CHAPTER V.
Progress of India and the Colonies
(Since 1815).
(Canada).
1. The French Canadians, after the conquest of their country by the British, were turned into loyal citizens of the empire by being left in the enjoyment of their own language, laws, and religion. Even when our American colonies rose in rebellion, they remained true to the British Crown. The same feeling of loyalty led many of the American colonists themselves to throw in their lot with the old country. They banded themselves together as the United Empire Loyalists, and fought on the side of Britain rather than help their fellow-colonists to rend the empire.
2. On the conclusion of the war that gave the American colonies their independence (1783), thousands of the "Loyalists" came streaming across the Canadian frontier, leaving behind them the bulk of their property, and forced to starve and struggle for years before they could carve comfortable homes out of the Canadian forests. Many of them migrated to Nova Scotia, others found rest in the beautiful valley of the St. John river, and founded the province of New Brunswick, whilst others toiled up the St. Lawrence to create the fertile and busy province of Ontario, thus building up a British colony in Upper Canada by the side of the old French colony in Lower Canada.
3. The inrush of loyalist refugees from the lost colonies was followed by a large immigration from the mother-country, and especially from Scotland. Of the Scotch peasants who emigrated many came from the same district, and held together in the new country. On the downfall of Napoleon the tide of emigration flowed more strongly than ever. We hear of four hundred discharged Irish soldiers coming over in a body with their old regimental officers at their head, and forming a regular military camp in the backwoods, till their united efforts had cut out the roads and fields, and built the houses required for the settlement. We find, in fact, that a large proportion of the early settlers were old soldiers, and they handled the pruning-hook none the worse for having once handled the sword. While the silence of the desert spread over the barren moors and hillsides of Scotland and Ireland, the Canadian woods were ringing with the settler's axe.
4. Emigration to Canada has gone on ever since, though at a slower rate than in those early years when 160,000 emigrants landed on Canadian soil in the space of four years. One of the most interesting experiments in Canadian emigration has been made in our own day. During the last ten or a dozen years about ten thousand picked boys and girls, from the homes of the "National Waifs' Association," have been settled by Dr. Barnardo on a large estate in Manitoba, or placed out as labourers and servants on Canadian farms, with the happiest results.
5. Canada has not seen much war since the days of Wolfe, though she has not been left wholly at peace. During the great French war a dispute arose between Britain and the United States, which foolishly led to a half-hearted war between the two nations, and to the invasion of Canada by American troops. After three campaigns, in which the British and French Canadians fought side by side, the war ended without the loss of an inch of their territory. The only result was, to create a feeling of mutual sympathy and respect between the two races that shared Canada between them.
6. However, as time went on, and new emigrants came pouring in, the Canadian form of government, which had well served its purpose for some years, began to encumber the young limbs of a nation so rapidly growing. The fact is, time always works changes, and nations pass through stages—childhood, youth, and manhood—as well as individuals. Thus constant changes are required in the machinery of government to keep pace with the changing circumstances and varying wants of a people. In the year that Queen Victoria came to the throne (1837), all Canada was discontented, and the lower province on the eve of rebellion, which actually broke out a little later. The rebels, however, were easily put down, and the leaders were soon either in prison or exile.
7. The Home Government in this crisis acted wisely and promptly. They sent over Lord Durham with the olive branch of peace, and directed him to ascertain the cause of the rebellion, and to find out remedies. He reported that the root of the whole mischief was to be found in the Constitution under which the people were governed. The Canadians elected men to form an "Assembly," like our House of Commons, and though these men were free to express the wishes of the people, they had no power to make the ministers and officials of the Government give effect to them. They were expected to vote funds for the public service, but they could not call the ministers to account if they misspent the money.
8. At Lord Durham's suggestion all this was changed. The governor-general was henceforth to employ as his ministers such men as had the confidence of the "Assembly," and the ministers were to be responsible to that House for the advice they gave the governor-general, and for the way in which the public revenue was spent. The first Canadian Parliament, under the new regulations, met in 1841, and from this year we date the self-government of the British colonies.
9. What was done now for Canada became in due time the rule for the other colonies in which men of our race have chiefly settled. All in turn, as they became capable of self-government, were entrusted with the power to mark out their own course, and to manage their own affairs in their own way. By this system of government full play is given to local opinions and feelings, the laws are framed by the colonists themselves, through their representatives, and the public affairs of the whole colony are managed by ministers who have obtained the confidence and esteem of its inhabitants. Moreover, the same system of self-government in respect to local affairs is usually extended to every town and district in the colony. Thus the principle of self-government is brought home to the door of each colonist, whenever circumstances admit. This is the secret of England's success in keeping her world-wide empire peaceful and contented, under the protection of one flag, and in allegiance to one sovereign.
(Canada).
1. The new era that smiled on Canada with the grant of self-government, in 1841, was marked by a rapid growth of the population. So great was the number of emigrants who came flocking into the country that in the next quarter-century the population nearly trebled itself. Canada at that time, it must be remembered, was but a shred of the vast expanse that reddens the map of North America to-day. The settled part included the two provinces now called Quebec and Ontario, the three provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, and the island of Newfoundland. The whole of the remainder—known as the great "North-West"—was, until 1870, the happy hunting-ground of the "Hudson Bay Company."
2. It is true that the Company did not, as did that great hunter, William the Conqueror, turn a peopled country into an uninhabited wilderness, but they took good care that the vast wilderness in their possession should not become a country inhabited by white men. Their whole territory was nothing but a vast game preserve from which all settlers were warned off. The red man was looked upon with favour, for he was as the game-keeper who trapped the fur-bearing animals and brought their skins to exchange for their masters' goods. Dotted over the Company's wide domains stood the log or stone forts where the furs were collected, and where lived one of the Company's factors—usually a Scotsman—to trade with the Indians. Around the fort no village was allowed to spring up. Some idea may be formed of the solitary life led by the factor, when we are told that the postman only visited him once a year.
3. The Company made enormous profits, for the goods they supplied to the Indians cost a mere trifle compared with the value of the furs they received in exchange. For a long time the nation, at home, was kept in the dark, not only as to the profits of the fur trade, but as to the real nature of the country from which the fur was obtained. The people, in fact, supposed that the fur country was an irreclaimable wilderness in which no white settlers could possibly make a living. At length it became known that in the great "North-West" there were immense prairies (over which roamed herds of buffalo) that would yield, if cultivated, rich crops of the finest wheat. When this discovery was made the country was thrown open to settlers (1870), and the province of Manitoba soon became the granary of Canada.
4. Another discovery had already led to the colonizing of British Columbia, the country beyond the Rocky Mountains. This was the discovery of gold (1858). The Indians, canoeing down the river Fraser, brought with them quantities of the precious metal which they had found along the river-bed. The men who had ransacked California for gold now rushed to the new gold country. The hardships they had to encounter were appalling.
5. At the season when the miners flocked into Columbia the water in the rivers was at its highest, and the sand-bars in which they hoped to find gold were hidden deep beneath its surface. The rivers themselves flowed through gloomy gorges, along which not even a mule could make its way. All provisions had to be carried on men's backs, and before a mule-track could be cut the miners were reduced to a diet of wild berries. Hundreds of miles had to be traversed before the rich Cariboo district was reached, where nuggets could be picked up in an old river-bed. News of this "find" brought men into the country so much faster than flour that all were reduced to the verge of starvation. The same thing has occurred in our own day, still further north, in the district of Klondyke.
6. Gold is a powerful magnet. It is one of the best colonizing agents known. What hardships will not men face to fill their pockets with gold! Wherever gold is to be picked up, there thousands of adventurers soon gather, and if the country is suitable for a colony thousands of settlers remain. Thus British Columbia owes its position as a colony, in the first place, to the gold-nuggets sown in the sands of its river-beds.
7. Attached to British Columbia is the island of Vancouver, and here also a discovery was made, which has much enhanced its value and attracted colonists. A settlement had already been made at Victoria on its southern shores, when, one day, came some Indians from the northern part of the island, and entering a smithy were surprised to find a fire of coals. When told that the fuel had been brought thousands of miles across the sea, they were much amused, as there was any quantity, they said, of the same sort of "black stone" on that very island. And so it proved. At the present time, indeed, the output amounts to one million tons a year.
