ned in December. An organization of the House was at last
effected by John Quincy Adams, who put a question to vote which the
Speaker had refused to present. The Representatives indulged for the first
time in the practice of "pairing off." Adams opposed this, declaring that
it was a violation of the Constitution, of an express rule of the House
which the Representatives owed to their constituents. Another event of the
year in America was the failure of the United States Bank at Philadelphia,
in consequence of speculations in cotton, as the result of which the
government lost $2,000,000 of its deposits. Other bank failures followed.
Mississippi repudiated $5,000,000 of its State bonds. The first power loom
for making carpets was set up at Lowell, Massachusetts. Charles Goodyear
obtained his first patent for making vulcanized rubber. The express
business was organized by Harndon, who sent his first pack from New York to
Boston by the public messenger. Longfellow published his romance
"Hyperion," and "Voices of the Night," a collection of verses embracing
some of his most widely known poems. In the same year appeared Willis's
"Letters from Under a Bridge" and Cooper's "History of the Navy."

Toward the close of the year, Queen Victoria held a Privy Council at
Buckingham Palace, at which she announced her intention to marry her
cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

[Sidenote: Queen Victoria's betrothal]

Greville wrote in his diary that "about eighty Privy Councillors were
present, the folding-doors were thrown open, and the Queen came in, attired
in a plain morning gown, but wearing a necklace containing Prince Albert's
portrait. She read the declaration in a clear, sonorous, sweet tone of
voice, but her hand trembled so excessively that I wonder she was able to
read the paper which she held."

All this time the agitation for the People's Charter in England went on
unabated. In the autumn, St. Paul's Cathedral in London was temporarily
taken possession of by a large body of Chartists. Churches were likewise
entered in Manchester.

[Sidenote: Popular riots in England]

[Sidenote: The Charter propaganda]

At Newport, in Monmouthshire, an organized attempt was made, under the
leadership of John Frost and Zephaniah Williams, to rescue Henry Vincent
from prison. Armed with guns, crowbars and pick-axes the mob poured into
the town twenty thousand strong. They were met by a small body of soldiery,
and after a sharp