1840
Treaty of Waitangi
On a lawn in the Bay of Islands, some forty Maori chiefs signed a treaty with the British Crown - in Maori translation that said rather less than the English original. The document would become New Zealand's founding charter, its longest grievance, and, a century and a half later, the basis for reparations still being paid.
Penny Post Begins
Rowland Hill's reform of the British postal system made a uniform penny stamp carry a letter anywhere in the kingdom. Postage had been ruinous; now it was nothing. Working people began to write to each other. The volume of mail tripled in a year, and the modern letter was born, stuck to an envelope.
Elphinstone's Retreat Prelude
In Kabul, the British garrison spent an unhappy winter as the emir's subjects muttered in the bazaars. The political agent Burnes had been assassinated the previous autumn; envoys murdered under flags of truce. General Elphinstone, old and sick, could not decide anything. His army would pay in January 1842. Of 16,500 soldiers and camp followers who marched out, exactly one European survived to reach Jalalabad.
Penny Black Stamp Issued
The world's first adhesive postage stamp went on sale in Britain - a small black square with Queen Victoria's profile. A stamped letter could now cross the kingdom for a penny. The Penny Black became the most famous stamp in philatelic history, and arguably the most revolutionary piece of paper ever stuck to an envelope.
Napoleon's Return From St. Helena
Louis-Philippe, hoping to borrow glory, had Napoleon's remains dug up on St. Helena and brought back to Paris in a frigate. Hundreds of thousands lined the route down the Champs-Elysees in freezing December to watch the cortege pass. The bones were laid to rest beneath the dome of Les Invalides, where they remain.