Sixty Years a Queen: The Story of Her Majesty's ReignMaxwell, Herbert, Sir
History
Sixty Years a Queen: The Story of Her Majesty's Reign
Maxwell, Herbert, Sir
Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, 1819-1901
Sir Colin Campbell (now Lord Clyde) continued the campaign in Oude after
the Fall of Lucknow, ably assisted by Jang Bahádur of Nepál, until that
province was entirely subdued by the end of 1858. Sir Hugh Rose
(afterwards Lord Strathnairn) was opposed to the last in Central India
by the Ranee of Jhansi, a Princess of extraordinary character, who rode
in battle like a modern Joan of Arc, and fell, sabre in hand, at the
head of her troops. Tantia Topee, the former lieutenant of Nana, was the
last to hold out, but at length he, too, was taken in April 1859, and
hanged for his share in the horrors of Cawnpore.
[Illustration:
THE REGALIA.
1. Imperial State Crown, made for Queen Victoria, 1838. It
contains the ruby given to Edward the Black Prince by the King
of Castile, 1367, and 2,783 diamonds, besides pearls, rubies,
sapphires, and emeralds.
2. The old Sceptre.
3. The Queen Consort's Crown, made for Mary of Modena, Queen of
James II.
4. Top of Salt Cellar used at Coronation banquet.
5. (In centre of picture.) Monde of the old Imperial Crown.
6 and 7. The Sceptre with the Cross, and the Orb, both made for
the Coronation of Charles II.
8. St. Edward's Crown, used at the Coronation of Queen Victoria.
The total value of the Regalia exceeds £3,000,000.]
[Sidenote: End of the East India Company's Rule.]
It was not possible that such a convulsion should pass through the
peninsula of Hindostan without shaking down everything that could be
shaken in its institutions. The English public--the average English
Parliament man--knew of the existence of British rule in India, and
could lay finger on Calcutta in the map. But that was about the utmost
precise knowledge of Indian affairs possessed by most people, until
attention was violently forced to them by the Great Mutiny. Then it
dawned upon them that this mighty dominion was governed by the directors
of a trading company, who exercised all the powers of empire, civil and
military, deriving their authority from a charter signed by Queen
Elizabeth. Various limitations and reforms, indeed, had been imposed by
Parliament on "John Company"; still, the whole system had become an
archaism, as uncertain in practice as it was indefensible in theory. The
time for sweeping changes had come, not because the directors of the
East India Company had abused their authority; but the safety of the
Empire required that the Crown should enter now upon the heritage won by
the commercial enterprise of its subjects. The Act for the better
government of India was framed on a series of Resolutions laid before a
Committee of the whole House, and became law in the autumn of 1858. It
provided that the Administration of India should pass wholly out of the
hands of the Company into those of the Queen, governing through a
Secretary of State and a Council of fifteen, seven of whom were to be
nominated by the Court of Directors and eight by the Crown. The
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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