THIS WEEK'S ANNIVERSARIES

Evening Star, Issue 19942, 11 August 1928, Page 13

THIS WEEK'S ANNIVERSARIES

AUGUST, 5 Those' who deny tjiat the world is getting better and look with regret on the good old days should remember a few of the disadvantages of living in earlier times. One wlis the liability to torture, riot necessarily because of any crime committed, bijjfc ' often at the caprice of some overlord or political or religious taction. On August 5, 1447, John, Duke of Exeter, died. It was ho who, when governor ol the Tower of London, first brought rack into use there. This dreadful instrument came to bo called the Duke of Exeter’s daughter, and it was employed in' tho Tower for nearly 200 years. Tortuio was never greatly practised in Britain,, but it was used as late as 1646 on witches. On the Continent every State prison and every feudal castle bad its .torture chamber. The feudal barons of the German, Italian, and French States inflicted torture on their subjects and enemies as a common practice. Tho instruments of judicial torture have ’ been various. The most celebrated are the boot, the rack, and the thumbscrew. These devices were used ‘chiefly for - the sake' of extracting evidence from reluctant witnesses. In addition, there were the punishments and modes of putting to death by lingering tortures—mutilation, breaking on the wheel, burning at the stake, disembowelling, etc. Till comparatively recent times prison discipline, penalties in tho Army and Navy, the management of the insane, and even school punishments were 'T a nature that were reminiscent of the callous brutality ol tho darker ages. In France and Germany torture was part of the judicial systems almost to the beginning of the nineteenth century. Amongst famous men who were tortured were Savonarola and Galileo.

AUGUST 6 ■ Ben Jonsou died on August 6, 1637. He was buried in Westminster Abbey. Over his grave arc tho words “ 0 rare Bcii Jonsou.” Richly endowed by Nature both physically and mentally, ho led a life of great activity, till at tho age of 52 he was stricken by the palsy. In tho last two years before his death ho was unable to leave his room. Jouson was the posthumous son of a minister. His stepfather was a bricklayer. Ben followed this trade for a brief space, but he “could not endure tho occupation.” Then he was a soldier in the Low Countries, where ho 'distinguished _ himself by killing one of the enemy in-single combat “in tho face of both the campcs.” Next ho married. According to his own account his wife -was “ a shrew, yet honest.” Probably because of her tongue-ho on one occasion stayed away from her for five years. . _ . About 1597 his connection with the stage began, but his dramatic career was nearly cut short by the hangman, ho . having killed an actor in a duel, lu 1598 ‘Every Man in His Humour' was produced, with Shakespeare in the cast. Many other dramatic pieces followed Ho wrote masques of singular beauty, and in addition ho was the author of songs, elegies, epistles, love poems, epigrams, and epitaphs. Of his songs ‘Drink to Mo Only With Thine Eyes’ is the best known. In 1617-19 Jonsou journeyed on , foot to Scotland, was made a burgess of Edinburgh, and visited William Drummond at Hawthornden. What was probably a highly entertaining, account .of. his jouruev was destroyed by lire. Ben Jonsou had a genius for friendship. One of the first of London clubmen, lie was admired especially by the young wits and poets, who were his literary “sons.”

AUGUST 7 It was on August-7, 16!)!), that William Dumpier set Ms foot on Australian soil, being tho first Englishman to do .so. Dumpier was a hardy buccaneer of tho old school, not, one should imagine, troubled either w-itli morals or con-' science. Horn at Yeovil (Somerset), ho went, to sea at an early age. When ho was 27 lie joined a party of buccaneers, who crossed tho Isthmus of Darien, sacked Santa Marta, and avaged tlio coast. Three years later he took part in another exploit of' a similar nature, coasting ,a"long_ tho shores of Chile, Peru, and Mexico, sailing thenco across the Pacific and touching at tho Philippine Islands, China, and Now Holland. Ho was not an easy man to get on with, and Ins comrades, according to a pleasant custom of tiro time, marooned him on the Nicobar Islands, but ho escaped in a native canoe, accomplishing what is considered to be an amazing feat of' seamanship. Soon afterwards Dampicr was deputed by the British Government to | conduct a voyage of discovery in t"“ South Seas, in which ho explored the west and north-west coasts of Australia, also the coasts of New Guinea and New Britain. His vessel was wrecked, but the hardy old buccaneer got back to London safely, and was sent out in charge of two ships in a privateenng expedition to the South Seas. The master of one of his two vessels was that. Alexander Selkirk who was marooned during this voyage at Juan Fernandez, and was yet to bo made immortal as Robinson Cmsoe. JDampier returned homo at the end of 1707, poor and -broken as the result of charges of drunkenness and cruelty made against him. Next year he sailed again ns pilot to a privateer which rescued Selkirk, and returned in 1711, after a. prosperous voyage. Dampicr died four years later. AUGUST 8 George Canning died on August 8, 1827. This distinguished statesman and orator held office in critical times, when tho wisdom of tho serpent was needed in international affairs. Ho was the most British of British statesmen, a ml served his country _ well, though his record was not without blemish in all respects. llis lather died in poverty when the sun was only a year old, and bis mother married an actor, and later a liiicn draper. The boy would not have had'much of a start in life but for a banker unde, who put him on the right track and gave him a good education. 'When I he, entered the House of Commons ho 1 made a profound impression by his I speeches in favour of tho abolition ol , the slave trade. He helped tho Gov- | eminent with Ins speeches, and with a vitriolic and ready pen, and so the road to office was opened to him. Among his achievenients ns Foreign Minister he arranged the relations of Brazil and Portugal, drew the ! French Cabinet into agreement with tho British respecting Spanish-Amcri : can affairs, was the first to recognise : tho free States of Spanish America, i promoted the treaty combining Engi land, France! and Russia for tho settlement of the affairs of Greece, proI tectod Portugal from Spanish invasion, contended earnestly for Catholic emancipation, and prepared the way for a repeal of tho Com Laws. During his tenure of office Canning planned the expedition for the seizure of the Danish which did so much to upset ; the plans of Napoleon, and he recommended the energetic prosecution of hostilities in Spain under Sir John Moore and the Duke of Wellington._ Canning holds a prominent place in British annals as a parliamentary orator, hut on the whole he is considered inferior to Pitt. Burke, or Fox. Canning was one of fortune’s favourites. But for the practical help of his uncle his life rm’"ht have heen very differ ent. for he possessed certain characteristics that were field in check by good influences at Eton and Oxford. AUGUST 9 It was on August 9, 1593, thatlzaak ' Walton was born.’ Ho might bo called the patron saint of the anglers. Many pens have been employed in descrip-

