the general government were interposed in their behalf. To devise some expedient, therefore, by which to preserve the tribes and at the same time protect their own peo- ple, was the difficult task presented to statesmen. General Jackson, in commending this subject to the attention of Congress, remarked, that the fate of the Mohegan, the Narragansett, and the Delaware, was fast and THE TREASURY OF HISTORY, 605 inevitably approaching the Choctaw, the Cherokee, and the Creek, if they remained within the limits of the states. He said that regard to our na- tional honour brought forward the question whether something could not be done to preserve the race. As a means, to this end, he suggested that an ample district west of the Mississippi, and without the limits of any stale or territory, might be set apart and guaranteed to the Indian tribes, each to have distinct jurisdiction over the part designated for its use, and free from any control of the United States, other than might be necessary to preserve peace on the frontier. There the benevolent might teach them ; and there they might form a nation which would perpetuate their race, and attest the humanity of the American government. The grand difficulty of the project, and one which would have appalled a timid mind, was met by the president in a characteristic manner. "The emigration," said he, "should be voluntary, for it would be as cruel as un- just to compel the aborigines to abandon the graves of their fathers, and seek a home in a distant land." Congress sanctioned the undertaking, and empowered the president to carry it out ; and he fearlessly com- menced, what, perhaps, no human ruler ever did before, to combine free- will with necessity. To cause the Indians to emigrate voluntarily, for their own good, became thenceforth his settled policy. In 1831, on the 4lh day of July, died James Monroe, fifth president of the United States. It has been considered a little remarkable, that no less than three Ameiican ex-presidents have died on the same day, and that the anniversary of their national independence. First, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, men who had probably contributed as largely as any others towards the elevation of their country in the scale of nations, sim- ultaneously departed this life, amid the thunder of cannon and ringing of bells which announced the commencement of The second half-century of their well-loved country's existence : and next, as we have seen, on the same day of the fifth year following, Mr. Monroe was called also to join the glorious company of his patriot predecessors in the spirit-land. About this time, under the auspices of John C. Spencer, Richard Rush, and others, sprang into notice a new political party — the anti-masonic. Immediately subsequent to the conclusion of the Morgan trials, which en- ded in the release of supposed culprits, the excitement of the public ran very high against an institution seeming to possess such unwarrantable and unlimited influence over life and law. The opportunity was of course seized, by demagogues or enthusiasts, to attempt the erection of a novel and attractive hobby for "the people," whereon they might ride themselves at least into temporary authority. In this case, indeed, the capital seemed unusually good, and the prospects very fair; various and talented statesmen had openly affirmed their belief in the unconstitutionality of the denounced institution : and, with the most commendable judgment, no less a man than William Wirt, of Maryland, was chosen and persuaded to run as the candidate of the new party in the approaching contest for the presidential chair. Alas ! a chilling frost was destined suddenly to blight the rising hopes of the aspirants ; notwithstanding the ardency of their converts and the availability of candidates — in the election which pres- ently succeeded, their really estimable ticket received but the vote of one state in the union — that being Vermont. Upon the ruins of this air-castle a new fabric was shortly to be founded, eventually to attract some atten- tion, under the name and style of the anti-slavery party. In the month of August, 1831, a slave-insurrection of considerable local nnportance broke out in Southampton county, Virginia. It was originated by a crazy sort of vagrant nick-named "Nat.," who had passed among the negroes for some time as a Baptist preacher. His reputation for piety, or fanaticism, had so imposed upon the planters, that the wonder only was his influence had not been greater, and the struggle consequently more 506 THE TREASUIIY OF HISTORY. fierce and bloody. The number of whiles massacred on rising, was fifty- eight — consisliiif^ principally of decrepid men, women and children. The blacks then fled to tiic swamps, apparently terrified at their own atroci- ties ; and were presently subdued with but little difliculty, yielding up their leaders to the gallows. Abroad, the American minister at the French court, William C. Rives, this year eff'ected a treaty with that nation, by the terms of which twenty- five millions of francs were agreed to be paid to the American government, in appropriate instalments, for spoliations upon commerce during the turbulent sway of the emperor Napoleon. With the Neapolitan government we had negotiated in vain previous lo this year, for an