8. Canada now extended over a region nearly the size of Europe, embracing besides the old provinces in the east, British Columbia in the far west, Manitoba in the centre, and the unsettled lands of the great "North-West." The next thing was to knit together the various provinces and out of them to make one great nation. This was made possible by the Confederation Act of 1867. By this Act the Dominion of Canada came into being, with a constitution, settling the terms on which the different provinces could unite. In less than seven years all the Canadian provinces, except Newfoundland, consented to join. Thus a new nation was born on the great American continent.
9. By the new constitution each province continues to manage its own local affairs, whilst all matters of national concern are brought before the Dominion Parliament. This parliament consists of an Upper House styled the Senate, and a Lower House called the House of Commons. The former is composed of life-members nominated by the Crown, the latter of members elected by the people, and having full control of the public purse. The Sovereign is represented by the governor-general, appointed by the Crown, and no laws are valid without his consent.
10. To avoid all jealousy between the province of Ontario and that of Quebec, neither of their capitals was selected as the seat of the national or federal government. That honour was given to the little town of Ottawa, situated on their common border. Ottawa has now grown into an important city, and in its Houses of Parliament possesses two of the finest edifices on the continent of America.
(3) PROMISE OF NATIONAL GREATNESS
(Canada).
1. With the union of the Canadian provinces into the Dominion of Canada, a new nation sprang into existence (1867). As no nation deserves to be free unless it can defend itself when attacked, Canada at once took steps for guarding her existence. A law was passed requiring every able-bodied man between sixteen and sixty to enrol himself for the defence of the Dominion, and to prepare for that duty by spending a certain number of days each year in drill and rifle-shooting.
2. Though Canada is a distinct nation, with her destiny in her own hands, either to make or mar, she is, at the same time, a member of the great British Empire. This connection obliges her to make no treaty with a foreign power without the consent of the British Government; but as a set-off, it entitles her in time of danger to the powerful assistance of the British army and navy. And, as we have seen in the great Boer war, Canada is willing, on her part, to come to the aid of the mother-country in the time of stress and strain. No more gallant men than her sons have fought in that war and it is a great satisfaction to England to know that the support she has received from Canada has been freely rendered by Canadians of French origin as well as by those of British descent. Thus the defeated foe of Wolfe's day has, by just treatment, been turned into the loyal friend of to-day.
3. After providing for her defence Canada's next care was to bring the different provinces into touch with each other. By means of a wonderful network of waterways, a person can go through the length and breadth of the land almost entirely by water. But this mode of travelling is slow and difficult. Steps were, therefore, taken by the Dominion Parliament to bind the different provinces together by means of a line of rails. What a gigantic task lay before them! The distance to be crossed between the two oceans was no less than 3000 miles, a distance so great that it would take an ordinary train, going day and night, almost a week to accomplish the journey.
4. The task, however, was completed in five years. The Canadian Pacific Railway, as it is called, was begun in 1880 and finished in 1885. Thus the Dominion of Canada, which now stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific, is linked together by the iron road, and its most distant parts brought into easy communication with each other by rail and wire. To British Columbia and Manitoba, in particular, such a line meant everything. It afforded settlers easy access to the interior and gave an outlet to the markets for the produce of their farms. And to the mother-country also this railway is of great value as an important link in the chain that binds together the various parts of the British Empire. Mails from England to the Far East are now carried by way of Canada more quickly than by any other route. Troops may be transported from Liverpool to Hong Kong in less than thirty days.
5. Canada has everything required to make a nation great and prosperous. Her various provinces have each their own special character and productions. Nova Scotia, for instance, is the great coal-cellar of the eastern provinces, and it stands first in the whole Dominion for its fisheries; whilst the supply of wood-pulp for making paper is almost unlimited.
6. The province of Quebec was formerly a vast forest, and the lumber trade is still its most important industry. Its inhabitants are chiefly of French origin, and they still cling to the language and customs of their ancestors. The French Canadian does not seem to move with the stream of time. He is content to smoke his home-grown tobacco and to get his sugar from the sap of the maple. He wears a strong "home-spun" cloth, spun and woven at his own fire-side; in fact, he is content to go on as his fathers before him. The people of Ontario are strikingly different. They are mostly of British origin and are always pushing on, trying to make what is good still better. Their fruit orchards, vineyards, and dairy-farms are a growing source of wealth, and a great surprise to those who have thought of Canada as the land of ice and snow. Canadian butter and cheese are now largely exported; in 1900, for example, about twenty million pounds of butter and 200 million pounds of cheese were sent abroad.
7. On entering Manitoba, the central province, the traveller finds himself in a new world. Here are vast plains presenting in summer the appearance of a sea of waving corn. The farms are immense, all so different from our English farms with their small fields and hedge-rows. Think of a farm where the furrows are four miles long and as straight as an arrow! Continuing westward we come to the slope of the Rocky Mountains which are specially adapted to the raising of cattle. This is the "ranch" country of Canada, where the horses and cattle range wild, and as a rule manage to provide for themselves both in winter and summer.
8. Of British Columbia, on the western side of the Rockies, we have already spoken as rich in gold and coal. This province is also valuable for its timber and salmon. If you buy a tin of preserved salmon, you will be almost sure to find that it has come from this colony. So plentiful are the salmon in this part of Canada that at times they swarm up the rivers like a shoal of herrings on the coast of Cornwall.
9. Canada, then, it will be seen is bountifully supplied by nature with all she needs to make her the land of plenty. She has been styled "Our Lady of the Snows," and it must be admitted that the Canadian climate is very cold in winter, and that the snow lies on the ground for some months over most of the country. The snow, however, is really one of the boons of nature: protecting the ground from extreme frosts, bridging the streams, converting rough tracts into the smoothest of roads, and turning with the warm breath of spring into water to moisten the ground for the upspringing crops.
10. Canada's great want is men of the right stamp to turn the gifts of nature to account, and these will come in time. She has now five millions of people, but could well support ten times as many. She possesses every element essential to national greatness, both in the character of her people and the wealth of her resources. The fisheries of her maritime provinces, the timber of her ancient forests, the granaries of the prairie region, the ranches of the Rockies, and the treasures of her mines, together with her intricate network of water-ways—all combine to give Canada the promise of an honoured place among the great nations of the world, and to make us proud to remember that she is a staunch and loyal friend to the British name and nation.
(4) "THE GOOD OF THE GOVERNED"
(India).
1. We have already seen how Clive laid the foundations of British rule in India, how Warren Hastings tightened our hold on the country, and how the Marquess Wellesley reduced the native princes to a state of dependence, and made the British the real masters of India. To establish a firm and just rule, and to save India from anarchy and its people from oppression, were all that the early rulers of India could attempt. But with the appointment of Lord Bentinck as governor-general, in 1828, our rule began to have a higher aim, and that was to build British greatness upon Indian happiness.
2. Of his many services to India, two stand out conspicuously: one was the rooting out of the Thugs, who made the robbing and murdering of travellers a pious duty, thinking that such acts would win them the favour of the dread goddess Kali. An old French traveller speaks of them as "the cunningest robbers in the world, who use a certain slip, with a running noose, which they can cast so deftly about a man's neck, that they strangle him in a trice." No person whom they attacked ever escaped to tell the tale. They went in bands disguised as travellers or rich merchants, and always carried tools for digging the graves of their victims. After each successful attack, offerings were made in the temples of the goddess. Within six years nearly all the members of this strange profession were hanged or placed in safe custody for life.
3. A still greater service, perhaps, was the putting an end to the custom of suttee. When any Hindu died, his widow was expected, in some parts of India, to accompany him to the next world by throwing herself into his funeral pile, and perishing in the flames. So common was the practice that in a single year, in Bengal alone, seven hundred widows were burnt alive. To this day the country is, in certain districts, thickly dotted with little white pillars, each in memory of a suttee. Lord Bentinck made a proclamation declaring that henceforth all who took part in a suttee would be held guilty of murder.
4. When Bentinck's seven years of office were over, a statue was erected to his memory with this inscription:
To
William Cavendish Bentinck,
WHO INFUSED INTO ORIENTAL DESPOTISM THE SPIRIT
OF BRITISH FREEDOM;
WHO NEVER FORGOT THAT THE END OF GOVERNMENT IS
THE HAPPINESS OF THE GOVERNED.
