Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 135, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 November 1903 — THE WEEKLY , HISTORIAN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE WEEKLY , HISTORIAN

One Hundred Years Ago. President Jefferson’s plans for the government of Louisiana territory were denounced by the federalist party as “despotism over a wilderness.” Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury, reported that imports into the United States from the Spanish territory of Florida and the French territory of Louisiana had totaled $1,006,214 for the fiscal year. Thomas Paine and Je*ome Bonaparte were reported among tlw distinguished arrivals in New York City. Anthony Merry, British minister to the United States, landed at Norfolk, Va., with more than enough household furniture to twice fill the White House, according to the newspapers of that day. The American ship Providence, bound for Amsterdam, was seized and towed tnto Portsmouth by the British, who suspected that Jerome Bonaparte was on board. t

Seventy-five Years Ago. Daniel Webster began criminal proceedings against Theodore Lyman, a Boston editor, who had insinuated in a newspaper article that Webster held traitorous correspondence with the British during the war of 1812. Funds were solicited at New York for a monument to Robert Emmet, the Irish patriot, to be erected in St Paul’s church yard. The Cayuga nnd Seneca canal was completed in the State of New York. Residents of Boston, Mass., were said to be burning coal mined near the city. Experiments in raising Indian corn in England were announced as having proved a success, and predictions tvere made that corn bread would boeomo a fad there.

Fifty Years Ago. Jennie Lind, or Jlme, Goldschmidt, ■was said to have given away all of her great fortune, except $130,000. President Franklin Pierce was reported favorable to the annexation of Hawaii because of its extensive commerce with China and Japan. President Franklin Pierce's “kitchen” cabinet was reported divided on the free soil question, Webster, Forney and Sydney taking sides against Marcy, Jefferson Davis and Guthrie, who were called the “spoils” faction.

Forty Years Ago. Chicago vessel captains were frightened by a report that two Confederate cruisers had been seen in Lake Erie off Sandusky, manned by Southern sympathizers from Canada. Two thousand machinists struck at New York City and 1,600 in the navy yard at Boston to secure $2.50 a day wages, “only>niue hours’ work on Saturdays, and the abolishment of the rule requiring them to begin work at daybreak. The governor general of Canada noti-fied-Lord Lyons, British ambassador at Washington, of a plot in Canada to liberate the rebel prisoners confined by the United States government on Johnson’s island in Lake Erie. Rebel cavalry under Wheeler and Forrest were repulsed by Union troops under Gen. W. P. Sanders in an attack on Fort Sanders, at Knoxville, Tenn.

Thirty Years Ago. A great mass meeting was held in New York City to denounce Spain’s conduct in the Yirginius affair, William M, Evarts presiding and William Cullen Bryant. John Jacob Astor, John A. Dix, Alexander T. Stewart, Gen. Franz Sigel, Fernando Wood and Cornelius Vanderbilt being among the vice presidents. Secretary of State Hamilton Fish expressed opposition to the annexation of Cuba because the United Stales would lose. $27,000,000 revenue yearly. Mass meetings were held in the chief cities the United States to denounce the execution of ’ the steamer Vlrginius’ crew by the Spanish in Cuba.., Gen. James Longstreet, former Confederate lender, and then surveyor of the port at New Orleans, was reported to have enrolled 10,000 men in that city for an expedition against the Spaniards in Cuba.

Twenty Years Ago. Secession from the dominion of Canada wns openly advocated in Manitoba and Northwest territory because of the alleged dishoucsty Of the Ottawa government. Chang, the Chinese giant, who had been refused permission to land at New York, was admitted by Collector Koberts«'.:i. who ruled thnt he was got a laborer. Catholic bishops of the United States met at Home to , *formulate a demand on the Washington government that the relations. pf church and state bo bayed onthe ennou law. ten Years Ago. - The great Eugl'wH Coal miners’ strike was settled under the chairmanship of Lord Uosebery, and a bill for the '‘nationalization” of all mines passed its first reading in the House of Commons. The offices ofHhe Indiana, lilidoi* smd low* IUUJE&ad. in ; th* Itopkery Quitting, Chicago, were robbed $21,095 in cash by two young holdup men. The city of Chicago was announced to haye overdrawn its municipal accounts f 1,834,000. compared with a surplus of $8,000,000 iu the preceding year.