1869 OPENING OF SUEZ CANAL donna of the Italian opera in Paris. There she made her début in "Semiramide." One of her warmest admirers was Bellini, who, having composed "Norma" for Pasta, at once recognized in La Grisi the true ideal of his creation. It proved the greatest of her parts. Some ten years later La Grisi was the prima donna of the Royal Italian Opera in London. Under the management of her second husband, Mario, she made a tour in the United States of America. On December 18 Louis Moreau Gottschalk, the American composer and pianist, died, worn out by overexertion, at Rio de Janeiro. He had given concerts in almost every noteworthy town of Spanish America. Gottschalk's Creole temperament gave to his works their peculiar charm of melody and Spanish warmth of color. Notable among them were his "Night in the Tropics," "Cuban Dances," "Montevideo," and "The Grand March dedicated to the Emperor of Brazil." In Japan all vestiges of the great rebellion had ceased, and the Mikado's party was triumphant. After the overthrow of the Shogun this great modern revolution was accomplished without bloodshed by the voluntary surrender on the part of the daimios of their most cherished feudal rights. Four of the greatest daimios addressed a memorial to the throne offering to release their clansmen and to restore their fiefs to the imperial crown. The young Mikado began the era of innovations by departing from Kioto, or Miako, which had been the seat of his ancestors for twenty-five centuries, and by the adoption of Yeddo, thenceforth called Tokio, for his capital. In Egypt the great Suez Canal was opened in December with Oriental pomp. The successful execution of this enterprise was due to the unwearied energy and determination of Ferdinand de Lesseps. EVENTS OF 1870 Declaration of Papal Infallibility-Death of Montalembert, French Statesman-Riel Heads Rebellion in Northwestern British America -Wolseley Reestablishes British Supremacy-Deaths of Dickens, Admirals Farragut and Dahlgren, and General Lee-Ratification of Fifteenth Amendment Chinese Mob French Consulate and Mission at Tien-tsin-Brazil Conquers Paraguay-Death of General Lopez-Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen Accepts Offer of Spanish Throne-France Protests and Leopold WithdrawsBenedetti, French Ambassador, Presses William I to Make Leopold's Declination Permanent-William I Refuses-He Affronts Benedetti-France_Declares War-Germany Beats France in Race for Mobilization-French Fleet Blockades German Coast-Germans Retire at Saarbrücken-Prussian Crown Prince Captures Weissenburg-He Wins Battle of Wörth and Drives MacMahon from Fröschweiler-Zastrow and Kameke (Prussian) Beat Frossard at Spicheren Beyer (Prussian) Besieges Strasburg-Montauban's Ministry Succeeds Ollivier's-Bazaine is 'u at Head of French Armies-French Forces Concentrate under Bazaine at Metz and under MacMahon at Châlons-William I Overruns Lorraine-Crown Prince Takes Nancy-Bazaine Attempts to Join MacMahon-Moltke Prevents This by Checks at Colombey-Nouilly and Mars-la-Tour and Decisive Victory of Gravelotte-Bazaine Retreats to Metz-Frederick Charles Besieges Metz-MacMahon Marches to Its Relief-A Division under De Failly is Defeated at Beaumont-Napoleon III Arrives-MacMahon is Encircled at Sedan-He is WoundedWimpffen Succeeds Him-Napoleon Surrenders-Bavarians Revengefully Burn Town and Inhabitants of Bazeilles-Deputies of Paris Depose Napoleon III-They Form Provisional Government and Appoint_Trochu President-Eugénie Flees to England-Germans Invest Paris-After Surrender of Laon, French Treacherously Blow Up German Garrison-Gambetta Escapes from Paris by Balloon-He Raises New French Armies-Bavarians Beat Army of the Loire at Orleans-Bazaine Surrenders Metz-German "Meteor" Beats "Bouvet" at Havana-Army of Loire Retakes Orleans-It is Beaten at Beaume la Rolande-Germans Win Second Battle of Orleans-Army of Paris Attempts to Join Army of Loire-It is Beaten Back at Brie and Champigny-Manteuffel (Prussian) Beats Faidherbe at Amiens-He Captures Rouen-Reichstag Offers William I Imperial German Crown-Death of Dumas, père, the French Novelist-French Garrison Leaves Rome-National Italians Enter -Rome is Made Capital of Italy-Amadeus, Duke of Aosta, Ac cepts Spanish Crown-Marshal Prim is Assassinated. I 'N Rome the Ecumenical Council early in January put forth the new dogma of the Pope's infallibity in matters of religion. About this time Charles de Montalembert, the exponent of the new Catholic movement in France, died at Paris. As a youth he formed an intimate acquaintance with Lamen 1870 RIEL'S REBELLION onais, the ardent advocate of an alliance between Catholicism and Democracy. Together they founded the "Journal l'Avenir." In 1848 Montalembert declared himself for the Republic, and took his seat in the National Assembly with the extreme right. After the coup d'état he was elected to the new legislative Chambers. After the assumption of imperial power by Napoleon III, Montalembert was prosecuted, convicted, and sentenced to six months' imprisonment and a fine of 3,000 francs, for "language calculated to excite hatred against imperial institutions." In Canada the troublous Rebellion of the Red River gave