NINETEENTH CENTURY, IMPORTANT EVENTS OP THE. 



435 



March 4, the first express business in the United 

 States was begun by William F. Harnden, be- 

 tween New York and Boston. 



April 1, there were great Chartist riots in England. 



April 13, the Catholic emancipation bill for Ireland 

 was passed, and received the royal assent. 



Aug. 5, the British captured Cabul and ended the 

 Afghan War. 



Oct. 10, the United States Bank suspended. 



Oct. 16, in a letter bearing this date, Thomas 

 Simpson announced that his expedition had es- 

 tablished the fact of a northwest passage by 

 tracing the coast from Point Barrow to Boothia 

 Gulf. 



Dec. 3, Pope Gregory XVI issued a bull abolishing 

 the slave trade. 



1840. 



Jan. 1, penny postage in England was established, 

 and the number of letters dispatched that day 

 from London was 112,000. 



,lan. 19, the Wilkes expedition discovered the 

 antarctic continent. 



Feb. 10, Prince Albert and Queen Victoria were 

 married. 



May 27, Nicolo Paganini died. 



July 23, Upper and Lower Canada were united 

 under one government. 



1841. 



April 4, President William Henry Harrison died 

 at the White House, the first President to die 

 in office. 



July 18, the United States sloop of war Peacock 

 was lost on the north bar of Columbia river. 



July 29, Smyrna was almost destroyed by fire; 

 3,500 houses were burned, 35,000 persons made 

 homeless. 



Aug. 27, the Chinese fortress of Amoy was cap- 

 tured by the British in the opium war. 



Oct. 6, a revolution took place in Mexico. Gen. 

 Antonio Santa Anna, with an army of 10,000 

 men, entered the capital and displaced President 

 Bustamente. 



Oct. 7, a revolutionary movement was made in 

 Spain in favor of Queen Christina and absolute 

 government. 



Nov. 15, a disastrous fire took place at St. Johns, 

 New Brunswick ; 75 buildings, principally ware- 

 houses, and 40 vessels were destroyed. 



Nov. 25, Sir Francis Chantrey died. 



Dec. 20, a treaty was signed by Great Britain, 

 France, Austria, Prussia, and Russia for the sup- 

 pression of the African slave trade. 



1842. 



Jan. 5, an insurrection took place against British 

 power in Afghanistan. 



Jan. 18, a riot occurred at Cincinnati, Ohio, caused 

 by the failure of certain banks. 



Feb. 20, Texas was invaded by an army from 

 Mexico 8,000 strong. 



March 24. Albert Bertel Thorwaldsen died. 



May 3, the Dorr war, in Rhode Island, began. 



May 7, an earthquake took place in Santo Do- 

 mingo, by which the town of Cape Haytien was 

 destroyed and 7.000 persons lost their lives. 



June 25, Bunker Hill monument was completed. 



June 28, the steamer Columbia arrived in Liver- 

 pool from Boston ; time, eleven days six hours, 

 being the shortest passage that had been made 

 across the Atlantic at that time. 



Aug. 9. the Ashburton treaty, fixing the boundary 

 bet \\ oen Maine and Canada, was signed at Wash- 

 ington. 



Aug. 20. the treaty between the United States 

 and England determining the boundary of 

 Maine was ratified. 





1843. 



Jan. 9, a destructive fire took place at Port au 

 Prince, Santo Domingo; 600 buildings were 

 burned ; estimated loss, $4,000,000. 



Jan. 29, William McKinley was born. 



Feb. 17, a battle was fought in British India be- 

 tween 2,800 British troops, commanded by Sir 

 Charles Napier, and 22,000 Belooches. The lat- 

 ter were defeated with a loss of 5,000 men. 



Feb. 25, Lord George Paulet hoisted the British 

 flag at the Sandwich Islands. 



June 17, the completion of the Bunker Hill monu- 

 ment was celebrated. 



July 2, Samuel Hahnemann died. 



July 26, the insurgent party in Spain entered 

 Madrid in triumph and appointed the Duke of 

 Baylen provisional guardian of the Queen. 



1844. 



Jan. 14, a convention was ratified between the 

 authorities of Yucatan and Mexico, by which 

 peace was declared and the former country an- 

 nexed to the latter. 



Feb. 2, Daniel O'Connell and other persons were 

 found guilty of conspiracy. 



March 31, the Fox family, Hydeville, N. Y., pro- 

 fessed to hear spirit rappings. 



April 12, a treaty of annexation between the 

 United States and Texas was signed bv Presi- 

 dent Tyler. 



May 24, the first public exhibition was given of 

 Morse's electric telegraph, between Baltimore 

 and Washington. 



May 30, Daniel O'Connell was sentenced in Dub- 

 lin to twelve months' imprisonment, a fine of 

 2,000, and to give security in the sum of 

 5,000 for good behavior for seven years. 



July 25, Mehemet Ali abdicated the sovereign 

 power of Egypt in favor of his son Ibrahim. 



Sept. 4, the English House of Lords reversed the 

 judgment of the court and set O'Connell and 

 his associates at liberty. 



Oct. 24, this was the day set by William Miller 

 for the second coming of Christ. 



1845. 



Jan. 25, a joint resolution for the annexation of 

 Texas to the United States passed the House 

 of Representatives by a vote of 120 to 98. 



March 3, Florida was admitted as a State. 



March 30, a religious war broke out in Switzer- 

 land between Catholic and Protestant parties. 



June 8, Andrew Jackson died. 



July 4, Texas was annexed to the United States. 



July 19, a fire in New York city destroyed 302 

 stores and dwelling houses property to the 

 amount of $6,000,000. 



Aug. 27, Gov. Silas Wright, of New York, issued 

 a proclamation declaring the county of Delaware 

 to be in a state of insurrection. 



Nov. 9, Austen Henry Layard began the excava- 

 tions that brought to light the ruins of Nineveh. 



Dec. 29, Texas was admitted as a State. 



1846. 



May 8, the first engagement of the war between 

 the United States and Mexico took place at Palo 

 Alto. 



June 15, a treaty accepting the forty-ninth paral- 

 lel as the Oregon boundary was signed. 



Sept. 10, the first patent for a practical sewing 

 machine with eye-pointed needle was issued to 

 Elias Howe, of Massachusetts. 



Sept. 23, the planet Neptune was discovered. 



Sept. 30, the use of anaesthetics was introduced 

 by Dr. William T. G. Morton. (Other claimants 

 for this honor were Dr. Charles T. Jackson and 



