Sixty Years a Queen Part 18

FIELD-MARSHAL LORD RAGLAN, 1788-1855.

Lord Fitzroy James Henry Somerset, created Baron Raglan in 1852, was the eighth and youngest son of the Fifth Duke of Beaufort. He was Military Secretary to the Duke of Wellington, 1819-1852, Master-General of Ordnance, 1852, and was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in the Crimea, 1854.]

[Sidenote: Death of Lord Raglan.]

The war went on; the Allies being strengthened in a minute degree by the active adherence of the little kingdom of Sardinia, of which the gallant and resolute monarch, Victor Emmanuel, perceived ultimate advantage to his designs on the throne of Italy through alliance with Great Britain and France in a war which concerned him about as much as it did the Queen of the Sandwich Islands. The bombardment of Sebastopol was resumed on April 10, and 400 great guns battered away without much result. But the trenches were drawing ever closer round the doomed city, and the Allies made a successful expedition to Kertch on May 24, where they destroyed immense stores provided for the Russian army, as well as a convoy of cargo ships in the Sea of Azoff. On June 18 a combined a.s.sault was delivered on the Malakoff and Redan Forts, but the Allies were repulsed with heavy loss. It had been undertaken against the judgment of Lord Raglan, who yielded reluctantly to General Pelissier's urgent request. He took this reverse grievously to heart: hara.s.sed as he had been by the censures pa.s.sed at home on his administration, his health gave way under this additional blow, and he succ.u.mbed to dysentery on the 29th.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _E. M. Ward, R.A._} {_In the Royal Collection._

HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN INVESTING THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON III. WITH THE ORDER OF THE GARTER AT WINDSOR CASTLE, April 18, 1855.

The friendly feeling between England and France which sprang out of their common interests in the war against Russia, found expression in an interchange of visits between the Sovereigns of the two countries. The Emperor Napoleon III. and his beautiful Empress visited the Queen at Windsor in April 1855. They were met at Dover by the Prince Consort on the 16th, and remained at Windsor until the 21st. One of the most impressive ceremonies of their visit was the Installation of the Emperor as a Knight of the Garter.]

In a.s.suming the chief command of the British Army in this war, Lord Raglan had undertaken a task of peculiar and, in some respects, novel difficulty. He brought ripe experience, it is true, acquired under the greatest soldier of the century, but the lapse of years had brought about so many changes in military appliances and scientific inventions, that much of that experience was rendered obsolete. He was the first British general who had to conduct operations in the field advised, controlled, directed, censured by telegraphic despatches from the War Office. He had, moreover, to act in concert with an ally, brave, indeed, but sensitive, and it was of the nature of things that their counsels should sometimes clash, at least, that their judgment should not always be identical. Little reference has been made to the angry impatience expressed in the English press and Parliament in regard to what was freely condemned as the incapacity and dilatoriness of Lord Raglan, because time and reflection have amply vindicated his renown. But it must have been galling to him at the time, and greatly aggravated the difficulties of his position. The best evidence of his genuine force of character is found in the patient courage with which he fulfilled his office to the last, and the enthusiastic devotion which he won from all ranks serving under him.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Chevalier L. W. Desanges._} {_In the Victoria Cross Gallery, Crystal Palace._

MAJOR (NOW GENERAL) CHRISTOPHER TEESDALE, C.B., R.A., AT KARS, September 29, 1855.

He was awarded the Victoria Cross for gallant conduct in throwing himself into the midst of the Russians, who had penetrated under cover of night into the Yuksek Tabia redoubt; also for saving, at great personal risk, the enemy's wounded from the fury of the Turks.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _G. H. Thomas._} {_From the Royal Collection._

HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN DISTRIBUTING MEDALS TO THE HEROES OF THE CRIMEA, ON THE HORSE GUARDS PARADE, May 21, 1855.]

[Sidenote: Battle of Tchernaya.]

The command of the British forces devolved upon General Simpson. On August 16 General Liprandi made a formidable attempt to raise the siege by an attack on the French and Sardinian position on the Tchernaya, but was repulsed with tremendous slaughter. This was the last encounter in the open field. The final a.s.sault on the town was opened by a tremendous fire from the Allied batteries on September 5, and the bombardment continued without intermission throughout the 6th and 7th. On the morning of the 8th the French made a splendid dash at the Malakoff Fort, the key of Sebastopol, and captured it. The English fared not so well in an attempt to storm the Redan and suffered severely in a repulse. But the defence was at an end.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _C. Jacquand._} {_From the Royal Collection._

HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN AND THE PRINCE CONSORT LANDING AT BOULOGNE, August 18, 1855.

This was the first visit of an English Sovereign to France since Henry VI. was crowned in Paris in 1422. The Royal Visitors were received by the Emperor on the landing stage at Boulogne, and conveyed to the Palace of St. Cloud. During their stay in Paris they paid several visits to the Palais des Beaux Arts, a part of the Exposition Universelle in which they were greatly interested.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _G. H. Thomas._} {_From the Royal Collection._

REVIEW IN THE CHAMPS DE MARS AT PARIS, August 24, 1855.

