of the strong fortress. In spite of the great heat, General Rose marched upon Gwalior, and took it on the 20th June, the Rani, dressed as a man, being killed in one of the actions which took place round the fortress. The Mahratta leader was persistently hunted through Central India and Rajputana during the summer and the ensuing cold weather, and covered 3000 miles in his flight before he was betrayed ten months later, on the 7th April 1859, and was tried and hanged. He had fought against the British gallantly for over a year; but he had also given the signal for the massacre on 27th June 1857, at the Sati Chaura Ghat at Cawnpore. Meanwhile the rebellion in Oudh and the North-West Provinces had been gradually suppressed, and the Nana had been driven into the Nepal jungle, where he is believed to have died of fever. The prophet who had announced that the Company's rule would end in 1857, a hundred years after the Battle of Plassey, was not far out in his reckoning. On the 1st November 1858, at a grand darbar at Allahabad, Lord Canning announced that the Company's possessions in India were transferred to the British Crown. VII. The Aftermath During the later stages of the mutiny Lord Canning was subjected to much unfair and bitter criticism. His policy of conciliation, though fortified by the advice of men such as Sir John Lawrence and Sir Colin Campbell, was bitterly resented by the European population in Calcutta. On the other hand, Lord Ellenborough, who had just been appointed President of the Board of Control, administered a public rebuke to the Governor-General on account of his Proclamation to the taluqdars of Oudh. Lord Canning felt deeply these attacks, but in public preserved a dignified silence. He refused to resign "in a time of unexampled difficulty, danger and toil." To his friend, Lord Granville, however, he unbosomed his inmost thoughts in the following words: "I will not govern in anger. Justice, and that as stern, as inflexible as law and might can make it, I will deal out. But I shall never allow an angry and indiscriminating act or word to proceed from the Government of India so long as I am responsible for it." He kept to these principles. To those in Oudh who made a full submission he showed sympathy and generosity. The Canning College at Lucknow is a lasting testimony of the gratitude of the taluqdars of Oudh. The sad and poignant story of the Mutiny was thus closed, but its indirect results have been very marked in the subsequent development of British rule in India. The Queen's Proclamation of 1858 went far to mitigate the ill-feelings that the Mutiny had aroused. Queen Victoria was especially interested in the preparation of the document, and requested Lord Derby to "bear in mind that it is a female sovereign who speaks to more than a hundred million of eastern people in assuming the direct Government over them and, after a bloody war, giving them pledges which her future reign is to` redeem, and explaining the principles of her Government. Such a document should breathe feelings of generosity, benevolence and religious toleration, and point out the privileges which Indians will receive in being placed on an equality with the subjects of the British Crown and the prosperity following in the train of civilisation." MODERN CONDITIONS Since the Mutiny there has been a great change in British policy. All Rulers of States are now in practice allowed to adopt heirs to their sovereignty as well as to their property. Widows are allowed to adopt the Government never annexes on failure of natural heirs. Modern preparations for transport, commissariat, and mobilisation, combined with the railway system and telegraphs (including wireless telegraphy), ensure the speedy movement of troops to any given spot. The high-caste sepoy has been to a considerable extent replaced by a less exacting soldier, and the danger of a groundless religious panic thereby lessened, while the pay of the sepoy has been raised, whether on service in his own country or in foreign districts. The right of the East India Company to maintain a standing army in India is now possessed by the Crown. The purposes of the army in India are twofold; the defence of India against external aggression and the maintenance of internal order. At present (1923) a step towards the Indianisation of the Indian Army is being made: by gradual substitution of Indian Officers with King's Commissions for British Officers in eight selected regiments, and by the training at Dehra Dun of young Indians for a military career. REMARKABLE EVENTS CONNECTING INDIA WITH EUROPE, AND IN INDIA DATES The Portuguese Vasco da Gama, sailing round the Cape of Good 1498 Portuguese factory at Cannanore, 1501. Fort there Portuguese established at Calicut (abandoned in 1525), Cannanore, 1505 1510 after 1510 The Portuguese began to frequent the Hooghly. Arrival of St Francis Xavier, S.J., in India DATES 1530 1542 Bassein, Salsette, and Bombay ceded to the Portuguese by the 1559 Thomas Stephens, of New College, Oxford, became rector of the 1579 The Portuguese power in India suffered from the Union with Spain, which lasted 1580-1640 The first Dutch fleet doubled the Cape of Good Hope 1595 The Dutch in India. 