HKB
[Sidenote: Death of Andrew Jackson]
By the aid of the Whig Senators a treaty on this basis was approved by the Senate. With this question out of the way, the brunt of preparing for war now fell upon the new administration. Troops were massed within striking distance, and General Taylor was put in command of the American army. He proceeded to St. Joseph's Island, and from there crossed over to Corpus Christi on the mainland, near the mouth of the Neuces. At this point more troops were concentrated to remain in winter quarters until the opening of hostilities. On June 8, Andrew Jackson died at "The Hermitage" in Tennessee. He had lived there quietly ever since his retirement from the Presidency. One of his last acts was to write a public letter to President Polk, wherein he urged him to prompt action in the Oregon boundary matter so as to be ready for decisive measures in Texas.
[Sidenote: Slave trade under ban]
[Sidenote: General Zurbano shot]
The frustration of the British attempt to keep slavery out of Texas was offset in other directions. A convention was concluded between Ecuador and Great Britain to suppress slave trading in that region. In Cuba, likewise, General Concha took measures for the total suppression of the slave trade. A law was passed making the trade a criminal offence in the Spanish West Indies. The government of Spain after much reluctance recognized the independence of Venezuela. Affairs in Spain had taken a new turn. On January 21, General Zurbano was betrayed into the hands of his enemies and was shot. The Cortes adopted a reactionary constitution.
[Sidenote: Atrocities in Algiers]
In France, a Liberal majority in the Chambers, after a prolonged struggle, brought about the expulsion of the Jesuits. In the midst of this movement, Cavaignac, the great opposition journalist, expired. The French war in Algeria by this time had degenerated into mere guerilla fighting. The chief event of the year brought execration upon the arms of France. A tribe of Kabyles had taken refuge in the caves of Dahra. Unable to dislodge them from there, General Pelissier gave orders to smoke them out. Some five hundred of the tribesmen, among them women, children and aged people, were suffocated.
[Sidenote: Colonial expansion]
[Sidenote: Sikhs belligerent]
Colonial extension in other parts of the world was carried on in like aggressive manner. Thus a joint expedition of France and Great Britain made an attack on Tamatave in Madagascar, but failed of success. Another joint expedition of the two powers forced the Republic of Argentine to concede free navigation of the La Plata River. From China concessions were wrested by which Christian missionaries were to be admitted to all of the five treaty ports. As a consequence of these concessions a virulent hatred of the foreigners sprang up among the common people of China. In South Africa, Governor-General Maitland of Cape Colony earned the everlasting hatred of the Boers by sending out an armed expedition to assist the black warriors of Griqualand against the Boers. In India, affairs at Lahore had reached a crisis. There the boy Maharajah, with his regent mother and her favorite sirdar, Lal Singh, were at the mercy of their Sikh soldiery. To save themselves they determined to launch their army upon the British.
[Sidenote: John Franklin's Arctic quest]
[Sidenote: Conflagration of Quebec]
[Sidenote: Irish famine]
[Sidenote: Peel's Cabinet resigns]