Installment 17 of 141Sign in to track your progress

XX. Le cimetière du château d'If · XXI. L'île de Tiboulen

XX. The Graveyard of the Château d'If · XXI. The Island of Tiboulen

A royal review of Moroccan trophies, the Panama Canal debate, and London missionaries denounce France over Tahiti.

  • King Louis-Philippe held a grand review at the Tuileries to present flags and trophies captured from the Moroccans, with 28 decorated non-commissioned officers carrying the trophies in procession to the Invalides.
  • A rematch chess contest between France's Saint-Amant and England's Staunton is scheduled for next month, with official witnesses appointed to record every game.
  • Marie Taglioni is reported to have accepted a year's engagement in the United States for a guaranteed 250,000 francs, after which she will retire to her villa on Lake Como.
  • French engineer M. Gaëtan Moro's survey of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec found the watershed only 200 metres high—half of earlier estimates—making a maritime canal of 360–380 km potentially viable.
  • London Missionary Society's Exeter Hall meeting passed a resolution condemning France's 'revolting tyranny' over Tahiti, with speakers also citing Mogador's bombardment as evidence of French aggression.
  • The Duc d'Aumale's formal request for the hand of Princess Caroline-Auguste of Salerno was accepted and the marriage contract signed, allying the Orleans dynasty to the Habsburg imperial house.
  • A pharmacist's apprentice in Limoges dispensed 30 grammes of emetic tartrate instead of cream of tartar; 23-year-old Suzanne Dupuytren drank the full dose in tea and died the same evening.
  • Convicted murderer Duponchel mounted the scaffold at Saint-Pol declaring his innocence, embraced the executioner, and died with a steadier pulse than any witness present.