(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.