1833-1849.
The Churches of England and Scotland--"Tracts for the
Times"--Newman, Keble, and Pusey--"Ten Years' Conflict" in
Scotland--Disruption of the Church--Dr. Chalmers--Rise of the
Free Church--Affairs of British India--First Sikh War--Battles
of Meeanee, Moodkee, Ferozeshah, Aliwal and Sobraon--Second Sikh
War--Murder of Vans Agnew and Anderson--Battle of
Ramnuggur--Siege and Fall of Mooltan--Battles of Chilianwalla
and Goojerat--Annexation of the Punjab.
[Sidenote: The Churches of England and Scotland.]
The upheavals which took place simultaneously in the Established
Churches of England and Scotland, during the early years of Victoria's
reign, and so profoundly stirred religious sentiment in both countries,
can scarcely have arisen from independent centres of disturbance, though
the connection between them is not easy to trace. They were the outcome
of an awaking from the condition of inactivity and routine into which
both these Protestant Churches had passed after the agitating events of
the seventeenth century, and an attempt on the part of the more active
intellects, both in clergy and people, to restore ecclesiastical
authority and discipline.
[Illustration: _G. Richmond, R.A._} {_By permission of Mr. McLean._
JOHN HENRY NEWMAN, 1801-1890.
Cardinal-Deacon of the Church of Rome. Was the son of a London Banker.
Took orders in the Anglican Church in 1824; was appointed Incumbent of
St. Mary's, Oxford, in 1828, and held that appointment until 1842. He
seceded to the Church of Rome in 1845, and was created a Cardinal in
1879 by Leo XIII.]
[Illustration: _Miss Rosa Corder._} {_In the Pusey House, Oxford._
Dr. E. B. PUSEY, 1800-1882.
Regius Professor of Hebrew at Christ Church College, Oxford, 1828. He
wrote several of the "Tracts for the Times." On the secession of Newman
he became the virtual leader of the Tractarian movement.]
[Sidenote: "Tracts for the Times." Newman, Keble, and Pusey.]
The movement in England has been reckoned by the late Cardinal Newman,
himself one of the leading spirits in it before his secession to Rome,
as beginning with a sermon preached by John Keble in the University
pulpit, Oxford, on July 14, 1833, afterwards published under the title
"National Apostasy." About the same time began the publication of
"Tracts for the Times," conducted by a group of earnest, active men,
including Newman, Keble, Pusey, and others, advocating a revival of High
Church observances as a means of quickening spiritual life and a
restoration of the patristic doctrines and practice in Church government
and services. From these tracts the movement became known as
"Tractarian," till in 1841 their publication came to a sudden end by
reason of the famous Tract No. 90, written by Newman, and deeply
offensive to Protestant feeling in England. Newman joined the Church of
Rome in 1845, and thereafter the term "Puseyite" was popularly used to
designate this party.
[Illustration: _G. Richmond, R.A._}
THE REV. JOHN KEBLE, 1792-1866.
One of the leaders of the Tractarian movement. He is best known by his
hymns published under the titles of "The Christian Year" (1827) and
"Lyra Innocentium" (1847). He was Professor of Poetry at Oxford, 1831,
and Vicar of Hursley, near Winchester, 1835-1866. Keble College, Oxford,
was erected to his memory.]
[Illustration: _J. Faed._}
DR. THOS. CHALMERS, 1780-1847.
As minister of the Tron Church, Glasgow (1815), he obtained a great
reputation. He was appointed Professor of Moral Philosophy at St.
Andrew's, 1823, of Theology at Edinburgh in 1828, and led the great
secession in 1843. He was the first Moderator of, and was elected
Principal and Primarius Professor of Theology in, the Free Church of
Scotland.]
[Sidenote: The "Ten Years' Conflict" in Scotland.]
[Sidenote: Disruption of the Church.]
[Sidenote: Dr. Chalmers.]
[Sidenote: Rise of the Free Church.]
The corresponding movement in the Established Presbyterian Church of
Scotland, commonly referred to as the Ten Years' Conflict, arose out of
a question of Church government rather than one of theology. Lay
patronage had been imposed on the Church of Scotland by the Act of 1712.