During their stay in Paris, Her Majesty the Queen and the Prince Consort were present at a grand review of troops held in the Champs de Mars.

Especial interest was attached to the spectacle, as at the moment the armies of France and England were fighting side by side in the final struggle in the Crimea. Canrobert, one of the heroes of the war, was present, and was decorated by the Queen with the Order of the Bath. Her Majesty, with the Empress and Princess Mathilde, are sitting together in the balcony, while the Emperor and the Prince Consort are below watching the movements of the long series of battalions.]

[Sidenote: Evacuation of Sebastopol.]

After repeated attempts to retake the Malakoff, the Russian commander resolved on evacuating the town. Fortunately the wires connected with the magazine in the Malakoff were discovered in time by the French and cut, for arrangements had been made for blowing up all the forts. One after another they went up with terrific din during the night; early on the morning of the 9th the Russians executed a masterly evacuation across a floating bridge, leaving their town in flames and their fleet at the bottom of the harbour. Sebastopol had fallen, but not into the hands of the Allies; it had been erased from the face of the earth.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _E. M. Ward, R.A._} {_From the Royal Collection._

HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN VISITING THE TOMB OF NAPOLEON I. IN THE INVALIDES, PARIS, August 24, 1855.]

[Sidenote: Conclusion of Peace.]

The Congress of Paris met on February 26, 1856, and a treaty of peace was signed by the plenipotentiaries of the Great Powers on March 30. The most important Article was that which guaranteed the perpetual neutrality of the Black Sea; Russia received back the ruins of Sebastopol in exchange for the wreck of Kars, and the Eastern Question was laid to rest, at least for a season.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE EARL OF ROSSE'S GREAT TELESCOPE AT PARSONSTOWN.

This great reflecting telescope, still the finest in the world, is 56 feet long; the speculum or mirror of copper and tin at the bottom of the tube is 6 feet in diameter and weighs nearly 4 tons. Its nominal magnifying power is 6,000, and it reflects about 165,000 times as much light as the naked eye itself would receive. It was designed and constructed in 1845 by the late Earl of Rosse, and has rendered great service to science.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: [_From a Photograph by the late Mrs. Cameron._

SIR JOHN F. W. HERSCHEL, BART.

1792-1871.

Astronomer. Son of Sir Frederick W. Herschel. His first great work was his Catalogue of Double and Triple Stars; later on he catalogued the nebulae, and made researches in Sound and Light. He discovered the solvent effects of hyposulphite of soda on silver salts--the basis of photographic processes. Created a Baronet in 1838, Master of the Mint 1850-55. For many years he was among the most prominent of English scientists.]

For this result England had to pay down four and twenty thousand lives and add forty-one millions to her National Debt; but she learned in addition to take vigilant precaution against the enervating influence of prolonged peace. To this may be added the bracing moral effect which follows on the supreme and disciplined exercise of a nation's power.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Sir Oswald Brierly, R.W.S._} {_In the Royal Collection._

ACTION AT FATSHAN, CHINA, June 1, 1857.

The Chinese fleet of about ninety junks was completely destroyed in two severe engagements, in which the Chinese fought their guns with unexampled constancy. Owing to the shallowness of the water the British attacked in small boats.]

CHAPTER X.

1857-1858.

The Lorcha _Arrow_--War with China--Defeat of the Government--Dissolution of Parliament--Palmerston returns to Office--Startling News from India--Mutiny at Meerut--The Chupatties--Loyalty of the Sikhs--Lord Canning's Presence of Mind--Disarmament of Sepoys at Meean Meer--The Rising at Cawnpore--Nana Sahib's Treachery--The Ma.s.sacre--Siege of Delhi--The Relief of Lucknow--Death of Havelock--Sir Hugh Rose's Campaign--The Ranee of Jhansi--Capture and Execution of Tantia Topee--End of the East India Company's Rule--Marriage of the Princess Royal.

It is well that the next chapter in British warfare is a short one, for it is one which Britons can peruse with little pride. It is prefaced by a paragraph in the Queen's Speech at the opening of Parliament on February 3, 1857: "Acts of violence, insults to the British flag, and infraction of treaty rights, committed by the local Chinese authorities at Canton, and a pertinacious refusal of redress, have rendered it necessary for Her Majesty's officers in China to have recourse to measures of force to obtain satisfaction."

[Ill.u.s.tration: _T. Phillips, R.A._} {_From the "Life of Dr. Arnold," by permission of Mr. Murray._

THOMAS ARNOLD, D.D., 1795-1842.

Appointed Head Master of Rugby School in 1827, he infused a new tone and spirit into English Public School Education. He was the first to introduce modern languages, modern history, and mathematics into the regular school course.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _F. Winterhalter._} {_In the Royal Collection._

HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN IN THE ROBES OF THE ORDER OF THE GARTER.