THE FIFTEENTH WAR: THE SECOND CHINA WAR. 31 



this crisis arrived was dissolved, for it was felt that England must for 

 the future take the management of her Indian affairs into her own 

 hands, and that the time had come that the dangerous rule of a 

 " Trading Company " must cease. 



In 1858, an Act for the better Government of India, brought into 

 Parliament by Lord Stanley (the present Lord Derby), provided that 

 all the territories under the Government of the East India Company 

 were to be hereafter vested in Her Majesty the Queen of the Empire, 

 and all the powers of the Company in future were alone to be 

 exercised in her name, and, for the first time in our Indian history, 

 the Viceroy of the Queen was to be supreme in the political and 

 military administration of India. 



THE FIFTEENTH WAR: THE SECOND CHINA WAR. 



1857- 



In the beginning of the year 1857, England became suddenly 

 involved in a war, the second war with China, which arose from the 

 following circumstances : — 



In October, 1856, the authorities at Canton boarded a steamer in 

 the river called the " Arrow," on the ground that pirates were on 

 board, one of whom was afterwards identified by a merchant as part 

 of a pirate fleet that had attacked his ship, plundered the cargo, and 

 killed four of the crew. 



On the day that the " Arrow " was boarded, Mr. Parkes, the Eng- 

 lish Consul in Canton, demanded that the, men should be given up ; 

 and on its refusal, he demanded an apology, which ended with a threat, 

 that if China did not yield in four hours, violent means would be 

 taken. 



The only ground taken for this haughty demand was, that the 

 "Arrow" was a British vessel, and that the Treaty of 1842 was 

 violated, and the British flag insulted. 



But was the " Arrow " a British vessel ? She was built by Chinese, 

 owned by Chinese, manned by Chinese, with the exception of one 

 Englishman. How then could she be a British -vessel ? 



The defence was that she carried the British flag, and pleaded 



