Vickipedia

APPENDIX.

A SYNOPSIS OP THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS ALL OVER THE WORLD IN 1885.

January 1.—The New Year opened with the crash and unendurable horror of earthquake in Spain.—In “dusky Egypt” the “lone sentinel,” General Gordon, was reported as holding his own against the Mahdi and desperate odds.

January 2.—An explosion of dynamite scared cockney London. —France despatched fresh re-enforcements to the seat of war in China with considerable pomp and circumstance.

January 3.—Mr. Gladstone was reported very ill.—Sunny Spain experienced another shock of earthquake.—In Russia the old grudge against the Hebrews broke out, and in many of the cities the ” chosen people” were dispersed by the military for demanding the release of their co-religionists.—The promoters of the Exhibition of New Orleans, unable to make ” the thing pay,” solicited an additional appropriation, the expenses being $250,000 in excess of what the managers expected.

January 5.—The G. O.M. was bulletined as better.—The House of Representatives refused to abolish the taxes on tobacco and distilled spirits.

January 6.—The earthquake in Spain was felt still more severely. Thousands of people were rendered homeless. Large subscriptions in aid of the sufferers were collected. — President-elect Cleveland resigned the Governorship of New York.

January 7.—Spain was still throbbing with earthquake, the panic in the provinces on the increase.—General Grant distinctly and absolutely declined the financial aid offered by his friends.

January 8.—In Germany the Reichstag re-assembled and Bismarck with considerable spirit defended his policy.—It was reported that 1865 manufacturing and mining enterprises were established in the South in the year 1884, with an aggregate capital of $100,000,000. A mass meeting was held in New Orleans in aid of the Exhibition.

January 9.—A telegram from “England’s only General.” Wolseley, announced that he would reach Khartoum on the 24th of January.—In the Reichstag, Bismarck met with violent and stormy opposition.

January 10.—A hurricane of dense destruction passed over the west and south of England, bearing havoc and disaster.—The King of Spain with his Cabinet started to visit the scenes of the earthquake—an act that rendered him exceedingly popular.—General and Mrs. Grant wrote to Mr. William H. Vanderbilt, declining to allow him to purchase and present them with the General’s ” war relics.”

January 12.—The wreckage on the British coast consequent upon violent storms was immense.

January 13.—Rome was threatened with serious damage by an overflow of the Yellow Tiber.

January 14.—The water of the Tiber receded.—The Bill to place General Grant on the retired list of the army passed the Senate: yeas 49; nays 9.

January 16.—The Annual Report of the Department of Agriculture showed the production of corn during 1884 as 1,895,000.000 bushels, wheat 513,000,000 bushels, and oats 583,000,000 bushels.

January 18.—The House of Representatives refused to consider the bill to place General Grant on the retired list of the army.

January 20.—John Bright published a remarkable letter discussing ^;‘ the situation ” in Great Britain.

January 21 —A desperate battle was reported to have been fought on the 16th between the troops of the Mahdi and the British under General Stewart, near Metemneh, the former being defeated.—A large number of people were overwhelmed and destroyed in Italy by snow avalanches.—General Sheridan issued orders to the U. S. troops to remove the “Oklahoma settlers” from the Indian territory.

January 22.—The Governor of Texas reported extensive depredations by Mexicans on the frontier.

January 23.—The ” Liberty Bell ” started from Philadelphia on its journey to New Orleans.

January 24.—London was flung into frenzied excitement by three dynamite explosions occurring simultaneously in the Crypt, Westminster Hall, the Stranger’s Gallery of the House of Commons, and in the Tower. [The damage done to Westminster Hall was great, showing that a large quantity of explosive matter had been placed inside the great ornamental gates leading to the crypt. The explosion in the House of Commons was even more destructive. The western extremity of the building was completely wrecked. The lobby and post-office were demolished, the force of the attack being so great that a man three hundred yards from the scene was knocked down. In the interior of the House of Commons several seats, including that of Mr. Gladstone, were overturned and broken. The explosion in the Tower of London was on the second floor of the White Tower. Three floors were entirely wrecked, and the explosion damaged many hundred stands of arms that were in the part of the building employed as an arsenal.]

