Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 128, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 November 1903 — THE WEEKLY HISTORIAN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE WEEKLY HISTORIAN

One Hundred Years Ago. The Czar of Russia ordered a rebate of one-fourth on all merchandise imported through the Black sea, to Increase commerce iu his possession there. Fittler, the noted London engraver, was give% permission by Lord Lansdowne to copy his Stuart portrait of George Washington, for use in a life of file general to be published in England. The British consul general for the Southern States gave notice that the. islands of Martinique and Guadaloupe were blockaded by the British squadron operating against the French. « "{ The Portuguese government prohibited the young men of the country from marrying and ordered every male citizen capable of bearing arms to hold himself ready for enlistment. Edmund Pendleton, member of the continental congresses of 1774 and 1775, died at Richmond, Ya. A British army corps of Jews, organized for the war against France, was commended by the king for efficiency and permitted to receive its orders iu Hebrew.

Seventy-five Years Ago. The tariff on boots imported into England was $1.50 a pair, on clothing 30 per cent, on hardware 40 per cent, and on wool 14 to 25 cents a pound. Orators in the Jackson-Adams presidential campaign were instructed to '“bear down hard” on the fact that the latter’s administratiob had cost $9,4(30,000, against $10,472,000 spent during President James Monroe’s last term. Amos Polly, Esq., of Salem, Mass., announced that he would give a bushel of rye for proof of one “Jacksonian” vote open to purchase in the coming presidential election. Fifty Years Ago. The Wisconsin school fund, represented by the value of public lands devoted to that purpose, was estimated at $10,000,000. The city of Detroit, stirrounded by forest fires and huMlreds of farmers were reported fleeing there for refuge. Importation of Chinese was proposed as a means of breaking up the slave trade in Cuba. Capt J. W. Gunnison and five companions engaged in the government survey in Utah were murdered by Ute Indians near Lake Sevier. Harriet Beecher Stowe began suit against a publisher who had issued her . “Uncle Tom’s Cabiq” in German.

Forty Years Ago. Gen. N. P. Banks’ expedition against Texas sailed from New Orleans, La. Rebel troops under McLaws swept down from Lookout and Raccoon mountains, Tennessee, on the Union forces under Carl Schurz and Geary, and were, put to flight before daylight in the battle of Waulxatchie. The State Department at Washington was notified by France that it had blockaded the coast of Mexico, excepting at ports then in possession of its invading army. Gen. U. S. Grant began making plans to attack the rebels under Bragg oo Missionary Ridge, who had been weakened by detaching Longstreet’s forces to besiege Knoxville. A committee of Maryland slave holders protested to President Lincoln against the enlistment of negroes in the Union army, and was told that the country needed their services. Gen. U. S. Grant took command of the Union army at Chattanooga,’Tenn;, and found the soldiers on short rations and their horses dying by hundreds from starvation. Twelve hundred Union troops under Gen. Turchin were ferried across the Tennessee river at midnight near Chattanooga to open a road for supplies to the starving army of the Cumberland.

Twenty Years Ago. Fred Douglass, In i speech at n maas meeting In Washington, D. C., declared the Supreme Court’s decision on the civil rights bill would deprive the nation of Its right to protect the negro. A panic was started in Wall street by rumors that Comthodore Vanderbilt and the Lake Shore, Toledo, Wabash and Western, New Jersey Southern, and Chesape&ko and Ohio railroads were financially embarrassed. A warrant accusing Louis Riel, leader of the Canadian rebellion, with murder waa Issued by the Attorney General to prevent hla taking a teat In the Dominion Parliament, to which he had just been elected. Lord Lsnedowne succeeded the Mar quia of Lome as governor general of Canada. ,

Tea Years Ago. Ex-Speaker Thomas B. Reed, in a speech at Boston, Mass., ascribed President Grover Cleveland's election to the country's doubts In “the rights of property and the existence of God.” FrederlCo G. de Lorens was proclaimed provisional president of Brasil by rebels nnder Admiral Mello. A teat vote In the United States Senate on the Peffer amendment showed a majority of eleven votes against tree silver.