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 1859-1861 VICTOR EMMANUEL AND ITALY 957 was given to Victor Emmanuel, but Venetia was left to Austria. The expelled princes were to be reinstated, and all Italian states, including Austrian Venetia and the increased kingdom of Sardinia, were to form a confederation, of which the president was to be the Pope. 4. The Kingdom of Italy. 1859-1861.-The Italians of the central provinces, Tuscany, Parma, Modena, and the northern part of the Papal States, refused to accept this absurd arrangement. In 1860 they joined Victor Emmanuel's kingdom, which now began to be known as the Kingdom of Italy. Russell, as Foreign Secretary, did everything in his power to uphold their right to dispose of themselves, and on Savoy and Nice being surrendered to France Napoleon acquiesced in the arrangement, whilst Austria did not venture to provoke a new war by interfering. In 1860, too, Garibaldi, a straightforward and enthusiastic soldier, whose ideal was the union of Italy, invaded Sicily, and in a few weeks conquered both Sicily and Naples, with the exception of the strong fortress of Gaeta. In the meanwhile many Catholics had come from other countries to defend the independence of the Pope, which was visibly threatened. They were, however, defeated by an Italian army, and that part of the Papal dominions which lay between the Apennines and the Adriatic was added to Victor Emmanuel's kingdom. Victor Emmanuel himself came into Southern Italy through his newly-annexed regions, where he was welcomed by Garibaldi. The joint armies laid siege to Gaeta, which surrendered on February 13, 1861. Victor Emmanuel now ruled over all Italy except Venetia, which was held by an Austrian army, and Rome, which, together with the district round it, was secured to the Pope by a French garrison. 5. The Volunteers. 1859-1860.-In 1860 Russell brought in a Reform Bill, but the country did not care about it, and even Russell perceived that it was useless to press it. It was withdrawn, and no other similar measure was proposed whilst Palmerston lived. The country, indeed, was agitated about other matters. Napoleon's annexation of Savoy and Nice caused disquiet, and suspicions were entertained that, having succeeded in defeating Austria, he might think of trying to defeat either Prussia or England. Already, whilst Lord Derby was Prime Minister, young men had come forward to serve as volunteers in defence of the country. Palmerston gave great encouragement to the movement, and before long corps of volunteers were established in every county, as a permanent part of the British army. 6. The Commercial Treaty with France. 1860.-Napoleon did not really want to quarrel with England, and before long an opportunity presented itself for binding the two nations together. The Emperor warmly adopted a scheme for a commercial treaty between England and France which had been suggested by Cobden, and which was also supported by Gladstone, who, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, had been completing Peel's work by carrying out the principles of Free Trade. In 1860 was signed the Commercial Treaty, in virtue of which English goods were admitted into France at low duties, whilst French wines and other articles were treated in England in the same way. Between England and France, however, there was this difference in England the treaty was sanctioned by Parliament as being in accordance with the opinions generally entertained in the country. In France it was put in force by the sole authority of the Emperor in defiance of the opinions generally entertained by the French nation. Consequently, when, at a later time, the power of the Emperor came to an end, France took the earliest opportunity to annul a treaty the value of which she was unable to appreciate. 1860.-In 1860, the 7. The Presidential Election in America. year in which the treaty with France was signed, events occurred in the United States of America which pressed heavily on England. In the southern states there were some millions of negro slaves, mostly employed in producing sugar and cotton, whilst in the northern states there were no slaves of any kind. The free states flourished, and the slave states decayed. The slave-owners hoped to improve their position by occupying fresh soil and carrying their slaves with them to cultivate it. The inhabitants of the free states did not yet propose to abolish slavery in the old slave states, which they were unable to do constitutionally, but they asked that slavery should not be tolerated in any new states. In 1860 Abraham Lincoln was chosen President in order that he might enforce this doctrine, on which the slave states declared themselves independent, taking the name of the Confederate States.' The free states continued to speak of themselves and of all the other states as still forming the United States,' declaring that the confederates had no right to leave the union, and must be compelled to return to it. 8. England and the American Civil War. 1861 1862. A terrible war between the two sections broke out in 1861. English opinion was divided on the subject. The upper classes, for the most part, sided with the South; the working men, for the most part, with the North. Towards the end of 1861 the Confederate Government despatched two agents, Mason and Slidell, to Europe |