January 26.—Edmund Yates, novelist, and proprietor of The World, was sent to prison for libel against “a lady of quality ” in London society.—News was received from General Stewart and his command in the Soudan announcing desperate battles on the 16th and 19th.—A resolution offered by Mr. Bayard deprecating the dynamite outrages in England passed the Senate.—The Oklahoma invaders surrendered.—The Senate refused to ratify the Nicaragua treaty: yeas 32; nays 23.

January 30.—Considerable excitement was caused in England and France by the report that the commander of the Mahdi’s troops was an ex-Communist named Pain, who escaped from the penal settlement at New Caledonia.

February 1.—Lord O’Hagan, ex-Lord Chancellor of Ireland— the first Roman Catholic chancellor since the Reformation—died, aged 72. He was one of the most eloquent men of the century.— The military rolls in the several states showed an aggregation of 6,580,503 men.

February 2.—A desperate engagement took place between the British troops and the Arabs.—The President informed the House of Representatives of the offer of Mrs. Grant to give the government, in trust, all the various mementoes of General Grant’s Career.

February 4.—The fall of Khartoum was announced, and the tumor that Gordon was killed or a prisoner. The wildest excitement prevailed in England. The English cabinet met and ordered lie most vigorous measures to rescue Gordon, if alive; if dead, to punish the Arabs, and re-establish British prestige in the Soudan. —Russia and England advanced a step in the negotiations relative to the advance of the former on Afghanistan.—Telephonic communication between New York and Chicago was successfully established.

February 7.—Popular feeling against the English government for its Egyptian policy became intensified.—The Jews in Tangiers reported brutal outrages inflicted upon them by the Moors.

February 9.—England sent re-enforcements to Egypt.—The French Commander in Tonquin reported the destruction of five forts.

February. 11.—The reports of General Gordon’s death were confirmed. [Charles George Gordon (” Chinese Gordon “) was born in 1883, left the Royal Engineers as first-lieutenant in 1854, served lithe Crimean war, and was wounded at Sebastopol. He was engaged in settling the Russian and Turkish frontiers in Asia; and he served in the expedition against Pekin. Taking service under the emperor of China, he was appointed to the command of the ‘Ever Victorious Army,” and succeeded in suppressing the Tai-Ping rebellion. By his energy, and the terror of his name, he restored order to various towns and districts; and relieved some of the richest and most fertile parts of China from the hands of brigands. He was a man of great courage, and his utter contempt of danger made him, in the eyes of the heathen, a being from whom they fled in terror, or owned his sway with reverential awe.]—Turkish newspapers were officially ordered not to publish any news from the Soudan.—The Bill conferring suffrage of women passed one branch of the Legislature by a vote of 29 to 18.—His Eminence, Cardinal McCabe, who succeeded Cardinal Paul Cullen, died after a severe and prolonged illness. He was ripe scholar, and a severe churchman. In politics, if he professed any, he was a Whig, and was always on intimate terms with Dublin Castle.

February 12.—The French advance on Langson, Tonquin, reported three days’ hard fighting.

February 13.—The English Government was charged with suppressing General Gordon’s diary.—The literary world was exercised over the sale of some unpublished letters of Lord and Lady Byron.

February 14.—Egypt, on account of ” no funds,” was compelled to release her military prisoners.—A snow-slide buried the greater part of the town of Alta in Utah.

February 16.—A fight occurred between French and German socialists in the streets of Paris at a funeral, the latter having refused to lower the German flag.—France concluded a treaty with Burmah.—A large crowd of unemployed working-men marched through London, causing considerable excitement.—Maj.-Gen. Sir Herbert Stewart was killed in action in the Soudan, aged 41.—The Mardi-Gras festivities at New Orleans were witnessed by over 80,000 People.—The Hocking Valley strike of eight months’ duration ended.—The first of the bills proposing the retirement of General Grant failed to pass the House of Representatives.

February 17.—The study of Latin and Greek was declared not essential to admission to Harvard. The severest frost known for several years visited the States, bays and rivers heretofore free of ice being frozen over.

