1891 DEATH OF LOWELL furthermore that of the men lynched in prison eight at least were American citizens. Baron Fava's representations to obtain redress at Washington were answered by a statement from Mr. Blaine, that the American Federal Government had no power to interfere with the local administration of justice in the several States composing the Union. In exasperation, Italy recalled her Minister and ceased all diplomatic intercourse with the United States of America. The first execution of a criminal by electricity was performed about this time at the prison of Sing Sing in New York. It was certified by experts and officials that death from a powerful electric shock thus administered was painless and instantaneous. On August 12 the American poet Lowell died at Elmwood, Massachusetts. During the Mexican war Lowell wrote his "Biglow Papers," a series of invective poems in the Yankee dialect directed against the pro-slavery party and the Southern war party. The success of the "Biglow Papers" was immediate. During the American Civil War, Lowell wrote a second series, less amusing perhaps, but pitched on a higher plane of antipathy and pathos. With them appeared Lowell's excellent essay on the Yankee dialect. The poet had been previously appointed Professor of Modern Literature at Harvard College, succeeding Longfellow. While thus engaged he helped to found the "Atlantic Monthly." Later he was co-editor with Charles Eliot Norton of the "North American Review." In 1877 Lowell was sent as American Minister to Spain, and in 1881 was transferred to the Court of St. James's. No Minister from the United States ever had a warmer welcome in Great Britain. He was esteemed as a poet rather than as an official Ambassador. Lowell returned to America in 1885. Other prominent Americans who died during the year were Generals J. E. Johnston and Lee of Civil War fame, DEATHS OF BOULANGER AND PARNELL 1891 Fanny Davenport, and Florence, the actors, and William Windom, Secretary of the Treasury. During this year an additional section covering almost 800,000 acres of the Indian Territory of Oklahoma was thrown open. An immediate rush for allotments was made by some 15,000 persons who had assembled on the borders. The triple alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy was renewed, and thus the international politics of Europe were kept in the same channel. On September 9 Jules Grévy died at his birthplace, Montsous-Vaudrey in the Jura, in complete retirement and almost forgotten by his former supporters. On September 30 General Boulanger shot himself at Brussels at the grave of his mistress, Mlle. de Bonnemaine. The last two years spent in exile in London, Jersey, and Brussels had been in her company, and her sudden death with the collapse of his so nearly achieved ambitions brought about this bitter end. The "uncrowned king" of Ireland, Charles Stewart Parnell, died on October 6 at the age of forty-five. He became a Member of Parliament in 1875, organized the "active" Home Rule party, and developed its obstruction tactics. In 1880 he was returned for the City of Cork and was chosen as leader of the actives in organizing the newly formed National League. In 1886 he and his followers supported the Home Rule proposals introduced by Gladstone. In 1887 he was accused by the London "Times" of complicity with the crimes and outrages committed by the extreme section of the Irish Nationalists. He was acquitted by Parliament of the charges against him. In 1890 a sensational divorce suit ruined his political prospects. He died leaving the work to which he had devoted his life and talents unachieved. On September 8 Herman Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz died at the age of seventy-three. Helmholtz's scientific work includes the early investigations which led to his theory 1891 THE HIRSCH COLONIES of the conservation of energy, conceived independently by Robert Mayer. As Professor of Physiology and Pathology at Koenigsberg, he determined the rate of transmission of nerve impulses, and in 1851 invented the ophthalmoscope, an instrument of almost incalculable value to oculists. In 1862 appeared his famous work "The Doctrine of Tone Sensations as a Physiological Basis of the Theory of Music," an epoch-making work in which he showed the true nature of sounds. To electricity and hydrodynamics he made noteworthy contributions. Soon after this came the death of Edward Robert BulwerLytton, the son of the novelist, in November. He had filled diplomatic posts at all the principal European capitals. Under the pseudonym of "Owen