FALL OF SHOGUNATE 1868 India under General Sir Robert Napier. The van pushed on to Senalfe on the high land of Abyssinia, and on January 3 of this year General Napier himself arrived in Annesley Bay. The expedition reached the Bashilo Pass early in April. Colonel Phayre, after he had crossed the Bashilo, divided his troops and sent one body, under Colonel Millward, up the Arogge Pass. With a larger body he proceeded over precipitous ground to the right. At the top of the Arogge Pass stood the Hill of Fahla, occupied by the Negus's warriors. The Indian rifles wrought fearful havoc among the Abyssinians. The next morning Mr. Flab and Lieutenant Prideaux, who had been held captives, appeared in the British camp with a flag of truce. Sir Robert Napier insisted that the prisoners should be unconditionally surrendered. This was done. On April 13 the British attacked Magdala. King Theodorus shot himself with a pistol before the soldiers could reach him. Thirty guns were captured and the palace was burnt to the ground. Theodorus's infant son, Alamayon, was taken to England. In Japan the utter downfall of the Tokugawa Shogunate, which for more than two and a half centuries had maintained itself in power, was accomplished by a combination of the clans of Satsuma, Choshiu, Tosa, Etsizen, and others. An edict was issued in the name of the young Mikado, Mutsuhito, abolishing the office of Shogun. All followers of the Tokugawa family were expelled from Yeddo. The deposed Shogun now retracted his resignation, and at the head of a large force undertook to reenter Kioto to reassert his former authority. After a battle which lasted three days, the Shogun's followers were routed by the imperial troops. The beaten Keiki took refuge in his castle, and announced that he would never again take arms against the Emperor. In Servia on June 10 Prince Michael, the sovereign, was assassinated at Belgrade. The regicides, Rado Vanovich and 1868 DEATH OF ROSSINI his two sons, were seized, and ten others were arrested as implicated in a conspiracy to place Prince Karageorgewitch upon the throne. A provisional government was established, and Prince Milan, a relative of Prince Michael, was elected to the throne. November 13 Gioacchino Antonio Rossini, the illustrious Italian composer, died at Paris. Rossini's "Barber of Seville" was hissed at its first performance in Rome. The cool reception of "Semiramide" by the Venetians, in 1823, induced Rossini to go to London, where he conducted a series of grand concerts. A brief season in Vienna proved even more successful than that at London. Proceeding to Paris, Rossini brought out his masterpiece, "William Tell," on August 3, 1829, with a magnificent cast at the Opéra. With this great work Rossini abruptly closed his operatic career. Thenceforward he wrote only religious scores, among them his famous "Stabat Mater." In France M. Pierre Antoine Berryer, the glory of the Paris bar, died at Augerille. He was among those who strove to impeach Louis Napoleon, but after the coup d'état he took little part in political affairs. Still he held rank as the foremost orator of France since the days of Mirabeau. At the Salon this year Léon Gérôme, the pupil of Delaroche, exhibited the historical painting "The Seventh of December, 1818." He had made his début in the Salon in 1847, with "A Combat of Cocks," now in the Luxembourg. His greatest historic work, "The Age of Augustus," was in the Salon in 1855, and was purchased by the French Government. In America the landscape painter George Inness was made a National Academician. Another revolution broke out in Spain. Queen Isabella had alienated all feelings of loyalty by her arbitrary rule. In July, several leading Spanish generals were arrested and banished to the Canary Islands. In the meantime a REVOLUTION ESTABLISHES SPANISH REPUBLIC 1868 vessel was sent by the revolutionary leaders to the Canary Islands to bring back the banished generals. They arrived at Cadiz in September. Already the Spanish fleet at that port, under the command of Admiral Topete, and the garrison in the citadel had declared for the revolution. Marshal Serrano, the President of the Senate, placed himself at the head of the movement. All Andalusia rose against the Government. The Spanish Ministry resigned, and General Concha was appointed by the Queen President of the Council. The Marquis de Novaliches, commanding the royal army, marched upon Cordova. At Burgos the hostile forces came in contact. The royal troops fraternized with the people. Juntas were established in the different towns, which one after another raised the standard