KAFFIRS DEFEAT BOERS 1876 Harriet Martineau, the celebrated English author, died on June 27, at Ambleside in England. While she wrote several popular novels, she was especially noted for her works of an educational character. Among her works were "Comte's Positive Philosophy," a "History of England During the Thirty Years' Peace," "England and Her Soldiers," and “Health, Husbandry, and Handicraft." A candid autobiography was found among her posthumous manuscripts. At Rome Giacomo Antonelli died in his seventy-second year. He opposed the assumption of the Italian crown by Victor Emmanuel. Virtually he was the Prime Minister of the Pope. Denmark lost one of her most philosophic poets in Frederik Paludan-Müller. His profound epic poem "Adam Homo" marks the transition of Danish poetry to its modern pessimistic tendencies. Still another of his conceptions of life is to be found in his drama "Kalanus," in which Grecian culture and sensualism are contrasted with East Indian asceticism. Meanwhile the Boers continued their irregular warfare with the Kaffir tribes, and with the most disastrous results. In a battle at the end of the year the army of the Transvaal was totally defeated and its leader killed. The Cape Government was appealed to in the interest of peace and security. In Cuba the revolt continued, and volunteers and money poured into the island. The insurgents were reported to be 10,000 strong. Early in October the Government succeeded in getting the Cuba loan of $3,000,000 on the security of the customs dues, and late in the year General Martinez Campos, having been appointed Commander-in-Chief, arrived with 14,000 men accompanied by a fleet under Don Francisco de Selano. EVENTS OF 1877 Saigo Takamori Leads Insurrection of Peasants and Samurai in JapanIt is Suppressed-Mikado Reduces Taxes-Powers Propose Reforms to Porte in the Protocol of London-Sultan Rejects Them-Russia Declares War-Her Eastern Army Wins Battle of Kars-It is Beaten at Batoum-It Takes Ardahan-Western Russian Army Crosses Danube, Takes Tirnova and Nicopolis, and Penetrates into Roumelia-Eastern Army is Beaten at Zizil-Tipe-Western Army is Beaten in Two Battles of Plevna - It is Driven Back at Shipka Pass It Captures Loftcha David, the Composer, Dies - Insubordination of Officer at His Funeral Leads to Downfall of Dufaure's Ministry Simon Succeeds Dufaure MacMahon Rouse Clericals against Him - Simon Resigns MacMahon Appoints Duc de Broglie as Premier in Face of Republican MajorityGambetta Protests and is Condemned to Prison - Sentence is Never Executed - Death of Thiers- Republicans Win French Election-They Institute Sweeping Reforms Contest Between American Presidential Candidates, Hayes and Tilden Electoral Commission Counts in Hayes-Hayes Withdraws Troops from South -Bell Instals Telephone - Edison Invents Phonograph -- Death of Motley, Historian - Miles Defeats Sioux and Nez Percés - Death of Brigham Young Railroad Strike Causes Riots at Pittsburg, Reading, Chicago, and Elsewhere British Annex Transvaal— Madagascar Abolishes Slavery-Deaths of Bagehot, English Economist, Runeberg, Finnish Poet, Wrangel, Prussian Military Reformer, Princess Alice of Hesse-Tolstoy Publishes Masterpiece-Eastern Russian Army Beats Turks at Erzeroum and Kars-Western Army Forces Turks Back to Kamarli, where Turks Beat Russians-Sortie of Osman Pasha from Plevna-He is Beaten and Surrenders-Porte Asks Powers for Mediation. E - ARLY in the year a great rebellion broke out in a marshal of the Empire, with a large following of samurai and the discontented peasants of Satsuma. Two departments of administration had been abolished, and several thousand office-holders discharged, and many of these joined the great rebellion. It was the final struggle between the forces of feudalism and modern constitutional government. The contest lasted several months and cost Japan some $50,000,000, and many thousands of lives. The rebels were completely routed. Their leader, Saigo, at his own request, was beheaded by one of his friends. The Mikado showed a wise spirit of leniency. Of 38,000 prisoners attainted for treason, RUSSIA WARS ON TURKEY 1877 almost all were pardoned; about 1,000 of the leading men were confined in the Government fortresses, and only 20 of the most gravely implicated men were shot. To redress the grievances of the peasants and farmers, the Government made haste to reduce the national land tax from three to two and a half per cent, while the local tax was cut down to onefifth per cent. The loss to the treasury from this was made good by a diminution of the salaries of nearly all the Government officials. The continued disorders in the Turkish dominions gave Russia an opportunity of interfering in the affairs of the Porte. To avert war between Russia and Turkey, the six great European Powers signed a protocol at London asserting the necessity of reforms and providing for disarmament on certain conditions. On