influential class of natives by his entire disregard of their feelings and prejudices. Especially was this the case when, as happened at Sattara, territory was seized, on the ground that the native ruler, being childless, was without an heir. The Hindoos, like the old Romans, regard an adopted son and a real son as standing on exactly the same footing, and as in the case of the old Romans, this idea was based on the religious belief that the father needed a son to perform certain sacrifices for his benefit after death. When, therefore, Lord Dalhousie refused to acknowledge Nana Sahib, the adopted son of the Rajah of Sattara, as his successor, he was guilty, in Hindoo opinion, of an unjust and irreligious act. Moreover, Lord Dalhousie alienated, especially in Oude and the North-West Provinces, an influential class of native gentlemen because the officials supported by him took every opportunity of depriving them of certain rights which they claimed over the land, and which they had long exercised. Though this was done with the benevolent intention of sweeping away all middle-men standing between the officers of the Government and the cultivators, whom they wished to shield from wrong, the result was none the less deplorable. 28. The Sepoy Army. 1856-1857.—In 1856, Lord Canning, a son of the Prime Minister George Canning, became governorgeneral. By that time some of the dispossessed princes and most of the offended native gentlemen had formed a conspiracy against the British Government, which they held to have been unjust towards them and which in some cases had really been so. The conspirators aimed at securing the support of the Bengal Sepoy army, which had also been alarmed by certain acts in which the Government had not shown itself sufficiently careful of their feelings and prejudices. Most of the Sepoys were Hindoos, and all Hindoos are divided into castes, and believe that the man who loses his caste is not only disgraced in the present life but suffers misery after death. This loss of caste is not the penalty for moral faults, but for purely bodily actions, such as eating out of the same vessel as one of a lower caste. Caste, too, is lost by eating any part of the sacred animal the cow, and, as a new rifle had been lately served out, the conspirators easily frightened the mass of the Sepoys into the belief that the cartridges for this rifle were greased with cow's fat. When, therefore, they bit the new cartridges, as soldiers then had to do, before loading, their lips would touch the cow's grease and they would at once lose caste. It was said that the object of the Government was to render the men miserable by 1857 MUTINY OF THE SEPOY ARMY 953 depriving them of the shelter of their own religion in order to drive them to the adoption of Christianity in despair. 29. The Outbreak of the Mutiny. 1857.—In the spring of 1857 there were attempts to mutiny near Calcutta, but the actual outbreak occurred at Meerut near Delhi. There the native regiments first massacred their English officers and such other Englishmen as they met with, and then marched to Delhi, where they proclaimed the descendant of the Great Mogul (see p. 801), who was living there as a British pensioner, Emperor of India. Canning did what he could by sending for British troops from other parts of India, and also for a considerable force which happened to be at sea on its way to take part in a war which had broken out with China. His position was, however, exceedingly precarious till further reinforcements could be brought from England. His best helper was Sir John Lawrence, who had governed the recently annexed Punjab with such ability and justice that the Sikh warriors, so lately the fierce enemies of the British, were ready to fight in their behalf. As the Sikhs did not profess the Hindoo religion, there was, in their case, no difficulty about caste. With their aid Lawrence disarmed the Sepoys in the Punjab, and sent all the troops he could spare to besiege Delhi. Delhi, however, was a strong place and, as the besiegers were few, months elapsed before it could be taken. 30. Cawnpore. 1857.-The mutiny spread to Lucknow, the capital of Oude, where the few Englishmen in the place were driven into the Residency with Sir Henry Lawrence, Sir John's brother, at their head, to hold out, if they could, till help arrived. At Cawnpore, not far off, were about five hundred British women and children, and less than five hundred British men were besieged by Nana Sahib, who hated the English on account of the wrongs which he conceived himself to have suffered at their hands. After they had suffered terrible hardships, Nana Sahib offered to allow the garrison to depart in safety. The offer was accepted and the weary defenders made their way to the boats waiting for them on the river, where they were shot down from the bank. Some of the women and children were kept alive for a few days, but in the end all were massacred, and their bodies flung into a well. Only four of the defenders of Cawnpore escaped to tell the miserable tale. 31. The Recovery of Delhi and the Relief of Lucknow. 1857. The mutiny, widely spread as it was, was confined to the Bengal Presidency. In Lucknow, though Sir Henry Lawrence had been slain, the garrison held out in the Residency. At last Havelock, III. 3Q a brave, pious officer, who prayed and taught his men to pray as the Puritan soldiers had prayed in Cromwell's time, brought a small band through every obstacle to its relief. Before he reached the place Sir James Outram joined him, authorised by the Government to take the command out of his hands. Outram, however, honourably refused to take from Havelock the credit of the achievement. 'To you,' wrote Outram to Havelock, shall be left the glory of relieving Lucknow, for which you have already struggled so much. I shall accompany you, placing my military service at your disposal, should you please, and serving under you as a volunteer.' Thus supported, Havelock relieved Lucknow on September 25, but he had not men enough to drive off the besiegers permanently, and Outram, who, after the city had been entered, took the command, had to wait for relief in turn. Delhi had already been taken by storm on September 19. 