Thomas Benfield Harbottle

“ An alliance formed between Russia, Austria and Prussia in September, 1815, by which the three sovereigns undertook that for the future their policy should be guided solely by Christian principles. At the same time there is no doubt that the alliance was intended to stem the tide of political liberty, set flowing by the French Revolution, and their threatened interference in the quarrel between Spain and her American colonies, which was the cause of the enunciation of the Monroe doctrine, is a sufficiently clear indication of this fact. ”

“ Unredeemed Italy consists of those provinces and islands not included in the Kingdom of Italy which are racially or linguistically Italian. They are the Austrian provinces of Southern Tyrol, Görz, Trieste, Istria and Dalmatia, the Swiss Canton of Ticino, the British island of Malta and the French island of Corsica. The Irredentists are a party whose aims are similar to those of the Pan-Slavists and Pan-Germans, and who desire to see these provinces, especially those belonging to Austria, added to the kingdom. ”

“ On April 26, 1491, Ferdinand the Catholic, with an army of 50,000 Spaniards, sat down before Granada, the last stronghold of the Moors in Spain. The siege was carried on in somewhat desultory fashion, and in the early days one serious sortie was made by the inhabitants and garrison, who were, however, defeated, with a loss of 2,000 killed. The city held out until November 25, when Abdallah, the last king of Granada, capitulated.
Grandella (Italian Wars) . Fought 1266, between the troops of the Two Sicilies, under Manfred, son of the Emperor Frederick II, and the French, under Charles of Anjou. ”

“ An Act to give force to the Constitution drafted by Australian statesmen for the union into a Commonwealth of the Colonies of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, Western Australia, and Tasmania, power being reserved to New Zealand to enter the union if she so desire. The Act provides for the establishment of a central Government, with the control of the customs, postage, and certain other matters, each colony retaining its own Parliament, with power to manage its internal affairs as before. ”

“ England’s reply to Napoleon’s Berlin Decree, establishing the Continental Blockade, was the issue of a series of Orders in Council. They forbade vessels to trade between any ports in France or the territories of the allies, granted the right of reprisals against Tuscany, Naples, Dalmatia and the Ionian Islands, declared a blockade against all ports from which the English flag was excluded, and finally declared the sale of ships by a belligerent to a neutral illegal. ”

“ They are strongest in the manufacturing districts of the East and Centre. Their opponents, the Democrats, are less united; in the South they are strong for the suppression of the negro, but by no means united on the other two questions. In the mining States of the West the question which is most to the fore is the free coinage of silver, while in the grain and cattle districts free trade is the rallying cry. The Democrats are also supporters of States Rights against Federalism, though this is now rather an academical than an acute question. ”

“ It provided for various limitations of the royal prerogative; among its provisions being that the sovereign should be a member of the Church of England; that Great Britain should not be called upon to defend any territories not being British territory, without the consent of Parliament; that the sovereign should not quit the realm; that no person born out of the realm should be capable of holding office under the Crown, and that no person holding office or enjoying a pension should sit in the House of Commons. ”

“ By the Treaty of London of 1852 it was provided that the succession to the Danish throne was to be vested in Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, but that the Duchies, one of which, Holstein, was a German Duchy, sending delegates to the German Diet, should not be incorporated in the kingdom of Denmark. The Danes, however, did not observe the compact, and before the death of Frederick VII of Denmark, in 1862, Schleswig had been made practically a part of Denmark. ”

“ In addition, recognition was accorded to Louis Buonaparte as King of Holland, to Joseph as King of Spain, and to the Confederation of the Rhine. The Grand Duchy of Warsaw was created out of the Duchies of Warsaw and Posen, and given to the King of Saxony. There were certain secret clauses in the treaty between France and Russia, by which Russia agreed to aid France against England and to coerce Portugal, Sweden and Denmark to take the same course, while France undertook to aid Russia against the Turks if the Porte declined to accept his mediation. ”

“ He claimed that Great Britain had no right to interfere on the American Continent, and that, if force was necessary, British Guiana must rely on her own resources, without calling in aid from Great Britain. He further maintained that the United States had a right to insist upon all claims concerning questions of territory being submitted to arbitration unreservedly, and was justified in taking steps to satisfy herself that no territory had been or was being unwarrantably annexed. ”

“ Mauritius was surrendered to England, who retained Malta and the Cape of Good Hope. The independence of the German and Swiss states, and of the Italian states outside the Austrian dominions was proclaimed. Holland, under the rule of the Prince of Orange, was to receive an accession of territory, which, by a secret article, was declared to be Belgium. Sardinia received Genoa, in compensation for the portion of Savoy ceded to France. These provisions formed the basis for discussion at the Congress which met immediately afterwards at Vienna to settle the affairs of Europe. ”

“ The war with China in 1840 is so called, because it arose out of the action of the Chinese authorities, who in their efforts to stop opium smuggling, insisted on the forfeiture of the stocks of opium in the hands of British merchants in China. It resulted in the cession to Great Britain in perpetuity of Hong Kong, and the opening of Canton, Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo and Shanghai as treaty ports. ”

“ A treaty signed by England, Austria, Russia and Prussia, in March, 1814, after the allies had entered France. The signatories bound themselves for twenty years to unite in resisting the designs of France. Each of the contracting parties was to provide 150,000 men, and England in addition a subsidy of £5,000,000. It was the knowledge of the signature of this treaty which induced Joseph, in Napoleon’s absence, to order the Marshals to capitulate, and the army to leave Paris, thus entailing the abdication of the Emperor. ”

