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THE BRITISH EMPIRE 



IN THE •* J 



N I N E T E E N T^Ii.X-&N T U R Y 



THE FOLLOWERS OF DR. LIVINGSTONE CARRY HIS 
EMBALMED BODY TO THE COAST. 

In the year 1867 news reached Europe that Dr. Livingstone, the great 
African traveller, had been killed by the natives of the interior. This stor)% 
however, remained unconfirmed; and it was not until November, 187 1, 
that Henry M. Stanley, at the head of a seardh expedition, found the 
traveller in good health at UjijL In March of the following year Stanley 
made for the coast, and Livingstone started on a journey for the purpose 
of determining the course of the river Lualaba. He met with great diffi- 
culties, especially from floods, but he still persevered in his explorations 
until he was struck down by dysentery. From this disease he ultimately 
died. Then his faithful followers embalmed the body in the best way they 
could, and carried it to Zanzibar in spite of many hindrances. From there 
it was brought to England and laid in Westminster Abbey, in April, 1874. 

( 20 ) 



The British Empire 



IN THE 



Nineteenth Century 



ITS PROGRESS AND EXPANSION AT HOME AND ABROAD 

COMPRISING A DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY OF THE 

BRITISH COLONIES AND DEPENDENCIES 



BY 



EDGAR SANDERSON, M.A. (Cantab.) 

AUTHOR OF "HISTORY OWTHK BRITISH EMPIRE". "OUTLINES OP THE WORLD'S HISTORY' 



ETC. ETC. 



ILLUSTRATED BY ENGRAVINGS AND MAPS 



VOLUME IV. 




BLACKIE & SON, Limited 

LONDON, GLASGOW, EDINBURGH, AND DUBLIN 

1897 



^k 



5?/ 



CONTENTS. 



VOL. IV. 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Page 

The followers of Dr. Livingstone carry his embalmed Body to the Coast, Frontis. lo 
H.M.S. MjiRs, Terrible, and Dragon cruising in the English Channel, • - 90 

Mahratta Freebooters on a raiding Expedition, 131 

The Queen being proclaimed "Empress of India" at Delhi, 188 

Parsis worshipping the rising Sun on the beach at Bombay, .... 224 

Worshippers prostrating themselves before the famous Car at the Festival 

of Jagannath, 256 

View of Simla, the Summer-headquarters of the Indian Government, - - 283 
View of a Tea-Garden in Ceylon, 323 

Map of India, 119 



BOOK W .—ConHnued, 

HISTORY OF BRITISH PROGRESS IN THE NINETEENTH 

CENTURY. 

CHAPTER XXII.— Exploration and Travel. 

Archaeological researches — Kirkdale Cave and Kent's Cavern — Discoveries of Roman remains — 
Classical and Biblical exploration — Sir A. H. Layard — Palestine Exploration Fund — 
Travels in Africa — Bruce and Park — Recent African explorers — David Livingstone — 
Lieutenant Cameron and H. M. Stanley — Exploration of the Nile — Speke, Grant, and 
Baker. Arctic exploration — Ross and Parry — Sir John Franklin — Captain M*Clure — Dr. 
Rae and Captain MacClintock. Antarctic exploration, I 

CHAPTER XXIII.— Science. 

Astronomy — Researches of Francis Baily and Sir John Herschel— Sir George Airy— Mrs. 
Somerville. Chemistry — Black, Cavendish, and Priestley — Dalton, Davy, Faraday, &c. 
Electricity — Clerk-Maxwell, Lord Kelvin, Tait, &c. Botany — Robert Brown, Professor 
Balfour, Sir William and Sir Joseph Hooker. Physics and pure mathematics — Sir David 
Brewster, Arthur Cayley, Sir William R. Hamilton, J. P. Joule. Comparative philology — 
James A. H. Murray, Sayce, Sir Henry Rawlinson, &c. Ethnology — Dr. Pritchard, 
Latham, and Sir William Flower — E. B. Tylor. Natural History — William Kirby and 
Miss Ormerod — Gould, Owen, F. M. Balfour, Huxley, and Tyndall. Electric power — 
Electro-plating. Geology — William Smith — Sedgwick and Murchison — Hugh Miller and 
the brothers Geikie — Sir Charles Lyell — Alfred R. Wallace and Charles R. Darwin. Mental 
Science, philosophy, or metaphysics, 22 



Vi CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXIV.— Literature, Newspapers, Magazines. 

Page 
Literary men and women in the earlier port of the nineteenth century. Poetry — Fiction — 

Humorists — ^The Drama — Biography — Critics and Essayists — ^Theology and ecclesiastical 

history — Oriental scholars — Anglo-Saxon, Eaily English, and classical languages — Political 

economy and jurisprudence — History — Miscellaneous. Newspaper Press— Its marvellous 

progress — Class and trade journals. Magaxines and reviews, 45 

CHAPTER XXV.— Art. 

Leading names in Art before the reign of Victoria — Formation of Art societies. In the Victorian 
period : — Painting — The Pre-Raphaelite movement Sculpture. Line-engraving, etching, 
&C. — ^Wood-engraving — Photography. Architecture. General diffusion of Art in domestic 
life — Art galleries. Music — Festivals and choirs — Eminent vocalists and conductors- 
Crystal Palace concerts — Popular concerts — The Opera — Spread of musical education. 
The Stage in London — Noted players and managers, 59 

CHAPTER XXVI.— The Army and Navy. 

Reduction of the army — Neglected condition of the soldiers — A Militia force established — 
Changes in army administration — Improvement in arms — ^Volunteer Army — Shooting Com- 
petitions at Wimbledon and Bisley — Statistics of the Volunteers — Training of officers and 
men — Improved condition of the soldier — Victoria Cross — Statistics of the Army — Navy — 
The old war-ship and the modem iron-clad — Huge guns and torpedoes — System of man- 
ning — Comparison of the French, Russian, and British navies, 78 

CHAPTER XXVIL— Conclusion. 

Comparative statistics — The National Debt — Our mercantile shipping — Improve<] position of 
the working-classes — Our political system — The spirit of Freedom the mainspring of 
Britain's greatness — Improved social feeling, 92 



BOOK V. 

BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN EUROPE, ASIA, AND AFRICA, IN 

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 

CHAPTER I. — European Possessions. 
Isle of Man — The Channel Islands — Gibraltar — Malta, - ... ^ - . - 97 

CHAPTER II.— British Possessions in Asia. 
Cypnis^ — Perim — Socotra — Somali-land — Aden — Bahrein Islands, i ii 

CHAPTER III.— British Possessions in Asia (Continued), India: History 

FROM 1798 TO 1828. 

Govemonhip of Lord Wellesley — War against Tippoo Sultan — Capture of Seringapatam — Par- 
tition of Mysore — Mahratta wars — Assaye and Argaum — Capture of Alignrh and Agra — 
Battle of Laswari — War with Holkar of Indore — Lord Comwallis Governor-general — Sir 
George Barlow — Sepoy Mutiny at Vellore — Lord Minto Governor-general — Renewal of the 
Company's charter — Indian trade thro¥m open — Lord Moira Governor-general — The 
Nipalese war — General David Ochterlony — Operations against the Pindaris — Third Mahratta 
war — Pacification of Central India — Lord Amherst Governor-general — Storming of Bhurt- 
pore, -- 119 



• • 



CONTENTS. Vll 

CHAPTER IV. — British Possessions in Asia {Continued). India: History 

FROM 182S TO 1S44. 

Pag« 
Lord William Bentinck Governor-general — Suttee and Thuggee — Renewal of the Company's 
charter — Thomas Babington Macaulay — Misrule in the native states — Condition of Oudh — 
Coorg seeks annexation — Revolt in Mysore — Administration of Sir Charles Metcalfe — Lord 
Auckland Governor-general — ^Afghan War — Shah Shuja — Revolt of Akbar Khan — Weak- 
ness of British officials — Retreat from Kabul — Destruction of the army — Sale's defence of 
Jellalabad — Lord EUenborough succeeds Lord Auckland — Kabul recaptured ~ Conquest of 
Sind — Sir Charles James Napier — Battle of Meanee — Troubles in Gwalior, ... 143 

CHAPTER v.— British Possessions in Asia (Continued). India: History 

FROM 1S44 TO 1858. 

Sir Henry Hardinge Governor-general — Rise of the Sikhs — First Sikh war — Battles of Moodkee, 
Aliwal, and Sobraon — Lord Dalhousie Governor-general — His character — Second Sikh 
war — Gough's defeat at Chilianwala — His victory at Gujrat — Punjab annexed — Sir ,Henry 
and Sir John Lawrence — Sir Robert Montgomery and Colonel Robert Napier — Lord 
Dalhousie's reforms — The Company's charter renewed — Competitive examinations estab- 
lished — Death of Lord Dalhousie — Viscount Canning Governor-general. The Indian 
Mutiny — It causes — Outbreaks at Lucknow and Meerut — Spread of the revolt— Loyalty 
of the Sikhs — Massacres at Cawnpore — Victorious march of Havelock — Havelock and 
Outram besieged in Lucknow — Capture of Delhi — Sir Colin Campbell reaches Lucknow — 
Death of Havelock — Cawnpore and Lucknow recaptured — Sir Hugh Rose's campaign — 
The Mutiny suppressed, 154 

CHAPTER VI.— British Possessions in Ksik [Continued). India: History 

FROM 1858 TO the Present Day. 

Extinction of the East India Company — Proclamation of Queen Victoria at Allahabad— Indian 
revenue — Death of Lord Canning — Earl of Elgin succeeds — Defeat of the Wahabis — Death 
of Lord Elgin — Sir John Lawrence Viceroy — Famine in Orissa, &c. — Sir John Lawrence 
succeeded by the Earl of Mayo — Is assassinated — Opening of the Suez Canal — Lord North- 
brook Viceroy — Another fomine — Visit of the Prince of Wales to India — Resignation of the 
Viceroy, and appointment of Lord L3rtton — A great cyclone — The Queen proclaimed 
** Empress of India " — Devastation by famine — War with the Afghans — Brilliant march of 
General Roberts — Defeat of Ayub Khan — Lord Ripon succeeds I>ord Lytton as Viceroy — 
The " Ilbert Bill" — Sir Salar Jung — Lord Duiferin Viceroy — Russian aggression — Attack 
at Penjdeh — The Queen's Jubilee — Lord Lansdowne Viceroy — Local government — Means 
of defence — Sir Donald Stewart and Lord Roberts, 175 

CHAPTER VIL— British Possessions in Asia (Continued). India: Physical 

Features and Products. 

Mountains and rivers of the North — Its scenery — Luxuriant vegetation — Central and Southern 
India — Eastern and Western Ghats — Climatic conditions — Monsoons, rainfall, and tempera- 
ture — The death-rate — Zoology of the country — Deaths by wild beasts — Tiger-hunting — 
A "man-eating" leopard — The elephant and rhinoceros — Birds — Reptiles — Fishes — 
Insects — Mineral resources — Salt and saltpetre — Coal and iron-ore — Quartz-crushing for 
gold — Limestone and building-stone — Precious stones, 203 

CHAPTER Vni. — India {Continued). Peoples, Religions, and Occupations. 

Communications, Commerce, Trade. 

Distribution of population — Non- Aryan hill-tribes — Santals— Kandhs — Bhils — Religious classifi- 
cation — Rammohun Roy and Keshub Chunder Sen — Parsis — Introduction of Christianity — 
Roman Catholic Church — Protestant missions — Friedrich Schwarz — William Carey — Henry 
Martyn — Bishop Heber — Formation of dioceses — Labours of Dr. Duff— Mission work — 



CONTENTS. 



Occupations — Agricullure — Irrigation — Products of the soil — Rice, wheal, and millet — 
Oil-seeds— Vegelabiea — Fruits and spices— Cotlon and jute — Indigo, opium, and tobacco — 
Coffee and lea — Cinchona — Production of silk — Village life— Preservation of forests — 
Native industries — Means of communication — Railway system — Engineering works — The 
Bhoi'Ghal Incline — Telegraphs — Export and import tradi: — Internal trade, ■ -2 



Political divisions. Ajmebr— Physical features and producls^Rule of Colonel Dinon — Con- 
tel.tment during the Muliny — Adtninislialion — Principal towns. Assam — Extent and 
population — Invasion of Ahams and Burmese — Aboriginal tribes — ^Product& — Manulactures 
— Administration — Education and sanitation — Chief towns. Brnoal — Countries of Lower 
Bengal^Bengal Proper — Behar — Orissa — Worship of Jagannalh — Chutia Nagpur — Admin- 
istration — People — Chief towns — Calcutta. Bbrak — Area and population — Chiel towns. 
Bom BAV— Divisions — Adminislralion— Sind— Rann of Gulch— Countries of Northern Divi- 
sion — Central Division — Southern Division — Chief towns— Bombay. Central Pro- 
vinces — Area, population, and products— Chief towns. Cdorg — Loyally of people — The 
Raja and his daughter. Ma BR AS— Ex lent, productions, and people — Industries- Admin- 
istration^Chief towns — Madras. North-west Provinces and Oudh — Area and popu- 
lation — Administration of Provinces — Chief towns — Benares — Sanitaria — Characteristics of 
Oudh — Lucknow and Faiiahad. The Punjab — Physical character and population- 
Administration — Trade — Chief towns — Lahore — Delhi — Simla. Character ol British Ad- 
ministration in India — The District Officer — Monopolies— Municipal govemmenl — Money, 
weights, and measures — Educalion^ — Newspapers and biioks. British Baluchistan and 
Sikkim — Andaman, Nicobar, and Laccadive Islands. Native Slates — Area and population 
— Statistics of Native States — Shan States — Manipur — Rajpulana Slates — Kashmir — 
Haidarabad— Baroda — Mysore — Chief towiu in Native Stales, - 249 



BtTRUA — People — Physical features — E^rly history — First Burmese war — Rangoon captured — 
Second Burmese war — Lower Burma annexed— Stalislics of British Burma^Visil of Lord 
Mayo to Rangoon — Deposition of King Thebau and annexation of Upper Burma — Pro- 
ducts and industries — Adminislralion— People— Ed ucalion- Revenue and trade- Chief 
towns. Ceylon — Becomes a British possession — Sir Edward Barnes and Major Skinner — 
Formation of roads, railways, and canals — Geography and climate— Flora and fauna — 
P'eople — Coffee, tea, and cacao — Minerals — Pearl .fisheij — Imports and exports— Revenue 
-Administration— Education— Chief towns— Colombo. The Maldive Islands. Straits 
Settlements— Divisions— Singapore— Sir Stamford Raffles— Trade and produciions— 
Penang and Wellesley Province— The Dindings— Malacca— Cocos Isles and Christmas 
Island— The Straits Settlements. Native Maloy Slates. Hong Kong— Early history- 
Position and features- PiDgress of ihe colony— Victoria city— Adminislralion— Education, 
Borneo — Area— Vegetation and fauna— People— Labuan— British North Borneo — Pro- 
of Brunei and Sarawak — " Rajah Brooke ", ....... 31 




OUR EMPIRE 
AT HOME AND ABROAD. 



BOOK lY .—ConHnued, 

HISTORY OF BRITISH PROGRESS IN THE 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



CHAPTER XXII. 
Exploration and Travel. 

Archaeological researches — Kirkdale Cave and Kent's Cavern — Discoveries of Roman 
remains — An ancient town unearthed — Qassical and Biblical exploration in the 
East — Sir A. H. Layard and other explorers — The Palestine Exploration Fund. 
Travels in Africa — Bruce and Park — More recent African explorers — The work of 
David Livingstone — Lieutenant Cameron and H. M. Stanley — Exploration of the 
Nile basin — Speke, Grant, and Baker. Arctic exploration — Ross and Parry — Sir 
John Franklin — Expeditions to discover him — Captain M*Clure solves the North- 
west Passage problem — Discoveries of Dr. Rae and Captain MacClintock. Antarctic 
exploration. 

In Europe, apart from first ascents of Swiss mountains made 
by members of the Alpine Club, British research has been 
mainly directed towards archaeology. The Society of Antiquaries 
of London was founded in 1751, and the Scottish Society in 1780. 
During the nineteenth century, provincial and local associations 
have been formed in vast number, and the tumuli and " barrows ", 
or burial-places of prehistoric, early English, and Celtic people in 
Great Britain, along with ancient river-drifts of gravel, have dis- 
closed much concerning mankind in the periods known as the 
flint age or stone age, the bronze age, and the iron age, the extinct 
animals of a very distant past, and the burial customs and way of 
life of our historic forefathers. In 182 1, numerous remains of 
mammals of the Tertiary geological period were discovered in the 
Kirkdale Cave, in the north of Yorkshire, a recess about 80 yards 
in length, formed in oolitic limestone rock. The fossil-bones lying 

Y Vol. IV. M 



2 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

in a deposit of mud, covered by stalagmite formed by water drop- 
ping from the roof, were carefully examined and fully described by 
Dr. Buckland, F.R.S., a geologist of some fame, who became 
Dean of Westminster. They were found to include remains of the 
hyjena, tiger, bear, wolf, elephant, rhinoceros, and hippopotamus, 
as well as of several other ajiimals and some birds still living in 
these islands. At Kent's Cavern, near Torquay, in Devonshire, 
far more important discoveries were made. This curious recess, 
also known as Kent's Hole or Cave, is remarkable for the evidence 
which it has supplied as to the fact of human beings being con- 
temporaneous in Britain with various mammals either extinct or 
no longer natives of this country. The visitor, entering the side 
of a small wooded limestone hill through a low narrow passage, 
7 feet wide, and 5 feet high, finds himself in a cavern above 
200 yards in length, surrounded by a labyrinth of smaller caves 
and winding corridors. The roofs are glittering with stalactites 
formed by the dripping of water heavily charged with lime, and 
the floor is covered with a shining and slippery coating of 
stalagmite, in sheets varying from five to twelve feet in thickness. 
At the end of the cavern is a pool of water, deep, dark, and cold. 
The existence of the cavern appears to have been known for ages, 
but it was not until 1825 that the place was visited by any 
scientific men. Early explorers, between the above date and 
1865, found flint implements mingled with the remains of extinct 
animals. The British Association then took up the work of 
examining the deposits in Kent's Cavern, encouraged thereto by 
the results of exploration in a bone-cave near Brixham, on the 
opposite side of Tor Bay. The discovery of that place in 1858 
had disclosed bones of the mammoth, rhinoceros, reindeer, horse, 
bear, hyiena, and other animals, along with paleolithic flint 
implements. At Kent's Cave, fifteen years' digging through 
successive beds of stalagmite, red earth, and breccia, or rock- 
fragments covered with deposits of carbonate of lime, laid bare 
fossils to the depth of twenty feet. Flint-tools and implements 
of bone, including a needle with a well-formed eye, a harpoon, 
and an awl, lay among bones of the lion, bear, rhinoceros, hyaena, 
Irish elk, reindeer, mammoth, badger, glutton, beaver, red deer, 
wolf, fox, and other animals. Amongst the other signs of human 
work were found perforated badger's teeth, probably used as 




EXPLORATION AND TRAVEL. 3 

ornaments. Underneath the stalagmite in one part of the cavern 
was a dark layer, about four inches thick, chiefly composed of 
fragmentary charred wood. This was explained by the experts 
in such matters as the site of a hearth round which the cave- 
dwellers gathered to roast the bones of animals for the sake of 
their marrow. The length of time needed for the accumulation 
of these cave-deposits, with a due regard to their general character 
and structure, affords the clearest proof of the long existence of man 
in this country. The results of this exploration were, in 1883, 
laid before the British Association by Mr. M. W. Pen^elly. Some 
very extensive explorations have also been made in unearthing 
architectural remains of the Roman period. Besides many isolated 
villas, or country-houses of Roman officials, and the discoveries 
made in the City of London, from time to time, in digging deep 
foundations for our modern massive and lofty warehouses and 
blocks of offices, whole towns have been and are being unearthed. 
In 1859, excavations made in fields at Wroxeter, a Shropshire 
village on the Severn, near Shrewsbury, began to reveal the import- 
ant Roman town of Uriconium, on the great road known as ** Watling 
Street". In the course of eight years, part of the wall, remains of 
streets, public buildings, and private houses were laid bare, with 
coins, objects in bronze, and stucco covered with fresco-painting 
of wonderful freshness and excellent taste. For a real British 
Pompeii or Herculaneum we must go to the village of Silchester, 
in north Hampshire, near the site of the old Roman-British town 
" Caer Segont", or '* Calleva". About 1875 the pickaxe and spade 
began disclosures which have shown more than i^ miles of the 
walls, an amphitheatre 50 yards by 40, the foundations of a forum, 
a basilica, a temple, and baths, with coins, rings, seals, broken 
pottery, and many other articles of use and ornament. The Society 
of Antiquaries, in 1 890, took up the task of systematic exploration, 
and an area of above 100 acres was soon mapped out into square 
divisions, on which about forty labourers were set to the work 
of digging. In the summer of 1895, nearly forty acres had been 
explored, the ground floors of the Roman buildings being found at 
a depth of little more than one foot. The place was not destroyed 
by fire, or in any sudden or wanton fashion, but simply shrank and 
decayed by degrees, while the modern village arose half a mile 
away. Houses have been found in the "court-yard" style, with 



4 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

buildings arranged round three sides of an interior space, and in 
** corridor" style, consisting of a long row of chambers, with a 
corridor on each side. The streets run straight from north to 
south. It is interesting to observe that in our cold, damp climate 
the Roman houses were much modified in form from those in the 
sunny region of Pompeii. In Britain, the dwellings were more 
closed in, and seldom had the large peristyles (open corridors) or 
roofless atria (halls or courts) of the southern abodes. At Sil- 
chester, also, it is found that nearly every room has under it a 
hypocaiist^ or arched chamber for a charcoal fire, with earthenware 
tubes to convey the heat. At Pompeii, the bath-rooms alone 
were thus warmed. Many objects in iron, bronze, bone, glass, 
and wood have been found. Nearly two-thirds of the loo acres 
have yet to be examined. In the earlier days of the nineteenth 
century. Sir William Gell, a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cam- 
bridge, devoted to antiquarian and geographical research, did 
much in examining the classical remains in Attica, southern Greece 
(the Morea), and the island of Ithaca, and wrote an excellent work 
on the antiquities and topography of Pompeii. In the Victorian 
age, Mr. J. H. Parker and Mr. Burn did excellent service in dis- 
closure and description of some of the countless antiquarian remains 
at Rome. 

In Asia, British research has been mainly devoted to various 
parts of the Turkish Empire, in the exploration of remains of 
ruined cities, and in attempts to identify localities and sites men- 
tioned in the Biblical books and the Homeric poems. In Asia 
Minor, between 1838 and 1844, Sir Charles Fellows, a native of 
Nottingham, who devoted himself to exploration in the western 
part of that great peninsula, discovered the ruins of Xanthus, the 
capital of Lycia, and of fourteen other Lycian cities, with many 
architectural and other sculptured memorials of olden art. Many 
valuable objects in marble, and numerous casts, were obtained by 
Fellows for the antiquarian department of the British Museum. In 
1837, Mr. W. F. Ainsworth, who had been, two years previously, 
physician with Colonel Chesney's Euphrates expedition, returned 
home through Kurdistan, the Taurus, and Asia Minor, making 
observations and discoveries afterwards embodied in his valuable 
Travels in the Track of the Ten Thousand Greeks. To Mr. C. T. 
Newton, of the British Museum, are due the discovery and acqui- 



EXPLORATION AND TRAVEL. 5 

sition of many treasures of sculpture at Budrun, on the south-west 
coast of Asia Minor^ the site of the ancient Halicarnassus. In 1859 
Mr. Newton procured for the British Museum the remains of the 
famous Mausoleum, found and unearthed by him in the two pre- 
vious years. Between 1869 and 1874 Mr. Wood discovered and 
excavated the site of the celebrated Ionic temple of Diana at 
Ephesus, in the west of Asia Minor, one of the noblest specimens 
of that style of Greek art. The name of Sir A. H. Layard stands 
highest among those of British explorers in the antiquarian line. In 
1846 he began to work on the huge mound at Nimrud, on the banks 
of the Tigris, and there discovered the magnificent remains of four 
palaces of the ancient Nineveh. Thence came the famous bas- 
reliefs, cuneiform inscriptions, eagle -headed gods, and colossal 
winged human-headed lions and bulls to be seen at the British 
Museum. Mr. W. G. Palgrave, a son of Sir Francis Palgrave, the 
historian, made an adventurous expedition through central Arabia, 
in 1862-63, disguised as a native doctor, and further protected by 
his wonderful knowledge of Arabic. His Narrative, published in 
1865, is one of the best works of the kind, and made known much 
concerning a region never visited previously by any living Euro- 
pean. His journey led him through the midst of the fanatical 
Wahabis, a puritanical sect of Moslems. The daring, able, and 
eccentric Sir Richard Burton, who had served in Sind under Sir 
Charles Napier, was another traveller who made use of his almost 
perfect knowledge of Arabic in a journey as a disguised pilgrim. 
Dressed as an Afghan, he made his way to Medinah and Mecca, in 
1853, entering both cities at the risk of his life, in event of his dis- 
covery as an unbeliever. It is with Palestine and Syria that, in this 
latest part of the nineteenth century, British investigation has been 
most concerned. Between 1838 and 1852 the researches in the Holy 
Land made by Mr. Edward Robinson, of Massachusetts, aroused 
great interest through his identification of numerous Biblical places 
with ruined towns and hill-forts throughout the country. Hence 
came, iq 1865, the establishment of the Palestine Exploration 
Fund, and the very valuable and interesting work of survey per- 
formed chiefly by Major Conder, of the Royal Engineers. Im- 
mense results have been obtained towards the understanding of 
the Biblical narrative in historical times. The whole of western 
Palestine has been most minutely and accurately mapped, and 



OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD, 



above 1 50 lost Biblical sites have been recovered, leaving only one- 
fourth of all the Bible names yet without identification. Nothing 
like the light now thrown upon the Scriptures by discoveries in 
geography, monuments, seasons, climate, flora, fauna, Inscriptions, 
ruins, traditions, languages, customs, and legends, had been attained 
in all the centuries from the beginning of Christianity till the recent 
time of effective research. 

During the period under notice, a geographical revolution has 
taken place in regard to Africa. In 1801, the map of Africa was 
almost a blank save in the regions forming a fringe around the 
coast. Curiosity, long baffled by difficulties arising from climate, 
native hostility, and the jealousy of Moslem holders of, or traders 
in, the inland territory, has at last had the veil removed, and a 
vast internal area of the continent has been more or less accurately 
mapped. Within ninety years, more has been done to open up 
Africa than in the whole previous course of history. Between 1768 
and 1773, James Bruce, a native of Stirlingshire, starting from 
Cairo, went up the Nile to Syene, and thence made his way to 
Gondar, the capital of Abyssinia, whence he discovered the source 
of the Blue Nile, and, remaining about two years in the country, 
returned by way of Sennaar and the Assouan desert to Alexandria. 
In I 788, the African Association was founded in London, and then 
began the systematic, scientific exploration of Africa. With regard 
to the Abyssinian part of the continent, we may here mention that 
the British expedition of 1867, against the emperor Theodore, 
did much to extend our knowledge, and that, in 1840 to 1843, 
Dr. Beke, a native of London, made valuable explorations to the 
south, and mapped out above 70,000 square miles of territory. 
Mungo Park, a Scottish surgeon, sailed from England in 1795 
under the auspices of the African Association. From an English 
post on the river Gambia, he made his way by July, 1796, to the 
river Niger, and, after tracing its easterly or upper course, he 
returned to the Gambia in June, 1797. He then returned to Scot- 
land, married, and settled as a surgeon at Peebles, but his adven- 
turous spirit would not let him rest, and in 1805 he took charge 
of an expedition for the government, to trace the course of the 
Niger down to the sea. Of forty-five men who started from our 
post on the Gambia, but seven remained when Park reached the 
Niger, and these, with the leader, either died of disease or were 



EXPLORATION AND TRAVEL. 7 

drowned by the natives as they passed down the river in a canoe. 
One of Park's books, a nautical work, was afterwards seen by 
English travellers at the house of a native chief. 

Between 1822 and 1824, extensive discoveries were made by 
Captain Denham, a " Peninsular " officer, and Lieutenant Clapper- 
ton, of the royal navy, a native of Annan, in Dumfriesshire. They 
were appointed by government to join Dr. Oudney, who was going 
to Bornu as British consul, on an exploring expedition. By way 
of Tripoli and Murzuk, they arrived at Lake Tchad in 1822. In 
a westward journey, Oudney died, and Clapperton and Denham, 
with separate parties, explored much of the Bornu and Houssa 
country. In 1825, after returning to England, Clapperton started 
from the west coast, on the Bight of Benin, with three other gen- 
tlemen, and his faithful servant, Richard Lander. Only Clapperton 
and Lander arrived at Sokoto, on a tributary of the Niger, the rest 
having quickly died of fever, and to this pest Clapperton himself 
succumbed in 1827, being the first European traveller that had 
crossed Africa from the Mediterranean to the Guinea coast. In 
1826, Major Laing had made his way across the desert from Tripoli 
to Timbuctoo, but he was killed on his return, and his papers were 
lost. 

The solution of the Niger problem had been reserved for those 
eminent African travellers, the brothers Richard and John Lander. 
In 1830, commissioned by the government to explore the lower 
course of the great western river, they sailed down the last 800 miles 
to the sea, proving that the Quorra and Niger were identical, and 
that the river falls by many mouths into the Bight of Benin. In 
1834, Richard Lander died near the river - mouths, of wounds 
received from the natives. Dr. Barth, the next discoverer on our 
list, was a native of Hamburg, but he travelled at the charges of 
the British government, setting out from Tripoli, in 1850, with 
two companions, both of whom died on the way, to visit the Sahara 
and the country around Lake Tchad. Five years were employed 
by Barth on this work. Timbuctoo was visited, and much was 
learned concerning the Niger tributaries, the total area explored 
being about two millions of square miles, previously little known to 
Europeans. In 1861-62, Sir Richard (then Major) Burton, being 
consul at Fernando Po, on the west coast, made his way up the 
Cameroon Mountains, which he proved to possess a healthy climate, 



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rtv^L^ /'4hti4* :>^ tUt^niti/ ivffufh ,if,/| thTfi cau from the centre of that 
MM "^ ''**- '^•'^>* »'«uUh» hi lit /''.*'}, h': rnad': his way up the river 
\H 4 ^»^<*"'-. •'"'' **'^' il^ni'i, \ti*yf0itf\ lli^ fi{/|/cr courses of the western 
^^|^^I^H&:t» « J iIh ^ '#M|/'i, Iff r^>f/ h^'l L;ikc I )ilolo, the source of one 



EXPLORATION AND TRAVEL. 9 

arm of the Zambesi, and came out, in August 1854, on the west 
coast, at the Portuguese town of St. Paul de Loanda, the capital 
of Angola. Amid dangers and difficulties from fever, famine, and 
from hostile natives, whom he conciliated by an admirable mixture 
of firmness, kindness, and tact, Livingstone had passed through a 
country of rich fertility, well-wooded, watered by countless streams, 
and possessing great mineral resources. He then turned eastwards 
back to Linyanti, south of the Zambesi, passed down the river, by 
water and land, discovered the magnificent Victoria Falls, and in 
1856 came out at Quillimane (Kilimani), on the northern mouth of 
the Zambesi, after winning the high distinction of being the first 
European that ever crossed the African continent from ocean to 
ocean in those latitudes. Near Lake Dilolo, on this last journey, 
he had discovered the dividing plateau, from 5000 to 7000 feet 
above sea-level, or watershed between Central and Southern Africa. 
After an enthusiastic reception at home in 1857, Livingstone 
returned, in the following year, to Quillimane, in the Portuguese 
territory of Mozambique, as British consul, supplied by the govern- 
ment with means to continue his geographical researches. Accom- 
panied by his brother Charles and by Dr. Kirk, the great Scottish 
explorer then entered on a journey extending over more than four 
years in the regions north of the lower Zambesi, and added to the 
maps an accurate representation of Lakes Shirwa and Nyassa. 
In 1862, Livingstone suffered a heavy blow in the death of his 
devoted wife. After another visit to England in 1864-65, he 
began, in the year 1866, his last series of achievements. His main 
object now was to determine the position of the watersheds in the 
interior of Africa, and, especially, to examine the country between 
Lakes Nyassa and Victoria Nyanza, which latter had been dis- 
covered, along with Lake Tanganyika, in 1858, by Captains Burton 
and Speke. Ascending the river Rovuma, which lies just below 
10 degrees of south latitude, for two hundred miles, Livingstone 
struck out south-west, by land, to the southern end of Lake Nyassa, 
and then round its west side, and due north, to Lake Tanganyika, 
which he reached in the autumn of 1867. In coming thither he 
had crossed the well -wooded, richly -watered plateau mentioned 
above. It was at this time, and in 1868, that he discovered Lakes 
Liemba, Moero, and Bangweolo, with the head -waters of the 
Congo, there called the Luapula. 



/'.!: this- :-rne vv::irr^ :-ne ^r iie toi« ntsr^scn^ ^isufes m 



•'^* ■». - 



in rVvT thrift the >r«c Afrxaa 




ilW t 



th^t the t;%ie rui^ V5i?sv ;a7*rxiKi xr zze: purpcae oc yrrrnTrrng 3or 

VfS^'iY ^^y»X'%. '^XXJhX^ t^iey ^H-^iii- I£L Z XZ m ! JWT I'^Stl triTL j\. ^ff<r CIl"" 

^5f5>vtitiAn vv*r^: v^tTie rjivrr^s irzo isd seen lise crsTeijer some 
^/^ ^tt^r the tiiT^ ^-^t hii iHi5g»d Of^fr and lecsrs froci him 
*rrr/^» -wividri. r^^v: r>%r*. vtr^ on X'-r ncccis lar-r tr^n rrar care. 
F^/f t*^^^ year^. tx/m^n^. he was Irvsc 03 tie krowiei:^ ot dvilizcd 
m^A. 'r/^ir#j( i*nal>ie to arrire at Cjiji oc tze casccm ade oc Lake 
7;hr^;*r»yilc;i» owin^ to ;^reat n#»is in the oHEirry where he was. 
hxfA^/riniC f^wtie^ w^r: k#^ at a d^tance by hosdliries between 
f$^r/^. rui^A%. It waa not until November. 1^71. that Mr. H. M. 
.^yf;»rfk7, ^z^rthiuy^ ifjft Livingstone, by special commission c*' the 
NiW Yf/rk Herald, VaixA kim at UjijL Between 1S69 and 1S71, 
\ Jiy\uy%V txv^, ha/l txvaAk extensive explorations to the west of Lake 
y ^Ui^^uyikH, and harl discovered the Lualaba river, in the very 
t^Mr^y '4 xWaI part of the continent. After pardng with Stanley in 
}A>9rrh, 1^72, Livin;;stone started on a fresh journey, with intent to 
nfsitU* the rjmr%n tA the Lualaba, and to complete his exploradons of 
th^ more wc%inr\y chain of lakes, and of the rivers which he had 
fr/iin/l ttowiuif northwards from Lake Bangweolo. The heroic and 
nfh^uiuroH^ Scot was, however, near the close of his great career. 
.Stnirk down by dywrntcry, and unable to return to Ujiji, he died, 
on May int, 1^73, in a hut which he caused his followers to build 
for him at Ilala, on the south shore of Bangweolo. His faithful 
flttendflfitft roii(;hly embalmed his remains, and brought them to 
the toaftt, whence they were carried to England, and laid in West- 
fflinftter Alil/ey in April, 1874. 

Tn that hiHt rc»ting-place the body of Livingstone was des- 
patched by the care of another illustrious African traveller, Verney 
Lovett Cameron, th(!n a lieutenant in the royal navy. Born at 
Radipoir, near Wrymouth, in 1844, ^tnd entering the service in 
1857, Cninrron had served, in the east of Africa, in the Abyssinian 
expedition of iHoK, and then in the suppression of the slave-trade, 

an ofTicrr atlachrd to the preventive squadron. Having become 



EXPLORATION AND TRAVEL. II 

familiar with the Swahili language and with the habits of the 
natives, he was selected by the Royal Geographical Society to 
command an expedition for the relief of Livingstone after his 
discovery by Stanley. His mission was to convey letters and 
supplies, and then, in the cause of geographical science, to follow 
any line of exploration which might be suggested by Livingstone. 
Cameron started from Bagamoyo, in Zanzibar, in March, 1873, 
and in August he met the band of followers who were carrying 
the tody to the coast. It was difficult to arrive at a decision as to 
his duty in these painful circumstances. Resolving to press on to 
Ujiji, and, after recovering some of Livingstone's papers, to fulfil 
the geographical part of his charge, he first enabled Livingstone's 
men, by the supplies which he furnished, to complete their journey 
to the coast, and sent by them the instructions for the body's con- 
veyance to England. By his subsequent journey, Cameron acquired 
world-wide fame, and the congratulations and rewards of every 
geographical society, with promotion to the rank of Commander, 
the Companionship of the Bath, the D.C.L. of Oxford, and other 
valuable distinctions. According to his own claims, he solved the 
question of the outlet of Lake Tanganyika, by discovering the river 
Lukuga, passing into the Congo basin; he also demonstrated that 
the Lualaba was the Congo and not the Nile, and he defined, in a 
broad sense, the limits and areas of the chief river-basins of Africa, 
tracing the watersheds of the Nile, the Zambesi, and the Congo. 
It is quite certain that, amid great difficulties, and through a country 
mostly unknown, Cameron made his way right through from the 
Indian Ocean to the Atlantic, coming out, in February, 1875, 
on the western coast at Benguela. This eminent explorer, in 
April, 1894, received fatal injury, in the prime of his days, by a fall 
from his horse near his residence in Buckinghamshire. 

The name of Mr. H. M. Stanley will always be most honour- 
ably connected with African exploration, but, though he was bom 
in Wales, we cannot fairly claim his achievements, being those of 
a citizen of the United States, as belonging to a history of purely 
British progress. It was in serving as special correspondent of the 
New York Herald for our Abyssinian expedition that Stanley first 
entered Africa. After his discovery of Livingstone, and some 
months' intimate association with him, he became himself fired 
with the zeal for exploration, but first he came to England and 



12 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

published his marvellously successful book. How I Found Living-' 
stone. In the earliest part of 1874, he was with Wolseley in the 
Ashantee campaign, again as correspondent for the New York 
Herald, and he returned to England just in time to be present at 
Livingstone's funeral in the Abbey. In November, 1874, starting 
from Bagamoyo with about 350 followers, Stanley made his way to 
the Victoria Nyanza, passed round the lake, and visited Uganda; 
he then mapped out the shores of Lake Tanganyika, and, entering 
the basin of the Congo, he finally settled the origin, course, and size 
of that mighty river by tracing it from Nyangwe, on the Lualaba 
(now proved to be the Congo), down to the sea. An immense 
area of the map of Africa was filled in by this journey, followed by 
the publication, in 1878, of Through the Dark Continent. The 
International African Association, with the King of the Belgians 
at its head, was then founded, and from 1879 to 1884 Stanley was 
engaged in establishing the government of the Congo Free State. 
During this period, he discovered Mantumba and some other lakes. 
His latest discoveries, between 1887 and 1889, described in the 
Darkest Africa, proved the existence of an immense tropical 
forest to the west of the lake country, in the north part of the 
Congo basin, and of a great snow-capped mountain, nearly 20,000 
feet high. 

Among the distinguished British travellers in Africa was Mr. 
Joseph Thomson, a native of Dumfriesshire, who went out in 1878, 
under the auspices of the Royal Geographical Society, with Mr. 
Keith Johnstons expedition to Lake Tanganyika. When Mr. 
Johnston died, in 1879, before the party had quitted the eastern 
coast, Mr. Thomson became the leader, and explored much of the 
country around Lakes Nyassa and Tanganyika, and was the first 
European who saw Lake Hikwa, which he finally named Lake 
Leopold, in honour of the King of the Belgians. Much territory 
was by him seen and mapped for the first time. In a second 
expedition for the same Society, in 1883-84, Mr. Thomson passed 
through Masailand, explored much territory between Mombaza and 
the north-east side of the Victoria Nyanza, and first mapped out 
the northern side of Mount Kilima-njaro, several table-lands in 
that region, and three lakes. He also travelled much in the Niger 
country and in southern Morocco. 

The exploration of the basin of the Nile has been one of the 



EXPLORATION AND TRAVEL. 1 3 

greatest feats of modern geographical discovery, solving a problem 
which had, for four thousand years, baffled human curiosity and 
given rise to much ingenuity of fabulous invention. The source 
of the White Nile, or western branch of the great mysterious river, 
could be guessed at when, in 1857, Dr. Krapf, a German mission- 
ary, heard from the natives that a large river issued from a lake at 
the foot of the Kenia mountains, and flowed northwards through 
another lake. The Victoria Nyanza was discovered in 1858 by 
Captain Speke, a native ot Somersetshire, born in 1827, who served 
with the British army in the Punjab. In 1854, he was with Burton 
in the Somali country, and, three years later, the Royal Geographi- 
cal Society sent them both out in search of the great equatorial 
lakes of Africa mentioned by Krapf. They were together when 
they reached Lake Tanganyika, but it was Speke alone who first 
reached the southern shores of the Victoria Nyanza, and proved that 
it was a separate water from the former. In 1 862, Speke and Colonel 
Grant, a Scot, born at Nairn in 1827 and also an officer of the Indian 
army, found the river, at last, at the Ripon Falls, on the north shore 
of the Victoria Nyanza, and they followed it down to the Karuma 
Falls, but were then stopped by a native war. The next step was 
due to Sir Samuel Baker, a native of London, who passed his youth 
and early manhood in Ceylon. This eminent traveller, in 1861, 
had resolved, at his own cost, to discover, if he could, the source of 
the Nile, and in April of that year he set out from Cairo, in com- 
pany with his newly-married wife, a Hungarian lady of great ability 
and most adventurous character. In June, 1862, they left Khar- 
toum with an expedition of 90 people, a number of horses, asses, 
and camels, and three large boats. At Gondokoro they met Speke 
and Grant, who told them of the Victoria Nyanza discovery, and 
stated that the natives had mentioned another great lake which 
they called " Muta Nzig6". Baker and his wife went on their 
way, and on March 14th, 1864, they and their escort came out on 
the summit of some cliffs, whence they gazed on the lake in ques- 
tion, now named by Baker the Albert Nyanza. It was now estab- 
lished that the Nile issued from the Albert Nyanza, and the great 
river coming in from the east side of that lake, being traced up to 
the Karuma Falls discovered by Speke and Grant, proved that the 
White Nile issues from Lake Victoria Nyanza, 3800 feet above 
sea-level, on the equator, as its ultimate source, unless we then 



k 



14 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

trace the river to one of the streams entering that great inland sea 
on the south. We now conclude this part of our narrative by 
stating that Stanley, in 188S, discovered the lake called Albert 
Edward Nyanza, south of the Albert Nyanza, and, proving that 
the Semliki river joins those two lakes, in this way made the 
Albert Edward a secondary, south-western source of the famous 
stream. 

We now take our flight from tropical heat to the extremity of 
cold, and deal with British Arctic or Polar exploration during the 
nineteenth century. Much of the travel and discovery in Arctic 
or sub-Arctic regions will be given hereafter in connection with 
the history of the North-Wesl Territories of the Dominion of 
Canada. We are here concerned mainly with the attempts made 
by sea to solve the old problem of a north-west passage to Asia, an 
enterprise dating from Elizabethan days. In the earlier part of 
George the Third's reign, a revived zeal for maritime adventure 
and discovery in that direction sent Captain Phipps, afterwards 
Lord Mulgrave, to Spitzbergen. After some detention by masses 
of ice, he finally, in 1 7 74, reached a north latitude of 80 degrees 48 
minutes. In 1806, Captain Scoresby, sailing beyond Spitzbergen, 
arrived at 8ij4 degrees, and in later years, exploring Jan Mayen 
Island and the east coast of Greenland, he added much to our 
knowledge of the natural history and physical geography of the 
Arctic regions. A great promoter of Arctic research was the 
accomplished Sir John Barrow, a native of Lancashire in humble 
life, who became successively timekeeper in an iron-foundry, a 
Greenland whale-fisher, a teacher of mathematics, private secretary 
to Lord Macartney on his Chinese embassy, a traveller in South 
Africa, and for about forty years, from 1804 till 1845, with a 
very brief interval, a secretary to the Admiralty. He was the 
chief founder, in 1830, of the Royal Geographical Society, and his 
name is, in the Arctic regions, fidy commemorated by the designa- 
tions of a Strait, a Cape, and a Point. At his suggestion, the 
Admiralty, in 1 8 1 8, sent out two of our best-known Arctic voyagers, 
Captain (afterwards Sir John) Ross, and Lieutenant (afterwards 
Sir William Edward) Parry. Ross was another of our many 
enterprising Scots, son of a Wigtownshire minister, and born in 
1777. Entering the navy as a "middy" of nine years, he served 
with ability and courage in the great war with France, and was 



EXPLORATION AND TRAVEL. 1 5 

now chosen to explore Baffin Bay and to try for the north-west 
passage to Behring Strait. Parry, a native of Bath in 1 790, entered 
the navy as a midshipman in 1806, and had some early experience 
in the Arctic regions in protecting our whale-fisheries against French 
attacks. He proved himself to be a skilful and scientific navigator. 
Ross and Parry, sailing from the Thames, made their way for some 
distance up Lancaster Sound, west of Baffin Bay, and returned to 
England in the early winter. In 18 19, Parry, with the Hecla and 
the Griper, passed through Lancaster Sound, and discovered Prince 
Regent's Inlet, Barrow Strait, Wellington Channel, and Melville 
Island and Sound, thereby earning the Parliamentary reward of 
;^5000 for the first navigator who, in those waters, should cross 
the limit of 1 10 degrees west longitude. At Melville Island, Parry 
was frozen up from November, 18 19, to August, 1820, and then 
made his way home, the ice not permitting any further progress 
towards Behring Strait. Two other expeditions headed by Parry, 
between 182 1 and 1825, were likewise baffled, and in 1827, the 
same energetic traveller closed his career in Arctic exploration by 
an unsuccessful attempt to reach the North Pole on sledges by 
way of Spitzbergen. On that journey, Parry reached 82 degrees 
40 minutes north latitude. 

In 1829, Ross again set forth on an expedition which lasted 
until 1833. The steamer in which the voyage was made was built 
and fitted out by the liberality of a London merchant. Sir Felix 
Booth. The land called Boothia Felix was now discovered, and the 
true position of the magnetic pole, to which the compass-needle 
points, was found to be on its western shore, in 70 degrees 5 minutes 
north latitude, and 96 degrees 43 minutes west longitude. The 
travellers remained in or near Boothia, generally frozen up, till the 
spring of 1832, when a vain attempt at extrication was made, and 
they were forced to undergo the hardships of another winter. At 
last, in August, 1833, having abandoned the ship, and taken to the 
boats, they were picked up by a whaler, which landed them at 
Hull. The leader was knighted, as Sir John Ross, and his nephew, 
who had also shared in the 18 18 expedition, was rewarded with a 
post-captaincy. 

We now come to the expedition of the famous and ill-fated Sir 
John Franklin. This illustrious explorer, born at Spilsby, in Lin- 
colnshire, in 1786, entered the navy at an early age, and in 1801 



1 



l6 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

fought under Nelson at the fierce battle of Copenhagen. We have 
already seen the young hero on the Investigator, with his relative 
Matthew Flinders, under whom he gained his remarkable skill in 
maritime surveying. On his way home to England, by way of 
Canton, after being wrecked on the Australian coast, he played his 
part in February, 1804, in one of the most notable achievements of 
our naval history, when Captain Dance, in the eastern seas, voyag- 
ing from Canton with a fleet of sixteen merchantmen, bravely fought 
and soundly beat a French men-of-war squadron under Admiral 
Linois, consisting of an 84-gun ship, two fine frigates, a brig and a 
corvette. The enemy were driven off in full flight, and the East 
India Company profusely rewarded every British officer, man, and 
boy on board the Indiamen, for saving merchandise valued at eight 
millions steHing. Franklin's next active service was as signal- 
midshipman on the Bdlerophon, at Trafalgar, and in 1814, as First 
Lieutenant of the Bedford, in the attack on the Americans at Lake 
Borgne, near Mobile, he was wounded in capturing, by a hand-to- 
hand light, one of the enemy's gun-boats. His land journeys in 
North America are elsewhere given. It was during these expedi- 
tions that Franklin displayed the admirable mental and moral 
qualities and resources that marked him out as the best possible 
leader in any enterprise for Arctic exploration. In 1822 he became 
post-captain and F.R.S., and in 1829 he received a knighthood and 
the gold medal of the Geographical Society of Paris. After serving 
from 1834 to 1843 as lieutenant-governor of Van Diemen's Land 
(Tasmania), where we shall meet him in another section of this 
work, Franklin returned to England, and was then appointed to the 
command of the expedition which was to cost him his life and to 
win for him a name which can never fade from the memory of 
Britons. The government had resolved on another attempt to 
discover a practicable north-west passage to the Pacific, by way of 
Lancaster Sound and Behring Strait. The gallant Franklin, now 
a veteran in his sixtieth year, quitted Greenhithe, on the southern 
shore of the Thames, on May igth, 1 845, in charge of the two ships 
of direful designation and sad renown, the Erebus and Terror, 
carrying 134 picked officers and men. On July 26th, the ships 
were seen by a whaler in Baffin Bay, and from that day they 
vanished for ever from the sight of Europeans, not an officer or 
man surviving to tell the tale. As month after month, and year 



I 



EXPLORATION AND TRAVEL. 1 7 

by year, passed away, Lady Franklin and other relatives of the 
voyagers waited and hoped, with expectation turning slowly to 
despair, and hope into mourning as for victims claimed by death. 
That noble lady, married in 1828, was Franklins second wife Jane, 
a daughter of Mr. John Griflfin. 

The sympathy of the whole civilized world was aroused, and 
between 1848 and 1859 about twenty expeditions were despatched 
from England and the United States, by sea and by land, at the 
charges of Franklin s widow, as the event was to prove her to be, 
or of other private persons, or at the cost of one or other of the 
two governments. These numerous efforts, apart from the main 
object, greatly extended our knowledge of the Arctic regions. The 
Prince Aliert, fitted out by Lady Franklin, brought home proofs, 
in 1850, that the explorers had, in April, 1846, been wintering near 
Beechey Island. It was in May, 1851, that the brave Lieutenant 
Bellot, of the French navy, joined another of Lady Franklin's 
search-parties, and during his explorations he discovered Bellot 
Strait, between Boothia Felix and North Somerset, on the parallel 
of 72 degrees north latitude, with granite shores rising up to about 
i6cxD feet, and having, on the south side, the most northerly point 
of the continent of North America. In 1853, Bellot, whose statue 
is fitly placed in the garden of Greenwich Hospital, was drowned 
in an attempt to carry despatches over the ice to Admiral Sir 
Edward Belcher, commanding a luckless government expedition in 
search of Franklin. The search brought with it the discovery, at 
last, of the north-west passage. Robert M'Clure, born at Wexford 
in 1807, entered the navy in 1824, and, after serving in two Arctic 
expeditions, was sent out from Plymouth in 1850, to search for 
Franklin from the west, by way of Behring Strait. His ship, the 
Investigator, became ice-bound on its eastward course, and was 
rescued in the spring of 1851 by Sir Edward Belcher's expedition. 
M'Clure and his men finally reached England in 1854, by the 
Atlantic, after passing from the Pacific and so completing the 
passage all round from Behring Strait The leader was rewarded 
by a knighthood, and by his share of the parliamentary grant of 
;^io,ocx) for the exploit so long attempted in vain. 

We now turn to the efforts and discoveries of that eminent 
Arctic traveller, John Rae, born at the Orkneys in 18 13, and a 
student of medicine at Edinburgh, who became a doctor in the 

VOL. IV. «T 



OUR EMPIRE AT HOMK AND ABROAD. 



i 



Hudson Bay Company's service. In 1848 he left England on a 
search-party, and explored in small boats all the Arctic shores of 
North America, from the Mackenzie River eastward to the Copper- 
mine River, In the spring of 1849, with but two companions, Dr. 
Rae started again eastward from the Coppermine, and traversed 
1 100 miles at an average rate of 25 miles per day, hauling his own 
sledge, and examining every turn and winding of the bays and 
inlets. When winter came on, the party made their way on snow- 
shoes, over nearly 1400 miles of ground, to Fort Garry, now 
Winnipeg, after travelling, in eight months, more than 5000 miles. 
Nothing had been seen or heard of the lost expedition, and Rae 
was, for a time, otherwise engaged. In 1S53, he started northwards 
again in charge of a party despatched by the Company to complete 
the survey of the west shore of Boothia, and now, nine years after 
Franklin had left England, some clear intelligence bearing on the 
fate of his party was obtained. In July, 1854, wridng to the 
Secretary of the Admiralty, Dr. Rae related how, in the previous 
spring, he had learnt from a party of Esquimaux (Eskimo) that, in 
the spring of 1850, about forty while men had been seen travelling 
southwards over the ice, dragging a boat with tliem, near King 
William's Land. They could not speak the native language, but 
made signs that their ships had been crushed by ice. Later on, 
Dr. Rae obtained, by purchase from natives, portions of watches, 
compasses, telescopes, guns and other articles, with some silver 
spoons and forks, which had belonged to members of the Franklin 
expedition, and had probably been picked up by the Esquimaux 
on the spot or spots where the hapless men had lain down and died 
of starvation and fatigue. There is no reason whatever to believe 
that they suffered any ill-treatment from the natives, Rae and his 
people, amply supplied with food by their guns and hand-nets for 
fishing, and with warm clothing and bedding, in the skins of the 
deer which they had shot, passed the winter of 1854 in comparative 
comfort, sheltered by snow houses. In October, 1855, Dr. Rae 
arrived in London, and the Admiralty, on sight of the relics 
brought, held that the painful problem had been solved, and paid 
the reward of /"lo.ooo which had been, unknown to the explorer, 
offered for any trustworthy intelligence concerning the fate of 
Franklin and his men. 

There was one person, however, most nearly concerned in this 



EXPLORATION AND TRAVEL. I9 

tragical event, who could not rest satisfied with deductions from 
tidings derived firom the Esquimaux, or even with the sight of 
objects that had, beyond doubt, gone out with people on the 
Erebus and Terror. The faithful and loving Lady Franklin 
desired to have certainty concerning the end of her husband and 
his followers, however terrible that certainty might prove to be. 
In July, 1857, the Fox, purchased and fitted out by Lady 
Franklin, sailed from Aberdeen under the command of Captain 
(now Vice- Admiral Sir Francis Leopold) MacClintock. This 
eminent navigator, bom at Dundalk in 1819, entered the navy in 
1 83 1, and, becoming lieutenant in 1845, he had shared in the 
Franklin search-expeditions of 1848, 1850, and 1852, being instru- 
mental in the deliverance of M'Clure and his comrades. On this 
new occasion, absolute proof of the fate of Franklin and his men 
was obtained. Many relics of the expedition were received from 
the Esquimaux in Boothia, and along the western and southern 
coasts skeletons and articles belonging to the ships Erebus and 
Terror were found. The consummation of evil signs came in 
1859, when MacClintock found a document deposited in a cairn at 
Point Victory in King William's Land. Under the date of May, 
1847, this writing stated that all were well, but that ice-obstruction 
had stayed progress towards the coast of America. There was, 
however, a postscript of mournful import, in the form of a marginal 
note written on April 25th, 1848, by Captain Fitzjames. This 
statement made known that Sir John Franklin had died on June 
nth, 1847; that nine officers and fifteen men had also perished; 
that the ships, after having been beset by ice since September 1 2th, 
1846, had been abandoned on April 22 nd, 1848, three days before 
the date of writing, at a point 5 leagues N.N.W. of the cairn. The 
addendum also stated that 105 officers and men, under Captain 
Crozier, had landed at the point where the cairn was erected, in 69 
degrees, 38 minutes N. latitude, and 98 degrees, 41 minutes W. 
longitude. We may conclude this narrative by recording that 
American expeditions, under Captain Hall, and under Lieutenant 
Schwatka of the United States army, found many other relics, and 
numerous skeletons scattered up and down, showing that the hap- 
less men had succumbed, in their wanderings, to exhaustion caused 
by lack of food and intensity of cold. The bones of one of Frank- 
lin's officers, Lieutenant Irving, identified by objects found there- 



20 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

with, were brought home and interred at Edinburgh. Many of the 
articles recovered from the Esquimaux or picked up by explorers 
are to be seen in the Naval Museum at Greenwich Hospital. Lady 
Franklin died in July, 1875, aged 83, and in the same year a 
monument to her husband was placed in Westminster Abbey. In 
closing this subject, we may notice that Sir John Franklin, though 
he did not in person proceed, like M'Clure, from ocean to ocean, 
was really the discoverer of the north-west passage, since his ships 
reached a point within a few miles of that which previous explora- 
tions had attained from the westward or opposite direction, by way 
of Behring Strait. It must be admitted that, be the credit of the 
discovery due here or there, it is absolutely useless for commercial 
purposes, the seas being almost always blocked with ice, and the 
opening of the Suez Canal having provided the long-desired speedy 
route to the east of Asia. 

The fate of Franklin's expedition, along with deep sorrow for 
the devoted victims of the passion for Arctic exploration, aroused 
something like disgust in the public mind for the useless sacrifice 
of so many valuable lives, and many years elapsed before any 
British government proposed to employ public funds in that direc- 
tion. The search-expeditions had caused the almost complete 
exploration of the Arctic coast of North America, and, geographi- 
cally, there was nothing further to be learned in that quarter of the 
globe. In 1875, Captain (afterwards Sir George) Nares headed 
the government expedition composed of the steam-ships Alert and 
Discovery, and returned in 1876. One of the sledge-parties, under 
Captain Markham, reached a point nearer to the North Pole than 
any European had yet attained, in 83 degrees, 20 minutes north 
latitude. 

In the great Antarctic Ocean, Captain Cook was the first 
navigator that went so far south as 71 degrees. In 1831, the 
regions called Enderby Land and Graham Land were discovered. 
The chief explorer in the Southern Seas was the accomplished Sir 
James Ross, whom we have seen in Arctic voyaging with his uncle. 
Sir John. This distinguished navigator and man of science, skilled 
in magnetism, meteorology, zoology, botany, and astronomy, and a 
member of many British and foreign learned societies, went out in 
1839 as commander of an expedition composed of the two ships 
Erebus and Terror that were afterwards in charge of Franklin. 



EXPLORATION AND TRAVEL. 21 

Between that date and 1843. he discovered the vast continent 
named Victoria Land or South Victoria, and sailed along the coast, 
within sight of its mountain ranges, from 7000 to 10,000 feet in 
height, as far as 78 degrees south latitude. At this point, the range 
ended in an active volcano, 12,000 feet high, which Ross named 
Mount Erebus. A sister volcano was designated Mount Terror. 
The southern progress of the voyage was blocked by a huge wall 
of ice from 1 50 to 200 feet in height. Along this, the expedition 
proceeded eastwards for 300 miles. No land animals or vegetation 
could be seen, while oceanic birds, whales, seals, and grampuses 
were abundant. In 1874, ^he Challenger^ the only steam-ship that 
ever visited those waters, crossed the Antarctic Circle, and her staff 
made many interesting and valuable observations in various depart- 
ments of natural science. The voyage of that vessel, leaving 
Sheerness in December, 1872, and returning to Spithead in May, 
1876, after passing over about 70,000 nautical miles, or above 
80,000 land miles, was by far the most important scientific explor- 
ing expedition that ever left the British shores. In her wandering 
circumnavigation of the globe, the Challenger^ elaborately fitted 
with every requisite for marine investigation, from the sea-surface 
to the ocean-floor at all depths, steamed and sailed by way of Madeira, 
the West Indies, Nova Scotia, Bermudas, the Azores, Bahia, Cape 
of Good Hope, Kerguelen Island, Melbourne, Hong Kong, Japan, 
Valparaiso, Magellan's Strait, Monte Video, and Vigo, to Ports- 
mouth. Her scientific Reports^ edited by Sir Charles Wyville 
Thomson, the eminent Scottish zoologist, and Dr. John Murray, 
are a vast storehouse of new material in deep-sea exploration. 
Before passing to a new chapter, we may state that the important 
subject of Australian travel will be dealt with in another section of 
this book. 



22 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 



CHAPTER XXIIL 
Science. 

Astronomy — Researches of Francis Baily and Sir John Herschel — Sir George Airy and 
other eminent astronomers — Mrs. Somerville. Chemistry — Black, Cavendish, and 
Priestley — Dalton, Davy, Faraday, &c Electricity — Qerk-Maxwell, Lord Kelvin, 
Tait, &c Botany — Robert Brown, Professor Balfour, Sir William and Sir Joseph 
Hooker. Physics and pure mathematics — Sir David Brewster, Arthur Cayley, Sir 
William R. Hamilton, J. P. Joule. Comparative philology — ^James A. H. Murray, 
Sayce, Sir Henry Rawlinson, &c. Ethnology — Dr. Prichard, Latham, and Sir 
William Flower — E. B. Tylor. Natural history — William Kirby and Miss Ormerod 
— Gould, Owen, F. M. Balfour, Huxley, and Tyndall. Applications of electric power 
— Electro-plating. Geology — William Smith — Sedgwick and Murchison — Hugh 
Miller and the brothers Geikie — Sir Charles Lyell — Alfred R. Wallace and Charles 
R. Darwin. Writers on mental science, philosophy, or metaphysics. 

It is well to observe at once that the scope of this work pre- 
cludes any attempt to deal with the encyclopaedic subject of the 
progress of science in the nineteenth century. That progress has 
been positively portentous in its amount; a complete revolution in 
knowledge and belief on many points of great importance. We 
can here only refer to some of the chief departments of advance, 
and mention some of the most eminent British names connected 
therewith. On the practical side of science, that which closely 
concerns the welfare, in health and comfort and happiness, of the 
human race, these pages already contain a large amount of infor- 
mation. It is certain that the British public owe infinitely more to 
steam, electricity, and sanitary progress, including the improvements 
made in medical and surgical treatment, than to the Spectrum 
Analysis revealing the presence of certain metals in the sun, or to 
the discovery of scores of new minor planets, or to the demonstra- 
tion that we have all been wrong in our belief as to the distant 
origin of the human race and other animals. The faculties em- 
ployed, the methods of investigation used, the results attained, in 
these and other scientific discoveries of this ultra-scientific age, are 
alike admirable, but their abstruse nature removes them from the 
sphere of popular treatment. The extent of the advance of know- 
ledge in scientific matters during the Victorian age alone may be 
estimated by the fact that whereas, at the beginning of the period, 
there were energetic men, of great and varied mental powers, such 
as Dr. Whewell, the famous " Master of Trinity", Cambridge, and 



SCIENCE. 23 

author of the History of the Inductive Sciences^ who might be fairly 
said to have mastered all departments of physical science, the 
hardest and ablest worker at the present day must content himself 
with great proficiency in a single division or even subdivision. 
We may illustrate our meaning from mathematics by taking a 
wider range of years, and stating the certainty that Sir Isaac 
Newton, one of the very greatest intellectual men of all time, 
could, with his amount of mathematical and scientific knowledge, 
attain but a low position in the Tripos at Cambridge. Many of 
the facts of science, the working methods, the formulae, would be 
wholly unknown to the illustrious man who wrote the Principia. 
Starting from the same point of attainment as his competitors, a 
Newton would, of course, be the Senior Wrangler of his year, 
with the second wrangler some thousands of marks in his rear. 

Taking up astronomy first, we may note that the country of 
Sir Isaac Newton, Halley, and Flamsteed has well maintained her 
place, both as regards discovery and exposition, in this grand de- 
partment of physical research. Francis Baily, a native of Newbury, 
in Berkshire, in 1774, was first noted as a writer of books on bank- 
ing and life assurance. Gaining a large fortune as a stockbroker, 
he retired from business in middle life, and about 1825 he gave 
himself up to the study of astronomy with such ability and success 
as to win high recognition from many learned societies both of 
Great Britain and of foreign lands. He had a chief part in found- 
ing the Royal Astronomical Society; he improved the Nautical 
Almanac, and he produced the Star-catalogue which has had a 
vast effect upon the development of sidereal astronomy. His 
death in 1844 was a real loss to the devotees of his favourite pur- 
suit, in the history of which his memory is preserved by the name 
of the phenomenon called " Baily's Beads ", first fully described by 
him, being the discontinuous and broken appearance of the edge 
of the sun's disc, just prior to and succeeding the moment of com- 
plete obscuration during an eclipse. Sir John Herschel, the only 
son of Sir William Herschel, the discoverer, in 1 781, of the planet 
called Georgium Sidus, or Uranus, was born at Slough, near Windsor, 
in 1792, and in 181 3 he gained the highest mathematical distinctions 
at Cambridge as Senior Wrangler and First Smith's Prizeman. 
Devoting himself to astronomy, he discovered, by 1832, above 500 
fresh nebulae or clusters of stars, and between 30CX) and 4000 double 



24 



OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 



Stars. From January, 1834, to May, 1838, he was engaged in a 
series of most valuable telescopic surveys of the heavens at the 
Cape of Good Hope, conducted wholly at his own expense. On 
his return to England, honours were showered upon the man who 
had not only done so much for his own department of science, but 
had given a great impulse to meteorology by suggesting the method 
of taking simultaneous observations at many different stations. In 
1848, Herschel became President of the Royal Astronomical Society, 
and did further service by his excellent Outlines 0/ Aslronomy, and 
his researches on the undulatory theory of light, in chemistry, and 
in photography. Sir George Airy, born at Colchester in 1801, was 
another Senior Wrangler (1823) at Cambridge, and held the post 
of Astronomer Royal from 1836 until his retirement in 1881. His 
mathematical abilities were of the highest order, and his services to 
astronomy, at the Cambridge and the Greenwich Observatories, in- 
cluded the introduction of new or improved instruments and methods 
of calculation. He was also greatly distinguished in connection with 
meteorology, magnetism, and photography, and he became one of 
the foremost men of the century in physical science. His Ipswick 
Lectures on Astronomy is a popular work of the greatest merit. 
John Couch Adams, Senior Wrangler in 1843, gained immense 
fame by his independent detection, about the same time as the 
French astronomer, Leverrier, of the position in the heavens of a 
yet undiscovered planet, first seen, in 1846, by Dr. Galle of Berlin, 
and named "Neptune", Mr. Adams, investigating the cause of 
irregularities in the motion of Uranus, traced them to the influence 
of another yet unknown heavenly body, whose position he calculated 
to be within three degrees of its actual place. Leverrier's assigned 
position was within one degree of the truth, but Adams' work was 
completed at a somewhat earlier date, and the merits of the two 
men have been held to be equal. Adams, in 1858, became Lown- 
dean Professor of Astronomy at Cambridge, a post which he held 
until his death in 1892. 

The Earl of Rosse, an Irish peer, who died in 1867, won great 
and just renown as a practical astronomer by the completion, in 1 845, 
of his telescope, constructed at a cost of ^30,000, and mounted in his 
park at Birr Castle, in King's County. This magnificent instru- 
ment, of the reflecting class, is 54 feet long, with a tube of 7 feet in 
diameter, and a speculum, or mirror, of 72 inches aperture, weighing 




SCIENCE. 25 

three tons. The whole apparatus has a weight of twelve tons. Its 
astronomical services include the discovery that certain nebulae, or 
white cloudy appearances in the sky, are clusters of distinct stars; 
the detection of many binary and trinary, or double and triple stars, 
with members revolving round a common centre of gravity; and a 
much clearer view of the surface of the moon. The eminent owner, 
who was President of the Royal Society from 1848 to 1854, himself 
devised the means of casting the speculum, far surpassing all others 
in size and efficiency. Mr. J. R. Hind, born at Nottingham in 
1823, was early devoted to astronomical science, and became, in 
1845, after four years' experience as assistant at Greenwich, the 
principal observer at Mr. Bishops, in Regent's Park, London. 
Mr. Hind's successful labours made that abode of celestial observa- 
tions famous in the discovery of ten minor planets, or planetoids, 
and the calculation of the orbits and declination of above seventy 
planets and comets. In 1853 he became editor of the Nautical 
Almanac and in 1880 was elected President of the Royal Astrono- 
mical Society. 

Mr. J. N. Lockyer, born at Rugby in 1836, was chosen F.R.S. 
in 1869, and then became Lecturer in Astronomy at the South 
Kensington Normal School of Science. Besides his great merits 
as an astronomical expositor, both in speech and writing, Mr. 
Lockyer is highly distinguished for his researches into the chemical 
constitution and physical condition of the sun, stars, and nebulae, a 
department of science belonging wholly to the latter half of the nine- 
teenth century. The instrument called a spectroscope, due to the 
discoveries and ingenuity of the German scientists Fraunhofer and 
Kirchhoff, and of the eminent Scottish natural philosopher, Balfour 
Stewart, has proved that many of the heavenly bodies are composed 
of material like that of the earth, and has demonstrated, as regards 
the sun especially, its gaseous eruptions, the atmosphere in which it 
exists, and its own physical formation. Astronomy has been there- 
by connected with sciences previously regarded as belonging solely 
to our own planet, such as magnetism, electricity, geology, and 
chemistry. Mr. William Huggins, bom in London in 1824, who 
was elected F.R.S. in 1865, has long had a private observatory 
at Tulse Hill, in the southern suburbs of London, and has been 
greatly distinguished by his researches, through spectrum-analysis, 
into the physical nature of the sun, stars, planets, comets, and 



26 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

nebulae. In 1874 he was elected a corresponding member of the 
Paris Academy of Sciences, and from 1876 to 1878 he was President 
of the Astronomical Society. 

Sir Robert S. Ball, F.R.S., eminent as an observer and, espe- 
cially, as a most able and attractive expositor of astronomy, was 
born in Dublin in 1840, and studied at Trinity College, or Dublin 
University. In 1865 he became astronomer to Lord Rosse at 
Parsonstown (Birr), and in 1874 Professor of Astronomy at Dublin 
and Astronomer-royal for Ireland. His Story of the Heavens is an 
excellent book for popular use. The University of Cambridge gave 
the most ample recognition to Sir R. Ball's merits in appointing a 
man not of her own training to succeed the lamented Mr. Adams, 
in 1892, as Lowndes' Professor of Astronomy, a step without pre- 
cedent, we believe, in the whole history of that renowned abode of 
mathematical and astronomical science. 

Bare justice, and no courtly deference to a sex which, until 
these later days of salutary feminine advance, rarely meddled with 
such subjects as physical science, demands the eulogistic mention 
of that charming veteran student and writer, Mrs. Mary Somerville. 
Scotland, to which we " Southrons '* should grudge the honour, 
gave birth to this daughter of Admiral Fairfax, in December, 1780, 
in the manse, at Jedburgh, of her uncle. Dr. Somerville. In 1812 
she married his son. Dr. William Somerville, of the army medical 
board, a gentleman who in all ways favoured her devotion to mathe- 
matical and natural science. In 1816, they settled in London, and 
Mrs. Somerville, quickly known in society by her intellectual gifts 
and attainments, already including mathematics, Latin, Greek, and 
much besides, became famous, in 1830, through her Mechanism of 
the HeavenSy a work founded on the Micanique Cileste of the great 
French astronomer Laplace. She was now chosen as honorary 
member of the Astronomical and many other learned societies. In 
1835, Mrs. Somerville published The Connection of the Physical 
Sciences, a book that has been rendered into all the chief languages 
of Europe. Her other writings deal with molecular and microscopic 
science, and physical geography. Many of the later years of her 
useful, distinguished, and happy life were passed in successive 
residence at Florence, Rome, and Naples, the last of which cities 
saw her death, at the age of 92, in the third year of Italy's 
existence as a completely free and united nation. 



SCIENCE. 27 

In the latter half of the eighteenth century, the science of 
chemistry, in the British Isles, owed much to Black, Cavendish, 
and Priestley. Joseph Black, born at Bordeaux, in 1728, of 
Scottish parents, and educated at Glasgow University, became 
lecturer on his special subject there in 1756, and, ten years later, 
he filled the Edinburgh chair. He was the discoverer of the 
nature of carbonic acid gas, and evolved the theory of "latent 
heat " which led to James Watt's fruitful investigation of steam as 
a motive force. Henry Cavendish, a grandson of the second Duke 
of Devonshire, was born at Nice in 1731, and studied at Cambridge. 
Devoting his whole life, which ended at Clapham, near London, in 
1 8 10, and the resources of an ample fortune, to the study of natural 
philosophy, he attained the highest rank in that line, and was spe- 
cially noted for the beauty, accuracy, and finish of his experiments. 
To him chemistry owes the discovery of the properties of hydrogen, 
and of the composition of water. He was the founder, in fact, of 
pneumatic chemistry, or the scientific investigation of gaseous fluids. 
Joseph Priestley, born near Leeds in 1733, and living till 1804, 
made great advances in the path traced by Cavendish. In 1774 
he discovered oxygen, and investigated the nature of various oxides, 
acids, and gases. We now pass into the nineteenth century, and in 
William Hyde Wollaston we name one of the ablest and most 
famous English natural philosophers. Born at East Dereham, in 
Norfolk, in 1766, and educated as a physician at Caius College, 
Cambridge, he abandoned his profession in i8cx), and made all his 
chemical discoveries during the period now under review. He 
found out the existence of phosphate of lime and other substances ; 
devised a method of rendering platinum malleable, and in this and 
other ways made valuable application of chemistry to the industrial 
arts. Wollaston also won distinction in optics by inventing the 
reflecting goniometer, an instrument for measuring the angles of 
crystals; by discovering the dark lines in the solar spectrum, and 
by observations on single and double refraction. One of the 
greatest chemical discoverers of this or any other country was 
John Dalton, born in Cumberland in 1 766. After teaching physical 
science in Manchester, writing much on meteorology, and first de- 
scribing the nature of colour-blindness, he published in 1808-10, 
his New System of Chemical Philosophy, which announced the 
famous Atomic Theory and placed chemistry on a truly scientific 



h^sis. i-f ^ ii.sc rftncer^ an immense ier^uis: jq iie arosecuooa of 
^hemic^ innuir/ v/ ir^anmr iie ivsrem if ivmnciic jcrarioa whicn 
r>^n<i^r> :he naixire >f ihcmicai nraccuntis .aiii cr::cs^s5es easy to 
iinri#*r>c«n4 ami :>> rec^ilecr Ijaitna iied in : ^.i r arber receiving 
m^iny Brdf>in ^nri iKr^gn lisnncrirna, riis -nTrrie^. by Chantrey, 
a*lr>rri«; dn#* -^trino^ c/ :::ie SLcvi Iisrinirrn in. ^lamihescer. 

Sir ?f >rriOhr/ Davv. honi in : *7^ ic Penzance in ComvalL 
h^5; air^^iiv ivtr^n nameri in lonnecricn witn die ssrery-iamp used 
ivy cA^i-miner^;* Early dLscing-j.shf*!: in rrrenrfrai research. Davy 
ry^xi^me, in : ^>c:. iecr^r*r ac the R :yi^ I.-rsccidcn in Loniion. and 
^iHckiv rofje tr> fame chrougi the eiccuence cc iiis discourses^ and 
his y^xx^A, hrillfanc and nov'ti excerimenis. His great discover)' 
w;^s that c/>«icemin^ the true nan ire of earths ^nc, ^^Tkalfifs as sub- 
s«:;iin/vt> c/>mpounder: ct rrietallic bases with an admixnire of oxygen. 
His *.«/:tures on agricultural chemistry « :So;-rS: ; were of great 
jv^rvici^ t/> •scientific tillage To h^ experiments with eLectridty in 
4eC''>mp^>sing various ^trths were due the disccvery of pocassium, 
fV/'iium, calcium, magnesium, and other new metal.v Invested with 
vAx\fp^\<^ h<>nour^ in his native land, Davy was welcomed in France, 
by h^.r <5ci<entific men, with the utmost distinction while the two 
cyfMt\U\^.% were at war It was not the least of Daw's ser\nces to 
his c/Aintry 'At\(\ Uj science that he discovered the wonderful abilities 
of Michael Faraday, and made him his assistant in the laboratory 
at th^ koyal Ini^titution, Sir Humphr\'. created a baronet in 
r^f^, siicccfrded Sir Joseph Banks, on his death in 1820, as Presi- 
dent of the koyal Society, In 1829 he died at Geneva, a member 
fi4 ;ilm</st every scientific body throughout the world, and was 
b//r»^/i»re/l f/y the Swiss government with a public funeral, at which 
Cfivier, the illustrious comparative anatomist, declared Davy to 
hoM the first rank among the chemists of that or any other time. 

'I homas firaham, born at Cilasgow in 1805, became Professor 
of riiemistry there in 1830, and in 1837 was appointed to the 
similar post in University College, London. In 1855, he succeeded 
Sir J/;hn Herschcl as Master of the Mint, and in 1869 he died in 
IjttvUtn. Graham was specially distinguished by his discoveries as 
to the (lifffision of chemical gases, their absorption by liquids, and 
on other branches of chemical composition and modification. In 
I*'«ni<lMy, horn near London in 1791, we have one of the most 
illustriotis ICnglish physicists. Early addicted to electrical and 



SCIENCE. 29 

Other science, he succeeded Davy, in 1827, as Professor of Chemis- 
try at the Royal Institution, and became as famous as his master 
for charming experiments, and for the perfect lucidity and happy 
expression of his scientific expositions. The profundity of his 
knowledge, as implicitly exhibited in his Christmas lectures to the 
young, and in such works as his Lectures on the Chemical History 
of a Candle, was veiled, to the unlearned, by the simplicity of his 
style. It was in electricity that Faraday was at his greatest, as 
displayed in the researches published, during more than forty years, 
in the Philosophical Transactions. None but a scientist in this 
subject can form any idea of the marvellous range, depth, and value 
" of this great man's electro-magnetic discoveries, dealing both with 
the theory and the practical application of the force which has done 
and is doing so much for mankind. He died, in 1867, at Hampton 
Court. 

Among eminent electricians, we may here mention Mr. Warren 
De la Rue, born in Guernsey in 181 5. also distinguished in astro- 
nomical photography; Mr. James Prescott Joule, whom we shall 
see again shortly, and Mr. James Clerk-Maxwell, born at Kirk- 
cudbright in 1 83 1, Second Wrangler and bracketed as Smith's 
Prizeman at Cambridge in 1854, and, after holding professorships 
in natural philosophy at Aberdeen and in Kings College, London, 
Professor of Experimental Physics in Cambridge University from 
187 1 until his death in 1879. This eminent man's Electricity and 
Magnetism^ published in 1873, made an epoch in the history of 
electrical science. In optics and dynamics, and on gases and heat, 
he also displayed extraordinary ability and knowledge. Lord 
Kelvin (so long famous as Sir William Thomson) has been already 
dealt with in his early career, and in connection with telegraphy. 
His practical work in electricity, as a deviser of scientific apparatus 
of the utmost accuracy, delicacy, and utility, is of the very highest 
order of merit, while in pure science, such as thermodynamics, 
hydrodynamics, magnetism, electricity, and the doctrine of dissipa- 
tion of energy, he has displayed powers rarely equalled in this last 
century of time. General Sir Edward Sabine, of the Royal Artil- 
lery, born at Dublin in 1 788, and dying at Richmond, near London, 
in 1883, was greatly distinguished in terrestrial magnetism, and it 
was through his influence that the Admiralty instituted magnetic 
observatories in various parts of the world. Sabine became F.R.S. 



-.ca 2ir?:az xr 3i:!C£ ijz ^:iTir*-, 



in tit^.. aari «^5* rr^n i enc cf iie X-::yxI Sirrrrj arni :36r to 1879^ 

after 'r>t:r.5f xr xacj T-iari iecrssrj. iocL in : if j, Prrsgcmt of the 
British A^'xukrica, -wii^se x^ccrti ss w^ 2s zhe PiLasopkiad 
TranuutuytLi. c^nr^rn rxsc TrrzctZiizz izzoirxsncii ca Zis ^lecial 
Mjr>j-rrx Ancchi^r ^rrisicnr -rar-r sl ziiilcscccer 25 3»Er- Peccr Gadirie 
Tait, a aatxT** c.c Dalkcfrh r: :i : :. Afi-r 3cxn^ scjct sr Edmbtogfa, 
he rytcam^ ar» uncfcrgrsc -ai^t ar 'Lidirji^ and En 1^52 came out 
as -Senior Wrangier and Firsc Scnf3±.5 rrijeman. Efght years 
later, he was appointed u3 the cna£r cc Naciral Pn£csocay at Edm- 
burgh, where he becamer in : • 75. general secnKary oc' the Royal 
Jiociety. H is tcxr-books on tne higner maihemsrics are well known, 
and, in conjunction with 5:r W. ThocsGc Lcrd KeiTia* he has 
written a Trea/is^ cm Xaiur-jl PizScic^ij. Tail 5 original scientilic 
work has been mainlv conceni'td with hear and electricitv. and he 
is noted for his abilitv itl the r-dd excosirf on cc abstmse and difii- 
cult matters. Mr. Balfojr Stewart. F-FLS.. alreadv seen in connec- 
tion with the spectroscope, was bom at Edinburgh in 1S2S, and 
studied at the Universities both of Sc Andrews and his native 
city. Like the astronomer Baily. though at an eaxiier age, he left 
business for science, and in 1S59 became director of the Kew 
f observatory. In 1870, he was appointed Professor of Physics at 
f Jwens College, Manchester, and died in 1SS7. His researches on 
heat, meteorology, and terrestrial magnetism were of verj- great 
value. Sir George Gabriel Stokes, F.R.S., was bom, in 1S19, i*^ 
county Sligo. In 1841, he attained the highest mathematical 
honours at Cambridge as Senior Wrangler and First Smith's 
iVizeman, and, eight years later, he was appointed Lucasian Pro- 
fessor of Mathematics. In 1885, after being for over thirty years 
secretary of the Royal Society, he was elected President for the 
five years' term. His powers as a mathematician and natural 
philosopher are of the highest rank, being specially displayed in 
connection with hydrodynamics and with the theory of light. His 
efforts have been very valuable in developing at Cambridge the 
stu<ly of natural science. 

In botany, Great Britain can show, during the century, some 
names of high distinction, especially in the line of geographical 
bolany. As a matter of great interest on the subject of plants, 
though the discovery is not due to any British student, but to the 
(lerrnan botanist Sprengcl, Professor at Halle University, in Prus- 



SCIENCE. 31 

sian Saxony, from 1797 to 1833, it has been established that the 
fertilization of flowers is effected by the conveyance of the pollen, 
from one flower to another, partly through the action of the 
wind, but chiefly through the agency of insects, especially of 
bees. To these little creatures do we mainly owe the beauty 
of our gardens and the sweetness of our fields, in countless 
varieties of colour, scent, and form. Robert Brown, a native of 
Montrose in 1773, studied for medicine at Edinburgh University, 
but turned his special attention to botany. In 1798, he became 
known, in London, to Sir Joseph Banks, and in 1801 went out 
as naturalist on Flinders' expedition to the Australian coast. In 
1805, Brown returned to England with about 4000 species of 
Australian plants, largely unknown to botanists. From this time, 
by his numerous and able writings, he began to attain the high 
distinction which caused Humboldt to style him the first of living 
botanists. In 1827, Brown became head of the botanical depart- 
ment at the British Museum, which was enriched, at the same 
time, by the fine library and collections of Sir Joseph Banks, 
for many years already under his charge. The eminence of 
Brown in his special line of research is marked by his election, 
in 1833, as a foreign associate of the French Institute, and 
above all, by Darwin's praise of his wonderful knowledge, and 
of his minute and accurate observation. This distinguished man 
died in London in 1858. Mr. John Hutton Balfour (1808-1884), 
a native and graduate of Edinburgh. Professor of Botany at Glas- 
gow University (1841 to 1845) and then at Edinburgh (1845 to 
1874), did much to improve the Royal Botanic Garden in the 
Scottish capital, and promoted his favourite study by his able 
lectures and writings. George Bentham, born near Portsmouth in 
i8cx), turned from the law to botany with such vigour and success 
that in 1828 he was a Fellow of the Linnaean Society and an emi- 
nent writer on and collector of specimens. In 1854, his accumulated 
treasures were presented to the Kew Museum, and all the rest of 
Bentham's life, thirty years, was there spent in arranging and 
describing British and foreign flora. His Genera Plantarum, com- 
pleted with the aid of Sir Joseph Hooker, and produced between 
1862 and 1883, is practically exhaustive of botanical knowledge up 
to date. No account of British botanists of the nineteenth century 
can omit the Hookers, father and son, whose name has been so 



32 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

intimately associated with Kew Gardens for so many years that it 
is hard to think of that charming region by the Thames without its 
learned and vigilant director. The elder, Sir William Jackson 
Hooker, born at Norwich in 1 785, was a devotee of nature from 
his youth upwards, and became in 1820 Professor of Botany at the 
University of Glasgow. In 1841, he was placed in office at Kew 
Gardens, and discharged his important duties with the utmost zeal, 
vigour, and success. The place was vastly extended and improved, 
and the energetic and eminent Kew director became a sort of 
" Botanical Minister" for the British Isles, wielding great influence 
in his own subject as to appointments throughout the empire. On 
his death in 1865, he was succeeded at Kew by his son. Sir Joseph 
Dalton Hooker, who had for ten years been his assistant-ruler. 
This worthy son of his sire was born at Halesworth, in Suffolk, in 
181 7, and in 1839 became M.D. of Glasgow University. He 
shared in the Antarctic expedition, under James Ross, above 
described, and was afterwards for three years, studying botany and 
gathering new plants, including specimens of rhododendrons, in the 
Himalayas. Some new varieties of the latter beautiful shrubs were 
by him naturalized in this country. In 1871, he made the first 
European ascent of Mount Atlas, in Morocco, whither he had gone 
to gather plants. Among his many valuable works are those on 
the flora of the Antarctic regions, Tasmania, and New Zealand. 
Sir Joseph Hooker has been President of the British Association 
(Norwich, 1868,) and of the Royal Society (1873-78). The value 
of Kew Gardens, not only to students of botany, but also to the 
commercial world, under the management of the two Hookers, was 
mentioned in an early part of this section of our work. 

Sir David Brewster, born at Jedburgh in 1781, was one of the 
greatest British natural philosophers in the first half of the nine- 
teenth centur)^ Early devoted to optics, he was the inventor of 
the kaleidoscope, and the improver of the stereoscope, and, in the 
interests of general science, he had a main share in founding the 
British Association. His merits were recognized by the fellowship 
of the Royal Society and the membership of the French Institute, 
of which he also became, in 1 849, one of the eight foreign asso- 
ciates. He made numerous discoveries in optical science, and was 
instrumental in causing the adoption of the dioptric system of illu- 
mination for British lighthouses. His energy, during a life pro- 



SCIENCE. 33 

tracted till 1868, found vent in countless papers on scientific subjects 
furnished to societies and reviews, and in Lives of Newton, Galileo, 
and other great men of his own class. 

In pure mathematics, Cambridge and Dublin Universities 
have each produced one man of the highest order of genius. The 
late Mr. Cayley, bom at Richmond, Surrey, in 1821, was Senior 
Wrangler and First Smith's Prizeman in 1842, becoming in 1863 
the first Sadlerian Professor of Pure Mathematics at Cambridge, 
and in 1875 an honorary fellow of his old college, Trinity. In 
1883 he was President of the British Association, and was known to 
a select body of men throughout Europe, and in the United States, 
being the few capable of appreciating his merits, as a master of the 
abstruser methods of mathematical calculation. Sir William Rowan 
Hamilton, born in Dublin in 1805, and a graduate of Trinity College 
in that city, was one of the intellectual portents, not only of his own 
country and century, but of the world, and of modern times. In 
his fourteenth year, he had a really sound knowledge of thirteen 
languages, including Arabic, Persian, Hindustani, Syriac, and San- 
skrit. At seventeen, doubtless with exaggeration which must have 
been provoked, however, by very wonderful attainments, the youth 
was declared, by a good mathematician, to be the foremost man of 
his time in that department. At twenty-two, Hamilton became 
Professor of Astronomy in his University, and Astronomer- Royal 
for Ireland. He distinguished himself in connection with the undu- 
latory theory of light, and propounded new methods of dealing with 
optical and dynamical problems by means of symbols of extended 
power, which excited the profound admiration of continental mathe- 
maticians. This wonderful genius, who died in 1865, crowned his 
career by the invention, in the calculus of quaternions, of a mathe- 
matical instrument of peculiar power and extent of application. 

One of the great new scientific doctrines which have been 
established during recent times is that called the ** conservation of 
energy", a principle to the effect that no system of matter can vary 
in the total amount of energy, or working power, which it contains, 
unless it parts with energy to, or receives energy from, some out- 
side body. This great truth, approached by Sir Isaac Newton in 
his Princtpia, and nearly reached by Count Rumford and Sir 
Humphry Davy in their experiments on heat and its cause, which 
was by them rightly declared to be motion, was finally established 

Vol. IV. es 



34 OUR EMPIRE AT H03CE AXD ABROAD. 

by one of our greatest physical philosophers, Mr. J. P. Joule, bom 
at Salford in 1818, and a pupil of John Dalton. It was in 1840 
that he began to study the subject of heat, and he ended by deter- 
mining its mechanical equivalent in the formula that the expendi- 
ture of mechanical energy represented by the raising of 772 lbs. 
through one foot of space, against gravity, is needed to produce 
heat increasing the temperature of i lb. of water by i degree 
Fahrenheit. This eminent man, who became F.R.S. in 1850, died 
in 1889. 

The study of comparative philolog}', founded in the eighteenth 
century by Sir William Jones and other scholars, and highly de- 
veloped in the nineteenth century by the great Germans Jacob 
Grimm, Francis Bopp, W. Humboldt, A. F. Pott, Curdus, Benfey, 
Corssen, and by Max M tiller, who has for nearly half a century been 
living at Oxford, has in these later days had distinguished followers 
in this country. Mr. James A. H. Murray, bom in Roxburghshire 
in the year when Victoria came to the throne, gained his first high 
distinction as a scientific linguist by the publication, in 1873, ^^ ^ 
work on the Lowland dialects of Scotland. His knowledge extends 
over most of the European, and many Oriental languages. In 1879 
and 1880 Dr. Murray was President of the Philological Society, and 
he has since then been for many years resident at Oxford, engaged, 
with the aid of a large staff of assistants, and with volunteer helpers 
all over the country, on the first complete English Dictionary ever 
undertaken, one which, in its existing stage of completion, gives 
ample promise of far surpassing all other works of the kind. Mr. 
A. H. Sayce, born near Bristol in 1846, and a first-class man in 
classics at Oxford in 1869, is another eminent philologist and 
Orientalist. Mr. George Smith, born in London in 1840, and 
dying, all too soon, in human judgment, at Aleppo, in Syria, in 
1876, was an assistant in the antiquities department of the British 
Museum. This self-taught man, of lowly parentage, began life as 
an engraver of bank-notes, and then became skilled as an interpre- 
ter of the Ninevite cuneiform inscriptions on the monuments, also 
making two visits to the mounds on the Tigris banks, and returning 
with good store of excavated relics of the distant past. In connec- 
tion with this subject, due honour must be paid to the late Sir 
Henry C. Rawlinson, born in Oxfordshire in 18 10, and long in the 
service of the East India Company as a military officer and politi- 



SCIENCE. 35 

cal agent. This eminent Orientalist, about 1835, began to study 
the cuneiform inscriptions, and was largely instrumental in devising 
the true method of their interpretation. The explanation of the 
Egyptian hieroglyphics was begun, and carried to a certain point, 
by Dr. Thomas Young, secretary to the Royal Society, who died 
in 1829, and was prosecuted with great success by Samuel Birch, 
of the British Museum, where he was assistant in the antiquities 
department from 1836 until 1861, becoming then, until his death in 
1885, keeper of the Egyptian and Oriental monuments. This very 
distinguished archaeologist was specially great in matters concerning 
ancient Egypt, and edited, after Baron Bunsen's death, the last 
volume of the famous Egypt's Place in Universal History. 

Closely akin to philology, on one side, is ethnology, or the 
science which deals with the relations of the varieties of mankind 
to each other, as to origin, physical and mental differences, disper- 
sion, and geographical distribution. This study, one entirely 
belonging, in any scientific sense, to the nineteenth century, was 
first raised to this rank by Dr. Prichard, a native of Ross, in 
Herefordshire, in 1786, who published, in 181 3, his Researches into 
the Physical History of Mankind. He was also an eminent philo- 
logist, as proved by his work (1831) The Eastern Origin of the 
Celtic Nations. Ethnology, after Prichard's publication of The 
Natural History of Man (1843) and his death in 1848, was followed 
up by Robert Gordon Latham, born in 181 2, who became a Fellow 
of King's College, Cambridge, and then a student of Scandinavian 
philology. His Natural History of the Varieties of Mankind 
(1850) and several other works on ethnology, did much to further 
knowledge in this department of research. One of our latest and 
ablest scientists dealing with ethnology is Sir William Henry 
Flower, F.R.S., bom at Stratford-on-Avon in 1831, who became, 
in 1884, Director of the Natural History department of the British 
Museum, and was, in 1889, President of the British Association. 
This excellent anatomist and zoologist has rendered great service 
to the unlearned public by his skilful and careful arrangement, at 
the South Kensington building, of the beautiful and instructive 
specimens committed to his charge. With ethnology is closely 
connected the still more modern anthropology, or the science of 
man in relation to the other mammalia. On this subject, the most 
distinguished British scientist is Mr. E. B. Tylor, born at Cam- 



36 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

berwell, in London, in 1832, who became F.R.S. in 1871, and was 
appointed, in 1883, Keeper of the University Museum, and Reader 
in Anthropology, at Oxford. In 1891, Mr. Tylor was elected 
President of the Anthropological Society. His works. Researches 
into the Early History of Mankind (1865), Primitive Culture 
(1871), and Anthropology (1881) are of the first order of merit for 
wide and sound views and principles, accurate and profound learn- 
ing, and skilful arrangement of matter. 

Before dealing, very briefly, with the revolutionary subject of 
Darwinism, which we shall approach by way of geology, we may 
note some eminent observers, collectors, and scientific demonstra- 
tors and reasoners in natural history. Entomology, or the scientific 
study of insects, founded and carried forward, in the seventeenth 
and eighteenth centuries, by Rae, Linnaeus, Reaumur, Cuvier, and 
others, was first worthily treated, in this country, by William 
Kirby, born in Suffolk in 1759, who died in 1850, after being for 
more than half a century rector of a country parish in his native 
county. His Introdiution to Entomology, published in four volumes 
between 181 5 and 1826, and written with the aid of Mr. Spence, 
is a vast and invaluable store of facts, communicated in familiar 
language, on the habits, uses, and instincts of insects. Kirby, one 
of the earliest members of the Linnaean Society, founded in 1 788, 
was also a Fellow of the Royal and of the Geological Societies. 
Since his day, the subject has been investigated with great success 
by a host of naturalists, native and foreign. For practical ends, it 
is a lady that, in this latter half of the nineteenth century, has 
rendered most service in entomology. Miss Eleanor Ormerod, 
daughter of the well-known county historian of Cheshire, first 
appeared in 1868 as an accurate and learned student of the manners 
and customs of insect-pests. A work published in 1881 on ** in- 
jurious insects" caused her appointment, in the following year, as 
consulting entomologist to the Royal Agricultural Society, and she 
soon became a lecturer on her special subject at the Cirencester 
College. She has been one of the ablest and most vigilant foes of 
the destructive Hessian fly, which attacks the stems of wheat, 
barley, and rye. 

From insects is a natural transition to the birds that so largely 
prey upon them. Here again, a host of able British naturalists has 
been engaged on every kind of research. John Gould, bom at 



SCIENCE. 37 

Lyme, in Dorsetshire, in 1804, was devoted always, from an early 
age until his death in 1 881, to the study of these most attractive 
creatures. In 1827 he became curator of the Zoological Society's 
Museum, and published a series of superbly-illustrated works on 
the ornithology of Great Britain, Europe, the Himalayas, and 
Australia, with several special works, or monographs, on humming- 
birds and other classes. His collection of humming-birds was one 
of the greatest attractions of London in 1851, and is now at the 
Natural History Museum, South Kensington. Mr. John Edward 
Gray, who became assistant in the Natural History department of 
the British Museum in 1824, and was Keeper of the Zoological 
Collections from 1840 till 1874, did immense service in completing 
the stock of specimens, and by his descriptive catalogues of the 
department which he made one unrivalled in the world. 

We come next to the illustrious Sir Richard Owen, one of the 
greatest men in modern scientific discovery and exposition. Born 
at Lancaster in 1804, and educated for medicine at Edinburgh 
University and at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, in London, he 
turned to comparative anatomy and became, through his teacher 
Dr. Abernethy's influence, first an assistant in, and then curator of, 
the Hunterian Museum at the College of Surgeons in London. 
From 1830 to 1856 he was engaged in drawing up the marvellous 
series of descriptive catalogues, while he also lectured from 1836 
to 1855 as Professor of Comparative Anatomy, in succession to Sir 
Charles Bell, at the College. In 1856, through the influence of 
Macaulay, one of the Trustees, he became head of the Natural 
History department at the British Museum, a post which he held 
until his resignation in 1883. He died in December, 1892, a mem- 
ber of all the chief learned societies of the world, and invested with 
the Prussian ** Order of Merit", only conferred on men of the very 
highest distinction in literature or science. This " Newton of 
Natural History", as an eminent writer styled him, a true intellec- 
tual giant, the friend and peer of Cuvier, Faraday, Darwin, and 
Lyell, and the survivor of all these great founders of modern science, 
was marked alike by acute insight and by capacity for work. His 
research and knowledge extended, in palaeontology, or the science 
of extinct animal and vegetable organisms, and in comparative 
anatomy, over nearly every class of objects from sponge to man. 
None but experts can even begin to understand Owen's services to 



38 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AXD ABROAD. 

science, in his clearing up of numerous problems in natural history, 
and the aid rendered by him to searchers after truth in various 
branches of inquiry. The popular mind can best judge his powers 
by the wonderful achievement of contracting, from a single bone 
which came into his hands, the sketch of a skeleton of the great 
extinct wingless New Zealand bird, called Moa by the natives, and 
Dinornis in science. The discovery, in New Zealand, of a perfect 
skeleton of this creature confirmed, in every essential, the descrip- 
tion furnished by Owen from the laws and analogies of comparative 
anatomy. This stupendous feat was, however, only one of a series 
of such triumphs of knowledge and sagacity. From some fossil 
footmarks found on new red sandstone rock he divined the exist- 
ence, at a former period of the world s history, of a gigantic speci- 
men of the Batrachians, or frog-species, and put together and 
described, from slight data, two enormous edentate animals of 
which fossil remains were afterwards discovered in the tertiary 
strata of South America. Owen s vast energy and industry enabled 
him also to be an active member of sanitary Commissions, a Com- 
missioner and jury-chairman of the Great Exhibition in 185 1, a 
Lecturer on Palaeontology at the Royal School of Mines, Professor 
of Physiology at the Royal Institution, and the author of voluminous 
(and most luminous) writings on his many subjects of scientific 
research. 