5. We pass on to the next great landmark in the story of British rule in India. This was the governor-generalship of the Earl of Dalhousie, who ruled India between 1848 and 1856. Though he added to the empire more territory than any other British ruler in India, before or since, he did it all for the good of India as well as for the greatness of Britain. Believing that rulers exist only for the good of the governed, he made it his great aim to do away with abuses, to redress wrongs, to deal even-handed justice all round, and to promote the happiness of the people under his care.
6. It may seem strange that Dalhousie, whose great maxim was "the good of the governed" should have done so much to extend the British Empire in India. This was partly due to the fact that wars were forced on him, and partly to the fact that he believed that people were better off under British rule than any other. This consideration led him to take advantage of every opportunity to substitute British rule for that of a native prince. When, for instance, a native ruler died without offspring, instead of allowing his adopted son, as was the custom in India, to succeed him, Dalhousie annexed the territory thus left kingless.
7. Our governor-general also dethroned unworthy rulers, including the King of Oudh, whose realm was naturally the fairest province of all India. It may be remembered that in all the dependent states a British official resided at court to give his advice, and to watch over British interests. The British resident at Lucknow, the capital of Oudh, reported to Dalhousie that under its native ruler, Oudh knew neither law nor justice, that "great crimes stain almost every acre of land in his dominions." The strong, he said, everywhere preyed upon the weak, and what might be the garden of India was fast becoming a wilderness, whilst the king amused himself in the company of fiddlers, singers, buffoons, and dancing girls. After a solemn warning, and a reprieve of five years, the corrupt monarch was deposed and his kingdom added to our Indian Empire.
8. During Dalhousie's rule much was done to bring the different parts of this great empire into closer touch with each other. A cheap uniform postage was introduced, by which a letter could be sent from one end of India to the other for half an anna, about three farthings. A short railway was laid down as an experiment, and it proved highly successful. The new mode of travelling rose at once into favour with the natives of India. They soon saw the advantage of cheap travelling at the rate of twenty or thirty miles an hour in carriages drawn by the "English fire-horse."
9. Lord Dalhousie then drew up a scheme for laying down 4000 miles of rails between the great centres of population and the seats of government. And he succeeded in getting the necessary capital for this vast undertaking by offering it to public companies with the guarantee, on the part of the Indian Government, of a fair profit on their outlay. So great was the success of this scheme that in the course of the next quarter-century £100,000,000 were spent on Indian railways.
10. It would not be easy to overrate the importance of railways in this vast country, in the interests both of Britain and India. They form so many iron bands to unite the scattered provinces under British rule, and to enable our military forces to be sent speedily to any threatened quarter. They also serve to bring supplies to districts suffering from famine, whereas in former times it often happened that people in one part of India were dying for want of the food that was stored up in rich abundance in some distant part. The advantages that the railways offer to trade are still more important. "Great tracts," wrote Dalhousie, "are teeming with produce they cannot dispose of. Others are scantily bearing what they would carry in abundance, if only it could be conveyed whither it is needed.... Ships from every part of the world crowd our ports in search of produce which we have, or could obtain in the interior, but which at present we cannot profitably fetch to them." So great an impulse was given to trade in the course of the seven years of Lord Dalhousie's rule, that the export of raw cotton was doubled and that of grain increased threefold, whilst the total annual exports rose from thirteen millions to twenty-three.
11. The great viceroy also, meanwhile, set in action a scheme for binding all India together by a network of telegraph wires. In the last two years of his rule, no less than 4000 miles of electric telegraph were put in working order. The difficulties to be overcome were very great. The wires had to be carried on bamboo poles, or on pillars of stone and iron, over broad swamps and rocky wastes, through dense and deadly jungles, up wild mountain steeps, across deep gorges, and seventy large rivers. And all this had to be done in spite of the depredations of white ants, wild beasts, and half-civilised men. A famous writer thus describes the difficulties the engineers had to contend with:
12. "His posts had to pass through jungles, where wild beasts used them for scratching-stations, and savages stole them for firewood and rafters for huts. Inquisitive monkeys spoiled the work by dragging the wires into festoons, or dangling an ill-conducting tail from wire to wire. Crows, kites, and fishing-eagles made roosting-places of the wires in numbers so great as to bring them to the ground; though once or twice a flash of lightning, striking a wet wire, would strew the ground with the carcases of the feathered trespassers by dozens. The white ant nibbled galleries in the posts, and the porcupine burrowed under them."
13. It is owing to the telegraph that all India is held under the control of the governor-general. The wires are as the nerves that pass through the whole body of India and terminate, as it were, in his hands. By their means the latest news reaches him from every part of India, and by the same means he flashes back his commands. In the great mutiny that broke out, at the close of Dalhousie's term of office, it was the telegraph that saved us from many a disaster. "It is that accursed string that strangles us," exclaimed a mutineer pointing to the telegraph wire as he was led out to execution.
(India).
1. The story of India cannot be told without frequent reference to war. Though the Marquis of Dalhousie was so much occupied, as we have seen, with the arts of peace, he was obliged to wage more than one great war. On landing at Calcutta (1848) he was told by the last governor-general that so far as human foresight could predict, "it would not be necessary to fire a gun in India for seven years to come." Yet, within a twelvemonth, the whole scene was changed.
2. The Punjab, or Land of the Five Rivers, was inhabited by the Sikhs, a brave and warlike people. They had already fought desperately for the mastery of India and had been defeated. A British army had marched into Lahore, their capital, and dictated terms of peace, by which the Sikhs were left under the rule of a native prince, but required to receive a British officer at the royal court and to be guided by his advice. Dalhousie had scarcely been in office six months when the Punjab was all aflame again, and he found himself compelled to renew the war. "I have wished for peace," he said, "I have striven for it. But untaught by experience, the Sikh nation has called for war, and on my word, sirs, they shall have it with a vengeance."
3. The work that lay before the British army was a terribly difficult one. After a trying campaign in which we came near defeat, the two armies met for a decisive encounter at Gujerat. It ended in the rout of the Sikhs, who fled in dismay, leaving behind them most of their guns and standards, their ammunition, stores, and tents. The defeated troops were never allowed to rally, and within three weeks the last gun had been abandoned and the last soldier had laid down his arms. The Sikhs cheerfully owned themselves beaten, and heard with delight that their Afghan allies "had ridden down through their hills like lions and ran back into them like dogs."
4. The conquest of the Punjab was followed by its annexation. The Sikhs were informed that they must henceforth regard themselves as British subjects, and the Land of the Five Rivers as a part of British India. Two famous brothers, Henry and John Lawrence, were appointed to set things in order in this great province and to establish a firm and just government. The Sikh soldiers readily took service under our flag. They were proud to be enlisted in the regiments that had so well beaten them. Forts were built to defend the new frontier, the taxes were lightened and made more even, canals were cut, roads laid out, criminals punished, and honest labour protected; in fact, in a few short years the latest British conquest became the best managed, the most contented, and the most loyal of all the British provinces in India.
5. Three years after the annexation of the Punjab, war broke out at the opposite end of the Indian Empire, in what was then called Further India. It is known as the Second Burmese War (1852). Burma was at that time under the rule of an upstart king, whore throne was at Ava. He seems to have been as ignorant and arrogant as the King of Ava in the First Burmese War (1824), who on being requested by the governor-general of India to withdraw his troops from Assam, which they had invaded, ordered his commander-in-chief to proceed to Calcutta, arrest the governor-general, and bring him to Ava, bound in golden fetters, for execution. As a result of that First Burmese War Assam had been added to the empire. It now forms the great tea-plantation of India.
6. The spoils of the Second Burmese War were still more valuable. The most brilliant feat of arms in that war was the storming of Rangoon. The Burmese troops held the city and pagoda of Rangoon with 18,000 men; the British could only bring one-third that number to the attack. Among the Burmese were the picked guards known as "The Immortals of the Golden Country," whose military oath compelled them to conquer or die at their posts. The courage of the ordinary troops was also insured, as their women and children were fastened up at the back of the fort to incite the valour of their husbands, sons, and brothers. But all to no purpose. The headlong rush of our troops, and the fierce cheer with which they came on, seemed to take the heart out of the defenders, and when the storming party entered at one gate the garrison fled by the opposite one, the brave Immortals in their gilt lacquer accoutrements leading the way.
