various moot points in international law. The plenipotentiaries all agreed
to the doctrines: "First, privateering is and remains abolished. Second,
the neutral flag covers enemy's goods, with the exception of contraband of
war. Third, neutral goods, with the exception of contraband of war, are not
liable to capture under an enemy's flag. Fourth, blockades in order to be
binding must be effective; that is to say, maintained by a force sufficient
really to prevent access to the enemy's coast." The United States of
America did not subscribe to this convention.
[Sidenote: Results of Crimean war]
Russia came out of the conflict defeated but respected. She had received a
check in the Black Sea and her frontier line had been readjusted. Still her
political losses were trivial. The war most deeply affected Austria. She
had played a false game and had lost. The sceptre of European leadership
slipped from her. The situation afforded to Bismarck and Cavour the
opportunity each was anxiously awaiting.
[Sidenote: Italy benefited]
Cavour had won his first point. At the Conference of Paris he took his
place as a representative of Sardinia by right of an alliance with the
other great Powers. Then it was seen that every Italian soldier who had
fallen on the Tchernaya, or who had wasted away in the fever-stricken
camps, had died indeed for the honor of Italy among the nations of the
world. At the close of the Conference Cavour made a plain statement
concerning the misgovernment of southern and central Italy and the evils of
the Austrian occupation. When Count Buol von Schauenstein protested, the
French and English representatives supported Cavour. The effect of these
representations was such that there was a sudden change in Austria's
restrictive measures hitherto inflicted upon her Italian dominions. Old
Marshal Radetzky, the man of the sword, was retired. The sequestrated
Italian estates were returned to their owners. Emperor Francis Joseph came
in person to Milan to proclaim a general amnesty. His brother Maximilian, a
prince of liberal tendencies, came with his young bride Charlotte to undo
the harsh measures of the military government. Maximilian's liberal policy
proved too much for the narrow spirit of the Ministry at home.
[Sidenote: After effects in England]
[Sidenote: Friction with America]
[Sidenote: Australian Home Rule]
One of the first results of the Crimean war was the threatened suspension
of the Bank of England. In November, it was found that the reserve funds
of the Bank had shrunk to L1,462,153, while the deposits that might at any
moment be drawn out aggregated L18,248,003. In these circumstances, a
special bill of Parliament authorized a new issue of paper notes for
L180,000 more than the law permitted. Furthermore, the war with Russia left
behind it a dispute between the governments of Great Britain and of the
United States. Under the provisions of a recent foreign enlistment bill in
England, American citizens had been induced to enter the British military
service. The American Government complained that the practice was in
violation of international law. The point was practically conceded by the
English Government, which at once put a stop to the enlistment of American
citizens and tendered an apology to the government of the United States.
The situation was aggravated by the fact that one of the attaches of the
American Legation in London at this very time was refused admission to a
diplomatic levee at the Court of St. James because he did not appear in
court dress. The British Minister at Washington received his passports. In
Australia, the first Home Rule Parliament had been opened at Sydney by Sir
William Denison. The popular elections were conducted under the famous
ballot system which was afterward adopted in other parts of the world.
[Sidenote: Singular suicidal mania]
In South Africa, the province of Natal was separated from Cape Colony, and
became an independent Crown Colony with a constitution of its own. The land
of the Basutos, no longer under British protectorate, suffered greatly from
hostile incursions and cattle raids from the Boers. During the summer the
Kaffirs fell victims to a fatal delusion. Their prophet Amaxosa foretold
the resurrection of all their dead heroes and warriors, on condition that
they themselves should put an end to their lives. In all, some 50,000
Kaffirs committed suicide. Emigrants from Cape Colony occupied the Kaffir
lands, which had become depopulated.
