Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/630

* INDIA. 552 INDIA. affection broke out into n|)en revolt before the Englifili were nware of the impendin}; danger. On -li«y 10, I8u7, llie Sepoy Mutiny iM-gan at Mi-crut, a town in the neighborhood of Delhi, with a fren/ied uprisin;; of the unlive troops, who had been exasperated by the imprisonment of a number of their men who had refused to handle Knfjiish eartridges. The mutineers liberated their comrades and proceeded to massacre the Kuropeans. The Hritish troops failed to act jironiptly, and the .leenit Sepoys rushed to Ik'llii to raise the standard of the fallen Mogul. His person, invested with tlie traditinns (if na- tive sovereignty, naturally became the centre of rebellion. Deliii at once fell into the hands of the mutineers. Nana Sahib of Itithur, whose claims as the adopted son of the Peshwa of the Mahrattas had not been recognized by the Brit- ish (iovernment. fanned the insurrection. At the end of June General Wheeler was forced to sur- render to him at Cawnpore: and. in ■^pite of the promise of safe conduct to Allalialiad. all the men were immediately massacred. The women and children were butchered on .July 15th, by order of Nana Sahib, when he heard of Have- lock's march from Allahabad. Nana Sahib was unable to withstand llavelock, who entered Cawn- pore. The Europeans in the residency at Lucknow were besieged on .lune.'lOth. Four days afterwards, the conimaiulant. Sir Henry Lawrence, died of his wotuids, and his place was taken by Inglis, who bravely held out till he was relieved, on Sep- tember 25th, by the heroic Havelock. The linal relief was achieved by Sir Colin Cani])bell, and on Xovcmbcr 17th the city was again in com- plete possession of the British. In the mean- while, in September. Delhi was retaken by Gen- eral Archdale Wilson. Uy .Tune, 1858. no city or fortress of any importance remained in the hands of the mutineers. Oudh was entirely reduced by the beginning of the year 185n. Tlie able rebel leader. Tantia Topi, a Mahratta Urahnian, was taken, tried by ciiurtinartial. and hanged. Dur- ing the mutiny valuable a.ssistance and protec- tion were received from many native chiefs. On the other hand, it was the fate of the last repre- sentjitive of the East India Company to sentence the last Great Jlogul and heir of the House of Tiniur 'to be transported across the seas as a felon.' He died in Pegu in 1S62. The transfer of the Government of India to the^Britisli Crown (1858) was the immediate consequence of the mutiny. Under the system then inaugurated, the Government of India is vested in a Principal Secretary of State, responsible to the Crown, and assisted by a council sitting in London. Subject to this authority is the Governor-General, hence- forth termed the Viceroy, aided by an Executive Council, corresponding to the old Council of Cal- cutta, and by a new Ivcgislative Council, com- posed in part of non-oflRcial members, native as well as European. The first Viceroy was Lord Canning. The two following Viceroys were the Earl of Elgin (1802-03) and Sir .Tohn Lawrence (1863-69). Toward the close of Lord Elgin's administration, a Mohammedan rising in North- west India was apprehended, and it was con- sidered most desirable that the new Viceroy should have practical experience of Indian af- fairs. Sir .John, afterwards Lord Lawrence, was accordingly appointed Viceroy. lie conducted the Government with prudence and zeal : but unfortunate events occurred during his term of oflice. war in Hliutan terminated unsat- isfactorily for England in I8U5; and a dread- ful famine in ri-sa, resulting from a drought, causi-d the death of 1 ..VJO.OdO people, llewas^ue- eeeded by the Earl of .Mayo ( l80'.»-72). This ad- ministration was inaugurated by a great tlemon- stration at .mbala, -March 27, 180!), when the .Xmi-er of .Afghanistan was received in state and given a supply of arms, and the first installment of a money subsidy of £l2(t.(l(t(l a year. Innlurn ing from Kangoon to Calcutta, the Earl nf .Mayo was assassinated by a convict, February, 1872. Lord Northbrook (1872-70) was the next iie- roy. The chief events of his administration were 'the Bengal famine," whieli, however, was foreseen and provided for, and the visit of the Prince of Wales to India (1875). Northbrook was fol- lowed by Lord Lytton (1S70-80). The most im- portant events in the tenure of olllce of Lord Lyt- ton were the proclamation of the (.hieen as Em- press of India (lH77l, another famine, and the .fghan War (1878HOI. The Manpiis of Kipon (1880-84). the Earl of Duflerin (188488), and Lord Lansdowne (1888-!Ki) were the next three Viceroys, imder whose administrations much was done for the improvement of the natives. In 1885 King Thebau of Burma was dethroned, and on .lanuarv 1, 1880. the countrj' was formally annexed by the English. The Earl of Elgin became Viceroy in ISlKt. During his term of oflice the demarcation of the boundary lietween .Afghanistan and India, as determined by the Durand Treaty of 18H.'!, was practically com- pleted. In 1805 the region called Bashgal. in the basin of the Chitral River, was taken from the British sphere of inlluence. and annexed to .Afghanistan. In 1895-90 the Government was called upon to deal with a mutiny of the fanati- cal Mo])lahs in Southwest India. They held out stubbdrnly, but were at last put down. In 1897 there was a far more serious outbreak of the .Afridis on ihe Afghan frontier, and several sharp engagements between them and the British oc- curred during the sunnner. In addition to these dilliculties. the administration had to contend V ith famine and plagiie. Notwithstanding all discouragements, however. Elgin made substan- tial progress in internal improvements. In 1899 Lord Curzon of Keilleston became Viceroy. In that year the gold standard was estaldished. The famine, continuing through the year. alTccted .10,000.000 ))eople. Some disafTection appeared among the Mahrattas, and at Poona violent dem- onstrations were made against the Government. But the country, as a whole, was loyal ; and on the outbreak of the South African War, several native chiefs offered their services to the Britisli Government. J BIBLIOGRAPHY. Gexer.i.; Descbipti-e. Duncan, Oeotiraphy of Inilin (.Madras. 187C> : Fergusson, The Cave Trmplr.i of India (London, 1880) ; Schlagint- wcit, Indicn in Wort und liild (T-eipzig, 1880- 81); Werner, Dan Kaiscrreich Osiindien (Jena. 1884) ; Balfour, The Ciiclopa-dia of India (3d ed., London. 1895) : Campbell, The lirilixh Umpire (Ixindon, 1887) : Hunter, Hislori/ of India (2 vols., London. 1900-02) ; Imperial Ga- zrllcrr (14 vols., ib.. 1880-87) : Dutt, nislorit of Cirilization in Ancient India (3 vols.. Calcutta. 1880-90) : Duff. The Chronolofftj of India (West- minster. 1800) : Samiielson. India, Paul and I'rescnt, Historical. K',rial. and Political (Lon-