The revival of spiritual activity, which in England took the shape of
the Tractarian movement, was equally perceptible in Scotland, and
resulted in the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland passing the
Veto Act in 1834, by which it was declared to be a fundamental law of
the Church that no pastor could be appointed to a parish against the
will of the majority of the congregation. It was not long before this
led to appeals from the Ecclesiastical to the Civil Courts. In 1842 the
General Assembly presented to the Queen a "claim, declaration, and
protest," accompanied by an address praying for the abolition of
patronage, to which the Home Secretary made reply that the Government
could not interfere. In March 1843, the House of Commons decided by 211
votes to 76 against attempting to redress the grievance, and on May 18
following, the non-intrusion party withdrew from the General Assembly
and constituted the first Assembly of the Free Church, under the
leadership of Dr. Thomas Chalmers. The action was all the more
significant because Chalmers, the most powerful and popular preacher in
the Scottish Church of that day, and a distinguished leader of
ecclesiastical thought, had hitherto been a powerful champion of the
connection of Church and State. But he had thrown himself with great
earnestness into the work of reclaiming the masses and bringing them
into direct relations with the Church, and he felt convinced that this
great work could not be carried to success unless the Church were free
to choose her own instruments. Four hundred and seventy parish ministers
resigned their livings and joined the Free Church. A sustentation fund
was set up, based on a calculation made by Chalmers that a penny a week
from each member of a congregation would produce a stipend of £150 a
year for 500 ministers. It amounted to no less than £367,000 in the
first year of disruption.
[Illustration: _J. Doyle_ ("_H. B._").} {_Political Sketches._
AN OLD SO'GER IN MARCHING ORDER.
General Sir Charles Napier, 1782-1853.]
[Illustration: _H. Martens._} {_From a Coloured Engraving._
THE BATTLE OF SOBRAON, February 10, 1846.
This illustration is reduced from a popular, but somewhat quaint,
coloured print representing the 31st Regiment, with Major-General Sir
Henry Smith's division, in action at Sobraon. It forms an instructive
contrast with the military prints of the present day.]
[Sidenote: Affairs of British India.]
[Sidenote: The First Sikh War.]
[Sidenote: Battles of Meeanee, Moodkee, Ferozeshah, Aliwal and Sobraon.]
The existence of British territory in India, side by side with territory
under British protection and States wholly under native rule, was a
condition of things neither conducive to peace nor likely to be of a
permanent nature. A single spark dropped among the warlike races
inhabiting that vast peninsula was often enough to cause wide-spreading
conflagration; and, however agreeable it might be to British
consciences, it would be unphilosophic in the highest degree to
attribute the blame for such outbreaks exclusively to the native rulers
and people. Trouble broke out early in 1843 which led to the annexation
by the British of Scinde, a fine territory lying between the Indian
Ocean and the Cutch on the south, and southern Afghanistan and
the Punjab on the north. Scinde had been divided into three
provinces--Hyderabad, Khyrpore, and Meerpore--each ruled by a group of
Ameers or hereditary chiefs, descended from Beloochee conquerors, who,
it was said, most cruelly oppressed the people under them. Successive
treaties had been effected with these rulers by the Indian Government,
but the disaster which fell on the British arms in Cabul seems to have
encouraged them to withhold some of the tribute due by them under the
latest treaty, and they began warlike preparations. In 1842 Lord
Ellenborough appointed Sir Charles Napier Commander-in-Chief of the
British troops in Scinde, with instructions to inflict signal punishment
on any chiefs detected in treachery, at the same time empowering him to
make a fresh treaty, relieving the Ameers from the payment of any
subsidy for the support of British troops. This treaty was at length
signed, though it must be confessed that the Ameers were only induced
to consent to it by the threatening display of Napier's force. On
February 15, 1843, the British Residency at Hyderabad was attacked by
8,000 troops with six guns, led by one or more of the Ameers, and the
garrison of 100 men under Major Outram was driven out after a gallant
resistance. Napier marched to Muttaree the following day with a force of
3,000, attacked the Ameers, who had an army of 22,000 Beloochees, on the
morning of the 17th at Meeanee, six miles from Hyderabad, defeated them,
and captured their whole artillery, ammunition, baggage, and
considerable treasure. The British loss amounted to 256 killed and
wounded. Hyderabad was occupied, but the Ameer of Meerpore was still
under arms, holding a strong position at Dubba, about four miles from
Hyderabad, with 20,000 men. Napier attacked him, and a battle lasting
for three hours ended in the complete defeat of Shere Mahomed and the
occupation of Meerpore by the British. Sir Charles Napier continued
warlike operations at intervals against the hill tribes north of
Shikarpore, and there can be but one opinion of the masterly way in
which he handled the troops under his command. But the policy of the
Governor-General was open to some difference of opinion. He had carried
things with a high hand in dealing with the Ameers, and early in 1844 he
was recalled by the unanimous vote of the Court of Directors of the East
India Company, and Sir Henry Hardinge was appointed in his place.
[Illustration: _Sir F. Grant, P.R.A._} {_By permission of Messrs.