amicable adjustment of claims against it for the seques- tration and plunder of American property during the ephemeral reign of Joacliiin Murat. The sudden appearance in the bay of Naples of a re- spectable number of armed United iSlates' vessels, however, together with a peremptory demand from (ieneral Jackson's minister, Mr. Nelson, of Maryland, seemed to bring liis majesty of the Two Sicilies to reason. An order was directly given upon his treasurer, for the payment of 2,115,000 ducats, or $l,7i!0,o6o, to be paid in nine equal instalments, with interest at the rate of 1 per centum until paid. Stephen Girard, the great Philadelphia banker, died in December of this year. At the time of liis death he was supposed to be the richest man in the nation — possessing about ten millions of dollars in available funds. In the war of 1812-14 he loaned the United States' government $5,000,000; and at the time of his death, with a praiseworthy liberality but little emu- lated by his trustees since, devised the great mass of his property to va- rious charitable institution and purposes in and near the city of Phila- delphia. Early in life he commenced a small trading business in that city, and by frugality and persevernig industry there acquired his wealth. February 1st, 1832, Commodore Downes, in the United States' frigate Potomac, arrived on the coast of Sumatra, being principally on an expe- dition to chastise a horde of Malay savages for certain outrages upon Americans and their commerce. Among other charges against them, was one on account of the ship Friendship, of Salem; it appears this vessel had formerly traded with them for spices, &c., when, on a convenient occasion occurring, the barbarians determnied upon appropriating to them- selves the ship and its contcnis, after an indiscriminate massacre of the crew, by which they vainly hoped to hide their crime. When the chiefs were applied to for restitution in this case, and the delivery of the mur- derers, they with characteristic cupidity denied all knowledge of the mat- ter and refused to give any kind of satisfaction. Commodore Downes took prompt and efficient steps directly ; in the night of the 6th, his frigate was quietly worked in towards shore, and at dawn of day, m the mist, two hundred and sixty men were landed in detachments, without disturb- ing the natives. A simultaneous attack was made upon their five forts, which were in about three hours reduced, with much slaughter on the part of the Malays ; while a heavy cannonade from the ship at the same time, soon laid their town of Quallah Battoo in ashes. The loss of the Americans was but two killed, and eight or ten wounded. A few moun- taineers visited the frigate shortly after, when the commodore left word that he should call there again — if necessary. Nearer home, this year, disturbances with savage tribes embroiled the public peace. In the month of April, the Winnebagoes, Sacs and Foxes, with a few Pottowatomies, Indians inhabiting the country of the Upper Mississippi, re-crossed that river under the chief Black Hav/k, his son, and the so-called "Prophet" — the last being a shrewd, designing knave always accompanying or concerned in the war and massacre undertakings of the red men. Being well armed and active, they soon scattered them THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 507 ■eives through Illinois, where formerly they had dwelt, and burned and murdered all before them which bore any marks of civilization. Generals Atkinson and Scott were despatched against them. The several garrisons on the seaboard, from Fort Monroe, in Virginia, to New- York harbour, were directly ordered to Buffalo ; and there were embarked upon steam- boats with all haste for the scene of action. Now, most unhappily, from the heated and crowded manner in which the troops under Scott's com- mand were obliged to travel (having been hurried through the country one thousand eight hundred miles in eighteen days), the cholera, which had just made its appearance in the country, broke out among them, and began to rage terribly. Language cannot depict the distress which en- sued, both before and after the troops were landed. Many died, many deserted ; and many perished in the woods from absolute starvation. At length the panic and distress partially subsided; and a iew of the men were by forced marches enabled to reach General Atkinson's encampment. But the first action of consequence was fought by the mounted volunteer's under generals Dodge and Henry, who came upon Black Hawk's warriors on the banks of the Winconsin, July 21st. A sharp contest ensued, in which the Indians were worsted and put to flight, leaving nearly one hun- dred of their people on the field — the victors returning to General Atkinson for provisions. An incident is related as occurring in a skirmish called by the Indians the battle of the Bad Axe. They were surprised by the whites at day- light in their huts, when women and children were unavoidably killed, from being indiscriminately mingled with the men. Among the rest, a young squaw, with her papoose, was flying for the river's bank, when a rifle ball pierced her breast, causing instant death to her, and breaking an arm of the infant. Her body fell upon that of the child so as to prevent its releasing itself — and for two hours and a half its cries