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Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Great Eastern, the. (search)
Great Eastern, the. This vessel, in her day, was remarkable as being the The Great Eastern. largest steamship ever built. She was 692 feet in length, and 83 feet in breadth. 28 feet in draught, and of 24,000 tons measurement. At 30 feet draught she displaced 27,000 tons—an enormous total for an unarmored merchant vessel. As early as 1853, this vessel was projected for the East India trade around the Cape of Good Hope. There were then no accessible coal-mines in South Africa, and the Eastern Steam Navigation Company wanted a vessel that could carry its own fuel to India and return, besides, a large number of passengers and a great cargo. The vessel was designed by I. K. Brunel, and was built at the ship-yards of Messrs. Scott, Russell & Co., Millwall, near London. The operation of launching her lasted from Nov. 3, 1857, to Jan. 31, 1858. A new company had to be formed to fit her for sea, as the capital first subscribed for her had all been spent. She was fitted up to
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Hawkins, Sir John 1520-1595 (search)
Hawkins, Sir John 1520-1595 Naval officer; born in Plymouth, England, in 1520; carried a cargo of 300 slaves from Guinea in 1562, and sold them in Cuba. In 1564 he attempted to capture and enslave a whole town near Sierra Leone, and narrowly escaped being captured himself and sold into slavery. Hawkins was filled with the most pious reflections at his escape, and in his narrative (which is the first English narrative of American adventure printed) he says: God, who worketh all things for the best, would not have it so, and by Him we escaped without danger. His name be praised for it. His second cargo of slaves he sold in Venezuela and elsewhere. In this second voyage he coasted the peninsula of Florida, and gives a fairly detailed account of it in his narrative. He made a third voyage in 1568, and in spite of the King of Spain's prohibition, sold his cargoes of slaves to advantage. In the port of San Juan de Ulloa he met a Spanish fleet much stronger than his own. He made
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Jews and Judaism. (search)
sufficient. It was early felt that some more secular bond must be found which should unite the Jews of various persuasions for common and concerted action. The first attempt in this direction was nobly made by Narcisse Leven, Eugene Emanuel, Charles Netter, and a few others, in founding (1880) the Alliance Israelite Universelle in Paris, whose object it was to aid in removing Jewish disabilities wherever they might exist, and to raise the spiritual condition of their coreligionists in northern Africa, eastern Europe, and western Asia by the founding of schools. From these small beginnings the Alliance has grown to be an important factor in the conservation of Jewish interests. Faithful to its programme, it has established a large number of elementary and technical schools, and has intervened actively in Algeria, Morocco, the Turkish Empire, and Persia whenever Jews or Jewish interests were in any way threatened. Its attempt, however, to represent the whole Jewish people has not b
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Kane, Elisha Kent 1820- (search)
Kane, Elisha Kent 1820- Explorer; born in Philadelphia, Feb. 20, 1820; was educated at the universities of Virginia and Pennsylvania, taking his medical degree in 1843. Ill-health led to his entering the navy, and he sailed as physician to the embassy to China in 1843. He travelled extensively in Asia and Europe, traversed Greece on foot, explored western Africa to some extent, was in the war with Mex- Elisha Kent Kane. ico, and in May, 1850, sailed as surgeon and naturalist under Lieut. Edwin J. De Haven, in search of Sir John Franklin. Sir John, an English navigator, had sailed on a voyage of discovery and exploration with two vessels, in May, 1845. Years passed by, and no tidings of him or his companions came. Expeditions were sent from England in search of him. Public interest in the fate of Sir John was excited in Europe and the United States, and in May. 1850, Henry Grinnell, a merchant of New York, fitted out two ships, the Advance and Rescue, and placed them in char
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), McKinley, William 1843- (search)
and dividends, and made our money markets liable to constant disturbances by calls for payment or heavy sales of our securities whenever moneyed stringency or panic occurred abroad. We have now been paying these debts and bringing home many of our securities and establishing countervailing credits abroad by our loans and placing ourselves upon a sure foundation of financial independence. Action in the Boer War. In the unfortunate contest between Great Britain and the Boer states of South Africa, the United States has maintained an attitude of neutrality in accordance with its wellknown traditional policy. It did not hesitate, however, when requested by the governments of the South African republics, to exercise its good offices for a cessation of hostilities. It is to be observed that while the South African republics made like request of other powers, the United States was the only one which complied. The British government declined to accept the intervention of any power.