7. Before the end of the year the whole of Lower Burma was at our disposal. As the people of that province everywhere greeted us as friends, and besought us to deliver them from the tyranny of their king, there was good reason to believe that it could be held by a small number of troops. It was, accordingly, annexed to our Indian Empire. Rangoon has become one of the great ports of the empire. In thirty years its population increased fifteen-fold, and its trade grew in the same proportion. The rest of Burma was annexed as the result of another war some years later.
8. The British India which Lord Dalhousie left to his successor was more than one-third larger than the India of which he had received charge seven years before. The great changes which he had made produced a spirit of unrest among the inhabitants. The native princes naturally felt their thrones insecure; the introduction of railways and telegraphs was to the old-fashioned native a sign that a new era had begun, and that old customs were giving place to new; whilst many began to fear that even their religion was in danger of being supplanted.
9. Lord Canning, the next governor-general, seems to have seen signs of the coming upheaval; for on taking office, he said at the send-off banquet in London, "We must not forget that in the sky of India, serene as it is, a small cloud may arise, at first no bigger than a man's hand, but which growing bigger and bigger may at last threaten to overwhelm us with ruin." He knew that the same instrument that we had used to help us to conquer India might be turned against ourselves. And what made our position the more serious was the fact that the Sepoys in our army—who constituted that instrument—were five times as numerous as our own troops, and that the native gunners outnumbered ours by two to one.
10. On reaching India, Lord Canning heard the first muttering of the storm which threatened to drive the British out of India. There had long been a prophecy among the natives that British rule would come to an end at the close of a hundred years from its commencement. The fateful year (1857) had now come, and with it came the great mutiny of our Sepoy regiments. England, in her hour of danger, has never lacked brave and patriotic sons to defend and maintain her cause, and never has this been more conspicuously the case than in the Sepoy Mutiny.
(India).
1. The Sepoy Mutiny had its centre at Delhi, where lived the old emperor in great state and luxury, but without a vestige of power or authority. The mutineers placed this shadow of an emperor at their head, making him their centre of union, and his sovereignty a cause to fight for. The great powder-magazine within the city was luckily in British hands. Of the garrison in charge of it were two British officers, who, at the sacrifice of their own lives, applied a torch to the powder, and in a moment the building, with hundreds of Sepoy mutineers, was sent flying into the air.
2. There were two circumstances which in the most providential manner enabled our countrymen to hold their own until succour reached them from England. These were the loyalty of the Sikhs, who had recently been conquered, and the passage across the seas of British troops on their way to China. These troops were intercepted at Cape Town and Singapore, and diverted to India. The Sikhs threw in their lot with their conquerors, and fought like lions for them throughout the Mutiny. A few weeks after the first outbreak, a combined British and Sikh force arrived at Delhi. Our men posted themselves on a commanding ridge outside the city, and held it against all comers, whilst waiting for reinforcements.
3. Sir John Lawrence was straining every nerve to collect forces in the Punjab, and to push them on, with all speed, to Delhi; whilst his brother, Sir Henry Lawrence, was rendering a service, scarcely less valuable, at Lucknow. Forewarned by telegraph, he made every preparation for defence within his power before the rebels in the city heard of the outbreak. He brought all the Europeans within the "Residency," as the government buildings were called, and stocked it well with provisions and ammunition. Lawrence himself was mortally wounded, near the beginning of the siege, by the bursting of a shell that crashed into his room, where he was writing at table. When dying he desired that on his tomb should be engraven:
HERE LIES
Henry Lawrence
WHO TRIED TO DO HIS DUTY.
4. The siege of Lucknow is one of the most memorable in our history. We may well be proud of the splendid stand which a small band of our countrymen made here, in the presence of their wives and children, against myriads of the enemy, who were kept in check for nearly three terrible months, until relief came.
5. All this time the eyes of India and Great Britain were earnestly fixed on Delhi. It was there all felt the question was being fought out, who should be masters of India. For three weary months our men had to cling to their position on the ridge, outside the city, before obtaining guns sufficiently heavy to begin the siege. Great was the joy in the British camp when the guns arrived, and with them General Nicholson, known alike to friend and foe for his daring valour. All were eager to follow where he led.
6. After a bombardment of three days, two great breaches in the walls opened the way for the assault, and an entrance at each breach was made at the point of the bayonet, but whilst leading on his men the gallant Nicholson was slain. Of the many daring deeds performed that day the most memorable was the perilous exploit of blowing up the Cashmere gate, to make a third entrance for our troops. A small band of heroic men volunteered to place bags of powder under the gate, and to take the risk of being shot or blown up in the attempt.
7. "I placed my bag," said Sergeant Smith, "and then at a great risk reached Carmichael's bag (for he was killed), and having placed it in position with my own, arranged the fuse for the explosion, and reported all ready to Lieutenant Salkeld, who held a quick-match. In stooping down to light the quick-match, he was shot, but in falling had the presence of mind to hold it to me. Burgess was next him and took it. I told him to keep cool and fire the charge. He turned round and said, 'It won't go off, sir; it has gone out, sir.' I gave him a box of lucifers, and, as he took them, he let them fall into my hand, he being shot through the body at that moment. I was then left alone, and was proceeding to strike a light, when the fuse went off in my face, the light not having gone out as we thought. I took up my gun and jumped into the ditch but before I had reached the ground the charge went off, and filled the ditch with smoke." Before the smoke cleared away our troops were through the gateway.
8. But though the entrance to the city was gained the work had only begun. Every street and public building had been fortified, and had to be won by steady and continuous fighting. It was not until the sixth day that our men had fought their way to the palace in the heart of the city. When the British flag waved over the palace, all felt that the neck of the rebellion was broken, and that our Indian Empire was saved. The old emperor was sent as a state prisoner to Rangoon, where he died in 1862, being buried in the night-time near his bungalow, so that no native might know the resting-place of the last of the emperors.
9. Three days after the fall of Delhi, General Havelock reached the Residency at Lucknow, after fighting half a dozen battles on the road and forcing his way through streets lined with armed rebels. We can imagine the kind of welcome the troops received on their arrival. "In a moment," writes a lady, one of the survivors of the garrison, "big, rough-bearded soldiers were seizing the little children out of our arms, kissing them with tears rolling down their cheeks, and thanking God that they had come in time." They had come in time to save the women and children from falling into the enemy's hands, but not in sufficient numbers to remove them.
10. For final deliverance they had to wait nearly two months longer, until the arrival of the Commander-in-chief, Sir Colin Campbell, at the head of a small army of 5,000 men. It is interesting to know that Lieutenant Roberts, now Field-Marshal Lord Roberts, was an officer in the relieving force, and gave proof of his daring spirit, as the troops fought their way through the city, by hoisting the British flag, amid a shower of bullets, on the tower of a fort they had captured. Sir Colin now turned his arms against every city in revolt, and before the end of the following year (1858), the embers of the rebellion were finally stamped out.
(7) BRITISH RULE ON A NEW FOOTING
(India).
1. As soon as peace was restored to India, after the Mutiny, a proclamation, at Calcutta, declared that the governing power of the East India Company was abolished, and that henceforth the sovereign of England would be the immediate ruler of India. In this proclamation, which may be regarded as the Magna Charta of the people of India, it was announced, in the name of the queen, that we desire no further extension of territory in India, but that what we had got we intended to hold; that we would respect the rights, dignity, and honour of the native princes; that we would in every way endeavour to further the interests of the people, and in no way interfere with their religious convictions.
BLOWING UP THE CASHMERE GATE.
2. The title of Empress of India was not assumed until some years later. But the assumption of that title, and the change in the form of government, as stated in the proclamation, gave great satisfaction to the princes and people of India. Our Indian government acquired new dignity in their eyes, and our rule became more acceptable, since they could now regard themselves as fellow-subjects with ourselves of the same personal sovereign. They had now distinct promises on which they could rely, for they knew by experience that their English masters would feel themselves bound by their own words. Nothing is more gratifying to our national pride than the reliance thus placed on the pledged word of our Government. "It is certain," says a great Polish writer, in reference to the Boer war, "that if King Edward VII. guaranteed to the Boers, with his royal word, the enjoyment of their liberty and laws, not an Englishman would be found throughout the gigantic British Empire, who would not burn with shame if the royal promise were broken."