Mr. Francis Maitland Balfour, born at Edinburgh in 1851, and 
a distinguished student in natural science at Trinity College, Cam- 
bridge, showed such ability in researches on morphology, a branch 
of physics connected both with botany and zoology, as regards the 
structure and form of animals and plants, and their different organs 
in every type, that he was appointed, in 1882, to a special professor- 
ship of Animal Morphology in his University. Before he could 
enter on his duties, he was killed by accident in climbing on Mont 
Blanc. His work Comparative Embryology, a branch of science 
dealing with the development of animals from the first appearance 
of organization in the egg or ovum (the embryo stage) up to the 
pcrfrct form, has given him a fame which will long endure. Mr. 
Balfour's rcsrarches were, like those of many of the eminent men 
just dealt with, in a single division or subdivision of what is now 
called biology, or the science of life, whose students aim at classi- 
fying and generalizing the countless and varied phenomena observed 



SCIENCE. 39 

in and peculiar to living creatures. Botany and zoology, in every 
department, as involving the study of organic existences, are included 
under biology, and it was in connection with these sciences, in all their 
ramifications, that the late Mr. Thomas H. Huxley gained his great 
and well-earned reputation. Born at Ealing, in Middlesex, in 1825, 
he entered the royal navy, as a medical officer, in 1846, and began 
his scientific career by a study of marine creatures during a lengthy 
surveying voyage, on the Australian coast, of H. M.S. Rattlesnake. 

The ability of his reports was recognized, and in 1851 Huxley, 
at twenty-six years of age, saw the letters F.R.S. appended to his 
name. From that time his place in the world of science was 
one of ever-growing distinction for his attainments and discoveries 
in morphology, palaeontology, physiology, and other departments 
of natural history. It would be a lengthy task to enumerate the 
honours of every kind conferred upon a man so highly distin- 
guished not only by very wide and accurate knowledge, but by 
his powers of exposition both as a lecturer and a writer. In these 
respects his friend John Tyndall, who died in 1893. was a kindred 
spirit and worthy compeer. He was born in 1820 in county 
Carlow, and, after serving on the ordnance-survey and as a railway 
engineer, he studied science under Bunsen at Marburg, in Hesse- 
Nassau, and at Berlin. In 1853, already F.R.S., he became 
Professor of Natural Philosophy at the Royal Institution in London. 
His special subjects were heat, radiation, sound, light, glaciers, and 
magnetism. This very able and interesting lecturer, a master of 
scientific exposition, has been well said to have ** brought topics 
once strictly confined to scientific circles from the laboratory, as the 
forecourt of the Temple of Philosophy, to the lecture-hall of the 
Royal Institution". To Huxley and to Tyndall, far more than to 
any other men of the Victorian age, the nation owes the great 
increase of attention, in educational affairs, to the natural science 
which is the force of the future, already acting with great power on 
literature and forming one of the chief elements in modern culture. 

The services of electricity in telegraphy and illumination have 
already been given. This force is already on the way to free use 
as a locomotive agent. Electric launches are seen on our rivers; 
electric tramcars are at work in London and some great provincial 
towns; an electric railway, three miles in length, passing beneath 
the Thames, has for some years conveyed passengers, with noise- 



-^ci vxyzi^ JLZ a'!«2: ajtz ija 



i^:^ ^:»^ *;:v: ^j'/zjyx*^ msL KiTg ^C^BsoL 5cr2&. in ibc dtr of 
> /r.Af/u^ V> StvJc w*il, a; ^vacbcTX Biccrt^ Ix F dLij i ^i . 1 893, an 
^jj/'/, v<^;yK'^ ^^f:z. r£« i::- jtagizi. passcrc cnr-craead in the 
\>,'i^y//^ </^Sc\, watt a95«^xr2ic.*£7 cc^aed bv Ijora Salisbury, a 
fiwi// 'i^ryX^ t/> vrifrriot in ^3 r^irs oc jcsszts- 2r*f lie fiist in diis 
f/z^iUXry l/> iAXfK, ^* rJ* stat^v arid ciamfrig E3iabecan house at 
H'^fi^Mf ifi H^:rt£</Td^/:T^ VJt jse cc tbt drctric I^t. Electric 
j^/Wfrf, in 1>^>J7, was s^^jxss:Jly if;coed t:> pcrzpcag and under- 
i^ffpjktA h^'i^^iK^/rk in a collifesy at XorTnantoQ, in the West 
HUiiui^ ^A W^/rkshirt. Nearly f^-rty years ago Mr. Joule suggested 
ih^ ii\^j\ujitum of the eiectric current to the weiiing of metals, an 
f^fKfHium ren4trf:fi difficult, in the ordinary process, by the forma- 
tiofi of fjlm» of oxide upon highly-heated iron surfaces. This 
mf:i\ifA has, within the last few years, been employed with perfect 
%^KCf:%% in welding iron and steel, and a machine for this purpose is 
m ;i/;tion at the rail way- works at Crewe. Electricity is now also 
u*cd in furnaces for the generation of intense heat, and an enor- 
mous dynamo-machine, at some works in North Staffordshire, 
[provides the means of producing alloys of copper and aluminium 
which arc very serviceable in the industrial arts. Electrotyping 
for the printing-press, and in multiplying engraved plates; for 
turning woodcuts into copper, and for copying bronzes, are familiar 
applicationn of the electric current. The art of electroplating, or 
(lr!p<)Hiting one metal upon another, as silver upon iron, steel, zinc, 
braHH, bronze, lead, or copper, was invented by Wollaston in 1801, 
and has brcjn applied by Bessemer, and, notably, by the Elkingtons, 
of Hinninj^diam, in the production of their beautiful specimens of 
NJlvrrrd plate. Hy electro-gilding the baser metals are coated 
with Nurfaccs of gold varying in thickness according to the time of 
the* urli(:l(! H immersion in the bath or trough filled with the gold 
Hohilion, which is conveyed by the action of electricity to the sur- 
face of ihr object. 

(irolojjy, as a science instead of a guess-work study, dates only 
from iht* close of the eighteenth century. William Smith, often 
Hlyird the "father of ICnglish geology**, born in Oxfordshire in 
»r^*^>» was the first man who (in 1S15) prepared a complete map of 
the sirala of l\nj^land and Wales, and showed that each layer of 
hH ks» or rwk-nr\Mip» h;ul its own particular fossils. His work 
doalt with the strata between the carboniferous limestone and the 



SCIENCE. 41 

chalk. After 1831, Sedgwick and Murchison classified the deeper 
and older deposits, and defined what are called the Silurian and 
Devonian systems. The Silurian, most clearly found in Hereford- 
shire and on the borders of Wales, derived its name from the 
Silures, the old British tribe who dwelt in that part of the island; 
the Devonian, or Old Red Sandstone, belonged chiefly to Devon- 
shire and Cornwall. The lower strata of the Primary or Palaeozoic 
division being settled. Sir Roderick Murchison, after an investiga- 
tion of the geology of Russia, in 1841, gave the name of " Permian 
system " to the uppermost series of the palaeozoic rocks, lying upon 
the carboniferous system, or coal-measures. The name was taken 
from its extensive development in the ancient Muscovite kingdom 
of Permia. At a later date, Murchison expounded the Laurentian or 
Eozoic rocks, the oldest that contain fossils, lying below the whole 
Primary systems. The term ** Laurentian " is derived from the 
fact of these rocks occupying large areas of country in Canada, on 
the St. Lawrence, and " Eozoic " (early-life) from their being sup- 
posed to contain the earliest traces of living creatures in the strati- 
fied systems. This remarkable man, born in Ross-shire in 1792, 
of a good old Scottish family, served in the Peninsular war, carry- 
ing the colours of the 36th Regiment at Vimiera, and sharing Sir 
John Moore's retreat to Corunna. His attention was drawn to 
science by Sir Humphry Davy's advice to attend the lectures of 
the Royal Institution. In 1826 he became F.R.S., and his dis- 
coveries procured him many other distinctions. In 1844, he pre- 
dicted the discovery of gold in Australia, from the analogy which 
the mountain-ranges there presented, in formation, with that of the 
Ural auriferous range of Russia. He zealously aided Sir David 
Brewster in founding the British Association, and as President for 
many years of the Royal Geographical Society he did much to 
promote both Arctic and African exploration. 

The Tertiary or Kainozoic (" recent life ") rocks, lying above 
the Mesozoic (" intermediate life ") system, and the latest of the 
three chief divisions of strata, were classified by Lyell, in 1833, in 
a descending scale, as Pliocene ("of more recent origin"), Miocene 
("less recent"), and Eocene ("least recent"), all containing fossil- 
remains of existing organic species of animals and plants. Above 
these lie the most modern deposits, the Post-tertiary or Quaternary, 
or drift-beds, of special interest and importance from the light 



j^ ^/:k %€y:%iL at stjsg. jtsn *ia;i* 



whyJi t/^ f,ay^ t^Kwrc oc tb^ etrlT rasccrj dL osn^ This 
iw<^> kMUiU>d$:^ Kdtuoceze *" OjK tsoczz ^- irxks^ viih aHuvhim, 
f#edi^ ;si/ii<l ^Ai^a^ earUtt. I3 1^4.:. Hic§p Mfl>r. bora at Cromarty 
in i^y^, a ytiiA^^^y^X trsa^ vb> raf vorkcd see xsanj years as a 
M0H^^tn5$^/^^ {Atiyltw)^ his ^snvxs Oi^ .^^' Sixwd^<m£, vrit^en with 
m^n%^S^%A iitKOury p«ower, and coctairiisg an account of his discovery 
of (!r/^iU in a formatkm whxh had been bdiered to be destitute <^ 
Mcb fKnmn%. Th^re have been many other British investigators 
in thf% MAKiUJt, 2Lnd much has been learned concerning the action of 
fir^, water, and ior, in f>roducing the existing condition of the earth. 
The l/rfAh^:r% Sir Archibald and Dr. James Geikie, natives of Edin- 
iAir^h, in succession Murchison Professors of Geolog)* at Edinburgh 
University, and the former now Director-General of the Geological 
Survey and head of the Museum of Practical Geology in London, 
arc among the highest living authorities on the subject, whose 
text bo/;ks may be consulted by those who desire to have the 
latent information. 

Wc now return to Sir Charles Lyell, whose Principles of Gea^ 
logy, |;ublishcd in 1830-32, formed an epoch in the history of the 
s<;if!nce to which he was devoted. This eminent man, born in 
l*'orl;irshirc in 1797, graduated at Oxford, and soon turned his 
attention to geology, for the prosecution of which study a private 
fortune: gave him means and leisure. After some years of Euro- 
\w\\\\ travel, he produced his first phenomenal work. Up to that 
tiinr it wa» b<:h'cv(id that geological facts were due to violent peri- 
(Mliral convulsions, and that, from time to time, a great intensity of 
trrrrntrial energy had culminated in " catastrophes '* causing vast 
chan^jr.H bellow the surface of the earth. Lyell possessed a wonder- 
ful pownr of lucid exposition, and he now, with rare sagacity, abun- 
dant ilhmtration. and cogent reasoning, convinced geologists that 
ihr foHTM now in action, or natural causes, are powerful enough, if 
llinr br. givr.n, to produce the great results which Science records, 
i i niton and Playfair had. indeed, long before put forth doctrine of 
ihr Mainr nature, hut Lyell revived it and caused its general accept- 
tti\ic, Nt> man. except Darwin, has ever so strongly influenced the 
diiToiit>n t>f modern scientific thought, and his Geological EvicUnces 
%\ttkt' AntisfHUy of .IA1W, published in 1863, was full of sound evi- 
\lriu*r in favimr of the iheorv that the race of man was far older 
th«ia \\^\\ been l>elieved* After being twice President of the 



SCIENCE. 43 

Geological Society, and, in 1864, of the British Association, when 
he received a baronetcy. Sir Charles Lyell, dying in 1875, was 
buried in Westminster Abbey. 

The Principles of Geology made thoughtful readers ask, as 
Huxley has said, "If natural causation is competent to account for 
the not-living part of our globe, why should it not account for the 
living part?" The minds of men were thus prepared for the advent 
of Darwin and his demonstration, his absolute proof, of doctrine 
whose germ had existed in the Ionian school of philosophy before 
the advent of the Christian era, and had been working in philosophic 
minds in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The general 
opinion had been that animals and plants came into existence, at the 
creation of the world, just as we now see them. In 1859, The 
Origin of Species, with a wealth of illustration and argument of which 
not even an outline can here be given, taught community of descent 
from a common ancestry instead of the accepted and ** orthodox " 
belief that each species of organized creatures had an independent 
and separate creation. The whole theory pre-supposes an exist- 
ence of the earth for a very long period of time, which geology is 
believed, by all sane and unprejudiced persons who are capable of 
forming an opinion at all, to have demonstrated with the certainty 
of mathematical truth. Evolution, in infinite variety, from original 
common forms, is the revolutionary scientific truth established in 
this latter half of the nineteenth century. The eminent naturalist, 
Mr. Alfred R. Wallace, born at Usk, in Monmouthshire, in 1823, 
while he was studying zoology and collecting specimens in the 
Malay islands of the Eastern seas, had independently formed a 
like theory of development by natural selection, and has since 
powerfully supported Darwin's views. The illustrious man who 
originated "Darwinism", Charles Robert Darwin, was the grandson, 
on his fathers side, of Erasmus Darwin, natural philosopher and 
didactic poet, who wrote the Botanic Garden, and had many origi- 
nal and suggestive ideas. On his mother s side, Charles Darwin 
was grandson of the great artist in pottery, Josiah Wedgwood, so 
that his descent was truly remarkable, taken in connection with his 
own achievements. Born at Shrewsbury in 1809, and educated at 
the famous public school of the town, at Edinburgh University, 
and at Christ's College, Cambridge, the young naturalist, in 183 1, 
went with Captain Fitzroy, afterwards admiral and meteorologist, 



44 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

on the surveying-voyage of H.M.S. Beagle. During five years of 
research, continued in a course which took him round the world, 
to the West African islands, South America, Tahiti, New Zealand 
and many other places, Darwin gathered a vast store of facts, re- 
lated in five most valuable and interesting books with the simplicity 
and lucidity of true genius, concerning botany, terrene and marine 
zoology, geology, and other branches of physical science. He was 
the first man to clearly expound the method of work by which tiny 
creatures form the exquisite fabrics called coral-reefs, and in 1837 
he read to the Geological Society a paper On the Formation of 
Vegetable Mould which was afterwards expanded into his last 
book, that on Earthworms^ published in the year before his death. 
Darwin, at the beginning of the Victorian age, was in the foremost 
rank of scientific observers, becoming Secretary of the Geological 
Society in 1838, and F.R.S. in the following year. In 1839 he 
married his cousin. Miss Wedgwood, and soon began to lead a 
quiet, busy life at Down, near Beckenham, in Kent, where he 
passed forty years of most fruitful labours of mind, eye, and pen; 
delicate in health, most simple in habits, modest and retiring to a 
degree rarely seen even in the truly great, most kind in assistance 
rendered to all young learners in any of his own lines of study. 
From 1859 onward, the great book was supplemented by other 
volumes, in support of its central teaching, on plants and animals, 
including the famous Descent of Man, published in 1871, which 
traces the human race to a hairy quadrumanous creature of the 
group that is related to the progenitors of the chimpanzee, orang- 
utan, and gorilla. The doctrine of evolution, to one side of which 
Darwin, in the Origin of Species, gives expression, has had its' 
effect on every department of biology, and has influenced science 
with a force comparable to that exerted by Copernicus and Newton. 
It is his glory to have changed the whole method of seeking after 
knowledge, and to have started a mdvement extending into litera- 
ture, scholarship, criticism, and history, as well as into many lines 
of scientific research. The scientific conceptions of evolution, 
development, analysis, and biology have made their way into 
poetry, fiction, the newspaper, the magazine, and are felt in educa- 
tion, legislation, religion, and every-day life. On April 19th, 1882, 
Charles Darwin died, and was fitly buried, with unusual marks of 
honour, within the walls of Westminster Abbey. Of his countless 



LITERATURE, NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES. 45 

honours received at home and abroad, from learned and scientific 
bodies and from governments, we need only mention the Knight- 
hood of the Prussian Order of Merit. 

Of mental science and philosophy, or metaphysics, we here give 
no account, and must only name some men whose speculative and 
scientific writing in this department prove that Great Britain has 
produced, in the nineteenth century, men as capable as any in 
the past of grappling with the most abstruse subjects that can 
occupy and bewilder the human intellect. Of these very hard- 
headed persons, Scotland is responsible for James M'Cosh, Dugald 
Stewart, Thomas Brown, Sir William Hamilton, Dr. Stirling, and 
Alexander Bain; England for James Mill, John Stuart Mill, George 
Henry Lewes, James Martineau, Henry Sidgwick, William King- 
don Clifford, a mathematician also of the highest order, Thomas 
Hill Green, Henry Maudsley, and Herbert Spencer. This last, 
regarded by many as the greatest living thinker, has aimed at con- 
structing a complete system of philosophy on the principles of 
evolution, and deals with sociology, **the Knowable", "the Un- 
knowable ", psychology, biology, and so forth, with vast knowledge 
and argumentative and illustrative power. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 
Literature, Newspapers, Magazines. 

Literary men and women in the earlier part of the nineteenth century. Writers of the 
Victorian era — Characteristics of their work — Poetry — Fiction — Humorists — The 
Drama — Biography — Literary critics and essayists — Theology and ecclesiastical 
history — Oriental scholars — Writers on Anglo-Saxon, Early English, and the classi- 
cal languages — Political economy and jurisprudence — History — Miscellaneous 
writers. The Newspaper Press — Its early struggles for freedom from taxation— Its 
marvellous progress — Gass and trade journals. Magazines and reviews. 

In literature, as in art, we are not to look to the nineteenth 
century for such phenomena as the vast and absolute advance that 
we have seen in material and in scientific affairs. Literature is 
dependent, for her best effects, upon two elements, originality of 
matter and perfection of form. Leaving aside the first of these, as 
a realm whose resources can never, in the nature of things, be 
exhausted so long as man s mind is at work upon the problems of 



46 OUR EMMRE AT HOME AND ABROAIX 

the universe around him, we may point to the fact that the Greeks, 
much more than twenty centuries ago, attained that perfection of 
form which, since the revival of learning, the best writers have 
generally aimed at imparting to their productions in prose and 
verse. Here and there, indeed, men of high genius, like Carlyle 
and Browning, have chosen to enshrine their thoughts in eccentri- 
cities of language and grammatical structure which are more than 
somewhat startling to a classic taste. The authors who have won 
the greatest favour from readers of true culture have been those 
who, in their highest flights, have striven to combine simplicity 
with force, and elegance with richness and variety of diction. The 
nineteenth century has produced no Shakespeare, Bacon, Milton, 
or Bunyan, nor, comparing our period with the eighteenth century, 
can we claim to have surpassed, in prose, Defoe or Swift, Fielding 
or Sterne, Butler the theologian, Hume or Gibbon or Burke. To- 
wards the close of the eighteenth century, a time of foreign revolu- 
tion and of war for our existence as a nation was heralded by an 
outburst of poetic power unrivalled since Elizabethan days. A 
strong and manly style of poetry began with Cowper and Crabbe, 
and a new star of the first order in the heaven of lyric verse arose 
in Scotland with the publication, at Kilmarnock, of the poems of 
Robert Burns. The impulse, lasting well into the nineteenth cen- 
tury, sent forth to fame Wordsworth and Coleridge, Byron, Scott, 
Keats, Shelley, Campbell, Mrs. Hemans, and Thomas Moore. 
Dealing first with the pre- Victorian age, we have, in fiction, Sir 
Walter Scott, Maria Edgeworth, Jane Austen, Captain Marryat, 
and the earlier works of Bulwer (or Bulwer-Lytton, or Lytton- 
Bulwcr, the first Lord Lytton), Disraeli (Lord Beaconsfield), and 
I larrison Ainsworth. Southey, in his Nelson, Lockhart, in his life of 
Sir Waller Scott, and Moore, in the Life of Byron, gave the world 
biographies of a very high order. The period is rich in essay- 
writing that displays, in different authors, great critical acumen, 
admirable good sense, fervid eloquence, exquisite humour, and 
literary skill. We leave the reader to distribute these merits duly 
among William Hazlitt, S. T. Coleridge, Harriet Martineau, Charles 
Lamb, Sydney Smith, Leigh Hunt, Thomas De Quincey, John 
Wilson, Thomas Carlyle, Lord Brougham, Walter Savage Landor, 
and John I'^ostcr. The poets of that time, besides the great 
names alH>vc mentioned, include Southey, Hogg. Leigh Hunt, 



LITERATURE, NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES. 47 

Joanna BailHe, James Montgomery, Kirke White. Bishop Heber, 
Samuel Rogers, the parodists James and Horace Smith, H. H. 
Milman, Lockhart, as translator of Spanish ballads, John Keble, 
Landor, W. E. Aytoun, Henry Taylor, Laetitia E. Landon, 
Talfourd, and, in their earliest work, Thomas Hood, Tennyson, 
Browning, and Elizabeth Barrett (afterwards Mrs. Browning). In 
history, the years between 1828 and the Queen's accession 
saw the publication of Milman's History of the Jews, Sir James 
Mackintosh's fine fragmentary History of the Revolution in 1688^ 
Lord Mahon (afterwards Earl Stanhope)*s War of the Succession 
in Spain and the early part of his History of England from the 
Peace of Utrecht. To that excellent writer and nobleman we also 
owe in large measure, the establishment of the Historical Manu- 
scripts Commission and the foundation of the National Portrait 
Gallery. James Mill's History of British India appeared in 181 8. 
Douglas Jerrold and Thomas Hood gave the earliest indications 
of their humorous powers, and in political economy, James Mill, 
Jeremy Bentham, Mai thus, and Ricardo were worthy successors of 
Adam Smith. 

We now come to the reign which has lasted longer than any 
other in our annals, and seems likely, in regard to the vigorous 
health of the revered possessor of the throne, to outlast the cen- 
tury, as all good citizens desire. The Victorian age of British 
literature, now of over sixty years' duration, needs no comparison 
with the much and justly vaunted periods of Elizabeth and Anne. 
Its great marks are those of its own restless, busy, swiftly-moving, 
ever-changing time — vigour, versatility, complexity, and brilliancy 
in many forms. It has no conventional types, or standards, or 
models, but each man or woman, be the utterance in prose or verse, 
delivers to the time the thought within, in just such phrases as 
may suit the writer's fancy. In the later period, since 1863, the 
chief characteristic of our fiction and our essay-writing has been 
the powerful influence of sociology, an influence defined by a very 
recent critic as involving " enthusiasm for social truths as an instru- 
ment of social reform ". Our latest school of novelists, especially, 
is ever ready to propound and strive to solve the deepest problems 
that concern humanity through the medium of some wayward, in- 
trospective heroine or hero, and archaeology, and history, and 
natural science, and discussions of social questions have superseded 



^ 0\:iL YMYVkS. AT HOME A3n> ABSOAD. 

the mere telling of a story to give pleasure by lively incident, or by 
artistic development of human character. Take it for all in all, for 
fum of excellence in historv' and ficticHL poetry and prose, essay 
and romance; for learning, sound criticism, variet}' of culture and 
attainment; for ever}thing save the highest imaginative and 
dramatic genius, this democratic time of coal and iron, of social 
and political reform, of railways, telegraphs, swift printing, keen, 
incessant competition, electric lights, and endless mechanical inven- 
tion and advance, can boast a literature that, in every line save 
drama, stands very high, in all the history of the world, for grace 
and art, for purity and power, for deep research, for wit and 
humour, for true enlightenment and sound sense. The names 
alone suffice, or should suffice, to suggest the chief works of the 
authors here mentioned, some of whom will keep recurring for 
excellence in divers lines of writing. 

In poetry, we find Matthew Arnold, William Barnes (the poems 
in the Dorset dialect), the Brownings, Robert Buchanan, C. S. 
Calvcrley, A. H. Clough, Mortimer Collins, Thomas Hood, W. S. 
Landor, Lewis Morris, William Morris, Mrs. Norton, Coventry 
Patmore, W. M. Praed, Francis Mahony ("Father Prout"), 
Macaulay, Locker- Lampson (Frederick Locker), George Meredith, 
''Owen Meredith" (the second Lord Lytton), D. G. Rossetti, 
Christina Rossetti, Swinburne, Lord Tennyson, and Theodore 
Watts. In fiction, the category, a very lengthy one, enables us 
safely to challenge comparison with any period in producing 
Dickens, Thackeray, "George Eliot" (Miss Evans), George Mere- 
dith, Sir li. L. Hulwer (the first Lord Lytton), Sir Walter Besant, 
(inuit AllcMi, Mrs. Alexander, F. Anstey, J. M. Barrie, R. D. Black- 
more*, William Black, Miss Braddon, the sisters Bronte, Baring- 
Gould, Cicorjj^c Borrow, Rhoda Broughton, Mrs. Burnett, **Cuthbert 
Hccl(» ", Robert Buchanan, R. M. Ballantyne, Lord Beaconsfield, 
Mortimer Collins, Wilkie Collins, Mrs. Craik (Miss Mulock), 
William Carlcton, S. R. Crockett, Conan Doyle, Annie Edwardes, 
Miss A. H. lulwards. Miss Betham- Edwards, Hall Caine, Mrs. H. 
L. Camrrt)n. ** Hugh Conway", F. Marion Crawford, G. Manville 
l*\»nn, M. L. l^'arjeon, Miss Ferrier, James Grant, Mrs. Gaskell, 
G» A. IIcMity, Rider Haggard. Thomas Hardy, Julia Kavanagh, 
Joseph Hatton. Charles Kingsley, Henr)'^ Kingsley, Rudyard Kip- 
ling* \V» 1 1» ^"^ Kingston, Charles Lever, Mrs. Lynn Linton, Samuel 



LITERATURE, NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES. 49 

Lover, "Edna Lyall", George MacDonald, Ian Maclaren (Watson), 
Captain Marryat, Florence Marryat, Lawrence Oliphant, Mrs. Oli- 
phant, James Payn, '*Ouida", Charles Reade, Christie Murray, J. S. 
Le Fanu, Mrs. Riddell, Justin McCarthy, F. E. Smedley, G. A. Sala, 
R. L. B. Stevenson, W. Clark Russell, Col. Meadows Taylor, F. 
W. Robinson, Anthony TroUope, T. A. Trollope, Whyte- Melville, 
J. H. Shorthouse, Hawley Smart, Annie Thomas, "J. Strange 
Winter", G. R. Sims, Samuel Warren, Mrs. Henry Wood, Edmund 
Yates, and Charlotte M. Yonge. In humorous writing, apart from 
the great novelists Thackeray, Dickens and others, few men have 
ever been so gifted in arousing innocent mirth as Archdeacon Barham 
("Thomas Ingoldsby"), F. C. Burnand {Happy Thoughts), Lewis 
Carroll (Rev. C. L. Dodgson), Thomas Hood, Douglas Jerrold, 
and Francis Mahony (" Father Prout "). British dramatic writing, 
for more than a century, since the days of Sheridan, has shown 
little or nothing of even high second-rate quality. Talfourd's Ion 
dealt gracefully with a theme from Euripides; Sheridan Knowles, 
in Virginius, William Tell, The Hunchback and other plays, showed 
some real power; the first Lord Lytton, with Money, Richelieu, and 
The Lady of Lyons, probably heads the list. Sir Henry Taylor's 
Philip Van Artevelde and some of Joanna Baillie's tragedies are 
excellent reading, not intended for the stage. In melodrama, ex- 
travaganza, comedy, farce, and burlesque we may name Douglas 
Jerrold, Planch^, Stirling Coyne, Maddison Morton, Oxenford, H. 
J. Byron, Boucicault, T. C. Burnand, Craven, Tom Taylor, Charles 
Reade, Buckstone, T. W. Robertson, Westland Marston, Watts 
Phillips, W. S. Gilbert, Albery, W. G. Wills, G. R. Sims, Sydney 
Grundy, A. W. Pinero, and Mr. Pettitt. 

In biography, the most notable names, one or two being of the 
highest rank, are Carlyle, Allan Cunningham, Alexander Gilchrist, 
Agnes Strickland, Lord Dalling, John Forster, Dr. Hook, J. A. 
Froude, Lord Campbell, Dr. Abbott, Macaulay, Dean Stanley, David 
Masson, Sir Theodore Martin, John Morley, Mark Pattison, Leslie 
Stephen, John Robert Seeley, Samuel Smiles, and Sir George 
Trevelyan. In criticism and history of literature and art, and in 
general essays, most valuable work has come from Anna Jameson, 
Matthew Arnold, Walter Bagehot, Dr. John Brown, Carlyle, Alex- 
ander Dyce, J. P. Collier, Sidney Colvin, Edward Dowden, James 
Fergusson (historian of Architecture), E. A. Freeman, J. A. Froude, 

Vol. IV. W 



50 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

P. G. Hamerton, James Hannay, Sir Arthur Helps, Frederick Har- 
rison, Augustus and Julius Charles Hare, Richard Jefferies, Lord 
Jeffrey, Landor, Andrew Lang, George Henry Lewes, Sir George 
Cornwall Lewis, Mrs. Lynn Linton, W. R. Greg, St. George 
Mivart (the chief opponent of Darwinism), Macaulay, William 
Maginn, John Morley, Henry Morley, Walter Pater, Nassau 
Senior, Mark Pattison, Swinburne, Thackeray, Goldwin Smith, 
James Spedding, Leslie Stephen, R. L. B. Stevenson, Henry 
Rogers, John Ruskin, G. E. B. Saintsbury, J. A. Symonds, 
Theodore Watts, and A. W. Ward. In theology and Church 
history, the chief authors of this fertile period are, besides eminent 
men who have been named in a previous chapter, Stopford Brooke, 
John Caird, Dean Church (of St. Paul's, London), Bishop Colenso, 
W. J. Conybeare, Dean Howson (of Chester), Samuel Davidson, 
Bishop Ellicott, Dean Farrar, Augustus Hare, Edwin Hatch, 
Thomas Hartwell Home, Dr. Jowett, Dr. Kitto, Dr. Pusey, Dr. 
Liddon, Dr. Mansel, Dr. Abbott, Dean Milman (of St. Pauls, 
London), Dr. Plumptre, Baden Powell, Sir James Stephen, Dr. 
Stoughton, Isaac Taylor the elder, Dr. Scrivener, J. R. Seeley, 
Bishop Westcott (of Durham), Dr. Tregelles, and Archbishop 
Trench. 

Some of our chief Oriental scholars have already been named. 
Edward Fitzgerald is known by his extremely able translations 
from Persian poets; Edward William Lane, one of our greatest 
Arabic scholars, won fame by the first accurate translation of the 
Thousand and One Nights, and of Selections front the Koran, and 
by the Arabic Lexicon which, completed by his grandnephew, Mr. 
S. Lane-Poole, became the chief work of its class for European 
scholars in that language. Mr. Edward Henry Palmer, an Orien- 
talist of extraordinary abilities and attainments, has been seen in 
connection with the Egyptian War, and his tragical fate recorded. 
Dr. Samuel Lee, Professor of Arabic, and then of Hebrew, at Cam- 
bridge University, in the earlier part of the century, superintended 
for the British and Foreign Bible Society the issue of editions of the 
Scriptures in Syriac, Malay, Persian, Hindustani, Arabic and Coptic. 
Dr. Legge, a native of Aberdeenshire, formerly a missionary in 
China, became in 1876 the first Professor, at Oxford University, 
of the Chinese Language and Literature, and his editions of the 
chief Chinese classics, with text, translation, and commentaries 



LITERATURE, NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES. 5 1 

(i 86 1- 1 886) proved him to be the ablest scholar in that very diffi- 
cult tongue that Europe has ever produced. One of the most 
wonderful linguists of the age was a Dorsetshire clergyman, Solo- 
mon Caesar Malan, Rector of Broadwinsor, a man of marvellous 
versatility, skilled in music, wood-carving, and British-bird lore, 
who won the Boden Scholarship in Sanskrit, and the Pusey and 
Ellerton Scholarship in Hebrew, at Oxford University, and, after 
becoming a Classical Professor at Bishop s College, Calcutta, and Sec- 
retary to the Asiatic Society of Bengal, retired to his obscure country 
living, and issued theological and liturgical works dealing with the 
Chinese, Mongolian, Armenian, Coptic, Russian, Syriac, Ethiopic, 
Sahidic, Memphitic, Gothic, Georgian, Slavonic, Anglo-Saxon, 
Arabic, Persian, and Japanese languages. Mr. W. R. S. Ralston 
is noted for his Russian, and Mr. John Rhys for his Celtic, scholar- 
ship. Max M tiller has been already named for his proficiency in 
philology; his linguistic knowledge extends, in some degree, to 
perhaps 150 languages. Sir Henry Yule, chiefly known by his 
admirable edition of the book of the Venetian traveller Marco Polo, 
was a native of Inveresk, near Edinburgh, and became Colonel in 
the Bengal Engineers. He was formerly President of the Hakluyt 
Society (named from the famous Elizabethan writer on voyages 
and discoveries, and founded in 1 846 for the publication of all the 
histories of early travel) and of the RoyaJ Asiatic Society, and he 
possessed an extraordinary knowledge of Eastern geography and 
history. In Sanskrit scholarship, in the first half of the century, 
great proficiency was attained by Horace Hay man Wilson, formerly 
a surgeon in the East India Company's service, who became Secre- 
tary to the Asiatic Society of Bengal, and in 1833 was chosen 
Boden Professor of Sanskrit at Oxford. On his death in i860, he 
was succeeded by Mr. (now Sir) M. Monier-Williams, an English- 
man born in Bombay, who has well maintained our credit in this 
department of learning, and has published many excellent books 
dealing with Sanskrit, and with ancient and modern India. In 
Anglo-Saxon, one of our chief names is that of Joseph Bosworth, 
whose famous Anglo-Saxon Dictionary appeared in 1838. Twenty 
years later, he became Professor of that early form of English at 
Oxford University, and gave the sum of ;^i 0,000 towards founding 
a like chair at his own alma mater ^ Cambridge. In early English, 
and in Shakespearian, philology and grammar, the highest attain- 



52 OCR EMPIRE AT HGSfE. JkSU ^BHOAn. 

ments have been chose of Ifr. F. [. Fumiv^iL Mr. HalHwell- 
Phiilipps, Dr. Ahbctr and ifr. W. W. Skesr Dean Farrar. Isaac 
Taylor, and Archbishop Trench have also written interesting and 
valuable books on phiiologicai indies. Taming now to strictly 
classical learning, we may state rhac the country which, in the 
eighteenth century, produced prr^digies of knowledge in Greek and 
Latin scholarship in Bentley and Person has been, in the nineteendi 
century, well represented, tor England, by Peter Elmsley. Dr. Don- 
aldson, Richard Shilleto. Dr. LiddeH. Dr. Scott. Protessor Jebb, 
Dr. Jowett Dr. Gaisfori Dr. W H. Thompson of "Trinity '^, 
Charles Rann Kennedy, Dr. Kennedy. George Long^ Sir William 
Smith (o( the Dictionaries L H. A. J. Munro ot the Lucretius), 
Frederick A. Paley, and John Conington: while Scotland may 
well boast the two Ramsays, Dr. John Stuart Blackie <as devoted 
to Homer as Mr. Gladstone), Colonel WillLam Mure of Caldwell, 
in Ayrshire), Dr. Sellar, and William Veitcfa; Ireland has given us 
Dr. yUh^ffy. 

Political economy and jurisprudence may seem to bdong rather 
to the domain of science than of literature, though literarj* skill may 
well be, and has sometimes been employed to give attraction to 
these subjects. On the former, the chief writers of the period have 
been John .Stuart Mill, J. E. Caimes, Henrj- Fawcett, W. S. Jevons, 
j. R, M'Culloch, and J. E. Thorold Rogers. In jurisprudence, 
and on international law, admirable work has been done by 
Macaulay /Indian code;, John Austin, Sir Henry J. Sumner Maine, 
Sir R, }. Phillimore, Sir James Fitzjames Stephen, and Sir Travers 
Twi<;ft. Before taking up the subject of history, we may remark 
th<ft the new scientific method of treating it, a development of the 
omnipresent, ever-working evolutionary principle, has given fresh 
imp<;rtance to the work of those who deal with the foundations of 
history in the shape of original documents — Acts of Parliament, 
tre;itic:.^, dispatches, letters, state-papers and records of every kind. 
In thi.9 direction, most valuable aid, by editing and annotating 
these authorities, has been rendered by Sir Henry Ellis, Sir 
Thomas Duffus Hardy, Sir F. Madden, Sir N. Harris Nicolas, 
IVofcftsr^r J. S. Brewer, and James Gairdner. It is in history that 
mpmc of the most powerful British intellects of the nineteenth 
century have won enduring fame by laborious and accurate 
research, or sound philosophy, or brilliant style, or by the combina- 



LITERATURE, NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES. 53 

tion, in greater or less degree, of two or more of these elements of 
value in recording and reproducing the past. We must not be 
understood as including all the writers now to be named in the 
category of *'most powerful intellects", or as predicting a lasting 
repute for their productions. They have all, however, their share 
of real merit; and some rank, as they will ever rank, amongst the 
greatest historians of all ages since men began to write books. 
In ancient history, Professor George Rawlinson has dealt with the 
Oriental world. Olden Greece has been revived for readers by 
Thirlwall, Grote, and Sir George Coxe; ancient Rome, at various 
periods, by Dr. Arnold, Dean Merivale, and George Long; ancient 
Egypt, by the eminent traveller and explorer. Sir John Gardner 
Wilkinson. Sir Edward Creasy s Fifteen Decisive Battles is a well- 
known, most popular work, covering classical, mediaeval, and 
modern ground. The Middle Ages of Europe and European 
literature have been admirably treated by Henry Hallam. English 
history, in the earlier days, is vastly indebted to E. A. Freeman, 
John Mitchell Kemble, Pearson, Sharon Turner, and Sir Francis 
Palgrave. English early and mediaeval times, and Irish history, 
have been illustrated by Thomas Wright, and Scottish history has 
been excellently dealt with by Patrick Eraser Tytler, W. F. Skene, 
and J. H. Burton. Modern European history, at divers periods, 
is given in the pages of Sir Archibald Alison, Henry Thomas 
Buckle, Carlyle, T. H. Dyer (who is also eminent in the archaeology 
of Pompeii, Athens, and Rome), George Finlay (Greece), Lecky, 
Fyffe, and Professor J. R. Seeley. Our constitutional history has 
been handled with consummate skill and learning by Hallam, 
Bishop Stubbs, and Sir Thomas Erskine May. Charles Knight, 
Dr. Lingard (to 1688), and John Richard Green have treated 
English history as a whole. For special periods of our annals we 
need only mention Froude, James Gairdner, Samuel Rawson 
Gardiner, J. W. Kaye, A. W. Kinglake, W. E. H. Lecky, Lord 
Macaulay, Justin McCarthy, Harriet Martineau, William N. Moles- 
worth, Sir William Napier, Earl Stanhope, and Spencer Walpole. 
We will venture to say that the deep and accurate knowledge, 
literary skill, and power of thought displayed unitedly by a picked 
dozen of the above-named writers on ancient, mediaeval, and 
modern events constitute a treasure of ability and achievement, in 
that department, to which no period or country since the revival of 



54 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

learning affords any approach. A good history of the Spanish 
conquest of America, and excellent biographies of Columbus, Las 
Casas, Cortes, and Pizarro are due to the admirable essayist Sir 
Arthur Helps. We must now draw to a close this brief but by no 
means hasty account of the British writers of the nineteenth 
century. We hope that no important omissions have been made 
when we finish with a reference to some authors not easily classed 
with any of the foregoing. There are many readers who will 
recall, along with the name, the chief literary work of William and 
Robert Chambers, Hepworth Dixon, Dr. Doran, Miss Mitford, 
and Percy Fitzgerald. In topography, combined with history, we 
must not forget Mr. Loftie's excellent London, nor Murray's Hand- 
books to many countries, by various authors. In books of descrip- 
tive geography, which are countless, Sir James Emerson Tennent's 
Ceylon holds one of the highest places in our literature. Our very 
last word must be a grateful acknowledgment of one of the ablest 
works, in its class, of modern days, Mr. T. H. S. Escott's England, 
a book in which our country of the Victorian age is presented with 
consummate literary skill, combined with rare accuracy of state- 
ment and impartiality of tone. 

No small part of the literary ability of Great Britain in modem 
days lies in either the purely ephemeral or at least the first work 
of writers in the columns of journals or the pages of reviews and 
magazines. The daily newspaper of the later Victorian time is 
assuredly one of the greatest triumphs of human energy, mecha- 
nical skill, and organization. For the British printing-press in 
general it has been justly claimed by Macaulay that it is at once 
"the freest in Europe" and "the most prudish", and our news- 
paper press has been as truly declared, by Mr. Escott, to display 
" more of originality, freshness, ability, vigour, and variety than that 
of any other country in the world". Towards the close of the 
eighteenth century the daily and weekly newspapers were becoming 
a real power in the land. The Times was established in 1 788, as 
an extension of the Daily Universal Register, which had come into 
existence three years previously. The other London " dailies " of 
the time were the now extinct Morning Chronicle, founded in 1 769, 
and the Morning Post (1772). In 1794 the Morning Advertiser 
first appeared. In the provinces, at the beginning of the nine- 
teenth century, there were weekly papers at some of the larger 



LITERATURE, NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES. 55 

towns. In Scotland, the Glasgow Herald began in 1782, the 
Dundee Advertiser in 1801, and the Scotsman in 181 7. In 
Ireland, there were some old-established influential papers, among 
which the Freeman s Journal was founded in 1763. The great 
obstacles to progress in newspaper enterprise were the stamp- 
duty, the advertisement-duty, and the paper-duty. Publicity was 
hateful to authority that misused its powers, and war was waged 
against the public press, not with the result of stifling its utterance, 
but of restricting circulation by compelling publishers to charge, 
on the average, sevenpence per copy. The stamp-duty, first levied 
in 1 71 2, at the rate of one halfpenny per sheet on every news- 
paper of a sheet and a half, became a very cruel and oppressive 
impost. Even at that rate many papers were at once given up. 
Under George the Third the tax was raised, by degrees, from one 
penny per copy in 1760 to fourpencc in 181 5 on every full-sized 
sheet. For more than twenty years war was waged between the 
newspaper-press and the government on this question, in attempts 
to evade and to defy the iniquitous tax. Between 1830 and 1836 
more than 500 persons were imprisoned, on the prosecution of the 
Stamp Office, for the offence of selling unstamped newspapers. 
The most resolute heroism, the most strenuous patience, were 
displayed by these poor men and women. They went to jail, and 
on their release they at once resumed the work of selling papers not 
impressed with the government-stamp. The names of the victims are 
now mostly lost, but they have been well described as " privates in 
Liberty's army, who were struck down in the battle, who by their 
sufferings won for us our freedom, and on whose unknown graves 
we cannot even lay a leaf of memory and of thanks". The stamp- 
duty, in its full amount, did not long survive the First Reform 
Act, being reduced to one penny per copy in 1836. The adver- 
tisement-duty, first imposed in 1701, at one shilling per advertise- 
ment, had now become \s. 6d. In 1849, an association, among 
whose leaders we find Mr. Milner Gibson, Mr. John Bright, and 
Mr. Edward Miall, was formed for the " Repeal of the Taxes on 
Knowledge". A persistent attack was made on the advertise- 
ment-duty, the remaining stamp-duty, and the paper-duty. The 
first vanished in Mr. Gladstone's first great budget, that of 1853. 
In 1855, the same financier got rid of the newspaper stamp. In 
1 86 1, as already mentioned, that statesman made an end of the 



56 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AXD ABROAD. 

paper-duty. Henceforth there was a possibility of the penny-press 
which has, during the latter half of \'ictoria's reign, attained pro- 
portions so enormous. Of the existing London daily newspapers, 
the Globe was established in 1S03; the Standard, as an evening 
paper, in 1827, and as a morning issue, in 1S57; the Daily News, 
in 1846, the Daily Telegraph in 1855, the Daily Chronicle in the 
same year, the Pall Mall Gazette in 1865, the Echo in 1868, the St. 
Jatness Gazette in 1 880. 

Steam-printing for newspapers was first used in Great Britain 
at the Times office in 1814; stereotyping was perfected, at the 
same place, in i860, and the famous "Walter Press", the first 
successful machine for printing from a web of paper, came into use 
for printing the Times in 1869. A huge cylindrical roll of paper, 
four miles long, is drawn in at one end of this mar\'^ellous mechanical 
invention, and is delivered at the other, printed on both sides, cut 
into separate copies, and then folded, by an attached apparatus, into 
two, three, or four folds as required. Several other even more 
ingenious and effective machines have since come into use, one of 
which (that of Hoe & Co. of New York and London) prints and 
delivers no less than 24,000 copies per hour of a four or six page 
newspaper, or 1 2,000 of an eight or twelve page one. The work 
of printing is completed, at the London offices of daily morning 
papers, at about 2*30 a.m. At 4, by express newspaper-trains, the 
bales of copies go out from the metropolis, and the public of the 
great towns in the north read their Times or Standard, or Tele^ 
graph or Daily News as an accompaniment of the morning meal. 
A remarkable fact in connection with the modern newspaper is the 
excellence attained by the provincial press. The journalism of 
Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and other 
great towns is nearly up to the highest metropolitan standard for 
ability, influence, and enterprise, as shown both in purely literary 
qualities and in the amount of well-digested intelligence furnished 
to readers. As regards telegraphic news, domestic and foreign, the 
provincial journals are placed in an equally good position with the 
London daily press by the several excellent news-agencies, of which 
Reuters was founded in 1858, the Central Press in 1863, the Press 
Association in 1868, and the Central News in 1870. The London 
offices of the chief provincial newspapers are connected by special 
wire with the country offices where the papers are produced, and 



LITERATURE, NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES. 57 

the parliamentary reports are furnished by special staffs of short- 
hand writers, the expenses being shared by syndicates in which, 
according to their politics, the leading provincial journals are asso- 
ciated. The " London Correspondents " who furnish special letters 
to the provinces, with a summary of the week's social, literary, and 
political news and gossip, arose in 1863, through the enterprise of 
the Central Press Agency, and the once weekly " London letter " 
has become, in many cases, a daily feature of provincial journalism. 
The achievements of the "War Correspondent" of these later 
days need no remark, being suggested by the mere mention 
of such names as Archibald Forbes and O' Donovan. Some 
idea may be formed of the magnitude of the interests represented 
by the leading penny papers of London through the follow- 
ing statements. The total annual expenditure of one of these 
journals exceeds a quarter of a million sterling, or above ;^850 for 
each daily issue. The annual clear profit reaches ;^6o,ooo, or nearly 
;^20o per day. The daily number of copies sold varies, in different 
newspapers, from 100,000 to above a quarter of a million. The 
chief provincial daily papers have establishments and show results of 
corresponding magnitude. There are weekly papers with a circula- 
tion of from a quarter to half a million copies, and the circulation of 
the two chief illustrated weeklies, the Illustrated London News and 
the Graphic, greatly exceeds 100,000. A recent feat of enterprise 
has been the production of the Daily Graphic, with illustrations 
of occurrences strictly **up to date". It remains only to say, with 
regard to newspapers, and their increase during the last half- 
century, that, whereas in 1843 there were a few more than 500 
published in the United Kingdom, of which 14 were daily — 12 in 
England and 2 in Ireland — there were, recently, over 2500 news- 
papers appearing in the British Isles. Of these, 211 were dailies, 
by an increase fifteen-fold, about 160 appearing in England, 7 in 
Wales, 25 in Scotland, and about 16 in Ireland. During the same 
period, the London newspapers grew from 79 to 646, including 
28 dailies, 9 being so-called " evening papers", of which the earliest 
editions come out about noon. The vast development of class and 
trade journals is shown by such facts as there being 30 specially 
devoted to agriculture, 11 to army matters, 14 to naval affairs, 12 
to athletics, 13 to builders, 1 1 to Baptists, 47 to the Church, 30 to 
"comic" notions, 3 to confectionery, 13 to drama, 23 to education, 



58 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

39 to finance, i6 to gardening, i8 to law, 46 to religion (non-secta- 
rian), 6 to the retail liquor-trade, 26 to medicine, 10 to photo- 
graphy, 5 to dogs, 8 to poultry, 40 to sporting, 37 to fashions, 32 to 
temperance, 6 to electricity, and 8 to sanitary affairs. The modern 
"Society" journals, with their personal, spicy, and not seldom 
libellous paragraphs began with the publication of Vanity Fair in 
1868, followed by the World \vi 1874 and Truth in 1877. 

Of the periodical magazines and reviews we may say at once that 
they now constitute, in themselves, a literature of enormous magni- 
tude such as no man could cope with save through the agency of 
fifty pairs of eyes, constantly engaged in the work of perusal. The 
mental condition of the reader, after a month or two of such em- 
ployment, is a terrible subject of contemplation. All tastes and 
classes of readers are provided for in the more than 1500 publica- 
tions of this kind, including about 400 of a religious character, 
representing the Established Church and many Christian and non- 
Christian, " philosophic ", sects. Scotland has the honour of start- 
ing the first really able literary and political " review " in the nine- 
teenth century, in the Edinburgh Review, founded in 1802. The 
Tory party responded with the Quarterly in 1809, and in 181 7 the 
still prosperous Blackwood s Magazine came forth, and began the 
list of monthly miscellanies. In 1832, Chambers Journal, still 
appearing in a " Fifth Series ", was established, as also the Penny 
Magazine, published by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful 
Knowledge. This publication, along with many other useful and 
valuable serials, such as Charles Knight's Quarterly Magazine^ 
and Colbum's Monthly, and Eraser, has long done its work and 
passed away. The purely literary journals include the Athetueum^ 
founded in 1828, the Literary World (1868), and the Academy 
(1869). The dramatic Era belongs, in origin, to 1837; the Spec- 
tator arose in 1828, the Saturday Review in 1855, the Speaker va 
1890, the Review of Reviews in the same year, and the Strand 
Magazine in 1891. The Westminster Review, founded by Jeremy 
Bentham in 1824 as the organ of the utilitarian philosophy and of 
radicalism, absorbed the Eoreipt Quarterly Review in 1846, and in 
1887 was turned from a "quarterly" into a "monthly", still retain- 
ing the original philosophico-radical principles. The Eortnightly 
Review appeared first in 1865, soon becoming a monthly magazine; 
the Contemporary Review in 1866 and the Nineteenth Century in 



ART. 59 

1877. The famous Household Words of Charles Dickens was 
changed in 1859 into All the Year Round, Of the excellent 
" monthlies " of the latter half of the Victorian period, Macmillaiis 
began in 1859, Cornhill and Temple Bar in i860, as also Good 
PVords^ and the Sunday Magazine in 1864. The popular Leisure 
Hour first appeared in 1852, and the Sunday at Home about the 
same time. Of the illustrated weekly papers, the Illustrated Lon- 
don News was first issued in 1842, and the Graphic in 1869. Of 
the "comics", Punch was started in 1841, divxd Judy in 1867. The 
Art Journal was established in 1839, and the Portfolio in 1870. 
The above are but some of the chief publications of this class, but 
they suffice to show, for those who note the names of the authors 
of contributions now mostly acknowledged by the writers, the large 
amount of high literary ability now placed at the service of readers, 
at a moderate price, in these closing years of the nineteenth century. 
The extension of free libraries, with reading-rooms, during recent 
years, enables countless persons to peruse the best serials without 
incurring any cost at all. 



CHAPTER XXV. 
Art. 

Leading names in Art before the reign of Victoria — Formation of Art societies. In the 
Victorian period: — Painting — The Pre-Raphaelite movement Sculpture. Line- 
engraving, etching, &c. — Wood-engraving — Photography. Architecture. General 
diffusion of Art in domestic life — Art galleries. Music — Festivals and choirs — 
Eminent vocalists and conductors — Crystal Palace concerts — Popular concerts — 
The Opera— Spread of musical education. The Stage in London — Noted players 
and managers. 

There can be no doubt whatever concerning the advance made 
by British art, in every department, during the century that is 
so soon to close. Until the latter half of the eighteenth century 
there was, indeed, no British art. There had been a Christopher 
Wren and an Inigo Jones, but architecture, in the earlier Georgian 
period, became mere barbarism. Hogarth, Reynolds, Gainsborough, 
Romney, Wilson, Copley, George Morland, and even Benjamin 
West, showed that there were Englishmen who knew how to 
paint both in portraiture and landscape, and Sir Robert Strange, 



60 OUR EMPLRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

Thomas Bewick, and WooUett were engravers of very high mark. 
Our sculpture began with Thomas Banks, John Bacon, and John 
Flaxman, the first and last of whom were truly Greek in conception, 
with skill of hand that fell short of their ideas and taste. The first 
public exhibition of the performances of living artists was opened 
in London, in April, 1 760, at the room of the Society of Arts, and 
eight years later the Royal Academy was founded, with Sir Joshua 
Reynolds as the first president. In the earlier part of the nine- 
teenth century, artistic building was in the hands of Sir John 
Soane, who designed the Bank of England, Sir Robert Smirke, 
the architect of the (original) General Post Office in London and 
the British Museum front, and Nash, the author of Regent Street. 
In sculpture, Sir Francis Chantrey and Sir Richard Westmacott 
were the successors of Flaxman. In portrait painting. Sir Thomas 
Lawrence, in a sense, replaced Reynolds, and Sir Henry Raeburn 
won high repute for the Scottish school in that line of art. Sir 
David Wilkie is still unsurpassed for his illustration of Scottish 
character and manners in humble life. In 1802 Joseph Turner, 
the greatest of all landscape painters, became a Royal Academician. 
In this style, Constable, Collins, and "Old Crome", of Norwich, 
upheld our reputation. In 1804 ^he "Old" Water-Colour Society 
was founded, and in 1831, the " New" Water-Colour Society, now 
the Institute of Painters in Water-iColours, began to exist. The 
works of Turner, David Cox, Copley Fielding, W. Henry Hunt, 
Samuel Prout, George Cattermole, Peter de Wint (a native of 
Staffordshire, of Dutch descent), and of Frederick Walker, have 
made our country foremost in the world in this charming style of 
art 

In the earlier part of Victoria's reign, the chief painters were 
Turner (in his latest style), David Roberts (church-interiors), 
William Collins (landscape), Clarkson Stanfield (marine subjects), 
Augustus Callcott (landscape), Mulready (genre), C. R. Leslie 
(genre), Wilkie, Edwin Landseer, E. M. Ward (historical), and 
some of the water-colour artists above named. William Etty, 
grand in flesh-colouring, was bad in drawing, like too many of his 
brethren in that day. In the middle and later periods of the long 
reign J. C. Hook has been distinguished for sea-shore subjects, 
John Linnell for Surrey landscape, Ford Madox Brown for his- 
torical works, Lady Butler (Miss E. S. Thompson) for battle-scenes, 



ART. 6 1 

Alma-Tadema (a native of Holland) for brilliant, realistic, and 
correct representation of ancient Greek, Roman and Egyptian 
life. Sidney Cooper is unrivalled for sheep, John Phillip for 
Spanish interiors, Sir John Gilbert, long President of the Society 
of Painters in Water- Colours, is excellent in historical, chivalric, 
and antiquarian subjects. Frederick Goodall and E. J. Poynter 
have won fame in Egyptian scenes. George Frederick Watts is 
a noble poetic painter in the historical and allegorical styles, the 
late Lord Leighton was admirable in ancient Greek poetical and 
mythological subjects. Mr. Frank HoU is one of our finest por- 
trait-painters. In Scotland, in the early part of the century. Sir 
William Allan, not great in execution, rendered much service in 
promoting historical art in national subjects. Sir J. W. Gordon 
succeeded Raeburn as the chief portrait-painter of his country; Sir 
Noel Paton is distinguished by graceful treatment of legendary, 
fanciful, and mystical scenes. Thomas Faed is great in Scottish 
peasant-life, Peter Graham and Horatio M'Culloch in Highland 
landscape. 

It has been claimed for the famous Pre-Raphaelite movement 
that began in 1848, at a time of general European unrest, that it 
was ** more of an ethical than an aesthetic revolution *\ The in- 
carnation of this movement was Dante Gabriel Rossetti. born in 
1828, elder son of the Italian poet and man of letters, Gabriele 
Rossetti, who warmly advocated constitutional rule in his native 
land, and, being driven into exile, became in London a highly 
esteemed teacher of Italian, specially devoted to the study and 
criticism of Dante. The younger Rossetti aimed at a revival of 
British art, in the way of higher conception and feeling, and more 
faithful and patient execution, according to the school of Leonardo 
da Vinci and Michael Angelo, the precursors of Raphael. The 
" Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood " included Rossetti and his young 
friends John Everett Millais, William Holman Hunt, and the 
sculptor Thomas Woolner. Mr. Ford Madox Brown had for 
some years been working in the same direction, and Mr. Ruskin, 
in his famous Modem Painters, the five volumes of which immortal 
work appeared between 1843 ^'^^ i860, shared in the great uprising 
against artificial authority, tradition, and convention in art, and in- 
sisted upon principles the adoption of which has wrought with very 
powerful and improving effect upon British painting. Rossetti 



f/1 oua EM?:as AT 'str^ycz, asd abroad. 



himself was not greatly disnn^'iished ir rie expresaon. in colour, 
of his own wicas, and aoca tuned jc coerrr as his mediuin; Millais 
and Holman Hunt x\i^^ zo prsiae. Arnong our later artists, Sir E. 
Burne-Joncs is noted for zis poedcal and imagfnatnre power, and 
for his brilliancy and purity ct hiic in water-coiour: Mr. Whistler, 
a native of Massachusetts, :':r his ontr'naifnr of treatment and 
technical skill both in oil-pafntfng^ and etrrfng. 

Of sculpture we can only here say that our chief men in this 
line during the Victorian a^e have been John Gibsotu Baily. J. H. 
Foley (2L native of Dublin), Woctner. Boehm, M*Dowell, Hamo 
Thomycroft, AhVed Gilbert, and that great original artist in 
marble, Alfred Stevens, bom at Blandiori in Dorsetshire, in 1818. 
His high genius and taste preferred the work of the Italian school 
of the Renaissance, which he adapted with great skill to modem 
conditions. He was chosen to execute the Duke of Wellington's 
monument in Sl Paul's Cathedral, but was shamefully treated by 
the authorities there, who knew litde of art and nothing of what 
was due to artists. Before his death in 1S75, ^^ ^^^ almost com- 
pleted the finest piece of architectural sculpture that this country 
ever produced. For many years, this magnificent Wellington 
memorial was hidden away in a side-chapel of the cathedral; in 
1892 it was removed to its proper position. 

In line-engraving, now a somewhat declining art in this country, 
wc have had Radclyffe and Brandard, Willmore and Miller, Lumb 
Stocks and G. T. Doo, producing admirable effects in landscape. 
In etching, Andrew Geddes and Turner (the great painter) have 
been followed by those most accomplished artists in this style, 
Palmer and P. G. Hamerton, author of Etching and Etchers, 
Whistler and Seymour-Haden. Mezzotint-engraving has been 
practised with great success by Thomas Lupton, David Lucas, and 
Samticl Cousins, In lithographs, R. J. Lane has been unrivalled 
for delicate effects. Wood-engraving, first made greatly important 
by He wick, in his British Quadrupeds (1790) and British Birds 
(1804), received a great development through the founding of our 
illustrated papers. John Thomson, Clennell, Sir John Gilbert, and 
Hirkct Poster have been chief representatives in this beautiful style 
of art, now risen to a very high degree of excellence among us. 
Among our best illustrators of books have been Hablot K. 
Hrowtic (" Phiz "), Randolph Caldecott, George Cruikshank, Birket 



ART. 63 

Foster, and Harrison W. Weir. The achievements, in comic 
caricature, of John Leech, Sir John Tenniel, Linley Sambourne, 
Richard Doyle, Charles Keene, and Harry Furniss, are known to 
all readers of Punch and its congeners. 

Photography is one of the scientific and artistic inventions due 
to the nineteenth century. In 18 14 a Frenchman, M. Nic^phore 
Niepce, of Chilons-sur-Sa6ne, discovered a method of producing, 
by means of the action of light in a camera obscura, pictures on 
plates of metal coated with asphaltum, which were also rendered 
permanent. This process was called " Heliography " or "sun- 
drawing". A quarter of a century later, another Frenchman, M. 
Daguerre, who worked for some years in conjunction with Niepce, 
perfected the method of producing the pictures called " daguerreo- 
types ", which were the first practical success in the way of " light- 
pictures". Mr. W. H. Fox Talbot made independent discoveries 
in England, and produced, in 1841, the pictures called "Talbo- 
types" and "Calotypes" ("fair impressions") on paper treated 
with chloride and nitrate of silver. Later improvements h^ve led 
to the present condition of the exquisite art which has not only 
been of special value, in a social sense, to a nation whose families 
send forth so many sons and daughters to all parts of her vast 
colonial empire, but has done great things for science in the exact 
representation of countless astronomical and other phenomena, and 
has, in various forms, been applied with great success to illustrative 
purposes, in reproducing pictures, and in superseding or aiding 
some of the styles of engraving. Carbon-printing, and the develop- 
ment thereof known as " autotype ", photo-lithography, photo-zinco- 
graphy, and photogravure are the chief methods now used with 
results so wonderful and so beautiful in book-illustration. 

The revival of architecture in the British Isles belongs solely 
to the Victoriah agp. When the Queen came to the throne, she 
found herself ruling over home-countries vulgarized, in every great 
town, by the degradation and abuse of the Greek, the Gothic, and 
the Renaissance styles. There was consolation in the thought that 
the builder's art could go no lower, and that change could mean 
nothing but improvement. The first step forward came in the 
revival of Gothic by the two Pugins. The father, Augustus Pugin, 
was a native of France who became, at an early age, English in 
habit and speech by settlement in London, and won great and just 



64 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

fame, before his death in 1832, by his beautiful, accurate, and, in 
the full sense of the word, masterly drawings of Gothic architectural 
work. His son, A. N. Welby Pugin, was devoted to the same 
artistic cause, and both by his writings and by his ecclesiastical 
erections, became the real reviver of Gothic in this country. His 
son again, Edward Welby Pugin, who died in 1875, was an archi- 
tect of distinguished ability. In the Houses of Parliament, Sir 
Charles Barry furnished a noble specimen of the most ornate style, 
the Perpendicular Gothic, and the building is regarded, by many 
good judges, as the finest British edifice since St. Paul's. The 
great man in modern Gothic was Sir Gilbert Scott, who restored, 
with eminent success, nearly all the cathedrals and countless parish- 
churches. One of the finest things in this style is All Saints, Mar- 
garet Street, in London, due to Mr. Butterfield, who is well skilled 
in imparting beauty and variety of colour by means of stone, brick, 
marble, and mosaic. Mr. G. E. Street was another great Gothic 
architect, to whom are due the Law Courts in London, many new 
churches and much restoration. Mr. Burges, Mr. J. L. Pearson 
and Mr. Bodley, have done good work in the same style. Mr. 
Waterhouse is noted for the Manchester Town Hall and the 
Natural History Museum at South Kensington. Italian (Renais- 
sance) was also well employed by Sir Charles Barry in many public 
and private palatial buildings. St. George's Hall, Liverpool, is a 
grand specimen of modern Graeco- Roman. In domestic architec- 
ture, the later years of the reign have shown much improvement, 
partly due to the Gothic revival. After many failures, the style 
was adapted to modern wants for dwelling-houses, and many 
beautiful, convenient, and interesting homes for private families 
have been erected. The "Queen Anne houses" of London suburbs 
are, in many instances, picturesque in form, with beauty and variety 
due to the judicious combination of brick, stone, timber, and quaintly- 
devised work in wood and iron. 

It is the glory of British art, in the latter half of the nineteenth 
century, that it has penetrated, with humanizing and refining effects, 
into every department of our life;, and every class of the nation. 
There is not an abode in the land, from the palace to the cottage, 
which does not, in some form, show the change. There are few 
articles of domestic use which do not betray the influence of a 
revival of taste with which we must specially connect the names of 



ART. 65 

the Prince Consort and John Ruskin. Every jug and tea-cup, every 
carpet, rug, and wall-paper, and the pattern and hue of innumerable 
things of ornament and use, show a regard for, and an attainment 
of, beauty in design and colour which were rare, indeed, in the 
earlier years of Victoria s reign. The initiation of this change, in 
the Great Exhibition of 1851, and in its artistic offspring at South 
Kensington, and the establishment and development of art-educa- 
tion, have been already noticed. The British people have been 
taught that art " may be domiciled in a middle-class English home 
as well as in a Venetian palace ". The chair-covers due to the 
influence of the School of Art Needlework at South Kensington 
have given us embroidered wreaths of honeysuckle, jessamine, 
Virginia creeper, and other beautiful works of nature in botany, to 
supersede the old anti-macassars which, devoid of taste, used to 
catch on the buttons of gentlemen's coats in the old-fashioned 
drawing-room. Our chairs, curtains, screens, doyleys, and table- 
mats show charming imitations of leaf, fruit, and flower, wrought 
by female hands with the loving and faithful study of nature 
inspired by the illustrious author of Modem Painters. The design 
and arrangement of furniture, the attire of women, the dressing of 
ladies hair, the laying out of a dinner-table, the display of goods in 
the shop-windows, the chimney-ornaments, the fire-hearths with 
their coloured tiles, manufactured goods of every kind show that 
true taste is not dependent on large outlay, but on the faculties of 
discerning and devising the beautiful, and of manipulative skill in 
passing from conception to creation, and giving substance to an 
idea. Decorative art in our buildings, both public and private, 
owes much to Mr. Owen Jones, author of the valuable Grammar 
of Ornament, who was superintendent of works at the Exhibition 
of 1 85 1, and afterwards director of decorations at the Crystal 
Palace, where his designs may be seen in the Alhambra, the 
Egyptian, the Greek and the Roman courts. Sir M. Digby 
Wyatt, who was secretary to the Royal Commissioners for the 
Exhibition of 185 1, and afterwards Slade professor of Fine Arts 
at Cambridge University, did good work in the same direction. 
The use of terra-cotta has been very effiective of late years in 
architectural work, and must in justice be closely connected here 
with the names of George Tinworth, an admirable artist in this 
material, and of his employers, Messrs. Doulton of the Lambeth 

Vol. IV. 70 



66 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

art-pottery works in London. Alfred Stevens, the sculptor, was 
the author of much excellent metal-work designing for the manu- 
facturers of Sheffield. The improvements in floor-cloth called 
Linoleum and Lincrusta are the inventions of Mr. F. Walton, who 
used pulverized cork, linseed-oil, and resin to produce new materials 
much superior to the old oil-cloth. Lincrusta, which also contains 
cellulose and paper, has beautiful patterns in raised forms resem- 
bling, but much cheaper than, work in embossed leather. 

Another artistic mark of our time is seen in the accessibility of 
treasures, old and new, to the great body of the people. The 
Bethnal Green Museum, and the annual exhibition, at Burlington 
House, in London, of the works of " old masters ", and of deceased 
masters of the British school, show the readiness of possessors of 
these productions of genius to share the pleasure of inspection with 
their fellow-citizens. Many of the new galleries of art, both in 
London and the great provincial towns, have been already men- 
tioned. The Dulwich Gallery, in a southern suburb of London, is 
specially rich in Dutch paintings, and was bequeathed, for the most 
part, by Sir P. F. Bourgeois, who died in 1811. The National 
Gallery in London was founded in 1824, but the building in 
Trafalgar Square was not opened to the public till 1838. The 
beginning of this collection was the purchase for the nation, in 
1824, of Mr. Angerstein s pictures for the sum of ;^5 7,000, at first 
exhibited in the former owner's house in Pall Mall. Purchases, 
gifts, and bequests rapidly increased the gallery. Lord Farnborough 
and Sir George Beaumont being among the chief earlier donors. 
In 1847, the gallery was enriched by Mr. Vernon's bequest of 155 
pictures of the British school. In 1855, a useful change in the 
system of administration made Sir Charles Eastlake, President of the 
Royal Academy, Director of the institution. His taste, his know- 
ledge of Italian art, and his zeal for the interests of the national 
collection, were of the utmost service. The increase of the number 
of pictures caused enlargements of the building in 1861, 1869, 1876 
and 1887. In 1856, Turners bequest of 105 of his oil-pictures and 
of a vast number of water-colour and pencil-drawings from his own 
hand added enormously to the value of the collection, and the 
acquirement, by purchase, of Sir Robert Peel (the great states- 
man)'s collection gave the public about 70 Dutch and Flemish 
pictures of the highest importance as good productions of the best 



ART. 67 

artists in those schools. The Italian masters- are nearly all repre- 
sented, the finest ** Raphael " in the world, as is believed, the 
Ansidei Madonna from the Blenheim gallery, having been pur- 
chased for the enormous sum of ;^7o,0(X). In 1876, ninety-four 
pictures of the "foreign schools" were bequeathed by Mr. Wynn 
Ellis, and the whole collection now contains over 1300 pictures, 
and rivals in merit the finest galleries of continental Europe. The 
Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition of 1857 was a revelation to 
European connoisseurs, and to most of the British public, concern- 
ing the wealth of the private collections of pictures in this country. 
Miniatures, enamels, armour, Etruscan vases, and historical portraits 
helped to make such a display as had never yet been seen, and the 
success of this show gave a great impulse to the public taste and 
regard for art. The Scottish National Gallery, in Edinburgh, was 
opened in 1858, and has many fine pictures by native artists, with 
excellent productions of foreign schools. 

In music, the nineteenth century has seen enormous progress 
made in this country. During the three first decades, there was 
little or no advance in musical science, and native production was 
confined to the beautiful glees and operettas of Henry R. Bishop, 
director of music, in succession, at Covent Garden and Drury Lane 
Theatres. John Braham, the great tenor, born in London of 
German-Jewish parents, was a concert-singer of rarely equalled 
powers, especially in the ** Death of Nelson " and other patriotic 
songs. A revival came with the foundation, in 1823, of the Royal 
Academy of Music, which received its charter in 1830, and did 
much good service in training vocalists and instrumentalists of both 
sexes. A taste for oratorio had been created in the middle of the 
eighteenth century by the wonderful Handel, but even of his grand 
work there was no great performance in London between 1791 
and 1834, when a "Musical Festival" was held in Westminster 
Abbey. Before this time, the provinces had begun to have musical 
performances on a large scale. In September, 1823, the first 
Yorkshire musical festival of the century took place in the nave 
of York Cathedral, with the famous Madame Catalani as chief 
vocalist, supported by our own sweet singer, Mrs. Salmon, with a 
band and chorus of between 400 and 500, the chorus being composed 
of singers from Lancashire and Yorkshire. This great success was 
followed, in the same place, by similar Festivals in 1825, 1828, and 



68 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

1835. The Norwich Festival arose in 1824, and Birmingham, 
Worcester, Gloucester and Hereford were distinguished in the 
same way. The advance of choral music was promoted in London 
by the Westminster Abbey meeting of 1834, which led to the 
foundation of the Sacred Harmonic Society, with its fine perform- 
ances of oratorios at Exeter Hall, in the Strand. In London, the 
wealthy lovers of music were fairly provided for by the " Concerts 
of Antient Music", and by the Philharmonic Societ)', which gave 
good performances of orchestral works, and made their patrons 
acquainted with many symphonies and overtures previously un- 
heard. At the Opera-houses in the capital, Italian music of the 
dramatic style was flourishing, but there was little good music within 
reach of persons of moderate means, and the art was, at the open- 
ing of the Victorian period, practically ignored at the public schools 
and universities, cultivated in a feeble and ridiculous fashion at 
"academies" and "seminaries" for young ladies, and grievously 
neglected or grossly maltreated in the services at the cathedrals 
and parish churches. In country parishes there were few organs, 
and the hymns were sung to the accompaniment of grotesque 
village bands of fiddle, flute, key-bugle, violoncello, and bassoon. 
The State did nothing for the art in the country which, in the 
middle ages, was the most musical land in Europe, and whose 
people still possessed, as has been amply proved during the long 
reign, a natural power of appreciation and of intelligent performance 
not surpassed by any nation. In 1849 the Bach Society, dissolved 
in 1870, brought before the British public some of the compositions 
of one of the greatest of German masters, and in 1875 the Bach 
Choir, conducted by Mr. Otto Goldschmidt, continued the work. 
In 1855 Mr. Henry Leslie's Choir, dissolved in 1880, brought 
choral singing to such a degree of excellence that the members, at 
the Paris Exhibition of 1878, carried off the prize in competition 
against the best choirs from all parts of continental Europe. 

In 1857, oratorio was performed on a scale of magnitude and 
power previously unapproached at the ** Great Handel Festival" 
held at the Crystal Palace. The performances were preliminary to 
an intended Commemoration Festival in 1859, in the centenary of 
the great composer's death, and the greatest success was attained, 
under the direction of the Sacred Harmonic Society, on the three 
June days when the noble building of glass and iron rang with the 



ART. 69 

sounds sent forth by a mighty organ, a band of 386 instrumental 
performers, a chorus of 2000 voices, and solo-singers including our 
fine native vocalists Clara Novello, Miss Dolby (afterwards Mme. 
Sainton-Dolby), Sims Reeves, and Weiss. The conductor was Mr. 
(afterwards Sir Michael) Costa, the famous musical director of the 
Italian Opera at Covent Garden. The performances proved that 
London alone could furnish a number of competent musical artists, 
both professors and amateurs, more than sufficient to supply an 
orchestra of much larger dimensions than the one erected for that 
occasion. In 1859 the Commemoration Festival took place at the 
Crystal Palace, again in June, with Clara Novello, Miss Dolby, 
Sims Reeves, and Weiss as the chief British vocalists, and now 
with a band of 460, and a chorus exceeding 2700 voices. This 
brilliant success made the Handel Festivals triennial. In 1865, 
Mr. Santley, the finest baritone ever heard, lent his aid to the 
performances, the band and chorus on this occasion reaching the 
enormous number of 3361. In 1868, Mr. Foli, whose Italianized 
name is really that of an Irish " Foley*', came forward as one of 
the finest bass-singers of the age, and the chorus was increased to 
3065 voices, the band remaining at its former number of 495. In 
187 1 the late lamented Madame Patey succeeded Madame Sainton- 
Dolby as contralto, Sims Reeves, Foli, and Santley retaining their 
supremacy as tenor, bass, and baritone. The retirement of Clara 
Novello had for some years left the way open, in the chief soprano 
parts, to such distinguished foreign performers as Titiens, Ruders- 
dorff, Adelina Patti, and Christine Nilsson, the contralto singing 
being shared with Madame Patey by the charming voice of Tre- 
belli-Bettini. In 1874, the excellent tenor Edward Lloyd was 
heard, for the first time on these grand occasions, in addition to the 
perennial and unrivalled Sims Reeves, whose "Sound an Alarm", 
from Judas Maccabceus, can never be forgotten by those who have 
been privileged to hear it. The stupendous chorus from Joshua, 
"See the Conquering Hero Comes!'*, was one of the great features 
of this and other Handel Festivals. In 1877, Madame Albani, the 
brilliant Canadian, was added to the sopranos, and Mr. Lloyd was 
now principal tenor, on the retirement of Reeves from the arduous 
work of singing in so vast an area. In 1880, Miss Anna Williams, 
and Mr. Barton M*Guckin, a beautiful tenor, appeared among the 
British vocalists, Sir Michael Costa, as on all previous occasions, 



JO Ot'fc IMrlJiE AT HOXE A3fl/ A£2.0AI>. 

officiating as conductor. In iSi2, the Sacred Harmonic Society 
wsm disfifAvtd, and the Crystal Falaat Company took up the sole 
management In 1883, the duty of conducting was assumed, at 
very short notice, by Mn Ai^iist Manns, on the illness of Costa. 
The new conductor had long been in charge of the Crj-stal Palace 
band, and performed his new duties with great success. The at- 
tendance was the largest on record at these performances, amount- 
ing to nearly 88.000 persons during the three daj-s. In 1885, a 
special festival greeted the two-hundredth anniversarj' of Handel s 
birth, the conductor again being Mr. Manns, his great predecessor 
having died in the previous year. In 1888-91-94-97 the Festival 
was repeated with the usual success, again under the conductorship 
of Mr. Manns. 

The famous Leeds Musical Festival was started in September, 
1858, the performances being given in the new Town Hall, fur- 
nished with one of the most powerful organs in Europe, built in 
London by Gray & Davison, and provided w^ith everj' mechanical 
contrivance for enabling a skilful performer to execute all styles of 
music with just effect. The public who attended were delighted 
and surprised by the vigour and skill of the Yorkshire chorus- 
singers, who gained on this occasion a renown which they have 
never lost. There was no repetition of these performances for 
Hixtccn years, but from 1874 the renewed Leeds Festival became 
triennial, always satisfying the most expert and exacting musical 
critics, and owing much of its success to the energy and ability of 
its very popular hon. secretary, Mr. Frederick Robert Spark, J. P., 
of L(!(!ds. Many new compositions, such as Sterndale Bennett's 
cantata Afdy Queen, Macfarren's or^Xonos Joseph and King David, 
(\ II. Parry's Ode on St. Cecilia s Day, and A. S. Sullivan's Martyr 
of Antiock and Golden Legend, were first publicly given on these 
occasions. Hefore leaving the subject of choral performances out 
of London, wc may note that during these later years, the choir- 
singing of the people of Lancashire, Yorkshire, and Wales has 
attained an excellence hitherto unknown. 

There has been a great improvement in the manufacture of 
musical instruments, the control of the organ, especially, having 
been much facilitated by the pneumatic and electrical inventions, 
rrsp(rtiv(*ly, of Mr. Willis and Mr. Bryceson. The music in 
churches has been greatly changed for the better by the efforts of 



ART. 7 1 

the party known as ** High Church", and through the introduction, 
in cathedrals, of the nave-services which began, on the first Sunday 
of 1858, at Westminster Abbey, an example soon followed at St. 
Paul's Cathedral, and at most of these grand ecclesiastical buildings. 
The cause has been much helped by the gatherings of church choirs 
in each diocese for musical services in the several cathedrals. 
There are now about one hundred of these associations, the first 
of which met in Lichfield Cathedral in 1856. For music of the 
higher class, in the orchestral style, admirable service has been done 
by the Crystal Palace Saturday Concerts, instituted in 1855, fully 
established in i860, always conducted by that excellent musician, 
Mr. Manns, and fostered by Sir George Grove, editor of the great 
Dictionary of Music, and for some years secretary to the Crystal 
Palace Company. Through these two men English amateurs of 
music heard a large number of works previously unknown by pub- 
lic performance in this country, especially those of the great German 
composers, Schubert and Schumann. The Crystal Palace band 
has, under the direction of Mr. Manns, been long renowned as one 
of the finest in the world. In London, for a period of thirty years, 
the late Sir J. Barnby rendered eminent service to the cause of 
classical music by his famous choir, and as conductor for the London 
Musical Society and the Albert Hall Choral Society. The metro- 
polis and the provinces now contain hundreds of choral and orches- 
tral associations, and, apart from what is called "popular music", 
the statement, once so freely advanced, that " the English are not 
a musical people", has long received decisive, complete, and, it may 
well be believed, final refutation. 

The improvement of musical performances for the great body 
of the people may be fairly traced, in some of its forms, to the 
eccentric and excitable French entertainer, Louis Antoine Jullien, 
who settled in London in 1838, and quickly gained vast popularity 
by his large and excellent bands, aided by good vocalization. Some 
of his pieces, such as his own "Monster" and "British Army" 
Quadrilles, were denounced as "clap-trap" and mere childish noise, 
but Jullien knew his business well, and, while he tickled the ears of 
the ignorant and, it may be, tasteless listeners by these productions, 
he always included in his programmes compositions of a very differ- 
ent class, and instilled, by degrees, a relish for the work of real 
genius. For nearly twenty years he was before the public in this 



J2 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

capacity, and his merit is clearly proved by the fact that, in his own 
line, he has had no successor. It was in February, 1859, that the 
famous Monday Popular Concerts began at St. James Hall, in 
Piccadilly, London, under the direction of Mr. Arthur Chappell. 
On April 4th, 1887, the one-thousandth performance was given, an 
event without parallel in the history of music. The programme 
was composed of pieces in what is called *' chamber-music", inter- 
preted by. the ablest living performers on the pianoforte, the violin, 
and the violoncello. These performers we need not name, as all the 
most eminent were of foreign birth. With the Italian Opera at 
Covent Garden, Her Majesty's Theatre, and Drury Lane we are 
not here concerned, as the only native performers at those places 
have been, and that but rarely, Mr. Sims Reeves and Miss Louisa 
Pyne, both equal, as accomplished singers, to any that Italy or 
Germany could show. In the many attempts made, during the 
earlier part of the Victorian age, to initiate and establish a 
British opera, for music written by native composers, and sung by 
native executants, John Barnett, Michael W. Balfe, and W. Vincent 
Wallace played the chief part as writers of some charming works. 
Only in these later years has an English op6ra comique become 
thoroughly successful through the work of Mr. Gilbert as librettist 
and Sir Arthur Sullivan as musical composer. In other directions 
we can here only name Sterndale Bennett, Hatton, Smart, Pierson, 
Ouseley, Horsley, Macfarren, Mackenzie, Stanford, Stainer, Hamish 
MacCunn, Dr. Wesley, and Sir John Goss as able composers in 
various -styles who have done much to raise the standard of musical 
writing. 

We turn, lastly, to the subject of musical education which has, 
within the last half century, undergone so complete a revolution. 
In social music, we find hundreds of men and women able to play 
well on the piano and other instruments for units competent thus 
to amuse themselves and others at the beginning of the reign. 
The violin has become a common instrument for ladies, and there 
are good orchestras wholly composed of lady-performers. In sing- 
ing, for the body of the people, the beginning of change came with 
the work of John Hullah, born at Worcester in 181 3, and a student 
of the Royal Academy of Music. In 1840, the Committee of 
Council on Education began to inquire into the condition of vocal 
music as taught in the elementary schools, and Mr. Hullah was 



ART. 73 

encouraged in opening singing-classes at Exeter Hall, London. 
Thousands of teachers were there trained by him in singing be- 
tween 1843 (when the training-colleges came under inspection, and 
music was included in the curriculum of studies) and i860. In 
1850, the Tonic Sol- Fa system of teaching singing, based upon the 
fact that there is but one scale of notes in music, raised or lowered 
according to the pitch of the key, was made prominent by the ener- 
getic advocacy of the Rev. John Curwen, and this method, by 
degrees, almost superseded that of Hullah. In 1853 the Tonic 
Sol-Fa Association was founded. In 1874, the new Education 
Code offered grants for singing in the elementary schools, and the 
first years earnings under this head reached about ;^90,ooo. 
About 80 per cent of the children in the English primary schools 
who can sing from notes, or perhaps i ^ millions of pupils, are 
taught on Curwen's system. In addition to the excellent work 
done by the Royal Academy of Music, under the direction of 
Cipriani Potter, Charles Lucas, Sterndale Bennett, and Macfarren, 
musical education of the higher class has been greatly promoted 
by newer institutions. In 1873, the National Training School of 
Music was founded, under Mr. (now Sir Arthur) Sullivan. In 
1883, the Royal College of Music owed its existence mainly to the 
efforts of the Prince of Wales, and was started on its career with 
funds sufficient to maintain above fifty scholarships. The growth 
of musical taste was further proved by the establishment, in 1880, 
through the aid of the Corporation of London, of the Guildhall 
School of Music. In 1880 there were 62 pupils: six years later, 
25CX) learners were under the charge of 90 professors. In 1886, 
the school was removed to the fine building on the Victoria 
Embankment Trinity College and other private schools carry on 
the work of musical teaching, and the Royal Academy holds exami- 
nations in all parts of the country. The College of Organists applies 
severe tests, through the best organists in the kingdom as examiners, 
to the numerous candidates for the diplomas awarded to associates 
and fellows. At the great public schools, and at Oxford and Cam- 
bridge, a great change has come in the zeal which has produced 
good services at the chapels, school orchestras, and choral societies, 
and musical associations, chapel-choirs, and concerts at nearly every 
college in both Universities. The history of music and the theory 
of harmony have been dealt with in many able works, original and 



74- ^'^^ EaoaZ AT ~J3t£ AND ABROAD. 

trartSiarec froci rie '3^rT.i^ ini ibe very large musical public of 
the vresenc iay lias berec well serred in the pages of several able 
and impardai penoiiciLs ievocec to the one subject, and by the 
corrpecent: critics or the iaily and weekly newspapers. The great 
music-pubtishers. Nc'v-eL'^s. Boosey. Chappell and others have sup- 
plied editions or scindarc wjrks at a very cheap rate, so that, as 
early as 1546* the J/jssz^/t and the Crea^Lm were being issued in 
a few sixpenny parts^ and nany complete oratorios may now be 
purchasevi for a shilling. The on^an-works of Mendelssohn, first 
publishe<.i in this cv>catr\* dt : ^3 guineas, can now be bought, with 
additions^ tor 15. 5-«. Moral advantage to the community can 
scarcelv fviil to have accrued from the increased devotion to an art 

« 

and an amusement which, of all others, is least susceptible or crea- 
tive of anv inriuence for evil. 

In the tirst three decades ot the centur\-. the chief figures on 
the British stai:e were John Fhiiip Kemble, his sister Mrs. Siddons 
\who retired in iSi^', Charles Mayne Young, Charles Kemble,and 
Kdnuind Kean. in trageviy: with the versatile EUiston, of great 
uu rit also in tragevly. Munden. the elder Mathews, and John 
l.ision ^the famous 'Paul Pr\-"V in comedy. When the Queen 
canu* to the throne, the stage was still subject to the monopolies of 
th<* Stuart dav» and the *' Patent Theatres', Covent Garden and 
l>rur\' Laiu\ dainuxl the sole right of performing "legitimate 
drama", shaivvl by the Haymarket Theatre during the summer 
moiuhs. Tuvlor the lictnise of the Lord Chamberlain, the Lyceum 
aiul ihv* St. lamess a>uld have musical performances, the Olympic 
auvl ihr Avli t(>lu could pixxluce *' burlettas'', or light, comic musical 
sliam.ri All llu^-^v* last were *' minor houses", and all other metro- 
iHi|ii.u\ lhv^auw iliai i^avo dramatic representations, or anything 
lH^vv»ud l»allrls. |Kmu>n>imos. and equestrian performances, were 
!«iiuplv ilKr..il I'lu* Surroy. the Victoria ifortnerly the Coburg), in 
WiUriloo Uoad. Savlloi's Wells, and. at the East end, the City of 
i.^iiulMU. \\\\^ Pavilu»u. anvl vHhers, were permitted to exist, while the 
ViHaiMl I \\vM\K' oi^euty vK^licd the Lon.1 Chamberlains authority. 
All \W<^K^ vUmIiuv Uv'Um werv* swept away by the Act of 1843, which 
u^^vo U» lh»^ ' ^'»^l ^ hamUnlaiu the jK)wer of licensing theatres 
ihluuk'h^*^** ihi. mriu»|»oliian district, and confirmed his right of 
WW*»**l»i|' ^»v' ' 1*''^^ ^ ^ Uiuivlo certain limits, the local justices had 
tU« ^^^.^ll^iu|^J y\^\\K\^ aud ihc I v>cal Ciovernment Act of 1888 trans- 



ART. 75 

ferred this power from them to the County Councils, who could, 
however (as they have done in most cases), leave the matter still in 
the magistrates' hands. The increase of the number of metropoli- 
taa theatres (a statement which also applies to all the great pro- 
vincial towns) is shown by the fact that in 1892 the Lord Chamber- 
lain licensed thirty-seven houses in London, while six were licensed 
by the County Council in localities outside his jurisdiction. It 
must be observed that the population of London has more than 
doubled during the period, and that the theatres, which are far 
more prosperous, financially, than at the beginning of the reign, 
have now to compete with a large number of music-halls and an 
enormous amount of musical performance unknown at the former 
time. We may here name the chief players of the earlier Victorian 
time in Macready, Phelps, Charles Kean, Helen Faucit (afterwards 
Lady Martin), Fanny Kemble, Ellen Tree (Mrs. Charles Kean), and 
Mrs. Warner as actors and actresses in serious parts, and Mrs. 
Stirling, Mr. and Mrs. Keeley, Madame Vestris, the younger 
Charles Mathews, Compton, Wright, Paul Bedford, Benjamin 
Webster, Buckstone, T. P. Cooke, William Farren, and Tyrone 
Power in the lighter drama and various styles of comedy. Between 
1837 and 1843, Macready, as manager at Covent Garden and at 
Drury Lane, with excellent companies, gave many of Shakespeare s 
plays, with the best of Sheridan Knowles* and Bulwer*s. Between 
1837 2tnd 1853, Benjamin Webster, as manager of the Haymarket, 
brought out Bulwer s Money, with an admirable cast including him- 
self, Macready, Miss Faucit, and Mrs. Glover, and farces and 
comic dramas, with Buckstone, Madame Vestris, Charles Mathews, 
and other good players. In 1852, the famous Masks and Faces, 
by Charles Reade and Tom Taylor, was produced at the Hay- 
market, with Webster as Triplet and Mrs. Stirling as Peg Woffing- 
ton. Webster was, in 1853, succeeded at that theatre by Buck- 
stone as lessee and manager. The Lyceum, from October, 1847, 
to March, 1855, under Mathews and Vestris, was famous for 
Planch^'s extravaganzas, with William Beverley's scenery, and for 
the production of the farce called Box and Cox. At the Adelphi, 
under Frederick Yates, Mrs. Keeley, O. Smith, Wright, Paul Bed- 
ford, and the lessee himself, with T. P. Cooke in nautical drama, 
and Power in Irish parts, were the chief performers up to 1844, and 
then Madame Celeste, unrivalled in melodrama, appeared in Buck- 



y6 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD, 

stone's Green Bushes, with Paul Bedford and Wright. In 1853, 
Webster and Madame Celeste assumed the joint management 0/ 
the Adelphi, where the former remained for more than twenty 
years. In 1850, Charles Kean took command at the Princess's 
Theatre, in Oxford Street, and began his series of Shakespearian 
revivals, with great attention to costume and stage-effects. His 
period of management, ending in August, 1859, was marked, at 
various times, by the appearance of such admirable artists as the 
Keeleys (husband and wife), Alfred Wigan, Harley, Kate Terry, 
Hermann Vezin, and Dion Boucicault, Charles Kean himself, not 
distinguished in Shakespearian parts, but good in melodrama, won 
high repute in The Corsican Brotliers (1852), and in Louis XI, 

(1855). 

A notable campaign in Elizabethan drama was started in 1844 
by Samuel Phelps, when he took the management of an old- 
fashioned, broken-down suburban theatre at Sadler's Wells, in the 
north of London. The courage of the man was not less wonderful 
than his skill and accomplishments as an " all-round " actor, or than 
the success which attended the seemingly hopeless effort, at that 
day, of educating a rude populace into the understanding and 
liking of the most " legitimate " drama During the eighteen years 
of this admirable man s control, he produced thirty-one Shake- 
spearian plays, with many works of other Elizabethan dramatists, 
and of the eighteenth century writers of comedy. As Sir Giles 
Overreach {Massinger's New Way to Pay Old Debts) Phelps was 
held to be unequalled, and in Shakespearian characters, he was 
excellent, on the one hand, in Wolsey, Lear, Brutus, and Macbeth, 
and, in comedy, as Malvolio, Bottom, and Shallow. The pure 
Shakespearian text was given, witli careful, complete, tasteful, and 
ingenious mounting of the plays. The whole history of British 
drama in the nineteenth century presents us with no more satisfac- 
tory, well-earned triumph of conscientious and judicious efforts. 
In 1861, Mr. E. A. Sothern made a great hit at the Haymarket, 
under Buckstone's management, by his Lord Dundreary in Our 
American Cousin, a success followed up by his David Garrick in 
Mr. T. W. Robertson's piece so called. Under Webster, at the 
Adelphi, The Dead Heart, by Watts Phillips, with the lessee in the 
chief part, was a great success, and Boucicault's Colleen Baum was 
another. One of the greatest dramatic geniuses of the Victorian 



ART. yy 

or of any age appeared in 1853 at the Olympic Theatre. This 
was Frederick Robson, equally great in comedy, farce, and bur- 
lesque, with a marvellous power of passing, in an instant, from the 
broadly humorous to the deeply touching and pathetic, and of ming- 
ling the ludicrous with the terrible in stage-parodies of Shylock and 
Macbeth. It is needless to mention his chief impersonations; the 
names could mean nothing for those who never saw this wonderful 
man; they are superfluous for all who, like the present writer, heard 
and beheld in him what could never fade away from the memory. 

Of later times we must forbear to write much. In 1858, the 
Strand Theatre rose to eminence under the management of Miss 
Swanborough, and became noted for the burlesques written by the 
Broughs, H. J. Byron, Halliday, and others. Miss Marie Wilton 
there acquired high repute, and in 1865 she joined Mr. Byron in 
managing the Prince of Wales's Theatre. A new era for the stage 
opened with this event. The comedies of Mr. Robertson — Ours, 
Caste, Play, School, and M.P. — were produced with great success, 
and it was at this time that Sir S. B. Bancroft, Mr. Hare, Miss 
Neilson, Sir H. Irving, Mr. and Mrs. Kendal, Mr. Charles Wynd- 
ham, and Miss Ellen Terry came before the dramatic world. The 
rise of Sir H. Irving, through his Digby Grant in Two Roses, his 
Mathias in The Bells (187 1), his Charles I., Richelieu, a double 
part in The Lyons Mail, and Louis XL, brought this consummate 
manager and excellent actor, in 1878, to the position at the Lyceum 
which has made him, with his chief supporter. Miss Ellen Terry, 
renowned through the world. His Shakespearian revivals, with 
Fatist, Olivia, and The Corsican Brothers, need no word of com- 
ment. In 188 1, a new man, Mr. Wilson Barrett, took the Princess s 
Theatre, and had great success with such stirring and sensational 
plays as The Lights d London, and The Silver King, in which he 
played the chief male parts with much ability and power. The late 
Sir Augustus Harris for some years made Drury Lane Theatre 
the scene of sensational melodramas and of pantomimes of marvel- 
lous spectacular effect. In 1870, the Vaudeville Theatre was 
opened, and it was there that Mr. H. J. Byron s Our Boys beat all 
the records of theatrical success by a continuous run of over four 
years, a fact due not merely to its power to amuse, but to the vast 
increase of population, and to an influx of provincial visitors to 
London to a degree unknown in former times. We must conclude 



78 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

with a reference to the most laughter-provoking actor of these 
modern times in Great Britain, Mr. J. L. Toole, inimitable in de- 
picting the manners of men who have passed from a shop-counter 
to vulgar opulence in a private and leisurely life. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 
The Army and Navy. 

Reduction of the army after the peace of 1815 — Neglected condition of the soldiers — 
Warnings of Sir John Burgoyne and the Duke of Wellington— A Militia force estab- 
lished — Changes in army administration — Mr. Card well's reforms— Improvement in 
arms— The Volunteer Army — Shooting competitions at Wimbledon and Bisley — 
Statistics of the Volunteers — Training of officers and men in the military schools and 
in camps — Improved condition of the soldier — The Victoria Cross — Statistics of the 
Army — The Navy — The old war-ship and the modem iron-clad — Huge guns and 
torpedoes — Distribution of the navy— System of manning— Comparison of the French, 
Russian, and British navies. 

In coming, lastly, to inquire into the means which we possess 
of defending and maintaining the magnificent fabric of wealth and 
power now presented in the British Empire, we must premise that 
the importance of this subject is not to be gauged by the small 
space devoted to it in these pages. With all its interest and value 
in a history of British progress during the nineteenth century, the 
matter is, in its main bearings, very simple and very well known 
to general readers, and needs only a brief statement of the changes 
made in our own military and naval administration, with a glance 
at the vast revolution in armaments and modes of warfare which 
we have effected in common with all civilized nations. 

After the peace of 18 15, our regular army was diminished from 
over 200,000 men to about 80,000, a force quite insufficient to 
maintain at once our supremacy in India, to guard our colonies 
from savage tribes and from other foes, and to preserve peace and 
order at home in the existing lack of a regular police. A foolish 
economy, demanded by a blind and ignorant public opinion, com- 
pellticl further reductions, and the non-combatant departments were 
starved in favour of the small fighting element, so that it was at 
last impossible to put into the field even one brigade fully-equipped 
for war. At the time of the Queen's accession, the regiments were 



THE ARMY AND NAVY. 79 

very weak, both in men and horses, and when extra troops were 
needed for colonial service, battalions were sent out largely made 
up of raw recruits, who had not even uniforms to wear at the time 
of embarkation. The Duke of Wellington, at this period, described 
the rank and file of the British army as *' the scum of the earth ". 
We have noted the treatment of the soldier in regard to flogging, 
and his condition in other respects corresponded thereto. He was 
ill-lodged, ill-fed, and apparently regarded as a mere unreasoning 
animal. He was enlisted for life, or for a term of twenty-one years, 
until 1847, when recruits were permitted to enlist for a service of 
ten years. Life in barracks was monotonous, dreary, and comfort- 
less, and the public-house was the soldier s only possible resort for 
warmth, light, and recreation. His dress was wholly unsuited, on 
foreign service, for the hot or cold climate to which he might be 
sent, and men died by hundreds from heat-apoplexy, sunstroke, and 
cholera, largely due to grossly unfit food and clothing. Salt-beef, 
salt-pork, rum and biscuit were the soldiers fare under tropical 
suns, and the remonstrances of the wise and humane among the 
British public who cared for these things were treated with general 
contempt by the military authorities as the utterances of " a parcel 
of Radicals". Of the condition of the wives and families of the 
married soldiers, including the sergeants and a small percentage of 
the privates "married with leave", it is best to state nothing more 
than that it was a disgrace to the service, and that the domestic 
arrangements in barracks were only worthy of savages. The 
Prince Consort was the first man who successfully dealt with this 
last scandal, and to his influence we may ascribe the construction 
of special quarters for married soldiers, now to be seen in all our 
barracks. The officers were, in their chief elements of character, 
British gentlemen, and no higher praise could be given. They 
knew, however, little or nothing of military science, and trusted to 
courage and brute force for success in the field. 

