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A PRINCETON MARTYR AND THE INDIAN MUTINY.

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By Stanley A. Hunter, Princeton Hall, Allahabad Christian College.

APRIL 19T2.

To the Englishman Cawnpore is hallowed ground on account of the noble band of Mutiny Martyrs who sulfered there in the heat of ihe si'in- mer of 1857. It should be also to the Aitierican. Few realize that in the long list of names carved in marble in the beautiful Memorial Church eight American Missionaries are numbered. The Angel of Cawnpore, a triumph of the sculptor’s ai't, stands guard over the grounds where these eight met death and of the many wh . perished there, none were braver hearts than the eight of the Presbyterian Mission. Recently in Allahabad an Indian preacher told the history of their death as it had come to him from the lips of an old man who, as a boy, had been present as an eye¬ witness to the tragedy. The little Christian lad had been powerless to help but the scene had never left him and he had remembered the prayer that one had offered just before the Sepoy’s gjwis did their fatal work. The man who had prayed thus was John Edgar '^Freeman. His story was told with that of his wife and those of his colleagues — Reverend and Mrs. David Elliot Campbell, Reverend and Mrs. A. O. Johnson and Reverend and Mrs. McMullin by the sole member of the Fatehgarh Mission the year after the Mutiny. It is an inspiring record. There came to the Allahabad Christian College recently from that very place an old volume that had suffered much from the depredations of white ants and such other insects as revel in the literature of an Indinn bookself. The book was by Rev¬ erend J. Johnston Walsh and its title was “a Memorial of the Fatehgarh Mission and Her Martyred Missionaries with Some Remarks on the Mutiny in India.” It was published by Joseph Wilson in Philadelphia two years after the tragedy in 1859. Touching tribute is there paid to the heroism of the Missionaries as well as the constancy of the Indian Christians. A tablet in the Rakka Church at Fatehgarh is the memorial of the whole eight, and the son and three grandsons of J. E. Freeman are erecting a memorial in the J umna Church, Allahabad, to him especially. It was by him that this very Church was built in 1817. This tablet will be on the opposite side of the pulpit from the memorial of his Princeton classmate, Dr. Joseph Owen.

Born at Orange, New Jersey, in 1809, and graduated from Princeton College in 1835, he later entered the Princeton Theological Seminary. In a letter written while at sea on his way to India, he gave the facts of his early life and statement as to the motives that led him to missionary work. It was the custom for all outgoing Missionaiies vvho belonged to the “Brotherhood” at Princeton Theological Seminary to write such a record. He had entered the Seminary after his college course and there he continued his association with his two college classmates: Joseph Owen and Levi Janvier who later laboured with him in India.

“In March 1829 I joined the first Fre.sbyterian Church of Elizabeth¬ town”, he vv rites, “and in the following December I made up my mind to study for the ministry.” “ Immediately I entered upon my course of study with Mr. John T, Halsey. I remained with him two years and eight months.” This was in preparation for his College course. There was at Piinceton when he entered a stron>i interest in the foreign field. John Hunter Morrison, who was in the class ahead had decided to offer himself for India, Dougherty who went lo the American Indians and Canfield,

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later of Africa were his associates! He adds “ I never made a formal resolve, or even dedicated myself to the work of Missions, until I became a member of the College. Fiom the time I entered Nassau Hall umil the Seminary was left, I was accustomed to meet wee'dy during term time for the purpose of prayer and consultation on this great subject. These meet¬ ings have been the most precious of my life and are now held in sacred remetubrance. As these seasons pass before me I feel their inspiring and consoling influences.” Just in what room in Nassau Hall the little college band met to pray is not known, but it was the same building in which Witherspoon pi’ayed seventy-nine years before. His picture is now hanging in both the meeting-places of the college and seminary student volunteer bands, which preserve this custom of weekly meetings in the interest of missions.

The departure for India took place, October 12th 18o8, shortly after his marriage to Miss Mary Anne Ileach of Philadelphia. The- voyage then took one hunvlred and tw'enty-one days while one month is now sufficient for the journey with nine daj’s to spend on the continent between Liver¬ pool and Marseilles, When the railroad is laid from Calais to Calcutta via Bagdad, as is now planned, before this decade has passed travellers can soon journey from Aineric i to India in fifteen days. The long ocean tripsin in those days ware not wasted time, however, for the days were spent in study and some time in letter-writing. An extract from one of his letters shows the moral earnestness of Freeman and his eagerness for service. “The work has assumed a living reality and to it I have consecrated my all. I have nothing to regret save my unimproved time and talents. I have no wish to return to my friend-: for I am fully assured that I am in the path of duty, and my mind is calm, peaceful and joyful. You can not give too much aitention to this point, a full conviction that you are fulfill¬ ing the will of God.”

