1839 | Political Events
Political Events
Willem I of the Netherlands recognizes Belgian independence in the Treaty of London signed April 18 (see 1831), letting the Belgians have the western part of Luxembourg, keeping the rest as a grand duchy with himself as grand duke (see 1815; 1867).
French revolutionary socialist (Louis-) Auguste Blanqui, 26, leads 500 armed insurrectionists in a takeover of the Hôtel de Ville (City Hall) at Paris May 12, but the uprising is easily suppressed after 2 days of fighting. Blanqui escapes, police apprehend him soon afterward, and although he is condemned to death the sentence is commuted to life imprisonment, and he is sent to the island of Mont-Saint-Michel off the Normandy coast, where he will remain in solitary confinement for 4 years (see 1848).
The Serbian prince Milos Obrenovic abdicates under pressure from opponents who have conspired with the Russians to curb the autocratic powers exercised by Milos since 1817 (see 1829). He is succeeded by his son Milan, 20, who rules until his untimely death July 8, and then by his 14-year-old son, who will reign until 1842 as Michael (Mihailo) III Obrenovic.
The Convention of Vergara August 31 ends the Carlist War in Spain's Basque provinces after defeats of Carlist forces in 1836 and 1837 and of Liberal forces last year. Baldomero Espartero has opened negotiations with the Carlists in the wake of last year's Battle of Morella; he is called "the Peacemaker of Spain" and given the title duque de la Victoria. Don Carlos emigrates to France, leaving his niece Isabella II to complete a reign that will continue until 1868, but insurgent leader Ramón Cabrera refuses to recognize the Convention (see 1840).
Chartist leader Feargus O'Connor delivers a speech at Manchester setting September 29 as the date for violent action if Parliament does not grant the six points demanded by the Chartist movement (see O'Connor, 1832; Lovett, 1838). Now 42, O'Connor established the weekly paper Northern Star at Leeds in 1837 to support reform of Parliament. His paper has gained a circulation of more than 48,000 copies. He opposes the "moral force" arguments of William Lovett, and he has given speeches promising to lead the people to "death or glory," declaring his willingness to "die for the cause." His remarks outrage Lovett and Henry Hetherington, and they exclude him from the platform of a mass meeting organized by the London Working Men's Association. Monmouthshire draper and tailor John Frost, 55, leads an uprising at his native Newport November 4, having attended the Chartist convention at London from February to September and cast the tie-breaking vote (as chairman) that dissolved the assembly (see 1838). Troops kill about 20 Chartists in the street battle, Frost will be convicted of high treason in January of next year and sentenced to death, the sentence will be commuted to exile for life in Van Diemen's Land (later Tasmania), he will be released in 1854 on condition that he leave British territory, but he will be granted a full pardon at age 72 in 1856 and allowed to return to England (see 1842; O'Connor, 1843).
Denmark's Frederik VI dies at Copenhagen December 3 at age 71 after a 31-year reign (plus 24 years as regent) in which Norway has been lost to Sweden (see 1814). Frederik is succeeded by a 53-year-old nephew who will reign until 1848 as Kristian VIII.
Ottoman forces invade Syria in April to contest the claims of the Egyptian viceroy Muhammad Ali, now 70, whose son Ibrahim has been ruling with an iron hand (see 1833). Ibrahim defeats the forces of Mahmud II June 24 at the Battle of Nezib (Nizip). The sultan is poisoned to death at his summer residence in Scutari July 1 at age 54 as his fleet surrenders at Alexandria without a shot being fired. Greece has won independence in Mahmud's bloody 31-year reign; his 16-year-old son continues the war against the Egyptian viceroy and will reign until 1861 as Abdul Mejid I (see 1840).
The British-Afghan War that began last year continues as a 5,000-man British army escorts the unpopular Shah Shuja to Kabul and restore him to power in place of Dost Mohammed Khan. The shah reigned from 1803 to 1810, agitation rises against British influence, and Pashtun tribesmen work to restore Dost Mohammed (see 1841).
Former British governor general of India Lord William Bentinck dies at Paris June 17 at age 64.
An Opium War between China and Britain begins in November (see commerce, 1838). Chinese official Lin Zexu (Tsehsu), 54, has given orders in March for the destruction of 20,000 chests of illegal Indian opium stored by foreign merchants such as Jardine, Matheson & Company in Guangzhou (Canton) warehouses. To burn the opium would risk having people inhale the fumes, so Lin has more than 3 million pounds of it dissolved in river trenches and lets it flow into the sea. William Jardine has arrived at London just before the Chinese seizure of his opium, gained election to Parliament, and organized a lobby of Midlands industrialists, City bankers, and merchants who flood the foreign office with petitions calling for a forceful response (see 1840).
Report on the Affairs of British North America by John Lambton, 1st earl of Durham, proposes the union of Upper and Lower Canada and the granting of self government (see 1838). Written largely by the former governor general's chief secretary in Canada Charles Buller, submitted to the Colonial Office January 31, and published February 11, Lord Durham's report attempts to justify the position that he took before his resignation last year, and Lord John Russell, 46, introduces a resolution in Parliament June 20 to implement Durham's recommendations (see 1840).
Mexico's president Anastasio Bustamante absents himself from the capital in March; the vainglorious General Santa Anna seizes power and rules as dictator until July (see 1838; 1841).
Former U.S. senator Robert Y. Hayne dies of fever at Charleston, South Carolina, September 24 at age 47, having served one term as governor and later planned a railway route across the state.
Texas president Mirabeau B. Lamar oversees the transfer of the republic's capital in October to the frontier town of Waterloo, which is renamed Austin. Intent on territorial expansion and opposed to annexation by the United States, he tries to make a peace treaty with Mexico, fails, and forms an alliance with a rebel government in the Yucatán (see 1841).