Inhaltsangabe
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1856. Excerpt: ... William IV. died, at an advanced age, in June, 1837, and was succeeded by his niece, the princess Victoria, only child of the duke of Kent. She was nineteen years of age at her accession. In the year 1840, she was married to her cousin, Prince Albert, of Saxe Coburg Gotha, a small duchy forming one of the states of the German Confederation. Their first child was Victoria Adelaide Mary Louisa, born in 1840; and their second, Albert Edward, who is the present Prince of Wales, was born 1841. They have besides these, six other sons and daughters. Shortly after the accession of the queen, a serious dispute occurred between the Chinese government and our own. The Chinese emperor had for some time prohibited the importation of opium, a nauseous drug to which persons become attached by long use, and which, when once liked, is not easily abstained from. In China the natives use it in two ways--one is by chewing it, the other by smoking it. In either case it exerts an intoxicating influence, and when sleep follows, it is generally accompanied with pleasurable but demoralizing dreams. It was therefere not without reason, that in a country like China, where the sovereign is regarded as the father of his subjects, the emperor deemed it his duty to discourage the use of so injurious a drug among the people. The desire jof gain, however, operated so strongly upon the minds of certain British merchants connected with our East Indian colonies, that they carried on a smuggling trade with the natives for many years. This was well known to the Chinese government, who, nevertheless, connived at it. At length, some grievous misunderstandings arose from the mutual ignorance existing between the officers of both countries, regarding each other's language and manners, and the Ch...
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