EVENTS OF 1889

Deaths of Rudolph of Hapsburg and His Mistress-Mikado Inaugurates Constitutional Government-Hurricane Wrecks British, German, and American Fleets at Samoa-Autonomy Granted Samoa under Joint Control of the Three Powers-Father Damien Dies of Leprosy at Molokai in His Mission to the Lepers-Revolution in Hawaii is Suppressed by Government-Boulanger Flees France to Avoid Arrest-Boulanger, Dillon, and Rochefort_are Convicted of Conspiracy and Misappropriation of Public Funds-Exposition Commemorating Fall of Bastille is Held at Paris-Death of John Bright, English Statesman--Defeats of Dervishes by Woodehouse and Grenfell-British South African Company Chartered-Deaths of Wilkie Collins, Novelist, and Robert Browning, Poet-Pigott Confesses Alleged Parnell Letter which He Sold to "Times" to be Forgery"Times" Apologizes and Pigott Kills Himself-Cretans Rise against Turkish Rule-Congress Passes Secret Resolution against European Control of Panama Canal-Harrison Inaugurated PresidentHe Closes Bering Sea and Prohibits Unlicensed Fur Hunting in Alaska-Oklahoma is Opened to White Settlers-Flood Devastates Johnstown, Pa.-Death of Jefferson Davis-Björnson, Norwegian Novelist, Publishes Masterpiece-Haitian General Légitime Surrenders to Hippolyte-Hippolyte is Elected President-Revolution in Rio Janeiro-Provisional Government of Fonseca Proclaims Federal Republic-It Banishes Emperor Dom Pedro-It Suppresses Counter-Revolution in Rio Janeiro-Return of Stanley from Relief of Emin Bey.

E

ARLY in the year Archduke Rudolph of Hapsburg,

the heir-apparent to the throne of Austria, was found dead in his hunting lodge. The body of the Archduke's mistress, Baroness Marie Vetsera, lay beside him. A note which he had sent to his friend the Duke of Braganza clearly suggested suicide, yet, on the other hand, from the condition in which Prince Rudolph's body was found, it appeared that he had been beaten to death before he was shot. Suspicion was aroused against Baroness Vetsera's cousin.

On February 11 the long-awaited constitution of Japan was at last proclaimed. On this occasion, for the first time in the history of Japan, the Empress rode beside the Emperor in public. A blot upon the record of the day was the assassination by a Shinto fanatic of the Minister of Education, Arinori Mori.

1889

THE SAMOAN HURRICANE

The Samoan difficulties of the previous year took on a more threatening aspect. Naval squadrons of Great Britain, Germany, and the United States were sent to Samoa. On March 15 a tremendous hurricane swept over the islands. Fifteen merchant vessels and six men-of-war were caught in the Bay of Apia. One hundred and forty-two officers and men lost their lives. So terrific was the gale that all the vessels in the harbor dragged their anchors and collided. Most of them were finally wrecked on a coral reef jutting out from the bay. The German gunboat "Eber" was flung broadside on the reef and crashed to bits like an eggshell. Of her crew of seventy-seven only five escaped. The German flagship "Adler" turned over on the reef and twenty of her men were lost. The American cruiser "Nipsic," while her crew tried to get an eight-inch gun overboard to act as anchor, was fouled by the German "Olga," and was beached, losing seven men. The "Olga," too, was beached, but managed to get off. During the night the hurricane increased in violence. Early in the morning the British "Calliope" began to drag down upon the American "Vandalia." The British captain determined to put out to sea. Inch by inch the "Calliope" fought her way into the teeth of the storm. As she passed the "Trenton," the American band struck up "Rule Britannia,” and the Yankee sailors lining the yards cheered the British ship. The remaining American ships, "Trenton" and "Vandalia," could not escape. The "Vandalia's" commander was disabled by injuries sustained during the hurricane. The men of the "Trenton" were sent aloft to steady the ship to the wind. This expedient brought the "Trenton" clear of the reef. But she was none the less blown into shore. The "Vandalia," after dragging along the edge of the reef, struck about 100 yards from the shore and turned over. The men, stripped naked, sought safety in the rigging. The officers remained at their posts on the quarter-deck. A gun, loosened

DEATH OF FATHER DAMIEN

1889

from its fastenings, was hurled across the deck, tore Captain Schoonmaker from Lieutenant Carlin's arms, and swept him overboard. As night fell, the men on the "Trenton" gave a last cheer to their dying comrades. The "Vandalia's" sailors, as they clung to their spars, cheered the flagship. The band on the "Trenton" played "The Star-Spangled Banner.” Early next morning, the gale, for an instant, swung the two ships together. Lieutenant Carlin of the "Vandalia" drove his men out on the yardarms and ordered a leap for life to the decks of the "Trenton." He was the last to leave the doomed ship. All but 5 officers and 39 men of the "Vandalia" were saved. The tragedy at Apia brought the three great naval Powers together in one common sorrow. The longstanding controversy was promptly brought to a close. A satisfactory settlement was reached at the Samoan Conference at Berlin in June. An autonomous government was guaranteed to the Samoan Islands under the joint control of the three Powers.

