sedition in Ireland. On May 30, O'Connell was
sentenced to imprisonment for one year and fined L2,000. After Lord
Heytesbury's advent as Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland the judgment of the Irish
Court of Queen's Bench against O'Connell was reversed and O'Connell and his
associates were liberated. Baring's bill for a renewal of the Bank of
England's charter was passed with a handsome government majority. The new
Royal Exchange was opened by the Queen in October. Another measure which
was speedily passed through Parliament, owing to the slight importance
attached to it, was Gladstone's bill requiring the railroads of England to
provide proper accommodations and to run cheap trains daily. The government
was authorized, with the approval of Parliament, to undertake the gradual
purchase of all existing railways before the year 1866. At this same time
there were but fourteen miles of railroad in all British America. Minor
events of importance to Englishmen were the foundation of the Young Men's
Christian Association by certain drygoods clerks of London, and the
demolition of the notorious Fleet Prison, made immortal by the novels of
Dickens.

[Sidenote: Secession of Santo Domingo]

The discovery of gold in South Australia drew hordes of immigrants to that
colony. Others were attracted to America by the discovery of diamonds in
Brazil. In the West Indies, the successful rising against President Boyer
of Hayti resulted in the foundation of the Black Republic of Santo Domingo.
President Riviere, at the head of 20,000 negroes from Hayti, was defeated
and had to abandon his attempt to subdue the Dominicans. Guerrier
superseded him as President of Hayti. The warlike spirit of these negroes
spread to the neighboring island of Cuba. Various armed risings of the
blacks in the province of Santiago and elsewhere were sternly put down by
the Spaniards and their white descendants in Cuba.

[Sidenote: Otto's reign in Greece]

A bloodless revolution in Greece resulted in the dismissal of King Otto's
Bavarian Ministry and the King's acceptance of a Constitution, which left
the King almost as absolute as before. Yet his government was weak and
slipshod. The wretched fiscal system and heavy taxation of the old Turkish
regime were retained, while ill-managed innovations from Bavaria, such as
military conscription, drove large numbers to brigandage. As an American
traveller remarked at the time: "The whole Greek Government is one enormous
job."