Complete Works of Rudyard Kipling (Illustrated) (1119 page)

And meanwhile in 1812, at the other end of
Europe, Napoleon himself had suffered an even worse disaster. He had invaded Russia, a

country whose people were as ignorant, as backward and as patriotic as the Spaniards. The greatest French army that was ever put on foot had starved and been frozen among the ]
snows of Russia. As its broken remnants ]
retreated through Germany, the Prussians,
whom the French had cruelly ill-treated since
1806, jumped upon them, and called on all other Germans to do the same. The Austrians joined in. England poured money into the hands of all who would fight the French. Since
Pitt’s death, until 1812 there had only been one great British Minister, George Canning;
but he had resigned his office in 1809. Now in
1812 Lord Castelreagh, a minister almost as great as Pitt, came to the front, and it was his government that really finished the war. Napoleon could, indeed, collect a new army in
1813, but it was never so good as the one he had lost in Russia; and it suffered a fearful defeat at Leipzig. After a most gallant defence of the French roads which lead to Paris, Napoleon was compelled by his own generals to resign the throne, and Louis XVIII, the heir of the old French monarchy, was recalled to
France as king in 1814. Napoleon was allowed to retire to the little Italian island of
Elba, but he did not stay there long.

In order to arrange a general peace, the

great powers of Europe sent ambassadors to
Vienna. But while they were doing this, in
March, 1815, Napoleon escaped from Elba,
landed in France, and called on the French people to follow him once more. Nearly all
Frenchmen were tired of war; but, like other brave fellows, they loved glory, and Napoleon’s name spelt glory for them. They forgot his tyranny and his folly, and they proclaimed him Emperor yet again. Europe was utterly taken by surprise, and nearly all its armies had been dismissed. But the Prussians and English were more ready for fighting than the Russians and Austrians, and so within three months they were able to collect over two hundred thousand men for the defence of
Belgium. Napoleon’s new army was nearly three hundred thousand strong; but he only took about half of it to attack Belgium early in the summer of 1815.

The Duke of Wellington and the Prussian general, Marshal Blucher, were waiting for him in a long line to the south of Brussels.
On June 16th, Napoleon’s left wing fought a fearful drawn battle with Wellington at Quatre
Bras, and his right wing just managed to beat
Blucher at Ligny. On the 17th there was no fighting; but the Prussians had fallen back eastward, and had lost touch with the English.

So, on the 18th, Wellington and the English army, ninety thousand strong, had to bear,
for seven hours, the attacks of a hundred and twenty thousand Frenchmen at Waterloo.
Wellington knew that Blucher would come and help him as fast as he could; but the roads were heavy from rain, and Blucher had been fearfully hard-hit two days before. But at last he came, though his men did not get into action till about 4.30 p. m., and did not produce much effect on the French for two hours more. We had then been defending our position since 11
a. m. But soon after seven we began to advance, and the night closed with a headlong flight of the French Emperor and his army on the road to Paris.

This battle of Waterloo ended the Great War;
the last war, let us hope, that we shall ever have to fight against the French, who are now our best friends. Long ago Pitt had said
“England has saved herself by her exertions,
she will save Europe by her example.” In
1815 she had indeed done both.

When the final treaty was made in that year, our gains in actual territory were small.
We gave back the greater part of the colonies we had taken from France and her allies,
keeping only the West Indian island of Tobago, the Island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean,the Dutch colonies of Ceylon and the Cape of
Good Hope, and the little Dutch province of ‘Guiana in South America. In the Mediterranean, we kept the island of Malta, but gave back Minorca to Spain. Our real reward,
then, came in the commerce of the world,
which during the war had passed wholly into our hands.

The French Wars.

The boats of Newhaven and Folkestone and
Dover,

To Dieppe and Boulogne and to Calais cross over;

And in each of those runs there is not a square yard

Where the English and French haven’t fought and fought hard!

If the ships that were sunk could be floated once more,

They’d stretch like a raft from the shore to the shore,

And we’d see, as we crossed, every pattern and plan

Of ship that was built since sea-fighting began.

There’d be biremes and brigantines, cutters and sloops,

Cogs, carracks and galleons with gay gilded poops —

Hoys, caravels, ketches, corvettes and the rest,
As thick as regattas, from Ramsgate to Brest.

But the galleys of Csesar, the squadrons of
Sluys,

And Nelson’s crack frigates are hid from«our eyes,

Where the high Seventy-fours of Napoleon’s days,

Lie down with Deal luggers and French
chassemarees.

They’ll answer no signal — they rest on the ooze

With their honey-combed guns and their skeleton crews —

And racing above them, through sunshine or gale,

The Cross-Channel packets come in with the
Mail.

Then the poor sea-sick passengers, English and
French,

Must open their trunks on the Custom-house bench,

While the officers rummage for smuggled cigars

And nobody thinks of our blood-thirsty wars!

CHAPTER XII

GEORGE III TO GEORGE V, 1815-1911

The period of English History which remains for me to tell you about will bring us down to our own days. It is a much more difficult story to understand than any that I have already told you. It is also much more difficult to write about.

