Little Arthur's history of England

by Lady Maria Callcott

Meanwhile the people were glad to turn their minds from these troubles to an event that gave every one pleasure, namely, the marriage of the Queen with her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, nephew of Leopold, the wise King of the Belgians. There were great rejoicings on this occasion, and with reason, for it proved one of the happiest events, not only for the Queen, but for her people.

The French had for some time been growing more and more dissatisfied with the government of Louis Philippe, whom they had chosen, in 1830, to be their king; and every now and then they had shown their discontent by insurrections, which led to fighting in the streets of Paris. At length their displeasure vented itself in a complete revolution, and Louis Philippe, in terror for his life, made his escape and came for refuge to England.

The Marriage of Queen Victoria.

The Chartists, misled by some designing persons who fancied they might make a similar revolution in Old England, thought this would be a good time to try and frighten the Queen and Government of England into granting their foolish and dangerous wishes; so they collected a very large multitude, intending to go in a body to the House of Commons and demand what they wanted. But the people of England loved the Queen too well, and were too well satisfied with the government of their country, to let the Chartists do any mischief; so, at the command of the Duke of Wellington, soldiers were placed in various parts of London, to be in readiness if wanted; and the principal citizens undertook to guard the City, while they spared all the policemen to go and keep the bridges which cross the Thames. The Chartists, when they saw that they could not gain their ends, and that they would only bring harm to themselves if they resorted to violence, agreed that the best thing they could do, was to disperse and go quietly home. Thus, whereas there had been fighting between the people and the soldiers in almost all the other great cities of Europe, peace was maintained in London on that memorable and peaceful day, the Tenth of April, 1848, without a single soldier being seen.

A short while after, the great Duke of Wellington, who had served his country so long and so well, died. By the victories he had won he had procured peace for Europe which lasted more than forty years. The English had cause to lament his loss, not many years after, when they engaged in a terrible war with Russia. The Russians, whose country, you know, is the largest in Europe, tried to get possession of Turkey, and of the mouths of the River Danube, and the rich corn countries on its banks. Several of the other European countries thought it was not fair for Russia to tyrannize over Turkey, and they also thought it would not be safe for the rest of Europe, that the Emperor of Russia should rule from the Baltic to the Black Sea and Mediterranean, as he certainly would do if he succeeded in overpowering the Turks. So the English and French, and afterwards the Sardinians, joined in helping the Turks to drive back the Russians into their own country. This war lasted two years, and half a million of lives were lost in it, far the greater number on the side of Russia. The allied armies, as those who joined the Turks were called, fought hard, and suffered a great deal from cold, illness, and fatigue, but they succeeded at last in freeing the Turks from their Russian enemies. The fighting took place chiefly in the Crimea, where the Russians had a very strong fortress and a large harbour for their ships of war, at a place called Sevastopol. The Russians strove with all their might to defend the fortress; but, after it had been besieged for twelve months, it was taken at last, with great difficulty, by the Allies, and was destroyed.

This war was scarcely over when a dreadful mutiny broke out in India amongst the Sepoys. The Sepoys are Indians whom the English have trained to be soldiers. They make very good soldiers, and are sometimes very faithful; but their religion makes them see some things in a very different light from that in which Christians look at the same things; and one of the supposed grievances of the Sepoys was that their cartridges were greased with the fat of cows—animals which are sacred amongst the Indians. The Sepoys turned upon the English, who were few in number compared with themselves, and killed numbers of them, with their wives and children, without mercy. The massacre was dreadful, but the English were not daunted, and they everywhere showed the greatest courage and presence of mind in the midst of these scenes of horror, until at length the officers and soldiers, sent from England to relieve and defend them, entirely put down the rebellion. The chieftain of the mutineers was one Nana Sahib, who disappeared, and is supposed to have been slain; and amongst the brave men who subdued the mutiny were General Havelock, Sir Henry Lawrence, and Sir Colin Campbell, afterwards Lord Clyde.

The year after this mutiny the rule of the East India Company was entirely done away with, and an Act of Parliament declared that all those parts of India which had been conquered by the English should in future be governed by the Queen.

I am afraid I should never finish if I tried to tell you all that was done in this reign; but I cannot leave off without speaking of one thing which shows how much the British people love their Queen and their country, and how determined they are to defend them. It was thought at one time that the Emperor Napoleon, who ruled in France after Louis Philippe, had some intention of invading England. As soon as ever this was thought possible, nearly all the young gentlemen, and men of every class throughout the country, came forward of their own accord to be trained as soldiers, and drilled, and they continued steadily practising until they made themselves good soldiers. The invasion did not take place, but such resolution and unity of feeling on the part of Great Britain must make all foreigners see what reception they would meet with, if they came to our land as enemies.

I might tell you long stories of the wonderful wars and changes that have happened all over the world since this time; but they hardly belong to the History of England. And the reason for this is one to make us very thankful. You have seen all through this little book how British freedom has been always growing; so that the people are governed according to their own wishes, and all needful changes can be made without violence. And we have been able to have nothing to do with the great wars abroad, except to send help to the wounded soldiers and the starving people.