[Sidenote: Affair of "The Arrow"]
[Sidenote: British reprisals on China]
[Sidenote: Canton bombarded]
[Sidenote: Insufficient British forces]
In October, the Chinese Emperor, beset as he was by the victorious Taiping
rebels, was made to feel the heavy hand of Great Britain. A Portuguese
lorcha, "The Arrow," flying the British flag though without British
register, was overhauled by the Chinese authorities while at anchor near
Dutch Folly. One of her crew had been recognized as one of a band of
pirates who had committed some recent outrages. The Taotai of Canton had
the offender arrested. Sir John Bowring at Hong Kong at once protested. The
Chinese Imperial Commissioner Yeh replied that "The Arrow" was not a
foreign vessel, and therefore declined to enter into any discussion about
her. As a first step toward obtaining reparation the British seized a
Chinese imperial junk and held her in reprisal. As this failed to bring the
Chinese to terms, Sir Michael Seymour with a British squadron bombarded and
seized the barrier forts of Canton. The fleet proceeded up the river, and,
after capturing the Chinese fort of Macao Passage, came to anchor before
Canton. An ultimatum was addressed to Yeh, stating that unless he at once
complied with all English demands they would "proceed with the destruction
of all the defences and public buildings of the city and of the government
vessels in the harbor." No reply was vouchsafed. The Canton forts were
seized by the British and their men-of-war trained guns on the city. All
able-bodied Chinamen were called upon by the Viceroy of Canton to rally for
the defence of their city. The British bombarded Canton and sunk a large
fleet of Chinese war junks up the river. A fort at French Folly was
reduced, and the Bogue forts on both sides of the river were captured. The
Chinese retaliated by burning the whole foreign settlement, and by chopping
off the heads of all the Englishmen who came into their power. Sir Michael
Seymour found his force inadequate to capture Canton, and had to withdraw
from his positions while he sent home a request for reinforcements. The
urgency of the request opened the eyes of the British Foreign Secretary to
the gravity of the situation. A force of 1,500 men was at once sent from
England, another regiment from Mauritius, and a division from the Madras
army. The situation in India shortly became such that this force never
reached China.
[Sidenote: British war with Persia]
New difficulties had arisen with Persia respecting Herat. The death of Yar
Muhammad Khan in 1852 was followed by intrigues in Herat. The province
became a bone of contention between the Shah of Persia and the aged Dost
Muhammad Khan. This ruler's hostility to England during the second Sikh war
had been condoned, and a treaty of friendship concluded between him and
Lord Dalhousie. In virtue of this treaty the British sided with Dost
Muhammad. When the Shah moved an army into Herat and captured the capital,
England declared war on Persia. Arms and munitions in great quantity were
presented to Dost Muhammad, together with a subsidy of ten thousand pounds
a month so long as the Persian war should last. An expedition under Sir
James Outram was sent from Bombay to the Gulf of Persia. The capture of
Bushire by the English and their victory at Mohamrah brought the Shah of
Persia to withdraw his troops from Afghanistan. Herat was relinquished.
While the war lasted a new danger to the British Indian Empire arose at
Delhi. In July, the heir-apparent of old Bahadur Shah, the reigning King of
Delhi, suddenly died. A younger queen was believed to have poisoned him.
She persuaded Bahadur Shah to proclaim her son heir to the throne. Lord
Canning withheld Great Britain's recognition. An elder brother was
recognized as successor by Lord Canning, on condition that he should leave
Delhi upon his succession to the throne and take up his abode at Kutut. The
young Queen was moved to wild wrath. She was a daughter of the House of
Nadir Shah, burning with the traditional ambitions of her family. Forthwith
she took a part in all manner of intrigues against the English on the side
of Persia as well as of the Afghans. The remarkable outbursts of
anti-British feeling that followed have been credited to her.
1857
[Sidenote: Chinese war ships sank]
[Sidenote: Assault on Fatshan]
The reverses of the Persians brought the Shah to terms. A treaty of peace
was presently concluded in which all claim to Herat was abandoned by
Persia. Early in the year the British expedition in China resumed
hostilities. Commodore Elliot with five gunboats and a host of small boats
destroyed a fleet of forty armed junks. Next an attack was delivered on the
Chinese headquarters at Fatshan. A flotilla of English small boats cut
their way through the long line of war junks, and a landing party under
Commodore Harry Keppel attacked the main position. The Commodore's boat was
sunk and several others had to be abandoned. A number of the Chinese junks
were burned. Keppel's force was found too small to capture Fatshan. Sir
Michael Seymour decided to postpone further hostilities until the arrival
of the promised reinforcements that were to come after Lord Elgin. When
these troops failed to arrive in good time, Lord Elgin went to Calcutta
himself to hasten their despatch. There he found affairs of far more
serious import than those in China.