3. The improved state of feeling among the people of India, in consequence of the changes which had been made, and the distinct promises they had received, showed itself very clearly, when, a few years later, the Prince of Wales—now King Edward VII.—paid a visit to India as the representative of Queen Victoria. His progress through the land called forth a succession of brilliant demonstrations—cities, temples, and palaces, being illuminated in his honour. All the princes and rajahs of India vied with each other in the magnificence of their trappings and the splendour of their welcome. And when at last the Prince set sail for England, the ship was laden with numerous memorials and presents of great variety, value, and interest. The proclamation in the following year of the queen's new title, as Empress of India, tended to draw still closer the ties of love and loyalty between Her Majesty and her Indian subjects.
4. Sweeping changes were made in our Indian army at the close of the Mutiny. That army now contains only two natives to one European, and the artillery is kept almost entirely in the hands of British soldiers. Many wars have occurred in India since it came under the British crown, but they have all been wars on her borders, keeping strife and danger far removed from every home in India. They have been wars to preserve internal peace, and to strengthen our frontiers, especially on the borders of Afghanistan, the only quarter from which an invading army could approach India except by sea.
5. But the chief enemy we have had to fight in India since the days of the Mutiny is famine, which has been known to carry off in a single year five millions of people. This calamity has arisen not from want of food in India, but from the difficulty of transporting it to the distressed districts. As famine in India is caused by an insufficient rainfall, great works have been executed to store water in vast tanks or lakes—for instance, by damming up the outlet of some mountain valley—and to cut canals for carrying water to the crops suffering from drought. Great engineering works have been taken in hand to keep the great rivers in bounds, and to prevent their waters in time of flood from rushing with ruin and havoc over the land.
6. If the British were to abandon India to-morrow they would leave behind them a grand memorial of their works for the good of the country, in their schools and colleges, their telegraphs, railways, roads, bridges, canals, reservoirs, and river embankments. People who have only seen such things in our own island-home, have no conception of the great scale on which such works have been carried out in a large country like India—a country as large as all Europe, leaving out Russia—where the rivers are immense, and subject to terrible floods from the down-pouring tropical rains which fall most copiously on the southern slopes of the Himalayas.
7. It is true that we do not give India the same kind of government we give Canada and Australia. We are obliged to govern India, not according to the notions of the natives, but according to our own. We take care, however, to keep order and see justice done, not only in the provinces under direct British rule, but also in the dependent states, which occupy about two-fifths of the country, and contain one-fourth of the population. There are no less than seven hundred of these states, great and small; none of them may make alliance with any other state except Britain; each of them must admit a British resident, who keeps an eye on its government. If any prince, after repeated warnings, fails to reform, he is replaced by another native, for Britain annexes no longer. On the other hand, a prince who does his duty and governs wisely, receives from the Emperor some mark of distinction or titular honour, nowhere in the world more valued than in India.
8. It will be seen then that our government of India is despotic, like that of a schoolmaster, who makes his own laws and administers them for the good of his scholars. There is, however, this difference. In India, the natives themselves are admitted to a large share in the administration of the laws and in the service of the state, an arrangement tending to keep the educated natives contented and to train them for the work of self-government.
9. On the whole, it may be said with truth that there is nothing more wonderful in the history of the world than that, under the flag of these two little islands, there should have grown up the greatest and most beneficent despotism that the world has sees. The very face of the country has changed; pestiferous swamps have been drained, and are now fertile lands with healthy cities. Wide tracts of jungle, the secure refuge of evil beasts, have been reclaimed. The great rivers are now brought under control; canals receive their surplus waters, and instead of causing desolation, bring fertilizing streams to a thirsty land. Railroads transport corn and rice through tunnels cut in the mountains, and across mighty rivers, to distant famine-stricken districts. In short, the story of India's progress under British rule is one of which we may well be proud.
10. The advantage, however, has not been all on one side. The connection with India has brought, and still brings, much grist to our own mill. It provides high salaries for about eight hundred of our most competent countrymen, acting as governors, magistrates, and high state officials; it offers employment for our engineers and land surveyors; it serves as an excellent training-ground for our officers and soldiers; and, above all, it opens up a splendid trade to our merchants and manufacturers. Were India to fall into the hands of a foreign power, like Russia, our merchants would probably find themselves, if not shut out entirely from the markets of India, much hampered in doing a profitable business. But with the government in our own hands we can make such regulations as tend to the mutual advantage of the two countries. So flourishing is the trade between them now that its annual value amounts to more than £50,000,000.
11. Such being the mutual advantages to India and Britain of our rule in that great country, it would be an indelible stain on our name and nation, if through indifference, or negligence, or faint-heartedness, we were to lose an empire built up by so much genius and heroism under the controlling hand of an unseen Power.
"We sailed wherever ship could sail,
We founded many a mighty state;
Pray God our greatness may not fail
Thro' craven fears of being great."
(Australia).
1. To measure the progress that has been made by our kinsmen in Australia, we must know something of the country in its natural condition, and of the special difficulties they have had to contend with. One of these difficulties was of our own making, and that was the landing there of shiploads of our worst criminals, many of whom fled to the "bush," and preyed upon the lonely settlers, or committed outrages upon the natives, who naturally tried to take revenge upon any white men that came in their way.
2. The plants found in Australia by the early explorers had, with few exceptions, never been seen in any other parts of the world. Strange to say, no wheat or any other cereal grew there, and but few fruits or vegetables fit for human food, although both soil and climate are in many parts so favourable to their growth that, since their introduction, they have thriven as well as in most countries.
3. The animals peculiar to Australia are even more strange than its plants. Of all the useful animals belonging to other countries, not a single representative was found here. All our domestic animals, however, have been introduced, and thrive remarkably well. One, indeed, the rabbit, has thriven so well as to form a serious pest. So rapidly do these animals multiply here that the colonists are obliged to incur much expense in the effort to keep down their numbers. Of the quadrupeds found elsewhere Australia only possessed, when first discovered, some species of rats and mice and a sort of wild dog, or dingo. Most of the native animals are pouched, like the kangaroo.
4. Dingoes cannot be trained for the service of man. They are always ready to prey upon his flocks. So great a pest are these animals, in certain parts, that each man on a sheep-station is expected to carry strychnine, in order to poison the carcase of any dead animal he may chance to find in his wanderings, with the view of destroying the dingoes that may happen to feed upon it. These animals destroy far more than they devour. On entering a sheepfold they bite and kill without stint or stay. There is, however, one drawback to their wholesale destruction, as they are the natural enemies of the kangaroo. Since the dingoes have become scarce, the kangaroo has multiplied greatly. In some districts droves of these animals are still seen, eating up every blade of grass and starving the sheep off the land.
5. As the native productions of Australia are of little service to man, it is not surprising to find the natives a low order of savages. There is no bond of union between them. They consist of many tribes, always ready to go to war with each other. It is supposed that about 50,000 survive, but through intemperance, wars and diseases, their numbers are gradually dwindling. They have already almost disappeared from the more settled parts, but as such a large proportion of Australia is uninhabitable by white men, they will probably long linger in the more remote quarters of the continent.
6. Like all wandering savages, their senses are remarkably acute, and their skill and cunning in hunting and snaring beasts and birds can hardly be surpassed. Advantage is taken of this fact by the Australians, who employ them to track out fugitives, when offenders against the law have to be pursued, or when cattle have strayed.
7. The natives were at first a source of great trouble to the settlers. They stole their sheep and ran off with their horses, caused their cattle to stampede, and killed their shepherds and herdsmen. But as the colonist never moved out of doors without his firearms, they soon gained a wholesome dread of his power. One tribe of "blacks" also was always ready to help the white man to pursue and punish the men of another tribe. In Queensland, indeed, a body of native police, officered by Europeans, was formed to cope with the disorders and depredations of the savages, who are bolder and more numerous in that part of Australia. But the experiment was attended by dreadful results, for a member of one tribe displays savage enjoyment in the slaughter of members of any other tribe. Among the settlers also were men who had been dangerous criminals, and who had no compunction in murdering "blacks," as if they were devoid of human souls.
