"The Stationmaster" was published in 1830—a year of great revolutionary conflict throughout Europe. In France Charles X was deposed by revolutionaries on July 29 after a six-year reign. The Bourbon duc d'Orleans was then declared "citizen king " by the French Liberals. He would reign until 1848 as Louis Philippe.

Inspired by the French example, Belgian revolutionaries demanded independence from the Netherlands and forced Dutch troops out of Brussels in early October. Belgium was recognized as an independent nation-state by the end of December. Russia was not immune to the revolutionary fever sweeping Europe. In 1830 Polish nationalists formed a union with Lithuania and declared independence from Russia. The rebellion was subsequently put down with the Russian victory at Warsaw in September, 1831.

In Russia Czar Nicholas I, a member of the Romanov dynasty, became ruler on December 14, 1825. That date marks the Decembrist rebellion in St. Petersburg, when a group...