Graves, Pall Mall._
SIR HENRY, AFTERWARDS VISCOUNT, HARDINGE AND HIS STAFF AT FEROZESHAH.]
Hardinge applied himself to the peaceful preparation of railroad schemes
for the development of India, but at the close of 1845 events again
forced the Government forward on the path of fresh conquest. At that
time the Punjab, a kingdom consisting both of independent Sikh States
and those under British protection, was under nominal rule of the
boy-king, Dhuleep Singh, and his mother, the Ranee; but his government
at Lahore was distracted by faction and lay at the mercy of his own
powerful army. In December 1845, the Sikh forces, for some reason which
has never been clearly explained, began massing on the British frontier,
and crossed the Sutlej, 15,000 or 20,000 strong, on the 13th. Sir Hugh
Gough advanced by forced marches to meet them, attacked them at Moodkee
and defeated them, capturing seventeen guns. The Sikhs retired to a
strongly-entrenched camp at Ferozeshah, whither Gough, reinforced by Sir
John Littler's division from Ferozepore, followed them on the 21st. The
Sikh army was now upwards of 50,000 strong, with 108 heavy guns in fixed
batteries. The British force consisted of 16,700 men and sixty-nine
guns, chiefly horse artillery. There ensued one of the severest
conflicts in the history of our Indian Empire. Beginning on the 21st it
lasted through part of the 22nd, and ended in the gallant Sikhs being
driven across the Sutlej with the loss of many killed and wounded, and
no less than seventy guns. The Governor-General, Sir Henry Hardinge,
acted as a volunteer, second in command to Sir Hugh Gough, in this
memorable action.
[Illustration: _Sir F. Grant, P.R.A._} {_By permission of Messrs.
Graves._
FIELD MARSHAL HUGH, VISCOUNT GOUGH, 1779-1869.
Entered the Army in 1794 and served at the Cape of Good Hope and in the
Peninsular War. He commanded at the Battles of Moodkee, Ferozeshah, and
Sobraon, and was raised to the Peerage as a reward for these great
victories. In the second Sikh War in 1848 he commanded in the actions at
Chilianwalla and Goojerat.]
[Sidenote: The Second Sikh War.]
Early in January 1846, Sirdar Runjoor Singh, again advancing towards the
frontier, took up a strong position on the British side of the Sutlej,
threatening Gough's line of communications with Loodiana. Major-General
Sir Harry Smith attacked him at Aliwal on January 28, and,
notwithstanding the great superiority in numbers of the enemy, obtained
a brilliant victory over the Sikhs, capturing their camp and fifty-two
guns. But more fighting had to be done before the army of the Punjab
could be finally subdued. The Sikhs still lay at Sobraon with 30,000 of
their best troops, defended by a triple line of breastworks, flanked by
redoubts, and armed with seventy guns. Here Sir Hugh Gough attacked them
on the morning of February 10, the Governor-General again being present
as second in command. At nine o'clock, after an hour's cannonade,
Brigadier Stacey advanced to storm the entrenchments with four
battalions, which behaved with splendid gallantry under a very heavy and
well-directed fire. They stormed the position, and, being well
supported, forced their way into the fortress. By eleven o'clock all was
over. The Sikhs were in full flight across the Sutlej, leaving behind
them piles of dead and wounded, sixty-seven guns, 200 camel swivels, and
all their baggage and ammunition. The British loss consisted of 320
killed, including seventeen officers (among whom were Major-General Sir
Robert Dick, General McLaren, and Brigadier Taylor), and 2,063 wounded,
including 139 officers. But the carnage among the Sikhs was far more
terrible. It is supposed that not less than eight or ten thousand of
them perished in action or were drowned in crossing the river under the
fire of the British artillery. On February 22 Gough occupied the citadel
of Lahore; the Governor-General issued a proclamation from that place,
and a treaty was subsequently concluded establishing Dhuleep Singh as
Maharajah, tributary to the British Government.
[Sidenote: Murder of Vans Agnew and Anderson. Battle of Ramnuggur.]
War broke out again in the Punjab in 1848. On April 17 Mr. Vans Agnew
and Lieutenant Anderson, British Agents at Mooltan, were murdered. On
August 18 General Whish besieged Mooltan with 28,000 men. Lord Gough
arrived on November 21, and took command of the entire British force.
Next day he advanced to attack the enemy at Ramnuggur, where both banks
of the river were held by the Sikhs. By a most unfortunate piece of
strategy the cavalry division, consisting of the 3rd Dragoons and the
5th, 8th, and 14th Light Horse, supported by Horse Artillery, were
ordered forward under General Cureton to dislodge the enemy from the
left bank of the river. This they accomplished with admirable
gallantry, but not without suffering terrible loss, owing to the
difficult nature of the ground. Colonel Havelock fell at the head of the
14th Light Dragoons; General Cureton and Captain Fitzgerald were also
killed. On December 2 Lord Gough crossed the Chenab, and the enemy,
after exchanging a cannonade for several hours, retired towards the
north-west.
