Adams J.T. Empire on the Seven Seas. The British Empire 1784-1939
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CHANGES IN
AUSTRALIA
VIIL
CHANGES IN
AUSTRALIA
In
Australia,
as
we
have
seen,
the
earlier
colonies
had
all
gained
responsible
government,
and
largely
under the Wakefield
system
so much
land
had
been
brought
into cultivation
and the
population
had
so
increased,
that
any
fears
of
foreign
complications
in
the
re-
mote
regions
of
the island continent
had ceased.
It
was
to be
definitely
all
British
and
freei
In
the
period
of this
chapter,
1
850-
60,
the
most
important
Australian event
was
the
discovery
of
gold
in
quantity
and
the
working
of
the
mines.
Scattered
discoveries
had
been made
from
perhaps
1823,
but
it
was
only
in this
decade that
gold changed
the
country.
In
the
years
1851-61
inclusive
approxi-
mately
124,000,000
of
new wealth
was
dug
from
the
ground.
Naturally
the results
included
all
those associated
with
"gold
rushes"
anywhere
in
the
world,
and
much
experimenting
with
control of mines
and
miners,
as well
as the
only
rebellion
(and
that
on
a
small
scale)
which
the
country
has
known.
)
But
there
were more fundamental
effects.
Wool had
already
become
king,
as
cotton
was
in the American
South,
and
Australian
prosperity,
with cries and
setbacks,
would have continued in
any
case.
Railroads
would have
come,
steamships
would
have
carried
freight
in
increasing
amounts to the
ports
of the world and
popu-
lation
would
have
increased had
gold
never
been
discovered^
The
point
is
that
gold gave
a tremendous acceleration
to
every
move-
ment.
As
has
been
said
it
"precipitated
a
colony
into a
nation.
'jj
At
the
beginning
of the
period
the
population
was
only
a little
over
400,000.
In
ten
years
it
rose to
1,168,000.
The
change
was not
merely
in numbers but
in
character. .We
have
already
noted
the ideas
stirring
both
in Britain and
the
Con-
tinent
of
Europe
in
the
period
immediately
preceding
this enor-
mous
influx
which
multiplied
the
Australian
population
nearly
threefold.
The
liberal,
democratic,
and even
revolutionary
ideas
of the
Old
World
were thus
transferred
at
a
critical
time to
the
new
nation
arising
in the
Antipodes.
Combined with
the
attitude
of the
home
government
we
find
the results in
a
new
sense of self-
167
EMPIRE
ON
THE SEVEN
SEAS
reliant
nationhood
in
an Australia far
advanced
beyond
the
penal
colony
of
a
few decades
earlier.
Between
1855
and
1859
the
colonies
of
New
South
Wales,
Vic-
toria,
Tasmania,
South
Australia,
and
Queensland
were
added to
those
possessing
responsible government,
and
various Acts
of
the
legislatures
suggested
a
feeling
of
independence
though
no
desire
to
withdraw
from
the
Empire. Among
such
may
be
mentioned
their
insistence
upon maintaining
local
control over
the
gold
rev-
enues;
the
stand
by
Victoria
against
the
royal
prerogative;
the
passage
of the
measures
restricting
Chinese
immigration;
and
the
beginnings
of
somewhat distinctive
Australian labor
legislation.
Under
the
pioneering
conditions of
all
new
countries,
as
of
the
United States
also in
its earlier
phases,
there
is
little
time,
even
if
inclination,
for
the
pioneers
to
interest
themselves
in
the
arts.
In
that sense
therefore,
it
is
at this
period
too
early
to
consider
any
colonial
culture,
but
by
1860 the various
larger
colonies,
later to
be
Dominions,
were
already
beginning
to
develop
distinct
char-
acters. The
British
in
Canada,
Australia,
New
Zealand,
and even
South
Africa,
although
still
dominantly
British were
becoming
under
the
changed
conditions
of
each
new
land,
something
dif-
ferent in character
and
temperament
from
those
who
remained in
the old settled
and
comfortable
little
island at
home,
just
as the
Americans,
even
of
British
descent,
had
become
quite
different
in
many ways.
IX. INDIA
AND
THE MUTINY
India,
with
its vast
native
population
and
a British
population
which was
scarcely
more than
a
garrison,
has
always
presented
problems
different from those of the
Dominions and
colonies. The
terrible
events
of
the
year
1857
proved
one
of the
major
turning
points
in
its
history.
