353 



VICTORIA. 



VICTORIA. 



354 



entrenchments ; and on the 27th the Sikh army retreated beyond 

 the Sutlej. 



1846. Jan. 3, the corporations of London and Dublin presented 

 addresses to the Queen representing the sufferinga caused in Ireland 

 by the potato-rot of the previous year. Jan. 5, a meeting of agri- 

 cultural labourers was held at Wootton-Basset in Wiltshire, at which 

 they petitioned for the abolition of the Corn Laws. Jan. 11, the New 

 Zealand chiefs, who had previously committed several outrages on 

 the British settlements, were attacked and defeated : on the 19th 

 they made their submission. Jan. 22, the parliament was opened by 

 the Queen, who referred to the failure of the potato crop, and recom- 

 mended the consideration of the propriety of relaxing protective 

 duties. On the 27th Sir R. Peel announced his intended repeal of the 

 Corn Laws. Jan. 28, the Sikh army was" again defeated at Aliwal, on 

 the Sutlej, by the British forces Under Sir H. Smith. Feb. 10, the 

 British army, under Sir H. Gough, attacked the Sikha at Sobraon on 

 the Sutlej, defeating them with great slaughter after a most obstinate 

 conflict. March 13, potatoes having risen to a famine price in Ireland, 

 a treasury order was issued allowing the importation of Indian corn, 

 rice, and buckwheat at a nominal duty of one shilling per quarter. 

 April 4, the governor of the Cape of Good Hope commenced a war 

 upon the Caffres, who had been committing depredations on the 

 colonists. June 9, the town of St. John's, Newfoundland, was 

 destroyed by fire ; the damage done amounted to 1,000,000. June 12, 

 a treaty with the United States for the settlement of the Oregon 

 boundary was agreed to by the senate at Washington. On the 26th 

 the Corn Duties Repeal Act, and the Customs Duties Act, which gave 

 great freedom to commerce, received the royal assent. On the same 

 day, on the motion for the second reading of the Protection of Life 

 Bill (a coercive measure for Ireland), the ministers were defeated, and 

 immediately resigned. On July 6, Lord John Russell and other mem- 

 bers of the new ministry were sworn into office. July 28, W. S. 

 O'Brien and many others seceded from the Repeal Association, becaxise 

 O'Connell had denounced all attempts to obtain their object by 

 physical force. August 26, an act for the establishment of Public 

 Baths and Washhouses received the royal assent, and also the act for 

 establishing County Courts. Sept. 4, twenty-four districts in Ireland 

 were declared by proclamation to be in a state of distress, and the 

 provisions of the Labour Rate Act were directed to be put in ope- 

 ration in them. Sept. 14, a formal protest was made by the British 

 government against the marriage of the Duke de Montpensier, a son 

 of the King of the French, with the sister of the Queen of Spain. 

 Oct. 2, the distress in Ireland continuing, and the provisions of the 

 Labour Rate Act proving worse than useless, the lord lieutenant 

 issued a circular authorising the undertaking of works of permanent 

 utility. Dec. 18, the island of Labuan was taken formal possession of 

 by the agents of the British government. Dec. 18, a meeting was held 

 in Edinburgh to consider as to the best means of relieving the dis- 

 tress in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, where 330,000 persons 

 were without the means of subsistence. 



1847. Jan. 2, the British Association established, by which large 

 sums were raised by subscription for the relief of the distress in 

 Ireland and Scotland, in both of which countries numbers were dying 

 of starvation. Jan. 19, parliament was opened by the Queen, who 

 directed the attention of the Houses to the great distress prevailing, 

 and called on them to provide measures for its relief. May 13, Daniel 

 O'Connell died at Genoa, while on his way to Rome. June 8, the new 

 Irish Poor Law received the royal assent ; on the 21st, that for the 

 improvement of towns ; and on the 23rd parliament was prorogued. 

 Oct. 17, thanksgivings were offered up in all the churches for an 

 abundant harvest. Oct. 23, in consequence of a great monetary 

 pressure, the temporary suspension of Sir R. Peel's Bank Restriction 

 Act was ordered, and the order was withdrawn Nov. 23. Nov. 18, 

 parliament re-assembled, and passed an act for the suppression of 

 crime and outrage in Ireland. 



1848." February 21, the revolution commenced in Paris by which 

 Louis Philippe ceased to be king of the French. On the 24th the king 

 abdicated. On the 26th the republic was proclaimed. Louis Philippe 

 and his family fled, and arrived in England at the beginning of March. 

 April 10, a proposed great Chartist demonstration on Kennington 

 Common, near London. The government however had appointed special 

 constables ; an intended procession was prevented, and the affair passed 

 off harmlessly. May 15, the state trials in Ireland commenced; the jury 

 could not agree in a verdict as to Mr. O'Brien and Mr. Meagher. Mitchell 

 was tried on May 22 for seditious writing in the ' United Irishman, 

 found guilty, and sentenced to fourteen years' transportation. June 18, 

 Lieut. Edwardes, with a small force, engaged and defeated the army of 

 the Dewan Moolraj. July 29, an engagement took place between the 

 Irish rebels and the government forces at Ballingarry : the rebels were 

 easily defeated. On August 5, W. S. O'Brien was captured, and on 

 the 12th Meagher, O'Donohue, and Lyne. Aug. 20, twenty Chartist 

 leaders arrested in the Blackfriars Road. Aug. 29, Sir H. Smith 

 defeated the rebels under Pretorius at Bloem Platts, in the Cape of 

 Good Hope colony. Aug. 31, the Health of Towns Act received the 

 royal assent. Sept. 30, the Chartist trials were concluded in London, 

 and Dowling, Cuffey, and others were sentenced to transportation 

 for life. October 9, the trial of the Irish rebels concluded, and 

 O'Brien, Meagher, O'Donohue, and McManus were sentenced to death. 



