A history of England

by Charles Oman

Since the Mutiny the annals of India have been comparatively peaceful, and hardly a shot has been fired within the bounds of the peninsula. The history of the last thirty years has been a record of growing prosperity, of the development of trade and industries, the building of railways and canals, and the marvellous increase of sea-borne trade. Since the Suez Canal has brought India so close to Europe, the arable land is everywhere encroaching on the jungle, and the main difficulty of the future appears likely to be the overgrowth of population in the thickly settled districts, where, more than once, a year of dearth has slain thousands and brought tens of millions to the edge of starvation. The terrible Madras famine of 1877, the worst of its kind, is said to have cost the lives of 1,500,000 peasants.

The second Afghan war.

The one great warlike episode in the history of British India remaining to be chronicled is the second Afghan war, of 1878-80. This struggle was a consequence of the Russo-Turkish war of the previous year, and of the estrangement between Russia and England which resulted therefrom. Lord Lytton, the viceroy of the years 1876-80, was a disciple of Lord Beaconsfield, and a believer in a spirited foreign policy. He found that Shere Ali, the Ameer of Afghanistan, was intriguing with the Russian governor of Turkestan, and promptly summoned him to sign a treaty of alliance and receive a British resident at his court. The Ameer refused, and at once saw his dominions invaded. When General Roberts stormed the Peiwar Kotal and advanced within a few miles of Cabul, the Ameer fled towards the Russian frontier, and died on the way. His son, Yakoob Khan, accepted the British suzerainty, and promised all that was required. But when the army had retired, the populace of Cabul rose just as in 1842, and murdered Sir Lewis Cavagnari, the British resident, and all his escort. A second invasion at once began, and Yakoob Khan was deposed and sent to India. Lord Lytton would probably have annexed the whole country but for the troubles which broke out in the winter of 1879-80, when the Afghan tribes took arms and assailed the garrisons of Cabul and Candahar. Roberts was besieged in his entrenchments at Cabul, but finally drove off the insurgents, and held his own. But in the south General Burrows, advancing to attack the pretender Eyoob Khan, was totally defeated at Maiwand, with the loss of half his brigade, and chased back into Candahar. He was only saved by the rapid and masterly march of Roberts, who in twenty-three days forced his way from Cabul to Candahar, routed the army of Eyoob, and liberated the Candahar garrison (September 1, 1880). But the disaster of Maiwand had troubled English public opinion, and a Liberal government had now replaced Lord Beaconsfield at home. Afghanistan was evacuated, and Abdurrhaman Khan, a nephew of Shere Ali, was recognized as ruler of the whole country, where he maintained himself with success till his death in 1901, and proved faithful to the English alliance.

The Queen proclaimed Empress of India.

Perhaps Lord Lytton's administration may ultimately be remembered less for his unhappy Afghan war than for his proclamation of the Queen as Empress of India in the great Durbar held in Delhi in 1877. This step marked the commencement of a new and more intimate relation of England and India, of which an earnest had been given two years before by the Prince of Wales's tour through the peninsula. Since then every attempt has been made to enlist the sympathies of the natives on behalf of the British rule. Their princes have been encouraged to visit England, to interest themselves in public works, education, and internal reforms, and to supply troops for the general service of the empire. Elective municipalities have been created in the cities, to teach their motley population the art of self-government—which they are still very far from having learnt. A share in the administration—which some think unduly large—is granted to native civil servants, and the native press has been granted a liberty which it often abuses. All financial and agrarian legislation is framed to press as lightly as possible on the masses. But the results of these efforts are still somewhat problematic, and the British bayonet is still needed to keep the peace between contending races and creeds.

The Australian penal settlements.—New South Wales.

In strong contrast with the stirring annals of British India are the unromantic details of the development of our Australian Colonies. We have alluded to the unpromising foundation of our first establishment in Botany Bay, by the despatch thither of the gangs of convicts who in an earlier age used to be sent into servitude in America (1788). For many years this annual crop of ruffianism swamped all attempts at real colonization in New South Wales. But after a time the extraordinary fertility of the soil began to attract more immigrants, while the mitigation of the English penal law under the hands of Sir Robert Peel decreased the number of convicts. As the free population grew they began to protest so strongly against the companions who were drafted in upon them, that the government diverted the stream of convicts to new settlements in Tasmania and Western Australia. For long years New South Wales remained a purely pastoral colony, and its immense plains were inhabited only by the "squatters"—the proprietors who had bought large tracts of land from the government. They dwelt in stations thinly scattered over the face of the country, rearing vast herds of cattle and sheep. It was as exporting wool, hides, and tallow alone that Australia first became known to the commercial world of Europe.

Discovery of gold-fields.—Victoria.

In 1851, however, an enormous difference was made by the discovery of rich alluvial gold deposits near Port Phillip, on the southern shore of New South Wales. The washings proved so productive that thousands of immigrants of all sorts and conditions poured in to profit by them. The Port Phillip district was cut off from New South Wales, and made into the new colony of Victoria (1851). Its population went up from 80,000 to 450,000 in the ten years that followed the discovery of gold. When the alluvial deposits were exhausted, it was found that large reefs of auriferous quartz lay below them, and a steady development of scientific mining by machinery superseded the haphazard work of the early diggers. Victoria still continues one of the great gold-producing centres of the world.

Queensland.—The labour difficulty.