Sixty Years a Queen Part 9

THE REV. JOHN KEBLE, 1792-1866.

One of the leaders of the Tractarian movement. He is best known by his hymns published under the t.i.tles of "The Christian Year" (1827) and "Lyra Innocentium" (1847). He was Professor of Poetry at Oxford, 1831, and Vicar of Hursley, near Winchester, 1835-1866. Keble College, Oxford, was erected to his memory.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _J. Faed._}

DR. THOS. CHALMERS, 1780-1847.

As minister of the Tron Church, Glasgow (1815), he obtained a great reputation. He was appointed Professor of Moral Philosophy at St.

Andrew's, 1823, of Theology at Edinburgh in 1828, and led the great secession in 1843. He was the first Moderator of, and was elected Princ.i.p.al and Primarius Professor of Theology in, the Free Church of Scotland.]

[Sidenote: The "Ten Years' Conflict" in Scotland.]

[Sidenote: Disruption of the Church.]

[Sidenote: Dr. Chalmers.]

[Sidenote: Rise of the Free Church.]

The corresponding movement in the Established Presbyterian Church of Scotland, commonly referred to as the Ten Years' Conflict, arose out of a question of Church government rather than one of theology. Lay patronage had been imposed on the Church of Scotland by the Act of 1712.

The revival of spiritual activity, which in England took the shape of the Tractarian movement, was equally perceptible in Scotland, and resulted in the General a.s.sembly of the Church of Scotland pa.s.sing the Veto Act in 1834, by which it was declared to be a fundamental law of the Church that no pastor could be appointed to a parish against the will of the majority of the congregation. It was not long before this led to appeals from the Ecclesiastical to the Civil Courts. In 1842 the General a.s.sembly presented to the Queen a "claim, declaration, and protest," accompanied by an address praying for the abolition of patronage, to which the Home Secretary made reply that the Government could not interfere. In March 1843, the House of Commons decided by 211 votes to 76 against attempting to redress the grievance, and on May 18 following, the non-intrusion party withdrew from the General a.s.sembly and const.i.tuted the first a.s.sembly of the Free Church, under the leadership of Dr. Thomas Chalmers. The action was all the more significant because Chalmers, the most powerful and popular preacher in the Scottish Church of that day, and a distinguished leader of ecclesiastical thought, had hitherto been a powerful champion of the connection of Church and State. But he had thrown himself with great earnestness into the work of reclaiming the ma.s.ses and bringing them into direct relations with the Church, and he felt convinced that this great work could not be carried to success unless the Church were free to choose her own instruments. Four hundred and seventy parish ministers resigned their livings and joined the Free Church. A sustentation fund was set up, based on a calculation made by Chalmers that a penny a week from each member of a congregation would produce a stipend of 150 a year for 500 ministers. It amounted to no less than 367,000 in the first year of disruption.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _J. Doyle_ ("_H. B._").} {_Political Sketches._

AN OLD SO'GER IN MARCHING ORDER.

General Sir Charles Napier, 1782-1853.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _H. Martens._} {_From a Coloured Engraving._

THE BATTLE OF SOBRAON, February 10, 1846.

This ill.u.s.tration is reduced from a popular, but somewhat quaint, coloured print representing the 31st Regiment, with Major-General Sir Henry Smith's division, in action at Sobraon. It forms an instructive contrast with the military prints of the present day.]

[Sidenote: Affairs of British India.]

[Sidenote: The First Sikh War.]

[Sidenote: Battles of Meeanee, Moodkee, Ferozeshah, Aliwal and Sobraon.]

The existence of British territory in India, side by side with territory under British protection and States wholly under native rule, was a condition of things neither conducive to peace nor likely to be of a permanent nature. A single spark dropped among the warlike races inhabiting that vast peninsula was often enough to cause wide-spreading conflagration; and, however agreeable it might be to British consciences, it would be unphilosophic in the highest degree to attribute the blame for such outbreaks exclusively to the native rulers and people. Trouble broke out early in 1843 which led to the annexation by the British of Scinde, a fine territory lying between the Indian Ocean and the Cutch on the south, and southern Afghanistan and the Punjab on the north. Scinde had been divided into three provinces--Hyderabad, Khyrpore, and Meerpore--each ruled by a group of Ameers or hereditary chiefs, descended from Beloochee conquerors, who, it was said, most cruelly oppressed the people under them. Successive treaties had been effected with these rulers by the Indian Government, but the disaster which fell on the British arms in Cabul seems to have encouraged them to withhold some of the tribute due by them under the latest treaty, and they began warlike preparations. In 1842 Lord Ellenborough appointed Sir Charles Napier Commander-in-Chief of the British troops in Scinde, with instructions to inflict signal punishment on any chiefs detected in treachery, at the same time empowering him to make a fresh treaty, relieving the Ameers from the payment of any subsidy for the support of British troops. This treaty was at length signed, though it must be confessed that the Ameers were only induced to consent to it by the threatening display of Napier's force. On February 15, 1843, the British Residency at Hyderabad was attacked by 8,000 troops with six guns, led by one or more of the Ameers, and the garrison of 100 men under Major Outram was driven out after a gallant resistance. Napier marched to Muttaree the following day with a force of 3,000, attacked the Ameers, who had an army of 22,000 Beloochees, on the morning of the 17th at Meeanee, six miles from Hyderabad, defeated them, and captured their whole artillery, ammunition, baggage, and considerable treasure. The British loss amounted to 256 killed and wounded. Hyderabad was occupied, but the Ameer of Meerpore was still under arms, holding a strong position at Dubba, about four miles from Hyderabad, with 20,000 men. Napier attacked him, and a battle lasting for three hours ended in the complete defeat of Shere Mahomed and the occupation of Meerpore by the British. Sir Charles Napier continued warlike operations at intervals against the hill tribes north of Shikarpore, and there can be but one opinion of the masterly way in which he handled the troops under his command. But the policy of the Governor-General was open to some difference of opinion. He had carried things with a high hand in dealing with the Ameers, and early in 1844 he was recalled by the unanimous vote of the Court of Directors of the East India Company, and Sir Henry Hardinge was appointed in his place.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Sir F. Grant, P.R.A._} {_By permission of Messrs.