It
is well
to
remember that
the
great
Mutiny
was
a
military
affair
and not
a
rebellion of
the
civil
population,
although
many
things
led
up
to
it,
some of
which were
of
a
civil
nature. The
period
of
the
Governor-Generalship
of
Lord
Dal-
housie had
seen
many
reforms
as
well as
the
completion
of the
general
British framework
of
the
country.
The whole
Indian
Civil
168
INDIA
AND
THE MUTINY
Service,
for
example,
was
thrown
open
to
competitive
examination
in Britain
long
before
the
Home
Services
reached the
same
point.
But
Dalhousie
in
many ways
moved too
rapidly
for
Indian
opinion
and
prejudices.
Some
of
the Indian
States
were
merely
hereditary
feudal
powers
in the
hands
of
oppressive
and
degenerate
rulers.
There were
also
great
landowners
within
the British
frontiers
who
were
not
land-
lords
in
the
English
sense
but
wrung
all
possible
wealth
from
the
unfortunate
tillers
of the
soil. To
correct
the first
abuse,
Dalhousie
used his
prerogative
of
not
recognizing
an
adopted
heir.
By
this
method
the native
rulers,
at
great
advantage
to
themselves,
had
been able
to
perpetuate
their
mismanagement
even
when
they
had
no
children
of
their
own. Under
prevailing
conditions
it was
hoped
that this
policy
of
"lapse"
would
gradually
bring
about
a
more
unified
and
simple
government,
the
idea
being
that
such
a
unitary
government,
with
some
nominally
still
independent
native
States,
would
be
able
to
provide
better
conditions
for a
free
peasantry,
owning
their
own
lands.
To
secure
this
end,
a
Commission
was
ap-
pointed
to
enquire
into
titles,
which
confiscated some
20,000
large
estates
in
the Deccan.
Naturally
all
these
moves
created
a
great
body
of
discontent. The
disregarding
of
adoption
ran
counter to
old
custom,
and also
landlords
with However doubtful
titles
or
however
rapacious
were
infuriated at
the
loss
of
claimed
property.
Unquestionably
there
were
also
many
cases
of
individual
injus-
tice
in
the
proceedings.
Moreover,
India felt it was
being
Westernized
too fast
and
without
regard
to
its
own beliefs and
customs.
The new
railways
and
especially
the
telegraph
which
latter
was
to
save
India to
the
Empire
in
the
Mutiny
were
regarded
as
diabolical.
Many
new
laws were considered
by
both
Hindus
and
Muslims
as
tending
to
destroy
caste and
their
religious
and
family
lives,
as
were
also
many
of
the activities
of
the
Christian missionaries.
India,
how-
ever,
which
has
never
been
able
to unite
for
centuries
past,
has
^always
contained
groups
with
grievances
against
one
another
as
well
as
against
the
British.
Had
it not
been
for
special grievances
in
the
army
it
is
likely
that there
would
have
been
no
uprising.
169
EMPIRE
ON
THE SEVEN
SEAS
On
the
basis
of
the
policy
of
"lapse"
several
native States
had
been
annexed,
as had
the
great province
of
Oudh,
which had
been
taken over
because
of
the
gross
mismanagement
of
its rulers.
That
province
alone
contributed
about
40,000
troops
to the
Bengal
army,
and
it
was
in
that
province
and
army
that
the
disaffection
was
most
pronounced.
In
any
case
the
morale and
loyalty
of
that
army
had
been
allowed
seriously
to
decline,
and
when
Lord Can-
ning
succeeded
Dalhousie
in
1856,
and found
it
almost
impossible
to
get
troops
to serve
in
Burma
he
changed
the rules
of
service so
that
recruits
had to
agree
to
serve
wherever ordered.
In such overseas
service
they
saw the
possibility
of
losing
both
their
privileged
position
and
possibly
their caste. It
must
be
re-
called
that
caste
did
not
depend
alone
on
moral
life
or beliefs
but
on a
vastly
complicated
assortment
of
purely
physical
acts,
includ-
ing
contact
with
persons
of
another
caste,
the
eating
of
forbidden
foods,
and others. The small British forces
had
been
considerably
depleted
by
the need for
troops
in
the Crimean
War
and
else-
where.
In
the enormous
area
garrisoned
by
the
so-called
Bengal
Army
there was
only
about
one British soldier to
twenty-five
sepoys,
or
native
troops.
The
Indians
had also absurd
notions
as
to
the
real
strength
of
Britain and
it is
said
that
many
believed
prac-
tically
all
the British
were
already
in
India.
