Review oj Reviews, 1/10/13. 



So 7 



NOTABLE ANNIVERSARIES OF THE 



MONTH. 



Many notable events have occurred in 

 the month of October. Lord Tennyson 

 died on October 6th, 1892. He was 

 Poet Laureate for 42 years, and, owing 

 to the law of copyright was for a long 

 time much more popular in America 

 than in Great Britain. Edgar Allen 

 Poe, the greatest short story writer the 

 world has produced, died, in compara- 

 tive poverty, on October 7th, 1849. The 

 great Eddystone Lighthouse was com- 

 pleted, after terrible hardships, by 

 Smeaton, on October 9th, 1759. It stood 

 a warning beacon to mariners for 123 

 years, and witnessed the transition from 

 sails to steam. It was replaced by the 

 present structure in 1882. On the nth 

 October, 1797, the British Fleet, under 

 Duncan, attacked the Dutch fleet, under 

 De Winter, and severely defeated it, 

 thus laying the foundation for that 

 supremacy Nelson so gloriously com- 

 pleted. On October 15th, 1777, Great 

 Britain finally lost her American Colo- 

 nies, famine forcing General Burgoyne 

 to surrender Saratoga to the Americans, 

 under Gates. The tragic retreat from 

 Moscow began on October iSth, 181 2. 

 Over 500,000 men marched victoriously 

 into Russia behind Napoleon ; only 

 10,000 iecrossed the border ! The awful 

 weather and the terrible Cossacks ac- 

 counted for the rest. Marshal Ney's 

 masterly retreat with the rearguard is 

 one of the epics of modern warfare. 

 Victor Hugo's wonderful lines visualise 

 the ghastly disaster almost as vividlv 

 as do Verestschagin's marvellous can- 

 vases. What could better describe the 



condition of the retreating army than 

 Hugo's terse line, " Hier la grande 

 Armee, Aujourd 'hui - — Troupeau " 5 

 The independence of Greece really dates 

 from October 20th, 1827, when the 

 combined English, French and Russian 

 Fleets crushed the Turkish Fleet in 

 Navarino Bay. The fight was a furious 

 one, and victory was chiefly due to Sir 

 E. Codrington, one of Nelson's cap- 

 tains. After this defeat the Turks were 

 forced to recognise Grecian Indepen- 

 dence. On October 25th, 141 5, the battle 

 of Agincourt was won by Henry V. He 

 commanded an army of archers and 

 foot soldiers, barely 8000 strong, many 

 of them being sick. The French out- 

 numbered them by four or five to one, 

 and yet were terribly defeated, losing 

 more than the total number of the Bri- 

 tish troops, of which it is recorded only 

 some 120 lost their lives! One of the 

 most remarkable battles ever fought. 

 On the same date, 439 years later, in 

 1854, another extraordinary tight took 

 place. The Light Brigade, some six 

 hundred strong, owing to a misunder- 

 stood order, charged the entire Russian 

 army in position at Balaclava. This 

 narrow valley in the Crimea is entirely 

 unsuited for a battle nowadays. A few 

 quick-firing guns at the upper end 

 would sweep any force entering it out of 

 existence in a few moments. The charge 

 was worse than useless, but, as Tenny- 

 son wrote : 



" When can their glory fade ? 

 Oh, the wild charge they made ! 

 Noble six hundred." 



The Discovery of America, October 12, 1492. 



The discovery of America by Col- 

 umbus changed the history of Europe, 

 Avhich until then had been the world. 

 His daring deed gave Spain vast pos- 

 sessions, which were only lost to her 

 when the incompetent government of a 

 decadent nation could no longer be 

 tolerated by her more virile sons over- 



sea. Spain, Portugal. France and Eng- 

 land divided the gro.it continents of 

 North and South America between 

 them. The present vast production of 

 the northern part of the new world will 

 some day be rivalled and surpassed by 

 the immense natural resources of the 

 southern republics. Great as are the 