were heard at intervals by the attacking party. At length, when the firing had abated, an ofllcer of the assailants made his way to the little complainer, and had it as soon as possible conveyed to the garrison at Prairie du Chien, and confided to the best offices of the surgeon. It has since grown into a sprightly girl — the pet of the company. In a general engagement at the mouth of the Upper Iowa, on the 2d of August, the Indians were completely routed and dispersed ; the chiefs shortly after were delivered up, and the fugitives consented to return at once to their appointed quarters west of the Mississippi. Black Hawk, his son, and several warriors of note were conveyed to Fortress Mon:Je, where they were detained a few months; and then carried through the principal cities of the United states, and the civilization and works of de- fence of the nation exhibited to them. They were then sent home to their people, convinced of the folly of attempting to contend against the power and discipline of the whites, with the unmanageable fury of their wild bands. In consideration of the lands which they left to the states upon taking possession of their new territories, the federal government pays to the Winnebagoes $10,000 per annum for twenty-seven years from the date of their leaving. To the Sacs and Foxes, it pays $20,000 annually for th:r»y years from the same time. The Cholera pestilence this year ravaged the entire Union. It appears to have crossed the Atlantic with a company of emigrants in ships bound to Quebec and Montreal, from thence spreading quickly in every direc- tion, though mainly and with most severity pursuing the great courses of travel. It broke out in several cities of the United States about the same time, in the month of July, and raged until autumn set in. In the city of New- York, four thousand persons are computrd to have fallen its vic- tims. Philadelphia, Baltimore, Charleston, and New-Orleans, suffered in nearly the same ratio, in defiance of all the usual precautionary measures. 508 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. Boston, and the New-England states, were scourged less severely. On the American continent, nothing but the frosts of winter appeared effect- ually to arrest its progress: yet, amid the everlasting snows of Russia, it had manifested itself with true Asiatic virulence. Climate seemed to be no safeguard, nor ocean-wide barriers any defence. In mild southern France, the number of its victims was frightfully enormous ; in the cities of Mexico, one-fourth of the population was destroyed ; and on the island of Cuba, Si 00,000,000 worth of slaves are said to have perished in less than ninety days. It is stated, that on this island the coffee-planters mostly escaped the affliction, while the neighbouring sugar plantations were com- pletely depopulated. Death, in various forms, visited the great names of the earth, in the course of 1832. In New- York, of the prevailing epidemic, died William H. Maynard, eminent as a state senator, who left by his will the sum of twenty thousand dollars to establish a law professorship in Hamilton col- lege. In Boston, the celebrated Doctor Spurzheim, founder, in connection with Doctor Gall, of the science of phrenology. In Ohio, the Rt. Rev. Roman Catholic Bishop Fenwick. In Georgia, Thomas Cobb, a revolu- tionary character, aged 120. In Maryland, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence, m 96. In New-Hampshire, Captain Joseph Pratt, a naval commander of much es- ■ teem in the annals of revolutionary coasting. In Rhode Island, Captain Stephen Olney, of whom it is said, he was the first to scale the enemy's fortifications, and then shout the command, " Captain Olney's company will form here !" In New-Jersey, Philip Freneau, an early and prolific writer of American fugitive poetry. In Connecticut, Judge Hillhouse, a distinguished statesman and lawyer. At Abbottsford, Great Britain, Sir Walter Scott, " the wizard of the north." In London, Baron Tenterden, chief-justice of the king's bench. In France, General Lamarque, one oi Napoleon's officers. Also, Champollion, the renowned French tourist — and, Casimir Perier, a statesman of celebrity in Paris. In Rome, Ma- dame Letitia, mother of Bonaparte, e. 82. At the palace of Schoenbrunn, near Vienna, te 21, Napoleon Francis Charles Joseph, duke Reichstadt, only son of Napoleon Bonaparte. A. D. 1833. — It is proper now to take a farewell glance at that monster- spirit of the South, known as nullification, which once stalked with fear- ful mien among us. The electioneering campaign of '32 had merged all minor considerations, in the unusual exacerbation with which it was con- ducted. But when the result became known, and General Jackson, a southern man, was declared re-elected with increased majorities, together with Martin Van Buren, of New-York, " a northern man with southern principles," as his opponents termed him in derision for his lack of politi- cal bitterness. When this ticket was found to be triumphant, we say, southern agitators grev/ rampant. They looked upon such men as a god- send for their especial purposes : and in full confidence a legislative con- vention was called at Columbia, South Carolina, where the acts of Con- gress imposing duties for protection, were pronounced unconstitutional, and of no binding