BIOG. DIV. VOL. VI. 



October 17, the Punjaub was annexed to the British possessions 

 in India. 



1849. January 13, the Sikhs defeated at Chilianwallah by Lord 

 Gough. February 21, they were again defeated and completely routed 

 at Chenaub. May 11, on the appeal of Smith O'Brien and others 

 to the House of Lords the judgment was confirmed, and on July 9, 

 they were all transported. May 13, a large meeting held at Cape Town 

 to protest against the attempt to make the Cape a penal colony. June 

 26, the act for repealing the Navigation Laws received the royal 

 assent, and on the 28th the Irish Encumbered Estates Act. Sep- 

 tember 16, prayers offered up in the churches for the removal of 

 cholera, which had been raging in England for some time. November 

 5, Russia and Austria demand the expulsion cr imprisonment of the 

 Hungarians lately engaged in the insurrection against Austria ; Turkey 

 asks the assistance of England, and a British fleet enters the Darda- 

 nelles. December 1, the Dowager Queen Adelaide died. December 

 16, a large assemblage of tenant farmers and cottiers took place at 

 Mullinahone in Tipperary to petition for Tenant Right. 



1850. January 10, the Enterprise and Investigator leave Woolwich 

 in search of Sir John Franklin. January 25, a meeting held in the 

 Mansion House, London, in furtherance of the Industrial Exhibition 

 of all nations. February 27, Sir C. Napier, commander-in-chief in 

 India, disbanded the 66th Bengal Native Infantry for mutiny. June 4, 

 an attack made on the Queen by Lieutenant Pate, who struck her 

 with a cane. July 2, Sir Robert Peel died, in consequence of a fall 

 from his horse. July 26, Baron Rothschild, having been elected for 

 the city of London, attended the House in order to take his seat, but 

 was refused because he objected to take the oaths on the faith of a 

 Christian. August 5, the act for regulating metropolitan interments, 

 forbidding burials in church-yards, received the royal assent, as 

 also an act for the better government of the Australian colonies, 

 forming Victoria into a separate colony, and giving it a representative 

 legislature. August 14, the act enabling town councils to establish 

 public libraries and museums also received the royal assent. August 



21, the Queen embarked at Osborne to visit the King of the Belgians. 

 September 24, the pope issued a bull establishing a Roman Catholic 

 hierarchy in England, which, on its promulgation, occasioned great 

 agitation. October 8, Captain M'Clure, in the Investigator, discovered 

 the North- West Passage by Prince of Wales's Strait. The ship was 

 subsequently frozen up, and the crew were not rescued till April 1853, 

 when they made their way over the ice to Melville Island. November 



22, a meeting of the clergy of the Established Church was held at 

 Oxford to protest against the pope's bull, which was followed by 

 public addresses for the same purpose to the Queen from various parts 

 of the country. December 31, Sir Harry Smith, governor of the Cape 

 of Good Hope, declared war against the Caffrea. He had been attacked 

 by them and narrowly escaped on the preceding day, and the Caffres 

 defeated our troops in several places. 



1851. January 27, Earl Grey in a despatch places the Clergy 

 Reserves at the absolute disposal of the legislature of Canada. 

 February 4, Parliament opened, and the Queen alluded to the Eccle- 

 siastical Titles bill, as occasioned by the pope's recent bull. February 

 18, the trial of the London Dock Company for a fraud on the Customs 

 ended this day by a verdict which was a virtual acquittal. February 

 22, the Russell ministry resigned, in consequence, as stated by Lord 

 John, of the smallness of their majority againsb Mr. Disraeli's motion 

 in favour of agricultural protection, and of Mr. Locke King having 

 carried a motion against them in favour of the extension of the 

 county franchise. On the recommendation of the Duke of Wellington 

 the Russell ministry resumed their places on March 3. May 1, the 

 Great Exhibition of the Industry of all Nations in Hyde Park was 

 opened by the Queen. May 22, the governor of New South Wales 

 issued a proclamation forbidding the search for gold in the newly 

 discovered gold regions without a licence. By the beginning of June 

 20,000 persons were employing themselves at the diggings. August 

 1, the royal assent was given to the Ecclesiastical Titles Assumption 

 and the New Metropolitan Cattle Market acts. September 27, the 

 Submarine Cable Telegraph between Dover and Calais was brought 

 into operation and was opened for public communication on November 

 13. October 23, Kossuth arrives at Southampton, on the 30th he 

 went in procession to the Guildhall of London, where an address from 

 the city was presented to him. November 6, the Caffres defeated a 

 British force at Waterkloof. December 2, the Prince-President of 

 France dissolved the legislative assembly, arrested Cavaignac, Chan- 

 gamier, Thiers, and others, and on January 2, 1852, his continued 

 authority was voted by 7,439,216 votes against 640,737. 



1852. Jan. 1, the Roman Catholic synod of Thurles prohibited the 

 Roman Catholic clergy from holding any office whatever in the Queen's 

 colleges in Ireland. Feb. 3, the parliament met ; on the 20th the 

 ministry were beaten on the Local Militia Bill, and on the 23rd they 

 resigned ; they were succeeded by one under the presidency of the 

 Earl of Derby, who, on announcing his acceptance of office on the 

 27th, deprecated the attempts which were being made to produce a 

 panic-fear of invasion by the French. April 2, Martaban in Burmah 

 was stormed and taken by the British, and on the 14th Rangoon was 

 also taken. May 19, Bassein was taken. On June 1, Pegu, and on 

 July 9, Prome, were taken by the British. April 13, Major-General 

 Cathcart, who had superseded Sir H. Smith as governor of the Cape, 



2 A 



