Ten Englishmen of the Nineteenth Century | Page 7

enormous expansion of English industry in the early
part of the century brought special hardship to several classes in the
community. The substitution of the factory system for cottage industry
destroyed home life for thousands of families, and the pressure of
poverty and the greed of manufacturers ground the poor mill operatives
between the upper and nether millstones. To Anthony Ashley Cooper,
Earl of Shaftesbury, more than to any other is due the persistent
investigation and disclosure which aroused the public mind to the
prevailing conditions in mine and factory where hours of labor were
excessive, and where women and children were subjected to degrading
tasks and brutal treatment. The Factory Law and kindred legislation
since 1830 are the fruits of the beneficent and untiring labors of the
Earl.
PALMERSTON AND FOREIGN RELATIONS
The era which had been marked by such political, social, and economic
reforms and agitations came to a close in the middle of the century. The
Whigs came into power in Parliament in 1846 for a long term. Foreign
affairs supplied the most notable topics for the next twenty years. The

foreign minister during much of this time was Lord Palmerston. He it
was who piloted the nation without disaster through the rocks of
1848-51, when thrones were toppling in every European kingdom, and
England was being appealed to for help against despot and democrat.
THE EASTERN QUESTION
The "Eastern Question" now came up. The Czar of Russia, an object of
suspicion to England, because of his rivalry with her for the possession
of India, endeavored to secure from the Sultan of Turkey official
recognition of his government as the legitimate protector of Christians
in the Ottoman empire. Such a responsibility would have afforded
many opportunities for interfering in Turkish affairs. France opposed
the demand, and Palmerston placed England on the side of Napoleon
III., against the Czar, who had invaded Turkey in pursuance of his
design to annex a large part of her European provinces, and advance his
position toward Constantinople. The Crimean War which followed
(1854-56) at least checked Russia for the time. It was the only
European war in which England had borne arms since Waterloo. But in
Asia and Africa the Queen's troops had found almost continual
employment along the frontiers of the now vastly extended empire. In
1857 Persia had to be chastised for edging toward India by way of the
Afghan possessions. Russia had been at the Shah's elbow. In 1856, and
repeatedly until 1860, the British fleets were battering open the ports of
China and extorting trade concessions. But the most memorable war in
the imperial history of these years was within the borders of the empire,
though in a distant land. This was the Sepoy Rebellion or Indian
mutiny of 1857.
THE GREAT SEPOY MUTINY
The British possessions in India had been more than doubled in extent
since the opening of the century. In 1833 the trade monopoly of the
East India Company had been broken, but its civil and military servants
continued to administer the government. Their ability was displayed
especially in the rapidity with which they were extending British
authority over the native states when the outbreak came. A conspiracy
was laid among the Sepoys, the native soldiers in the regiments of

"John Company." as the great corporation was called in Asia. To their
private grievances was added the false report that the company
intended to force them into Christianity by serving out to them
cartridges which would defile them, neat's tallow for the Hindoo
venerator of the sacred cow, and hog's lard for the Mohammedan hater
of swine! In May, 1857, the mutiny burst into flame. The Sepoys
slaughtered their officers and many other Europeans, and restored the
heir of the ancient race of kings to the throne of his fathers at Delhi.
Here and there, at Cawnpore and Lucknow, a few British troops
defended themselves and the refugees against the hordes of bloodthirsty
rebels. The "Massacre of Cawnpore" and "the Relief of Lucknow,"
phrases which have passed into history, suggest the fate of the two
beleaguered garrisons. The rebellion was over in a twelve- month,
smothered in its own blood. Close upon its suppression came the death
of the East India Company, abolished by act of Parliament in 1858.
Since that year the crown has ruled the Indian realm through a
Secretary of State for India, residing in London, and a Viceroy holding
court at Calcutta. From the defeat of the mutineers, in 1859, to his own
death, in 1865, Lord Palmerston managed to save the nation from being
embroiled to the fighting-point in the perpetual quarrels of Europe.
Italy fought and won her liberty from the Austrian; Poland rose against
the Russian; Denmark had her damaging Schleswig-Holstein War with
Prussia and Austria. English sympathies were strongly