[Sidenote: Murmurs in India]
[Sidenote: The greased cartridges]
Some time previously rumors had been circulated concerning a danger to
British rule in India. Mysterious little cakes were circulated far and
wide. Lord Canning, the new Governor-General, was blamed for not taking
alarm. A dangerous story got abroad early in the year. The Enfield rifle
had been introduced. Its cartridges were greased with animal lubricants.
The fat of pigs was hateful to Mohammedans, while that of cows was still
more of an abomination in the eyes of the Hindus. At Barrackpore, near
Calcutta, where Sepoys were stationed, a Laskar reviled a Brahmin as
defiled by the British cartridges. The whole of the Bengal army was seized
with horror. The British authorities claimed that none of the greased
cartridges had been issued to the Sepoys. The story of the greased
cartridges ran up the Ganges to Benares, Delhi and Meerut. It was soon
noised abroad that the bones of cows and pigs had been ground to powder and
thrown into wells with flour and butter in order to destroy the caste of
the Hindus so as to convert them to Christianity.
[Sidenote: Hindu soldiers demur]
In March, incendiary fires broke out at Barrackpore. The Sepoys from the
Nineteenth Regiment refused to receive the cartridges dealt out to them.
There was only one white regiment in the 400 miles between Barrackpore and
Patna. After remonstrances had been made by the English officers, the
Sepoys returned, but there still remained disaffection at Benares, Lucknow,
Agra and other places. When it was believed that the excitement was allayed
another outbreak occurred at Lucknow. Lawrence's energetic measures
maintained order in Oude. The mutiny was only scattered, however. Within a
week Meerut, thirty-eight miles northeast of Delhi, and the largest
cantonment in India, was in a blaze. The story of the greased cartridges
had been capped by that of the bone dust. Some eighty-five of a regiment of
Sepoy cavalry refused to take the cartridges and were marched off to the
guard-house. During the afternoon of the following Sunday, when the
European officers were preparing for church, the imprisoned Sepoys were
liberated with others. They shot down every European they met.
[Sidenote: The Indian mutiny]
The mutiny became a revolt. The rebellious Sepoys marched on Delhi. When
the rebel troops came up from Meerut the English officers prepared to meet
them. Their Sepoys joined the mutineers. The revolt spread throughout
Delhi. In despair, Willoughby blew up the fort with 1,500 rebels who were
assaulting it. Only four of his command escaped. Willoughby himself died
six weeks afterward, while India and Europe were ringing with his name.
Fifty Englishmen whom the rebels had captured were butchered in cold blood.
Delhi on Monday evening was in rebel hands. The remaining officers on the
Ridge fled for their lives. Their subsequent suffering was one of the
harrowing features of the great convulsion. The revolution at Delhi opened
Lord Canning's eyes. He telegraphed for regiments from Bombay, Burma,
Madras and Ceylon.
[Sidenote: Lahore mutineers foiled]
On May 11, the news of the outbreak at Meerut was brought to the
authorities at Lahore. Meean Meer is a large military cantonment five or
six miles from Lahore, and there were then some four thousand native troops
there, with only about thirteen hundred Europeans of the Queen's and the
Company's service. There was no time to be lost. A parade was ordered on
the morrow at Meean Meer. On the parade-ground an order was given for a
military movement which brought the heads of four columns of the native
troops in front of twelve guns charged with grape, the artillerymen with
their port-fires lighted, and the soldiers of one of the Queen's regiments
standing behind with loaded muskets. A command was given to the Sepoys to
stack arms. Cowed, they piled their arms, which were borne away at once in
carts by the European soldiers. All chances of a rebellious movement were
over for the moment in the Punjab.
[Sidenote: Situation at Lucknow]
[Sidenote: Massacre of Jhansi]
At three stations--Lucknow, Jhansi and Cawnpore--the mutiny was of
political importance. The city of Lucknow, the capital of Oude, extended
four miles along the right bank of the river Goomti. The British Residency
and other principal buildings were between the city and the river. The
Residency was a walled inclosure, and near it stood a castellated
structure, the Muchi Bowun. Since the affair of May 3, Sir Henry Lawrence
had been making preparations for a defence in case of insurrection. The
native force consisted of three regiments of infantry and one of cavalry,
all Sepoys, and there was a European force of 570 men with sixty
artillerymen. Lawrence brought all the European non-combatants within the
Residency walls, and established a strong post between the Residency and
the Muchi Bowun to command the two bridges which led to the cantonments.
