Chapter XVII (4)

[Footnote 52: Lord Palmerston had written to say that
Lord Normanby's credentials were provisional, and regular
credentials would become necessary. The new French Government
were sending Ambassadors to Vienna, Rome, and other capitals,
which in return would send Ambassadors to Paris, so that it
would be injurious for this country's representative to be of
inferior diplomatic rank. "It would," he wrote subsequently,
"be derogatory to the dignity of your Majesty, and to the
character of your Majesty's Government if, in the present
state of things between the British and Spanish Governments
the Spanish Ambassador should, by a dilatoriness on the part
of your Majesty's Government, be allowed to raise a question
about precedence with your Majesty's representative at Paris;
it would be very inconvenient if that question were decided
unfavourably to your Majesty's representative, and very
undesirable that he should appear to be under obligation to
the French Government for a decision in his favour."]

[Footnote 53: See _ante_, p. 175.]

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

TO CHAPTER XVIII

The opening of Parliament (1849) was noteworthy for the appearance of Mr Disraeli as leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons, in place of Lord George Bentinck, who had died suddenly in the recess; the Peelites, though influential, were numerically few, and they continued by their support to maintain the Whigs in office, the principal measure of the session being the Act for the repeal of the Navigation Laws, a natural corollary to Peel's free trade policy. A Royal visit was paid to Ireland in August, and at Cork, Waterford, Dublin, and Belfast, the Queen and Prince were received with great enthusiasm.

Abroad, the cause of United Italy suffered a severe check. The Sicilian revolt came to an end, and Austrian ascendency was re-established in Northern Italy. King Charles Albert was defeated at Novara, and abdicated in favour of his son, Victor Emmanuel. The Pope, who had fled from Rome in disguise, in November 1848, and was living at Gaeta, was now under the protection of Austria and France, and General Oudinot occupied the Papal city on his behalf in June. Austrian influence restored Tuscany, Parma, and Modena to their rulers, and in Central Europe operated to prevent the acceptance by the King of Prussia of the Imperial Crown of Germany. Hungary, in consequence of the help rendered to the Viennese insurrectionists in 1848, was reduced to submission, but only with Russian co-operation. Heavy retribution was inflicted on the Hungarians; Kossuth and other revolutionaries fled to Turkey, the Russian and Austrian Governments unsuccessfully demanding their extradition.

The British operations against the Sikhs were brought to a successful termination; the Commander-in-Chief, Lord Gough, with inferior numbers, had engaged the enemy at Chillianwalla, with indecisive and virtually unfavourable results, and Sir Charles Napier was sent out to supersede him. Mooltan, where the outrage of the previous year had taken place, had been besieged, and fell on the 22nd of January. Dalhousie had established himself at Ferozepore. A week or two later the Sikhs and Afghans were overwhelmingly defeated at Gujerat, and on the 29th of March the Punjab was incorporated in the British Empire; the "Koh-i-noor" was, in token of submission, presented by the Maharajah to the Queen. Lord Dalhousie received a Marquisate, and the thanks of both Houses of Parliament were voted to all concerned.