“ By the Treaty of Utrecht, 1713, Newfoundland was declared English, but the French were suffered to retain their fishery rights and the use of a certain portion of the coast for drying stations. France has for many years sought to give a very wide interpretation to this use of the Newfoundland coast, claiming almost sovereign rights, which seriously interfere with the railway and mining development of the colony. A modus vivendi has been arrived at, pending final settlement, but the long delay in coming to an agreement has caused much irritation in Newfoundland. ”

“ The union flag, when hoisted at the jackstaff of a man-of-war, is so called. The union flag is composed of the red cross of St. George on a white ground (England) , the white saltire of St. Andrew on a blue ground (Scotland) , and the red saltire of St. Patrick on a white ground (Ireland) .
Union with Ireland.
The Act of Union with Ireland was finally passed in 1800. Resolutions in favour of it had been submitted to the Irish Parliament in 1799, and though supported in the main by the Irish Catholics, they were opposed by Grattan, Curran and other Irish leaders, and rejected. ”

“ The first Colonial Charter,{273} issued by James I in 1606. A certain territory was thereby set aside to be colonised by two companies of adventurers, one from London, the other from the west of England. The first company only was successful. The land was to be held on a tenure of homage, and a small royalty payable on all precious metals extracted from the soil. An English council was formed, to exercise a general superintendence over the affairs of the colony. All colonists and their descendants were to retain their rights as British subjects. ”

“ An agitation which broke out in 1837 and culminated in the Chartist riots of 1839. It was probably due to the declaration by the Liberal party that they were satisfied with the results of the Reform Bill of 1832, and did not intend to press for further reform in this direction. The movement takes its name from the “People’s Charter,” a manifesto setting forth the aims of the agitators. This Charter demanded manhood suffrage, annual Parliaments, the ballot, abolition of the property qualification for a member of Parliament, payment of members, and equal electoral districts. ”

“ A treaty between Catherine II of Russia and the Sultan Abdul-Hamed, signed in 1774, after the occupation by the Russians of Crim-Tartary, Moldavia and Wallachia. Turkey surrendered the Crimea, Azov and Taganrog, and by the seventh clause of the treaty undertook to protect the Christian religion and its churches, and to permit the Russian Minister to make at all times representations on behalf of the new church in Constantinople, such representations to be taken into consideration as proceeding from a sincerely friendly Power. ”

“ Home Rulers.
A party formed in 1873, under the leadership of Isaac Butt, to agitate for the re-establishment of a separate Parliament for Ireland. His successor in the leadership of the party was Charles Stewart Parnell.
Homestead Act (New Zealand) .
An Act passed in 1885, providing that a male under eighteen could take up twenty acres of first class, or thirty acres of second class land, and a male over eighteen, fifty or seventy-five acres respectively, free of all cost, providing he agreed to reside five years on the land, and fulfil certain requirements as to cultivation. ”

“ A treaty between Russia and Turkey, supplementary to the Treaty of Bucharest, signed in 1826. It provided that the Hospodars of Moldavia and Wallachia should rule independently, each with a council of Boyars, and should not be deposed without the Czar’s consent; that Servia should elect her own princes, and that Russia should occupy the East coast of the Black Sea, and should have free access to all Turkish waters. ”

“ The Great Charter of English liberty, extorted from John by his Barons in 1215. It prescribed the constitution of the Great Council of the Kingdom, the members whereof were to be summoned by writ; it defined and limited the feudal obligations of the Barons and other tenants of the Crown; restricted the powers of the sheriffs and other royal officers, and secured the liberties of the free towns. It further declared the right of an accused person to be tried by his peers. ”

“ The clansmen of the Fitzgeralds of Desmond and Kildare, one of the great families of Norman nobles who settled in Ireland at the time of the conquest under Henry II. They were exceedingly turbulent, and during Tudor times were constantly intriguing with Spain, and rebelling against English rule. Their last and most serious rising was in 1569, when they held out against the royal troops until 1580, when the clan was practically broken up, and ceased to be a power in Irish politics. ”

“ An act passed in 1793, to deal with the enormous influx of foreigners into England, due to the French Revolution. Aliens were required to state the object of their visit, to register their names, and to obtain passports for moving to and fro.
Alien and Sedition Laws.
A series of Acts of Congress passed in 1798, to deal with the situation caused by the residence in the United States of a large number of naturalized Frenchmen who sympathized with France in the difficulties then pending between the two countries. They gave the President the power to banish undesirable aliens. ”

“ A court established by Henry VII in 1487, to check the power of the great feudal houses by the suppression of maintenance, which, by providing them with large bodies of armed retainers, enabled the more powerful nobles to foment disturbances and insurrections. Later the Star Chamber became an instrument in the hands of the Sovereign for the suppression of free speech, and its arbitrary and corrupt decisions became notorious. It was abolished by Act of Parliament in 1641. ”

“ An order of knighthood founded by Henry, King of Jerusalem, during the third Crusade, its original members being followers of Frederick Barbarossa. In 1230, under their Grand Master, Hermann von Salza, the Teutonic knights marched against the Pagans of the Baltic shore of what is now known as Prussia. This country, which was a fief of Poland, they held until 1526, when Albert of Brandenburg, then Grand Master, made a treaty with Sigismund of Poland, by which Prussia was erected into a Grand Duchy, with Albert as Grand Duke. The order was dissolved by Napoleon in 1809. ”

“ Irish Land Act, 1881.
This Act, passed in 1881, introduced the principle of judicial interference between landlord and tenant. It permitted the sale of tenant right and allowed the tenant to apply to the Court to fix a judicial rent, such rent to hold good for fifteen years. It made certain alterations, in the tenant’s favour, in the law relating to compensation for improvements. It further established a Land Commission with power (1) to advance money to tenants for the purchase of their holdings, and (2) under certain conditions to purchase whole estates from the landlords. ”