erty sustained by the Russians was
very severe. Both in the Baltic and White Seas the allies arrived too
late in the season, and left too early.

OPERATIONS IN THE PACIFIC, AND AGAINST THE RUSSIAN SETTLEMENTS IN
KAMTSCHATKA.

As in the previous year, the Russians showed superior foresight,
activity, and intelligence to the allied naval forces in the Pacific.
In vain the powerful squadrons of France and England pursued their enemy
hither and thither; little was accomplished--incapacity and tardiness
marred all enterprise. The allies, however, inflicted a heavy
chastisement upon the settlement of Petropaulovski, but more by causing
the Russians themselves to accomplish the work of destruction than
by inflicting it through the agency of the allied arms. The Russians,
unable to cope with the allies, sought safety in flight, both by land
and sea; but always effected their retreat with so much courage,
deliberation, and yet promptitude, as to leave no great renown to their
foes. Everywhere, on every sea and shore, England and France, on
the whole, triumphed; and the close of 1855 saw Russia beaten and
humiliated, but still great in strength and wanton in defiance.

COLONIAL AFFAIRS.

Little occurred in the colonial history of 1855 suitable to a general
work such as the present. There was, however, one sphere of English
influence where opinions and feelings were working, and events were
preparing the way for great results--that sphere was India.

INDIA.

During the whole of the year 1855, General Outram, as the British
political agent at Lucknow, was engaged in disputes with the King
of Oude. According to instructions from Lord Dalhousie, the
governor-general, demands were made which the king and his people
resisted. General Outram acted with all the humanity and courtesy which
his stern instructions allowed. Lord Dalhousie was determined to annex
the rich and fertile kingdom. The British cabinet, acting through the
board of control, encouraged him. The author of these pages knows that
the directors of the East India Company generally disapproved of the
annexation, and some of them foresaw the consequences. The act of
parliament of 1853, which came into operation in 1854, left the company
so little power, that there was no use in its intelligent members
opposing the caprice and aggrandizement of the board of control. At all
events, the directors offered no open opposition, and Lord Dalhousie
was left