temperament might have been more fortunate in carrying the sympathies of his countrymen fully with him, and concentrating upon himself the enthusiastic loyalty which Englishmen lavish on a ruler in whom they feel confidence. But it is by no means certain that such a statesman would have met, as completely as did Lord Canning, the general requirements of the situation. He had to lay down the lines for the future, not only of the English sojourners in India, but for two hundred millions of native inhabitants; and his wisdom during the struggle and after it, — his calm assurance in the ultimate triumph of his country, his impartial mood, his unwavering resolution to be just, his hatred of violence and excess secured the result that the disaster left behind it so little that an Englishman need regret, or a native resent — that the breach between the conflicting nationalities, though deep and serious, was not irremediable — that extravagance and ferocity in the stern work of retribution were the exception and not the rule — that, as the flood of anarchy subsided, it left a soil rich with the materials of orderly progress and friendly co-operation, and that the generation, which followed the Mutiny, has witnessed European and native labouring, hand in hand, at the task of national development.
How, in the face of much to discourage, disturb and disappoint, this work was accomplished, it is the object of the following pages to narrate.
It is their object, too, to throw light on the character of the task which the English nation has