Graves, Pall Mall._

SIR HENRY, AFTERWARDS VISCOUNT, HARDINGE AND HIS STAFF AT FEROZESHAH.]

Hardinge applied himself to the peaceful preparation of railroad schemes for the development of India, but at the close of 1845 events again forced the Government forward on the path of fresh conquest. At that time the Punjab, a kingdom consisting both of independent Sikh States and those under British protection, was under nominal rule of the boy-king, Dhuleep Singh, and his mother, the Ranee; but his government at Lah.o.r.e was distracted by faction and lay at the mercy of his own powerful army. In December 1845, the Sikh forces, for some reason which has never been clearly explained, began ma.s.sing on the British frontier, and crossed the Sutlej, 15,000 or 20,000 strong, on the 13th. Sir Hugh Gough advanced by forced marches to meet them, attacked them at Moodkee and defeated them, capturing seventeen guns. The Sikhs retired to a strongly-entrenched camp at Ferozeshah, whither Gough, reinforced by Sir John Littler's division from Ferozepore, followed them on the 21st. The Sikh army was now upwards of 50,000 strong, with 108 heavy guns in fixed batteries. The British force consisted of 16,700 men and sixty-nine guns, chiefly horse artillery. There ensued one of the severest conflicts in the history of our Indian Empire. Beginning on the 21st it lasted through part of the 22nd, and ended in the gallant Sikhs being driven across the Sutlej with the loss of many killed and wounded, and no less than seventy guns. The Governor-General, Sir Henry Hardinge, acted as a volunteer, second in command to Sir Hugh Gough, in this memorable action.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Sir F. Grant, P.R.A._} {_By permission of Messrs.

Graves._

FIELD MARSHAL HUGH, VISCOUNT GOUGH, 1779-1869.

Entered the Army in 1794 and served at the Cape of Good Hope and in the Peninsular War. He commanded at the Battles of Moodkee, Ferozeshah, and Sobraon, and was raised to the Peerage as a reward for these great victories. In the second Sikh War in 1848 he commanded in the actions at Chilianwalla and Goojerat.]

[Sidenote: The Second Sikh War.]

Early in January 1846, Sirdar Runjoor Singh, again advancing towards the frontier, took up a strong position on the British side of the Sutlej, threatening Gough's line of communications with Loodiana. Major-General Sir Harry Smith attacked him at Aliwal on January 28, and, notwithstanding the great superiority in numbers of the enemy, obtained a brilliant victory over the Sikhs, capturing their camp and fifty-two guns. But more fighting had to be done before the army of the Punjab could be finally subdued. The Sikhs still lay at Sobraon with 30,000 of their best troops, defended by a triple line of breastworks, flanked by redoubts, and armed with seventy guns. Here Sir Hugh Gough attacked them on the morning of February 10, the Governor-General again being present as second in command. At nine o'clock, after an hour's cannonade, Brigadier Stacey advanced to storm the entrenchments with four battalions, which behaved with splendid gallantry under a very heavy and well-directed fire. They stormed the position, and, being well supported, forced their way into the fortress. By eleven o'clock all was over. The Sikhs were in full flight across the Sutlej, leaving behind them piles of dead and wounded, sixty-seven guns, 200 camel swivels, and all their baggage and ammunition. The British loss consisted of 320 killed, including seventeen officers (among whom were Major-General Sir Robert d.i.c.k, General McLaren, and Brigadier Taylor), and 2,063 wounded, including 139 officers. But the carnage among the Sikhs was far more terrible. It is supposed that not less than eight or ten thousand of them perished in action or were drowned in crossing the river under the fire of the British artillery. On February 22 Gough occupied the citadel of Lah.o.r.e; the Governor-General issued a proclamation from that place, and a treaty was subsequently concluded establishing Dhuleep Singh as Maharajah, tributary to the British Government.

[Sidenote: Murder of Vans Agnew and Anderson. Battle of Ramnuggur.]

