The "Eastern Question" now came up. The Czar of Russia, an object
of suspicion to England, because of his rivalry with her for the
possession of India, endeavored to secure from the Sultan of
Turkey official recognition of his government as the legitimate
protector of Christians in the Ottoman empire. Such a
responsibility would have afforded many opportunities for
interfering in Turkish affairs. France opposed the demand, and
Palmerston placed England on the side of Napoleon III., against
the Czar, who had invaded Turkey in pursuance of his design to
annex a large part of her European provinces, and advance his
position toward Constantinople. The Crimean War which followed
(1854-56) at least checked Russia for the time. It was the only
European war in which England had borne arms since Waterloo. But
in Asia and Africa the Queen's troops had found almost continual
employment along the frontiers of the now vastly extended empire.
In 1857 Persia had to be chastised for edging toward India by way
of the Afghan possessions. Russia had been at the Shah's elbow.
In 1856, and repeatedly until 1860, the British fleets were
battering open the ports of China and extorting trade
concessions. But the most memorable war in the imperial history
of these years was within the borders of the empire, though in a
distant land. This was the Sepoy Rebellion or Indian mutiny of
1857.