CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



in war through her Indian dependencies. In that 

 year, war broke out with Afghanistan, upon which 

 she had made aggressions, and, in consequence, 

 a series of disasters befell her troops. In 1842, 

 being compelled to retreat from Cabul, they were 

 almost entirely cut off in the mountain passes. 

 This misfortune was, however, retrieved, but no 

 further attempt was made to encroach on Afghan- 

 istan. In 1843, a war broke out with the Ameer 

 of Scinde, which resulted in the conquest of that 

 country by Sir Charles Napier. In the neigh- 

 bouring kingdom of the Punjab, a contention 

 among the Sikh chiefs led, in 1845, to a collision 

 with English troops. After a number of severe 

 and bloody engagements, in which the Sikhs were 

 defeated, and of which the last was that of 

 Goojerat (February 21, 1849), the Punjab also 

 became part of British India, To these annexa- 

 tions to the British empire was added that of 

 Pegu, taken from the Burman Empire in 1852. 

 In July 1857, the news startled England that the 

 sepoys the native soldiers of the East India 

 Company stationed at Meerut had mutinied 

 against their officers, under the mistaken idea, 

 that it was intended by the British authorities to 

 interfere with their religion. There had been 

 signs of disaffection among the native troops for 

 some months before ; but it was not till the rising 

 at Meerut, followed by a barbarous slaughter of 

 Englishmen and women, that the alarming char- 

 acter of the crisis was realised. The rebels at 

 Meerut, after this atrocity, marched into Delhi, 

 and proclaimed its native king Emperor of Hin- 

 dustan. In numerous other places, the native 

 troops rose, and committed similar barbarities. 

 At Cawnpore, the British garrison were slain, 

 after having surrendered to the rebel Naha 

 Sahib, who, hearing that the English troops were 

 approaching, murdered all the English women 

 and children who were in his hands. The few 

 European troops that were in India at the time 

 shewed remarkable bravery ; Sir Henry Havelock 

 and Sir James Outram, after inflicting many 

 defeats on the mutineers, succeeded in relieving 

 the garrison of Lucknow, which had been attacked 

 by the sepoys, although to be in turn besieged by 

 the rebels, who numbered 70,000 men, and were, 

 besides, assisted by a large friendly population. 

 Great exertions were made to meet the crisis at 

 home ; and by the end of the year, 30,000 troops 

 from England had arrived in India, under the 

 command of Sir Colin Campbell, afterwards Lord 

 Clyde, who had distinguished himself greatly in 

 the Crimean war. This general succeeded in 

 relieving Lucknow, and this having broken the 

 back of the insurrection, it was put down in the 

 course of next year. The most important result 

 of the mutiny was the transfer, by act of parlia- 

 ment, August 2, 1858, of the government of India 

 from the East India Company to the crown. 



The imprisonment by Theodore, king of Abys- 

 sinia of the British consul and several other 

 Englishmen, led to a war. A British army, under 

 the command of Sir Robert Napier (now Lord 

 Napier of Magdala), landed in Abyssinia about 

 the end of 1867, and overcoming the peculiar 

 physical difficulties of the country, stormed the 

 capital in April 1868. The objects of the expedi- 

 tion having been fully accomplished, the British 

 troops withdrew from the country. 



In the end of 1873, war broke out on the Gold 



174 



Coast of Africa with the Ashantees. A force 

 under the command of Sir Garnet Wolseley, 

 captured and burnt the capital of the country, 

 Coomassie, in 1874. A treaty was then con- 

 cluded, and the English troops returned at once 

 to England. 



In 1879, an English force invaded the territory 

 of the Zulus. These warlike barbarians inflicted 

 severe loss on the invaders, but before the end of 

 the year, were utterly defeated ; their king, Cete- 

 wayo, was captured, and their country parcelled 

 out amongst numerous chiefs. In 1883 the king 

 was restored, under certain limitations. 



The immediate occasion of the Afghan war in 

 1878-79 was the repulsion of a mission sent to the 

 Ameer by the Indian Government. Jelalabad 

 and Candahar were occupied without much 

 difficulty. Shere Ali having died, his son Yakoob 

 Khan concluded a treaty in May 1879. But crc 

 the English troops had wholly retired from the 

 country, a rising took place at Cabul in Sep- 

 tember ; and the newly appointed English resi- 

 dent and his guard were massacred. Cabul was 

 occupied by the English in October. Abdur- 

 rahman became Ameer ; and for a year there 

 was desultory war, during which one English 

 force sustained a severe defeat, and another 

 gained a brilliant and conclusive victory. 

 English troops were wholly withdrawn in 1881. 



In the end of 1880 the Boers of the Transvaal, 

 annexed in 1877, rose in arms and proclaimed a 

 republic. They fought well, inflicting a serious 

 reverse on a British force at Majuba Hill. 

 Britain yielded to the wish of the little state, and 

 it was agreed by midsummer of 1881, that their 

 territory should possess autonomy, but remain 

 under British suzerainty. 



In 1882 occurred a short but brilliant Egyptian 

 war. A military party under Arabi Pasha had 

 superseded the ordinary civil powers. Riots 

 occurred at Alexandria, in which European and 

 native lives were lost. Arabi having declined to 

 cease strengthening the fortifications, English 

 war-ships bombarded the forts in July 1882. Next 

 month an English force under Wolseley, with a 

 strong Indian contingent, landed in Egypt ; and 

 on loth September Tel-el-Kebir was taken, and 

 Arabi's forces totally and hopelessly defeated. 

 Cairo was occupied, and the reorganisation of 

 Egyptian affairs superintended by Britain. 



Britain has been a spectator merely of many 

 recent wars. Difficulties arose between us and 

 the United States during and after the great 

 American civil war of 1860-65, on account of the 

 injury done to American commerce by Southern 

 privateers, rigged out in British waters. At 

 last, an International Tribunal sat at Geneva, 

 and, in 1872, Britain had to pay upwards of 

 ^3,000,000 for the injuries done to American 

 commerce .by the Alabama and her consorts. 



The war in 1859, between Austria and Sardinia, 

 which was assisted by France, resulted in the 

 defeat of Austria, and the consolidation of the 

 kingdom of Italy. About this time began the 

 formation of Volunteer corps throughout Great 

 Britain. 



In 1866, Austria was completely defeated by 

 Prussia at the great battle of Sadowa. 



In the great war waged in 1870 and 1871 

 between France and Prussia, which was assisted 

 by the whole Germanic fatherland, Germany was 