The dcstin ition reached, the two proceeded to Allahabad to learn the language and manage the oi phan school for boys and girls. Ten years later in August 1849, Mrs. Freeman’s splendid work was cut short by sudden death, and he returned alone to America. While on furlough, he was married to .Miss Elizabeth Vredenburgh of Elizabethtown, the descendent of one who played an important part in the Revolutionary War. The grand daughter of the Reverend James Caldwell (who after graduating from Nassau Hall filled the position of Chaplain in the Colonial Army, and later Commissary to the New Jersey troops) could not but inherit Hume of the spirit that had characterised the old fighting parson who.se dash in the matter of obtaining ammunition is remembered still. Her grandmother was another of the martyrs of the American revolution. It was she who refused to flee with the others on the approach of the enemv to Eliz.ibeth- town with the result that she was killed by a musket ball fired through her window while praying for divine protection foi' her child. The history of the family shows its members were willing to give up their lives for country as well as for a cause, for Dr. Caldwell, too, was killed in the Revo¬ lutionary War by a sentinel’s gun at the causeway of old Elizabethtown Point.

On the return to India in 1 8.o2, Mr. and Mrs. Freeman were stationed at Mainpuri, some six hundred miles up country from Calcutta, and for four years the work progressed pleasantly there. A year before the Mutiny they were transferred to Fatehgarh, thirty-five miles away, where Mr. Free¬ man had charge of the Christian village, whose hundred and eighty-seven inhabitants were engaged in tent m.aking. He also held preaching services in Hindustani and taught Biblo-classes. Many letters are preserved to tell of the routine of work and the pleasures the two enjoyed in their ser¬ vice, but the last letter written by Mrs. Freeman in the trying da3's of June gives us an insight into her true character. There had been rumblings of discontent among the sepo^'S. The Princes of Oudh had been forced to give over their power, and they were left idle to inti’igue. The large staud-

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ing army of two hundred thousand hien of this annexed state was broken up and four-fifths of its number were turned out to spread bitterness. Lord Roberts, in his book “Forty -one Years in India” sums up the many causes of the Mutiny and even admits that the greased cartridge charge was not without foundation. Caste was one of the instruments used to excite hatred of the foreigner. The intriguers showed it meant loss of social position for the sepoy to bite a cartridge greased in the fat of the sacred cow. The Muhammadans were flamed by reports that the grease was made partly of the abhorred pig and trouble seekers found many other pretexts to inflame the sepoys of Noith India. The revolt, however, was by no means general. It was a sectional uprising ; millions of the poor people of Southern India never knew of the Mutiny and in the region of the insurrection the revolutionary spirit did not prevade all classes. Mrs. Fi-eeman’s last letter to her family was written after the match had been set to the train and affairs had been allowed to advance so far that the conflict was irresistible. In the midst of danger her words prove she was full of courage. The following is an e.x tract ; —

“ My dear Sister, — I wrote a short letter to you by last mail, giving some account of our general alarm and said we then hoped all was quite safe agairr ; but just after the mail had left, we received intelligence that four companies of the ninth regiment at Aligarh had mutinied and murdered all the English and left for Mainpuri and Fatehgarh. On Saturdaj’ we consultetl together what was best to be done. Every place

seemed as unsafe as this . 'J'o remain here seemed almost certain death

unless our native regiment stood firm and no one puts the least confidence in them. We came home, the four families to our house, and spent the day in conversation and prayer, expecting every moment to hear the shout of the infuriated mob ; the day, however, passed quietly.

In the morning all safe. On Sabbath we spent the whole day in gi’eat .suspense; in the evening heard the companies at Mainpuri had mutinied, broken open the jail, robbed the public treasury and instead of coming here, had fled to Delhi. We thanked God for our safety.

Tuesday — AVe spent an anxious day yesterday. We are in God’s hands and we know that, He reigns. We have no place to flee for shelter but under the cover of His wings and there we are safe ; not but that He may suffer our bodies to be slain, and if He does we know He has wise reasons for it. I sometimes think that our deaths would be more good than we would do in all our lives. If so. His wdll be done; should I be called to lay down myself, do not grieve, dear sister, that I came here, for most joyfully will I die for Him who laid down His life for me.”