32. The End of the Mutiny. 1857-1858. Soon after the relief of Lucknow Sir Colin Campbell, who afterwards became Lord Clyde, arrived with reinforcements from England, and finally suppressed the mutiny. In 1858 Parliament put an end to the authority of the East India Company (see p. 808). Thenceforth the Governor-General was brought directly under the Queen, acting through a British Secretary of State for India responsible to Parliament. There was also to be an Indian Council in England composed of persons familiar with Indian affairs, in order that the Secretary of State might have the advice of experienced persons. On assuming full authority, the Queen issued a proclamation to the peoples and princes of India. To the people she promised complete toleration in religion, and admission to office of qualified persons. To the princes she promised scrupulous respect for their rights and dignities. To all she declared her intention of respecting their rights and customs. It is in this last respect especially that the proclamation laid down the lines on which administration of India will always have to move if it is to be successful. Englishmen cannot but perceive that many things are done by the natives of India which are in their nature hurtful, unjust, or even cruel, and they are naturally impatient to remove evils that are very evident to them. The lesson necessary for them to learn is the one which Walpole taught their own ancestors, that it is better to leave evils untouched for a while than to risk the overthrow of a system of government which, on the whole, works beneficently. It is one thing to endeavour to lead the people of India forward to a better life, another thing to drag them forward 1857-1858 CONSPIRACY-TO-MURDER BILL 955 and thereby to provoke a general exasperation which would lessen the chances of improvement in the future, and might possibly sweep the reforming government itself away. 1874 1857-1858.—When 1. Fall of the First Palmerston Ministry. the Mutiny was crushed the Palmerston ministry no longer existed. Palmerston's readiness to enforce his will on foreign nations had led him in 1857 to provoke a war with China which the majority of the House of Commons condemned as unjustifiable. He dissolved Parliament and appealed to the fighting instincts of the nation, and, though not only Cobden and Bright, but Gladstone, joined the Conservatives against him, he obtained a sweeping majority in the new Parliament. Curiously enough, he was turned out of office, in 1858, by this very same Parliament, on a charge of truckling to the French Emperor. Explosive bombs, wherewith to murder Napoleon III., were manufactured in England, and plans for using them against him were laid on English soil. The attempt was made by an Italian, Orsini, and upon its failure the French Government and people called upon the English Government to prevent such designs in future. Palmerston brought in a Conspiracyto-Murder Bill, the object of which was to punish those who contrived the assassination of foreign princes on English soil. This measure, desirable as it was, was unpopular in England, because some Frenchmen talked abusively of Englishmen as protectors of murderers, and even called on the Emperor to invade England. Parliament refused to be bullied even into doing a good thing, and, the Bill being rejected, the Palmerston ministry resigned. 2. The Second Derby Ministry and the Beginning of the Second Palmerston Ministry. 1858-1859. Lord Derby became Prime Minister a second time, and in 1859 Disraeli, who was again Chancellor of the Exchequer and leader of the House of Commons, brought in a Reform Bill which was rejected by the House of Commons. A new ministry was formed which, like Lord Aberdeen's in 1852, comprised Whigs and Peelites. Palmerston was Prime Minister, Russell Foreign Secretary, and Gladstone Chancellor of the Exchequer. 3. Italian War of Liberation. 1859.—In 1859, the year in which the second Palmerston ministry took office, a great war broke out in Italy. Italians could have no freedom in their own states as long as Austria held Lombardy and Venetia, because Austrian armies were always ready to help any Italian prince in maintaining despotism. In the kingdom of Sardinia alone, Victor Emmanuel persisted in maintaining a constitutional government in defiance of Austria, and thereby, and by his ingrained honesty of nature, attracted the reverence of all Italians who longed to expel the Austrians and gain political freedom. It was evident that all Italy must be governed despotically or constitutionally, and that constitutional government could not be maintained even in the kingdom of Sardinia unless Austria was driven back, whilst despotic government could not be maintained elsewhere unless Sardinia was crushed. In 1858 Napoleon came to an understanding with Cavour, the statesmanlike Sardinian minister, and in 1859 he led an army across the Alps to support the Sardinians. Tuscany, Parma, Modena, and the northern parts of the States of the Church, drove away their rulers and combined forces with Victor' Emmanuel. Napoleon and his ally defeated the Austrians in the two great battles of Magenta and Solferino, after which the Emperor made peace with Austria. Victor Emmanuel and his subjects, who had hoped that the war might be continued till Austria had been entirely excluded from Italy, were grievously disappointed. Napoleon was, however, probably justified in bringing the war to a close, as he had reason to think that, if he continued it, Prussia would take part with Austria against him, and as it was very likely that if hostilities were prolonged his own subjects would refuse to support him. By the peace of Zürich, which put an end to the war, Milan |