February 19.—The British troops in the Soudan commenced their retreat. Parliament met, and Mr. Gladstone vigorously defended nil justified the policy of his administration in Egypt. The Roman Catholic Bishop of Shrewsby in a pastoral letter denounced dynamiters.

February 22.—The great obelisk, in honor of George Washington, was dedicated. [The cost of the completed monument will aggregate $1,500,000. The shaft is 555 feet high, and the entire height, including the foundations, 592 feet. The base of the obelisk is 55 feet 1 1/2 inches square. At 500 feet above the ground, it has four sides, each of which is 35 feet wide. Its area at this point is that of a comfortable six-room house, each room of which might be 12×16. It would take more than 125 yards of carpet to cover its floor. This square forms the base of the pyramidal top, which runs from it 55 feet until it terminates in its metallic point. This point is constructed of the largest piece of aluminum ever made. It is a pyramid 9 inches high, and weighs exactly one hundred ounces, being one-third as light as it would be if it were made of copper. Aluminum does not corrode, and it makes one of the best conductors of lightning. The monument is only veneered with marble, but as it is over two feet thick, it is substantial. It is 30 feet higher than any other work of man. The stones of which the monument is constructed are great blocks, in some cases 9 feet long, 2 feet thick, and 3 and more feet wide. There are more than 18,000 of them. They are of white marble, and weigh several tons each. One hundred and eighty-one ” memorial stones” have from first to last been contributed for use in the monument, but only 83 were set in that portion of the shaft that was built prior to 1856. Many of the others were entirely unworthy of a place, and were rejected by the commission. Among those sent was one from the Pope, several from foreign Governments, and one from each of the States and Territories. The ceremonies attending the dedication of the monument were of the most imposing character. The procession embraced over 6,000 men, and made an unusually fine display.]

February 23.—Switzerland rejected a naturalization treaty with the United States.

February 24.—The Prince and Princess of Wales decided to visit Ireland, to the horror of the Cockney Press.—The Senate passed the Bill authorizing the President to negotiate for the purchase of the Indian rights in the Oklahoma lands.

February 25.—Switzerland decided to expel from her territory over 1,000 anarchists who sought shelter therein.—Mr. Cleveland, President-elect, urged the Democratic members of Congress to vote in favor of the suspension of silver coinage. The seal fisheries of Alaska were reported to yield to the United States Government $300,000 annually.

February 26.—The Congo Conference, under the presidency of Bismarck, held its first sitting.—The English Army estimates for the year were submitted at $89.000,000.—In the House of Representatives the clause in the Sundry Civil Appropriation Bill giving the President discretionary power in the matter of the suspension of silver coinage, was rejected.

February 27.—The motion to censure the English Government-policy in regard to Egypt was defeated in the House of Commons by the narrow majority of 14; the Parnellites voting in favor of censure.—The Secretary for War officially declared in the House of Commons that, the Government would not abandon the Soudan till Khartoum be taken, and the Mahdi crushed.—The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union of Trenton, N. J., dedicated its new building, costing $32.000. The House of Representatives appropriated $300,000 for the New Orleans Exposition.

March 2.—The 700th Anniversary of the Convention of the Temple Church was celebrated in London.—The Pope reached his seventy-fifth year.—Severe shocks of earthquake terrified Spain.

March 3.—Tumultuous meetings of Anarchists were held in Paris.—The New South Wales contingent left Sydney for the Soudan; the first occasion of Australian troops sharing in the defence of the British Empire.—President Arthur received, according to usage, the resignations of the members of his Cabinet. Washington was literally crammed with visitors to the inaugural ceremonies.

March 4.—Grover Cleveland, ex-Governor of New York, was inaugurated President of the United States, the inaugural address being delivered and oath administered in front of the Capitol. General Grant publicly expressed his gratification at the passage of the Bill by Congress, placing him on the retired list.

March 5.—A contractor nailed up the Parliament buildings in Quebec, and refused to allow the Legislators admittance till his unpaid claim was discharged.—President Cleveland nominated his cabinet, and held his first public reception.