force in that state. Governor Hamilton in his message recommended the legislature to pass laws for preventing the enforcement of the revenue statutes by United States' collectors, and advised immedi- ate preparati(»ns of a warlike nature to be made, placing the state in the best posture of defence. To the astonishment of these ultras. General Jackson at once, and in the most admirable spirit, issued a proclamation, calling on them to beware lest they should incur the penalties of such rashness and treason, while he set forth in a tone of candor and decision the principles and powers of the general government, and his firm deter- nnnation m any event to maintain the laws. This seemed only to increase lilt! exasperation in South Carolina; the governor of the state, by authoi THE TREASUUY OF HISTORY. 509 ity of the legislature, issued a counter-proclamation, urging the people to be faithful to their primary allegiance to the state, and to resist to tlie last any efforts of the United States' authorities to collect the tariff dues. A purchase was made of ten thousand stand of small arms, with appropriate munitions, «fec., and general orders issued to raise volunteers for repelling invasion ; messengers were also dispatched to neighbouring states, solic- iting their co-operation and support. General Jackson hereupon addressed a message to Congress, recommending the adoption of such measures as Avould enable the executive to suppress this spirit of insubordination, and maintain inviolate the laws of the United States. Castle Pinckney and Fort Moultrie were accordingly reinforced with government troops, and Commodore Elliott ordered to rendezvous in Charleston bay with a fleet. John C. Calhoun had resigned the vice-presidency at the close of 1832, in order to take a seat in the United States' Senate for the purpose of lend- ing his elficient aid to the support of the measures of his state. Thus everything betokened a civil war: but a timely appeal from the general assembly of Virginia, deprecatory of haste and passion, together with a momentary gleam from the better judgment of the leading men of South Carolina, produced a suspension of aggressive measures for a short time ; when Henry Clay's celebrated "compromise bill" being at this precise juncture introduced in Congress, was passed rapidly through both houses, and had the effect of most happily dispelling, at once and forever, it is to be hoped, the dark and portentous storm which lowered around. Hardly had the ferment consequent upon a disorganizing movement among the states been allayed, when a new source of excitement came into public view. The United States' bank had from the first been the depositary of a large amount of government funds ; and as the bank's charter was now about to expire, without a hope of renewal (the president having already vetoed a bill "for its continuance). Congress was in his message recommended to remove the deposits to some more safe place of keeping. This was refused, in the representatives, by the unusually strong vote of 109 to 46. Nothing daunted, the executive began to plan his measures (or rescuing the public funds in spite of Congress. By the act creating the United States' Bank, it was provided that the secretary of the treasury might remove the public deposits, but he was required to lay his reasons upon so doing directly before Congress. W. J. Duane, of Pennsylvania, being then at the head of the treasury department, im- mediately upon the recess of Congress was desired by General Jackson to issue an order for the transfer of the public monies, on account of the following-named reasons : first, a general unsafeness of the bank ; second, the bank's improper conduct in postponing the redemption of the govern- ment three per cents., and thereby delaying the liquidation of the public debt, which was a favourite measure of the administration ; third, its ex- action of damages ($170,041), for dishonour of the government's draft on France for four millions of francs, being the first instalment due under a recent treaty with the French ; and fourth, interference with politics. Mr. Duane not deeming these reasons sufficient, refused either to give the desired order, or to resign his office. Not to be thwarted thus, the pres- ident summarily dismissed the refractory officer, and appointed in his stead Roger B. Taney, of Maryland, who immediately complied with the wishes of the executive, and the deposits were removed. They were transferred to the care of several state banks ; the opposition choosing to consider such institutions equally unsafe as the "mother bank," the whole matter presently became a subject of fierce recrimination and debate, both in and out of Congress. The bank party were strongly in majority ; yet they sufl"cred the government funds to remain where they had been confided by the new secretary, contenting themselves with placing upon record in the senate a resolution denouncing in the strongest terms tlio 510 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. conduct of the executive. This was, however, subsequently "expunged," through the exertions of Mr. Benton and his associates, when the "de- mocracy" came into power. General Jaclervoir, vv'hich is formed by a dam THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 565 forcing the river back several