Meredith," he published several volumes of verse, the most popular of which, "Lucille," appeared in 1860. In 1876 he was appointed Viceroy of India by the government of Disraeli. This post he resigned in 1880, and was created an earl. Meanwhile the persecution of the Jews in Russia, initiated in the previous year, began to cause serious disturbances in the financial arrangements of the state. In May the Governor of Moscow suddenly put latent penal laws into action, compelling thousands of Jews to leave the city or suffer imprisonment. The House of Rothschild withdrew from participation in the new Russian Conversion Loan. The town of Starodoub, in the province of Tchnerzigov, which had for some days been the centre of anti-Jewish agitation, was, on the 20th of October, entirely in the hands of the mob. Jewish shopkeepers were plundered, fire was set to stores and houses, and the property destroyed was valued at 4,000,000 rubles. At the same time the failure of the precautionary measures to protect the people from starvation caused a famine. In April Baron Hirsch notified his readiness to contribute the sum of £3,000,000 toward a fund for establishing CHINESE MASSACRE MISSIONARIES 1891 in Syria and other places colonies for the Jews expelled from Russia. In August he despatched orders to his Argentine agents to purchase land in that country to the value of £2,000,000. But the first Hirsch colony, as it turned out, was established at Woodbine, New Jersey, in September. The farm consisted of over 5,000 acres of land, and comprised workshops for various trades. At Vladorboch the Czarewitch in May laid the first rail of the Great Trans-Siberian Railway from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific. During the early part of the year, and especially toward summer, influenza prevailed as an epidemic in various cities of the United States. As many as 227 deaths were reported in the course of twenty-four hours in New York. In autumn a serious outbreak of cholera had been reported from eastern Syria and Persia; the deaths, chiefly among the pilgrims, ranging from 2,000 to 2,500 a day. In China jealousy and hatred of the foreigners developed in this year into mob violence. It took the form of a concerted movement against the foreign missionaries living in the valley of the Yang-tse-Kiang River. A series of massacres occurred during May, September, November, and December. The southern coast of Nipon was convulsed by a terrible earthquake late in the year. Seventy-five thousand houses were overthrown, numbers of public buildings completely destroyed, and altogether 6,000 persons lost their lives, while thousands were injured. EVENTS OF 1892 'Anarchistic Outrages in France, Spain, and Italy-Deaths of Müller, Historical Painter, Clarence, Heir-Presumptive of British Throne, Cardinal Manning, Whitman and Whittier, Poets, Renan, Biblical Critic, and Tennyson, Poet-Celebration of Columbus's Discovery of America in America, Spain, and Genoa, Italy-Cleveland Elected President-Argentine Rebels Arrested-In Venezuela the Rebel Crespo Defeats Government Forces-He Captures Caracas-Russia Emancipates Asian Serfs-Prussia Restores Hanover Fortune to Duke of Cumberland-Canon and Pfeiffer Discover Grippe Bacillus -Death of Dr. Richard Owen, Scientist-French Subdue Dahomey -French Procureur-General Arrests Promoters of Panama Canal Company for Embezzlement. T HE epidemic of influenza, commonly called grippe, still swept from Constantinople to San Francisco. In some cities, notably Vienna and Boston, it affected nearly one-fourth of the population. Anarchistic demonstrations broke out in France, Italy, and Spain. During March and April dynamite outrages were perpetrated at Paris, Liège, Xeres, and at Tarento, in Italy. Hundreds of suspects were arrested and several men, convicted in the courts, were sentenced to death. Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occurred in southern Europe and Polynesia. Throughout June great alarm was felt in Naples and southern Italy at the continued activity of Mount Vesuvius and of Mount Etna in Sicily. The greatest volcanic eruption of the year was that of Mauna Loa, in the Hawaiian Islands. Charles Louis Müller, the famous historical painter, died at Paris in January. A pupil of Gros and Cogniet, this artist made a lasting reputation by his ambitious picture "The Roll Call of the Last Victims of the Reign of Terror." This immense canvas, which contained acknowledged portraits, was hailed at the time of its acquisition by the French Government as the foremost historical painting of its time. Janu |