March 7-—Queen Victoria invested $5,000,000 in real estate, in London.—The President’s Cabinet took the oath of office.

March 9.—War was declared between Guatemala and Nicaragua, on account of an attempt of the president of the former to form an union of all Central American States.

March 11.—Immense excitement was caused in England over the prospects of a war with Russia, owing to the evasion of the latter of Britain’s ultimatum, and the departure of Muscovite troops for Afghanistan.—Mr. Parnell urged Ireland to observe a respectful neutrality during the approaching visit of the Prince and Princess of Wales.—The British government granted $100,000 to the family of General Gordon.—The introduction of machinery for the manufacture of cigars led to serious riots in Madrid, Spain.

March 12.-—Mexico declared against Barrios’ proposed forced consolidation of the Central American States, and President Diaz threatened to send troops to the frontier.—The Swiss government commenced the arrest of Socialists who refused to leave Swiss territory.—Sir Curtis Miranda Lampson, Bt., well known in connection with the first Atlantic Cable, died aged 74.

March 13.—Mr. Gladstone announced in the House of Commons, that an agreement had been made between Russia and England as to peace.

March 14.—The illness of General Grant became the subject of extensive description in the public papers.

March 15.—Telephone tickets at half a franc were issued in Paris.

March 16.—The commander of the French in China demanded 10,000 men as reinforcement.—Coal was discovered in Mexico.— The largest solar eclipse since 1869 took place.

March 18.—The British government guaranteed a loan of $45,000,000 to pay off the Egyptian debt.—The ambassador from France, in China, was instructed to negotiate with China for peace.

March 19.—Woman suffrage legislation was defeated in both the New York and Connecticut Legislatures.

March 20.—The British forces encountered severe defeat near Suakim. Cork decided to ignore the visit of the Prince and Princess of Wales.

March 21.—The Humane Society of Pittsburg, 0., sued the Pennsylvania Railroad for cruelty to animals in transportation.

March 22.—The Arabs were badly beaten in a battle near Suakim. Reconnoitring at Suakim l>y means of a balloon took place; the first ascent made in active service in the British Army.

March 23.—A number of Spanish army officers were arrested, charged with organizing a conspiracy to overthrow the monarch jr.— A revolt of half-breeds, with Riel at their head, was reported from the Northwest Territory, Canada. [Louis Riel, a half-breed educated in Lower Canada, became a public character in 1869, when Manitoba was formed into a Province, and a Governor sent from Canada to rule it. Riel headed the opposition, and formed a Provisional Government, demanding a guarantee for the rights of his race. He held out for ten months, but on the approach of a force under Garnet Wolseley his forces disbanded, and lie fled to the United States. The Dominion of Canada, however, accorded Manitoba representation in Parliament, and promised guarantees which have never been fully carried out. Nothing was done for the Saskatchewan half-breeds, and Riel again raised the standard of revolt, and was joined by half-breeds, Crees and Blackfeet.]

March 24.—The Rhode Island House of Representatives passed a resolution favoring an amendment to the Constitution allowing women suffrage.

March 26.—A message was read from the Queen in the House of Commons to the effect that the Reserve Forces and Militia Reserves were to be called out. This caused intense enthusiasm. —The French were defeated by the Chinese in an attack on Dong-Dong.—Lake Erie was crossed on the ice.

March 27.—The Secretary of War announced the intention of the Government to clear Oklahoma of all intruders, whether settlers or ranchmen.

March 28.—A Papal allocution was issued denouncing all diplomats who attended the laying of the corner-stone of a monument to Victor Emanuel.—Langson, in Cochin-China, was evacuated by the French.—The sculling match for the championship of the world and a stake of $5,000, took place at Sydney, New South Wales, between William Beach, of Illawarra, and Edward Hanlan, of Toronto, Canada, and was won by the former.

March 30.—The French Chamber of Deputies refused to vote the Government $40,000,000 on account of military operations in China, and the Ferry Cabinet fell.

March 31.—The half-breed insurgents in the Northwest Territory, Canada, captured the town of Battleford.