It was on June 4th, 1857, that the missionaries with some European planters and others who were in the city decided to flee to Allahabad Fort for safety and for this porpose a few boats were secui-ed for the trip down the Ganges. It was the month when the heat of India’s plains was at its worst ; the mighty river that is a torrent when the rains break in July was then a narrow stream, increasing their peril. All told the number reach¬ ed a hundred and twenty six souls. For a few miles the party was allowed to proceed unmolested. At Singarampur a number of sepoys opened fire. Some of the planters returned the volley and the boats drifted on. At Kasampore the current carried the boats near the shore and a rifle ball found its first victim in the party. With a few skirmishes the journey was continued until the evening of the 6th of June, when the boats were put to shore in order that food might be cooked. A land-holder’s company of soldiers surprised them but the planters of the party found the avaracious official would let them pass for a ransom of five hundred dollars. On the evening of the fifth day the boat ran ashore on some shallows five miles above Cawnpore, halfway to their desination. For three days the whole company was marooned on the small island, suffering from the sun and vainly endeavouring to inform the Britsh Commander,

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Sir Hugh Wheeler of their predicament;. They did not know that the sound of guns meant that he was himself being besieged in his own intrenchmeuts.

On the fuurth day on the island sepoys appeared and their fire com¬ pelled the band to take shelter in the long grass, at a distance from the water of the river, which was procured only with great risk. Exhausted by exposure nearly every one was ready to die but we are told that Free¬ man rallied them. Some there were among them who had forgotton to pray but all joined him in his supplications, that the}' might quit them¬ selves like men.

The story of their capture is short. Taken by a boatload of armed troops, tied together by the hand and exhausted % heat and hunger they were marched ofif to the Nana Sahib, the fiend incarnate of the Mutiny. This prince, baffled in his ambition, under a mask of hypocrisy had cloaked his hatred to the English until he saw an opportunity to strike. Histori¬ ans describe him as “a compound of cruelty, craft and cowardice.” His tj'pe has passed with oriental despotism. On the morning of the next day after a night in the open the party was taken to him. The fate he meted out to them was not as cruel as the revolting butchery of sixty British women taken in Cawnpore a few days later. On June I3tb, the Fatehgarh refugees were marched to the parade ground and the hundred and sixty were shot in cold blood as the sun rose. Death was sudden without the lingering torments and frightful atrocities the Nana reserved for his later captures. It was on the 27th of June— two weeks later — that Wheeler’s garrison entrenched in an open plain and almost crazed through suffering surrendered on the premise that they be allowed to retire in safety to Allahabad Fort on the laying down of their arms. Escorted to the Gan-res they were allowed to embirk but the treachery of the Nana caused soldiers to be concealed about the landing places who shot down the prisoners at a given signal. The foi’ty V'ats were set afire and of the hundreds only four men e-caped to tell the story that made Bidtish blood boil. Thus perished seven hundred and fifty of the Cawnpore garrison while the women prisoners were subjected to a worse ordeal. The well of horrors into which the bodies of dead and dying had been thrown has now been filled up and in its place a beautiful garden with the flowers and foliage of India has been fittingly laid out. It was right to banish all trace of that most hideous crime and to replace the house of massacre and the well of horrors by “a fair garden and a graceful shritie.” Time has brushed away all the traces and peace alone reigns. Under the memorial monument of an angel in marble of dazzling white is inscribed “These are they w'hich came out of great tribulations.

That, however, is not the only monument of the eight Americans who were willing to give their lives in testimony of the truth. Each one has a better memorial. The Chapel of Allahabad Christian College which is the Jumna Mission Church is the real monument of John Edgar Free¬ man, erected sixty-four years ago. It represents his aspirations and hopes, for he was its builder. The cost was only three thousand dollars j half of this was raised in India. Yet for sixty four years this building has stood as a Christian meeting-place. During the Mutiny its bell was carried off by Hindu priests, its doors torn away by Pillagers and its furniture wrecked. Freeman’s classmate at Princeton, Joseph Owen, had to flee from it for safety to the Fort, but after the trying days of the Mutiny this very Mission compound at Allahabad with the rest of India was blessed with peace and security. Many brave Christians perished but Christianity survived — and now in Freeman’s Church a hundred Christian students of the eleven hundred in the American Presbyterian College and school are worshipping three times a woek. The bell which w^as carried away and broken has been silent all these years but it is soon to be recast and reconsecrated to the service of summoning the worshippers to this quaint and historic Church.