awakened by different acts of the English, that their religion was in danger, was another of the causes that led to the rebellion. There were also military grievances of which the native soldiers complained.
The mutiny broke out at Bengal. At different points, by preconcerted signals, the native regiments arose against their English officers and put them to death.[1] Delhi and Cawnpore were seized, and the English residents and garrisons butchered in cold blood. Fortunately many of the native regiments stood firm in their allegiance to the English, and with their aid the revolt was speedily quelled.
At the close of the war, the government of India, by act of Parliament, was taken out of the hands of the East India Company and vested in the English crown. Since this transfer, the Indian government has been conducted on the principle that " English rule in India should be for India."[2]
Later events: The English in Egypt.—It only remains for us to refer to some later matters which are more or less, intimately connected with England's Eastern policy.
In 1874 Mr. Disraeli, who had then just succeeded Mr. Gladstone as prime minister, purchased, for £200,000,000, the 176,000 shares which the Khedive of Egypt held in the Suez Canal. This was to give England more perfect control of this all-important gateway to her East India possessions.
- ↑ The East India Company at this time had an army of nearly 300,000, of which number not more than 45,000 were English troops. The chief positions in the native regiments were held by English officers.
- ↑ Within the last two or three decades the country has undergone in every respect a surprising transformation. Life and property are now as secure in India as in England. The railways begun by the East India Company have been extended in every direction, and now bind together the most distant provinces of the empire. All the chief cities are united by telegraph. Lines of steamers are established on the Indus and the Ganges. Public schools have been opened, and colleges founded. Several hundred newspapers, about half published in the native dialects, are sowing Western ideas broadcast among the people. The introduction of European seience and civilization is rapidly undermining many of the old superstitions, particularly the ancient system of caste.