Although
British
of-
ficers
still
had almost
complete
confidence
in
their native
regiments
the
Bengal
Army
was sullen
and on the
verge
of
mutiny
when
a
stupid
mistake in
England supplied
the
spark.
We
have
already
mentioned
the
incompetence
of the
army
authorities in
London in
connection
with the
Crimean
War,
as
well as
the
fear
of
loss
of caste
in India
by
the
eating
of
certain
forbidden foods.
Be
it
recalled
also
that
caste
was not
a
social
sys-
tem
but
that
loss
of
religious
caste,
even
if
innocently
incurred,
meant
severest
penalties,
not
merely
in
this life
but in the
lives
to
come.
Just
when the
situation
in the
Bengal
Army
was
at
its
worst,
the new Enfield
rifle was
introduced
which
required
for its
use
the
biting
off
the end
of
a
greased
cartridge.
It was
said,
and
unhappily
truly,
that
the
grease
used
was
obtained from
the
fat
of
cows and
pigs,
and
that
the
British
had
done
this
purposely
so as
170
INDIA
AND
THE
MUTINY
to
break
the caste
of
the
Hindu
soldiers and
affront the
Muslims,
the
cow
being
sacred to
the
former,
and
the
pig
taboo
to
the
latter,
so both were
united
in
opposition.
The
British
had had no such
thought
but the
harm
had
been
done.
When the
I9th
Infantry
refused
to
use the
cartridges
and
obey
orders
they
were
disbanded,
as
was
also
the
34th.
But there
was
increasing
insubordination,
without
anything
being
done to
allay
the
feelings
of
the
troops,
and
when
eighty-five
of
the members
of
the
3rd
Cavalry
were
sentenced to ten
years'
imprisonment,
the
storm
broke.
Delhi,
where there was
not a
single
British
regiment,
was
captured
by
the
mutineers,
then
Lucknow,
except
the
Res-
idency,
then
Cawnpore.
Fortunately
Dalhousie in
1855
with
John
Lawrence,
one of
three
famous
brothers to whom
India owes
so
much,
had made
a
treaty
with old
Dost
Mohammed,
and
his
cap-
ital
of Herat had
been
defended for him
against
the
Persians
by
Canning.
In
consequence
Afghanistan
and the
Northwest Frontier
were safe
to the
British,
and also
something
for those
to
consider
who condemn
all
British
rule
in
India
all
of
Sind,
the
Punjab,
Assam,
and Southern
India,
most of
Bengal,
all
of
Madras and
Bombay,
Mysore,
Rajputana,
Hyderabad,
and
the
Maratha
princes
remained
loyal.
Considering
the
insignificant
resources of the
British
and
the
op-
portunity
offered,
then
if ever would have
been the
time to
throw
off the British
control
if
this
was
really
desired.
In
point
of
fact
it
was not desired
and the
old factiousness
of
the Indian
leaders
prevented
any
general
combination.
No
reinforcements came to
India until the event
was
finally
decided
by
the
handful
of British
there and
the
natives
who remained faithful.
Against
tremendous
odds
Delhi
was
recaptured
in
September,
and
a
few
days
later
Havelock and
Neill,
who
had
already
restored
Cawnpore
to
the
British,
reinforced
the
Residency
at
Lucknow,
where
until his
death
Sir
Henry
Lawrence
had
maintained
a
magnificent
defense which
is
one of the
proud
tales that
help
to make
up
the
British
legend.
Much
remained
to be
done
after
the
reinforcements
arrived
under
the lead
of
Sir
Colin
Campbell
but
a
mere handful
of
soldiers
and
civilians,
with
the
aid
of
loyal
Indians,
had
held the
richest
jewel
171
EMPIRE
ON
THE SEVEN
SEAS
in the
Empire
for Britain.
They might
well
boast
that
"alone
we
did
it."
Unfortunately
the
mutineers had
set
the
example
of
murdering
civilians,
including
women and
children,
and
under
the
terrific
strain
of their
seemingly impossible
situation
the
British
retaliated.
Surrounded
by
overwhelming
numbers and
maddened
by
the
brutalities
of the
mutineers,
passion
rose to
a veritable
blood
lust,
and
neither
side can look
back
with
pride
to
the
kind
of
war
they
waged.
The
massacre of the British
women and
children
by
the
Indians
at
Cawnpore,
and other diabolical
outrages
were to
recoil
upon
the
Indians,
innocent
or
guilty,
and
for
a time
the
forces of
Hell
seemed let loose.