just concern to the British. In the previous year the Hudson Bay Company had effected an arrangement for parting with all their general territorial rights in Rupert Land to Canada for the sum of £300,000. The people along the Red River rose in insurrection against the proposed transfer. Louis Riel, a young man of French-Canadian descent, was proclaimed "President of the Republic of the Northwest." Attacks were made on the remaining officers of the Company and on other Englishmen, and all negotiations failed. British troops were despatched northward under the command of Colonel Wolseley. When the expedition reached Fort Garry, Riel took refuge in the United States. British supremacy was reestablished by force of arms, and the province of Manitoba was added to Canada. In England Charles Dickens died on June 9, after a sudden illness, at Gad's Hill Place near Rochester. No other novelist before or since has had such a hold upon the heart of his readers. This is due to what the "Edinburgh Review" called "the comprehensive spirit of his humanity." "The tendency of his writings," continued the "Review," "is to make us practically benevolent-to excite our sympathy in behalf of the aggrieved and suffering in all classes, and especially in those who are most removed from observation." RATIFICATION OF FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT 1870 Americans had occasion to mourn the deaths of Admirals Farragut and Dahlgren, of Civil War fame, and of the greatest leader of the War of the Rebellion-Robert E. Lee. The course of events in the United States during this year was encouraging. The measures which chiefly occupied Congress concerned the financial condition of the country, the readmission of the Southern States to the Union, maritime interests, the extension of the suffrage to former slaves, new naturalization laws, as well as the foreign relations of the country. Following the readmission of Virginia, the States of Mississippi, Texas, and Georgia were welcomed back in turn. On March 30 President Grant issued a proclamation declaring the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution, whereby the right to suffrage in every election, municipal, State or national, was accorded to all the colored citizens of the United States. The white voters in the South took immediate steps to counteract the effects of this measure. About this time, in China, revolting outrages were com mitted in the city of Tien-tsin, when the French consulate, the Catholic mission, and the hospital of the French Sisters of Charity were attacked by a mob of Chinese fanatics. The sisters were massacred in an atrocious manner; the French Consul was killed, with a number of Christian priests and white merchants. A money indemnity of 500,000 taels ($700,000) was paid later by the Chinese Government. Some time before this the five years' war between Paraguay and Brazil was brought to a close by the defeat and death of General Lopez in March. Notwithstanding the triple alliance which had been brought to bear against his dictatorship (the Argentine and Uruguay Republics had made common cause with Brazil), Lopez succeeded in throwing his forces into the mountains of the northwest. There he prevailed on a body of 5,000 Indians to join him. The 1870 SPANISH CROWN OFFERED TO LEOPOLD last contest was fought out on the banks of the Aquidibaniqui River. Lopez's forces were routed and their leader was killed, preferring death to surrender. The vacant throne of Spain was giving concern to the European chancelleries. At last the Spanish Ministry hoped that a suitable candidate had been found in Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, whose elder brother was Prince of Roumania. The Sigmaringen family, notwithstanding its Catholicism and close ties of blood with the French families of Beauharnais and Murat, was distinctly Prussian in all its recent traditions and affiliations. Prince Charles Antony, the chief of the house, had served as Prime Minister of Prussia and had helped to elevate Bismarck to his present position. The candidature of a Prince of Hohenzollern to the Spanish throne was therefore obnoxious to France. When the announcement was made on July 3 that Prince Leopold had consented to accept the crown of Spain if the Cortes confirmed his election, a storm of protest broke out in the French press. Emile Ollivier had been called to the head of the new parliamentary government of France but a few months before. The Mexican affair had proven a miserable fiasco for Louis Napoleon, and the opposition was gaining ground. Napoleon felt that he could regain his popularity only by a victorious war; so the French military forces were strengthened by the addition of reserves and national guardsmen. The arsenals were filled. The Chassepot gun was adopted for the army. A new weapon, the "mitrailleuse," which could fire twenty-five bullets at once from its cannon-like bore, was added to the artillery. Germany appeared as divided as ever. Secret agents and newspaper correspondents had much to report of the hatred of the Bavarian ultramontanes, particularists, and malcontents of every stamp for Prussia and her all-devouring plans. Austria had not for |