The outbreak began on May 30, when the insurgents rushed to the bridges,
and, being repulsed by Lawrence, made off to Delhi. At Jhansi, the garrison
of fifty-five men was butchered in cold blood.
[Sidenote: Defence of Cawnpore]
[Sidenote: Massacre of Cawnpore]
[Sidenote: Englishwomen spared]
At Cawnpore, on the Ganges, fifty-five miles southwest of Lucknow, the
tragedy was even more terrible. Cawnpore had been in the possession of the
English for more than fifty years. In May, sixty-one artillerymen and four
Sepoy regiments were there. Sir Hugh Wheeler, the commandant, prepared for
the coming storm. He took some old barracks and there quartered the white
women, children and invalids. He accepted from the Nana, who professed
great friendship, 200 Mahrattas and two guns. On the night of June 4, the
Sepoy regiment at Cawnpore broke out in mutiny. The Nana overtook them on
the road to Delhi and soon returned with them to Cawnpore. Sir Hugh was
taken by surprise on the morning of the 6th, when he received a message
from the Nana, announcing that his men were about to attack the Englishmen.
Sir Hugh prepared for the defence of the barracks. The mutineers first
rifled the city and cantonment, and murdered all the English who came in
their way. At noon they opened fire on the intrenchments. From the 6th to
the 25th of June, the inmates struggled against fearful odds. Though
starving, they resisted successfully. On June 25, Wheeler received a
proposal that safe passage would be given to Allahabad to those who were
willing to lay down their arms. An armistice was proclaimed, and next
morning terms were negotiated. The English were to capitulate and march
out with their arms and sixty rounds of ammunition for each man, to the
river a mile away, where boats would be furnished for all. The next morning
they marched down to the boats--the men on foot, the wounded and
non-combatants on elephants and bullocks. They were all huddled together on
board the boats. Suddenly, at the sound of a bugle, a murderous fire was
opened on them. The women and children, one hundred and twenty-five in
number, were hurried off to prison, and the men were ordered to immediate
execution. All was soon over. Nana was proclaimed Peishwa. English
reinforcements were coming from Allahabad. Nana hastened back to Cawnpore.
There, within a few days, more than two hundred English were taken
prisoners. The men were all butchered, and eighty women and children were
sent to join those in a house near the Nana. Great excitement prevailed in
England, where it was believed that these women were subjected to all
manner of outrage and made to long for death as an escape from shame. As a
matter of fact the royal widows of the Nana's adoptive father did their
utmost to protect the captive Englishwomen. They threatened to throw
themselves and their children from the palace windows should any harm
befall the English ladies. Thanks to them no worse indignity than the
compulsory grinding of corn was inflicted on the white women. Meanwhile,
Colonel Mill was pushing up from Calcutta. In July, he was joined at
Allahabad by a column under General Havelock.
[Sidenote: Havelock to the relief]
[Sidenote: Englishwomen slaughtered]
[Sidenote: Capture of Cawnpore]
In July, Havelock left Allahabad for Cawnpore with 2,000 men, Europeans and
Sikhs. He burned to avenge the massacre of Cawnpore. On the 12th and 15th
of July he inflicted three defeats on the enemy. When within twenty miles
of Cawnpore, having halted for the night, he heard that the women and
children at Cawnpore were still alive, and that the Nana had taken the
field to oppose him. He broke camp and marched fifteen miles that night. In
the meantime, the crowning atrocity was committed at Cawnpore. The defeated
rebels had returned to the Nana. On receiving the tidings of their repulse,
he ordered the slaughter of the 200 women and children. They were hacked to
death with swords, bayonets, knives and axes. Their remains were thrown
into a well. At 2 p.m. Havelock toiled on with a thousand Europeans and
three hundred Sikhs, and without cavalry and artillery, to meet the 5,000
rebels. Failing to silence the enemy's batteries, Havelock ordered a
bayonet charge. Nana Sahib with his followers took flight. He was never
heard from again. The next morning Havelock marched into the station at
Cawnpore, and there found the well filled with mangled human remains. On
July 20, having been reinforced by General Neill, whom he left in charge at
Cawnpore, Havelock set out for the relief of Lucknow.