Although
the
cleavage
between
the
races
after
the
Mutiny
as
contrasted
with conditions
existing
before
may
be
exaggerated,
there
is
no doubt
that
it
left
an almost
ineradicable scar on
inter-
racial relations. India had been
always
a
vast sea on
which the
tossing
waves of
conquerors
and
dynasties
rose
and
fell,
but
it
now
appeared
that
the rule of
the
alien British
would
be
something
different
and
something
not to
be
thrown
off. In
the
years
later,
as
the
Anglo-Indian
colony
increased and
more British
women
came
out,
a
new class
system
was
formed
in
which
the
rulers
were
to
be
alien
in
religion,
culture,
and
sympathies.
Moreover,
the
English
attitude
changed.
In
1858
the old
East India
Company
was
relegated
to the lumber
which
had
been useful
in
the
past,
and
the
British
Crown assumed
control,
the
Company's
Governor-
General
becoming
the
Queen's
Viceroy,
and
some
years
later
(1876)
the
Queen
herself
assuming
the title of
Empress.
The
army
also was
at
last
completely
reorganized.
At
the time of the
Mutiny
the
natives had
made
up
about
200,000
of
all
the
troops.
By
1863
they
numbered
14.0,000
only
to
65,000
British,
and a
large
part
of
the
natives were
the Sikhs and
Gurkhas,
splendid
fighting
material
and
loyal
in the
war.
The
artillery
was
there-
after
retained
wholly
in British
hands.
There was
also
a
change
in
policy
as
to
native States. Since the
Mutiny
no
more
have been
annexed,
and
there are still some
six
hundred
separate
ones,
ranging
in size from
Hyderabad,
which is
172
INDIA AND
THE
MUTINY
larger
than
all
Great
Britain,
to small
States
of
actually
only
a
few
hundred acres
each.
It
would
probably
have
been
better
if the
policy
of
the
Dalhousie
period
could have been
continued,
and
a
more
unified
India
resulted,
but
no one
could then
foresee
that
Britain would one
day try
to do
for
India
what
she had
done
for
the
growing
Dominions
of her own
peoples.
The welter
of
States,
races,
languages,
and
religions,
frozen
into
the
pre-Mutiny
shape,
enormously
complicate
the
problem
of an India
with
responsible
self-government today.
173
CHAPTER IX
THE TURN
OF THE
CENTURY
I.
THE TURNING
POINT
OUR
STORY now reaches a
marked
turning point
in
1867.
That
year
was indeed
one
of
the
notable
ones
in Em-
pire
history.
It witnessed
the
discovery
of diamonds
in
South Africa
with
the
great
effects
which
were to
flow
from
that
event. It
saw
the
establishment of
confederation in
Canada,
and
the
beginning
of
a
distinct
change
in
imperial
sentiment at home.
It was the
year,
also,
of
the
second
great
Reform
Bill
and
was at
the threshold
of the
long political
duel between
Disraeli
and Glad-
stone
which was to
vivify politics
and
give
them
an interest
they
had not before
possessed
for
nearly
a
generation.
Between that
year
and
the end of the
previous chapter
much
was
crowded
in
despite
of
peace
abroad and lack of domestic
issues to stir
men's
souls.
On the
Continent modern
Europe
was fast
taking
form and in
America the
greatest
civil war
the world had
yet
known was
taking
place
between
the
North
and
South
in
the
United
States,
and
Britain's
stake was
heavy
in all
these
movements,
in fact far
heavier
than
she
realized at
the
time.
"*!!,
UNIFICATION
OF
ITALY
There had
already
been
several
attempts
made
by
the
peoples
of some
of
the
numerous
petty
States
which
covered
the
Italian
174
UNIFICATION
OF
ITALY
peninsula
and
adjacent
islands
to
throw
off the
hated
yoke
of
Aus-
tria
but
all
had
failed.
Nothing
could be done unless
a
first-class
power
could
be
induced
to
pit
itself
against
the
Austrians,
and
in
1
859
Count
Cavour,
who
had
guided
the
movement
with
infinitely
more
statecraft
than
the
more
hot-headed
revolutionists,
induced
Napoleon
to
play
the
required
role
with
the
King
of Sardinia.
Prob-
ably
Napoleon's
desire for
military
glory,
and
also
the
bait
held
out
to him
of
French annexation of
Savoy
and
Nice
should
Austria
have
to
yield,
had their
influence
with
other motives.
The
details of
the
long
and
sinuous
story
lie outside
the
main
thread of
ours. In
brief,
Cavour forced
Austria to declare
war
on
Sardinia,
France
came
in,
Napoleon
won the
victories
of
Magenta
and
Solferino,
and
then drew
back.