8. One of the great bars to progress in Australia is the irregular supply of rain. Whilst droughts are not infrequent, there is occasionally an excessive downpour, causing disastrous floods. The amount of rain that falls from first to last would probably be sufficient to make Australia a well-watered country. But owing to the extreme irregularity of the rainfall the plains are liable to be alternately deluged and burnt up. Explorers have often been in danger of perishing with thirst from this cause; for instead of finding a large lake, where they had seen one on a former occasion, they find nothing but a stretch of baked mud.
9. In times of drought the rivers, too, dwindle into mere threads of water, or become too shallow for navigation. Even the Murray, the largest of Australian rivers, is at times but an indifferent waterway. Still worse, its mouth consists of shallow channels of shifting sand, so that no steamer can enter it from the sea. Large sums have been expended in trying to remove the bar at its mouth and form a harbour; but the attempt has been abandoned, for as fast as the sand is dredged away, fresh deposits of silt take its place.
10. These are some of the difficulties and drawbacks which the Australian colonists have had to fight against. But in spite of them an extraordinary advance has been made, thanks to their own energy and enterprise, to the mineral wealth of their country, and to their freedom from war. Contrary to the experience of nations, in other continents, the Australians have never had to fight a regular battle in their own land. This immunity from war they owe, in large measure, to the protecting arm of the mother-country, and to the wisdom she has shown in granting self-government to her Australian colonies as soon as they became fit to manage their own affairs.
(9) EFFECT OF THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD
(Australia).
1. Next to wool as a source of Australian wealth comes gold. The discovery of gold, in 1851, had a wonderful effect on the progress of Australia. The discovery was made, near Bathurst, in New South Wales, by Hargraves, one of the numerous adventurers that left the colony in 1848 to dig for gold in California. The first thing which impressed him on his arrival in the gold country was the resemblance between it and the district around his own home in Australia. The more he saw of the gold-diggings in California, the more he was struck with the likeness. At length he resolved to return, and on searching a creek near his old home, he found it rich in gold.
2. At the news of this discovery, thousands hastened to the diggings from all parts of the colony. The news of this "rush" for gold had hardly reached the people of Victoria, when it became known that there was a still richer gold-field at Ballarat in their own country. The gold fever seized upon the Victorians, and in a few weeks most of the men in the colony were grubbing for gold. Workshops were left without workmen, ships without crews, and houses without tenants. The squatters were left to look after their own sheep, and farmers saw their crops spoiling for want of labourers to harvest them. Ordinary business came to a standstill, and even schools were closed for want of teachers.
3. To the streams of men from every part of Australia was soon added a flood of adventurers from all quarters of the world, including numbers of escaped convicts from Tasmania. Of those who came in the hope of rapidly making a fortune at the diggings, the majority were doomed to disappointment. But a few picked up gold nuggets of considerable size, and one miner at Ballarat hit upon the largest mass of gold ever found. It was called the "welcome stranger," and was worth upwards of £8000. The scene at the gold-fields is thus described in the "Story of the Nations:"—
4. "The banks of the Yarrowee presented a strange appearance, with the eager line of men standing shoulder to shoulder, washing in the muddy water the dirt brought them from time to time by a companion. A little further back the earth was cut into innumerable holes, flanked by great mounds of red soil, in and around which men busily ran or dug with feverish energy. At night the scene was even more weirdly curious, for the glaring lights of the theatres and grog shanties, with the flaring torches and fires of the miners, joined in throwing into strong relief the shadows of the tents and their wild surroundings. Above all rose the hum of a city, broken now and again by bursts of noisy revelry. Wealth easily won was as readily squandered, and the lucky digger showered gold with a free hand. Prices were exorbitant, for the miner, drunk with fortune, seldom asked for change, and the style of living generally was recklessly extravagant."
5. The value to Australia of the discovery of gold within her territory has been far greater than the worth of the gold itself, though that, in forty years from its first discovery in 1851, amounted to the extraordinary sum of £300,000,000. It has been the means of bringing to her shores hundreds of thousands of enterprising men, who on leaving the gold-fields have settled down in the country to gain a livelihood, if not a fortune, by steady industry in some useful employment. Thus, just before the discovery of gold, the population of Victoria was less than 80,000; now, half a century later, the population is nearly one-and-a-quarter millions.
6. Gold-mining is now one of the regular industries of Australia. But gold is no longer to be picked up on the surface. It is now only obtained by sinking shafts, and much expensive machinery is required in working the mines. The yield of gold in Victoria and New South Wales is, of course, much less than it was, but the annual value is still considerable.
7. Gold-mining has also been long carried on in Queensland. Indeed, the Mount Morgan mine in that colony has proved itself one of the richest mines in the world. Its story is a curious one. A young squatter had bought a farm near Rockhampton, but it was on a rocky hill, and he found that for grazing or cultivation it was useless. He was, accordingly, glad to sell it to three brothers, named Morgan, at £1 an acre. The dirty grey rocks of which the hilly farm was composed turned out to be so rich in gold, that the hill, which had cost the Morgans £640, was sold for £8,000,000. And now West Australia, which has long lagged behind the sister colonies, can also boast of its gold mines, and has fairly started on its onward march.
8. Australia has lately followed the example of Canada, and formed her six colonies into one great dominion, under the name of the Commonwealth of Australia, which started on its new career on the first day of the twentieth century. Each colony, or state, retains control over its own local affairs, but the Parliament of the Commonwealth is empowered to decide all questions relating to defence, railways and telegraphs, customs duties and postal rates, and all other matters common to the whole country.
(10) EXPLORATION AND ITS MARTYRS
(Australia).
1. The story of Australian exploration tells of hardships and hazards innumerable. It is a story that is highly creditable to the dauntless courage and persevering energy of our brothers in Australia. As landlords of a vast estate, they have endeavoured to ascertain its nature, and to learn how best to turn it to profitable account. This knowledge could only be gained at the expense of many lives, and at the cost of great self-sacrifice. The explorers who have lost their lives in the fulfilment of their self-imposed task, if not entitled to a place on the roll of martyrs, have certainly earned a place among the makers of our empire. Of such men we can only give one or two examples in this brief account.
2. The vast interior is worse to cross than the Sahara, for while it is often quite as hot and quite as dry, it is covered in many parts with a dense "scrub," consisting of prickly shrubs and the dreaded porcupine grass. The constant pricking of this grass causes raw and bleeding swellings round the horses' legs; and to escape from it, they will prefer to force their way through the densest scrubs. Here they rush along, frequently forcing sticks between their backs and their loads; then comes a frantic crashing through the scrub, packs are forced off, and the horses are lost sight of for hours or even days.
3. Mr. Kennedy, who explored in Queensland, describes the difficulty of travelling in the tropical jungles of that colony. He speaks, in particular, of the terrible lawyer vine and the equally-dreaded tree-nettle. The former is a species of rattan, armed with hooks and spurs, which once fast never let go. The other is a forest-tree belonging to the nettle family, and its broad leaves sting so severely as to cause serious inflammation; horses, indeed, which have plunged about and got stung all over, sometimes die from the effects.
4. For exploring the interior, Adelaide, in South Australia, has been a favourite starting-point; in 1840 Mr. Eyre made his perilous journey along the shores of the Australian Bight to King George's Sound, a distance of 1,200 miles. The greatest difficulty was to find water. He had with him ten horses and six sheep. Before moving the animals from their halting-place it was necessary to secure water for them, and Eyre himself explored in advance, sometimes five or six days at a time, without finding a drop, being reduced to collecting dew with a sponge and rags. When 600 miles from his destination Eyre was left with one native servant, two horses, 40 lbs. of flour, and four gallons of water. It was 150 miles further before they obtained a fresh supply of water. Thus they struggled on for a month, living on horse-flesh, with a little flower-paste or damper. They had then the good luck to attract the notice of a whaling ship near the shore, and were kindly received on board for a fortnight. Being sufficiently recruited, they continued their journey, and after undergoing further hardships for twenty-three days, succeeded in reaching King George's Sound.
5. In 1860 an expedition set out from Melbourne to cross the continent from south to north. Burke and Wills were first and second in command. These two men accomplished the last part of the journey alone, and on foot, for all the camels had sunk with fatigue. Having reached the shores of Carpentaria, they retraced their steps in the expectation of coming across the men and stores they had left at a certain place on the route. Four months and a half after leaving the depot they reached it again, only to find a notice stating that their friends had left that same morning. The word "dig" was cut on a neighbouring tree, and buried beneath it they discovered a small supply of provisions.