At Kalawao, in Hawaii, Father Damien died, on April 10, in the chief leper settlement on the island of Molokai. In 1873 he reached Molokai in order to work among the leper colony. No man before him had ever attempted to do anything for these wretched outcasts. In 1886 he was first tainted with the horrible disease, but he refused to quit his post, and in spite of his constant suffering he pursued his work to the end. Robert Louis Stevenson has recorded his labors and immortalized his name. Shortly after Father Damien's death a revolution broke out in Hawaii. The palace grounds and the Government House were temporarily seized by the insurgents. The Government troops had little trouble in suppressing the insurrection.

In France the spring of this year was pregnant with unusual political excitement and intrigue. Acting on the advice of his friends, General Boulanger, the former War Minister,

1889

DEFEAT OF THE DERVISHES

suddenly left the country on April 1. From Brussels he addressed a manifesto to his party, stating that he had quitted France to avoid arrest. The French Chambers promptly passed a bill authorizing the Senate to try General Boulanger and others for high treason. A few months later the French Senate, sitting as a High Court of Justice, found General Boulanger and his associates, Count Dillon and Rochefort, guilty of conspiracy against the state and of misappropriation of public money. They were severally condemned to transportation for life with confinement in a fortified place. The sentence created not a little stir in France. Meanwhile on May 6, in commemoration of the falling of the Bastille, the Paris Exhibition was formally opened by President Carnot. The Continental monarchies abstained from all official representation, but the English and American Ambassadors were in evidence.

On March 27 John Bright, the great English orator and statesman, died. In 1886 he joined the Liberals who opposed Gladstone's schemes for Ireland, and contributed by his letters and influence to the overthrow of the Ministry.

In April news was received of Henry M. Stanley's safety in Africa up to September 4, 1888, after his return from a stay with Emin Pasha. In the Soudan in July, Colonel Woodehouse with considerable force came in contact with a Dervish horde advancing from Matuka near Tiguin on the Nile, south of Wady Halfa. Nearly 500 Dervishes were killed and wounded and as many taken prisoners. On August 3 General Grenfell, commanding the British and Egyptian troops on the Nile, attacked the Dervish troops under Wad-el-Njumi, and after seven hours' hard fighting drove him back into the desert, killing him, his principal Emin, and 500 fighting men, and taking upward of 1,000 prisoners. In South African affairs, the Great Seal of the United Kingdom was affixed on October 30 to the Charter of the British

PIGOTT CONFESSES FORGERY

1889

South Africa Company, assigning to it trading and other rights over a territory of vast extent, with the express reservation to the Crown to take over at any time the works and buildings of the Company.

The novelist Wilkie Collins died on September 23. The most popular of all his works perhaps was "The Woman in White."

Within a few months after Wilkie Collins's death, Eng land lost one of her foremost poets. Robert Browning died on the second day of December. By the time of his death, Browning's works, though never successful from a financial point of view, had come to be recognized as noteworthy contributions to English literature. In his work, love of beauty, or form as such, was second to his whole-hearted humanity. A large charity, a red-blooded philosophy, a sympathetic psychology and religious optimism are the tonic qualities of his poetry. It was for this that he came to be regarded as the peer of Tennyson in English poetry. In 1846 he was married to his fellow poet, Elizabeth Barrett. The two took up their abode in Florence. Mrs. Browning's beautiful "Sonnets from the Portuguese" were written for him. After the death of his wife in 1861 the poet returned to England.

Throughout this year continued the investigation in Parliament of the London "Times's" charges against Parnell. Sir Charles Russell and Herbert H. Asquith were Parnell's chief counsel, while Sir Richard Webster, the English Attorney-General, appeared as counsel for the "Times." Richard Pigott, the person who sold the alleged Parnell letters to the "Times," under a searching cross-examination by Sir Charles Russell, incriminated himself as a forger and blackmailer. Leaving a written confession behind him, he fled the country. The London "Times" apologized for the publication of the letters. Pigott, arrested in Spain, committed suicide.