his part of the business effectually. He pointed out to the New Zealanders how impossible it was for them to govern themselves, and concluded his harangue by strenuously advising the chiefs to place confidence in the promises of the British. He was followed by two other favourable chiefs, and after an adjournment of one day, it having been announced that the chiefs had become impatient to sign the treaty that they might return to their homes, his Excellency gratified their wishes; and having accordingly proceeded to the tents, the treaty was signed in due form by 46 head chiefs, in presence of at least 500 of inferior degree; which, being held to be a full and clear recognition of the sovereign rights of Her Majesty over the northern parts of the island, was announced on the 7th of February last by a salute of 21 guns from Her Majesty’s ship Herald. By the first article of the treaty, the chiefs of the confederation of the united tribes of New Zealand, and the separate and independent chiefs expressly gave the powers and rights of sovereignty to Her Majesty over their respective territories; and by the second, Her Majesty confirms and guarantees them in the possession of their lands and estates, forests, fisheries, and other properties, so long as they wish to retain the same; but they yield at the same time to Her Majesty the exclusive right of pre-emption over such lands as they may be disposed to alienate; and the third grants to the natives of New Zealand all the rights and privileges of British subjects.
New Zealand had been discovered by Europeans in the seventeenth century, and claimed by James Cook for Britain in 1769, but by the 1830s it was still not a colony subject to the Crown. Instead, it was viewed as an outpost of the settlement in Australia and visited chiefly by whalers and sealers.
Prompted by reports of land speculation and independent projects to develop the country, the British government sent a naval officer, William Hobson, as lieutenant-governor to New Zealand to establish sovereignty. He invited about 500 chiefs of the Maori people to a meeting at Waitangi, in the North Island, on 5 February 1840 (news of it took six months to reach the London papers) and read out the agreement he had prepared.
The Maori wanted to negotiate a treaty to protect themselves from the French, who had colonial ambitions of their own, and to reduce fighting between their tribes. However, the precise meaning of its terms in English and Maori differed, with the latter willing to accept British rule but not to relinquish sovereignty. These conflicting interpretations would lead to a series of wars in the decades that followed.
22 March 1848
This morning (March 13), on going out about half-past 10 o’clock, I found the town in a state of great excitement, great numbers of people in the streets, and an evident impression abroad that something extraordinary was about to happen. All, however, seemed tolerably peaceable; the people were mostly of the better classes, and no one armed. Going into the Burg Platz, a square surrounded by the buildings belonging to the palace, I saw a company of soldiers drawing up, and a number of persons, apparently attracted chiefly by curiosity. In the Ball Platz adjoining, close to the official residence of Prince Metternich, there were at that time no soldiers, and only a few persons passing and repassing. Thence all was quiet as far as the English Embassy, in the Hintere Schenken Strasse. Going thence into the Herrn Gasse, in which the Landhaus is situated, in which the States of Lower Austria (the mockery of a Parliament) hold their sittings, I found it occupied by a very dense crowd, but for the most part orderly, and evidently consisting of rather the better class. It was understood that a deputation of the States was about to proceed to the Emperor; to inform him of the excitement which prevailed and the necessity for doing something to quiet the general agitation. About half past 11 o’clock I returned home; and then took a walk on the ramparts, when I not only saw a number of ladies and children, but even met the Emperor himself, with a single attendant, evidently showing that no very serious disturbance was at that time apprehended. Passing again through the Burg Platz, about 1 o’clock, I found the crowd considerably increased, and soon afterwards the place was completely cleared by the military. In the Herrn Gasse, and the Michaeli Platz adjoining, there was now an immense concourse of people. I was told that they were waiting for the answer to the deputation, which was promised in an hour’s time, but had not yet arrived. About 2 o’clock, going to the Landhaus from the Minoriten Platz, I found the building in complete possession of the populace, who had broken in with cries of “Press Freiheit!” “Keine Polizei!” “Pereat Metternich!” (“Freedom of the Press!” “No Police!” “Down with Metternich!”) It is said, that during the sitting of the States some few persons had been admitted, and the door then locked, on which they shouted to the mob from the windows that they were made prisoners. On making their way in they completely destroyed all the furniture and every article on which they could lay their hands. I made my way into the court, when I was told that a Jew had just been addressing the crowd from a boarding over the pump. I did not hear the purport of his speech, but it seemed to have given great satisfaction. The cries became now almost deafening. At this time there was no military on the spot, but about half-past 2 o’clock, or a little sooner, a company was brought up, and cleared the portion of the street abutting on the Landhaus. Being pretty well tired out I went to a reading-room, at the opposite end of the town, and stayed there half an hour. On my leaving it, I was told that the soldiers had just fired on the people, and that several were killed – report said six or eight (amongst the number two students).
Despite the restoration of the monarchy in France, the radical hopes unleashed by the Revolution, and the liberal ideas developed during the Age of Enlightenment, led to increased tension in much of Europe, still dominated by conservative rulers.
When violent protests broke out in Paris in 1848, Vienna soon followed suit. For 40 years, Austria’s leading statesman, Prince Metternich, had kept intact its empire – which stretched from Milan in Italy to Lviv in the Ukraine – by combining astute diplomacy abroad with repressive measures at home. Students were a particular target, with university fraternities being prohibited.
The scale of the demonstrations in March, stoked further by the force used against them, brought about Metternich’s resignation. For a time, he went into exile in England, living by the Thames at Richmond. Under a new Emperor, the young Franz Joseph, the Habsburgs reasserted control and Metternich was able to return. Yet he never regained his standing and his death a decade later went largely unreported by foreign newspapers.
2 May 1851
The inauguration of the Temple of the Industry of the World, an edifice as unexampled in its magnitude and materials as for the purposes to which it is applied and the collection it displays, will render yesterday for ever memorable as a great epoch in the progress of civilization. Erected at the exclusive cost and by the spontaneous subscription of the British people, it has been dedicated to the celebration of the triumphs of the useful arts throughout the globe. Its portals have been thrown open, without restriction or limit, to all nations, invited to meet there in amicable rivalry and on equal terms – an invitation which has been responded to in a spirit correspondent with that in which it was given. From the east and from the west, from the north and from the south, from the ardour of the tropics and the rigour of the poles, thousands have come to present their offerings at the common shrine – trophies collected in the victories of mind over matter – rich spoils carried away by man in his conquests over nature. The prisoners who follow the triumphal car of the victor are here the elements themselves, brought into subjection to the indomitable sway of the human will. Nothing in nature is so stubborn or intractable as to resist this power. The lightning dares no longer strike. It glides innocuous along a prescribed path, and is made to pass, as though in mockery of its impotence, over the objects which, being uncontrolled, it would have reduced to ruin. The wind and tide no longer obstruct the vessel which advances triumphantly against their force. Space and time are annihilated, and intelligence flies instantaneously between man and man at any distance, however great. Let those who take pleasure in such reflections,