At the time now dealt with, the year 1837, we had, practically, 
no reserves. The Militia had dwindled away to about 120 adju- 
tants and 1000 aged sergeants in the county-towns, and no force 
of men was ever mustered. The Yeomanry, numbering about 
18,000, were called out annually for a few days' training, but for 
real military purposes they were then an almost useless body. It 
was in vain that the Duke of Wellington pointed to steam as 



8o OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

having bridged the Channel, and our greatest soldier since Marl- 
borough was regarded, on this subject, as a mere dotard by party 
politicians dreaming of universal peace, disarmament, arbitration, 
and other matters yet in the distant future. At the end of 1846, 
when Lord John Russell was prime minister, General Sir John 
Burgoyne called the attention of the ministry to the danger of 
invasion. The writer of the paper was the son of the Burgoyne 
who surrendered at Saratoga. Charles James Fox, his fathers 
political and personal friend, was one of his godfathers. After a 
course of mathematics and fortification at Woolwich Military 
Academy, he served at the capture of Valetta in 1800, and in 
Sicily and Egypt in 1806, as chief engineer. He helped to bury 
Sir John Moore at Corunna, and he served under Wellington 
throughout the Peninsular War. He was with Sir Edward Paken- 
ham in the expedition against New Orleans in 18 14, and only 
missed Waterloo through the appointment of another officer in 
place of himself, when Picton earnestly requested to have Bur- 
goyne with his division. When he wrote his famous official letter 
to the Duke of Wellington as Commander-in-chief, Burgoyne was 
Inspector- General of Fortifications. From his experience and 
position we may well suppose that he knew his business, and 
thoughtful men were startled when he pointed out that, to resist 
an invading force, we could not put into the field, in Great Britain, 
more than 7000 or 8000 men; that, in the whole British Isles, we 
had not field-guns for 20,000 men, and that we had no reserve- 
stores of muskets and other implements of war. In 1848, a letter 
of the Duke of Wellington's on the same subject found its way into 
the newspapers. Lord Palmerston, the Foreign Secretary, had 
already, in December, 1846, urged his colleagues to raise a loan 
for the purpose of erecting works to defend our dockyards and the 
chief commercial ports. No heed was paid to this appeal, and it was 
not until 1859, when Palmerston was himself at the head of the 
ministry, that measures for that end were at last adopted. One 
tffttct, however, was produced by the Duke of Wellington's and Sir 
Ji)hn Murgoyne's declarations as to the defenceless state of the 
country in case of invasion. A real militia force, fixed at 120,000 
\\\ti\)t i'> l><- raised by voluntary enlistment, was created under the 
Acl nf 1852, In 1859, this militia ceased to be local, and could be 
^^\|i|Myi:4 anywhere within the British Isles. The militiamen could 



THE ARMY AND NAVY. 8 1 

enlist into the line, and, under certain restrictions, the regiments 
might serve abroad. In 1869, the Crown was enabled to place the 
force under the generals commanding military districts, and in 1871 
the control was transferred to the War Office from the Lords-lieu- 
tenant, who now have only the power of recommending gentlemen 
for commissions. The militia has thus become a really serviceable 
force, ready at any time for garrison-duty at home and abroad, and, 
with very brief training, fit to take the field. The adjutants are 
young officers changed every five years. The yeomanry now 
have efficient adjutants and instructors from the regular army, 
also changed every five years, and they constitute a very useful 
force. 

The total break-down of our military system, or no-system, in 
the Crimean War was the first event which revealed to the nation 
the absolute need of reforms in army-administration. One imme- 
diate result was a complete change in the machinery of army-control. 
Military affairs were at that time regulated by the Commander-in- 
chief, the Secretary at War, the Master-General of the Ordnance, 
and the Treasury. The Commander-in-chief, representing the 
sovereign, dealt with discipline, promotion, arms, equipment, and 
the distribution of honours. The Secretary at War, a politician, 
obtained money from the House of Commons and superintended 
its expenditure. One curious result was that the Commander-in- 
chief "could not", as the Duke of Wellington once pointed out, 
" move a corporal's party from London to Windsor without per- 
mission from the Secretary at War, because the shifting of troops 
would cause expense". The Master-General of the Ordnance, 
always a distinguished and experienced officer, was the adviser of 
the Cabinet on all military affairs, and had charge of the artillery, 
the engineers, the manufacture and safe -keeping of all warlike 
stores, for both army and navy, and of the construction and main- 
tenance of fortifications and barracks. The Treasury controlled 
the Commissariat, a civil department, and its officers, with no 
soldiers at their orders, were little more than Treasury- clerks. 
There was no military transport, and the department was supposed 
to provide what was needful, at an hour's notice, for service in a 
campaign. Much of this complicated absurdity was now swept 
away. The offices of the " Secretary at War " and of Master- 
General of the Ordnance were abolished, and a "Secretary for 

Vol. IV. 71 



82 OUR EMPIRE AT HOHE AND ABROAD. 

War ", as a fourth Secretar)* of State, assumed the duties of both. 
The control of the artillery and engineers was now given to the 
Commander-in-chief, and the Commissariat was placed under the 
War Office. 

The next event which aroused the British public on the subject 
of army-reform was the Franco-German War. The wonderful 
successes largely due to almost perfect organization in the German 
army caused vital changes in our military system. In 1871 the 
work was begun by the War Secretary, Mr. Card well, under Mr. 
Gladstone as Premier, and Colonel Stanley, under Lord Beacons- 
field, and Mr. Childers, in Mr. Gladstone's second administration 
(1880- 1 885) brought it to completion. Mr. Card well's work was 
very important The War Department had its business divided 
into three great sections, respectively under the Commander-in- 
chief, the Surveyor-General of the Ordnance, and the Financial 
Secretary, all acting under the Secretary of State. The business of 
these three departments was concentrated at the War Office in Pall 
Mall, London. The Commander-in-chief now had the control of 
all the land-forces of the Crown, regular and auxiliary, at home and 
abroad, instead of only over the regular army in the British Isles. 
The abolition of purchase of commissions made the promotion of 
olTicnrH (U^pcnd upon fitness and good service instead of upon length 
of piirHo, and the day of incompetent commanders, in every rank, 
rainr to an end. The system of short service, started by Cardwell, 
(or ihr lirht lime enabled us to establish an efficient force of reserves. 
Mrn wrrn hrnceforth to be enlisted for twelve years, divided into 
two |inrlod« of six or eight years with the colours, and six or four 
Vrrti«i III llir rrHrrve. The same great reformer also introduced the 
|iiiiM l|<ln ol localising military service, and of linking militia-battal- 
initti lo ihot^r of the line-regiments, and so more closely connecting 
lliOM* IWM liiiiiM'lir« of the infantry forces. The staff system was 
lf»|MMttHl iHmI llir (Juartcrmaster-General, instead of having co-equal 
hUtk Mhil uMlliMiily, became virtually only an officer of the Adjutant- 

(H^MHImT** ilh|MUlMmiit. Mr. Cardwell also augmented our forces for 
wmh il*'l»M»fi l»v MM ailing 20,000 men from the great self-governing 
l*ti|wiH*'»t. ( Mifula. Australia. New Zealand, and the Cape of Good 
||((|(h, Hhil f-MiMMUyiuj^ those governments to raise local forces. 
*iilt* |I0|M<»|4mI pUu iif hu-alization, which was not extended to the 
MVAIiVi hnt ill^lth'*! («irat Hritainand Ireland into 102 Regimental 



THE ARMY AND NAVY. 83 

Districts, each containing the dep6t, or head-quarters, of its terri- 
torial regiment. The military units, or regiments, now became 
known by local names instead of by numbers. Thus, the 6th of 
the line is now called the Royal Warwickshire, the 3rd (the Buffs) 
is the East Kent, and so on. Each of these county-regiments has 
at least two battalions of the line, and one, two, or three of militia, 
and also includes the Volunteer infantry belonging to the district, so 
that the whole infantry force of the country is divided into bodies 
embracing regulars and auxiliaries of all degrees of efficiency and 
training. Twelve artillery divisions of the country, in groups of 
counties, include the royal artillery and the militia and volunteer 
divisions of that arm. The whole of Great Britain is further divided 
into eleven District Commands, each under a Major-general; Jersey 
forms another, Guernsey and Alderney another; while Ireland, 
with a special *' Commander of the Forces", has four of these 
districts. The use of breech-loading rifles for the infantry was 
adopted generally in European armies after the Austro-Prussian 
War of 1866, when the Prussian needle-gun wrought such havoc 
among opponents armed only with muzzle-loaders. The French, 
in 1859, against the Austrians in Italy, first showed the utility of 
rifled cannon. Our own army was the first that used breech-loading 
field-guns. In regard to field-artillery, we may note that whereas, 
in 1 8 19, we only had 22 horsed-cannon in the British Isles, in 1852 
the number had risen to 120, in 1870 to 180, and now we have 
generally 250 guns ready for service. 

In 1859 the threatening tone of some French colonels, in an 
address to the Emperor Louis Napoleon concerning the Orsini- 
conspiracy organized by refugees in this country, brought about 
one of the most remarkable and important events in our modem 
history, the birth of our force called Volunteers. Tennysons 
spirited verses, " Form! riflemen, form!", fell upon a nation roused 
to fury by foreign bullies as an imperative call to arms. Certain 
patriotic citizens had, before this time, been stirred to action by the 
defenceless state of the countr)\ In 1852, the " Exeter and South 
Devon Rifles", the first body of volunteers whose services were 
accepted by the Queen, arose mainly through the spirited exer- 
tions of Dr. J. C. Bucknill, F.R.S., a gentleman who, on this 
account, fitly received, in May, 1894, the honour of knighthood, on 
the occasion of Her Majesty's seventy-fifth birthday. Mr. Hans 




84 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

Busk, born in the year of Waterloo, had endeavoured, while he was 
yet an undergraduate at Trinity College, Cambridge, to move the 
government in favour of founding rifle clubs throughout the land as 
a defence against invasion. The easy-going Lord Melbourne, the 
Premier of the day, threw cold water on his zeal, but Busk succeeded 
in starting a rifle club at Cambridge, and advocated his plan in 
speech and print. In 1858, he lent aid in reviving the "Victoria 
Rifles", and of course warmly welcomed and supported the national 
movement. The Prince Consort, ever foremost in good works, 
had always shared the views of Wellington, Burgoyne, and Palmer- 
ston as to the lack of safeguards against foreign attack, and it was 
he who drafted the " Instructions to Lords-Lieutenant" issued in 
May, 1859, by the Secretary for War, then General Peel, a brother 
of Sir Robert. These " Instructions" were, in fact, the regulations 
upon which the Volunteer force was raised and organized. A few 
weeks later. Lord Derby's ministry fell from power, but the second 
advent to office of Lord Palmerston as prime minister was all in 
favour of the new movement. Among the chief supporters of the 
cause, rendering active personal aid, were Colonel M'Murdo, the 
first Inspector-General, Lord Ranelagh, Lord Eicho (afterwards 
Earl of W'emyss), and Colonel Loyd-Lindsay, V.C, a Crimean hero, 
afterwards Lord Wantage. Since that time, the country has been, 
at any rate, free from panics as to possible invasion. Without any 
promise of pay, or reward, or even of any pecuniary help towards 
needful expense, in a few months' time above 100,000 riflemen and 
artillerymen were enrolled, and in 1S60 the Queen reviewed, in 
Hyde Park, London, and in Queen's Park, Edinburgh, two bodies 
of volunteers amounting in all to over 40,000 men, acquainted with 
the elements of military drill, and able to manceuvre with some 
precision. Against much difficulty and discouragement — the ridi- 
cule of the foolish and unpatriotic, the mingled contempt and jeal- 
ousy of many ofl^cers of the "regulars", and the lack of pecuniary 
support from the government — the Volunteers grew and grew in 
efficiency until they forced their way to full official acceptance as a 
branch of the organized forces of the land, and, being formally in- 
corporated with the territorial regiments, and furnished with equip- 
ments from the public funds, they now regularly camp out in 
battalions or brigades, and are taught the work of campaigning 
along with the militia and the line. In 1881, the Queen again 



I 
I 

I 






THE ARMY AND NAVY. 8$ 

reviewed large armies of the force in Windsor Park and on the 
beautifully-placed ground behind Holyrood at the Scottish capital. 
In the same year, some of the honours of the Order of the Bath 
were placed within reach of Volunteer officers, and a special decora- 
tion has been recently awarded for those who have served for 
twenty years. The wisdom of the military authorities has been 
shown in requiring from all volunteers that a certain standard of 
efficiency in drill and rifle-shooting should be attained, in order to 
entitle them to the payment of a grant towards their expenses. 
" Volunteering" has thus become a matter of serious business in- 
stead of a mere parade in uniform or an Eastertide or summer 
picnic, and its latest development includes the use of ordinary field- 
artillery and of machine-guns, military signalling, cycling, stretcher- 
bearing as for sick and wounded men, submarine mining, engineering 
in fortress and railway-transport work, and regular study of tactics 
by officers. Intimately connected with this great movement was 
the establishment of the National Artillery and the National Rifle 
Associations. The former, founded in 1865, trains the volunteer 
gunners for the manning of our coast and field-batteries, in which 
they would be able to render important service along with officers 
and men of the Royal Artillery. The latter was established in 
1859, and extraordinary skill in the use of the rifle at ranges from 
200 up to 1000 yards has been developed through the annual com- 
petitions held at Wimbledon during a fortnight in July, from i860 
till 1889, when the scene of operations was transferred to Bisley, 
in the west of Surrey. The volunteer movement has been of great 
social service in improving the physical appearance, strength, and 
health of large numbers of the people. The value of the mental 
and bodily training and discipline acquired by the i ^ millions of 
men that have passed through the ranks of this citizen-force can 
hardly be over-estimated, and, as regards the main object for which 
the men were enrolled, it is known that the very highest military 
authority of these modern days, the illustrious German strategist 
and tactician. Count von Moltke, regarded the British volunteers 
as an element of our military strength that should make intending 
invaders seriously reflect upon the magnitude of the task which 
they were undertaking. ** Many ways," he said, ** he knew of get- 
ting an army into Great Britain, but none of withdrawing them in 
case of need." In plain words, he believed that no skill or courage 



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THE ARMY AND NAVY. 8/ 

similar work in regard to the cavalry and infantry. Officers and 
men already in the service receive technical instruction in various 
branches of the military art in the Staff College at Camberley, near 
Sandhurst; at the School of Gunnery at Shoeburyness, on the 
south-east coast of Essex; at the School of Military Engineering 
at Chatham; the School of Musketry at Hythe, on the south coast 
of Kent; the Schools of Signalling and of Range-finding at Alder- 
shot, and at other establishments for the use of the auxiliary forces. 
At Hounslow there is a " Royal Military School of Music", and 
other requirements are met by the Army Medical School at Netley, 
near Southampton, and a Veterinary School and a Gymnastic 
School at Aldershot. The establishment of camps of exercise and 
instruction marked a new era in the history of the British army. 
The first of these, a temporary institution, arose in 1853 at Chob- 
ham, in the north-west of Surrey, where a considerable force of all 
arms was placed under canvas for two months, and was trained (as 
it proved) for the Russian war of the following year by the endur- 
ance, in a bad summer, of much rainy and tempestuous weather. 
There is no need to dwell upon the work which the daily papers 
bring to our notice as performed by all branches of the army at 
Aldershot, where the government, in 1855, purchased about three 
square miles of moorland, called Aldershot Heath, and formed a 
permanent military post in a singularly healthy and suitable region 
for the purpose in hand. From 10,000 to 15,000 troops of all arms 
are usually in camp, and the militia and volunteers there receive 
instruction in mimic warfare on the most practical system possible. 
A town of 20,000 people has risen near the camp. On the same 
model we have smaller camps at the Curragh of Kildare, in the 
east of Ireland; at Shorncliff, near Folkestone; and at Colchester. 
In concluding this subject of military progress, we may fairly 
assert that the British soldier, in his treatment, his character, and 
his efficiency for service, apart from his native inalienable courage, 
is a very different being from his predecessor of the Peninsular 
War. He has advanced with the times. He has been well cared 
for, morally and spiritually, by many good men and women. 
Thousands of men in the ranks, at home and abroad, are total 
abstainers from intoxicating liquors. He is treated as a man, and 
not as a felon. He can now, as Lord Wolseley, one of his ablest 
commanders, puts it, " look the soldiers of all other nations in the 



fS OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AXD ABROAa 

bcCr for he can be flogged no longer". The soldier is better edu- 
cated, more intelligent, better disciplined, far better behaved, more 
contented, and therefore far more efficient for aU the purposes for 
which he is maintained. His work is suffidendy hard, and his life 
in camp and under discipline is somewhat monotonous and, by 
necessity, devoid of a civilian's freedom, but he is now supplied 
with a good and comfortable canteen, with fives-courts and skitde- 
alleys; he has games of football and cricket along with his officers; 
he has a recreation-room for smoking and for reading a good variety 
of books and papers, with tea and coffee and bread and butter for 
his refreshment From his daily pay of is., the infantry-man of 
good conduct may save from 2^. to 2s. 6d. per «week as pocket- 
money, and in substantial comfort he is far better off than a labourer 
or ordinary mechanic. At the end of two years' service from the 
time of enlistment, the soldier may b^in to draw good-conduct 
pay, and he thus earns, for every year of service, £^ a year besides 
his ordinary pay. The sum of £2 1 is handed to hinfi on his leaving 
the colours for the army reser\'e, and he has thus a start in civil life, 
with 6d. per day as pay in the First-class Army Reserve until the 
expiration of twelve years from the date of enlistment If he does 
not pass into the reserve, but completes, at his own option, twelve 
years with the colours, he then receives on discharge the sum of 
£^6. If he completes his twenty-one years of service, he is paid, 
on leaving, ;^36 and has a life-pension of is. per day. If he has 
become a sergeant, he receives £T2y and a pension for life of from 
2S. yi. to 25. 9^/. per day. If he is a sergeant-major, or any other 
grade of warrant-officer, his life-pension is 45. 6^. a day. 

The close of the Crimean War, in 1856, was signalized by the 
institution of the highly valued decoration known as the " Victoria 
Cross", conferred on British officers and men, in army, navy, and 
royal marines, for any very distinguished act of courage or patriotic 
devotion performed in the presence of the enemy. The distinction 
is also open to volunteers against an enemy, though they may not 
belong to any branch of the service. This badge of honour, in the 
course of nearly forty years, has been awarded to between 400 and 
500 officers and men, and consists of a Maltese cross of bronze, with 
a royal crown in the centre, surmounted by a Hon, and with the 
trords " For Valour " indented on a scroll below the crown. The 
is attached to a clasp» adorned with two straight branches of 



THE ARMV AND NAVY. 89 

bay, by the letter "V", and the clasp has on it a blue ribbon for 
the navy and a scarlet one for the army. An additional act 
worthy of the "Cross" is marked by a baron the ribbon. The 
honour carries with it, for non-commissioned officers and men, 
a pension of ^10 a year, with jCs more for each bar added. It 
remains only to state that our military establishment for 1897 was 
composed, in addition to the Volunteers above given, of about 
145,000 effectives of the "regulars", of the highly important 
78,000 effectives of the "Army Reserve", about 122,000 militia, 
embodied and in reserve, 10.000 yeomanry, and of about 78,000 
regular forces in India (British troops). The "regulars" in the 
British Isles have nearly 300 field-guns, while India employs 
about 320. To meet invasion, we could at once put into the 
field, in Great Britain, including the Volunteers, about 440,000 
riflemen, 600 guns, and a few thousands of efficient cavalry, 
backed, within a week, by a million of men who have served as 
volunteers. 

In dealing very briefly with the British navy, as at present 
constituted, we need do no more than allude to the change from 
sails to steam, from "wooden walls" to "armour-clads", from 
broadsides composed of many 32-pounder and lighter guns to huge 
cannon in turrets and otherwise carried, varying in weight from 
18 to III tons, and firing shot and shell each from 200 to iSoo 
pounds in weight. The improvements made in steam-machinery 
for sea-going ships have been described in connection with the 
mercantile marine, and we simply state that in 1808 our largest 
man-of-war afloat was a vessel of 2600 tons, contrasted with iron- 
clads, now in commission, of 14,000 tons; that in 1822 our first 
steamship, the Cotnci, was launched from Woolwich Dockyard, and 
that in 1861 our first iron-clad, the Warrior, designed by Mr. 
Scott Russell, was launched from the yard of the Thames Ship- 
building Company, as a reply to the French vessel La Gloire, 
which was afloat early in i860. The Warrior, armour-plated for 
only two-thirds of her length, had iron plates 4j4 inches thick. 
The Majestic, and ten other vessels of her class, launched in 1S95- 
6-7. have specially hardened steel armour of vast resisting power. 
For defence against boarding, quick-firing guns and machine-guns 
in the tops are the modern device; for attack on hostile vessels, 
the projecting ram and torpedoes passing under water to strike the 




go OUR ExMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

enemy's hull, are at once a revival of a method used by the ancient 
Greek and Roman galleys propelled by oars, and an innovation of 
modem science employing compressed air, electricity, and other 
motive powers. The use of this weapon has caused the introduc- 
tion of torpedo-boats, for carrying and discharging the submarine 
missiles, and of torpedo-boat ** catchers" or ** destroyers", provided 
with torpedoes and machine-guns, running now at the rate of 30 
knots, and good vessels in a sea-way. The heavy gun now adopted 
for our navy as most effective is the 46-ton wire gun, throwing a 
projectile of 850 lbs. weight, capable of piercing 30 inches of 
armour. Some idea of the expense of modem navies may be 
formed from the fact that this 46-ton gun has '* a life " of only 
about 150 rounds, after firing which she would become worn 
out. The modern first-class iron -clad, with her many auxiliary 
engines, and expensive fittings of every description, costs about 
one million sterling — a sum which, in Nelson's day, would have 
given him a fleet of thirteen seventy-fours, the armament with 
which, with the addition of one 50-gun ship, he won the "con- 
quering" victor)^ of the Nile. For the protection of commerce, 
we have the ships called ** cruisers",* some having lo-inch steel 
armour at the water-line for two-thirds of the length, and an 
armoured deck; others having a turtle-backed deck throughout the 
length of the vessel, with armour from 2 to 6 inches in thickness 
at different points. The newest and most efficient cruisers afloat, 
the Poiverfiil and the Terrible, were launched in 1895 and put 
in commission during 1897. They are strongly armoured, and 
have a speed of 22 knots, or nearly 25 statute miles per hour. 
Their armament is exceedingly strong and is at all points carefully 
protected from the enemies' gun-fire. Both vessels have a high 
freeboard, while the vital piirts are protected by a steel deck 
fully 4 inches thick. Their coal -bunker capacity is 3,000 tons. 
The nature of our empire is manifested in the names of the 
squadrons maintained in various quarters of the world for the 
defence? of our jK>ssessions. Besides the Channel Squadron, we 
have th(* '* Mediterranean and Red Sea", the ** North America 
and W(\sl Indies", the ** Kast Indies", the ** China", the 
•'Cape of C.ood Hope and West Africa", the "Pacific", the 
** Australia", and tiie *• South- east cuist of America" fleets, 
besidcH a "Training Squadron", and 17 ships engaged on 



"1 



H.M.S. MA/^S, TERRIBLE, AND DRAGON ON A CRUISK. 

'I'hese three vessels are representative of three well-marked classes in the 
British navy, (i) The Mars is one of nine battle-ships, which are all of 
one t)rpe. The length of this colossal ship is 390 feet; the extreme beam 
78 feet, the main draught 28 feet With moderate forced draught it attains 
a mean speed of 17^ knots. Her armament includes four 12-inch guns 
mounted in strongly armoured barbettes, twelve 6-inch quick-firing guns, 
sixteen 1 2-pounders, twelve 3-pounders, and five torpedo discharges. Thus 
the Mars is one of the most powerful battle-ships afloat. (2) The Terrible 
is a first-class cruiser of 14,000 tons. Her armament is very strong and 
carefully protected. The vital parts are placed beneath a 4-inch steel deck, 
and her coal-bunkers hold 3000 tons. Her speed in smooth water is over 
20 knots. (3) The Dragon is a torpedo-boat destroyer of the newest class, 
and is chiefly remarkable for its speed, which is about 30 knots. - It is also 
armed with a number of quick-firing guns. 

( 27 ) 





H.M.S. MARS. TERRIBLE. AND DRAGON CRUISING IX THE 
ENGLISH CHANNEU 



THE ARMY AND NAW. gr 

" particular service " and " surveying service" . As it was estimated, 
in a Royal Commission's Report of i88i-a, that the value of 
British merchant ships and their annual freights then amounted 
to 900 millions sterling, and that we always had a6oat, mostly on 
distant voyages, property to the value of nearly 150 millions, 
measures have been taken to provide fortified coaling-stations along 
the chief routes of our commerce, those of trade with the Mediter- 
ranean, the East, and Australia, both by the Suez Canal and round 
the Cape of Good Hope. The points for this purpose, by the 
Canal route, are Gibraltar, Malta, Aden, Bombay, Kurrachee, 
Colombo (south-west coast of Ceylon), Singapore, and Hong- 
Kong. For the Cape route, we have Sierra Leone, Simon's Bay, 
and Table Bay (both at the Cape), and Mauritius (Port Louis). 
In the West Indies, Jamaica and Sl Lucia are the coaling-places 
for our men-of-war. 

The navy now is manned wholly by volunteers, instead of by 
the method of impressment or by jail-birds, and the service is 
recruited by the entry of boys on training-ships, with an engage- 
ment to serve for twelve years from the age of eighteen. The 
treatment of the sailor has kept pace in improvement with that of 
the soldier. Good-conduct badges, pensions at homes of their own 
instead of a retreat, with irksome discipline, at the noble Green- 
wich Hospital, good food on board, careful nursing in sickness, and 
other advantages, have greatly attracted and benefited this class of 
our defenders. Encouragement to sobriety is given by the supply 
of cocoa, coffee, or a money-payment in lieu of the old rum-ration, 
and our fleet, like our army, contains thousands of men who. to their 
great physical and moral advantage, are total abstainers from alco- 
holic drinks. Since 1859, a naval reserve has been formed from 
the mercantile marine, from discharged sailors of the royal navy, and 
other sources, including the coast-guard and seamen-pensioners, the 
whole force now numbering over 30,000 men. Gunnery-schools, 
torpedo-schools, naval manceuvres with the flying squadron and 
the Channel fleet, and the Royal Naval College at Greenwich, for 
special scientific instruction, are among our means of preparing 
officers and men for the work of modern naval warfare. We 
finish our statements concerning the British navy with some figures 
of comparison which are at this moment justly influencing the naval 
policy of an empire which has to defend interests at home and 



L 



92 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

abroad of a value so unprecedented and so incalculable. The 
strength of three navies in 1897 is here given. 

Of first-class iron-clads, France had 18, Russia 9; total 27. 
Of second and third class iron-clads (all sea-going ships) France had 
1 7, and Russia 1 1 ; total, 28 : total number of iron-clads in French 
and Russian navies, 55. 

Of cruisers (first, second, and third classes) France had 19, 
Russia, 8; total, 27. 

Of torpedo-craft, France had 255, Russia, 212; total, 467. 

Great Britain had, of first-class iron-clads, 29; of second and 
third classes, 28; total British iron-clads, 57. Of cruisers, our 
navy possessed 81. Of torpedo-craft, we had 292. In regard 
to the cruisers we may note that some of our great steam-ship 
companies are prepared, under contract with the government, to 
greatly reinforce the navy by fitting out, within a few days, many 
powerful and very swift vessels as men-of-war. As to the iron- 
clads, it is for us to see to it that we always have a force at least 
equal to that of the two most powerful navies afloat. In torpedo- 
craft, so far as mere numbers go, we still fall far short of France 
and Russia combined. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

Conclusion. 



Comparative statistics of population and trade— The National Debt — Our mercantile 
shipping — Improved position of the working-classes — Our political system — The 
spirit of Freedom the mainspring of Britain's greatness among the nations — 
Improved social feeling. 

A few figures on material progress may first be given. In 
1 80 1, the population of England and Wales was 8,892,000; of 
Scotland, 1,608,000. In 1891, England and Wales had just over 
29 millions; Scotland a little more than 4 millions. In the same 
period, Ireland had declined from 5,395,000 (after increasing to 
8,175,000 in 1841) to 4,704,000. During the century, the popula- 
tion of the British Isles has therefore grown from a little under 
16 millions to about 40 millions, allowing for the increase in Great 
Britain during the five years that have passed since the census of 
April, 1 89 1. As to foreign trade, we find that in 1802 (which we 



CONXLUSION. 93 

select as a year of peace, the lull in the great conflict) our imports 
nearly approached 30 millions in value, and our exports exceeded 
38 millions. In 1893, when trade was much depressed, our total 
imports exceeded in value 405 millions, and our exports of British 
produce were just 2i8j^ millions, with nearly 59 millions value of 
exports in foreign and colonial produce, a fact which shows the 
extent to which the British ports serve as entrepots for goods from 
all parts of the world. The total British trade therefore, in a bad 
year, was approaching 700 millions sterling in value; in 1896, it 
was nearly 738 millions. The National Debt, since 1815, has 
decreased (in spite of 39 millions increase due to the Crimean war) 
from 861 millions to 629 millions, the annual charge for interest 
having fallen, since 1815, from ^32,645,000 to _^25, 000,000. 
For a nation in her decline, " as certain people do vainly talk ", 
these figures have a strange appearance. As regards shipping, 
some statistics have already been given, but we may observe that, 
apart from the tonnage (of which, in the home and colonial 
empire, we had recently, taking in all the vessels in the world, 
some 9 millions of tons out of 22 millions) we possess, in our 
mercantile marine, owing to our predominance in steamships 
(greatly exceeding in tonnage those under all other flags combined), 
an effective carrying-power nearly equal to that of all the rest of 
the world together, or in the ratio of 22 millions of tons to 
24^ millions. This arises from the fact that a steamer makes 
three ocean-voyages, or six short voyages, in the time that a 
sailing-vessel takes to complete one. Here again, if the British 
Empire has really seen her best days, the figures are, at least, 
remarkable. In 1840, our effective carrying-power was about 
3,900,000 tons against 6.260,000 tons under all other flags together. 
There is no need to enforce the conclusion to be drawn from 
almost every chapter of this section of the present work, that the 
nineteenth century has witnessed, in the British Isles, improve- 
ments not merely vast and sweeping in degree, but wholly new in 
kind. To refer to the details again would be to interfere with the 
work belonging to the thoughtful reader. " The greatest happiness 
of the greatest number", a phrase coined by Dr. Priestley, and 
made the motto of Jeremy Bentham, was the noble aspiration of 
the Utilitarian philosophy, and that ideal has been, to a large 
extent, realized in the changed position of the working-classes. 




94 OUR £MPI&£ AT HOME AXD ABROAD. 

Their food, their dress, their homes, their amusements, thetr 
demeanour, their contentment, so powerful for our pc^tkal well- 
being, are all cogent proofs of great and beneficial chai^;e. Take 
the period since the passing of the first Reform Act in 1832, and 
find, if you can, another sixty years of modem history which has 
done so much, not for the wealthy and the highly-cultured, who 
must always be the few, but for the great body of the people, the 
makers of wealth, those on whose loyal spirit the maintenance of 
public peace, of law and order, must alwa)^ depend. The anar- 
chist, to the average British working-man, is not merely a hateful, 
but an altogether ridiculous and contemptible being. And why is 
this? It is because the grandest of all factors in human affairs, the 
spirit of freedom, has been at work in our midst. It is because the 
people, whom none others, whom nothing else, could save, have 
been permitted to save themselves through political, economical, 
social, moral, and intellectual emancipation. Nor is there any talk 
now, as in past days in the British Isles, of " the madnesses of 
an unbridled democracy ", or of " the tyranny of numbers ". The 
British voters, under a democratic system, have given ample proof 
of their desire to conserve existing institutions, and to seek im- 
provement through cautious and steady reform rather than in 
destructive and radical change. In a country which possesses 
hereditary monarchy, whereby the sovereign has the power to call 
into public and private council the highest intellect of the land; 
which has a second chamber not wholly hereditary, but recruited 
from below by the most successful and capable personages; and a 
free press, conducted in all its most powerful organs by men of 
character and of liberal education, there is always provided a good 
measure of representation for the more educated and more experi- 
enced minority in the body politic, with safeguards against the 
evils which the timid who distrusted their humbler fellow-citizens 
anticipated from any enlargement of the franchise. It has been 
abundantly shown that, in such a country as this, each enlargement 
of the suffrage is a fresh source, not of danger, but of safety; bind- 
ing the masses to the established order of things by the loyalty 
which springs from content, and from the sense of being appreciated 
and trusted, of being dealt with not as children, but as men. ** The 
love of liberty for all, without distinction of class, creed, or country, 
and the resolute preference of the interests of the whole to any 



CONCLUSION. 95 

interest, be it what it may, of a narrower scope", these have been 
the broad and noble principles that have won, and will yet win, for 
British citizens, triumphs of wholesome legislation which, in remov- 
ing hindrances to the free play of popular energies, enable men and 
women to do their best work, and to elevate themselves in every 
act of self-help, with due regard to the rights and claims of their 
fellow-men. How wholesome, also, is the change which the nine- 
teenth century has seen as regards the hateful severance between the 
classes that became most prominent in the years succeeding the first 
French Revolution. That great event, or series of events, terrified 
too many of the upper, and excited too njany of the lower, sections 
of society. The system of repression which was ado{)ted, with the 
evil habit of talking and acting as if " the Gdvernment " and ** the 
people" were necessarily in antagonism, caused ever-increasing 
mischief. The old feudal ties between class and class, employer 
and employed, had been severed'. Large masses of working people 
had gathered in the manufacturing districts in savage independence. 
The agricultural labourers had been debased into a horrible condi- 
tion by the abuses of the old Poor Law. The lawless doings of 
Luddites and rick-burners made owners of property, in too many 
cases, come to regard "the masses" as their natural enemies. The 
influence of Christianity; the spread of liberal principles, founded 
on common humanity and justice; the efforts of enlightened states- 
men, philanthropists, ministers of religion, and other men devoted 
to doing good as the duty specially required of them by creed or 
by station ; the awakening, among prosperous people, of a new sym- 
pathy for suffering, have at last succeeded, in a large measure, in 
abolishing class prejudices and class grudges. We have reviewed, 
in previous pages of this work, the marvellous progress of scientific 
discovery. We have seen the careful and reverent study of Creation 
leading to fuller knowledge of " the harmonious symphony which 
we call the Universe". We have beheld "the drooping flower of 
knowledge changed to fruit of wisdom ", for it is a distinction of 
scientific knowledge that its flower sets for fruit. The philosopher, 
content to know, has seen the knowledge won by him taken up for 
the benefit of the world at large. Science has thus changed the 
whole external life of civilized mankind. In nearly every field of 
human activity the traditional way of doing things has been 
abandoned. We act on our knowledge of the laws of Nature, and 



96 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

she has become our willing slave, so that the multitude are now on 
the side of the science which has had results so striking and so 
beneficent, and has afforded the confident expectation of still 
greater changes, rendered easier by the universal appreciation of 
scientific methods. Electric force, we may be quite sure, has not 
yet said her last word, and it is possible that mankind may yet, in 
the literal, physical sense " mount with wings as eagles ", and float 
upon the air as upon the waves. The finest social feature of our 
country and our age is, however, seen in the recognition, on all 
sides, of duty to others; in the practical sympathy displayed, in 
every time of need, by members of every class, from those who, 
in kinship, surround the illustrious lady on the throne, to the very 
humblest toilers of the land. A new spirit is at work, not only in 
politics, but in religion, in social action, in the whole of life. Whole 
sections of society have begun to feel that they are, and ought to 
be, their brother s keepers, and the philanthropic side of Christianity, 
as distinguished from the orthodoxy of formulas and creeds, was 
never so pow^erfuUy active in our midst as in these closing years of 
the nineteenth century. Great and gratifying beyond all the mar- 
vels of science, to the mind and the heart of a patriot, should be 
the visible increase of that moral force which can not only sweeten 
and preserve a nation, but, with the resources of such an empire as 
ours, rightly used, can do much to regenerate the world in which, 
far beyond the confines of Europe, we wield so wide and splendid 
a sway. 



BOOK V. 

BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN EUROPE, ASIA, AND AFRICA 

IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



CHAPTER I. 

European Possessions. 

Isle of Man — The Channel Islands — Gibraltar — Malta. 

Among the foreign territories of Great Britain may be fairly 
reckoned the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, governed as 
they are by systems of law diverse from those which control the 
rest of her dominions in the north-west of Europe. The Isle of 
Man, peopled from a prehistoric time by Celts who spoke a dialect 
of the Goidelic, Erse, or Gaelic branch, as distinguished from the 
Brythonic, or Welsh and Breton group, has no trustworthy records 
prior to the sixth century of the Christian era, when a line of 
Welsh kings began to rule. Near the close of the ninth century, 
Norwegian conquest by King Harald Haarfager brought Scandi- 
navian rulers into power for more than three centuries and a half 
The utter defeat of Haco, king of Norway, at Largs, on the eastern 
coast of the Firth of Clyde, in 1 263, caused his son-in-law and 
successor, Magnus, to cede Man, with the Hebrides, in 1266, to 
Alexander III. of Scotland. On his death, twenty years later, the 
Manx people formally sought and obtained the protecting control 
of Edward the First of England, and the island henceforth, for 
more than a century, was given in possession to successive cour- 
tiers. In 1406, Henry the Fourth made a feudal grant of Man to 
Sir John Stanley, an ancestor of the Earls of Derby. By his heirs, 
as "kings" of Man, the territory was held until 1651, when a 
Parliamentary force took possession. At the Restoration, nine 
years later, the Isle of Man reverted to the Derby family. In 
1 735 the second Duke of Athol, as a descendant of the seventh 
Earl of Derby, came into possession on the death of the tenth 
earl without issue. About thirty years elapsed, during which the 

Vol. IV. 7a 



98 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

island became injurious to the British revenue as the resort of 
smugglers on an extensive scale, and in 1 764 it was purchased by 
the Crown for ;^ 70,000 and an annuity of ;^2ooo, the Dukes of 
Athol retaining certain manorial rights, church patronage, and 
other privileges. In 1829 these interests were ceded to the Crown 
for another large payment, and henceforth, with a peculiar ecclesi- 
astical and civil constitution, the Isle of Man became fully subject 
to British sovereigns. The Manx Church has its own bishop, 
convocation, and canon-law, the prelate s title of Sodor and Man 
being, in the former part, a corruption of the Scandinavian word 
Stidreyjar or Sudoreys, i.e. Southern Isles, referring to the southern 
Hebrides, formerly included in the see. There are special laws, 
law-officers, and courts. The governor, appointed by the Crown, 
presides in the chancery and other superior courts, with the two 
deemsters, or judges, officials of great antiquity, as his assessors. 
The deemsters have their own summary courts, with an extensive 
civil and criminal jurisdiction in minor cases. The legislature, or 
Tynwald Court (compare the Icelandic place of meeting. Thing- 
vellir or Tingvalld) is composed of two chambers, one consisting 
of the governor and a council of eight members, including the 
bishop, the two deemsters, and the attorney-general; the other 
being a representative body of twenty-four members, styled the 
House of Keys. Formerly self-elected, this Manx House of 
Commons has, since 1866, been a septennial parliament of popular 
choice. In 1880 an advance towards democracy was made in an 
Act jfranting household suffrage in the towns, a four-pound owner 
and six-pound tenant franchise for country districts, and a women's 
Huflrajje^. The royal assent is needed for all measures passed by 
Tynwald, and a statute becomes operative only after solemn pro- 
imil^'ation at Tynwald Mount, an ancient artificial circular hill 
anaiigt;d in four platforms, near the centre of the island. Since 
ihfi mlddlt^ of the nineteenth century, taxation in the shape of local 
inip(»*>t4 and customs-revenue has been payable to the insular 
\\)K\ hrcjiinr, which, after making a contribution of ;^io,ooo a year to 
\\\\\ hnpiMlal revenue, expends a large surplus on public works that 
lifivo iMivitly improved the harbours and roads, and furnished new 
fillifM ll(»M»i lo kiummer visitors. The chief industries, besides arable 
liiid |i»ii»loifil (aruung. are the fisheries of herring and cod, employ- 
iltu hIm'MI '/m» l*oat8 and 4000 men and boys, and the very lucra- 



EUROPEAN rOSSKSSlONS. 99 

live mining of lead and zinc, with some copper, iron, and a fair 
amount of silver. There is no need to describe the scenery or the 
towns of a region so well known either from personal observation 
or from guide-books. Of the whole area of 145,000 acres nearly 
two-thirds are tilled, and a large export of wheat and of fat cattle 
is made to the English markets. The climate is mild, with a very 
limited range of temperature, and the land is well watered by the 
springs and streams of the hilly districts. The Manx language 
survives in a limited amount of speech, in translations of the 
Prayer-book and Bible issued in the latter half of the eighteenth 
century, and in a dictionary. There is no literature apart from 
some carols and songs. The population, in iSgi. exceeded 55.000; 
the four chief towns, Douglas, Castletown, Ramsey, and Peel, are 
united by light railways, and large swift steamers run from Liver- 
pool, Barrow, and the Clyde to Douglas. 

The Channel Islattds are the sole relic of the old Norman 
possessions of the British crown. During the sixth century of the 
Christian era the people, probably of Celtiberian race, were con- 
verted by missionaries from Brittany and Ireland, two of whose 
names, St. Helerius, patron saint of Jersey, and St. Sampson, of 
Guernsey, remain in the towns of St. Hetier's and St. Sampson. 
The tenth century saw the conquest of the group by the Northmen, 
and the introduction, in a modified degree, of the feudal system. 
There was no military service required from tenants, and the local 
militia had a parochial basis until modern times. When King 
John was deprived of Normandy by Philip Augustus, certain 
seigneurs who kept in his allegiance settled in the islands, and in 
Jersey and Guernsey local governments were formed in bodies 
called "States", composed of the rectors and the constables or 
mayors of parishes (twelve in Jersey, ten in Guernsey), 'Cn.e. jurats, 
or judges of the royal court, with a bailiff, or lieutenant-governor, 
appointed by the sovereign. There are now, in addition to these 
ex-offi.cif) members, 14 elected deputies in Jersey, and the office of 
governor has long become distinct from that of bailiff. The lan- 
guage used in debate and injudicial affairs is modern French, while 
the popular tongue is a dialect of the ancient Langue doil, in which 
Wace, a native of jersey, wrote in the twelfth century a Roman de 
Reu, recording the deeds of William the Conqueror. The attach- 
ment of the conservative element of the population to the old usage 



L. 



100 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

i^'as Strikingly shown in Februar)% 1893, when the States of Jersey, 
after a long debate, rejected, by 27 to 6 votes, a bill for permitting 
the optional use of English in the assembly. The English lan- 
guage« long taught to all the children in the schools, has of late 
years made such advances, especially among townspeople, that 
many deputies are unable to express themselves correctly in 
French. The country parishes, however, are resolutely opposed to 
the introduction of English in the States, and their influence, for 
the first time in the historj- of Jersey, caused the affirmation of the 
principle that French is the official language. There are two 
lieutenant-governors in the islands, one for Jersey, another for 
Guernsey. Aldemey, and Sark. each appointed for five years, with 
the command of the troops and the chief executive authorit)'. The 
bailiff presides both in the legislative assembly and the highest 
court, where the local law is based on that of olden daj-s known as 
the Costumier de XarmaKJu. Enactments of the States in the 
form of bye-laws called ordaxKaKces are valid for three years 
without roysX assent: measures of organic change require the sanc- 
tion of the Crown. The constitution of Guernsey has no demo- 
cratic element like that of Jersey, and almost all power lies in the 
ro)*aI court. The Reformation doctrines, aided by the entrj' of 
exiled Huguenots, took a firm hold in the Channel Islands, assum- 
ing a strictly Puritan and Presbjterian form. In 1568 Queen 
Elizabeth severed these firmly Protestant subjects of her rule from 
the spiritual sway of the Bishop of Coutances in Normandy, and 
attached them, as they remain, to the diocese of Winchester. The 
great Tudor queens memory abides in the old fortress at Sl 
Helier s called Elizabeth Castle, built in her reign on the ruins of a 
twelfth-century abbey, and in Elizabeth College, at St. Peter Port, 
the capital of Guernsey. This large public grammar-school was 
founded in 1563. Aldemey, strongly fortified and furnished with 
the incomplete granite breakwater elsewhere described, is chiefly 
known to fame by its beautiful cows. The civil power lies in a 
judge, nominated by the Crown, and six jurats chosen for life by the 
people. 

Few matters of importance present themselves in reviewing 
riie history of the Channel Isles. During the French wars of our 
Plantagenet dav-s, the enemy were, for brief periods^ in possession 
of thse two larger islands, but since the accession of Henry the 



EUROPEAN POSSESSIONS. Id 

Seventh British sway has been unbroken. During the great Civil 
War of Stuart times, Guernsey was mainly republican and Jersey 
chiefly royalist. In 1646 the Prince of Wales, afterwards Charles 
the Second, found a refuge at the castle of Mont Orgueil, five miles 
from St. Heliers, but soon retired to France. In 1651 the group 
fell into the full possession of the Parliamentary forces, but neither 
then nor at any other time did the people suffer serious infringe- 
ment of their old immunities and rights, a fact to which the exist- 
ing loyalty is largely due. Under William the Third, the privilege 
of neutrality, in wars between Great Britain and France, was with- 
drawn, but the bold seamen of the islands found an ample recompense 
in preying on the enemy's commerce as privateers. In the days of 
high tariffs for French manufactures, Guernsey was a great centre 
of smuggling operations directed to our southern coast, and the 
stormy waters around the rocky shores of the Channel Islands 
were a favourite cruising-ground of British revenue-craft. In 
1 78 1, a French adventurer landed with an armed force in Jersey, 
and would have gained possession of St. Heliers but for the 
singular promptitude, gallantry, and skill of Major Pierson who, 
attacking the foe in the market-place, lost his life in the brilliant 
and successful encounter immortalized in Copley's admirable pic- 
ture in the National Gallery. The hero of this episode had not 
completed his twenty-fourth year. The present military defence of 
the islands consists in some Royal Artillery and a local force of the 
same arm, and in two battalions of infantry of the line, with six 
regiments of the Royal Jersey and Guernsey Militia, bodies 
recruited by compulsory service which keeps about one-tenth of 
the population either in the ranks or the reserve. The chief form 
of land-tenure is that of small proprietors who, labouring with their 
own hands, and gathering from the storm-beaten shores vast 
quantities of sea-weed as manure, are remarkable for industry and 
thrift, and win from a light, deep, and fertile soil valuable crops of 
early potatoes for the London market, with large supplies of fruit 
and flowers. Jersey and Guernsey, as well as Alderney, have their 
special breeds of cattle, a pure stock fetching high prices for foreign 
reproduction. The grand rock-scenery of the coasts, and the 
verdant beauty of the foliage, the pasture, and the tillage, with the 
equable, mild, and healthy climate, are very attractive to tourists, 
who are provided with excellent daily steamers from Southampton, 



I02 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

Weymouth, and other ports. The flora of the islands, indigenous 
and exotic, presents great variety, interest, and beauty. The 
camellia, the geranium, the arbutus, the magnolia, the myrtle, and 
the fuchsia, flourish in a style unknown to the rest of northern or 
western Europe. The little island of Sark is a gem of beauty for 
the rock-scenery of its shores, and its waters and caves are more 
richly supplied with rare and lovely sea-anemones, and with various 
species of zoophytes, than any other region in this part of the 
world. The Channel Islands, with a total area of 75 square miles, 
contained in 1891 a population of 92,000, with a very small increase 
in the space of forty years, a fact due chiefly to emigration. 

Of Gibraltar^ the first stronghold guarding our line of com- 
munication with India by way of the Suez Canal, the history up to 
1 80 1 has been already given. For eighteen years, from 1802 until 
his death in 1820, the post of Governor was held by the Duke of 
Kent, father of Queen Victoria, with great advantage to the cause 
of discipline, sobriety, and good order. The drink-trade was firmly 
controlled, and the death-rate among the troops was reduced by 
one-half. Outbreaks of fever, with a terrible mortality, occurred in 
1804, 1 8 10, and 1828, and beyond these events there is little to 
record save the constant work done in improving the fortifications; 
the erection, in 1841, of the lighthouse on Europa Point; and the 
construction, in 1846, of a breakwater in front of the sea-wall 
extending along the western base of the rock from the new to the 
old mole. This military and naval post, a dependency technically 
styled a ** Crown colony", and popularly known as *The Rock' or 
*Gib.*, lies on the southern and narrower half of a peninsula about 
six miles in length, and from a quarter of a mile to two miles in 
width. The British territory, nearly 2 square miles in area, at the 
very centre of the southern coast of Spain, is on the east side of 
the Bay of Gibraltar, running due north for eight miles, and from 
four to five miles across. The Rock itself is an isolated mountain, 
composed mainly of hard, smooth, fine-grained gray limestone, 
about 2^ miles long, and half a mile in average breadth, with an 
extreme height of 1440 feet. The northern face rises abruptly 
from the sandy plain called the North Front, on which, going 
northwards, lie the cemetery, cricket -ground, and race -course, 
beyond which come the British Lines, and then the uninhabited 
Neutral Ground, a quarter of a mile in width, ended, on the north. 



EUROPEAN POSSESSIONS. IO3 

by the Spanish Lines. The eastern face of Gibraltar Rock is an 
inaccessible precipice springing upwards from the blue Mediter- 
ranean waters, with the Signal Station, 1255 feet above sea-level, 
at about the middle of its southward knife-edged course, which 
ends, at Europa Point, in a perpendicular cliff of 100 feet in height 
at the water's edge. This natural rampart, after the northward 
turn, runs for a mile along the western face until level ground, 
between the Bay and the Rock, begins near the New Mole, and 
on this side, at the foot of the Rock, which here has a steep slope 
seawards, lie the town, the military and naval establishments, and 
the fortifications. There is one spacious street about half a mile in 
length, lined with shops, and well lighted and paved. The greater 
part of the civilians, 19,100 in number by the census of April, 1891, 
reside in North Town, with narrow streets and many mean-looking 
houses. The pretty public Alameda Gardens lie between this and 
South Town, which has only a small population of civilians, and is 
mainly occupied by barracks, hospitals, and other buildings for the 
use of the garrison and for naval service. 

Gibraltar, in spite of a density of population scarcely surpassed 
in any town in the world, at the rate of about 60,000 to the square 
mile, is generally healthy, with fairly good drainage and supply of 
water. The foreign inhabitants are largely descended from old 
Genoese settlers, and include a motley mixture of Spaniards, 
Italians, Jews, and Moors. The heat in summer is often very 
great, and a trying torrid east wind, the Levanter, blows frequently 
between May and November. The winters are mild and healthy, 
snow and ice being rarely seen ; the average rainfall, mostly occur- 
ring in the autumn and spring, reaches about 35 inches, and this, 
collected on roofs constructed for the purpose, descends into tanks 
for the use of the people. The "Rock" is sometimes ignorantly 
regarded as a mere barren, sultry, military settlement, but those 
who have done more than simply call there on a voyage to east or 
west know the charms of its clear calm sky, of its hues in the 
heavens above and in the seas below, of its gorgeous sunsets, and 
of foliage and flowers that display, in varied wealth, the myrtle, 
locust-tree, olive, almond, cactus, vine, fig, orange and lemon on 
cultivated ground, with a wild growth of clematis, roses, aloes, 
geraniums, and above 500 species of other flowering plants and 
ferns. The animal life includes abundant rabbits, with some foxes 



104 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

and badgers. The eagle builds on the higher crags, and various 
kinds of hawks soar above land and sea. The Barbary ape and 
partridge are there alone found wild on European soil. These 
African monkeys, small tailless creatures, had been reduced in 
1 88 1 to fewer than a score, but strict protection, like that accorded 
to the stork in Holland, has now caused a great increase in the 
numbers of this amusing, trick-learning, species of apes, familiar in 
this country in connection with Italian org^n-grinders. The Rock 
contains numerous natural caverns, of which the most spacious, 
called St. Michaels Cave, on the south-west side, at over one 
thousand feet above sea-level, is a magnificent hall 220 feet in 
length, 90 in width, and 70 in height, with its floor joined to the 
roof by stalactite pillars rising up 50 feet and connected by arches 
atop. 

The commercial standing of Gibraltar, a free port, has greatly 
declined since the growth of steam navigation, but it is still, besides 
its uses as a place of call and a coaling-station, a great entrepdt of 
trade for the distribution of British manufactures over the Barbary 
States and in other quarters of the Mediterranean. There is a 
small export of wine, and the tobacco manufacture employs about 
600 persons. The annual revenue arising from port-dues, crown- 
rents on estate in the town, and the duty on alcoholic liquors, which 
is the sole customs-impost, amounts to about ;^6o,ooo. Authority 
is wholly in the hands of the Governor, who is also Commander-in- 
chief, and nominates a board of Sanitary Commissioners for the 
control of the water-supply, drainage, and other matters of import- 
ance to the public health. Most of the inhabitants are Roman 
Catholics. There is a Protestant cathedral, for the See of Gib- 
raltar, established in 1842, with an Anglican bishop subject to the 
Archbishop of Canterbury, and having an extensive jurisdiction in 
the Mediterranean. The educational system, in addition to some 
private English schools, includes 14 elementary schools for the 
poor, of which 6 are Roman Catholic, all subsidized by govern- 
ment, with about 1900 pupils on the rolls, and managed by the 
clergy of different denominations. There is a daily post to Eng- 
land by way of Spain and France, and submarine cables give 
telegraphic communication with Malta, Tangier, Cadiz, Lisbon, and 
England. 

The special character of Gibraltar, as a post of strength and 



EUROPEAN POSSESSIONS. I OS 

Strategical value, is partly shown in the jealous precautions which 
guard the immigration of new residents. The place is maintained 
by Great Britain as a coaling-station secured by artillery-fire, as a 
military and naval arsenal, and as a port of refuge, in case of war, 
for our mercantile marine, for war-cruisers, or for squadrons over- 
matched for a time by any hostile force. It is with this view that 
the Rock is manned by a garrison that always exceeds 5000 men, 
and that incessant care and money are expended on the renowned 
fortress that bristles with more than a thousand cannon, from the 
sea-wall mounting 100-ton guns to the very summit where artillery 
of the utmost power has now an unbroken circle of fire protecting 
the anchorage in Gibraltar Bay, covering the town between the 
Rock and the westward sea, and sweeping the Mediterranean for 
miles to the east. Nothing can surpass the combined grimness, 
grandeur, and beauty of the wondrous series of works as closely 
viewed in traversing some miles of roadway. On the north and 
west, at every point whence shot and shell could be brought to 
bear against attack by sea or land, a gun peeps out, with its terrible 
power dormant amid the charms of shrub and flower, as it frowns 
from some secluded nook. On the north-western side, nearly 
three miles of galleries, spacious as railway-tunnels, in an upper 
and lower tier, with port-holes for cannon at intervals of 1 2 yards, 
have been blasted and hewn out of the solid rock. The fortress 
has often been foolishly described as "commanding" with its guns 
the Strait of Gibraltar, which at this point, due south to Ceuta, is 
15 miles in width, while the artillery of Gibraltar, apart from this 
fact of the distance across, is mainly pointed to the north and west. 
The true value of the place has been above indicated, and with a 
garrison to man the works, ample ammunition in store, and food for 
the people during a possible lengthy blockade, Gibraltar may be 
fairly regarded as impregnable, in the true and strict sense of the 
word. 

Malta, our second stronghold on the shorter sea-route to our 
Eastern empire, lies, with the adjacent Gozo and Comino, in the 
centre of the Mediterranean from east to west, about 60 miles 
south of Sicily. History, in the course of nearly 3000 years, makes 
known to us a long succession of occupiers by right of conquest. 
The Phoenicians, a thousand years before the Christian era, became 
the colonisers of a land so suitable, from its position, to commerce in 



I06 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

their world's great inland sea. Three centuries elapsed, and Greek 
possessors gave the isle its name of Melita. About 480 b.c, the 
Greeks gave way to Carthaginian holders, who succumbed in 216 
B.C. to the Romans. In a.d. 58 St. Paul was shipwrecked in the 
bay, according to tradition, that bears his name upon the northern 
coast. The fall of the Western empire of Rome gave Malta, in 
succession, to the Vandals and the Goths. The arms of Belisarius, 
early in the sixth century, annexed the island to the Eastern 
empire, but prosperity and civilization almost perished through 
internal warfare, and in the ninth century the Saracens held sway. 
The conquering Normans, under Count Roger of Sicily, became 
masters in the year 1090. Towards the end of the thirteenth 
century, conquest gave Malta to Pedro, king of Aragon, and a 
Spanish rule of two centuries and a half made, in the end, the 
emperor Charles the Fifth controller of her fortunes. The year 
1530 was an epoch in the history of the land. Seven years before, 
the famous mediaeval religious and military order known as the 
Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, and then as Knights of Rhodes, 
had been driven from that island by the Turks under Sultan 
Solyman. The vanquished body made their way to Candia (Crete), 
and in 1530 Charles bestowed upon them Malta and Gozo, as a 
'* noble and free fief", to be held of him and his successors as 
suzerains, with the homage of a falcon annually offered. It was their 
charge to make of Malta a Christian citadel against the Turks, and 
to keep the great commercial sea as clear as might be of piratical 
rovers of the Moslem creed. Under the rule of twenty-eight 
successive Grand Masters, the Knights of Malta, as they were now 
entitled, held the territory for more than two centuries and a half, 
and left, in energetic use of their great wealth and power, marks of 
their presence that can never be effaced. The capital, Valetta, 
founded in 1566 by Grand Master La Valette, owes to the Knights 
its stately buildings, and the many miles of bastion and curtain, 
lines and forts that, on the sea-front and towards the land, protect 
the town and both its admirable harbours. Theirs, too, are the 
good roads ; the fine church of St. John ; the "hotels" of the eight 
languages of the Order, now providing quarters for the British 
officers ; the Grand Master s palace, with its splendid tapestry and 
armoury of ancient and modern weapons; and the great hospital, 
with space for two thousand patients, where the Knights, in fulfil- 



EUROPEAN POSSESSIONS. I07 

ment of their olden vows and duty as a charitable brotherhood, 
tended the many sick of those unsanitary days. 

British possession of Malta and its dependencies came early 
in the great Napoleonic war. The Knights, once so powerful, 
wealthy, and renowned, had fallen on evil days. Decayed and 
feeble, they were in no condition to resist the arms of France, even 
with the utmost zeal and will. Traitors were found, however, 
among the French Knights, and the last Grand Master, Hompesch, 
devoid of strength of character to deal with such a crisis, tamely 
surrendered, in June, 1798, to the French fleet on its way to 
Egypt, where it was soon destroyed by Nelson. The victory of 
the Nile, on August ist, emboldened the Maltese to rise against 
their new masters, who were forced to take refuge in the towns, 
blockaded inland by the people, and from the sea by British ships, 
for the space of two years. In 1800, the French forces were thus 
driven to surrender, and the Maltese eagerly desired that Great 
Britain should assume the rule. The government of the day, with 
William Pitt, followed by Mr. Addington, in power, failed at first 
to see the value of a position which Buonaparte had, before his 
defeats in Egypt and Syria, viewed as one safeguard of a projected 
French dominion in the east of Europe, which should be a basis 
for Napoleonic empire in Asia. The Peace of Amiens, in 1802, 
arranged for the restoration of Malta to the Knights, but the 
suspicious proceedings of Napoleon in other quarters induced the 
British cabinet to retain possession, an act which their opponent 
made one of his chief pretexts for renewal of the war. The 
Treaty of Paris in 18 14 finally gave "the Island of Malta and its 
dependencies" "in full right and sovereignty to his Britannic 
Majesty". 

Malta, 17 miles in length, and 9 in breadth, measures in area 
95 square miles; Gozo and Comino make up over 20 more. The 
chief island of the group has, on its southern shore, a fairly even 
outline with cliffs that rise 400 feet in height; the west side shows 
but two wide open bays. The northern coast is far more broken, 
with the spacious Mellieha and St. Pauls Bays, and many smaller 
inlets, as St George's and St. Julian's Bays, besides the two grand 
almost landlocked harbours of Valetta. On the south-east is the 
fine natural harbour called Marsa Scirocco. The surface of the 
country presents valleys and steep hills of which the highest 



I08 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

reaches up to near 800 feet. The lack of woods and of green 
hedges, here replaced by lofty walls of stone, as a shelter against 
wind, gives bareness to the aspect, but the artistic eye finds ample 
beauty in the contrasted colouring of reddish and yellow sandstone, 
and of limestone rocks in white and gray, with the fair blue sea 
that beats upon the shores, on two sides running deeply, as above 
described, into the land. Devoid of lakes and rivers, and even of 
any purling brook, Malta obtains water from springs arising at the 
foot of hills behind the picturesque old capital, Citta Vecchia, lying 
in the west centre of the island. From that point the supply is 
brought through galleries underground to the aqueduct, 8 miles 
in length, which, built by the orders of Grand Master Vignacourt, 
conveys it, over some thousands of arches, to Valetta. Since 1867, 
when new springs were found, a far more abundant supply of 
water has been furnished, and recent work has excavated reservoirs 
for the receipt of the overflow, in rainy seasons, from the aqueduct, 
and has provided every household in Valetta, and every larger 
village in the country districts, with this indispensable requirement 
for cleanliness and health. The completion of a new drainage- 
system at Valetta, where the sewage, until recent years, was poured 
into the harbours, has told well upon the death-rate, and the island 
now ranks among the healthiest resorts, for winter residence, in the 
whole Mediterranean. The summer-heat, varying from 73 to 82 
degrees between June and September, is daily tempered by the 
coolness of an evening breeze from off the sea. The rain-fall 
varies yearly from 15 to 24 inches, mostly coming in December 
and the two succeeding months. The drawbacks of the climate 
are the warm Sirocco, damped by the salt mists of the sea, that 
blows across from the Sahara; and the roaring, violent Gregale of 
early spring, the modern name of the ** north-easter ", Euroclydon, 
or Euraquilofty that wrecked the ship which bore St. Paul. 

The thin soil of the island, earth that covers soft calcareous rock, 
is very fertile, and, under the skilful culture of the hard-working 
people, produces cotton, corn, figs, oranges, grapes, and melons, 
with early onions and potatoes for the English market, and a tall 
red clover that makes excellent forage for the horses, mules, asses 
and horned cattle. The corn -crops include wheat, barley, and 
maize. The carob or locust-tree, with its dark evergreen foliage, 
and long pods filled with a sweet mealy pulp, gives food for cattle 



EUROPEAN POSSESSIONS. IO9 

and the poorer folk, and the prickly pear, or Indian fig, supplies 
its egg-shaped yellow fruit, with juicy, sweetly-acid, purple pulp. 
Abundant flowers lend beauty to the land; the palm and cactus, 
and many of the sub-tropical plants of northern Africa, are found. 
The densely-populated group, exclusive of the garrison, contains 
above 170,000 people, of whom less than 4000 are British and 
foreign civil residents. The natives, in Malta, number nearly 1500 
to the square mile; Gozo, with about 20,000 people, has a density 
two- thirds as great. The rapid increase causes emigration so 
extensive that more than 50,000 Maltese are found dispersed in 
northern Africa and the Levant. The race is mainly of Arab 
origin, with some admixture of Italian and traces even of the old 
Phoenician blood. Their language, Arabic in base, is strongly 
dashed with Italian, Greek, and other tongues; the speech of the 
superior educated class is pure Italian, and, in many cases, also 
English, which has now become the sole official language. The 
British currency, since 1887, has superseded the old coinage of the 
Knights of Malta. The native nobles, of families that date from 
Norman times, with marquises and counts created by the knights, 
are poor and proud, and were once jealous of the British residents 
of the higher class. They have, however, been conciliated in these 
later days by a full official recognition of their rank and by admis- 
sion to a share of rule. The main body of the people, dark-skinned, 
with comely features, are a good-humoured, frugal, and contented 
race, most loyal to the British rule, with a chief fault in a quick 
hot temper, causing a far too ready use of knives in quarrel. There 
are small manufactures of cotton for home use, of gold and silver 
filigree-work, and of the well-known lace. The men make excel- 
lent seamen and mechanics, and decisive evidence of thrift is given 
in the savings-bank deposits that amount to nearly half-a-million 
sterling. The devotion of the people to their island home and to 
the Roman Catholic faith is equally marked. Religious matters 
are, for them, in charge of the bishops of Malta and Gozo, who 
supervise the labours of 1 200 clergy. 

The state of education is fairly advanced, with a University and 
higher public school {Lyceum) at Valetta; a good supply of private 
secondary schools; and free education for about 12,000 pupils in 
near a hundred primary and infatit schools under state-control. A 
line of railway, about 8 miles in length, joins Valetta with the old 



no OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

capital; the telegraph connects the chief points of the island both 
for military and naval, and for private uses; the telephone is 
common at Valetta, and cables run direct to Gibraltar, Algeria 
(Bona), Sicily, and Alexandria. With no direct taxation, a revenue 
of nearly ;^300,ooo a-year is furnished by the rent of the land, of 
which two-sevenths is owned by Government, while the rest is 
nearly equally divided between the Church and private owners, 
and by licences and customs-duties. Valetta is the seat of an 
enormous transit-trade as an entrepSt and port of call for countless 
vessels going to and fro between the eastern and the western 
worlds. The Governor of Malta, who also holds the chief com- 
mand of all the troops, is now assisted, under the reformed consti- 
tution of 1887, by an executive council of 10 members, while 
legislation is intrusted to a Council of Government composed 
of 20 members, 6 official, and 14 elected. Four of these 
chosen members come severally from the classes of ecclesiastics, 
nobles, members of the chamber of commerce, and University 
graduates; the others are returned, under a six-pound annual real- 
property or rental franchise, by the voters of the ten electoral 
districts of the islands. Municipal or other local government does 
not exist. 

On the vast importance to the empire of a firm hold on Malta 
as the headquarters of our Mediterranean fleet; as a coaling-station 
for our naval and mercantile marine; and as a chief link in a chain 
of posts that passes round the world, there can be no need to 
dwell. Using the old work of the Knights of Malta as a basis, 
British rulers have secured with fortifications of enormous strength 
in massive rock and mounted guns the two noble harbours that, on 
the north side of Malta, are divided by the rocky tongue of land, 
3000 yards in length, on which the chief city stands. Valetta, 
with its suburbs of Floriana to the south-west, and Sliema to the 
north, beyond the smaller harbour, has about 40,000 people; the 
suburbs to the south, beyond the greater harbour, raise the total to 
about 65,000. The garrison to man the works amounts to about 
7000 men of the artillery and line, supported by a local force of 
militia and gunners numbering about 1500 men. 



BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. Ill 



CHAPTER II. 

British Possessions in Asia. 

Cyprus — Perim — Socotra — Somali-land — Aden — Bahrein Islands. 

As we pursue our course towards India, on leaving Malta, a 
divergence to the north-east from the direct track to Port Said 
brings us to that anomalous possession of the British crown, 
Cyprus, ranking third in size, next to Sardinia and Sicily, among 
the islands of the Mediterranean. The chequered history of 
Cyprus shows it forth as held in turns by the Phoenicians and the 
Greeks; by Egypt and Persia and Egypt again; by all-subduing 
Rome; by the Eastern empire whose capital was at Constanti- 
nople; by the Khalifs and by the Greek empire again; by Richard 
the First of England; by Guy de Lusignan, the French crusader 
and his descendants; in part by the Genoese; from 1489 a.d. to 
1 57 1 by the Venetians, and then, on conquest from the famous 
commercial republic, by the Turks. Among the most interesting 
historical facts connected with the island and its people are those 
concerning Pagan worship, Christianity, and Richard Cceur de Lion. 
The rites of Ashtoreth (Astarte), the Phoenician goddess, were 
superseded, in the days of the Greek colonies, by those of Aphro- 
dite (the Roman Venus) established at Old Paphos {Papho now, as 
the name of a mere site), on the west coast, where stood the famous 
temple of the deity of love and female beauty known as **Cypris" 
and "the Paphian goddess". The richness of the mines in the 
Greek and Roman period gave a name that originated **copper" to 
the "Cyprian" metal thence extracted. Zeno, the founder of the 
Stoic school of Athenian philosophy, was born at Citium, on the 
south coast. The Cypriotes were among the earliest of the Gentile 
converts to the Christian faith, and in the Acts of the Apostles 
(ch. xiii.) we find St. Paul (still called Saul) sailing to Cyprus in 
company with Barnabas; preaching in the Jewish synagogues at 
Salamis, on the east coast, the chief town of the island; journeying 
"through the whole island unto Paphos"; converting the Roman 
pro-consul, Sergius Paulus, and confounding with sudden blindness 
the "sorcerer" or false prophet Elymas; and changing his own 
name to Paul, in recognition of the ready acceptance of the faith 



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a:£-r "'-- '■•'' 



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BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. II3 

Pedias and Idalia, are not navigable, ending, after their confluence, 
in extensive marshes near the sea on the east coast. When the 
average rainfall of 17 inches, between October and March, becomes 
deficient, there is danger of a water-famine, both for animal life and 
for the crops, owing to neglect of storage and the lack of irrigation- 
works. The fairly healthy climate is very hot in summer, tempered 
by sea-breezes. Agriculture is the chief industry pursued by a 
population exceedini^ 200,000, and raising good supplies of wheat, 
barley, wine, flax, the usual sub-tropical fruits, and carobs or locust- 
beans, the last being largely exported to England for the making 
of cattle-foods. There are great numbers of sheep, goats, and 
horned cattle. The main drawbacks to prosperity for tillage have 
been the usual thriftless destruction of forests, with the consequent 
diminution of rain, and the ravages perpetrated by locusts. Matters 
are mending under British rule. Some care is now taken to pre- 
serve the remaining woods; irrigation-works are begun; and the 
locust-pest has been greatly abated by the excellent "pit and 
screen" system which stops and traps the swarming columns of 
young locusts on their march across country, and gathers them in 
trenches ready for destruction. The production of wine is very 
great, afibrding supplies to the growers in Austria, Italy, and 
France for strengthening and flavouring their poorer qualities of 
grape-juice. Silk of superior strength is furnished by the worms, 
and good cotton and wool are among the products. The minerals 
include good sandstone for building, and gypsum, from which large 
quantities of plaster of Paris are made at Larnaca, and exported 
thence to Alexandria. The sponge-fishery on the coasts sends 
25,000 pounds' worth of annual produce to Smyrna. During the 
British occupation, imports have risen from a value under 
^180,000 in 1878 to about double that amount, and the exports 
show an increase from less than ;^i6o,ooo to over ^400.000. 

In religion, nearly one-fourth of the people, or 48,000, are 
Moslem; nearly three-fourths are members of the Greek Church, 
with their own independent archbishop. In language, a like 
division occurs, the Turkish spoken being very pure, the Greek 
a corrupt form of the Romaic or modern Greek. Nikosia, the 
capital and seat of government, in the north centre of the island, 
has about 13,000 people; Larnaca and Limasol, on the south 
coast, the two chief ports, contain each about 7500. Education, 



^ Vol V 



114 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

partly supported, and duly inspected, by the British government, 
is in a fair condition, with over 14,000 children in elementary 
schools. The British governor, styled a " High Commissioner", 
is assisted by an Executive Council of four officials; the l^isla- 
ture. of iS members, has 6 chief office-holders and 12 members 
chosen by voters of five years' residence, and paying taxes 
to a certain amount: 3 are chosen by Mohammedan, and 9 by 
non- Mohammedan electors. Municipal councils of popular choice 
dinrct local atfairs in the towns. A complete system of law-courts, 
civil and criminaL renders justice to the people, the English judges 
haviitg tucive assessors. The Cj-priotes, well satisfied with the 
British occu^xition. are easily kept in order by a force of about 
;^?v^ uulitary police, horse and foot, chiefly Mohammedans, under 
Biittsh v^fiic^fTS* The gorrisoa composed of a battalion of British 
iiita(itt\. ouart^rcU, durini^ the hot season, under canvas over- 
'ihavU^^^^xl bv the hu^^r cowering: pines on the south-eastern slopes 
v*i \li ru\W5s whcrrr the ^ox'emor has also a summer-residence, 
N%ax wiilWuiwtt c<uIy in i:>»05. Communications, at present, are 
liunu\l u* ^vwl ivvxvb and Luid telegraph-wires, with cables, to 
\ Uaiyia. lu Svtia, and cv* Alexandria, weekly mail-service to 
AUvukUui. x^iHvitw. and Cvnistantinople by the " Messageries 
M.Miluncx and Austrian Llo\^^'^ and steamers running direct 
U^ ^*\na aiwl tjiiv^*^ rh<^ revenue from tithes, customs, excise, 
iMoi^iu .ukI uKviMotav and a duty levied on sheep and goats, 
iM \\\%\\\\ y^ >\\\\\\\ attd ivw rtH^tures no aid from imperial funds 
m \M\U4 V\^ »»Kv(. c!>c ox^vtus^es ot rule and the amount payable 

\\,\\\ uk.4tv»»\^ oui ^av ^^ India, rfirough the Suez Canal and 
vU^w** v^Ki *utu\. KxlaMo xCiKKlckt Kevi Sea, we come, in the very 
iuw'i vU iKv> <U'MV sxUIwl r^N^t MandeK or "Gate of Tears", from 
\\a xlki^^o^'*^ ^^' ^^*^' MKuuvt. sm the isle known as Perim. This 
Um(\>^ t»viU sM4»VvM\ oi w-Kanic v^ri^n. 1 *j miles from the coast 
vU \*aU».k. Mi.l ^IsMi^ iN^ tiv^i^^ Atricx is a crescent 3)^ miles in 
\y\\^\\\ ^\ ^'^^ ^v»>^vv iiK:v\xin^^ a deep fine harbour between its 
Kv^iv.^ I W \^Ws \\s\^ sskk(\k<k\ \\\ 1^5: as a station for a light- 
H\mivs i'^v» ^''* '*^^^^ Isw^i^vc ii^^jx-rtant for coaling. Under the 
Q\vVv\*^^»^x'*^ ^^^ UvuuUv^, >Vu«^ ha5 a garrison of fift>' men from 
Jv vuuu^u ^^-tv, 4v VvKa, >fcith a cwlie-population of a few 
^ ^yt Uv» iUs *^»j^^N W ^UNvaHrcfi with fuel Drinking-water 






BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. I15 

is obtained by condensing-apparatus, as well-sinking fails, and 
supply from the tanks at Aden was troublesome. 

Socotra, an island 70 miles long and 20 broad, with an area 
of 1380 square miles, lies 150 miles east by north from Cape 
Guardafui, on the direct route to India. There are high barren 
table-lands, with well-wooded mountains rising over 4000 feet, 
inclosing fertile vales, and strips of rich soil surround the coast. 
The Bedouin Arabs of the hilly districts, wandering with great 
herds of cattle, sheep, asses, and goats; and the village-dwellers 
in the valleys and on the coast, of mixed African, Arab, Portuguese, 
and Indian race, are said to number 10,000, living on the flesh 
and milk of the flocks and on the dates of the abundant palms. 
The climate is cool, for that latitude, and not unhealthy. The 
chief products for trade are the valuable Socotrine aloes and 
dragon's blood, with pearls obtained from a fishery near Tamarida, 
on the north coast, the chief town, which consists of a few score 
of stone houses at the foot of the highest hills. The island was 
formally annexed by Great Britain in 18S6, as a dependency of 
Aden, under the Bombay Government. The position is likely 
to make it valuable as a naval station with reference to our 
communications and trade with India by the Suez Canal and the 
Red Sea. 

Somali-land, geographically African, is here given as being, 
in government, a dependency of Aden. The region, as a whole, 
includes the great eastern horn of Africa, a partly-barren territory, 
with tropical trees and grass, in some districts, that furnish food 
for the fauna, large and small, including the herds of camels, oxen, 
horses, sheep, and goats belonging to the Somal people who, sup- 
posed to number half a million, lead a pastoral, patriarchal life 
under the rule of many petty chiefs. These natives are of mixed 
Hamitic and Arab race, Mohammedans in religion, jealous of 
foreign intrusion, and given to raids, for the slave-trade, on the 
weaker inland tribes. During the last half-century, British govern- 
ments, from time to time, have had an eye on the coast-region of 
Somali-land, with a view both to the development of trade in our 
cotton-goods and to additional security for our position at Aden. 
In 1887, a British protectorate, controlling about 30,000 square 
miles of territory, was established on the northern coast from the 
Gulf of Tajourah to 49° east longitude, administered by a Political 



BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. 11/ 

mercial town of pre-Turkish times, had become a mere miserable 
village of 600 people, with some batteries easily silenced. Several 
Arab attacks in force were from time to time repelled, and with 
a great revival of trade and increase of population, the purchase 
of territory, in 1868 and 1882, along the isthmus and inland, with 
a neighbouring island and peninsula, raised the area of the settle- 
ment to over 70 square miles. In 1850, our Indian government 
made Aden a free port, a change which drew thither much of the 
trade, between Africa and Arabia, which had hitherto sought 
Mocha and Hodeida, on the south Arabian coast of the Red Sea. 

The voyager who views the peninsula of Aden on the north- 
east side, where the town is situated, sees a strong likeness to 
Gibraltar, save that the huge mass of volcanic rocks, five miles 
long from east to west, rising to a height of nearly 1800 feet, has 
some sharply-cut peaks. On a close approach he finds a place of 
over 30,000 people, Arabs and Somalis, Hindus, Turks, Jews, 
Egyptians and Europeans, dwelling in houses built in the deep 
hollow of an extinct crater. Strong fortifications defend the excel- 
lent harbour to the west, used for the very important work of 
supplying coal to steamers, as well as for the vastly grown trade 
which includes the chief Arabian commerce with Africa, and a 
great traffic of transshipment between European and Asiatic ports. 
The imports of cotton goods and other manufactures exceed two 
millions sterling in yearly value, and the exports of coffee, gums, 
spices, hides, and other articles reach almost an equal amount 
The very dry hot climate of this bumt-up barren region is not 
unhealthy, the chief natural deficiency being the scantiness of 
water where wells give but a limited supply, and the annual rainfall 
only reaches from 2 to 7 inches. The drinking-water is chiefly 
obtained from the condensers of the government and private 
persons. The famous and magnificent reservoirs or tanks, rock- 
cisterns on the north-west of the town, constructed centuries ago 
by unknown authors, and then allowed to fall to decay, have been 
partially restored, and now furnish a supply for horses, camels, 
and other cattle, as well as for the population who will not or 
cannot buy the distilled water at from 3^. td. to 4^. per 100 gallons. 
The government, in dependence on Bombay, is administered by 
a Political Resident, who also commands the garrison of one British 
and one Sepoy regiment of infantry, with a troop of cavalry and 



OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 



three batteries of militia-artiller>'. His duties are shared by t 
assistant-residents and a magistrate. There is also a force of land 
and water police. Primary education, in Arabic and English, is 
given to the boys at a government school. There are telegraphic 
cables to Bombay, Suakin, Suez, and to Hallaniyah, one of the 
Kuria Muria islands, on the south-east coast of Arabia, where a 
signalling station is maintained. This group, otherwise called 
Kuriyan-Muriyan, was ceded in 1854 by the Arab ruler of Muscat 
for telegraphic purposes. It is needless to descant on the value 
and importance of Aden, as a link in our chain of fortified coaling- 
stations, lying at the distance of 1340 miles from Suez, at the 
southern end of the Canal, 1630 from Bombay, and about 2100 
from Colombo (Ceylon). As a place of trade, it is susceptible 
of great further development, and gives us a commanding position 
in those waters. 

The Bahrein Islands, on the western coast of the Persian Gulf, 
have formed a "British Protectorate" since 1867. The ruling 
Arab chief, Sheikh Esau, was then recognized by our government, 
with a formal renewal of British support in 1870, when his rivals 
were deported to India. The largest island of the group, called 
Bahrein, is about 30 miles long by 10 in breadth; the surface, in 
the centre, is hilly; the soil is fertile. The population may number 
50,000, of whom about one-fifth are found in Manameh or Manama, 
the commercial capital, stretching in scattered houses for miles 
along the shore, with a good harbour for the considerable trade 
which is carried on. The island of Moharek, containing the seat 
of government, of the same name, with a population of Sooo, lies 
north of Bahrein, and is 4 miles long by y^ mile wide. The 
other half-dozen islets are mere rocks. The people are Moham- 
medans in religion, and live, apart from the two towns, in about 
fifty villages scattered over the two larger islands. The main 
industry of Bahrein is the pearl-fishery, known in the classic days 
of Greece and Rome, and now employing in the season about 
400 boats, each manned by from eight to twenty men. The whole 
trade of the islands, in 1895, had a value of nearly a million sterling, 
almost equally divided between imports and exports. The first 
included pearls from other parts of the Persian Gulf, worth 
^61,889; grain and pulse, ^92,856; cotton goods, nearly ^32,000; 
with coffee, dates, tobacco, cattle, provisions, and specie. Nearly 




BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. 1 19 

/■256.000 worth of these imports came from British India and 
our colonies; /!"78,374 in value from Turkey. The exports 
were made up of pearls worth about ^214,167; grain and pulse, 
^'29,375; cotton goods, about ^22,000, with coffee, dates, canvas, 
shells, and specie, details which show that Manameh is a consider- 
able dep6t for re-export commerce. Of the exports, the value of 
;^229,403 went to British India and our colonies, and over 
^131,000 to Turkey. 



CHAPTER III. 
British Possessions in Asia {contd). India: History from 

1798 TO 1838. 

Governorship of Lord Wellesley — War declared against Tippoo Sultan — Colonel Wel- 
lesley and General Harris— Capture of Seringapaiam and death of Tippoo — Partition 
of Mysore^Adoption of the "Subsidiary System "^Mahrat la wars — Victories of 
Assaye and Argaum — General Lake captures Aligurh and Agra — Battle of Laswari — 
War with Holkar of Indore — Lord Wellesley superseded — Lord Cornwallls becomes 
Governor-general^Sir George Barlow succeeds him — Sepoy mutiny at Vellore — 
Lord Minto Governor-general — The Pindaris and Palhans— Renewal of the Com- 
pany's charter in 1S13— The Indian trade thrown open — Lord Moira (Hastings) 
Governor-general — The Nipalese war — General David Ochlerlony — Operations 
against the Pindaris — Third Mahratta war — Pacification of Central India— Lord 
Amherst Governor-general- Storming of Bhurtpore. 

The period of Indian history now coming under review is mainly 
connected with the names of two great statesmen. Lord Wellesley 
and Lord Hastings, who, resuming the policy of Warren Hastings 
towards native rulers, greatly extended British sway in overthrow- 
ing the Mahratta power and so making us masters of the centre 
and the western side of the peninsula. Intervention and annexa- 
tion became the principles of action when the supreme direction of 
Indian affairs passed from the hands of the Company, under Pitt's 
Act of 1 784, to the Governor- general and the President of the 
Board of Control in London, Being unconnected with any special 
views as to the increase of commerce, this policy of Lords \^'ellesley 
and Hastings was generally opposed by the Directors of the body 
whose monopoly of trade, renewed in 1773 and 1793, was first 
seriously lessened in 1813 and finally abolished twenty years later. 
The cessation of formal regard to trade-considerations and the 
destruction of monopoly, or the establishment of free trade, were 



OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND AUROAD, 



followed by the vast extension of commerce which is the chief 
benefit now derived by Great Britain from her paramount position 
in that quarter of the world. 

The second Earl of Mornington, an Irish peer, eldest brother 
of the great man who began life as the Hon. Arthur Wellesley, 
arrived at Calcutta as Governor-general in 1798, having already 
risen, by his parliamentary abilities, displayed in the British House 
of Commons, as well as in the Irish House of Peers, in support of 
William Pitt, to be a privy-councillor, a member of the Board of 
Control, and an English peer as Baron Wellesley. He came, at a 
critical time, to lay the basis of British supremacy in India, and to 
create a system of imperial sway, under which native princes were 
to be allowed to retain the outward forms of sovereignty and to 
rule their own territories only on condition of surrendering political 
independence in regard to other states at home and abroad, and of 
being, thus far, subordinate to the British rulers at Calcutta and in 
London. In respect of native powers, Wellesley had to deal, 
firstly, with the Mohammedan princes, of whom the chief were the 
Nizam or Viceroy of the Deccan, ruling at Haidarabad, and Tipu 
(Tippoo), Sultan of Mysore; secondly, with the Hindu or Maratha 
(Mahratta) confederacy of sovereigns, headed by the Peshwa of 
Poona, under whom were loosely ranked the Gaekwar of Baroda, 
Holkar of Indore, Sindhia of Gwalior, and the Raja of Nagpur, 
ruling in Berar. The new Governor-general was also the willing 
weapon of British hatred and dread of French power which, under 
the direction of Buonaparte, might again become formidable to our 
position in the south of Asia. Some regiments of French sepoys, 
or native troops trained and commanded by French officers, were 
in the service of the Nizam, and Frenchmen had disciplined and 
were now leading the troops of Sindhia. Tippoo, with his heredi- 
tary hostility to the British, was intriguing with the Directory in 
Paris, entertaining French officers, and masquerading as a re- 
publican with the planting of a " tree of liberty ", and the assumed 
title of "Citizen Tippoo". The possession of Mauritius and the 
Isle of Bourbon (Reunion), to the east of Africa, gave the great 
enemy a strong position for assembling naval and military forces to 
assail British power in India. Above all, Buonaparte's presence in 
Egypt with a powerful army, and his reported schemes of Eastern 
conquest, might well cause alarm to the new British ruler. This 



BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. 121 

last danger vanished with Nelson's victory of Aboukir Bay. or the 
Battle of the Nile, on August ist, 1798, and Buonaparte's utter dis- 
comfiture in Syria in the following year. The Governor-General, 
from the first, received the most valuable aid from his brother. 
Colonel Weilesley, who had reached Fort William early in 1797, 
in command of his regiment, the 33rd Foot. That rising young 
officer had already given proof of great ability and energy in 
military administration, and of rare sagacity in comprehending 
Indian politics, and in acquiring a mental mastery of the circum- 
stances of our situation in India. He had strongly urged his elder 
brother's acceptance of his new post, and when they met at Calcutta 
in May, 1 798, prompt and vigorous measures were taken, in re- 
cruiting the army, replenishing the arsenals, and restoring financial 
credit, to meet the pressing difficulties of the time. The Nizam 
was induced to disband his French .sepoys, to maintain a British 
force in their stead, and to form an active alliance against Tippoo. 
The Mahratta princes would not form any close connection with 
the British, but Nana Farnavis, who was once more the real holder 
of power at Poona, undertook to give help in a war against the 
Sultan of Mysore. When Tippoo was proved, by a public procla- 
mation at Mauritius, to have sent envoys to the French governor 
there with despatches for the Directory in which an offensive and 
defensive alliance against Great Britain was mooted, Lord Weilesley 
made no further pause. An explanation was sought, and when an 
evasive reply was given, with refusal to receive a British envoy, 
war was declared, and early in 1799, an advance was made, from 
several points, on Tippoo's territory. The main army, under 
General Harris, marched from Madras, with the left column, com- 
posed of the 33rd British regiment of infantry and a large body of the 
Nizam's troops, under the command of Colonel Weilesley. Other 
columns were on their way from the southern Carnatic and from 
Bombay. After defeat in a sharp action, the Sultan fell back on 
his capital, under the walls of which the invading armies united on 
April 5th. I 799. The result of this last siege of Seringapatam is 
well known. After suing for peace, and scornfully refusing to cede 
half of his dominions and pay the sum of two millions sterling, the 
son of Hyder Ali bade his enemies do their worst, vowing that it 
was " better to die like a soldier than to end his days as a pensioned 
Nawab ". He had his desire. A bombardment lasting for nearly 




122 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

a month, directed against the wall facing the river Cauvery, ford- 
able at that season, made a practicable breach, and the place was 
stormed and taken on May 4th. The body of the brave Sultan 
was found in a gateway, and was buried, by Colonel \\'ellesley's 
orders, in the mausoleum of his family, with due respect. The 
great city of Seringapatam, the capture of which made a strong 
impression on the native mind, henceforth fell into decay, and is 
now little more than a deserted ruin. The conqueror was after- 
wards rewarded by a peerage as Lord Harris; in 1890 his 
descendant, of Belmont, near Faversham, in Kent, after acquiring 
fame with the bat, and as the restorer of cricket in his native 
county, became Governor of Bombay. The Governor- General was 
henceforth known as Marquis Wellesley. The central part of 
the conquered territory, or the original Mysore, was assigned to 
an infant representative of the old Hindu dynasty dethroned by 
Hyder Ali, and the lad thus passed from a hut to a palace. A 
triple partition was made of the rest between the British, the 
Mahrattas, and the Nizam, and it was during this period that the 
Madras Presidency assumed its existing form in the virtual annexa- 
tion of the Carnatic, or the portion of south-eastern India ruled by 
the Nawab of Arcot, and of the principality of Tanjore. The sons 
of Tippoo, received by Lord Wellesley with the utmost kindness, 
were settled in semi-regal state, first at Vellore, and then in 
Calcutta, where the last of them, Prince Ghulam Mohammed, died 
in 1877, after a quiet and useful life as a citizen active in general 
public affairs and as a magistrate of a local court. 

The establishment of British power In Tanjore was justified by 
the gross oppression under which the people were groaning; our 
assumption of rule in the Carnatic was provoked by the Nawab's 
deliberate treachery towards the British government in intrigues 
with Tippoo, involving the violation of a solemn pledge, in 1 792, to 
have no correspondence, without British sanction, with any native 
or foreign state. These two examples are very instructive as setting 
forth the conduct, on the part of native princes, which in many 
instances called for British interference and led to the permanent 
extension of our sway which has been Ignorantly denounced as the 
work of unscrupulous ambition. In southern India, under Lord 
Wellesley's administration, Tinnevelly, Trlchinopoli. and Madura 
also became British territory, with Malabar and Kanara, on the 



I 
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^m BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. 123 

western side. The states of Cochin, Coorg, and Travancore were 
made feudatories of the British government on the adoption of the 
famous " subsidiary system " which placed native states under our 
protection with a complete surrender of all international policy not 
known to and sanctioned by British rulers. No Frenchman or 
other European could be employed in the public service without 
the consent of the government at Calcutta, and, in all the more 
important states, the public peace was to be preserved by a native 
force, at the charge of the native rulers, and commanded by British 
officers. As a security for the expenses of this force, certain terri- 
tories were to be ceded to full British possession and sway. 
Minor states, not needing internal control by any expensive force, 
paid tribute to the superior power. The British government, on 
the other hand, undertook the defence of all subsidiary states 
against every class of foreign foes. The Nizam, under the new 
system, became a feudatory, receiving British officers to command 
the " Hyderabad Subsidiary Force", and ceding back to Great 
Britain the territory granted him after the death of Tippoo. 

Lord Wellesley then turned his attention to the Mahratta 
princes. When he strove to draw them into his " subsidiary " net, 
both Sindhia and the Raja of Nagpur rejected his proposals, and 
the Peishwa, Baja Rao, after the death of his minister, Nana 
Farnavis, in 1800, refused to dismiss the Frenchmen in his service, 
and would not be bribed, by an offer of some of the Mysore terri- 
tory, to place himself in the same position as the Nizam. At this 
juncture, Holkar of Indore, in pursuing his own plans, came to the 
aid of the British ruler. Sindhia and Holkar went to war for the 
possession of Poona and the person of the Peishwa, their nominal 
chief, and Holkar gained the day. In October, 1S02, the Peishwa 
was forced to flee from his capital, and, seeking British aid in his 
distress, was compelled to sign, on December 31st, the fatal Treaty 
of Bassein, which bound him to have no diplomatic relations, save 
through the British Resident, and, severing his connection with the 
other Mahratta princes, made him a feudatory of British rulers, 
and restored him to his throne, with a "Subsidiary Force" main- 
tained at Poona on the usual terms. This humiliation of the 
Mahratta suzerain soon caused the second Mahratta War. Sindhia 
and the Raja of Nagpur sent their armies into the Deccan, and in 
August, 1803, hostilities began. Generals Wellesley and Stevenson 




r 




OUR EMPIRE AT HOMK AM) ABROAD. 

were in the field, and the former, in a brilliant campaign, took the 
strong fortress of Ahmadnagur (Ahmednuggur) and won the vic- 
tories of Assaye and Argaum. Stevenson did good work in pursu- 
ing the enemy after Assaye, and In contributing to their utter rout 
at Argaum. 

We must now turn to affairs in the north, concerning which 
the Governor-General had been subject to much anxiety. Before 
his arrival on the scene of action in India, British rule was firmly 
established, in the valley of the Ganges, as far north-west as Benares, 
It was one of his objects to extend our influence and power at least 
up to Delhi, the capital of the emperor or " Great Mogul " and his 
mockery of rule, as a prisoner in the hands of Sindhia and with a 
Mahratta garrison quartered in his ancestral palace. The position 
of the Nawab of Oudh afforded a chance for British aggrandize- 
ment. His sole defence against possible Afghan invasion lay in 
some battalions of British troops for which he was bound to pay an 
annual subsidy of about three-quarters of a million sterling. Ever in 
long arrears, he was now compelled by the Governor-General to hand 
over territory instead of coin, and in 1801 the Treaty of Lucknow 
added to our possessions the fertile territory known as the Doab 
(literally Ditab, or two rivers), lying between the Jumna and the 
Ganges. The cession of this wedge-shaped tract of alluvial plain, 
the granary of Upper India, with the surrender of Rohilkhand 
(Rohilcund), to the north-west of Oudh, formed a very important 
advance towards the object of Lord Wellesley's policy. Brooding 
over Napoleon's ambitious schemes, as revealed in his abortive 
Egyptian and Syrian campaigns, and justly regarding the Peace of 
Amiens, in 1802, as a mere truce in the great European contest, 
the Governor-General looked with much misgiving to a possible 
French invasion, by way of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean to 
some north-western port on the Indian sea-board, to be followed by 
a junction of that force with Sindhia's French battalions in and 
around Delhi. An ardent republican named Perron had succeeded 
De Boigne in the command of these French sepoys, and Lord 
Wellesley felt that there could be no safety until Sindhia's plans for 
empire in the north-west were completely baffled. Accordingly, 
when war in the Deccan began. General Lake, commander of the 
Bengal army, posted at Cawnpore, on the Oudh frontier, was 
ordered to march for Delhi, to overthrow Sindhia's French bat- 



I 

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BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. 125 

talions, and to make himseif master of all that region. In August, 
1803. the British commander, who had seen service in the Seven 
Years' War, and in the American Revolutionary War, and was 
victorious over the Irish rebels at Vinegar Hill, county Wexford, 
in June, 1798, moved forth from Cawnpore and began a brilliant 
and most successful campaign. The force under Perron fled at 
the first round of grape from the British guns, and the French 
leader, surrendering himself to Lake, passed into private life and 
the comfort of oblivion at the French settlement of Chandernagore. 
The fortress of Aligarh (Alighur), held by fierce and determined 
Mahrattas, under another European leader, and defended by works 
skilfully planned by French engineers, was actually stormed, after 
the repulse of two attempts at escalade, without any breach at all 
being made. In the face of a tremendous well-aimed fire from the 
enemy's matchlocks, and of showers of grape from guns in batteries, 
a massive outer gate was driven in by cannon-shot, and then a 
second, third, and fourth barriers of equal strength were overcome. 
The sepoys rivalled their British comrades in headlong courage, 
and when the British colours had been raised on a flagstaff that 
stood on the inner rampart, it was found that nearly 300 cannon 
and ample munitions of war had become the prize of the victors. 
On entering Delhi, the British general was received with some 
feeble show of state by the blind and aged Shah Alam, the 
emperor who, more than forty years before, had fled for refuge to 
the English in Bengal. The descendant of Aurangzeb, now again 
under British protection, was left to dwell in his palace, liberally 
pensioned by the government. The conquering course of Lake 
was brought to a close by the capture of Agra and the desperate 
battle of Laswari, a village in Rajputana. There, on November 
ist, 1803, Sindhia's sepoys, his " Deccan Invincibles", 9000 foot, 
with 72 large guns and many lighter cannon, and from 4000 to 
5000 cavalry, fought as natives had never fought before. In a 
strong position, including a steep-sided and rugged ravine and a 
well-fortified village, with the right flank and rear defended by a 
wide and deep nullah, or torrent-bed, full of water, every point of 
ground, inch by inch, was contested, and the British and native 
assailants, at first composed of cavalry alone, were thrice repulsed 
by volleys of grape and double-headed shot, from batteries lashed 
together with chains to prevent removal. When hundreds of Lake's 



126 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

men had fallen, the skilful Mahratta general sought and obtained aa 
hour's armistice on pretence of considering terms for ending the 
conflict and sparing further loss by the surrender of the Mahratta 
cannon. Meanwhile, Lake's infantry, the 76th British Foot and six 
battalions of Bengal sepoys, arrived on the ground, hungry from 
lack of their morning meal, and wearied by a march of 25 miles 
since midnight. They were accompanied by our field-artillery, and 
the British general, forming the men in two columns, sent them at 
the foe in a new position. The Mahratta guns, served with con- 
summate skill, wrought fearful havoc, and, as our men advanced 
amidst a torrent of grape, canister, and double-headed shot, with 
shell from huge mortars exploding above and around, they wer», 
also forced to meet fierce charges of the enemy's cavalry. General 
Lake's horse was killed, and his son, Major Lake, was severely 
wounded, as he offered his own charger to his father. Major 
Griffiths, heading the native 29th Dragoons, was slain, but his 
men swept onwards, forcing their way through both Mahratta 
lines of foot; rode along the guns, cutting down the cannoneers; 
drove the Mahratta horse right off" the field; and then, re-forming in 
rear of the enemy's position, rode back again on their infantry- 
ranks at the moment when Lake, sword in hand, led our 76th regi- 
ment and their gallant native comrades in a bayonet-charge, pushed 
home upon the hostile front. The " Invincibles", by four o'clock in 
the day, were fleeing on all sides, and the whole Mahratta camp, 
guns, baggage, stores, and treasure of great value, were left, with 
thousands of dead, in the victor's possession. The battle of Las* 
wari gave a peerage to Lake, and the possession of Upper Hin- 
dustan to Great Britain, At the close of 1803, Sindhia and the 
Raja of Nagpur sued for peace. The former gave up all claims to 
territory north of the Jumna and west of the Chambal; the latter 
yielded Cuttack, Orissa, and Berar, the last territory being pre- 
sented by Lord Wellesley to the Nizam of Haidarabad. The 
Gaekwar of Baroda recognized the triumphs of the Govemor- 
General's arms by becoming a feudatory on the subsidiary system. 
It thus appears that, by 1804, of the seven native princes 
hostile to British influence, the Nizam was won over, Tippoo was 
dead, the Peishwa and the Gaekwar had become feudatory to and 
dependent on the British rulers. Sindhia and the Raja of N^fpur 
had been overcome. The predatory Mahratta chieftain, Holkar 



I 




BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. 12/ 

of Indore, alone remained. This man, an illegitimate son of the 
late ruler, was an usurper of power from the legitimate branch of 
the Holkar family, and his character was that of a free-lance of the 
old Mahratta type, whose home was in the saddle, and who thought 
far more of plunder than of political power, and of his loose bands 
of horsemen than of regular, trained bodies of foot. During 
British warfare in the Deccan and in upper Hindustan, Holkar 
was making a rich booty in Rajputana and Malwa, where he was 
joined by thousands of deserters or fugitives from the armies 
dispersed by Wellesley, Stevenson, and Lake. His arrogant 
demand that the British government should recognize his right 
to the Mahratta choiit (chaut) or blackmail, amounting to one- 
fourth of the land-revenue, from states under our protection, 
caused Lord Wellesley to resolve on his subjugation, and Lord 
Lake was ordered, early in 1804. to take the field. The opera- 
tions which ensued resulted, at some points, in utter failure 
which for a brief space cast a shade on the glory of the Gover- 
nor-General and the British arms. Colonel Monson, invading 
Holkar's territory with an insufficient force, was a brave and 
capable man, but, assailed by the treachery of native allies in his 
own camp, attacked by Holkar with a great host, and overtaken 
by the terrible downpour of the rainy season, he was forced, in 
a disastrous retreat, to take refuge at last, with the remains of his 
brigade, within the walls of Agra. Lord Lake, rashly attacking 
Bhurtpore without any proper siege-train for making an effective 
breach, suffered five repulses of separate assaults between January 
and April, 1S05. The walls of hardened mud were of colossal 
height, thickness, and strength, making the fortress one of the 
strongest in all India. On the other hand, Holkar was repulsed, 
in an attack on Delhi, by Colonel (afterwards General Sir David) 
Ochterlony; the fortress of Deeg was taken from the Raja of 
Bhurtpore; and Lake, with his cavalry, scattered the Mahratta 
horse in the open country. In the end, the Raja of Bhurtpore 
was again brought under the British protectorate on payment of 
a heavy fine, and further defeats of Holkar drew back to allegiance 
Sindhia, who had espoused his cause. At this juncture, Lord 
Wellesley, who had disquieted the Court of Directors in London 
by the very magnitude of his extensions of British power, and by 
the expenditure due to his operations, was superseded by Lord 



/ ' 






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|. / ' 'I # 'I//, '/• ' '/( » .' ' '/.'r.j/jj.'.y ', civil sen'ants. 



BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. I2g 

temporary ruler. He had, as a member of Council under Wellesley, 
always supported his imperial policy, but he was now compelled 
to carry out the views of his superiors in London. At the end 
of 1805. Holkar had been pursued by Lord Lake into the Punjab, 
and a peace was now patched up with the Mahratta chieftain 
by a restoration of all his occupied territories and captured fort- 
resses. This weakness at once caused him to resume his plunder- 
ing, and our government, furthermore, annulled our protective 
treaties with the princes of Rajputana, and abandoned them to the 
rapacity of Holkar, That unscrupulous and turbulent personage, 
however, observed his pledge to abstain from attacking the terri- 
tory of the British and their allies. A sinister event occurred in 
July, 1S06, at Vellore, near Arcot. when a body of Madras sepoys, 
1500 strong, rose by night and attacked the barracks of European 
troops, containing 400 men, with the slaughter of half their number 
and of thirteen British officers. This outrage was instigated and 
supported by the family of Tippoo, there detained in honourable 
captivity. The outbreak was promptly suppressed, with great 
carnage of the mutineers, by British dragoons and guns from 
Arcot. Inquiry proved that the sepoys had been irritated by 
orders forbidding them to appear on parade with ear-rings or 
caste-marks, and requiring them to shave off their beards, lessen 
their moustaches, and exchange the turban for a covering like 
the obnoxious European hat. The rumour had spread that these 
innovations were preliminary to an attempt to force them into 
a profession of Christianity. The circumstances, in some points, 
much resemble those of the great mutiny over half a century later. 
As a consequence, the commander-in-chief of the Madras army, 
Sir John Craddock, and Lord William Bentinck, Governor of the 
Presidency, whom we shall meet hereafter as Governor-General, 
were recalled from their high and responsible positions. 

In 1807 Lord Minto reached Calcutta as the new Governor- 
General. This able and energetic man, born at Edinburgh in 
1751, had been in the House of Commons, as Sir Gilbert Elliot, 
for many years, first as a supporter of Lord North, and then 
as a Whig follower of Fox and Burke. It is curious to find that 
in 1795 he held the post of "Viceroy of Corsica", when Great 
Britain sought to aid Paoli in his vain attempt to win the island's 
independence of France. During his six years' tenure of power 



OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 




in India, from 1807 to 1813, Lord Minto showed his skill in main- 
taining, according to his instructions, the pohcy of non-intervention 
without any further sacrifice of British influence and interests in 
the East. The Mahrattas were held in check to a certain degree, 
without risk of war. Work of real value was effected in the 
seizure of Mauritius in 1810. and the Governor-General in person 
accompanied the expedition which, in 181 1, took the Dutch colony 
of Java out of the hands of its French conquerors. It was in his 
time that British India began to have a foreign policy in Asia, 
and that envoys were despatched to negotiate with the rulers 
of Persia, Afghanistan, and the Punjab, mainly with the view of 
counteracting supposed schemes of French invasion. Diplomatists 
trained in the school of Wellesiey were thus employed, and in 
one instance at least, with excellent effect. ColQnel Malcolm, after- 
wards Sir John Malcolm, an able, energetic native of Dumfries- 
shire, soldier, statesman, and historian in one, went in 1807 to the 
Persian court. The famous and accomplished Mountstuart 
Elphinstone, who rode at Arthur Wellesley's side on the great 
day of Assaye, and became the able and beneficent administrator 
of the Bombay Presidency, was another Scot, younger son of 
General Lord Elphinstone, eleventh baron in the Scottish peer- 
age, whose ancestors, the first and second barons, fell on the fatal 
fields of Flodden and Pinkie. Elphinstone, in 1809, when he was 
only in his thirtieth year, met at Peshawar Shah Shuja of 
Afghanistan, whom we shall see again in the course of our narra- 
tive. The successful mission was that of young Charles Metcalfe, 
who was sent up to Lahore, and concluded with the famous Ranjit 
Singh, founder of the Sikh monarchy, a treaty of friendship which 
that powerful ruler faithfully observed until his death more than 
thirty years later. The diplomatist on this occasion became 
successively acting Governor-General of India, Governor of Jamaica, 
and Governor-General of Canada, dying as Lord Metcalfe, and 
justly eulogized by Macaulay in his epitaph for his fortitude, 
wisdom, probity, and moderation In ruling " men of many races, 
languages, and religions". 

During Lord Minto's term of office, the Court of Directors 
and the Board of Control began to find out the failure of neutrality 
and abstention In native affairs, especially as regarded Central 
India, where the Mahratta rulers of Nagpur, Gwalior, and Indore 



I 

I 




MAHRATTA FREEBOOTERS OX A RAIDING EXPEDITION. 

The present peaceful condidoo of Ceniial India stands out in marked 
cootiast to the state of turmoil and lapine which obtained in the earij 
jean c€ this centui}*. At that time the Mahiatta rulers of Nagpur. Gwalior, 
and Indore were beginning to hope thai they might yet be freed from the 
rule of the hated British, and meanwhile they encouraged all aoacks 
directed against the weak siAtes under British protection. Organized raids 
were made upon the hapless inhabitants hy bodies of banditti, who attached 
themselves to the Mahratta chieftains during war. and lived by pillage in 
time of peace. Mounted on swift horses and provided with linle baggage 
these freebooters swooped down upon quiet villages, where they wantonly 
destroyed what they could not remove, after slajring the men and maltreaz- 
ing the women. Gradually, however, this lawlessness disappeared before 
the strong and just rule of Great Britain. 



• t 



* 



BRITISH , POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. I3I 

kept up a constant turmoil of rapine on their weaker neighbours 
who were not under express British protection, and were even 
beginning to hope for the expulsion of the hated Europeans and 
the resumption of their olden state of independence. Another 
grievous element of trouble existed in the swarms of freebooters 
known as Pindaris and Pathans, organized bodies of banditti, men 
of no country and under no responsible rulers, who were the terror 
of all men living by the arts of peace. The Pindaris were origin- 
ally Hindu outlaws who attached themselves to various Mahratta 
chieftains during their wars with the British government, and, on 
the return of peace, lived by devastation carried from Mysore 
to the Jumna Lightly provided with baggage, mounted on swift 
and hardy steeds, recruited from villains of every class and region 
in the land, they swooped down, like hordes of ravenous birds 
or locusts, on the ripe crops of the husbandmen, cleared the ground, 
plundered the villages of all portable objects of value, wantonly 
destroyed what they could not remove, slew resisting men, and 
brutally maltreated women. The Pathans included the best 
native infantry not commanded by European officers, as well as 
cavalry and an efficient force of guns, and they were a more regular 
and disciplined force than the Pindaris. On leaving his post in 
181 3 Lord Minto called the special attention of the Court in 
Leadenhall Street to the necessity for dealing promptly with the 
terrible mischief that was filling central India with mourning, 
desolation, misery, and woe. 

The year 1813 is another epoch in the history of the East 
India Company. A momentous change was now made in their 
commercial position. Their charter expired, and, before renewal, 
a Committee of the House of Commons made an inquiry into the 
condition of Indian affairs. The occasion was made interesting to 
the British public by the emergence from his long retirement at 
Daylesford of the illustrious Warren Hastings. Summoned to 
appear, during the Parliamentary debates on our East Indian 
possessions, among witnesses at the bar of the Commons, the 
aged statesman, then in his eighty-first year, was received with 
tokens of the utmost respect by some of the foremost men of a 
generation which, forgetting the charges once levelled against a 
historical personage, remembered only his great services in the 
extension and consolidation of British power in a distant region of 




132 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

the world. The Company's charter was renewed by Parliament for 
twenty years, with a serious lessening of the old monopoly. The 
trade to India was thrown open to all British subjects, and the 
commercial and territorial branches of the Company's affairs were 
henceforth separate. The trade to China still remained in their 
hands. It has been observed by Sir J. R. Seeley, in his valuable 
Expansion of England, that, whereas the renewal of the charter in 
1793 tool* place at a time when India was regarded by Anglo- 
Indians "as a kind of inviolate paradise, into which no European 
and especially no missionary should be suffered to penetrate", the 
year 1813 marks the time when "England prepares to pour the 
civilization, Christianity, and science of the West into India". 

At this important period of Indian history we have the arrival, 
in 1814, of the Earl of Moira, afterwards Marquis of Hastings, as 
Governor- General. This eminent man, born in 1754, was the 
eldest son of Lord Rawdon, Earl of Moira, an Irish peer descended 
from one of the Conqueror's warriors. On his mother's side, he 
came from the family of Baron Hastings of Ashby de la Zouch, 
in Leicestershire, who, after fighting on the Yorkist side at the 
decisive battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury and becoming a leading 
noble under Edward the Fourth, was put to death by Richard 
Duke of Gloucester for his unswerving fidelity to the hapless 
Edward the Fifth. Entering the army in 1771, Lord Rawdon 
took part in the American War, fighting at Bunker's Hill in June, 
1775, when he displayed remarkable courage; serving with much 
ability and zeal in the southern Stales under Lord Cornwallis; and 
gaining the experience in warfare which was afterwards to be 
brought to bear against formidable foes in India. He quitted 
America, with broken health. In 1781, became a peer of Great 
Britain, as Baron Rawdon, in 1783, succeeded to the earldom of 
Moira, on his father's death, ten years later, and took an active 
part, with the Duke of York, against the French in Flanders. 
Lord Moira, showing no marked ability in political affairs, was 
distinguished In the House of Lords by the bold expression of 
decided opinions on Irish policy, condemning the recall of Lord 
Fitzwiiliam, denouncing the cruelty exercised by the troops against 
the Irish patriots who were being driven to rebellion, and firmly 
supporting the cause of Catholic emancipation. In 1806, Moira 
became a member of the Privy Council, and held office in the brief 



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BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. 1 33 

Fox and Grenville government. His friendship with the Prince 
Regent, whom he zealously served both in public and private 
matters, won for him a Knighthood of the Garter, and largely con- 
tributed to his selection for the high offices of Governor-General 
and Commander-in-chief in India, in which capacities he landed at 
Calcutta in October, 1813. We may as well state at once that the 
Marquisate of Hastings, in the peerage of the United Kingdom, 
was conferred on him in 1816, for his public services in his new 
sphere of action. His tall, athletic, stately person, with a dignified 
and impressive demeanour, were accompanied by features which 
caused some to pronounce him "the ugliest man in England", but 
the whole effect of his bearing and expression of face was such as 
to make him a favourite subject of the most famous painters of his 
time, a fact which has given to posterity many portraits of the man 
from the brushes of Reynolds, Gainsborough, and Lawrence. 

The new ruler, as has been shown above, found abundant work 
ready to his hand, and was speedily converted from his previous 
attitude of opposition to the policy pursued by Lord Wellesley. 
The Gurkhas (Ghoorkas) of Nipal (Nepaul), of Hindu stock, had 
become the ruling race in that mountainous region towards the end 
of the eighteenth century, and the inroads of this warlike people, 
with a feudal military organization and an army trained on the 
European system, soon made them formidable to neighbours on all 
sides save the north. Their encroachments on British territory, 
and their refusal of redress, caused an outbreak of war in 1814. 
The enemy were strong in the swamps and forests of the Tarai 
(Moist Land), or jungly malarious tract running along the foot of 
the first range of the Himalayas, and covering their frontier; in the 
steepness and intricacy of their mountainous territory; and in the 
activity and courage of the troops ably commanded by warriors of 
whom the most renowned was Amar Singh. Lord Moira arranged 
his attack on Nipal in four columns, composed in all of nearly 
25,000 men, including 3000 British, with over 60 guns, and directed 
on points between hills above the Sutlej on the west and the capital, 
Khatmandu, on the east. The operations of the first campaign 
were at some places unsuccessful for the invading force. Officers 
and men alike were new to mountain- warfare; the country was 
unknown; every pass was fortified, and every defensive position 
was skilfully used by their opponents. General Gillespie and 500 





OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 



men fell in a rash attack upon a hill-fort from which the foe might 
have been at first, and, a month later, were actually driven with 
ease by shell-fire. Two assaults upon another stronghold were 
repulsed with great loss. These failures on the west were repeated 
in the east, where two detachments, each of 500 men, were 
destroyed, and the generals in command could not, or would not, 
daunted by their first mishaps, make vigorous efforts to retrieve 
affairs. The news spread fast and far. The Mahratta princes 
exulted in British defeats, and, believing that the day of vengeance 
and redress was dawning for their cause, they were planning a 
combined attack from Central India upon our possessions. Lord 
Hastings, watching and directing the Nipal war from Lucknow, 
was obliged, at the same time, to have some thousands of men, 
horse and foot, in readiness to meet a threatened invasion of the 
Pathan chief, Amir Khan, who lay in camp, with a powerful army, 
but a few marches from Delhi. It was needful also to be prepared 
against the Pindaris, and to have troops in hand to check a possible 
attack from Sindhia of Gwalior, who was within easy striking dis- 
tance from the Doab, Agra, and Delhi. The strong mind and stout 
heart of the Governor-General were fully equal to the needs of this 
critical time, and, raising new forces among the Rohillas, he launched 
them against the Nipalese province of Kumaun, in order to make 
a diversion and draw off the enemy from the flanks to the centre of 
their kingdom. After the defeat of one body of Rohillas by the 
Gurkhas, the new attack completely succeeded. In April, the 
enemy were twice overcome, with the loss of their commander; the 
capital of Kumaun, Almora, was surrendered in view of a bom- 
bardment at close quarters, and the whole province was given up 
by a convention with the new Gurkha general. The hero of the 
Nipalese war was General David Ochterlony, a veteran soldier of 
Scottish descent, born at Boston, Massachusetts, in 1758. Reach- 
ing India as a cadet in 1776, he fought under Sir Eyre Coote 
against Hyder Ali in the Carnatic, and in 1804 held Delhi against 
Holkar. He now won enduring fame in the lower Himalayas. 
In the winter of 1814, leading the western attack, near the Sutlej, 
against the Gurkha general Amar Singh, he operated with a rare 
combination of daring and caution, amid snow-storms and mountain 
blasts, taking his men and heavy guns along narrow shelves of rock 
overhanging deep precipices, forcing his way against nature's 



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BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. 135 

obstacles by blasting rocks, and carrying fort after fort by storm 
during a brilliant and most arduous campaign of five months" 
duration. On April i6th, 1S15, a desperate attack of the enemy 
was repulsed, and on May 15th the strong fortress of Malaun, 
already breached by the British cannon, was surrendered by Amar 
Singh. The Nipalese government sued for peace, and the whole 
of Nipal to the west of the Kali river, a territory above 200 miles 
in length, was given up. The province of Kumaun was retained 
for British administration; the rest of the conquered country was 
restored to native rulers, from whom it had been taken by the 
Gurkhas, with the condition of British control in case of internal 
disorder or troubles from any foreign source. Three battalions of 
the brave and active Gurkhas were formed from troops who, under 
the convention, had been disbanded and were then allowed to enter 
our service. The Nipalese war, however, was not yet over. 
During the summer of 1815 negotiations for a settlement were in 
progress, and disputes arose concerning the cession of portions of 
the Tarai. At the end of the year, the war party in Nipal, after a 
draft-treaty had been signed, renewed the struggle, and Ochterlony 
advanced from Patna into the enemy's territory on the eastern 
side, towards the capital, Khatmandu. In February, 1816, 20,000 
men, including three British regiments, marching through moun- 
tain-gorges and dark forests with a thick undergrowth of bush, and 
struggling up rough and steep ascents, made their way to the rear 
of the enemy's triple line of strong intrenchments. The Gurkhas, 
surprised by this skilful movement, and taken in rear, hurried away 
northwards without offering to fight, and, after two sharp defeats 
within a few miles of Khatmandu, the Nipalese court was glad to 
give a full and final assent to the once-rejected Treaty of Segauli. 
A further cession of territory, up to the river Rapti, was made, and 
the frontier then arranged secured lasting peace with the state of 
Nipal. The Gurkhas in the British service have proved them- 
selves, in many a battle, to be equal to the best native soldiers. 
The mountain districts gained by the war afforded sites for the 
future valuable sanitary hill-stations of Simla, Masuri (Massooree), 
and Naini Tal. The gallant Ochterlony, already a Knight Com- 
mander of the Bath, received a baronetcy as a further reward for 
his chief share in the issue of the war. 

Lord Hastings next turned his arms against the hateful hordes 



136 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD, 

of Pindaris who, during his contest with Nipal, had been making 
raids in the Madras Presidency. Instructions from both the 
Cabinet and the Court of Directors authorized him to employ the 
most vigorous measures, and he resolved to make a speedy end of 
what had become an unendurable nuisance and peril. Ample pre- 
parations were made, in view of contingent war with the Mahrattas, 
and the Governor-General took the field, in October, 181 7, with the 
greatest army which had ever yet been ranked under our colours 
in India. The work that lay before him was really nothing less 
than a complete change in the conditions of existence for Central 
India, where chronic anarchy had come from the circumstances 
and conduct of native princes who acknowledged no duties, and 
regarded no rights; who were striving with each other for personal 
power, with division in their own councils, rebellion amongst their 
tributaries, and a mutinous spirit in the armies whose pay was ever 
in arrears. Society over a vast region was threatened with utter 
dissolution and ruin, and nothing could save it but the establish- 
ment of an imperial European sway which could overawe all 
spirit of resistance, and create a new condition of political and 
social affairs under which, with absolute supremacy for public 
law and due regard for international obligations, the weak 
should be guarded from all wrong-doing, and respect for legiti- 
mate rights be enforced on every side. It was estimated that 
the native states and the freebooters, in Central India, if they were 
combined against the British government, could put into the field 
above 120,000 horse, nearly 90,000 foot, and about 600 guns. 
In this view, Lord Hastings provided 120,000 men and 300 guns, 
the northern section of which army, under his own immediate 
orders, consisted of about 30,000 infantry, 14,000 cavalry, and 140 
guns. The reserve-division of this force, under Sir David Ochter- 
lony, was so placed as to cover Delhi and Rajputana. The 
southern army, in six divisions, included 52,000 infantry, 18,000 
cavalry, and 160 guns. The British troops in the whole great host 
numbered 13,000 men, of whom 8,500 were infantry. 2000 cavalry, 
and the rest artillery. Sindhia, like the other Mahratta princes, 
was in more or less secret league with the Pindaris, but he was 
overawed by Lord Hastings' demonstrations, and was compelled to 
furnish a contingent to aid in the extirpation of his friends. It is 
impossible to give here the details of the skilful and complicated 



BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. 1 37 

operations by which the Pindaris were finally overwhelmed and 
reduced to a helpless state. Surrounded on all sides, assailed in 
every quarter by hostile columns, driven hither and thither, they 
were practically annihilated, and, as a body of men capable of 
mischief, they vanished early in 1818 from the Indian world. 

The resolve to exterminate the Pindaris had at once committed 
Lord Hastings to the struggle known as the Third Mahratta War. 
The Peshwa (Baji Rao), the Raja of Nagpur, and Holkar of 
Indore, with Sindhia and the Gaekwar of Baroda, were all hostile 
to the Governor-General's movement of interference in Central 
India. Mr. Elphinstone, the British Resident at Poona, was 
forced to retire to Kirki, 3 miles from the town, where a 
brigade of nearly 3000 men was stationed. The Peshwa then 
headed his troops in an attack on the Residency, which was 
plundered and fired with the loss of Elphinstone's books, 
journals, and letters. A battle took place between the British 
force and ten times the number of Mahrattas, ending in the retire- 
ment of the enemy to Poona. Reinforcements from the northern 
army of the Deccan then arrived, and the Mahratta forces fled to 
the south, leaving Poona to be occupied by our troops. The battle 
of Kirki, not important in a military sense, had great political 
results. A strong impression was made on the minds of the 
people, and belief in our power was fully restored. The hill-forts 
of the Peshwa were reduced, and he was driven about the land, 
while the southern portion of his dominions was conquered by a 
small force from Madras under the command of the skilful soldier 
and accomplished statesman Colonel Thomas Munro. With 
less than 600 men, including very few Europeans, he boldly went 
forward, captured nine forts, and, with reinforcements, reduced the 
whole country to obedience and tranquillity. In June, 1818, the 
Peshwa surrendered to Sir John Malcolm, and was formally de- 
throned, being pensioned off into captivity at Bithur, near Cawnpur. 
His adopted son was the infamous Nana Sahib of the Sepoy 
Mutiny days. His dominions were all annexed to the Bombay 
Presidency, which was thus enlarged almost to its existing size, 
and was ably organized and administered by Mountstuart Elphin- 
stone as Governor from 1819 to 1827. His chief titles to fame 
consist in his codification of the law, the liberal admission of natives 
to a share in the duties of government, and his encouragement of 




138 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

education among the people. The Elphinstone College at Bom- 
bay commemorates his enlightened efforts, opposed both by his 
own Council and by the Court of Directors, on behalf of a sound 
training for young civilians, including native officials. The primary 
education of the natives was also a matter in which his enlighten- 
ment and zeal were far in advance of his age. 

Turning next to the Raja of Nagpur, we find that ill-advised 
ruler, a typical Mahratta prince, seeking to shake off British control, 
and attacking the Resident. On the Sitabaldi hills, the Raja's 
army of nearly 20.000 men was disgracefully repulsed, after a 
desperate fight, by a British force of 1400, and the arrival of rein- 
forcements made the Raja helpless after a battle ending in the rout 
and dispersal of his Mahratlas with the loss of all their guns, ele- 
phants, and stores. The ruler of Nagpur was then reduced to the 
position of a nominal sovereign, with the cession of territory near 
the river Narbada (Nerbudda), ruling through ministers chosen by 
the British Resident, and with a British force as the garrison of 
his capital. About the same time, at the close of 1817, prompt 
measures were taken against Holkar, the ruler of Indore. We 
have seen that Sindhia was held in check by the display of over- 
whelming force, and the Pathan forces under Amir Khan were 
disarmed, early in 181 8, by Sir David Ochterlony. On December 
21st, 1817. Holkar's army of Mahrattas was defeated by Sir John 
Malcolm in the decisive battle of Mehidpur (Maheidpoor), north- 
west of his capital, Indore, with the loss of 3000 men, his camp, 
military stores, and 70 cannon. In January, 1818, Holkar made a 
treaty by which he became a ruler on the "subsidiary" basis, and 
his state ceased henceforth to be a source of trouble to British rule. 
The nucleus of the present "Central Provinces" was created in the 
region which had been delivered from the ravages of the Pindaris, 
The Governor-General had not yet, however, done with the Raja 
of Nagpur, That restless and treacherous personage, in defiance 
of the recent arrangement, sought to throw off British control, 
and was deposed, in the spring of 1818, in favour of an infant 
successor. 

The last military event of the last Mahratta war was the reduc- 
tion, in April, 1819, of the strong fortress of Asirgarh (Aseerghur). 
Resistance in every other quarter had ceased, and the settlement 
of British rule was then made which continued for nearly thirty 



J 



BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. 139 

years, until the time of the next conquering and annexing Governor- 
General, Lord Dalhousie. A vast territory, amounting to nearly 
half a million square miles, was to be re-constructed on such terms 
as to secure peace and beneficial rule for many millions of natives 
who had suffered so long and so grievously from the Pindaris and 
the Mahrattas. The whole of India, as far as the Sutlej, was 
brought under the control of the government at Calcutta, by an 
extension of British power due to the broad policy, the strong and 
sagacious intellect, and the skilful military measures of Lord 
Hastings, supported by the ability and energy of some of the most 
admirable instruments, in both military and civil work, ever em- 
ployed by a Governor-General in India. Great Britain had become, 
in fact, though not in form, supreme suzerain of the whole country, 
and the measures for the re-settlement of Central India and the 
Deccan were intrusted to the hands of the men who had assisted 
in the great increase of British dominion — Malcolm, Munro, Ochter- 
lony, Metcalfe, and Mountstuart Elphlnstone. In all the native 
states now made subject to British control, foreign and military 
affairs came henceforth under the authority of the government at 
Calcutta, the internal administration being left in native hands, 
under the eye of a British Resident or Agent, supported by a 
subsidiary force maintained by the revenues of territory taken over 
for that purpose into our direct administration. Native rulers who 
had rendered good service during the war, or who showed a desire 
to further the cause of wholesome reforms, received accessions of 
territory from the lands of chiefs who had been wholly or in part 
deprived of their dominions for hostility or misrule. The Nawab 
of Bhopal was thus rewarded. The pacification of Rajputana, 
which had greatly suffered from the predatory work of the Pindaris 
and Pathans, was assigned first to Metcalfe, and then to Ochter- 
lony. The good effected by the British arms is amply proved in 
one of Sir David's reports to the government, wherein he mentions 
the eloquent expressions of gratitude to the British rulers of India 
which, in the course of an official tour, he received from men of every 
class. A firm basis of our power was being laid when, in addition to 
the spread of a feeling that British supremacy was an event which 
was not to be resisted, the discovery was daily made that British 
rule was just and satisfactory, that native customs were respected 
and maintained, and that the Governor-General was the defender 



r 



OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 




of the helpless and the avenger of wrong. The owners of property 
of every kind found that, while they had been always exposed to 
the cupidity of native sovereigns, British rule meant absolute 
security for every lawful possessor. In spite of all native prejudice 
against European modes of thought and action, the example set by 
British civilians in power, succeeding the rapid and decisive success 
of British arms, could not but encourage many native rulers in the 
direction of reform. In 1820, Sindhia made an alliance with our 
government on what was, practically, the subsidiary system, and, 
thus protected, was enabled to effect useful changes in the methods 
of ruling his dominions. The Deccan was settled, during rSi 8 and 
the following year, under the strong and enlightened administration 
of Elphinstone, who preserved, in his legal reforms, the main 
features of the native system, with a removal of the abuses which 
had arisen. 

Amongst the other work of Lord Hastings may be mentioned 
the destruction of piracy in the Persian Gulf and in the Arabian 
Sea as far as the western shores of India. The territory of Cutch 
was subdued and incorporated in our dominions in 1823, in conse- 
quence of raids made from that disordered territory into lands under 
British protection. In Bengal and the two other Presidencies some 
beneficial changes were made in the criminal and police systems, 
and in the Madras Presidency, under Sir Thomas Munro, who be- 
came Governor in 1 820, the land-system was introduced under which 
the cultivators of the soil paid revenue direct to the government 
without the intervention of either a zamindar, or landed proprietor 
liable for the tax, or of the " village community " whose representa- 
tives assessed each peasant for his proper share, subject to an 
appeal in the courts. The finances of India, under the rule of 
Lord Hastings, were so flourishing that, notwithstanding the cost 
of two wars of the first importance, the surplus grew, after provid- 
ing for the public debt, from about two millions in 1813-14 to 
nearly 3j^ millions in 1822-23, and the government bonds, at 12 
per cent discount in 1813, were at a premium of 14 per cent ten 
years later. The enlightened views of this great ruler caused him 
to be a zealous promoter of the moral and intellectual improvement 
of the natives at a period when Anglo- Indians, in too many cases, 
believed that the spread of information tended to make them less 
submissive to authority. He removed some restrictions on the 




BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. 141 

freedom of the press, and reduced the rate of postage of news- 
papers. Disdaining to adopt the prejudices of his time, he freely 
admitted half-castes of good position, character, and service to the 
festivities of Government House at Calcutta. In the department 
of public works, his wonderful energy found scope in the repair 
and construction of roads, bridges, and canals, in the restoration of 
a gratuitous and abundant supply of pure water to the people of 
Delhi by the re-opening of a canal constructed by the Mughal 
rulers, and in the improvement of the city of Calcutta. The main 
achievements of the Marquis of Hastings in subduing disorderly 
elements, extending and consolidating British rule, and assuring 
British supremacy, as they have here been briefly described, were 
such as to win for him just and enduring fame. 

After a period of power just exceeding nine years in duration, 
Lord Hastings left India on the first day of 1823. His successor 
not arriving until the following August, the post of acting Governor- 
General was filled by Mr. Adam, one of the Company's civil ser- 
vants, whose action is remarkable for nothing but his somewhat 
tyrannical treatment of the newspaper-press. In 1S18, a Mr. J. S. 
Buckingham had set up a journal at Calcutta, in which he published, 
from time to time, some sharp criticisms on government officials. 
At this time, and until the year 1833, no European was allowed to 
reside in India except as a servant of the Company or by express 
permission of the Court of Directors. With this power in his 
hands, Mr. Adam expelled Mr. Buckingham, and passed beyond 
the reach of further human censure by being lost at sea during his 
return voyage to England. The new Indian ruler was Lord 
(afterwards Earl) Amherst, wlio served as Governor-General from 
1823 to 1828. William Pitt Amherst, born In 1773, was nephew 
of the General Lord Amherst whom we have seen as commander- 
in-chief against the French in Canada, Succeeding his uncle in 
the barony on his death in 1797, Amherst went, as we have seen, 
ambassador to China In 1816, where he utterly, and much to his 
credit, failed through declining to submit to Chinese insolence and 
self-conceit. The administration of Lord Amherst included the 
first Burmese War, which is elsewhere described. He is favour- 
ably known for his grant of a large measure of freedom to the 
newspaper-press. In 1799, Lord Wellesley had established a cen- 
sorship prior to publication, with the penalty of summary deporta- 




I 



143 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

tion to Europe. The new regulations of Lord Hastings, issued in 
1818, gave up the censorship, but prohibited all discussion and 
criticism which might stir the native mind on religious or political 
affairs, the conductors of newspapers being watched and warned by 
a special court. The change introduced by Amherst proved to be 
both safe and beneficial. In January, 1827, an important military 
success in Rajputana wiped away a reproach which had for twenty- 
two years attached to the British arms in a well-founded belief of 
the native mind that for our commanders the words "impossible" 
and " impregnable " had, in one case, a practical meaning. The 
Raja of Bhurtpore, a state which, on the frontier near Agra, had 
been a " protected " ally of the Calcutta government since the time 
of Lord Wellesley, died in 1825, when the rule was usurped by a 
cousin of the lawful successor, a lad of seven. His uncle and 
guardian was put to death, and the little prince, fully recognized by 
the British ruler, was made a prisoner. So gross an outrage and 
insult demanded instant notice and redress. Sir David Ochterlony, 
the Resident at Delhi, and Agent for Rajputana, ordered a body 
of troops, on his own authority, to advance and assert the rights of 
the infant Raja. Lord Amherst, with an error of judgment that 
had a painful issue for the famous soldier-statesman Ochterlony, 
countermanded this order, from a doubt as to his right of interfer- 
ence, mingled with respect for the strength of the clay-walled 
fortress which had, in 1805, repulsed all the assaults of Lord Lake. 
Sir David Ochterlony, now in his sixty-seventh year, resigned his 
office in indignation, and died at Meerut, two months later, in July 
1825. The timidity of the Governor-General caused theusurperat 
once to assume a defiant attitude, and to announce his fixed resolu- 
tion to keep the throne and to maintain the fortress against all 
comers. Central India, as Ochterlony had foreseen, began to stir, 
and Mahrattas, Pindaris, Rajputs, and lawless adventurers from 
many quarters streamed to Bhurtpore. Lord Amherst recognized 
his mistake, and, backed by a council eager for war in such a 
cause, gathered an army under the command of Lord Combermere, 
who, as the famous cavalry-leader. Sir Stapleton Cotton, had taken 
part in some of the greatest battles of the Peninsular War, earning 
a barony in 1814, and being now commander of the forces in India. 
It was essential that no failure should now occur, and Combermere 
marched for Bhurtpore at the head of 25,000 men provided with an 



I 

I 

I 




BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. I43 

ample train of siege-artillery. Such were again found to be the 
Strength and thickness of the walls that the heaviest guns then 
used made no effective breach. On December 23rd, 1826, mining 
was begun near an angle of the ramparts, and on January 17th, the. 
explosion of ten thousand pounds of powder blew away masses of 
hardened clay, leaving a gap through which our storming-columns 
passed with an irresistible rush, and in two hours cleared the works 
of all opponents. The young Raja was restored, and the usurper 
became a state-prisoner. The only other noteworthy incident of 
Lord Amherst s period is his establishment, at Simla, of a vice- 
regal residence for use during the hot season when health demands 
a retirement to the hills. 



CHAPTER IV. 



British Possessions in Asia {continued), India: History from 

1828 TO 1844. 

Lord William Bentinck Governor-General — His beneficent rule — Suppression of Suttee 
and Thuggee — Renewal of the Company's charter in 1833 — Thomas Babington 
Macaulay appointed law-member of the Supreme Council — His Penal Code — Misrule 
and oppression in the native states — Condition of Oudh — Coorg seeks annexation — 
Revolt in Mysore — ^Able administration of Sir Charles Metcalfe — Lord Auckland 
appointed Governor-General — The Afghan war — Shah Shuja restored — Revolt of 
Akbar Khan — Weakness of the British officials — The retreat from Kabul — De- 
struction of the army— Sale's gallant defence of Jellalabad — Lord EUenborough 
succeeds Lord Auckland— Kabul recaptured — Conquest of Sind — Sir Charles James 
Napier — Battle of Meanee — Troubles in Gwalior. 

The period of sixteen years now brought under review is mainly 
one of non-intervention and of economic and social reforms, though 
it also includes two episodes, one marked by disaster, the other by 
success, in the shape of wars due to a deliberate departure from the 
policy of attending to our own affairs in India, and of seeking no 
extension of the frontier of our rule. In 1828, Lord Amherst was 
succeeded as Governor-General by Lord William Bentinck, whom 
we have seen as Governor of Madras early in the century. During 
the interval, from 1 808 to 1 8 1 4, he served in the Peninsula and in 
Italy against the French. He was the lineal descendant of William 
Bentinck, first Earl of Portland, favourite and friend of William the 
Third, and was second son of the third Duke of Portland, twice 



144 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

prime-minister for brief periods. He had hitherto won little distinc- 
tion in either a civil or a military capacity. He now arrived in I ndia 
to make his name one of lasting remembrance, not as a ruler whose 
armies won victory over native forces or widened the bounds of 
British dominion, but as the pioneer of reforms which, conceived 
and carried out in a spirit of benevolent concern for the good of a 
subject people, caused the native mind to regard our sway in a new 
light. The inscription, from the pen of his friend Macaulay. placed 
on the statue erected at Calcutta, describes in stately words the 
seven years' work of a man who "infused into Oriental despotism 
the spirit of British freedom : who never forgot that the end of 
government is the happiness of the governed: who abolished cruel 
rites, gave liberty to the expression of public opinion, and made it 
his constant study to elevate the intellectual and moral character 
of the nations committed to his charge", and who thereby won 
from men "diflering in race, in manners, in language, and in religion, 
veneration and gratitude for his wise, upright, and paternal admin- 
istration". 

After restoring the financial balance by reductions of permanent 
expenditure, by increasing the land-revenue in more careful assess- 
ment, and by the imposition of an opium-duty in a large part of the 
Central Indian territory lately brought under British sway, the new 
Governor-General turned his attention to abuses whose existence 
was an outrage upon humanity and civilization. The word salt 
(suttee), from the Sanskrit term meaning "an excellent wife", de- 
scribes the usage by which, in certain families and castes, widows 
died by burning on the funeral-pyre that consumed a husband's 
body. This cruel custom had no connection with pure Brahmanism. 
The pretence of sanction in the Vedas has been exposed by modern 
scholarship, proving the passages on which it was based to be 
garbled, misquoted, or non-existent in those sacred writings. The 
laws of Manu have no word enjoining such an act of self-sacrifice. 
The practice, however, existed some centuries before the Christian 
era, and public opinion left to widows of a certain social standing 
1 scarcely any choice concerning their fate. The emperor Akbar 
\ forbade, but could not suppress sad, and British rulers had hitherto, 
in deference to native prejudice, abstained from interference with a 
"religious" rite. In 1833, nearly 600 widows were burned in the 
Bengal Presidency. In the face of strong opposition, from natives 





BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. I45 

and from many of his own subordinates and other European resi- 
dents, Lord William Bentinck, in December, 1829, with the support 
of a majority in his Council, carried a Regulation which applied the 
penalties of " culpable homicide " to all persons aiding and abetting 
suttee. Authority soon acted with powerful effect upon the pre- 
valence of a usage which, sanctioned by superstition and by con- 
tinuance through many ages of time, was still repulsive to all humane 
feeling. This bold step of Bentinck's formed an epoch in British 
administration. His successors in the highest Indian office could 
not retrograde from the position which he had assumed. A new 
political duty was laid upon them, and in treaties between the 
imperial government and the native states it was officially pro- 
claimed that this and some other Eastern customs were past 
endurance. The urging of this view upon native rulers at last 
created the principle that British protective alliance implies the 
cessation of inhuman practices lying under the ban of civilization. 
The cases of suttee, even in native territory beyond our direct 
control, are now very rare, and the practice may be regarded as 
extinct. The horrible assassins and thieves called Thugs ( Thags) 
were also, to a large degree, extirpated by the vigorous measures 
of the Governor-General. We have seen, in the account given of 
modern Hinduism, the goddess Kali, wife of Siva, as a deity of 
fearful character and form, delighting in cruelty and bloodshed. It 
was in her honour that a secret society, existing from early Mo- 
hammedan times in India, practised the form of murder called 
Thuggee {Thagi). The word comes from thaga, **to deceive", 
and describes the method adopted against victims. Roaming the 
country in small bodies, disguised as innocent traders or pilgrims, 
the Thugs lured people who were met or overtaken in travel, into 
the intercourse of wayside repose which gave them the opportunity 
of strangling with a swift and sudden noose, or of poisoning by the 
powerful narcotic obtained from the datura or thorn-apple. Thou- 
sands of persons yearly died by the hands of these professional and 
pious assassins, until Bentinck and Captain Sleeman took up the 
war against them. Accomplices were enticed into becoming in- 
formers, and the gangs of stranglers were, in a few years, broken 
up by the apprehension of above 1550, of whom nearly 400 were 
hanged, and the remainder sent to life-long imprisonment or exile. 
The other services of Lord William Bentinck include reforms of 

Vol. IV. 75 



146 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

the judicial system; the introduction of village revenue-settlement 
into the north-west provinces; a largely extended employment of 
natives in the public service; and the zealous promotion of British 
education among the people. 

In 1833, the Company's Charter was renewed for twenty years, 
and the Renewal-Act brought some important changes. The Com- 
pany's monopoly of trade ceased to exist by the opening of free 
commerce with China. Creed, caste, and race were no longer to 
be obstacles to the nomination of any native for administrative 
office. A new Law-member was added to the Supreme Council 
at Calcutta. This official was to be chosen from among persons 
who were not servants of the Company, and was to be present 
only at meetings for making Laws and Regulations. Subject to 
the approval of the Court of Directors, these ordinances of the 
Governor- General and Council were to have the authority of Par- 
liamentary statutes. The powers of the Governor-General and 
Council were now enlarged in the grant of a control over the other 
two Presidencies in all matters that concerned military or civil 
administration, and it is from this point of view that Lord William 
Bentinck has been, by some persons, regarded as the first real 
" Governor-General of India ". The new Law-member of Council, 
who landed at Madras in June, 1834, was none other than Thomas 
Babington Macaulay, already famous as a Parliamentary orator 
and essayist, now destined to do work which has gained for him 
enduring renown as a jurist. As President of the Commission 
appointed, under the Charter Act, to inquire into "the Jurisprudence 
and Jurisdiction of our Eastern Empire", he had the chief share in 
drawing up a Criminal Code for the whole Indian Empire which, 
in his own words, was framed on the " two great principles of sup- 
pressing crime with the smallest possible amount of suffering, and 
of ascertaining truth at the smallest possible cost of time and 
money ". Conciseness and perspicuity were to be specially aimed 
at in the new code. These principles, applied with consummate 
skill, produced, in the course of 1837, the famous Penal Code which, 
in the form of a pocket edition, is carried about by Indian civilians 
intrusted with the administration of justice. When Macaulay left 
India in 1838, his daring and original work was only in the form 
of a draft laid before the Governor-General and Council. For more 
than twenty years, in troublous times, unpropitious to law-reform. 



I 
I 





BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. 147 

the Code received comments from successive Law-members of 
Council, and, being still substantially Macaulay's work, it was 
enacted in 1S60, after the illustrious author's death, and came into 
operation on January ist, 1862. Macaulay also, as President of 
the Committee of Public Instruction, had a large share in framing 
a scheme of education for the natives of India in European litera- 
ture and science through the medium of the English rather than of 
the vernacular tongues. Before leaving the subject of civil changes 
in our Indian administration, we may note that by the Charter Act 
of 1833 Europeans were henceforth permitted to reside in India 
without any license from the Directors of the Company, and to 
acquire possession of land. 

In regard to native states. Lord William Bentinck, like some of 
his successors, was often placed in a difficult and delicate position 
between his official duty of carrying out the policy of non-interfer- 
ence enjoined by superior authority in London, and his own humane 
desire to secure just and kindly treatment for all sorts and condi- 
tions of men. It was soon found that the principle of non-inter- 
vention in the internal administration of native rulers could not be 
strictly applied. Amidst the follies, crimes, and debaucheries of 
the palace, millions of industrious tillers of the soil, longing only 
for peace to do their daily work, and for a fair share of the fruits of 
the earth, were looking to the British Resident, as representative 
of the supreme authority in the whole vast peninsula, the British 
Raj, for redress or security against oppressive misrule. On his 
arrival in India, the Governor-General had found disorder rampant 
in the Rajputana states and in Malwa, and in pursuit of the experi- 
mental policy of non-interference, he allowed matters to run their 
course unchecked and unchanged by the interposition of British 
arms. In Gwalior, six years after the death of SJndhia in 1827, a 
civil war was stopped by Lord William Bentinck's recognition of 
the authority of the young Maharaja as against that of the queen- 
mother. In the same year, 1833, on the death of Holkar of 
Indore, a civil war due to a disputed succession arose, and the 
Governor-General, who might have settled the matter, at the out- 
set, by taking a decided tone, was at last obliged to send a British 
force to place upon the throne the claimant whom he had already 
recognized. In the Rajput state of Jaipur, it was not until a British 
agent, Mr. Blake, had been murdered, in June, 1835, and his superior, 



L. 




OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

Major Alves, severely wounded, that effective intervention from 
Calcutta took place. A British officer was appointed to conduct 
the administration during the minority of an infant Maharaja placed 
on the throne by the British government, and the country was soon 
enjoying a period of peace and prosperity. In reference to Oudh, 
a state of sinister notoriety in later days, Lord William Bentinck 
was provoked to adopt a threatening tone. The condition of affairs 
was, to the last degree, scandalous and miserable. The Talukdars, 
or feudal landowners, were in an anarchical state as regarded the 
sovereign power; the ryots, or tenant-farmers, were cruelly op- 
pressed; the soldiery were mutinous; the helpless king was sunk 
in debauchery. In 1831, the ruler of Oudh was menaced with 
deprivation of all share In administration, and, at a later date, the 
Court of Directors gave authority to the Governor-General to assume 
the rule of the unhappy country, but he was then about to quit 
India, and was obliged to be satisfied with another sharp warning. 
For many years more, Oudh remained a disgrace to India and 
a nuisance to all neighbouring territories. In two countries, Coorg 
and Mysore, the British government did assume full authority as 
the only remedy for hopeless misrule. The little state of Coorg, a 
mountainous region of forests, gorges, and heavy rains, with rich 
tillage in the fertile vales, and divided from its neighbours by thick 
jungle and very lofty hills, lies between Malabar and Mysore. The 
warlike, hardy, and athletic race inhabiting the country was com- 
posed, one-fourth of high-caste landowners, three-fourths of low- 
caste serfs or slaves. Hyder Ali and his son Tippu both vainly 
tried to conquer the brave mountaineers, who were staunch allies 
of the British in the wars that ended with the capture of Seringa- 
patam. They then became willing vassals of the British govern- 
ment, paying no tribute save a yearly elephant as an acknowledg- 
ment of fealty. After many troubles due to two Rajas, one more 
or less insane, and the other a cold-blooded, crafty tyrant, a ruler 
came to the throne in 1820 who surpassed his predecessors in 
atrocious cruelties, and, on remonstrance, set the British govern- 
ment at defiance. A British force, in spite of a brave resistance 
from the people, brought the Raja to surrender, and the people of 
Coorg, bidden to choose a new ruler for tliemselves, as one man 
begged to be taken under the Company's dominion, with the stipu- 
lations that their Raja should be exiled for life, as, with his presence. 




BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. I49 

they felt bound to obey him, and that, in deference to their feeling 
as strict Hindus, no cows should be killed In their country. With 
both these concessions, Lord William Bentinck made the only 
annexation that occurred during his period of power. In Mysore, 
after the downfall of Tippu in 1799, a native infant ruler was set 
up under the watchful eye of an English Resident, but in 181 1 the 
youthful Raja began to go wrong, and was soon in financial diffi- 
culties from the most lavish expenditure on vicious ways of life. 
On the non-intervention principle, the Resident could only advise, 
not threaten, and a solemn warning from Sir Thomas Munro, the 
Governor of Madras, was wholly unheeded. In 1830, the long- 
suffering people of Mysore rebelled, and the matter ended, after 
the suppression of revolt by a British force, with the removal of the 
Raja on an ample pension, and the assumption of rule by British 
officers under the Resident's general control, A few years later, 
the " Resident " became a " Commissioner ". and the administration 
of the country, which soon had a prosperous and happy people, 
remained in British hands until 1881. These instances show some- 
thing of the relations existing, during the period now dealt with, 
between the Calcutta government and native states. 

On Lord William Bentinck's retirement in 1835, Sir Charles 
Metcalfe, whom we have seen as a young man, and who became 
one of the ablest and most experienced servants of the Company, 
was senior member of Council, and in that capacity he became 
provisional Governor-General. During his few months of office, 
ending in March 1836, he carried into full effect his predecessor's 
plans for the freedom of the British press in India. Henceforth, 
the Calcutta government had no power to dispose of hostile 
journalists by the simple process of expelling them from the 
country. It would have been well for Great Britain if Metcalfe 
had been appointed as Governor-General for a full period of rule, 
enabling him to continue the beneficial policy of Bentinck, The 
opinion of Anglo-Indians on the spot, and the expressed desire of 
the Directors in Leadeiihall Street, were herein agreed. The 
appointment of Lord Auckland in the earlier part of 1836. by the 
Whig ministry of Lord Melbourne, was a striking instance of the 
evil of party-government when it is allowed to dictate the choice of 
persons for high and very responsible office not concerned with the 
internal administration of Great Britain. The new Governor- 



OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 



General had no qualifications whatever for the post which he was 
assuming beyond the fact of being a Whig official who had stead- 
fastly supported the Parliamentary reform which was effected in 
the Act of 1S32. His term of office was marked by the greatest 
disaster and disgrace which have ever befallen the British arms in 
any quarter of the world. It is impossible here to give any 
detailed account of Afghan affairs from 1839 to 1842. The cause 
of war, the chief events, and the issue may be briefly told. We 
have seen how, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, a strong 
man, a man of genius, Lord Wellesley, during six years of rule, 
dealt with what we may call the "French scare". Lord Auckland, 
a weak man, became the victim of the "Russian scare". The strong 
and able ruler of Afghanistan, an usurper named Dost Mahommed 
Khan, held the throne once filled, as we have seen, by Shah Shuja, 
who was driven out in 1S09, soon after his meeting with Elphin- 
stone at Peshawar, and was now residing at Ludhiana, in the 
Punjab. Dost Mahommed, eager to recover Peshawar from 
Ranjit Singh, the ruler of the Punjab, sought help, in 1S38, from 
the British government. When his advances were coldly treated, 
he turned to Russia, received a Russian mission at Kabul, and 
caused Lord Auckland, in jealous fear of Russian influence, to 
resolve on the restoration of Shah Shuja to the throne of Afghani- 
stan. War was declared on October ist, 1838, and a British army 
marched through the Bolan Pass, received the surrender of 
Kandahar, stormed Ghazni, and occupied Kabul in August, 1839. 
Shah Shuja, to the disgust of the people, was restored, and Dost 
Mahommed, after a gallant attempt to recover his position, went to 
Calcutta as a state prisoner. 

For two years, the new Afghan sovereign was supported by 
British bayonets, while a storm was gathering in and around his 
capital. We can only say, in general terms, that the utmost weak- 
ness of management was shown by the British Political Officer, 
Sir William Macnaghten, and by the British commander and his 
colleagues. Akbar Khan, son of Dost Mahommed, had taken up 
his father's cause, and was organizing revolt throughout the land. - 
On November and, 1841, the mob of Kabul rose, killed Sir 
Alexander Burnes, the Political Agent, a former envoy to Dost 
Mahommed, and became masters of the city through the imbecility 
of the British officers who, instead of occupying the strong citadel, 




BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. 151 

the Bala-Hissar, scattered their men in indefensible cantonments. 
Supplies ran short early in December, and negotiations with the 
Afghan chiefs began. Lady Sale's journal of these events should 
be read by all who desire to see the contrast of a brave, wise 
woman with incompetent and even cowardly men. On December 
23rd, Macnaghten was treacherously shot, at a conference, by 
Akbar Khan, and the British commander, on the 26th, without the 
least attempt to avenge the crime, made a treaty for the abandon- 
ment of the country there and then, in the depth of winter, with 
the surrender of all the cannon save six, and of all the treasure. 
On January 6th, 1842, a retreating host of 4500 soldiers, mainly 
sepoys, with over 10,000 camp followers, including many women 
and children, left Kabul for Jellalabad, a fortress ninety miles 
distant, defended by Major-General Sir Robert Sale. On January 
13th, the sole survivor. Dr. Brydon, wounded, exhausted, clinging 
to his weary pony's neck, was brought into Jellalabad. Save a few 
score prisoners — officers and their wives, children, and servants — 
every other soul of all the thousands had perished in the Khoord- 
Kabul Pass, the Jugdulluck Pass, and at intermediate points, under 
the bullets and knives of the savage and treacherous Afghans, or 
from cold and exhaustion amid the deep-lying snow. The enemy 
then retook Ghazni, and vainly attacked Kandahar. The one 
bright spot amidst the gloom was Sale's noble and historical defence 
of Jellalabad, during a three months' siege, against all the efforts of 
Akbar Khan, who was finally driven off in rout. Lady Sale and 
the other captives were rescued, in the nick of time, just as they 
were about to be conveyed to the remote interior of Asia. 

Lord Auckland, for the first successes in Afghanistan, had been 
created an earl. In February, 1842, he was superseded as 
Governor-General by the Earl of EUenborough, a Tory statesman 
of powerful eloquence, and of real ability marred by love of showy 
and dramatic effects. It was absolutely needful, with a due regard 
to the safety of our position in India, to restore the credit of British 
arms in Afghanistan. This task was effected by Generals Pollock 
and Nott. They forced their way to Kabul, after repeated defeats 
of the Afghans, captured the city, blew up its finest building, the 
great bazar^ as a sign of victory and a mark of disgrace, and then 
withdrew, leaving Dost Mahommed undisputed ruler in place of 
the hapless Shah Shuja, our nominee, who had been murdered soon 



152 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

after the retirement of the British army that was destroyed in the 
passes. 

The Afghan war led indirectly to our conquest of Sind (Scinde). 
This large alluvial territory was formed by the deposits of the g^eat 
river Indus (Sindhu, in Sanskrit), from the native name of which 
its appellation is derived. I n the eighteenth century, the country, 
once part of the Moslem empire of Delhi, became tributary to the 
Afghan ruler of Kandahar, but was afterwards virtually independent 
under princes or nobles styled Mirs (Ameers). The East India 
Company failed to establish any enduring commercial relations 
with the government, and it was not until 1830 that the lower 
course of the Indus was explored by any British officials. In 
1832, a treaty was made, by which traders were allowed to use the 
roads and rivers of Sind, but no Englishman might settle in the 
country. In 1838, Lord Auckland, in plain violation of a clause in 
the treaty, used the river Indus as a military highway for the 
despatch of troops into Afghanistan, and the Mirs assumed a hostile 
demeanour which led to a partial British occupation. In 1842, Sir 
Charles James Napier, a veteran of the Peninsular War, commander 
of the Bombay army, arrived in Sind and assumed authority over 
all the country on the lower Indus. The Mirs were induced, in a 
new treaty, to agree to the cession of Karachi (Kurrachee) and 
other towns. The Baluchis (Beloochees) who formed the Sindian 
army resented this humiliation, and war ensued. On February 
17th, 1843, Napier defeated them, at vast odds against himself, in 
the desperate battle of Meeanee (Miani), and, after occupying 
Haidarabad, won another and decisive victory in March. The 
country was then annexed to our dominions, with Sir Charles 
Napier as its first governor. Sind rapidly improved under his 
administration, and the resources of the^ country, developed and 
employed with energy and wisdom, gave new prosperity and con- 
tentment to the people. 

At this time, trouble arose in the state of Gwalior. In February, 
1843, on the death of the Sindhia who, ten years before, had been 
settled on the throne by Lord William Bentinck, a lad of eight 
years became, by adoption, the new Maharaja, with a regent 
approved by the government at Calcutta. This regent was dis- 
placed, and disturbance was caused at Gwalior, by the overgrown 
dfac^erly native army of 40,000 men whose existence was a 



BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. 153 

menace to the peace of that part of India. Lord Ellenborough 
was resolved to suppress this force and to restore complete order, 
and in December, 1843, he went in person to Agra with the army 
under Sir Hugh Gough, another of Wellington s men in the Pen- 
insula, who had won distinction at Talavera and Vittoria, and had 
lately returned from the chief command of the forces in the first 
China War. This brave and able Irishman encountered the enemy 
on December 29th at Maharajpur, a village 15 miles north-west 
of Gwalior, where the Mahrattas were utterly routed with the loss 
of 56 guns and all their ammunition-train. On the same day, at 
Panniar (Punniar), 12 miles south-west of Gwalior, another British 
force, under Major-General Grey, won an equally complete victory 
over another Mahratta army. All their artillery, 24 guns, was 
taken, with the whole of the stores. The Treaty of Gwalior, con- 
cluded in January, 1 844, reduced the Gwalior army to 9000 men, 
with 32 guns; gave the administration of the country to a council 
of regency, bound to accept and act upon the advice of the British 
Resident; and caused the cession of territory for the maintenance 
of another force, the Gwalior Contingent, trained and commanded 
by British officers. In June, 1844, Lord Ellenborough, long at 
variance with the Court of Directors, was recalled by that body. 
He left India at a time when events in the Punjab clearly pointed 
to the outburst of a great storm of war on the north-west of our 
dominions. 



154 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 



CHAPTER V. 

British Possessions in Asia {continued), India: History from 

1844 TO 1858. 

Sir Henry Hardinge Governor-General— Rise of the Sikhs— First Sikh war — Battles of 
Moodkee, Aliwal, and Sobraon — Lahore occupied — Lord Dalhousie Governor-General 
— His character and splendid administration — Second Sikh war— Gough's defeat at 
Chilianwala — His victory at Gujrat— The Punjab annexed— Sir Henry and Sir John 
Lawrence — Sir Robert Montgomery and Colonel Robert Napier — Lord Dalhousie's 
comprehensive reforms — His annexation policy — The Company's charter renewed for 
the last time in 1853 — Competitive examinations for Indian Civil Service established 
— Change of military centres — Resignation and death of Lord Dalhousie — ^Viscount 
Canning Governor- General — Persian troops occupy Herat, and are defeated by Sir 
James Outram. The Indian Mutiny— Its causes— Outbreaks at Lucknow and 
Meerut — Spread of the revolt — Loyalty of the Sikhs — Massacres at Cawnpore — 
Victorious march of Havelock — Havelock and Outram besieged in Lucknow — Capture 
of Delhi — Sir Colin Campbell reaches Lucknow — Death of Havelock — Cawnpore and 
Lucknow recaptured — Sir Hugh Rose's campaign in Central India — The Mutiny 
finally suppressed 

The new Governor-General, in succession to Lord EUenborough, 
was Sir Henry Hardinge, another of Wellington's Peninsular 
veterans, "a very clever fellow" in war, as his chief described him, 
a man who had been active in the House of Commons from 1820 
onwards, and had filled with credit, under both Wellington and 
Peel, the responsible office of Chief Secretary for Ireland. In his 
Indian post, he was soon to find ample scope for the exercise of 
his military skill in conjunction with the somewhat hot-headed 
commander-in-chief. Sir Hugh Gough. Before narrating these 
events, we must give a brief account of the rise of the remarkable 
people called Sikhs. They were not a nationality like the Mah- 
rattas, but a military confederacy developed from a religious sect 
that arose near the beginning of the sixteenth century. Their 
founder, Nanak Shah, otherwise called Baba Nanak, or Nanak 
Guru, was a pious monotheistic Hindu reformer, born near Lahore 
in 1469. Rejecting caste, idolatry, and superstition, he preached 
the worship of one Supreme Spirit, and inculcated purity of life. 
Hinduism was recognized in reverence for Brahmans, and in the 
prohibition of the slaughter of cows. The word Sikhs means 
''followers" or "disciples", and the successive "Gurus" or chief- 
priests were regarded as holy prophets, the representatives of God 
on earth. Akbar, the Mogul emperor, gave* to the fourth Guru a 



BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. 155 

piece of land on the spot now occupied by the town of Amritsar 
(Umritsur). The building of a temple, and the digging of a holy 
tank, were the origin of this head-quarters of the Sikh faith, which 
gained many adherents, and aroused the jealousy of the Mogul 
rulers. Persecution both from Hindus and Mahommedans caused the 
new sect to adopt a military organization, and quiet sectaries were 
turned into fanatical warriors of the type of CromwelFs Puritans. 
Driven to the mountains from their seats near Lahore, they were 
first regularly formed into a religious and military commonwealth 
by the last Guru or apostle Govind Singh (or Sinh, meaning 
" Hon ") towards the end of the seventeenth century. Still unable 
to resist the Mahommedan persecutors, they became furious in 
their thirst for revenge, and from time to time issued from their 
retreats and massacred their foes in town after town through the 
east of the Punjab. The decline of the Mogul empire at last gave 
solid territorial power to the Sikhs, who founded many tribal con- 
federacies, which became, in some instances, independent states. 
We have seen how the warrior Ranjit Singh founded the Sikh 
kingdom, which became the one great power in India outside the 
border of British influence and sway. His death in 1839 was the 
beginning of anarchy, and the court of Lahore was a scene of con- 
stant quarrel between rival ministers, generals, and queens. The 
one solid centre of strength in the land was the great and formid- 
able army of 125,000 men, full of martial spirit and religious zeal. 
The British disaster in Afghanistan had created a belief in their 
minds that they could overcome British power in India. Ranjit 
Singh, a man who knew not how to read or write, but was pos- 
sessed of a rare genius for acquiring and retaining dominion over 
men, had made this army into the most formidable instrument of 
war ever encountered in the East by British rulers. Drilled to 
perfection by French adventurers, Ventura and AUard, Avitabile 
and Court, they were furnished with over two hundred heavy 
cannon, cast in British foundries, and admirably served by well- 
trained gunners. After the death of their renowned and strong- 
willed master, they became utterly unruly. In a fury of arrogant 
self-will, they drove away the French generals, Avitabile and 
Court, and trusted to the leadership of their own officers, controlled 
by committees of five in each regiment, chosen from the ranks. 
After a long series of crimes and disorders at Lahore, the minister 




L 



OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

Lai Singh, and the nominal commander-in-chief, Tej Singh, sought 
their own safety in directing the fierce energy of the troops against 
British power. Both these men were utter traitors to the Sikh 
army. In order to save Lahore from being sacked, they were 
sending the soldiery to the plunder, as they hoped, of Delhi and 
Benares, and to the conquest of British India. In any case, the 
slaughter of the soldiers would tend to the continuance of their own 
supremacy at Lahore. 

In November, 1845, the first Sikh War began with the crossing 
of the Sutlej by a host composed of 60,000 regular troops, 40,000 
irregulars or armed followers, and 150 guns. The struggle that 
ensued is well known from the war-histories, and needs brief notice 
here. Sir Henry Hardinge and Sir Hugh Gough marched for the 
frontier, and in the space of a few weeks, four pitched battles were 
fought. On December iSth, Lai Singh was, after a hard struggle, 
beaten at Moodkee (Mudki), where the gallant Sir Robert Sale 
received a mortal wound. Three days later, on December 21st, 
the British attacked the enemy's intrenched camp at Firozshah 
(Ferozeshah). After a desperate contest, in which British cannon 
were dismounted by the enemy's fire, British squadrons checked 
and disordered, and infantry battalions again and again driven 
back, only a partial success was won by the assailants through the 
use of the bayonet. On the following day, the Sikhs, owing to 
mutiny in their own ranks, and cowardice or treachery in Lai 
Singh, abandoned their still strong position, and made for the 
Sutlej. Tej Singh, coming up with another force, found the 
British in possession, and, after some use of his cannon, fled away 
to the river leaving his men to their own devices. In January, 
1846, after both sides had been reinforced, the Sikhs crossed again 
to the British side of the Sutlej. On the 26th, Sir Harry Smith 
smartly defeated them at Aliwal, north-east of Moodkee, and drove 
them over the Sutlej with the loss of their guns and ammunition. 
On February loth, the great battle of Sobraon, also on the Sutlej, 
where the enemy were intrenched on the river-bank, with a bridge 
of boats across, was gained by the united armies of Gough and 
Smith, supported by a train of heavy siege-guns from Delhi. Tej 
Singh fled at the first assault on his works, and the bridge of boats 
was broken, either by accident or design. His troops resisted 
with the utmost courage, and were only overcome by efforts which 



I 




BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. 1 57 

cost the victors 2000 men in slain and disabled. The Sikh loss, 
by drowning as well as by shot, shell, musketry, and steel, was 
enormous, and 70 guns became the prize of war. This success 
ended the contest for a time. Ten days later, the Sikh capital, 
Lahore, was occupied, and peace was concluded with the civil 
power, now freed from the dictation of an overwhelming military 
force. A million and a half sterling was the sum exacted as pay- 
ment towards the expenses of the war, and Gholab Singh, viceroy 
of Kashmir (Cashmere), who provided the million from his own 
resources, was made independent ruler of that country, and became 
an ally of the British government. Our frontier was extended 
from the Sutlej to the Ravi. Dhulip Singh, infant son of Ranjit 
Singh, was made Maharaja, under the regency of the queen- 
mother and the minister, Lai Singh, and the strength of the army 
was limited to 20,ocx) foot and 12,000 horse. Major Henry 
Lawrence became Resident at Lahore, as adviser to the Council of 
Regency, and all things seemed fairly settled in the Punjab. The 
Governor-General became a peer as Viscount Hardinge, and Gough 
received a barony for his successes in the field. At the express 
request of the civil rulers at Lahore, who still dreaded the Sikh 
soldiery, a British force was left in occupation. During 1846 the 
minister, Lai Singh, was removed from office and taken to British 
territory as a life-prisoner for a gross act of treachery in encourag- 
ing rebellion against Gholab Singh of Kashmir. Hardinge, until 
his return to England in 1848, was most usefully engaged in reor- 
ganizing the army and in effecting financial reforms. The north- 
western frontier was strongly guarded by 50,000 men with 60 
guns, and a complete army, ready to take the field at once, was 
maintained in camp at Firozpur (Ferozepoor). 

The greatest Indian ruler of the nineteenth century came upon 
the scene of his future action when James Ramsay, tenth earl of 
Dalhousie, landed in January, 1848, at Calcutta. He came to 
refound the fabric of British power established fifty years before by 
the Marquess Wellesley. It was he who, in a grand eight years* 
career of conquest, annexation, consolidation, and development, 
created the British India of the present day with her foreign 
relations, her internal problems, and her economic position. The 
extension of our frontiers to west and east brought British dominion, 
in the ultimate results of his policy, into contact with Russia on the 



158 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

one side and with China on the other. The territories under 
direct British government, and the feudatory or subsidiary or pro- 
tected states, began to coalesce, under Dalhousie's rule, into a 
united Indian Empire. An industrial revolution began with his 
energetic and provident labours for the extension and improvement 
of the means of communication and for the execution of other 
important public works. The effects of his arduous exertions, 
which cost him his life, are to be seen on all sides in our Oriental 
Empire— in a great expansion of territory, in the existing methods 
of rule in native states, in canals, roads, steamer-routes, railways, 
telegraphs, cheap postage, and educational work. New life, new 
light and activity — commercial, intellectual, and political — have 
been the creation, in India, of the forces set in motion by Lord 
Dalhousie's energetic spirit and unwearied toil. The person, 
character, and earlier career of this great and admirable man may 
be briefly sketched. Born in 1812, at Dalhousie Castle in Mid- 
lothian, he passed some of his early years in Canada, where his 
father was Governor- General. Educated at Harrow, under Dr. 
Butler, from 1822 to 1829, he saw there, in 1824, the Marquis of 
Hastings, the conqueror of the Mahrattas, when he paid a visit to 
his old school. On leaving Harrow, young Ramsay became, at 
Christ Church. Oxford, a younger fellow-student of Mr, Gladstone, 
and formed friendships with the young men who became, as Lords 
Canning and Elgin, his own successors in Indian rule. In 1832, 
the death of his eldest brother made him Lord Ramsay and heir 
to the earldom. In 1837 he entered Parliament as M.P. for Had- 
dingtonshire, and in the following year his father's death made him 
Earl of Dalhousie, In Sir Robert Peel's second ministry, he 
became, in 1843. Vice-President of the Board of Trade under Mr. 
Gladstone, and, two years later, succeeded him in the Presidency. 
The rising young statesman showed the utmost energy and skill in 
developing the British railway-system, and resigned office, with his 
illustrious chief, Sir Robert Peel, In 1846. Such was the impres- 
sion made by his abilities and industry, not only on his Conserva- 
tive colleagues and friends, but on Whig opponents, that his 
appointment, at the close of 1847, in his thirty-fifth year, to the 
Governor-Generalship of India came from Peel's successor, Lord 
John Russell. When Dalhousie left his native country for the 
East, It was believed by his admirers, not without good evidence, 



I 





BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. 1 59 

that he was relinquishing a fair chance of becoming, in due time, 
Prime- Minister at home. This born ruler was, like Lord Wellesley, 
a "glorious little man". His stature was small, but his finely- 
formed head, keen glance, lofty bearing, and noble intellectual and 
moral qualities produced in succession, on those who were brought 
into his presence and under his influence, the feelings of awe, con- 
fidence, admiration, devotion, and personal love. No other man 
that has ruled India ever won so high and enduring an esteem 
alike from the civilians and the military men who shared his 
labours, and from the British public who had no official knowledge 
of or connection with the scene of his masterful and masterly 
administration. Men like Sir James Outram, veteran soldiers and 
civil rulers, felt themselves quite overborne by the young king of 
men, with his large, bright, blue eyes, majestic air, mobile mouth, 
and sweet, clear tones of voice. We have only space to add that 
the severity of toil with which Lord Dalhousie mastered the 
details and directed the work of every department was something 
rarely seen among the rulers of mankind. 

The first work that fell to the lot of the new Governor-General 
was the second Sikh War. Trouble arose at Multan (Mooltan), a 
place of great trade, with a strong fortress, near the river Chenab. 
Two British agents, Mr. Vans Agnew, of the Civil Service, and 
Lieutenant Anderson, were murdered by the mob in April, 1848. 
The British army could not move in the hot season, but the credit 
of our name was supported by the prompt and daring action of the 
young Lieutenant (afterwards Sir Herbert) Edwardes, who brought 
up a force, on his own responsibility, from his revenue-district be- 
yond the Indus, defeated the Sikh governor on June i8th, and 
forced him into the citadel of Multan. The disbanded soldiers of 
the Sikh army rose in arms, and the whole of the Punjab was in a 
flame of revolt. The character of Lord Dalhousie is partly shown 
by the words which he uttered in a public speech on leaving Bengal, 
in October, 1848, for the scene of hostilities. " Unwarned by pre- 
cedent, uninfluenced by example, the Sikh nation has called for 
war, and on my word. Sirs, they shall have it with a vengeance." 
An Afghan force of Dost Mahommed Khan's joined the Sikhs; 
the British garrisons were driven from Peshawar and Attock, and 
the work of subduing the Punjab had to be begun afresh. Truth 
before patriotic prejudice should be the historian's maxim, and we 



l6o OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

must plainly record that, after an indecisive action at Ramnuggur, 
on the Chenab, on November 22nd, 1848, Lord Gough sustained 
a virtual defeat on January 13th, 1849, at Chilianwala, where a 
great Sikh army was strongly intrenched on the left bank of the 
Jhelum. A rash attack, made with wearied troops, at the close of 
a day s march, on the front of a position defended by many heavy 
guns, some of which were masked by jungly growth, caused the 
hasty retirement of one British and one Bengal regiment of cavalry, 
and a total loss of 2400 officers and men, horse and foot, in killed 
and wounded, with the capture of four British guns and the colours 
of three regiments. Before Sir Charles Napier, the conqueror of 
Sind, despatched from England to take the command, in the shock 
of dismay and wrath hereby caused, could arrive in the field, Lord 
Gough had retrieved his own credit and that of our arms in a com- 
plete victory at Gujrat (Guzerat, or Goojerat) east of Chilianwala. 
In this "battle of the guns", as it was called, the British commander 
made terrible use of a strong artillery, pouring in shot and shell for 
two hours and a half, before sending his men, in a headlong rush of 
bayonets, sabres, and lances, against the shaken foe. With the loss 
to the victor of a few hundreds of men, the military power of the 
Sikhs was utterly ruined. Camp, standards, and cannon were 
taken; the Afghans were driven off in hasty flight, closely pursued 
as far as the mouth of the Khyber Pass, within their own borders; 
and on March 12th, the remnant of the Sikh army piled arms in 
surrender at Rawal Pindi. The crowning success at Gujrat, gained 
on February 20th, 1849, had been preceded by the storming of 
Multan by General Whish, whose victorious troops had then re- 
inforced Lord Gough, and taken part in the final struggle. On 
March 29th, the annexation of the whole Punjab as a British pro- 
vince was proclaimed, and the young deposed Maharaja, Dhulip 
Singh, brought to England for education, received a yearly annuity 
of over fifty thousand pounds, embraced the Christian faith, and 
lived for many years, like an English squire, on his Norfolk estate. 
Thousands of the Sikh disbanded army were enlisted under the 
British colours, in a service where their courage and loyalty became 
as conspicuous as their former gallant behaviour in the hostile 
ranks. 

The consolidation of the Punjab, in the creation of a regular 
system of beneficial administration for a conquered country whose 



BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. l6l 

area then consisted of 73,000 square miles, or nearly i^ times that 
of England, is a magnificent instance of Lord Dalhousie's powers 
as a ruler, a triumph of practical statesmanship that used the Indian 
experience of a hundred previous years in devising methods which 
avoided all former errors and provided safeguards against all known 
abuses. After the scattering and disbanding of the Sikh soldiery, 
internal peace was secured by a general disarmament of the popu- 
lation, save in the frontier districts and the Peshawar valley. 
About 1 20,000 swords, daggers, firearms, and other weapons were 
delivered up, and a military police of horse and foot, with a separate 
detective body, numbering in all 1 1,000 men, was placed under the 
orders of British District Magistrates. The old Village Watch 
retained its function of tracking criminals from hamlet to hamlet in 
a regular course affording no peace or resting-place to breakers of 
the law. Slavery was abolished; the thugs were extirpated; in- 
fanticide was sternly repressed; outlaws and dacoits, the terror of 
villagers and peaceful wayfarers, were hunted down. The frontier 
to the west, at the foot of the mountains beyond the Indus, needed 
special care against the inroads of warlike, lawless freebooters, 
numbering a hundred thousand armed men of various tribes which, 
since the days of Akbar, had come forth from the recesses of the 
hills to prey upon the dwellers in the river-plains. A line of armed 
posts, connected by roads, was speedily formed, and the new civil 
government of the country had at its disposal a Frontier Force of 
five regiments of foot and four of mounted men. These frontier- 
guards were ever on the move from point to point, encumbered 
with no baggage except what could be easily borne on the trooper's 
horse or the shoulders of the infantry. The army of occupation in 
the newly-annexed territory made up 50,000 regular troops, and, 
after thus providing against attacks from without and disorder 
within, the Governor-General gave to the Punjab its first effective 
civil and judicial administration. Under the purely despotic rule 
of Ranjit Singh, soldiers and tax-collectors had been the sole officials. 
Fines and mutilations, in the lopping of noses for theft, of hands 
for highway robbery, with ham-stringing for burglary committed by 
night, were the only punishments. There was no civil court except 
at Lahore, and judicial decisions depended merely on the caprice of 
a judge or the amount of a suitor's bribe. The people of the 
Punjab were now to feel the blessings involved in their complete 

Vol. IV. 76 



163 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

subjection to a foreign race rarely found deficient in the practice oS 
humane and equitable dealing. The whole province was made 
into seven divisions, each with its own Commissioner; a division 
included districts, under deputy-Commissioners; and these fifty-six 
superior officials were chosen in equal numbers from the regular 
civil and military services. Their subordinates came from the 
" uncovenanted " service, including British, Eurasian, and native 
subjects of the Crown. The whole local management of affairs 
was at first intrusted to a Board of Administration of three mem- 
bers, Colonel, afterwards Sir Henry, Lawrence, of the Bengal 
Artillery; his brother John, afterwards Sir John and Lord Law- 
rence, of the Civil Service, who became Viceroy; and Mr. C. G. 
Mansel, soon succeeded by Mr., afterwards Sir Robert, Montgomery. 
In 1853, this Board-system was exchanged for the sole rule, as 
Chief Commissioner, of John Lawrence. The two Lawrences and 
Robert Montgomery, always under the watchful eye and firm con- 
trolling hand of their great chief, rendered valuable service in 
carrying out the peaceful revolution which, in seven years, made 
the Punjab one of the best-governed and most prosperous parts of 
the whole British empire. Montgomery, charged with the adminis- 
tration of justice, drew up a brief and serviceable manual of law fof 
the guidance both of the officials and the people. Henry Lawrence 
provided for military defence and the reduction to a powerless state 
of the Sikh Sirdars (Chiefs and Fief-holders) whose resources had 
been freely used against the Calcutta government during the recent 
war. They were now deprived, in Dalhousie's words, of all but 
"their lives and their subsistence", and in his instructions to Henry 
Lawrence, who strove to shield them from utter confiscation, the 
stern Governor-General wrote: — "' Let them be placed somewhere 
under surveillance. . If they run away, our contract (as to the 

award of a decent maintenance) is void. If they are caught, 1 will 
imprison them. And if they raise tumult again I will hang them, 
as sure as they now live, and I live then." John Lawrence re- 
settled the land-tax, village by village, at an assessment far below 
that of the old Sikh system, with the result of leaving three- fourths, 
instead of half, the produce in the hands of the cultivators, and of 
gaining a larger revenue. The renters paid coin instead of kind, 
with a 10 per cent further reduction for this change, and this liberal 
treatment quickly brought a large increase in the number of 



I 
i 




BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. 163 

farmers, including thirty thousand of the soldiers who had fought 
so fiercely against Hardinge and Gough. A wise application of 
the doctrine of Free Trade, then recently adopted in Great Britain, 
swept away, at a stroke of Lord Dalhousie's pen, a most oppressive 
system of transit-duties by which the rule of Ranjit Singh had 
made bales of goods, in levies at every city-gate, pay twelve 
separate imposts in crossing the province. The new fiscal system 
reduced the number of taxes from nearly fifty to about half-a-dozen, 
and honesty in the revenue-collectors, with a proper method of 
audit, largely increased the revenue from a greatly-relieved popu- 
lation. Nor must the work of Colonel Robert Napier be forgotten, 
a man who, best known as Lord Napier of Magdala, dying in 1890 
as Field- Marshal, and Constable of the Tower, won his fairest title 
to fame as chief engineer of the Punjab. To his constructive and 
administrative genius and energy that flourishing land owes its 
noble system of canals for irrigation, and its public roads. His 
design and supervision gave the country the Grand Trunk Road 
as a main line of communication, crossing the land from Lahore to 
Peshawar with its solid highway for nearly 300 miles, passing over 
100 large and 450 smaller bridges, piercing six hill-ranges or 
mountain-chains, and borne by embankments across the swampy 
sides of two great rivers. The Bengal Engineer also planned the 
Bari Doab Canal, between the Ravi and the Chenab, rivalling the 
greatest European works of its class, stretching, with three branches, 
over nearly 500 miles of ground, and turning deserts into gardens 
with its fertilizing waters. In all directions where the tillers of the 
soil needed moisture for a crop, old canals were repaired, and new 
work was vigorously taken in hand. The watchful care of the 
Governor-General furnished money in loans to the village-cultiva- 
tors for the reclamation of waste-land, and introduced a system of 
State- forests. Such a ruler as he would hardly forget the moral 
and mental condition of a subject-people. A few years saw the 
rise of schools in every district for the training of the young both 
in European and In Eastern fashion. A striking proof of the moral 
reform beginning to work in the native mind was given at a great 
public meeting held in the sacred Sikh city of Amritsar. Under 
the impulse of humane feeling awakened amidst new legal and 
moral sanctions, and stirred by gratitude for benefits conferred by 
British rule, native deputies representing the nobles, priesthood, 



J., 




I 



164 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

and people came together and made a solemn compact for the 
reduction of the heavy wedding-expenses which had greatly pro- 
moted the barbarous practice of female infanticide, by aggravation 
of the burden felt in providing for daughters in marriage. It was J 
in the true spirit of Lord William Bentinck that Dalhousie. in all.] 
his dealings with native stales, used his influence and power to the ' 
utmost stretch of legal right under the treaties, in order to abolish 
practices repugnant to true civilization. Every native ruler who 
failed in real endeavours to suppress self-torture, witch-hunting, 
widow-burning, the mutilation of criminals, female infanticide, and 
like barbarism was certain to feel the weight of the Governor- 
General's displeasure. His vanity was wounded by threats of the I 
loss of his due salute in number of guns fired on state-visits, or by I 
actual exclusion from the British ruler's durbar or state-reception, ] 
or by deprivation of some other token of regard from the supreme I 
government. 

The organization of the Punjab may be taken as a sample of | 
Lord Dalhousie's energetic methods in the administrative reform [ 
of British India. He founded the Public Works Department ] 
which has covered the land, since his day, with a network of rail- | 
ways, roads, and canals. In 1850, he turned the first sod of the 1 
first Indian railway. In 1853, he drew up the famous " Railway J 
Minute" by which his successors carried out the whole Indian [ 
railway-system. Before he left the countrj', three years later, 
thousands of miles of line were being constructed or surveyed. 1 
He enlisted British capital and private enterprise in the creation 
of these great works by offering them to public companies under a 
State-guarantee, and thus drew men and money from the West into 
other spheres of enterprise connected with the trade and products ^ 
of the East. Many nscal restrictions on commerce were removed, I 
and, while the Indian ports were opened to the world, the con-" 
venience of mariners and merchants was served in the erection of 
lighthouses, the extension and deepening of harbours, and the 
increased accuracy of marine surveys. The telegraph-system of . 
India was started amidst all the difficulties due to the lack of 1 
skilled special engineers in that department, to the electrical effect \ 
of tropical storms, to the destructive force of hurricanes, and to the 
action of white ants, wild beasts, and thieving savages upon the 
timber-posts carrying the wires through jungles and over hills. 




BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASI.^ ifij 

Mischievous monkeys dragged the lines down into festoons, or 
dangled ill-conducting tails from wire to wire. Wild birds roosted 
in such numbers on their new perch as to bring down wires in 
ruin to the ground. Every obstacle was met and overcome by 
Dalhousie's self-trained electricians. Special devices met special 
needs, and the wires, in their military service during the Mutiny, 
carried terror to the hearts of the more intelligent among our foes. 
A new branch of the Government Service arose in the highly- 
trained civil engineers brought out from home to develop the 
resources of India in every department of their profession. One 
of Lord Dalhousie's greatest services to the countries which he 
ruled was the institution of a cheap and efficient postal-system. On 
his arrival in India, he found arrangements for the transmission of 
news by letter no more advanced than those which had existed, 
under the rule of the " Great Mogul ", two centuries before. The 
postage of a letter cost over three days' wages of a skilled native 
artisan; the Post-Office department, such as it was, was worked at 
a heavy loss, and, in the country districts, gross irregularity and 
corruption were the rule. In 1853-54 ^ complete change took 
place. Letters of a certain weight were henceforth carried to any 
part of India, over distances which might reach to 2000 miles, at 
the uniform rate of half an anna, a sum now equal to a halfpenny. 
The use of postage-stamps made an end of the wrongful extra-fee 
formerly levied, in countless cases, by the rural postmen from native 
recipients of letters. The Post-Office quickly became self-support- 
ing, and the social change ensuing has been as wide and deep in 
its ultimate effect as it has been silent and subtle in operation. 
The grand reform brought about by the Governor-General's 
" Post-Office Commission " created letter-writing on a large scale 
among the natives of India, as is amply proved by the facts that 
the number of letters posted throughout India rose from under 20 
millions, and those to a large degree official communications, in 
1853, to 360 millions in 1895, this vast increase being chiefly due 
to private correspondence. Another of this great statesman's 
achievements was his share in founding a national system of 
education. After five years' tenure of office, during which he 
reviewed all the existing methods of public instruction. Lord 
Dalhousie urged the home authorities to extend into all the North- 
western Provinces the system based neither on English nor on the 



i66 



OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 



u 



classical languages of India, but on the modern vernacular forms 
of speech used by the Indian peoples. In July, 1854, Sir Charles 
Wood (afterwards Lord Halifax), President of the Board of Con- 
trol in London, in a very able and comprehensive despatch, a. 
State-paper of the first order, dealt with the whole question in full 
accordance with the Governor-General's views. The system thus 
initiated has been greatly developed by successive Viceroys, with 
results described in another place. In the words of Sir W. \V, 
Hunter [Rjilers of India; Tlu Marquess of Dalhousie) " This was 
the crowning act of consolidation accomplished in India under 
Lord Dalhousie. It has set in motion new forces, intellectual and 
political, whose magnitude it is impossible to gauge. Amid all 
the checks which occurred to Daihousie's consolidating system 
in India, after his firm hand was withdrawn, this tremendous factor 
of unification has gone on working without break or intermission, 
gaining strength, and displaying its marvellous results on an ever- 
extending scale." The railway, the telegraph, the halfpenny post, 
and the State-inspected school were the beginning of that unifica- 
tion of the Indian races, the welding of a hundred different tribes 
into one people, which is the mighty, most momentous change now 
quietly at work in the new India moulded by the Marquess of 
Dalhousie. 

Before dealing, lastly, with the great subject of Daihousie's 
increase of territory by annexation, it is only bare justice to his 
memory to record that he foresaw the dangers involved in the 
great increase of numbers in the regular native army since the 
days of the first Afghan War. as compared with the European 
force maintained in India. With a view to possible mischief, he 
put an end to the plan of keeping large bodies of native troops 
together in camp, without any admixture of British soldiers; he 
raised hill-regiments of the brave Goorkhas (Ghurkhas) of Nipal 
(Nepaul) as a force on whose loyalty the government could rely; 
he created in the Punjab a new Irregular Force, separate from the 
general army, with a special form of discipline, and under the 
immediate orders of the Punjab civil government. Above all, he 
protested, and he protested in vain, against the withdrawal of 
British regiments from India; he urged, and he urged in vain, an 
increase of their strength. In spite of his remonstrance, two regi- 
ments were withdrawn, in 1854, for service in the Crimean War, 



I 
I 



BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. 167 

and his nine Minutes of February, 1856, his last official act, urging 
military changes absolutely needful for safety, were wholly dis- 
regarded by the home authorities. 

It is on the subject of his annexations that the work of Lord 
Dalhousie has been most seriously challenged. We have here only 
to state the principles on which this great increaser of our dominion 
acted, and the successive additions which he made to the territory 
under direct British rule, Lower Burma being dealt with at a later 
part of this narrative. It was this Governor-General's lot to arrive 
in India at the time when the non-intervention system had been 
proved to be a failure so far as the welfare of the peoples of India 
was concerned. The native princes, by treaties and alliances, were 
so connected with the British government that, while our rulers 
undertook to guard them against external foes and internal revolt, 
so long as they remained loyal to our supreme dominion, the 
Governor-General and his Council claimed no right of interference 
with the conduct of the native ruler towards his own subjects. The 
consequence was that, during the first half of the nineteenth cen- 
tury, many of the chief native states in the centre and the north of 
India had sunk into a condition of misery and misrule that were 
most discreditable to the sovereign power which continued to wit- 
ness and permit the existence of those evils. Despots were secured 
by British bayonets against the only remedies of oppressed peoples, 
rebellion and deposition. The native princes had power for evil 
as for good, but were devoid of responsibility for their acts, since a 
force with which no rebels could cope was at hand to maintain 
them on the throne in spite of their folly, their vices and their 
crimes. Lord Dalhousie made a summary end of this condition 
of affairs. He was fully resolved to apply in India the British 
principle that government is to exist for the good of the governed. 
He aimed at the extension of British territory with a view to the 
strengthening of British rule in the interest of the Indian peoples. 
With this object, he set aside the native claim of a childless ruler's 
right to adopt a son, by Hindu custom, and so perpetuate a line of 
rulers. He would only admit that an adopted son could inherit 
the private estate and treasures of a deceased Raja, without any 
claim to his vacant throne, and in this contention it is certain that 
Dalhousie was only applying a principle not of his own invention, 
but one sanctioned by the Court of Directors and by the decision 



l68 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

of his predecessors in office. In 1849 the state of Satara was 
thus annexed. Sambalpur, a territory on the south-western fron- 
tier of Lower Bengal, also " lapsed " into British possession. The 
childless chief expressly declined to adopt an heir, in order that his 
subjects might have the benefit of British administration. In 1853, 
Jhansi, misgoverned for thirty years, was annexed "as an escheat", 
on the failure of a male heir. On the same principle of lapse, 
Jaitpur, in Bundelkhand; Udaipur, on the western frontier of 
Lower Bengal; and a part of Khandesh, in the Bombay Presi- 
dency, came under direct British rule. In 1853, on the death of 
the last Mahratta prince, the Raj of Nagpur (Nagpore) was also 
annexed as the "Central Provinces", and the Berars were received 
from the Nizam of Haidarabad as a territorial security for his 
arrears of subsidy, and for the pay of the contingent of troops. 
The province of Oudh, after repeated warnings already noticed, 
was taken from the miserable debauchee and tyrant who had ruled 
under British protection, and the dense population of a fertile pro- 
vince for the first time, in 1856, came under the control of a just 
and beneficent administration. Lord Dalhousie bade General 
(afterwards Sir James) Outram, the Resident at the Court of 
Lucknow, to assume the direct government of Oudh, with the em- 
phatic declaration that "the British government would be guilty in 
the sight of God and man if it were any longer to aid in sustaining 
by its countenance an administration fraught with suffering to 
millions". The proclamation of the kings deposition went forth 
on February 13th, 1856, and the dethroned monarch, after sending 
his mother, brother, and son on a fruitless mission to England, 
lived for many years at Garden Reach, Calcutta, on his pension of 
;^ 1 20,000 a-year. The territorial unification of India effected by 
Lord Dalhousie, including his annexation of Lower Burma, really 
completed the fabric of British rule. With the exception of Upper 
Burma, our frontier was carried to its utmost limits to north-west 
and to the east, and the centre was filled in by the annexations 
already named. About a quarter of a million of square miles, 
with over 30 millions of people, had been added to our dominion 
in the East, making British India between one-third and one-half 
larger than the territory of which the Governor-General assumed 
charge at the outset of his period of rule. 

The year 1853 is noteworthy for the Act which, renewing for 



BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. 169 

the last time the Charter of the East India Company, not for any 
fixed term of years, but only for a period to continue during the 
pleasure of Parliament, also abolished the patronage of the Directors 
in the superior or covenanted branch of the Civil Service. That 
service was henceforth, as too important a branch of national 
administration for the exercise of a free choice by any authority, 
thrown open by competitive examination to the youth of Great 
Britain. The first " India Civil" examination was held two years 
later, the College at Haileybury remaining open until 1858 for the 
benefit of " probationers " already nominated who were there under 
special training. The same Act relieved the Governor-General of 
his responsibility, as " Governor of Bengal ", in the direct adminis- 
tration of the Lower Ganges provinces, and appointed a *' Lieu- 
tenant-Governor of Bengal ". At the same time. Lord Dalhousie 
shifted the military centre of India, in accordance with the terri- 
torial changes which had so greatly altered the political position. 
The head-quarters of the Bengal Artillery, formerly lying seven 
miles from Calcutta, were removed to Meerut, a thousand miles 
away, in the North-Western Provinces. Calcutta and Lower 
Bengal were no longer the strongly-garrisoned points, and, with 
the movement of troops towards the north-west, Barrackpur, 16 
miles from Calcutta, became in time a suburb for the wealthier 
citizens of the town, instead of a strong cantonment. Chinsurah, 
a few miles further up the Hugli, had not a soldier in its splendid 
barracks; Dinapur, nearly 350 miles distant by railway from Cal- 
cutta, was the nearest place to the seaboard with a garrison of any 
great strength; and the seat of government for the supreme 
authority has been since 1865 removed, for most of the year, from 
the capital of Bengal to Simla in the Punjab, which has also become 
the permanent head-quarters of the army. 

Less than three weeks after the annexation of Oudh, Lord 
Dalhousie, completely worn out by his long and incessant toils, 
resigned his great office. Stricken down in 1853 ^V ^^^ ^^^s of his 
wife, a daughter of the Marquess of Tweeddale, he had remained 
far too long at the post of duty. His strength and life had been 
gradually but surely ebbing away. After welcoming his successor 
on February 29th, 1856, at Government House, Calcutta, and re- 
ceiving expressions of admiration, gratitude, and regret from depu- 
tations representing every class of the community, he embarked for 



I/O OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

England amidst a crowd of persons on the Hugli-shore. Their 
cheers, scarce begun, were cut short by the sight of the prematurely 
aged man, bent with disease, and supported on crutches, tottering 
towards the river-side. A pathetic hush, more eloquent than the 
loudest plaudits, fell on all who witnessed that memorable scene. 
The Company, so soon itself to expire, voted Dalhousie a well-won 
pension of ;^5000 a-year. Severely shaken by the Indian events 
of 1857, he lingered on till the close of i860, and then the great 
proconsul, the " Laird o' Cockpen ", still more than a twelvemonth 
short of his fifty years of life, was laid to rest in the olden burial- 
place of the Dalhousies. 

Viscount Canning, the friend of Dalhousie, bom in the same 
year (181 2), and now in his forty-fourth year, was the third son of 
George Canning, and in 1837 inherited, through the previous death 
of two brothers, the peerage conferred on the widow of that states- 
man. In 1 84 1 he became, in Sir Robert Peels government, Under- 
Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and then Commissioner of Woods 
and Forests. In the ministries of Lord Aberdeen and Lord Pal- 
merston he was Postmaster-General, and early in 1856, as a cautious, 
moderate, safe, and able administrator, he was appointed to succeed 
Dalhousie as Governor-General of India. He seemed to be entering 
on a peaceful task. He was destined to be tried by the most im- 
portant, tragical, and troublous event, or series of events, in the whole 
of Anglo-Indian history. We may say at once that, viewed in the 
full light now shed upon those transactions, he proved himself to 
be a ruler of singularly calm courage and sound judgment, well 
suited to the terrible crisis through which India was to pass. A 
little war with Persia, whose Shah, contrary to treaty with the 
British government, had taken possession of Herat, on the western 
frontier of Afghanistan, was quickly settled. An expedition under 
Sir James Outram sailed from Bombay for the Persian Gulf. , 
Bushire was taken, the Persian troops were defeated in several 
actions, and the war ended with the victory of Barazjoon, forcing 
Persia to withdraw her troops from Afghanistan and to acknow- 
ledge the independence of Herat. 

These small events, concluding in March, 1857, were followed 
by the outbreak of the revolt variously known as " The Mutiny ", 
"The Sepoy Mutiny", "The Indian Mutiny", and "The Sepoy 
War". It is needless to enter here at any length into the origin 



BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. I7I 

and progress, with all its horrors, hairbreadth escapes, and heroisms, 
of this tremendous test applied to the courage, endurance, and 
power of combat against enormous odds, of British soldiers and 
civilians in the East. How they came forth from that unequalled 
trial all the world knows, and history, to her latest day, will tell. 
The grand subject has a literature all its own, and every British 
reader knows, or should know, much of its most moving scenes. 
Volumes have been written concerning the causes of the great 
rising against British rule, but the real explanation is very simple. 
The sepoys of the Bengal army, mostly Hindus of high caste, were 
stirred by an irrepressible feeling of genuine fanaticism under the 
belief that the British rulers of India were bent upon destroying 
their purity of blood, as part of a general scheme for subverting 
their religious institutions. Nothing could be really more ground- 
less than such an assumption, and yet suspicion and dread were, it 
must be admitted, justly aroused by certain official mistakes. In 
July, 1856, a military order was issued that future enlistments in 
the Bengal army, a service regarded by men of the peasant-pro- 
prietor or yeoman-farmer class, men of good caste, as furnishing, 
even in the ranks, a well-paid and honourable career, would render 
soldiers liable, as in the Bombay and Madras armies, to service 
beyond sea, to the crossing of the "black water" which the Hindu 
dreads and abhors. Early in 1857, the introduction of the Enfield 
rifle into the Indian regiments required the supply of new cartridges, 
which in the English factories were always greased with the fat of 
beef or pork. It is a fact beyond dispute, that the authorities in 
India ordered the cartridges prepared at Calcutta to be greased in 
the same fashion. It is also a fact that none of these cartridges 
were ever issued to the troops. They were replaced by others 
greased with mutton-fat, a substance which could convey no pollu- 
tion either to the Hindu or to the Mahommedan soldier who, 
before loading his rifle, had to bite off the paper at the end of the 
cartridge. The rumour spread that the cartridges issued were 
greased with a mixture of beef-fat and lard, and the minds both of 
the Hindu sepoys and of their Mahommedan comrades were at 
once inflamed. To the Hindu, beef is forbidden as the flesh of a 
sacred animal; to the Mahommedan, pork is accursed, as the flesh 
of an unclean creature. We must remember what caste-feeling is 
to the Hindu. It is based on a fixed belief in the essential differ- 




OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 



ence of blood in each caste. It includes a social feeling and a 
religious feeling. The high-caste Hindu firmly regards himself as 
nobly born, and as one of the Elect. He believes with the utmost 
sincerity, depth, and tenacity of faith that the personal pollution 
involved in the tasting of beef means the loss of all social and 
personal respect in this world, and the suffering of endless perdition 
in the next. To some Western minds, this appears as mere folly, 
to be treated only with contempt, or as the hypocritical pretence of 
men desirous of upholding, against rulers of alien blood and religion 
and habits, a native superstition not seriously entertained. To the 
Hindu sepoy, however, the results of such pollution were intensely 
true, and his Mahommedan comrades, mostly descended from con- 
verted Hindus, regarded pollution by pork in much the same light. 
The story concerning the greased cartridges flew through the 
land, and, along the Ganges and Jumna, at Benares and Allahabad, 
at Agra and Delhi, the most credulous and e.xcitable soldiery in 
the world became wild with a panic of indignation and fear. In 
January, 1857, there was trouble with the troops at Barrackpur, 
near Calcutta; in February, mutiny was with difficulty stayed at 
Berhampur, 120 miles up country, near Murshedabad. In April, 
signs of excitement were seen at the military stations throughout 
Hindustan and the Punjab. On May 3rd, a regiment of Oudh 
Irregular Infantry mutinied at Lucknow, but the men were promptly 
disarmed by Sir Henry Lawrence, the new Chief Commissioner, 
who had at hand the 32nd British regiment of foot, and a battery 
of guns manned by Europeans. On May 6th, some sepoy troopers 
at Meerut, forty miles from Delhi, and the largest cantonment in 
India, refused to receive some perfectly innocent cartridges of the 
old pattern, and about fourscore were tried by a court-martial of 
native officers, found guilty, degraded, and imprisoned. On Sunday, 
May loth, while the British authorities were culpably heedless of 
danger from the native lines, the 3rd Bengal cavalry, and two regi- 
ments of native infantry rose in revolt, shot down some British 
officers, murdered many European men, women, and children, set 
fire to British quarters, released their comrades, with many other 
criminals, from the jail, and made off to Delhi, where they called 
on the aged Mogul king to head the revolt and proclaimed him 
sovereign of Hindustan. Throughout the north of India there 
were scarcely more than 20,000 British troops, and these were 



^^^^1 BRITISH POSSESSIONS IK ASIA. 173 

scatfered in small detachments over many hundreds of miles of 
country. Many of the Bombay troops joined in the rising, and 
rascals of every kind flocked to the standard of the sepoy rebels. 
The talukdars, or great landowners, of Oudh, incensed by the late 
annexation and its summary ending to their tyrannical sway, eagerly 
embraced the cause of revolt against British power. Sindhia, the 
ruler of Gwalior; the Nizam of Haidarabad, with his able minister, 
Salar Jung; Holkar of Indore; Gholab Singh of Kashmir; and 
Jung Bahadoor, of Nipal, were steadily faithful to the British 
suzerainty during this supreme native effort to throw off our 
dominion. 