of rebellion. Before the end of September the Marquis de Novaliches had reached the bridge of Alcolea on the Guadalquivir near Cordova. Here a battle was fought between the royal troops and the insurgents, who were led to victory by Serrano. It was the last serious attempt to quell the revolution. Queen Isabella fled from Spain and took refuge in France. Marshal Serrano entered Madrid at the head of the revolutionary troops in the first days of October. The central Junta authorized Serrano to exercise supreme power in conjunction with a provisional ministry until a Constituent Assembly should meet. He accepted. Within a week Great Britain, France, Prussia, and Portugal recognized the provisional government. General Prim was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Spanish forces. This year is remarkable for atmospheric disturbances and volcanic convulsions. Early in January, Mount Vesuvius in Italy with loud detonations began to send forth an immense quantity of lava. With some intermissions the volcano continued to vomit a fiery stream for several months. When the eruptions ceased, Mount Etna for a brief period 1868 SEISMIC DISTURBANCES broke out in a grand volcanic display. Earthquake shocks were felt even in Britain. Earlier in the year a terrific cyclone swept over the island of Mauritius which rendered no less than 50,000 persons homeless. On March 27 the Hawaiian Islands were violently convulsed. A tidal wave sixty feet in height swept in from the sea, destroying villages and drowning the people and their cattle. The great volcano Mauna Loa broke out in dreadful eruption, ejecting fire, rocks, ashes, and molten lava. In Peru and Ecuador, on August 13, a tremendous earthquake occurred, overthrowing numerous structures and destroying thousands of lives. The earth rocked frightfully; crags fell from the summits of the Andes; immense tidal waves rolled in upon the land, sweeping whole towns from their foundations and stranding ships of war and merchant vessels far above highwater mark. The undulations extended over the whole Pacific, breaking in huge rollers on the shores of California, the Sandwich Islands, Japan, and New Zealand. On October 21 an earthquake damaged the city of San Francisco, causing considerable loss of life. On the night of November 14 a shower of meteors, which had been foretold, was seen at many points, and appeared to professional observers to emanate from the constellation Leo. Fully 5,000 meteors were observed from various astronomical stations. EVENTS OF 1869 Johnson-Clarendon Treaty Adjusts "Alabama" Claims-Congress Passes Fifteenth Amendment, Giving Negroes Right to Vote-Grant is Inaugurated President-Congress Rejects Johnson-Clarendon Treaty and Refers "Alabama" Claims to International Arbitration-Wyoming and Utah Give Women the Suffrage-Notable American Books -Union Pacific Railway is Completed-New York Financiers_Bring on Panic by a Corner in Gold-Secretary Boutwell Breaks Corner by Selling Government Gold-Manipulations of Gould and Fisk Cause the "Erie War"-Spain Declines Grant's Offer of Mediation in Cuban Rebellion-Government Suppresses Bourbon Insurrections in Spain-Parliament Abolishes Trish Church Establishment -Deaths of Lamartine, French Poet; Sainte-Beuve, French Critic; Peabody, American Philanthropist; Grisi, Opera Singer, and Gottschalk, Composer-Mikado Moves Capital to Tokio (Formerly Yeddo)-Suez Canal is Opened. HE American claims against England growing out of the Civil War, notably the "Alabama" claims, were at last adjusted. On January 14 a convention was signed at London by the Earl of Clarendon, Secretary for Foreign Affairs, on behalf of Great Britain, and by Reverdy Johnson, the American Minister at the Court of St. James's, on behalf of the United States. On February 26 Congress passed the Fifteenth Amendment to the American Constitution, which provided that "the right to vote shall not be denied or abridged in any State, on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." The new President of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant, took his oath of office on March 4, as customary. Ex-President Johnson refused to sit in the carriage with Grant at his inauguration, nor would he take any part in the proceedings. Congress rejected the Johnson-Clarendon treaty respecting the "Alabama" claims, and the matter had to be referred to international arbitration. Motley, the historian, was appointed Minister to Great Britain. Some embarrassment for Washburn, the new Secretary of State, was provided by a resolution of sympathy with the Cuban insurgents on the part of |