ere made the object of special study in Germany and Switzerland, where
Agassiz was in the midst of his epoch-making discourses on the glacial
period.

[Sidenote: Isabella abdicates]

[Sidenote: Rule of Espartero]

Toward the end of the year wretched Spain suffered another political
upheaval. After the last abandonment of the cause of Don Carlos by General
Cabrera, in July, the Queen-Regent found herself confronted by a strong
democratic party both in the Cortes and the country. The scandals of her
private life undermined her political authority. By an insurrection at
Barcelona she was forced to call in General Espartero, the chief of the
Progressist party, as her Prime Minister. Rather than submit to his demands
she abdicated the Regency in October and left Spain. Espartero, toward the
close of the year, was acknowledged by the Cortes as Regent of Spain. His
first measures turned a large part of the people against him. On December
29, as a result of the growing discussions between the government and the
clergy, the Papal Nuncio was expelled from Madrid. Thereafter Espartero and
the clerical party of Spain were at daggers' points.

[Sidenote: Overbeck]

This year Friedrich Overbeck finished his masterpiece, the "Triumph of
Religion and the Arts." This German artist, at the time when the classicism
of David was at its height, had become his most strenuous opponent, and had
brought about the regeneration of the German religious school of painting.
He and several of his followers formed the Nazarites, whose fundamental
principle was that art existed only for the service of religion. Overbeck's
frescoes of the "History of Joseph" and "Jerusalem Delivered" are best
known. Among his paintings of this period, "The Entrance of Christ into
Jerusalem" at Luebeck, "Christ on the Mount of Olives" at Hamburg, and "The
Coronation of Mary" in the Cathedral of Cologne, are the most celebrated.

1841

[Sidenote: British capture Bogue forts]

[Sidenote: Hong Kong ceded to Britain]

The dilatory tactics of Viceroy Keshen in China had prolonged the
negotiations there for several weeks. In the meanwhile a large Chinese army
was gathering in the interior. Early in the year, after the arrival of the
British plenipotentiaries, orders were issued for an attack on the Bogue
forts. On January 7, 1,500 British troops were landed on the flank and rear
of the forts at Chuenpee. After a sharp cannonade by the fleets, the forts
were c