The loyalty of the Sikh troops in the Punjab was a tower of 
strength to the British cause. The sepoys were disarmed, and 
Sir John Lawrence, the Chief Commissioner, was able to send 
reinforcements to his countrymen besieging Delhi. In June and 
July occurred the two massacres of Cawnpore and the famous vic- 
torious march of Havelock to that city, entered by his troops on 
July i6th. Lucknow, after a nearly four months' siege of our 
people in the Residency, and the death of Sir Henry Lawrence, on 
July 4th, by a wound from a shell, was reached by Outram and 
Havelock in the last week of September, but they were then them- 
selves blockaded for some weeks by a host of foes. The capture 
of Delhi, on September 21st, after six days' street-fighting, and 
more than three months' siege, was the first serious blow dealt to 
the great rebellion. The capital of Hindustan was once more in 
British hands, and the arrival of Sir Colin Campbell, afterwards 
Lord Clyde, from England, followed by that of many thousands of 
men, made the issue of the struggle one of certain success for our 
arms. On November i 7th. Campbell forced his way into Lucknow, 
and released Outram and Havelock, with the sick and wounded, 
and the women and children, so long beleaguered in the Residency. 
A week later, Havelock died of disease, the baronetcy conferred 
by the Queen being transferred to his brave son Henry. Cawn- 
pore, taken from our hands by mutinous troops of the loyal Sindhia 
of Gwalior, was re-captured in December by Campbell and Sir 
Hope Grant. On March ist, 1858. Sir Colin, heading 2o,ocra 
British troops, with 100 guns, was again near Lucknow. still held 
by a vast force of rebels. With small loss to the assailants, the 
capital of Oudh, after twelve days' operations, was finally occupied. 




174 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

and the neck of the rebellion was thus broken. The valley of the 
Ganges was then swept clear of all scattered parties of foes by 
flying columns, or complete small armies, of artillery, cavalry, 
infantry, and engineers, fitted for every kind of work, who marched 
hither and thither, seizing post after post, and making an end of 
all resistance. Central India, where much trouble had arisen from 
the brave and able Rani, or princess, of Jhansi, and the very 
skilful general Tantia Topi, was conquered in a most brilliant 
campaign, conducted during May and June, 1858, by Sir Hugh 
Rose, afterwards Lord Strathnairn. On December 20th, 1858, 
Lord Clyde, as commander-in-chief, was able to report to Lord 
Canning that the last remnant of the mutineers and insurgents had 
been driven across the mountains between Nipal and Hindustan. 
Tantia Topi, indeed, hunted about after many defeats, was not 
finally taken and hanged, for his share in the Cawnpore massacres, 
until April, 1859. The struggle for supremacy, begun with every 
conceivable advantage of circumstance on the side of rebellion, had 
ended for the rebels in failure so complete that, from that day, the 
most enlightened natives, deeply impressed by the events of that 
exciting time, have come to assume the continuance of British rule 
in India as a matter fixed beyond the possibility of change. If the 
general revolt, the desperate attack on British power, of the very 
troops who largely contributed to build it up, who had so great a 
share in the overthrow of the gallant Sikhs, had failed to subvert 
our dominion, who should have any hope of success in such an 
enterprise? The sepoy mind, once for all, was disabused of vain 
conceits. He had found his master; he had learned that, beyond 
the seas, there were great reserves of British strength; above all, 
in the scrupulous heed which, in a remodelled native army, was 
paid to his religious prejudices, he found how grievously he had 
mistaken the purposes of British rule in the land. 



BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. 1 75 



CHAPTER VI. 

British Possessions in Asia {continued), India: History from 

1858 to the Present Day. 

Extinction of the East India Company — Changes in the administration — Proclamation of 
Queen Victoria at Allahabad — The Viceroy receives the homage of princes and 
chiefs at Agra — Indian revenue — Death of the Viceroy Lord Canning — Earl of Elgin 
succeeds — Defeat of the Wahabis — Death of Lord Elgin— Sir John Lawrence Vice- 
roy — Troubles with the Bhutanese — Famine in Orissa, &c. — Sir John Lawrence 
resigns, and is succeeded by the Earl of Mayo — His successful administration — Is 
assassinated — Opening of Suez Canal — Expedition against the Lushais — Lord 
Northbrook Viceroy — Another famine — Visit of the Prince of Wales to India — 
Resignation of the Viceroy, and appointment of Lord Lytton — A great cyclone — The 
Queen proclaimed "Empress of India" — Devastation by famine — War with the 
Afghans — Brilliant march of General Roberts — Defeat of Ayub Khan — Lord Ripon 
succeeds Lord Lytton as Viceroy — The "Ilbert Bill" — Lord Ripon's reforms— Sir 
Salar Jung — Lord DufTerin Viceroy — Russian aggression — Attack at Penjdeh — New 
frontier marked out — The Queen's Jubilee in India — Lord Lansdowne Viceroy — 
Development of local government — Means of defence against external and internal 
foes — Labours of Sir Donald Stewart and Lord Roberts. 

The sepoy rebellion brought with it the political extinction of 
the East India Company. The whole Indian administration was 
transferred to the Crown by the abolition of the "double govern- 
ment" vested in the Board of Control and the Court of Directors. 
On September ist, 1858, the political functions of the Directors 
ceased, but the Company still existed for the management of their 
" East India Stock ", all other property being vested in the Crown 
for the purposes of the government of India. An Act of 1873 
redeemed the dividends on the capital-stock, and on June ist, 1874, 
after its long, chequered, and, on the whole, glorious history, the 
East India Company was finally dissolved. The great statutes of 
1858 and 1861, which reformed the Home (or British) and the 
Local Indian Government made the changes now to be described. 
The President of the Board of Control became, with greatly 
enlarged powers, a "Secretary of State for India", assisted by a 
Council of fifteen members, who represented in their own persons 
much of the knowledge and experience in Indian affairs that had 
been included in or commanded by the Court of Directors. The 
power of initiative, and the responsibility to Parliament, for the 
whole business of India, lay with the new Secretary. The first 
"Council of India" consisted of seven members elected by the 



OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 




Court of Directors from their own body, and of eight nominated 
by the Crown. Future vacancies were filled up by the Secretary 
for India. The Indian, or Company's, navy ceased to exist, and 
the European troops of the Company, numbering about 24.000 
officers and men, passed into the Queen's service. The "Governor- 
General" became a "Viceroy", with supreme power in India, assisted 
by an executive and a legislative council. The Company's Courts 
of Appeal in the Presidencies, or Suddar Courts, with judges 
chosen from the Civil Service, were amalgamated with the Supreme 
Courts, now styled High Courts of Judicature, whose Chief Justices 
go out from home on the nomination of the Crown. The Viceroy's 
Executive Council, generally composed of five official members 
besides the Viceroy and the Commander-in-chief in India, is like 
the Cabinet at home, meeting at brief regular intervals, and divid- 
ing among themselves the chief departments of public business, 
foreign affairs, finance, war, public works, &c. The Viceroy has 
at once the duties of a prime-minister and a constitutional sove- 
reign, with special charge of the foreign department. The 
Legislative Council includes the members of the Executive, with 
the addition of the Governor of the Province, officials chosen by 
the Viceroy from other Provinces, and nominated members repre- 
senting the non-official native and European communities. The 
meetings of the Legislative Council, usually held once a week, are 
open to the public, and draft-Bills, after being amended by the 
several Provincial governments concerned, are published a certain 
number of times in the official Gazette. The Presidencies of 
Bombay and Madras, Bengal {as a Lieutenant-Governorship), and 
the North-Western Provinces with Oudh, have also Proviticial 
Legislative Councils, with members appointed by the Governors or 
Lieutenant-Governors, such nominations, like the legislation passed, 
being subject to the approval of the Viceroy. The "High Courts" 
of Justice exist in the Lieutenant-Governorships of Bengal, and the 
North-Western Provinces, and in the Presidencies of Madras and- 
Bombay, with supreme jurisdiction both in civil and criminal afTairs, 
subject only to an appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy 
Council in London. The puisne or assistant judges in these 
Courts are chosen in certain proportions from the Indian Civil 
Service and from the English or the local Bars, and include natives 
who have shown themselves to be highly competent for such work. 



■ 
I 




BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA, l^^ 

In the Punjab and in Oudli. there are "Chief Courts"; in the 
Central Provinces, and in Upper and Lower Burma, "Judicial 
Commissioners" have power. In Assam, there is a "Chief Com- 
missioner" as judge, with appeal from him to the High Court at 
Calcutta, 

The law administered in the Indian Courts consists chiefly of 
(i) enactments of Indian Legislative Councils, present and prior to 
1858; {2) Acts of Parliament applying to India; (3) Hindu and 
Mohammedan laws of inheritance, and domestic law, in causes 
affecting Mohammedans and Hindus; (4) customary law affect- 
ing particular races and castes. The later period of British sway 
in India has been nobly distinguished by progress in the simplifi- 
cation and the lucid statement of law. No agency for good has 
been more powerful in British India than the administration of 
justice according to British ideas of veracity and equitable dealing. 
The morality of vast populations has thus been visibly improved. 
To this great advantage has now been added, through modern 
Codes, rare excellence in the form, comprehensiveness, and clear- 
ness of the law. These codes, of which the Penal Code has been 
already described, are wholly the product, except the Penal Code, 
of the time during which India has been governed by the Crown. 
The Codes of Criminal and Civil Procedure, and the Code of 
Substantive Civil Law, have almost completed the good work of 
enabling any man of fair intelligence who can read, to learn on any 
point in practical life the law by which his conduct should be guided 
and controlled. 

A memorable event came to pass on November ist, 1858, 
when "all the people, nations, and languages" of India received 
their Magna Charta from Queen Victoria. At a solemn darbar 
(Durbar, or state-reception) held at Allahabad, Lord Canning, the 
first Viceroy, published the Royal Proclamation, announcing that 
the Queen had assumed the government of the British territories. 
This grand document breathed a noble spirit of generosity, benevo- 
lence, and religious toleration. All existing dignities, rights, usages, 
and treaties were confirmed. The natives were assured that the 
British government had neither the right nor the desire to tamper 
with their religion or caste. An amnesty was accorded to all 
mutineers and rebels, save only those who should be proved to 
have taken a direct share in the murder of British subjects. 




!;8 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

Translated into all the languages of the country, this proclamation 
was warmly and gratefully recognized by the general intelligence 
of the people. On July 8th. 1859, peace was proclaimed through- 
out India, and in the following cold season Canning made a vice- 
regal progress through the northern provinces. At a grand darbar 
held at Agra in November, where his dignified presence created a 
profound and ineffaceable impression, he received the homage of 
many loyal princes and chiefs, to whom, in his sovereign's name, 
he guaranteed the right of adopting a son who should succeed, on 
the failure of natural heirs, to the government of their several 
principaHties. The question so hotly disputed in regard to the 
action, in several instances, of Lord Dalhousie, was thus finally 
settled. 

The financial position had been greatly changed through the 
increase of the public debt of India by 40 millions sterling in the 
cost of suppressing the revolt, and the annual expenditure was 
augmented by about 10 millions in the charge due to military 
changes, whereby a far greater European force was maintained. 
Mr. James Wilson, a distinguished political economist and parlia- 
mentary financier, was sent out from England as Financial Mem- 
ber of Council, in which capacity, at the cost of his life amidst his 
arduous toils, he rendered eminent service. A State paper- 
currency was established, the customs-duties were settled on a new 
basis, and a licence-duty and an income-tax were imposed. It is 
impossible here to go far into the lengthy and complicated subject 
of Indian revenue. The most important sources are land, opium, 
salt, stamps, and excise. The present value of a rupee is about 
IS., ten rupees thus making about tos., or one-half of a pound. 
The following figures mean tens of rupees, and in the financial 
year 1894-95 land-revenue produced over 25 millions, opium- 
duty over 8 millions, the salt-duty above 8j4 millions, stamps 
nearly 4^ millions, and excise over 5 millions. The civil salaries 
paid reached nearly 14J4 millions, the army cogt above 25 
millions. The whole expenditure (which includes the railway- 
account of nearly 21 millions against 19 millions received) reached 
over 94 millions against 95 millions of total revenue. The total 
debt, still in tens of rupees, amounts to over 230 millions. The 
land-tax is based upon the very ancient Eastern system of the 
State appropriating a share of the produce of the soil. Under, 



I 
I 



BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. 179 

British rule, with its justice and stability, individual proprietary 
right in land has arisen, along with occupancy-right or fixity of 
tenure for the peasant-cultivators, and legal titles have been sub- 
stituted for unwritten customs. The Government-share of the 
produce of the soil, paid in coin to the revenue-officers, a little 
exceeds 5 per cent, taking the average land-tax throughout India. 
Under native rule, the amount seized by the government varied 
from 33 to 60 per cent. 

Like his illustrious predecessor Dalhousie, Lord Canning sacri- 
ficed his life in the faithful discharge of his arduous duties. Quitting 
India in March, 1862, he died on June 17th, before he had been a 
month in England, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. His 
title of earl, conferred in 1859, became extinct from lack of any 
surviving son. The second Viceroy of India was James Bruce, 
eighth Earl of Elgin in the peerage of Scotland, first Baron Elgin 
(1849) in the peerage of the United Kingdom, son of the Earl of 
Elgin who brought from Athens the famous sculptures in the 
British Museum known as the " Elgin Marbles". The new ruler, 
as we shall see hereafter, had displayed signal ability as Governor 
of Jamaica and Governor-General of Canada. His decision of 
character was finely shown when, in 1857, on his way to China as 
minister-plenipotentiary at the time of the Second Chinese War, he 
heard at Singapore of the outbreak of the Indian Mutiny, and 
promptly diverted to Lord Canning's aid the troops destined for 
China. His diplomatic services in China and Japan in 185S and 
1 860 have been already noticed. During his brief term of office in 
India, trouble arose on the north-west frontier and in Bhutan, an 
independent state of the eastern Himalayas. In the north-west, 
the wild mountain-tribes of the Sulaiman range, running south- 
wards from the Hindu Kush into Sind, renewed their raids on 
British territory in the Punjab. These ignorant, barbarous, blood- 
thirsty, and treacherous Mohammedan fanatics, with internecine 
blood-feuds amongst themselves, but ever ready to unite against 
foreigners, were the people against whom Lord Dalhousie estab- 
lished the Punjab Irregular Force. The special aggressors on this 
occasion were a sect of Mohammedan puritans, called Wahabis, 
who had migrated from Bengal about 1S30, and settled some forty 
miles to the north of Attock, in the Sitana district. It was known 
that from time to time they received supplies of men and money 




l8o OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD, 

from disaffected Mohammedans at Patna, 1200 miles away, and it 
was thought well to give them a sharp chastisement, A force of 
5000 men under General Sir Neville Chamberlain was sent to 
attack them by way of the Umbeyla Pass, lying on Afghan terri-g 
tory. The coming of the assailants was known, and the Wahabis'l 
obtained the aid of all the neighbouring tribes by the artful false- 
hood that the British infidels were coming to lay waste their 
country and subvert their religion. In the Umbeyla Pass, nine 
miles long, Chamberlain and his troops found themselves entrapped 
and surrounded by many thousands of men. It was impossible to 
advance without reinforcements, and almost hopeless to attempt to 
retire in face of swarming foes in front and on both flanks, while 
the rear was blocked by the mules, camels, and baggage of the 
invaders themselves. General Chamberlain was wounded, and at 
that moment the Viceroy, Lord Elgin, lay in a dying condition at 
the hill-station of Dharmsala in the Punjab. There he expired in , 
November, 1863, and was buried in the churchyard. At this crisis^d 
Sir Hugh Rose, the Commander-in-Chief, sent up reinforcements^ 
in hot haste from Lahore, and General Garvock, the successor of 
Chamberlain, with a force of 9000 men, routed all the opposing 
tribes in a brilliant little campaign. 

After a brief tenure of power, as acting-Viceroy, by Sir William 
Denison, Governor of Madras, Sir John Lawrence was appointed 
third Viceroy. Born at Richmond, in Yorkshire, in 181 1, son of 
Lieut.-Colonel Lawrence, who served at the storming of Seringa- 
patam, he entered the civil service of the Company after a distin- 
guished career at Haileybury. The early years of his official life 
were passed in magisterial and revenue duties in the North-West 
Provinces, where he acquired the experience and the knowledge of 
native character and needs which enabled him to obtain, as we 
have seen, such high distinction as ruler of the Punjab. His firm 
and beneficent sway won the respect and good-will of the conquered 
Sikhs. His prudent, prompt, and daring action on the outbreak 
of the Mutiny justly gained for him the glorious title of " Saviour 
of India". His despatch of reinforcements made him the real 
conqueror of Delhi. On his return to England, he received fitting 
rewards in the thanks of Parliament, a pension of /"200a a-year, a 
baronetcy, a seat in the Privy Council, and a knighthood in the 
new " Most Exalted Order of the Star of India", whose motto is 




L 



^^^^^^B BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. iSl 

"Heaven's Light our Guide". His services had already won for him 
the Grand Cross of the Bath, and, on the death of Lord Elgin, his 
appointment to the vacant post received universal public approval. 
His five-years' tenure of office showed his accustomed wisdom and 
energy, and, in view of events to be hereafter dealt with, we may 
note that, in foreign policy, he was always opposed to British 
interference in Asia beyond the frontier at Peshawar, and, regard- 
less of panic-mongers on the subject of Russia, he would have no 
intriguing in Afghan affairs. 

The first duty of the new Viceroy was that of dealing with the 
Bhutanese, a barbarous people of Buddhist religion and utterly 
degraded character, living among the lofty mountains bounded on 
the north by Thibet, and on the south by Assam and Bengal. 
They had long given just offence to the Indian government by 
depredations committed on British subjects in the lowland district 
called the Dwars or passes, to the south. Many people were slain 
by these raiders, and many more were carried off as slaves. Sir 
William Denison, the acting- Viceroy at the close of 1863, sent the 
Hon. Ashley Eden on a mission to demand reparation. He was 
not only received with insult and defiance, but was forced to sign a 
treaty giving over to Bhutan the territory on which the outrages 
had been committed, and which they claimed as their own. Sir 
John Lawrence, who had arrived in India in January, 1864, at 
once repudiated this discreditable arrangement, and demanded the 
immediate restoration of ail British subjects kidnapped during the 
past five years, On refusal, he proclaimed, in November, 1864, 
the annexation of the eleven western or Bengal Dwars. In 
January, 1865, after a seeming submission, the Bhutanese suddenly 
attacked our garrison at Diwangiri, in Assam, and the troops were 
forced to retire with the loss of two mountain-guns. Reinforce- 
ments under General Tombs soon put matters right, and the enemy 
were compelled to sue for peace, concluded in November, 1865. 
All the eighteen Dwars of Bengal and Assam were ceded to our 
rule; the captives were restored; and the Indian government, with 
the clemency of strength, agreed to pay an annual allowance, con- 
ditional on good behaviour, in lieu of the revenue, in the shape of 
rents, lost by the Bhutan rulers through our annexation of territory. 
Permanent peace and prosperity for the new and old British districts 
followed this settlement. 



A very different loe was face to face with the Viceroy in r866. 
This was the dreadful famine in Orissa, a province subject to 
drought as well as to inundation, both arising from want of due 
control over the water-supply. Abundance of rain (62 inches per 
annum) is the rule of the fertile deltaic land, but no storage was 
made against the day of need. When a rupee will buy but 21 lbs. 
of rice, it is held that a famine needing operations of relief is come. 
In April, 1S66, rice was at 1 1 lbs, per rupee, and the poorer classes 
were in imminent danger of starvation. Prices continued to rise, 
and in July, in lack of rice, the people were resorting to the grasses 
in the fields for food. Relief-committees were started, and rice 
sent by the government from Bengal was distributed to the help- 
less and to those who were capable of labour on relief-works. 
Every effort was made to meet the terrible evil, and majiy thou- 
sands of pounds were expended. One government agent stated 
that, "for miles round you heard the yell of the famishing crowds 
for food". In August, heavy rains caused serious disease from cold 
and wet, and then all the low-lying country was flooded. In 
November, the crop of new rice began to come into the markets, 
and the dreadful famine abated, after having slain, with its concur- 
rent disease, about one-fourth of a population of nearly 3 millions. 
In 1868-69 there were serious famines in Bundelkhand and Upper 
Hindustan, and these caused Sir John Lawrence, for the first time 
in Indian history, to establish the principle of making government 
officials personally responsible for using all possible efforts to pre- 
vent death by starvation. 

The affairs of Afghanistan were forced upon the attention of 
the Indian Viceroy by the death of Dost Mahommed Khan in June, 
1S63. and by the advance of Russian power in Central Asia. That 
great European and Asiatic monarchy had pushed her troops 
beyond the Jaxartes and was approaching the Oxus. At the same 
time, the decease of the powerful Afghan ruler, who had remained 
firm to the British alliance since 1855, brought war between his 
sons for the succession to the throne. In the end, his younger 
son, Sher Ali, already recognized as Amir by Sir John Lawrence, 
obtained full possession of the country, and was propitiated by a 
gift of money and arms from the Indian government. In January, 
1869, Sir John Lawrence resigned office, after filling every post of 
the Indian Civil Service from an assistant-magistracy upwards. 



^^^^^^B BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. I83 

He returned to England, received a peerage as the well-earned 
reward of capacity and energy rarely equalled in modern days, and, 
after ten years' more good work, pardy as chairman of the London 
School Board in its earliest days, he was buried in July, 1879, 
within the walls of Westminster Abbey. 

The successor of Lord Lawrence was the Earl of Mayo, a 
statesman who, as Lord Naas, had been thrice Chief-Secretary of 
Ireland under Lord Derby as Premier. Head of the Bourkes of 
County Kildare, born in Dublin in 1822, he became a well-liked 
member of the House of Commons, and showed much capacity for 
public business in his Irish office, but his selection by Mr. Disraeli, 
in his first ministry, for the Viceregal office in India completely 
took the British world by surprise. Lord Mayo was destined to 
nobly fulfil the requirements of his great promotion and to prove, 
in his own case, his chief's keen insight as a judge of mankind. 
He rose in a short time to the height of his new position, and, 
under the ministry of his political opponent, Mr. Gladstone, worked 
in harmony with the new Secretary for India, the Duke of Argyll, 
The dignified, courtly, and charming demeanour of an Irish gentle- 
man of the highest type won for him a social popularity in India 
which had not been attained by any recent ruler at Calcutta. As 
an administrator Lord Mayo showed admirable zeal and ability. 
He largely developed the railway and telegraph systems planned 
and commenced by Dalhousie. Education, commercial and mining 
enterprise, were greatly promoted. To him were due the creation 
of an Agricultural Department, and the introduction of a system of 
Provincial Finance which, in connection with local self-government, 
has been of great value in augmenting and thriftily employing the 
revenues of the country. Roads and canals, as well as railways, 
were vastly extended, and the Viceroy never tired of travelling 
through the land to see things with his own eyes, to study the 
people and their needs, and to win the friendship of native rulers 
and of men of every class by the uniform justice, kindness, and 
courtesy of his conduct and manners. In March, 1869, soon after 
his arrival in India, the new Viceroy received Sher Ali of Afghan- 
istan in a grand darbar (Durbar) at Ambala (Umballa), north-west 
of Delhi, and by his conciliatory tone, and renewal of assurance 
that the British government regarded him as the rightful ruler of 
his country, he soothed the susceptibilities of a monarch who, as a 



OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 




F 184 

■ good judge expresses it, " had been chilled by the icy friendship of 
I Sir John Lawrence". The importance of "manner" was never 
H more signally shown in dealings with Oriental princes than when 
H Lord Mayo, at the Umballa interview, won the heart of Sher AH 
H Khan. 

W The tragical end of Lord Mayo's most useful, honourable, and 

M successful career as Viceroy, during three years' tenure of office, 

W was a terrible shock to the public mind, and a real calamity to the 

I Empire. After a brief visit to Lower Burma, the Viceroy and 

I Lady Mayo, with the personal staff, steamed away to the Andaman 

L Islands for inspection of the penal settlement. The steam frigate 

■ Glasgow lay off Port Blair, on the evening of February 8th, 1872, 
W with Lady Mayo and her friends on board, awaiting the return of 

the Viceroy. Quickly fell the tropical dark, and, as the Viceroy, 
with torches borne aloft, descended Mount Harriet towards the 
landing-place where the state-launch lay with steam up, the long 
lines of lights on the Glasgow and the escorting squadron, the 
Dacca, Nemesis, and Scotia, glittered on the water. At the moment 
of Lord Mayo's stepping into the boat, a rush was made, a knife- 
armed hand rose and fell, and the Viceroy, stabbed twice in the 
back, fell over the pier into the water alongside. He staggered up, 
knee-deep in the water, cleared the hair from his brow in bewilder- 
ment, and cried to his secretary, Major Burne, who leapt down to 
his aid, " They've hit me!" and then to the people on the pier he 
said, "It is all right, I don't think I am much hurt." In two 
minutes he was dead, and so he was carried to the ship in the 
launch, which came alongside as the voices of the ladies were heard 
in merriment, waiting for dinner in the state-cabin. The scene 
which followed passes all description. The assassin was an Afghan 
convict, by a strange coincidence named Sher Ali, formerly in the 
Punjab mounted police, condemned to death for a murder at Pesha- 
war, and then sent to the Andamans on a life-sentence of exile. 
He had dogged the steps of his victim all day, and up and down 
Mount Harriet, and got his chance when Lord Mayo, about to 
embark, stepped forward from among the suite who had closely 
surrounded his person. The murderer's motive was simply one of 

L vengeance on the high official whose duty had caused him to sanc- 
tion the punishment of crime. The Viceroy's body was brought back 
to Ireland and laid in a shady spot of the quiet little churchyard at 



I 
I 




BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. 185 

Palmerstown, near the family-seat on his Kildare estate. The 
place of burial had been chosen by himself when, in October 1868, 
he had made a farewell visit, and then left his home, as his diary 
relates, "amid tears and wailing, much leave-taking, and great 
sorrow". 

Before passing away from Lord Mayo's administration, we may 
note the very important link of connection between Great Britain 
and her Indian Empire supplied in November, 1869, by the open- 
ing of the Suez Canal. The only warlike event was an expedition 
made in 1871 against the turbulent people in the Lushai Hills, a 
wild tract of country on the borders of Assam, Bengal, and Burma. 
The Lushais, feudally organized under hereditary chiefs, had com- 
mitted, since the days of Warren Hastings, sanguinary raids on 
British territory, and in i860, their invasion of the Bengal district 
of Tipperah ended in the massacre of nearly 200 villagers and the 
carrying off of 100 captives. After several futile expeditions made 
by small bodies of our forces in the very difficult country of the 
Lushais, that people, in January, 1871, attacked some British vil- 
lages, killed a planter at the tea-garden of Alexandrapur, and carried 
off his daughter, Mary Winchester, as a hostage. Lord Mayo 
resolved on administering a lesson, and a strong expedition was 
prepared by the Commander-in-chief, Lord Napier of Magdala. In 
November, 1871, a little army of 2000 men, composed of Gurkha, 
Punjab, and Bengal infantry, with engineers and mountain-guns, 
entered the hills in two columns under Generals Bourchier and 
Brownlow. and, amidst great difficulties of ground in unexplored 
country and against strong resistance from a hardy enemy, they 
inflicted severe losses in the burning of villages, the slaying of 
hillsmen, and the destruction of stores of food. Many powerful 
chiefs were thus forced to submission, and above 100 British sub- 
jects were freed from captivity. Among these, little Mary Win- 
chester, then nearly seven years old, was delivered up in January, 
1872. She was a native of Elgin, and already long motherless 
when her father, in March, 1871, was shot by the Lushais as he 
ran off carrying her on his back. The pretty, affectionate, and in- 
telligent child was sent back at the charge of the Indian govern- 
ment to her grandparents in Elgin. She would say nothing about 
the events of her nine months' captivity, but had a sad look when- 
ever the Lushais were mentioned. The wild people seem to have 



I 



l86 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

had a fondness for their lictie prisoner, whose curls were cut off by ' 
them before her restoration, as a memorial of her stay among them, i 
The expedition was completely successful in its main object of ] 
causing the Lushais to abstain from aggressions in time to come. 

On the assassination of Lord Mayo, the duties of government ] 
were assumed for a time by the skilled diplomatist, descendant of a. i 
famous and ancient Scottish family, Lord Napier of Merchistoun, 
then holding the post of Governor of Madras. The new Viceroy 
appointed by the Queen, on Mr. Gladstone's advice as Premier, 
was the experienced Whig official Thomas George Baring, second 
Lord Northbrook, who had served the country as a Lord of the ' 
Admiralty, as Under-Secretary for India, and in the same capacity ' 
at the War Office, a post which he had been holding since the end 
of 1868. He proved to be a hard-working ruler, able in adminis- 
tration, not given to viceregal pageants or tours, and specially 
devoted to financial measures. He promptly repealed the income- 
tax which, after abolition in 1844, had been reimposed in the I 
English form that, from its complications, became obnoxious to the ' 
natives of India. In 1S73, the failure of summer and autumn rains 
portended a famine, from lack of rice and other grains, in Lower 
Bengal and Behar. Mindful of the recent calamity in Orissa, the 
Viceroy and Sir George Campbell, Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, ■ 
took prompt measures to meet the threatened evil, and the Duke of 
Argyll, Secretary of State for India, gave them authority to incur 
any needful expenses. Vast quantities of rice and other native 
food were purchased, relief-works were established on a great scale, 
and in May, 1874, nearly three millions of persons were being sup- 
ported by the government in the famine districts. The work of dis- 
tribution was arranged and carried out with great ability and energy | 
by Campbell and his successor Sir Richard Temple. Native land* 
holders gave considerable help, and the civil servants of every rank I 
were most zealous in fighting the terrible foe. So successful were | 
the efforts made in this "glorious famine-campaign" of Lord . 
Northbrook's that scarcely any more deaths from starvation 
occurred in the stricken districts than the number known in an | 
ordinary season. In 1875, the Gaekwar of Baroda, a cruel tyrant ' 
who, after one stern warning from the Indian government concern- 
ing his barbarous misrule, still made sport of seeing his prisoners 
trampled to death by elephants, was dethroned and banished from 




BRITISH rOaSESSIONS IN ASIA. 187 

his country. This decision was reached by the Viceroy on the 

conclusion of that potentate's trial for attempts to poison Colonel 
Phayre, the British Resident. The evidence against him was not 
conclusive, and, after an able defence by the famous English bar- 
rister, Sergeant Ballantine, imported for the purpose at enormous 
cost, the special Court of Inquiry was divided in opinion. Lord 
Northbrook, however, carefully perused the evidence, and, coupling 
strong suspicion of guilt in this case with the notorious misgovern- 
ment of the Gaekwar. he placed on the throne of Baroda a young 
member of the ruling house. 

The visit and tour of the Prince of Wales took place in the cold 
season of 1875-76, and the heir to the British throne found a warm 
and loyal welcome from the native princes who now fully realized 
the fact that, in their relations to the Indian government, they and 
their peoples were bound up with the Oriental interests and power 
of an European nation governed by an ancientand splendid dynasty. 
The pen of Dr. W. H. Russell, the famous Ti?nes correspondent, 
who accompanied the Prince as secretary, has fully detailed the 
incidents of a course of travel during which the royal tourist saw, 
to the greatest advantage, much of the best that India has to show. 
In the crowd of mental photographs then acquired by the Prince 
were the picturesque and gorgeous dress and ceremonial of Oriental 
state, with the quaint, strange customs of local and native etiquette; 
the rock-hewn temples and the graceful or stately shrines and 
tombs and palaces of olden Hindu or Mohammedan work; combats 
between pairs of elephants, tigers, buffaloes, rhinoceroses, camels, 
and rams; the chasing of wild black deer by cheetahs or hunting 
leopards; the golden, jewelled treasures guarded by the priests of 
pagan gods; the shooting of elephants from a platform in the 
jungle, and of tigers from the howdah on the elephant's back; and 
the dances of girls in silken attire of divers hues, with wreaths of 
pearls round head and neck, rings of pearls passing through the 
nose, and jewelled bangles on ankle and wrist. The scenes of 
strife and death in the days of the great Mutiny were inspected at 
Cawnpore, Lucknow, and Delhi, and at Lahore the chiefs of the 
Punjab, men of martial faces and noble forms, with elephants and 
steeds in gold and silver trappings, and with bands of followers in 
splendid array of weapon, banner, and plume, made obeisance to 
the son of the great Queen beyond the seas amidst the blare of 



THE QUEEN BEING PROCLAIMED "EMPRESS OF INDIA ^' 

AT DELHI. 

On January ist, 1877, at a great durbar held in Delhi, Queen Victoria 
was proclaimed " Empress of India " with befitting pomp and ceremony. 
Ix)rd Lytton was the Governor-General at that time, and in issuing the 
proclamation before the magnificent assemblage of native E^nces he hoped 
that this new title might be the means of drawing closer the bonds of union 
between the government of Her Majesty and the great allies and feudatories 
of the Empire. It was an impressive scene. A hundred thousand persons, 
chiefly natives, were gathered in the vast plain outside the city, besides 
about fifteen thousand troops of the Indian army. With the sun shining 
upon this great assemblage clothed in every variety of brilliantly-coloured 
costume, it looked like an immense Eastern garden in full bloom. The 
memorable ceremonial concluded with the release of numerous prisoners 
and debtors, and by the lavish distribution to the poor of rupees bearing 
tlie words " Victoria, Empress ". 




THE QUEEN BEING I'KOfLAlMED ''EMPRESS OF INDIA" AT DELHI. 



BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. 189 

or her family insignia, embroidered in gold or silver on silk or 
satin, with a medal commemorative of the event. The Maharajas 
of Gwalior and Cashmere were appointed honorary generals of the 
British army, and, in Lord Lytton's words, it was hoped that the 
occasion would "be the means of drawing still closer the bonds of 
union between the government of Her Majesty and the great 
allies and feudatories of the Empire", No assemblage of princes 
so numerous and in such gorgeous array had ever occurred in 
India, and the scene was one of marvellous grandeur and gaiety 
when every variety of Eastern costume and colour was shown by 
a hundred thousand persons gathered in the old cantonment behind 
the historic " ridge " whence the siege had been conducted by the 
British troops in 1857. The vast plain resembled a garden covered 
with beds of brilliant flowers, and a bright sun gave full effect to 
every detail of hue and form. Fifteen thousand troops of the 
Indian army were ranged on the ground, in the perfection of 
modern equipment and discipline, while the retainers of the native 
princes showed all varieties of olden armament in scimitar and 
shield, matchlock and halbert, and artillery on the backs of camels 
equipped with red cloth and tinkling bells. Many new titles 
and distinctions, matters fully as dear to the Oriental mind as to 
the European, were accorded to native rulers, nobles, and civilians 
of distinguished merit, and the whole ceremonial observance con- 
cluded with a large release of prisoners and debtors, and with a 
lavish distribution to the poor of rupees bearing the new legend 
"Victoria, Empress". 

The attention of the Viceroy was now called to far different 
affairs. The whole of southern India, from the Deccan to Cape 
Comorin, was threatened with famine. The rain had failed to 
come fully in both the monsoons of 1876, and early in November 
a territory nearly as large as England was devoid of crops. Large 
quantities of rice were sent from Orissa, but much trouble was 
caused in landing supplies at the mouths of the rivers Godavery 
and Kistnah, the deposit of which prevents vessels of any fair ton- 
nage coming within six miles of the shore, and all cargoes needed 
to be taken off in open boats. Riots in the towns, and dacoity 
(robbery) in the country districts, were rife, and the most vigorous 
measures were required both for the repression of crime and for 
the relief of want. The season of 1877 was also very deficient in 



\ 




OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 




rain, and the area of famine spread through the Bombay and 
Madras presidencies, and then to the north, until it reached nearly 
260,000 square miles, with a population of nearly 60 millions 
directly affected. In spite of all efforts made under the direction 
of Sir Richard Temple, and an expenditure of i 1 millions sterling 
for relief, this awful visitation caused a loss of life, from actual 
starvation and subsequent disease, that exceeded five millions. A 
"Famine Commission" of eminent Europeans and natives was 
appointed to visit the territory wliich had thus suffered, and inquire 
into the means of preventing such calamities in future. 

In 1878, while the Russo-Turkish war was being waged in 
Europe and in Asia Minor, a restless feeling was aroused amongst 
the Mohammedans of India, and seditious and libellous articles 
began to appear in some of the newspapers printed in Oriental 
languages. Lord Lytton then caused the passing of the " Verna- 
cular Press Act ", as it was commonly called, to repress these 
utterances against native officials and the Indian government in 
general. The " Russian scare " at this time again arose in connec- 
tion with the affairs of Afghanistan. After the Russian occupation 
of Khiva in 1873. Sher Ali, the Afghan Amir, became uneasy, and 
sent a special envoy to Lord Northbrook, requesting a close 
alliance and the aid of arms and money for defence. The Indian 
Viceroy promised aid under certain conditions, but expressed the 
opinion that at present there was no need for fear of Russia. The 
attitude of Sher Ali towards our government in I ndia was changed, 
and early in 1877 he declined a proposal for a British mission to 
Cabul. In the autumn of 1878, an embassy from the Czar of 
Russia was received by him with every mark of honour and dis- 
tinction, and Lord Beaconsfield resolved to force Sher Ali to admit 
a special envoy. Persistent refusal caused a declaration of war, 
and three columns of our troops invaded Afghanistan by the Khyber, 
Kuram, and Bolan passes. The enemy were defeated in battle 
after battle, and the Amir fled to Turkestan, where he died early 
in the following year. His son. Yakub Khan, after the occupation 
of Kandahar by General Stewart, and some vigorous proceedings 
of General Roberts, concluded the Treaty of Gundamuk in May, 
1879, agreeing to receive a resident British minister at Cabul, and 
to follow British advice in foreign affairs. In return for these con- 
cessions, the Indian government undertook to pay an annual sub- 



I 




BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. 191 

sidy of ^60,000, and to defend Afghanistan against attack from 
abroad. Sir Louis Napoleon Cavagnari, an officer of high merit, 
son of an Italian who had been a devoted friend of tlie second 
Emperor of the French, became our minister at Cabul, with Mr. 
Jenkyns of the Bengal Civil Service as secretary, Dr. Kelly as the 
Residency-surgeon, and an escort of about 80 men, chiefly Sepoys, 
under the command of Lieutenant Hamilton. Within a month of 
their arrival, all were massacred, after a desperate resistance, in a 
rising of the bigoted and mutinous Afghan soldiery. 

The tragical event of September 3rd, 1879, was known two 
days later at Simla, and the Viceroy at once sent forward the 
troops at the Khyber Pass and Peshawar under the command of 
General Sir Frederick Roberts. The Afghans were routed in the 
battle of Charasiab, opening the road to Cabul, which was entered 
on October 12th. Martial law was proclaimed; persons guilty in 
the massacre were executed; the Amir, Yakub Khan, abdicated, 
and was sent a prisoner to India. A rebellion arose outside the 
capital through the preaching of a Jehad, or religious war, at 
Ghazni (Ghuznee), and large Afghan forces were again in the field. 
In March, 1880, the enemy were utterly defeated at Ghazni by 
General Stewart, and then another foe appeared on the scene. 
This was the able and energetic Ayub Khan, a son of Sher AH, 
who claimed the throne from a grandson of Dost Mahommed, 
Abdur Rahman Khan, who had been admitted as Amir by the 
British government, Ayub Khan advanced with an army from 
Herat, and on July 27th almost destroyed a British force of 2500 
men, Europeans and Sepoys, under General Burrows. The famous 
battle of Maiwand was fought near a village and pass of that name 
about fifty miles north-west of Kandahar, whence General Prim- 
rose, ignorant of the enemy's strength, had sent forth the detach- 
ment. Ayub Khan had 12,000 men, with 36 guns well equipped 
and well served. The fire of the twelve British cannon was 
overwhelmed, and a charge of thousands of the fanatical Ghazis, 
keen sabre in hand, captured two guns, and drove the Sepoys in 
disorder on the only British troops present, 406 men and 19 officers 
of the 66th or "Old Berkshire" regiment. Of these, 10 officers 
and 275 men were killed. One noble incident of the desperate 
struggle was the resistance made by 100 officers and men of the 
66th, surrounded in a garden by countless foes. Hundreds of the 



192 



OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 



enemy were shot down by the breech-loaders, but at last only eleven ' 
British heroes were left standing, and these men charged out of the ' 
inclosure and died, back to back, facing the Ghazis whom their | 
resolute demeanour daunted and deterred from a close approach. 
One by one the British succumbed to bullets, while, in the hasty 
retreat to Kandahar, the surviving Sepoys fell by hundreds under 
the knives and shot of the Afghan villagers and hiUmen. 

Then came the brilliant historical march of Roberts. At this 
critical juncture, while swarms of exulting enemies hemmed in 
Primrose and his small force, and people at home were filled with 
anger and dismay, a bold stroke was being devised at Cabul. On 
August 8th, General Roberts went forth with about 10,000 men, 
including 2500 Europeans and about 270 British officers, with 18 
mountain-guns. The smallest possible quantity of baggage was 
taken, but the desertion of the native drivers soon caused additional 
fatigue for the troops. Nothing, however, could cool the zeal of 
the marchers, among whom were brave and faithful Sikhs, and 
many of the loyal, lithe, and active Ghurkhas. The weather, 
happily, was fine, and food was found in the green Indian corn 
growing in patches among the hills. The British genera], in this 
advance, plunged into darkness and silence for over three weeks. 
Not a word of news reached India or Great Britain as he made his 
way through the pathless regions between Cabul and Kandahar. 
On August 1 6th, Ghazni, 98 miles on the road, was reached; 
the 23rd, the army was at Kilat Ghilzi, 134 miles from Ghazni. A 1 
day or two of rest were given here on receipt of news from Kan- I 
dahar that Ayub Khan's beleaguering army had retired from before 
the city. On August 31st Roberts and his men joined General 
Primrose, after traversing 318 miles in 23 days. On September ist 
Ayub Khan was attacked in his position north-west of the town 
and completely defeated with the loss of all his artillery and the 
re -capture of the two guns taken from General Burrows at Mai- 
wand. Before these events, a change of rulers had come to pass ' 
in India, but we may here note that the British troops were with- 
drawn from Afghanistan, and that, after more warfare between the 
two rivals, Abdur Rahman became undisputed Amir, friendly to 
British interests, and further secured, in 1883, by our undertaking 
to pay a yearly subsidy of /^ 120,000. 

In April, 1880, Lord Lytton resigned his office ; 



y uur unueruiKing ^^h 
ce along with the ^^H 



BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. I93 

ministry of Lord Beaconsfield, and was succeeded by the Marquess 
of Ripon, The new Viceroy was son of the first Earl of Ripon 
who, as Viscount Goderich, was prime- minister from August 1827 
to January 1828. Born in 1827, and succeeding to his father's 
title in 1859, Lord Ripon served in various Liberal administrations 
as Under-Secretary and Secretary both for War and for India, and 
was created Marquess in 1871 for his services at Washington as 
Commissioner concerning the Alabama claims and other matters in 
dispute between the United States and Great Britain. The four 
years of his Indian administration form a peaceful period, apart 
from the Afghan warfare just described, of very important and 
beneficial reforms in the internal government of the vast territories 
committed to his charge. We may note, by the way, that in 18S1 
the government of the Native State of Mysore, which had been for 
fifty years in British hands, was transferred to the Maharaja who 
belonged, by adoption, to the hereditary native dynasty. In 1882 
the policy of the previous Viceroy was reversed in the repeal of the 
Vernacular Press Act, setting the native journals free from the last 
restraints on the free di,scussion of public questions. The develop- 
ment of local self-government through municipal institutions was a 
main feature of Lord Ripon's reforming work. He proclaimed 
that "self-help varied in aim, local in colouring" was to be the basis 
of his system of government. Members of the Financial and 
Public Works Boards visited the various provinces and conferred 
with the local authorities on the measures to be adopted for the 
promotion of native enterprise in the use of local resources on the 
creation of beneficial public works. A number of enactments 
increased the powers of the local authorities in the towns and the 
country-districts, and the number of members chosen by popular 
election was augmented. Many new local boards were created 
among the rural population, and every effort was made to foster in 
the native mind the principle of local administration on a repre- 
sentative basis. The liberality of the Viceroy's policy towards the 
natives aroused in one instance the keen resentment of the resident 
Anglo-Indians. The " llbert Bill" was the popular name, from its 
introduction by Mr. llbert, of the famous Bill for amending 
Criminal Procedure in the rural courts presided over by native 
officials of the Civil Service who had reached the position of Dis- 
trict Magistrates and Sessions judges. The new measure proposed 



OUK EMPIRE AT HOME AND AUkOAD. 



to subject Europeans to the jurisdiction of native magistrates, am 
BritisU pride and prejudice were bitterly offended. A wordy war, 
in the columns of the press showed the native newspapers all in 
favour of the Viceroy, while European editors strongly denounced 
his proposed departure from the "tradition of the elders" in Indian 
affairs, assigning an equally undefinable and unquestionable 
superiority to white men over the native races. The British pro- 
vincial governments were almost all opposed to the Bill in its 
original form, and the result of long and acrimonious discussion was 
a compromise giving the proposed jurisdiction to native magistrates 
only after special proofs of competence, and also affording to 
European offenders the right of appeal from a native magistrate to 
an European. Europeans were also allowed to claim a trial hy 
jury in most cases coming before District criminal courts. 

In agricultural affairs, so deeply important to the native popu- 
lation, the Indian government of Lord Ripon made its greatest 
mark. We have seen tliat Lord Mayo instituted an Agricultural 
Department of administration, but his sudden death came before k 
was fully developed, and its duties had been afterwards shared 
between the Home and the Finance Departments, The original: 
idea of Lord Mayo was, between 1881 and 1884, carried into 
operation in a refounded Department of Revenue and Agriculture. 
Its great charge was that of developing in every possible way the 
agricultural resources of the Indian empire, and guarding the 
natives from all mischiefs connected with the tillage of the soil. 
The surveying of the land for new and more just and accurate 
assessments; the superintendence of coolie-emigration; the supply 
of information on all topics connected with tillage and the care of 
cattle; the measures to be taken for the prevention and relief of 
famine, were all entrusted to the new board or secretariat of the 
Indian government. The recommendations of the Famine Com- 
mission were fully considered, and a Famine Fund was formed by 
the setting-apart of revenue sufficient to provide an annual sum of 
a million and a half sterling for the creation of preventive irrigation- 
works and the relief of the destitute in seasons of scarcity. In regai 
to the land-revenue, cultivators were protected by provision that an; 
increiise of Income from this source should be mainly derived from 
a rise of prices, or from improvements made at the expense of the 
Government, or from an increase of area under tillage. Landlords 







BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. I95 

and tenants alike were secured against the loss of any profits arising 
from improvements effected at their own cost. The Bengal Tenancy- 
Bill, finally passed in 1885 under the next Viceroy, was mainly the 
work of Lord Ripon's government. This important and beneficent 
measure dealt with the interests of the landlords and tenants in 
Lower Bengal. The zemindars (landlords) received further facili- 
ties for recovering arrears of rent; the ryots (cultivators) had 
henceforth the transferable interest in their holdings aiad the 
" compensation for disturbance " in case of eviction, which have 
become so familiar to British ears in connection with the endless 
subject of Irish land. 

We must here pay a just tribute to the memory of an eminent 
native statesman, Sir Salar Jung, member of a family of high rank 
which for more than a century and a half furnished chief ministers 
to the state of Haidarabad. Born in 1829, Salar Jung, in 1853, 
succeeded his uncle in the highest office under the Nizam, and 
completely reformed the disorganized administration of the country. 
A mutinous army was reduced to obedience; gangs of robbers were 
suppressed; irrigation and education received due regard. In 1857, 
the minister, against the will of the people of the state, remained 
faithful to British interests, and his sudden death from cholera, in 
February, 1883, after thirty years of strong and sagacious rule as 
chief minister and, since 1869, as co-regent of Haidarabad, was 
officially noticed by the " Governor-General in Council ", through a 
Gazette Extraordinary, as that of " an enlightened and experienced 
friend of the British Government". His merits were fitly recog- 
nized in 1871 by installation as a Knight Grand Commander of the 
Star of India, and, when he visited England five years later, by the 
freedom of the City of London and the degree of D.C-L. conferred 
by the University of Oxford. Among the financial reforms effected 
under Lord Ripon by Sir Evelyn Baring, the Minister in that 
department, we find the abolition of import-duties on cotton goods 
and all other articles except alcoholic liquors, arms, and ammunition. 
In December, 1883, the first International Exhibition ever held in 
India was opened by the Viceroy at Calcutta, in presence of the 
Duke and Duchess of Connaught, and of a great company of distin- 
guished Europeans and natives. The extension of popular educa- 
tion which followed the appointment, by Lord Ripon, of a Com- 
mission headed by Dr., afterwards Sir William Wilson Hunter, 



196 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 




rK.C.S.L, the eminent Civil Servant and writer on Indian affairs, 
is noticed in a later chapter of this work. At the close of 1884, the 
enlightened and energetic Viceroy retired from his post amid 
enthusiastic expressions of gratitude and good-will from the native 
population of India, who recognized the value of the measures by 
which Lord Ripon had endeavoured to effect a closer union between 
the Indian Government and the great body of the Queen's Oriental 
subjects, and to spread material and moral benefit throughout the 
country by encouraging and aiding the people in managing their 
own affairs. 
The next Indian Viceroy was the Ear] of Dufferin. This 
brilliant and gifted Irish peer, born in 1826, won literary fame in 
1859 by his charming Letters front High Latitudes. After serving 
two years (1864-66) as Under-Secretary for India, he became in 
1872 Governor-General of Canada, where he acquired great popu- 
larity and credit, as we shall see in another place. Lord Dufferin 
next became Ambassador at St. Petersburg (1879-81) and at 
Constantinople, and did good work in Egypt in reforming the 
government of that country after Arabi Pasha's rebellion. His 
term of office in India, of four years' duration, was chiefly notable 
in connection with Russia and with Burma, the history of the latter 
being given later on. The continued advance of the northern 
European power in central Asia, especially towards the Afghan 
territories, had already, before Lord Dufferin's arrival in India early 
in 1885, excited the lively interest of the British government both 
at home and at Calcutta. The capture of Merv early in 1884, the 
cession of Sarakhs by Persia, and the movement of Russian troops 
towards Herat, caused the appointment, in the autumn of 1884, of a 
mixed Anglo-Russian Commission for the marking-out of a frontier 
as the northern limit of Afghanistan. In December, the English 
representative. General Sir Peter Lumsden, with other diplomatic 
officials, survey-officers, and an escort of troops, arrived on the 
scene, only to find that no Russian commissioner was there to meet 
them. The Russian government, seeking to gain time, then proposed 
that the question should be discussed and settled in London, On 
March 30th, 1885, an attack was made by Russian troops, under 
General Alikhanoff, on Afghan forces stationed at Penjdeh, on 
their own territory. The rude weapons of the assailed were no 
match for breech-loaders, and the soldiers of Abdur Rahman, who 



I 

I 

I 




BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. 

had remained on friendly terms with the British government, were 
slaughtered in heaps and driven away. This perfidious, cowardly, 
and, in every point, disgraceful outrage was perpetrated at the very 
time when the Amir was the guest of the new Viceroy at Rawal 
Pindi. in the Punjab. There can be little doubt that the massacre 
was due to Russian resentment for Abdur Rahman's friendly rela- 
tions with Great Britain, and the insult to this country was such as 
to provoke public indignation which threatened to end in a declara- 
tion of war. A large vote of credit was obtained from the House 
of Commons, and certain preparations for a conflict were set afoot 
both in India and in England, Meanwhile, Mr. Gladstone's govern- 
ment, acting through Lord Granville as Foreign Secretary, sought 
explanations from Russia, enabling her diplomatists to cavil at the 
version of the Penjdeh affair given by Sir Peter Lumsden, and to 
bring about a compromise in place of a war. The Boundary Com- 
mission was set to work, with Colonel Ridgeway as chief British 
representative in place of Lumsden, and, after some concessions by 
Russia to Afghan claims, a new frontier was marked out in 1887 so 
as to clearly decide where Russian territory ends. 

The critical position of affairs after the conflict at Penjdeh was 
very serviceable to the Indian government in affording the most 
striking and gratifying proofs of loyalty on the part of native rulers 
and peoples. The princes came forward with the utmost enthusiasm, 
offering aid in money and men. There were some who were for 
placing the whole of their forces under direct British control. 
Others desired leave to pay the whole expenses of their troops 
while they fought with the Indian army against Russia. Where 
soldiers were not offered, stores of food and the means of transport 
were placed at the disposal of the Government, and in some of the 
British Provinces influential and friendly natives were proposing to 
raise bodies of volunteers. This spontaneous display of devotion 
was such as to make it clear that the people in India who have 
most to lose are not inclined to exchange British for Russian sway. 
In the following year, 1886, the fortress of Gwalior, occupied by 
British forces in 1858 after the revolt of the Contingent, was 
restored to the Maharaja Sindhia in token of good-will and friend- 
ship on the part of the Government. In 1887 the Queen's Jubilee 
I was celebrated throughout her dominions in India with the most 

I loyal demonstrations, accompanied by the despatch of gorgeous and 




OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

costly presents. The day chosen for this purpose, having regard 
to the climate, was February i6th, in the cool season, and on June 
2ist the Maharaja Holkar of Indore and other princes and repre- 
sentatives of the chief native rulers were thus able to be present at 
the grand ceremonial service in Westminster Abbey. On June 30th, 
the Queen received their personal congratulations and addresses, 
with deputations from many native states, at Windsor, where a 
guard of honour was composed of Hindu and Mohammedan officers 
of the Indian army. On July 4th the foundation-stone of the 
Imperial Institute in London was laid by the Queen in presence of ' 
the most distinguished of her Indian visitors. 

At the close of 1888, with the title of Marquess of Dufferin and 
Ava, in the peerage of the United Kingdom, the latter part of this 
designation marking the success of British arms in Burma, the 
Viceroy made way for the Marquess of Lansdowne. The new 
ruler, fifth of his title, born in 1 845, was grandson of the Whig states- 
man who, as Lord Henry Petty, succeeded William Pitt, on his 
death, both as M.P. for Cambridge University and as Chancellor 
of the Exchequer, and, after taking an active part in favour of the 
Reform Bill carried in 1832, became a most inHuential Whig leader, 
the patriarch of the House of Lords, a Mzecenas in his apprecia- 
tion of literary men of high merit, the refuser of a dukedom and two 
offers of the premiership, and the warm personal friend of his 
sovereign. The Viceroy of India had served under Mr. Glad- 
stone as Under-Secretary both for India and for War, and we shall 
hereafter see him as filling, from 1883 to 1888, the high office of 
Governor-General in Canada. During his term of ofiice in India, 
from 1888 to 1893, much advance was made in the development of 
local government through the action of Municipal Councils and 
District Boards on the lines laid down by Lord Ripon. The 
ability and public spirit of many native gentlemen, freely chosen by 
their fellow-citizens, have thus been called into operation on behalf 
of the community. This fact alone shows the vast progress made, 
since the days of the Sepoy Mutiny and the change of government, 
in the creation of a new India, wherein the ruling powers and the 
most enlightened of the native subjects are striving to plant and 
foster, with due adaptations to a foreign soil, the institutions of 
Western civilization. The native mind is, in fact, running in 
advance of the most zealous British advocates of reform. In t88^, 



I 

I 

■ 




■ BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. I99 

"an annual " National Congress " began to sit each December in one 
of the great towns of the empire. The resolutions there passed aim 
at the increase of power for the native element through the elec- 
tion, instead of the government-nomination, of members for the 
various Legislative Councils. A scheme for popular elections, on a 
large scale, to these bodies was propounded in iSgo, but it was 
generally recognized, both at home and in India, that such methods 
are still far in advance of the social condition of the mass of the 
people. Two years later, however, the statute known as Lord 
Cross' Act, from a former Chief Secretary for India, partly met the 
desires of the advanced section in the National Congress by 
increasing the number of members in the Legislative Councils, 
strengthening the non-official element, and allowing the Provincial 
Governments in India to provide, according to the special needs and 
circumstances of their spheres of action, for the introduction and 
extension of an elective system. Among the most recent social 
reforms carried out in part, or strongly advocated by the best friends 
of the natives of India, have been the education of native women 
in medicine as practitioners for their own sex in a country where 
custom debars them from consulting male doctors or resorting to 
a hospital, and the abolition of the evils of enforced celibacy for 
Hindu women and of the early marriage of native girls. Early in 
1894, Lord Lansdowne was succeeded as Viceroy by the Earl of 
Elgin and Kincardine, son of the former Viceroy, The new ruler, 
educated at Eton and at Balliol College, Oxford, had been a 
University Commissioner for Scotland, Treasurer of the House- 
hold, and Commissioner of Works, 

Early in 1895, trouble arose in connection with Chitral, a 
dependency of Kashmir, and one of the gateways of India on the 
north-west, only 50 miles south of Russian territory on the upper 
waters of the Oxus. The ruler of the territory was murdered by 
his brother, and then power was assumed by a neighbouring 
chieftain to whom the Indian government, representing the Queen 
as suzerain of Chitral, gave notice to quit. British officers and 
troops, escorting ammunition to our Agent at Chitral, Dr. Robertson, 
were then treacherously attacked, with loss in killed, wounded, 
and prisoners. Umra Khan, the intruding chieftain, put to death 
the Hindu and Sikh sepoys who refused conversion to Islam, and 
the British officers were kept prisoners. On April ist an expedition 



L. 




200 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

of 15,000 men crossed the frontier under the command of Lieut.- 
General Sir Robert Low, an Indian cavalry officer of much 
experience, who had served under Roberts in Afghanistan. The 
difficulties of frontier-warfare in India are illustrated by the facts 
that the route lay through pathless mountains, producing little but 
brave and hardy foes, and that it was needful, for purposes of 
transport and other service, to have with the army as many camp- 
followers as fighting-men, with nearly to,ooo camels, over 7300 
bullocks, more than 5000 mules, above 4600 donkeys, and 3500 
ponies. The British troops included the Royal Rifles, the Gordon 
and Seaforth Highlanders and Scottish Borderers, the Bedford- 
shire and East Lancashire regiments, and the Buffs. They were 
supported by Bengal Lancers and Sappers, Bengal, Sikh, and 
Gurkha infantry, and mountain-batteries. The Malakand Pass was 
forced by Sikhs and Guides against hillmen holding sangars or 
breastworks of loose stone, and by some of the Scottish and other 
regiments climbing the steepest ground, and freely using the 
bayonet. The road was thus opened, with a loss of about seventy 
officers and men in killed and wounded, into the valley of the Swat 
river. On the march due northwards for Chitral like fighting 
occurred. The Swat, shoulder-high for horses, was forded. Colonel 
Battye, a gallant soldier commanding a regiment of Guides 
(Sepoys), was killed during the advance. The losses of the enemy 
caused Umra Khan, on April i6th, to send in the two British 
officers whom he had taken, asking for terms. General Low. 
however, still marched ahead, entered the chieftain's abandoned 
fort, and then pushed his men onwards for Chitral, where a 
beleaguered garrison, with Dr. Robertson, was in great straits; but 
the place had been relieved, meanwhile, by a column under Colonel 
Kelly, marching from the east up the banks of the Gilgit river, 
and coming down from the north on Chitral. A most gallant 
defence of the fort had been made by its garrison of 370 men, 
composed of go Sikhs and of Kashmir Imperial Service Rifles, all 
commanded by Captains Campbell, Townshend, and Baird, with 
Lieutenants Harley and Gurdon. Mining and counter- mining 
were employed during the siege of forty-six days, one-fifth of the 
garrison being killed and wounded. Sher Afzul, one of our chief 
enemies, was taken prisoner and given up to us by the friendly 
Khan of Dir. The country up to Chitral was then annexed. 



BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. 201* 

Yet the tribes in this neighbourhood were never quite satisfied 
with this settlement, and in July and August. 1897, further heavy 
fighting occurred in the Swat valley, ending in the defeat of large 
forces of the tribesmen gathered by a religious fanatic, preach- 
ing a Jehad or "holy war". A splendid defence of an important 
post called Chakdara was made at this time by two companies of 
Sikhs and twenty-five troopers of the Bengal Lancers, under 
Lieutenants Rattray and Wheatley, afterwards joined by Captains 
Wright and Baker with forty-two troopers of the same Bengal 
regiment. The fort was much undermanned, and a close invest- 
ment was kept up by large numbers of tribesmen. Every assault 
was repulsed, but all the communications inside the fort were swept 
by a rain of bullets. It was only Maxims and a nine-pounder 
gun that kept the enemy at bay until the arrival of the cavalry of 
a relieving force. It is estimated that the enemy lost nearly 
3000 men during the siege and in the attempt to intercept the 
relieving force. 

After this success the tribesmen in the Lower Swat Valley 
submitted unconditionally to British authority. Then Sir Bindon 
Blood marched from Malakand with a strong force against the 
rebellious tribes in the upper part of the country. He found the 
enemy, about 3000 strong, occupying the heights in a strong 
position above the village of Jalala. and about two miles from 
Landikai. The road to the latter village lies along a narrow 
causeway between the Swat river and the cliflfs, and was com- 
manded by stone sangars erected by the enemy. In attacking 
this position the mountain battery did great execution at a range 
of 1600 yards, and by a well- planned flank movement the ridges 
were swept clear of the enemy, so that, eventually, they broke and 
fled. The Guides cavalry in following the fugitives into the plain 
beyond Landikai suffered severely from the fire of a portion of the 
enemy who had retreated across heavy ground intersected by 
nullahs. It was here that Lieutenants M'Lean and Greaves were 
killed, while Captain Palmer. Colonel Adams, and Lord Fincastle 
had their horses shot under them while they heroically defended 
themselves in this difficult position; Lord Fincastle especially 
displayed great gallantry in bringing away the body of Lieutenant 
M'Lean. This defeat, and the capture of a position which they 
deemed impregnable, broke the spirit of the tribesmen, and in a 



202" 



OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 



few days General Blood received the formal submission of the 
tribes in the Upper Swat Valley. 

Meanwhile the two most powerful tribes on the frontier, the 
Afridis and the Orakzais. had been roused by the fanatical 
"mullahs" to rebel against British authority- Having mustered 
their fighting- men the Afridis suddenly attacked the British out- 
posts at Landi Kotal. AH Mesjid, and Fort Maude, all of which 
are situated in the Khaiber Pass. These outposts were held by 
native levies, who, after a slight resistance either submitted or fled. 
The Orakzais attacked our outposts on the Samana Range, but 
with less success. In order to check these daring acts of rebellion 
the Government found it necessary to prepare a powerful punitive 
expedition. The command was given to Sir William Lockhart, 
and the troops, to the number of 30,000, marched from Peshawar 
into the enemy's country. The advance was made through a 
difficult mountainous district, where the tribesmen had built 
sangars or breast-works on the heights commanding the passes. 
The first severe fight was at the Chagru Kotal, where the enemy 
were strongly posted in the village of Dargai. The position was 
captured after a stiff climb and heavy fighting, but our forces, 
unfortunately, returned to camp that night, leaving the heights in 
possession of the tribesmen. Two days afterwards (20th October) 
the Dargai position had to be retaken from an enemy who had 
meanwhile been strongly reinforced, and whose numbers were 
estimated at 8000. The Gurkhas led the advance, and suffered 
severely when they reached a zigzag path, swept by the enemy's 
concentrated fire, under an almost perpendicular ciiff. One 
notable thing in this campaign was the accurate rifle-fire of the 
tribesmen, and in this case they had got the exact range. Three 
companies of the Goorkhas managed to climb the zigzag path 
and cross this zone of fire, which was about 50 yards wide, but 
the Dorsetshire Regiment in attempting to support them was 
checked. The state of affairs was serious. At this point in 
the assault, however, the Gordon Highlanders were brought 
to the front and commanded to rush the position with fixed 
bayonets. "Men of the Gordon Highlanders", said Colond 
Mathias. " the General says that position must be taken at alt 
costs. The Gordon Highlanders will take it." This they did irv 
right gallant style, supported by the concentrated fire of :8 pieces 



I 




BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. 203* 

of artillery, and joined the Gurkhas who were lying under cover 
of the cliff. They were followed in this rush by the 3rd Sikhs 
and other troops. Then, after a pause to gather breath, the com- 
bined force mounted the heights and drove the enemy before 
them. In making their famous charge the Gordon Highlanders 
were led by the regimental pipers, and in crossing the zone of 
fire one of them was shot through both ankles. Nevertheless he 
continued piping, sitting on the ground where he fell amid a perfect 
hail-storm of bullets. Another case of signal bravery was when 
Captain Robinson, of the Gurkhas, first led his men across the 
fire-swept zone and then, finding that the force already across was 
insufficient, returned coolly for more troops. He was wounded 
while leading the second rush. The losses of our troops, in killed 
and wounded, were severe, but this defeat broke the spirit of the 
tribesmen, who lost about 1000 men. so that the expedition 
reached Tirah, the head-quarters of the Afridis, after comparatively 
slight resistance. Arrived there, Sir William Lockhart dictated 
the terms of surrender. 

In 1896-97 a terrible famine, due to drought, occurred in north- 
west and central India. The usual energetic measures were taken 
in the distribution of food and the establishment of relief-works, 
and British charity, through a " Lord Mayor's Fund", subscribed 
about ^540,000 for the aid of sufferers. In June, 1897, an earth- 
quake of unusual severity for India did much damage in Calcutta, 
and caused serious loss of life and property in Assam. In 1896-97, 
some thousands of deaths occurred in and near Bombay from an 
attack of " plague". 

In concluding the history of British India, apart from Burma 
and Assam, down to the present time, we may note the means of 
defence against external and internal foes now provided by her 
rulers. It becomes yearly of greater importance that in that quarter 
of our vast Empire we should be really and evidently strong. We 
have to deal with and to govern, not the ancient India, which was, 
in Sir William Hunter's words, a mere dealer in curiosities, nor the 
India of the Company, which was a retail-trader in luxuries, but 
with a new India which is a wholesale producer of staples, with an 
enormous export of the grain which feeds and of the fibres that 
clothe distant nations. The very growdi in prosperity and power 
has brought with it new difficulties and dangers. Among the 




204* OUK EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

many ceaseless labours of our administration we have, by the 
educational system, created a kind of aristocracy of intellect en- 
tirely after our own model in the persons of many thousands of 
rising young men, whose studies have been carried on at our 
schools and colleges, and in the pages of our class-books, and who 
have adopted British views as to the ends of government and the 
principles of legislation and of public life. They are yearly asking 
for and obtaining a larger share of influence and of power, and we 
are, in the policy of all the later Viceroys, more and more governing 
the peoples of India, not only for themselves, but by themselves. 
Our position in regard to the native subject-population, or the 
internal difficulty, lies in the necessity, as matters exist at present, 
of combining perfect tolerance in religious affairs, and respect for a 
free press and a free right of public meeting, and an educational 
system ever producing better results, with a system of administration 
which is in many respects, as will be seen, practically despotic. The 
solid foundation of our power lies in the justice and beneficence of 
a rule which should win the ever-growing confidence of the natives 
in the advantages of living under British control. At the same 
time, since the mere suspicion of weakness would endanger the 
security of the whole fabric of our dominion, it is imperatively 
necessary to be strong in the material and moral force of military 
strength. The external danger lies in the advance of our borders 
to meet the approaches of an aggressive and unscrupulous European 
and Asiatic Power. It is within the last few years that, mainly 
under the auspices of Sir Frederick, now Lord, Roberts as com- 
mander-in-chief in India, a new departure has been made in mili- 
tary affairs. That distinguished soldier, born at Cawnpore in 1832, 
son of an Indian officer. General Sir Abraham Roberts, and edu- 
cated at Eton, Sandhurst, and Addiscombe, entered the Bengal 
Artillery in 1851, and did good service during the Mutiny in most 
of the great events, including the siege and assault of Delhi and 
the relief and the final capture of Lucknow. His Victoria Cross 
was won by the pursuit of two Sepoys who were hurrying off with 
a captured colour, which he tore from their grasp at the cost of 
both their lives. He served in the Abyssinian expedition of 1868, 
and in the Lushai warfare of 1871-72, winning his chief military 
renown, as we lately saw, in the Afghan contest of 1879-80. 
After commanding the Madras army for four years, Roberts at- 



I 

I 
I 

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BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. 20I 

tained in 1885 the highest military post in India, and was then 
enabled to render perhaps the most valuable services of his whole 
career, extending, on his return to England in 1893, over more 
than forty-one years. In dealing with the now completed work of 
strengthening the North-western frontier against possible invaders, 
we must not fail to give due credit to Lord Roberts' predecessor in 
the chief command. Sir Donald Stewart, who sketched out a great 
plan of defence, to which his successor made important additions 
of his own devising. The British frontier has been advanced to 
the crests of the passes leading from Afghanistan towards our 
territory, and in the opinion of military experts the whole north- 
west has been made impregnable by the line of forts and fortified 
posts, and the military and strategic railways, constructed in carrying 
out the elaborate scheme for repelling aggression in that vital point. 
Only a great European army, dragging behind it the heaviest of 
modern artillery, could venture to approach one of the formidable 
strongholds that confront invaders coming from that quarter. 
When we turn to the new means of safety provided against internal 
troubles, we find that throughout the territory of Bengal and Madras 
fortified posts have been created as places of refuge for the Euro- 
pean population in the event of a native rising. If such fastnesses 
had existed in 1857, the Sepoy revolt would probably have been 
quelled within a few weeks, and our Indian records would have 
been devoid of the atrocious massacres and avenging scenes of that 
tragical time. The British garrison of India has been augmented 
by more than ten thousand men, permitting a large increase of 
our native troops, and thus making India ready for defence against 
a first-class European Power. Apart from the re-organization of 
our own native army effected before and during the administration 
of Lord Roberts, an important advance has been made in the 
development of new elements of defence. We saw how, in 1885, 
when war with Russia seemed to be at hand, many of the native 
princes made the most loyal offers of aid. Under the civil and 
military rule of Lords Lansdowne and Roberts, this spirit was 
turned to good and permanent account. A carefully planned 
system of Imperial Contingents was organized and initiated, and 
many of the feudatory rulers now maintain, at their own cost, 
bodies of troops no longer equipped in antique and useless fashion, 
but carefully armed and trained into fitness to fight beside British 



202 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

troops in time of need. Lastly, Lord Roberts, affectionately known 
among the privates as "Bobs", proved himself at once the soldier's 
and his country's friend in the excellent provisions made for the 
physical and moral benefit of the men. The troops serving in 
India are now clad suitably for the climate and for their work; their 
rations have been improved, and they enjoy many minor comforts 
which promote their efficiency by rendering them more contented 
with the service. Institutes, reading-rooms, recreation-grounds, and 
gardens provided for their use powerfully aid the cause of temper- 
ance which, under the zealous advocacy and efforts of civilian and 
military reformers, now shows under the colours in India many 
thousands of total abstainers, men whose names rarely appear oti 
the punishment-rolls of their regiments. 

The total strength of the European army, exclusive of native 
artificers and followers, for the year i S96-7. was 74,000 officers and 
men, composed of over 13,000 Royal Artillery, manning over 60 
batteries of field-guns, besides mountain- and garrison-pieces; about 
5600 Cavalry, 340 Royal Engineers, nearly 54,000 Infantry, and 
over 800 staff-officers. The regular Native Army consists of about 
4500 artillery, 23,000 cavalry, nearly 4000 sappers and miners, and 
about 114,000 infantry. The European officers of this force 
number 1580, the native officers being about 2760. The entire 
European and native army thus amounts to about 220,000 men. 
It is well to note the great change, since the days of the Mutiny, 
in the proportion of European to native troops. In 1856. there 
were 40,000 British soldiers and 215,000 natives; there are now 
74,000 British and 145,000 natives; in other words, the pre- 
ponderance of the native element has been reduced from over 5 to 
I to less than 2 to i. The effective strength both of the European 
troops against internal foes and of the combined armies, British 
and native, against foreign adversaries, has been vastly increased 
by the creation of railways, affording the means of rapid concentra- 
tion and movement, and by the institution of a regular transport- 
service with an organization for supplying animal-carriage, hospital- 
servants, and other requisites for an army in the field. The im- 
provement in the health of our soldiers in India through sanitary 
care has been such that the death-rate has been reduced from nearly 
7 per cent in 1856 to a little over ij4 per cent. The European 
military strength is augmented by the existence of over 20.000 



I 
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BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. 203 

"efficient" Volunteers. The special contingents, or "Imperial 
Service" troops, of the native princes as above mentioned now 
number nearly 18,000 men, regularly inspected by British officers, 
by far the largest force, 4400 men, being furnished by Kashmir 
(Cashmere), while the contingents of Patiala, Alwar, Bhartpur, and 
Jaipur average 1500, and Gwalior, Jodhpur, and Mysore each 
supply 1200 men. 



CHAPTER VII. 

British Possessions in Asia— Continued 
India: Physical Features and Products. 

Mountains and rivers of ihe North — Its scenery — Luxuriant vegetation — CcnCra.1 and 
Southern India — Eastern and Western Ghats— Climatic conditions— Monsoons, 
rainfall, and temperature^The death-rate — Advance of the study of medicine — 
Zoology of the country^ Deaths caused by wild beasts and snake-bites- Tiger- 
hunting— A " man-eating " leopard — The elephant and rhinoceros^ Birds — Reptiles 
— ^ Fishes^ insects — Mineral resources of the land — Salt and saltpetre— Coal and 
iron-ore— Quart!- crushing for gold^ Limestone and building- stone — Precious stones. 

The vast region known as India presents natural features and 
phenomena on a very great and varied scale. The huge double 
mountain-wall of the Himalayas, running nearly east and west for 
over I 700 miles, with a breadth from north to south of from 150 to 
250 miles, has its higher ranges crowned with never-melting snow, 
lying on mountains, of which Kanchanjanga exceeds 28,000 feet in 
elevation, and Mount Everest, the loftiest measured peak in the 
world, just surpasses 29,000. In this great northern barrier, largely 
unexplored, there are glaciers of which one is known to have a 
length of 60 miles, and in the valleys rise some of the greater 
Asiatic rivers, the Indus and the Sutlej, the Ganges and the Tsan- 
pu (Sangpu) or Brahmaputra. There are passes, used as trade- 
routes into Tibet and Eastern Turkistan, at a height of iS.ooo 
feet, but the huge ramparts provided by nature to guard the 
northern frontier of India are nowhere penetrable by a modern 
army. In a different way, these lofty mountains render great 
service to the people of the tropical plains below by intercepting a 
large portion of the clouds carried from the Indian Ocean by the 
monsoons (regular or "season" winds), and causing them to deposit 
their moisture either as rain or snow, drenching the lower region 



Z04 



OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 




r 

■ with the rainfall, and by rain and snow creating and constantly 

I feeding the mighty rivers that descend for the good of the tillers 

I of the soil in the Punjab, the North-west Provinces, Oudh, and 

W Bengal. The Himalayan vegetation, according to the height above 

I sea-level in three well-defined zones, is tropical, temperate, or 

I arctic, displaying tree-ferns and bamboos, ilexes and mountain-oaks, 

I and many varieties of pine and fir; the chestnut, the walnut, and 

I the maple; and furnishing for our British parks, gardens, and glass- 

I houses the fine deodar or Himalayan cedar, the gay rhododendron, 

I and the fantastic flowers of the orchid-race. Barley, oats, millets, 

H and several other small grains, rice in the moist ground of warm 

I valleys, and the potato, introduced from England, and largely grown 

P on land waslefully cleared of forest, are the chief food-plants of the 

Himalayan hill-tribes. Some faint conception of the grandeur of 
the scenery, apart from the towering strongholds of frost and snow 
rising often two miles higher than the topmost ground of the 
Matterhorn and Mont Blanc, may be formed from the facts that 
the Indus, rising in Tibet at 16,000 feet above sea-level, bursts 
through the western ranges of the Himalayas by a gorge in Kash- 
mir nearly three miles in depth, while the Sutlej, issuing from a 
lake in Tibet, makes its way through the great range by a ravine 
where the ground ascends on each side to 20,000 feet, and at one 
part of its course flows in rocky rapids, between bare and precipitous 
mountains towering above, with a savage force that sometimes 
reduces to small fragments the great cedars and pines committed 
to its waters for conveyance to the plains of the Punjab. All 
detailed description in this part of our subject — the alluvial and 
diluvial work of the great rivers, the change of the Brahmaputra's 
course, the method of deposits in forming deltas, the tributaries and 
the traffic, the fertilizing bounty of holy Ganges in her irrigation- 
canals and in the silt of her overflow on the land beside her banks — 
these and a hundred other interesting and important matters con- 
cerning the rivers of northern India should be sought in those 
wonderful books of Sir William Hunter's. The Indian Empire sx\6. 
The Imperial Gazetteer of India. The fertility of soil induced by 
the rains and rivers in northern India is such that two harvests are 
yearly reaped in most districts from land favourably placed, and in 
Lower Bengal, after pulses, oil-seeds, pease, and various green- 
crops have been taken off the ground in the spring, early rice*crops 



I 

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BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. 

follow between July and September, and the chief rice-harvest of 
the year comes two or three months later. 

The scenery in the upper and middle courses of the Bengal 
rivers presents a country gently undulating upwards from the 
banks in a vast expanse adorned with fine timber-trees and dotted 
here and there with villages of mud-built huts. Groves of mango- 
trees from forty to fifty feet in height, thickly-branched and spread- 
ing at the top, with densely-crowded lengthy pointed leaves, make 
the air fragrant in the spring-time with blossoms like to those of 
the sweet chestnut, and yield in summer their abundant egg-shaped 
yellow or ruddy fruit. The noble peepul (pipal) or sacred fig, with 
masses of green leaves; the wild cotton-tree, blazing with large 
crimson blossoms that come forth before the leaves; the tall 
graceful tamarind with its dainty leaflets, feathery-fine, arranged in 
pairs upon the stalk, rise into air above the field-crops. Of all 
the Indian trees, the banyan is the strangest to the European eye. 
This wondrous member of the fig-tree tribe, with oval heart-shaped 
leaves from five to six inches long, has branches that throw down 
hanging offshoots which, rooting in the ground, become new stems 
and spread the mother-tree abroad until a very wood is formed, 
lasting for ages after the central trunk has perished from decay. 
We have record of a banyan thus displaying in irregular colonnades 
above three hundred stems as large as those of good-sized oaks 
and ten times as many of inferior size, the whole of them together 
covering a space on which seven thousand persons could stand 
beneath the leafage, which contains a world of forest-life in birds, 
and native bats that live upon the fruit, a scarlet fig no bigger than 
a cherry, growing in pairs from the axils of the leaves, and crowds 
of chattering monkeys that make the foliage as well as fruit their 
food. The banyan is an object of special reverence to Brahmans, 
as the peepul is to Buddhists. As the traveller down the stream 
or by the river-bank draws nearer to the sea, palm-trees arise upon 
the view, and in the delta he beholds the rice-fields stretching flat 
and far away, bordered by various tufted palms producing the 
areca-nut or betel, the cocoa-nut, the date. There, too. are growing 
in abundance the gigantic grasses called bamboos, with jointed 
stems, hard, light, elastic, hollow save for the light spongy pith, 
and rising to a height of from ten to fifty feet. Of all productions 
in the vegetable world, the cocoa-palm and the bamboo are most 



OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 



remarkable for their varied uses to the natives of the provinces 
that lie on the Indian coasts. The qualities of strength, lightness, 
elasticity, and hollowness In the bamboo adapt it for arrows, 
quivers, bows, and shafts of javelin, spear, and lance; the native 
mariner employs it for the masts and spars of smaller craft and 
to make decks for boats; the fisherman forms from it his angling- 
rods and fishing-poles and stakes for netting. The builder and 
the maker of furniture and utensils find in the bamboo material for 
scaffolding, ladders, framework for houses, flooring, roofing, tent- 
poles, flag-poles, palanquin-poles, bed-posts, umbrella- handles, 
walking-sticks, water-pipes, weaving-implements, carts, litters, biers, 
baskets, buckets, pen-holders, toasting-forks, and tongs; for pencils, 
rulers, cages, pipes, pipe-stems, bio wing- tubes, chairs, seats, screens, 
couches, tables, and cots. Rails, fences, light bridges, are all made 
of bamboo, and the finely-split stems are worked up into mats, 
ropes, and even sails for boats. The lining of the stems, after 
being made into a paste by bruising and steeping, affords an excel- 
lent paper. The young and tender shoots are eaten like asparagus, 
or made into soup with meat and spices, or pickled in vinegar for 
exportation to Europe. The manifold utility of the cocoa-nut 
palm for food and oil; for roofing, mats, baskets, and screens; for 
timber and cordage, cups and ladles, needs no further mention here. 
The valley of the Ganges and its tributary rivers produces wheat, 
barley, Indian corn or maize, and various millets in the more 
northern region, and rice as the staple crop and general food on 
the lower courses, while the rich territory, as a whole, affords 
sugar-cane and cotton; indigo and tobacco; saffron and other dyes; 
oil-seeds and flax; ginger, capsicum, red pepper, and other valuable 
spices; aloes, castor-oil, and many other medicines from shrubs, 
herbs, and roots; resins, varnishes, gums, perfumes, and india- 
rubber; melons, pumpkins, and yams; the opium-poppy and the 
mulberry; jute in the delta, shell-lac in the woods, splendid timber 
from many a kind of trees,^in short, nearly all that in the vege- 
table-world is, in that climate, of service to feed, clothe, shelter, and 
cure mankind. 

Central and Southern India, with their triangular table-land 
forming the great peninsular region, are bounded and intersected 
by mountain-ranges, broken by river-valleys, and varied by peaks 
and spacious upland plains. The Vindhya Mountains, in their 



I 




I 




BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. 307 

popular name, form several separate systems of hills on the north, 
from 1500 to more than 4000 feet in height, with large masses of 
forests, peaks, and ridges, interspersed with tilled ground, high-lying 
table-lands of grassy growth, and charming river-courses. The 
Eastern Ghats (meaning " landing-stairs " upon a river, applied 
here to the passes of ascent from the coast-land to the inner pla- 
teau) have an average height of only 1500 feet. The Western 
Ghats run far closer to the shore, here and there rising from the 
ocean in grand precipice and mighty headland, with an average 
height of about 3000 feet, and peaks of near 5000 by the coast. 
The table-land inclosed by the Vindhyas and the Ghats varies in 
height from 1000 to 3000 feet above sea-level, with peaks and 
ranges ascending to above 4000, and the Nilgiris (" Blue Moun- 
tains ", Neilgherry Hills) attaining above 7000 feet at Utakamand 
(Ootacamund), the summer-capital of Madras, and near 9000 feet 
in Dodabetta peak, in the southern angle where the Eastern and the 
Western Ghats unite. The mountains on the western side, in the 
Bombay Presidency or province, display at many points the spec- 
tacle of bare trap-rock rising in stately heights of natural fortress 
with a curving front, and guarded at the sides by round towers of 
stone unshaped, unpiled by human hands. Southwards, the passes 
from the sea ascend through regions of dense forest, and lower 
still a gap of 20 miles in breadth presents an easy access, only 1000 
feet in height, to the interior of the country. The barrier of 
mountains on the west of the central plateau has no opening for 
rivers to the Indian Ocean between Cape Comorin and Surat, and 
the two great streams, the Narbada (Nerbudda) and Tapti. on the 
south of the Vindhyas, flow north of Surat into the Gulf of Cambay. 
The Eastern Ghats have broad and easy passages to and from the 
Bay of Bengal, and by these the rainfall of the table-land reaches 
the sea in the Mahanadi, the Godavari, the Kistna (Krishna), and 
the Kaveri (Cauvery), Among the finest points of scenery in 
central and southern India are splendid falls on the Nerbudda 
between its source and Jabalpur (J ubbulpore) ; the passage of the 
same river, nine miles west of Jabalpur, through a narrow gorge 
between lofty rocks of white marble; and the grand cascades and 
rapids of the Cauvery at Sivasamudram, where the river splits into 
two streams as it passes through the Ghats. 

Among the forest-trees of the Western Ghats are the famous 






OOB EVratE AT BOME AXO 41MMU)L 

valuable teak. uarivaDed far dacalaliqr aofl sixE^;tlt in 
the CDOstniction at booses, brv^es, ships; fitmiure, and raihray- 
curiages; the fiun tree of TnuievelB and TiaraBcocc, wkfa tall 
scrdght steins for masts and spais of lai^ shqs; and ibe bbck- 
wood. exceHeiu for can'ed funuturc The sma 
includes the [4ant sup^yiag tbe capsoles known as i 
whose seeds become an aromatic pungent spice of great ralue as 
an export, largdy used in medicine as a stimulant and cordial, 
and as a flavour in confectionery. The forests on the hills of 
Coimbatore contain the precious sandal-tree with its fragrant lasting 
odour, fatal to insects and so making the compact and dne-grained 
wood most suitable in India for desks and work-boxes and orna- 
mental articles, with a special value for cabinets designed to keep 
specimens in natural history. The high-priced essential oil, used 
as a base for many perfumes, b distilled from the heartwood and 
the root. The whole growth is a government-monopoly, with 
exports yearly valued at about ,^80,000. In the hill-country of the 
south, as in the virgin forest-land of Coorg, the luxuriant tropical 
foliage, viewed from a height above, has a rare wild beauty in its 
vast waving ocean of green leaves, within whose shelter live the ] 
tiger and the elephant, the leopard and the bison, the tall powerful 
sambhar (sambur) deer, the jungle-sheep and many kinds of smaller 
game. The rainy season shows the tourist water dashing down 
from giddy heights in cataracts that, at one spot of the Western 
Ghats, descend with sound of thunder through more than 800 feet. 
The tillage of the valleys and of the high central plains, on ground 
that is yearly more and more won from the jungle, includes wheat, 
various kinds of smaller grain or millets, pulses, tobacco, sugar-cane 
and cotton. On the western coast, between the Ghats and the sea, 
the fruit-bearing palms, the rice, and the two or three successive I 
crops yearly reaped, make the rich land rival the products even of 
the lower Ganges. Spices and dyes, and many drugs for medicine, 
are also raised in southern India, where the drought that sometimes 
comes upon the interior high levels is remedied by irrigation from 
huge lakes or tanks constructed by the damming up of valleys as 
receptacles of storage for the water falling in the season of an 
average monsoon. 

The meteorological phenomena or climatic conditions of India 
are, as might be expected from the range of latitude and the diver- J 





BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. 209 

sity of physical features, of very varied character. The monsoons 
of the Indian Ocean blow from the south-west between April and 
October, bringing the wet season of the year, which specially affects 
the western and the eastern coasts, and Bengal and Assam. In 
those regions the rainfall varies from an annual average of 67 inches 
in Bombay Presidency to 44 inches in Madras Presidency, and 
again from 67 inches in Bengal to the greatest rainfall in the world, 
of uncomputed average, in Assam, where 56 inches have been 
known to fall at one station in four days. The lowest recorded 
average in that country is over 52 inches, the highest 801. North- 
western India is comparatively dry, the rainfall varying from less 
than 6 inches as the lowest average in that part of the Punjab 
which is protected from the monsoon by the Sulaiman range to 71 
inches at Simla, and from 25 inches at Muttra on the plains to 91 
at Naini Tal in the hills; while in Sind the average nowhere exceeds 
16 inches, and the Indian Desert, in the north-west of Rajputana, 
is almost rainless. Lying half within the tropics, India is of neces- 
sity a region of great heat. The average mean yearly temperature 
in the south and west and in Bengal varies from nearly 78 degrees 
in Calcutta to nearly 80 in Bombay and 82 in Madras. In the 
north-west, the dryness of the climate makes the summer heat, in 
May and June, sometimes attain 120 degrees in the shade, with an 
average shade-heat, in Sind and the Western Punjab, of nearly [ 10 
degrees on the afternoons of July. Remembering that on an aver- 
age the temperature falls about 3 degrees for each thousand feet of 
ascent, we find a cool and healthy climate, even in the hottest 
seasons, at the sanitaria or health-resorts established in the hilly 
districts as the one means of enabling Europeans to resist and 
remedy for many years the drain upon their strength due to their 
life and work on lower levels. At Darjiiing, Simla, and Masuri 
(Mussoorie), in the Himalaya, the mean yearly temperatures are 
about 52, 55, and 59 degrees respectively; at Shillong, in Assam, 
the temperature rarely exceeds 80 degrees, and fires are needed 
from November until March; at Pachmarhi, in the Central Pro- 
vinces, a convalescent dep6t for European troops, the average 
warmth is about 10 degrees below that of the valley; at Ootaca- 
mund (Utakamand), in the Nilgiri Hills, a paradise of beauty, the 
chief sanitarium of the Madras Presidency, the mean temperature 
degrees, at 7230 feet above sea-level. 




OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 



Closely connected with the climate of the country are the sub-~ 
jects of medicine and vital statistics. On the latter head, owing- to 
the prejudice of natives against inquisition into details of their life, 
and the impolicy of all attempts at compulsory registration, the 
information is of a very imperfect character as to births, deaths, 
marriages, and sex and age. It is only in municipal districts that 
any fairly accurate account can be obtained. It seems that the 
average annual death-rate for the whole population was, in 1895, 
about 30 per thousand, according to the registered returns; the total 
deaths, in a population of about 1 98 millions (not the whole number, 
by many millions, in the land, but those subject to registration), 
amounting to nearly 6 millions. Of these deaths, 292,000 were due 
to cholera, 120,000 to small-pox, 4, 1 10,000 to various fevers, 231,000 
to bowel complaints, 87,000 to injuries, and nearly 1,100,000 to all 
other causes. During the decade 1881-91 the population grew by 
10 millions. On the subject of medicine, we have already noticed 
the decline of Hindu art and science, in the cure of disease, with 
the causes thereof, and may here note the remarkable revival which 
followed the establishment of medical colleges in India by the 
Government about the middle of the nineteenth century. Thi 
educated Mohammedans were quick, the Brahmans and the cul-' 
tured Hindus in general less ready, to take advantage of the new 
opening to a lucrative and honourable career. The Hindus, how- 
ever, soon far more than made up for their earlier reluctance, and 
of late, the British medical colleges throughout India contained: 
nearly 1700 Hindu students, 340 Mohammedans, 540 native Chris- 
tians, Parsis, Eurasians, Europeans and others, while a recent 
year saw the publication of about 230 medical works in the native 
languages. The growth of the modern native study of medicine, 
beginning with vernacular schools in Calcutta and Bombay, foundt 
between 1820 and 1830, is traced in the creation of the Medical' 
Colleges of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay between 1835 and 1857, 
and the extension of the pursuit of this branch of scientific know- 
ledge to Haidarabad (in the Ueccan), Nagpur, Agra, Lahore, Bal- 
rampur (Oudh), Patna, Dacca, Poona, and Ahmadabad. Among 
the official and non-official agencies — Medical Boards, Medical 
Physical Societies, Medical Departments, Inspectors-General of 
Hospitals — charged with the care of the public health, we have 
the Sanitary Commissioner to the Government of India, Sanitary 



4 




BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. 211 

Commissioners to the Local Governments, Health Officers to the 
municipal bodies, and special Committees or Commissions appointed 
from time to time to inquire into particular outbreaks and forms of 
disease. 

The zoology of India comprises, as even persons less instructed 
than Macaulay's schoolboy know, some of the fiercest and most 
rapacious and destructive, one of the largest and most sagacious, 
some of the most useful and of the most graceful, and, among the 
birds, most gorgeous creatures that the world can show. A tragical 
contrast to the European fauna is presented in the fact that the 
Government, as protector of the peasant and his herds, is forced 
to wage a constant war, by a regular scale of payments for each 
slaughtered foe, against the wild beasts — tigers, leopards, wolves, 
hya;nas, bears, and elephants — and, above all, against the deadly 
snakes that bring destruction on the life of men and cattle. Each 
year it is known that nearly 24,000 persons and about 70,000 cattle 
are slain by wild beasts and snakes. The total number of savage 
animals yearly destroyed, for which rewards are claimed according 
to the tariff, exceeds 13,500, while the number of snakes thus 
known to have been killed reaches more than half a million. Of 
the beasts, the tiger is the most destructive, but the snake-bite is 
by far the most fatal agency, since of late the number slain by 
animals was under 2500, while above 21,400 fell victims to the 
cobra and its poisonous congeners. Of the cattle, 64,500 were 
slain by wild beasts, and about 4000 by the bite of snakes pro- 
voked, no doubt, by accidental treading on the reptiles, a large 
cause of death to the bare-legged natives walking in a garden, field, 
or jungle. The lion is now nearly extinct, only a few strictly pre- 
served specimens of the maneless variety being found in the hill- 
desert and forest-land of Kathiawar, the peninsula or western por- 
tion of Gujarat (Guzerat), in the Bombay Presidency. The tiger, 
rare now in many great districts, is still found from the malarious 
tarai. the moist and jungly tract that skirts the southern parts of 
the Himalayas, eastwards to the Sundarban swamps of the Gan- 
getic delta, and southwards in the vast jungles of the central table- 
land. The deer and antelope are his chief food, where they are 
abundant; in lack of these, he preys upon domestic cattle. It is 
when the tiger has once tasted human flesh and become that 
dreadful epicure, a "man-eater", that his destructive work becomes 




212 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

a terror to whole districts, causing villages to be deserted by the 
people and areas of tillage as large as Middlesex to be abandoned 
for the time to waste and weeds. There are true records of these 
animals, which are mostly old ones, disabled from pursuit of deer, 
having each killed more than a hundred persons, often rather from 
cruel rage than hunger. When such an animal has taken up his 
station near some lonely pathway, to spring on every passer-by, or, 
with his lair in the adjacent jungle, quarters himself upon a village, 
caring nothing for the sheep and cattle, but making prey of the 
inhabitants in turn, all egress from the place, nay, even from the 
mud-hut in which each family lives, becomes an enterprise hardly 
less dangerous than the leading of a forlorn hope. The only 
resource for people devoid of firearms or without the skill and 
courage to use them with effect against a monster so terrible, is 
to invoke the aid of some British " sahibs ", officers who may be 
quartered in a military station, or of a bold tourist ranging the 
country in search of big game for his rifle. The foe then succumbs 
to attack from a party mounted on trained elephants, or, in some 
cases, to assailants on foot, men of the steadiest nerves, the surest 
eye, and the most finished weapons. The sportsman who will go 
face to face with the lord of the Indian jungle, and, while a shot 
that wounds but fails to kill is almost certain death to him who 
fires it, can slay his enemy in a single-handed battle, may retire 
upon his laurels as the winner of the blue riband of sport, and, 
listening unmoved to tales of daring, will feel assured that the 
reciter has never been so near to death as he has. Recently, nearly 
800 persons and about 30,000 cattle were returned as the victims 
of tigers, and 36,000 rupees, or ;^36oo, at the value of two shillings 
per rupee, were paid during one year to native professional hunts- 
men for the destruction of nearly 1 300 tigers. 

The leopard or panther is in all parts of India far more 
common than the larger beast of prey, and in a year about 200 
persons and over 25,000 cattle are destroyed by their teeth and 
claws, while about the same sum in money as for tigers is paid 
for the slaying of over 3700 leopards. In the years 1890 and 
1 89 1, a district of Lower Bengal had a dreadful experience of 
destruction caused by the ferocity of that rarest of creatures, a 
man-eating leopard. The records of Oriental natural history and 
sport present no other instance of such a monster. Wolves and 



BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. 213 

hyaenas are yearly the slayers of about 300 persons, mostly 
young children, and of nearly jcxxj cattle, but the leopard has 
always been regarded as the chief enemy of goats, sheep, poultry, 
and the village dogs, rarely attacking human beings without pro- 
vocation. Stealthy and silent in tread, and as crafty as a fox in his 
ways, he creeps by night into the hen-roosts, and destroys the 
whole stock in one raid. At the Indian hill-stations such as Simla 
and Mussoorie, the pet-dogs of ladies have been frequent victims, 
carried off before their mistresses' eyes. A new terror for villagers 
arose when in Rajshahi, a district of larger area than Norfolk, on 
the north bank of the Ganges in eastern Bengal, a leopard was 
reported to the police, in the month of July, 1890, as having killed 
and eaten a girl aged four and a boy of seven. This information 
was at first disbelieved, and the officials suspected that the children 
had been murdered, or that the authors of the tragedy were 
hyenas or wolves. In August, however, some natives came again 
to the police, declaring that the leopard had been seen to kill a boy 
aged eight, and that he had also carried off a baby six weeks old. 
The authorities still lacked faith in the story of a leopard with a 
taste foi* human flesh, but in December information came in that a 
boy of seven had been killed by a leopard described as a large 
heavy-shouldered beast, with rather a short tail, and averred 
by the villagers to be the same creature as the perpetrator of 
the other ravages. Terrible confirmation of the truth of these 
assertions came fast. In January, 1891, this monster carried off 
eight victims to devour at his leisure, and not one month of the 
year passed away without the destruction, by the same animal, in 
the same districts, of human beings varying in number from one to 
fourteen. A woman of thirty years, returning from market with 
her son of ten, was seized by the neck and instantly killed, when 
she rushed to the rescue of the lad on whom the leopard had 
sprung from the thicket. The boy's body was carried off into the 
jungle, in view of several of the woman's acquaintance who hurried 
in terror from the scene. A cow-herd, rising at early morning, 
found his mother's body lying in the courtyard, with her neck 
broken and blood sucked by the same ferocious beast. In January, 
1892, fourteen persons were killed by the leopard, in February 
twenty-one, in March thirteen, and in the first week of April the 
total number of country-people slain by this one animal had reached 




214 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

about 150. Many attempts had been made both by natives 
and Europeans to rid the district of this mortal plague, but all 
had ended in failure, due to the leopard's cunning care in hiding 
himself among the sugar-cane crop into which elephants may not 
be sent, or in the thick grass or the undergrowth of jungle impene- 
trable by human eyes. At last, on April 6th, 1892, nineteen 
elephants with mounted shooters were brought into action, and, 
the animal having taken refuge in a patch of high grass, he was 
forced out by an advance, shoulder to shoulder, of the whole body. 
Even then, he got away without being sighted by any of the 
shooting-party, but a poor villager, whose wife had been killed by 
the beast, chanced to see him climb into a tree, and there he was 
surrounded and, after many shots, was slain. The length was six 
feet six inches, and the head and shoulders were unusually large. 

