IN DAYS THAT HAVE GONE

Otago Witness, Issue 3017, 10 January 1912, Page 82

IN DAYS THAT HAVE GONE

THE WEEK’S ANNIVERSARIES. Jan. 7. —Calais lost, 1558. Allan Ramsay died, 1757. James Macandrew elected Otago Superintendent (unopposed), 1860. Korea proclaimed independence, 1895. Jan. 8. —Galileo died, 1642. Capo Colony surrendered to Great Britain, 1806. Battle of New Orleans, 1815. Jan. 9.—W. P. Frith, R.A., born, 1819. Napoleon 111 died, 1873. Victor Emanuel died, 1878. Jan. 10. —Aubrey do Vcro born, 1814. Penny pest introduced, 1840. Mary Russell Mitford died, 1855. Steamer London, bound from London to Melbourne, foundered in Bay of Biscay, 1866. Jan. 11.—Dean Milner born, 1751. Sir Hans Sloanc died, 1753. Ruapohapcha pa captured, 1846. Lord Ourzon born, 1859. Jan. 12.—Burke born, 1729. Now Zealand Exhibition opened in Dunedin, 1365. Lord Chelmsford’s army crossed Zulu border, 1879. Jan. 13. —Mazzini born, 1803. Massacre in Cabul Pass, 1842. Victor Cousin died, 1867. Allan Ramsay, author of the Gentle Shepherd, a pastoral in the Lowland Scottish dialect, was born in Lanarkshire in 1686. At the age of 15 ho was apprenticed to a barber in Edinburgh, so that it was a barber who set agoing tho movement that culminated in tho poetry of Burns. Tho Gentle Shepherd, which is the only production of* Ramsay that has much claim to remembrance, not only attracted attention among students of poetry as the first genuine pastoral after Theocritus, but at once became a favourite and a living force among the peasantry in whoso dialect it was written, and for who.se character it furnished ideal models. Once Ramsay had established a character as a pcet he abandoned the trade of wig-making, set up aa a book seller, and was tho first to start a circulating 'ihrary in Scotland. On January 7, 1895, the independence of Korea was formally proclaimed at Seoul. For a time Japanese influence prevailed, and the party favourable to it controlled affairs But Russian jealousy gave encouragement to the opposing faction, headed by the Queen, and the latter succeeded at length in thwarting most of the aims of the Japanese. A joint protectorate w r as established for a time, but the question of ascendency in Korea was finally settled hv the Russo-Japanese war, which displaced Russia completely from the country. Galileo Galilei, one of tho earliest and greatest of experimental philcsophere, was born at Pisa in February, 1564. Of brilliant intellect and achievement from his

early youth, he was appointed to the post of mathematical lecturer at the Pisan University in 1588. During the ensuing two years he carried on that remarkable series of scientific experiments by which he established the first principles of dynamical science, and earned the undying hostility of the bigoted Aristotelians of that day. From 1592 to 1610 he enjoyed a period of uninterrupted prosperity as professor of mathematics at Padua. Though not the original discoverer cf the telescope Galileo greatly developed the principle on which it is based, and his direction of the new instrument to the heavens formed an era in the history of astronomy. His exposure of crude astronomical fallacies brought him into violent conflict with the authorities of the Roman Catholic Church, and for many years he was condemned hr the Inquisition to strict retirement as punishment for his “heresies.” On January 8, 1642, he closed his long life of triumph and humiliation, and the coincidence of the day of his birth with that of Michael Angelo’s death was paralleled by the coincidence of the year of his death witlT that of the birth of Isaac Newton.

Charles Louis Napoleon was the son of Louis, the brother of Naooleon I, and was born in Paris in 1808. Hi's father had been created King of Holland by Napoleon Bonaparte, but the restoration of the Bourbons in 1815 sent him into exile. Ho retired to England, where ho lived till the Revolution of 1848. In that year he returned to France and was elected President. In 1852. by means of a “ coup d’etat,” he assumed the title of Napoleon 111. The Franoo-German war brought about his downfall, and he had to surrender to the Gorman army. On the conclusion of the war he returned to England, where he lived till his death, which occurred on January 9 1873. Mary Russell Mitford, born in Hampshire in December, 1786, retains an honourable place in English literature as the authoress of “ Our Village,” a series of sketches of village scenes and character unsurpassed in their kind, and after half a century of imitations, as fresh as if they had been written yesterday. She lived a life of close attendance upon her' scapegrace father, Dr Mitford, who was the centre of her affections. Her writing has all the charm of perfectly unaffected spontaneous humour, combined with quick wit and exquisite literary skill. She died on January 10/ 1855. Sir Hans Sloane. a celebrated collector and successful physician, was born in April, 1660, in County Down, Ireland. His merits ns n collector of plants and curios were sufficient to give him a high place in the scientific circles of the time. He Became secretary of the Royal Society in 1693, and edited its “ Transactions ” for 20 years. On his death, on January 11, 1753, ho bequeathed his books, manuscripts, prints, drawings, pictures, medals, coins, seals, cameos, and other curiosities to the nation, on condition that Parliament should pay to his executors £20,000, which was a good deal loos than the valuo of the collection. The bequest was accepted, and the collection, together with George IPs royal library, was opened to the public at Bloomsbury as the British Museum in 1759. In December, 1378. certain conditions were sent by the British to the Zulu chief Oetewayo in the form of an ultimatum which gave him 30 day to decide for submission or war. It proved to be war. Lord Chelmsford was appointed to the command of the troops upon the frontier, and on January 12, the very day on which the time allowed for the acceptance of the ultimatum expired, the frontier was crossed. The invasion was directed towards Ulundi. the Zulu capital, and the first step produced the terrible disaster at Isandlana. Towards the close of 1841 an insurrection broke out against the British troops that wero occupying Cabal. Sir Alexander Burns was murdered, aqd soon the whole city was in wild insurrection. After fruitless plotting.s and negotiations the whole army, with camp followers bringing the number up to 16.000, marched-out of the cantonments on January 6, 1842, leaving behind nearly all the cannon. The horrors of the retreat form one of the darkest pages in English military history. In bitter cold and snow, which took all the life out of tho wretched Bopoys, without proper clothing or shelter, and hampered by a disorderly mass of thousands of camp followers. the army entered tho terrible defiles which lie between Cabul and Jellalahad. Tho retiring crowd was a more unresisting prey to tho assaults of the mountaineers. Tho straggling remnant of an army entered tho Jugdulluk Pass to find that it had been barricaded by the fanatical, implacable tribes. A few mere fugitives escaped from the scene of actual slaughter. Within 16 miles of Jellalahad the number was reduced to six. Of these six, five were killed by straggling marauders on the way. Literally one man, Dr Brydon. came to Jellalahad on January 13. out of a moving host, which had numbered in all some 16.000 when it set out on its march. “ The curious eye,” says McCarthy. “ will pearch through history or fiction in vain for any picture more thrilling with the suggestions of an awful catastrophe than that of this solitarv survivor, faint and reeling on his iaded horse ns he appeared under the wall* of Jellalahad to bear the tidings of our Thermopylae of pain and shame.”