[Illustration: THE EARL OF ROSSE'S GREAT TELESCOPE AT PARSONSTOWN.
This great reflecting telescope, still the finest in the world, is 56 feet long; the speculum or mirror of copper and tin at the bottom of the tube is 6 feet in diameter and weighs nearly 4 tons. Its nominal magnifying power is 6,000, and it reflects about 165,000 times as much light as the naked eye itself would receive. It was designed and constructed in 1845 by the late Earl of Rosse, and has rendered great service to science.]
[Illustration: [_From a Photograph by the late Mrs. Cameron._
Astronomer. Son of Sir Frederick W. Herschel. His first great work was his Catalogue of Double and Triple Stars; later on he catalogued the nebulæ, and made researches in Sound and Light. He discovered the solvent effects of hyposulphite of soda on silver salts--the basis of photographic processes. Created a Baronet in 1838, Master of the Mint 1850-55. For many years he was among the most prominent of English scientists.]
For this result England had to pay down four and twenty thousand lives and add forty-one millions to her National Debt; but she learned in addition to take vigilant precaution against the enervating influence of prolonged peace. To this may be added the bracing moral effect which follows on the supreme and disciplined exercise of a nation's power.
[Illustration: _Sir Oswald Brierly, R.W.S._} { _In the Royal Collection._
The Chinese fleet of about ninety junks was completely destroyed in two severe engagements, in which the Chinese fought their guns with unexampled constancy. Owing to the shallowness of the water the British attacked in small boats.]
The Lorcha _Arrow_--War with China--Defeat of the Government--Dissolution of Parliament--Palmerston returns to Office--Startling News from India--Mutiny at Meerut--The Chupatties--Loyalty of the Sikhs--Lord Canning's Presence of Mind--Disarmament of Sepoys at Meean Meer--The Rising at Cawnpore--Nana Sahib's Treachery--The Massacre--Siege of Delhi--The Relief of Lucknow--Death of Havelock--Sir Hugh Rose's Campaign--The Ranee of Jhansi--Capture and Execution of Tantia Topee--End of the East India Company's Rule--Marriage of the Princess Royal.
It is well that the next chapter in British warfare is a short one, for it is one which Britons can peruse with little pride. It is prefaced by a paragraph in the Queen's Speech at the opening of Parliament on February 3, 1857: "Acts of violence, insults to the British flag, and infraction of treaty rights, committed by the local Chinese authorities at Canton, and a pertinacious refusal of redress, have rendered it necessary for Her Majesty's officers in China to have recourse to measures of force to obtain satisfaction."