Jackals, chased like the fox by the packs of Anglo-Indian 
sportsmen; troops of wild dogs that hunt down deer and car- 
nivorous animals; bears, feeding on honey, fruit, and ants; and the 
wild hog, well known from accounts of the exciting sport called 
*' pig-sticking ", are among the fierce animals of the Indian woods 
and hills and plains. Except in the north-west, the elephant is 
still found wild in many parts of the land, chiefly among the higher 
ridges and table-lands of the hilly regions. The forests of Coorg, 
Mysore, and Travancore are the only southern districts where the 
animal lives in a natural state, his chief haunts being in the hills 
on the north-east frontier from Burma to Assam, and along the 
tarai or jungly and swampy ground of the southern lower edge of 
the Himalayas. The method of capturing elephants in a kraal or 
kheduy a huge stockade, into which they are driven as a trap, 
starved into submission, and then tamed by well-broken fellows, is 
well known. In 1891, about 260 were thus taken in Assam, the 
strength and sagacity of the beast being still in considerable de- 
mand for purposes of draught, and custom and love of display 
causing high prices to be paid by native princes for good specimens 
of the towering creature so extensively used in the warfare and 
pageantry of the olden days. The animals are now a monopoly of 
the Government, and may only be shot in case of danger to human 
beings or destruction to crops, while " The Elephants Preserva- 
tion Act" of 1879 protects them from slaughter, capture, and 
injury by heavy fine and imprisonment, except in the case of 



BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. 21$ 

persons having licenses on certain terms. Four varieties of the 
rhinoceros, two with a single and two with a double horn, are to be 
variously found in the Sundarbans, in Burma, and in the swamps 
of the Brahmaputra valley. The mild-natured game of sportsmen 
in India includes many kinds of deer and antelopes, and of wild 
sheep and goats in the Himalayas. The gaur or bison of the 
jungles on the hills, often over six feet in height to the top of the 
shoulder-hump, with huge head and short curved horns, is as 
dangerous and exciting to hunt as the tiger or the wild elephant. 
The buffalo is a great and intensely fierce creature, crowned with 
an enormous head; the nyl-ghau, nilgai, or " blue-ox", as its Persian 
name signifies, is held sacred by the Hindus from a fancied 
kinship to the bovine race, but is really a large kind of antelope. 
The huge rat called a bandicoot, sometimes two feet in length, and 
voles or field-mice, among countless specimens of their tribe, are 
respectively injurious to plants and fruit, and to the usual crops 
of the field. 

The subject of birds is far too wide for any detailed account. 
A hint of the teeming winged life may be given in a scene that is 
often witnessed in a " compound " or bungalow-garden. A host of 
beautiful paroquets are resting on or flitting about the trees when 
a flapping of wings is heard, and vultures swoop down from the 
sky, each picking out his prey, and plucking the bright-hued 
feathers in preparing for a meal as they perch on some lofty branch, 
amid the flight of the ^ther terror-stricken birds. There are many 
kinds of eagles, falcons, and hawks, and the sportsman has abun- 
dance of choice amid game-birds, living on land and water, of almost 
every kind known to the British Isles. The reptiles, besides the 
cobra, include poisonous salt-water snakes, and two kinds of 
crocodile that make the rivers and tanks dangerous to careless 
bathers. Numbers of scorpions, capable of inflicting very severe 
and troublesome wounds from the sting at the end of the tail, make 
themselves hateful by their habit of getting into houses, and 
secreting themselves under bedding, and in boots and other articles 
of wear. In the sea, the rivers, and the tanks, fish of many kinds 
supply abundant and wholesome food, the mahsir of the hill- 
streams, a kind of very large barbel, being specially dear to the 
sportsman from its spirit and strength. The hilsa, tasting and 
looking like a sort of fat white salmon, very largely captured in 




I 



OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABRO, 

the rivers of Lower Bengal, has a very rich and agreeable flavour. 
Of the countless varieties of insects, the bee, the silk-worm, and 
the lac-insect are the most useful to man. The butterflies are such 
for splendour as the tropics alone produce. Locusts are sometimes 
found to clear a district of its verdure. The white ant and the 
mosquito, and moths of destructive habits, are truly odious pests 
to all people in India. A quotation from a letter of Macaulay's, 
written in 1836, and dated from Calcutta, may serve to explain 
why Europeans flee from the life of the plains to the comparative 
repose, coolness, and comfort of the hills, "One execrable effect 
the climate produces. It destroys all the works of man with 
scarcely one exception. Steel rusts; razors lose their edge; thread 
decays; clothes fall to pieces; books moulder away, and drop out 
of their bindings; plaster cracks; timber rots; matting is in shreds. 
The sun, the steam of this vast alluvial tract, and the infinite 
armies of white ants, make such havoc with buildings that a house 
requires a complete repair every three years." The " white ants " 
are, in fact, not ants at all, but properly called Termites, feeding 
mostly on wood, entering the timbers of houses from below, eating 
out the interior into a hollow deceptive shell, and committing the 
same ravages on wooden furniture of every kind. 

From the fauna of India we turn to some brief account of the 
mineral resources of the land. First in order of importance come 
salt, saltpetre, and coal. Salt is a substance of supreme necessity to 
the Indian peasant with his almost wholly vegetable diet, and, apart 
from imported supplies, is largely obtained by evaporation from sea- 
water along the whole line of coast, and from inland salt-lakes, such 
as the great Sambhar Lake in Jaipur and Rajputana. This sheet 
of water, which at its largest extent, after filling by the rains, mea- 
sures about 20 miles in length from east to west, and from 3 to 10 
miles in breadth, with a depth varying from i to 4 feet, is surrounded 
by rocks abounding in limestone and salt. From October to June 
the waters are constantly evaporating, so that the surface is reduced, 
in a very dry season, to about a mile In length by half a mile in 
breadth. The dry area is then covered with a white, crisp efflor- 
escence of salt, and the valuable property is leased by the Indian 
Government from the native rulers, the Rajput princes of Jaipur 
and Jodhpur. The material supplies the markets of the Punjab, the 
North-west Provinces, and Central India with an annual average of 



I 
I 




BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA, 21J 

100,000 tons, affording work to above 400.000 labourers, and many 
thousands of carts and cattle. Salt, as a true mineral, is largely 
obtained in the quarrying of massive cliffs, unsurpassed for extent 
and for quality of salt, in the north-east of the Punjab, the chief 
mine being the " Lord Mayo", in the district of Jehlam (Jhelum). 
As for saltpetre. In its natural form, nearly the whole European 
supply for the making of gunpowder and for other purposes is 
derived, except for that obtained from the Chilian nitrate of soda, 
from efflorescent products of the soil in Northern Behar, and, to a 
smaller extent, from like gatherings after heavy rain in the North- 
west Provinces. The mining of coal has been for forty years an 
industry of steadily progressive value. The first English coal- 
mine, producing 50,000 tons in 1878, was opened in 1820 in the 
Raniganj Sub-division of the Bardwan District of Bengal. The 
coal-field has an area of about 500 square miles in a region now 
cleared of its former thick jungle, with seams varying in thickness 
from 70 to 120 feet. A great impulse to production was given by 
the commencement of the East Indian Railway in 1854, and the 
demand has continually grown with the increase of railway- works, 
river-steamers, and jute-mills at Calcutta. At Serampur, in the 
Hugli District of Bengal, we find a colliery about 220 yards deep, 
styled "Jubilee Pit Number Two", in British coal-country fashion, 
and ponies draw the tubs along the dark galleries under nude 
drivers yelling in various native tongues. At Makum, in Assam, 
a fine quality of coal for steaming and smithy purposes is worked, 
and the mines of Warora and Mohpani, in the Central Provinces, 
are also important. The annual output of the Indian collieries was 
recently 2,168,000 tons. The best quality, however, has less 
fixed carbon than British coal, and above three times the amount 
of ash, so that it will perform only from two-thirds to three-fourths 
of the duty done by its rival, which is imported almost at ballast- 
rates. As the total imports from Great Britain were only 784,000 
tons in a recent year, it is clear that the demand for Indian coal is 
not likely to decrease. 

Iron-ore of wonderful purity has been worked for many ages in 
every part of the country from the Himalayas to the extreme 
south, but the primitive methods of smelting, using a very large 
amount of charcoal, do not enable the product to compete in price 
with the British imports, and the only remunerative works, apart 



2l8 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

from the small enterprises of many peasant- families of smelters, are 
those of the Bengal Government at Khendua, in the Manbhun 
District of the province. Silver is nowhere found. Gold is obtained 
in small quantities by washing in hill-streams, and of late years 
quartz-crushing, in reefs resembling those of Australia, has been 
tried in the Wainad (Wynaad) Sub-division of the Nilgiri District 
and in the Kolar District of Mysore. Several millions of British 
capital have there been sunk in providing plant of the most efficient 
kind, and good results may yet be attained. In 1890-91 only three 
of the many gold-mines opened in Southern India were yielding 
fairly, the total produce for 1891 being valued at under ;^450,ooo. 
Limestone for metalling the roads and for making mortar is almost 
everywhere found, and the hill-country abounds in building-stone 
of excellent quality. The pink marble of Raj pu tana was used for 
building the old architectural glories of Agra; the Deccan has trap- 
rock; the valleys of the Godavari and the Narbada are rich in sand- 
stone; and Southern India has valuable granite. The precious 
stones of India are, in native hoards, the inheritance of what was 
gathered in past ages, and, apart from the jade and ruby-mines of 
Upper Burma (not India at all, though made a part of the Indian 
Empire) and the pearls and other gems of Ceylon, nothing worthy 
of mention is now obtained. The famous diamonds of Golconda, 
a fortress and ruined city a few miles west of Haidarabad, in the 
Nizam's Dominions, and once the capital of a large and powerful 
kingdom, were not found there, but were the natural productions of 
another part of the territory, cut and polished by Golconda artisans. 



INDIA. PEOPLES, RELIGIONS, AND OCCUPATIONS. 219 



CHAPTER VIII. 

India— G?if//yw^</. 

Peoples, Religions, and Occupations. Communications, 

Commerce, Trade. 

Distribution of the population — The non-Aryan hill-tribes — The Santals — Kandhs — Bhils 
— Religious classification of the people — Ranunobun Roy and Keshub Chunder Sen — 
The Parsis — Introduction of Christianity — The Roman Catholic Church — Protestant 
missions — Friedrich Schwarz — William Carey — Henry Martyn — Bishop Heber — 
Formation of dioceses — Labours of Dr. Duff— Progress of mission work — Occupa- 
tions of the people — Agriculttu-e — Means of irrigation— Products of the soil— Growth 
of rice, wheat, and millet — Oil-seeds— Vegetables — Fruits and spices — Cotton and jute 
— Indigo, opium, and tobacco — Coffee and tea — Cinchona — Production of silk — 
Sketch of village life— Preservation of the forests— Cotton, jute, and other manufac- 
tures — Native industries — Means of communication — Railway system of India — 
Great engineering works — The Bhor-Ghat Incline— Telegraphs — Statistics of export 
and import trade — The internal trade of India. 

In 189 1 the population of the whole of India, including Burma, 
exceeded 289 millions. One-third of the country, containing about 
67 millions of people, is left in the hands of its hereditary rulers, so 
that British India, our Indian Empire strictly so called, under direct 
British administration, had then a population of about 222 millions. 
The diversity of races and languages has been already described in 
a previous section, and we have here to note first some facts con- 
cerning the distribution of the vast numbers of British subjects in 
the land, presenting results very widely different from those in our 
own country. Premising that the population has rapidly increased, 
from a total of under 200 millions for British India in 188 1, and 
noting that the whole number of English, Scottish, and Irish resi- 
dents, apart from the army, just exceeded 100,000 in 1891, we find 
that the average density, excluding Burma and Assam, is one of 
280 persons to the square mile on an area of about 745,000 square 
miles. The proportion in France is but 186 (in 1891) to the square 
miles; in England and Wales it is now about 500. We must 
specially observe that India is not a region of large towns, but has 
an almost entirely rural population. In the year of the latest census, 
1 89 1, there were only about 200 towns with numbers exceeding 
20,000, and of these only 60 towns had more than 50,000 people. 
Villages with less than 200 people probably exceed 300,000 in 
number, and we may estimate at over 200,000 more the villages 



r Z20 



OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 



having between 200 and 500 inhabitants. The contrast between 
India and England {with Wales) is this — that over 53 per cent of 
the people in South Britain were in 1891 living in 182 towns 
exceeding 20,000 people, while in British India less than 5 per cent 
were so situated. Many of the so-called Indian towns are, more- 
over, nothing but groups of villages in the midst of which tilled 
land and pasturage are seen. There are many country districts that 
are overcrowded, with populations, as in many parts of Bengal, 
exceeding 1000 persons to the square mile of tillage, and there are 
also great tracts of fertile soil ready for cultivators, but it is very 
difficult to induce the Indian peasantry to migrate from their her- 
editary farms. A more equal distribution is all that is needed to 
enable the land in India, with average seasons, to well support a far 
larger population than the present. Before proceeding to classify 
the people according to religion, we may remind the reader that, in 
respect of race, about 19^ millions in British India are Brahmans 
and Rajputs, of comparatively pure Aryan blood, about 1 1 millions 
are " aboriginals " or " wild forest tribes ", about 140 millions are of 
the mixed population known as Hindus, composed of Aryan and, 
more largely, of non-Aryan elements, and about 50 millions are 
Mohammedans descended from Central Asiatic invaders and vari- 
ously mixed in race. 

The non-Aryan hill-tribes deserve some special notice in 
connection with their recent history and with the British military 
service. The Santals, numbering about one million in 1S72, live 
in jungle-villages or among the mountains, on the north-eastern 
edge of the central plateau, abutting on the Ganges in Lower 
Bengal. The social life is based upon a strong regard for the tie 
of kinship. The people of each hamlet, governed by a hereditary 
headman, with a deputy and a watchman or policeman, feast, hunt, 
and worship together, and the chief punishment for crime consists 
in expulsion from the village into the loneliness of the forest. The 
gods worshipped are those of the race, the tribe (each of the seven 
clans having its separate deity), and the family, while offerings 
are also made to many spirits of the river and the forest, and 
of ancestry, to demons of the well and the mountain, and other 
unseen beings. Towards the end of the eighteenth century the 
Santals who had lived by hunting and by regular plunder of the 
lowland-harvests, began to work on farms and to hold land in 




INDIA. PEOPLES, RELIGIONS, AND OCCUPATIONS. 221 

connection with the Permanent Settlement of Bengal. They 
acquired confidence in British rule, and lived in peace and pros- 
perity until they came within the grasp of Hindu money-lenders, 
who by 1850 had most of the men in the hamlets at their mercy, 
and were terrorizing the people by threats of imprisonment under 
British law. In 1848, the inhabitants of three villages had fled 
back to the jungle, and resumed the wild life of former days. At 
last, in 1855, a body of Santals, 30,000 in number, armed with 
their bows and arrows, started for Calcutta, about 150 miles 
distant, with the intention of seeking help in their trouble from the 
Governor-General, Lord Dalhousie. Such a movement was sure 
to end in mischief. Collisions with the police ended in rebellion, 
quickly suppressed with some serious loss of life. Relief was then 
afforded to their pecuniary needs, and a British officer, in charge 
of the Santal Parganas or District, arranged a form of government 
with the village headmen. The Kandhs (Kondhs or Khands, 
meaning ** hill-men "), numbering about 100,000, live in the high- 
lands at the east of the Central Provinces, and overlooking the 
Orissa delta and the northern part of the coast in the Madras 
Presidency. Their form of rule is patriarchal, and until they felt 
the pressure of the strong British hand, blood-feuds and human 
sacrifices prevailed. Between 1835 and 1845, under able and 
energetic British adminisjbrators, the Kandhs were brought to a 
peaceful and orderly life, dwelling on clearings of forest-land, 
furnishing their best men to the police, and growing yearly in 
prosperity under the new system. The predatory clans have now, 
in British India, been transformed into peaceful cultivators and 
loyal soldiers, displaying one of the most gratifying of the many 
beneficent results of our rule. Since the days of Clive and Coote, 
the fidelity, truthfulness, attachment to their social superiors, and 
the cheerful courage of the hill and forest tribes have been marked 
by the officers who, on many a field of battle, have led to victory 
soldiers thence recruited. As pioneers and as engineers these 
men have also done excellent service, and some of the most valiant 
and valued of our native regiments, as we have seen in the gallant 
little Gurkhas of Nipal (Nepaul), are furnished by these reclaimed 
dwellers in the uplands of India. The Bhils, numbering over half 
a million, inhabit the Vindhya, Satpura, and Satmala Hills lying 
in the west central and western region, along the forest-covered 



223 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

banks of the Narbada and the Tapti. During the eighteenth 
century, treated as outlaws by the Mahrattas (Marathas), they 
became robbers of a desperate character, defeating large bodies of 
troops sent against them in their strongholds, and scourging the 
people of the lowlands by their raids. When the territory called 
Khandesh was occupied by the British in 1818, anarchy was at its 
height, and the roads were only kept passable, or the villages 
habitable, by the regular payment of black-mail to the Bhils. 
Expeditions sent against them were powerless through the deadly 
malaria. The great reformer of this state of things was the 
splendid soldier. Captain, afterwards Sir James. Outram, who went 
into the hills and made friendly advances to the chiefs, whom he 
won over by feasts and by his exploits in tiger-shooting. He then 
conceived the idea of enlisting them in favour of the cause of 
order, and enrolled a small body of men from among his com- 
panions in the chase. In 1827 he had 600 sturdy warriors in his 
corps, who fought bravely for the British Government against 
freebooters. At this time, the District treasuries are guarded by 
Bhils, who form the chief police of that region. 

In a religious classification, British India contains about 156 
millions of Hindus and Brahmos, 50 millions of Mohammedans, 
over 7 million Buddhists (almost entirely in Burma), about i}4 
million Christians. 6 millions of people holding " animistic " or tribal 
nature- worship faiths, i J^ miUion Sikhs, half a million Jains, about 
80,000 Parsis, and 15,000 Jews. The Brahmos, very few ia 
numbers, form a community termed the Brahmo-Somaj, or 
" Church of the one God ", " Theistic Church ", developing a new 
religion among Hindus educated in the western learning. The 
new faith had its rise with a Brahman of high birth, named 
Rammohun Roy, who, having come to doubt the ancestral beliefs, 
formed a creed like the Unitarianism of this country, accepting the 
morality preached by Christ, but rejecting His deity and miracles. 
In 1831 he visited England, where he was warmly welcomed on 
account of his high character, his zeal against the idolatry of most 
of his countrymen, and his services in promoting the abolition of 
suttee. He died at Bristol in 1833, and his work was continued 
by his Indian followers. The spread of British education greatly 
aided the movement, and a new leader arose in Keshub Chunder 
Sen, who joined the new church in 1858, and visited Europe in 



I 




INDIA. PEOPLES, RELIGIONS, AND OCCUPATIONS. 223 

1870. The fundamental principles of the Brahmo-Somaj are the 
recognition and worship of one Supreme God. the rejection of all 
special revelation, with reliance upon nature and intuition alone for 
religious knowledge, the ignoring of caste, of sacred books or 
places, and of all idolatrous rites, with esteem for what is good in 
all religions. The members of the association, which has above a 
hundred branches in India, are reformers of marriage-customs and 
promoters of female education, and have been represented, since 
1880, by the Theistic Quarterly Review. The Sikhs, the Jains, 
the Hindus, and the Buddhists have been already dealt with, 
and the Mohammedans need no further mention. 

The Parsis have an importance wholly independent of their 
scanty number. Their name means "people of Pars or Pars", 
I.e. ancient Persia, and they are a remnant of the followers of 
the old Persian religion of Zoroaster (Zarathustra or Zerdusht), 
holding the sun and fire in reverence as the emblems of purity and 
light, and so of divinity. The ethical rules aim at purity in 
thought, word, and deed; the cleansing of physical and moral 
foulness is effected by washings with holy water or with earth, by 
prayers and by the recitation of passages of the sacred writings 
in the language of their ritual, the ancient, holy Zend; and by 
flagellation or by gifts to the priest. Marriage is permitted only 
within the limits of the sect. The dead, as is well known, are 
exposed on the iron grating of the Dakhmas or Towers of Silence, 
to the action of the elements and of birds of prey, until the bones 
fall through into a pit beneath, whence they are removed to a 
subterranean cavern. The Parsis form, as merchants and landed 
proprietors, one of the most respectable and thriving sections of 
the community, living chiefly at Bombay, Surat, and Ahmadabad 
in the west, and at Calcutta and Madras, They are conspicuous 
for integrity, industry, skill in trade, wealth, general intelligence, 
benevolence, and a splendid mode of life. Their eagerness to 
profit by western civilization is seen in the presence and success 
of many of their students at the London University examinations, 
and at other British resorts of learning. About two-thirds of the 
whole number, or some 50,000 Parsis, reside in Bombay, where 
they are conspicuous, in person, for their tall and stalwart figures, 
and their picturesque dress of long full white cotton trousers and 
shirts, with the high black tiara on the head, and, as citizens, for 



OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 



r 224 

L their noble public spirit in the expenditure of their wealth. Many 

I of the richest merchants of Bombay are Parsis, and other members 

I of their community are very successful as ship-builders, engineers, 

I hotel-keepers, and artisans. It is one of the sights of Bombay to 

H behold, on the sea-strand, at rise and set of sun, many pious 

I worshippers of fire standing erect, or kneeling on rugs, in adoration 

I of the coming or departing orb of day. 

W Christianity, apart from legends concerning the preaching of 

the doubting apostle, Saint Thomas, arrived on the Malabar coast, 
in the person of converted Jews on board of the regular Roman 
merchant-fleet from the Red Sea, before the close of the second 
century. For a thousand years, from the fifth to the fifteenth 
century, the Nestorian doctrine of the Syrian church was the main 
representative of the Christian faith in that part of Southern India, 
and this was followed by the Catholic form introduced by the 
Portuguese early in the sixteenth century. In 1560, the Inquisi- 
tion was established at Goa, and its warfare with heretics and 
pagans continued till its abolition in 1812. The Syrian Catholics 
in that region, retaining in their services the Syrian language and 
part of the old ritual, and acknowledging the Papal supremacy, still 
number over 220,000. The work of Portuguese missionaries 
among the heathen, including that of the famous St. Francis 
Xavier, who arrived in 1542, promised at one time the establish- 
ment of the faith through a large part of India. It left behind it, 
in the Portuguese territory as now held, the spectacle of the only 
Christian State-polity in the whole country, with a territory divided 
into parishes provided with churches and with other ecclesiastical 
features of a Christian land. The Jesuit missionaries, after the 
downfall of Portuguese political dominion, effected by the Dutch, 
in 1663, by the capture of Cochin, had much success. The sup- \ 
pression of the Order in Portugal, in 1 759, deprived the Indian 
Jesuit missions both of priests and of funds, and the work of con- 
version became very feeble. Since the re-establishment of the 
Society in 1814 much progress has been made, and the Roman . 
Catholics of all India, with Burma, now exceed ij^ millions. Over 
two-thirds of the priests are natives, and there have also been - 
several Brahman bishops. The missions include secular and 
regular clergy from many of the European countries, including 
Great Britain, Germany, and Holland. Since 1886, there has been 




PARSIS WORSHIPPING THE RISING SUN ON THE BEACH 

AT BOMBAY. 

Among the numerous religious sects in India are the Parsis, a remnant 
01 the old Persian religion of Zoroaster. They worship one Supreme Being 
who is called Ormuzd, and is the source of all light and goodness; he is 
ever in conflict with Ahriman, the source of darkness and evil. The Parsis 
are said to be worshippers of fire; they themselves maintain that they do 
not worship that element, but only find in it an image and emblem of God's 
purity. That, indeed, is the basis of their religion — purity in thought, word, 
and deed. Their ritual prescribes various washings, both with water and 
with earth; while even their dead are exposed to the birds of prey on the 
Towers of Silence, in the interests of purity. Great numbers of the Parsis 
live in Bombay, and it is one of the most interesting sights of the city to 
watch these pious people kneeling on the beach in adoration at sunrise or 
sunset. 

(30) 



INDIA. PEOPLES, RELIGIONS, AND OCCUPATIONS. 225 

a regular ecclesiastical constitution of sixteen dioceses, grouped into 
six provinces, with two separate vicariates and three prefectures. 
Catholics are most numerous in the native states of Travancore and 
Cochin. The number of converts is steadily increasing, having 
more than doubled since 1851, and there is a good supply of 
colleges and schools. 

The first Protestant missions in India were established by 
Danish Lutherans in 1706, at Tranquebar, in Tanjore. The 
translation of the Bible into Tamil and Hindustani was effected; 
but progress was slow, and for more than a century, from i 719 till 
1824, the Lutheran missionaries were mainly supported by our 
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. The Society for the 
Propagation of the Gospel next took charge of the work. The 
famous Friedrich Schwarz, born in Brandenburg in 1726, was 
appointed and paid by the S.P.C.K., sailing for India in 1749. 
His character was a combination of piety and good sense, and he 
laboured with great success in Tranquebar, Trichinopoli, and Tan- 
jore until his death in 1798. Hyder Ali of Mysore formed a high 
estimation of the German evangelist, and in arranging terms of 
peace with the Government of Madras he declined to receive and 
trust any other negotiator. He was tutor and guardian to the 
young son of the Rajah of Tanjore, and the lad became one of the 
most accomplished of native rulers. It was Schwarz who founded 
the Tinnevelli Protestant missions, numbering 3000 souls in 1816. 
Tour years later, two Lutheran ministers were sent out by the 
Church Missionary Society, and in 1835 there were over 11,000 
converts. In i88r, there were over 81,000, the work having 
flourished under the control of Bishops Sargent and Caldwell, 
assistants to the Bishop of Madras. Dr. Caldwell is the eminent 
Orientalist who wrote the Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian 
Languages. The work in Tinnevelli is remarkable for the progress 
made in the way of self-supporting churches. In 1S84, there were 
only five European and Eurasian missionaries, along with sixty-six 
native clergymen, some of whom were maintained by their people. 
The Baptist missions of Serampnr were established in 1799 by the 
, .&«nous William Carey, born in Northamptonshire in 1761, who 
passed through the grades of shoemaker's apprentice and Baptist 
preacher to the position of the editor of grammars and dictionaries 
in Bengali, Mahratta, Sanskrit, and other languages, in a sphere of 



226 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

labour from which, before his death in 1834, hundreds of thousands 
of Bibles, or parts thereof, and tracts and other religious works, 
had been issued in about forty Oriental tongues. Serampur was 
a £>anish possession until 1845, when it was purchased by the 
Company, and it was chosen by Carey as the seat of his efforts on 
account of the hostility then displayed by the Calcutta Government 
towards the work of missions. Marshman and Ward were other 
eminent Baptist labourers in this field, which was entered in 1 798 
by the London Missionary Society. 

In 181 3, the new Charter removed the Company's opposition 
to evangelizing efforts in India, and the Anglican Church, with a 
Bishop at Calcutta, and three archdeaconries, one in each Presi- 
dency, became directly connected with missions. Among the East 
India Company's chaplains, Henry Martyn, Senior Wrangler and 
first Smith's Prizeman at Cambridge in 1801, was conspicuous for 
the zeal and ability of his labours in Bengal, where he translated 
the whole New Testament into Hindustani, Hindi, and Persian, 
the Prayer-book into Hindustani, and the Psalms into Persian, 
falling a victim to his toil in 181 1. Dr. Middleton arrived in 
Calcutta as the first Bishop in 18 14, succeeded, nine years later, 
by the eminent Reginald Heber, born in Cheshire in 1783, and a 
student of Brasenose College, Oxford, where he wrote the prize- 
poem, Palestine, which is almost the only composition of its class 
that has become a part of our literature. His Hymns include the 
well-known "From Greenland's Icy Mountains", and " Lo, He 
comes in clouds descending". His death from apoplexy in 1826, 
at Trichinopoli, was a grievous loss to the world of Christian char- 
acter and ability. The Church Missionary Society and the Society 
for the Propagation of the Gospel have been the chief agencies of 
the Anglican Church in Indian missions, her main success being 
obtained, as we have seen, in Southern India. In 1835, the See 
of Madras, and in 1837, the See of Bombay, were established, and 
separate dioceses at Lahore and Rangoon (Burma) were founded 
in 1877. In 1879, a missionary bishopric of Travancore and 
Cochin was founded, and two other bishoprics have followed, that 
of Chutia-Nagpur (Bengal) in 1890, and of Lucknow in 1892. 
The ecclesiastical staff maintained by the Indian Government for 
the spiritual needs of its European soldiers and officials consists of 
about 160 Anglican, and 13 Presbyterian chaplains. The Bishops 



INDIA. PEOPLES, REUGIONS, AND OCCUPATIONS. 22/ 

of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay are entirely paid by the Govern- 
ment; those of Lahore, Rangoon, and Lucknow are maintained by 
the income of voluntary endowments supplemented by a Govern- 
ment salary; the See of Chutia-Nagpur is endowed by subscrip- 
tions; the Bishop of Travancore is paid by the Church Missionary 
Society. The Government-staff of clergy is confined to the official 
and military centres, and the wants of Europeans at smaller stations 
are chiefly supplied by ministers sent out by the Additional Clergy 
Society and the Anglo-Indian Evangelization Society, a Noncon- 
formist body. Among able and zealous missionaries of the Church 
of Scotland we find Alexander Duff, bom in 1806 near Pitlochry, 
in Perthshire. A pupil of Chalmers at St. Andrews, he reached 
Calcutta in May, 1830, after two shipwrecks on his outward voyage, 
and struck out a new path in freely opening up European science 
and learning to the natives of India, along with his religious 
doctrine. He won the favour of the Indian Government, and 
displayed his marvellous energy in re-founding his college in India 
after the formation of the Free Church of Scotland, to which he 
adhered, had removed his original institution from under his 
control. He aided in establishing the University of Calcutta, and 
raised the sum of ;^i 0,000 for the endowment of a missionary- 
chair in the New College, Edinburgh. The sum of £1 1,000, pre- 
sented to him as a token of esteem, was devoted by Duff as a fund 
for the support of invalided missionaries. John Wilson, born a 
farmer's son near Lauder in Berwickshire, in 1804, was another 
eminent Scottish missionary, labouring at Bombay from 1828, after 
1843 in connection with the Free Church, until his death in 1875. 
He had a wonderful knowledge of Indian peoples, languages, litera- 
ture, history, faiths, customs, and ideas, combined with great energy, 
sympathy, and wisdom. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society, 
vice-chancellor of the Bombay University, and president of the 
Bombay branch of the Asiatic Society. Many other missionary 
societies, belonging to the Wesleyans, Presbyterians of England 
and Ireland, and other bodies, have been at work in India, where 
the number of native Protestant Christians increased more than 
sevenfold between 1851 and 1890, from 91,000 to 648,000, a result 
largely due to the increased employment of natives in converting 
their brethren. The native ordained pastors grew, during the 
above period, from 21 to 797, and, of lay-preachers, from 493 to 




228 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

3491. During the same forty years, the total number of pupils, 
male and female, in Protestant mission-schools increased from 
64,000 to nearly 300,000, with a rapid rise in the standard of 
instruction, enabling the scholars to compete successfully with the 
Government colleges at the University examinations. The educa- 
tion of females has been a special object of attention among the 
missionary bodies, the Protestant day-schools for girls having risen 
from 285 in 1851 to 1507 in 1890, with pupils exceeding 108,000. 

In considering the occupations of the people of India, we must 
first apprehend that 70 per cent of the whole number are dependent 
upon the land for their livelihood, in the tillage of the soil or in the 
pasturing of cattle. An infinite variety of detail is found in the 
methods applied to the deltaic swamps of Bengal and Burma, the 
dry uplands of the Karnatik, the " black-soil " plains of the Deccan, 
the strong clays of the Punjab, and the desert sand of Rajputana 
and Sind, The light plough of the Indian peasant, which he 
carries on his shoulders to the field, only scratches the surface of 
the soil, but shallow furrows are made again and again until by 
repealed toil the whole of the earth is reduced to powder and 
made easily accessible to moisture and heat. The lack of ordinary 
manures is supplied, in the river valleys, by the rich silt deposited, 
as in Egypt, by the annual flooding that follows the tropical rains, 
and water for the growth of crops is variously obtained, in Sind 
from channels for drawing off water from the Indus, from wells in 
the Deccan and the Punjab, from tanks (natural and artificial lakes) 
in the Karnatik, and by terraces cut on the hillside in every suit- 
able locality to catch the streams pouring down from the higher 
ground. Irrigation by canals made in former days, or repaired or 
constructed anew under British rule, furnishes vast areas with the 
needful moisture in regions lacking rain and the aid of tanks and 
wells. This grand means of averting famine supplies two millions 
of acres in Sind, over 780,000 acres in the Bombay Presidency, 
nearly t,}4 millions of acres in the Punjab, about 1^ millions of 
acres in the Norlh-Western Provinces, 1 million acres in Lower 
Bengal, and about i }4 millions of acres in the Madras Presidency. 
Every effort is made both by the Government and by the culti- 
vators to guard against the disastrous effects both of floods and of 
drought. The valleys of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, and 
the deltaic regions of the eastern coast, are protected by embank- 



f 

I 

t 
t 

m 

I 

■ 

I 



INDIA. PEOPLES, RELIGIONS, AND OCCUPATIONS. 

ments against an undue overflow from the rivers. In Soulhern 
India, where the inland plateau has an irregular supply of moisture 
from the rainfall, and engineering-work is limited not merely by 
the enormous expenditure required, but by the nature of the ground 
in its confusion of hills and valleys and its unmanageable levels, 
the tillers of the soil are largely dependent upon tanks excavated, 
or adapted from the natural formation of the ground, in the hill- 
country, and upon water obtained from the rivers by means of 
anicuts or dams across them, causing an artificial flood for diversion 
to the fields. Much service was rendered to the Indian peasantry, 
in connection with irrigation, under the rule of Lord Mayo, who 
executed or devised new systems of canals in the territory of the 
upper Ganges, the Jumna, and the Godavari, and in Behar and 
Orissa, and provided for interest on the cost of construction in a 
liberal arrangement for canal-cess, which compelled the husbandman 
to pay his water-rate only after proof either of benefit derived from 
irrigation, or of wilful neglect, during five years, to use the water 
brought by the canals close to his plot of ground. The Govern- 
ment thus levied its canal-rate, practically, only in return for actual 
value received, the estimate of liability requiring a demonstration 
that the cultivator's net profits, after paying the water-rate, had 
been or would have been increased by use of the canal. Re- 
cently, in the whole of India, excluding Lower Burma and 
Assam, nearly 29 millions of acres or about one-fifth of the 
whole area under cultivation, were irrigated from the various 
sources above described, the amount expended in eight consecu- 
tive years being nearly 20 millions of tens of rupees, chargeable 
to revenue, or about 12 millions of pounds sterling, at the de- 
preciated value of IS. 2\^d. per rupee. The Agricultural Depart- 
ment of our Indian Government strives to foster and improve the 
people's most important industry by collecting and furnishing early 
information concerning the crops in every province, by directing 
experimental farms, introducing new implements and objects of 
tillage, founding and conducting schools for teaching agricultural 
chemistry, and despatching native students to Europe for study of 
the whole subject. Much attention is also paid to the improve- 
ment of breeds of horned cattle and sheep, and of every class of 
draught-animals and beasts of burden. 

As regards the various products of the soil, we find that about 



230 



OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 




one-third of the population of all India, or 93 millions, may be 
described as living upon rice, grown chiefly in the deltas of the 
great rivers, and on land along the sea-coasts; in the North- 
Western Provinces and Oudh, that grain is grown only on the 
naturally moist ground or by means of irrigation. In the centre 
of the country, and in the Punjab, only small areas are under this 
wet-loving plant, which needs about 35 inches of water for its 
perfect growth. It is of late years only that the growth of wheat 
in India has, by exportation to Great Britain, attracted much 
attention in this country. The great districts for this familiar 
European grain are in the north, and many readers will be sur- 
prised to learn that the total wheat-area, exceeding 20 millions 
of acres in one year, equals the whole amount of land devoted 
to the crop In the United States. The Punjab alone, where the 
wheat-area is above one-third of the whole acreage given to food- 
grains, has more than 6 millions of acres, above double the amount 
of land given to wheat in Great Britain. In the Central Provinces, 
wheat covers 31 per cent of the area used for growing grain. The 
removal, in 1873, of the Indian export-duty on wheat brought 
a new supply of the cereal, hardly inferior in quality to the best 
Californian and Australian grain, into the British market, the 
average annual export from India to Europe over a series of 
recent years having reached nearly ij}4 million cwts. The most 
extensive crop of India as a whole, in the shape of food-grain, 
is found in varieties of millet, a very nutritious small grain locally 
called, in its several forms, and in several dialects, joar, ckolam, 
ragi-, bajra, kambu, &c. In the Madras Presidency nearly 12 
million acres, or above half the total cultivated area, were recently 
under this crop; in Bombay and Sind, 65 per cent of the total 
food-acreage. A little Indian corn or maize, a large amount of 
barley, and many kinds of pulse, locally called gram, dal, &c., are 
also raised. 

The native use of oil for lamps, for personal anointing, and for 
food is very large, and we find a corresponding growth, in all parts 
of India, of the oil-seeds which are also largely exported to Europe. 
Rape-seed, linseed, sesamum, and castor-oil seed are the chief 
products of this class, nearly 7 millions of acres being given to 
their growth, with a yearly export recently of over 24 million 
cwts., worth over 16^ millions sterling. Many kinds of 



■ 
I 



INDIA. PEOPLES, RELIGIONS, AND OCCUPATIONS. 23 1 

excellent vegetables, especially of the cucumber and melon tribe, 
and including, of late years, turnips, cabbages, and potatoes, are 
grown in all parts for household use and for sale in the large 
towns. The chief fruits — mangoes, oranges, pomegranates, guavas, 
shaddocks, figs, limes, citrons, tamarinds, and others, including the 
pine-apple — are generally known, with the spices turmeric, chillies, 
ginger, coriander, aniseed, pepper, and cardamoms- The cocoa- 
nut palm and date-palms have been already named. Sugar-cane, 
of which the finest is grown in the North- Western Provinces, and 
the date-palm, in one variety, furnish saccharine matter for home- 
consumption and about ij4 million cwts, for yearly export, with 
the value of ;^ i , 200,000. 

The foreign trade in cotton, grown for ages in sufficiency for 
native requirements, dates mainly from the Lancashire famine of 
1862 caused by the American Civil War, and already described 
in these pages. Between i860 and 1866 the value of exports 
in raw cotton rose from about 2 millions sterling to 25 millions, 
falling greatly again after the restoration of peace in America until 
they were under 5 millions in 1879, and rising again of late years 
to over 13^^ millions. The material is inferior, in length of staple 
and fineness of quality for yarn, to the best American products, 
but has a secure hold of the market for all but the highest class 
of goods. The plains of Gujarat and Kathiawar, in the west; 
the Deccan highlands, and the valleys of Berar and the Central 
Provinces are the principal scenes of cotton-growth. There are 
at present about 175 mills for ginning, cleaning, and pressing the 
cotton in the Bombay Presidency, with work done by steam-power, 
and forming a great branch of native industry. The second place 
among Indian fibre-crops is taken by the jute which is grown in 
the north and east of Bengal. The vast demand of recent years, 
mentioned in our account of industries at Dundee, has done 
wonders for the prosperity of the growers in India. The exports 
in one recent year reached 8,690,000 cwts., worth over S}4 
millions sterling, besides jute manufactures to the value of 

;^2,44I,000. 

We pass on to the famous plant producing the blue dye called 
indigo. Within the last half-century the British capitalist has 
abandoned its growth in Lower Bengal; Behar, the North-Wes- 
tern Provinces, the Punjab, and Madras are now the chief regions 




232 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

for the crop, with an average annual export of 144,000 cwts., valued 
at about ^2,400,000. The dyeing material is obtained by steeping 
the leaves in a large vat until fermentation ensues; boiling the 
sediment deposited in a second vat, straining it, and making it up 
into cakes. The drug concerning which so brisk a wordy warfare 
has long been waged in Great Britain and India, to say nothing 
of the armed hostilities in China already described, is chiefly grown 
and manufactured in the mid-Ganges valley, near Benares and 
Patna, and in a portion of Central India, including the states of 
Indore and Bhopal. There is produced the opium of Indian 
trade, the cultivation being a Government monopoly in Bengal, 
while the duty on that grown in the Native states is levied on 
passage through Bombay territory to the ports of shipment. In 
Rajputana, and in some small districts of the Central Provinces 
and the Punjab, opium Is produced for local use, the cultivation 
of the poppy being prohibited through all the rest of British India. 
In a recent year about 98,000 cwts. ol opium were exported, 
to the value of over 8 millions sterling, with a nett profit to the 
Government amounting to about 3 millions. The cultivation of 
the poppy and the preparation of the juice are elaborate, tedious, 
and expensive operations, and, according to Indian custom, an 
advance of money is made to the cultivator before preparing his 
ground, to be repaid when he delivers his crop, for examination 
and weighing, to the Government agents. The opium-grower 
undertakes yearly to sow a certain area with poppy, with the 
option of declining to sow at all, and, after engagement, he is 
bound to transfer the whole produce to the Government, with 
payment at a fixed rate, dependent on quality. Tobacco is grown 
everywhere for native consumption. The Portuguese introduced 
it in the early years of the reign of the British Solomon who so 
strongly denounced the weed. The only Indian product in this 
way that is much relished by European smokers is the "Trichino- 
poli cheroot" of the Madura and Coimbatore Districts in Madras. 

Since 1830, when a coffee-garden was first established by an 
English planter, the cultivation of the shrub, carried on by natives 
since the end of the eighteenth century with plants introduced 
from Arabia, has spread largely in Southern India. The whole 
area thus occupied in 1893-94 was about 270,000 acres, producing 
coffee to the annual value of over 2 millions sterling. In Coorg, 



I 
I 

I 



INDIA. PEOPLES, RELIGIONS, AND OCCUPATIONS. 233 

nearly half of the whole cultivated area is devoted to the coffee- 
plant, best grown at about 3000 feet above sea-level, in a warm, 
moist situation, on soil composed of decayed vegetable matter such 
as is furnished in forest-clearings. Indian tea, on a large scale, 
is a product of recent years, now attracting more European capital 
than indigo, and a very successful rival of the Chinese article. 
In 1826, the tea-plant, a species of camellia, was found to be grow- 
ing wild in Assam, after our conquest of the territory from Burma. 
In 1834, when Lord William Bentinck was in power, the Indian 
government took up the subject of tea-cultivation. Persons skilled 
in the tillage, and in the preparation of the leaf for market, were 
procured from China, and, on the importation of plants from that 
country, it was found that the best-flavoured tea was produced by 
a cross between the Chinese variety and the native plant of Assam. 
In 1838, the first chests of Assam tea arrived in England, and two 
years later the Assam Tea Company was in the field. Abundance 
of capital was soon forthcoming, and, after preliminary failures due 
to ignorance concerning soil and methods of preparation, the new 
industry attained a great and permanent success. The plant is 
grown very largely on the north-eastern hills in Assam, and in the 
District of Darjiling, between Nipal and Bhutan. The cultivation 
has of late years spread to the Nilgiri Hills, to southern districts 
of Bengal, and to the Punjab and the North- Western Provinces. 
In recent years statistics show that the total export of India-grown 
tea has reached nearly 130 millions of pounds weight, with a 
value of nearly 7 millions sterling, the bulk being sent to and 
consumed in the British Isles. The cultivation in India of the 
cinchona-tree, with the bark that yields the invaluable alkaloid 
called quinine, was due to the untiring energy of Sir Clements 
Markham, K.C.B., the very able geographer, explorer, and writer. 
It was he who, in i860, brought seedlings from Peru to India, and 
for the first time reared artificially the tree which now supplies a 
cheap remedy against fevers to the teeming people of the plains, 
and exports to Europe enough bark to pay interest on the capital 
invested. The Government centre of cultivation is on the Nilgiri 
Hills, and there are large and valuable private estates. The 
tillage has spread into various districts of Southern India, and the 
Government have now a great and successful plantation at Dar- 
jiling, in northern Bengal. Recently, the Government had nearly 



234 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD, 

6 millions of trees at their two centres in the Nilgiris and in the 
Darjiling District, the quinine produced not being made an object 
of profit, but mainly devoted to the good of the people. The drug 
manufactured at the public factory is sold at one rupee per ounce, 
a price of which the significance can only be understood by those 
who regard the prevalence of fevers in India and the efficacy of 
the remedy tbus placed within the reach of the poorest peasants. 
Above I 2,000 acres of trees, in the Madras Presidency and Coorg, 
are in private hands, and of late nearly 3 million lbs. of bark were 
exported, to the value of about ^80,000. 

The production of silk is dependent on the mulberry-tillage, 
largely conducted in Bengal, The silk-trade is not an increasing 
industry. The Company, in the latter half of the eighteenth 
century and up to 1833, did much to foster sericulture, and in the 
above year about one million lbs. was the (average) annual export 
from Calcutta. The growth of the mulberry is now chiefly carried 
on, by native enterprise, in Lower Bengal, where recently nearly 
16,000 persons, turning out 554,000 lbs. of silk, were thus employed. 
The silk is partly used on native looms, and partly spun and made 
into cloth at steam -factories in Bombay. The raw silk, exported 
to France, the British Isles, and Italy, in this order of amounts, 
is annually worth about ^"700,000. " Wild silk ", called iasar or 
iusser, is obtained from the cocoons of worms feeding on various 
jungle-trees, the thread spun therefrom being mainly used on 
native looms. 

The mode of life with the vast majority of the Indian popula- 
tion, those engaged in agricultural pursuits, is well described in a 
cheap and accessible book, Mr. Ramakrishna's Life in an Indian 
Village. The scene is laid in a typical hamlet of from fifty to 
sixty houses, representing over fifty thousand such collections of 
native abodes scattered over the Madras Presidency. The place 
consists of a cluster of trees, including the tamarind, mango, cocoa- 
nut palm, and plantain; a group of dwellings, some thatched, and 
some tiled; a small temple in the centre, devoted to a local 
goddess, with a priest, and various servants of the shrine, including 
a couple of dancing-girls; the whole being surrounded by about 
500 acres of green fields, and having a large "tank" capable of 
watering the land for six months. The community is governed 
by its "headman", called Ahaisiff m the south, and Potailm many 




INDIA. PEOPLES, RELIGIONS, AND OCCUPATIONS. 235 

Other regions. He is a petty local magistrate, who settles disputes, 
directs the rural police, and collects the taxes. The accountant 
and notary {Kumam or Patwari) keeps a register of the produce 
and the names of the little land-owners or tenant-farmers, and 
draws up deeds of sale and transfer. Then come the money- 
lender and banker, the schoolmaster, the physician, the car- 
penter, the blacksmith, shepherd, washerman, potter, barber, 
tattooer, tanner, and a little body of pariahs, Hindus of the lowest 
grade, living in their own quarter of the hamlet, and performing 
various menial services. The work of this little village-world 
goes on from year to year with the regularity of a machine, accord- 
ing to the traditions of past ages, little influenced by a foreign 
rule and a foreign civilization. The officials and the village 
artisans are paid in grain at the threshing-floor in harvest-time. 
The amusements consist in the gossip of the women when they 
meet to draw water at the village- well or at the tank; in the songs 
of the bard, and in the performances of wandering companies of 
jugglers, acrobats, snake-charmers, and animal-tamers. There are 
village dramas, and village feasts, and the schoolmaster, well-read 
in the thousands of stanzas of the Maha Bharata in the Tamil 
version, gives recitations or ** preachings ", on the summer nights 
of the season of leisure, to open-air gatherings around his hut. 
The most notable feature of the Hindu life in such communities is 
the extreme importance attached to the religion which affects the 
thought and action of every day and hour, in the pious native's 
anxiety to get rid of the need for future births after death in this 
world, and to attain eternal beatitude. The village sprang up 
around the temple, and the shrine of the local deity for ever 
remains the centre of regard with those who most eagerly of all 
things wish to acquire religious merit. The grand benefit derived 
from British rule by these peaceful and harmless villagers, living 
in scores of millions under our sway, is their freedom from plunder 
by robbers of every class. Other advantages brought by our 
administration are found in matters already mentioned with regard 
to irrigation, the relief of famine, and the supply of the one great 
medicine to fight the fever which is the peasant's deadliest foe. 

In the Sind valley of the Indus, and in the sandy districts of 
the western Punjab, camels are used for agricultural labour; in 
every other part of India, horned cattle, including many varieties 



236 OUR EMI'IRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

of the humped breed, are solely employed for drawing the plough, 
British encouragement, by means of cattle-shows and prizes, has 
greatly improved the native breeds in parts of the Madras Presi- 
dency. The Central Provinces have a high-class breed of trotting 
bullocks, much valued for the wheeled carriages which are still 
largely used by the affluent in Indian travel. Buffaloes are the 
animals chiefly employed for draught in the deltaic regions, and 
the milk of their cows is the best for producing the ghee {ghi) or 
clarified butter so largely used by the natives with their rice and 
other grains. The Punjab is the chief source of horse-supplies for 
the native cavalry, and much progress has been lately made, in the 
same Province, in the breeding of mules for military use. 

Since the middle of the nineteenth century, the British Govern- 
ment has paid attention to the important subject of repairing the 
waste of valuable forests caused by timber-cutters and charcoal- 
burners, and by the tillage called " nomadic cultivation ", in which 
the hill-people clear the ground of trees by burning, and having 
neither oxen nor ploughs, exhaust the soil In a quick succession 
of crops raised by the hoe, and then move on to a fresh patch of 
jungle-ground. In 1864, an Inspector-General of Forests was 
appointed: three years later, candidates for employment in the 
Indian Forest Department were sent for training to the Forest- 
schools of Germany and France, and in 1885 a special department 
for this study was opened at the Royal Engineering College at 
Cooper's Hill, near Windsor. The destruction of the timber, now 
greatly needed for railway-sleepers and engine-fuel, has been 
arrested; replanting is progressing, and a regular system of con- 
servation is in force. The chief trees and their value have been 
already noticed; the area of reserved forests now exceeds 13 
millions of acres, bringing an annual nett-revenue (year 1890-91) 
of about ^400,000. 

The historical manufactures of India, still pursued on no mean 
scale, were once unrivalled in their display of manual dexterity 
and artistic taste. Long ages before cotton-weaving was known 
in England, the native looms were producing the cloth which has 
ever been, for both sexes, the chief material of Indian clothing. 
Calicut, on the Malabar coast, gave us the word "calico", and 
Dacca, in eastern Bengal, became renowned in the eighteenth 
century for the exquisite muslins compared to " woven air". The 



INDIA. PEOPLES, RELIGIONS, AND OCCUPATIONS. 237 

competition of steam-power has overwhelmed the native hand- 
work in the matter of cheapness, and the fabrication of cotton 
goods by the old loom has become only a village industry, still 
important for the durability of its products, still supplying more 
than half the clothing of the Indian peoples. No diminution of 
taste and skill has occurred, and Indian cottons are yet unsurpassed 
for graceful design, delicacy of texture, and the purity and fastness 
of the hues imparted by the dye-vat. Of late years, however, 
British and native capital has summoned steam to its aid, and the 
cotton-mills of Bombay are yearly producing larger quantities of 
cloth. The first use of steam-machinery at Bombay for cotton 
manufacture took place in 1854, and within 25 years the erection 
of factories spread thence to Gujarat (Guzerat), Calcutta, Madras, 
Cawnpur, and Central India, the chief centre always being, as now, 
at Bombay. Recently there were, in all India, some 127 cotton-mills, 
with nearly 25,000 looms, 3,270,000 spindles, and about 118,000 
persons, men, women, and children, employed thereon, the capital 
invested in these concerns certainly exceeding 7 millions sterling. 
The Bombay Presidency contained 90 of these factories, of which 
65 were in the city and island of Bombay, with chimney-stalks 
emitting noisome smoke in the fashion of a Lancashire town. 
The competition with the British maker is greatly favoured by the 
raw material and the market being close at hand, and by the 
cheapness of labour not subject to strikes. On the other hand, the 
Indian manufacturer is hampered by the triple cost, as compared 
with Great Britain, of erecting mills and stocking them with the 
requisite plant; by the higher interest of money, the cost of fuel 
and other imported stores, and by the short staple of the native 
cotton. Manchester and her fellow-towns are thus enabled to hold 
their own in the higher qualities of yarn and cloth. The factory- 
workers are paid by the piece, boys and women being able to earn 
from 7 to 10 rupees (8^. dd. to \2s) per month, while a skilled 
man's wages, for the same period, vary from 30 to 65 rupees (365. 
to nearly £^. A family of several members will receive as much 
as 100 rupees (;^6) per month, which is a kind of opulence for the 
natives of India. The daily work-hours are twelve, from six to six, 
with an hour off for mid-day meal and a smoke. A Factory Act 
protects youth from excessive labour and from mischiefs incidental 
to the work. The yarn and twist are chiefly sent to China and 



OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD, 



Japan, the calico to Arabia and south-east Africa. The local demand 
is a main support of the trade, and the Indian twist and yam of the 
coarse and the medium qualities are superseding those of British 
production. About half a dozen woollen mills, producing blankets 
and cloth for coarse greatcoats and other garments, have lately 
arisen in the Punjab and at Cawnpur. In recent years the 
value of exports in cotton twist, yarn, and cloth reached close 
on 8 millions sterling: woollen manufactures over ^220.000. A 
great manufacture of jute, mainly supported by British capital, 
has arisen near Calcutta, and lately there were 24 jute-mills in 
Bengal, with one at Cawnpur. These factories, as well as native 
hand-looms in the north of Bengal, make gunny-bags for wheat, 
wool, and other articles of commerce, working up about 3j^ million 
cwts. of raw jute, and employing nearly 70,000 men, women, 
and children. Over 171 millions of bags are annually exported 
from Calcutta to Australia for the wool-trade, to California for 
wheat, to Great Britain, the interior of India, and to Indian and 
other eastern ports. In the Punjab, the North-W'estern Provinces, 
and other parts of the country there were recently 22 breweries 
supplying over 5 million gallons of beer, and furnishing, In addition 
to the private local consumption and export-trade, more than 3 
million gallons for the Commissariat department of the army. 
Steam paper-mills at Bombay and near Calcutta have now almost 
superseded the many small local manufactures, and three great 
leather- factories at Cawnpur, with much native hand-work in the 
same material, supply excellent saddlery, accoutrements, and other 
articles with a cheapness that has restricted importation from the 
home-country. 

The native industries carried on in every village still form, 
taken altogether, the most important manufactures of India in 
weaving, pottery, iron and brass work, oil-pressing, ivory-carving, 
and the making of gold-lace. Little remains of the fine hand-loom 
fabrics once exported to Europe, but the extent of native work for 
clothing is still very great, though it is declining rapidly in the 
Central Provinces and in Bengal, and has been almost extinguished 
by the cotton-factories in Bombay Presidency. In the south, fine 
cotton fabrics are still made in the hand-looms of Arni, Masulipatam, 
Nellore, and other towns and districts. At Surat, Ahmadabad, 
Broach, Poona, and in other parts of Bombay Presidency good 



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INDIA. PEOPLES, RELIGIONS, AND OCCUPATIONS. 239 

printed cotton is produced, with some articles including a mixture 
of silk and borders of gold lace. In the towns, there is much 
native weaving of silk, and the Punjab and Sind, Agra, Haidarabad 
in the Deccan, and Tanjore and Trichinopoli in the Madras 
Presidency, have numerous weavers of mixed silk and cotton, the 
textures being often embroidered with gold and silver. Benares, 
Murshidabad, Ahmadabad, and Trichinopoli produce very rich 
pure silk brocades of most brilliant hue and elaborate patterns. In 
recent years, silk-mills worked by steam have arisen at Bombay, 
chiefly furnishing the Burmese market, and turning out of late 
above 2}4 millions of yards of silk piece-goods, and nearly 300,000 
yards of mixed fabrics, with a total value of about ;^i 60,000. The 
beautiful and valuable shawls composed of the soft wool of the 
"shawl-goat" of the Himalayas are made in Kashmir and in some 
towns of the Punjab. Dacca, Patna, and Delhi have embroideries 
of muslin with gold and silken thread. In the north of India, 
including Bengal, carpets and rugs of cotton are made, and there is 
a large export to Great Britain of woollen carpets in pile, manu- 
factured by criminals in the jails. Kashmir, the Punjab and Sind, 
and some parts of the centre and the south have weavers of the 
famous pile-carpets made of short lengths of coloured wool skilfully 
twisted into the threads of a strong ground-warp of cotton or hemp. 
The goldsmiths, silversmiths, and jewellers of India produce 
wonders of taste and skill in hammered work, chains and bracelets, 
silver filigree, parcel-gilt, gold and silver thread for embroidery 
and weaving, and work of all kinds in precious stones and pearls. 
The iron-work of the village smithery consists mainly of imple- 
ments for the tillage of the soil. The artisans of the towns are 
still very skilful in ornamented sword -blades, chain-armour, 
damascene-work of gold on iron and steel, and of silver on bronze. 
The domestic vessels for the use of villagers are made by the 
native brazier, one of the chief articles of his handiwork being the 
ceremonial loia or globular bowl for ablutions. Benares has the 
best craftsmen in Northern India for brass and copper- work in 
domestic and religious utensils. The village potter turns out only 
inartistic earthenware for cooking purposes, large jars for storing 
grain, and floats for enabling persons to cross a swollen stream. 
Sind and the southern Punjab have craftsmen of a far higher stamp, 
producing beautiful ware in domestic vessels and glazed encaustic 



24C OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AXD ABROAD. 

tiles. Wood-carvinj^, ivory-carving, and inlaying widi ebony, 
ivory, tin-wire, sandaL-wood, and brass-wire are the last occupations 
that need mention here. 

The olden means of communication were rivers, canals, and 
very imperfect roads. The Ganges and the Indus conveyed 
merchandise and travellers from town to town, and bore the 
produce of the interior to the sea-board In the centre and south, 
there are no navigable rivers, as the heat of the summer reduces 
the swift broad waters of the rainy season to paltry streams and 
stagnant pools, and the Narbada and the Godavari, with abundance 
of water, are hampered by rocky rapids. The steamers on the two 
great northern rivers, the Indus and the Ganges, lost their 
passenger-trade after the development of railways, but much of the 
traffic for heavy goods, needing only cheap and slow transmission, 
still passes to and fro on their waters. The Brahmaputra and the 
Irawadi are still almost untouched by railway competition, and in 
the Gangetic delta boats are the chief mode of access to every 
village, and the rainy season furnishes a highway for flotillas of 
craft laden with produce. Boat-racing is a favourite amusement 
in this region, and the villagers compete with much zeal in the 
many local regattas, sometimes ending with a procession of torch-lit 
vessels. Inland navigation is also prosecuted both on ancient and 
modern canals cut for the purpose, and on those provided for 
irrigation. The principal land-highway is the Grand Trunk Road, 
which passes up the Ganges-valley from Calcutta to the frontier on 
the north-west. . This was planned in the sixteenth century as a 
military road, but was not completed until the days of Lord William 
Bentinck. The whole of the country under our direct rule now 
has, for local communication, chief roads well metalled, in stony 
districts with the calcareous limestone, and, in regions destitute of 
the best material, with broken brick as a foundation. Government- 
officials pay due heed to construction and repair, and safe bridges, 
made of stone or iron, cross all the smaller rivers. Bridges of 
boats afford a passage across the larger waterways, superseded by 
ferries during the flood-time of the rainy season. Avenues of trees 
along the highways supply a grateful shade to the wayfarer, who 
now sees wheeled vehicles conveying goods instead of the former 
pack-animals — bullocks, mules, or asses,-i-and is passed by the post- 
cart which has largely replaced the ddk (dawk), or relay of native 



INDIA. PEOPLES, RELIGIONS, AND OCCUPATIONS. 241 

runners who, in earlier times, made their way singly along the 
jungle-path, shaking a bunch of iron rings to scare away the 
hysenas. In the hill-country, travellers are still carried in palan- 
quins, covered boxes with wooden shutters like venetian-blinds, 
borne by poles on men's shoulders, or in wheeled carriages drawn 
by men or bullocks or ponies sure of foot. 

The railway-system of India began, as we have seen, in the 
days of Lord Dalhousie, and the first railway-ticket was bought in 
1853, for a journey from Bombay to Thana (Tanna), now a station 
on the Great Indian Peninsula railway, 21 miles north-east of that 
city. The natives of the villages declared that the wonderful 
carriages that flew along with the speed of the wind were dragged 
by a fire-devil whom the "Sahibs" locked up in an iron box, but 
the people of India, more intelligent and less conservative than the 
Chinese, have now discovered that the fire-devil works more and 
better miracles than all their saints from the remotest age, and is 
doing more good than all other resources of civilization. A minute 
of Lord Dalhousie sketched out the main railways or trunk lines 
destined to cross the peninsula in joining all the great towns and 
military centres, and the original scheme was developed and supple- 
mented by Lord Mayo and his successors. The earliest lines were 
"guaranteed railways", constructed by private companies to whom 
the Government undertook to pay a minimum interest of 5 per 
cent on the expended capital, with a half-share for the State in all 
profits above that amount, and a reserved right of purchase from 
the companies after a term of years. These lines were made under 
Government-supervision, and were managed, to a certain extent, 
under State-control. The gauge was one of 5j4 feet, or nearly 
10 inches wider than that of British lines, and the cost of construc- 
tion averaged _^ 17,000 per mile, a very heavy charge for a country 
like India, having regard to the probable earnings. In 1869, Lord 
Mayo saw that "the alternative", in his own words, was "cheap 
railways or none". His desire was to afford benefit to the native 
population in guarding against increase of taxation, and he there- 
fore started a system of State-railways, constructed with capital 
raised by the Government, executed by Government-engineers, on 
a gauge o( 2% feet in some cases, costing less than j^6ooo per 
mile, and provided with lighter rolling-stock. A subsidiary set of 
lines thus penetrated the interior of the greater provinces within 

Vol, IV. 81 



242 



OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 



the triangle formed by the broad-gauge lines connecting Bombay, 
Calcutta, and Lahore. It was in 1871 that Bombay became 
directly connected with Calcutta and Madras. A third class of 
railways consists of those that are worked by private companies as 
" assisted lines", with a low rale of interest guaranteed by Govern- 
ment for a limited time, and aided in their construction by free 
grants of land and in other ways. The Native State lines have 
been constructed by capital locally provided, and the execution and 
management have been, in most cases, intrusted to persons employed 
by the Indian Government, or by the companies of main lines to 
which the Native Stale railways are subsidiary. Since 1879, the 
first class of railways, or "guaranteed lines", still worked by the 
original companies, have been mostly bought up by the State. It 
is impossible to give here any complete account of the railway- 
system, now extending over 18,000 miles. 

The State- railways, including the guaranteed lines, comprise 
(1) the East Indian, running from Calcutta to Delhi, with a branch 
to Jabalpur (Jubbulpore), in the Central Provinces; (2) the Eastern 
Bengal and {3) the Northern Bengal, the latter of which, starting 
from a point on the former, runs northwards to the foot of the 
Himalayas, and thence sends forth a shoot in the shape of a light 
2-feet gauge line as far as the famous health-resort Darjiling, 
acquired by the Indian Government in 1835. with a small district 
round about, ceded for an annual payment by the Raja of Sikkim; 
the place is thus brought within twenty-four hours of Calcutta. 
Fourthly, the Great Indian Peninsula, starting from Bombay, sends 
out one arm north-east to jabalpur, with a branch to Nagpur, and 
runs south-east to a junction, at Raichur, in the south of the 
Nizam's dominions (Haidarabad State) with (5) the Madras Rail- 
way, running from the chief city of the Presidency to Raichur, as 
above, and also across the peninsula to Calicut, with a branch to 
Bangalore. The Oudh and Rohilkhand line connects, by means 
of several branches, Lucknow, Cawnpur, Benares, Aligarh, Bareilly, 
and other important points. The Bombay, Baroda, and Centra) 
India runs due north, through Gujarat, to Ahmadabad, and gives 
a passage, through junction with Rajputana lines, to Agra and 
Delhi, with their connecting railways to the east and the north- 
west. The important North-Western includes the Sind, Punjab, 
and Delhi line acquired by the State in 1886, and thus connects 



I 
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I 




INDIA. PEOPLES, RELIGIONS, AND OCCUPATIONS. 243 

Delhi with Lahore, Peshawar, and Karachi (Kurrachee). The 
South Indian, a narrow-gauge, conveys passengers and goods from 
Madras southwards to Pondicherri, Tuticorin, Tinnevelli, and other 
places of that region. The Bengal-Nagpur Railway taps the great 
wheat-growing country of the Central Provinces, joining the Great 
Indian Peninsula line at Nagpur, and thus affordrng almost straight 
commijnication between Bombay and Calcutta. The Indian Mid- 
land runs from Bhopal, in Central India, by way of Jhansi and 
Gwalior to Agra. Several smaller lines, in Bengal, in the Deccan, 
in the north, and the north-wi;st, afford needed accommodation to 
travellers, special short railways being, in some parts, constructed 
to native shrines which are yearly visited by vast numbers of pil- 
grims from all quarters of the land. About 1500 miles of railway, 
constructed at the expense of the rulers, exist in the principal 
Native States of the centre and south. The Gwalior and Indore 
lines were made from a loan of money advanced to the Indian 
Government by the Maharajas Sindhia and Holkar, and are under 
state-management. The most remote, in place, the most recent, 
in time, of all these priceless labours of the Indian " navvy ", with 
his stark, black-brown shiny skin, and three pennyworth of calico 
round his hips as sole attire, is the Sind-Pishin Railway, running 
far beyond the Indus, through the Bolan Pass, to Chaman, on the 
north-west frontier of British Baluchistan, and only 60 miles south- 
east of Kandahar. The strategic value of the line is very great, 
as the territory is the meeting-place of many route,s, practicable for 
troops, leading from Kandahar to Sind and to the Punjab frontier. 
The camels used for so many ages by caravans of merchants from 
Herat, Persia, Bokhara, and Saniarcand have been at last, in the 
advance of the British Empire, disestablished by the iron horse, 
and the end of another chapter of old-world history has been 
written. At the eastern end of the Bolan Pass is Sibi, whence the 
line runs by a very tortuous route through the narrowest and most 
difficult part of the Pass, crossing the Bolan ravine nine times in 
the space of four miles. 

Many great engineering- works have been achieved on the 
Indian railway-system. The widest rivers and the most formid- 
able swamps have been traversed, and huge embankments of the 
most massive construction carry the lines over the shifting soil of 
the delta of the Ganges. In 1875, the Goalanda terminal station 




244 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

of the Eastern Bengal Railway stood upon an artificial embank- i 
ment near the edge of the water, at the confluence of the main 
streams of the Ganges and Brahmaputra. The place was pro- 
tected by spurs of masonry running out into the river, the whole 
works having cost above ;e^ioo,ooo. In August, the flood-waters 
came down with violence so destructive that the solid protective 
masonry, the railway-station, and the magistrate's court were swept J 
away, and deep water thenceforth rolled over their sites. A new I 
terminus was erected two miles inland from the former river-bank, 
soon to be overwhelmed in its turn, and only temporary buildings 
are now set up on sites which have been repeatedly changed. 
Such is the power of nature as displayed by these Indian rivers, i 
the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, which yearly undermine and | 
then tear away many thousands of acres of land, depositing the 
soil farther down in their channels, and leaving towns such as 
Rajmahal, the old Mohammedan capital of Bengal, and Kanauj, 
in the North -Western Provinces, high and dry in ruin. The an- 
cient sacred stream of the Ganges, running through the Districts 
of Hugh and the twenty-four Parganas, is now an extinct or dried- 
up river, its course marked by a line of tanks and muddy pools, I 
and with shrines, temples, and burning- ghats, or flights of steps \ 
where the Hindus burn the bodies of their dead, along high banks 
that overlook its deserted bed. One of the grandest triumphs of 
railway-engineers in India was attained in the construction of the 
Bhor-Ghat Incline, on the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, The | 
pass called the Bhor-Ghat ascends a stupendous ravine about 40 I 
miles south-east of the city of Bombay, rising to a height of 2027 
feet above sea-level, or 1831 feet above the plain at its base. This 
Ghit was regarded, in olden times, as the key of the Deccan, 
a post which could be held by a small force against a host of foes J 
attempting to penetrate inland from the sea-board. In 1804, Sir I 
Arthur Wellesley made the route practicable for artillery, and con- 
structed a good road from the top of the GhSt to Poona. In 1830, 
Sir John Malcolm, then Governor of Bombay, opened a fine mili- 
tary road, giving passage to carriages for the whole distance 
through the gorge. In 1861, after five years' labour, and the 
expenditure of nearly ^600,000, or ^40,000 per mile of road for 
15 miles of ascent with an average gradient of i foot in 48, the 
Bhor GhSt Incline was opened by another Governor of Bombay, 





INDIA. PEOPLES. RELIGIONS, AND OCCUPATIONS. 245 

Sir Bartle Frere. Half-way up, as the railway rises from Karjat, 
in the valley below, to Lonauli, at the top of the Ghit, is a plateau 
with the reversing-station rendered necessary by lack of room for a 
curve. The railway therefore runs on to the plateau in the form 
of a V, the left-hand shank of the letter representing the line of 
ascent from the valley, and the right-hand shank being the line 
still ascending to the top of the pass. Both the up and the down 
trains run into the reversing-station with their engines facing in 
the same direction, and are stopped at about loo yards from the 
brink of a precipice running down sheer for 200 feet to a jungle- 
grown ravine. The engine is then shunted round the train, and 
attached to what was formerly the rear. No platform exists, for 
none is needed, and no buildings are seen save a hut for the use of 
the pointsmen. A striking impression is produced by the contrast 
between the inventive work and the noisy presence of man as a 
train full of passengers comes thundering on to the plateau, and 
the previous utter loneliness of the scenery displaying, to right and 
left, a wild tangle of gorge and beetling cliff, giddy precipice and 
ravine, bare rock and rich foliage of undergrowth and tree, while 
the eye, looking down for a thousand feet, wanders over the fair 
stretch of the Konkan plain, the broad belt of fertile land at the 
foot of the Chits, to gleams of the waters of the Indian Ocean that 
now and again flash through the sultry haze on the utmost line of 
sight. Amid rugged grandeur charmingly softened by tropical 
colour, the great Incline is carried with twists around shoulders of 
the mighty hills, with nearly a mile and a half of tunnelling through 
intervening crags, creeping along narrow ledges on the face of the 
precipice, passing over 8 viaducts from 150 to 500 feet in length, 
and from 45 to 160 feet in height above the footing, the largest 
of these works having eight semicircular arches of 50 feet span. 
Smaller ravines and water-courses are crossed by 18 bridges of 
spans from 7 to 30 feet, and by 58 culverts of from 2 to 6 feet in 
width. Over 1,600,000 cubic yards of earth were removed by 
cuttings, and about 1,850,000 cubic yards were piled in embank- 
ments, of which the highest rises to 74 feet. The telegraphs of 
India, as begun under Lord Dalhousie, have been already described, 
and we need only state here that there are about 40,000 miles of 
line, with thrice that length of wire, and over 1000 telegraph -offices. 
The number of letters, newspapers, and packets despatched in the 



OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 



year 1891-92 was nearly 350 millions, deposited in about 21.500 
post-offices and letter-boxes. In the year ending March 3rst, 
1892, the mails travelled over nearly 78,000 miles, of which above 
56,000 were done by steamers, rowing or sailing boats, and "runners" 
(the ddk); about 4000 miles on horseback and by carts; and 17,000 
miles by railway. 

Particulars of the amount and value of some chief Indian exports, 
taken from late statistical accounts, have been already given, to 
which we may add hides and skins worth over 5^ millions sterling; 
dyes to the value of above 6 millions; spices, nearly ^ million; 
timber in the rough and manufactured, ^590,000; and raw wool, 
nearly i^ millions. For a most interesting account of past and 
present Indian trade and commerce in every kind of produce and 
manufacture we must again refer readers to Sir W. W. Hunter's 
Tlie Indian Empire, 3rd edition (1893). After the Portuguese, 
the Dutch, the Danes, and the French had in succession failed 
in creating great centres of trade, British enterprise and energy, 
at an early period of our rule, caused the growth of large mercantile 
towns. A new era of production on a great scale has come in the 
co-operation of capital and labour, replacing to a large extent the 
small household manufactures of former days. In other words, 
steam -machinery, mechanical invention and skill, are doing for our 
Eastern Empire just what they have effected in the British Isles 
since the latter half of the eighteenth century. Calcutta, Bombay, 
and other great industrial cities have slowly risen to their present 
size and wealth, and the whole country has passed into a new and 
more advanced stage of economic civilization. A vast territory, 
which did not produce, in 1700, staples for exportation to the 
annual value of i million sterling, had a total foreign trade (includ- 
ing Burma here as " India"), as given in a recent statistical return, 
to the amount of over 206 millions, more than no millions being 
exports of the kind already detailed. The imports consisted 
mainly of yarns and textile fabrics, 37j^ millions; bullion and 
specie, nearly 18}/^ millions; metals, raw and manufactured, includ- 
ing machinery and mill-work, nearly 10 millions; books, paper, and 
stationery, over i million; coal and coke, nearly i million; glass 
and its fabrics, /'788.000; jewellery, precious stones, and plate, 
^289,000; drugs and medicines. ^522,000; malt liquors, ^427,000; 
provisions, including dried fruits, over i^ millions; salt, ^^790.000; 



I 



INDIA. PEOPLES, RELIGIONS, AND OCCUPATIONS. 247 

raw silk. ;f 1,360,000; spices, ^873.000; spirits, ^^686,000; sugar, 
over 2^ millions; tea, /"572,ooo; wines and liqueurs, ^342,000. 
Of the whole import and export trade in the return with which we 
are dealing, over 90 millions sterling in value was with the United 
Kingdom, the next countries, at a great interval, being China, 
France, Germany, the Straits Settlements, the United States, 
Belgium, Italy. Egypt, Austria, and Ceylon. Over 1700 steam- 
ships, with tonnage exceeding 3^2 millions, went to and from 
Indian ports by way of the Suez Canal. The total tonnage entered 
and cleared at Indian ports (over 10,700 vessels) in one year re- 
cently amounted to nearly 73^ million tons, of which over 6000 
ships {6}4 million tons) were British or British-Indian vessels. 
The foreign vessels numbered over 1400, of nearly a million tons; 
the native craft exceeded 3000, with an average tonnage little 
exceeding fifty. With all her extent of sea-board, India has but 
few ports. As regards the sea-borne trade with foreign countries, 
Calcutta has the commerce of Lower Bengal and of the whole 
valleys of the Ganges and Brahmaputra; Bombay conducts the 
trade of Western India, the Deccan, Gujarat, and the Central 
Provinces; Karachi that of the Indus valley. At these points the 
chief lines of railway reach the sea, Calcutta and Bombay having 
nearly four-fifths of the whole foreign trade between them, while 
Madras had less than 5j^ per cent, and Karachi, with a steady 
growth in recent years, nearly 4j^ per cent. The growth of 
Indian commerce, since the adoption of free trade for India, is 
well illustrated by the fact tliat in 1834 the exports were valued 
at under 10 millions, and the imports at about 2 J^ millions sterling. 
Since 1840, the imports have increased above ninefold, and the 
exports about sevenfold. 

The coasting-trade is carried on through little ports along the 
whole eastern and western coasts, the people of the Gulfs of Cutch 
and Cambay, on the Malabar coast, and in the extreme south 
having numerous bold and skilful sailors. A considerable frontier- 
traffic, for which no figures can be given except that recently the 
total annual imports and exports probably exceeded 5 millions 
sterling in value, is carried on with Afghanistan and her neigh- 
bours, and with Kashmir, Nipal (Nepaul), and other Himalayan 
and trans- Himalayan peoples. The imports consist chiefly of 
raw silk, dried fruits and nuts, dyes and drugs, lac and other 



248 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

jungle produce, and, from Nipal, also of food-grains and oil-seeds, 
timber and cattle. The exports are mainly cotton goods, tea, salt, 
indigo, metals, grain, sugar, and spices. The vast internal trade 
of India, far exceeding her foreign commerce in amount, consists 
in gathering agricultural produce from countless villages and 
districts for transmission to the ports; in the distribution of im- 
ported goods, and in the interchange of native commodities. Most 
of the traffic is in native hands, the whole number of people con- 
nected with trade, manufactures, and commerce in India, including 
the families subsisting thereon, being estimated, by the careful 
census of 1891, at over 56 millions. The local trade is carried on 
at the bazars of the towns, at weekly rural markets, by travelling 
dealers and agents, and at fairs held annually or at shorter intervals. 
A gay scene is presented by the yearly fair held at Karagola, in 
Lower Bengal, on the old route from Calcutta to Darjiling. For 
ten days, a large sandy plain is covered with streets of small shops 
made of bamboos and matting, and the people chaffer, with Hindu 
pertinacity and cunning, over goods of every kind except the local 
staples of jute, tobacco, and grain. Cloth of every texture, from 
Dacca muslin to thick British woollen; ironware, furniture, boots, 
shawls, silks, brocades, hand-mills, cutlery, drugs, and many articles 
of British make, from soap to umbrellas, and matches to buttons, 
paper, and candles, here exchange owners in February. 



L 



BRITISH PROVINCES AND ADMINISTRATION: NATIVE STATES. 249 



CHAPTER IX. 

lUmA—ConiiltMl/. 

British Provinces and Administration: Native States. 

Political divisions of the country. Ajmere — Physical features and products — Wise rule 
ol Colonel Dixon— Contentment of the people during the Mutiny— Administration — 
Ajmere and other principal towns. Assam — Extent and population — Invasion of 
the Ahams and Burmese — Aboriginal tribes — Products — Manufactures — Adminis- 
tration — Education and sanitation — Chief towns. Benual — Countries of Lower 
Bengal— Bengal Proper — Behar — Orissa, the high-place of Hinduism — The car- 
festival and worship of Jagannath — Chutia Nagpur— Administration — People — Chief 
towns— Calcutta. Berar— Area and population— Chief towns. BOMBAY— Its 
divisions — Administration — Sind^Rann of Cutch — Countries of the Northern 
Division — of the Central Division^of the Southern Division — Chief towns — 
Bombay. Central Provinces — Area, population, and products— Chief towns. 
COORG— Loyalty of its people— The Raja and his daughter Princess Victoria 
Gauramma— Mausoleums at Merkara. Madras — Extent, productions, and people 
—Industries— Administration- Chief towns— Madras. North-West Provinces 
and OUDH — Area and population^ Administration of the Provinces — Chief towns — 
Benares— Sanitaria or hill-stations — Characteristics of Oudh— Lucltnow and Faiia- 
bad. The Punjab — Physical character and population — Administration — Trade 
— Chief towns — Lahore — Delhi— Simla. Character of British Administration in 
India — The District Officer^Monopolics of opium and salt — Extent of municipal 
government— Money, weights, and measures — Progress of education — Newspapers 
and books. British Baluchistan and Sikkim — The Andaman, Nicobar, and Lacca- 
dive Islands. The Native Slates— Their relation to British rule^Area and popula- 
tion — Statistics of Native States under the respective Governments — Shan States — 
Manipur— Rajputana States — Kashmir — Haidarabad — Baroda — Mysore — Chief 
towns in the Native States. 

The Provinces now under direct British rule, apart from Burma, 
are Ajmere, Assam, Bengal, Berar, Bombay ("Presidency", with 
Sind), the Central Provinces, Coorg, Madras, the North- 
Western Provinces {with Oudh), and the Punjab. Of these, 
Madras and Bombay are " Governments", ruled by " Governors "; 
Bengal, the North-Western Provinces, and the Punjab are 
" Lieutenant-Governorships". Oudh has been incorporated, since 
1877, with the North-Western Provinces, and the Lieutenant- 
Governor of that territory is also " Chief Commissioner " of Oudh. 
The Central Provinces and Assam are under " Chief Commis- 
sioners"; Ajmere, Berar, and Coorg are ruled by "Commis- 
sioners". We proceed to a brief account of these provinces in 
their alphabetical order. 

Ajmere, or strictly, Ajmere-Merwara (from its Sub-division in 



250 



OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 



the hiii-district, inhabited by descendants of old robber-tribes), is 
an isolated province in Rajputana, surrounded by Native States, 
and has an area of 271 1 square miles, with a population of about 
550,000. The Viceroy's Agent for Rajputana is ex officio Com- 
missioner, having his head-quarters and summer residence on the 
famous sacred mountain, Abu, with beautiful Jain temples, in Sirohi 
State. Ajmere contains the central portion of the Aravalii Hills, 
rising to a height of nearly 3000 feet near the town of Ajmere, and 
running to the south-west. The district lies high, at the centre of 
the watershed, and has no important rivers, but is well irrigated by 
several hundreds of "tanks", formed by embanking the gorges of 
hill-streams, works mainly due to the wisdom and energy of Colonel 
Dixon, who held sway as administrator from 1836 to 1857, Much 
has been done to clothe again with woods the denuded hill-sides, 
and the large game includes leopards and the wild pigs hunted by 
the Rajput land-owners. The beneficial rule of Colonel Dixon had 
so far won the hearts of the people that little trouble arose during 
the revolt of 1857, Two regiments of Bengal infantry and a 
battery of Bengal artillery rose at the military station of Nasirabad 
(Nusseerabad), but a regiment of Bombay infantry protected the 
European residents, and soldiers of the Merwara battalion faithfully 
guarded the Ajmere treasury and magazine. The mutinous Sepoys 
went off to Delhi, and peace abode in Ajmere, where the peasantry, 
under just and kindly British rule, would have nothing to do with 
the cause of rebellion. Nearly nine-tenths of the people are H Indus 
in religion, and the rest are Mohammedans. Tliere is a large class 
(about 15,000) of Rajput land-owners, a proud, warlike, indolent 
race, carrying arms, and great consumers of opium. The best tillers 
of the soil are Jats, a race physically fine, industrious and skilled in 
their vocation, probably of Scythian origin, numbering nearly 5 
millions in all India, of whom about 35,000 dwell in Ajmere. The 
Gujars, mostly Mohammedans, as are the Jats, are in about equal 
numbers, devoted to grazing rather than to cultivation. The chief 

I crops are maize, barley, j'oar, baj'ra, cotton, pulses, and oil-seeds. 
In 1868-69, 3 severe famine caused the death of over 100,000 

■ people and one-third of the cattle, and impoverished the surviving^ 
cultivators, who are still deeply indebted to the money-lenders. 
The wages of coolies have, however, risen from about 2j4(/. per 

I day in 1850 to is., and the Rajputana State Railway and Rajputana- 






BRITISH PROVINCES AND ADMINISTRATION: NATIVE STATES. 251 

Malwa line, giving access to other and fertile regions, have 
cheapened many commodities and provided for relief in any future 
time of scarcity. 

As regards administration, the Commissioner is the civil and 
criminal Judge, with the control of police and prisons, education 
and registration, aided by two Assistant-Commissioners, and by 
forty-five officers with various magisterial powers. Education is 
in a backward state, though the United Presbyterian Mission has 
about 2000 pupils in 60 schools, and the whole Division contains 
140 schools with about 5500 learners. The Ajmere College, having 
over 200 students enrolled, is affiliated to Calcutta University, and 
the Mayo College, planned by the Viceroy in 1870. and carried on 
since 1875, is an institution supported by the State and by Rajput 
chiefs, for the training of the sons of the nobles of the land. The 
town of Ajmere, now having about 70,000 people, lies 677 miles 
north of Bombay, on the lower slope of the Taragarh Hill, crowned 
by a fortress of the same name at the height of 2S50 feet, nearly 
surrounded by inaccessible precipices, and elsewhere defended by a 
wall of huge stone-blocks, 20 feet in thickness. The place, once 
an important stronghold, is now dismantled of artillery, and has 
been used since i860 as a sanitarium for the European troops 
stationed at Nasirabad. On the north side of the town is the Ana 
Sagar Lake, overlooked by the Daulat Bagh (" Garden of Splen- 
dour") constructed in the sixteenth century by the emperor 
Jahangir. Elegant marble buildings, giving a full view of the 
town, stand on the edge of the limpid waters that reflect the hills 
around the spacious grounds, full of ancient and stately trees. This 
delightful spot is now an abode of the Commissioner. Ajmere is 
the centre of the transport-trade in sugars and cotton-cloth, as chief 
imports, and raw cotton, grain, and poppy-seeds as exports, the local 
business having much increased since the railway displaced camels 
and bullocks. The other chief towns are Nasirabad, having 2 r,ooo 
people, where the cantonments, laid out in 1818 by Sir David 
Ochterlony, are held by troops of the Bombay army; and Beawar 
(16,000), founded in 1835 by Colonel Dixon, a spacious place with 
tree-planted streets, houses of masonry with tiled roofs, and the 
chief cotton-trade of the Province. 

Assam, lying on the north-eastern border of Bengal, and includ- 
ing the valleys of the rivers Brahmaputra and Barak or Surma, 




OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 



I 



with the mountainous watershed between them, is about the size of 
England, with an area of 49,000 square miles, and a population 
now of nearly 5^ millions. Ceded to us by the Burmese king in 
1826, and since extended by lapse of part of Cachar in 1830 and 
by annexations of hill-country due to conquest, the Province as- 
sumed its present form of administration in 1874, when the eleven 
Districts were separated from Bengal. Assam proper is simply 
the Brahmaputra valley, the people, though they have now largely 
adopted the Brahmanical religion, being distinct in race, language, 
and history from the Hindus. There and in Cachar (in the Barak 
valley) the population is mostly of Indo-Chinese stock, with much 
admixture in recent years from Bengal immigration for labour in 
the tea-plantations. At some time in the thirteenth century, the 
Ahams, a people akin to the Siamese, invaded the country from the 
east and slowly made their way, and they are supposed to have 
furnished the country with its present name. It was early in the 
nineteenth century that the Burmese conquered tlje land, and dis- 
played the grossest tyranny. The people of the hills, especially 
the Nagas and Lushais, are of an uncivilized and predatory 
character. The Khasis and the Garos, other aboriginal tribes, 
with their primitive religion, customs, language, and nationality 
unchanged, live in hill-ranges of that name, and each exceed 
100,000. The Kacharis, a barbarous race in the lower part of 
the Brahmaputra valley, number over ^ million, and the whole 
aboriginal population is reckoned at i }4 millions, of whom two-thirds, 
however, have abandoned their ancient faiths for Hinduism. The 
minerals of the country include much excellent coal, now beginning 
to be worked; and immense beds of limestone which have for ages 
given to Bengal most of her supply as " Sylhet lime ", from the 
name of the District in the lower valley of the Barak or Surma. 
The forests furnish much valuable timber and caoutchouc (india- 
rubber), which are exported to Bengal. The staple crop is rice, 
grown three times a year in the Brahmaputra valley on soil requir- 
ing neither irrigation nor manure, but fertilized by silt deposited in 
overflow. Mustard-seed, sugar-cane, maize, betel-nut, tobacco, jute 
and cotton are also produced, and the people are generally in a 
prosperous condition, under the light taxation of a Government 
that is the superior landlord, with none to intervene as oppressors 
between the supreme authority and the actual tillers of the soil. 




BRITISH PROVINCES AND ADMINISTRATION: NATIVE STATES. 253 

A heavy rainfall, occurring in eight or nine months of the year, 
makes the climate somewhat temperate and very damp, with much 
fog in the winter, and causes the vegetation to be luxuriant and 
tropical in character. The tea-industry has been already men- 
tioned. The manufactures, of a petty nature, include cotton-cloth, 
brassware, grass mats, and ivory-work in material obtained from 
the still numerous elephants of the jungles, and in Sylhet lime- 
burning, boat-building, and sugar-boiling are carried on. The 
commerce is mainly conducted by the waters of the two chief rivers, 
everywhere navigable for steamers and other craft. Internal 
communication is favoured by excellent roads, tramways, and the 
beginnings of a rail way -system both in Cachar and Upper Assam. 
The Chief Commissioner is assisted by a Commissioner for the 
Assam Valley, and by thirteen Deputy -Commissioners, one for 
each District, in charge of 6scal, executive, and some of the judicial 
affairs. These posts, under the "non-regulation" system, are open 
to military officers and to "uncovenanted" civilians, as well as to 
members of the "covenanted" or regular Civil Service, Sylhet alone 
being reserved for a covenanted officer. Order is maintained, 
within the Province and on the frontiers, by about 1600 police, 
officers and men, and by a well-armed and semi-military force of 
2200. Chaukidars, or village- watch men, about 4500 in number, 
exist in the Districts of Goalpara, Sylhet, and Cachar. Four regi- 
ments of Native Infantry, numbering 3325 officers and men, form 
the usual garrison. About 1300 schools, with 41,000 pupils, in- 
cluding eleven "High Schools", are under Government-inspection, 
and about 6000 children are taught in middle-class English and 
vernacular institutions. The primary schools, in i88o-8i, had 
over 3 1 ,000 boys, and 1 1 30 girls under instruction. Oral teaching, 
chiefly religious, is given in a number of indigenous, or unaided 
and uninspected schools. The educational state of Assam may be 
estimated by a recent return, which showed over 95 per cent of 
the males, and 9987 per cent of the females to be "illiterate". In 
sanitary matters some progress has been made in reducing malaria 
by clearing Jungle, in enforcing cleanliness in towns, and by vacci- 
nation, these measures being under the control of a Deputy 
Surgeon- General, who is also Sanitary Commissioner. The seat 
of government is at Skillong, a small town in the Khasi Hills 
District, on a plateau about 5000 feet above sea-level, a healthy 



254 



OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 



place conveniently situated between the Brahmaputra and Surma 
(or Barak) valleys. A fine road leads thither from Gauhati, a town 
of about I2.000 people on the south bank of the Brahmaputra, 
ancient capital of the Hindu kingdom of Assam before the Ahams 
appeared on the scene, and now a chief place of the river-trade. 
Shillong {about 4000 people) has good official buildings, an excel- 
lent water-supply from the hills, a church, and a regiment of Bengal 1 
infantry as garrison. The largest town in the province is Sylhet, 
on the right or north bank of the Surma, with 18,000 inhabitants, 
largely engaged in the river-trade. Sibsagar, on the Dikku river, 
and Dibrugarh, in the Lakhimpur District, are centres of the 
tea-trade, and Silchar, in Cachar District, on the south bank of the 
Barak (Surma), is the centre of the tea-plantations in that quarter. 
One trouble of Assam is a liability to earthquakes, which in 1869 
did great damage at Silchar and Sylhet. 

In coming to Bengal, we begin to apprehend the vast extent 
of our Indian Empire. There is now, strictly speaking, no " Bengal 
Presidency" in the administrative sense, except for military affairs, 
as already shown. Lower Bengal, the Lieutenant- Governorship, 
largest and most populous of all the British Provinces, includes 
Bengal Proper, Be/tar, Orissa, and CInitia Nagpur, with an area 
of 151,000 square miles (about three Englands), and a population 
(1891) exceeding 71 millions, one-third of the total numbers in ' 
British India. Above 4j^ millions have been added, by natural 
increase, since 1881, and the density is now about 4S0 per square 
mile. The geography of this great region needs little description 
beyond that which has been incidentally given, and the natural 
products, with the occupations of the people, have been already 
indicated. Bengal Proper, stretching from Orissa to Lower Burma 
along the sea-board, and inland from the coast to the Himalayas,.] 
includes the united deltas of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra and ' 
much of the valleys of those mighty rivers and their tributaries. 
This territory has an area of over 70,000 square miles, exclusive of 
the unsurveyed and half-submerged Sundarbans. estimated at about 
6000. Bekar, with an area of 44,000 square miles, lies on the 1 
north-west of Bengal Proper, and includes the higher valley of the J 
Ganges as far as the North- Western Provinces, (^rij^a (9000 square 
miles) comprises the rich deltas of the Mahanadi and adjacent 
rivers, with the Bay of Bengal on the south-east and the Tributary 





BRITISH PROVINCES AND ADMINISTRATION: NATIVE STATES. 255 

Hill States to the north-west. Chutia Nagpur (27,000 square 
miles) lies between Behar and Orissa, but stretches far westward 
into the hill-country. 

Behar contains a population of over 23 millions, dwelling in 
about 77,400 villages and towns. The country is generally flat, is 
well supplied with canals, railways, and roads, and has the manu- 
factures of opium and indigo as its chief industries. Of Orissa we 
have already seen much in connection with the famine of 1866. 
The great crop is rice ; the chief import, cotton piece-goods. 
Wheat, pulse and pease, oil-seeds, hemp, tobacco, cotton, sugar- 
cane, and betel are also grown, the main area of tillage being in 
the hands of small cultivators, so that 60 per cent of all the farms 
are below 10 acres. Education is well advanced for India; recent 
returns show that one boy out of three, of suitable age, attends at 
the 9000 schools, with 106,000 pupils. British Orissa has a popu- 
lation of about 4 millions; the Tributary States, 17 dependent 
territories in a wild region between the alluvial delta and the 
Central Indian plateau, have an area of about 15,000 square miles 
and a population of ij4 millions. Orissa is the very focus of 
Hinduism, in its essential spirit and most concentrated form. The 
Brahmans worship Siva, the AH- Destroyer, in whose honour shrine 
after shrine is found on the southern bank of the river Baitarani. 
Vishnu is the popular god, reverenced forages in the town oi Puri, 
(commonly called Jagannath) under his title of Jagannath (Jugger- 
naut), the "Lord of the World". The famous Car- Festival is 
often attended by 90,000 worshippers, and the number has reached 
nearly i 50,000. Of the pilgrims from ail parts about 10,000 yearly 
perish from fatigue and disease due to insanitary crowding; the 
fable concerning self-immolation under the wheels of the great car 
has been already exposed. Every fiscal division of the country has 
a community of ascetics; nearly every village has its shrine and 
consecrated lands; every town contains many temples of the god. 
For two thousand years, Orissa has been the Holy Land of the 
Hindus, with four regions of pilgrimage, of which the two now 
most frequented have their head-quarters at Jajpur, sacred to the 
wife of Siva, and at Puri, the chief place, as above, of Vishnuite 
devotion. In this isolated corner of Orissa, in the words of Sir W. 
W. Hunter, "on these inhospitable sands, Hindu religion and Hindu 
superstition have stood at bay for eighteen centuries against the 



256 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 




world. Here is the national temple, whither the people flock to 
worship from every province of India. Here is the Swarga-dwara, 
the Gate of Heaven, whither thousands of pilgrims come to die, 
lulled to their last sleep by the roar of the eternal ocean. Twenty 
generations of devout Hindus have gone through life, haunted 
with a perpetual yearning to visit these fever-stricken sandhills." 
When the Province was occupied by British troops on its annexa- 
tion in 1803, Lord Wellesley gave express orders that the temple 
of Jagannath, and the religious prejudices of the Brahmans and 
pilgrims should be respected. On this, a deputation of Brahmans 
came into the camp and placed the temple under our protection 
without the striking of a blow. All the payments for charitable 
uses established by the previous Maratha (Mahratta) rulers were 
continued by the British Government, including the superinten- 
dence of Jagannath's shrine, and the lands thus granted by the State 
have a present annual value of ^4000. For a most graphic and 
interesting account of the growth and present state of the worship 
of Jagannath we refer our readers to Sir W, W. Hunter's Orissa, 
or to the condensed account by the same author, given in the 
articles Orissa and Puri Town in his invaluable Imperial Gazetteer 
of India. We may note, as matter of meditation for Christian 
philosophers, the same writer's statements that "the true source of 
Jagannath's undying hold upon the Hindu race consists in the fact 
that he is the god of the people", and that his worship is "a perpetual 
and visible protest of the equality of man before God". " In the 
presence of the Lord of the World, priest and peasant are equal. 
The rice that has once been placed before the god can never cease 
to be pure, or lose its reflected sanctity. In the courts of Jagannath, 
and outside the Lion Gate, roo.ooo pilgrims every year are joined 
in the sacrament of eating the Holy Food {niahaprasad). The 
lowest may demand it from, or give it to, the highest. Its sanctity 
overleaps all barriers, not only of caste, but of race and hostile 
faiths; and a Puri priest will stand the test of receiving the food 
from a Christian hand." It is this ennobling spirit, combined with 
a catholicity of worship that embraces every form of Indian belief, 
every Indian conception of the deity, every species of ritual, which 
has given such enormous sway to the religion of the god whose 
devotees lay precious metals and jewels, and charters and title-deeds 
of lands, at his feet, and to whose service Ranjit Singh, the Lion 



■ 
I 




WORSHIPPERS PROSTRATING THEMSELVES BEFORE THE 
FAMOUS CAR AT THE FESTIVAL OF JAGANNATH. 

In the province of Orissa is situated the city of Purl, to which the people 
flock to worship from every part of India. Here is situated the great 
national temple of Jagannith (or Juggernaut), the ancient deity of the 
Hindu race. The service of the temple consists in a daily round of cere- 
monies, and of great festivals at stated periods. The most important of 
these is the Car Festival. The sacred Car is 45 feet in height, 35 feet 
square, and is moved upon sixteen large wheels. When the image of the 
god is placed upon the Car, music strikes up, drums beat, cymbals clash, 
and a dense body of devotees move slowly forward, dragging the huge 
structure, while others jump, shout, or cast themselves on the ground in 
prayer. The distance from the temple to the god's country house — the 
destination of the image — is only about a mile, yet the labour of dragging 
the Car is so great that the journey takes several days. In this vast and 
excited crowd of 100,000 pilgrims accidents usually occur, but the old 
European belief that the devotees deliberately cast themselves under the 
wheels of the Car has no basis in fact. Death in this mode is a thing 
entirely opposed to the spirit of their religion. 

