IN DAYS THAT HAVE GONE

Otago Witness, Issue 2978, 12 April 1911, Page 63

IN DAYS THAT HAVE GONE

THE WEEK'S ANNIVERSARIES. April 9. —Lord Bacon died 1626. Flinders discovered Spencer and Vincent Gulfs, 1802. Surrender of Lee at Appomattox, 1865. Rossotti died, 1882. F. Marian Crawford died. 1909. April 10.—William Hazlitt born, 1778. Roman Catholic Relief Bill became law, 1829. General Booth born. 1829. Swinburne died, 1909. April 11. —John Davidson born, 1857. Commencement of . American Civil war, 1861, Sir Monier Monier-Williams died, 1899. Explosion Canton Arsenal. 1903. Lord Cromer resigned, 1907. April 12. Bossuet -died, 1704. Battle of Guadaloupe, 1782. Senor Maura, Spanish President, stabbed, 1904. April 13.—La, Fontaine died, 1695. Thomas Jefferson bor,n, 1743. Magdala (Abyssinia) taken by Sir R. Napier, 1868. April 14.—Battle of Barnet, 1471. Handel died, 1759. President Lincoln ' assassinated, 1865. April 15. —Philip Laing arrived Port Chalmers, 1848. Matthew Arnold died, 1888. First Imperial Conference opened London, 1907. The surrender of General Lee, with the army of Northern Virginia, to General Grant, at Appomattox Courthouse, was one of the closing events of the American Civil war. The success of the Federal army in breaking the lines of Petersburg had rendered the retreat of Lee's Confederate forces.imperative. Lee .-etreated westward, hoping to be able to join forces with General Johnston, but he found the pursuit too hot, and his food supplies were completely intercepted. All the terms of the surrender named by Grant were generous, and his treatment _ of the conquered general was characteristically courteous and chivalrous. No private property was to be surrendered, the men were even to retain their horses, and both officers and men were to be dismissed on parole. When the politicians afterwards undertook to repudiate some of the terms of surrender, Grant personally intervened, and used tho power of his own name to enforce an exact fulfilment. " General " William Booth, the remarkable founder and head of the Salvation Army, was born in Nottingham on April 10, 1829. In 1849 ho went to London, where, according to his own account, his passion for openair preaching caused his severance from the Wesleyans. Attracted by tho needs of tho East End of London, he arid his devoted wife began mission work in Whitechapel in 1865, and the actual Salvation Army was gained shortly before Christmas, 1877. Though it met with much bitter opposition,

tins growth and success of the army have been phenomenal. Its work i£ now established' in some 60 countries, and its thousands of officers preach the gospel in more than 30 different languages. In view of the immense work that General Booth has organised for the criminal, the suffering, the outcast and despised classes, he has been repeatedly (honoured by Kings and Presidents, as well as by the most famous universities. The general, who is still remarkably active, though now 82 years of age, visited New Zealand some five years ago, and addressed .several meetings in 13 u nod in. The great struggle between the Northern and Southern parts of the United States over the question of slavery was commenced by the bombardment of Fort Sumter by Confederates, under Beauregard. After a long bombardment and a gallant defence by a small and half-starved garrison, the fort was surrendered on April 12, 1861. This insult to the flag immediately roused a universal burst of patriotic indignation throughout the Northern States. The war, which lasted till 1865, ended in the victory for the North, and the consequent abolition of slavery. Official returns show that it-cost the Northern, or Union, army in one way or another the lives of no less than 10,000 officers and 350,000 men. Northern writers have assumed that the Confederate losses equalled the Union losses, but no data exist for a reasonably accurate estimate. The total number.of men furnished from the several States and territories to the United States army and" navy during the war was 2,788,000. On April 12, 1782, Admiral Rodney, returning to the West Indies with his fleet of 36 ships, encountered the French near the island of SainteMarie-Galante. The battle of 11 'hours which ensued, and in which 5000 men were killed or wounded, was one of the most tremendous contents ever witnessed upon the ocean before the time of Nelson. The French were totally defeated, and their admiral, De Grasse, taken prisoner. France could do nothing to repair the disaster, and her naval power was eliminated from the situation at a single blow. On April 12, 1904, a youth named Joaquin Artal attempted to slab Senor Maura, the Spanish Premier, at Barcelona, with a kitchen knife, and succeeded in slightly wounding him. Artal, who was an Italian, shouted, " Long live anarchy. Senor Maura's coolness in plucking out the weapon and going to the telegraph office to despatch to Madrid tho news of the failure of the attempt was widely appiauedd. Magdala is the chief town of Abyssinia. In 1865 Theodore, ruler of Abyssinia, fancying he had been slighted by England's refusal, to help him against the Egyptians, seized many English subjects and imprisoned them. Peaceful overtures having led to nothing, an expedition consisting of 4000 British and 8000 native troops, under General Sir Robert Napier, was sent from India to bring tho barbarian to terms. After a most difficult march of over 400 miles through unknown country, Magdala was reached on, April 13, 1868, and bombarded and stormed. King Theodore shot himself at the moment of the entrance of the British troops. The defences of the

town w-i?o destroyed before the excedition returned. Abraham Lincoln, who roust always taka a front rank among tjhio great and noble men who have occupied the position of President of the United States, was assassinated on April 14, 1865. The final success of his efforts to abolish the slave trade roused a small band of. his opponents to fanatical hatred and despair. At the head of this band was John Wilkes Booth, alias Payne, an n.ctor and a disbanded lebcl soldier from Florida. On learning of "the President's intention of attending Ford's Theatre in Washington, he laid careful plans. About 10 p.m. he gained admission to the theatre and to the President's box. Then, holding a pistol in one hand and a knife in the other, he put the pistol to the President's head and fired, aiterwaids striking savagely at Major Rathbono with the knife. He vaulted lightly over the railing of the box and landed on the stage. Turning to the audience, he brandished the dripping" knife, and, shouting the State motto of Virginia, "Sic sampor tyrannis," he fled rapidly across the etage, bbough ho had broken his leg in his fall. He made his escape on a horse he had in readiness, and 1 for a time was successfully concealed. About 10 days later, however, he was discovered in a barn by a party of soldiers. As ho refused to surrender, the place was set on fire, and he was shot down as ho came out. The President's wound would have b-ought instant death to most men, but his vital tenacity was extraordinary, and it was not till 22 minutes past 7 on the following morning that he died. The Philip Laing, which carried the balk of the emigrants who formed the first settlement of Otago, arrived in Otago Harbour on Saturday, April 15, 1348, 24 daya after the arrival of the John Wickbire. and 140 after she first started from Greenock. She was a barque of 547 tens, and tbo terms for passage varied from 55 to 60 guineas for the foreeabin, 20 guineas and 16 guineas for the steerage. There were 247 envgranis on board under the supervision e; the Rev. Thomas Bun I '--. On arrival at Port Chalmers she was boarded by Pilot, Driver, whose boat, manned by a fine Native crow, was the admiration of all as it swiftly pulled alongside the weather-beaten vessel.