tions of this pastime, but ,nunc save Walton have been, successful in conveying its magic to paper. Yet ho was fifty years oi age before lie found leisure to indulge in his hobby. Up to that time be was a shopkeeper in London, and one can imagine him listening with longing to the descriptions by his conn try customers of the condition of the rivers. In time lie amassed a competence—not a largo sum, probably, in those days-—and retired to Shailowl’ord. in Staffordshire, where for six years ho fished the streams of the neighbourhood. Then he became an author, living at Farnham Castle, not far from London, yet' within roach of various fishing streams. He wrote biographies of rioted men that have a high place in our literature, but it was ‘ The Cornpleat'Angler ’ that made him famous. His angling was not confined to the trout and the salmon, hut wo hear from him about the unifier or grayling. the luce or pike, the carp, the tench, the cel, the barbel, the roach, and other denizens of _ the rivers. • 'The discourse with Viator is interspersed with dialogue, cpniint old verses, songs, and idyllic glimpses ot countrv life, it 1 reveals a contented mind, with happy days spent out of doors, and cheerful nights in. genial simplicity at hospitable, inns, where the fare ,was good and the company entertaining. It is one of the world’s great books, beloved of Lamb and Coleridge. London’anglers erected a window' to Wafton’s memory in the Church of St. Dunstan in 1895. AUGUST 10 Several Napiers have earned <lis tinction in British history of them was born on August 10, 1782. This was Sir Charles James Napier, the conqueror of Sind. Quarrelsome with his superiors, he was beloved by Ills soldiers.- it must be remembered to his honour that he was the first English general who ever recorded in his despatches the names of private soldiers who had distinguished themselves, side by side with those of officers. Tic has been described as “ ot wild yet noble and striking appearance.’’ He certainly was a great soldier, the hero of many a hard campaign. He commanded the 50th Foot during the retreat’ on Corunna, and at the battle in which So - John Moore fell he was wounded in five places and made prisoner. The great Ney. hearing that Napier had a blind and widowed ‘ mother at Home, set him free, but ns soon as the rules of war permitted ' be returned to the Peninsula and took pari in sonrn "rim fighting ,at Bnsaco, Puentes dOuoro, and Badajoz. It was in India that NapW partmularly distinguished himsejf. Mitli much inferior forces he achieved groat victories at thud, particularly over Shore Mohammed, and was made Governor of the province. TT° soon gained the respect and affection of the people, but acrimonious interchanges with the authorities ■ at Homo, led to Ids retirement. A year or two later ho was appointed commandcr-in-chicf

of the Army in India, but he did not last very long; in that position. A quarrel with Lord Dalhousie caused his return to England, where ho resided till his death. The statue of Napier that was set up in Trafalgar square was constructed largely by subscriptions of private soldiers. AUGUST 11 On August 11, 1840, the British (lag was hoisted at Akarca by Captain Stanley. And thereby hangs a talc. In July of that year a French frigate, L’Aube, dropped anchor in the Bay of Islands. Her captain, who was warmly received by Governor Hobson, could not keep the secret of his mission. A generous dinner unloosed his tongue, and his host overheard him make the remark that he was on his •’■ay to Akaroa to take possession, in the name f Louis-Philippe, of the South Island. Hobson, thoroughly alarmed, promptly despatched H.M.S! Britomart to hoist the English flag at Akaroa. The Britomart reached the threatened port a few days before' the Frenchmen. Then it was found that an emigrant ship, with a number of French settlers, was coming to set up a small colony. The captain of L’Aube, finding himself forestalled, good-humouredly made the best of the position. Some of the emigrants landed and_ settled permanently at Akaroa but it was under the Union Jack The events of August 11 decided the fate of New Zealand. As Andre Siegfried regretfully observed in Ills ‘ Democracy in New Zealand,’ “ she slipped for over from France, and fell under the _ influence of tho Anglo-Saxon civilisation.’’