But
the
popular
movement
started
throughout
the
peninsula
had
become
irresistible.
By
1861
Victor
Emmanuel,
King
of
Sardinia,
was
able
to
proclaim
the
King-
dom of
Italy
at
Turin,
ruling
all
of
that
country,
including
Sicily,
with
the
exceptions
of Venice and the
Papal
States,
which were
in-
cluded
in
1
866 and
1
870
respectively.
Austria's
power
and
prestige
had
greatly
shrunk
and
a
new
great
power
had
arisen.
Few
stories
are more
fascinating,
in
their
personalities
and the incredible drama
of
the
whole,
than
the rise
of united
Italy again
after centuries
of
division
and
oppression.
With
the
altered
balance of
power
in
Europe,
and
the
establishment
of
free
parliamentary
institutions
in
the
new
kingdom,
it
seemed as
though
the
sun of liberalism was
rising rapidly
over
the
ebbing
tide of
reaction,
it
not
then
being
foreseen that
the
Italians
had created
a
form
of
government
which
they
had not
sufficient
training
or
perhaps
political aptitude
to
maintain. The
way
was
unwittingly being
paved
which was
to
lead
to a recrudescence
of
the
old
Roman
imperialism
and
the
dictatorship
of
Mussolini
instead
of
the
liberalism
and freedom
hoped
for
by
the
leaders
of
the
Risorgimento.
Meanwhile,
although
Palmerston
and
the
British watched
the
Italian
rising
with
the
greatest
interest
and
enthusiasm,
and
while
"Pam" had
always
been
friendly
with
Napoleon,
the
annexation
by
France
of Nice
and
Savoy
aroused
instant reaction
against
the
nation.
The
ambitions
of
the
earlier
and
greater
Napoleon
had
EMPIRE
ON
THE
SEVEN
SEAS
cost
Europe
and
Britain
too
much to
be
readily
forgot.
War
with
the
new
upstart
seemed
inevitable,
and
was
only
averted
by
Cob-
den,
who
with
the
backing
of
Gladstone,
Chancellor of
the
Ex-
chequer
in
Palmerston's
Cabinet,
went to Paris
and
proved
Napo-
leon's
real
desire to
avoid war
with
Britain
by negotiating
a
com-
mercial
treaty
which
was
a
victory
for
free
trade,
and
unpopular
in
France.
Perhaps
one of
the best
results of
the effort
to
avoid
war
was
the
cementing
of Gladstone's
friendship
with
Cobden and
the
beginning
of
that
with
John
Bright.
The
struggle
in
Italy
had
been
a
wholly popular
one
with
liberty
and freedom as
the
goal,
and in
that
respect
it
differed
widely
from the unification of
another
of the
great
powers
of
to-
day.
Germany,
like
Italy,
had
for
long
been
a
mere
geographical
expression
and
had
consisted
of a
congeries
of
separate
States of
very varying
size
and
power,
with
Prussia as
the
most
aggressive.
Although
that
country
had
nominally
a
parliamentary
form
of
government,
the
King,
fearing
that his
control
over the
army
and
taxation
would be
destroyed by
the liberal
elements,
called
Bis-
marck
to
his
aid.
It was
then that
the
yet
unended
period
and
ideal
of
cc
blood
and
iron"
began.
Personal
liberty,
freedom of
the
press,
parliamentary
control
of taxation
were
all
thrown
overboard,
and
the
army
under
immediate
royal
control was
wholly
and
efficiently
reorganized.
So far
from
being popular
these
movements
were
bitterly
but
unsuccessfully
opposed.
Bismarck
was
utterly
ruthless,
and
"blood
and iron"
won.
In less*
than
ten
years,
in
a
series o'f
unprovoked
wars with
little
Denmark,
then
Austria,
then,
1870,
with
France,
he welded
one of the
most
powerful
of
the
new
States
of the
tiine.
His contribution
to
European
civilization was
to use
brute
force
to
suppress
the liberalism and
culture
of
the
Germany
of the
1
84.0*8
and to build
a
power
and
to create
a
state
of
mind
which
seventy years
later still
spreads
uncertainty
and
terror
through
the
world.',
So,
in
the
few
years
covered
by
this
chapter
the
"shape
of
things
tb
come"
was
emerging,
though
Britain,
sym-
pathetic
to liberal
movements
and
herself
rapidly rising
to
perhaps
her
zenith of
prosperity,
did
not
realize
it.