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Penick, Charles Clifton 1843- (search)
Penick, Charles Clifton 1843- Clergyman; born in Charlotte county, Va., Dec. 9, 1843; graduated at Alexandria Seminary in 1869. During the Civil War he served the Confederacy in the 38th Virginia Regiment; was ordained in the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1870, and was consecrated bishop of Cape Palmas, West Africa, in 1877. His publications include Hopes, perils, and struggles of the negroes in America; What can the Church do for the negro in the United States, etc.
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Slavery. (search)
Slavery. In 1562 John Hawkins, an English navigator, seeing the want of slaves in the West Indies, determined to enter upon the piratical traffic. Several London gentlemen contributed funds liberally for the enterprise. Three ships were provided, and with these and 100 men Hawkins sailed to the coast of Guinea, where, by bribery, deception, treachery, and force, he procured at least 300 negroes and sold them to the Spaniards in Hispaniola, or Santo Domingo, and returned to England with a rich freight of pearls, sugar, and ginger. The nation was shocked by the barbarous traffic, and the Queen (Elizabeth) declared to Hawkins that, if any of the Africans were carried away without their own consent, it would be detestable, and call down the vengeance of Heaven upon the undertakers. He satisfied the Queen and continued the traffic, pretending that it was for the good of the souls of the Africans, as it introduced them to Christianity and civilization. Already negro slaves had b
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Stanley, Henry Morton (search)
fter visiting several countries in the East, he sailed from Bombay (Oct. 12, 1870) for Zanzibar, where he arrived early in January, 1871, and set out for the interior of Africa (March 21), with 192 followers. He found Livingstone (Nov. 10), and reported to the British Association Aug. 16, 1872, and in 1873 he received the patron's medal of the Royal Geographical Society. He was commissioned by the proprietors of the New York Herald and the London Telegraph to explore the lake region of Central Africa. He set out from the eastern coast in November, 1874, with 300 men. When he reached the Victoria Nyanza Lake (Feb. 27, 1875), he had lost 194 men by death or desertion. He circumnavigated the lake, covering about 1,000 miles in the voyage. After exploring that interior region, he entered upon the Congo River and made a most perilous and exciting voyage down the stream. Subsequently he established the Congo Free State, and at the head of another African expedition effected the rescue
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Tripoli, War with (search)
bor of Tripoli. Com. Samuel Barron was sent to relieve Preble, who, with a large squadron, overawed the Moors and kept up the blockade. Meanwhile a movement under Capt. William Eaton, American consul at Tunis, soon brought the war to a close. He joined Hamet Caramelli, the rightful Bey of Tunis, in an effort to recover his rights. Hamet had taken refuge with the Viceroy of Egypt. There Eaton joined him with a few troops composed of men of all nations, and, marching westward across Northern Africa 1,000 miles, with transportation consisting of 190 camels, on April 27, 1805, captured the Tripolitan seaport town of Derne. They fought their way successfully towards the capital, their followers continually increasing, when, to the mortification of Eaton and the extinguishment of the hopes of Caramelli, they found that Tobias Lear, the American consul-general, had made a treaty of peace (June 4, 1805) with the terrified ruler of Tripoli. So ended the war. The ruler of Tunis was yet
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Zouaves, (search)
Zouaves, The name originally adopted by a body of French infantry, who took it from a tribe in Algeria, whose fighting men have been noted throughout northern Africa for generations. A body of these troops were incorporated with the French army. After 1840 the Zouaves were all native Frenchmen. In the Crimean War they were the élite of the French infantry. They retained the picturesque costume of the African Zouaves, and their peculiar discipline. Their dress consisted of a loose jacket and waistcoat of dark-blue cloth, red Turkish trousers, red fez with yellow tassel, green turban, sky-blue sash, yellow leather leggings, and white gaiters. At the beginning of the American Civil War a few volunteer regiments were uniformed as Zouaves, and were so called; but the costume, which made a conspicuous mark for bullets, was soon exchanged for the more sober blue and gray. The first regiment of Zouaves was that of Colonel Ellsworth— New York fire Zouaves. Some were more pictures
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