(31 ) 




WORSHIPPERS PROSTRATING THEMSELVES BEFORE THE KAMOL'S CAR 
AT THE FESTIVAL OF JAGANNATH. 



BRITISH PROVfNXES AND ADMINISTRATION: NATIVE STATES. 257 

of the Punjab, bequeathed the Koh-i-Nur (Kohinoor) or Mountain 
of Light, that now, on great occasions, gleams in a brooch adorning 
the attire of the Empress of India. 

Chuiia Nagpur, in its full extent, includes nine Tributary 
States to the west, and has an area of 43,000 square miles, 
with a population exceeding $'% millions. The country produces 
rice and the other usual grains, as well as some tea, cotton, and 
tobacco. There is much hilly ground and jungle, with carnivorous 
animals and abundant winged game. The aboriginal tribes, Kols, 
Santals, Gonds, &c.. are about one million in number. 

The whole of the great region composed of these four terri- 
tories, collectively known as Bengal, is portioned into nine 
Divisions, each ruled by a Commissioner. Five of these, the 
" Presidency " Division, including Calcutta and neighbouring 
districts, Bardwan, Rajshahi, Dacca, and Chittagong, form Bengal 
Proper; Patna and Bhagalpur make up Behar; Orissa and 
Chutia Nagpur are each a Commissionership or Division. These 
are again subdivided into 47 Districts, varying in size from 
8 square miles (Calcutta city), and 23 square miles (Calcutta 
suburbs) through Howrah (476 square miles) a district near 
Calcutta, to Lohardaga, in Chutia Nagpur, with an area of above 
12,000. In Bengal we have a population that "exhibits every 
stage of human progress, and every type of human enlightenment 
and superstition — from the sceptical educated classes, represented 
by the Hindu gentleman who distinguishes himself at Oxford 
or a London Inn of Court, to the hill chieftain who a few years 
ago sacrificed an idiot on the top of a mountain to obtain a 
favourable decision in a Privy Council Appeal ". A large part 
of the people belongs to the same Aryan race as most Europeans, 
with characteristics profoundly modified by circumstance and time. 
In religion. 45j^ millions have been returned as "Hindus", 
but this "convenient generic term" as Sir W. W. Hunter points 
out, comprises elements of very diverse ethnical origin, and 
separated by language, customs, and religious rites. A notable 
fact is the existence of above 22 millions of Mohammedans, 
making the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, so far as numbers 
are concerned, a greater Mussulman ruler than the Sultan of 
Turkey. Aboriginal beliefs are professed by about 2j^ millions 
of semi-savages, and Christianity brings up the rear, at a vast 




OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD, 




interval, with about 130,000 converts. During recent years, a 
great Mohammedan revival has produced important religious and , 
social effects in widening the distinction between the Mussulman 
and the Hindu. The Mohammedan peasantry have cast off all 
connection with Hindu superstition and idolatry, and, declining 
to continue their former offerings to Krishna and Durga, for the 
averting of evil due to famine, flood, or any other cause, they look 
to the official in charge of the District for protection, or petition 
the Government, or write strong letters to the vernacular press. 
We should observe that Bengal contained, in 1881, nearly 40,000 
Europeans and non-Asiatics, including Eurasians, of whom about 
34,500 were in Bengal Proper, and of these above five-sevenths 
resident in Calcutta and that neighbourhood. 

The chief towns of Bengal are Calcutta, Howrah, Patna, 
Dacca, Murshidabad, Hugli (with Chinsurah), Cuttack, Puri, Gaya, 
Chittagong, and Darjiiing. Calcutta, with a population {1891) 
of 862,000, is the capital of British India, as the winter-residence 
of the Viceroy and partly tlie seat of supreme Government; the 
capital of Bengal; and the outlet of commerce for the whole river- 
systems of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra. Since the con- 
struction of the Suez Canal and the development of Indian 
railways, it has come to rank second in foreign trade to Bombay, 
favoured by a magnificent harbour and nearness to Europe. No 
detailed description of the place, adorned with splendid public 
buildings and supplied with all the requisites of civilization be- 
longing to a first-class capital, can here be attempted. One of 
the chief features of the city is the central street. Chauringhi, 
lined with superb houses, of which about sixty occupy a mile and 
a half of road from north to south, facing the open plain, maidan, 
on the river-bank; behind this, and connected with it by three 
main routes. Park Street, Theatre Road, and Lower Circular 
Road, lies the fashionable European quarter. The native town 
skirts this on the north and east, partly composed of mere hamlets 
of mud-huts. The monuments include the noble Ochterlony 
column, 165 feet in height, with a Saracenic capital; and Foley's 
fine bronze equestrian statue of Outram, representing " The ' 
Bayard of the East" with drawn sword, looking round to and 
waving on his men. This favourite object of native gaze, beau- 
tiful in design, spirited and lifelike in execution, stands on the ' 




BRITISH PROVINCES AND ADMINISTRATION: NATIVE STATES. 259 

Chauringhi side of the great tree-studded grassy park, opposite 
the United Service Club. Government House, at the northern 
end of the maidan, built by Lord Wellesley at the cost of ;^ 150,000, 
has four great wings running to each point of the compass from 
a central pile approached by a grand flight of steps on the north. 
The Grand Hall is one of the finest chambers in the world. In 
the year 1892-93 the total value of the foreign import and export 
trade of Calcutta exceeded 63 J^ millions of tens of rupees. 
Howrah (116,000 people in 1891) lies opposite Calcutta, connected 
therewith by a massive pontoon, or floating bridge, opened in 
1874. There are large dockyards, the Bengal terminus of the 
East Indian Railway, manufactories and mills, and suburban 
houses of Calcutta men of business. Patna (165,000 people in 
1 891), on the right or south bank of the Ganges, is the chief 
town of the Patna District (also of Patna Division) of Bengal. 
This ancient city is identical with the *' Palibothra " of the Greek 
historian and envoy Megasthenes, about 300 B.C. It is a closely 
and irregularly built place, with many brick houses, but with most 
of them built of mud with tiled roofs; the dust in the dry season, 
the mud in the rainy, are beyond description. There is much 
trade in the Bengal produce with which we are familiar, and in 
European cotton manufactures, both river and railway being freely 
used. Dacca, with 82,000 people (1891), is also chief town both 
of a District and a Division, and lies on the north bank of the 
Buriganga river, formerly the main stream of the Ganges. Archi- 
tecturally, the place is utterly decayed from its former splendour 
as the Mohammedan capital of Bengal in the seventeenth century. 
The muslin-making has been already mentioned. The Dacca 
College, with an European staff* of teachers, is one of the best 
institutions of the kind in India. The trade in Bengal produce is 
great; the population, after long decline, is growing; the sanitary 
condition has been much improved, and there is now a good 
supply of pure water. Murshidabad, with 39,000 inhabitants, is 
the capital of its District of the same name, and has greatly 
declined in population and splendour since it was the Mohammedan 
capital of Bengal, a distinction which it held in the eighteenth 
century, down to 1772. The chief building is the splendid 
modern Italian "palace", completed in 1837, at a cost of ;^i67,ooo, 
of the ** Nawab Bahadur of Murshidabad", descendant of Mir 



260 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

Jafar (Meer Jaffier) whom we saw in the days of Qive, and living 
on his hereditary pension. A beautiful ivory throne, with painted 
and gilded flowers, displays the skill and finish of work in that 
material for which the city is famous. Hugli-wiih-Chinsurah^ 
with 31,000 inhabitants, is the union, in the order as given, of an 
old Portuguese with an old Dutch town, both already mentioned 
in this record. It lies on the right bank of the river Hugli, 25 
miles above Calcutta, and is the capital of its District, with a 
station on the East Indian Railway. Cuttack, with about 43,000 
inhabitants, is the chief town of Orissa, situated on a peninsula 
formed by the bifurcation of the Mahanadi. As the centre of the 
network of Orissa canals, it has commercial importance, and is 
noted for its filigree work in silver and gold. Puri, chief towTi 
of its District in Orissa, has about 23,000 people. This town of 
lodging-houses, with no trade or manufactures, full of huts made 
of wattle and clay in paltry streets, has been mentioned above in 
connection with the worship of Jagannath. Gay a (76,000 people), 
in South Behar, is the chief town and head-quarters of its District, 
which has many holy places in connection both with the old 
Buddhism and the modem Hindu faith. Chittagong (over 21,000 
people), near the mouth of a river entering the Bay of Bengal 
eastwards of the Brahmaputra delta, is the second place of sea- 
trade in Bengal, with an excellent port, and a railway to Cachar 
and Upper Assam. The imports and exports are of nearly 
equal worth, and yearly together approach two millions sterling, 
rice, jute, gunny-bags, and tea being sent away, and salt and 
European cotton-goods (twist, yarn, and cloth) received. Darjiling 
is chief town and administrative head-quarters of its District, in the 
Rajshahi Division of Bengal. The District runs up between 
Nipal and Bhutan towards Independent Sikkim, and includes 
both ridges and deep valleys of the lower Himalayas, and the 
tarai or marshy strip at the foot of the hills. The scenery is 
of the grandest description, comprising mountain -spurs that rise 
abruptly from the plains to heights of from 6000 to 10,000 feet, 
clad in woods to the summit, with a jagged background of dazzling 
snow connecting Mounts Everest (29,002 feet) and Kanchan- 
janga (Kinchinjunga) (28,176), the two loftiest known peaks in 
the world. The growth of tea and cinchona has been already 
referred to. The town lies at a height of over 7000 feet above 



BRITISH PROVINCES AND ADMINISTRATION: NATIVE STATES. 26 1 

sea-level, with a normal or resident population (in 1881) of about 
7000, largely increased by visitors in the hot season. There are 
other towns in Bengal, some containing a larger population than 
most of those above named, but not otherwise noteworthy, such 
as MonghyTy a picturesque place on the Ganges; Arrah and 
Dinapur, famous in the Mutiny days of 1857; Behar, Bhagalpur, 
and Darbhanghar. 

The Province of Berar ('* Haidarabad Assigned Districts ", 
made over to us by the Nizam of Haidarabad in 1853 and finally 
arranged in 1861) lies in west-central India, surrounded by the 
Central Provinces (north and east), the Nizam's Dominions 
(south), and Khandesh (west). With the area of nearly 18,000 
square miles, the territory contains about 3 millions of people, 
mostly Hindus in religious faith. Nearly one quarter of the 
country is covered with valuable forests; joavy wheat, linseed, and 
cotton are the chief crops produced, the export of the last being 
very large. Here, as elsewhere in India, the railway has done 
wonders for the development of resources and the prosperity of 
the people. Among the chief towns are Akola (17,000), Amraoti 
(24,000), and Ellichpur (27,000), the two former being seats of 
government for the Commissioner and his Deputies. Amraoti 
and Khamgaon (14,000) are the chief cotton-marts, and the former 
has much spinning and weaving. Ellichpur is a decayed place, 
but has near it the military cantonment (about 1000 men) of the 
Province. Chikalduy on a plateau about 3600 feet above the sea, 
is the sanitarium, with beautiful scenery and a rare display of roses, 
clematis, orchids, ferns, and lilies in their seasons, and an equable, 
cool, and bracing climate. 

The Government (" Presidency ") of Bombay has an area of 
125,000 square miles, of which nearly 48,000 are comprised in 
SiND, and a population of fully 19 millions, including nearly 
3 millions in Sind. The whofe of the territory lies on the western 
side of India, from the borders of Baluchistan to beyond the Portu- 
guese district of Goa. The four great Divisions {Sind, Northern, 
Central, and Southern) comprise 23 Districts, exclusive of Bombay 
city and island, which form another District. We may here note 
that the District is the unit of administration for both fiscal and 
judicial purposes, and that in the Bombay Province each District 
has, on the average, 10 taluks or sub-divisions, each containing 



262 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

about lOO Govemment-villages, or hamlets of which the revenue 
has not been alienated by the State. Each of these villages has a 
hereditary body of officiab, remunerated by grants of land held 
free of taxation, and each place is a complete community for fiscal 
and police affairs, with its patel {poiail) or head-man; a clerk and 
accountant; a kind of beadle; and the watchman. A Government- 
officer supervises each ialuk or sub-division, and 3 taluks, as a rule, 
are in charge of an Assistant or Deputy-Collector. Each of the 
four Divisions is under a Commissioner, finally subject to the 
Governor and Council as the chief executive and legislative autho- 
rity, composed of four members, the Governor as President, the 
Bombay Commander-in-chief, and two members of the Covenanted 
Civil Service. 

SiND includes the lower valley and delta of the Indus, with 
mountains rising to 7000 feet on the Baluchistan frontier, and the 
wild and rocky tract of Kohistan, in the south-west, but most of 
the country consists of dry level desert and alluvial plains. The 
Rann of Cutch, in the south, marked on the maps as sea, is a 
peculiar feature, being chiefly a salt lake from June to November, 
and for the rest of the year a waste of 9000 square miles in area, 
with a salt-incrusted surface, over which herds of antelopes and 
wild asses roam. Above three-fourths of the people are Moham- 
medans, and the rest are Hindus, Sikhs, and aborigines, with a 
few Christians, Jains, and Parsis. The Sindis are the original 
Hindu population, taller and more robust than the Bengalis, with 
muscular frames and dark skin. Most of the land is absolutely 
barren, little more than 2 millions of acres being under tillage, 
producing the usual grains, and also oil-seeds, indigo, and hemp. 
Fine apples are grown, in addition to the common tropical fruits, 
and British rule has introduced, with good results, the cultivation 
of apricots, nectarines, and peaches. The great river, excellent 
roads, and the railways afford free communication, the Indus, as 
the most important source of wealth both for irrigation and traffic, 
being specially cared for by a Conservancy Board. A Commis- 
sioner holds sway over the three **Collectorates" of Karachi, 
Shikapur, and Haidarabad, and the two Districts, Thar-with- 
Parkar and the Upper Sind Frontier, each of which has a Deputy- 
Commissioner. Education has made much progress under British 
administration. 



BRITISH PROVINCES AND ADMINISTRATION: NATIVE STATES. 263 

The Northern Division of Bombay Presidency includes Gujarat 
and the country between the Ghats and the sea (the Konkan) to 
about 100 miles south of Bombay city. The chief Districts are 
Ahmadabad, Broach, Tanna, and Surat. Ahmadabad has impor- 
tant manufactures of silk and cotton cloth, carried on under a system 
of caste or trade-unions, with trade-guilds regulating wages in 
those and other crafts. The District is peculiar, in Gujarat, as 
having nearly half the lands in possession of great holders, or of 
syndicates or bodies of shareholders, paying a fixed quit-rent to 
the Government. BVoach, an alluvial plain sloping westwards to 
the Gulf of Cambay, is a fertile and well-tilled region of what is 
called " black cotton soil ", having grain and cotton as its chief 
products. Tanna (Thana), on the coast, is rich in wheat and 
millets, oil-seeds, and rice, and has a large production of salt by 
evaporation. Surat, a wide alluvial plain ot\ the Tapti, is highly 
cultivated, with rice, millet {joar), and other grains, cotton, pulses, 
and oil-seeds as the staple crops. 

The Central Division, with six large Districts, Khandesh, 
Nasik, Ahmadnagar, Poona, Sholapur, and Satara, lies inland 
above the Ghats, Khandesh being on the high plain of the Tapti. 
Grain, cotton, fibres, and oil-seeds are very largely produced. 

The Southern Division includes territory both above and 
below the Ghats. Of the five Districts, Dharwar is specially rich 
in cotton, of both the indigenous and the New Orleans varieties; 
Kaladgi, with much growth of cotton, has numerous weavers of 
cotton and silk; Kanara (North) is rich in forests, and is the only 
part of the Presidency abounding in wild animals, including tigers, 
common and black leopards, hyenas, bears, bison, sambhar (deer), 
and wild hog. Ratnagiri, rugged and rocky, with a dangerous 
coast about 160 miles in length, is remarkable for its prosperous 
class of sailors and fishermen, and as a rich recruiting-ground for 
Sepoys in the Presidency army. Many of the people resort to 
Bombay for work in the cotton-mills and at other occupations, and 
Sir W. W, Hunter tells us that " to Ratnagiri's clever, pushing upper 
classes, to its frugal, teachable middle classes, and to its sober, 
sturdy, and orderly lower classes, Bombay city owes many of its 
ablest officials and lawyers, its earliest and cleverest factory- 
workers, its most useful soldiers and constables, and its cheapest 
and most trusty supply of unskilled labour ". The city at the 



264 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 




r 

m, present time contains 1 26,000 persons bom in this District of 

I excellent British subjects. 

I The chief towns of Bombay Presidency are Bombay, Poona, 

I Ahmadabad, Surat, Karachi. Sholapur, Haidarabad (Sind). Broach, 

■ and Beigaum. Bornbay, with its suburbs, covers 22 square miles 

P at the southern end of a string of islands which, by the silting up 

[ of channels, and by the construction of breakwaters and causeways, 

1 have become so united with the larger island of Salselte on the 

I north, and thence with the mainland, that the whole now virtually 

I form a peninsula, enclosing the finest harbour in India. This last 

r fact, combined with the railways and the Suez Canal, has made the 

place into the greatest commercial port of the Eastern world, with 

a population which, in 1891, exceeded 820,000. As the one port 

of arrival and departure for the mails and for the troopships of the 

Indian army; as the central point of arrival and departure for 

Indian travellers; as the greatest cotton-mart in the world, save 

only New Orleans; as a large manufacturing town that has also 

a haven displaying, like a Glasgow in the Oriental tropics, the 

stately steamships of great commercial lines, Bombay is the most 

important city in all the foreign possessions of Great Britain. In 

her beautiful position on a deeply indented and hilly coast, adorned 

with vegetation, she rivals Naples; in the motley aspect and 

picturesque figures of the people, with a great variety of national 

types, and dress of vivid colours, she reminds the traveller of 

Cairo. The public buildings are noble structures, the terminus of 

the Great Indian Peninsular Railway, completed in 1876 at a cost 

exceeding ^300,000, being probably the finest building of its kind 

in existence. The mercantile quarter of the town has an appearance 

more European than any other Indian city; the wealthy European 

and Parsi residents have their elegant villas or bungalows amid 

luxuriant gardens on Malabar Hill, on the westernmost of two 

parallel promontories to the south. The place is distinguished by 

the public spirit, in a philanthropic sense, of some of its citizens 

in recent years. Among these benefactors may be named Sir 

Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy, a Parsi merchant-prince who died a baronet 

in 1859, and Sir Albert A. David Sassoon, BarL, Companion of 

the Star of India, the head of a great firm of Jewish merchants. 

Recent statistics show that the foreign trade in imports and 

exports amounted to nearly 40 millions sterling. 



I 
I 




BRITISH PROVINCES AND ADMINISTRATION: NATIVE STATES. 265 

Poana, the former capital of the Peishwas whom we have seen 
in the Maratha (Mahratta) history, is a military cantonment and a 
residential town, capital of its District, at 1850 feet above sea-level, 
on the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, 119 miles south-east of 
Bombay. The waterworks were provided mainly by the liberality 
of the Parsi baronet named above. The climate is healthy and 
pleasant, and the steadily growing population was (in 1891) 
161,000. Ahmadabad (148,000) is the chief city of Gujarat, 
formerly (in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries) one of the 
most splendid places in Western India. Its manufacture is in silk 
brocaded and interwoven with gold and silver thread, and there are 
some steam-factories for cotton, and a large make of pottery, shoes 
and other leathern goods, and paper. The old architecture is inter- 
esting for its combination of Saracenic with Hindu forms. Sural 
(109,000), which we have seen as once the chief commercial town 
of India and the seat of a "Presidency" in the Company's early 
days, was probably the most populous place in the country during 
the eighteenth century. Her fortunes, in commerce, fell with the 
rapid rise of Bombay, and two great calamities, in close succession, 
brought her to the verge of ruin. In April, 1837, a three-days' fire 
destroyed over 9000 houses in the city and suburbs; in the same 
year, near the close of the rainy season, the Tapti rose to an unpre- 
cedented height, flooding the whole place and covering the neigh- 
bouring land like a sea. Nearly three-fourths of the city perished 
through these disasters, but in 1840 came a turn of the tide. A 
steady growth of trade began, and in 1858 Surat became a railway- 
centre of Gujarat. The demand for cotton at the time of the 
American Civil War brought further prosperity, and the sound, 
well-lighted, paved, and watered roads, the works to protect the city 
from floods, the improvements in the drainage and markets, and 
the provision against risks of fire, are now worthy of this wealthy 
and well-ordered municipality. 

Karachi (Kurrachee, 105,000 people), is a flourishing creation 
of British rule in the latter half of the nineteenth century, with a 
great commerce, fine harbour-works, and the local institutions of a 
well-governed British town. The place lies on a bay at the north- 
western extremity of the Indus delta, protected on the west by 
a reef ending in Manora Point, crowned by a lighthouse with a 
fixed light 1 20 feet above sea-level. The Sind, Punjab, and Delhi 



266 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

Railway runs on to the landing-place for passengers and goods on 
the island of Kiamari, which is also connected with the town and 
mainland by Napier Mole. 3 miles in length. Karachi is the seat 
of rule for the Commissioner of Sind, and has a large military canton- 
ment. The total import and export trade, in 1892-93, exceeded 
in value 4j^ millions sterling. Sholapur, on the railway 150 miles 
south-east of Poona. has 62,000 people, with a large collecting and 
distributing trade, and a chief industry in weaving, spinning, and 
dyeing silk and cotton. The/ftr Britannica and the railway have 
brought prosperity, as well as peace, to a town once exposed to 
constant raids of lawless men. Haidarabad (the Sind town, with 
a population of 58,000), is in a strong natural position about three 
miles east of the Indus, whither a road leads to a steam-ferry for 
Kotri on the Sind, Punjab, and Delhi Railway. The fort, covering 
36 acres of ground, contains the arsenal of the Province. The 
place is well provided with water pumped up from the Indus by 
powerful machinery to a high level near the fort, and thence 
discharged through iron pipes, by gravitation, to all parts of the 
town. Haidarabad, the historical capital ot Sind, is the centre of 
all communications, and has excellent manufactures of ornamented 
silks, lacquered ware, and work in silver and gold. The public 
buildings include all those usual in first-class European towns. 
Broach, one of the oldest seaports in Western India, long super- 
seded, in its foreign trade, by Surat and Bombay, and once the 
centre of a great cotton-manufacture. lies on the right bank of the 
Narbada (Nerbudda), about 30 miles from its mouth. The popula- 
tion (over 37.000), is of the usual mi.ted character in point of re- 
ligious belief, with over 20.000 Hindus, half as many Musalmans, 
and a few hundreds each of _^ains and Parsis. Belgaum (nearly 
23.000 people), chief town of its District, in the south of the Presi- 
dency, north-east from Goa. has greatly grown in size and wealth 
since British occupation in 1818. A large military cantonment and 
a school for the children of natives of rank give social importance 
to the place. The chief sanitarium or hill-station of Bombay Presi- 
dency is Maliabaleshwar, to the south of the Bhor Ghat, in Satara 
District. It was established in 1S28 by Sir John Malcolm, 
Governor of Bombay, and lies on a plateau of the Western Ghats, 
at a height of 4500 feet. There is easy access by railway and good 
roads from Poona and Bombay, and residents have the advantages 



I 
I 



BRITISH PROVINCES AND ADMINISTRATION: NATIVE STATES. 26/ 

of charming scenery, ample scope for exercise on foot and by 
carriage, good water, and fresh breezes from the sea. The chief 
season for visitors is from March to June, when the heat is at its 
worst down in the plains, but the time of greatest natural beauty at 
Mahabaleshwar is in October, after the heavy rains of the monsoon 
have ceased, and when the verdure of moss and grass, and of many 
kinds of ferns, and the hues of countless wild flowers, are at their 
best. A grand cascade (the Yenna Falls) is then in full play, and 
the cliffs have their rocks and foliage intermingled with the silvery 
threads and sun-lit spray of many a stream and lesser waterfall. 
The civil surgeon is superintendent of this delightful resort, which 
has the usual establishments, including a large reading-room and 
library, for the benefit of cultured people. Matheran, a smaller 
hill-sanitarium in the Thana (Tanna) District, lies about 30 miles 
east of Bombay, at 2460 feet above sea-level, on a wooded plateau 
with an area of 8 square miles. The main feature of this charming 
resort of Bombay citizens, discovered and made known in 1850 by 
Mr. Hugh Malet, of the Bombay Civil Service, lies in its many 
points or headlands, rocky promontories stretching out into mid-air, 
and affording noble views of the plain below to the coast-line, with 
the towers and shipping of Bombay. The sea-breeze gives fresh- 
ness to the rides through the forest, and the place enjoys an absolute 
freedom from malaria. The little town is under the special 
management of the civil surgeon, for the benefit of visitors, and all 
the appliances of civilization are at work during the two seasons, in 
October and November, after the rains (244 inches yearly), and 
from April ist to the middle of June. 

The Central Provinces, with 4 Divisions, each under a 
Commissioner, and 18 Districts, have an area, under direct British 
rule, of 86,500 square miles, with a population rather more than 
10^ millions. This region, lying in the very centre of India, 
with extension eastwards to Orissa, is a wild and picturesque 
mingling of hill and forest, plain and plateau, little known to geo- 
graphers until the middle of the nineteenth century. The people 
are mostly Hindus in faith, with about 300,000 Mohammedans, 
and i]^ millions holding the primitive beliefs prevalent among 
the non-Aryan hill-tribes. The cultivated area is mostly under 
rice, wheat, and other food-grains, and there is also a large growth 
of cotton and oil-seeds. The largest town, and seat of government, 




OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAU. 

is Nagpur {117,000 people) in the west, with fine tanks and , 
gardens constructed by the Maratha princes, and many fin 
Hindu temples. It is a place of great and growing trade, with ' 
manufactures of fine colton-stiiffs, and many good schools. Kam- 
thi (Kaniptee, 51,000 people), nine miles to the north-east of 
Nagpur, is the chief military station. Jabalpur (Jubbulpore, 
84,000 people) is the chief town of its District, in the north of the 
Province, and is a beautiful modern place at 1460 feet above 
sea-level, surrounded by tree -shaded lakes, which have been 
formed in the many rocky gorges of the hills. The School 
of Industry employs, in one of the largest tent and carpet 
factories of India, retired Thugs and Dacoits, with their families, 
settled here after becoming "approvers" against gangs of murderers 
and banditti. A very large trade, carried on by the East Indian 
and Great Indian Peninsula Railways, is done in native raw pro- I 
duce and imported piece-goods, metals, and salt. Sagar {Saugor, 
45.000 people), in the north-west, nearly 2000 feet above sea-level, is 
a well-built town on the borders of a fine lake, with many large 
bathing-ghats and Hindu temples. During the Mutiny of 1S57, 
the town and fort were held for eight months by the British, 
against the whole surrounding rebel-teeming country, until the 
victorious arrival of Sir Hugh Rose (Lord Strathnairn). Raipur 
(25,000), in the centre of the Province, has an important trade 
in grain, lac, cotton, and other produce, and is well placed on 
the direct line of railway from Bombay to Calcutta. The sani- 
tarium, with a convalescent-dep6t for European troops, is Pach- 
mar/ii, in the hills of the north-west, 2500 feet above the plain. 

We need not linger long in little Coorg, with her 1583 square I 
miles, and declining population of 173,000. The country and] 
people, to the south-west of Mysore, have been already described J 
in connection with Lord William Bentinck's period of rule, and ' 
elsewhere. The mountainous region, clothed with primeval forest 
or grassy glades, broken by a few valleys under tillage, produces 
most valuable timber, and a good supply of rice, cardamoms, and 
coffee. The intelligent people eagerly contribute to the e.\pense i 
of a British education for their children, including some hundreds I 
of girls. These noble mountaineers. "Highlanders" of India, 
wearing a distinctive national dress, were specially exempted 
from the disarming Act as a reward for their active loyalty in 



I 

I 




BRITISH PROVINCES AND ADMINISTRATION: NATIVE STATES. 269 

1857. Their conduct has been a worthy return for our faithful 
observance of the assurance conveyed in 1834 by the British 
Political Agent, Colonel Fraser, that their civil and religious 
usages would be respected, and that every effort would be 
made to increase their security, comfort, and happiness. The 
Raja who surrendered himself in 1834 retired to Benares on a 
pension from the Government, came to England in 1852, and 
died there ten years later. His daughter. Princess Victoria 
Gauramma, became a Christian, with the Queen as one of her 
sponsors, married a British officer, and died two years after her 
father. The capital of Coorg, Merkara (8400 people), on a table- 
land 3800 feet above sea-level, contains the mausoleums of Vira 
Rajendra, the hero of Coorg independence in the struggle against 
Haidar and Tipu of Mysore, and of Linga Rajendra, his successor, 
with their favourite queens. The British Government makes an 
annual grant of £200 to the attendants who keep the tombstones 
covered with a white cloth, adorned with flowers daily renewed, 
and lighted by a lamp of undying flame. 

The Madras Presidency, Government, or Province, with an 
area of nearly 140,000 square miles, and a population of 355^ 
millions, is of very irregular shape, extending far up its broader 
eastern coast-plain ; only half as far up its narrower western side, 
and with the greater portion of the high interior table -land, 
between the Eastern and Western Ghats, cut out by the now 
independent State of Mysore. The mountains, rivers, forests, 
fauna, and crops of this great region have been sufficiently 
indicated. The crops include, on a large scale, almost all the 
growths of India except barley and wheat. The people chiefly 
belong to the five races of the Dravidian stock, non -Aryans 
dominant, as we have seen, through Southern India. In religion, 
above 90 per cent are Hindus, and there are about 2 millions of 
Mohammedans, far more Christians (nearly a milh'on in all) than 
in any other Province of India, and primitive beliefs among wild 
hillmen. The number of horned cattle is returned as 85^ 
millions, and the export of hides and skins approached 2 millions 
sterling in value. Raw cotton, coffee, and indigo, each exceeding 
one million in value, were the next in order. The manufactures, 
chiefly village-industries, include some steam cotton-mills, a great 
make of salt by evaporation, and the distillation of arrack, a kind 



270 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME ASD AB&OAIX 

of mm, from sugar of various productk>o from cane, cocoa-nut, 
and palm. The making of salt, and of spintuous liquors, is a 
Government monopoly. The sea- borne trade of the whole 
Presidency, equally shared between Madras and a number of 
small ports doing a great coasting-tiaffic exceeds 20 millions 
sterling in annual value. 

For administrative purposes, there are no Divisions or Com- 
mlssionerships, but 22 Districts, ranging in area from 3500 to 
over 17,000 square miles. The chief town and seat of govern- 
ment is Madras, the third city of India for importance and 
population, the latter (1891) amounting to 452,000. Low-lying, 
on a straight, harbourless coast, with no navigable river for ship- 
ping, Madras shows little to the viewer from the sea save the 
front mercantile structures of the ill -built crowded Black Town, 
the business-quarter, to the north, with a pier and some harbour- 
works, and, to the south, a sea -frontage of two miles with some 
good public buildings on the esplanade. To the west, and south 
again, the city spreads over a large area (27 square miles), much 
of it semi-rural, with many villages and plots of tilled ground. 
The iron pier is useful for landing passengers and goods; the 
cyclones to which the coast is liable at irregular intervals of 
years are the chief obstacle to the formation of a durable 
enclosed harbour. The institutions, which are those of a great 
capital, include a fine Observatory, which is the time-keeper and 
a chief meteorological department for the whole of India. Tri- 
chinopoli (90,000 people), chief town of its District, lies on the 
right bank of the river Kaveri (Cauvery), about 56 miles from 
the sea. The Trichinopoli Rock, a mass of gneiss rising abruptly 
to the height of 273 feet above the level of the streets at its foot, 
is a striking object, crowned with a temple, in the midst of the 
town. The well-known strong-flavoured cigars, and gold jewel- 
lery, are the chief manufactures. There are above 8000 native 
Roman Catholics, and several Protestant mission-stations. Tan- 
jore (54,000), a famous and interesting ancient capital, has a temple 
and other monuments of Hindu art, including a great pagoda, of 
the highest order in that style of work. Artistic manufactures in 
silk, jewellery, and copper-ware are carried on. Madura (87,000) 
another ancient capital of renown, is the Benares of Southern 
India for its religious associations. The Pagoda is a magnificent 



BRITISH PROVINCES AND ADMINISTRATION: NATIVE STATES. 27 1 

Structure, 847 feet by 744, having a '* Hall of One Thousand 
Pillars" (997, in fact) richly adorned with paintings and sculptures. 
There are other splendid native buildings, including a palace in 
the Hindu-Saracenic style. Bellary (59,000), in a central inland 
position, about 300 miles north-west of Madras, is a first-class civil 
and military station, with a double line of fortifications, an impreg- 
nable citadel, and a strong garrison of British and Native troops. 

Caitcui (66,000), a port on the west coast, is the head-quarters 
of the wealthy and populous District of Malabar, and steadily pro- 
gresses, with an import and export trade, exceeding in value a 
million sterling yearly. Negapatam (59,000), on the coast due east 
of Trichinopoli, is another large and flourishing port. Utakamand 
(Ootacamund), the administrative head-quarters of the Nilgiri Hills 
District, has now a population exceeding 12,000, of whom nearly 
one-fourth were Christians, a fact due to the place being the chief 
sanitarium of Madras Presidency. This delightful retreat from the 
heated plains, now the summer centre of the Madras Government, 
was discovered in 18 19 by two Madras civilians who were pursuing 
a band of tobacco-smugglers. The first house was built, two years 
later, by the Collector of the District, and a town slowly grew on 
the plateau, situated at 7200 feet above sea-level. The amphi- 
theatre in which the buildings stand is surrounded by stately hills, 
and has an artificial lake nearly a mile and a half in length. In 
this region, six mountains rise above 8000 feet, including the 
Dodabetta Peak, already mentioned, the culminating point of 
Southern India, 8760 feet above the sea. The vegetation of the 
temperate zone is fostered by the climate into a tropical luxuriance 
of growth whereby the tender plants of Europe become hardy 
shrubs, and the hedgerows are composed of fuchsias and other 
garden-flowers of Great Britain. The villas of the European 
residents look down upon the lake from their nooks on the hills, 
and the wide range of the plateau, in its downs and great grassy 
tracts, affords scope to the people for riding, driving, bicycling and 
tricycling, cricket, polo, and other athletic exercises of their far- 
distant British relatives and friends. An excellent club, a pack of 
fox- hounds, a newspaper, a public library, the fine Botanical 
Gardens, the Hobart Park, a branch of the Bank of Madras, hotels, 
schools, churches, hospitals, and shops, meet all the reasonable 
wants of the permanent residents from November to February, and 



OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 



of the European visitors who flock to Utakamand between Mardll 
and June. 

The North-Western Provinces and Oudh have a total area! 
of 107,500 square miles, and a population now exceeding 47 1 
millions, of which Oudh claims 24,200 square miles and above 12^ i 
millions of inhabitants, the densest population in all India, reaching * 
an average of 322 per square mile. The northern portion includes 
the Himalaya region for 180 miles between the Punjab and Nipal 
(Nepaul), nearly all the rest of the Province consisting of the 
alluvial plain of the upper Ganges and its tributaries, rich soil with J 
products that have been already indicated. In religion, over 861 
per cent of the people are Hindus, and 13 per cent Mohammedans, J 
who are especially numerous in the Divisions of Rohilkhand, / 
Benares, and Meerut. 

The North-Western Provinces have seven Divisions, Meerul 
(Merath), Rohilkhand (Rohilcund). Agra, Jhansi, Allahabac^l 
Benares, and Kumaun, the last consisting of the Himalaya regioni 
and the swampy tract ( Tarai) at the foot of the mountains. These 1 
Divisions contain 37 Districts, each under an officer styled " MagisrI 
trate and Collector", usually a member of the Covenanted Civil I 
Service, and directly representing the Executive Government in alln 
departments — police, revenue, criminal and revenue cases of law, 
sanitation, municipal work, roads, and forestry. He is responsible 
to the Commissioner of his Division, who is again under the control . 
of the Lieutenant-Governor of the Province. No part of India! 
contains so many famous cities, the chief being Benares, Agra, % 
Allahabad, Cawnpur, Bareli (Bareilly), Meerut (Merath), Farukha- 
bad, Shahjahanpur, Mirzapur, Moradabad, Saharanpur, Aligarh, 
Gorakhpur, and Muttra. Each of these towns is the administrative 
centre of its District, while Meerut, Agra, Allahabad, Jhansi, and 
Benares are also the capitals of their own Divisions, and Bareilly of 
Rohilkhand. The populations given are according to the census j 
ofiSgi. I 

Benares (220,000), the famous sacred city of the Hindu faith," 
whose long line of picturesque ghats (landing and burning stairs) 
and splendid temples is familiar to all from illustrations, stands on 
the left (northern) bank of the Ganges, 420 miles north-west of 
Calcutta. The streets are crowded with bustling traders and 
artisans, pilgrims, camels, horses, asses, and sacred bulls, overlooked 




BKITISH PROVINCES AND ADMINISTRATION: NATIVE STATES. 273 

by temples, palaces, and mosques tiiat line the narrow labyrinths 
of traffic. Above three-fourths of the people are Hindus, greatly 
devoted to prayer and to ablutions in the sacred stream by whose 
side constant groups of loungers gaze on ^]\z/akirs and other ash- 
strewn nearly nude fanatical ascetics aiming at Heaven through 
self-made miser)' on earth. The present city is modern, dating only 
from the reign of Akbar (i 556-1605), but extensive ruins lie to the 
north, encumbering the site of olden Benares. The grandeur of 
the view from the river is due to the perpendicular cliff, loo feet in 
height, crowned by lofty pinnacle-tipped or towered structures, with 
the long flights of x\\& g/iais descending to the water's edge. The 
wealth of the city is largely derived from the visits of pilgrims of 
rank, attended by large retinues, European civilization is repre- 
sented by Queen's College, with nearly 1000 students; missions of 
various Christian bodies; the Benares Institute, devoted to science, 
literature, and social progress, chiefly supported by native gentle- 
men; and the valuable Carmichael Library. The noble architecture 
of Agra, on the right bank of the river Jumna, 300 miles above its 
junction with the Ganges, has been described in a former section 
of this work. The population (169,000), of whom about two-thirds 
are Hindus, with 40,000 Mohammedans, have manufactures of 
pipe-stems, shoes, and gold lace, and of the beautiful inlaid mosaic 
work so wonderfully wrought in the Taj-Mahal, Allahabad 
{1 75.000), on the left bank of the Jumna, at its confluence with the 
Ganges, is the chief seat of government for the North-VVest 
Provinces, The British quarter, well arranged with broad tree- 
planted roads, has many fine residences lying In large compounds or 
parks. The East Indian Railway crosses the Jumna by a splendid 
bridge, and the Grand Trunk Road passes through the city. A 
scene of carnage, arson, and rapine occurred in 1857. when the 
rabble rose with the mutineers of the garrison on June 6th, but 
were quickly subdued (June r ilh- 15th) after the arrival of General 
Neill with some Madras troops, and the turning of the fort-guns 
on the native town. Havelock passed through the place shortly 
afterwards, on his victorious march to Cawnpur. The spacious fort, 
changed by modern engineers from its olden form of towering 
masonry, occupies the point of confluence of the two rivers. The 
Muir Central College is a great educational institution, and, among 
other fine public buildings, the Mayo Memorial and Town Hall is 



I 



OCR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

conspicuous. Allahabad, with no special trade or manufacture, is 
a place of great railway-traffic in goods, and a large mart for the 
purchase and sale of produce. 

Cawnpur ( r S9.000}, the place of evil memorj-, is a modern town, 
of little architectural interest, on the right bank of the Ganges, 130 
miles above Allahabad. The Memorial Church covers the site of 
General Wheeler's entrenchments in 1857; the Memorial Gardens, 
of 50 acres, with the fatal and famous well and its beautiful monu- 
ment, line the bank of the river. The Ganges, the Ganges Canal, 
two railways (the East Indian, and a branch of the Oudh and 
Rohilkhand), and the Grand Trunk Road (Calcutta to Delhi) 
afford ample communication for great manufactures in leather and 
cotton, and a large collecting- trade in grain. Bareiliy (121,000) 
lies in Rohilkhand. on the Ramganga river. 96 miles above its 
confluence with the Ganges. The chief buildings, including a 
strong fort, are modern. The place has no special importance in 
trade; upholstery and furniture are well and cheaply made. A 
Government college, and some high-class schools, exist. Moham- 
medans form nearly half of the population, and in 1871 serious 
riots occurred between fanatical followers of the rival religions. 
Afeerui (120,000) nearly half-way between the Jumna and the 
Ganges, in the north-west of the Province, is a very ancient place, 
revived into Its modern size and importance as a great military post 
under British rule, famous for the first outbreak of rebellion in 1857. 
A powerful British garrison holds this head-quarters of the Division 
in which it stands. Faritk/mbad {yZ.ooo), near the Ganges, 83 miles 
north-west of Cawnpur, is a handsome well-built town, founded 
early in the eighteenth century. Trade is reviving since its con- 
nection with the rail way- system, Shahjahanpur (78,500), another 
scene of mutiny in 1857, founded in 1647, during the reign of the 
emperor whose name it bears, is on the Oudh and Rohilkhand 
Railway, with some manufacture of sugar and rum. Mirsapur 
{84,000), on the south (right) bank of the Ganges, 56 miles below 
Allahabad, has yielded to Cawnpur the first place in Northern 
India as a mart for grain and cotton. The river-fronl is made 
picturesque by Hindu temples, mosques, ^^/j or flights of stairs, 
and private houses richly carved and otherwise adorned. There is 
a large manufacture of shell-lac, and a considerable trade in stone, 
and in the general vegetable produce of the beautiful and fertile 



I 



BRITISH PROVINCES AND ADMINISTRATION: NATIVE STATES. 275 

region. AJoradabad {73,000), on the river Ramganga, and the 
Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway, gives employment to some 
thousands of artisans in metal-work, notably in the inlaying of 
brass and tin. 

SaliaraHpur (63,000), on the Sind, Punjab, and Delhi Railway, 
and on a branch of the Oudh and Rohilkhand, has a large trade in 
sugar, molasses, and grain, with fine Government botanical gardens, 
and a horse-fair and agricultural show. Aligarh {61,500), with the 
fort captured by Lord Lake in 1803, is on the railway 84 miles 
south-east of Delhi. The Aligarh Institute, founded by a native 
of the Civil Service in 1 864, has for its chief object the translation 
of modern scientific and historical works into the vernacular tongue, 
with a bi-weekly journal in English and Urdu, a good library, and 
a reading-room for British and native newspapers. Gorakhpur 
{63,500), on the river Rapti, in the north-east of the Province, has 
a considerable trade in timber and grain. Muttra {61,000) on the 
right bank of the Jumna about 30 miles above Agra, is an ancient 
historical place, sacked by Mahmud of Ghazni in 10(7, and having 
its Hinduism persecuted, with much destruction of temples and 
shrines, under the Mughal rulers Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb. 
There are noble Mohammedan mosques, richly decorated houses 
built of fine white stone and wood, and a splendid masonry tank 
with high walls, and steps rising fifty feet above the water, all over- 
shadowed by trees. The place is still a great resort of Hindu 
devotees, with pilgrims Hocking yearly to the festivals. Hardwar, 
on the right bank of the Ganges, about 40 miles north-east of 
Saharanpur, is a small place notable as a very ancient town of 
Hindu pilgrimage, venerated as the spot where holy fertilizing 
Ganges, issuing from a gorge in the hills, passes out upon the 
plains. Worshippers of Buddha, Siva, and Vishnu have alike 
resorted to this sacred little town, where pilgrims struggle to be 
the first to plunge into the water at the bathing-ghat, after the 
priests have announced the propitious time. In a less romantic 
and more practical way, Hardwar is important as one of the chief 
horse-fairs in Northern India, visited by Government-agents for 
the purchase of cavalry-remounts. 

Rurki, a town of fully 16,000 people, has sprung up within the 
last half-century, about 20 miles east of Saharanpur, from a little 
mud-built village near the spot where the Ganges Canal is carried 




OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

over a lofty viaduct The head-quarters of the canal workshops 
and foundry were estabh'shed there, and population flowed to the 
spot. In 1847, the Thomason Civil Engineering College, for pre- 
paring natives, Eurasians, and Europeans to deal with public works 
in India, was started on a career which, in 1882. gave it about 100 
regular students, and made it the most important institution of its 
class in India, with astaff of the highest order of ability at the source 
which supplies the men who execute and maintain the great public 
works that in India are so specially essential to material progress 
and prosperity, and even to the preservation of life in men and cattle. 
There are special classes for training soldiers chosen from British 
regiments in India. The chief sanitaria or hill-stations for the 
North -Western Provinces and Oudh are Masuri (Mussoorec, 
Laiidaur. and Naini Tal. Mussooree and Landaur, on the Hima- 
layan slopes in almost the extreme north-west of the province, 
really make one town, on the crest of a peak that reaches 7500 feet 
above sea-level. The population, with about 4000 permanent resi- 
dents, fluctuates with the season, which culminates in September. 
Mussooree has a summer home for about 100 soldiers' children, 
and the Sind, Punjab, and Delhi Railway Company maintain a 
school for the families of their European working-staff. At Landaur, 
a convalescent-station for European troops was established in 1827, 
and the summer invalids average 300. Naini Tal is in the District 
of Kumaon, in the north-east of the Province, beautifully placed on 
the banks of a small lake among the spurs of the Himalayas, at 
6400 feet above sea-level. The little town, with a minimum popu- 
lation of about 8000, is the head-quarters of the Government 
during the hot season. The scenery of the surrounding hills, with 
distant views of snowy peaks far above four miles in height, is 
beyond all praise. The one incident of a striking nature in the 
history of Naini Tal is the terrible cyclone and rainstorm of Sep- 
tember i8th, 1880, which caused a landslip destroying the lives of 
nearly 150 people, including 42 Europeans, with the wreck of the 
public Assembly Rooms and other buildings to the value of ;^20,ooo. 
That sum has since been expended on a drainage-system and other 
protective works by the municipal autliorities. The convalescent 
depot for European troops, established in 1859, has room for about 
350 men. 

Oudh, with 4 Divisions, of Lucknow, Sitapur, 



I 




i room lor aoout ^h 
, Faizabad, and ^^H 



BRITISH PROVINCES AND ADMINISTRATION: NATIVE STATES. 277 

Rae Bareli, and 12 Districts, occupies one vast alluvial plain, with 
only 6 per cent of the ground unfit for tillage, and is watered by 
the Ganges, Gumti, Gogra, and Rapti, with their many tributary 
streams. The dense population is spread through over 24,000 
villages and small towns, mainly engaged in agriculture, entirely 
feeding their own teeming millions, and having a large surplus of 
produce for export, now much developed by the opening of railways. 
The pacification and settlement of 1858-59 left about three-fifths 
of the land in possession of the chieftains {ialukdars) on condition 
of loyal conduct, and of punctual payment of the revenue assessed 
and of the wages of village-officials, A new right of property, 
unknown both to Hindu and to Mohammedan law, was then con- 
ferred by the British Government, including the power of alienation 
by will, and succession by primogeniture to intestate estates. Two- 
fifths of the territory is in the hands of a class intermediate between 
the cultivators and the chiefs. There are no large manufactures, the 
chief industries of a wholesale character being indigo factories and 
a paper-mill at Lucknow. The country has derived vast benefit 
from British rule in freedom from oppression, the improvement of 
communications, the spread of education amongst a people of keen 
natural intelligence, and the establishment of a judicial system, 
securing life and property, which did not exist in the days when 
Oudh was a native kingdom. 

The only great towns are Luchww and Faizabad. Lucknow 
{273,000), the capital city of Oudh, lies on both banks of the river 
Gumti. about 40 miles north-east of Cawnpur. The place is quite 
modern, but already comes fourth in population amongst the cities 
of British India. This centre of modern Indian life, a crowded 
Oriental town of picturesque appearance, with its towers, cupolas, 
and minarets, at a distant view, but with litde real architectural 
merit, is a leading place of native fashion, and a chief school of 
native music, grammar, and Musalman theology. British rule, 
since the terrible days of the Mutiny, has bestowed useful public 
works in the way of hospitals, schools, well-made roads, wider and 
straighter streets, a sanitary system, and convenient markets or 
basars. The one grand architectural display of Lucknow consists 
of the stupendous Imambara, a single hall erected in 1784 by 
Asaf-ud-daula, the fourth Nawab of Oudh, with the Jama Masjid 
or "cathedral mosque", the Husainabad Imambara or Mausoleum, 



27* OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AXD ABROAD. 

and the Rumi Darwaza, a massive old isolated gateway. The 
Imambara of Asaf-ud-daula became the mausoleum of its founder, 
and, standing within the walls of the fort, is used as an arsenal for 
the British garrison. The famous Residency, left in ruins as a 
memorial of the heroic defence in 1857, stands high above the 
Gumli, and has a line appearance amidst beds of gorgeous flowers, 
a noble banian-tree, and the feathery foliage of lofty bamboos 
screening the graveyard that contains the bodies of 2000 Europeans 
who died as victims or as conquerors in the days of mingled trial 
and triumph nearly forty years ago. The city stands on a large 
area of ground (13 square miles', having broader and finer streets 
than most Indian towns, and containing a great number of royal 
garden-houses, pavilions, town-houses of the Oudh nobles, temples, 
palaces, and mosques. Since 1858, the ground has been much 
cleared for military purposes in controlling the most turbulent and 
seditious town-population in the whole of India. The fort, with 
guns ever loaded and pointed at the densest quarters of the city, is 
surrounded by a glacis half a mile in width. Three military roads, 
radiating from this point, cut through the heart of the native 
quarter, often passing at a height of 30 feet above the flanking 
streets, A powerful garrison, including a large force of British 
infantry, cavalry, and artillery, is maintained in the fort and in the 
cantonments, covering nearly 12 square miles, which lie south-east 
of the town, cut off from it by a canal. The British soldiers are 
not permitted, from regard to their own safety, to enter the native 
quarter singly, and on one day of the year the whole garrison, 
horse, foot, and guns, with drums beating and colours flying, 
makes a grand march through the city, with an imposing display 
of military power. The river Gumti is crossed by four bridges, 
two of them built since the British annexation in 1856. The 
railway and the river conduct an extensive trade in country- 
produce and luiropean goods, and the city itself has extensive 
manufactures of muslin and other fabrics of the loom, of gold and 
silver brocade, needle-embroidery on velvet and cotton with gold 
thread and coloured silks, glass-work, railway-stock, and moulding 
in clay, The educational institutions include the Canning College, 
partly maintained by the talukdars; the Martiniere College for the 
children of soldiers; and schools supported by British and American 
Missions, Faizabad (79,000), chief town of its District, lies on the 



I 
I 




BRITISH PROVINCES AND ADMINISTRATION: NATIVE STATES. 279 

left bank of the river Gogra, about 80 miles east of Lucknow. The 
place forms one town with the adjacent Ajodhya, on the ruin-strewn 
site of one of the largest and most splendid of ancient Indian cities, 
eulogized in the earlier part of the Ramayana epic. There is a 
military cantonment with two regiments of foot and a battery of 
Royal Artillery, and an active trade is done in country-produce 
and imported goods. 

The Punjab, last on our list of British Indian Provinces, save 
Burma, is by name **the region of five rivers", the Sutlej, Beas, 
Ravi, Chenab, and Jehlam (Jhelum), all flowing south-west towards 
the Indus, into which, after junction with each other, their waters 
are ultimately poured. The portion of this great territory under 
direct British rule has an area of 110,660 square miles, with a 
dense population of nearly 21 millions. Of the people, by an 
exception in the British provinces, 10^ millions, or over one-half, are 
Mohammedans, with about 7^ millions of Hindus, and 1,200,000 
Sikhs. Under the rule of the Lieutenant-Governor are 10 Divisions 

• 

— Delhi, Hissar, Ambala (Umballa), Jalandhar (Jullundur), Amritsar 
(Umritsur), Lahore, Rawal Pindi, Multan (Mooltan), Derajat, and 
Peshawar — each under a Commissioner, sub-divided into 32 Dis- 
tricts. The north-east, west, and north-west are made mountainous 
by the Himalayas, the Sulaiman chain, and minor ranges and 
groups of hills; in the south-east, some low spurs of the Aravallis 
break the monotony of the river-plains which form by far the larger 
portion of the Province. Alluvial soil prevails throughout, largely 
fertilized, as we have seen, by irrigation, but in the west only 
supplying grass for herds of cattle and camels. The products 
of the soil have been already noticed. The eastern plains, the 
granary of the Punjab, contain the most fertile, wealthy, and populous 
districts of the whole country. Great progress has been made, 
under British rule, in commerce and industry, largely favoured by 
the opening of railways and improved irrigation. In the centre 
and east, the Sikhs, in spite of their inferior numbers, form the 
most important social and political element, as including the mass 
of the gentry, representing the dominant class at the time of 
annexation in 1849. In the north (the Himalayan region) and tjie 
east, caste is the social unit of the people; on the western plains 
and the Indus frontier, the land-owning classes regard the tribe as 
the distinctive feature for social rule and custom. Most of the 



28o 



OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 



workers are connected with the tillage of land and care of animals; 
of these, there are rather more than 3 millions, while manufactures 
— textile, mineral, and otherwise — and commerce employed about 
half that number. The trade includes traffic, on the north and 
west, with Kashmir. Yarkand, Central Asia, and Kabul; a vast 
and growing commerce with Europe by way of Bombay; and 
internal commerce with Sind, Rajputana, and the Provinces to the 
east. 

In dealing with the chief towns, we begin with Lahore, as the 
capital and seat of government both for the whole Province and its 
own District. This great city (177,000 people) stands in about the 
centre of the Punjab, a mile south of the Ravi, amid the ruins of the 
ancient town, which covered a larger area than the modern. At its 
height of splendour, in the best days of the Mughal Empire, under 
Akbar, Jahangir. Shah Jahan, and Aurangzeb. the place declined 
with the rise of Jahanabad or modern Delhi, and at last became 
a mere heap of ruins. The revival came under Ranjit Singh, and 
British rule has created a new and flourishing town. The Mosque 
of Aurangzeb, with plain white marble domes and minarets, the 
mausoleum of Ranjit Singh, and the old Mughal palace, standing 
in a line facing an open grassy plain, give a fine architectural effect. 
The modern institutions include the Punjab University, the Oriental 
College, some other colleges, the Medical School, the Law School, 
Veterinary School, H igh School, the Mayo Hospital, and the 
Museum. Five miles away lies the military cantonment of Mian 
Mir (Meean Meer). the head-quarters of the Division, with a garrison 
of all arms numbering over 3500 men. Thorough drainage and a 
supply of excellent water are among recent British boons to the 
people of Kahore. Delhi (192.500I, on the right bank of the 
Jumna, has been described as regards its olden architectural glories. 
Since 1857 most of the Imperial palace has been removed to make 
room for barracks. The most remarkable monument among the 
ruins of former capitals that now spread round Delhi to the distance 
of 20 miles is the Kutab Minar. designed as a muezzin's (mosque- 
crier's) tower for calling the Moslem people to prayer. It is the 
tallest column in the world, still rising to the height of 238 feet, 
after losing the tppmost part of its cupola by an earthquake in 1803, 
The elegant structure, of five storeys, inclosing a spiral staircase, 
tapers up from a diameter of 47 feet at the base to about 9 feet at 



BRITISH PROVINCES AND ADMINISTRATION: NATIVE STATES. 281 

the summit. This noble lower or pillar stands 1 1 miles from the 
modern city. The Delhi Institute and the Delhi College, the latter 
supported by Mohammedan gentlemen, are among the chief build- 
ings. The transit trade between Calcutta and Bombay and Raj- 
putana is very large; the manufactures are fine muslin, filagree- 
work, glazed and carved work, and weaving of shawls. 

Pesimwar (84,000), on the frontier, at 276 miles from Lahore 
and 190 miles from Cabul, is a modern town on the site of a former 
capital. It is the chief town of its Division and District, with fine 
fruit-gardens in the suburbs; a great trans- frontier import trade in 
various produce, with horses, donkeys, mules, and the sheep-skin 
coats called poshiins; and an export of grain, salt, oil-seeds, sugar, 
and oil. The cantonment, two miles west of the town, has a total 
population rather more than 20,000, including a powerful garrison. 
The residents there have a race-course, cricket-ground, and public 
garden, and the proverbial unhealthiness of the place has been 
much lessened by marsh-draining, tree-planting, pure water, and 
other sanitary measures. Rawal Pindi (74,000 people), a modern 
town in the north, a few miles from the foot of the Himalayas, is 
a great military station, well supplied with all needful buildings 
and institutions for the comfort and welfare of a large European 
population. It is the head-quarters of its Division and District for 
civil and military affairs, and the centre of the management of the 
Punjab Northern State Railway. The most modern part of the 
town is very spacious, clean, and well planted with trees. Amritsar 
(Umritsur, 137,000 people) lies 32 miles east of Lahore, and is a 
place of a great, but, since the opening of the railway through to 
Peshawar, a declining transit-trade. In 1881 the population reached 
152,000, thus showing a remarkable decrease in 1S91. The Central 
Asian commerce Is, in fact, being transferred to direct dealing with 
Calcutta and Bombay. The place is notable as the religious capital 
of the Sikhs, with a sacred tank or pool in which stands the splendid 
temple of their faith. The special and an important manufacture is 
that of Kashmir shawls, made by a large colony of the native 
workers from that country. Ambala (Umballa, 79,000), on the 
railway at the east of the Punjab, where it intersects the Grand 
Trunk Road, is a great grain-mart, with a strong garrison in the 
cantonment four miles to the south-east. Mtiltan (Mooltan. 74,500 
people), in the south-west of the Punjab, four miles from the Chenab, 



282 oca E3C?ni£ AT HOSfE A3rD ABROAD. 

is a town cf gre^t historical ir.teresc as being oa the site of the 
capital of the Malli, conquered by Alexander the Great. It has 
appeared in the modem histon.- of India above given. The town 
is a great trade-centre, collecting produce from the Punjab for trans- 
mission to Karachi, and carrying on a large tramc with Afghanistan 
by way of Kandahar. The manufactures are in silk and cotton 
weaving, carpets, glazed potterj- and enamel work, and country shoes. 
Jalandhar ijuliundur, 66,oooK in the east of the Punjab, on the 
plain between the Beas and the Sudej. occupies the site of a ver)* 
ancient city, mentioned in the Maha Bkarata. It stands on the 
Sind, Punjab, and Delhi Railway, between Ambala and Amritsar, 
and has a considerable trade in countr\- produce and English piece- 
goods. The American Presbyterian Mission maintains excellent 
schools, with over 700 pupils of all castes and creeds. A canton- 
ment, with a garrison of two regiments and one batter)-, lies four 
miles from the town, near the line of railway. Sialkot (55.000), 
72 miles north of Lahore, is a well-built town, of steady growth 
and rising commerce since its connection with the Punjab Northern 
State Railway. More than half the inhabitants are Mohammedans, 
with a handsome ancient shrine; the Sikhs have a great annual fair 
at the shrine of their first Guru (high-priesl), Baba Nanak, the 
founder of the sect The cantonment near the town has a fine 
public garden, racquet-courts, tennis-courts, library and reading- 
room, and is spaciously laid out, with tree-lined roads, on a ridge 
having good natural drainage. 

The chief sanitaria (hill-stations) of the Punjab are Simla, 
Kasauli, and Murree. The Simla District (in Ambala Division), 
though it has only an area, in its detached plots of territory encircled 
by the lands of native chiefs, of 81 square miles, is of great impor- 
tance as containing the administrative head-quarters, for a large 
part of the year, of the supreme (Viceregal) Government of India. 
Lying on the southern spurs of the great central chain of the 
Western Himalayas, between the basins of the Indus and the 
(ianges, as represented by the Sutlej and the Jumna, amid hills 
clothed with forests of the grand deodar (Himalayan Cedar) and 
with rhododendrons of the brightest bloom, the region presents 
scenery of rare beauty, variety, and grandeur, comprising the 
Ambala plains to the south, the massive mountain named Chor 
(12,000 feet) near at hand, huge ravines leading down into deep 



VIEW OF SIMLA, THE SUMMER HEAD-QUARTERS 
OF THE INDIAN GOVERNMENT. 

This town, which is important as a sanatorium and summer-capital 
of British India, is situated about 7000 feet above sea-level, on a spur 
of the Western Himilayas. From about the year 1820 the advantages 
of the district, as a retreat from the intolerable heat of the plains, were 
recognized by British officials; and in more recent years it became the 
established head-quarters of the government during the hot weather. The 
scenery in the immediate neighbourhood of the town presents a series of 
magnificent views. Below the spectator are huge ravines which lead down 
into the valleys; southward are the vast plains, with ranges of hills in the 
foreground; northward is a vast chain of snow-covered mountain peaks,, 
standing out boldly against the bright background of the sky. 

( 82 ) 



BRITISH PROVINCES AND ADMINISTRATION: NATIVE STATES. 283 

valleys, and, to the north, range after range of tangled mountain- 
chains, ending in a curve of snow-clad peaks, from four to five miles 
in height, whose highest pure-white tracts are seen glowing with 
the rosy hues of sunset long after the darkness of sub-tropical night 
has settled down upon the dwellers at Simla. The climate of this 
district has been found to be excellent for Europeans, with a mean 
annual temperature of 55 degrees, and an annual rainfall of about 
70 inches. Many small sanitaria and cantonments have therefore 
been established, and the numerous schools include the Lawrence 
Military Asylum for soldiers children, Bishop Cotton's School, 
a Roman Catholic Female Orphanage, the. American Presbyterian 
Mission School,, the Punjab Girls* and the Mayo Industrial Girls 
institutions. The town of Simla, at a height of 7100 feet, has 
a minimum resident population of fully 13,000, a number since 
permanently increased, "with a large influx yearly between July and 
October. The first dwelling for Europeans in this locality was 
a thatched wooden cottage, erected in 18 19 by Lieutenant Ross, 
a Political Agent for the Hill States. Three years later his 
successor, Lieutenant Kennedy, built a substantial house, and in 
1826 the place had become a little hill-station for officials from the 
Punjab plains and other quarters. In 1827, the Governor-General, 
Lord Amherst, after a progress through the North-West, spent the 
summer at Simla, and the little town then became a regular place 
of resort, during the hot season, for the highest officials, and the 
summer-capital of the Indian Government since 1864. The bun- 
galows are spread along a crescent-shaped ridge, concave towards 
the south, stretching for about six miles from east to west, and on 
adjacent hills. The buildings include a fine new Viceregal resi- 
dence and business structures for the Supreme Government and 
the District-officials, with shops, banks, churches, a club, hospital, 
dispensary, town-hall, the chief schools above named, and two 
breweries in the valley. Kasauli, a cantonment and convalescent 
depdt formed in 1844-45, l^^s 32 miles south-west of Simla, on the 
crest of a hill 6300 feet above sea-level, with a minimum popula- 
tion rather more than 3000, much increased during the summer 
months. Murree, on a hill-ridge 7500 feet above the sea, is in 
Rawal Pindi District, almost at the extreme north of the Punjab. 
In 1853, barracks were erected for convalescent troops, and the 
station soon became the chief northern sanitarium of the Province, 



I 




284 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

drawing large numbers of visitors from all the north-western 
region. The scenery resembles that of Simla, but the place also 
commands a view of deep valleys studded with villages and culti- 
vated fields. The town is provided with all needful buildings, 
ecclesiastical, commercial, and official, with Assembly Rooms, Club, 
Dispensary, and the Lawrence Memorial Asylum for the sons and 
daughters of European soldiers. A flourishing brewery supplies 
British residents with the sound beer nowhere more relished than 
in sub-tropical India. 

The chief points of British Administration in India, as sett 
by the Act of 1858 and subsequent statutes, have been given 
the history for that period, and we have seen how the Provinces, 
under Lieutenant-Governors or Chief Commissioners, have Divi- 
sions ruled by Commissioners, again split up into Districts each 
under the control of its special officer. Madras and Bombay 
Presidencies are but little interfered with by the " Governor- 
General-in-Council", as the Viceroy is officially styled in Indian 
affairs, and are further distinguished by having each a special 
army and Commander-in-Chief, an Executive and a Legislative 
Council, and a Governor appointed direct from England. Bengal, 
administered by a Lieutenant-Governor, has had a Legislative 
Council since i86r, but her immediate ruler is controlled by no 
Executive Council. The North-Western Provinces have had a 
Legislative Council since 1887; the Punjab is not yet thus 
provided. The Central Provinces, Assam, Ajmere, Berar, and 
Coorg, are under the immediate rule of the Viceroy. The 
" Regulation " and " non- Regulation " systems of rule, already 
noticed, have reference to the old Regulations, or laws and judicial 
rules of practice which were in force prior to the establishment 
of the system of administration in accordance with Acts of Parlia- 
ment. The method of rule has been adapted to the requirements 
of the territory ruled; a wider discretion being allowed to officials 
in financial, judicial, and other affairs in non-Regulation Districts, 
where the condition of the people, and their less amenable or 
civilized character, render the enforcement of strict rules of pi 
cedure less desirable. As a case in point. Bombay Presideni 
with its 24 Districts, has i 7 administered on Regulation principles, 
and 7, in Sind and Gujarat, ruled as non- Regulation Districts by 
officers who may be either military, covenanted, or uncovenantei 



man 

1 i^^B 




BRITISH PROVINCES AND ADMINISTRATION: NATIVE STATES. 285 

servants of the Crown. In such Districts, also, judicial and 
executive functions are, in a great degree, placed in the same 
hands, and there are no "High Courts", "Judges", or other 
special apparatus for the administration of civil and criminal 
justice. The Central Provinces and Assam are wholly non- 
Regulation, and Districts administered on the same system are 
found also in Bengal and the North- Western Provinces. 

Throughout British India, in Regulation and non- Regulation 
territory, the unit of administration is the District officer, called 
"Collector- Magistrate" in the former, and ** Deputy-Commissioner" 
in the latter. He is the chief executive officer, the responsible 
head of affairs. It is he who, to the vast majority of the people, 
knowing nothing of, and so caring nothing for, the mighty " Vice- 
roy ", or " Governor ", or " Lieutenant-Governor ", represents alike 
the majesty, justice, good faith, and beneficence of British sway. 
It is he who, on behalf of the teeming peasantry of India, keeps 
the machine of government at work, and its efficiency depends, 
in a very large degree, upon his intellectual and moral character. 
Great energy is needed for the successful discharge of his multi- 
farious and responsible duties in collecting revenue, deciding 
disputes and hearing plaints, and superintending the management 
of police and jails, roads and bridges, sanitation, education, and 
other matters. His personal energy, tact, sound judgment, kind- 
ness, and courtesy, or the lack, in any degree, of such qualities, 
are of great importance as concerning both his direct relations 
with native subjects and the work of his European and Native 
staff filling the posts of deputy-collectors, assistant-magistrates, 
and offices subordinate to these. It must be remembered that 
the Districts, of which British India, including Burma, contains 
250, have an average area of 3860 square miles, with an average 
population of about 880,000. In other words, the District-officer 
or Collector-Magistrate has charge of a region like a very large 
and populous English county or French department, and needs, 
for complete success in his official career, the knowledge and 
qualities of an accountant, a lawyer, a surveyor, a ready writer 
of State- papers, and a social reformer in close touch with the 
masses of the people, and no small acquaintance with the prin- 
ciples and practice of the economist, the engineer, and the scientific, 
skilled agriculturist. In every Province, the whole administration 



286 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

is directed by the Secretariat, or central bureau, which issues 
orders to and receives reports from the officers of Divisions 
and Districts. The Secretariat of the Supreme Government at 
Calcutta and Simla has the following seven branches — Foreign 
Affairs, Home Affairs, Revenue and Agriculture, Finance, Military 
Affairs, Public Works, Legislation. The Provincial Secretariats 
have the same kind of scheme, but the Secretaries vary in number 
from one to four. 

We cannot rightly apprehend the nature of British govern- 
ment in India, without reference to its essential character as a 
paternal, non-constitutional system, a " benevolent despotism " 
that undertakes, on behalf of the ruled, many duties which, in 
constitutional countries of advanced civilization, are left to local 
bodies and to the enterprise of private persons or of Companies. 
We turn to the administration of Lord Mayo, and find his express 
recognition of the fact that " for generations to come, the progress 
of India in wealth and civilization must be directly dependent on 
her progress in agriculture. Agricultural products must long 
continue the most important of her exports, and the future 
development of Indian commerce vyill mainly depend upon the 
improvement in the quantity and quality of existing agricultural 
staples, or on the introduction of new products which shall serve 
as materials for manufacture and for use in the industrial arts". 
It was in connection with this subject that Lord Mayo founded 
a "department of knowledge", and concentrated into one com- 
bined office of general registration every branch of inquiry into 
India and Its people, occupations, and products — the facts con- 
cerning revenue-survey, topography of inland districts and coasts, 
mineral wealth, agricultural productions, commercial capabilities, 
meteorology, details of rural life, and many other matters. The 
improved staple of cotton, the growth of tea, cinchona, and coffee, 
have all been largely due to the efforts of the Indian Government 
The State, In India, is not only the chief landlord of the soil from 
which a large part of the revenue is derived, but the guardian 
of forests, a great mineral proprietor, a creator and maintainer 
of irrigation-channels, roads, railways, public buildings, hospitals, 
and schools. Besides being railway-owners on a very large scale, 
the British Indian authorities are manufacturers of opium and 
salt. As regards the drug which has so long been anything but 



I 
I 





BRITISH PROVINCES AND ADMINISTRATION: NATIVE STATES. 287 

a sedative to those who discuss it in connection with Indian 
finance and the effects of opium on those who, in India and 
China, indulge in its use, we note that the poppy is now allowed 
to be cultivated only in Bengal, the North-West Provinces, and 
Oudh, and in parts of the Punjab. The produce, all of which is 
sold to the Government at a fixed price, is sent to the Government 
factories at Patna and Ghazipur, on the Ganges, to be prepared 
for the market, and the chests of opium thus manufactured are 
sold in Calcutta, at monthly auctions, for exportation to China. 
Salt, which pays so large a portion of Indian revenue, is made by 
the Government at great brine-works on the Rann of Cutch, on 
the coast of Gujarat, and in many small sea-salt factories, leased 
to private persons, in the Konkan, on the coast of Bombay Presi- 
dency below the Ghats. On the eastern coast, from Cape 
Comorin to Orissa, the salt procured by evaporation conducted 
by private persons is also made under Government supervision. 
The product is brought to the State dep6t, where it is paid for 
at a certain rate. The price to the consumer in Madras Presi- 
dency, in January, 1888, was about 35. (at the reduced value of 
i^. 3^. per rupee) per maund of 82^ lbs. The salt-duty, now 
equalized, throughout continental India, is about 45". per cwt. at 
the reduced value of the rupee. 

The extent of municipal government in India is a fact little 
known to British readers. Happily devised, in recent years, to 
relieve District officers of a portion of their arduous labours, these 
bodies, greatly developed, as we have seen, by the Local Self- 
Government Acts of 1882-84, under the Viceroyalty of Lord 
Ripon, perform the duties of like local governments in this 
country, raising money by rates, and expending it mainly on the 
police, the roads, the markets, and sanitary measures. Not only 
are all large towns now provided with municipal institutions, but 
by a recent return there were 761 municipal towns, with a popula- 
tion exceeding 15 millions, in the India which, including Native 
States, then contained only 222 towns with a population exceeding 
20,000 people. The development of the elective principle has been 
such that recently, out of 10,585 members of 758 municipalities 
(excluding the three Presidency towns) there were 5848 elected, 
against 4737 nominated or ex-officio members. In the 107 muni- 
cipalities of the North-West Provinces, there were 12 18 elected 






/,*■'*• - . .* *C L. Z i. t^- . ~ -.IS — 

« ^ 

f • - 

^ ' // »', f »t..t* *..tf '/; ^';;»:^r. for the n:as5 02' ihe 
/ r ' ^'' ' * '^''' ^"'' ^» '/f fl*' j/r':v:nt 'i/stcm in 1854 has 

'•'" M. / M',*»' •! in *ntih»thini y/iih f)i<: farnou?> iJcspatch of Sir 
' ''"'■ ' '•'• 'WimmmiI, '/<:.'!, mil Ihilifax;, then President of 



"/ 



f • 



/ I , // • < 



BRITISH PROVINCES AND ADMINISTRATION: NATIVE STATES. 389 

the Board of Control, a State-paper which set forth "a scheme of 
education for all India far more wide and comprehensive than the 
supreme or any local Government could have ventured to suggest". 
It was part of Lord Dalhousie's great work in India to initiate 
the new system, and every Viceroy since his day has pushed 
forward in the same direction. In 1857, while we were fighting 
for our hold on India, the Acts were passed which established 
the three Universities of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, on 
the model of the University of London, as examining bodies 
empowered to confer degrees in arts, law, medicine, and civil 
engineering. The Punjab has now the University of Lahore, 
which is developed on more Oriental lines than the first three, 
and provides for the teaching of students, and a fifth University, 
for the North-Western Provinces, was founded in 1887 at 
Allahabad. These Universities control the higher education 
throughout India, having a matriculation examination open to all 
comers, but requiring candidates for degrees to become members 
of an affiliated college. During ten years, according to a recent 
return, above 113,000 candidates presented tliemselves for the 
entrance (matriculation) examination at Calcutta, Madras, and 
Bombay, and of this number over 38,000 were successful. At 
Lahore, in three years 1021 passed the examination out of 278S 
candidates; at Allahabad, in the same period, 1761 out of 3623 
attained their object. Comparatively few students proceed to the 
higher degrees. In the ten years above mentioned, 2531 graduated 
B.A., and 429 M.A., at Calcutta; at Madras, the respective 
numbers were 2729 and 44; at Bombay, 1583 and 40; during the 
last six years of the period, there were 137 students admitted B.A. 
and 7 M.A. at Lahore; and for three recent years, 179 B.A. 
and 18 M.A. at Allahabad. Calcutta University turns out the 
great majority of graduates in law, a fact closely connected with 
the keen intellect and litigious character of Bengalis; at Bombay, 
the prevailing studies of graduates are medicine and engineering. 

There are two chief classes of colleges or institutions for higher 
education — those taking the arts course for the University exami- 
nations, and establishments devoted to special subjects, medicine, 
law, or engineering. Some are entirely maintained by the 
Government, while others receive grants in aid of funds contributed 
by European or native founders and supporters. In i8gi. there 




OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

were 139 such institutions, attended by nearly 16.000 male and 80 ' 
female students. Of boys' schools, the higher class are those 
which give instruction through the English language, and prepare 
candidates both for matriculation at the Universities and few the 
higher grades of the Government-service. Every District has 
at its capital town, or administrative head-quarters, one school of 
this class; in 1883 the number of high schools, including the zHas 
or District schools, was 530, of which 492, with 68,434 pupils, 
were for males, and 38, with 1 1 65 learners, were educating giris. 
The middle schools, in the larger villages or smaller towns, some 
teaching English, others the native tongues, are of the same class 
as the middle schools of Great Britain. Recently, the whole J 
number of establishments for secondary instruction, including the I 
above higher and these middle schools, had risen to 5005, of which ' 
4545, with nearly 437,000 pupils, were for males, and 460 schools 
educated nearly 36,000 girls. Little progress has been made in 
female education, owing to the strong prejudice on this subject still 
existing even amongst the more enlightened, English-speaking 
natives of the superior class; in Tinnevelli and in some other 
quarters where missionaries have been able to overcome the native 1 
feeling, greater success in this direction has been attained. In | 
1 89 1, the whole of British India contained about 6500 girls' 1 
schools, attended by 316,000 pupils, a number nearly double that] 
of 1883. Normal, technical, and industrial schools numbered [ 
recently 578, with over 20,000 students, including many training | 
as schoolmasters and as female teachers, Calcutta, Madras, and I 
Bombay have art-schools which do some good work in industrial I 
training. 

We come, lastly, to the great test of educational work, thel 
progress made with primary schools. In 1882, Lord Ripon J 
appointed an Educational Commission, with the view of carrying] 
out to the fullest extent, and on the broadest basis, the scheme off 
popular education which had been indicated in the Despatch off 
1854. This body of experts, headed by Dr. (now Sir W. W.) ' 
Hunter, issued its report in the following year, after the President, 
accompanied by the provincial members, had made a tour through 
each Province, and personally inspected every District, with , 
special regard to the training of teachers, the system of inspection, J 
payment by results, and the extension of female education. Sincctl 




BRITISH PROVINCES AND ADMINISTRATION: NATIVE STATES. 29I 

that time, and as the result of the facts learned by that investiga- 
tion, much has been done in furthering public instruction by the 
foundation of new Government-schools, the encouragement of 
private enterprise in teaching, and the inspection of the native 
village-schools. It may be fairly asserted that a system of national 
education has been at last set afoot, with a network of institutions 
spread over India, starting from the indigenous "hedge-schools" 
of the Hindus and the old Mosque-schools of the Mohammedans, 
all now under Government inspection, and advancing upwards to 
the vernacular and Anglo- vernacular schools, the High Schools, 
the affiliated colleges, and the Universities. The State Depart- 
ment of Public Instruction now has its branches in every Province, 
each under a Director, and supplied with a staff of inspecting 
officials. Of late, the number of pupils at the State- inspected 
or aided schools of British India, of all classes, reached nearly 
3,700,000 in 138,350 schools, or one pupil in about 60 of the whole 
population. The male pupils were 3,382,000, or one boy in 
every 33 of the males; the girls under instruction numbered 
316,000, or one girl at school for every 343 females. In Bengal, 
the great progress made, from only 2450 primary schools, with 
about 65,000 pupils, in 1872, to nearly 50,000 schools, with more 
than 1,115,000 scholars, in recent times, is chiefly due to the 
reforms instituted at that date by Lieutenant-Governor Sir George 
Campbell. In the North-Western Provinces, the system of 
primary education is due to the ability and energy of that admir- 
able ruler and administrator, Mr. James Thomason, Lieutenant- 
Governor from 1843 to 1853, ^^^ of Sir William Muir, who was 
in supreme power there from 1868 to 1874. 

In connection with the subject of education, we may note a 
steady growth in the publication of newspapers and books in the 
native tongues. The year 181 8 saw the issue of the first vernacular 
journal, published at Serampur by the Baptist missionaries. The 
last half-century has produced the vernacular newspapers which 
are now so influentially engaged on political questions. The 
statistics differ largely, indeed, from those with which we are 
familiar in Great Britain, as the official returns, for the whole of 
India, give a total sale little exceeding a quarter of a million copies 
to 463 newspapers in vernacular languages. The number of 
readers, however, must be vastly larger than that of the actual 



292 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

purchasers. In Bengal, some of the many newspapers published 
in English are owned and written by natives. The North-Western 
Provinces and the Punjab have over lOO newspapers printed in 
Hindustani or Urdu, the language used by Mohammedans 
throughout India. In Bombay, the languages thus employed are 
Gujarati and Marathi. The number of daily vernacular news- 
papers is ID, with about 200 weekly, 60 monthly, and the rest 
fortnightly or quarterly issues. Recent book-statistics show that 
668 books, pamphlets, and periodicals were published in English or 
other European languages, 5566 in vernacular tongues, 647 in the 
" classical languages" of India, and 1004 in more than one 
language. Of the whole, about 5500 were original works, the rest 
being translations or re-issues of previous publications. Of the 
subjects, poelr)-, drama, and fiction claimed over 1800 works, 
of which about two-thirds were poetical; history and biography 
stand for 232; language, 1165; law and medicine, nearly 350; 
philosophy, 460, including mental and moral science, and many 
works that we should call religious or theological; religious works, 
above 1500; arts. 100; mathematics, mechanics, and natural 
science, above 400: politics, 24; voyages and travels, 9; and 
miscellaneous subjects, 1708. For the above figures, as for so 
much else concerning India, we are indebted to the 5rd edition of 
Sir W. W. Hunter's The Indian Empire, so often referred to in 
these pages, a work indispensable to all who desire full, accurate, 
and recent information on our greatest Eastern possession. 

Before referring briefly to the Native Slates, we may note some 
islands and outlying territories. British Baluchistan has been 
already mentioned in connection with the railway-extension to 
Sibi, Quelta, and Chaman, and its great strategical value. In 
1877, the chief Baluch ruler, the Khan of Khelat, after attendance 
at the Grand Darbar at Delhi, to hear the Queen proclaimed as 
Empress of India, admitted a "Governor-General's Agent" to 
reside at his court, and he showed the most loyal spirit towards 
his new and powerful friends, during the last Afghan war, in 
aiding British troops with the resources of his territory and sending 
his son and heir-apparent to accompany our forces on their passage 
through his dominions. Since 1882, on payment of an annual 
quit-rent of ^2500, the district of Quetta, with an unknown area 
and small population, has been in British hands for administration. 



BRITISH PROVINCES AND ADMINISTRATION: NATIVE STATES. 293 

The town of Quetta has a military cantonment occupied by a 
strong brigade of troops, and the place, with municipal rule, has 
much increased in size and importance. What is now styled 
** British Baluchistan" includes Pishin, Sibi, and other districts 
formerly in South Afghanistan, assigned to our possession in 1879 
by the Treaty of Gandamak. The little state called Sikkim, in 
the eastern Himalayas, bounded on the north by Tibet, and on 
the south by the British District of Darjiling, a country of dense 
jungle, has been under British control since 1890, by a treaty 
concluded with the Maharaja, whose subjects had, in former days, 
been much addicted to kidnapping traders and other travellers. A 
little trade is done in country-produce — rice, millet, Indian corn, 
oranges, and tea — ^and in imported cotton piece-goods and tobacco. 
The Andamans or Andaman Islands, in the south-east of 
the Bay of Bengal, consist of the Great and Little Andaman 
groups, extending north and south above 200 miles, with a total 
area of about 2500 square miles. The capital, Port Blair, on the 
south-east shore of South Andaman, the southern island of the 
Great Andamans, with one of the safest harbours in the world, 
derives its name from Lieutenant Archibald Blair, who surveyed 
the groups during a complete circuit which he made in 1 789-90, and 
constructed general charts and plans. A central range of mountains, 
in this group, reaches a height of 2400 feet, and the islands display 
beautiful scenery in the varied outline of inlets and bays, and in 
the forest - trees, palms, bamboos, cotton - trees, mangroves, and 
great euphorbias. The jungle, with a dense undergrowth that 
neither man nor beast can penetrate, is full of deadly malaria. The 
flora is notable for the rarity of cocoa-nut palms; \ki^ fauna for the 
absence of all mammals save hogs, ichneumons, and rats, and for 
the scarcity of birds. Fish, various and excellent, abound on the 
coast, including soles, prawns, shrimps, and oysters; the bather has 
to beware of sharks; the epicure may rejoice in turtles and edible 
birds nests. Coral-reefs hedge in the groups on all sides. The 
first attempt at settlement, in 1 789, failed in a seven-years' struggle 
with jungle-fever, the cannibal natives and their arrows, and lack 
of regular supplies from the mainland. For fifty years from that 
date, the Andamans had the worst of names for the savage character 
of people who slew the savant whom the Indian Government 
sent to study the natural history of their abode, murdered ship- 



294 



OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 



wrecked crews, and, in two cases, cut off stragglers from the crew 
and passengers of troop-ships driven ashore, The Indian authori- 
ties determined to put an end to what had become a scandal and 
discredit, and to occupy the Andamans in force. In 1858, when 
the Mutiny had left large numbers of life-convicts on our hands, 
the whole group was annexed as a colony for prisoners, and placed 
(in 1872) under the control of an officer now styled " Chief Com- 
missioner and Superintendent, Andaman and Nicobar Islands", 
reporting to the supreme Government of India. For five years 
much trouble was caused by the ferocious enmity of the natives, 
who murdered every straggler, stole and destroyed property by 
fire, and, in general, displayed a spirit of what expressive American 
slang denominates as "cussedness" of an extreme type. Even 
these people were at last subdued by a combination of kindness 
which built for them sheds for protection from tropical rains, and 
bestowed food and medicine in their hour of need; and of just 
severity that inflicted prompt and memorable chastisement on 
wanton and malignant ill-doers. The tragical end of Lord Mayo, 
in no wise reflecting on the Andaman people, has been already de- 
scribed. The present convict-population, numbering about 11,500, 
of whom more than 8800 are "lifers", come from the jails of the three 
Provinces Bengal, Madras, and Bombay, and from Burma, There 
are no recent figures for the European residents, numbering perhaps 
2500, including officials of every class, and somewhere about 750 
police. The ethnology of the native people is very obscure. Their 
skin is very black; the tallest specimens seldom exceed five feet; 
few of them live to be forty; the women rarely bear more than two 
children; the day of their extinction cannot be far distant. At the 
British settlements, sugar-cane, arrow-root, rice, cocoa-nuts, maize, 
and vegetables are grown in suflficiency for local needs, nearly 10,000 
acres being under pasture and cultivation. A recent census shows 
that there are about 4225 horned cattle, and prosperity is looked 
for in the breeding of sheep and cattle, and in the energetic spread 
of the cocoa-nut palm. A steady improvement, through swamp- 
drainage, jungle-clearing, and other measures, is taking place in the 
average annual death-rate of a region where the rainfall reaches 
about 120 inches, and the annual mean temperature is 82 degrees. 

The Nicobar Islands, to the south of the Andamans, have 
twelve inhabited out of a score. The northern group is low-lyini 



I 

I 



^L. 




BRITISH PROVINCES AND ADMINISTRATION: NATIVE STATES. 295 

with cocoa-nut palms; the southern has forest-clad hills 2000 feet 
in height The area exceeds 400 square miles; the people are 
estimated at 6000. The group was in Danish possession from 
1846 to 1858, when it was abandoned. In 1869, after a case of 
piracy and murder perpetrated by the natives on a British vessel 
and crew, the Indian Government annexed the islands and placed 
them in charge of the Andamans Commissioner. The chief settle- 
ment is at Nancowry, on Camorta Island, 16 miles in length, with 
a splendid harbour. The establishment consists of about 235 
convicts, 27 police, and 50 native troops. There are fine timber 
and tropical fruits, the edible nests of the Nicobar swallow, and 
abundant fish and turtles, with poultry and pigs as domestic crea- 
tures. The people are of doubtful origin, copper-hued, with visages 
of mixed Malay and Chinese features. They live in small collections 
of round, windowless, thatched huts, raised 10 feet from the ground 
on wooden pillars, with a trap-door below, reached by a ladder 
drawn up at night. In character they are a cowardly, treacherous, 
lazy, drunken set of murderous scoundrels, very superstitious, with 
a reverential regard for people who can read or write, and a repub- 
lican equality in social matters. The men are husbands of one 
wife at a time, whom they divorce at a moment's notice for the 
slightest cause. The chief products of the Nicobars are cocoa-nuts, 
edible birds* nests, trepang (the sea-slug or biche de mer, a marine 
animal of the thorny-skinned invertebrate class, including star- 
fishes; it boils down into a rich gelatinous soup), and tortoise-shell. 
The northern islands annually export over 4^ millions of cocoa- 
nuts, and the extreme cheapness of the article brings yearly 
larger numbers of British and Malay vessels, whose captains pro- 
cure their cargoes by barter, obtaining the nuts in exchange for 
coloured cloth, handkerchiefs, cutlasses, spoons, tobacco, red woollen 
caps, old clothes, and black hats. The climate is very unhealthy 
from jungle and swamp, the rainfall about equalling that of the 
Andamans. 

The Laccadives or Laccadive Islands are a group of fourteen, 
discovered by Vasco da Gama in 1499, lying about 200 miles west 
of the Malabar coast of the Madras Presidency or Province. The 
whole have an area of about 750 square miles, with a population 
of nearly 14,500, mostly Mohammedans of Hindu race. The 
northern islands, with about one-third of the people, are alone in 



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BRITISH PROVINCES AND ADMINISTRATION: NATIVE STATES. 297 

They have their own laws, their own courts and procedure. Their 
rulers, having revenues and armies of their own, rights of hereditary 
succession and of adoption of successors, and, in the more important 
states, exercising the power of life and death over their subjects, 
are "independent" sovereigns in the technical sense, and are 
actually independent within limits fairly wide. Their territories 
are, to the rest of India, "foreign" states, the correspondence and 
general business with which is carried on through the Foreign 
Office of the supreme Indian Government, and by special depart- 
ments of the Bombay, Madras, and other Provincial administrations. 
The true position of the Native States and their rulers is indicated 
by the fact that they lie ever at the mercy of overwhelming power 
close to their doors. They are dependent, for their continued 
independence, on the combined good-will and good faith of the 
British Government, or, in other words, on their own good behaviour, 
according to British ideas of humanity and propriety of conduct. 
They cannot make war, they can form no treaties, with other states 
in or out of India. The sovereigns must rule for the good of their 
people, looking for advice and assistance to the Resident or Agent 
appointed for each state by the representative, the Viceroy, of 
their powerful friend, the Empress of India. The authority of 
native rulers is limited by usage, or by treaties or engagements 
which acknowledge their subordination to the British Government, 
but they stand secure and unmenaced, subject only to interference 
for misrule; to rebuke and, in extreme cases, to removal, for oppres- 
sion or crime; protected against all aggression, sure of peace save 
through their own default. This relationship between the British 
Indian Government and the Native States — this political partner- 
ship for the defence of India from without, and for the promotion 
of peace, security, social progress, and contentment within, is unique 
in history, bearing little resemblance to the position of subject- 
states in the Roman Empire. In no case would the British 
Government now think of annexation. An incurably bad ruler 
would be deposed in favour of a fit successor, either of his own line, 
or of his adoption, or, failing both, of selection by the Governor- 
General in Council. 

As regards the area and population of these Native States, we 
find that the 688 such separate territories make up 595,ocx) square 
miles, with a population of 66 millions, as against 965,ocx) square 



2<)S OUR rlMPTKE VT HOME .iXD ABROAD. 

miles ind 221 millions of people inder iirect 3ritisii rule. Of 
these states, r 70 are -iirectiy supervised by the Supreme Govern- 
ment: 36 [ by the Government .)t* Bombay: 5 by the Government 
of Nfadras: 34 by the Lieritenant-Govemor 31 the Punjab; 30 by 
the Lieutenant-Governor of Ben^. and the rest by the Lieutenant- 
Governor if the Xorth- Western Provinces, and bv the Chief 
Commissioners of the Central Provinces. Assam, and Burma, It 
is satisfacton/ to know :hat educated native opinion in India^ as 
manifested through the nati\'e Press. :ias ranged itself decisively 
on the side of British ideas and methods in ^rovemment. and the 
administrations of Mysore. Baroda, and Koihapur lin Bombay 
Presidency, between Poona and Goa) are extolled as samples of 
the best form of Indian * Home Rule', the fact being that the 
government of these states became Anglicized, under British 
g'uidance during long minorities of their native sovereigns. The 
ordinary sample of Xative States is stiil devoid of any legislative 
assembly, of independence in the law-courts, of publicity for the 
arts and aims of the ruling- bodv. and of anv iiabilit^'- in the execu- 
rive to onblic justice for their public acts. The British Agent or 
Resident, however, has a sharp eye on ail proceedings, and regu- 
larly sends in his report to the head-quarters of supreme rule. The 
amount of progress which has already been made in rational and 
htjmane administration within the borders of these stares is a very 
eWiuent. wonderful, and enduring testimony to the tact and sagacity 
of British rulers in India, and to their genius, not only for conquest 
and mastery, but for the higher and nobler work of guiding and 
loading mankind on the path of progress to better things than those 
of the f>ast. 

The Native States under the Bombay Government have an area 
of h^/ff> s^juare miles, and a population of about 8 millions, the 
chief F/eing Cutch, Koihapur, and Khairpur (in Sind). The 
Madras (iovernment has charge of states with an area of 9600 
sr|uar<! miles, and a population of about 3^ millions, the chief being 
'Jrnvancnre and Cochin, Attached to Bengal are states with an 
area of nearly 36,r)oo square miles, and a population of 3,300,000; 
the chif^f bf^ing ///'// Tipperah and Kuch Behar. The North- 
Western Provinces' Native States are about 5000 square miles in 
area, with people to the number of 800,000. In the Central Pro- 
vinces, the figures are 29,500 square miles and 2,160,000 people, 



BRITISH PROVINCES AND ADMINISTRATION: NATIVE STATES. 299 

the chief state being Bastar. The Punjab Government controls 
States exceeding 38,000 square miles in extent, with over 45^ 
millions of people, the chief being Bahawulpur, 1 7,300 square miles 
and 650,000 people, and Patiala, 6000 square miles and 1,600,000. 
The Central India States {Central India Agency and Bundelkhand), 
with nearly 78,000 square miles and 10^ millions of people, include 
the important Gwalior (vi^^xXy 26,000 square miles and 3^^ millions), 
Rewa (12,680 square miles and i^^ millions), Indore (9600 square 
miles and 1,100,000), and Bhopal (nearly 7000 square miles and 
950,000). Of the Shan States, on the borders of Burma, Siam, and 
China, partly independent, partly under British control, the British 
portion has a supposed area of 40,000 square miles and an estimated 
population of 2 millions. Manipur, in north-eastern India, with 
8000 square miles, and a population of about J^ million, under the 
control, through a Political Agent, of the Chief Commissioner of 
Assam, consists mainly of a valley situated in the midst of a moun- 
tainous country surrounded by Assam, Cachar, Burma, and Chitta- 
gong. The hills attain a height exceeding 8000 feet above sea-level, 
partly covered with huge forest- trees and bamboo-jungle, containing 
large herds of wild elephants, with tigers, leopards, bears, wild cats, 
deer, wild hogs, and, in some parts, the wild buffalo and the rhino- 
ceros. The boa-constrictor and other serpents of a formidable size 
exist, but there are not many poisonous snakes. The religion is a 
mixture of Hinduism with the olden worship of hill-tribes. The 
breed of strong, hardy ponies, under 12 hands in height, had long 
been used by the Manipuris for their favourite game of horseback- 
hockey, before British officers imported it, in 1863, to Calcutta, 
whence it was carried to other British places of residence in India, 
and, about 1870, introduced into Great Britain. In 1891, this little 
State became notorious for the troubles which involved the 
treacherous murder, by an usurping Raja, of Mr. Quinton, the 
Chief Commissioner of Assam, the officer commanding his escort, 
and other gentlemen, including Mr. St. Clair Grimwood. Our 
outposts on the Eastern Bengal and North Burma (western) 
frontier were endangered, but our position was soon vindicated 
with triumphant success. The retreat of some portion of the 
troops, in presence of overwhelming force, was distinguished by 
the heroic calmness, courage, and self-sacrifice of the widowed 
Mrs. Grimwood, author of My Three Years in Manipur, The 



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BRITISH PROVINCES AND ADMINISTRATION: NATIVE STATES. 30I 

details. Bangalore, the actual capital of the State of Mysore, 
Stands in the centre of the Mysore plateau, 3100 feet above sea- 
level, 216 miles, by railway, west of Madras. We must note that 
this place and a small surrounding district, 13^ square miles in all, 
are British territory, assigned to our possession when Mysore, in 
1 88 1, was restored to the native prince. The population (1891) 
exceeded 180,000. The city contains a fort with an arsenal; a 
suburb (St. Johns Hill, or Cleveland Town) dotted with the 
cottages of many European pensioned soldiers, the view being 
topped, in English style, by the spire of the parish-church; many 
handsome public buildings; Hindu temples and Mohammedan 
mosques; and seven other churches of divers Christian bodies. 
The Lai Bagh, a beautiful pleasure-garden, with a fine collection 
of tropical and sub-tropical plants, has flower and fruit shows at 
certain seasons, and a weekly gathering of people to hear the music 
of the band. A large manufacture of carpets, and of gold and 
silver lace, and leather-tanning, are the chief industries of this 
prosperous town, noted for its healthy climate, with an excellent 
system of water-supply and drainage, an annual rainfall of 36 inches, 
and a death-rate of rather more than 16 per 1000 per annum even in 
the crowded native town. Jaipur (Jeypore), capital of the Native 
State of that name in Rajputana, has a population of about 160,000, 
and lies north-east of Ajmir, on the railway from Ahmadabad to 
Agra. It is the largest town and chief commercial centre of the 
Rajputana States, and, founded in 1728, is in many points the finest 
of modern Hindu cities. Placed on a small plain surrounded, save 
to the south, by rugged hills crowned with forts, the city is encircled 
by a masonry wall 20 feet high and 9 feet thick, with bastions and 
towers pierced for cannon, seven gateways, and a parapet loop- 
holed for musketry. The main streets are wide and regular, and 
the whole town is laid out on a plan of rectangular blocks, with 
cross streets and successive intersections, diminishing in width to 
narrow lanes. The chief thoroughfares are lit with gas manu- 
factured in the suburbs, and are well paved and drained, with a 
width of 37 yards. This wealthy city, with a great business in 
banking, has all the institutions of an important British town, 
including the fine Mayo Hospital, splendid public gardens of 70 
acres, and the Maharaja s college, with nearly 700 students, pre- 
pared for matriculation at the University of Calcutta. 



