This phrase was applied to Disraeli’s Reform Bill of 1867 by Lord Cranbourne, and was afterwards adopted by Lord Derby as an accurate description of the course the Government was taking.

James I of England was called by Sully the most learned fool in Christendom.

Dictionary of Historical Allusions — Part 143

An outbreak between the Druses and the Maronites having occurred in 1860, the Turkish authorities compelled the latter to lay down their arms, under promise of protection. This they failed to afford, and the Druses attacked the Maronite villages, and massacred hundreds. Later in the year, the fanatical anti-Christian spirit spread to Damascus, and the Christian quarter of the town was sacked, over two thousand Christians perishing at the hands of the Moslems, without any attempt at interference on the part of the Turkish Governor. A European Convention was held, and France and England were entrusted by the Powers with the task of restoring order in the disturbed districts. This they accomplished, and forced upon the Sultan the appointment of a Christian Governor in the Lebanon.

Dictionary of Historical Allusions — Part 143

A document left by the Shôgun Iyeyasu, founder of the Tokugawa dynasty of Shôguns, in 1598, as a guide to his successors in the conduct of affairs.

Dictionary of Historical Allusions — Part 143

The provinces of Bologna, Ferrara and Romagna, over which the Popes claimed sovereign rights. They were surrendered to France by the Treaty of Tolentino in 1797.

A memorial drawn up by Defoe, in support of the Kentish Petition in 1701.

An armed band of Frisian peasants, some thousands in number, who rose in revolt in 1580, being exasperated beyond endurance by the license of the States’ soldiery. Though well-drilled and led, they were unable to stand against the veterans of the Count of Hohenlohe, by whom they were defeated and dispersed.

The only existing French order of knighthood, instituted by Napoleon, when First Consul, in 1802. Though military in form, it is open to civilians.

The supporters of the claims of the Bourbon branch of the Royal House of France from 1814 to 1883. On the death of the Comte de Chambord without issue in the latter year, they transferred their allegiance to the Orleans branch, with the exception of a small section, known as the Blancs d’Espagne, who support the Spanish Bourbons as the rightful occupiers of the throne of France.