1596-1824 Charter from Queen Elizabeth to "The Governor and Company of 31st December 1600 1602 The first French East India Company formed. Foundation of the first English factory by Lancaster at Bantam, in Java. 1602-03 Captain Hawkins at Surat and Agra as envoy to the "Great Mogul" 1604 1608 Sir Thomas Roe, ambassador to Jahangir, obtained favourable con cessions for English trade . 1615-18 Decline of Spanish and Portuguese power in India. English Agents in Bengal, at Agra and Patna . 1615-50 1620 The English at Batavia resolved to withdraw from the Moluccas, January 1623 Massacre of the English by the Dutch at Amboyna February 1623 French Companies formed under Richelieu 1630-42 The English Company allowed to trade in the Mughal dominions 1634 1640 1640 Gabriel Boughton, surgeon of the Hopewell, obtained from the Emperor Shah Jahan exclusive privileges of trading in Bengal for the English Company as a reward for his professional services to the Governor of Bengal 1645 First war between England and Holland 1651-54 Madras (Fort St George) made into a Presidency The Dutch took Negapatam from the Portuguese 1653 Bombay ceded to England by the Portuguese as part of the dowry of the Infanta Catherine of Braganza on her marriage with Charles II. 1661 Sack of Surat by Sivaji. French East India Company established by 1664 Second war with Holland 1665 Bombay granted to the East India Company for £10 annual rent 1668 DATES East India Company's factory moved from Surat to Bombay War in Europe with France East India Company built Fort William at Calcutta The Peace of Ryswick. A new English Company formed. The old Company bought the site of Calcutta from Azim-us-shan, The old and new Companies formed into “The United Company of Death of the Emperor Aurangzeb, and rapid decline of the Mughal power 1687 1687-89 24th August 1690 1690-97 1696 Pondicherry restored to the French 1697 1698 1700 Through the arbitration of Lord Godolphin, 1708, the two English The Austrian Emperor, Charles VI., granted a charter to the Ostend Company, 1723. Withdrawn 1725 India invaded by Nadir Shah of Persia. General massacre at Delhi A French fleet under La Bourdonnais captured Madras Bussy at Hyderabad. Capture and subsequent defence of Arcot by 1751 The French capitulated at Trichinopoly, 13th June. Danish factory established at Calicut 1752 Dupleix superseded. Treaty of peace between the British and French signed at Pondicherry 1754 War between France and England. Suraj-ud-daula, Nawab of 1756 Recapture of Calcutta by Clive, 2nd January. Battle of Plassey, Mahratta invasion of the Panjab 1758 Lally arrived with a French fleet. He took Fort St David and Arcot; besieged Madras; raised the siege, 1759. Clive appointed the first Governor of the Company's settlements in Bengal Clive, through Colonel Forde, defeated the Dutch at Biderra, near Chinsura 25th November 1750 . 1758-59 1757 1757-60 Eyre Coote totally defeated Lally at the battle of Wandiwash, 22nd January. Arcot taken by the British . Period of misrule in Bengal Pondicherry capitulated to the British. DATES 1760 1760-65 Fall of the French power in 1761 1763 1764 the Deccan. Ahmad Shah Abdali defeated the Mahrattas at Panipat Pondicherry restored to the French by the treaty of Paris. Massacre of English prisoners at Patna The first sepoy mutiny suppressed by Major Hector Munro, who Clive left India, 1767. The Nizam and Hyder Ali attacked the 1765 1766 First Mysore war 1767-69 The Nizam ceded the revenue of part of the Carnatic 1768 Hyder Ali overran the Carnatic and dictated a peace within a few miles of Madras. Treaty with the Nizam, Mysore, and the Mahrattas 1769 Terrible famine in Bengal 1770 The East India Company stood forth as Diwan of Bengal Governor of Bengal. Treaty between the Nawab-Wazir of Oudh, and Rohillas, for defence against the Mahrattas Motion condemning Clive's conduct in India defeated. ing Act passed by Parliament. Agreement between Hastings and The Nawab-Wazir of Oudh ceded Benares and Ghazipur. General Goddard's celebrated march across India and Nizam Captain Popham captured Gwalior, 3rd August. Hyder Ali took 1778-79 1779 1780 Insurrection at Benares 1781 Final expedition of French against English in India. 1781-82 1782 |