302 



OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 



Srinagar (119,000 people), the capital of Kashmir, on the 
banks of the Jehlam (jhelum), lies in the centre of the " Happy 
I Valley" sung by Moore in Lalla Rookk, at about 5300 feet above 
L sea-level. Most of the people are Mohammedans; the chief 
I business is in shawls; the place has no architectural distinction. 
Baroda, chief city of the Gaekwar's territory, lies in Gujarat, 
about 30 miles north of the Narbada (Nerbudda), The popula- 
tion is 1 16,000, chiefly Hindus, and the place has some fine 
modern buildings in the Hospital, State Library, Baroda College, 
and public offices. Gwalior, capital of its State, and residence 
of the Maharaja Sindhia, lying 65 miles south of Agra, is well 
known to British people at home from the views of its grand 
fortress on the isolated perpendicular rock, a mile and a half in 
length and 300 yards broad. The palace, built between i486 
and 1516, with great additions of a later date, under Jahangir 
and Shah Jahan, shows Hindu architecture of the best style. 
The new town, called Lashkar, where the Maharaja resides, 
and the irregular, dirty old town of Gwalior, at the eastern base 
of the rock, together have about 105,000 people. Indore. chief 
town of its State, capital of the Maharaja Holkar's dominions, 
is a modern city of 92,000 people, at nearly 1800 feet above sea- 
level, about 50 miles north of the Narbada in its lower course. 
The railway connects it with the rest of India; the chief industries 
are the manufacture of opium, and of cotton-cloth at a flourishing 
steam-mill. In a recent report the British revenue from about 
12,500 chests of Indore-made opium amounted to ^873,000 at 
^65 per chest. Mysore (74,000 people), the nominal capital of 
its State, a few miles south of Seringapatam, is a clean town with 
broad and regular streets, much improved in sanitary matters by 
its modern municipal board. Bhopal (70,000 people), chief town 
of its State, lies 1670 feet above the sea, about 100 miles north- 
east of Indore, The most notable fact concerning the town is 
the plentiful supply of water, free to all the people for ever, 
supplied at the cost of a native lady from works in charge of 
a British engineer. Bkaripur (Bhurtpore), with 68,000 people, 
the capital of its Rajputana State, has been seen by us in con- 
nection with the warlike part of our history in British India. 
Jihattnagar, capital of its State, in the British Agency of Kathia- 
war (Gujarat), is a modern town of 57,000 people, on the Gulf 



I 
I 

I 



BRITISH PROVINCES AND ADMINISTRATION: NATIVE STATES. 303 

of Cambay, with a large export of cotton to Bombay, and a 
spinning and weaving mill. Bikaner (56,000 people), chief town 
of its Rajput State, lies in a dreary, stony, barren region of north 
Rajputana, and is surrounded by a lofty and massive stone wall 
3^ miles in extent. The streets are strangely irregular in plan; 
the people are engaged in pottery, stone-cutting, carving, and 
the making of fine woollen blankets. The fort, containing the 
Raja's palace, a vast structure, presents a grand appearance to 
the approaching traveller. Udaipur (or Oodeypore, with a popula- 
tion of 38,000), capital of its State in Rajputana, is one of the most 
charming places in India, situated about 50 miles east of the 
centre of the AravalH Hills. Lying about 2000 feet above sea- 
level, the grand palace of marble and granite, rising to a height 
of 100 feet, flanked by octagonal towers topped with cupolas, looks 
down from a ridge upon a lake facing wooded hills, and from its 
terrace on the chief (the eastern) front commands a view of the 
city and valley. The great temple of Jagannath, and the turreted 
houses of the nobles, cupola-crowned, have a superb appearance 
above the massive battlemented city wall, to the traveller coming 
from the east. Water-palaces of marble, standing in the midst 
of a lake; flower-gardens, fountains, baths, groves of orange- and 
lemon-trees, with palmyra palms and plantains (banana-trees) over- 
shadowing all, help to form a scene of entrancing beauty not 
surpassed in the Eastern world. We must refer, before passing on 
to Burma, to a town of some importance, omitted in the description 
of places in the Punjab. Firozpur^ the administrative head- 
quarters of its District, lies about 60 miles south of Lahore, on 
the old high bank of the river Sutlej, over 3 miles from the present 
river-bed. During the last half-century, the place has grown above 
fivefold in population, which numbered, recently, about 40,000, 
almost equally composed of Mohammedans and Hindus. There 
is a flourishing trade in grain and other produce, and the well- 
built town, with spacious streets, contains the usual public buildings, 
with a memorial church in honour of those who fell, in the first 
Sikh War, on the battlefields of Mudki (Moodkee), Firozshah, 
Aliwal, and Sobraon, all lying not very far east or north-east of 
the town. The arsenal is the chief military storehouse in the 
Punjab; the garrison generally consists of one British and one 
Native infantry regiment, with two batteries of artillery. 



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K^f'^jrir^ G^-.'/^rr.rT'^rnr cr Prcvjice of British locza. with which. 
h/^*'r'^*r. i b oclv ccrnrrtec by geographical union on its own 
'AK-xtrxTi 'rxx'lfrx. Th-t p^Xi^i^ are chiecy of Indo-Chinese race. 
'^ir.i. i^Ujr^i^rjii^iSi featnrcs, and complexions varying firom clear 
>irhtf/t to dji.':ky yellow. Their religion is Buddhistic: they have 
no ciiit«. and no hereditary rank ever existed save in the royal 
lin^. nor any nobility except in the way of official and personal 
di->tinr:tion:^. The Burmese are distinguished by their delight in 
all amuis/:m#snc> — singing and music; dancing and drama: buffoon- 
ery and boat-racing; gambling and gaiety of every kind. In 
s^Kial affair-i, the most striking difference between Burmese and 
Mindu life is found in the Burmese marriage of mutual affection, 
preceded by courtship in British and American fashion, as con- 
trasted with the unions arranged in India by parents who betroth 
young boys and girls. The climate is one of abundant sunshine, 
and with a rainfall, during the south-west monsoon from May till 



BURMA, CEYLON, STRAITS SETTLEMENTS, HONG KONG, BORNEO. 3O5 

September, far exceeding that of India. The villages lie chiefly 
on river-banks, and are composed of wooden huts raised on piles 
to secure them from the floods. Nearly everj' village has its 
Buddliisc monastery and a school attached thereto, the monks 
being maintained by alms willingly accorded in the hope of gaining 
a better life in the transmigration of souls which is believed 
to follow the present existence. The wives and daughters are 
the transactors, in the towns, of business at home and in the 
bazar, while the men attend, in an easy-going way, to cattle and 
tillage, fisheries and fruit-trees. The country-side is made gay 
by the view of the many pagodas adorned inside with painted and 
gilded statues of Buddha in various sizes, and with outer decora- 
tions of gilded pinnacles glittering in the sun. 

The central portion of the country, including both Upper and 
Lower Burma, lies in the valley of the great river Irawadi, of 
unknown source, reaching the Bay of Bengal by nine principal 
mouths, enclosing a delta of 18,000 square miles, constantly grow- 
ing from the vast deposit of silt. Boats can ascend the river for 
the whole of its known length of about 900 miles, and steamers of 
light draught can at all seasons make their way to Bhamo, 700 
miles from the delta. The largest tributary is the Kyendwen 
(Chindwin), flowing in from the north about 400 miles from the 
sea. To the west of this central valley, the Yoma Mountains, from 
4000 feet to 7000 in their higher peaks, run down the east side 
of the narrow coast territory called Arakan, between the Irawadi 
delta and the south-east of Bengal; to the north, these mountains 
are a series of ranges, forest-clad, wild, and little known, connected 
with the hills of Cachar, Manipur, and the east of Assam. On 
the east side of the central valley of the Irawadi and its tributaries 
is the mountainous region of the Shans and other wild tribes. 
In the southernmost part of Burma, bordered by Siam, the narrow 
coast-region called Tenasserim runs down as far as the latitude of 
Ceylon, on the opposite side of the Bay of Bengal. 

The earlier history of Burma has little of Interest or importance. 
It is certain that the Buddhist religion was introduced, either from 
India or Ceylon, not later than the fifth century of our era, and that 
invasions have occurred, from time to time, of tribes coming from 
China on the north and Slam on the south. In the fifteenth century, 
European travellers tell of flourishing trade in Pegu and Tenasserim. 



5o6 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

In tlie sixteenth century, we find Portuguese adventurers as petty 
rulers or piratical chiefs in Aralcan, making themselves and their 
followers a terror to the peaceful traders in the Bay of Bengal, or 
aiding native kings in their internecine struggles. In the middle 
of the eighteenth century, a man of low origin, born to rise and rule, 
named Alaungpaya, commonly called Alompra. founded a dynasty 
of Burmese kings, ruling the whole countr}', with an inland capital 
at Ava, and a maritime capital, founded by Alompra, at Rangoon. 
Their government was that of despots of the old Mughal (Mogul) 
type, living in gaudy state, making progresses through the land, 
and administering affairs through a complicated host of officials 
controlling provinces, districts, towns, and villages in downward 
gradation, all subject to the sovereign's capricious and irresponsible 
will. When the territories of a tyrant of this class, as ignorant of 
British character and British power as he was incapable of self- 
restraint, became conterminous with Bengal, trouble was sure to 
arise. It was under Lord Amherst, in 1 824, in spite of his earnest 
desire for peace, that the first Burmese War came to pass. In 
1823, after Burmese conquest of Assam and Manipur, their general 
Maha Bandoola, a man of courage and ability, invaded Bengal, cut 
off a detachment of British sepoys, and forced Lord Amherst to 
declare war. 

A triple invasion of Burma was made, the operations being 
under the general direction of Sir Archibald Campbell, a dis- 
tinguished veteran of Wellington's army in the Peninsular War. 
A force of gun-boats, with sailors, marines, and troops, was sent up 
the Brahmaputra into Assam. A body of Bengal sepoys, men 
whom caste forbade to cross the "black water", went by land, 
through Chittagong, into Arakan. The main expedition sailed 
from Madras in May, 1824, to the Irawadi delta, under Campbell's 
immediate command, and Rangoon was taken almost without a 
blow. We may state at once that this war, lasting for two years, 
cost the sum of 14 millions sterling, and the fearful number of 
twenty thousand lives, few in battle, mostly from disease in a pesti- 
lential climate where heat and malaria were aggravated by the lack 
of good sense, most cruel in its effects, which sent the troops forth 
in stiff, unsuitable apparel, and fed them on salt meat, biscuit, and 
rum. The Burmese, showing some valour under proper leading. 
were most conspicuous for their skill and patience in forming 



I 




BURMA, CEYLON. STRAITS SETTLEMENTS, HONG KONG, BORNEO. 307 

Stockades and rifle-pits lor defence of their positions, and for their 
cruel treatment of prisoners and wounded men. Rangoon had 
been, at the king's command, abandoned by the people, and came 
into our hands as a place devoid of stores. The rainy season kept 
the British occupants there for the next seven months, dependent 
for supplies on ships arriving from Calcutta and Madras, as the 
jungle swarmed with the native warriors, the villages were strongly 
defended with stockades, and foraging was thus made a hopeless 
undertaking. In December, 1824, Bandoola led a force of 60,000 
men to assail Rangoon, held by five British infantry regiments, 
nine regiments of Sepoy foot, and some companies of artillery. 
Among the British officers was Major Sale, commanding 400 of 
his own regiment, the 13th Foot, and displaying the determined 
courage and the skill which afterwards won renown, as we have 
seen, at jellalabad in the first Afghan War. A seven days' struggle, 
of a de-sperate character, against Burmese artillery and musketry, 
rifle-pits and stockades, armed boats and fire-rafts, ended in com- 
plete victory for the British force and the capture of 24a out of 300 
great cannon employed by the foe. 

In February, 1825, General Campbell set his troops in motion, 
by land and water, up the Irawadi, towards Bandoola's new fortified 
position at Donabew, about forty miles up the river from Rangoon. 
The main body, however, made towards Ava, and a rash attack, 
with a detachment, on the Burmese field-works and stockades, was 
repulsed with loss. The wounded men left behind in a hasty retreat 
were crucified by the Burmese, and their bodies were sent floating 
upon rafts down the river. The whole force then assailed the 
enemy with rockets and shells, one of which killed the Burmese 
commander, whereupon his men dispersed into the jungle, and a 
renewed advance gave the British forces, by the end of April, 
possession of Prome, on the Irawadi about 200 miles from the sea. 
The rainy season then stayed operations till November, and more 
Burmese defeats, in our advance upon Ava, brought the British 
army within fifty miles of the capital. In the spring of 1826, the 
Burmese monarch came to terms in the Treaty of Yandabu. Assam, 
Arakan, and Tenasserim were ceded, the king remaining in posses- 
sion of Pegu and Upper Burma, witli the city of Rangoon. A 
British minister was to reside at the court of Ava ; the British 
head-quarters were fixed at Maulmain (Moulmein) in Tenasserim. 



%m * - z^ ^ 



^ -#.. 












** ' • '■''■ -■•■-■.*...*,*•' :,.♦-..', ''r.''»r_-i i.: r.i_:.i :•:'!. - i-:r ir*"L.rji 



t t .... 

m 

^*' ' ' •■' ''' '^ "'•'' ' -j.':m f. /^f !;.#: ::>.rr;'-'i rr.en Siirrong the mass 
i/J ii.i l',un,i * ,,i ti i,i ).j f,-^ \]^t- i:;;,;/ v> jy]*:c^'e5 to ensure their 
<',!» i.'i *n«l iJi« uiMM.JMM'l v/-ifTior> v.':r': chained up to the guns 
M,'l I fnlrf I 'JM '/< ilj« \>ii\ 'Wit' l5riii'>h column, advancing against 
J . snnn n\ IimI, ijn«|i » .< l/l.i/jijj/ ;,(jfi, up llj^r slc'cp and narrow stairs 
|< mI)m|/ ••» iIm Him I iiii.iifr)o| I In- pa^/ii^la, rushcd on with levelled 
oti « I, «»Mi Hmj/ ill* (ihiiui.'i Willi wliii h Dur troops have so often shaken 
llii Min»'Hi ••^..{•Hi'i III iiiMn Ini iiiidjiijc: (ors than the Burmese. 




BURMA, CEYLON, STRAITS SETTLEMENTS, HONG KONG, BORNEO. 



The "Immortals", before the bayonets had touched their skins, 
fled in terror, but the Governor of Rangoon, from a place of safety, 
still advised Godwin "to retreat while he could". The city of 
Prome was captured in the autumn, and, as the Burmese emperor 
declined to treat, Lord Dalhousie, in December, 1852, proclaimed 
the annexation to the British empire of Lower Burma, or the 
province of Pegu, on the lower courses of the Irawadi, connecting 
our former acquisitions of Arakan and Tenasserim. 

In the midst of his sufferings from broken health and over-work, 
the great Govern or- General, in 1852, 1853. and 1855, four times 
visited Burma, improving and settling the administration of pre- 
vious and recent conquests. The isolation of Arakan was ended 
by the formation of a solid military road across the Yoma Moun- 
tains to the Irawadi valley, and commercial centres were opened 
or developed at Akyab, Bassein, Rangoon, and other points. Major 
(afterwards Sir Arthur) Phayre was made Commissioner of Pegu, 
and a regular administration was formed, including many Burmese 
officials in the lower ranks. The new province was cleared of robbers, 
and a new reign of law and order, an unwonted blessing to the 
Burmese people, was inaugurated. In 1862, Pegu, Arakan, and 
Tenasserim became " British Burma ", with Phayre as " Chief 
Commissioner", and the growth of prosperity was such that the 
Province not only paid its own expenses of rule, but furnished 
a large yearly surplus to the imperial revenue. The meaning of 
"peace", to a country of great resources which has long suffered 
from misrule, is strikingly shown in a few statistics of Burma at 
this and later times. In 1881, the inhabitants of Rangoon were 
fourteen times as many as in 1852. Five years after annexation. 
in the year ending March 31st, 1858, the trade of the port amounted 
to little more than two millions of tens of rupees; in 1891 it was 
nearly six times as much for private commerce alone, apart from 
Government material and stores. In 1855. Amherst district had 
about 83,000 people; in i8gi, they were 417,000. In 1830, 
Akyab had a yearly trade of ^7000; in 1879, its value exceeded 
two millions sterling, a nearly 300-fold increase in half a century. 
In 1S55, the population of Lower Burma was 1% millions; in 1891 
it exceeded 4j4 millions. The history of the world may be 
challenged for any more striking instance of the benefits of 
successful war to a conquered people. The secret lies in the fact 



I 



IJ 



310 ova: EHy:ir.E at kcice ajt^ asbkoad 



that thf: con*-: ifrrvrs. mjth aii tbeir fcaiilts. wc* ir this 
just, and huxnaxK: as weil as strong. lac bearers of a tag ticai 
brings in its rear ;^ood go\'-3Tin>3it aod l a ca aiivt : traik s iht 
S€qiic] of glitttring bayor^ets and birrstiag- sfKus. 

In :?>62. a new king of Burma xsaoe a friendn- rreair at 
Miisdalay with SL- Arthur Pha>T>c: and £tc j^eais iaier iis 
saccessor. G«ierai Fytche. concluded a scccqc troiT. whio: ice 
to a l^LTge exttr^on of tr^tde uith Upper or Indqjendeni Burma. 
ar^d ti«i establishment of a line of steamers to Mandaisv and 
Bhar::. The firsr rJ^f^r of British India irbo dkfiiayed a specia; 
interesc in B-rrrjese affairs, after Lord Dainoosae. was Lard ^laro. 
1: ^iras only just prior to his tragical arid lamectabie end -nar 
in Febmsr;-. :^72. he landed at Rangoon, and was received nkh 
kxNi *cclar:2:t;:n5 frvm the -.sands of delighted and excfied Bur- 
WK^s^. i-'^cl-cirj the strange sigh:- for the East, of rsany naifvc 
Uv::cs. weloxr.in^ the Coi-emor-Gencial and his wife with yihs 
v\t :;o\\rr>. Amii ih^ festivities of a week and the personal 
u^xjxv; vV! of ir.e results :f rwenty years' British rule. Lord Mayo 
^\svi\s.N: v:ri^;::^::on> frorr. a,! classes o[ the communin", and then, 
aiU*i 4 hurricv: v-.si: to Mauln:ain, he steamed away to meet his 
i:a\* 41 the Ancun^.ans. In 1^85, a new Burmese ruler. King 
\ \wU\\\. 4 tiivsY rvrxTt who had begun his rdgn with a &mily- 
^^.i^^vuKN i^iv^c-'^* :r>ubve in his defiant refusal to redress the 
\\^\Mk^;^ vsi Nvvuii". t^riilsh traders, agents of a timber-company 
^\ \\sK\V, \i\ hi.x vUvn:n\nsL Sumziarv- measures were taken bv 
\ \<\s\ W\i\\i\\\. iS^ Vx^^rc^y. and a neet of war-steamers, with a 
uulu.u\ l>vk\\^ \:i>vK^r v^t^:>fril Preadergast. moved up the Irawadi 
\sx AI^unI^^I ^\ V'i^vvv; >* :-*>u: resistance, the capital was taken; 
\\w- \^\\\\\ -v»u\ u\ioivvl 4:x: wen: i vris^ner first to Rangoon, and 
sU\ w \\^ U\»\uS h^lut wSerxr he Secan^e a pensioner of the State. 
\ ^M I ^»uua »^^ u<x<n\ ;>v^ ^nnexin.n cf Upper Burma was pro- 
\UuMv\l u^nI \So \ uviv^y. ::*. the fcGowing month, went thither 
\\y '\\\^\\^i\\ \\w 4n^»m>vsu.Uux\ Gre:it progress has since been 
WWW- \\\ 0^- w^v^to nM l^;i;a\x For socne \^ears* great efforts were 
uwv\v\l \\^\ Ou v\^jvjMvss;vv\ v>if ojuxxts in the newly-conquered 
V^Uttv^U » '4\M\\\' |Mvx\M>t i;\xtKt.^ fe that arisii^ finom tribes on the 
\|WUVVAV *\v^^^*^^'^ XX ^N^ 00x^1 >^vrc rrally subject to Burmese kings, 
^y^ \Mk\V W^y\ \\\^\\\ Km %vt^^ ^^ ovvr^e oown fnom fastnesses in the 
^u]|\^V\K>\ ^Nx' uJUmx v\t t'v ;v*;:x55. E«r>- ccid season, well- 



BURMA, CEYLON, STRAITS SETTLEMENTS, HONG KONG, BORNEO. 3II 

equipped columns of British troops are sent to give lessons in the 
proper conduct for dwellers on our borders, and the evil is yearly 
being abated. 

Teak and other timber, and bamboos on the hills; rice and 
tobacco on the plains; mineral-oil in the Irawadi valley; tin and 
very rich and pure iron-ore in Tenasserim; these are among the 
chief vegetable and mineral products of Burma. Nearly all the 
rice used for distillation and starch in Great Britain comes from 
that country, the annual exports amounting to about 20 million 
cwts., valued at over 5 million tens of rupees; much of this, how- 
ever, passes from our shores to continental ports. The forest- 
trees furnish valuable wood-oil, tannin, varnish, and gums; orchids, 
ferns, mosses, flowering shrubs, creepers, and trees, give great 
beauty of form and hue to the jungle-scenes. In the hills to the 
north of Mandalay, over an area of about 200 square miles, on 
a plateau 5600 feet above sea-level, are the famous ruby-mines, 
which yield the finest stones of that class in the world. Jealously 
guarded from foreign intrusion, and rudely worked in the days of 
Burmese rule, these mines produced rubies to the known value of 
about ;^ 100,000 a- year, but it is certain that many valuable stones 
were secreted and sold to European dealers. Farther north still 
are mines of jade and amber, of which the former precious mineral 
is exported to China and Japan. Near Mandalay, fine white 
marble is quarried, and coal, used for steamer-fuel, is obtained in 
Upper Burma, on the banks of the Chindwin. The fauna include 
the elephant, rhinoceros, tapir, bison, buffalo, deer in many species, 
wild hogs, leopards, tigers, and bears. Elephants, ponies, buffaloes, 
and oxen are used as domestic animals of draught, but there are no 
horses of native breed, and the donkey scarcely exists in the land. 
Sheep and goats are rare; poultry abundant and good. The cobra 
and the python abound. There is a vast variety of birds, including 
the most brilliant-hued peacocks, golden and silver pheasants, and 
aquatic fowl of every kind. The abundance and variety of fish in 
the rivers and coast-seas are prodigious, and a condiment called 
nga-piy or ** pressed fish", is of universal use throughout the country. 
The chief industries are the weaving of the bright-hued silks worn 
by men and women on festive occasions; earthenware, lacquered 
bamboo-ware, wood-carving, gold and silver ornaments, and gongs 
for the European market. In Lower Burma, the seaports contain 



• ^ 






< ... 



- * ■ » - 

* 



' ' r -.-" 'j^^s" "'.i. 1'i: l»^t fc^r^r. *r.- 



I ',» -'l»,.i»./ »f.,f,/i |/ir|,</.* '. tjj" v.};o]': of liurma is divided 

M'*'' '' ' ' '■ '''t'^/ Aiili .] I ^ivi-.i'yn*. lylrakan. Pegu. IraiL^adi, 

hitn rtnit) .iii'l \*i hrjM'i-.. :jrj'l L'j'M.K I/ihMA, Containing 4 

\\\ \ Viw ( 'nitlniu, \nuthr911, ( i'9i(ral, liastcrn) and 17 Districts, 

fill*'! (M »!»' f:» liiMii wmIi will' Ii w ;ir'r f;irniliar in connection with 

I'.iiii h Im'Ii.i iiM lip* vv« rji .iiirl iirMtli f^f tln! May of Hcngal. The 

ImiII- "I <!»• |i«M|»|i livr 111 Mvcr •^'•{/K)fi villaj^cs with a population 

,il |. '•'■ \\\M\ fM.Mi. ;ithl ih'ir well', in iS(>i, only seven towns with 

<( l»n|nil.iii"ii %si%%%\\\\y ;i»,iKH) ( )| 7,0cx),ooo pcoplc, nearly 7 

iiillllimM .iM Minlilhr.i'*. i;i.iKHt ;ir<' Hindus, ^^ million Moham- 

Mii'l.»H'v '•»'»''*'' » 'o.ooij ;iic- ( hrisii;ins, i6S,(X)o al)oriijinal pagans 

/#il " Anmn'\H« h lhM«Mr/'. «m pt>I\tl.rnic>nisii(\ magic tribal laithsi, 

//illi n «?pii«^l*hnt' of ^iKhs. an«l some Parsi and jew traders. It is 

f/f/f •jirly •'* «'vp<'« * '^^*»« h Irom Hi iiish (*<hu ation. Recently, about 

..jl'if) \\v,\W''^ i^'^d iS.iw^ !fm.dc*s wcro under instruction, and 



BURMA, CKVLON, STRAITS SETTLEMENTS, HONG KONG, BORNEO. 313 

1^4 millions of males and nearly 90,000 females were returned as 
" literate ", or able at least to read, a result which, if it be correct, 
does credit to the work of the 20,000 Buddhist monks in their 
schools. These men form an influential and much-respected class, 
poor and celibate, but permitted to set aside their profession at 
pleasure, with its vows, its shaven head, and yellow robes, and to 
return to the world. The land-revenue for a recent year was 
returned at 2,142,000 rupees out of a total of nearly 5,100,000 
rupees, made up from the very low land-tax, customs, excise, 
forests, capitation-tax, and fishery-rents. The imports of Burma 
for 1S93 had a value of nearly 5)^ millions of tens of rupees 
(10 rupees=i2.r. at present reduced value); the exports were 
worth 9j^ millions of tens of rupees. The extent of the Rangoon 
trade, now much exceeding that of Madras, is indicated by the 
fact that in the same year her total imports and exports, in 
merchandise alone, including re-exports, had a value exceeding 
12^2 millions of tens of rupees, or nearly five-sixths of the whole 
Burmese trade. 

The chief towns of this rising country are Mandalay, Rangoon. 
Maulmain, Prome, Bassein, Akyab, and Bhamo. J\fandalay (popula- 
tion about 189.000), the former royal capital of Avaor Upper Burma. 
is a quite modern town in a plain near the left bank of the Irawadi. 
The place is surrounded by a lofty brick wall 3 feet thick, with an 
earthwork in its rear shelving upwards from 30 feet thickness at 
the base to 6 at the top. There are flanking turrets at every 200 
feet, and three gates in each of the mile-long walls enclosing a 
square. A moat 100 feet broad, always full of water, surrounds 
the place, and is crossed by five bridges. A great trade is carried 
on by the river, and overland to the Chinese frontier. Rangoon 
(about 1 80,000 inhabitants) lies 2 1 miles upwards from the sea on the 
Rangoon river, connected with the Irawadi by a navigable creek. 
This capital of Lower Burma is a modern town on the ancient site 
of a city called Dagon, in accordance with the name of the great 
Shw^ (Golden) Dagon pagoda already mentioned. This structure, 
320 feet in height, is covered with gilding from base to summit, 
and is the most venerated of Burmese shrines as containing some 
hairs and other relics of Buddha Gautama. British rule, since 
1852. has given to the place an elective municipal government; 
regular oil-lit streets, river-embankments, five markets, excellent 



3'4 



OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 



L 



water, tramways, fine public buildings, including an Anglican 
cathedral; horticultural gardens, a High School, a hospital, and 
ample protection in batteries and forts. Maulmain (Moulmein, 
with 56,000 people in 1891), in Tenasserim, is beautifully placed 
near the mouth of the Salween river, backed by a fine range of 
hills crowned by the gilded spires of many pagodas, and displaying 
the picturesque houses of the wealthier residents. The town is the 
head-quarters of the Amherst District and Tenasserim Division of, 
Lower Burma, and is well supplied with official, religious, educa* 
tional, and charitable buildings and institutions. The imports and 
exports have an annual value of about 2 millions sterling. Promts 
chief town of its district, with about 29,000 inhabitants, is on the left 
bank of the Irawadi, 160 miles by railway from Rangoon. Almost' 
ruined by fire in 1S62, the place is now a flourishing municipal 
town, Akyab (population about 34,000), a prosperous port on the 
coast in the north of Arakan, has grown up from the dimensions of 
a fishing- village in 1S26; its enormous increase of trade has been 
already given. It is a municipality with the usual public build- 
ings. Bassein, on both banks of its river in the Irawadi delta, 
with over 28,000 people, lies 75 miles upwards from the sea. 
Accessible to the largest vessels, the port has made vast progress 
since 1S52, with a great trade in rice, and imports of manufactured 
goods, salt, coal, and provisions. Recently the total value of the 
trade, with a ninefold increase in twenty years, exceeded a million 
sterling. Bkamo, on the left bank of the Irawadi, is the starting- 
point of the trade-route to China, only 40 miles distant to the east. 
The place is still small, but probably has a considerable future from 
the recent extension of steamer and railway traffic. The Afergui 
Archipelago, off the coast of Tenasserim, requires some notice. The 
more northern islands of this extensive group belong to Burma 
(Mergui District of Tenasserim Division), and are picturesque 
territory, with mountains rising to 3000 feet. Generally well wooded, 
they have small streams of pure water, and a few patches of land 
under the tillage of that region. The fauna include tigers, the 
rhinoceros, deer, and snakes; the adjacent seas abound in fish and 
excellent oysters, many of the shells affording pearls of good 
quality. The scanty population, a harmless and industrious race 
called Selungs, barter edible birds' nests with Burma, Malacca, and 
China in exchange for rice and spirits. 



I 
I 




BURMA, CEYLON, STRAITS SETTLEMENTS, HONG KONG, BORNEO. 315 

The history of Ceylon down to the year 1801 has been given 
in a previous section of this work. During the earlier years of 
British occupation, the natives of the interior, the Kandyans, showed 
much hostihly, and on one occasion a body of our troops was 
treacherously massacred. In 1815 decisive measures were taken 
with the King of Kandy, a tyrant of the worst Oriental type, whose 
cruelties had made him hateful to his own subjects, and who had 
grossly maltreated some natives under British rule. His chief town 
was occupied by our forces, and he went as a prisoner to Vellore 
in Madras Presidency, where he died in 1832. The whole island 
thus came into our possession, and the Kandyan chiefs, or High- 
landers, were pacified by a guarantee of civil and religious freedom, 
with a declaration of inviolable protection for the Buddhist religion, 
its priests and rites. At that time, the interior of the country was 
little known, and in 1S17 Dr. Davy, brother of Sir Humphry, met 
with the utmost difficulties in making an expedition through the 
island. The greater part of the mountainous centre was impass- 
able, covered with unbroken, impenetrable forest, never trodden by 
any European. Herds of elephants, bears and tigers, boars and 
elks were the only tenants of these wilds save savage hordes of the 
outcasts called Veddahs, of aboriginal descent, some of whom still 
live in the eastern part of the island. There was no road of any 
kind, no bridge to span the streams falling in cataracts down the 
gorges of the hiils. In 1817 a rebellion of the natives of the 
interior caused a two-years' vain struggle to expel British power 
from their mountain fastnesses. 

The beginnings of permanent order and of development of the 
resources of Ceylon came with the advent to power as Governor 
of Sir Edward Barnes, who held office from 1820 to 1822 and 
again from January, 1824 to October 1831. Sir Edward saw at 
once that, instead of money being yearly wasted on hill-forts and 
garrisons, a judicious expenditure would open the whole country by 
military roads which would contribute both to its security and its 
enrichment. In this great work he and his successors for nearly 
fifty years were chiefly indebted to the rare ability, perseverance, 
and energy of the late Major Skinner, C.M.G., who retired in 
1867 from service in Ceylon as Surveyor-general and Commissioner 
of Public Works. In 1819, the year when "Tom Skinner", as this 
distinguished and most efficient public servant, justly popular with 



3l6 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

natives and Europeans, was generally styled, arrived in the island, 
a lad of fifteen, as ensign in the Ceylon Rifles, the country, never 
till then surveyed for correct mapping, could scarcely be said to 
possess a road. He was soon selected by the Governor as the 
pioneer in the creation of communications for troops and ordinary 
traffic, and he lived to see, mainly as his own achievement, a 
splendid network of roads spread over the country from the sea- 
level to the passes of the highest mountain-ranges. Instead of 
dangerous fords and ferries, where property and life were often 
sacrificed, every chief stream in the island had been substantially 
bridged with structures of stone or iron. In 1867, there were 
nearly 3000 miles of made roads, one-fifth consisting of first-class 
metalled highways, and another fifth of excellent gravelled work. 
The first line of good macadamized road was completed from 
Colombo to Kandy, a distance of 72 miles, and in 1832 a vehicle 
which a good authority declares to be "the first mail-coach in 
Asia" began to run between the towns. In order to complete this 
subject of communications in Ceylon, we may note that a railway 
from Colombo to Kandy was opened in 1S67, and recently there 
were 230 miles open for traffic, 39 miles under construction, 
and 2\$ miles projected and sur\'eyed; the existing lines are built 
on a 5-foot 6-inch gauge, all being owned and worked by the 
Government, Of the 3200 miles of road, more than half are 
metalled, exclusive of roads within municipal limits. The wear 
and tear, from traffic and climate, are very great, and no pains and 
expense are spared in maintenance. Every male inhabitant, be- 
tween 18 and 55 years of age, is bound to perform yearly six days' 
labour on the roads, or to make a payment, in different parts of the 
island, of from one to two rupees. The colony also has 162 miles 
of canal, and the transmission of news is aided by over 1500 miles 
of telegraph-wire, with the telephone In Colombo, and by about igo 
post-offices of which 34 are telegraphic stations. Under the rule 
of Sir Henry Ward, from 1855 to i860 and of Sir Hercules 
Robinson (1865-1871) and his successor. Sir William Gregory, 
much good work was done in the construction and restoration of 
irrigation-works, including village-tanks. Large waste districts in 
the east and south of the island were thus placed under perennial 
rice-culture, greatly to the benefit of the people. Sir Arthur 
Gordon (1883-1890) was most energetic in this direction, restoring 



BURMA. CKVLON, STRAITS SETTLEMENTS, HONG KONG, BORNEO. 317 

an old aqueduct and its connected channels, along a distance of 54 
miles, up to tlie ancient capital, Anuradjapura, The expense of 
irrigation is made a regular part of the annual budget, and a large 
portion of the revenue is yearly devoted to public works of drainage, 
water-supply, and communication. 

When we turn to some account of the geography, scenery, 
and climate of this very beautiful and productive colony, we find 
that Ceylon, pear-shaped, or, as the natives love to call it, pearl- 
shaped in the fashion of one of their elongated gems, stretches due 
south from off the south-east coast of India to within 6 degrees of 
the equator, with a length of 266 miles down to Dondra Head, 
and a breadth of 140 at the widest part, eastwards from Colombo. 
The area is 24,700 square miles, which means that the island is 
one-sixth less than Ireland, and about as large as Belgium and 
Holland together. The channel called Palk's Strait, after one of 
the Dutch governors, divides the north-western coast from India, 
with a width of less than forty miles between the western coast of 
the island of Manaar, off Ceylon, to the mainland. This width is 
again diminished by over one-half in the outstretching from India 
of the island of Rameswaram, and the rest of the distance is 
occupied by the ridge of sand and rocks, about 17 miles in length, 
called Adam's Bridge, with only three or four feet of water covering 
it at high tide, and this only in some places. Two telegraph-cables 
across the strait bring Ceylon into connection with London, and a 
project has been recently mooted for a railway-Hne which would 
bring Colombo into direct communication with all parts of India, 
The south of the island is mountainous, with one peak about 
8300 feet in height, ten mountains (including Adam's Peak, of 
7350 feet, equidistant from Colombo and Kandy) exceeding 7000, 
and over twenty rising to above a mile. An undulating coast-land, 
of coral formations covered by alluvial deposits brought by marine 
currents from the Indian shores, runs round the north and north- 
east The largest of many fair-sized rivers is the Mahavila-ganga, 
rising near Adam's Peak, and entering the sea, after a north- 
easterly course of 135 miles, by several branches near Trincomalee. 
About four-fifths of the surface of the country are level or un- 
dulating. 

The climate varies with the elevation, the western and southern 
coasts having a moist enervating heat throughout the year, with a 



OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 



range of ten degrees, and a mean of nearly 8i. At Kandy, 1665 ' 
feet above sea-ievel, the range is only a little over 4 degrees, 
with a mean of 76 for the year. At the hill-station of Nuwara- 
Eliya, about 6200 feet above sea-level, there is a mean temperature 
of syj/j degrees, and a maximum of 70. l"he northern and eastern 
plains have a dry heat, but the sea-breezes render a high tempera- 
ture much less oppressive than in most parts of India, the cool 
time being from May to October, when the showers are frequent 
and the sea-wind steady. The rainfall varies from 30 in the north 
to above 100 inches on the west coast and in the hills, with nearly 
double that amount on particular spots. The destructive effects 
of damp heat and of insects are displayed in the mildew whichd 
rots paper and leather, the rusting of iron and steel-work, the^ 
fungus which covers all clothes made of cloth, and the attacks 
made on various materials by ants black and red, termites (the 
so-called "white ants"), paper-mites, weevils, and enormous 
cockroaches. Every European house in Colombo has on 
staff of servants the "clothes-boy" whose special duty is to airi 
beds, clothes, linen, papers, and other articles every day in thel 
sun, and keep them free from mould. Among the horrors of! 
Ceylon, to people who have lived in temperate climes, are whatj 
Haeckel calls "the much -to-be-exec rated land-leeches, one of th< 
intolerable curses of this beautiful island, of all its plagues thel 
worst ". Swarming in myriads in every wood and bush, except 
near the sea and on the highest mountains, they drop on the head 
and neck of the passer-by; they creep up his legs, and swell in 
size, after sucking their fill, from a thread-like creature half an 
inch long to the dimensions of an ordinary leech. They wriggle 
through the elastic texture of a stocking, and the only means by 
which one can be rid of the plague is a drop of lemon-juice, or of 
carbolic acid, one of which remedies is always carried by prudent 
persons taking a walk in Ceylon. Fresh bites on a spot already 
inflamed by leeches may become dangerous to life, and the British 
troops, in 1815, lost many men from this cause in their toilsome , 
march for weeks through the dense jungle of the damp hill-countrj 
as they advanced on Kandy. Leech-gaiters of india-rubber, cover- 
ing the shoes and secured above the knees, are the resource of 
Europeans in the districts most infested by these creatures. 
Scorpions six inches, and millipedes a foot long, both dangerous 




BURMA, CEYLON, STRAITS SETTLEMENTS, HONG KONG, BORNEO. 319 

in their attacks, with mosquitoes and many stinging flies, are to be 
reckoned with by visitors in Ceylon. 

On the other side of the account, who shall dream of fitly 
painting in words the charms of scenery in a region that, to the 
approaching voyager, rises on the view with forests of perennial 
green, towering grandly up from height to height till they are 
lost in crowns of cloud or wreaths of mist.*^ Drawing nearer, he 
gazes on a sea of sapphire blue dashing here against battlements 
of rock, streaming there with snowy surf over a girdle of golden 
sands shaded by groves of stately palms of varied aspect in 
foliage and stem. On the south-west coast, from Colombo to 
Matura, on the western side of Dondra Head, the densely-peopled, 
highly-tilled district is one endless village of huts and fruit-gardens, 
jungle and cocoa-nut groves, bread-fruit and mango, and many 
other useful and beautiful trees, where the people are lying 
stretched on benches before their dwellings, idly happy, and 
naked children are playing in the road. So abundant is the 
foliage in the gardens round the huts that the stranger would 
fancy himself in a wild spot of the forest, and in the true forest 
close at hand, the orchids, lilies, mallows, cloves, and other 
gorgeous flowering plants make the scene that of a rich and lovely 
garden. Near Galle, on the south-west coast, the rocks have a 
wonderful abundance of splendid corals, and the marine specimens 
are very striking. 

The prevailing green hue of Ceylon, with no monotony of effect, 
but with marvellous gradations and modifications of tone, largely 
extends to living creatures such as birds and lizards, butterflies and 
beetles, fishes and Crustacea, sea-anemones and sea-worms, while the 
dark-green forest as a background gives a more vivid splendour 
to the brilliant reds, yellows, violets, and blues of many insects and 
birds. Amidst its many charms, the inland scenery displays deep 
ravines on the slopes of the hills, with foaming streams that 
often break, in their descent, into cataracts embowered in ferneries 
and jungle -growths. The Botanical Garden at Peradenia, near 
Kandy, shows all the best flora of the island in a fine avenue of 
old india-rubber trees, with their enormous crown of leaves on 
horizontal boughs spreading from 40 to 50 feet on every side, and 
their circles of roots, from 100 to 200 feet in diameter, stretching 
out like huge creeping snakes from the base of the trunk, or rising 




L 



OUR EMPIRE AT ROME AND ABROAD. 

erect like the banyan-roots, but growing close enough to form little 
rooms or sentry-boxes; in dumps composed of every indigenous 
and of many foreign palms, wreathed with flowering creepers, and 
with parasitical ferns; in vanilla, orchids, magnificent fuchsias, and 
other gaudy blooms; and in thickets of gigantic bamboos more 
than a hundred feet in height, with stems from one to two feet in 
thickness. The animal world or fauna of Ceylon is disappointing 
to the zoologist who looks for variety corresponding to that of the 
vegetation, or for any wealth of ornamental, large, or singular 
forms. The flying-fox. a large fruit-eating bai, resembling a fox 
in shape, colour, and size, is a remarkable specimen. The snakes 
include the deadly cobra; the leopard and bear are the only larger 
camivora. The elephant, chiefly a tuskless variety, is found in 
the forests ; deer, buffaloes, and the Indian humped ox are 
plentiful. Among 320 species of birds, the robin, thrush, and 
oriole are heard on both hill and plain; eagles, peregrine falcons, 
and owls; swallows, kingfishers, parroquets, and crows; pea-fowl, 
jungle-fowl, and countless aquatic birds, including the flamingo, are 
found. The crocodile haunts the more secluded parts of rivers. 
There are five species of monkeys, and the mammalia include a 
very common and charming little squirrel, a friendly and confiding 
creature, bustling about bush and tree, of a brownish gray, with 
three white bands on his back. The carriage and riding animals 
are Burmese ponies or Australian or Indian horses imported from 
their native regions. Horse-breeding does not succeed, and 
European horses droop and die. There are no donkeys, and the 
zebu (Indian humped ox) is used by natives in their carts. Dogs 
abound, and small black pigs; the goats and sheep are compara- 
tively few; there are abundant cocks and hens, fewer ducks and 
geese. 

riie number of people in Ceylon, by the census of 1891, just 
exceeded 3 millions in the nine provinces, of which the most 
densely populated are the Central, Southern, and ll'estem. As 
regards race, the British were 6068; 21.230 were of European 
descent; 2,041,000 were .Singhalese (Cingalese); 734,000 Tamils; 
216,000 of other races, including Moormen, Malays, and a few 
thousands of the decaying Veddahs. Nearly 30 per cent of the 
whole population are engaged in agriculture; 103,000 in industry 
(handicrafts); 121,000 in trade. The annual death rate per thou- 



I 




BURMA, CEYLON, STRAITS SETTLEMENTS, HONG KONG, BORNEO. 

sand in 1892 was 272, varying from 19*2 in the Western Province 
to 56'3 in the North Central, where the whole population is only 
75,000, The people mainly of Aryan race, the true Singhalese, 
descendants of the Hindu immigrants who, in the sixth century B.C., 
came from the valley of the Ganges and settled in the island, are 
chiefly found in the south and west. Their language is of Aryan 
origin, closely allied to the Pali. The men are more comely than 
the women, and have, in their younger days, a poetical beauty of 
expression in the finely-cut mouth, and dark inspired-looking eyes, 
set in an oval face framed by thick long jet-black hair. The limbs 
are slender, and the whole form is often full of grace as a Greek 
statue. The dress of males, a waist-cloth much like a petticoat, 
gives them a womanish appearance which is heightened by 
the turning-back of the hair from the brow and its confinement 
with combs, and by the earrings which they wear. The Malabars 
or Tamils, speaking Tamil, a wholly distinct language from that of 
the Singhalese, are found in the north and east, and over a large 
part of the central highlands, being descendants of the conquerors 
from southern India, chiefly from the Malabar coast, mentioned in 
our first notice of Ceylon. In stature, features, colour, manners, 
and customs they show their Dravidian descent, being tall and 
brawny, very dark in hue, coffee-coloured or blackish, as contrasted 
with the slighter, smaller, light-brown Singhalese. The people "of 
European descent" include the class called "burghers", descended 
from the old Portuguese and Dutch colonists, with some infusion 
of Singhalese or Tamil blood. Those who are of Portuguese origin 
are chiefly artisans and tradesmen, while many of the Dutch race 
rise higher in the social scale and hold responsible official posts, 
both classes being much employed as accountants and clerks, and 
as inferior government-officials. The Singhalese are represented 
by an eminent German naturalist and traveller (Haeckel) as lazy, 
stolid and indifferent, cunning cheats, and liars of the first pro- 
ficiency. Crimes of violence are very rare, and their love of music 
and dancing accords with the usual gentleness and amiability of 
their character. Major Skinner, with half a century's experience 
of the country, describes the people as shrewd, clever, and tractable; 
as quick and accurate observers; as ready to confide in and be 
guided by rulers whom they perceive to really feel an interest in 
their welfare, and to be capable of advancing it. The " Moormen" 



5r • \twj^ ' ar* ixe mcsc xs^t ind inmiliggic. of rie Tar' ve s , 
soisdailv ^han in mcxif^-maasxs. stad hsTinir in CTP?r 'ignn.s^ a. lar^^ 
.^har^ <st both die whciesaie snd rhe cisty trade. Thejr are Lmio 
Arahs. in iescenc .VC^iiammedans in reigicn. wxci a language rhar b 
Arabic iorjsed with TamiL V.'* aray ictc aisc diac :iie Smghalesc: 
ihunnin^ ail hari v>iL are chieify -sig^ged in rxe-grawing;. and ae 
siancingf of saims, bananas, and ether irsss ^eedrag- culture^ winle 
the itardy Tamils or Malabara tarn m nad-tnaknig;. mascarj. aad 
porterag'^ in che xw cn«incr/. and do Labcur in rhe cJantarfons of the 
hi^.er region. In re2«^ioc there are irariyone rmlTrrc. EcddhrstSv 
moscl/ Singrhaleae: ahont 'Sjc.ccc Hindta, chieiT iCalabars: 212.000 
Mohammeriar^ and above ''^^c/:Lcrx. Christfars. 

Among che proiiucta ot Ceyioc we cim frsc j3 cGt5re- roc rhe 
gfomth of which about -t3.o>j acns were rtcendy order cuitnrariofi 
out ot the rnearlv 2. locxccio acres cillei rn the whole coigcv. The 
plant is said zo have been introdziced at an earlj date by the Arabs, 
but seems to have been nrsr ctiltrvated in anv srscematic fiishica 
about 1740. by the Dutch settlers^ Lcttie scccess was obtained, 
and coffee-planting was only started as a great and lucradve 
industry when the enterprising Sir Edward Barnes^ in 1S25, 
proved that the soil and climate of the hiII-oxintr\' were specially 
favourable. He formed a plantation near Paradenia, and the 
U/re<it% were soon invaded by an army of cofiee-planters, who 
sw^pt a vast area clear of trees by felling the upper ranks and 
sending their weight crashing down on the half-severed lower 
trunks until the whole wood crashed and slipped like an avalanche 
d//wn into the valley. The burning of this mass of timber pro- 
duced excellent soil for coffee, and, when large profits had been 
5*ccured, there was a rush of speculation, a "coffee-mania", which 
cauf^d the loss of millions sterling, between 1845 ^"^ 1850, to 
those who were devoid of the needful prudence and skill. A 
revival came in 1854, and the next twenty years were Ceylon's 
golden age in the coffee-market. Then natural foes — the rat, the 
coffcc-biig, and vegetable parasites — made themselves felt, and 
sheer destruction came in a microscopic fungus first observed on 
the leaves of coffee-plants in 1869. This terrible disease, for 
which no remedy could be devised, spread with such rapidity that 
the plantations were, on a large scale, uprooted by the owners, and 
the exports fell from over one million cwts. in 1869, valued at four 



VIEW OF A TEA-GARDEN IN CEYLON. 

The Pearl of the Eastern Seas, as Ceylon is called, is situated in the 
Indian Ocean, to the south of the Peninsula, and almost connected vvith 
the mainland by a chain of low coral reefs and sandbanks. The soil is 
extremely fertile, and even in the hill regions the ground is covered by 
a rich and varied vegetation. Formerly the chief wealth of the island was 
derived from the growing of cinnamon and coffee, but in recent years there 
has been a very rapid and extensive development in the cultivation of tea, 
and the best quality is of exquisite flavour. In plucking the leaf from the 
plant the thumb-nail is used, and the leaf must not be torn. The garden 
must be plucked in regular rotation every ten days or a fortnight; and 
when the plants are flushing well, the coolie (as in the illustration) can 
bring in to be weighed about 30 lbs. of green leaf in a day. 

(83) 



; 



BURMA, CEYLON, STRAITS SETTLEMENTS, HONG KONG, BORNEO. 323 

millions sterling, to only 43,000 cwts., worth about ;^20o,ooo, in 
1892. The colony was fortunate in being able to substitute for 
coffee the plant whose leaves furnish the rival beverage. The 
progress of tea-planting in Ceylon has been one of the prodigies 
of modern industry and trade in colonial produce. About 1880, 
large quantities of Assam tea-seed were being imported from 
Calcutta, as it had been found that the plant flourished from 
gardens on the western coast scarcely above sea-level up to nearly 
7000 feet elevation. A rush was made for tea-planting; first-class 
prizes were taken at the Melbourne, Calcutta, and other Exhibitions; 
Ceylon tea secured British approval; the natives began to drink it 
largely in place of coffee — in a word, Ceylon tea, in theatrical 
phrase, fairly ** caught on". The tea plantations now cover fully 
270,000 acres; the exports rose from 23 pounds in 1873 to nearly 
8 million pounds in 1886, and that to over 82 millions in recent years. 
As there is no winter in Ceylon to check vegetation, tea is made 
for market throughout the year. Since the failure of coffee the 
island has also come into the field of commerce with the material 
for the third great beverage, cacao or cocoa. Only limited areas 
of the country are suited to the growth of the Tfuobroma cacao, 
which needs a depth of good soil, and shelter from the wind, but 
the Ceylon produce soon fetched the highest price in the market, 
as equal to the best cocoa from Trinidad, and, with about 20,000 
acres under this tillage, nearly 20,000 cwts. are now exported. 
Rice and other grains, forming the chief food of the natives, along 
with fish and fruits, are raised on about 720,000 acres of land; 
11,500 are under cinchona (quinine), another of the substitutes 
when coffee failed; and tobacco, mostly consumed on the spot, is 
grown on about 10,000 acres. The Ceylon cinnamon, known to 
the Romans through the Arab caravan-traders, and still regarded 
as the best in the world, is grown on over 40,000 acres, with 
export valued at nearly ;^i 17,250. The cocoa-nut palm trees, 
chiefly in native hands, create a very important branch of the 
Singhalese commerce. About 40 millions of trees, on nearly 
500,000 acres of land, produced each from 80 to 100 nuts, of 
which many millions are exported. The chief trade, however, is 
in the coir, raw fibre, rope, and yarn, and in the oil extracted 
from the broken shell, the export of which last, of late, exceeded 
;^346,ooo in value. The dried kernel, called copra, is largely 



1-^nt :a rn<t{^ for food- %nci u> :tie Brxnsii Isles, rrance. ^^n Rassaa 
%i^ :ri^ :nr -ssctJe: and jo be -srcsKci for aiL 

"^^'^^^-r^^ nihfe^ ^methx-sts. awaies, and rnonirifnnp^,, and with a 
r^^i -r^^mmerdai !rnporta<sc& oiumbago sr Tr^unte of die be& 
nu^irifty. is^i in .Tfakin^ crucibics. scove-poiisfiL Icadrqencils. orpe- 
m<»f;fl arnri oafinL 'C^r-'ton furnishes ±e Britxsh Lsies with dicxr 
chf#rf ^uooJv, from mines, ^^tin^ii- in oatiire lands, in the Westeni 
;ifl4 North- IV^Jrtem provinces. The imhistrv dates dDm about 
r^=;(>. ;^nd has had so ^ar^e an increase of late yeais that recendy 
th#i '^xp^>ft.s of piiiniba;go reached oiore dian 4jaacc cwts.* valued 
kt /^i'j^ry/'^. of which die United Kingdom received about one- 
thiH. ?^xcd\ent ir.Mi-ore abounds, hut cannot he worked to prott 
on ;^ bf^^ !?eak from the expense of tiieL and is only used by the 
t\M\v^ to a i^mall extent icr their awn rude implements. The 
At^Mt\t and famous pearUrisheries of Ceylon are mainly carried on 
r^Af r\.t\^>, on the north-west coast, in the Gulf of Manaar. They 
ar^ now a f>>v<5mment-monopoIy. the native divers receiving as 
pay ah<>ut on^- third of the produce This is of a very tiuctuating 
f\nturt\ in r^r, with a very rich result, the public revenue gained 
nearly a million rupees ; in the following year the product was mzL 
\A/> may <>f/;^rve that the weights and measures of this colony are 
iht .^me a<^ our$ at home, and that the coinage b oo the decimal 
^y%itm, with the rupee divided into cents instead of into annas and 
pi<:^. Th<5 chief imporU^ are rice and other grain from India; 
tydUm-fifffjidfi, a/kl and coke, machinery and iron, salt fish and 
«;j/irif<j, to a tMaJ value of over ^^4,000,000. In this trade. Great 
iintHiti expr/fted goods to the value of over ;^i, 000,000. The 
O^yUm ex|;f;rtft have now a value of nearly 4 millions sterling. 
In produce of which the United Kingdom received the worth of 
ovf!r i^ mlllion<9. There is abundant steam-communication by 
^M throfij^/h various Ocean-lines, the P. and O., the Orient, the 
flh^.utgerm Afap-ilimes, the Austro-Hungarian Lloyd, the " Clan *' 
l.im, the NimUlhiUscher Lloyd, the British India (with Mauritius), 
rtiul othcrfl. Recently the revenue just exceeded 18^ millions of 
nipr»«?fl, chlnfly derived from customs-duties (nearly 4j^ millions); 
fljilffl of Ch)Wh-land; licenses (practically the product of tax on 
ftplrlluons llciuors). about 2,200,000 rupees; salt (a Govemment- 
ninnnpoly) and timber, 1,315,000 Rs.; port and harbour dues, over 



BURMA, CEYLON, STRAITS SETTLEMENTS, HONG KONG, BORNEO. 325 

^ million Rs. ; railway-receipts, over 4"^ million Rs. ; and stamps, 
nearly i J^ million Rs. The expenditure of 17^ million Rs. in- 
cluded 5 million Rs. for cost of government in civil, judicial, and 
other establishments; i^ million Rs. for military charges; nearly 
2 million Rs. interest on loans; and over 3 million Rs. on public 
works, including irrigation. The three municipalities of Ceylon — 
Colombo. Kandy, and Galle,^ — and the Local Boards at 13 other 
towns, raise nearly 2 millions of rupees in rates. 

As regards administration, Ceylon is a " Crown-Colony ", with a 
non-representative system of rule which includes the Governor; an 
Executive Council of five members composed of the Colonial 
Secretary (also Lieutenant-Governor), the Commander of the 
troops, the Attorney-General, the Treasurer, and the Auditor- 
General; and a Legislative Council of 17 nominated members, 
including the Executive Council, four other officials, and eight non- 
official gentlemen. The civil law is based on the Roman-Dutch 
law, much modified by Colonial ordinances; the criminal law has 
been brought into harmony with the famous Indian Penal Code. 
The machinery of justice includes a Supreme Court, with decision 
of appeals in civil and criminal cases; Courts of Requests and 
Police Courts respectively for minor civil and criminal affairs; and 
District Courts, with a criminal jurisdiction intermediate between 
the Police and the Supreme Courts, and a general civil jurisdiction. 
Village Councils, instituted in 1871, have proved very useful, being 
well adapted to native character and needs, in local affairs that 
include improvements, small offences, and petty civil claims. The 
people have shown themselves to be alive to the value of education. 
In the higher class, great progress has been made, and many Sing- 
halese gentlemen are in good positions in the legal and medical 
professions. A Government Department of Education has for 
about 30 years fostered elementary instruction, with due inspection 
and "payment by results", and the Village Councils have in many 
cases undertaken the expense of providing and maintaining verna- 
cular schools, and have even applied the principle of compulsion. 
In 1892, above half a million rupees were expended on 453 
Government schools, and on over 1000 "Grant-in-aid" schools, 
while about 2400 non- aided establishments give education to 
33,600 scholars out of the whole number of 158,500 in 1892, or 
about I in 20 of the population. The " Royal College " is the 



326 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROADl 

Government high school in British culture, with a scholai 
^150 a year for four years awarded to students for education at a 
British university. Other high schools for British studies receive 
grants in aid. The standard of proficiency and of due emulation 
is maintained by annual examinations held in connection with the 
■' Cambridge Locals " and the London University. Agricultural 
and industrial schools complete the machinery devised for the 
improvement and welfare of native dwellers in Ceylon. Each of 
the nine provinces is directly supervised by a Government Agent, 
with his staff of assistants and "headmen". A large number 
(about i6o) of hospitals and dispensaries, t%vo asylums {for lunatics 
and lepers), and nearly 150 medical officers, are maintained by the 
Government at an annual cost of over 880,000 rupees. The whole 
of Ceylon forms one diocese, that of the Bishop of Colombo, as 
regards adherents of the Anglican Church, subject to the Bishop 
of Calcutta as metropolitan. Active work is carried on by the 
various missionary societies, Anglican and Non-conformist, and 
by the priesthood of the Roman Catholic Church. The island is 
garrisoned, under the charge of a Major-General, by about 1650 
British infantry, artillery-, and engineers, with a force of about 1200 
local volunteers. The fine and strongly-fortified harbour of Trin- 
comalee, on the eastern coast, is the head-quarters of our fleet in 
the East Indies, and the harbour of Colombo, on the south-west 
coast, is being also protected with earthworks and heavy guns at 
joint colonial and imperial cost. 

Of the Ceylon towns Colombo, the capital, has a population of 
about 127,000. In the fourteenth century it was described by 
John Batuta, an Arab traveller and geographer, as the finest city 
of Serendib (Ceylon); the Portuguese changed the Arab designa- 
tion Kalambu, itself a corruption of a native name from that of 
the river Kalany, into Colombo, in honour of the great Genoese 
navigator. The European business-quarter, with the usual public 
buildings, is called "The Fort", and is surrounded by several 
suburbs inhabited by the natives. The evening- resort of fashion- 
able people is the broad green lawn of the esplanade called " Gal 
face ", where the long tract of coast towards Galle begins. Tl 
Governor's residence, styled " the Queen's House ", is a fine 
spacious structure embowered in tropical vegetation. A suburb 
called Kolupilya or Colpetty, between the sandy sea-shore and the 



m- 

4 




BURMA, CEYLON, STRAITS SETTLEMENTS, HONG KONG, BORNEO. 327 

highroad to Galle, contains many beautiful villas, with charming 
gardens, inhabited by wealthy residents; the district extends to the 
famous groves, now divided into the private grounds of luxurious 
houses, still called Cinnamon Gardens. A wide lagoon, with many 
little bays fringed with gardens where the foliage is crowned by 
the feathery tufts of cocoa-nut palms, affords scope for sailing, and 
commands a fine view of the distant mountain-chain with the cone 
of Adam's Peak towering aloft. At the cost of nearly 4^ millions 
of rupees, a great reservoir has been formed 25 miles away, with 
pipes conducting the supply of water to a service-reservoir for 
distribution through the town. Since 1882 Colombo, devoid of a 
good natural harbour, has superseded Galle as a port of call for 
steamers and as a coaling-station, and the commerce of the place 
has greatly increased. The fine natural basin of Galle has its 
entrance impeded by rocks and coral reefs, and the construction of 
an artificial harbour at Colombo by means of the great breakwater 
caused the change. This work, begun in 1874, and completed 
with a vast expenditure, is composed of a huge mound of rubble 
brought up to 24 feet below low-water mark, with a superstructure 
of concrete blocks, each 35 tons in weight, set on edge. The break- 
water thus formed runs out from the shore for 1400 yards, with 
a slight curve at the end, and protects a water-area of 500 acres. 
Shallow portions of the harbour have been dredged, and 25 large 
ocean-steamers can now be moored at the buoys in from 30 to 40 
feet of water; at low water, a great number of vessels can find 
from 6 to 26 feet in depth. 

Kandy (with 20,000 inhabitants) contains the ruins of the former 
native king s palace, and a famous Buddhist temple with a much- 
venerated " tooth of Buddha ", a bit of ivory two inches long and 
one inch thick. The British governor has a residence there; the 
situation and surroundings of the place in no wise deserve, accord- 
ing to Haeckel, the enthusiastic praise of Sir Emerson Tennent in 
his delightful and valuable work on Ceylon; the "beautiful lake" 
is really nothing but a small rectangular artificial " tank ". Trin- 
comalee, with its grand double harbour on the north-east coast, 
land-locked and accessible for all craft in all weathers, is a plain 
modern town with a fine esplanade. The place is unsuited for 
commercial purposes by lying out of the track of trade, and, with 
a population of about 11,500, depends chiefly upon its official 



-icv 



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T/W^.^^^^, ir^yfft nrH^^f t}>t beat of tise pbiiss, £i»ds the comibit of 
f >/il f/f04^, :4$A vyfmtixm:^, ^ariy in the rear, vicvs vith dd^t. if 
h^' f)v; i/Hjm^, }f^/kr4r^/U on the grass, or finds a fikn of ice oo 
wnt^j)Hf% |4^/yl ^/tsUifl^ Uj cocJ. The toim stands in an ellqitical 
fff^fi$ut:4ifh'y'4\U:y fr^/m om: to two miles across, with mountains 
Mrv<oi/l fb^if fiv; fff/m tyxj to 2000 feet above the level oi the 
pUU'4t$, '\ h^ 1//W ttmpttHturt, at so moderate a height as 6000 
i^^'f, iti H UtitM/lc but nnvtn degrees from the equator, is due to 
^'nif*t}^i}/r t*y'4\p(ffi%iun\ \fy day and rapid cooling at night by 
tnAUiUm. *\ hti i%\r \n always damp, the valley being often filled 
nil «l»y with drri(»/; i:loii<h, and the heavy rainfall creating springs 
m^mI rivMl#?f<i whoM; watcni run down the slopes, maintain a 
liiMiirliiftt vi'tfrtMtion, and feed the little lake which occupies the 
AOMfhr^rn hfil/ of the plateau. Newera Ellia often reminds the 
Hrllhh imvrllrr or rmidcnt of the Scottish Highlands. It was 
illttrovnrfMl by pnunr* tiritifih oflficers who were hunting elephants, in 
iMiO, anil Sir Ivdward Harncs, on their report, built a bungalow 
for hln own unr, and in 1829 opened a sanitarium for the British 



BURMA, CEYLON, STRAITS SETTLEMENTS. HONG KONG, BORNEO. 329 

troops. The favourite time for visitors is the dry season, from Jan- 
uary to April; the south-west monsoon makes it scarcely habitable. 

The Maldives or Alaldive Islands, a coral chain extending for 
550 miles, in seventeen groups of several hundred islets, south- 
west of Cape Comorin. are inhabited by Mohammedans akin in 
race and language to the Singhalese. The territory is tributary 
to Ceylon, whither the native Sultan sends an annual embassy. 
Male, or Mali, the chief island, where the Sultan lives, is but 
1 mile long by ^ mile broad, with a population of 2000. The 
kindly and well-conducted natives live on imported rice, fish, 
bread-fruit, cocoa-nuts, and various vegetables and fruits, and they 
export cocoa-nuts, copra, coir, cowries, and tortoise-shell. British 
supremacy was a transference to us of the former Dutch suzerainty. 

The Straits Settlements consist of Singapore, Penang, 
Province Wellesley, The Dindings, Malacca, Christmas Island, 
the Keeling or Cocos Isles, and various " Protected -States". Of 
all these possessions, by far the most important is the island of 
Singapore, 27 miles long and 14 wide, separated from the southern 
coast of the Malay Peninsula by a strait less than a mile in 
breadth. With an area of 206 square miles, this charming little 
territory, partly fringed with coral reefs, presents a coast-line 
varied by brown rocky cliffs and by grand tropical woods running 
down to the water's edge, and dipping their foliage in a glassy sea 
studded with green islets, sun-lit by day and warmed in never- 
ending summer, perfumed at night by the odours which the land- 
breeze gently breathes over the waters from the ever-blooming 
flowers of shrub and tree. The surface of the country undulates 
in hill and dale, with a natural or cultivated growth of cocoa-nut 
palms, pine-apples, tapioca, aloes, and Liberian coffee, and fauna 
that include monkeys, sloths, wild hogs, deer, squirrels, some of 
the European birds — falcons, owls, partridges, pheasants, wood- 
peckers, herons and other wading-birds,— with pea-fowl, pelicans, 
and parrots ; and, among reptiles, turtles, crocodiles, and some 
poisonous snakes. The climate is hot, moist, equable, and healthy, 
with cool and refreshing nights, and an atmosphere rarely stirred 
by storms. The mean annual temperature is about 80, and there 
is no distinction of wet and dry seasons, the annual rainfall of from 
go to 120 inches being fairly distributed over the year. 

The modern and only real history of Singapore begins with 



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BURMA, CEYLON, STRAITS SETTLEMENTS, HONG KONG, BORNEO. 33I 

India, the diversity of religious faiths being indicated by Cliinese 
joss-houses, Hindu temples, Mohammedan mosques, and two 
Christian cathedrals. The sea- front, with its three miles of 
wharves, coaHng- station, naval arsenal, commercial docks, four 
graving-docks, stores, and dwelling-houses, extends over more 
than six miles of ground, and the place is provided with 12 miles 
of steam-tramway, telephones, telegraph*cables giving access to all 
parts of the civilized world, and communications for trade and 
travel by many lines of ocean-steamers. The island of Singapore 
produces gambier, or pale catechu, an article greatly used in 
tanning and dyeing, being a light-brown astringent substance 
obtained by boiling the leaves of a certain plant. The town has 
large works for smelting tin mined in Malacca. The imports from 
Great Britain into the Straits Settlements recently reached a value 
of nearly ^2,100,000, chiefly in coal and manufactured goods. Our 
imports from the same quarter, in tin, spices, gambier and its allied 
substance, cutch or catechu, gutta-percha, hides, tapioca, coffee, 
copra, and sago, amounted to nearly five millions sterling. This, 
however, g.ives but a small idea of the trade of Singapore, receiving 
manufactured goods from the west, and distributing them in the 
Eastern seas, and collecting produce from all that quarter of the 
world, continent and countless islands, for transmission to the 
European, Australian, and American markets. With commerce 
drawn thither by total freedom from import and export duties, and 
from every burden on shipping save the trifling tax of id. per 
ton register for support of the many lighthouses in those Intricate 
and perilous waters, Singapore alone has yearly imported goods to 
the value of nearly 21^ millions sterling, while her exports have 
exceeded the worth of i<)% millions. 

An account of Penang and IVcllesley Province Aov/n to the year 
1801 has been already given. In 1805, Penang became a separate 
Presidency under the East India Company, ranking with Madras 
and Bombay. In 1826, Singapore and Malacca were made sub- 
ordinate to the Governor of Penang; five years later, Penang and 
Wellesley Province became subject to Singapore, whither the seat 
of rule was transferred. The island of Penang, officially called 
Prince of Wales Island, is 15 miles long and from 5 to 10 broad, 
with an area of 107 square miles, lying off the west-coast of the 
Malay Peninsula, at the head of Malacca Strait. Three-fifths of 





OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

the area is hilly, with a sanatorium on the highest point, nearly 
3000 feet above sea-level. Tropical forest and jungle cover the 
country, with abundance of cocoa-nut and areca palms, the latter 
producing the fruit whose kernel is called betel-nut because, mixed 
into a pellet with a little lime, pieces are chewed along with the 
leaf of a creeping plant, a species of pepper, called betel, whence 
" Pulo Penang", "Betel-nut Island", has its name. The climate 
resembles that of Singapore. A strait from two to ten miles broad 
divides the island from Wellesley Province, which extends for 45 
miles along the coast of the mainland, with an area of 370 square 
miles. Sugar, rice, tapioca, and cocoa-nuts are the chief produce 
of the latter territory, Penang being still to a large extent untilled. 
We must mention with these the territory styled The Dindings, 
consisting of the island of Pangkor, about 70 miles south of Penang, 
and a strip of the opposite mainland, with a total area of 200 square 
miles. The chief present product in this quarter is the timber 
hewn by Chinese cutters in the extensive forests, paying a royalty 
to the British Government. The population of all these territories 
— Penang, Wellesley Province, and the Dindings— amounted lately 
to above 235.000, of whom nearly half were Malays, 88,000 Chinese, 
and 36,000 natives of India. The transit-trade of Penang declined 
with the rise of Singapore, but the island has a very extensive 
commerce as a shipping centre for the products of the northern 
parts of Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, lately much increased 
by the development of important tin - mines in some of the 
central native states. Recently the total value of imports and 
exports, in nearly equal shares, reached about 16 millions sterling. 
The capital, George Town, with 26,000 people, lies on the north- 
east coast, with some forts for the defence of the town and 
shipping. 

The largest of the Straits Settlements is Malacca, situated on 
the western coast of the peninsula, no miles north-west from 
Singapore. The area is about 660 square miles, and the popula- 
tion of 92,000 includes 70,000 Malays, 18.000 Chinese, and 1650 
natives of India. The annual value of the trade, in imports and 
exports, the latter including tapioca and tin, exceeds .^600,000. 
This old European colony in the East, founded by the Portuguese 
in 151 1, under the rule of Albuquerque, was held by them till T641, 
when the Dutch drove them out and remained in possession till 



I 



I 




BURMA, CEVLON, STRAITS SETTLEMENTS, HONG KONG, BORNEO. 333 

1795. Conquered by the British, Malacca was in our hands til! 
1S18, when it was restored to the Dutch. In 1824, it became 
finally our possession by exchange for the East India Company's 
settlement at Bencoolen, on the south-west coast of Sumatra. 
The other dependencies of the Straits Settlements forming part of 
our Empire in the full sense are the Keeling qt Cocos Isles and 
Christmas Island. The former are a group of coral islets in the 
Indian Ocean, in i2''s. lat., about 700 miles s.w. of Sumatra. 
They were discovered by Captain Keeling in 1609, and visited in 
1836 by Charles Darwin, who on his observations made there 
based his theory concerning the formation of coral reefs. A few 
hundreds of Malays form the population, and the exports consist 
of cocoa-nuts, copra, and cocoa-nut oil. Formally annexed in 
1857, they were placed in 1886 under the administration of the 
Governor of the Straits Settlements. Pigs, rats, poultry, and 
abundant crabs are the fauna of the Reelings. Christmas Island, 
of coral formation surrounded by rocks, nine miles long and about 
the same in width, lies 200 miles s.w. of Java, and was annexed in 
January i88g as a possible station for a telegraph-cable between 
India and Australia. A settlement from the Keeling Isles has 
been recently formed. 

The whole population of the Straits Settlements in British 
occupation amounted in 1891 to 512,000, of whom about 3500 are 
Europeans, about 40,000 natives of India, and the rest equally 
divided between Malays and Chinese. In addition to a garrison. 
at Singapore, of infantry, artillery, fortress-engineers, and submarine 
miners, with two companies of infantry at Penang, the colony has 
a small force of volunteer artillery, and an armed police force of 
35 officers and 2000 men. In 1867, an Order in Council, based 
upon statute, transferred the control of the Settlements from the 
Indian Government to the Colonial Secretary, and in 1885 the 
existing arrangement of affairs was made. The administration 
is in charge of a Governor and an Executive Council of eight chief 
officials, including the general officer in command of the troops, 
and the " Resident Councillors" of Penang and Malacca, who are 
in special charge of those territories. Municipal bodies, partly 
chosen by ratepayers, partly nominated by the Governor, direct 
local matters in each separate settlement. The Legislative Council, 
with the Governor as president, consists of 10 official and 7 non- 



334 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 1 

official members, five of the latter nominated by the Crown and 1 
two chosen by the Chambers of Commerce at Singapore and I 
Penang. There is the usual apparatus for the administration of ' 
civil and criminal justice, controlled by a Supreme Court with a 
Chief Justice and three Puisne Judges, the law being that of Eng- 
land in 1S26, modified by Indian Acts passed prior to 1867, and 
by local statutes made since that date. For the settlement of 1 
maritime matters a Vice-Admiralty Court sits at Singapore and ] 
Penang. The annual revenue, mainly derived from stamps and 
licenses for opium and spirit dealing, is about /^Soo.ooo, with an 
expenditure of about ^750,000, largely devoted to public works 
and military charges. There are nearly 200 schools, partly sup- 
ported by the Government, with about 1 1,500 pupils in attendance. 
The rapid increase of trade in late years has now placed the Straits 
Settlements in the first rank among our " Crown Colonies ". apart I 
from India. 

The importance of our position on the eastern side of the Bay 
of Bengal is heightened by our recent connection with the Native 
Malay States. To the north of Singapore, the State of Johore, 
with an area of 9000 square miles, a population of 300,000 in I 
Malays and Chinese, and a fair trade of the usual kind in that ' 
region, passed, by a treaty made with the Sultan in 1885, under 
British control as to foreign policy. It was anarchy in the native 
states of the Malay peninsula, dangerous to British interests and 
detrimental to trade, which caused an interference leading, in and 1 
since 1874, to asettlemenl by which Residents, with a staff of British \ 
officials, advise the native rulers and have a share in the executive , 
government. Perak, Selaiigor, and Sungei Ujong are in this sense, 
as " Protected States ", under the control of the Governor of Singa- 
pore. Negri Sembilan, a confederacy of several petty states, is in 
the same position, and Pahang, the largest of all, on the eastern 
half of the lower Malay peninsula north of Johore, completes the 
list. The total area of these territories amounts to 35,000 square 
miles, with a population of over 400,000. A railway-system is 
begun for the development of their resources, which include tin, 
largely worked in Perak and Selangor, cinchona, pepper, gambler, 
coffee, rice, and tea. The progress already made in these States 
is another triumphant proof of the benefits of the British influence 
which has turned pirates and banditti into peaceful tillers and 1 



I 

i 

I 

I 




BURMA, CEYLON, STRAITS SETTLEMENTS, HONG KONG, BORNEO. 335 

traders; has enlisted Malay rulers in the cause of civilization; has 
abolished wars, made jungle-tracts into good roads, opened mines, 
created ports, rendered rivers navigable, cleared forests for the 
culture of paying produce, and thereby vastly increased the sum of 
human happiness, and opened a bright prospect in a region of long- 
standing misery and trouble. The present Sultan of Perak, part- 
ruler of a territory where, in 1875, the first British Resident, Mr. 
J. W. Birch, was murdered by the Malays, has been conspicuous 
for his justice, liberality, and diligence in affairs, by which he has 
won the love of subjects whom his predecessors pillaged and 
debased by their example of a wicked life. For the peace, order, 
and prosperity which are now enjoyed in that quarter of the world 
the natives and British and foreigpfi traders are largely indebted to 
the policy initiated by Sir Andrew Clarke, Governor at Singapore 
in 1874, approved by the Earl of Carnarvon, Colonial Secretary 
at that time, and steadily and ably carried out by Sir William 
Jervois, Sir Frederick Weld, and Sir Cecil Smith, as Governors 
of the Straits Settlements, and by the zealous, energetic, and 
conscientious men who, under them, have been acting as our 
Residents in the Native States. It is in such work that Great 
Britain has won, and is winning, a renown of the noblest and most 
enduring kind, unsullied by any of the acts that sometimes deface 
extensions of political sway. 

In the year 1841, Hong-Kong (properly Hiang-Kiang, "sweet 
waters", from the abundance of good springs) was a desolate island 
thinly peopled by fishermen. Occupied by British forces in the 
First Chinese or " Opium " War, the place was finally ceded to 
Great Britain, in August, 1842, by the Treaty of Nankin, and in 
April, 1843, a royal charter constituted the ** Colony of Hong- 
Kong". In 1 86 1 the territory, which includes several neighbouring 
islets, was completed in the cession of the little peninsula of 
Kowloon, on the opposite Chinese mainland, by the Treaty of 
Tien-tsin, closing the Third Chinese War. The island of Hong- 
Kong lies off the south-eastern coast of China, about 1 2 miles east 
of the entrance to the Canton River, and 90 miles south-east of 
that great southern capital of the Chinese Empire. The land 
consists of a rocky ridge extending east and west, with broken and 
abrupt peaks rising, in the one called " Victoria Peak ", to nearly 
1900 feet above sea-level. Eleven miles in length from east to 



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'^^r.<it *^0i r»ytf^r ^>r?b-^^:5rf -ni:xT:<wion wncr tig- wir^ 

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TtffC^'^' n :^ ^i^pTi^ -It :a i^iifi :tie .i:ixras. iTitxe ^pario. Ti itns ^abie 
.1::^/-^^ T*^>^% ^^♦vf^ ;*r^y i<r<*5. US' ^Tsod ^vistzoii ^ i jsnixe if 

•h^ ^Mj*,^^v r^tsk, 7ie ^»^ ^ixri -f^ ^^aunc mcks if die ^a^grwr 

;y?5tiinn^ ^/^ *1i^. op^^rt;^! ^v>c^s ami iy cnas:-gache$ of 73ms. 

;n*^ y^^ff'^' fA^. rVm;* 'V%mor«;e the aai>saDir. seme oGGoiimis 
iK\->fU>..* *V, )5ff^/t- ty>rtv,?<u^. m^ny game-borfs ai tne marsfcesw 
fA^'rr,^*'^'^ '"' ypvify* uftifA ' ;%rui many odua- maecs. Tie r^fnuyi 
^rt'i^.^ ffv* w^t v^«//n, fr^>m .Vr;iy t> ^yarjfxr -die scsctb-west 
tff^/rr^//rft, 's*/^,f4^^&% rvy ftvtfvf:^; the t^tmperaturc: raz^iog firom 44* 
^^/ V4\ W^<^ n ff\^/Ati Af^n^^l heijfht of 75\ The rnoist ten of tfac 
^yffttfy^f fff^/Mh^. '^^ i^^pfn^., h y^rxy trying in the north, where most 
<*// <>fA ^//^ f^<^i/P', ff</fn th^ p^o<i5Cted position whidi gives cahn- 
fih^ Ui fh^ n^/4 m ^huttinic f/H the cooling south-west wind. The 
W'fftU'f fff^fffth^ 04 th^'. r»//fth-f55t^ mrjit%ocm}, from October to March, 
nti' 'jhfif pU'^t^^fft «n/J hfr^ilthffil in their dear skies and inv^norating 
f/f/'#./#.ii. V^iifff^f^^m ^uff^ir from dysentery, fever, and discMxlers of 
♦Im* llv^f ; di^' ^ hjn#*<>^ from nmalUpox; and Asiatic cholera is not 

I Im« (/rojff#'«i«i of tli« colony, in its earlier years, was very slow. 



BURMA, CEYLON, STRAITS SETTLEMENTS, HONG KONG, BORNEO. 337 

but the freedom of trade had its influence in due time, and the 
Streams of Chinese emigration to California, after the discovery of 
gold in 1849, and to Australia, after 1851, passed through Hong- 
Kong, caused the fitting-out of ships and the sale of stores, and 
gave a decided impetus to the local trade. The population in- 
creased from 5000 in 1841 to 24,000 in 1848. In seven years 
more (1855), the people exceeded 72,000, and the growth of 
revenue by that time made the colony self-supporting, and enabled 
the British rulers to effect great improvements at the harbour in 
reclaiming land, building a massive sea-wall, and thus providing 
sites for an extension of trade-buildings. In 1854-56 troubles at 
Canton, ending in the destruction of foreign places of business 
("factories"), drove much foreign trade from that port to Hong- 
Kong, and from that time the future of the colony was secure. 
She became the centre of postal, banking, and exchange dealings 
for Chinese trade with all quarters of the globe, and a further 
impulse came, after our latest Chinese war, in the opening of 
many fresh ports to European commerce. The opening of the 
Suez Canal (1869) was an epoch in the commercial history of 
Hong-Kong as well as of Bombay, and for many years a constant 
outflow and inflow of Chinese emigrants to, and labourers returning 
from, scenes of foreign industry, has added to the business of the 
thriving port. The population, in 1881, exceeded 160,000; in 1891, 
including the military and naval establishments, there were about 
8500 whites, and 213,000 coloured people, nearly all Chinese. 
Apart from the garrison of nearly 3000 men, including many 
Indian troops, the Volunteer Artillery (100 effectives), and 750 
police (of whom nearly half are Sikhs and Chinese), nearly half of 
the resident white population are Portuguese, one-third British, 
and the rest German, American, French, Spanish, Italian, and of 
a dozen other nations. In the world of Hong-Kong the Chinese 
now hold a very prominent place. Recently, out of the 20 chief 
mercantile firms, the largest tax-payers in the colony, 1 7, including 
the four largest, were Chinese. Only three were European, 
Messrs. Jardine, Matheson, & Co. coming about fifth on the list, 
and one of the two others being the great Anglo-Jewish house of 
the Sassoons. The shrewd money-making wearers of the pigtail 
have also an important position as bankers, stock-brokers, insurance 
agents, and owners of real property. The anchorage is protected by 

Vol. IV. 87 



338 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

powerful batteries, and, as the head-quarters of our China Squadron, 
and for mercantile purposes, the harbour possesses five docks and 
three slips furnished with all necessary equipment for overhauling 
and repairing men-of-war and merchant-vessels. As regards com- 
munications, telegraph-cables to Shanghai and Singapore, and the 
steamers of great Ocean-lines give access to all parts of the world. 
It is in commerce, as already indicated, that Hong-Kong finds 
its one great source of business and wealth. It shares with Singa- 
pore the maritime and commercial command of the far Easi 
Nothing hampers the enormous trade of a free port possessii 
every facility for quick despatch; of a vast shipping-centre that is 
at once a terminus and a point of junction for the vessels of great 
steam-navigation lines, a port of call for ships proceeding to count- 
less places east and west, an entrepot for the discharge and receipt, 
of cargo, a spot for landing and taking up passengers, a great] 
distributing emporium of traffic conducted by countless native junks 
and boats with the teeming mainland of China from Canton north- 
wards to Swatow, Amoy, Foo-chow, and Shanghai. Outside of 
Great Britain, there is scarcely any part of the world where so 
many noble ocean -steamers can be seen as those which connect 
Hong-Kong with Europe, the Pacific coast of North America, 
India, Japan, and Australasian ports. The value of the annual trade 
cannot be precisely given, in the lack of official returns due to the 
absence of a custom-house, British imports from Hong-Kong 
recently reached a value of ^836,000; our exports thither were worth 
about ^1,800,000. Our imports chiefly consisted of tea, silk, and 
hemp, the Chinese trade in the two former articles being largely con- 
trolled by Hong-Kong firms; the exports were mainly cotton goods 
(over one million sterling), woollen ( y^ million), and about £ 1 60,000 
worth of copper, iron, and lead. These figures, however, give but a 
faint idea of the commerce of Hong-Kong, which is mainly carried 
on with India, China, and the Straits Settlements. In the year ending 
March 31st, 1891, the Indian imports reached nearly 2 million Rx. 
{tens of rupees); the exports from India to Hong-Kong in opium, 
cotton twist and yarn, and minor matters, amounted in value to 
about gyi million Rx. The trade with China cannot be estimated, 
but it must be of very great value from the facts that in 1892 
nearly 23,000 junks, of over 1,600,000 tons in all, entered the ports, 
and that the colony had then native vessels to the number of 






I 




BURMA, CEYLON, STRAITS SETTLEMENTS, HONG KONG, BORNEO. 339 

52,000, with a total tonnage of 1,300,000. Recently the whole 
trade with the Straits Settlements reached a value of nearly 25 
million dollars (each = 3^.). To sum up, the annual value of the 
whole imports and exports passing through Hong-Kong may be 
fairly put at 45 millions sterling, and the shipping ''entered and 
cleared" amounts to nearly 15,000,000 tons, about 8 millions of 
which are British vessels. 

The city of Victoria^ the capital, containing with its suburbs 
above 200,000 people, is one of the finest cities of the East, extend- 
ing for four miles along the base and partly up the slope of the 
hills facing the sea on the south side of the harbour. The place 
has stately and substantial buildings of granite and brick, and 
regular, neatly -kept streets shaded by well -grown banyan -trees. 
Omnibuses run from east to west, and a cable- tram way, opened in 
1888, ascends the hill behind the town to the residences of the 
chief inhabitants. Nothing can be more picturesque than the 
aspect of the harbour to the traveller from the West as the steamer 
draws near and gives sight of many hundreds of junks lying in 
rows, some laden and preparing for the voyage as the crews pro- 
pitiate the powers above in beating gongs, firing crackers, and 
burning coloured papers and scented sticks before the idol in the 
joss-house on deck; while others, moored along the sea-wall, are 
receiving or discharging cargo by the toil of lines of coolies, walking 
in pairs, with bamboo-slung packages on their shoulders. At a 
distance lie the mighty ocean - steamers, flying the flags of the 
greatest nations on earth, some surrounded by scores of flat- 
bottomed native boats, bringing or receiving goods. The man-of- 
war anchorage, in another quarter of the spacious roadstead, shows 
ships of several naval powers. 

The administration of affairs, as usual in a Crown Colony, is 
placed in the hands of a Governor and an Executive Council, here 
composed of six chief officials. The Legislative Council, with the 
Governor as president, has six official and five non-official members, 
three nominated by the Crown (one of these being a Chinese 
gentleman), one by the Chamber of Commerce, and one by the 
Justices of the Peace. The courts of law are a supreme court, a 
police-magistrate's, and a marine magistrate s tribunal. The law 
is mainly the English Common Law, modified by colonial statutes 
and regulations. The revenue, now over 2 million dollars, is 



340 



OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 



mainly derived from miinicipal rates, opium and other licenses, 
land-rents, and stamps; the expenditure, largely devoted to the 
strong police-force and military charges, somewhat exceeded the 
public receipts, but the colony, with a debt of ^200.000, incurred 
in 1S87 for defensive works, and for water-works and other sanita- j 
tion, is thoroughly solvent on a comparison of liabilities and assets. 
The Bishop of Victoria presides over the ecclesiastical affairs of 
the Anglican Church; a Vicar- Apostolic represents the Church of 
Rome, In educational affairs, we find 36 free Government schools, 
strictly secular, in six of which English is taught, and 76 grant-in- 
aid schools (64 free) of a denominational character, conducted by ten 
different Missionary Societies. Recently about 7200 children were I 
on the rolls in the whole colony, besides nearly 2000 in 109 private \ 
schools, mostly Chinese, not aided or inspected by the department 
controlled by the Inspector of Schools. Three different dialects of 
Chinese, with English and Portuguese, are taught in the important 
and flourishing Victoria College, formerly styled the " Central J 
School ". This establishment was founded chiefly in order to 1 
furnish a sound middle-class European education to Chinese pupils, 
and the benefit is greatly valued by the Chinese community, who 
seek for their sons, in a knowledge of English and of Western ideas, 
an adaptation for employment in superior capacities connected with 
the European community. There are now about 1000 scholars on 
the college-roll, of whom eight-ninths are Chinese. The cost of 
the college is defrayed by a rate of only one half per cent on the | 
house-rental of the colony. At the last distribution of prizes, by ' 
Sir William Robinson, K.C.M.G., Governor of Hong-Kong, 
was stated that six out of eight candidates had passed the Oxford 
Local Examinations, and that the older Chinese boys are beginning, 
through the Governor's special interest and influence in the matter, 
to take the physical exercise in sports which their national preju- 
dice has regarded as undignified. The younger Chinese lads are 
devoted to the games, sports, and drill of the college. There are 
scholarships, founded by the Government and by private bene- 
ficence, for the promotion of higher culture. The list of educational 
institutions is completed by mention of a Police-school, a reforma- 
tory, a Government Girls' School, a school for industrial education, 
and a medical college for Chinese students. 

Our last tiight in the East, before we start for > 



■ 

I 



lustrtal education, ^h 
ir Africa, conveys ^^H 



BURMA, CEYLON, STRAITS SETTLEMENTS, HONG KONG, BORNEO. 34I 

US to the vast island of Borneo, third largest in the world, ranking 
next to Australia and Papua or New Guinea. No general descrip- 
tion of that great territory can here be given, and it must suffice to 
state that little of its area (284,000 square miles, or nearly six 
Englands) is fully surveyed; that it is chiefly mountainous, with 
one peak in the north measured as 1 1,500 feet in height; that there 
are abundant rivers, most luxuriant tropical vegetation, with nearly 
every product of the Eastern Archipelago, and fauna which include 
the orang-outang amongst the monkeys, the tapir, wild swine, the 
small Malay bear, a small kind of tiger, wild oxen, deer, the 
rhinoceros in the north-west, the elephant in the north, with eagles, 
vultures, peacocks, flamingoes, pheasants, pigeons, parrots, and the 
kind of swallow that makes the Chinese dainty, edible birds*-nests. 
Crocodiles swarm in rivers, lakes, and lagoons; the coasts teem 
with fish, tortoises, oysters, pearl-mussels, and trepang. Countless 
gorgeous butterflies and moths flit about; minerals of many kinds, 
including diamonds, gold, coal, and platinum, are found. Most of 
the people are the aboriginal heathens called Dyaks, divided into 
many tribes, an intelligent, ingenious, hospitable, honest race, whose 
chief weapon, both for hunting and war, is the blowpipe expelling 
a small arrow pointed with sharp fish-teeth and poisoned with 
upas; shot with great accuracy, and fatal to man at forty yards, if 
the juice be fresh. As incorrigible pirates, the sea-board Dyaks 
long had great renown. The rest of the people, supposed to be two 
millions in all, are Mohammedans (" Malays") and the ubiquitous 
Chinese. The Dyaks are now mainly inland tillers of the soil, and 
gatherers of resin, gums, rattans (walking-sticks made from a kind 
of palm), gutta-percha, and wax. The Malays dwell on the coast 
and make a living as sailors and in trade, or, with little farms and 
gardens round their huts, combine cattle-rearing and fishing with 
the tillage of the soil. The Chinese pursue their way inland, 
engage in mining and trade, make their "pile", and return to lay 
their bones in their native land. There is no single native name 
for the whole great region of which the north-western part alone is 
properly called " Borneo " (Burnei or Brunei). By far the greatest 
part of the island — the west and south and east — is under the direct 
or indirect control of the Dutch, who there, as in so many other 
quarters of the East, succeeded the Portuguese as European 
occupants. 



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f/'/>,»- Mr fKiv r';/i'r/» /,Ti .» ^ f,u^\/.tx\y ^t^rinrl by Sir Alfred Dent, 

*nih fit I'mUi' f(/ff'I A|//,'k *!'; fh': fir;t ^h;iirman. The authorized 
/ '(irff'J "I* h^tt iniWifftt'A aI' f\iny; t\ifz ff\ty:rx of the association was 
N( <|/ '/|/#|r ilf jM'.iJ n.ihir.il r^viijrr#:H of Borneo in the most 
l-«'M(if'«M/- |rM) #il Hii'- mLifiH. wli^'n: tli^TC is an easy command of 
f liJMi '•! I'fl'fdM ill rMiy iifiiMiihl, ;ifiM whftrc little danger exists from 
iv'|<lM"*M'r, 'Hifl Imimi iIm'. rinili(|ii,il'.rti which sometimes devastate the 

• |fiiilMli '>» nIf-iiM iiIm III llir riiiii|i|)iiirs and the Dutch possessions 
III 'iHfii'Hi'i 'iiiil Irtvrt. \\\r (liin.itc* is of an equable tropical 
I li'iiii ii I, i^llli •! iitii^*!' Ill lnn|irriiiin'r from 70* to 93^ and an 
•iiiiimmI I liitl'ill III 1 111 iiii hih, I liirllv ilui'iu^ thr north-east monsoon, 



BURMA, CEYLON, STRAITS SETTLEMENTS, HONG KONG, BORNEO. 343 

from October till April. To the produce already indicated, we 
may add valuable timber, rice, pepper, and tobacco. Enterprise 
and energy are well enlisted in the service of an undertaking 
which promises great results in a not distant future. About 
one million acres have been already leased out for planting 
purposes. The value of the imports and exports, chiefly passing 
through Singapore, is now more than 3 million dollars. The 
country is a British "Protectorate" since 1888, the rule thereof 
being in the hands of a governor in Borneo and of the Court of 
Directors in London. The law administered (with a special court 
for Mohammedan suitors) is chiefly that of our Indian criminal and 
civil codes, modified by local ordinances. The revenue is derived 
from import-duties, royalties on exports, stamps, licenses on sale 
of spirits, opium and tobacco, and from the sale and rent of land. 
About 400 armed police are commanded by European officers. 
The course of post from London, by way of Singapore, does not 
exceed 30 days, and the state has joined the Postal Union. 

The account of British dominion and influence in Asia closes 
with the Protectorates of Brunei and Sarawak, adjacent to North 
Borneo. Brunei^ with an area of about 3000 square miles, on the 
mainland due south of Labuan, is the remnant of an olden power- 
ful native state which once included much of Borneo. The 
products are the same as those which have been already given, 
and the trade is chiefly carried on with Singapore. In 1888, a 
treaty was concluded with the Sultan of this territory by which 
British protection is secured in consideration of our right to control 
the succession to the throne and foreign relations, and to appoint 
consular officials at discretion. At the same time, and on the same 
terms, a British Protectorate was constituted in Sarawak, a state 
the mention of which brings before us a notable historical person- 
age, " Rajah Brooke ". James Brooke, born at Benares in 1 803, 
entered the East Indian army in 18 19, was seriously wounded in 
the first Burmese War, came to England on long leave, and 
quitted the service in 1830. By nature an adventurous spirit of 
the type set forth in Westward Hoi, Brooke burned with a desire 
to carry British civilization into the Eastern Archipelago, paving 
the way thereto by extirpation of Malay piracy in those waters. 
In 1835 his father's death gave him possession of the needful 
pecuniary resources, and three years later his schooner- yacht 



344 OVR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

landed him on the north-west coast of Borneo. Help against 
rebels won from the Sultan of that part of the island the title of 
" Rajah and Governor of Sarawak '', the duties of which post were 
assumed in 1841. The system of rule was reformed, free trade 
was established, and piracy was attacked with vigour and success. 
In 1848, on returning to England, and being welcomed at Windsor 
Casde, he became Sir James Brooke, K.C.B., and on our purchase 
of Labuan he was appointed Governor of the island, and British 
Commissioner and Consul-General for Borneo. The independence 
of Sarawak was in due course recognized by the British Govern- 
ment, and the country prospered in such wise that long before the 
Rajah's death, in Devonshire, in 1868, the chief town, Kuching^ 
about 20 miles up the Sarawak river, had risen from a population 
of 1000 to 25,000, and the state was sending large exports to 
Singapore. Sir James was succeeded by hi^ nephew, Sir Charles 
J. Brooke, G.C.M.G., who rules a territory exceeding 40,000 
square miles, to the south-west of Brunei, with a population of 
300,000. Coal is mined to the amount of 10,000 tons a-year on 
the coast near Labuan, and gold and antimony are obtained in 
paying quantities. The exports, of the usual kind from Borneo, 
here including coffee, timber, and tea, have an annual value of 
;^300,ooo, with imports worth about J^ million sterling. Kuching 
has good public buildings, an excellent museum of Borneo products, 
and Catholic and Protestant mission -schools. The Bishop of 
Singapore, Labuan, and Sarawak is the head of Anglican Church 
affairs. The many rivers afford internal communication by rowing 
and sailing-boats, and by steam-launches, and there are regular 
trading-vessels between ports on the coast and to Singapore. 



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J. C. RvLe, D.i)., Lurd Bishop of I.iverpobt, and Kev. C. H, Waller, m.a. Illustrated by about 
Seven Hundred Engravingi. 

ThU Edhion will he mginnitcd by u inUreUini ducuuion on ihe iuhj«l of Imah-nom, by llw Re*. C H. 

by IhE Right Kev Jokh Chadlrs Rvle, Lord Bishop of LivErpool. 

The WarV uliu up in ilphlbelici] order all Ihe tubjecU whilA eaUr inla [be CODlEnU rt Ibe fiiUe, while Ihe levenl 
book* of wluch Ib« Bible is cciapaMd id every cue receive cueful and attentive couiideTaiion. la ihe Ircaimenl of the 
diffcrtbl totnCK, full uivaniage a& laken of the materiak which modem critidim and research have acciunulaled. 



New Issue, to be completed in 6 half-voluniea, imperial 8vo, clolh eitra, 9/. 6rf. each. 

The Whole Works of John Bunyan, 



Accurately reprinted from the Author's own editions. 
each Treatise, numerous illustrative and explanatory noli 
Illustrated by engtavings on steel and on wood. 

Among the lUutlnlive Engravingi will be Ibund ihe Ponniii 
cMinc Ponrail by R. White, now in iht Briiiih Mukubi: Viewi 
CotUge. the Market-hauie and Church, EJitow; and of Hunyai 
IlluIlniliDiis of Thl Pilgrim from SlDlhud'i elegult iaifni: ' 
WDad.cut illuilnuioiu to Tlu Pilsrim. and to the Lift 0/ B^ma, 

All the eicellenciei of Ihii much admired and highly valued 
Etiousand copiet have licen »dd} are reluaed, the work being limp 



Collected and edited, with an introduction to 
;, and a memoir ot Bunyan, by GeORGE OfpoR. 

of Bunyan aftei Sadler: and a careful copy of Ihe inter- 
.r Bedford, and Prilon on Bedfonl bndge; of Qunyan'i 
i Tomb in BunhiU Fieldi. Alw. a Seriei cf beauUful 



Eleven vols., post Svo, doth, red edgei, y. bd. each; or in baodsoine cue, £i, U. 

Commentary on the New Testament, 

Explanaloiy and Practical, With QucsHom for Bible-classes and Sunday-schools, By A1.BKIIT 
Bahnks, Edited by the Rev. Robert Frew, d.d. With numerous additional Notes, and an ex- 
tensive lerieti of beautiful Engravings and Maps, not in any other edition. 

Sbonly before bu deceaie ihe Author completed a reviiion of hii Notn on the New Teitamenl. to the end i7f die Acts 
eflhe Aposllei, the only Kctionof the New Teslamenl respecting the expoulion and illuttralion of which modemrBeiKh 



had» 



le Ihe I 






In royal 410, cloth, gilt edges, 301. I 

Family Worship: I 

A Series of Devotional Services for every Moming and Evening throughout thi Year, sdapled lo the 
purposes of Domestic Worship; Prayera for Particular Occasions, and Prayers suitable for Childicn, &c. 
By above Two Hundred Evangelical Ministers, llluslrated by Twenty-six line Engravings on 
steel. New and Improved Edition. 

ITte wotli compritn jja Servkci, adapted to be uwd ui the family, being a service for rtury Mo»mii& o»rf Et-mKlwc 
dmughoat Ihe year, wiih Speda] Service! for the Morning and Evening of New-year'a Day- Each Service u compoMd 
of Praiie, Prayer, and Scriptural Eap»ii»n. Thut it pointi out a luitable palm or bymn u> be lung, neii it refcit 
10 a portion of Scripture 10 be read from the Bible iiielf, md adiU mme brief ciplanaiory and practical remarlci : and the 
whole cloiei wiih a plain and eamen Pmyiir. 

LONDON: BLACKIE & SON, LIMITED; GLASGOW AND EDINBURGH. 




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