miles, covering 600 acres, and computed to contain not less than 100,000,000 of gallons for each foot in depth from the surface. The uniform descent of the aqueduct from commencement, is about fourteen inches to the mile ; consequently extensive excavations or tunnels passing through hills or heavy embankments, with culverts in crossing valleys, were required. Several of the tunnels are cut through solid rock, at an euormous expense ; the longest is near the village of Manhattanville, and is 1,215 feet in length. Sleepy Hollow, well known to readers of imaginative lore, is spanned by a series of graceful arches. The main line of the aqueduct is constructed as follows : the bottom is an inverted arch, the roof a semi-circle ; the dimensions six feet at bot- tom, seven feet at top, and from eight to ten feet in height. The founda- tion is of stone, well laid, and the interstices filled with rubble ; over this a bed of concrete composed of cement, broken stone and gravel, well com- bined ; the side walls are thirty-nine inches thick at bottom, and twenty- seven inches at top ; the arches both of brick. In crossing Harlem river the aqueduct encounters its most formidable impediment. Owing to the great depression of the stream below the grade line, and the peculiar in- clination of its banks, the length of the aqueduct bridge will be J, 420 feet. Its width will be eighteen feet inside the parapet walls, and twenty-seven feet between the outer edges of the coping; it will be supported by six- teen piers, twenty by forty feet at base, and eighty- four feet in height, to the spring of the arch, diminishing as they rise, with a span of eighty feet. This bridge is intended for the support of iron pipes, which will be laid down, in the first instance, between two and three feet in diameter; but the work will be so arranged as to admit the introduction of two four feet pipes at any time hereafter, whose capacity will be equal to that of the grand trunk. A number of formidable ravines shortly after present them- selves, but are all crossed handsomely, the water being conducted by means of inverted syphons. Ninety-sixth street being one hundred feet wide, has two arches of twenty-seven feet span, for the carriage-way, and one arch of fourteen feet span, on each side, for the sidewalks. The other streets being but sixty feet in width, will each have an arch of thirty feet span for the carriage-way, and one on each side of ten feet. The breadth over the arches to be twenty-four feet. The next important work is the receiving reservoir, thirty-eight miles by the line of the aqueduct from its northern terminus. It covers thirty- five acres of ground, and is divided into two sections ; the north section to have twenty feet of water when full, the south twenty-five feet ; and the whole reservoir containing 100,000,000 gallons. From this reservoir the water will be conveyed through the Fifth Avenue to the distributing basin, in Forty-second street ; this covers about five acres and holds 20,000,000 of gallons. This distributing reservoir is also a work of great magnitude and expense, and calculated to endure as long as the hills. It is in the Egyptian style of architecture, and employed four hundred men four years in its construction. The perfection of the work is such that a single man has complete control of the immense quantity of water used to supply the city. The original estimate of expense for the entire work, was $4,718,197 ; but before it is entirely finished, it is now supposed the amount will not fall far short of $12,000,000. At intervals of a mile, ventilators are constructed, in the form of towers, composed of white marble; these may be seen, glistening in the sunlight, by passengers along the course of the Hudson. It is with pleasure we now make mention of an act of international cour- tesy which reflects high credit upon the government of Queen Victoria. Her majesty caused to be forwarded, through her minister at Washington, to the American secretary of state, .yi\r valuable i^old medals, with appro- jiriate emblems, to be disposed as follows: r,66 THE TREASURY OF HISTORY 1. For Captain Depeyster, of the packet-ship " Sheridan," of New- York, for saving the crew of the British barque " Zephyr," of Newcastle, in November, 1840. 2. For Captain VVottoii, of the'packel-ship " Rhone," of New-York, for saving the crew of the British barque " Belinda," of Troon, D. xMac Nichol, master. 3. For Captain Cropper, of the packet-ship " Columbus," of New-York, for saving the lives of the master and crew of the vessel " Leonidas," of Belfast, in November, 1840. 4. For Captain Thompson, of the packet-ship " Stephen Whitney," of New- York, for saving the master and crew of the schooner " Dispatch" of St. Jolm's, Newfoundland, in November, 1840. 5. For Captain Palmer, of the packet-ship "Garrick," of New- York, for saving the lives of the master, mate, and crew of the brig "Eugenia" of St. John's, New-Brunswick, in December, 1840. 