For people hold such diverse opinons about the events of the present day and of the last hundred years. These opinions are very often the result of their upbringing; “we have heard with our ears and our fathers have told us.”
Men are still alive who were born before Waterloo was fought. As you get older you will form opinions about these events for yourselves; and so it is desirable for me, in this last chapter, rather to state what did take place than to try to guide your opinions. And it will be easier to do this if you, my readers, will allow me to treat the period as all one, rather than narrate the events year by year.

On the whole, the progress of Great Britainduring the past ninfty-five years has been toward what is called “Democracy,” a long word meaning “Government by the people.”
This form of government may be said to be still “on its trial.” Let us hope that it will prove a great success. It will only do so if all classes of the people realize that they have duties as well as rights, and if each class realizes that every other class has rights as well as itself.

Five sovereigns have reigned and died during these ninety-five years, and the sixth is now upon the throne. George III had long been blind and insane when he died in 1820, and it was the eldest of his seven sons who became
King in that year as George IV. This man had been acting as Prince Regent for his insane father since 1810. He was naturally clever and had some kind of selfish good nature,
but he was mean, cowardly, and an incredible liar. Some famous lies he told so often that at last he got to believe them himself; for instance,
he was fond of saying that he had been present at the Battle of Waterloo, whereas he had never seen a shot fired in his life.

He was succeeded in 1830 by a stupid honest old gentleman, his brother, William IV, who,
as a young man, had been nicknamed “Silly
Billy.” There was no harm in King William,
but there was little active good, and so theinfluence of the Crown, both upon private and public life, was very slight when he died in
1837. His heir was his niece Victoria, a girl of eighteen of whom little was then known, but of whose goodness and high spirit, stories were already being told.

“Who will be King, Mamma,” she said, when she was twelve years old, “when Uncle William dies?” “You will be Queen, my dear.”
“Then I must be a very good little girl now,”
she replied. In this wonderful lady the spirit of all her greatest ancestors seemed to have revived, the burning English patriotism of the Tudors, the Scottish heart of the Stuarts,
the courage of Edward III, the wisdom of
Edward I, Henry II and Alfred. And all were softened and beautified by womanly love and tenderness. No sovereign ever so unweariedly set herself to win the love of her people, to be the servant of her people. And her people rewarded her with a love that she had more than deserved. Her reign of sixty-three years will always be remembered in history by her name; it was the “Victorian Age.” Her husband was her own cousin, the wise and good
Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, a small
State in central Germany. She was succeeded by her eldest son, Edward VII, whose too short reign closed only after this book wasbegun. All the Empire is still in mourning for him, the wise and prudent statesman, the peace-lover, the peacemaker of Europe, the noble English gentleman.

The result of the reigns of Victoria and
Edward VII has been to lift the Crown again to a position which it had not occupied in men’s minds since the death of Elizabeth.
It is not with our lips only that we are loyal to King George V, it is with our hearts also.
The crown is not only the “golden circle” that binds the Empire together; it is the greatest thing in that Empire.

The Bells and the Queen, 1911.

“Gay go up and gay go down
To ring the Bells of London Town.”
When London Town’s asleep in bed
You’ll hear the Bells ring overhead,
In excelsis gloria!
Ringing for Victoria,
Ringing for their mighty mistress — ten years dead!

Here’s more gain than Gloriana guessed,

Than Gloriana guessed or Indies bring —
Than golden Indies bring. A Queen confessed,
A Queen confessed that crowTned her people
King.

Her people King, and crowned all Kings above,
Above all Kings have crowned their Queen their love —
Have crowned their love their Queen, their
Queen their love!

Denying her, we do ourselves deny,

Disowning her are we ourselves disowned.
Mirror was she of our fidelity,

And handmaid of our destiny enthroned;
The very marrow of Youth’s dream, and still
Yoke-mate of wisest Age that worked her will!

Our fathers had declared to us her praise.
Her praise the years had proven past all speech.

And past all speech our loyal hearts always,
Always our hearts lay open, each to each;
Therefore men gave their treasure and their blood

To this one woman — for she understood!

Four o’ the clockI Now all the world is still.
0 London Bells to all the world declare
The Secret of the Empire — read who will!
The Glory of the People — touch who dare!

The Bells:

Power that has reached itself all kingly powers,

St. Margaret’s:
By love o’erpowered —
St. Martin’s:
By love o’erpowered —
St. Clement Danes9:
By love o’erpowered,
The greater power confers!

The Bells:

For we were hers, as she as she was ours,
Bow Bells:
And she was ours —
St. Paul’s:
And she was ours —
Westminster:
And she was ours,
As we, even we, were hers!

The Bells:

As we were hers!

The next greatest thing, probably every one will admit, is the Parliament of the United
Kingdom. During these ninety-five years that Parliament has undergone considerable changes. The House of Lords has been very much increased in numbers, but has not been altogether strengthened by this increase. It still represents, as it has always represented,
the wealthy people of the kingdom. When the only wealth was in land, the House of Lords consisted almost wholly of great landowners.
Now that the traders have more wealth than the landowners, rich manufacturers and other great employers of labour have been made peers, though they also have nearly always bought land to support their dignity.