6. On their way back to the depot they had been rejoined by one of the party. The three deserted wanderers rested for a couple of days, and then started for Adelaide. They were rapidly dying of hunger when they met some natives, who treated them in a friendly manner. After resting with them for four days they resumed their journey. But first Wills, and then Burke, completely broke down and died. The only survivor wandered on until he met with a tribe who permitted him to stay with them. He was afterwards found by a rescue party from Victoria, but so weak that he could scarcely speak. The blacks were rewarded for their kindness with gifts of looking-glasses, gay pieces of ribbon, and other articles of finery.
7. While the explorers just mentioned were crossing the continent from Melbourne, another expedition, under Stuart, was attempting to cross from Adelaide. About the centre of the continent Stuart reached a mountain, which has been named Central Mount Stuart. He had penetrated within 200 miles of the Gulf of Carpentaria, when he was forced to turn back through the hostility of a numerous tribe of natives. Nothing daunted, Stuart set out again from Adelaide on New Year's Day, 1861, and got about 100 miles beyond the point already reached, when his further progress was barred by an impenetrable scrub. He made strenuous efforts to pass the obstacle, but without success. Reluctantly compelled to turn back for want of provisions, he arrived safely in the settled districts, north of Adelaide, and for the third time attempted to reach the goal; and this time with well-earned success. Neither on this, nor on any of his previous journeys, did Mr. Stuart lose a single man of his party.
8. This journey had important results. It showed that through the centre of the continent was a chain of fertile spots and grassy plains, through which a track might be found for a telegraph line, stretching from Adelaide in the south to Port Darwin in the north. But the difficulties to be overcome in carrying this line across the continent were considerable. For one thing, the two ends of the wire were 1,600 miles apart, and for no small part of the way it had to pass through a desolate region void of water and pasture. The northern section of the work proved the most difficult to accomplish; for there were no trees for posts, and the tropical heat was too great for European labour. Indian coolies and Chinese labourers were hired, wells were dug along the route, iron posts were imported, and by great exertions the task was, in 1872, completed.
9. It is by this telegraph line that Australia is in constant communication with the rest of the world. Thanks to this magical wire, Australians are able to read at their breakfast tables events which had occurred on the opposite side of the globe a few hours previously. Thanks to the same wire, if an important cricket match is being played in Australia, we at home can almost stand round the field and watch it in progress. Whilst the telegraph has brought us within easy speaking distance of Australia, the steam-ship has also wrought its wonders. It is worth remembering that at the time when Australia received its first ship-load of settlers, the Orkneys and other remote parts of Scotland were as far distant from London, in respect to the time taken in travelling, as are the Australian colonies to-day, whilst the difficulties and risks of the journey were considerably greater.
(11) MUTUAL ADVANTAGE OF MOTHERLAND AND COLONY
(New Zealand).
1. Of all the colonies, with the exception of Tasmania perhaps, New Zealand most resembles the mother-country both in climate and scenery. At the same time it is wholly unlike Australia. If a long-sleeping Briton could be set down among the Otago hills, and, on awaking, be told that he was travelling in Galway or the west of Scotland, he might be easily deceived, though he knew those countries well; but he would feel at once that he was being hoaxed, if he were told in any part of Australia that he was travelling among Irish or British scenery.
2. Everything English seems to flourish here. The only quadrupeds seen are those imported from Europe. The complaint is that many of our English animals and plants thrive only too well. Hosts of pigs run wild; rabbits also spread over the country in battalions, and do great damage to the crops. Gorse and sweet-briar, brought by the early settlers from "home" are with difficulty kept in check. Even the English grasses are displacing those of native origin. Our house-sparrow is now the most common bird in New Zealand, and our house-fly seems likely to be as often seen there as here.
HER MAJESTY QUEEN ALEXANDRA.
3. In colonising Australia little account had to be taken of the natives, who were both few and feeble. It was otherwise with the natives of New Zealand. The Maoris, as they called themselves, were a fierce, warlike race, strong and brave, who were not content with killing their enemies, but fed upon their flesh afterwards. They were not, however, mere naked savages. They wove mats and clothing from flax, and cloaks of great value from the dressed skins of dogs. In the narrative of the wars between the Maoris and the colonists, one is constantly reminded of the war between the ancient Britons and the Romans; in both cases the natives were brave and skilled in war, and owed their final defeat to their own divisions and to the superior arms of their enemies.
4. The first settlement was made here in 1840 after a friendly treaty had been made with the Maoris. By this treaty they took Queen Victoria for their sovereign, but on the express understanding that their lands should remain at their own disposal. "The shadow of our lands," said an old chief, "will go to the queen, but the substance will remain in our own hands." Emigrants began to pour in and to purchase lands at a low price. At the end of twenty years the Maoris began to awake to the fact that the settlers were increasing very rapidly, and now outnumbered themselves, whilst their lands were continually passing out of their hands. A movement, accordingly, soon took place among themselves for the purpose of stopping the sale of land to the stranger.
5. The war that ensued lasted, off and on, for ten years. Aided by British troops, the colonists at last convinced the Maoris that their cause was hopeless. They consented to live at peace on the terms offered, and have ever since been as good as their word. All, except a few of the older people, call themselves Christians. They have become to a certain extent educated and civilised; many of them have farms and ships. But with the change in their habits has come a change in their spirit. They seem to feel themselves a doomed race. "As the white man's rat," they say, "has extirpated our rat, as the European fly is driving out our fly, as the foreign clover is killing our ferns, so the Maori himself will disappear before the white man."
6. Since 1870, when the war ended, the whole of New Zealand has made steady progress. In the course of the next ten years, such a stream of emigrants came flowing in that the population almost doubled itself. All skilled labourers who came found ready employment and good pay. It was a time when much money was spent on public works. The New Zealand Government had raised a loan of ten millions from men of capital in England. The money thus borrowed was devoted to three purposes: (1) to improve the means of communication by constructing roads, railroads, bridges, telegraphs, and coasting-vessels; (2) to purchase lands from the natives whenever they were willing to sell; and (3) to aid men of the right stamp to emigrate from Britain.
7. New Zealand is, as I have intimated, an eminently British Colony. The colonists are almost entirely of British descent. Their trade is nearly confined to the British Empire, seven-tenths of it being with the mother-country, and nearly all the rest with Australia, India, and Fiji. The discovery of the method of keeping meat frozen in cold air chambers during the passage of a vessel through the tropics has been a great boon to New Zealand, and a great advantage to our own land, enabling British workmen to purchase excellent meat at a moderate price.
8. A moment's reflection on these facts will serve to bring home to our minds the mutual advantages accruing to the mother-country and her colonies, when in friendly relations with each other. We observe that New Zealand has received the aid of British troops in her war with the natives; she has been able to raise a large loan for public works at a moderate rate of interest from men of property at home; and she enjoys here a ready market for her produce.
9. The mother-country, on her part, has been able to provide new homes for her surplus population in a country like their own; she has secured seven-tenths of the trade of New Zealand, increasing thereby the amount of profitable employment for her workpeople; she has drawn from the colony supplies of cheap food to help fill the hungry mouths of her millions, and quite recently she has received the substantial aid of 6,000 New Zealand troops in her war in South Africa.
(12) A DIFFICULT BRITISH STATE TO BUILD
(South Africa).
1. The story of South Africa, since the British gained a footing there, is marked by many a dark spot of misfortune and disaster that we would gladly forget. When Britain, in 1806, took possession of the Cape, the country was occupied by Boers, Hottentots, and Kaffirs. The building up of a British state, with such conflicting elements, has been a work of extreme difficulty, which has put the best qualities of the British race to a severe test, and much of the work still remains to be done.
2. The Home Government, for many years, only valued the Cape as a military post and naval station, occupying a commanding position on the waterway to India. They shrank, accordingly, from extending British rule in South Africa beyond the narrowest limits, and for many years made no attempt to colonize the country. It was not until 1820 that a body of picked emigrants, numbering 5,000, were landed at Algoa Bay, and, having been taken 100 miles inland, were put in possession of farms of 100 acres each.