6. For Captain Stoddart, of the packet-ship " Ville de Lyon," of New- York, for saving the lives of the master and crew of the British brig " Britiania," in November, 1840. Towards the close of the last year, the government of Texas, instead of wisely husbanding its resources, was so extremely inconsiderate as to authorize the famous Santa Fe expedition. This was an attempt by an armed force to capture the Mexican city and province of that name, which lies remote from assistance, at tlie foot of the Rocky Mountains. The pretence set up for this, was a necessity of retaliation for the injus- tice on the part of Mexico of refusing to recognize the independence of the Texians. The force consisted of some three or four hundred men, and was divided into three divisions, the principal command being in the hands of a General McLeod. Tlie journey, from the starting point of the invaders, was not adequately provided for, either in the way of provisions or anything else; consequently, by the time half the long distance was passed over, the men began to suffer, and liieir distresses increased up to the time of their surrender to the Mexican authorities. But now, from having subsisted for weeks upon snakes and lizards, they sunk to a state, if possible, more abject. In defiance of all the principles of justice, and in the most gross violation of their solemnly pledged word that the cap- tives should be humanely treated, the Mexican authorities stripped their prisoners of everything — arms, blankets, and clothing — chained them in pairs, barefooted, and drove them off a distance of two thousand miles to the city of Mexico. Thirty-five famished and died. Four were wantonly shot by the guard, for their inability or refusal to keep up with the main body. The ears of those who thus perished were cut off and preserved, to be delivered to the commanding officer of the barbarians, as evidence that their prisoners had not escaped. There accompanied this expedition, in the capacity of "travellers, men of letters, or invalids," several Americans, some of whom bore passports from the INIexican consul at New-Orleans, and other evidences of their being non-belligerent citizens. George W. Kendall, a IMr. Falconer, and a son of General Combs, of Kentucky, were of this class. These, and other men, who had just claims to special consideration, were deprived of their papers and means of protection, and maltreated in common with the rest. In consequence of this, protests were entered by several of the foreign ministers at Mexico ; and a very lengthy correspondence was had between the Mexican authorities and different branches of other gov- ernments. On the 22d of June, the president of the United States communicated to the Senate, in compliance with a resolution of that body, the corres- pondence which had recently taken place between the American minister in Mexico and the government of that country, together with the instruc- THE TREASURY OF HISTORY. 567 lions of the government to the minister. The correspondence was of great length ; it comprised the letter of Mr. Webster, secretary of state, to Mr. Ellis, late minister in Mexico, requesting him to interfere in favour of Mr, Franldin Combs, and other letters requesting the interposition of Mr. Ellis in behalf of other individuals, who were involved in the disasters of the Santa Fe expedition. The view taken by the secretary o£ state of these cases, is fully explained in a letter of a subsequent date, addressed by him to Mr. VVaddy Thompson, the new minister to Mexico. In this letter, dated April 5, 1842, Mr. Webster draws a distinction be- tween the cases of those who, like Mr. Kendall, joined the expedition for objects entirely distinct from a hostile invasion of Mexico, and those who were parties to the military expedition, and states the grounds on which pereons connected with the expedition under certain circumstances are entitled to be treated as non-combatants. The following is the concluding portion of the letter, in which the minister is instructed what course to adopt in relation to the prisoners whose cases were specially stated. After alluding to the cruelties which are alledged to have been inflicted on the prisoners, the secretary proceeds as follows : "The government of the United States has no inclination to interfere in the war between Mexico and Texas for the benefit or protection of in- dividuals, any further than its clear duties require. But if cicizens of the United States who have not renounced, nor intended to renounce, their alle- giance to their own government, nor have entered into the military ser- vice of any other government, have, nevertheless, been found so connected with armed enemies of Mexico, as that they may be lawfully captured and detained as prisoners of war, it is still the duty of this government to take so far a concern in their welfare as to see that, as prisoners of war, they ire treated according to the usages of modern times and civilized states. Indeed, although the rights or the safety of none of their own citizens were concerned, yet, if in a war waged between two neighbouring states, the killing, enslaving, or cruelly treating of prisoners should be indulged, the United States would feel it to be their duty, as well as their right, to remonstrate and to interfere against such a departure from the principles of humanity and civilization. These principles are common principles, essential alike to the welfare of all nations, and, in the preservation of which all nations have, therefore, rights and interests. But their duly to interfere becomes imperative in cases affecting their own citizens. It is, therefore, that the government of the United St