[Sidenote: Siege and Fall of Mooltan.]
Meantime, General Whish was carrying on the siege of Mooltan with an
army of 32,000 men and 150 guns. It is impossible to speak too highly of
the splendid defence made by the Sikhs under Moolraj. By December 29 the
British siege guns were bombarding the city walls at eighty yards range.
On the 30th the principal magazine in the citadel blew up with a
terrific explosion, and the town was in flames. Still the brave garrison
fought on. The bombardment continued without intermission for fifty
hours. On January 2, 1849, the town, or the wreck of what had once been
a town, was taken by assault; but the citadel still held out. From the
4th to the 18th it was incessantly bombarded, and mines were exploded at
intervals under the walls, till at last, on the 21st, two wide breaches
had been made, and a general assault was ordered for the following day.
Moolraj anticipated this by unconditional surrender. His garrison, less
than 4,000 men, marched into the British lines to lay down their arms;
the last man to leave the fort, in the heroic defence of which he had
won undying glory, was Moolraj, dressed in gorgeous silks, splendidly
armed, riding a superb Arab with a scarlet saddle-cloth.
[Sidenote: Battles of Chilianwalla and Goojerat.]
After the fall of Mooltan General Whish joined forces with Lord Gough,
who, as described above, had driven the enemy from their encampment at
Ramnuggur on November 22. It was believed that the rebellion was broken,
and that the Sikhs would not again meet our army in the field. But our
generals had still to learn the extraordinary resolution and resources
of this fine race. Chuttur Singh and his son Shere Singh still commanded
nearly 40,000 men with sixty-two guns, and had captured Attock, a fort
defended by Major Herbert. Gough advanced to attack the chiefs on
January 13, 1849, in their position on the Upper Jhelum near the village
of Chilianwalla, a name of melancholy associations in British annals.
The Sikhs, indeed, withdrew, but they carried with them four British
guns and five stand of colours. The British loss was terrible, amounting
to twenty-six officers and 731 men killed, and sixty-six officers and
1,446 men wounded. Lord Gough was blamed for bad generalship in this
action: he was recalled from his command, and Sir Charles Napier was
appointed in his place. But fortune was kind to a brave soldier. Before
the orders from home could reach him, Gough, having followed the enemy,
retrieved the disaster of Chilianwalla by inflicting on Shere Singh a
crushing defeat at Goojerat on February 21, pursuing him into the Khoree
Pass. On March 6 Shere Singh surrendered unconditionally, and on the
29th a proclamation was issued by the Governor-General permanently
annexing the Punjab to the British Empire.
[Illustration: _D. Maclise, R.A._} {_From the Original Sketch in the
South Kensington Museum._
CHARLES DICKENS, 1812-1870. WITH HIS WIFE AND WIFE'S SISTER.
While the events recorded in these chapters were enacting, those books
were appearing in rapid succession which have made Dickens's name a
household word. Dickens was born at Portsmouth, where his father held an
appointment in the Navy Pay Office. In early life he learned by
experience what poverty meant; but his earliest writings, the "Sketches
by Boz" (1836), brought him immediate celebrity. The "Pickwick Papers"
appeared in 1837, then in succession, "Oliver Twist," "Nicholas
Nickleby," "The Old Curiosity Shop," and "Barnaby Rudge." "David
Copperfield" appeared in 1850, and "Edwin Drood" was in course of
publication (1870) when its author died. He is buried in Poet's Corner,
Westminster Abbey.]
[Illustration: _T. Phillips, R.A._} {_In the National Portrait Gallery._
SIR JOHN FRANKLIN, 1786-1847.
Entered the Navy in 1801, and was present at the Battles of Copenhagen
and Trafalgar. He conducted several Expeditions to the Arctic regions.
In March 1845 he sailed in command of the _Erebus_ and _Terror_ in
search of the "North-West Passage." Nothing was heard of them for years,
but in 1859 the _Fox_, fitted out by Lady Franklin and commanded by Sir
Leopold McClintock, found relics, now in Greenwich Hospital, which left
no doubt of the total loss of the ships and all lives.]
[Illustration: _G. R. Gilbert._} {_In the Royal Collection._
NAVAL REVIEW OF 1845.
Her Majesty and the Prince Consort in the Royal Yacht reviewing the
Experimental Squadron at Spithead, July 15, 1845.]