the determination of the Porte to listen to no such proposals, Russia declared war, on April 24. Already Russia had concluded a treaty with Roumania, which not long after proclaimed its independence; while Servia and Montenegro eagerly embraced the opportunity to secure their independence. On the very day of the declaration of war the Russian forces crossed the frontier into Asia, while in Europe they passed into Roumania. The Russians had a great advantage in possessing the province of Transcaucasia as a base of operations. At the opening of the campaign the total strength of the Russian army of the Caucasus numbered about 150,000 men of six divisions, commanded by the Grandduke Michael Nicolayevich, assisted by divisional commanders. The Turkish army, under Mukhtar Pasha on the frontier, consisted of 80,000 regular troops, 15,000 Circassians, 4,000 Kurds, and 25,000 militia-thus making a total of 124,000 men. Of these 22,000 were stationed at Erzeroum, the headquarters of the Turkish army, 28,000 at Kars, and 12,000 at Ardahan. XIXth Century---Vol. III—8 1877 RUSSIAN SUCCESSES During the first few weeks of the campaign the salient events were a battle before Kars, April 29 and 30, in which the Russians were victorious; a defeat of the Russians at Batoum May 11; the capture of Sukbrum Kalé, a Russian military post near the Turkish frontier on May 14, and the taking of Ardahan by the Russians on the 17th. On the Danube the Russian army consisted of nine army corps and a total of 310,000 men, 55,806 horses, and 972 guns. These forces were supplemented by the Roumanian army under Prince Charles of Hohenzollern, 72,000 strong, of whom about 17,000 were regulars and properly equipped. The Turkish army on the south side of the Danube numbered about 247,000 men, scattered in fortified towns over a frontier of 500 miles. After two weeks of preparation and delay, the Russians accomplished the passage of the Danube between June 21 and June 30. The crossing was effected at four different points-Galatz, Braila, and Hirsova into the Dobrudscha, and from Simnitza to Sistova. By the morning of July 1, 60,000 Russians had crossed the Danube. Abdul Kerim, the Turkish Commander-in-Chief on the Danube, maintained a fatuous inactivity. A number of Russian successes quickly followed the passage of the Danube. On July 7 Tirnova was captured, and on July 16 Nicopolis was carried by assault after severe fighting. Six thousand Turkish soldiers with guns and munitions of war fell to the victors. But the most striking achievement of the Russians was the expedition of General Gourko, who, starting from Tirnova on July 12, led a flying detachment composed of all arms across the Balkans on the 14th, by way of the Hainkoi Pass, into Roumelia as far as Yeni-Sagra, almost without opposition. The Russian army in Asia, after driving in the Turkish outposts, captured some of the principal fortified positions, invested Kars, and seemed likely to reach Erzeroum without BATTLES OF PLEVNA 1877 any serious reverse. But as time went on the campaign in Armenia suddenly collapsed. In August the army of invasion met with a series of defeats, of which the battle of Kizil-Tipe was an example. In Europe, too, reverses came that changed for a time the whole aspect of the campaign. Plevna and the Shipka Pass became names of ominous import to the soldiers of the Czar. The first disastrous action before Plevna took place on July 20, when a brigade of infantry, under the command of General Schildner-Schuldner, fell into a trap and was wellnigh cut to pieces. On the last day of July the second battle of Plevna was fought, in which the Turkish forces, 50,000 strong, completely defeated the Russians, after a terrible conflict, with a loss of 8,000 killed and as many wounded. South of the Balkans the forces of the Czar met with the same ill-fortune. Suleiman Pasha, having defeated General Gourko's force at Eski-Sagra on August 15, and driven the Russians back to the mountains, assailed the Russian fortified positions in the Shipka Pass, and then followed a series of sanguinary conflicts to which the war had hitherto furnished no parallel. The Turks claimed a victory on the Lorn; but this was followed by a Russian success of much importance the capture of Loftcha on the 3d of September. Abdul Kerim Pasha was recalled from the command of the Turkish forces on the Danube, and that appointment was given provisionally to Mehemet Ali Pasha. On September 1 Osman Pasha with 25,000 men made a determined but unsuccessful attack against the Russian left centre, which held a strongly fortified position around the villages of Pelisat and Zgalince. In this perfectly useless sortie, after losing 3,000 men, he was defeated and driven back by General Zubov. The successful dash at Loftcha was followed by a series of desperate assaults by the Russian and Roumanian forces on the fortified positions of Osman Pasha at Plevna. |