Company so deep and
general a spirit of discontent as at one time threatened to break out in
open mutiny; the ground of their dissatisfaction being "the transfer of
their services in virtue of an act of Parliament, but without their
consent." Accordingly, "on the announcement of the proclamation
transferring the possessions of the East India Company to the crown,
some of the soldiers of the Company's European force set up a claim for
a free discharge or a bounty on re-enlistment." Lord Clyde's
recommendation "that a concession should be made" was overruled by the
government of India, and "pronounced inadmissible by the law-officers of
the crown" in England. The dissatisfaction was allayed for the time by
the judicious measures, equally conciliatory and firm, adopted by Lord
Clyde, in whom all ranks of both armies felt equal confidence; but
eventually the government became convinced of the necessity of granting
discharges to every man who wished for one, provided he had not
misconducted himself.--Shadwell's _Life of Lord Clyde_, ii., 407-416.]

[Footnote 303: See _ante_, p. 385.]

[Footnote 304: Stanhope's "Life of Pitt," i., 173.]

[Footnote 305: Sir Theodore Martin quotes a passage from a letter of the
_Times_ correspondent, giving a report of the effect of the proclamation
on the natives: "Genuineness of Asiatic feeling is always a problem, but
I have little doubt it is in this instance literally sincere. The people
understand an Empress, and did not understand the Company. Moreover,
they (I am speaking of the masses) have a very decided notion that the
Queen has hanged the Company for offences 'which must have been very
great,' and that fact gives hope of future justice."--_Life of the
Prince Consort_, iv., 337.]

[Footnote 306: The "Annual Register" says that "neither the Emperor nor
the Empress was touched;" but Sir Theodore Martin ("Life of the Prince
Consort," iv., 155) says that "the Emperor's nose was grazed, and that
the Empress received a blow on the left eye which affected it for some
time."]

[Footnote 307: "Life of the Prince Consort," iv., 156.]

[Footnote 308: Speech of Lord Palmerston, February 19.]

[Footnote 309: It is remarkable that it was not a very full House, the
numbers of the division being only 234 to 215. Many members absented
themselves, being equally unwilling to condemn the bill or to approve
the silence of the ministry.]

[Footnote 310: 268 to 39.]

[Footnote 311: "Life of the