[Sidenote: The defence of Lucknow]
[Sidenote: Havelock captures Bethan]
The entire province of Oude was in a state of insurrection. The English had
been closely besieged in Lucknow since the last day of May. The garrison
had held out for two months against fifty thousand Hindus. On July 4, Sir
Henry Lawrence was killed by a shell which burst in his room. Two weeks
later, the rebels, learning of the advance of Havelock to Cawnpore,
attacked the Residency with overwhelming force, but the garrison at last
compelled them to retire. By the middle of August, Havelock advanced toward
Bethan with 1,500 men. He met the enemy in force, and overcame him with a
bayonet charge. The Mahratta palace was burned. This ended Havelock's first
campaign against Lucknow. Without cavalry for the pursuit of the enemy, he
fell back to Cawnpore.
During the months which followed the outbreak at Delhi, all political
interest was centred in that ancient capital of Hindustan. Its recapture
was vital to the re-establishment of British sovereignty. In the absence of
railways the British were slow to cope with the situation. Every European
soldier sent for the relief of Delhi from Calcutta was stopped en route. On
June 8, a month after the affair at Delhi, Sir Henry Barnard took the field
at Alipano, ten miles away. He defeated the mutineers, and then marched to
the Ridge and reoccupied the old cantonment, which had been abandoned.
[Sidenote: Defence of Delhi]
[Sidenote: Delhi recaptured]
On June 23, the enemy made a desperate assault, and not long afterward
repeated the attempt. Reinforcements came from the Punjab. The British now
had 8,000 men. With their fifty-four guns they could shell the besiegers.
At last, at 3 a.m. on September 14, three columns were formed for a sortie,
with one in reserve. They rushed through the broken walls, and the first
and second columns met at the Kabul Gate. Six days of desperate fighting
followed. On September 20, the gates of the old fortified palace were
broken open, but the inmates had fled. Thus fell the imperial city. The
British army lost 4,000 men, among them Brigadier-General Nicholson, who
led the storming party. The great mutiny at Delhi was stamped out, and the
British flag waved over the capital of Hindustan. This was the turning
point of the Sepoy mutiny.
[Sidenote: British vengeance]
[Sidenote: Delhi princes murdered]
The capture of Delhi was followed by acts of barbarous retribution. Hindu
prisoners were shot from the mouths of cannon. Hodson, of "Hodson's Horse,"
a young officer who had once been cashiered for high-handed conduct in
India, offered to General Wilson to capture the king and the royal family
of Delhi. General Wilson gave him authority to make the attempt, but
stipulated that the life of the king should be spared. By the help of
native spies Hodson discovered that when Delhi was taken the king and his
family had taken refuge in the tomb of the Emperor Hoomayoon. Hodson went
boldly to this place with a few of his troopers. He found that the royal
family of Delhi were surrounded there by a vast crowd of armed adherents.
He called upon them all to lay down their arms at once. They threw down
their arms, and the king surrendered himself to Hodson. Next day the three
royal princes of Delhi were captured. Hodson borrowed a carbine from one of
his troopers and shot the three princes dead. Their corpses, half naked,
were exposed for some days at one of the gates of Delhi. Hodson committed
the deed deliberately. Several days before, he wrote to a friend to say
that if he got into the palace of Delhi, "the House of Timour will not be
worth five minutes' purchase, I ween." On the day after the deed he wrote:
"In twenty-four hours I disposed of the principal members of the House of
Timour the Tartar. I am not cruel; but I confess that I do rejoice in the
opportunity of ridding the earth of these ruffians."
[Sidenote: The Princess of Jhansi]
[Sidenote: An Amazon's death]
The mutineers had seized Gwalior, the capital of the Maharajah Scindia, who
escaped to Agra. The English had to attack the rebels, retake Gwalior and
restore Scindia. One of those who fought to the last on the mutineers' side
was the Ranee, or Princess of Jhansi, whose territory had been one of the
British annexations. She had flung all her energies into the rebellion. She
took the field with Nana Sahib and Tantia Topi. For months after the fall
of Delhi she contrived to baffle Sir Hugh Rose and the English. She led
squadrons in the field. She fought with her own hand. She was foremost in
the battle for the possession of Gwalior. In the garb of a horseman she led
charge after charge, and she was killed among those who resisted to the
last. Her body was found upon the field, scarred with wounds enough to have
done credit to any hero. Sir Hugh Rose paid her a well-deserved tribute
when he wrote: "The best man upon the side of the enemy was the woman found
dead, the Ranee of Jhansi."
[Sidenote: Relief of Lucknow]