War broke out again in the Punjab in 1848. On April 17 Mr. Vans Agnew and Lieutenant Anderson, British Agents at Mooltan, were murdered. On August 18 General Whish besieged Mooltan with 28,000 men. Lord Gough arrived on November 21, and took command of the entire British force.

Next day he advanced to attack the enemy at Ramnuggur, where both banks of the river were held by the Sikhs. By a most unfortunate piece of strategy the cavalry division, consisting of the 3rd Dragoons and the 5th, 8th, and 14th Light Horse, supported by Horse Artillery, were ordered forward under General Cureton to dislodge the enemy from the left bank of the river. This they accomplished with admirable gallantry, but not without suffering terrible loss, owing to the difficult nature of the ground. Colonel Havelock fell at the head of the 14th Light Dragoons; General Cureton and Captain Fitzgerald were also killed. On December 2 Lord Gough crossed the Chenab, and the enemy, after exchanging a cannonade for several hours, retired towards the north-west.

[Sidenote: Siege and Fall of Mooltan.]

Meantime, General Whish was carrying on the siege of Mooltan with an army of 32,000 men and 150 guns. It is impossible to speak too highly of the splendid defence made by the Sikhs under Moolraj. By December 29 the British siege guns were bombarding the city walls at eighty yards range.

On the 30th the princ.i.p.al magazine in the citadel blew up with a terrific explosion, and the town was in flames. Still the brave garrison fought on. The bombardment continued without intermission for fifty hours. On January 2, 1849, the town, or the wreck of what had once been a town, was taken by a.s.sault; but the citadel still held out. From the 4th to the 18th it was incessantly bombarded, and mines were exploded at intervals under the walls, till at last, on the 21st, two wide breaches had been made, and a general a.s.sault was ordered for the following day.

Moolraj antic.i.p.ated this by unconditional surrender. His garrison, less than 4,000 men, marched into the British lines to lay down their arms; the last man to leave the fort, in the heroic defence of which he had won undying glory, was Moolraj, dressed in gorgeous silks, splendidly armed, riding a superb Arab with a scarlet saddle-cloth.

[Sidenote: Battles of Chilianwalla and Goojerat.]

After the fall of Mooltan General Whish joined forces with Lord Gough, who, as described above, had driven the enemy from their encampment at Ramnuggur on November 22. It was believed that the rebellion was broken, and that the Sikhs would not again meet our army in the field. But our generals had still to learn the extraordinary resolution and resources of this fine race. Chuttur Singh and his son Shere Singh still commanded nearly 40,000 men with sixty-two guns, and had captured Attock, a fort defended by Major Herbert. Gough advanced to attack the chiefs on January 13, 1849, in their position on the Upper Jhelum near the village of Chilianwalla, a name of melancholy a.s.sociations in British annals.

The Sikhs, indeed, withdrew, but they carried with them four British guns and five stand of colours. The British loss was terrible, amounting to twenty-six officers and 731 men killed, and sixty-six officers and 1,446 men wounded. Lord Gough was blamed for bad generalship in this action: he was recalled from his command, and Sir Charles Napier was appointed in his place. But fortune was kind to a brave soldier. Before the orders from home could reach him, Gough, having followed the enemy, retrieved the disaster of Chilianwalla by inflicting on Shere Singh a crushing defeat at Goojerat on February 21, pursuing him into the Kh.o.r.ee Pa.s.s. On March 6 Shere Singh surrendered unconditionally, and on the 29th a proclamation was issued by the Governor-General permanently annexing the Punjab to the British Empire.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _D. Maclise, R.A._} {_From the Original Sketch in the South Kensington Museum._

CHARLES d.i.c.kENS, 1812-1870. WITH HIS WIFE AND WIFE'S SISTER.

While the events recorded in these chapters were enacting, those books were appearing in rapid succession which have made d.i.c.kens's name a household word. d.i.c.kens was born at Portsmouth, where his father held an appointment in the Navy Pay Office. In early life he learned by experience what poverty meant; but his earliest writings, the "Sketches by Boz" (1836), brought him immediate celebrity. The "Pickwick Papers"

appeared in 1837, then in succession, "Oliver Twist," "Nicholas Nickleby," "The Old Curiosity Shop," and "Barnaby Rudge." "David Copperfield" appeared in 1850, and "Edwin Drood" was in course of publication (1870) when its author died. He is buried in Poet's Corner, Westminster Abbey.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _T. Phillips, R.A._} {_In the National Portrait Gallery._

SIR JOHN FRANKLIN, 1786-1847.

Entered the Navy in 1801, and was present at the Battles of Copenhagen and Trafalgar. He conducted several Expeditions to the Arctic regions.

In March 1845 he sailed in command of the _Erebus_ and _Terror_ in search of the "North-West Pa.s.sage." Nothing was heard of them for years, but in 1859 the _Fox_, fitted out by Lady Franklin and commanded by Sir Leopold McClintock, found relics, now in Greenwich Hospital, which left no doubt of the total loss of the ships and all lives.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _G. R. Gilbert._} {_In the Royal Collection._

NAVAL REVIEW OF 1845.

Her Majesty and the Prince Consort in the Royal Yacht reviewing the Experimental Squadron at Spithead, July 15, 1845.]