3. The first three years were years of blight which killed the growing grain, and then came a flood which washed away their cottages and gardens. Many of the emigrants were good artisans but bad farmers. They had been set out like so many plants, in well-ordered rows, and told to grow where they were placed. But the experiment was bound to fail. Before long many of the men deserted their farms and found work as artisans, whilst those who were fitted for farm-work added the derelict farms to their own, and thus in time each one found himself in the sphere for which he was best adapted.
4. The coming of the British settlers had a marked effect on the government of the colony. The governor was no longer able to rule simply as he thought best. The new-comers were not disposed to be treated as children. They wanted law and government, but insisted on their right to question the acts of the governor, and to see that he governed according to law, and not merely according to his own will and pleasure. It is interesting to find from an official report made to the House of Commons that,—"The introduction of the English settlers, and the right of discussion which they claimed and exercised, have had the effect of exciting in the Dutch and native population a spirit of vigilance and attention, that never existed before, to the acts of the government, and which may render all future exertion of authority objectionable that is not founded upon the law."
5. The history of South Africa, for more than thirty years after the first British settlement, is marked by two special features, both arising from the fact that three races—British, Boer, and Kaffir—were contending for the mastery. One feature was the repeated migrations of the Boers to get away from British rule and taxation, and from British justice, which was dealt out even-handed to black men and white men alike. The Boers succeeded in forming two republics—the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. They also attempted to settle in Natal, but that colony was annexed by the British government (1843).
6. The other feature of those early days was the frequent necessity of going to war with the Kaffirs. Several serious wars had to be fought with the natives, who were very numerous, before they were convinced that the white man had come to stay, and that his arm was stronger than theirs. Each war with the Kaffirs ended in an extension of British territory, and by the middle of the century nearly the whole country south of the Orange river was taken under British rule.
7. The governor that did most for the peace of the colony was Sir George Grey, who had already done a good work for the empire in South Australia and New Zealand. He secured the good offices of the Kaffir chiefs by taking them into his pay, and he opened schools where their young men might be trained in some useful occupation, as farming, gardening, and carpentry. But he met with only moderate success. Like the negroes of the West Indies, most Kaffirs hate work and have no desire to better their condition. Given a noisy musical instrument, a bright sun, and a gaudy dress, and their mirth and gaiety seem boundless.
8. Sir George Grey also tried to cure the natives of their belief in witchcraft, but in this he miserably failed. He did much, however, to put down the practice of "smelling out" witches. The Kaffirs believe that diseases and disasters of all kinds are caused by wizards and witches, and in every tribe there was a professional witch-finder whose duty it was to go through certain forms, calling "smelling-out," and then point out the individual, who was supposed to have caused the mischief. This practice did not commend itself to the governor's sense of justice, and he did all he possibly could to put it down.
9. The superstitious belief of the Kaffirs was the cause of a terrible tragedy during Grey's term of office. Thousands of their cattle had been carried off by a pestilence, when a Kaffir prophet consoled the poor natives by assuring them that the Kaffir chiefs, long dead and gone, were about to return to earth with a new breed of cattle, which disease could not touch, and that their coming would result in the triumph of the black men over the white. But all this, he said, would only happen if all the present cattle and corn were destroyed. Thousands took the madman at his word and made away with their corn and cattle. The great day of deliverance was fixed for February 18th, 1857, and to their amazement the sun rose and set as usual, leaving the poor dupes face to face with starvation. The Kaffirs suffered so dreadfully from the scourge of famine, and their numbers were in consequence so much reduced, that we hear of no more wars during the next twenty years.
10. During this peaceful time Cape Colony made steady but slow progress, but, in 1870, an event occurred which awoke the colony to new life. This was the discovery of a rich diamond-field around Kimberley. Men and capital began to flow into the country and the wheels of industry began to turn more rapidly. Farmers obtained a good market, trade became brisk, railways were speedily laid down. The diamonds are found in a kind of "blue ground," which is nothing but a stream of volcanic mud cast up in ages past. So rich is it in diamonds that the mines have yielded, since 1870, a yearly revenue of between two and three million pounds.
11. The blacks in 1878 made one more hopeless attempt to oust the white men. The struggle ended in the British government taking possession of all the Kaffir lands, except Basutoland, and adding them to Cape Colony. Basutoland is a native state under the direct rule of the British Crown. This arrangement was made in response to the prayer of a Basuto chief: "Let me and my people rest and live under the large folds of the flag of England."
(13) A GREAT EXTENSION OF BRITISH TERRITORY
(South Africa).
1. No sooner had we put down the Kaffirs and annexed their territory to Cape Colony than we had to advance into Zululand and finally add that country to the Empire. The Zulus were then under the rule of their king Cetewayo, who kept a large army, well drilled and armed with musket and assegai. This force was a standing peril to Natal, and to save this colony from the horrors it feared, a British force crossed the Tugela—which separates Natal from Zululand—to destroy, if possible, the Zulu king's "man-slaying machine."
2. The invading army crossed the river at a ford called Rorke's Drift (1879), and a division of the troops suffered a great disaster, not far from there, at Isandlana. Happily, a small detachment had been left to guard the passage at the ford. The command of this post was in the hands of Lieutenants Chard and Bromhead, whose names deserve an honoured place in our memory. With a force of 104 men they made an heroic defence against a savage host of 3000 warriors, who had reddened their assegais in the blood of our countrymen, taken by surprise, at Isandlana.
3. During the fight a building used as a hospital was set on fire by the Zulus. The brave defenders gallantly repulsed every attack whilst the sick were removed. A sort of redoubt was then constructed of bags of mealies in the centre of the camp, and when hard pressed to this they retired. The vigour of the siege continued from four in the afternoon until midnight. With the first light of morning the Zulus retired, on hearing of the approach of the British main-body, leaving three hundred black corpses on the ground. Of the gallant defenders seventeen were killed and ten wounded.
4. When the British General first came in sight of Rorke's Drift and saw smoke rising from the burning hospital, he felt certain that the depot had been captured, and that Natal, at that moment, lay at the mercy of a horde of savages. But he was quickly relieved at the sight of a British flag and the sound of a British cheer, and then he learned the story of the defence of that isolated post by the undaunted resolution of a little band of heroes, by whose conduct Natal was saved from invasion and massacre.
5. After a large force had landed from England, the invasion of Zululand was renewed, and a pitched battle, fought at Ulundi, brought the war to a close. To prevent the country from falling into the hands of the Boers, Zululand was annexed to Natal, and now forms part of the British Empire. The Zulus have ever since lived in peace and contentment.
6. It also became necessary to take under our wing the country of the Bechuanas on the west of the Transvaal; for there also many of the Boers were settling and making themselves at home on their neighbour's territory. Khama, a king of the Bechuanas sent to ask for British protection. "There are three things," he wrote, "which distress me very much—war, selling people, and drink. All these I shall find in the Boers, and it is these things which destroy people to make an end of them in the country." A part of Bechuanaland was, accordingly, brought under British rule, and the remaining part under British protection.
7. The next addition to the empire in South Africa was a vast country now known as Rhodesia, a country that owes its name to Cecil Rhodes, to whose marvellous enterprise its possession is mainly due. From its fertility, climate, and mineral wealth, it now bids fair to become a flourishing British Colony.
8. It was, however, difficult at first to make a settlement here, because it was partly occupied by the warlike Matabele, a tribe akin to the dreaded Zulus. Their king, Lobengula, kept an army of 10,000 warriors, who lived only for the joy of fighting. Permission, however, was purchased from Lobengula to search for, and work, the minerals within his territory. And a pioneer force was sent to turn this permission to account (1890). Before two years had passed it became quite clear that the Matabele warriors must be crushed before any progress could be made. Thanks to our machine-guns and modern rifles, this was soon effected.
9. A decisive engagement was fought near Bulawayo, the Matabele capital. The enemy foolishly hurled themselves against our small force when some were laagered, the rest entrenched. After an hour's carnage, they began to retreat with the loss of 1000 killed and wounded. A day or two later a loud report rent the air, and huge columns of smoke were observed to rise from Bulawayo. The king had fled after ordering his magazine to be blown up. Lobengula died shortly afterwards of fever, and his kingdom was placed under British rule.
10 The patriot that secured Rhodesia for the empire, has, unhappily, had his work cut short by an early death. Much as he had done for his country he hoped to do still more. His keen disappointment finds utterance in his last words: "So little done, so much to do."