The diaries covered here provide good evidence on all of this. By the later nineteenth century, that Westernization had helped to create a new Indian nationalism and increasing demands for independenceвЂќ.

But despite the governmentвЂ™s promise to separate the state from missionary activities, this imperial benevolence still meant an escalating process of Westernization. In that year the EICвЂ™s political authority was replaced by direct rule from London, and Queen Victoria reassured her Indian subjects about BritainвЂ™s benevolent intention to improve and protect India. By 1858 the official policy had become more conciliatory. BritainвЂ™s initial response to the rebellion was savage, especially after stories circulated about the rape and murder of British women and children. вЂњWhat began as a mutiny in some regiments of the EIC army quickly escalated to include a number of forms of resistance including renewed loyalty to the Mughal Emperor, or local political manoeuvring designed to restore rights lost to the EIC. The rebellion created a legacy of racial hatred which permeated all aspects of the relationship between the ruler and the ruledвЂќ.Дr Jane Samson, The British Empire (OUP 2001), comments: The British in India bayed for even more bloody revenge. The rebels committed acts of great brutality and were suppressed in equally brutal ways. The result of complex and multiple causes, the rising expressed the accumulated anger of many sections of the population in north and central India вЂ“ dispossessed princes, disgruntled soldiers, and a harassed peasantry from whom the companyвЂ™s army was largely recruited. вЂњThe Empire was nearly destroyed by the great rebellion of 1857, described inaccurately as the Mutiny. Tapan Raychauduri, Emeritus Fellow, St AntonyвЂ™s College, Oxford writing in The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire (1996 Cambridge University Press), observes: The majority of the diaries in this part are concerned with the Mutiny itself and the years either side of the rebellion which had far-reaching consequences. The princes kept their privileges but had to cooperate with the British. The remaining provinces were ruled by princes and the East India Company drew up treaties with them, beneficial to both parties. The concept of remodelling the country along Western lines flew directly in the face of native religions and customs and the complex network of local privileges.Д«y the time of the Mutiny in 1857 almost two-thirds of India was under British control. However, it was at this point that changes in British policy and attitudes began to store up major problems for the future. In part, success in India compensated for the loss of America in 1783. They comprise about three hundred collections of British statesmen, soldiers, administrators, scholars, missionaries, businessmen and others, and some three thousand smaller deposits.вЂќДЇormer Curator of European Manuscripts, The British LibraryД«y 1819 British supremacy in India was undisputed and became a source of great patriotic pride in the post-Waterloo years. вЂњThe European Manuscripts of the Oriental and India Office Collections of the British Library are probably the worldвЂ™s largest collection of private papers relating to India and South Asia. Part 2: Diaries and Related Records Describing Life in India, 1819-1859 Part 1: Diaries and Related Records Describing Life in India, c.1750-1842 INDIA DURING THE RAJ: EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTSДiaries and Related Records Held at the British Library, London

Indian mutiny of 1857